Chapter 4: Red and Yellow
They had walked quite a ways now when Breeze suddenly realized the booming and explosions had stopped. She guessed it was because Sonic was focusing on getting her out instead of fighting Dr. Eggman. She watched Sonic walking with a look of concentration on his face. She smiled again and thought about how lucky she was to meet such a brave and caring person. He seemed like the type of guy that would always be there for his friends no matter what. She wondered about these other two friends he had. Surely they had to be older and bigger and stronger because how else would Sonic really be affective against someone like Dr. Eggman. He was still very young and seemed so small compared to Eggman's robots and contraptions. His friends, Tails and Knuckles, must be very dangerous and tough. She shivered a little at the prospect of meeting them, but then squared her shoulders. After all, if they were friends of Sonic they were friends of hers.
Her excitement and strength was starting to ebb as they rounded another corner. She was dirty, tired, and hungry. She just wanted to get to where they were going and get there fast. Her bow was starting to weigh down her shoulders like it never had before and she took to keeping her head down to the ground watching the ground to help make the slow minutes pass by faster. She was in this position, staring at the ground and blotting out everything else when she was suddenly startled half to death by a loud noise to her right. Her head snapped up and she grabbed her bow. She wheeled around in panic, exhaustion taking over her body. It was hard to move! She started to panic, but then felt the firm pressure of Sonic's hand on her arm.
"Breeze, it's okay. Just calm down. It's only Knuckles and Tails. Tails has the X Tornado so he can fly us out of here and get you some help," Sonic spoke to her in a low soothing voice. It was the only thing that could have gotten past her panic stricken mind and calm her down. She took a deep breath and looked around to see the new arrivals, holding tightly to Sonic's hand the whole time.
"What's wrong with the little fox? Jumping at shadows?" a deep voice asked.
Breeze glared at the red echidna who had insulted her. He had huge knuckles and a sideways white crescent moon shape on is red chest. He stared back at her with violet eyes and was shocked when the timid little girl he had just watched get all freaked out when Tails landed stared right back at him and said with vehemence, "I'm a vixen, not a fox. There's a difference."
"Knuckles, this is Breeze. I rescued her from Eggman's cellar. She's got a bow and arrow set that she uses and never misses with so she'll be very valuable to us. Right now we've got to get her out of here. She's real weak," Sonic explained moving in front of Breeze a little more. Breeze poked her head out from behind Sonic again.
"He's not as tough as I thought he would be," she observed.
"Not tough! Watch this little vixen!" Knuckles yelled and slammed his fist into a wall, shattering it to little bits. Breeze stared wide eyed.
"Alright," she swallowed, "I take it back. You're strong, but you don't have much aim. That's where I come in."
"You think your hot stuff, hu? Alright, show me what you can do," Knuckles challenged.
Breeze looked around for a target. "See that security camera way down there? I'll hit it first time."
"That's got to be like 100 feet away!" Cream exclaimed.
Breeze took her bow and stood in ready position. She knocked one of her blue feathered arrows.
"You don't have to prove yourself just because Knuckles is a hard head, Breeze. You're tired, don't stress yourself," Amy pleaded.
"Oh I can do it…just watch," and with that she released the arrow. It whizzed by fast and half a second later they heard an explosion and the camera at the end of the hall was gone. Sonic made a quick dash to where the camera had been for conformation.
"Yup, it's gone," he said. "She's good!"
"Thanks, Sonic," Breeze said.
Cream, Amy, and Cheese all exclaimed in wonder and congratulated Breeze on her expert shot. Knuckles grumbled in the background. Just a little ways behind Knuckles a ship stood in robot mode. It moved forward after Breeze's excellent shot and suddenly everyone who had forgot it was there, remembered.
"Tails! Come on out of there and meet Breeze!" Amy shouted at the cockpit. "I'm sure you'll like her!"
Breeze looked at the big gold tipped robot and shivered. You've got to be big and tough to operate that thing. Tails must be Sonic's big and dangerous friend, she thought.
The cockpit made a whining sound and slid back…to reveal a little yellow-orange fox with big light blue eyes and white tuffs of fur on his stomach and around his face much like hers. Breeze stared. He couldn't have been much older than she was! He jumped down from his robot and walked shyly over.
"Hey, Tails. This is Breeze. You must have heard about her when I was talking to Knuckles. She's seven, one year younger than you!" Sonic said and patted Tails on the back in a friendly gesture. "Tails is a genius. He built that robot all by himself and he built his own spaceship too. In fact, he's built almost everything! He's real useful against Eggman," Sonic continued.
Tails blushed. "It's nothing really," he said in a small cute voice. "Hi, I'm Miles Prower…but like Sonic said you can call me "Tails", all my friends do." He had his hands behind his back in a cute way.
"Nice to meet you, Tails," she said, flattered that he already considered her as one of his friends.
