"Touched by Darkness" - A Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Fiction Story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by: Aaron Lye E-mail: prower@pacific.net.sg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sonic and related characters are owned and copyrighted by Sega of America, DIC and Archie Comics. Other characters are owned and copyrighted by their respective creators. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cast of Characters ------------------ Tails Sonic Sally Tasha - Aaron Lye Bunnie Tayla - Aaron Lye Other characters play minor roles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Timeline: One day after the events in Trials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sally tossed and turned in her bed, disturbed by whatever it was she was dreaming. *Sally was in a cavern facing the multicolored Emerald, and watched it fade away slowly. The aged two-tailed fox appeared and spoke in it's eerie voice. "You are the instrument. The time draws near when he will fall... You have failed, Sally Alicia Acorn...."* The princess jerked awake, shaking from what the dream represented. Even with her precautions, somehow she had done something that would cause what the dreams spoke of.... Putting on a robe, she walked over to consult Tasha on this recent event. ***** The Guardian rabbit took the two steaming mugs out of the replicator and handed one to Sally. It wasn't everyday she got a visit in the middle of the night from the squirrel. Sally described in detail what she had dreamt, and Tasha listened intently. After the princess had finished relating the story, Tasha spoke. "Ta my knowledge, we have done nothing that could possibly cause such a thing to happen. You know what Ah think, Sal? You're just over-worried about this whole thin', and it's causin' ya to have nightmares. Just calm down, dear. It's probably nothin'. Go back ta bed." ***** Sally spent the rest of the night in a dreamless sleep, which was fortunate. When morning came, she checked up with the rest who had the visions two weeks ago, and when she found out none of them had any more of those visions, she felt positive that her dream was just due to stress. With that out of the way, Sally spent the morning copying the information on the scrolls they had brought back into Knothole's main database. She reached over to pick up the last scroll, and upon opening it realized it was the blank scroll. She set it aside, assuming that the ink had simply worn off. After all, it was over five thousand years old, and the oldest of the scrolls they had retrieved. ***** Tasha knocked on the door to Tails' hut. "Tails, ya ready for today's lessons?" The two-tailed fox looked up at Tasha and asked, "Tasha, do you think I could take a day off today? For a long time now, I've been doing nothing but practice being a Guardian. Angela never let me take a break from it, and I'd really like some time off." Tasha replied willingly, "Sure thing, sugar. Have fun. We'll start some lessons again tomorrow." ***** Sally had just finished typing in the last line of the scrolls into the database, when she heard a light tap on her door. She turned around and saw Tails standing there. She greeted the young fox. "Hi, Tails. No lessons today?" "Yeah, Aunt Sal. Tasha's given me the day off. What you doing?" "Well, nothing you'd be interested in. I've just finished typing in some ancient stuff into our computer. We got them from this cavern Sonic found the other day." Sally explained. "You mean you found some ancient items? Can I see them? I promise I'll be careful." Tails asked. Sally obliged, and brought Tails over to where she had left the scrolls. The fox seemed excited about looking at something that old. Sally smiled. She never knew Tails had an interest in antiques. Tails pointed to one of the scrolls, "Why's that one blank?" To which Sally replied, "It's over five thousand years old, Tails. The ink must have worn off or something. I put it through a high resolution scanner to see if there was even a faint trace of what was written there before, but apparently the equipment's not sensitive enough." Suddenly, without warning, Sally heard a loud crash come from another part of Knothole. It sounded quite a bit like a tree falling, so she didn't pay much attention to it, until Sonic came speeding up. "Major problem, Sal. Come take a look." Sonic spoke quickly. Sally turned to Tails. "Tails, you stay here and keep an eye on the scrolls. They are very valuable, so make sure they don't fly away or something. I have to go with Sonic for a moment." Sonic looked at what Tails was doing, then recognized the scrolls. Sastified, he sped off, followed closely by Sally. Tails watched them leave, then continued looking at the scrolls. The blank one in particular caught his attention. Sally had said she could not tell if there was any residue of the ink that was on the scroll with her equipment. Maybe he could use his magic to bring the words back? No harm done, he thought, after all, there's nothing Sally could do for the scroll after all. Tails closed his eyes, and thought of the Chaos Emerald. He focussed his mind on the empty scroll and thought of ink, of words. His paws started glowing blue, and the energy transferred itself to the scroll. The effect was dazzling and unexpected. The scroll flared blue briefly, but when Tails opened his eyes, he saw that there were still no words on the scroll, to his dismay. There was something strange about the scroll now, the fox noted. It had started to glow, but strangely it glowed the color black. A shiny dark black. Tails suddenly felt afraid, and tried to drop the scroll. But, to his horror, he could not release the scroll. He had no control over his arms. He saw the blackness flow from the scroll, into his hands and envelop him. The fox cried out in fear, but no sound emitted from his throat. ***** Tayla sat in her hut, sipping a cup of tea, when all of a sudden, she felt a cold wind blow. At that same moment, she heard a voice in her mind. The words that the voice said sent a chill down her spine that felt even colder than the wind that had just blown past.... *It has begun....