(Chapter Twenty-one.
Yeah, Dear Sonic counts as a chapter, even without a "Chapter" heading.
I'm writing this in the time before my sister's 20th birthday party. I hope I finish it before guests start showing up...)
グリーンゲート陥落から・7年
Seven years since the fall of Greengate
新都ソニックシティ
New Capital Sonic City
王都跡に築かれたメビウス人たちの都
Möbian capital build on its ruins
A stack of papers slammed onto a desk beside one just as large.
"Oh, come on, Silver! Have a heart. As if I don't have enough to sign my name with."
"These are the complaints from the populace, Supreme Commander Prower. The sewers are backed up. The taxes are too high. The neighbors are too noisy. It's all self-centered nonsense."
"That's good, though, isn't it? At least they can complain about it without a giant robot tearing them in half."
"Hmpf."
"Something bothering you, Silver?"
"Not at all."
Chief Adviser Silver turned back from the desk in the Commander's Office at the peak of the Parliament Complex.
"There is a council meeting in half an hour," Silver said sharply. "Your attendance is mandated, Supreme Commander."
Tails gave a weary smile. "Silver, can't you call me Tails? It's not like we're strangers or anything."
Silver gave a sharp glare over his shoulder. "A precedent must be set, sir. If any of your subordinates heard me addressing you in such a familiar fashion, they would feel entitled to that as well."
"Do I look like I care?" Tails snapped, resting his feet on his desk.
"Not at all," Silver said coldly.
A ringing sound came from Silver's pocket.
Silver answered his cell phone.
"Yes?"
After a few moments, he nodded slowly.
"I understand. Are our forces closing in?"
A flicker of a smile crossed Silver's face at the reply.
"Good. Bring him in alive for his trial. And... send me a live feed."
He closed his cell phone.
"What was that?" asked Tails.
"There is an anti-government guerrilla attack in the Sandopolis Zone. The Fremerald Squadron are already en route," Silver pulled out a small holographic projector. "Here is a live feed of the action."
An image of sand and ancient skyscrapers, now long ruined, appeared over the small circular device. Explosions erupted here and there, sending shards of glass and rusted metal flying every which way.
In the middle of it all, was a six-armed Gizoid, with two faces on its chest, and a head on its shoulders. Its white paint job was long since lost, but it was still unmistakably...
"ARK-Cerberus..." Tails's heart skipped. "Shadow!" Tails gave a determined glare at Silver. "I'll join the Fremeralds in Freedom Emerl!"
"No," said Silver sharply. "Let the troops handle this. Running into battle is not your job, sir."
"But I need to finish things with him, or-..."
"You have your own job to see to, Supreme Commander!"
Gritting his teeth, Tails slumped back into his Commander's chair, furious.
Nikopol
Sand swirled in twisters as the squadron of identical pale-green mechas soared across the dunes. All had the same crown-like head on their shoulders, the same red shades on the face on their chests. The two at the lead were different, though; one was orange, and the other was the color of cream.
量産型フリーダムエメル
フレメラルド
Mass Production Freedom Emerl Models
Fremeralds
ARK-Cerberus, bearing three black swords, produced a missile silo from its shoulder. Missiles - constructed from spare materials by Shadow himself - fired on the Fremeralds. All of them dodged.
One wasn't fast enough.
The flaming wreckage hit the ground in a plume of black smoke.
"You cheap Freedom Emerl knock-offs!" ARK-Cerberus's jaws opened with the first syllable out of Shadow's mouth, then hung slack. It clearly wasn't cared for. "Where is the fox boy?"
Inside the orange Fremerald was a teenage bee boy. "The Supreme Commander isn't gonna dirty his hands on the likes of you, stripey!"
ARK-Cerberus opened up with a volley of shards of metal from the grooves on its right arms.
The orange Fremerald froze up.
And gunfire caused each shard to fly off course.
Inside the cream-colored Fremerald, which held the smoking gun, a teenage rabbit girl the same color as her mecha gave the bee boy a reprimanding glare, a tuft of brown hair falling halfway over her left eye.
"Charmy, keep your eyes on the enemy," she scolded.
The orange Fremerald saluted the cream one.
"You're as sharp a shooter as ever," Charmy's voice came from the orange mecha, "Thanks a bunch, Cream!"
And they rapidly dodged the ensuing missile fire from ARK-Cerberus. Retreating to a safe position, the two Fremeralds whipped out a pair of semi-automatic pistols each and opened fire on ARK-Cerberus.
"Protect Wall!" Shadow cried, the armor plating on each of ARK-Cerberus's left arms forming a metallic barrier which completely covered the enemy Gizoid from Fremerald fire.
In mere moments, ARK-Cerberus's Protect Wall began to spark, and the joints in its legs began to spark.
