Chapter Thirty-Four - Fight!
WARNING: ACTION!
(…)
Cream and Tails were huddled behind a pillar as the sun slowly moved from the top of the sky.
He laid on his side as Cream bandaged his hand with what was left of a royal banner.
"The castle will really need work..." Tails mumbled at it's shaking frame.
More then a fourth of the castle had fallen, it's surrounding walls gone and beautiful gardens crushed by scores of soldiers. The medical wing had been hit hit hard but everyone had been evacuated.
A orange chameleon appeared next to them with a small concealed scroll.
He unrolled it without any wasted time and produced a long unused space for a makeshift tarp.
"Collect what you can of the plane, I might be able to fix it..." Tails muttered and the chameleon vanished to grab what he could.
"Tails, you can't go back out there, your hand is still bleeding" Cream fussed but Tails turned from her.
She heard the soft whisper of his tears over the confusion caused by the ongoing battle.
An olive dog darted from pile to pile of debris and was soon at their side.
"Cellophane will get the parts, we need to get you two to a safe place" He grumbled through the long corse beard.
Tails pulled himself to his feet while Cream loaned her hand to help pull him from the ground.
They scrambled from their place and after a minute found themselves in the center hall of the castle.
"These walls were made of the hardest stones and gems imaginable, only the powers of Sol could tear them down..." Their companion addressed as they entered the momentary shelter.
They glanced at the medical tents in the corner when they saw a familiar face.
Charmy buzzed over with a bandage on his head.
"You guys are ok!" he sounded elated as the castle around them echoed with the booms of destruction.
"Yeah... we tried to stop him but he shot me down..." Tails hung his head.
Cream squeezed his arm and saw him smile for a split second.
"We've been in here for a while now, the robots keep trying to get in but we've been pushing them back." Charmy recounted their own struggle in the battle.
"Where's Marine?" Cream asked after noticing she was nowhere in sight.
Charmy blushed, "Still at the front lines, I got hit by a rock and she sent me back here but refused to come with, once I find a weapon i'm heading back..." he tapped the bandages for emphasis.
Cheese huddled close to Cream as a few soldiers were brought back with wounds for treatment.
"You just left her?" Tails looked at the bee with a hard stare.
"No, I left the robots with her, that's much worse for them." Charmy chuckled while spying a pike lying next to a table.
"That's perfect, i'm gonna get them good!" Charmy cheered as he buzzed off with weapon in hand.
Tails looked to the ground for a minute.
Cream looked at him in wonder before he took a step forward.
He reached out and grabbed a sword from the table and began to lift it.
Cream smacked it down and Tails turned to her.
They locked eyes in a stare, irises pulling the words from the others' mind.
"Don't!" Cream said without words.
Tails hardened his stare, "I have to help!"
"You can, but not like this... please..." Cream said back, a subtle tear beginning to show.
Tails didn't say anything, neither did his eyes as he stared back.
The tear grew and began to roll down her cheek.
In less then a second the tear pulled away from the moist fur and let gravity be it's guide.
Tails raised his hand and caught the tear less then a hairs breadth from where it took off.
Cream fell forward into Tails' embrace and the two shared a tender moment that was almost out of place among the charred mortar and groaning stones of the castle.
Tails turned from her for just a split second before turning back for a quick kiss, "Bring me any parts from the robots!"
Some haggard civilians and servants looked about before bringing whatever they could find.
"Thisss should help" The chameleon from earlier said as he appeared with the remnants of Tails' plane.
"What are you going to do?" several younger children looked at him from behind their parent's pant legs.
Tails pulled at the panel of one of the robot chassis.
It refused to give and he raised his other hand only to drop it from pain.
Cream joined his attempt and pulled off the panel with him.
Tails smiled at her sweetly before searching for a part quickly.
He held up a small glowing sort of battery and smiled at the little frog who had asked the question.
Tails smiled as his mind went into overdrive, his lips opened with a lighthearted tone.
"We're going to protect all of you, nobody else needs to be hurt in this fight!"
(…)
Tails stood back as the makeshift plane stood before him.
Their plan was set, the path was clear for a launch out the western window, and he looked at those around him.
