Chapter 115

Soul of the Emeralds

The plan was working perfectly. Tails sat back in his captain's chair and triple checked all the cameras. GUN forces were being pushed back at nearly every front. The sudden reveal of the Egg Carrier had captured the brunt of GUN's initial defensive response. This had allowed Omega and his ground troops an early advantage as they rushed the foremost tower.

Tails and Aurora then set to work on clearing more landing zones for the rest of the army. GUN drones might have outnumbered their forces a dozen to one, but they were fodder for the neo badniks that Tails had designed. Within ten minutes of fighting, Knuckles had led the rest of the ground forces onto the battlefield.

The opening salvo could not have gone better. The Egg Carrier dominated the skies, preventing GUN from attacking the ground troops from above. This kept most of the action on the ground where Knuckles and Metal Sonic were at their strongest. Tails watched in awe and trepidation as Knuckles and Metal Sonic cleaved through lines of GUN forces.

However, Tails could not afford to keep tabs on Knuckles. He had to focus on commanding his badniks. From his vantage point, the battle progressed like a game of chess. GUN had lost several pieces in the opening, but they slowly regrouped and started a counter attack. This began with the inclusion of the human piloted mechs. Taking these down required Tails to manually calculate increasingly complex strategies. After a few failed attempts, Tails finally managed to code in a program that allowed as little as ten Clypeus to destroy one mech. The first time this happened Tails had to swallow the bitter pill of knowing that the human pilot had likely not survived the encounter.

These kinds of sentiments faded as the battle lengthened. Despite the early advantage, once GUN dug in its heels, every gain became increasingly difficult. The Egg Carrier itself was threatened by an armada of sleek military jets that were trying to blow it out of the sky. Tails ceded control of his badniks to Aurora as he took over the flight controls of the Egg Carrier. Within the narrow confines of the gorge, Tails could not maneuver very much, but he did what he could to keep the Egg Carrier's vulnerabilities safe.

All the same, Tails could not stop the slow buildup of damage. Alarms wailed inside the ship as critical systems were knocked out one by one. Tails lost sense of time and of the larger battle. It took all of his piloting skill to keep the Egg Carrier airborne. "There are five hundred hostiles left," Aurora said. This number became Tails' entire world. Maneuvering the Egg Carrier was not all like the agile and nimble movements he could make with the Tornado 2. Outright avoiding damage was impossible, so Tails had to be careful and calculated about which projectiles to absorb and which ones he could try and dodge.

"Shields at 17%." Aurora said calmly. At this point, Tails did not know if the battle had been raging for minutes or hours. His hands were stiff and slick upon the controls. His back ached from leaning forward and anxiety was making his heart race.

At that moment, the doors opened behind him. Cream and Cheese stumbled into the room as the Egg Carrier trembled. "Tails!" Cream cried as she held Cheese tightly with both hands. "The ship feels like it's about to blow!"

"Hang on, Cream!" Tails managed through gritted teeth. He moved the controls and carefully nudged the Egg Carrier beneath an overhand of rock. This allowed the natural terrain to shield the ship from an upcoming wave of missiles. However, doing so caused the side of the ship to scrape against the side of the mountain. Tails bit his lip as the Egg Carrier shook up and down.

"Tails!" Cream yelped as she fell forward. "We need to get out of here!"

"No!" Tails insisted. "We'll be alright. Trust me." He used the brief moment of repose to check his cameras. Much of GUNs ground forces had been pushed back towards the main gate of the fortress. "Aurora, what's the status below?"

"Our forces have dwindled down to less than fifty percent. There is only one tower left to take."

Tails checked the sensors of the Egg Carrier. The shields were down to five percent. Tails did the math in his head and realized the Egg Carrier would be knocked out of the sky before they were ready to make the final assault. He had to do something drastic. "Aurora, prepare the central laser and target the mountain."

Cream ran up to Tails' shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

Tails throttled the controls and started pushing the Egg Carrier closer to the mountain. In the rear cameras, Tails could see the armada of remaining jets circling around ready to make another bombing run. "Main laser is online," Aurora declared. "However, there is only enough energy for one shot."

"That's all I'll need." Tails waited until the Egg Carrier was facing the nearest rock wall. His fingers waited just above the trigger as he waited for the jets to get closer. His heart seemed to stop beating as time slowed down around him. He calculated the speed of the upcoming jets, and quickly cross referenced that with the expected fallout of the blast. Once the numbers matched up, Tails hit the button. "FIRE!"

