(SA2) Clash of the Titans

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Author's Notes:

Clash of the Titans is my personal interpretation of Tails' and Robotnik's battle aboard the space colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic and all related IP belongs to SEGA/ Sonic Team
No copyright or trademark infringement intended.

Rated "Web-14" for violence and mild language

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Clash of the Titans

High above Planet Earth, on the control deck of the orbital space colony ARK, Miles once again faced his nemesis.

"Back away from her, Lardnik!"

Miles, sitting in the cockpit of his Tornado II combat mech, plodded towards Amy and Dr. Robotnik. The mad scientist, his face twisted with malice and yet grinning from ear to ear, trained his weapon on Amy Rose's skull. The pink hedgehog whimpered and looked pleadingly at Miles.

"Tails... help..."

"Ah! So, Sonic's orange sidekick comes to the rescue, eh?" oozed Robotnik. "Stop right there, Tails! Or else this whiny brat will find her brains decorating the floor!"

Miles Prower halted the advancement of the Tornado. His machine was now only fifty paces from Robotnik's own APU. His mind raced; he needed to find a way to get Amy out of harms way, but the eight-and-a-half year old fox couldn't think of a sure-fire plan to save her. He could try the grappling hook, but that could accidentally kill her in the process...

"Eggman, you slimeball!" the boy shouted through the external speakers. "Release Amy this instant!"

"Why certainly, just as soon as you tell me where you've got the seventh Chaos emerald, and where that blue freak is hiding!"

"That emerald is crammed up your fat butt, Robotnik! And Sonic will be here soon enough to tear you a new one!" the fox shouted defiantly.

"Oh really?" Robotnik replied. He had the upper hand and he knew it. "Power down that ridiculous tin can of yours, or YOU can explain to Sonic why Lady Rose here will be missing her head!"

Tails gritted his teeth. He didn't want to comply, but Amy's capture threw a wrench into his plans. Sonic was zooming across the ARK toward them, he was sure of it, but he had to stall for time.

"All right, Egghead! You win this round. All systems, powering --"

That instant, a bulkhead door flew open, and the Fastest Thing Alive stepping into the room. Despite the dire circumstances, Sonic's face beamed with confidence, and he walked in as if he owned the place. Amy squealed.

"Well, well," Robotnik began, "The perpetual pain in my egg has arrived! Let's take care of business first, shall we, Sonic? Hand over the Chaos emerald, slowly, and then we'll talk about your girlfriend. That is, if you actually care for her!"

To prove his point, Dr. Robotnik tapped his weapon on Amy's skull.

Sonic looked at Tails, and the fox gave him an almost imperceptible nod. Sonic smirked, and dug his hand into his quills, rummaging around until he located the item he was looking for. Precisely how Sonic was able to store stuff in his quills was anybody's guess. Pulling his hand out from behind his head, he clutched the false Chaos emerald that Tails had constructed earlier.

"Now! Put the emerald down there, and back off!" Robotnik growled, and pointed at a circular pad in the center of the control deck.

"My, you've turned into a big-time villain, Doctor!" Sonic responded. He ambled casually toward the illuminated platform.

"Here?" he asked when he was in the center of the pad.

"Yesss... There..."

Suddenly, a transparent tube shot from the ceiling and slammed into the floor, encapsulating the blue hedgehog.

"Whoa, what?!"

"Sonic!!"

"Ha! You thought you could trick me with that fake emerald, didn't you? FAIL!"

Tails leaned forward in his seat. "So... just how did you know that wasn't the real emerald?!"

"TAILS!!!" Sonic hissed.

Ivo Robotnik laughed maniacally. "Because you just told me, stupid!"

Tails gasped, and the enormity of his blunder hit him like a spike trap.

"Now, for a little space ride!" the mad doctor declared. "Capsule clears the colony, and BAM! No more hedgehog!"

Dr. Robotnik was almost dancing inside his APU.

Sonic placed his free hand on the transparent barrier separating him from his friends. He looked Tails squarely in the eye, and said, "Tails... I'm counting on you to finish this. Just... believe in yourself." The blue hedgehog then looked at Amy Rose. "And Amy... take care."

"Oh, ENOUGH of this sentimental bull crap!"

Robotnik hit a button, and the capsule was ejected from the ARK, carrying Sonic with it into space.

