(Chapter Two of Now... We Will Always Be Together. Interesting wrinkle, huh, Cosmo having an elder sister, huh?

Also, I apologise deeply for the protracted wait for this. I did plan to do many more chapters in the weeks after the first chapter, but one thing led to another, and... yeah. Anyway, enjoy! I will try to make my updates a LOT more frequent for this from here on out!)

天元突破
フリーダムエメル
〜パラレルワークス〜
Tengen Toppa
Freedom Emerl
~Parallel Works~

by

アムラス・フェラグンド
Amras Felagund


Now... We Will Always Be Together

CHAPTER TWO:
So, Come With Us

"This way, you brat!" hissed the Black Arms, jabbing Cosmo out of the prison chamber with the barrel of a machine gun.

"Cosmo!" Tails cried, before being butted to the ground by the butt of the other Black Arms's machine gun.

"Tails!" Knuckles growled, preparing to charge the Black Arms...

But the barrel of a machine gun is a sobering sight.

"Shit..." Knuckles backed down, his shackled hands going slack.

As the two Black Arms leading the swimsuit-clad green-haired girl out were closed off by the slamming door, Tails breathed Cosmo's name.

「萌え」っていったい何ですか

Cosmo silently followed the orders of the two Black Arms who had been so rough with her friends and herself, down one torch-lit hallway and another. It just would not do to get herself killed in some foolish act of defiance simply for the act of defiance itself.

As she passed through, Cosmo and the Black Arms passed several exceptionally beautiful women. Some were human women. Others were anthros - foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels, chipmunks, echidnas, cats, and the like. Others looked like they were of mixed human and anthro heritage. Others - Cosmo gasped - were like her; they had noseless faces and flowers on their heads!

They were whispering amongst each other.

And they were all gazing at Cosmo with identical looks of wonder.

Sara the Byuutee villager approached tentatively from the crowd.

"My lady..." she said softly.

"Stay away, freak!" snarled one of the Black Arms, jabbing at her with his machine gun.

"No, no, I want to!" Sara whined, her tail swishing wildly and her cat ears flattening against her head. "I want to walk her to Lady Galaxina's chamber!"

Lady Galaxina? Cosmo thought.

The Black Arms turned toward each other, and, after a long moment, nodded.

"Very well," the other said. "But we'll be keeping pace, and if you try to make a break for it..."

"I know!" Sara growled, before skipping up to Cosmo's side and walking alongside her.

For the next minute or so, they walked in silence, though Cosmo did notice Sara stealing several glances at her out of the corner of her eye.

After a short while, Cosmo gathered the nerve to ask, "Who is Lady Galaxina?"

"She is the chief of Byuutee Village," Sara said softly.

"How long have the Black Arms been here?"

"As long as I can remember," said Sara, as they reached a large door decorated with an impossibly large tree, its roots invading a planet. "They've been here since before Lady Galaxina."

The door opened into a large audience chamber, dark, but with green curtains obscuring the walls completely.

And in the middle of the room, seated in a tall chair...

Was a girl of Cosmo's race, but a few years older. A sole daisy sat atop her teal hair. Her hardened purple eyes softened upon seeing Cosmo. She did not get up from her chair, but instead said, "Leave us."

Sara bowed, "Yes, milady," before departing between the Black Arms, who followed her.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Cosmo was alone with Galaxina.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," the chief of Byuutee Village said, "Little sister."

In spite of herself, Cosmo's glare softened in a gasp.

狼が来た!!

"So," Drago said to himself, pacing before the machine those Great Freedom Fighters called 'Emerl', "This was buried underground, and dug up by that whelp and his friends, who were also buried underground..."

He glared with yellow eyes at the horsehead-shaped Gizoid beside him, holding a boulder over its head. That infernal Core Drill was in the possession of its pilot.

"How could it be that that whelp could operate this thing, when even I cannot make it respond."

He nodded to the horsehead Gizoid.

"Do it," he snarled.

Bang.

Before the Black Arms piloting it could even obey that command, a bullet tore through one of its arms, the boulder falling onto the Gizoid, crushing it.

"What the...?"

A green glint flew out from the debris.

"No...!"

A shadowy figure in the distance, holding a large gun, caught the Core Drill, stood stunned for a moment, then bolted.

Drago's keen wolf eyes saw it all. But that intruder... did they spot him?

He pulled open a panel on his left arm, typing in a warning to all the Black Arms in Byuutee Village:

ACTIVE FREEDOM FIGHTER. KILL ON SIGHT.

サリーも来た

"That Black Arms had Tails's Core Drill...?" Sally gasped, running for the entrance to this village, hitching Nicole higher onto her shoulders.

Saving Emerl and recovering Tails's apparently filched Core Drill? Sally marveled at the serendipity of that action she'd just taken.

But... what about Emerl?

It came for Tails when he needed it that one time, she thought, recalling Tails's close call falling from Zheuque yesterday. Maybe it will happen again.

Slipping past one of the Black Arms, who was inspecting his walkie-talkie, she crouched into a cubby-hole on the first subterranean level of Byuutee Village.

But for now...

Sally clenched the Core Drill in her hand.

