So fast. Sonic was running so terribly fast. It was almost too much for him... except no, of course it wasn't. Sonic could never go too fast, he knew so, which was why, against reason, he would continue to try to go entirely too fast. He was giddy – the thought of going way too fast tickled him in a way not much else could. He couldn't help but chuckle as he worked his ludicrously-thin leg muscles and feet til they were sore.

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Sonic hollered, feeling the adrenaline rush in as he lost his peripheral vision. He relished, adored, lived for highs like this. He couldn't believe it, but he could, and it was amazing, and beautiful, and wonderful, and splendid, and at this point there was no helping it – he was giggling. He was in love with the speed, the wind rushing into his face, the sound his feet made as they hit the earth at a breakneck pace, all of it, there was nothing else in the world quite like i—rock.

"Oh gosh!" Sonic shouted before he began tumbling down to the ground repeatedly as he lost all the momentum he had built up in one oopsie-daisy of a fall. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, owwwwwwwwwwwww!" He screamed in pain, as his face planted down onto the earth and skid a line of dirt in the ground until finally he ran out of momentum and stopped. "Gosh... frick, gosh... gosh, darn, dang, phooey, owie, ooooof, friiiiiiiick, gooooooosh...!" He grumbled as he repeatedly attempted to pick himself off the ground and failed and continued to bruise his knees and legs and every other part of his body.

Finally, after much trial and error on Sonic's part, his pointy ears perked up at the incoming sound of tails frantically-spinning, coupled with the faint sound of his pal Tails... apologizing?

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh I'm so sorry, Sonic!" Tails apologized profusely, his two tails spinning at a shockingly fast rate as it would whenever he was experiencing deep mortification.

"Tails, Tails... what happened? Wh-why are you apologizing?" Sonic asked, dazed and confused.

"I put the rock there." The two-tailed fox frowned, with his eyes welling-up with tears.

Sonic's mouth went agape as he let out a small gasp. "Why?"

"I d-didn't mean for you to fall that badly..." Tails stammered, hurriedly brushing the dirt off of Sonic's forehead and behind his ears, "I just... you said you'd come over and help me tidy up the garage and it's been hours since the time you s-said a-a-and I thought maybe—since I couldn't e-even d-d-d-d-dream of catching up to you on my own—I could calculate where you were headed and put a rock right where you wouldn't expect it and then you'd stop and... and... and I'm so sorry..." The tears were now streaming down from the corners of the fox's baby-blue eyes, and, instinctively, Sonic went over to console him.

Wrapping an arm around the fox, Sonic tried to get his two-tailed partner to meet his eyes, but Tails' tear-filled gaze could only be held for a moment before he looked away once again in shame, eliciting a sigh from his quilled friend. "C'mon pal..." Taking his friend by the chin and gently making him face him once again, he looked into his eyes and let the look he was giving him speak. Tails seemed to get the message as his tails finally began to slow down and his shoulders lowered from their tense-height.

Sonic then gave Tails a tender kiss on the forehead and ruffled his hair gently. "You're okay." He smiled, sincerely, melting away all the stress and anxiety that had built up in Tails' self when he saw his friend take that terrible fall. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me... and that fall was nothing, anyway." The hedgehog claimed.

"It wasn't?" Tails inquired.

"Well..." Sonic began, feigning having to think for a moment about it, unintentionally causing Tails' heart to skip a beat, before, with a twinkle in his eye, he chuckled, "Naaaaaah." Tails let out a sigh of relief and chuckled along. "Now c'mon, we've got badniks to stomp on and evil plots to foil." The blue blur said, holding his hand out to his little friend.

Tails' frown turned upside-down and he took Sonic's hand. Their friendship really was stronger than a fall, he realized, before giving a big 'ole hug to his best friend forever. "Oh, hehe, thanks, little guy!" Sonic gasped, "Now, let's have some fun." He smiled, eliciting a nod from Tails.

Then, without further ado, they both ran off - running up and down the hills of the zone, super peeling out through the loop-de-loops, jumping on springs and bouncing off of buzzers, passing through dozens of rings, and having fun in the special way they do.

Author's Notes: Feels good to be writing again. c:

I'm surprised it took me this long to publish a story about Sonic the Hedgehog. x3 Like, it was a huuuuuuge part of my childhood—in fact, Sonic 2 was my first ever videogame experience! :D I sucked then and, to an extent, I still suck at it to this day, but I have fun with the games anyway, hehe. :3

This story's a part of my ongoing mission to just have fun with my writing and not write things I don't wanna write, just quality of life stuff like that. c: I got rid of some stories I couldn't put myself fully behind anymore, even some that used to mean a little to me. It wasn't easy, but it was freeing at the same time too. :3 I hope this mission I'm on leads to some good stories for you all~

I've been getting into drawing lately, so who knows – maybe I'll draw the cover for this one. x3 That'd sure be neat~

Thank you so so so so so very much for any reviews, favorites, and/or follows for this story! When I hear what my readers think of my stories it makes me very happy, even if it's just a favorite, so yea~ Have a wonderful day, I hope this story improved it a little~