Destruction of the Innocent Written by: Doug Skiles Disclaimer: All characters in this story were created by SEGA and Archie Comics. This story is Copyright by the author. Note: This story is written with the comic series in mind, NOT the TV series. Timeline: Shortly after the story "The Chaos Effect" in the Knuckles' Chaotix special. Note: There IS blood in this story. You have been warned. I enjoy getting mail about my stories. Please mail me at rskiles@mail.win.org if you like. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: It had been another lazy day in the Great Forest. Lazy days seemed to be a common occurence around the forest. At least, it seemed that way to Tails. But now it was night, and Tails was wandering around the outskirts of the woods. To Tails, the night brought a sense of evil and mystery into all things. And it seemed like that was the only contact with evil and mystery that Tails was ever going to have. Tails felt as though he had been waiting forever for the other Freedom Fighters to finally realize that he was mature enough to handle himself. And he was growing sick of watching Sonic and Sally and the others always run off on another mission, leaving him behind in Knothole Village. But what could he do? Though he had tried to run away before to find adventure, he always ended up returning to Knothole. He cared for the others too much to leave them. So he had to be content following the same routine each day, the same boring, monotonous routine, again and again and again, day after day. Without any sort of action going on around him whatsoever. His only relief came at night, after the others had all gone to sleep, when he would venture out to the outskirts of the Great Forest in the darkness. At least, doing this, he felt like he was being SOMEWHAT adventurous. Tails jogged briskly along the trails, with the dead branches snapping under his feet the only sounds he could hear. But then he heard something else. More dead branches snapping. But THIS sound didn't seem to be coming from underneath his feet. He paused. The sound continued. It was coming from his left. And it was coming closer. Tails jumped back a step and flattened himself against the nearest tree. His muscles tensed. His heart was practically beating right out of his chest. Slowly, gradually, he peeked around the tree to see the source of the sound. And then he saw Princess Sally walk out from between two bushes. What was SHE doing out here at this time of the night? Shouldn't she be asleep already? With a single quick movement, he jerked his head back and pressed it against the tree again. He dared not let her find him out here. Not here. Not now. Chapter 2: Princess Sally pushed two bushes aside and walked out from between them. She took a deep breath of the night air. Sally had been unable to sleep, and decided to go for a walk. The night seemed so peaceful and quiet, so serene to Sally. It was so refreshing to be away from all of her royal duties for just a little while. A walk alone in the moonlight would help her to get her mind off of them easily. Then she knew that she would be relaxed, and could finally get some sleep. Sally turned to her left, and noticed an area of the woods covered with a thick canopy of trees. Strange... she had never noticed this part of the woods before. But, she figured, as long I'm out here, why not do a little exploring? She walked over to the dark region, stepped over a tall bush, and entered. There was not COMPLETE darkness under the canopy - there were spots here and there where rays of moonlight shone down onto the forest floor. She watched her feet, making sure to be careful where she walked. "Saaaaaaaaallyyyyyyyy... " What was that? She thought that she had heard a voice, a faint voice, calling her name, coming from futher into the dark area. "Saaaaaaaaallyyyyyyyy... " There it was again! What WAS that? Who would be out here at this time of night? She began to walk a little faster. She went further and further into the darkness. "Saaaaaaaaallyyyyyyyy... " Sally stopped. She looked down. The voice sounded like it was coming from right underneath her feet! She squatted down and ran her forefinger through the dirt, curiously. "Saaaaaaaaallyyyyyyyy... please free me... " The sound made Sally jump up to her feet. Then she squatted down again. And she began digging. Soon she uncovered something. A fairly small, brown chest. She used all of her strength to pull it up out of the ground. For a moment, Sally simply looked at it. Then she reached into her vest pocket and pulled out... "Nicole," Sally began, "Inspect markings, signs of weathering and aging, anything on this chest that might determine its era of origin." "Inspecting, Sally," the soothing electronic voice stated. A soft blue beam poured out from the top of the portable computer