"I Would Never Abandon You"
Written by The Sensational SpiderDom321
Chapter 4 – Finale
"A young outcast will often feel that there is something wrong with himself, but as he gets older, grows more confident in who he is, he will adapt, he will begin to feel that there is something wrong with everyone else."
~Criss Jami, Killosophy
After a few minutes of hooking Charmy's Miles Electric to the television screen, Sonic, Knuckles, and the Chaotix sat on their sofas and watched the OK K.O. and Sonic Crossover trailer. Vector grabbed some popcorn from the side and munched on a few pieces.
"Where'd you get that?" Espio asked.
"Sometimes I keep popcorn in a secret compartment. You know, just in case we watch movies and stuff," Vector replied.
"Hey, guys. Can you keep it down a little?" Sonic asked. "The trailer's starting."
The gang watched as the trailer got started.
"All right, Rad and Enid!" KO said, mocking some of Sonic's famous poses. "Are you ready for another action-packed day of protecting our hero plaza from evil robots?"
"Huh, looks like this kid's a real copycat, eh, Sonic," Knuckles quipped.
"Ha, yeah. But I've done it better," the hedgehog replied.
The two turned back to the video and watched as something suddenly blasted through the door, knocking two cat-like creatures into the air. The projectile was a large, blue ball that moved faster than the speed of light. They obviously knew who it was.
It was Sonic the Hedgehog, and he looked a lot more animated than usual. He landed on the ground and struck a battle pose. Orange, bold text read Sonic the Hedgehog: Fastest Thing Alive.
"Who's that handsome devil?" Sonic chuckled.
But that wasn't all. Following behind Sonic was none other than a cartoony version of himself. The fox gasped as soon as he saw himself fly around and land next to Sonic. He watched as his info text appeared right in front of him. Miles "Tails" Prower: Genius Fox Sidekick.
K.O. suddenly turned around let out a huge gasp at the two heroes.
Charmy had the same reaction.
"Why does the animation look so cheap?" Vector said, munching on popcorn.
"You leave this show alone! This is a masterpiece!" Charmy retorted.
"You know, when I was your age, cartoons had better animation than this trash!"
"Shhhh!" Sonic, Knuckles, and Espio grunted.
"Yeesh… say it, don't spray it," Vector grumbled.
Going back to the trailer, the two cat creatures cartoon Sonic carelessly bumped into suddenly landed on him and Tails' heads. Sonic grabbed onto the cats and gently placed them down.
"Whoa, you be careful now, kid," he smiled. "Don't want anyone getting hurt on my watch."
The two cats geeked out over Sonic's appearance, as K.O. approached the heroes.
"Can it be!? Are you THE legendary Sonic the Hedgehog with a power level of ring!?" K.O. whipped out a trading card with an image of Sonic in the middle. His name was on the bottom and a gold ring was printed beside it.
"The one and only, yep," Sonic replied with a smirk and a wink.
K.O. began jumping around Sonic and Tails like an acrobat. "Wow, wow, wow, wow! Oh, it's Tails! Wow, wow, wow, WOW! I can't believe I'm talking to THE Sonic. I have a whole notebook of fanart I've made of you!"
K.O. flipped through his notebook, showcasing highlights from Sonic's adventures. They were all poorly drawn in crayon. "This one's from when you destroyed the Death Egg, this one's from when you fought the Ultimate Life Form, and this is when you won the summer and winter sports games."
"Gold medal, baby," Sonic said, as he held up a gold medal from his neck.
Everyone laughed at the Olympics joke.
"I really respect a kid with encyclopedic knowledge of my achievements," Sonic smiled and said to K.O. "Not enough people like that in this world."
Finally, the animated counterpart of Tails spoke, and he was mad. "Hello!? What about me!?"
"Ha-ha!" Sonic laughed, but as he registered that line into his head, he thought about something. "Wait a minute."
He watched as his animated counterpart kneeled down to K.O.'s level.
"What's your name, kid?" he asked.
"K.O.!"
"Well, K.O., how would you like to be my new little buddy?"
"NEW LITTLE BUDDY!?" the cartoon Tails exclaimed, widening his eyes.
Vector spat a chunk of popcorn on the television. Knuckles and Espio's jaws dropped.
"What did he say!?" Vector bellowed.
