Chaos Bond

Turbulent Waters of the Timestream

"We have to work fast," Tails was saying, returning Sonar to the basket and moving towards his computer. "The longer we wait, the sooner Metal Sonic reaches Young Sonic and, once he's gone, Adult Sonic will go and then it'll only be a matter of time before the rest of us suffer dimensional changes. Memory loss and the likes. I might even be gone too. Who knows. To put it bluntly, the window between Sonic dying and the rest of us suffering the consequences of 'No More Sonic' is small."

Rouge shut off her communicator and looked up with a nod. "The others are on their way. The kids will have to enjoy an extra long stay at Nanny Vanilla's."

"I have already calculated what it is you are going to suggest, Tails," said Omega.

Shadow gave a quiet scoff. "Save it for when people are here. There's no way I'm sitting through two explanations."

Thankfully, given that things had been heating up since the capture of Metal Knuckles, the rest of the Allies were practically hovering by their communicators in anticipation for Tails or Amy or anyone to merely breathe down the line with something that would give them a reason to rush over.

Tails' Workshop had seen it's fair share of Team Meetings although the presence of the Tornado still made the area feel cramped when everyone squeezed in. 

Sure enough, just as Omega said, Tails had quite the suggestion to put forward.

"Chase them through time?" Blaze repeated incredulously once the Fox had given his pitch. "Among all the grand plans you've come up with in your time, Tails, THAT is by far the grandest."

Tails nodded. "It's a simple case of stopping Metal from getting Sonic - something we're all used to doing."

"Only this one includes a trip down the time-stream." Blaze rubbed at her forehead jewel. "And going back in time to complete missions have always been risky..."

"How far back in time are we talkin'?" asked Vector. He was leaning against the wall where he could see everyone. 

To that, Tails shrugged and curled his namesakes awkwardly around his ankles. 

"I don't know exactly but... pretty far. Probably before Sonic and I met."

"Where's the logic in killing a young Sonic?" asked Rouge. "Surely Metal knows that without Sonic, he's probably never going to have been created."

"If that's even their plan..." Knuckles muttered under his breath, turning over the words of Metal Knuckles in his head.

"It's what the others are planning to do," Silver said. "Tails Doll and Amy Doll..."

Charmy looked at him with a grimace. "You reckon they might track down Amy and Tails and Knuckles and bop them off at the same time?" 

The thumbs up sign he sent in Tails and Knuckles' direction wasn't particularly comforting. 

"They said they wanted to be rid of their Inferiors," Silver nodded, remembering his painful time with them. "Have it so they're the last ones standing. The only ones of their kind."

Tails stared down at his feet. 

"If they kill Sonic..." he said in a soft voice, "...I'll die too. I won't have been able to survive the wild by myself back then. Not unless I found civilisation. I was barely a handful of years old when Sonic and I met."

Rouge's wings flapped slightly in restlessness. "Then all they need is to find Amy and Knuckles and they'll be able to cross all four of you off. The children too..."

Her breath caught in her throat and she swallowed down her nerves into the steel ball she kept knotted at the bottom of her stomach for when times like this got too intense.