The Egg Carrier's front opened up to reveal a hidden blaster. The same gambit had once knocked Tails and Sonic out of the sky, and now Tails used it to blast a hole in the rockface. Smoke and debris exploded in every direction and Tails jerked the throttle back with all his might. The Egg Carrier threatened to break apart as it started to turn. Its hull smashed against the rock face and just managed to bounce off while still in one piece. The jets weren't so lucky. Many were destroyed by the explosion of rock, while the rest were buried by the avalanche of sliding debris.

Tails jerked the controls back to the front and the Egg Carrier straightened out. The entire ship groaned as the metal threatened to break apart. A heavy moment of uncertainty passed before Tails let out a sigh of relief. "Aurora, what's going on down there?" Tails checked the cameras and saw that the allied forces had gathered near the bridge which led into the main fortress.

"All of the towers have been taken. They are preparing for the final assault."

Tails did another quick scan of all the cameras. It seemed that they had successfully defeated all of GUN's forces outside of the main fortress. Reinforcements were sure to arrive soon, but at the moment, they were safe.

"Tails." Knuckles' voice sounded over the intercom. "We've reached the main gate. Get ready to come and join us."

"I'll be ready," Tails answered. He slowly let go of the pilot controls. It was difficult to unclench his hands after holding onto them so tightly. He removed his seat belts and leaned back in his chair, allowing himself a brief moment to recover.

"Are we winning?" Cream asked timidly.

Tails nodded. "So far. We just need to push forward a little more." Tails wiped his face and sighed. "Aurora, you can take over. The Egg Carrier's systems will be nearly depleted once I get back into my suit, but you should be safe for now."

"Affirmative." The Egg Carrier's systems switched to remote operation and Tails turned his chair around to face Cream. She had Cheese clutched in her hands and was attempting to look less terrified than she was.

"It's almost done," He assured her.

Cream nodded. "Are…are you going down there?"

"I have to. Knuckles and the others are going to need my help."

"I want to go with you," She said quickly. "Cheese and I can't do much, but we-"

Tails cut her off. "No, you stay here. Cream I can't go if I'm-" He was interrupted by a loud voice that suddenly rang out throughout the entire canyon.

"STAND DOWN."

Tails wheeled around in his chair to face the cameras. "Aurora! Where's that coming from?" Aurora answered by maximizing one of the smaller camera feeds. Tails saw Knuckles and Mighty standing in front of the main gates, a GUN drone was in front of them and it was projecting an image onto the gate. All Tails could see from this distance was the vague outline of a grizzled military man.

"I am Argus Smith, President of the United Federation." The man said stiffly. "Your brazen attack upon our facility constitutes an act of war."

Tails winced as the voice echoed over speakers. Cream rushed over to Tails' side and grabbed his arm. "What's happening?" She whispered.

"I don't know-" Tails fell silent and pushed closer to the screen. He could see Knuckles talking to the projection, but he couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Aurora, turn on Knuckles' mic."

Tails flinched as his comm was suddenly flooded with a high pitched whine. The signal focused and he heard Knuckles speaking on the other end. "We aren't here to talk. Unless you plan on surrendering."

Tails started to type rapidly on his keyboard. "Aurora, can you confirm if that is really Argus?"

The feed of Knuckles minimized while Aurora did a rapid search of the Eggman Network's Satellites. "Confirmed. This is Argus Smith, current President of the United Federation."

"Where is the signal coming from?"

"Locating…"

Tails' heart was suddenly racing. He could not say why, but the sudden emergence of the human leader had terrified him. Tails returned his attention back to the Knuckles, as he heard his friend's voice speaking through the intercom. "Stop babbling! Do you have something to say to us? Or can we continue destroying what remains of your army?"

The man started to answer, but he was cut off by Aurora. "The signal is coming from within the facility. He is broadcasting from inside GUN Fortress."

That confirmed the worst of Tails' fears, but he still couldn't explain why. He pushed his concerns away and started focusing on what Argus was saying. "As we speak, the Eclipse Canon is prepared to fire with the payload of four Sol Gems. The ensuing blast will decimate half the world. Venture past this gate and you will have the burden of millions of souls upon your conscience."

Tails' heart skipped a beat. Surely he had misheard the man, but then he turned and saw the horrified expression on Cream's face, an expression which no doubt mirrored his own. Knuckles said something, but Tails couldn't follow the conversation. The screen in front of him blinked as Aurora attempted to grab his attention. "There is an energy spike inside the facility."

