Chapter 44; harsh reality part 1

Tails breathed in and out as calmly as he could trying to keep his emotions in line. He opened his eyes and gazed into the endless blue of the sea.

A magikarp jumped out the water momentarily in front of him before disappearing from sight.

Tails regretted coming here. The sea wasn't relaxing him as it would otherwise.

It was full of water type pokemon.

Just like slowpoke.

"GAAAAAHH!" Proton's scream echoed in his mind again.

Tails grabbed the sides of his head, unable to escape the mental pain of that day. Of what he thought he had allowed Sonic to do.

After their attack on team rocket at the slowpoke well, the team laid low for a few days until things cooled down and the police finished their investigation. Sonic of course wasn't worried at all. Knuckles was only eager to get back out there and continue their quest.

Tails on the other hand was haunted by that scream both in his sleep and while he was awake.

"How could they do such a horrible thing and be this calm? I don't understand it. Don't they have any regrets?"

His phone buzzed. Looking at it he saw a text from Knuckles.

Sonic had beaten Bugsy, the Azalea town gym leader for the hive badge. It was time for them to move on to the next location, Goldenrod city.

Tails put down his phone and buried his face in his palms.

"Move on? Just like that?" he thought in a mix of anger and confusion.

Eventually the two-tailed fox met up with his friends on the edge of Azalea town where Sonic was training Chikorita hoping it would evolve soon.

Knuckles easily noticed the whirlwind of wild emotions in Tails' eyes.

"Everything ok?"

"Yes. Let's just go" Tails said with a voice devoid of any emotion of liveliness.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a quick glance. Knuckles planned to get Tails to tell them what was going while they were traversing through the Ilex forest.

The team gathered supplies and ventured into the wilderness. Unlike the thick treeline of the forest south of mount Tensei, Ilex forest was actually much more easily traversable, having actual paths to guide the travelers.

Sonic however couldn't help but feel like there was an aura of mystery surrounding those woods. Like the trees themselves were talking to each other, but the three friends couldn't hear it.

"I wonder why that is?" he thought to himself as they pressed on. A small part of him also wondered if they would run into Ash again. Their team and Ash's team were on a very similar travelling path.

When the team got far enough into the woods, Knuckles decided it was time.

"Tails, is everything ok?"

Tails looked at him sideways.

"Yes" he said coldly.

Knuckles was assured.

"That was a no just now and you damn well know it".

"I said I'm fine ok?"

"Tails buddy you know you can talk to us about anything" Sonic went to place his hand on Tails' shoulder.

"I'm surprised that's the case. Last I checked you two didn't like talking all that much" Tails said in a voice oozing of irony.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked him a little hurt.

"I mean that you and Knuckles obviously first act and then think".

"What's gotten into you today?" Knuckles asked tilting his head in confusion.

"I think I know" Sonic said getting a suspicion.

"You got some remorse after all?" Tails looked him in this eyes. Sonic could see disappointment and suffering in his eyes.

"Is this about Proton?"

"What do you think?"

"I think that I'm surprised to find one of my two best friends who knows what team rocket is capable of and who helped me bring them down the first time is actually pitying them".

"PITYING THEM?!" Tails screamed, his anger and need to rid himself of his guilt growing every second.

"Why are you screaming?" Sonic asked him not understanding why his most usually chill friend was so out of chill today.

"You think I'm like this because I'm pitying team rocket?! That I feel bad for them?"

"Yeah… that's what it looks like to me" Sonic responded.

Tails started walking back and forth to calm his nerves.

"How can you do this? How can you be so calm, so… detached?"

"I'm detached? How am I detached? Like honestly dude if you want to say something just go ahead and say it"?

Tails felt his blood rush to his head. He approached Sonic so fast that both he and Knuckles stepped back out of instinct.

"YOU FUCKING BROKE PROTON'S LEGS!"

"SHHHH!" Sonic shushed him while looking around in panic. The echo would definitely carry that yell throughout the forest.

"Are you insane?! You want to get us arrested after our perfect escape?!"

"I can't do this anymore! I can't! Every waking or sleeping moment his scream echoes in my head! You broke a man's legs Sonic!"

"Why are you pitying him? You saw him. He had no remorse".

"Because I am not like him Sonic! Unlike him I have empathy! I can tell when someone hurts! You used to be like that too! But now… now you're becoming just like Giovanni!"

Sonic was offended by his friend's statement.

