Chapter 4: Dyne
"Are you excited to go to school and learn more about being a kitsune?" asked Nova as he and Tails made their way towards the city.
"Yeah," nodded Tails looking ahead at the city. He was closer to it now than he had ever been before. Looking at Nova, he eyed the backpack he was carrying, filled to the brim. "But I don't have any books or pencils or anything like you. Will I really be okay to go?"
"Oh, this?" replied Nova. "This isn't my school supplies. It's my lunch." Taking his backpack off, he placed it on the ground and showed Tails that it was filled to the brim with food. There were sandwiches made on flatbreads, fruits like apples and bananas, a couple thermoses, and even a pie that was somehow not crushed by everything else.
"I know you're a glutton, but you never cease to surprise me," admitted Tails with a small chuckle.
"Hey!" argued Nova. "School is tough and I need all the energy I can get."
"Guess I should have brought a lunch with me too," said Tails.
"You can have some of what I brought," Nova offered picking up his backpack, but as he did, the bottom gave out and all his food started to pour out. "Yah! My lunch!"
"It's ok," assured Tails, bending over to help pick it up. "Everything looks fine."
"Thank goodness for that," sighed Nova. "But now my backpack is ruined. I'm gonna have to carry it all in my arms till we get to school."
"Don't worry," said Tails. "I'll give you a hand." Tails filled his arms with a couple dozen sandwiches as he worked on the pile. It was then he noticed something buried among the food, a book with a lock on it. "What's this book for?"
"Oh, I wanted to tell you about that the other day, but I never got the chance," Nova told him. "It's a bit of a mystery that I've been trying to figure out for ages. It's a book I found in our basement the day we moved in. I've tried all sorts of things from brute strength to fire and even attempted to find other Kitsunes with arts to unlock things, but nobody can get it open. I keep it close by in case I find some new method to open it."
"Looks like it needs a key to open it," Tails commented noticing the keyhole on the lock. "But I guess you couldn't find the key."
"I tore our house apart trying to find it," he explained. "Mom grounded me for a week and I couldn't get thirds during meals and I didn't even find it, but that's what makes it exciting, the thrill to finally see what's inside."
"Yeah," agreed Tails. "I wouldn't mind seeing what's written in it too, but I think we've been getting a bit sidetracked. Shouldn't we be heading to school?" As Tails brought this up, they could hear a loud belly from the town. It rang nine times before going silent.
"It's nine already?!?" cried Nova. "Classes are about to start! We have to hurry! Quick grab all the food you can and start running!"
Doing as Nova said, Tails raced to the town alongside Nova. It was all he could do to carry so much and not drop it while running with all his might, but somehow they managed and in not much more time they came upon the entrance to the city and finally slowed their pace upon taking their first steps inside.
"Wow," stated Tails full of awe. "So, this is the city. It's enormous!"
Enormous was an understatement. It appeared vast from the distance, but close up he could see what a metropolis it truly was. The streets were bustling with tons of foxes and kitsunes with different numbers of tails along with many other species of creatures. There were food vendors at the sides of the streets drumming up lines of customers. Other crowds were formed around street entertainers, many were kitsunes giving a show of their abilities earning cheers and tips. The streets themselves were tiled with dark gray stones, all of which were all perfectly proportioned to one another, from one side of the street to the other.
There were rows of buildings were all built identical, with white sheet rock and red roofs and four shutter windows on the side facing the streets. Other than those similarities, each building had been decorated with plants, and other fixtures by their owners given each building a diverse look. The buildings stretched out as far as the eye could see and beyond that and the inner parts of the city were on a higher elevation than the outer areas, the buildings also appearing larger there as well. At the center of the entire city was a huge castle that stood at the tallest point by a great margin with its five towers.
"It's sure something," agreed Nova. "Nine City is definitely the heart of the island. It takes up almost a quarter of the entire island, but nearly the entire population lives here."
"Why don't you and your mother?" asked Tails continuing to look around, noticing large stone rings that encompassed each layer of the city and were connected to one another. He could barely see the top side of them, but he managed to see people on them, moving at a fast pace.
"We prefer to live where we do," he explained. "It's always this noisy and crowded and we prefer a more rural area to live. Besides, it is a short walk away."