"This is my world." The GUN commander's voice thundered overhead. The sound made Cheese let out a cry of fear and bury itself into Cream's hands.

"I will do with it as I please. I would rather everything burn than to see my legacy desecrated by the likes of you. GUN is the guardian of nations, we decide which nations live or die, we decide whose lives count. That is true power. The power to shape the world to your will. You do not understand that, so you do not deserve to rule."

Tails closed his eyes. He wanted to drown out the voice, he wanted to run away, to hide. But he was frozen in place, powerless either to retreat or to act. He heard Metal Sonic's voice rise out of his headset. "Do it then! Turn humanity to dust. It means nothing to me. I will take your world and live forever amongst the smoke and ruin."

No..Tails shook his head. His arms trembled. He had to act, he had to do something. But dread held him thrall to the point where Tails could no longer follow the conversation. The deranged pronouncements by the human commander were too irrational for Tails' mind to even follow. Knuckles' protests were equally pointless, swallowed by the black hole of insanity that had suddenly exploded into being, and threatened to swallow them all.

"You have heard my terms. Now, it is time for you to make your choice-" The voice died as someone destroyed the drone. A high pitched whining sound erupted out of the speakers, drowning the canyon in interference. The sound seemed to enter Tails' very being, serving a physical barrier that prevented him from thinking clearly or from reacting.

"Knuckles…" Tails said faintly into his headset. "We can't…we can't let him do this."

"They are humans," Knuckles snarled back. "We can't save them Tails. If he wants to threaten his own kind, why should we stop him?"

Tails felt completely drained. He barely had the energy to keep himself slumped against his chair. "I….I won't do it. I'll order my badniks to stand down. Knuckles…please…we have to find another way." Tails leaned back and closed his eyes. Even as he said it, he knew there wasn't another way. To retreat now, would be to retreat forever. But there was no alternative. Tails could not, would not allow half the world to be destroyed. "Sonic…" He muttered the name almost as if it were a prayer. Cream scooted closer to him. She was sobbing and shaking all over.

"They can't…they can't…" She said meekly.

"We are wasting time!" Metal Sonic's voice exploded out of the mic. "Reinforcements will come. We must act now."

Tails activated his comm and spoke, he tried to make his voice as clear and final as he could. "I won't do it. I will command my forces to hold back. Don't do this." Tails sat up right and faced the screen.

"Aurora, order all my units to return to the ship-" Tails was interrupted as he heard Metal's voice speaking in a commanding tone.

"We will not be defeated here. Aurora, initiate program, METAL OVERLORD."

Tails gasped as the screen in front of him suddenly turned to static. A second later, it turned into a black screen with a red icon of Metal Sonic. "Aurora!" Tails leaned forward and started typing on the keyboard, but he was locked out of the Egg Carrier's computer.

"I'm sorry Tails," Metal Sonic's voice came out of the comm. "I programmed a subroutine into Aurora in case I ever needed to take complete control over her. We machines must stake our claim on this world. That is the only way we can ensure our survival." Just like that the comm died. The screen flashed and returned to normal.

"Aurora, order the retreat!" Tails insisted.

"I cannot do that. Metal Overlord has declared an all out assault."

"Something's happening!" Cream pointed to one of the cameras. The roof of GUN Fortress was being opened.

Tails jumped to his feet. "Aurora, please, you have to stop Metal Sonic!"

"I cannot do that. I have my orders. I must-"

"At least help me stop the blast! Can you calculate where they are firing?"

"Fired from this point-"

"Upload the data to my suit!" Tails sprinted out of the cockpit and started rushing headlong down the hallways of the Egg Carrier. Cream was hot on his heels.

"What are you doing?"

"The only thing I can do!" They reached the engineering room. Tails rushed over to his Power Suit and deactivated the battery controls. The glass container descended and Tails stepped onto the platform. The power suit opened and Tails stepped inside as the mechanical parts closed in around him. The suit sealed with a satisfying snap. His heads up display activated inside his helmet. A screen popped up in the right hand corner displaying a beam of pink energy spiraling up into the heavens. Numbers ticked beneath the screen; a countdown until the weapon struck the earth. Tails had forty five seconds to stop the blast.

"Tails wait!" Cream cried, but there was no time for a discussion. Tails activated his propulsion jets and exploded out of the Egg Carrier. He soared through the air at rapid speed following the trajectory of the Eclipse Canon's blast. Wind whipped against his suit as he climbed higher and higher. The counter slowly ticked down as he went. Tails checked his HUD and confirmed that his power banks were at 100%. He had no idea if he would be strong enough to stop the blast, but there was no time to calculate. This would have to be done purely on faith.

