Tails' Birthday Surprise.
Author's Note: A new one-shot story, though it's set during the events of "Sonic In Between" and after the events of "Sonic and the Curse of the Sun Stone".
It's to celebrate, as the title suggests, the birthday of Sonic's best friend and little brother Miles "Tails" Prower! And I also have confession to make at the end of this story. It's nothing too serious, but it's, well...you'll see what I mean.
Until then, I hope you do enjoy the rest of the story.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
"This is gonna be the best birthday Tails'll ever have!" Sonic the Hedgehog declared to himself happily, as he and most of his friends whom he asked for help, Amy, Vanilla, Cream and Cheese, and even Knuckles, all carried the party decorations and food, and all of the birthday presents they spent weeks on buying for their now nine year old companion towards the shared home the two brothers lived in.
To make things better, Sonic's parents Jules and Bernadette, the Chaotix, and surprisingly enough, Sun the Hedgehog and Staria "Star" Amantha were also coming for the party and even agreed to help set up Tails' nineth birthday. The only down side was that Team Dark were on a mission(not that Shadow would attend but anyway), and Chris Thorndyke was on a school field trip, so they couldn't make it.
Plus Professor Pickle was busy doing some more research so he couldn't make it either.
"This is so exciting! Our little Tails is growing up so fast." Amy remarked happily, her eyes sparkling. She and her 'boyfriend' remembered fondly of meeting the two-tailed fox cub like it was only yesterday.
"Still not as fast as me, but yeah, I've been noticing. Not to mention that he's getting taller too." Sonic agreed, and while his little brother was still shorter and younger than him, even the hero of Mobius knew that Mobian foxes and Kitsunes, as adults, would grow taller than average adult hedgehogs despite that he himself will be sixteen in two months time.
"I can't believe that kid's nine years old already. It feels like it wasn't years but just days since I met him and you guys." Knuckles admitted with a chuckle.
"Mr. Tails is going to love his party. I just know it." Cream said happily, with Cheese chirping in agreement.
"Sonic, you do know of the plan to set up the surprise, don't you?" Vanilla gently reminded.
"Sure do. I take Tails with me for a hang-out while you guys set up the party in the garage. It'll make his day for sure." The hero of Mobius reassured with a wink. He then sighed a little crestfallen all of the sudden, as a soft sad frown replaced his cheery smile. "Especially since he's been pretty down lately."
"How do you mean?" Knuckles asked, as he and the others quickly became very concerned on what Sonic was talking about, and why he mentioned that Tails was feeling low.
Sonic hesitated a little, before he responded with a sigh. "Don't know. He wouldn't talk to me about it. He says that he's fine, but I can't help but feel like he's...thinking about something that's hurting him. Maybe it's the nightmare he had a few days back and from he told me, it was terrible. Poor little guy was so scared."
This was true. For weeks now he noticed and despite that his best friend/little brother looked okay and they had been going through a whole lot ever since their Isalenna adventure, Sonic knew that something was wrong. At first he thought it had to do with Tails having on and off reminders of the truth about his past, yet he had pushed that aside and seemed to be okay. The young cub had a close call while helping Sun to find the Chaos Emeralds, but the last few days had been getting weirder and weirder.
Not to mention the nightmare of a pack of wolves that were chasing after him and it frightened the little fox cub to the core.
Sonic had even guessed that Tails thought that everybody forgot about his birthday, or that their visit to Planet Wisp a week ago scared him when the newer born Wisps didn't want either of them to leave and wanted to keep the two Mobians for themselves forever(that even the cobalt teenager thought was a bit scary, but thankfully Yacker, his mother and the other Wisps and Sonic himself got through to the younger Wisps). Still, it left Sonic very worried when the young kit told him he was fine.
"I'm worried, guys. I tried everything asking him to let me figure out what's wrong, but I'm starting to think that he's doing like I had gone through for two months." He added and the concerned expression on his face showed it. He loved his little brother, and Sonic would do anything to make Tails happy, safe and loved.
"Oh, poor Tails..." Cream murmured worriedly, feeling her heart ache as did everybody else who felt the aches inside their chests. Heck, even Knuckles now began to look worried despite his attempts to hide it.
"Well, Tails does look up to you that he's really starting to act just like you. I wouldn't be surprised that you rubbed it off on him." Knuckles pointed out.
"Knuckles!" Amy scolded angrily.
"What? I'm just saying." The sixteen year old echidna shrugged, cluelessly.
"Calm down, Ames. He's right. I have been rubbing it off on Tails. You know how much he wants to be a hero just like me. But we all know that he already is a hero in his own rights." Sonic gently chuckled. "Besides, I'm sure today he'll be as happy as a clam and back to his normal, smart, fun, brave, kind and cute self."
"I guess, but that doesn't mean Knuckles had to say it like that." The pink hedgehog girl pointed out.
"I'm sure Tails will love what we will do for him. We wouldn't want the poor dear to be sad, especially on his birthday." Vanilla reassured.
"Thanks, Mrs. V." The blue hedgehog nodded, as he and the others got off the train which stopped at their destination.
