Old Enemies - WIP

Author's Note: To assure my watchers that I'm not dead or deported (or kidnapped by flying death monkeys XD), I've decided to upload another one of my 'works-in-progress' for you guys who follow my stories. This is in no way complete, and I'll be expanding to it drastically once I get out of school in a few months. I may be making changes to it (some slight, some major), so if you like the way it is now, save it soon after you read it, 'cause it might not be the same way when I finish it. So, here's what I've written so far for my fanfic, "Old Enemies".

Sparks flew out of Tails' welding torch as he put the final welds on a new weapon he'd been working on in his workshop. The door buzzer beeped three times. Tails lifted his welding visor and said over his shoulder, "Come on in!" Fiona came into the room. She walked over and kissed Tails' cheek. "Hey, handsome. What'cha working on?" Tails smiled and picked up the finished weapon. "Nothing much. Just this." It was a large gun with four 25-mm barrels. There was a large opening in the rear. Tails slid his arm into the opening and locked the gun onto his forearm. "Hopefully, this thing won't explode in my face."
As he finished speaking, Jodie, one of his lab assistants, came into the room holding a clip-board. The mink rolled her eyes and laughed as she said, "Tails, the day that one of your creations explodes in your face is the day that Eggman gives up world domination and decides to open up a flower shop." The three of them walked over to the testing room, and the girls strapped on lab goggles while Tails locked and loaded the gun. He turned his head and said, "Ready, girls?" The vixen and the mink nodded, and Jodie pressed a button on a nearby wall panel. A target came up out of a compartment in the floor. Tails aimed the gun, and fired. There was a massive BLAM as four beams of electric green energy exploded out of the barrels and incinerated the target.  When the beam died off, the target was gone, and there was a gigantic black mark on the wall. There was nothing left of the target, not even ashes. Jodie took off her goggles and whistled in astonishment. "Dang… that's a record-breaker if I ever saw one." Tails grinned and pulled off the arm-cannon. "Yeah, I'd start building several of these, but it takes three fully-charged energy cores just to fire one shot." Jodie nodded and said, "King Max's military equips the soldiers with nine energy cores apiece when they go out in the field. They'd use up all their ammo after just three shots." Fiona rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Why not just design a model that uses a Power Emerald for ammo?" Tails looked at Jodie and said, "She's right. It could work." Jodie checked her statistics board. After a moment, she sighed and said, "Sorry, but that's a no-go. Even if we only assigned one soldier per troop to carry one of those guns, there still wouldn't be enough Power Emeralds to power them all. We don't even have a tenth of the Emeralds we'd need for that many guns." Tails set the gun on a table and said, "We'll work on it some more at another time. C'mon, let's go see what the others are doing." Jodie and Fiona walked over, and the vixen looped her arm around Tails'.
The three of them headed out of the workshop and crossed through the garden to the other side of the building. However, as they were about to go inside, Espio suddenly emerged from his hiding place on the wall. The three of them gave a start when he revealed himself. Jodie clapped a hand over her chest and said, "Oh, man… you've gotta stop doing that, Espio." The chameleon replied, "Sorry, but I've been looking all over for Tails and Fiona. You two need to come down to the meeting room right away. Something's happened." Jodie headed inside and said, "Sorry, I'm not allowed to go down there. I'm off to my quarters. I'll see you two later." The two foxes said "Bye!" to the mink, and Tails turned back to Espio. "What's happened?" Espio looked around quickly and muttered, "I can't say it out here. You'll know once we get down to the meeting room." The foxes nodded, and they went running alongside the chameleon to the meeting room.

