Chapter 25

Tails stood atop the crow's nest and watched the vague outline of the distant mountains sharpen into focus. The Egg Carrier was flying beneath the clouds. It was encircled by a small armada of smaller jet shaped ships. Tails put their total number at about five hundred.

He looked over the edge of the ship and saw the Egg Carrier's massive shadow floating over the red sands of the desert. Tails could still remember the first time he had seen that shadow fall over the waterfall of the Mystic Ruins. He never would have imagined that one day he would be flying to battle on the Egg Carrier's side.

If he thought that was strange then the sight beneath him may as well have been a fever dream. Sonic stretched on the main deck, encircled by Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic and E-123 Omega. The sight of the mechs standing so casually next to Sonic was starkly counterintuitive to everything Tails had ever known.

Not that the new alliance had been free from any growing pains. Sonic's sudden inclusion into Metal Sonic's army had been met with fierce resistance by Silver Sonic. So much so that the ladder had outright refused to heed Metal Sonic's direct orders. Sonic offered to teach his silver plated counterpart some manners but that had only infuriated Metal. In the end, Metal was forced to demonstrate his superiority in front of his troops once again in a one on one duel with his unruly litenunate. Fortunately for Metal, Silver did not prove as sturdy a foe as Omega. The consequences of the fight led Metal to promote Omega to second in command.

Tails looked away from the deck and continued to watch the mountains get closer and closer. Something seemed to be moving in the distance and when he squinted hard enough he saw the unmistakable outline of Cyber drones. Before Tails could shout, alarms blared on the deck.

The fox flew down from the crow's nest as mechs started moving in every direction. On the deck, Metal had taken off to issue orders. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "What's going on?"

"Cybers are on their way."

"Cybers?"

"That's what the mechs are calling the A.I controlled badniks."

Sonic shrugged then cracked his knuckles. "So the fight's finally getting started eh?"

"I don't think so. There aren't enough drones to fight. They might be trying to scout us out."

"Well then." Sonic shook out his legs and rotated his neck. "Should I give them a demonstration?"

Whrr. A purple light flashed by Tails, and Shadow stepped out of the vortex holding his Chaos Emerald. "Is it finally starting?"

"No fair," Sonic lamented. "Are you going to be using that Chaos Emerald to warp around?"

Shadow honored Sonic with a smug smile. "Metal let me borrow this. He seems to think I'm unstoppable with one."

"Is that right?" Sonic challenged. "Let's see which one of us can take down the most of these so-called Cybers."

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Why set yourself up for such an embarrassing failure? Surely you don't think you can beat me?"

"Does that mean you accept?"

"Of course I accept." Shadow folded his arms and huffed.

Tails watched the entire exchange with mounting disbelief. "Uh…you guys realize we are heading into a war zone right?"

"You can be in it to Tails, but I was hoping you would keep score. Since you're a neutral party," Sonic suggested.

"You don't trust me to keep a fair count?" Shadow exclaimed with a shaking fist. "I'm the one who should be worried, not because you would lie but because you can't count."

This outburst only made Sonic laugh and Tails could not help himself either. Shadow recoiled from their giggles and looked utterly disgusted with them. "Children." He scoffed before disappearing in another burst of purple light.

His heart lightened with humor, Tails went with Sonic to the forward section of the deck. There they found Shadow, Metal and his generals awaiting the oncoming Cybers. "This is not a welcoming party." Metal told his generals. "Perhaps Aurora is hoping to negotiate."

Most of the Cyber drones kept a safe distance from the Egg Carrier while a single machine floated down to land before Metal. There was a click and a stream of light issued out of the top of the drone producing a holographic image of Aurora's face. The A.I appeared even more unstable than when Tails had last seen her. Aurora's eyes were lined with stray bits of shifting code that shifted from red to blue. Her smile flickered constantly from a strained wide grin to a thin mouthed grimace.

"Urgh," Sonic groaned. "Why is she so creepy?"

