Sonic: Vines of Sorrow Ch. 12
Cream found herself standing in pitch-black darkness, the wires that latched onto her seemingly gone. She looked in amazement at the black and yellow rabbit that stood before her. This being was none other than her father, Cookie.
"Father?" Cream said, "What's happening?"
"You are in a coma," Cookie said, "soon your soul will be absorbed and transplanted to a Gizoid."
"What are you doing here?" Cream said.
"I am here to help you. I know what you and your mother have been through," Cookie said to his daughter, with a sad look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Cream said, "Is it because my mother is marrying someone else."
"Not entirely," Cookie responded, "What does bother me is what she hadn't told you. How I died."
Cream looked at him with confusion. What her mother had said about the death of Cookie was a lie?
Cookie explained his story: "Back when I was just your age, I had obtained the power to combat the evil that threatens us. Your mother was much the same. We were the best of friends since we first met. We understood each other well and rarely fought. As we grew up together, we eventually fell in love and got married. However, shortly after you were born, Dr. Robotnik began his plans to enslave our world. He started with roboticizing the neo-animals so that they could do his bidding. When a wave of his minions took you, I was given an ultimatum: if I put up any resistance to him, you would be robiticized. Left without a choice, I surrendered myself to him and I was the one roboticized. Soon, your mother and I faced each other in battle and she won. Before my robotic body would explode, I told her to take care of you. I had been watching over you and your mother. I have seen you take on every challenge that you had been through: from battling the simplest of Dr. Robotnik's schemes, to taking part in a war that threatened the entire galaxy. I have seen you smile at every good time you had with your friends, and cry at every bad time. And I have seen how much you have grown."
Cookie kneeled down to stroke the back of his daughter's head.
"I don't want you to give up," he said, "You and your friends have come so far, and if you surrender, you all will be slaves to Dark Sapling. Fight. I know you can."
With those words in mind, Cream's face changed from sadness to determination.
"I will not let anyone," she exclaimed, "not me, or my friends, have their lives be led without emotion."
With those words ringing out through the empty void, a soft glimmer of light appeared.
"There's your way out," Cookie said, "Go. Your friends need you."
"I know," Cream responded.
The young rabbit ran toward the light.
"So you still have the strength to fight," the voice of Dark Sapling said through the darkness, "show me."
Black figures sprung up from the darkness, vaguely humanoid in shape. They charged at Cream. The young rabbit fought back. Finally, after many short bouts, she made it to the light.
She woke up as her real self still constricted by wires. She fought hard to remove them, eventually pulling them out of their sockets. She noticed the people around her struggling with the wires.
"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cheese," she called out, "everyone, don't give up."
She went over to Tails.
"Tails!" she cried, "Tails, wake up."
"His time has almost come," Dark Sapling's voice said, "At this point it is impossible to speak to him."
Thinking fast, Cream took a piece of wire that was attached to her and stabbed it into Tails' neck.
"I will not let this happen," Cream said, "I will share my energy with him if I need to."
"You plan to link your soul with his?" Dark Sapling replied, "No matter. You still won't be able to help him awaken. Communicating with him, even with your souls linked, would be like finding a pebble lost in a vast desert."
"As long as there's still a chance," Cream said, "I will save my friend."
Cosmo, managing to get free from the wires, followed her into Tails' mind.
Deep inside Tails' subconscious, the fox was lying in a never ending void of darkness.
"…ls! Ta…! Tai…!" Cream's voice echoed through the darkness.
Tails slowly opened his eyes.
"Cream?" he said weakly, "is that you?"
"Tails!" Cream called back.
In the distance, a soft light glimmered and the soul of the young rabbit ran towards him. She kneeled down beside him.
"Tails," she said, "I don't want it to end like this. You are my friend, and I will always stand beside my friends. I know that you might not really love me as I do with you, and you might not see me the same way again, but I am willing to help you live your life happily."
The fox looked up at the rabbit. He saw her determination to help him. Then, it dawned upon him about what he had been doing.
