(Chapter Eight! This came out fast, didn't it?)
"This is the tale of a man who has yet to realize what his destiny is.
"The man and his companions had fallen into a village that worships Gizoids as gods: Galahad.
"That place had a cruel rule in place to ensure the survival of its people.
"Still harboring resentment in their hearts, Sonic and Tails's journey continues, having acquired still more new companions."
CHAPTER EIGHT:
There Are Some Things I Just Have To See!
It started late one evening, less than a week after Silver, Charmy and Cream had joined their posse. Rotor was doing some minor repair work to Freedom Emerl after the latest battle with Gizoids and Black Arms, Silver, Charmy and Cream were napping, and Sally was in the corner, reading a book she had brought along from Acorn.
"Well, that was one unpleasant experience..." said Sonic, reclining and pushing his nose with his forefinger.
"What was?" Tails asked.
"That Galahad Village, that's what," Sonic replied. "It was a gloomy village filled with gloomy people living in the gloomy cold, dark, and dreary. Whenever I think about that place, I just get ticked off."
"Yeah... They were really poor there, weren't they?" Tails said, scratching at some point on his forehead. "Now that I think about it, we had it a lot better back in Knothole than they do. At least we had electricity, and pig-moles, and pig-mole steaks."
"Got that right, big guy," Sonic said. "There was something that they ate, some sorta soup or something that I don't know where it came from, but it may or may not have been some kind of fish. When kids eat stuff like that, I'm sure they grow up into gloomy kids like Pothead there." He pointed a thumb at Silver.
"I think I understand him, though," said Tails.
"Understand what? Why his quills look like a pot leaf?" Sonic snickered.
Tails shook his head.
"No. I don't know about that. But if I hadn't met you... Or if I was born in Galahad Village... I might've grown up to be like him."
"What? With a pot leaf hairdo?"
"Let's just drop the whole 'pot leaf' thing, okay? So, why did you keep getting under the High Priest's collar?"
"Well, something about him reminded me of Chief Eggman. Besides, that whole 'worship Gizoids as gods' thing ticked me off pretty bad. Plus, all those lines on his face made it hard to tell if he was a Gizoid!"
Tails shook his head in bemusement. "I wish you'd talk sense sometimes. Besides, I bet it was hard for him; their village didn't have a lot of food or water. They had to survive somehow, and don't you think he had to do something?"
"Just because there's only enough food for 50 people doesn't make it right to exile any extra people to the surface! He even rigged that lottery so that Charmy and Cream, two little kids, were the ones who got picked. I can't forgive crap like that. I took those kids in 'cause I wanted to make sure they have someone to protect them from the Gizoids and Black Arms."
Then Sonic looked Tails in the eye.
"So Tails, you know why people have eyes in front?"
Tails stared at Sonic for a long moment, and shrugged.
Sonic put on his pointed shades.
"It's because you have to move forward to see your destination in the distance. If you had eyes in the back of your head, all you'd see is your home getting further and further away. You can't move forward like that. If your eyes are in front, you see your destination getting closer and closer." He smirked. "That's what lets people move forward." He scratched his head a little. "At least, that's what Dad used to say..."
Tails looked out a window. At the stars and Moon.
"What you see in the distance..." he muttered.
"Yeah, that's it, big guy."
"I don't think that's it, though. Having eyes in front also lets you see the backs of people who are already ahead of you. That's why Silver came with us... I think." Tails smiled at Sonic. "So, let's show it to them, bro! Silver, Charmy, and Cream... Let's show them some new horizons!"
Sonic gave a thumbs-up. "You got it! Making new friends ain't bad at all."
He poked a head out of the metal hut, peering down the ladder at Rotor.
"Hey Rote, how are the repairs goin'?" he asked.
"Just finished, Sonic," replied the walrus. "Might wanna wake everyone up now, so that they don't get crabby when Freedom Emerl starts walking."
"You got it," said Sonic. He turned to Tails. "We're moving out. Let's wake up Pothead and the kids."
Tails nodded, walking over to Silver and shaking him.
"Silver, the repairs are done," he said. "We're gonna get moving soon."
