It was amazing how much time passed since Tails saw this place. What once was a tremendous, elaborate scientific base, succumbed to nothing but ruins. Even though Eggman was a bad person, the fox took time to appreciate his scientific genius. For as long as they can remember, Sonic and Tails were carried away with the new schemes Eggman had rolled up his sleeve. This time was certainly no different. The heroic duo found themselves standing before one of Eggman's earliest bases. Knowing full well what could await them once inside, Tails had brought along some heavy duty work. Large mechanical legs clamped their way towards the massive doorway.
The yellow fox sat comfortably on top, his plane in its battle mode. Miles was tremendously proud of the tornado, tweaking and adding to it in ways he never could’ve imagined. It was handy and ready for action, and on top of that he wouldn’t want Sonic constantly worrying about him, Bringing it along was his best option. The large door was closed, but with a bit of tinkering he'd be able to open that sucker up no problem! The fox pulled out from under his seat a small device that projected a mini virtual screen. Pressing certain combos on the virtual keys, he chuckled a bit and turned his gaze toward Sonic.
“Now I know we're not sure whats inside waiting for us, but even then I feel we still have the upper hand, don't we?” He smiled at his older brotherly figure, confident they'd have no issues traveling through the base to meet their set goal.
Sonic looked at tails, grinning and closing his eyes as he raised up his hand, giving him a thumbs up. “Of course buddy! We always have the upperhand as long as I'm here.” Sonic boastfully straightened his posture, huffing out his chest in pride. To think that Tails was even worried about anything going wrong-- considering all the times he’d beaten Egghead regardless of anything in their path. True there were times when he was glad his friends had helped him, as without them chances would have seemed slim, but he was almost certian there wasn't anything that could pose a genuine threat from Eggman.
Sonic watched idly over Tails doing his work, the sound of his foot tapping on metal echoing rather loudly as they stood at the entrance platform.
"... Hey Tails, ya done yet?"
The echoing taps caused the foxes' right ear to twitch, working at a continuous swift pace. “Almost got it! The code I'm entering should, if I calculated it right, open all securely locked doors within the vicinity. I would say its surprising how tightly Eggman locked this place down, but then again this /is/ Eggman we're talking about... Ah! There we go!” Tails' eyes brightened up as an appealing noise sounded from his device.
Their surroundings shook slightly as the doorway slowly began its ascent. He stared in awe as it rose, becoming only a bit intimidated. Blinking several times, Tails reached back under his tornado's control panel, tucking away his device. His gaze tilted back up toward their set destination. It was dark inside, so dark it felt unsettling to even dare enter. He wouldn't allow this gut feeling to overcome him though, since Sonic was right. There wasn't anything to worry over with him by Tails' side. After all, the place was abandoned. How bad could it be? The thought only just occurring to him, he reached forward and took a moment to activate a certain switch on his plane's control panel. Beacons of light shined off the front of his battle plane, allowing the duo to see at least some of what was headed their way. “Okay, everything's a go!” He spoke over to Sonic gripping the handling gears on his tornado firmly.
‘Heh, finally!’ Sonic thought in his head as he lifted his right hand up using his index finger to mess with his ear. "That felt like forever!" Standing impatiently by the tornado’s side, he watched as the entrance gradually opened, a slight tinge of uncertainty hitting Sonic’s stomach, but he quickly shrugged it off. The darkness of the place made him feel a little on edge. No way was he going in there without some kind of light. He turned to Tails expecting a similar reaction, when suddenly lights shone brightly out from the front of the tornado. Ah of course, how could he have forgotten? Sonic didn't feel so uncomfortable now he had some means to light their way. His main concern was the speed of which he was going to maintain, to keep the same distance as Tails’ lights. It didn't bother him all that much, so long as he got what he came for and dismantled whatever ‘this thing’ was that Eggman was hiding. "C’mon on Tails, lets get moving." Sonic proceeded to walk forward leading the way.
“Right!” He chanted in reply, following along Sonic as they entered Eggman's husk of a base. Now that they were inside, it wasn't all that bad.The yellow fox tilted his gaze to the right, then to his left. His eyes curiously followed along pipes and the base’s engineered walls. One could only assume they purposefully lead to other rooms within the base. Otherwise it'd be way too easy to get lost in a place as big as this. Breaking away from his current trail of thoughts, Tails placed a hand out near his tornado's top panel, pushing a light green button. This button launched a virtual map of the base, taking every single room into account. “Okay, so it looks like…” Tails began, squinting his eyes as he analyzed his computerized map. “We'll have to make our way toward the 4th floor. That seems to be the fastest way into Eggman's main control room. It should be a good place to start searching.”