"Take that back! I am nothing like him!"

"No I'm not taking it back! You used to understand others' pain! And now you're actively inflicting pain!"

"He deserved it! He mutilated those poor slowpokes!"

"Noone deserves such a thing Sonic! We're not judges! We can't pass judgement like that! Is that what you did in Kanto too?! Torture any rocket you got your hands on?"

"Not if I could avoid it".

Tails was horrified.

"Tails just calm down. We can work through this" Knuckles tried to approach Tails.

"Stay away from me! You're not any less guilty Knuckles! Sonic may have given the order but you carried it out without hesitation!"

Knuckles clenched his fist and looked down.

"I know. I shouldn't have".

"Look Tails" Sonic tried to reason with him "I know that was hardcore what we did…"

"Hardcore?! Hurting others on purpose is hardcore?!"

"Ok maybe it was wrong. Maybe. Proton just had it coming. But Tails… team rocket is attempting to rise again. What I went through in Kanto… it will happen all over again if we don't stop them here and now".

Tails was momentarily conflicted. Only momentarily.

He turned and started walking away.

"Where are you going?!"

"…I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up to harm people. I'm going home".

"You're leaving?!" Sonic yelled betrayed "just like that?! You said you'd be with me every step of this path no matter what!"

"Yes! With you! Not with a wannabe Giovanni!"

Sonic was determined not to let him off so easily. Especially after his last statement.

He rushed in front of Tails.

"I'm nothing like Giovanni Tails. We are fighting for good".

"It doesn't matter if we fight for good Sonic! Wrong actions are wrong regardless of which side you're on".

Sonic didn't want to listen to Tails' words. In his eyes after everything he had seen in Kanto team rocket deserved more than just breaking one of their executive's legs. And certainly more than just imprisonment.

"Fine then. Go home. Go back to our previous way of life when we remained oblivious and ignored the pain people like team rocket inflicted on pokemon. Go and practice your so called empathy as much as you please. As for me I promised I would end team rocket and I am a hedgehog of my word!" he said and turned to continue moving west.

"Knuckles are you with me?"

Knuckles was torn. He could barely process the exchange between his two friends.

"Maybe… maybe we should escort Tails to the airport Sonic. Split on good terms you know?"

Sonic remained stoic.

"Fine. I get it. See you back home" Sonic said at the end and kept walking.

Raichu who was merely observing this whole time not knowing if it should intervene, looked at Tails and Knuckles with a hint of a sad goodbye before following its trainer forward.

"Sonic wait" Knuckles tried to get him to stay.

But after a few moments Sonic had disappeared into the treeline.

Knuckles remained there looking at the direction Sonic disappeared towards. Tails also started walking back towards Azalea town, intending to get a ride to Violet City and fly home from there.

Knuckles caught up to Tails.

"You should catch up to Sonic" Tails said without any emotion in his voice.

"Why are you running away?"

"I'm not running away. I'm just going home".

"Tails this is greater than us. You saw what Sonic went through in Kanto".

"Have you ever stopped and wondered what that might mean? Do you think he just suffered? Did you even hear what he said?"

"What did he say?"

"He said he didn't torture rockets 'if he could avoid it!' That means he tortured rockets before" Tails said as he started getting dizzy "what did he do to them? Electrocute them? Snap their bones? KILL THEM?!"

"Tails snap out of it!" Knuckles tried to shake him out of his breakdown.

Tails then realized something.

"He's going to do it again".

"Huh?"

"Remember what he did to Giovanni? He snapped his hand. He almost killed him. Had his minions not rescued him… Sonic would have killed him".

Knuckles remembered that. It did surprise him that Sonic would go that far but on the other hand…

"Giovanni murdered an innocent Jolteon Tails. Can you even imagine what Sonic went through?"

"No. And I'm not planning to find out" Tails said and continued on his way with Knuckles following him.

At the same time, Sonic and Raichu continued on their way, alone once again.

"Can you believe them?" Sonic asked Raichu "after everything, they just turn tail and run?"

"Rai" Raichu grabbed him from the leg.

"No Raichu I'm not going back for them. Tails made his choice. I just wish he had made it from the start instead of coming all the way here" he said as he sat down on a log to let all his emotions out.

"I mean… what did he think would happen? That we would just beat the grunts in pokemon battles and then turn them to the police? Especially after what Proton did?"

He let himself take in the forest air trying to relax.

