Chapter Text
“Here we go!” Sonic shouted, running straight ahead through the wilderness with Tails flying closely behind. The sun warm on his face and the wind flowing through his quills made for an excellent running atmosphere, save for the few Badniks he had to knock out here and there. Still, he made his way through every obstacle with ease, as always, and slowed down as he and Tails reached their destination: the lab, the door to which was already sliding open as they approached it. In the final stretch, Sonic turned around as he ran and looked up at his little brother’s smiling face, his tails spinning furiously as he nearly matched Sonic’s speed.
Tails ducked his head as they crossed the threshold of the garage door together, and immediately flew straight over to his computer, careful to land directly on his chair. Sonic followed and stood next to him at the desk as he typed, a hand on the back of the chair as he watched the screen intently.
“Alright, let’s see what’s up with those seismic waves I picked up earlier,” Tails mumbled as he typed. “…Hmm.”
“What’s up?”
“A few of the buildings downtown collapsed. That’s not good,” he said, furrowing his brow, tails swishing behind him.
“Anything about what caused the earthquake? That was way too strong for over here,” Sonic asked, making a mental note to check on the damaged areas later.
“Well, if I had to guess, I’d say Eggman’s up to something again.” Tails typed even faster as he said this, checking on every surveillance system they had on Robotnik’s activities.
Nothing.
Nothing for the past few months, which was normal for him after a big defeat. But especially nothing connected to the earthquake earlier.
Tails and Sonic both flinched as the walls of the lab shook, indicating an aftershock. The rumbling intensified, though, and when Sonic noticed things beginning to fall off of the lab’s various shelves, he quickly took the fox in his arms and pushed him under the desk they were at, using his body to shield Tails as they waited for the shaking to calm down.
“Thanks, Sonic,” Tails said as they climbed back out from under the table, getting comfortable on his chair once again.
“No problem, little buddy.”
Tapping a few more keys on his keyboard, and then swiveling his chair to face Sonic, Tails suggested, “We should head to the city. We might find a possible cause there if we survey the area that was damaged!”
“Couldn’t hurt to help out where we can if any of the townspeople got trapped under the rubble, either. Race you there!” Sonic added, wandering over to the open garage door and taking a starting position as he spoke. Tails grinned and followed him, and the two were neck-and-neck all through the more rural areas of Green Hill before they made their way downtown.
As they both slowed to a stop and Tails lowered himself to the ground, they turned towards the voice of a certain pink-quilled hedgehog calling their names.
“Boys! Over here!” Amy waved at them from where she stood, her other arm around the torso of an obviously-hurt gray fox as she guided them towards nearby paramedics. “I came to help as soon as I heard what happened over here. I could use a hand with the civilians, if you two wouldn’t mind.”
“On it!” Sonic replied quickly, and sped off to where he noticed a few townspeople waving him over. Tails, however, stayed with Amy as she handed off the fox to a medical assistant.
“You said you came here as soon as you heard, right? Did you notice anything strange?” he asked, reaching into his small knapsack and taking out a notepad and pencil. Amy smiled fondly at this before answering.
“Well, not really. I think the only strange thing I noticed was that there were no strange things! It all came out of nowhere. I didn’t even get to smash any robots.”
“Right. That’s what me and Sonic gathered, too,” Tails agreed, writing something on the pad.
“Do you think it’s Eggman again?”
“The surveillance we set up didn’t show anything out of the ordinary, but you never know with him. Thanks, Amy.” he responded, slipping the notepad and pencil back into his bag and flying off to join Sonic, who seemed to be struggling with the people he had decided to help. Amy, done with assisting the paramedics in this area, followed closely behind.
“Guys, one at a time–” Sonic tried to interject, nearly unable to hear himself over the bickering of the group surrounding him. All he had asked was if they saw anything weird before the earthquake, and while they were certainly trying to help…
“It was definitely Eggman.” “Don’t be stupid, neither of us saw anything!” “I don’t think anyone saw anything. I was scrolling on my computer one minute and the next we were all evacuating–”
“Excuse me, everyone!” Amy raised her voice, cutting through the noise and silencing their argument. “Please speak one at a time. We’ll get to all of you eventually,” she said with a smile, first gesturing to a green-winged bat to begin speaking.
Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as Amy got everything under control, and Tails returned to taking notes as they all listened to each story that wanted to be heard. Halfway through the second civilian’s spiel, however, Tails’s ears perked up, and he stopped writing and looked off into the distance towards the coast.
