Well, ladies and gentlemen, here it is; the moment you have all anticipated! Tails vs. Monsterbot … all in just a few ghastly seconds! Who will survive, and who won't?
Team Sonic watched in horror as their aerialist flew his plane directly towards the heart of Monsterbot. To them, this felt like a nightmare about to explode before their very eyes.
Eggman, Orbot and Cubot were also watching with interest. By now, they could care less about Monsterbot. They were interested to see if Tails would survive or not.
Five hundred yards left; seven hundred miles per hour! Almost the speed of sound!
Tails finally took his hand off the throttle and let it keep gaining speed on its own. Then, he held his breath as he undid his seat belt and stood up on his seat.
The fox waited as the milliseconds ticked by. The plane came closer to its fate against the giant robot. The glowing red heart of Monsterbot was soon all Tails could see.
"Here goes nothing," thought Tails as he waited just one more critical second before he made his move …
The nose of the plane was now under the robot's chin. It was at this instant that Tails suddenly jumped off his seat and landed on one of the wings before …
…
… he took a giant leap off the plane!
His left foot left the surface of the wing just milliseconds before the Tornado's front propellers sliced into Monsterbot's heart!
In an instant, a loud explosion roared across the area surrounding Eggman's island fortress. A huge ball of fire emerged from the impact of the collision that was only just beginning to slice into the robot.
Sonic had his eyes fixed on Tails as he watched him jump off the Tornado before letting it finish off Monsterbot. Still, he felt extremely worried for his little brother.
"That's a huge jump he's taking, and that fire is gonna get real big real fast! I must wrestle myself over there!" thought Sonic as he struggled to get himself up due to the pain in his chest.
The nose of the plane dug into Monsterbot's chest, causing even bigger and louder explosions of fire to erupt from the deadly embrace between the two machines.
Amy, Knuckles and Sticks all looked away and covered their ears to escape the noise of the explosions.
Sonic successfully got himself back up to his feet, and he kept his eyes on Tails, who was still falling.
Monsterbot was knocked off its feet as the Tornado shoved it backwards. Within milliseconds, both were engulfed in flames as the explosions still blasted from the impact of the collision.
"If Tails could pull off a stunt like this, I would call him the most amazing fox I've ever known!" thought Sonic as he kept his timing on what he planned to do.
Tails shut his eyes as he attempted to spin his twin tails, but the force of his fall was just enough to prevent his tails from propelling him. It seemed that he was now falling to his death, having attempted to escape a fiery crash.
Sonic quickly noticed that Tails was unable to propel himself with his namesakes, and he zipped at his supersonic speed towards the spot where he was sure Tails would land.
Debris began to fall from Monsterbot and the Tornado, which were still locked in a terrifying, explosive collision course. Nails, pieces of metal, machine guns and sharp claws fell towards Sonic, but he dodged all that threatened to slice him just before he could see Tails in a close distance.
The hedgehog lifted his arms and got himself ready to catch his brother.
Tails still had his eyes closed as he could only feel the air below him rushing violently upward, indicating to him that he was still falling. It had only been four seconds since he jumped off the Tornado, yet it felt like several minutes had gone by.
Sonic dodged a piece of one of the Tornado's propellers before raising his arms again, ready to catch Tails.
The fox was soon within Sonic's reach, although he had no idea that anyone was there, for his eyes were still closed tightly. He was ready for the impact. He felt ready to die right then and there. He had sacrificed himself to defeat Eggman and save Team Sonic and Bygone Island, and now here he was, ready to meet his moment of death.
Sonic kept his eyes locked on Tails until the fox came within reach. Just as Tails' head had reached the height of Sonic's head, the hedgehog's hands grabbed hold of the fox's shoulders and grasped them as tightly as they could to keep hold.
Tails soon felt his back being grabbed by something, and he opened one of his eyes to see what it was that was holding him.
"I gotcha, little buddy!" said a familiar voice that Tails knew very well.
Sonic had wrapped an arm around Tails' back while keeping hold of his shoulders. The hedgehog was forced to take a few steps back due to the force of breaking his little brother's severe fall. The hedgehog soon fell on his back while Tails landed right on top of him.
Tails opened his eyes once he felt the air cease moving around him, and he noticed Sonic looking at him from up close.
"S-S-S-So-Sonic!?" said Tails in surprise.
