Sonic The Hedgehog: And The Odysseys Through Time Chapter 2: Gotta Go Slow (Part 2), a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Chapter Two: Gotta Go Slow (Part 2)

Sonic sped down hallways, grinding off of railings, and leapt across bottomless pits of darkness with Tails at his side spaced a few feet behind him. As the two sped through the facility any robots they came across were promptly smashed to bits and a few tricky springs nearly had Sonic or Tails crashing into a wall of spikes, but so far everything had been par for the course as far as Eggman Facilities were concerned.

"It hasn't been too bad." Sonic thought. As if on cue the floorboards Sonic and Tails ran on started rotating and Sonic found his legs running on air, going nowhere fast, as he fell into the darkness below.

"Sonic!" Tails Screamed, but he was not fast enough to save his friend as he fell into the darkness below. As Tails descended into the darkness as fast as he could to retrieve his friend, his mind raced as his intellect thought of the perverse possibilities Eggman would have deployed. Was it a fifty foot drop? A laser grid? A pit of spikes? A laser grid over a fifty foot drop with a pit of spikes at the bottom? Tails could barely see below as the lack of reliable light in the base made it difficult to see what was in front of him, never mind a few dozen feet below them in the pitched darkness.

Just then Tails heard Sonic scream, "Tails! Help-"

Sonic's cry for help was cut off when Tails heard a splash. Like a rock falling into a pond. The only other sound was silence. The Fox's blood ran cold and he stopped his tails from spinning and then fell below into the water to save his friend.

The water was freezing cold. It took Tails a couple seconds to recover from the shock before he could force himself to draw in ragged breath and doggy paddle below the black water to search for Sonic. Tails could see nothing and swam to the surface to grab a breath of air. Just as he was about to dive back down Sonic broke the water's surface. Usually the dictionary definition of cool, Sonic's fight and flight response had activated as he began drowning, sending his normally rational mind into a panic that only served to worsen their desperate situation.

Most disturbing to Tails was Sonic's lack of Screaming. A lack of any noise but the desperate attempt to stay afloat when one knows not how.

"Sonic. Stay calm, I am swimming over to you." Tails screamed to his blue friend.

Sonic awkwardly attempted to paddle but as he slowly sank back down he started to panic as instinct took hold. Causing him to further flail his arms and legs about him.

There were the briefest sounds of Sonic gagging, choking, and sputtering before his struggle sent him below the black water once more leaving only the faintest trace of bubbles where he was seconds ago.

Now it was Tails' turn to panic. He knew that unlike on television most drownings are very silent and if Sonic was not breathing he could lose consciousness. At that point, Tails had one minute to find and save his friend to prevent brain damage. Five minutes at most before he would be dead.

"Sonic!" Tails cried out as he dived below grabbing. Tails paddled as hard as he could hoping with all his heart that he would find his dearest friend. After what felt like a lifetime, Tails hand felt then grabbed ahold of the struggling hedgehog and pulled him to the surface. As their heads broke the surface, Tails took a massive breath of air. Sonic coughed up water. His face was almost as blue as his quills.

"Phew. Now let me just-" Tails began to say before Sonic grabbed Tails in a deathgrip around his shoulders and pushed him down. Sonic's body acting on instinct, as well as in self preservation, began using Tails as an impromptu life raft. Now Tails was the one about to drown as he swallowed a small amount of water after being caught off guard. Tails pushed Sonic away and returned to the surface. As Sonic thrashed in the water both Sonic and Tails had air for a brief moment.

"Sonic, you have to calm down and lie on your back and breath or we are going to die. Sonic, I need you to be calm!" Tails screamed as loud as he could. Tails took a deep breath, laid on his stomach on the water then slowly flew out of the water and used his remaining strength and his twin tails.

"Grab my hands."

Sonic did so and the two were slowly lifted into the air thanks to Tails, with Sonic's feet leaving the water. The two were silent while Tails's face turned red as he looked like his head was about to burst with how hard he had to push himself to fly back up the twenty or thirty odd feet to the main platform. The foxes' tails gave out and the two friends fell, both wondering if this was to be their end.

