Author's note: Allright, I'm very sorry about how long it's been since I've updated, well, anything. With luck, I'll gain more... motivation to complete this fanfic. I've got it all planned out (well, most of it), now I just need to sit down and do it. Oh, and please review.

Chapter 6: The Grand Escape

Cream started to sob. "No... Now we'll never get back!" she said. "Chaos is going to be angry at us!" She broke into tears. "I don't want to die!" Tails tried to make her calm down, but he couldn't think of anything to say. "Cream, please don't cry..." he said, trying not to cry himself. "We've found a bright side to everything else tonight so far. We can do this." Cream wiped away her tears. "What do we do, then?" Tails was silent. "Well... umm... it's not 9 yet." Cream shook her head. "We won't make it! It's too late!" Tails smiled and outstretched his hand to her. "We can always try." Cream stopped crying and took his hand as Tails pulled her up. She smiled. "Thanks, Tails. I fell better now."

Tails looked at his watch. About 50 seconds remained until Nine o' clockwas over. He pulled out another gadget from behind his back and pressed a button. A glass-shattering explosion along with a bright, white light surrounded them. Cream and Tails both shielded themselves. The light and sound both stopped as abruptly as it started. They both opened their eyes and looked around them. Nothing changed. There appeared to be nothing on fire or demolished. "What just happened?" Cream asked. "It's the affect of this device." Tails claimed, while placing the device behind him. "It slows down time a little for the both of us. We should only have about 5 minutes left. You know, just so we don't take any chances." Cream grabbed the money-sucking device and threw it onto the ground. "Let's just leave one of these behind. Maybe Chaos won't notice?" Tails nodded. "Okay, but let's not waste much time here anymore. Let's get out of here." Tails flew back up the hole in the ceiling with Cream following close behind.

Getting out of the hole, the two heroes made their way to the hole in the wall where they had made their way in, earlier. They ran to the wall, but realized it was gone. They searched the wall, but found no hole. Tails was confused. "Wasn't this the wall you drilled through?" he asked Cream. Cream was as puzzled as Tails. "Yeah, but there's no hole! Maybe... someone fixed it?" Suddenly, Cheese sprang up. "Chao! Chao!" he yelled, pointing to the apposing wall. Cream noticed and looked in the direction he was pointing. Tails noticed as well, and realized what everyone was staring at.

"Mission: destroy thieves... retrieve money... Status: battle condition... Initiating battle mode." Said the large, heavily armed battle android they were staring at. The feet were covered in spikes; its torso had armor that could probably survive a thousand bullets. Upon its shoulders were large laser cannons and its hands were giant fists that shot an image to you of it grabbing you by the neck. The two kids ran in two different directions as the robot chased after them, firing its lasers like crazy. It may have been heavily armed, but it moved incredibly slowly.

Cream and Tails had both reached the other side of the room. They were both trying to catch their breath. Tails was the first to speak. "That robot... it's... actually... going super-fast..." he gasped. "Since we're also... moving super-fast... we'll all be moving at the same speed..." Cream was confused. "But why?" she asked. "Why is it moving at the same speed, if WE were the ones with the effect of that device you had?" Tails shook his head. "This bank, along with great security, is known for having the best technology as well." Tails explained. "It's probably in the programming."

The robot was coming closer. "Then what should we do, Tails?" Cream asked. Tails just stared. "Tails?" Cream repeated. "I... I don't know..." Tails said. "This robot's gonna tear us apart." He sunk to the floor. "We're doomed." Cream glanced at the robot, then back at Tail. She stuck her hand out to him. "We can always try." She said, smiling.

Tails turned to her. Her face was gleaming with hope. Cream had always been scared, and had sometimes lost hope, but now she was different. Cream has lost her fears and gained her hope. Tails smiled, too. "Okay, Cream." He said, standing back up. "And... Tails?" Cream asked. "Thanks for helping. I feel much better about this, now." She threw her arms around him and hugged him. Tails was at a loss for words. Cheese came out from behind Cream as she let go. "Chao! Cha-o!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down. Cream nodded. "Let's go."

The robot lifted its right arm, aiming it at the kids. A rocket came out of the top and fired at a fairly slow speed at them. Cream and Tails ran away from the attack and landed to the side of the robot. The rocket explosion resulted in a gaping hole in the wall. Before the robot could react, Tails noticed something behind the robot. "Cream! Look!" Cream turned to what Tails was looking at. There was a large, cylindrical container on the back of the robot, which had a small lightning bolt label on the side. "The robot's power supply!" Tails shouted. "It's on its back!" Cream ran behind the robot. She grabbed the over-sized battery and tried prying it loose. Without much effort, it came off.

Cream turned to Tails with confusion. "Thanks for the info, but..." Cream started. "Why was it so easy to get off?" Tails shrugged. "Who cares?" he claimed. "We got it off. That's all that matters, right?" Cream sighed. "I guess so. Look, that rocket the robot fired earlier created an escape hole! Let's go!" Tails nodded, and followed Cream out the hole in the wall.

(Outside – 3 minutes 34 seconds remaining)

The two kids, followed by Cheese, flew down to the ground. "Tails?" She asked. "How much time left?" Tails pulled out his device. "Three and a half minutes." He replied. "We can walk it from here." Cream nodded as the two started for the park. "That is," he continued. "As long as we don't encounter anymore..." "ROBOTS!" Cream shouted. Tails nodded. "Exactly." He looked forward, and his face filled with fear. "Oh..."

