Zone Runner

Authors Note: This dear internet is the first story that I've ever had the nerve to put on here so I beg leniency in criticism. It is my take on the generic 'Tail's suffers a trauma and changes into X several years in the future' plot line. However, unlike many that I've seen Tails does not become angry or wild because I don't see how an introverted worrier can flip that way. Instead this plot revolves around Tails becoming melancholic and misanthropic. He has been exiled and now survives as a bounty hunter of sorts.

The universe is roughly a modified version of the comics, however, it's been years since I read them and I'm rusty on the lore. The event at the start is set a few years into the future, Tails is 13. The main story is set ten years after that.

Although it probably shares themes with other stories (are you shocked? there are something like 30,000+ Sonic stories on here and only a finite amount of plot devices in the world). I do not intend to actively copy anyone's ideas, although I cannot be 100% sure on that as I haven't read everything (I have a life!) so if anyone does see plagiarism in this I would kindly ask them to bring it to my attention.

The story has various borrowings from cyberpunk dystopia elements, film noir elements and various action movie tropes. The title is an obvious steal from 1982s 'Blade Runner' based off 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?' by Philip K Dick

Rating: I have marked it M. It will contain adult themes, some alcohol and sex references but nothing graphic. There is also moderate violence including the use of firearms.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own any of the Sonic the hedgehog characters they belong to SEGA, all the rest are half-arsed creations of my own.

Chapter 1- 'a repeating nightmare'

The Tornado was circling at high altitude above the planet Mobius. Over the radio came the sounds of combat as G.U.N and Freedom fighter units engaged and distracted Robotnik's forces. The teenage fox however seemed oblivious to the battle raging far beneath him both in the air and on the ground, for he was focussing on his mission; to support Sonic's task of plant charges on Robotnik's space station while it was still in the earth's atmosphere and before it was blasted off into space.

The young fox had flown the blue speedster up to Death Egg, evading flack and the enemy fire of Robotnik's balkiries. However, he'd been unable to land on the station due to intense enemy fire and as a result the hedgehog had jumped off to place the charges whilst he had been left in his current position, circling and waiting until Sonic rushed out again. Tails was then planning to fly in close and collect the hedgehog.

It was a daring but risky plan, but they'd both done it in the past and completely trusted one another to succeed. The low speed of the obsolete biplane combined with the kit's top notch flying skills meant it was easier for the blue speedster to jump onto the Tornado then onto one of the G.U.N jets but that didn't mean it was all plain sailing, the fox would had to get his timing just right. So Tails kept his plane as high as possible and waited for the call.

'Two-Tail, bogey heading out of the sun, looks like he's going to try and bounce you,' screamed the radio.

'Roger that,' he replied his head scanning the sky, 'Breaking right.' Tails wrestled with the joy stick pulling the plane into a steep dive and rolling it off to the right as the balkiry flew past, cannons blazing. Although a pig to fly in combat, the comparatively low speed Tornado was much more mobile than Robotnik's badnik and after the swift break the fox was able to briefly get behind the Pterodactyl-like machine in the turn. The fox took his moment and gently squeezed the trigger firing the Tornado's machine gun in a short burst.

Dakka-dakka-dakka-dakka.

A burst of flame emerged from the badnik's engine, seconds later it began to roll off lazily to the left and the kit watched the machine explode into pieces.

'Scratch one badnik!' Tails shouted happily.

'Good shooting kid, now get back up there, conserve fuel and wait for Sonic, we'll do a better job of keeping the bandits away. Over.' The voice over the radio answered.

'Wilco, Green Leader.'

The Vulpine didn't have to return to circuits for long though, a couple of minutes later a radio message got his attention, 'Tails! Do you read me?'

'Five by Five, Sonic'

'Charges planted, timers set and I'm getting out of here, Eta 30 seconds.'

'Roger, coming to pick you up.' The canine pulled the joy stick putting the biplane into a steep dive and rolling it back towards the space station. Carefully, counting down the time in his head the fox flew towards the Death Egg.

29…28…27…

To give the plane the extra-boost of speed, he flicked the switch activating the two jet boosters underneath the biplane's wings.

