Sonia's Rough Living
Chapter 2: Miles Prower
"Robotnik was determined to stop Sonia before she had even started and he would have done so if not for the intervention of a two tailed fox named Miles Prower, otherwise known as Tails to everyone who knew him. I believe that Tails' intervention was more an act of fate than luck and I'm sure the Oracle of Delphius knew that Tails would be a substitute for Sonic and Manic, not that he would ever tell me. Hopefully with the aid of Tails, Sonia would succeed and we will be one step closer to stopping Robotnik once and for all." Queen Aleena
"Before we go anywhere, what is your name?" Sonia asked.
"I'm Miles Prower but everyone calls me 'Tails', and it is indeed an honour to meet you in person, Princess Sonia."
Sonia's jaw dropped. How could this fox possible know what she looked like? She'd never been here before and he certainly didn't look to particularly old, maybe five or six years younger than she was so any prior knowledge would surely have been warped or forgotten about her.
"We need to go before more SWATbots arrive." Tails urged the stunned hedgehog.
Sonia's mouth moved but no words came out. Tails rolled his eyes as he grabbed Sonia's arm.
"Huh?" Sonia didn't know what to expect.
Tails wound his two tails up and took flight, hauling Sonia off the ground.
"Wh-what's happening? How are you...?" Sonia was almost in hysterics.
"Flying? Simple, two tails." Tails calmly told her. "Before you ask, I'm taking you to a hideout I built. No-one knows about it, not even anyone else in the Resistance."
Hundreds of questions filled Sonia's mind as Tails carried her away from the scene of the fight. She wanted to ask much but her mind was still a little addled over Tails showing up and knowing exactly who she was without introductions and the fact that this fox was capable of flying. Slowly, Sonia was able to sort her mind out and regain focus on exactly what was happening, just in time for Tails to place her back on the ground on her feet.
"Come, follow me." Tails said to her as he released his hold on her hand.
Sonia obeyed without comment as she followed the orange fox into the ruins of what seemed to be an old farm building. Sonia wrinkled her nose at the prospect of going in such a wreck of a place but the other choice of waiting to be arrested by numerous SWATbots and eventually roboticized meant that she would take the wreck any day.
"What was this place?" She asked.
"It was a farm. One member of our group used to live here a while ago until his master, Lord Adam Tollring, expressed his concerns about supporting Robotnik shortly after he forced Queen Aleena into hiding." Tails explained as the two picked their way through the rubble.
"So word got back to Robotnik about this and he sent an army to lay waste to Tollring's estate and the dwellings of his servants?"
"That's the thing; he didn't. As far as we know, Buttnik knew nothing of this; this was all done by the other nobles of this land. Lord Tollring lost quite a lot but he is still a noble of this land although he doesn't speak out against Robotnik anymore." Tails sighed. "We've tried a few times to convince him to aid the Resistance but he declines stating that he will not help the 'common rabble'. Tollring is pretty much an arrogant jerk, like all of the nobles...you'll have a hard time getting any of the Resistance out here to aid you, considering your privileged upbringing, and I know they'll shun me if I'm seen to be helping you, but I will help you when I can."
Sonia felt hurt, shocked and insulted all at once but before she could respond, Tails opened the entrance to his hideout. As Sonia observed the fox in action, she noticed the rubble hadn't fallen like it had purposely, it was 'conveniently placed' to make one assume the roof had completely collapsed whereas it fact it hadn't, at least that is what Sonia thought.
"Tails? Am I right in thinking that this rubble has been conveniently placed to look like a collapse at this point?" The purple hedgehog asked.
"Mostly." Tails replied as he crawled into a small cave. "Follow me."
'Oh I hate crawling through dirty places. My clothes will be a mess and there won't be a dry cleaners that I can get to without being mobbed by a legion of SWATbots.' Sonia moaned in her thoughts as she gritted her teeth and started to crawl into the cave, following her new friend.
After a minute or so of crawling, Sonia heard the sound of feet walking across metal. It was a little worrying and a relief at the same time as she was in complete darkness and she would at least be on a surface that wouldn't make her clothes as dirty. Suddenly a number of lights flashed on, causing Sonia to shut her eyes, turn away and place her left hand over her eyes.