Silver opened bleary eyes, and nodded sleepily.
"Yo Sal, we're gonna motor in a minute," Sonic said, walking up to Sally.
Sally put her hand to her nose, dropping her book. "Point your face somewhere else, please."
"What? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sonic, leaning in closer.
"What's the matter?" asked Tails, walking over.
"Are you feeling sick?" Silver asked, approaching as he rubbed his eyes.
Sally clenched her eyes shut, and said, "It stinks!"
The room was suddenly quiet, save for Charmy's buzzing.
"...What stinks?" asked Tails.
"Where's it coming from?" Sonic asked.
Sally glared at the hedgehogs and fox. "Excuse me for being blunt, but... you guys reek to high heaven!"
"Huh?" said Sonic.
"Maybe you guys should consider brushing your teeth and washing up once in a while," Sally said hotly.
"And wouldn't you guys know it?" called up Rotor from down below.
Sally looked out the door, still pinching her nose, to face the walrus at the base of the ladder.
"What is it?" she asked.
Rotor pointed along the empty earthen plains at a point somewhere near the local mountain range. In the distance, a rising column of... something could be seen.
"Is it smoke?" Sally pondered. "But Gizoids don't normally attack at night."
"Not smoke," said Rotor, waving a finger. "Steam. It has to be a natural hot spring."
"A hot spring?" Sally's mood brightened instantly, taking the ladder rungs two at a time on her way down.
"A 'hot spring'? What's that?" Sonic asked, climbing down after her. Tails and the rest of the Freedom Fighters followed him.
"It's a place where people can bathe and socialize together," said Rotor matter-of-factly.
"Bathe...together...?" Sonic muttered.
"Alright, Sonic... I've finished cleaning you up..." said Sally in a sultry tone. Now she drew back, crossing her arms in a way that pushed her breasts together. "Now... could you do me...?"
"This is cool! Way past cool!" shouted Sonic. He bounced up Freedom's leg and into the cockpit. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
raw! raw! fight the power!
"This is great, isn't it, you two?" Sally asked Charmy and Cream. "And to think there's a rock wall dividing the hot spring pretty much in two... It's almost perfect for keeping snoopy-eyed hedgehogs from peeking at us!"
"You bet!" said Charmy, dive-bombing into the pool with a 'Yahoo!'.
Sally shielded herself from the splash. "Don't splash around too much, Charmy. There's only so much water here. We don't want you guys to smell too badly when we leave-..."
Sally heard footsteps.
"You better not be trying to sneak a peek, Sonic!" she called out.
Then she heard the last voices she expected to hear.
"Crikey! There really is a hot spring here!"
"This is great, isn't it?"
"It truly is, Meg."
Three female figures stepped through the mist, and Sally's jaw dropped.
"Meg? Blaze? Marine?"
The three girls of the Wandering Orphans stood still at the sight of Sally.
"Sally?"
Peeping Tom
Tails bobbed with his head just above the surface of the water.
"This hot spring was a great find... Right, Sonic?" he said lazily.
"Hey, Tails?"
"Wha~at?"
"Someday, you and me gotta go try and get to the Moon."
"The Moon?" asked Tails, snapping from his reverie. "You mean this?" He pointed at the Moon's reflection in the water.
"No, that!" Sonic pointed at the Moon in the sky.
The sheer magnitude of Sonic's ambition struck Tails dumb for a moment. Then Tails chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"I don't think any amount of wishful thinking is gonna get us to the Moon, Sonic."
"Come on, Tails!" Sonic leapt out of the hot spring, standing on a large rock. "Kicking common sense out and going beyond the impossible is the way the Freedom Fighters roll. We made it to the surface, so who's to say that it's impossible to get to the Moon?"
Tails smiled to himself. "When you say it like that, Sonic, I feel like we really can do it..."
Sonic and Tails stared up at the Moon for a while, thinking about the idea of what could be found up on the Moon, when...
"Stop trying to feel me up!"
"Oh, come off it, Sally! Your breasts are just beggin' to be touched!"
"But Meg's more developed than me, Marine..."
"But Sally, yours are shaped better than mine..."
"I'm right bothered; mine are just like this..."