"Hold on, hold on, we need to rewind that," Espio grabbed the remote, pressing the rewind button. "There's no way he said what I think he said."
He went back to a few spaces in the scene before he pressed play.
"What's your name, kid?"
"K.O.!"
"Well, K.O., how would you like to be my new little buddy?"
"NEW LITTLE BUDDY!?"
"Sonic's replacing Tails with a cartoon fanboy?" Vector inquired, turning to the Blue Blur. "What's wrong with you?"
"Hey, it's not the real Sonic that's doing that," Knuckles replied. "It's cartoon Sonic. This must've been what made Tails so upset."
"From the context of this scene, it did sound like Sonic wanted to replace Tails with this ninja-like character," Espio nodded. "But… why would this make Tails upset? Obviously, he knows this is fiction. Sonic would never abandon Tails in real life. Right, Sonic?"
Everyone turned to the blue hedgehog.
"Sonic?" Vector inquired.
"Are you okay?" Knuckles asked.
The brave hero himself stood on the couch with a neutral expression on his face. His hand was on his chin, and he was deep into his thoughts. He remembered what happened at the Soleanna movie theater and how those kids made fun of Tails for being useless. Sonic scratched his head and recollected memories from his recent adventures.
Within a matter of seconds, he finally realized what was going on.
He rose his head up and nodded.
"I have to go," he spoke, as he gently stood up and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Knuckles asked.
"I need to talk to Tails about this," Sonic replied.
~Green Hill – Evening
Later that night, Miles "Tails" Prower sat on the edge of a platform in Green Hill, looking down at all of the animals that prepared for sleep and the flowers that brushed against the wind. The moon was full, and the stars were bright, illuminating the darkness of the night. The eight-year-old kitsune took a deep breath and leaned back, resting on his twin tails. He replayed what Shadow told him to do back at the Chao Garden and how happy he felt talking to someone like Shadow. Even though the Ultimate Life Form showed off his brute side during adventures, Tails was glad to know that even Shadow was against the forces of bullying. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, preparing to take a nap before he went to find Sonic…
…but a familiar face already found him.
"Hey, little bro,"
Tails opened his eyes and gasped. Sonic the Hedgehog stood over him with a soft smile on his face.
"S-Sonic?" the fox panicked. "H-how did you find me?"
"You always come to Green Hill when you're depressed," Sonic sat next to his best friend. "Amy comes here too. For some reason, this place is great for clearing your mind… heck, I always come here whenever I feel down about something… but my feelings aren't important… are you okay, Tails?"
The fox gulped and gave a nervous smile. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Why wouldn't I be okay?"
Sonic frowned. "Because you ran away earlier… those kids said some awful things to you… I want to make sure you're okay… Tails, I get the feeling something's bothering you, and I'm wondering what it is. So, tell me… what's bothering you, little buddy?"
Tails' heart pounded like a drum. "N-nothing's wrong with me, I swear… I'm okay, Sonic. I know better than to let some stupid kids ruin my day."
"Then how come you're letting a trailer ruin your day?"
The kitsune's bluebell eyes lit up and his heart came to a stop. He slowly turned to the hedgehog and rubbed his head. "How did you…"
"Charmy told me you watched the OK K.O. and Sonic crossover trailer this morning. He said you were really into it, but you shut it off at one particular scene… I think you know what scene I'm talking about."
Tails was silent. He didn't know what to say next.
Sonic felt the same way until he said, "What is it about that trailer that bothers you?"
The question he's been waiting to hear was finally asked. The fox took a deep breath and gently closed his eyes. A few small tears flowed from his cheeks, but he wiped them away, hoping his older brother wouldn't see him crying like a toddler.
"Well… it's just that, Sonic," Tails spoke after a low sigh. "The promo made me come off as someone who was nothing more than a loser. And that's not even the worst part, I looked at the comments and they all said I don't deserve to be your sidekick… and they're right…"
Sonic's eyes widened when he heard that.
