A Monarch's
Corruption
Chapter 5: The Return to Angel Island
The humming of Tails' plane is all that he could hear was he was flying through the afternoon sky. It might only be the middle of the day, but after what Tails has gone through already today, he needed the rest during the flight. He had only just a few moments ago been inside of a city that has changed for the worse and now he was comfortably resting in his plane on his way towards his next destination.
Tails had set the auto pilot on after flying for awhile once he had found where he wanted to go. He knew where he had to go next, that was Angel Island. Just knowing Sonic was safe for now was what brought him comfort, and Tails knew that he could go look for Sonic later. Right now though, Tails wanted to do what he came originally to do, and that was to find his parents.
After finding that old letter from his father, Tails knew that they should be on Angel Island, but finding it was never an easy task it seemed. Tails has to spend quite awhile searching and prodding through his plane's computer before he tracked where it currently was on its orbit around the planet. It was currently over the center ocean, so it wasn't that far from New Mobotropolis for now at least. It travels the globe and makes one full round trip per month, so it wasn't uncommon for at times it to be nearby and others a very long flight.
Tails checked his computer as he just sat there relaxing. Tails wanted to see how far he had until he reached Angel Island. Tails was just hoping that getting on Angel Island wasn't going to be greatly difficult, like it was getting into New Mobotropolis. He had no clue what the island looked like these days, and had no clue as to if his parents were even still there either. Tails just had to have faith that they were still there, and that he could even get onto the island, since his only option would be to land his plane on it since it is in the sky.
About an hour later, Tails gets a beep from his communicator on his dash board that does startle him awake. Tails had decided that he would take a small nap during his trip, so that he was well rested in case of more trouble when he arrived. Tails reaches forward and grabs his headphones and puts them onto his head. He reaches out then and turns the switch to respond on the radio. He doesn't even have a chance to say anything before someone else talks first.
"This is Angel Island aircraft control. Please state the reason for your arrival. Your craft does not register as a resident of the island. If you do not have a legitimate reason, I would ask you to please turn back." says the voice on the other end.
Tails was rather shocked to hear this. He wasn't shocked really at being asked what he was doing here, but this time he was being asked what his purpose was and not asked to just leave right away. This was a big change over New Mobotropolis, but he wasn't about to complain about that.
"Um, I'm here looking for my parents. I received a letter that they currently reside on this island and I wished to see if it was true. I haven't seen them in a long time, so I wish to be sure." says Tails. He was going to just tell the truth with this person, since they didn't seem to be aggressive. Plus, since his excuse didn't sound like someone who would attack the island he was hoping it would work to allow him access to the island.
"Can you please state their last name so that I may verify it with our citizen database of everyone that lives on the island?" asks the voice on the other end.
"Yes, their last names are the Prowers. I'm their son. As I said, I simply came for a visit." says Tails playing it as innocently as possibly since it seemed to be working so far with this person.
Tails could hear some clicking and typing on the other end as the aircraft controller was searching the database just as he said he would. It didn't happen right away, but he did eventually come back onto the mic after a bit of typing. "I found on record a Mr. and Mrs. Amadeus Prower. Is this your family sir?" asks the controller on the other end.
Tails was very happy to hear him reply with that name. If they were in the database, they were definitely still alive and living on the island. "Yes, that is them. That's my father's name." says Tails smiling quite a lot now that they had verified that for him. He no longer had to worry if coming here was a mistake or not.
"Ah, yes, they do have a son registered here in the database. Mr. Miles "Tails" Prower. Since you gave me a good name of someone in the database and your story sounds legitimate, I will give you temporary clearance to land at the New Echidnaopolis Airport. When you land, we will do a simply retina and finger print scan to verify you are who you say you are. If you check out, we will add you into the system and allow you to be on your way. You have clearance on runway two. A crew will be waiting for you when you land to escort you to testing." says the controller on the other end.
"Yes sir, thank you." says Tails as he cuts the radio at the same time the controller does. He sits back and relaxes even more now as he takes control of the plane himself now as the island was coming into view in the distance. He was a bit uneasy with being tested like they said they would, but he figured they had to do it. No one seemed to know about him sneaking into New Mobotropolis yet, but if they find that guard he knocked out, it might be trouble for him later. He just had to hope that he could get on and off the island before something bad happens.
