Chapter Ten – In War and Love – by RedFox
Three pairs of shoes produced a fast drum roll sound over the dull roar of the Egg taking off as the threesome raced along the metal corridor. Upon close inspection, one could make out the outlines of many complex-looking circuits and slowly revolving machinery embedded in the walls. It was an engineering masterpiece, and despite Tails' deep loathing for the mad scientist surely located somewhere aboard the ship, the fox couldn't help but be impressed. Someday, he thought, I'll be able to build like this. I'll build my own enormous ship. It'll be bigger that this one – and a lot more friendly looking too – but never, never in a million years will I use it for evil.
That is, of course, if I survive this…
Sonic, who was in the lead, screeched to a halt in front of a door. His comrades did the same. "Is it locked?" asked Knuckles. The door was solid steel and most likely three inches thick. The three of them would have to find an alternate route were the door sealed – but Sonic turned the latch, and it opened. A stream of light hit them in the face – the corridor beyond was lit by a number of fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Sonic and Knuckles lightly stepped over the low barrier into the next hall, while Tails took to the air just to give his tails a stretch. He didn't know if there would be any flying involved on this mission though, considering the ceilings were rather low.
Down the lit hall, Tails suddenly saw the door open and a SWAT-bot walk enter. It froze as it saw them, and suddenly began shouting a robotic warning into the radio its right arm.
In a flash, Sonic was in the air. The skirmish was over in less than three seconds, with nothing left of the robot save for a small pile of scrap metal. Sonic's fury was anything but placated, however. His eyes still burned, mad with the desire for revenge. Motioning for Tails and Knuckles to follow him, he leapt through the door, poised to take on any more metal that might be foolish enough to confront him.
"They know that we're here," Knuckles muttered as he trailed Sonic through the door. "That 'bot got its warning out… we could get swarmed any second…"
He broke off as he saw the room that they had entered. It was enormous, with more doors than any of them could count. Floor, walls, and ceilings all shone with that familiar metallic luster. An elevator lead to the second and third floors, which opened up in the center so that they were visible from the ground. More doors were set in the walls on both floors.
It had to be the largest room on the Egg. Quite obviously the "main hall" of the ship, there would hardly be room for a second one. None of the doors were labeled, but they did have odd signs on them that supposedly marked what they were. The three heroes looked around, then at each other. Tails voiced what all of them were thinking: "So, which door do we take?"
"Pick one," said Sonic, and without waiting for either of them to do so, opened the door immediately to his left, which had a skull and crossbones on it. What he found inside made them all gasp with astonishment and horror.
It was a torture chamber – the worst any of them had ever seen. Devices with the sole purpose of causing pain littered the area, ranging from red-hot iron to stretching machines to a rack. A shelf on a far wall boasted a horrible-looking collection of sharp knives. Heavy weights were neatly stacked next to some irons so a person could be slowly crushed under them. Sonic slammed the door shut and turned away, with a slight green tinge to his blue and beige face. Tails felt just as sick. How many had gone through Robotnik's horrors until they broke, crying, screaming, willing to say absolutely anything simply to avoid the pain continuing? The fox made a vow to avenge every single one of them, and then nearly laughed. He already had Mina and Sally to avenge, and now he was going to take on the burden of an uncertain number of others?
By finishing this madman for good, Tails thought, I'll avenge them all.
Knuckles led the way into the next room, with a totally unrecognizable symbol that looked like a corrupted mix of the letters Q and T, which turned out to be completely empty except for an oddly shaped Badnik rolling around on the floor. It wasn't quite spherical, but seemed somewhat lumpy, and appeared to be completely helpless. Knuckles began walking towards it, but Tails caught his arm. "You have no idea what that thing is," he said simply. "Just leave it." Knuckles assented with no argument. They didn't have time to play around with mutated robots.
In the room left of that one, they found a single escape pod large enough to fit one (rather fat) man. They looked at each other and there was no need for words. This was their way off of the ship – the three could easily fit in it. Sonic left that door open in case a speedy exit would be necessary.
The next door was locked. The three each tried various ways of opening it, but without success. Its sign seemed to indicate it as the engine room, though Sonic thought that it might signify something else. In any case, there was no getting through the metal, so they proceeded onwards to the next, which had a radioactivity sign on it. Tails pointed out that he was probably already mutant enough and had no desire to grow a second head as well, so they should most likely skip that one. The others quickly agreed, and continued on.
