Forces: Chasing Memories is the 2nd set of chapters. After the dust has settled after the battle with Infinite, everything should've went back to normal, but unfortunately it didn't. Not for a two tailed fox. Unable to come to terms for what Chris has done for his sacrifice, but what if there was a way to bring him back? Luckily for there is, but at what cost?
A MAJOR thanks to the Beta-Reader here on that helped me put this into words and to fix it as much as possible till I felt confident with it. Thanks to...
Cyberpolaris
Ivyshade24
Omesta
RevenantTP
Thank you so much.
WARNING/DISCLAIMER! This is written with TEENS to ADULTS IN MIND. Bad Language is UNCENSORED.
In Context: Tails in this story is 16 yrs old. With that in mind. Sonic and everyone else are in their mid-twenties close to thirties. Reason for that is due to the tone of the story is Suspenseful Drama, Violence and Language. But don't worry they don't swear. Worst thing to come out of them is Damn. But... the OC's? Get ready to see that F-word quite a bit.
The Story is Drama first, Suspense and Action. In that order.
Another thing is that there aren't any Wisps elemental weapons of power. The weaponry is typical weapons used in military. Knives, Pistols, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and Shotguns.
Same goes for Super Powers. Sonic and Friends are still intact. Sonic super-fast, Tails can fly... etc, etc, but the OC's don't. They are just average nobodies trying to make a difference.
Chapter 1 Contains: 4,562 words
The Sonic Cast is: Main: Tails andSonic.
Side Characters are: Knuckles.
The OC Cast is: Main: Keep this empty for now.
Side Characters: Keep this empty for now.
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces: Chasing Memories
Chapter 1: Couldn't Let Go.
Dear Diary: It's Tails. First Entry.
It's been well over a year now since the battle against Infinite but I can still remember it as if it just happened yesterday. The citizens of Metropolis and also all around the world have slowly and steadily been getting back to normal. Buildings being rebuilt, cities being repopulated… and hope has been given back to everyone to keep pushing forward.
The Resistance could've been dismantled and done with, but Knuckles is still the Leader of the Resistance. He could've stepped down from the position, but he decided that it still needed him as much as ever.
Sonic is back to his old ways as if nothing ever happened in the first place. He travels across the world helping out whoever is in need while searching for the Chaos Emeralds. I'm unsure if he found them all already. When he does come back to town to visit, Amy is the first person he visits. I can see it in his eyes that he wants to tell her how he feels about her but he always chickens out.
Amy, on the other hand knows but she never wants to force it out of him. She settled down in a nice house near the entrance of the town. She said it's the perfect spot. It'll be the first house that Sonic would see when he comes back to visit, and she was right.
Silver has gone back to his future. I hope it's turned out better for him.
As for me? I created a maintenance shop here in Metropolis to fix things and help people out. It's also to keep myself busy and to help keep my mind busy too. Busy enough so that I can stop thinking about that moment. Nobody still knows what I tried to do on that day. The only person that knows is… he's-
Tails slams the diary shut and shoves it away. He places his hands over his face as he complains into them with a muffled voice, "Grrr… I thought this would help." He gets up from his seat and walks towards the window that has a clear view of the Memorial Wall set up in Metropolis City. "Never forget," he mutters at the sign that says those exact words on the memorial. 'I won't. I'll never forget.'
He hears a buzzer ring, letting him know a customer entered the shop. He walks into the main room to greet the customer, but it turns out to be the mailman instead.
"Hello, Mr. Prowers. Weird seeing you so quick." He takes out a bundle of mail and hands it over.
Tails grabs it trying so hard not to roll his eyes. "Don't call me that. I'm not that old yet."
The mailman laughs wholeheartedly, "Is it really my fault that you still look like ten?"
About to go through the mail he looks back. "At least you're not calling me kid."
The mailman turns and heads to the exit still laughing. "You should take that as a compliment before it's gone. See you tomorrow, Tails."