"Alright then, lets go!" Sonic smirked as he ran forward, heading to the 4th floor shortly followed by Tails. He kept his momentum at a steady pace, being sure not to stray away from the tornado’s ray of light. He traversed past a lot of old unused equipment. ‘Hm.. I wonder what Egghead was gonna do with all this junk?’ Sonic thought to himself as he turned his head back to look at Tails. “Yo Tails, we headin’ in the right direction? Just seems like a maze in here.”
Tails switched gears, following Sonic in what seemed to be a never ending hall. Piles of equipment lay scavenged throughout their surroundings, Tails' curiosity getting the better of him. He wondered if maybe it wouldn't be so bad to snitch a few spare parts here and there. Eggman had already left this place, so it wouldn't hurt if Tails recalibrated and fixed them up to benefit his own inventions. The thought of this caused Tails to become a bit excited, but would wait until after they’d found what they were really here for. He analyzed the map carefully, making sure they weren't just running around in circles. Following the pipe lines seemed to be the only for sure way to navigate this place properly. "Oh! an elevator should be coming up on our right. We can use that and head straight up!” Sonic continued running forward listening what Tails had to say, making a sharp turn around the corner at the end of the corridor. His shoes made a grinding noise as the skidded on the cold metal flooring, slight sparks emanating from his shoes’ corners. He halted himself gaining his stance back and waiting for Tails to catch up, shouting in the distance, “Hey Tails? ... This is it, right?”
Sonic stared at the rusted elevator looking a little concerned. "It doesn't look very secure." Sonic kicked the front part of the elevator slightly with his shoe’s tip, then stood there silently. He was watching for any sudden movements. It certainly didn't look like it would be able to hold both of them very well, let alone with Tails’ tornado. If tails was intent on using this to get to the 4th floor, or if this was their only way to get there, he would have to momentarily leave it behind. That made Sonic a little uneasy, but as Tails made his way toward Sonic's position, it was duly noted the elevator looked... well its appearance certainly wasn't comforting.
Sweat had formed on the side of Tails' face, that feeling of uncertainty hitting him again. Despite this, he took another long look at the map, his gaze peering at it, back up at the elevator, then back down again. “Mhm, this is it, but yeah I see what you mean. It honestly looks like it could collapse inward at any moment.” Geez, could Tails have been any more blunt about it? He shuddered at the thought trying to shake off his negative impression. “This is the fastest way though! I'm sure there's other ways to get up there, but it could take us a while, and like you said it already feels like we’re running around in circles.”
With that, the yellow fox squeezed out of his seat, hopping down by Sonic's side. With a small smile, he placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder staring back up at the troublesome elevator. “But on the upside, if I leave the tornado here, there's no doubt it could hold our weight! This shouldn't take us too long, and I'm not all that worried since this place is abandoned. The tornado should be fine-- Yeah, we’re leaving it here for maybe... 10 mins, tops?” Tails spoke aloud, not only trying to reassure Sonic, but to himself as well. His plane meant the world to him.
"Hmm, well if you're sure..." Sonic clearly wasn't. That elevator looked like bad news, but the fact it was their easiest way up was not something Sonic wanted to hear, though a hero’s gotta do what a hero’s gotta do. Sonic pointed to the elevator door. “So... who's going in first then?" He grinned sheepishly. Maybe Tails would offer to go first since he was the lightest. It might help Sonic’s nerves on how stable the thing was, considering Tails could also fly if anything where to happen. The guilt of making Tails do his dirty work was too much, a sigh emanating from Sonic’s mouth. He waved his hand back at Tails as if to step back.
"I'll go first, you stay there Tails." Sonic gradualy began walking forward to the elevator, carefully placing his foot in trying not to give away to Tails how nervous he was about the situation. He then continued to walk into it casually, resting his elbow on the side of the elevator.
"... Heh, see nothing to worry about-"
Sonic was shortly cut off as he felt a rumbling under his feet, noticing a giant orange button with the word on over to his right where his elbow was placed. Sonic instantly knew that couldn’t be a good thing. Quickly shooting his gaze back to Tails, he gestured him to get on. “TAILS HURRY!” Sonic said desperately as the elevator began to activate.
Surprised and bewildered grunts escaped from Tails' mouth, the rumbling causing him to fall back on his rear. He shook it off quickly and gasped seeing the elevator began to shift upward. “SONIC!” Tails shouted his name trying to reach out for his brother's hand. Unfortunately the door had almost shut on the foxes' hand pulling it back just as fast. His ears tilted back while his gaze focused on the elevator as it acended upward.
“... Oh boy.. Well... at least it works.” A sigh released from his mouth, relieved that Sonic would be alright in there. His eyes brightened up, quickly running back toward the tornado. Tails climbed back into his seat, pulling out yet another small device. He gently pushed a combination of buttons activating it post haste. Hopefully this communicator still worked. It was one of his older models, one that he kept handy, a back up plan of sorts if a situation like this were to pop up. Miles seemed to be prepared for just about anything. “Sonic? Sonic can you hear me?” The fox talked in a clear voice, hoping Sonic still had his set.
