Notes: Hello again! Prepare yourself for a long chapter, the longest of the story so far. Something is rotten in the city of Apotos... As always, a massive thank-you goes out to everyone for continuing to support this story. It makes me so happy that you all like it! And now, on with the show~
The two hedgehogs ran a little while longer before the elder was forced to stop. He sat down on the edge of a roof, leaning up against a chimney. He was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. The younger Sonic skidded to a stop a few roofs away, then doubled back and approached his counterpart. "What's up?" the child asked, sitting down next to his older self. The smaller hedgehog wasn't breathing nearly as hard as the taller one. In fact, Little Sonic felt great.
"I'm fine. I was just… breathing too hard, is all. Ribs started to hurt again," the older Sonic said in between labored breaths. "Just give me a second, I'll be fine. I just need to let the pain pass."
"Sure thing," said the lighter blue hedgehog. He looked out at the city. It was truly beautiful, especially basked in the soft light of the moon. The whole city seemed to glow, the moonlight reflecting off of the clean white of the buildings. Why couldn't all cities be like this? Not filled with crazy death traps or robots or people who can't tell a hedgehog from a rat or a porcupine. Just a nice, normal city, filled with… cries for help?
"Did you hear that just now?" the younger Sonic asked, cleaning his ear out with his finger in case he was hearing things.
"Person screaming? You bet," his older self replied, trying to get to his feet. He was trying (and failing) to hide the fact that he was still in pain. "Come on, let's go check it out!" he said enthusiastically.
"Nice try, you're not fooling me. You wait here until you can actually move again, I'll go on ahead. Catch up to me once you're useful in a fight." The smaller hedgehog punched him playfully in the arm before jumping down from the roof they were resting on. He took off down another narrow street, in the direction of the scream. While not a huge fan of throwing himself into danger, he couldn't sit by and do nothing if someone else could be hurt.
He ran a short distance through the city before he came to a small, mostly empty plaza. There were several creatures scattered about, much like the one that he had fought in WindyValley yesterday. These appeared to be a little bit smaller, a bit less powerful maybe, but definitely the same type of monster. The majority of them were crowding around one corner of the plaza; maybe whoever screamed was in that corner, surrounded by the beasts.
Wasting no time, the young hedgehog jumped into action. He revved up into a spin dash, and took off towards the nearest monster's legs. The creature fell over, its feet having been knocked out from under it, and slipped into unconsciousness as its head collided with the cobblestone street.
Sonic got to his feet and noticed the rest of the monsters had turned their heads towards him. Perfect. Well, at least their previous victim was safe. He took a fighting stance, standing light on his toes so he could dodge any attack quickly. After seeing what one of the big monsters did to his older-self, he was less than eager to get in a pickle concerning five of the smaller ones.
He sprung up into the air, curling himself into a ball and spinning around until he was more buzzsaw than mammal. He landed directly on the head of one of the monsters, doing a bit of damage with his spikes before he jumped off and landed on another one's head. This one raised its hands up to try and smack Sonic away, but the hedgehog jumped before the creature could hit him. The creature ended up bashing itself on the head, which only got worse when Sonic came down and landed on its noggin again. It slumped over, knocked out cold. Sonic jumped off of it before it hit the ground and landed outside the group of villains. He ran around them at high speeds, sending them all into a fit of confusion. He made another attack for one of the monster's legs, knocking it over before piledriving into its stomach.
He suddenly felt cold claws grip his midsection as he was lifted into the air by something behind him. One of the creatures had caught him off guard. His first instinct was to struggle to try and break free- he quickly decided against this, however, when he realized that wriggling around would probably only coax the creature's claws into penetrating his flesh. Instead, he flexed his quills, quickly turning them from soft hairs into spines that could cut metal. He whipped his head backward, jamming his quills into the monster's arm. The creature screeched as it let go of the hedgehog, and it was now bleeding a slimy green substance from its puncture wounds. 'Ew', Sonic thought, shaking some of the goop off of his spines. He was going to take a shower when he got back to the workshop, that was for sure. If he got back to the work shop, that was. His older self was still no where to be seen, and there were still 3 monsters left. Two of the monsters were suffering injuries, which, while making them weaker, also made them much, much angrier. Sonic quickly curled up into a ball and revved into another spindash. He needed to finish this before he ended up getting hurt.
