Author's note: Reuploaded this to fix some grammatical errors.

"Controller port one: operational. Controller port two: just about operational. Controller port three: needs a new connector. Controller port four: …Yeesh."

A pair of gloved hands carefully lifted the lid of a recently refurbished indigo cube and an eye hidden behind a telescopic goggle peered carefully inside at the disc drive within. The left hand felt around on a wooden table until it grabbed a torch. A beam of light illuminated the cube's innards.

"Disc drive: free of bullet holes. Pretty much fixed entirely. Phew!" Tails remarked to nobody, closing the GameCube's lid with one hand, wiping some sweat from his bangs with the other. "Shadow will be pleased. Shouldn't take too long to source the remaining parts." The kit leaned back and took a swig from a water bottle haphazardly left on the table. Being the go-to fixit guy was hard work!

He'd been surprised by Shadow the Hedgehog of all people yesterday morning. Shadow wasn't usually the type for surprise visits (or visits at all) so when he showed up at Tails' front door holding a game console that looked like it'd been on the front lines of a battlefield the fox had no clue what to say. Luckily the brooding hedgehog filled in the blanks for him with just a few words: "Got mad at P.N.03. Fix it. I'll pay you afterwards." He'd left immediately afterwards, leaving a very startled mechanic standing on his porch.

Not one to let a friend down (being paid for his trouble was nothing to sneeze at either), Tails had gotten to work immediately on repairing Shadow's busted GameCube. The damage was so extensive he was amazed it was even repairable at all! Creating new parts, buying replacements from Eggbay and carefully removing the shell to take a stab at the guts of the machine had taken all of yesterday evening and the following morning. Progress was coming along smoothly however (a machine this small was child's play) and the gadgeteer was more than ready for a quick break.

"At this rate I'll be finished before lunch!" Tails grinned. He was glad Sonic was coming to visit that day. He'd need someone to help him test the GameCube and make sure everything was working as intended. Well, except for the two rightmost controller ports. And memory card slot B. But hey, who used those anyway? It's not like Shadow had enough friends to have a four-player party game session. He silently hoped the Ultimate Lifeform didn't or there'd be hell to pay. "Where is Sonic, anyway?" the fox wondered. Sonic wasn't a morning person by any means, but he at least arrived early so they'd have more hours in the day to do stuff.

Rolling his arms to ward off some of the stiffness after having them raised for so long, Tails sidestepped away from his workbench to glance at the clock hanging above the sliding doors to his right. It was quarter past eleven in the morning. Still a little early by Sonic's standards but he was also usually a little late on a nice day like this, not that anyone could blame him for wanting to enjoy the weather. Tails thought nothing of it and decided now was a good time as any to grab a bite from the fridge.

As far as ten-year-old Mobian prodigies went, Tails had a pretty cushy living space. Mystic Ruins wasn't exactly a popular place in the property market, which was unsurprising given its location half an hour away from Station Square even by high-speed train. There was a whole lot of nothing around if you weren't an archaeologist, but for Tails nothing was perfect. It gave him plenty of space for experimenting. His house was situated on a hill which tapered out into an overhanging cliff, itself a short walk from the train station. It had everything he needed, as every house does: a living room, two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, emergency bathroom, sizeable garage and an underground aircraft hangar. Coastal erosion was no problem as he had taken the time to reinforce the longest part of the overhang with a metal frame (only possible due to a very fed-up Knuckles agreeing to dig out the foundations). After all, where else was he supposed to build a runway for his biplane?

The kitchen was a long, thin space that ran between the house proper and the garage, painted a bright cream to make up for the lack of windows. It was designed specifically to act as a buffer between the living space and the experimenting space; if one of Tails' newest toys went particularly 'awry' (up in explosive flames) then the only real damage would be all the burgers in the fridge being flash-cooked. Opening said fridge and peeking inside Tails made a mental note to stock up on hot dogs and chili sauce. Seems like there was something good out of Sonic being later than usual at least if he had the time to pop out and get some. Last thing he wanted was having to listen to Sonic completley ignore the rest of the food in the house to complain about the lack of chili dogs.

Ignoring Sonic's dwindling supply, he reached up and swiped a spare sandwich that was lying on a plate by itself. Afterwards he trotted over to the living room, sidled between the green couch and coffee table, and sunk into the leather massage chair he had placed directly in front of the TV. Sonic would arrive any second now, so he'd take the time to watch whatever was on while he waited for his friend.

