Chapter 46; harsh reality part 3
Sonic stared at the name on the iron masked marauder's communication device.
Archer.
That was the case from the start. The marauder's attack was payback for the slowpoke well. For Proton.
Sonic intrigued went to the bathroom, while keeping the lights off and accepted the call.
Archer appeared on screen.
"Marauder what happened? I instructed you to call me first chance you got".
Sonic kept the screen pointing upwards on purpose to make his reveal all the more dramatic. He picked up the device and turned the camera towards himself.
"Your marauder is unavailable right now".
Archer momentarily entered a state of shock. The marauder had lost to team Sonic?!
Sonic took the moment to study Archer. He was obviously using a computer to call the marauder. He could see Archer was in a dark room as well sitting behind a desk. He had teal hair and teal eyes. But the most intriguing part about him was that unlike most of team rocket, he wore a white version of team rocket's outfit –"Probably to stand out as their current boss" Sonic thought.
Archer realized quickly he was passing himself off as shocked to Sonic so he just as quickly regained his composure.
"What an interesting turn of events. We finally meet face to face, Sonic the hedgehog, hero of Kanto".
"Oh you have no idea what meeting face to face will be like Archer".
"Your resolve to pursue us is fascinating. And a little touching as well. But you are doomed to fail. Soon enough our boss will be back with us and under his leadership once again, we will smash your pathetic team".
Sonic didn't believe him one bit. Not after what Giovanni had said.
"Funny. I could say the same about you. You say we are doomed to fail. I say you have already failed. Your boss is not coming back to you. He didn't run away just to escape the police. He abandoned all of you".
"You'd really want me to believe such an obvious lie wouldn't you?"
"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. It's the truth. You and the rest of your team were nothing more than his useless pawns. His words not mine".
Archer felt there was a fraction of truth in Sonic's words. He himself had heard Giovanni call his underlings useless pawns before.
"He can't have abandoned us… can he?" Archer thought, this time without showing that Sonic's words had affected him.
"Today you bested team rocket again, you and your pathetic friends. But when it will really count, you will fail. Just like you failed to save your friend's Jolteon".
Sonic's face didn't show any emotion or reaction to that.
"That was then and this is now. And let Ariana, Petrel and Proton know that as well. Together, me and my friends cannot lose. Today's events proved it. We're coming for you" Sonic said and hang up.
Archer was left in the dark room, trying to collect his thoughts after things took the worst turn imaginable for team rocket. The only card they had left was that team Sonic didn't know where they were.
Ariana entered the conference room to inform him on her success to bring in more Electrodes.
"I collected the Electrodes sir. We should be able to create more power for our purpose soon".
Archer didn't respond.
"How did our assault hound do?" Ariana asked not noticing Archer's bad state.
"Our assault hound was sent running with his tail between his legs".
"What?!"
"Team Sonic beat him. Sonic the hedgehog answered his communicator".
"Damnit! How is this possible! The hedgehog no longer carries his entire team from Kanto?! How did he possibly overpower the marauder?!"
"They must all have fought him together. Like you were beaten in that werehouse, so long ago by him".
Ariana cursed. This was not optimal.
"So? What now?"
"We stick to the plan. Use the Electrodes. When the time comes, we will call out boss back to us. The hedgehog will not find us if we stick underground".
"What are we going to do about the grunts? They will riot to get paid eventually".
"I will give a speech to inform them of the plan to bring the boss back. They will definitely do our bidding until the boss returns, free of charge".
"So that's it? We just stay here and wait until we are ready, hoping the hedgehog and his allies don't come knocking?"
"Of course not. The laying low is only part of the plan. We will of course string them along, getting them to waste their time. Patience. It won't be long" Archer said having managed to calm down himself. And with an evil grin on his face.
Sonic returned to the bedroom to get some rest at last. Knuckles was awakened by his departure.
"What happened?"
"Your tormentor was under orders to come after us. On the bright side, I just found out they are severely underestimating us. Just had a call with Archer".
