Wolfen Tails: ch 3

The next morning, the tournament began as Breezy watched from a room overlooking the arena she had built into her casino. These were the preliminary matches, as more contestants had entered than she planned. Honey the cat had easily won with her speed and agility, surprising many that a fashion designer and business owner could have such prowess in the battlefield. She would either be facing Tails or his opponent in the next round.  

Currently there was Leon Powalski in the match completely decimating his opponent, tormenting him by not finishing him off quickly. Instead Leon had gotten bored and pushed his opponent, a porcupine, out of the ring. Breezy smirked at his actions. 

"So Leon's stronger than he looks." She said, sipping some champagne from a glass, a small smile played across her face as she watched the chameleon, "He's an interesting one for sure."

"Tch. That was so easy it was almost boring." He said, with narrow eyes gazing at the crowd, with his arms crossed before walking out of the ring, into the stands next to Sonic. Wolf stepped to the ring and hopped into it, crouched with his claws out and teeth bared. 

His opponent, a monkey, cautiously entered the ring shaking in terror after that display. Wolf scoffed as he stood up. "You're in my sights. You're going down." He said simply as the monkey gulped. 

"Begin!" An announcer called over the intercom. 

"Wolf Flash." Wolf said, vanishing while moving in a kick upwards at a 35 degree angle so fast he left an afterimage. The kick struck home and sent the monkey flying into the glass separating the fans from the stage. Sonic cringed as the monkey slid down the glass. 

"That looks like it hurt." He said as Wolf simply brushed his hands off. 

At the Freedom Fighters Headquarters, those who were watching had their jaws agape seeing Wolf ring out his opponent in one blow. Finally Rotor broke the silence.

"Glad he's on our side." He said.

Next Sonic went up, and basically ran circles around his opponent; striking whenever an opportunity presented itself. Team Star Wolf carefully watched their fellow competitors. 

"Leon, you find any weaknesses?" Wolf asked. 

"His biggest strength is his speed." Tails said, surprising Wolf that he talked about his "big brother" figure.

"However" Leon interrupted, "He extends himself too much on his attacks and, if dodged, leaves himself open."

"By the way pup, you're next." Wolf said, making Tails and nod as he stood up and cracked his knuckles and walk towards the ring. 

Tails narrowed his eyes seeing a brown bear in the ring and quietly muttered to himself. "Don't hesitate. When the time comes, just act!" Honey hissed at this sight of the bear; he was one of the gang members who attacked her over a year ago when Tails came to her rescue. 

"So the prodigal son returns..." The bear spoke quietly.

"And you're in the way of me doing my job." Tails said as both fighters brought up their fists. When the signal to begin was given, the bear charged Tails. He smirked and said something quietly, which was picked up by microphones and broadcast through speakers in the audience. 

"Tails Flash." With that, he launched a kick moving forwards at a 35 degree angle at such a speed he left an afterimage and stuck the bear in his chest. The bear went flying into the ropes, which sent him flying back towards Tails. "Tails Cyclone." He said, spinning in place with his tails and hands extended; which battered his foe and knocked him down skidding across the arena unconscious. Honey led the audience in letting out a huge cheer, and she whistled.

In the Freedom Fighter's headquarters, Sally watched the fox's victory with a small smile. "So it appears piloting isn't the only thing Wolf taught Tails." She said.

---

 

With Amy, Knuckles (whose appearance surprised his allies), Espio, along with Team Hooligan winning their matches, the tournament continued much to the protest of some fighters who didn't make it through their matches so easily.  Wolf just leaned back and sharpened his claws while Leon flicked his tail. 

"So....it looks like we're up next Tails." Honey the cat said, gazing at the fox out of the corner of her eye. 

"Don't expect me to go easy on you. Dad says it's an insult to warriors to do so." Tails said, grinning at her. 

"Same goes to you." Honey shot back with a confident smirk herself. Tails eyed her with a raised brow before leaping into the ring as she climbed into it. 

The stage seemingly started moving as water swirled around them, Tails narrowing his eyes as Honey put her hands up with her palms facing downwards and her fingers curled. Tails curled into a ball and spun-dash at her, with her leaping over it.  She tried to kick him in the stomach, but he blocked it with a kick of his own.  She put up a defensive pose, bracing herself against the "Tails Cyclone" as it shoved her back.  "Look a rouge wave!" She yelled, pointing behind her.

Tails turned his head and as she sped about, leaving after images, Tails crouched and spun-dashed in place, making her jump back from the force generated. 

