On the final day of the convention, Tails decided to showcase his biggest achievement of them all... His universe travelling technology, the same one him and Sonic used to visit Earth. Backstage the fox is finishing up preparations when suddenly the door swings open, Tails head snaps around immediately, standing at the door is Shadow, the black hedgehog soaking wet, Tails is completely bewildered as to why the ultimate lifeform has suddenly decided to appear now.
"Uh hey Shadow, I thought you were at your café, why are you here? And why are you soaking wet..."
"Sonic wouldn't stop whining about you having an assistant for your demonstration, so I gave the shop to Millard for the day and I'm here"
"Okay, that's awesome. But why are you soaking wet" Tails asks, looking awkwardly at Shadow.
"It's raining" Shadow responds.
"Why didn't you get an umbrella?!" Tails shouts.
"Umbrellas are for pussies" Shadow responds.
Tails looks over at him as if he'd lost his mind, then he picks up a towel and tosses it at him, "If you're gonna help me dry yourself off, I don't want you getting water all over my equipment"
"Fine" Shadow says.
After the black hedgehog dries himself off. Tails makes him put on a fancy suit and he gets ready to present the machines to the public. The crowd is huge, all of them eager to see what eye candy Tails has for them.
"Hey everyone!" Tails shouts enthusiastically.
The crowd cheers for him as he waves to everyone.
"Now before I start, you may have already noticed that Sonic isn't here right now. Thing is, last night he got attacked while bringing back some food is to eat-"
The crowd gasps in shock when they hear the news about Sonic. Meanwhile, Shadow pretty much didn't care.
"I was also saddened to learn that Sonic's attacker was a colleague of mine, Cream the Rabbit. You have no idea how betrayed I felt when I found out it was her. But Sonic's not too banged up and he's making a recovery right now as we speak! So wish him luck for me!"
The crowd cheers and claps for Sonic and Tails. Sonic who's watching the event from the hotel room's television chuckles a bit, "Supportive as always"
"For my final act, I thought I'd do something I think everyone will love, and that's showing the technology I used to basically bring us all where we are right now! If it weren't for my friends and family I wouldn't have pushed on to complete this project, to show you all this strange technology, and to bring us into the future. Thank you all so much for your support!" Tails says.
"Awwww" The audience goes.
Shadow's face reddens slightly, he's a bit touched by what Tails said, he lets out a grunt, closes his eyes and looks away so the audience can't tell he's blushing.
"And now, without a further ado, I present to you the Dream Jumper and Dream Jumper mini!" Tails says with enthusiasm in his voice.
A spotlight turns on behind Tails, behind Tails is a large orange and emerald coloured ring with wires and various bits of other technology attached to it, a monitor too so he could navigate dimensions. Next to it is the smaller gun-like device Tails used to take him and Sonic to Earth. Shadow is standing between the two looking dead ahead at the crowd, the audience claps and cheers for Tails who laughs, enjoying the attention he was getting.
"Who wants to see how it works?!"
"Me!" Everyone shouts.
"I thought you'd never ask!"
The fox dashes over to the computer attached to the ring and starts typing, putting in the coordinates for an alternate universe, he types in 4-6-6-8 and presses clicks on the navigation button, there's a whirring sound from the machine and them a bright flash, the members of the audience cover their faces as the light shines brightly. When it's all over, the doorway to a strange world has been opened.
Shadow is taken back by what he sees, the world is covered with tall trees, and there are strange flying bird like creatures flying around in the air making the audience excited, then Tails walks forward and steps threw the portal into the world and takes a moment to look around.
"If you will turn your attention to your event feed I can give you a brief tour of what I'm looking at" Tails says to the audience over a microphone.
The fox looks up at the orangish sky, the two suns shining in the sky, it's a calming feeling, but he knows it's not the time to marvel at it, "This is planet Garanris! An alternate version of Mobius!"
Shadow looks up at the sky from the Mobian side of the portal and is impressed by what he's looking at.
"Worried I can't breathe here? Well, the monitor will let you know if the world is breathable or if there are any known harmful toxins in the air" Tails says to the crowd.
