(Chapter Eleven! Thus begins the true beginning of this tale. And so, this chapter's a little longer than usual. Think of it as a treat. Enjoy it! ...Or try to. ;_;)
"This is the tale of a man who has yet to realize what his destiny is.
"Their old enemy Shadow reappeared in their lives.
"Amidst the suddenly intensifying battle, Sonic and Tails learned of the existence of the Helix King.
"In order to combat this as-yet-unseen foe, Sonic resolved to take the gigantic land battleship, the Great MetaFlare.
"Comrades gather.
"The stage for the final battle is set.
"And the man will realize what his destiny is."
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Let's Do It To It!
Tails could not sleep the night before the taking of the Great MetaFlare.
So much depended on him to get it right, but that was not what kept him up.
Thoughts of Sally, and what she meant to him, and what he thought he meant to her, could not escape him.
And so he laid in the cockpit of Emerl all night long, the Moon wheeling slowly by overhead.
A tapping against Emerl's canopy alerted him.
The canopy pulling back to reveal Sally alarmed him.
"S-Sally!" he cried out.
"So this is where you went," she said, smiling.
Tails bowed his head. "I couldn't sleep."
"Can't exactly say I'm surprised," she replied, leaning on the rim of Emerl. "This entire operation depends on you."
Tails shook his head slowly. "That's not what's bothering me..."
Sally pulling his face into her breasts, to protect him from the third and fourth Gizoids he'd ever seen...
Sally pressing her breasts to the back of his head, for leverage as she fired at the Gizoid behind them...
Sally's cleavage presenting itself to him when he doubted himself as ARK brutalized Freedom...
Sally's midsection being revealed by Sonic pulling up that cloak she reluctantly wore in Galahad...
Sally saying, "Maybe even... the kind of man I could end up marrying..."
Sally's cleavage presenting itself to Tails as she said, "Don't worry, Tails. I know you can do this..."
Tails could not meet Sally's eyes.
It was time.
"Sally... The thing is, I..."
And one of those fire-breathing mountains decided to roar at that moment, and Tails slammed his mouth shut in alarm.
Sally sensed his apprehension.
"Those are called volcanoes," she explained.
"Hmm?"
"Those fire-breathing mountains," she continued. "Molten rock is bubbling away inside of Möbius's crust, and comes shooting out of volcanoes from time to time. Rotor told me about it."
"They're a bit like Sonic, then, aren't they?"
"Huh?" Sally said.
"It boils away underneath until it can't be contained anymore, and then it all explodes. Sounds like him, doesn't it?"
Sally frowned a little.
"What is it?" Tails asked.
Sally strode away and gazed at the plumes of smoke emerging from the volcanoes nearby.
"Sonic said the exact same thing when I told him. 'That's just like me!', he said."
"Wow..." Tails looked down at Emerl's display.
"Here," said Sally, placing a steaming mug of coffee on Emerl's console. Tails picked it up, blowing off the steam.
"If you go into battle on an empty stomach, Emerl won't operate at full strength," she said.
Tails nodded, glancing at Sally, "Th-thanks."
He recalled one time when he and Sonic had gone all day without eating, sometime before they'd met Silver, Charmy and Cream. It was the day they'd perfected their combining technique beyond "stick Emerl in and hope for the best"; Emerl would leap over Freedom in a single bound and the two would combine with a shout of "BROTHERLY COMBINING! FREEDOM... EMERL!" Even so, Freedom Emerl nearly lost because of Sonic and Tails's hunger; the great Gizoid only just defeated the enemy. Then Sonic and Tails caught a slime-grape hippo and ate themselves sick.
Tails, in the now, was distracted by Sally, though. She seemed preoccupied about something, and it didn't help Tails's mindset out that she was leaning on Emerl again, her arms positioned in such a way as to push her breasts together.
Then she looked Tails in the eyes.
"Say, Tails..."
Tails blinked, wondering why his face was so hot all of a sudden. Was Sally... going to tell him how she felt about him?
They maintained that position for a good five seconds.
Then Sally shook her head, smiling.
"Nah, it's nothing," she said quickly, turning to leave. "Good luck, Tails."