"Nice try." Tails said, before he kicked her with the "Tails Flash" and she latched onto the ropes to avoid being kicked out of the ring.  

Tails was right on her, swiping down with his fingers at her hand as she let go of the ropes and Tails latched on and crouched as she held onto the edge of the stage.  Honey twisted, kicking him in the chin and sending him falling onto the mat as she climbed back and slid into the ring. Tails spun dashed backwards as she aimed a kick at him and Honey was on the receiving end of a Tails flash, nearly having the wind knocked out of her by the kick and quickly angled herself so her back hit the ropes and she sprung forward, kicking Tails in the chin. He skidded back and latched onto the ropes before he slid out of the ring.

"Tails is pretty good now." Knuckles said.

"Unfortunately, I don't think he'll win." Wolf said.

"What? Why?! He's your son!" Amy exclaimed.

"Don't get me wrong, I have faith in him and would absolutely trust him to have my back. It's just that most of his training was spent piloting, not fighting on the ground in hand-to-hand combat." Wolf said, "While Honey on the other hand, seems to have focused on hand-to-hand combat."

As Honey charged at him, Tails spun using the Tails cyclone and she jumped back before launching a devastating kick at Tails as he stopped spinning.  He blocked her kick with a hand, but slid back slightly.  He gave an excited grin before he heard:

"Winner by ring out, Honey!" And he looked down to see his left foot touching the floor outside the ring. He gave a lopsided smile seeing her offer her hand out and grabbed onto it and was helped back into the ring.

"Well you won." Tails said.

"Not entirely" Honey said with a frown, "I've been focusing on hand-to-hand combat since you saved me those years ago, and you still were able to keep pace with me. In fact.." She trailed off and he noticed that she was panting while trying to not make it obvious for the audience, "I was beginning to tire. If you hadn't touched outside of the ring, I might have lost."'

"A win is a win. Sometimes you have to use your environment to your advantage." Tails shrugged, but was stunned when Honey leaned over and kissed his cheek.

She threw an arm over his shoulder as they headed to the stands and Wolf smirked at the interaction "Seems like the pup got himself a girlfriend." He turned and laughed at Amy's gobsmacked expression.  The next match had Espio suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Bean, so much so that even Leon felt sorry for him.

---

"So Leon, a mercenary eh?"  Breezy said as she sat on a comfortable chair in her office with Leon sitting in front of her, both of them with glasses of champagne while Wolf looked over the arena and Tails was sketching some blueprints with Honey looking over him.

"Star Wolf gave me an opportunity." Leon said, coughing slightly.

Breezy gave a concerned glance. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry madame, old injuries from a lost dogfight injured the voice boxes of Wolf and I. Of course this happened before Wolf met Miles." Leon said, voice scratchy, almost nasally, "I miss my old voice..."

Honey looked up, thoughtful, "As you know, I owe a lot to Tails here." She said, hugging the fox from behind, and causing him to blush, "So I've been looking over my funds and income books.  I've got more than enough to create a Star Wolf base attached to my headquarters AND pay for your vocal reconstruction surgeries."

"Wow. The pup got a great girlfriend!" Wolf said, raising a brow slightly to hide his shock.

"That's the thing...I want permission to date Tails." Honey said, and Tails stiffened in surprise as a blush spread across his face.

"Once you got the pup's permission, you have mine. You're doing us huge favors. We could finally park the Great Wolf without having to leave it in space and use up fuel and supplies." Wolf said.

"I can help with that funding too" Breezy said, curious about Leon's voice, "I can sign a deal so that Honey can create outfits for the robots working here, make them less intimidating for potential customers, but enough about us, what about guys?"

"We grew up in tough conditions. Did what we could to survive." Leon said, "We may not be proud of our past, but it taught us a lot and gave us skills that keep us alive."

"That will change soon." Wolf said, "Tails here can help us get a contract with the current king, making us their main mercenary service to assist Sonic. With how many times this planet has been in danger in the past, this will earn us a constant income; more than enough for parts, fuel, clothing, and food."

"What is the Great Wolf?" Breezy asked and Wolf brought up a picture of a heavily modified Venomian Attack Carrier. Tails held up a picture of an ordinary attack carrier, which was a large, polygonal warship assembled in the Macbeth Weapons Facility prior to the Lylat Wars. It was commandeered by a crew aboard the small bridge perched on the top of the ship. Underneath the bridge was a powerful laser cannon used for anti-aircraft purposes. An engine apparatus was installed on the back of the main ship to help it keep airborne. Two large missile pods were connected to its left side and a launch bay pack-loaded with Granga Fighters on the right. Each of the attached pods had built-in exhaust ports on the back. It was painted in certain spots with a rusty red and was illuminated here and there by green status lights.

