Tails didn't know what time he woke up. All he could tell was he was still in his little test tube. However, he then noticed the others.
Tails gasped in fear as he looked around the place. A little bit of music was playing in the room, but he wasn't paying any attention to that. Tails gurgled, as he still realized he was in the water. However, he realized he could breathe. This must be a different type of water... Tails concluded. Tails then focused on the others. He recognized some of the faces, and others he didn't. He saw Grim, Weepy, and what looked to be Wally. Tails looked next to him, and realized Knuckles was gone, Tails realized Knuckles had been moved off to the far right, however, his tube was glowing.
Tails wanted to scream to get out, however, it felt impossible with all this water. "Ugh...." Tails whimpered as he looked around to see if he could find a crack or something in the wall. He moaned as he knew there was no way out of the dark tube. He then looked at the rest he missed. He suddenly saw what looked like a rat. "Huh, who... are...?" Tails asked... He suddenly got a heavy feeling...
Something's not right
Tails wanted to bang on the window, but he knew he would attract attention, which wasn't on his agenda. He wanted Sonic at this time, but he then remembered Sonic had betrayed them earlier. Tails was in tears as he kept banging and banging, leaving no choice.
"Let me out!"
"Let me out of here! Please!" Tails yelped out at the top of his lungs until he was exasperated. Choked gasps were leaving his throat. He remembered he was claustrophobic. The thought only terrified the cub more. He banged, screaming. The first time he was in here, however, was when Knuckles, the red echidna, was by his side. Now he was alone, with no one to aid him. "Let me out!" Tails screamed again. The cub started sobbing as he eventually gave up and fell into a dark abyss.
Around this time however, Knuckles had woken up. "Huh?" He said to himself. He looked around, wondering where the heck he actually was. Everything felt... different. He could never have explained it. It felt as if he was glitching.
Knuckles looked around, confused as he quickly began to remember the events that unfolded earlier. He suddenly heard what appeared to be glass shattering. It was actually banging, he knew that, it was just his head's aching mind. He looked around, then he saw Tails sobbing, the thing that freaked him out more was that after a while, Tails had passed out from fear.
Knuckles gasped. How did he get over there? The echidna wondered, but now was no time for thoughts. "Don't worry!" Knuckles screamed as he banged on the window. He then punched it super hard, so hard for Tails to wake up and cower. Knuckles could see the worried and tear-filled expression on the cub's face. Knuckles knew it was Tails' turn to cry, he needed to act like Sonic, an older brother. He screamed, and the glass shattered on impact. He ran out and did the same thing to Tails' window. Tails jumped out, fell on the floor in writhing pain, and began to sob. "Come on, let it out..." Knuckles stated, trying his best not to cry himself.
Everything was unwinding. All of them would have to get used to others, weak to strong, crying. Sonic, Tails, Mugman, and even himself had all cried during that point.
Knuckles realized it was then he was gonna have to do something hard. He was gonna have to give himself up to the demon to not hurt Tails or Sonic, or Cuphead and Mugman for that matter, as he thought about this, he realized he had lived his due, but now, he had no purpose left. The emerald was gone, meaning Knuckles had nothing left. His commander position from the Resistance had been faulty-wired. He was getting older. He was getting... weaker. Knuckles could stay strong for at least a few more hours. He had to.
Tails stopped wailing a few seconds later. "What do we do now? About Sonic?" Tails asked with a worried expression. "I don't think... that was Sonic..." Knuckles theorized. "What do you mean, he was standing right in front of us?" Tails exclaimed, confused. "Yeah but, Sonic would never do that..." Knuckles stated, matter-of-factly. "I guess you're right," Tails said, repulsed "But where is he now...?"
Knuckles didn't know where Sonic was, and that's what he told the young cub. "Oh..." Tails said sadly. "We should probably get out of here." Knuckles said obviously. "Yeah, we should.." Tails agreed. They both ran down the hallway as they heard the roaring laughter of Eggman on the floor above them
The two didn't know how long they were running. Whether it was Tails' hyperventilating or Knuckles' face turning darker red and sweating super hard. Knuckles swallowed his composure, and looked at Tails.
Tails realized that was luck. He felt lucky Knuckles was with him as well. "I wish Sonic was here too..." Tails moaned sadly. " We'll meet up with him eventually, we just have to escape first! " Knuckles explained. "Ok.." Tails said, still feeling uneasy. That was when the alarm went off.
Tails jumped. Knuckles just swallowed, grabbed the young Fox's hand, and started running. "I'm not as much as Sonic, but we need to run like the Hedgehog would!" Knuckles stated. Tails realized that fact too. Tails and Knuckles ran through the hallway. Knuckles swallowed and began to think.
How did they transform as Sonic?
How do I get back the Master Emerald
The echidna quickly gathered his thoughts as he focused on the mission. Tails looked at him and could instantly tell he was feeling numb. Knuckles' gloves started burning. He screeched. Tails ran over to him. Knuckles could hear Tails about his name, but he grew unconscious. He hit the ground with a hard thud.
