Part Two

It's been about half a year since I've last been near Rascal's territory, at least by myself. I haven't seen the blue hedgehog since then, but I've seen a lot more kindness around Westside Island. I guess I'm on the lookout for it, now. Even though I'm pretty young, I've received a job working for a mechanic in the eastern part of the island, and instead of paying me to do work, he takes care of me.

The man I work for is an older red fox named Paul that apparently knew my parents. "I didn't know the Prowers' son was even alive," he said to me when I first told him my name. "I thought you, like your mother, died during the childbirth." I always ask him what happened to my father, but all he says is that "there was a huge accident". That's all he ever says about it, but I haven't asked in a while.

I've grown rather close to Paul, close enough to call him Uncle Paul, even though he isn't really my uncle.


"Miles, we've got a new plane to fix," says Uncle Paul as he pulls a red biplane marked "Tornado" into the garage. "It belongs to some hedgehog named Sonic. Looks like it was wrecked pretty bad, but I think we can fix it up." The plane is crumpled up a bit, and the propeller is missing one of its portions. "What in the world happened to this plane, Uncle Paul?" I ask. Uncle Paul lets out a short "hmm" before he replies, "He wouldn't say. He just asked me to fix it up for him, and he said he'd pay me whatever I ask for it when he picks it up."

I nod, and then I think about how Uncle Paul and I are even going to start to fix the plane. It's pretty banged up, and I'm not sure we have all the parts we need. My self-assurance quickly plummets. "Uncle Paul," I start. "are you sure we're gonna be able to fix it?" He gives me a thumbs-up in reply and says, "Of course we are, Miles. It's gonna be a lot of work, but I think you're skilled enough to fix it. Even if you had to do it yourself." I smile and scratch the back of my head. "Thanks, Uncle Paul!" I exclaim. My confidence is rejuvenated as I grab a wrench. "Let's get started!"

Uncle Paul and I go into a frenzy as we start to undertake our biggest fix yet. We constantly yell at each other to hand one another different tools, or to help with certain tasks. Within three hours of our jumbled mess of working, the body of the biplane is off, and all that's showing are its inner mechanisms. "Well, I can see why he said it won't start, either. The wire from the ignition is completely severed, but I don't think I have the right type of wire to replace it. Miles, I need you to run out to the electrics shop in the western part of the island, the one near the amusement park, and see if they have any. Take this piece of wire," He cuts a small segment of the wire off from the main wire, and then continues, "and give it to them so they can see if they have any similar to it. Can you do that for me?" I nod, grab the piece of wire, and walk away from the shop toward my destination.

When I'm about a block away from the electrics shop, I hear an unintimidating voice behind me say, "Well, hey there, Two Tail." Two Tail? No one calls me that except… "Rascal…" I mutter. I turn around and see Rascal looking menacingly at me. "It's been a while, hasn't it? What's it been? Six months? It's really been six months since I last beat you up?" He cracks his knuckles and continues, "I think it's time to change that. I'm gonna have fun tonight." He approaches me, fist clenched, but when he gets close enough, I kick him in the stomach as hard as I can. "I don't think so!" I exclaim. He keels over, holding onto his stomach. "Just like last time!" I yell as I back a few feet away from him. "You can't take what you dish out!" He growls loudly at me, then charges at me with his shoulder facing me. When he gets about a foot away from me, I step off to the side, and he slams straight into the wall of a building.

He sits there for a few seconds, rubbing the shoulder that hit the wall, but after those few seconds, someone kicks me onto the ground from behind. I quickly roll over and stand up, and there stands Jack, and next to her, Robb. The next thing I know, Rascal is standing next to me as well, and I'm surrounded. "I'm gonna beat you up! Hard!" exclaims Rascal. There's nothing I can do as Robb and Jack grasp my wrists and restrain me. Rascal pulls back his fist, and launches it straight at my right eye. I feel the full impact of the punch as Jack and Robb release me, letting me fly backwards. I cover my eye as Rascal approaches me, but as he begins the motion of kicking, he's knocked back by a spiky blue wheel.

The wheel uncurls, revealing the blue hedgehog that gave me the food half a year ago. "You must have the most terrible luck in the world!" he exclaims. "Both times that I've ever seen you, those three have been beating you up." He puts his hand out for me to grasp. I do as such, and he pulls me up. "Thank you…" I say quietly. He winks and gives me a thumbs-up. "No prob. By the way, I'm Sonic, and you are?" I hesitate for a second, then answer, "Miles. Miles Prower."

Rascal gets up from the ground and says, "No, your name is Two Tail! And you're about to be Zero Tail, because I'm gonna beat you and your blue friend up so bad, even your own parents wouldn't be able to tell it was you. Well, if you had parents." Rascal tries to punch Sonic in the face, but he immediately ducks under. "You know, you have some serious anger issues," says Sonic as he dodges Rascal's next barrage of punches. "You should see a psychiatrist about that."

Rascal is even angrier as he charges at Sonic the same way he did to me. Except, unlike me, Sonic waits until Rascal is about an inch away from him, then quickly steps off to the side, making Rascal lose his balance and fall into the mud underneath him. Rascal gets up and starts once again to bombard Sonic with punches, the dodging of which he becomes preoccupied with as Jack and Robb approach me. "I think you've caused enough trouble for us, Two Tail," says Jack as she pushes me backwards. I then realize that I am literally inches from the edge of a cliff. Then, Robb says the most clichéd line in the world as he pushes me back once more, "Have a nice trip! See you next fall!" I fall for about a second, but just as I'm about to pass it, I grab the ledge and hold on for dear life.

