The outburst of dark energy left black liquid fire dripping from the kitsune's form, blackening the grass and filling the clearing with the sharp aroma of death. Tails stood motionless, only a bare fraction of him now not given over to this all-consuming rage, and that fraction was no longer in control. He could feel the darkness coursing through his form, and in this state he could not deny that he enjoyed it, like a guilty pleasure. It felt good to finally give voice to his rage. It felt good to let it out. And by Chaos it felt good to use it against Scourge.
Scourge, meanwhile, was not feeling good at all. If there was any emotion he felt other than fear, it was buried deep within him. The ebon-furred fox was now levitating slowly towards him, a rather mad smile playing across his lips. Desperately, he tried to appeal to Tails' famous good nature.
"H-hey, kid, listen. If it's about the girl, you can have her! Honest! I didn't know you were this wild about her, and really, I'm not that fond of her, she's just kinda hot, so take her!" He pleaded, raising his hands. Tails rolled his eyes, unsurprised at how quickly Scourge had switched. He focused the power of his Dark form, and warped behind Scourge, cracking his knuckles against the Moebian's skull, knocking him to the ground.
"Oh no, it's not that simple." He started, kicking his quarry in the side, flipping him into the air. "You see, you're part of the problem. You're the one that lead her astray, the one that tempted her. The best way to stop her from seeking you out again, in the event of a further lapse in judgement, or an outburst of anger, is to remove you from the equation entirely." He warped again, grabbed the hedgehog by the throat, and held him in place, mid-air. "Furthermore, if you think this is all about Fiona, then surely it's a bad idea to refer to her as if she is a mere object that means nothing to you. Just a word of advice."
There was a moment he thought that perhaps, just maybe, he couldn't really control this power. Then it occurred to him that he didn't care. His muscles twitched, pure destructive energy rushing through into his helpless victim. Again, Sonic yelled something at his friend, but Tails didn't hear, nor did he care. He was lost in the moment, the pure sadistic delight of it all.
Even so, he had to give him credit. Through the agony that was every nerve in his body burning, Scourge managed to clamp his hands round Tails' wrist, struggling, pulling pitifully against the chaos-enhanced musculature in a vain attempt to claw his way out of the situation. "I- I- I get-" He spluttered out through a choked windpipe.
Tails heard the words and his face split in a jagged, rictus grin, teeth bared. "You get it? You understand me? You don't understand anyone but yourself. All your understanding is rammed into this little glass bauble that is your skull! You want your own crater as well?" He lifted Scourge above his head, staring in contempt into his eyes for a moment, then brought him down into the ground, the impact driving the hedgehog into the dirt and a muffled popping informing him of a broken rib. "I want you to feel all the pain you've inflicted, all the hurt you've caused! I want you to suffer it along with the rest of us Scourge, but I think I'd rather just kill you."
"Th-th-then just d-d-do it!" The green hedgehog spat, defiant despite the croaking of his voice. Tails raised an eyebrow, and sneered, holding his hand forward and spreading his fingers wide, black fire flaring up around them. "You're trying to goad me, trying to make me snap and kill you quickly. Sorry, but that's not going to happen. You don't deserve that mercy. I want you to feel it, to suffer. I want to enjoy it."
The liquid flames began to peel away from Tails' form once again, coalescing into a single black orb between them, the fire licking from the top and the dark liquid of it splashing towards the ground in thick globules, humming and wavering with barely-contained power. Without apparent reason Scourge convulsed, the muscles on his body tightening beyond their natural limit, purple and green mist seeping from his eyes, mouth and ears, spinning in trails into the black orb. The green energy sank into it, the purple spray burning up as it made contact, sometimes with sharp plumes of violet flame.
