Hey everyone! Welcome to another chapter of this story! With the cliffhanger we left off on last time, so I won't spend any time waiting around!
Void Reader: How we get Tails out of this situation is certainly a question, but as for the answer, you'll have to read and see!
1TGN: Robotnik has been very fun to write when it comes to this story! All the stuff between him and Tails has especially been quite fun to work with, and you'll get to see the results of that in this chapter!
That's all the reviews, so let's get going!
Nightstalkers
Aftereffects
Sonic barely had time to evade a swipe from Tails' claws as the fox lunged at him. The hedgehog dropped the Chaos Emerald he was holding and reached to draw the sword he'd taken from Robotnik's robot earlier but hesitated.
"Come on! You need to protect yourself!"
"I'm not going to hurt Tails!"
"He'll have to understand."
"I'm not hurting him."
Sonic's focus snapped back, watching as Sally knocked the fox backward into a nearby wall. Despite this, the hedgehog could tell she was holding back. She didn't want to hurt him either.
The fox stood back up, growling under his breath, as he sized up the two mobians.
"Tails, I know you're in there somewhere," Sonic said, taking a step toward the fox, dropping his weapon at his feet. "Just listen to my voice."
A brief expression of confusion passed the fox's face before it quickly returned to the look of bloodlust as the fox growled once more.
The fox rushed forward, swiping at Sonic. The hedgehog tried to evade once more but it seemed Tails had learned from last time and managed to slash the hedgehog's side with his claws, leaving noticeable scratches behind.
The fox then turned his attention to Sally who ducked under the fox as he lunged forward, sending himself flying into a nearby desk and knocking the papers spread over it into the air.
"Well, it seems like he isn't the smartest when he's like this." Sonic thought.
Sally activated one of the two ring blades on her wrists.
"If he's anything like a Nightstalker, it might be worth hitting him just a little. I don't want to but maybe it'll at least get him to back off long enough to figure out what Robotnik did to him." She explained.
Sonic didn't have time to respond before Sally sidestepped another swipe from the fox, delivering a light strike to his arm. She followed it with a slash from her ring blade to the kit's arm, making sure not to get close enough to do any real damage.
The fox growled in pain as he jumped back, taking a moment to once again size up the two of them.
Sonic reluctantly moved to grab his weapon. As much as it pained him to say it, he didn't see another way out of this situation.
Seeing the hedgehog move for his weapon prompted Tails to rush forward, teeth bared in anticipation. Sonic kicked the fox in the chest, knocking him back long enough for the hedgehog to reach his dropped sword. Sally moved between the two of them, brandishing her own weapon.
A series of low-pitched snarls and growls came from the fox, seemingly saying something in the same language the Nightstakers used before he charged again.
Sally swung at him but the fox dodged to the side, continuing to move directly toward Sonic. The hedgehog kicked the fox on the side, causing Tails to stumble backward a bit but he almost immediately regained his composure and lunged at Sonic, who was unprepared for such a rapid counterattack.
The next thing Sonic felt was a rush of pain surging up his left arm as Tails sunk his teeth into it. The hedgehog struck the fox in the face, knocking him away as the hedgehog clutched his arm, trying to ignore the powerful flashes of pain from it every time it moved.
Tails' mind briefly snapped back to the taste of blood in his mouth. He quickly scanned his surroundings in a panic before his gaze rested on Sonic and Sally. The hedgehog had a noticeable bite mark on his arm, and it was bleeding quite a bit.
Blood.
Sonic's blood.
He was tasting Sonic's blood.
But before he could think any more of it his mind was overwhelmed as the desire to hunt drowned out every other thought, he tried to push it out of his head but it was all he could think about.
He screamed in desperation as his mind once again went blank.
The momentary panic the fox had experienced however didn't escape Sonic's attention. Tails was still in there somewhere.
Meaning Robotnik could probably undo this somehow.
"Sal, go after Robotnik. Get him to undo whatever he did to Tails."
Sally hesitated for a second, not wanting to leave Sonic alone to deal with the fox by himself, but ultimately she relented and activated her second ring blade.
Tails once again looked at Sonic, the now familiar bloodlust on his face as Sally cut an entrance into the wall Robotnik had gone through. She disappeared from sight as Sonic once again spoke.
"Tails, if you can hear me right now, I'm sorry about this… I'll try and make this quick."
Sonic used his uninjured arm to punch the fox's face as he charged. The hedgehog himself wincing in sympathy as the fox stumbled back before falling to the ground, obviously disoriented by the impact.
