Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Careful What You Wish For ❯ Tails' Dream: Shadow's Goodbye ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

As Tails had started to fall, Sonic utilized his quick reflexes and caught his young friend before he hit the ground. "Tails! Hey, come on, bro! Wake up!" Sonic half-shouted, gently shaking the kit that now lay unconscious in his arms.

Amy looked down at Tails and sighed with relief. "It's okay, Sonic. He just fainted, that's all." The pink hedgehog reassured him.

Sonic picked up Tails, carrying him over to the couch and placing him down gently. As the rest of Sonic's friends came up beside him to check on their fox friend, Knuckles leaned over to Sonic and whispered in his ear.

"Hey, Sonic? Did you notice something strange about Tails just before he passed out a minute ago?"

Sonic began to answer the echidna, but remained staring at his adopted little brother.

"Yeah, he looked like he was transforming."

"But, how is that possible? Didn't Tails tell us that his Super form broke away from him?" Knuckles asked, confused. Sonic finally turned to face Knuckles and simply said, "I don't know, Knuckles... I just don't know."

As this and many other questions were buzzing around in everybody's minds, Cream knelt down next to Tails' sleeping form and placed a hand on his forehead, brushing his three bangs out of his face. She then leaned over and laid a tender kiss upon the unconscious fox's forehead.

"Please wake up soon, Tails. You have to." The young rabbit whispered in the kits' ear.

Sonic placed a hand on Cream's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Cream. He will. And then I promise we'll get even with the monster that's done all of this to us."

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Darkness. Up, down... left to right... nothing but pure darkness.

This was all that Tails could see as he slowly opened his eyes, nothing but darkness all around him. He couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. Tails was starting to grow scared, and so he began to shout out for his friends.

"Sonic? Knuckles? Is anybody here?"

The frightened fox continued to call out to his friends, but received no response. "Please... somebody... answer me!"

Tails was on the verge of breaking down into tears when he heard a voice say his name.

"Wh... who said that?" Tails shouted out, not knowing who it was, but just relieved to know that he was no longer alone. "It's me, Tails." The voice spoke again. After hearing it once more, the fox was sure he knew this voice.

"Sh... Shadow?" Tails asked in disbelief. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light in front of Tails, causing the confused kit to shield his eyes. Once the light had faded, Tails opened his eyes to see, floating before him...

"Shadow!" The little fox cheered happily as he ran over to the black and red hedgehog.

Shadow gave Tails a small smile and said, "Glad to see you're okay, kid."

Tails' smile began to fade, remembering the only reason he WAS okay. The fox let his head hang low, and began to speak in a sorrowful, guilty voice.

"Yeah... but I'm only here because you... you..." Tails couldn't hold it in anymore, as he dropped to his knees, crying. "I'm sorry, Shadow! It's all my fault! If... (sniff)... if I was as strong as you and the others, I wouldn't have had to do that dumb experiment, (sniff) and my Super form wouldn't have gotten free and killed me! And you'd still... (sniff)... you'd still..."

Tails couldn't finish... he was now sobbing uncontrollably, until he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

The kit looked up, sky blue eyes filled with tears, and saw a look of calmness and serenity that no one had ever seen on the black and red hedgehog's face before.

"It's okay, Tails. None of this was your fault." Shadow spoke softly, attempting to comfort the crying kit.

Tails tried to stop crying long enough to speak clearly, but this proved to be a difficult task. "But... (sniff)... because of me, my Super form is off doing Chaos knows what and you're gone forever!" Tails had begun to cry again, but Shadow stopped him.

"Trust me, Tails. Everything is going to be alright, I promise."

Tails, with Shadow's assistance, rose to his feet and started to calm down. "But, I don't know if we can beat my Super form without you, Shadow." The fox said sadly. "You saw what he did to me, we don't stand a chance."

Shadow just closed his eyes and chuckled. "Oh, I don't know about that."

Tails shot the ebony hedgehog a puzzled look.

"What do you mean?"

Shadow looked at Tails, with a more serious look this time, and held his hands straight out, open palms facing the confused fox.

"Shadow? What are you..."

But before he could finish, Shadow shouted out the phrase...

"Chaos... TRANSFERENCE!"

In an instant, Shadow's hands and feet had begun to glow an emerald green color, as did Tails'. Tails didn't know what his friend was doing, but the fox did know that he could trust a friend... especially one that gave their life for his.

After a few silent moments of wonder, the green light had faded away and Shadow simply said, "All finished."

