All Sonic characters copyright SEGA/SOE, except Original Characters developed by me. Enjoy!

He ran. Faster than the wind, than any car or plane, he ran. Behind him, the sirens began to wail. Giant black rocket-machines sped after him. People on the street lifted weapons, but he was already past them. The rockets couldn't match his speed, falling behind to detonate on the pavement. He fled not just from his pursuers, but from the pain, from the mistake that had cost so much. He was running to the only patch of free ground on the planet, the Green Hill Zone, protected by the only rebel left, alive or still free. The blue streak bowed his head at the irony. This was himself, Sonic, the Supersonic Hedgehog. He grimaced, even the name bringing up memories of the fall of everything he knew, loved, the end of all things good.

/

"C'mon Tails! You gotta keep up!"

My less-swift, yellow fox-friend strained to keep up with my blazing pace, his namesake dual tails a blur as they propelled him through the arid air. "Jeez, Sonic! Is this that important that you're gonna run me to death?"

I spun and ran backwards while staring him down, sand whipping along my trail. "Damn straight it is! We gotta find out what this thing's about, before it turns into something worse than an annoyance!" I noticed that he had begun growing a very slight paunch, which irritated me for some unfathomable reason.

"You think y'might be over-exaggerating the trouble? I mean it's probably just a new gang or something." Tails wheezed out, holding a hand up to block out the hot desert sun. "Great Chaos! Okay, really, you gotta slow down! Either let me take a break or start goin' slower!"

I stopped abruptly and Tails flew past a ways before he realized I wasn't ahead of him. Instead of landing, he simply crashed into a sand dune and collapsed tiredly to the ground. "Fine! But I think you're spending too much time on that durned plane, and not enough out just runnin'!"

"Yeah, yeah. I actually have to finish what I start, Sonic."

I looked at him indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "When's the last time you totally completed something other than a run or beating Eggman? Hmm? Remember that card for Amy? My collection of maps you said you'd help with? Even Cream's birthday present? Which, surprise surprise, would be tomorrow, by the way. Oh, and before you start freaking about going back, I finished the present for you. I had a feeling you might forget."

I shrugged sheepishly, relaxing from the sprinting position I had entered as soon as Tails had reminded me about the young, caramel-colored rabbit's special day. "Thanks, Tails, I owe ya one. Okay, I get the point, finishing things is good. Now let's finish this and keep moving!"

Tails blanched. "Uhh, well, er, why don't you, uh, fill me in about this mission? Yeah, right!" He said quickly. "You've hardly told me anything at all."

I looked at him sideways. "Alright, but I think you're just stalling cause you're out of shape."

He muttered snidely under his breath, just a little too loudly, "Why would you ever think that, Mr. Hyper-Hedgehog?"

Ignoring this, I turned around and put my hands behind my head. "Well, I'm no storyteller, but here it goes: There's a town way on the edge of this pit of scorching dirt, and it was full of gangs 'n stuff. Well, all of a sudden, these new guys come in, black suit type guys. They start a little gang, called 'The Darkness'. Well, people thought, whatever, it's just a new gang, right, nothing special."

I looked at him sharply. "Like you." He stared at the ground bashfully. "But this 'gang', never got in wars, nothing. They just 'convinced' people to join. Some started speaking out against them, trying to raise support, but they always went missing soon after. Next thing you know, the whole town was 'Darkness' headquarters numero uno. They began to send people to other towns, start bases there. So we," here I looked hard at him, "Meaning you and me, are gonna check out if it's just some punked-up jerks or something more sinister. Now," I clapped my hands briskly. "let's get this show on the road! We've got forty leagues left to travel 'til we get to… Whatever the heck it's called now."

Tails climbed to his feet wearily. "Yeah, fine."

I slapped him on the back. "Let's move, slowpoke! No lollygagging this time!"

He flared up, glaring at me. "Y'know, you should respect us a little more! I'm not a 'slowpoke', you're the fastest thing alive! You're way too fast for me to keep up top speed, or even near it! You get into brawls with Knuckles, mostly sparring I admit, but you sometimes pick fights in the middle of a mission! You tick off Amy, you basically abandon Cream, and whenever Shadow comes up you immediately run off with him, racing or doing 'guy/manly talk', I don't care! Give us a break once in a while! We deserve respect more than you might think, even if we aren't as big of heroes as you!"

I looked at him incredulously. "Wow!" I laughed a little, a false tone betraying my discomfort. "I bet it's just the exercise making you cranky. C'mon, we'll finish this and go home slow enough where you can keep up comfortably."

Tails sighed. "Yeah, alright." I could tell he was unhappy, but I decided that some speed would wear it off.

We raced off again.

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