Heroes Part 2
"Well… guess this is the end… isn't it freak?"
Tangle opened her eyes, and saw it… a red, curved sword, held against her throat.
"Wha-"
The blunt edge of the blade hit her in the temple.
"You only speak when I TELL YOU to speak!"
Looking up… she was terrified…
That dang Jackal again.
The same one that killed her parents… who killed Shout…
"No… no no no! You… you're in prison! You can't be here!" Tangle said. "S-Sonic! Tails!"
Looking over, she saw that they were both unconscious… Tails looked to be terribly injured as well.
"Did you really think that being 'heroes' would help you two escape your fate?" The jackal asked. "No… you are destined to die by my hand… just like the freaks that you are!"
He then pulled the sword back…
"And don't worry… that beetle friend of yours will be joining you soon."
And he swung.
Sonic was quickly woken up by the sounds of screaming, and began quickly looking around to see what the heck was going on.
First he saw Tails, equally startled by the noise.
Then he saw Tangle, writhing around on the ground, clutching her head as if she was in terrible pain.
"Tangle?!" He asked, before rushing over.
He saw her eyes were closed… she was having a nightmare.
"Hey! Tangle! Wake up!" Sonic shouted, trying to shake her awake.
Shortly after, her eyes opened in a panic.
"S-Sonic?" She asked, out of breath.
"Hey, yeah it's me… calm down…" Sonic said.
She then looked around frantically, and saw Tails, a bit groggy, but very worried about her.
That was enough for her to realize that she was no longer in danger, as she took a deep breath.
After exhaling, she put on a fake smile.
"H-hey guys! What's up?"
The two didn't buy it for a second.
"… Wanna talk about that?" Sonic asked.
Tangle wanted to pretend to not know what he was talking about, but one look at her friends faces told her it was pointless.
So, she began hugging her legs.
"Sorry…"
"Nothing to apologize for… take your time… and tell us when you are ready." Sonic said. "You helped me with that whole situation with Jewel… least I could do is lend you an ear here."
Tails nodded in agreement.
Tangle took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"I've… been having nightmares… about that village." She explained.
The two of them didn't even have to ask what village… it was the one where she was born.
The one where she almost died.
"It usually goes the same way. That Jackal has me restrained, holding up that sword, and it ends when he… well… swings it." Tangle said. "Sometimes… some of my friends are there… they are usually not in good shape... it was you two this time…"
Sonic looked to Tails and sighed.
"Do Jewel and Cosmo know about this?" Sonic asked.
Tangle nodded.
"Woke em up in the middle of the night the first time it happened… They were kinda freaked…" Tangle explained.
Sonic nodded at this.
"Ok… at least you aren't trying to keep this from them like you were with us…" Sonic said sadly. "I'm sorry… I should have known that whole mess left some… scars."
Tangle smiled sadly.
"Dude… relax." She said. "You didn't know cause I didn't let you know. Not your fault."
Tails jumped in.
"Lets talk about happier things… do you remember anything? From back when you lived there?" Tails asked.
Tangle began thinking.
"… Nothing happy." She said sadly. "Just… watching my mom get… well… you know."
Sonic and Tails' eyes went wide.
"You had to WATCH?!" Tails asked.
Tangle nodded.
"Don't remember why… they probably wanted to give a message to the kids or some garbage." Tangle said. "…Whisper would probably be able to tell me."
"… Right… any sign of her anywhere?" Sonic asked.
Tangle shook her head.
"Nothing… Heard talks of a wolf working with some mercenaries, but they said that wolf was super outgoing and energetic… from what Jewel told me, she's supposed to be super shy." Tangle explained.
"Well… maybe she's changed… it's been eight years after all." Sonic said.
"… Yeah, that's fair." Tangle said, before standing up. "Regardless, just standing around isn't gonna solve anything. We got two days left, so let's get moving."
Sonic nodded.
"If you're up for it, sure." He said. "But when this is over… how about Tails and I help you find that friend of yours?"
Tangle smiled.
"That would be great… thanks." Tangle said. "Alright… Grand Metropolis, here we come!"
And with that, she began running ahead.
Sonic and Tails exchanged worried glances, before following.
Grand Metropolis, a giant city with a large power plant at it's center.
It was filled with mobians of various shapes and sizes, parks, and…
"Is… that a turtle robot with a turret on it's back?" Tangle asked, pointing at the machine.
