9: Much Needed Information

Tails’ Lab was a magnificent place with lots of inventions and technology that many people would probably call ‘extraterrestrial.’  All of the neighbors of the lab marveled at the building, even claiming that Tails would sometimes come out and give them a free show of his inventions.  The steel lab has also won many awards, including numerous scientific awards and even awards from world leaders.  The most impressive concept of the lab is the exterior design.  It was truly a sight to see.  Whether it was day or night, Tails’ Lab was a modern marvel every day.

Today, however, was not one of those days.

The famed laboratory was now almost destroyed by the two battles that it hosted.  The entire front side of the lab was gone.  The sides were mostly gone, except for a few walls, and the back of the lab was still intact, but had cracks in it.  If the neighbors had seen the lab now, they would say it looked like a construction site; not only by the destruction of the lab, but there was a mob of animals at the lab, cleaning up and trying to rebuild.  Most were friends of Tails, while some were friends of Tails’ friends.  Tails himself stood at the place where the front door would be at, marveling at the destruction of his “baby.”  His best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog, came over to him, carrying a wooden board.

“Hey Tails,” Sonic said.  “You ok?”

“…Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Tails lied.  “Thanks again for helping out.  And for calling everybody else to help.”

“Hey, no prob!  After getting a good look at this place, we were going to need all the help we could get!  Is something bothering you?  You’ve been staring at this rubble for a while.”

“I just don’t get it…” Tails answered.  “How can a little hybrid kid do this much damage?”

“Well, you said it yourself…There was something odd about him.  Now we know.”  Sonic left Tails to his thinking.

‘…I got to get to the bottom of this,’ Tails thought as he walked through the rubble to the end of the lab, dodging animals carrying metal, glass, and the occasional bucket for slimy creatures.

He finally reached a semi-damaged room where Light was sitting alone in a small chair.

“Oh, hi Tails!” Light waved.

“Hey Light,” Tails said less enthusiastically.

“Do you know where my mommy and daddy are?  I want to make sure that they’re ok.”

Tails wanted to shut the door for some kind of dramatic effect, but there was no door, thanks to the fight, so he just pulled up another chair and sat in front of Light.

“Don’t worry, your….parents are ok.  Light, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, anything.”

“You see all of this destruction?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know why my lab looks like this?”

“Um…a tornado hit here?”

Tails sighed.  “No, Light, think back.  What were you doing just an hour ago?”

“Um…lifting your weights?”

“After that.”

“Sleeping?”

“NO!  AFTER THAT!!!”

“…Sitting here talking to you?”

“AH!!!” Tails screamed and slammed his fists down on his knees in frustration.  “NO!  YOU were fighting someone!  YOU were the one who beat and possibly killed him, and YOU were the one who destroyed my lab!!”

“…I did?”

“YES!!”

“…Are you sure?  Because I think I would remember if I destroyed a lab or hurt someone.”

Tails just sat there with his mouth agape.  Was this kid for real?  Did he really not remember what had taken place?

“Light…you really don’t remember?”

“Remember what?!  Seriously, I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“…” Tails had to think on this some more.  “Ok, Light, you can go see mommy and daddy now.”

“YAY!” Light ran out of the room and went outside, but not before tripping over a slimy creature.

‘This…is strange…’ Tails thought to himself.  There is no way on Earth or Mobius that anyone would forget doing all of this damage.

“Tails!” A wolf-like voice called from outside the damaged room.  “Come here!  You might want to see this.”

“Ok, Mewgle, I’ll be right there.”  Tails slowly stood up from his chair and walked out of the room.  ‘Something’s wrong with this kid…and I’m gonna find out.’

The puzzled fox kid followed Mewgle to an intact room near the very back of the lab.  At the center of the room, a large tube stood.  In the tube was a grey hedgehog that looked unconscious.

“Okay, what did you find out?” Tails asked, reaching for a pen and his clipboard.

“Well,” Mewgle began.  “I did all the analysis on the body that you wanted me to do, and I found some very interesting information on him.”

“Okay, show me.”

“Well, look here,” Mewgle sat down on a rolling chair in front of a desktop computer.  On the screen was a website.

“The Elementals?” Tails said the name of the website out loud.

“It was a bitch trying to get to this site.  I had to go through wall after wall; I feel like a hacker with the software you told me to use.”

“So what’s so special about this site?”

“The Elementals, according to the website, is a secret organization made up of humans, animals, and robots that have special powers that are based on elements of the world.  Their goal is still unknown, but their numbers are incredible.  They have a whole army at their disposal!”

“How does this relate to this guy?”

