Miles 'Tails' Prower had been working on the inactive Omega for days. He had found him flying over the ruins of a destroyed city. However, no matter how hard Tails tried, he just couldn't activate Omega. The biggest problem was the lack of a power source. Tails was able to salvage some from destroyed robot parts, but none seemed to help Omega. Sighing loudly, the little fox stopped his futile repairs on the combat robot and took a few steps back.
"Sorry Omega. I just can't help you." He let out a loud sigh again. "What am I even doing here, I should help the others against Eggman. Instead, I'm here trying to distract myself from all the fighting. To distract from the war and from Sonics..." Tail's memories flashed back to that fateful day when his best friend and brother was beaten up by Eggman's newest weapon and their old enemies….
Tails had tried to help. At first he tried to analyze their opponents, but when the data didn't make any sense, he took part in the fight itself.
Or tried to.
But the masked figure had easily grabbed him and smashed him against the stone wall of a building several times before throwing him away. Tails, despite the pain, had tried to get up and help Sonic, but the masked jackal blasted the ground in front of him with a laser beam, causing him to fall to the ground again.
"I can smell your fear, desperation and confusion child. Surrender to these feelings, flee and I'll let you go. Flee… knowing that you are leaving your beloved brother behind."
Tails wanted to stand up, stand up against the stranger and help Sonic, but he couldn't. He was paralyzed, his whole body shaking and aching.
"Tails," came Sonic's weak voice. The fox looked at the blue hedgehog that was in the grip of Chaos and Zavok. Red cubes floated around the blue hedgehog. Whenever they grazed him with their edges, he, for some reason, winced. "Tails please run, I don't want them to hurt you. Run and continue the fight for another day. You-" A smack from Metal Sonic silenced the hedgehog.
Tails watched it all frozen. He felt so helpless.
"Child." He looked back at the masked jackal, more precisely at his left, visible eye. "Flee, little one. Just… run."
Something appeared in the eye, an expression Tails didn't understand, but it made him run away. He ran and ran, until he reached the others and warned them from the newest threat Eggman had unleashed.
From that point on, the Resistance was established and all of Sonic's friends fought against Eggman's forces. All except Tails. He tried to pull himself together to help his friends and fulfill Sonic's request, but whenever the fox wanted to report for an assignment, the memories of the beaten Sonic and the brutal attacks of the masked entity came back and Tails felt the fear and pain of that moment again. And the one time he did accompany a group, he fled at the sign of a fight. Separated from his them, Tails wandered lost through this town until he found Omega. And now here he was, trying to fix an irreparable robot so he would feel less like a coward. Like a disappointment.
"I'm sorry Sonic. If only I… huh what's that?" The fox mobian heard a bubbling behind him. He turned and saw water pouring out of a manhole cover, assembling into a familiar shape.
"Chaos!" Tails exclaimed in horror. The water god marched slowly and menacingly towards the little fox. He stood protectively in front of Omega.
"I-I won't let you hurt you hurt a-anyone else. I-" Chaos drew closer. Tails started shaking, but he tried to pull himself together.
This is just Chaos 0, I defeated Chaos 4… with the help of Sonic. And he isn´t here… NO! I-I need to focus. I need to-
He flinched when Chaos raised his fist. Only to look away in confusion. The fox mobian followed the water god's gaze and saw some sort of portal made of violet mist that had opened up next to them. A red mass shot out of it, colliding with Chaos and bursting his liquid body. Water spread everywhere. Tails watched the portal close, then looked over to where Chaos had just stood. In a puddle of water and (and for Tails some unexplaineable reason) rose petals sat a human girl staring at him in confusion.
"Um... hi? I don't mean to come of as rude, but you´re-" The human girl was cut off as a water fist formed and knocked her away. The girl flew trough the air and hit the ground hard. Chaos reformed completely and glared at the human girl.
Ruby barely had time to look around after escaping out of nowhere when she collided into the wet something. When she managed to regain her bearings, she saw that she was in a ruined city. She sat in a puddle, her clothes completly drenched, and in front of her was the strangest Faunus she had ever seen. He didn't look like a human with animal features, but more like a small animal with anthropological traits. The little guy stared at her in complete shock and confusion.
"Um... hi?" Ruby tried to break the strange silence. "I don't mean to come of as rude, but you´re-" And then her chin exploded in pain as something hit her from below, sending her flying through the air. She hit the ground, but luckily most of the damage was absorbed by her aura. Her protective shield of life energy that surrounded her and from which her Semblance drew its power. A bubbling made her look up. Puddles had formed into a water creature with green glowing eyes. Eyes that were glaring at her angrily.
"Wha… what are you?" Ruby asked. She had never seen a creature like this before. That couldn´t be a Grimm, right? No, but maybe a failed experiment with Water Dust? No time to think, because the creature attacked!
It extended its arm, but the claw grapped nothing as Ruby's Semblance made her burst into petals and dodge aside. The human girl manifested herself in a combat-ready stance and pulled out Crescent Rose. The weapon unfolded into its full form. Ruby aimed and fired a few times, but of course her projectiles passed through the liquid body without any effect. Chaos jumped high in the air and landed on the roof of a semi-sturdy house. From there, he fired his extended arms at Ruby, who continued to dodge the water god's fists with her Semblance.
Crap! What should I do? I can't dodge this thing forever, and my weapon seems utterly useless against it. How can you hurt a creature made of water?
