Notes: Hey, guys! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that! I was doing my school musical which for some reason practiced every day, and then I was sick for two weeks, I got my drivers license(!) and basically I've had a really hectic month. But to make up for it, this is a long chapter! One of the longest so far, I think. I probably should have split it up into two, but I couldn't decide where to do it. Oh well! Hopefully the next chapter won't take this long to come out, but I can't really say at the moment. For the time being, enjoy this chapter!
Meanwhile, high above the surface of the planet, Tails piloted the Tornado westward, towards the ocean, while the younger incarnation of Sonic stood atop the biplane's wing. Clouds floated lazily above them as they watched the countryside race by. They'd just exited the winter's sphere of influence and were finally starting to warm up.
"Well, it's about time!" Sonic cried through chattering teeth. He was rubbing his hands over his bare, goosebump-covered arms to try and warm them up. "Lousy cold…"
"Dress warmer next time," Tails said with a chuckle. He had a scarf wrapped around his neck, and he was well protected from the wind by the walls of the cockpit.
"Says the guy who's nice and cozy, protected by all that fur…" the hedgehog mumbled. He looked out at the horizon and saw the ocean approaching. A little bubble of fear formed in his mind at the idea of being over open water, but he pushed it aside. His Tails was a great pilot, and he didn't doubt that the older Tails was even better. There was no way his bro would let him fall off. And besides, he would need to focus if he wanted to find the Chaos Emerald before anything else went majorly wrong. He frowned. Speaking of things that went majorly wrong…
"Hey, Tails," he said, turning his head back to look at the pilot. "That green dude, Scourge. What's his deal?"
"Oh, him? It's… it's kind of complicated."
"I think I can keep up."
"Alright then. Spoiler alert, you and Scourge go a few years back, so if you want the whole story, I'll have to tell you some stuff about your future."
"Like I don't know my future anyway. Just spill it."
"Okay, okay! Well…" Tails tried to think of where to start. "Scourge isn't just some random, run-of-the-mill alternate-universe Sonic. The world he comes from is almost an exact opposite of ours, the Anti-Mobius. Or, Moebius, as a lot of people call it these days."
"So, wait a minute, you're saying he's the anti-me?" Sonic gasped, turning around fully. "Doesn't that make him evil? Why are we trusting him, then?!"
"I'm not exactly sure, to be honest with you. I didn't make the call to bring him in, that was all Zonic and your older-self. You'll have to ask them why he's here," Tails said, flicking a few of the switches on the dashboard in front of him. "Hold on, we're about to hit some rough winds."
Sonic nodded and planted his feet more firmly on the Tornado's wing. They were nearing the beach, and would soon be over the ocean. "So, I'll skip to the obvious question: Why is the guy green?"
"Um… I think he was trying to go Super with the Master Emerald, but the transformation got interrupted when Knuckles found him and punched him in the chest," the fox explained.
"Oh, so that's where he got the scars from?"
"Right. So the transformation stopped halfway, he turned green, and he started trying to prove he wasn't just some knock-off Sonic. So, to prove himself, he thought it'd be a good idea to conquer his planet. But when he came to our world and tried to gain a foothold here, Sonic- um, future you, I guess- took him down and sent him packing to Zone Jail, the prison in No Zone." Tails caught the confused look on the hedgehog's face. "Zonic's home zone," he clarified.
"Ah. And then what happened?" Sonic asked.
"Then… nothing. Scourge has been in jail ever since."
"So they got him out of jail," the young hedgehog said. "Again. Why are we trusting him?!"
Tails sighed, seeming frustrated. "I dunno. Maybe he really does want to change. I mean, I've heard some nasty things about Zone Jail, and with the inhibitor collar he has on, taking away his speed… that would have been tough for him. But…"
"But what?"
"Sonic, you always try to find the good in people. Which is great, don't get me wrong, but the older you really wants to see the good in Scourge. I'm just worried he's seeing good where there might not be any."
That made Sonic think. He looked out at the horizon with stormy eyes. Who would he trust? His gut was telling him not to trust Scourge in the slightest. But the older Sonic, the older him, had known Scourge for a few years. He'd met with him in Zone Jail. His older self knew more than him, had more experience with people. If anyone could read Scourge, it was him. But what if Tails was right, and his future's perception was clouded? What if he was just seeing what he wanted to see? He and Scourge were almost the same person, after all. If there was even just a shred of good in the green one, the older Sonic would probably latch onto that sliver as hard as he could.
The small hedgehog grunted and put his hands on his hips. "Well," he started, grabbing Tails' attention, "older-me can believe whatever he wants to believe. I'm gonna decide on my own whether or not to trust Mr. Grinch."
"Sounds like a plan," laughed Tails. "If he does really want to be good, though… I wonder why he decided to change. He used to be really gung-ho on the whole badguy thing."