"Now that I think about it, I've screwed up so much that I wonder why you still keep me around," the fox continued. "When you turned into a Werehog and helped Chip restore all the Gaia Temples, I did nothing but fly around in my Tornado. And I cowered in fear once I saw those Dark Gaia creatures. I wanted to fight back, but for some reason, I couldn't… Then, I created a malfunctioning Wisp translator that didn't even work half the time. All it did was make the Wisps sound like idiots…
"Then, when we were traveling through time with our younger selves, my younger self and I cheered you and young Sonic as you revisited stages from our past. We could've gone on the adventure, but we chose to stay behind, twiddling our thumbs like a duo of cowards… and who could ever forget the time I acted like a jerk on the Lost Hex?...
"Even though teaming up with Eggman to stop the Deadly Six wasn't the best idea, we didn't have a choice. Eggman knew how to shut down the machine that drained the world's energy. And throughout the entire adventure, all I did was whine, complain, and accuse you of trusting Eggman more than me…" tears flowed down the fox's eyes. "And the worst part is… I didn't even apologize to you for how I acted. You apologized… and you had nothing to be sorry for…"
Sonic partially closed his eyes. He had the same somber look on his face, as he continued listening.
"And that's when we come to our recent escapade… the war," Tails' voice shook as he spoke; tears poured down his cheeks like a waterfall. "Instead of helping you fight Infinite, I sat on the sideline and scanned for his power source, which I didn't find at all! Then, I spent six months searching for the Resistance, only to find a damaged Omega in Sunset Heights… Chaos 0 popped out of nowhere and… and… and…" the fox wiped his eyes and closed them. Even when his tears came out, he still spoke in a calm manner, which surprised Sonic. "I didn't bother to fight back… I just sat there with my arms behind my head, waiting for you to show up… and you did… to an extent…
"It was a Sonic that looked like your younger self, but he was from an alternate universe… we tried to find you, but he was the one who did all the work instead of us working together. I could have easily helped him fight Eggman's Egg Dragoon in Green Hill, but I didn't… and I don't know why. He took him down with ease and when Eggman fell to the ground, I shouted, 'Yeah! We did it!'. I had no right to say that. Why? Because I didn't do anything!... I just sat there and watched you, the other Sonic, and the Rookie do all of the work!"
Sonic watched as his best friend buried his face into his hands.
"So, after reading those comments… after thinking about all those times I messed up… I realized those people were right… the kids at the Soleanna theater were right… what good is a sidekick if he can't even do anything useful?... Even though K.O.'s a fictional character… I think he'd make a better partner to you than I would."
As the fox drowned in his own sorrow, Sonic felt nothing, but grief ran through his veins. His mouth was partially open, and his hands were stamped together. He turned to the side, thinking about how he was going to respond to this.
Whenever Tails doubted himself, Sonic would always come and give him a boost of motivation, but this was different. His best friend hid all of this grief inside of him all this time and he didn't know about it until now.
How would someone respond to all that was said?
Sonic thought long and hard about his reply. He looked at Tails and watched him wipe his eyes.
After a few more seconds of thought, the hedgehog leaned himself closer to his friend.
"Tails… I remember all of those things you told me. I was fully aware you stayed behind on a lot of missions while I did most of the work. But I had no idea it bothered you this badly."
Tails sniffed, wiping his nose.
"But… you act like you've done no good when really, you have," Sonic continued with a soft smile. "Who was the guy who disabled a nuclear missile in Station Square? Come on, I know you know this answer."
Tails looked up and gazed into Sonic's emerald, green eyes.
"Me," he whispered.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. What was that?" Sonic inquired, poking his ear.
"Me," Tails replied slightly louder.
"That's right, it was you!" Sonic pointed at the fox's chest. "You showed Eggman who's boss and saved all of those people. It was the day you realized you can take care of yourself. Of course, we always fight together, but there were times where you had to fight for yourself… and you did just that. Speaking of which, Amy told me you defeated Egghead in a straight-up fight! I wish I could've been there to see it because I bet it was awesome!"
"Yeah," Tails sniffed again. He smiled and wiped his nose. "Yeah, it was… I thought you were gone at the time, so I had no choice but to honor you by continuing the mission."
"And that's what you did, little buddy," Sonic wrapped his arm around Tails' shoulder. "And those aren't even the icing on the cake. You helped fight Metal Overlord, you rebuilt Gemerl when he was found by Cream and Vanilla, you helped track down the Gaia Temples, you fought off Black Aliens, and you even escaped from the Deadly Six in a low-key fashion. Yeah, it gave me a scare, but you fooled them, didn't you?"
