[A/N: My apologies if some of the block quote sections here are difficult to tell apart from the rest of the text. Unfortunately, due to the machinations of this website, I'm unable to use indents, so I've had to resort to italics to denote block quotes. Hopefully they aren't too distracting.

This also marks the first use of an Archie Universe character in this story - though she's not been treated the same way as they did with her. Big plans... enjoy! As always, any positive feedback or constructive criticism is appreciated. Don't underestimate the power of your encouragement!]

-= Day Zero, Part Three =-

IV. Blood Through the Branches

Two years earlier.

It was with no small amount of frustration that Tails realised had seen the Reve-Na Falls before - twice, no less - in his search for the Kitsune Enclave. He'd managed to cross it, but the first time he'd been in top condition for it and even then it hadn't been easy. The second, he'd barely made it across with his life.

Reve-Na was a titan, a colossus of a rapid. Sonic and himself came to stop at the edge of the Reve-Na bridge, or rather, what was left of it, being nothing but a series of pearly white stone blocks jutting up defiantly from the ever-violent frothy rapids, all covered in moss. To the right, there was more thick greenery that seemed to stretch on to the horizon, and to the left, a gargantuan crag that shot up into the clouds, spewing an infinite flow of water to fall ages down into the huge chasm. And beyond, all they could see was thick, unforgiving jungle.

"Heh, yep," Sonic put his hands on his hips, looking out across the expanse. "I remember this joint!" He was almost shouting to keep his voice audible above the immense tumult of the water.

Tails looked at him, a smirk worming its way onto his face. "Did you ever get across?"

The hedgehog laughed, lifting a red, tattered sneaker to point it at Tails' namesakes. "Without those things you're sporting? Don't think so, flyboy! Without a bridge, it might come down to you man. I don't think we'd be takin' a raft down there!"

The kitsune sat down on the edge of the fault, legs dangling over, and stared into the crease. The millions of gallons of water that rushed through every second kicked and swirled with rage, the jagged rocks that seemed to move and flow with it just below the surface telling a very discouraging tale of what might happen to one that would ever get caught in it.

"I ain't flying!" he shouted above the uproar.

"What other way we gonna go?"

"I don't know!" Tails gauged the gap. Pulling a tuft of hip-long grass out of the damp soil, ripping it apart between his fingers as he thought.

Could I make it?

He was fit, and feeling healthy and energetic with all the supplies Morris had left them, but the chasm was a kilometre wide. He looked back; they'd taken a rocky path to get here, moving down a steep incline, pockmarked with bushes and scrub; if he could lift off the top of the mountain and try to just keep himself falling steady as he flew, he could make it, perhaps.

If he left all of his gear behind. And left Sonic behind, too.

"Reckon there might be another crossing upstream?" Sonic hollered. The pounding discord of the falls was starting to give him a headache.

Tails frowned. "We could head right across to the shore, I guess!"

"What? Get real!" They both knew the next crossing was a long, long way off - literally a good month or so of travel, if they went carelessly - and then another month just to head back downstream, to get back to the point they were now looking at on the other side of the river.

Sooooo...

Tails looked at Sonic, and Sonic looked back. And grinned.

He hadn't been wrong when he'd said this would be a dangerous trip.

Ten minutes later, they were standing at the top of the incline, watching over the gargantuan Reve-Na.

"I can do this," Tails said, running the stunt through his head, over and over. "I can do this."

Sonic looked on with a slight hint of worry. "You don't sound too sure of yourself, kiddo."

"Without taking any of the gear, we'll make it. If I get tired, I'll just keep spinning."

"Uh... look, I trust you and all, but..." Sonic kicked a lump of dirt by his foot, and watched it sail lazily through the air, to shatter into a tiny cloud of dirt as it smashed into some of the rocks below them. "You do realise, if you fall into that water, they'll be picking bits of us out of the reeds in the next town. Riiiight?"

Tails looked back, taking a deep breath of cool night air. "That's why I ain't gonna fall, okay?"

"Let's go, then, partner. You ready?" Sonic asked.

Hell no.

"Yeah," Tails said, starting to whir his three bushy appendages up, and lifting awkwardly up into the air, grabbed Sonic by both wrists.

"On three!" Sonic looked up at his buddy, revving his legs up, mounds of dirt and grass flying up into the air behind him.

Just like the plan, Tails thought to himself.

"One!" Sonic shouted.

Oh, gods. We're gonna die, we're gonna die.

"Two!"

No, we're not! We'll be fine. A kilometre isn't that far. It's just... about twice what I've flown hanging on to Sonic before. No biggie.

"Thrreehhh-herk-"

That didn't sound like 'Three' at all...

Sonic's hands suddenly wrenched away from Tails' wrists, and in the time it took him to look down to see what had happened, the hedgehog was out of sight.

"Sonic!" He dropped down, stumbling forward and nearly toppling right over the edge of the incline. Had Sonic just taken off without him? If so, he would've gone straight into the -

A strong set of fingers dug into the scruff of his neck, and pulled him down to tumble clumsily on his butt in the dirt, his head smacking hard against one of the pebbles on the ground. The pain of the impact hammered down through the back of his neck and along his spine.