"My guess is as good as your's," Sonic sighed, lacing his fingers behind his head. He usually tried not to team up with folks he knew nothing about, so this was new to him. In addition to everything else that was new to him, that was. Sometimes he had to remind himself that he was a whole eight years in the future. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that he and Tails would apparently have a legitimate house, that he would eventually have to battle powerful gods and monsters- heck, he couldn't believe that TVs were so skinny nowadays. But time travel, he knew he could handle. He'd done it before, and he had a feeling he'd do it again. The concept wasn't new to him. Alternate worlds, alternate Sonics? That was certainly trickier. There were currently four of him running around on the planet. How many other Sonics were out there? There could be hundreds- thousands. His head started to hurt just thinking about it. He wondered what other worlds were out there. Scourge was from an opposite world where everyone normally good was bad, and that Zone Cop guy, Zonic, came from some weird sideways world called "No Zone". What was even up with that? How did he even get a crazy gig like 'Zone Cop?' The guy never explained. Sonic opened his mouth to ask Tails if he knew anything about it, but the older fox suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, we're gonna be there soon," he said. "See? You can see it on the horizon."
The hedgehog leaned forward and shielded his eyes from the sun using his hand. He could see something in the distance, a few bumps on the otherwise flat horizon, but they were still a few miles away. He wouldn't have noticed it if Tails hadn't pointed it out to him.
"And that's Metal Harbor?" he asked, squinting.
"Yeah, that's it," Tails answered. "Haven't been here in a long time…"
"Have I been here before? Or, will be here, in my future?"
"How'd you guess?" the fox said with a smirk.
"Kinda weird though, isn't it? I mean, a military base isn't my usual sort of hang out spot, and I doubt the Emeralds would hang out there. I wonder what went down…" his voice trailed off near the end.
Tails rolled his eyes. Sonic was clearly goading him into talking more about his future. "Dude, do you seriously want me to spoil everything for you?"
"Give me the general gist of it. No major details."
Tails huffed. "Fine. Well, a while back, Metal Harbor used to be a part of Prison Island."
"The Prison Island?"
"That's the one. Eggman and a couple of others, who I'm not naming by the way, came to the island to get a Chaos Emerald that G.U.N. was holding here, and they sure weren't quiet about it. That's why we came in, to try and stop them and get the Emerald back."
"Well, that sounds about right… So where's Prison Island? I don't see anything."
"Most of it blew up."
"Oh, alri- wait, blew up?!" Sonic shouted in astonishment. Tails shrugged nonchalantly.
"Yeah."
"Y'know, normally, an entire island exploding and vanishing off the map is considered to be pretty freaking crazy."
"We've seen crazier."
The hedgehog shook his head. Crazier than that? It didn't seem possible. "What the hell am I getting myself into…"
Metal Harbor was quickly coming into view. Dozens of giant missiles jutted into the skyline, ready to be launched at a moments notice if need be. Steel scaffolding was everywhere, providing walkways and ramps that connected various buildings that were suspended above the water on stilts. The place was huge, and almost glaring to look at in the hot afternoon sun. It was still too far away to tell if time had frozen there yet, but the young Sonic sort of hoped it had. It would certainly simplify things, that was for sure.
Tails picked up the Tornado's radio headset and slipped it on his head. He flipped a few switches, and then spoke into the mic, "Calling Metal Harbor, this is the Tornado. Requesting permission to land, over." There was radio silence for several seconds, which wasn't a good sign. Tails repeated the message, more slowly this time. The G.U.N. base didn't reply.
"Don't suppose they're on lunch break?" the hedgehog joked. Tails shook his head.
"Definitely not. Come on, let's get down there. Something's wrong." He started to lower the plane, closing in on a docked aircraft carrier.
A few minutes later, the Tornado was safely parked, Tails' scarf left in the cockpit, and its two passengers were exploring the base, looking for signs of people. They walked on the suspended outdoor pathways, their shoes clunking on the metal. The wind blew in their faces, brisk and salty. The military complex was oddly empty, but there were occasional signs of struggle. Dents and bullet holes in the walls and floors, broken windows, even a weapon or two lying useless on the floor.
"Looks like something big went down here, after all," Tails said, looking around.
"The wind is still blowing, though…" Sonic pointed out. "Even in Windy Valley, there wasn't a breeze. Time hasn't stopped here, at least not yet."
"Well, thats comforting, I suppose. Do you sense the Chaos Emerald anywhere?"
The hedgehog closed his eyes and tried to focus on picking up on the energies in the air. They were faint, barely tickling his mind. "Nada," he said after a minute or so. "I'm not really that good at sensing those things yet, y'know? I've only gone Super, like two or three times before."
"Oh, right. Guess I forgot. You're younger than I'm used to, after all."
"Yeah, I hear you. You're a lot older than I'm used to, too. Anyway, once we get close to the Emerald, I'll be able to tell, but I can't sniff it out from a mile away." Sonic hopped up on the railing of the walkway to get a higher vantage point. "Jeez, there is literally nobody here. And I mean literally literally, not the exaggerated literally you crazy kids use these days. Where the hell did everyone go?"
"I'm not sure. You think those time monsters were here?"
"It makes sense, what with all the bullet holes littering the place. What else could clear this place out? I think the real question is whether or not the monsters are still around."
"I sure hope they're not," Tails answered, his namesakes twitching in anticipation. He hadn't been in a real fight in a while, only the occasional sparring match with his big bro. He wasn't looking forward to fighting the same creatures that gave the older hedgehog his unusual scar.
"Come on," Sonic the younger walked ahead. "Let's explore around outside, scope the place out first. Then we'll check inside. Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary."
