Tails Underground
by Asher Tye
Disclaimer: We've been through this before. I wish I owned the characters, it'd be a blast making the games the way I wanted to. Sadly I don't, Sega holds those rights. :sigh:
Author's Note: And here we have the true final end for the story of Tails Underground… as I've said before, if you read, please review.
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Epilogue:
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The Dark Jungle, a patch of plant life so thick and tough, even Robotnik's most powerful clearcutters have proven unable to break through the wood without starting at Jungle's edge. Thus it is that at the heart of this jungle, the ancient trees have grown massive and powerful. One tree in particular stands tall, its bough raised high into the air above the other trees, like a proud king surveying its kingdom. The jungle begins to shudder however as, overhead, unseen by the naked eye, the pulsing waves of chaotic energy released by Merlin Prower's spell passes over. All of a sudden, this tall tree begins to shake, seeming to spontaneously shed leaves and branched en masse. Those branches that remain, now stripped of their leaves, shine brightly of metal in the sun before they open up revealing the "tree" to be in face a giant tower, designed to activate at the detection of this energy.
After what has been decades of inactivity, the receiving dishes open as power returns to them, coursing down the shaft and into the hidden compound that has been built beneath the protective canopy of Dark Jungle. Ancient generators, signaled by the sudden activity, roar back to life, destroying the nests of several foolish birds who had though the inactive machinery safe. Though one or two of the generators gives off a few sparks before dying, by and large most of the nearly two dozen power sources continue on, their age impeding their job not at all. Inside the complex, lights, dark for so many years, flicker on as computer equipment comes to life, analyzing the pulse for every scrap of data it held.
The dark hallways flicker with light as giant robots that look like precursors to the SWATbots resume function, coming to life just as the generators had and beginning patrols of the interior of the complex. Despite the new found illumination, the narrow corridors still possess a twilight feel to them, a feeling that is only enhanced as the multicolored lights bounce off the reflective metal walls. The oddest thing about this place, however, is that, while different corridors branch off from each other at regular intervals creating a spider-web-like maze, there are no doors leading to the interior rooms… save for one.
It is inside this room that the purpose of this base's existence is. The walls are lines with computers and monitors, and the center of the room is dominated by a glass cylinder filled with a mysterious translucent liquid. Soon the signal from the outer monitors is received and the equipment in this room too begins to awaken from its decade's long dormancy. Monitors blink to life one after the other as words are displayed upon them for the first time in a long time.
Initiating examination of energy wave for factor dubbed "Chaos…"
Factor found…
Tracking wave origin…
Upon one of the monitors, a map of the planet Mobius appears, with six points of light appearing over specific areas of the planet. A seventh icon appears, racing across the map as the computers backtrack the energy wave's path towards the instillation. The marker stops directly over the former location of Shadakor.
Point of origin established…
Scan completed, target acquired. Matching against data previously collected…
Match confirmed, raising target total number: 6……………7
As this new number flashes upon the screen, a dull beeping is heard as the other computers initiate their own programs.
Target limit reached, all targets acquired. Initiating status examination of biological construct…
Lights surrounding the tube begin to turn on. Because they are pointed outward and the liquid is merely translucent, no clear view can be gained of the object floating inside the cylinder. Despite this, it can be seen that the thing is in the shape of a fairly spiky ball, and seems to be predominantly black in color.
Heart Rate: Nominal
Neural Activity: Hibernating
Muscle Development: Nominal
Energy Output: Minimal
Subject Status: Maturation Process has been completed.
At this point several arms within the cylinder begin to moved, sticking the form inside with several needles or generating waves that cause the liquid to vibrate. Each of the monitors swiftly begins to display data gained from the figure in the liquid, adding their own amounts of chemicals and the like.
Estimating time for re-animation………………seventy-two days, thirteen hours, twenty-three minutes, thirty-one seconds.
Initializing………… Operation Codename: Shadowfall
The End… for now.