The rest of the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix were already in the room when Tails, Fiona, and Espio came in. Tails looked at Sonic and said, "What's going on, Sonic? What's happened?" Sonic looked down for a moment. When he looked up, the look of concern in his eyes made Tails apprehensive. "Tails, Fiona… you two might want to brace yourselves." "Why? What is it?" asked Fiona. Rouge the Bat stepped forward and said, "I've been spying on Dr. Finitevus lately, and… he's created this machine that can retrieve the soul of a person who died by unnatural means. It reconstructs their body using Chaos Energy, and infuses it with the soul. Finitevus used it once already… and it's worked." Tails scratched his head. "…who… who was it that he resurrected?" Sonic shut his eyes and said, "It……it was… it was…" Tails had never seen Sonic like this before. The hedgehog looked like he had seen a ghost. Finally, Sonic let out a sigh and muttered, "I can't bring myself to say it, Big Guy." He took out a slip of paper and scrawled something on it. He folded the paper and handed it to Tails and Fiona. Tails slowly unfolded it, and drew in a sharp breath when he saw what was written on it:

"Scourge the hedgehog."


Fiona let out a small sob of horror. "No… no… it can't be him… NO!" She began to shiver uncontrollably out of shock. Tails set the paper on the table and hugged her close to him. "Shhh, it's okay, Fiona." He looked up at Rouge and said, "How long ago did this happen?" Rouge replied, "About a week ago. Scourge is working for Finitevus again. Also, he made a stop in his own dimension and forced his old gang to come back with him. "

[I'll insert more of the storyline between above and below sections here. Skipping to the point where the Freedom Fighters half-ambush Scourge...]

Scourge landed on his feet as the smoke grenade died off. Sonic folded his arms and sneered, "Well, well, well… look what got dragged out of the graveyard." Scourge growled in rage, "I don't know what kinda stunt you pulled in the temple two years ago, but you're not gonna leave this place alive, Blue. And neither is that little bratty sidekick of yours." Sonic smirked at his evil counterpart and retorted, "What's gonna stop me or Tails from leaving, punk?" Tails smiled insolently as he said, "Personally, I don't think a dead biker boy is going to do it." Scourge glared at Tails and snarled, "Why don't you try sayin' that to my face without your gun in your hand, you little twerp?" Tails coolly shot back, "Why don't you try fighting me one-on-one without a Chaos Emerald to hide behind, lizard-boy?" Fiona smiled thinly at Scourge. "Face it, Scourge--Tails is more of a man than you'll ever be. Unlike you, he doesn't have to hide behind a Chaos Emerald to hold his own in a fight. Unlike you, he doesn't run away from a fight even if he's scared. Unlike you, he actually CARES about me and the people who are backing him up. Unlike YOU, he's actually FAITHFUL!!"

Scourge adopted an expression of injured innocence. "Those girls were lying cuz' they hate me for taking over their gang. I never cheated on ya, babe."

[Something will happen here where Fiona walks over to Scourge and "betrays" the Freedom Fighters all over again... or is she? >XD]


What Scourge didn't notice was that the expression of anger on Tails' face was very insincere. Fiona seductively let her hand creep up Scourge's shoulder, and she rested her palm on his cheek. "Oh, and there's one other thing," she purred. Scourge smirked and said, "What's that, babe?" Fiona's expression grew dark. "You SUCK at lying."

