Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale Of Tails ❯ New Enemy ( Chapter 1 )

Legal Stuff:

I don't own any of the characters in this story. They are the properties of their respective owners.

Author's Notes:

This is a darker fic I am writing centered around none other than cheery ol' Tails. Why? Because I can.

A Tale Of Tails

Chapter 1: New Enemy

Robotnik walked along a row of thick glass tubes deep within one of his older bases, scowling as he did so. As he passed by each one, he made a comment about its contents.

Robotnik: Silver Sonic was useless…Predator fizzled out…Metal Knuckles failed me…Metal Sonic was a flop! And don't even get me started on that cursed Metal Sonic 2! I swear I shall have his head!

He looked into the last tube, which held a golden-colored machine.

Robotnik: …And you shall bring it to me…

The scientist pressed a button above the glass. The liquid emptied from it, and the container opened. He pressed another button on top of the tube, and two bright red glows lit up in the machine's eyes.

Robotnik: I've built a robotic duplicate of Sonic and Knuckles…and now Tails. You may look harmless, my friend, but you are more powerful than that blasted Metal Sonic 2, and will most certainly wipe out my nemesis, Sonic!

The robot stepped out of the tube, and faced his creator. It spoke without feeling, and possessed a harsh, metallic voice.

Metal Tails: I will destroy them all.

Robotnik: Hahaha…Excellent. If they only knew what trouble lay ahead for them…

Robotnik began to laugh in his usual maniacal way. Metal Tails watched the evil doctor, judging him. When the scientist settled down, he faced the machine.

Robotnik: Now go, and make up for the mistakes of your ancestors!

Metal Tails obeyed, and left for the exit.

Meanwhile, at the refuge base…

Metal-2 was helping Tails make repairs to his latest prized possession: his Veritech. The robot held up the nose of the plane while Tails worked underneath, fixing the landing gear.

Tails: I should've known that type of steel wouldn't be strong enough. I guess I'm lucky I just wrecked the gear, though.

Metal-2: Why is that?

Tails: I could've wrecked the whole plane!

Metal-2: I see.

Tails: …Okay, that should do it. Thanks for your help, Metal.

Metal-2: I am always willing to lend a hand.

Tails slid out from underneath it, and Metal-2 set the plane down. The repairs worked, and the landing gear was stable.

Tails: So what now?

Metal-2: Are you up to a game of chess?

Tails smirked.

Tails: It's on!

They went into the other room to face each other in a battle of wits, strategy, and little pieces of plastic. In the other room, Knuckles dropped the Gamecube controller he held as he jumped up with his arms in the air.

Knuckles: Oh YEAH!! I whooped you again, little brother!

Beside him was Billy, who looked up at Knuckles like the red echidna belonged in the nuthouse. He was probably right, but he said nothing about it.

Billy: Calm down, it's just a game.

Billy set his controller down and stood up.

Billy: Now, I really must be getting back to my research.

The blue echidna left the room, unbeknownst to Knuckles, who was still dancing over his victory. Sonic and Scotty walked into the room in mid-conversation.

Sonic: So anyway, I said to him-Knuckles?!

Knuckles froze in place.

Knuckles: <sweatdrop> Uh…Hi, Sonic…Scotty…

Sonic: <snickers> What are you doing?

Knuckles slowly returned to a normal position. He looked over at the hedgehogs.

Knuckles: Um…What are you talking about?

Sonic: Uh…huh. Anyway, I said to him, "Chilidog?! I thought you said `Kill the hog!'"

Scotty burst out laughing, and Sonic did nearly did so himself. Knuckles looked at them, confused. There was a noise at the entrance to the base, and Sonya and Sally came bursting in, gasping for air. Sonic, Knuckles, and Scotty rushed over to them.

Scotty: Sonia! What is it?!

Sonya: <breathing heavily> It…It was…a robot…

Sally: <also breathing heavily> Came from…nowhere…attacked everyone…

Sonic: Are you two all right?

Sally: A little…shaken up…but…we're fine.

Scotty: Is the robot still…wherever it was?

Sonya: Don't know…it happened so fast…

Knuckles: You guys need to calm down. Stay here, we'll handle this guy.

Scotty: Nobody attacks my family and gets away with it!

Sonic: Let's go, Scott!

They rushed out the door, headed to the store where the girls had been shopping. When they arrived, all they found were the flaming ruins of the store. It had been completely demolished, and the fire department was already at work putting out the burning remnants.

