The day soon turns into night, and Espio is keeping himself busy with his new friend from the bar, Lindsey. They check out the downtown streets, going in and out of various bars and clubs. The raccoon talks to Espio about the places around town, who owns them and which are the best spots. As they pass a 6-store plaza, Lindsey takes Espio into a video game store to check out the latest releases. She goes to the new releases side of the store while the chameleon checks out the fighting games. He looks at a cross over of the two biggest franchises and scoffs at the cover. He picks up a brand new game and reads it over
"This one's a fighting game about ripping off an opponents' limbs. If only These guys were around to make Sonic the Fighters..." Espio points out "You find anything good?"
"This one game, it's mainly about robbing banks and driving around shooting people, but I don't have the money for it.." The raccoon puts the game back on the stand
"Don't worry about it" Espio takes the game and walks to the front
Two minutes he comes back, game in hand with a receipt and the two leave the store. He hands Lindsey the game and walk down the street
"You totally didn't have to do that, Espio-"
"Like I said, don't worry about it, but the first round at the bar is on you this time"
"Fair enough" Lindsey smiles and hugs the chameleon
Espio gets this weird feeling as she wraps her arms around him, he almost gets nervous but he keeps his cool. They walk for another couple blocks before stopping in another bar for a drink. Lindsey takes a seat next to Espio and rests her head on his shoulder
"You seem tired" The chameleon looks beside him
"Well, just a bit. Do you have a place to go after I'm gone?" Lindsey looks up at Espio
"Did, but not at the moment.."
"You can bunk at my house tonight - if you want I mean.."
"Sure, I just wanna finish off this last beer"
While Espio is in the bar, Cream sits at the front desk of the motel with her new friend, Roxxanne. They talk for hours about the issues the rabbit has with her boyfriend, while residents try to get Roxy's attention at the desk. After she ignores them, they walk back to their rooms angry
"So, what are you gonna do now?" Roxy asks, changing the channel on a TV hung on the wall
"I really don't know.. Tails has got to get his act together or I might just leave this city, I can't take being hurt again. Even as kids he would ignore me whenever I needed someone to talk. Sure, he was with Sonic a lot but when he wasn't he still 'Had better things to do'…" Cream takes a drink of water from cup
"Well, you're more than welcome here anytime you want. I've been exactly where you are, I don't know how many times now, so I understand your situation. Just make sure you make the right decision in the end, or you might end up hurt again" Roxy replies
"I'll know what the right choice is when the time comes.. not too busy around here tonight, just mad rents.." Cream changes the subject
"I'm just here to book rooms, I'm not the cleaning lady" both stop as loud rap music plays and the bass shakes the entire motel "Oh, great. Hank is drinking again.."
"Do you need to call the manager?" Cream asks
"No, there's not much we can do.. he owns some of this place so he can get away with this stuff.."
"Not tonight.." Cream stands up and walks towards the motel room
Roxy sits back and watches the 24 hour news station while the music shuts off and a few guys start shouting in pain. Hank the drunk along with his friends run out of the motel and Cream walks back to the front desk
"Later, boys! Hope you enjoyed your stay!" Roxy waves to the gang "Big mistake, pissing off a lady whose not to impressed with one guy already.."
Tails lays low in the outskirts of town, thinking about leaving. One side of him tells him to go and don't look back, while the other tells him to stay and fight Miles, with or without his friends. In the early hours of the day, Tails walks the city streets, looking out for his friends but he knows he won't find them. More rain comes down, which doesn't make this night any better.
As if things couldn't get worse, Tails looks up to see three gang vans circle him and 20 guys come out. Without a word, they attack him. Tails does nothing to stop the beating because he knows there's no use. He gets flopped around, thrown and held up as the gang gets their punches in. A voice from a building yells down to the gang
"Hey! The cops are on their way, assholes!" A female voice shouts
"Screw off, lady! Come on boys, leave this trash here. We got the message to him.." The leader of the gang orders
Tails gets to all fours but is kicked in the gut one more time which makes him drop back to the grass. The gang drives away while the fox lays in pain. His heart starts beating fast as he sees two feet walk towards him. He passes out from the pain, unknowing of who this is.
It takes two glasses of cold water to wake him up the next day, and he fears Miles may have picked him up. He is relived when he sees Celia sitting next to him on a bed
"They really took it to ya, last night. Your shirt was completely covered in blood so I got you a new one" The Ferret hands Tails a new white designer shirt.
The fox says nothing and takes the shirt
"This isn't my house, by the way. It's a friend's house. I left home again, hopefully for good this time. The guys I live with don't like you. Steve, the bear you saw yesterday, told them about you. Seems like you have a reputation as a vigilante and they don't like that" Celia takes a bite of an apple
"How did you get me here?" Tails looks around the room
"I carried you" Celia throws the apple in a garbage can "You know for a guy, you're not that heavy"
"You carried me all the way from that park?"
