Chapter 5: A Vulgar, Public Display of Power

Tails' workshop, 7 AM. A month has passed since Tails' last fight with Sonic. Ever since then, Tails is determined to get his revenge. His workshop, once filled with workbenches and various mechanical tools and equipment, is now filled with exercise equipment; namely a weight bench, several dumbbells of various weights and sizes, a treadmill, and a punching bag, all of which he uses daily for 2 hours. In addition, at the center of the room there is now a large metallic dome. Inside this dome are a grid of several white squares on the floor and Tails, wearing a yellow-black jumpsuit and a black head guard (the kind typically used for sparring).

"Computer, boot up Simulation 1," said Tails to the dome's general vicinity.

"Booting up Simulation 1…" A female, robotic voice responded to Tails' voice command and across the opposite end of the dome where Tails stands, a hologram of Sonic appears, already in his fighting stance and standing still, seemingly frozen.

"Computer, commence training!"

"Commencing… starting simulation…"

In a split second, the hologram charges towards Tails and starts to launch a series of randomized attacks, all of which Tails was able to dodge or block. After a while, Tails spots a gap in the hologram's attacks and takes advantage of it by ducking to dodge an incoming punch, launching an uppercut, and a front kick to the hologram's stomach, sending it skidding back a few meters. Without any emotion, the hologram launches itself again at Tails and unleashes another series of randomized attacks. Only this time, Tails wasn't fast enough to dodge a windmill kick from the hologram, triggering several electric nodes inside of Tails' head guard and knocking Tails to the side. Tails slowly gets up as the hologram patiently waits. As soon as Tails gets back on his feet, the hologram wastes no time and continues its routine of randomized attacks without giving Tails time to readjust and recover, forcing him back into his defensive mode. Overwhelmed, Tails unintentionally leaves an opening for the hologram to land two straight kicks to Tails' gut and head, and a backflip kick, knocking Tails down again. And this time, the hologram doesn't wait and slowly walks towards Tails, still down on the floor. What originally was meant to be a sparring/training session may soon turn into an actual fight. Knowing this, Tails immediately backs up and orders the computer to stop.

"Abort! Abort!" Tails said, slightly panicking.

"Simulation aborted." And with that, the hologram suddenly becomes immobilized. Tails sighs in relief, gets back on his feet, brushes off the dust on his shoulder and body, and exits the dome, automatically signaling the computer to shut down. "Shutting down… have a nice day," said the computer, signing off with a beep.

"Argh! How could I let that happen!? Maybe I set the AI to be a bit too aggressive… or… nah, I think it's just me. I need to train harder!" Tails thought to himself.

Tails' (and formerly, Sonic's) room, 12 PM mid-day. Inside are a bunk bed right across the door—the top bunk of which used to belong to Sonic before he was kicked out and is now occupied by Tails—with windows next to each bunk, two desks, each with a personal computer on top, two wardrobes, a bookcase, and an electric guitar sitting next to an amplifier, both of which are significantly covered in dust after having been unused for quite some time.

Tails had just finished his training regime a few hours ago and is now having a short rest while browsing on his computer. Normally, he would spend his free time reading books about robotics or physics. Now, he spends his free time on the web, browsing videos and articles about martial arts, hoping he could learn a thing or two to use for his next encounter against Sonic.

Suddenly, Tails' phone rings. It's an alarm notifying him that Eggman is attacking Station Square on a giant, humanoid robot (yet again). Tails takes a brief glance at a picture of the robot taken from afar by a news reporter. It appears to be a new model that Tails had never seen in combat before. But with what little detail he was given (considering the picture was rather blurry), Tails is able to roughly estimate the robot's specifications and arsenal of weaponry. Without hesitation, Tails rushes towards his workshop, grabs a large bag full of explosives, and, instead of going for the Tornado, flies all the way towards the heart of the city by his own twin tails. Above all, he wants to prove to Sonic that he doesn't need his "fancy little toys" to take on Eggman.

Station Square, 12:15 PM. Eggman's giant robot can be seen from far away, standing in the middle of a once-busy crossroad while wreaking general havoc on the buildings surrounding it. Fortunately, the buildings are mostly empty since the people had quickly evacuated themselves the moment the robot appeared.

"Ah… nothing like reducing a city to rubble after a nice lunch. I don't think there's anything more cathartic than this!" Eggman said to himself as he maneuvers the robot to destroy buildings around it as if it's just another Tuesday for him.