“Well, I found him on this site, though he was not under the name ‘Frank.’”  Mewgle typed in a few words and pressed Enter and the screen changed to a profile of the grey hedgehog.

“That’s him?  George Martelli?  Wait a minute; he said that his name was Frank.”

“I know, but look at this,” Mewgle then clicked on another tab to the same website, but a different page, where it had all kinds of information on names.  “The Elementals pick their own names for their element recruits.  They pick them to correspond with the person’ element.  Like for example, if I were to be a Fire user, my Elemental name would have to start with an ‘F’.  Now most of the recruits who have elemental powers already have their name starting with their element, but some don’t.”

“So George had his name changed to fit his Force status.” Tails said.

“Exactly, but that’s not all; it says here that he is the captain of the Elementals’ Force Division.  That means this guy is over all of the recruits who have Force powers.”

“So when he said that he was strong, he wasn’t kidding, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Thanks for the information, Mewgle.  How is he?” Tails turned to the tub that held Frank (George).

“Not good.  He’s in critical condition, he might not make it.”  Mewgle said, rolling his chair to the tub.  “Amazing, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“That one kid could cause all this.”

“…Exactly.  That’s what I’m studying now.  Good work, Mewgle.  Keep it up.”  Tails walked out of the room and went back to the ‘construction site’ that used to be his beautiful lab.

“HEY TAILS!!!” A voice of distress cried out.  “HELP ME!!!”

Tails turned to see Knuckles being attacked by a purple blob thing that had about 16 tentacles.

“Uh, yeah, Knuckles, good luck,” Tails ignored his assaulted friend and stared at Light, who was playing with his “mommy and daddy” with a giant yarn ball.

‘You…what exactly are you?’ Tails thought.

“Master Dark!  Master Dark!”  A human, wielding a piece of paper, ran to the black hedgehog sitting in his chair at a base in Green Hill.

“Yes, yes, what is it?” Dark leisurely said.

“We have urgent news about one of our captains!”

“Which one?”

“The Force Division Captain, Frank Martelli.”
“What is it about?”

“We tried to contact Frank on his tracking device, but there was no signal.  Sensors have indicated that there is no trace of him left.  He’s dead.”

At this news, Dark’s eyes locked on his human reporter and straightened up in his seat.  “You better not be lying to me,” Dark dismissed the human and called in Freddy and Pyro.

“Yeah, yeah, what is it?” Freddy said, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the room.  “I was enjoying a much needed and much earned beauty nap.”

“Have you heard the news?” Dark asked the both animals.

“What news?” Pyro responded.

“Your fellow captain, Frank, is dead.”

“No fucking way! Ha ha, the stiff, polite old Frankie finally kicked the bucket, huh?”

“This is not a laughing matter, Fredrick.” Pyro politely said.

“…Did you just call me Fredrick?  I know you didn’t just call me Fredrick!  That’s a gay name!  Who names their kid ‘Fredrick?’  Certainly not my mom!  She named me Freddy and not no gay ass Fredrick!”

“Shut up!” Dark silenced them.  He stood up, walked to a large window with handle bars in front of it, and cupped his hands over his face.

“Whoa, emo much?” Freddy joked.

“This has gotten out of hand.  First the little shit kills nearly all of the Knowledge Division and now he’s gone and killed Frank.”

“You are right, Dark-sama.  But, to tell you the truth, I saw it coming.  Compared to Fredric….Freddy and I, he was weak.”

“That still doesn’t change the fact that Frank is dead.  That’s it; we have to launch the plan.”

“Wasn’t Frank’s real name like George or something?” Freddy asked himself.

“Dark-sama, we cannot launch that plan.  It’s too early.” Pyro pleaded.

“I don’t care.  If we don’t nip this in the bud quick, he’ll wipe out our whole army.” Dark insisted.

“Dark’s right.  Plus, I want to pay Tails a little visit,” Freddy said with evil intentions.

“Well, it is your call, Dark-sama.  You want us to inform the army and the Divisions?”

“…” Dark had to think hard for a second.  The plan that the Elementals had was a big one indeed, and would cause major devastation.  “Yes.  Pyro, inform the army; Freddy, inform the Divisions.”

“Alright!  Time to finally get off my ass and kill somebody!” Freddy jumped up and down and ran out the room to do his job.

“It will be done, Dark-sama.” Pyro bowed and walked out of the room to do his task.

Dark, still looking out the huge window at the sea, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  The decision that he just made would have consequences that could come back to haunt him.

“Yes…it’s time to begin…Operation: Destroy Green Hill.”