Chapter 24: A Twist In The Tail

The next day, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Tails were sat on Sonic's deck with Emma Nets. The old cat just sighed as she stared out to the ocean that was pretty much Sonic's backyard.

"Pistris Island was here long before all of us, even before this town, and will be here long after we've all gone and long after this full moon." She said as Sonic groaned.

"Oh yeah, full moon time again tonight." He sighed. "Is it gonna be as bad as it was last time?"

"The full moon is a powerful force." She smiled softly. "But this time, however, it's even more so."

"Really? How do you know?" Amy asked.

"I know." She chuckled.

"Not everything can be explained." Tails suddenly said. "Something's need to be taken on faith, right Mrs. Nets?"

"Right, Tails!" She smiled and the teens turned back to to ocean. What no one realised was that in the bushes nearby, Greg was quietly hidden as he took close up pictures of Sonic...

Sonic sighed as he walked around the park, trying to clear his head. He hadn't been for a swim or used any of his powers since he'd gotten home and it was driving him crazy. What also had him on edge was the fact that Maria Robotnik was still hanging around, even though he was sure Tails said she would be done by now.

Suddenly he felt someone grab his shoulders, making him jump. He whipped around and saw Sally laughing at him. He made a mental note to apologise to Tails for the trick he pulled the other day.

"I've been looking for you." She smiled as she hugged him. "You are not going to believe this."

"I thought you told me to leave you alone." He frowned in confusion, but she seemed to ignore him.

"There are mermaids, I've seen the photo." She squealed like a kid in a candy store while Sonic felt his chest constrict in fear.

"W-What?" He forced out. "Where did these photo come from?"

"Dr. Robotnik, she's got these underwater motion activated cameras to count fish." She explained. "I was there when she downloaded the big one." She added as Sonic was starting to find it hard to breath.

"Look, we can't tell anyone yet." She said but smiled at her boyfriend. "But I had to tell you, isn't it great?"

"Yeah! That's amazing." He chuckled nervously. "Congratulations!"...

Immediately after he and Sally went their separate ways, Sonic sent a message to his friends for an emergency conference at Tails' house. When they got there, they were horrified at when Sonic told them.

"There was a camera?!" Amy exclaimed.

"I didn't see it when I was swimming in." Sonic replied as he kept looking at the ground.

"It mustn't have been a very good photo, otherwise they would've recognise that it was you." Tails offered with a weak smile.

"Are you complaining about it?" Knuckles glared, but before the kitsune could say anything, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" He asked, but frowned when he realised who the caller was. "Oh, it's you, why would you... can I call you back?" He panicked and hung up before looking at his friends. "That was Dr. Robotnik, she wants to meet me."

"You're not going to go,are you?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic, I don't see why not, I mean, what do we got to lose?"

"You don't have a lot to lose, I have plenty!"

"Maybe if I talk to her, I can find out what she does know and what she doesn't." He offered but his friends didn't look convinced...

Back on Maria's boat, the blonde scientist was looking through the photos her assistant had sent her and she was worried. She was currently looking at the recent photos of Sonic and Sally in the park. It was no secret that the two were a couple but that was what really worried Maria.

"Did you get the photos?" She said to Nigel Acorn on the phone. "Good, this presents a problem." She frowned when she noticed Tails walking towards her boat, but he wasn't alone. Amy and Knuckles had decided to come with their small friend for backup; but Maria decided not to make an issue of it, it wasn't really a problem.

"No, I don't think she know either, you should have told Sally about him." She hissed into the phone, then rolled her eyes. "Fine, you want to handle Sally yourself, be my guest, she is your daughter; later, Nigel." She groaned before she hung up and turned to the teens as they stepped onto the boat.

"Well, you certainly know all the tour spots." Tails smiled, trying to ease the tension.

"I like it here, there's no one from miles." She smiled as Greg handed her a photo. "So, Miles, you don't have that little cell sample anymore? The one that mutates on contact with water?" She asked as the kitsune took a seat.