"Goodbye," he says as he goes through the mail. "Sonic, Sonic, …Sonic. Geez Sonic. Explain to me, why am I getting your mail? …Better yet, why are you getting more mail than me at my own shop?"
Tossing the letters over his shoulder, as they fail to land into the trash he continues to complain, "Junk, junk… more junk… Huh? …He… he lives? What?" He quickly tears it open, dumping everything to the floor reading through it hysterically. He slowly looks away. "Someone's messing with me?" He flips it over. "No return address." He looks at the door. "What? The Mailman!"
Rushing out the door almost colliding into someone, He mutters desperately, "Where is he?" Looking everywhere for the mailman, he sees the next door store owner and asks, "HEY! Do you know where the…" Just as he asks, he notices the delivery car parked nearby and flies to it.
Reaching the vehicle, he opens the door peering into it, but the mailman isn't inside. He then slams the door shut and as he turns around…
"Tails? What are you-"
Tails quickly grabs him by his uniform and slams him to the car showing him the letter. "Who sent me this? WHO?"
The Mailman's eyes quickly go from the letter and back to Tails' eyes. "Tails I don't know what you're talking about. Gah! Let go of me please. AHHH! You're hurting me."
He slams him again on the car, cracking the window. "TELL ME WHO-"
Tails gets tackled to the ground by security officers. "Are you out of your damn mind?"
Tails pleads, "NO! He knows SOMETHING! Let me… Puh-PLEASE! TELL ME! WHO?"
Tails gets forced up to his feet and dragged to the nearest police squad car. "What was that all about?" The officer asks the mailman.
The mailman picks the note off the ground and hands it over. "I don't know. It has something to do with this. Don't press any charges on him. It has to be a misunderstanding. Just make sure you get in touch with Sonic if you're going to do anything." He looks over to the squad car. "I've never seen him act like that before," he says, watching them take Tails away, who is still pleading from inside the car.
Across the street, where a crowd is watching it all happen, a figure turns around and begins to walk away from the scene. He turns into an alleyway pulling out his phone. "Hello? It's me. …Yeah, he got the letter. …Nope, that's not what he did. He stormed out and attacked the mailman. …Yup and because of it, he's now at the police station. I'll keep watching and see what happens next. Pretty sure he's going to show up to get him out. I'll call back with more information on what happens next. …Goodbye." He puts the phone away and heads to the police station.
In the police station, Tails is in one of the holding cells, laying down on one of the benches with his eyes closed. He hears a familiar sarcastic voice and footsteps approach hearing. "Oh, my poor Tails has turned into a delinquent and fallen into a life of crime. Whatever did I do wrong?"
Tails opens his eyes and turns his head, seeing Sonic being overly dramatic. "The only award you'll win is a razzie."
Sonic stops his skit and puts his hands on the bars while giving back a stern look. "What's gotten into you that made you attack a mailman?"
Answering shamefully, he sits up. "A note he delivered to me. It was about… Chris."
Hearing Tails' answer, any semblance of humor dissipates as he becomes serious, "What?"
Tails gets up and walks to the bars. "Yeah, saying he's alive and he can be brought back."
Sonic being unsure, "Was it real?"
Tails pushes away from the bars and paces around in the cell. "I don't know. There was no return address on it. What also didn't make any sense is that on the letter, it says that a scientist knows how to do it but I don't even know who it's referring to."
Sonic ponders and begins to nod. "A scientist? I think I know who it is."
Tails stops pacing and looks at Sonic, happy, "Really?" Tails walks to the cell door, opening it and stepping out surprising Sonic. "Let's go."
"You could've left this whole time?"
Disregarding his question, Tails eagerly asks, "Not important. Who's the scientist?"
They both head towards the exit as Sonic pats his back. "We can't just go straight to him. We have to pay Commander Knuckles a visit and ask for a favor."
They arrive at the Resistance Command Center by flying in the Tornado. The Resistance Base had been left the same way since the battle. Landing and exiting out, Trish was the first to greet them, "Nice to see you again Sonic. Hello Tails."