"Unhh..." for a moment, all he could see was purple clouds and some blurry strands of grass swirling around his head. "What on Mobius..."

Before he could bring a leg around to leap to his feet, a boot had already come down on his chest, slamming him back down into the ground.

"Ugh..."

There was someone heavy and tall crouched, pinning him to the ground with their boot. To his right, he saw Sonic with an elbow wrenched around his neck, his own arms flailing about, looking for something to grab but finding no purchase.

As Tails' pupils began to narrow and focus on their assailant, he made out a silhouette that looked like... him, it had to be said. Tall, wiry, muscular. Mid-length, frizzly locks of hair blowing in the wind, and two thick bushy tails curled around one knee.

"Are you... what I think you are?" he croaked. "A kitsune?"

"Ghu-rah!" they screamed an inch from his nose, hot spittle smacking against his face. "You are an idiot! You kill yourselves!"

It was an unmistakably feminine voice, despite the venom in it... a lady kitsune.

"Hey..." Sonic said, now having given up straining under her weight. "My name's Sonic. What's your-"

"Shut up! Ghu-rah!"

Her arm around his neck tightened, making Sonic's face turn pale. His vision was filled with a mix of fiery red and white fur, quickly moving up and down as she breathed. After a moment, he realised that curving swell of hair he was looking at was her breasts - well, if he was going to die by asphyxiation, he could think of worse places for it to happen than under a beautiful, exotic kitsune woman.

She finally released her grip, and leapt up and away from them, her muscular shape still hard to make out against the purple evening sky.

Tails propped himself up on his elbows and stared up at her. "If you're looking to rob us, our stuff's just at the bottom of the hill."

The kitsune woman sneered, looking Sonic and himself over. "I have no use for your stuffs. You. You are kitsune. Why you travelling with this ghu-rah?"

"Whoa," Sonic scratched behind one ear. "Ghu-what?"

"Ruuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaagh!" She towered over him, stomping a foot down next to his head, letting out a war-cry that made the earth beneath him vibrate.

Sonic pressed his head back, spines digging into the dirt, eyes widening. "Sorry I asked," he whispered, barely suppressing an ironic snigger.

"Hssss!" She took a step back again, looking briefly over her shoulder for signs of anyone else. "Kitsune boy! I ask again! Why you travel with the ghu-rah hedgehog?"

"We're looking Gorromandas," Tails said, quietly but as sternly as he could with what little breath he still had.

Her eyes narrowed. "Hmmm."

"I'm Tails," he said. "And this is Sonic. He's my friend." He nodded over at Sonic, who didn't seem sure whether to laugh his head off, or get up and run for his life.

"Tailsss..." she pointed down at his namesakes. "Those are tails. Not you."

"Uh..." Tails slowly propped himself up to one knee, not breaking eye contact. "My real name's Miles."

"Miles?" Her eyes narrowed until they were barely visible, just two white slits in the darkness. "Gascuh?"

"What?"

"Hsss!" She leaned forward. "Your clan, idiot! Gascuh! Clan!"

"Uh..." Tails' eyes darted left and right. "Prower? I guess?"

He held his breath. For a moment, the kitsune girl looked ready to leap forward and rip his head off. But in a move that sent his heart racing even faster, she took a step back instead, features softening.

"Prower? Miles Prower?"

Tails nodded, halfway between a crouch and standing upright, every muscle frozen.

She stepped forward and held out a hand. "Come."

"What about Sonic?" Tails asked, taking it uneasily.

"No ghu-rah."

"Then we've got a problem," Tails growled, shaking her hand free of his. "I come, he comes. You understand?"

"Uh, dude..." Sonic whispered from behind. "You sure they're not just planning on cooking you in a pot or something, anyway?"

The flame-red vixen looked long and hard at Sonic, then back at Tails, eyes narrow as slits.

"Fine. Come." She turned on her heel in a huff, and set off down the incline, towards the waterfall.

Tails and Sonic both watched her for a moment, dumbfounded, as she strode down, skipping between the massive boulders.

She stopped, and turned to look back up at them. "Now!"

They looked at each other again, exchanging glances that gave the same sentiments; confusion, caution, amusement. It was good to be together again.

She led them without speaking a word, to the side of the face of the cliffs, where the immense volumes of water tumbled over ad infinitum. The tension was thick enough to split with an ice pick; they watched the hairs on the back of her neck bristling, her muscular shoulders tense, two thick tails twirling slowly in her wake. Both Sonic and Tails kept their distance from their host; they felt a little more relaxed without her having them in a headlock, but they couldn't be sure if she'd just turn at any second and start mauling into them. Judging by her body language, it seemed the feeling was mutual.

The spray of the titanic torrent was cool against Tails' skin in the damp night air. He was unsure of where she was taking them; for all intents and purposes, it looked like a dead end - all just thick scrub, up against hard rock.