* ***** Sally stood in the rubble that was once the Reconstruction Hall. Rotor was examining the remains of the building, while David Prower used his sensors to scan the area. Bunnie was using a portable scanner of her own, trying to tell if anyone had been inside during the time this had happened. A moment later, Bunnie had shoved aside a rather large peice of roof to reveal a dazed but otherwise unhurt Antoine underneath the mess. As she took him away to be treated, Rotor walked over to Sally. "I can't understand it, Sal. The building may have been old, but there was no way a small wind like that could have blown this building down...." David Prower interjected. "I think you're wrong, Rotor. I've finished scanning the remains, and I've found something interesting. When the building was first built, the only material available was wood, and the underground supports were made of wood. A large amount of termites has apparently been eating through the supports for some time now, thus causing the structure of the building to weaken. That's how your building fell." David concluded. It was then that Sally felt a sharp shock inside one of her pockets. She fumbled around inside the pocket, and fished out Nicole. She dropped the computer onto the ground with a yelp, and the rest soon saw why. Nicole had apparently overloaded, and was emitting several small electrical discharges. Sally activated a remote control and ordered Nicole to shut down. The computer responded, shutting down the main power cells, leaving only the backup power to operate it's RAM. Sally picked up the small computer, and activated the system diagnostics routine. To her shock, she saw that Nicole was diverting virtually all it's power to the display screen, leaving none for the other systems. She shut off the routine, but Nicole didn't respond when she tried to shut off the display. Just before it's power supply ran out, a garbled message appeared on the screen. *It has happened...* With a jerk, Sally remembered her dream. It was happening... *Sally is standing in what once was the Reconstruction Hall, and is now a mass of rubble. She is holding Nicole, who has a message displayed on it's screen. "It will happen..." A figure appears in front of her. It is Angela, cloaked in white. She spoke. "When it does, you will know. You will know that the time has come.... you must beware..."...* That section of her dream had just been played out in reality in front of her. It had already happened. What they tried to avoid had come to pass. Tails was now in grave danger.... Sonic seemed to realize it too, as he sped back to Sally's hut. ***** Sonic and Sally entered the hut to find it empty. The place had been overturned, and five scrolls lay scattered around the hut. Sally quickly looked for the missing scroll, only to find it gone. It had happened exactly as the vision had said. She was the instrument. The instrument of Tails' downfall.... She had brought those scrolls back with her... she had let him look after them alone.... she was the instrument.... Sonic, too, realized his role in this. He remembered the question the aged fox in the dream had asked him. * "Why? Why do you let him fall?"* it had said. Now he knew. He had seen Tails with the scrolls and had left him alone, not realizing the true danger.... Sally looked at Sonic. Their visions had come to pass. At that moment, Tasha rushed hurriedly in and said one sentence. "We've made a mistake..." ***** Tasha remembered Tayla's vision too. As she played it over in her mind, she felt growingly sure that somehow, part of that dream, was directed at her. Matthew Prower had spoken to both of them, saying that one of them was the link... and Tasha was sure he meant her.... somehow she was destined to save Tails.... she was the link... Tasha suddenly remembered something else. The dream had also said that Tayla and Bunnie would fall victim. Tails.... or whatever he had become would do something to the two of them. Alarmed, the Guardian called to Sonic and Sally to follow her and they rushed to Bunnie's hut. The hut was a disaster. Furniture was strewn about and parts of the roof had caved in. Knowing they were too late, the trio hurried over to the hut which Tayla shared with Tasha. ***** The sight they saw there shocked the group. The two rabbits were suspended in mid-air by something invisible, and they saw Tails standing in front of them. Or at least, something that looked like Tails. The two-tailed fox's outward appearance was identical, up to the color of his fur and such. It was however, the look on his face and his voice that let them know that this was not Tails. The creature spoke, in a voice that Sonic and Sally knew as the dark voice that the dream Tails had used. "Victims....you are the first in a line of many..." He was speaking to Bunnie and Tayla. Suddenly, the creature once known as Tails cried out in pain for a moment, and the observing trio saw that Tayla was staring at the fox. Without warning, the fox regained his composure, even while Tayla was still bearing down on him, and lashed out with a black wave of energy that twirled around the telepath. The wave seemed to swirl around her, and warped her body. Tayla cried out in pain at the trauma she was forced to endure, and slumped into unconciousness. Tasha then brought her magic to bear, but even before she could unleash a spell, the creature inhabiting Tails turned and unleashed a similar black wave at Tasha. It entwined around her in a similar