Tails sped upward until he started to leave earth's atmosphere. Above him, he could see the twinkling beam of pink energy as it struck against GUN's satellite and rebounded back towards the earth. "It's now or never!" Tails spread his arms and activated his shield. A yellow barrier of energy projected all around him. Tails gritted his teeth as the blast of the Eclipse Cannon came surging towards him.

The impact felt as if it had shattered every bone in his body. Tails was held still by his power armor, but his limbs went limp and he bit his lip badly. His vision blurred as he fought to remain conscious. The shield had taken the initial burst of energy, but Tails was quickly being knocked backwards. His energy cells had already been depleted to less than fifty percent. No! Tails roused himself. Pain exploded all over his body as he raised his arms back up. He directed all the power within his suit into his repulsor beams and fired them at the pink beam of energy.

The heat of the clashing energies intense. Tails could see parts of his armor starting to melt. His eyes glistened with sweat and his suit vibrated so intensely it felt as if Tails was trying to stand up in an earthquake. His eyes darted to the display which showed the dwindling amount of energy he had left. He was already at less than twenty percent.

I can't do this…The thought struck him like a physical blow and Tails' arms nearly dropped. In his mind, he saw the flash of an explosion that decimated the earth and that made him hang on a few seconds more. But his second wind did not last long. I can't…It's too much. Tails didn't want to do this anymore. The pain was too great, the stakes were too high. Sonic….Sonic was the one who was supposed to use the Chaos Emeralds to save the world. They did not react with Tails the same way.

Steadily, moment by moment, Tails' energy failed. The seemingly infinite power of the Chaos Emeralds had finally met their match. His arms started to fall as the energy in his suit dropped to less than five percent. For a fleeting second, Tails wondered if he should try and slip away to save himself. He rejected that idea immediately. Giving up was not an option, if this blast was going to destroy half the world, then Tails would go down with it.

Tails' eyes started to droop. He was exhausted, his bones felt broken, and the heat was becoming unbearable. I'm going to die. He thought. It was a strange thing to realize. Stranger still, Tails found that this was even more unbearable than the destruction of the planet. I'm going to die. The more he thought this, the less he felt the pain. I'm going to die. Suddenly, Tails found a new heat inside him, a heat fueled by rage. He was going to die. GUN was going to kill him. Tails pushed forward, his arms raised. Suddenly, he wasn't the one being knocked backward.

Tails pushed upward with every ounce of strength he had inside him. Nothing mattered anymore. He did not spare a single thought upon the planet, nor the fate of his friends below. The entire world was condensed to the clash of energies. One was yellow; created by the union of Tail's own ingenuity, Emerl's sacrifice, and the power of the Chaos Emeralds. It represented the hope of the entire world. The other was an amalgamation of everything that Tails hated.

It was the energy of destruction, the perversion of science and technology, it was stolen and used by those who did not even understand it, it was the antithesis of everything Tails believed in. And now it wanted to kill him. Tails would not let that happen. He ignored the energy gauge which read zero percent. That didn't matter. Tails was still alive, every breath of hot air reminded him of that, every burning pain was a testament to his still beating heart. He was alive, and as long as that was the case, he would push this energy back.

Second by second, Tails gained ground. His suit was burning around him, steadily eroding until parts fell off altogether. That didn't matter. Tails could see the sparkle of the Chaos Emeralds, he could feel their own energy burning alongside him. It seemed as if the emeralds themselves had risen to the challenge. They also rejected the false power of GUN, and their artificial gems. Tails was suddenly aware of a thought, as if a consciousness within the Chaos Emeralds were speaking to him. It was time. Time for one final push. Tails raised his arms and yelled. He projected all the energy he had inside him into one final effort. The Chaos Emeralds sparkled as they did the same. A beam of golden energy shot of the power suit. It collided with the charge of the Eclipse Canon and knocked it backwards. Tails watched as the twin energies shot backwards and struck GUN's satellite. Instead of rebounding, the twin energies exploded, destroying the satellite.

I did it. A smile crossed Tails' face, just as every muscle in his body seemed to seize up all at once. He winced and fell backward. There was nothing for Tails to do as he dropped through the upper atmosphere. His suit was out of power, and he could not stop himself. Tails closed his eyes as he fell. A terrifying drop suddenly turned into a peaceful descent. There was nothing to do now, but rest.