"The shield isn't holding out?" Shadow clenched the controls more tightly. "Hold out a little longer...!"
But the Protect Wall shattered, and ARK-Cerberus's chest was riddled with bullets from Charmy and Cream's rapid-fire assaults.
ARK-Cerberus fell.
Shadow worked the controls furiously, trying to push out that Spiral Power which had repaired some of ARK-Cronus's damage just before finding Baihuu's severed arm and the Goldion Hammer, but evidently the Helix King had sealed it away much more expertly than it had been when he had seen to Shadow's hatching some seventy-nine years prior. As it was, ARK-Cerberus lifted the remnants of its left arms feebly, then fell defeated.
"So you've done all you can do?" Shadow let loose the controls, leaning back in his cockpit as the Fremeralds closed in from all directions. "Thank you for putting up with my selfish behavior for so long. I'm sorry."
Minutes later, Shadow stood outside the remnants of the final Gizoid in the ARK line, handcuffs clamped around his wrists. He could easily have torn them off; although it would have entailed a good deal of scraped skin and spilled blood, his immortal body would be able to stand it. However, his escape would have been more trouble than it was worth, for even though the bee and rabbit brats were out of their Freedom Emerl knock-offs, there were at least six around him which still had their pilots in them, each one capable of grabbing its gun if he resisted.
Regrowing all that skin would be a literal pain.
Besides, if Shadow heard the more accurate rumors correctly, the Möbians were aiming for the Moon soon. His further resistance would mean nothing; these Möbians would have to learn the nature of the universe the hard way.
The bee boy held a holographic projector, which projected a blue, slightly fuzzy image of the "Supreme Commander".
Miles "Tails" Prower.
Time had suited him well. He was tall and thin now, his twin tails thick and bushy. His eyes, as blue as ever, were narrowed in the sort of irritance one sees on the face of a housekeeper who has spotted a particularly irksome-looking insect.
"Shadow," he said dully.
"What's with that look?"
"You're one persistent guy, aren't you?" the fox boy said, putting a hand on his waist. "The War for the Surface is over. It's been over for seven years now."
"I don't need to take that from the man who took over Greengate's throne," Shadow quipped.
"What do you mean?" The fox boy's tone was suddenly accusatory. And slightly panicked.
Shadow scowled at the Helix King's usurper.
"You did not show up to finish this personally. Instead, you sent your brats and their toys to take me into custody. Exactly as Darkoak would have done." His scowl deepened. "You are resting on your laurels, fox boy. Why did you not face me today? Were you, perhaps, too wrapped up between the loins of the Helix King's daughter to be bothered with Freedom Emerl?" A sneer appeared on Shadow's face. "You are more like Lucus Darkoak than you imagine, fox boy."
The fox boy was going quite red, rage and embarrassment fighting for dominance.
Then the white hedgehog pushed his way into the hologram projector's field of vision.
"Stop trying to provoke the Supreme Commander," he said severely. "You will be escorted back to Sonic City, where you will be held in the Marble Prison while you await your trial."
"Trial?" Shadow asked dully. "What's that?"
"A new piece of Möbian wisdom," he said shortly, turning to address the bee boy. "Charmy, take him away."
ポイズンプリズン
Silver deactivated the hologram projector. Tails's fists were still balled up.
"That bastard... He thinks he can say what he wants..."
"He was attempting to provoke you, Supreme Commander," Silver said simply. "He is a holdover of Darkoak's old order. He is bitter. You could see it in his eye. He was trying to evoke a violent response from you."
Silver made for the door.
"You might want to calm down a little," Silver said over his shoulder. "The council meeting is in fifteen minutes. It would not do for you to appear flustered when we meet there."
And Silver left the room, leaving Tails to fume in the room that was once Lucus Darkoak's audience chamber. Kukku flitted up to Tails from his position on Tails's desk, giving off a plaintive, "Chao..."
His sour mood evaporating on the spot, Tails patted Kukku's head, Kukku's floating ball turning into a heart.
"You're the one thing that doesn't change around here, aren't you, Kukku...?"
メガネで決めよう
Director of Science Rotor's image on the council projection screen was quite joyful, and it was not simply because his domestic partner was working at the station beside him. He was making a report on the Gizoid Moon Rocket, and it was evidently all good news from him.
"All system checks on the Gizoid Moon Rocket are green!" he said brightly. "The Spiral Power tank has been topped off, and the launch is go for 600 minutes from now."
"Excellent work, Director Rotor," said Silver, with a real smile on his face. "We await the launch eagerly."
"Understood!" said Rotor cheerily. "This has been Director of Science Rotor, signing out!"
With a peace sign from Rotor, the channel cut out.
