Is It Over?
Disclaimer: I don't own any Sonic characters.
Smokestep: Sorry for the long wait. I've been extremely busy with all my finals for school and shopping with my mom for Christmas presents. And December has just been the worst month for me, and I haven't been in the mood to write, and I've been playing Sonic Generations more than I should. God, that game's so addicting and fun! So, sorry!
And I wasn't expecting three pages of reviews, or three favorites from one chapter.
Sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm not that good at fight scenes, but I'll try.
sonictailsbros: In order to be a master of guessing, you must consider all the options. You have a lot to learn about the art of predicting. And wow, only two chapters and you already killed somebody, and revealed who Dark Nega is. Amazing. Why'd you kill off Light, he reminded me of Tails! And no one kills Tails. He's too adorable to die.
prowerboy: Yay, I'm getting better at dialogue! And it took me thirteen chapters to do it! Wow, I'm slow.
sagapaga: Isn't robot view just awesome? No one goes into the point of view of a robot. Why? I mean they have feelings too. Look at Gamma and the Transformers.
Thomas Holmes II: I feel like I meant something when I typed that, but I can't remember what. But that's what three weeks and high school finals can do to you. They mess with your mind.
Metalshadow1909: Are you going to be reviewing every other chapter from now on? And thank you! That was exactly what I was trying to improve on. It isn't really my specialty. Describing is more of my thing.
Missile Wrist 2 sharply turned around as it fired five rockets at Tails' aircraft. Seeing this, Tails used the shield to block the attack, charging toward Eggman's robot while doing so. The Hyper Tornado's sword-like weapon swiftly slid out and was advanced toward Missile Wrist.
The robot stopped shooting out missiles and grabbed the sword with his metallic hands to spin and throw Tails' plane toward the ground. Tails recovered from the shock from Missile Wrist stopping his weapon enough to straighten out his plane's flight course and flying it back into the air, only to meet Missile Wrist advancing toward them.
Missile Wrist used his own arms to punch the Hyper Tornado's shield, cracking it and causing Tails' plane to careen back towards the hard ground.
"Okay, you're really starting to get on my nerves," Tails muttered menacingly, tilting the plane's controls back up. He reclined the sword and shield back into their respective arms, and punched Eggman's machine back, and it flew backwards uncontrollably. However it quickly leveled out and shot out bombs.
Tails brought out the sword again and slashed through the explosive devices, and they detonated without harming Tails and Sonic.
But shooting out of the smoke was Missile Wrist as he rammed into the Hyper Tornado, aiming to overpower it, and squash it flat like a bug on the ground. But it underestimated the strength of Tails' plane as the Hyper Tornado stopped it and pushed back, albeit more forcefully than the first time.
Missile Wrist backed off and readied itself for the oncoming attack he knew Tails would launch on him a second. And he was proved right as the fox pilot shot out ten or more rockets and homing missiles.
"Hey, Tails, did you happen to -" Sonic started to ask, but got cut off by his own coughing. Tails shuddered to how weak his voice sounded, compared to his typical cocky and confident tone. But after the speedy hedgehog's coughing fit ended, he didn't continue his question.
Still shooting off various attacks to slow down Missile Wrist from reaching them, Tails prompted Sonic to resume with his question. "Did I happen to what?" he asked, looking back at Sonic, who was staring out the window at Eggman's robot with a distant look in his emerald gaze and his head cocked on the side. When he heard Tails' voice, his ears twitched slightly, and intelligence returned to his eyes.
"Sorry, I kind of zoned out there for a moment," he apologized, flashing Tails a sheepish grin. "I was going to say, did you happen find a Chaos Emerald?"
"No, I haven't," Tails answered, a regretful tone in his voice, turning back around in his seat, his watchful eyes searching for Missile Wrist, who has seemed to have disappeared during the few seconds they were talking. "I guess it would've been a good idea to look for at least one of them at Eggman's base, though," he said, remembering the reason why he hadn't looked for one; he had been too worried about his friend to care, but his concern is justified, since Sonic was barely managing to stay awake as of this point.