Tails watched her walk off.
She was gonna tell me what she said in the hot springs... I know it...
Then Tails shook his head vigorously.
No! The big battle is in a few hours. Don't think about that, Tails! Concentrate on fighting... and getting something in my stomach.
Tails took a sip of the coffee...
And burned his tongue and lips.
Kukku leapt into the air in alarm at Tails's yelp, his ball becoming an exclamation point.
お前のＸＸＸで天を…
"How is it?" asked Rotor, after Sally had checked all of Nicole's features, to ensure she was in tip-top shape for this big day.
She gave Rotor a quick flash of a smile. "Thanks, Rotor. I don't think I'll be missing with this."
"It's unusual for you to let someone else handle maintenance on your rifle," he said, typing away at the computer console he'd set up inside the metal hut for this day's big mission.
"It's because we can't afford to lose today," she said. "We have to get that thing, no matter what."
"I am curious, though. You'll be using the Acorn Cannon in this battle, I assume?"
"Of course."
"So why bring Nicole with you?"
"She's there in case Acorn Cannon gets too damaged to move in the battle. With Freedom and Emerl operating separately, the battle will be more difficult, even with the Great MetaFlare grounded. We both know, Freedom and Emerl are less powerful working apart than together as Freedom Emerl."
"Their defensive power is greater when combined as well," Rotor said. "If Sonic just charges in like he usually does in Freedom Emerl, there's no telling what will happen."
"I'll be sure to keep him safe, though." She pulled Nicole over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go make sure he's not napping and get him his coffee." She shook her head, walking out of the metal hut. "I swear, he's such a pain sometimes."
Sally found Sonic outside the forest, on a plateau overlooking the dry earthen field, broken by a large crater which contained the largest Gizoid any of them had ever seen. Sonic had a plate of chili dogs beside him, and he was currently wolfing one down. No sooner did he swallow it than he began to choke.
"Here," she said, holding out a coffee mug. She gave him a weary smile. "What number was that one?"
Sonic held up all the fingers (and his thumb) on one hand, and the forefinger on the other.
"Don't you think that if you eat too much, that it'll slow you down?"
Sonic shrugged, then grabbed the coffee mug, gulped it down, and let out a large sigh as he'd chased the chili dog down with the coffee.
"Thanks, Sal," he said, facing the crater, away from Sally. "I need power. Especially today. Sal, watch my back in Acorn Cannon. I'll take out anything that comes at me from the front."
Silence fell.
"Sonic..."
He turned to face Sally...
And her lips touched his cheek.
After an eternal five seconds, she pulled back.
She was blushing.
"Sonic... your back... is a pretty big blind spot."
Sonic could only stare in comprehension at Sally.
"You...?"
Then, slowly, he embraced her, and his lips met hers.
Sally's arms reached and wrapped around Sonic's neck gently. For an eternity that lasted about nineteen seconds, only they existed in the entire universe.
Lips parted.
A smirk crossed one pair.
"Ten times over," the smirking lips said.
Sally looked into Sonic's green eyes. Did he...?
"When we get back from this battle, I'll pay that kiss back ten times over," he repeated seriously. "Mark my words."
Sally could only gaze in wonder at Sonic's declaration.
And when comprehension blasted through her swelling heart...
She laughed.
Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "What's with you all of a sudden?"
Sally smiled, blushing. "Don't you think you could phrase that a little more romantically?"
Sonic, not answering this, whipped out the tattered red cape that he had acquired from his father's burial site, and looped it around his neck. "Alright! Now, let's head out and raise a little hell!"
Sally just smiled at him. "Sonic... I'm looking forward to being repaid... ten times over."
"Sure thing, Sal!" Sonic said, sliding down an incline that led to another area of the forest.
Sally was bubbling inside. She had finally accepted the fact that she was in love with Sonic The Hedgehog, and acted on it, and it could only lead to good things for their rapport together. Some part of her had been saying that their getting together would lead to them looking out for each other more on the battlefield, and... well... now...
Sally hitched Nicole up her shoulder - she was slipping - and smiled after Sonic.
Behind her, in the bushes, Tails stared in abject horror at what he'd witnessed.
