Chapter 8: Whiteout in the Ice Cap

I was getting tired. Real tired. My arms ached, my legs were cramping, and worst of all, my tails were in agony. We hung precariously about 500 feet above the side of the snowy mountain. But I couldn't fail here. Me and Sonic's lives hung in the balance, along with the entirety of the United Zones.

"Hey, Tails? You doin' good up there, bud? I can hear you panting!" Sonic asked.

It was true. My lungs begged for fresh air, and a rest from the deep breaths I took at that high altitude.

"Yeah, I should be fine. I just need to get to the top! Come on!"

I gave one last burst of energy and my tails spun just a bit faster. Finally, we reached the summit of the mountain, and we could rest. Sonic's feet touched the snow and he sank about three inches. I fluttered down to the ground and fell to my knees. My heart was beating very quickly and my head was pounding.

"Woo! This is some deep powder, innit? Hey, are you okay?" Sonic asked.

In between labored breaths, I responded.

"I… I can't do that ever again. My body can't handle it. I may have been in the military and all, but I chickened out! I wasn't prepared for all of this!"

Sonic looked me in the eyes and sighed heavily. He knew I was about to go on yet another rant.

"You're the famous Sonic the Hedgehog! You can do anything! But as for me? I was just some town kid from Spagonia! I was a nobody. I thought that if I could enter the military, do something for my country, I might have been able to achieve something I never had. Recognition. But I failed. I failed yet again! When I met you, I couldn't believe my luck. Sonic the Hedgehog, my hero, my idol, my… my love. I saw myself spending my future with you. In a dream I had, I saw you save me when I was just a kid. After that, I was certain that this was meant to happen. I know that I'm weak, that I'm not courageous, that I'm useless... But none of that matters, now does it? Sonic, you go ahead and finish this. Take Robotnik down. You deserve all the credit for this operation…" I finished.

My feelings were running rampant inside of me, and there was nowhere to let them loose.

"Miles, I told you a million times. You are not weak or useless. You are vital to this mission, don'tcha know that? I dunno what's going on inside that head of yours, but ya gotta get outta this headspace, man! What happened in the past doesn't matter right now. You showed courage when you faced ole' Robuttnik on your own! All you need to remember is: anything you decide to do in life, anything at all, I'll be here to support you. I may have been the great hero Sonic the Hedgehog, but I've seen your potential. You're gonna be my replacement one day. Now, let's get going. I'm getting cold."

I was surprised. Sonic was rarely ever this serious. He used my real name instead of my nickname. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

It had begun to snow on that mountain. My fur was keeping me pretty warm, preserving body heat, but Sonic looked miserable. His quills were frozen in place and his fur stood on end. He shivered.

"H-hey, how high up are we an-anyway?" he asked.

I checked the altimeter. Its screen was fogged up, but I could make out a number.

"15,000 feet and holding. I really think you should take my coat. You look like death."

Sonic glared at me and motioned for my coat. I draped it over his shoulders and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for that, buddy. Whaddya say we dash outta here? I love snow, but this is a bit much."

I nodded yes, and we peeled out.

These mountains were quite big, and there were many of them. The one Sonic and I were on, was one of the smaller ones. Small tunnels filled with snow were drilled into walls, so Sonic and I spin dashed right through those. We came across a ramp made of ice and launched ourselves off of it. The ground below had expanded into a flat stretch of fresh snow, and we landed gracefully.

"That was pretty good, wasn't it?" Sonic said, as he opened his arms for a hug.

I wrapped myself around him, and enjoyed the warmth. I could see our breath in the air, as clouds of vapor. Then, a shadow appeared on the ground in front of us. It was yet another large machine. The thing resembled a grey snowman, and it had three flashing devices on its corners.

"Aw, not again! Robotnik's really lettin' us have it, isn't he!"

The robot made a low pitched chime sound, and it began to gather up snowballs from out of the ground. They orbited the machine at a high speed. The robot lunged at us.

"Woah! We have incoming!" I yelled.

Sonic and I ducked just in time, because the swinging iceballs came by right above our heads. The machine rose back into the air, and the iceballs were thrown upward.

"This is it! C'mon, Tails!"