The elevator shot up and wobbled around violently on it's accent. Sonic's expression quickly dropped and formed into one of concern as now Tails was separated from him. It would be a lot harder to locate what they came here for, and since Sonic’s knowledge on electronic things wasn't up to par, he wasn't sure how this was going to go. As much as he was hoping for an easy trip in and out, this clearly wasn't going to be one. Sonic’s ears twitched to the sound of something emanating from his quills. Of course! Tails made them communicators if anything like this was to occur. Lucky for him he remembered to bring it. Hearing the foxes’ voice eased his concerns. He took it out from his spines, and responded immediately.
"Hey Tails! Yeah I can hear you... This thing just shot up. You'll be okay down there, right? I'm countin’ on you to be able to make it up here, but I'll try my best at finding anything suspicious, just keep me updated!" Oh, awesome! Sonic did have it after all! A rather relieved sigh slide from the foxes’ lips, Tails' expression beginning to relax. He listened carefully as Sonic spoke, rather surprised that the elevator had up sped off like that. The darn thing looked as if it were about to collapse, let alone having the stability to move. It wasn't a big deal though. What mattered was Sonic safely made it to the top, and Tails was more than capable of handling this his trek up on his own. This also meant he wouldn't have to leave his tornado alone at all! A stupidly happy grin slipped over his face, gently hugging his plane. “Mhm! I'm fine, and will do! I'm real glad to hear you're okay too". Finding another way up will be easy! It shouldn't delay us too much, I mean, one of the tornado's specialties is to find the clearest, quickest route while navigating through a molecular spa--...” Tails cut himself short as this wasn't really the time nor place to boast over what his plane was capable of. His ears twitched and chuckled a bit embarrassed at his tangent.
And with that, the young fox took it upon himself to activate the tornado once more, shifting gears while making a hard u-turn. Its mechanical legs stomped across the ground, taking a moment to scan his surroundings. When he found an opening, one that lead upward to a higher point within the base, he took it without a second thought. Although this route was an option for Sonic and Tails, it was a much longer and tedious trek, one that Tails had hoped to avoid.
Sonic lowered his arm down as he looked directly upward wondering how far this elevator went. He was nervously clinging onto one of the rusted rail bars. This ride was beginning to take it's toll on him. "When's this thing gonna stop-!" Sonic was roughly interrupted as the whole elevator came to sudden halt. Violently throwing Sonic forward with the sudden movement, his eyes widened as he lifted his head up from where it had been thrown down. He stood there for a few minutes checking his surroundings out, making sure the elevator was secure enough to vacate it. Sonic decided it was safer to leave it as quick as he could, and made a lightening speed dash out of there. Stopping at a mangled sign, which had the room and floor numbers marked... it was hard for Sonic to read what with it all being so mucky and teared.
Sonic tried to put his hand across the teared segments, flattening them out trying to make out what floor he’d been brought to. It was a little difficult to see, but according to Tails it seemed like the last floor was the 4th floor. He had been brought to it safely. Unfortunately, Sonic was still unable to make sense of the room numbers. He lifted his hand, picking up where the communicator rested. As he brought it up to his face, he began to explain the situation to Tails.
"Tails? ... Tails can you hear me? So, I think I made it to the 4th floor, but the map is so damaged I can't make out what room I'm supposed to be headin’ for. I need your help. Less time wasted the better!”
Tails body twitched slightly at the sound of Sonic's voice. Holding the device to his mouth, he gripped the shift gear on the tornado to have it hover over a large gap between the floors, continuing on route toward the fourth floor. “A damaged map? Hmm, well from what I see somewhere on each of the rooms, they’re marked with both the floor they’re on as well as their individual numbers. These floors seem to vary in rooms... mn.. ah! There's at least 40-80 rooms on each floor. On the fourth floor... 64, there's 64 rooms all together. Knowing Eggman he'd want his control room smack dab in the middle-- So, if the map's no good, try checking rooms from 25-35. I know its a rough estimate, but its better than having to check every room.”
“So... I just gotta check those rooms, huh? Shouldn't be a problem with my speed!" Sonic rubbed his nose huffing proudly, and then rescanned the damaged map with his eyes. ’Hmm... room 25...’ Lost in thought, Sonic placed one of his hands on his chin as he inspected the map closely.
"Yeah, I think I found where rooms 25 to 30 are. Should be off to the left from here. I'm gonna check it out!" speaking aloud to himself. He looked up at the dull, led light illuminating the map. Sonic decided it was a good idea to take it with him if possible since it was hard to make anything out in the dark. He reached his hand forward grabbing the long, light bar, and tugged at it as hard as he could. His eyes clenched shut pulling back with so much force that when the light broke off, Sonic fell down on his backside hitting the rough, cold metal flooring with an ‘Oof!’
