CHAPTER 10: Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law states that anything bad that can happen, will happen, and at the worst possible time.

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Emergency lights flashed red throughout the plane.

"Sonic! We gotta get to the very front! Maybe I can regain control of this thing!" Tails shouted at me over the commotion.

I hopped over Tails, hanging onto his chair with one hand. With the other, I grabbed the door separating us from the pilot's room. Locked, of course, but I had to try.

I wondered if I could pull off a spindash. The plane was sort of wobbling as it fell, but it wasn't out of control. I risked letting go of the chair. Nothing dramatic happened, so I crouched down on the floor and began to spin.

I felt myself shift backwards, uncurled, caught myself. Too unstable for ground spin dashing. I jumped in the air and hurtled myself at the barrier separating us from the pilot's room, hoping it would collapse. No luck. I heard myself grunt loudly as I slammed against it and fell to the ground.

No time to recover. I pushed myself up with my hands, leapt, and tried again.

"Not enough momentum!" Tails yelled after I failed a second time. He glanced out the window. "We have about twenty seconds to work with!"

That meant he could see the ground now, even through the clouds. Not good. I nodded and then back-flipped, landing in the middle area of the plane. People were frantically shouting my name. They were depending on me. They were putting their faith in me. I couldn't fail them.

I accelerated. Fast. I launched myself into the air, throwing all my weight towards my target and holding nothing back. If this didn't work, I was going to end up with a lot of broken bones…

I heard a loud crash just as I blasted through the door. It was way too loud for it to have been me and only me. I knew it was thunder. Very, very close thunder. Lightning must have accompanied it, I knew, but with the flashing emergency lights in the plane it was impossible to tell.

I turned to yell for Tails, but he was already there next to me, twirling his namesakes and bolting for the controls. "Move!" He yelled to the stunned pilot, whose mind seemed to be on autopilot (pun completely intended). He did, absentmindedly exiting the control area through the hole I made, and Tails' hands began moving so fast over the control panel that my eyes couldn't follow.

There was nothing else I could do now. I raced back out the now-nonexistent door and peeked out the window, scared to see how close to ground level we were.

Storms and metal don't mix.

I was just in time to see lightning strike the wing. I was thrown back, or maybe it was a reflexive jump. Either way, I landed on the ground in the aisle. Heart pounding, I scrambled back into the pilot room – there was no way Tails would be able to fix things now. There was no way anybody could fix things now.

I heard screams. I heard luggage falling. The plane was spiraling beyond control.

"Sonic, watch out!" Tails hollered frantically. He was holding onto – no, clinging onto – a lever for dear life. I dove forward and to my left, landing on the control panel and grabbing whatever I could. A metal laptop case flew past and crashed through the window.

For a moment, I don't think either of us realized what an opening we had… literally and figuratively.

"I thought that was supposed to be bulletproof!"

I would have shrugged. "Guess it's not suitcase-proof!"

"We can get out!" Tails exclaimed.

I looked over my shoulder. He read my mind.

"Sonic, there's no way to save them! Staying here isn't gonna change that!"

He was right. Staying here would be suicide. "Let's get out of here!"

Tails grabbed one of my hands with both of his and pulled me into the air. We made it out just in time.

There was an enormous, terrible splash below us…

Then… there was an explosion…

I felt something happen inside. It reminded me of what I felt like after that little boy went limp in our arms over half a year ago, not long before we defeated Zorro. The authorities had arrived and rushed him off to the hospital… but we all pretty much knew he wasn't going to make it.

My eyes closed, and I felt tears sting the back of my lids. If we ever make it out of this… I swear… the first thing I'm going to do is find out if that boy made it.

I never even knew the poor kid's name.

"Sonic… I can't keep us up here much longer…" Tails said, reminding me of the problem at hand. We slowly began to drop towards the water. I knew his tails were still having trouble handling the strain of flying.

Once again: remember how I said fate was going to come back and kick me and all that?

"Wh-what? Are you sure?"

"I'll try to keep us up here as long as I can, but it's starting to feel really uncomfortable…"

"Okay… you're doing fine, just keep it up, okay?"

"I'll do what I can."

I looked down at the water. It was thrashing around wildly. I didn't want to know what it would be like if we landed in it.