Tails soon is within full view of Angel Island now and is heading for the spot where the runway is right ahead of him. Though unlike how it used to look, Angel Island looks really developed now. There were buildings everywhere and many of the buildings looked a lot nicer than the ones in New Mobotropolis. This however was only part of how the city looked from the sky. There was the one half of the city that looked a lot nicer, but the other half looked to not be in as good a shape. Even the island's worst part looked pretty good compared to some of the conditions in the capital.
Tails could see the runway just ahead of him and blinking lights along the edges of the runway so that Tails could see exactly where to land. The runway on the island starting and stopping right on the edge of the island, so that planes wouldn't have to be flying over the buildings to try and land. Tails didn't look like he would have any problem landing on this runway though. It would be a much easier landing than the one he had to make in the field earlier that morning.
Tails starts to slow the plane down and lower the landing gear as he comes into approach. He could see also at the end of the runway what looked like an echidna, but he didn't appear to be dark legion since he was actually wearing a uniform that was probably the uniform for airport employees. Tails' plane is getting lower and lower as he soon sees land come under the plane meaning he was no longer over the ocean. It only took a moment then before he felt a bit jerk as the wheels hit the runway and bounce a couple of times before the plane was now rolling down the runway towards the echidna standing at the end of it.
The echidna soon points his flashlights that he was holding off to the right towards a nearby hanger it looked like, that Tails easily turns his plane towards and drives right over inside it. The moment he drives in, the big lights inside cut on and hangar door immediately starts to close behind the plane. Tails slowly brought the plane to a stop now and started to flip several switches as he is powering down the plane. Tails barely had time as the propellers were slowing down before there was a knock on the canopy of his plane that startled him, since he saw no one getting onto the wings of his plane a moment ago.
Tails presses the switch for the canopy to pop up and smiles up at the echidna that was standing on the wing, also in a uniform like the one outside. The echidna was a slightly brown color and had a serious look on his face. "We got the word from the tower. Please exit your vehicle and come with me and I will take you to the scanners." says the echidna who then turns and jumps off of the wings of Tails' plane. He staring back at Tails to make sure he was going to get out and follow first though. Tails, not going to disobey and make any more trouble than he had for himself today, quickly unbuckles himself from his seat and starts to climb out of his plane to follow after the echidna.
Once Tails is out of the plane, he quickly follows after the brown echidna through the door he had entered. The door let back outside and there was a small luggage carrier car there just outside the door with the echidna getting into it. "Come on, sit down and I will drive you to the check up area. Cooperate and we will have no problems, if you do, you will not be happy." says the echidna and does pat his side showing a blaster in a holster at his side as he gets into the car.
Tails definitely wasn't going to argue with someone with a gun, when he is currently unarmed. He did have his backpack and utility belt still on him, but he wasn't going to go for any of the things that could be used as a weapon in there and risk getting into trouble. This echidna didn't seem like he was going to attack Tails like the ones back at the capital would for just any little thing. Tails goes ahead and does what the echidna wanted him to do and sits down into the little luggage car.
The moment Tails sits down into the seat, the echidna hits the gas and jerks Tails back from the sudden acceleration. Tails quickly recovers and watches to see where they were heading to now. As they turn the corner and head out onto the runway, Tails does see a couple of other planes sitting on the sides of the runways. These looking like they are probably more commonly used, thus not locked up in hangers, like private planes. These included only three small passenger planes, which looked to probably hold around thirty people. However, there were also five other planes nearby to them. These looking like military aircraft to transport soldiers, which could easily carry twice as many as the passenger planes. Apparently the airport here doubled as a passenger airline and military airbase.
Tails was surprised this airport was so big for an island this size. It was a rather large island, so it wasn't unheard of for it to have a base on it. Plus, an airbase made much more since anyway, since it basically was the only way on and off the island. There were many hangers on the base, so it is possible for there are even more planes that Tails can't even see around him.
Soon the echidna driving the little car pulls up to a nearby building and just stops without much warning either. This nearly made Tails hit his head on the Dash ahead of him, which would have really stunk with how this day was going. The echidna didn't look too bothered by what he just did and gets right out of the car and walks over towards the door, but does turn to look back at Tails as he walks. "Come on, this is the place, we will go inside, scan you, and if you match who you say you are, you are free to go into the city as you please." he say looking pretty serious about his job.