It wasn't long before they finally reached halfway when Sonic gently put the stuff he was carrying down next to the others and whispered. "Okay, you guys wait here until Tails and I head into town, and once we're gone, then you can set up the party and call Sun and the others."
Once that was done, Sonic sped over to the garage of his and Tails' shared house. Yet despite that the birthday surprise party would make the two-tailed fox cub's day, all of them couldn't help but wonder and worry why the young kitsune was feeling so low lately.
Meanwhile, inside the garage, the two-tailed fox cub was busy with an upgrade on the Tornado 1 while fixing it up. He had also been doing upgrades for his Miles Electric and considered on creating several more for communication purposes for himself and all of his friends. Yet in the last couple of weeks since visiting the Soleanna incident, the now nine year old cub had been having off-putting dreams.
Dreams related to his past as a two-tailed kitsune, one of the last of his kind that he never thought of being capable of. For years, he had thought that he was the only one born with two tails and both of his parents only had on each like normal Mobian foxes.
He couldn't stop thinking about his newly discovered past, and despite that he had all of his friends and adoptive family around, especially his big brother Sonic, Tails felt a sheer lonieness seep deep into his heart. He had been serious on what he told the blue hedgehog on their way home, but now he wasn't so sure anymore.
Plus despite having helped out a lot in the Soleanna adventure by helping out Sun to find the Chaos Emeralds and saving Sonic who had been helping Princess Elise to locate the Sun Stone shards while fending off the S.N.A.K.E.S organization led by Julian Fredrick, Tails felt just as useless lately, as though he had slowly being rendered back to before he met Sonic and grew his own courage.
'Maybe the reason I'm feeling so down is because Sonic and everybody else are doing their own thing today...which is my birthday of all things.' Tails thought sadly to himself, as, unbeknownst to him and true to Sonic's prediction, he thought that every has forgotten about his birthday.
That, and the nightmare he had a couple days ago scared him so, he wasn't sure what it really was quite yet.
Two days earlier: Tails' Nightmare...
Tails was running for his life, using his namesakes as a way in going faster. While he wasn't as fast as his best friend/big brother Sonic, he was still pretty fast enough. But he was running out of energy fast, and the monster that was chasing him was catching up. Panting and running, the young two-tailed fox looked over his shoulder and gasped with his eyes widening in fear.
Chasing him were a mob of angry Mobian Wolves, lead by a strong muscled wolf with an eye-patch, all armed with nets to capture him, growling and grunting as they chased the nine year old terrified cub.
"N-no! No, please! Leave me alone!" Tails pleaded, wishing that he had one of his planes to escape, but what he wished for the most was that Sonic was here to save him. Except that the blue hedgehog was nowhere to be found...and hasn't been heard of since this nightmare began.
The wolves refused and snarled, intending on capturing their prey. When they howled, the frightened Mobian fox yelped before finding himself trapped in a corner of something that prevented him from escaping. Turning around in fear, Tails backed up until he was touching the wall, shivering in fear and terror, while the mob crept closer and closer, preparing to attack. Whimpering, Tails leaned as far back as he could as the towering, strong muscled wolf loomed down at him.
"Finally, I have found you, little two-tailed rat...You think you could get away from me. You are sadly mistaken." The wolf with the eye-patch snarled. "You are the last to die!"
He then snapped his fingers to allow the group to capture the two-tailed cub who was helpless and had no way to escape.
"SONIC! HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!" Tails screamed out, squeezing his eyes shut...
"Tails! TAILS, WAKE UP!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Tails screamed hysterically, having thrusted and thrashed in the middle of his nightmare before he heard the welcoming voice cry out to him loudly, enough for him to escape the bad dream's clutches and opened his sapphire blue eyes wide, panting frantically.
"Tails, it's okay!" Sonic's voice called out again.
Still disoriented from the fear-induced effects of the nightmare, the two-tailed kit looked up to see the fifteen year old blue hedgehog stand over him from the side of his bed, his hands on the cub's shoulders as he had been shaking him to wake up.
"S-Sonic?" Tails murmured, still half-asleep but finally waking up, his breathing slowing down and found that he was safe in his and the cobalt speedster's shared home.
"It's okay, little bro. You were having a nightmare." Sonic said softly, in his best comforting voice, his big brother instincts risen to the top as he was very worried about his sweet and kind little brother's welfare. He hasn't seen his buddy this traumatized after having a bad dream in years...
Until recently, which concerned him a whole lot.
Sniffling as he realized what had happened while trying hard not to cry, Tails wiped away developing tears that slid free and stubbornly refused to obey him and stop. "T-The group of wo-wolves were chasing me...I couldn't get away. You weren't there...and there was Thunder and Lightning, a-and...and they were about to kill me...!"
'Oh, Tails.' Sonic thought, feeling his heart sink as he could only gaze at his crying little brother, before pulling him into a tight, loving and protective hug while sitting on the edge of the bed, gently rocking the young fox back and forth. "Shhhhh...It was just a nightmare, li'l buddy. It's okay. Don't cry. I'm here. Everything's okay..."