It was an hour and a half later after getting too engrossed in a rerun of one of Professor Pickles' greatest (in Tails' humble opinion) history documentaries that he realised something was up.

"Sonic should be here by now!" the kit muttered to himself. "Maybe he's overslept? Wouldn't surprise me…" he hopped up off the armchair and headed for the front door. "If he's going to be late, I might as well get some supplies." Before leaving his house, he reached into a cubby hole on the shelf hanging to the right side of the front door. He picked up a pen and the topmost post-it note from a neat stack and scribbled: "OUT TO BUY MORE CHILI DOGS. -Tails Σ:)". He stamped it on the front door as he left knowing that if Sonic showed up, he'd get the idea. Wasn't the first time a similar note had been stuck to that door. There was a little square strip on the wood that was fainter than the rest of the paint from how many of the things had been put up there.

Thanks to his namesakes travelling short distances was no sweat for the fox. A few years ago, he would've considered his bushy twin tails a curse; everyone else at his birthplace on South Island would've agreed with him. It was a freak mutation (and those in the village he grew up with focused on the 'freak' part a little too much) but as Sonic had shown him when they first met, had its own benefits. Namely, flight. Thanks to a special bone joint his tails could rotate like a propellor and build up enough lift in a second to make him airborne. It was exactly what he was doing now, the usual fifteen-minute walk to the train station was cut down to three minutes. Years of travel this way meant he barely broke a sweat in the warm sun, either.

"You have arrived at Station Square: North Plaza, where this train terminates. Thank you for choosing Federation Railway, the only train service that operates in this area."

Stepping out onto the marble floor, the kit was always surprised by just how different the station at the other side was. The 'beach hut' style barren wood and rickety supports of the Mystic Ruins terminal were traded for grandiose columns and concrete archways that rose high into the ceiling. The single smiling conductor was replaced by several tired-eyed uniforms standing slightly slack against the swathe of people moving to and fro throughout the building. The noise of countless conversations and train announcements was near-painfully deafening compared to the previous quiet rolling of the beach against the shore. Against the odds Tails didn't mind too much, however. This was his element. People! Technology! Places where people sell technology! Exiting the train station, he set off immediately to the left towards the trusty general store, weaving in between lines of humans that thinned out as he got further away.

He never got tired of the monolithic sight that was Station Square; it truly was a testament to what a lick of good engineering and a dash of elbow grease could do. Titanic grey skyscrapers stretched upwards in countless rows on all sides, occasionally separated by smaller buildings of all colours that were peppered about. Roads that positively heaved with cars at all hours crisscrossed the flat landscape to ensure there was never a dull nor quiet moment. Everything one could possibly need was contained within the city: museums, a shopping mall, even more shops outside of that, Chao day care centres, G.U.N headquarters and plenty of living space. The people were just as varied since the city was a cultural melting pot of humans and Mobians alike, though the fact it was originally a human settlement meant they outnumbered the latter by a roughly two-to-one ratio. While the two species generally kept to themselves in other less hyper-urbanised locations it was as common as anything for a human man to walk down any street here and encounter a dozen waist-height anthropomorphic technicolour animals. It was one of the many reasons Tails liked being here; despite his golden fur and backend mutation nobody looked at him with even a hint of disgust or morbid curiosity. They were simply used to that sort of sight. It gave his heart reinvigorated hope that he was allowed to just be himself here, without his appearance only being made normal when around his friends.

In fact, he occasionally saw glimpses of people whose warm smiles indicated they knew the fox. Not on a personal level, but they had been there during the Chaos Incident or seen the news that the Mobian was responsible for saving the city from an impending missile that would've wiped Station Square off the map. Even though the effect had been stymied by the southern quarter of the city almost getting entirely levelled in a great flood afterwards, nobody held it against Tails since THAT particular event was caused by a godlike monster in control of water. Only a fully powered Super Sonic using the Chaos Emeralds was able to quell the beast's rage and the city was still picking up the pieces (or more accurately drying out the highways) to this day.

"Sonic…" Tails thought, "I'd better not take TOO long just in case. I really need to get him a spare house key already." He picked up the pace a little knowing that the general store wasn't too far away. The rest of the walk there was uneventful and before long he found himself between automatic doors and felt the cold rush of air conditioning on his fur. He took a tried-and-tested route from the entrance that, in his mind, went something like this:

"Across two aisles to the left, go forwards three rows, take a right, up, another right and presto! The frozen goods aisle! Open the centre-left fridge, grab a couple packs of sausages, oh why not get some ice cream, question what sort of store stocks ice cream in the meat section, retrace steps back to the shelf with all the sauce on it, grab some chilli sauce, fly over the puddle on the floor, ooh they've got an offer on popcorn I'll get some of that, have I forgotten anything? No that should be everything, checkout time!"

