Tails looked over the data from their encounter with Super, at least that's what Shadow said he called himself, his frown deepening the more he looked and compared it to other data he'd collected. The energy coming off Super was incredibly similar to Sonic in his super form, but more chaotic for lack of a better word. That should be impossible though. At the moment three emeralds were accounted for. Two with Tails and one that Shadow had. Therefore it shouldn't be possible for whoever this was to have so much chaos energy in their system even with four emeralds still unaccounted for.
Sighing in frustration, Tails placed the miles electric on the couch next to him. It was time to admit he had no idea what was going on, or how to fix it. It was only a matter of time before Super resurfaced. Based on what Knuckles and Shadow had said about him it felt like he wouldn't wait long before popping back up. Could they actually stop him though? Knuckles had already gotten badly hurt fighting him and Shadow could have been if Super hadn't fled when he did.
He flinched as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Looking up he saw Amy looking at him with a small smile. In her other hand she was gripping a steaming mug. She offered the mug to Tails; he grabbed it and looked at her confused. "It's hot chocolate." She explained as she took a seat next to Tails. "You looked like you could use a break. I even managed to sneak some peppermint in there for you." She winked at him.
Bringing the mug to his lips, Tails took a sip; it tasted really good. The warmth traveling down his body from the sip helped to clear his head some."Thanks Amy." He muttered in between sips.
"Of course. Gotta make sure you're taking care of yourself." She patted him on the leg. The 'while Sonic's not around' went unsaid.
"How's Knuckles doing?" Tails eventually asked.
"Well considering he was going on about getting revenge on 'the gold rat' this morning I'd say he's doing fine." She chuckled and Tails joined her.
"That's good at least…" He trailed off, ears drooping unintentionally.
"How are you doing?" Amy asked, frowning.
"I-" Tails paused, looking away. "Not great… I'm just worried. Especially after what Shadow said."
Amy nodded. "Yeah, me too." She admitted quietly. Gently bumping his shoulder she smiled. "Though we'll figure it out. We'll need you on board though to do that." She tapped a finger against his forehead. His ears shot up as he looked at her, surprised. "We need that big brain of yours to help us figure out how to fix this."
A small smile twitched onto his face. "Yeah…" He sat up straighter. "Right, I'll do my best to help."
"Thanks Tails, and don't worry. We'll have Sonic back in no time." Amy reassured him, standing up and offering a hand.
Tails took the hand and Amy helped pull him to his feet. Gripping the mug in both hands he shot her a determined look. "Let's do this."
"So, we need a plan for when our body snatcher shows up again." Rouge glanced around the table.
Shadow sat with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face. He couldn't get the fight out of his head; he very clearly had been going to lose to the golden faker. That both upset and scared him. They were going to have to fight him again and based on some of the talk before this, the others were betting on him to be able to occupy their target. While he hated to admit it, he wasn't sure how long he could hold his own. Especially if his opponent wasn't holding back like he'd suspected Super had been.
"I think our best option is to try and trap him." Tails said, standing up and pacing slightly. A confident look on his face. "If what he told Shadow is true then if we want to get Sonic back that's our only option."
"How are we supposed to do that?" A heavily bandaged Knuckles asked.
"Especially now that he can use chaos control." Shadow grumbled unhappily. Admittedly he felt rather guilty at having unintentionally taught the body snatcher that technique. Rouge shot him a sympathetic look.
"I've been thinking about that." The fox placed a hand on his chin. "I might be able to figure out how to stop him from escaping via chaos control." He frowned and brought his hand back to his side.
"Buuuut?" Amy prompted, gesturing for him to elaborate
"But I'll need more data on him." He folded his ears down. "I got a quick scan when I first encountered him, but that was before he really started using his chaos energy for anything. I don't know his limits and without knowing that I can't guarantee I can contain him. Sure he seems similar to Sonic's super transformation, but I need to make sure."
"And how can we go about getting that data?" Rouge asked, tilting her head.
"Well…" Tails looked away. "We'll probably need to fight him again. That's probably the best way to get a feeling for his limits. As much as I don't want any of you to get hurt."
"Let me at him. I'll get him this time." Knuckles growled out as he slammed a hand on the table.
"While I'd love to see you try and go at it again red, I don't think that's a good idea." Rouge said, folding her hands and placing her chin on them. "Let yourself heal first, and then we'll let you get your shot at revenge, hm?" Knuckles glared at the bat for a moment before backing down, crossing his arms, and grumbling under his breath.
Tails turned to Shadow. "I hate to ask you to do this, but…"
Shadow held up a hand. "I was already aware I was our best option against him. I'll do it."
The fox looked like he wanted to say something else but decided against it. He nodded. "Alright, thank you. Let's get a plan in place for when he shows up then…"
Taking a deep breath, Tails triple checked that everything was in place. Sure he had checked them plenty before they'd rushed to check out the alert from Station Square they'd received, but he had to be sure. He didn't want to risk his friends any more than he had to.