The sixth door was at the tip of the oval shaped hall – like an egg, Tails thought wryly. It had a large C on it for marking purposes, though that didn't give them any clue as to what it was. As always, they entered in attack formation – Sonic at the lead, with Knuckles behind and Tails flying above them – all three ready to take any attacker. Blinking a few times to get used to the bright lights in the new room, they heard an all too familiar voice.
"Glad you could make it," said Dr. Ivo Robotnik. "I was beginning to worry that you'd never get here."
The mad scientist sat in an ostentatiously lofty chair positioned in front of a control panel that was in size to a normal panel as he was to a normal man. Lights, buttons, switches and labels made up the enigmatic masterpiece of metal, above which sat a large screen. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, however, were not worrying about the control panel at the moment. Instead, they were looking at the thousand-odd robots that were standing between them and Robotnik. The control panel room was barely large enough to fit them all; they were so crowded that it almost looked like one gigantic metallic monster. Those with guns had them pointed directly at the threesome – who heard the door slam, trapping them in the room.
"You did, of course, set off some two hundred alarms the instant that you entered this ship," continued the evil genius with a look of smug triumph on his face. "All robots on board were instantly recalled to this location to eliminate you the instant that I give the command. My only regret is that you will not suffer for long.
"You are aboard my true master creation – the sequel to all of its pathetic predecessors – the Hyper Death Egg. I no longer have any interest in destroying Mobius; I have realized what an utter waste of a prime planet that would be. So much potential gone to waste! No, my furry adversaries, the Hyper Death Egg is no weapon of mass destruction. It is not exactly a weapon at all, for it will take no lives. Yet with a single push of this button –" he indicated the largest button on the panel, which was, naturally, bright red – "every living being on the face of this planet will become my robotic slave within the time span of a mere two minutes!
"I think that I may keep you alive," Robotnik continued, "long enough to watch me push the button. It is almost done charging from the Master Emerald – kept in its nice diamond glass container, of course." He looked at a gauge on the side of the panel. "It should be about… thirty seconds."
Throughout this entire monologue, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had stood completely still, letting the horror of it all wash over them. Finally, Sonic said softly in a dull monotone to his comrades, "I don't know about you, but I made a resolve a long time ago that if I was ever to die young, I was going to go down fighting. Let's take some metal with us, shall we?"
Robotnik laughed. "You're actually going to fight? Fine…" He pushed a couple of buttons. "I admire your bravery, rodent. So I won't have my lovely minions kill you yet. They are now programmed only to render you unconscious. Then, the three of you can meet my favorite room in this ship. I believe that you have already explored it."
"Out of curiosity, Buttnik," said Knuckles with no small touch of bravado and using one of Sonic's favorite names for the doctor, "where's that little midget lackey of yours? I thought that he was always at your heels."
"Snively is not worthy to take part in this scheme. He sabotaged my predecessor; and I cannot take any unnecessary risks. I roboticized him, though the process went awry and he emerged with his free will intact. In any case, he's out of the picture."
While this somewhat pointless conversation proceeded, Tails's mind was racing. He stared at the army in front of him, and suddenly had an idea. What was the thing about most of Robotnik's bots' sight? They were heat seeking – they saw only a red image where there was warmth. So if he could somehow make himself cold – but that was impossible. Plus, most were equipped with echolocation so that they could see cold-blooded creatures as well. What else was there?
Tails took a second look at the throng. The SWATbots, all of whom were wielding guns, had an evil-looking red strip where normal eyes should be. Tails was struck by the fact that he could see every red strip in the mob… not one bot had its head tilted down… or up.
That's right, Tails remembered. This model can't angle their head – they can't see above themselves!
"Stun them," Robotnik said coldly.
All three creatures leapt into the air. Knuckles connected four times with his fists before being laid flat by a well-aimed shot. Sonic turned himself into a chainsaw and sliced though an entire line of bots until he, too, was laid flat on the metallic flooring. Tails, however, had begun to spin his tails the instant that he hit the air and was now flying directly below the twenty-odd foot ceiling. No shots came his way.
