Tails

III

Shadow led Sonic and Tails down the halls of the Space Colony as they came into a large room.

The room was like one of those large rooms that housed a space pod. In one of those Tails had fought Eggman with his Cyclone.

Unlike that room, this had some furniture, some couches, a lamp, curtains along the windows and there was a thin black laptop cart. The laptop cart had a Dell laptop on it which had some sort of powerpoint on it. It was also connected to a white projector. It seemed as if Shadow was going to show them a slideshow.

"Have a seat," Shadow said as he walked over to the cart "there's a lot to talk about."

Tails went over to one of the couches, careful not to hurt his slowly recovering arm while sitting down. Sonic had done the same.

After Shadow had started up the projector, Sonic started "so what's all this about?"

"Ever since yesterday, I have been busy collecting information on recent events" Shadow declared.

"What kind of information have you collected?" Tails asked out of curiosity.

"Let me put it this way," Shadow said, "I can tell you right now, what that creature was and how it died from Sonic's extreme gear."

Sonic rose his nonexistent eyebrows "I don't think it takes a genius to figure that one out" Sonic declared "it was sent straight at the mutt at great velocity and tore through its heart and whatever else. It would've been a miracle if it survived that."

It was now Shadow's turn raise his own nonexistent eyebrows "I never would've thought that velocity was even in your vocabulary" Shadow stated, amusingly "perhaps you deserve more credit than I give you."

"Eh," Sonic said, "stick around Tails long enough and you pick up new words here and there."

"Regardless," Tails began "Sonic does bring up a valid point, what do you mean explain how Sonic's extreme gear killed it when it should be obvious?"

Shadow looked at both of them as he said, "I'm speaking more in the sense that no matter what we did to it, it appeared unfazed; even my chaos spear went right through it." He paused "Sonic's extreme gear was the only thing that hit it home" the duo nodded as it made sense. Shadow turned back toward the projector "let's begin, shall we?"

The first slide of Shadow's PowerPoint showed the coverart of several Greek and Roman myths such as the Theogony, the Odyssey, Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, Perseus and Andromeda, along with many, many others. Then Shadow started explaining things once again.

"These very mythological myths and legends are the stories that seem to now be seeping into our very reality. Perhaps some aspect of them could be true." he declared

"Like what?" Sonic asked.

"Perhaps there really was an Odysseus that got pushed around by Poseidon, maybe Persephone really existed and did pick out a cursed flower that made her Hades' wife, heroes like Hercules and Perseus may have really existed and did all those heroic deeds." Shadow explained. After Sonic and Tails didn't ask any more questions he clicked to the next slide.

The slide held a familiar monster that Sonic had only recently killed. A large dog that had two heads along with a tail of a cobra's upper half.

"Last night you had told me of your encounter with Camp Half-Blood, for which I was able to narrow down the identity of that creature." Shadow paused "I could barely believe it myself, this creature is none other than Othrus, the brother of Cerberus." Shadow paused thoughtfully "according to lore, it was slain along with its master, the giant Geryon, by none other than Hercules himself."

Tails spoke up "if Othrus was killed before, then how was it alive yesterday?" he asked.

"That," Shadow began "is something only our mysterious ally, Camp Half-Blood, can answer." He declared "some things still puzzle even me."

"Like how those cyclopes called us demigod" Sonic declared.

Shadow grew curious "those monsters called the two of you demigods?"

They both nodded, and Shadow started speaking again.

"According to lore, demigods were mortals that had at least one godly parent; a parent who was an Olympian. Hercules himself was a son of Zeus." He paused "the only way you two could be demigods is if you have at least one parent you've never met. I know this may be a touchy subject, but is there one of your parents you don't know?"

"My mother," Sonic said after a long pause "left me for a…better place, I never knew my father."

Tails thought about his own parents, but he couldn't think of anything regarding them "I don't think I've known either of my parents, honestly" Tails answered reluctantly.

Shadow turned on Tails "you're sure you never knew either of them? Nothing in the lore I've found says anything about having both parents being Olympians."

Tails nodded "As far as I know, I was born somewhere in the Emerald Forest, no family or anything."