Sally meanwhile took in her surroundings on the other side of the wall. There was a hidden staircase that led back down the structure. Robotnik was nowhere to be found, most likely having escaped shortly after exiting the room.
She ran down the stairs, eventually reaching the bottom and finding a door. It was made of thick metal and was operated by hydraulics controlled by a panel next to it.
The control panel's screen was black and didn't respond to any sort of touch, likely a result of it being deactivated by Robotnik.
"Guess I'm going to have to do things the hard way."
Using her ring blades she slowly cut a hole in the wall next to the door. The weapons struggled to cut through the thick material of the tower's wall but eventually, she'd managed to create an opening large enough to pass through.
The snow outside was fresh enough for her to spot Robotnik's footprints. She followed the tracks as she tried to make up for the man's head start. The footprints led into the trees that surrounded the structure, she didn't have to follow them for long before she came to a hidden bunker. As she approached a set of automated defense turrets came to life, quickly taking aim at Sally.
She blocked the first bolt with her ring blades as she moved forward, having to block another shot from the defenses. She slashed at one of the emplacements with her weapon, slicing the barrel of the weapon in half. The attack however forced her to drop her guard temporarily, allowing an energy bolt from the other turret to hit her in the side.
Ignoring the pain from the shot and refocusing herself, she quickly managed to disable the second emplacement as well.
Looking down at where she'd been shot, it didn't look great. A patch of charred fur surrounded the area, and pain shot through her every time it moved, still, she wasn't about to let that stop her now.
Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she used her ring blades to slice a hole into the bunker's wall, her weapons struggling with the dense material the same way they had with the tower's wall earlier.
But like before, it couldn't stop her forever and soon she was inside. Traveling quietly down the ladder that led down to the main part of the structure, she soon came face to face with Robotnik, who seemed surprised to see her.
"How did you even get in here!?" He exclaimed, reaching into the folds of his cloak with his mechanical arm and drawing a small energy pistol he kept there.
Despite the weapon's small size, blocking the bolt fired by the weapon with Sally's ring blades caused her to stumble backward, caught off guard by the surprisingly powerful impact. The chipmunk avoided the next shot from Robotnik and quickly closed the distance, swinging her weapon at the man's arm.
Her ring blade sliced cleanly through the metal and circuitry making up the limb, causing it to fall to the floor with a loud thump and sending a shower of sparks flying from what was left of the limb.
Robotnik fell to his back and Sally pointed the end of her ring blades at the man, the plasma energy from them just inches away from his face.
"You tried to kill me with those turrets of yours!" She said.
"Nonsense," Robotnik replied. "They're incapable of killing, I never designed them to do that. They're simply a way to keep unwanted guests away from my bunker."
Sally was going to respond to what Robotnik had said, but the fact that she was still angry at him for shooting her was fresh in her mind.
"Get up." She commanded, "You're going to undo whatever you did to Tails…"
-X-
Sonic watched as Tails got back on his feet, shaking off the impact as an angry expression spread across his face.
"This is not gonna be good for your mental health is it bud?" Sonic thought, "We're gonna have a nice talk after this…"
The fox lunged forward, his anger at not having killed his prey fueling him as he tackled the hedgehog, who was completely caught off guard by the speed of the attack.
Pinning the hedgehog down, Tails let out a deep growl, releasing some of his pent-up rage as he took in the fear in his prey's eyes.
Adrenaline surged through Sonic's veins as he kicked at the fox, loosening his grip enough to let the hedgehog throw his attacker off of him. A blast of pain came from his injured arm as he used it to toss the fox into the wall.
As Sonic got to his feet and laid eyes on the fox he realized something.
Tails' blaster was still attached to his waist.
Sonic knew the weapon had a stun function built into it, Tails had added it when he'd first constructed the weapon shortly after he joined the Freedom Fighters, but it'd never really been used on account of it not having enough power to deal with Nightstalkers.
However, it'd definitely be enough to stun Tails long enough to figure out what to do with him.
The real problem would be getting his hands on it.
That's when he remembered the Chaos Emerald he'd gotten. The green gemstone rested on the floor not far from him. If he could get to it, he could use it to give himself enough speed to grab the weapon and stun Tails before the fox could even react.
Snapping from his thoughts, Sonic immediately had to dodge a swipe from Tails. He managed to avoid most of the attack, but one of the fox's claws grazed his arm, sending another shockwave of pain through the hedgehog's body. Using the opportunity created by his dodge, he rushed to grab the Chaos Emerald.