Sonic: Looks like we're a little late.

Scotty: What could've done this?

Knuckles: I don't know, but I'm glad it's not here now.

Sonic: So…Now what do we do?

Before anyone could answer, a laser blast flew between the two hedgehogs, hitting the ground. The three heroes turned around, but saw no source. Another blast came from nowhere at them, but Scotty managed to block it with his emerald sword before it hit him.

Scotty: Where are they coming from?!

A third shot came from a different place. It was much larger, and hit one of the fire trucks. The vehicle exploded, sending dangerous shrapnel everywhere. Fortunately, no one was hit.

Sonic: I don't get it!

Knuckles: We've got to be careful…

A series of rapid laser shots erupted from a location several yards away. The three heroes managed to evade each one, and after a few seconds, they stopped coming. The lasers had seemed to come from nowhere.

Knuckles: Okay, this is getting too freaky.

Scotty: The girls said they saw a robot…I don't see anything!

Sonic: Yeah, where's this stuff coming fr-OOOFFF!!!

An invisible force impacted the hedgehog in the chest, knocking him backwards. Sonic hit the ground hard, sliding several feet. Then, right in front of him, a golden colored robot appeared from nowhere. It almost looked like Metal-2, but without the jet engine body and with two jet boosters extending from the back. Other than that, it looked like Tails, just without his signature tails. It had two separate eyes, and each one had a glowing red pupil. It stood over Sonic, pointing an arm blaster similar to Metal-2's at Sonic's head.

Metal Tails: Look upon the face of your doom!

Scotty charged at Metal Tails, but the robot detected him and rocketed off into the air before Scotty could stop. The green hedgehog swung at empty air, and, after a moment, looked up into the sky. He saw Metal Tails flying straight down toward him, and moved away just in time. The robot slammed into the ground, creating a small crater and blowing Sonic a few feet away. The hedgehogs regrouped as the smoke cleared. Nothing was there.

Sonic: Maybe we got lucky and he blew himself up…

The robot reappeared in front of Sonic, and grabbed him by the shoulders.

Metal Tails: Trust me, you aren't that lucky!

Metal Tails took off into the sky, carrying Sonic with him. They traveled up very quickly, and the G-forces were getting to Sonic. There was a sudden stop, and the hedgehog nearly blacked out.

Sonic: Oh, my head…

Metal Tails: Goodbye, you pest!

The robot raised Sonic up slightly, and hurled him toward the ground. Sonic yelled as he fell, closing his eyes. After a moment, he felt something metal beneath him, and cautiously opened his eyes. He saw the face of Metal-2. They descended to the ground, landing softly. Metal-2 set Sonic down as Tails ran up to him.

Sonic: Metal…You saved me!

Metal-2: You can thank me later. We have more pressing concerns!

Tails: sonic, is everything all right?! How did you get in the air?

Sonic: That thing!

Sonic pointed up, and Metal Tails hit the ground in front of them, landing hard and sending up a cloud of dust. It was in a crouching position, one knee on the ground.

Tails: That robot! It looks…like me!

Metal Tails stood up, slowly.

Sonic: You shouldn't be here, Tails; it's dangerous!

Tails: We had to come! Once Aunt Sally told me about what happened to them, Metal and I had to come and find you!

Scotty: I guess it's a good thing you did. Otherwise, Sonic would be a pancake!

Metal Tails armed his blasters, aiming them at Sonic. Metal-2 saw this, and dashed in front of him, activating his shield in time to deflect the shots. Metal-2 activated his own blasters, and returned fire. The robots both instinctively took off into the air, and flew back and forth while exchanging fire. They kept rising as they fired, and both moved around substantially, doing flips and speed boosts to evade each other's fire. Down below, the others regrouped , gathering together and watching the aerial battle. Metal Tails had the upper hand in terms of maneuverability, since it had not only its two main boosters, but an additional one in each leg. Metal-2 was running out of advantages; they both had similar strategy programming, and each knew what the other would do. Metal Tails lacked a shield, but dodged almost everything that came at him.

Tails: This is bad! Metal could get hurt!

Scotty: I know, but there's nothing we can do from down here.

The robots continued fighting, both taking more hits by the second. Metal-2 rushed toward his opponent, trying to tackle it from the sky. Metal Tails managed to barely evade, rushing above his adversary and flying around behind him. They circled each other in midair, and suddenly, Metal Tails returned the tactic, but was much faster than Metal-2. He zipped above the robot, and came crashing down on top of him. Both robots came tumbling out of the sky, grappling with each other as they fell.