Without warning (and to the surprise of everyone but Tails), Fiona suddenly dealt Scourge a vicious slap to the face. He reeled backward in pain. Tails had a vengeful grin on his face as he sneered, "Heh heh, SUCKER!!" As Fiona walked back to her boyfriend, she said over her shoulder, "Did you REALLY think I would leave the guy I love to go back to a creep like you?! Get your head out of the gutter, jerk." As the vixen put her arms around Tails' shoulders, Sonic wiped a hand across his forehead and grinned in relief at her. "Whew! For a moment, I thought you really WERE gonna double-cross us all over again!" Fiona gestured at Scourge and said, "What, and go back to a freak who would ditch me to save his own hide? Yeah, right!" She kissed Tails on the cheek and said with a smile, "Besides, I've already got the perfect man."
Scourge stood up, burning with an urge for vengeance, and stamped over, raising a hand to strike Fiona. "You little brat!" As his hand came down, Tails' hand shot out and caught Scourge's by the wrist. Restrained rage danced in Tails' eyes as he growled, "Y'know Scourge, I'd never let a man touch a lady like that--" He suddenly grabbed Scourge by the jacket with his other hand and bodily flung the hedgehog over his head, slamming him into the ground. "--and I especially WON'T let you touch Fiona!!" Scourge sprang upright. He let out a snarl of rage and charged straight at Tails and Fiona, with Chaos Energy blazing in his fists. Tails began to draw his blaster from its holster. Suddenly, Knuckles stepped in Scourge's path. Just as the anti-hedgehog got within four feet of him, the Guardian's fist shot out, and he slugged Scourge head-on in the face with a brutally powerful, Chaos-powered punch. The hedgehog fell on his back, his cheek severely bruised and sporting two nasty gashes from Knuckles' spurs. The echidna stood over him, growling, "Why pick on a twin-tailed fox, punk? Can't a tough guy like you take on someone his own age? If I were you, I'd stay where I am. You DON'T wanna mess with me, Scourge. Don't you dare even THINK you can beat me with Chaos Energy either, 'cause I have way more skill with it than you. In fact, you should count yourself lucky that I don't bash you to pieces right now. From what I've heard, you're the one who almost killed my dad." Scourge flicked a bead of sweat off his cheek and glared at Knuckles, but remained silent. He knew that if he tried to fight the Guardian, he was done for. He slowly got to his feet and backed away. "Some tough guy you are, twerp," he sneered at Tails, "you can't even fight your own fights. You just hide behind your buddies, like you did in the temple. YOu're such a wuss." Tails' face contorted with incredulity as he gestured at Scourge. "WOW. Seriously? This is seriously coming from a guy who's been hiding behind stolen energy from the Master Emerald for over a year?? Just... WOW-- you should really come out of your glass house before you start tossing stones, Scourge."

[A one-on-one fight will ensue here b/w Tails and Scourge, and Tails will find himself struggling to overcome Scourge-- mostly because he's using a Chaos Emerald again. But Sonic and Knuckles have been working on an ace of their own for their buddy...]

Knuckles threw the Emerald to Tails. The young fox caught it with one outstretched hand and extended his consciousness to the Emerald. He immediately felt a source of indescribably powerful energy within the gem. A grin crept across his face. "Oh, yeah." Tails plunged his mind into the Emerald, and drew out a stream of energy. The fox's body was suddenly engulfed in an inferno of Dark Flames. Long, dark shadows shot up from his body, turning his fur pitch-black. Then he was obscured by the flames, which began to blaze with great intensity. The silhouette of Tails' body was visible through the flames, and he suddenly stretched his hands out to either side of his body. The flames unleashed a blinding flare of light, and then dissipated.

Fiona looked upon Tails… and gasped with fright.

Sonic's eyes widened in amazement. "Whoa…"

Tails smiled thinly, exposing a pair of razor-sharp fangs, and laughed under his breath. "Heheheh…"

The young fox was pitch black from head to tail, except for his ears, muzzle, and tail-tips, which had turned the color of dark slate. The whites of his eyes had turned murky black, and his pupils were a feral shade of yellow. Two lines of spiked fur crowned both his eyes, and several more lines of spiked fur stretched from his forehead to the back of his skull. His hair was swept back, and it had fused into a shell of spines which pointed out from the back of his head. His forearms and thighs were covered by streamlined dark metal armor pieces, which had long, curved, ripping-edged blades jutting out of them. His torso was covered by a metal shell with similar blades on both halves of his chest. His gloves were now made of chain mail, with streamlined plates covering the back of each hand. On his feet were two molded coverings with swept-back metal spikes. On his spine was a long fan of curved, metallic spines.