Getting up from the floor he proceeded to rub his lower back, his face holding a disgruntled look. Composing himself, he glanced off to the left from where he was standing, turning round and sprinting forward. Most of Sonic’s actions were a blur as he went back and forth between rooms. Illuminating the doorways with the light he acquired to check the room numbers, he noticed a lot of junk- particularly in one room. He halted to a stop in front of the entrance. ‘Hmm, this looks like it could be it.’ Sonic thought walking in gradually. He looked around a bit, stopping and lifting his communication device to his mouth. “Tails, I think I found it. Ya managed to get up here yet?” He asked while awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as he spoke. “I kinda don't really know what to look for. A little help here buddy?”
It wouldn't be long before Tails would also reach the fourth floor, the map indicating he was a fair distance from Sonic's location. While continuing his trek, Miles' expression changed upon hearing Sonic's voice once more. He listened carefully, blinking a few times at Sonic's request. “Aah, well-- I think it'd be best if you waited til I get up there, Sonic. Even though this place looks utterly abandoned, who knows what Eggman could have hiding here. We can never be too careful when it comes to him!” He knew Sonic wouldn't be all that enthusiastic about the idea of having to wait a little longer, or that Tails was so on edge about this place. The energy throughout this place was toast, but that's what made the fox feel so conflicted. The idea of being in Eggman's base was a nasty thought in general. Ah well, it wasn't something he felt was necessary to think too much into right now. Getting to Sonic was of the utmost importance. That was what his thought process should be channeling towards.
After putting forth much effort, finally Tails had managed to reach the fourth floor! It was only a matter of moments he'd reach Sonic’s position. He shifted his tornado's gears, launching it forward. “Full speed ahead!” He spoke aloud, his voice flourishing with energy. “Sonic, I'm headed your way. I'll be there soon!”
Leaning against the wall, Sonic waited as patiently as he could, getting aggravated by having to stand there and not touch anything. He began to walk around the room a little, seeing if he could pick up on anything suspicious in the process. After all he may not have any idea what it was they were looking for or have a lot of knowledge on mechanical equipment, but he knew when he saw something that looked particularly malicious.
‘Maybe I could find it before Tails makes it up here- Heh, yeah!’ He thought huffing proudly while grinning, daydreaming over the praise he would receive.
Maybe a little look wouldn't hurt. He began to pick up some of the equipment lying around, eyeing the things up and down, looking unimpressed by whatever it was. Just looked like a jumbled bunch of nuts and bolts. "Pfft- junk." He tossed it behind him with little care, turning around suddenly at the rather loud crash it made. He saw a looming tower of robot parts begin to stir and wobble. "O-Oh crap!" Sonic’s eyes widened in shock as the whole stack of them came plummeting down. Quickly he zipped out the way as the parts crashed on the metal floor, a loud clanging noise filling the large room and hallway. Meanwhile, Tails approached the room Sonic was in. The fox slowly powered the tornado back down, allowing it to maintain a sort of sleep mode. Triumphantly, he hopped out of his seat sliding down the plane's side toward the ground. With both the map and communicator still in hand, and walked inside the room. “
See! I made it here in great ti--?!” The foxes' eyes widened and flinched back a bit as a rather large stack of robot parts smacked into the metal floor. It was a habit of his, but in order to protect himself Miles had his tails curled in front of his face, making it sort of a shield to his eyes. Peeking through his fluffed tails once the sound had passed, he blinked multiple times. ‘What... what just happened?’ As this thought passed through his mind, the yellow fox retracted his tails and stared over toward his right.
Sonic stood there for a few seconds staring at the mess with a sheepish grin plastered on his face. "Erm... oops?" A rather unimpressed look plastered itself over Tails' face, His 'oops' statement was a dead give away. Tails sighed while shaking his head. A humored smile began to form on his face all the while.
“And this is why I can't build you nice things, because your curiosity gets the better of you!” He laughed a bit at his own comment, gently brushing some of the robot parts out of their way. The last thing they needed was to step on anything of slight value. Even if most of it was junk, who knows? A hidden gold mine of valued parts could be found here! Not to sound so nerdy, but jiminy Eggman left behind so much cool stuff! It was difficult for Tails to leave behind a bolt or loose screw, let alone awesome robotic parts like these! The foxes' eyes began to glow and swoon over the oh so many possibilities with these lovely gadgets and gizmos. “This is... t-this is so... wooow...!”
"Come on Tails- we don't have all day to mess with this stuff." Sonic stated, his foot tapping as impatent as ever. His eyes rolled back, settling down to one spot in the corner of the room where he could of sworn he saw something glisten. Sonic walked over to the specified area only to find it was one of Eggman’s robot’s dismantled heads. Booting it with his foot, his hands rested on the sides of his hips. His left hand was balled into a fist and still clutching onto the light. "Eh.. it's nothing important..." Turning his head around and staring at Tails he asked, "Ya manage to find anything that suggests world domination…?"