"No!" cried Tails. Through the window, he watched helplessly as the capsule carrying his lifelong friend rocketed away.

When the capsule was five miles away, it exploded.

"Farewell, my admirable adversary!" Robotnik chimed with glee. "May your ashes rest in peace!"

Amy just stared out the window. "S-S-Sonic?!"

Remembering there were still two other Mobians on the control deck, the obese Human once again leveled his weapon at Amy Rose's head.

"Now, we have some unfinished business to take care of," said Robotnik, his voice cold and menacing. "If you give me the real emerald, I will release you both! You have my promise!"

Tails didn't hear. He stared at the floorboard inside the cockpit of his mech, his body shaking uncontrollably. Tails clenched the control sticks with unprecedented strength, and the metal handles bent under the force of his grip. Tears of anger and self-reproach streamed down his face.

"I... I j-just... just... k-killed..."

"HEY! Did you hear me, fox-boy?! I will not be ignored! HEED ME!"

Tails snapped.

"SSSSOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCC !!!"

Something broke inside of the Mobian fox. An inner fury was breaching its boundaries, and it threatened to blind him to anything but his target. Tails now stood up straight inside the Tornado. The boy was still sobbing, but his eyes were narrowed, and his face had death written all over it. Tails felt drunk on his own adrenalin, and he saw red. He glared at Robotnik.

"You... murderer!"

"Oh. Noticed that, did you?" Dr. Robotnik replied. "Took you long enough! Now then, if your emotional roller coaster ride is over, I --"

"SILENCE!" Tails roared.

The fat man was actually taken aback by the young Mobian's assertiveness.

"Sonic asked me to do something for him! For the first time, he asked me to do something in his stead! So do you know what I'm going to do?"

"What?!" Robotnik demanded.

"I can never forgive you for what you've done. I'm going to KILL you, Lardnik!!"

Tails hit a button on his dashboard. The grappling hook shot out, missing Amy Rose by an inch. It didn't take her two heartbeats to figure out what she needed to do. Amy grabbed the titanium cable as Tails reeled it back in.

"You!"

Robotnik fired his weapon, but missed the girl. His wide face contorted with rage. Amy scurried behind a bulkhead as the two technological titans prepared to clash.

"Oh, that is it!" steamed Robotnik, pounding buttons inside his APU. "All sytems, full power!

"Tactical systems, power up!" Tails announced as he did the same.

Electroplasmic shielding flared as Tails and Robotnik opened fire on the other's machine.  Fifty-caliber chain guns, pulse lasers, and rockets were brought into play, and Tails strafed to one side as his weapons pounded Dr. Robotnik's mech.  Eggman's APU was heavily armored and shielded, but Tails' was lighter and more maneuverable. The floor melted and boiled into metallic mist as Tails dodged a wicked-looking plasma beam.  Robotnik hurled curses at the furious fox as his machine ate six high-explosive missiles. His APU knocked off balance, Robotnik teetered precariously on one "leg". The Tornado II ran at Robotnik's mech at flank speed, ramming it hard. Both machines went down, and they both slid across the floor, their energy shielding acting like grease over the hard surface.

Tails recovered first, and pummeled Robotnik's mech with the Tornado's chain guns. The shield flickered and sputtered, and Tails knew it was about to fail. Sensing impending doom, Robotnik kicked to one side, bringing his machine's main cannon into firing position. Tails inhaled sharply, and diverted all available power to the Tornado's forward shield generators. Robotnik's primary weapon fired, and Tails was momentarily blinded as Robotnik's plasma beam engulfed the Tornado II. Tails' combat mech was lifted off the floor and was flung halfway across the room, and landed in a shower of sparks.

Tails' shield was dead.

Robotnik's machine finally righted itself, and charged its plasma cannon for a final blow. Struggling with the controls, Tails managed to bring the Tornado back to an upright position, and quickly realized he was about to get fried. Tails dumped all remaining power into his own plasma cannon, but he knew he wouldn't be able to fire with a full charge. There was simply no time.

"Now you DIE!!"