"I can imagine feeling overwhelmed," agreed Tails. "So, how do we get to the school?"
"It's located in the third layer of the city," answered Nova. He pointed up at the rings Tails had been looking at. "That's the fastest way around the city. Follow me and I'll show you how to get up on it."
Working their way through the crowd, Nova kept a grip on Tails's arm as he led the way. Turning down a side path, he brought Tails up a set of stairs that led up to the rings. Getting a look at it from above, Tails expected to see a moving sidewalk or at the very least a tracks, but it was just a tiled ground. Leading Tails onto it, they looked down at their feet as they felt their feet slightly lifted off the ground before they began to slide across the ground as a slowly increasing speed.
"Whoa!" said Tails almost losing his balance for a moment, but managed to steady himself. "It's like a monorail, but with magic."
"I don't know what a monorail is, but probably yes," replied Nova. "We're coming up to the connecting path to the next ring. Lean into it to make the turn." As they reached it, Tails leaned just as Nova did and they turned and began to head towards the next ring. "Good job. We need to go one ring deeper and then we'll be right by the school. We should be just in time if we hurry."
"That's good," nodded Tails. As Tails continued to ride, a large transparent image of a red kitsune appeared. He had a long gray beard and held a staff with a large red jewel at the top of it. He was dressed in a long violet robe with seven tails trailing out behind him. "What's that?"
"That's Minister Zeal," explained Nova. "He's the leader of Nine City. Looks like he's going to be making a public announcement."
"Then he's the Great Kitsune?" assumed Tails.
"No," answered Nova. "The Great Kitsune is no longer among us."
"Oh, I guess I never considered that he was," he admitted.
"Kitsunes can live for hundreds of years," continued Nova. "But he's still protecting us even now and Minister Zeal has done everything he could to ensure that Sekai continues to be prosperous."
"Hmm," hummed Minister Zeal, his voice audible throughout the entire city. He ran his fingers through his beard for a few seconds attempting to untangle some knots. "I'm ready to begin when you are."
"Uh, sir," replied another kitsune managing the hologram. "We've been on for the last minute and a half."
"Oh, um, very good," he stated a bit flustered, but retaining his calm demeanor. "The first announcement I would like to make is to Grosky and little Tally. Happy Birthday to you both. Hohoho." He gave a hearty and friendly laugh before continuing. "Princess Jewel would also like to make an announcement."
"Princess Jewel?" asked Tails.
"The Great Kitsune's daughter," replied Nova, a bothered look appeared on his face. Tails was about to ask what was wrong, but he gave an answer before he could even say it. "I don't like to think about her."
"Hello," came a voice that sounded more like a bellow. Looking back up at the sky Tails saw the princess. She was dressed in a red and white dress that that fit nicely around her short, round frame. Her fur was light purple and she had four tails that seemed just as plump as the rest of her body. Her round-cheeked face had a rather dull look to go with her less than elegant voice and she had a set of beady eyes beneath a unibrow. Her hair short, black and done in pigtails. "Nice day today, huh. Very sunny and stuff. Well, that's all I wanted to say." She then turned away and vanished from the sky, but her voice was still audible for a moment. "Do we got anymore of those fried..."
"She seemed, uh," commented Tails barely able to complete his sentence. "Nice." Down below, the crowd of people began to cheer and applaud her like she had just made some grand speech.
"Tell me," sobbed Nova on his knees trembling. "You aren't from around here, so maybe you've met princesses before. Please tell me they aren't all like that!"
"Well, I'm sure there are many different kinds of princesses," replied Tails. "She wasn't exactly what I was expecting the daughter of the Great Kitsune to be like, but I don't know what he was like either. Everyone else doesn't seem to mind."
"You don't get it," he snapped. "It is all wrong! I can't accept her! No way no how!"
"What does it matter to you?" asked Tails.
"She ruined my dream," he explained. "Of being a hero and saving a princess from distress. After vanquishing my foe and approach her, she should thank me with some wonderful words of gratitude and profess her love to me. Instead, she would say something lame like, 'Uh, hey, thanks. Got any donuts?' Isn't that lame?"
"That does sound rather disappointing," admitted Tails. "And she wasn't exactly a vision of loveliness either."