Tails picks a few flowers from a bush and walks across the portal back to the Mobian side. Once he's back he types a command on the keyboard the gateway to Garanris closes.
"Now with the big mother portal out of the way, why don't I show you the Dream Jumper mini..." Tails picks up the device and points it left stage firing a projectile, another bright light flashes and on the other side of the portal is Earth, more specifically New York City where him and Sonic spent their days.
"Look familiar? That's Earth!"
The crowd cheers loudly, across the portal is a night time view of Manhattan from Brooklyn.
"So who wants to spend a few seconds in the world that shaped us to what we are today?" Tails says.
Members of the audience raise their hands and wings and paws, eager to step on Earth for the first time, Tails points a finger to a brown wolf with a ponytail, she flinches when the fox points to him.
"Hey there, don't be shy! Come on up!" The fox says with a warm smile, with a bit of hesitation she comes up to the stage, the crowd cheering for her as she stands next to Tails.
She looks as if her eyes are closed but and she's in a completely black outfit.
"So, what's your name?"
"Whisper" She says quietly.
Tails knows who she is and gives her a playful wink, "So, who wants to see Whisper set foot on Earth?"
The audience cheers for her enthusiastically as Tails waves at them, he looks up at the wolf and sees her unsteady face, "You can do it" he says to her.
Whisper reluctantly nods and starts walking towards the gateway to Earth, at this point people are taking pictures and blogging about the moment. Once the shy wolf steps across onto Earth, her eyes open up just a bit more and when they do, they are full of glittering excitement. The pretty city lights, the calming sounds of cars passing nearby, the sound of the water.
"It's... Beautiful"
The crowd cheers loudly as she gazes ahead at the Manhattan skyline.
"Alright Whisper, come on back!" Tails says.
She slowly backs away, eventually turning around and walking back to the stage and thus back to Mobius. When she's back she embraces Tails and thanks him for giving her the opertunity to set foot on Earth, as she steps off stage everyone continues to cheer and celebrate. Her best friend Tangle gives her a tight hug.
"Now, before we close the portal I have a challenge, and it's one that was originally meant for Sonic, but as I said, he can't be here right now" Tails says.
There's silence for a moment in the crowd.
"Which is why Shadow will be volunteering for this challenge instead! Shadow, your challenge is simple, find something on Earth that you personally believed was one of the best things to come to Mobius and bring it back to us"
"Easy" Shadow responds.
Shadow powers on his air shoes and jumps on threw the portal, everyone watches on a feed as the ultimate lifeform skates around the rows of fancy brownstones and eventually finds a sporty Suzuki motorcycle parked by a café. He sees the owner of the bike taking his girlfriend outside of the café and when he notices he's holding his keys out in the open he smirks.
He jumps high into the air and throws himself into the guy, the girl with him screams as he grabs the keys to the motorcycle, jumps on it, starts it and takes off. Tails' mouth drops open when he sees what he did, the crowd is somewhat shocked too as he speeds back down the promenade and goes back through the portal into Mobius. He leaps off the bike and does a somewhat sassy whip of his quills.
"Motorcycles"
There's nothing but silence in the room for a moment but then the crowd claps and chears for him almost instantly. Tails closes the portal to Earth and clears his throat.
"Well guys, that's all I have for this showcase. If you got any questions don't hesitate to stop at my booth and have a chat, bye everyone!" Tails says, waving his little hands at them.
The crowd cheers and claps for Tails and Shadow as the bow to the crowd and walk off the stage. When they get backstage, Tails sighs.
"Sorry if I went too far" Shadow says, sounding somewhat reluctant.
"Me and Sonic had to steal a bit too when we were on Earth too, no biggy" Tails says.
Shadow sighs and prepares to leave the room, "Hey Shadow"
The black hedgehog turns around and sees Tails looking down at the ground, "Did Ray come and question you recently?"
Shadow's heartbeat picks up, he's wondering how Tails knew about that, "Y-Yeah"
"What did he say?" Tails says, looking up at him with cold empty blue eyes.