Legal Affairs Bureau Chief Knuckles shrugged at Tails.
"Are you really sure we'll find something up there, Tails?" he grumbled.
"Refer to him as Supreme Commander Prower, Legal Affairs Bureau Chief Echidna," Silver said in a refined voice.
Tails furrowed his brow.
"'When you primitive animals pierce the heavens and make for outer space, the Moon shall become Hell's messenger, and destroy the world of the Spiral'," he said. "Those were Lucus Darkoak's dying words. Our remote sensors haven't picked up anything on the Moon, so we're sending up a moon probe to see it close up." A smile crossed Tails's face as he kicked up his shoes on the round council table (Silver scowled). "And if that doesn't find anything up there, no harm done!"
"Still, it's a bit amazing, isn't it?" said Provisions Bureau Chief Elias. "Seven years ago, we didn't even know the Moon was a satellite, and now we're capable of sending probes up to touch it."
Silver turned toward a large purple cat and a bulky polar bear.
"Citizen Affairs Bureau Secretary Big, how is the census proceeding?"
Both the cat and the polar bear shifted uncomfortably, sweat beading on their foreheads in the air-conditioned room.
"Maintaining an accurate idea of how many people out there is a vital task," Silver said crossly, noting Big and Bark's trepidation. "It helps with population control and ensures that the cities - and underground villages, if people still desire to live there - do not become overrun."
Public Relations Bureau Chief Vector waved a hand airily in the air, headphones in his ears, which explained why he spoke louder than he needed to.
"C'mon, Silver! It's a mistake to make these two count anything!"
"No one is suggesting that they handle the census all by themselves," Silver snapped. "Use the people in your organization!"
"Look, I'm just saying that Big and Bark can't handle a delicate job like that!"
That was the last straw for Silver.
"Then what are you people still doing in the government? During the council meetings, all you do is kick back and relax! Is that your job? The people who admitted that they couldn't handle the job and left, are better men and women than you!"
Big and Bark stood up sharply.
"That's not nice to say!"
"What did you say?"
"That's enough!" Tails said, putting up a hand and beginning to rise.
That was enough for most tempers to cool. Tails sat back down, resting his feet on the table again, his tails spilling out over either armrest.
"Supreme Commander, shall I issue orders to the Citizen Affairs Bureau?"
"Sure."
Big and Bark began to stammer in protest.
"It's alright, guys," Tails told them, smiling. "You won't lose your government positions or anything. Silver's just gonna oversee the census. That's all."
旅ってなぁ疲れるもんなんだよ
After the council meeting, several New Government officials stopped by a local steakhouse, opened by the chief of the former Knothole Village. Beside the entrance to Ivo's Steakhouse, lifesize cardboard cut-outs of the young Tails and Sonic stood next to a statue of a potbellied man with a large mustache, bifocals, and a chef's hat, holding two sides of pig-mole and grinning in what was supposed to be an ingratiating way.
Big and Bark were currently wolfing down pig-mole steak after pig-mole steak, complaining between mouthfuls that they still could do stuff for the New Government.
"Well, well! Look at these two fine notables of the New Government!"
Turning, Knuckles, Elias, and Vector spotted Ivo, the proprietor of the steakhouse. He was dressed in a fancy white suit and carrying a fan in a fat hand encrusted with golden rings. His bifocals glinted just as much as his grin, which showed all of his teeth.
"No one eats quite as much as you two!" Ivo smirked. "Feel free to eat as much as you like! After all, the heroes of the revolution, Sonic and Tails, grew up eating my pig-mole steaks!" Ivo gave a loud, false sniff. "I raised those boys as though they were my own!"
And Ivo walked off, cackling to himself. The waitresses he passed by gave him withering looks.
Big and Bark continued to wolf steaks down.
"Geez, you wouldn't need to be Sonic to want to get to the surface with a guy like him as Chief," Knuckles muttered.
Elias stared down at his steak, not touching his fork.
"Hey, Elias. The steak ain't gonna eat itself, you know..."
Elias looked out the window at the faint disk of the Moon still visible in the sunlight.
"When we pierce the heavens and reach outer space..."
"That's a load of bullshit, what Darkoak said," Knuckles said dismissively through a mouthful of pig-mole steak. "You have to take what he said with a big grain of salt."
"You sure you wanna take that back, Knux?" Vector said.
"What do you mean?"
"What you said about what Darkoak said. That's an insult to bulls and their shit."
Knuckles grinned.
"Yeah. Guess you're right."
お前のXXXで…
"Yo, Meg! Where does the laundry go?"
"Oh, they go on the line outside," Meg called out to Marine, breastfeeding Alexis. The raccoon girl was helping out with the housework while Elias was helping run the government.
