Journal
There's perseverance, which is admirable, and there's
stubbornness, which is just annoying.

The next morning, after helping Niro clean up the house, Tails went to
his workshop. He went down to floor BG5 and continued his experiments
involving genetics. Then, about an hour later, the entire facility
went dark.
Tails waited patiently. It wasn't the first time this happened.
Evidently, when one is over 900 years old, not much happens "for the
first time."
"Facility is now operating on emergency energy," said RINCaHS as the
lights flickered back on, slightly dimmer than before.
"What is the problem?" asked the kitsune.
"City-wide power failure," answered the super computer. "Origin: 32
degrees north, 17 degrees west from here."
Tails rolled his eyes. "Ivorald." He stood. "RINCaHS, please record
the mitosis of these samples while I am away." He entered the
elevator, ascended to the lobby, and locked the workshop door as he
left. He flicked his second tail and flew northwest.
Soon Tails arrived at a building similar to his workshop, but smaller
and cruder. A twirl of his first tail yanked the iron door off its
hinges and threw it aside. Tails calmly strolled into the sinister
complex, as though he did this on a daily basis (which is close to the
truth).
Tails walked down a couple long corridors with many doors lining them,
but he walked on with certainty. Finally he stopped at a door. Tails
promptly used his tail to rip the door out. Inside, the room was
ominously dark. Tails flicked his fifth tail and it ignited, providing
him with a couple yards of vision.
"Mr. Robotnik-"
"That's DOCTOR Robotnik to you!" came a voice from the dark.
"-would you kindly explain why you caused a city-wide blackout?"
The round man stepped into Tails' view. He looked triumphant. "Excuse
me for that," he said. "It was necessary for my newest achievement. Of
course, had I owned one of those 'chaos emeralds' that my ancestors
write about, it would make my job so much easier."
Tails briefly remembered an event that occurred 300 years ago. He and Shadow the Hedgehog had decided to destroy the emeralds to keep them
out of the wrong hands. Tails thought Shadow would live just as long
as he, but unfortunately Shadow sacrificed his life in the chaos blast
that destroyed the emeralds.
"So what is this 'newest achievement?" Tails asked. Probably something
else for me to destroy, he thought.
"Take a look." Ivorald flipped a switch and the lights came on.
Behind Ivorald-just out of sight earlier-were two reptilian
creatures, one purple, one green. They had scaly tails, leather wings,
catlike eyes, snake tongues, and huge fangs. They were repulsive.
"What is this?" asked Tails. "A mutation?"
"No, no, no." replied Ivorald. "This, my frienemy, is perfection."
For the first time in over 200 years, Tails was confused.
Ivorald laughed. "Think about it Tails. If you're a creature of myth,
of magic-"
"Science," added Tails.
"-then why don't other mythological creatures exist as well?"
Then Tails understood. "Dragons." For a second, fear gripped him. He
was unused to the chilling cold of fear. He shivered. "But... They
don't exist..." he whispered.
But Ivorald's logic made sense. If he, Tails, was indeed a character
of magic, then who was to say that other creatures of magic did not
exist as well? It made perfect sense.
Ivo grinned. "I think you have found your match."
The green dragon walked forward and stood in front of Tails. They just
stared at each other for several long minutes.
"Well?" said Robotnik.
"Well what?" asked Tails.
"Aren't you going to fight each other?" said Robotnik. Now he sounded
confused.
"Why?" asked Tails. "He isn't doing any harm. If anything, I should be
fighting you. You're the one that caused the black out." The kitsune
moved toward Ivorald, but the green dragon stopped him. "Get out of
the way," Tails said. "I don't want to hurt you."
The dragon stayed where he was, but when Tails tried to go around him,
he blocked him. Annoyed, Tails flicked his second tail and blew wind
at the green dragon. His wings billowed and he was propelled out of
the way. Tails passed the purple dragon, who in no way showed signs of wanting to defend Robotnik. She watched him, and Tails felt like she
was waiting to see who was stronger-Tails or Ivorald.
"Alright, Robotnik, you're going back to jail... Again..." as Tails
reached out to grab the doctor, he felt a sharp pain on the back of
his head. He turned. The purple dragon stared at him, raising a metal
bar.
"Stop it," he told the dragons. "You're not helping the situation." He
glanced to his right, where the green dragon was advancing toward him.
"You want a fight?" Tails' fists clenched.
Fast as lightning, the purple dragon dropped her metal bar and lunged
at Tails with her claws extended. Tails sidestepped out of the way. At
the same time, the green dragon charged and spun, whipping his clubbed
tail at the kitsune. Tails grabbed the scaly tail and yanked it,
pulling the green dragon toward him. He punched the dragon hard in the
face. The green dragon fell backward onto the purple, and they both
toppled onto the ground.
Then Tails felt a hand on his shoulder and a knife at his neck.
Robotnik. Tails laughed. In the current scene, he could've been a
madman.
"You're going to kill me, Robotnik?" The kitsune said. He activated
his first tail and bent the knife away from his neck. The knife
twisted and crumpled, becoming useless. Tails stomped hard on Ivo's
foot behind him. Robotnick yelped and let go of Tails. The fox whipped
around and swung his fist, punching Ivorald in the gut. Ivorald
doubled over with a gasp. Tails raised his foot high and brought it
down over Robotnik's head, and the doctor went down.
Tails faced the dragons and angled himself so that he could face both
of them. They watched each other, none moving, sizing each other up.
The green dragon moved first. His nostrils began to smoke and Tails
knew what was coming.
Just as the first breath of fire streamed out towards him, Tails
twirled his fifth tail. The flames stopped in midair, then turned and
shot back at the green dragon. The dragon raised his arm and the fire
disintegrated against it.
Suddenly, a long purple claw slashed Tails across the face. Tails
winced and turned, touching his face. He gasped, more with shock then
with pain. He felt the blood soak into his glove. The purple dragon
looked at her blood-smeared claw. Tails' blood. It had been a long time-
almost longer than Tails could remember-since an enemy had gotten
close enough to draw blood. Tails' shock turned to anger.
"Enough!" growled the fox. "It ends here!"
He spun his first tail, and kept spinning it. It began to glow. Tails
raised his arms, then pulled them in sharply. Immediately, the roof
and the walls began to fold and cave in. Tails clenched his fists. The
entire Robotnik facility came crashing down. Tails pushed the falling
rubble away from him mentally and studied the wreckage. Ivorald
and the dragons were buried, but somehow Tails knew they were alive.
As Tails' anger receded, guilt replaced it. He sighed. "I really need
to control myself." He left the scene.

*******

"Sir," said RINCaHS. "Do you wish to rinse your gloves?"
"No thanks," said Tails.
He was in his office, leaning back in his chair with his feet up on
the desk like Sonic used to do. He held his glove in his hand, staring
at the red stain.
Tails wondered if he should use his eighth tail and heal the cut, but
decided to leave it to natural processes. If it gets infected, I'll
heal it, he thought.
"This troubles me, RINCaHS," said the kitsune finally.
"Sir?" said RINCaHS questioningly.
"Those dragons. They were able to attack me. That hasn't happened
since I built you."
RINCaHS was silent, as though she was thinking about the information.
At last she answered, "The world is always changing, Tails. As you
have told me many times, be prepared."