"Cream," he said, "You and everyone else had done the best that you could to get me out of my sorrow, and I thank you for that. I have the picture that was shot with all of us at the party on the blue typhoon, and every time I look at that, all I looked at was Cosmo, thinking about the one I lost. I didn't want to live with what I had done to her. But now I see the whole picture, and I know that there is still a life that I can have with my friends. I'm sorry that I acted so stupidly. I was so sad and angry at myself for what I have done. And now, I do not want my friends to feel the pain that I had. I did make a promise to you after all, didn't I; that I will stay alive?"
Cosmo's spirit appeared beside them.
"I don't want you to give up your life so quickly just to be with me," She said, "What I had done, I did it so that everyone else can live their lives, especially you. The last thing I want is to have all my friends live out the rest of their lives in sadness. And I certainly don't want them living an emotionless life under Dark Sapling's system."
"Then I will promise you that I will live that life happily," Tails said, "you and Cream."
"Also," Cosmo added, "Cream, if you promise to take good care of Tails, then you have my approval of loving him."
Tails and Cream looked at her in shock.
"I told you," Cosmo said, "I want you both to live the lives I saved for you happily. If this will make your lives happy, you can have it."
Tails and Cream looked at each other. There was a brief moment of silence as they thought about what they were given.
"Well, Tails," Cream said, a little nervous, "would you like to be my… well… sweetheart?"
"Cream," Tails said with a smile, "You had been a wonderful friend to have. When I chose to stay at home during your birthday, you came by just to try and cheer me up. That alone proves how much you care about me. I will not let that care go to waste."
He got up.
"Cream," he continued, "I am yours. Consider it a late birthday gift."
"Thank you," Cream said, smiling.
That was when a bright light shown around them. The darkness vanished, and seven bright orbs of energy appeared around them.
"The Super Emeralds," Dark Sapling said, "It can't be. They are calling out to Tails."
The orbs rotated around Tails as he looked at them in curiosity.
"Tails," Cosmo said, "remember what you told me? We also feel hate and sadness, but you trust your friends, who will always be there to help you when you need them."
"And as long as I have that feeling," Tails finished, "We will never be defeated."
The orbs flew towards Tails and he absorbed them.
In the real world, Tails awoke and a bright light spread out that eradicated the wires bounding him and his friends. Cream opened her eyes to see Tails standing in front of her, his fur glowing bright gold and a smile spread across his face that had been lost for so long. He hugged her close.
"Thank you," he said.
Cream smiled her own, trademark smile and returned the hug.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said.
As they released their embrace, Tails held his hand up.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" he shouted, and everyone teleported outside.
"All right," Sonic said, "Glad to see that you're back."
"There's still one problem," Tails said looking back on the giant Metal Mover, "We have to take care of this guy."
"It's up to you," Sonic said, "You have the power of the Super Emeralds. Only you can defeat them."
"I won't let you down," Tails said.
"We will cheer you on," Cream said.
"Of course," Tails said, "Without all of you, I would still be at home, mopping. Thanks again for never giving up on me."
He flew off using the energy given to him by the Super Emeralds.
"I won't let you down," Tails said.
He flew off to confront the three headed monstrosity.
"It's time to put an end to your plans, Dark Sapling!" Tails exclaimed.
"I see that you were able to obtain the power of the Super Emeralds directly," Dark Sapling said, "However, with the physical forms of the emeralds along with the Master Emerald in our possession, we also have the power of the Super Emeralds."
"I will not let you take over," Tails said, "I will fight to the end."
"Then, come," Dark Sapling said, "Show us what power the Super Emeralds gave you."
Metal Mover's heads stared at Tails. The red dragon head, controlled by Hera, spat fire from its mouth at Tails. Tails dodged the attacks and flew into the maw of the dragon. He ran down the throat and found Hera's Gizoid form at the end. He dashed right into it, destroying it and the head. Tails flew out in time to see the dragon head crumble.
Next was the blue dragon head, spewing icicle shards at Tails as the two-tailed fox flew forward at high speed, into that dragon's mouth. He ran through the throat, to the end, where Andromeda's body was waiting. He proceeded to ram into it in much the same manner he did with Hera, flying out as the blue dragon head collapsed.