I got to my feet and smacked the robot around a few times. The snowballs fell back down to the ground and I dodged them. Finally, the robot was defeated, and its grip on the snowballs was released, causing them to drop to the ground and disintegrate.

"Alright, that was sick! Let's move!" Sonic said, while giving me a high five.

We went through the remainder of the zone pretty quickly, with nothing much that was worth remembering in it. Snow and ice, cold, and more snow and ice. Finally, we came across one last thin patch of snow. This would be our last encounter with the snow at last.

"Well, it would seem that we're done here! One more zone and we can go home!" Sonic said.

I held him back.

"Wait up. Isn't this usually where Robotnik tries to ambush us? We should keep on our guard."

Just as I said that, Dr. Robotnik fell from the sky in yet another foolish machine. White gas was expelled from exhaust pipes on its sides.

"Well, would you look at that? I was right. Let's trash him!" I said.

"Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast, my foxy friend! This is my Freeze o Matic! This gas is at a temperature of absolute zero! One touch and you're dead! Hahaha!"

A low growl escaped from my mouth.

"I'm not your friend, Robotnik! When will you let go of your grudge? We defeated you, so what?" I asked him.

"Those UZM pests are like something on your shoe that you can't wipe off! I was running the world's largest empire! I had money, I had power, I had fame, I had everything I could have wanted! The world was to be mine! But then you infiltrated my precious battleship and threatened me! I'm sure you learned your lesson."

At the mention of that event, my stomach began to hurt. Five years ago, when I first met the Doctor, I hadn't been in the right state of mind. I had just witnessed one of my best friends die in front of me, and it was all Robotnik's fault. I broke into his airship, and truth be told, I wanted to kill him for this. But, I couldn't go through with it, and I paid dearly for the attempt on his life. He beat me within an inch of my life, then dropped me out of a window. A one thousand foot fall into the arid sands of Desert Palace Zone. There I sat, dying and in agonizing pain, until Blaze came to save me. The rest is history.

"Yeah, I did learn a lesson. I learned that I should have just pulled the trigger! You killed Knuckles! You destroyed Emerald Hills! And you'll never be able to live this down. For as long as I live, I'll be hunting you tirelessly. When I finally do catch you, you're gonna wish I'd just kill you."

Sonic stared at me with a look of shock on his face.

"Tails…"

He reached out and touched my arm. I retracted it immediately.

"Don't say anything. I'll handle this my own way."

Robotnik lowered a platform from the bottom of his machine that also spouted freezing gas.

"That was a wonderful speech. Bravo! I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Now, as for you, it's time to die!"

Robotnik came towards Sonic and I, freezing gas shooting out of pipes. We were cornered. Suddenly, the machine was surrounded with a light blue energy field.

"Hold it right there!" said a person.

Turning around, I saw who it was. Silver the Hedgehog!

"Silver! How'd you get here?" Sonic asked.

"Didn't you see me? I was your driver!" he said.

Thinking back on it, I remembered that the driver who delivered us to the air hangar did sound familiar. Silver must've used a disguise so we didn't try to talk him out of coming along!

Silver lifted Robotnik and his machine high into the air, and with one swift motion, he dismantled it, sending the Doctor running away screaming.

"So, I see you couldn't resist the call to adventure, eh? How'd you get over your drunkenness so quickly?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I don't know, really. I saw the text that you sent Blaze and wanted to go over to your house and hang out for a bit. As I was walking down your street, I saw you guys leave your house and run right past me. You must've been moving so fast that I was just a blur! I followed you all the way to the capital and might've been eavesdropping on your meeting with the President. I found the car out back, paid the driver to go do something else, and took his spot. Then I followed your plane. Took a nap and when I woke up, you were gone! I flew over to the landing site but you guys were sleeping. So I decided to hide out for a while and catch up with you later. And here I am! Silver the Hedgehog, reporting for duty!"

I was dumbfounded. Silver had managed to formulate a cohesive plan, all the while figuring out how to evade Robotnik's traps.

"That's impressive. Seems to me that you wanna join us! Come along!" Sonic told him.

Silver giggled and dropped to the ground.

"There's the tunnel to the next zone! Let's go!"

Using his psychokinesis, he moved the large snowdrift away from the tunnel entrance, and we all spin dashed through it.