Robotnik's eyes bulged as he saw what was happening. Turning to the control panel again, his fingers began to dance over the array of keys. Tails made a dive for him but was halted by a swarm of eighteen flying Badniks who suddenly swarmed him from below.
This was the time to try a new move that Tails had been working on for a little while but had never tested in combat. As the robots flew at him with stingers, blades, or whatever sharp implements they might posses bared, Tails did a roll in mid air and for a crazy few seconds, was flying upside down with his rapidly spinning tails facing the ground. As each Badnik attacked, they were sliced to pieces before they could even come close to hitting him. Tails finished the roll before he could black out, but the maneuver had left him with very little control.
Fighting for altitude, he pulled up right before crashing into the head of a SWATbot below. The two robots who had previously avoided his tails and were now diving at him from above didn't pull up in time. They slammed into the floor and exploded, which began to cause a chain reaction. Robot after robot began to explode, each one igniting the one next to it.
Tails saw with horror that while Knuckles had been flown back to the door by the stun ray, Sonic was still in the middle of all the bots, and the explosions were nearing him. The fox couldn't help but remember a scene exactly like this one – was it only two days ago in Robotropolis? He hadn't slept in forever, either… he didn't even have a clue what time of the day it was. Swooping down, he grabbed Sonic's arm and flung his body over to where Knuckles lay with all the strength he could muster. It worked – Sonic crashed against the locked door and lay still. Tails felt bad about hurting his friend even more, though he knew that in this case it was necessary. Both of his friends should now be far enough away from the chaotic conflagration in the center of the room.
He needed a rest badly – he had been in the air for over a minute and it was certainly no casual flying, either. Luckily there was a ventilation grate at the top of the room, and Tails managed to grab onto it and hold for ten seconds, long enough to give his tails a break without having to risk getting shot if resting on the ground. He leapt off of the ceiling in full flight mode and headed for Robotnik again.
The mad scientist was frantically pressing buttons, but apparently to no avail. His screen appeared to be frozen with a large red X on it. Finally, though, he seemed to realize that his weapon was fully charged and had been so for almost a minute. With a cry of delight, Robotnik reached for the large red button.
Tails instantly flew up to the top of the large chair and pressed his fingers hard against the sides of the doctor's fat neck. Robotnik gave a yelp of surprise, then slowly sank into his chair. Tails made a note to thank Sally for those pointers on pressure points – then remembered that Sally was dead. His desire for revenge revitalized, Tails set to work on the control panel.
Hovering in mid-air above the controls, Tails was surprised to see how simple the panel actually was. Everything was labeled with words, and very little was particularly vague. However, what he wanted to do would be complex, and would require all of his brainpower – and it would need to be done quickly, because the fire from the explosions was beginning to fill the room. Burning metal was flying in every direction, some shards narrowly missing the two-tailed fox.
Tails set to work doing what he loved best: tinkering with machinery. The very first thing that he did was shut off all of the SWATbots' control systems, eliminating one potential remaining threat. Next, he found the escape pod controls and readied it for transport to the Floating Island. He knew that the next part would be the hardest. Menus began popping up on the screen; he searched for the one labeled "main fuel source" and finally found it. He had to go extremely deep and hack several passwords to figure out what he needed to do. When he was finished, he wiped his brow, which was not only sweaty because of hard work. The room was becoming an unbearable inferno. But the diamond glass container holding the Master Emerald was unlocked, and the door that led to it as well. He also made sure to unlock the door out of the room that they were in. The only problem would be making the jewel fit in the pod, though from Knuckles's description of the priceless gem, it would just fit.
Finally, it was time for revenge. Hacking deep into the bowels of the Hyper Death Egg's network, Tails found the controls for the engines, which still had a good amount of power left over from the Emerald. In three minutes, the boosters would fire and the mammoth ship would go hurtling into the outreaches of space. A quick mental calculation told Tails that the Egg would be incinerated in a faraway star in, oh, some three million years.
The countdown began, and Tails flew over the dying fires for the exit at top speed. He had given himself more than enough time, but didn't want to cut it close. Opening the door, then grabbing both Sonic and Knuckles by a wrist each, Tails pulled their unconscious bodies out and dragged them towards the escape pods. Haphazardly flinging them into the pod, he then raced into the room to his left, which they couldn't open before. Now, however, the door gave way, and Tails, panting heavily, stepped through.