The vixen crouched to one knee in front of one of the thick bushes, holding a hand up to gesture for Sonic and Tails to hang back. When she was satisfied that they were out of striking distance, she reached in behind the bush, pressing a slab of rock behind it with her palm.

There was a small rumble, and the massive boulder before them began to slide out of place, as if on rails, a few loose pebbles falling from above to clatter noisily on the hard ground.

"Whoa," Sonic whistled, raising his eyebrows.

Reaching into a pouch that hung loosely from her belt, the vixen produced a flare, and struck it against the hard rock next to her, a bright white fireball shooting from the top. She held it out ahead of her for a moment until the flame became stable, and then gestured for Sonic and Tails to follow her into the tunnel before them.

The space was narrow and cramped for a good thirty metres or so until it emptied out into a larger underground area, one that seemed to stretch on across the whole gap of the chasm outside. Tails noted the glistening of the flare against the wet rock, and as soon as he saw the water, he realised why the pummelling noise of the water hadn't eased in here - they were moving behind the waterfall, a massive, impenetrable wall of cascading torrent pounding down at one of the cave's sides. Sonic moved on briskly, chin held high and spines bristling, but Tails found himself trailing behind, entranced.

He listened to the pounding of the water. The pounding of his heart, like tribal drums.

The smell of rainwater. The smell of that vixen up ahead, musky and raw.

Torchlight against wet rock, a ghostly tropical breeze so thick it made his head swim.

Could this be... home?

What he'd spent the last five years, searching so long and hard for? That he'd given up nearly everything and everyone for?

He stared at his feet, his tails wrapping around his legs. Stared at his bare hands, lean, damp and covered with dirt and grit. The hands of a kitsune.

Native.

That smell from the vixen had triggered something in his head, an old, muddy memory.

Mother...?

Specks of sunlight flickering in his eyes, though the cover of a torn hessian blanket. Little voices in the background, muttering in a language he could almost speak...

I remember...

A wizened, weathered kitsune face peeking in through the fissures of the cloth. Four thick scars across one eye, an ear split in half from an age-old scuffle and healed-over.

A tear rolled down his cheek, soaking into his fur with its warmth.

I remember!

"Yo!" Sonic's voice snapped him out of his stupor. "We're waaaiiting!"

He sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his arm, and broke into a jog, heading for the light.

Sonic was certainly no stranger to keeping strange company or strange places, especially these days.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when they finally reached the end of the tunnel, and the dull glow of the morning sun hit his face.

"Holy crap..."

The high-pitched screech of a bird in the distance punctuated his own sharp gasp at the sight before them. They'd arrived in a giant crater, millions of tons of rock blasted into oblivion ages ago by what appeared to be a massive, downed space ship. The forest overhead was thick and unforgiving, seemingly having taken this enormous foreign object in and simply assimilated it, thick trees and vines weaving in and out of its gigantic body.

Two gigantic, charred thrusters protruded from each the back and sides of the monstrosity, parts of the ship's mammoth hull glimmering with a dull sheen, amidst an ages-old blanket of rust.

Tails stood beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder, saying nothing.

"Hey, uh, whatever your name is," Sonic called out after the vixen. She'd set off now down the length of the crater towards the crashed cruiser, her pace quickening as she walked. "What is this thing?"

"Gorromandas!" she called back, throwing her arms out. "The metal chariot that fell from the stars!"

"You've got to be kidding," Sonic whispered, looking over at his old friend. "This? This is your camp?" He quickened his pace, feeling more uneasy every second. "No wonder you had so much trouble finding this place. It's half-buried."

"Yeah..." Tails breathed, awestruck. They kept walking towards the enormous figure, but it didn't seem to get any bigger. It just towered menacingly over them. A thunderous clang of screeching metal came out of nowhere, echoing off the sides of the canyon. What an event it must've been, for this thing to have fallen right out of the sky and smashed into the planet's surface.

As they got closer, following in the mysterious kitsune vixen's wake, they could make out more of the details. Crude fences had been erected out of wrought iron and barbed wire, and a few warriors, dressed in little more than the shoulder pads and boots their host was wearing, stood here and there, donning what looked to be shoulder-mounted RPGs.

"Hurry yourself, Miles Prower!" the vixen called out. "Stay close, lest the drones shoot you and the ghu-rah down."

"Hey..." Tails broke into a sprint, falling in at her side. "You never told us your name..."

"Hmph," she sneered over her shoulder at him. "Fiona."

His eyes flickered between hers and the soldiers at the perimeter. "Uh... well met, Fiona."

"Hmph."

Sonic listened on, filing the name away for future reference. Looking up at the underbelly of the ponderous husk of the spacecraft, he could make out a heavily corroded emblem, and a series of heavily corroded words:

C114-85EKLS

MAGDALENE

EX UMBRA IN SOLEM

It was written in the same set of characters Robotnik had used in his systems.

"How long ago did this thing rock up, anyway?" he asked.

"Gorromandas fell when I was this high." Fiona told him, levelling her hand to about waist-level. "The kitsune have no need for the counting of years."

He looked at Tails as he spoke. "No ballpark figures?"