Sally heard rustling in the leaves behind her. Curious, she turned to look.
Nothing.
Sally put it down to a flying raccoon and never thought of it again.
お前ので天を…
Tails ran as fast as he could to get away from what he had just born witness to.
"Oh, Tails," said Knuckles, who was walking that way with Elias. "Good luck toda-..."
Tails bolted past them both.
"What the hell?" Knuckles said.
"Must be nerves," said Elias.
"That kid's a bundle of nerves," Knuckles grumbled. "Seems like all he does is freak about one thing or another, and look up to Sonic to fix it for him."
"He'll grow out of it someday, I'm sure," Elias shrugged.
Tails's hasty run took him past Silver, who was watching over a resting Charmy and Cream.
Silver looked after Tails in concern. "Tails...?"
At Emerl, Kukku had nodded off again, snoring on the pilot's seat.
Then Tails plopped in.
Kukku woke up with a !, then a spiral, where his ball was.
Tails curled up, and tried to drive thoughts of Sally - kissing Sonic! - out of his mind.
"It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business! It's none of my business!" He clenched either side of his head, mashing his eyes shut. "What she does... is none of my damn business!"
A few seconds later, he felt someone tapping his side.
"Leave me alone right now, Kukku," Tails muttered.
"Kukku? Who the hell do you think I am?"
Tails's heart jumped.
Looking up, he saw...
Sonic!
Tails yelped in alarm. Sonic leapt back as if he'd been electrified.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Sonic asked, slightly alarmed himself.
"N-n-nothing," Tails replied shakily.
"You're worried?" Sonic said, a warm smile on his face. "I guess it's only natural, things being the way they are."
"Y-yeah," Tails replied. He was worried, just not what Sonic thought he was worried about.
Sonic pointed at the scrap of red cape tied around Tails's left forearm. "See that, Tails?"
Tails looked down at it. "Yeah. It came off your dad's cape when you took it for your adventure."
"And you know what it means, Tails?"
"What, Sonic?"
Sonic gave a thumbs-up and a quick wink. "It means that I'm always at your side, Tails." He nodded. "So don't worry. You can do it!" He began to turn away, waving for Tails to follow. "So, let's get out there, big guy!"
"Y-yeah," Tails said, inserting his Core Drill and manipulating Emerl to follow.
ＢａｆＢａｆ！そんなに燃えるのが…好きかい
A chalkboard had been set up, showing a three-step presentation of the plan to take the Great MetaFlare. All of the Gizoid pilots - and Bean The Dynamite, the green mallard, for some reason - were present and accounted for.
"So, this is the plan we came up with!" said Sonic, explaining loudly to arouse excitement in the troops. "The Gizoid pilots will distract the normal-sized Gizoids. Then Emerl, piloted by my kid brother Tails, will seize control of that big-ass Gizoid from them. We then use the big-ass Gizoid to take out the small enemy Gizoids. At that point, the battle is ours! Everyone got it?"
"YEEEAAH!" Fists flew into the air.
"We got it!" Big cheered.
"We hit 'em and hit 'em hard!" barked Bark.
"Now, overnight, I wired up all of your Gizoids with interlinked and open communications channels," said Rotor. "I'm not sure how much all of you are into talking while fighting, but if you want to live out this battle, you'll want to maintain communication."
"Y-yeah..." Less fists in the air, and even those ones were not very thrilled.
"We make contact, then we smash!" amended Bark.
"Alright, everyone! Let's rock and roll!" Sonic shouted. "Great Freedom Fighters, move out!"
"YEEEAAH!"
ＢａｆＢａｆ！そんなに燃えるのが…好きかい
And so, the Great Freedom Fighters' Gizoid brigade began their mission to capture the Great MetaFlare and make it theirs.
"I'll leave the guarding of this place to you three!" said Knuckles, waving to Meg, Blaze and Marine from King Knuckles.
"Leave it to us, Knuckles!" shouted back Meg.
"You can do it!" returned Blaze.
"Give 'em a fair go!" cried Marine.
Then Marine pouted.
"What's wrong, Marine?" asked Meg.