Tails couldn't stop crying no matter how hard he tried. He was going to be nine years old in two days, and yet was acting like a little four year old. The two-tailed fox cub could only allow his surrogate big brother continue to comfort him, which admittedly was what he needed even though he didn't want to be treated like a baby. But Sonic's love towards him was so comforting and wonderful that the little kit sniffled and snuggled into the hedgehog's embrace.
To the point where he eventually fell back to sleep, because when he woke up the next morning, feeling a slight headache from the crying over a nightmare, Tails had found that Sonic had not only tucked him back into bed, but had also slept with him, because he noticed the teenage Mobian fast asleep, gently holding the youngster in a protective embrace. Even though the young cub felt relieved, he felt like a burden with how the heroic hedgehog would put his own needs aside.
Especially with what Sonic had gone through lately.
Back in the Present:
'I feel awful. Maybe it's because of that that Sonic still needs time that he forgot it was my birthday today. Maybe everybody else did. But I shouldn't complain. It's just another year of the day you were born come and gone.' Tails thought to himself, his heart aching as he felt useless, and began to feel like that eventually his own friends and family would disown him.
Being abandoned and left all alone again was another one of Tails' greatest fears ever since his parents had sacrificed themselves so much to keep him safe, yet they left him far too soon. He had to spend two years by himself, bullied and looked down upon by everyone in Westside Island until Sonic showed up, and the blue hedgehog had shown and given him kindness and love, being his friend and soon adoptive big brother with a new family.
For the next five years after that Tails had slowly began to build up his own confidence and had actually helped and supported Sonic when the hero of Mobius almost completely drowned in his misplaced guilt due to what Dr. Eggman had done. He couldn't talk about his own problems. The nine year old had to deal with it himself.
Because unlike Sonic and Sun, Tails' problems were miniscule compared.
"Hey, Birthday Boy!"
"AH!" Tails yelped in fright, whirling around as he dropped his wrench onto the floor, only to calm down slightly when he saw it was just Sonic who stood in the door way of the garage. Despite that he was happy to see his big brother, and that what the hedgehog just said surprised him, the young fox couldn't help but politely scold.
"Sonic! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The young fox questioned, panting a little.
"Oh, sorry, li'l bro. Hadn't meant to do that. That'd be the worst kind of birthday present you'd ever have. Heck, that's the worst thing for anybody to have on their birthdays, right?" Sonic sheepishly shrugged, feeling a bit guilty for scaring his little brother.
Sighing, Tails smiled little as he put away his tools since he needed a break, dusting his hands off that was filled with oil grease. "That's okay. I just figured that you forgot that it was my Birthday and..."
"What, me? Forget my own best buddy's birthday? Tails, I'm hurt!" Sonic faked a shocked expression, placing a hand to his chest. Though seeing the sad look in his little brother's beautiful sapphire eyes, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but sense that the two-tailed fox was still feeling down yet he was trying to hide it.
None the less, the two-tailed fox cub just chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you did, so don't worry about it."
"Dude, my brain might not be as fast as yours, but like you, I'd never forget anybody's birthdays." The cobalt speedster pointed out, but at the questioning pointed look from the young fox gave him, the older Mobian shrugged. "Okay, so I do somethings. But there's no way on Earth I'd ever forget yours. That's the main reason why I came to see you today."
"The main reason?"
"Yup! I'm gonna take you out for some fun!" Sonic declared with a bright big smile, his arms spread out. "We can go anywhere you want, bud. Get you some fresh air, and spend some quality time together."
"You don't have to. I'm sure you're busy with something else." The golden-furred cub politely declined.
"You sure? Nobody wants to spend all day cooped up on their birthday."
"Well..."
"I hear the Station O'Sweets Palor has a brand new Chocolate Mint Thick Shake." The blue hedgehog quickly added, hoping that his friend's guilty-pleasure love for Mint would persuade him.
And he didn't disappoint.
"Really!?" Tails' sapphire blue eyes sparkled brightly at the mention of it.
Sonic laughed. "So whaddya, Birthday Man? Wanna head there before we miss out?"
Tails couldn't hold back his excitement despite how he had been feeling lately, but oh Chaos, was he a sucker for Mint, especially chocolate mint?
"Absolutely! I just need to clean up quickly and then we'll go." The nine year old fox finally conceded, but was really happy none the less.
He hurried to put his tools away before racing into the house to take a quick shower, while Sonic headed out of the garage and gave a silent siginal to Amy and the others to wait for a bit longer. The blue hedgehog then waited outside of the front impatiently, but didn't want to rush his little brother. Though given where they were going first, it was clear that Tails did not want to miss out on those chocolate mint shakes.
Less than seven minutes later, a quick padder of feet was heard from the door as Sonic had left it open to ensure that he hadn't run off without him, and soon enough Tails came racing down the stairs like a child that he was, all sparkling clean with no trace if oil grease on his fur or clothes.
"Sorry that I took long. It was a nightmare trying to quickly get the oil grease off of me." Tails apologetically rubbed the back of his head.
"Hey, don't worry about it, li'l bro. It's your birthday and yeah, ya' did need a serious shower." Sonic teasingly waved off, prompting an adorable giggle from his long-time best friend. "Ready to go?"
"You bet!" Tails replied.