Sorry, Tails, but I'm gonna have to borrow this for a little.

お前なんか信じられっか!

"Little... sister?" Cosmo gasped. She did not know that one of her elder siblings yet survived! "You are my elder sister?"

"I am," Galaxina said. "I am Galaxina Darkoak, one of two surviving children of Helix King Lucus Darkoak."

Galaxina smiled in a slightly ironic fashion.

"Like you, I am a discarded Princess."

Cosmo shivered in spite of herself. "Why... did you bring me here alone, elder sister?"

Galaxina's eyes betrayed great pain. Pain far beyond her years.

"I have waited... a long time... for someone else to be discarded in a container in that gorge, and yet, come out alive. I have waited many, many years for this. Were it not for the Helix King's technology, I would have grown old and decrepit waiting." And Cosmo understood the meaning behind that pain in Galaxina's eyes.

The chief of Byuutee Village pointed at Cosmo.

"You will be my successor."

"Successor...?" Cosmo repeated. She brought up her shackled hands, pleading. "But, why do this, elder sister? Why have you come to this village?"

Galaxina sighed, lowering her head. Her teal hair obscured her eyes.

"This village exists to educate and teach proper etiquette to the maidens who are to be sent off to the Capital to... 'amuse' the Helix King," Galaxina explained. "Your mother, and my mother before her, were among those who received His Majesty's favor in this way."

Cosmo's eyes widened.

"You have no choice. Refuse...," hissed Galaxina, "and you will die here, along with your friends."

Cosmo gasped loudly.

"This is your journey's end."

お前のXXXで天を…

"We'll just have to dig our way out of here!" Knuckles shouted, before throwing himself against the wall, shouting ora-ora-ora-ora-oRAA! as he clawed furiously in spite of his shackles.

He made nary a scratch in the wall. It offered no purchase, and not even a pebble fell free.

He sunk to the ground, his gloves torn up at his fingers, showing fingertips raw with friction.

"This is all my fault..." he growled. "I got us into this trap, and I gotta get us out."

"Don't be stupid, needle-mole!" Vector said, clapping a large mitt on Knuckles's back. "We all fell for this trap. So, we all gotta work hard to get out!"

"But, the walls are too tough to dig through..." Silver sighed.

In that moment, when everyone had fallen silent in morose contemplation, a sound reached their ears:

Falling dirt.

There, hunched over in the corner, digging goggles drawn down over determined eyes, where everyone thought he had been sulking from being unable to help Cosmo, Tails was actually digging through the dirt. They could not see how, because his shackles were blocking his hands from view...

Until he pulled his hands out, one holding a large clump of dirt he was setting aside...

And the other of which was producing a Core Drill made of green light.

Eyes boggled at this situation, but Knuckles quickly regained his wits.

"Hey, crackheads!" he bellowed, standing up and grinning. "If the leader of the Great Freedom Fighters ain't giving up, why are the rest of us giving up? He may not be the toughest-looking one in our fraternity, but he's the man that Sonic chose! And I, Knuckles of Gawain Village, will beat the crap outta anyone who says otherwise!"

Tails brought up a dirt-stained glove and pushed up his digging goggles, eyes full of wonder. "Knuckles...!"

Meg, Blaze, and Marine beamed at their surrogate big brother. "Knuckles!"

Knuckles crouched beside the fox boy, still grinning. "C'mon, Tails! Don't just sit there! Let's dig our way outta here! We gotta save Cosmo, y'know?"

Tails smiled, nodding, bringing up that Core Drill of solid light up again. "Yeah!"

エメルが動く

"What in the...?" Drago leapt back as Emerl's eyes lit up green, illuminating the area as if it were an emerald sun.

Then it leapt into the air, spinning and forming a giant drill around its legs.

自由

Tails and Knuckles leapt back from the hole Tails had dug, because the earth had begun to shake violently in front of them, being swirled around as if in a blender.

A yellow robot face with blue eyes appeared there.

"E-Emerl?" Tails stammered.

It came for him? Even without the Core Drill...?

Perhaps Emerl had an affinity for its sole pilot.

Tails's brow furrowed.

"Emerl!"

Its eyes blazed green.

Moments later, the door to the prison chamber shattered outwards, startling the Black Arms guarding it.

Each soon found its heart pierced by a drill produced from yellow-colored metal arms.

Piloting Emerl without its Core Drill was not easy for Tails; the controls felt strangely weighty without it there to activate Emerl.

But Tails would make do with fighting spirit for now.

"Alright!" Knuckles shouted.

"Jailbreak was a success!" Bean squawked, putting a fist in the air.

"Chao!" squeaked Kukku.

Tails turned to the Great Freedom Fighters, blinking sweat out of his eyes.

"Alright, guys! Let's go save Cosmo!"

The Great Freedom Fighters cheered.

親父の塊

"Let me tell you a little story, little sister," Galaxina said, resting her head on her hand.

"I, too, incurred our esteemed father's wrath, and was disposed of at the bottom of that valley... but, miraculously, I survived. But what awaited me was not freedom, but day after day fleeing from Black Arms. My strength inevitably gave out, and I was captured. I feared I would be put to death. I was instead made overseer of this village. If I wished to survive, servitude was my only choice."

