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Glimmer the Glass Octopus ran to the town square where a huge crowd had already formed, shouting over each other and unleashing a barrage of camera flashes. Packed tightly together with their backs turned to her, the crowd formed an almost impenetrable wall.
Good thing we octopuses are known for squeezing through tight spaces, Glimmer thought.
“Excuse me. Pardon me…” she said as she slipped her way through the crowd. Once she was only two rows of people from the front, she got stopped by an elephant who gave her a nasty glare.
“Sorry,” she said. I’ll just have to make do with watching from in between the people in front.
Rapid voices were coming from the left. Coming down the road, flanked by news anchors trying to get him to speak into their microphones, was Miles “Tails” Prower himself!
Immediately, the crowd squealed with joy and pulled out their cameras. Glimmer also squealed, but she realized that she had forgotten to bring her camera. Glimmer decided she would just watch him for as long as she could. But as he got closer, she and the rest of the crowd realized something.
Both of his tails were wrapped in casts.
The camera flashes intensified, lenses pointed at his tails. But as Tails walked past, Glimmer took a close look at his face. He had dark bags beneath his eyes, and he wasn't smiling even a hundredth as much as the townspeople were. Everyone is looking at him, but is anyone really seeing him?
“That's it for now. No more photos!” said Whitehorn the Rhino, the town's police chief, as he stomped over, waving his arms to shoo the townspeople away. “Tails will give an interview in the mayor’s office in ten minutes. It will be broadcast live. Go home, or wherever you wanna watch it.”
“Uh, excuse me, Chief?” said Glimmer. I've never spoken to a police chief before. I hope I'm doing this right. “Is there any chance I could come too? I'm Glimmer. Chroma—the guy in the video—mentioned me “
Whitehorn's eyes widened. “Hey, that's right! He did mention you. Come along, then!”
“No, wait! I'm Glimmer!” said a crab next to her.
“No, me!” said an eel.
Then about a dozen other Mobians clamored over each other, all claiming to be Glimmer.
“ENOUGH!” said Whitehorn. “How will I know which of you is the REAL Glimmer?”
Glimmer closed her eyes and spread out her arms. A bright blue glow shimmered through her transparent skin.
“Good enough for me,” said Whitehorn. “Come along.”
—-
The mayor's office was an eclectic room with garishly patterned wallpaper and carpeting, and an assortment of statues. A large mahogany desk stood unattended at the back. Tails sat in one of two chairs in front of the desk. A news crew was off to the side, preparing their equipment. Tails turned to see Glimmer, and he seemed to perk up a little.
“Hello,” he said. “Are you the mayor?”
“No, my name is Glimmer. I’m the one who Chroma—the prisoner—was talking about.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about your friend. I promise we’ll find a way to save him. But I have to do this interview first.” Tails looked at the news anchor, a female parrot. “Can she stay?”
“Of course!” said the news anchor. ”Having a friend of the victim will make for better television!”
I’m not sure I like the word “victim,” thought Glimmer. Chroma isn’t dead yet…
“Tails! So good to see you again!” A chimpanzee in a purple tux strolled into the room.
“Comedy Chimp?” said Tails. “Is that you? I haven’t seen you in years!”
“I go by Mayor Chimp nowadays,” said Mayor Chimp. “It was an easy career change. I figured that politics was the next step up from comedy!”
Before Tails could respond, the news anchor said “Going live in 3… 2… 1…”
The red lights on the cameras lit up.
“Good afternoon, Coral Canopy! This is Polly Feathers, coming to you live from Mayor Chimp’s office! Our special guests today are the great hero, Tails, and… what was your name again?”
“Glimmer,” said Glimmer.
“...and Glimmer, the friend of our captured citizen. Now, Tails, there’s something that all of Coral Canopy has been dying to know: What exactly happened to your trademark tails?”
“Ah, yes…” said Tails. “We were trying to keep it quiet because we didn’t want to cause a panic. But you all deserve to know the truth. It all started about three weeks ago…”
—-
Tails and his three best friends, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy, were doing what they did best: Fighting Dr. Eggman’s robots. This time, the mad doctor had rebuilt the Death Egg Robot, and it was stomping around Green Hill Zone. The Death Egg Robot was about fifty feet away. A plethora of Badniks was keeping our heroes away from it.
“Bringing back the classic egotistically-designed robot, eh, Egghead?” said Sonic, bouncing off a Buzz Bomber.
“Fine with me,” said Knuckles, punching an Egg Pawn. “I never get tired of busting up these stupid machines!”
“Guys, is it just me, or does something about this seem a little off?” said Tails.
“Like what?” said Amy, bashing a Caterkiller with her hammer.
“What is Eggman doing here this time?” said Tails, swinging his tails at some more Egg Pawns. “I don’t see any captured animals or anything.”
“Let’s find out,” said Sonic. “Hey, Baldy McNosehair! Why don’t you tell us your entire plan?”
No response from the Death Egg Robot. It just continued stomping around. A swarm of Buzz Bombers approached the heroes.
“If you guys help me get rid of these things, I’ll fly closer and inspect the Death Egg Robot,” said Tails.
