When they first arrived, the streets of Grand Metropolis were pact full of citizens and ongoing traffic. Now, to Tails's observation, the city looks like a ghost town, with mostly everyone having found some sort of shelter to take from the random explosions. He and Amy currently stand outside of her apartment building, and they're not the only ones. They can both hear the smoke alarm to Amy's apartment from here along with the other residents who await in the parking lot for the fire department to arrive.
If there's a place to meet up, this has to be it! Tails hopes. I don't know where Sonic is but I hope he's alright! It shouldn't take him this long to bust up one of Eggman's robots. And where is Knuckles? What happened to that black hedgehog?
Underneath all of the kid's burning questions lies a sinking feeling of dread for when they get answered. Once Sonic comes back, he'll have to explain to him how he froze and cowered in front of Eggman's mercenaries. How they took the emerald off him- the person Sonic trusted to protect them- without any resistance. How he let his hero down.
Tails blinks and when he opens his eyes, he jumps back at seeing Sonic standing in front of him with a unconscious Knuckles over his shoulder. What startled the fox the most was the state of the two. Knuckles looks exhausted, with parts of his fur being black with burn marks. And Sonic- he looked just as bad. There are bruises and skid marks all over his body, with the biggest injury being his black left eye.
"I'm glad you're okay, Tails," Sonic says. "You too, Amy."
The pink hedgehog clasps her hands over her mouth in horror at the sight of Sonic's injuries.
"What ha-?" Is all Amy says before Tails cuts her off.
"They have the emerald," he gets out, keeping his eyes welded shut to prevent any tears from coming out. "They took it, I-"
"None of that matters!" Sonic says, catching Tails by surprise. "Because we can get it back if we hurry!"
"I'm coming!" Amy declares.
"No, Amy, you stay here," Sonic says. "It's too dangero-"
"It's my home they destroyed!" Amy says, stomping her foot. "Nothing is going to stop me from getting some payback... if that's okay with you, Sonic."
Sonic rolls his eyes. Realizing there's no time to argue, Sonic reluctantly says:
"Fine."
He grabs Amy's hand with his free arm, and with a quick nod to Tails, the two dash off in the direction of the Tornado.
All around, the group can hear sirens that wail throughout multiple parts of the city. It seems the police have finally reacted to the flying robots, multiple explosions, and destruction that have been caused by Eggman's forces. Knuckles stirs around while on Sonic's shoulder- a sign he seems to be coming out of his half-conscious state.
"What happened to him?" Tails asks.
"I have no idea," Sonic admits. "I found him behind that apartment building completely knocked out. I bet it was that look-a-like... well, the other one."
"Speaking of which, what happened to that metal version of you?"
"It got blown away," Sonic answers. "I don't know by who or what, but it's the only reason I managed to escape. I don't think it was enough to stop that hideous creation though so don't let your guard down."
I've never seen Sonic act this way before. Tails notices. He seems... scared.
As the two talk, their words don't make it to Amy's ears. Nothing does or can. In her world, what can only be described as the perfect dream is unfolding before her unworthy eyes. Sonic the Hedgehog has her in his grasp and she is going at his level of speed. Sure it's in the air and not on her legs, but that somehow makes this moment even more special. All she can see are the night lights of the city she's so used to speeding by in a blur as the only thing that's in focus is the back of her hero.
The four make it to the parking lot in no time where the Tornado still sits, left thankfully untouched by any curious citizen or law enforcer who could have potentially seen it. Wasting no time, Sonic hops onto the front wing of the plane and sets Knuckles down, much to his arms' relief. Tails gets into the pilot seat and Amy takes the seat behind him and straps in, a little nervous about flying.
In no time at all, the plane's engines start up and the small aircraft takes off into the night sky, leaving behind the colorful city below. Tails whips out Miles Electric and steers the plane in the direction of the bright energy reading that has yet to disappear. The plane ascends higher, breaking through the clouds overhead when Sonic sees it in the distance. The unmistakable light of jet thrusters belonging to a far-away dot, being followed by a tinier dot- and carrying another tiny dot and a-
Sonic's eyes widen seeing the light of the red chaos emerald's shine from all the way where he and the others are. He turns to Tails.
"I see them!" Tails confirms. "Those must be the strangers who attacked us and stole the emerald."
Right as Tails finishes, the three far-away figures and the red light completely disappear, shocking all of the conscious allies on the Tornado.
"They vanished!" Amy says.
