Ark Fox Chapter 5

Ok now here's a bigass chapter for you guys 9 pages, enjoy. Probably filled with grammar and spelling errors but why do you care, you're on chapter five after all.

Thanks to Sierra Zanimalini14, prowerboy, Pirony and Tails Is FLUFFY for reviewing last chapter.

Don't own any characters, if I did, Tails would be the hero, Sonic the sidekick. Cos I hate him, sorry but I just really do, don't worry I won't write anything bad about him and try to keep his personality the same, but I hate him I truly do.

Sonic had just recovered after finding some water and washing the blood and dirt off his face ("yuk!") when he opened his eyes he saw Shadow pull himself from the trees sudden imprint of him, both looked at each other and were off, Sonic sick of having to slow down in order to swerve between the trees, started jumping between branches, while Shadow simply blasted the trees to bits with his Chaos Spears before continuing on ahead.

Pretty soon they were ascending a slope, Sonic's suspicions that they were nearing Hill Top was confirmed when he saw the soil was gradually turning blue from whatever chemicals were produced underground and when the stench of melting rock reached his nose.

Tails couldn't believe his luck, just as he found out he was way in the lead, he was pushed inside a gigantic cavern by Metal Sonic and the entrance was sealed off by his laser eyes. To make things worse, said laser eyes also put a crack in a wall near the sealed up entrance which started spewing magma instantly, forcing Tails to go forward into the cavern hoping he would find a way out.

Metal couldn't believe 'his' luck, he was well and truly in the lead now after removing the Tails threat, and sensors were showing that Sonic and Shadow were only now leaving the forest, so long as he kept this pace and managed to avoid Knuckles, his victory was assured.

Shadow had just got out of the tree line with Sonic, knowing full well Metal matched his and Sonics own speed and with the giant lead he had on them both (excluding Tails, neither had seen him for a while and Sonic was beginning to worry, either he was in the lead or way, way behind them.)

He had to do something very creative in order to push his way towards the lead. And he knew what it was, this area was heavy with Chaos Energy and he could feel the caverns below him, although some caverns were filled with lava he could feel it was the fastest way to go through Hill Top, so with that he spin dashed through solid rock, entering a cavern below instantly.

Sonic saw what Shadow was up to and knew Shadow could feel the Chaos Energy surrounding the region better then he could, he knew he couldn't risk it however as he wouldn't be able to tell where the lava would be and unfortunately this meant Shadow was going to be in the lead shortly, he of all people should know... Sonic had been underneath Hill Top before.

Sonic really didn't want to think about it that much, he made a promise to a friend he wouldn't try to remember... and he was right, some secrets had to remain buried...

He never really talked about it before he changed, and something told Sonic he would have never wanted to listen. The horror he experienced by the simplest things, some of that terror Sonic reminded himself, still survived to this day...

When Sonic first put his hand on Miles shoulder... he sunk his canines into his arm before he realised what he was doing. His mind was made up after that, Miles made him promise... to never tell him what had happened.

Sonic stopped his train of thought here however, he was distracting himself from the race and he promised him to never try and remember, but also never forget.

Shadow smashed through rock wall after rock wall, he was getting closer to Metal Sonic, he could sense the pressure Metal exerted on the grass above, this place had so much Chaos Energy. Shadow had experienced this type of Chaos Energy before but couldn't quite put his finger on where.

And if it wasn't for the potential of Tails getting a good look at the shoes Maria gave him he would have gone after the source of it instantly. "Where is Tails anyway? I can sense he's around here somewhere but why the hell can't I pick him up."

His question had to wait however as he broke through the final wall, right in front of the unsuspecting Metal Sonic, showering him in stone and knocking him over, he would have gotten away and taken first place had he and Metal not both been tasered by the fox, who just left the hole Shadow had made. "Thanks Shads!" he said quickly as he flew off giggling.

Shadow was understandably fuming, taking first place to be zapped by the slowest of the group who had so far remained in the lead for the longest duration. He was still to hold the lead for more than 20 seconds.

Looking around he could see Angel Island off in the sea of clouds surrounding Hill Top. At that moment a seriously dinged up Metal Sonic rose, looked down at Shadow with Red Eyes and asked him "When will the fox be apprehended? for I wish to torture him when you do!"