He had entered a small circular room filled with cables. All of them were hooked up to the base of a cylinder made completely out of shimmering diamond glass. However, thanks to Tails' superior hacking, a hatch on the side of the machine had sprung open and the Master Emerald gleamed brilliantly inside. The odd green glow that Espio had mentioned was filling the chamber with light. Without a second thought, Tails plunged his hands into the chamber and grabbed the shining jewel.
His first thought was that he would never be able to lift it. It must have weighed half a ton – how come he hadn't foreseen this? It was the most obvious problem in the entire plan; trying to lift a gem three times his size? What had he been thinking?
Then, suddenly, the Emerald began to move. Tails gasped as he felt energy flowing through his gloves and into his arms. Raw power began to run through his veins. All of his fur stood on end and began emitting a brilliant white light. The light surrounded him and for a moment he knew nothing but a blindness of white, he was weightless, he was invincible…
In a flash, he was back on the ground… in a way. His fur glowed a deep orange and a red cape fluttered against his back. He also knew exactly what had happened. The intense power of the Master Emerald had initiated his transformation into his Turbo form! The Emerald now felt light as a feather in his hands, and he pulled it all the way out of its diamond glass container. Then, again, her felt even more power begin to surge into him and stopped, shocked.
His feet lifted off of the ground and again, white light began to emerge from his fur, mixing with the green glow of the jewel in his hands. An amount of Chaos energy that he had only obtained once before was now spreading out to all parts of his body. He felt invincible – he could have taken ten thousand robots on and not have had to lift a finger. In another flash, the transformation completed and Tails knew he had, for only the second time in his life, attained his Hyper form. His fur was a light brown, the way that it had been when he was much younger; four yellow birds trailed him, looking cute but immeasurably powerful.
Within three seconds he had carried the Emerald back to the escape pod and squeezed it in. The instant that he lost contact with the jewel, his energy began to fade, almost too slowly too be noticed.
Just as Tails was squeezing into the escape pod, (brushing against the Emerald again, which rejuvenated his power,) Robotnik stumbled into view, running as fast as his fat body would carry him.
For a moment, he looked incredibly stupid, staring at the three of them lying in the cramped escape pod with the Master Emerald. He finally managed to articulate a single word: "No…"
The door shut and the pod blasted off into space.
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The Chaotix were waiting for them at the edge of the island, not knowing what to expect to come out the pod that landed on their shore. Of course, the island had again, with the lack of the Master Emerald, fallen into the ocean and had a true shoreline again. Mighty, Charmy, Vector, and Epsio were all there, as well as Ray, the flying squirrel who had recently joined the group, and Julie-Su, a female echidna whose relationship with Knuckles had never really been definite. All six of them drew a collective breath as the pod door slid open –
Tails tumbled out of the pod and onto the ground, lying there, loving the firmness of solid earth and for the first time in his life happy not to be airborne. Ray cried out as he saw the pod's main cargo. "The Master Emerald!"
All six of the Chaotix raced up to the pod, grabbed the shining jewel, and hauled it out. Behind it were the still unconscious forms of Sonic and Knuckles. Seeing Knuckles alive, most of the Chaotix left the gemstone and went to see if he was okay. Mighty alone picked up the Emerald and carried it off. Tails wondered why it didn't seem to affect him or any of the others the way that it had affected him, but was too exhausted to ask or even care.
Jubilant shouts of joy filled the air, but all that Tails wanted to do was sleep…
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"Alright," Sonic said, "go over this one more time."
Tails sighed. He was plain sick of continually recounting his heroic escape from the Hyper Death Egg – how he had not only saved both of his friends and rescued the Master Emerald, but finished Robotnik for good to boot. It wasn't only because he had had to tell the story three times already, but mostly because he thought that it sounded ridiculously implausible. Eventually someone had to become skeptical about the fact that Tails's account of the events on board the Hyper Death Egg had him as the absolute hero; the last thing that he wanted was to be seen as an attention-seeking narcissist.
But, so far, everyone seemed to believe him, especially since Sonic and Knuckles both confirmed that Tails had been facing an army of robots alone and unarmed, and, if he had managed to escape, he had no reason to lie because it was a fantastic venture no matter how he told it.
