Greetings, folks! Before you begin your reading, there are two things you should know. First, even though this fic takes place after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the Death Egg hasn't been built, and Sonic has never been Super Sonic. That's all. Read away!

Chapter 1

West Island was a nice place to live. There was plenty of vegetation and food, friendly folks all around, and the island itself was pretty huge, leaving lots of room for homes. It was indeed one of the nicer places on the planet Mobius. Not much usually happened.

Usually.

Today was a day where something WAS happening. In the grassy fields of the island's Emerald Hill Zone, various inhabitants of the zone, such as squirrels and rabbits, were fleeing as a blue blur sped past them, a small red car following it. On the front of the car was a large drill, and driving the car was a strange, egg-shaped man in black pants and a red shirt with yellow stripes. The man was completely bald, but had a large, thick red mustache covering much of his face, and small glasses were perched over his eyes.

"Get back here, hedgehog!" shouted the man. "I demand that you hand over those emeralds IMMEDIATELY!"

The blur slowed down as the man talked, revealing it to be a blue hedgehog wearing white gloves, as well as red shoes with white stripes and buckles on them.

"Not gonna happen, Robotnik!" replied the hedgehog, grinning. He then put a hand to his chin while still running, as if thinking about something. "Although maybe if you ask REALLY nicely..."

"BAH!" scoffed Robotnik. "I've had enough of your games, Sonic! I'll just have to hope to that the drill doesn't damage the emeralds!"

Robotnik's car suddenly sped up; the drill on the front of it just inches away from Sonic.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sonic while speeding up as well, putting some distance between himself and the drill. "You gotta be more careful, Doc! You could wind up hurting someone!"

"That IS the point..." snorted Robotnik.

"But anyway, Doc," said Sonic while wiping some imaginary dirt off his fingers. "This is getting kinda boring, and I don't think the people around here like you almost running over them, soooooooo..."

Sonic suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned towards Robotnik and his car. Before the drill could even come in contact with Sonic, he rolled up into a ball, and shot himself towards Robotnik's car.

"Wha—" started Robotnik just as Sonic shot through two of the car's
wheels, completely smashing them. "NO!"

The car started to skid all over, Robotnik struggling to keep it in control. Finally, it crashed into a large rock near the scene, smashing the drill, as well as most of the car itself.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS INDIGNITY, HEDGEHOG!" yelled Robotnik as he floated up from the car in a gray egg-like pod. "PAY!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Sonic while skidding to a stop near the wrecked car. "Whatever you say, Robuttnik."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" shouted Robotnik.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Eggman!" snickered Sonic.

"ARRRRRRGH!" screamed Robotnik even louder.
Robotnik's "Eggmobile" then flew off into the sky, Sonic waving at him.

"Bye, Eggman!" shouted Sonic to Robotnik. "Don't forget to write!"
Several rabbits, chickens, and other denizens of the zone rushed all around Sonic, pushing and shoving each other as they tried to talk to him.

"Oh, Mister Sonic!" said a squirrel girl. "I'd just like to thank you for saving our—"

"Sonic, how's about making out an autograph to your biggest fan?" asked a chicken, shoving the squirrel out of the way.

"I was here first, beak-brain!" shouted the squirrel.

"Nuh-uh!" argued the chicken. "I was!"

"You're both wrong!" said a chicken from behind the two. "I was!"

"Heh-heh... now, folks!" smirked Sonic. "There's plenty of this hero to go around!"

"HEY, SONIC!" shouted a voice from above Sonic and the various Mobians. All of them looked up to see an orange fox, wearing white and red shoes. However, the strangest thing about this fox was that he had two tails, which were both spinning around much like a propeller. Presumably, this was what was allowing him to fly.

"Hey, Tails!" shouted Sonic up to the fox. "A little late to the party, aren't you?"

"Sorry about taking so long, Sonic!" said Tails, slowly flying down towards Sonic and the other Mobians. "I was working on upgrading the Tornado and—"

Tails' tails suddenly stopped spinning around, and he dropped towards Sonic and the crowd of Mobians.

"AAAAAAAH!" he screamed as the Mobians in the crowd scattered in different directions, not wanting to be crushed. Tails then landed on the ground beside Sonic, who stared at him with a partially angry look, while tapping his foot on the ground.

"Tails, I thought you had the hang of flying?" asked Sonic. "You did tell me you've have them since you were born..."

"Heh-heh..." laughed Tails nervously. "I still have a 'glitch' every once in a while..."

---

That evening, still in the Emerald Hill Zone, Sonic ran up to a large, wooden building. A few moments later, Tails flew down near him, panting.