Tails looked at what shocked him. It was a black spurt growing on his back, it looked lifeless. Tails saw his back, it was the same. It starts to spread. "No, no,no.." Tails said.
" NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! "
Eggman walked up to Tails and Knuckles, both whom had faded unconscious. "The prototype worked, but it spread awfully slowly. What a pity...." He said to himself. Tails and Knuckles' skin was turning a dark purple. Their eyes were flowing a mere yellow shine that flew through their corneas. Eggman gasped, "It's working!" He yelled.
"What's working?"
Eggman looked behind him into glowing yellow eyes. The Devil. "They're changing into horrendous monsters!" Eggman yelled. "They were sneaking out, huh," The demon snarled. "Where are the guards who were supposed to keep watch??? Bring them to me!" Eggman shivered, sometimes his new "boss" was kinda harsh. "A tired young-some one..." Eggman reminded himself. "He's just... tired." Sometimes his boss was hard work to deal with, but he knew that the demon had a lot rummaging through his mind. Like Sonic, then there's Tails and Knuckles trying their little escape, the guards, Elder Kettle, the emeralds, the held hostages, the survivors, and even him.
The demon could tell this was bothering Eggman, but right now, he didn't care, he just needed Eggman's little emeralds so he could become stronger and better to end Cuphead, Mugman, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles once and for all. Or else they'd keep coming back. On some cases, those 7 emeralds are the one thing that would end the 5. "Wait! They do more than that!" Eggman yelled. The demon turned, flustered.
"What!? And you didn't inform me of that earlier?!" The demon growled, annoyed. "Well, boss. Here's how it goes," Eggman informed, "We can harness the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds to gain more power and possibly make Sonic pay. However, he and his little friends can harness the positive energy, and turn their super forms. We just need to unleash the positive energy on ourselves." "Hmm... perhaps these emeralds are more... shall I say powerful than I thought..." The Devil smirked.
"How do you think it'll work..." Eggman asked, suspicious of the demon's plans and the outcome. "Eggman, you know nothing about the plan. By the time I'm done... you'll be rich!" The Devil boomed. "You didn't mention me being rich?" Eggman said, although ecstatic at the idea. The Devil showed him a vision. It was everything Eggman ever wanted. Eggmanland was being created as the demon was showing him it. "You win, and this resort is yours..." The demon ordered.
Eggman was too busy looking at the direction at Tails and Knuckles. "Uhh... boss?" Eggman asked. "What?!" The demon said, insulted that he had been interrupted. When they both looked down, The Devil boomed, "HOW DID THEY-" It was then the two saw the decoys. It was two polished decoys in their place. The demon screeched loudly. "CREATURES! FIND TAILS AND KNUCKLES IMMEDIATELY! TAKE THEM BACK TO ME!!!" The Devil screamed into an intercom.
Meanwhile, halfway across the building. Tails and Knuckles were running before the intercom message repeated itself "CREATURES! FIND TAILS AND KNUCKLES IMMEDIATELY! TAKE THEM BACK TO ME!!!" The voice of the demon boomed. "What's happening to us?!" Knuckles yelped, noticing the purple over him and Tails' body. "I don't know! We can figure it out once we get back to my lab on West Side!" Tails explained. When he looked over to Knuckles, he suddenly realized something. Knuckles' eyes were yellow. Knuckles started to twitch as he had the itching pain of becoming a demonic version of himself. "Knuckles! No!" Tails yelled, tears welling up in the cub's eyes
The red echidna knew this time would come. He blinked back tears as he thought about this. He didn't wanna believe this would've been his fate, but he knew, he was about to become a pawn... for good. He realized something, this was part of the vision, and he knew this was the sacrifice the rest of his team would need to carry on without the power of the strong, brokenhearted echidna. He lasted a good few weeks, but now he needed to save the world a different way...
"Go on without me..." Knuckles finally realized he was finished. "I'm not leaving you here!" Tails yelled with tears in his eyes. Knuckles fell onto the ground. He smirked at Tails, "Find Sonic, and tell him I said, thank you" Knuckles said before the purple fully colored his body. I'm done... Knuckles' last thought arose as he looked at the fox and smiled. Tails quietly started weeping as he flew away. At the corner of his eye, he saw Knuckles fully possessed, smiling a dark grin.
Tails realized this was his fault, again. He had seen everything and did nothing to stop it. As Tails flew, he started crying. Grim.. Weepy... Knuckles and all the others... I'm so sorry... Tails looked down in shame as he thought all of this. So many people fought to save him, and so many died or got possessed trying.
