Sonic the Hedgehog - "Of Foxes and Sorcery - Part III" - by Aaron Lye E-mail: vicl@pacific.net.sg NOTE: Several sections of this part of the story have references to violence and may not agree with some people. THE LEGAL STUFF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Miles Tails Prower, Sonic the Hedgehog and other related characters are based on the characters created by SEGA, Archie Comic Publications, and the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning series created by DIC and Sega of America. Other characters that appear or are mentioned in this story are original creations of their respective authors. "Cast" of characters used in this story (in random order) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tails Sonic Sally David Prower - courtesy of Shawn Wolski Bunnie Rotor Antoine Angela - Aaron Lye Snively Dulcy Several minor characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REMEMBER: READ ON TILL YOU REACH THE WORDS "THE END"!! IF YOU DON'T SEE THEM, THE STORY'S NOT COMPLETE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The village of White Rock was peaceful. Recuperating from Robotnik's reign, but peaceful. The adults went about their daily lives, while children played in the streets. Then, that peace was shattered. On the horizon, a great black mass appeared. Using binoculars, the villagers gasped at what they saw: Hundreds of SWATbots advancing in their direction. The villagers hardly had time to prepare before the SWATbots arrived. Half the villagers were killed or injured with the initial strike. The rest fought valiantly, but had no proper weapons to use. The survivors of the decimated village were rounded up and interrogated. "TELL US THE LOCATION OF KNOTHOLE, BIOLOGICAL ORGANISM." The terrified villagers had heard of the Freedom Fighter base and their work at freeing them from Robotnik, but the location of it was not widespreadly known, for obvious reasons. Those who could not or did not supply the bots with answers were shot. All along the rim of the Great Forest, the exact same scenario was occurring. ***** "EMERGENCY!! This is the town of Rock Spire on the rim of the Great Forest calling all Freedom Fighter bases! We are under attack by an army of SWAT***-----" The message broke up in a burst of static. Sally stopped the log and faced the Knothole group. "That message was received almost an hour ago. Since then, 75 % of the towns and villages on the rim of the Forest have also sent out distress calls. Whatever it is that Snively's up to, he sure means business this time.... The other Freedom Fighter bases closer to the rim have sent out forces to aid the villagers, but none have reported back since, and I am fearing the worst. By now, the attacks should have subsided, and I think we should organize a medical relief team for the survivors. Get all available personnel, we'll need everyone... Our first destination is the village of White Rock, which was one of the first few to get attacked." "Tails bro? You there? We're going on a medical mission & could use your help, buddy..." Sonic popped his head in through the door of Tails' room. Before the two-tailed fox could reply, Angela, his "mentor" spoke up. "Leave us alone, hedgehog. Tails is busy and is not to be disturbed now" It was clear that there was no love lost between Sonic and the two-tailed squirrel Guardian, nor did Angela have any patience for the Sonic. Sonic, not wanting to provoke anything, just left. Tails didn't say anything, and continued with his practices. "Sal, Tails ain't coming with us. He's *busy*..." Sally acknowledged with a nod. She herself was too engrossed with the medical preparations to even speak. She motioned for Sonic to help her, which he obliged. ***** Preparations complete, the Knothole Freedom Fighters left for the village of White Rock, confident that Angela and Tails could watch the base in their absence. The sight that greeted them at their destination was too horrifying to describe. Not one building was left standing, and most of the fallen ones were burning. Every tree and plant in the village had long since been turned to ashes, and the broken bloodied remains of the villagers, children and adults alike, lay strewn about the streets. Who knew how many more were burning with what was once their homes? It was total carnage, a testimony to what Snively was capable of... Bunnie forced herself to look away, unable to bear the sight any longer. Antoine made a strange noise and rushed back into the forest, presumably to regurgitate whatever it was he had had for breakfast. When he returned, he looked positively green. Sonic just said, "Man, it's a good thing Tails ain't here to see this...." Not one of the Freedom Fighters had expected this level of destruction. They set about the task of looking for survivors, but not expecting to find any. Sally activated Nicole, and used the portable computer to scan for life-signs. She was genuinely surprised to find some faint life signs about a hundred meters to the north east of her position. She called the rest and rushed to the source of the lifesign, followed closely by the rest, and overtaken by Sonic (by not that much...). They arrived at the spot to see several injured adult ferrets lying on the ground, moaning softly. Sally quickly scanned the injuries while the rest prepared sedatives. One of the ferrets looked at the group standing over him, and whispered something. "It....it's....a...a...t...tr...tra--". Before he could finish, each freedom fighter was enveloped in a blue light and lifted off the ground. "A restraining field.." thought Sally angrily. No one had noticed the seven specially equipped Stealthbots that had quietly snuck up on them while they were