章 58: Chapter 58
Sonic decided not even to look into the room. Something about it told him to stay away. He felt the need to close his eyes as he walked past.
They went through every other room, looking for something. All the while, the thought that Sonja had killed that man, Baxter, weighed down on Sonic. Was there something she wasn't telling him? No. Sonic knew he had to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. She deserved the benefit of the doubt too.
Throughout their search, they found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sonic was more than sick of this place, and he felt something could pop out at any moment.
He opened a door. And found himself in a long corridor. Everyone followed in not far behind. "Another hallway..." Sonic groaned. "This place is feeling an awful lot like Lost Valley right now..."
"There should be an exit somewhere around here," Tails stated. "We just need to keep our patience and keep looking."
"I'm afraid I can't let you any closer!" The voice of Mimask boomed from the other side of the walls.
"Oh, great. It's Mimask," Sonic groaned. "Don't you ever give up? You know you can't catch me with your freak show rejects!"
The voice cackled. "Oh, please... you too?" Mimask asked. "You also refer to me by that stupid name? Ah, I do suppose it was my own fault. I never properly introduced myself."
The figure of Mimask faded into view. Sonic went into fighting stance. "I am Miles..." Mimask... or Miles? Introduced. "And now, I will not catch you..." Miles pulled out a huge, silver gun that was nearly the size of him. It was attached to his jetpack. "I will KILL you with my own means!"
He fired the gun. Sonic Quick Stepped out of the way of the blast, while the others rammed themselves against the wall. They all looked at him angrily while his gun recharged. "Hmm... too slow for you, huh?" Miles asked. Sonic nodded, smiling. "Well then, it's time to bring out the big dogs!"
From the darkness emerged... the same Tails from earlier. The Tails that had killed and eaten the dinosaur.
"I'm seeing double!" Sonic exclaimed, looking between Tails and... Tails...
"That's the imposter!" The Tails that had not eaten the dinosaur replied. The other Tails didn't respond. "Get him!" Sonic looked to Tails. Tails was never this aggressive, not even with Eggman. Although, getting your identity stolen must be hard on someone, especially to this extent.
"Take care of the guy with the gun first, alright guys?" Sonic commanded. He rushed forward and rolled into ball form, hitting Miles multiple times. He finished off with a kick. It all happened in a blink of an eye. Miles hardly had time to register that he was now on the ground, and had a blue hedgehog spinning down on top of him in a tornado.
Miles rolled out of the way and activated his jetpack, making him hover in the air a little. He didn't want to hit his head on the ceiling. "Die, die, DIE!" He cackled. He flew over Sonic and the others, and dropped bombs from his jetpack.
Sonic and the others scrambled to escape the explosions, but Sonja got caught while flying away. She was blasted to the other side of the hallway with a BOOM! As she and Pico screamed. Sonja lost hold of Pico, and he went tumbling on the ground.
"Pico!" Sonic and Sonja exclaimed. Before Sonic could even move, the fake Tails lunged over to Pico and grabbed a hold of him. Drool fell from Fake Tails' mouth as he eyed the woolly mammoth, who was trying to escape back into the warm arms of his mother. Fake Tails' hold was cold, unloving, and tight.
Sonic sped over as Fake Tails began to sniff Pico. Fake Tails looked right at him. His dull blue eyes flashed back to their normal color for a second. There was fear in his eyes. "Get away from Pico, you fake fox!" Sonic exclaimed as he grabbed Fake Tails. "First you impersonate my best friend, and then you try to eat this poor baby? Get lost!" Sonic jabbed Fake Tails in the stomach with his knee while scowling. And again, and again. Fake Tails let go of Pico, his eyes going out of miosis for a second. It seemed deliberate. Pico began to crawl away on the ground, doing somersaults every few seconds. While he thought it would speed him up like when Sonic did it, it significantly slowed him down.
Until... VREE VREE VREE! Went Pico, as he revved up a Spindash! Sonic kicked Fake Tails away, and turned back to Pico. "No way!" Sonic exclaimed happily. "Pico is the man!"
Pico let go, and rolled forward at a speed that, while not quite rivaling Sonic's, was way faster than the normal person. He jumped up in the air and hit Miles across the face, leaving a scratch mark. It slowly bled white blood. He held onto his cheek. "You horrible animal!" Miles shouted. Pico continued to roll with his arms out to his sides. The bombs stopped falling for a second. But then, all hell broke loose as Miles began to fire yellow and red homing rockets at Pico. But Pico was just too fast. He jumped into Sonja's arms and trumpeted in triumph.
Sonja, seeing the bombs coming her way, Flew upwards and behind Miles. Miles turned around and smiled. "I see you've given up... hand me the tawdry toddler and this can all be over! Wait... where are my...?" Miles suddenly heard a small explosion from behind him as he went flying towards the other end of the room.