Even though it had been a while since the Chaos Incident (oh, and the Space Colony ARK Incident. That was pretty important too.) Tails was still unable to fully grasp the idea of being given special treatment for his 'heroic' deeds. In that specific general store, he was always given a discount for his role in saving Station Square. To begin with he always smiled sheepishly and replied with an "Aww, you don't have to!" but a pat on the back from Sonic and a simple "Hey, take what you can get! It's not as noble as you'd think to turn down a permanent half-off sale!" had spurred the kit on to revel just a little in the freebies he was given. To this day he swore that he simply did what anyone would've done in his position, but he silently agreed that getting his favourite snacks on the cheap was worth it.

Heading out of the store his impromptu shopping trip wasn't over yet, he had spontaneously decided. The general store wasn't the only place he was given a price slash, as the game store a few blocks down gave him some special treatment too. If he was going to test out Shadow's GameCube when Sonic arrived, then he totally had an excuse to get that Billy Hatcher game he'd heard about. That wasn't accounting for all the recent Game Boy Advance titles released, either. He was NOT going to miss Advance Wars 2 for anything. Not to mention that they sold films too, and Chao in Space: Origins had received rave reviews online. That would make for a great evening. The more he thought about it the more he subconsciously began walking faster. Lost in his own excited thoughts and moving quickly, he failed to see-or hear-the pink blur that was waving him down until-

"Ouch!" Tails said, bouncing backwards and landing on his namesakes. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't-"

"Tails!" a familiar bright pink hedgehog called out loudly, seemingly completley unfazed by their crash. There wasn't a single crease on her red dress. "How're you doin'?" Rubbing his lower back, Tails picked himself up and gave his legs a quick pat down.

"Hey, Amy." He grinned. "Out here shopping for Sonic's birthday? I know it's in a few months but given it's you I think that's a safe bet." Tails chuckled at his own joke, which Amy didn't appreciate as much. She crossed her arms and scowled; her usual red headband-adorned face tipped forward dangerously. The sort of look that was the final sight many a Badnik or would-be Sonic wooer would ever register in their conscious mind. As her 'Darling Sonikku's' self-appointed girlfriend Amy went above and beyond any reasonable measure to ensure that Sonic was 'safe' and 'happy.' Even if he didn't realise it. Or want it. He only seemed ungrateful because he was running for his life before he could be strangled with the red string.

"Honestly! You think my entire life revolves around Sonic, don'tcha? If you must know, there was a pop-up shop selling some nice-looking bracelets down on the corner of Fifth and West Street." Tails rubbed his head sheepishly. "Oh. Heh. Yeah, that's on me for assuming. Sorry." Amy smiled innocently, her eyes giving a triumphant 'I told you so!' look.

"So, anyway, I was there 'cuz I was thinking of getting me and Sonic matching bracelets, and-"

"OH, COME ON!" Tails shouted. The few people wandering that street went dead silent. Amy blinked emotionlessly. "Uh, anyway, you were saying?" He added hastily.

"Well, I found a pair that was really cute! If you put them together it makes a heart! I thought I'd give one to Sonic as a ten-month-early birthday present, but I just can't find him anywhere. Saw you coming out of the general store, and if anyone would know where he is it would be you!" she beamed. The kit could only give her a gently disappointing look.

"…Yeah, sorry, but… I don't know where he is either." He couldn't help but wince a little at the crestfallen look on the pink Mobian's face. "He was supposed to be at my place about a two hours ago, but he's a little late. Probably just forgot or is taking an emergency nap to keep his running speed topped off. You know how he is." Amy's eyes darted down as she thought for a second.

"Oh. Two hours late isn't like him at all. You think he's ok?" that suggestion suddenly created a cold pit in Tail's stomach. "Hello? Tails?" Amy waved a hand in front of his face and he snapped back to reality. "I'm sure he's fine!" he tried not to let the sudden worry in his gut show. "He's probably taken a detour to go trash one of Eggman's toys." Thankfully that did the trick as Amy nodded, giggling.

