This is actually the second part of the first chapter, so there's not supposed to be a title here, you know?

Well, that could have gone smoother, but I got what I came for... Rouge admired the score she held in her hand once more as she flew. Then she glanced over her shoulder. HE was following her, either flying or gliding through the air despite not possessing any wings or other visible means to do so. He can FLY? How? What IS he, anyway? She had gotten a good look at him at the museum. If she had to guess, she'd say he resembled a fox. Except for one thing: he had TWO tails. That was unusual. That, and now he FLEW. Foxes didn't do that. Then again, bats typically weren't anthropomorphic or able to speak, so who knew?

The fox-looking creature was coming up fast. An air pursuit... This is something new... But can you catch me? Rouge flapped her wings harder and put on some extra speed. The answer to her previously posed query, it turned out, was "yes." Way too quickly, a pair of hands grabbed her boots and her forward progress was seriously impeded. "Hey!" she yelled. "Hands off!"

"Come on, give up," he requested. "I want to go to bed." She tried kicking at the little punk, but he was just out of range. She brought up both legs and then kicked out with them at once. This time, they connected and broke his grip.

"Now back off before you get hurt, kid!" she warned. The threat failed to detour the little fox. He shot towards her. She simply dropped straight down and broke back into flight. Realizing that simply outrunning her pursuer wasn't an option, she needed to take evasive action. A quick glance over the shoulder revealed HE was closing in again. Just as he was about to enter grabbing range, she pulled a hard turn down an alleyway. Her pursuer was not prepared for the sudden move and shot past the alley. The time it took him to turn around and get back on track bought her a good lead.

Rouge turned around corners, ducked under signs and fire escapes, anything to throw off pursuit. The results were not as great as hoped. The flying fox kicked off the sides of buildings like a pinball. The sudden moves kept him from getting too close, but it would take more than that to lose him. Or so it seemed. After 2 right turns around a building, a glance over the shoulder yielded no sign of the pursuer. Where is he? Did I shake him? Just then, something landed on top of her; something with arms and legs that wrapped themselves around her tightly. It was HIM, fastened tightly to her back as if he was getting a piggyback ride. On the ground, this would have been nothing more than an annoyance, but in the air, it was a serious problem, as the kid also had her wings trapped. Rendered unable to fly, the both of them went straight down... "Let go of me!" She tried to remove the clinger from her back, but he held on too closely to be pried loose.

"Give it up."

HE seemed totally unconcerned about their current situation. The kid had gall. However, he had to let go or they'd both meet the same fate. She wasn't going to give in to him. "No way! Now let go!"

"Not until you say uncle!"

His voice was still unconcerned. They were now falling at terminal velocity... "You're gonna kill the both of us! You crazy!?!"

"Like a fox!"

They were now seconds away from impact... Oh my god... This stupid kid IS gonna kill us both! Facing certain death, Rouge closed her eyes and screamed... Instead of an abrupt bone-shattering stop, her descent slowed radically and changed trajectory. Soon, she wasn't falling anymore. And then, she was RISING. Finally she was motionless. She opened her eyes... She wasn't on the ground, or in Heaven. Instead, she was suspended about 2 stories above the street. What? She then realized she was being held up by HIM.

"Good enough." He sounded like he was holding back laughter. Rouge burned with humiliation and rage. He was just messing with me... And he made me scream... Red mist descended... Foxy had loosened his grip and moved his head. Mistake. She threw an elbow back into his face. He released his captive, who broke into her own flight. "Hey! Get back here!"

Sure. She turned around and headed straight for the flying fox. She had a burning desire to retaliate for the humiliation he had just put her through. The youth didn't back down and continued on his course... They collided and fell tangled up onto a parked car. The roof crumpled inward and windows exploded. The vehicle flashed its lights and began blaring a series of beeps. Reopening her eyes, she saw HIM lying on the roof next to her. She shoved him off, jumped to her feet, spread her wings... And then remembered the Chaos Emerald. She had been carrying it in her hand. It wasn't there anymore. Obviously she had dropped it in the fall. Where was it? She looked on the car, and on the sidewalk next to it...

HIS voice came from behind. "Hey batgirl!"

Oh, please, no... Rouge turned to look, knowing exactly what she was going to see, but still had to resist screaming. HE held the Chaos Emerald in his hand and a smirk on his face. Her patience was at an end. "Give me that. NOW."

"Nope."

Rouge jumped off the wrecked car and at the 2-tailed fox, but he managed to dive out of the way. "Last chance to give it up before you get hurt," Rouge warned. He didn't respond. Well, I told him what was gonna happen... She came at him with another flying kick, and again he dodged. She broke out her arsenal of kicks, but her opponent was a quick little thing. He ducked, jumped, or sidestepped every single one. Frustrated, she yelled "Stand still so I can hit you!"

"Whoa, the ninja's a chick!" The fighters both stopped to turn and see who had spoken. A few humans had gathered to watch the unfolding action. They all looked like they were in their 20's. "Ah..." one said in the same voice that had distracted them, "Don't matter, my money's still on her!" Another yelled out, "Whatever! Tails'll come out on top! I HAVE FAITH IN YOU, MAN!"

The fox acknowledged the vote of confidence with a "Thanks." The opponents looked back at each other, then returned to the fight. Actually, 'fight' was kind of misleading. The quick yellow fox continued to mock Rouge by dodging every single attack with ease. However, he never made an attempt to counterattack or even launch an attack of his own, despite having plenty of opportunities.

"Come on man! TAKE HER OUT!" That was her opponent's supporter again. Her opponent glanced at his fan, then her with a very uncertain look on his face.

"Come on kid," Rouge invited. "Give me your best shot." The fox looked extremely uncomfortable with this suggestion. That wasn't surprising: the kid looked harmless. "Quit jumping around and fight." Her opponent became increasingly flustered. He managed to regain his composure, put on a hard face, and cross his arms.

"I don't like to hit girls."

"Fine. Hope you like getting hit by girls then!" She came at him with another flying jumpkick. Her opponent avoided it of course, but it was a two-part attack. She went into a roundhouse kick which caught him offguard. A boot to the head sent him down. She pounced on him before he could get back up. She tried to pry the Emerald from his grip. He fought back by shoving his other hand into her face. Rouge responded by grabbing the offending arm and pushing it down. As it fell away, the hand pulled the cloth around her head with it, revealing her face. She now had her opponent pinned and both of his arms held down. He struggled to break free but to no good. Gotcha! Rouge smiled wickedly like an older sibling expressing dominance over a younger one. "Uncle?"

It certainly seemed as if her opponent was beaten. However, a fox is the most dangerous when cornered. Unable to use his arms or legs, he struck with the only thing he had left: his head. Their heads met with a loud crack! Stunned, Rouge let go of him and fell over backwards. The crowd exploded with shouts. "TAY-YULZ!"

She put a hand to her aching forehead while getting back to her feet. HE did the same; apparently the headbutt didn't feel very good for him either. "Argh! You little brat! How could you hit a girl!?!"

He retaliated with, "Yeah well, how could you hit a child?"

"Because you deserved it!" While waiting for the cobwebs in her head to clear, Rouge became aware of sirens. An approaching police car was visible several blocks away. This fiasco had gone on for too long. She was having enough trouble with the punk by himself. With the police involved, her chances for success would dwindle to approximately 0%. I need to get out of here, now. But she'd have to leave empty-handed, and she'd NEVER left empty-handed before. "Damn! This isn't over, whoever you are..."

"Tails," the fox replied. "The name's Tails." Rouge stared at her nemesis, now identified as Tails. Then something else caught her attention, hovering behind the fox. It was some kind of robot. A very odd-looking thing; a body with a small head and pair of arms, each with 3 fingers. It crept up behind the fox, arms spreading wide... Tails remained oblivious to its presence until the arms closed around him, grabbing him in a bearhug. The hold trapped his arms by his sides. He struggled against the thing's grasp to no effect. He yelled out as the robot discharged a few seconds of electricity. Rouge could almost feel the voltage from where she was. That seemed to sap the fox's fighting spirit. Looking like he was about to pass out, his eyes met hers. "Uh... Help?"

It was a dubious request, but it did prompt her into action. "Release the brat! He's MINE!" Rouge demanded. The robot didn't give any indication that it even heard or understood her. With its captive in tow, it turned and flew off. Still wondering what exactly was going on, she simply watched them fly away for a few seconds. Well, what now? The police had just arrived on the scene. It was time to go. Rouge took flight, and after a moment of thought, headed after the fleeing robot...
 

DVD Commentary: Deleted scene: originally, the robot ducked down a manhole with Tails in tow. It looked cooler as I visualized the story, but then I saw a manhole and remembered that they're actually tiny little things. Oh well. The hurdles you have to overcome as a writer...

Now with chapters! We'll see if I can keep coming up with titles.

THE WELL-ROUNDED MADMAN

Well, this certainly did NOT go according to plan... The operation had totally deviated from from Tails' simple plan of: lie in wait; catch thief; pat yourself on the back. Somehow, he had ended up getting caught instead. He had a fairly good idea who the owner of the robot that carried him was... Somebody who didn't like him much.

Tails found himself wishing his friend Sonic was here. He'd bail him out of trouble, no problem. He had quite a sense of timing; often showing up just when things got bleak, and then making things a whole lot better. Tails held on to the slight hope that his hero just happened to be in the area, knowing better deep down. He closed his eyes and willed it so... Sonic...

Tails... The thought made Sonic sit upwards in the field that he had been lying in. He knew not why the thought had suddenly invaded his mind, but he found himself wondering where his friend was at the moment. He looked around, not that the answer would be so easily found. In bed sleeping, no doubt. Where else would he be at this hour? And sleeping's exactly what I want to be doing right now. He yawned loudly. Sonic laid his head back down and closed his eyes. He was asleep in a minute.

Nah... That's just stupid. Sonic isn't here, and he's not gonna save you. Time to stop wishing and just face reality... Well, there's two possibilities here... I get executed or I get held hostage... Maybe I get tortured along the way too... Unable to do otherwise, Tails simply took in the scenery on his unwilling tour. The robot took him on a ride above the buildings before ducking down into an aqueduct. After a while of flying through dark tunnels, they exited the aqueduct. They were now outside the city and heading into the nearby desert. He tried to keep up with his exact location, but soon he had to admit that 'somewhere in the desert' was his best estimate. Eventually (he had lost all track of time too by then) they came across a pyramid. A giant door in the side of the structure opened, slowly. They hovered in place for about a minute before the robot simply ducked under the half-open door.

Inside the pyramid, a giant open chamber awaited. A row of pillars ran around the perimeter of the room connected by decorative arches. The robot made its way through hallways that were smaller and much less spectacular, although a few featured statues, ledges, or murals. Their trip ended in a decidedly more high-tech room that had several long control terminals. 3 figures occupied the room. Two were robots with anthropomorphic designs and rather large firearms. The third figure was human and sat in a chair in front of the largest control panel and set of monitors. One screen displayed pretty much everything Tails could see at the moment. Apparently he was directly controlling the robot that held him. His kidnapper had his back to him, but Tails knew exactly who he was. "Robotnik..."