"… Looks like it, yeah." Sonic said.
Tails looked worried though.
"Be careful, that turret looks like it could pack a punch!" He said.
Tangle looked at him, then at the machine.
She then walked over… and walked around it.
The turtle began slowly turning around to point the turret at her.
When it finally was facing her, she walked around it again.
She then looked at Tails with a blank expression.
"… I mean, if it wasn't on a robot turtle it would be threatening…" Tails said, cheeks puffed out.
Tangle smiled…
And promptly punched the turtle off the building they were standing on.
"Anyways, moving on!" She said, walking ahead.
Looking around, she saw mobians inside the buildings, all looking scared out of their minds.
"Still… pretty bad that Eggman took over." She said sadly. "Think we can, you know, kick him out before we leave?"
Sonic nodded.
"Should be easy enough, just gotta find where the robots are coming from and trash em." Sonic said. "Tails?"
"On it!" Tails said, before flying up high into the air.
He looked around, searching for some kind of source of the robots.
Before long, he spotted something, and flew down and landed.
"Looks like the robots are coming from the energy plant in the center of the city, if I'm right, he's probably using the energy generated by the plant to power his machines." Tails said. "Put simply, he turned the energy plant to a robot factory."
Tangle gave him a thumbs up.
"Didn't even have to ask you to simplify it this time! Thanks kiddo!" She said happily.
Tails smiled, before turning to Sonic.
"I also saw the Chaotix, looks like they are destroying as many robots as they can find right now." Tails said.
"The detectives?" Tangle asked. "Why are they here?"
Sonic shrugged.
"Does it matter? They are trashing robots, so they are on our side." Sonic said. "We can leave the bulk of it to them, we should just take out as many robots as we can on our way to the factory."
Tangle nodded, and walked over to the edge of the roof.
"Then let's go! I see a path to the center of the city right over there!" Tangle said with a point.
"Alright, let's get moving! We free the city, find Eggman, and show him the real power of teamwork!" Sonic said, pumping his fist into the air.
…
"Sonic… never say that again… that was cringe as heck." Tangle said with a deadpanned voice.
"… Right, yeah, sorry." Sonic said, sweating a bit.
Setting Sonic's "cringe" comment aside, the trio got moving again, and before long, they landed on a blue platform.
"Whoa…" Tangle said, marveling at the fact that she was moving forwards without walking. "This is NUTS!"
"Makes things a lot easier to get around." Tails said. "I come here often when I need new tools and parts, and these roads are really helpful with those big shopping trips!"
Tangle wasn't listening, and began hopping around, amazed at the movement beneath her.
Then, she got an idea, and started running.
She was moving a lot faster than she normally would on her own.
"Heh, maybe I can keep up with you with this Sonic!" Tangle said with a smirk.
Sonic responded by leaving her in the dust, and running back.
"You were saying?" He said, now the one with a smirk on his face.
"… Point taken."
They stayed silent for a moment, before they started laughing.
"Ok, enough goofing around. Let's kick Eggy out of here!" Tangle said, before they began running again.
"Ah, our old enemy… the large gap that we need to get across!" Tangle said, looking ahead. "And look! No water this time to hide a giant robo-fish!"
She then punched a robot that tried sneaking up on her with her tail.
"So… how do we get across this one?" She asked. "I mean, I don't see a cannon…"
Tails looked around, and noticed a couple of railings…
They looked like the ones that energy was passing through the moving platforms before… but empty.
He also noticed some devices with Eggman's faces on them.
"Hmmm…" He said, examining the devices. "If we can somehow disable these…"
While he was doing this, Tangle and Sonic were competing to see who could destroy the most robots around them.
When they were done, they tallied their scores.
"I got five, how many you get?" Tangle asked.
"Psh, ten." Sonic said with a smirk. "Too slow Tangle! Step it up!"
Tangle slumped, defeated.
"Still, we took out that crowd in record time!" Sonic said, before turning to Tails. "You see that bud?"
Tails was now covered in soot, from the device he was examining exploding in his face.
"… So it seems these devices are linked to the robots nearby… so destroy the robots…" Tails said.
"… Open the path… got it." Sonic said, noticing the path ahead was open. "You uh… you good there bud?"
Tails shook the soot off of him and nodded.
"Yup! Just surprised was all!" He said.