"Shadow, what happened just now?" The young vulpine asked.

"See for yourself." The enigmatic hedgehog said to him, pointing at the fox's feet.

Tails looked down and saw that his feet, which were bare a moment ago, were now adorned with Shadow's hover sneakers. He looked over at Shadow, who then made a motion for the kit to look at his wrists.

Tails did so and, on the cuffs of his gloves, Shadow's pair of flame bracelets were now present. The fox was in complete shock of his new attire, but was also confused as to their presence on his being.

"Shadow, why did you give me these?" He asked the hedgehog.

Shadow smiled at Tails and said, "Because... I may not be able to fight with you in body, but I'll damn sure fight with you in spirit."

Tails smiled softly at the dark hedgehog.

"Oh, one thing you need to know about your new gear. It's not just for style." Shadow continued to speak while Tails paid close attention. "Do you feel those little sensors on the soles of your feet?"

Tails glanced down and wiggled his feet around in his new footwear. "Yeah, I feel 'em. What are they for, anyway?"

Shadow smiled and began to explain. "Those sensors can send signals through the nerves in your feet and travel directly to your brain. So in other words, if you think it, you can do it. Go ahead and try it. Just think about hovering a few inches off the ground."

Tails did as instructed and concentrated on hovering in the air, and sure enough, the jets in the soles of the shoes activated, and the fox had begun to ascend into the air, without the aid of his tails.

"Hey, it works!" Tails cheered excitedly. The fox planted his feet back on the ground and smiled.

"Okay, I understand how the shoes work. But what about the bracelets?"

Shadow's face took on a more serious look as he explained. "The flame bracelets hold great power, but if your body isn't strong enough to control the sudden surge of energy when they're removed, the power could destroy you."

Tails let out a loud gulp but the dark hedgehog only chuckled.

"Don't worry, kid. I wouldn't have given them to you if I'd had any doubts. Besides, your power has increased substantially just by wearing them. If you and your friends work together, your Super form doesn't stand a chance." Shadow concluded, giving Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails returned the thumbs-up, but then frowned slightly.

"What's wrong, Tails?" Shadow asked the fox.

"I just realized. Once I leave this place, I'll never see you again." Tails said sadly. Shadow placed his hand on the kit's shoulder and reassured him, "It'll be alright, kid. This is where I belong. And besides, I won't be alone."

Tails' head shot up and he could see a figure appearing beside his friend. The figure took on the form of a young human girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair and eyes as blue as the dress she wore. Tails only stared in shock.

"Shadow? Is this... this..."

"Yes, Tails. This is Maria."

Suddenly, everything started fading away. Tails frantically looked around and asked, "Shadow! What's happening?"

Shadow told the panicked fox, "Looks like you're waking up, kid. It's time for me to go. Thank you, Tails. I know now that my life was to end before it could truly begin."

As the world around them continued to fade, Tails began to shed tears again, but not out of sadness, but out of happiness for his friend, who could now finally be happy.

Tails watched as Shadow and Maria continued to fade away, until Shadow spoke to him.

"Oh, and kid?"

"Yeah?" Tails responded. Shadow raised one fist up in the air and said, "Make that bastard pay!" No sooner had he finished speaking, Shadow had completely faded away.

Tails raised his own fist into the air and whispered, "I'll do my best, Shadow... for you... and Maria." A brief moment later, Tails' world went black.

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As sonic and the others were waiting for Tails to wake up, a sudden burst of green light engulfed the kit's hands and feet. The light was nearly blinding, yet no one could turn away from this spectacular sight.

"Sonic, what's happening to Tails?" Asked a frantic Cream.

Sonic responded by saying, "I don't know, Cream. But all we can do is wait and see." Everyone continued to watch, both in worry and amazement, at the event taking place before their very eyes.

The gifts given to Tails by Shadow in his dream were now manifesting themselves onto the young fox's physical body. Once the light had dispersed, Amy looked over at Sonic and said, "Sonic, do you see what I see?"

The cobalt hedgehog only nodded, still not believing what HE was seeing.

"Good, then I'm not losing my mind."

Tails was now wearing Shadow's hover sneakers and flame bracelets, much to the shock and surprise of his friends. After what felt like days, the young Tails finally opened his eyes and turned his head, looking at all of his friends.

Sonic was the first to react and smiled down at his little brother. "Hey, bro! How ya feelin'?" He asked the fox. Tails slowly sat up and stretched.

"(Yawn) I'm okay, Sonic. How long was I out for, anyway?"

