Chapter 4 –Fearsome Fiasco – by RedFox
Tails touched down perfectly in an open clearing. Launching himself out of the cockpit, he instinctively began to whirl his tails to soften his landing. What he would have done without them, Tails didn't know. He certainly would have never become a Freedom Fighter; his other skills simply weren't enough. Any teasing that he had ever received was twenty times worth it when he was soaring a hundred feet up, enjoying the air and the sheer freedom of it all. Sometimes he even felt sorry for the rest of his friends; none except for Dulcy, an adolescent dragon, could possibly know what it was like. She, however, had left them six months ago on a search for any others left of her kind and hadn't been heard from since.
Looking around, Tails was suddenly struck by his own idiocy. What was he doing on the Floating Island with the crises occurring back in Knothole? Diamond glass was no joke; it was very difficult to obtain, thus extremely expensive. Nobody would have had it just lying around. Chances were, Robotnik was up to some new nefarious scheme. He, Tails, should be down there helping out! The only reason he was here was on a whim, just to go off on his own and be antisocial.
Well, thought Tails, I'm here. So maybe I should just explore for a little bit. They can't miss me that much – can they?
The Floating Island was large and flat-topped. It looked somewhat like – well, an island without a sea, which was of course what it was. Tails, hovering at an altitude of no more that a few feet, set off towards the middle of the airborne atoll in search of the island's young guardians: the Chaotix. He didn't exactly know what to say; but at least he could give them a short update on what was occurring down on Mobius's surface, with the mystery of the diamond glass. Not that they would care too much – they had their own troubles on the island – but he was there, and he may as well serve some purpose.
The blow came from nowhere. Something struck Tails in the face right as he was passing by a large tree. Fighting for elevation, it was denied him as another shot came from above him. He fell towards the ground, and hit it hard.
He was unconscious for a moment; when he awoke, four figures were staring down at him. It was Vector, Espio, Charmy, and Mighty… and none of them looked particularly pleased. Now Tails realized what had happened… Espio had camouflaged himself in his chameleon manner against the tree, and struck Tails as he passed by. The second shot came from Charmy, who would have been flying overhead. Tails had only encountered the Chaotix on a couple of occasions, could it be that they didn't recognize him?
His vision was clearing, and he stood groggily. Getting a full look at his two tails, Mighty realized, "Hey, guys, cool it… it's just that Prower kid Knuckles sometimes hangs out with."
Vector smacked Espio in the back of the head. "Why don't you look before you land a punch? You are way too sensitive, dude."
"And you're not?" Espio shot back. "With everything that's been happening? How can you expect me not to be a little bit jumpy? Remember that strange glow? And the -" he broke off as he remembered Tails in front of him.
"C'mon, Espio, you can trust Tails," Charmy said, "he's a Freedom Fighter just like Sonic… and you know that Knux trusts Sonic. The glow," he added, turning to Tails, "is coming from the Master Emerald, and we don't quite know what it means. We believe it to be a sign that something climatic is about to happen. There have been other strange occurrences as well."
"Can I see the –" began Tails, but was broken off by a cry of protest from Espio.
"Sorry, Tails, we can't trust you quite that far," said Knuckles, who jumped down from the tree above them. "Yeah, I saw everything. It was just fun watching you guys. What are you doing here, anyhow?" he asked Tails.
"Oh, I think that you're going to have more to worry about that why he's there," came a voice from somewhere around them, and then followed it up with a goofy attempt at a sinister laugh. "What? Confused? Ah, I see. Can it possibly be you don't remember Flying Frog?" With that, from a different tree, the ridiculous-looking half-insane frog appeared across from them.
Vector laughed. "Flying Frog? Yeah, who could forget you? But what are you going to do alone? And where are all of your little friends?"
"Oh, we're here," Predator Hawk laughed as he swooped down from above and landed on their left, folding his azure wings and flexing his sharp talons. Behind them, a rumbling began, as Sgt. Simian, the monstrous gorilla, stomped his feet and let out a terrifying roar. In a flash, the super-swift orange-yellow Lightning Lynx was standing on their right, before they could even see from where he came. All of the Fearsome Foursome were looking extremely smug, and appeared to be itching for a fight. It was likely that they could force one, as they now had the Chaotix, Knuckles, and Tails surrounded.
"Wait a minute!" Tails cried. "I wasn't there, but Sonic told me that two years ago, you four got on Robotnik's bad side, and ended up as robots! Then somebody launched a grenade and the entire compound went up in flames! What happened to you?
Predator Hawk laughed again. "Yeah, the fat man got the better of us that time. However, most of us weren't worth scrap metal as robots. I, for one, lost my power of flight! The horror!"
"I couldn't run for anything," chimed in Lightning Lynx. "A robotized me can't stand up to the original at all!"
Flying Frog looked foolish, as always, as he mentioned that with a body of metal, it was impossible to glide. "There was just no point to it!"
"I, on the other hand," Sgt. Simian said, "simply had my strength increased threefold! I could punch like never before! So, while they're no longer robots… I am. The paint job makes me look pretty realistic, though, eh?"