"Yeah… yeah, I did."
Sharing a chuckle, the brothers had a moment of silence.
"Tails," Sonic spoke again. "I don't think you're useless and those kids are wrong about you… however, there is one thing about that trailer I want to talk to you about."
"What's that?"
"Remember the scene where I asked K.O. if he wants to be my new little buddy?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think I was asking K.O. to replace you… I think I was asking K.O. if he wanted to be part of my team."
Tails was stumped. "H-huh?"
"I can understand why people including you would misunderstand this. It did sound like I was asking him to replace you, but I don't think that was the case. It could have been, who knows? We'll just have to wait until the special itself comes out… but the thing is, that's just a cartoon. It doesn't reflect how I feel about you now."
The kitsune smiled before he slouched down in embarrassment, rubbing his eyes. He let out an annoyed moan before it turned into a chuckle.
"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.
"Something tells me that is the case," Tails replied. "Which means that I got freaked out over nothing."
"But if you didn't get freaked out, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Oh… right."
"Tails… you're more than just my sidekick, you're my best friend. Actually, let me rephrase that… you're the little brother I've never had… I'm sorry that you've been feeling this way, but… I just want to let you know what you shouldn't let a cartoon affect how you feel. You know you're an awesome person. I know you're an awesome person… and there shouldn't be anyone or anything out there to make you feel otherwise."
Tails nodded. "Thank you, Sonic… I'm sorry for not talking to you sooner. At first, I thought it was no big deal, but after seeing that teaser… I thought that it was finally time for me to say something."
Sonic grabbed his best friend and pulled him under his arm. From there, he rubbed his head with his fist, giving him a gentle noogie. "Well, you should've said something earlier! Running away like that scared the heck out of me! If you ever feel down, speak up next time! Don't angst it up like Shadow does!"
"Hey, no fair!" Tails laughed, trying to escape Sonic's grasp. "Let me go!"
After rubbing his best friend's head for three more seconds, Sonic finally released Tails.
The eight-year-old nearly fell on his feet before he regained himself.
"Now then," Sonic offered his hand. "Are we cool?"
Tails looked at his friend's glove before he happily shook it. "Mostly… I still feel a little down, but talking about it did make me feel better."
"Good… I'm glad you were able to voice your concerns. Why don't you and I go off on a small adventure together? It might help clear your mind from this whole cartoon thing. We don't have to go fight Eggman or anything – he doesn't seem to be around much these days. Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we stop over to that island of yours? The one where you fought those Battle Birds?"
"Cocoa Island?"
"Yeah, that one. Maybe we can vacation there for a while. It'll give you a nice mental break from all of the stress."
"And what if Eggman shows up?"
"Then there's no one I'd rather have beside me than you."
Tails soaked that in and smiled from ear to ear. Tears of happiness began pouring down his cheeks and he wiped them clean. Sniffing one last time, he chuckled softly and pressed both hands together.
"Thank you for listening to me, Sonic… it means a lot to me."
"Anytime, buddy. You know I would never abandon you, right?"
"Right."
The brothers leaned into a one-armed hug.
Tails closed his eyes and smiled, allowing a small tear to drop down his cheek. This time, it wasn't a sad one; it was a tear of joy. As for Sonic, he was happy to see that his little brother was feeling better. Even if he wasn't feeling one-hundred percent, he was still relieved to have tracked him down and talked things out.
Both brothers hugged for a while longer before they let go.
"So, when does this crossover come out anyway?" Sonic inquired.
"I think it'stwo weeks from now," Tails stroked his chin. "Why?"
"Wanna watch it when it comes out? We don't have to if you don't want to."
"Nah, I might as well check it out. As you said, I could have taken the whole thing out of context. Plus, I'm curious to see how you and I are represented."
"Atta boy… so, what are we gonna do for two weeks?"
KRAKOOM!
Suddenly, a massive explosion came from behind. Sonic and Tails turned around and ran towards the edge of the hill. Looking down, they watched as Dr. Eggman drove around in his Egg Mobile, commanding Metal Sonic and an army of Badniks into the area. The mad scientist gave an evil cackle before he starting capturing animals.
Sonic cracked his fingers. "Well, at least we have Eggman to keep us occupied until then."