"Sally gets to take on them Gizoid mates..." Then she spotted Espionaj. "And that chameleon's got a bloody seat on top of it."
"For snipers, I suppose," said Blaze.
"I'm going, too!" shouted Marine, leaping towards Espionaj.
"You don't have a Gizoid!" Meg said, pulling her back.
"It would be an honor to have a lady on board," said Espio from inside Espionaj. "But I will inform Knuckles that his youngest surrogate sister desires a Gizoid."
King Knuckles, already a fair distance away, turned and saluted Marine. "You bet I'll find one you'll like, Marine!"
Emerl passed by Silver, Charmy and Cream.
"TAILS, GOOD LUCK!" screamed Charmy at the top of his lungs.
"Good luck!" said Cream softly.
Silver and Tails exchanged nods.
Emerl caught up to Freedom, at the head of the group of Gizoids.
"This is awesome, huh, Tails?" Sonic said.
"Huh?"
"When the Freedom Fighters left Knothole Village, it was just you and me. And now, look at all these comrades we got to take on the Gizoids and Black Arms." Sonic reclined in his seat. "It's so cool!"
An image of Kukku appeared in the corner of Sonic's eye. "Chao!" he said angrily.
The image expanded, showing Tails. "Kukku says he was there, too."
Sonic chuckled. "Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout that. The Freedom Fighters were just a hedgehog, a fox, and a Chao."
Sally appeared in the corner of Sonic's other eye. He'd have to get used to that, Sally having her own Gizoid. "I was there, too, if you remember?"
"Huh?"
"I was with you two when you left your village."
"You were?"
"You don't remember?"
"Well... Either way, you weren't in the Freedom Fighters back then, Sal."
Inside the Acorn Cannon, Sally frowned.
"What are you saying?" she asked testily.
And the fellow Gizoid pilots laughed. Elias appeared in the corner of Sally's eye.
"We can hear every word, sis!" he said, chuckling.
Sally's heart was pounding, her face red. If she'd been more open towards Sonic during this little chat of theirs...
"All comm channels are open," explained a red 'SOUND ONLY' panel in Rotor's voice. "I just explained, remember?"
Knuckles smirked inside King Knuckles, "If we're this relaxed, we'll do fine. We can do this, right, Sonic?"
"You bet!" Sonic grinned, his face appearing on every Gizoid pilot's display. "Who the hell do you think I am?"
Inside Emerl, Tails's eyes were clenched shut.
Keep everything else out of your mind, Tails, he thought. Just concentrate on getting that big Gizoid!
But no matter how hard he tried not to think about Sonic & Sally kissing, the spiral-shaped meter never filled up to full...
The volcanoes rumbled ominously in the distance...
raw! raw! fight the power!
Silver bowed his head, thinking about how everyone else could do something, and he... well, he...
"What's wrong?"
Silver turned. It was Blaze.
He looked away again. "It's getting to me... Everyone's off to fight... And all I can do is stand here."
"Silver."
The white hedgehog turned; Blaze was smiling.
"You're so naïve," she said. "There are some things only you can do. You don't have to pilot a Gizoid to be useful." She took his hand, and Silver blushed; what was this feeling? "So it's okay, as long as you do what you can do the best you can."
"Like what?" Silver said. "I'd do anything to be useful!"
"I'm sure Rotor could use a hand monitoring the battle," Blaze said. "I'll look after Charmy and Cream."
"I'll go, too! I'll go, too!" cheered Charmy.
"It's alright, Charmy," said Silver, smiling at the fellow boy from Galahad Village. "I think me and Rotor can handle ourselves."
And Silver realized he was still holding Blaze's hand.
Blaze blushed and chuckled to herself a little.
Very red now, Silver let go sharply and, avoiding the Percival girl's eye, strode quickly to Rotor's metal hut.
Two minutes later, Silver was with Rotor in the metal hut, observing a computer screen Rotor had cobbled together from Gizoid computer screens after all of Freedom Emerl's scraps with enemy Gizoids.
"What's this?" asked Silver, indicating a screen showing a small figure in a large, headless figure, and a small figure inside a slightly larger, round figure. Various words and lines were moving about in bars below the two figures.