"Okay! Race ya'!" The hero of Mobius grinned, and actually waited for his trusty intelligent sidekick and partner prepare himself. "Ready?"
"Set!" The two-tailed fox cub counted down.
"GO!" The two brothers shouted simultaneously, and raced off via running and flying.
Once Sonic and Tails were out of sight, Amy and the others hurried to the garage and set up the birthday party while Vanilla called in the Chaotix, Sun and Star that now was the time to arrive.
Around an hour later, as it took no less than ten minutes to reach Station Square and get into the Station O'Sweets Palor, the newest and more popular Ice Cream Palor in town, Tails and Sonic were lucky enough to get their orders and the first thing the young birthday boy did was order in about maybe at least three of the delicious shakes, while Sonic decided to have one himself as well as a chocolate and vanilla shake.
By the time they finished four of the shakes, they walked out of the palor and happily walked on the sidewalk while Tails was still onto his third shake.
"Mmmmmm! Oh boy, this is the best shake ever! I wish this would be around all year long, then I'd come here regularly." Tails hummed in bliss, though he did take his time after nearly having a brain-freeze for getting too excited over finishing off two of his shakes.
"Well, it's a good thing they still have plenty on a day like today, big guy." Sonic chuckled, silently admitting that while he wasn't a fan of mint, the chocolate mint shake was surprisingly really good. "You enjoying your day so far?"
The nine year old fox nodded. "Yeah, sure am! Thanks for taking me out today, Sonic. If you hadn't, I would've missed out on the shakes."
"Anyway time, bro'. Seeing you smile always makes me really happy." The fifteen year old winked with a thumbs up. "Just say the word and we'll do anything you want, birthday boy."
Tails smiled brightly at his big brother's generosity, because Sonic always found a way to make him feel better, no matter how down he felt. Suddenly just thinking that and, remembering the blue hedgehog's own personal dilemma despite having fully recovered nearly two months ago, realizing what he had thought, made the young birthday fox hang his head a little as he once again felt so awful.
His renewed sad expression wasn't left unnoticed as Sonic softly gasped upon seeing it, causing the two brothers to stop in the middle of the foot path.
"Tails? What's wrong, buddy?" Sonic whispered, gently placing a comforting hand on his little brother's shoulder, worriedly.
"Oh...Sorry, Sonic. I was just thinking." Tails apologetically said, snapping out of his thoughts even though he felt guilty for having been caught in his moment of sadness. His heart ached that his own dilemma was not important.
"Tails..." The blue hedgehog murmured, feeling awful as he felt like he was doing such a lousy job in cheering up his little brother. He then smiled softly as he bend on one knee to meet the fox cub's eyes. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"What about you? What about how you feel?" The young kitsune blurted out when he hadn't meant to, and a quick flash of panic washed all over him that he attempted to take it back, but it was too late.
"Huh? Me?" Sonic blinked, confused at first before realizing what his surrogate sibling meant and smiled warmly. "Oh, you mean that. Nah, I'm fine now. Really. Sure I do kinda still have a few moments but only for a miniscule bit, for like maybe ten minutes or less. But I'm way over that. It's you I'm worried about."
"Are you sure?" Tails asked, hesitantly.
"Totally. Like I've said before, I can't be sad forever. Gotta look out for you and the rest of our friends and family, ya'know?" The blue hedgehog confirmed.
While the two-tailed fox was relieved to actually see Sonic sounding and looking much more like his old self before the mess with Light and Dark Gaia, his feelings and thoughts over his worthy and his past made him feel sad even more. As much as he wanted to tell his big brother on how he felt, he didn't want to be a burden to anybody. Plus confessing around here in a huge crowd wasn't very ideal. Not to mention that there would be people who would question on why the fox who had saved Station Square from Eggman's missile would cry.
"Tell ya what. Let's go somewhere more private and quiet, soak in some sunshine, yeah?" Sonic suggested, as though reading his little brother's mind.
Knowing what the teenage hedgehog was thinking and felt that it would be nice just to spend some more quality time with him, Tails nodded in agreement a little shyly.
"Not sure if you know, but for somebody who's brain isn't as fast as mine, I swear sometimes you're a psychic." Tails lightly teased.
Sonic just laughed. "Maybe. I'm still nowhere near as smart as you. Everybody has their gifts, skills and weaknesses."
Just then, as the two were about to race away from Station Square, the two young Mobians paused when a human woman came storming out of a building, grunting in annoyance to apparently a friend of hers.
"Fishing, fishing, fishing! That's all you ever talk about!" The woman groaned as she stormed away.
"I'm a fisherman!" A guy wearing a yellow fisherman's suit and hat protested, chasing after his friend, who happened to be his girlfriend...for some weird reason.
Sonic and Tails, and virtually other people who noticed, stared at the two weird couple before the brothers shared an awkward glance, and shrugged cluelessly not sure what just happened.
The two later on went to Sonic's favorite spot as they relaxed in the middle of the flower field, on the ground side by side with the hero of Mobius having his hands tucked behind his head and one leg over the other, and Tails sitting next to him.