He took out the legs of the bleeding monster, incapacitating it sufficiently enough to keep it from getting up again. The one whose head he had smashed into earlier charged at him, its long, strong arms preparing to claw his face off. Acting purely on instinct, Sonic ducked, sliding underneath the monster's legs. It was a good thing the hedgehog was short- if his older self had tried that trick, he wouldn't have made it. Once behind the monster, Sonic jumped onto its back, wrapped his legs around its neck, and yanked downwards, flipping the creature backwards over his head and onto the floor. That left one monster left to take down. Right? Sonic looked around, but the remaining beast was no where to be seen. Unless...
He looked up, remembering what Tails had said the other day about monsters dropping down from above. The monster had somehow climbed up one of the buildings surrounding the plaza, and was readying to pounce down on its unsuspecting prey. Sonic grinned up at it. This was one of the smart ones, apparently. Unfortunately, not smart enough. Sonic dashed up the side of the building the creature was standing on before it had time to react. Within seconds, the hedgehog was standing behind it. With a quick wave goodbye, Sonic jumped into the air and tornado-kicked the monster off the building, sending it plummeting to the ground. "And stay down," he said with a huff.
The monsters now defeated, Sonic jumped nimbly down the building and landed back in the center of the plaza. He wasted no time surveying the damage he and the monsters might have caused during their fight, and instinctively went over to the person the creatures had been ganging up on before he arrived.
An old man, a professionally dressed one at that, was regaining his composure as Sonic approached him. "Hey gramps, you okay? Those things didn't hurt you, did they?"
"Oh, no, I'm quite all right," the man said with a smile. He wore glasses, and had a very large, almost cartoonish nose. "Thank you for saving my life- Sonic? Oh, fancy meeting you here!"
"You know me?" the hedgehog asked, slightly confused now. He had never seen this old man before in his life.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten all about old Professor Pickle, now! It wasn't too long ago that I assisted you in putting the world back together. Only about three years or so, yes?"
"Ooohhh, no, look mister, you don't understand, I'm from-"
"Hey, younger-me! There you are!" Sonic turned around to see his older self finally approaching, apparently feeling much better. The twenty-year-old waved cheerfully before observing all the monsters laying about. "Wow, looks like I missed a heck of a party."
"Yo, this guy says he knows us!" the younger hedgehog said, pointing a thumb towards the professor.
"What? Oh, hey, Professor Pickle! Long time no see!" the older said cheerfully, approaching the old man with an outstretched hand.
"Ah, yes, indeed. Although, if I may ask, why are there two of you, Sonic?" the human asked, shaking Sonic's hand.
"Long story," both hedgehogs said in unison. They glanced at each other and laughed. "It's time travel, Prof," the elder Sonic said with a smile. "He's me, from eight years ago. Which would explain why he doesn't know you- by the way, let me introduce you two! Little me, this is Professor Pickle, from SpagoniaUniversity. Professor, this is my past self!"
"My, well it is a pleasure to meet you, Sonic!" the professor said, leaning down to shake the young hedgehog's hand.
"Erm, likewise. Oh, and you're welcome. For saving you from the monsters and stuff. It was no big deal."
"On the contrary! If you had not come, I surely would have been dead by now. You have my most sincerest thanks."
"So, professor," the older Sonic said, "what are you doing here in Apotos? Don't you have, you know, professor stuff to do?"
"Well, it is the summer you know. Thought I'd take a bit of a vacation!" the old man chuckled. "Also, Apotos is currently having its bi-annual sandwich competition, and my cucumber sandwiches are a prize contender!"
"Oh, right, the cucumber sandwich thing. Gotcha. Though, I'm not sure why those monsters would be interested in a sandwich party..." Sonic said, placing a finger on his chin.
"Yeah, I was wondering just what they were doing here, too," his younger self said. "Time hasn't stopped here or anything, so they have no reason to be here, right?"
"Time stopped? What?" the professor inquired.
"Yeah, it happened the other day in WindyValley," the young hedgehog explained briefly. "Whole place is frozen in time, and we saw a monster a lot like these ones. Older me, you don't think...?"