and ran itself across the chest. Then it vanished and a holographic projection of the chest appeared above Nicole. Almost instantly after this, Nicole spoke, saying, "Inspection completed. This chest has been existent for approximately two centuries." After obtaining this knowledge, Sally placed Nicole back inside of her vest, causing the holographic picture to vanish. And then Sally bent down and opened up the chest. Inside of the chest there was a strange ring of some kind, and an old, yellowed letter. The black, circular ring was about twenty inches in diameter and was about as thin as the wire of a coat hanger. But, no matter how she tried, Sally couldn't bend it. And it had seven strange hexagon-shaped holes cut into it, cut big enough that Sally could fit her fist into each of them. Sally pulled the letter out and tried to read it. But she couldn't under the darkness of the tree canopy. Sally reached into her pocket, and again pulled out Nicole. "Nicole," she said, "what IS this?" "Scanning... " Nicole answered, and the blue beam again came out, this time going over the ring as Sally held it in her other hand. Then the beam vanished. "Dark Ring of Chaos," Nicole began, "all further knowledge considered too dangerous, under security lock Level 6." "Nicole," Sally said back, feeling frustrated, "bypass Level 6 security lock." "That action is not possible," Nicole answered her. Sally put Nicole in her vest pocket again. She picked up the ring, and, with the letter in her other hand, walked out from under the canopy. But even in the unobstructed moonlight, she couldn't read the letter. It was still just too dark. She decided to read it when she had returned to Knothole, and began the walk home. One thing still puzzled her though. Where was that voice coming from? Chapter 3: Tails listened patiently until he could no longer hear Sally's footsteps. Then he finally relaxed, and slumped down beside the tree. What was Sally carrying when she came out of the darkness? What did she find in there? Oh, who cares? He was too tired to think about it now. He had to get home and get some sleep... before Sally realized that he wasn't in bed! Chapter 4: Sally sat down on her bed. Rotor stood by the door to her hut. And, in the corner against the window, Sonic leaned against the wall, eating a chili dog. The beams of light from the midnight moon streamed in through the window. "I don't know HOW you can eat those things at this hour," Rotor said to Sonic, shaking his head. "Hey, we gotta be thinking straight during an emergency meeting, and chili dogs are brain food!" Sonic said, holding the dog aloft in the air with his right hand as though it were Excalibur. "Besides," he said, continuing, "I had one major midnight munchie attack." "I still don't get it," Rotor said back. Now listen to me," Sally said. "What I'm about to say does NOT leave this room, got it? This is between the three of us, and that's as far as it goes. As far as anyone else is concerned, it never happened. I don't want anybody in the village worrying themselves over -- " "Over WHAT?!" Sonic managed to say between bites. Sally shot Sonic an annoyed look. "I do NOT want interruptions," she said with anger, and continued on. "Now, I've already showed you the ring. This is the letter that explains it," she said, waving the yellow, wrinkled peace of paper through the air. "According to this, the ancients buried this chest there millions of years ago. It was found and dug up about 150 years ago. Back when Knothole was originally settled." Sally noticed chili dripping onto the floor from Sonic's chili dog. She shot him another annoyed look. "What?" Sonic asked, as though shocked and hurt. "What?" Sally sighed, and again continued, "it was then that the significance of the ring was discovered. Each of these seven hexagon-shaped holes," she said, poking her right forefinger through one of them, "is meant to hold one of the chaos emeralds. Now, this ring is black. There is another, somewhere on Mobius, that's white. If the chaos emeralds are placed into the white ring, the power of the emeralds can be united for good. But if placed into this black ring, their power can be united for evil. This is known because, after the chest was dug up 150 years ago, someone placed one emerald into the ring. He became possessed by evil and killed two people before he was stopped. And that was with just ONE emerald. That was when this letter was written. As a warning." Sonic and Rotor stared at the ring, fear in their eyes. Sonic spoke up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean to tell MOI that there's SEVEN chaos emeralds on Mobius?" Sally nodded grimly. Sonic dropped his chili dog onto the floor in astonishment. Sally glared at him. "You're picking that up, you know" she said in a rather angry tone. Sonic looked