"I gotcha, Tails!" replied Sonic, wrapping both arms tightly around Tails to ensure he was safe … for good.
Tails quickly realized what had happened.
"Sonic rushed in to save me!? I thought he wouldn't be able to do such a thing like this! I must be very lucky to have him as a big brother!" thought Tails happily as he knew now that he was safe and alive.
The two brothers looked back towards the crash …
The Tornado drove itself right through Monsterbot's chest and shoved the robot backwards towards the edge of the cliff side.
Eggman had watched everything from behind a rock, with Orbot and Cubot. He was devastated to see these events unfold before his very eyes.
"NAAAOOOOO! MY MONSTERBOT! PLEEEEASE! NAAOOOO!" the villain screamed as Tails' Tornado drove Monsterbot off the cliff.
Finally, the two burnt machines fell off the cliff and landed on a giant rock …
The impact caused one last giant explosion, bigger and louder than all others.
Sonic and Tails raced away as fast as they could, picked up Amy, Knuckles and Sticks, and hid them all behind another giant rock behind Eggman's lair.
The volume of the explosion was so deafening that even with their ears covered, all five heroes had a hard time protecting their hearing abilities.
Fire quickly spread from the explosion and reached Eggman's fortress in seconds.
Sonic and Tails caught a brief glimpse of the explosion. A uniquely-shaped smokescreen was forming, as if an atomic bomb was detonating.
In no time at all, Eggman's lair was melting to smithereens due to the extraordinary temperatures that were hot enough to melt the structure of the building.
The heroes all ducked and covered their heads as they felt the land rumbling like an earthquake. The explosion was still roaring in the distance, and the fire was searing Eggman's lair like it was a piece of easily-cooked ham.
Within just a few more seconds, Eggman's lair was collapsing. Burned metal fell from above the rock where the heroes' were taking cover. They crawled around to avoid being hit by the debris that fell from the lair's remains.
To Team Sonic, it felt as if hours were going by while waiting for this fiery moment to end, although it had only been fifteen seconds since Tails crashed his Tornado into Monsterbot.
Finally, after another fifteen seconds, the volume of the explosion dimmed down, and the land stopped vibrating. Smoke filled the entire area, forcing the heroes to keep their heads down to avoid toxic inhalation.
Eventually, the smoke cleared, and the heroes could finally get back on their feet, although Sonic and Tails were the only ones capable of standing up.
All five heroes were covered in black soot from the smoke which had filled the area following the crash. Each of them let out a few coughs to let any possible smoke out of their systems.
Tails walked over and found that Eggman's lair had been melted completely. The only remains were a huge pile of black, toasted, melted rubble. Black smoke poured from the remains of the lair, but even more poured up from where the doomed Monsterbot and Tornado had landed.
The fox dodged more smoke as he walked over to where he could see his Tornado and Eggman's Monsterbot, which were both now no more than one huge pile of burned rubble and twisted metal.
Tails scanned the extent of the damage until he noticed what was left of Monsterbot's head. The mouth was still wide open, with some of its teeth now missing. Most of the remaining teeth were burned, and the undamaged ones were covered in red slime, which may have been from a liquid source the robot was using.
"Ugh! I've never seen a more horrifying pair of robotic jaws than those," commented Tails as the sight of Monsterbot's jaw greatly disturbed him, "I'm gonna be having nightmares for weeks."
"But at least I can sense some good dreams for you soon," came a familiar voice standing right behind Tails.
The fox looked back and noticed Sonic standing right behind him with a grin on his face.
"You did it, Tails!" shouted Sonic happily as he pulled Tails into a very tight bear hug, "Great job, little buddy! You did it! You destroyed Eggman's Monsterbot!"
Tails gently hugged Sonic back and replied, "Hehe. I couldn't have done that without your encouragement, Sonic."
"You had me so worried, little bro. I was sure you weren't gonna make it out alive," admitted Sonic, "I thought I was gonna lose you."
"I actually thought I was going to sacrifice myself, too," replied Tails, "And die with honor, … but then I knew that there was a way to pull myself out of there without pulling myself out of the fight."
"Well, I'm so glad you're okay, Tails. I'm so glad you made it out of there alive. I'm so proud of you, little bro!" said Sonic.
"Thank you so much, big bro!" said Tails as happy tears streamed from his eyes.
