Tails was still trying to process what Amy had just told him. She was pregnant?! Of course, he knew how it had happened, but he had never expected it to happen. He was sitting in his own deafening silence until Sally nudged him, prompting him to say something.
"Amy… I'm sorry, but I don't know what we should do either. I wish I did, but I guess it's more your decision than mine. I mean, do you want my child?"
"Of course I do, Tails! Even though this whole situation of you not being dead has me shocked, I still love you, as Tails or Taylor. But, it's not so much that I don't want the child, but the question is really 'do I really want a child now?' I mean, do we really want our child to grow up in a world where one of our oldest best friends is now an insane villain who has killed innocent people for fun? Are we even ready? You're only 19, Tails. I just- I just don't know what to do." She started sobbing again, so Tails walked over to her and embraced her.
"Amy, if you're not ready for this commitment, I fully understand. But know that I'll support you no matter what." Amy calmed down a little after hearing that.
"Thank you, Tails."
It was at this moment when Sally's communicator alerted her of an incoming call. She answered.
"Princess Acorn, ma'am. Sonic has made a request to see the fox." Tails immediately snapped his head over to face Sally. "He says he wants him now. Will you be granting permission?" Sally looked at Tails, who nodded his approval. "Yes. I shall escort him over right now."
"Roger." And the call ended. Sally moved to stand, and Tails started to do the same, but Amy stopped him. "Tails, come back over when you can. I want to make a decision about this child… OUR child as soon as possible."
"I will. Don't worry. See you soon." With that, he kissed her on the cheek and left with Sally, heading for the prison.
A few minutes later, Sally and 'Taylor' arrived at the foreboding building, and went inside. As soon as they were through the door, one of the guards led them down to a glass door. It didn't take a genius to realise that there would have been a sheer drop at the other side of the door; there was literally no floor on the other side. Instead, on the other side of this door was water. Lots and lots of water. The space, which essentially resembled a large sphere, was filled almost to the top with H2O. The guard typed a security code into a keypad beside the door, and a long, telescopic tunnel began to extend towards a similar door leading to Sonic's cell, which resided in a smaller sphere in the centre of the first one, connected to the edges by chains. The three occupants watched as they got closer and closer to the hedgehog's cell, and were all slightly unnerved when they got close enough to see Sonic's face: he was smiling. Not a happy smile, or a creepy smile, not even one of his signature smirks. It was just a smile. A blank smile.
The door at the other end opened as soon as the tunnel connected, and suddenly the only thing dividing Sonic from the rest of them were the metal bars of his actual cell. This, of course, meant that now, they could speak.
"Hello, Sonic."
"Hello, Tails."
The guard, who hadn't known that Taylor was Tails, immediately focused his attention on the fox, mentally kicking himself for not realising it sooner. Sally noticed this, and pulled the guard aside to explain the situation, leaving Sonic and Tails essentially on their own.
"Well, how the mighty hath fallen. What happened to you, Sonic?"
"You did, Tails. You made me think you were dead for ten years. What did you think was gonna happen?"
"I had to, Sonic. Didn't I already explain all this? I had never expected things to go this wrong! I expected you to stay as a hero, not become an immature lunatic unable to accept loss! Miles 'Tails' Prower died 11 years ago, but let's be honest, so did Sonic the Hedgehog. I have no intention of becoming Tails again, and you're too far gone to ever return to the way you once were." In the midst of this emotional outburst, Tails unfurled his tails, which had been wrapped together as one since he had left Amy's house.
"Heh. I don't disagree with you there, Tails." Sonic said that name with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "The day you 'died' was the day I stopped being the great hero that Mobius was so used to. I mean, yeah, I finally defeated Eggman, but without him to battle against, and without you there to hold me back, I guess the whole 'hero' thing just seemed boring, so I gave it up. And, let me tell you, it's so much easier when you don't need to worry about rules!"