Fortunately, the floor broke their fall as they crashed hard onto the metallic ground.

Tails let out a sigh of relief while Sonic threw up water then greedily choked down several gulps of air.

Seeing his friend was okay, Tails could not help but beam with joy. "I think you owe me a chili dog, Sonic." A tuckered out Tails teased.

"Just one pal? I think I owe you a lifetime of chili dogs after today. I've never been so happy to see murderous robots and dastardly life ending spike traps. I never want to see water again."

"Are you sure you don't want to take swimming lessons now, Sonic?" A slightly miffed Tails asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm even more terrified of water after that and you think I should pay to voluntarily have near death experiences? Ha. Ha. No thank you. This hog is sticking to the ground. Eggman got lucky that time. It won't happen twice!"

The rest of the journey through Eggman's base was largely uneventful. There were two major areas the duo ran through and all together it took about five minutes to traverse through, traps and all.

Suddenly, Sonic skidded to a stop with Tails doing the same before reaching the beginning of a long and narrow hallway.

"Sonic, why did we stop?" A confused Tails inquired.

"It's the Chaos Emerald."

Sure enough, the Chaos Emerald was sitting on a podium in a dimly lit room far down the length of the hallway. A bright light shined down upon the podium illuminating the Chaos Emerald as it seemed to defy the laws of physics as it floated in place an inch above the podium. The small room looked to have no exits and only one back wall behind the podium had Eggman's facade staring at them, an architectural flair of Eggman's bases which gave Tails the creeps. It was as if no matter where you were Eggman was always watching you.

"I don't like this Sonic, it looks like a trap." Tails said as he looked around for hidden threats waiting to ambush them.

"Traps are no problem little buddy as long as you don't get caught." Sonic double backed the way he came and returned a second later with a broken bit of metal from a destroyed robot. Sonic winded up a pitch and threw it down the hall. As expected, buzzsaws, flamethrowers, and tesla coils all activated.

Sonic tapped his foot and crossed his arms, "How boring, Eggman's acts are getting stale and predictable. You'd think a smart guy like him would get creative. It's like all Eggman's bases are copy-pasted blueprints with some thematic designs setting them apart."

"Sonic, please be careful."

"What was that Tails?" Sonic cupped his gloved hand to his ear as he leaned in toward Tails.

"Be-"

Sonic was a blur of motion as he seemingly disappeared and a second later he reappeared holding the Emerald as the hallways traps activated fruitlessly, Sonic tossed the Emerald to Tails with a smug grin.

"-careful." Tails caught the Emerald as he finished his sentence. Tails looked at the Chaos Emerald, then back to Sonic, then smiled. "Showoff."

"Guilty as charged little buddy."

"You had me worried for a second." Tails chuckled.

"But only for a second." Sonic cheekily replied while giving his best friend a thumbs up and a wink.

The lights went out, plunging the two friends into abject darkness.

As Sonic stared ahead toward the pathway they needed to take to leave the facility Sonic thought he saw movement as he stared into the dark void, then he knew he had seen something dangerous, when red eyes stared back at him.

Two blood red eyes, full of malicious intent stared intently at the Hedgehog and the Fox. Artificial Lightning flashed and thunder roared from an unseen audio system, revealing a metal doppelganger in Sonic's likeness. The artificial lightning ended and the facility was in darkness once more.

Sonic thought he heard whimpering but instinctually ignored it , instead focusing his attention on watching the dangerous red eyes as he prepared for the fight he was about to have Sonic reminded himself of the narrow railless walkway, suspended above a seemingly bottomless pit of water.

More artificial lightning flashed across the facility causing Tails to loudly cry out, his body trembling.

"Tails. Tails!" Sonic cried out looking behind himself breifly.

"Please. Please don't leave me. Please… please don't leave me all alone!"

"Tails!" Sonic shook his friend, as he tried to snap him out of his trauma.

"Please don't leave me... H-how will I survive? Please stay with me!" Tails screamed.