Dr. Robotnik fired his main cannon, and Tails responded in kind. The two beams collided in the center of the control deck, fighting viciously for supremacy. Thick arcs of lightning flew across the room as the superheated ion beams washed away from each other, turning back on their masters. Soon, the firing matrix within the Tornado II began to fail, and Robotnik's beam crept fatally close to Tails' combat mech. Tails could feel himself cooking within his own cockpit.

"You have no chance!" Robotnik roared. "You have NO CHANCE!!"

My machine has reached its limit!!

Amid the blinding light, Tails spotted his last hope. He fired a single missile, not at Robotnik, but behind him. The rocket raced along the circumference of the control deck, circling behind Robotnik's APU. Too late, the mad doctor saw Tails' target.

The window.

Dr. Robotnik was not directly in front of the plate glass window, but close enough to matter. The window shattered into a billion shards, and entire control deck explosively decompressed. Amy Rose shrieked as she hung on to the bulkhead for dear life. Tails shot the grappling hook into a nearby support column, hooking his toasted machine to it. Both plasma beams deactivated as the two combat mechs diverted power to other systems. Robotnik's machine dug a robotic claw into the floor, trying desperately to hold its ground. Tails fired a chain gun wildly, seeking to score a hit on his enemy's prone form. A bullet struck the mechanical claw, and Robotnik sailed into the air, screaming curses from inside his mech.

But his death was not to be.

Sensing an atmospheric containment breach, the ARK's security system activated metallic shutters over the broken window, sealing the hole. Robotnik's APU crashed into the shutters, denting them. His shield sputtered and died. As the control deck re-pressurized, Amy puked from decompressive shock, and both combat mechs struggled to right themselves. Robotnik's machine got up first.

"I'm going to rip you apart, boy!"

Robotnik sped as fast as his APU could travel toward Tails' dying Tornado. Clamping two mechanical claws on either side of Tails' machine, Dr. Robotnik proceeded to pull the Tornado apart by the seams. The horrid screech of tearing metal and severing power lines assaulted Tails' ears, and the Mobian fox unleashed one final hail of gunfire into his enemy's unshielded frame before bailing out. Robotnik destroyed the Tornado II with terrible force, and scattered its broken and burning carcass across the floor. Ivo laughed maniacally.

But Tails was far from defeated.

Stung by the loss of his beloved creation, Tails focused his strategy on old-fashioned melee combat. Still seething with rage over Sonic's murder, Tails' tails glowed in the dimly lit control deck.

"Surrender, you WEAK little fox!" Robotnik's voice blared over his machine's external speakers. "Give me that Chaos emerald NOW!!"

"Up your fat, skanky arse, Egg-sack!" Tails declared. "I beat you six months ago in Station Square, I'll beat you again!!"

Tails' body was still brightly scarred from his battle with the Egg Walker.

"In your dying fantasies, fuzzball!"

Robotnik's chain gun opened fire, and Tails' dual appendages flattened into blades, curved into propellers, and spun on their central axis, lifting the fox into the air. Tails had inflicted considerable damage to Robotnik's mech, and its targeting system was having difficulty tracking the flying Mobian. A dozen rockets flew at him, and Tails employed all of his aerial gymnastics in an effort to dodge them. They exploded behind him, but Tails had prepared for their blast waves. The flying fox felt his back sizzle.

The cramped space of the control deck was hampering his agility.

Pulse lasers threatened to cut him down, and Tails flew in low, trying to keep his maneuvers unpredictable. Without properly functioning targeting systems, Dr. Robotnik could not accurately project the boy's probable flight paths. Frustrated, Ivo resorted to filling the air with weapons fire, hoping for a lucky shot. Tails broke through the maelstrom, and smashed his heel against the cockpit window. The glass cracked, and Robotnik's APU wobbled unsteadily. Flipping through the air, Tails wielded his namesakes like twin swords, and sliced off the machine's chain gun.

Tails suddenly felt dizzy, and Robotnik back-handed the Mobian with a mechanical claw. Tails was sent careening into the nearest wall, and he crumpled to the floor. Tails looked up, and saw the wall streaked with red. The fox felt his side, and his white glove came back sticky with his blood. A bullet had punctured him, and he could feel his life force draining away.

Did I just lose... my last ring?

Tails struggled to his feet, his anger mixing with desperation.

Sonic... I... will not fail you!

Tails willed away the pain in his side, and tried to ignore his increasing dizziness. Robotnik just gloated inside his APU.