busy tending to the ferrets. Not even Bunnie or David could break free. As a matter of fact, the restraining field seemed to have deactivated the cyberfox. She felt a twinge of worry when she saw that. Having "bagged" their captives, the Stealthbots prepared to fly off. They seemed to take just long enough for the Freedom Fighters to witness several SWATbots walk up and shoot the hapless ferrets.... The Freedom Fighter's captors flew them back to Robotropolis. It was easy to know when they reached, for they started coughing from the polluted air of Robotropolis that they were forced to breathe, out of necessity. They were put into a holding cell, dropped in like cargo, from a roof hatch. The hatch and the cell door were secured, and the whole room, except the floor started glowing a dull green. There were, however, more pressing problems than contemplating on Snively's choice of interior decoration. Immediately, Sally was beside David. "Rotor! Come take a look at David!" The walrus obliged, and opened up David's cranial unit (head). After peeking inside and a few 'mmmm's later, Rotor supplied an answer. "Apparently, our cyberfox tried to fight the restraining field, and pushed himself too far. The result: An overloaded neural net and severed connections from his main processor to his bodily functions. It's a small problem, which I can fix.... if I had my workshop and my tools..." Sonic was quite mad over being captured. He demanded from no one in particular, "How on Mobius did Snively know where to wait for us?" Sally supplied him with the answer, "I don't think he did.... my guess is that there was one of those "traps" in each attacked village..." Sally sighed. "Bunnie, see if you can force that door." "My pleasure, sugar." Came Bunnie's enthusiastic reply. The rabbit applied all the force her cybernetic arm could on the door of the holding cell, but to no avail. "Sorry, Sal. The door's way too tough. Maybe if y'all pitched in, it could work..." Sally thought for a moment. "OK, it's worth a shot. Everyone, grab one of the bars. Maybe we can force that door open together...." Not one of them had even touched the bars yet, when an irritating voice floated in. "I wouldn't if I were you...." followed soon after by Snively. Sonic quipped in. "And WHY, might I know, shouldn't we, Big Nose?" "Those doors were specially treated with a sustained roboticizer beam to give them mild roboticizing capability, so unless you want roboticized hands, don't touch the door.. or the walls for that matter." Snively surveyed the captives, then seemed to blink in surprise. "Someone's missing... where's that two-tailed fox...that Tails?" "Somewhere safe!" Sally nearly yelled. Snively himself started shouting, "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!! I WANT THAT FOX!" No one answered him, but Sonic had a question. "Why's he so important?" "You should know that better than me!! He destroyed my fortress! I WANT THAT FOX!" Snively was still screaming. "THIS WHOLE OPERATION WAS CREATED TO GET HIM! I WILL NOT LET IT FAIL!" When there was still no answer, Snively surprisingly seemed to calm down. He said, "No matter. The little terror will probably try some sort of rescue operation once he finds out about your capture... and I'll be ready for him...." With that, Snively walked out, leaving his captives worried and wondering about what he had in store for the little fox.... ***** The multicolored shard of magical wave energy burst forth from Tails' paws and struck hard into Angela's energy field, which visibly shimmered at the impact. The two-tailed squirrel seemed pleased. "Now you're getting it, Tails! That was much better than before Remember, when you want to use the emerald's power, focus your mind on it. Normal Guardians would focus their eyes on the emerald, but since you absorbed your emerald's power, you have to think of your emerald, of it's glow.... then you can fully utilize it. Now try it once more." Tails followed her instructions. This time however, something went wrong. The magic wave reversed back into Tails, putting the hapless fox into a state of shock. Angela immediately lashed out with a light blue energy cloud, which enveloped Tails and dissapated the backfired magic. The stunned two-tailed fox found his tongue. "Wha...What happened?" Angela replied with an almost maternal tone. "You didn't focus, Tails. You have to concentrate on the emerald as well as the projection of the magic. Don't worry, you're not the first Guardian trainee to make this mistake..." At that moment, Tails' computer terminal beeped and flashed the message: "INCOMING BROADCAST". Tails walked up to the terminal and activated it, expecting to hear from Sally. Imagine his surprise when he saw Snively's face on the screen. "Attention, people of Knothole! This is to inform you of the plight of your fellow Freedom Fighters. At this moment, I have captured almost all your leaders," the camera switched to a view of the holding cell and Tails gasped. Snively continued, "They will be roboticized within 24 hours. DO NOT ATTEMPT A RESCUE! YOU WILL SURRENDER TO ME IMMEDIATELY!" With that, the image faded off the screen. Tails was extremely distressed. He pleaded, "Angela, I have to go help them..." but the squirrel stopped him. "You are in no position to do such a thing. You wait here. I will go get help for them from the other freedom fighter bases." The instant she finished saying that, she dissapeared in a haze of yellow light, leaving Tails alone in his room. The minute Angela left, Tails flew out of the building and headed for Robotropolis.... ***** Meanwhile, Sonic was pacing up and down the length of the cell, ignoring everyone else's pleas for him to just sit down and stop making them