"Right." And then they were off, Sonic taking the lead while Tails flew behind. Just like old times. There were gaping holes in the metal floor that they jumped over, chain link fences that they slid under, and several patrol towers to climb and check out. Sonic tried light speed dashing a few more times, as there were lines of rings everywhere. He was initially met with varying levels of success, but he finally started to get the hang of it. Even if he wasn't technically supposed to be able to do it yet, he figured the trick would likely come in handy.
While he practiced, Tails tried contacting the older Sonic on his wrist communicator. He had a strong signal, and nothing was blocking his transmission, but the twenty-year-old didn't answer. He had checked Sonic's communicator last night though, and there wasn't anything wrong with it. So why wasn't the hedgehog answering now, and why didn't he answer yesterday when he was in Apotos? Was it because time was all screwy in the city and the signal didn't go through? He supposed it was possible, but it didn't explain the radio silence now. The fox sighed and tucked the communicator back under his glove. He'd have to adjust them later, see if he could alter their frequencies to account for time rifts…
"Yo, Tails! I think I got the hang of this!" Sonic's younger self cheered, coming over to him. "Here, check it out!" He sprinted over to a line of rings that led up to a higher platform. When he reached the first ring, he shot up the trail and landed gracefully on his feet. "Tada!" he said, bowing proudly.
Tails applauded. "Not bad!" he said with a smirk, flying up onto the platform with him. "I still can't believe you're able to do that."
"Yeah, me either." Sonic stretched his legs and jogged in place. "Any word from older me or the others?"
"Not a peep."
"Figures. Why can't I just learn to pick up the dang phone? Ugh… Anyway, what do you say we take a look around inside? Maybe we'll find something interesting, instead of just bullet holes," Sonic said boredly. Tails nodded for him to lead the way, and he ran ahead, speeding down the metal track. Tails thought it was kind of funny, how this expedition was being led by someone younger than himself. Sure, it was still Sonic, but it was a Sonic he hadn't known in eight years. His big brother had changed a lot during that time. He wondered if his Sonic was feeling the same about spending time with the younger him.
After a number of loop-de-loops, jumps, and light speed dashes over huge gaps in the metal walkway, the duo reached the largest building in the complex. The heavy metal doors were blown wide open, pockmarked from being hit by bullets. Large gashes, probably made by sharp claws by the looks of them, criss-crossed its surface.
"Yeah, I'll give you three guesses as to what did this," the young hedgehog said, motioning towards the broken doors.
"Yeesh. These monsters mean business," Tails said nervously. "Those clawmarks are huge!"
"Yeah. They're too big to be from the smaller monsters that were in Apotos, that much is for sure." Sonic rubbed a hand over the cold metal and tried pushing on the door. It wouldn't budge. "This thing is totally solid. Must have taken some real muscle to force these doors open."
"They're beefing up their security… These monsters must really want that Emerald." Tails frowned and looked inside the building. The power was off, so he couldn't see much from outside, but he could definitely make out signs of a fight. "Come on! We need to go in and find it. Hopefully it's not too late."
Sonic nodded and dashed ahead into the building. The lights were almost all out, and a couple of them were flickering dimly. Most of the light came from holes blown in the ceiling. The holes, like the rest of the damage around the base, looked recent. Sonic and Tails hadn't run into any monsters since they'd arrived, but Sonic didn't let his guard down. The fact that there weren't a lot of weak creatures lurking around might just mean that there were some big creatures hiding out in the shadows.
There were piles of debris on the metal floor, which the hedgehog skillfully jumped over and avoided. Helmets and guns could be seen occasionally lying on the ground. 'These were highly trained soldiers,' Sonic gulped. 'And the Time Eater's cronies were able to get them… All 'cause me and older-me weren't able to take him out for good the first time.' He felt something heavy start to form in the pit of his stomach. Between the monster attacks and the crazy storms, people could have been dying over the past few days. It was his fault. He hadn't known the Time Eater was still alive, but that didn't matter. He ran past a small pool of blood and felt like throwing up at the sight of it. People probably got killed because he messed up and let Robotnik's monster get away. He never had to face death before, at least not the death of others. The only one who was ever in any real life-threatening danger from Robotnik's robots was Sonic himself. But now, innocent bystanders were in danger. The whole world, the entire timeline was at stake. For the first time, the twelve-year-old realized just how many lives rested on his shoulders.
"Tails, we need to see if we can save the people who were in here… We need to find that Emerald before things get any worse!" Sonic said, clenching his fists and feeling slightly sick. He didn't get a reply. "Tails?" he asked again. It finally dawned on him that he couldn't hear the thwp-thwp-thwp of the fox's spinning twin tails. In fact, it had been silent for the past few minutes. Sonic skidded to a halt and turned around. No one was there behind him. "Tails!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. His voice echoed through the empty hallway, and it was soon silent again. Something was definitely wrong. Surely, the older incarnation of the fox knew that this was no time for jokes, so he wouldn't be hiding. There was no way he could have gotten lost, as there hadn't been any other paths through the base for him to have taken. That left only one option: Tails was deep in trouble, and couldn't call for help. Was he surrounded? Gagged? Unconscious? Sonic didn't want to think about what came after unconscious on that list. He thought back for a split second to the helmets and blood that were on the floor, and he suddenly felt sicker than ever. The age gap suddenly meant nothing to him. That was his little buddy, and he was going to make sure he was okay.
