Tails has taken a horrible beating. It seems that everything is about to end.
That is, until Tails gets a very special visitor.
General Shay and the rest of the soldiers peeked from behind the shattered remains of what used to be a bank. They saw nothing. The only thing that was even remotely visible in all of that smoke was a distorted glow from a blue Chaos Emerald. The blanket of dust began to dissipate. They were able to see a lot more clearly, but they really wished they didn't. Upon the dust's departure, they saw three stands of yellow hair sticking erect in the air, popping from a hole in the ground. General Shay didn't want to believe what he thought he was seeing. Was that Tails over there? It couldn't me. If that really was Tails, who was going to save them now? General Shay stood and took his army over to the battlefield. They crossed over chasms and holes permanently planted in the streets sidewalks. Pieces of steel and molten rock began to fall from buildings.
"Is this Armageddon?" one soldier asked.
"It may seem to be so," General Shay solemnly spoke.
They were getting closer to the source of the battle arena. All they had to do was cross over a broken street that protruded from the ground. They figured they had to jump across in order to make it. General Shay decided to go first. He ran at top speed and dove across the giant hole beneath him. He smacked the ground with a powerful thud. He successfully made it across the giant chasm. All the other soldiers followed.
General Shay and his troops walked past all of the debris and shattered glass. It was quiet; far too quiet. It was so quiet that the soldiers could hear the individual heartbeats of each other. It made them nervous, and it made their heartbeats race. They were getting closer to Tails. When they arrived at the scene, they looked beneath them and saw Tails' body; battered, bleeding, and unmoving; on the ground. He looked crushed and destroyed. They just looked down at him, feeling sorry for him. His lifeless corpse was just an eyesore to look at. One of the soldiers began to get nauseous because of the gaseous fumes. The other seven soldiers went and sat the weary soldier on the stump of a nearby lamppost. The hellish fumes penetrated General Shay's nostrils. It was absolutely horrible. The smell was unbearable. He shrunk his nose up as tears fell from pupils. The smell of the rotting bodies around the area combined with that already horrid scent, making for an absolutely terrible experience. General Shay could feel himself getting weaker because of the smell and the overall atmosphere. The sky was the color of fresh blood. It seemed as if Satan himself was in the sky watching them from afar. He still held firm. He wasn't going to let the smell of rotting flesh weaken him. Not today.
He stared at Tails' body for a few more seconds to mourn him properly. He kneeled down on one knee and removed his hat and pressed it against his chest. "Tails, General Shay speaking. I know that you must have fought a hard battle, but…" He paused. It was tough for him to go on because of Tails' body and the putrid stench in the evaporating air. "But, if you can hear me, we love you, Tails. I hope that you can hear my words well. You can't just quit like this. You're stronger than any of us will ever be. We would never have the true courage to jump out there and fight like you did. We would be able to go out there and face the world like you did. You truly have a big heart and your courage is limitless. Tails, if you can hear the words that I am speaking, please…do not ever give up," he said.
He put his helmet back on and walked away. He walked towards his army, who was comforting their nauseous companion.
"General Shay!" Private Washington saluted. "Is Tails okay?"
"I'm sorry, my fellow soldiers. It seems that we've lost him."
The soldier's eyes widened. They couldn't even fathom what they just heard. Did Tails really die? "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I'm afraid that Miles "Tails" Prower, the one that we've known for so long, is gone. I strongly and sincerely apologize for our loss."
Little did General Shay know, something special was going to happen. In the hole in which Tails was lying, somebody began to speak. It was Sonic. Sonic's spirit was talking to him, trying to tell him something. "Tails, can you hear me? Are you there?"
"S-s-sonic. I-is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me, buddy. I hope that you can hear me. I know you can do it, Tails. You've always had the strength within you to win. You can win. I know you can. You've shown me countless times what your bravery can do. Now, come on and show it again."
"But Sonic, I-I don't know if I can. Luna is too strong for me. I'm scared of her. Plus, I'm hurt really bad. I don't think that I can even move."
"That wasn't me, Tails. That will never be me. None of them are our friends at this moment in time. You have to fight back against the enemy, Tails. I know you can do it. You know you can do it. Are you willing to fight for what's right?"
"Of course I am."
"Well, since you're ready, I want you to go up there and fight! Fight for your friends and fight for me. But more importantly, fight for you, because you're more important than any of us could ever be. Do you know how lucky you are to have friends like us to have your back whenever things got tough? You've always had friends to stick themselves out there for you. Now, it's your turn to do the same thing for them. Their lives are at stake, and now it's your turn to step up."
"I'm sorry that I let you down, Sonic," he solemnly said. His eyes began to saturate as a single tear flowed down his face.
"Hey, hey, come on, now. Stop beating yourself up. You didn't let me down. You could never let me down. Now, I believe that I saw the Chaos Emeralds in a duffle bag nearby. Since she didn't get them, it's your chance to use them. Come on, Tails. Believe in yourself. You can do it!"
Nearby the stump of the lamppost, the soldiers held their heads down as they mourned Tails' death. If only they could have done something to stop this nightmare from happening, none of this would have ever been conceived as even being a tangible reality. But, unfortunately, it was. As they mourned for him, they heard something. It sounded like something was shining. It felt warm. General Shay looked up and saw a glowing white light coming from behind the still standing, but very fragile, Twinkle Park entrance. He also noticed a similar glow coming from the Tails' hole. What was going on? Was Tails going to ascend to Heaven? Were the angels going to take him away? Tails rose from the ground like a mannequin and a large amount of white light flowed around him. At the same time, the seven Chaos Emeralds began to float as well. They spun around Tails and slowly crept their way into his body. Just then, he was engulfed an entire hue of colors. General Shay carefully observed everything that happened periodically. It was amazing. It seemed like the final shimmer of light from above shone down on them all. Tails emerged from his spontaneous transformation arising as a brand new person. He was now Turbo Tails. Also, he couldn't go anywhere without his Super Flickies by his side to aid him.
General Shay walked towards him and saluted. "Good luck. Be careful, Tails."
"Thank you, General Shay," he said, exchanging the salute back at him.
Anxious as to how the final fight will turn out? Well, you're going to have to wait. However, I do think that you'll enjoy it. Chapter 21, the final chapter, is coming soon.