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"Will he ever give up?!" Sonic screeched as he ran, and ran, trying to outrun the robots behind him. When he saw pink, he spindashed away, just in time for Amy to smash into the robot that had been chasing him with her hammer. Amy groaned, swinging her hammer over her shoulder. Sonic still wondered how she could hold that heavy thing so easily.
"Honestly? I doubt it. How are you boys holding up?"
"He's gotten more robots than usual." Knuckles spoke, smashing into two robots at once, frowning at the scene. Robotnik- or Eggman, as he was called by everyone, had attacked a random village once again, in search of one thing: the emeralds. They didn't know where they were, except for one: The one powering the Tornado right now.
"Twenty percentage more robots in total." Tails spoke from the plane, circling the gang. "He must really want the chaos emeralds! But there isn't one in this city..."
"And you're sure your tracker just isn't acting up?" Amy asked, jumping over Sonic to smash a robot again, Sonic spindashing into another.
"Excuse me, can you create an emerald tracker, Amy?"
"..."
"Thought so." Sonic snorted at the comment, sending Amy a grin. Who just huffed, but then ran off to a group of people.
"Where is Eggman himself anyway.." Knuckles muttered, having a wary look on his face. Sonic shrugged.
"Must have run off when he saw me. Like always~"
"Doubt it."
"As you should!" A new voice suddenly laughed, making the rest cringe.
"What does he want now?" Tails' voice came from all three watches, loud and clear, making Eggman grin.
"Fox boy is in the air, eh? Good."
Amy already didn't like that tone. "If you're looking for a chaos Emerald, Eggman, I've got news for you!"
"Yeah!" Sonic laughed, sending him a wink. "There is no-"
"I know."
That made both hedgehogs stop, looking up at the doctor. "You-...what?"
"I know!" Eggman said louder, suddenly laughing. "I could see that rodent falling for this but you, Rose? Really?"
Amy looked even more confused before she heard footsteps. From her watch. Sonic looked down too. "Knux? Why are you running?"
"Don't let the robots get away!" Knuckles yelled, which startled both of them.
Knuckles rarely raised his voice. "What-"
"I let one get away and it flew off Sonic don't let them get away!"
"Seems like someone finally caught on!" Eggman laughed, playing with a remote in his hands. Sonic growled at him, lightning briefly sparking between his quills.
"Eggman. What did you d-"
"Where did this robot come from?!" Sonic was cut off by his brother's yell, making him freeze. Said fox was staring wide-eyed at the now flying bot in front of him, making the Tornado spin to lose it. "Weren't they just on the ground?!"
A sudden look of understanding and shock passed the hedgehog's face, and in an instant, realizing. This had been a setup. "Eggman." He growled. "Don't you dare."
Said doctor just grinned. Before pressing the button.
All at once, every single robot that hadn't been smashed by the duo, suddenly stood straight, the "eyes" going from a blue color to red. Before some compartment opened on the back, and wings appeared. And they flew off.
"I just told you to not let them get away!" Knuckles yelled, running much faster than before, already knowing Eggman's plan.
Eggman had come for an emerald, yes.
The emerald that Tails had hidden in the plane.
"You son of a-" Sonic was about to go hit Eggman, when Amy stopped him in a panic, pointing towards the sky. Sonic looked up, and his eyes widened.
Like some sort of wasps, every. Single. Robot. Was chasing the Tornado, said plane spinning up, down, left, right, anything to get rid of the robots following its trail. "What is happeniiiiing?!" Tails yelled, pulling as hard as he could on the wheel of the plane.
"I could call them back." Eggman offered, and he smiled. "But.. I would like-"
"In your dreams!" Surprisingly, Tails yelled from the watch, a determined expression settling on his face. "Blue Thunder, this is yellow sky- tell that poor excuse of a mechanic that even an eight-year-old could defeat his terribly-named robots."
"But... Tails.. you are eight."
"Precisely my point." The fox laughed, spinning the Tornado once again, making some robots crash into each other. He would shoot lasers at them but didn't want to risk shooting one of the villagers below, in the village.