He was a split second away from taking off toward the entrance again when he heard a loud crunch coming from behind him. He spun around, the spines on the back of his head bristling in surprise. Barely visible in the dim light was a massive creature, one of its giant feet standing on what used to be a soldier's helmet. The monster towered over the young hedgehog, nearly twice as big as the four-armed beast that harmed his older-self, taking up almost the entire height and width of the hallway. Sonic could feel its cold, damp breath from twenty feet away. The monster let out a deafening roar, and Sonic wasted no time sprinting in the opposite direction, going as fast as his feet could carry him. The floor shook as the monster ran after him, causing debris to crash down all around him. He jumped over stray guns and slabs of concrete. Sonic glanced back, and saw that the beast was hot on his tail; actually, it was gaining on him. He cursed under his breath. His fast as he was, his steps were tiny in comparison to those of the monster, who didn't have to worry about watching his step. Even so, the thing seemed to move unnaturally fast.
Before Sonic could turn around again to look where he was going, his foot got caught under a piece of rubble and he slammed into the ground. His knees and face got all scratched up, and he was dizzy from the force of the sudden impact. That was the bad thing about running at supersonic speeds: tripping and falling could be seriously painful.
He tried to push himself back to his feet, but his head was spinning and he had a hard time regaining his balance. The monster leaned down and picked the semi-conscious hedgehog up around his midsection. Sonic struggled to break free from its grip as he was lifted into the air. He pushed against the strong, liquidy fingers that were holding him in place, but it was no use. The creature squeezed its fist, crushing him and making him see spots. He tried to come up with a plan to escape, but he couldn't breathe. He wasn't getting enough oxygen, he was being squeezed too tight. His vision slowly went black as he slipped into unconsciousness.
He came to some time later; he had no way to determine how long it had been since he slipped into unconsciousness. There was a dull thumping in his head, and he still felt foggy. He blinked a few times to try and clear his vision of spots. Wherever he was, it was very dark. He found that he was stuck to a wall, held up by… something. It wasn't rope or chain, but it felt oddly wet and slimy. He couldn't move, only turn his head back and forth. He groaned. 'Where the heck am I?' Sonic thought, looking around. He couldn't see a thing. The only source of light in the room was a small speck on the floor about fifty feet away. It was glowing a deep blue, which didn't help to light the space up. 'Wait a second...' Sonic closed his eyes and tried to focus. He could feel the energy thrumming excitedly in the air, rushing rapidly through the room. 'That's a Chaos Emerald!' He almost wasn't able to tell because of how groggy he felt. He began squirming to try to break out of whatever was holding him to the wall, but it was no use. He was stuck fast, and whenever he did manage to move even an inch, the stuff suspending him just filled in the gap, so he wasn't getting any looser. "Jeez, what is this stuff? Some kind of goo?" he muttered quietly to himself, trying to at least get a hand free.
"You don't want to know," a voice said next to him in a deadpan, only a few feet away from him by the sound of it.
Sonic turned his head to look, but he could barely see a thing. "Tails?" he guessed. "Is that you?"
"Keep your voice down!" he hissed. "Yeah, it's me. How'd they get you? I thought you'd be too fast for them."
"You mean the monsters? I, uh… sort of… ran down a dead end by mistake," he fibbed. That sounded a LOT less embarrassing than saying he tripped and fell flat on his face.
Tails sighed. "I got grabbed a few seconds after we went in. Stupid monster swooped in from the ceiling… Oh, shh!" he said quietly. Sonic instinctively started holding his breath, wondering why he needed to be quiet. He didn't dare ask. He kept his eyes peeled so he could try and see what was coming, but he heard it long before he saw it. The monster that entered was as dark as the room was, but its footsteps were thunderous. Its long claws dragged across the floor as the light from the Chaos Emerald showed a vague outline of the beast. Sonic's quills bristled nervously. The thing was gigantic. The last thing he faught that was that big besides the Time Eater itself was Robotnik's Death Egg Robot. Its lumbering movements were slow and heavy as it tread across the room to one of the four walls. It raised up one of its treetrunk arms and ripped something off the wall, and then walked back out with it. Sonic wasn't immediately wondering what it carried out, however.
"Why is that thing so slow?" he whispered harshly to Tails once he was sure the monster was gone. He couldn't be sure in the darkness, but he thought he saw Tails raise an eyebrow at him.
"Dude, that thing is huge. Of course it's going to be slow," the fox said simply.
"No, that's not it! Before, when it was chasing me- it was fast! Like, faster than me, even!"
"Really?" Tails replied, sounding surprised. He thought about it for a few seconds before suggesting, "Maybe it used some sort of time powers? These guys have been messing with the time flow after all. Maybe the one chasing you was able to slow you down."
"I guess that makes sense… The smaller monsters we fought weren't able to do that, so maybe it's only the really big ones." The hedgehog let out a huff in frustration. He and Tails were stuck, and there was least one massive time monster keeping them there. The situation was not looking good. "Hey, what did that thing carry out of here? It grabbed something off the wall just now-"
"That was a prisoner," Tails gulped. "Where do you think all the G.U.N. soldiers went? They're all stuck up here, just like we are. Every ten minutes or so, they've come in and grabbed someone off the walls…"
"Where are they taking everyone?"
