Excerpts from Chapters 14 through 17 of Big Secrets and Big Mysteries - A SonTails Story will be referenced in the beginning of this story. This is a spin-off story of the mysterious relic from those chapters, with slightly changed events.
"This is quite the puzzling artifact." Tails racked his brain. The artifact seemed the change forms from a sphere, to a cube, to a dodecagon, to a pyramid shape. The symbols on it stayed the same, but kept moving to different spots.
"Figure anything yet, pal?" Sonic asked, checking on his two tailed friend.
"Well, the symbols are staying the same, so there's that." Tails informed.
"Making any sense of them?" Sonic asked.
"Well, I count twelve symbols total. Five of them swap out for a different five, but two of them seem to be staying. A symbol of an archway, and what looks like a capital T with four stars around it." Tails referred to his notes.
"Sounds like they're important. Mind if I have a look?" Sonic offered.
"Be my guest." Tails handed the strange object to Sonic. It morphed from an orb shape to a rectangular box shape in Sonic's hands. "Man that feels weird..."
"That shape is new..." Tails noted.
"Can I..." Sonic attempted to moves the symbols manually. "Yes I can!" He moved the symbols recklessly. Once he started doing so, the symbols stopped moving on their own.
"Sonic..." Tails looked worried. "Remember, we have no idea what this thing is capable of. It could be dangerous." He warned.
"Woah!" The T with stars he moved to the right most side of the box began to glow blue.
"What's that mean?" Tails wondered.
"Maybe..." Sonic moved it away from that point and it stopped glowing.
"It's near where it needs to go! It's like hot or cold!" Tails had a Eureka moment. Sonic placed the object in Tails hands. Tails moved it closer to the right edge, and it glowed again. "We're warm." He tried moving it on the other side of the box, but it stayed the same glow. "Hmm." he tried moving it on the top flat edge. It glowed brightly to the point it was almost blinding to look at. It soon stopped glowing and it turned solid, and part of the box turned solid.
"We did something!" Sonic looked happy.
"This thing has weight now." Tails moved it up and down. "If that's where the T goes, what about the archway?" Tails moved the archway symbol to the left top edge of the box shape, and it too glowed brightly before turning solid, and more of the box turning real. "Yes! We found two spots!" Tails celebrated. The top side of the box now had five new symbols, while the bottom side and five new ones as well. Tails noted both sides. "A lightning bolt, a paw print, an arrow pointing right, a harp, and a snowflake on this side..." He spoke what he saw. "A separated yin yang symbol with a dot in the middle of the separation, an icicle, five four pointed stars, a U with a dot in the middle, and an arrow facing left and slight down with what looks like an icicle coming from the middle." He finished.
"That's... a lot to remember." Sonic sighed, holding his head.
"Hold on." Tails retrieved a spiral notebook, and wrote all this down, drawing the symbols to the best of his ability.
"Not bad, buddy." Sonic pat his head.
"Sonic..." Tails blushed lightly. He cleared his thorat. "Gotta focus." The symbols were shrunk together in the middle, waiting to be moved. He tried moving the snowflake symbol first. He moved it to the left most side, no luck. Middle, no luck, but it glowed faintly. "Let's try..." He moved it close to the archway symbol, and it glowed brightly before turning solid, and the box also regained a portion of itself. "Okay! Three down, nine to go!" He celebrated.
"Lemme try!" Sonic grabbed the box out of Tails hands, excited as if it was a toy.
"Don't be so grabby!" Tails retorted angrily.
Sonic tried to put the harp symbol near the snowflake symbol, and amazingly it worked, becoming solid, and revealing a bit more of the box.
"Lucky." Tails smiled. "Let's finish this side before moving to the other." He reasoned.
"Make's sense." Sonic moved the lightning symbol next to the harp, but seemed to do nothing. when he moved it to the left side, it glowed. He moved it all the way, and it glowed brightly before becoming solid and revealing more of the box. The remaining two symbols moved to their spaces on their own.
"Sweet! That's seven symbols done, as well as the top half of the box!" Tails celebrated. Sonic gave the box to Tails so he could do the other side. "Wait..." The symbols on the top side disappeared except for the archway symbol, and a new symbol appeared near the archway, and it was already solid, as well as slightly left of center.
"It looks like the letter M. Think it'll spell a word?" Sonic wondered.
"With how much room there is on this box, maybe. If it's four letters or less." Tails judged, flipping the box to the other side. He first tried the split yin yang symbol. He moved it to they right, no luck. He moved it to the far left, and it seemed to be correct as it glowed bright then turned solid. Moving the left pointed arrow to the right most side proved to be correct, as did the icicle being moved to the left most side next to the yin yang symbol. "Two more to go." Tails selected the U with the dot, while Sonic took the 6 four pointed stars. They simply switched the positions of the symbols until it was correct, which was stars on the left, U on the right.
"We got it all!" Sonic celebrated. The entire box began to float into the air, and spun in circles, emitting the brightest light yet. They two had to shield their eyes. Soon the box fell on the floor, the sound of something inside enacted. The two opened their eyes to look at the box. It was a an onyx black box with blue accents, and a second letter appeared next to the M. It was a Q.
"M.Q. Someone's initials?" Tails wondered.
"Or a place?" Sonic theorized.
"Let's see whats inside." Tails picked up the box, holding it so both he and Sonic could see it. He carefully opened it to reveal what looked like a wand.
"That's it? That's all??" Sonic sounded unimpressed and pissed.