"I need help, some people to come with for an assault on Nega's base." Tails said looking out.
A lizard shifted for a second and someone coughed.
Before desperation could grip Tails however, a hand shot up from somewhere in the crowd.
The owner moved forward and Tails stifled a laugh as he saw who it was.
"I'm coming, this leg is all set for it." Usagi said with a beaming face.
He walked over to the scrap pile and grabbed a long metal rod.
"This will do for some damage" he nodded while standing next to the plane.
A red turtle raised his arm while moving forward with a dented shield and short spear.
"We can only take five, including myself, are there two more?" Tails felt odd asking so much of other's for a chance.
Cream squeezed his arm while smiling, "I'm coming!"
Tails looked at her with a dead stare.
"No..." he said instantly feeling guilt for the expression on her face.
Cream pulled him aside with her smile slowly trying to work it's way back to her face.
"I can't Cream... you would be safer here..." Tails began but Cream shushed him.
"I'm coming" Cream responded moving closer to him.
"Cream... I can't lose you... please... I need you to stay..." Tails felt his tears coming again.
Cream moved closer again, "I'm coming" she repeated.
"Please..." Tails felt the tension rising in his throat as he chocked back the tears.
"You don't want to lose me right?" Cream asked and Tails nodded.
"Then if we are together, we can't lose each other" Cream said cheerily making Tails smile.
"Cream..." Tails muttered wiping his tears.
"Miles..." Cream said seeing him cringe.
They kissed softly.
"You know I hate that name" Tails said as they embraced each other.
"Then we won't have a junior then will we" Cream saw Tails blush at her words.
They returned to the group to see a monkey with long brown hair dotted with black hanging around most of her face.
"I'm volunteering" she said with a small smile when the others looked at her.
They scrambled onto the plane and in a minute they were all set for launch.
There were no seats, everyone clung to the wings with their bodies laid out down the fuselage.
They began to move slowly down the hall towards the window.
Tails smiled at Cream's touch on his shoulder as they lifted off.
The windows were pulled open wide and they broke into the night sky.
Air hummed past them all as the craft raced above the clouds.
"Won't the guy see us coming on radar or something?" Usagi asked as they neared the ship.
Tails shook his head, "I took the signal his robots send out and reversed it, we show up on the radar but only as an empty space, he would have to manually be watching to see us."
They neared the ship and circled around it to land on the rear.
"If we come in soft enough, we shouldn't be noticed and could still use this to get off once we take Nega down." Tails said aloud as they skimmed along the metal surface at a slowing pace.
"Everyone get ready..." Tails said as they touched down lightly and rolled a short distance.
Usagi jumped off with his staff in hand.
Dust jumped off next, her furry hands covered in sharpened gauntlets.
Aegis followed suit, rolling as he landed with spear at the ready.
Cheese floated up and Cream followed him as Tails pulled the plane to a stop.
He wasted no time and met the others at a nearby service hatch.
In a minute the hatch opened as Tails used a small computer to hack it.
The group moved forward when they noticed a troop of eight robots marching down a corridor.
"Intruder, raise alarm!" one said as it noticed them.
"Don't let them find out we're here!" Dust shouted as she jumped forward and smacked one down with her tail.
Usagi roared loudly as he bounded forward and brought his staff down with an overhead sweep that shattered the metal of his target.
Aegis blocked a shot with this shield before bashing in the hand of the robot and piercing it's processor with his spear.
Cream jumped over a swing from a robot's lance while Cheese raced forward delivering a sickening attack to the now useless Negabot.
Dust dug one of her gauntlets into the face of a nearby robot and climbed over him pushing him down as she leapt forward again.
Tails whirled his nick-namesakes and took to the air, dropping down with a hard impact and bursting open armor with his fast spinning tails.
Aegis threw his spear through a robot as it headed for the alarm, stopping it in it's tracks.
The bumbling machine pulled at the spear but it was lodged solidly.
The last robot fell as Usagi swept it's legs out then brought the staff down on it's hard drive in one fluid motion.
Aegis rammed the side of his shield between the head of the robot and it's shoulders before pulling out his spear from the wrecked mass of metal.