"I can see why you love coming here, Sonic. It's so beautiful, relaxing and peaceful." Tails remarked, smiling warmly as he felt at ease, the gentle breeze blowing against him, the golden sunlight shining down, and the lovely scent of fresh air and flowers making things so soothing.
"Yep. One of the best places Soumerca has to offer. Whenever I feel like some time off from the loud city without going too far, I sometimes come out here to relax." Sonic agreed, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the usual bliss. "You can sometimes lose yourself just listening to the wind."
"I see what you mean..." The young inventor murmured, before sighing. "If only it were that easy."
There it was again. The sound of sadness and, as Sonic realized now, a hint of doubt and insecurity in his best friend's voice.
"Tails...I don't wanna force you or anything, but is everything okay?" The cobalt hero asked, worriedly.
"Why shouldn't they be?" Tails tried to hide it, but he knew that Sonic wasn't fooled.
"'Cause I've been noticing you've been looking down lately. I mean, I kinda get that nightmare you had the other day was scary, since those are never fun." Sonic confessed carefully, sitting up. "I wanna help you, Tails. But I can't do that unless you tell me what's wrong, and I know that something's up. So please, will you tell me? I promise I'll do everything I can to help you, okay?"
While Tails didn't want to really talk about so soon after Sonic had been in an emotional roller-coaster for the past nearly four months despite recovering in their adventure up in Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, he knew that he couldn't hide his feelings forever but at the same time, he just wanted to try and solve it the same way Sonic did.
"I...the Nightmares have scared me and, remember what I said on our way home from Isalenna?" The nine year old cub began, conceding himself in defeat.
"Yeah?" The blue hedgehog blinked, before his eyes widened in realization and then suddenly remembered that sometimes on his brother's birthday, he would get into a sad moment. "It's about your past, isn't it?"
"Yeah...I...I can't stop thinking about it sometimes, and I shouldn't be so scared. It's been seven years now since my biological parents died, and all this time I thought I was the only fox in the whole world to be born with two tails, never realizing that I was actually one of the only two survivors of the Twin-Kitsune kind after...after what those horrible wolves had done." Tails explained, shuddering.
"I think we can both agree that those wolf guys were monsters, bro." Sonic pointed out, sighing as he still felt disgusted, horrified and saddened over what those people had done to his brother's family and kind. "What they did was unforgivable."
His younger sibling nodded in agreement. "Guess so. Except, I sometimes can't help but wonder...could those wolves had found the Kitsune Village because of me? I mean, sure one of our kind was a traitor, but still..."
"C'mon, Tails. How could it be your fault? You were just a six month old kid, for crying out loud. Not even a one year old baby." The blue hedgehog informed him. "Besides, didn't Keila say something about how that guy cut his tail off and went to Lancacle City to get those guys to attack your village for the power of the goddess Kena?"
"Even so, I was so helpless in the nightmare and...Sometimes I get scared if those guys would figure out who I am...that I'd end up putting you and everybody else in danger. Mom and Dad lost one of their two tails each trying to save me, and they both died two years later on Westside Island. I haven't even been...I haven't even been that much helpful as much as I thought I was." The disheartened fox cub murmured.
Tears then began to leak in his eyes, as he continued. "I try to grow up, Sonic, and now I'm nine years old. I'm too old to cry like a big baby. I'm too old to rely on you now. I just...I don't want to be alone anymore...!"
So that was going on. Tails felt himself unworthy, and traumatized to the point of feeling like he was rendering back to before they both met. Sonic felt his heart break with sympathy that at that moment he wanted nothing more than to be there for his little brother.
"Oh, Tails...!" The blue hedgehog quickly placed his hands gently onto his best friend's shoulder. "No, no don't ever think of that. You're not alone anymore, I promise. And hey, as much as I hate to admit, even I cry sometimes. Sure I was a wreck, but that was more my own fault for blaming myself at what Eggman did. We're family, and family are always there for each other. You know that."
Tails sniffled, trying hard not to cry, and felt a glimmer of warmth when Sonic gently flicked away his tears with his gloved finger.
"You're more grown up than I ever was at your age, little buddy. Always have been, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to be yourself. Heck, Eggman's more of a baby, he made Bokkun who's the biggest crybaby ever, and he's a robot." The blue hedgehog continued.
Despite that he still felt doubtful with himself, the little fox cub giggled over the reminder of the late evil scientist's temper tantrums. "I guess you got a point."
"You did a lot of amazing things over the years, and everybody knows that. You took it upon yourself to even help me and Sun with the whole crazy Sun God crisis, and even when I was down, you helped me out a whole lot. You saved my life more times than I can count, Tails. That takes a lot of bravery and determination." Sonic continued.
"Well, you did inspire me, Sonic. I wouldn't have made it this far without you." The nine year old cub pointed out, smiling sadly.
"Even so, you can use that head of yours and remembered the important lessons, because we both have our own skills. And you're more careful with your creations, too. Remember one time when you warned me about Eggman's weird purple laser thingy after the both of us and Knuckles beaten Metal?" The blue hedgehog smirked.
"You mean when he ended up turning himself into a little cute but weird creature thing?" Asked the two-tailed fox as he and his big brother both remembered that incident months before the invasion of the Black Arms.