"You ask too many questions, ghu-rah. Shut your mouth, lest I throw you to the gatherers. They will fashion spears with your bones."

Sonic acquiesced.

One of the guards leered at Sonic as he passed, with an evil grin full of razor-sharp teeth. "Ghu-raaaaaah."

Tails could feel his gut tightening up inside of him, feeling the dozens of hard kitsune eyes upon him as they moved. Whatever expectations of a warm reception he'd had were now shattered - even now he wasn't sure if he was in store for a welcoming feast or a quick, hopeless fight before they'd be feeding pieces of Sonic and himself to the crows.

Whatever was going to happen, he could see by the look on Sonic's face, that his friend had already come to the same conclusion. Their chance to turn back had come and gone, long ago.

Finally, they arrived at the main gate, a small hatch to the ship's interior laying open in the side. Beyond that, they could only make out a faint flicker of torchlight.

Fiona stopped at the edge of the hatch, motioning for them to get in. "Welcome."

Tails tried to peer into the hole, but could barely make anything out inside. "What do you plan to do with us, Fiona?"

She smirked, looking at him over her shoulder one more time before she disappeared inside the ship. "Not my decision. Father will say."

The kitsune had been clever about adapting the Magdalene to their uses, despite their lack of understanding at its intended workings; the cold steel halls were lit with bowls filled with hot coals, but each had been placed under an air duct so as to allow the smoke to escape easily. The place smelled of burning oil and fried circuitry. Down the hall, they could hear noise, loud jeering and laughing, footsteps, the clamour of metal scraping against metal.

"You see all the words on the walls in this joint?" Sonic whispered. "It's in 'Buttnik's writing..."

"Yeah, I noticed." It certainly struck Tails as something of Robotnik's making. "You think this was one of his ships? Maybe it was out here scouting, and it crashed."

"What woulda caused something like that to happen?" the hedgehog asked.

Tails could only offer a shrug for an answer. Who could know? It seemed far too large for a scout ship anyway, unless it was one decked out for an invasion - which seemed feasible, if it was indeed Robotnik's handiwork.

"There's no power on in this ship," Tails said, looking in Fiona's direction.

"The kitsune do not need the magic used by pinks," she growled. "Kitsune make our own."

"Pinks?" Sonic blinked, still having trouble adjusting to the dark. "You mean, humans?"

"Mm."

Before Tails could ask more, Fiona had rounded a corner, and gone through another door. As soon as they followed her through, he caught his breath. They'd found the bridge.

It was like walking into a party where nobody you knew was present - and the music stopped as soon as you set foot inside. There were kitsune everywhere on the bridge - all looking right at Sonic and Tails.

The floor was lined with carpet here, but it was clearly not part of the ship's design; it was a patchwork quilt of animal furs. The walls were adorned with hanging leather, crude swords, shields and artillery dangling from the ceiling.

"Anyone ever tell you, you've got some messed up relatives?" Sonic smirked.

They moved along the fur carpet behind Fiona, up to the captain's chair - and in it sat the largest kitsune Tails had yet witnessed. He was a mammoth, all armour-plated muscle, and dark silver fur. Apparently, he was the boss of this little party.

"Padra," Fiona bowed politely as she came to greet him. "Am acund o kasun ca ghu-rah pe oscuroh Reve-Na."

"Oscuroh Reve-Na?" the chief smirked. "Fac-a chea?"

Fiona chuckled as she said it. "Khe-na-sa opule!"

The entire room erupted into outrageous laughter, making Tails and Sonic both feel like crawling under the rugs. The fact that they couldn't even understand what was being said served only to fuel their frustration.

"Ssshhh," the chief held up a massive paw, putting a stop to the callous cheers and shouts immediately. "Ca ea gascuh?"

Fiona's eyes lit up as she spoke. "Prower! Miles ei-gascuh Prower!"

Tails' ears pricked up at the sound of some of the other kitsune whispering to each other. Turning his head, he saw in his peripheral vision some of them quietly leaving the room.

"Hm..." the chief rumbled quietly. He raised to his feet, clapping his hands together, and gestured out to the rest of the crowd. "Ogula! Acuma!"

As soon as he'd spoken, the room was empty.

He turned to Tails as he slowly took his seat again. "Now..." he said, voice bassy and raspy. "Do you speak the Mobian tongue?"

"Usually," Sonic nodded.

"Where are you from?"

"We're from Mobius South," Tails inclined his head. "We came here five years ago, looking for other kitsune. I'd grown up thinking I was the last one alive..."

The chief frowned, deep creases forming in his brow. "My daughter tells me you are of the Prower clan. What became of the rest of your family?"

Tails stood up as straight as he could, throwing his shoulders back. "There was a coup, when I was very young. I suspect they were killed."

"I see." He leaned forward to shake Tails' hand. "You may call me Angiris. I command the kitsune in Duruga. Now, tell your hedgehog friend to go home, and come with me. We have a great deal to talk about, young Miles."

"What?" Sonic shook his head. "Go home? After coming all this way?"

