Tails the Fox
Chapter 32 - The ARK
Stage 17 - Space Prison
Boss 21 - Zipp the Hornet

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Copter was frantically searching the ARK for something. The colony was in such disrepair that the journey was incredibly trecherous. There were still Artificial Chaos hidden throughout the corridors as well, but Copter largely ignored them. He was desperate to complete his mission as soon as possible. After some exploration, Copter managed to find the the replica of the Master Emerald shrine where Shadow had fought the Biolizard before. Hovering in the air in the center of the room was Zipp the Hornet.

"Hey! If it isn't Copter!" the hornet said, surprised. "What are you doing here? Are you lost, like me?" Copter had never met Zipp before, and was naturally confused. "Who are you? Have we met?" he asked. Zipp flew over to him at eye level. "I'm Experiment 4, Zipp the Hornet! I believe you've already met Experiment 5, Vortex." At Zipp's words, Copter jumped in surprise. "Vortex was an experiment!? A fifth experiment!?" he stammered, nearly speechless. He thought he was the last, it didn't make sense to him for more experiments to exist. Zipp put his hands on his hips, disappointed in Copter's response. "C'mon, get with the program! There's six of us right now!" he said. Copter thought it over. "There's me, Punchy, Vortex, you..." He stopped suddenly. Zipp shook his head. "You don't know the other two? You don't keep good track of your brothers!" Copter shrugged this off and remembered his mission. "Hey, Zipp, are you here to..." he started to say. Zipp knew what he was referring to. "That's right. I'm looking for him now. Come with me, brother! Let us complete our mission together!" he said. Copter wasn't quite ready to leave yet, though. "Who are the other experiments?" Copter asked. Zipp had already started toward the exit, but stopped suddenly when Copter asked this. Without turning to look at him, Zipp simply said, "I can't tell you that, Copter. It's classified information." This wasn't enough for Copter. He grabbed Zipp by the arm. "No more secrets! I must know everything he didn't tell me!" he demanded. Zipp broke free of Copter's grip and aimed a pistol at him. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you! So, why don't I just do that first!" Copter dashed out of the way as Zipp fired a few shots at him. Zipp laughed manically as his visor targeted Copter. "I've been watching you for some time, slowpoke! This will be like shooting fish in a barrel!"

Zipp fired a few more shots at Copter, discarding his pistol as it ran out of bullets. Copter was dodging too easily. Zipp was surely toying with him. The hornet now produced a gatling gun, which Copter couldn't figure out where he was hiding it. "You're a traitor, I guess. So ready to question our master. Or perhaps not. I have had an itchy trigger finger all day, though, so I'll blast you to bits, regardless!" the demented hornet declared. Copter growled viciously at him. "Guns, guns, guns. All of my enemies are cowards! I don't have time for this!" Zipp responded by letting loose with a torrent of bullets from his gun, his aim weakoned by his rage. As Copter scrambled to avoid the shots, Zipp yelled furiously at him. "Don't insult my guns! Don't you DARE!! Grrrr, I'll blow your head clear off!!" he looked around, he was so preoccupied with simply shooting blindly that he lost track of Copter. The black fox had dashed behind him, and now tried to smack him with a tail attack, which Zipp, living up to his name, zipped out of the way, nearly as fast as Sonic! "Stand still, you glorified fly! I'll swat the information out of you!"

Copter tried to catch Zipp and land an attack, but the hornet repeatedly flew away and fired shot after shot at Copter, who found it very difficult to avoid the shots. Every time Zipp depleted the bullets of one weapon, he somehow produced another. This was getting rediculous. Copter got tired of it really fast, and fought back using Chaos Whirlwind. A chaotic wind blew around the area, and since Zipp was so small, he was easily tossed about. In the attempt to escape the attack, Zipp ditched his gun and put all his effort into flying away. Once he did, he realized that he had run out of guns. "This is impossible! How can you be so lucky as to avoid so many perfect shots!? Perhaps a different approach..." Zipp produced a supply of bombs! He rapidly threw a barrage of them at Copter, who wasn't hit directly, but was caught in the explosions and sent flying into the liquid that surrounded the center platform. He quickly jumped out, considering the fact that he didn't know, or want to know, what the yellowish liquid was.

Zipp had used up all his bombs already, so now he resorted to his only remaining tactic. "I guess I'll just impale you on my stinger then!" he shouted. Zipp had the ability to shoot his stinger at his foes, and a new one would grow back fast enough so that he could fire rapidly. He chased after Copter and began shooting his stingers at him, but since this was a complex manuver for Zipp, (considering the position of a hornet's stinger) Copter found that Zipp was moving more slowly. Seeing his opportunity, Copter ran after Zipp in order to attack him. A few stingers hit him as a result, but they weren't as powerful as bullets, and Copter was able to reach Zipp and smack him with a tailband-powered tail whip! Zipp was knocked away with such force that he landed in the shrine replica. Copter took a moment to pull the stingers out of him, which left him with several cuts, but nothing serious. Then, he ran up the steps of the shrine.

Zipp had landed on his head, and was sitting on the floor rubbing his helmet. "That tailband... So powerful..." he muttered. Copter leaned down to talk to Zipp. "So, will you tell me about the experiments?" he asked once more. Zipp stood up and flew back to eye level, rising with Copter. "Truce! If you help me find him, maybe HE will tell you!" Zipp said. Copter shook his hand. "Fine. Grab your gun and let's go!" Zipp flew over and picked up some of the guns he had dropped earlier. "Time to shoot up some Artificial Chaos!" he chuckled. Copter looked at his clock again. "Time's running out! We better hurry!" he said to himself.

So, Copter and Zipp set about their search through the ARK. Zipp was extremely helpful in fighting the robots that were still hanging around, especially since Copter wouldn't take the time to bother with them. None of the robots posed much of a threat, and Copter was afraid of something much more dangerous that would happen should he fail.

After a while, they reached a prison area in the colony. This area looked much newer than the rest of the ARK, because it had only recently been added. It was a facility designed for a single purpose. Copter and Zipp knew exactly what that was, and it was the reason they were there. The two experiments soon found the object of their search, a large, dark room with nothing inside save a large, rubber door in the back. Vortex was waiting at the door, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground as Zipp flew over to him. "You're late! Did you find the lockpick?" he said. Zipp handed a device to Vortex, while Copter examined the door. "Why would they make the door rubber like that?" he thought. Vortex pushed Copter aside. "Let me work, you usssselesss old clone!" he said. Copter pushed him back. "You let ME work! I can break that open, easy!"
"Let him work!" Zipp shouted to Copter. "You have something else to do! An old friend is here who's just been dying to see you again!"

Copter, confused by this, slowly turned around to see what Zipp was talking about. In the darkness, Copter could make out a figure hanging on the roof by its tail. The creature dropped to the floor, using its broad wings to slow its descent. It held a familiar scythe, and had a growling, canine voice. "Grrrrrrrrr.... Hello..." Copter recognized him immediately. "You... Guard the Gargoyle! I thought I killed you!" he said in disbelief. Guard chuckled in a sinister manner. "You thought so, eh? Grrrrrrr, what sort of moron are you? I was created to be able to destroy you, and that's what I intend to do! Let's go, it's time for a rematch!"

To be continued...