Tails does look a bit aggravated at this echidna, since he didn't have the courtesy to tell people when he was going to put the brakes on. Tails just gets out and begins to follow the echidna over towards the building. It was a simple one story white building that looked more like an administrative office, than an airport building or terminal. Tails just walks up to the front door with the echidna and follows him on inside the place.
When Tails walks inside, there are a couple of other people working here, they all echidna as well of course. These however look to be more professional than the echidna that just led him in. These all were wearing business suits and more professional looking clothes, while the one that escorted him here was wearing a simple uniform. "Now, go into the room right ahead of you, they are expecting you there." says the brown echidna, and turns and just rushes out of the building, slamming the door as he leaves.
Tails shakes his head as the echidna leaves the room and turns to head into the room he was just told to go into. When Tails opens the door, he is greeted by another brown echidna dressed in business attire. "Good afternoon, come right over to this machine over here and we will begin the scanning of who you are, and then if you check out, you will be put into the system, since we don't have that much on you." says the echidna. Tails nods and quickly agrees to the terms and walks over to a nearby seat that is in front of the machine. He had never seen a machine like this before, but he figured he was about to find out how it worked.
"Now, stick your hand into the little covered area at the bottom and stick your face into this part right here in the front. We will do a finger print scan and retinal scan. Once we verify with the little bit of information that we do have. We will update your profile if you check out and you can be on your way." says the echidna, who sits on the other side of the machine to get ready to turn it on.
Tails does as he is asked and sticks his head against this contraption and sticks his hand into the area he was told to as well and waits. It only takes a moment before the echidna presses a button and the machine kicks on and does a very swift scan across Tails' eyes and his hand to grab his eye and hand prints. Tails immediately pulls his head away when the little light flashes across his eyes, he not expecting it at all. "Oh sorry, I guess I should have warned you about that beforehand." says the echidna immediately apologizing for what happened.
Tails just smiles and shakes his head to show that it was ok. "Eh, I've had worse. I hope that was enough." he says as he sits on back into his seat when the echidna nods and proceeds to turn around and start to type on a nearby computer. Tails wasn't that worried about being caught in anything. He was who he was, and he had no reason to lie to go where he was going, since it was where he was going in the first place.
The echidna sits there at his computer taking the screen shots of finger prints and eye scans to make sure they match with the old records they current have on him. He hadn't updated any of his information here in forever. All of Tails' information was back where he lived in Downunda with Mina. It probably would have been simple to just bring that information with him, but if he was caught, he might have gotten in trouble pretty easily if he was carrying his ID from back home.
It only takes a few moments for the echidna to smile and turn around to Tails nodding. "Alright, this all seems to check out just fine. You are Mr. Prower just as you said you are. Your records match perfectly without a shadow of a doubt." says the echidna, who starts to get out of his chair from behind the machine. Tails starts to get up as well, looking very relieved that they seemed fine with him now, and were even being pretty friendly to him as well.
"Thank you sir, I'm just glad I could get through this without a problem. I've never seen so much security before in a city. Where I live, there isn't as much security." says Tails to the echidna. Tails simply adjusts his satchel and utility belt as he gets up, he looking like he was about to leave now like he was told. But before he can leave now, the echidna does put his hand out to stop Tails from leaving.
"Oh sorry sir, we do have one last thing for you to do if you may? We need you to walk right over here and get your picture taken for a profile picture for our database. That way we can easily identity you next time you come here." says the echidna, pointing to a nearby camera on a stand that was connected to the same computer as well.
"Oh sure, thought something else was wrong." says Tails walking over to small stool on the other side of the camera and sits down onto it. Tails is only there for a moment before the echidna snaps a photo of Tails without once ever saying cheese or to get ready. Tails blinks a couple of times, caught completely off guard by the sudden flash. The echidna did it quickly, so as to get Tails in a casual pose instead of some stiff pose that looked formal.