"It monitors the systems and vitals of Freedom and Emerl, and their pilots," replied Rotor. "Could you keep an eye on that?"
"Of course!" said Silver eagerly, watching the read-outs of Sonic and Tails's heartrates.
Silver narrowed his eyebrows.
Is Tails alright? he thought. He seemed anxious about something this morning...
今は準備が必要なんだよ!
Mighty, having emerged from Mighty Fists, looked through his binoculars at the great Gizoid sunken below. There were several piles of dirt that had evidently fallen onto its deck overnight, and none of the lights were on. He lowered his binoculars and said, "Okay!" into a small microphone looped around his ears, then bolted for Mighty Fists.
As soon as he gave the all-clear from inside...
"LET'S GOOO~!" shouted Sonic from Freedom.
With a mighty cheer, the Great Freedom Fighters' Gizoid brigade charged.
And a pile of dirt threw itself aside as the Gizoids came into view of the Great MetaFlare's bridge. It was a large brown cloth, and beneath it were ARK-Cronus and several other enemy Gizoids.
"We were waiting!" shouted the ARK-Cronus in Shadow's voice. "We knew you would try to ambush us!" The enemy Gizoids opened fire, lasers opened up on the Great Freedom Fighters' Gizoid brigade.
"And we were counting on that!" replied Sonic.
And large boulders crushed the two Gizoids flanking Shadow.
"Boulders?" Shadow said dumbly.
"Suck on these balls, Black Arms bastards!" Sonic shouted.
"Barbaric Möbians! Can't you at least meet me fist to fist?"
"This rock is my fist!"
ARK-Cronus sighted a boulder heading its way, and with a single, nonchalant slice of his crest-sword, cut it in half.
"A rock is a rock! It's not a fist!"
Sonic's face appeared in the corner of Shadow's eye. "What the hell's that? Stating the obvious is your idea of a defiant speech?" Sonic stuck his tongue out. "Dumbaaa~ass!"
"Are you mocking me?" asked Shadow hotly.
General Yellowzelkova appearing in Shadow's other eye. "Don't let it get to you, Shadow. It's not becoming to get upset over every little thing the inhabitants of this planet do. Their attacks won't so much as dent the Great MetaFlare!"
And with that message, broadcast to every combatant on the battlefield, ally and enemy, now finished, Syne Yellowzelkova laughed.
"Try laughing this off, you blowhard!" shouted Elias, the Eliastriker firing off several shots at the Great MetaFlare's bridge, rocking the great Gizoid.
Yellowzelkova was livid. "How dare you, filthy Möbians! Great MetaFlare, activate!"
The Great MetaFlare's eyes and teeth lit up, and its limp arms became stiff with life.
"All batteries, aim off the port bow! Send those Möbians flying!"
Eliastriker retreated, and the cliffside it was standing on was gone mere moments later.
"Catapult Arms, stand by," said Yellowzelkova, the Great MetaFlare's arms grabbing hold of a Gizoid at a time.
"Throw!"
Two at a time, the Great MetaFlare tossed four Gizoids the way of the Great Freedom Fighters, for starters.
All four were blown to smithereens by the Acorn Cannon's fire.
"Not a chance!" snarled Sally from inside, her face deadset with determination.
The Great MetaFlare was tossing a fifth. But not a sixth. This was gonna be easy...
Until Sally's shot was immediately followed by a shout of "Protect Shade!" and the enemy Gizoid produced a shield from the plating on its left forearm, deflecting the energy of her blast.
Oh.
Sally had seen that before.
ARK-Cronus was tossed into the fray.
燃えてばかりでいいのかい?
ARK-Cronus drew its crest-sword, making a beeline for Freedom, which only too gladly removed its shades to do battle as well.
Their blades clashed.
"Blue hedgehog, I will get my helmet back today!" Shadow said, his face appearing in Sonic's eye.
"You're still whining about that?" Sonic replied, wearing a weary grin. "I never thought of you as stingy."
"I could say the same to you, blue hedgehog. I noticed your Gizoid is not yellow, but silver. Where is your head? Has your fox cub brother cowered out of the fight?"