20… 19… 18...

Quickly but carefully he lined up the plane, all it took was one false move and the hedgehog would plummet to earth so the timing had to be perfect.

11…10…9…

Steady, almost there, he told himself as he began his fly past.

5… 4… 3…

Come on Sonic, where are you? Tails worried as he was beginning to fly underneath the Death Egg's platform that he'd dropped Sonic on earlier.

2…1…

As soon as he counted out the last second there was a soft thud as a blue figure dropped onto the centre part of the biplane's upper wing. The impact caused minor turbulence meaning the fox briefly had to wrestle the controls to keep level, but vulpine didn't care. He was beaming from ear to ear with relief for upon the aircraft's wing in a crouching position was the blue speedster himself; the fox's mission had been a success.

'Great flying little buddy,' the azure hedgehog said, winking at the teenager and giving him a thumbs up, 'let's head back to base.'

The smiling fox carefully turned the Tornado back towards base. As the plane pulled away, the sky was rocked by a series of explosions and the flying fox glanced backwards to see the death egg beginning to fall back to earth. The sight was amazing, after all those years,the war was over, we've won, he thought. The only noise for a few seconds that could be heard over the radio was the sound of cheers and congratulations from ground units.

There was no time for relaxation and soon Sally's voice boomed over the radio her most authoritative tone to remind everyone, 'Congratulations everybody but we're not done yet, plenty of hostiles are still shooting at us.'

Tails didn't care however; he was congratulating the hero stood on the plane's wings for ending the war. His complacency meant the vulpine had left the plane flying straight and level for too long, he was a sitting duck.

The Tornado was suddenly rocked by a blast, Ancient walkers, the fox thought in sudden panic, 'Hang on Sonic, Flak!' he screamed.

No sooner had he shouted his warning then a second blast buffeted the plane. Tails shouted out again as this time in agony as he felt a force strike his left arm.

'Tails!... Are you ok?' Sonic, who'd dropped into a prone position clinging onto the wing called out in concern.

The canine did not answer for a third blast rocked him, this one brought another sharp stab of pain but this time it was in his head; his vision whited out and his ears rang. It took a few seconds to clear because when Tails opened his eyes Sonic had shuffled himself back across the wing and had placed his hand to the fox's neck checking his pulse. The hedgehog had a distinct look of worry in his eyes which turned briefly into elation when he noticed the canine was conscious again.

'Are you ok Tails?'

The fox wasn't, he was in tremendous pain; he couldn't move his left arm and he was aware of blood streaming from his head. 'Yeah… The blast just stunned me that's all,' Tails replied smiling through gritted teeth to mask the pain.

The hedgehog smiled back, 'I always said you had a thick head, didn't I pixel brain?'

Tails immediately turned his attention back to the plane; the cockpit had a large hole, about the size of Knuckle's fist in the left side through which the fox could clearly see daylight, the glass screen was cracked and covered with a concerning amount of his own blood. Looking out of the cockpit only raised further concerns; the left flap had been partially blasted away and the left wings themselves were missing one of the struts and several cross wires were flailing loosely. Although this damage made the plane harder to fly not impossible, there was something much more alarming, the engine note. The Tornado's engine was struggling to turn. The fuel line, Tails guessed must have been hit, it could fail in a moment and perhaps catch fire, whatever it did the canine concluded they had to get out quickly.

'Sonic… the fuel line's damaged I can't keep her up.'

For once Tails noticed Sonic's usual air of confidence briefly abandoned him and he uneasily looked down towards the ground below as if judging his chances. However, this was masked quickly, the hedgehog looked back at Tails, 'well as long as your able to catch up with me,' giving the fox a wink.

'ok, get ready…' Tails replied, as he single-handedly undid his harness and slowly easing the plane into a roll with his knees. '…NOW!' he shouted as he finally turned the plane over. Sonic let go of the wing and began to free fall, Tails eased himself out of the cockpit, relieved that the tail-fin missed his head on the way out.

'Grab my hands!' he shouted at the plummeting hedgehog. Sonic did as he was told and Tails began to spin his namesakes slowing the decent. However, as soon as the vulpine took the hedgehog's weight on his left arm he shouted out in pain again.

