Chapter 132

Picking Teams

Tails eyes were heavy, and he felt dead on his feet. Despite that, a smile stretched across his face. I can't believe that worked. Tails was not usually so impressed by his own genius, but this time he allowed himself to marvel at his own ingenuity. Even Wave, who had been standoffish at first had been complementary, admitting that she never would have found the solution to the riddle of the key.

Once the task had been set, Wave and he had worked non stop for twenty straight hours. Analyzing, mapping and coding the key's crystalline structure would ordinarily be impossible without top of the line equipment reserved for the most advanced research labs on the planet.

But when there is a will, there's a way. Wave and Tails put their minds to the task of building their own highly modified series of lasers and scanners. In this, they were greatly aided by the Chaos Emeralds. Tails had been the one to discover that Alexandrite crystal had been the perfect medium for regulating the power of the emeralds, focusing and honing the energy into desired levels. Using his function in reverse, Tails replaced the Alexandrite crystal with the key and used the resulting outputs to map out a series of possible structures which he then painstakingly narrowed down.

It was an exhaustive procedure, and Tails was extremely grateful that Wave was there. Her expertise was geared more towards engineering, thermodynamics, and controlled systems but she was a fast learner and could intuit what Tails needed her to do.

Once they had the information they needed it was then necessary to construct a Quantum Resonance Scanner, a device that would locate the matched harmonic frequencies given off by the key, and cross reference it with its detailed atomic structure.

When the dust settled, Wave and Tails emerged with a working radar that had successfully pinged three distinct pieces of the Ark of the Cosmos. In order to focus their findings into precise locations, Tails then made three smaller radars, each one powered with a Chaos Emerald since every radar required the energy of an entire laboratory.

Now that the work was finished, everyone was gathered at the dining hall. Tails stood to the side and waited as Wave explained what they had done and what the next step would be. "To get this done as fast as possible, we made three radars so we can split up and gather all the pieces at the same time."

"What kind of transports do we have?" Knuckles asked.

"We have the Primrose," Jet said. Referencing the ship they kept in their hanger.

"You can use our stealth plane," Vice President Acorn volunteered. "Though you would need one of our pilots to fly it."

"I can travel with my Power Suit," Tails said through a yawn.

"That's too risky," Knuckles argued. "I don't want to reveal the suit until the last possible moment. We are already putting three of the Chaos Emeralds at risk, we should keep the last two here for safety."

"In that case, we can take our boards," Jet indicated to himself, Wave, and to Tails' surprise, Amy. "If we use Sol Gems we can fly freely without a transport."

"But if we take our boards, who will pilot the Primrose?" Wave asked pointedly.

"I think I can handle it," Tails offered. "I am a fair pilot."

"That works," Knuckles said. "It is better that we split you two up, since you are the only ones that really understand how these radar things work." Knuckles stood up, folded his arms and glowered over the assembled warriors. "This is what we will do. Tails, you take Ray and Mighty and go for the piece to the south. Amy, your team will take the piece over there in the west. Rouge, and I will take the human ship and take the piece in the north."

Without waiting to see what the others would say, Knuckles turned and stormed out of the room. Tails watched him apprehensively, worried that Knuckles was still bothered by the change in course. Avoiding direct battles like this must be hard on his pride.

"So I guess we are going with you." Mighty and Ray came striding over to Tails. The two newcomers were strangers to Tails, but they had both proven to be dauntless fighters during the attack at GUN Fortress. "Shame you can't bring that fancy suit of yours."

Tails smiled faintly. In truth, it wasn't the suit he was afraid to leave behind. I don't like separating everyone like this. Each group was in far more danger alone than they were in a group, but Tails knew that they had to risk separating so they could get the pieces faster. And with all of our best fighters gone, who will be here to protect the island?

A sudden thought came over Tails and he knew exactly what he needed to do. He started rushing for the exit.

"Hey, do you want me to walk you through the Primrose's controls?" Wave motioned over to Tails and beckoned him forward.

"Yes, just a minute. There is something I need to do first!"

Tails found Cream in an unlikely spot. She was talking to Vice President Acorn atop a terrace overlooking a long abandoned garden. Acorn had set up a series of radios and communication devices and was showing Cream how to operate them.

"What's all this?" Tails asked.

"We need operators to communicate with the resistance groups in the major cities, young Cream here volunteered to help." Acorn turned towards Tails and smiled warmly at him. Cream removed the head phones she was awkwardly trying to connect to her ears, and waved eagerly.