Another problem occurred to me: how the heck were we supposed to get out of here? We were stranded in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight for hundreds of miles. Did we just stay here until some ship appeared, or… until we died?

I felt a twinge of pain on the end of one of my quills. I reached up and grabbed it, feeling a little bit of blood run onto my hand. I didn't realize I'd hurt myself during all that chaos. I massaged the sore area.

Then it hit me. I still had my Chaos Emerald!

I reached beneath the injured quill and pulled out a shining gem. Tails saw it. He gasped. "Sonic, you brought yours!"

"Yeah! I completely forgot about it. Where's yours?"

His ears slumped. "I threw it in the Tornado before we left," he said glumly. "Is one enough to help us out?"

I grinned. "Tails, that's perfect! Hey, do you still have that com-link around your wrist?"

He let go with one hand to check. "Yup!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. Relief is a sweet, sweet feeling. "Contact Amy right now!"

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"Chao?"

"It's okay, Cheese. I'm fine," Cream said unconvincingly. The chao flew along next to her, cocking his head.

"Sorry. I'm just worried about Sonic, that's all. I haven't seen him since we got down from that scary city. I hope he found Tails."

"Chao…"

"Yeah, you're right, they're probably fine. They're the good guys. They always beat Eggman." The girl smiled, having convinced herself with her own words.

The two of them arrived at Amy's house. Cream gently knocked on the door. After a few moments, it was slowly opened, revealing a stressed-looking Amy.

"Oh, hey, Cream," Amy greeted, offering what she probably hoped was a believable smile. It wasn't happening.

"Good evening, Amy, how are you?" The rabbit asked politely.

A shrug and a mumble. The hedgehog moved aside and swung the door open all the way – a silent invitation for Cream to come on in. She did, and they both sat on the sofa. Cheese plopped down between them.

Silence followed. After a few moments, Cream looked up at her friend and said, "I'm worried about them, too. But you know Sonic always makes it out of these things. Maybe we should have a little more faith in him."

"I do have faith in him!" Amy said, just a tad bit faster than necessary. She took a deep breath, calmed down, recovered. "It's just… he's not immortal. Things can happen, you know? Things that even he can't control."

"Sonic always knows what to do," Cream said. "He knows how to handle any problem."

Ah, six-year-old naivety. What Amy wouldn't give to have those days back. In order to humor her friend, though, she nodded and forced a look of gratitude. "Yeah, I suppose you're right, Cream."

The young rabbit beamed. "You'll see."

"Hey, do you hear something?"

Cream's long, peach-colored ears rose a little higher. There was a faint, muffled beeping sound, not unlike a watch alarm. The two of them stood to go find its source, but Cheese was way ahead of them.

"Chao!" Cheese chirped happily from Amy's storage closet. Seconds later he emerged, holding a com-link in both hands. Perplexed, Amy took the hi-tech walkie-talkie and strapped it onto her wrist.

"Amy here."

"It's Tails! We need your help!"

Amy and Cream exchanged excited glances. "Tails, you're okay?" The rabbit said, pulling Amy's wrist closer so she could speak into the com-link. Then she asked the million-dollar question: "Is Sonic with you?"

"Yeah, I'm hanging onto him right now!"

"Thank goodness…" Amy sighed. "Well, what do you guys need?"

"We need you to – workshop – put the Tornado – soon – you can."

"Uh, I can't hear you, Tails!"

"Sorry, it's really stormy!" The fox said, speaking louder now. "Go to the workshop and put the Tornado on autopilot as soon as you can."

"What's that going to do? What's going on over there?"

"Uh, this is kind of urgent."

"Sorry! I'm on it right now!"

"Thanks," Tails said, and closed the connection.

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An hour passed, or at least that's what it felt like to me. It probably wasn't really that long. The storm was finally beginning to ease up a bit. Tails was moaning from discomfort.

"Sonic, my tails are cramping up… I have to drop or I'm just going to injure them more!"

"You can't drop!" I said. I could feel my heart rate quicken.

"The water's calmer now," he said through breaths. "I can keep us afloat! I can swim fine, but my tails just need a break…"

Déjà vu.

I didn't want to give him a hard time again, though. Not like last time. He was hurting too much.