fashion, but she fought back with her own magic. Red energy met black and the two warred. However, Tasha was obviously outmatched. The creature spoke. "Fool Guardian.... I was practicing this art long before you were born... The Control Emeralds may control all the present emeralds, but they never controlled one...." Tasha's eyes seemed to widen in recognition, but she was still valiantly trying to hold out against the onslaught of the black energy. Sally took out her phased energy pistol and fired a shot at the creature, hoping to stun it or something. The shot impacted with Tails' body and the startled creature stumbled back for a moment, long enough for Tasha to break free. Using the creature's momentary state of confusion, Tasha cast a quick spell. A blue aura surrounded Sonic and Sally. Tasha explained, "Ah have to go get something. This aura will keep you relatively safe from him for a while." With that, Tasha disappeared. True enough, the blue aura kept the two of them safe from the black energy. Seeing that he was not doing any good, the fox turned back to Bunnie. The rabbit moaned softly, "Why Tails? Why are you doing this?" The creature blinked, then suddenly, the grim visage disappeared, replaced with the more familiar look of Miles Tails Prower. He spoke. "Bunnie, I....I'm not doin...doing this...I...cannot....he...help this ...help..me.." Tails finished, before the creature once again took control of Tails' body. A sense of deja vu over the words "Help me" washed over Sonic and Sally. How often had they heard that in the visions? It was then that Sally had a brainstorm. "Sonic, try to appeal to Tails. Tell him to fight the creature." The two of them started talking, hoping to get through to Tails. It seemed to have some effect, as the creature seemed to be fighting to keep control. As the creature warred internally, five blazes of yellow light appeared next to Sonic and Sally, and they saw Tasha with four other Guardians. Tasha addressed the creature on Tails. "We thought we were rid of you, Jacer, but it seems we were mistaken. This time however, we will be more careful..." The creature seemed defiant, even while trying to keep control of the body. "No...your emeralds never controlled mine...." Tasha replied smugly. "We know." And out of her cloak, she pulled out a large five-sided sparkling blue sapphire, with a depression engraved in each facet of the jewel. She spoke again, "Remember the Sapphire of Focus? If not...." She motioned to one of the other Guardians, then continued, "maybe you remember this.." The Guardian took out a green emerald, as Tasha spoke, "The Emerald of Light..." and the Guardian inserted it into one of the depressions. The creature in Tails looked horrified, "NO!!" Tasha continued, "The Emerald of Power..." and an orange emerald was inserted. "The Emerald of Peace...." a blue emerald went in. "The Emerald of Longevity..." a pink emerald was placed. "and the Emerald of Control." Tasha then inserted her own red emerald into the remaining slot. The sapphire hummed softly, and started shining brightly. A second later, a bright blue wave of energy was unleashed from the gem, and headed for the creature in Tails. The creature in Tails yelled, and lashed out with the black energy, which was engulfed by the blue wave only seconds before it impacted with the creature. Tails' body writhed as if in agony as the wave enveloped him. Before long, the onlookers saw a black cloud come out of Tails and form into a scroll shaped object. The wave from the sapphire left Tails' body and followed the scroll, and Tails dropped to the ground. The wave of blue intensified, and the scroll was turned to ashes... The wave shut off, and the Guardians retrieved their respective emeralds before leaving, taking the sapphire from Tasha as they left. Tasha quickly went to tend to Bunnie and Tayla, and was happy to note that their injuries were not as serious as she had feared. Sally was immediately beside Tails, and the first thing the fox got upon regaining conciousness was a big hug from Sally and a pat on the back from Sonic. ***** Tasha was inside Sally's hut with the owner of the hut, Sonic and Tails. "His name was Jacer. He was one of the first few Guardians. He controlled the most dangerous emerald of all... the Emerald of Anger. It was meant to help control evil-doing on Mobius by helping to control the emotion of anger , but somehow it warped the Guardian of the Emerald instead to become evil. You could say that the emerald backfired on us, causing Jacer to become disenchanted with the Guardian Council. He took it out on several Guardians, severely injuring them, before we managed to stop him with the Sapphire. It turned him into a scroll... the reason Ah didn't recognize it was bacause the ink indicating what it was had faded... and he was meant to go into our high security archives as a reminder to future generations of the mistakes their ancestors had made. He somehow managed to escape from the archives.... All he needed was a signal that a suitable host was available... that signal was Guardian magic... which Ah believe Tails tried to use to return the ink to the scroll... and well.. you know the rest." Sally nodded in understanding, as did Tails. Sonic yawned. For all her good points, Tasha sure knew how to drone on and on.... ***** That night, Sally, Sonic, Bunnie, Tayla and Tasha slept peacefully. *He/She was in a cavern, facing a multicolored emerald, watching it slowly gain back it's bright color. An aged two-tailed fox appears next to the emerald, and speaks in a normal voice. "He is safe....."* The five smiled simultaneously. All was once again fine... THE END... AT LEAST FOR NOW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enjoyed the story? Let me know at prower@pacific.net.sg! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~