The green-eyed hedgehog gulped. "Apotos is next... Professor, you need to get out of here as fast as you can. We need to evacuate the city. Time is going to stop here soon, and even if it's not, it's not safe to be here with all these monsters around!"
"Well, I can't argue with that."
Sonic nodded and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald, the gem sparkling under the combined light of the streetlights and the moon. The jewel sent a gentle rush of warmth through his body, filling him with energy. He could almost feel the Emerald thump in time with his own heartbeat. He winked down at his younger self.
"I'm gonna get the professor out of here," he said quickly. "I'll be back in a flash. Hold on tight, Prof!" He grabbed onto the old man's arm with one hand and gripped the Chaos Emerald with the other. "Chaos Control!"
And then they were gone in a flash of light, leaving the preteen alone in the plaza.
The twenty-year-old and the professor reappeared in a grassy field, about a mile out from the city. Sonic looked out at the port town and frowned. He didn't like the feeling he was getting in his gut.
"Oho!" Professor Pickle exclaimed, getting his bearings straight. "So that is what Chaos Control is like! Fascinating!"
"Sorry Prof, but I can't stick around and neither can you. You gotta get back to Spagonia, 'kay? Me and my younger self can handle things around here," Sonic said, turning towards the old man. He hated to just leave him, but teleporting all the way to Spagonia and back would take too much time and energy. The professor nodded, hands tucked behind his back.
"I understand. Best of luck to you, Sonic!" he said, glancing at the hedgehog in front of him, and then the city.
"Good luck to you too, dude!" Sonic smiled. He held the Emerald out in front of him and closed his eyes. He could feel the gem's energy mixing with his own as he gripped it tight. "Chaos Control!" he yelled for what felt like the hundredth time that day before vanishing into thin air.
ooo
Meanwhile, back on the other side of the globe, a young fox reawakened from his slumber. Tiny Tails yawned, stretching underneath his blankets. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before throwing his covers off of him and sliding out of bed. He shoved a pair of gloves onto his hands and slipped his red and white sneakers onto his small feet. "Sonic? You awake?" he asked, glancing up to the top bunk. He huffed when he saw the bed was empty. He knew his big bro had tried to get some more sleep, just like he did. Maybe the hedgehog couldn't fall asleep and had gone downstairs?
The kit left the bedroom and went downstairs, shivering slightly. Even with the heat cranked up, it was still kind of cold inside the workshop. Maybe he could ask if they could start a fire in the fire place and make some s'mores. He loved making s'mores when it got cold out.
Lil' T poked his head into the living room, expecting to see at least one Sonic in there. Alas, it was empty, and had been for over an hour. The kitchen was also deserted, as well as the hangar. All of the planes were still in their proper places, and a quick look out the window confirmed that no one had left the house on foot- there would have been a deep rut in the deep snow if they had. Where the heck was everyone?
The youngster decided that it couldn't hurt to check in the basement to see if anyone was there. He opened the basement door and wandered down the stairs, looking around as he reached the bottom. His eyes sparked happily as he spied the form of his older self sitting at the computer. He was typing away at the large console, which had screens covering half the wall.
"Older me!" the kit said with a smile, skipping over to the teenager.
"Oh, hey!" the older one said. "Look who's finally awake."
"Where are the Sonics?"
The blue-eyed one exhaled. "They said they were going to Apotos with the Chaos Emerald to get a bit of fresh air, but I haven't been able to get a hold of either of them on the older Sonic's communicator."
"Are they in trouble?" The child's eyes went wide. His future-self shrugged.
"Not sure. They're probably fine, we both know that they can handle themselves. If anything I'll bet they're having too much fun running around to even hear the communicator go off." He kicked gently with his feet, rolling himself away from the computer. His younger self climbed up onto the chair with him and took a seat on his lap.
"Maybe your call isn't going through because of the weather?"
"Not a bad guess, Little-Me. The workshop's satellite is pretty powerful though, so weather is almost never a problem with it. You never know, though, you could be right. Not much we can really do if that's the case, though." The teenager leaned back in his chair and blew his bangs out of his face. "Either way, they're probably going to be gone a while. What do you want to do in the meantime?"
The child curled into the chest of his older self, hearing the other's heart beat in time with his own. "Can we maybe make some s'mores in the fireplace?" he asked, looking up at the bigger fox with adorable puppy dog eyes.
