Tails the Fox
Chapter 29 - Awry Plans
Boss 19 - Egg Wizard Elite

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

"There's no hope for you this time, Sonic!" Eggman declared, "My Elite Wizards are far more powerful than the originals!" The red wizard's staff shot out a blast of fire at Sonic, while the yellow wizard shot an electric laser. Sonic quickly ran out of the way and rushed at the wizards at full speed. However, before he reached them, the wizards warped out of the way and reappeared behind Sonic! As Sonic turned around, the two wizard robots changed colors, the red one turning blue and the yellow one turning purple. Sonic, not interested in finding out what this meant, instead charged at them, hoping to catch them before they could warp. The purple wizard swung its staff, which fired a jet of water at the area in front of Sonic, while the blue wizard's staff shot a cold wind that froze the water into a sheet of slippery ice! Sonic found himself sliding out of control and nearly slid off the roof, but the ice hadn't reached the edge of the roof. Sonic wasn't safe, however, as two powerful gusts of wind from the wizards started to blow him toward the edge. The now green wizards had done their best to cut off Sonic's escape, and had succeeded. If he tried to run through the wind, he'd be stuck on the ice, where he'd be a sitting duck, but since it was his only option, Sonic ran straight through the wind. As he passed onto the ice, Sonic rolled into a ball in order to speed straight through. The robots had switched to fire attacks as Sonic rolled by, thus causing the ice to melt away. Eggman, having grown frustrated and impatient, started pressing buttons on his plane's control panel. "I'll blast that hedgehog myself if I have to!" he growled, as a pair of laser weapons appeared on the sides of his plane. "Hopefully these lasers work better than the wall lasers! Now to find out!"

The lasers began firing shot after shot at Sonic, who gracefully jumped and ran out of the way. The robots began firing their own lasers as well, but Sonic was too fast for this to work. So, the robots switched to wind and ice modes, while Eggman held down the trigger for his lasers to fire a constant beam. With one of the wizards blowing fierce wind and the other freezing everything in sight, Sonic realized that he couldn't keep dodging like this forever...

Meanwhile, Tails was watching with binoculars from a nearby rooftop. The Tornado was parked on the same roof, ready for when it was needed. SPOT was sitting in the cockpit with the white and yellow emeralds. "I think it's almost time to put the plan into action!" Tails thought. "I just hope this works. The whole thing's my fault. I'll do anything to fix it." He climbed into the Tornado, sitting SPOT on his lap. "Time to go..."

Sonic was gaining the upper hand, managing to get off several hits on the robots. One of them, the blue, ice wielding one, was shooting off sparks, as if it would explode at any moment. Sonic was deliberately attacking this robot. It was all part of the plan. Sonic was ready to wrap this up. He ran at the green robot, whose wind slowed him down a bit, and the damaged icy wizard approached Sonic from behind. Just before it reached him, though, he jumped out of the way of the icy attack, which the wind blew back at the robot, freezing a large portion of it! Now was Sonic's opportunity. He launched into the air, curling into a ball as he hurtled toward his frozen foe. Sonic smashed right through it, causing it to explode and sending the red Chaos Emerald it held flying. Sonic quickly caught it, and then taunted Eggman, sticking his tongue out at the mad doctor. (and I do mean mad!) Eggman shook his fist angrily at his eternal foe. "You've not won yet, Sonic! I still have one wizard left!"

Tails apparently didn't know that, as he suddenly dropped from the sky, landing in front of Eggman. SPOT followed, holding the two emeralds in its mouth. "Great job, Sonic!" he said, waving to his hero. Sonic frantically pointed at Eggman. "Behind you, Tails! Behind you!!" Tails seemed unable to hear him. Eggman, seizing this opportunity, snatched up SPOT using a metal claw concealed inside his plane! This seemed to take Tails by surprise, as he turned around and looked shocked. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... Tails, you should have known that I wouldn't fall for fake Chaos Emeralds again!" Eggman said. He tried to grab the emeralds away from SPOT, but the robo-dog proved more stubborn than he expected. SPOT tossed the emeralds over to Tails when Eggman loosened his grip on them. So, Eggman tossed SPOT to the floor in frustration. "Blast it! Plan B then!" the doctor motioned to his remaining robot. It approached Cream's cage and aimed its staff at the cute young rabbit. "Hold on! Can't we talk this over!?" Cream cried in a scared tone, holding Cheese tightly as if to protect the Chao. Tails panicked as well, and quickly called to Eggman. "Stop! If I give you the Chaos Emeralds, will you let her go?"

"What are you doing, Tails!" Sonic shouted, sounding almost as though he was pretending to be shocked. Tails held out the emeralds for Eggman to see, and the doctor was about to extend his claw to grab them, but noticed something odd. "Hey... That's the yellow Chaos Emerald! We already have that one! You sneaky little brat! Sonic WAS carrying the real emeralds! I'll obliterate you sneaky tricksters!!! Robot, absorb the Chaos Emerald you collected!"

