Chapter 10: Entropy

It was only natural for Tails to sink into a depression he couldn't seem to break out of. He had betrayed his friends for a chance to become the Guardian he was meant to be. He had allied himself with a man who wanted to kill them. Who wanted to kill everyone.

It was like willingly working for Scourge - unthinkable, and yet… He had done it. Stupidly, he'd let his curiosity and sense of duty cloud his mind. He'd believed the deranged psychopath - who was now, much to his dismay, his boss - when he said he could train him.

To Mrothtar's credit, however, he hadn't lied.

As Tails advanced his abilities further, Mrothtar began to teach him. He gave him simple tricks to use and taught him more fighting moves. He slowly made him stronger. Perhaps even stronger than Melda, in Mrothtar's opinion. He boasted that one day Tails might even out-rank Ramku.

However, Tails was still very uneasy about this "alliance" - and who could blame him?

Several months into their alliance, Melda informed Tails of a super form that could be induced by the Entropy Jets. She claimed it was more powerful than any other super form he'd encountered so far, which he found believable given the power of the Jets. He couldn't imagine having to channel power from all 7 of them… Though he'd no doubt have to one day.

As if she could sense his thoughts, she giggled. "You don't even need all of them, silly."

Her giggle was what made the rest of Mrothtar's soldiers hate her. She always giggled. Always found something amusing enough to provoke the sound. It drove them all insane.

Instead of glaring at her as he usually would have, he raised and eye ridge and made a gruff noise in the back of his throat.

"Just the Master Jet all by itself is powerful enough to initiate the transformation!" Another giggle. God Tails hated this woman. He wanted her dead. "But~" Her voice was too sing-songy for him. It rubbed his nerves raw. "If you gather all of them and absorb the power you can become something like a god." She advised, still half singing. "But even just absorbing a teensy-tiny smidgen of power from the Master Jet can give you enough to put you in Entropy form for at least six hours!"

"And all seven?" He raised both of his eye ridges, intrigued. Perhaps he could put aside how annoying she was for now - information like this was valuable.
She shrugged, "Only the boss knows what happens then!" Another one of those infamous, unbearable giggles. "He's the only one still alive who's ever done it!"

Tails cursed internally. He hated having to speak to Mrothtar. It only cemented his depression, he'd found. He put up with doing it during training for obvious reasons but aside from that he preferred to avoid the hawk unless speaking to him was necessary. Lucky for him, it usually wasn't.

He didn't even receive a large amount of orders from Mrothtar… For the most part he was merely under orders to train. And with as much time as he spent doing that, he was getting pretty good at using Entropy Energy. He could teleport without getting tired as easily now, blasts of Entropy were easier to control… And he would have been proud of himself if it weren't for the nagging thoughts at the back of his mind.

I'm going to have to use these powers to kill my friends.

Guilt was an all-consuming emotion, he'd found. There were very few ways to successfully escape it and he hadn't managed a single one of them. Not yet, at least. He was taking a suggestion from Fang, though, and not running away from the guilt. According to Fang it would go away easier if he just acknowledged it and let it run it's course.

Tails trusted Fang.

He was about the only person in this place he trusted, but Fang deserved it. Sure, he was a very quiet and reserved guy, but he knew his way around some technology far beyond his time. And he knew his way around magic, too… In all honesty it seemed like Fang was the only one he could trust. He didn't pretend to like Tails, or any of the others, he didn't even pretend to like Mrothtar. He was very straightforward, very blunt, and that was how Tails knew that Fang genuinely enjoyed his company.

The fox was much, much older than he was - possibly somewhere around 500 years old, and his seven tails were testament to this.

According to Fang, he'd once been like Tails. Two tails, with no clue where they came from. They were completely natural to "their tribe". He insisted he had been a member of the Tails tribe as well, "many moons ago", but of the less important families. He had wanted vengeance for being so unimportant to the higher families when he joined Mrothtar, and Mrothtar had coerced him into using the power of the Master Jet to become a god. It had backfired and turned him into a real kitsune - a fox demon.

"I'm immortal now, for as long as the Entropy Jets are around." He stated blankly.

"Do you still want revenge?"

Fang shook his head, "Revenge is trivial. Even demons know that." He gave Mrothtar's throne room a hard look, "But it seems that a fool will be forever a fool even when gifted with all the power and knowledge he requires."

"So that's what Mrothtar's after? Revenge?" Tails tilted his head.

Fang reminded him so much of Shadow. His attitude and overall disposition were very similar to the hedgehog's, and even his eyes were vaguely reminiscent of the anti-hero.

"Yes. He's believed for many centuries that the Tails tribe took the Entropy Jets from his people, although there are no records of the Hawks ever possessing them."

"So he's delusional." Tails reasoned.

"Or stupid." Fang suggested snidely. "Regardless he's dead set on getting them back, no matter how many Tails tribe foxes he has to recruit to do it… Luckily for us… We're the only two left."

That hit Tails hard. He wasn't entirely sure why. "It's… It's just us?"

"As far as I'm aware… Hm. I believe it's time I told you about how you came to be an orphan." Fang seemed to consider it, "I assure you, Mrothtar and I did not cause it, but we were there, and it did greatly benefit Mrothtar in the end."

Tails blinked, unsure about how he felt now. There was confusion, a little surprise, too, but other than that… He didn't really feel anything. "Who caused it?"

"You'll find out." Fang assured him, "When I've finished the story."

And Tails sat there for the whole story, blank faced and empty. He couldn't be sure why.

All he knew when the story was over was that he was very glad Sonic had found him before the one who had killed his tribe did. And from there his guilt only skyrocketed. But for some reason, along with it, the Entropy Energy he had absorbed grew more powerful. He felt overwhelmed. And before he could stop it he felt the powers snuff out his consciousness.

Fang caught the much smaller fox right before he hit the ground, but Tails would never know that.

Nor would he ever know how much Fang truly cared… And how much it hurt him to see the last member of his tribe suffer under Mrothtar's tyranny.

A/N: I just realized I goofed and posted this chapter before I was entirely done with it. Oops. Here's the finished and somewhat revised chapter. Next chapter will be later today, as promised.