Shadow appeared deep in thought before Sonic burst out "it's true, I found him roaming just outside in Emerald Hill; Tails was more than happy to come along for the ride."

That had been an understatement, Tails had run away from the forest because he was tired of being called a mutant twin-tailed fox. He didn't know where he would be without Sonic; possibly in a hospital emergency room after forcibly cutting off one of his tails.

"I think we may be getting off topic here" Shadow said before turning back to the powerpoint and clicking it.

The next slide showed two swords, one of bronze, the other gold. By the bronze sword, a greek symbol was shown, by the golden sword a roman symbol was shown.

"I've discovered that these monsters all share a common weakness," Shadow stated.

"Let me guess, bronze and gold; and since most things are made from bronze wires then Othrus died from those wires. Case solved" Sonic declared confidently.

"Not so fast," Shadow said, "these are a specific type of gold and bronze; known as Celestial bronze and Imperial gold; Celestial bronze was used by the Greeks, Imperial gold by the Romans." Shadow paused "while they are deadly to those monsters, they are equally as deadly to demigods."

Something about that statement made Tails shiver.

"Shouldn't that be self-explanatory?" Sonic asked "unless someones stupid enough to stab themselves with a sword to see if it'll hurt them or not."

Shadow shook his head "I've met my share of idiots enough to know there may be someone who'll do that." He said looking straight at Sonic.

Tails suddenly pipped up "where did you find information on how effective it is on demigods?" Tails didn't judge where Shadow got his information from, he just wanted to try to make sense of it.

"I'm glad you asked, Tails" Shadow stated, "from Professor himself."

"Professor Gerald?" Tails asked astonished "what do you mean?"

Shadow then stepped away from the computer and drew out the sword. He then gave an overdue introduction. "Sonic, Tails, I'd like you to meet RingBreaker. I found it in a hidden room in the Space Colony yesterday."

"Does it talk?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

"Doubt I'd keep it around if it did" Shadow said "according to Gerald's notes that I found, it was created for the day that Maria's Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome was cured, and she was ready to face the world itself. Obviously that day never came to pass."

"In other words," Sonic said, "that's Maria's sword?"

"That was never given to her" Shadow declared "Professor had some notes saying reminders to her; don't stab yourself with it, use only in emergencies" he paused "Gerald, always so protective."

"So, if Gerald made that for her," Tails said "perhaps he expected her to encounter the same dangers that we are now."

Shadow nodded "perhaps he had other reasons for taking her aboard the Space colony other than her illness." He paused "some notes he left her seem to directly refer to some monsters, 'don't look directly at the women with snake hair', 'don't cut off the heads of the hydra or you've got a bigger problem'."

"So," Sonic said, "what else was he hiding?"

"Probably some things even I haven't found" Shadow stated, "but enough chit chatter, let's have a look at your extreme gear."

Shadow pressed a button on the laptop cart before a chamber opened just in front of Sonic & Tails' chairs. After some vibrating a large table came out holding Sonic's dissected extreme gear, a sight Sonic wasn't too happy to see.

"Come on, Shadow!" He declared "I don't even have warranty on that!"

Shadow held up his hands in a yield as if he was afraid of Sonic, which Tails didn't think he was "hear me out." Shadow then paused "and all due respect, but I thought your warranty was sitting right next to you?" He asked.

"What?" Sonic asked as the joke flew over his head.

"Very funny, Shadow" Tails said.

"Anyway," Shadow said, pulling out a still attached part from the inside that looked like an orange coil "this is what I want you to see" he said as he held up the sword and the extreme gear part side by side. They looked extremely identical.

"Are they," Tails paused "made of the same material?"

Shadow nodded "Indeed. This Gravity Coil, too is made of celestial bronze. Despite it being very dull, I have reason to believe this part is what killed Othrus. There are no other identical parts in the board."

"So, it died due to that part?" Tails asked, "what about the rest of the board?"

"Interesting question," Shadow said, "I'm actually glad you asked." The hedgehog declared as he went forward in the powerpoint.

The new slide showed two steel swords and rifles intertwined with a red circle surrounding them and crossing over them. On another part showed a celestial bronze and imperial gold sword along with bows intertwined with a green circle surrounding them.