Sonic seemed to have read his thoughts, for he replied, "You know I would've been fine for a couple more minutes." He, too, was looking for a sign of their opponent.
Tails let out a disbelieving grunt. "Really? Because you're not what I call 'fine', Sonic."
"I'm fine enough, at least. But where did that stupid robot go?" he asked nonchalantly, not really expecting an answer, and Tails didn't offer him one.
Tails checked the radar and it showed that Missile Wrist was still near them. "Do you think he gave up on attacking us?" the fox asked Sonic hopefully. If the robot was done fighting them, it meant he could finally give his friend the help he needed. Tails looked back at his injured friend, his normally bright eyes darkened with anticipation and concern.
But to his disappointment, Sonic shook his head, wincing, and stated the obvious. "No, Tails. That robot was sent to kill us, and if I know Eggman, which I do, he ordered it to not stop until he has defeated us."
Tails nodded in understanding, for he had known the answer before Sonic had said anything, but he just wished that, for once, he and his friends could catch a break.
As the fox turned back to face the front of the plane, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Smiling triumphantly, Tails shot out missiles in Missile Wrist's direction, hoping the swiftness of the projectiles would be enough to cause some major damage to the robot.
§ Sonic §
As tempting as it was to close his eyes and give in to the dizzying darkness that would be waiting for him, Sonic knew he had to stay awake, just in case Tails needed him or something. But it was extremely difficult, considering he crashed into either of the sides of the Hyper Tornado every time Tails made a sharp turn, only adding to his pain even further.
He tried to keep his mind on the battle that was going on, even occasionally giving Tails some advice, but all of his wounds were screaming protests in his mind, distracting him more than need be.
Sonic ran his right hand over a large cut that ran across his torso, wincing a little. It stopped bleeding quite a while ago, but it still hurt like crazy. Heck, his whole body felt as if it were on fire, except for the body parts he couldn't even feel, such as his arm and leg.
He attempted to drag his train of thought away from his own suffering, which he was surprisingly able to do, but he still struggled on focusing on the fight.
But from what Sonic saw, Tails had found Missile Wrist, and was now shooting at the robot. But his attacks failed as Eggman's machine shot out a wave of pink energy that sliced through Tails' missiles as easily as if they were paper.
The strange pink energy was partly made up of chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic could feel it. With all of his exposure to the Chaos Emeralds, and their powers, and all of his experience using them, which was relatively more than all of his friends, he could easily tell that much. Just like how he had known Chaos was made of the Chaos Emerald's power, before Eggman had told him his name.
Eggman must have used the Chaos Emeralds' power to create Missile Wrist if he has an attack like this, Sonic mused, about to warn Tails.
But before he could, the chaos-based attack washed over the Hyper Tornado, completely encasing it.
This can't be good, the hedgehog concluded, smirking mockingly, his more arrogant and daredevil side winning over his rational and intelligent side.
§ Tails §
Tails frantically pressed buttons on the Hyper Tornado's control panel, trying to get whatever that pink stuff was off of his plane, and fast. He didn't know what it could do; for all he knew, it could completely disintegrate the Hyper Tornado, not to mention him and Sonic. Tails shuddered at the thought.
The energy washed over the Hyper Tornado's shield, blocking both Tails and Sonic's view.
Is this just a way to block our vision? Tails wondered, checking the radar, and Missile Wrist wasn't moving an inch, so it couldn't be an attempt to stop them from seeing what he was up to. Or maybe it's an attack that just didn't-
Tails didn't even get to finish his thought as the pink energy turned into a gas, and passed right through the shield. It filled the air inside the plane and surrounded Sonic and Tails.
"Don't breathe it in Tails!" Sonic directed from behind him, his soft voice muffled. Tails would've usually asked why, but he wouldn't dare do anything that would cost him oxygen. He covered his mouth with one of his hands, keeping one on the controls so they wouldn't crash, hoping that whatever-this-was would go away soon, so he could breathe again.
