A thunderclap pulled Zooey from her sleep and she sat upright in her bed with a start. Turning towards the curtained porthole of her cabin she observed the pattering of heavy rain that provided a drum beat to the howling wind. Rising carefully from her bed, Zooey used the walls for support as the Skyskipper rocked and swayed under the force of the storm.

     “I suppose this was bound to happen eventually,” Zooey mused as she carefully made her way through the oil lamp-lit interior of the ship.

     Though the Skyskipper was a small airship, it was still sizable enough that the helm and cabins were on different floors. As the designer of the airship Zooey could have found her way there in her sleep, but the storm woke her, and she was glad it did. As Tails was onboard, he was supposed to be manning the helm as she slept instead of landing the craft or leaving it on autopilot, but the storm and his fear of lightening left the fox concerned. She soon discovered she was not the only one.

     “Mighty! You should be in bed. You know that we can’t spare the hundred Rings to tend to your injuries.”

     “But I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t come check on Tails,” Mighty countered with a caring smile offsetting the bandages wrapped around him. “I’m sure you should be in bed as well.”

     “Well yes,” Zooey looked down as she agreed and figured it did not hurt to have the company. “Then let’s go keep Tails company so we can both be assured he’s okay.”

     Mighty had no reason to argue and soon the two arrived at the Skyskipper’s helm. “Tails, are you okay?” Zooey probed as she carefully opened the door.

     A bolt of lightning split the stormy sky beyond the massive window that served as the helm’s viewport and cast the tiered room in a harsh white light. The long shadows cast by the flash seemed to fade before the light itself, but there was no sign of Tails as Zooey’s vision returned to normal. “Tails?”

     “I wonder where he could be,” Mighty professed his lack of insight as the two strode into the helm. Worried as Zooey was she made her way to the vessels controls and noted that autopilot had been engaged. Mighty noticed something else and lifted a pair of headsets off another console. “Are we getting any radio signals?”

     “Not that I’m aware of,” Zooey shook her head to reinforce her own lack of knowledge. “I’m sure though if we were that Tails would have told us. He’s been mostly manning the radio while he’s been onboard and taking the X-Tornado out to hunt for signals while I have the helm.”

     “Hmm,” Mighty verbally expressed his confusion as he put an earpiece to his ear. Due to the storm though there was only static and nothing to hear. Placing the headset back on the console Mighty shrugged slightly and smiled. “Well, it’s doing Tails no good if we just stand here wondering. I suppose it would be best if we split up to find him.

     “I suppose so,” Zooey agreed, though unlike Mighty she did have some insight into where Tails might have gone.

     Without hesitation or doubt she made her way to vessel’s belly where it was split into two biplane hangers that opened to either of its sides. The hanger she chose held Tails’ plane, a white biplane which had its wings arranged into an ‘X’ shape. For a biplane it was an amazing achievement of engineering and put the red biplane with the silver wings in the other hanger to shame. Yet Zooey took pride in having rebuilt Sonic’s plane from scratch after he had given Tails his old one, only for it to become the white plane before Zooey. The one that was fully attached to a deployment arm and on its way towards the open hanger door.

     “Tails!”

     “Huh? Zooey!”

     Peeking out from the cockpit, Tails looked surprised to see the other fox. Even with his ears folded back as he tried to hide from the storm.

     “Why are you here Zooey? I thought you were asleep.”

     “I was until the storm woke me. I know you aren’t good with lightning so I thought I’d keep you company until the storm passed, but,” gesturing at the deployment of the X-Tornado before her Zooey’s voice grew more concerned as she asked her question, “what is this Tails. I know Sonic always says to face your fears, but Tails this is too reckless. Even flying the Skyskipper in a storm like this is dangerous.

     “Tails?” Zooey probed more gently as Tails seemed to look away. He seemed to mutter something, but she could not make it out. “Tails?”

     “I was hoping to have been back before you or Mighty woke up,” Tails spoke a little louder to clarify what he had said.

