Heroes (Tails x Reader) Book 4

XVIII. I wanna be with you Part:2

Meanwhile...

Espio was struggling to keep up the heat on Mentor, his attacks keeping them occupied for the most part but still a little too slow to really keep their full attention as they seemed to float between attacking him and Tails, whom was also struggling to fend off Rich Nights in her misguided  assault.

Tails glaces Espio every now and again, Rich Nights taking notice almost immediately and delivering a flurry of attacks until his eyes snapped back to her.
He squints his eyes, "Is this really necessary!? You're not even interested in this, are you?"

She chuckles lightly, swooping around him in a hypnotic pattern, "I'm very interested. I don't get the chance to do much outside of the mundane day to day back at home. On the contrary  having someone like you to oppose me is refreshing, I'm enjoying our time together, Tails? Was it?"

His eyes swirl with disdain, "Call me Miles, only my friends are allowed to call me Tails." His namesakes spin up quickly as he springs off the ground and up into the sky, only a few inches off from hitting her right in the face as she dodges, her eyes conveying her amusement.

"You can fly too? How the curious get even more curious~" She swoops after him at an alarming speed.

The two of them exchange passes, Tails' shield taking the brunt of the attack but he still refused to give up so easily! He already knew that an outright confrontation would end with him losing- so he needed to be smart about this.. His mind traces over Rouge, since both her and this girl were bats it's highly likely that any weakness of Rouge would be shared with her. Aside from being a known nocturnal entity there was really only bright lights and loud noises to rely on.. Between the two her hearing would be the most problematic since  she could probably be blinded and still fight just fine.
He nods to himself, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
'Sun's almost directly overhead.. We're in a basin as well.. The cave they came out of would be a good spot for trapping noises- but there's no telling if the attendants will end up popping out of nowhere to attack.. I can temporarily blind her as I lead her toward the cave, seal up the entrance by bashing my shield against the rock face and use vibrations to cause the rocks to resonate at a high frequency...'

"Espio! Can you cover me for a few seconds?" Tails alters his course, flying upward toward the sun.

Espio's kunai clash in succession with Mentor's sword, their attacks only getting more ferocious as Espio struggled just to keep up, his skills were good but not good enough after being away from shinobi battles for so long. "That might be a bit difficult-!"

He throws several kunai at Mentor, the blades easily deflected before Mentor retaliates, feigning a swing before stopping their blade and spinning into a roundhouse knee to Espio's arm. Before he can retaliate Mentor extends their leg, carrying the momentum through and kicking Espio square in the side, sending him toppling over before he rolls his body, skidding to a stop. His eyes glance in Tails' direction, trying to formulate anything he could do. Mentor runs in again, delivering a barrage of punches at Espio! He deflects many strikes but as Mentor keeps up the intensity it becomes harder for his eyes to track the strikes, an exhaustion creeping into his muscles as they were forced to remain in such an intense degree of tension.

"Is this really what your skills have become?" Mentor slams the pommel of their sword into Espio's stomach, causing him to lurch over, falling to his knees. "You were never so easily exhausted before, the desk work must be getting to you."

Espio fights to catch his breath, holding a hand over his stomach. "Desk work has showed me that patience and cunning are one in the same.." His eyes look up into Mentor's, "-and playing chess with Vector has taught me much..."