Destruction of the Innocent

Chapter 8:

      By the time he had flown all of the way to the Floating Island, Tails
  was exhausted.  He dropped Sonic down onto the soil and then, out of
  breath, let himself fall to the ground.  He landed on his stomach,
  knocking even more breath out of him.  He rolled over onto his back,
  gasping for air.

      Sonic helped him up to his feet, and then led him over to a log to sit
  down.  After resting on the log for five minutes, Tails finally caught his
  breath.

      "Okay," Sonic began when Tails was rested.  "We don't know where
  the tunnels to the chaos emerald chamber are, so we'll have to find
  Knuckles... " he paused, distracted by something above.

      Tails looked up and saw what it was.  The Freedom Fighters' biplane
  was flying over the island, about to land.

      "There's Sally flying overhead now," Tails commented, stating the
  obvious.  "Which means that we gotta fly too - on foot!" Sonic said.
  Sonic raced after it, pulling Tails behind him.

      But the plane was too far ahead.  By the time Sonic had caught up to
  it, on the other side of the island, it had already landed in a grassy
  clearing.  It was longer and wider than two football fields, and, though
  there were bushes and large rocks scattered here and there and there was a
  tiny pond near the center, there were no trees.  And when Tails and Sonic
  saw the biplane, they also noticed that Sally was no longer in it.

      "GREAT!!!" Sonic shouted as loud as he could, frustrated.  "Now what
  do we -- "

      Sally leapt out from behind a bush and delivered a kick to the back of
  Sonic's head.  She had been waiting for them.  Sonic fell over into the
  dirt, onto his side.

      Tails' eyes widened at the sight of Sally, and he took a step back.
  This was not the Sally he remembered.  Her hair had turned black, and was
  standing on end.  Her eyes glowed a bright, neon green.  And then she
  spoke...

      Holding up the ring two-handed, with six of the seven chaos emeralds
  already in it, she said, "I believe that you have come looking... for
  this!" in a low, gravely, demonic voice.  A chill ran up Tails' spine when
  he heard her.  She had gotten all of the chaos emeralds... except for the
  one keeping this island afloat.  How much power did she have now, Tails
  wondered to himself?

      Sonic got up, rubbing his head.  He stood next to Tails side and asked
  "Who... what... are you?"

      "I... am the Demon of Chaos.  I reside within the ring.  Until someone
  places an emerald within the ring, releasing me into their body.  I grow
  stronger with each emerald added to the ring.  So that I can do things...
  such as this!" she said.

      She slammed her hands together, causing a thunder clap.  Lightning
  shot out from the crevices between her fingers.  It shot up to the sky,
  and clouds filled it, black clouds, glowing with more lightning, and
  rumbling with more thunder.

      Sonic and Tails stared in awe at the darkening sky above them.  Sonic
  looked at Sally, eyes filled with pain.  How could someone he cared for so
  much be doing this?  No.  It wasn't her.  It was the Demon.

      "Sal... " he said in a pleading voice, "Sal... if you're in there,
  stop this.  Please.  You gotta fight this thing... "

      "Your Princess is gone, rodent!" the hideous voice reberverated
  through the hills.  "And you shall soon be the same!" she... it... added.
  The ring then slipped out of Sally's hand on to the ground.  She raised
  her right hand towards Sonic... but nothing happened.  He rushed at her,
  but she snatched up the ring and pointed her hand towards him again.  A
  dagger shot out from within her palm and flew at Sonic, but he rolled
  underneath it just in time, and continued to roll right past her, so that
  now he was on one side of her, Tails on the other.  Tails finally
  realized... without that ring, she's helpless!  Then Sally put her palms
  together, as though to pray...

      And vanished in a flash of light.

      She reappeared in another flash of light nearly one hundred yards
  away, laughing at them, taunting them, goading them on.  Tails raced over
  to Sonic, grabbing him by both of his arms.  He began to twirl his tails,
  and then was flying, fast and low, racing towards Sally, Sonic's feet just
  inches off of the ground.

      Sally's eyes glowed with fury.  She raised her palms towards the
  sky, the ring still dangling around her.  Tails watched her curiously.
  Suddenly, Sonic screamed "TREE!!!"  A huge redwood tree appeared right out
  of the ground directly in Tails' flight path, roaring as it grew taller
  and taller.  He swerved left sharply, pulling Sonic after him.  Sonic
  barely missed the giant trunk by just a couple of inches.  "TREE!" Sonic
  shouted again.  "RIGHT!" He added.  Tails swerved right obediently.  But
  his left elbow scraped up against a branch HARD, tearing off fur and flesh
  with it.  Tails let out a brief cry of pain, then gritted his teeth.  He
  could feel the hot blood streaming down his arm.  "TREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"
  Sonic SCREAMED louder than ever, terrified... "LEFT, LEFT!!!" Another
  redwood was growing directly in front of them.  Tails pulled left, flying
  in between two branches, one above him, one below.  Sonic raised his legs
  to keep them from hitting the lower branch.  Leaves slapped against both
  of their faces.  Still flying low to the ground, Tails and Sonic had
  nearly reached Sally.  But then, when they were just five yards away,
  another tree appeared right in front of them.  This time, Sonic didn't
  have enough time to scream.  Tails tried to fly between two branches
  again, but then, just when he thought he was through, he felt himself
  yanked back.  His tails has caught on one of the branches.  Sonic slipped
  from his grasp and flew foward.  Sonic SLAMMED directly into Sally,
  causing her to topple over and drop the ring.  The tree stopped growing
  instantly, leaving Tails hanging upside down from the tree branch, almost
  able to touch the ground with his fingertips...