Sonic says back happily, "I'm surprised that you're still here."
"I couldn't leave. Without me who would keep this place in order? This place will practically fall apart without me. Why the sudden visit?"
"We're here to pay Knuc… Uh… I mean Commander Knuckles a visit. Is he around?"
"The Commander is around here somewhere bored out of his mind, since there aren't any threats to handle. Seeing you two will put him into a better mood."
"Well of course - It's us! Trouble is always just around the corner with us around."
Hearing that, she knew something really important was going on. "Out with it. What's going on?"
Sonic chuckles, "Nothing gets around you." He leans closer to her and whispers, "It's about Chris."
In complete loss of words by his answer, she asks, "What? How?" She nods still in disbelief. "U-understood. Follow me, quick." She puts her hand on her communicator. "Commander Knuckles? This is Trish. Your friends Sonic and Tails are here to visit you with urgent news."
He quickly answers back, "Knuckles here, I'm on my way to the H.Q. station."
"Wow! That was fast," Tails said.
"You should see how fast he gets there before we do. He just might be faster than you, Sonic."
They both laugh along the way as they follow Trish.
As Trish leads them towards the H.Q. Building, out in the distance, the light of a reflection can be seen bouncing off of a pair of binoculars. "It's me again. They've arrived at the Resistance as you said. …No. I can't do that. …Why?" He sighs, "That one chick keeps eyeing me. …Yeah, looks like she's in charge of the field. …Heck no, she scares me more than you do. I'll keep watching and see what happens. Contact you later."
Inside the H.Q. Building: "Hey Knucks, long time no see," Sonic says, seeing him in the center of the room.
"What brings you two here? Trouble I hope?"
"Not really but we kinda need a favor," Sonic says.
Knuckles sighs disappointed and asks, "A favor?"
Sonic looks over to Tails and back to Knuckles as he asks, "Yeah. We need to talk to that scientist who held Infinite captive."
Tails looks at Sonic surprised, "What? He did that?"
"Are you sure you want to talk to him? After what he did to Amy and what he tried to do with you?" Knuckles brings up.
And with that question coming out of Knuckles, Tails figures out who it is. "The Informant Officer, he's the one that did it?"
Sonic crosses his arms and warns him, "Yup, and he almost got me with a lucky shot too. Are you sure you want to talk to him now?"
"Yes. I still want to," Tails answers back, more determined.
As Knuckles watches them talk, he figures out something important is going on. "What's going on?"
Tails looks to Knuckles, "Chris. We know that he knows how to bring him back."
Confused, Knuckles asks, "Back? I thought he got killed on the battlefield."
"No, he faded away just like Infinite did. So technically he didn't. That's why I need answers."
Knuckles nods, "Okay, we'll drag him down into one of the interrogation rooms. So sit tight for a bit."
In one of the dark interrogation rooms, Colbort, the traitorous Informant Officer gets brought in. They force him to sit and handcuff him to the table. Sitting there in the dark, a light finally turns on, blinding him, making him barely able to see who's in front of him.
As for Tails, it was the first time ever seeing the culprit that shot Amy. He looks directly at the overweight iguana in his orange prison uniform trying to look past the bright light.
Annoyed by the light, Colbort rudely asks, "So, we're really doing this? Fine… What do you want?"
Sonic looks over to Tails, noticing his eagerness to be the one to do the interrogating, he takes a step back, pulling Knuckles away to let him do all the talking.
Tails speaks out, "Information. What do you know about the lingering particles that used to be around?"
Hearing a young voice come from the dark silhouettes, Colbort smirks at the question as he leans back on his seat. "The particles? Are you referring to Infinite?"
Despite being disrespected, Tails remains calm and asks, "Yes. Ever since all of the particles merged together creating one big sphere, Infinite and Chris were both still here right before it vanished, right?"
Colbort remains quiet thinking about the moment when it happened. Knowing that it's true, he answers with hesitation, "Riiighttt."