Shadow had to think about this for a moment, before answering "Later today, at around 12, you wouldn't happen to be Eggman's distraction would you?" "Negative, this unit is uncertain as to what the 'distraction' could be but comes to the conclusion it is not myself!" Metal replied monotonously, Shadow wasted no more time, he was out of his shock now and could hear Sonic fast approaching "let's get out of here, truce, let me come first and I can get the doctor an emerald, if you come second you can still say your better than him." "Agreed, this satisfies primary objective."

At that second Sonic decided to jump on top of Metal, burying his metal face in the dirt before charging on ahead, Shadow quickly pulled Metal out of the ground before they both charged off after him, Chaos Spears and deadly lasers lighting up the landscape.

Tails had just hopped onto Angel Island, thankfully there was no sign of the knucklehead yet... when they were on Angel Island; Sonic, Shadow and Metal were not the echidnas favourite people and Knuckles could be surprisingly fast when he wanted to be, Tails hoped Sonic was smart enough to stick away from Shadow and Metal when they got to the island.

With that thought over, Tails took his left glove off revealing a black furred hand and dropped the glove on the ground, then proceeded to jump down a nearby hole that was concealed by a tree. "Those hedgehogs will be having lots of fun when they discover the security system Knuckles asked me to build!"

Sonic was having a difficult time shaking the two behind him, they seemed to of teamed up again, though this time it looked like it would stay that way, thankfully he was reaching Angel Island soon and if he knew Tails...

"Hey Metal, check this shot!" Shadow laughed, as he threw a Chaos Spear into a cliff face Sonic was passing, showering him with rocks "Ha Ha Ha" Metal melodramatically replied. "Hey when you get back to Eggman, could you get him to install a proper laugh in you." Shadow yelled, Metal just glared at him "negative, no update file for humour systems found." Shadow looked perplexed but decided to drop it, besides Sonic just jumped onto Angel Island.

As he jumped onto the Island, Sonic took a second to glance around and saw what he was looking for "Thanks lil bro!"

When Shadow and Metal jumped onto the island, a bright blue flash suddenly erupted, arcs of energy licked both of them and created a deafening noise. If it wasn't for the fact he was the ultimate lifeform, he doubted he would have kept his consciousness throughout the ordeal.

Looking down, his gloves were completely and utterly ruined, he would have to get new ones, ones from the foxes wallet... hate to admit it, but Tails was now a hated rival and had surpassed all of Shadows expectations of him, movement caught his eyes as Metal Sonic began to rise, although there was diffidently something different about the way he moved.

Almost more fluid and less calculating.

"Metal I have an idea, but I require your aid."
"What?" Metal said, Shadow was a little confused by the reaction but continued nonetheless.
"I can remove my ring-bracers and gain a temporary power boost, enough power to equal a Chaos Emerald... however it depletes a lot of my energy..."
"You want to exploit your powers to get to our foes and then subdue them, while I catch up and hand back your bracers?" Metal asked.
"umm... well yes actually." Shadow finished lamely, Metals quick interpretation of his idea stunning him. Just as the bracers were handed to Metal a rock came flying at the duo, Metal pushing Shadow out of the way just in time.

"SO I GUESS YOU GUYS ARE TO BLAME FOR THAT GIANT EXPLOSION BEFORE HUH! I GUESS EGGMANS TRYING TO STEAL MY MASTER EMERALD AGAIN HUH!"

Shadow and (strangely) Metal sweatdroped, standing before them both was one hell of an angry echidna, shaking his fist violently at them.

Sonic landed on the Ice with a crack, after unexpectedly smacking into Tails who was flying out of a fissure. "Oh hey Tails, you alright there lil bro?" Sonic asked getting up, concern plastered on his face for Tails wellbeing. "Huh, yeah I'm alright, you stand on my glove back there?" Was the kitsune's reply "Yeah and I saw Knuckles heading his way there after the explosion!" Sonic said, earning a happy smile and chuckle from the kit.

"I had hoped you would drop it, but I never thought you would!" Sonic exclaimed, looking down at the rarely seen fur on Tails left hand. "In fact I thought you would just take the lead and go." Sonic finished, both now realising they had been standing in the Ice Cap zone now for some time. Tails grabbed Sonics arms and took to the skies, flying above the glacial lake.

