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Description
Chapter 2; First Flight, Slow and Steady

It was pure chaos when the orange fox woke and quickly pulled himself from the wreckage of the downed Tornado. Red and orange flames flickered around what was once the courtyard of a large office building, and had he stayed unconscious any longer the fire that was beginning to consume the biplane would’ve consumed him. Coughing from the smoke, Tails limped away from the burning building, searching for the cover he needed to check his injuries. He could consider himself lucky to only have a few cuts and bruises, but he’d be hurt far worse if the robots surging through the streets saw him just judging from this attack on the city.

That said, it looked like the people had done a pretty good job of evacuating, with no one in sight beyond the occasional robot sweep. The fox had to hide every time, knowing that if Eggman had gone to this extreme, he was a likely target for capture. Hopefully Sonic was doing better than he was, and if he could find his big brother he could use his help. They always worked well as a team, and no amount of aches would make Tails throw in the towel when this city needed him.

Explosions sounded in the background, hinting that GUN fighter jets must’ve finally arrived, but those weren’t all the type of explosions he wanted to hear. He could tell the difference between exploding missiles and crashing airplanes, and all he could do was wince as each boom and crash made his head ache even more. This was a war zone now, plain and simple, and he needed to find Sonic quickly. Before he could take another step, though, the world exploded around him.

The fox’s ears rang as the nearest Death Egg sentinel exploded, raining its wreckage around him and knocking him to the ground. The kit’s ears rang, his vision blurry as he struggled to his feet. Still stunned and half aware of his surroundings, he didn’t notice the hands grabbing at him until it was too late to struggle free of them. “Easy! This way, hurry!” Tails wasn’t in the right state to disagree, and right now he was too in the open to be safe, so he let himself be pulled along until he recovered enough to run on his own.

The bear sapient that had grabbed him led him along, a few other city dwellers joining them along the way until they headed down an opened vent in the sidewalk to the sewers. "There's a bunch of us hiding down here, it seemed like the only safe place to go." The bear explained as they walked past a handful of people before sitting on a couple of salvaged crates. "The robots are rounding up anyone they can catch, and taking them who knows where. We were looking for any stragglers to get down here before heading out of the city."

“And you found me. Thanks." Tails finished with a nod, accepting a bottle of water and downing half of it, wanting to wash the smoke from his throat. "Have you seen Sonic? I have to meet up with him. We were separated in the fight." Jethro gaped at him before closing his mouth and looking the other way, biting his lower lip. "What? Is he okay?" The fox felt more anxious now, which was justified when another person answered him. "Didn't you hear? A bunch of us saw him getting dragged off. He went down hard, outnumbered." They shook their head slowly. "No way we could fight those toughs set against him either, without getting captured too." Nothing could've been done at the time.

The fox paled, but kept his head about him, drilling the person with some urgency about it. Toughs? Not Eggman's robots? One of them was, but the rest were a mixed assortment of characters. Tails was able to recognize the description of Metal Sonic instantly, but the others would've been hard to believe if the description hadn't been so accurate. The only one of them he didn't recognize was the masked canine, and he had to wince at just how badly his brother had been overwhelmed. It sounded like the five that had taken Sonic down had been selected specifically to catch the blue hero, and he felt horrible that he hadn't been there to help him. No time to blame himself, though; there was a group of still free Mobians to escort to safety, and as badly as he wanted to chase down the group that had captured Sonic, he couldn't abandon these people.

Getting out of the city took time, and with the Mobian military being beaten back and spread thin by the advancing robot army, Tails and his growing group of survivors and escapees had to be stealthy about it. They moved at night to best avoid the robots above ground, travelling through the sewers when they could, but even then there was the risk of being spotted by the infrared vision of the mass-produced, colourless Egg Pawns that never needed sleep. It would be days before the large group of hidden Mobians were certain no one had been left in the rubble of the ruined city, and before the last group made it to safety outside the city limits. Tails hated it, but the people here and in the neighbouring cities needed him. The advancing Eggman Army continued it's path of destruction, and wasn't looking to stop any time soon.

Sonic was going to have to manage without him for awhile.