Tails smirks back knowing that the question changed his obnoxious attitude. "So with that, that means their particles are still around since they didn't have anywhere to go… right?"
Colbort sits straight up and begins to connect the dots where this is heading. With concern, he answers, "Riiiight."
Tails began to grin. "We know… that you know… how to bring him back. Tell me how," he demands.
Colbort begins to panic and tries to get up to not answer, but the restraints pull him back down to the table. "Y- you can't… YOU JUST CANT! If you do… YOU CAN'T! You bring him back and you're also going to bring Infinite back as well. Do you really want to put the planet at risk, AGAIN? Risk so many people JUST FOR ONE PERSON?
And with Knuckles, hearing those last words, he looks at Sonic, feeling guilty. "I… said that once to someone and to this day I still regret ever saying it. You know what my answer is already."
Colbort, hearing Knuckles' voice and his answer, lashes out again. "YOU'RE CRAZY! He might not even be the same as he once was. Being torn apart and put back together would make you…-" He looks out at the figures. "Someone different… or someone that won't remember who you even are."
Tails, hoping it isn't true, shakes his head. "If it wasn't for him none of us would even be here right now. Chance or not… he deserves to be here."
Sonic looks at Tails hearing the sadness in his voice and agrees. "I guess it's agreed. Let's do this. Let's get him back."
Knuckles nods, "Alright." He comes out of the darkness letting Colbort see him. "Tell us what we have to do to bring'em back."
Colbort nods franticly, trying to back away, "F-fine I'll tell you, but these restrictions placed upon me need to be lessened. I may not be able to leave but at least let me wander around the base. Agreed?"
Knuckles punches the table, startling Colbort. "ALRIGHT. NOW TALK!"
In the interrogation room, Colbort gives specific instructions on what's needed and how to construct the machines as Tails writes everything down to the slightest detail making sure that nothing can go wrong.
Sonic leaves the room after the first few seconds. "If I listen to him any longer my brain is going to explode. Gonna do a couple of laps around the training field."
Once done, Tails leaves the room, trying to figure out how everything works and how to get started. He heads straight to the Tornado.
Trish chases after him seeing his eagerness to leave. "Do you need any help?"
Tails stops before entering the Tornado. "No, I'm fine on my own. I'll head back to my shop and start working." He starts climbing onto it and starts the engine.
Trish quickly tries to reason with him, "You don't have to. You have plenty of room right here."
Sonic rushes to where they are hearing Trish and agrees, "Yeah. You don't have to do it by yourself. We all want him back too."
Tails sits for a bit and turns the engine off. "Alright." He looks down to both of them with terms, "I need a big room to work with and I also need all kinds of equipment and parts.
"Good," Knuckles says, pulling someone along with him. "He's going to help you throughout the whole thing… Isn't that right?" He shoves Colbort toward Tails.
Colbort stumbles being pushed as he answers worried, "Yes… that's right."
Still off in the distance, the figure hides out of view. "It's me again. He never left the base. He's still there and looks like he's going to build it at the base instead of going back to his place. …Yes. …Yes he's still around, too. …I can't, not with her around plus I can see everything fine where I'm at. This might take a long ass time to do from what I'm seeing. …That's right. I'll contact you again once everything happens."
He puts the phone away and looks through the binoculars right at Trish.
Trish… then… stops, and begins to look all around. After a while of searching, she looks in his direction, almost staring right at him making him drop his binoculars. He slowly picks them up, not taking his eyes off of her. "What the fuck? …Is she a… is she a psychic? Best infiltrator around and I can't do shit with her around."
"What seems to be the problem?" asks Knuckles to Trish, knowing something wasn't right.
"It's nothing to be concerned about. I just saw someone that I don't remember ever seeing," she answers.
"We always get new recruits. You can't remember everyone."
"I know... It's just..." She searches again. "It just didn't… feel right. I've been trying to find him ever since."
"Then that means you're concerned. If you're concerned, then I'm concerned."
She smiles back.
He continues, "I'll make the order to tighten up the guard patrol and keep things on alert."
