The Prophecy; Fulfilled (Part Two)

Chapter Fifteen -

Tails panted hysterically in fear as he flew, every so often raising up higher into the air as Sonic leaped high and grasped for him. He threw a glance over his shoulder to see that the mountains were fading into the distance; good. He had succeeded in drawing Sonic away from the others, and hopefully they would use that time to think. He hadn't any ideas, himself. And as he faced back forward to see that he was about to plunge into a deep, dark fog, he wondered if this idea had been a good one.

It was hard enough to fly when you could barely see where you were going, or even breathe, and Sonic was not helping one bit by throwing some sort of green spears up at him. At some point, a beam of green energy was shot up at him, barely missing his head by mere inches. Tails yelped and flew even higher, but instead of continuing on, he hovered in his spot, watching as Sonic lingered around beneath him, glaring up at him.

What would he do? What would he do, what would he do? Sonic was powerful enough to crush him in seconds if he got his hands on him. Tails was stronger now than he was before - that was a sure thing. But he was not near strong enough to stand up to a darkened Super Sonic.

"Okay, Sonic!" Tails called down as he hovered there in his spot, and although his voice was trembling slightly, he succeeded in grabbing the darkened hedgehog's attention. He reached into the small satchel that hung at his waist and felt around the several pendants that were bunched together. He pulled one out and displayed it clearly to where the hedgehog could see, holding it between his fingers. "If you want your stupid gem, then here! You can have it!" He said, then proceeded to toss it down. Sonic jumped to catch it, but upon contact, he cried out as a light flashed across his fur, showing the fox flying above him that it had shocked him. As he watched the hedgehog fall back onto the ground, he pulled out another and tossed it down. "Or maybe this one is it!" He said as Sonic caught it and went through the shock all over again. In the short frame of relief that last shock provided him, the fox flew on as fast as his two fluffy tails could take him.

A deep growl laced the back of Sonic's throat and he sped off, reaching a speed he had never met before. It gave him an extra boost as he leaped into the air once more, and despite the height that the fox had reached, he grabbed onto his foot. Tails let out a terrified yelp as he was yanked down roughly, and all the breath was knocked out of him as his back collided with the hard ground. The world around him went black for a brief moment, and when he regained his senses, he noticed that Sonic was towering over him, seeming much, much taller than he actually was. Attempting to regain his breath, the fox inhaled quickly, only to choke on the air he had taken into his lungs. He took a second to glance around him - they were deeper in the forest now. It was still raining and most of the flames were extinguished, but the smoke and steam was so heavy that he could barely gather his surroundings, let alone breathe.

"Where is it?" Sonic growled as he leaned to look down at him. The fox gasped for air and covered his mouth, trying to suppress his coughs.

"It's--" Tails started, but interrupted himself by delving into a deep fit of coughs. Sonic grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, holding him a few inches off the ground. "Sonic!" Tails choked out, squinting as his eyes teared up from the smoke. "Sonic, I know that's still you! If you used those chaos emeralds, there's still a part of you that can--" He fell into a fit of coughs again as though he was suffocating. "You can find the positive energy in yourself. And I'm sorry.. I'm sorry for hurting you with those gems, but I needed to calm you down enough to talk to you. I don't like hurting you, Sonic."

Sonic just stared at him, although his pale gaze seemed to pass right through him. "You just have some cheap imitations. Where's the real one?"

Tails turned his face away, still covering his mouth with his hand. "I don't know." He said, then proceeded to cough. "I.. um.. I lost it?"