The older Tails laughed. "You know that face won't work on me. I'm you."
"Yeah, but… but s'mores!"
"I never said we couldn't make s'mores," he smiled. It was amazing how much he still had in common with his six-year-old self. He had always loved sitting around a fire, whether roughing it outside or in front of a fireplace, and had always asked his big brother if they could make s'mores. Of course, back in the day, he and Sonic weren't the most well-to-do people on the planet, so the answer was almost always 'no.' As time passed, they started to earn a living from the whole hero business (as well as a few odd jobs on the side), and they would sometimes make cookies and brownies and things for super-special occasions. S'mores had always been the fox's favorite though, for some reason. Something about making them was just irresistibly fun, whether you were six or fourteen.
Besides, s'mores were a lot easier to get right than a pot of mac and cheese.
"Come on, let's head upstairs," the older Tails said, lifting his younger persona up off of his lap and setting him down on the ground. "You can get the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, and I'll go get the fire started."
The kid's face lit up like the Fourth of July as he flew up the stairs as fast as he could. He soared into the kitchen and immediately started tearing open cabinets and drawers, looking for what they would need for the campfire treats. The elder of the two was upstairs a few seconds later. He poked his head into the kitchen to make sure his past self hadn't broken anything in his excited haste, pointed out that the graham crackers were in the cabinet next to the microwave, and then ducked into the living room to set up the fire.
ooo
Sonic reappeared a split second later in the plaza, somewhat out of breath. He wasn't used to teleporting this much in such a short period of time. "I'm back! Miss me?" he said, expecting his younger self to answer. His ears, however, were met with nothing but silence. He looked around. "Little Blue? Hello?" His younger persona was no where to be found.
'Where could he have gone? I was only gone for a minute.' The hedgehog tapped his foot, annoyed. 'And he had the nerve to call ME impatient.' He sighed. He considered calling out for him, but he wasn't terribly keen on attracting any monsters that might be lurking around. Instead, he leapt up onto a nearby rooftop and scanned the city. It would be easier to spot the kid from above.
"Now, if I were me, where would I have run off to…?" He glanced around, looking for anything that was blue and moving at the speed of sound. He looked down at the streets of Apotos for several seconds before he noticed a streak of cobalt race down one of the larger avenues. 'Bingo.'
Sonic jumped off the roof, landing solidly on his feet, and took off in the direction his past-self was headed. The hedgehog felt on edge. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, given how empty the streets were. Even late at night, Apotos always had people strolling around. It was probably for the best, though; people were safer from the time monsters if they stayed in their homes.
The green-eyed hero made a sharp turn around a corner and accidentally ran right-smack into his younger self. The two fell to the ground in a jumble of limbs and curse words, each struggling to get back up again. Once they untangled themselves from each other, the smaller hedgehog kicked his counterpart in the shin.
"Ow! What was that for?!" the elder Sonic asked, clutching his leg with both hands.
"For ditching me!" his younger self scowled. "'I'll be back in a second.' Yeah, right! Where the hell WERE you?"
The twenty-year-old shot him a confused look, raising an eyeridge. "Dude, what are you talking about?" he asked. "I just 'ported Professor Pickle about a mile away from the city, and then I came right back."
"I've been waiting for you to come back for almost an hour," the child said, crossing his arms in frustration.
"An hour?! Ever think that that maybe has to do with the time stream acting up, and not me?"
"Well, yeah, but- it's weird. Here, I gotta show you something," Little Sonic said, giving his future self a hand getting to his feet. He walked over to a market stall on the side of the street. Nobody was manning the shop, even though it appeared open and ready for business. The young speedster picked up a small decorative bowl off of the stand, holding it up for the older Sonic to see. Then, he let go of the bowl, letting it drop.
The larger hedgehog flinched instinctively, expecting the ceramic bowl to shatter. When he didn't hear the sound of fine china being destroyed, though, he opened up his eyes. When he saw the bowl, his jaw dropped.
The piece of pottery was floating in midair, crawling at a snail's pace towards the ground. It was like it was falling in ultra-slow motion.
