Disclaimer: *Sigh* Why do those dumb lawyers make us poor writers make these stupid things? Bah! Anyway, I don't own Miles 'Tails' Prowler or any of the StarFox team, although they are barely involved and Tails is almost my character (after I added a few touches to him).

Introduction: Well, my brain was kinda hyper after I played Sonic for about six hours straight at a friend's house AND watched 'We Were Soldiers' the other night, so I just decided to write something about our overshadowed Tails. Poor little guy; he doesn't get much attention. This is centered a bit more on StarFox than it is Sonic, so I'll just file it under StarFox. As always with my stories, this has no reference whatsoever to my other fictions. This is based on an alternate universe setting. Oh, don't worry, you don't have to know anything about Tails. Frankly, I don't know anything about him either.
"You didn't drown?" Andy asked. Krystal threw him a questioning glance. Her paws fell down from their eagle-spread position and were stuck in her pockets. Andy jumped at her and held her close, "You're alive!"

"Does this me know you?" Krystal blinked. Andy let go of her and reached into his trenchcoat pocket and took out the staff. Krystal snatched it with the speed of a cougar and felt it in her paws. She looked up at Andy and smiled, "Well, I thought I knew you looked like someone I knew." Andy nodded and released the power containing his disguise. He sighed happily as he felt the use of both his tails. Krystal pushed back a fringe and smiled, looking up and down at Tails.

"I thought that the sneakers were a dead giveaway," Tails chuckled. Krystal's smile grew so wide Tails was almost certain if she was any happier, the edges of her lips would disappear under her hair. Tails grasped her neck and pressed his lips on hers.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?"

Tails quickly pushed Krystal away and looked at the doorway leading down into the staircase. It was the badger that he had nearly run over, but his eyes were no longer brown, but an ugly shade of yellow. With every passing second, Tails could see his black fur whiten. With every threatening step he took towards Tails, a scar would appear on his putrid face. His teeth grew into menacing fangs and his paws sprouted sharp claws. By the time he got within three yards of Tails, he was no longer a badger.

"Andross," Krystal hissed. She brought her paws up and aimed them at Andross. She curled her fingers into some sort of claws and made the air around her crackle with a dark ball of black lightening. Tails was sure that Andross would be fried into a blob of red gore, but instead of hitting him, the ball was caught in Andross' paw and he flung it back at Krystal. She had just enough time to leap out of the way as the ball whizzed passed her and into a building at the side of the street. The ball of lightening made a hole the size of a car.

"Ah, Captain," Andross sneered, clamping a hand on Krystal's neck and squeezing hard, "It's nice to see you again."

Tails whipped out the staff and shot three, small fireballs at Andross in succession. The white ape dropped Krystal and deflected the shots with a simple wave of his hand. Andross advanced slowly towards Tails, the sneer on his face growing more and more wicked.

"Miles Prower," he said, his voice dripping with malice, "Foolish boy. Do you think your mere magic tricks would work on someone with my power?"

Tails responded by swinging the staff in Andross' direction. He caught the rod with a swift motion and jerked it out of Tails' hands. He threw it aside.

"Don't fight, Tails. You'd better join me and spare the suffering of you pathetic friend here," Andross cackled. He was still in the blue uniform of a Cornerian police officer, but he managed to look as evil as anyone. He waved his hands around and created a ball of liquid fire, the same kind Tails used. Andross laughed, "Do you actually think that you were the only one to be able to properly control your power? No, Miles! The virus, do you know how the virus was created?"

Tails wasted no time in fusing chemicals into water and spraying Andross' fireball out. He shook his head and only made another one.

"I thought you were curious. The Cerinians created the virus more than four millennia ago. They infected their entire planet with the seemingly harmless strand of flu. All pregnant vixen gave birth to children who possessed the ability to control energy. You may call that magic, but I call it a source for power!" Andross flung the ball at Tails. Tails was barely able to dodge it as it splashed all over the rooftop. The snow melted and bits of tar and plaster burned, creating fumes that threatened to choke Krystal, who was unconscious on the ground.

"Power corrupts!" Tails screamed as he sucked the heat from around Andross, hoping to freeze him. It didn't work, but it put out the toxic flames.

"No, Tails. Power is the only thing that can bring harmony to the Lylat. I plan to use it to rule over those too weak to seek power. Power is sweet. Power is what creatures are born for!" Andross roared as he tackled Tails to the ground and jammed his knee in his stomach, "You are too weak. And to think infecting your mother would've created a suitable ally for me. You're ALL weak!"