Tails spoke in a chilling, beast-like voice. "I'm gonna really enjoy this…"

Scourge was momentarily startled and somewhat unnerved, but he immediately recovered his bravado and flew straight at Tails. Fiona screamed with horror as Scourge swung his fist in a vicious right hook at Tails' head. Two things happened at once so fast that they appeared as a blur of movement to everyone else-Tails shot his arms up and crossed them in front of his face with lightning speed just as Scourge swung his fist. There was a loud, resonating CLANG! as Scourge's fist hit the impervious proto-titanium armor on Tails' forearm. Scourge stopped where he was, uninjured but numb with disbelief. He could not believe that Tails had blocked the punch so fast. He didn't have time to recover from his astonishment, though. Tails lowered his arms and let out a deep, beast-like growl. He bared his fangs as his irises contracted to pinpoints. The fox suddenly leaped up into the air-and he shot skyward until he was barely visible. After a moment, Scourge grinned and shouted, "What's the matter, twerp?! Running away so soon?!"
At that moment, an inferno of energy erupted around Tails' body, and he went into a freefalling dive towards Scourge, speeding through the air towards his hated enemy. The fox was moving at extremely high speed, and it wasn't long before everyone saw him clearly. His entire body was blazing with Dark Energy, and his eyes had become filmed over with piercing white light. Scourge was unnerved by the terrifying spectacle, but then he relaxed and smirked. "Oh, I'm really scared now. You can try whatever you want, twerp. You can't hurt me when I'm in this form. I'm invincib-UUURK!!" he gagged on his words as Tails rammed into him feet-first with the speed and force of an avalanche. As Tails struck the hedgehog, he snarled, "The name is Nitro Tails, punk!" The impact carried both Scourge and Tails a good fifty feet. As they shot past Sonic (still in Phantom form), he smiled grimly and said, "Hate to break it to ya, faker, but Dark Energy nixes almost any kind of invincibility. Sorry, but you're gonna get your butt whupped whether ya like it or not." Seconds later, Tails' attack finally slammed Scourge into a tree trunk. "How's it feel, Scourge?!" snarled Tails. "How's it feel, getting hit back by someone you once hurt?!" Scourge tried to punch Tails in the stomach, but Tails caught his fist in midair and bashed the hedgehog's jaw. Then he grabbed Scourge by the collar of his jacket and slammed him to the ground with an overhead throw. "How's it feel, trying to pick a fight with the wrong person and getting your butt kicked?!" Scourge tried to knock Tails off his feet with a spin dash, but the fox pulled an airborne back flip over him with lightning speed in the same instant. As Scourge tried to stand up, Tails leapt at him and rammed him back to the ground with a flying kick. "TELL ME HOW IT FEELS!!" he roared. Scourge tried to get to his feet, but Tails kicked him again and sent him sprawling on the grass several feet away. "FOR TWO YEARS, I HAD TO ENDURE ENDLESS HEARTACHE DEEP DOWN BECAUSE OF YOU!!" Scourge once again tried to get up, and Tails warped over and landed a brutal punch to his gut. "FOR TWO YEARS, YOU DECEIVED FIONA, TAINTED HER WITH YOUR FILTHY LIFESTYLE, AND PRETENDED TO LOVE HER WHILE YOU RAN OFF WITH EVERY GIRL YOU KNEW BEHIND HER BACK!!!" Scourge reeled backward in pain, winded by the blow to his stomach. Tails showed him no mercy, and delivered a roundhouse kick to his chest. "You did nothing except seduce her with a little 'bad boy' routine until she just melted in your filthy hands!!!" He grabbed Scourge by his jacket collar with both hands and hauled him up. "I SHOWED HER ALL THE LOVE I HAD FOR HER IN EVERYTHING I DID, AND WHAT DID I GET??!!" Tails shook Scourge viciously as he roared, "I GOT A SLAP IN THE FACE AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR HER, AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU!! YOU LIED TO HER!! YOU CORRUPTED HER HEART!! YOU CHEATED ON HER!!! YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT HER AT ALL!! YOU JUST WANTED HER SO YOU COULD HUMILIATE MY BEST FRIEND!!!" Tails slammed Scourge against a tree and leaned in close, speaking in a deadly calm voice. "Well, guess what, pal? For the first time in years, I've actually been able to feel happy. I've been able to live free of my old heartache. I'm not about to give that up. , drawing back his fist, Tails' voice built up to a furious roar as he snarled in the hedgehog's face, "AND I--WILL--NOT--LET YOU TAKE AWAY MY LIFE FROM ME AGAIN!!! YOU HEAR ME, SCOURGE??!!" Tails' brought down his fist in a blow fueled by countless layers of rage spawned from all of his heartache, hatred, pain, agony, loneliness, and suffering. "STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" Everyone in the clearing heard the blow to Scourge's face like booming thunder. Tails' fist struck the hedgehog with the force of a speeding train. Scourge's eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Tails let go of the energy flowing from the Darkling Emerald which he now had permanently fused to his heart. His body slowly reverted to its normal state.

