Chapter 14: SA1 Finale
"Oh… no…" Tangle said as Station Square came into view.
The city was completely destroyed.
"I… I really screwed up…" Tangle said.
"This isn't your fault Tangle." Tails said.
"Still… I knew the stakes this entire time… I should of been able to do something!" Tangle said.
"Tangle… really, you have nothing to feel guilty about." Tails said. "Besides, we'll figure something out. We always do!"
"Tails…"
"Just have faith in us!" Tails said.
"… Sonic's about to drown…"
"WHAT?!" Tails said before going in to save the hedgehog.
Thankfully, they were able to save him before he fell into the water.
"Geez this guys' tough… gonna really need you guys to back me up here!" Sonic said.
"Right!" Chris said.
"Move out of the way!" They heard a booming voice from behind them.
They looked over to see… the Egg Carrier?
"Didn't that thing get destroyed?" Tangle asked.
"Must of built a backup…" Sonic said.
Eggman then spouted some nonsense about how Chaos should obey it's master.
A lot of good it did against the monster's giant laser though.
"Welp… he's dead." Tangle said.
Then they saw Eggman get sent flying away, screaming.
"CAN'T I HAVE SOMETHING TODAY?!" Tangle groaned out.
Then, a bright light enveloped all of them, and brought the X-Tornado down to the ground.
"Is… that you? Tikal?" Tangle asked.
When the light faded, Tikal was standing there.
"I… I'm sorry…" Tangle said.
"Don't be… you can't fight fate…" Tikal said.
"Still, there has to be something we can do…" Sonic said.
At that moment, the Chaos Emeralds spread around the city, with one landing right besides them.
Chris however, noticed that another emerald landed nearby.
"Tangle, come with me!" Chris suddenly said, to which Tangle complied.
After a bit of running, Tangle saw what Chris wanted.
"Think you can stretch your tail out to grab it?" Chris asked.
"Hmmm… it looks like it's wedged between a couple of rocks… or rubble… my tail is too big to grab it." Tangle said. "I think I'll have to propel myself down there."
"Right… good luck."
Tangle then wrapped her tail around a nearby street lamp, and began to stretch it out, allowing her to descend down towards the emerald.
She didn't count on the pole bending slightly though.
"WHOA!" Tangle said as she began to swing a bit, and went face first into a nearby building.
"You alright?!" Chris asked.
"Yeah, I think I hurt the building more than myself!" Tangle joked.
"Just hurry up! I don't know how long this'll hold!" Chris said.
"Right!" Tangle said as she finished her descent, grabbed the emerald, and went back up.
"Whoo… that was stressful!" Tangle said.
"Still…we got the emerald but…"
"It lost all of it's color… hopefully Sonic can still use it…" Tangle said.
"Let's hurry up and get it to him!" Chris said as they began running back to the group.
"HEY! SONIC!" Tangle shouted as they began to approach.
Then Chris tripped.
"Oh… dude…" Tangle groaned out as she helped him to his feet.
Then Sonic ran over.
"Here… we got the emerald!" Chris said.
"Thanks you two… thanks a lot!" Sonic said.
And then, he began to glow, with all seven Chaos Emeralds floating around him.
"But… I thought the emeralds could only be awakened through hate and anger!" Tikal said.
"Those aren't the only emotions that can access their power…" Knuckles said.
"What did I tell you Tikal… Sonic is someone you always want in your corner!" Tangle said.
They could only look on in awe as Super Sonic floated above them, ready to save the day once again.
Sonic then proceeded to completely tear Chaos apart. It was like none of the monster's attacks could actually do anything to him, as he took multiple attacks head on, including one that was heading straight towards the group, and didn't seem phased by it.
Shortly after, it was over.
As Sonic landed, his super form faded, and nearby, Chaos landed, back to his base form as well.
The citizens of the city began to cheer Sonic's name, recognizing that he had won.
Tangle couldn't help but look around in awe, as the crowd continued to cheer their hero on.
But… then she noticed something, and she didn't like it.
She really did hurt that building more than herself…
The building that she crashed into before looked like it was collapsing, with it being split down the center, as a bunch of people began screaming in terror.
She looked towards the others, and none of them seemed to of noticed it.
Without thinking, she began to run.
When she got to the building, she stretched her tail out as quickly as she could, and tried to hold the building in place.
"GET… TO SAFETY!" Tangle shouted. "QUICK!"
While some of the people in the building were able to get across, most of them were either too afraid, or not physically capable of making the jump.
Meanwhile, back with Sonic and the others.
"Say… where'd Tangle go?" Sonic asked. "You'd think she would want to say goodbye to her friend…"
"Huh? She was here a moment ago…" Amy said.
After looking around for a bit, Tails spotted her.
"Over there!" Tails said. "Oh no…"
"Is she holding that building up?!" Amy asked.
"Come on! We gotta help her!" Sonic shouted before speeding over there.
"GRRRR COME ON! KEEP IT TOGETHER!" Tangle shouted.
"Hang on Tangle! We're coming!" Sonic shouted before leaping over to the building and began to help.
"TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH!"
Shortly after, everyone else showed up, and the other mobians, excluding Cream of course, went to work saving the people stuck in the building.
"Ok… that looks like everyone!" Sonic shouted. "You can let it drop now!"
"R…Ri-"
Then, she saw it. A corner of the top floor of the building crumbled away…
Revealing a young girl, falling to her death.
"NO!" Tangle screamed as she suddenly leapt off the bridge she was standing on.
"TANGLE!" Sonic shouted.
Tangle then unwrapped her tail from the building, which caused it to begin to fully collapse, and used said tail to pull the girl close. She then used the tail to cushion her fall, as she landed on a piece of rubble that was waiting below. Then, recognizing that she couldn't get away, especially since she still felt the impact from the fall, used her tail to shield herself and the girl as best she could as the building's rubble broke apart and fell on top of them.
'OWOWOWOWOW! OK! LEG IS DEFINITELY BROKEN!'
Then, she realized the situation she was in…
Her claustrophobia kicking into full gear, she began to breathe deeply, as she began to panic internally…
At least, that is what normally would of happened.
She took a look down and into her arms, to see the little girl looking absolutely terrified.
'I… have to be brave… just for a bit. This girl… she's way more scared than I am right now…'
"Hey… don't worry…" Tangle said with a shaky smile. "Sonic and the others… they'll get us out of here. I promise!"
The girl didn't respond, but instead hugged Tangle close.
After a couple of minutes of waiting.
"HEY! I THINK I SEE HER!" They heard Knuckles call out.
A couple of moments later, she felt someone carefully move her tail aside.
"Hey, just hang tight! We're gonna get some of this rubble out of the way so you can retract your tail!" She heard Sonic say.
"O…Okay…"
A couple more moments later…
"Ok, do it!"
Tangle complied, and brought her rather injured tail back to it's normal length.
Then, she looked up to see the worried faces of everyone.
"H-here… take her to safety first…" Tangle said as she lifted the girl up as best she could.
When the girl was pulled away, the others noticed that her left leg was caught under some rubble.
"Knuckles."
"Right." Knuckles said before using his shovel claw to dig her leg out.
Then, they carefully carried her out of the hole.
And the crowd began to cheer.
Tangle couldn't help but smile, as she lost consciousness.
"Whoo…"
End of Chapter 14
I love Tangle, I promise. This is a big moment for her actually… you'll find out more in the next chapter though.
Next chapter will be a bit of an epilogue to SA1, and will set up the SA2 arc! So see you then!