"I wanted to ask if I could come along with you, but I know Knuckles would have assigned me to your team if he had wanted me to go."

Tails could still detect the faint note of bitterness in Cream's voice. "That's great Cream, but I was wondering, can I show you something before I leave?"

Cream gazed wide eyed at the Power Suit, the golden sheen reflecting in her eyes. "You want me to wear it?"

"Not right now," Tails said seriously. "I just want to teach you how to put it on, and how to move around."

Cream looked at him doubtfully. "I don't understand."

"Listen, if anything happens while we are gone, someone needs to protect this island. I can't think of anyone I trust more than you."

"I…" Cream trembled faintly. "I don't know…I mean…" She glanced back at the suit. "It still kind of looks like him."

"Emerl would have wanted to protect you. He helped me with this suit, and I think it would honor his legacy if you learned how to use it also."

Cream's expression hardened and a look of steely determination stole over her. Tails was momentarily taken aback. He thought about when he had first met Cream. The memory felt like so long ago, like a picture from a different life. So much had changed since then, not least of all was Cream's attitude. And yet, in many ways she is still the same person at heart. For some reason, Tails felt that was incredibly important.

They met up outside and Tails showed Cream how to enter and exit the suit. "I've programmed it so it will only respond and open to you or me." He told her.

Cream looked uncomfortable as she squeezed her ears into the helmet. Tails had to resist the temptation to laugh as the entire scene was quite comical. Once, the suit was on her, it closed with a low metallic hiss. The eyes illuminated and Tails felt a shiver run down his back. Is that how I look when I am in this thing? He felt a slightly boyish pride in how awesome his design was.

"Ok Cream, can you hear me?" Tails raised his voice so that she would be able to hear him inside the helmet.

Cream gave a clumsy thumbs up.

"Now to fly, what you do is-" Before he could finish speaking, Cream suddenly rocketed into the sky. Propulsion spewed down forcing Tails to jump for cover. He heard a faint scream as Cream spun out of control.

Tails watched in horror as Cream continued to zoom in a figure eight. He ran forwards and backwards waving his arms frantically. There was nothing he could do however, and as Cream tipped forward. He instinctively closed his eyes.

BOOM! Tails moved his hands away and saw a huge cloud of dust rising in the air. He rushed forward to find Cream laying in a crater. Her limbs were bent in odd angles, and for a second, Tails thought she might be seriously injured. He heard a faint groaning sound and he started to climb down into the pit. Suddenly, Cream pushed herself onto her knees.

"Ow…." She said faintly.

"Are you alright?" Tails tried to lift her up, but the suit remained imobile.

"I'm okay." Cream stood and brushed away the dirt. "That actually didn't hurt too much."

"I implemented some responsive gel crash pads into the helmet and in between the joints," Tails told her.

Cream moved her head and rotated both arms. "I think I was starting to get the hang of it."

"Well let's just go inside for now and-"

Cream ignored him and shot back into the air. Again she lost control and started to spin in circles. Her head bent and she started to dive back towards the ground. This time, she was aiming directly at Tails. He yelped and started to run backwards. At the last moment, Cream pulled him, soaring straight up into the sky. With a tremendous effort, she straightened and hovered in the air.

"Hey, that's not bad!" Tails said cheerfully.

Trembling slightly, Cream lowered herself onto the ground. She lowered the helmet and her smile was spread from ear to ear. "That. Was. AMAZING!"

"Yeah, it is pretty fun," Tails returned. He had not expected Cream to control the suit so quickly, but like him, she could fly naturally so it was probably easier for her to adjust.

"Hey, Tails, it is time to go." Ray had approached them and was gesturing towards a domed shaped temple that served as the hanger to the Primrose.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Tails went over to Cream, who had just managed to squirm out of the suit. She looked slightly nervous now and glanced anxiously towards the hanger.

"You will come back…right?" She said quietly.

"Of course, this should be a quick mission. I don't see why there should be any danger."

Cream looked at him. Her eyes were very shallow which made it easy to read her emotions. "I'm sorry about before you know? About how I treated you. It was really selfish of me. Cheese understood that there are some things that are bigger than us. You saved the world, and I treated you terribly."

Before Tails knew what was happening, Cream had sprang forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace. He blushed badly, as he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her back. "Come back," Cream whispered in his ear.

"I will." They both let go and stared at one another. Each of them had tears in the corner of their eyes, but neither would let them fall. It was as if they both understood that the time for childish fears were gone, and that they would both have to be strong now. Tails waved farewell, turned and followed Ray back to the hanger.