GeneX - Tails the Fox
Chapter 46 - Battle For Supremacy
Boss 33 - Tails Vs Copter

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

The elevator came to a stop at the top floor, which was Darkegg Fortress's power plant. To Tails's surprise, Copter was already there! "I've been expecting you!" Copter said. "You must think you're so great, being 'real!' Kinda wish I was." he growled. Tails stepped out of the elevator slowly. "Copter, why are you siding with Eggman?" he wondered aloud. Copter ignored him. "Look at you! You make me sick! It is painfully clear to me: You don't deserve that Tailband!" Tails thought Copter meant that in response to his question. "What does that have to do with anything!?" Copter pointed at the tailband, which Tails was already wearing. "That tailband contains power beyond your understanding! Give it to me!" Tails would not let Copter intimidate him. "Not until you tell me why you want it!" 

"Why!?" Copter yelled. "You want to know why!?" Copter was stopped cold. "Hey... Why IS that?" he thought. "Then again, who cares!?" He laughed at Tails. "You do realize that you're in no position to be asking questions! That belongs to me! I opened the Chaos Shrine! So hand it over!!" Tails could tell that Copter was a bit uncertain about this, which served to increase his belief that there may be some good in Copter. "You don't even know why, do you? Why can't you just stop this then?" Copter was suddenly seized by an intense rage. "You want to stop me!? Just try and stop me!! Come on, if you want the tailbands so bad, take it from me!" Copter seemed ready to fight to the death over this. Tails felt Copter misunderstood him. "I don't want them! But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you have them!" Copter's anger only increased. "You annoying little.... GIVE ME THAT!!" He rushed after Tails and kicked him into the elevator doors, breaking them with the force of the attack. Tails fell to the floor in front of the elevator shaft. "Fine, then, Copter... Have it your way..." he muttered, rising to his feet. "If you want to fight, then I guess there's no choice!" His determination surprised Copter somewhat, but he found it more annoying. "Then face me, coward!"


"And so it begins." The Doomsayer had been leading Shadow toward the top of the tower, but stopped suddenly. "I warned those fools." he said. "What are you talking about?" Shadow asked, a bit confused. The Doomsayer looked out a nearby window, where he spotted Cream, Cheese, and SPOT exiting the tower. Cream was holding the light blue Chaos Emerald, the last one! "All seven Chaos Emeralds have been found!" the Doomsayer proclaimed, "It is time for total destruction to begin! It sure has gotten late. I must move quickly." He started moving again, his pace quickened. "Why the rush?" Shadow asked. "Oblivion waits for no one!" The Doomsayer replied.

"I can't believe we found a Chaos Emerald!" Cream said excitedly. "We better get it home and put it in a safe place!" Looking around outside, she realized that she had no idea how to get home. "Wait a minute! We came here on the Tornado, but it's gone!" she realized. "What should we do, SPOT?" The robot's monitor responded quickly. "Best action would be to find Sonic." Cream looked back up the huge tower. "Of course... Why didn't I think of that? Can you find him, SPOT?" The robotic puppy nodded, and led Cream back into the tower.


Tails and Copter fought for a while, neither making much progress for victory. Copter had begun to grow impatient. "Why don't you ever quit!? I guess it's time I kicked this up a notch! Catch me if you can, Miles Prower!" He ran up the stairs to the roof, using a remote he had gotten from Char before leaving. Tails chased Copter, and in moments they were at the top of the tower, many miles above the ground. Using the remote, Copter had called the Hurricane to him, and it was flying in circles around the roof. "I hear you're supposed to be a great pilot. So, I challenge you with my own plane, built by Dr. Eggman!" Tails used his own remote to call the Tornado, which he had left hidden nearby in case he needed it. "Eggman has a strange sense of humor, building a plane so similar to the Tornado for you." Tails said, running to his own plane. Copter started running for the Hurricane, concealing the terror in his eyes. "What AM I doing?!" he thought. "I'm bound to get us both killed with this crazy stunt... But I can't back down now!"

The two planes took off, flying out over the ocean, with the Hurricane in the lead while Tails followed in the Tornado. Though Tails had an easy target, he hesitated to shoot at Copter. Copter was a terrible pilot, barely knowing how to fly, but he was also a quick learner, and so took a gamble on this sky chase. It payed off, for while Copter was figuring out the controls, Tails was merely trying to catch up with Copter. In a moment, he did. "Copter, this is crazy! You can barely fly that thing! Please, land it before you hurt yourself!" Copter slowed down, so the Tornado passed in front of him. "Forget it, Tails! You had your chance!" Copter fired the Hurricane's guns, and nearly hit the Tornado. It was a shot a good pilot would easily have made, but since Copter was such a novice, he had trouble hitting the Tornado. So, he tried to get closer for an easier shot. However, he messed up again, and wound up in front of Tails. Tails fired a warning shot at the Hurricane. "Don't make me shoot you down, Copter!" he shouted. Copter wasn't listening. He put the Hurricane on auto pilot and jumped onto the wing of the plane. "There's more than one way to win a dogfight! Let's see how the Tornado likes Chaos Whirlwind!" Copter sent a chaotic cyclone soaring toward the Tornado, which caused the plane to spin out! Tails struggled to get the plane back on track as it began to dive towards the ocean below!