As Chaos jumped onto the roof of a house closer to Ruby, the sun shined through his watery body. This allowed Ruby to clearly see the dark object in the water god's head.
Is that a... brain? It seems to be the only solid part of his body besides the eyes, maybe I can hurt it there. But if it's constantly beating me with its fists, I can't aim properly.
Ruby's gaze fell on the facade of the house her enemy used as high ground. It was more damaged than the previous one. Perhaps…
Ruby ducked under a fist and ran toward the house. She struck it with her scythe, cutting trough the brittle stone and wood, and in turn brought down the building. Buried in the rubble, the creature struggled to reform. Its water seaping trough the cracks and holes to find free space. As soon as the head formed on top of the rubble, green eyes looked into the barrel of Crescent Rose and heard the clicking of the trigger.
BANG!
The creature bursts into droplets. Ruby let out a relieved sigh. She stepped away from the ruined house and looked over at the fox. He had watched the fight with his mouth open and his eyes wide.
"Don't worry, the danger is over." But the fox just shook his head and yelled: "No, Chaos needs take more damage to be defeated. He… BEHIND YOU!"
Ruby turned and looked into the angry eyes of the water creature, apparently called Chaos, completely reshaped, including the brain.
"What!? But… you… oh come on!"
Ruby drew Crescent Rose again, but Chaos knocked it out of her hands. Then the water god performed a kind of whirling attack, where he raised his arms and turned wildly around his own axis. Ruby was caught of guard by this attack and was thrown away. This time her aura flickered upon the stronger type of damage she received. Ruby struggled to her feet and saw that the green gem had fallen from her inventory. Chaos eyes lit up when he saw it and grabbed it immediately. A bright light shone and as it disappeared, Ruby was confronted with Chaos 1. The water god was now taller and had a stronger built. His right arm had bluish bones in which the green gem was embedded. Ruby stared at the transformed being with circular eyes and an open mouth.
"Okay... now I don't understand anything anymore."
Tails was flabbergasted too, but for different reasons. He wondered where this girl came from and how she came into the possession of a Chaos Emerald. The Chaos Emeralds had not been found since Sonic's defeat. And now this stranger seemed to have brought one. Unfortunately, Chaos now possessed it and had grown stronger. The water god charged his right arm with energy and punched the ground. The sudden tremor made Rubys stagger unsteadily as she was trying not to lose her balance. Chaos took advantage of this and turned his body into a mini tsunami that raced towards Ruby. The human girl just found her footing when Chaos caught her. The water god swirled her around in his formless body before spitting his victim out. Ruby lay dazed on the ground while Chaos reformed back into his 1 form and grabbed the human girl in his bony hand. The water god slowly began to squeeze, trying to crush the stranger's chest.
This sight finally snapped Tails out of his stupor.
During all of this he had just stood there doing nothing. He should help this girl! Otherwise she would end up like Sonic, no… worse!
Tails felt a whiff of his old bravery trying to defy fear. He struck a pose ready for battle as he gathered himself. He flew towards Chaos. Tails used his name giving twin tails and smashed them into Chaos' head. The water god burst and dropped Ruby. Tails landed next to her.
"Hey are you okay? We need to put some distance between us and Chaos quickly before he reforms", he asked her.
"Yeah... I... guess I'm okay."
Bubbling, the first limbs of Chaos began to form. Human and Mobian quickly ran away from him, toward Crescent Rose. Ruby picked up her weapon with visible relief and immediately took aim on Chaos. She fired several shots at the head, but her opponent raised his bony hand in front of his face. Once again, the limb was charged with the green gem´s energy, forming a shield and blocking all the shots.
"Oh come on! How are we supposed to defeat it now?", Ruby exclaimed in frustration.
"You wouldn't happen to have anything useful in your pockets other than a Chaos Emerald?", Tails asked.
"Chaos Emerald? What is… wait, I actually have something!" Ruby began to rummage through her inventory and pulled out light blue bullets. "Ice dust! Luckily Weiss gave me some of her supplies when we were looking for Pyrrha."
"Ice Dust? And who are Weiss and Pyrrha?"
Before Ruby could reply, Chaos transformed back into a mini tsunami and rolled towards the duo. The human girl hastily loaded the light blue cartridges into her gun and fired them straight into the raging mass of water. The effect was immediate. Chaos´ movements slowed briefly, then he completely froze into a chunk of ice enclosing the green Chaos Emerald. Ruby ran towards the frozen water god and slashed at him with her scythe. The chunk of ice shattered into thousands of pieces and the Chaos Emerald rolled free on the ground. Ruby bent down to pick it up when a vibrating sound made her and Tails look around. The ice shards from Chaos disappeared, flickering in a red light reminiscent of digital glitches.
"What was that?" Tails asked.
"I honestly wanted to ask you. Ever since I formed that strange light, the weirdest things have happened to me. I mean, and I mean no offense, you're the weirdest Faunus I've ever seen."
"Faunus? I'm a Mobian," Tails said, frowning.
"Mobian?" Ruby looked at him, her head tilted in confusion.
"You know, one of the races of Mobius", Tails tried to explain while wondering: How does she not know something this common?
"Mobius? You mean Remnant."
"Remnant?"
The two stared at each other, their confusion reaching cosmic proportions.
"... I think we both have a lot to tell to each other."
So yeah next chapter. After the reviews and all the favs and followers I´ve already gotten from chapter one alone, I hope this lives up to the hype. This and the rest of this fic.