After his body was completely normal again, Tails finally let the tears in his eyes spill down his cheeks.

Memories of all the pain and suffering he'd experienced had come back to him when he vented his fury on Scourge-the person who was responsible for all those agonies. With so many painful memories returning all at once, it was too much for the fox to bear. The bitter tears rolled freely down Tails' face. He made no effort to stop them.

Fiona's eyes were wide open in shock. She was overwhelmed by everything she had just heard. Until now, she had been mercifully unaware of just how much she had hurt Tails when she left with Scourge.

I've been a monster, she thought to herself.

Now, realizing just how much Tails loved her, Fiona was overcome with pity for him, and it anguished her to see him reliving the pain all over again.

Miles...

Her eyes began beading up with tears.

Miles...

She couldn't bear seeing Tails like this anymore.

"Miles!!"

Tails turned his head in time to see Fiona run up to him. She threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him with all the love, passion, and affection she could possibly give. Tails put his arms around her slender body and held her tight in his embrace. After almost a minute, Fiona slowly parted from him and pressed her cheek against his. "Oh, Miles," she wept, "I… I had no idea that I hurt you so much that day… I never knew you went through this much pain… oh, darling, I'm so sorry…" Tails slowly curled his twin tails around her torso, holding her even closer. "It wasn't you, Fiona. It was him." Fiona blinked away her tears and looked into Tails' eyes, finding comfort in his gaze as he found comfort in hers. "I love you, Miles," she whispered, "I love you with all my heart." Tails hugged her, holding the vixen's head gently against his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and murmured, "No matter… what happens to us… no matter where we are… no matter what we do… you will always be the only woman I love, Fiona Fox."

"Nice to see you two have glued your lives to each other. Now I can kill both of you little brats." Tails turned around to face Scourge. The hedgehog had recovered his senses and slowly stood up. He bared his fangs in a snarl. "Nobody--NOBODY--does that to me and lives to tell about it." Tails' eyes narrowed to slits. This jerk just doesn't seem to know when to stay down, he thought to himself.

Then why don't you let me "teach" him, master?

Tails was startled, and time seemed to slow to a crawl around him. The voice that he had just heard was inside his own head. It was cold, reptilian, and almost evil. That voice… in my head… who… what are you??? The voice replied, I am your greatest power, master. An unstoppable force of nature. A pure, living weapon. Tails was getting confused. But who ARE you? And why do you keep calling me 'master'? The voice chuckled slightly-a half-hissing sound that chilled Tails to the bone. Because you ARE my master, young one. Your friend, the blue hedgehog, received my master's scythe. You have received me. I wait in a super-dimensional rift within your mind. You can summon me at will, whether you are in your Dark Energy form or not.

It took Tails a moment, and then something clicked in his mind. A memory of a passage he'd once read in an old book of Mobian history. In that instant, he realized who the voice belonged to, but he could not believe it. You… you cannot possibly be- he thought incredulously.

I am. the voice said.

Tails snapped back into real time--the entire conversation within his mind had occurred in the span of a few seconds. A vicious smile spread across his face, and he once again took on his new Nitro form. With one arm around Fiona, he raised his other hand, and spoke to the voice in his mind. Show him the true meaning of fear. The voice laughed darkly and replied, With pleasure, master.