I felt us descend, and the moment I did, I began to have second thoughts. "H-hey, Tails, how long will it take for the Tornado to get here on autopilot? I mean, the Chaos Emeralds are powerful, so since mine is attracting the one in the Tornado, it should be here any minute, right?"

"Sonic, it's hundreds of miles away…"

"So you're sure you can't—"

"Sonic…"

I took in a breath and forced myself to shut up. Oh, man. Please don't do this to me. PLEASE don't do this to me. I can't take this…

I felt the coldness surround me and barely suppressed a scream. Tails sighed with relief and stopped spinning. Somehow my eyes wound up very tightly shut, though I didn't remember closing them.

Even though Tails was holding onto me securely, I couldn't shake the tension. There was nothing below me. No foothold. The only thing that seemed to exist was the freezing water that was slowly penetrating my fur and turning my skin to ice…

I bit my lip. What if I went under? What if the storm started up again, and twenty-foot waves started throwing us around? What if I started drowning… and I tried to inhale… and that terrible water flooded my lungs and suffocated me and choked me…

If Tails' grip slipped even an inch, I was gonna lose it… Even though logic told me that losing it would be the worst possible thing to do, I knew I wouldn't be able to help it… not in this situation…

A few minutes passed. I didn't move or speak. I was… I was petrified! I had never been this scared in my life!

"Um, Sonic, are you still with me here?"

I snapped my eyes open. Aside from the obvious concern on his face, Tails looked incredibly relaxed. I couldn't grasp that. How could anybody stand something like this!?

"Good, I thought you passed out or something," the fox said, the corners of his mouth hinting a smile. "You, uh, gonna survive?"

I opened my mouth, trying to speak. I couldn't. I couldn't form any words. Finally, I settled for a single nod.

"You're hurting me a little bit."

Snapping myself out of it, I looked to see what he meant. A fistful of thick fur was in my left hand, and I realized with a start that I was beginning to pull it out. I lessened the strength of my grip ever so slightly and tried to apologize, but I still couldn't talk. I think Tails must've been able to read my expression, though, 'cause he said, "Don't worry about it."

Work, damn mouth!

"Why're you so nervous? It's just water," Tails said. "It hasn't swallowed you up yet, has it?"

Single head shake. I began to feel a little bad. Ashamed, even. This wasn't like me and I knew it. I was only making things more difficult and hurting Tails. And embarrassing the crap out of myself. That too.

He smiled sympathetically. "Just calm down. I won't let ya go under."

I remembered what had happened a few days ago when we were escaping those robots. I'd flatly refused to go into the water, despite how much Tails wanted me to believe in him.

I was going to believe in him this time.

My heart was still pounding and my breathing was still way too fast, but I managed to loosen my grip and settle down a little. Things immediately got easier.

"There you go," Tails reassured. I made eye contact with him then. He was trying really, really hard to keep me calm and to keep my trust.

For about half a minute, I opened and closed my mouth, trying to think of something to say. This was way awkward. I hated showing fear in front of other people, even my best friend. I don't know why. Maybe it's a pride thing, since a lot of people see me as a hero or look up to me. Maybe it's because I don't want others to be worried about me.

Finally, my mouth started working again. I hate to admit it, but I could hear the quiver in my own voice when I spoke. And I know it wasn't just from being cold. "So, uh, how're – how're your tails doing?"

Tails blinked and gave me a look that made me wonder if I'd just turned pink or something. "Well… they're a little sore," he said slowly. "I have to use them to keep us balanced since I'm holding onto you with my arms, but it's a lot easier than spinning them to fly."

"That's good."

"Yeah," he said, and blinked again.

"What?"

"You're… I don't know… you're not scared anymore."

I actually grinned. "Wow, I'm doing that good of a job of hiding it?"

Tails laughed, albeit a bit nervously. I think I threw him off for a second there. Briefly, I wondered what his reaction would be if I pulled away from him and started treading water.

…

No, I'm not going to try it!

"Well, to be honest…" Tails trailed off and returned the grin.

"No, don't be honest," I told him.

"Heh, okay. In that case, yes, you're doing an excellent job of hiding it!"

I rolled my eyes. If nothing else, the tension in the atmosphere was beginning to diminish. Just don't look at the water.

