Tails - Mad Scientist

Changing Priorities

Demons...soldiers...claustrophobia...worst of all, complete helplessness. He couldn't move. His enemies overpowered him.

Wait, hadn't he overcame these opponents and obstacles before? Now, he watched himself fail. He was too slow. He wasn't strong enough. Impossible, yet he saw it all the same. He felt it in his gut. Unable to defend himself, or anyone he cared about.

Shadow snapped to. He was in the chair again. Woozy, he looked around the room. It was empty. He saw the panels and screens, with nothing on them.

It was darker than he remembered, almost like a light was out somewhere.

He tried calming himself. It was over now, at least for the time being.

But then a door opened. It made him jump.

A figure stepped out into the room. It was...Rouge.

Huh?

"Rouge?" he asked her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in return.

This didn't make sense to Shadow. The real question was, what was she doing here? Had she completed the mission?

Shadow looked around the room. Above him, the walls went up high, higher than he realized. He squinted as he saw a few shelves, large shelves. On the shelves were large tanks.

With some difficulty, he focused on them. They were dim, so he couldn't quite make it out fully, but he felt something was inside the tanks.

The tanks were similar sized to his body, he noticed. Wait...what was in there?

It was some motionless figure, looking very similar to a hedgehog...

He pulled back in horror. Dread filled his chest.

"Rouge, you have to get out of here!"

He looked back for her, but she was gone.

Shadow couldn't help himself and looked back to the tanks. It was himself in the first tank. Or was it a clone?

Suddenly, the door shut. The room dimmed even further. Laughter echoed around him, and the screen in front of him switched on.

It was just Tails' face, laughing.

His chest tightened up. He couldn't look at the screen. But he couldn't move. How could he get out of here?

He looked at the tanks on the other side of the room, high on the wall.

Who was that inside? It was...Sonic and Amy?

These new implications were staggering. Had he and Rouge played right into the hands of the real threat to hedgehogs?

He tried to strain against the chair, but couldn't even muster anything. His body was totally limp.

Get out of here. Get out of here! Now!

He snapped awake. Panting like a dog, he felt sweaty. His body, which had already been in pain, was aching all over like never before.

Tails was in front of him, holding a test tube. Looking right at him, smiling deviously.

Shadow needed to make absolutely sure he was truly awake.

"...rrRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

He felt it reverberate in his body, in his head, and knew he was out of his dreams.

Tails was only a little bothered by this outburst. But after it, his grin widened.

"That bad, huh?"

Shadow's eyes bulged.