Knuckles sat up like a spring.
"Archer?! You actually talked to him?!"
"Yes he called because he was expecting to see the marauder having dealt with us. Saw his face too. I can definitely identify him when the time comes".
Knuckles smiled decisively before lying back down as Sonic got into the sleeping bag.
"Hey Sonic?"
"Hm?"
"What was it like fighting the rockets back in Kanto?"
"I'm not sure I understand your question Knucks. I kept you all posted all the way".
"I know it's just… you know the whole situation with Tails… and all that guy did to me… I never wondered what it actually was like from your own point of view".
"I did get some good punches to the jaw in Kanto. Almost got choked to death as well. But my pain was mostly mental not physical. After Jolty died… I almost fell to depression. The only thing that saved me was my battle with Agatha. I guess I accepted back then… the darkness that exists in the world. And also decided to focus on the light without ignoring the dark of course. After all this is what we're here for right?"
"I agree… I'm just not sure Tails does".
Sonic remained silent for a few moments.
"I guess I need to have a talk with him tomorrow morning. I really don't want him to go home. We'll need each other to see this journey, this mission through".
"I believe if anyone can convince him to stay, it's you Sonic. But you will need to listen to him, really listen. Because… whether you like it or not… the slowpoke well was just the beginning. We will probably tackle the rockets in similar ways many more times as we go forward. You, me and Tails will need to be absolutely focused and determined to see this through. So we will have to find a middle ground for the situation that bothers him".
"…personally I can't feel sorry for what we did to Proton. But… you're right. Friends are meant to listen to each other. I will do my best to listen tomorrow".
"Good. Now if you don't mind I'll grab some zs. Good night Sonic".
"Night Knucks" Sonic answered as he to closed his eyes to get some much needed rest.
At the same time outside, Tails was thinking the exact same thing, lying down on the grass, observing the starry sky. For the first time in days he could properly relax.
His mind of course was still racing. He was glad they saved Knuckles from the marauder but the rift formed in their team was still there and pretty much not taken care of.
Footsteps reached his ears as Cosmo's cute face emerged from above.
"Trouble sleeping?" she asked in her soft voice. Tails felt his stomach would burst from all the butterfrees.
"K-kinda".
Cosmo giggled at his stuttering which Tails wondered if she was laughing at him or found him cute. Cosmo then proceeded to sit beside him and hug her legs looking up at the stars.
Tails also took to stargazing, racking his brain on what to say, though the silence just felt right. Not because he didn't want to talk to her but rather because he just wanted to just sit there and hang out with her, forgetting momentarily about the choice that lied ahead.
"The stars are beautiful aren't they?" she commented after a while.
"Not…" Tails began to say but stopped "not something I noticed before. I guess after today's events I can see it more clearly".
As he waited for Cosmo to answer he thought of the original answer he wanted to give but stopped himself.
"Not as beautiful as you" he thought.
Cosmo then looked straight in his eyes. Tails gulped silently as he gazed into her deep blue eyes.
"So" she asked gently "what's your story?"
"Huh?"
"Today was a hell of a way to meet you. Breaking down after the kidnapping of your friend. Don't get me wrong. Most individuals would not take such a situation calmly. The fact that you pulled yourself back together after is impressive".
"Wouldn't have managed to without your help".
"Oh you're sweet. But seriously, you fought alongside your friend against overwhelming odds. Sneasel is a pain to deal with and you and your friend handled it great before your third friend arrived".
"Thanks" Tails said with a sincere smile.
Eevee then came besides him and rubbed its head on his side affectionately. Tails petted it for a while before it went to Cosmo's side and curled closing its eyes.
"Another question too" Cosmo said suddenly "I heard your friends call you Tails earlier. Why is that?"
"Oh that. My name is Miles Prower but my friends call me Tails".
"Oh I see. Ok then. Tails. That is a nice nickname".