"See that?" the black-eyed hedgehog said. "Everyone in the city is moving at a normal speed, but stuff like this plate moves all slow-mo. Not only that, but all the clocks here are moving super fast. I assumed, y'know, that you were moving normal speed too, just like I was."
"That's certainly weird," the older Sonic said, putting a finger to his chin and leaning in to inspect the slowly plummeting plate. "We couldn't have BOTH been moving normal speed, though, because I KNOW I wasn't gone an hour. Maybe… Maybe everyone in the city is being sped up. That would explain why this thing is falling so slow- it's falling normally, and we're just moving so fast, it looks super slow. Time here isn't just slowing to a stop like it did in WindyValley. It's going into an all-out frenzy before everything collapses. But why Apotos? Why now?"
"You mean you DIDN'T know this would happen when you brought us here?"
"I had no idea. Unless us being here somehow triggered something, it's a complete coincidence that all this is going down now."
"So I guess that leaves the question, why is time being all mondo-weird here? And is it our fault?"
"I dunno. WindyValley's time stopped all on its own, so I don't think it's us… Do you hear something?" The older hedgehog turned his head around slowly, only to be greeted by an approaching hoard of time monsters. A grin spread across his face. "Looks like I'm not too late to the party, after all!"
His younger incarnation took a fighting stance, bouncing up and down on his toes and shaking his hands to loosen up his wrists. "Where do these things keep coming from?" he wondered aloud.
"No clue," his older self answered. "Now come on, what are we waiting for? Let's kick some tail!" And with that, he took off towards the large group of monsters, adrenaline pumping through his body. He jumped high up into the air, spinning fast, and landed right on the head of the first creature he saw. The beast crumpled to the ground while Sonic sped off of it, bowling through about five of six more monsters before jumping to his feet.
"Come on, aren't you guys going to put up any sort of fight?" he asked, hand on his hips and yawning dramatically. One of the monsters nearest him let out a gurgling snarl as it swung its bulky arm towards the hedgehog's head. Sonic spotted the attack from a mile away. He leapt into the air, avoiding the attack with ease. "Hah! You stick-brains are gonna have to try harder than-" he stopped mid-sentence, the monster's other fist colliding with his stomach, right below the scar. He was sent flying back a good ten feet or so, landing hard on the cobblestone street. He coughed roughly. "Hey man, so not cool…"
"Good grief," his younger self said, shaking his head. "This is where being cocky gets you!" Deciding it was time for him to join the fray as well, he took a few steps back before launching forward towards the group of enemies. He slammed his foot into the chest of an upcoming monster, ribs shattering as it collapsed to the ground. Sonic was sure glad these things were evil, otherwise fighting them like this would give him nightmares for weeks. He could hear another creature coming up from behind him, and he swung his leg around. He felt his sneaker collide with the back of the monster's knee, and the beast fell to the ground.
Just as that monster came crashing down, the older Sonic got back up. His midsection was a little sore, part from the punch he received, part because his injury from yesterday didn't like when he curled up into a ball. 'Dang it… I'm gonna have to be more careful. I REALLY don't want to hurt myself again,' he thought, instinctively running a hand over his bandaged chest.
He didn't have much time to relax, however, as the monster who had just slugged him in the gut was rearing up for another punch. The hedgehog ducked skillfully out of the way of the swinging fist, simultaneously sidestepping around the beast until he was standing to its side. He roundhouse kicked it, his foot hitting the nape of the monster's neck. It quickly fell to the ground, unconscious. "Wow, these guys are a lot easier than that big one we fought yesterday," Sonic remarked, punching another monster that had come up to him.
"There are also loads of them!" Mini-Sonic reminded his counterpart while shoving one of the creatures off of himself. He curled up into a ball, revving up and blasting through three enemies with a well-placed spindash. Meanwhile, his older self was busy homing attacking their heads, hitting each monster multiple times to ensure that it went down and stayed down. He landed next to the younger hedgehog after taking down at least five of the smoky creatures. He was breathing heavily, and his bandages were becoming undone because of all the movement.
"How you holdin' up, gramps?" his past-self asked, keeping his eyes on the enemy's dwindling numbers.
"First of all, stop calling me gramps," the older said, slightly annoyed. "Second, feelin' fine. You?"
"A few scrapes, I'll live. Looks like we've still got a little more fighting to do."
