TheShamanMaster presents...
Tail's Predicament
Story & Script by TheShamanMaster
Sonic & Friends © SEGA & Sonic Team
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic...
A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy this!
Chapter 9: It's The End...
Tails' vision adjusted to what it was. Standing in front of him, was Joker on his knees with a tall figure in front of him. He was strongly built, wearing a black suit, which showed off his muscular figure. He was donned with a face mask, with the top part shaped like horns and a long black cape flowing behind him.
"Hey, you alright?" He spoke with a gruff, deep voice which was menacing and mysterious.
"B...Batman!? No way! This is a dream right? Please let it be a dream..." Tails grasped his wound and sat up slightly.
"No Tails. Unfortunatly these are the bitter facts..." Came a familiar voice. Tails looked over to see his right to see none other Doctor Eggman. He was disarming the charge, attached to Amy.
"Eggman!" The kitsune exclaimed. "What's going on here? And what are you doing to her?"
Eggman spat in disgust at the fox's reaction. "What does it look like I'm doing, you idiot? I'm trying to disarm this bomb! There's only a few minutes left on that hourglass." Tails peered over to see the sand in the glass was almost out. His eyes moved back to Joker who had collapsed and was now out cold.
"Kid, how's your wound?" The fox was drawn back to looking at the Batman. This really didn't make any sense to him. And what was Eggman REALLY doing here?
"It's pretty bad...and, are you really who you say you are?"
Batman said nothing, and kneeled down to inspect the open flesh on Tails' arm. "Hmm. Pretty bad..." From his back pocket, he pulled out a small bottle, and took the lid off. "This might sting a little..." Pouring a small drop, the liquid came into contact with his body, sending a burning rush along his arm. Tails' already knew what it was. Antiseptic. He flinched a little from the reaction, but soon relaxed. His arm was then cleaned, then bandaged up slowly.
"How's that feel?" The Dark Knight asked tieing the knot on the bandage.
Tails moved his arm slightly. "That's good. Thanks! Now.." He asked wanting answers. "What's going on here exactly?"
"I had best explain that." The doctor said, as he snipped a wire on the charge. "Got it!" He chucked the dead charge across the area into a pile of boxes, then sat Amy up.
"Well." Eggman pocketed his wire cutters. "It was nearing the end of the day and I was heading back with Decoe and Bocoe. Heading along the path out the city behind the Stadium, I noticed those clowned goons marking around the area. So I initially was going to ignore it, until this FREAK..." He pointed in disgust at Batman. "..decides it would be a good idea to play the hero and take them all out! I try making a run for it, but he stops me and assumes that I'm involved! I mean the nerve! Then we stand here talking before we notice you and that other freak trying to kill each other! I was told to do the right thing by him and save your idiotic girlfriend!"
Tails just sat there staring at Eggman. "I can't believe this..." His voice fell low. "This has been some day huh?"
Batman stared at him, narrowing his eyes before speaking: "Right. I'll be taking care of Joker from here out. You'd best get out of here before the cops-!"
"TAILS!" Came a high-pitched shriek. It was Amy Rose, who jumped right on Tails and gave him a huge hug.
"Ouch! ouch! Amy! Please!" Tails struggled in Amy's grasp as she put pressure on his bandaged wound. "That hurts!"
"Oh." Amy looked and let him go. "Sorry. What's going on here?" She asked looking around confused. "Why is Batman here? and Eggman?"
"Long story." Was Tails' only reply.
"Ok." Amy shook a little. "So, is everything alright? We aren't going to be killed?"
"No." Batman spoke. "We're fine."
"Oh, that's what you think..." snarled someone from behind. Going unnoticed by what had been going on, Joker had managed to crawl away a few feet from the group and onto a grass verge, and was now holding something in his hand.
"Joker!" Eggman shouted. "What are you upto?"
He chuckled evilly. "You may have beaten me in a blade fight, but tell me, can you really save everyone?"
"What?" The kitsune demanded. Joker again was talking nonsense.
"Hahahahaha!" Joker raised his hand slightly and pressed a button. Batman lunged over to him and grabbed him by the collar.
"What have you done!?" The hero growled loudly, grabbing the remote also. "And what is this!?
"This?" Joker grinned, baring his teeth. "Well, this is my masterpiece. My finest work of art. Trust me, you'll love it!"
"What!?" Batman repeated.
"A bomb." The hedgehog dropped his hands to his sides. "And when it goes off, it'll take the whole stadium with it! Unless you can find it and stop it in time!"
"How long!?"
"Ten minutes. Give or take. That depends if you're smart enough to find out where I've placed it. It ends here. Station Square burns to the ground with just this. The whole world will soon be mine!" He cackled with the grin still baring on his face. "Ahh yes. Nothing like seeing things being destroyed. It's art at it's very best..."