Miles crashed into the wall on his back, and fell to the ground on his head. He tried to turn on his jetpack, but found it was broken. Sonja had led his own bombs towards him! "Drat! She won't get away with this!" He threatened. "Tails! Sic' em, boy!"
Tails?! Sonic thought. Wasn't that just an imposter working with these people? Why would he call that thing Tails? Maybe he just slipped up... it had to be an accident! Because if that was Tails, who had been following them since the willow forest?
Miles turned towards Fake Tails when he found Fake Tails wouldn't attack. He slapped him in the back of the head, which seemed to get Fake Tails up and running. He flew forward at Sonic and knocked him on the ground before Sonic could react. He gnashed and gnawed at thin air as Sonic tried to keep him away from himself. Sonja quickly dashed over and, with the arm that wasn't holding Pico, hit Fake Tails away and onto the wall. Fake Tails yipped like a wild animal before falling to the ground. His tails drooped as he whined. He still had that damn grin on his face.
Sonic performed a Flying Kick and knocked Fake Tails into Miles. The two looked defeated, for now. Team Sonic closed in on Miles and Tails. They weren't going to kill them, they just wanted answers. And some hands would be thrown if they didn't get them. "Hey, bozo!" Sonic talked down to Miles. He punched his own palm. "Where's Knuckles?"
"How do we undo the effects of the time travel?" Sonja asked.
"What do you want the hourglass for?" Tails asked.
"Where's my herd?!" Buck shouted.
It became a barrage of questions from Sonic, Tails, Sonja, and Buck, with the occasional trumpet or random gibberish from Pico. Miles put up his hands.
"Now, now, boys... and girl...sss?" Miles stuttered, a sweat forming on his face. The Fake Tails was backing away, too. "No need to get rough! I'm an unarmed man with a bloodthirsty canine... and you... well... you do the spinny thing!" Sonic raised his eyebrow. What a pathetic display of cowardice. From a man who just had his fancy toys broken. Reminded him of Eggman. Scum.
"Whatever. You're not worth the effort," Sonic insulted. He turned his back on Miles and crossed his arms. "Obviously we're not getting anything out of you. C'mon, guys. Let's find an exit."
As everyone turned around, Miles had a glint in his glasses. He grinned evilly. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a pocketknife out of it. Sonic heard the SHINK as the pocketknife opened its blade. Turning around, he saw Miles blast towards an unsuspecting Sonja. Before Sonic could react, he saw someone appear between Miles and Sonja with a SWHING sound and a blinding light. Someone he had seen before.
That pale purple dress, the greasy hair that fell to the floor. That dead, pale skin. Those eyes with no pupils.
But that wasn't what Sonic's attention was on. Miles had a look of shock on his face. Slowly, beads of white ectoplasm formed on his neck. Slowly, his head fell off his neck and rolled on the floor. The rest of his body fell onto the ground. It faded from view. Fake Tails immediately whimpered and took off through the ceiling, using his tails to cut through the ceiling and fly away.
Sonja looked at the girl. Recognition flashed in her eyes.
"You..." Sonja sputtered. "You saved my life!"
"Hmph..." The girl replied. "This isn't a favor, so don't think of it as one."
"I mean..." Sonja said. "I guess? But... do I know you?"
The girl closed her eyes and tilted her head forward towards the ground. "Just as I thought. You don't remember anything at all." The girl looked back up, opening her eyes. "Nobody knows me, none of you should know me. Except him." She pointed at Sonic.
"Yeah, I do know you..." Sonic replied. "You seem kind of all-knowing, mind telling us what's going on here?"
"You will find out soon enough," The girl promised. "For now, keep your heads low. Don't call attention to yourself. If you have the feeling of being watched, run. Run far away. Trust your sixth sense. The sneezing. It is your friend. Go east to the carnival, there, you will find your way forward."
"You're leaving me with more questions than answers!" Sonic exclaimed. He looked at her angrily. "Just like everything else in this stupid place! I want to know what's going on, and I want to know now! So stop talking in riddles, and tell me!"
The girl disappeared in another flash of light. Sonic breathed quickly. He had had enough of this whole experience. He wanted it to be over. He just wanted to go back home and forget this ever happened. But he couldn't. Now the fate of the world was at stake. His friend was missing. He had no idea what to do, and he was scared.
"She said to go east, right?" Sonic asked. He turned to Sonja. "Sonja, you take Pico. Tails can take Buck and I. I'm ready to find out just what's going on here."
Everyone nodded but Sonic and Pico. Sonja flew out of the hole that Fake Tails had made with his tails. Tails grabbed onto Sonic, and Buck grabbed onto Sonic's ankles. And then, they all flew towards the carnival.
END OF PART 2
Continue to Chapter 59
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