Hey again! Just some news for you, since school is beginning to pick up again, I will have less time to write and/or upload, so please be patient with me.
Sonic: Come on! Patience are for hospitals!
Pat yourself on the back if you know where that one came from.
December-26-3456
12:10 Mobius Time
Dark and dank were the halls of the corridor in this complex. The lights were dimmed to preserve power, giving the appearance that this place had long since been abandoned. That was, however, not the case, as a black vixen walked down the steel hallway, her feet creating a clatter with every step.
She was dressed in black military attire, giving the appearance that she was some kind of assassin. That was one of her services, but she was not on a job now. She was relaxing. You might say she had some down time. In reality, she was just wasting away the hours, waiting for her next assignment. The old fool had always gone on and on about keeping quiet until the necessary time to reveal themselves, and that they shouldn't risk the possibility of revealing their position.
She huffed and glared at nothing in particular. Why go through all the trouble if they know who we are? She thought as she walked into a room in the complex. It was complete with a bed, desk, closet, mirror and washroom. That wasn't to say it was in the nicest of conditions.
No, this room hadn't been cleaned since nine months ago. The only thing that she kept even remotely clean was a large photograph that hung on the wall of her messy room. She noticed a new layer of dust had settled on the photo and frame, so she took an old rag and wiped it off.
The picture was of her and her best friend, partying to their hearts content. There was no one else in the picture, as they had been by themselves for most of their lives, living off what ever came there way. That is, until they were called for duty by their boss.
She looked at the female figure next to her in the photo. She was a brown, teenage mouse, wearing an open black jacket and a grey undershirt, along with jeans, from which her tiny mouse tail protruded. The operative word in that sentence being was.
She barred her fangs and growled for a moment. How could she have been so foolish, thinking that doing this assignment would be fun? In just one mission, she had lost her dignity, her self-confidence, she was surely losing her sanity, and she lost the most important thing of all.
"I will make you pay for what you did, Miles Prower." She swore under her breath, clenching her fist all the while.
She then let loose an ear piercing scream, attempting to relieve her anguish.
On the floor above, a bald man could hear the sound of pain that was emitted from his ally. He breathed a sigh and muttered, "Such a shame," before continuing his work.
A robot of humanoid height with a vertically elongated head came up behind him. "Would you like your sandwich, Doctor Eggman?" It asked.
The old man in the chair turned from the contrasting light to reveal that he wore a red over coat with a black sweater underneath, and black, sophisticated pants. His bushy, orange mustache was wider than his head and his torso was certainly much wider, to say the least.
"Thank you Decoe, I will have it." He answered, retrieving the Reuben sandwich from the robot. He checked to make sure it was all there. True to its nature, the sandwich contained sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, Thousand Isle dressing, and pastrami, all on a pumpernickel loaf.
He took a bite out of the sandwich, chewed, swallowed and looked at the sandwich. After analyzing it, he took another bite. While he didn't express his thanks, Decoe's artificial intelligence told him that the second bite meant he liked it and he took it as his cue to leave the room.
Eggman was observing a video feed from his Sky Eye Echo satellite that was orbiting over the Great Unknown. He had been watching this particular feed for a couple hours or so, as the events that took place were quite astonishing.
From the Sky Eye, he could tell that Sonic and his friends had invaded the base, but he hadn't a clue on what purpose. Whatever it was, they were currently retreating from the base. However, one figure was left. He used the optical zoom in to find none other than Tails, sending forth a wave of energy.
"What's he up to?" The bulbous scientist muttered while pulling up a screen that measured chaos energy. The energy level was far spread, but weak. He laughed that even the fox might not make it out of this.
All of a sudden, the energy stopped. He widened his eyes when energy was beginning to build and concentrate on the fox. He had built his scanner to measure amounts of chaos energy to the extreme, and Tails was pushing this. The color was now a vibrant red, indicating extremely dangerous amounts of energy. He figured that not even five people in powered by the chaos emeralds could amount this sort of energy, and he was doing so without any emeralds.
He looked at the soldiers on the ground that were staring at the entity of energy above them. All of a sudden, the camera on the energy radar zoomed out and a column of yellow shot out of the ground. He stared at this mass of energy until it died down.