"… Do you have an immunity to explosions or something?" Tangle asked. "Wait, how many of your inventions blew up in your face?! DO YOU ACTUALLY?!"
Tails laughed before scratching the back of his head.
"They don't explode… that much…" He said. "Besides, this one wasn't that big of an explosion so…"
"Dude, relax. I'm just messing around." Tangle said, patting him on the back.
Tails cheeks went red with embarrassment.
"Now come on! The factory awaits!" Tangle said, skipping ahead.
"… She really marches at the beat of her own drum, huh?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, but that makes it fun!" Sonic said. "Can't get any of this with Knuckles… he's too serious."
Tails laughed at that.
"True that!"
"Hey! Hurry up you slowpokes!" Tangle said, waving. "There's a huge pole looking thing here! It looks like fun!"
Sonic smirked.
"Oh I KNOW you didn't just call ME a slowpoke!" He said before chasing after her.
Tails watched them with an amused look on his face.
"It's like they're a couple of kids…" Said the kid of the group.
He began walking after them, and when he caught up, he saw Tangle rapidly pointing at a red pole.
"See?! And check this!" She said before twisting the pole.
The pole began spinning in place, and looked like it was going upwards.
"How does that even WORK?!" Tangle asked.
"… If I explained it, you'd not understand." Tails said.
Tangle just kept a blank expression before nodding.
"Yeah, don't want to know any more." Tangle said.
Looking around, she saw a path above them and across a gap.
"So… how we getting up there?" Tangle asked.
Sonic just smirked, grabbed her tail, and began running around the pole at an incredible speed, before grabbing onto it.
The two began rising up the pole, spinning rapidly, until they reached the top.
Once there, Sonic let go at just the right time to send them flying towards the path.
When they landed, Sonic looked at Tangle with a smirk.
"THAT is how!"
Tangle just stared at the sky…
"That… was so much fun." She said flatly.
Tails flew up to them, and landed with his arms crossed.
"Oh what? You gonna complain that what I just did was 'too risky' or something?" Sonic asked with a smirk.
"… No, I am gonna complain that you didn't let me join in on that… it looked fun…" He said shyly.
Sonic and Tangle looked to each other and smiled.
"Well dang, guess we gotta let you join in next time then!" Sonic said. "… In fact!"
He then suddenly grabbed Tails by the wrist, and got a running leap back towards the pole, before repeating his previous actions and landing right besides Tangle, with Tails falling to the ground right beside her.
"… Yeah, I was right… that was fun." Tails said from the ground. "… My head is spinning though…"
Tangle and Sonic looked to each other, before they started laughing.
Tails… was a bit different now.
When Tangle first met the guy, he was a bit shy and awkward. Not only that, but incredibly cautious. Always wishing to take the safer route instead of the fun, but more risky one.
Now though? The boy was starting to seem more… confident. In himself, and his friends.
They all knew why too. Their adventure in space.
Tails was the leader of the group during that adventure, always coming up with the plans, always preparing for battle, everything that you'd expect a leader to do.
Everyone else did all the fighting of course, but they all credited their success to Tails and his brilliant mind.
It was such a natural change, that no-one really noticed it until now.
"Well then, now that that's done." Sonic said before turning to the path ahead. "Looks like we're here."
The other two got up from the ground, and looked at the power plant.
"Ok… so how are we doing this?" Tails asked, before closing his eyes to concentrate on forming a plan.
Sonic and Tangle looked to each other, and smirked before running inside.
Tails' eyes shot open when he heard the sound of fighting.
"… Couldn't wait for a plan could ya?" He said with a sigh, before running in after them.
When he got inside, he saw a robot shoot through a wall near him.
"Bout time!" Tangle said. "Seriously, guns blazing dude! Come on!"
Tails was a bit annoyed at this.
He was more confident now, sure… but even now he believed that "Charging in guns blazing" wasn't always the best plan.
Regardless, they were in the thick of it now.
He looked down, and saw that they were on a clear platform, with a large computer below him, with a bunch of platforms and ladders leading up to where they were.
"Ok, you guys keep em busy here! I'll go down below and shut this whole thing down!" Tails said before he went airborne.
He didn't count on a bunch of flying badniks flying in, cutting off his path downwards.
"Shoot!" Tails said, before he began fighting, trying to get through with no avail. "This is why going in WITH A PLAN is a good idea!"
"Sorry!" Tangle said as she did a horizontal tail spin to clear a bunch of robots. "But we got this!"
