A/N: Finally finished with it. Well, more like finally started writing, since I just started it yesterday. This is a bit short, only about 2000 words, but please bear with me since the chapters will become longer as the story continues. Please tell me if it is good too, since I want to know if I should continue writing like this, or maybe choose another way of writing. Comments and criticism expected, and well recieved. R&R.

Disclamer: I do not own Sonic, Tails, Eggman, or anyone else I use in this story that is not listed as an OC in my first (Half?) chap. I mean, if I owned them, I wouldn't really be writing this fanfiction, wouldn't I?

Getting Serious

"SONIC!!" I yelled as he hit the wall. Hard. That must have hurt. It didn't really look like it though. I was always amazed at how much he could withstand.

He pried himself from the dent in the metal wall and dropped down to the floor on his feet and one hand, breathing heavily. The muscles in his body strained out, probably aching from all the use. Amazingly, he had avoided any break of the skin.

"Tough. I need a new tactic," Sonic said. I would think that Eggy had gotten used to his 'run up and shoot straight through' tactic. Yep, I agree.

"Try finding a weakness," I advised. That wasn't really good advice, but it was all I could think of right now.

"There is no weakness in this thing!" he yelled. "Not even the paint scratches when I attack it. I mean, what type of madman makes indestructible paint?" Then he paused and looked thoughtful. "Well, we all know the answer to that."

"No duh, Sherlock," I said while chuckling. Even under these conditions, Sonic doesn't fail to make a joke.

But he was right. This machine was monstrous! And when I say monstrous, I mean it. It was simple overkill. Must have been at least 200 feet tall, which is even beyond my flight distance. And the cockpit was on the top. So using the 'hit the cockpit' tactic was out too. All of the weapons on the robot also added to the equation. I mean, the height was enough already to put us off, but that was when we hadn't saw the firepower it had. It was simply creepy! There were at least 20 laser cannons – all of which were retractable – and 50 machine guns. Eggman had never used machine guns yet. Well, not much. It was usually just missiles.

Ah. The missiles. I could say that this thing was a massive, portable, missile launching site, and it wouldn't be far off. There were at least 50 missile ports, on the robot everywhere. There were some on a big box on its shoulder, some in its arms, and even on its head.

Yes, the old Egg had managed to beat us this time. I swerved off my running path to avoid another missile, while Sonic went in for another shot at the spindash. And failed, of course.

I jumped up onto the leg and flew up to the knee. Maybe I could work my way up to the cockpit. I doubt it though.

My doubt was right, for, as soon as I got to the knee, all the weapons focused on me. I just stared at them, and for a second, I thought death was coming straight at me, head on, like a rhinoceros, and I was tied to the tree. With a big red bull's-eye on my stomach. I was basically rooted to the spot in fear.

The next moment, everything stretched out, and the lights at the top of the colossal hanger that this robot was in – with the door locked, of course – lengthened into long streaks. Then it was over, and I came back to my senses, realizing that Sonic had just saved me from a harsh death. I could almost visualize the bullets tearing through my fur, and a missile finishing the job off. Better not think of what could have happened.

"Don't get into a problem like that again, buddy," Sonic said with a wink, not the one to dwell on these things for long. He then ran off to try to figure out what to do again. I looked back towards the knee, and was surprised to see it half-destroyed. But my hopes of a quick finish were immediately dashed as some sparks seemed to dance around the edge of the demolished knee, and began to fix it. In a few seconds, the knee was back to new.

That's when an idea sprouted in my mind. It was just a desperate movement and required luck and quick reflexes, but I trusted myself to do it right. And Sonic would be definitely fine with it. I still could get killed, but it was the only thing that seemed possible with this thing.

"Sonic!" I yelled as I ran behind him. He slowed down to my speed so we could talk.

"Sup," he yelled over the rush of wind. "Have you gotten something in that big head of yours?" He pointed at his head.

"N-nothing much, just a thought," I stammered, as I always do when I get a compliment like this. I need to get out of this habit.

Sonic noticed my embarrassment and stopped batting around the bush. "So, whatcha got?"

"It's just that, when I looked at the robot's knee after you saved me, I saw that it was broken. It seemed that the only thing that could hurt this robot is itself. But immediately after I looked back, the robot's knee started to heal itself back again, being back to new in a few seconds. If we destroyed both of the knees, then the legs couldn't support the robot, and it would fall down. But–" I was about to say, but Sonic was already gone, probably to attack the robot. "Wait!!!" He ran back to me.

"You are so impatient," I told him, but he just yawned and looked at me.

"Is that all you were gonna say? Because if that is, then I'm gonna go kick some fat eggs now," Sonic said.

I scoffed at him and said, "As I was about to say, one person wouldn't be enough to get both knees at once. Even with your speed, by the time you jumped down, ran to the other leg, and jumped up to the foot and then to the leg, the other knee would be healed sufficiently enough to support the body. So we have to do it with two people."

"And you suggest…" he asked, and gestured with his hand, telling me to continue.

"Simple. I fly you to the first one, and I go to the other. Then we will hit both at the same time and boom, the robot falls down."

