(Chapter Thirteen. That is an unlucky number, there.
Who here who didn't watch the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was shocked by the last chapter? I'm sure some of you were.
Anyway, on with the show...)
ARK-Cronus, one of its legs limping badly as a result of that horrendous landing it took after the Great MetaFlare sent it flying, finally collapsed amongst the sooty mud.
Inside, Shadow was no less exhausted.
"Two days," he growled. "Two days of travel to get back here. No food, no rest... The Helix King will likely slay me on sight if I do not give a full report on what transpired here." He grabbed the controls. "Get up, ARK-Cronus. Get up!"
And then, as Shadow forced the controls as hard as he could, something bizarre happened.
Some of ARK-Cronus's cracked armor plating glowed a very faint green. It would have not been noticable at all had the sun not been completely blocked by the smoke of the volcanoes and the raining clouds. When the glow passed, the cracks had become shallower.
What was that? Shadow thought. Was that... fighting spirit? Like the blue hedgehog's?
Shadow was suddenly re-energized.
I have to find the General! The blue hedgehog is a crafty one; he could have survived that surprise attack. I have to...
And ARK-Cronus stumbled upon a large golden hammer that, because of its master's loss, had no axe blades emerging from either hammer head, nor a large pike emerging from the handle. A robotic black hand attached to a yellow forearm held it in its last vice-grip.
Metal shrapnel littered the ground nearby.
"General..."
And Shadow realized.
Yellowzelkova was dead.
ARK-Cronus took Baihuu's severed arm and the Goldion Hammer - no small feat; the Goldion Hammer alone was weightier by far than Shadow's Gizoid - and changed course for the Royal Capital.
Had he looked not a hundred feet further in his previous course, he would have spotted a sheathed katana impaled into a mound of dirt, a tattered red cape tied to the handle...
シャドウ
Five days later, Shadow stood in a room which many a Black Arms had only dreamed of entering, if only because of some epic act of heroism in keeping a group of Möbians underground. However, the Helix King did not summon any Black Arms for congratulations; Shadow had destroyed countless surface villages in the past, had served honorably for nigh on fifty years now, and he had never so much as seen the Helix King. And he did not stand in here because he had been particularly efficient in preventing this planet's inhabitants from coming to the surface.
He came to say that one of the original five who first secured this planet was killed in battle.
It had taken a fair bit of persuasion to allow his ARK-Cronus into the throne room in the state it was in, but when he presented the Goldion Hammer and Baihuu's severed forearm, the Helix King summoned him immediately, as well as the remaining three Helix Generals.
Even in his current state, even as he stood in fear of death at the hands of the Helix King himself, Shadow found the room he was in quite impressive. A large, circular room with a spiral pattern branching out from the center where it formed the edge of a spiralling dais leading up to a tall throne which featured a double-helical decal along the front and back. The Moon shone down overhead through a circular window from the room that was a tower in and of itself in the Royal Capital, and Shadow somehow felt like the Moon was watching him.
王都グリーンゲート
謁見の間
Royal Capital of Greengate
Audience Chamber
And there, seated at his throne, was the Helix King himself. Draped around him were at least a half a dozen women of various different species, only a couple of whom looked like they were a genetic match for the Helix King. At least, they had flowers growing out of their heads. Every one of the women had a look of absolute pleasure on her face, as though anyone in the world would kill to be in her position: in the care of the supreme ruler of the world, a position that likely had enormous sexual benefits for themselves as well as the Helix King.
As for the Helix King himself, he was clearly a being from another world, as were the Four Helix Generals who were now reduced to three. The Helix King had dull-purple skin, dark-purple hair that went down to the middle of his back, dull-pink horns that resembled thorns emerging from either side of his head, and dark-green eyes. He wore nothing save for a black jacket with red trim, and he rested his tail lazily over one of his throne's armrests, leaning his head on his right fist as though he had better things to do with his time.
螺旋王ルクス・ダークオーク
Helix King Lucus Darkoak
And the Helix King, Lucus Darkoak, spoke:
"So, Syne is dead?" he said dully.
"Yes, sire," said Shadow. "He was slain battling a band of Möbians who came to the surface. They have also taken the Great MetaFlare."