"You're very welcome, little bro!" replied Sonic.
"I love you, Sonic!"
"I love you, too, Tails!"
The two heroic brothers hugged each other tightly for what felt like hours, not wanting to let go of each other. It was as if they were having a touchy reunion.
Their moment didn't last too long, though …
"Uh, Doctor, would you like us to assist in rebuilding your island fortress?" said a voice.
Sonic and Tails looked over and spotted a gloomy Eggman being tormented by Orbot and Cubot.
"This was supposed to be my best robot yet, and what do I get!? A fox, whose genius mind rivals my own, has the brains to destroy not only that, but everything I've ever had!" complained Eggman, "I can't bear to even take a glimpse at that fox!"
Tails grinned mischievously at Eggman, which the villain took notice of and glared madly in return.
"ENJOY YOUR TOUCHY REUNION WHILE IT LASTS! I'LL BE BACK, SONIC! I'LL BE BACK TO DESTROY THE WORLD WITH AN EVEN BIGGER ROBOT THAT WILL BE TOTALLY INDESTRUCTIBLE! I'LL FINALLY HAVE THE WORLD I WANT SOON!" screamed Eggman.
"Hah! We'll see about that, Egg Face!" replied Tails with a mischievous grin as he walked up to Orbot and Cubot and bashed their heads really hard.
The two robots then floated up to Eggman with evil glares on their faces.
"Our creator is nothing more than a huge pile of egg yellows!" said Orbot.
"Yes! Let's cook him in the ocean!" replied Cubot.
"Uh, you mean drown him!" corrected Orbot.
"What do you two think you're doing!?" asked Eggman as he cowardly stepped away from his lackeys.
"What did you do, Tails?" asked Sonic curiously.
"Just a few bonks to the head will be enough to twist their personalities for a while!" answered Tails cheekily.
"Stop! STOP! STAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOP!" screamed Eggman as Cubot shoved the villain off the cliff and into the ocean, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"
There came the sound of a splash as Eggman fell into the water, with an angry Orbot and Cubot following him down.
"And now, it's time to torment him even further by humiliating him on this miserable failure!" said Orbot.
"Oh, just my thing!" replied Cubot.
"Hey! Aren't you guys gonna get us outta here!?" said another voice.
Sonic and Tails looked back and saw Knuckles waving to them.
The brothers quickly rejoined their injured teammates and checked for injuries.
Unfortunately, there were pretty rough injuries to all three of them, much to the brothers' dismay.
"It looks like you guys have taken quite a beating," commented Tails.
"I kinda took one, too," added Sonic, still feeling chest pain.
"Well, … at least it's over now," finished Tails, "It's nothing more than just a memory we may or may not wanna forget."
"I'll be remembering this one, buddy," said Sonic, "That awesome stunt you pulled off at the end was totally radical!"
"Shame I didn't get to watch it," said Sticks.
"Me neither," said Knuckles, "I guess I could wait a little longer before hearing the story. How on Mobius are we gonna get outta here?"
Tails looked around the surrounding area, then, by surprise, he found one of Eggman's capsules, which had not been damaged in the explosion.
"Looks like we're just lucky enough to find our ticket home!" commented Tails as he pointed to the lonely capsule.
"C'mon, Tails! Let's get our friends in the capsule and blast back home!" said Sonic.
"Right away, Sonic," answered Tails.
The fox picked up Amy and Sticks, while Sonic struggled with lifting Knuckles off the ground. His chest pain certainly didn't help, either.
Eventually, with one big pull, the hedgehog lifted the red echidna and slowly carried him to the capsule where Amy and Sticks had already been loaded.
Sonic handed Knuckles to Tails, who then proceeded to load him into the capsule before the brothers jumped in, themselves.
"Alright, everyone. Let's go home," sighed Sonic as the capsule closed.
Tails pressed a green button on the dash panel, and the capsule instantly sped away from the remains of Eggman's lair on a one-way trip back to Bygone Island.
Well, … I am happy to say that Tails is alive and well. Surely, you'd think I'd ever kill him off, would ya!? Nah! I would never do such a thing like that!
Eggman may have been humiliated yet again, but for our heroes, the story isn't quite over yet. I've got one last chapter coming in, and it shall be an excellent end to this wonderful story!
See ya at the finale! ;)