Ten seconds passed, and the strange gas was starting to fade, but very slowly. In a matter of seconds it would diminish completely.
Missile Wrist predicted this so he charged into the side of Tails' plane, knocking the air out of both anthropomorphic animals, and they both gasped.
I breathed in, he thought, that, Tails started coughing spasmodically, a fit he couldn't stop. Sonic was too, his coughing weaker thanks to his current condition.
Tails closed his eyes and wished this would all just end. And in a few seconds, he stopped coughing, so he slowly opened his eyes. When he saw where he was, they widened in shock.
He was now sitting at his dining room table, back at his house! Tails stared confusedly around as he wondered whether this was a dream, or whether everything that happened before with him and Sonic was a dream instead.
§ Sonic §
Once he breathed in the smoky gas, his life started flashing before his eyes. The first time he became Super Sonic, Shahra and Erazor Djinn, Perfect Chaos, fighting Finalhazard. He saw it all.
But he was not down for the count yet. He was not going down without a fight, and Missile Wrist would realize it soon enough.
This is chaos energy we're talking about, and Sonic can handle it. He has plenty of times after all.
After the pictures from the story of his life ended, he blinked open his eyes, relieved he was still in the Hyper Tornado. There was just one problem; they were on a flight course that surely led to the ground.
"Tails!" Sonic called out to his pilot. No answer.
He must've breathed in the smoke like I did, Sonic assumed, gritting his teeth. If it harms him in any way, Eggman will have to answer to me.
But first, he knew, he had to defeat this robot, and stop their crash somehow.
C'mon Sonic, think! You've gotten out of tighter situations before! his mind yelled at him.
Just then he remembered something Tails told him once, when he started upgrading the X-Cyclone, before all this drama between them started, and right after Tails had temporarily got over Cosmo's death.
Flashback
"So that's how much of the X-Cyclone I'm going to upgrade," Tails told him, a confident glint in his blue orbs.
"Nice, but are you sure you'll be able to fix it that much?" Sonic inquired, narrowing his eyes dubiously, remembering the recent crash Tails got into during an air battle with Eggman.
"I'm positive," Tails stated irritably, apparent from his twitching tails, glaring at Sonic. Then he relaxed his scowl, and continued talking. "And I guess I should tell you I'm going to install another control panel."
"A second one? Why?" Sonic questioned, crossing his arms.
"I'm installing it for the . . ." Tails pondered on the name for a moment. "-passenger seat, I guess you could say." He laughed softly as he finished his sentence.
"For the seat behind you, you mean?"
Tails mock-glared at Sonic. "I couldn't think of the name, sue me," he joked.
Sonic smiled. "Well, I could use the money. Being a hero's not the best-paying job, you know," he countered light-heartedly. "But, still, why install one for the 'passenger seat'?" he asked, putting an extra emphasis on 'passenger seat', purposely trying to annoy his two-tailed friend. And for his efforts he received a gentle punch from Tails on his right shoulder.
"Let it go, and because if something happens to me, someone's going to have to fly the plane."
"What? You mean me?" Sonic inquired incredulously.
"Well, sure, you can pilot a plane, can't you?" Tails said sarcastically. He resumed before Sonic got a chance to answer. "So, if something happens to me, or the controls somehow get damaged in a fight, the X-Cyclone won't crash again."
"Okay, I understand that much, but what if someone else sits in the 'passenger seat', and they can't fly a plane?" Sonic responded hesitantly, taking a seat on Tails bumpy couch, and crossing his legs, a thoughtful look in his emerald eyes.
"It's not going to be in plain sight!" Tails protested, frustration clear in his voice. "How stupid do you think I am?" He narrowed his eyes dangerously, daring Sonic to answer that question.
"Okay, then, how would I access it?" Sonic queried, for once, in this entire conversation, being serious.