One of the remaining Helix Generals spoke. He and the Helix King - and all of the Generals, for that matter - were of the same alien race. This one, who projected an aura of tremendous self-admiration, had yellow skin and pale-green hair, yellow thorn-horns, wearing only a green jacket with blue trim. His blue eyes were currently cast on Shadow with contempt.
螺旋四天王のサラシン・ブラックナルキッソス
Salasine Blacknarcissus of the Four Helix Generals
"Yellowzelkova was a mental invalid, but still..." General Blacknarcissus muttered. "One of the original five dead is a grave matter, whatever way you slice it. And you were tasked with defending him, were you not, Black Arms?"
"I did my best, sir," Shadow said, trying to keep his temper around the Helix King and his Generals.
The next to speak was one who clearly had curried a lot of favor with the Helix King, as both remaining Generals turned to face him when he spoke, and even the Helix King sat a little more upright.
This General had very white skin and long dark-brown hair, pale-brown thorns on either side of his head, dark eyes, and he wore a yellow jacket with red trim. His arms were folded, and his tail resting on the floor.
螺旋四天王のノニン・ペールベイリーフ
Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf of the Four Helix Generals
"Even so," said General Pale-Bayleaf, "Whether or not he was tasked with watching Yellowzelkova's back, the fact of the matter is is that there has arisen a force on Möbius which could threaten our goal here. Let it not be forgotten that even the smallest weed can threaten the garden if left in ignorance." He faced the Helix King. "I suggest that the remaining three Generals and their Meta-Gizoids mobilize and overwhelm this pitiful rebel band. They only have the Great MetaFlare, while we have the-..."
"No! I must the one to take down the Möbians who killed Syne!" cried out the last of the Generals, drawing all attention (except for that of the Helix King's concubines) to him.
He had pale-brown skin with blood-red hair, dull-red thorns on his head, and bright green eyes. His jacket was purple with green trim, and his tail was thrashing this way and that.
螺旋四天王のウンデニン・レッドパイン
Undenine Redpine of the Four Helix Generals
"Syne was always my strongest friend," General Redpine said impassionately. "I ask - no, I beg - that you give me the opportunity to avenge his death, Helix King Darkoak!"
"Redpine, it is said that seeds of the same branch will be found in the same area," stated General Pale-Bayleaf. "Yellowzelkova favored brute force over strategy, and in all of our time as Helix Generals, you have never given me reason to suspect that you are different."
"Gnonine..." growled General Redpine.
"And, do not pretend this is just revenge for the death of a friend, Undenine," sneered General Blacknarcissus. "We all know that he wasn't enough of a man for you."
"Shut up, Salasine!" shouted General Redpine. "It was never like that. It just so happens that I saved his life before, and now with him dead, his debt to me is unpaid!"
"I... didn't know that..." Shadow muttered to himself.
Redpine heard him.
And forced him against ARK-Cronus's foot.
"And you were there!" Redpine growled. "You were there! You could have made sure that he lived!"
"I... tried, General," Shadow groaned, trying to look General Redpine in the eye, "But... the Great MetaFlare... flung me away... and... the blue hedgehog..."
"Blue hedgehog?" Redpine forced Shadow still further into ARK-Cronus's foot. "What do you mean?"
"A... blue... hedgehog... in a Gizoid... that he stole... the leader... of the resistance... most likely... he killed... General... Yellowzelkova..."
Redpine glared at the hedgehog-shaped Black Arms for a few more seconds, before roughly shoving him out of his grasp.
"Go back to your den," General Redpine grumbled at Shadow.
Shadow propped himself up on ARK-Cronus's foot, maintaining a level stare at the Helix General who had just assaulted him.
"I repeat my plea, Helix King!" pleaded Redpine. "I wish to set out alone with my personal Gizoids and be given an opportunity to avenge Syne's death and let him rest in peace!"
"I hear your plea, Redpine," droned Helix King Darkoak, "And I approve. You will depart in twenty-four hours."
Redpine bowed deeply.
"Thank you, my friend," he stood up, smiling in a gratified manner. "I, Undenine Redpine, shall also give these Möbians a taste of the power of the Helix King!"
"General..."
General Redpine glared daggers at Shadow. "What, Black Arms?"
"Failing General Yellowzelkova was the greatest blunder of my life," he said, never breaking eye contact. Never do that when asking a favor of a superior. That was what he was taught. "That is why I ask you if-..."
BAM
Shadow wiped the blood away from his lip, looking up at General Redpine. "G-General?"