Tails flew through the hall until he saw someone in front of him. Sonic. "Tails? Is that you?" Sonic asked. Tails looked at him, he was about to fly toward the hedgehog, then realized. "Why did you do that to us?" Tails suddenly asked, fear and anger getting the better of him. "Do what?" Sonic asked, confusion replacing happiness. "You trapped us in there!" Tails screamed, fury filling his heart. "What are you talking about?" Sonic asked. "I didn't wanna believe that it was you... I guess I was wrong!" Tails yelled, furious. "Tails, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?" Sonic asked, concerned. Tails knew that Sonic had been the real culprit this whole time. "I was stupid enough to listen to you, now get out of my way!" Tails yelled, outraged. "I'm not letting you leave, not now, you have to listen to me!" Sonic yelled.
"Get out of my way!" Tails yelled, slapping him as hard as he could. "Dude, calm down!" Sonic said, softly. "Why should I?" Tails roared back. "Come on, I would never hurt you," Sonic explained. "We gotta go!" Sonic yelled. "Why?! Is this a trick!?" Tails asked. Sonic pointed. It was then Tails saw the cracks leading to the open void. "We gotta jump in!" Sonic yelled. "No way!" Tails yelled. Such stupidity from the hedgehog made Tails sure that it wasn't the real Sonic. "I know what you think of me right now," Sonic yelped, "But, you gotta trust me!"
The cub didn't know what to do. "You first..." Tails tested out his theory. Sonic jumped in, and vanished. Tails decided, he needed to jump. Tails looked into the Void, and fearfully jumped...
Sonic landed on something he couldn't feel, it was just air. He couldn't explain it. He groaned, realizing Tails hadn't followed him. "How did I get here?" He asked himself, confused and upset. After all the times he's hung out with other people from different universes, Sonic knew other types of universes existed. He just didn't recognize this one.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
Suddenly, Tails came plummeting down on the ground. Tails looked down, and saw air as he traveled through a weird abyss. Tails' knee got scraped and started aching as the cub wanted to yelp in pain.
Where are we? Tails thought to himself. Sonic and Tails walked around for a little bit. "How did you escape?" Sonic broke the silence. "Knuckles broke me out.." Tails admitted, cringing at the thought of his possessed friend, now owed to the Devil. "W-where is he?" Sonic stuttered, already knowing the answer. "He- he sacrificed himself for me..." Tails said, blinking back tears. Sonic gulped down how he felt. They continued walking in the purple void.
Suddenly, Tails recognized this place. "Shadow...." He realized. "Huh?" Sonic said, looking back. "Shadow is here somewhere! I feel it!" Tails yelled, suddenly excited. "Lead the way!" Sonic yelped. Sonic got excited to see another face that was familiar. Sonic looked on with hope as Tails continued the search for a long time friend.
"He was right here!" Tails yelled, remembering he had calculated exactly where he was. Suddenly, something appeared right behind them.
"Sonic?"
Sonic looked behind him and saw his black and red counterpart. Sonic, Tails, and Shadow stared. "Shadow, long time no see!" Sonic yelled, almost back to his regular pride. "Sonic, foolish as usual," Shadow greeted. "Miles, good to see you too." Tails grinned, happy to see a familiar face. "I'm guessing this is the doctor's doing..?" Shadow asked. "Yeah, like usual!" Sonic said. "We need to have a chat in private. Me and you!" Shadow said, frowning.
"Tails, we'll be right back!" Sonic yelled, then he and Shadow went to discussing. It was times like this when Tails felt left out. It was always the adults. He was barely ever included in discussions like this. He groaned, just annoyed in general. Tails decided something, he was gonna find someone else without the adults around. He was tired of feeling left out. Sonic and Shadow finally were done discussing "they're" little problem. They ran back to Tails in a panic.
"We have to get out of here! This place doesn't want us to escape!" Sonic yelled. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails started jumping out of the Center of Time. Suddenly, the portal closed. "What do we do now!?" Tails screamed, frightened.
"We jump!" Sonic yelled, suddenly jumping. Tails and Shadow looked at each other, they then jumped as well. Sonic, Tails, and Shadow landed on the ground, cringing at the sting as they fell on their knees.
Tails felt the most uncomfortable. He suddenly looked at Sonic and Shadow, and passed out, it was like the brink of depression, untitled to anything he created. His reckless mind sucking him into thoughts
****
It all happened so quickly. Why?
How did Sonic find me?
Am I not important anymore?
I used to be his number one protoche, but I am now nothing but his little slave, his little prototype.
Tails fell to his knees. "No... It's not true, stop it!" Tails yelled. He started having horrifying visions. Tails looked on as he saw everything. Tails felt his memories fading away, but he didn't care. His world was coming to an end. He was remembering less and less as he lived. Who were they? The voices in the void, they sound so familiar...
The voices. The voices, they were haunting him.
One sounded calm and smooth, while the other sound rough. He only remembered one thing. One of his friend's gloves. They had dreadlocks. Tails just couldn't remember anymore. His true self fell into darkness.
He saw two messages:
Eggman is the good guy
Destroy the hedgehog in blue
Tails sighed, he blacked out. He realized something at this moment, life meant nothing.
** *