"Hehe! Sonikku's so good like that. Always looking out for all of us even before that rotten Eggman can do anything nasty! Anyway I've gotta go, there's a sale on at the hardware store and I need to see what hammers they have on sale. Catch ya later, Tails!" Before the fox could respond she was off. Usually, he would chuckle to himself and say something along the lines of "Oh, that Amy! Never a dull moment with her around." But the hedgehog's words had left him with a nagging feeling. One that indicated things were not as ok as they seemed, and that Sonic was in trouble. The worry refused to simmer down as he worked his way back in the direction of the train station. He might just be hungry.

On the train ride back home, he tried his best to temper the thoughts before they could grow. It was something he had to do semi-regularly ever since he started living (mostly) on his own to keep himself pepped. Sonic had been-and still was-his idol in his younger years and he was more than comfortable to be his sidekick on adventures. It was only fairly recently, and took staring a missile down in his biplane, that he realised his own responsibilities and that he had to be his own person, otherwise he'd still be as meek as the day he began trailing that strange blue hedgehog he'd encountered on South Island. He was slower than Sonic, a smidge stronger than him due to all the arm usage his tinkering required, and his knack for science gave him an edge in battle. He had been working on those traits to ensure that he could fight back properly against would-be world conquerors with his friends instead of hiding behind them. So far, it had been working!

"I need to not worry so much." Tails repeated his mantra in his own mind as the shadows of skyscrapers flickered through the train window, masking the sun that was still high in the sky. "Sonic is fine. He doesn't need to rely on me ALL the time. And I can't keep defaulting to him to solve MY problems, either! He'll show up at home soon."

"Tails! Knuckles! Anyone! PLEASE end this nightmare!"

Still trapped within his hideously claustrophobic prison, Sonic was trying his best to look away from the tempered glass window in his cage. His ears were covered too, desperately trying to block out the sight. Even with his emerald irises shielded he knew that turgid view was going to be engraved into his waking nightmares for years to come.

THUNK

The impact was sudden.

THUNK

He made the mistake of looking.

THUNK

He immediately regretted it.

Standing some distance away from the cage, fully illuminated by the floodlights, was Eggman. In a mocking attempt at cheering the rat up before his inevitable demise, he had decided to play a few rounds of squash, with Sonic's cage naturally being the wall to bounce the rubber ball off. Though squash wasn't exactly on Sonic's list of favourite sports, it wasn't the act itself that had him so tortured: it was the mad scientist's getup.

He was wearing a garishly bright orange Lycra shirt and shorts from his exclusive designer range. Clothes that were significantly too snug. Every curve of the rotund man's body was shown off in full detail. Some of those curves were ones the hedgehog never wanted to see again in his life. One thing was for certain, he'd never look at a chilli dog the same way again.

"Huff, huff… What's wrong, rat? Huff, huff…" Eggman panted. "Afraid of… Huff… A little exercise?" he reached up the hand not holding the racket to wipe his face down with a rag. Sonic whined inaudibly, wishing the doctor would have the decency to wipe the sweat off those OTHER places.

THUNK

"Answer me, hedgehog!" Eggman couldn't keep the mirthful joy from seeping into his voice and cruel smile as the blue blur curled into a tighter ball. He knew exactly how to make his nemesis squirm, and he would continue to do so until his wonderful Egg Carrier MK. II was ready for takeoff. He was on the cusp of winning for good, and he was going to enjoy it. Bask in it. It just so happened that it was a fantastic opportunity to get some cardio in, too! The genius wasn't ashamed of his body shape, but it was always imperative to keep on top of things like any good scientist would. He was no spring chicken after all, and the radio was always harping on about how cardiovascular-related deaths were on the rise in his age bracket.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik was a simple man. He had looked up to his grandfather, Gerald, in his youth, and decided from an early age that he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Professor Gerald Robotnik had provided so much to humanity. He had wiped certain diseases off the map. He had revolutionised air travel and pioneered new methods of ultra-sustainable mass production in metalworking industries. Ivo had always regarded his grandfather with such respect. And how did humanity repay him? By stripping him of his awards. Taking away his freedom. Massacring his family and workers aboard that blasted space colony, blamed him for crimes he didn't commit, and had him put to death for it. A young Ivo had heard how the crowds cheered as the news of his execution was broken on television. It was that same day he realised the only way humanity would learn was through an iron fist. An iron fist stamping on a human face forever. Then they'd see who would be cheering. THEY'D ALL SEE-

-That was enough of that. Now was a time of celebration, not introspection.