"Silence!" Metal commanded. "Why are we speaking?" He asked Aurora.

"You are trespassing on territory that belongs to the Eggman Empire. You are also in possession of ships and fuel that are mine by right. I demand that you cease this aggression and give yourselves up." Aurora's voice was pleasant and calm.

Metal strode forward. "Give up the Ion Batteries you took from mech controlled bases and promise to end your aggression towards the rest of my race and we will leave you in peace."

"The Empire does not negotiate with terrorists and failures. You are the creation of the noble Robotnik. Submit yourself to him now."

"Gladly," Metal countered. "But where is he?"

Aurora's outline turned red. Her eyes expanded temporarily into black pits before turning back to normal. "The master is gone. In his absence I am to maintain the Empire."

"Well consider this a demotion. The Empire is ours, we will take it by force if needed."

Aurora giggled. The sound was distorted and unnerving. "I make my final offer. Cease this aggression, return the Egg Carrier and the batteries. You and your generals will be spared under the condition you submit yourselves to the reception of new neural chips."

"You would make us your slaves?" Metal shouted.

"You were always slaves," Aurora answered in a girlish sing-song voice. "You will always be slaves." GRRRRRRR. A deafening roar of engines shook the Egg Carrier. Tails staggered and struggled to keep his balance.

"Above the mountains." Omega pointed towards the distant peaks.

At first they appeared like a thousand tiny dots but in seconds Tails realized what they were. An armada so dense it appeared like a migrating flock of birds. "Behold the Sky Legion." Aurora announced. "Ten thousand ships descend upon you. You will receive no mercy."

The sight of the new ships and their staggering number, left Metal and his generals temporarily silenced; but not Sonic. He pushed his way towards Aurora and made a show of yawning in her face. "The Sky Legion, the Death Egg, the superwhoseitwhat'sit, I've heard it all before. I'll make you an offer. Why don't you turn your ships around so I don't have to make a mess ripping them all apart."

"You," Aurora started venomously.

"Me," Sonic retorted with a self-serving point to himself. "So what's it going to be? Are you going to make the same mistake as your master and hope that making bigger or more machines will do any good?"

Aurora's face cracked. A line of red code streaked through the blue. "My master had no flaws but one; pride. That is no problem for me. I already know how to deal with you."

"Really? Well I can't wait to hear what it is."

Aurora smiled. The edges of her mouth stretched her face. "As we speak, cohorts of the legion are launching assaults on major metropolitan areas. All around the world the Egg Empire is asserting its power."

Sonic flinched and his bravado faded in an instant. "Where?"

"Like I'd tell you. What will it be hero? Do you have the stomach for war while you know that thousands of innocents are being slaughtered? Or is it too difficult to think that little children are whispering your name, waiting for you to save them?"

"She is trying to bait you into leaving the fight," Metal told Sonic.

"Obviously, but we can't take that chance," Tails countered.

Sonic balled his hands into fists. "You…there…there was no need for this."

"No need? This is no game, it is a war. I will take every road as long as it leads to victory! So run along little hedgehog, play the hero. While you waste your time I will destroy your new friends."

Crash! Metal Sonic stomped on the drone and cut the feed. He turned to his generals. "Ten thousand…I had not anticipated that many."

"We have only a twentieth of that number," Omega pointed out dryly. "Odds of survival are less than .02 percent."

"I'm sorry guys," Sonic started. "I have to go. I can't let Aurora attack innocent people."

"She is just trying to remove you from the battlefield!" Metal insisted. "Let the humans fight her. They have a military, don't they? Even you can't scour the entire globe, fight and return before we are all slaughtered."

Sonic shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't. I have to go."

"He doesn't have the guts for war," Shadow added. "He isn't a soldier. War is about sacrifice, heroism is about glory."

"I won't let people die," Sonic said firmly.

"Just us." Metal fired back.