down upon his lost snack with sadness. "Aw, man... " he muttered. All fear left Rotor's eyes, and he chuckled to himself. "So what do we do with it? Bury it again?" asked Sonic. "But where could we put it that we'd be sure no one would find it?" asked Rotor back. "How about underneath Ant's hairpiece?" Sonic suggested with a sly smile. Rotor chuckled again. "No... " Sally said coldly, sounding as though her mind were distant, staring at the ring. "I'll take care of it." "No offense Sal, but are you COMPLETELY out of your mind???" Sonic shouted. Rotor shushed him. "That thing is really dangerous! What're you gonna do, shove it under the bed?" Sonic asked, quieter now. "Don't worry, I can handle it," she said. "And you both are dismissed." Sonic and Rotor glanced at each other. Rotor shrugged, and they both walked out, heading back to their huts to get back to sleep. Outside Sally's hut, on all fours underneath her window sill, Tails stared straight ahead, petrified by what he had just heard. He was about to get in bed after arriving back home when he had seen that Sally's light was still on in her hut. And when he later saw that Sonic and Rotor had come over to talk to her - at this hour of the night- he knew that something was up. That's when he had snuck over to the window sill to listen in. Then he heard something. A voice. "Miiiileeessss... " It was coming from inside the hut. Tails got up on his knees and peeked over the windowsill. Sally was on the other side of the room now, her back to the window, but the ring was lying on a table right next to the window sill. And was whispering Tails' own name to him. How did it know his name? It was as if it had just pulled Tails' name right out of his mind. Tails turned and ran. Chapter 5: After Sonic and Rotor had left, Sally had slipped into her nightgown and tried to sleep. But she couldn't. She still couldn't sleep. She glanced at the clock. Almost two in the morning. So she decided to take another walk, just a short one around the village. She got out of bed and, rather than bothering to get out of her nightgown and put on her vest, she just slipped on a robe. Then, as she headed for the door... "Princess... Princess Sally... Saaaaallyyyy... " She looked over. The voice was coming from the ring! She edged closer... "Saaaaallyyyy... free me... " "Yes," she said, as she picked up the ring, her eyes suddenly glazed over. "I must free you." Five minutes later, she had her usual vest on, and she walked out to the biplane kept by the Freedom Fighters, carrying the ring. "Get in," the ring said to her. Its voice no longer seemed to be coming from the ring. It seemed like it was within Sally's own mind. "I can't fly... " she said back. "Then," the ring answered, "I will do it for you." The next moment the engine had started. Through some mystical power, the ring controlled the plane. How? Telepathy? Who knows? Sally simply obeyed and got in, as the plane began to roll. Chapter 6: Rotor's eyes popped open. He heard an engine running outside. He glanced over at the clock beside his bed. "Two A.M.?" he asked himself, wearily. He raced outside, just in time to see the Freedom Fighters' biplane take off, with Sally in the cockpit. He watched her fly off, disbelieving. Sonic blazed out of his hut and ran to the launch site at incredible speed. He skidded to a stop next to Rotor. "Who... " he began. "Sally!" Rotor answered, still amazed. "But... she can't fly a plane!" "Where could Sal be goin'?" Sonic asked. "After the chaos emeralds," said a voice from behind them. They both whirled around to see Tails. "Tails, what are you talking about?" Sonic said skeptically. "Go back to bed." "The ring is gone. See for yourselves." Tails added. Sonic looked at Tails incredulously, as though seeing him for the first time. "The ring is gone?" he asked, disbelieving. Then, in an accusatory tone, he said, "What do YOU know about the ring?" Tails just looked at him, his expression distant, empty. "I gotta check this out, back in a flash," Sonic said as he sped off to Sally's hut. When he got there, he saw that Tails had spoken the truth. The ring was gone. But Nicole was still here. Sonic picked up the tiny computer. Sally never went anywhwhere without Nicole in her vest. Why did she leave her behind? "Nicole," Sonic began. "Do you know where Sal's flown off to?" "Sorry Sonic," the electronic voice said back, "that data is not in my files." Sonic looked up. Whatever Sal was doing, wherever she had gone, she must've been in one serious rush if she left Nicole behind. But why? Chapter 7: "It talks," Tails continued. Rotor and Sonic had decided to wait until morning to solve the problem. How idiotic, Tails thought. Sonic had decided that it was probably nothing... that Sally was probably just getting rid of the ring. But Sonic and Rotor hadn't