"What I have found, is that ordinary weapons and objects have little effect on these mythological monsters" Shadow declared "I believe this is why my chaos spear passed right through Othrus yesterday."

"So, the rest of the extreme gear," Sonic asked

"Simply didn't affect it, it went through it like my chaos spear" Shadow answered.

"What about the medicine from earlier?" Tails asked as he felt his healing arm which barely hurt at this point. "Why was it that RingBreaker could cut the medicine but the butter knife couldn't even touch it?"

Shadow paused for a whole minute before saying "I have no answer for that" he declared "but the more I think about it, the more I think there's a connection between the two events. I would ask our unlikely ally when we get a chance."

"So, the reason that my homing attack was doing nothing to Othrus was that it can only be hurt by those two materials?" Sonic asked suddenly.

"I suppose," Shadow stated, "but I don't know why this is so; perhaps some connection to the Greek myths."

"If only I grabbed that sword before we left Green Hill" Sonic said out loud.

"We'll rectify that tomorrow" Shadow said, "but there's one last thing we need to discuss." He declared.

"What is that?" Tails asked out of curiosity.

"It seems that everyone's perception of the creature was different save for a few." Shadow said as he clicked to the next slide which had a video on it.

"So not everyone saw it the same?" Tails asked, "how is that so?"

"Yeah," Sonic said "how could people have seen it differently? That hound wasn't that hard to miss."

"I can't answer the why, but I have evidence to show that I'm not bluffing." Shadow said, "in this video here I had the Chaotix go around and interview a few that were there."

Shadow then pressed play on the video.

The first thing that Tails noticed was that the camera wasn't very stable, it was going up, down, left, and right. What he noticed though was that the chaotix were in a room with a window in the very back. The sky and clouds were zooming away. It appeared that they were in a ship. The ground had cyan carpet except for the middle of the room which was gray tile. On the gray tile was a brown desk and blue chair as well as a silver stand that a green extreme gear was stood on. The walls were deep brown with two brown doors on either side.

In front of the camera there was a humanoid green crocodile and purple chameleon, Vector and Espio all facing away from it. In the chair was a green hawk, Jet, with Wave the swallow and Storm the albatross at his sides. Charmy wasn't present, so Tails assumed he was the one holding the camera. Despite never being in it, Tails could tell they were aboard the Babylon Rouges' ship.

"So," Jet declared "you must be the Chaotix; the detectives for hire."

"That is correct," Espio said "you must be the Babylon Rouges."

"Our contract wanted us to ask you a few questions" Vector sad "if you would allow us."

After a minute Wave said, "I don't see anything stopping you, ask away."

Vector nodded before asking "what was it that you saw this morning at the race?" he declared.

Jet suddenly got up and walked to the window, looking into the passing wind. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"Boss?" Storm asked.

Jet spoke up "So, you want to know what I saw at that blasted event?" Jet asked without waiting for an answer. He turned away from the window "I saw the finish line right before my reach before Shadow pulled the three of us in a three-way tie. For what? A small black chihuahua trying to play with a chao." He paused "those two went too far with stopping that dog. One minute it was there, the next it wasn't, leads me to believe that they killed that harmless creature."

"Are non mobian canines even native to Mobius?" a voice from behind the camera in Charmy's voice asked."

Espio shrugged "doubt it, but there's also Tails' link to Spagonia to worry about."

Jet now stared at his desk possibly thinking about the events from the morning.

Wave put her hand on Jet's hand in a comforting manner "the events that took place this morning was worrisome," she said, "we were not sure what to make of it at the time."

"I understand" Espio declared "if you'd mind answering, was what you saw different from Jet?"

"It was different, while he saw a chihuahua from several feet away, I saw what appeared to be a coyote." Wave declared.

"Really?" Charmy asked.

"Interesting, and Storm?" Espio said "you've been kind of quiet, what did you see?"

"Um," he said, "I saw a strong wolf" he answered.

"So, none of you saw the same thing?" Vector asked as the three nodded.

"I think our perceptions were affected somehow" Wave said, "Sonic wouldn't kill a coyote, chihuahua, or even a wolf without good reason, or even any reason; perhaps there's something else going on."

