The air cruiser ripped through the sky like a bullet, the whole structure shuddering.
Sonic leaned forward in his seat, against the air pressure, straining to get a glimpse of Capitol Aero. Fire reflected in his green, burning eyes.
He couldn't tear his gaze away, couldn't pretend he didn't see the masses of air cruisers streaming over the city or the billows of smoke rising from the forest.
This was it, right in front of him. The day he'd known would come ever since Robotnik made his first raid on Old Mobia. And all his friends and all the people he'd tried to protect were down there.
Next to him, Sally clutched the arms of her chair, her teeth clenched and body stiff. She looked as if she was going to die.
In front of them, Tail guided the air cruiser with his jaw clenched hard, his eyes blank with shock and horror. Stripes of blood ran across the bandages around his back.
"How soon, Tails!" Sonic blurted.
"Soon!" Tails replied.
"I need to get out," Sally said, barely able to form the words. Her lips looked blue.
Sonic clawed his hand deeper into the seat.
The flashes continued to burst out over the city—they could hear the rumble of explosions now.
Sonic's heart pounded in his chest. He fisted his hands, wincing—
The apartment walls crashed and burned outside the school windows.
"Let me go! Let me go!" His throat burned as he screamed, shouting at the machines as they tried to tear him back and pull him away with the rest of the school children. "I need to go fight—I need find my family—my family lives there!"
Sonic shivered.
The three stared. They could make out the palace cliff now through the smoke. Its defining towers were gone—including Sally's tower.
Sally began to writhe in her seat. She barely whispered to herself, "No, Mama, no, no-"
Sonic snatched onto her fisted hand. "Tails, head for the palace and lower her down. Sally and I are going in from the ground-"
"G-got it. I'll try to take out as many of these missiles as I can—" Tails said. The cruiser nosed downwards, pointed straight towards the palace.
Sonic lurched forward, "What, you kidding me, Tails—you can't stay here all by—"
Resolve lodged in the fox's gaze. "They're dying down there," he gritted out, kicking back a lever on the floor. A large control panel unfolded from the wall—the missile scope and radar. "And it's because I didn't stop those missiles and let them use me to catch you. We can't waste time—I'll be fine."
Sonic didn't have time to punch him or talk. "Sure, sure, you'll be fine, whatever! Just get the jet down!" Sonic whirled to face Sally.
She stared up at him with wide, frozen eyes.
"Get up, Sally, hold onto me," he ordered. Sonic took her wrists and pulled her free from the chair. Sally clung to the shoulder of his tunic with cold hands, fighting against the pressure of the ship as it dipped.
"Sonic, I'm s-so afr-fraid," she could hardly speak. All her training and poise was shattered. She was just a little girl again—a terrified little girl. "What am I going to see-?"
"Don't think about it!" the hedgehog spat out. "Just don't think about it!"
"I can't do that!" her voice rose into a scream.
Sonic snatched her shoulders as if he could somehow hold her together. "You can stay here, with Tails, and I'll go in—I'll come back and tell you what I found-!"
"No, no," she gasped out, shaking her head as hard as she could. "I—I have to know, I can't wait!"
"Then hang onto me, and don't let go," Sonic said.
She hurled her slight arms around his neck and he lifted her into his arms. He gripped her hard as he half crawled, half slid back into the main cabin of the cruiser.
"Goodbye, Sonic!" Tails suddenly shouted.
"I'll be back, Tails!" Sonic called.
Sonic flung open the cargo hold hatch and stared down at the landing door, opening down into the sky. The rooftops and treetops of the gutted, burning city raced beneath them. They were getting closer to the palace.
The two stared at the ground racing beneath them.
Sonic's vision sharpened.
Beneath them, the city disappeared in an instant. The palace cliffs shot into view and they were now flying over one of the marble balconies only yards beneath them.
"—Sonic-!" Sally shouted.
"Hold your breath!" Sonic yelled.
Speed cracked through Sonic's body. He barely felt his feet leave the cargo hold before they were falling and he was unsheathing his spikes, preparing to hit the marble stone below-
He could feel the second that the toe of his shoe made contact with the ground, and he ran. He ran through the impact, the pain jolting through his body and he dropped down, curling around Sally and shielding her as he rolled. Before his speed died, he uncurled, rolled onto his sneakers, and he began to run.
Above them, Tails' air cruisier curved overhead in the opposite direction.
Sally breathed hard, still hanging on.
Sonic dashed through the nearest arches, into the shuddering palace, heading towards the People's Council Dome.