"INCREASED HEART RATE DETECTED YET NO ENEMY IS PRESENT. SUGGESTION: CEASE." Tails jumped at the sound of Omega. Rouge had insisted that the third member of team dark stay with him just in case things went south. It did make him feel slightly better. Even if he was never sure how to navigate any sort of conversation with the former badnik.
"A-ah." Tails wrung his hands in order to stop himself from fiddling with anything. "Right. I'll try that."
"RESPONSE IS ACCEPTABLE." Omega turned away to look back where he'd been.
Tails did his best to keep himself distracted. Super was likely to show up any time now so long as the signal they'd picked up was him and not some other chaos energy spike. As if he thought it into existence, Tails heard a loud crash. His tails fluffed up and his ears swiveled to better pick up the noise. He could see smoke rising in the direction the sound had come from.
Shaking off the shock from the sudden appearance Tails rushed over to monitor any data coming in. Hopefully Shadow could get the device on Super and keep him distracted long enough for Tails to get what he needed. He smoothed the fur of his tails as he watched the screen nervously. Hopefully this would be quick…
Shadow dashed out of the way of another laser. How the hell was he supposed to get this device on the bastard if he couldn't even get near him? Also since when could he shoot lasers from his eyes. Shadow growled in frustration as he swerved around the battlefield. The fact that Super had remained in the air so far also wasn't helping.
Super cracked his knuckles and he grinned ferally at Shadow. "C'mon. That all you got? At least make this interesting for me before I kill you."
"Perhaps if you could stay still for longer than five seconds I might." Shadow said through gritted teeth, panting.
Super tilted his head. "That's not how this works Shads~"
Shadow growled and pinned his ears down. "I don't tolerate Sonic calling me that. I sure as hell won't let you call me that."
"Then stop me." Super's grin widened.
There was Shadow's chance. With a quick chaos control he was behind Super. He feigned going for a punch with his right while he positioned his left to clamp the device Tails had given him around the golden hedgehog. Super seemed to fall for the distraction completely. While the punch was caught he could feel the click of the device snapping around Super's wrist. Hopefully the body snatcher wouldn't notice it for a while.
Before Super could retaliate from the failed punch Shadow warped away and back to his previous position on the ground. Super's ear flicked. "Better." He flexed his claws. "Can you keep that up though?"
"Of course." He adjusted his gloves. "Come at me!" Shadow challenged despite the exhaustion tugging at him.
"That's the energy I'm looking for!" Super said excitedly as he dove at Shadow. With a quick roll Shadow managed to avoid the attack, but only barely. He wasn't sure if baiting the other hedgehog into a close quarters fight had been the right idea, but he had to live with that decision now.
Another blast of laser from Super's eyes was sent his way. A short range chaos control helped him avoid it but he flinched and pinned his ears down as the shot hit a building behind him. He needed to get this fight out of the city before anyone else got hurt.
Deciding to take a page out of Sonic's playbook he figured he might as well throw a hail mary. Shadow turned tail and ran, well skated off. Now hopefully the golden hedgehog would follow him. If he did, Shadow could lead him out of the city. Once he heard indignant shouting following him he put a hand up to his ear. "I'm trying to lead him away from the city to prevent any more collateral damage. So far he's following me. How close are we to getting what we need?"
"Nearly there!" Came Tails' reply. "See if you can push him a little harder and we should be good!"
"We'll work on helping whoever needs it." Rouge chimed in. "While we managed to stop the danger zone from spreading too far, plenty of people still got caught up."
"I SHALL CONTINUE TO GUARD THE FOX. THOUGH I AM DISAPPOINTED I DID NOT GET TO DESTROY THE ENEMY MYSELF." Omega said.
"You'll get your shot I'm sure." Rouge assured him. "For now just keep doing what you're doing."
"...VERY WELL."
Shadow put the chatter of the others coordinating rescue efforts to the back of his thoughts. He knew the body snatcher was gaining. With an extra burst of speed he took them outside the city limits and to an unpopulated area. In order for Shadow to feel safe about leaving the unstable hedgehog alone though he wanted them as far from civilization as possible.
"Stop running!" Came the angry shout of Super.
Shadow swiveled an ear back to better track his pursuer since he couldn't dare risk looking back. As the open landscape transitioned into trees the sounds of something crashing through the growth joined the other noises of angry grumbling and the buzz of chaos energy.
Without looking he shot a chaos spear back. If he managed to land it perhaps it would slow the other down. Based on the louder noses Shadow was sure he'd hit. Though the slight distance gained from that maneuver wouldn't last long.
Shadow decided to focus fully on moving forward. As Super got within distance to reach him he tensed. He could feel the chaos energy that was arching off the other's body jump to his own as the golden hedgehog reached out. "I've got it! Get out of there Shadow!"
Shadow wasted no time in warping back to the city; likely leaving an enraged hedgehog in his wake.