"I wish I knew," he said regretfully. The fox hated being unable to help almost as much as Sonic did. He had been awake for almost thirty minutes, Sonic already on the wall next to him by the time he had awoken. His eyes had fully adjusted to the dark; he had been scanning the room for exits while the young hedgehog was still out cold, and the only way out was the door that the monsters were coming and going through. Even if they got out of the sticky goo holding them to the wall, there would be no way to sneak out. They would have to fight their way through, and these giant beasts were powerful. Tails already knew they were big and strong, but they apparently had some control over the flow of time as well. If they were smart enough to use that power well, getting through one of them would be nearly impossible- let alone how many others there were in the base. Getting everyone out of here safely could definitely be tricky.
"How many soldiers do you think are in here?" Sonic asked, looking around. He could make out a few shapes hanging from the walls, but he couldn't see more than that.
"At least a hundred. G.U.N.'s kept some pretty sizeable patrols at this base ever since the last time we were here."
"Okay, so we're not going to be able to carry everyone out. We'll need to make a path… Dangit, if I weren't stuck I might be able to spindash a hole in the wall, make an emergency exit."
"I doubt it," Tails said, trying to wriggle his twin namesakes free of the mysterious goo. "You saw how thick that door was when we came in. The walls are probably just as thick, if not thicker."
"Man! I hate when you're right about stuff. I guess that means we need to beat the tar out of these monster-things then… Ugh, I hate being stuck like this!" Sonic groaned loudly. He squirmed around impatiently, desperately trying to break free. "I can't move, this goop is getting all gunked up in my quills, and it smells! It smells like skunk spray and vomit and I'm not going to get the stink out of my shoes for weeks! WEEKS, Tails!"
"Sonic, be quiet!" Tails hissed at him. "They always take the loudest ones first, you need to shut up until we come up with a plan!"
"I have a plan! If they rip me out of here, I'll make them sorry they ever stuck me up here in the first place! I'll kick their butts so hard they'll be flossing with my shoelaces!" he growled, practically screaming now. The vulpine was about to remind him that he in fact didn't have shoelaces, when heavy footsteps began to fall from outside the room.
"Sonic, seriously, shut up! This is a really bad idea!" he whispered, but the blue one was ignoring him. Tails refused to give up trying to make his friend see reason. "We don't know what these things are capable of. You could get yourself killed!"
"No I won't!" Sonic hissed back at him quietly, as if about to divulge a secret. "I've been hanging out with my older self all week, of course I'm going to live!"
Tails would have slapped himself on the forehead if he could move his hands. Of course! Obviously, the young speedster would go back to his own time and grow up to become the Sonic whom Tails knew, who was most certainly not dead. The twelve-year-old was practically invincible. He could get hurt, sure, but he knew that he wouldn't die or sustain any serious injuries. He was using the security and insurance he got from the presence of his older self to his advantage. It was brilliant, really. Tails couldn't believe he'd managed to neglect that simple, but game-changing fact.
"So you do have a plan," the fox said with a sly smile. "Or at least the beginnings of one."
"Duh, I'm not a complete knucklehead. You're not safe like I am though, so keep it down! We're screwed if they take us both."
Tails nodded and proceeded to keep quiet while Sonic yelled and brashly tried to escape. Confident now that he knew the hedgehog would be okay, he started trying to fill in the gaps to create a cohesive escape plan. He immediately continued his attempt to unstick his twin tails from the wall. They were stronger than his arms, and would be more of a help when it came to getting out of the gooey trap. While he was doing that, he looked around the room for anything that could prove useful, something that could turn the tide of the impending fight in his and Sonic's favor. Obviously, there was the Chaos Emerald in the middle of the room that he would have to grab. The fox personally couldn't tap into its energy without a machine, and he doubted that Sonic would be able to harness much power from a lone Emerald, as he was too young. He supposed it was possible that the young incarnation of the blue blur might be able to tap into Chaos Control, seeing as he could already light-speed dash, but it seemed incredibly unlikely.
Tails looked past the Emerald to see what else in the room he could use. There were pieces of scrap metal and electronics littering the floor. If only he had more time, he could use them to construct some sort of weapon. On the far side of the room there looked to be some sort of control booth, but it was too far away to even guess at what use it would be. He'd have to get up close.
A loud stomping thundered through the room and the adjoined hallway. It appeared that the monsters had had enough of Sonic's yelling and were coming to shut him up. At least, that's what they thought. Sonic grinned as two hulking beasts entered the room, trying to find the source of the noise.
"Well, it's about time!" he shouted proudly, his young voice brimming with confidence. "The service here is terrible! I'm afraid I'm going to have to have a little chat with your manager." The two monsters turned their heads towards him as he stuck his tongue out at them and blew a raspberry. The creatures approached slowly, their massive footsteps and heavy breathing echoing through the relatively empty chamber. One of them reached a giant hand towards the hedgehog and wrapped its slimy fingers around him. A sickening, gooey sound could be heard as he was ripped from the wall. "Excuse you," Sonic smirked. The monster didn't seem smart enough to understand the remark, but it must have been sick of the blue one's incessant chattering as it squeezed him tighter in his hand. Sonic thankfully got the message and stopped talking. The two beasts turned around and started trudging out of the room, the small hedgehog forcefully brought along for the ride.