Tails nodded in approval at the hedgehog's behavior. "I'll also install a lever underneath the seat. That way, no one would find it unless they were looking for it." Sonic acknowledged him with a nod of understanding, but then he opened his mouth to ask another question, but Tails interrupted him.
"And before you ask why I'm doing this, it's because it's better to be safe than sorry."
End of Flashback
Tails, you were right when you said it's better to be safe than sorry, Sonic admitted to himself as he searched for the lever under his seat, his arm feeling as wobbly as Jell-O. After he found it he fought to get a grip, but once he finally did, he pulled it up. He could now see the ground below them, and it turns out they were now above the ocean.
But as he pulled the lever, the leather on the back of Tails' seat all but ripped apart as a replica of Tails' control panel slid out.
But after Sonic got a good look at the size of the control panel, he glanced back at Tails' seat. How in the life of Chaos did he manage did to fit this inside his seat? Sonic just shrugged and lifted his right arm to grip the yoke. He tried to lift his other arm as well, but forgot that his shoulder was dislocated, if not worse, as in broken.
He glared at his left arm for a second, thinking one thing: How do you pilot a plane with one hand? He sighed and tilted the controls up, albeit awkwardly, to halt the Hyper Tornado's crash. Tails, you owe me big time once this is over.
Sonic looked at the radar positioned on the far right, noting Missile Wrist was still nearing them. Sonic rolled his eyes. What, coming to see whether you killed us or coming to finish us off?
Whatever Missile Wrist came for, Sonic knew that he had to come up with some plan to defeat him. He was already at a serious disadvantage thanks to his unresponsive arm.
That was what Sonic was most concerned about; he still was a decent pilot, even though he hasn't had much practice lately, but the times he has piloted any sort of plane, he always had two arms, not one.
As he flew the Hyper Tornado to a higher elevation, Sonic kept one eye on the radar, just in case Missile Wrist attempted to do something sneaky. Eggman's robot was now a good fifty feet away from them, the Hyper Tornado a victim to whatever attacks it had at its disposal.
That reminded Sonic of one important thing: What other attacks can the Hyper Tornado do? Tails had told Sonic earlier that he had added some new attacks, but he hadn't told him exactly what they were. Glancing at the control panel for the second time, he encountered a new problem: nothing was labeled.
"Tails, you definitely owe me big time after this is over," Sonic muttered frustratedly, knowing that the two-tailed fox wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. But if Tails did happen to be awake at that moment, he would've heard Sonic grumble about why he wasn't the one unconscious instead of Tails, and if that he was awake, Tails would obviously be flying the plane himself.
Hearing an explosion behind them snapped Sonic out of his thoughts. The speedy hedgehog looked up sharply, estimating what the chances were that it was Missile Wrist. And if it was, where was the rear security camera that Tails always had in his planes.
Sonic examined the control panel with a dubious and wary expression. He knew better than to test random buttons he didn't know the purposes to. If he did that, next thing he knew, they'd be heading towards the ocean.
With great struggling, Sonic managed to turn the plane around in time to see Missile Wrist's eyes glowing orange. Before Sonic had time to contemplate what the robot was doing, and orange beam shot of its eyes, aiming for the Hyper Tornado's wing.
"Why does Eggman go for the wing," Sonic wondered as he dodged out the way of the attack, remembering how Eggman had almost killed them by firing at the wing with the Egg Carrier. They would've died if it hadn't been for Tails' superb piloting capabilities.
§ Tails §
"This can't be happening, nor can it be real," Tails whispered unbelievingly, getting up from his seat and looking around.
"What do you mean?" a voice asked, one that Tails only knew too well. Departing from his kitchen was his love, the one he had to kill to save the galaxy from the Metarex: Cosmo.
"No, you're not real; you can't be!" Tails said while backing away. "You're just a figment of my imagination." He received a confused stare from Cosmo in return. "You'll fade away any moment now," he explained.
"Tails, I fear I don't understand what you mean," Cosmo replied, genuine hurt shining in her blue eyes.