The man spun around in his chair. "Tails," he replied. "Welcome to my humble abode." He stood up. "I never knew just how exciting the nightlife in the city is. I was just out looking for a Chaos Emerald... I never thought I'd find a couple aberrations of nature fighting in the streets over it. But I guess life has its little bonuses." Oh... Robotnik also wants the Chaos Emerald... Well fancy that. Tails had simply thought Robotnik was performing an opportunistic kidnapping. He mentally kicked himself for not figuring the truth earlier. "I'm especially surprised to see you without your friend Sonic. What are you doing alone at such an hour?"

"Who said I was alone?" Tails asked. Robotnik's eyebrows arched above his sunglasses in concern, just for a second. Then he smiled.

"I did. If Sonic was with you, he would have stepped in when you started getting beat up by that batgirl."

"Hey, I won that fight. Kinda."

"Although vaguely amusing, this conversation serves no further purpose. Let's get straight to business, shall we?" Robotnik approached and put out his hand. "Why don't you hand over the Chaos Emerald?"

Tails knew that Robotnik could just take the Emerald from him if he wanted. However, he was compelled by an sudden urge to be as uncooperative as possible. "No." He rotated his wrist away, as that was the maximum extent to which he could move his arm.

"What?"

"I said no, Eggman."

The evil genius fumed, then gestured with his other arm towards the nearest drone. "Come here." The minion obeyed without a word. Robotnik muttered something to it. The drone suddenly jammed the barrel of its sidearm into Tails' chin, forcing his head all the way back. "Now, let's try this again. I suggest you reevaluate your current situation before answering."

"Uh... Okay," Tails relented, dropping the Emerald into the waiting palm.

"Smart kid." The evil genius turned around and walked back to the control panel. With the push of a button, the flying robot released Tails, dumping him unceremoniously onto the floor. As the fox got to his feet, the drones leveled their weapons on him, discouraging him from moving. "Now onto the next order of business: your disposition... I must confess that I am uncertain as to what to do with you. On the one hand, I am tempted to simply put you out of my misery. On the other, perhaps having Sonic's best buddy can be used to my advantage somehow."

"Yeah, or maybe Sonic will just get mad like last time you did that."

"True... You make a strong argument advocating your extermination, Tails." Oops... I'm just gonna shut up now... Robotnik continued. "You've been a nuisance to me. Not as much as Sonic, but pretty close. You embarrassed me back in Station Square..." He turned away from his captive and paced around with a look of deep contemplation. Time to try something... Tails lied down on all fours, flattened his ears, and turned his eyes into big, glassy, balls. The doctor stopped in his tracks, but managed to maintain his composure. No... Could he be... Immune? After a long, uncomfortable silence, he spoke again. "Fine, I suppose I'll let you live... For now... Now stop that. It sickens me."

Rouge stalked through the hall carefully. Her black getup was meant to hide her in dark areas, not brightly-lit ones. She had followed the robot all the way here from the city. She managed to enter the pyramid before the ridiculously slow door had closed. She let the robot go ahead in the halls as she was too concerned about any security to follow it closely, though there didn't seem to be any. Eventually, she came to a doorway where talking could be heard.

"Tails... Welcome to my humble abode..."

She took up position at the door and peeked in. Tails was keeping company with an overweight human in a red suit. He was bald, wore sunglasses, and had a mustache that extended considerably past the sides of his head. She knew who he was... Who didn't? He was only Earth's Most Wanted: Dr. Ivo Robotnik, maniacal genius who had attempted to conquer the planet on several occasions. What did I get myself into here? Listening in to their conversation, she caught another familiar name. Ah... Now things are making sense... Dr. Robotnik, Sonic, and Tails... The would-be evil dictator had been thwarted each time by the heroic deeds of Sonic and his sidekick Tails. Rouge took a long look at the young fox. He's one of the heroes that saved the planet? That little runt?

"Okay, let's try this again. I suggest you reevaluate your current situation before answering."

Tails had just handed over the Chaos Emerald, after some defiance. Bold kid. Rouge focused on the yellow Emerald as Robotnik marched back to the control panel. Come on, put it down and walk away... However, the evil doctor held onto it as he continued the debate on the merits of eliminating one's enemy.

"Fine, I suppose I'll let you live..."

Robotnik turned his back to her. Rouge saw her opportunity and darted into the room, ducking behind the terminal bank opposite him. She peeked out. Robotnik and his robots hadn't noticed her entrance, but Tails must have, for he was looking in her direction. She smiled and waved at him. He scowled back.

"My apologies, but I didn't think to have any jails installed in the base. The conditions will be less than comfortable, but I'm sure we can find some way to accommodate your stay..." Robotnik turned around to face Tails again. He was annoyed to find him not paying attention, instead looking off to the side. At what? Ivo followed his gaze and spotted a figure poking out from behind a terminal. "Who?" he asked, recognizing the intruder as the attempted thief from earlier even as he spoke. "SHOOT HER!" He pointed at her for emphasis. She ducked out of sight just before the drones opened fire upon her hiding spot. The electronic equipment exploded in showers of sparks. The thief darted out from one end of the control panel, several feet away from the area that the drones were still shooting at. They spotted her and adjusted their aim, but she was nearly out of the room by then. She made it out safely. The drones didn't so much as take a step after her.

"Target is out of range," one of the drones announced in monotone.

"Oh well no DUH. With such highly motivated minions like you, how could she possibly-" The doctor stopped mid-sentence as he turned to face the recipients of his wrath. Tails was backing away towards the room's other exit. The drones were completely oblivious, as they had been completely focused on the intruder.

"Bus-ted."

"SHOOT HIM!" The fox broke into a mad dash. Somehow, he made it out the door despite the barrage of laser fire.

"Target is out of range." There was no difference in the voice than before.

"Argh! YOU'RE WORTHLESS!" Robotnik smacked himself on the forehead. He then pointed a finger at each drone. "SHOOT IT!" They took aim at each other and fired. The shots were nearly simultaneous. They hit the floor with a crash. "WORTHLESS!" he shouted once more. They followed orders so well that they were too dumb to do anything unless told. He'd have to rectify that before mass deployment. But for now he had to make do. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, bringing the rest of them online. "Seek out and destroy the intruders!" After a moment, he added "Pursue and engage!" He uploaded the data on the targets...

Tails ran through the hall. Coming to a T-junction, he turned right. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as there were no robots there, he didn't care. He stopped suddenly. Footsteps pounded up ahead, getting closer. There was no place to hide in this hall. Cowering in a corner was the best option. Brainwave... Twirling his tails, he took to the air and hovered into one of the upper corners. A group of 6 drones ran past. They failed to notice his presence. Continuing onward, he noticed that the halls all curved rightward. He had noticed that while being brought in as well. The hall apparently went in a circle.

"Tails."

He jumped at the sound of HER voice. Turning, he saw the thief standing on a ledge running around the walls of this portion of hall. He flew up towards her. "What are YOU doing here?"

"I still want that Emerald. I see you managed to escape too."

"Well, I guess I have you to thank for that."

"Really? So that means that you owe me your life?"

Tails blinked. "Well, I guess, if you put it like that..."

"Good, because I'll collect on that!" She suddenly shot straight at him, catching him with an outstreched arm. Arm locked around his neck, she sent him falling backwards. She landed on her feet. He landed on his back instead, hard. She pinned him down again. This time, she had her arm across his throat and was leaning on it with her weight, cutting off a good deal of his airflow. She wasn't about to let him surprise her again.

"What?" That was all he could manage to get out.

"Say, I know who you are now. You're friends with that Sonic character, aren't you? One of the heroic duo?"

"Yeah."

"Could have fooled me. You don't seem very dangerous, but Robotnik thinks so... I wonder if he'll reward me for giving you to him?"

Tails managed to collect enough air to formulate a complete phrase. "I can answer that: NO. Look, if we're gonna get out of here, we need to work together."

"I don't think so, kid." The room suddenly went all greenish in hue and a strange humming noise could be heard. "What?" The source of both phenomena entered, a flying robot that resembled a beetle. Apparently it noticed them too, for it stopped in its tracks and began to emit a series of beeps...

The female thief clearly didn't like the look of this, for she released him and made a break for the other end of the hall. Still dazed, Tails got to his feet. A laser suddenly cut the air several feet in front of him. It had come from the flying beetle thing, and was directed at the thief, though it missed. He sure wasn't going to wait for it to acquire a new target. As he ran, his tails twirled behind him, but they didn't give him flight; instead propelling him forward at faster speed. It allowed him to keep pace with Sonic at his lower speeds, so hopefully it would be enough to ditch the beetle. "Hey batgirl, wait up!" He pulled even with the fleeing thief. "Yo! Batgirl!"

"It's Rouge!" she snapped.

"Alright, Rouge... Truce?"

"No."

Suddenly, one of Tails' feet landed on the floor at a sharp angle. His other foot failed to touch ground at all... He was falling before he could even think: TRAPDOOR. He could hear Rouge's screams above his own. They fell into a massive chamber that was at least several stories deep. Oh wait... I can FLY! He got his tails going again and stopped himself just feet above the floor. Rouge also had such an epiphany for she avoided the same fate. Looking around the chamber, he realized the floor wasn't actually a floor. It was sand. Quicksand. Not a pleasant way to go. However, Robotnik's diabolical trap clearly banked on its victims not being able to fly.

"Whew." After his close call, Tails could only laugh. "Quicksand? That all you got?" As if in response, something burst out of the quicksand right underneath him. I guess not... He only could make out what appeared to be a gaping mouth as the thing quickly overtook him... By now, he was virtually INSIDE the thing's mouth. He had managed to plant his feet against one row of teeth and his arms against the other, desperately trying to keep himself out of harm's way. The mouth snapped shut. By some miracle, he had managed to keep clear of the jaws of death. Having reached the apex of its jump, the thing dropped back into the sea of sand. He now got a good look at the thing. It was a worm-shaped monstrosity with giant spikes running along the sides.

As it dropped, another popped out. This one went after Rouge instead. Rather than coming from directly beneath, this one shot out of the sand at an angle. She ducked out of its way. However, Tails turned his attention back to the first worm as it reappeared, still fixated on him. He dodged, only to find another worm appearing, or maybe it was the first one; they all looked the same. Got to get up higher... These things could JUMP, easily passing the halfway point of the chamber. He had to juke and dive to avoid getting caught by the worms. Hopefully, they can't reach the ceiling... However, they weren't very bright. As they chased him, a worm on its way up crossed paths with the other on the way down. The spikes from the rising worm tore through the other's plating and shredded internal circuitry. The crippled beast got tangled up with the other and dragged it back down into the sand with it.

There was no time for celebrating because ANOTHER worm jumped at him. Perhaps it had been chasing him earlier too; he hadn't been counting how many worms he was dodging. Tails adjusted his bearing as it came, avoiding the gaping maw. Instead, he planted his feet against the worm's forehead (if such anatomy was correct) and pushed off, catapulting to higher altitudes. The next worm to jump at him fell short. So did the next. Safe! Looking around, he saw that Rouge had also managed to fly out of range. She perched on the shoulders of a giant statue that almost reached the ceiling. He landed next to her. "Truce?"

"I'll think about it."