"He uh, asked me to check on y-"
"Cut the bullshit, I know you're not being honest" Tails says.
"Ray asked you to spy on me, didn't he?"
Shadow knew at this point it wasn't a good idea to lie to Tails so he comes clean.
"Yeah... H-How did you know this"
"I saw security footage of him coming to your cafe before we started the show. You can't blame me Shadow, they must think I'm a killer after all" Tails responds.
Tails takes a deep breath and looks directly into Shadows eyes, into the hedgehog's soul, "Next time he comes to see you, tell him to just look into someone else"
"Okay" Shadow says reluctantly.
"I don't need you anymore, you can go back to Nightstar City now" Tails says, he opens the door to the reception area and leaves the backstage area, closing the door behind him. Shadow squeezes his fist and looks intensely at the door.
"What's his deal...?"
---
Tails gets back to the hotel room to see Sonic laying there with a few dirty plates on the dresser, the hedgehog is passed out in bed snoring audibly, Tails face turns pink and he takes out one of the flowers he grabbed on Garanris and puts it in Sonic's head as he sleeps.
"Hope you enjoyed the show" Tails whispers to him.
Tails wants to lay with Sonic in bed, but he knows he can't, the pain striking like knives to his chest, he lets out a sigh and decides to just sit by the window and watch the rain come down on the city. Eventually Sonic wakes up and sees Tails sitting there drinking some tea, he groans making the fox turn around.
"Oh... Hey Tails, how did it go?"
"It went great, I think" Tails says, sounding a bit downtrodden.
"Is something wrong?"
"I just you were there, that's all"
"I wish I could have been there too pal"
Tails continues looking at the window while drinking his tea, the sound of the rain drops pattering against the glass was somewhat calming. Sonic sits up in bed and looks over at the fox, a bit worried about the well being of his brother.
"Tails I get the feeling it's not just that, something else has you in this mood right now, what is it?" Sonic asks, concern in his voice.
Tails is silent still, watching the rain fall, holding his cup of tea tightly in his hands.
Sonic grunts and manages to stand up from the bed, walking over to Tails slowly, the fox doesn't even look at him.
"Despite our talk that day, I still feel gross..." Tails says.
Sonic is quiet as he looks down at his younger brother.
"I feel like I broke whatever bond we have left, and I can't help but feel pissed with myself for going so far with this crap. I want to just let everything fly out freely, but with the way times are changing I don't even know if that'll ever be able to happen. I-I just want to make you feel happy, and I still feel that I pushed too far or that we jumped into something too damn fast. I still feel gross, I feel so guilty, I hate this feeling, the feeling of being bottled up. It hurts so much, I just want it to stop, but I'm having so much trouble opening this bottle for some reason or another, maybe I'm insecure, maybe I'm overanalyzing, whatever the case is. I just feel trapped, I want this feeling to go away"
A tear streams down his face, Sonic gasps quietly and slowly moves over to give Tails a hug.
"Why won't it go away?" Tails says, shaking.
"I never knew you felt like that. When you think the time is right Tails, just open the bottle, it's all you have to do"
"Thanks Sonic"
"Anything for you bud"
Then Sonic looks over to the mirror and notices the flower perched by his ear. He immediately looks back at Tails who's snickering through his tears. Sonic's face turns into a tomato.
"You little-"
"Heh, couldn't resist" Tails says through laughing.
Sonic takes a rose from a vase and attaches it to the side of Tails head too as a silly act of revenge. When Tails notices what Sonic did, his face turns pink too.
"H-Hey!" Tails shouts.
"What, you thought you were gonna get me look like a girl for free?" Sonic says with a smirk.
They both end up laughing their butts off for the remainder of the night. They end up falling asleep on the couch in front of the television, sitting close to each other.
---
In the morning, the boys pack their things and check out of the hotel so they can go home when it's time, before they do leave though, they gather in the auditorium so they can see who won the invention convention. The crowd is bustling and the sounds of gossip and anticipation are in the air. Soon the lights dim and the conversation go silent.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for attending our event and we hope you enjoyed everything our ambitious inventors and creators showcased to you. The convention results and winners will now be announced!"