Finally, there was Dark Sapling's green dragonhead, which launched lightning from its mouth. Tails dodged the lightning and made it into the dragon's mouth, flying down its throat. Taking drastic measures, Dark Sapling detached himself from the end of the throat. He used Chaos Control to escape. Tails saw him blink out of sight. Before he could consider where he would be, he noticed vines starting to spread throughout Metal Mover.
Outside, Tails' friends watched as Metal Mover was covered by ivy. More and more ivy slowly started to cover the giant metallic machine, until it was completely covered. Then, the ivy started to expand, forming into what looked like a giant tree.
Inside, Tails flew out of the dragon's throat to find himself trapped in a giant room made out of ivy. He looked up to see Dark Sapling attached to vines on the ceiling.
"Now," he said, "I make my final stand, inside the mighty Yggdrasil. Super Emeralds, Master Emeralds, give me all the power you have!"
His Gizoid body began to glow as the vines transferred the energy of the emeralds to him. The vines released him and his body started to morph in to a ball, the form that had laid waste to the planet Mobius so long ago.
Tails dashed at the green orb and the final fight ensued. Claws came out from Dark Sapling's orb shaped form, firing rays at Tails. One hit and stunned Tails for a moment. Two of the claws came together. Energy was charged up between them. Tails recovered just in time to get out of the way of the blast. The claws also fired missiles at him, but Tails was able to dodge them. He charged at Dark Sapling, where the forehead light was. He launched himself at it. Dark Sapling tumbled back. Tails dashed at the forehead light again and again. Eventually, the orb started to explode, but Dark Sapling's body wasn't destroyed. Instead, it was back in its humanoid shape.
"Why…" Dark Sapling said, "Why did you refuse to join us? Why are you choosing to live with emotions? Do you not realize the pain that you were given, or considered the pain that can and even will fall upon you in the future?"
"I know that I am putting myself at the risk of emotional pain," Tails said, "But I am not afraid. I have overcome my pain with the help of my friends, and I will not worry about the pain that will come to me in the future: instead, I look forward to the joy and laughter in that future."
"You are a fool," Dark Sapling said, holding out his hands with a ball of energy accumulating in their palms, "You know nothing. If you will not join us, I will destroy you."
Tails spread his arms out.
'Everyone,' he said telepathically to his friends outside Yggdrasil, 'give me your energy.'
Outside, Sonic, Cream, and all the others raised their hands up over their heads. They gave Tails all the positive feelings that they had. They gave him their courage, their hopes, their joy, their love, their trust, their friendship.
Inside Yggdrasil, Tails' aura started to expand and form into what looked like a phoenix with a swallow's tail.
"Chaos Blast!" Dark Sapling shouted, as he fired a beam of light ahead at Tails.
"Chaos Phoenix!" Tails called out as he charged into the beam, clashing with it.
"I will not hide from pain by giving up my emotions." Tails said, "I will fight it. I have my eyes set on the future, prepared for the worst and hoping for the best."
Slowly, he picked up the pace as he inched towards Dark Sapling.
"I will embrace the good times I had and will have with my friends. And the fact that I will not be with my friends forever makes those moments of joy and laughter all the more important."
The fox began to fly faster, pushing against the beam even harder.
"That is the true power of Chaos: the value of life. That is why I have been given this power. I know what it means to live my life! I know what it means to share my life with others! I KNOW NOW WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE!"
He collided with Dark Sapling, destroying his body. Emerging from the body was a green orb of light. It morphed into the form of the green and white echidna that it contained.
"If this is what you wanted, so be it," Lee said, "With my defeat, you have brought the way of life back to what it originally was."
"I will assure you," Tails said, as his phoenix aura shrank back, "This IS life."
With that, Yggdrasil and Metal Mover began to wither and crumble. The waves of Chaos energy that were draining people of their life energy faded away.
Sonic, Cream, and the rest of the crew looked in the sky at Tails' glowing form. The two-tailed fox then reverted to his regular self and plummeted toward the ground, landing in the blossom tree that was the center of Dark Sapling. Only the blossom tree's blossoms were of many different colors.
Tails' friends raced over to the blossom tree to meet him.
Author's Note: IT'S FINALLY HERE! Also, stay tuned for the conclusion.