Chapter 24- Tails Wants Info
It was time for a little rest and relaxation. All of us had been fighting for months with no stop. Just the night before, Eggman unleashed a bunch of mutant animals he injected with toxic waste. The old man is sick. VERY sick. It was disgusting to see the poor things. They weren't even fighting us, they were begging to be put out of their misery. They were the forest animals Sonic and I used to save awhile back, and a lot of them we actually knew. Seeing the little rabbits and pigs that used to help me as my lab assistants or the ones that ran and played with Sonic and Amy, or the ones that playfully kept bugging Knuckles, all of them having to be destroyed… we were all in tears by the battle's end. We had to get away from it all for a while, Sonic decided.
"He's just toying with us now." Sonic remarked. "You guys know if Eggman got into our heads like that DURING and not at the end of a fight, it would be disastrous for us. I say we go somewhere to unwind. You guys with me?"
"YEAH!" Knuckles and I said. Amy couldn't help but keep weeping in her room.
"She's still crying…" Knuckles said annoyed, to which Sonic got angry at.
"Shut up, Knuckles! She knew a lot more of those little guys since quite of few of them got shipped in from Little Planet."
Knuckles got a very guilt stricken look. "L-Little Planet?"
"YES, YOU INSENSITIVE PRICK!"
To all the 'non-Sonic CD' players out there, this was Amy's home planet. She told Sonic and I many stories of how she used to talk and frolic with all the little baby animals before that tarot card reading where her Sonic obsession came from. Now that they're gone she was devastated.
Knuckles, feeling too guilty to show his face at us anymore that night, retreated into his room to pack up.
"Maybe you should talk to her, buddy." I suggested.
"Are you kidding? How would I make her feel better?"
"Just being there for her would mean the world to her. Just trust me, Sonic."
Sonic gave a light sigh. "Alright. If you say so." Then he went into the room to check on her. "Amy? Are you ok-"
She wrapped her arms around him and cried in his chest. "OH SONIC, WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!"
Surprisingly instead of recoiling out of repulsion like he usually did, Sonic comforted her. He softly spoke to her and rubbed her back gently.
"It's gonna be okay, Amy. There was nothing we could have done."
"B-But…"
"No more tears, Ames… no need to cry. I'm here for ya… when you're ready, we can talk it out… Talking always makes me feel better when I'm sad, so why wouldn't it work with you?" He smiled at her and wiped the tears from her eyes. Amy was still lightly hiccuping but she calmed down a lot with him in there. I closed the door so they could have their privacy.
A few hours later, I went to check up on them. It was a very sweet scene. Both of them had passed out on the bed together. Amy looked content as Sonic was still gently stroking her head in his sleep. I chose to leave them there like that so I wouldn't wake them up, but I did snap a picture for them and made a copy for myself. That point on, I felt something develop with the two of them, but I had to wait and see. I had packing to do first. It was time for a little fun!
I need answers. I need them immediately. My best friend is suffering, Amy's dead, Mephiles is still out there, and there's nothing I can do about it. It makes me feel disgusted at myself. So you know what? I'm going straight to Eggman with Knuckles and I'm going to force him to tell me what I want to know. No more Mr. Nice Kit. Time to take action.
"Knuckles, hurry up, we're about to fly to Eggman's base."
"I know, I know. Just getting my Shovel Claws in case we need to dig under somethin'."
"You left them in the X-Tornado."
"WHAT?! Why didn't you-"
"GET IN THE DAMN PLANE ALREADY!"
Knuckles gulps. "O-Okay, Tails." He rather swiftly gets into the back seat of the X-Tornado. Why the X-Tornado and not the regular Tornado? What better to interrogate a psychotic mad scientist than a giant Transformer?
"Prepare for takeoff!"
"Uh, Tails… I haven't buckled-" I start the plane. "-IIIIIIIIIIIINNN"
"Sorry Knuckles!"
Knuckles is able to steadily climb back into his seat. "What the heck, man?!"
"I meant to wait, but I can't."
"Tails…" He puts a hand on my shoulder. "Just relax and try to think about things before you do them. Going crazy and trying to go fast like this isn't going to help Sonic get better quicker. And we can't kill Egghead when we find him like you probably want to either."
"... I know…"
"Just take it slow and drive before you nearly kill me again."
I do what he says and take it slow. I find I can focus much better on things and form a rational plan now that I'm not all fired up. Can't believe I let this get to me.
Much later we arrive at Eggman's base. He looks like he's done some renovations recently as the door and some of the structures outside look brand new. That's too bad.
"Knuckles, why don't you do the honors?"
"With pleasure." Knuckles smashes the door into pieces with his rock-solid fists. Through the doorway, we find a startled Cubot.
"The door's broken. Looks like we gotta call the repair shop aga-"
Knuckles pins him to the wall.
"Where's Eggman, Cubot?" I ask him.
"I-In his lab…" Knux drops him we move on.
I turn back to Cubot and say, "Thank you for your cooperation," before ditching him in the hall.
The door to the lab is open as I see Eggman chatting with a bear cub he tied up.
"Oh, would you like to see your family again? Well, okay then... " He unveils a curtain, revealing the cub's roboticized parents. The poor baby…
"Hey!"
"What's that?" He turns in his chair to look at us. "You guys aren't dead yet?!"
Knuckles tosses a giant rock at him to silence him. I lock the door and break the key.
"Now then. Let's have a chat." Knux digs a large ditch around Eggman so he can't escape without hurting himself on the fall. He'd have to be desperate to go all Humpty Dumpty on us.
Good ol' Robotnik points a gun at us. "STAY BACK OR I'LL SHOOT!" I fly up to him, land on his chest, and flick the gun away with my tails.
"Y'know, for a second there, I mistook you for a threat… but you're just a dirty little man…" One f my tails wraps around him. "Now quit stalling and TALK."