Chapter 12: Reprieve

Location: Soleanna

That same time...


Tails raced through the streets of the city, dragging Chris by the arm through the throng of terrified pedestrians, trying to get away from the chaos. He would've preferred to have stood against Eggman's forces, but Sonic had entrusted him with Chris' safety. The fox and human moved with the throng of Terrans, neither sure which direction they were heading. All the pushing and shoving was making him nervous, and he was surprised that no one had been trampled in the stampede. A quartet of Egg Guardians leapt over the roof of a nearby building, landing in front of the terrified crowd. Some tried to run off in the opposite direction, but the Egg Guardians cut off their means of escape. Chris was violently knocked to the ground in the ensuing panic, almost dragging Tails down with him.

"Chris!"

The fox wasn't even afforded the chance to check on his friend, instead a dark shadow fell upon him. Tails glanced up and discovered another Egg Guardian looming above him, its arm poised to strike.

"Tails!" Chris cried out in a panic.

A series of gunshots rang out, somehow rising above the chaos that raged all around them, ricocheting off the Egg Guardian's armour. Tails saw a series of a muzzle flashes from the doorway of a nearby building, and caught glimpse of Topaz crouched in the shadows. The robot didn't waste time in turning its attention to her, launching its metal fist in her direction. Throwing herself flat against the ground, she narrowly avoided being crushed to death, though it did plow through the door. The distraction was exactly what Tails needed for him to drag Chris to his feet and make a run for it. Another Egg Guardian stepped into their path, readying an attack when it suddenly spasmed, as if it had stepped on a live wire. Tails could feel that the air had become electrically charged and was surprised when Shadow and Rouge suddenly materialized amongst the crowd.

"S-Shadow!?" Chris stuttered in surprise.

The Ultimate Lifeform was far too exhausted from teleporting down from the White Acropolis Peaks to even acknowledge the human's presence. Without access to a Chaos Emerald, the black hedgehog's teleportation range had been severely reduced, forcing him to make a series of repeated jumps just to make it to Soleanna.

"Well...this isn't good," Rouge commented sarcastically.

Despite his near-exhaustion, Shadow reacted first, launching himself into the air and swinging his leg down at the nearest robot. Igniting his Hover Shoes, he was successful in cutting through the robot's armor-plating, sending it collapsing to the ground in two pieces. Landing on the ground, Shadow charged a Chaos Spear and hurled it at the head of another Egg Guardian. Rouge was not content with remaining on the sidelines and lashed out at one of the robots with a kick aimed at its head. Topaz resumed her assault on one of the Egg Guardians from a distance, distracting it long enough for Tails to produce a sticky bomb from his satchel. Pitching it like a baseball, the bomb adhered itself to the robot's armour and detonated in a brilliant explosion. Burning shrapnel rained down around them, but none were harmed as most of the Terrans had fled the scene of the battle. With the battle over, Tails happened to glance down an adjacent alleyway and found Sonic cutting through it. The hedgehog skidded to a stop before the group, his face clearly displaying a look of disappointment that there were no more robots to smash. Shard landed a scant few seconds later, none having noticed the sound of the rogue Metal Sonic approaching.

"You...," Tails said icily, watching the renegade robot land on the cobblestones.

"Uh...hiya," he said sheepishly as Tails suddenly flew at him, "Whoa! No! WAIT!"

Shard quickly ignited his rockets and launched himself into the air, avoiding Tails as he passed directly beneath him.

"I saved you from that volcano! Remember? That one time?" he asked, landing.

"You trapped me there in the first place," Tails retorted with a snarl.

He stopped dead in his tracks and rotated his body, lashing out at the robotic hedgehog with his twin tails. Shard stumbled backwards and braced himself for another attack, but no attack was aimed at him. Sonic had managed to seize Tails by the belt, preventing him from launching anymore assaults on the robot hedgehog.

"Sonic...," Chris murmured.

"He's not our enemy...I think," Sonic stated.

"After everything he's done!? He's kidnapped me and Amy, and tried to kill you a number of times."

"Look, I'm sorry for the volcano thing, okay," Shard said, "but I'm on the level here, no ulterior motives."

Tails regarded the rebellious robot momentarily with him blue eyes, not quite sure that he believed him.

"Well...you were the one who notified us of the Terrans," Tails admitted, "...but that doesn't mean I trust you."

"Meh! It's more then I could hope for."

"We should get out of the street," Topaz suggested, approaching, "Dr. Eggman may have left, but that doesn't mean that things are safe."

"But where can we go, all the hotels are likely booked solid," Chris stated.

"That'll be unlikely now," Shard said, "The doc's attack will have scared those visiting into returning to Augustgrad. There'll be vacancies."

"Let's just pick a hotel and go," Shadow grumbled.

"The Regency," Shard suggested, "It's the most popular and expensive, but I'm sure I can get us a room."

"And just how do you expect to get a room?" Tails asked, suspicious.

"My boss retains the penthouse suite on a month-to-month basis," he replied.

"That's not very economic," Topaz commented.

"He's allowed to spend his money in whatever way he pleases."

"Whatever, let's go already," Sonic said.