And Sonic grinned.
And gave the cue.
"NOW! Get in there, Tails!"
And far from the battlefield, every run-of-the-mill Gizoid in the Great MetaFlare's arsenal occupied with the Great Freedom Fighters' Gizoids, the cliff wall beside the Great MetaFlare burst open, a small yellow Gizoid emerging from a drilled tunnel, a drill where its legs normally were.
"General! I'm picking up an enemy overhead!" said the Black Arms on reconnaisance duty on the Great MetaFlare's bridge.
"Shoot him down!" Yellowzelkova replied.
"We have a blind spot overhead, sir! Our flak curtain does not completely cover us!"
"Very well... I will try something using fighting spirit!" And Yellowzelkova's eyes and fists glowed a yellowish-green.
Sonic's grinning face appeared on the Great MetaFlare's main monitor.
"Sorry, pal, but we have the edge in spirit! GET IN THERE, TAILS!"
And the air of the battlefield was split with Tails's cry of:
"EMERL IMPACT!"
And emerald light filled the bridge of Great MetaFlare as Emerl's drill plunged through the great Gizoid's observation tower, destroying it effortlessly, plunging into the Great MetaFlare's command center, General Yellowzelkova diving out of the way just in time to avoid having a large drill driven through his head.
"That was close!" Yellowzelkova breathed, going pale-green.
"General Yellowzelkova!" said the reconnaissance officer. "You're in danger here! You should find somewhere else to go!"
From outside, a green twister of energy emerged from the peak of the Great MetaFlare's torso, its eyes brimming over with emerald light. All batteries ceased fire, and the Catapult Arms stopped tossing Gizoids into the battle.
"What have you done?" asked Shadow, more than a little fearfully.
"We combined 'em!" Sonic replied, grinning widely. "We combined our Emerl with that behemoth of yours!"
"What?"
"That big-ass thing is ours now!"
"Damn you, blue hedgehog!" snarled Shadow, trying to hide his abject terror with rage. "You set us up!"
Sonic dodged the incoming slice, as fast as lightning...
"Yeah, that I did!"
And returned it. Shadow barely avoided it.
"I put all of our luck, and our mettle, to the ultimate test!"
And Freedom began to push ARK-Cronus back. Shadow had to backwheel rapidly, because without ARK-Cronus's crest in place, he was directly exposed to the battle, and the blue hedgehog was attacking too quickly to give him an opportunity to return it.
"How did he get so good so quickly?" he asked aloud. This battle was quickly turning into a fiasco.
Perhaps the Helix King would execute him personally for this.
He shuddered at the thought.
A Gizoid emerged behind Freedom, raising a club and attempting to smash it...
But Acorn Cannon blasted it to scrap. Then blasted the scraps.
Sonic smirked at Sally's face in his right eye. "Not bad, Sal!"
"I gave you my word," Sally replied, a small smile on her face, a fire in her blue eyes. "I'm watching your back, so you can take on Shadow without worrying!"
"Those two are quite a match for each other, aren't they?" asked Espio, making Espionaj bound over an enemy Gizoid. It turned to follow him.
"Yeah, but they can't match the Chaotix Brothers!" said Mighty, as Mighty Fists's twin pistols blasted holes in the Gizoid Espio had distracted.
Elsewhere on the battlefield...
Knuckles had spotted a Gizoid that vaguely reminded him of people from Marine's village whom she had referred to as 'koalas'.
He figured she would like it.
So King Knuckles grabbed the Gizoid and pried open its jaws.
"Get out," he said simply to the Black Arms inside. "This is Great Freedom Fighters property now."
The Black Arms hopped out.
Knuckles savored his victory...
Then cannonfire from Great MetaFlare vaporized the Black Arms he'd just ousted, and sent King Knuckles and the newly-captured Gizoid flying.
"Hey! What the hell, Tails?" asked Knuckles.
Tails looked harried on his display.
"I'm sorry! I can't control it very well, for some reason!" he said, wiping sweat from his digging goggles.
お前ら全員燃えてしまえっ！！！
"Sounds like the combining isn't going smoothly," said Rotor nervously. "Tails can't completely synch up with the Great MetaFlare's systems, and it's firing wildly on friend and enemy alike."