When the beacon fizzled out, he looked for the Abstergo base, only to find a field of ash in its place.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
…Syaoron the Fox presents…
…The Third in the Series…
The Mobius Code
Tribulations
Chapter 4
Ash to Ash
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The Great Unknown
December-26-3456
12:32 Mobius Time
Tails was laid out on the hot sand of the boundless desert. Even in the winter, the desert gave no relent from its searing heat. Cosmo knew that if Tails wasn't standing in about two hours, the sand would be too hot to lie on, and someone would have to carry him. He wasn't coming around any time soon, that was for sure.
His injuries were interior, rather than exterior. It took an experienced medic, such as Cosmo, to tell the severity of these damages. The damage was mainly intense muscle strain. Some of it was torn, while other muscle was ripped. Other damages were extreme exhaustion, probably from the use of all that energy, and minute bone fractures, perhaps even a concussion if he was unlucky. Based on this, she assumed that Tails could very well be out of it for a few days.
Everyone was still in awe at what took place. The mass destruction, the mass murder… every single detail had been engraved in their minds. Sonic walked over to Cosmo, who was still kneeling in the sand next to her beloved. He looked at the comatose kitsune that lay in the sand, and then at the girl doing her best to heal him.
"Why?" He muttered sadly. Cosmo perked up her ears and looked at Sonic. She sighed and went on.
"It had to be done." She explained. "Peace talk had failed, so now we have to eliminate them, especially since their working with Eggman."
Sonic looked at the field of ash that lay a couple meters from them and then glanced back to the two. "Yeah, but why did we need to kill them all?"
"Because protocol dictated it."
Sonic quickly turned his head to the side and looked at his Tails, who had opened his eyes weakly and reappeared in the land of the living. Sonic glared at his surrogate brother for a moment.
"Tails, what really happened while you were gone?" He asked. Tails' ears flattened in response.
Cosmo looked at Sonic for a while. "Sonic, he doesn't need this. He's to injured right now and…"
"Don't give me that!" He shouted at her, causing her to jump. "What happened in a period of nine months that has completely changed him?"
Tails glared at Sonic for a while attempting to stand. Failing in pain, yes, but attempting. "Don't shout at her, Sonic. I can explain."
Cosmo rushed over to him and laid her hands on his chest. "Tails, you need your rest. You haven't properly healed and..."
"No, Cosmo." Tails interrupted her. "He has to hear this."
Sonic breathed a sigh and relaxed. By this time, the others had heard the argument and had formed a semi-circle about the crippled kitsune.
Tails nodded at Cosmo and said, "It started about three months after we were banished…"
[FLASH-BACK]
Damnati* Village
June-20-3456
8:48 Mobius Time
Before we came to Pagus Vulpes, we lived in Damnati Village.
A small community existed just outside of the Great Forest. It had a lively community, wonderful plaza and beautiful scenery, as it sat on the edge of a cliff. People walk in and out of the traditionally styled market to by the goods they would need for dinner, parties, or even just for daily use, but the market always seemed to bustling in the day.
These people, as I learned, agreed with the Parliament's decision on banishing me, so we had to stay hidden often.
A woman walked into the market place. All of her features were blocked by the large cloak she wore. It was emblazoned with the Roman numeral IX in a fiery fashion with nine wavy lines extending from the symbol. Many of the people would notice her throughout the day. She would walk into a market, buy what she needed, and walk out, without ever saying a word.
She was a complete mystery, and nobody knew where she went. It always seemed like she would disappear when nobody was looking.
We got used to our "on the run" life style and even began to enjoy the thrill… but it wasn't meant to last.
People screamed and shouted as they ran from the beings who had entered. Those that had entered the town wore green military clothing and they all held HK33 assault rifles. They rampaged in, shooting every living being in sight, without mercy, without forgiveness.
Tails and Cosmo, wearing their cloaks, only arrived in time to see them flee the burning village. Mobians were everywhere, mutilated beyond recognition. One rabbit was desperately crawling to Cosmo and Tails. "PLEASE, HELP!" She shouted, notifying them of her presence.
Tails and Cosmo knelt next to her as Cosmo attempted to heal her. She was bloodied up with bullet wounds in her chest. Cosmo gave Tails a downcast look, telling him it was hopeless.
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." He muttered to her as kindly as he could.
She gave him a shocked expression. One that held pain and suffering. "No… are you sure?" She whimpered. She began to cry softly while Tails looked at her frail body.
She looked around at their faces, trying to burn their image into her memory so that she may remember them in the next world. It was then that she noticed Tails' tails.
She gasped and Tails looked over to her. She was breathing heavily and staring at his namesakes. "Is it really you?" She asked him, remaining to stare at his tails.