Flash-Back: One month before the events of "Shadow the Hedgehog"...
Sonic and Tails were fighting against Dr. Eggman again in Westopolis during their planned visit to Chris, defending the City from the evil scientist who had launched another pathetic looking robot. The two dodged repeatedly while bashing against the killing machine.
"Ready, Tails?" Sonic asked, as he and his little brother decided to use their combined attack to finish off this robot.
"Ready when you are, Sonic!" Tails smirked with determination, feeling like he could do anything now, even without his big brother. Yet it was more fun being by Sonic's side.
The two Mobians smirked as they leaped before holding hands and Double Spin Dashed right into the giant Dog-Like Robot which was purple, bashing straight through and emerged on the other side while their metal opponent exploded in defeat.
"YEAH! Bullseye!" Sonic cheered after he and his best friend/little brother landed safely.
"We did it!" Tails celebrated happily, sharing a bro-fist with his older brother who grinned.
Yet while the two celebrated their victory, Eggman grinned evilly as he flew in towards them, a laser gun at the ready to fire at the oblivious blue hedgehog.
"That's it, enjoy your victory while you can, hedgehog, because it's about to be cut short: Literally!"
Yet just as he began to open fire, Tails turned to the sound and gasped in horror, calling out. "Sonic, look out!"
"What!?" Sonic exclaimed, turning quickly and gasped just as Eggman opened fire, forcing both the blue hedgehog and the two-tailed fox to leap out of the way, crying out. "WHOA!"
And just in time too, because the laser missed the hero of Mobius and his intelligent companion, reflected onto the window of a store and flew right back up to the evil scientist who yelped in horror.
"GAH! NO! No, not this way!" Eggman screamed out in horror, attempting to move out of the way, but it was too late.
He was hit by his own attack and screamed out in horror, preparing himself for the agonizing pain while he was engulfed by the purple laser. Sonic and Tails, having recovered, both gasped in horror when they saw what was happening and felt their hearts jump into their throats, expecting their enemy to be vaporized by his own attack.
Yet when it stopped, nothing seemed to happen. Looking at himself and realizing that he was alright, Eggman sighed in relief while wiping away sweat from his forehead.
"Phew...That piece of junk didn't work." Eggman muttered, before noticing that in his panic, he accidentally dropped it and it crashed into the ground, breaking up into pieces. Irritated now by yet another defeat, the mad doctor growled in fury at his two worst enemies. "Curse you, furry brats! One of these days, I will destroy you!"
"That's what you say all the time, Egghead." Sonic responded, though he and Tails were both a little bit relieved to not having to go through seeing the horror of someone being vaporized, even if it was their worst enemy.
"Why can't you face the facts that you will never win against us or our friends?" Tails questioned firmly, narrowing his eyes.
"YOU LITTLE-! Nothing makes me more angry than a bunch of-!"
Eggman didn't get the chance to finish because all of the sudden he began to glow and shrink, surprising both Sonic and Tails as they watched their enemy accidentally fall off the Egg Mobile and crashed onto the ground, before somehow strangely morphing into...
An adorable purple little creature?
"Huh?" Sonic and Tails both blinked, flabbergasted.
Seemingly unaware of what just happened, the transformed Eggman, horrified as memories of when his brother Julius turned into a giant humanoid of himself, ran away screaming in hopes that Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun would come and find him in order to somehow reverse the effects, leaving the victorious and bewildered brothers behind.
Then, after a few moments of awkward silence and sharing a glance, Sonic and Tails then burst out laughing at the ridiculous turn of events.
"Eggman just turned himself into...into...a cute but weird looking purple little...whatever it is!" Tails giggled hysterically.
"Oh man! That's the funniest thing I've ever seen Eggman do to himself!" Sonic laughed uncontrollably.
End of Flash-Back:
Just remembering it now made both Sonic and Tails giggle.
"Not sure how he turned himself back to normal, but it was pretty funny while it lasted, huh?" Sonic snickered in amusement.
"Sure was." The younger Mobian agreed.
The two boys chuckled and giggled for a little bit longer before calming down, and the blue hedgehog continued. "My point being is that Tails, you're the most pure hearted, brave, loyal, kind, caring, and smart person ever. More so than me."
"I think I've heard you say that more times than I can count." The two-tailed fox shrugged, and blinked when his brother gently tapped him on the nose.
"And I'll keep saying it until it decides to live in that noggin of yours permanently. Sure, we have to be careful when it comes to overconfidence, heh, I've learned one the hard way. But we all had been through a lot lately." Sonic replied, before he sighed and apologized. "I'm so deeply sorry for not helping you out sooner, li'l bro."
"It's not your fault, Sonic. I just...wanted to make sure you were okay and try and recover myself. Plus, my problems are nothing compared to what you and Sun had gone through." Tails shook his head, smiling in sadness.
Sonic smiled back. "Aw, c'mon. You and the others have helped me to get over my trauma. I'd still be a wreck if it weren't for you. Don't think I'd ever ignore you whenever you need support. Your parents loved you so much, I bet they wanted to stay with you and I know for certain they would be very happy that you're alive with friends and a new family, and very proud of you. Just like me and everybody else."