The green wizard suddenly glowed with a bright light, which was quickly interrupted by sparks and violent shaking. Eggman looked at his robot in shock. "W-what's happening here!? What have you done to my robot!?" he shouted in bewilderment. Sonic and Tails smiled victoriously. "Looks like we win, doc!" Sonic observed. However, something unexpected suddenly happened.

The robot, panicked and ready to explode, attatched itself to the side of Eggman's plane, like a frightened child clutching its parent. Eggman, completely defeated, could only shout out the obvious. "My robot wants me to fix it, but it's about to explode!! I'll get you for this, Sonic! At least I'll take your little friend with me!" the crazed scientist pressed a button on his plane and retracted the cable that was holding Cream's cage, bringing the cage closer to where the blast was about to occur! Tails realized that the explosion would likely kill Cream, and a terrible feeling of panic shot through him. There was no way he'd let this happen! Tails, without thinking, jumped to the cage with his spring shoes and smashed the cage open with a powerful tail whip, which he had quickly used the tailband he got earlier to make sure he would break it. Sonic, acting fast, caught Cream as she fell. However, Eggman was not going down without taking someone with him, so he caught Tails with his plane's claw. "I didn't really want to hurt the rabbit anyway! Now I'll eliminate one of my most annoying foes!" Eggman growled.

Before anyone could act, the robot sparked up much more violently and then exploded! Eggman's plane and Tails went flying into the distance in different directions, with Eggman shouting vows of vengeance as he soared off into the distance. SPOT beeped loudly, activating something on the Tornado, which Tails had left flying in circles above them. The plane now darted off in Tails' direction, a desperate move to catch the poor fox and save his life. However, both Tails and the plane were gone from sight very quickly. "Oh, dear! I hope Tails doesn't get hurt!" Cream said with alarm. Sonic had a very grave expression on his face as he looked into the distance where Tails had been sent flying. "He's gonna be hurt... Let's hope he survives!"

Wasting no time, Sonic and Cream hurried out of the construction site to find a shaken Amy waiting for them. "I saw the Tornado flying off after Tails! What happened!?" she asked, worried. Just then, SPOT began beeping loudly. Sonic looked to see what the robot was so excited about, and it suddenly projected a hologram of Vector, with lots of static interference. "Well, what do ya know! It works! I guess I owe you ten bucks, Charmy..." Vector said. Espio's voice could be heard in the background. "Don't just stand there, say something!"
"Yeah, the signal's really weak, so we don't have much time!" Charmy added. Vector looked a bit annoyed. "Don't rush me! I'll say it!"

"How'd he figure out how to work that thing?" Sonic wondered aloud. Vector, apparently unable to hear him, spoke his message, but the signal was so bad that it could barely be heard. "OK, I hope you're listening, Sonic! -e --- b-- ---s! C--- -- -g---n- ----! It's o-..." Vector tried to say something, but the signal got worse and worse until finally the hologram vanished. "Rats, rotten timing!" Sonic grumbled. "I can't help Vector, because I gotta help Tails! Anyway, I don't know where he is..."

SPOT beeped again, and text on his monitor read, "I have traced the call to GUN Warship, located near an island not far from here." Sonic still didn't care. There was a chance Tails was alive, so he couldn't leave without trying to help him. At that moment, Cream stepped forward. "Sonic! You should go help them! They might need your help more!" she insisted. Sonic and Amy looked a bit confused. "What about Tails?" Amy said. Cream picked up SPOT. "I'll go with his robot to see if he's all right! He saved me back there, so I'll return the favor! Please, Mr. Sonic, don't worry! Just help Mr. Vector!" Sonic saw the determination in her eyes, and realized that this was something she had to try. "All right, then. I'll try to catch up with you as soon as I can, though!" he said. Amy put her arm around Sonic quite suddenly. "Great! Sonic and I can take a romantic cruise to that island, then!" Sonic made a disgusted face, which he quickly hid by running away. "Sorry, Amy! No time to lose!!" Amy pulled out her hammer in response. "Don't just run away from me like that! Come back here!!" she shouted as she chased after him. Cream looked at SPOT's monitor, which read, "I am equipped with a 'Tails-Tracker' sensor. Follow me, Cream." Cream smiled. The sensor also showed his vital signs, which showed that he was still alive. "All right! Let's go find Tails, Cheese!" she cheerfully said to her Chao, who responded with an enthusiastic, "Chao! Chao!" SPOT took off in the direction Tails was in, and Cream followed quickly. After all, Tails was surely hurt from his fall, and she had to help him!

To be continued...