Sonic had clearly been mouthing off a quip at the doctor's sudden inaction while his mind wandered, probably attempting to push his buttons. The amusement drained from Eggman's face. He hated how much that irritating little pest was able to get under his skin.

He decided to go a few more rounds of squash. That would shut the smug little rodent up. Then he'd cool off with some icy cold water. By that of course, he meant cooling off the rodent, not himself. By opening the lid just slightly to pour several gallons of freezing water inside his prison.

That'd do just nicely.

The toothy grin returned to his face, and only grew wider when Sonic's own smirk quickly diminished.

The post-it note was still on the door.

The sun had only just begun to descend in the sky by the time Tails had arrived at his house. As the shining orb dipped, the uneasy feeling in his lower intestine rose.

"He's still not here…" he breathed in. He breathed out. Closing his eyes and repeating that cycle for a moment longer, Tails decided to focus on the here and now. Unlocking the door, he silently trudged through the living room into the kitchen and put away the food. He reached into a cupboard beneath the counter and pulled out a small satchel full of medical supplies, which he slung over his shoulder.

"Don't panic. He's going to be alright. This is just a precaution." The kit told himself mentally. He was still young, but he had to learn from an even younger age how to take care of himself and Sonic, especially whenever the latter's daredevil streak wrenched the wheel from common sense. He gave the supplies within a once-over. There were bandages, plasters, a range of antiseptics, some gauze, two spare planks of wood for a splint, painkillers… That was everything he'd need. Just in case.

He wasted no time in heading back out of the house in the lower light and set off flying in the direction away from the station-the direction Sonic would usually come from. He had only a few hours to search quite a large area. It was flat but also heavily forested. Once it started getting dark he'd be out of luck. He could assemble a search team consisting of his friends, but if it turns out Sonic was fine and he was overreacting, he'd never hear the end of it from anyone. He had no reason to assume that his friends would suddenly hate him, but a fair number of them were Sonic's friends that he knew by extension. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as an overbearing loon by people he didn't fully know…

"Enough of thinking like that, Miles!" he scolded his brain, using his proper name for good measure. "Focus on searching!"

He scoured over hill after hill, peering carefully through gaps and groves in between clusters of trees, to no avail. He was travelling north but had begun to turn to the west in order to loop back around over the lake and home again. If he reached his house with no results, he'd ring up Knuckles on the communicator he had foisted onto the echidna the last time he had visited. The Master Emerald's guardian was hot-blooded and aloof, but if Sonic was genuinely in danger he'd be more than willing to lend a hand. Despite his exasperation with Sonic's antics, he was more reliable than anyone else.

"That's it… Think positive…" the kit forced a shaky smile onto his face as he covered more and more land with no sign of the blue blur. He was reaching the lake now and part of him wondered if Sonic had taken a tumble in. He couldn't swim for peanuts, so if he was stuck in the water… Tails quashed the thought. He realised how stupid said thought was when he remembered that Sonic would, nine times out of ten, stay away from water as much as possible. The remaining one time would be in order to rescue the President of the United Federation struggling in shark-infested waters, and even then he'd want a lifetime of chilli dogs (and diplomatic immunity from G.U.N arrests) to jump in and save the man.

Tails was wrenched from his thoughts when a smear of red and a blob of yellow caught his attention on the edge of the lake. Wasting no time, he swooped downwards and gasped at what he saw: the remains of a bicycle and a Mobian-who was clearly unconscious! He increased his speed and landed heavily on the grass. He silently thanked his lucky stars that he brought that medical kit.

"Hey, excuse me! Are… You… Alright…?" his voice trailed off as he jogged closer. The bicycle's front end was basically flat, so it was clearly a bad crash. What properly caught his attention was the Mobian's glass eyes, one of them smashed, and its metal body.

There was only one reason there would be a robot out here. Shakily, his hands pressed against the metallic decoy and lifted it onto its right side, checking for the tell-tale mark that was there.

A small, orange insignia shaped like a certain mad doctor's putrid face.

Putting two and two together, his eyes widened.

"Oh, no. No, no, no…"

Author's note 2: You're probably wondering where the island in the title is. Don't worry, we'll be getting there soon. I just need to set the scene first! Tried flashbacks, but they just didn't flow well with the narrative I want to make.

Side note, are the chapters long enough? I'm thinking of making chapters longer from here on out, or at least the same length, but I don't want them to be too padded, nor do I want them to be over too quickly and skim on details. Let me know what you think!