The rain finally stopped, and the sun shone brightly through the canopy of the forest. Steam started to rise off the ground as the sunbeams started drying up the clouds' tears. Tails flopped down next to a large rock, exhausted. He'd been walking for the past six hours straight, without a single thing to eat. And now, with the arrival of the sun, the heat was going to be another issue. He lied down in the shade of the rock, closing his eyes. The sun at first had been a welcome appearance. But now…
"It's too hot," he whined softly, trying to get himself more in the shade. "It's too hot and there's not a river in sight…"
He sighed, resigning to the fact that if he didn't get out of here soon, he might…
"No…I-I can't think like that!" he exclaimed, sitting up. "Sonic wouldn't have thought like that! He would have gotten out of here…and would have saved everyone…" He started to weep again, frustrated.
"W-why can't I be like him?" he whimpered, wrapping his tails around himself for comfort. "Why can't I be strong…a-and brave…"
He closed his eyes, trying to keep all the tears back as he thought about what Rouge said. He sighed bitterly, curling up into a tiny ball.
"I-If Sonic was in me…I would have gotten out of here today…a-and everyone would be okay…"
He whimpered, thinking back to what had happened on that fateful day…
~*~
"Wow! That was great!" Rouge cried, hopping daintily off the board as Tails skid to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Tails grinned.
"See, I told you!" he exclaimed happily. Knuckles and Sonic walked over to them then, beaming.
"That was a really nice move there, little buddy!" Sonic said, slapping him on the back. "I didn't even go down the railing!" Tails' eyes widened.
"You didn't?!" he said, shocked. Sonic shook his head.
"No way! This is a new course…something like that would have been dangerous!" he replied. Knuckles nodded and held out his hand.
"Gimme five, Miles!" he said. Tails blushed and slapped the ruby colored echidna five. He couldn't believe it. Both Sonic AND Knuckles had complimented him on something they were both better them him at. It was mind-boggling.
"So, how about that pizza?" Sonic asked, picking up his board and carrying it underneath his arm. "My treat!" Tails grinned and patted his stomach.
"I'm starving!" he exclaimed, hopping onto his board again. "I feel like I could eat Eggman whole!" This was greeted with hearty laughter from the others.
"Eggman?! That'd be quite a mouthful for a little fox like you!" Knuckles chuckled.
"Hyeah," Sonic said, smirking. "He's so fat that he'd get stuck in that funny Earth landmark…"
"The Grand Canyon?" Rouge offered. Sonic nodded.
"Yeah, that's the one!" he cried. "The Grand Canyon!" Tails giggled, his tails swirling around in the wind behind him.
"Well, we don't have to worry about Robotnik anymore, because we'll never have to deal with him ever again!" he said happily. "He was on our side, and besides, none of us know where he is—"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Everyone froze and looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. But there was no one…nothing. Just the clear, cloudless blue sky surrounded by the buildings of the city.
"Who's out there?" Sonic called out bravely, getting into his fighting stance. Still nothing. The voice seemed to have disappeared as mysteriously as it came.
"Maybe it was just some people passing by," Knuckles offered, trying not to reveal his nervousness. Sonic frowned, shaking his head.
"No…there was something about that voice that sounded familiar…I'm sure of it," he replied. His voice dropped down a bit, nearly a whisper. He leaned into Knuckles.
"I think it might have been…"
"No…that's impossible!"
"Well, none of us know what really happened…"
Tails looked over at his whispering friends and sighed a bit, wondering what was going on. He hated being left out like this. It wasn't his fault he was younger then they were—
"Have any idea what they're talking about?" Rouge asked, knocking him out of his reverie. Tails sighed again and shook his head.
"No idea…they won't tell me anyway," he replied, slightly bitter. "They don't think I ever understand." Rouge gave him a sad smile and patted his shoulder.
"Don't think of it like that, Tails…they're just trying to look out for you," she said, meeting his eyes. "They don't want to see you hurt."
"But it's okay if they go risk their own lives?" Tails countered. "It's okay that they can go out there and act all brave and daring, while I stick around and make all the heroic speeches? It's not fair! I want to be able to protect and help them for once!" Rouge looked at him helplessly.
"Tails—" she started, but was cut off by the voice again. It chuckled darkly.
"You just might get your chance, fox," it hissed. Tails' ears pricked up, trying fervently to find the source of the sound. Nothing. He looked over at Rouge.
"D-did you hear that?" he whispered, frightened. Rouge nodded, worried.
"I have a bad feeling about this—" she began, but once again was cut off, this time by a brilliant flash of yellow light. Both Tails and Rouge shielded their eyes, wincing at the brightness. Sonic and Knuckles both looked at one another, shocked. Their fears had been proved true, because now standing in front of them was…
"Well, looks like we meet again," Shadow said, giving them all the once-over. Sonic stepped foreward a few steps, stunned.
"S-shadow…you're…you're still alive," he whispered, unable to take his eyes off him. Shadow snorted, bitter.
"No thanks to you," he snapped. "YOU all left me for dead." Sonic looked at him helplessly.