Tails meanwhile sat ogling over particular parts unable to help himself. Hearing Sonic's question though, the fox's body stiffens up and shakes his head rapidly. “A-Aah, well-- nothing too out of the ordinary yet. All I've managed to find so far are scraped robot parts, old gears, screws, bolts, for some reason an... old newspaper with socks wrapped inside it.. uagh..” His body shuddered at the sight of it, placing it far to his left so the stench wouldn't have to waft in their direction. “Erm... dead batteries, half functional batteries, and... oh hey... hello there-- what's that?” Miles asked aloud, something catching his eye deep within the scrap pile. Without hesitation, he stood up, wiggled his hands a bit to prep himself, then a small grunt emitted from the back of his throat diving into the large summit of robotic pieces.
Sonic stood there staring at Tails, leaning against the wall and holding a hand upon his hip, "Hmm... something tells me maybe Egghead was either bluffing or he hid whatever it was better than we thought he would..." He walked over to where Tails was rummaging holding the led light over the heap of robotic scrap. Sonic looked in confusion at Tails and tried to peer over his shoulder more to see if he could spot anything of interest.
“Bingo!” He chimed aloud, Tails' upper body popping back out of the trashed pile. “Well, this looks like plenty bad news to me! Whatcha think Sonic?” Tails asked the blue hero as he held a severely sensitive object in his hands. The properties and similar features of it lead Tails to believe this could be what they where looking for. Sonic and Tails knew very little thus far as to what Eggman was scheming up, but a device that was able to harness the power of the chaos emeralds was definitely not an idea to be played with. Having a device like that was an extremely powerful thing, and in the wrong hands could mean a lot of trouble. The young fox took a small breath and started at the device carefully. “Hm... You know, even though I'm glad we've found something, didn't it seem a little too easy to find?” His ears twitched and connected his gaze with Sonic's.
Sonic eyed up the machine Tails was now holding. It did indeed look suspicious. This must have been the item Eggman was talking about. It definitely looked new, and somewhat powerful. The other day when Sonic intercepted Eggman’s attack on the city, he did his usual ranting and raving boasting about some kind of machine that had the power to ‘take over the world’ and help create that ‘Eggmanland’ of his. Of course Sonic was certain this was a bluff, but just to be sure he thought it would be safer to go check it out. Whaddya know? He seemed to be telling the truth for once. Tails’ comment was on point. Something seemed off with how easy this was to find.
There wasn't much of a response on Sonic's end, but could tell he was lost in deep thought. The yellow foxed stared at him for a few moments, then took a moment to stare back at the device. Too easy to find... an uneasy feeling began rising within Tails. He squinted his eyes attempting to note any minor details or inner workings he could make out from its exterior. Hmm... unfortunately the young fox would only be able to make out a fraction of what makes the device tick, at least for now. They'd have to wait until the two of them made it back to Tails' workshop. It was only then Tails' ears twitched once more, his eyes widening as a distant rumbling was heard. Sonic tensed his body as he heard those same rumbling and crashing noises. Looking down at where Tails had taken the object, he saw a cable broke and immediately suspected there was some trap behind it, though Sonic knew Eggman well enough to know this wouldn't be a walk in the park. Tails gasped softly turning his head slightly in a confused manner. What-- What in chaos was that noise-- wait no, noises!? Not only that, but the entire fourth floor shook as if it was nearing to collapse within itself. “A-Aah-- ah!” Tails stumbled a bit keeping a firm grip of the device, thankfully able to recompose his footing.
"Come on Tails! I think we better go. Whatever that is doesn't sound good!"
Calling for Tails' attention, Sonic urged the two of them get out of here now before things start to get out of control. Without another thought crossing through his mind, the fox nodded at Sonic his expression showing determination.
“Right!” The fox followed behind him, running up to his plane post-haste. “Okay, judging by how quickly the repetition of those sounds are, I'd say we have about 12 seconds before whatever it is crosses our path!” He told Sonic hopping up into his plane's cockpit. Carefully he placed the device under his seat, only having so many options of as to where he could put it. It was a fragile thing, but that would have to do!
"Well we better get moving then!" Sonic said with a uncomfortable smirk on his face. The excitement of the challenge approaching- whatever it was, got his blood boiling. Even if he knew things could take a turn for the worst, Sonic was determined as ever to escape there, he wasn't just going to let Egghead get away with any future plans he had, even though this was obviously a trap. Sonic speeded off running, still trying to maintain a good distance between Tails and himself, so neither of them got too far ahead of each other. Sonic began to yell back at Tails, throwing the light that was in his hand roughly to the ground while Tails' lights made a faint flicker and bursted out in front of them. "SO HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!? YOU MADE IT UP HERE WITHOUT THE LIFT!"