"I'll take the ones on the left, you handle the ones on the right?"
"Can do." Little Sonic nodded as he sped off, jumping into a monster's face. The green-eyed hedgehog smiled. It was kind of cool watching himself fight. He quickly turned his focus to the left side of the swarm of monsters. The only way he could take them out without the risk of being overwhelmed by them would be to either spindash through them multiple times, or to unleash a frenzy of homing attacks. Either way, he would have to curl up, causing his chest to ache even more. However, he didn't have too much of a choice. He ran towards the monsters, jumping into the air and curling up tight. He propelled himself forward, shooting into enemy after enemy. With the rate at which the two hedgehogs were going, it wasn't long before all of the creatures were incapacitated. The elder touched down from his barrage of aerial attacks, panting. All the movement had loosened his bandages even further, and they slipped off his tired form and fell to the ground. He stood up and clapped his hands together.
"Alright! That was some workout," he said, smiling. His younger self walked over, stretching his arms.
"Totally. Where do all these guys keep coming from, any… way…" The end of his question hug in the air as he looked at the older hedgehog's scar. "Is that the same cut you got yesterday?" he asked tentatively.
"Sure is!"
"What happened to it?"
"I accidentally 'healed' it yesterday when I used the Emerald to bring us all home to the workshop. Though I use the word 'healed' loosely…"
"I'll say. It looks even bigger than it did yesterday."
"What?!" The twenty-year-old ripped the remaining few strips of bandage off him and looked down at his chest. The scar that was just a line going across his torso the day before had become wider, now taking up a good quarter of his chest and midsection. "How on Mobius…?" he breathed, running a gloved finger along the scarred up skin. It wasn't especially warm, like it was that morning. It felt the same as the rest of him now. He frowned.
"It wasn't this big this morning," he said, glancing up at his past-self. The small hedgehog gulped.
"That's bad, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah."
"Maybe we should call it a day here and go back to the workshop? We should probably have the older Tails look at that-"
"Later," the injured hedgehog said with a shake of his head. "First, I want to find out why these monsters are attacking Apotos, and I want to see if we can get some of these folks out of the city."
"Oh, I already took care of that," Little Sonic said with a nod. "I helped evacuate the city while you were gone helping the Professor.
"Excellent! Nice work, lil' me. You wouldn't happen to have any leads as to what to do next, would you?"
"Erm… I think most of the monsters have been hanging around the town square. We can check around there."
"Sounds like a plan," older-Sonic said, flashing his customary thumbs up. "Let's get going. I don't want to be here when time stops."
The younger Sonic nodded, and the duo started toward the center of the city. They didn't run too fast, trying to be mindful of the elder hedgehog's injury. The two rounded harsh corners and dashed through alleyways, taking out any stray monsters they found on the way. They made their way up to the rooftops, quickly traversing the city from above. It wasn't long before the town square was in sight. The Sonics stopped right on the edge of the last rooftop and ducked down, hiding themselves from view. They peeked out over the edge of the roof and gulped.
ooo
It wasn't long before the Tailses were seated on the floor of the workshop's living room, roasting marshmallows over the fire crackling in the fireplace. Their four fluffy tails fidgeted, trying not to get too warm from the heat of the fire. The house had warmed up considerably since that morning, and although it was still snowing outside, it felt warm and cozy inside.
The older of the two rotated his marshmallow over the flame slowly and evenly, ensuring that the sugary confection got golden brown all over and didn't run the risk of having it drop off the stick and into the fire. The younger, on the other hand, found himself getting continuously distracted by looking into the flames, or by something his future self was saying to him, and often had his marshmallow turn much darker on one side than the other. He accidentally burnt his white, fluffy snack more than once. One time, the marshmallow actually starting to bubble where it was closest to the fire. The older Tails kept giving up his professionally-roasted marshmallows to the child so that they could both enjoy some non-blackened s'mores.
Though appearing focused on the even cooking of his marshmallows, the elder fox's mind was buzzing with activity. A part of him felt wrong for cooking s'mores when there was a June blizzard outside and time was crumbling. But what could he do? His scans hadn't picked up the traces of any more Chaos Emeralds yet. The Sonics were both out, and they had the one Chaos Emerald the group had obtained with them, meaning that Tails couldn't use it to supe up his scanners. With the weather like it was, it would be difficult to even get to Station Square, never mind the opposite side of the world. At the moment, there wasn't much for the two-tail to do but to hunker down and wait.