Ahead of them was what must have been the largest group of large, heavily armed robots ever gathered. About 30 or 40 robots had filled the street, particularly the street between them and the park. Each one looked exactly like the one they had just fought. They all stared at the two petrified kids with a glare that could shatter ice.

"Destroy intruders" they echoed in a loud, monotone voice.

The two kids screamed as they ran away in opposite directions – Cream to the left, Tails to the right – and the robot armada slowly brought up their arms up to a shooting position. The two kids took flight above the entire army as the robot's prepared for their firing. They both met above the center.

"Tails!" Cream shouted. "There's two many! It'll take us forever to destroy them all!"

The robots all started moving their rocket-launching arms toward the new location.

"So far, all we've really depended on is luck," Tails remarked. "And it's worked for us so far." He outstretched his hand to her. "We really have no other choice, now do we?"

Cream just stared. This must have been the most intimidating of events she had ever experienced. Then again, Tails did have a point. He always did. Why not take his advice like always?

Rather than taking his hand, Cream hugged Tails, still flying in the air. Tails didn't know what to do. Too many things were happening at once.

BOOM!

A few booms all sounded at once to create one, loud explosion. Tails immediately pushed Cream out into a nearby building. Cream looked back at Tails and saw multiple missiles moving toward him.

"Tails!" Cream cried out in an effort to warn him. The missiles collided into each other and created a large, fiery explosion that sent metal pieces flying. Cream shielded herself from the metal shards as best as she could.

After the dust was gone, she looked to where Tails was. He was gone. "Tails!" she called out again. She took flight and flew above the army in an attempt to find Tails. Finally, she spotted him next to another building on the other side. She swooped down to his height. Tails was leaning heavily against the building, breathing heavily. He didn't look too damaged, with the exception of a bleeding wound on his left arm, a bleeding nose, and a bruise on his right leg.

"Tails!" she said again. "Are you okay?"

Tails gave a weak smile. "I'll be fine. Thanks. I may be able to still fight." Cream smiled too. Tails got up from the wall. "Let's beat these guys before they launch more rockets.

Cheese came out from behind Cream "Chao!" He said. Cream patted him on the head. "Cheese will help too!" They faced the army. The robots were finally done reloading their rockets. "Let's go, Tails."

(1 minute 35 seconds remaining)

Tails ran off in one direction and electrocuted the robots with some type of gizmo with two rods on the front which were generating sparks. He pressed the rods into the robots, one by one, and short-circuited them.

Cream was in another direction, manually removing the batteries as they did before, whilst Cheese pounded the robots in the head as a diversion. It was slower, but much more affective.

Finally, only two robots remained alive. The others lay in ruins on the ground. The one on the left launched one at Cream. She jumped in the air and grabbed it. Upon landing, she threw the rocket back at the robot, blowing it to pieces. The other one launched another at Tails. Tails jumped onto the rocket, swerved it back toward the robot, and jumped off. The robot exploded in the same result as the first.

Finally, all the robots were totaled, and lay in a wreck on the street. The playground was now in clear view. The two kids made a mad dash to the park.

(56 seconds left)

The two kids finally got to the park. They searched the park thoroughly, but found no sign of the device. Finally, they arrived at the sandbox, where they noticed there was no sand in it at all. Cream looked closer, and found that in the corner was the spherical, shiny device. Tails picked it up, but noticed it was not glowing.

"What's going on here?" he said. "It's nine! The light should be on, meaning we can teleport!" He pressed the button, but nothing happened. Cream, still looking at the empty sandbox replied. "Umm, Tails? I think I may know why." Tails also looked at the sandbox. There was not a single pebble in it. "Do you think that maybe it...?" Cream asked. Tails sat at a nearby bench. Cream soon joined him.

"It's over." He said. "We're done for." Cream patted his back, in an effort to reassure him. "It's okay," she said. "I mean, well, the others are sure to have done their part, right? I'm sure he won't take it all out on us. Tails smiled. "Thanks..." There was a long pause afterward.

"Tails..." Cream finally spoke up. "Thank you for saving me. I was almost gone back there." She leaned onto his shoulder. Tails blushed. "Umm, uh, you're... you're welcome."

"And how you always cheered me up," she continued. "Whenever I was sad..."

Cheese came out from behind her again. This time, he whispered in Cream's ear. She giggled. Tails was curious. "What is it?" Cream tilted her head up and kissed him on the cheek. It only lasted about two seconds, but at that moment, it had felt if time had frozen. Tails head was all red. He couldn't help but smile.

Suddenly, a quick, white flash separated the two, and time went normally again. "What was that?" he asked, in an effort to change the subject. "I'm not sure," Cream replied. "I'm sure it was just a car or something. She turned back to him and hugged. "Thank you, Tails." Tails finally smiled and hugged her back. "Thank you too, Cream." Cream nuzzled her face into Tails soft, yellow fur as they both drifted to sleep.

END OF PART 2!

Thank you for continuing to read my fanfic! In part three, Knuckles and Rouge hunt for the Chaos Emeralds. And, as you're well aware of, they become more cooperative than before... or more? Tune in next time for the next cliff-hanging, romance-engulfed, action-packed installment of Open Your Heart! Ciao!

"Chao! Chao!" Cheese chanted gleefully.

No, not that kind of... never mind... good night, everybody!

-Sonic Hero