"So, uh, how long do you think it'll take for the Tornado to get here?" I asked. In case you need your memory refreshed, Chaos Emeralds attract each other, which is why we had Amy put the Tornado in autopilot mode. Since I have an Emerald and there's another one in the Tornado, it should fly right to us because of the attraction.

I know what you're going to say next. There are five more Emeralds and it could very well attract one of them instead. Not likely. My Chaos Emerald and the one in the plane are better adapted to each other since they were close together before we left.

Tails thought. "The Tornado is slower than the plane we were on a little while ago, but with a Chaos Emerald in it, it's probably going a lot faster than its normal speed. I'd say another hour or so."

"Another hour? How long have we been in the water?"

"Probably less than fifteen minutes," Tails said, a what-can-ya-do expression on his face.

"Gee, time goes by so fast when you're having fun…"

"Aw, come on, you can handle this."

Holy crap. That sounded just like me.

"You've taken on everything else. And think about it: if worse comes to worse, I can probably get myself back in the air again. Won't be easy, but…"

"Nah, you won't have to," I told him. "Worse won't come to worse. I know you'll keep me above the water."

Tails beamed.

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An hour passed. I was still a little on-edge, but overall it was a lot easier than the first ten minutes were. And… believe it or not… I was starting to realize that water really wasn't as bad as I thought it was. That's not to say I liked it. Not in any sense of the word. But… I hated it just a tad less.

Tails, who'd had no choice but to tread water the entire time, was getting tired. I could tell. I wished I could do something to help, but I'm about as useful as broken flashlight when it comes to water. He wasn't letting the fatigue or the water dampen his mood, though, so things were goin' okay.

"Sonic, I feel my com-link vibrating. Mind if I let go with one arm for a sec?" He said.

"Sure," my voice answered for me, but my head had different ideas. Cool it, now…

Tails began shifting his position. I felt myself tighten and directed my gaze skyward. If I looked at the water, I'd probably freak out. He tightened his grip and then raised one arm above the water. "Amy again," he said to me before speaking into it. "What's up?"

"I'm worried about you guys! Please just tell us what's going on!"

"Sorry, Amy. I can't stay on for too long or Sonic's gonna pass out—"

"Will not!"

"—but I promise we'll explain everything when we get back, okay? We're just in a pinch right now, but don't worry."

"When are you coming back?" We heard Cream ask.

"As soon as we can. Probably a few hours."

Tails didn't wait for them to ask more questions. He pushed the 'off' button with his nose and closed the connection.

"A few hours?" I repeated. "What about Michaels?"

"The Tornado's your plane. You know it can't stay in the air for that long without a break, so we have to go back. If we kept going, we'd have to go over the rest of the ocean, and it's not like we can land it in the water to take a break."

"Yeah, we can!" I said, a mental light bulb turning on. "Didn't you add some Submarine Mode ability to this thing a few years back? Remember? You used it a few days before Eggman captured you and put that chip in your arm?"

Tails' light bulb seemed to flicker for a few seconds, but finally turned on as realization struck. "Yeah, you're absolutely right! When Eggman sent Hydro at us!" He paused. His happy expression didn't change, but his eyes did. "Wow… don't you miss those days, Sonic?"

"The days when it was all simple and predictable?" I said. "You know me better than that."

I didn't miss those days. I was content with these days. Maybe some people would think this is weird, but I like dangerous situations. Life is more exciting and more, well, unpredictable. Not to mention, I'm not one to look back on things. It's not like you can relive those memories, no matter how much you think about them. Living in the past just makes you miss out on what really matters – the present. Time's not gonna wait for you.

"Yeah, I do," Tails agreed. "Should've figured you'd say something like that."

I smiled, again remembering what Tails used to be like back in 'those days.' "You know, Tails, you've grown up a lot since then," I said simply.

He smiled. "Thanks!"

I would've shrugged, but that would be sort of hard to do given the circumstances. "Eh, I think I'm the one who should be saying thanks. If it weren't for you, I'd be, well…" I looked down at the water to get my point across, then realized what I'd done and glanced at it again. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as it had been an hour and a half ago.

All the sudden, we both fell silent. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tails' ears perk up. There was a buzzing sound that could just barely be heard over the wind. I looked at Tails and he looked at me.

"Do you hear it too?" He asked. I nodded and grinned. The Tornado was finally here.