Legends Awakening II - A Sonic Fan Fiction for the Foxes and Sorcery Series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by: Aaron Lye E-mail: prower@pacific.net.sg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEGAL STUFF Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters used within this fanfiction are fully owned and copyrighted by one or more of the following: Sega of America, Sega Enterprises (Japan), DiC and/or Archie Comics. Several characters used within this work may have been the creation of fanfiction authors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This story's main characters are: Sonic Tails Tasha Angela Zoreth and supported by: the FFs the Ghylcanan Guardians ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TIMELINE: February 3239, one day after "Legends Awakening I" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Tails stood facing the dark blue hedgehog now known as Michael. The hedgehog spoke in the same commanding tone that he had used when he had first appeared. "Know this, Guardian of the Emerald of Sorcery, the time for the Confrontation draws near. You must be prepared... the two parts of the Emerald must once again become one.."* ***** LOCATION: KNOTHOLE, FREEDOM FIGHTER BASE, GREAT FOREST Tails woke up the next morning, and looked out at the blue sky. The weather monitoring stations had predicted heavy thunderstorms for the most part of the morning, but apparently, they had been wrong. As he got out of bed, he thought about the vision he had had the night before. Whatever was about to happen would happen soon.. He walked over to Tasha's hut, and knocked on the door. After getting permission to enter, he walked in. Tasha looked at the fox and said, "Tails, Ah think we'll cancel today's lesson.. Ah have to go back to Ghylcana for a while today." Tails asked, "Can I come?" The two-tailed rabbit smiled, "Not today, Tails. Some other time, ok?" She walked over to a cupboard, took out a book, and handed it to Tails. She said, "Ah want you and Sonic to read through this book today. It documents the last time Zoreth terrorized this planet." The fox nodded, then waited for Tasha to disappear before heading out of her house. ***** LOCATION: GHYLCANA, CHAMBERS OF THE GUARDIAN COUNCIL, UNKNOWN Jennifer, Nicholas and the rest of the Guardian Council were already seated and waiting when Tasha appeared. She apologized for being late, then sat down herself. Jennifer spoke, "We've done our investigations on the Zoreth matter, and have discovered how he was released. Apparently, the energy of a CaribStone was used to destroy the seal holding down the Emerald of Imprisonment that was sealing off Zoreth, and once the Emerald was gone, Zoreth escaped." The Fifth Guardian of Control, a hedgehog named Susan, said, "That's impossible. All the CaribStone wizards were lost two thousand years ago..." Tasha chose to speak up at this point, "Angela.." Everyone turned to face the rabbit, and Nicholas asked, "What was that, Tasha?" The rabbit told the Council what had happened, and how Angela had captured Tails. Jennifer looked positively angry by now, "That squirrel... she freed Zoreth, even though she knew what he was capable of..." ***** LOCATION: TORECANA, GHYLCANAN GUARDIAN OUTPOST, FLOATING ISLAND Treyna watched the red echidna storm out of the main door and shook her head. Sometimes she wondered if those Floating Island Guardians would EVER stop bugging them to leave the Island. They had as much right to be here as the Islanders.. She sat back down at her receptionist post and looked bored. Nothing ever happened here..well, almost nothing.. she was beginning to look forward to her daily debate with Knuckles... It was then that a flash of red appeared in the room. She looked at the figure, and instantly recognized it. Angela.. the renegade.. Before Treyna could even stand up, Angela raised her paws, and the room suddenly flashed red. That was the last thing Treyna saw before her world went black... Storming away, Knuckles grumbled to himself about the stubborness of some Guardians. Before he had even travelled fifty meters away from Torecana's compound, he heard a single loud explosion from behind. The explosion was big, and Knuckles dived to the ground to avoid being hit by any debris or such. When he picked himself up, he looked back, and to his horror, saw the entire outpost destroyed, reduced to nothing but rubble. He barely made out a figure disappearing in a blaze of red. For a minute, Knuckles couldn't say anything. When he managed to get back control of his vocal chords, he simply