The doorbell rang, and Meg made to get up.
"No, I'll get it, sis!" Marine called out, dropping the laundry where it was and bolting to the door.
Standing at the front door...
Was Cosmo
She looked worried.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Hear Me, Möbius
20:7:3243
Dear Sonic,
I am concerned about something that the New Government is doing.
All this smoke that their factories are putting up... It cannot be good for the plants of the world. If this smoke does not stop, the plants will not be able to live because there will be no more sunlight. Already I can hear the trees and flowers calling out to me, to protect them from harm.
Since I am seeing Tails later today, I will ask him to do something about this.
Assuming... he isn't going to...
That he still wants to...
...
"So, he's meeting you later tonight?" Meg asked. "By the light of the full moon?"
"It's... the full moon tonight?" Cosmo asked, eyes widening slightly. "I didn't know that. I just thought that the Moon probe was being launched tonight."
"It is, and there's bound to be romance in the air watchin' it blast off to the Moon! It'll be bonzer!" Marine called out, putting a fist in the air.
"But, Tails has been drifting away from me lately," said Cosmo, bowing her head. Her grass-green hair blocked her eyes from view. "Last week, he asked if he could have back the diamond that he gave me that day. He gave me back a large piece of it the other day, saying I would have the rest back tonight. Is he...?" Cosmo looked up at Meg and Marine, the roses on either side of her head seeming to wilt with her grief. "He's going to split from me, isn't he...?"
To Cosmo's surprise - and mild annoyance - Meg laughed.
"Sounds more like he's gonna propose, Cosmo," she explained.
"He's finally gonna take the plunge, eh?" asked Marine, putting her feet on the table.
"But..." Cosmo said, confused. "Tails and I have been... 'taking the plunge', as you say... for a while now."
Meg and Marine were momentarily confused by this usage of that turn of phrase, and then comprehension struck them.
"We have sealed our bond, but now, I fear... His behavior would be unusual if this were the beginning of a split between us," Cosmo conceded, "But... Isn't he too busy as Supreme Commander to have a relationship with me?"
Meg smirked a little, wincing as Alexis dug her gums in a little. "Ow... Always seeing the best in people, but the worst in situations, huh?"
"Huh?"
"Even after all this time, you're still struck down on your self-esteem because your father abandoned you, Cosmo. Tails took seven years to get the courage to propose to you. So, what do you feel about him?"
Cosmo looked down at her hands, clasped in front of her heart as if in prayer. In between them was the chunk of diamond Tails had returned to her just a few days ago. It glinted in the light.
Cosmo smiled warmly down on it.
"Looks like we have our answer," Marine said with a sense of finality.
"You're still the same as ever, assuming the best of people, but the worst of situations," Meg added.
"Well, I s'pose that's what makes Cosmo Cosmo."
メガネで決めよう
Silver stepped from the elevator to the lower computer sectors of the Parliament Complex, facing a lavender cat girl and a yellow mongoose boy with black hair on his head. Both wore their government outfits more seriously than the Great Freedom Fighters did.
Silver walked past them, and Blaze and Ash followed.
Ash spoke first.
"Chief Adviser, we have just been contacted by the Spiral Power Research Institute. Apparently, they were successful in activating the bio-computer."
"I see," Silver said.
"Congratulations, sir," Blaze said, smiling warmly at Silver's back, her clipboard at her side. "Your dream is about to come true."
"Yes. With this, we will be able to learn the secrets of this world."
Ash sneered. "The Supreme Commander, the council, the citizens, they've all grown complacent! The only thing keeping the New Government together is you, Chief Adviser!"
The mongoose stopped almost as soon as he'd spoken, fearing that he'd overstepped his bounds.
But Silver just smiled at him.
"It's not just me," he said. "It's also you. The next generation."
Ash, recomposing himself, saluted.
As did Blaze.
And everyone else in the room, most of whom were younger than Silver.
Silver smiled on them all.
Love Conservative
Cosmo stood in the Great Freedom Memorial Site, gazing up at the Moon in the sky, the perfectly round disc glowing like a god's eye. The dress she wore was rather like that which she wore when Tails found her in that box, but with no sleeves or straps, and a green silk decorated with flowers that trailed around her feet, with white elbow-length gloves over her hands, and green high-heels on her feet. To some, she would have looked like a garden princess rather than a Helix Princess.
"The Moon's beautiful tonight."
Cosmo gave a start. She hadn't heard Emerl landing beside her, but that could only explain how rapidly Tails and Kukku had arrived.
"It is," Cosmo said, nodding.
"Sonic had a dream of going to the Moon, back before... before I met you. I never thought that it would ever be possible."