"Robots!" The egg mobile flew upward, and Eggman yelled. "Do whatever you have to do to get the emerald! Deliver it to me before I break apart your software!"
Their eyes took a darker shade of red, and before Tails could process what was happening, one of the robots pounced onto the glass of the Tornado. The kit yelped. "U-uhm- Sonic?"
"Hang on!" Sonic ran at Eggman, trying to spindash into the machine, but failed when Eggman dodged. Amy screamed, and kept swinging at him with her hammer, hoping to gain control of the remote. It was no use.
At some point, the echidna finally arrived at the scene, and with a shout, didn't hesitate to slam against the egg mobile, making Eggman shout in surprise, the egg mobile spinning in the air. But the doctor didn't even look worried. He just smirked. His job was done. He nodded towards the sky with an approving look, before he just.. flew off.
"....what in the world was that?" Amy asked, but didn't receive an answer by a yell that cut her off again. The yell had been from.. her watch. All three felt their blood grow cold. Those robots were still after the poor fox.
Looking up, they could see a swarm of robots all around the airplane, refusing to just let go.
"I can't SEEEEEE!" Tails shouted, roughly pulling on a handle of the Tornado, hoping he could lose some of the weight. He screamed as the Tornado shook, more and more robots pounding into the aircraft once again.
Sonic was the first to snap out of his trance. "Tails! You have to land!"
"Oh really!?" Tails snapped, an annoyed scowl having appeared. "What does it look like I'm trying to do?!"
"There is no clearing." Knuckles quickly looked around, just in case, but no.. there really was no place to land. "There's not enough time for me to clear the area!"
"I-I'll have to keep flying then!"
"You can't do that!" Amy yelled into her watch, worry growing more as she looked at the swarm of robots attacking the plane. "This is why we need a second plane!"
"None of you know how to use an aircraft!"
"I do!" Sonic yelled, quickly trying to look around for.. something. He tried to find anything at all to help... but there really was nothing.
Tails held onto the lever inside the Tornado for dear life, pulling it up, Tornado doing so in return. Still, the robots kept pounding, the plane shaking with each impact, shaking the fox along with it.
"Can't you shoot them with your guns?!" Sonic asked, desperately trying to find a solution. Tails disagreed. "
I don’t want to risk hitting a civilian down there! Besides, if I hit them, they'll fall!"
"I don’t think they'll fall," Amy spoke, looking carefully. She winced as she heard a particularly loud bang from his watch. "Eggman must have planted something inside them to follow Tails!"
"Not specifically Tails." Knuckles corrected. "They must be following the energy of the chaos emerald."
"G-guys-" Tails tried, being cut off as he saw all the robots hitting a specific area of the plane. The side of the wings. "I-I, I don't wanna worry you-"
*Crack*
Tails' heart skipped a beat when he heard that, at once, flying up in a straight line, praying to chaos that that sound was not what he thought it was. Keep calm. He had to keep calm. Calming breaths... he made the Tornado flip right.
"I say we go after that jerk and get the remote!" Amy yelled, hands itching to have her hammer. And to smash Eggman's head with it.
*Crack*
Sonic nodded, about to run again, but was stopped by Knuckles grabbing his shoulder. "He's already in his base, Sonic. A place he knows and is filled with traps. It will only be a waste of time."
*Crack*
Sonic blinked. Knuckles had a point. Still. "But then what are we supposed to-?"
*CRACK!*
Sonic was cut off by Tails' scream, making all three of them freeze, and quickly look up again. Smoke was coming off the Tornado, too much smoke, and the Tornado was spinning, over and over, going downward. Tails' screaming hadn't stopped, the poor eight-year-old holding onto the switch for dear life, trying to make to Tornado go up again.
Warning! Unknown forces damaging the plane! Scanning...
"T-Tails!" Sonic yelled, eyes wide, close to having a panic attack. "You have to get out of there!"
"How do you expect him to do that?!" Amy yelled at him in response, Sonic's breathing speeding up.
"I-I don’t know, jump?!"
"Jump?!"
"He can fly Amy do you rather have him crash instead-?!"