"What about me, Ms. Meg?"
"Don't worry, Cream. I'm sure you and Marine will develop nicely. That's part of growing up."
"What about me? I'm here, too!"
"Boys don't grow like that, Charmy."
Tails quirked an eyebrow.
"Are those the girls of the Wandering Orphans?" he asked, looking around. "But wouldn't Knuckles be with them...?"
Sonic whipped around to Tails.
"Forget about him. We gotta sneak a peek, big guy," he grinned, flashing a thumbs-up.
"But, Sonic!" Tails's heart leapt into his throat; what if Sally heard them? "Sally said she'd fire Nicole up our tails and out our mouths if we tried to... peep."
"Come on, Tails! What Sally doesn't know won't hurt her!" He pointed to the sky, and shouted so loudly he was afraid the girls (and Charmy) would hear. "Spin your tails, Tails! Fly us up over the wall separating us from the girls!"
An awkward silence passed.
"How can I spin my tails, Sonic?" Tails asked exasperatedly. "They won't spin around each other. It's not physically possible! I just can't do that!"
Sonic rubbed his chin for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
"Your drill, Tails! Your digging drill from Knothole. You still got it?"
"Oh! Uhh..." Digging through his clothes, Tails produced the drill which had found his Core Drill, and Emerl. "This isn't a nice thing to do, though, Sonic. Why can't you just ask Sally to...?"
"Tails," said Sonic, looking up at the Moon again. "We can try for the Moon whenever, but first, there's another adventure to begin. It would be too easy to just walk around or ask. A real man doesn't ask for what he wants; he just takes it! This adventure I have in mind, it's full of mountains and valleys and adventure! Don't you wanna see those lovely mountains and narrow valleys?"
Images of the possibilities of what the nude female body looked like flooded Tails's mind, and all logic and reason emptied out of his skull at the thought of glimpsing it.
A dumb grin spread across the fox boy's face as he placed his drill to the stone wall and began to spin it.
"I sure do," he mumbled.
"Cool! I'll try scaling the wall!" said Sonic, gripping the rock wall and preparing to climb.
旅ってなぁ疲れるもんなんだよ
Rotor typed away at his handheld, looking up at the white hedgehog and Chao beside him, under the shadow of Freedom Emerl. "You aren't going to the hot spring?"
"It's indecent to expose yourself in front of other people," Silver said simply. "I'll go in after everyone else is finished. Besides, I have a bad feeling about this situation. Some sort of... odd vibe in the air."
"If you say so..." said Rotor.
"Rotor?"
"Yes?"
"How do Sonic and Tails operate Freedom and Emerl? I never see them refueling their Gizoids."
Rotor scratched his chin. "I don't know, but they only seem to run when Sonic and Tails are feeling particularly... willing to fight, shall we say. Sonic would put it down to fighting spirit, and I'm not inclined to disagree with him."
"Yeah, I think I heard him mention that to Tails the day after me and Charmy and Cream came up from Galahad."
"Then there's your answer," said Rotor brightly
"Although, how a mechanical device can be powered by its pilot's drive to fight escapes me."
"You and me both," the walrus said. "Maybe, once the surface is reclaimed for Möbian life, we could be scientists together and puzzle it out."
"Maybe... if we can do it," said Silver, resting his chin on a fist.
"If anyone can, it's Sonic and Tails," said Rotor, returning to his typing.
Then he cocked an eyebrow.
"This is really strange..."
"What is?" asked Silver. Kukku's ball turned into a question mark.
"I programmed this thing to follow the exact signature of Freedom's recall point - y'know, where it went for pick-up before Sonic snatched it? - and... well, look at this."
Silver did.
"It's moving," Silver said. The blinking white point representing the recall point was shifting along pixel by pixel every few seconds.
"Exactly. We should've been right where the recall point was when we stopped earlier today, but nothing..."
"And it's not exactly likely that we would be able to miss a facility large enough to house, repair, and sortie Gizoids."
Rotor nodded. "Precisely my thoughts. It could mean that this data is unreliable. Think you could help out with this?"
Silver stared at the little monitor for a few seconds, and sighed in defeat.