The crowd cheers enthusiastically. Sonic takes Tails by the hand while cheering loudly, Tails flinches when he notices this, his chest bubbling up like soda, it's hard for him to not blush after Sonic does that.
"Our third place winner goes to... Alison The Jaguar!"
The crowd cheers as the jaguar with purple eyes and a fancy dress takes the stage to receive her medal and trophy. She waves to and bows to the audience and then steps off stage so she can go back to her seat.
"Our second place winner is... Eli Michi, the Porcupine!"
A grey porcupine with square framed glasses comes on stage to accept his medal and trophy, he waves to the cheering audience and then steps off stage.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Our first place winner, and the one to take home the grand prize... Is......"
Sonic gulps and squeezes Tails hand tightly, "Come on, come on...!" Sonic whisper shouts.
Tails has butterflies in his stomach as well as the announcer looks at the envelope and then at the audience.
".....Miles "Tails" Prower!"
Tails gasps, tears flow down his face. The crowd bursts out cheering loudly for Tails.
"YES!" Sonic screams, he tugs him a bit and Tails gets out of his seat so he can go up stage and claim his reward. Instead of going alone however, Tails doesn't let go of Sonic hand and takes him up on stage with him.
"Thank you all so much for helping me get to first place! But I know who really helped me earn first place, the the best hedgehog ever, Sonic! Your support means so much to me, you mean so much to me"
Sonic chuckles nervously, while everyone gushes over how iconic their relationship is.
"Without you my life would never be the same, I wouldn't have the drive to build all these awesome inventions if it wasn't there to support me, so please thank Sonic too! Thank you all so much everyone!"
The crowd cheers excitedly as Tails and Sonic walk off the stage with the first place trophy and medals.
"Congratulations Tails" Sonic says.
Tails looks up at Sonic and smiles warmly, Sonic gulps and looks away from Tails, the fox is confused when he sees Sonic suddenly look away from him.
"Are you alright?-"
"Never better! I'm gonna go get our bags why don't you wait in the lobby" Sonic says, his face covered in sweat.
Then he zooms out of the room and into an lift that takes him their floor. When Sonic gets to the hotel room he groans, and gathers all the bags by the door before he leaves he plops down on the bed, laying on his face.
"Maybe I shouldn't have turned Tails away..." He admits to himself. Sonic hears his phone buzzing and takes it from out of his bag to see who it is, it's Shadow.
"Yo Shads, what's up?"
"Can you come to the café in Nightstar City... Alone?"
Sonic is dumbfounded, "Alone..? Why?"
"It's a conversation between I want to have between me and you only"
Sonic lets out an annoyed sigh, "Fine, I'll drop Tails off at the house and then I'll come to you"
"Good"
Then Shadow hangs up. Sonic looks at his phone with confusion wiped all over his face, "What's this about..."
Sonic carries Tails and his stuff back to the house, when they get there Silver and Blaze surprises Tails with a cake. Knuckles gives the fox a bear hug and Rouge gives him a special victory bracelet. While everyone at home celebrates Tails and his achievement. Sonic arrives at the café, and knocks on the door.
Shadow opens the door and leads Sonic to the back, while the other customers inside enjoy their food. Shadow takes Sonic to his office and closes the door.
"So why did you ask me here?" Sonic says putting his feet on the table.
"You know how Robotnik died when we were trying to take him down a few years ago?" Shadow says pacing around the room.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I have a friend in the medical examiners office, he told me that the circumstances behind Eggman's death were rather... Strange"
"Shadow, Eggman died trying to fight Tails"
"That's my point. What if Tails killed Eggman?"
"You said yourself Tails isn't capable of murder" Sonic responds, not buying what he's saying.