DVD Commentary: Ah yes, this little ditty takes place after Sonic Adventure, in case you were wondering about that Station Square incident. I've actually got a few connections to both Adventures in this story. Yep, this is also Robotnik's base, complete with the beetle thing from SA2. Admittedly, I'm not too creative with thinking up my own robots. I got a couple.

I'm sure it's obvious by now, but I'm totally a Tails fan. Sonic has half my heart, and Tails has the other. Sorry Knuckles. Now, Tails' depiction in various media runs the gamut from awesome to lame.

Games: Awesome to cool (some more than others, but the games are very nice to him)
Movie: Awesome (god he's just as cocky as Sonic)
Sonic X: Cool, even if he doesn't get much to do until season 3
SATAM: Glorified cameos, seriously
Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog: WORTHLESS!
Comics: Just there for the most part; sometimes he gets to be cool, and sometimes he gets to be a total b____

I think he deserves better. Sure, he ain't Sonic but he doesn't have to be useless either. I think it's clear which side I'm leaning him towards.

The basics are covered.  It needs some touching up. I know it takes even longer to edit your work than to write the rough draft.

'The female thief clearly didn't like the look of this, for she released him and made a break for the other end of the hall.'

Consider

'Surprised by the beetle, the female thief released 'who' scrabbling towards the other end of the hall.

Also, getting a fanfiction.net account could help too.

Reading between the lines, I came up with "looks good so far". God, tell me about the editing part. Trust me, it's never good enough. Anyway, about my slightly wonky sentencing... I've got a real informal style of writing. As a result, the prose contains hyperbole, understatement, sarcasm, and just plain creative use of words to achieve a funnier end result. Certainly, it's unconventional and doesn't look professional, but hey, this IS amateur work. Actually, I don't really even LIKE writing. If I had the chops to make animations or comics, I'd do so. I guess I'd rather be a director than an author.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. It's rather nerve-wracking to NOT get any response at all. Let me know that people didn't promptly go into violent convulsions and end up in a coma.

THE KID WITH THE 300 I.Q.

Robotnik lamented having missed the show. Tails and that thief had fallen into his trap. That much he knew. What exactly happened to them was a mystery. A search found no sign of them. If the Sandworms had gotten them, there wouldn't be anything left behind. However, there was also the remote possibility that they escaped. But even if they survived, they couldn't get out of the room. Satisfied with that determination, he gave up the search.

Thankfully, Robotnik wasn't too thorough. Tails and Rouge were safely hidden in the gap between one of the statues and the wall. The trapdoor opened, allowing the flying robot (the very same one that nabbed him earlier) to exit, then slammed shut again. They waited for a minute before making any move. The room was quiet. The worm things had either given up or didn't know that they were still around. Rouge was the first to move, flying towards the trapdoor. He took off after her. "Hey!"

"Are you STILL following me around?" she asked with annoyance. "Kid, I've got bigger things to worry about than you right now, so I suggest you get away from me before I get mad again."

"You're right about 'bigger things'. This place is the base of Dr. Robotnik. He's a-"

She cut him off. "Yeah, I know who he is, kid."

"We have to get the Emerald back!"

"Oh, WE do?" There was much emphasis on the "we" part.

"Yeah! No telling what he plans to do with it! We can't let Robotnik have that kind of power!" Rouge looked completely nonchalant about all this. What is with her? Doesn't she care about any of this? Is she THAT self-centered? Well then, he could appeal to her interests... "All right, look... I got a deal for you: if we get the Emerald, I'll let you have it. I don't care. We just can't let him have it. Deal?"

Now Rouge was amused. "Oh really? You'll let me have it? Well, now that's the first thing you've said that I like. But there's just one thing..." Her smile vanished.

"What?"

"I am gonna get that Emerald all right. But I'll do it myself. I don't need any help, kid. Least of all, yours! Now get away from me."

"Well, until we find a way out of here, we're both stuck here." Rouge responded with an unintelligible noise that sounded like a 'Hmph'. With an temporary agreement more or less reached, they both looked over the trapdoor. There was no apparent way to open it from their side. Pushing or prying was impossible. "I don't think we can get out that way," Tails concluded. A search of the room came up with one other possible exit, an opening just above the sand ocean. Great... We gotta get back into worm range...

They dropped down and quickly swooped into the opening before the worms could act. It did lead to an exit, but was blocked by a steel door. Behind them, the worm things now stirred with activity. However, they couldn't reach inside the tunnel, or so it seemed... Unlike the trapdoor, there was a clear way to open the door in the form of a keypad next to it. Rouge looked at it with a dismayed expression. "So, can you open it?" he asked.

"No."

"What? You're a thief; can't you pick locks?"

"Yeah... Not electronic ones."

"So I guess you DO need some help after all."

"Oh what, you know how to open this door?"

"Maybe..." He replied in a playful manner which implied the answer was "yes", but in truth, he really wasn't sure. He looked over the keypad. 8 digit code... 10 digit keys... A quick mental calculation of possible combinations came out to approximately "a whole lot". That left brute force as the only feasible option. However, he needed something to work with... "You got any actual tools?"

In answer, she removed one of the bags from her belt and threw it to him. It contained a small assortment of basic tools. He chose a screwdriver and cutting pliers from the bag. With the former, he unscrewed the plate from the panel to expose a mess of wires. Then he used the latter to cut the wires. Now I guess I can maybe hot-wire the door, kinda like a car. Not that I've ever done that...

Rouge stood and watched as the young fox fiddled around with the controls. Neither spoke. After a couple minutes, the door suddenly slid open. Tails looked mighty pleased with himself. "So... How about that deal? Truce?"

The wheels turned inside Rouge's head. On the one hand, she had to admit (though not aloud) that he just might actually be helpful. She had underestimated him earlier and got embarrassed. On the other hand, she wanted nothing more to do with Tails except to maybe smash his nauseatingly cute and sad face in... GAH! He's doing it again! She turned away to protect herself. She made her decision the only way she knew how: by profit margins. Choice B would be quite satisfying, but otherwise yielded no benefits. Choice A gave her assistance and the Chaos Emerald. In those terms, the choice was pretty clear. "All right kid, you got a truce," she told him. Of course, the deal only covers what happens up to getting the Emerald... After that, all bets are off...

The door led to a hall much like every other. This place could be like a maze for all she knew. And the Chaos Emerald could be anywhere within. "I don't suppose you happen to have a plan about how exactly we go about getting the Emerald?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact..." Tails pushed back the fur on his right arm to reveal a device on his wrist resembling a watch in design and size. However, it displayed something other than the time, although she had no idea what.

"What is that?"

"This is..." Tails faltered for a moment. "You know, I haven't thought about that... It is a heretofore unnamed instrument."

"Man, listen to the mouth on this kid, using big words and stuff."

"Sorry, I apologize for the exhibition of my vernacular prowess. I enjoy flaunting it every once in awhile."

"Whatever. So what does that thing do?"

"Well, allow me to elucidate... It detects the presence of Chaos energy. There's only 7 sources of Chaos energy in the world, and they all happen to be Chaos Emeralds. We can use this to pinpoint the location of the Emerald in the base."

She took all that in. "So you've got a Chaos Emerald detector? Just where did you get one of those?"

"I designed it."

Rouge's reaction was automatic. "Oh yeah right." The little fox looked back with a smirk that just said "wanna bet?" Now that I think of it... "Oh yeah... I do now recall hearing that you were something of a..." She left the sentence unfinished.

"Genius?" Tails volunteered.

"Nerd," Rouge immediately countered. "Geek." She stabbed again. "Poindexter."

"Hey hey hey," he snapped with more than a hint of annoyance. Aw, the kid's vulnerable...

They walked in silence until coming to a chamber that rivaled the death trap in size. Maybe it was even bigger. There were two other exits to the left and right. High above, a walkway ran the length of the room, undoubtedly connecting two more exits. Rouge asked the obvious question, "Which way?"

"I dunno. We'll have to find out." Tails moved towards the exit on the right. He kept his eyes glued to the device as he walked. Rouge simply followed him. After a while, the reading changed. The concentration of Chaos energy went down, which meant that they were moving AWAY from the Emerald. "Er... nope. It's the other way." Rouge let out an annoyed groan as they turned around. After crossing the length of the room, he paused and pondered while looking at his device. The device could only tell him that he was getting closer to his target, not how exactly to get there. "Well, I know it's in this direction, but I can't tell if it's on this floor or the upper level... I'm betting that it's up there."

"You know," Rouge said, "I am so glad I've got your help on this."

Tails' sarcasm detector went off. He shot back, "well, I got us out of that room so you'd better."

"Touchy."

There were no stairs or other conventional ways to get to the upper level from this room. However, the pair could simply fly up there. Rouge took the lead on the way up. He noticed that she stopped just as she reached the walkway, grabbing onto the edge instead. Tails mimicked the action. They both peered over the top of the railing. One of the Doctor's robots stood not 3 feet away. She clearly knew how to move cautiously.

The robot wasn't the same as the others he'd seen. It was similar in design, but a bit smaller. The most prominent difference was that it had a gun in each arm. Great, a Mk. Woo... On closer examination, he realized that the cannons were actually grafted onto the thing's arms in place of hands. Robotnik certainly hadn't given the thing many options in life. Tails ducked back out of sight and looked at Rouge as if to ask "What now?"

Something clanged against the head of E-114 Omicron. It turned, gunarms raised and ready to open fire, but there was nothing in sight except for a small rock rolling around for a moment before coming to a stop. NO TARGETS FOUND. DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: NONE. CALCULATING DIRECTION OF PROJECTILE. It had definitely came from the direction it now faced, but there was no place for anyone to hide. INVESTIGATING. It walked to the railing and looked down. NO TARGETS FOUND. Something slammed into it from behind, knocking it forward and over the railing. The world spun around and around... DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: NONE. PROCESSING. After analyzing all sensory inputs, it determined that it was falling. Next, it decided on a course of action. ACTIVATING JET BOOS- Before the command could be finished, E-114 Omicron smashed into the ground. Its system program was instantly terminated upon impact.

Tails watched the robot tumble and obliterate itself far below. He then flew onto the walkway from the side opposite where he was a moment ago. Rouge stood brushing her hands together from a job well done. He turned to the exit, which was another door. However, this one was a lot easier to open, as its control panel simply had one button on it. "See, we make a halfway decent team."

"Whatever, kid," she scoffed.

"Careful... If you don't start being nicer, I'm not gonna ask you out."

"Oh wow! He's smart, cute, AND funny!" Her words dripped with sarcasm.

"Better."

Rouge suddenly put a hand on his shoulder and held him back. "Wait," she warned, a bit late. "Look." She pointed at the floor or something on the floor. After a while he finally saw what she was pointing at: a faint outline of a rectangle covering a good portion of the floor. Another trapdoor, probably leading back to the sandtrap. Man, she's good at this... There was enough room along the wall to walk around the trap.

"How did you see that?"

"Because I was looking for it. And you're welcome."

"Whatever."

After a while, the readings on the Chaos Spectrometer (it was as good a name as any other) had maxed out. The Emerald was very close. Of course, that could easily mean Robotnik was close as well. A door was nearby. It seemed unlocked, which was strange. He wouldn't complain about things being easy, but he figured Eggman would have sprung for higher security. It could be a trap. Oh well, there were no other options and time was at a premium, so he took a breath and simply opened the door. That's pure Sonic logic right there...