Galaxina leaned forward slightly, gripping the arms of her chair.

"You and I..." She glared. "Are the same as the maidens of this village."

"You are wrong!" Cosmo returned the glare. "Tails and his Great Freedom Fighters are making their way on their own!"

"'Tails'?" Galaxina interrupted. "So, he is the one who gives you the spirit to persist. Then... he shall be the first to be executed."

"NO!" Cosmo screamed.

"They will all be executed, one by one, until you agree to this." Galaxina gave a twisted grin. "It will be interesting to see how long you hold out, Cosmo."

Cosmo bowed her head, her eyes burning.

I'm sorry, Tails...

"...If... If I agree... to be your successor..." she breathed. "Will you promise to spare everyone's lives?"

Galaxina's look softened somewhat, the corners of her mouth rising slightly. "Of course."

"That's as far as you go!" shouted a voice from the door as it slammed open, a bullet whizzing in and cutting a hole in the curtain behind Galaxina.

In stormed Sally, pointing her rifle Nicole at the chief of Byuutee Village. The hall behind her was littered with dead Black Arms and incapacitated villagers. Tails's Core Drill dangled from Nicole's barrel.

"Get a grip, Cosmo!" she shouted as the door slammed shut behind her. "If you can't have faith in Tails, then what's the point? Besides, you know that the Great Freedom Fighters won't go down so easily!"

"Miss Sally!" Cosmo gasped. "How did you get in here?"

"I guess I'm the only one to evade capture," Sally explained, not lowering Nicole or averting her gaze from Galaxina's heart. "I followed the Black Arms who had captured our people. And after I snuck in, I snooped around and found my way here. Tails must've lost his Core Drill, 'cause I got it back. Now, then..."

She addressed Galaxina now.

"I heard your story. But sorry, this girl..." Sally smirked now. "Is a core member of our group! We won't let her become the overseer of this village like this. At least, not as long as she doesn't want to!"

"Fool!" cried an armadillo-shaped Black Arms, emerging with a similarly-shaped Black Arms from the curtains behind Galaxina. "What can you hope to do?"

Sally gestured for the Black Arms to 'bring it'.

They charged, bellowing like lunatics.

Bang.

Bang.

Twin bullets between their eyes, and they collapsed.

Sally glanced back to Galaxina.

She's taking this awfully calmly, she thought.

Then the door shattered under the force of three drills.

Emerl, piloted by Tails, charged into the room.

Followed by the rest of the Great Freedom Fighters.

"Tails!" Sally and Cosmo shouted.

"Sally!" Knuckles bellowed. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sally replied testily.

"Cosmo, are you alright?" Tails asked.

"Yes, I am, Tails."

Tails's gaze turned to the girl on the throne.

"Cosmo, who's that?"

"That is my elder sister, Galaxina," said Cosmo.

The Great Freedom Fighters gasped.

"So, these are your friends," Galaxina said lowly.

Cosmo faced her elder sister again.

"Yes! This is our group, the Great Freedom Fighters! And I am going to see our father."

Cosmo held out a hand, smiling.

"So, come with us. So that both you and the people of this village can regain their freedom!"

"Freedom..." Galaxina repeated. Then...

She let out a harsh, cruel laugh.

"Freedom... Such a thing has long since been lost to me, and not simply because I cannot move from this chair's life-support system.

"The Helix King's power is absolute. Defy him, and all that awaits you is the despair of death. The brighter the light of hope in your eyes, the deeper and darker the despair."

"What a gloomy bitch..." Bark grumbled.

Galaxina nearly rose from her chair, her eyes nearly popping out of her head, her teeth bared.

"Can you fathom what it has been like? The futility of being shackled for over a hundred years to a life of molding girls into doll to serve as nothing more than amusement for the King... The despair of knowing that I am doomed to fulfill this duty if I wish to live! Your freedom lies in eking out a living underground. There is no other way!"

"You're wrong!" Tails shouted, standing on the seat of Emerl. "We'll decide for ourselves what it means to be free! I knew a man who lived his life to the hilt like that, his soul burning through and through."

The light in his eyes changed.

"I'll never be able to see him again, but..."

A green light entered Tails's blue eyes.

"Even now, he's alive in the hearts of the Great Freedom Fighters!"

Galaxina gave Tails a withering look.

"Impudent whelp..."

The audience chamber began to rumble.

"Wh-what the...?" Knuckles stuttered.

The ceiling caved in, a Something falling in. Some Byuutee Villagers beyond the chambers screamed in fear.

The Something was a tall, slender silver Gizoid, with a golden-yellow orb in the middle of its chest, a long lupine head gazing upon them all hungrily.

"Drago!" Galaxina addressed the Great DragoN angrily. "What have you done? And what are you doing here?"

The Great DragoN turned to face Galaxina with golden eyes.

"The time for games is over, Galaxina," it said in a mechanically modified version of Drago's voice. "Any further failure will incur the King's wrath. It goes against my principles, but..."

It reached with dagger-like fingers towards Emerl.

"You will all die here!"

つづく
To be continued...