"Raichu" he asked his partner "do you feel guilty over the things I had you do over the many confrontations we had with team rocket? All the times you hurt them?"

"Rai" Raichu cried out as it nodded negatively.

Sonic too nodded but remained sad over Tails' desertion. If his partner, the one electrocuting the rockets they interrogated didn't feel any guilt about them, why did Tails feel?

"He is too kind for this" Sonic concluded "he thinks we are some sort of heroes who beat the bad guys without hurting them. That's a fairy tale truth. These people are willing to attack and will kill us if they have to, to protect their operation. Maybe it is for the best that Tails leaves. I can't have him be a sitting duck on the battlefield".

He got up and turned to leave.

Until he heard a scream.

"Sonic help!"

"Tails?! Tails!" he screamed back to the scream but got no response.

Tails and Knuckles were now approaching the edge of the woods.

"Tails I strongly suggest you reconsider. Sonic needs us".

"And I don't need to or plan to compromise my beliefs over his personal war with team rocket. Life is sacred regardless of context".

Knuckles gritted his teeth.

"Tails… what did you think this was going to be? A field trip?"

"I came here to save the pokemon from their tormentors Knuckles, not to torture the tormentors".

"These tormentors are hiding and if we don't find them now that they are at their lowest, we will miss the chance to end them".

Tails looked back over his shoulder.

"Are you intending to help Sonic carry out the deed? Kill Archer?"

"Sonic doesn't want to kill Archer. He just needs him stopped".

"Like he wanted Giovanni stopped?"

Knuckles could see the trees thinning.

"Tails I.." Knuckles began saying before he was slammed to the side by something red and fast. He was sent flying and crashed into a tree.

Tails couldn't even gasp fast enough after this happened. He turned and saw a man dressed in a weird black and red suit with a yellow helmet on too. But the most important thing was the big red R on his chest.

"Team rocket" Tails thought taking a step back.

"Scizor quick attack!"

Tails was barely fast enough to dodge an attack made by the newly appeared red pokemon.

"Who are you?" Tails asked the man "what do you want?!"

But before the man could answer an ember struck the scizor causing huge damage. Knuckles was barely on his feet but managed to get in front of Tails.

"Run" he said to his friend "I'll hold him off".

"Don't be an idiot Knuckles!"

"I said run quick!"

Tails tried to object before he saw the scizor coming for them again. Knuckles tried to shield his friend from the Scizor before it slammed into him, sending him rolling on the ground.

"Run Tails please" he said before losing consciousness.

Tails rushed to Knuckles' side before noticing Scizor coming for him again. Quilava was shaking Knuckles to try and awaken him but to no avail.

"He is lucky that Quilava is already in a ball" the masked man said with a terrifyingly menacing voice.

Tails tried to get Quilava to run but it wouldn't badge. Fear got the better of him and he ran away, leaving Knuckles behind.

The masked man saw Tails run away. He shrugged.

"It's ok. This one will be good enough as well. The echidna who broke Proton's legs. Buuut… I think I will wait until he tells me where the hero of Kanto is. Scizor, knock out the Quilava with slash then carry the echidna".

Scizor obeyed immediately. In the span of 5 seconds Quilava had fainted. The marauder grabbed the quilava and held it as he headed back deeper into Ilex forest. Scizor followed carrying Knuckles.

Tails was helpless to watch his friend get kidnapped for afar.

"How did this… how did this happen?" he thought in despair.

It was not meant to be this way.

Tails fell to his knees trying to pull himself together. It was too much.

Sonic had just been proven right. Those people were dangerous. And yet…

"GAAAAAHH!" Proton's scream echoed in his mind again.

"Aaaaah!" Tails screamed in frustration and despair. He was at a dead end.

A hand was placed gently on his shoulder.

"Everything ok?" an angelic voice asked him.

Tails looked up and his soul left his body.

"I'm dead. I have to be. This is an angel" he thought completely captivated.

In front of him stood a beautiful green haired girl with a green dress and a flower on her hair. "A florist I'm sure" Tails thought. She was accompanied by an eevee that was eyeing him in curiosity.

"You alright?" she asked gently again.

Her melodic voice was music to Tails' ears. It almost made him forget about his predicament. About Sonic's dark actions, Knuckles' captivity, everything.

"I… I am…"

The girl didn't say a word merely waiting for his response in as much curiosity as the eevee that was with her.