said, "You didn't have to go to THAT extent.." ***** LOCATION: KNOTHOLE, FREEDOM FIGHTER BASE, GREAT FOREST "Sonic, are you there?" Tails popped his head in through the open doorway of Sonic's and Sally's hut. The place was spotlessly clean for once, indicating that afore-mentioned bluestreak wasn't there. Tails continued walking, then saw Sonic coming out of Rotor's workshop. He hurried over to meet him. "Sonic, Tasha says we need to read this. It's about Zoreth." ***** LOCATION: TORECANA, GHYLCANAN GUARDIAN OUTPOST, FLOATING ISLAND Knuckles and a team of Floating Island Guardians combed through the remains of the outpost. So far, they had rescued five survivors, Treyna included. Knuckles shook his head in disbelief. Five survivors, out of twenty-five. Twenty-five Guardians lost... His foot kicked something hard on the ground, and he bent down to pick it up. Dusting it off, he realized what it was and placed it in the growing pile of Chaos Emeralds they had found. Emeralds without their keepers.. ***** LOCATION: GHYLCANA, CHAMBERS OF THE GUARDIAN COUNCIL A harried looking Guardian rushed into the Council Chambers, and every Control Guardian turned to face her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've recieved an urgent message from Knuckles of the Island Academy on the Floating Island." Most of the Guardians sighed when they heard that name, and Jennifer brushed it off, "Tell him we have something much more important to do at the moment than listen to his petition to get Torecana off his Island." "But, ma'am, he reports that Torecana has been destroyed. He has one of the survivors on a communications link right now." The Council looked shocked at that news and Nicholas ordered the Guardian to put it through to them. A few seconds later, an injured Treyna appeared on the small viewer in the chamber. She was standing next to Knuckles, who was apparently helping her stand up. The injured Guardian reported the incident, how Angela had appeared, and what she had done. The Control Guardians started talking amongst themselves. Tasha shook her head, "Even with a CaribStone, it would've been impossible for her to destroy the entire base at one go. Even Ah can't do that!" Susan looked grim, "Unless she had help.." Nicholas nodded and said one word, "Zoreth..." When he said that, Knuckles' jaw dropped. "You mean.. he's back?" Nicholas turned to the viewer and nodded, "He was freed by someone yesterday." "Great... I suppose you'll be needing the Master Emerald?" Nicholas nodded. ***** LOCATION: KNOTHOLE, FREEDOM FIGHTER BASE, GREAT FOREST Sonic and Tails flipped through the book, and gaped at what they read. Zoreth was a two-tailed wolf, who had strangely been rejected by every group of magic-users. He was an outcast... Somehow, he managed to gain some form of magic ability, and he started attack magic users one by one, gaining their magical energy, until all except the Guardians were gone. He then tried to take over Mobius, using his newfound abilities, but the Emerald of Sorcery's Guardian discovered that if all the energy of fifty Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald was targeted at Zoreth, it would be enough to defeat him. They did so, but the energy wasn't concentrated of focused enough to destroy him. All it did was incapacitate him. Taking the opportunity, the Guardians sealed him away, using the one Emerald his abilities could not stand up to: The Emerald of Imprisonment. Sonic took his eyes off the book, and looked at Tails. "So, if I'm right, this probably means we have to attack Zoreth together..." Tails simply nodded, for he couldn't think of any other way to decipher the vision.. He was about to close the book when something on a page caught his eye. ***** LOCATION: GHYLCANA, CHAMBERS OF THE GUARDIAN COUNCIL The Guardian rushed into the chambers a second time, bringing bad news again. "We've recieved a report from Myhlcana. Angela appeared there ten minutes ago, and destroyed the place. We have two injured, twenty unaccounted for.." Nicholas pounded the table in anger. "We have to find a way to stop her! Is there any similarities between the two destroyed outposts?" The Guardian who had brought the message nodded, "Yes sir. Torecana and Myhlcana are the second and third largest Guardian outposts." Tasha gasped, "She's tryin' to weaken us.." Susan continued, "..for Zoreth." Another Control Guardian asked, "Then why didn't she just attack Ghylcana itself? We're the largest Guardian town." Jennifer answered, "There are too many Guardians here, probably too much for Angela to handle. And we