Tails nodded, not seeing a reason to deny her. Her eyes almost visibly lit up. "I see…" She weakly muttered.
She then raised her hand and placed it on Tails' shoulder. "Thank you…" She whispered before her hand fell limp; dead.
I had to watch her die! I had to tell her there was no hope! It was heartbreaking for the both of us.
Tails sobbed by the poor woman's body while Cosmo patted his back, on the verge of tears, herself. When they felt able to go on, Tails stood back up and they rushed out into the fields.
But not before burying the young woman's body.
A couple days later, we received a mission from G.U.N. to destroy the United Mobian Insurrection's home base. We took it without question. This was the first use of the EXCIDIUM protocol. It was the first time I had ever used the Zephyr Sun Beam.
[END FLASH-BACK]
"That is but a fragment of the past that Cosmo and I experienced." Tails concluded. He limped over to where Cosmo stood and gave her a hug. "Sometimes, I wonder if I could even make it through without her company."
Cosmo visibly blushed as the others contemplated what Tails had just told them. With all said and done, Shadow took his green chaos emerald in hand and they warped away in a strobe of light.
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Angel Island
December-31-3456
19:29 Mobius Time
It was a couple days after Operation Abstergo and Knuckles sat by the Master Emerald, at peace. To him, everything was right in the world at that moment in time. He was relaxing by the Master Emerald at sun down, looking up at the sky in the blank way that he did while relaxing. A butterfly landed on his nose for a short time, at which he moved his head and glanced at the insect before it flew away from its perch of flesh.
Standing still, making rational decisions; it seemed to him that those were some things that he could do better than Sonic. His judgment was impaired, yes, and it struck a blow to his pride every time someone used it to their advantage. However, he could still make a rational decision, and his judgment was improving. He thusly remained, relaxing in a way for a period of time that would have driven the blue speed demon to tears.
He remained still while a cloud floated overhead. It took the shape of a fox at one time, but soon it dissipated, leaving a wispy, random cloud in its place. It's probably a Cumulonimbus, He thought as the sky darkened. He was, therefore, unsurprised by the rain that came not minutes after.
"What are you doing out in the rain, Knuckles?" A feminine voice asked him. Lying to his right was a pink echidna with a metallic braid hidden among her spines.
Knuckles sighed as the fresh water pattered against his face, giving off a slight glow. The Master Emerald was also coated in a layer of liquid as the runoff flowed down the steps of the shrine. "I could ask the same of you…Julie-Su." He replied.
The rain that fell was cold, but the two echidnae held their stay in front of the big green gem. It was their duty to protect the powerful relic, through rain, snow, sleet, hail, and anything else that might come their way. It was a tradition held by the Angel Island echidnae for centuries.
Knuckles walked up to the immense emerald and put his wet, gloved hand on it. It was a quality of the Master Emerald that gave a warm feeling to the one who touched it. In a sense, it was more of a living being than a powerful rock.
"Do you think this war will ever end, Knuckles?" Julie-Su asked, causing Knuckles to turn around.
He shook his head. "Only time will tell." He answered before returning to his restful position on his back.
"Hey, Knuckles!" A voice shouted in the distance. Knuckles perked his ears up at the sound of the voice.
Tails and Cosmo had been staying at his hut for a while, since they were vacationing from Pagus Vulpes. The yellow kit in question flew slowly to the top of the shrine and looked worriedly at the echidna.
The kit sighed. "You're speaking to her again, aren't you?" He wondered, while Knuckles frowned.
The red echidna turned his head to the side to find that Julie-Su was no longer there. She had, seemingly, disappeared in entirety. Knuckles stood up and walked over to Tails silently.
"…Knuckles?" Tails spoke, wondering if he had even heard him.
The echidna then pulled Tails into a hug and broke down. Rather than wet with water, his face was soaked in tears as he cried on Tails' shoulder. Tails could only return the gesture, hugging him back to show him that he was there for him.
Knuckles wept for a minutes on end, it seemed. When he regained his ability to speak and hold a straight face, he looked at the vulpine that stood before him.
"How did you do it?" He questioned of the kitsune while looking into his eyes. "How did you bear four years of this pain?"
Tails looked solemnly at the saddened echidna and frowned. "Just keep on living, Knuckles." He summarized. "She died so none of us would have to."
Knuckles appeared unsatisfied until Tails continued. "I thought this very thing about the day Cosmo died. I thought that it could've been any of us. For years, what kept me going was the thought that her sacrifice would be in vain if I just threw myself away."