The foxes' near photographic memory would help their situation out immensely. He took a moment to glance their surroundings. “There!” His index finger pointed towards a large opening only a short distance ahead of them. “This was one of the openings that allowed passage to each of the bases' floors! "I was able to find another elevator shaft. This one for sure no longer works, but the plus is there's plenty of platforms to maneuver through it with ease!” Tails replied to the blue hero as they approached said opening. Without much time in between the tornado entering inside, sparks emitted near Tails' head causing him to shriek. Startled, his arms covered over his face for a moment.
“A-AH! W-What the-- …!” He tilted his gaze towards said direction, Tails' eyes gradually widening. A massive flood of robots swarmed towards their direction, firing their weapons in rapid succession. Luckily Tails wouldn't let something like this get the better of him again, leaning over to grip Sonic's arm. “Sonic, hang on!” Miles tilted the tornado's controls to his left, shifting the plane inside the elevator shaft with one swift movement. A few sweat drops formed on Tails' brow, watching the robots blast past the doorway. His tornado was stationary for the moment. It sat upon two elongated metal objects that poked in through the rusted elevator shaft. “Phew... Geez they nearly trampled us!” He released a small sigh in relief, but knew full well they weren't anywhere in the clear just yet. “I guess Eggman really did think ahead this time around. Are you okay Sonic?” Tails asked in a concerned tone, releasing Sonic's arm from his grip.
Sonic was sat on the front part of the tornado, turning around to face Tails. "Yeah, I'm fine." He stood upright looking down the elevator shaft. "Woo, this thing is long. Think we could make it down in one go? I can hear more robots at the bottom!” Suddenly Sonic’s eyes sparked up as that cocky grin sneaked it's way onto his muzzle, looking back at Tails over his shoulder. "Do ya think this thing can survive the drop? If we do we could take out some of the mechs! What do ya think?" Sonic’s eyes glistened in excitement. He could already hear the metal sounds of scraping and clanking getting closer, along with various mechanical noises that accompanied the robots. Sonic began to crouch and get into an action stance, his spines bristling. It had been a while since he had this much excitement. "If you aren't up for it Tails, there’s no need to worry. I'll take them out myself!"
“It’s alright, I gotcha covered Sonic!” He spoke with a burst of energy. Immediately he shifted the tornado into landing mode, preparing himself as this wasn't going to be the most 'graceful' of landings. Tails was sure the tornado could take a fall like this, and for that matter the robots would more than likely soften their landing. “Let's do this!” The fox chanted while shifting his plane into gear, the tornado letting out a loud robotic noise.
It slid off the platforms with great velocity, causing a huge tickling sensation to form in Tails' stomach. Just as Sonic planned, the tornado propelled itself down gravity helping it all the while, colliding itself into various robots. It created a domino effect, the remaining robots who managed to dodge the tornado flew up above the two heroes. They then launched themselves back downward firing their weapons back Sonic and Tails' way. “A-Aah!” Miles yelped for a moment, tilting the tornado up to fire his own built in weapons. He'd need to shift the tornado into its attack mode though-- and their current position limited his options. “Sonic!” He shouted the blue hedgehog's name.
"I got this tails!" Sonic yelled, jumping forward with such speed and strength that his attack blasted through the first robot launching him out at the other end of it. His body flung open, his arms and legs outstretched as he plowed himself into the remaining robots with a spin attack, curling into a spiked ball and destroying the remaining few. Sonic landed on the metal floor his hand and knee resting on it. He looked up quickly, checking for anymore robots in the vicinity. From the distance he could hear them gathering, they were clear for now. Sonic decided it was best to get out of there otherwise they were soon gonna end up backed into a corner by a hoard of robots. Sonic placed himself in front of Tails’ plane. He took an action stance with his left fist in a ball and his legs parted, slightly placed behind him. "Come on Tails! I gotta kick some robot butt!" Sonic’s smirk grew wider, boosting off at top speed, his body pumped for what was to come.
“Haha, roger that!” He chuckled at Sonic's choice of words. Luckily that elevator shaft lead all the way down to the ground level, making things easier for Sonic and Tails to find their way out. Tails followed up behind the blue wonder, a huge smile plastering itself upon his face. Sonic more than handled their previous situation, and it was about time Miles tried doing the same. It wasn't long before another wave of robots sped toward the heroic duo. The fox took this opportunity to get his plane into action, tilting its gunned weapons behind them. Since the robots were more than likely trying to corner Sonic and Tails, it was safe to assume they'd not only attack from the front, but also from behind. “I got the rear Sonic!” The yellow fox shouted, his brows narrowed and expression tense. Without any further hesitation, Tails fired several lasers from the tornado. Shots sparked and burned through several of the robots, their hollow bodies blowing up shortly after.