No evil overlord in here. No robots either. The Chaos Emerald sat inside a terminal, behind a sheet of glass. The terminal was surrounded by a circle of pillars. Green lasers established a perimeter around the terminal. Several horizontal beams shot from one pillar to the next, running parallel to one another. Deja vu... This time I'm the thief... "Well, this looks a little more difficult than the museum," Rouge commented.

Tails had no idea how to go about this problem. "Well, my plan has officially ended."

"I got this." Rouge approached the beams and rummaged into one of her bags. She knelt next to the beams and put something on the floor beneath them. The bottom laser suddenly disappeared. Edging forward, he saw that the beam was stopped at the object Rouge had set down. What is that? Some kind of mirror? Ah yes, they can reflect lasers, can't they? Rouge looked at the resulting gap, then at him. "Tails, you're pretty small. It's not too much room, but I know you can do it."

2 things occurred to him... 1: she was being nice to him. Even called him by his name. 2: after seeing her in action at the museum, he knew she could easily slip under the beams as well. Gee, I'm not being manipulated here at all... "Oh, I'm sure you do." Now it was his turn to be sarcastic. "That's why you're not doing it yourself. You're the thief here."

"You're the hero."

"You're the one who wants the Emerald."

"You're the one who wants to keep it from Robotnik."

Stalemate. "Okay, let's settle this." Tails put out his fist. Rouge did likewise. "On 3... Go!" After 3 shakes, he put out his index and middle fingers while his opponent kept her hand in a fist. He groaned, then asked, "Best 2 out of 3?"

"Man up, kid. You lost."

Tails accepted his fate. "Fine."

Rouge handed him her glass-cutting tool. "You go ahead," she said with a smile.

He managed to smile back, although it was devoid of humor. "As good as dead..." He lied down and crawled under the beams. Well, that was easy... Hopefully, there's no surprises in store... He now stood in front of the terminal holding the Emerald. It was a bit high for him, so he climbed onto it. The buttons on the panel included a set for the alphabet and numbers, undoubtedly for entering a password. It was even more impossible to crack than the door.

Tails put the blade to the glass and slowly cut along the edges of the window. The glass remained in place. He tapped it and it promptly fell inward. OOPS... Oh well. He reached in and grabbed the Chaos Emerald. Now to get out of here. He turned, jumped back down, and looked for the gap in the laser field. It wasn't there anymore. Rouge stood where it used to be. "Uh..."

"Give me the Emerald." She held out her hand expectantly.

"What are you doing?" He already knew the answer to that question.

"Just looking out for myself. The thing is, I'm a thief, and you're a fox. This was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me! We don't have time for this now!"

"Correction: YOU don't have time for this now. Tick tock..."

Tails growled. He was at her mercy. He fantasized about grabbing her arm and pulling her into the lasers, reducing her to ash. Not likely; she was stronger than him. He had no choice except comply and hope for the best. He threw the Emerald through the field. "Fine! You win. Now let me out."

"Oh Tails," Rouge said with a chastising voice. "Come on, I thought you were smarter than that, kid." She turned and walked away.

"Hey! Come back! Rouge!" She ignored him as she crossed the room and opened the door. She shot a final glance over her shoulder and waved halfheartedly before stepping out of sight. "Damn it!" Alone, Tails leaned against the terminal, then slid down into a sitting position. "Well this sucks."

Robotnik was out of breath by the time he reached the terminal that was beeping. The Chaos Emerald! He looked at the monitor, which displayed the theft in progress. Them! How did they escape? How did they get past the lasers? And why are they working together? Foxboy was working on getting the Emerald while batgirl was standing by. He was just about to sic the entirety of his army on them when something interesting happened. While Tails was busy, his partner removed whatever it was that held the lasers back. Now he had no way out.

Ivo smiled. He didn't have any audio, but he could guess the gist of their resulting conversation. Tails handed over the Emerald to his partner. Then she simply turned around and left him behind. Honor among thieves... I LOVE IT! He couldn't help but cackle maniacally for a moment. Tails wasn't going anywhere. That just left the batgirl to deal with. He turned to another control panel and typed out a command. I think it's a good time for a field test... The screen displayed a simple phrase: "ONE ONLINE."

"ONE", officially designated E-117 Sigma. However, he nicknamed it "ONE" because its design was based upon the first model of the E-series: E-100 Alpha, or "ZERO". Its large size proved to be cumbersome, so all later E-models were made much smaller and agile. He had been wanting to make a newer model with a larger selection of weapons, however the smaller E-series simply didn't have the room for all the upgrades and copious amounts of ammo, hence the return to a bigger body. It also had another fun feature installed: manual control. Ivo activated the option. Why let a machine have all the fun?

With little else to do, Tails stared at the lasers that imprisoned him. Hmmm... Some mental rudimentary geometry suggested that he could fit between the gaps in the lasers. He'd have to pass through as straight as possible, with little room for error. It wouldn't be very safe, but simply waiting around for Robotnik to walk in on him wasn't exactly a safe idea either. There was one major problem: physics. Gravity, to be more specific. He couldn't just fly through the gaps; his spinning tails wouldn't have enough clearance. That meant he'd have to jump through the gap perfectly straight. Not likely. He went over his options again. Or perhaps I could just slip through...

Curious, Tails approached the beams with the glass cutter that Rouge never bothered to take back. He placed it into one of the beams and held it there. Smoke and a very unsettling hissing noise was produced. He withdrew the tool and examined it. It was blackened and super-hot, but... Not too bad considering that, you know, I just stuck it into a laser... In the movies, lasers would cut through anything like a hot knife through butter. Apparently, these ones were not quite that powerful. If he messed up, it MIGHT not kill him. He took a deep breath and psyched himself up...

Ah... Once again, the Emerald is mine... Rouge felt the satisfaction of a job well done. However, she also felt something else, something that nagged from the back of her mind, something that was unfamiliar to her... Could it be... Remorse? For what, that little brat? Well, I suppose that maybe he doesn't deserve to die a horrible death... Enough! He messed my plans up first and I just returned the favor. Time to focus on what's important... She had the Emerald, and she needed to get out of here.

As it turned out, that was easy. She was now back in familiar territory, so she knew how to get back to the door she entered through. The halls were clear of any security. She was in the entrance chamber in minutes. Now the only obstacle was the door. There didn't seem to be any controls. Maybe they were concealed. She looked closely at the wall near the door but found nothing. She turned and moved towards the other wall.

Something dropped from above and landed with a crash that shook the room. Rouge spun around. A large robot stood at the other end of the room, blocking the only open way out. It had the same general humanoid design as the other robots, except this one was wider, thicker, and taller by a factor of 2. It carried no weapons, because they were instead attached to its arms. The right arm sported a chain gun while the left had a single barrel, although she didn't know exactly what it was for.

Then the thing spoke. Or rather, Robotnik spoke through it. "Are you lost, little girl? I believe you have something that belongs to me. I want it back. I saw what you did to Tails... You did me a favor there, so I'll let you go if you simply hand over the Emerald. If not, well, take a wild guess." A group of the smaller robots filed into the room to back up the threat.

She wanted to make a stylish refusal but thought it more prudent to seek cover. The closest option was one of the giant pillars along the outside of the room. The big robot raised both arms and opened fire, literally, as the barrel on the left arm turned out to be a flamethrower. The pillar blocked the brunt of the flamejet, but it still reached around the pillar. With flames on either side, she was pinned down. She was aware that the thing was advancing on her position, as the barrage increased in intensity. Then, it abruptly stopped... Rouge was just thinking about her next move when an arm swept over her head, shattering the pillar. A chunk of stone struck her in the head. Dazed, she stood back up, forgetting her current situation. A giant hand closed around her...

"Ah! Got you!" Robotnik proclaimed.

"I may have an IQ of 297, but I'm still a moron," Tails said to no one in particular. He was now arched over the lowest laser, hands on the floor outside, and feet on the floor within the perimeter. He was stumped as to what he should do next. He had just realized that he forgot to take into account a very important factor: his tails. They were sorta just dangling, and would thus get zapped unless he raised them up, but not too high or they'd get zapped too, then keep them level as he moved. No small feat by itself, however his tails also had a tendency to move on their own accord. Could he trust them? Well, I'm already halfway out, so no point in retreating... Might as well go for it... Perhaps if he quickly thrust himself forward, the motion would make the tails follow his body through safely. If not, well, they won't be calling me "Tails" anymore...

Okay, here goes... He kicked off the floor, sending him forward and into a somersault on the other side of the laser. It ALMOST worked. The tip of his right tail made contact with a beam... An excruciating burning sensation shot through the affected appendage. OWOWOWOWSWEETMOTHEROFPAIN!!! A look at his tail revealed that it was in fact on fire. "HOLY CRAP!" He rolled around and managed to extinguish the fire. After a few moments, he surveyed the damage. The tip of the tail had once been white fur, but now it was nearly all black. Not too bad considering that, you know, I just stuck it in a laser... I hope this doesn't get infected...

Lying on the ground, he looked back at the laser field. Now that they weren't his only hope of survival anymore, the gaps looked a whole lot smaller. I can't believe I actually managed to fit through that... Sonic wouldn't have been able to... He smiled to himself. And that's probably exactly who Robotnik had in mind when he designed it... I guess being a sidekick isn't such a bad thing... The villains are too busy looking out for the hero, they never see the sidekick coming...

A rumble could be heard from somewhere in the base. Probably Robotnik, in a bad mood... I'd better get moving! He got to his feet and made a quick exit. His common sense told him to run away from the ruckus. However, he instead went towards it. It's probably Rouge on her way out... Eventually, he reached the origin of the ruckus to find her in quite a predicament. The room was full of Robotnik's minions. One was much bigger than the rest. It held Rouge in one of its hands. Yikes. Thankfully the robots were all facing the opposite direction and didn't notice him. However, Rouge did. She looked surprised. "TAILS!"

"What?" That was Robotnik's voice, but it came from the big robot. It turned to face him... "Tails!?! But you- how did you escape?" Without waiting for a response, he went on. "Nevermind! You're as good as caught again!"

"TAILS!" Rouge yelled. "CATCH!" With her free arm, she threw the Chaos Emerald over the heads of the metal minions and straight at him. The throw was worthy of the NFL league, just falling short of where he stood. He dove forward and caught the Emerald. Why did she do that? "HEY! TAILS HAS THE CHAOS EMERALD NOW!" she yelled. There was a racket of whirs and clicks as every robot turned around to face him...

"What?"

DVD Commentary: Something seem missing? I think so. I wanted to have some more material during the Search For The Chaos Emerald. Oh well, my current draft is way better than my original, which had NOTHING between "let's find the Emerald" and "we found it!" During my big-ass brainstorm, I formulated pretty much every part of the story except this one. That was over 7 months ago, and I STILL had no idea how this part was gonna play out when I sat down to start this chapter. Needless to say, that's why this one took longer than my others, in addition to me being busy trying not to fail classes (OMG F_______ Capstone), playing Motorstorm, and just being lazy. I'm not satisfied with this chapter, but in the interest of productivity, I'm gonna post what I got and move on, then fill in the blanks later. After all, this isn't a published book (yet); it's a post on a message board that I can change whenever I feel like it.