"No, actually I lost it." He replied.

"Really? You wouldn't be holding out of me, would you, Miles?"

"Of course not." He said as Amy and Knuckles shared nervous looks, not liking where this was going.

"You know, sometimes I think you and your friends here actually know a little more than you're letting on, like your other friend for example, Sonic?"

"What about him?" He frowned.

"He's very interesting."

"Yeah, well, you could say he's good company." Amy butted in with a cold, terrifying glare, but the doctor didn't seem fazed.

"That's not what I meant." She smiled as she opened the folder and Amy, Tails and Knuckles could only look in horror when they saw it was the picture of Sonic facing the camera in his sea fae form.

"O-Oh, it's a fake." Tails laughed but by now he was sweating a river. Amy slowly reached for her phone to warn Sonic, but Greg snatched it away without the boys noticing.

"It's nothing personal, Miles." Maria said. "This is business and this thing could be worth a fortune."

"Well, you know it's been very nice chatting to you, but I should be getting home." Tails said and quickly stood up to leave, only to be shoved into his seat by Greg. He quickly looked over at Amy and Knuckles and gasped when he saw them being restrained by two other of Maria's assistant.

So much for back up...

Back in his bedroom, Sonic couldn't stop pacing frantically around as he kept glancing outside, hoping to see at least one of his friends coming to his house, but no one was there.

He couldn't help thinking something was wrong, but then he remembered that Knuckles and Amy had gone with Tails. With them with him, he knew his best friends would be fine.

Suddenly his cell phone beeped and when he looked he saw Tails had just texted him.

-Meet us at Pistris Island, urgent!

He frowned in confusion as he read the short text. What were they doing on Pistris Island? His eyes widened in fear, believing something had gone horribly wrong with the doctor...

Back on Maria's boat, Tails, Amy and Knuckles glared up at Greg as they were sat in a small safe room below the deck. While Knuckles was securely bound to the ground, the other two were just handcuffed.

Greg gave them a cruel smirk as he sent Sonic a text from Tails' phone.

"Nice phone." He laughed before locking the heavy steel door and went back up to the deck.

About a minute later, there was a beeping noise coming from the radar. When he saw what it was he smirked.

"Dr. Robotnik, we got a shape on radar moving fast towards Pistris Island!"...

Sonic swam as fast as he could toward the moon pool, still fearing the worst for his friends. As he swam through the entrance of the cave, he failed to notice two of Maria's men swimming down with a barred slab the size of the entrance. The quickly drilled into the side of the cave opening and attached the cage onto and firmly sealed it with a heavy duty padlock.

As Sonic surfaced in the pool, he frowned in confusion when he saw that the cave was empty.

"Tails, Amy, Knuckles?" He called out, his voice echoing through the barren volcano. "Are you here?"

"Glad you could come, Sonic." Maria smiled as she and Greg stepped out of the shadows.

Sonic almost screamed when he saw them. He quickly dove back to to the entrance and was horrified when he saw the cage, trapping him. Out of desperation, he grabbed onto the bars and started pulling and shaking them but they wouldn't budge. He growled as he left the bars and swam up to where Maria was waiting for him.

"I think it's time that we talked, don't you?" She smiled.

Sonic glared at her before he used his power to rise an orb of water from the pool. Maria's eyes widened in shock as Sonic turned the water orb into a solid ball of ice and launched it at the scientist and her assistant. But they dodged it just in time, allowing it to shatter against the stone wall. Maria was stunned before she turned back to the hybrid.

"Before you do something you will regret, you should see this." She growled as she showed him her tablet and his eyes widened when he saw his friends locked away on Maria's boat. "Your friends won't be safe if anything happens to me."

"What do you want from me!?" He cried.

"Dr. Robotnik! Dr. Robotnik!" A voice called from the other chamber and Maria smirked.

"Over here!" She called and turned back to Sonic. "You're just in time, you can meet the man who's been funding this." She smiled just as Nigel and Elias stepped into the light.