"She isn't?" asked Nova scratching his head. He recovered quickly with Princess Jewel no longer on the screen. "I didn't see anything wrong with the way she looked."
"Can you two keep the chatter down a little," hushed a kitsune behind them. "I can't hear what the minister is saying."
"Oh, sorry," apologized Tails.
"With great sadness, I regret to inform you all that the Yellow Tail has been stolen," he announced. "The incident is currently under investigation and the Yellow Sage, Rize, is doing all he can to help identify the perpetrators of this serious crime."
"Another Tail was stolen," he mumbled to himself. "What's that make now? Three? No, four."
"What was stolen?" asked Tails curiously. "Tails?"
"Uh, sounds like it," said Nova. "But what would someone want with some dusty old tails? I bet mine are worth a lot more than them."
"You don't have any idea what they are, do you?" retorted Tails.
"Not at all," he confessed. "But we'll have to find out later, cause we've have to disembark here."
Stepping off at the exit, Nova and Tails hurried down the stairs and back onto the street. This area of the city was far more opened with half the space consisting of a park and the other half made up of a single huge building. The crowds of people were also absent, the only ones around were gathered at the park.
"This whole place is the school?" asked Tails as he marveled at the almost mystical appearance the building had with vibrant stained glass windows placed on the higher levels. The building was tiled with rough, dark gray stones that were a great contrast to the rest of the city's smooth, uniform nature. The school also possessed several roofless towers at each corner of the building. The front door was a gate that was raised and lowered by chains connected to a pulley system, but the chains had long since rusted and broke forcing the door to be left open. "It is a lot different than the rest of the city."
"It should," replied Nova. "It's probably one of the oldest buildings on the island. It was built before the city and even before the castle in the innermost area. The other areas were also redone and repaired quite a few times too while this place has remained pretty much unchanged since it was first built. It was built by the Great Kitsune so that other kitsunes could learn magic too, so I think it was left unchanged to honor his memory."
"I can understand honoring his memory, but it looks a bit run down from age," commented Tails. "They could have at least fixed the front door."
"Oh, that," snickered Nova. "It was in one of the stories mom read me. Apparently, when it first opened the Great Kitsune couldn't get the gate down and he got so pissed off he forced it open and broke it. Since the gate couldn't be closed he declared the school 'open forever' just to save face."
"Heh," chuckled Tails. "I'll have to read that one some time. Well, let's get inside before we're tardy."
"Not in there," stated Nova patting Tails on the shoulder before pointing at the park. "The building is only half the classroom. The other half is the park, though I'd prefer it if it was all park. Over here we get to stretch our tails and spar with one another. After that, we go into the building and sit through some boring lectures. If it was up to me, I'd just have the entire school day over here at the park."
"I'm sure anyone would prefer to have all day recess," pointed out Tails.
"I know I would," replied Nova in almost a bragging tone. "Now let's introduce you to everyone."
Walking into the middle of the park, they saw everyone was busy practicing their Kitsune Arts. Some were sparring with one another like Nova had with Tails, their attacks mainly confined to the area they were fighting, but some of the rowdier brawls looked to be getting a bit chaotic. Others practiced their abilities in other ways. Tails saw a green kitsune use her magic to create a raincloud to gently water some flowers while a blue kitsune turned his fists to steel and tried breaking rocks with his punches. There was even a chubby gray kitsune who reclined against a tree while he used his power to float a sandwich over to his mouth to munch.
"Attention everyone!" shouted Nova, causing the entire park to become silent in an instant.
"What are you doing?" cried Tails blushing with embarrassment.
"I'm calling everyone over to meet you," he explained. "If I'm not loud, they won't hear me."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to call them all over at once," stated Tails. "It's not like I'm some big deal or anything."
"Hey! Isn't that Tails?" said one of the first kitsunes to approach them.
"Is it?" asked another hurrying over. "What's he doing over here?"
"It is Tails!" exclaimed a fanatic kitsune girl as he pounce on Tails unable to control her excitement. "He's got those three cowlicks on his head and I'd recognize that golden yellow fur anywhere! He's even got on those gloves and shoes he's always wearing."
"You sure you aren't a celebrity?" asked Nova just as surprised as Tails was. Every kitsune that had been preoccupied with something else was now clamoring around Tails.