"Alright egghead, that's enough!" Sonic yelled from down below, standing across the towering robot. Eggman briefly stops his wrecking spree to speak into a built-in microphone.

"Well, if it isn't Sonic. By the way, where's your little friend?"

"I sent him away. I'm not gonna let you hurt him anymore!"

"Aww… did I hurt him too bad last time? Besides, he's a bit too young for retirement, don't you think?" Eggman snidely joked which Sonic naturally doesn't find amusing. "I still wanted to- wait a minute… There he is! You lied to me!" Eggman pointed behind Sonic.

"What!?"

Sonic turns around and looks up to the sky. From a distance, a small, yellow-orange spot can be seen in the sky, making its way towards the robot. A few seconds later, that spot reveals itself as Tails, still flying on his twin tails and picking up his pace after gaining quite a distance on the robot. Normally, Tails wouldn't be able to fly this long, but after some training, his endurance has noticeably increased.

"Looks like somebody's late for the- hey, wait! What are you doing!?" Eggman tried to give his compulsory pre-battle speech, but was completely ignored by Tails, who begins to lowers his altitude while increasing his speed towards the robot's feet. As Tails approaches the robot, he reaches in his bag for a batch of explosives.

But just before he could attach them to the robot's feet, Tails is knocked off his balance by a tackle from Sonic, sending them both crashing towards the hard, asphalt road and skidding several meters away from the robot. Slightly dazed, Tails gets up and starts to yell at Sonic.

"What is wrong with you!?"

"I should be asking you that! You shouldn't be here, y'know!" Sonic argued.

"I'm here to do my job, now get out of my way!"

"You don't have a job, Tails! Now get lost!"

"SCREW YOU!" Tails yelled, shoving Sonic aside and flying back in the air, leaving Sonic down on the ground without the ability to do anything but watch from down below.

"HEY! You come back down here right now! Listen to me!" Sonic yelled back at Tails who isn't listening anymore since he is already flying quite high, levelled with the robot's head where its cockpit is (the Egg Mobile).

"Come and get me, eggface!" Tails taunted Eggman, sticking his tongue out.

"Grrr, you little pest!" Eggman grumbled as he begins to crank levers and push buttons on his control panel.

The giant robot then attempts to swat Tails away like a fly, but its movements are too slow (considering it's a bulky, giant robot) and Tails dodges all of its motions flawlessly, circling around it in an attempt to confuse its pilot. Knowing it won't suffice, Eggman pushes several buttons on his control panel, causing the robot's left hand to flip open and revealing a cluster of homing rocket pods, all firing one-by-one consecutively. Seeing this, Tails attempts to speed away from the rockets as they give chase. They both dance in the sky as Tails attempts to outmaneuver the rockets, but to no avail as the rockets nearly perfectly follow Tails' trails at almost the exact same speed as him. Knowing that this is getting nowhere, Tails then flies straight towards the robot's torso as it prepares both of its hands to clap Tails like a mosquito.

Sonic, on the other hand, was too fearful for his best friend's life so much to the point where he's petrified to be able to do anything to help. Seeing Tails appearing to be charging mindlessly towards the robot, he immediately becomes reminded of the dreaded incident from last time and expects the worst to happen to Tails. He then closes his eyes. "Aww no, I can't watch," he thought to himself.

But of course, Tails isn't as careless as Sonic had imagined; he thinks all of his moves thoroughly before proceeding with them, all while facing pressure from Eggman's attacks as well. Other than that, Tails is still quicker than the robot's reflexes; it clapped too late after Tails had changed course, flying vertically up into the air after coming close to the robot, causing the rockets to fly off its course straight onto the robot's torso and exploding, revealing the robot's inner wirings. Despite that, it is still standing, and Tails now waits in the distance for the doctor's next move. Sonic opens his eyes slowly, expecting to find Tails severely injured just like last time (or worse). But, on the contrary, he finds the robot still standing with a huge cavity on its chest and Tails still in one piece. Sonic, initially pessimistic, is now impressed as he finds hope for his little brother.

Eggman then cranks another lever, prompting the robot's other hand to flip open and reveal a giant Gatling gun with a caliber similar to that of a tank barrel; as it is, in fact, a Gatling gun made of tank barrels. The gun revs up aimed at Tails and begins to fire a barrage of high-explosive shells, all of which Tails was able to dodge by flying to the side as the shells only make impact with the building behind Tails and explode without harming him. The gun continues to fire and miss all of its shots as Tails dexterously dodges all of its incoming bullets. Moments later, the gun's barrels begin to turn noticeably red and smoking, and not long after, it overheats and stops firing.