"We had to pay for our 'freedom', however," mentioned Lightning Lynx. "We got our bodies back – except for Simian, he got his free will – on the condition that we would continue to work for Robotnik and Robotnik alone. That's why we're here… on his orders. We can't just run off, either… he's got all sorts of ways to track us down. Working for him is better than being Robian, though. It's just terrible as a robot… it's like a nightmare that doesn't end… but enough with the sentiment. We came for a reason."
"And what's that?" asked Charmy. "As if we needed to know."
"There's only one reason why anyone is foolish enough to attack the Floating Island," Knuckles added.
"You're – or should I say Robotnik's - after the Emerald," Espio growled.
"Very good, chameleon," Simian said. "And you six are the only – six? We had only counted on four! Hey, what's with the echidna? And the two-tailed freak? You guys recruiting new members?"
Oh, that one stung, thought Tails. He absolutely hated being called a 'freak', but he wasn't about to let the brute know that he had hit home with his remark. Knuckles laughed and said, "You don't remember me? I know you guys from somewhere."
"When they first came here," Charmy mentioned, "you were on the surface getting into all sorts of trouble… wasn't that the time you were forced to get yourself robotized?
Tails remembered it well, but the Foursome wasn't up for any more nostalgia. "Okay," Knuckles said quickly, being in command on the Floating Island, "Mighty, you and I take the robot gorilla. Charmy and Tails, I think that the hawk is going to want an airborne fight. Vec, you handle that weird amphibian, and Espio, you have the lynx. This is gonna be one heck of a clash."
"Attack!" cried Simian.
The Foursome seemed to be more than happy to follow Knuckles' set regulations. Each villain went after his designated target. Tails didn't see much more than that, however, as Predator Hawk decided that he was a bigger threat than the miniscule bee and shot straight towards him. It didn't take Tails long to realize that Hawk could fly and use his talons at the same time, while Tails could not utilize his tails as a slash weapon while airborne, giving Hawk a clear advantage. He decided to play tag, and turned to fly away from the avian menace behind him.
"You won't escape that way, vulpine!" Hawk cried behind him. It was true; he was a far faster flyer than Tails. Veering off to the right, Tails hoped that Hawk would not remember Charmy, who was still hovering, waiting for an opening. His luck was in; Hawk shot right past Charmy, who clobbered him with a right hook to the jaw.
Hawk staggered in midair, shook his head, blinked, and continued after Tails, not to be deviated from his 'prey' – Tails reflected that the arrogant creature's name suited him well. Flying as fast as he possibly could, Tails suddenly screamed in pain as Hawk's talons raked one of his tails and grabbed hold. Dangling from his tail, Tails felt as if the whole thing could just be pulled out. The pain was excruciating. Hawk, however, again forgot that he was fighting two at once. Charmy's uppercut forced him to release Tails as he himself screeched in agony, then changed course and went after Charmy.
Charmy was now flying alongside Tails. They exchanged a quick look, and something seemed to pass between them. Later, Charmy would insist that some type of extrasensory perception was involved, while Tails would maintain that it was just pure coincidence. However, the two went into a dive, got below canopy level, and flew directly at a tree trunk, Hawk close on their heels. At the last second, Tails swerved to the left while Charmy went right. Before he could figure out who to chase, Predator Hawk slammed directly into the trunk of the tree. Tough he may have been, but this was too much. Hawk collapsed.
Tails had to land; his tail hurt far too much to keep flying. Touching down, he was relieved to see that Flying Frog had bitten the dust, and Lightning Lynx was beginning to tire. Sgt. Simian, however, was still going extremely strong; it was hard to fight a full-sized robot gorilla, even if you were Knuckles and Mighty. Charmy went after Simian, so Tails decided to go help Espio with Lynx. Vector had keeled over; his battle with Frog had been too much.
Lightning Lynx may have been partially enervated, but he never lost his oversized ego. Laughing, he threw punches at two locations that he guessed by scent and hearing where Espio might be, and scored with the second one. It was almost humorous to watch a chameleon-shaped piece of the scenery fly a few feet and lay on the ground; Espio was not in good shape.
Tails swooped down from behind the feline, aiming a kick at the back of his head. Lynx obviously heard him, because he turned to look. The only effect of this was that Lynx took the kick in the face instead, and was thrown in the dust next to Espio, who was beginning to regain his purple color.
Lynx stood, wiping his face and looking with disgust at the blood on his fur. Racing at top speed towards Tails, vengeance in his eyes, he launched an uppercut that connected all too solidly. Tails was thrown backwards, but managed to reverse the fall into a pull-up by rapidly spinning his tails. His jaw was very sore, and he was beginning to get dizzy, but he didn't have to worry. Knuckles, Mighty, Charmy, Espio and even Vector, who had recovered, closed around Lynx. Behind them, Tails could see that Sgt. Simian was down.
Even Lightning Lynx knew that these were odds with which surrender was this only option.
"Alright," said Tails, "you have some talking to do."