“What’s up, little bro?”
“I hear something.”
“Huh.” Sonic looked in the same direction and watched with him, their gaze extending to one of the islands on the horizon.
Now, neither of them were paying any attention to what the civilians were trying to tell them and Amy, who soon also picked up the deep but faraway rumbling, and shifted her attention as well. Tails squinted at the island, and then his eyes widened again in surprise.
“I’ve got it! I know where the- aah!” His realization was interrupted by another aftershock, throwing both him and Amy off balance. Sonic stood completely still as they regained their stances, his eyes on the island and his brows knit together. “I don’t think these are regular earthquakes,” Sonic said, looking back towards Amy and Tails who both nodded in agreement.
“Right! It doesn’t make any sense. We aren’t close to any tectonic plate boundaries, and I’ve been keeping tight surveillance on Eggman’s main bases which show no activity. That island’s been abandoned for years, though…” Tails trailed off, bringing a hand to his chin in thought.
“Well, people still need help here, but whatever else may be going on has to be investigated before it gets worse,” Amy pondered to herself, as Sonic and Tails exchanged an excited look. Noticing this, she smiled. “You two can go ahead. I’ll catch up with Knuckles soon once I’m done here.”
Flashing her a grin, Sonic muttered a quick “catch you later!” and sped off towards the coast with Tails in tow. Once out of sight, Amy turned back towards the remaining people that needed her help, and saw out of the corner of her eye a small flash of light atop one of the collapsed buildings. Ultimately paying it no mind, she focused her attention back on the bat and his friends, who had gotten interrupted by the aftershock earlier. Was it even an aftershock? Neither her nor Sonic or Tails could be sure anymore.
Meanwhile, just before the water, Sonic stood next to Tails as they looked over the sea to the island they supposed was the source of the earthquakes. Because Tails had been in the middle of servicing the Tornado, it was unavailable at the moment, and so Tails would have to fly Sonic across the water (to avoid him having to run and risk breaking the surface tension). Luckily, Sonic thought, the island was closer than it looked, and he and Tails had done this trick loads of times as kids. Tails hovered above Sonic, who raised his arms, and the two grabbed hold of each other and began their (hopefully short) journey, Sonic refusing to look down at the water once they had gained some height.
Dodging stray flying Badniks as they hovered through the air proved to be a challenge, as the added weight made Tails less agile, and Sonic couldn’t do much to assist but let Tails know when he dipped too close to the water for comfort. He did this by flailing about frantically, trying to raise himself up from the water’s surface until Tails caught on and realized he was flying too low. When they finally made it, Sonic let go of Tails’s arms and dropped to the ground, gaining his bearings and taking in their surroundings. Tails landed gently on his feet next to him, stretching his arms.
“Not a whole lot to look at,” Sonic mentioned, the budding conversation interrupted yet again by another “aftershock”. He turned to Tails with a grin on his face, as Tails took out a device Sonic assumed was used to track the epicenters of the earthquakes.
“Race you to the epicenter!” he shouted, speeding off and surprising Tails.
“Hey, wait up!” Tails shouted back, taking to the skies once again and reappearing just behind Sonic.
“So, how’d this island end up abandoned anyway?” Sonic called back to Tails.
“From the research I did, years ago the people of this island encountered a lot of food shortages due to their inefficient farming practices. Over time, more and more of the original inhabitants decided to migrate to Green Hill and the other surrounding islands, leaving their lives here behind,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s interesting. I wonder if there’s anyone still around.”
“I doubt it. See how overgrown everything is?” A high-pitched beeping sounded from Tails’s device, signalling that they were near the epicenter, and the two slowed down, Sonic still making it there first.
“That’s strange,” Tails muttered, his brow furrowing.
“What’s up?”
“We’re right over the epicenter of the most recent earthquake, but there’s nothing here that could possibly be causing it– whoa!” Tails jumped back as the ground splintered beneath him, and Sonic pushed him out of the way further, guarding him with his body as they watched in horror.
From the splintered ground emerged a mass of sharp, black stone, vaguely in the shape of the top of a head, and complete with soulless, white, almost glowing eyes. Soon, the rumbling stopped, however, and the eyes seemed to “close” as they lost their glow.
“What… is that?” Tails asked, stunned.
“Call Amy and Knuckles. Now.”
“On it.” He replaced the device already in his hands with a slightly smaller one and tapped away, a faint dial tone emanating for a few seconds and then being interrupted with a few higher-pitched tones. “They’re already on their way.”