"What the heck?"
"Heh, sorry Sonia, I should have warned you." Tails laughed lightly. "Welcome to my home away from home."
As Sonia's eyes started to adjust to the light, she slowly opened them and removed her hand from shielding them. She gazed in amazement at the hideout that Tails had made by himself; there was an array of technological equipment and many tools all over the place.
"What do you do here?"
"I invent gadgets, tools, repair machinery, upgrade weaponry for my allies and create things from spare parts looted off of Robotnik's SWATbots. Those are the kind of things I do but really engineering is what I love most; building and repairing...it gives me such a thrill." Tails sighed heavily. "It's just a shame I have to spend so much time researching and building weapons to fight Robotnik...and really...I don't want to sound disrespectful to my comrades but I do feel my talents are a little wasted here are there isn't much I can do. This island is a little devoid of any real technological specialities that Robotnik would place here so my chances for some excellent 'spare' parts are really hard to come by. Most of my tools are a little outdated, but they do the work I need." Tails explained to the Royal Hedgehog.
"It all looks pretty good to me." Sonia commented as she wondered if maybe Tails had some ego issues...like a certain fast brother of hers.
Tails led Sonia further into his hideout, revealing the basic amenities he had created for his home. Sonia wasn't particularly thrilled at the accommodations but with nowhere else to go that could provide her safety from Robotnik's SWATbot patrols, she had no choice but to get used to it.
"There is no way I'm going to like this, I mean, even the van was better equipped than this place. Heck, I think even Manic would struggle to be satisfied in this place and he knows about living rough."
Sonia eventually decided, after much complaining in her thoughts, that it would be better to try and get to know her new friend a bit better.
"So...Tails, how do you know who I am?" Sonia enquired suspiciously.
"Well, you ARE the Princess; it's not as if people don't know who you are." Tails replied.
"Come on Miles, you aren't fooling me. Yes people know about me but a lot don't know what I look like and you knew exactly who I was." Sonia narrowed her eyes and gave Tails a stern stare.
Tails, upon seeing the look Sonia was giving him, decided that perhaps giving a full explanation might be the best course of action.
"Well, it's quite a story." He began, not really wanting to have to talk about the experience.
"Not like I've got to be somewhere."
"Alright then but this will take a while to explain so you might as well get comfortable." Tails suggested to the Princess as he sat on the floor.
"How do I know who you are? Well it goes back about six years ago, long before you even knew you had two brothers, let alone you, Sonic and Manic were all royalty. I was a young kid who had witnessed my parents being arrested by Robotnik's SWATbots for speaking out against him. My parents knew the SWATbots were coming so they told me to run to a friend of theirs...an old hedgehog who was related to Queen Aleena, known to us all as 'Uncle' Chuck."
Sonia gasped at hearing about Chuck.
"Sonic talked about 'Uncle' Chuck, but I never knew he was actually an uncle. Oh my gosh, if Sonic found this out it would cut into him even more than losing him already had done." Sonia started to fret over what might happen to Sonic.
"I think Sonic knew that Chuck was his actual uncle as far as I can tell. Anyway, after seeing my parents arrested I found 'Uncle' Chuck and told him what had happened. I don't know the details but I assume that Sonic ended up going to try and save them while Chuck took me to the Resistance's hideout. For days I waited and waited for any word on Sonic saving my parents..." Tails stopped and turned his head away from Sonia before sighing heavily.
"Sonic...didn't get there...in time?" Sonia asked tentatively, with a rising feeling of guilt for bringing up bad memories for Tails.
Tails shook his head and screwed his eyes tightly shut as he tried to fight off the overwhelming desire to just break down. After a few moments, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and gently squeeze it. He opened his eyes and turned to face Sonia, who promptly sat next to him to comfort the fox.
"Sonic found me out when he returned and broke the news to me. I wanted to...hate him but I couldn't." Tails said in a low voice.
"Why? Couldn't you hate him, I mean."
"The look in his eyes told a story. He had witnessed more than he ever told me, I just know it. He said to me that he had seen my parents get roboticized and that there were too many SWATbots blocking his path to stop the process in time. There had to be more than that though, Sonia. Chuck told me days later that Sonic had witnessed people being roboticized before and nothing had caused that kind of reaction...I think Sonic had told Chuck all about it but they didn't want me to know more, I suppose that was understandable."