"There are other forms of strength," Tails choked as he tried fruitlessly to pry Andross from crushing his ribs. Andross growled and brought a fist down on Tails' face. Tails felt a bone crack and his nose started bleeding.

"Fool! I know of what you speak. Bravery, is it? Compassion, you say? Idiot!" Andross yelled as he smashed another fist into Tails' chest, "Those are forms of weakness! The selflessness that you think will save the lives of others only make you the one who will lose!"

"True, but risking your own hide may save the pelts of countless others," Tails gasped. Andross growled and stood up. He started kicking Tails mercilessly in the sides of his chest with his heavy boot. Andross laughed maniacally as he heard a rib snap... And another...

"Do you yield?" Andross asked.

"No," Tails wheezed.

"DO YOU YIELD!"

"No."

"Fool," Andross muttered as he gave Tails one last kick, "Maybe something else will change your mind."

Tails groaned as he tried to sit up to see what Andross was doing. He picked up Krystal by the neck and again and marched towards the edge. Tails could only watch as he dangled the unconscious Krystal above the street, sixteen floors down. A furious snowstorm suddenly picked up, throwing locks of her hair around. Tails staggered to his feet and tried to calm his spinning head of pain.

"Now, do you yield?" Andross asked again, more sadistically. Krystal stirred and opened her eyes. She gasped for breath and clawed at Andross' big paw. She shuddered as he shook her to prove his point to Tails.

"Tails, don't," Krystal moaned.

"Do you yield?" Andross asked patiently.

"Tails, if you cooperate willingly, he could absorb all your energy. It will kill you and make him stronger. With that power, he could tear apart Corneria," Krystal coughed.

"Ah, yes quite the predicament, isn't it, Tails? I you join me, she will live, but the entire Lylat System would fall under the rule of a ruthless dictator. If you don't, the vixen whom you love will be plunged seventy feet down into a cement sidewalk. She won't be able to save herself with magic; she'll be too weak. YOU can't even save her," Andross threw his ugly face back and roared with laughter, "Ah, yes, shall it be duty, which you have been betrayed of by your closest friends, or shall it be love, which you have found only a few hours ago? Let us see how your bravery and compassion match up in the worst decision of your life."

Tails wiped blood from his mouth and look between Krystal and Andross. Despite having a broken nose, internal bleeding, and three broken ribs, he felt clean of physical pain. His head, though, was throbbing with agony. Tails hung his head; his brain feeling like it had been in a blender with the frappe button on for three minutes.

"Put this into your thick skull, then, you stupid jerk," Krystal shouted, her voice suddenly commanding, "If you even think of saving me instead of the world, then I'll let you know that I will hate your stinking guts for all eternity."

"Tsk, what do you see in her, anyway?" Andross jeered, tightening his grip on the blue vixen's throat.

"I have made my choice," Tails looked up.

"Oh, really?" Andross smiled, "Do tell me."

"I yield."

"NO!" Krystal screamed, thrashing against Andross as he brought her back down onto the roof. He quickly squeezed the major nerve in her body near her shoulder so she fell down, unconscious, again.

"A very stupid choice, but as long as it benefits me..." Andross walked towards Tails, "You do know that you'll never be able to see her again, don't you?"

"I know, but I'm willing to accept that," Tails answered. Andross grinned and put his hand on Tails' shoulder.

"Be prepared as I suck the life out of you."

"Ah, yes," Tails looked up into Andross' yellow eyes and smirked, "But be prepared as I take the air from your lungs."

Suddenly, the loud, buzzing retort of a gun was heard as a red beam of focused light went in and out of Andross' chest. He looked up in horror at Tails and back down at his punctured heart. He chuckled and smiled at Tails before he vomited blood and crumpled down into a heap on the roof. Tails remained his hard expression as he looked at the smoking blaster in his paw. It was silver white. It was Alex's gun. Tails was only too lucky that he had always kept it in a holster near his heart. Tails sighed in relief and he tucked the gun back into his vest. He looked up to where Krystal was lying, but the thing was that she wasn't there. There was a staff, a dead body, and an impression in the snow where she was a second ago.

Tails blinked down a tear and he turned back to the stairwell, where a stunned, blue falcon and an impressed pink hedgehog waited as black shadows to apologize in front of an orange, rising sun. Tails smiled feebly as he winked at Falco and Amy, a golden, bloody staff in his paws...

**

A/N: Is it just me or do my characters always have a way of disappearing into the dark? Oh, yeah, just one more epilogue and I'm outta here.