"Tails, it's me Sonic. I'm not leaving you. Come on Tails. Snap out of it!"

Tails continued to shake and quietly sob. After a few moments a small part of his mental faculties returned to him. "S-sonic?"

"We need to get going buddy, right-." Sonic's ear twitched, just then Sonic grabbed Tails and threw him on the ground. He could see nothing, but he heard the sound of dozens of serrated metal blades singing as they flew across the air towards their position.

Sonic ducked and dodged several of them, he crossed his arms in front of him, making an X shape to protect his neck, face, and chest, keeping one eye on the ominous red eyes that glowed in the darkness, watching them silently. Sonic's eyes shot open as he heard several more buzzsaws launch from some far away mechanism, heading toward them. This time they were exclusively aimed at Tails. Sonic turned to Tails who was in the fetal position, shaking, calling his name. Sonic dived over Tails as several buzzsaws, not much wider than his fist, sliced into his back shoulder. Sonic grinded his teeth and grunted in pain as he clenched his eyes closed.

That was when the lights turned back on.

Sonic heard a sonic boom, nearly deafening Sonic and Tails. Sonic watched as the robotic foe approached Tails and himself, as if in slow motion. Sonic stood up from the ground as small trails of blood ran down his back, the miniature buzzsaws still stuck in his back. Sonic ran forward to meet the metal monster.

The two came to blows as Sonic caught Metal's arms as the latter tried desperately to sever flesh from bone, his dagger-like fingers and hands swiped and stabbed Sonic without respite. Sonic blocked and dodged every attack, taking every opportunity to kick and punch metal when he could manage it. The two grasped hands as Metal tried to throw Sonic into the water below. They pushed each other forward and back as they struggled to maintain their grip and footing.

"Metal Sonic. It's been ages. I haven't seen you since you were left in pieces. I can't help but wonder… Why does Eggman-" Sonic pushed forward, grunting as his body strained itself, his feet gaining purchase against the metal terminator "-keep you around? A failure like you should have been recycled ages ago!" Sonic said with a cocky grin as sweat started to form across his brow.

Metal Sonic's red eyes glared as the robot pushed forward with a renewed determination.

Now Sonic was on the back foot but he was not yet done taunting his metal foe. "I get it. Eggman has a superiority complex. So naturally he keeps an imposter like you around as it's the only way he can ever feel like he can control me. Face the facts Metal. You're just a crappy knock off when compared to the real deal… and you always will be."

Metal Sonic's jet engine roared as it was pushed beyond itself beyond its design limitations. Metal Sonic hovered off the ground, the full force of his propulsion system straining against Sonic in an attempt to best him. Sonic ran faster and faster in place, until he stopped contesting Metal, letting go and tearing himself and his hands away from the metal robot, causing him to fly past Tails and Sonic. "Come on Tails, it's time to juice!" Sonic said as he extended a gloved hand to his best friend.

Tails took Sonic's hand, stood up, and the pair started running, with Sonic taking the lead.

A booming voice was heard echoing across the base, a maddening voice screamed out, "Kill him. Kill him. Kill him! Metal, slow Sonic down. Kill the fox boy. Cut off their legs. Blind them. Do anything. Just don't fail me again!"

Metal Sonic slowed down, making two sharp ninety degree turns, then shot forward after locking onto his targets.

Sonic glanced behind him. He heard his heartbeat, as if it and the world slowed around him. They were not fast enough to escape Metal, not with Tails in his current state. Tails' fears had been correct. This was the trap Eggman had planned and his cocky attitude had sprung the trap that now threatened to kill them. To kill his best friend.

Metal Sonic was coming at them with everything they had.

Sonic turned and grabbed the Emerald from Tails hand. He knew he could teleport one person if he really concentrated… but two? What if he accidentally teleports just himself or Tails, or accidentally brings Metal Sonic with them? That would be a death sentence as he would need a minute to recover from using chaos control and Tails is not in a good mindset to be fighting right now.

