A Broken Bond

4. Blood in the Water

"...ouch. That's gotta hurt."

"Why, you...!"

Now enraged, Tails pulls himself up and throws a haymaker at Sonic, followed by a gut slug, and finally, a swipe from Tails' namesakes to Sonic's chest. The force from the last hit is enough to send Sonic flying a few meters away from Tails and landing on his back. Sonic gets back up slowly. He then coughs out a few spurts of red which he can now see on his hand.

"Looks like we're even," said Tails.

"Not for long," said Sonic as he wiped the blood off his mouth.

Sonic then pulls himself up and dashes past Tails while also landing a punch that is impossible to dodge, causing Tails to stumble for a moment before stabilizing himself. Soon, he realizes his opponent had vanished again. Not long after, Sonic comes dashing past Tails again from the other direction and scores another hit on him, causing him to fall face down. Tails easily picks up the pattern of Sonic's attack and on his third run, Sonic's tactic comes to a halt by a very precisely timed twin-tail swipe, sending Sonic flying back while hitting the ground several times. Sonic, now slightly disoriented, slowly gets up, readjusts his vision, and immediately sees Tails already in front of him, about to throw a punch which Sonic swiftly blocks by grabbing a hold of the incoming fist. Tails attempts the same with his other fist, only to be given the same response by Sonic. With both of Tails' hands now locked within Sonic's grasp, both now attempt to push each other away in a show of raw strength. Tails, being smaller in physical build than Sonic, slowly loses his ground as his feet slowly slide backwards.

"Give it up, Tails! You know I'm stronger than you when- whoa, hey! What the-!?" Sonic said as he slowly felt his feet sliding backwards instead.

Tails starts to propel his twin tails, granting him additional force to counter Sonic's strength. As his tails spin faster, Tails now lifts his feet up into the air and starts to slowly push Sonic back, turning the tables around. Tails then changes the direction of their struggle sideways, towards the edge of the bridge without any side barriers. At the very edge of the bridge, Sonic unleashes all his strength to counter Tails' push and the force of his twin, rotating tails, although futile as Tails also starts to intensify his push force and tail speed, slowly pushing Sonic towards his soon-to-be watery demise.

"What the hell are you trying to do!?" Sonic said as he hung by the edge, trying his best to stand firm.

"What's it look like, huh!?"

"Oh, I dunno, you trying to kill me!?"

"Hah, that's one way to say it!" Tails maliciously said.

"Are you out of your mind!? Us fighting is one thing, but now you're straight up trying to drown me!?"

"It's only fair! You've treated me like dirt for too long! And now, it's all about to come full circle!"

With only one leg now still standing on the bridge while the other hangs in the air, Sonic now realizes that this is the end for him. But then...

"Not if I'm taking you with me!"

Sonic pulls Tails' hands and jumps backwards, dragging Tails to fall into the rapid along with him. They both crash into the rushing water and are dragged away from the bridge by the massive current. Tails tries to swim up to the surface but is given a hard time due to the current; even more so for Sonic, who is now flailing and struggling in hopes of not drowning and being able to catch his breath. With enough effort, Tails' head finally emerges from the water as he gasps for air. He then dives back in. A few seconds later, Sonic's head emerges, but not long after, Sonic's legs are dragged down by Tails who then proceeds to pummel Sonic with a barrage of punches. Sonic then retaliates by kicking Tails' gut, pushing him away. He frantically tries to swim upwards again but is too late as Tails had already grabbed one of his legs. Sonic retaliates once more by using his other free leg to kick Tails' face, releasing his grip. Tails swims upwards as well, resurfaces, and before him lies what seemed to be the end of the river, where the water disappears into the cliff below: a massive waterfall. Now panicking, Tails attempts to fight the current and swims against it, although this only slows his descent towards the waterfall, even with the help of his twin tails. Sonic is first to plummet, then Tails.