About twenty more robots rushed in at that moment.
"… Ok we may be in trouble." Tangle said.
Sure, normally they'd be just fine against an army of badniks… but this was one that unless they could shut the place down, it would be infinitely replenishing.
"So uh… any other plans Tails?" Sonic asked.
"… Nothing." Tails said. "We need to get out of here! Regroup and try again!"
Sonic and Tangle didn't like the idea of running, but they didn't see any other choice…
Except there was a massive mob of machines blocking the exit… which was closed with a large metal door.
"Shoot." Sonic said. "Keep fighting! We'll find an opening at some point."
They continued fighting, struggling to keep the sea of machines at bay…
Then, a savior came.
As a robot was about to get the jump on Sonic, a familiar sound rang out, before it was sent flying…
PIKO
Turning around, Sonic was surprised to see…
"Amy?!" He asked.
"Finally found you my darling Sonic!" Amy said.
The trio then noticed a small ball flying around the room, destroying the airborne badniks, before returning to…
"Cream?!" Tangle asked, watching as Cheese uncurled from his ball form.
"Hello Ms. Tangle! Mr. Tails!" Cream said with a smile.
"What are you two doing here?" Tails asked.
"Later!" Amy said. "Let's get this place cleared out first!"
Sonic smiled, before getting serious.
The now larger group got busy, and the fight got a lot easier at that point.
That being said, they were starting to lose steam.
Before long, even Amy and Cream, who had just joined the fight were starting to feel tired.
"WE NEED THAT SHUTDOWN SOON PLEASE!" Amy suddenly shouted.
No-one on Team Sonic had a clue who she was talking to, but kept on fighting.
Suddenly though, something very strange happened.
Vines appeared, running up the glass tubes along the walls.
They began tightening, and the glass began to crack, before shattering.
"… I don't know how THAT happened, but that seemed to do the trick!" Tails said, noticing the whole factory began to power down.
Then… they realized the bad news…
The energy, an orange, molten substance, began flowing out from the shattered tubes, and began to flood the room.
"… Run?" Tangle asked.
"RUN!" Sonic shouted, as everyone began climbing up a bunch of platforms and ladders, with the one who could fly doing so.
Tangle noticed something weird though… a mass of vines going up an empty glass tube, before crashing through the ceiling above them.
"Oh I hope she's alright…" She head Cream say.
Putting that aside until they got to the top, Tangle kept climbing.
Thankfully, the group managed to escape without any incident, and the room stopped filling just before it reached the top.
They climbed through the exit, and a large metal structure closed over it, giving them plenty of space to stand on.
Looking around, Tangle saw that mass of vines from before, next to a hole in the roof, just outside where the door they were standing on was.
Amy and Cream rushed over to the vines, looking very worried for… whatever it was.
And when Amy opened up the vines… they were shocked.
"Did… I do a good job?"
"Very good." Amy said as she helped her to her feet. "Though a warning about the oncoming flood of molten liquid would've been nice."
"Ok… I'll keep that in mind."
It was… the very last person the trio expected to see at that moment.
Amy and Cream made a bit of sense. Amy was always chasing after Sonic, and Cream was good friends with her…
The third member of the group… they had zero clue why SHE would be there!
"Wait, WHAT IS COSMO DOING HERE?!"
Tangle's house, just after Tangle and Tails left
Jewel waved as they took off, before heading back inside. When she got inside though, she heard that the phone was ringing.
She walked over and picked it up.
"Hello?" Jewel answered.
"Hey Jewel! It's Amy!" Amy said. "Is Tangle around? I wanted to ask her something."
"Oh, she just left actually." Jewel said. "Maybe I can help?"
This was strange though… if Amy was looking for Tangle, shouldn't she use her communicator that they had?
"Well, have you seen or heard from Sonic or Tails recently?" Amy asked.
That was also strange… Sonic made sense, but why Tails?
"Oh, well, Tails was actually here picking Tangle up a moment ago!" Jewel said.
The mention of the fox got Cosmo's attention.
"Really?! Any idea where they went?!" Amy asked.
"Well… Eggman is up to something, so they were going to meet up with Sonic to take care of it." Jewel explained. "Why? What's going on?"
"So they're after Eggman… alright! So, basically, Cream's Chao Chocola and Big's friend Froggy got kidnapped, and for some reason it looks like Sonic is responsible." Amy explained.