Tails pulled up the first robot Dust had hit and saw minimal damage, he pulled out the small computer and connected it.
After a minute he smiled, "I know where the engines are!"
They made a break for the engine rooms with Tails guiding them.
Winding corridors led to small brawls as they ventured forth.
Usagi got pretty handy with sweeping several robots at once while Dust and Aegis would pounce with fist and spear.
Cheese and Cream held their own delivering strong kicks and frightening slams.
Tails jumped in to help but made sure to keep the computer and Cream safe.
"Why aren't we at the engine rooms yet?" Usagi asked as they finished off the last robots of the skirmish.
"The most direct route is through the bridge but we don't exactly want to go that way. Nega designed this the smart way but so far we've been able to stop any robots from sounding the alarm." Tails said.
They worked their way farther down with the engine room only looking a short distance away.
A sharp crackle came over the speakers of the ship and the group cringed a little.
"Little rats, how long did you think you could go unnoticed?" Nega's voice echoed down the halls.
"Shut up" Usagi yelled as they kept on running.
"How dare you, you have no place in this world!" Nega shouted at the group.
Dust spied the nearest speaker and jumped for it.
"Monkey see, Monkey break!" she laughed as the speaker fell to pieces in her grip.
They raced forward and entered the engine room.
Before them stood around twenty robots.
Tails looked at Cream for a second before they all raced forward.
Nega watched from the bridge with a villainous smile as he dreamed of triumph.
"They won't last through this fight!"
(…)
Their battle raged on with most the robots falling.
Aegis blocked several shots with his shield but broke his spear against one of the wrecked bots.
Seven still stood as he crouched low to block what he could.
Dust huddled behind him, her tail smoking and left wrist throbbing in pain.
"We have to finish this" Usagi said as he took cover from a blast behind a control panel.
Cream and Cheese dodged their way to a pile of the broken machines.
"Hurry, we need more down there" Nega ordered more robots to come to the room.
Tails looked at Usagi for a moment before he sprung out from his own hiding place.
Usagi jumped in for a swing only to have to dodge backwards from the robot's lance.
Tails jumped up and grabbed Usagi's staff as he took to the air.
Usagi dropped to the end of the staff and delivered a solid kick as Tails dropped the staff and Usagi on the robot.
Dust twirled from behind Aegis and lobbed the gauntlet from her left hand hitting another robot hard.
Aegis blocked another shot before spinning on the spot and sending his shield flying like a discus, embedding itself in a third robot.
Tails dropped and crashed down onto the robot Dust had struck ending it's ability to move.
Usagi drove his staff through his own opponent bring the robot count down to four but with more on the way.
Aegis rolled to avoid a shot now devoid of any protection.
Cream and Cheese jumped forward towards Aegis who pulled himself into his shell.
Cream kicked Aegis as hard as she could while Cheese bashed the side making him spin.
Aegis went forward spinning and bowled over the last robot with a laser.
He pulled out of his shell and bashed the robot against the wall to end it.
The remaining robots all charged with lances raised causing everyone to jump back.
Usagi parried one's lance forcing it through the other robot.
"Two!" he cried as he jumped at the one in front of him.
The broad side of the other robot's lance struck him on the side sending him back to the ground.
Dust ran up and delivered a quick kick, going into a full backflip using her tail to add damage.
The robot stumbled and Aegis body slammed the other to keep it from pulling it's lance free.
Tails jumped as he began to spin and bashed into the same robot, the combined force of him and Aegis terminating it's programming.
Cream ran at the last robot and it swung to hit her only to have her quickly spin to dodge it.
She kicked it up only to have the robot crash down as Cheese raced from above.
"CHOO!" the little, tired chao celebrated before returning to Cream's arms.
Aegis ran to the door while Tails headed for the controls.
"GET IN THERE, YOU BLASTED HEAPS, I'LL MELT EVERY ONE OF YOU IF YOU DON'T GET IN THERE!" Nega was screaming at his robots as they neared the room.
"I can't lock the door" Aegis said solemnly looking at the controls.
"I can't hack the door and the controls at once" Tails said stopping dead.
Dust looked at the door controls for a second before turning to Usagi.