"But then," Cosmo looked at Tails significantly, "Wasn't it always the Freedom Fighter way to 'kick common sense out and go beyond the impossible'?"
Tails smirked. "Guess you're right. Sonic told me, just before he died, 'Aim for the top!'." His smirk broadened. "I'm aiming beyond that top."
"His dream to visit the Moon is coming true. That is the Moon probe there, is it not?"
So it was. Tails looked where Cosmo was pointing, and saw, faintly, a trail of smoke, with a drill-shaped rocket at the head of a trail of green fire.
Tails nodded.
"It is. In about 24 hours, Sonic's dream will come true.
"We've pierced the heavens, at last."
The Moon reflected in Cosmo's eyes. "My dream..."
Tails looked at her, startled.
"My dream is to cover all the land in flowers," she said softly, but resolutely.
"Flowers?"
"Yes. I will irrigate the soil about the world, plant seeds, and watch them grow! I will plant many trees, and watch the red and brown soil turn green across Möbius. And after that, bugs and other creatures will live amongst the flowers and trees in a harmony of animals and plants! I want very much to turn this into a world filled with flowers, greenery, and animals!"
"Irrigate the land, and plant seeds?" Tails smiled brightly. "That's so like you, Cosmo! I'll help you out!"
To Tails's surprise, Cosmo gave him a stern look at this.
"No, Tails! There are things only I can do, and things that only you can do. Things that we still must do as each other."
Recovering quickly from this shock, Tails looked across the skyline of Sonic City in the distance, dominated by the three-headed Parliament Complex, the Moon hovering over the middle head.
"Th-this city has gotten beautiful, too, hasn't it?" he said.
Cosmo followed his gaze, smiling again. "Yes."
Tails gulped.
Time to do it.
"Guess... it's time to come out, then."
Cosmo gave Tails a stunned look.
"For the two of us to be regular people, not the Helix Princess and the leader of the Great Freedom Fighters. To see the same sights, to hear the same sounds, and share the same laugh. Maybe it would be nice to live a life like that now."
The words were spilling out of Tails's mouth awkwardly, but it was clear that he'd rehearsed it several times. Cosmo gave him a look filled with rapture.
"My eyes would be your eyes, and your ears would be my ears." Even as Tails said it, he realized foolishly that Cosmo didn't have ears, but he plowed on even as heat rose in his face. "Maybe that would be nice."
Then, Tails got on one knee, holding out a golden ring set with a seed-shaped diamond.
"Is this...?" Cosmo's eyes were shining with emotion.
Tails smiled up at her.
And said Those Four Words.
"Let's get married, Cosmo."
Cosmo stared from Tails to the ring in wonder, a bright smile coming over her as she slowly took the ring and put it on her left ring finger.
"Tails... I... cannot accept your terms of marriage."
But Tails's heart barely had time to break over this statement before Cosmo continued.
"Tails, were I as naïve as I was when I came down to the surface, I would have mistaken it for a suggestion that the two of us give up our own personhoods and become a single, new individual."
Tails's horror was dispelled by relief, but by no means was he completely reassured that this would work out.
Until Cosmo smiled warmly at him.
"Tails, we are different people. Very, very different people. Different people do different things from each other. But because we are different, we try to understand one another." Cosmo's smile became - if possible - even warmer. "I want to know you more, Tails. We will always be together, and I will still want to know more about you. And, Tails... I want you to want to know more about me, too."
"Cosmo..."
Tails was stunned; was Cosmo proposing to him, in response to his own proposal?
"Thank you, Tails," Cosmo brought up her hand, kissing the seed-shaped diamond Tails had carved with his Core Drill from the diamond he'd given to Cosmo. "I really love this ring."
But still, Tails thought, the real reason he'd called her here wasn't apparent yet.
"So... Cosmo... you'll marry me?"
Cosmo gave Tails a very warm smile, and a very warm nod. "Yes."
But Tails barely had time to smile before Cosmo continued, "I will marry you, Tails, but will you marry me?"
Tails's heart singing with joy, he smiled as widely as he possibly could.
"Yes! I will marry you, Cosmo!"
Tails closed the increasingly small distance between him and his now-fiancée, placing his hands on her shoulder, Cosmo resting her hands on Tails's chest. Then Tails wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder, his tails curling around Cosmo's legs. His hands rested in the small of Cosmo's back; she had a very small torso, and her legs took up more than half of her height (otherwise, she would be shorter than Tails). Cosmo returned the hug, and Tails felt something cool and wet on his shoulder.
Cosmo's tears of joy.
And, as had happened many times in the course of their growing relationship (ever since her flowers bloomed), Tails's nostrils were filled with the pheromones excreted from Cosmo's flowers, and all thought left his mind, replaced with a blissful oblivion.