Description
Chapter 2; First Flight, Slow and Steady

It was pure chaos when the orange fox woke and quickly pulled himself from the wreckage of the downed Tornado. Red and orange flames flickered around what was once the courtyard of a large office building, and had he stayed unconscious any longer the fire that was beginning to consume the biplane would’ve consumed him. Coughing from the smoke, Tails limped away from the burning building, searching for the cover he needed to check his injuries. He could consider himself lucky to only have a few cuts and bruises, but he’d be hurt far worse if the robots surging through the streets saw him just judging from this attack on the city.

That said, it looked like the people had done a pretty good job of evacuating, with no one in sight beyond the occasional robot sweep. The fox had to hide every time, knowing that if Eggman had gone to this extreme, he was a likely target for capture. Hopefully Sonic was doing better than he was, and if he could find his big brother he could use his help. They always worked well as a team, and no amount of aches would make Tails throw in the towel when this city needed him.

Explosions sounded in the background, hinting that GUN fighter jets must’ve finally arrived, but those weren’t all the type of explosions he wanted to hear. He could tell the difference between exploding missiles and crashing airplanes, and all he could do was wince as each boom and crash made his head ache even more. This was a war zone now, plain and simple, and he needed to find Sonic quickly. Before he could take another step, though, the world exploded around him.

The fox’s ears rang as the nearest Death Egg sentinel exploded, raining its wreckage around him and knocking him to the ground. The kit’s ears rang, his vision blurry as he struggled to his feet. Still stunned and half aware of his surroundings, he didn’t notice the hands grabbing at him until it was too late to struggle free of them. “Easy! This way, hurry!” Tails wasn’t in the right state to disagree, and right now he was too in the open to be safe, so he let himself be pulled along until he recovered enough to run on his own.

The bear sapient that had grabbed him led him along, a few other city dwellers joining them along the way until they headed down an opened vent in the sidewalk to the sewers. "There's a bunch of us hiding down here, it seemed like the only safe place to go." The bear explained as they walked past a handful of people before sitting on a couple of salvaged crates. "The robots are rounding up anyone they can catch, and taking them who knows where. We were looking for any stragglers to get down here before heading out of the city."

“And you found me. Thanks." Tails finished with a nod, accepting a bottle of water and downing half of it, wanting to wash the smoke from his throat. "Have you seen Sonic? I have to meet up with him. We were separated in the fight." Jethro gaped at him before closing his mouth and looking the other way, biting his lower lip. "What? Is he okay?" The fox felt more anxious now, which was justified when another person answered him. "Didn't you hear? A bunch of us saw him getting dragged off. He went down hard, outnumbered." They shook their head slowly. "No way we could fight those toughs set against him either, without getting captured too." Nothing could've been done at the time.

The fox paled, but kept his head about him, drilling the person with some urgency about it. Toughs? Not Eggman's robots? One of them was, but the rest were a mixed assortment of characters. Tails was able to recognize the description of Metal Sonic instantly, but the others would've been hard to believe if the description hadn't been so accurate. The only one of them he didn't recognize was the masked canine, and he had to wince at just how badly his brother had been overwhelmed. It sounded like the five that had taken Sonic down had been selected specifically to catch the blue hero, and he felt horrible that he hadn't been there to help him. No time to blame himself, though; there was a group of still free Mobians to escort to safety, and as badly as he wanted to chase down the group that had captured Sonic, he couldn't abandon these people.

Getting out of the city took time, and with the Mobian military being beaten back and spread thin by the advancing robot army, Tails and his growing group of survivors and escapees had to be stealthy about it. They moved at night to best avoid the robots above ground, travelling through the sewers when they could, but even then there was the risk of being spotted by the infrared vision of the mass-produced, colourless Egg Pawns that never needed sleep. It would be days before the large group of hidden Mobians were certain no one had been left in the rubble of the ruined city, and before the last group made it to safety outside the city limits. Tails hated it, but the people here and in the neighbouring cities needed him. The advancing Eggman Army continued it's path of destruction, and wasn't looking to stop any time soon.

Sonic was going to have to manage without him for awhile.