Knuckles smiled a little at this and went back to his post in front of the Master Emerald. Rather, he was, until tails grabbed his shoulder. "You go inside and take a break, Knuckles." Tails told him. "I'll take point for a while."
Knuckles smiled at his guest and gladly walked down the steps of the shrine and to his hut. It was a small house, having a bedroom, guest bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.
Cosmo was inside, preparing a large bowl of salsa. With Knuckles' home grown herbs, it was a cinch. She probably could've made more, but she didn't want to use all of Knuckles' veggies, so she stuck with one large bowl instead.
She spotted the drenched echidna and smirked. "Well, look what the storm washed up." She commented before running to the bathroom and throwing him a towel.
He exchanged a smirk with her before rubbing himself down with the towel. When he was high and dry, he walked over to the table that supported the bowl of salsa. He took a tortilla chip from a separate bowl and dipped it in the salsa. After collecting a small mound on the chip, he stuffed the chip into his mouth and widened his eyes. He quickly swallowed and began to pant profusely. His eyes were watering as he quickly breathed in and out.
His eyes darted around the room, searching for a source of water. He noticed the faucet on the counter and made a mad dash for it. Taking a glass, he turned the faucet on and filled it to the brim. He then proceeded to chug the water down in a few quick gulps in an attempt to rid himself of the spiciness.
It worked after about his third glass of ice water, and he was still sweating then. Cosmo came back into the room after using the restroom and looked at the echidna.
"Be careful, the salsa's a bit spicy." She advised him, to which he face palmed.
"You're a little late for that, Cosmo." He admitted while she fought her fits of giggles.
The rain appeared to be passing over. It simmered down to a light shower before moving on completely. Knuckles took this opportunity to exchange positions with Tails again. He walked up the wet steps of the shrine and arrived at the top, seeing the fox stare at the beauty that was the Master Emeralds.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Tails asked him. "You know, that such a beautiful piece of stone can hold such great power."
Knuckles nodded. "It is, indeed."
Tails brushed his hand along the surface of the green, shimmering jewel and found some kind of solace in it. It was as if it was taking away all of his worries. He could feel the energy that flowed through it.
"What is chaos, Knuckles?" Tails asked, introducing a thought that the echidna never really had before.
Knuckles thought for a moment before opening his eyes again. "Chaos is that which binds us, yet that which pushes us apart, Tails." He answered deeply. "It is there when you really need it, and there when we'd rather it not be. It is both good and bad, yet neither at the same time. It is the essence of what we do, stripped away from who we are. It judges on actions rather than character."
Tails stared at the echidna for a while before smirking. "So, how long did it take you to come up with that analogy?"
Knuckles smirked as well. He then looked at the wrist-watch he had, which also acted as a communicator on need. He looked at the time and answered, "About 10.29 seconds. Why?"
Tails' eyes almost visibly bulged. The sun was now under the horizon, leaving only the few minutes of twilight before it ultimately became night.
"Knuckles, it's about time we get some sleep." Tails suggested. Before Knuckles could retort, Tails said, "and don't worry. I can just set up the security system."
Knuckles closed his mouth immediately after and went with Tails to the hut where he could enjoy a peaceful rest.
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Amy's house
December-31-3456
21:20 Mobius Time
The normally restless blue hedgehog was even more restless than normal as he tossed and turned in the bed. Amy, having been subsequently woken by said hedgehog, tapped him on the shoulder. "Sonic, are you okay?" She questioned as the supersonic speedster turned around to face her. The expression on his face showed her that he was troubled.
"I don't know, Amy." Sonic confessed. "What Tails did must've done something to me."
Amy looked skeptically at her conflicted husband. "I think the word you're looking for is shocked, surprised, or traumatized."
Sonic nodded. "I think that's it. I just didn't think he was capable of such mass destruction. Nor did I think he would actually do it."
Amy sighed and shook her head. "I know, Sonic." She assured him. "You have to understand what he's been through, though."
Sonic nodded ever more slowly. "I guess." He concluded. "Still, a couple months ago, Tails wouldn't even let blood touch his hands; he was so terrified of death. Now he treats it like a common occurrence."
Amy sighed once more. "You have to realize, Sonic, that in this world of war, death is as common as the cold."
Sonic widened his eyes for just a moment and came to a conclusion. "Tails is going to have some explaining to do."
*Damnati is Latin. Its literal translation is "Condemned."