Studying a Chaos Emerald

Tails had been cooped up in his workshop for the past few weeks doing intensive studies on a Chaos Emerald. Given the emeralds' near constant usage as either weapons or shiny mantel pieces, he began to wonder if there was possibly a more practical usage for their power. After a month, he had come up with a few designs, but still believed he was a while off from being able to use them to their full potential.

On this particular night, Tails was hunched over his workbench, a mosaic of blueprints, spare parts, and half-built machines spread out before him. He thoughtlessly tinkered with a few of the pieces while reading over his notes.

CRASH!!!

Tails leaped in to attention at the sudden disturbance. The sound had come from the far side of his workshop, out of view. He picked up one of his wrenches and held it at attention as he carefully made his way over to the source of the sound.

Peering behind a shelf he discovered that one of his windows was broken. And based on the sizable rock that was lying on the ground by the window, he knew how it must have happened.

"H-hello?" the fox called outside the broken window, "Is anyone there?" but he heard nothing outside.

And just as he began to question if someone may have broken inside the building, he felt a swift smack in the back of his head knocking him out cold.

Tails awoke moments later. His head still stung a bit, but was the least of his worries as he found himself unable to move his arms. Looking down, a rope was wrapped tight around his body pining both his arms against his torso. His legs were free, and so were his hands, but without his arms, he wasn't getting off the ground.

He then took notice of his workshop. Tools littered the ground. Desks were flipped, and their drawers rummaged through. Shelves had been tipped over leaving their contents all over the floor. Whoever had done this had done a proficient job wrecking nearly everything, and they clearly were not done as tails could see someone throwing things off a shelf in the corner.

"H-hey! Stop that!" He demanded.

They turned their attention onto him, and Tails felt his pulse drop as they began to approach.