"WHAT!? You piece of junk… fire! Come on…!" Eggman said whilst panicking and frantically mashing a button labelled "Liquid Coolant" on his control panel.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Tails picks up his pace and flies straight towards the robot's exposed torso, throwing his satchel of explosives once he's within range and immediately turning around to a safe distance. He then pulls out a detonator, deactivates its safety switch, and with the push of a button, the satchel erupts into a loud and bright explosion. The robot has now been put out of commission as it slowly topples backwards towards a building, knocking it over and turning it (and the robot itself) into rubble, causing an immense smoke of dust and debris to appear around it.

After a while, the smoke dissipates, revealing Tails hovering above the enormous metallic corpse, smirking triumphantly at Eggman's defeat, courtesy of Tails' dexterity along with nothing more than a bag of explosives; and without the help of his trusty Tornado.

"You should really consider making a better cooling system next time. Now get out of here before I hurt you," Tails said.

"I don't believe it! The mighty Dr. Eggman, single-handedly defeated by a child!? Hmph! Doesn't matter. I'll be back with even more of my minions, and soon you and Sonic will falter before my ingenuity! Hahaha!"

The Egg Mobile then detaches from the robot's body and flies off into the distance, albeit slightly smoking and seeming significantly damaged.

For a while, silence. Until, one by one, the citizens come out of hiding to witness the rubble and destruction left over from the battle, including Tails who is standing at the tip of the giant robot's foot, studying its corpse in further detail. Soon, his observation would be interrupted as more and more people begin to flood the crossroads and slowly start cheering for their sidekick-turned-hero-of-the-day. Tails welcomed their cheers by gliding down from the robot's foot and waving at the crowd. Never before had the sidekick received this many praises and adulation (since normally, it's Sonic who would earn these in the end) and Tails enjoyed every second of it. Seeing this, Sonic then walks over towards Tails.

"That. Was. Aweso-" Sonic stopped. Although he wanted to congratulate Tails on his victory, Sonic became reminded of his initial position and instead decides to scold Tails and assume his responsibility as the older brother figure. "I mean, dangerous! Don't you know you could've gotten yourself killed back there!?"

"Well, I didn't get killed. What's your point, huh?" Tails retorted.

"You really shouldn't be making me worried like this, Tails. Now go home."

Upon hearing said dismissal, Tails raised his voice. "IS THAT IT!? Are you for real!? I just single-handedly kicked Eggman's butt, without my Tornado, and all you have to say about that is go home!?"

"You got off lucky this time! Next time you might not be. Now do what I say and go home!"

"What the- LUCKY!? You think all of this happened because of a coincidence!? I'll have you know I trained hard to be able to pull this off! In fact, you know what?"

Tails throws a surprise punch to Sonic's face with his still-bandaged arm, launching him backwards meters away from Tails; clearly Tails' punch had become more powerful than last time. The crowd gasped in shock from afar and couldn't understand why Tails would even dare to attack Sonic.

"I'm not going home until we settle an unfinished business!" Tails declared.

Sonic slowly pulls himself up as he groaned in pain from the last punch. "Ugh… really? Right now? In front of all these people?"

"Exactly! If anything, I'll prove to them you're no better than me!"

"Heh. Big mistake, bud." Sonic smirks, kneeling down on one knee and curling himself into a ball, rolling in place immensely fast whilst picking up more and more speed. "There's a reason I'm the hero and you're the sidekick, y'know!"

With all the built-up speed, Sonic charges himself towards Tails; only to be brushed off by Tails' well-timed tail swipe, like a tennis ball being bounced off by a racket. The blue blur then crashes onto a wall far across where Tails is standing, leaving behind cracks on it and falling face down on the hard pavement. The crowd begins to get even more confused (but also mesmerized) as they are about to witness an unexpected, head-on battle between the once "Unbreakable Bond." Just in time as well, a news helicopter hovers above the crossroads to record the entire scene unfolding. Sonic then gets back on his feet once again, realizing Tails has significantly improved since last time.

"What, is that all you got!? Come on then, "hero"! Bring it!" Tails challenged Sonic, letting out a "come at me" gesture with a flick of his open palm towards himself.