"Let's try it then! I will savor the look on Eggy's face when we defeat him this time," Sonic said, eager to destroy the robot.

"Don't you always do that?" I asked him.

"Yep. And I intend to do it again, too," He said with a smirk. "Let's go." He then looked straight at me. "And be careful, Tails. I don't want to lose you."

"Got it," I said as I jumped up into the air, and started to spin my tails. I grabbed Sonic on my way up, and dodged a few missiles. Then, accelerating to full speed, I flew towards the first knee, and timing it perfectly, I sent Sonic going on his way. Using the momentum from my acceleration, a stopped spinning my tails when I got past the knee that Sonic was now on, as they were cramping up quite bad by now, and landed softly on the other knee. I looked up and smiled in satisfaction as I saw all of the weapons turning to face us, half on Sonic and half on me.

But I wrongly anticipated when they were going to start shooting, as they shot immediately when they locked onto us. I thought that we would have to wait a few seconds, like I did last time when I was almost killed, before they shoot. But it seems that they started to shoot a few seconds earlier, and I wasn't prepared for it. Sonic, I instinctively knew, would be okay, since he was so fast. But I doubted I'd escape without a scratch of some sort.

Everything suddenly slowed down. I realized that I should be going now.

I jumped off to the side, and amazingly, the bullets whizzed right passed me, just missing my tails by centimeters. I smiled to myself, happy that I had escaped death yet again. That is, until waves of pain exploded in my right tail, as one of the stray bullets ripped through, creating a hole. I scrunched up my face in pain.

Immediately, normal time was restored, and I smashed into the ground, holding my tail to try to stop the blood flow. I looked up and saw that robot begin to creak, then fall forwards, and was at least satisfied that my plan had worked. Until I realized that it was going to fall on me. I need to get out of there. Fast.

Trying to ignore the flaming pain, I got up and ran, only getting a few steps until I fell and skidded one last foot. I looked up and saw that the robot was still falling. On me.

I closed my eyes and wondered if this was my final moments. It probably was. I despaired that I was going to die in such pain, and tried to turn the pain away from my mind. I looked out again. I would be strong at my death. I would not close my eyes. Good-bye, world.

Then something amazing happened. There was a sudden bong, so loud that it made my ears hurt, and the robot went flying to the side, and crashed into the wall, broken and destroyed. It then exploded, and sat there in flames. I was still staring up, incredulously wondering how I had escaped death for the 3rd time in five minutes. That had to be a world record.

Sonic! He must have hit the robot with so much force, it diverted the direction of the robot's fall and moved it to the side, even defying gravity for a few seconds. I looked over at him. He was lying right besides my bag of tools that I had brought here, and was slightly glowing. Was he dead? No. He must have been knocked out, and I must be imagining the glow. It isn't abnormal to imagine things when you are in pain.

That reminded me. My tail. I had to get it wrapped up somehow, before I bleed to death. But I didn't have anything to wrap it up in, of course. If I could just get to my bag, I could make a few makeshift bandages. I tried to get up and walk, but the pain stopped me again. No, I couldn't get there. I wondered about cheating death a fourth time. Dream on, Tails.

I heard some muffled voices outside the hanger with my sensitive ears. It sounded something like someone was shouting. "Bring in… Back… Helicopter… No! Go… Fire!!" I heard a battlement of shots fire into the wall of the hanger, which didn't dent much. So maybe I was going to get saved. I just needed to hang on.

"HELP!!" I yelled, it being the only thing I could do. The bullets stopped for a moment, then continued with even more speed. I then started to hear cheering from outside as a big booming sound shattered the air around them and a shell shaped dent began to appear in the wall. They brought a tank!

Suddenly all of the cheering stopped, and everyone screamed. "Run away!!!" one guy shouted and you could tell that something was scaring them.

Then the wall started to warp and bend back, and in the end, ripped down the middle, as another robot – bigger than the last and with more weapons – came storming in the hanger. I just stared at the logo on it. It had a fat face, and a big mustache.

Of course. Ol' Eggy had a backup the whole time for us. He would have never done that before, but now, since he seemed to have become a lot more serous about killing us, I should have expected it. It came towards me with surprising speed and agility for its big bulk, and there I lay, hoping for yet another miracle to save me from the edges of death again.

It had covered half the distance between us now. It must be too late for another miracle. This time, it really is my death.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blueish light. A hole appeared in the middle of the torso of the robot, as cleanly cut as a diamond. Looking behind the robot, I saw a glowing blue ball spinning extremely fast in one place. Another miracle indeed.

"Sonic!!" I shouted while laughing at the situation, and how many times I escaped death. It was an inhuman action, but after all this, I wasn't surprised that I was laughing. Sonic unrolled from his spinball form, and winked at me. He then dropped to the ground, landing softly, the glow fading off him.

I started laughing again. Sonic was walking towards me, and I knew everything was going to be okay.

And then, I fainted.

So, Tails nears death 5 times in the first chapter. Seems dark, right? Don't worry, it will lighten up soon.

Anyway, don't forget to review with your thoughts on this chapter. I just hope I will be able to finish the next chapter as fast as I did this one, for the sake of both me and you.

--K.A.