Tails gets up yet again, looking like he is about to leave, but there was a buzzing sound coming from behind him. He was just going to ignore it but the echidna stops him from leaving yet again. "Oh, here you are Mr. Prower. This is your temporary I.D. That will get you into most places in the city without notice. Just keep this in your satchel there, and there should not be one problem. You may leave out the door to the right of you. Walk down the nearby path and you will come to the exit to the airport." says the echidna, who holds out the little piece of plastic over towards Tails, who quickly takes it and sticks it inside his satchel over his shoulder.
Tails finally gives the echidna a small smile before turning and heading over to the door he was told he could leave out of. When he opens the door and walks outside, he can see the actual terminal nearby, but also the gate to leave the airport and walk into the big city is at. It would only take him a moment to get there, and since people were coming in and out at the same time, he figured he wouldn't be bothered leaving the airport like this. Unlike most of the staff at the airport, most of the normal people coming and going were other species beside the echidna.
Tails walks over and threw the gate that was a metal deter, but it wasn't programmed to go off on the leaving people, since it is figured they already went through some form security beforehand. So there were no checks on people leaving, only those coming back on the other way through. They looked to be pretty determined as well to keep people out that might be a threat to the airport. Tails has no problems and walks quietly threw the gate and onto the first street in New Echidnaopolis.
When Tails starts to walk the streets, one thing is immediately apparent, the Dark Legion guard here isn't as strict as the ones back in the capital. They were standing at the corners of most of the streets, with others doing patrols on small motorcycles through the streets. The Legion here looks more like a normal police force like they did back at Tails' home instead of a dictator's army. The citizens here seem perfectly fine with the guards as well. The citizens here don't appear as poor as the ones back in the capital. There are actually normal business and kids wandering the streets as if nothing was wrong in the world.
Tails starts to smile as he walks the streets here. This place didn't seem that bad of a place to live. It reminded him of back home, just a lot more crowded. Most of the buildings and apartment buildings here were really crammed together in pretty close proximity to each other, most likely to save room for future expansions on the island. It seems a pretty good bit of the normal and upper class people of the kingdom were living here on the island, rather than in the capital. He couldn't tell what the smaller villages are probably like around the country now, but he was hoping it wasn't as bad as the capital.
Tails soon reaches the center of town, where the main garden square is located. Here, there were many people sitting on benches eating their lunches or letting their children run around and play with each other. But right in the center of town, there was one familiar site. There in the middle of a fountain was a massive statue of the goddess Maria. Tails just rolls his eyes as people are on the ground around the statue doing prayer apparently to the goddess and some tossing coins into the fountain around her. Seeing the statue nearby, it only took Tails a moment, before he saw another church of the goddess Maria nearby as one of the buildings that are located adjacent to the square. It was in the perfect location, so that everyone who came to town was likely to see it. Most all of the other buildings around the square are all business' and food places, but the church stayed right there in center straight ahead of the square in full view of them all. Tails felt very comfortable seeing all of this, and he can see why his parents chose to move here instead of staying back at the capital in their old house.
When Tails is about to walk through the square to look for some place to look up information on people, so that he could find his parents address, something caught his eye. A large tv monitor at an electronics store had a large flag come on the screen with Shadow's symbol on it. It was there on the screen for a moment before a red echidna walks onto the screen and stops to face the camera on him. Tails was nearly shocked at what he saw. On the screen was a red echidna wearing a purplish body suit, with a brown vest over it. He was wearing a cowboy hat with stars on it, but his right eye was robotic instead of an actual eye. Tails couldn't believe it, it was Knuckles.
Tails walked right over closer to the window so he could see and hear what he was about to say on the tv. "Hello citizen's of New Echindaopolis. Your enforcer and guardian here reminding you all to behave yourself and listen to the laws that the government set by King Shadow have set. We know you all are good people, but remember, we will not tolerate disobedience. You harden criminals beware, because you know my staff and myself are out there looking for you, to make this land safer for us all. So you all better follow the laws, or else. Remember, the Chaotix are watching you." he says and gives a long hard glare into the camera before he walks off the screen, just leaving Shadow's flag flapping in the wind. The tv then goes back to a regular tv show afterwards. It seemed it was a commercial that the tv networks were required to run from time to time.