"You leave, or you die." Angiris' eyes narrowed. "You are ghu-rah. We do not welcome the weak. We kill them."

"Pfft," Sonic turned around, waving a hand behind his head. "Fine. Let's blow this joint, Tails. Your family sucks, anyway."

Tails grimaced. He was right. These kitsune were nothing like he'd hoped for them to be. They were exactly as Morris had said they were - a pack of bloodthirsty savages.

"Don't tell me you intend to leave with him?" Angiris cackled.

"Why not?" Tails growled. "All this time I'd thought being a kitsune was something to be proud of. Now I see I should be more ashamed than anything. You're nothing like the family that reared me. My kind are back on Mobius, just like everyone kept telling me..."

Surprisingly, he found himself blinking back tears. He'd been prepared for every kind of disappointment except this.

He began to turn, hanging his head low, and headed for the door.

"Your clan are among the highest respected of this enclave!" Angiris called out after him. "You have clan mates here. Blood relatives. You shame them by turning your back, after you have just found us!"

"Then they shame themselves enough by even choosing to be here!"

"Wait!" Fiona cried out. "Stay! Please. The hedgehog may stay too."

Sonic stopped in his tracks.

"Fiona!" Angiris rumbled, glaring at her.

"Let him stay for a time," Fiona growled back, looking her father in the eye. "Let them both see that the kitsune are not without honour."

"We have never provided shelter for a ghu-rah!" Angiris shouted. "Our kindred will rip him to shreds!"

Now was Sonic's turn to get offended: "Alright, pops, look. I can take care of myself. You ain't ever met a hedgehog this fast in your life, and I'll bet you've never seen one who knows how to fight, either. So you can pass your judgement, after you've had a taste of ass-kicking, Sonic style!"

"Big words for a ghu-rah!" Angiris laughed heartily. "I would like to see you try, little hedgehog."

Sonic crouched low, ready to fight. "Bring it on, you old fart! You ain't too bright if you want to dance with me."

Tails ran a palm over his face. Fiona backed up, folding her arms. She smirked at the challenge, looking on with some mild curiosity.

Before anyone had a chance to blink, Angiris sprung out of his chair, reached above and caught a hold of a battle staff that had been hung from the rafters. He brought the bladed end down on Sonic with unprecedented force and speed, but Sonic was already out of the way. The blade smashed down into the metal plating, sending sparks flying.

Angiris didn't stop. He swung around, seeing the blue blur in the corner of his vision, and brought the staff crashing through. Sonic jumped over it as it came through, feeling the blade just barely nicking the toe of his shoe. Before he even landed, the kitsune chief had recovered and taken another swing, which Sonic was only just able to duck. When it came around for a third time, he grabbed hold of it and hopped up on top.

"Huh-" Angiris' eyes widened as the ghu-rah ran right up the length of the weapon, leaping in to the air to plant a foot square in the centre of his face.

"Heheh!" Sonic landed elegantly on the opposite side of the room, watching his adversary stumbling, clutching onto his bleeding nose. "You're fast, but you ain't ever gonna be fast enough with all that weight behind you."

"I'm impressed, ghu-rah," he growled, an evil grin forming. "But if your speed is your only trick, you'd better yield!"

Sonic laughed, blowing a raspberry at him. "Ready for round two?"

"Hsss!" Angiris' eyes flared up white hot, just like Tails' had done in the past.

Sonic came at him hard and fast, leaping up and somersaulting right over his head, and bouncing off the wall. But Angiris was prepared this time, bringing his staff up to meet the hedgehog's assault.

Tails found himself struggling to keep his composure as he looked on. He knew Sonic, and Sonic wasn't into killing others if he won in a fight against them. Evidently, the same did not hold true with Angiris. The blade of his staff was deadly sharp, easily capable of severing a limb if it made contact.

"Is your friend stupid?" Fiona whispered. "Tell him to yield. My father does not show quarter."

Tails frowned, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew Sonic well enough to be acutely aware that Sonic would never yield. He was just too proud.

Sonic bounced back from the staff quickly, breaking it in two, reaching up to swing from the steel rafters above and rolling to his feet on the opposite side of the room again. Before he could get his bearings, he felt a searing white flame envelop his body. He almost collapsed from the pain, but managed to reach out and grab the wall near him, barely staying upright.

"Uh-oh..." He looked up just in time to see the butt of Angiris' staff come around and smack him in the forehead, sending him reeling. In the next second, the blade came at him. He ducked out of the way, but it sliced him in the arm, a spray of blood coating the wall near him.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted. "Yield to him, you idiot!"

Angiris towered over him, conjuring up another crackling ball of electric fire in his hands. "Better listen to your friend, ghu-rah," he sneered, eyes glowing.

Sonic cowered in the corner, a hand over the massive gash in his arm, trying to stop the blood from pumping out of the deep wound. "I ain't no quitter..."

The massive grey kitsune laughed, letting the fireball forth with a thunderous clap. The ball caught the hedgehog with full force, sending the waves of intense pain shooting through his body once again - but this time, he didn't even flinch from it - instead, he went onto a spin-dash, sending all of the rugs beneath him flying to fall into pile against the wall.