They pulled back so that their smiling faces were just inches away from each other, staring at each other as though just looking at each other could fill the other up with drink.
Then they leaned in for a kiss.
お前のXXXで天を…
"Well, Cobar, we've done it," said Rotor softly, looking at the red echidna.
"Looks like we have," Cobar replied, giving Rotor a warm smile.
"What say we drink to it? And maybe go home together?" Rotor suggested.
Cobar took Rotor's hand, and he said, "I was wondering when you'd ask, my-..."
And then the alarms went off.
カーマン・ライン
Long ago, the Kármán line was the term used by scientists to clarify the point at which the atmosphere of Möbius - then known as Earth - ended and outer space began. It cut off the atmosphere at one-hundred kilometers above sea level.
Within the Moon, a counter measured the height of the highest artificial structure on Möbius.
4.89 KM
11.38 KM
23.85 KM
36.78 KM
49.21 KM
60.59 KM
74.52 KM
87.44 KM
100.00 KM
PERIMETER BREACHED
KÁRMÁN LINE EXCEEDED
ACTIVATE ANNIHILATION SYSTEM
And with a blue flash from the lunar seas, the Moon Rocket exploded the very instant it left Möbius's atmosphere.
The exact moment it pierced the heavens.
反螺旋族
Cosmo gasped sharply, and Tails pulled back in shock, his arms on Cosmo's.
"Cosmo, what's wrong?"
But Cosmo could not take her eyes off of the Moon, a look of rising horror there. Her body was much more rigid than Tails could ever remember it; it was as though her body were filled with lead.
Then Cosmo seized up, her fingers clenching at odd angles, and it became immediately clear why: red data lines, glowing under Cosmo's skin, became visible along her elbow and arms, her shoulders and neck and face. An electric feeling shot through Tails from his hands, and he instinctively let Cosmo go.
Tails stepped back in horror.
Cosmo ripped off her right glove; her hand, too, had data lines running down it, glowing beneath her fingers as well. She did not need to take off her left glove - or her ring - to understand that the same was happening there.
"Wh-what's happening?" Cosmo said.
And a moment later, her eyes widened in abject terror, and she threw back her head and shrieked.
Involuntarily, Tails clasped his hands over his sensitive fox ears, Cosmo's scream echoing in his skull. His eyes clenched shut for a moment, and then, when Tails was sure Cosmo had stopped screaming, he opened them again.
She wasn't there. And Tails's fox ears would have heard her footsteps, however quietly she'd gotten away. And she couldn't have taken Emerl, either; Tails would have seen that in addition to hearing it.
His eyes couldn't have been closed more than two seconds.
Where did she go?
The Blue monday e"r"ectrical parade
"What do you mean, the Moon Probe Rocket exploded?" Silver shouted at the screen of Rotor and Cobar, both quite disturbed by the destruction of the moment they'd been building to for two years now.
"We have no idea!" Rotor said in a loud panic. "It exploded the moment it crossed the Finivetus Line. It... must have had engine problems..." Rotor finished weakly.
"Well, go over it again and find out what happened!" Silver ordered.
Klaxons, louder than before, blared throughout the Parliament Complex.
They were programmed to only go off if an enemy mecha made it into the city.
The room suddenly seemed twice as cold, even as the lights turned emergency-red.
"An unknown enemy reading is confirmed in the perimeter of Sonic City!" cried Helen at her station.
どうだ! 俺のトランペットは凄いだろ!
Above a crowded street in Sonic City, a glowing square as large around as a car appeared. Then, as if it were a box opening, it produced another four squares, one on each side. Then each additional square produced another three squares, over and over until a glowing grid into darkness large enough for Freedom Emerl to walk through appeared overhead.
And from it descended a mecha unlike any ever seen on Möbius.
It had a rubbery look to its uniformly black composition, like an untextured computer model. It had the appearance of a knight, with blue energy holding its joints together. Its entire right arm was composed of blue energy, a pair of cores glowing like a blue star in its chest and in its left shoulder; a black ring encompassed that orb. It had no face, but a pair of horns between its shoulders that met at a single blue pinpoint.
The citizens of Sonic City, human and anthro and Black Arms alike, still going about their nightly business, looked up at the mecha in wonder and awe. None of them were aware that anything bad was happening, and many thought that this was a test run of some future line of Fremerald mechas.
Then its right arm disappeared in a burst of blue light, becoming a bolt of lightning which struck a nearby skyscraper, causing it to detonate.
Then the Möbians ran screaming.
ゾーア
"You didn't detect the enemy's approach?" Silver shouted at Helen, observing the unknown enemy's behavior on the screen.
"It just appeared suddenly over Sonic City!" she replied. "Like it tore open a hole in the sky!"