giddy. A while ago, Sally had asked everyone for ideas on escaping, but for once, they were at a loss. Most of them could not even touch the walls or the door, and Bunnie alone could not force it open. And having David out of commission was no help as well.... ***** At the edge of Robotropolis, a small figure lurked in the shadows, with only his two large bushy tails giving away his position. Tails thought to himself, "There's NO way I'll get in without being seen..." With a jolt, he remembered his new abilities. He closed his eyes, focused his mind on the emerald's power, and willed for himself to be transported to the prison cells. A blue flash enveloped him for a moment, then light returned to normal. Tails opened his eyes, and to his dismay, noticed that he was still at the same spot. "Just great.." he thought to himself, and raised a paw to scratch his head. He yelped in surprise when he saw that his paw was no where to be seen! He looked around frantically, and saw that not one part of him was visible. Then, he understood. He had somehow mistakenly activated an invisibility spell! Tails cheerfully proceeded to the prison block. As he walked past the guards at the prison, he felt a wave of fatigue sweep across his body. Must be the strain of keeping up this invisibility.. he thought. He rushed through the main gate and snuck a peek at the prison records, hoping to find his friends before the invisibility spell failed all together. Locating the cell they were held in, he rushed there. And not a moment too soon. For the moment he reached the cell door, the spell gave way, as Tails did not have the energy to sustain magic for that long yet. The captured Freedom Fighters seemed more shocked than glad to see him. Sally yelled, "Tails! Get out of here! It's a trap! Snively wants you! Get ou--" With a horrid sense of deja vu, Tails was enveloped in the same blue restraining field that had captured the Knothole Freedon Fighters and was picked off the ground. Alost simultaneously, Snively and a contigent of SWATbots entered from a door to the right. For a brief second, Tails glowed with the magic of the Emerald of Sorcery, attempting to break free, but he was too drained from keeping up the invisibility spell earlier to put up more than a token resistance. Snively laughed, "So...this is the dangerous creature that destroyed my base! Where are your powers now, you -" Before he could finish, a crackling bolt of red energy lanced out from behind Snively, to everyone's shock, and hit the Stealthbot that was restraining Tails. The bot shuddered for a moment, then deactivated, freeing the two-tailed fox. Everyone turned to see Angela standing behind the contigent of SWATbots. Using the moment of confusion Angela's sudden appearance had caused, Tails, gathering all the magical energy he could muster at the time, and the Guardian squirrel both lashed out simultaneously, with Angela's red bolt deactivating the SWATbots, and Tails' magical wave stunning Snively. With the crisis over, Angela gave Tails a reprimanding look. "I guessed as much that you would disobey me, and it would seem that it was a good thing that I came after you!" She paused for a moment. "You know, normally, Guardians who disobey the Guardians of Control get a discommendation.... but I think I can overlook it in your case... You see, Guardians are also meant to be courageous, loyal and brave. And, by risking your life to save your friends, you have shown that you possess these qualities. And for this, I commend, not discommend, you." She ended with a smile. Sonic interrupted the whole affair. "Yeah yeah... can you get us out of here first, then have the mushy stuff?" The two-tailed squirrel turned to face the imprisoned hedgehog. "I will if you ask NICELY." and she actually waited. Sonic, having no other option, did as she asked reluctantly. "Angela, could you *please* get us out of here?" The squirrel smiled, "Very well. It looks like there's a decent, polite streak in you after all, hedgehog. All is not lost." With that, she motioned with her staff & the door was enveloped with a yellow light for a moment, then dissapeared. Sonic wisely kept his mouth shut, even after that remark Angela made about him. After all, he did have common sense... ***** The Freedom Fighters and Angela gathered in Rotor's workshop. David Prower was lying on the worktable & the walrus inventor had his fingers inside the cyberfox's neck. Using a bonding tool, he was reconnecting David's processor to his body. "One.....last.....connecting....fiber.....there! Good as new!" True enough, David Prower emitted a few beeps as his processor regained control over the cybernetic and biological organism that was Tails' brother. The first thing David Prower recieved when he re-opened his eyes was a few warm 'welcome back's and a hug from Tails. All was well again in Knothole. However, the same could not be said at the rim of the Great Forest.... Sally was in the Reconstruction Hall, contemplating about recent events, when Sonic walked in slowly (a first for him!) carrying a datapad. He offered it to her, saying simply, "The results are in." Sally took it, braced herself, and looked at the screen. After a moment, she let the pad drop onto the table. An uncomfortable silence ensued. When she finally spoke, she did so weakly. "One hundred fifty three...... that monster slaughtered one hundred and fifty three living, breathing creatures to lure a fox....." For once, Sonic the Hedgehog had nothing to say.... THE END Author's note: Feel free to use Tails as "Tails the Trainee Guardian" or you could just ignore this whole story and stick with "Tails the Fox who flies with his tails" Thanks for reading! Aaron Lye e-mail: vicl@pacific.net.sg