His foe's fur began to change, darkening rapidly as if it too was burning, losing its green vibrancy and taking on a bluer hue. Scourge saw the changes through the pain and his watering eyes, somewhere in his mind half-understanding now what was happening. He glanced towards Tails, eyes begging for mercy, for any sort of respite – and then widened in horror. The kitsune's skin was writhing like snakes crawled beneath the fur, and he could see it thicken, bulking up, bones and musculature toughening and aging just as quickly, like he was feeding on the suffering he now caused.
"This is a Chaos Drain. I'm pulling of the energy from your body, and adding it to my own reserves. As you can see, I'm putting it to a better use as well. The smaller muscles I had before are only capable of so much, even with my powers augmenting them. So I had to make a few changes. And luckily for you, it doesn't stop here." Tails exposited, his voice now sounding much deeper, and more like his father.
"It has to!"
Tails froze. Before, yelling had only reached him as a vague babble. Now he could hear the words. True, they still sounded faint, and the voice was unreadable, but he heard them. Pausing the drain, he turned, and found Fiona staring at him from the edge of the clearing, her eyes wide with fear and shock.
"It has to stop." She repeated.
"I can't stop, and this is exactly why. That temptation will always remain."
"I'm not going to go with him. I don't want that slow, painful death. But look at yourself, Tails. Look at what you're doing! You're torturing someone for kicks! Look at what you're becoming!"
His eyes flicked between Fiona and Scourge, one he protected and the other he wanted to destroy. The sadistic grin faded from his face, going blank, his rage-flooded mind struggling to understand what she was saying.
"Look at what you're doing, bud!" Sonic…it could only be Sonic, though he did not turn to see. "You said this guy causes all this suffering, and check what you're doing! You wanna be just like him or what?"
That…what…was he doing? That little part of him that wasn't consumed by the anger…was screaming. Screaming that he wasn't like this, that he was better than this. But Sonic had to be wrong! How could he…how could he be like this bastard? He was nothing like him! This is why he was fighting- killing him! He hated…No.
He saw Fiona open her mouth to speak again, and raised a hand. Wait. And looked back towards Scourge. The hedgehog had gone limp, panting heavily as his damaged nervous system struggled to repair itself. He only had another moment of respite before the kitsune's foot slammed into his ribs, kicking him several feet along the ground, and then once again he turned his gaze to Fiona.
"Then what do you suggest I do?" He asked, the rage in his voice quelled for a moment. "Would you rather I let him go?"
"Well, too late for that." The voice made him spin…no-one there. Had he- no-one there. Scourge had been lying there nursing several broken ribs only seconds ago.
"Damnit!" Tails roared, the rage in him blossoming anew. "Sonic, come on! We're going after him."
A moment later and the hedgehog stood by his side. "Alright, but I decide what we do with him."
"And what do you propose we do?"
"I dunno, I'm tryin' to think like Sal here, and it's not something I'm used to. Let's just make sure he doesn't get away first. I'll go ground level, you take to the air."
"Fair enough. Tails nodded, before turning to face Fiona. "Stay here, and when the others show up, don't snark or be aggressive. With any luck, we'll be back before they show, but if we aren't, you're not exactly in a favourable spot right now, and Amy can be... overzealous.
The vixen nodded, and Tails offered a weak smile, before shooting straight upwards, and speeding off through the air, as Sonic vanished into the woods.
Now suspended above the treeline, and peering through the leaves below, Tails found his mind wandering back to the vixen. This was not abnormal for him, but his view of her was certainly being called into question now.
How should I feel about all of this? She was going to leave us, ditch us, for Scourge of all people. But... when I explained what he's really like, she was... confused? Shocked? A mix of the two, more like. Perhaps he fooled her into believing he was trustworthy... no, that's just absurd, she's much smarter than him... but he's a damn good liar. He fooled Sally, he fooled me; he fooled everyone into believing that he was the real Sonic. And Fiona had just the right sort of fucked up past to make it easy for him. Added, it's pretty plain that Sonic is still pining after Sally, and the others don't trust her, particularly Sally and Amy. That's it! It all adds up. She's lonely, her boyfriend's not giving her the affection and care she deserves, she feels untrusted, and she's being manipulated by one of the best liars I've ever met." tails shuddered, the black fur standing on end. He was still seething with barely-controlled rage, but now it knew direction and purpose. Now tempered by the guilt of not seeing all this sooner, and kept in check by his feelings for Fiona, beating within him.