"You think so?" Tails asked, feeling warmth, comfort and love coming from the blue hedgehog who took him in and raised him along with the teenager's parents who had also become his surrogate parents.
"I know so." Sonic confirmed, winking at him. "And don't pay attention to those nightmares. Sure bad dreams are scary, but they're not real."
Even though he still felt a little bit of doubt within himself, it was the truth in Sonic's words and deep into his eyes that made Tails feel like his own confidence in his own abilities were being restored. He just had to rework on them to get back into mental shape just like the hero of Mobius. For the time being, no matter how old he got, the young fox would always bee the blue hedgehog's little brother, and together they would face many more challenges as family.
Smiling tearfully, the nine year old cub leaped into Sonic's arms with a happy laugh as the blue hedgehog caught him, the two brothers embracing, the hearts becoming more healed from the doubts and fears they felt for the last few months, the brotherly love they had for each other and the bond they shared just as strong as ever before.
"Thanks, Sonic. I love you so much." Tails whispered, nuzzling into his older brother's chest, silent tears sliding free and giggled a bit when he felt the fifteen year old gently place a kiss on top of his head.
"No problem, Tails. I love you too." Sonic whispered back, carefully rubbing the young boy's back. More than anything, he was very relieved to have finally figured out his younger brother's sadness and has managed to help him heal from his doubts and fears.
He just knew that the fox cub's happiness was only going to increase by the time they get back home.
Deciding to head back as Sonic secretly knew that Amy and the others would've had set up the party by now, he and Tails raced back home.
"Hey, I just realized something while we were out." Tails responded as they slowed to a stop, and began to head towards the garage, with Sonic looking a little too innocent all of the sudden.
"What that's, Tails?" Sonic asked, trying not to laugh.
"Was the Chocolate Mint Shake my birthday present from you?" The nine year old cub asked, a little suspiciously, before entering the garage and blinked as he realized it was dark. "And why are the lights out? I'm pretty sure I forgotten to turn them off and I know that you probably did too."
"Weelll...To answer your first question, it was half of my gift. As for the lights, I dunno." The fifteen year old hedgehog smirked, scratching the top of his head. He then grinned before noticing a sillhouette of Sun making a hand movment for the signal.
"Alright, I think this is some sort of joke you're doing, or maybe the power's been cut..." Tails sighed and made to switch on the light just to make sure, and when he did, the lights were working and...
"SURPRISE!"
Amy, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese, Vanilla, Sun, Star, Jules, Bernadette, Vector, Espio and Charmy exclaimed happily as they jumped out from their hiding spots, confetti flying everywhere with the birthday party set up perfectly all around the room, streamers hanging from the ceiling, a big folded up table set up with party food, lots of presents wrapped up, and a big birthday cake shaped like the young cub's head with nine candles on it.
"YAAHH! W-what!?" Tails yelped, shocked as his eyes were widened so much that they were almost as big as dinner plates. Most of his and Sonic's friends were right there...and his mind suddenly on halt as he couldn't figure out what just happened.
"Happy Birthday, Tails!" Amy squealed happily, the others soon wishing happy birthday to the bewildered cub who just stood there, completely frozen.
"G-Guys? How-what?" The fox kit blinked, still trying to process what was going on, until the laughter from Sonic broke the wall that blocked his brain from figuring it out.
"Or the other part of my present, besides a few other gifts of course, could be shown right at your face!" Sonic concluded with a grin, patting his friend carefully on the back.
"Sonic has planned this for weeks." Star explained happily.
"We wanted to make you have the best birthday ever, Mr. Tails." Cream sweetly added, with Cheese squeaking excitedly.
"Yeah, and you deserve it, bro." Sun agreed, smirking. "Nine already? You're growing up fast."
"So that's why you took me out, so I wouldn't figure it out." Tails realized, his eyes sparkling, before admitting sheepishly with a blush. "I thought you guys forgot it was my birthday today."
"Don't be silly, Tails. Of course we wouldn't forget." The pink hedgehog giggled.
"An extra special occasion calls for an extra special party." Knuckles smirked.
"Awww...Thanks, guys." The two-tailed fox smiled emotionally, sniffling as he realized that everybody still cared about him so much. Now all doubts of being ignored and forgotten were gone in almost a flash, because his friends and family had kept all of this a secret.
"Happy Birthday, sweetheart." Bernadette smiled, as she and Jules approached their two sons, before the female adult hedgehog kissed the kit on the head.
"Happy Birthday, son. We're all really proud of you." Jules added, ruffling his adopted son's head.
"So, whaddya think, li'l bro? You like this surprise?" Sonic grinned happily.
Tails beamed happily. "Like it? I LOVE IT!"
The teenage blue hedgehog laughed, before announcing. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this party rockin' and rollin'!"
"Yeah!" The birthday boy cheered as did their friends and family.
Everybody had fun at the party, with Tails opening presents from his friends and parents which he received a new Wrench and Tool Kit, the very ones he had wanted but had always been too busy to buy for himself, a new pair of working goggles that was blue and yellow since his old ones were getting too old to be worn anymore, an ultilry belt which he had always wanted, a new instruction booklet, and from the Chaotix, much to his amusement but annoyance to Sonic, Sun, Knuckles and Amy, a toy model plane kit to built for himself.