"Extraordinary!" Elias smiled as, much to Sonic's horror, Sally followed them in, excited to see what they had found; but her smile vanished when she saw Sonic's green eyes staring back at her.

"What is this?" She asked in shock before turning to her boyfriend. "Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog didn't say anything and just lowered his head in shame and fear. Maria nodded to her men and they started bring in all the equipment, some tables and large lights. As the doctor and her family were distracted, Sally knelt down by the pool, causing Sonic to glance up at her for a brief moment before turning away.

"I... this... is not my fault." She finally said, still in shock.

"I wish I could believe that, Sal." He glared as he looked up at her. "But I don't."

"H-How is this even possible?"

"It's a long story."

"You could have told me." She sighed, hurt evident in her voice.

"See, that's where you're wrong." He growled. "You and your brother were the great mermaid hunters, shooting your mouth off about mermaids every chance you got, telling you wasn't an option." He sighed. "I thought we had something Sal, something bigger than this, but obviously I was wrong."

"No, you weren't." She replied.

"Then do something." He glared.

"I can't, it's too late." She sighed as she looked to make sure no one was looking. "Daddy, Elias and Maria won't let this go now, it's out of my hands."

"Fine, forget it." He hissed.

"Sonic-"

"Don't, right now you and all your friends disgust me." He snarled as he dived down into the depths of the pool to trying and get some privacy. Sally frowned in hurt, confusion and anger before she stormed out...

On the boat, one of Maria's assistants was keeping watched over the boat as well as their little prisoners down in the bunker. As he paced around the boat, bored out of his mind, he frowned in confusion when he saw Sally Acorn coming over to the boat on her family's motor boat.

"I just need to get some more information from our guests." She said as she climbed onto the boat.

"No, I haven't been told about this." He glared as he grabbed her arm.

"Look, things aren't going according to plan,OK! Dr. Robotnik needs this badly, do you want to be the one to interrupt her?" She glared as she held out her phone.

The assistant gave her a brief glare before handing her in key to the bunker and pointing her down below deck. As soon as she opened the door and stepped inside she could feel the rage coming from the three teens.

"We should've known you would be involved." Amy snarled as Sally shut the door behind her.

"Guys, you have absolutely no reason in the world to trust me right now, but-"

"If there was a 'stating the obvious' Olympic, Sally, you'd win the gold medal." Tails glared.

"You Acorn's are dirtbags, and you always were." Knuckles hissed.

"Look, I've done it really, really dumb thing, OK!" She cried in desperation as she picked at the locks of their cuffs. "But Sonic's in danger right now and I need your help!" She exclaimed as the cuffs fell off...

Up on the deck, Maria's assistant was getting worried when he couldn't hear anything from the bunker. He wanted to call his boss to ask her, but he didn't want to disturb her from her work.

After a minuet of debating calling Maria, he made his decision and reached for the radio.

However, just before he could put the call through, there was a sudden thud and scream from down in the bunker. He quickly shot down and just as he opened the steel door Knuckles threw it open and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.

The second he hit the floor, Amy and Sally dragged him it the bunker.

As they did that, Tails ran up to the deck and worked to erase all evidence of Sonic's powers from the boat. He also downloaded a little surprise for Maria when she returned.

After securing the assistant and clearing all information on Sonic, they rushed to save the blue hedgehog...

Back in the moon pool Maria and her team were just finishing up as the marine biologist was getting ready for her experiments on Sonic. The blue hedgehog himself was anxiously waiting for the inevitable.

"We'll start with the basic physical for him." Maria explained to the Acorns as she organised her tools.

"What if he won't come out of the water?" Elias asked.

"We'll make him." She smiled, only to have Nigel grab her arm and lean closer.

"I don't want any harm to come to this boy, understand?" He glared. He and his son wanted answers as much as she did but they remembered that Sonic was still just a teenager as well as Sally's boyfriend.