As Sonic gripped the Chaos Emerald he formulated a plan that would see Tails unharmed, and rid them of Metal Sonic. He would need time. One second to be exact. Practically an eternity, but he had to pull this off.

"Tails, I'm counting on you."

Sonic ran and shoved his friend out of danger and jumped between Tails and Metal Sonic as he readied himself.

As Metal Sonic rocketed toward Sonic, he had a brief moment of concern before it vanished.

Metal Sonic slammed into his target, one of his hands had been caught by Sonic's right arm, while Metal Sonic's free arm had found its target, as like a scalpel it tore apart Sonic's flesh, before slicing across his chest, creating a deep incised wound.

One heartbeat later Sonic gave Metal Sonic a smug grin then weakly said two words, "Chaos Control."

A look of hatred and shock flared across Metal Sonic's eyes, as he was teleported far away from them. Sonic dropped the emerald onto the ground, then collapsed beside it.

"Sonic? Sonic!?" Tails cried out in shock. Tails ran over to Sonic and knelt beside him, putting his right hand on the ground. He raised his right hand from the ground to grab Sonic when he noticed the palm of his glove was now bright red."

"Buddy, I don't feel so good." Blood began to pool on the ground. His glove was covered in blood. More than he initially thought.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sonic. Roll over and let me see. Elevate your legs."

"Yeah… about that pal, I can't feel my legs."

Tails helped Sonic roll over onto his back and lifted his legs up.

"It was bad. It was very bad." Tails thought quietly to himself. They had to leave. It was at that moment Tails with all his heart regretted not wearing any pants. He could have made a bandage to put pressure on the wound and to help slow the flow of blood. He hoped his friend would not die because of that decision.

"S- Sonic, I need you to put pressure on your chest." A terrified fox child begged his friend. "You're going to be okay. W-We just need to get you back to the city."

"I'm… really… tired Tails. It hurts to breathe."

"You need to stay awake Sonic," Tails slapped Sonic's face. Hard. "You need to stay awake and continue putting pressure on your wound."

Sonic's body went limp as he lost consciousness, "Oh, no. Oh, no no no no no. Not good. Think Tails think. Get Sonic back to the plane then treat his wound. Then fly to the hospital. Okay, you have a plan. Now move. Move!"

With legs trembling Tails struggled and picked up Sonic doing his best to keep his feet elevated and his heart below the wound area.

A terrified Tails continued mumbling to himself as he slowly walked along carrying his mortally wounded friend. If Eggman taunted him over the intercom he didn't hear it. His entire existence was dedicated to saving his best friend from death.

"Gotta go slow." He repeated to himself. Mindful of the wounds that were slowly oozing blood whenever Tails had to readjust his grip. Sonic was beginning to turn a pale white.

"Gotta go slow. Gotta go slow. Gotta go slow. Gotta go slow and ignore the pain." Tails silently sobbed while struggling to carry his best friend as carefully as he could so as to not loosen the pressure applied to the wound. His arms felt like lead. He ignored the pain. Reaching inside him to find some untapped source of strength.

Tails exited the facility the way they came, he did not remember pinging his ship to pick them up, but at this point he did not care. He put Sonic on the ground and rushed to the Super Tornado as it landed. Tails tossed the Chaos Emerald he had been holding in his tail onto the floor of Sonic's seat and grabbed a first aid kit and flew back to Sonic. Now outside with better lighting Tails got a proper look at Sonic's wound. It was worse than he thought. Tails quickly wrapped bandages around his stomach ensuring they applied tight pressure to the wound area. Tails then carefully buckled Sonic into his co-pilot seat and hopped in the pilot seat and began the takeoff process after both of the separate cockpit and co-pilot windows were enclosed separating the friends. A design choice, Tails now swore he would later axe.

Lawrence immediately spoke, "Sonic's biometrics indicate-"

"Shut up I know!" Tails shouted at the artificial intelligence.

Suddenly Tails heard his plane's radio activate and his blood began to boil upon hearing that all too familiar voice.

"If you think either of you can steal from me and leave here alive you are gravely mistaken. I grow tired of our games. I'm on my way to end this, permanently."