"I can't believe it's Tails, in the fur."
"Come on. Move over. I can't see him."
"Why is everyone so excited to see me?" groaned Tails unable to move with so many kitsunes surrounding him. "How do you even know who I am?"
"We see you on KTV all the time," explained one of the kitsunes.
"KTV?" asked Tails. "Wait, you have television?"
"Yeah. You are always featured on World News saving the world from Dr. Eggman."
"So this place isn't completely cut off from the outside world then," commented Tails. "But I don't know if I really save the world. Sonic usually does most of the work."
"No way!" argued one of the kitsunes.
"All he does is run fast!"
"You are our hero!"
"Nova, a little help!" cried Tails as his fans grew more out of control the more they conversed with Tails.
"Sorry," he apologized trying his best to reach his friend. "I don't have a TV so I didn't know you were famous."
"I just need a little room to take off," groaned Tails trying get more space. When he finally found enough room to spin his Tails, he took into the air. It didn't upset his fans, but excited them more to see him take off. Looking down, Tails watched them continue to shout and cheer for him.
"He's using his arts!" cheered one of the kitsunes jumping for joy.
"Have you learned any more since you've arrived?"
"So if you're here then I'm guessing Sonic can't be that far away." Despite Tails being up in the air, this last voice was coming from someone close to him. Looking straight ahead, Tails saw there it was a purple kitsune with gray eyes. His hair was combed back smoothly. He had four tails though none of them were active at the moment. He had on metal-soled shoes and elbow guards. "So, if I rough you up, will he come running over here?"
"But Sonic isn't even-" Tails began to say, but one of the purple kitsune's tails started to glow and the next thing Tails knew he was blasted backwards despite not even getting touched by anything. He crashed into a tree and tumbled off the branches onto the ground.
"You okay?" cried Nova rushing over to Tails.
"Ungh, I think so," groaned Tails. "The fall hurt more than whatever he did. What's his deal anyway?"
"That's Dyne," explained Nova. "He's sort of a prodigy already having four tails. He also hates when others are getting more attention than him. Guess I sort of made you his target. Sorry."
"You didn't know this would happen," replied Tails. "And I did come here to learn so I guess I'll start here."
"Just be careful," warned Nova. "That one art he used is called 'Boom' it makes an explosion wherever he wants. Also-"
"Hey!" interrupted Dyne. "Don't go giving away all my arts while we're in the middle of a fight."
"You attacked me before I even knew we were fighting," argued Tails.
"I had hoped Sonic would have shown up by now so I could fight him, but I guess he isn't as fast as I he looks on TV," Dyne replied.
"Sonic didn't come with me," explained Tails. "I came here by myself."
"That's a shame," he stated. "I'll have to settle only for you, for now anyway."
"Why do you want to fight Sonic?" asked Tails.
"Because while you are more famous here since you are a kitsune, the rest of the world idolizes him even more," he answered. "If I can defeat him, then I'll be known throughout the world. You'll be a nice stepping stone for me, but don't worry, I won't use my full strength on a mere sidekick. Since you've got only two tails I'll only use two myself."
"Sidekick," repeated Tails meekly. "No, I'm more than just Sonic's sidekick."
"Kick his ass, Tails!" cheered his fans.
"You can do it! Don't let that jerk bring you down!"
"You got the crowd on your side," said Nova. "There's no way you can lose now."
"Once they us fight, I doubt they'll be so eager to cheer for you anymore," Dyne taunted.
"W-we'll see about that," countered Tails getting his guard up.
"Looks like you are ready," replied Dyne. "Then let's resume our fight!" His tail glowed once more as he took a dashing stance before suddenly shooting forward like a bullet. At he neared Tails he readied his arm for a punch and then threw an explosive punch. Tails narrowly managed to dodge it. The tree that was behind him, however, took the full force of his attack and got a splintered fist imprint in the trunk.
"So you also have an art for super speed?" panted Tails feeling winded from seeing how fast he moved.