are here as well. She wouldn't be able to take on all of us." Tasha asked, "Which is the next largest town?" "Ricocana in the Southern Territories." Tasha smiled, "This is mah plan. We have enough Guardians here to hold off Angela should she come here. However, Ricocana cannot do the same, so Ah think all us Control Guardians should go there and wait for her..." Nicholas nodded, "After we deal with her, we can take on Zoreth." ***** LOCATION: KNOTHOLE, FREEDOM FIGHTER BASE, GREAT FOREST Tails walked into Tasha's hut and placed the book back into the cupboard. As he was about to leave, a blaze of red appeared in the room, forming into Tasha. Tasha smiled quickly at Tails, then started searching around for something. When Tails asked her, she replied, telling him what had happened while she was at Ghylcana, and where she was now headed, with the rest of the Control Guardians. Tails sat down on her bed, then asked, "Tasha, I read something in that book you gave me. What did it mean when it said the Sorcery Emerald can partly control the other emeralds?" Tasha looked at the fox, and sat down for a moment to explain to him. "Angela has already told you before that your Emerald is the focal point of the magical energies of all Chaos Emeralds. This gives it one special property. It can absorb an amount of magical energy from other Emeralds, no matter where they are, and contain it for brief periods of time, allowing the Guardian to have massively increased magical abilties for that short while. You, however, shouldn't try such a thing, since first of all, such an act is illegal except in extreme circumstances, and second, you are still a trainee, and can probably only take a maximum of half of the energy you would recieve from such an act. Now, sorry if Ah seem abrupt, sugah, but Ah really need to go to Ricocana now. See ya later." With that, the rabbit disappeared, leaving Tails to contemplate on what he had been told. He was about to leave when he suddenly heard the voice of Michael Hedgehog in his mind. *Miles Prower, why have you not heeded me? The Confrontation will soon begin, and you must be there..You must be at Ghylcana now, before the evil strikes and all is lost...* Tails gasped, and rushed to find Sonic. ***** LOCATION: GHYLCANA, NORTHERN WALL, UNKNOWN The Guardian on watch at the northern wall saw the blaze of black appear a short distance away. Before he could even recognize that it was Zoreth, the creature attacked, with a blinding red wave that encompassed all directions. ***** The magical defenses of Ghylcana were fast crumbling, unable to handle the onslaught from Zoreth. He sent magical energy crashing into the city faster than any of the Guardians could react, their individual attacks not even injuring him. A number of Guardians had been injured or killed, and their resistance was waning. All seemed lost. ***** LOCATION: RICOCANA, CITY CENTER, SOUTHERN TERRITORIES Tasha appeared at the same time Angela did. The rest of the Control Guardians had already assembled there and were standing ready. Nicholas approached Angela, and simply said, "Surrender now." She glared defiantly, and shot back, "Not a chance." At that, she raised her paws and a red wave shot out, hitting all ten Control Guardians. Nicholas yelled, "Attack!", and the ten sent the full energy of their Control Emeralds streaking towards Angela. The ten pulses impacted on the renegade, and did absolutely nothing to the squirrel. She retaliated, and this time, Susan and Nicholas went down, injured heavily. It was a losing battle. ***** LOCATION: GHYLCANA, OUTSIDE NORTHERN WALL, UNKNOWN About a dozen blazes of white flashed, winking out of existence to reveal Tails and the rest of the Freedom Fighters. When Sally had heard about what Tails was supposed to do, she insisted on coming along to help. When Tails saw what Zoreth was doing to Ghylcana, his first impulse was to attack, but the voice of Michael, and in effect, the 'voice' of the Emerald of Sorcery spoke. *Remember, the two parts of the Emerald must once again become one..* Tails puzzled on this... and gasped when he realized what it meant. Without telling anyone, he grabbed hold of Sonic's paws and held tight. Energy sparked where their paws made contact, but Tails still held tight. He then concentrated on the Emerald, and sent the white, colored streaked wave crashing into Zoreth. The wave impacted, and Zoreth turned around to look at Tails, seemingly unharmed. He sneered at him, and started attacking Ghylcana again. Sally ordered, "Freedom Fighters, attack!" The FFs opened fire with the same weapons they had used at Northpass, the phasers, lasers and the makeshift cannon. As the beams impacted, Zoreth seemed to falter, but not for long. He paused just for a second, then continued his relentless assault. Tails heard the voice again. *You have forgotten, Miles Prower..