Tails, with tears streaming down his face screamed at the transceiver, "Leave us alone!"

"I'm not unreasonable, you have something of mine. If you give me the Chaos Emerald along with that blue devil I'll promise to leave you unharmed. You have my word. Why give up your life for dead weight? You're quite intelligent, fox boy. Think rationally here. It's an offer you will not be given twice..."

"Leave us alone!" Tails punched the radio breaking it and cutting up his hand in the process though he paid it no mind. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but getting Sonic to a hospital.

The Super Tornado flew quickly and a second later had broken the sound barrier. The alarm sounded indicating missiles were closing in. Tails jerked the controls initiating a tight turn as his vision went black for what seemed to be just a second. Tails adjusted his course back to Central City when he regained consciousness a few seconds later when suddenly Eggman's Airship passed overhead and blocked his path forward as both aircrafts began to drastically slow their speed below mach one. Eggman's airship was massive, with several rocket engine thrusters along the sides and bottom of the craft as big as trucks. Dozens of missile ports and point defense turrets dotted the massive octogonal airship.

"Get out of my way!" Tails screamed, as he launched all the armaments his jet had at Eggman's Airship. As the explosions cleared, an undamaged aircraft remained. Eggman was clearly visible in his cockpit. Smiling and waving at the twin tailed fox.

Tails, being a child, still had much to learn regarding complex interpersonal emotions such as love and lust, but as his best friend laid behind him bleeding out and he saw with his own two eyes, in 20/5 vision, Eggman was smiling and waving at him. Taunting him. In that moment, Tails knew what it meant to hate, to truly despise the existence of another person.

"Engage autopilot and evasive maneuvers after I launch."

"Affirmative." Lawrence replied.

Tails reached below his seat and grabbed a device he had until now hoped to never have to use. A wispon. Inside the device was a Wisp, a member of an alien species which possesses a unique energy called hyper-go-on-energy, as well as spectacular and varied powers. Upon activating the device the wispon came out of its stasis. It was as if it had been asleep for only a second.

"Hey little guy. We're in a lot of danger and I could really use your help." A scared and terrified fox humbly asked.

The wispon nodded its head, happy to help the saviors of its species, particularly when they appeared to be dire straits.

"Lawrance, as soon as I exit the jet. Launch it…"

"Understood."

Tails braced himself as his own cockpit screen window retracted. Tails jumped from the cockpit as a board was deployed after him. Tails used his twin tails, his experience, and knowledge of aerodynamics to position himself. He reached out and grabbed the board that had been launched from his plane. It was a lot like a surfboard or snowboard but was much more arrow dynamic with rockets on the rear of the device. Tails had his front foot placed on the device and it registered the contact, activated, sticking to his front foot. Tails kicked the back of it and the rockets activated. Tails kept his body low to reduce drag as he launched towards Eggman's Aircraft. When he was nearly there, Tails jumped off the rocket as it slammed into eggman's cockpit, cracking the glass and nearly hitting the position where Eggman sat. Tails screamed as he flew forward the rest of the way while dodging missiles and bullets. Eggman was still in a state of shock at the fox child charging right at him, against all sane logic and all the rational courses of action the fox could have taken.

Tails grabbed onto the ship below the cockpit and began shooting at Eggman who sat in shock behind the reinforced cockpit window that, for now, partially separated the twin tailed fox and the mad genius. Tails screamed and cried as he unloaded the energy of the wispon point blank as the cracked glass slowly melted away. The wispon ran out of energy and the Wisp exited the wispon and fled to safety as its energy was spent, leaving Tails pressing the trigger with the empty wispon failing to fire, as tears streamed down his face.

"Stop! What are you doing? You're crazy." A concerned and cornered Eggman yelled.

"Leave. Us. Alone!" Tails screamed while slamming the now empty wispon device into the glass as he slowly broke the last bit that separated Tails from Dr. Eggman.

"What in chaos do you think you're doing?"