Copter, confident that Tails was finished, hopped back into the cockpit of the Hurricane and switched the controls back to manual. However, Tails had managed to save the Tornado from crashing, and was soon behind Copter again. "I guess I'll have to damage the plane to get him to land..." Tails realized. He fired a few shots at the Hurricane, taking Copter off guard. "Gah! I'm hit!!" Copter shouted, looking back and noticing smoke coming from his plane. "No matter! Follow me, Tails!" Copter turned the Hurricane in a new direction, leading Tails far away from Darkegg Fortress. "Where are you going, Copter!? You need to land, now!" Tails shouted, though Copter could barely hear him, being a good distance ahead.

Copter led Tails to the Mystic Ruins. Deep in the jungle was Copter's destination: Shadow Arc. Somehow, Copter managed to land the damaged Hurricane safely on the roof. Tails landed the Tornado there as well. During the trip, it had begun to rain, and now they were in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning was striking the metal "flames" on the torches at the roof of Shadow Arc, and a few of them appeared to be built for that purpose. Tails hopped out of his plane and approached Copter, who was waiting near the still smoking Hurricane. "Where have you led us, Copter?" Tails asked. "Don't remember, Tails? You were here before! This is where it all began!" Copter replied. After some thought, Tails realized what he meant. "You mean... You were created here, Copter?" Copter wasn't interested in answering questions. "Enough! Sorry, Tails, but it's time for you to die now!"

Copter leapt into action, and attempted to strike Tails down with a swift tail whip, powered by the Tailband of Chaos! Tails parried the attack by whipping at Copter with his own band powered tails. The impact knocked them both over, and both of them quickly returned to their feet and repeated the attack, with the same result. As in the Darkegg Fortress power plant, they appeared to be evenly matched.

The fight continued for a while longer, until finally they began to tire, and Tails decided to try to talk to Copter again. "It's a complete draw, Copter! Neither of us can win!" "Impossible! Look at you! You're such a weakling! How can you stand up to my power!?" "Please, Copter! Just stop this senseless fight!" "Never! I have to win!"

Another strike of lightning crashed onto the building, this time between the two foxes, causing them both to jump away. Copter used the surprise to try and take Tails off guard, but Tails fought back, and pushed Copter away. Just then, they heard an explosion nearby, and part of the roof was blasted open! Vortex and Zipp jumped out of the hole, with Zipp holding a stick of dynamite! "Gossssh, you two are loud!" Vortex hissed. "It's intolerable!" Zipp added. "Let's see how you like it when I throw a lot of noise your way!" The hornet lit the fuse on the dynamite and started to approach Tails and Copter. "Hold it, Zipp!" Tails and Copter both shouted at once, but it was no use. Zipp threw the dynamite at them, and it exploded between them, hurling them off the roof of the laboratory! "So long, bozos! Have a nice flight!" Zipp chuckled. "Now, let'ssss get back to work!" Vortex said.


Tails had landed near the entrance of the laboratory. Though he was battered and beaten by the blast, it appeared he would be all right. Slowly rising to his feet, Tails looked around, and spotted the sign that Shadow had read on his way into the lab earlier that day. "Shadow Arc... So this is where it began..." he looked around to see if he could spot Copter nearby, but saw no sign of him. "I hope Copter wasn't hurt too bad..." Tails thought. "I guess I'm finished here, for now. I better find Sonic. I bet I worried him after that incident at the construction site..." Thus, Tails began to head back to Darkegg Fortress to try to help his friends.


Copter had been thrown farther than Tails, and had landed near the Mystic Ruins pyramid. He was injured much worse than Tails was. "I hate Zipp." he managed to mutter. The sound of his voice caught the attention of someone nearby. "Hello? Who's there?" The person turned out to be Gemini, out for a late night stroll. "Whoa! What happened to you!? Stay still and I'll heal you, OK?" she said in a concerned tone. Waving her wand over Copter, she cast a spell. "Recoveration!" A soft, blue light covered Copter, and in a few moments, he felt like new. Climbing to his feet, he looked into the eyes of his healer. "Oh... Uh... Thank you, ma'am..." he said, not used to being given such kindness from a stranger. "No problem!" she said, smiling. "My name's Gemini, what's yours?" "Copter..." he muttered, taking a moment to think. "I have to go..." Copter began to walk away. Worried, Gemini followed behind him.


Tikal's spirit stood on the roof of Shadow Arc, gazing out over the horizon. "Through battle, they have gained each other's respect. They're going to need it if they're to get through what's to come..." She closed her eyes, lost in thought. "When darkness and light become one, the chosen ones will bring hope from doom. I just hope it's true..."

To be continued...