"You're nog helpIIIIIIIING!" Tails screamed, almost hyperventilating as he managed to get the plane to rise the tiniest bit. Before it continued to fall.
"Tails, listen to Sonic, you're gonna crash!" Knuckles yelled, all of them at this point running after the falling Tornado, with Sonic already way ahead of them.
"N-no! I-I have to save the Tornado!"
"Tails it's not worth it!"
Tails turned the wheel, trying to make the plane rise again. He started to cough as the inside of the Tornado started filling up with smoke as well. "I can't let the Tornado crash! I can't I won't!"
"Who cares about the damned plane?!" Knuckles groaned to himself. The stupid kid- "You can easily build a new one you're a genius!"
"I've flown with this plane for-" Tails was cut off as he started coughing uncontrollably. "-years! I can't get a new one now! Besides, it isn't even my-" the plane shook, Tails screaming as he shook with the impact, being held in place by his strap, but still hitting the top of his head. The robots outside weren't helping at all, hitting him left and right.
Warning! Warning! System is no longer stable. Warning! Warning!
Yeah, no, the warnings in the background didn't help at all, even Amy was convinced now. "Get out of there, Tails!"
The plane suddenly wasn't listening to whatever Tails was trying to do, starting to fall downwards.
Warning!
"But- but the plane!-"
"Miles I don’t give a damn about the stupid plane just get out of there before I kill you MYSELF!" Sonic suddenly boomed, his panicked eyes not matching his angry tone. Both Knuckles and Amy froze, not used to seeing Sonic act like this at all.
The usage of "Miles" got Tails' attention, and suddenly he went silent, just staring in front of him in shock. Sonic never used his real name. No one ever used his real name, but that was because no one knew his real name. But Sonic did.
"....okay." suddenly having a plan, Tails unbuckled his seatbelt, turned around, looking for the power on the ground. He quickly found a lid and pulled with all his might. He needed to get something first. All the gang heard was the sound of trashing, and Tails trying to muffle his coughs.
Now, as smart and clever as he was, Tails was turning out like his brother. And that was clear. Because the fox kit forgot to enable auto-pilot, causing the plane to go downwards much faster.
As much as Sonic was glad Tails still listened to his "big brother" voice, the nose-dive the plane was making didn't rest his worries. "Miles!"
"One *cough* sec!"
"One sec?!" Amy freaked out, but Tails didn't hear it. Instead, he pulled with all his might, and the lid finally opened. Revealing the chaos emerald. No way would he leave that for Eggman to collect. So Tails pulled it out. Which led to yet another problem.
Power removed. System shutting doooown.
At once, all warnings, all lights, all electricity, everything went out, and the airplane shut down. Suddenly just dropping to the ground. Tails screamed as he hit the top of the plane, clutching the chaos emerald close.
"Miles!"
"Okay!" Tails could see the robots outside becoming more aggressive than before and looked at the glow of the gem he held. Ah. Alright. He opened the top of the airplane and got attacked by a swarm of robots at once. Okay.. okay. Deep breaths. Don't lose the emerald. Simply the entire universe depended on him now! No pressure.
He climbed on top of the wing, shocked to see how destroyed it was. Okay.. okay.. come on, Sonic did this all the time! Three.. two...
Tails held his breath as he ran, and lept out of the plane, hugging the chaos emerald as close as he could to himself.
"Tails?!" Amy repeated again, looking worriedly at the aircraft. Tails wasn't replying anymore. Why wasn’t he replying?!
"Kid say something!" Knuckles wanted to yell, but took a second to breathe, having run for too long. The blue blur was nowhere in sight, he was still following the plane. Then, at once, all robots flew away from the plane.
*BOOM!*
All three heroes froze, and quickly looked up, seeing that the plane has crashed in the forest. Smoke came off the plane in large amounts, and not a single sound was heard.
Sonic felt his heart stop. "...Tails?"
"..."
Said fox didn't answer. Sonic could feel panic growing. "Miles?!"
Amy seemed close to crying from how panicked she was, while Knuckles just lost all emotion from his face. But then, finally, they got a response.
"Blue Thunder, this is- get off of me!"