"No, they didn't vanish, they must have entered Eggman's aircraft!" Tails deduces. "It has a cloaking system unlike anything I've ever seen before. Not only that, but Miles Electric can no longer pick up anything on its scanner. It can even mask the energy of the chaos emerald!"
"Alright then, Tails, go full speed ahead!" Sonic tells his friend.
"Roger!" Tails says, determined to make up for his past failure.
He puts the plane into full acceleration and the pair blast forward. After a few tense minutes of travel, Knuckles cracks his eyes open and looks around, still dazed.
"Good morning, Knuckle-head," Sonic tells him, noticing his movements. "You're a lot heavier than you look. You might want to wake up now, this is about to be a bumpy ride."
After noticing something coming up ahead, Sonic facepalms.
I guess I spoke too soon. He thinks as he sees unidentifiable things in the distance approaching the Tornado at a fast pace.
It doesn't take too long before he and Tails recognize the approaching robots. Badniks.
"Are those giant wasps?!" Amy gasps, watching the mechanical nightmares quickly come up on the Tornado.
"Buzz Bombers," Sonic corrects as he stares at the hornet-based robots.
They have a blue-cyan color, black stripes meant to resemble the wasp they're based on, and four outward wings that give the robots the ability to hover. Sonic knows, however, that the metal stingers on each of them are where the real trouble is. If he doesn't do something, the explosive pellets the Buzz Bombers shoot out will down their plane in seconds.
It becomes even harder to think as the weather suddenly gets ridiculously chilly, causing the blue hedgehog to shiver. It must be the high altitude.
"Here they come!" Tails calls out as a buzz bomber makes it to the Tornado.
Sonic jumps up and before the aggressive wind can carry him away, he dashes forward in the direction of the Buzz Bomber and curls up into a ball. His spikey, spinning quills dismantles the robot in seconds. The war hero lands back on the plane and watches as the tiny, helpless blue bird that was trapped inside the badnik rejoices in its new freedom and flies away. Right after, another Buzz Bomber closes in, its stinger glowing red. Knowing what this means, Sonic hops onto the badnik's back and steers it in the direction of two approaching buzz bombers. Its laser pellets hit both of them in quick succession, vaporizing their metal and freeing the trapped birds inside. Now being fully weighed down by the hedgehog's weight, Sonic jumps up, curls into a ball, and destroys the badnik he was previously on, freeing that bird as well.
This time when he lands on the plane's wing, the war hero nearly loses balance and falls backward, but catches himself last second.
"Whew!" the hedgehog wipes sweat from his brow. "Close one."
He turns to the front of the plane and nearly jumps out of his skin as a buzz bomber he seemingly missed ascends above the plane, its stinger glowing brightly red. Right as Sonic prepares for the worst, in the corner of his eyes, a red figure leaps off the plane. It's exactly who the hedgehog thinks it is. With one swing, the echidna decimates the buzz bomber, obliterating its metal configuration and freeing the blue bird inside.
But it's too late. As the badnik is promptly destroyed, its pellet shoots forward and hits the right wing of the plane, completely destroying it and sending the Tornado spiraling downward.
"HANG ON!" Tails screams.
Knuckles, having nowhere to land, misses the plane and is left at the mercy of the fierce wind and gravity. Sonic screams his name as the red echidna disappears completely below the cloud line.
"TAILS, TAKE AMY AND FLY TO SAFETY!" Sonic yells.
"BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?!" Tails screams.
"I'LL THINK OF SOMETHING, JUST GO!"
Reluctantly, and full of terror, Tails unstraps himself from his seat and turns around to Amy who does so as well. He grabs her arms and lifts her out of her seat with his spinning tails, and the two fly away, leaving Sonic alone on the rapidly descending deathtrap. As the Tornado falls through a cloud, the hedgehog is dosed in water and is left even colder than he was before. Then, suddenly, the cold weather makes sense. Below him is a ground full of snow. He and the others must have traveled to Ice Cap without even realizing. A place that is nearly completely uninhabited by any humans nor Mobians, and for good reason. One of the few areas Sonic is sure to avoid on his occasional global runs due to its boring terrain and cold weather.
Realizing the snow will at the least soften the impact, Sonic quickly hops off of the plane and rolls into ball form. He spins as much as he can while in the air, pointed in a direction that will take him far, far away from the explosion that's about to occur. Right as he touches the snow, he speeds forward before the flames and impact of the plane's violent explosion can graze him, and goes a few meters before he's able to stop. Now uncurled, and lying on his back in the snow, Sonic can only look at the clouds above as that familiar taste in his mouth once again reappears, but this time, to a greater magnitude. The foul but very familiar taste of utter defeat.
...