"Come on, Tails!" grinned Sonic. "You're going to have to be a lot faster than that if you ever want to beat me in a race!"

"Yeah, I know..." wheezed Tails. "But couldn't you slow down a little, Sonic?"

"Kid, I WAS going slow." replied Sonic before opening the door to the building and walking inside, Tails following. Inside, the two ended up in a large room, with the ceiling and floor were also completely metallic. Wrenches, screwdrivers, and other tools were scattered on the floor, and several tables were also all around, with pieces of machines also scattered on them. In a corner of the room was a bunk bed, with the top bed's blankets blue, and the bottom's orange.

"Sheesh, Tails, you've really gotta clean up in here!" complained Sonic as he kicked a screwdriver away from his foot.

"Sorry, Sonic, I didn't really have much time to clean up when I heard about Robotnik being in the zone again." replied Tails, stepping over a hammer. "So... uh... what was he after?"

"What else?" asked Sonic. "The Chaos Emeralds. Looks like he's running out of ideas for machines, too. He used that 'Drill-Car' of his from the last time we fought him in the Emerald Hill Zone!"

"Wow, he must be going senile!" laughed Tails. "But by the way, Sonic, you haven't told me. How exactly do you KNOW Robotnik?"

"... Meh, not much to it." said Sonic. "I lived on South Island, the original home of the Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik and his Badnik army came knocking one day, and started tearing the island apart in their search for the emeralds. I managed to beat them back, and gathered up all of the emeralds while I was at it."

"That was when the emeralds flew over here to West Island, right?" asked Tails.

"Right." replied Sonic. "Robotnik followed them here, and I followed him here. And the rest is history; I met you, and we beat old Robuttnik and got the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Yeah, that was a nice and happy ending!" grinned Tails. "Well, except for Robotnik's bases here on West Island still being operational..."

"Ah, don't worry, Tails!" said Sonic cheerfully. "The Chemical Plant and Oil Ocean Zones, as well as Metropolis, may still be up and running, but they won't be for long! We'll take down the Chemical Plant Zone first thing tomorrow, agreed?"

"... Agreed!" said Tails, nodding his head.

"Now then," yawned Sonic. "I think it's time for this day to be over. So get to bed, kid."

"All right, Sonic!" exclaimed Tails while walking over to the bunk bed and going into the orange bed. "But answer me one last question. What did you do with the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Trade secret, kid," said Sonic while getting into the blue bed. "Now get some sleep."

---

As the night went on, sleep was the only thing Tails COULDN'T do. He had too much on his mind. He and his hero were planning to take down one of Dr. Robotnik's bases the very next day. He could hardly wait! It seemed like so long ago when Tails had just been boring old Miles Prower, the kid mechanic that people would get to fix their toaster or something. Now he was a hero alongside Sonic the Hedgehog! Nothing could ruin his mood. Nothing at all.

Thunk.

"What was that?" thought Tails as he sat up in his bed. "It came from outside..."

There weren't any windows in Tails' workshop, unfortunately, so he couldn't just peek through one to find out what was going on outside. And judging from Sonic's snoring, Tails figured that he hadn't heard it.

"I know!" thought Tails. "I'll go outside and investigate what that was! Maybe it's some new Super Badnik of Robotnik's? I can beat it, and show Sonic just how good of a fighter I am!"

Tails quietly got out of his bed, and made his way to the door, making sure not to step on any of the tools on the floor. He started to open the door, and it made a creak. Tails quickly turned back towards Sonic, but to his relief, his hero hadn't seemed to wake up. Tails then stepped outside, carefully closing the workshop's door as quietly as he could.

"Hello?" asked Tails while looking around, only to see nothing but grass and trees. "Super Badnik? I'm here to fight you!"
Tails continued to look around, only to still see nothing. He started to turn back towards the work shop... only to see three figures in front of him.

"Wha--?" started Tails, peering at the figures. Even thought it was pretty dark, he could make out that the figures were all wearing the same uniforms. Black suits covering their entire bodies, and what appeared to be gas masks covering their faces. Strapped to each of their backs were rifles, and the initials "G.U.N." were written on their shoulders.

"They're... humans?" Tails asked himself, staring in bewilderment at the strange men.

"Blast it!" exclaimed one of the men. "It's one of those... things that the Commander warned us about!"

"We can't let it jeopardize the mission!" complained the second man. "We don't want the other creatures on this island knowing that we're here!"

"Don't worry..." said the third man as he pulled the rifle strapped to his back and aimed it carefully at Tails, "This freak won't be telling anyone..."

As Tails stared in confusion, the man pulled the trigger...