Redpine lifted Shadow up by the scruff of his chest, pulling a fist back.
"Go on," said Redpine savagely. "I'm listening."
Shadow hesitantly began, "When... you set out against-... UGH! ...against the Mö-... UGH! ...Möbian scum-... UGH! ...let me-... UGH! ...accompany-... UGH! ...you-... UGH!"
And every time Shadow got so much as a word out, General Redpine punched him in the face. Shadow did not retaliate. Undenine Redpine was a superior, and Shadow still had some scraps of honor that he wanted to hold on to.
Finally, General Redpine threw Shadow to the ground again.
"You have no place in my vendetta, Black Arms," he rumbled. "I will avenge Syne alone."
With one last glare at Shadow, General Redpine pressed a hidden button on his jacket's sleeve and vanished in a burst of water which disappeared with him.
Generals Pale-Bayleaf and Blacknarcissus glared at the spot which General Redpine once occupied.
"You do not approve, Gnonine, Salasine?" asked the Helix King.
"Sire, I have made my apprehension quite clear to Undenine," General Pale-Bayleaf replied. "This is worse than we have ever seen in our time on this world. Seasonal change usually brings more Möbians to the surface, but this is potentially disastrous. It will require calm, swift planning to bring this rebellion to its knees, not rash, brutish action. You witnessed General Redpine's treatment of this Black Arms commander. It is despicable. It is my sincerest hope that he fails in his endeavor."
"I, naturally, concur with the wisest course of action," added General Blacknarcissus. "But this blue hedgehog that this Black Arms, Shadow, has mentioned concerns me... He is a clever fellow, is he not, Black Arms?" He looked on Shadow with disgust. Given Redpine's treatment, it wasn't surprising.
"Very, General," Shadow said, wiping blood from his lip. "He has a fox cub brother, whom he claims was the one who planned out the plan to pin the Great MetaFlare down the day before it was taken, but he is not worth worrying over. I can surmise, though, that somehow the blue hedgehog survived General Yellowzelkova's finishing move, and that he himself finished the General off. He is the hub of their resistance, which they call the 'Freedom Fighters'. Kill him, and the group flies apart."
General Blacknarcissus nodded, averting his eyes from Shadow quickly.
"Very well," muttered the Helix King. "Your opinions are very valid, and I too expect Undenine to find that the Möbians are a cleverer bunch than he surmises. Although his victory would not be frowned upon, a lesson needs to made to these Möbians: that disobedience will be met with harsh retribution. You are dismissed."
"Yes, sire," said General Blacknarcissus, as a twister appeared around him, and he vanished to somewhere else in the Capital.
"Come, Commander," said General Pale-Bayleaf, taking Shadow's arm firmly. "You need some rest. I will take you to your den."
And in a rocky tomb, General Pale-Bayleaf and Commander Shadow disappeared.
The Helix King and his concubines were alone.
Standing from his throne, leaving his concubines to their libidinous fantasies of him, he strode down the spiraling dais around his throne, standing where his three last friends stood, while one of them lost himself to rage on one of his finest soldiers. He looked up at the Black Arms Shadow's Gizoid, and at the arm of Syne's Gizoid Baihuu, and the Goldion Hammer still held in its grasp...
And, finally, Lucus Darkoak's gaze drifted up to the glowing disc in the night sky.
"They strive for the heavens, even though the only destiny awaiting them is death," he murmured. "It's enough to make me despair... at the nature of the natives of this planet Möbius."
絶対的絶望
A week since they had taken the Great MetaFlare, and the Gizoid attacks still didn't let up.
Nor did the rain.
Not all of the enemy Gizoids that the Great MetaFlare held were destroyed on the day it was taken by the Freedom Fighters. Many of them had fled, and were now operating in guerilla warfare campaigns, day and night, to attempt to take it back.
And this latest attack...
In all honesty, Knuckles never wanted to see the inside of Freedom's cockpit for the rest of his life, let alone riding in it, never mind actually piloting the damned thing. He could not stop imagining Sonic's body, damn near cloven in two, up to his ankles in his own blood... Freedom's cockpit still carried the stench of death, Knuckles swore to himself. But this was a war, and Knuckles had to push his grief at his rival's death to the back of his mind.
Tails couldn't pilot Freedom Emerl alone, after all; Knuckles was practically unaffected by Sonic's death by comparison.