"Pass me your staff hun" she said and Usagi tossed it to her good hand.
She spun it quickly over head before jamming it straight into the controls.
Sparks flew in protest but her gauntlet saved her arm from the current.
"Get back to the engines, that should hold..." She breathed pulling her left wrist closer to her body.
Aegis grabbed his shield and hammered the staff in farther just to be safe.
Tails labored over the engines for a minute before a large red face grinned at him with evil joy.
"He locked me out!" Tails cried as the digital face of Eggman Nega appeared on the monitors.
Usagi looked at the door then Dust before he looked at the engines.
"I have an idea..." he said grabbing a slightly bent lance from it's previous owner.
"Aegis, I need a hand" he said prompting the turtle to hand over his shield.
Tails and Cream looked on, casting glances at the door and each other.
"Hold this..." Usagi said and Aegis held the lance point down towards the controls.
"I can't reach..." Usagi breathed seeing the shield wasn't staying on top of the handle of the lance.
"I've got it" Dust jumped up and hung off the wall to keep it steady.
"Tails, Cream, i'm gonna need help" Usagi said running to the other side of the room.
Tails eyes sparked as he saw the idea.
"When I say go we all jump on it as hard as we can!" Usagi said bracing himself as pounding began on the door.
"GET THEM, NO NOT THEM, THEM! FIRE FIRE FIRE!" Nega's voice cut out as he looked away seemingly distracted.
The ship began to echo with loud noises of more then just the robots outside the door.
"GO!" Usagi yelled jumping to first the ceiling then kicking off directly down at the shield.
Cream dropped from the sky with Tails and all three landed with enough force to drive the lance and shield to the floor.
They jumped off as the siren's began to sound.
"The ship is going down..." Tails breathed.
Usagi raced for the door only to find it still locked.
He pulled at his staff but couldn't get it free.
"We can't get out!" He yelled and saw Tails look down.
"I know..." he breathed while walking slowly to Cream.
He pulled her closer as the ship began to fall, large explosions coming from the outer hull of the ship.
Everyone began to collapse, fatigue, injury, and hopelessness pulling on them more then gravity ever could.
Dust pulled Usagi down with her and looked awkwardly into his face.
"If we get out of this you are going to owe me a drink..." she blushed a little as he too blushed.
Aegis grabbed his shield and pulled out a small cloth to polish it with.
Cheese was already asleep, the fighting far too much for him.
Several minutes passed of silent reflection.
The ship began to shake violently and Tails hugged Cream tighter.
"I love you..." he whispered and felt Cream nuzzle her head against his chest.
The shaking grew worse and they closed their eyes.
A ear shattering explosion caused them all to pop their eyes open and they saw what was possibly the most ridiculous of things to see at a time as such.
A cat and hedgehog, the first aflame in a bright pink and the latter shining gold with blue tendrils leaking from his figure.
"I've got the ship, you get them out" Burning Blaze said to Super Silver as she raced off after a small pod of Eggman Nega's.
They all were stupified as a blue aura surrounded them and lifted them from the crashing ship.
Silver landed at the castle, his quills beginning to fade from gold back to his namesake hue.
Their group was settled down from the hold of his mind before he fell to his knees exhausted.
Blaze returned in a minute, he pink slowly returning to it's natural purple.
The two looked at the party of Tails, Cream, Cheese, Usagi, Aegis, and Dust.
Blaze kneeled down next to Silver.
"We may have missed most of it... but it must have been one heck of a fight..."
(…)
Big Chapter...
ACTION! DRAMA! ROMANCE!
Another chapter is left before the end of this act but I will say this...
MAN I liked writing the fights in this... really... haven't done that much since Sonic and Eggman earlier... but really Beast By Moonlight if you want a good one...
I was planing on using Marine and Charmy for the additional fighting members but I gave them a little rest and use some others... it's a big castle and they were busy...
Oh and I added a little flame for Usagi if you picked up the hint...
Not much more to say other then I never thought i'd write a fight scene to Queen but meh, Don't Stop Me Now!
Man my blood is pumping...
But I fear I must leave you all for the night.
(…)
Till Next Time.
- One Psychopathic Maniacal Fox