"All the way..? the park is just over there" Celia points out the window and across the street
"So it was you I heard last night…"
"Yep. Once I saw your two tails flying around the park, I knew I had to help you"
"I'll have you know I had things under control, Celia"
"Really? So you let gang members beat you up, then you were gonna take them out?" Celia asks
"Sarcasm is the last thing I need right now.."
"I wasn't being sarcastic, Tails. I was being literal, didn't mean to offend you"
"Oh... Sorry, I've just been on edge lately" Tails stands up and changes into his new shirt "You wouldn't happen to have anything to eat, would you?'
Tails follows Celia downstairs to the kitchen of her friend's house, meanwhile Marcus is out in the backyard of his house setting up some sort of contraption. Cheese floats around the backdoor and Marcus pulls a rope to set up whatever this is. The raccoon walks up to the porch and pours himself a glass of orange juice
"There, now the next guy who tries to sneak in is in for a nasty surprise when they open that gate" Marcus tells Cheese
The Chao looks at it, then returns to floating around the air around Marcus. He finishes his Juice and looks at Cheese
"Your friend Cream didn't show you how to play cards, did she?" Marcus asks
The large raccoon opens a deck of playing cards, shuffles them and splits them in two sections. He throws Cheese a small deck and they sit across from each other
"We'll start off easy. This is Go Fish. I think you know the rules. We'll play for fun now, and work on betting later" Marcus explains
After an hour the game switches from blackjack to full poker. Marcus is surprised how good Cheese is at this. He loses 57 dollars to the small chao before he calls it quits
"Well, I'd better go shop for more food. Hopefully I don't get jumped and robbed again. You enjoy this victory, Chao. I'll get my money back soon enough"
Marcus locks his front door and heads back to town. On his way, he spots a gang of hooded kids running around the rooftops.
I learned my lesson yesterday, those kids can run around all they want
Marcus gets downtown but before he gets to the grocery store he spots the same girl from yesterday scoping out an elderly hedgehog in the street.
Okay, I can't let these kids rob an old man
Marcus runs up to the girl and grabs her backpack
"Not this time, girl" Marcus says
"You've got the wrong idea, dude! And I'd back off if I were you!"
"Go ahead, call them. I'm ready for your buddies this time"
"You asked for it.. DON'T TOUCH ME THERE, YOU PERVERT! HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!" the girl shouts as if she's dying
Marcus lets go but everyone around him is already circling him while the girl slips out from the crowd. Marcus tries to calm them down but it's not working
"Trust me, it's not what-"
"Shut up, you pedo!" a female Badger yells
"Now, lets not get any ideas.." A man tries to grabs him but The raccoon bends his fingers backwards and kicks him back "Damnit, I don't wanna have to do this, but if you want to…"
Marcus shoulder blocks the crowd in front of him and starts to run away but the crowd of over 50 is right on him. He runs out of the city, tiring out half the crowd and making them stop. But he still has at least 20 on him. Marcus jumps off a hilltop and into a large wooded area. The crowd stops running and lets him go, knowing they can't follow him. Marcus lands in a large tree and smashes off the branches. He is able to grab a hold of it and climb down, but he gets cut open from the sharp branches stabbing into him
"God damnit, all this way for this shit…"
"Your shitty day isn't quite over just yet" A voice calls to Marcus from behind
The raccoon turns around and looks up at 7 teenagers in hoods and bandanas. The make their way down a hill and surround him. The girl from downtown joins the group and looks on from the mountainside
"Following me?" Marcus asks
"The path you took the city folk on leads to the woodland. We figure it's the perfect chance to wipe out one annoying problem right now" The leader of the gang says, pulling out his modified shotgun
"Well then, lets not waste day light, boys"
As Marcus cracks his knuckles and get ready to fight, Espio leaves a note on Lindsey's dresser. He puts on his jacket and heads out again. The chameleon pulls out his phone and looks up his contacts. Tails' number pops up first, but Espio scrolls down to Marcus' number and calls it. The raccoon is held against a tree but answers his phone with his left hand
"Little busy here, argh!" Marcus grunts while getting punched
The phone goes dead, so Marcus puts it back in his pocket and continues to fight. He throws everyone back and growls
"That's it?! COME ON!"