Actually, I did have a pair of alternate ideas I thought up but couldn't see it fit. In one, Rouge actually did capture Tails and try to exchange him for the Emerald. Naturally, Eggman doesn't hold up his end and all hell breaks loose. Tails then steals the Emerald in the confusion, despite being completely tied up. I liked this idea because I envisioned a scene of Robotnik barking orders, oblivious to Tails slowly rolling across the floor in the background. However, it was a sight gag, so it wouldn't be nearly as funny in written format. This part also wasn't compatible with most of my other ideas. Finally, I just didn't know what else to do with that idea. My other idea was that Tails and Rouge actually stage the exchange, to much the same effect. Same reasons why I dropped it, plus I figured Tails wouldn't go with such a dumb plan (it's Robotnik after all) anyway.

I'm not completely happy (though I guess it's good) with the back-stabbing part either. I always knew Rouge would have to screw Tails over (and it had to occur by this point as well) though I didn't know how. My previous drafts had a metal cage (high-tech, I know!) and another where the lasers actually were a trap that didn't appear until Tails tripped the security. I cut the latter because I felt it kinda dumb to have it be:

"OMG LASERS!"
"Don't worry, I can save you!"
"Okay!"
"...But I'm not gonna, sucker!"

For all the reader knew, she could have just been lying. I had the lasers be circumvented first because it showed that Rouge did in fact have the ability to help him, but chose not to. I also originally had a scene where Tails sloooooowly moves the blade towards the glass, only for the alarm to go off the second he touched it. The dialog remained the same (hence the talk about 'time'.) However, I found it to be an incredibly risky time for a double-cross so I cut the alarm. I'm not thinking too hard about this, am I?

In case I didn't do a good enough job painting a picture (though I think I did well), "ONE" is a cross between "ZERO" and E-123 Omega. He's closer to the latter, as he's the forerunner to that model. I actually was gonna dub him Omnicron, but I decided to bump him further down the line. I then bestowed that name to the other robot because it sounded cooler than, say, Iota or Kappa.

Fun trivia: I have used the phrase "exhibition of my vernacular prowess" in a conversation before.

Aw what the hell, Terg? You totally stole my arm-ripping-off thunder. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you sit on something for a couple months. Coincidentally, Sonic Universe just did the Tails Adventure arc and now they got Rouge being all ruthless and stuff (although I beat them on the Rouge front so there.) Moral: uh, don't sit on stuff or somebody else will do it first?

Man, I couldn't do this NaNoWriMo stuff. I've been doing nothing but 'touching up' this chapter for the last week and a half (at least.) I'd keep doing it, but insanity has set in and my mind is screaming: "JESUS MAN, JUST KICK THIS DAMN THING OUT THE DOOR ALREADY!" See y'all in another month or two.

HEAVY METAL BAKESALE

A half-dozen robots now stared menacingly at Tails. RUN! The exit was directly behind him, but not as close as he'd like. If the 'bots were even remotely decent shots, they'd surely get him before he could escape. So instead he made for the nearest pillar. Moving to the side, he presented a harder target to hit. That proved to be enough to get him to safety.

Okay well now what? They can't get me now... Until they walk around and shoot me from another angle. Hooray. Tails looked at the Chaos Emerald... All that power in the palm of his hand, and yet it did him absolutely no good. With just one Emerald, Sonic would be able to lay utter waste to all of the robots. Heck, he could probably do that without any Emeralds. I wish I could harness the power like Sonic can... I wish he was here... I wish Knuckles was here... I wish... that I'd never had this stupid idea in the first place...

Footsteps could be heard to the left and right. They were flanking him. He peeked out... and jerked right back as a shot hit the pillar about 2 inches from his head. STUPID! He stared upwards, towards the ceiling high above, wondering what he was going to do. Hey...

Robotnik watched as the E-1001's converged on the pillar where Tails was cowering. They moved steadily around the pillar, half the units going one way and the rest the other. However, none fired. Well, what are they just standing around for? A message appeared on the monitor accompanied by a 'ding'. It read, "ERROR: TAILS not found" and offered 2 options: 'retry' or 'cancel'.

"WHAT!?! Oh you can't be THAT stupid! He's right THERE! He certainly didn't go anywhere-" the doctor broke off suddenly as he remembered that his prey could fly. The chamber was so massive that one couldn't even see the ceiling without looking up. An airborne pest could fly unseen above... So where did he go then? The exit was too low to swoop through without being noticed. Tails had to still be in the room. Ivo turned ONE's gaze upwards. Nothing... Then the flying fox darted between pillars. I see you... With a combination of joystick movements and button presses, ONE raised its right arm and the chaingun began to spin in its warm-up cycle... As soon as his quarry emerged from cover, Robotnik squeezed the trigger and held it down.

Ivo aimed just ahead of the fox's path. As a result, he flew into the hailstorm of lead. The doctor swept One's arm along his flightpath. Even from this distance, Ivo could clearly see the bulletholes that appeared all around his target as well as the look of pure terror on Tails' face. It was priceless. The fox suddenly went downward at a sharp angle. At first Robotnik thought that he had been hit, but changed opinions when he swooped back upward before slamming into the floor. The dive had merely been evasive action.

He vanished behind a pillar and didn't reappear out the other side. However, the hiding place proved unsafe as laser fire came from the side. The E-1001's had regained visual contact of their target and resumed shooting. The fox was driven back out into One's sights. Caught in a precarious crossfire, Tails changed altitude, banked, and spun like an F-22 in a desperate attempt to avoid being shot down. Robotnik had no idea how, but he managed to reach the opposite side of the chamber and take cover behind the pillar at the corner. It seemed impossible that not a single bullet or laser had managed to find its target. Now he was out of the line of fire of both ONE and the E-1001's. How hard can it be to kill a fox?

His prey didn't emerge from its latest hiding spot, probably enjoying the respite it provided. Fine by me. Stationary targets are easier than moving ones... Eager for a quick ending, Robotnik opened up the missile compartment on One's torso... "This fox hunt ends now," he announced. Tails poked his head out, apparently aware of the implications of that line. He then did something unexpected: he ran out from cover just as Robotnik let loose a pair of missiles. Positioning himself on the other side of the pillar, it shielded him from the blast. However, it couldn't withstand the explosion and came crumbling down. Tails vanished under stone and smoke...

With ears ringing, Tails felt as much as heard thumps approaching him. Nursing his head, he sat upwards. His eyes immediately fixated on the pair of large metal legs walking towards him. He looked up at the rest of the approaching robot. Too dazed to stand, he attempted to crawl away backwards. Robotnik's voice boomed loudly enough to be heard over the ringing. "Come here, boy..." The robot reached out and picked him up with a hand nearly the size of his entire body. Only his head, feet, and tails protruded out from the ends. The arm held him up in front of the thing's face, where a pair of electronic eyes (and, he imagined, Robotnik's) bored down on him. "I've got you... again. Oh..." He spoke in a pained voice, as if the whole ordeal had caused him anguish. "The only thing worse than a giraffe with a sore throat... is a fox with 2 tails. I underestimated you, Tails. I never would have imagined that you could possibly cause me so much trouble. In order to avoid making that mistake again, I've decided not to take you prisoner anymore... Good-bye."

The meaning of that last sentence became clear as the hand's grip on him suddenly tightened. There was an unsettling cracking noise as his body started to compress... It's gonna crush me oh please I don't wanna die... Screaming, he pushed back with all the strength he had in a futile attempt to hold off death... After a while, he slipped out of his hysteria enough to notice that the crushing pressure being applied was lessening. No... That wasn't it... Quite the opposite in fact; it was INCREASING. And yet, he remained surprisingly uncrushed. It was as if he was actually keeping the hand from closing. But that was impossible. No way was he THAT strong. Then he also became aware of a groaning sound gradually getting louder and louder...

Suddenly, the metal fingers snapped one by one. As a result of this sudden liberation, he dropped to the floor. "WHAT!?!" That was Robotnik, screaming his head off. The juggernaut looked at its mangled hand. The thumb was all that remained intact. The other fingers all dangled uselessly from the wires that still connected them to the hand. "IMPOSSIBLE! How did..." That's what I wanna know... Either he possessed previously undiscovered superpowers, or... Was it... the power of the Emerald? A horrendous scream barely recognizable as the Doctor's voice brought him back into his current reality. He had totally lost it.

The robot leveled its right arm at him and the chaingun started spinning... Tails rolled forward, under the arm and right up to his attacker before the shooting started. Close enough that they were practically touching, the giant was unable to shoot at him. He jumped and grabbed onto the arm, safely behind the weapon. At least, safe from the gun. The arm jerked up, down, left, right, and every possible combination thereof in an attempt to throw him off. He wrapped his arms and legs around the limb to prevent such a fate.

An actual plan would be beneficial right about now... Right in front of him was the chaingun. It was fed by a belt of ammo running out of an opening in the arm next to it... No ammo, no danger... As soon as the arm stopped swinging around enough, he released his grip and grabbed the ammo belt instead. The belt tore easily. The arm swung again just then, sending him sailing through the air. As he rolled on the floor, the chaingun thundered... and stopped almost immediately. Apparently he'd left it just a small strip of ammo.

Speaking of which, he noticed that he had held onto the belt during his flight and pulled out a long length of it. As a result of his rolling, the belt had wrapped once around his torso. Another idea formed... He charged forward and between the juggernaut's legs. He did a circuit around its legs, leaving behind a crisscrossing network of belt behind him. The beast attempted to move one of its legs... He held onto his end... The belt pulled taut... And the thing fell flat onto its face.

"Ow!"

He recognized the voice as Rouge's. "Sorry." The moment of triumph was cut short upon remembering that there were little robots too. They approached with weapons raised, ready to fire now that the big one wasn't in the way. He crouched... A laser blast came from the nearest one and went over his left shoulder. His tails began to spin... Then he shot towards the nearest 'bot, slamming into it like a bat out of hell. It was knocked over with such force that it skidded several feet across the floor from where it had stood. Perched upon the fallen drone, he suddenly realized that they also happened to end up in the middle of the group just as 5 guns were trained on him...

He jumped off the 'bot and to the side just in time to avoid the deadly salvo. The lasers perforated the downed 'bot. Against several opponents with firearms in an open area, his odds were not good. He beat a hasty retreat back to the pillars. Something stung him on the left arm... It was painful, but not crippling enough to prevent him from reaching cover. Tails surveyed his arm. A small line of fur was burned, but the skin appeared unbroken. Did a shot graze him, or did it just barely miss, passing close enough to burn him? Either way, he had been lucky. Whew... Not gonna try that again... I'm not Sonic... I don't have his speed... I gotta be more careful...

Rouge pulled at the giant fingers with all her might, but they budged not an inch. Come on! If that kid could break it, so can I! However, that logic didn't hold true because her efforts failed to free herself. "Hey!" she yelled. "How'd you do yours?"

Tails slipped the Emerald into his shoe for safekeeping. It was time for a repeat of his earlier trick... He flew straight up towards the ceiling and waited. Sure enough, his attackers crept around the pillar, focused on his last last known location. None had the notion to look up. 'Artificial' Intelligence indeed.