"Alright, let's go!" growled Knuckles eagerly. This was just a single Gizoid, so this would be an easy-...
"No," said the dark screen from Emerl's channel, reading "TAILS - SOUND ONLY". The voice was flat, and angry, and only the name on the screen let Knuckles know who it was.
"What?" Knuckles said numbly.
"I'll handle this," Tails droned.
And Knuckles ended up getting a ride in Freedom Emerl anyway.
Drills emerged in a flash of green light from every joint in Freedom Emerl's body.
The sole enemy Gizoid charged.
Freedom Emerl put its fists into either one of its eyes.
The Gizoid's mouth opened, and a Black Arms leapt out just as Freedom Emerl's drills vanished in a burst of green light...
And twin drills, each the size of Freedom Emerl, tore the Gizoid to pieces. Summarily, the Gizoid exploded.
The Black Arms cowered in fear, and tried to run.
Freedom Emerl picked it up.
"You aren't getting away," Emerl droned; if the Black Arms wasn't mistaken, this Gizoid could have been operating without a pilot.
Freedom's mouth moved in time to Knuckles's frantic tones, "Tails, this is taking it too far! He can't do anything! Don't-..."
SQUISH
The Black Arms's head fell into a deep, muddy pool.
Inside Emerl, Tails's face was still blank with shock, his eyes empty of life and hope.
The falling raindrops were still like tears on Emerl's face.
Behind the path the former Great MetaFlare had followed for a week, a trail of Gizoid shells and bloody Black Arms corpses led from the gravesite of a hero.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Meta-Gizoid once known as the Great MetaFlare trudged through the mud. The Freedom Fighters' flag, which flew over the forest just over a week before when their Gizoid brigade arrived, now flew just behind the main engine, flapping feebly in the storm.
Inside the vessel, specifically inside its main kitchen, a pale-purple cat named Blaze, from Percival Village, and an orange raccoon named Marine, from Windmill Village, listlessly peeled potatoes for dinner.
"It's been seven days," Blaze said spiritlessly, "And it hasn't stopped raining since..."
"Ow!" Marine had cut one of her fingers. Again.
Blaze pulled out a band-aid from a small box she kept on hand in the kitchen now and applied it to Marine's hand. Marine had stopped wearing her gloves, for the ease of Blaze's inevitable bandaging of her cuts. In all the time that Blaze knew Marine, the raccoon girl got clumsy when she was down, and her hand now had at least nine bandages on it.
Marine offered Blaze a very weak smile - no one felt right smiling anymore - and went back to peeling her potato...
And quickly lost her spirit. She stared glumly at her hands in her lap.
"I still can't believe it..." Marine mumbled.
Blaze couldn't meet her surrogate sister's eye.
"Me, neither..." she said languidly. "It's like when we lost our villages..."
The Percival girl heard a sniffle.
Over at the door, Charmy and Cream had tears in their eyes as well.
She beckoned them over. Charmy and Cream dove into her arms, tears streaming out of their eyes.
"I miss him, too," Blaze said gently, tears of her own falling free.
"Why did Mr. Sonic have to go, Ms. Blaze?" Cream wailed.
"Nothing seems fun anymore!" cried Charmy.
"I feel the same, kids," Blaze told them. "I wish... he could come back, too."
テイルス
Not for the first time that week, the former Great MetaFlare ground to a halt, one of its feet sinking into the mud.
On the bridge, Chris, a human man from Acorn Village who accompanied Elias, called out, "What just happened?"
Bunnie looked up from the engine room read-out, "Looks lahk the en-jin just 'bout conked out on uhs, Elahh-iss."
Elias sighed, turning to Rotor. "Rotor?"
"Gotcha. Engine room."
They entered the elevator to the Gizoid hangar, to reach the elevator that led to the engine room.
And the Super Marine - the koala-like Gizoid that Knuckles had stolen for Marine - flew against the wall opposite them. Eliastriker faced it.
Super Marine's mouth opened, and Meg staggered out, rubbing her head. "Oww..."
Eliastriker's mouth opened, and Silver jumped out. "Are you alright, Ms. Meg?"
Meg waved a hand casually. "I'm fine. But that was a good hit there, Silver."
"I'm sorry. I don't want to be useless around here, but I can't seem to get the hang of power distribution."