"What?! Sonic would never!"
That REALLY got Cosmo's attention.
"Yeah, we know. We just want to find Sonic and get some answers." Amy explained. "Also, Gemerl was damaged when the kidnapping happened, so he's out of commission until Tails can fix him."
"Oh! Ok…" Jewel said. "I'm sorry, if I had a communicator like you guys do, I would call them and let them know what was going on…"
"It's fine… mine broke the other day too, so I can't really help there." Amy said. "Alright, thanks a lot for your help Jewel! Talk to you soon!"
"Ok, b-"
"Wait please!" Cosmo suddenly said.
Amy was just about to hang up the phone on her end, but stopped when she heard Cosmo's voice.
Cosmo then reached out, and Jewel put the phone in Cosmo's hands.
"Amy… could you please come over? I… there's something I wish to talk to you about."
Amy… didn't say anything for a moment, seemingly contemplating something.
"I mean… I guess? Why? Is everything alright?"
"Y-yes… I mean… I don't know… I just want to speak with you in person is all." Cosmo said. "Please."
Amy sighed.
Truth was, she really wanted to get going on finding Sonic, but this was Cosmo she was talking to…
If she wanted to talk to her about something, it was probably important.
"Alright. Cream and Big are with me, so the three of us will be over there soon." Amy said.
Cosmo let out the breath that she was holding and smiled.
"Thank you so much Amy, I'll see you soon." She said as she hung up.
When she turned to Jewel and smiled, Jewel couldn't help but wonder…
Just what was Cosmo planning on doing?
End of Heroes Part 2 and…
Cosmo's Story continues in "Cosmo's Log."
Next time: Cosmo's log Heroes Part 1
How's that for a twist ending? Yup, Cosmo is here! Taking Big's place on Team Rose too! How the heck did that happen?
Well, find out in Cosmo's Log, a companion story to this one!
After thinking it through after I decided on Cosmo's fate at the end of Act 1, I decided that, while she won't have a major presence the ENTIRE story, I wanted to have a good bit of content about her. I wanted to write her learning about the new world that she gets to live in, and finding out just what her place in that world really is now that she's essentially been given a second chance in life, one completely free of the Metarex.
It won't be a three act story like this one is, but I wanted to do SOMETHING specifically for Cosmo's journey, and I figured giving her her own story would be the best course of action.
I'll go into more detail at a later time, in said story, but I will say this: Don't think this means none of Cosmo's story will be covered in this story. She'll still appear and have a role here and there, just like every other character. Cosmo's Log is just for those times where she is doing her own thing away from the main plot, or is the center of focus for said main plot, or I just wanted to have a cute chapter between her and Tails :)
Heck some games instead of being covered here, will be covered in that story, due to Cosmo being super involved there!
This also allows me to more effectively write for games that have multiple stories, like Heroes and Sonic 06…
And yes, a lot more cute shippy moments between her and Tails, don't think that wasn't a part of it for a second.
Now for this chapter. Tangle's nightmare is meant to show that she's still not completely moved on from almost dying that one time in the previous story. That stuff really traumatized her. That part is also meant to show that she really doesn't remember everything, just bits and pieces here and there. She'll be remembering stuff slowly throughout the story.
And yeah, an addition to her trauma from watching her mother get killed. Trust me, it'll come into play later ;)
Other than that, normal Tangle stuff with the levels, followed by some development for Tails!
My head canon is that in the main canon, since Cosmo's sacrifice seemed to have happened in some capacity, Tails lost his confidence and will to fight as a result, which is why we see him being a coward in games like Unleashed and Forces. But in this story, Cosmo is alive, so that doesn't happen. In fact, everyone credits their victory to him, giving him a major confidence boost instead! So yeah, Tails will be a lot more confident in this story!
A happy, confident boi makes me happy :)
And that leads us to the end of the chapter. If it felt like there was a second half to the fight we didn't get to see here, that was intentional, as we will be seeing that in Cosmo's log.
Speaking of, for next bit, instead of this story, we will be moving over to Cosmo's log! Gotta get her caught up to where we are here, then it'll pretty much be switching every week.
I will from now on be putting a note Underlined and in bold before the actual author's not to let you know what you should read after the chapter you just red. For example, you should be reading Cosmo's log Heroes Part 1 next, so that is what I put up above. It'll be the same the other way around.
So, see you all next time!