"Sonic the fastest way to the other side of Angel Island is through Ice-Cap Zone and then through Sandopolis. I'll help you through the zones and you can race on ahead once we're off Angel Island, once you reach Castle Acorn wait for me to get there so I can win and I'll buy you as many Chilli Dogs as you can eat... You retain the title of fastest thing alive since you got there first and waited, and I get a look at Shadow's Shoes, everyone wins except Shadow and Metal, deal."

Sonic mulled it over, it was undoubtedly a good plan, but that still meant Tails got to look at Shadows shoes and could one day go faster than him... should he put that kind of technology in his shoes. He was well in the mood to say 'no deal' but Tails had him high in the air above icy cold water, though he knew Tails would never drop him in that!

"I know what you're thinking Sonic, my speed comes from my tails and if I was to use that technology in my own shoes it would set them alight, and I would never give away or sell tech that could match your own speed, it'd be too dangerous and I'll never do that to my big bro!" Tails stated, looking down at him, and Sonic knew he was telling the truth. "Ok Deal, if you draft behind me we'll go even faster through Angel Island, just point the way."

Metal was NOT pleased, he had just been ditched by Shadow and was left to be chased around Ice Cap zone by Knuckles, Metal had gone to Ice Cap in the belief his floating above the ice could be used to his own advantage, forcing the echidna to slow down in order to prevent slipping over. However this was not the case, something about the way Knuckles brushed some snow off a snowboard and chased after him told him this was true.

To make things worse, scans indicated his thought patterns had been changed when he was struck by Tails device before. Although it seemed it wasn't detrimental, it worried him greatly. Worry, now that was a new one. "HEY METAL, I'M GOING TO TURN YOU INTO A CAN OPENER" Knuckles yelled behind him.

Metal stopped running instantly, sticking his arm out and as predicted, Knuckles slammed right into it, cloths-lining himself. Scans indicated the Master Emerald was nearby, Logic indicated going 'super' was not in the rules. "Knuckles, I am currently in a race to Castle Acorn with Sonic, Shadow and Tails, and I request the use of the Master Emerald to give myself an edge, will you allow me to use it?"

"NOW WHY DO YOU THINK I WOULD LET YOU OF ALL THINGS USE THE MASTER EMERALD? EGGMAN MAY OF FOOLED ME BEFORE BUT WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT'D WORK AGAIN METAL?" Knuckles yelled, visibly distraught. "Just thought I'd ask you know..." Metal said, eyeing Knuckles and being ready to jump out of the way at a moment's notice "... me beating Sonic in a little footrace would completely destroy him." Metal finished, relived when Knuckles looked like he was backing down and considering this. Crack, Metal was on the ground arms and legs sprawled all over the place

"You're still Eggman's tool Metal, no matter how much it would humiliate Sonic."
"I hate my life... why was I ever built?"

Shadow was catching up to Sonic and Tails fast, Tails left a distinct track when he moved through the snow and ice. He just hoped Metal was tracking him and still had his disrupter rings, and that he had managed to stay away from knuckles.

Surely Metal could outrun the echidna, but he was Eggman's robot and being attacked might distract him from the task he was given.

"But if what you say is true, then that means Sonic, Tails and Shadow are all on my... MY island, running around like the idiots they are!" Knuckles stated, pulling a remote out from under his glove. Metal eyed the device suspiciously "what are you up to Knucklehead?" he asked, Knuckles looked down at Metal angrily, after appearing to of grown in size tenfold yelled "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!"

Sonic and Tails who just ran into a icy cave, didn't go unnoticed by Shadow the Hedgehog, who jumped straight in after them, Shadow was now and truly worn out by now, but had to hold out long enough to stop the duo in their path and get his disrupter rings back.

Overtaking them both, he sealed up the caves exit with a Chaos Spear, phew "Shadow you frickin cheater, no ring charging remember let us out!" Sonic yelled, voice muffled by tons of snow "Hah I just took off my disrupter rings faker, no cheaters here!" Shadow laughed, turning around he was surprised to see he was now in a desert, standing on sand, taking a quick look back at the frozen cave that had to be below zero C, and to the desert in front of him only one thing came to mind, "what the hell kind of place is this?" but his mind was quickly distracted when he heard the conversation going on behind him.

