These are not songfics. Let me just get that fact out of the way right now. They're short stories inspired by songs. I discovered Scribbler doing something similar with the Kingdom Hearts Videogame series, and decided I'd like to give it a shot. This one is set early into the Metarex Saga. Like say, before the episode "Desperately Seeking Sonic"/"Young Girls Jungle Trap".

Standard disclaimers apply. Reviews and concrit are both appreciated.

14. Let the Flames Begin, Paramore.

'So have we tried shooting Sonic at them yet?'

It's bizarre really, but the suggestion Amy just made isn't really as ridiculous as it sounds. Actually, that's probably the only option left which could possibly have any effect. Except that...

'We would, Amy, but I'm not sure it'll work. We still haven't gotten it back online after the last time, and to fire Sonic into an enemy attack of even half this intensity... I dunno if it's a good idea to put so much pressure on it. Besides he's just one hedgehog, we can only shoot him once and there's about... I don't even wanna think how many Metarex out there.'

'So you're saying that it's impossible to fire the Sonic Driver right now?'

Tails shakes his head. His two tails are flicking back and forth behind him in a way that Cream recognizes as anxious. 'Not impossible... just inadvisable.'

'Great,' Amy sighed. 'Just great. So we're stuck, then.'

Cream shuffles, holding Cheese tightly, but doesn't say anything. There's nothing that she can say, really. And nothing she can do. (She did promise mother that she wouldn't touch any buttons).

'Yeah... in the middle of a Metarex colony roughly fifty thousand strong,' Chris bites down on his bottom lip, his fingers flying across his monitor control boards so quickly that Cream can hardly see them. It's quite peculiar to see. 'Give or take a ship or two. Plus our lasers have already been rendered useless by the last two attacks, we can't get the bay door open to get the pilot ships out, and—'

'Thank you, Chris, I think we get the idea.' Amy mutters.

'Sorry. Just trying to be realistic.'

'Oh who needs realism? We're Team Sonic!' Amy snaps, rising in her seat, hammer outstretched in one hand even though there's nothing for her to throw it at in here, and it wouldn't do much good out there.

'Amy?' Cosmo is gazing at Amy with a look of confusion mingled with the terror in her eyes. Nobody can blame her, Cream supposes. She's seen the Metarex in action. She's seen the damage that one ship alone can cause. She probably knows exactly what the odds of their getting out of this alive are, and they aren't very good.

But then again, their adventure is just starting right? No way are they going to let it end so quickly. 'You heard me, Cosmo. Don't you worry about a thing it's all gonna be just fine.'

'But I...' Cosmo's mouth hangs open in her disbelieving anxiety. Cream wants to tell her just what Amy just did, but she can't quite think how to put it. Amy always said things so much better than she does... 'There's so many of them... I've never seen so many.'

'All the more for us to knock down, then,' Amy says, confidently. 'Soon as we can work out how to, anyway.'

'I'm working on that,' Chris says, his fingers shifting at Sonic speed across the keys of his control panel again. 'Just give me a minute to run something up, okay?

'We might not have a minute,' Tails says. 'It's obvious that they're waiting for us to make the first move, but I don't reckon they're going to be that patient for long... Cosmo?' he looks at her for confirmation and Cosmo nearly flinches at the sudden attention.

'It... wouldn't be like the Metarex to show restraint,' she says, softly. 'I'm actually surprised they haven't started attacking us already. They must believe... that they have us totally overpowered and there's nothing we can do to stop them.' The tone of her voice suggests that she believes that too. Cream feels the knotty sensation in her stomach growing thick and cold.

'Don't worry, Cosmo. A minute's all the time we need, you'll see.' Sonic says certainly.

'Getting a message from Knuckles, guys,' Chris says, quickly, turning round to face Tails. 'he thinks we can use the Master Emerald to channel enough power to the Sonic driver to prevent internal combustion, and create a refraction effect that'll increase the proximity of Sonic's blast to... um...' he pauses, noticing the blank looks on the faces of everyone except Tails. 'I mean... he can use the emerald so that we hit more bad guys in one go. Like half of them in one go. That's provided we fire within twenty-five-point-eight-five-two seconds.'

'Give or take a second or two?' Cream asks, hopefully.

'N-o, exactly twenty-five-point-eight-five-two,' Chris adds. 'There's no room for any leeway here. If we let it build up any longer the whole engine room could collapse from the pressure, let it build up any less and Sonic won't have the momentum to hit as many targets in one go as we need to.'

'Oh.' Tails looks a little uneasy. 'Okay... I can pilot or I can fire, guys, I can't do both. Not to those exact specifications, anyway.'

'We've never... done anything like this before, have we?' Cosmo asks uneasily. 'That's a very small number.'

'Well,' Chris leans back in his chair, gazing strangely calmly through the front viewer at the Metarex ships beyond; dozens upon dozens of them, hanging like locusts in the blackness of space. Cream shivers. '...I've seen smaller.'

Cream isn't certain if he's telling the truth or not, but something about his expression bids her to believe him. 'You think you can do it?' she asks, uncertainly, even though she already knows what Chris's answer will be.

Chris turns round and looks at Tails. 'I can give it a try. We can give it a try. I'll need someone to control a countdown.'

'I can do that!' Cream pipes up. She's good at counting. She can get all the way up to a thousand-thousand, when she's feeling really patient, and she's sure mother won't mind her touching the buttons just this once, right?

Cosmo doesn't look so sure. 'But Chris, if we fail, then...'

'We won't fail,' Amy says, looking at Chris with a smile on her face far too large for someone about to face down fifty thousand-or-something Metarex in one go. 'We can't. Team Sonic, right Amy? When have we ever failed?'

'How about never?' Chris says, sounding more confident than before. 'We can do it, I'm sure we can.'

'Guys, I like the way ya think,' Sonic grins. 'I like it very much. So. Now can we kick ass?'

Everyone is looking at Tails now, Amy in impatience, Cosmo in blind hope, Sonic in expectation, Chris in interest and Cream in total, utter belief. Cheese squeaks excitedly on her lap, and Tails' uneasy expression gradually changes into a smile.

'Sure, Sonic,' he says, drawing a control panel closer and activating a signal of some kind which makes the lights all around them turn red and flicker in strange patterns, accompanied by loud noises that would probably be scary if Cream wasn't so sure that Tails knows exactly what he's doing. 'Now we can kick ass. Channelling all power away from the shields and unimportant areas into the Master Emerald Chamber and beginning loading sequence. Sonic you know what to do, right?'

'Do I ever! Come on, already! Let's show those Metarex what happens when you underestimate the Crew of the Blue Typhoon.' Sonic grins and everyone smiles at his retreating outline believingly. Including Cosmo.

Cream starts counting down from ten.

And (she knows it's bad language, but) they really do Kick Metarex Ass.

"No matter how long
I believe that there's hope
Buried beneath it all and
Hiding beneath it all, and
Growing beneath it all, and...

This is how we'll dance when,
When they try to take us down
This is how we'll sing it.
This is how we'll stand when
When they burn our houses down.
This is what will be.
Oh, glory."