It Has Always Been You (Sonadow)

Chapter 25 - Magic Dust [Tails/Sonic POV]

[TAILS]

I didn't know what was happening. One minute we were all sitting round the fire as Knuckles was telling us of some radical vision he'd had, next minute there was some weird energy that passing over us and scaring us out of our wits!

I don't know what's going on here but I don't like it! Not one little bit!

We were all standing up now, everyone on edge. None of us had felt a sensation like that before.

Blaze was the first one to speak. " Ok so I think we all felt that. Maybe it has something to do with what Knuckles was talking about." She said. "Whatever it was, it seems like it wanted our attention."

"So what are we going to do?!" Cream said.

"We can't waste any more time," said Knuckles. "In my vision, my guide told me that the only way we can survive this big event is if we work together, as a tight team. We gotta get each other through this and eventually anyone else who needs our help."

"We already are a tight team." Blaze replied.

Knuckles look at me and then at the rest of the crew.

"You're not wrong Blaze," he said, "But I feel like we've all lost ourselves a bit through not having our hero's purpose, i.e. fighting Eggman."

I glanced over at Amy who looked like she was about to cry. I still hadn't looked at Sonic or Shadow. Just being around them made me feel sick in my stomach.

"I actually thought we could do a bit of a team building exercise today," Knuckles said.

Everyone groaned.

"C'mon guys. I dunno what's going on with some of you but I think we need to clear the air. This is a big battle we are about to embark on and we can't be hiding anything from one another!"

Everyone was silent, wondering what this team building could possibly entail.

"Well I'm game!" said Sonic and raised his hand. "I haven't got anything to hide!"

I felt offended. Sonic didn't seem to care at all that I was here. He even seemed happy. Deep down part of me knew that he was probably just acting positive to hide his true feelings, I know him so well. But I wished he would just ditch Shadow and spend time with me instead.

That will never happen now.

I wanted so badly to leave and go home.

But then Rouge joined in with enthusiasm. "Me too! I'm not hiding anything!" she beamed and put her hand up.

"Sure," Blaze nodded and stood with her hand in the air.

Shadow, Cream and Knuckles all raised their hands as well. It was just me and Amy left who hadn't agreed to join in.

"S-so what exactly are w-we supposed to do?" Amy said, her voice shaking.

"I call it the Truth Serum game," said Knuckles. "I've got some special magic dust that I will blow over us. It will allow us to drop our inhibitions and reveal our inner truths to each other. It literally makes you tell the truth."

"Hahahahaha magic dust!" Sonic doubled over with laughter, "I swear you get more kooky every time I see you Knuckles!!"

I had to admit, it sounded pretty far-fetched.

"So what's in your special magic dust Knuckles?" Rouge asked with a smile.

"It is simply the ground up seeds of the brugmansia shrub. My ancestors have used it as a powerful healing tool in ceremonies since the beginning of time. But if it falls into the wrong hands it can be extremely dangerous. That's why I would only suggest using it if it was really important!"

"Well I'm excited to see what this magic dust can really do!" Cream cried excitedly. She's so innocent, I'll bet she has nothing to hide.

The last thing I felt like doing was talking to anyone, let alone revealing my 'inner truths' to them. But at this point I guessed my life couldn't get any worse.

"Ok, I'm in," I said glumly and raised my hand.

"Yay Tails!" Cream said and hugged me.

"Amy?" Knuckles looked at Amy questioningly.

"Err heh, well I guess I have no choice do I?" she replied awkwardly.

"Well that's great!" Knuckles beamed. "Everyone sit in a circle and I'll go grab my dust." He ran off in the direction of his cave.

We moved away from the fire and sat in a small circle. I sat in between Cream and Blaze, Rouge sat down next to Blaze, followed by Shadow, then Sonic. Amy squeezed herself in between Sonic and Cream.

It made my stomach twist in knots that Sonic and Shadow were sitting next to each other. I tried not to look at them.

[SONIC]

Even though I couldn't help poking fun at Knuckles' out-there theories and funny names for things, I hoped that this team building exercise would help everyone. That shadowy buzzing thing was weird as fuck!

There was no doubt that something had already rippled through our crew, causing everyone to behave out of character. I thought about Tails, how weird it felt being angry at him, yet so sad at the same time because I hated being separate from by best bud. Then Amy, setting fire to Rouge's apartment, so hectic! And finally me and Shadow... Something I never could have ever dreamed of happening... Yep, there was definitely something going down around here!

Knuckles returned holding a brown cowboy hat, a sheet of paper and a pencil, and a small pot that looked like it was carved out of dark wood.

"Ok guys so what we're going to do is write down our names and put them in this hat," he began. "Then we'll each pull a name out of the hat to find out who we need to speak to most. We'll keep doing this until everyone has had a turn with everyone. If you get your own name throw it back in the hat and pick again. Same goes if you pick someone's name you've already spoken to. We'll have 15 minutes of 'truth time' with each person. This means seven rounds in total."

Geez we're going to be here for ages!

Knuckles ripped the paper into eight pieces and handed one to everyone, writing his name on the first piece of paper and dropping it into the hat. The pencil then got passed round the circle until everyone's name was written down and placed in the hat.

He then sat down in the circle between Rouge and Blaze. Holding the brown pot in his right hand, and whispering something under his breath, Knuckles sprinkled the tiniest speckle of the dust above all of us, such a small amount I wondered how this would ever work.

"Ok everyone, take a deep breath and prepare yourselves! You might feel a warm sensation in your chest and throat. Just relax and don't try to fight the urge to talk."

We all took a deep breath and exhaled. I immediately felt relaxed and at peace. My mind stopped whirring at the speed of sound and my thoughts slowed down until they completely stopped. My chest and throat felt warm like Knuckles said they would and all the tension in my body disappeared. I had a strong urge to talk to everyone and spill my guts about how I was feeling, but before I could say anything Knuckles spoke.

"Alright team! Let's pick names!"