He smiled and then Sonic nudged him in the back. "Oh…uh…that was a nice shot you just did," he stammered and then looked at her. "You're very skilled."
"Thanks. You are too. It must have taken a lot to build that…and to fly it," she said indicating the robot behind him.
"Oh, yeah. That's the X Tornado. It's one of my favorite machines." He turned around to motion at it and seemed to be getting a lot more comfortable, but then Breeze ruined it by gasping. Tails whirled around and looked at her to see what was wrong.
"You have two tails!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah…that doesn't bother you does it?" he asked, worried. "So many people have shunned me because I'm different," he added with a downcast expression.
"No, I think that's cool!" she exclaimed. "It makes you unique! I can see where you get your nick-name from!"
Tails noticeably brightened and smiled, "Yeah, I can twirl them real fast and fly with them too, see."
He whirled his white-tipped tails until they looked like helicopter blades and lifted off the ground. He flew around the room, showing off to his new friend. Breeze clapped her hands with glee when he landed and the others laughed, that is all of them except Knuckles.
"Enough with the games. Tails, get in that ship and let's get out of here. I need to get back to the Master Emerald," he complained.
Breeze frowned at him but Sonic said, "He's right guys. Let's go!"
"Okay, Sonic…but we're gonna have to double up. The X Tornado can only hold four and there are seven of us," Tails explained.
"I'm with Sonic!" Amy shouted and jumped in the back seat where Sonic was already seated. She landed in his lap and hugged him close.
"Lay off a little, Amy!" he exclaimed, which only made her hug him closer.
Cream and Cheese got in the seat right in front of Sonic and Amy, and Knuckles took the seat right behind the cockpit. He stretched out in the chair to make it look like there was only room for him. Breeze was in a dilemma. She couldn't sit with who she would have felt most comfortable with because Amy had stolen that seat. Cream and Cheese were already packed in and Knuckles clearly did not want anyone to sit with him. She was at odds with him anyways and didn't think it was a good idea if she sat on his lap. The only other place was in the cockpit with Tails, but he probably needed the room to fly. She stood alone in the hall while all the others took their seats and wondered what to do. She didn't really know them all that well and felt uncomfortable. Maybe they should just leave her here and come back later.
Tails noticed her as he strapped himself in. "Hey, Breeze! Come on, there's room up here with me," he waived her over.
"It might just be better to come back for me. Don't you need space to maneuver?" she shouted up at him.
"No way! I can fly this thing easy even with you up here. Come on!"
"Okay," she said nervously and climbed up into the cockpit. She sat down in his lap, there was no other place to sit, and was suddenly aware of how dirty she was. "I'm all dirty and smelly. Sorry, Tails," she admitted and looked up at him.
"No problem, Breeze. It's not your fault," he said and smiled back at her, light blue eyes sparkling. He closed the cockpit and put his hands on the controls. The air got close and Breeze started to feel enclosed again like she was back in her prison. She leaned close to Tails and shut her eyes trying to stifle the feeling.
"It's okay, Breeze. It'll be over soon," he murmured so only she could hear. Breeze, comforted by his voice, nodded.
"X Tornado, launch!" Tails announced and pushed the controls forward. The robot sprang into action and transformed itself back into a fast jet. It shot towards the ceiling of the fortress and Tails felt Breeze cringe at the sudden movement and bury herself deeper into his fur. She cracked an eye open and gasped at the speed they were approaching the ceiling. They were going to crash! Tails probably couldn't control the X Tornado because she was in the way!
"Tails!" she yelled. "We're gonna crash!" She closed her eyes tight and held onto him like she'd never let go.
Tails smiled and kept concentrating on the ceiling. He put an arm around the frightened blue vixen in his lap and assured her, "No we're not, Breeze. Launch missiles!"
Tails pressed a button and two missiles flew towards the ceiling and blasted it opened. The X Tornado then shot through the hole and into the bright sunny sky. Breeze's eyes streamed with tears as the light hit them and she saw the bright blue sky for the first time after months of being in prison. Her eyes hurt so much with all of the light, but she couldn't look away. It was glorious!
"Oh, Tails!" she breathed. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?!"
Tails looked down at her and then looked at the sky. A deep and hurtful memory flooded his mind, but then he realized she was right and the memory faded away. "Yeah, it is the most beautiful thing, even more beautiful than Cosmo," he said to himself.
Breeze didn't hear him. She was too busy watching the dazzling blue sky with white fluffy clouds suspended in it's vastness, feeling the warmth of Tails' arm wrapped closely around her body, and thinking about how utterly and unfathomably happy she was right at that moment, even though she smelled like a sewer and her eyes felt like they were on fire! Knuckles, who had been listening to the whole thing, harrumphed behind them and wished they would get there faster.
This one was a little longer and I think I'm going to keep that up or I'll have too many chapters! Please review. I'd like to hear any suggestions, just be considerate!