Batman dropped him. "Damn it!"
"We have to find it!" Tails looked around, surveying what options he had. "Amy, stay here. Eggman. You and I have to find this quickly."
"Tails, let me come with you!" Amy pleaded.
"It's too dangerous, Amy! I almost lost you once, I'm not losing you again!"
"So have I!" The pink hedgehog had tears in eyes. "Please, let me help..." Sobbing the words. Tails' stared at her, seeing the determination in her eyes. She was right though, both had almost lost one another. Letting out a sigh, he agreed.
"Alright. But you have to be careful alright?"
Amy nodded, and smiled.
"Alright then!" Eggman declared. "Let's get going. We have to look everywhere." Looking over at the caped crusader, he rubbed his moustache with his forefinger.
"What about you?" Asking him with a rude tone.
"I'm off to get rid of Joker." He replied coldly. "Sometime in Arkham Asylum should sort him out."
Tails shook his head. "You're kidding...That's really Shadow...He's my-!"
"Look kid." He spoke with a more demanded tone. "He's a threat and if I don't get rid of him who will? If he's really your friend, I'll have a friend of mine have a look at him..."
"I said-" Joker began before Batman punched him in the gut, knocking him out cold.
"I'll be gone." He slung the unconscience body over his shoulder. "You were quite brave, Tails. Always remember, fight for what you believe in."
"Right..." Tails looked at him. "But are you really..."
"No."
"Then who...?"
Batman cleared his throat, and began speaking in a lighter tone of voice. Almost gentlemen-like.
"I'm Christian Bale. Sent here by Christopher Nolaan and TheShamanMaster by the power of breaking the barrier between fiction and real life. Be glad I'm playing this guy..." Switching back to his rough voice, he began walking away.
"Farewell..."
With those words, he disappeared instantly, leaving with the three remaining with blank expressions on their faces.
"No way..." Tails said. "There's just no way..."
"Enough chitchat!" Eggman interrupted. "Let's get moving now!"
Tails nodded and the three rushed back to the stadium.
In the stadium, the guitar solo had begun...and was still going on three minutes after it was meant to end. Herman Li watched as Espio and Fiona kept shredding, not even seeing a single break in their concentration. Sleuth and Vector began drumming off. Looking each other dead in the eye, not wanting to lose. Sonic and Scourge were wondering when they were going to sing at this rate. Charmy, however, had snapped all the strings on his guitar, and now fainted on stage from heat frustration. A paramedic came over, and helped him off.
"Hey Herman." Joey Jordison, who was sitting next to him, began speaking. "I thought this song was only meant to be seven minutes long, at this rate, we'll be here all night. What are those two trying to do up there? Set their instruments on fire?"
"Hmm." Herman replied looking at the groups. "This has gone on a bit too much I'll agree, but still." He smiled greatly. "I like this new sound. That Mighty character sure knows how to use a soundboard..."
A ringing cell began making a noise. It was Herman's.
"One minute." He answered it.
"Hello?"
"Herman! It's ZP Theart!" Came a very annoyed voice from the other end.
"ZP? What's wrong?"
"You tell me! I'm watching this back home and it's been stuck on the same sound for five minutes almost!" ZP wasn't too pleased. "Tell them to change the sound or I swear to god when you get back, I'm firing you!"
Herman chuckled. "Fire me? You'd be one guitarist short of a band..."
"Just do it!" The line went dead. Joey raised his eyebrow.
"Something up?" He questioned.
"Yeah. One second." Herman jumped back up on the stage, and ran over to Sonic and whispered something in his ear. Sonic nodded, and Herman sat back down.
"What did you say?" The drummer wondered.
"You'll see."
Sonic grabbed the microphone and started speaking. "People! Let's hear it for Vector and Espio! Let's break down this solo, and move on to Heroes of Our Time!"
The crowd cheered as Espio and Fiona quickly shredded the ending of the Fire and Flames solo, and sequenced into Heroes of Our Time. Vector's face was covered in sweat from all the drumming, but was determined not to give up. Both lead hedgehogs began the vocals to the song, with Scourge trying to out do him by actually growling the vocals.
"This was your BIG idea..? Joey commented, not looking amused at how similiar the song was to the previous one.
"Ah, ah." The guitarist said shaking head. "You'll see. Never judge a song by it's sound."
"Hey boss, cool it!" Draco shouted, seeing how his boss was taking things a bit too far. "This isn't Death Metal concert ya know! We're not Bring the Horizon"
Scourge didn't turn round. Instead he screamed back; "Well, let's make it like that then! Fiona, don't lose it!"
The fox shook her head, as her shredding hand began ache in pain. Suddenly, a string on her guitar snapped and recoiled on her fingers.