As soon as they turned around, Tails resumed his fight to break free of the goo holding him to the wall. He knew he didn't have much time. Who knew what they were going to do to Sonic, and how quickly they were going to do it? He tried, slowly but surely, to push his tails through the goop and out into the fresh air. It took him a few minutes, but finally his appendages were able to reach the edge of the sticky substance. He slowly started to peel it off, and felt himself starting to come off of the wall. His twin tails were too sticky to fly with, so he dropped down to the ground with a wet thud.
Once he regained his footing, he immediately raced to the center of the room, careful not to trip on any debris, and grabbed the Chaos Emerald laying there on the ground. "Now we're in business," the fox breathed with a smirk. He looked over at the control room he was inspecting before, and decided a quick look inside wouldn't hurt. There might be something he could use as a weapon. He ran over, trying to de-goop his tails as he did so. He busted through the door, which was unlocked, and looked around at what he had to use. There were a few guns strewn on the floor, but those wouldn't help. These monsters wouldn't get killed by puncturing them. 'Zonic's laser pistol would probably hurt them, though... So we would need to use brute force, or attack them with some sort of energy blast.' He glanced down at the Emerald in his hand. 'The Time Eater couldn't touch the Chaos Emeralds the first time we fought him... These guys might be the same way. It wouldn't make much sense, since they gather around the Emeralds, but... I've never actually see one of them lay their hands on one. They might just feed off the energy, but touching the thing itself hurts them. Almost like how people gather around fire to keep warm, but can't touch it.' Tails figured it was worth a shot, but since he'd have to get up close and personal to the monsters to touch them with the Emerald, he decided to save it for a last resort.
He looked back down at the control panel. Parts of it were sparking dangerously, so he doubted anything would be functioning fully. All that was left in the small booth were some smashed coffee cups, a large spool of stripped cable, a lever that would set off the fire alarm and sprinkler system, a half-eaten donut, some boots that were several sizes too big for him, and a pair of rubber gloves. An idea started to hatch in Tails' head. He smiled. It was time to have some fun.
Sonic, on the other hand, was not having fun. In fact, he was having the total opposite of fun. He had been carried through hallway after hallway. The monster swayed back and forth as it walked, and he was getting seasick. Of course, the beasts decided not to speed up time around them so they moved faster, so the journey was taking forever. 'Where are we going? What are they going to do to me that they can't do back from where we came?' he wondered, trying to get a sense for where they were going, but he didn't want to move his head around too much. Even if he couldn't die, he didn't want to give the monster holding him another reason to pop him like a zit. He was already being held tighter than his liking, and it made it hard for him to take a deep breath and hold it. This wasn't good, because the monsters smelled awful. He and Tails would be fighting for the shower when they got home, that was for sure. 'Man, I hope the others are all having a better time than I am,' he thought, rolling his eyes. 'Although, that wouldn't be hard at all. I'm sure getting kicked in the teeth is more fun than this.'
The monster that was carrying him turned right into a smaller room than the one they were in before, only this one wasn't nearly as empty. There was a cage, suspended in the air by a chain from the ceiling, holding several G.U.N. soldiers, whom he could hear whispering in fear. There were also two more of the huge monsters, bringing the total up to four. The hedgehog gulped. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought. His mind started racing, thinking of a plan of attack just in case Tails was unable to come to his aid. 'I had to sneak up on that one monster in Windy Hill in order it hurt it, and that thing was way smaller than these guys. How is one guy supposed to take on four giant monsters that can control time and get out alive?' He could at least see in here, as the ceiling and walls were littered with holes that allowed light to filter through. He caught a glimpse of the sky outside. It was starting to turn orange, the sun just beginning to set. It wouldn't be long before night fell, and then he'd be fighting blind.
Sonic felt himself being lifted up high, the monster raising its arm to drop him in the cage with the other prisoners. This was going to be his only shot. He took a few deep breaths to prepare himself for the fight that was about to break loose as the beast loosened its grip on him. As soon as he felt he could move, the hedgehog jumped off of the massive hand, avoided landing in the cage full of soldiers, and hit the ground running. There was no time to strike a pose, like his older self liked to do. He wasn't going to give these things an inch.
He raced up the leg of the monster that had been carrying him, as the others quickly followed him with their eyes and got poised to recapture him. Sonic ran up to the creature's head and stood there confidently. The monster realized that the small, blue being was on top of him, and raised a hand up to slap him off. As the giant, dripping fist came down, Sonic jumped off at the last second. "Really? That's the oldest trick in the book!" He exclaimed with a grin as the creature's clenched hand collided with the top of its head hard, sending the beast stumbling backward. Sonic had hoped these monsters weren't all that bright. Hopefully he would be able to pull that trick a second time. The injured monster didn't fall down, and merely shook its head to get its tiny brain sorted out again. All four of the beasts glared at Sonic, who suddenly felt like a plate of food in front of four starving animals. He was thinking that he might be able to take out the creatures by having them take themselves out, but they were apparently more resilient than that. "Crap," he breathed, quickly running up the wall and circling the room while he tried to come up with a new plan. 'If these guys are total idiots, I can have them just punch each other in the heads until they pass out, but that might take awhile. Maybe I can make them really dizzy by running around a lot? Then again, I'll probably just make myself really dizzy first. Tails, where are you?!'