     “What exactly are trying to do?” Zooey with slightly more force sought even greater clarification from the two-tailed fox. “I don’t understand. Did you hear something over the radio?”

     His body language spoke volumes and Zooey instinctually knew what Tails was thinking. She also did not like it one bit.

     “Tails, you can’t. Not like this in this weather. You won’t be able to accomplish anything!”

     “But I have to Zooey. I’ve beaten the Battle Kukku Armada on my own before, and if I take them by surprise now, I’m sure I can beat them again.” With his conviction fueling his courage, Tails finally sat more upright in the cockpit and looked at Zooey both sternly and with concern for her. “They took us by surprise when we were trying to study the Red Star Ring and we’ve run from them at every turn since. But we can’t out in these grasslands. They go on forever it seems like and there isn’t anywhere to hide. They’re in radio range now Zooey and I’m the only one in a position to do anything–!”

     Another massive thunderclap made Tails jump and he dove into the cockpit of the X-Tornado to get away from it. Seeing him trying so hard, a sympathetic smile spread across Zooey’s face and she calmly approached the biplane and peered into the cockpit. “Tails, you don’t have to do this alone. We have a second plane and pilot. We’d just need to have Sonic come back via Ring Gate and he can help you.”

     “We don’t have enough Rings,” Tails shook his head, the first signs of desperation coming through his conviction. “We’ve been using them up on maintaining everything and just finding the fifty to replace Sonic’s emergency Ring Gate may be impossible right now. I don’t know why there are so few Rings here either. I’ve never seen such low Ring Energy activity readings before.”

     “I haven’t either Tails, and I’ve been trying to figure it out for as long as we’ve been here,” Zooey offered Tails a sympathetic and understanding ear. The problem was that she understood too well. They really were running out of stored Rings and as the Skyskipper and both biplanes ran on Ring energy if nothing changed, they would be grounded. A slight tremble coming to her voice, Zooey admitted in a way that maybe Tails was right to risk it. “You know they mostly just want revenge against you. Can you really stop them in this weather?”

     Looking up Tails saw Zooey’s concern as though her emotions were an open book. Her smile was barely held, and he found himself wondering if she was holding back tears. He knew he could not disappoint her now if ever, and forced himself to sit back up, even as another thunderclap mocked him. “They would never see me coming.”

     Putting on a little bravado and trying his best to imitate Sonic, Tails flashed Zooey a thumbs up. Though her concern did not leave her face, her smile became more natural. “In that case you focus on flying and I’ll work the arm. But I’m still going to tell Sonic. You don’t have to do this on your own.”

     “I appreciate it Zooey, really I do, but I can’t keep always falling back on Sonic either. I’ve succeeded on my own too, and I need to be able to keep doing it so I’m helping Sonic instead of being helped.”

     “Rosy feels the same way you know Tails,” Zooey smiled and turned her back to Tails as she went to operate the controls. “She wants to be able to run with him so badly, and not just because the terrain is flat. She wants to join him in everything he does. It’s really touching, and I kind of know how she feels…”

     “What was that last part Zooey, you kind of got quiet there?” Tails looked at Zooey curiously, but she merely shook her head and lowered her hands from her chest.

     “It was nothing Tails, just be safe please.”

     Yet another thunderclap seemed to mock that idea, but Tails held firm even as all the fur on his namesakes stood on end. “I-I-I’ll be f-fine.”

     “Then Sonic can congratulate you when he catches up.”

     “Huh? What?” Tails cried out in confusion. Zooey however merely offered him an encouraging thumbs up as she began to crank the handle that extended the deployment arm. Tails gripped the fight control stick tightly as he looked back at Zooey bewildered and betrayed. “I thought you changed your mind on telling Sonic.”

     “Of course not Tails. I want you to come back safe and telling Sonic is the only thing I can do. Now don’t be long and stay safe!”

     Pulling the release lever Zooey watched the X-Tornado fall away from the Skyskipper. Running to the edge of the open hanger she looked out and watched the white plane ascending before disappearing into a passing cloud wall. “Please be careful Tails.”

Scene 6 · CLEARED

Hero, End