Tails, after seeing him and his best friend in the world nearly be blown up by missiles, drowned, burned alive, crushed, electrocuted, impaled, sliced apart, and now as his childhood friend lay bleeding to death, it was fair to say Tails had mentally lost his marbles.

"What on earth do you hope to achieve by attacking me? You're no match for my physique, fox boy."

Tails stopped striking the cockpit's screen with the wispon now that the cockpit was largely broken and shattered. Tails stared into Eggman's eyes with the look of a rabid animal about to eradicate its prey.

"I can fly. You can't."

Tails let out a blood curdling scream as he attempted to crawl through to the cockpit to attack and grab Eggman. Tail's arms, sides, and legs sustained cuts on the edges of the broken glass but Tails either did not notice or did not care. Tails and Eggman traded blows as Eggman tried to push, punch, and kick the crazed fox from his aircraft while Tails tried to grab, pull, and bite any part of Eggman he could get his bloodied gloved hands on. Eventually, Eggman decided to leverage his advantage in reach and grabbed Tails by the neck. Tails was unfazed by this and applied his own death grip to Eggman's metallically gloved arm he happened to be wearing.

Tails glared and grinned at Eggman with an expression that screamed "You're an idiot" as Tails, while being choked, pulled on Eggman's arm while using his feet and the drag of air to pull Eggman further towards his doom.

Eggman grinned, as his glasses twinkled in the light. "Checkmate."

With that said, Eggman's metal glove then activated electrocuting Tails. Tails was paralyzed by the countless volts going through his body. His body at other times moved against his will and eventually by luck or skill, Tails put his foot on the cockpit console overloading the system with electricity causing it to short circuit. The aircraft lost its autopilot functionality, then it lost its bearing and started to spin out of control and lose altitude. Eggman disengaged his electrical weapon then hurled the fox boy out the cockpit then retreated his malfunctioning vehicle back to one of his many bases.

Tails' vision blurred, he blinked several times then realized that he was falling. The Super Tornado had maneuvered itself below the fox allowing him to half glide and half fall into the cockpit before the glass screen closed around him.

"Sir, I am detecting pulse irregularities. You need immediate medical attention to avoid-."

"-Shut up, I know. Just... shut…"

Tails clutched his chest as he experienced massive chest pain. It was odd. He could no longer feel or hear his heartbeat drumming through his veins and head.

"Oh crap."

Tails passed out.

For an artificial intelligence, it did not experience time in seconds or even nano seconds but in yoctoseconds, and Planck time. As a quantum computer, Lawrence had what seemed to him an eternity to carry out emergency procedures as per his programing and formulate the best plan of action to ensure the safety and survival of his creator and passenger.

"Emergency preservation programs are active and now engaged." Lawrence said before ending his speech program.

Lawrence, the Super Tornado's advanced artificial intelligence, started a log of its actions and of the unique scenario it found itself in. One yoctosecond later it engaged all proactive measures and failsafes required as per its programming and based on its own logic:

Subject: Sonic- Extreme blood loss. Loss of life or brain damage is possible if blood transfusion is not procured quickly.

Subject: (Creator) Miles "Tails" Prower- Requires an electrocardiogram. Heart palpitations may develop -update- Has developed into a delayed electrically induced cardiac arrest. ETA till death or major brain damage: 2-3 minutes.

Notifying emergency contacts:

Contacting… Amy Rose.

Hiring… Chaotic Detective Agency (attaching copy of flight log, flight path, and ETA of final destination).

Contacting... Maximus Law Firm.

Contacting… Central City Hospital.

Contacting… Local Fire Departments.

Setting course for Hope Hospital… Error. Death of passengers upon arrival.

Searching for the optimal path… Error speed insufficient.

Solution found... Land near the hospital… Error. No runway and limited time to find a suitable landing zone.

Solution… Set course for crash landing… Error. Several civilians would be harmed or killed in the process.

Solution… Hacking Central City Traffic Control and diverting traffic to create a makeshift runway. Notifying authorities and nearby air traffic controllers of imminent crash landing.

All suitable precautions have been taken to ensure passenger lives are saved.