Tails looked Scourge in the eye, and his smile widened as Dark Energy pulsed around his outstretched hand. "Scourge, meet Zentar."

"AT LASSSSSST!!"

From Tails' hand, a gigantic snake emerged through the Dark Energy. Everyone except Tails and Crimatus was horrified. The snake was unlike any other creature, and its appearance was the stuff of one's darkest nightmares. Its body was as thick as a large tree trunk, and it was jet black with inky purple, blade-like patterns running along the length of its back. It had a long row of swept metal spikes running down from its head and stretching down a third of its body length. A mane of swept-back spikes crowned its head, and it had a plume of swept back spines on its forehead similar to Tails' Nitro form. Its eyes were long and slanted. Like Sonic's and Tails' Dark Energy forms, the whites of the snake's eyes were murky black, while its pupils were blood red. It had lengths of spiked bone crowning each eye. The snake's mouth was twisted in a fiendish grin that was almost insane-looking. Long, razor-sharp teeth lined the snake's jaws, and a pair of long, curved, razor-sharp fangs jutted down from its upper jaw. The snake fixed Scourge with a glittering, piercing gaze, grinning wickedly as it slithered up and reared its head over the hedgehog. The snake spoke in a low, bestial, bone-chilling hiss. "You move even an INCH, and I will KILL you." Fiona shrieked in horror, "What IS that thing?!" Crimatus--leaning calmly against a tree, as if seeing a giant, nightmarish snake was an everyday occurrence-- smiled and answered, "That's Zentar--the giant pet snake of Zolevion." Sonic, looking uneasily at the snake, exclaimed in confusion, "The pet WHAT of WHO??" Crimatus replied, "Oh, come on, Sonic-- didn't you ever bother to read that book I gave you on the origins of Dark Energy? Zolevion was a shaman warrior who was one of Ignatius' closest allies. He created the power of Dark Energy to balance out Ignatius' Light Energy on Mobius." He looked at the snake and said, "It's been a couple of centuries since anyone last saw you, big fella. Where've you been?" Without taking his eyes off Scourge, Zentar replied, "Sleeping in suspended time, watching, and waiting for a new master to arise for me to serve." Zentar flicked an eye in Crimatus' direction. "Am I to understand that this fox is indeed my new master, Amulet Keeper?" Crimatus nodded and said, "It looks like that's the case. Miles Prower is your new master." Zentar turned and came face-to-face with Tails. Tails did not even flinch as the snake narrowed its eyes, scrutinizing him. After a moment, Zentar smiled and said, "Hm--you have the eyes of a true fighter--I can tell." Tails was about to respond when he suddenly noticed movement behind the snake, and looked around Zentar's head. It was Scourge, slowly edging away from the snake and moving towards the forest. Zentar's head whipped around and halted an inch from Scourge's face. The snake roared, "DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO MOVE, YOU LITTLE INSECT??!!" Zentar's eyes emitted a brief pulse of red light. Scourge's eyes contracted to pinpoints, and his body went completely stiff. Then, he fainted and fell to the ground. Tails looked at him incredulously. "What the heck did you do to him, Zentar?" The snake let out a low, hissing chuckle. "I suppose I scared him, Master. He appears to have passed out." Zentar's unexpected response caused everyone to burst out laughing. Crimatus reached into his backpack and withdrew a pair of reinforced energy cuffs and an inhibitor collar. "I'll take it from here, Zentar," he said as he walked over to Scourge's limp form, and fastened the cuffs and collar to the hedgehog's wrists and neck. Meanwhile, Zentar slithered back to Tails and asked, "Will there be anything else you need at the moment, Master?" Tails shook his head. "Not for now, I don't think." "Very well. I shall be resting until you need me."

[ZOMG incomplete!! Like I said, I'll be working on this some more around the end of May when I get out of school. Stay tuned until then...!]