Then they all ate the delicious food, sang the birthday song(though Vector was so off-key that it made Espio cringe in embarrassment), they had pieces of the tasty cake with Tails having the biggest piece.
"I still have one more present for you, li'l bro." Sonic suddenly said, as he approached Tails who looked up at him, curiously.
"What's that?" The two-tailed fox tilted his head, curiously.
The blue hedgehog fought off the urge to laugh at just how cute his little brother's confused expression looked. He then held out a yellow box tied up in a white ribbon with his brother's nickname on it. Curious, Tails took it and at Sonic's approved and encouraging nod, the birthday cub ripped it open and froze for a split second to find...
A bracelet much similar to the necklace Chip gave to Sonic, but in golden colour with a blue gem on top.
"Sonic...H-How did-? This is for me?" Tails asked, breathlessly in awe.
"Remember when we went to the jewel making guy a few weeks ago to make one each for both of you, even though you told the guy to make one for Sun?" Sonic sheepishly shrugged. "I secretly asked him to make you a really special one to match your colouring. And look on the inside, too."
Now intrigued, Tails looked inside of his present and his eyes widened, his heart leaping with joy as perfectly crafted words were written: "Brothers Forever".
Tears forming in his eyes full of happiness, the nine year old cub immediately slipped on his new bracelet as the blue gem shone in the light's reflection.
"Happy Birthday, Tails." Sonic said softly and warmly, and his heart leaped while he chuckled as his little brother gave him a great big hug, the two of them laughing away.
"Thank you, Sonic! You're the best brother anybody could ever ask for!" Tails happily cheered, and even kissed his big brother on the cheek which made the blue hedgehog beam even further.
The two adoptive brothers held each other while their family and friends cheered on, congratulating the two-tailed fox who once had been lonely and went through a terrible life for the first four years of his existence, and by chance met the blue hedgehog who made it all better and changed his life forever, giving him what he had always wanted, and gaining confidence and bravery to make him into who he is today, with the greatest friends, family and allies.
For Miles "Tails" Prower, having Sonic the Hedgehog as his best friend, big brother, mentor and hero, was the greatest gift he could ever want.
THE END.
Yet...
The Adventures of Sonic and Tails Continue...
A/N: I know this is set before the events of "Sonic's Space-Time Adventure", but I struggled with my stories again and tried to make a decent one-shot. Eventually it came to making a Tails story for his birthday to celebrate 30 years of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game which introduced his trusty and cute two-tailed sidekick.
Now, as for the confession I mentioned earlier, while I have done a similar thing to one of my Pokemon fanfics but stopped due to hiatus and kind of being worried if I ever mention it again, I've decided to say this now.
For all of my stories involving the Sonic characters, this is the voice cast of how I hear them all the time in my head, but you can all continue to pretend hearing what their voices sound like the way you want to.
Here's a good example and it will include what I think my OCs should sound like.
My choice of how I pretend hear the characters in my mind, mostly from the Sonic X anime and the games right up to Sonic and the Black Knight:
Sega's Sonic Characters:
Sonic the Hedgehog (and also Shadow the Hedgehog): Voiced by Jason Griffith.
Tails: Voiced by Amy Palant.
Amy Rose: Voiced by Liza Ortiz.
Knuckles the Echidna: Voiced by Dan Green.
Cream the Rabbit, Vanilla the Rabbit, Bernadette Hedgehog: Voiced by Rebecca Honig.
Vector the Crocodie: Voiced by James Carter Cathcart(Aka: Jimmy Zoppi).
Espio the Chameleon: Voiced by David Wills.
Charmy the Bee: Voiced by Amy Birnbaum.
Jules the Hedgehog: Voiced by Roger Craig Smith(Yeah, I know he's the current voice of Sonic, but not my choice in my mind, so I decided to pretend he voices Sonic's father instead).
Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik: Voiced by Mike Pollock(He's the only one so far who hasn't had a voice change since Sonic X).
Dr. Starline: Voiced by Derek Stephen Prince(Even/Vexen in Kingdom Hearts franchise).
My OCs voices:
Sun the Hedgehog: Voiced by Rick Gormez(Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII Compilation and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep).
Staria "Star" Amantha: Voiced by either Rachael Lillis, or Emily Bauer(Still haven't decided yet).
Also for more of my OCs in my other Sonic stories related to the Sonic and the Werehog fanfic series so far:
Kaiser the Myth Hunter: Voiced by Richard Epcar(Ansem the Seeker of Darkness in the Kingdom Hearts franchise).
Grotto: Voiced by Brad Abrell(Azul the Cerulean in Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII).
In short, this is what I pretend to hear the Sonic characters and love to hear yet at the same time I respect the other voice actors who are the current roles of the group thus far until changed otherwise. I should have said this a long time ago and I'm deeply sorry about that, but I decided to remain silent on this until this point.
I can re-edit this to erase my pretend voice-casting if you wish, but other than that, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot story.
See you in my other stories and future stories!