Angiris was caught completely off-guard as the hedgehog smashed into his chest at one hundred kilometres per hour, sending him crashing into the wall, the vibrations from the impact causing several of the room's fittings to fall and clatter against the ground.

"Aaaagh..." He keeled forward as he fell to his knees, clutching at his bleeding chest with one arm and raising the other in a futile attempt at blocking.

In the next fraction of a second, Sonic leaped up to kick his hand out of the way, wielding the blunt end of the broken battlestaff like it were a baseball bat, and knocked the kitsune for a six to go tumbling straight into Fiona. Tails dived out of the way right before the two bodies were sent straight into the massive chief's chair, bringing it end-over-end to slam into a set of long-unused computer consoles, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

Sonic wasted no time in scooping up the bladed end of the battlestaff, and striding over, hopping the upended throne with ease, blood still pouring from his arm.

Tails held his breath as he watched the procession, frozen in place.

Fiona backed up and stumbled to her feet, suddenly more fearful than ever. Angiris was still on the ground, just barely conscious after blow he'd suffered at Sonic's hands.

Now, the hedgehog - the one that had seemed nothing more than a pathetic piece of game the Prower had dragged in with him - stood over him, blade in hand, face stony and grim in the crimson torchlight.

"Sonic!" Tails called out. "Are you nuts? You won!"

Fiona fought every instinct in her body that told her to intervene. But this was a duel - and kitsune did not deny other kitsune of the right to live or die by the will of the fight. Not even if it was their father.

"No!" she cried out, her eyes glowing.

Sonic slowly raised the blade to Angiris' face, the tip resting gently on the end of his nose.

"Gotcha!" he laughed, tossing the blade aside.

Tails and Fiona let out a sigh of relief in unison.

Angiris didn't seem too fazed by the loss, but he still slapped Sonic's hand out of the way when the hedgehog offered it, and rose achingly to his feet. "You had a perfect opening to kill me. Why didn't you do it?"

"That's not how we roll, where we come from."

"I see. Well..." he huffed, his massive armoured chest rising and falling, "You know what? I think I like you, ghu-rah. Fiona, tend to his arm, and prepare a bed for them both."

"Me?" Fiona stammered, her ears folding back.

"Yes, you. Go. And Miles, if you would, I'd like to show you a few things."

Tails frowned. "We still haven't said we'd be staying."

"You've travelled for five years in search of this place, and now you are here!" Angiris chuckled, resting one huge paw on his shoulder. "Indulge yourself. Perhaps we'll make a proud kitsune of you yet."

He had a point. Five years was a lot of time to throw away.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Sonic sucked a breath through gritted teeth as she rubbed some of the strange powder into his wound.

"You cry like a baby, ghu-rah," Fiona groaned, reaching for another handful. "I should have let you both sail into the waters. Then I would not be reduced to playing the role of nurse for a soft-flesh outsider!"

Sonic grinned. "Hey, don't act so cheery. I sure showed your old man a thing or two back there about what us 'ghu-rah' can do, didn't I?" He flinched as she threw some more of the grey powder around the fissure liberally, letting it soak up all the blood. He'd expected it to still sting the second time, but whatever it was she was using, it seemed to have the effect of a local anaesthetic. When she gently pinched the two sides of ragged gash together, he could feel the pressure, but no pain.

"If you'd shown mercy in a true duel for even a second, you would be dead."

"I couldn't say I don't love a good brawl," Sonic smirked. "But I don't do killing. We're all flesh and blood. We all feel the same things. I don't feel like dying, so I don't wish it on anyone else."

She glared at him, as if what he'd said was nothing short of blasphemous. "Any true warrior must always be ready to die in combat! Else, they should not be in the fight!"

"Well, I was in a fight just now, and I wasn't ready to die."

She looked at him with a mix of curiosity and sheer repulsion. "Then what if Angiris were the one holding a blade to your head? Would you be on your knees, whelp? Begging for your pathetic life?"

Sonic shrugged, taking the insult in stride. "Never had to think about it. I've never lost a fight."

"Hmph." She reached into her pouch, and pulled out a crude hook-shaped needle, with some thin scrapings of a vine dangling off of it. "You dance close to the fire, ghu-rah. One day, you will burn."

"Uh..." Sonic's eyes widened at the sight of the hook. "Is that thing supposed to be your idea of a suture kit?"

"So am I to understand this hedgehog is your... surrogate?" Angiris almost choked the words out, so little could he believe what he was hearing.

"He was more like a big brother," Tails said. "Him and another Mobian, the princess. But they all took care of me when I was growing up."

"It's little wonder you've come out as soft as you have."

He'd laid out the basic story of his formative years over the last half-hour, to Angiris' great interest. In return, Angiris had given Tails a quick grand tour of Gorromandas, the name the kitsune had given the 'Magdalene', the crashed space vessel that they had chosen to make their home.