"I wonder if Tails is worried about something...?" Silver asked.
Rotor did a double-take, looking at Silver. Silver pointed to Tails's read-outs. His mental patterns seemed to indicate agitation.
"You said that Emerl's systems depend on Tails's mental energy, right? He seemed anxious this morning, just before the meeting. I think Tails can't concentrate on just getting control of that thing."
シン・イエローゼルコヴァ
Syne Yellowzelkova strode angrily down a corridor he had seldom used before. But now, with the ownership of his Great MetaFlare in jeopardy, drastic measures were necessary.
The ex-reconnaissance officer caught up to Yellowzelkova.
"Can't you take back control of this thing?" he snarled.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but all systems are locked."
"As I thought. It's the work of that miniature Gizoid that they're using. I've seen it before. There's only one way I can take my Great MetaFlare back..."
At the end of the corridor, in the depths of the Great MetaFlare, Syne Yellowzelkova of the Four Helix Generals opened a dark door emblazoned with an impossibly large tree entangling its roots in a planet, and strode in.
"I will go tear him loose myself, in my Baihuu!"
Before him, towering into the darkness, holding a hammer half its size, was a bulky horned silhouette...
歯ァっ食いしばれえええっ！！！
Sonic didn't look happy, and that's why Tails was frantically shaking Emerl's controls, trying to force control of the Great MetaFlare into his hands, but Sally's lips pressed against Sonic's drove him to distraction.
"What's the matter, Tails? Why ain't it working?" Sonic shouted.
"I'm trying! I'm trying my best, but..."
Sally kissed Sonic.
Sonic.
Not me.
"Why? WHY IS THAT KEEPING ME FROM CONCENTRATING? GODDAMN IT!"
Shadow smirked in Sonic's left eye. "You blew it in your endgame, blue hedgehog."
ARK-Cronus waved its hand to its Gizoid comrades. "Ignore the small fry!" Shadow ordered. "Everyone, return to the Great MetaFlare!"
And he leapt to join them...
And was pinned by Freedom's shades.
"You're not going anywhere!" Sonic shouted, spinning Freedom to face his comrades. "You guys keep those Gizoids pinned down! I'll see what I can do about Tails!"
"YEAH!" shouted his friends.
And so Freedom dove into the crater containing the Great MetaFlare, landing hard against its prow, pulling itself up rapidly, scrambling across the deck, leaping up the great Gizoid's face to the plateau on top of its torso, opening up its mouth to allow its spiny blue pilot to scramble across to the small yellow Gizoid impaled in the Great MetaFlare's head, Sonic rolling into a ball and bouncing over Emerl's crest, landing on top of the canopy with a
THUMP
Tails looked up in alarm, and saw Sonic plastered against Emerl's canopy, pulling his right arm back.
"Open the canopy, Tails!" Sonic shouted.
In his fright, Tails didn't need to be told twice.
Sonic curled up his right hand into a fist.
Tails's heart stopped.
"Now, grit your TEETH!"
And Sonic.
Punched.
Out.
Tails.
Who fell back into his seat, his left cheek bruised and swollen now.
"Sonic...?" Tails asked, tears stinging in his eyes.
Sonic only smirked.
"Have you snapped out of it?" he asked. "If you ever start to doubt yourself, I'll always be there to belt you one. So don't worry; I'm on your side, big guy!" Sonic pointed a thumb at himself. "You'll be able to get things done your own way; I know it. Just believe in yourself. Believe in the Tails that I believe in!" He pointed that thumb's hand's forefinger at Tails.
Tails stared at Sonic in fright and confusion. He believes in me... But... He kissed Sally... And...
No. I won't think about that anymore. I can't think about Sally like that anymore. Sonic punched me for that.
So, just believe in myself. I will believe in myself! Sonic believes in me! I'll believe in that me!
"You got it!"
And, for the first time all day, Emerl's spiral meter maxed out.
raw! raw! fight the power!
As soon as they heard those three words from Tails, Tails's mental waves focused, and the graph showing the Great MetaFlare lit up brightly.