Tails was a little bit intimidated by the commercial, but that seemed to be the whole point of the commercial in the first place. Tails glances around quickly around the square, he not noticing them before, but there were pictures on billboards around the square with Knuckles' face on them, saying "The Chaotix are Watching you". Apparently they were pretty serious about crimes here on the island if they have signs all around and tv commercials on tv telling people to keep the peace or else someone would be coming for them.
Tails was glad to see Knuckles was still around here, but apparently he was working with Shadow. Tails wasn't sure why he would be. Knuckles probably had his reasons, but Tails would need to ask Knuckles himself if he wanted to know for certain why. He wasn't sure how he would do that, but for now, he needed to get back to the matter at hand. That is, Tails needed to get back to looking for where his parents were living on this island.
Tails was about to go somewhere else, when he sees in the square a small computer mounted against a poll nearby that says information kiosk. Tails couldn't believe his luck that was just what he needed. Tails quickly runs up to it and presses a button to turn it on so that he could use it. The moment he presses it a voice comes out of the monitor. "Please deposit one mobium to use the information terminal." says the computerized voice. Tails groans and rolls his eyes as he fishes through his utility belt to look for more of the mobiums that Mina gave him before he left home. He only had a few left, but he pulls one of them out and slips it into the coin slot next to the machine, which immediately fires it up.
Tails starts to press buttons on the computer until he finds the area that tells about address locations. He quickly types in his parents' names and lets the computer begin to do a search of the address database in the city. It only took a moment before exactly one match popped up on the screen. Tails immediately smiles and presses another button to make the screen give the address and detailed directions to the house.
When it pops up, Tails looks to see where on the map it was located. He was rather shocked when he saw where they lived. They seemed to be living in the upper division from what the information kiosk was telling him. He didn't think they were really rich, but he would ask them when he gets there. He presses the button on the machine to tell it to print the directions out for him. That's when t he voice goes off again. "Please deposit one mobium to use printing services." says the robotic voice again. Tails rolls his eyes and growls as he goes to get another coin from his belt. He was starting to not like this machine, but it was the only way he could find his parents, so he had little choice.
Once Tails had deposited the mobium into the machine, it immediately prints out a sheet of paper that spelt out the address and direction to get there from his current location. It was almost a mile away, since he was in the commercial district and the upper division was a bit of a walk from here. Tails could have taken the bus there, but he didn't feel like spending what was left of his money. He had only wanted to take a little bit and leave most of it back with Mina to take care of the kids with. So Tails just figures he will walk, it was better for him anyway.
Tails walks out of the square, following the directions in his hand, as he makes his way into what was most likely the edge of the upper division. There were mostly single homes in this section of the city, not apartments like back in the other part of the city. The houses were all pretty nice looking as well. Some a more reasonable size, while there was the occasional mansion around as well. Tails doubted that his parents would be living in a mansion but a normal house he could understand now.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, Tails finally reaches the address and looks up at the house he had arrived at. It was a rather nice looking two story house that was white all over, except for the door and shutters, which were a light tan color. There was also a flag flying outside near the door. It was the symbol of veterans of the past. Shadow apparently hadn't disbanded the use of the flag to show veterancy for furs that have served in the arm forces in the past.
Tails takes a deep breath and walks up the small driveway as he heads for the door. He was a bit nervous since he hadn't seen his parents in quite awhile now. Tails was just happy to see that they were alive after all this time. He walks nervously up to the door and just stands there for a moment. He was ready for this now. He had searched most of the day now for his parents and he was here.
Tails knocks on the door and steps back just a bit for when the door opens up. It takes a few moments before the door is opened up. At the door stood a brown female fox, wearing a long blue dress, a set of pearls around her neck, and a pretty nice ring on her right hand. When she answered the door, she looked very shocked and looked as if she might faint for a moment, but she doesn't. "M.. Miles? Is that you?" she asks looking rather shocked to who she believed to be her son, just much older and more grown up now. Tails smiles right away and nods to her. "Yes Mom, its' Me." he says to her. softly.
It takes a moment, before she is nearly in tears and runs out the door and immediately hugs him, she really glad to see him after such a long away again. "I'm glad to see you Miles. Welcome Home." she says with a very happy smile on her face. Tails just smiles and nods to her, "Glad to finally find Home." says Tails as he starts to head into the house with his mother.
To Be Continued….