"Not quite," he bragged. "Using my Boom Art I can propel myself forward and even give my punches an extra boost. Having arts is one thing, but being able to use them in different ways is quite another. I could use them just to attack you, but as you can see I can also use them to enhance my movements. Then again, I doubt I need to put in this much effort." His tail glowed again and tails was able to see as the air in front of his face started to distort. Sensing the danger, Tails leapt away just before the explosion happened. Unlike the ones before, this one was a lot more powerful. "Oh, and I can adjust the power if you haven't figured that out yet."
As the air began to distort again, Tails moved out of range of the explosion, but just as it went off, the air distorted around him again. Over and over, Tails dodged away from them while he tried to make his way towards Dyne. The purple kitsune didn't seem to notice as he continued to taunt Tails with his Boom Art.
Finally close enough, Tails fought back, his tail glowed as wind swirled around it. Swinging his tails at Dyne, he got a solid hit on him and watched as he was knocked off his feet and onto his back on the ground. "How was that?" asked Tails. "That is my new kitsune art I learned."
"Heheh," chuckled Dyne. "Such a novelty. You can create a rather nice, refreshing breeze." He got back up, not even a little dirty from falling on the ground. Tails was speechless and trembled nervously. "Oh, was that your best attempt at an attack? I guess that is to be expected since you just started learning about kitsune arts, or maybe that is really the best you can do. How about I show you what a real wind attack should be like?" Another of his tails started to glow. Tails suddenly felt a gush of wind appear at his feet before it erupted into a tornado. He tried to use his tails to fly out of it, but it was no good, the the constantly shifting winds kept him him unbalanced and tumbling in the air helplessly.
"That's enough!" cried Nova. "You are going too far! At this rate, Tails is going to get really hurt!"
"Not until I'm satisfied that I've proven that I'm the best," he argued stubbornly.
"Stop this at once!"
"I said not until-" Dyne began to say.
"Are you talking back to me?" snapped an orange-furred fox with a thick mustache. He was dressed in a finely tailored suit and had a scholarly look about him. "I did not think that you, of all people, would disobey your teacher."
"Oh, Mr. Lecture," said Dyne, his voice growing a lot humbler all of a sudden. His tail faded to normal and the tornado vanished. Tails dropped down to the ground, but Nova was quick to catch him.
"Is that Tails?" Mr. Lecture asked looking at Tails's unconscious body. "You'd best take him to the infirmary and if you could see to getting me his autograph when he comes to."
"Uh, sure," Nova replied carefully carrying Tails to the school building.
"Oh," Mr. Lecture called to Nova once more. "I came here to give an announcement and give out a handout to all the students. Here's some for you two."
"Uh, thanks," Nova said taking one in his free hand before hurrying off once more.
"Oh, what happened?" groaned Tails when he finally came to.
"How are you feeling?" Nova asked Tails. "The nurse said you just had some minor bruises."
"Yeah, the only thing really hurt is my pride," sighed Tails. "I must have let all my fans down to be beaten like that."
"It's ok," stated Nova. "Dyne has had a lot more practice with his kitsune arts. I don't think any of the others could have done much better. But don't feel so down. You beat me before, remember?"
"Maybe, but did I beat you or did you let me win?" questioned Tails, looking at Nova's expression. Without words, he got his answer. "Guess I am just meant to be a sidekick."
"Don't lose heart over that," cried Nova. "I just haven't been a good teacher. Mr. Lecture, our teacher can do a much better job that I can. Oh, also, he wanted your autograph. I just need to find something for you to sign."
"What about that paper you have in your hands?" asked Tails.
"Oh, this is handout he was giving out to the students," he explained. "Apparently, the identity of the ones responsible for stealing those for Tails has been identified. Rize, the Yellow Guards described three suspects, a black-furred kitsune female with different colored tails, a short male tanuki, and a large make kappa. There is even a detailed picture of them."
"C-can I see the picture?" asked Tails, his voice a bit shaky, but Nova didn't seem to take notice.
"So far, they've stole the Yellow Tail, the Green Tail, the Blue, Tail and the Black Tail, that's about half of them," commented Nova. "It doesn't go into much detail about what's so special about them, but look at the reward money for any help leading to their capture. They don't look very dangerous, but they must be terrible if they are causing so much trouble."
"Is that true?" thought Tails starring at the picture and holding the paper so tightly the paper began to crumple and tear. "Are you really bad... Marle?"