Contact with the mainland had been minimal, but the residents of the Floating Island had managed to get a very short message down that confirmed that the threat of Robotnik was finished and all three of the heroes were alive. Anyone also could conclude that the Emerald had been returned to the island simply by virtue of the fact that it was, once again, suspended in mid-air and slowly moving around the planet.
Almost twenty hours had passed since Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles had returned, but they had spent most of it resting. As soon as they possibly could, they wanted to get back down to Knothole and celebrate, but they knew that there would be a strong presence of sadness as well for the deaths of Mina and Sally. Still, the reign of terror that had lasted for nearly a decade and a half had finally ended, and Tails had never heard of a better cause for jubilation. He had never know life without the constant threat of Robotnik hovering over his and all of the other Freedom Fighters' heads. Today the nightmare was finally over.
Knuckles seemed particularly interested in the effects that the Master Emerald had had on Tails, first pushing him into first his Turbo form and then his Hyper appearance. "That never happens to us," he muttered, using the "us" to refer to him and the other guardians of the jewel. "I suppose it's because we spend so much time around it that we're just used to the constant energy. That's my best guess."
The Emerald's odd bright-green glow had vanished, leaving it with it's normal shine of unparalleled energy. Tails reasoned that the mysteries surrounding that strange object would be pondered over for as long as it existed.
Later that day, the three of them were released from their hospital rooms and allowed to meet the cheering crowds of nearly all the inhabitants of the Floating Island, who had come out in force to thank the heroes who had once again saved their home. Tails insisted that the full story of their escape not be released so that all three of them could share the glory equally. Nobody except for the Chaotix and the Freedom Fighters would ever know the full truth.
Confetti flew and bells sounded, then the crowd began to call for a speech. Tails absolutely refused to do any such thing, so Sonic took the initiative and stood up at the podium. His words were not inspiring or particularly memorable, in fact, studied from a professional point of view the entire thing was laughable. However, with his informal language and mediocre jokes, Sonic achieved something much more. He showed that, at heart, he was no different from the rest of them. He showed them how absolutely anyone could be a hero. He made them feel like he was one of their own.
Finally all of the festivities had ended and a small transport plane was preparing to bring Sonic and Tails back to Knothole. Knuckles had declined their invitation to join them, saying that his place was right here, and he had had enough partying anyhow. The plane was almost done fueling when Tails remembered something. He asked the first member of the Chaotix that he could find.
"Hey, Espio?"
"Yeah?"
"Whatever happened to those four guys who attacked the island? What did you do with them?"
Espio looked a little bit awkward. "Well, they're still here. We're really not quite sure what to do with them. They've been a horrible nuisance more than once, and we're not quite about to let them go. On the other hand, they've always just been working for someone and their crimes don't seem to deserve anything horrible. We'd really just like to be rid of them for good."
Tails nodded. This was what he had expected. He sprinted back to Sonic and told him to hold the plane for them. Then Espio agreed to show Tails where the Fearsome Foursome was being kept. The chameleon obviously didn't care what Tails had in mind; as far as he was concerned, the fox could merely want to give the foursome a parting insult.
Sgt. Simian, Predator Hawk, Lightning Lynx and Flying Frog were all looking extremely bored. They were locked in a single large cell with a couple of board games, a radio, four beds of according size, and a bathroom. Hawk looked especially bad; he hadn't been able to stretch his wings for three days now. All four, however, looked up as Tails entered. The unlocked door shut behind him as Espio left, knowing that Tails could find his way back to the transport ship easily enough.
"If you want to tell us that Robotnik's gone," the robotic Simian said sullenly, "don't waste your breath. We already know."
"That's not what I'm here for," Tails replied. "I just wanted to know something. Did you enjoy working for him at all? What was it like, doing his bidding?"
"Awful," Lynx replied in an instant. "We hated it, but we didn't really have a choice, did we? If he ever crossed him, he's have us roboticized again in a second. It was easier just to do what he said."
"Hypothetically," Tails said in a slow voice, "if I were to find a way to get you out of here right now, with Robotnik dead, what would you do?"
The foursome looked taken aback. "Get us out?" asked Predator Hawk. "How do you expect to do that?"
"Answer the question."
Hawk seemed flustered. "I – I don't really know. We've always made our living doing hit missions – we'd work for whoever fed us and kept us going."