"Grr… this kid's definitely stepped up his game. Well I'm not gonna hold back anymore!" Sonic thought to himself.

Sonic charges forward and at the same time, so does Tails. With both of their fists raised, they meet in the middle and exchange punches, which both connect at the same time, causing Sonic and Tails to be knocked backwards away from each other whilst skidding several meters. Tails slowly gets up, readjusts his vision, and is immediately greeted by a jumping axe kick from Sonic, slamming his face against the solid, asphalt road before bouncing off the ground several times. With only several seconds in and yet already sustaining a bleeding nose and mouth, Tails slowly pulls himself back up and is once again greeted by a barrage of punches and kicks from Sonic, all of which Tails is able to skillfully dodge. He leans backwards in order to dodge Sonic's straight punch and as Sonic moves in for a sweep kick, Tails counters this by doing a 360-backflip kick (another one of Sonic's signature moves that Tails learned by himself) to Sonic's chin, sending him flying several meters off the ground for a few seconds. Tails then jumps and delivers a kick to Sonic's gut mid-air, sending him down towards the hard asphalt with great force and bouncing off the ground several times before stopping face down.

Meanwhile, back at her house, Amy is starting to feel anxious about Sonic again. Her hunch tells her that something is going wrong for Sonic. And as she sits on the sofa and turns on the television, she realizes her hunch was right: Sonic and Tails' fight has made it to the news and is now being recorded and broadcasted live on almost all channels. Seeing this, Amy immediately panics and starts making her way to the city, leaving the TV on in her rush.

Back in the city, Sonic and Tails now clash at each other with their Spin Dash techniques, colliding and crashing onto one another until the other breaks; which in this case, surprisingly, is Sonic. After several clashes, Tails finally manages to break Sonic's Spin Dash with his own, slamming Sonic onto a nearby wall as he falls face down once again. Sonic slowly gets up, but soon finds himself held up against the wall by his neck.

"Remember how I said I've been training hard? Well, let me show you what I meant."

Tails begins to hurl punches after punches at Sonic which starts slow at first, alternating between left and right, but would later steadily pick up momentum and speed until the punches become rapid, at nearly 10 punches per second. This would continue for around 5 seconds, accompanied with an intense, raging scream from Tails as he exerts a huge portion of his energy towards this move. After the punches stop, Tails then finishes it off with a tail swipe to Sonic's body, knocking him down again whilst causing several chunks of wall behind him to fall off as well. Now covered in bruises, wounds, and wall debris, Sonic coughs out a significant amount of blood onto the pavement as he struggles to get back on his feet. Witnessing Sonic down on his knees, Tails lets out another triumphant smirk.

"What do you think of that, huh? You want more? Or are you ready to admit defeat?"

Sonic stops for a few seconds to take his breath, delaying his reply. But not long after…

"…heh. Is that it?" Sonic said with a smirk on his face.

"W-what the!?" Tails said in disbelief.

Sonic slowly pulls himself up, brushing the wall debris off from his arms as if nothing had ever happened. "You think you're special just because you can do that, huh? Well, think again."

In the blink of an eye, Sonic unleashes another Spin Dash on Tails, knocking him backwards meters away. Tails slowly gets up but is denied of any chance to retaliate as Sonic body tackles him onto another wall across the last one.

"I'll show you how it's really done!"

Sonic lifts his right leg and, with a raging scream as well, immediately starts to rain down a rapid barrage of kicks on Tails. While Tails had to slowly build up the speed of his rapid attack, Sonic didn't have to; not to mention that Sonic's attacking speed is twice that of Tails', at nearly 20 kicks per second. After a mere 3 seconds, Sonic stops to find Tails now completely stunned and terribly injured, but still standing. The crack on the wall behind him is also much larger than the previous one, appearing as if one more impact would pierce through it.

"Looks like it's lights out for you!"

With a painful ringing sound inside his head and a massive headache, the last blurry vision Tails sees is a fist being driven onto his face before blacking out.

Pitch black. The darkness breaks as Tails slowly open his eyes, the ominous ringing sound still residing inside his head, his vision still shaky and blurry from the last impact. A blue figure stands tall with a light behind him coming into the dark room from what seems to be a gaping hole. After the ringing dissipates and his vision readjusts to the light, the figure is revealed to be Sonic, standing behind a hole in the wall, looking down at the incapacitated, pathetic young fox. Sonic steps aside from the hole, revealing a crowd of people behind it gathering to witness Tails lying on his back atop a pile of wall debris while Sonic slowly and condescendingly circled around him.

