The sun shined and the cool breeze blew over the Mystic Ruins. Clear blue skies stretched out for miles over the small workshop on the hill. A young fox with two tails and an older hedgehog with distinctive blue fur both laid on the grass out back and stared at the sparse clouds floating by over head.
Miles "Tails" Prower and Sonic the Hedgehog, two of the heroes of mobius and one of the first lines of defense for big problems. Everything from mad scientists bent on world domination to alien invasions and ancient gods of darkness had been driven back by them and their friends.
For now they laid in peace with nothing disturbing them aside form the occasional cry of a seagull or fish splashing around in the water below the cliff. The cool ocean breeze and warmth of the sun's rays cooling their fur and threatening to lull them off to sleep. A moment in paradise for them to be alone with each other and their own thoughts.
Tails stared up into the skies and found his mind wandering to places in the recesses of his memories he rarely explored. For some strange reason he found himself straining to recall his life long before he met Sonic. That time long before he somehow wound up all alone despite his young age. As far as he could recall he wasn't much older than four when he met his best friend and surrogate big brother. He knew he had somehow lost his family and wound up an orphan but the memories of that and the life before it were foggy.
The most he could remember was a vague image of a pretty vixen he assumed was his mother. A bandanna usually covered her scarlett hair and her face was streaked with oil and grease. Yet she smiled warmly from behind the dirt and grime. His memories also associated her with the smells of oil and gas, the clanks of tools, and the roars and bangs of old engines springing to life.
Was she as much of a gearhead as he was and he had somehow gotten it from her?
Why was he thinking about this now? What had sparked this moment of soul searching in the corners of his mind for something concrete about his old life? He found himself looking over at his best friend and forming questions in his mind.
"Sonic?" he asked, "
"Yeah, buddy?" The hedgehog didn't even bother to open his eyes.
"I know this is a weird question, but do you remember anything about your family?"
"Not to much. Just that my dad was some kind of soldier, like maybe the town militia. My mom was some kind of doctor or nurse. Why?"
"I was thinking about my family but I can't remember much. Just a woman that I think was my mom." Tails answered.
"I wish I could tell you something but you were alone when I found you. You didn't have anything but a blanket and an old toy plane."
"I know, both of them are still in my workshop. They felt important for some reason." Tails answered.
"If you ever want my help looking into your past we can solve the mystery together," Sonic sat up and smiled at the kit.
"Maybe someday, if I can ever remember more." Tails answered
"Look on the bright side. At least we have each other, so despite everything neither of us alone." Sonic looked out over the sea.
"Yeah.." Tails followed his gaze
The two sat in silence for for a time until both their wrist comms started buzzing in with an emergency signal. Something Tails had programmed to warn them if something that sounded like an Eggman attack was reported nearby.
Tails flipped open his comm and clicked a button. A female spoke about a small farm, about 10 miles outside of Station square, under siege. Coordinates flashed onto the display after a brief search through police systems.
"Think we should check it out?" Sonic asked
"I was starting to get bored, anyway," Tails smiled and stood up to run towards the garage door of the workshop.
"Looks like today is going to be fun after all." Sonic quickly followed.
The Tornado cut through the skies like a bullet. It's engine roaring and spitting fire like a dragon. Fields and clusters of trees flew by down below as the two heroes quickly approached their target.
"I don't understand why Eggman would be attacking some random farm, what did some poor farmer ever do to him?" Tails raised his voice over the road of the engine and the rush of the wind.
"It's Eggman, he might just being doing it for fun." Sonic replied
"It just doesn't make sense because he tends to at least make some attempt at tactical choices and planning," Tails flipped a switch on the instrument panel, "I wonder if he found something out there."
"If he did, then we'll be there to keep him from getting his hands on the thing."
"I guess, but it still worries me not knowing exactly what he's up to." Tails stared out the window
"Hey, we haven't failed to take him down yet and I don't plan to break that streak today," Sonic leaned forward to place a hand on the kits shoulder
Tails just smiled and took a deep breath. Trying to let Sonic's reassurances ease his troubled mind.
The rest of the flight was spent in silence watching the scenery go by. Nothing slowing them down or getting in their way as they hurtled towards the coordinates they intercepted from the police's dispatch system. Within minutes a plume of smoke became visible over the horizon and Tails steadied himself before letting the plane drop lower to find a landing place.
The fields by the farm were crawling with badniks but no sign of any living mobian talking shelter anywhere. Was it abandoned? If it was then who would've reported the badniks skulking about? The smoke wasn't even from the buildings but rather a badnick that had malfunctioned or fell prey to friendly fire smoldering in the grass. So he couldn't chalk it up to an automated fire alarm of some kind, either.
He pushed it out of his mind and switched the plane to landing mode. Either way they had to make sure there was nobody in danger and remove the threat before they DID reach somewhere with mobians or overlanders around.
"You holding up okay, buddy?" Sonic called as he dented the armor of a robot with a swift kick.
"Fine, you?" Tails quickly dodged a laser blast and vaulted over the robot attempting to subdue him. Making sure to plant a small explosive on it's armor as he did.
The device exploded with an inward force that rattled the machine and blew it's optical camera from it's socket. It was deathly still and silent for a moment as smoke bellowed out of of it's wounds. At least until it began to creak and rock before falling over with a mighty thud against the soft earth.
"I gotta get me some of those!" Sonic called as he knocked another robot flat on its face.