Elias and Rotor stepped into the conversation. "Well, that was a good hit, Silver," said Rotor.
"Mr. Elias. Mr. Rotor," Silver seemed only mildly surprised to see them. "Are you going down the engine room again?"
"I didn't even notice we stopped," Meg said, looking around.
"She's a temperamental one, this Great Freedom," Elias said.
"'Great Freedom', huh?" Rotor asked.
"Sally insisted we give it that name," Elias said lowly. "And I gotta say, it's kinda fitting. It's got enough living quarters to house a team ten times the size of the Great Freedom Fighters, it's got a workshop to repair the Gizoids - even Freedom is as good as new after that pounding it took last week - it's even got the ability to repair itself a few days after it's been damaged..."
"Now, if we can do something about the unstable engine output..." Rotor added.
Elias shrugged, "Well, we'll work that out eventually, but right now, I can safely say that this is an awesome vessel."
Then shouts came drifting back from the corridor.
"Grow up, Tails! If you're gonna be upset, at least don't get all mopey around other people!" came Knuckles's gruff tones.
Rotor looked into the corridor sadly, "It seems the only thing the Great Freedom can't fix is a broken heart."
モグラはモグラのままなのか?
"...And besides, you're not the only one in Freedom Emerl!" Knuckles shouted at Tails. "Piloting Freedom Emerl is all about teamwork, not taking control for yourself and killing helpless creatures!"
Tails refused to look at Knuckles. "It's not like anyone asked you to pilot Freedom," he said bitterly. "It's not like anyone asked anyone to pilot Freedom."
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "So, you're saying that you do this alone." It wasn't a question.
Tails looked up at Knuckles; there was no light in his eyes, and his cheeks were hollow with malnutrition. "Yeah. That would be better. Piloting alone."
Knuckles grit his teeth. "Don't get all high and mighty just because we got this big-ass Gizoid, you little two-tailed brat!" He grabbed Tails by the collar of his jacket and lifted him into the air. "'Cause if you'd held your act together, Sonic wouldn't be dead right now!"
Tails's eyes widened and his jaw went slack.
"That's enough, Knuckles!"
Meg had her arms on her hips, and Elias, Rotor, and Silver were all behind her, all giving Knuckles looks of disapproval.
Knuckles brought Tails to the ground, facing away from the scene, his head bowed.
"I'm sorry about that, Tails. Knuckles is hurt more by this than he's letting on," Meg said.
"No, I'm not!" said Knuckles, his voice wavering.
"You don't have to apologize. What Knuckles said is true," Tails said, his head down, hands in his pockets, walking slowly past Meg. "I killed Sonic." At this statement, everyone gave Tails a significant, even alarmed look. "So I'll get tougher. I have to. I'll become like Sonic and pull his weight for him."
Then Tails stopped in front of Silver.
And fixed him with a glare.
"Silver, why didn't that god of yours save my big brother?" Then a mad grin came over Tails's face. "Oh, I forgot! The god you pray to is a Gizoid! No wonder Sonic died! I mean, after all, it was a god that killed him! So the gods should be the next ones to die!"
"Tails," Elias said firmly, putting a hand on Tails's shoulder. Tails was upset, but lashing out at people who meant him no ill will was no way to cope.
"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for," Tails said, shuffling away like his limbs were made of lead. "All I do is let people down. I'll be in my room."
Elias stared after Tails with a sad look. He didn't mean to drive Tails deeper into despair, but things were sullen enough on the Great Freedom as it was without Tails snapping at everyone.
I'm sorry, Tails, but this is a war, and you gotta expect people to die, he thought. Sonic was a great guy, but... when you go on the battlefield, you're intrinsically putting your life on the line.
Meanwhile...
Tails had reached his room. He had not brought any lights into the room, and it was only because each room had a bed in it already that he had one. He would have been fine sleeping on the floor; it wouldn't be any different than back in Knothole Village.
Everyone thought he was a freak back there, too.
Except Kukku and Sonic.
But Kukku was a Chao, and didn't know any better.
And Sonic...
Knuckles was right; he'd killed Sonic. Tails didn't drive the Goldion Hammer into his big brother, but he did fixate on Sally kissing him when he should have been concentrating on taking control of the Great MetaFlare.
And then, when Sonic leapt in to snap Tails out of it...
Tails had inherited Sonic's wish: to destroy the Black Arms.