This time he didn't sneak away. Instead he attacked, swooping down on one of the unsuspecting 'bots and delivering a punch to the top of its head as hard as he could. OOOOWWWW! Chaos-powered or not, punching titanium HURT. However, the recipient of the blow came out much worse; the head was driven down between the shoulders. The aching hand provided enough of a distraction to give the next 'bot time to raise its weapon... He recovered in time to kick the weapon out of the 'bot's hand with enough force to knock it off balance as well. However, it surprised him by swinging its arm as it turned back, delivering a backhanded punch.

The force of the hit spun him around at least twice, although Tails thought it was closer to 5. He managed to regain his footing enough to literally stumble right into another 'bot. Too close to bring its weapon to bear, it instead picked him up by the scruff as if he was just a stuffed animal. It felt like his skin was going to rip right off. Grabbing the arm, he pulled himself up to reduce the strain. Now with enough space, the drone raised its weapon... The barrel was an inch from his face... "Whoa!" He managed to grab the other arm and push it away just before it fired. With both arms occupied, he planted his feet against the robot's chest and kicked. The left arm popped out of its socket, followed by the right.

He landed right on his rear. He released the metallic arms, although the one grabbing at his scruff remained clenched tight. The armless robot looked at each of its empty sockets, then stood still. "Error," it simply announced. Slipping behind another pillar, Tails reached back and pried the fingers loose on the disembodied hand. He was about to fling it away when an idea occurred to him...

As he took flight again, he bent back the thumb, middle, and ring fingers. The automated minions STILL hadn't realized that he could fly. Weaving in and out of the pillars, he snuck behind one of them. They just never learn do they? He tapped on its shoulder with the metallic index finger. It turned... "Rock on." He thrust the arm into the 'bot's face, the extended fingers punching through its optical receptors. It went into a series of shudders as internal circuitry shorted out before falling forward. 2 left...

Flying high, he dropped suddenly on top of another unit, landing on its shoulders. The idea had been to grab the head under the chin and rip it off. However, the plan failed on account of the robots having no chins. Or any gap under the head to reach into. Hmmm... The 'bot awkwardly bent its arms in order to shoot backwards over its head. Tails knocked the weapon right out of its grasp. The 'bot retaliated by reaching out and grabbing ahold of his wrists... Uh oh...

The robot brought its arms down, pulling him off and slamming him hard into the floor. It did not let go. Instead, it turned quickly, swinging him around in the air with centripetal force. A child might have enjoyed the ride, until it ended with a bone-crushing slam into the nearest wall. Another swing followed, this time into a pillar. Robotnik's creations apparently weren't too particular on how they fought. I'm dying hard with a vengeance! With his back to the floor, he was in no position to fight back.

To rectify that, he took hold of the 'bot's wrists and pulled while using his feet to get upright. He managed to twist 180° so that he faced his opponent, also getting its arms crossed up in the process. Now in a position of some power, he tried swinging his opponent instead, only succeeding in pulling it off balance. Since it weighed a couple tons more than him, he was pulled along for the ride. They stumbled and twirled like intoxicated dancing partners. Still holding onto each other, Tails vaulted over his attacker with a flip. As he came back down, the 'bot was pulled off its feet and flipped over him as well. Tails landed on his feet. The robot landed on its head with a crunching sound of finality.

The last robot stepped into view in front of Tails. With a war cry, he fired up his namesake and rocketed forward into the foe. The robot was knocked off its feet and taken on a flight across the room into the wall. The wall was smashed inward from the impact. The 'bot, however, was crushed between the opposing forces. The resulting wreckage was embedded into the stone like a fossil.

Tails took a step back... and went stumbling wildly before falling. His entire body ached. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken. Whew... I think I'll just take a breather now... However, charging footsteps interrupted his rest. What? The armless robot was running straight for him. He rolled out of the way. It stopped, turned, and immediately charged again. A simple sidestep was enough to avoid the attack. What, is it gonna trample me to death? Taking position in front of a pillar, he awaited the next charge. Sure enough, the 'bot didn't think twice about it. The fox simply stepped out of the way as the mindless machine ran straight into the column. This is just sad... The 'bot appeared dazed (or its computer equivalent) from the impact. With a single finger, Tails pushed the thing over. It thrashed around on the ground, unable to stand back up.

All of the Doctor's automatons had fallen. However, the big one had gotten back up at some point. Aw man... A panel opened on the thing's torso to reveal a payload of missiles... Aw crap! He dove forward as they streaked over his head... The room rocked from the string of explosions and the avalanche of stone as several arches came crashing down. The door was destroyed in the barrage as well. Harsh sunlight poured in. It occurred to him that he could simply escape, but something compelled him to remain.

He got back to his feet and started running at the machination when it held out its left arm, with captive still in grasp. "STOP!" Robotnik commanded with barely-restrained desperation. "Not another step or the prisoner gets it!" Tails had the urge to laugh at the Doctor's choice of hostage. But he refrained. As much as Rouge had coming to her, a voice somewhere deep within said that death wasn't it. "Now," Robotnik continued, "lay down the Emerald and back off!"

No way, Eggman... He didn't say that aloud, lest something drastic happen. He couldn't just leave Rouge to the madman's nonexistent mercy, but he couldn't give up the Emerald either. Villains rarely, if ever, held up their end of such bargains. But what else could be done? It would be impossible to cover the sizable distance between them, let alone attack, before Robotnik could make good on his threat, and he most certainly would. Last time, the Doctor had tried to nuke an entire city. One life would mean nothing to him. Not even Sonic could move fast enough. Nothing could, except maybe...

Ivo had been completely dumbstruck by the ease with which Tails defeated his minions. He had never thought the little cub was capable of such destruction. How could he be so strong? He gasped. Of course! The Chaos Emerald! No! But that means HE can do it too? By now, every single E-1001 unit was destroyed or incapacitated. Realizing this, he snapped out of his funk and prepared to attack. The fox was unaware of ONE's continued functioning for the moment, giving him a chance for a surprise attack. Or a cheap shot, either one was good. Any notion of judicious use of weaponry was abandoned as he fired the entire remaining loadout of missiles. The explosions were spectacular... and yet completely failed at incinerating his enemy. NO!

As Tails prepared to counterattack, Robotnik made the only move he had left. Holding his captive in front of ONE, he bellowed, "STOP! Not another step or the prisoner gets it!" Tails stopped in his tracks. Thankfully, his adversary's compassion for the preservation of life held him in check. Naturally, he's one of the good guys... Good... I get him to give up the Emerald, then I'll crush him easily... "Now, lay down the Emerald and back off!" The fox scowled but couldn't do much more than that. "Surrender the Emerald to me or batgirl dies!"

Finally, Tails took out the Emerald and held it up for display. He moved forward slowly... Stopping by one of the fallen E-1001's, he raised his foot and stomped on its arm. The arm bent, sending the weapon that had been clutched in its grasp flying upwards, where he caught it. The small fox leveled the weapon at ONE. "YOU let her go or I'll break your last toy!"

Robotnik swallowed hard. After a moment, he managed to regain his composure. The weapon was woefully inadequate to inflict any significant damage on ONE. He laughed. "You think THAT puny thing is going to take this down? It MIGHT be able scratch the paintjob! Go ahead and take your best shot!"

A beat. "Okay." The fox raised the weapon and closed one eye... Despite himself, the doctor found his chest tightening up. Suddenly, the feed was replaced by a screen of static... What!?! How!?! Why!?! Robotnik screamed.

This day just can't get any worse... A simple heist had turned into a sequence of horrors. The latest episode of this show: after being captured by Dr. Robotnik, Rouge was now being held ransom to the one who had screwed up her plan and started this whole mess in the first place. Oh, and she had stabbed him in the back maybe 15 minutes ago. However, Tails glanced at her with an expression that appeared to be concern. The doctor restated his ultimatum. "Surrender the Emerald to me or batgirl dies!"

Then it looked like he was going to hand over the gem. But with some fancy footwork, he suddenly procured a firearm. It was such an incongruous sight, this adorable little creature doing his best imitation of a panel from a Scud comic. Flashy, but pointless. Robotnik on the other hand, was amused, even daring Tails to fire.

He did. The giant robot shook violently. She looked to see a hole where the thing's left eye used to be. It was an incredibly nice shot! Tails tossed the gun away over his shoulder, ran forward, and jumped at the giant robot. It went crashing down to the ground again. Rouge cried out from the rough landing. "Sorry about that," he apologized halfheartedly. The beast had ceased all movement. Apparently the shot had totaled it.

"Now where did you learn to do that?"

"Virtua Cop 1, 2, and 3." The kid was beaming. Rouge attempted once more to extricate herself from the oversized hand to no avail. Tails grabbed the thumb and pulled it back easily. He did the same to the rest of them. "Are you okay?" he asked, offering his hand to her. She had no intention of accepting it.

"I think-" As she spoke, she waved an arm in front of her, which Tails grabbed by the wrist and pulled, yanking her to her feet. Unprepared to stand, her legs nearly collapsed under her. "Hey! Don't you to-"

He cut her off. "I think we should go now! You ready?" The sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. Reinforcements were coming.

"Well I-"

"Let's go," he said even as he shot off, taking her along for the ride. They blasted out of the pyramid base and into the harsh world of the desert. Rouge flailed wildly behind him as if she'd fallen while water-skiing and was being dragged behind the boat. Eventually, she managed to put her wings to use and fly alongside Tails. Although much better, she was still being pulled along at breakneck speed.

She took a good hard second look at the young fox. Suddenly his status of being a hero didn't seem so hard to believe. He had just single-handedly taken out several of the Doctor's creations. Well, what now? She didn't know where she stood with him at the moment. She figured that she probably wasn't getting the Emerald anymore though. The betrayal earlier probably voided that agreement. With no idea what else to do, she decided to just wait and see what happened. Not that she had much choice; her odds of escaping him didn't seem good. Neither said anything for at least 10 minutes. Finally, she broke the silence. "So... Where are we going?"

Tails turned and answered with much uncertainty, "Um... Back to the city?"

Rouge pointed and said, "The city's that way." 'That way' was approximately a 150° to the left of the direction they were currently heading.

"Oh..." He pulled a sharp turn and changed course...

DVD Commentary: I have a couple liberties I would take with source material. Being a logical kind of guy, I always wonder where the Sonic Team carries the Emeralds. They don't have any pockets, and the Emeralds are the size of a fist. Of course, I figure it's silly to worry about such things in a franchise with tails used as helicopter blades, spontaneous hammers, and hedgehogs with telekinesis, but I can't help myself. My idea was that there's just one Emerald, but it divides into 7 smaller shards. However, I realized that an emerald is simply an element. It doesn't have to be a perfectly-formed piece of jewelry; a chunk broken off the wall of a mine would also technically be an emerald. So since I can still call them Emeralds, this makes absolutely NO difference to the story. Bullet dodged! Well, there's the part about emeralds being green, but that's SEGA's doing, not mine.

Oh yeah, OMG Tails used a gun! I actually thought hard about the whole 'innocence of the Sonic property' and all that stuff. Admittedly, the scene probably exists solely for the Virtua Cop crack. I couldn't take that out. Besides, I'd have to think up something else to replace it.