"This has to be a dream. You're supposed to be dead!" Tails exclaimed; it's not that he didn't wish Cosmo was alive, but if he got attached to the belief that she was, he'd be miserable all over again once he realized that she was, in fact, dead.
"Tails, I can't be dead; I'm standing right here, aren't I?" the seedrian girl questioned him.
Tails glanced uncertainly at her, then returned his gaze back to the floor. "You are dead. I shot Sonic and Shadow out of the Sonic Power Canon at you. And you sacrificed yourself to save the galaxy from the Metarex!"
"Tails, Shadow's been working as a secret agent of G.U.N., and Sonic's the one that sacrificed himself," Cosmo said, an honest and stubborn tone evident in her gentle voice.
Tails shook his head. "No, he didn't," he said, equally as determined. "He brought me back a seed. And you're dead, no matter what you say," Tails finished regretfully. He turned his back on her and ran out the door. Cosmo followed him out, and called out to him.
"Tails, wait! Please come back!" Tails didn't look back, but instead kept on running, hearing Cosmo shout in his ears, her voice getting softer with every step he took. "Tails . . . Tails!" Eventually her voice faded away, becoming one with the wind.
Tails slowed down to a halt, panting, his head hanging, gaze focused on the ground . . . I've got to get out of here, he thought frantically. "Tails! Wait up!" Tails' head snapped up at the sound of Cosmo's pained voice and he saw her floating towards him from the sky; her floating skills had always been superior to her running skills.
"I'd rather not," he replied as he started running again, but he was stopped short as she landed in front of him. He started skidding to a halt, but since he had been running too fast, he couldn't stop in time. But, instead of Cosmo stopping him, he skidded right through her, earning a shocked gasp from Tails.
After he had stopped, Tails turned back to look at her, a translucent girl in front of his eyes instead of a solid-being. Tails sighed dejectedly. "I knew you weren't real," he said, more to himself than to her.
Once he said that, she disappeared, leaving Tails alone in the middle of a plain. Tails scanned it. Now what?
"Tails?" Tails' ears perked up and he sighed in exasperation; he had thought Cosmo was gone already. I'm done living in the past already.
Tails heard his name being called again, except this time it wasn't Cosmo's voice, and it was a lot quieter. It sounded like her voice mixed with someone else's, like her voice was morphing into theirs. They called again. "Hmm . . ." That voice sounds sort of familiar. He could recognize the voice, but he couldn't name it.
"Tails . . . Tails!" As it continued calling to him it turned into a voice he grew up with, becoming louder with each call. "Tails!" And now Tails could clearly tell it was Sonic. He sounded pretty stressed. "Tails, WAKE UP!"
Wake up? Tails wondered, a little confused. How do I wake up? Before Tails got a chance to think up a solution, he found himself back in the Hyper Tornado. Oh, so blinking wakes you up apparently.
He was greeted with another panicked yell from Sonic. "Sonic, I'm awake already, but what's happening?" he asked, somewhat impatient.
Sonic rolled his eyes, one hand grasping the controls, and the other hanging limply by his side. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe getting beat by a stupid robot, because someone forgot to label the controls, and also forgot that I can only use one arm," the hedgehog replied testily, getting faster at the end.
"I'm sorry, it was Missile Wrist's attack, and I-" He was interrupted by Sonic, who had already forgiven him.
"I know, and I forgive you, but you're going to have to take the controls," he said, to which Tails obliged, grabbing the yoke with both of his hands. "Also, welcome back to the land of the living."
Smokestep: To those of you who had enough patience to wait for this chapter, I congratulate you. But, seriously, I am so sorry. Going back to school is not fun.
And, for future refrences, I will NEVER end a story like this! So if I say "It's not over yet," it's not over yet. And I will never abandon a story, nor do I like it when other people do it, but I can forgive them, because they lost inspiration. But even if I do lose inspiration, I'll still continue a story. It'll just take longer to write.
I'll put up the next chapter as fast as I can, and hopefully you won't have to wait another month.