The picture Wolf held up was different slightly. There was a hanger bay underneath the main ship and a section below that bore two T&B-H9 Laser cannons like the Great Fox. The entire ship was larger and had gigantic red G-Diffusers around the engines, and the Star Wolf "W" on each side of the ship. The side section weapons were better attached to the ship, and moved around.  Both sides looked the same, kinda making it resemble the "wings" of a Tie Interceptor.  The top sections ended with missile launching tubes, and the bottom were extra ship hangers. The armor plating was thicker and a dark gray and red coloration.  The white Star Wolf "W" was also on the side of each spare hangar.

"I of course did the modifications." Tails said proudly as Wolf glanced at the blueprints Tails was making.

"You find something else to add, pup?" Wolf asked.

"Of course!" Tails said proudly, "I'm making a Hunter Walker mode for ground maneuverability in tight spaces, cluster bombs, plasma trip wire, and a kind of spinning dash for the Wolfens."  Leon looked excited at the prospects and Wolf gave a smirk at the arsenal himself. Leon and Breezy continued to talk as Honey and Tails excused themselves from the office and headed down to the hotel section, Honey scrolling through her phone.

"Oh! They updated the tournament bracket!" Honey said, and Tails turned to look at her.

"Let's see." She said, "Round 3: fight 1: Leon vs Bean, fight 2: Sonic vs me, fight 3: Amy vs Knuckles, and fight 4: Wolf vs Nack.  In Round four the winner of fight 1 faces the winner of fight 2, and the winner of fight 3 faces the winner of fight 4."

"Huh. Then I'm glad I lost to you. No offense, but Sonic has a lot more experience in hand-to-hand than either of us." Tails said.

"Yeah. It's been a sweet run, and my business will be booming with this promotion...speaking of which..." Honey said, with a gleam in her eyes as she grabbed onto Tails and ran off towards her room.  Once there, she left the door wide open and brought out a measuring tape and moved his arms so that he held them out to his sides, as she took measurements of his chest arms, back shoulders, and scribbled them down before circling around Tails, muttering stuff under his breath.

"Take a seat on the couch, and wait here!" She said, running off to an adjacent room and shut the door. Tails blinked, caught off guard by her sudden actions, but soon shrugged and sat down on the couch. He could honestly say he had done similar things when it came to inventions, and he was now used to wearing clothing as the Lylat System, especially Corneria where he attended flight school, was not as accepting as being as unclothed as male Mobians generally were.  Wearing only shoes and gloves was frowned upon, and could earn a indecent exposure ticket. He turned on the television and flipped through channels.

There were a lot of adds, Chaos Cola, Meropis tourism, HEXaco energy, Meteortech, a sequel to Chaos in space, a chili dog commercial. Tails sighed and shut off the television, rubbing his his temples at the sheer number of adds. He leaned back and closed his eyes before he heard a door opening.

"Hey Tails! Had to put some finishing designs I made when I saw you came back." Honey said, and Tails stood up in shock at what she held.  There was a blue copy of his dad's jacket with the black section being a bronze color, spikes included.  A red stripe went down the zipper and around the bottom. The Star Wolf logo was in red on the left chest below the shoulder pads and on the bottom left side was a yellow star with an "H" on it, denoting it as one of Honey the Cat's male line outfits.

Tails put it on and zipped it up completely, turning around and trying to see everything he could of it as Honey took in every detail she could of him. "It really looks good on you." She said, smiling.

"You really outdid yourself Honey!" Tails said, "So when were you planning on marketing it?"

"Oh...It's not for the public." Honey said, batting her eyelashes as Tails stared at her in shock, "Other than Star Wolf, not many people could pull off that look." She said, taking one of his hands in hers. He smiled slightly. "Do you think you can let me ride on your Wolfen again?" Honey asked. Tails nodded and ran to the balcony and pressed a button before leaping off, his Wolfen flying down to catch him and he hopped into the the cockpit, the glass canopy lowering over him and sealing tightly.  He raised the upper left wing to Honey's balcony and she stepped on, a large grin on her face.

"How about this, once the tournament is over, I'll start teaching you how to fly one in our training Wolfens. Our Wolfens have upgrades to be added, so they will be in our maintenance bay for a while." Tails said and she let out an excited cheer.

As the two flew across the skies, in the distance, a blue robot with red eyes flew across the skies, getting closer to the stadium...