"Going Solo"
Tails is flying through Knothole, passes a hut as someone carries a box inside, then flies toward Sally who is directing someone to another hut.
"With all the new refugees, we might have to build new huts," Sally says to herself, as she presses a button on NICOLE, with a datapad under her arm.
"Aunt Sally, where is everyone?" Tails asks, as he lands next to her.
"Oh, Tails," Sally notices him, before looking back to NICOLE. "Knuckles returned to Angel Island to safeguard the new Chaos Emerald, Antoine and Bunnie are checking Knothole's security, Sir Charles is working on his deroboticizer, Dulcy's resting after what happened on Dragon Mountain…" Sally presses a couple more buttons. "And Sonic and Rotor had left for a mission."
"Ah, they left for a mission without me?" Tails complains, as Sally starts to walk away. Tails steps out in front of Sally to block her. "How about a mission for me?"
"Tails," Sally looks up at him. "I'm not sure…"
"Why not? Remember I did keep a Chaos Emerald from Naugus on Angel Island," Tails reminds her.
"Okay, okay, I guess I do have a mission you could take, it should be a milk run," Sally places a hand on her chin. "Sir Charles set up hidden satellites, detection devices, around the Great Forest's perimeter so we can detect any unfriendlies entering the forest."
"Like SWATbots?" Tails asks.
"For example," Sally says, before handing the datapad to Tails. "Use this to check each of the satellites to make sure they are fully functional. And no matter what happened, avoid contact with any SWATbots patrols."
"Okay, Aunt Sally, I understand," Tails says, accepting the datapad.
"Good, then you should go," Sally says, before she watches as Tails starts to fly away. "And be careful!"
As he's flying, Tails looks at the datapad, "My own solo mission…" He looks ahead. "Though, what's Sonic and Rotor's mission…?"
Sonic, holding onto Rotor, who is holding onto a bag, is speeding through a desert area, before finally coming to a stop.
Rotor takes a step away from Sonic, breathing heavily.
Sonic looks around, "Is this the right area?"
"A… According to reports… from the Wolf Pack…" Rotor answers, catching his breath. "Naugus had been seen in the area, although I have no clue as to why." He looks around. "There's nothing for a thousand miles, I wonder if Naugus could've translated more of the Secret Scrolls of Maga?"
Sonic crosses his arms, with a grin, "There's no point in wondering."
"Y-You don't mean…" Rotor says, nervously.
"Let's juice," Sonic grabs Rotor and starts speeding away.
The pair continue to speed until they reach a cliff over a canyon, next to a large body of water, coming to a stop, with Rotor falling to his knees.
Sonic looks down to see Naugus standing in front of the body of water, "There's ol' Nut-gus, alright."
"Yeah, but…" Rotor tries to catch his breath again. "Is… Is he waiting for something?"
Sonic and Rotor watch Naugus, who is just standing in front of the water.
Tails is hovering next to a tree, where a device that resembles a miniature artificial satellite is attached to a tree branch. He presses a button on the satellite, then looks at the datapad's screen.
"Satellite is all OK," Tails starts to fly away from the tree. "Now for the next satellite." He glances at the datapad's screen, before he lands on the ground. "That's odd." He presses the screen and slides his finger. "Huh, one of the satellites I already checked had gone offline." Tails starts to fly. "I better check it out."
Tails zips around several trees, before reaching a thick tree which has the same satellite, except a panel is popped open with several wires pulled out.
"What on Mobius?" Tails land on a branch, looking at the wires. "How did something like this happen?"
At that same time, someone from an adjacent tree, covered by leaves, is watching him.
Rotor is lying down, with a small scanner device in his hands, as Sonic is standing next to him, tabbing his foot, while they are watching Naugus, unmoving.
Sonic's foot tabbing starts to speed up, before he stops and gives a big sigh, "This is mind numbing. How about I just go down there and ask Naugus what's up?"
"Hold on, something's coming," Rotor says, as he presses a button on his scanner and turns a knob. "And it appears quite large."
Suddenly, emerging from the body of water is a large mechanical ship.
"Yeah, 'quite large' might be an understatement, pal," Sonic says, as he and Rotor watch, surprised.
At the front of the ship, a small door opens, before a large ramp lowers itself and stops a couple feet away from Naugus. Walking down the ramp is a tall humanoid bird, covered in light brown feathers and long green tail feathers, wearing a large black hat with a rooster themed skull and crossbones insignia.
"Finally arrived…" Naugus starts. "Though I believed we hadn't been properly introduced."
The bird smiles, "I am Great Battle Kukku, leader of the Battle Kukku Empire."
Tails reattaches the last of the wires in the satellite, before closing the panel, "I think that's right."
Tails then turns to look at the datapad.
Then someone, a humanoid bird with a white body, green head, and wearing a jetpack, jumps out of the nearby tree and tackles Tails.
"Hey!" Tails whips his tails, knocking the bird off him, before he starts to fly. "What's the big idea?"
The bird jumps back, before using his jetpack to fly ahead, circles around Tails, who tries to keep pace, before the bird kicks him, knocking Tails out of the air.
Tails lands hard on the ground, before the bird lands onto him and pins his arms down.
"Wh-Who are you?!" Tails yells, struggling to free himself.
"I am Battle Kukku XVI," the bird starts. "But my enemies call me Speedy… before meeting their ends."