"Of course, but we'll do what it takes to get what we need, Nigel." She replied as Sally walked back into the cavern.

"Glad to see you return, Sally." Her father smiled. She didn't say anything as she leaned down to the blue hybrid.

"We have known each other since we were five years old, Sal, how could you do this?" He glared, but she just smiled at him.

"Get ready to leave." She smiled and Sonic gave her a look of confusion.

Unbeknownst to anyone, just off the coast of Pistis Island, Tails and Knuckles were removing and destroying any nearby underwater cameras as Amy hooked a thick, sturdy chain around the cage that trapped Sonic.

Once everything was set, they made their way back to the boat and waited.

Back in the moon pool, Sonic couldn't stop glaring at Sally, his trust in her almost completely gone.

"This better not be some trick." He glared.

"No trick." She reassured before jumping back as Maria and her family walked over to the pool.

"Ok, Are you ready Sonic?" She smiled as Greg came over with one of those animal control leashes; but Sonic didn't say anything and just stayed silent as he waited.

Back on the small motor boat, Tails and the others were sat, shivering in their wet fur, as they waited. Just then Tails' watched beeped and he started the boats engine. Amy and Knuckles watched as the chain attached to the boat pulled and pulled but the boat didn't go any further. Tails gritted his teeth in frustration as he turned in motor up to the max.

The boat suddenly shot forward as the cage was ripped from the cave with a loud metallic bang. The bang was so loud it echoed through the water and all the way into the cavern.

"What was that?" Maria asked as Sonic smirked.

"That was the sound of 'Goodbye'." He laughed as he dived down and dashed as far away from the island as he could get.

Back in the cavern, Maria, and her team could only stare at the now empty pool where their most prized subject once was. As Maria tried to get her head around what had happened she noticed Sally just stood there, smiling at the pool; and that's when it suddenly clicked.

"You did this?" She growled as everyone turned to look at her. The red head didn't say anything as she just kept smiling. Nigel glared as he walked over to his daughter.

"What you've done here is unforgivable, you're a fool, Sally!" He shouted, but she just scoffed.

"You spent half of your life criticizing and patronizing me, have you looked at yourself lately?" She snarled as he froze. "When did you and Elias become liars and thieves?" She sighed before turning to leave, only to have Elias grab her arm with a face of fury.

"Do you understand what we've both lost?!"

"Do you?!" She hissed back as she pulled her arm back. "I'll tell you exactly what you two have lost, you've lost me." She spat before leaving...

As soon as Sonic got home he found his friends and Emma Nets waiting for him. After explaining everything to the old woman she just sat there in thought as the hybrid paced back and forth.

"If I had stay I'd been in a circus by now, or sushi!" He cried. "What should I do? Do I have to leave town?!"

"We've really gotta help him, Mrs Nets." Amy added as the old cat sighed.

"Yes, and you're right Sonic." She said. "Those people are never going to let you alone."

"So it's hopeless." He sighed. "There's nothing I can do."

"I don't believe that." Knuckles growled. "If we can fight, we should fight!"

"Or, maybe you should just give up." Emma shrugged. "Your powers, that is, and being a sea fae."

"What? I can do that?!"

"Only at special times, special moments, like tonight, as I say it's not just any full moon." She smiled as realisation hit Tails hard.

"Tonight's a lunar eclipse." He said.

"Exactly, the full moon is one thing, but the lunar eclipse makes it very special." Emma smiled. "If you were in the a place highly charged with potent sea fae magic, like the moon pool, during the eclipse, it will draw away your powers, forever."

"No way, that isn't an option." Sonic glared. "I haven't gone through everything I have just to throw it all away!"

"I understand, but without you powers, you will be no use to those people, will you?"

"She is right." Amy sighed. "You don't have a choice."...

Back on her boat, Maria Robotnik was absolutely furious. The minuet she had returned she had tried to transfer all the data that she had gathered on Sonic's abilities onto the computer when she was suddenly attacked by a powerful virus. It erased all her data and pictures and when she checked all her DNA and cell samples were gone as well.