Tails had kept a sharp eye out as the moved among the halls. When they came to some of the more spacious areas of the ship, it triggered something in his mind. Plenty of it had been converted to suit their taste for decor using elements of the jungle outside, as well as shards of bone and strips of animal furs, but he also saw what had very clearly once been some kind of lab; computer terminals, Bunsen burners, some smashed microscopes. There were stands that were clearly intended for holding test tubes and beakers, but though there was no sign of any loose glassware.

"This was a research vessel," he breathed.

"Probably," Angiris shrugged. "It came down over a decade ago, when we were had made our home some way to the north-east of here, nestled within the mountains. When we investigated, we found little in the way of resistance, and it has proven to work well as a fortified shelter. We have adapted some of their defensive technologies for our own ends, but we did not venture far further than some modest attempts at restoration."

Tails looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Fiona told us that it was because you didn't need any of the ship's functions." Tails had grown tall, but Angiris dwarfed him still.

Angiris coughed loudly, making the walls vibrate. "My daughter is proud and headstrong, like her father in his youth. If something is beyond her reach, she will sing that she never needed it. Such is hubris, I suppose. But yes, if we could restore functionality to the reactor, it would certainly work to our benefit."

"What's wrong with it?"

"I do not concern myself with such technicalities. Perhaps you should find out yourself some time, if you think you could offer any assistance."

Tails nodded. "I might do that."

He'd found himself warming to Angiris as they'd talked. Clearly he was as ruthless and brutal as the next kitsune, probably even more so, but he also seemed reasonable, and genuinely interested in Tails' stories of the western continent. Perhaps these folk had more layers than he thought. For the sake of his pride, and this expedition, he surely hoped so.

"Alas, I have things that need doing..." the chief announced. " I will need to be on my way, young Miles. Perhaps you should familiarise yourself with this place, and check up on your hedgehog friend. Then seek out your clan mates and get some rest, and find me in the morning. I want to hear more about your life on Mobius."

"Uh, sure," Tails said, watching him stride off slowly, hands behind his back. He'd not expected such interest from the kitsune leader. Part of him seemed uneasy about it, but it'd surely been an age since he'd been able to talk about anything to anyone besides Sonic, and it had hitherto, proven to be nothing if not a stimulating exercise.

After standing still in the hall for a moment, it occurred to Tails that Angiris had not even said goodbye.

Shrugging the thought off, Tails focused his attention to some of the old computer terminals in the lab. The keyboards were arranged in a QWERTY configuration, just like Robotnik had used. Most of the screens were shattered beyond repair, but one sat conspicuously intact upon one of the desks. No other loose laptop computers were present; it seemed, someone else had found this one and brought it out to try and test it.

He picked the terminal up, blew the thick layer of dust off the top, and opened it. Naturally, after over ten years, it had long since run out of charge. He flipped the computer over and examined the bottom, using a claw to pry off the battery cover.

The battery he pulled out looked familiar: small, blue and cylindrical. He recalled using a similar battery in his flashlight, that had been filched from Robotnik's stores ages ago.

He pulled the flashlight out of his pack, emptied out the battery and placed them side by side. Identical.

It was a long shot, of course. The battery had not been recharged since he'd left the continent of Mobius, but his good night vision and the fact that it was a long-life battery meant he was in with a chance.

He popped the cell from his flashlight inside the computer's bay, and replaced the cover.

Flipping the terminal over again, he hit the 'power' button.

"Haha!" He laughed to himself, feeling a sense of quiet pride flow through him. The power button lit up green, and the screen dumped him to a black command line.

WARNING: Low power. X has failed to start. Falling back to failsafe...

username:

His first thought was to guess. He typed in 'admin'.

username: admin

password:

He tried a few things, but none of them seemed to work. Eventually, he simply just tried hitting 'return' on the keyboard:

username: admin

password: *********

Sorry, try again.

username: admin

password: ******

Sorry, try again.

username: admin

password: ***************

Sorry, try again.

username: admin

password:

admin#mag13:$

"Yes!"

He was in.

Sally had taught him some of this. He barely remembered, but it was worth a try, if only out of curiosity. Perhaps, if he dug in enough, he'd be able to decipher some of the reason this ship was here.

admin#mag13:$ ls

Directory listing of '/':

bin

dev

etc

lib256

home

media

mnt

usr

opt

admin#mag13:$ cd home

admin#mag13:/home$ ls

Directory listing of '/home':

Documents

Downloads

Pictures

readme

The file named 'readme' looked interesting, but he could barely remember his way around the terminal; it'd been so long since he'd been given the chance to put any of this knowledge to use. Usually it had been handled by Sally, or she'd simply plug Nicole in and let her do the lot. What was it again?

admin#mag13:/home$ open readme

open: command not found

admin#mag13:/home$ nano readme

Bingo.

GNU Nano 2.2.4 File: readme

To whomever may read this,

I suppose I will be dead if this note should be discovered by a rescue party. Please let it be known that I face my death with full knowledge that my circumstances are the result of my actions and mine alone. Ten days ago I commandeered the Magdalene with a full research and ship crew at my side, without the consent of the institute commander. I knew the chances of my safe return were slim, though the crew did not, but I felt confident that should I return with what I'd sought to find, I would not only be pardoned but commended for my initiative.