Tails felt a small heartbreak. Though it was too early to tell and certainly too early to even think about it, Cosmo using the nickname his friends used for him made him feel like he had just been friendzoned by the prettiest girl he had ever met.
"Thanks" Tails answered in the end.
"So? Will you tell me your story?"
"Well… it's just… I don't know how much of it I can tell you".
"Because it has to do with team rocket?"
"Yeah. Noticed the logo on the marauder I assume?"
"That… and the fact that one of your friends is literally the hero of Kanto".
"Oh. Yeah. That too" Tails muttered.
Cosmo noticed the sudden change in tone in Tails' voice.
"Oh I'm… I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't mean to".
"It's ok. I guess it won't hurt to tell you some stuff. After all I do owe you Knuckles' life. You got me there on time".
"You should thank your friend Sonic. He also arrived there on time, even if it was the finale".
Tails frowned. That was not going to be an easy thing to do.
"Thing is… things are rough at the moment between me and my friends".
"Rough?"
"Yeah. You see… the reason we're here in Johto is… actually let me take this from the start. It will require some context".
"Ok".
"I assume you are already aware of Sonic's reputation as the hero of Kanto? You mentioned his title".
"Yes. Everyone in Johto has heard about him. Kanto and Johto are neighboring regions, it only makes sense news got here fast".
"True. After Sonic won the Kanto league tournament, we all returned home, thinking team rocket was done and we wouldn't have to deal with them anymore".
"Makes sense. Wait you said we right? Were you in Kanto with Sonic?"
"Not in the flesh. I helped him during his fatal confrontation with team rocket's boss during which that Jolteon died. While he was dealing with Giovanni, I exposed team rocket's secrets that Sonic had sent me from inside and took down several servers of silph co with a virus to destroy all data on team rocket's secret weapon".
"Wait you're the reason the company went downhill?"
"In a way" Tails mumbled with some guilt.
Cosmo stared at him for a moment then continued.
"I see. It's just that my friend, the one whose slowbro I borrowed to heal your friend… her father had some stocks in that company".
"Oh man" Tails said realizing for the first time how deep the consequences of that day really ran.
"I'm so sorry for that. I know it means nothing…"
"It can mean something… if you tell me what that secret weapon was. Convince me its destruction was worth the cost".
Tails weighed his options for a moment and then relented.
"The masterball. The ultimate pokeball. A pokeball powerful enough to catch any pokemon without fail. Probably even legendary pokemon".
"What?" Cosmo whispered in shock "I… I can't believe it".
"Back there for a moment I did doubt that move on Sonic's part. But knowing what I know now… I cannot say anymore that the cost was not worth paying".
Cosmo took the info in silent.
"Why are you telling me all of it? I know I asked but.. why would you go that deep?"
"To give you enough context on why team rocket is dangerous… why me and my friends are hunting them down".
"You what?!"
"We learnt from a reliable source that they retreated here in Johto. We came here to find and end their team once and for all" Tails said fighting not to break down as memories of the slowpoke well started creeping in again.
"And it all went downhill in slowpoke well".
"The slowpoke well? I heard something went down there but the police didn't reveal any info to the public yet".
"Team rocket sneaked in… to harvest slowpoke tails to sell to a restaurant" Tails managed to say.
Cosmo covered her mouth with her hands.
"What monsters" she whispered again "slowpokes are a local attraction. The locals adore them. And the act… of cutting their tails… some of the people in town are protesting to even legitimate slowpoke tail farms, stating it is wrong to cut a slowpoke's tail even if done at the farms the right way so that the slowpoke doesn't suffer and the tail certainly regrows. But to straight up cut it off…" Cosmo rumbled on for a while before realizing what Tails really meant.
"You intervened didn't you?"
"Yes. Me and my friends stopped them… caused many of them to get arrested".
Cosmo's eyes flared with joy as Tails confirmed it. And, even though Tails was sure he had imagined it, he could even see something resembling admiration in her eyes.
