Collared Sonic: Part 2

The next morning the Resistance gathered on the field. There was light chatter among those assembled, but they mainly waited in anxious silence. Tails looked to the sky nervously, knowing the other Sonic was up there, waiting to destroy him- or protect him? The dream had him confused. Was it a dream or a nightmare? Tails closed his eyes and bowed his head.

The night before his dream had consisted of the other Sonic (now called 'Collared Sonic' by most the Resistance) trapping him in a net. Collared Sonic had stood there, looking at Tails with a look of pure hatred as Tails struggled to free himself. What Tails didn't understand was what happened next.

The collar that Collared Sonic wore had disappeared, and his countenance changed instantly. He rushed forward and cut the net holding Tails.

"I'm sorry," Collared Sonic said, offering to help Tails up (Tails swatted his hand away, and Collared Sonic pulled it back in a sad motion), "I have to keep you safe. I'm sorry."

Tails had run away at that point.

"Tails, you okay?"

Tails opened his eyes and looked over at Sonic.

"You look worried," Sonic noted.

"Yeah," Tails said, looking back up at the Death Egg, "I'm really worried."

Sonic put his arm around Tails.

"I understand," he said, "I'm a little nervous too. But we'll get through this together, like we always have, right?"

Tails smiled, though not fully comforted.

"Right," he said.

At the same time, Knuckles was pondering his own confusing dream as he stared into the sky. The dream took place on Angel Island; not in the past, but with many echidnas living there. Knuckles was older, wearing traditional tribal dress, sitting on a pile of mats at the head of a council. On the opposite wall of the room, two guards stood on either side of the double doors.

Three groups of echidnas sat before him. On the right, closest to Knuckles, sat five echidnas in tribal dress that marked them as a clan. On the left were five more of a different clan. Six were of a third, one of whom was Reka, Knuckles' middle son. He was much older as well, and his siblings were nowhere to be seen.

Reka sat separate from his descendants, next to Knuckles, and bore a white circle on his forehead. On the other side was a female echidna wearing a similar mark on her own forehead. Eight more white marked echindnas sat at the very end, all part of the third clan.

The council were waiting for something, and Knuckles closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to steel himself for this. After a moment, Knuckles opened his eyes.

"Bring him in," he ordered.

The guards opened the doors, and a third brought in a young blue hedgehog, bound in wire chains. Knuckles recognized him as a young Collared Sonic. The council began to murmur, but Knuckles silenced them with his hand. Knuckles turned to the hedgehog.

"Why did you come to Angel Island?" he asked.

"Where?" Collared Sonic asked.

"Angel Island, the island you are currently standing on," the head of the right clan said impatiently.

"Hold your peace, Lati," Knuckles scolded, "yes, child, this island is Angel Island. What brought you here?"

The young Collared Sonic looked Knuckles in the eyes.

"I was running away," he said clearly.

The council erupted into more murmurs, which Knuckles silenced again.

"Who were you running from?" Lati asked.

Collared Sonic glared at him, then looked down.

"None of your business," he said angrily.

This cued even more mutterings, some of outrage. It took longer for Knuckles to quiet the room down.

"We aren't here to attack the boy," he said sternly, then in a gentler tone, "you are on our island, and we want to know the status of those here. If you need help or protection, we will harbor you. If you are a criminal, we will not. Now, who or what are you running from?"

Collared Sonic looked up, and Knuckles saw he was crying.

"Well I'm a thief. Throw me out already," he said strongly.

That's where the dream ended. Knuckles didn't know what to do with it.

Silence fell as a small fleet of flying robots deployed from the Death Egg. Land robots emerged from the forest, lead by Collared Sonic. The advancing line stopped a few meters in front of the Resistance's front line. Collared Sonic looked over the force, his gaze falling at last on Tails and Knuckles. That layered look came into his eyes again. Tails' first thought was that it was of hate, and that seemed to be it. But... was there something else there?

Tails shook his head lightly, chasing the thought away.

'It's just your dream talking,' he chided himself, 'Collared Sonic is the enemy, and will not hesitate to destroy you. Don't be distracted.'

Knuckles faced the same thought and shook it off as well.

'You just had a weird dream,' he told himself, 'ignore it.'

The two lines faced off for a minute, neither knowing if they should start. Then Collared Sonic raised his head and shouted,

"Eggemp victal!"

Both lines charged, and both Tails and Knuckles forgot their worries about Collared Sonic as they became swallowed by the adrenaline of the battle. The Resistance destroyed robots in swaths, but that didn't even make a dent in Eggman's forces. After what felt like an eternity but was really only ten minutes, a shout rang out. The fighting died down instantly. Tails turned in the direction the shout had come from and froze. Knuckles looked as well, and his blood ran cold.

Dead center in the battlefield, Collared Sonic stood over the still form of his counterpart.

'No...'

Knuckles' heart seemed to stop, but for some reason, he was moving. He was running towards Sonic, knowing it was too late. Tails was running too. All the core Resistance members were. Shadow reached the Sonics first. He shot Chaos Spears at Collared Sonic, but his target dodged and knocked him back with a spin attack. Shadow teleported, but Collared Sonic ducked, dodging his attack from behind, then knocked Shadow back so his head hit a rock. Shadow fell next to Sonic.