"I guess I should mention. I... can't read."
"Really?" said Rotor. "I could teach you."
"Y-you could?" said Silver eagerly.
raw! raw! fight the power!
Eventually, Tails felt the pressure in front of his drill loosen up. Pulling it out, he saw starlight through the other side.
He waved up at Sonic; he didn't want to risk calling out with a hole carved in the wall. Sonic seemed not to notice.
Guess I can peek myself, Tails thought. And he can see from up there...
"What? No way! I am not interested in Sonic in the least!" said Sally's sharp voice.
Tails peered through the hole. He saw Sally's cleavage and her mouth, and nothing else.
"Really? That sounded too fervent..." said Meg slyly.
"Really! It's the truth!" Sally insisted.
"Well, I'll chat him up, then," said Marine.
"What?" Sally asked.
"That means she will advance on him," said Blaze.
Sally seemed to hesitate there. "F-feel free! Don't let me stop you!"
"Or maybe you want Tails to be your bonzer bloke." Marine's arms fell over Sally's shoulders, groping her.
Tails's heart leapt.
Sally pushed Marine away, "Don't grab me there. And as for Tails..." She formed an 'X' with her hands. "Pass."
Tails nearly banged his head on the edge of the hole at that. He couldn't look anymore; he started at his feet in the water.
"Tails is just a little kid, following Sonic around in his shadow," Sally's voice drifted into Tails.
"He is rather hesitant as well, I must admit," said Blaze's voice.
"And he's right dodgy sometimes!" laughed Marine.
Tears spilled down Tails's face. Was this how everyone really thought of him? Was what they said true? Was he really just a little kid, forever caught in his big brother's shadow?
"But, I think that if he really worked at it, he could become a really good man."
Tails's tears dried instantly at Sally's words.
"What do you mean?" asked Meg.
"He may not have matured all the way just yet, but he comes through when it counts. I believe in him to pull through and become his own sort of man. Maybe even... the kind of man I could end up marrying."
Tails realized he was smiling, and looked from his feet, to his digging drill, then to the Core Drill around his neck.
He'd heard enough. What was a little peep show now when he could potentially have years with Sally to do this and that?
He picked up a rock and blocked out the ensuing argument between Sally and Marine over whether this counted as a declaration of love by plugging the hole he'd drilled.
He contented himself with squeezing water out from between his hands.
"What? You gave up?" called Sonic from the wall. He was quite high up.
Let him have his peep show, Tails thought. I'll have all the time in the world with Sally once I'm old enough.
"Mm-hmm..." he mumbled absent-mindedly.
Sonic grumbled. "Looks like this adventure is all down to me," he said, resuming his climb.
If Tails had not been absorbed in the delight of Sally admitting that Tails could grow up into a great man, he would have realized that, just moments after plugging the hole, it had gotten inordinately quiet on the other end of the hot spring...
燃えてばかりでいいのかい?
Yes! Sonic thought, just two minutes after the big guy gave up on trying to see what any man should see. I finally made it!
Pulling himself over the edge, he stood upon the precarious edge of the rock wall dividing the natural hot spring, looked down into the section Sally had chosen for herself and the kids...
And saw just water and steam.
"What? Where are the girls?" He saw a flash of light glint in the distance. It wasn't where Freedom and Emerl were stashed.
It was a missile.
"WHAT THE HELL'S GOING O-..."
Sonic leapt from the wall just before the missile impacted the wall, obliterating the hot spring and sending Sonic and Tails flying.
The two Knothole villagers lay shaking under the stars and moon, just meters from what was once a natural hot spring.
"Damn... I was so close..." Sonic said, before opening his eyes.
His heart skipped a beat.
A looming silhouette, larger than any other... Two glowing red eyes...
"A Gizoid at night?" Sonic shouted.
"Yes!" said the Gizoid in a deep booming voice. "And now I shall burn you Möbians and your Gizoids to ash!"
Sonic and Tails ran from the Gizoid.
"No fair attacking at night! It's against the rules!" Sonic called back.
"I apologize," returned the Gizoid. "But my particular breed is nocturnal!"