"Hey Tails, start digging."
"What?"
"Come on your a fox, so you can dig like a dog can't you?"
"Hey I take offence to that."
"So?"
"Aren't hedgehogs supposed to burrow?"
"No... no they don't" Shadow heard something like a foot tapping when Sonic said this.
"Yeah they do I'm sure they do."
"No I've never heard about this before."

Shadow shrugged it off and started going over the sand dunes, they may be idiots but surely it couldn't take them that long to figure out Sonic could simply spin dash through the snow.

On the bright side he was now in the lead, on the not so bright side he was tiring and needed his disrupter rings back quick. "Where are you Metal?"

As it turned out Metal was flying just above him, body glowing yellow with Chaos Energy. "Hey shads, up here!" he said, waving at Shadow "here's ya bracers back!"

Knuckles was FUMING, and he had every right to be.

Metal Sonic had just jumped onto his Master Emerald and used all its power, power which it had been collecting for months to help repair itself, and the end result "HE BROKE MY MASTER EMERALD!" glancing down at the device Tails had built for him, he could see the massive amount of energy from the ME (Master Emerald) was travelling through the Sandopolis zone.

With a push of a button, defence turrets Tails had built were activated. Then the echidna proceeded to jump down a nearby hole onto a teleporter pad, normally powered by the ME, knuckles had to use some of the energy he had absorbed over the years from prolonged exposure to it to power it up and went straight ahead of Metal.

"Well for a genius I sure am stupid!" Tails said, after climbing out of the hole in the ice Sonic just spin dashed through. "Yeah well enough of that, we need to catch up come on, I can't lose to Shadow!"

As they proceeded however, missiles and laser fire began to light up the area around them. "Crap..." Tails yelled, Sonic looked shocked at the kitsune as he hardly ever swore. "... Knuckles jut activated the islands defence network I made, so it's going to be hard going from here on out!" Tails finished, pulling his hands up to protect his eyes from sand spraying into them.

The lasers and missiles were easy enough to dodge, but seeing Knuckles beating the hell out of both Shadow and Super Metal wasn't. Both Sonic and Tails slowed down, after Tails had assured Sonic that the network wouldn't light them up when they were this close to Knuckles.

"Um Knuckles, you know that... umm Shadow and Metal aren't here to... you know, take over Angel Island or anything right?" Sonic said, more than a little unsure how to handle Knuckles when he just beat up Shadow and Super Metal. "I GUESS YOU'RE THE ONE TO BLAME FOR THIS RACE... SONIC." Knuckles screamed at the top of his lungs.

"eeep, no it was Tails who challenged them." Sonic said, his voice suddenly going very quite.
"But... but it was Sonic who said the race was going to go through Angel Island." Tails retaliated, rubbing the back of his neck and slowly backing away.
"So you're both to blame..." Knuckles calmly stated, cracking his namesakes and walking forward.
"geez chill dude, we didn't think you'll be this angry we were here." Sonic said, backing away alongside Tails.
"METAL SONIC BROKE MY MASTER EMERALD IN ORDER TO GO SUPER AND BEAT YOU GUYS IN A LITTLE FOOTRACE!"

Sonic and Tails both looked at each other, back at Knuckles and ran/flew as fast as they could. Shadow and Metal decided to do the same after seeing this.
"HEY GET BACK HERE I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU'S"

"Metal what the hell were you thinking?" Sonic yelled over the wind and missile explosions.
"I don't know, but Sandopolis Zone is next to Angel Island's brim, perhaps if we get off this Island quick enough!" Metal Replied.
"Ok new rule, no more violence in this race ok, once we get off Angel it's a calm footrace ok?" Tails said, everyone was a little bit surprised at the fact he was keeping pace with all of them at this point but they all agreed with him instantly.

Going over the dunes as fast as they could, they were all soon off Angel Island to the relief of everyone (except Knuckles)

Metal and Tails took to the Skies instantly, flying in a parallel line straight to Castle Acorn, Shadow and Sonic both saw this and knew they would have to pick up the pace instantly if they wanted to win.

It may be cease-fire but now all alliances were off again. No one could risk slowing down.

Going down the other side of hill top was diffidently easier than going up, all Sonic and Shadow had to do was jump from floating platform to floating platform as fast as they could, that and ignore the massive 20 ton boulders that were flying at them from Angel Island.