"Gotcha Tails! Thanks for keeping me covered!" Turning around to tails and giving him a thumbs up, he sped off toward the robots blocking their path. Sonic could see the entrance ahead in the distance, noticing one of the robots quickly activated some kind of switch on the side of the wall. His eyes widened as he saw the shutters on the door gradually start to slide shut “...!” Sonic knew by the rate of which the door was shutting that it was very unlikely for both of them to make it out of there in one quick movement. Most likely Sonic was going to have to take out these robots first then blast the door open by force.
"Tails! The door’s closing! Keep the robots off my back! I'm gonna go deal with these guys!" Grinning all the while, he jolted himself off the floor. begining to roll himself up and use the force he had mandated to bounce off the walls and into a few of the robots who were guarding the way to the door. A lot of them had now accumulated around the large hallway, shooting at both Sonic and Tails. It had just crossed Sonic’s mind on how much effort was put into this... He couldn't help but wonder at what plots Eggman had up his sleeve. This didn't seem like it was the end of whatever he had in mind. Sonic quickly shook his head as a robot came from the front at high speed catching him off guard and hitting him violently to the ground.
"Ugh!" Sonic yelled. He didn't have much time as now more of the robots where aiming for him. He jumped off the ground with such force that wind swept from under his feet. As he ascended, he crashed his foot down upon a group of robots a large exploding spark emanating from where the robots previously stood, filling the hall up with debris. Sonic spun out of the wall of smoke followed by a few more robots as he aimed for the door.
The fox heard a distinct cry, his eyes widened and looked back. Sonic was more than alright, probably caught a bit off guard. “Sonic! Are you okay?!” Miles shouted to him regardless, all the while turning his tornado back towards what seemed like a war line of robots. They just didn't end! No matter how many Tails or Sonic took out, they just kept coming! Luckily they were at the entrance, but the whole door closing scenario wasn't the least bit comforting. Tails continued to switch his tornado into various gears, locking onto several robots at once firing his lasers at them immediately after. “A-Ah!” He felt a sudden shift in weight, his plane leaning over onto its left. His head darted to that direction, gasping at the sight. Robots latched themselves onto the tornado, almost as if they were clinging to it.
“H-Hey stop that!” He spoke to the robots as if they would listen, but inevitably knew they wouldn't. Immediately he had the tornado shake itself around removing those said robots. Why had they started doing that all of a sudden? Was it some new directive they had if their guns weren't enough-- self-destructing their bodies at random hopefully taking down whatever they needed along with it? The thought of that caused the fox to shudder, his gut feeling telling him he probably wasn't far off. Despite this, Miles turned his head back to look in Sonic's direction. Sweat drops had formed by his head breathing heavily becoming slightly out of breath. “Sonic! I don't know how much longer we can keep this up-- they just keep coming!”
Sonic was running towards the door. His teeth clenched shut, grinding together as he heard Tails far behind yelling. A slight tone of distress was present in his voice, causing Sonic’s gut to churn. He didn't like being backed into a corner like this one bit. Eggman certainly wasn't messing around this time. He turned his head back to catch a glimpse of Tails, making sure his buddy was okay. "Tails, hang on! I got this!" Sonic reassured him, hoping he managed to hear that over the vast explosions and rucus.
His feet rammed against the floor pushing him forward with such force, still being followed by a mass of robots, them gaining on him quickly. Damn they were fast... Sure sonic was always the fastest thing alive, but he knew to pull off a shot straight through the door, he would need to have enough power behind his jump in doing so... Too much speed could cause him to fail.
Sonic slowed down ever so slightly as the robots ran straight forward almost hitting him, but instead collecting in a huge clump and crashing together. He jumped forward towards the huge metal door, the force of his jump propelling him forward. Rolling his body into a ball, his speed propelled his spin dash to form an even more powerful one. In one smooth blast through the metal door, the entrance was smashed open, the doors bent and twisted out of shape. Sonic landed in an uncomfortable position, his knees bent at an awkward angle causing him to lose balance and tumble forward. Still being propelled by his speed, his body rolled across the ground a few feet forward.
"Ugh..." He spat some of the dirt out that ended up in his mouth. "Ppft.. I did not order a dirt sandwich... blergh.”
Meanwhile as Tails struggled to continuously shake multiple robots off his plane, a bright light flashed throughout the darkened hall. Immediately taken by this, Miles looked back and saw the entrance completely busted through. Tails' expression lite up and chuckled softly in relief. Sonic handling every bit of their situation like a pro never ceased to amaze him. Breaking away from his current chain of thoughts, he directed his attention back toward the remaining robots that shrouded the tornado. “You guys just don't know when to quit!” The fox yelled at them, at this point becoming tired of their antics. With a swift movement, Tails shifted his tornado upward, it hovering in the air for a moment. While doing it, the tornado spun in a 360 degree movement launching the remaining robots off into different directions. The majority of them hit against the wall roughly, exploding in on themselves by the sudden impact. Tails nodded to himself content of his actions, his plane landing back on the ground.