Sonic kneels down next to Rotor, "Hey, who's this Battle Kukku Empire?"
"Never heard of them," Rotor tells him, before they both look back down.
"So, Great Battle Kukku, gave any thoughts to my little proposal?" Naugus asks.
Great Battle Kukku places a hand to his chin, "It is interesting. But what guarantee will my empire have?"
Naugus grins, "Not only will you be rewarded handsomely, but your empire will only flourish. Mmhm, even more so than you did before the Great War."
An angry expression fills Great Battle Kukku's face, "Wizard, never mention the Great War in my presence again."
Tails continues to struggle to break free, but Speedy has him pinned.
"Tell me, fox, what is your name?" Speedy asks. "I want to know who I'm gonna destroy."
Tails stops struggling, "My name is Miles Prowler, but my enemies call me Tails." He smiles. "Then again, everyone calls me Tails."
Tails manages to wrap his tails around one of Speedy's legs and pulls, barely able to free himself, then flies away.
"You little…" Speedy complains, before his jetpack sends him flying.
Tails tries to fly away from Speedy, who is able to keep pace with his jetpack.
"What… What am I gonna do?" Tails thinks as he, and Speedy, zigzag around trees. "I can't risk luring him to Knothole Village…"
Speedy flies over Tails and hovers in front of him, "You can't get away from me, fox."
"Ah!" Tails quickly turns in midair and flies away, before Speedy resumes the chase. "Not that it matters, with that jetpack he's almost as fast as Sonic." Continuing flying, Tails notices the sabotaged satellite. "The jetpack, that's it!" Tails looks over his shoulder to see Speedy approaching. "Have to fight smarter, not harder."
"I said, you can't get away, fox!" Speedy starts to speed ahead.
"Here we go!"
Tails starts to slow down as he climbs slightly, allowing Speedy to fly under him, before Tails grabs onto his jetpack with both hands.
"Hey! Get off, you tagalong!" Speedy complains, as he tries to reach for Tails and waves back and forth in the air.
Tails opens a panel on the jetpack, before starting to rearrange some wires, "Not sure what these do, but they do look important."
"Stop messing with…!" Speedy complains.
Suddenly, the jetpack gives out a loud roar, before Tails lets go and Speedy flying uncomfortably ahead.
"I get you for this, fox!" Speedy yells, as he disappears into the distance.
Tails lands on the ground, breathing heavily, before landing onto his backside, "I wonder… if all 'milk runs' are like this…"
Sonic and Rotor continue to watch the meeting between Naugus and Great Battle Kukku.
"Now, tell me, Naugus, why don't you do this yourself?" Great Battle Kukku asks.
Naugus looks annoyed, before responding, "Fine…"
Naugus whispers something to Great Battle Kukku, with Sonic and Rotor looking at each, before they hear Great Battle Kukku laughing, then they look back at them.
"Isn't that rich," Great Battle Kukku is calming his laughter, before clearing his throat. "Okay, Naugus, you have a deal."
Naugus smiles, "That is wonderful."
Great Battle Kukku turns to the side, "We'll be in touch."
"Until then," Naugus says, before disappearing in a swirl of energy.
"What was that all about?" Rotor wonders.
Sonic watches as Great Battle Kukku walks back up the ramp to his ship, "Want me to run down there and ask featherbrain?"
"We should report this to Sally first," Rotor says.
"In that case, we better hurry," Sonic says.
"Oh no…" Rotor realizes, before Sonic grabs him and speeds them away. "Aaaah!"
Tails flies through Knothole Village, before landing next to Sally, as she exits a hut.
"Ah, Tails, you're back," Sally says, before accepting the datapad from Tails. "How was your mission?"
"Oh, huh, it was largely uneventful," Tails says, with a smile.
"Okay…" Sally says, with a raised eyebrow, before seeing Sonic and Rotor speeding into the village and stopping.
Rotor falls down and tries to catch his breath.
"And how was your mission?" Sally asks.
"Yeah, it was pretty eventful," Sonic says, crossing his arms.
Onboard the ship, the Battle Fortress, Great Battle Kukku enters the command room, with other humanoid birds at their stations.
Great Battle Kukku stands in front of a monitor, pressing a button, before Speedy appears on the screen, covered in scratches and has a twig on his head.
"What happened to you?" Great Battle Kukku asks.
"I had a small setback on my recon mission, father," Speedy says, as he removes the twig.
"You can give your report later, right now meet us at the rendezvous point," Great Battle Kukku instructs, before grinning. "We have a new mission."
"I have no files on any Battle Kukku Empire," NICOLE reports, as Sally holds her computer, standing with Rotor, Sonic, and Tails.
"That's odd," Sally says, holding up a hand. "Yet, Naugus not only knew of them, he was able to contact them.
"I don't think we will have much to worry about with this Battle Kukku Empire," Rotor says. "At least, not in a large-scale situation."
"What would make you think that?" Sally asks.
Onboard the Battle Fortress, a humanoid bird at controls looks over his shoulder at Great Battle Kukku, "We all set, sir."
Great Battle Kukku nods his head, before holding out a hand, "Then set out, at once!"
"With their large ship, this Battle Kukku Empire will be limited by the ocean."
The Battle Fortress starts to lift up into the air, as large wings slide out at the side.
A bird presses a button.
"We will also see such a large ship coming, from miles away."
The Battle Fortress starts to fly through the air, before disappearing from sight.