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It was a stupid plan. He knew this. All the warning signals were going haywire in his brain but that didn't matter. Angel island was falling, the Master Emerald was gone and Neo Metal Sonic was more powerful than he's ever been. But that doesn't stop the fact that he is going to be getting a massive lecture later from that hypocrite of a big brother of his.
He could vaguely see he fight from above. Sonic was taunting Neo as expected and just as Neo was about to say some egotistical thing back, Whisper came in with the initial hit, the timing was honestly really funny and made the kit giggle slightly despite the dire circumstances.
From there, the whole Resistance stepped in and the fighting began. A part of Tails wished he was down there with them. There was definitely an easier way to get the Master Emerald out of there than the blind punching Knuckles was resorting to but he's probably got it handled.
And anyway, he had to be up here, for one he was the pilot and had to keep the air ship in control and for another, if they wanted to win he was going to have to deliver the final blow which was kind of terrifying but also cool at the same time.
Slowing the ship down slightly, the kit watched as they pulled apart the robot as he made sure to stay out of it's sights, lining the ship up perfectly to hit Neo in the weakest joint (right below the neck). From there, he just had to wait for the right moment, if he did this at the wrong time and Knuckles can't get the Emerald out in time they'd be screwed.
Squinting down at the scene below, he could vaguely see the Emerald starting to loosen slightly in it's hold, the edges starting to come undone as the metal got crushed around it. "Almost... almost..." He whispered to himself as it came further undone, readying to pull the ship ahead at full speed.
Tails took in a sharp breath as Neo Metal yelled into the air, successfully knocking everyone off of him to go plummeting down to the falling island below. They should hopefully be okay, there were several flyers among them but there would be more if he was down there with them... he shouldn't think like that, stop it.
He let himself breathe once again when the cyan glow of Silver's telekinesis powers filled the air. Tails had no idea Silver could lift everyone with his powers but thank Gaia he could.
Taking another look at the Emerald, it was practically hanging on by a thread (or by a wire in this case) from the robot so he figured that now, more than anything would be the right time to go. Especially since the thing was about to attack Silver and send everyone directly down to the Island which was about to hit the water below.
With one final slight adjustment, he sent the ship straight towards Neo and got him directly in the weakest spot with a extremely loud slam that pushed his ears back against his skull. Everyone's head's immediately came flying up to the source of the sound and saw the explosion dangerously close to them.
"Haha! Direct hit! Now- engines full ahead!" He really wasn't expecting to hit it exactly where he planned but that's nothing to complain about. Looking down to make sure, he felt his namesakes flick back and forward as Silver began to lower everyone safely to the ground.
But that mood was suddenly ripped from him at Metal's next words "UNWORTHY CHILD!" Ouch. Really hit him right where it hurt, huh?
It seemed he wasn't the only one that was put off by the words, when he looked back down, Sonic's face wasn't filled with pride at Silver's accomplishment and hard work as it was a few seconds prior but seemed truly terrified as he pieced together who was in the cockpit of the ship. That mood didn't even shift when Knuckles finally freed the emerald from the inside of Metal and didn't even flinch at the roar Neo Metal let out.
Tails wished he could send Sonic a message, a way of explaining that he was fine. He's done this kind of thing before so he should be fine. Well, he would probably need to make sure he was fine first so as fast as he could, the fox jumped from his chair and went speeding down the hallways and down the stairs from the cockpit looking for the nearest exit. However, it wasn't going to do him much good as it was completely engulfed in flames which were quickly spreading over the metal floor.
Skirting to a stop, he looked down the corridor that led to the deck and the whole thing had been filled with flames that came from the explosion and it was spreading at an alarming rate.
Doing the math in his head, the next closest exit was on the other side of the massive ship as the whole deck area had been set ablaze as it was the part that hit Neo and there wasn't any point in trying to go through that door. Next two exits plus this one were probably destroyed so he was going to have to be fast and he didn't even know his way around here that well so a lot of estimating is going to have to be involved.
Spinning his namesakes once again, the kit sped off, trying to remember the endless halls and corridors that made up the ship. Left, left, right, no wait! Was that right? Yea, it is. Or maybe... was he supposed to take that first left? Doesn't matter! Just keep going and hope for the best!
He let out a yelp as the ship finally reached land and he fell hard on his head and his body went crashing against the burnt metal that couldn't be differentiated between floor and wall. A stabbing pain flew to the back of his skull and he let out a shaky, panicked breath as his paw came back with deep red blood smeared across it. Black spots were starting to fly across his vision tauntingly. He has to stay awake, he can't fall unconscious now.
Despite the pain, he forced himself off the ground and looked around desperately for some escape, the blazing tentacles of fire were starting to surround him and the heat was becoming overwhelming, especially considering how annoyingly thick his fur was.
The black spots were becoming stronger and he had to put his whole body weight against one of the iron rods against the wall just so he could stay standing.
Just as he was starting to lose hope, a small burnt away gap in the metal appeared, just barely big enough for him to get through so with every piece of energy his body has, he pushed himself off the pole and spun his tails until he went flying through the gap, singeing his fur and shoes in the process. First thing he noticed as he flew out was that the lights of the outside world were overwhelming against the clash of shades of red and orange in the ship and the stark contrast mixed with general light-headedness was enough for him to go flying into the grass only to be caught by Sonic who was giving him the infamous 'big brother look' which was a mix of both concern and annoyance that he only got when he did something self-sacrificial (which is RIDICULOUS because Sonic does that sort of stuff CONSTANTLY)
"Oh... hey" Tails said through shaky breaths.
Without saying anything, Sonic lowered the two of them onto the overgrown grass beneath them and the kit collapsed into it from the exhaustion of what just happened. Once his breathing had gone back to a semi-regular pace, he looked up at the hedgehog who was sitting next to him. "Did I do good?"
Sonic's face split into an exasperated grin. "You did great Buddy and that was awesome but how about we leave the self-sacrificial stuff to me for a week or two?... and get some bandages for your head?"
"Yeah" Tails responded, looking to the sky. "That sounds good"