At these words, Tails was visibly shocked. And of course, Sonic was quick to notice. "Aw, what's the matter, foxy? Not what you wanted to hear?"
Tails steeled himself and glared at the hedgehog. "When we were friends, did we ever choose the easy way out? We didn't do what we did because it was the most convenient. We did what we did because it was right! Sonic, we were the greatest heroes that Mobius has ever seen, and now look at us. Look at yourself. You could have been amazing without me. But instead, you let your rage and mourning turn you in to… this. Sonic, I loved you like a brother, you know that. I wanted to be just like you. That's why I wanted to fight by your side. But, no matter what I did, I was always second to you, stuck in your shadow. I wanted to be your equal, Sonic, but you never gave me that chance, so I knew that I'd never be able to see myself as your equal as Tails. That's why I pulled that stunt. Tails needed to go, so that I could start again, with a new name and a new identity, and escape from the label of 'Sonic's sidekick'." Sonic was silent, wearing a shocked impression of his own.
"Tails, I-"
"Stop calling me Tails! After everything you've done, you've lost the right to call me that. Don't you remember that I only let my friends use that name? To you, my name is Taylor and that's all." Tails sighed. "Sonic, I don't regret what I did, and nothing you can say or do will change that." Once again, Sonic was silent. What else was there to say?
Evidently, Tails felt the same way, as he proceeded to turn his back to the caged hedgehog and walk towards Sally and the guard. He was done here. The guard called the tunnel back and prepared to escort Tails back to the rest of the building. As the tunnel doors closed, Sonic could only stare at the fox as he proceeded to wrap his twin tails together again.
Sonic wasn't the only one in silence, as Tails hardly said a word as they left the building. Sally picked up on this. "Tails, are you ok? I heard what was said back there."
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You are not fine, Tails. What is it?"
"It's just everything seems to be happening at once. First, you all find out that I'm not dead, then I find out that Amy's pregnant with my child, and then this talk with Sonic. I managed to live for 11 years with hardly any problems, and now they all just drop on me at once. I guess I'm just overwhelmed." Sally looked at him. They had been walking back to Amy's place, but she didn't think it was a good idea for Amy to see Tails like this. So, she grabbed Tails' arm and dragged him over to a nearby bench and they sat down.
"Tails, you needn't worry about any of that. Sure, it came as a shock to all of us when we found out about you, just as it must have been when you heard the news about Amy. And, the only thing Sonic can do to you at this point is talk. But, life isn't as straightforward as we'd all like it to be. If it was, well, it'd just be really boring! And besides, back when you were a part of our little group, you were the only one of us who was truly able to keep up with Sonic and all of the surprises that came with being his friend! And, as much as you want to deny it, I still see that same fox when I look at you. I mean, you are the same fox who managed to take on three of the highest skilled fighters in GUN at the same time without breaking a sweat! You have great instincts, Tails, just as you've always had. I'm not saying that it's wrong for you to feel overwhelmed. It happens to the best of us, even me!" She nudged him in the ribs at that, which caused him to chuckle. "But, you shouldn't let it affect you. Just keep your head and your tails held high. And remember, if you need to talk about it, just give me a call and I'll do what I can to help." She embraced him in a friendly hug, which he returned.
"Thank you, Sally. That really means a lot."
"Any time, Tails. Now, let's get going. Probably best not to keep Amy waiting for too long."
With that, the two friends got up and continued their walk to Amy's house.
Well, here it is: the first new chapter of Game Over in over a year! My word, I'm bad at this. I'll try to be quicker with updates going forward. As a result of the long gap, I've kinda forgotten a lot of the things that happened in the story, so I may have ended up hitting some of the same marks in this chapter, but I'll give the story a thorough re-read between now and the next chapter, so I know where the story needs to go next. Although, the story probably won't be going on for too much longer anyway. I'd say we probably will only have a few more chapters left before I wrap this one up and move on to the next story. But, for now, just keep your eyes open for the next chapter which should be coming soon.
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