"Thank you Commander."
Day after day, week after week, which then turns into months, Tails and Colbort were the only two spending each passing moment gathering and building the machines.
Sonic comes back to visit to check how things are turning out, he sees Colbort exiting out of the building being relieved. Still unable to purely trust him, he asks, "And where do you think you're going?"
Aggravated, Colbort quickly answers not stopping, "I'm taking a break. If I don't, I'll end up just like him."
"Like him?" Sonic muttered concerned, looking back to the building. Walking into it, he finds Tails passed out next to his tools. "Geez. How long have you been going without sleep? You can't be doing this to yourself." He picks him up and takes him to bed and closes the door. He looks at the machine's massive turbines which were almost complete. "Rest up little buddy. You can't be tired when you get to see him again."
In the morning, Tails wakes up in his bed knowing exactly how he got there. "Thanks, Sonic. Now to get back-" He sees his breakfast. "After I eat, then it's time to finish."
Hours later, Knuckles gets a message from Tails. "It's ready. I'm finally done."
He answers back, "Great. Did you tell Sonic yet?"
"Yeah. He'll be here in a couple… never mind. He's here now."
"Alright, I'll announce it and also get ready with a welcome back celebration."
"Sounds great," Tails answers back happily.
At dusk, everyone gathers around outside of the building, waiting for things to get going. Inside, Tails gets the last things ready to go. Sonic stands near the computer terminals and the handles, which control the power flow of the machines. He looks at the three massive turbine engines that surround the small platform and sit directly in the center of them. Thick cables lay all across the floor becoming one big puzzle the more Sonic looks at them, trying to figure out where one begins and the other one ends.
Colbort takes a step back. "Well… I'm done here," and heads to the exit. "I'll leave you to your own devices."
Surprised by Colbort wanting to leave, Tails asks, "You don't want to see this?"
Colbort answers back, still heading to the exit, "I've seen it before. Whatever happens isn't going to surprise me."
Tails just shrugs and approaches the handle, eager to get everything started. "Ready? Let's do this," he says with a big smile. He flips multiple switches turning on the machine as the engine turbines roar into action. He slowly pulls on the lever.
"40%… still rising. 60% now." Soon a purplish sphere of light as it manifests before them, causing vibrations throughout the building. His eyes widened in excitement with the biggest smile on his face.
"80% but it's still not stabilized or big enough." He pulls on the lever even more. The sphere gets slightly bigger and bigger as the vibrations get more intense shaking the windows. He starts getting excited.
"100% it's working. IT'S-" The sphere starts to deform and break down. "NO!" Getting worried, he pulls the lever crossing the red warning line. "Bringing it up to 125%."
Sonic looks at the windows shaking as one of them cracks, causing him to get concerned, "Are you sure about-" Electrical sparks begin to shoot out of the machine turbines as a metallic bar snaps and goes flying, landing close to where they are. Looking at the machine breaking apart, he looks over to Tails. "YOU HAVE TO STOP!"
"NO! IT'S WORKING!" In desperation he brings it up to 155% as the machine breaks down, catching fire.
With zero time to debate, Sonic rushes over to Tails, grabbing him, and quickly leaves the building as each turbine engine begins to fall apart, ending with the inside of the building exploding, shattering every window.
Everyone gets out of the way, avoiding the debris that heads in their direction.
Tails looks back after being released from Sonic, watching the whole building on fire. "No, no. All my calculations were right. I had it perfect. It's like… like it was always meant to fail."
Knuckles eagerly checks on everyone, making sure no one's hurt from the explosion. "Is everyone alright? Is… how…-" He turns his gaze to Colbort, seeing him standing there with his arms crossed staring at the burning building. He storms to him. "You!" He lets out a growl, grabbing ahold of Colbort as he accuses, "You sabotaged it… didn't you?"
Colbort calmly answers, "No… that's exactly how things were going to play out."
"Play out?" Knuckles says confused, releasing him.
"That's right. Just liked it happened to me," Colbort says, looking back to the building. "It was always meant to explode."