And Tails wouldn't eat or sleep until he'd destroyed them all, or until...
Until...
Kukku looked up from Tails's bed, looking worried at Tails's condition.
Tails just fell onto his bed.
"I'm sorry, Kukku... I'm just so... tired."
And the last word Tails said before he passed out from exhaustion was, "Sonic..."
お前のXXXで…
"It's gotta be Knuckles or nobody," Vector grumbled, leaning back in the dining hall.
"He is the only one who is really qualified to lead the group," Espio said, nodding in agreement.
"We shouldn't depend on Tails to lead us, even if he was taken in by Sonic," Mighty added. "All he's doing is moping around."
"Just because he can pilot Emerl doesn't mean he should be the leader," said Espio, looking their way.
Vector put out his cigarette, "If a blue kid like that is made leader, the Freedom Fighters are history."
SLAM
That squirrel girl that Sonic had picked up slammed a tray full of food on the table.
"The Great Freedom Fighters!" she said hotly. Then she gave them a withering glare. "You were there when he said it, weren't you? Or did you forget it because he's..." She closed her eyes for a second, then resumed her glare. "It's not the Freedom Fighters, you idiots. It's the Great! Freedom! Fighters!"
Vector, Mighty, and Espio gave her mingled looks of alarm and annoyance.
"Of course we were there, miss," snapped Vector.
"We just forgot," said Mighty simply.
"We apologize most sincerely," added Espio.
But as they wandered off, Sally heard Vector saying something about a 'stuck-up bitch'.
She ignored it.
She had enough enemies.
"Don't eat yourself sick, Sal," said Elias ruefully, sitting down with a much more modest meal.
Sally kept shoveling food into her mouth. "I have to keep my energy up. Otherwise, I won't fire straight with Nicole, or pilot Acorn Cannon at full power." Then she shoveled a large spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. "I mean, the Four Helix Generals, and the Helix King in the Capital... We still have a lot of enemies. The war goes on."
"That's true," Elias said, looking down at his drumstick. He felt picky eating that when Sally was practically eating enough for two.
He looked out the window next to the table. "The war continues, and so does the rain..."
"Even in the rain, I can have a hot meal right after target practice. A week ago, I wouldn't have dared to imagine it." Sally stopped eating, staring at her plate. "...And it's all thanks to him."
Elias didn't know what to say. But still...
"About Tails..." he said.
Sally froze midway through raising her spoon of potatoes and gravy.
"I think Tails is really getting worn down," he said.
"Oh. I see."
"He hasn't eaten a thing in days, and I don't think he's sleeping either. He spends hours in his room spinning that digging drill of his. He just told Silver that he's gonna kill his gods. Aren't you worried about him? Maybe you could try talking to him..."
Sally did not speak for a while. Then...
"Johnny. Cat. Hamlin. Dylan."
Each name brought back painful memories to Elias.
"We sure lost a lot of friends protecting Acorn Village, didn't we?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Sacrifices must be made for the living to live. And the people who live have to work hard to make sure their deaths weren't in vain. I've always accepted that as a part of our way of life. But... now... I don't know if I..."
Sally forced a smile. It looked difficult.
"I'm sorry. It's tough enough trying to keep myself together."
サリー・エイコーン
The water from the shower mingled with Sally's tears. She pounded her fists futily against the wall.
"You said you'd pay back that kiss ten times over," she sobbed. "Why did you have to leave me with a hole in my heart that's ten times bigger?
"Sonic, you idiot..."
お前ら全員燃えてしまえっ！！！
The next day...
On Great Freedom's bridge, Blaze had taken radar duties, seeing if there were any enemy Gizoids approaching.
It was dark as night out, but the radar's clock said that it was only 1:30 in the afternoon.
Then a bunch of red blips appeared in the north-west.
"Enemy Gizoids have been detected!" she called out. "They're approaching from the starboard bow!"
"Again?" muttered Rotor wearily.
Down in the Great Freedom Gizoid hangar...
"Tails?" Rotor's voice asked over the PA system.
"I'm gonna combine Emerl with Freedom and head out," Tails said simply, as though it was a given. "I'll be fine on my own."
"I'll pilot Freedom!" said Silver, clamboring into the Gizoid's mouth.
"We're counting on you, Silver!" said Rotor's voice.