Before anyone else could attack, Collared Sonic grabbed the two unconscious hedgehogs and was gone, his trail of blue light leading up to the Death Egg. A couple of seconds later he returned, standing on the spot his victims had fallen.

Tails stopped about ten feet away. Amy stopped next to him. She was completely freaked out, but she had enough sense to stay back. The rest of the Resistance assembled by them. Collared Sonic looked their way. He locked eyes with Tails. They were hard, like always, but for a moment, they softened.

'I'm sorry,' they seemed to say.

Tails blinked, confused, but as soon as they did, those eyes were hard again. Collared Sonic looked away and raised his voice.

"Victal! Victal Eggemp!" he called.

The Resistance watched, helpless, as Eggman's forces retreated to the Death Egg. Sonic and Shadow lay helpless in there. Tails felt a part of himself go with them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tails' dream changed.

He was walking in the forest, looking for someone. Turning a corner, he saw an uncollared Collared Sonic in a clearing, looking dejectedly at a cage containing Sonic and Shadow. The two were unconscious, laying on opposite sides of the cage. Tails was excited. He'd found who he was looking for! He walked into the clearing, straight up to Collared Sonic.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to him.

Collared Sonic looked up, startled.

"Oh, hi," he said, smiling a little.

Collared Sonic looked over at the cage.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, "I didn't have a choice."

"I know," Tails replied, repressing the sadness in his voice.

There was a moment of silence.

"Can't you free them? Your collar is gone," Tails pointed out.

Collared Sonic shook his head.

"Robotnik would find out anyways. You know I can't risk it. Not until you do your part of the deal," he said, then looked up at Tails, "how far along are you, anyway?"

"It's slow going," Tails admitted sheepishly, "I still need to take the first step."

Tails woke up. He squinted at the sunlight streaming in his window.

'That was weird,' he thought.

Tails pondered his dream as he got started on his day. He had found Sonic and Shadow, but had gone to Collared Sonic instead. Collared Sonic hadn't had his collar on, and Tails had said he could free Sonic and Shadow now. Collared Sonic had replied that he couldn't, and Tails had said,

"I know."

Tails had known why Collared Sonic had captured Sonic and Shadow; why he had no choice. What was that all about? And what was this 'deal' Collared Sonic mentioned? Why was Tails embarrassed to admit he hadn't even begun?

Everyone had gathered in the HQ's main room. There were many conversations about what they could do against their new enemy.

"What chance do we have against someone like that?" Tangle was saying to Amy, "He took down Sonic and Shadow, one after the other!"

Tails ignored this and walked over to Knuckles. Knuckles looked over at Tails with concern.

"You okay Tails?" he asked, "you look like you got no sleep."

Tails rubbed his eyes and yawned, "oh, I'm fine."

He looked down, which cued Knuckles in that he was not fine. Knuckles put his hand on Tails' shoulder.

"Sonic and Shadow will be fine," he assured the young fox.

"I know," Tails answered.

Something in Tails' voice made Knuckles look closer at him.

"You've been having dreams about him too," he guessed.

Tails looked at him in shock.

"How-"

"You look how I feel right now," Knuckles answered.

"Oh," Tails flushed slightly, embarrassed about being so obvious, "Well, I found Sonic and Shadow in the woods..."

He explained his dream to Knuckles. Knuckles nodded, thinking.

"Well, in my dream, I was much older and at the head of the new Echidna Confederation. Reynard, Reka, and Lily's children separated into different clans by that time. A young Collared Sonic was captured by our warriors," Knuckles said, "he claimed he was running away, and after telling him why we were interested in who he was running from, he said to throw him off Angel Island. He said he was a thief. That was my first dream, two nights ago.

"Last night, I had called Collared Sonic into my room so we were alone. I told him that we had welcomed him into our clans for a week now. I asked again who he'd run from. Collared Sonic bowed his head and said he couldn't tell. He started to cry.

"'She hurt me too much,' he said, 'I... I want to tell you, but it hurts too much. I- I'm sorry, Fa- Knuckles.'"

Knuckles closed his eyes.

"He was around your age, Tails," he said, "even though I thought I can't trust a dream, I feel sorry for Collared Sonic. But you're having your own conversations in your dreams. You made a deal with Collared Sonic, and until you do your part, he has no choice..."

"But you just said it's only a dream," Tails pointed out.

"That's what I thought at first," Knuckles corrected, "but if we're both getting these dreams, there may be something else to this situation we can't see."

"You mean the 'I have no choice, and you know that'?" Tails asked, relieved he wasn't alone in having second thoughts.

Amy called everyone to attention. The talk died down instantly.

"We don't have everyone right now," she announced, "Silver, Moon, and Blaze are in their times or dimensions, and we need them. Tails, you've been to Blaze's world before, so go find her. Knuckles, you're the best at chaos control. Go get the twins. I hate to ask you two to go, but we need them. They aren't Sonic or Shadow, but they're the best hope we have for reinforcements."

Tails and Knuckles nodded, understanding. Amy's unsaid statement said plenty.

"They're our only hope now."