"Perhaps" Espio declared "we thank you for the information."

The Babylon Rouges nodded before Jet said, "we'll be landing in Emerald Hill pretty soon, don't get too comfortable."

Shadow at that moment paused the video.

Tails was practically blown away. How was it possible that the Babylon Rouges saw not one but three different things? If that was true, who was right and who was wrong?

"How is this possible?" Tails asked, "how could they have seen three different things?"

"I am unsure" Shadow said, "I only know that they did, even the Chaotix themselves can't agree on what it was."

"So, these mythological monsters can affect people's perception" Tails said, "sounds like we may be alone in this" he declared turning to Sonic.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the blue blur had fallen asleep during the duration of the video.

Shadow rolled his eyes "I've got this" he said walking over to Sonic.

He quickly backhanded then forward handed Sonic's face twice while yelling "WAKE UP!"

"Ow!" Sonic said, "what gives, Shadow?!"

Shadow just smirked "welcome back to the world of the living, faker."

He walked back over to the computer "we were just discussing how people's perceptions were being altered by the mythological monsters." He declared "almost as if they exist in a different reality all together."

"I kind of figured something was up when Jet didn't see a reason to help out with Othrus" Sonic said, "so these mythological creatures are something only we and Camp Half-blood can see?"

"It appears so" Shadow declared "I don't think we can rely on anyone outside this room to help us; besides that, Camp Half-blood, assuming they are allies."

"What else do we got to go on?" Sonic asked.

"I suppose your right" Shadow said, "they promise us information anyway; we'd crazy to ignore that offer."

"Knuckles is with them" Tails stated, "I don't think he would trust a group that would plan to stab us in the back."

"Yet that is the same echidna that lets Eggman trick him time and time again" Shadow sighed "I apologize, I have a very, tough time trusting new people especially under these circumstances, not that you haven't noticed."

He then went back to the computer and shut off the powerpoint "I did have two more clips to show you information the Chaotix dug up about people's perceptions being altered. However, you two seem to get the point, and I don't want someone to fall asleep again." He said looking at Sonic.

"So, what are waiting for?" Sonic asked, "let's find where Camp Half-blood is!"

"Not so fast, turbo" Shadow said, "let's not rush into this, especially after your close encounter with those cyclops'. I'll make some spaghetti for dinner and then we'll turn in for the night."

Sonic looked as if he wanted to argue, but Shadow was right, rushing into it head on without pause or rest would hurt them in the long-run. They needed to conserve their energy.

As they prepared to head to the ARK's dining room/kitchen Shadow called as Sonic went ahead.

"Tails, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Tails asked.

"I'm wondering if you're willing to lend me your Wispon for the night?" Shadow asked.

"Why so?"

"I want to possibly add a gadget or two to aid us in our journey ahead" Shadow explained.

Tails raised an eyebrow "I never figured you would even be interested in being a mechanic."

"Oh, I've learned some talent for it through the years, working with Gerald's old gadgets aboard the ARK." Shadow said.

Tails was unsure about a "new gadget" if he absolutely felt the Wispon could use a new tool, he would add it himself. However, he trusted Shadow a great deal. Even if he had tried to destroy humanity with the Space Colony ARK out of blind revenge.

Tails reluctantly took off the Wispon using his bad arm which didn't hurt as much anymore and put it in Shadow's care. "Here, you may have it for the night" he declared "please try not to break it, it's a one of a kind."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful with it" Shadow stated as he placed it on the laptop cart "I'll be sure to get to you first thing in the morning" he declared as he went with Tails toward the ARK's dining room.

Tomorrow," he stated "we'll work on getting to Camp Half-Blood and getting some answers. For now, let's just rest up and prepare for the future."

That much Tails agreed with.

Author's Note

Hey, been about a whole month, almost two. Had some real life getting in the way a bit along with a bit of writer's block. (I'm 90% sure it's not contagious..?)

Anyway, the information here is displayed in a way that should make sense for both universes.

If I made a mistake somewhere or made a typo let me know and I'll fix it.

As always Read&Review and tell me what you think.

If I don't post another update before the 25th, then marry Christmas!