There were ground and air Badniks at work with their attacks and Sonic, Sally, Antoine and the guards went to work fighting them (as well as getting civilians to safety) as Tails went to hide in his house afraid. "Robotnik; are you tired of getting your machines crushed and your butt kicked yet?" Sonic asked looking up as there was Robotnik in his Eggpod.
"Oh I don't know; are you all tired of getting in the way of me and world domination yet?" Robotnik fired back with a smirk; "nice village you have here; be happy to tear it apart as I claim the Chaos Emerald from some fox." Robotnik then said as they glared at him silently daring him to try and harm him.
"Don't cause too much damage Robotnik; I need this place to be in decent shape if I am to be baroness!" Carrottia yelled as she made her appearance with Bearenger and Hocke-Wulf as there were civilians gasping with the heroes staring hatefully at them.
"Carrottia? You are siding with Robotnik? How could you?" gasped out the mayor as Carrottia shook her head.
"I practically run this village anyway; might as well make it official and join the winning team. I mean how long can one hero and his ragtag band hold out against a robot army?" Carrottia retorted with her goons nodding their heads, she then gave a flirty smirk towards Sonic who glared at her. "Too bad Sonic; you would have looked so good in my arms!" Carrottia mocked as she blew him a kiss earning his ire as well as Sally's.
Then suddenly they felt the ground trembling and the heroes moved to safety as they saw to their horror Tails' home collapse, Tails flew out from the rubble looking tired as out from the giant hole from where his home was as there was a giant drill vehicle.
Robotnik smirked as he flew down and used an attachment to his Eggpod to grab the Chaos Emerald that Tails dropped and then connected the Eggpod to the drill vehicle. He then focused on attacking Sonic as Sally, Antoine and the guards focused on rescuing people and fighting the Badniks.
Tails looked at the carnage around him and the people in danger; they weren't the nicest to him and some were downright cruel but how can he sit there and be a coward while his hero was fighting Robotnik for the Chaos Emerald that Tails had recovered? In a way this scenario was at least partly his fault.
Tails then went to the rubble of his home and recovered a blaster device and his handheld Miles Electric device. He then activated holograms of himself up in the air distracting the Badniks as he fired at them and flew at civilians to push them out of the way as they were shocked.
Antoine found himself quivering as he was surrounded by Badniks but Tails picked him up and with his flight and put him down. "Isn't that nice of me Princess Sally? To let myself appear to be in danger to let the young fox have his moment and be a hero?" Antoine asked Sally nearby who had spotted this.
"Sure Antoine, sure..." Sally muttered as soon Sonic had damaged the drill vehicle enough for Robotnik to try and escape but Tails flew up and Robotnik stopped to spot him.
"You remind me of a younger me fox; cursed with brilliance and outcasted by your peers... I heard from the 3 allies that I had made that they like to pick on you; your extra tail and your intelligence... Why not take your place as my personal pupil in the Eggman Empire? I could help you meet your true potential? You know I promised the rabbit girl that she would be baroness of this village but I would have said anything to get her to tell me where you lived. I never intended to follow through but you? Once I takeover then you can have this village for your own!" Robotnik offered as the 3 bullies were open mouthed and started ranting.
"Why would I want you to take me under my wing? To become more like you? Your a bully like those 3..." Tails retorted using the MIles Electric to create hundreds of flying Tails holograms distracting Robotnik as he went to his sensors to see where the real one; only for tails to fire and grab the Chaos Emerald with Robotnik deciding to retreat at fully speed.
Tails flew down and saw the villagers who began cheering for him and lifted him up on their shoulders as Sonic and his allies smiled as Tails looked surprised.
They put Tails down and the Mayor said "on behalf of the village Tails... We are sorry for your treatment and not stepping in... We owe you our thanks!"
"Thanks..." Tails said not knowing how to respond but looked to the area which used to be his home. "Where am I going to live now?" Tails muttered shaking his head.
"You know I stay in the remains of my village in the Green Hill Zone; a sweet place to stay but there is plenty of room so I am sure that we can find somewhere for you to stay..." Sonic offered thinking it over and put a hand on Tails' shoulder as the young fox was hardly daring to believe it.
"You can be a big help for our team with your machines and I am sure that it won't be any problem convincing my brother the King to grant you all the resources you could possibly need." Sally told him and Tails was hugging them both with thanks.
Then there was a fake cough from Antoine as they stared at him; "Not to ruin the moment but these 3..." Antoine said pointing to Carrottia, Bearenger and Hocke-Wulf. "We heard them made no attempts to hide that they made a deal with Robotnik who is number enemy #1 and a wanted fugitive; brought him here so that's aiding and abetting a terrorist fugitive which unless I am mistaken counts as... Treason!" Antoine brought up and suddenly everyone was glaring at the trio who shrank in fear and horror as everyone was reminded of that fact.
"Come on now... We were luring him into a trap... Mum, help!" Carrottia tried to bluster and then yelled to her mother who refused to look her way and said that she was adopting an orphan to be her new only child.
The trio then tried to run away but blasts aimed at the ground near them caused them to trip as the guards went to arrest them; Tails smirked holding out his blaster and said "bullseye!"
"They have 3 Chaos Emeralds and now I have zilch..." Robotnik snapped in his lair as he then made a rude sound with his mouth as he held out his thumbs pointed to the ground.
"You just had to stop and give that fox a chance to embarrass you!" Brass muttered shaking his head and Robotnik glared at his top minion.
"I let myself be distracted by the fox's potential and underestimated how in common he could have with me but the stupid kid is too much of a hero worshipping idealist..." Robotnik fumed as this would serve as a reminder to himself that to be wary of those with promising IQs. "We still have the tomes that we are deciphering quite well... The human history of sports have no shortage of great comeback stories and this shall be the greatest of them all! I shall gather the remaining 4 Emeralds and then return to claim the rest!" Robotnik vowed dramatically.
Days later Sonic woke up in his bed and had his fruit breakfast and went outside; there was a nearby home that was now occupied by Tails which he was storing his new resources as well as the remaining intact inventions from his old home. "Hey Sonic; you want to go for some baseball?" Tails asked excitedly that he would get a chance to regularly play games and work with his idol.
"Be there in a second Tails my pal!" Sonic said with a grin; he finally had someone else to spend time with staying here in the village. Going to be less lonely from now on.
This and last chapter I decided to show Antoine as more than just a cowardly wannabe rival for Sally's affection who isn't all too useful on the actual field.