X Tornado

The X Tornado (エックストルネード), also written as the X-Tornado, is a vehicle in the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. It is an aircraft created by Tails and Chuck Thorndyke as the replacement for the Tornado 2 to combat E-90 Super Sweeper. Afterwards, it would become the most common means of transportation for Sonic and his friends.

Features and traits
The X Tornado has a hidden afterburner in the plane that can dramatically increase the speed of the X Tornado, reaching speeds beyond 300 miles per hour. The X Tornado is also equipped with a Ring launcher to power up Sonic in the heat of battles.

Specifications
X Tornado: X Cyclone:
 * Wing Span: 7 m
 * Length: 12.3 m
 * Height: 4.9 m
 * Engine: Tails & Chuck's original engine (CE Improved)
 * Maximum Speed: Unknown
 * Width: 7 m
 * Length: 9 m
 * Height: 6 m

X Cyclone
The X Cyclone is one of two transformations that was integrated into the X Tornado's system. The transformation causes the two main boosters to open up into a pair of robotic legs thereby giving the X-Cyclone the same abilities as the X Tornado with land-based capabilities. It also gives it enough kicking power to sent the Egg Fort II flying. Tails claimed the X Cyclone as an all-purpose robot but was later proven wrong when Amy suggested to use the X Cyclone to dig the Chaos Emerald out of a cornfield.

Battle Armor Mode
The Battle Armor Mode is a transformation used to battle the Egg Carrier after the X Tornado was shot down during a failed assault. This mode turns the two main engines into a pair of arms, concealing a shield which can withstand attacks and a sword. It is propelled by the afterburner, giving this transformation increased speed and maneuverability. The only defect is that this form has no safe way of landing.

New World Saga
The idea for the X Tornado was conceived after the Tornado 2 proved ineffective against Eggman's E-90 Super Sweeper. Tails figured they could use their Chaos Emerald to boost the Tornado 2, but the plane would likely blow up from all the excess energy, so Chuck and Tails began building the X Tornado from an aircraft in Chuck's secret laboratory, designing it with two engines in order to accommodate the continual energy gain. On its maiden voyage, the X Tornado proved its worth by helping the heroes keep up with the Super Sweeper and defeating it.

After that, Tails used the X Tornado from then on to travel and battle Eggman. He first used it to take his friends to Emerald COast to stay at the Thorndykes' bungalow while Chris attended the opening of the new hotel. Later, he was flying it over Diamond Stadium when the green Chaos Emerald detected another one at the stadium, nearly causing Tails to crash into the stadium itself before he recovered and landed nearby. When rumors of a Chaos Emerald being found in an abandoned warehouse was heard by Chris, Tails used the X Tornado to try and locate the warehouse from the air, but soon found that the lead was fake when they found nothing there.

Tails later took Chris, Frances, and Amy in the X Tornado to locate a Chaos Emerald at Tingalin Villa, only to be attacked by Eggman and his E-35 Funfun. Tails tried to fight back by converting the X Tornado to its X Cyclone setup, but it was no match for the fierce winds E-35 was creating. After Sonic destroyed E-35 and Eggman escaped with the yellow Chaos Emerald, Tails transformed the X Cyclone back into the X Tornado and took off with his friends to chase Eggman back to his headquarters, currently being attacked by G.U.N. naval and air forces. Tails was able to avoid the salvos of missiles Eggman fires at them though, and caught Sonic when he emerged triumphant from Eggman's headquarters with the turquoise and yellow Chaos Emeralds before explosives planted by G.U.N. destroyed Eggman's base.

Chaos Emerald Saga
When Eggman laid siege to Station Square in the Egg Fort with his E-42 Toroles and E-33 Buballs, Mister Tanaka arrived with the X Tornado on the back of a flatbed truck to allow Sonic and Tails to take the fight to Eggman. Not long after, Tails and his friends went on a vacation to the Sapphire Sea in the X Tornado. On the way however, the aircraft's green Chaos Emerald detected another Emerald below the sea, forcing the crew to turn their vacation into a treasure hunt. Later on, the X Tornado found itself in another dogfight with the Egg Fort, resulting in both aircrafts being damaged and crashing on the African Savannah. Tails was able to repair the X Tornado though, thereby allowing Sonic, Chris, and himself to return to Station Square.

While Sonic and his friends were relaxing on vacation on the Thorndyke Family yacht, Eggman attacked again in the Egg Fort II. However, Bokkun soon returned, crying hysterically for Eggman to protect him, as the X Tornado arrived, piloted by a very furious Ella, who was after Bokkun for blowing a bomb up in her face and taking off laughing about it afterwards. With Ella and the X Tornado's help, Sonic was able to defeat the Egg Fort II for the time being.

After that, Tails flew around in the X Tornado during a race between Sonic and Chris' uncle, Sam Speed. He and Chris attempted to deliver lunch for Sonic in the X Tornado, only for Sam to regain the lead, leaving Chris and Sonic covered in dust and sand. After Sonic took off in pursuit, Tails flew the X Tornado back to the finish line to await the conclusion of the race.

Some time after, Tails took Sonic and his friends to Filmdom City to see Chris' father, Nelson Thorndyke, in the X Tornado. Tails later used the X Tornado to help Sonic battle Eggman's E-88 Lightning Bird. After that, the X Tornado was used by Tails and his friends to catch up to Sonic when the hedgehog began running constantly due to getting a microchip from E-88 stuck in his ear. When Tails and Amy realize that E-88 had done something to Sonic, they traveled back to where the battered E-88 was in the X Tornado so Amy could defeat it, only for Sonic to arrive and destroy E-88, knocking the microchip out of his ear in the process.