"About two hours." Cream answered as she sat down next to the fox. The young doe could tell that something was troubling Tails. Amy walked up to Tails and knelt down to eye-level with him and asked, "So Tails, how did you end up with..."

Tails cut the pink hedgehog off mid-sentence and explained. "Shadow's spirit came to me in my subconscious and gave them to me to help me defeat my Super form. Now, just drop it." The fox growled. Amy was taken aback by Tails' sudden attitude change.

"I... I'm sorry, Tails. I didn't mean to upset you."

Tails hung his head in shame and sighed deeply, letting his ears droop. "No, Amy. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's not your fault... it's mine. All of this is my fault." The kit hung his head even lower and clenched his fists tightly.

"How could I have been so stupid!? I never should have conducted that god-forsaken experiment. I was never cut out to be a hero. I'm just not strong enough. Shadow should've just left me for dead... I'm completely useless."

All of Tails' friends were in a state of shock from what they had just heard their normally happy fox friend say. They had never heard the young vulpine speak so low of himself before.

"Come on, Tails. You don't mean that." Knuckles said after remaining silent for some time.

Tails glared at the echidna, jumping up into a standing position, and shouted, "Why shouldn't I!? Name one time I've been able to fight with you guys in battle! NAME ONE!" Knuckles opened his mouth to speak, but just dropped his arms to his sides, saying nothing.

"I thought so."

Cream quickly stood up and grabbed Tails' shoulders. "Tails, stop! You don't mean any of this!" The doe shouted, trying to talk some sense into her fox friend.

"The hell I don't!" Tails said coldly. "I was better off dead!"

"Shut... UP!"

Before anyone knew what happened, the young rabbit had quickly raised her left hand and slapped Tails hard across the right side of his face.

The rest of the group gasped at what Cream had just done.

"Snap out of it, Tails! You're wrong! About everything you said! If it wasn't for you, then none of us would even be here right now!"

"Cream..." Tails whispered, holding his now reddened cheek as the doe continued.

"Do you remember our last battle with Dr. Eggman? It was YOUR invention that led us to all seven Chaos Emeralds, Tails. Without the emeralds, we never would've beaten Dr. Eggman and we'd all be dead right now." Cream was now in tears.

"So don't you DARE stand there and tell us that you're better off dead, Miles Prower!"

Tails lowered his hand away from his cheek, looking at Cream, and he slowly began to smile.

"Cream... you're absolutely right. I guess... I always thought that just because I wasn't as fast as Sonic, as strong as Knuckles, or powerful like Shadow, that I didn't play an important role in the team. I always felt like the little kid that got in the way."

"No, that's Amy." Knuckles said quickly.

"Hey!" Amy shouted back.

Tails took Cream's hands in his own and continued. "But you've shown me that I was wrong. Thank you, Cream. I'm really lucky to have a friend like you."

Cream began to blush as Tails' face inched closer and closer to hers, until...

"Tails... what are you do... mmph?"

The young rabbit was silenced as Tails' lips met hers in a long, passionate kiss. As the fox and rabbit shared their first kiss together, Sonic and the others cheered on in excitement.

"Isn't that romantic, Sonic?" Amy said sweetly, placing her hands together in front of her, leaning towards the blue hedgehog.

"Don't get any ideas, Amy." Sonic replied, leaning in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Knuckles was jumping around and cheering, "Whoo! Oh, yeah! That's right, foxboy, you get you some!"

After a long and tender embrace, Tails and Cream finally broke away from each other to catch their breath. Cream was the first to speak.

"Wow, Tails. I didn't know you felt that way about me."

Tails looked at the young doe with truth in his eyes and said, "I've always had these feelings for you, Cream. I guess I was just too shy to admit it." Sonic finally decided to intervene at this time.

"Hey, Tails. I hate to interrupt, but don't you think we should go after your psycho-self as soon as possible?"

Tails turned to the hedgehog and said, "Yeah, you're right. And if Super is like every other villain out there, then he'll be heading to Angel Island... and the Master Emerald."

"You mean like..." Knuckles reached into his glove and pulled out a glowing green gem, no bigger than the palm of his hand. "This one?"

Tails and the others sighed with relief.

"Well, there's one problem solved." Tails stated. "Now all that's left to do is find Super and stop him!" Tails said as he slammed his left fist in the palm of his right hand.

"Yeah!!" Everyone shouted in unison. Tails then clenched his fist in front of his face and smiled.

"Ya hear that, Super? We're gonna find you... and make you pay!!"

....To Be Continued