One thing I learned: narrating an action sequence is HARD. You think of a cool sequence in your head. You know what you see. Then you try to describe it so other people see it and it reads tediously. Then you go back to work and wish you were making a movie instead. I must have said "'bot" on my rough draft like 70 times.

And is it centripetal or centrifugal? One goes outward, one goes inward...

Or 6, it really doesn't matter. Nope, still thinking about Virtua Cops. But not as much. By the way, the fact that I namedropped it in the previous chapter was a complete coincidence, although I got to thinking shortly afterwards. I got a bit more ambitious with this one, but I'm not satisfied with my rank amateur writing. However, as Aristotle once said, "There comes a time when a man has to say, 'F___ it, good enough.'" For now at least. Productivity, people. I'm frickin' sick of working on this chapter.

More liberties abound! (well one at least)

SWEET DREAMS

Tails landed on the first roof he reached once back at the city limits. He released Rouge and took up a position leaning against an AC unit. "Okay... let's... just... take five..." he said between breaths. He ran a hand through the sweat-soaked fur on his head. The 3 perpetually erect spikes of hair on his forehead had become plastered down. The adrenaline in his blood had thinned out about a half hour ago, and the energy expended had taken its toll. Flying the equivalent of a marathon in the desert didn't help. Now he was bent over, hands on knees, panting with tongue hanging out. After a minute or two, he was able to assume a straight posture again. He eyed the Chaos Emerald that was still in the palm of his hand. "I did it... I was able to use it..."

"Use what?" Rouge asked.

Oh yeah, she was right there. There was a pang of embarrassment at being heard talking to himself, something he indulged in often. He had no idea why others thought it so strange. Sometimes I learn new things that way... "The Emerald," he replied as if it was obvious. Her expression suggested that it was not. "Or rather, its power?" That wasn't actually a question; he was looking for some confirmation of this knowledge. That's a good one... Somebody wanting the Emeralds for their shininess, not for conquering the world... If only all bad guys had such low aspirations... He couldn't resist making a jab. "Seriously? You want this thing so bad, but you don't even know anything about it?"

Rouge bristled at that comment. "As a matter of fact, I do. Yeah, I've heard the legends... Unlimited power, granting wishes, all that stuff. I just didn't believe it..."

"Well, I don't know about all that." Granting wishes? That's a bit out there... But I've handled the Emeralds before and never was able to do anything with them. Perhaps the mind does have something to do with it... 'Before you can do, you have to believe' kind of thing... Cheesy, but just might actually...

His train of thought was derailed by Rouge's voice. "Hey, why did you save me?" She stopped there, leaving out the unspoken part of "you know, after what I did."

It took a few seconds to answer that. It was a serious question that asked for a serious answer, but flippancy won out. He shrugged and replied, "No special reason. I just figured it would be decidedly unheroical of me not to."

Rouge just looked at him as if he'd grown another head to complement all his other limbs. Then she turned away. She seemed to be thinking hard, uncertain. "Thank you, Tails."

He had trouble processing that sentence. It had in fact come from Rouge. Her tone and face were dead serious. Feeling a touch uncomfortable, he broke eye contact and put up his hand as if to stop off any further awkwardness. "Uh... I... It was nothing..." Rouge clasped her hands over his outstretched one... She dropped to one knee beside him, bringing them both at eye level... Whoa.

"You're just being modest."

His brain completely failed at assembling a decent response. "It was nothing," he repeated stupidly. Having fur covering his entire face helped conceal the fact that it was crimson red at this point. Not that it wasn't incredibly obvious anyway. He couldn't even look in her direction.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Very," he squeaked.

"Aw, you're so cute..." A hand gently grabbed under his chin and turned his head back towards her face, only inches apart... "Don't be nervous... I don't bite..." If that was meant to be calming, it failed. Instead it brought forth knowledge of bat behavior filed away in the Random Stuff I Know That Isn't Used Very Often section of his brain. He suddenly focused on her long fangs... Wait... Don't some kinds suck blood? He was busy imagining a dozen teeth in his jugular when lips made contact...

WHOA! His eyes went wide... His tails swished about wildly... His heart pounded... It felt like it was changing from its anatomically correct shape into the international symbol of love... And then came the sensation of the ground going out from underneath him. Next thing he knew, he was lying face-down with Rouge kneeling on top of him and his right arm bent behind his back. With a sharp painful twist, Tails released his grip on the Emerald, which was quickly plucked from his hand. "What?"

"Just stay still," was the response.

Nuts to that! "HHHYYYUUURRRGGGHHH!" He vocalized his efforts to free himself from his current situation. No good. Rouge now had both arms held behind his back. Apart from their size difference, he couldn't get any leverage.

"Quit squirming!"

He ceased his efforts, knowing it was futile to try. He was almost used to this situation by now. "You know, you're pretty heavy."

"Shut up," she snapped. She pinned his arms down, freeing up her hands, which she now used to grab his tails. "Oh wow... What happened to your tail?"

"You remember that laser cage? Yeah..."

"Wow. Does it hurt?" She answered her own question by grabbing the appendage by the burnt tip, eliciting a yelp from the fox.

"Yeah," he said through gritted teeth, "it's still a bit tender."

"Okay, if you behave, I'll make this hurt as little as possible..." Oh gee thanks... Before he could say anything out loud, she went back to work, sending shots of pain down the damaged body part. It eventually tapered off. "Almost done." Her weight lifted from his body, then crashed back on top. Rouge had shifted to a sitting position. Now she went to work on his legs. "All done." She rose, brushing her hands. He could feel that all his limbs were now bound. "Now STAY," she commanded mockingly. Knowing it was a wasted effort, he didn't even attempt to move, sparing himself the indignity (some of it at least) of flopping around helplessly in front of his captor. "Good boy." She knelt down and patted him on the head. "I'm sorry Tails... We've had some fun together, but let's face it, our relationship was strictly business."

She was really enjoying this. Tails was bright red again, this time with rage rather than embarrassment. Or perhaps both. However, when he spoke, nonchalance came out rather than bile and death threats. "But you're a thief, and I'm a fox," he said, repeating her earlier comment. "We both fly..." He was surprised by his cavalier answer.

"Oh, that's all just shallow stuff."

"Well, you seem like a shallow kind of person."

"Ouch. I'm deeper than you think..." She added, "Not much though," in a soft voice. "You see, you're a REALLY nice guy and all Tails, but I'm... well, not. I just don't think we're mutually compatible."

"It's someone else, isn't it?" he asked in a devastated voice. Where is all this coming from? Sonic was always the one with the witty banter. I guess it's rubbed off on me...

Rouge laughed. "Yeah... Me. Oh, I almost forgot..." She moved in and grabbed his right arm again. Her fingers felt along it until finding the Chaos Spectrometer. It was quickly removed. "I'll take this too."

"Hey!"

She looked over the device, ignoring him. Holding it against her wrist, she frowned in disapproval. "Ugh. It's tacky, but could come in handy for completing the set." She put it in into one of her pouches. "Well Tails, I guess this is goodbye."

"I'll catch you later," he replied dryly.

This got another laugh. "I doubt it." The thief walked to the edge of the rooftop. She shot a final smiling glance over the shoulder, spread her wings, and took flight. Tails watched until she vanished from sight, noting that she headed due northwest. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"Well, I guess it's true after all... Evil always triumphs, because good... is dumb." He rolled onto his side to take stock of his bonds. His shoelaces had been tied together. A double-knotter... Diabolical... He strained to look over his shoulder to check his arms and tails. Oh she didn't... No... She DID... Rouge had tied his hands WITH his tails. He didn't even know that was physically possible. "Oh... that... B____!" He struggled to escape his bonds to no success. After five minutes defeat was admitted. It seemed he would need some help on this one. He was NOT looking forward to that. There wasn't much chance of getting any help on the rooftop.

Returning onto his back, he rocked forward, putting his weight onto his feet, and stood up. He walked, or rather, shuffled, to one of the edges of the roof. The slack in the shoelaces only allowed for a few inches of movement so progress was slow. He looked down to see an 8 story fall. Nope. He shuffled to another. Nope. On the next edge was a way down: a fire escape. He could only be thankful that he hadn't landed on a skyscraper downtown. He dropped onto the walkway. Now he stood at the top of a flight of stairs leading to the next level.

He carefully put forth one foot... It reached the end of its leash before touching the step. Great... He took a breath, then hopped with both feet together onto the step. Another hop, and another... There were ten steps in all. If he fell, he'd be unable to stop or protect himself in any way. Fortunately he managed to avoid breaking his neck. One down, seven to go. This is so embarrassing... I think I'll leave this part out of the story when I tell Sonic... If I can keep him from learning about it... I wonder if he ever had days like this? Four more to go. I'd like to fly, but my wings have been so denied...

The bottom level of the fire escape lacked a staircase. Instead it had a retractable ladder for access to the ground. Tails was unable to lower it or climb it in his current condition. The only other way off the fire escape was to go over the railing and drop one story. Which would be an easy feat... if I wasn't tied up... Okay... I can do this... If there was anything he could match Sonic in, it was acrobatic maneuvers.Well, that and being awesome... He took another breath... Here goes... Despite his restraints, he managed to jump cleanly over the railing. Of course, that was the easy part; the hard part was not totally biting it on the landing. He touched down on his feet, but momentum carried him forward... His right foot moved ahead of the left, only to be held back... His upper body continued onward ahead of his feet, sending him on a journey towards the ground face-first... Unable to do anything else, he turned his head to spare his nose from the impact as his head crashed against the pavement. "Ow," he said weakly as everything went dark...

The next thing he knew, he was suspended high above the ground in a dark place. A cable wound around him several times and countless spikes jabbed at his back. Footsteps. He turned in the direction the noise came from, but all he could see was a pair of red lights bobbing in the darkness, getting closer. Eventually the approaching entity came into the light enough to see. The figure's physical features were familiar to Tails. He'd recognize that figure as Sonic anywhere. Except... Sonic was right behind him, tied up as well. Apart from the glowing red eyes, the figure's body had a slight shine to it that couldn't have been possible on fur. A robotic simulacrum. Metal Sonic...

From somewhere else in the darkness a motor fired up. Tails turned and was just able to make make out another frighteningly familiar figure fly into view directly towards them. It grabbed the cable, making it swing back and forth. This figure was his height and size, had a yellow and white paintjob, and sported some sort of propeller where its tails would have been. So basically, it looked exactly like him. Metal... Tails?

The robotic fox shifted position so that the spinning propellers made contact with the cable. It severed, sending Sonic and Tails plummeting to the floor in a heap. Metal Tails dropped down and landed much more gracefully. Sonic cried out as his metallic double grabbed a handful of spiky quills and pulled, yanking him to his feet. It released him, only to swing out with its other arm and deliver a clothesline that sent him flying. But Sonic's well-being had to take a backseat as a hand grabbed Tails by the scruff of his neck and lifted him off the ground before letting go. Somehow he managed to land on his feet, barely. He was slightly behind his robotic counterpart, however it continued staring straight ahead, even as it moved its arm forward, then drove an elbow back into his face.

He hit the floor and slid for a few seconds. He sat up, nursing his snout. Across the room, both Sonics were locked together tumbling across the room. Metal Tails finally turned around. Here we go... He ran, tails spinning behind him, before taking flight straight at his opponent. Rotating 180°, he came at his target foot-first. It simply caught the outstretched leg and completely halted his forward movement, leaving him hovering awkwardly in place.