There was no evidence to back up her claims that Sonic was a sea fae.

The only thing she had were her notes from last time she was in town but without proper physical evidence they were just as useless as her word. As she and Elias went over what was left of her research, Nigel suddenly walked over to her.

"I'm pulling out." He said, much to Elias' shock.

"Well, if you do that you won't be getting any royalties from the mermaid research." Maria shrugged, but deep down she was worried. Without Nigel's funding it would make capturing and containing Sonic much more difficult.

"I don't care." Nigel glared.

"Dad, have you seen Sonic?" Elias asked. "His powers are incredible!"

"Yes, I have seen what he can do, but I've been blind to other more important things, you and your sister for example." He sighed as he placed a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "I think my energy is better to spent in putting things right, please son, leave this."

"I-I'm sorry Dad, but I've been waiting for a moment this for months, a chance to prove I'm something, just think, me: the one who discovered mermaids, I'll be a legend! I can't just up and abandon that now." He said and Nigel sighed in defeat.

"Boss, there's an object moving fast, heading for Pistris Island." Greg suddenly said.

"Get him out here." She glared a Nigel as she, her assistant and Elias got ready to leave. "Let's move!"...

Sonic took deep calming breaths as he dusted the sand off him. It was now dusk, the full moon would be rising soon. He walked over into the moon pool chamber and just stared at it as millions of thoughts circled in his head. He prefered swimming in but he was worried Maria had set more cameras or traps underwater.

He looked around the chamber and all he saw were a few small lights she had left behind.

It honestly looked like she had given up, but he knew she wasn't the type. He looked up to the dark, starry sky though the top of the volcano. Not too long from now, he'd be a normal teenager again, just like he once wanted when he first found out about his powers. He almost laughed, thinking this would last forever.

He started thinking about what he'd miss the most about his powers.

He thought about how he could swim through the water without worrying about drowning like he had feared when he was a child. He'd miss how he could make water to do anything he wanted. But if he being honest, he'd miss how cool it all was. He could feel tears in his eyes as he thought how he was about to give up the only real connection to his mother.

Suddenly, near the underwater entrance, the water started to bubble and ripple.

He frowned in confusion, not knowing if that was supposed to happen. But his confusion suddenly turned to fear when he saw Maria, Greg and Elias surface in their scobbergears.

"Stay right where you are." Maria ordered as they removed their masks and climbed out the pool. "We don't want to have to hurt you."

"I wish I could said the same." He snarled as he extended his arm out to the pool.

A tentacle of water slivered out the pool and shot at Maria, knocking to the ground, hard. Greg immediately climbed out the other end of the pool and charged at the blue teen, but Sonic moved his arm to the human man, causing at the water on his wetsuit to turn to ice, stopping him in his tracks. Sonic then turned to a fearful Elias and raised his hand to attack.

"Enough!" He suddenly exclaimed as he raised his own hands slightly, in a surrender gesture as Maria recovered and stood up. "I want you to consider an offer." Elias smiled.

"It's too late." Sonic snarled as the full moon moved directly over the top of the volcano, beaming it's bright light down into the pool and only the pool.

They all stood their in shock as the pool started to glow and bubble, almost like it was water boiling in a pan. Sonic then took a deep breath before turning to glare at Elias and Maria.

"I'm giving my powers up." He glared. "When I enter the water, I'm giving up everything."

"But why would you give up being a mermaid?" Maria asked in confusion.

"Because of people like you." He spat. "There will always be people like you trying to explored me, the only thing left to do is to give this all up." He sighed as he started to walk towards the pool.

"No, you can't!" Elias cried.

"Yes, I can." He replied, not even looking at them.

"Please!" Maria begged desperately. "If we work together-"

"Not interested." He growled seconds before he slowly leapt into the pool of water.

