Chaos Theory - Chapter 1

"Ugh….Eggman really needs to clean his place more often. " The orange-brown fox commented as he walked through the empty corridors of Eggman's latest, and last known, base. Usually the corridors were alive with bright lights and robots running this way and that. Now it was empty, the lights either worked are they didn't, leaving only a few bulbs to light the seemingly endless halls. Red lines covered the steel plated walls, most were faded but some held their red complexion. The one of the few ways to tell each hall from another were the spider webs hanging from the ceiling.

Seven months ago the whole place had suddenly gone dark. Robots would come and go for only three months after, then they just stopped coming. Many believed Eggman had just given up, tired of trying to win a losing battle. But Tails and a few others had a different feeling. Just to be safe, he waited until now to go in and check the place out. Incase something did happen, he had told Amy where he was going. She was one of the many people who thought he had given up so she had no objection.

The two-tailed fox stopped at the end of yet another empty hallway. This one was a bit different though; where the hall split left and right there was a dusty, mangled old robot with a large hole in its chest on the ground. On the wall above it were five black smudges, most likely from some sort of gun.

Tails shook his head at the fallen robot. " Must have died fighting….but what?" He thought aloud as he scanned the fatal injuries on the robot. The large hole in its chest was the obvious final blow.

Once his quick examination of the bot was complete, Tails looked down the right end of the hallway, it was completely empty. The left hallway was strewn with robot parts here and there, along with black smudges polka dotting the walls on either side. At the end of the hallway was a steel door, one that would part in the middle to become two separate pieces of metal that could slide into the walls. Oddly enough, there were no signs of any damage what so ever on the door.

Being careful not to step on any of the mangled robot pieces, Tails made his way toward the steel door. An eerie sense of dread crept over him as he got closer to the door, like someone was watching him.

There were no panels, buttons, or even a handle to open the door. There was, however, a small indentation on one of the sliding steel plates, about where the two came together.

Tails placed his fingers into the indent and with just a slight push; the double steel doors screeched open, sliding back into the walls. A hot blast of sulfur smelling air instantly assaulted Tails nose, almost making him physically sick. Ignoring the foul smell, the young fox peered into the half-lit room. Besides the fact that hardly anything in the room was visible, there was a large computer monitor at the front end of the room with a chair, facing away from Tails, in front of it. In the dim light it almost looked like somebody was sitting in it.

Although every shred of common sense screamed at him not to enter the room, he did. It was like something was pulling him in there.

Since he was already in the dark room, why not see what's in it? Tails, almost unknowingly, began to walk towards the chair while he scanned the room.  It was hard to see anything except the large PC screen, which had different views of the whole base.

With the chair fully visible, Tails stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh gosh…" He turned away from the chair and threw up.

In the chair was a man, well the decaying remains of one. Its skin was a sickly brown and dark gray, while all hair that might once have been on was completely gone. It wore a red a black jumpsuit with faded gold buttons. Its chest, like the robots, had a gaping hole in it. Presumably where his heart should have been. The face had no eyes and hardly any skin left, it was mostly brown bone showing, leaving no recognition of who it once was. The skeletons mouth open in a soundless scream of pain and fear.

Tails took a couple steps away from the corpse, trying to ring out the image from his mind. He turned around as he fought off another wave of nausea. And then he just suddenly wished nausea was the only thing causing him pain. With a shaky hand he reached down to feel his stomach, but he couldn't. There was something blocking his hand. Swallowing his fears he looked down. A dark sword-like object had pierced his chest, just above his stomach.

" For every action, there is a reaction." A low voice, a mixture between the sound of howling wind and a snake's hiss spoke from the shadows of the room.

The sword in Tails chest suddenly twisted, causing the fox to cry out.

"For your death, I shall gain a life. " The voice spoke again.

Suddenly a hand shot out of the darkness, grabbing Tails by the throat. The attacker suddenly pulled Tails closer towards the shadows, dragging the sword deeper into the fox's stomach.

" Do not worry about your friends…"

The hand closed tighter on the fox's throat, slowly cutting off his airway.

" I shall take good care of them."