Author's Note: Again, my utmost apologies for taking so long to update this, this chapter came about almost spontaneously after six months of having no ideas. Enjoy.

Chapter 3

The two fighters stood there in the garden, face to face, unmoving. The differences between them could not be starker. One was completely emotionless and built from the ground up to fight and destroy. The other was practically a fountain of feelings right now, and was not in the best shape for combat.

Every one of Tails' muscles was as taut as a guitar string, doing everything they could to stop him from trembling in terror. Ignoring the pain on his torso, he took in deep, powerful breaths, eyes focused on intently on his enemy. The fox was doing one thing he was sure he was at least still good at – analyzing robots for weak spots. Only this time, he could not point them out to Sonic for him.

His preliminary analysis was not looking very hopeful. The arms, which had repulsors and likely other weapons on them, were rather thick at the shoulders and only less so at the hands. Robotnik also appeared to have learned from past lessons, since the bot moved on tracks and jet thrusters – it did not have the same classic vulnerability that bipedal units did, the legs. The tracks were long and wide enough to give the bot a low center of gravity, meaning Tails had little chance of making it fall over. I need to see it in action to know more, he concluded. A straight up glance isn't enough.

The instant he finished his thoughts, which took a felt-way-longer-than-they-were five seconds, it suddenly seemed as if the bot had been able to read them, as the signal to begin to battle went off. In this case, the signal came in the form of both repulsors firing simultaneously.

The fox's muscles were so tense that he was able to leap to the side like a spring just as his senses caught the first sign of the attack happening – he couldn't tell if it was his ears or eyes that alerted him. A quarter of a second later, he managed to barely avoid getting struck by the repulsor bolts. His reflexes were still supernaturally quick compared to average folk, even if he hadn't used or honed them for so long.

At the same time his twin namesakes rapidly spinned up – this was something he really had to get used to doing again. He looked left to keep his eyes on the bot as he began to propel himself forwards, checking how fast it could turn around. The answer: very quickly. The robot spun counterclockwise while delivering follow-up shots at the fox trying to circle him – the fourth one hit.

Immediately pain coursed through his body, originating from the tip of one of his spinning tails, which stopped spinning as the fox again tumbled across the field of flowers screaming.

"Ahh! Ugh!" Once Tails came to a stop, lying on his abdomen, he quickly turned to check how bad his newest wound was. The normally white tip of his tail was blackened and charred, with a lot of the fur gone, but the tail was otherwise intact. Superficial pain, then - something he had to ignore, even if it was bad enough to make him grit his teeth, especially when combined with his torso wound. Come on, adrenaline…

His huge ears twitched, and out of the corner of his eye, another repulsor bolt was incoming, though at least the distance between him and the bot was greater now, giving Tails just slightly more time to dodge. Here the fox leapt ahead on all fours, much like the non-sapient version of his species, right before the blast consumed the flowers he was on and turned them to ash.

Now knowing that circling the robot was not an option, Tails planned to try something else. The robot could turn sideways rather quickly, but what about upwards?

His tails spun again, this time above him, and fortunately seemed to get up to speed faster now, much like in old times. He waited cautiously for the robot to fire again, now having a better idea as to how fast the bolts actually moved. It was the only way he could get the riming right due to the repuslor's rapid rate of fire. Without realizing it, he was actually ready now.

When the shot came, Tails' legs sprung him up high, and his namesakes ensured he would stay in the air without stopping. He wasn't moving vertically, though, but in an arc over the robot, intending on getting behind it, or at least seeing if it was possible.

He looked down while on his parabolic path, and noticed that he may found the weakness he was looking for. The robot was able to fire two more shots up at him, but by the time it tried to fire a third, the fox was already above the maximum elevation of its repulsors.

Tails finally had an attack plan since the fight began. Risky, but worth trying out nonetheless. Once he was directly above the bot, he let himself drop, but did not stop spinning his tails. Instead he had them face sideways while looking downwards, steadying his aim. He was going to use his tails as weapons again, specifically as buzzsaws, as a way of imitating Sonic's own move, something he hadn't done since he decided to do everything in the Tornado. To do this, he had to keep the edges of his spinning namesakes as sharp as possible.