Without time to waste, he shifted the tornado forward heading towards the new exit Sonic had created. All the while Tails' plane locked onto extra robots attempting to exit out of the new entrance. They ceased their actions in moments, Tails' lasers blasting them to bits! “Yeah!” He shouted merrily to himself as the tornado jumped outside. It landed with a large thump, turning itself around as the fox looked toward Sonic. “That was so cool Sonic! You took them down like it was nothing!” His eyes gleamed in admiration of the blue hero, offering him a bright smile.
Sonic clambered up from the ground immediately posing in an arrogant way, his finger resting under his nose. "Heh! It was nothing, I could of easily taken more of em!" Still he coughed a little due to the rough landing, his arms resting to his side taking a breath in and out. He assessed his surroundings for any other threats... Everything seemed clear. The opening in the door seemed deathly silent... Sonic stepped forward a little to the opening, peering inside and checking for any little movements.. "Hm... seems like we dealt with them pretty well! Great job Tails, I knew I could count on ya."
“Ahh well, I try my best anyway, ah haha!” The fox said his tone slightly embarrassed, but overjoyed. He rubbed the back of his head a bit, while then noting how quiet things seemed.Tails could've sworn there were a few more following behind them. Maybe due to low numbers, they were programed to head back to the core? Miles blinked, his eyes full of curiosity. Tails still kept himself aware of the situation, hoping they really had taken that course of action. “Mhm, we made great time for that matter too! Seems like the leftovers retreated back inward.” The fox noted, his hand brushing under his chin for a moment. “Oh!” Quickly he dug under his plane's seat. He held the device they obtained firmly in hand, checking it carefully. “... Ahh, phew! The mechanism we picked up made it! Didn't even get a scratch through that rumble.” Miles spoke, his right thumb slowly tracing over a small natural indent on the device.
Sonic looked up to Tails and stared at the device he held in his hands. "Good job, we managed to pick that thing up before Eggman decided to put his plans into motion... Though it makes me wonder if this was all a trap for something bigger..." Sonic stared into blank space for a minute trying to figure out all the possible reasons or plans Eggman might have... Blinking and shrugging his shoulders, he decided to leave it be for now. At least one threat was out of the way.. If Eggman decided to do anything further, Sonic would be right there to stop him. "Hm, naw... even if he does try anything theres no way we would let him get away with that!" Standing proudly he looked at Tails with a warm smile. "Come on Tails. Let’s head back, then you can check that thing out better- I know you're dying to!" Sonic closed his eyes a small snicker escaping his mouth, as he began to walk forward away from the building.
“Can you blame me? Something like this doesn't pop up everyday, you know! I mean, you know better than anyone how much I tinker with things, but this looks rather complex, which is odd for Eggman. I'm pretty familiar with how he models his droids or mechanical devices, but this seems so foreign to me. I'm not sure where to start!” Tails replied to Sonic, holding the device in front of his face. It wasn't too large, big enough to fit in someone's lap really. It fascinated Tails, and he a feeling there was something totally unique about it, something that was sure to bring them closer in understanding Eggman's plot.
Fumbling behind the two heroes, a slightly damaged robot emerged from the well made entrance, creeping toward the unaware duo. It made its way over behind Sonic in particular, lifting up its built in gun. Energy charged within the barrel, but was halted abruptly. A loud robotic noise emitted from its interior. A white, gloved hand was stuck through the robot's body, yellow particles radiating around it. The robot limply fell to its side, a ebony colored hedgehog standing behind it. Moving his right hand away, and rubbing it slightly. He shot them both an intimidating glare, lowering his hand back down. “And just where do you two think you're going?”
The foxes' ears twitched, turning his head back at the loud noise. His eyes widened at the figure who stood before them. Okay... this was... this was certainly surprising. Shadow? What-- what in the world was Shadow doing here? “A-Ah..?” It took a moment for Miles to process what had just happened, darting his head back and forth between the device, the scraped robot, and Shadow.
Sonic was just as bewildered, standing there for a second. He stared at the robot that was now lying on the floor… ‘Did Shadow just.. save me?’ Sonic could feel the death glare Shadow was now aiming at him. Yet all he could think about is the fact that Shadow had gone out the way to save him? he assumed it was a little off, and instead of taking it as a compliment, he expected Shadow wanted something from him.
“Shadow? … What do you want?”
Sonic said in an almost threatening tone, getting ready to strike for him at any moment if he tried something. His fists clenched tightly, his eyes piercing shadows own. He held his arm across the front of the tornado, as if it was to protect Tails. His mouth formed a smirk.
"Well whatever you want, you’re not going to get it!"