"Fremerald Squadron status?" Silver asked.
Two voices answered from the screen showing the enemy mecha.
"Already on our way! Zoom-zoom!" cried Charmy.
"We will prevent its advance, Mister Silver," said Cream levelly.
In the cityscape, a round twenty-four Fremeralds approached the enemy mecha, Charmy and Cream in the lead.
Cream commented on the mecha, "It... doesn't have a face. Have you ever seen a mecha like this?"
"Apart from the Helix Generals' personal Gizoids? Nope," Charmy replied. "Think it's a new anti-government guerrilla weapon?"
Back in the Parliament Complex, Silver said, "We are currently running a match on the enemy machine's model. Until then, prevent the destruction of Sonic City!"
"Roger!" twenty-four voices replied.
"Fremerald Squad! Form up around the enemy!" Charmy ordered. "Fire on it from all directions!"
The two-dozen Fremeralds surrounded the enemy machine, firing on it with their rapid-fire pistols.
Pixelated boxes appeared in a sphere around the machine where the bullets impacted, and the bullets disappeared into thin air.
"It absorbed them?" Charmy mused.
"I can't believe it..." Cream gasped.
Charmy's orange Fremerald drew an emerald-colored crystal-clear blade made from a material similar to Tails's Core Drill.
"In that case... Fremerald Blade!"
Charmy dived on the mysterious robot, driving the blade into its protective shield.
The blade dissolved, and Charmy was thrown back.
And the enemy robot fired off another bolt of blue lightning, which Charmy dodged.
Unfortunately, it decapitated one of his Fremerald comrades, which exploded.
"Lost contact with Danny's Fremerald!" cried Helen, her voice cracking slightly. Danny was a friend of hers.
Silver was floored. "Handguns and blades have no effect?"
Rapid and heavy footsteps approached on the balcony behind him.
"What the hell're you doing, Silver?" shouted Knuckles.
In the city, the mystery enemy fired wildly in every direction, from its right arm, and both of its Cores. Fremeralds destructed in every direction, flames turning the night sky orange.
"Charmy!" cried Cream, fearing the worst.
Charmy's Fremerald emerged from the smoke, clutching an arm.
"I'm okay! Buzz Buzz here's still kicking!" Charmy's Fremerald said in Charmy's voice. "But there are only us two left now..."
Back in the Parliament Complex...
"That thing's tough as rock!" Knuckles shouted, waving a fist in the air.
"If only we had our Gizoids..." Big lamented.
"That thing would be scrap metal!" Bark barked.
"The Gizoids are relics of the Helix King's era," Ash said coolly. "They did not represent our new civilization, so we had them all scrapped."
Blaze gave Knuckles and his two companions a sympathetic gaze. "I do not mean to be harsh, Knuckles, but the fact of the matter is that the Fremeralds represent the result of our study on Freedom Emerl. They are mass-produced, combat-specialized units that are each as powerful as Freedom Emerl would be at optimal performance. So - forgive me if I offend you - if the Fremeralds are having troubles, your old Gizoids would fare even worse."
Knuckles grit his teeth. "Damnit...! Can't we do anything...?"
Back on the battlefield, Charmy and Cream's Fremeralds darted about, dodging the enemy machine's bolts of lightning rapidly. Cream's was clipped, but she closed in regardless.
"Cream, don't be crazy!" he shouted after her.
"I can still fight!" she replied, dodging around a block of skyscrapers to emerge behind the enemy.
It spun instantly to face her.
And fired.
"CREAM!" Charmy screamed.
But a drill had appeared between the enemy machine and Cream's Fremerald, absorbing the deadly blue bolt. And attached to that drill was an arm of yellow metal. And that yellow arm was a part of...
"Freedom Emerl..." Cream sighed.
In the Parliament Complex, there were scattered cheers - Blaze smiled in relief - and Knuckles shouted, "We've been going gray waiting for you, Tails!"
But Silver scowled.
"Supreme Commander, withdraw immediately! It's too dangerous!" he shouted at the large screen which showed Freedom Emerl shielding the cream-colored Fremerald with a Giga Drill. "Your job is not to go out on to the front lines! How many times do I have to tell you?"
"Dumbass!" replied Tails, causing a stir amongst the New Government officials present. Few in the room had ever heard the Supreme Commander swear, and all of the ones who did were Great Freedom Fighters.
Tails's scowling face appeared in the corner of the monitor (Kukku sat on his shoulder), "Protecting the city and the lives of the citizens! That is our number-one job! Has all this peace made you soft, Silver?"
"Tails..." Silver mumbled.
Inside Emerl (Freedom's cockpit was empty), Tails smiled at his longtime pet Chao.
"Yeah... This is the one place I can really be me," he said.