* Tails then realized, in his hurry to attack Zoreth, he HAD forgotten part of what had been told him... All the Emeralds must stand united... He had to focus the magic energy of the Chaos Emeralds.. ***** Tails concentrated hard. This was their only chance... he focused on the Emerald, on absorption.. on Chaos Emeralds, on energy, on magic. Slowly at first, gaining speed with time, streams of colored energy started flowing in from all directions, from the Floating Island, from Ghylcana, from Ricocana... These streams converged on Tails and Sonic, and something happened... As the energy filled the two of them, both heard the voice of Michael, "Good, the Emeralds now stand united. Now, the two parts of the emerald must become one.... do it now, before all is lost!" Tails' mind raced.. Two parts become one.. what did he mean? *Think... focus...* Sonic's eyes met Tails', and both focused their thoughts on unity, on bonds, on one Emerald... A bright white light enveloped the two, shining so bright that the rest of the Freedom Fighters had to cover their eyes. When the light dimmed, Bunnie gasped, "Oh mah stars.. would ya look at that..." All the Freedom Fighters turned to where Sonic and Tails had been standing.. and saw the last thing any of them had expected.. They saw, standing in place of Sonic and Tails, one creature. It shone a bright color-streaked white, the color of the Emerald of Sorcery. As they examined it, they realized what it was. It had two tails, hedgehog quills, Sonic's eyes, Tails' muzzle and fox ears... It WAS Sonic and Tails. ***** Sonic-Tails hovered off the ground, powered by the combined energy of almost every Chaos Emerald, and streaked at an unimaginable speed towards Zoreth. The wolf didn't even notice it coming, and when he did, it was too late, Sonic-Tails had already impacted and entered Zoreth's body. The wolf screamed a howl of agony, as he was destroyed from within by the Chaos Emerald energy. He seemed to fade away, bit by bit.. until all that remained of him was a black cloak. ***** LOCATION: RICOCANA Tasha was the last Control Guardian standing, the rest injured or dead. She looked at Angela, waiting for her to strike. The squirrel raised her paws, and... nothing happened. Taking this opportunity, Tasha blasted away with whatever Control energy she had left, and sent the squirrel hurtling into a nearby bush. She walked over and picked the squirrel to her feet, and teleported them both to Ghylcana, Angela to a holding cell, herself to the Council Chambers. Ten seconds later, the remaining Control Guardians disappeared in similar blazes of red, sent back to Ghylcana. The Confrontation was over. ***** Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters rushed to the spot where Zoreth had been. There, they found one blue hedgehog, and one two-tailed fox, both exhausted, physical and Chaos Energy depleted. Tails saw them and smiled wearily, "We did it..." Bunnie smiled as she scooped him up, letting David carry the exhausted hedgehog. "You sure did, sugah. We're proud of you." With that, the group walked into Ghylcana, hoping to find a Guardian who could send them back to Knothole. ***** EPILOGUE One week later Tasha sat in the Council Chambers with Susan, the only other Control Guardian who had recovered by this time, and both looked at Angela, who was shackled down. Tasha spoke, "Angela Hazel, you have been sentenced to life imprisonment at the Ghylcana Reformation Institute for one charge of abduction of a Guardian, one charge of theft of Guardian property, one charge of abetting a known Guardian enemy and sixty charges of assault on a Guardian. Your sentence is effective immediately." She turned to two Guardians and said, "Get her out of my sight." As Angela was dragged out of the room, she glared at Tasha and uttered, "Somehow, I'll get you for this, Tasha.." The rabbit retorted, "Ah'm sure you will." With that, Tasha turned to Susan. "Ah'm returning to Knothole now. Can ya handle things here?" Susan nodded. Tasha smiled, "Great. See ya around." Before she left, she fumbled around her cloak, and took out something: a graduation insignia from the Ghylcanan Academy. Susan noticed that, "Someone graduating?" Tasha nodded and smiled, "Let's just say it's a surprise reward for an impatient little fox..." TO BE CONTINUED