"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate."
-Sun Tzu
3 – Transition's Herald
November 6, 3238; 1233 hours: Tails' Hut
It had taken a long time for Sally to work up the courage to stand where she stood now. The prodigious mind that questioned her – it scared her somewhere deep down. That the boy she raised as one of her own could be capable of such brilliant tactics in war… Well, that light had yet to be seen due to her actions.
She feared his shaded visage, the eyes that bled of maturity, concealing what she thought was hate in their coffers. Only now did she recognize that in the shadows of his soul lurked not malice, but desperation for acknowledgement. She recognized now that all he needed was someone to tell him he did a good job. So that's what she was here to do.
She gathered her strength – it took all of her willpower to not retreat to her own hut – and rapped on his door, gently, five times. Her usual knock.
The door did not open. She called through the door. "Tails? Are you in there?"
No response. She blinked. Well if he wasn't here where could he be? She stepped off the porch and sighed, determined to find him now.
It took a while of searching before she found him lying in the meadow of flowers, staring at the bright sky. She frowned, noticing the symbolism of his choice of venue, and approached him.
"Once upon a time we could speak our minds here without fear of repercussions." Tails began, not moving from his position. "Where has the time gone, Aunt Sally?"
Sally sat beside him, bathing herself in the sun as he was and lay in the flowers. "It's gone where our innocence has gone. Gone with the peace that filled Mobius before the war."
Tails didn't move. "And now we mistrust each other's intentions, hiding our goals behind closed doors like two-faced politicians. I doubt the effectiveness of us as a team anymore." He drew a breath, taking in the familiar scent of the flora.
Sally sighed. She closed her eyes. "Tails, I apologize for my actions these past few weeks."
The young fox didn't say anything.
"I… I've been narrow minded. I've let my fear cloud my judgment."
Tails frowned. "What fear?"
"I've been afraid, Tails. You're suddenly so mature – I was afraid of you. No, I was afraid for you. I couldn't sleep knowing that I would potentially send you to your death with every raid. I couldn't…"
"Then why continue? Did what I said the other day not have merit? I proposed something entirely different." Tails placed his hands behind his head, juxtaposing his stern words with a nonchalant posture. It confused Sally. It was as if he didn't care either way. His voice softened. "You chose deliberately to attack Robotnik in spite of the reasoning I offered. You chose vehemently to go directly opposite my idea. It's not me you fear for Aunt Sally."
He smiled.
"You fear for your power."
Her eyes widened. "How dare you accuse me of that?! I've been doing everything in my-" She trailed off. Tails picked up the loose end.
"Your power? Aunt Sally, while you are the rightful leader and heir to the Crown of Acorn, such a title is irrelevant now in this struggle. Your kingdom doesn't exist anymore, all of its denizens scattered to who knows where. My point is, there is no place for hierarchy among us, not anymore. We are not united under Acorn's banner anymore; we are united by our cause."
"So what? You want me to step down as leader?"
"Nope." Tails stood up. "I want you to step up." He began to walk away, and then stopped, hesitatingly. "I do have something else to say though."
"What is it?" Sally asked, sitting up.
Tails opened his mouth, and then closed it. He had meant to tell her everything – all about his plans, about the subterfuge. About how his mistrust in her had gone on far longer than she realized. But he didn't. He laughed at himself.
I'm such a hypocrite. He grinned wryly at himself. "I don't suppose you've looked at those files yet? You know, those from my first mission?"
Sally seemed to swallow a lump in her throat. "No… I haven't."
"You might want to get on that." Tails walked away.
November 6, 3238; 1326 hours: Rotor's Workshop
Tails entered the workshop quietly, startling Rotor who was leaned over into the engine of one of the larger robots they managed to capture. Tails admired Rotor for his mechanical genius. It was something that he couldn't replicate fully, so oftentimes the young fox came to Rotor for advice and parts.
"Rotor." Tails greeted. "How's the project?"
Rotor removed his head from the machine, scratching his nose and lifting his goggles. "Oh, it's going well. This bad boy here was once a SWATbot land drone that got lost I guess. Now, we may just have a ride back and forth from Robotropolis. And look at that engine!"
Tails leaned over to peek in the hood and whistled appreciatively. "How fast does it go? Even something this big is gonna haul with this beast."