heard the voice. They had been interrogating him for less than fifteen minutes now. But it still had seemed like an eternity to Tails. He slumped down in the stiff wooden chair in which he sat. "And it'll probably tell her where to find the emeralds," he continued on. Though Tails' expression was still empty and cold, there was a tiny twinge of sadness in his voice. "You don't seem very concerned," said Rotor. "I AM concerned!" he responded. "But YOU TWO won't shut up and move!!! We have to save Sally from herself!" Tails jumped out of his chair, but Sonic pushed him back down. "How do we know this is real?" he asked Rotor. "I don't know why we should believe all of the stuff Tails is feeding us about the emeralds. I mean, no offense Tails, but what do you know about the chaos emeralds anyway?" Memories flashed through Tails' mind. Of Athair. Of the Ancient Walkers. Even though his memories of what the old echnida made run through his head were sketchy... they were enough as far as Tails was concerned. He looked up at Sonic, a tiny smile appearing on his face. "More than you might think," he said in a mocking tone. Sonic still looked skeptical. "Okay, assuming that this is for real... we can still stop her from getting all of them. We know where ONE chaos emerald is." "Right!" shouted Rotor. "The Floating Island!" "Alright!" Tails shouted. "What are we waiting for? She could be there already!" "But how will we get there?" Sonic said, worried. "Sal took the plane... I didn't even know she knew how to fly!" "I can airlift one person there, but that's all," Tails said. "So I guess just Sonic and I will have to go." Sadness overcame Tails' expression. "But how can we stop her if she's already been there? Or if it's her last stop? She'll be too powerful with six chaos emeralds." Sonic was concerned now too. "We'll just have to. Somehow. For Sal. Tails... you don't have to stay once we get there. This is extremely dangerous... we're talking about some majorly nasty stuff. NOT cool." Tails looked at him. "No" he said, loudly, showing strength and courage through his voice. "I'm going." Sonic shook his head and said, "I really don't think you should, little guy." That was it. Tails was fed up. For years he'd been looked down to, treated like a child. And with one simple phrase, Sonic had pushed him over the edge. He stood up in his chair and pulled Sonic's face close to his with both of his hands. "Call me 'little' ever again," he said angrily, "and I will personally take your sneakers and shove them down your throat." Sonic was taken aback. His eyes widened. He looked at Tails, not believing what he had just heard. Rotor just laughed. Sonic looked over at him, lost, wondering how to respond to Tails' sudden unexpected show of force. And Rotor just laughed harder. "It's time to go," Tails said. "They grow up too fast, huh, Sonic?" Rotor laughed. Sonic still stared. Hundreds of miles away, in an icy cavern, two hands - Sally's hands - held up a blue chaos emerald. She placed it into the ring. And the ring then had only one space left open... for one final emerald. Chapter 8: By the time he had flown all of the way to the Floating Island, Tails was exhausted. He dropped Sonic down onto the soil and then, out of breath, let himself fall to the ground. He landed on his stomach, knocking even more breath out of him. He rolled over onto his back, gasping for air. Sonic helped him up to his feet, and then led him over to a log to sit down. After resting on the log for five minutes, Tails finally caught his breath. "Okay," Sonic began when Tails was rested. "We don't know where the tunnels to the chaos emerald chamber are, so we'll have to find Knuckles... " he paused, distracted by something above. Tails looked up and saw what it was. The Freedom Fighters' biplane was flying over the island, about to land. "There's Sally flying overhead now," Tails commented, stating the obvious. "Which means that we gotta fly too - on foot!" Sonic said. Sonic raced after it, pulling Tails behind him. But the plane was too far ahead. By the time Sonic had caught up to it, on the other side of the island, it had already landed in a grassy clearing. It was longer and wider than two football fields, and, though there were bushes and large rocks scattered here and there and there was a tiny pond near the center, there were no trees. And when Tails and Sonic saw the biplane, they also noticed that Sally was no longer in it. "GREAT!!!" Sonic shouted as loud as he could, frustrated. "Now what do we -- " Sally leapt out from behind a bush and delivered a kick to the back of Sonic's head. She had been waiting for them. Sonic fell over into the dirt, onto his side. Tails' eyes widened at the sight of Sally, and he took a step back. This was not the Sally he remembered. Her hair had turned black, and was