Tails was gradually falling however, his running style may allow him to float when he jumped, but he would not be able to fly indefinitely. It should also be stated that Tails was now yelling, after spotting a joyriding Cream fly past him in his X-Tornado.

Metal was forced to gradually descend as well, Knuckles had cracked his visor in the fight, and had to avoid all clouds should he like to retain his ability to see. Upon spotting the disgruntled Tails, Metal flew down to his level, pated his shoulder and asked condescendingly "Girl Troubles?" before laughing, he had to shut up quick however as his laugh sounded awfully like it belonged in a 'predator' movie, that is to say, quite menacing and evil.

Luckily for Metal, his sensors showed that the kitsune's trajectory was heading straight for a collection of trees, meaning he would have to slow his vertical velocity (and thus, his horizontal) in order to remain safe. His current speed would break any of the branches he landed on so he would not be able to speed through them like he did the forest, glancing over he could see Tails had worked this out as well. "One down two to go!" he exclaimed to Tails happily, his red eyes emulated the feeling by changing into a smiley emoticon.

And his luck spree didn't end there either, as his sensors picked up a sudden burst of Chaos Energy in front of Sonic and Shadow. Looking back he could see Knuckles had teleported straight in front of them then swung his arms out and cloths-lined the two. Tails was now on the ground about 400 metres away from him, and he was now on the Castle Grounds, he had won! He had beat Sonic and Shadow, not to mention that annoying fox who was just now gracing him with his livid presence.

"Now what the hell do I do?" Metal questioned the fox.
"Now what the hell do I do?" Tails questioned the robot.

"Tails I'm sorry I won't do it again I promise." Cream said. tapping Tails on the shoulder was a sad looking chao. "Cream, STOP JOYRIDEING MY X-TORNADO!"

"Well at least the Knucklehead didn't stop you from winning Tails." Sonic said. Before being cut-off and told "I didn't, Metal did!"
Sonic did the only thing he could do... fall over backwards, to the sniggering of both Shadow and Metal.

Cream only now seeing Metal, stared, before Metal introduced himself "Hello there, my name is Metal, and if I heard correctly your name is Cream?" he said in the nicest tone of voice he could achieve (think nails scraping against a chalkboard, though Cream didn't mind.) "Yes that's right" Cream said before giggling. "And might I inquire as to what the name of this chao is?"

Shadow finally worked it out, Metal now existed... although the amount of palace guards surrounding him now questioned the future of that.

"Hey hey guy's it's cool, I built Metal here and he's all safe" Tails lied, but the guards brought it and started dispersing, before Princess Sally opened a door violently (Smacking Sonic's head with it in the process, waking him up.) "What the hell is going on out here!" she yelled (mainly at Sonic.)

Shadow noticed that Tails, Metal and Cream were all now sitting on a park bench in front of a tree and decided to join them. Screams of "bringing a race to Castle Acorn without my permission!" and "you guys are so irresponsible!" were heard behind him. Obviously Sally had not noticed only Sonic was there.

"Nice work Metal, you sure showed the faker back there." Shadow laughed, he couldn't help but feel peaceful at the sight before him. Several flicky birds were playing with Cheese, Tails seemed to have a grasp on the flicky language and was talking to a flicky that was on his ungloved hand, and Cream was having a conversation about chocolate cake with Metal. "If only that squirrel would shut up!" Shadow thought.

At that moment however the nearby clock tower struck twelve. Eggman's distraction would be starting around now. Shadow was pleased to see Metal didn't try to kill Cream suddenly.

A few moments later, Shadow saw a distressed coyote dressed in a blue army uniform run up to Sally and seconds later Sonic was gone. "Well that worked better than expected!" Shadow said out loud as he walked over to the others. "you put up a good fight today... fox, enough to earn a look at my shoes, if you want I can take you straight back to your workshop with a Chaos Control."

Tails looked at Shadow, sighed, than looked at the tree behind him, rubbing its bark. "Yeah sure, ok I guess, I need to get out of here any way!" walking forward Shadow could see his eyes were slightly glazed. "Bye Cosmo."

Next chapter focuses a bit more on Tails past, so get ready.

Rate and Review... you! I Demand this story has at least 25 reviews or you'll never see Tails past.