"Fast enough." Rotor grinned. "None of the twelfth brigade can catch us in this thing. Now Sonic's not the only one who has speed on his side."
Tails nodded. "That'll definitely be useful on the field." He looked up. "I think I've finally gotten my case through to Aunt Sally."
Rotor turned. "You did?"
"Yup. Well, she didn't say it explicitly, but she caught me this morning and we talked about it. I think it went pretty well. That plus the improvements you've been making to our technological situation should tell her that we can take a break from raiding Robotnik."
Rotor crossed his arms. "You know, there's something I never could wrap my mind around. Why do you want to take a break from raiding Robotropolis so bad? You explained it all fairly well with reasoning, but I think this issue hits you on a more personal level."
A fly buzzed around the room, and flew outside through the open door. Rotor's and Tails' eyes followed it as it flew.
Tails sighed, recounting his feelings previously. "You know what? I'm not sure. But there's a piece of me that's been screaming since that first mission. For the longest time, I felt like we were that fly there to Robotnik. Except we're not the fly that goes away through the open door. We're that annoying kind of fly that doesn't leave. One day he'll just swat us and be done with it."
Rotor frowned. "I got that part. So that's it then, you fear for our safety?"
"What can a fly do to you, Rotor? Nothing. We need to become something more than that. We need to become a threat. That's why I'm so excited by your new gizmo here." Tails nodded toward the vehicle. "You know what kind of firepower we could mount on here?"
Rotor sighed. "As stupid as I'll sound saying this, we can't use any sort of firearms. Sally says time and again not to sink to his level."
Tails frowned and was silent for a few seconds, pondering his reply. "Rotor. Ugh, this is why our offense is so ineffective. No weaponry of any kind, right" He sighed. "This is laughable now." He wandered over to the pile of parts, and picked up a severed SWATbot arm laser. He tossed a SWATbot chest plate onto the floor and shot it, looking at the newly formed hole. "This is the kind of power you've been refusing."
"It's not about power Tails." Rotor chastised.
"Oh it most certainly is." Tails argued back. "When it comes to winning a war the only factors are power, opportunity, and diplomacy. We no longer have a useful opportunity, and diplomacy was never there to start so what do we have left? Power. We need it, Rotor, and lots of it."
"I don't approve of this, Tails. You sound… power hungry? You're getting a little violent."
"Peace doesn't win wars with men who don't reason!" Tails almost yelled. He then sighed and replaced the gun in the scrap pile. Turning from Rotor's worried gaze he frowned. "I don't suppose I can steal some parts?"
"As long as you're not making a weapon." Rotor replied as he watched Tails dig through the scrap pile.
Tails emerged from the pile with a SWATbot head, and various display parts. "No, I'm just making something that will make us more useful."
November 6, 3238; 1326 hours: Sally's hut
Antoine knocked on the door three times, in straight succession. The topic had been bubbling in his mind now, and he felt like he should give his two cents before the Freedom Fighters convened in a few hours to discuss tactics. When Antoine realized the door was unlocked, he opened it and walked in.
"I'm coming in." He announced as he rounded the corner into Sally's workspace. Startled, she shut NICOLE off quickly and turned her chair to face her visitor.
"Oh! Antoine, you scared me, what do you need?"
"My apologies for scaring you, my princess. I simply wished to be speaking of… Tails." He spoke the last word with a hint of venom.
Sally clasped her arms. "What about Tails?"
"He is acting a tad… 'ow do you say it? Soupçonneux… eh, suspicious! Zat's ze word."
"Hm… well, I've been a little wrong about him lately. He is…"
"He does not know what he is doing!" Antoine roared.
Sally stepped backward. "What? What are you saying Antoine?"
"Are you not seeing? He is sneaking around right under ze nose!"
Sally sighed. "Antoine, I just had a word with him this morning. He's just… finding his place."
"Finding his place?" Antoine scoffed. "But he is just ze little boy."
"Not anymore he's not." Sally sighed. "I'm afraid we've turned him into something more than that." She turned back to NICOLE, currently shut off. "He's was born into this war. He's seen every second of it. What we think we've kept from him, he knows. Antoine, he knows!" She turned to him, her eyes tearing. "I've failed to keep him safe."
Antoine's gaze diverted, shamefully. "I did not mean to presume."