Metal-2: I will not let you win!

Metal Tails: That's not your decision to make!

They both tried to physically tear each other apart, and Metal-2 ripped off Metal Tails's right arm as the fox robot pointed his jet blasters at his opponent. The golden robot fired a powerful charged up shot from each blaster, and they tore through Metal-2's body. The hedgehog robot exploded, but not before halfway crushing Metal Tails's left arm. Flaming pieces of Metal-2 erupted from the sky, slamming into the ground.

Tails: Metal!!

Metal Tails returned to the ground, slowly. He had suffered heavy damage, and scooped up his removed arm from the ground.

Metal Tails: You are lucky that I must repair myself…But I will return!!

He took off again, flying into the distance. Tails ran to the head of his fallen friend, picking it up as he sat on his knees. It had been severed at the neck, and torn wires extended from it. Sonic approached his friend as the tears welled up in the fox's eyes.

Sonic: Tails…I'm sorry.

Tails looked up at him, and wiped his eyes.

Tails: It's not your fault…It's mine.

Sonic: No, he did this himself.

Tails: But it was me that asked him to come! If I hadn't brought him here, this never would've happened!

Sonic: Don't worry, buddy. We'll rebuild him. Everything will be fine.

Tails: I know…but…still, I can't help but feel sad.

After a moment, Tails stood up. The others helped him collect the pieces, and they carried them back to the base. They set the parts on an operating table as Billy walked in.

Billy: My goodness! What happened to him?!

Scotty: We ran into Robotnik's latest creation. It was like a more powerful Metal-2, but in the form of Tails.

Billy: A Metal Tails? That is most intriguing…

Knuckles: You can delve into the mysteries of it later, Billy. Right now we need to fix this guy up in case that robot comes back.

Billy: Yes, of course. Come on, Tails, let's see what we can do about this.

Sally had watched them come in, and noticed something funny about Tails. She stopped Sonic in the hall to talk to him.

Sally: Sonic, did you notice anything weird about Tails?

Sonic: Well, not really. I mean, he was sad when Metal got blown up, but other than that, no. Why do you ask?

Sally: I think he blames himself. I mean, he really thinks it's all his fault. I'm worried it might get to him.

Sonic: Nah, he'll bounce back. Don't worry, once that robot's up and running again, everything will be normal.

Sally: If you say so…

Several miles away…

Metal Tails landed in the woods, next to a tree. He needed to make repairs, and preferred to stay hidden as he did so. The robot sat on the ground, reattaching his arm while his other arm undid the crushed damage.

Metal Tails: The sooner my nanorobots are done, the better. All this greenery makes me sick!

The right arm was soon completely repaired and attached. Metal Tails opened and closed the hand, testing it. It worked perfectly, and by now he was fully repaired. A small bird landed next to him, and it hopped up closer, trying to figure out the strange looking machine. Metal Tails looked down at it.

Metal Tails: Aww, look at that…A cute little bird.

The robot moved his arm around and shot the bird with his blasters. The tiny animal disintegrated, leaving only a few feathers, which drifted to the scorched ground.

Metal Tails: They make wonderful target practice.

Metal Tails laughed cruelly as he stood back up. All of his parts were fully functional, and he flew into the sky. The robot pointed all his weapons at the trees below and fired, setting several trees ablaze.

Metal Tails: That should take care of any remaining life forms…

The robot recalled the location of the refuge base, and set off toward it at full throttle. Back in the lab at that very base, Metal-2 was repairing himself with the assistance of Billy and Tails. The fox eyed the glowing areas as the tiny nanytes restored broken connections between everything.

Billy: Tails…Tails!

Tails: Huh? What is it? …Oh, right. Sorry.

Billy: Quite alright. Please hand me that piece.

Tails did so, giving Billy a piece of Metal-2's body. The echidna returned it to about where it belonged, and watched as the nanytes reattached the piece. Tails returned to an almost trance-like state, watching the robots as he thought of various things. For no apparent reason, and without Billy noticing, he grabbed a jar and captured several of the robots, which lost power and shut down as they were separated from Metal-2. Tails closed the jar, and walked out of the lab. It wasn't until Tails left that Billy noticed anything had happened at all. The echidna didn't pay any mind to it, and put the next piece back where it belonged.

What's going on here? And what's up with Metal Tails's destroying stuff like that?

Stay tuned, and please review!