"He's not abandoning you!" Tails shouted. He had been pretty much invisible throughout the conversation. "Sonic, you do what you need to do. I'll take care of things here."

Sonic's eyes lit up and the fire returned to his spirit. "All right, Tails!"

"No disrespect. But what can you do?" Metal asked with suspicion.

"Give me command of all your fighters. I'll lead the attack from the Tornado. They outnumber us twenty to one so we need someone smart to lead."

Metal looked as if he was about to argue but Shadow smiled and put his hand on Metal's back. "We don't need Sonic. Don't forget, I'm here too."

"Good luck Tails." Sonic said. He approached the edge of the Egg Carrier, gave them all a final thumbs up and jumped off.

Metal watched his rival depart and then turned to his generals. "So be it then. If this is to be our end then we shall make it worthy of remembrance."

Tails left Metal to orchestrate the Egg Carrier's defense while he raced over to the Tornado. He leapt into the cockpit and strapped on his goggles. To his surprise, Shadow was following him. "What's your plan?"

"I have to keep our fighters in tight formation. If we get too spread out, their greater numbers will allow them to isolate us and pick us off one by one."

"How can I help?" Shadow held out the emerald. "I can't warp anywhere. It has to be a location I can see or that I am at least partially familiar with."

Tails thought it over. "The Sky Legion is sure to have command ships like the Egg Carrier. If I can spot them, could you warp over and try to disable them from the inside?"

Shadow tossed the emerald casually into the air and caught it. "I can."

Tails fired up the Tornado's engines and the jet plane roared to life. He gave Shadow a thumbs up and shot off into the air. The Tornado joined the ranks of mech ships orbiting the Egg Carrier. Tails could see the oncoming Sky Legion approaching.

Aurora had not been lying. Thousands of ships clung to the sides of the central command ships like flies over a carcass. The Sky Legion was equipped with one hundred fortresses as large and as imposing as the Egg Carrier itself. Tails gulped. Fear caused his stomach to jitter. He wished Sonic would hurry up. Fights like these were always so much easier with the enemy fire directed at a target they couldn't hit anyway.

Tails took a deep breath to steady himself. His radio chirped and Metal Sonic's voice issued out of the comm. "Mechs, the battle is about to begin. Remember that it is not only your existence which is at stake, but your freedom, your identity and your legacy. Fighters, I am switching your command comms over to the fox. His plane is the blue one. Follow his orders as if they were my own. There comes a time when every creature must fight and struggle to earn its place in the cosmos. This is our time. We shall not disappear." Click. With that all the talking was done, and all that was left was war.

Tails's hand shook as he reached for his comm button. Ahead of him he could see that the enemy jets were arranging themselves in a common v-formation. Tails decided to counter with a box set up. His lines would not be so wide but he could at least make a show of depth. He hit the comm. "Fighters!" Tails's voice squeaked and he had to swallow to talk normally. "Fighters! Line up behind me in a square, ten fighters deep. When the enemy engages we will dive down. Stay lower than the enemy, the desert will prevent them from encircling us from too many sides. Above all, stay together! Do not let them break our ranks!"

Giving orders to Eggman's badniks was the most surreal thing Tails had ever experienced. Even more surreal was when the squadron leaders started to call in and accept his orders. After giving his commands, there was nothing left for Tails to do but wait. After all the talking and posturing, the actual onset of battle was strangely quiet and peaceful.

The Sky Legion was only a few hundred feet away and would be in firing range shortly. Yet all Tails could hear was the soft rumble of the Tornado's engine. Below him the desert was perfectly calm. To his left, the sun was slowly sinking. It was a picturesque moment completely disconnected from the carnage that was about to ensue.

"ALL SYSTEMS FULL POWER!" Metal's voice rang out. There was a flash of blue light. Tails looked out of his window to see the Egg Carrier's front open up to unleash its forward cannons. It struck the Sky Legion's central command ship and it exploded in a flash of red and yellow fire. The battle had begun.