He was also concerned about Sonic. True, the hedgehog had been known to disappear for a week or two at a time with little to no warning and almost no contact. But this was different. Now, the time stream was falling apart, and Sonic wasn't exactly in peak physical condition. Tails didn't doubt his big brother's abilities, but he couldn't help but worry sometimes. Especially since the speedster hadn't responded to any of his messages. What was up with that, anyway?
He smooshed his marshmallow in between two pieces of graham cracker and a square of chocolate, and took a bite. He savored the flavor hitting his tongue- warm, gooey, and sweet. He told himself to relax, that the Sonics had barely been gone for two hours, and that they were perfectly fine. After all, if anyone could handle himself in a sticky situation, Sonic the Hedgehog could.
"Aw, man," the six-year-old Tails whined next to him. "I dropped my marshmallow in the fire again."
"You're letting it roast for too long on one side, is all," the older one said, placing another marshmallow on his kid-self's stick. He placed his hand on top of the child's, and moved the hand and the stick with precision over the fire. They sat there in silence for a few seconds, watching the marshmallow slowly turn golden.
"I hope Sonic's okay. Both of 'em," said the smaller fox, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them. The older Tails didn't look at him, and just stared into the fire.
"You read my mind, dude," he sighed. "I'm sure they're fine. They've both seen plenty of action before. They can handle themselves."
The child thought about this for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He pulled the stick out of the fire and ate the marshmallow at its end in one bite.
ooo
The square was positively crawling with monsters. There had to be a hundred of them, at least. There were way too many enemies for even two Sonics to handle, especially since one of them had a painful, magically growing scar on his chest. They got down low to the roof, feeling tense.
"Yep," the younger hedgehog whispered quietly. "That's a lot of monsters."
"What are they all doing here, though? There's gotta be something special here," the other whispered back. "Something they're after, something they're guarding maybe."
Mini-Sonic poked his head over the edge of the roof and scanned the area, dark eyes darting about. He caught a glimpse of something red and immediately pulled his older self over to look. "Does that qualify as something special?" he asked, already knowing the answer. He directed the larger hedgehog's eyes toward a large pool in the center of the square that was filled with un-moving fountains. Sitting at the bottom of the pool was a fist-sized red stone.
"The next Chaos Emerald," the older speedster breathed. Suddenly, everything clicked. "They're attracted to the Emeralds. That's why time stopped in WindyValley, and that's why time is stopping here. It's got something to do with the Emeralds." He narrowed his eyes and looked around the place. "Now, how are we supposed to get it without killing ourselves?"
The two sat in silence for a few moments, each scanning the environment for anything they could use to their advantage. Unfortunately, there were just too many monsters for them to get near the Emerald without being spotted.
"I'm going to have to use Chaos Control to go get it," the green-eyed hedgehog mumbled.
"Seriously? Jeez, it feels like relying on that so much should be against the rules or something."
"Okay, well, do you have a better idea?"
"One of us could always distract 'em while the other makes a mad dash for the Emerald. I mean, we're going to be spotted no matter what we try, so why not take advantage of that?" the adolescent hedgehog suggested with a shrug. His future-self mulled the idea over in his head.
"That could work… Especially since using Chaos Control any more today is not high on my priorities list," the elder nodded. "Okay, which one of us is the decoy?"
"I'll do it. No offense older-me, but you're not fit to be in the line of fire right now." The older hedgehog made a face, putting a hand to his chest.
"You're probably right," he admitted with a sigh. "I want you to be careful though, okay? Don't do anything too fancy, just get in, do what you've gotta do, and get out as soon as I have the Emerald."
"Okay. That goes for you too. Nothing fancy, Mr. 'These Monsters Are So Easy To Fight.'"
"Oh, shut up," the older Sonic smiled and playfully shoved the twelve-year-old. "Go on, go play in the middle of enemy territory."
"Fine, fine, I'm gone," the kid said with a short laugh. "Good luck, Sonic." And with that, he was gone, jumping stealthily off the roof of the building.