"No. Not just admiration" Tails thought "adoration?"
"That was so brave. You're so brave. You're a hero Tails" she said eyes locked onto his eyes.
Tails broke off the contact.
"You haven't heard the whole story yet".
"There's more?"
"Yes. And you might want to rethink calling me a hero after hearing it".
"I'm all ears".
"After we beat all of the rockets who stuck around to fight us…" Tails forced himself to narrate the events "Sonic interrogated the one in charge of the tail harvesting. I won't mention his name cause you already know too much for your own safety".
"And? Did you get anything out of him?"
"No. He refused to betray team rocket. But Sonic…" Tails said as he started trembling at the thought "he… tortured him… with raichu… electrocuting him over and over and over trying to get him to confess".
Cosmo's eyes widened but she remained calm.
"And after I stopped them I went to make an anonymous call to the police… only to return to find out my two friends, my two comrades on this mission… had broken his legs!"
Cosmo gasped but again remained mostly cool. The gasp was probably just because of the element of not expecting such a development.
"Ever since then the guy's screams have been haunting me… it was wrong. I should have been there to keep them from acting. I just can't… I can't keep going like this. This guy was evil but to make him suffer like that… no one deserves such pain" Tails completed saying all he had been wanting to say for the past week and then stuffed his face in his palms, wondering if he had just passed himself to his crush as an emotionless assaulter just like his friends. Or even worse someone who just sits idly by while others suffered. Or maybe just as a wimp who can't handle something of the sort.
Cosmo looked down for a moment then took Tails by the shoulder who looked back at her. She crouched a little bit closer to him.
"Tails… I can easily say I have never met someone like you. To have such capacity for goodness and even feel bad about someone who has done such horrific things. You must never lose this empathy".
Tails felt gratitude. He remembered Sonic telling him to go home and do nothing practicing empathy by ignoring the darkness of the world. He was not wrong to feel breaking Proton's legs was wrong.
"But" Cosmo continued "I can't agree with you on this matter. Whoever that person is, your friends went easy on him".
"What? You agree with them?"
"No Tails. I'm not picking sides. I'm saying this from an objective point of view. That man mutilated innocent helpless creatures for money. He got a punishment less severe than what he really deserved".
She took him by the hand to help him remain calm.
"I admire that you manage to feel empathy towards everyone, even people like him. But you must never allow yourself to become complacent with acts like his just to not stoop to his level. Team rocket is out there. Preparing to hurt others no doubt. And now, right now, you Tails and your friends are the only ones standing between them and this exact result".
Tails was experiencing the most complicated mix of emotions, including but not limited to gratitude, confusion, anger and regret, though the most dominant of them all was the butterfrees in his stomach.
"So you're saying that next time I should allow Sonic to break their bones? Or go even further? Even cross the line?"
"No. I'm saying that you and your friends are Johto's, and maybe even Kanto's or even the world's only hope. But you're only as strong as you are united as weak as you are divided. The events of the slowpoke well as you described them and today's events proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt".
Tails looked back to the sky with a hint of despair.
"But what do I do? How do I live with myself after what I allowed to happen?"
"It wasn't up to you so don't beat yourself up about it. But what happens afterwards is".
"…I was planning to leave. Me and Knuckles were returning to Azalea so I can fly home from here".
Cosmo clearly disapproved.
"Your friends need you Tails. You all need each other now more than ever. So before leaving tomorrow… talk it out. Tell them everything. Find your common ground. When you do that… I believe you three will become unstoppable".
Tails allowed himself to consider this possibility. Last time he tried to talk to Sonic they got into an argument and not one of the two tried to listen to the other. Maybe if they talked instead of fighting, they could work it out.
"I will. First thing in the morning I will talk to Sonic. Get this out of my chest once and for all" he said smiling.
Cosmo smiled back at him.
And only at that moment did the two realize how close their faces were to each other.
The two laughed it off with some added blushing on both their parts.