Tails and Sonia sat in silence for a few minutes before Tails continued his story.
"After that, I vowed to get revenge on Robotnik but I knew I wasn't any kind of fighter, heck, I was just a little kid. What could I possibly do to stop Robotnik? It was then that I discovered my love for mechanics, which is another story in its own right. Needless to say I eventually convinced Sonic to bring me SWATbot parts from the ones he destroyed, and in return I made weapons and armour for the Resistance. Over the months, Sonic and I bonded and we became best friends and everything was rosy, as rosy as it could get with a mad dictator around trying to destroy you on a daily basis, until after a top level meeting it was decided that the youngsters should be taken somewhere safe to grow up before joining the Resistance and helping to defeat Robotnik, hence Sanctuary being created."
Tails sighed again and frustrated look grew on his face.
"I didn't want to go to Sanctuary, Sonia, I argued with Chuck and Sonic for hours, telling them that I was more help to them now than being away for four or five years. Things didn't end well and I ended up leaving Robotropolis that night. How I ever managed to avoid being found by Sonic, I'll never know but I did, and, eventually I found myself here on this terrible mass of land filled with pathetic nobles who are too scared to speak out against Robotnik or even subtly help the Resistance and arrogant Freedom Fighters who distrust anyone who has any kind of wealth or any kind of privileged upbringing." Tails shook his head. "I always kept up with the latest news in the Resistance, specifically news on Sonic, over the years. My allies scoffed at everything you, Sonic and Manic did in the past but I always kept interest."
Sonia grunted quietly as she thought again about the gravity of her task.
"I'm guessing that since you didn't know who I was Sonic never mentioned anything about me?" Tails asked.
Sonia simply shook her head in response.
"So what's your plan now you are here on this forsaken island?" Tails enquired.
"Simple. Convince the Freedom Fighters to trust me, get support of the nobles and then wipe Robotnik's forces off this place."
"You make it sound so easy."
"Shouldn't be overly difficult considering that I AM quite a charismatic person and people will listen to me." Sonia stated a little overconfidently.
'Not going to be as easy as you think, Princess. You'll learn that the Freedom Fighters are far more stubborn than you think they are.' Tails thought.
"What is this place again, Sleet?" Dingo asked.
"Dingo, you are such an idiot. Pay attention dis time!" Sleet shouted at Dingo. "Dis is the Isle of Dominicaine, a haven for dhe rich and a hellhole for dhe poor. Sonia is here and by now she should be clapped in irons waiting for us to take her back to Robotropolis so Robotnik can roboticize her."
Sleet and Dingo's aircraft landed at Robotnik's outpost just outside Port Domin.
"Oh poor Sonia. How will we ever be together if she is a robot?" Dingo wailed.
"You'd have more of a chance with her when she is one." Sleet muttered under his breath as he opened the hatch so he and Dingo could get out of their plane.
"Welcome to outpost six-five-five. Request orders." A SWATbot requested as it approached Sleet.
"Bring dhe prisoner up here for transport to Doctor Robotnik." Sleet ordered.
"Request cannot be completed." The SWATbot replied.
"WHAT? Why?"
"No prisoner for transfer." The SWATbot explained.
"What do you mean? Robotnik told us that dhe Princess would be incarcerated when we got here." Sleet was furious that Sonia seemingly hadn't been captured.
"Oh, you mean Sonia got away?" Dingo asked hopefully.
"Units sent to apprehend Priority One: Hedgehog have not returned nor reported in. Assumption is they are KIA, MIA or AWOL." The SWATbot reported.
"Well we can rule out AWOL: None of dhe SWATbots have advanced enough programming to think about abandoning duties. I highly doubt dhat Sonia would kidnap some SWATbots so I'll go with killed in action. Get us some vehicles and a few guards ready to leave within ten minutes. We are going on the lookout for some smashed up SWATbots."
To Be Continued...
Disclaimer: Basically the same as the previous chapter but with the additions that I do not own Uncle Chuck but I DO own Lord Adam Tollring.