Tails was snapped from both the surprisingly lucid monologue and the search by the sound of something landing on the nearest treetop. He looked down to see Sonic perched there, and floated towards him.
"Find anything?"
"Nope." Sonic groaned, shrugging. "And I searched every part of the forest, except the clearing. See anything from above?"
"No, there was only one blue blur whizzing around below, and that was you. How did he get here, anyway?"
"I dunno, he just kinda appeared. Last time he left with a Warp Ring, though. Think he could have done the same?"
"Possibly. Or maybe he actually did go back for Fiona and circled back after we left."
"Not possible, and you should know that. It's something that I'd do."
"Sonic, I'm not sound of mind at the minute, so I don't exactly have great clarity of thought. Besides, think about it. You'd do that because you're smart, you'd do it to get it done…" he paused, breathing deeply. "But he might do it because I just beat the living shit out of him. Scourge loves revenge, remember? He'll take any opportunity."
"And if he's still running around the forest? We leave ourselves open if we go one way or another."
"So we split up. Remember how we used to do that? You go one way and I go the other." Tails snapped. Sonic flinched at his friend's vigour, reassuring himself it was not his choice. "If he's running, you'll be able to keep pace, so you keep looking through the forest, I'll head back." He began to rise into the air when a faint noise pricked his ears. A tapping…no…buzzing? Voices.
His neck snapped round. "Sonic, cancel that. Get back there, now. We've both been played." he surged up above the treeline without waiting for a response, his mind's eye picking out the clearing through a sea of green foliage. Above the wind the voices weren't audible anymore…anything could be happening. The clear patch came into view and he dived towards it as Sonic skidded into the space, careening sideways to avoid him and bouncing off a tree.
Apart from him, it was empty.
"Nothing." The kitsune growled. "Gone." He glanced towards Sonic. "You were saying?"
"Alright!" The hedgehog threw his hands up. "You were right and I was wrong! You going to torture me too? Tails, I know you're pissed off more than Knuckles when someone leaves chocolate on the Master Emerald, but you can either chase me around the forest or we can go after Scourge."
"There's no... need for that." An all too familiar voice panted behind them. Both Mobians whirled around to see Scourge stepping out from behind a tree. He looked slightly less ragged than he did a moment ago, but neither cared about that. Instead, their attention was attracted by Fiona, her arms pulled behind her back, and her feet and tail tied together with a rope. She was struggling and squirming, but froze when Scourge pulled a switchblade from his pocket, extended the blade, and held it to her throat.
"Let her go. Now." Tails snarled, his twin namesakes sharpening again.
"One step at a time... kid. I'll let her go... but first, you turn back to normal, and drop those rocks."
"You know it would take either of us about a second to get over there and knock that knife out of your hands, fake me." Sonic pointed out.
"True... but I'm as fast as you. You even look like you're gonna move, and she gets the chop."
"Fine..." Tails' body ejected the seven stones, which fell to the ground around his feet, and he dropped to his knees from exhaustion, the use of the synthetic Emeralds and the transformation of his body catching up with him. "Now give her to me."
Scourge smirked, and let out a laugh. He flipped the blade away from the vixen's neck, and pocketed it. Then, he hoisted her over his shoulder, and threw out his Warp Ring. It opened behind Tails, and the formerly green hedgehog surged forward, scooping up the Emeralds and leaping into the portal.
"Suckers!" He crowed. "You're supposed to be smart, but man, if you thought I'd ever give up the best hostage I ever took, you're fuckin' retarded! Laters!"
The ring snapped shut, and vanished.