He kicked out with his other foot, connecting with the head. Apparently it didn't see that one coming. The kick didn't do anything but turn the head about 40°. He attempted another kick but this time it was caught too. The head swiveled back to its previous position... The eyes focused on him... Here it comes... He was slammed into the floor so hard that he bounced. I sure hope Sonic's doing better than me...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sonic went flying across his field of vision. Well, that's slightly better... Footsteps were coming up behind him. He rolled to the side as a hand grabbed the air where he had just been. Keeping the hand in a fist, Metal Tails swung it in a downward smash. He rolled backwards and onto his feet as the fist drove itself into the floor. Without missing a beat, it pulled the arm out of the floor and reared it back... A quick jump backward avoided the punch.

The robot simply tried again and again, single-mindedly pursuing its programming. Fortunately, although the metal skin was invulnerable to any physical attack he could muster, it was also really bulky. Lacking his agility, the doppleganger was unable to keep up with him. If I can just keep this up until he rusts... A right hook, a left jab, a right one, another left jab, a right hook, a backhander with the right, a left jab accompanied by a rocket-induced forward lunge... That last one caught him out. His body folded around the fist as it buried itself in his stomach before flying backward. He was barely able to stand back up.

The fighters stared each other down. Then the metallic fox's propeller blades began spinning. Rockets on the underside of the feet fired, enabling liftoff. Hovering in place, it rotated forward until it was parallel to the ground, then shot forward. It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen if any body parts happened to come into contact with those spinning blades... Tails dove to the side at the last possible moment... He was certain he felt something nick his shoe... Aw no fair... MY tails aren't razor sharp titanium... He took to the air as well, but his opponent had pulled a sharp turn and was coming back for another try. It would overtake him before he'd get up to speed. He simply stopped his tails and let himself drop out of the way. Sure enough, it banked around for a third try. It seemed that his double had no problem rivaling him in the air. He prepared to make his move...

"HEADS UP!" A blue blur shot into view. Or rather, two blue blurs locked together to form one: Sonic and Metal Sonic. The indestructible objects slammed into each other. Something had to give, and the result wasn't pretty. Metal Tails, now sans tails, spiraled out of control and ricocheted off the floor several times before the rockets cut off. However, the rotor blades did serious damage before breaking off. The metal hedgehog spasmed as sparks poured out of an elbow where the rest of an arm should have been as well as a huge gash going halfway through the torso. Suddenly scooped up off his feet, he found himself in Sonic's arms, who looked about as bad as he felt. "Let's get out of here!"

He didn't care to argue with that. Over Sonic's shoulder, he saw his metal double standing back up. It simply stared back... He looked away, towards where they heading. A door loomed ahead. A red light was above it as if to designate it as an exit. The blue hedgehog kicked the handle up, then charged the door with his shoulder. Perhaps there was a reason the door wasn't marked 'exit'. As it turned out, they had been on some sort of aircraft. Now they were fee-falling through blue sky and white clouds. After several seconds of sheer terror, Tails regained his presence of mind. Grabbing hold of one of Sonic's wrists, he fired up his namesakes. Their descent slowed, until eventually they were hovering in place. "I got ya man."

Sonic smiled back for a moment before his expression abruptly went back to horror. He pointed with his free hand and yelled, "LOOK OUT!" There was no time to look before something slammed into him from above. The impact sent him spinning... His grip on Sonic broke free... A hand grabbed his throat, stopping the spinning, and nearly his breathing too. When the shock wore off, he realized he was looking into the red eyes of Metal Tails... With its jets still firing, they were going straight down at several times terminal velocity... He spun his tails as hard as he could but that didn't seem to slow them one bit. The ground below was rushing up to meet them...

Then Tails awoke to utter confusion. What happened? Where am I? Why am I on the ground? Why does my head hurt? Why can't I move? The answers came flooding back. Oh yeah... In order- Question #1: a lot; Question #2: some alleyway; Question #3: I smashed my head and got knocked out; Question #4: ditto; Question #5: I am totally tied up.

He suddenly had the feeling he was being watched. A quick look around found the source of the feeling: a pair of blue eyes belonging to a labrador retriever. Although properly classified as a yellow coat, it was so light a cream that it was practically white. It was looking at him with curiosity. "Hey boy," he called out. It cocked its head at an angle. No doubt it was confused by the anthropomorphic but vulpine figure before it.

Hmmm... I'm a fox, but we're both canines here... Perhaps... He let out a quick bark. The dog did another head cocking. Tails repeated his bark. The creature took a couple steps forward but stopped, obviously wary. He thought he could detect a certain grace to the animal's movement that was exclusive to the fairer sex. So it wasn't a boy but... A girl! Curses! MY ONE WEAKNESS! Ah whatever. It occurred to him that they were also known by the terminology that he applied to Rouge just a while ago. He took back the exclamation, judging it unfair to the members of this species.

Next, he let out a series of yips and yaps. The creature backed up, clearly alarmed. Uh oh. Did I say something wrong? Or maybe I was too overbearing... It hovered in front of him like a butterfly about to dart away... Think quickly! Perhaps I can appeal to her maternal instincts... PUPPY POWER! He glazed his eyes over and assumed a sad face. And now to abandon all sense of shame... Then he whined. This convinced her that he posed no threat to her. YES!

The creature came in close... And walked past his face to his hind quarters. Tails did a quick eyeroll. "Hey, how ya doin'?" Man, are we really part of the same family? After this introduction was over, it turned back towards him. He tried another series of yips and yaps. It grabbed one of his tails. Despite the sharp teeth, she managed to hold it gently. A pull, and the knot came undone. "All right!" He rose into a sitting position and scratched his savior behind the ears vigorously. "Thanks! You're an angel! Now let's keep this little episode between you and me, okay?"

Well, what now? Rouge is gone, and she's got both the Chaos Emerald and the Chaos Spectrometer. I guess I'll just go home then... He walked to the train station. The trip would take at least an hour. He could get there faster by flying himself, but a little downtime would be nice. Nobody asked for a ticket as he boarded, which he didn't have. Just one of the perks of being a hero. He threw himself onto a bench seat, taking up several spaces in a rather uncharacteristic display of inconsideration for other passengers. Not that the train was anywhere near full at this hour. Inspired by his earlier dream, his thoughts drifted towards meeting up with Sonic...

Just what was he? He had the general appearance of a fox. However, for each similarity, there was a dissimilarity. Where other foxes walked on four legs, he walked upon only two. In fact, he only had two legs. He possessed a pair of arms in place of a second set of legs. Also on that subject, he had an extra tail. He could speak in a foreign language that the rest of his kind couldn't even imitate. These traits were common to another species known as humans. But then he was just as different from them as he was from the foxes.

Then he discovered someone else like him. Well, in a manner of speaking at least. As far as appearances were concerned, they were almost nothing alike. Blue fur, spiky quills, and, not to forget details, also amazingly fast. But they were the same nonetheless: one-of-a-kind creatures whose design resembled no other. Just what was he? Tails was going to find out.

That wasn't easy. As said before, the blue one could run at incredible speed, much faster than he could possibly go. And it loved to run. During its more leisurely jogs, he was just barely able to keep his target in sight. However, at some point the mysterious creature would always turn on the speed and leave him far behind. But he didn't give up. He was determined to catch up with that creature no matter how long it took.

During one of those slower sessions, the blur took a trip through a forest obstacle course. It jumped and sidestepped trees, rocks, and creekbeds with grace. But for once, Tails actually had the speed advantage. Simply flying over everything, he was able to take a straight path unhindered by friction, and gained on his target. Just when he was nearly within arm's reach, the creature looked back over the shoulder at him... Then went tumbling end over end for several seconds before slamming into a tree. Tails landed next to the fallen creature. Considering the speed, he figured the runner could easily be dead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." He sat upwards, wincing in pain. "I should really watch where I'm going." They were both silent for a minute. Tails had no idea what to say next, considering he was indirectly responsible for the spill. "You're pretty fast."

THAT was the absolute last thing he expected to hear. Not that he had actually thought that far ahead, but if he had made a list, that would have been right at the bottom. "What? Nowhere near as fast as you."

"Well yeah, nothing is." He smiled, a big dumb grin that was his hallmark. "But you did a good job keeping up. I've never seen anybody able to run with..." A confused expression came over his face. "But... uh... you..."

The stranger had tripped up just after 'run', as he had been flying, not running. THAT was a real conversation starter. "Yep," he replied. How to explain? He didn't know himself. Well sure, he spun his tails like a propeller, duh. He knew how he could fly, but not why. Perhaps that's what made him a mythical creature. So he simply demonstrated by hovering in place.

This was met with a blank expression. "Okay."

With the ice broken, he went and dropped the bombshell. It was a typical question in human conversation, but here it may as well been the million dollar question. "What's your name?"

The blue blur was even more confused than a moment ago. "My name?"

"You know, what others call you."

"Uh..." He scratched his head, obviously thinking very hard about this. Finally he gave up. "I don't know... Why, what's yours?"

Now it was Tails' turn to be stumped. Oh wait... "Uh... Actually... I don't have a name either..."

"You don't have one either?" he asked incredulously. Then he seemed to remember not having a clue what 'one' was a moment ago. "Is it really that important?"

"Well, it's either that or we call each other 'you'," Tails explained.

"Huh... I guess we'll just have to come up with something then..." he replied as if this made perfect sense.

DVD Commentary: Sadly enough, pretty much everything in this chapter save for the dreams (only the most important part, seeing as how they're the basis for the title, yo) was already written when I posted my last chap. I just started my rough draft of the last one and soon realized "Holy crap, this thing is already TWICE as long as any previous chapter," and in fact, there's still a bit I left for the NEXT chapter too. And it still took me half a year! I totally suck.

OMG interspecies kiss! I'm really jumping in with both feet here. Am I a furry now? Originally, Rouge was 50% more seductive, but then I started feeling dirty. Is there an homage to Sonic X here? Perhaps. It wasn't intentional, but seeing as how that episode led to all this, maybe it was some sort of unconscious homage.

OMG liberty! The second dream part is actually taken from another idea I had a long time ago (which sadly isn't as long as I'd like to think.) Which sucked horribly. Seriously. Let's just say I beat Shadow to the punch. However, I did like my imagining (the dialog at least; circumstances were totally different) of the pairing and naming. I never did like the name Miles Prower. As far as I'm concerned, his name is Tails. That's it. On that subject, the whole Metal Tails thing was another of my 100 ideas that just have no home so I figured why not.

Were this a more visual artform, I'd have subtitles during the barking part. Somehow, many ridiculously elaborate sentences would be formed by identical single barks. Then again, I also kinda liked trying to create a dog code.

I totally understand Tails' plight. I got the idea from an incident where my brother mummy-wrapped me from neck to ankles in a quilt and I escaped by hopping down a flight of 15 stairs while he was in the bathroom. (He was a good brother otherwise.) In retrospect, I don't know how I had the balls to do it. Or how I didn't kill myself.

Well, hopefully it won't take me another half-year to update. Not sure which story I'll return to next. My next post may have cuddliness. It may have carnage. Maybe it will have cuddly carnage. Who knows?