standing on end. Her eyes glowed a bright, neon green. And then she spoke... Holding up the ring two-handed, with six of the seven chaos emeralds already in it, she said, "I believe that you have come looking... for this!" in a low, gravely, demonic voice. A chill ran up Tails' spine when he heard her. She had gotten all of the chaos emeralds... except for the one keeping this island afloat. How much power did she have now, Tails wondered to himself? Sonic got up, rubbing his head. He stood next to Tails side and asked "Who... what... are you?" "I... am the Demon of Chaos. I reside within the ring. Until someone places an emerald within the ring, releasing me into their body. I grow stronger with each emerald added to the ring. So that I can do things... such as this!" she said. She slammed her hands together, causing a thunder clap. Lightning shot out from the crevices between her fingers. It shot up to the sky, and clouds filled it, black clouds, glowing with more lightning, and rumbling with more thunder. Sonic and Tails stared in awe at the darkening sky above them. Sonic looked at Sally, eyes filled with pain. How could someone he cared for so much be doing this? No. It wasn't her. It was the Demon. "Sal... " he said in a pleading voice, "Sal... if you're in there, stop this. Please. You gotta fight this thing... " "Your Princess is gone, rodent!" the hideous voice reberverated through the hills. "And you shall soon be the same!" she... it... added. The ring then slipped out of Sally's hand on to the ground. She raised her right hand towards Sonic... but nothing happened. He rushed at her, but she snatched up the ring and pointed her hand towards him again. A dagger shot out from within her palm and flew at Sonic, but he rolled underneath it just in time, and continued to roll right past her, so that now he was on one side of her, Tails on the other. Tails finally realized... without that ring, she's helpless! Then Sally put her palms together, as though to pray... And vanished in a flash of light. She reappeared in another flash of light nearly one hundred yards away, laughing at them, taunting them, goading them on. Tails raced over to Sonic, grabbing him by both of his arms. He began to twirl his tails, and then was flying, fast and low, racing towards Sally, Sonic's feet just inches off of the ground. Sally's eyes glowed with fury. She raised her palms towards the sky, the ring still dangling around her. Tails watched her curiously. Suddenly, Sonic screamed "TREE!!!" A huge redwood tree appeared right out of the ground directly in Tails' flight path, roaring as it grew taller and taller. He swerved left sharply, pulling Sonic after him. Sonic barely missed the giant trunk by just a couple of inches. "TREE!" Sonic shouted again. "RIGHT!" He added. Tails swerved right obediently. But his left elbow scraped up against a branch HARD, tearing off fur and flesh with it. Tails let out a brief cry of pain, then gritted his teeth. He could feel the hot blood streaming down his arm. "TREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Sonic SCREAMED louder than ever, terrified... "LEFT, LEFT!!!" Another redwood was growing directly in front of them. Tails pulled left, flying in between two branches, one above him, one below. Sonic raised his legs to keep them from hitting the lower branch. Leaves slapped against both of their faces. Still flying low to the ground, Tails and Sonic had nearly reached Sally. But then, when they were just five yards away, another tree appeared right in front of them. This time, Sonic didn't have enough time to scream. Tails tried to fly between two branches again, but then, just when he thought he was through, he felt himself yanked back. His tails has caught on one of the branches. Sonic slipped from his grasp and flew foward. Sonic SLAMMED directly into Sally, causing her to topple over and drop the ring. The tree stopped growing instantly, leaving Tails hanging upside down from the tree branch, almost able to touch the ground with his fingertips... Sonic, lying on the ground, moaned in pain. Sally started to get up. She reached down for the ring, but before she could grab it, Sonic kicked it away, and it slid just underneath Tails. Tails reached down for the ring. He was just able to hook the middle finger of his left hand around it. He shut his eyes tight and concentrated. HARD. He felt his right hand being ripped apart. He screamed in pain, but still kept his eyes shut, concentrating. His right hand was burning with pain. He felt as though the skin was being ripped off of it, but he still held onto the ring as tightly as he could with the finger on his left hand and continued to concentrate. He clenched his teeth tight to keep himself from screaming anymore. Instead, now he moaned LOUDLY. Finally, the pain stopped. He let go