Three weeks ago my direct superior, Dr. Julian Kintobor, launched an experiment involving himself and his second assistant and nephew, Colin. We had been working on a revolutionary teleportation system, the world's first truly working teleporter that was small enough for instantaneous travel anywhere in the universe without the need of a hyperspace drive and the entire space vessel attached to it.

All other forms of transport, after this, would be rendered essentially obsolete if it were to succeed, truly a massive, massive step forward for the human race as we reach out further and further from our beloved planet Earth; however, Julian is jealous and intensely paranoid; while there's no doubt that my mentor is a genius and prodigy of the highest order, he never has functioned well as a team member. All of his notes were kept in one place - his head. All of his source code is closed and encrypted, accessible only by him, meaning if he were to disappear - as he has, incidentally, no one would be able to follow his work.

This has proven to work to his detriment. Colin and himself stepped inside the teleport chamber, with the intention of being simply translocated across the room; instead, they both simply vanished. It was simply an elementary mistake; we had run the test a thousand times, inputting the same coordinates to transport some inanimate objects, and all had worked with a success rate of 100%. In this, of all instances, he had put two sets of coordinates around the wrong way.

When nobody saw them again the next day, I went into a state of shock. My colleagues, when they learned of the incident, assumed him dead, and went about their business. Not an unreasonable assumption; after all, a bad set of destination coordinates would more often than not mean instant death, such as the (very likely) cases of teleporting inside of the earth or out in space.

But this is one thing in my life - the first thing - that I feel I have been a true part of. The first time I have not simply been some spoiled, rich brat watching from the sidelines. I had put too much of my blood, sweat and tears into helping to develop this technology to see it simply discarded with the trash!

Robotnik and Colin had both taken the trip together, leaving one free activation of the teleport before it would need reprogramming - a procedure that, like many other things, Dr. Kintobor had not been willing to divulge to anyone. I used it to send a long-distance spy probe through.

What I saw was beyond my wildest belief of what could be possible in this existence: the chances of this happening are literally less than a thousand billion to one! The spy probe had come out on the other side and into this... other world, a complete civilisation, full of bipedal creatures, with an atmosphere of its own... I can hardly fathom at what kind of air that atmosphere contained. It would not be far fetched to think that even if they had survived the transportation intact, they would choke to death immediately after arrival. But if not... then they could be still alive.

When I relayed news of this to the board of directors, they seemed amused, but not much concerned. They had already navigated through the prickly process of not only relaying the news of Julian and Colin's deaths to their families (apparently the news was not received with any great amount of sadness, much to my disgust) and walked the legal minefield that followed. To this day I regret my idiotic lack of forethought here: in my haste, I had not recorded the output of the spy drone to disk to use as evidence. It simply vanished after I saw it - another result of my emotions ruling my actions, an affliction I have been prone to over most of my life. Without sufficient evidence of a chance of successful recovery, they refused my repeated requests to mount a rescue mission to follow these new coordinates via one of their FLT ships, and threatened to strip me of my position if I persisted. Eventually, I fell quiet.

But when two weeks had passed, I had had enough. Years of research lived in that man's head. MY research. I would not let the doctor's mistake deny me of the recognition I deserved. I spent the entirety of the last week preparing an expedition, to take one of the FLT ships, the Magdalene, and supply it with a crew, funded out of my own inheritance, to make the jump to this world and retrieve Julian and Colin. I had no idea of the hostility this world could possess so we did not skimp on security or offensive measures. By the time the board had lowered themselves down from their perch far enough to know something was amiss, we had already made the jump.

But my calculations were wrong. I had set a path that, apparently, had put us too close to the planet to gauge the safety of landing. The ship's engineers had warned me of this, but I had paid them no heed. I should have.

This planet has an intense gravitational pull, almost twice as strong and far-reaching as that of Earth. We were caught inside the atmosphere before we even knew where we were, and the Magdalene was reeled in like a fish. The engineers pulled all of their power to the drives but we were too soon out of the jump; the ship's reactor had not regained enough charge and we sank like a rock. The impact happened yesterday morning, while I was asleep.

I suffered two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder - apparently, I got off incredibly lucky. The vast majority of the ship's seventy-odd member crew were killed on impact. I managed to regroup with some others, but none of us are particularly skilled in the art of survival; nonetheless, we will seek a way to salvage this situation.

If you discover this note, please ensure Julian's safety, by whatever tiny particle of hope there may be that he survives to the day.

Maybe I should make this an obituary, a kind of farewell note... I don't know. I am crying as I type this. I wonder, now, if perhaps I will still live on in some way. Maybe not in this body, or this personality. Maybe somehow through that little device Julian had. I never looked to see if he had taken it through the teleport or not.

May I be remembered as a selfless, intrepid woman. May my actions here serve to record that I was NOT the useless, spineless child that my parents dismissed me to be.

Courtney Russell

Lab Assistant 470

Eckel University of Technology

Ex umbra in solem.