Chapter 6 – Up to Tails

"I can't hold them off any longer!"

"But we got to keep trying, Draco! Tails has just two more warheads to take care of!"

Percival, Draco, Lily, Jeremy and Amy struggled against the ongoing mob of robots, but they could that it was only a matter of time before they finally break out.

"Now that you mention it," panted Jeremy as he checked the clock on his phone. "Look at that! Only two minutes for the warheads to be launched!"

"Hurry up, Tails!" urged Amy. "We're running out of time!"

"I'm working as fast as I can!" exclaimed Tails while he carefully fiddled with another interface. "Just hang on! I've almost got the second-last warhead done, and then it's one left!"

"There's no end to these robot freaks!" exclaimed Lily as she knocked out several Egg Pawns with her tail. "I sure hope there aren't any more!"

"Don't be so sure, Lily," said Percival. "This ship is really huge, so there's bound to be a lot of those guys."

Percival was right. As the team continued taking down the Egg Pawns, more kept appearing, and they were starting to tire out from the endless onslaught that they were hoping that Tails would finish reprogramming the warheads quicker. Tails was up to the final warhead which was set to aim for the United States Capitol at Washington D.C., but with only thirty seconds left, he knew he had to be fast with the reprogramming. At last, he finished the mission.

"It is done, and we just had a few seconds to spare!" he announced, but as he spoke, there was a series of loud booms, and the ship rocked back and forth, followed by the alarm ringing loudly again.

"We're not out of the woods just yet," said Percival after he slashed an Egg Pawn in half. "That's the sign that the ship is collapsing!"

"Yes, it is, and as I warned, it will blow up in five minutes," said Tails. "Let's get out of here, everyone!"

The team dashed for the elevator and frantically pressed the button for it to go down. Once they have reached the ground floor, they saw a bunch of Egg Pawns running around aimlessly as if they were in a panic. It was not until they noticed Bowser fighting some of the robots. After smashing an attacking Egg Knight, Bowser noticed the team at the elevator.

"You guys are alright!" he said, feeling a burst of happiness that no one was harmed. "But what was with the shaking?"

"Tails has managed to prevent the warheads from being launched to the cities and they've crippled the ship instead," said Draco. "This place is going to go up with a bang at any minute now, so we better hurry for Tails' plane now and forget about fighting the robots!"

Meanwhile, outside the command tower, Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Jimmy, Viper and the remaining dragons were still battling against Pachytron. Already they have sensed the intense tremor, and deduced that Tails has completed the task of taking out the nuclear warheads.

"Blast you, flesh scum!" hissed Pachytron. "I shall see to it that you and your friends are going to pay with your lives for ruining Doctor Eggman's plans!"

"At the very least the cities are now safe and secure from being nuked out of the existence," replied Sonic. "Eggman will not realise his evil goal to reform the Earth into his own twisted world as long as I'm around!"

"Then in that case, I better finish you off right this instant!" declared Pachytron. He proceeded to aim his missile launchers at Sonic.

"I don't think so!" exclaimed Knuckles, and he delivered a strong, forceful kick which caused Pachytron to launch his missiles upward instead of his intended target.

"Thanks, Knuckles," said Sonic.

"Humph!" snorted Knuckles as he proudly looked away. "Don't mention it!"

"Why, you!" hissed Pachytron, but has he was about to start his assault, Cynder and the dragons stepped him and subdued him. Torden then knocked him backwards, rendering him immobile. Explosions continued to rock the Egg Convoy back and forth.

"Way to go, dragons!" cheered Jimmy. "Now, we must make our evacuation quickly! This whole ship is coming apart!"

"But we must wait for Tails and the rest of the team," said Cynder. "We can't just leave them behind!"

"Hold it, guys, we're coming!" called a voice.

Everyone looked, and there was Tails, Amy, Draco, Lily, Percival, Jeremy and Bowser rushing towards them as fast as possible.

"There you are!" called Sonic. "Time we get a move on!"

"You got it!" panted Tails, and as he with Amy and Bowser climbed in the Tornado Z, Sonic and Knuckles hopped on its wings. Jimmy beckoned Viper to join him on his jet plane. Together, they and the dragons took off from the crumbling Egg Convoy just in time before it finally exploded. Debris flew everywhere, but the team managed to evade them while making their way back to Japan.