of the ring. He looked at his right hand. In his palm, the glove and fur and been burned off by some unknown force, and he was badly bleeding, but he had gotten what he wanted. Thanks to the power of the ring and the emeralds, he now held in his right hand a laser rifle, just like the ones Robotnik's SWATbots used. Sally had finally gotten up. Tails untangled his tails from the branch and fell to the ground, landing on his back. Sally snatched up the ring, and Tails jumped up just as quickly, pointing the laser rifle at her. "Really," the Demon within Sally said, amused. "Do you honestly think that you have the strength to kill one of your best friends... Princess Sally?" "You're... you're not Sally," Tails said back, a little shaken. Sally continued, "besides, it's not really me you want to kill, is it?" she asked. The one you want dead is Sonic." The Demon of Chaos was right. Because of the evil Tails had absorbed by using the power of the ring, he now had a strange desire to murder his best friend. He shifted, pointing the rifle at Sonic instead. "No... " Sonic moaned, still lying on the ground. "Noooooo!" Sonic rolled over slightly. He managed to speak in a low, quiet voice. "Tails, c'mon little bro, it's me, Sonic! I'm your bud!" "You... " Tails glared at Sonic with an enraged fury in his eyes. "You always took the glory. You always left me behind. You never respected me. You treated me like a baby. Like a BABY!!!" he screamed furiously. "Yesss," Sally hissed cruelly. "You must kill Sonic!" Tails, holding the rifle up, ready to fire, flinched. He felt something within him still telling him that this was wrong. He shut his eyes. His ears. He listened only to his mind and heart. No. Sonic was his friend. More than that, Sonic was his hero. Yes. This WAS wrong. He opened his eyes, and again pointed the barrel at Sally. Sally's eyes glowed a brighter green than before. "I'm going to destroy you," Tails said. Then, the Demon's eyes flashed white, and then... they were normal. Sally's normal, sweet blue eyes. Tails lowered the rifle. "Sally... ?" he asked quietly. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead. "Yes, honey," said Sally, in her own voice. Her own, melodic voice. "It's over. The demon isn't in me anymore. We can go home now." Tails looked at Sally with disbelief in his eyes. Her hair was still blackened and standing on end... but otherwise this seemed to be Sally. But how? Tails swallowed hard. "C'mon," she said. "It's all okay now." Tails looked down. She was still holding the ring. He reared back and belted her across the side of the head with the butt of his laser rifle. Sally toppled to the ground. Her eyes shut tight, and her hand wrapped equally tight around the ring. Tails realized regretfully that he had just inflicted pain onto Sally's body, Sally, his friend. "Sorry, I'm sorry Aunt Sally, Sally please forgive me, I'm so sorry," he muttered quietly, hoping that the real Sally inside could somehow hear him. Then Sally opened her eyes. They glowed green again. And then she spoke: "That... was most foolish," she said, once again in the deep, demonic voice. Tails held the laser rifle up, ready to fire at any moment. "You still cannot destroy me," said the Demon. "If you shoot this body, yes, you will have stopped me from destroying your world... at least for today. But you will have killed your friend, the Princess, forever. Would you destroy your friend? Would you destroy an innocent?" "You would destroy a lot more innocents if I let you go," Tails answered back, anger burning in his voice, still holding the gun at the ready. "Of course," said the Demon within Sally, smiling. "I am the Demon of Chaos! I exist purely for that purpose. To destroy innocents. To destroy the world of these innocents. And also to destroy innocence itself." Tails felt a chill at these words. But he stood still, not letting his inner fears show through. "Go ahead, child," Sally said. "Destroy this body. Go ahead and try. I know that you can't. You can't destroy Princess Sally's body." Tails lowered the laser rifle. "You're right," he responded, smiling calmly. The Demon of Chaos looked at him curiously through Sally's eyes, surprised by this sudden action. "I can't destroy Sally's body," Tails went on. "But I can destroy yours." And with that, in one lightening-fast movement, Tails raised the rifle, aiming it at the ring, and fired. The emeralds flew out from within the ring in a brilliant flash of light as they, along with the ring itself, launched into the air, each emerald and the ring flying in seven different directions, racing thousands of miles across the skies of Mobius, until finally landing in seven separate, distant lands. The force of this blast threw Tails back against the tree he had been tangled in earlier, and Sonic was pushed back against a