"Sonic, this has to be a wand that's capable of real magic! Why else would it be so complex?" Tails argued, moving the box away from Sonic.
"Ugh. I'll be back." Sonic ran out, and a Sonic boom soon followed.
Tails took a closer look at the wand. The top was adorned with a blue gem that could rival the beauty of a Chaos Emerald. There were two small stone rings underneath it covered with what seemed to be inane writings or runes. The handle was covered in a black, onyx material that resembles the handle. Below that was the hilt, with another blue gem, with M.Q. emblazed upon it. "M.Q. again..." Tails noted. Below that was the core. It was made from more of the blue gem with the silver insignia of a dragon on it. More lines made of silver stretched down to the end of the wand, which had a recess with a small clear crystal in it. Tails beheld the wand. "Incredible..." His gloved hands prevented him from feeling it truly, but he could tell it was an object for royalty thanks to all the gems and intricacies.
Sonic came back. "Okay, I'm good now. Frustrations vented." He gave a deflated sigh.
"This is quite the wand. What do you think it does?" Tails wondered.
"Pulls rabbit out of hats." Sonic jested.
"Here's hoping it's Cream that pops out." Tails blushed
"Aww, you got a crush on her or something?" Sonic teased.
"No!" Tails blushed. "Maybe..." He confessed. He placed the wand back in it's case.
"That's my buddy." Sonic gave him a shoulder hug. "Let's get some air." He invited Tails outside.
"Sure." Tails absentmindedly took the wand with him as the went outside. He sat with Sonic overlooking the cliff, taking a deep breath.
"I love ya, you little nerd." Sonic looked at Tails with loving eyes.
"You're awful loving today." Tails blushed lightly.
"Any ideas on the MQ thing?" Sonic asked.
"Nope. Still thinking its either initials or the name of a place. M may mean Magic." Tails stated. The box resting between his arm and body glowed softly and shook slightly. "Huh?"
"Tails, I thought you left that inside!" Sonic spoke, surprised at the movement.
"I thought so too." Tails held the case properly. "Magic." He spoke. The box glowed and budged again.
"How come it didn't move when you said that back in the house?" Sonic wondered.
"Maybe we were too busy talking to notice." Tails reasoned as he took the wand out of the box. "This also partially explains the different forms the box took before it became a box. Quite the puzzle." Tails rubbed his head.
"I thought you were gonna say something nerdy like quest or something." Sonic laughed at the idea.
At the word quest, the wand glowed and nudged in a direction. "Woah!" Tails followed the nudge. "It's leading us somewhere!"
"Sounds like an adventure! I'll get us some snacks!" Sonic rushed inside the house, and came back a moment later with some chips and soda for the trip.
"Real healthy Sonic." Tails teased.
"Anything else would take time." Sonic urged Tails to get moving.
Tails uttered "Magic" and "quest", following the wand wherever it nudged. They soon came to a cliff with Angel Island in the distance. The wand was pointing towards the floating island. "Think it's the Master Emerald?" Tails got ready to fly.
"What else could it be? This'll be a heck of a story for that Knucklehead." Sonic groaned, holding Tails with one hand and his snacks with the other. Tails flew the two over to the island, and quickly filled Knuckles in on what happened.
"Geez. That is hard to believe. Then again, I find it even hard to believe that your wand actually responds to those words. You are good with machines, but I doubt you make them out of gems." Knuckles racked his brain.
"I only use the Chaos Emeralds to give my machines more power. Even then, it usually goes wrong since they're just too powerful and too unpredictable." Tails informed
"Careful there, you don't want the knucklehead's brain to explode." Sonic teased Knuckles.
"Hey! I'm surprised you were able to understand it, let alone listen without falling asleep!" Knuckles retorted.
"Stop it!" Tails separated the two. "We won't get anywhere like this!"
"You know I like to get him revved up." Sonic smiled cockily.
"If you get stuck in some other magical world, don't expect me to save you!" Knuckles declared.
With the word Magic, the wand floated on its own over the Master Emerald, appearing to gain power. Shortly after, it began floating to the Northern side of the island. The archway symbol was showing out of the end of the wand. "What's going on??" Knuckles was taken by surprise.
"I told you!" Tails yelled, also surprised. The wand just floated there. Sonic approached it. "Quest." Sonic gave the other keyword. The T with stars symbol appeared next to the archway symbol, but it still floated there.
"Only thing this is missing is a gate or portal or something." Tails stated in wonder. The archway symbol glowed at the word Portal. The T with stars symbol went back into the wand while the archway symbol thrust forward to the edge of the island. It settled into the ground and blinding light surrounded the wand, causing all three to shield their eyes. Once the glow was gone, they unveiled their eyes to see an stone archway, just like the symbol. However, beyond it was another world. Letters on the front of the stones read out Vellara. Tails walked around the archway, checking it out. On the rear side, the stones spelled Magiquest. (A/N if you've played Magiquest before, I want to be your friend)
"Do we dare?" Knuckles asked.
"Glad you found your sense of adventure." Sonic stared at the portal.
"Who's gonna guard the Emerald?" Tails reminded.
"You're right. I'll keep watch over the portal, see if I can use Chaos Control to affect it in-" Knuckles began to say.
"No! This thing took us a very long time to figure out, so it's probably carefully calibrated. Let's not mess with it." Tails protested.
"Fine. You two have fun in there." Knuckles let the two go.
Sonic held the wand in one hand, and Tails hand in the other. Tails grasped Sonic's hand, ready to venture into a new world with his lover.
TO BE CONTINUED...