"So, you're gonna pilot it this time, Silver?" Tails said, and Silver was given pause by the resentment in that statement.
"I've been training," Silver said defensively. "I mean, you can't do this by yourself, right?"
Tails glared at Silver for a long moment.
And finally averted his eyes, but Silver felt worse because of it; it was as though Tails didn't want to waste his contempt on him.
"Fine..." Tails muttered bitterly.
暴走
The Gizoids trudged through the mud, to reclaim their Great MetaFlare and avenge General Yellowzelkova...
When a piercing shriek split the air.
Looking up, they saw the infamous Freedom Emerl descending on them, engulfed in demonic green flames.
The Gizoids went flying when Freedom Emerl impacted.
Even before they could recover, whoever was piloting Freedom Emerl who had screamed on the way down kept at it, producing drills from its fists and driving them each into a Gizoid.
"Tails, this is overkill!" Silver called out to Tails.
"He who strikes first wins!" Tails shouted back, an insane determination in his eyes. "It's what Sonic would have done!"
Green energy began to pour from Freedom Emerl's neck.
Emergency read-outs appeared on Freedom's computer screens; from what Silver had seen from recordings of the energy read-outs when Freedom and Emerl combined, energy flowed in from Emerl and filled every sector of Freedom evenly. But according to these read-outs, with the energy randomly flowing in and out of each sector...
"The energy output is unstable!" he cried, attempting to hail Great Freedom.
Nothing.
Tails had blocked the channel.
Panic overtook Silver. He was with a young boy who'd lost his older brother and seemed to not care at all if he lived or died in battle.
Freedom Emerl was currently stomping in the face of a Gizoid that had dared trying to run. Eventually, his foot went straight through the cockpit, but Tails kept stomping.
And Silver caught wind of every one of Tails's words, uttered with each stomp.
"Fucker! Fucker! Fucker! Fucker! Fucker! Fucker! Fuck-...!"
And enemy Gizoids fired on Freedom Emerl from behind.
Silver cried out in shock.
"Don't lose it!" Tails screamed, sounding like he was failing at his own logic. "Sonic never screamed, not once!"
And Freedom Emerl took off on all fours towards the Gizoids who were firing at it.
"Tails, slow down!" Silver cried out desperately. "If you don't stop, you're gonna be the next one to die!"
In his left eye, Tails's eyes were bugging out of his head, his teeth grit together in determination.
"Sonic would never run away!" Tails yelled hoarsely. "Not Sonic! Not EVEEER!"
And Freedom Emerl descended on the Gizoids who were firing on it, green energy erupting from the crater formed on its landing.
Only one Gizoid was left now.
Inside Emerl, Tails screamed at the top of his lungs, lunging with Emerl's controls.
Nothing happened.
And Freedom Emerl froze.
On Silver's monitor, energy was building up in Emerl's drill.
And in Emerl, Tails vomited.
Emerald energy poured out of all of Freedom Emerl's joints.
"Freedom Emerl is rejecting the energy output?" Silver asked.
Then Emerl's drill pulled away from behind his head.
"The drill!" he shouted.
And Emerl separated from Freedom, Freedom reverting to its original silver color scheme, green energy continuing to pour from Emerl's joints as it tore off across the muddy landscape, leaping off a cliff into a misty valley.
"Come back here, damn you!" called out the sole remaining Gizoid, a shark-like mecha, leaping down after Tails and Emerl.
Silver was stunned.
Did Tails just...?
No. He wasn't controlling Emerl in the end. Emerl was...
But... That Gizoid that followed it...
Acorn Cannon and King Knuckles ran up to him.
"Are you okay, Silver?" Sally asked.
"What the hell was that, Silver?" asked Knuckles.
"Well, Emerl disconnected..." Silver said, pulling Freedom up and looking down into the misty valley.
"And he fell down this cliff?" Sally asked worriedly.
"He abandoned you in the face of the enemy?" Knuckles asked.
"It looked... more like Emerl had gone berserk," Silver told him.
"Berserk? You think so?"
"Yeah. Most likely."
I should have tried talking to him, Sally thought morosely. Now he could be...
"Tails..." Sally muttered.
つづく
To be continued...
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Dark, sunken eyes...
Feelings which cannot be suppressed...
This wetness striking my cheek...
Is it...
Rain?
Next time on Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl: "What, Exactly, Is A Person?"