"Shit! Damn it!" She cried in pain. Determined not to lose, she began fingertapping with her ring finger and middle fingers together. Blood trickled down her hand, but she just wouldn't give in. Espio on the other hand, had flipped the guitar over and was now playing left handed. Two of the strings had gone, and he had flipped it over twice to keep the rhythm going. One of Vector's bass pedals had broke, so he was banging his large tail on the ground to improvise. As Sonic continued vocals, Blaze had grabbed a spare guitar and was filling in for Charmy. The crowd during this point was awed at what the final outcome was going to be...
Tails, Amy and Eggman ran back to the front of the stadium.
"Where do we start looking?" Amy asked, her whole body shaking in panic. "The bomb could be anywhere."
"There's three possible options." Eggman replied. "The first is a large back room which leads to an electrical grid. If something is disrupted there, the whole place could shutdown, or better yet, explode due to the connections of electricity which flow through the stadium. The next option is that it could be located on the main structure behind the stage. That structure is basically what keeps this hunk-of-junk up. Once it goes down, the force of the collapsing weight could bring down the entire place in a matter of minutes..."
"And the final?"
"I doubt this, but he could have set multiple charges along the entrances and exits of the place, meaning once one bomb goes off, the rest will go off simultaneously in a matter of seconds..."
"Wait, how do you know all this?" The kitsune inquired.
"I've been through the blueprints and plannings of this building a lot of times before." Eggman looked up and down at the place. "But the place has never really catched my eye...there's something missing. Enough already! Let's split up! Tails, you and Amy head through to the main structure and check there. Remember, you need to go around back of the stage. I'll head underground and see if I can get to the electrical grid. If I know anything, the room will be guarded so I won't be able to get in..."
"Why not use your robots?"
"There's no time to get them here! Now, hurry up!" Heading to leave in the other direction, he added. "By the way, this doesn't change anything between us. After this, we are still sworn enemies..."
"Ah." Tails smirked. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Doctor." They split up and began the search for the bomb. Tails and Amy rushed in through the doors, and ran towards the stage. Knuckles was on the end of one of the aisles.
"Tails?" He shouted. "Where you been? What's going on?"
"No time to explain!" Tails responded quickly. "There's a bomb here and-!"
"A bomb!?" Knuckles, without second thought, made a move instantly. "I'm right behind ya! Just tell me where it is!"
"Behind the stage!"
Knuckles, from where he was, noticed a wide set of double doors right behind where Vector was drumming. "There!" He pointed.
Without hesitation, the two-tailed fox jumped onto the stage, shocking much of the audience. He ran to the back, passed Vector, kicked in the doors and ran down the hallway. The PsyChaotix and Destructix wondered what the hell was going on.
"Hey!" Herman shouted. "Get me sercurity right now! I want to know who that was and what the hell's he doing back there!"
Sonic quickly called back. "I know him! No need for that! Just leave him! He knows what he's doing!"
"Okay fine. Just make sure nothing happens here!"
The song was coming to an end. Fiona was on her last notes. She was sweating heavily, her fingers ached and bled, and she was about to faint. Losing her grip and focus, the last string on her guitar snapped and hit her in the face. Collapsing in pain, she fell, bleeding, holding her face. Espio noticed this out of the corner of his eye and gasped.
"Oh my god!" He immediatly threw off his guitar to rush over and help her. The audience gasped in surprise at what was happening. Vector, Sleuth, Blaze, Sonic, Scourge and Draco stopped as soon as Espio did, seeing what the problem was. Scourge threw a look of disgust.
"What do you think you're playing at!?" He bellowed in anger, looking at Draco and Sleuth. "Get back to it!"
"Damn it, Scourge!" Espio snarled at him. "Your friend is hurt, can't you see that?" The chameleon picked her up.
"I need a paramedic over here! Now!"
Joey Jordison leaped onto the stage, and received her from Espio, who in turn gave her to a nearby paramedic.
"Goddamn it!" Scourge said shaking his fists. "The one time I want to win, it's doesn't go well!"
Sonic narrowed his eyes at his green counterpart in rage. "You're such a scumbag! You only care about beating me, yet your girl is injured? What's with that?"
"Don't tell me what's right and what's not, punk!" Scourge sped over to Sonic, trying to land a punch on him. Sonic dodged him and decked him. Scourge quickly got up and went to grab him.
"Why don't you get lost!?" He screamed. Ready to fight him, he jumped up and trying to land multiple punches. He missed each one, and was then held back by a certain someone...
"Break it up! Right here and NOW!" It was Corey Taylor, who was now restraining the green hedgehog. He struggled, but Corey put more force into his grip, before kicking him in the back of the knees. Herman grabbed the microphone.