Amy gasped, and blinked her tears away. Knuckles just sighed in relief, and Sonic took in a deep breath. He was about to call out to him, but Tails was before him. "These robots won't leave me- ow! Get off!"
Sonic looked up again. More specifically, the cloud of robots swarming around.. oh.
Tails was flying, trying to outfly the machines behind him, holding the emerald with one arm, while holding the other close to his mouth. "Sonic! They must be tracking the *cough* chaos emerald!"
"Get down here." Knuckles spoke, getting ready. "We'll deal with them."
"Alright!" Tails dived downward, a determined expression on his face as he went faster than before. Just as he saw the ground nearing, he flew up again. The robots couldn't keep up, and all hit the ground. Amy and Knuckles took the opportunity, smashing them with hammer and fist, while Sonic spindashed into them.
"....was that them all?" Amy breathed, looking around, just in case.
"I think so." Knuckles looked up. Tails was still flying, coughing into his glove. "You can come down, kid."
Tails did, slowly lowering himself to the ground. He almost fell over the moment he stood, shaky legs having trouble in keep balance. First thing he did was hold out the emerald to the guardian. "T-take it."
Knuckles looked shocked but took it anyway. "...that was what you were doing?"
"I couldn't leave it there!" Tails said. Before he was hugged by the blue blur. "Tails!" Sonic pulled away, looking all over his body for any injuries. "Are you hurt?!"
"No, no- I'm okay." Tails held his arms and smiled slightly. "I promise."
"..." Sonic just pressed him as close as possible again, a haunted look on his face. "Yeah.. yeah.. you're okay. You're okay now." He said, mostly to himself as he held onto Tails more tightly. Tails just hugged his brother.
Amy, who came running back, was the second to crush Tails into a hug. Before she pulled away, an angry expression on her face. "Tails! That was so- so dangerous! As if jumping out of it wasn't enough- honestly I can understand why you had to- but why wouldn't you get out?!"
"It's not my plane." Tails said it as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. "The Tornado still belongs to Sonic. I can't let any damage come to it.. sorry.."
"...let me get this straight." Sonic pulled away, looking at Tails with a shocked look. "You decided- to risk your own life- for a plane?"
"Your plane." Tails corrected, not seeing the problem. Amy and Knuckles looked just as shocked as Sonic did. The pink hedgehog reached for her hammer to wack some sense into the kit, but Knuckles stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"You- Miles."
"Tails."
"You- fine. Tails." Sonic looked him at him sternly, right in the eyes. "I don’t care about the stupid plane. I can always get a new one any time. But I've got only one little brother." Tails' eyes went wide when Sonic said that, and he blinked. "-and as much as I would love to have a second you, nothing can replace you. Because I love you. And I would be very upset if anything ever hurt you. So no more stunts like that. Got it?"
"....okay." Tails' voice was small now, and Sonic crushed him again in a hug. "It's okay. You're okay now.. you're okay." He breathed in deeply, very shaken by the fact just how close he had been to losing the little fox, now not wanting to let go.
Did Tails feel this way often? Now he felt bad.
"..." Tails silently hugged him back. Amy joined the hug from behind, squeezing him just as hard. "You better listen to Sonic, mister! He's the boss! I will bring you back from the dead to kill you myself if you pull such a stunt again!"
"Is it really his fault?" Knuckles asked, placing a hand on the kit's head. "His brother- and example, is the one and only "Sonic the Hedgehog"." He raised a brow. Sonic shot him an accusing look. Just as he was about to comment, Tails suddenly pushed both him and Amy away and started to cough, covering his mouth with his gloves. "T-too much smoke. I'm fine."
"...yeah, well." Amy took his hand. "Better get that checked out. Just in case."
"I'm fine!" Tails shot Sonic a pleading look, but surprise, Sonic did not have his back this time. The hedgehog just picked him up without warning, placed him on his shoulders, and started to walk. Walk. Not run, walk. "I'm with Amy on this one, buddy."
"Sonic!"
"Sorry." Sonic shrugged. Tails looked away before he saw the smoke coming off the forest.
...well. The Tornado could definitely use more updates.