Author's Note:

Hope you enjoy this next chapter! I had to edit this one about 3 times before I was happy with it, so I hope it didn't turn out jumbled ;~;

Enough time had passed, that Miles didn't think that the blue hedgehog was going to speed through again, and no one else had appeared yet, so he considered it safe enough to leave the safety of the leaves.

He was curious about the plane, that had now slowly stopped smoking. His brain was working already, because machines always made him happy and this one might be left alone long enough for him to look at it.

The fox kit tentatively stepped a few feet forward, ears lowered slightly as if he were going to get scolded for doing so. When no one called out about his presence, he was sure that no one else was here, and skipped out closer towards the plane, wide eyed. "Wow, it's pretty! Even if it's crashed."

Slowly, he got close enough that he could touch it, and carefully pressed a hand to the metal, brushing off some sand from it. He couldn't help his tails twirling behind him as he investigated.

He let his hand gently drag across the paint as he circled the plane, humming quietly, until he got to the side that was tilted closer to the ground and more easily accessible. He wondered how long until the owner of the plane got back, so he glanced around the edge of the plane towards where he had disappeared to, once, then twice, before finally crouching slightly and then using his muscles to jump up into the open seat of the plane.

It was a squishy seat, something Miles immediately felt a little bad about touching, because he knew he was pretty dirty and such a nice plane shouldn't need to get more dirty, after the crash it went through.

He looked around at the controls in the seat, tracing over them with a hand- wondering what each one did and trying to remember how it worked from some of the magazines he'd seen some time ago. The more he looked, the more he figured out what each button could do, but didn't dare touch any of the buttons or switches to test it, in case of actually harming the plane or turning it on.

The kit was starting to peer over at the still open plate where the smoke had come from, but as soon as he looked over, he could see movement out of the corner of his eye, in the direction of the town. His heart jumped and he panicked without getting a better look, scrambling to get out of the plane and away from it. He fell down onto the ground with a 'plop!'. A little bit of sand flew off the ground from his collapse into it, and he felt the urge to sneeze, but rubbed his nose trying to hold it back.

The movement he saw meant someone was coming, so getting to cover again was much more important than sneezing! His eyes burned a little from it, but he rushed to get up and stumbled towards the forest, in a slightly different direction of where he saw the movement. As soon as Miles was halfway to the forest, heart thumping in his ears, he knew he was right, because the hedgehog came walking out with an old lynx that the kit recognized as someone who worked in the mechanics shop.

He couldn't help himself when he froze, staring wide eyed at them, sneeze forgotten, for just a minute before continuing to bound towards the forest and into the safety of a bush, burrowing under the branches as quickly as he could, a few twigs breaking off into his fur and poking him. He tried to calm down, and not breathe as loudly, watching back out towards them.

Luckily for the fox, the two didn't follow him, but they did stare off after where he went, the blue one looking a little confused while the lynx didn't seem very surprised.

Miles stayed as still as he could under the bush, hoping that they'd think he ran off even though he was still close by.

The tense few moments that followed felt almost worse than getting caught, as the fox worked to keep himself small and still under his new hiding spot, hoping they wouldn't entertain the idea of following.

They didn't turn back around, instead choosing to speak to each other and continue towards the plane. The kit finally shifted underneath the leaves and taking the opportunity to reach up to grab at an offending branch that had poked his spine for far too long. The fox didn't want to leave the safety of the bush quite yet, and he was curious about the plane still, so he pricked his ears and listened.

Sonic had guided the old lynx, who he'd learned was named George, back to his plane. The old man had generously said he'd come take a look at the plane free of charge to let him know what he needed to buy. Small towns were often nice like that, unlike big cities, which would have almost guaranteed charged him double, hero or not.

But when they approached the plane, he hadn't expected to see someone with it, so when a little fox bolted across the sand away from both the plane and themselves, he was a little shocked. His first thought was concern that the kid might have been messing with his plane, but as an after thought, the blue blur's not really sure that he would have done much more damage than what it's current state was.

He glanced at the feline with him, who watched as well, but didn't seem that concerned. "Uh... You know who's kid that was?" He asked a little awkwardly, hand moving up to scratch some quills on the back of his head. "Hope he didn't mess with the Tornado."

George frowned slightly, looking back at the younger. "I don't think he woulda done much harm to 'er. I'd be more worried about anything valuable ya had in'it. He's been known to steal, that one." Sonic blinked.

"A thief, huh? Well... I didn't have anything worthwhile in the plane right now anyway." Shrugging it off rather easily compared to the rest of his morning, he eventually turned and headed to the plane, feeling a little thankful that he'd chosen to grab his money before running off to find help.

Shaking his head slightly, he focused on the task at hand. "I came down rather easy, but the Tornado was smoking from this spot here," Sonic continued, standing up a bit to stretch and point at a part of the engine that could be seen from the open panel. "She stopped a few times in the air, which is why I crashed like I did, but I need to know what tools to fix it."

The lynx hummed as he investigated further, hopping up closer to the engine and almost sticking his head right into the open panel. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard to get workin'. Yeah, I got most of whatcha need, kid. But I may have to order in a replacement part for this, that one looks pretty burnt out," The old man stated, pulling his head back out and returning his gaze to his customer.

Sonic almost groaned in annoyance, but he was grateful for the help of this mechanic, so he bit it back. "And, uh, how long would it take to get that, you think?"

"A couple o' days, give or take. Providin' the weather be clear for a delivery."

"Cool, cool." Sonic replied quickly, sounding a little strained, in attempt to keep his disappointment under control.

Not that the spikey lad had anywhere to be, that is- having not seen any sign of Robotnik after he'd beaten him recently. But moving was his thing, and he hated to be stuck in one place too long. "And I suppose I probably can't do much without that part, right?"

"Small repairs, yes, but you won't be gettin' her off the ground without this part of the engine replaced. You'll catch fire before you even leave the sand." The lynx said, starting to walk back towards town. "How about I head back and order that part for you, and you can come see me in a few hours for the tools you need?"

The hero nodded his head, giving a thumbs up, "No problem. I'll see ya." He turned away, closing the panel of the plane a little too harshly, sighing, when the old mobian went out of sight. "So much for the quick fix I was hoping for."

Authors Note:

And there you have it! They've at least both seen eachother now, I hope this wasn't too hard to read as I feel like my writing is just a lot of rambling and not getting much done, haha
Just finished Chapter 3 as I'm posting this, so I'll have that one up soon as well hopefully

Let me know what you think, thanks for reading!