The spinning wheel struck the robot's left shoulder, cutting it from top to bottom. Unfortunately, it did not go all the way. Like an old, dull sword, his tails simply hadn't been sharpened enough, and it was further hindered by the fact that one of its tips had been scorched just now. Instead of doing a clean cut and landing, Tails actually ended up getting stuck after sawing into it a few inches, his tails abruptly ceasing to spin as one of them got jammed at the fissure he'd created. Damn it!

Hurting again, the fox acted quickly and started pulling at the tail, which just happened to be the injured one, pushing against the robot's arm for support. The bot, apparently just as eager to get Tails off of itself, suddenly decided to help by spinning the damaged arm in an upright circle – the cut had not been deep enough to disconnect it.

Tails was helpless as he got spun around, the rotation growing more and more rapid, while he still struggled to pull his tail out. Eventually the centrifugal force got high enough that he was sent flying straight out, screaming all the way again.

He was lucky enough to land on another bed of flowers, cushioning the blow, but it was mitigated by his landing on his injured left side, causing a fresh wave of pain to flow over him. Joining in was his now even more wounded tail, which had suffered cuts as it had been forcefully pulled out of the fissure. Even though Tails knew he had to keep moving to avoid getting shot by the repulsor, he found that it hurt too much now – his wounds were slowing him down.

Am I going to die? His breathing was arrested, his feelings a chaotic mix of worry and regret. The repulsor bolt was coming any second now…

Except it didn't. Confused and still lying on the ground, Tails turned around as fast as he could despite the pain to face the robot again. It was facing him back, its repulsors raised, but they were merely smoking, not firing. That was when it hit him: like older bullet-based firearms, the repulsors needed to cool down after continuous rapid fire, and it seemed they had just reached their limit.

But the repulsors were not its only weapons. They flipped upwards into its forearms, while at the same time its alternate weaponry, connected 180 degrees opposite the repulsors on the same pivot, flipped into view, revealing themselves to be a pair of whips. Electric whips. After uncoiling them, as if to demonstrate, the robot gave them a ferocious swing.

The sound of the resulting crack, complimented by the sizzle of the electric sparks, was enough to make all of Tails' fur stand on edge.

The robot edged closer, whips ready, this time intent on making them land on the fox. The sight made Tails jump up and then back up. Despite his fear, he tried really hard not to let it erupt into panic. He knew he had to do the same thing as he had earlier – to see what strengths and weaknesses this new weapon had.

Without getting sliced, that is.

The whips then came swinging horizontally, lashing out at Tails, who jumped backwards as his heart skipped a beat. Although his reflexes wanted to close his eyes instinctively, the fox forced himself to keep them open, as he had to see just how long the whips were, how far they could reach. It appeared to be about eight feet, the same height as the robot itself. Okay, so he had a chance. He just had to fly over it again and-

The robot unexpectedly gained a burst of speed as it zoomed forwards, and it swung its whips a second time. The shortened distance caused Tails to be the unfortunate victim of its effects as one of the whips struck his left shoulder.

"OW!" His right hand instantly reached up, pressing against the wound, the nasty combined result of a laceration and electric shock at the same time. The agony was beyond description. Even before he saw it, he knew he was already bleeding.

He was on the verge of collapsing, but at this point he had backed up far enough that something nearby came into his field of view, something that immediately vanquished all thoughts of falling over – Sonic. The hedgehog remained unconscious on the bed of blue flowers, but he might as well have been up and cheering for Tails, given the encouraging effect it had on the fox.

Then, to his horror, the robot suddenly changed course to face Sonic, its real target all along, and raised its whips, preparing to strike.

"No!" The sight of his best friend in danger and unable to defend himself now made Tails rush forwards rather than backwards, all the pain that had nearly downed him just a few seconds ago simply brushed aside like some mosquito bite. As the whips came down, the fox could think of only one way to defend Sonic. One utterly crazy one, but he had no other ideas, nor time to be picky about them.