Then the Gizoid stopped. Looking in the direction they were running, Sonic and Tails saw...
"Freedom!" Tails yelled. "With Emerl!" In its fist, at that.
"But who's piloting it?" Sonic asked.
Freedom's jaws moved, and Silver's voice said, "Just like you and Rotor explained, I'm piloting it with fighting spirit."
"Yeah, not bad, Pothead, but gangway!" Sonic leapt up Freedom's leg, pried open the cockpit, and took the controls.
Silver, unnerved at seeing a naked hedgehog, asked, "Should I... get out?"
"The sooner, the better!" Sonic shouted, and Silver bounded out. "Let's combine, Tails!" Freedom tossed Emerl down to Tails, who leapt into the cockpit.
"Right!" Tails said, pulling off his Core Drill and preparing to insert it...
"Fools!" boomed the Gizoid's voice. "Do you not care what fate befalls... them?"
The enemy Gizoid's eyes projected a beam of light into the sky, and it showed...
Sally, Charmy, Cream, and the three female Wandering Orphans, all behind bars. Some sort of... blocky filter was blocking their private parts with its blockiness.
"Hostages...?" asked Silver.
"It's Sally and the others!" Tails shouted.
"Do not fear," said the Gizoid. "I will not kill them. The women shall be sent to the Helix King himself as tributes."
"'Helix King'...?" asked Sonic distractedly, staring intently at the image of the girls (and Charmy).
"You are correct," the Gizoid replied. "The almighty god who rules over this world from the Capital. He and his Four Helix Generals descended on this planet to sweep it clean of you Möbian scum."
"So, the Helix King is the final boss," said Silver. "The root of all evil."
"I will not tolerate any derisive speech against the Helix King," snarled the Gizoid, bringing its arm back.
"Wait a minute!" said Sonic, and the Gizoid paused. "You still haven't explained something."
"I do not feel I am entitled to explain anything to a Möbian," the Gizoid rumbled. "I am a Black Arms, and I do not have time to pander with slime like you. But, I shall humor you in your last moments."
"What's that stuff that makes it so I can sort of see what's under it but not really?" Sonic asked, pointing Freedom's finger at the projected image.
The Gizoid was frozen for a moment, then its pilot recalled the Möbian penchant for procreation, and the state of dress of the people he had abducted, and decided to improvize a solution to this situation.
"If you want me to remove the mosaic filter, kindly step out of your Gizoid now."
Sally's face registered shock and a hint of disgust.
"Are you crazy?" shouted Emerl in Tails's voice. "The Freedom Fighters aren't stupid enough to fall for that, you coward!"
"Can you... remove those blocks?" asked Freedom.
Tails froze.
"Sonic...?"
"Forgive me, big guy," said Sonic as he leapt out of his Gizoid. Facing the enemy Gizoid, he said, "Okay, I'm out! Now, keep up your end of the deal."
The Gizoid chortled. "As you wish."
The blocks vanished, and... the girls were all wearing towels (Sally was also wearing an extremely sour expression) and Sonic could see Charmy's stinger and then realized that Charmy was not wearing a towel, and that it wasn't Charmy's stinger there...
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Sonic screamed at the top of his lungs.
The enemy Gizoid opened up a third eye in the middle of its forehead, preparing to vaporize Sonic where he stood...
But the Black Arms pilot failed to understand just how Sonic earned his nickname: by being the fastest person in all of Knothole Village. Sonic flashed back into Freedom's cockpit, grabbed Emerl, and jammed the miniature Gizoid's freshly spawned drill into its own headless space, and Freedom Emerl stood erect in a blaze of green light.
Freedom Emerl pointed at the enemy Gizoid.
Sonic's voice carried for miles.
"YOU TOOK THE HEIGHTS OF THE MÖBIAN SPIRIT, THE VERY DEPTHS OF THE MALE SOUL, AND THEN YOU KICKED IT INTO THE DIRT, SMACKED IT AROUND, AND SMASHED IT! I'LL KILL YOU, THEN FOLLOW YOU DOWN TO HELL, AND KILL YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER!"
"ENOUGH TALK FROM YOU!" the Gizoid shouted, drawing blood-red claws. "JUST DIE!"