"Every game requires a loser, boy, and today... that loser... is you!"

That moment, a heavy object clattered near Tails' feet. He looked down and stared in shock.

It was Amy's Piko-Piko hammer.

"KICK HIS ASS, MILES!!" Amy Rose shouted from across the room.

"What the?! What's tha... oh, crap."

Tails smiled at the loaned weapon. He clutched it in his hands, and struggled to lift it as his side burned in protest. Tails hoisted it over his head, and ran. Before Robotnik could react, Tails was upon him. He smashed Amy's hammer into the combat mech's center of mass, and Ivo found his machine losing its balance. Tails flipped through the air once more, and brought the hammer down upon the cockpit.

"This. Is. For. SONIC!!!"

Tails smashed through the glass, and Robotnik's machine tipped over. As the APU fell on its backside, Tails began throttling Robotnik's fat neck. The boy's blood loss was critical now, and was oozing over the fat Human's clothes. Robotnik squirmed at Tails slowly crushed his windpipe. Tails' grip on reality was slipping, however, and he hardly felt Eggman's fist collide with his lower jaw. Tails sailed several feet away before landing in a heap.

"Oh, no! TAILS!" Amy shrieked.

The pink hedgehog ran as fast as she could to Tails' fallen form.

"Tails! Tails! Speak to me! You can't die!" she sobbed. "I can't... I can't lose you, too!!"

"Oh yes, you can!!" Robotnik wheezed as he wriggled out of his mech. He brandished a sidearm in his left hand; the knuckles of his right hand were split open and bleeding from crashing into Tails' teeth. "Now, both you stupid furries shall know the wrath of Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the greatest scientific genius in the world!"

"Amy..." Tails whispered weakly. "Run... save... your... self..."

"No! I can't, Tails! I can't just leave you here like this! Who's going to look after me now that... that..."

"Oh, give me a freaking BREAK! I've had enough of your sickly sentimentality! Now, both of you, DIE --"

Amy couldn't take any more. Raging, she snatched her fallen hammer and lunged at Robotnik before he knew what hit him. Her Piko-Piko hammer sunk two feet into Robotnik's gut, and the Human's eyes just about popped out their sockets. The shock wave spread over his entire mass, and Dr. Robotnik flew twenty feet through the air, landing near Tails' destroyed Tornado II. Ivo's head swam, but just before he lost consciousness, he spotted a glittering, golden gemstone within the wreckage of Tails' mech.

Amy turned her attention to the dying fox.

"Miles! Oh please, Miles! Please respond! Don't die on me!!"

Too weak to open his eyes, Tails could only whimper, "I'm... sorry."

Amy sobbed hysterically, holding Tails against her body, not caring in the least that his blood was ruining her dress.

Her dress!!!

Amy Rose dug around inside her dress, searching frantically. Finally, she found the ring.

"Tails! Tails, wake up! I've got a Power Ring! The one you told me to save in case I ever needed it! ...Tails?"

The boy wasn't responding.

"NO! Not now! TAILS!!!

Trying to think of something, Amy pressed the Power Ring into Tails' chest. Cradling his limp form in her arms, she prayed for a miracle. Out of pure desperation, Amy Rose kissed him on his lips, pressing their muzzles together. Whether or not her embrace had anything to do with it, the Power Ring glowed.

Amy was only a C-rank Chaos adept, so she barely felt the ring's power. Most of the ring's energy was absorbed into Tails, and he inhaled sharply as he found his life being restored. His eyes flew open, and he saw just where his lips were.

"Amy!!"

"Tails, you're alive! Thank goodness!"

No longer kissing, Tails and Amy simply embraced each other as tears of sorrow streamed down their faces. They had both lost an invaluable friend.

"Cannon countdown: T-minus sixty seconds" droned the ARK's computer voice.

"The Earth..." whispered Amy.

"Forgive me, Sonic... I've failed you..." whispered Tails.

"Cannon countdown: T-minus thirty sec --"

The ARK suddenly shook violently, and Tails and Amy were jostled apart. On an undamaged view screen, the unmistakable smirk-and-thumbs-up of a certain blue hedgehog was plastered on the monitor.

"Hi guys. Miss me?"

Tails and Amy both gasped.

"SONIC!!!"