"Do you really want to go back to that?" asked Tails. "Back to being slaves, minions? In the literal sense, you may not be robots – save for one – but your masters have made you the equivalent!"
"Do you have a better suggestion, Tails?" Flying Frog surprised him by using his name, rather than the degrading metonymy and synecdoche common to the amphibian's lexicon.
"Why don't you try being free for a change?" Tails asked, his voice suddenly higher-pitched and excited. "You don't need a master! Be yourselves, do what you want, not what some fat moron in a suit tells you! Live your own lives! All of you have skills that you have fine-tuned for combat. Yet these same skills would be invaluable in a number of occupations that you have never considered!
"When I look at the four of you, I do not see evil creatures! I see four people whose were taken advantage of, corrupted, brainwashed by tyrants. You can start a new life, guys! End this vicious cycle from doing the bidding of one dictator to the next, be free!
"With Robotnik finally defeated, Mobius will soon once again be a wonderful place to live. Soon Robotropolis will again be the city that it once was – a thriving, bustling conurbation filled not with robots, but with Mobians!" Tails began to settle down from his enthusiastic frenzy. "The way it should be. So what I am offering to you is a parole of sorts. I can get you out of here on the one condition that you will promise to, from now on, live honest lives as trustworthy citizens. How can we be sure that you will? We can't, of course. But I think that if you give it a try, you'll find it vastly preferable. How does that sound to you?"
The four held a quick conference. It took almost no time for them to concur. As Tails shut the door behind him, he heard Predator Hawk mutter to one of the others something along the lines of, "That kid could be a hell of an orator someday."
After assuring the Chaotix that by preparing the foursome safe transport back to the surface they would not be a problem again, Tails flew back to the ship, where Sonic was waiting impatiently. "Are you coming now?" he grumbled as Tails dropped to the ground and stepped up the ramp into the transport vessel. Inside were a pair of comfy flight seats. Sinking into one of them, snapping headphones onto his ears, and closing his eyes, the fox was soon asleep again.
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The slight jolt as the craft touched now roused Tails from his nap. Even inside the ship, he could hear cheering and shouts from the outside. He peeked through a window and, sure enough, there was another enormous party for the heroes. All of Knothole had turned out for this occasion – banners and confetti and virtually anything imaginable were present amongst the mob. Tails looked over to see Sonic grinning at him. The latter was even more used to this sort of thing, if that was possible.
However, Sonic's smile flickered for a moment, and he looked down at his shoes. "Tails, y'know…" he began, "I've already said this, kinda, but I want to say it again. These past few weeks, I've been treating you like crap and – and I just wanted to apologize. I could try to defend myself, say that I had reasons, but the truth is that I was just a total jerk, and I'm really sorry."
Tails had long forgotten about his rows with his hedgehog friend in light of the events of the last two days, but Sonic's words made him remember the enmity between them that had held for a couple of days. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he put on a poker face and resumed looking at Sonic silently, expecting more to come.
"Well… the other thing that I have to say is a bit less serious. You know those spray-paints of your name with the lightning bolt "S" that have been showing up? That – that's my handiwork. It really was just a stupid prank, and I'm not even sure why I did it. I just thought a true hero deserved his own logo."
Having spent a number of hours dreaming up hypotheses for the mysterious graffiti, Tails should have been absolutely livid. Instead, however, this revelation seemed to break the tension of the moment. Not only that, but Sonic – Sonic had called him a hero. It hardly seemed possible. "Well, you know what?" asked Tails, breaking into a grin of his own, "maybe you were right. That would look right nice on the side of the Tornado, wouldn't it?"
Sonic looked greatly relieved.
"C'mon," Tails said, "let's go meet the crowds."
It seemed impossible that the applause could get any louder, but it happened as Tails and Sonic stepped out of the ship. Scanning the jubilant multitude, the fox searched for his fellow Freedom Fighters. There they were – Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, and Amy were all together off to one side. That was odd, Tails thought. They should have been the first ones to greet them upon their return to the surface. Beside him, Sonic had suddenly gone rigid.
She was wielding a pair of crutches. Her right arm was in a sling, and her left arm a cast. Various scrapes and scratches dotted her body. Yet one thing was for sure. The figure who had just emerged from the crowd, Princess Sally Acorn, was most definitely alive.