"Scourge! You and your team are disqualified for viciously assaulting another contender!" Various boos insults came from the audience, who weren't liking him at all. Herman continued speaking.
"As for Sonic and PsyChaotix..." He took a deep breath and sighed. "Due to these unseen circumstances, me and the judges will have a talk later on discussing this. We are sorry that we pushed you guys too far. We really are-huh?" Sonic shook his hand.
"It's alright." Sonic said smiling with content. "It was fun, but now we have important matters to attend to. Our friends. Am I right?" Raising his fist, the audience did the same, cheering for Sonic. The DF guitarist cracked a small smile.
"You're right, Sonic."
"Oi!" Corey interrupted Sonic's moment. "A little help here!" He was still trying to restrain Scourge.
Herman and Sonic went to help, and ended up calling the cops who shot him with a tazer and handcuffed him.
In the back, Tails and Knuckles had reached what looked like the main structure. A large pillar around four-to-five times the height of both of them and three times as thick, which on the top, had several large, twisting support beams and tracking rails leading outside.
"Where is it?" His eyes searching frantically.
"Up there!" The echdina said, pointing towards a strange object under one of the tracking rails. The fox used his tails to fly up and land on the rails. On closer inspection, the object was indeed the bomb. A counter was displayed with the remaining time, which as of now read four minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
"Four minutes...Please be enough..." Tails murmured, shaking his head. Looking back down, some of the Jokers goons had entered through the other way, and surrounded Knuckles, armed with nunchuks and knives.
"Tails, hurry and take care of it! I'll get these guys." Knuckles raised his fists.
"Let's dance!"
Meanwhile Amy had met up with Rouge, wondering where Tails and Knuckles went. Sonic, noticing them, got off the stage floor and ran towards them.
"Amy! Rouge!"
"Oh, it's you..." Amy huffed.
"What's up with you Ames?" Sonic wondered why she was in such a bad mood.
"Well, besides being almost drowned, stabbed and very nearly killed by a murderous psychopathic clown, I'm fine. Very fine indeed." She spoke with such sarcasm.
"Clown? You mean..."
"Uh, huh." Rouge answered. "Turns out it was Shadow, but he had seemed to have lost his mind."
"And YOU weren't around to stop him! Start explaining!" The pink hedgehog demanded.
"Can this wait?" Sonic asked, much to his annoyance. "I gotta help Tails. He's gone into the back and I don't know what he's upto..."
Speaking of Tails, he was looking at the device. Almost three minutes remained. Fear began to evade his mind as he looked at the panel, trying to figure it out.
Don't let fear or panic cloud your judgement! That's exactly how Joker wants to beat you! His fingers shaking, he surveyed the puzzle that layed before him. Touching a wire, his reflexes quickly acted and he moved his hand away.
C'mon Tails! You can do this! Remember, everyone is counting on you...you can do this. Adjusting one of the connectors, he blinked constantly. Noticing a green wire, he touched it with his forefinger and thumb.
"Please be it..."
"Tails!"
The kitsune looked down on his friend.
"Hurry it up!" Knuckles called out, dodging another set of nunchuks and landing a punch in one of the minions' guts. "These guys are annoying."
Hoping for the best, he began undoing the wire from the device...
Outside, Espio had stayed with Fiona as she was put in a ambulance.
"She's too much to handle here. We'll have to get to the hospital." A paramedic announced. Espio nodded and got in the ambulance. Sleuth and Draco joined him.
"Hm?" Espio felt uneasy as the two sat down with him.
"It's alright Espio." Sleuth said softly.
"You might never believe this, but Fiona's like the sister we never had." Draco continued.
"I see..." Espio had doubt about the behaviour of these two, but he knew deep down, they were good people like everyone else. Scourge on the other hand, was dragged into a cop car, and taken downtown. As these events occured, the stadium audience was left with various questions about tonights show. As for Eggman, he had gotten lost in the underground passage way, and made his way back out.
"I guess it's all up to Tails.." He muttered as he reached the exit, and began heading home.
To be continued...
Whew! Sorry to leave you on another cliffhanger, but everything will be answered and cleared up in the next and final chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed the fic so far. Thanks for your reviews and support! Once again, Batman and all the related names and such are properties of DC Comics and Warner Bros. No infringement intended!
Oh just to add, I could really imagine Sonic and the others starting a band like DragonForce, it would be one of the coolest things ever!
Next chapter, as the day ends, Tails just wishes things were better. In the morning, he gets a mysterious phone call, but what is it now? Fiona wakes up to find a certain someone near her bedside. Meanwhile Joker or rather, Shadow has a disturbing morning in Arkham Asylum with a certain detective...All this and next time in Chapter 10: A Disturbing Next Day