"Second time, Tails. Second! When are you gonna learn, huh!? When are you gonna stop being so stubborn and just listen to me!? You are not stronger than me and you never will be! And these people are witnesses to that! So just give it up! Do as I say and stop following me around! You're weak and you're not fit for this job!"

"Ugh… ngh… no… I'm… not… weak…" said Tails, refusing to give up, even after the immense amount of beating he had taken.

"Huh!? What's that!? Haven't you had enough already!? Just stay down!"

Tails slowly pulls himself off the pile of debris as clusters of wall dust fall off his body, revealing it to be terribly bruised and beaten all over. He then readies himself for the second round as he once again steps into his fighting stance. Adrenaline flows through his entire body as his pupils start to shrink.

"I'm. Not. WEAAAAAK!"

With all his fury and rage, Tails omits a loud yell from the top of his lungs and, like last time, rains down a rapid barrage of punches on Sonic, forcing him to fall back into his defense and block whilst being pushed out of the room by the relentless downpour of punches. The crowd, seeing that the fight is starting to escalate once more, clears the surrounding area, fearing they might be part of the collateral damage. A few seconds later, once out of the room, Tails' onslaught of punches finally manages to break through Sonic's defense as he continues to mercilessly pummel him. Afterwards, the barrage stops, and Tails finishes it off with a slam from his tails onto Sonic's torso, sending him crashing onto the side of a car and denting its body frame, causing its alarm to blare and its headlights blinking. Sonic then tries to get up but was too late as Tails grabs a hold of Sonic's leg with both of his tails, lifts him up into the air, and slams his body down to the solid asphalt. He does this again, and again, and again, repeatedly and brutally reducing Sonic's body into a beaten pulp as the crowd gasps in shock at each impact which produces a significantly audible cracking sound while also leaving a noticeable crack on the asphalt. After thrashing and flailing Sonic around for 5 times, Tails tosses his now weak and almost lifeless body over to the side, skidding along the asphalt.

Sonic now lies on the brink of fainting. His entire body feels numb as he struggles to even move his limbs by an inch. Still not satisfied, Tails walks over to Sonic with the intent to continue his rampage when suddenly…

"STOP!" Sonic yelled, begging to stop the carnage. With whatever amount of energy still left in him, Sonic continues to utter more words of plea accompanied with the occasional coughs of blood and shortness of breath. "O-okay, fine… I give. Just… s-stop. P-please."

Tails stays silent for a moment. But not long after, a malicious smirk forms on his face.

"…but I don't want to."

And with that final remark, Tails ends it all with a sharp kick to Sonic's mouth, knocking him out for good. He then steps back to catch his breath as he witnesses Sonic's lifeless body, immensely covered with bruises, wounds, and blood on several parts of his body. For a while, silence. Not a sound nor word in the air, not a soul dared to speak, until Tails breaks the silence by addressing the crowd. "So, this is your "hero", huh!? The kind that would let himself get beat by his own sidekick!? Hmph! Pathetic."

Tails then walks towards the crowd and away from Sonic in order to leave the area. Everyone clears a path so as to not stand in the bloodied and beaten fox's way. But as he walks away, Tails suddenly stops his steps and, a few seconds later, collapses out of exhaustion onto the ground. The crowd begins to chatter and murmur, asking what happened to the young fox and how something like this could even happen in the first place. Not long after, Amy bursts in through the crowd, pushing people to get them off her path. She arrived far too late to stop the bloodshed.

"Excuse me, coming through, out of my-" She suddenly stopped and gasped in horror, seeing the blue blur lying defeated on the ground.

"SONIC!" She yelled, quickly running towards his aid to check for his pulse and other signs of life. She sighs in relief as she can still feel Sonic's pulse running down his hand's veins and faint signs of breathing from his chest. She looks up to the silent, unmoving crowd as her expression changes from being worried to angry.

"What is wrong with you people!? These two were trying to kill each other and none of you tried to do anything about it!? Ugh! Somebody call an ambulance or something!"

There was indeed nothing they could do about it; stepping in to stop a fight between two almost equally powerful beings and ending up as collateral damage never seemed like a good idea to anyone within the crowd. Moments later, the crowd dismisses itself and an ambulance is called. Sonic and Tails are then transported to a hospital.