The ground began to grow closer and closer, but Tails wasn't thinking about that, all he could concentrate was the stabbing pain in his left arm. He tried to fight it, to keep going but it was so intense his vision began to tunnel and then it darkened completely and all he was left with were sounds; the wind rushing past and the voice of his very concerned big brother, 'Tails, come on, come back to me.'

Then just like that it was gone, the darkness, the pain but so sadly was the blue hedgehog.

'Sonic!... Sonic!...Sonic!' The fox screamed in fear as he realised what had happened.

No answer came, only the embrace of the ever closing ground.

….

'SONIC!' The canine screamed aloud.

There was no answer, the vulpine was sat bolt upright in his bed, Just that screwed up dream again, he lamented, why do I torment myself with his death, it was 10 years ago. Why did I have to be so weak as to let go? He looked about him, as usual the night terror had done a number on him; his sheets were soaked with sweat and thoroughly upended.

He looked at the state of the cramped room he called his abode; tatty walls, an old black and white TV set, a mouldy chair, the small camp bed and empty whisky bottles stacked on the bedside table, it was hardly the Savoy. No wonder I'm alone, he thought, no one should have to live in a hole like this.

The clock on the wall said 05.43. That was a good a time as any to get up. At least this time in the morning he stood a half decent chance of getting enough water pressure for a shower despite the fact he was almost certainly more likely to see a unicorn then have any hot water.

As he was rolling off the bed the adrenalin from the nightmare gave way reminding him of the excesses from the night before. The scotch, used to numb the vulpine's memories had as usual backfired spectacularly making him more miserable than before as now his frustrations were combined with a sore head and a case of gut rot.

After his lukewarm shower, the fox returned to his bed room to dress and get ready for the day. He picked his badge and ID card from the bedside table. The badge itself looked almost identical to a police shield, Miles snorted as he read the words embossed upon the metal: Order of Zone Runners, from anarchy will come order. He'd read those words every day for more than 6 years and he'd never once had he believed them.

Originally the Zone Runners had been another underground group set up to resist Robotnik, unlike the Freedom Fighters however, the Zone Runners refused to fight out from one spot and moved all across the zones of Mobius to take the fight to the mad scientist wherever he was weakest.

After Robotnik's fall the Zone Runners changed role; first they focused on retiring Robotnik's surviving mechanics. But after a while they realised that as there was little central order on Mobius, criminals from one part of the planet easily escaped justice through simply absconding to other states. The Zone Runners therefore made it their responsibility to track down and terminate these felons wherever they were in the world, charging a small fee to the government the felon was wanted in for the hassle. In theory they became something of an international police force delegated the authority of judge, jury and executioner to bring order to the world. In practice, however, they were a corrupt organisation of international hit-men who'd target anyone on a trumped up charge if given enough money.

The fox knew all about the shady dealings, after all he'd been working as one for years. He had always been a skilled tactician and fighter which made him a natural hunter. In addition as he'd aged experiences had removed his childish naivety and optimism with a cold misanthropy. The role of taking garbage off the streets for a living suited him but that didn't mean he enjoyed it much.

Now dressed, the melancholic fox opened the blinds giving him a view of Gladiopolis, one of Mobius' few surviving industrial cities. It was neither the grey, dreary weather nor the magnificent eyesore of 20 miles of nothing but iron foundries and smelting works that took his attention. It was a certain window in the opposite block, in the window of the 3rd flat from the right, on the 6th floor hung a wind chime. The wind chime was a signal the fox new only too well. The canine swore, for he had a new target.

…..

Two points:

Is it brave or stupid to kill off a main character in the first 1500 words of your fist fan-story?

The second half was hard to write, I dislike long sequences with no dialogue and only a single character. Originally, I'd given Tails a shrewish wife so the scene had dialogue but I disliked her and it left a character I had no clue what to do with for the rest of the story. I then changed her to an unnamed prostitute but that frankly made Tails more of a knob than I wanted so I re-wrote as just Tails and no dialogue which was shorter and more about world creation.

I would happily welcome any constructive feedback to help continue this. Please no flames they will be removed.