"Once upon a time I go I believed that, but ever since I talked to Ray, and ever since Amy's funeral... I've been skeptical about him, but I think my suspicions may have been confirmed because after the show... I don't know how, but he knew I spoke with Ray"
Sonic's eyebrow goes up, "Huh"
"And he had this ice cold look in his eye, I could... I could see the evil, souls of the dead in his eyes"
"Souls of the wha-" Sonic responds, at that point the blue hedgehog is done listening and he gets up from his chair, "Shadow, it can't be him"
"Sonic, wait! I have more proof-" Shadow says.
"Ugh, what?" Sonic groans.
Shadow slams a piece of paper on the desk, it's a report of the medical examiners findings, "Someone shot him in leg, in the arm, and in the chest with an unknown weapon. And judging by the fact it left burns bad enough to damage his organs, it had to be Tails laser blaster!"
Sonic's silent as he finishes reading the report. He doesn't want to believe it, but seeing as whoever did Eggman knew what they were doing, and Tails was the only one who encountered Eggman after his drones put him out of commission that day.
"This uh... This looks bad"
"What's bad Sonic is that Tails murdered him, he had to be the one that killed him" Shadow says.
"Hold on! What if it was an accident, the room was in flames when I got there" Sonic argues.
"Oh for the love of Chaos, Sonic the facts are in front of you..."
"I know! But I don't want to jump straight to that conclusion" Sonic responds, the blue hedgehog is conflicted, "...It can't be him" he says quietly to himself.
Shadow sits down in his chair and looks at the Sonic who's looking down at the paper with uneasy eyes.
"I'm gonna need some time to consider this" Sonic says.
"Whatever" Shadow retorts.
Sonic stands up and leaves the room. As he walks out of the café, he thinks more about that day, how shaken up his fox companion looked, the terrified look in his eyes, the tears streaming down his face.
"No" Sonic says to himself, "It's not him, it had to have been an accident"
---
Tails jacked Shadow's office phone and listened into the conversation. Words could not even come close to describing the rage and anxiousness inside of him. Now he had two problems: Shadow, Mighty and Ray... More bodies to dispose of, more people to put out of commission.
"Nosy bastard" Tails growls.
Tails needs to proceed carefully though, if he eliminates Shadow too soon or in a way that makes it obvious that is was him, it would game over before he'd ever get the chance to confess to Sonic his love. He knows Shadows abilities and their potential weaknesses, he also has plenty of resources at his disposal... Then he gets an idea, one that makes an eerie grin appear on his face.
"The solution's so easy... Why didn't I think of it before...?"
---
When Sonic gets back, he sees Tails in his room reading a book. He knocks on the door, the fox looks up at him.
"Hey Sonic, what's up?"
"Nothin, just wanted to see how you're doing"
"I'm tired... I was gonna go to sleep soon"
"Can I ask you something?"
Tails'head tilts to the side, "Sure"
"The day Eggman died were you angry or something?"
"Of course I was, one of his stupid robots almost killed you" Tails responds.
"You sure you didn't blackout or something?"
"No, Sonic... If I did I wouldn't have been able to remember what else I did. And I remember everything clearly from that day, we had a fight, I accidentally cut a piece of the cieling above him, the debris fell on top of him and he died with my laser blaster. There's nothing more to it..."
Sonic sighs, "Okay... Good night Tails"
Tails feels his ears droop, he moans softly and grabs Sonic by the hand. The hedgehog turns around immediately and looks down at the fox who's kind of shaking.
"Why do they think it's me, I can't kill anyone. You believe me... Right?"
"Tails..." Sonic says, looking down with a grave frown on his face.
"Do you believe me Sonic?!"
There's silence for a few seconds as the small orange fox starts to tear up, he squeezes Sonic tightly. The blue hedgehog could feel how much more rattled up he was now, he could really see how fearful he was. Sonic embraces him tightly as Tails continues to sniffle and shake in his arms.
"I believe you Tails"
"Thank you Sonic..."
As Tails hugs continues to embrace him tightly, a smirk slowly appears across the fox boy's face. All part of his plan to eliminate the threats to a loving relationship between him and Sonic. Nothing was going to stop him, not even the ultimate lifeform.
You won't win this game Shadow, not without your queen...