“Got it!” said Sonic, curling into a ball. “Ready when you are, Amy!”
“Fore!” Amy hit Sonic like a golf ball, sending him flying into the first Buzz Bomber. He ricocheted off the others.
“Thanks, guys!” Tails flew up to the Death Egg Robot. Its eyes were tinted windows. Tails squinted to try and see through them.
Thwack! The Death Egg Robot knocked him to the ground with one swing of its spike arm.
Tails rubbed his back. “Ugh…” He didn’t remember the DER hitting that hard the last time he and Sonic had fought it. He rolled over just in time to see the DER’s giant metal foot coming down on him. He crawled as fast as his limbs could take him, but then-
CRUNCH.
The DER lifted its foot, leaving behind a massive footprint. Most of Tails’s body was just outside the footprint, but his two tails were crumpled inside it.
Tails’s jaw dropped. As the pain shot through him, he welled up with tears. No! I can’t cry! I’m 13 now, I’m not a kid anymore!
“Tails!”
Sonic ran over and lifted Tails into his arms. Watching Tails’s tails dangle helplessly, Sonic glared at the DER.
“You better hope your machine has an eject button, Eggman. When I get back, I am tearing this thing into metal shreds, whether you’re in it or not.”
Then Sonic took off running. A second later, Tails was in the waiting room at the nearest hospital, his head was dizzy, and Sonic was gone.
An hour later, Tails was lying sideways in a hospital bed, his tails wrapped in casts. Lots of Mobians had come to see him in that time, but he only smiled when Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy stepped into the room.
“Oh, Tails, I’m so sorry!” said Amy.
“Don’t worry,” said Knuckles. “We smashed up those robots real good for you. Although, Sonic did all the work on the Death Egg Robot. He was in a real frenzy.”
“What did you do with Eggman?” said Tails.
“Nothing,” Sonic said with a grimace. “He wasn’t there. The robot was on autopilot. But he did send a drone to play us a video message.”
“Yeah, he told us everything about his newest plan,” said Knuckles. “That’s what villains do, I guess. They talk a lot.”
Tails’s eyes gleamed. “That’s great! We can check out of the hospital now and get to work!”
Tails’s friends all frowned.
“Well, you see, Tails,” said Amy, “This is going to be a very dangerous mission. We’re going to have to go into space again. We were thinking maybe you should stay here and heal.”
“What?!” said Tails. “That’s ridiculous! It’s just my tails that are broken. I can still walk! I can still fly planes and use gadgets! How are you guys even going to get to space without me?”
“We’ll find a way,” said Sonic. “Without your tails, you can’t fly on your own, and you can’t use most of your attacks. I won’t let you get into any more danger until you’re healed.”
“I called Cream and Vanilla earlier,” said Amy. “You’ll be staying with them until we get back. We’ve already made up our minds.”
Tails’s heart sank.
Sonic stepped up to Tails and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, little bro.”
—--
Glimmer was horrified by Tails’s story. Poor little guy…
“I was staying at Cream and Vanilla’s house until yesterday,” Tails said to the news camera. “I felt like I was lying around, doing nothing, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So, last night, I… snuck back to my workshop, started up the Tornado, and went flying.”
Glimmer was startled. “You just left them without saying anything? That’s what Chroma did to me!”
Tails lowered his head. “I know. It wasn’t right. Cream, Vanilla, if you’re seeing this, I’m really sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Wow…” said Polly, the news anchor. “We’re all so sorry to hear about what you’ve been through. I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re pulling for you. Now, Tails, we’ve heard that you’re interested in rescuing the citizen of ours who was captured. Do you have any plans on how to achieve that?”
The gleam returned to Tails’s eyes. “I have some ideas. First, I’ll fly around the base on my plane and do surveillance. Once I have info of the base’s security measures, we’ll need some able-bodied citizens to infiltrate the place and rescue him. I would do it myself, but…” Tails pointed at his casts. “Sonic and Amy were right. I do need to heal.”
“I’m in.” said Glimmer. “I may not be the strongest, but I’ll do anything to save Chroma.”
“Did someone say able-bodied?” said a new voice. Everyone turned towards the office doorway to see a filthy hyena standing there. He was a strange sight, with his fur colored in bright shades of orange, yellow, and purple.
“Who are you?!” said Mayor Chimp.
“Cackles the Hyena, local junkyard worker,” said Cackles. “I have a certain power that could be useful. Do you have some large object that you wouldn’t mind me destroying?”
Mayor Chimp pointed at a stone statue of a hippo with a mean glare. “That guy was the mayor 70 years ago. Nobody liked him because he embezzled Rings. I’ve been meaning to get rid of that statue.”
“Allow me!” said Cackles. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath. Pointing his head at the statue, he let loose with a loud cackle.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”
To everyone’s surprise, purple soundwaves were emitted from his mouth with each “Ha.” The soundwaves hit the statue and shattered it to rubble.
Tails smiled. “Alright, you’re in.”
“That’s great!” said Mayor Chimp. “Now, who’s going to sweep this up?”
TO BE CONTINUED