Freedom Emerl dodged the enemy's slice, pulled free its shades from its chest, and tossing them like a boomerang.
"'I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THIS SLIGHT AGAINST ALL MEN' BOOMERANG!"
The shades flew around the enemy Gizoid, slicing through the ropes that held the cage to its back, the cage falling to the ground and bursting open, the kidnapped Freedom Fighters freed.
"And now..." Freedom Emerl grabbed the enemy Gizoid's arm.
"What?" it said furiously, before being lifted off the ground and spun by Freedom Emerl, spinning on its heel.
"'THE FIGHTING SPIRIT OF AN ANGRY MAN IS INFINITE'..." He let it go. "SWING!"
The Gizoid flew towards the distant horizon, where the sun was just beginning to crest for sunrise. It disappeared into the mountains.
Sonic bounded out of Freedom, stretching his arms. "Man, I feel a lot better now..."
Tails jumped down next to him, pointing at Sally, who was approaching. "Uhh, Sonic..." Tails didn't like that vein that was popping on Sally's forehead, or the way her hands were balled up into fists.
Sonic gave a tiny salute. "So you're alright, Sa-..."
BAM
Sonic fell to the ground, his hand over his nose, which was bleeding.
"SONIC, YOU IDIOT!" screeched Sally. "DID YOUR BRAINS ROT OUT? OR WERE YOU EVEN THERE WHEN THEY WERE HANDED OUT? IT WAS OBVIOUSLY A TRAP!"
Sonic stood up again, his arms folded as he said sincerely, "I'm sorry! It's just..." His face screwed up in anger. "There are some things I just have to see!"
Sally's anger defused by Sonic's declaration, she stammered while everyone else gathered around this little scene, then finally...
"Th-then you should have just told me!" she yelled back. "If you wanted to see them that badly, I could've shown them to you any time!"
A moment to process the words.
And then...
Sonic's expression remained unchanged.
Tails's jaw dropped.
Kukku's ball turned into an exclamation point.
Rotor raised an eyebrow.
Silver palmed his face in both hands.
Meg muttered slyly, "'Not interested in the least', huh?"
Blaze's eyes widened ever so slightly.
Marine put a fist in the air and cheered.
And Sally blushed furiously.
She waved her arms flusteredly, "Wait, th-that didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to and..." Sally pointed in the distance, the current situation forgotten. "What's..." She gasped and ducked. "INCOMING!"
And everything went white.
When everyone came to again, the sun was slightly higher up, and everyone was tossed about and falling back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness.
Silver realized he was lying on top of Blaze. He blushed. She did too.
"Uh... I'm Silver from Galahad."
"I am Blaze... from Percival."
"Wh... what do you think just happened?"
"What's that?" yelled Sonic, sitting bolt upright and pointing at a tornado which had just kicked up less than fifty paces away.
When the tornado stopped, a familiar white Gizoid was standing there, a bladed crest where its head once was.
And on its shoulder...
A Black Arms. Who looked almost exactly like a hedgehog.
"It's been a long time... filthy animals!" he snarled.
"Wait, you're..." Sonic said, recognizing an old rival.
Sally drew a pistol; Nicole was in the metal hut Freedom Emerl was dragging around, and she didn't want to move from this spot until the battle had begun.
"I see you fool Möbians are still having fun on the surface," the Black Arms hedgehog crossed his arms. "But that is finished now!"
"Shadow..." Sonic muttered.
"'Now, you will return my helmet to me'..." Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Is what I'd like to say now... But first things first."
He closed his eyes, and looked away from what could have passed for a nudist colony on the surface.
"Put some clothes on," he said lowly.
And everyone realized that in the blast that had preceded Shadow's re-entry into their lives, their clothes had either been blown off or blown away.
The girls covered themselves in embarrassment.
Sonic and Tails exchanged confused glances.
Kukku's ball turned into a question mark.
つづく
To be continued...
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It doesn't matter if the enemy is the size of a skyscraper. All that counts is how great your fighting spirit is! With fighting spirit, you can do anything!
Next time on Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl: "You Don't Get Anywhere By Running Away!"