"HELP! HELP ME!" I yell as loud as I can. I hear Sonic knock Rascal back, then see him mow Jack and Robb down while he is rolling like a wheel. Then, the unthinkable happens… The part of the ledge that I'm on breaks off of the cliff, and I start to fall. "SOOOOONIIIIIIC!" I exclaim. Sonic then does the craziest thing I think I've ever seen. He jumps off after me and shouts, "Hang on, Miles!" He dives to speed up, and about halfway through the fall, he catches up with me and grabs my hand. "I hope you don't get dizzy very easily!" I'm about to ask why before he starts spinning. Yes! I do get dizzy easily! "HOLD ON!" As we approach the ground, I scream at the top of my lungs.

But instead of crashing into the ground, we drill right through it. "Hold on, Miles! We're gonna turn back up!" After he says that, I close my eyes and wait until we stop spinning to open them again. "You okay, Miles?" He asks as he once again puts his hand out. I grasp it and he helps me up yet again. I feel like I'm going to vomit as I stand up, but then the pain starts to hit from my eye. I cover it up to help dull the pain. I now realize that Rascal, Jack, and Robb are nowhere to be seen. "What happened to them?" I ask. Sonic lets out a small chuckle as he replies, "Oh, I think the lesson I taught them actually made it to their brains. I have a feeling they won't be bothering you for a while." Then, he looks at the eye I'm covering. Sensing what he's trying to do, I uncover it.

"Hmm… That's not good," he states. I cover it back up as I inquire, "What? What's not good?" Sonic sighs and answers, "You have a really bad black eye. We need to get you some ice, pronto. Where do you live?" I point to the east and say, "I live with a mechanic on the eastern part of the island. I don't know exactly where it is, but I'd know it when I see it." Sonic's mouth opens for about two seconds before he says, "Wait a second, I dropped my plane off to get fixed at a mechanic's workshop earlier today. Is that where you live?" It then registers in my mind that this is the same Sonic whose red biplane we were fixing. I nod in reply to his question, and he picks me up and starts running at speeds I've never even dreamed of going before.

Within only about thirty seconds, we arrive at my workshop, and Sonic puts me down. As we walk into the workshop, I yell, "Uncle Paul, I'm back!" Without even looking away from his work, he says, "Oh, Miles. You're gonna hate me for this, but I actually found the right wire here and…" That's when he looks at me and asks, "My goodness, Miles, what happened to your eye? And what's Sonic doing here, too?" I'm about to speak, but then Sonic does instead. "Sir, I can explain everything. You see—" I interrupt Sonic by saying, "Please, Sonic. Let me tell him." Sonic nods, and I continue, "I had encountered Rascal and his gang again, and Rascal had punched me in the eye. Sonic came along and stopped them from bullying me, and… he kinda also saved my life."

"Saved your life? What happened?" asks Uncle Paul. I'm once again about to speak, but Sonic says, "I don't mean to be rude, sir, but I think Tails really needs some ice for his eye… I mean Miles…" Ignoring Sonic's little slip-up with my name, Uncle Paul nods and says, "Wait here." as he walks out of the garage and into the house. "Sorry about that," says Sonic as he chuckles. "I didn't mean to mess up on your name." I smile and say, "It's fine, Sonic. I actually kinda like it. Tails… Yeah, it has a nice ring to it. I don't really like the name 'Miles' that much, anyway." I laugh as Uncle Paul walks out with a bag of ice wrapped in a small towel. He hands it to me and I put it on my eye.

"So, what happened?" he asks. "I…" I start. "I was hanging on the edge of a cliff because Robb had pushed me back off of it, and then the part that I was hanging onto broke off. After that, I thought Sonic was demented, because he jumped off after me, grabbed me, spun to drill through the ground beneath us, and drilled us back up to the top. The only way I can describe it is by saying that Sonic is superhuman." Sonic sighs and responds, "Well, I wouldn't say it was that much…" He has to be completely kidding me. "But it was!" I exclaim. "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Sonic just says, "If you say so, Tails…"

"So, Sonic," says Uncle Paul. "your plane will probably be done within three or four days. I'd say to come by on Friday to pick it up." Sonic nods and asks, "Do you have any idea how much it'll cost to fix? I can pay you right now if you need." Uncle Paul just shakes his head. "You don't need any money to pay me. I'm just happy that my nephew is alive. That's all the payment I require." Sonic shakes his head as well. "Well, I'm not gonna take my plane back without paying you first, so here. Take this. Use it to buy something for you or Tails." He hands Uncle Paul a one-thousand-dollar bill. Am I seeing things? That's the most we've ever received at one time.

Knowing that trying to hand it back to Sonic is futile, Uncle Paul just says, "Thank you." and puts it in his wallet. "So, why do you keep calling him Tails?" Sonic smiles and replies, "Well, the first time, it was an accident, but then he told me that he actually likes it a lot better than Miles." He looks up at the clock on the wall of the garage, which reads six o'clock. "Well, looks like I've gotta juice! Catch ya later!" He waves at me and Uncle Paul as he speeds out. "Bye, Sonic!" I yell. "See ya later, Tails!" he shouts back.