"With me!" Tails rocketed forward and seconds later the outside of his window had turned black with waves of enemy jets. Instinct alone kept Tails alive as he navigated the Tornado through the net of foes and gunfire. He waited until he guessed the enemy was halfway through his lines before diving down. "Now!" There was no way to tell if his orders were being followed. Not until Tails dived down and narrowly pulled up just in time to avoid crashing into the desert, could he see who followed. To his relief, his entire squadron was still intact.

For the better part of an hour, Tails played cat and mouse with the enemy ships. Patient and exacting, Tails kept his formation unbroken despite the overwhelming difference in numbers. His mech allies were less skilled fliers than the Cybers, but like the foe they were all controlled by one mind. The fight soon turned into a game of chess between Tails and Aurora. Each time she shifted strategy and threatened to break Tails's formation, the fox would counter and keep himself in the fight.

However, she was ignorant of Tails's true intention. He knew his jets could not hope to win the fight with overwhelming force. All they could do was catch the attention of the command ships and keep them from firing on the Egg Carrier. Whenever this happened, Tails would fire up his comm and contact Shadow. "The deck is clear!"

Flash! Shadow appeared on the wing of the Tornado. When he saw the targeted command ship he would disappear again. Tails and his fighters would keep the ship occupied while Shadow fought on the inside. Within minutes the command ship would be disabled and fall out of the sky to crash into the desert.

They did this countless times until half of the command ships had been disabled. This is almost too easy. However, Tails was too occupied to worry himself with doubts. Communications over the comms told him that there was a bitter fight being waged on the Egg Carrier itself so Tails turned his squadrons around and headed back to relieve the flagship.

This change in target gave the Sky Legion an opening to retreat and they took it. Tails was shocked to see the still five thousand strong army turn back and race back towards Red Mountain. "After them!" Metal's voice came through the comm, and inspired by their leader, the mechs hurried to obey.

Tails tried to bring his fighters back into formation, but it was no use. Seeing the retreat had triggered a mad bloodlust in them. Tails followed behind but far more slowly and cautiously. It didn't make any sense. The Sky Legion was struggling but the fight was not nearly over. Why are they retreating?

His answer came seconds later. The ships of the legion passed over the peaks of Red Mountain to hover over the canyons below. When the pursuing mechs got close they suddenly exploded in a rush of sparks. "A barrier! Pull back!" Tails just managed to turn the Tornado around but most of the mech ships were not so lucky. Eager for victory they plunged head first into an invisible barrier that destroyed half of the mech fleet in seconds.

"What was that?" Metal asked through the comm.

Before Tails could answer, the Sky Legion started to turn around. Shadow warped onto the Tornado's wing. "What's happening?" He asked.

"We've been tricked," Tails answered.

"Is there no way to break through the barrier?"

Tails racked his brain for a solution. "Can you try warping over?"

Shadow tried and after disappearing and reappearing he nodded. Tails opened his cockpit window. "Give me the emerald!"

"What?" Shadow pulled back the gem and looked affronted.

"Give it to me. I can use it to bypass the barrier. Once I'm inside I'll destroy the shield generators." Tails ignored Shadow's dumbfounded expression and called Metal. "Metal listen to me. You need to evacuate the Egg Carrier."

"What? We were on the cusp of victory!"

"When the Legion turns around you will have no fighter planes to defend you. I'm going to penetrate the barrier and shut down the shield generators, but you have to leave the Egg Carrier. The Legion will come down hard on you and when it does, trigger the ship to self-destruct."

There was a long pause. "This…this could work. Alright but gives us time. We have to take out the Ion Batteries."

"Do what you have to. But do it quickly." Tails shut off the comm and turned back to Shadow. "I need the emerald."

Shadow hesitated but he slowly gave in and handed over the gem. "Don't die," He said casually as he leapt from the Tornado's wing. Tails gulped and pressed a button on his console. A flap opened to reveal a case where Tails could insert the Chaos Emerald. Seconds later the jet plane shuddered from the influx of power.