large rock. Sally fell where she stood. Her hair, still standing on end, turned red. Epilogue: Tails raced to the edge of the factory roof and stared down. It was six stories up from the dark alley below. He whirled around and looked back. The SWATbots saw him, and they were closing in. He could've sworn he heard them speaking to him... "Kill the little baby!" "Yes, destroy the child!" "Murder the kid!" They were taunting him. Calling him baby. Child. Kid. He looked back over the roof. Then peered back over his shoulder. He saw one of the SWATbots raise a laser rifle at him, ready to fire. "Does the baby want a pacifier?" it asked mechanically. Tails leapt off of the roof. Falling down. Down. He SLAMMED into the ground hard. He couldn't move. He felt his blood spilling out from within his wounds. Forming a pool around him. It was warm... no, it was cold. Cold and wet. Tails opened his eyes and looked up. He saw Knuckles splashing water onto him from a nearby pond. He was now lying down on the ground beside the pond in the center of the clearing. And he realized that he was covered in water. Drenched. Cold and wet. But the sun was out now. The dark clouds that had filled the sky were gone. "Good morning, sleepy-head," said a familiar voice from behind him. Sally walked up. Her hair was red again, and, though still a little raggedy in some places, it was, for the most part, combed back into its usual place. Plus her eyes were blue again and she had spoken in her normal voice. The only major difference Tails noticed from before was an ugly bruise on the side of her head. Sally pointed at it and smirked. "I understand that this is YOUR doing?" she asked. All Tails could do in response was smile and laugh. Sonic then strolled up. He had a bandage around his head now, apparently for the injuries he sustained from being pushed back into the rock after the blast. "I thought I told you mugs to stay OFF of this island?!" Knuckles challenged Sonic. "Relax Max, we'll be juicin' out as soon as we can," Sonic answered. "Tails and I just came to pick up a friend," he continued, looking at Sally. She smiled back at him. Sonic knelt down beside Tails. "How ya doing big guy?" he said with a smile. Tails spoke in a raspy voice, "I'll be fine. And if I have a choice... stick with 'big guy'." Sonic's smile widened. "You got it. I usually called you that anyway... guess it was a slip of the ol' hedgehog lip. The... other time I mean. So... we're cool now?" Tails slowly nodded at his best friend. "Yeah... cool," he answered. Sonic got back up on his feet and started to walk over to the biplane. Knuckles said something Tails didn't catch and followed him. "Sally?" Tails said, weakly, looking up at her. "Don't talk," she said. "We've got to get you back to Knothole and take a look at you." "No," Tails said, "I'll be fi --" He shifted slightly. And he felt every joint in his body aching when he did it. Looking down, he saw for the first time that he was covered in scrapes and bruises. And he noticed that his right hand and left elbow had both been bandaged up. "Unfortunately," Sally continued on, "I don't know HOW we're going to get back to Knothole. You're too injured, so I'm not letting you fly the plane or try to carry anyone home. And neither Sonic or myself can fly that biplane, so I guess we're sort of stuck here for a little while," she sighed. Knuckles overheard her. "Oh, that's just WONDERFUL!" he cried out. Sonic, Sally, and Tails all laughed. "How much do you remember?" Tails asked Sally. "I... I remember," she began, "I guess I remember walking in the woods last night. I heard a voice... and then I found the ring." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Not much after that," she said finally. "Sally," Tails said, straining to speak, "What if someone finds that ring again, wherever it is?" Sally just smiled at him. "Don't worry about it baby." "Not... not a baby," Tails barely managed to whisper. Knuckles had walked farther away now, inspecting the trees that Sally... or the Demon of Chaos... had created earlier in the clearing. Sonic was enjoying himself running circles around the echnida. Knuckles cursed him, and all he did was laugh in return. Sally just smiled even more at Tails' words. "Besides, maybe you'll get the chaos emeralds before anyone else can, right?" she said. Tails looked at her closely. "What are you talking about?" he asked, curiosity in his voice. "Well," she responded, "You never know. You might just end up the being 'The Chosen One'." At these words another memory shot sharply through Tails' head. Tails stared at her wide-eyed. He looked amazed, confused, shocked all at once. "How... how did you... " Sally just put her index finger up to her lips and smiled knowingly. Tails watched her curiously as she strolled over to join the others. THE END