Tails smiled and braced himself, spinning up his namesakes and eying a robot doing the closest it could to staring him down with a camera for an eye. Without warning he sprung forward using the force of his biological propellers to jet along the ground. Picking up speed as he shot between its legs and the wind knocked it off balance. With a mighty crash it hit the ground and was still save for spasms of motors and buzz of shorted circuits.
For anyone else his age, this might be a very bad day but for one of the heroes of Mobius it was just another day on the job. Much like his best friend and surrogate big brother he had even come to enjoy the work-out from smashing up Eggman's walking deathtraps. Especially if it involved testing out his latest gadgets. He punctuated that last thought by whirling around and tossing another bomb at one sneaking up behind him. Silently cheering to himself as he landed it right on it's optical lens.
He chuckled to himself as it waved its arms in a panic and ran away down the hill. The quick pace of heavy, creaky footsteps was suddenly silenced in the distance by the loud pop of the explosive. He was really starting to like these micro-bombs for evening the playing field a bit between him and Eggman's forces.
He turned to a small horde of bots. Bits and pieces flew out the crowd and into the sky as a blue blur weaved in and out of their ranks. Claws, feet, bits of hull, cameras, circuits. Anything that could be ripped or cut off of a badnik was flying every which way.
Just as he was about to run into the crowd to help his friend his sensitive ears picked up a noise that made him pause. Cries for help coming from the ruined farm buildings nearby
"Sonic, someone is calling for help!" he shouted.
"I got this handled, buddy! Go and do what you have to do!" Sonic called.
He turned and stared down the line of bots between him and the buildings. If someone was in trouble it was up to him to save the day while Sonic was held up with his own mechanical mob. He prepared himself and began to spin up his tails once again. Eying up the obstacles in his way as they seemed to taunt him by opening and closing their metal claws. A deep breath was drawn and he prepared to push himself forward.
Shooting off like a bullet he cut it as close to each one as he could to throw them off their feet with the wind generated by his movement. Each one falling one by one as he shot past and drew closer and closer to the farm. As one stepped out in his path he hit the ground and slid straight between its legs. Placing a bomb in it's backside as he came out the other side and shielding his head as it went off.
Quickly turning around he noticed the smoking hole it's it's backside and caught himself laughing at the unfortunate placement of the bomb. It eventually fell forward with a mighty thud and smoke billowed from the hole as something caught fire inside. Before he could admire the immature humor of the situation much longer he once again heard the cries for help.
After pinning down the sound as coming from the barn he moved forward, hurrying to vault over the front gate and towards the damaged structure. He quickly scanned all sides as he moved to ensure nothing was sneaking up on him and moved forward at a steady pace until he reached the great doors.
It was clear from the rotting wood and chipping paint the place hadn't been pretty even before the attack. He was almost afraid of getting splinters just looking at the thing and couldn't discern how much damage was actually done by Eggman's machines. Was the massive door always splintered at the framework and half town from it's great hinges? Did the roof always have that huge hole blown in it's side from some storm long ago?
Other questions entered his mind as he stared at the structure. Questions that seemed irrelevant to the situation at hand but still somehow significant suddenly plagued his mind. Why was it suddenly eerily quiet? Had it been this cold and cloudy five minutes ago? He pulled his tails around his body and rubbed his arms. He suddenly noticed a misty fog had started to build up like right after a morning rain despite it being clear just before he jumped the gate.
He had to wonder if it was some kind of new super badnik lurking about with a fog machine and some kind of humidifier system to cool the air. He wouldn't put it past Eggman to resort to messing with him and Sonic when brute force failed so many times. The kit steadied himself, half expecting some terrifying form of gnarled steel to show itself from either the sky or the the fog.
Yet nothing came.
Just the deathly still that had come over the entire place. The sounds of combat had even ceased Just a cold silence that felt like a warning something bad was coming. No wind, no rain, no sounds of animals. Only this damp and cold quiet as the fog seem to engulf everything but him and the structure in front of him.
"Help, someone, help me!" the voice called again from inside.
Tails snapped out of his stupor. No matter what was going on he had to help if someone was in trouble. Pushing everything to the back of his mind he rushed inside the darkened barn and tried to see through the blackness. Squinting to see if he could make out any mobian or overlander forms.
"Where are you?" he called, "I'm here to help!"
"Over here, a beam fell on my leg when the fighting started and I can't move it!" a male voice called.
"Just hold on!" Tails thought hard for a moment, trying to think of anyway to create a source of light. His eyes fell on his wrist comm and he smiled. He flipped open the device and with the press of a few buttons the screen came to life with a bright image of a menu.
"I can see you!" the voice called, "your back is to me."
Tails whirled around and carefully walked forward by the light of the device until he saw the outline of someone sitting on the ground. As he grew closer he could make out the face of a rabbit with red hair and grey fur smiling at him.
"Are you okay?" he asked the man
"I think so. I don't think I'm badly injured. Just pinned." he answered.
"I'm Tails," the kit crouched next to the man
"I know, how could I not recognize one of Team Sonic?" he managed a laugh, "I'm Tommy."
"Let's see if can get you free, okay, Tommy?" Tails turned his attention to the beam and began trying to pry it loose, "it seems stuck good. I might have to call Knuckles or something."
Distracted by the challenge presented to him he failed to notice the sound of cracking wood up above. Failed to notice the warning signs of danger until Tommy was calling for him to get out of the way. At least until he felt something heavy knock him over the head. He fell to the dirt floor and groaned.
"Kid, are you okay? Please say something!" Tommy called
Tails barely head his voice as he slowly drifted off. Swearing he heard boots softly crossing the dirt floor somewhere in the barn just before he passed out