I turned another corner on the city street, and continued walking in the direction of the train station. Dark clouds rumbled overhead and I could tell a storm was quickly brewing. That left me with all the more reason of wanting to get home. I licked my dry lips and tried to concentrate on watching where I was going instead of the impending headache I could feel coming on.

I reached a crosswalk and began across, keeping with the large crowd of people crossing as well. A businessman, in his hurried state, nearly knocked me over as he pushed his way through the crowd. I grunted irritably as he passed me, but shrugged it off. Some people are just in too big of a hurry these days. It isn't right, in my opinion. Why be in such a rush if you can't stop to enjoy life once in a while?

I mused on that question for a few seconds as I reached the other side of the street and continued on my path. My train of thought was broken however, by the ground beneath me suddenly shaking uncontrollably. I got disoriented by the sudden jolt below my feet and I stumbled forward before latching onto a lampost and regaining my balance.

"What the hell is that?"

"Whoa, it's huge!"

"Oh God!"

I turned my head to see what had caused such a large noise and subsequent shockwave. What my eyes fell upon was enough to make anybody want to run away screaming. Standing more than thiry feet above the ground, it had four jointed legs, all stretching up to one central body like some kind of strange spider. A strong gleam shone off its metallic shell. Even in a dismal, cloudy afternoon like this, its red shine was unbelievably blinding. It was covered with more spikes than I could count. Laser rifles were planted at every strategic spot on the body, all of them optimized to their limit. The terror-inducing behemoth was truly a sight to behold.

People were running away, screaming; something I felt like I doing, but I couldn't. I stood my ground.

"Mommy!"

My eyes widened. Stupid fucking kid. What the hell was he doing? He had fallen out into the middle of the street. He couldn't have been more than eight years old. Brown hair, green eyes, the normal attire of any kid. He was reaching out to his mother, a middle-aged woman on the other side of the cars lining the street. She was screaming. I wanted to run out to get him, to save him and send him back to his mother, but I couldn't. I wouldn't have been able to make it, no matter how fast I moved. I only hoped that...

My eyes then darted up to him. There he sat, in the cockpit of his monstrosity, partially hidden in shadow due to the gloomy atmosphere. He looked at me. Even through the semi-darkness and the distance, I could see the most disgusting and evil grin stretch itself onto his mouth underneath his mustache. I knew what was coming.

I closed my eyes as I saw the right front leg of his horrible machine lift up and hover above the child. Two seconds later, I heard the squishing sound. When I opened my eyes, I gagged, resisting the urge to vomit. I've never seen so much blood in my life. And the shattered bones and splattered muscle tissue didn't help, not to mention that the foot didn't get all of the kid. His head remained, the eyes still staring in fear.

My fists clenched. Another life extinguished in a pointless and senseless killing. One of only hate and malice. A child, my same age, gone. I gritted my teeth. His mother was still screaming.

"You... bastard!"

I charged.

His reaction was expected. A lumbering stomp directed at me. He missed of course, but the shockwave didn't. I cried out in pain as I dropped my remaining rings, but for some reason I didn't even bother picking them up. They didn't seem to matter to me.

I growled in pure, undiluted rage as I leapt back to my feet.

I spun my twin tails into their buzzsaw shape with the same amount of speed I had in running, allowing it to cut into the front, right foot of his abomination. The lasers were firing, but missing, and they began to malfunction as I ripped wire after wire out of the shell. I would've kept going, but instead he kicked the leg up in an effort to dislodge me, which did in fact, work. I went flying, high into the gloomy sky, one that raindrops had began to pour out of. I stayed up there for one brief moment, staring into the distance, not wanting to come back down. But thanks to physics, I slowly began my descent. I stared at my target, 200 feet below me, waiting for me to return.

I did just that.

I began my descent, and as I approached him and his machine, I curled into a ball, just like I had been taught. I knew this was going to hurt, but it was the perfect oppurtunity. I was moving too fast for the lasers. I soon got within distance of him, and in a very brief glance, I saw his eyes widen as I flew directly at the central body. I somehow managed to hit one of the very few spots not covered with a spike, and I continued right through it.

The pain was excruciating, but was far from my mind as my body continued to plunge through, ripping the metal. Soon, I exploded out the other end, in a burst of shrapnel, littering the wet ground with wires, screws, and oil. I was covered in hundreds of gouges, all of them oozing blood, but I didn't care.

As soon as I hit the ground, I kicked with my feet and did a backflip lifting myself up and landing directly on the central body, right in front of him. The amount of damage I did to his machine disabled any sort of self-defense for him, and I took advantage.

Punches rained down on his soft, pudgy body, slamming over and over again. I heard him crying out in pain as every punch I threw got progressively stronger and more erratic than the last. I saw more blood flying out in the torrents of rain that covered us. I kicked, punched, bit, screamed myself. Anything and everything. I was thrown over the edge. My primal instincts had taken hold and only adrenaline was pushing me forward. All traces of rational thought had vanished.

And finally, I stopped.

Panting, I stared at him, collapsed in his rain-soaked leather seat. Blood was leaking out of every orfice in his body, even quite a few new ones I had made. His weezing breath crackled, I'm sure a couple of his ribs had penetrated his lungs. He cocked his head sideways. Our eyes locked. And... he smiled. No, he grinned. That same shit-eating grin I had seen before he crushed that innocent child underneath the metallic foot of his mechanical monster.

That's when I felt the front barrel of his handgun press itself against my furry stomach.

Then there was just pain. White-hot, searing pain cutting itself through my body.

And then I was falling. The fall seemed eternal. Sapphire eyes stared up into the gloomy sky, seeing and understanding. This was how it was going to end.

For one brief moment, one short epiphany, I saw my life. My memories all encompassed into one big flash. I saw my happiness, my pain, my hardship, all my experience in being alive. Watching as my early childhood was invaded by this tyrannical madman, fighting my way through life, one day at a time, receiving the advice, training, and love of my best friend. I saw all of it. I thought of what I had previously believed; why be in such a rush if you can't stop to enjoy life once in a while? And now, it seems like that's all I've done in my life is hurry. What bitter irony.

Then all those thoughts, those memories, all of it just... disappeared.

I landed on the concrete with a thud. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. Maybe that's because I had become completely numb. I'm not sure how long it took, but I heard limping footsteps heading towards my way. Through the torrents of rain, I soon felt his shadow fall over my face.

And I heard the unmistakable click of a gun cocking.

"Really, Tails. I thought he would've taught you better," came the raspy voice, easily heard above the pitter-patter of falling rain.

I could only choke out one response.

"Fuck you."

Bang.