When he surfaced again he was in his sea fae form but he noticed that he felt different, almost warm and tingly. He looked up to the bright full moon as it started to go get covered, leaving the cavern in darkness. Seconds later, as soon the first, ray of moonlight hit the pool, the cavern was suddenly engulfed in a blinding light.

When Sonic opened his eyes again, he saw that he was underwater, he had a pair of legs instead of a tail and he couldn't breath!

He desperately paddled towards the edge of the pool and pulled himself out of the still water. As he collapsed onto the sand floor, he coughed and gasped for much needed air. Elias and Maria just looked at him in shock and defeat. After he caught his breath, Sonic stood up on shaking legs and glared at them with tears gleaming in his green eyes.

"It's over, why don't you just go home?!" He shouted before walking away. Elias looked at the moon pool and then up to the opening of the volcano out of desperation.

But all he saw was a starry night sky...

The next morning Sonic just wanted to curl up in his room and disappear, but Uncle Chuck had other plans. He managed to convince his young nephew to at least see Sally as the chipmunk had been called the house ever since yesterday. Sonic knew his uncle was right, he and Sally needed to talk things through and clear the air.

After shooting her a quick text he met her on the beach.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me." He said after they had been walking around for around five minutes in an awkward silence.

"It's the least I could do under the circumstances." She smiled before sighing. "It's over, isn't it?"

"The eclipse took away my powers forever, so yeah I guess this little adventure's over." He sighed.

"No, I meant us." She said and they stopped to look at each other. "Tell me the truth, did you just go out with me because you wanted to make sure I wouldn't find out your a 'sea fae' or whatever it's called?"

"No, Sal, I've had a crush on you since we were kids." He blushed. "I do love you but right now things are just too awkward between us."

"I know, that's another thing I'm sorry about."

"It's not your fault." He sighed. "Maybe we can just start over, as friends, and then when all this is far behind us we can try again?" He asked hopefully and she smiled.

"Maybe." She replied just as her phone buzzed with a message from her dad.

"So, you speaking to your dad again?" He grinned.

"Yeah, he's making an effort and so am I." She smiled.

"What about Elias?"

"He'll get over it, and so will the crazy doctor lady." She reassured before looking out towards the water. "You wanna go for a swim?" She asked but frowned when Sonic blushed and looked away. "What's wrong?"

"W-Well... funny thing... I-I never learnt... to swim with legs." He admitted and she just giggled.

"I could teach you if you want." She offered. "You should learn how to swim with legs, besides, it's very relaxing." She smiled. He smiled back at her and nodded. She quickly grabbed his hand and led him to a secluded part of the beach. They both quickly took their shoes off and laughed as they stepped into the water and the sand tickled their feet.

But Sonic should felt a familiar sensation come over him as cried out as he suddenly fell forward. He looked over his shoulder and gasped when instead of legs his tails was gently splashing the soggy sand. He looked over at Sally and saw that she was just as shocked as he was.

"B-But how?" She asked.

"I-I don't know!" He blurted out. "Emma was clear, I gave away my powers!"

"Only for twelve hours."

Both teens quickly turned around and saw Amy, Tails and Knuckles smiling at them, though Amy sent Sally a glare.

"What do you mean only twelve hours?!" Sonic cried.

"It's temporary." Tails smiled. "During a lunar eclipse the moon pool draws away your powers for twelve hours."

"She didn't say that." He glared

"She did to us, she said if you believe that your powers were gone forever, so too was Dr. Robotnik and Elias." Amy explained.

"It's funny because she told us not to tell you." Knuckles laughed, but he and the other two froze when they saw the look Sonic was giving them.

Seconds later they suddenly found their feet encased in ice!

"Come on, you can't do this!" Knuckles cried as Sonic used his boiling power to dry himself off.

"Next time you'd better remember who your friends are." He glared before turning to walk away with Sally.

"Where you going?!" Tails cried as he tried to fly away, but the ice was too heavy.

"A few hours here might teach you, no one messes with a sea fae." He laughed as he and Sally left the three stranded on the beach...

THE END