"Amazing...!" Silver breathed.
Rotor smiled widely, talking into his mic. "You're doing a great job, Tails! Keep it up! Just a little more, and the day is ours!"
raw! raw! fight the power!
Hearing Rotor's words, Sonic smirked at a plan that came together, and leapt into Freedom's cockpit again. Sonic took the controls, leaping Freedom down to the Great MetaFlare's deck.
He looked back up at the steady green gleam of the Great MetaFlare's eyes. He grinned, putting on his shades.
"See, you can really do it on your own, Tails." He turned Freedom around. "Okay now! Let's do it to-...!"
And in a flash of red and yellow light, everything changed.
A flash of red and yellow that could be seen from the peak of the Great MetaFlare, making Tails fearful...
And from the battlefield, making Sally glance at the source in denial...
The double-helix of red and yellow energies tore open a gash in the deck below Freedom, tearing straight through the Gizoid's face and out its top.
Inside, Sonic screamed in surprise and pain, his red shades shattering and his blood boiling at the energy that was tearing through him.
Freedom was carried up into the air on that spear of energy... And the resulting explosion nearly tore Freedom in half.
"SONIC! NO WAY!" Tails screamed.
"SONIC!" Sally shrieked through her comm channel.
A dreadful laugh echoed through the battlefield...
And a bulky yellow Gizoid with dark-green highlights, larger than any yet seen other than the Great MetaFlare, tore itself out of the hole blasted through the Great MetaFlare's deck. Strangely, it had no face on its chest - only a green orb - and the face on its head looked more a green visor above a grill than a face, a smaller green orb glinting over the visor. Large yellow horns jutted out to either side of its head. It wore a dark-green cape, and carried a large golden hammer which even now materialized a pair of golden axe blades over its dual hammer heads.
シン・イエローゼルコヴァ専用カスタムギゾイド
バイホゥウ
Syne Yellowzelkova's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid
Baihuu
"I will not surrender my Great MetaFlare to you so easily!" it snarled in Yellowzelkova's voice.
Sonic's heart pounded rapidly in Freedom. "Yellowzelkova? I forgo-..."
Freedom's shades smashed into its own Gizoid's back, knocking it aside. ARK-Cronus leapt in as the shades impaled in the deck.
"You forgot these," said Shadow savagely. "You can have them back."
"You son of a..."
Baihuu raised its golden hammer-axe.
"GOD AND DEVIL!" Another twin blast of yellow and red energy from the pike emerged from the tip of the hammer's handle, tearing Freedom's right leg off. The heroic Gizoid fell to its knee, Sonic gasping in shock and pain.
"You're a tenacious Möbian, I'll give you that," growled Yellowzelkova, inside Baihuu.
ARK-Cronus grabbed Freedom by the arm and - with a great heft that almost tore Freedom's left arm out of its socket - hurled the Gizoid into the air over the Great MetaFlare.
"But now..." snarled Yellowzelkova. "With this... IT'S OVER!"
Baihuu launched itself up and over Freedom, pointing the pike at the tip of his hammer down at Freedom, and dive-bombed.
"GOLDION... HAMMERRRRR!" Yellowzelkova roared.
The pike drove into Freedom's back, carrying it down to the surface of the crater, just beside the great Gizoid that Freedom's pilot had endeavored to make his own...
And when Freedom landed, the great weight of Baihuu's Goldion Hammer drove the pike through the armor and into the cockpit.
Sonic's horrible screams echoed loudly through the open comm channels to every Gizoid pilot amongst the Great Freedom Fighters.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Sally's heart broke in two. "It can't be..." she whispered, mortified.
Knuckles couldn't comprehend that this was happening.
Mighty and Espio were dumbfounded.
Big and Bark gaped in disbelief.
Lobo was speechless with shock.
死
Inside the metal hut, the readings of the vitals of Freedom's pilot went dark and silent.
Rotor and Silver went white.
"No..." they breathed.
つづく
To be continued...
次回予告
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Listen, Tails. Never forget.
Believe in yourself.
Not in the you who believes in me.
Not in the me who believes in you.
Believe in the you...
Who believes in you!
Next time on Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl...