Welcome Back Pt. 5

Tails slowly placed the last Chaos Emerald on the keyboard in front of the doctor. He’d ran all the way back to Eggman’s base, which was safely hidin deep within the forest.

“Are they okay..?” The fox hesitated slightly as he asked.

“They’re fine. I told you if you kept your part of the deal I’d keep mine.” Eggman picked up the Emerald and looked at it closely. “ Oh, they’ve also been asking to see you.”

“…Y-You mean they’re here?”

“Of course….How silly of me, I forgot to tell you.” Eggman then placed the gem back down on the keyboard. “Bring them in!”

A steel door behind the two suddenly opened. Three large navy blue robots marched in, each holding a tied Mobian. The three robots, along with the Mobians in front of them, made a line directly in front of Tails and Eggman.

“So nice of you three to join us today. “ Eggman clasped his hands together and stood up.

“Just get on with your ‘I-beat-you-hahaha’ speech before I fall asleep.” Sonic taunted with a fake yawn.

“Oh no, I’m saving that one for when I take over the world. “ Eggman chuckled. “I’m just going to explain to you my best plan ever, because I hate keeping secrets from my rival.”

“By now you have probably figured out that Tails works for me. Mind control, clones, robots; all were things I /could/ have done, but that’s not what I did. Tails get over here.” Tails gave a shakey nod and joined the doctor. He then looked down at the ground, to embarrassed to look at his friends. “He’ll do anything I say. You want to know why?”

“Threats. It was a very simple plan; threaten to kill ones friends and that person will do anything you tell them to. “

“Ha. I could have taken anything you threw at me! “ Tails slightly cringed at Sonic’s words; he almost knew what was coming next.

“Oh ho ho ho. It’s not that kind of attack, hedgehog. Its—no, let me just show you. “ Eggman grinned and pulled out the same small remote as before. He pressed one of the buttons and flipped the switch.

Tails suddenly cried out in pain as electricity coursed through him. In only a few seconds he was on his knees, gritting his teeth to stop himself from yelling.

Eggman flipped the switch again, stopping Tails pain. The whole thing had caused all three Mobians to stare at the fox.
“So you see, I could easy kill all three of you whenever I feel like it. That’s only if Tails doesn’t do what I say. If he follows my commands I’ll spare you, and that’s what he has been doing. For seven months. “ Eggman continued as Tails slowly stood back up.

One of the Mobians, a rabbit, spoke up. “ Tails….is that true?”

Tails slowly nodded, too scared to say a word.

“Oh ho ho ho ho ho.” Eggman laughed. “So, before I send you three back down to the jail area, I have a task that my ‘partner’ needs to complete.”

Eggman quickly turned around and grabbed something from his desk. He then turned back around and handed it to Tails. It was his gun.

“Shoot one of them.”

Tails looked up at the doctor and froze, his mouth hanging open slightly. He’d done it before, sure. But now his friends knew what he was going through, and he might never see them again to say he was sorry for what he had done.

With the gun in both hands, Tails finally looked up at his friends. Both Amy and Cream looked very sad, and slightly scared. Sonic looked mad, like he could tear apart anything in his way if he wanted.

“If you don’t shoot one of them, one dies.”

Tails raised the weapon that he had been forced to use for the past few days. Not wanting to harm neither Amy nor Cream, he aimed at Sonic.

A couple seconds passed with nothing; no fire, no talking, nothing.

“Hurry it up, fox.” Eggman growled.

“….No.” Tails whispered back.

“What!”

“No..” Tails replied louder, spinning on his heels to face Eggman.

“You’ve just set you and your friends, fate.” Eggman threatened hold the remote up. The same button that he had pressed before was still down.

Eggman flipped the switch just as Tails fired two stun-gun shots at Eggman’s ‘lower region’. With a girl-ish cry, Eggman dropped the remote and fell backwards onto the ground riving in pain.

Tails slowly began to walk towards the remote on the floor, fighting back the pain as best he could. He was so focused on getting to it, he didn’t realize Sonic, Amy, and Cream were starting to fight off the robots; and they were winning.

Suddenly Tails legs just gave way and he fell to the ground. There were only mere inches away from him and the remote. But his body couldn’t take the electricity any longer.

He shut his eyes, and that was the last thing he remembered from that night.

====
( One week later )

Tails sighed and laid back down on the grass again. The warm summer air whirled around him and the cliff side. For the past few days he had come up there on sunset by himself.

The bushes suddenly rustled behind him. He sat up with another sigh and looked over his shoulder.

“Look Sonic, I just need some time alo- Oh, hey Amy.”

The pink hedgehog brushed some of the leaves off her dress and smiled at the young fox.

“…It’s really a beautiful sunset, isn’t it?” She said cheerfully and the hedgehog came over and sat down next to tails.

“Yeah..” Tails replied with a small nod as he looked back out towards the red sky.

After a few minutes of silence between the two friends, Amy spoke up. “ Tails….I know something is bothering you, what is it?”

With a sigh Tails shut his eyes. “ It’s just….nobody trusts me anymore. I still get glares when walking around Station Square. So I come up here….away from it all.”

With a small sad smile Amy replied, “ It’ll take some time but you can gain there trust again. “

“..I know.”

The last rays of sun finally disappeared from the sky. The weather turned slightly colder and stars began to dot the dark night sky….

The End…..