Before the whips could hit Sonic and potentially flay his head open, Tails jumped and physically grabbed both of them, one in each hand. Despite his gloves, which were capable of withstanding abrasions and high temperatures, the burning sensation was incredible, and the shock that traveled through his entire body threatened to make his heart burst. Regardless, Tails' mind was on autopilot now, meaning nothing but the most incapacitating damage could stop him from carrying out his plan – and this was not.

Tails decided that the robot was not the only one with whips here. Still grabbing them tightly even though they could burn through his hands soon, the fox brought his namesakes out from behind, sharper than they ever had been, and cut the damn things with a mad slash. As they made contact, his tails stung from the shock as well, but it wasn't too much when added on top of the pain he already was in, and it lasted mercifully shortly.

This was not all he planned to do. Tails chucked the now disconnected whips aside, his gloves now burnt through, revealing his bloody palms. He jumped up into the air once more, tails propelling him, going from sword blades to normal to spinning helicopter blades within just a second, a new record for him. The robot was undoubtedly going to switch back to its repulsors which had likely cooled down by now. The fox was not giving it that chance.

Tails flew in a half-parabolic arc over the robot before dropping and changing the direction of his spinning, sharpened namesakes again. This time, he was going to ensure a clean cut. He knew it.

Heading for the same damaged arm, Tails was finally able to sever the entire appendage completely, almost as smoothly as a knife on butter. And he did not even stop moving to congratulate himself – the moment his feet and the robotic arm touched the ground, the fox swung his personal buzzsaw horizontally, halfway across the robot's treads, before taking a few quick steps over, jumping, and then swiping upwards vertically again, through the other shoulder. Flying again, Tails landed what he hoped was the final blow – severing the optical sensors on top of its body, its 'head', out of a sense of completion and frustrated fury.

Tails then dropped down in front of the robot, facing it once more, eyes narrowed and namesakes still spinning and cutting through the air. At first, nothing happened. Then the robot seemed to finally register that it had just been sawed apart. The entire machine promptly collapsed, its other arm and head landing onto the stone tiles while the body fell backwards off its treads. After much clattering and grinding, the entire garden was silent once more.

David had finally felled Goliath.

Recognizing that he had indeed defeated the mechanical menace, Miles 'Tails' Prower stopped spinning his twin rear appendages, and then stopped standing altogether. He fell next, straight onto the grass, face down. With the danger eliminated, the adrenaline had stopped pumping, and the pain from all of his wounds had come back to clasp him in a tight vice from which he couldn't break free.

He felt his consciousness began to slip away, and no will to fight it from happening. Despite the agony and exhaustion, he could at last feel relief at how he'd managed to defend Sonic. Without tools. Without gadgets. Without the Tornado. Just he, his tails and his quick thinking…

His ever-sensitive ears picked up a distant rumble. The familiarity of the sound kept him awake, and his relief began draining away. Suddenly passing out didn't seem like such a good idea. No, he pleaded silently. Please…

But a slow glance to the side confirmed his worst fears. There were now not one, but three additional robots of the same type that had arrived at the scene via jet thrusters. Even with his darkening vision, he could see that they were all looking at him.

As they deployed their weapons, the fox felt oddly calm. He did not find himself yelping or scrambling away in panic – he wouldn't have even if he had the energy. At least he'd die having proven that he wasn't as physically helpless as he'd appeared to be to the world, especially to Sonic…

His supposed last thoughts were interrupted by yet another very familiar sound – this one was most welcome. He heard the noise of metal being smashed, and when the fox looked back up to check, there were big holes through each and every robot. There was only one person he knew that could do that.

Out from behind the furthest robot that proceeded to collapse, a familiar blue blur came around, stopping abruptly before Tails. "Tails!" Sonic the Hedgehog called out in surprise, his emerald eyes overflowing with worry. "Tails, you okay?"