      Sonic, lying on the ground, moaned in pain.  Sally started to get up.
  She reached down for the ring, but before she could grab it, Sonic kicked
  it away, and it slid just underneath Tails.

      Tails reached down for the ring.  He was just able to hook the
  middle finger of his left hand around it.  He shut his eyes tight and
  concentrated.  HARD.  He felt his right hand being ripped apart.  He
  screamed in pain, but still kept his eyes shut, concentrating.  His right
  hand was burning with pain.  He felt as though the skin was being ripped
  off of it, but he still held onto the ring as tightly as he could with the
  finger on his left hand and continued to concentrate.  He clenched his
  teeth tight to keep himself from screaming anymore.  Instead, now he
  moaned LOUDLY.  Finally, the pain stopped.  He let go of the ring.  He
  looked at his right hand.  In his palm, the glove and fur and been burned
  off by some unknown force, and he was badly bleeding, but he had gotten
  what he wanted.  Thanks to the power of the ring and the emeralds, he now
  held in his right hand a laser rifle, just like the ones Robotnik's
  SWATbots used.

      Sally had finally gotten up.  Tails untangled his tails from the
  branch and fell to the ground, landing on his back.  Sally snatched up the
  ring, and Tails jumped up just as quickly, pointing the laser rifle at
  her.

      "Really," the Demon within Sally said, amused.  "Do you honestly think
  that you have the strength to kill one of your best friends... Princess
  Sally?"

      "You're... you're not Sally," Tails said back, a little shaken.

      Sally continued, "besides, it's not really me you want to kill, is
  it?" she asked.  The one you want dead is Sonic."

      The Demon of Chaos was right.  Because of the evil Tails had absorbed
  by using the power of the ring, he now had a strange desire to murder his
  best friend.  He shifted, pointing the rifle at Sonic instead.

      "No... " Sonic moaned, still lying on the ground.  "Noooooo!"  Sonic
  rolled over slightly.  He managed to speak in a low, quiet voice.  "Tails,
  c'mon little bro, it's me, Sonic!  I'm your bud!"

      "You... " Tails glared at Sonic with an enraged fury in his eyes.
  "You always took the glory.  You always left me behind.  You never
  respected me.  You treated me like a baby.  Like a BABY!!!" he screamed
  furiously.

      "Yesss," Sally hissed cruelly.  "You must kill Sonic!"

      Tails, holding the rifle up, ready to fire, flinched.  He felt
  something within him still telling him that this was wrong.  He shut his
  eyes.  His ears.  He listened only to his mind and heart.  No.  Sonic was
  his friend.  More than that, Sonic was his hero.  Yes.  This WAS wrong.

      He opened his eyes, and again pointed the barrel at Sally.  Sally's
  eyes glowed a brighter green than before.  "I'm going to destroy you,"
  Tails said.

      Then, the Demon's eyes flashed white, and then... they were normal.
  Sally's normal, sweet blue eyes.  Tails lowered the rifle.  "Sally... ?"
  he asked quietly.  A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

      "Yes, honey," said Sally, in her own voice.  Her own, melodic voice.
  "It's over.  The demon isn't in me anymore.  We can go home now."  Tails
  looked at Sally with disbelief in his eyes.  Her hair was still blackened
  and standing on end... but otherwise this seemed to be Sally.  But how?
  Tails swallowed hard.

      "C'mon," she said.  "It's all okay now."  Tails looked down.  She was
  still holding the ring.  He reared back and belted her across the side of
  the head with the butt of his laser rifle.

      Sally toppled to the ground.  Her eyes shut tight, and her hand
  wrapped equally tight around the ring.  Tails realized regretfully that he
  had just inflicted pain onto Sally's body, Sally, his friend.  "Sorry, I'm
  sorry Aunt Sally, Sally please forgive me, I'm so sorry," he muttered
  quietly, hoping that the real Sally inside could somehow hear him.  Then
  Sally opened her eyes.  They glowed green again.  And then she spoke:
  "That... was most foolish," she said, once again in the deep, demonic
  voice.  Tails held the laser rifle up, ready to fire at any moment.  "You
  still cannot destroy me," said the Demon.  "If you shoot this body, yes,
  you will have stopped me from destroying your world... at least for today.
   But you will have killed your friend, the Princess, forever.  Would you
  destroy your friend?  Would you destroy an innocent?"

      "You would destroy a lot more innocents if I let you go," Tails
  answered back, anger burning in his voice, still holding the gun at the
  ready.

      "Of course," said the Demon within Sally, smiling.  "I am the Demon
  of Chaos!  I exist purely for that purpose.  To destroy innocents.  To
  destroy the world of these innocents.  And also to destroy innocence
  itself."

      Tails felt a chill at these words.  But he stood still, not letting
  his inner fears show through.

      "Go ahead, child," Sally said.  "Destroy this body.  Go ahead and try.
   I know that you can't.  You can't destroy Princess Sally's body."

      Tails lowered the laser rifle.  "You're right," he responded, smiling
  calmly.  The Demon of Chaos looked at him curiously through Sally's eyes,
  surprised by this sudden action.  "I can't destroy Sally's body," Tails
  went on.  "But I can destroy yours."

      And with that, in one lightening-fast movement, Tails raised the
  rifle, aiming it at the ring, and fired.  The emeralds flew out from
  within the ring in a brilliant flash of light as they, along with the ring
  itself, launched into the air, each emerald and the ring flying in seven
  different directions, racing thousands of miles across the skies of
  Mobius, until finally landing in seven separate, distant lands.  The force
  of this blast threw Tails back against the tree he had been tangled in
  earlier, and Sonic was pushed back against a large rock.  Sally fell where
  she stood.  Her hair, still standing on end, turned red.