Tails tried to speak a couple more times, each time his own mind betraying him, stunned by her. In the end he managed to get a sentence out.

"I'm.. I'm Miles Prower".

"Nice to meet you Miles. I'm Cosmo. Is everything ok? You looked distressed there".

"Distressed?" Tails thought before returning to reality and remembering the pickle he was in.

"Oh no Knuckles!" he said turning back to look at the woods.

"Who?" Cosmo asked confused.

Her voice was soothing and helping Tails calm his panic down.

"This can't be happening right now can it?" a part of him wondered unable to understand how he barely knew this girl and felt this way.

"Knuckles is my friend. He was taken captive by some masked thug. He was taken into the woods".

"That's horrible" Cosmo said covering her mouth.

"I need to find him" Tails said to himself and went to leave.

"I'm coming with you" Cosmo offered or rather decided for him.

"Wha… n-no. I mean.. T-thanks but it's going to be dangerous".

"I know the Ilex forest very well. I can be of assistance. And so can eevee here".

"Vee!" eevee jumped in place eager to help.

Tails wished in that moment for time to stop so that he could process what had just happened. Meeting this angel.

"Ok. Lead the way Cosmo".

Cosmo took the lead with eevee by her side as Tails followed.

The duo walked back into Ilex forest.

"Where did that thug went towards?" Cosmo asked.

"That way" Tails answered pointing northwest.

"Alright. I know a couple of places someone like him would hide. Let's go" Cosmo moved forward, followed by Tails.

Sonic and raichu in the meantime were racing through the woods calling out Tails' name.

"What happened?" Sonic thought in horror "were they attacked? Are they ok? If Tails is the only one calling for help, does that mean Knuckles was unable to?"

Knuckles was indeed unable to. Arms tied behind his back on the root of a tree emerging from the ground, and Quilava in a cage. Knuckles tried his best to break free but was unable too due to his exhaustion from that fight. Whatever that pokemon was, it was very strong.

His attacker soon arrived, followed by its trainer.

"Finally you're awake. Very good. Cause I have some questions for you, my friend. And if you want to keep your partner safe you will answer".

"You're team rocket aren't you?"

"Perceptive huh? Impressive for someone like you. You look to be more brawn than brain".

"That or you're going around with a big R on your chest".

"Yeah that too I guess. But the real question is" he said leaning over Knuckles "where is your friend? Where is the hero of Kanto?"

"Far away. He knows where your boss is. And he is going for them. So I suggest you hurry rocketman".

The man laughed.

"My name is iron masked marauder. And you're not fooling anyone. If your friend knew anything he would know that our leader goes by sir not by boss. Our boss is the one your friend sent into exile. Oh and if he knew where my paymaster is, he wouldn't have had to break Proton's legs".

"How do you know about that?" Knuckles said in shock. He was sure the police would hide this fact from the public.

"Broke him out last night you dense echidna. Team rocket has people in the police. Proton is already back with us safe and sound. All you achieved is sending me after you".

Knuckles gritted his teeth in frustration.

"So I'll ask again now that you have the required context. Where is Sonic the hedgehog?"

"You really think I would betray my friends?"

"Hehe. No I don't" the marauder said "scizor make him talk. Slash!"

Scizor unleashed its attack.

"Argh!" Knuckles groaned as the scizor merely made a small cut on his left shoulder.

"Let's try again shall we?" the marauder said. Knuckles was flooded by a feeling of déjà vu. That was exactly like Proton's interrogation. Archer must have ordered the marauder to interrogate Knuckles same style.

"Where. Is. Sonic the hedgehog?"

"Go. To. Hell" Knuckles answered spitting on the last word.

"Feisty. I like that. But everyone has a breaking point. Slash!"

"AAArgh!" Knuckles yelled in pain. This time the slash was a bit bigger and this time at his leg.

"Ready to talk now?"

"I have news for you pal. You won't break me" Knuckles managed to smile.

The marauder's smile momentarily wavered.

"Scizor again!"

"AAAAArgh!" this time the yell of pain actually made an echo.

An echo heard by Sonic and raichu as well as Tails and Cosmo.

"Knuckles!" both unknowingly spoke the name at the same time.

"Let's hurry Raichu!" Sonic urged his partner.

"Rai!"

"Cosmo lead me to Knuckles quick please" Tails pleaded.

Cosmo nodded stiffly and with her eevee leading the way marched forward as both parties headed for the site of the confrontation.