Well, there, and in Cosmo's arms, he thought, heat rushing to his face...
But almost immediately his thoughts were strangled by panic. Where had Cosmo disappeared to?
Anger building in him, Tails turned to the enemy mecha.
"Let's do it to it, you faceless bastard!"
He produced a Giga Drill from Freedom Emerl's right fist.
As Tails shouted, "GIGA... DRILL... DRIVER!", Silver growled in a voice only he could hear, "Why do you always have to do it the easy way, Tails? Easy doesn't equal right..."
He turned to Helen again.
"Is that model analysis done yet?"
"Great Freedom Fighters Resistance, Darkoak Army, New Government units..." Helen went pale. "There is no match in any of our databases!"
"Then, where in the world did it come from...?" Silver muttered. He then addressed the screen which showed Freedom Emerl battling the new enemy mecha, "Supreme Commander, give top priority to target identification!"
"It didn't work!" Tails yelled, seemingly ignoring Silver.
"If possible, capture it!" Silver pressed on.
"Quit bugging! Like I have time for that!" Tails replied, his Giga Drill blocking the enemy's latest, and greatest, bolt of lightning.
The Giga Drill began to glow.
"Tails..." Charmy gasped.
"Your drill is building up energy?" Cream said slowly.
Indeed, the Spiral Power meter on Emerl's console began to max out, even without Tails pushing his fighting spirit.
Let's go.
"Alright!" Tails growled, rising to a yell as Freedom Emerl's jetpack surged with green energy, charging the enemy mecha. "I'm sick of you and your laser light show! I'm gonna take this crappy beam of yours, and shove it! Back! Down! Your! THROAT!"
And the Giga Drill, powered by the enemy's own laser beam, did what gunfire and Fremerald Blades could not do: it broke through the enemy's field and smashed straight through the enemy's central Core. The enemy robot hovered there for another few moments, transformed into a collection of polygons arranged roughly in its original shape, and shattered in a burst of blue light.
"Awesome!" Charmy called out, his orange Fremerald putting a fist in the air.
"Did he... win?" Cream asked.
The polygons - spheres, tetrahedrons, and cubes - drifted past Freedom Emerl and the two surviving Fremeralds as slowly as balloons. The remnants of the enemy mecha drifted lazily down the city streets below...
Each one detonating violently.
Altogether, more damage was caused by its destruction than its brief assault. Several skyscrapers, their lowest levels heavily damaged, collapsed, the hundreds of people who were too slow to evacuate dying in moments. Flames and smoke choked the air.
Tails could not believe what just happened. It just went more wrong than he ever could have thought. Half-thoughts shot through his mind about retroactively luring the mecha out of the city before destroying it.
But for several hundred people...
It was already far too late.
"No..."
In the Parliament Complex's control room, whatever feelings of jubilance at the enigmatic robot's destruction were quickly squashed at its violent explosion.
Silver was the first to recover.
"Dispatch the Fire and Rescue Emergency Fremerald Squadrons! Keep the damage to a minimum! Rescue anyone who is still alive in that wreckage!"
"What was that?" Knuckles said dumbly.
Silver rounded on him, his face blotchy-red with anger. "I'll tell you what that was! The Supreme Commander rushed in without knowing what the enemy was, counterattacked blindly, and destroyed the whole thing! 'Rash' doesn't even begin to describe the Supreme Commander's actions!"
Then the screen changed abruptly from scenes of horror and carnage...
To a green-haired woman who many people knew. But none of them knew her to have red data lines glowing under her skin, or a cold blue light in her eyes. Quickly, though, they realized that she was slightly transparent, because they could see the edge of the Moon - which was behind her - through her torso. It had to be a hologram, but where was it broadcasting from?
The hologram of Cosmo, as large as the one which showed just before Greengate revealed itself as the Great MetaRex, hovered in front of the Parliament Complex's central purple head.
Tails gazed up at it with confusion and terror.
"Is that... Cosmo...?" he breathed.
All over Möbius, every radio, every television set in homes, cars, buses, or on the sides of buildings, every computer screen, every speaker, telephone, video phone, cell phone, every form of communication broadcast her message.
And when she spoke, her voice had lost any trace of Cosmo's warmth or compassion. All that remained was a cold tone which, somehow, had an electronic reverberation to it.
"Hear me, Möbius.
"We, the race now known only as the Anti-Spiral, have determined that Möbiankind, in achieving capacity for breaching the atmosphere, has reached Spiral Power Danger Level II.
"We hereby activate the Möbiankind Annihilation System."
つづく
To be continued...
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When I was young, I had a dream where I learned all the secrets of the world.
And when that time comes, Tails, I will take you and...
Next time on Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl: "Tell Me The Secrets Of This World".