Knuckles looks over to Tails and approaches him. "Sorry Tails. It was a good try."
Sonic also tries to cheer him up. "You tried. That's what matters the most."
"I know, it's just…-" A tear goes down his face and he quickly wipes it away. "Thanks everyone… *sniff!* But I think I'll just go home now." He walks away towards the Tornado.
Trish tries to stop him. "But Tails-"
Sonic stops her. "Don't, just let him go. He needs time alone." They all look at him walk away as Sonic says, "He always felt the loss more than anyone."
Tails gets on the Tornado and flies off back to his shop in town.
Watching at a distance with his binoculars, the figure sees Tails fly away. He pulls out his phone, "Hello? It's me again. He tried the experiment and it didn't work. The whole thing exploded, ending in a complete fail. …What? It was? I just saw it fail. How could it be a success?" He looks at the burning building being put out. "Sure. I'm on my way back for the 2nd phase of the plan."
Tails arrives back at his shop in town. Entering, he slowly heads back into his room, taking off his clothes and goes into the bathroom to take a bath. He exits out and notices the diary still sat on the table. Walking up to it he sits down and opens it to the first page. He stares at it for a moment, and crosses his arms on the table shoving his head into them and begins to cry. "I tried. I really did try."
Across the ocean, close to a forest is a small town called Nue Heaven. A figure stumbles out of the forest. Trying stay balanced stepping onto the road. Holding onto his head, he Stops on middle of the road muttering in pain,
"Gah! It hurts."
'Don't stop.'
"No… more. Cant…"
'You have to keep going.'
"Can't… no more."
Nearly half a mile away, a car heads down the road back to town. Inside drives a female young adult hedgehog coming from work and utterly tired. She looks at her rearview mirror seeing some of her sky-blue quills out of place. With her right hand removing it away from the wheel to put them back into place, she takes her eyes off of the road. And once she looks back… a figure was in the middle of the road.
She lets out a high pitched scream and swerves out of the way, almost hitting the person making the tires squeal in the process coming to a stop.
Breathing heavily from the shock, she turns back to look. "What the?" She exits out upset. "Are you nuts? Why are you in the middle of the-" Noticing that his clothes are in tatters, her eyes go to his waist seeing his… "Oh shit." She quickly diverts her eyes, covering his lower body with her hand.
He just grabs his head in pain and says, "I'm… I'm sorry."
Hearing his voice struggling to talk, she tries getting a better look at him. "Are you okay? Did someone do something to you?"
He whispers back in pain, "I- I don't know."
"Who are you? Where are you from?" She asks, cautiously getting closer to him.
"Gahh!…" He holds onto his head. "I don't know. I don't… know… I- I…-" he collapses on the ground, going unconscious.
"HEY! Oh shit." She runs up to him. "Wake up. I'm still here. Ok? Are you still with me?" She grabs him and drags him into the light to get a good look at him. She checks through whatever bits of clothing he was wearing. "Nothing. No ID or anything. Mid-twenties, green hedgehog." She looks at her car and back down to him. "C'mon. Up we go."
She struggles to get him up and drags him to her car. "Damn, you're heavy." Reaching the car side door, she manages to open it and helps him get him onto the passenger seat. Closing the door, she slowly walks to the driver's door while staring at him from outside. Not opening the driver side door yet, she just stands there wondering if this is even a good idea before entering. She quietly pleads, "Please don't let this end up like one of those horror movies." Once gaining enough courage, she gets into the car.
Inside, she slowly takes another look at his face, then down to his badly torn black vest. 'What happened to you?' Going lower, down his mid-section and to his waist she sees his… NOPE. She quickly stops and turns away, facing forward. "Ulp! You need new clothes," she mutters nervously.
Putting the car into drive, they head off to town and she says to him, "Don't worry, we'll figure something out. Try to find out who you are."
End of the chapter. Thanks for Reading. Let me know how it is. I would really appreciate it.
Next: Chapter 2: Six Months Later