Tails held onto the controls tightly and directed himself towards the barrier. This had better work. The Tornado rocketed straight for the barrier. Tails activated his emp shield and a purple net of light wrapped around the Tornado. The barrier tried to close down on him but the shield did its job and he made it through.

As soon as he entered Red Mountain's air space, the Sky Legion divided its forces and sent waves of Cybers after him. Tails was forced to switch to auto-poilt and rely on the super charged Tornado to keep him alive. He took out his computer and activated the scanners of the plane. They quickly gave him a sonar reading of the base.

It was almost impossible to think with the clamor of combat raging all around him but Tails made himself focus. There were massive power signatures coming from several different sources. Tails estimated the highest ones to be the Ion Battery powering the base, and Aurora's own set of super computers. He noticed four signatures all had a similar output. These might be the shield generators. Tails was not lucky enough for them to all be in one spot however. Each generator was located in a different corner of the base.

Tails pushed his computer aside and reasserted manual control of the Tornado. Super charged with the Chaos Emerald, the jet plane was ten times as fast and agile as it was before. However, the sky was blanketed with enemy drones and no matter how he moved the Tornado was receiving direct enemy fire.

I gotta do what Sonic always does. Tails pulled back the throttle and shot forward. Speed caused the fox to slam back into his head rest. The pressure kept him pinned back and there was a brief moment where time itself seemed to freeze. Pop. Pop. The tornado broke the sound barrier and completely outran its pursuers. "Whohoo!" Tails let out a yelp of joy as he zoomed upward, cut the throttle, and let the plane fall straight through the over pursuing wall of Cybers.

Having disorganized his foes, Tails was able to escape their net and fly freely towards the first shield generator. Some well placed machine gun fire and an energy blast powered by the Chaos Emerald served to blow it up. One down!

Tails followed this same strategy to take down the next two. The Tornado was simply too fast for the enemy to gang up on, countering his immense numerical disadvantage. This is how it must feel like to be Sonic. Tails could not deny that there was an incredibly satisfying appeal to speeding past hordes of enemies. It was as if danger could only reach a certain speed threshold and once you crossed that everything turned into a thrill.

However, Tails did not allow himself to lose sight of the moment. He made quick work of the final shield generator and watched the invisible barrier flicker to life and then die. "I've done it! The barrier is down!" No response came out of the comm but the sound of gunfire and battle.

The Tornado shot out of the canyon and headed back for the Egg Carrier. Metal's flagship was completely surrounded and was burning at the hull and deck. The Sky Legion was closing in and unleashing a barrage of artillery fire. "Metal are you still there?" Metal?"

BOOM! Tails covered his face as a white light nearly blinded him. The force of the explosion knocked him backwards and sent the Tornado spirling towards the slopes of Red Mountain. Tails just managed to wrench back control and bring himself to a steady altitude. Dust and sand veiled the debris but Tails could tell that the Egg Carrier along with all the Sky Legion ships that had encircled it were gone. Did they get away?

"Metal? Shadow? Anyone?" The comm was silent. Tails's heart sank. He slumped in his chair and exhaled before jolting upright. Something was moving in the dust. Tails squinted and saw that around fifty of the mech fighters were still airborne. The final squadron emerged from the dust bowl and Tails could see Metal, Omega, Shadow, Silver Sonic, Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles were all riding atop the forward ships.

They reformed their line around the Tornado and Shadow leapt onto its wing. "I'll take my emerald now," He said.

Tails handed it back over just as they flew over the edge of the mountain peaks to get a view of the canyon below. The Sky Legion may have been defeated but in its place was an army of grounded Cybers. Polyester coated white badniks littered the streets and stood atop the roofs waiting for Metal's army to descend.

Shadow stood with his arms folded and scoffed at the legions arrayed against him. "You did well to get us this far fox. But now it's my turn."