He quickly curled up into a ball, keeping his momentum, and spindashed off the wall and into back of one of the monsters' heads. He drilled straight through, getting himself covered in goop in the process, and touched down in the center of the room. He shivered and tried to shake the goo off of him, shouting mild profanities. After wiping most of the gunk off of himself, it became suddenly apparent that the monster whose head he slammed through had not fallen down. Sonic glanced up nervously at it. Its face, which should have been nothing more than a gaping hole, was repairing itself, the sticky goo that comprised its body stretching and filling up the gap. The hedgehog gulped. 'Great job Sonic. Now you've pissed it off! How am I supposed to kill these things?!'
The monsters were done watching Sonic's feeble attempts to attack them. They came at him now at full force, using their powers to speed themselves up considerably. 'Or maybe they've slowed me down,' thought Sonic, unsure of which one would be worse. He glanced upward for a split second at the G.U.N. soldiers in the suspended cage, who did in fact seem to be moving a lot faster than they should have. A sprint over to one of the holes blown in the wall cemented his fears. The waves outside were moving at more than double speed, and a flock of seagulls soared by as fast as a jet. 'Okay. They slowed me down. That's embarrassing.' Sonic turned around to face the monsters and gulped. They were in control of his speed now, not him. This could end very, very badly.
He took a deep breath as he started to run as fast as he could, narrowly dodging the onslaught of lightning-fast punches, kicks, tail swipes, and stomps. He even had goo launched at him a couple times, flying so quickly through the air that even his reflexes were being put to the test. 'Wait, the gunk that was sticking me to the wall before was gunk that they shot out of their arms? Gross!' Sonic thought as he jumped over a goo puddle that landed in front of him. Well, Tails did say that he wouldn't want to know. Speaking of Tails, the hedgehog's only hope was to keep these monsters occupied long enough for Tails to break free and come up with a plan. Having a pretty good idea of what the future-Tails was capable of, the twelve-year-old wasn't concerned with his ability to formulate a plan of attack. What he was concerned about was whether Tails would be able to break free of the gooey trap or not. That stuff could hold up a fully-armored, adult, human soldier. Tails barely weighed fifty-five pounds soaking wet. He sured hoped his buddy would be alright.
While he was busy concerning himself over his friend, he dropped his guard for a split second. Unfortunately, a split second for him was about thirty seconds for everyone else in the room, and one of the massive beasts easily swatted him into a wall. He collided into the cold steel hard, as if he'd been launched into it from a cannon. From there he was picked up and quickly thrown into the floor. He curled up this time to absorb the impact, and used his momentum to let loose a spindash. 'Where's Tails? If these monsters are moving this fast, he should be moving like lightning!'
Almost as soon as he thought it, a torrential downpour opened up inside the room. "What?!" Sonic shouted, getting blasted with water from above. He looked up and saw that it wasn't rain- the sprinklers had been turned on. For some reason, he doubted that there was a fire; this was likely Tails' doing. 'There he is!' the hedgehog smiled. Help was on the way. Which was good, because he was getting the snot kicked out of him. He was being slowed down too much, and he couldn't react quickly enough to everything going on around him. What felt like seconds for him was minutes to everyone else, and the sun had set below the horizon ages ago. It was getting harder and harder to see, which didn't seem to be a problem for the colossal beasts trying to kill him. He ran up the wall again to stall for time, suspecting it wouldn't take Tails very long to arrive. His shoes were slippery and wet though, and he was sliding back down to the floor. 'Was this your plan? Drowning me?' he thought, annoyed.
He looked to the doorway to see that his two-tailed friend had appeared. He was wearing large, rubber gloves, and holding a large, sparking wire. Suddenly, everything in Sonic's head clicked. 'Water. Sparking wire. But the walls are made of metal! ... And this place is probably made to withstand lightning strikes, since it's in the middle of the ocean and surrounded by missiles.' He should be fine as long as he stayed off of the floor, where there was a few inches of water puddling up. Tails spun the wire around his head like a whip, the end crackling. He sent it flying towards the closest monster, quicker than Sonic could see. As soon as the wire connected, the beast erupted with electricity, and the slowness engulfing the hedgehog vanished. Sonic nearly tripped and fell as he caught back up with the time stream.
"You back to normal? You've been running around all slow for the past ten minutes," Tails shouted to him over the crackling electricity.
"Yeah, I'm good! I think," Sonic gasped, running over and standing behind him. "You sure took your sweet time."
"I don't see you engineering any sort of weapon to fight these things," the fox smirked, pulling his wire away from the first monster and whipping it towards a second. The first creature collapsed to the ground, smoking. It was thoroughly dead. The second was quickly reaching that point.
"Be careful where you swing that thing. There are soldiers up there, in the cage," Sonic pointed out, panting. Keeping those monsters occupied was harder than he thought it would be. "I have no idea why, though. I couldn't figure out why they-"
"The time monsters absorb Chaos Energy. It's like their food," Tails interrupted. "That's why they took the soldiers. G.U.N. robots and weapons are powered by Chaos Drives. The soldiers probably have them in their suits."
"That's why they gather around the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Bingo. If they're anything like the Time Eater though, they can't touch the Emeralds."
"Right… They'd get overloaded. Tapping into the Emeralds is incredibly dangerous if you don't know how." Sonic smiled. They knew the monsters' weakness now. They had the advantage.
Tails pulled the blue Chaos Emerald from within his tails. "Would you like to do the honors?" he smiled, passing the gem to his bro.