As soon as he put his hand on the gemstone, he immediately felt the now somewhat familiar tingling sensation pulse up his arm before dissipating out into the rest of his body. Focusing his thoughts on the gem for a moment, he felt a surge of power rush from the stone. Tails lunged at him as time, at least from Sonic's perspective, started to slow down. It wasn't long before everything around the hedgehog barely moved, the green-colored Chaos Emerald in his hand shining brightly as it released a constant stream of energy into the hedgehog.
Sonic then carefully stepped to the side, drawing the pistol from Tails' waist. He changed the setting on the side of the weapon's body before taking aim at the fox, placing the sights of the weapon directly between the kit's eyes.
"I'm sorry about this bud…" He said to himself before pulling the trigger.
The bolt of plasma struck the fox, causing him to fall limply to the floor as Sonic's perception of time returned to normal. He kept his gaze fixed on Tails for a moment, checking for any signs of movement. When none came he let out a sigh of relief.
The several scratches on his body ached in fact, his entire body hurt from the entire encounter, and he didn't even want to think about the bite on his arm right now.
Keeping his grip on the pistol and Chaos Emerald, Sonic walked over to the hole Sally had cut in the wall earlier, hearing the faint sounds of footsteps beyond it. It wasn't long before he saw Robotnik, behind led forward by Sally, who had one of her ring blades still activated as she followed behind the man.
"Well, it seems this little experiment went differently than I'd imagined…" Robotnik began, gesturing toward Sonic with his one remaining hand.
"You're going to undo whatever it is you did to Tails!" Sonic demanded.
"I won't even have to… You see, the modification serum I injected into your fox friend was temporary. It should stop affecting his system soon enough…"
"I'm going to need that Chaos Emerald of yours as well," Sally added as the trio stepped back into the laboratory.
"Wait…" Sonic interjected. "Then what was the whole point of having Tails fight us!? I could have killed him!"
"Or he could have killed us…" Sally continued, looking over at the now unconscious fox.
"That's ridiculous." The man said, reaching into his cloak and setting the purple Chaos Emerald down on the desk. "My observations of the relationship between you three as well as your previous performance against the Hero of Legend ruled that as an impossibility. You're close enough to him that the thought of any of you killing one another never crossed your mind until now. I'm a scientist, not a psychopath. Besides, we all got what we wanted out of this exchange. I got valuable data I couldn't get anywhere else, and you got the Chaos Emeralds you were after."
"You're just going to give them up like that?" Sonic asked.
"As I just said…" Robotnik sighed, "We all got what we wanted out of this exchange. I wanted the data, and you wanted the Emeralds. Science and progress cannot be made without cooperation, and though I had initially hoped our collaboration would go further, it has now become clear that this is no longer a possibility and you will be facing Hizarn without my help."
"I'm sure we'll manage," Sally responded, grabbing the purple gemstone from the desk and trying not to wince from the pain in her side.
The scientist spoke again, his voice a mixture of irritation, disappointment, and disgust. "Everyone who believes in that ancient story they call a prophecy thinks the same… But in the end, that's all it is… A story… So go ahead… Gather the rest of the Emeralds and take them to Hizarn, face him alone with nothing but the power of friendship… Because that's what the ancient fairy tale you so blindly follow tells you to do. See where that gets you. But when you fail, I'll be there to pick up the pieces and do what you couldn't... "
"What if Tails doesn't return back to normal?" Sonic asked, a tinge of anger in his voice as he slung the unconscious fox over his shoulder.
"Have you listened to a word I said?"
The hedgehog still eyed the man with suspicion as he retrieved the sword he'd taken from Robotnik's robot earlier.
"Alright, but know this Robotnik… If I figure out that you did something else to Tails…"
The hedgehog held the green gemstone in his hand up, a faint glow emanating from it.
"Then you'd better hope I never find you…"
The man glared at him as the hedgehog stepped out of the room, using the hole Sally had cut in the wall to exit. The chipmunk followed behind him and soon, the two of them found themselves outside.
"Well…" Sally began. "That was certainly something…"
Sonic sighed, "I still don't know how to feel about all this Sal… The last couple of days have been a lot…"
"I know, it's been a lot for me too, though probably not as much as it has for you or Tails… We'll head back to Angel Island and just take a bit to think about all of this… Maybe get that bite of yours looked at while we're at it…"
Sonic nodded and the two of them set off down the mountain, the snow crunching underfoot with each step. The group had been through a lot the last few days, but now they had two more Chaos Emeralds in hand…
Alright everyone, that's it for this chapter! Hopefully you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought of it in a review! Until next time!