Eventually, Sonic and co learned that Chris and Knuckles had taken their Chaos Emeralds (including the one in the X Tornado) to Eggman in the hopes that it would help them get Sonic and co. back to their world. When Chris and the Emeralds to get captured by Eggman however, Tails brought Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Chuck Thorndyke along in the X Tornado in hopes of helping Chris. However, when the Egg Fort II transformed into the E-99 Eggsterminator, Tails was unable to engage the monstrosity in the X Tornado, causing Amy to threaten to jump out to fight it herself to help Sonic. The X Tornado did not even get to engage the Eggsterminator however, as Sonic soon transformed into Super Sonic and reduced the Eggsterminator to a fiery wreck. This induced a Chaos Control that brought the Mystic Ruins and Angel Island to Earth, with the X Tornado flying over the former shortly after they appeared.

Chaos Saga
With the appearance of the Mystic Ruins, Tails was able to establish a workshop, using the hangar there to store the X Tornado in place of the Thorndyke Mansion.

When Sonic visited Tails six months later in regards to searching for the Chaos Emeralds again before Eggman got to use them to power up the legendary Chaos, Tails already had found the green Chaos Emerald and stored it in the X Tornado. Taking it out to search for the rest of the Emeralds, they soon located one in Windy Valley, only to lose both Emeralds to Chaos. After Sonic defeated Chaos 4, Eggman escaped in the Egg Carrier, but Tails gave pursuit in the X Tornado, only for the aircraft to get damaged by the Egg Carrier's weaponry and shot out of the sky. Sonic and Tails survived the crash with minor injuries, but the X Tornado was temporarily out of action and needed to be repaired. Once it was able to fly again, Tails used it to take Sonic and Knuckles to the Egg Carrier. This time however, Tails was ready for the Egg Carrier's firepower by converting the X Tornado to its Battle Armor mode. Once they cleared out an opening to land on the Egg Carrier, Tails realized too late that Battle Armor mode had no landing gear, forcing him to crash land the X Tornado. The X Tornado survived the crash landing though, and Chris, Big, and Froggy used it later to escape the Egg Carrier, only for it to crash from all the damage it sustained.

When Perfect Chaos attacked Station Square, Tails flew the X Tornado back to the now flooded Station Square to confront the beast, but Perfect Chaos managed to wound the X Tornado with its attacks. Before it could finish the job though, the X Tornado was suddenly surrounded by a white light and landed on a broken section of highway by the spirit of Tikal, who had arrived to try and seal Chaos back into the Master Emerald.

Shadow Saga
When Sonic was imprisoned in Prison Island, Tails and Amy take the X Tornado to the island to rescue him. While Amy went off to find Sonic, Tails took off in the X Tornado to fight against Dr. Eggman in his Egg Mobile in a sky skirmish but the doctor left in the middle of their battle to deal with other important matters. When the heroes learned that Eggman planned to blow up Prison Island, Tails, Amy and Sonic escape back to Station Square on the X Tornado just in time.

When the heroes discovered that Space Colony Ark was where Eggman was staging his schemes to conquer Earth while also holding Chris, Tails and Chuck worked to reconfigure the X Tornado for space flight. After doing so, Tails flew over to Eggman's pyramid base to meet up with Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Mr. Tanaka to tell them the success of his work on the X Tornado. However, the others opted to use a larger space shuttle to travel to space instead though the X Tornado was brought along for the space journey.

Once they arrived on Space Colony ARK, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Mr. Tanaka rode on the X Cyclone in the halls, only to be ambushed by Dr. Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe where they successfully captured Amy out of the X Cyclone and threatened to harm her. After the following events that resulted in Sonic's supposed death, Tails angrily fought against Eggman which resulted in both the Egg Mobile and X Cyclone severely damaged though Eggman got away with the real Chaos Emerald the X Cyclone had. After stopping Professor Gerald Robotnik's final revenge plan from succeeding, the X Tornado was supposedly salvaged by the heroes and and was brought back along with them on their trip home.

Metarex Saga
Eventually, the X Tornado was painted gold and became a part of the Blue Typhoon's small air force alongside the Hyper Tornado. During the Blue Typhoon's travels though, Shadow destroyed the X Tornado in his hunt for Cosmo, despite the crew attempting to stop him. After they returned home, Tails rebuilt the X Tornado.

Trivia

 * The name "X" Tornado may come from the show's title, "Sonic X".
 * In the first episode the X Tornado appeared in, it is mistakenly referred to as the Tornado X.
 * The X Tornado is mistakenly referred to as the "Tornado 2" in Volume 5 of the Australian Sonic X DVD.
 * The Battle Armor X Tornado and the Tornado 2 transformation in Sonic Adventure both never had any landing gear prior to landing on the Egg Carrier.
 * In one issue of the Sonic X comics, the tip of the X-Tornado's twin engines/"feet" were colored yellow instead of its usual red.
 * In the first and second season of Sonic X, the X Tornado is white, but during Sonic and his team's journey through space, it is colored gold (This could possibly be because it was in space and thus needs a layer of gold to protect it from radiation).
 * The variable forms of the Cyclone and the X Tornado bears a resemblance to the variable modes of the Variable Fighter series from the Macross series. The X Tornado in flight form resemble Macross Plus and Macross 7's VF-11 Thunderbolt III's Fighter mode, a resemblance that is further reinforced later on with the appearance of the Blue Typhoon, whose flight deck resemble the flight deck of Battle 7 from Macross 7.
 * In Series 3, the X Tornado is commonly mistaken for the Hyper Tornado.