"Ugh, fine! Twist my arm, will ya?" Sonic laughed. He took the Emerald and dashed back into the fray, giving wide berth to the monster currently being electrocuted. He ran towards one of the two other monsters was still standing, this one prepared to fight. The creature swung a massive hand towards the blue blur, but now that he was not being slowed, he easily dodged the sluggish attack. He slid between the monster's legs and ran up its back. "One extra-large serving of Chaos Energy, coming right up!" he exclaimed as he jammed the Emerald into the nape of the beast's neck. The effect was immediate. There was a sharp burst of light and an ear-slitting noise as the monster screamed. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard as the flow of time frantically distorted around them. The monster collapsed to the ground; from Sonic's perspective, this took only a few seconds, but to Tails and the imprisoned G.U.N. soldiers, the event lasted for around two minutes.
When the creature finally hit the ground, it exploded into smoke, vanishing in an instant.. The flow of time quickly returned to normal. Sonic grinned. Hunting for Chaos Emeralds just got a lot more fun.
"Sonic! Jump!" Tails shouted suddenly, preparing to throw his electrified cable again. The hedgehog didn't ask questions, and jumped high into the air. Tails let loose, whipping the wire directly at the spot where Sonic had just been standing. The remaining monster had just been about to make a grab for the blue one, but now it was only holding a cable loaded with electricity in its soaking wet hands. The shocking power rocked through its body, frying it. Sonic made sure to land outside of the puddle that the monster was standing in so he wouldn't be electrocuted, too. He could withstand a lot, but he didn't think he could withstand THAT.
Tails yanked the wire back, and the creature fell over, dead like the others. He then pulled the other end of the long cable, pulling it out of the sparking control panel in the other room. The electricity stopped flowing, and he safely dropped the wire and his rubber gloves on the floor. "Well, that was exciting," he said, speaking loudly as to be heard over the sprinklers, which were still releasing rain from above.
"Yeah," Sonic said, approaching him. "You got to zap some monsters, and I had my personal time stream violated." He shuddered. "Let's just get these G.U.N. soldiers out of here and go home. I think I'm done for the day." He shook some more goop off of him, taking advantage of the sprinklers. "By the way. Dibs on the shower when we get back."
ooo
As they were flying back home on the Tornado, Tails and Sonic were both stuck in the weird limbo of being exhausted and having an adrenaline rush. It would surely wear off soon, but at the moment they were both antsy and yawning. The young Sonic sat on the wing of the bi-plane, rather than standing, and he was tapping his fingers on the painted metal impatiently as they soared over the ocean.
"Hey, Sonic," Tails said, trying to suppress a yawn.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Thanks."
Sonic's ears perked up, and he turned his head to look at the fox. "Thanks for what? I should be thanking you, you're the one who saved the day back there."
"That's not true, I just electrified a cable and swung it around. Will you let me talk?" he laughed. "I just wanted to thank you for… Y'know. For everything," Tails shrugged with a smile. "I never really got the chance to thank you for all the stuff you did for me when I was younger. So thanks."
That caught the hedgehog off guard. He smiled lamely, unsure of what to say other than "No problem!" He turned back to face the ocean, and watched the water fly by underneath them, reflecting the stars and moon. He never expected to be thanked for taking care of the fox. His Tails was too young to realize the extent of what he did for him. Plus, he always figured that once they had grown up, Tails would have grown too accustomed to Sonic's brotherliness to think to say thank you. It was a nice surprise. Taking care of a kid while you were still just a pre-teen yourself was difficult. Sonic ended up growing up more quickly than he would have liked to, and all for the little kid with two tails who he found being bullied on the beaches of Emerald Hill. He had done it all because he wanted to, of course, but that didn't take away from the fact that the past two years he had spent with the kid hadn't been easy.
It suddenly hit him that he was only two years younger than this Tails. The two Mobians riding in the plane were practically the same age, and at around the same level of maturity. The difference was almost non-existent, so that there was no older or younger. They were just about equals. It was strange. Even with the older Tails being a little older, Sonic still saw him as his little bro. And he supposed, in some weird way, Tails still was his little bro. The fox still looked up to him, still followed his lead, still felt the need to thank him for being taken care of. But for the first time, Sonic was technically younger. He could ask Tails for advice, for help, things he was never really able to ask for before.
"Am I doing a good job?" the hedgehog blurted out suddenly. "O-Of being a big brother."
This time Tails was caught by surprise. "What? Of course you are, what made you ask that?"
"Just making sure! I just wanted to know, that's all. How often does a guy get the chance to ask his future-little brother these kinds of questions?"
Tails laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's true. You shouldn't worry about that. You're doing awesome."
"Sometimes it's my job to worry."
"Hey, it's my job to worry, too. Do you know how many times a week you almost get killed?" the fox asked.
"I'll try to get into less trouble."
"No you won't." He wasn't accusing Sonic of being a liar. He was stating a fact. The blue one laughed.
"Yeah." The rest of the trip home was relatively quiet, with only the sounds of the plane, the ocean, and the occasional short conversation filling the air. It had been a long day, and it was enough for the two brothers to just sit and enjoy the peace for the time being.
Notes: And we end on some brothers being cute :) Thank you so much for reading and being patient with this chapter! Like I said, I've been super busy lately, so I really appreciate your support. Please leave a review if you liked this chapter! See you next time :D