It did not take long for the team to return to the Ise-Shima National Park. Carefully, they made their touchdown at the shoes of the Ago Bay. Tails could do nothing but make a relieved puff as he set the Tornado Z to a complete stop.

"Well, we did it," said Amy happily.

"Another score for us, while Eggman gets naught!" laughed Sonic.

Everyone hugged and cheered in celebration of their victory. Presently, Bobby, Michelle, Darky and Blaze arrived, and they have heard everything.

"So you guys have stopped the nuclear warhead threat," said Blaze. "I knew all of you could do it!"

"We were watching the television and saw that big battleship explode into a million pieces," said Michelle. "No doubt that you are the greatest heroes of the world!"

"None of us could have done it without Tails," said Draco. "He was the one who reprogrammed the warheads to destroy the ship."

"That's my boy!" exclaimed Bobby and he patted Tails on the back. "We're so proud of you, Tails!"

Tails blushed, overwhelmed from all the praise he was getting. "It was nothing, really," he said meekly. "All it took was my brainpower to figure out how to stop the warheads and, well, set them all to blow up the Egg Convoy instead."

Blaze gave Tails a big, long hug and kissed him on the lips. "You are such a nerd, and a heroic one at that," she said happily. "It's no wonder why I fell in love with you all those years back when you were visiting England."

"I feel like the luckiest fox ever to have such a beautiful, tomboyish, and strong kitty who knows how to make a guy happy," said Tails dreamily as he kissed Blaze passionately. "I love you so much, Blaze. You mean everything to me, and I could never imagine being apart."

"Me too," sighed Blaze.

Everyone smiled as they watched the happy couple continue their intimacy, but it was cut short when Amy noticed something flying in the distance. "Uh-oh," she said with worry. "I think something's on its way here."

Alerted, Sonic, Knuckles and the dragons prepared themselves to face whatever was heading for them, and they were shocked when they saw Pachytron. He was down, but not completely out.

"That's impossible!" exclaimed Knuckles. "That elephant robot was caught in the explosion! How was he able to survive?"

"Regardless of how, we're going to have to defeat him, once and for all," said Sonic. "We might have a chance and he clearly is in a bad shape."

Pachytron landed on the sand, but struggled to keep still as he was short-circuiting everywhere. "You are not going to win this…" he beeped. "The Eggman Empire cannot be beaten, and I shall terminate you all!"

The team were getting ready to fight and put an end to the evil Robot Master, but after walking a few steps, Pachytron finally collapsed to the ground. Sparks continued to fly around before fizzling out as the robot shut down, and several parts became dislocated from the rest of his body.

"Guess there was no need to battle him as he was pretty much spare parts," said Sonic. "Thank goodness it's over."

"Darn!" pouted Torden. "Talk about an anticlimax. I was so looking forward to smashing that robot to bits!"

"There's more to life than just fighting, you know," said Viper.

Blaze looked at the mysterious figure with confusion. "Just who is this newcomer?" she asked.

"I'd like you to meet Viper, Blaze," said Tails. "We can find out about him when we go inside Cynder's hut."

"I think I better be leaving now," said Knuckles hastily. "I'm not much of a guy that likes introductions. Catch you later, everyone."

"And surely you're not going without having a little rendezvous with me," said Rouge flirtatiously as she slinked past Knuckles. "It takes two to tango, you know."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" shouted Knuckles. He then followed Rouge. "Seriously, Rouge, you are getting on my nerves!"

Sonic chuckled as he watched Knuckles and Rouge disappear. "That's our Knuckles and Rouge," he said. "Well, come on, everyone, let's head for the village."

"I have to head off too," said Moonracer. "Good luck, Cynder."

"Take care, Moonracer," replied Cynder. "And thank you."

Moonracer smiled and flew away while everyone else began their trek to the village, but as they left, the remains of Pachytron started to melt and formed into a blue robotic hedgehog that resembled Sonic, except that it had menacing glowing red eyes. It focused its vision on the team.

"All dragon life form data…" it droned. "Successfully assimilated and copied!"

To Be Continued…

Another story done! Tails truly was the hero here, saving all the cities from being nuked. Eggman's plans were thwarted once again and the fourth Robot Master is destroyed, but it looks like the team are being watched by a sinister presence. Could it be another enemy they have to face? Or could it actually be the real villain behind Eggman's reign of terror? Stick around and find out as we got a few more stories to go before the finale of this arc!