'That's just trippy, him calling me 'Sonic,''' the adult speedster thought, smiling. He snuck quietly down the side of the building and onto the ground. He poked his head tentatively around the corner, waiting until the coast was clear. Little Sonic was running high speed laps around the square, whooping and yelling all the way. He even took out a couple of monsters who had their backs turned to him. He came to a halt at the far side of the plaza, shouting something at the creatures, taunting them into going after him- monsters near the Emerald included.
Now was his chance. The older hedgehog dashed as fast and as silently as he could, reaching the edge of the pool without a problem. The problem laid in the fact that the Chaos Emerald was under three feet of water.
Sonic's quills bristled just looking at the stuff. It hadn't looked nearly so deep from the rooftop. Barely topping three feet tall himself, there was no way to get the Emerald without completely submerging his body in the liquid. He gulped, instinctively tensing up. It was a well known fact that Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't swim. It was lesser known that he was a total hydrophobe, to the point where he hated all water that wasn't in a glass, a sink, or coming out of his shower. Only a handful of people knew the true extent of his fear; he thanked Chaos that Eggman wasn't in on the secret. But, fear or no fear, he had a job to do, and he was determined to do it.
He looked down at the water again, shivers shooting up his spine. He really didn't want to go through with this. He glanced up to check on his past self. The younger hedgehog was dashing about, keeping the huge crowd of monsters away from the pool as best as he could.
'Come on, Sonic, you're running out of time,' the older thought, eyes darting around nervously. 'It's just a little water, stop being a baby. Just do it. The sooner you get that Emerald, the sooner you can go home.' He pulled off his gloves and gently stuck his fingers in the water, then his hand, then his whole right arm. He squirmed, hating the way the water felt. It felt like he was being swallowed up whole, the liquid finding its way into every single nook and cranny of his hand, coating his bare skin in wetness. He yanked his arm out after a few seconds and groaned unhappily. This would be harder than he thought.
He climbed up onto the lip of the pool, sitting so that he could have dipped his feet in if he wanted to. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves a little bit. 'Okay, you can do this. Compared to Labyrinth Zone, this should be a piece of cake.' He quickly identified where the Emerald was so he could grab it without having to search for it blindly.
'One.' He tightened his bare fists, knuckles turning white.
'Two.' He inhaled, filling powerful lungs with precious oxygen.
'Three.' He closed his eyes, held his nose, and dove in.
He sank like a rock, completely submerged in the water. His eyes shot open and started frantically bolting left and right. He started to panic, air escaping his mouth and nose in rushed blubs. The water squirmed its way into his fur, sending shivers all through his body. He couldn't hear anything clearly, he couldn't see, and he couldn't breathe.
Sonic really hated water.
He moved his hands around the bottom of the pool, searching for the elusive Chaos Emerald. He couldn't find anything. Had he accidentally shoved it away with his involuntary flailing?
Suddenly, his fingers brushed against something hard and smooth that filled him with energy and steadied his strained heartbeat. His ungloved digits curled around the object. As soon as he was sure it was firmly in his grasp, he jumped out of the water, soaring about ten feet into the air before coming back down to the ground.
He coughed and sputtered upon landing, his insides feeling waterlogged. He gulped in air, the oxygen tasting amazing after spending what felt to the hedgehog like an eternity underwater. He slowly got to his feet and grabbed his gloves. His legs were shaking a bit, and his breathing was still jagged, but other than this, he appeared outwardly to be no worse for wear.
"Hey!" his younger self ran over. "Got it?"
The wet hedgehog held up a bright red gem and smiled. "Of course."
"Then get us out of here!" The child glanced back, eyeing nervously the large group of angry monsters heading their way.
"Yipe! I'm on it… Chaos Control!"
Notes: Whew! That was a close one. I had a lot of fun writing this one, what with all the fighting and bonding and getting into trouble. We're finally going to visit one of our other main hedgehogs next week, which I know a few of you have been waiting for. Thanks for reading! Reviews are cherished.
P.S. I'm getting close to running out of completed chapters, and my buffer will be over by the end of November. I'm working on extending that buffer, but in case I don't in time, I thought I'd give you guys a heads up! This will not affect the next 2-3 updates. Thanks!