"And he's frustrated with us all." Sally continued. "He's frustrated because there's a path ahead of us we could take. But I said no to him because it's bloody and violent. But what I fail to realize is that blood and violence doesn't disturb him because that's all he's seen his whole life."
Antoine frowned, motionless. "I see." He said, and then left the room.
November 6, 3238; 1419 hours:
S had sent his reply swiftly. Tails recalled it well.
Miles,
Your situation is interesting. I agree with you on the matter that you would be better off independent of the Freedom Fighters. I am aware that Robotnik is unfazed by their efforts, and that to some, their struggle seems like a joke. More resources and power will be needed to overthrow Robotnik, power and resources which the Freedom Fighters neither want nor possess.
As I mentioned in my last message, it is important for you to make allies. I would use this time to find and recruit more people who may have the resources you need to pursue your efforts.
As such, I recommend you leave the Freedom Fighters for now, and make your abode in the outpost that you captured. I can inform you from a good source that Robotnik will not be seeking to reacquire such a petty resource. Use this to your advantage.
Good luck in your future endeavors,
S
It was later in the day when he left. The sun was still high in the sky, and honestly, if the place had anyone keeping watch it would be a simple matter for them to catch him. But no one was watching, and so he slipped out unnoticed.
He had received communications from S earlier, advising him to leave. It took a lot out of him to do so – he had lived here for as long as he could remember – but the fact remained that these people knew nothing of the art of war. So, if he was not leaving, he at least was taking a temporary hiatus.
But the world beyond knew better than that. To it he was leaving for good. Because once he left, and Tails knew this in his heart too, they would not accept him back. To them, this would be grave betrayal. Maybe Sally had a small understanding, but nothing else. They did not know the enormity of the situation that lay outside their verdant walls.
The road was still slick and muddy from the rain last night. The moon had been obscured, completely covered by obsidian clouds as rain poured onto the roof of his hut.
S would need to know of his transition. He would tell him later on, when he arrived at his destination. The outpost that he had secretly captured earlier would certainly suffice as a base of operations.
He took one last look at the home he left behind and turned forward, hoisting his rucksack over his back. His campaign against Robotnik began now.
November 7, 3238; 0942 hours: Knothole
"Tails? You in there buddy?" Sonic rapped on the wooden door. "Hello?" He stood back from the doorstep, scratching the top of his head. Where could he be? He had checked all around Knothole. Maybe he should ask Sally.
"Looking for Tails?" He heard a voice turning to see Rotor. The purple walrus walked up to Sonic and greeted him. They both looked at the hut. "No one's seen him for a while now. I've been told to unlock the door."
Sonic frowned. Sally had been getting suspicious of him lately, but he figured that at some point they'd reconcile. But here she was, asking Rotor to break his door down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, big guy, you sure you want to do that? We should keep out of Tails's business." Sonic pleaded.
Rotor shook his head. He held the master keys to the Freedom Fighters' living spaces in his hand. "Frankly, Sonic, I'm curious too. You may not be aware, but he is slowly growing more and more power hungry. It might be the war having an effect on him, but for now, we don't know. That's what I'm here to figure out." He inserted the key into the locked door handle, feeling the tumblers spin. "You know, Sonic, he's been practicing things behind our backs. He demonstrated superb accuracy with a scrapped SWATbot pistol yesterday. I certainly don't remember teaching him how to fire a gun."
"Maybe he's right." Sonic reasoned. "Maybe we need this stuff – these guns and weapons."
"That's not my decision to make, Sonic." Rotor replied. Inwardly, Sonic knew that too. It was up to Sally to decide the fate of the Freedom Fighters. The door swung open.
Inside of the hut was a modest and clean living space, the bookshelf filled to the brim with relics acquired from various raids in and out of what used to be Mobotropolis. Rotor frowned. Everything seemed it was here, but looking about him, nothing in the hut was especially important. There was nothing on or in the young fox's desk and nothing especially relevant could be discovered anywhere in the room. The part that Tails borrowed from Rotor was nowhere to be found.
Rotor sighed. "It's true then. Sally was right."
"Right about what?" Sonic asked, dreading the answer.
"We've spooked him." Rotor slammed his fist on the desk, seething. "He's gone! Tails ran away."