"Shadow, we didn't mean to abandon you…you fell from ARK! Of course we thought you were dead" Sonic cried. "Trust me Shadow, if we had had any idea that you were still—"
"Enough." Shadow said coldly. "That doesn't matter now…the damage has been done. And I don't forget the actions done against me." He looked up at one of the buildings nearby, and called out to something or someone up there.
"Bring it down!"
At that command, a huge, metallic ship launched off the building overhead, floating imperiously downwards. Tails gasped in shock, eyes boggling. This ship…Shadow…what was going on?! Sonic crouched down into his fighting stance, Knuckles following suit.
"There's no way you'll be able to get us with that crummy thing!" Sonic shouted at Shadow, who just chuckled.
"Oh? Well, I think you're in for a surprise…" he said smugly. He looked up at the ship and then called out to it again.
"Why don't we show our little friends just what will happen if they dare harm this ship, shall we?" A panel of the ship moved to the side then, revealing a large, glass area. Sonic's eyes widened at the scene he saw. Amy Rose was strapped to a metal table facing the group, a large laser centered directly between her eyes. At the sight of Sonic and her other friends, she started to scream, but she couldn't be heard through the thick glass.
"Amy!" he shouted, bristling his spines. He glared at Shadow menacingly, his patience at an end. "You've gone too far this time, Shadow! I can't believe we trusted you!" Shadow threw his head back and laughed contemptuously.
"You should have been a true friend and not have left me to die, instead of using me for your heroic deeds and then claiming all the glory for yourself!" he retorted.
"That's it, Shadow!" Sonic cried, getting into a ball. "You've got what's coming to you!"
A faint blue light glowed out from him as he launched himself at Shadow, a ball of frustration and hurt. Shadow just laughed and dodged to the side, causing Sonic to hit into the ground.
"What the—?!"Sonic said, confused as he burst out of his ball and got to his feet. Finding sight of Shadow again, he got back into another ball and tried again. This time, Shadow started to glow that strange yellow again, and counter-attacked with a huge bolt of energy, sending Sonic straight to the ground, lying deathly still.
"SONIC!" Tails screamed, running over to his fallen friend. Tears running down his face, he got to his knees, shaking him gently.
"Come on, Sonic, you have to get up!" he whimpered, looking for something, anything, that would show his friend was still alive.
"Sonic…you can't be dead…you're my best friend…" he whispered, hugging his limp body to him. "Come on…"
He pressed a hand on his friend's chest, trying to feel for any breathing, and was relieved to find that indeed, he was still hanging on.
"Oh, thank goodness," he said, sighing with relief. "Everything will be all right now—"
"Will it?" a voice said from behind him. Rouge looked up in alarm, horrified.
"Tails, get out of there!" she cried. Tails looked up behind him and saw Shadow standing there, glowing the strange yellow color again. Tails eyes widened in fear and he sat there, frozen, too scared to move.
"I don't think it's going to be all right," he snarled. "I think that the time is just about done for you and your little friend here…"
"Not if I can help it!" Knuckles crashed into him then, sending the unprepared Shadow to the ground. Knocked out of his frozenness, Tails scrambled to his feet and stared in horror as the two fought.
"Tails, take Rouge and get out of here!" Knuckles cried, grappling with Shadow. Tails stared at them, helpless.
"But…what about you and Sonic—"
"We'll be fine! Just take her and GO!" Tails took one last look at them and scrambled back towards Rouge, grabbing her hand.
"We've got to get out of here," he stated simply, taking off. Rouge stared at him, shocked, and tried to get loose.
"We can't just leave the others!" she cried. "What are they going to do?!" Tails held on tighter as he started to gain some altitude over the battle.
"Rouge," he said gently, looking down at her. "Knuckles said they'd be fine…and…t-there's nothing we could have done anyway…" She stared at him, tears filling up the corners of her eyes.
"Tails, I—" she started, but was cut off by Shadow's voice carrying over the city.
"Going somewhere?" he yelled, and sent two blasts of yellow energy up. Tails gasped and moved to the side, but he was a fraction of a second too late. The first one hit the end of one of his tails, sending him floundering through the air, and the second one…
"ROUGE!" Tails screamed, trying to grab at her as she was blown out of his grasp. She looked at him, shocked, unimaginable hurt in her eyes, and then lost consciousness, plummeting to the ground. Tails attempted to dive after her, but he himself was already loosing height from the crippling blow to his tail. He looked down to see if he could see where she had gone, but already she was out of sight. Tails wept bitterly and he tried to fly on, not watching where he was going, not paying attention to anything, just knowing that he was alone, and that he had failed…
~*~
"I-I let them all down," he moaned, rocking back and forth on the ground. "I let them all down…a-and now they're all probably dead…just because of me…"
He looked back miserably at his tail that Shadow had hit. It was wrapped around him limply, all the flying power gone out of it. He had been lucky to make it to this forest intact…
"I-I'll get him…" he whispered, clenching his fists. "I'll get him…even if it…kills me…" He looked up into the now night sky, calling into the wind.
"YOU HEAR ME, SHADOW?!" he screamed. "I'M COMING, AND YOU HAD BETTER BE READY!"
He got to his feet again, his eyes as hard as coals. There would be no more crying. There would be no more wasting time. He had a hedgehog to find.