Tails eats a bowl of cereal and jumps in the shower. Celia waits for him as he comes out, but he only goes to her room for his bag and hat. Tails gets his stuff ready and turns on the music on his phone. He puts one headphone in and looks at Celia
"Here's my number if you need me, I have to go" The fox hands the Ferret a small piece of paper
"Okay, Tails. I'll see you around"
Tails puts the other headphone in, waves and walks out of the door into the busy streets
A second later Marcus' phone rings again so he answers briefly
"Not now!" Marcus hangs up and turns off his phone.
The modded shotgun loads up and makes an intimidating low clicking sound
"Done taking calls or should we wait?" the leader asks sarcastically
"I'm good, lets just do this" Marcus answers
He dodges a rubber bullet and rushes the leader, making his whole pack run after the raccoon. Marcus forces the hooded leader into a long pipeline tunnel and the fight continues. Marcus breaks the shotgun in half and starts to beat the leader.
The gang jumps on him and pulls him away. They corner Marcus and start stomping on him. The leader goes to punch him but he gets kicked backwards by a girl in heels. The chameleon comes out and backs the gang up, making room for him, Cream and Marcus to stand. Marcus looks up in surprise as Cream extends her hand to him. The raccoon takes it and stands up
"Fox boy didn't show?" Marcus asks
"Guess not.." Cream says
Marcus, Cream and Espio stand ready for the fight, waiting for someone to make the first move. The leader of the thieves orders his gang to back off, and they slowly walk out of the tunnels. The three stand down and take a break in the middle of the tunnel.
"How'd you find me?" Marcus asks
"Tracking signal. All these new smart phones have them now a days.." Espio replies "I knew you were in trouble the second you picked up, so I let the phone do it's magic, called her up and we got here as fast as we could"
"I knew Tails wasn't gonna come so I had to step it up. Sometimes he really pisses me off.." Cream adds
"Thanks guys… I uh, really needed that. I would've been done for out here" Marcus says
"Hey, we're your friends. You can always count on us" Cream says
Marcus nods, and Team Skyline takes off back to the city streets.
Tails frantically looks around town for his friends, looking to make up for the past few days and get back on the same page. He hears shouting behind him so he turns around. Celia waves to him, so he stops and waits for her
"Tails! I have to tell you something!" Celia runs up
"What is it? I'm kinda-"
Both Celia and Tails stop and look up towards a billboard; it's Miles. Just down the street from Tails stands the identical fox wanting to wipe him out. The two fox's stare each other down, the anger from both rises. Miles looks to the left and guides Tails' attention to the gang of thieves still angry from having to walk away from the last fight.
"Look what we've got here, guys!" One thief says
They circle Tails and Celia, backing them up in a corner. Miles grins and jumps to another building to watch the fight.
Celia runs behind Tails and he shields her from attack, while the gang gets ready to rush him.
Suddenly the two-tailed fox runs at the leader, grabs him and flies through a barbwire fence. The whole gang rushes to follow, leaving Celia by herself with Miles a few buildings away. She also joins Tails in the abandoned construction site.
The fox and the leader fight for control, and Tails knocks off his hood, revealing long spiky green quills. The hedgehog punches Tails away and rips off his bandana, showing a tan muzzle with a spider bite piercing on his chin
"I've got this fox, you watch the girl!" The leader shouts
The gang turns their attention to Celia and make sure she's no threat to their leader. The two fight, grunting in pain but keep going. They smash against the unfinished walls of this building and it's so loud, it can be heard downtown.
Pipes and large metal beams fall off ledges from the impact of the fight. Tails starts to lose, so he grabs the hedgehog and flies to the second floor and rams him against a wall.
He breaks the wall down with the hedgehog and throws him all the way back down to the first floor. One of the gang members throws their leader a metal baton and he uses it on Tails as he flies down. Celia yells for the hedgehog to stop the fight, but he continues. Tails is able to slip free and put him in a choke hold.
The loudest CLANG of metal sounds out, making everyone cover their ears. Tails lets go of the hedgehog and looks up
"That's Enough!" Espio calls out, walking into the construction site with Marcus and Cream
"Gimme another 10 seconds and come back, buddy, I had this kid…" Tails spits out blood and breathes heavily
"No. It's done" Espio answers
Cream looks at the green hedgehog "You look just like my friend Sonic.."
"You know Sonic?" The green hedgehog asks
Tails looks at him "We're his friends.."
The hedgehog looks at Tails "I'm his brother"
Tails' eyes go wide in shock, along with Cream and Espio. Everyone goes quiet for a minute. While they stand silent, Celia runs up to Tails and hugs him tightly. Cream looks at him with pure distain while he tries to get Celia to let go. Espio looks at the green hedgehog and speaks
"If you're Sonic's brother, What's his mother's name?" Espio asks
"MY mother's name is Aleena, Sonic is my younger brother…"
"And what's your name, pal?"
"I'm Manic - Who the hell are you guys?"