In half a second, Sonic was on the ground and, utterly unashamed, unabashed, had her in an embrace and was kissing her as hard as he could. After recovering from the initial shock, the crowd again began to cheer loudly. Sally too looked surprised, but she did not pull away, rather she brought her arms around Sonic and kissed him back. The crowd cheered even louder. Tails watched, smiling, so very happy for his two friends.
The two lovers broke their kiss and gazed into each other's eyes. Suddenly Sally stumbled and fell forward into Sonic, who caught her easily. She laughed, then said, "Sonic Hedgehog, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been practicing that," earning an appreciative laugh from the crowd.
Sonic seemed to be struggling with something for a moment. He bit his lip, looked down at his toes, then up again. He swallowed deeply, and then, like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, said, "Sally, will you marry me?"
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Tails banked the Tornado left and flew along the shoreline. Without any obstacles to worry about, he could sit back, keep a loose grip on the controls, and reflect on the activities of the past three months. It had certainly been hectic.
There was, of course, outrage at the mere concept of such a lowly-born commoner becoming Prince and future King of Knothole. King Acorn had held this view for a long time, and had very much disapproved of his daughter's relationship with Sonic. However, many of the King's advisors were beginning to look past Sonic's caste and more at his achievements – namely, saving the planet several times. Faced with the undeniable fact that Sonic was now known planet-wide as Mobius's savior, Acorn admitted that the marriage might not be so bad after all. To at least make it somewhat more official, Sonic's knighthood, which he had gained and lost once before, was restored.
The wedding itself, a couple of days ago, had been more than fitting for a royal couple. They had insisted that it not be overly extravagant, though – there had been enough enormous parties recently all across Mobius celebrating the end of Robotnik's terrible reign. It had been completely open to anyone who wanted to come, and come people did. A princess and a worldwide hero being wed was worth a good amount of mileage to see. Overall, the entire affair was a rousing success.
Mina's funeral was held soon after Tails and Sonic returned. Sally having made such a miraculous reappearance after both thought her dead, it seemed almost fitting that Mina would do the same. However, the fairy-tale ending was not to present itself. Her body was brought back from the Floating Island in a coffin and she was laid to rest in the town she loved best – Knothole. "Mina has rejoined her parents," said the maned wolf who ran the service. "We must pray for her in the life that lies beyond." And a moment of silence was held for the brave martyr; her life taken from her so young.
Without Robotnik in control, most of the SWATbots and Badniks left in Robotropolis became confused and either stood in place or wandered off. A team had been dispatched to purge the city so that it would once again be suitable for civilians to live. The dark clouds over the city were thinning without the constant outpouring of smoke and pollution into the air. Soon, the entire place would be the thriving metropolis that it had been before the horrible dictator had taken over. Mobius was scarred, but like all scars, this one would heal. It would take time and patience, but it would heal.
Snively, Robotnik's midget nephew, was never found. It was assumed that he was dead, though nobody knew for sure.
Tails's stomach growled, and he realized that it was long past noon and he really should touch down and have lunch. He spied a prime location: a group of palm trees close enough together to provide decent shade. Making a short loop to lose altitude, the Tornado touched down perfectly on the sand and its pilot vaulted himself out. Crashing himself onto the sand, Tails lay back, closed his eyes, and munched on his sandwich. Even when it was cold, famous Mobian chili was about the best thing around.
Now full, Tails began to consider falling asleep on the sand for a little while before completing his joyride and heading back to Knothole. However, just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a smooth female voice say, "Hello there, Tails."
Tails leapt to his feet and looked at the vixen standing in front of him. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen her before. Plus, his vision was still blurry, and he shook his head, trying to clear it. "How did you know my name?"
"Tails, these days you're just about as famous as your blue comrade." There was an edge of resentment to those last two words, as if she regretted admitting Sonic's prominence. "Everybody knows you. Plus, you're not exactly hard to identify, either," she added without malice, pointing at his double appendages.
Tails's finally shook his head clean and then got his first good look at the fox. She was a few years older than him, with hair that for a moment put him in mind of Sally's except it was a darker brown and had a yellow bow near the back. Her fur was cinnabar, and she carried a dagger in a hilt strapped to her waist. All of a sudden, Tails remembered exactly where he knew her from and nearly leapt into the air. "You – you…"
"Have we met before?" the vixen asked, frowning slightly. "My name is Fiona."
