Chapter 27: Crashlanding
Location: Tyrador Province
Two hours later...
The X-Tornado soared over the endless waters, the sunlight reflecting off its surface. Numerous islands were spread across the area, with several of them being privately owned. As he sat within the passenger pod with Sticks, Chris could help but be in awe at the diverse landscapes that they passed.
"This is incredible," he said, "Too bad Grandpa wasn't around to see this."
"Where'd Chuck go to anyways?" Bunnie asked.
The Cyborg-Rabbit flew up next to the X-Tornado, able to maintain the same speed of the aircraft. Tails refrained from tapping into the Chaos Emerald, which had allowed her to keep up.
"He wanted interested in checking out the art gallery."
Sally understood why Chris hadn't joined him, as visiting art galleries were incredibly uninteresting for a teenager.
"Tails, how much longer do you think we've got?" she inquired.
Consulting the Miles Electric, the young fox determined that they were nearing their destination.
"We should be closing in on our destination shortly," he stated.
They were fast approaching the resort settlement of Elsecaro, which meant that their destinate lay due east.
"I think I see somethin'," Sticks announced.
Glancing out the right-side window, Sally noticed a sprawling estate situated on the peninsula of a small island. The building itself was comprised of numerous geometric shapes, consisting of a whitewashed exterior and brown roof. There was an elegancy to it, yet the longer she stared at it the uglier it seemed to grow. The Fox immediately banked the aircraft, heading in the direction of the privately owned island.
"Tails, let's conduct some reconnaissance of the island."
"Why's that, Aunt Sally?"
"I want to get a lay of the land. I want to know what exactly we're getting ourselves into."
It was a sound decision on her part, and Tails immediately acquiesce to the Princess' request. Banking again, the twin-tailed Fox overshot the island and began to circumnavigate the landmass. The estate was the only thing of note, as more then ninety precent of it was covered in sprawling jungles.
"Seems like a wildlife sanctuary," Chris observed.
"NICOLE, who owns Gwyrdd Island?" Sally asked, pulling out the handheld.
It was something she should've inquired about earlier, but in her rush, it had completely slipped her mind.
"Some kind of holding company, according to public records," she reported, "Until a few years ago it was owned by a man named Alexander Dalton."
"Got anything on him?" Tails inquired.
"Only that he was an eccentric recluse and died alone."
"Well, that's tragic."
Any further conversations were immediately silenced, a deafening bang garnering their attention. Black smoke began spewing fourth from one of the boosters, causing a noticeable drop in altitude.
"NOT GOOD!" Tails remarked, feeling the aircraft's attitude suddenly drop violently.
"TAILS! Do something before we crash," Sally yelled.
"I'M TRYING!"
A water landing was out of the question, as sticking to the shoreline meant that they would impact with the jagged rocks. Flying too far out to sea had the potential to be lethal, leaving Tails with only one option. Heading inland, the X-Tornado began clipping the treetops, losing more and more altitude. Bunnie quickly accelerated forward and caught up to the X-Tornado, grabbing the aircraft's nose in a desperate attempt at altering its trajectory. She continued to pull against the descending aircraft, but she quickly found herself becoming exhausted. That was the problem with being a cyborg, her cybernetics didn't possess their own independent power sources. Heaving as hard as she could, she felt the entire vessel to shift, but in time to prevent it from clipping a tree. The X-Tornado violently corkscrewed, by some miracle managing to remain upright as it slammed into the waterlogged ground. The nose of the aircraft heaved the soft earth upward, leaving an ugly furrow into the ground. Physically exhausted from the effort, Bunnie couldn't prevent herself from being thrown from the crash. Her colliding body threw water into the air, yet the ground was soft enough to prevent serious injuries. As she came to a rest near the base of a massive tree, Bunnie remained conscious long enough to make out several humanoids moving through the underbrush.