Trying to break the ice and lighten the mood, Tails shifted his attention to her eevee.
"Your eevee was rather brave today".
"Thanks. He's always been like that. Ever since I ran into him".
"Eevee can evolve into so many pokemon, its potential is astounding. Has it considered evolving?"
"Never really paid attention to it in that regard" Cosmo shrugged "I'm content with my life as a florist. It's not an adventurous or even too exciting of a life but I am just content. Eevee though… has always been more of an adventure seeker. Always got into trouble with several pokemon living in town like rattatas or pidgeys. Nothing ever too serious. I just wish I could do more for it sometimes" she admitted as she scratched its head.
"Heh, reminds me a certain echidna I know".
"I think eevee could certainly benefit having a trainer like you" Cosmo commented.
"Nice of you to say this but… I'm not actually a trainer. Sonic and Knuckles are the pokemon wielders of our team".
"Really? But you battled so amazingly with eevee today. You really have no pokemon or ever even battled before?"
"I did work with Knuckles' bellsprout in battle at the slowpoke well. But no. The only pokemon I have" Tails said taking out his pokeball "is this little guy" he said sending out sentret.
"Oh how cute" Cosmo couldn't help but say "is this your partner?"
"No. I'm more of its guardian. We met it during the first day of our journey through Johto. A team rocket grunt was trying to catch it. We subdued him and sent him back to team rocket with a warning. But then we had to decide what to do with this little guy. I didn't want to leave him, none of us did. I ended up its guardian however as Knuckles and Sonic want to catch pokemon with greater battle potential. To both help against team rocket and because they intend to enter the league tournament after all this is over".
Cosmo took the little sentret in her arms as it curled, obviously feeling safe because of her presence.
As she rocked it in her arms and it rubbed its head against her enjoying the petting an idea came to Cosmo's mind. Not a pleasant one. But one that would be for the best.
"This little one needs a forever home. Or at least a home to grow enough to learn to survive in the wild. And walking around with it, especially heading into danger like in your case… it's not advisable".
"I know" Tails admitted "but I don't know anyone who would accept it. Most people would call it a burden".
Cosmo then took a decisive look.
"I'm not most people".
Tails looked at her in question.
"If you want me to… I can take care of sentret. Having a mouth to feed is no big deal for me".
"But won't two mouths be a little much?"
Cosmo didn't immediately answer.
"That's only half of the idea I'm proposing".
"What's the other half?"
She took his hand again.
"Tails, would you take eevee with you if I asked you?"
Tails was caught off guard.
"Take eevee? I can't do that. It's your pokemon".
"Not really. I never really caught it. So I'm not its trainer. We just coexisted".
"… If that's the case… are you sure you want to let it go?"
Cosmo shed a tear at this question but smiled with a beautiful yet sad smile.
"No. But it is for the best. Eevee wants to go out there and experience the world. I can't give it that. I know it has no hard feelings for me but… now that a chance like that exists… I would be selfish not to give it to eevee".
Tails was moved. Cosmo wasn't just angelically beautiful when it came to looks but to soul as well.
"If it means that much to you then yes. I will take eevee. And I promise to take good care of it".
Cosmo's face gleamed in joy and she hugged Tails, whispering a 'thank you' in his ear. After they broke off the hug they remained there looking into each other's eyes not saying a word.
"I um… should go to bed… long day tomorrow… you know" Cosmo muttered blushing once she realized they had just stood there for a while.
"Yeah… I know" Tails also muttered.
Cosmo then took sentret in and eevee, who had listened to their conversation and felt eager to join Tails when asked, followed suit. Tails after handing her sentret's pokeball, suspected he would officially have eevee join the team, or rather give it the choice to do so, in the morning. Next moment his mind went into overdrive, mostly consisting of trying to process the entirety of their heart to heart conversation and also beating himself up over and over for not being brave and going for the kiss.
"Idiot. You had the perfect chance" Tails muttered covering his face with his palms wondering if he would ever have another one.