Tails stretched his arms. "Right."
"Do you want to help me scramble his army or do you want to take a breather?"
"Hmm…" Tails looked down at the battlefield, hearing Dr. Eggman manically laughing as he launched three missiles at a set of trees. Flickies were running for their lives as Metal Sonic dashed around with a giant net and scooped them up. The twin-tailed fox clenched his fists and nodded. "I can fight."
"Are you sure?"
"I want to get my courage back… so let's do this!"
With nods exchanged, the dynamic duo came down like a hurricane and attacked the Badniks.
Tails spun around, bashing three Motobugs with his twin tails.
Sonic homed in on three Slicers and evaded blasts from four Buzz Bombers.
With a spin dash, Tails wiped out the Buzz Bombers in an instant.
The two advanced onto Dr. Eggman.
"Hey, Eggman!" Sonic smirked, homing in on two Buzz Bombers. "Isn't it passed your bedtime?"
"Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower!" the mad doctor cackled. "I should have known you'd be here to foil my plans! But you won't stop me this time! Metal Sonic, DESTROY FOR DADDY!"
Without hesitation, the metallic robot moved in on his enemies.
Tails flew into the air and offered Sonic his hand. The hedgehog grabbed it, and the fox carried him to the metallic drone. Just as Metal Sonic swiped his claws, Sonic kicked him across the face. Metal Sonic fell to the ground, as the duo levitated above Dr. Eggman.
"Blast it all! I'll make you two pay for this!"
"Don't count on it, Doc!" Tails nodded, as he and Sonic grabbed each other's hands and curled into a blue/yellow ball. They spun around at supersonic speeds and divebombed towards the doctor's vehicle. The scientist himself gulped and screamed.
Then, a single explosion ended the battle.
~Two Weeks Later
~Tails' Workshop – Mystic Ruins – Evening
"Come on, Sonic! The episode's about to start!"
Inside Tails' workshop in the Mystic Ruins, the twin-tailed kitsune sat on the couch with a bowl of mint ice cream in his hands. He waited for his best friend to come out of the kitchen so they can watch the OK K.O. and Sonic crossover special. After two interminable weeks of waiting, the duo finally got together to watch it.
But if only Sonic got out of the kitchen faster.
"Come on, Sonic!" Tails called again.
"In a minute, Tails!" Sonic shouted. "It's almost done."
"You're the fastest thing alive, yet it takes you ten minutes to make a single ice cream cone?" Tails chuckled.
"Who said anything about one ice cream cone?"
With that, the Blue Blur came into the living room with large stacks of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream cones in his hands. He sat on the couch and handed one to Tails. The fox chuckled as he took his cone, he looked at the top of his cone and saw he had a scoop of mint ice cream with rainbow sprinkles on top.
"I'm gonna get a brain freeze if I eat this," he laughed.
"Well, that's your fault for getting a bowl of mint ice cream for yourself earlier," Sonic teased.
"You didn't tell me you were making our desert. You just said you were going into the kitchen to make yourself something."
"Well, excuse me if I wanted to surprise you."
The brothers exchanged more laughter.
"In all seriousness… thank you, Sonic. This looks delicious… and a little messy."
"Well, you better eat it fast," the cobalt hedgehog replied. But just as he was about to take a bite, a realization popped into his head; he wanted to ask Tails an important question. He turned to his best friend and said, "Hey, before we start… are you okay from two weeks ago?"
Tails licked a few melting drops of ice cream from his cone. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his face. "Yeah. I feel a lot better. That trip to Cocoa Island helped me a lot. It was nice getting away from it all… thanks, Sonic."
"You're welcome, little bro," Sonic winked. "If you ever need to talk to me about something… don't hesitate to come to me. I'll always be here to listen."
Tails nodded and gave a tender yet warm smile. "And I'll do the same for you."
Both brothers stared into each other's eyes as they exchanged a fist bump and licked their deserts.
"So, how long is this episode?" Sonic asked, wiping his face with a napkin.
"According to the TV settings, it's only eleven minutes long."
"That's weird. Maybe that's an error or something. A crossover like this has to be at least thirty minutes long."
"Hmm… maybe they had a tight budget."
"A tight budget for a cartoon centered around me? Please. They should make a whole television series about our adventures. I'd watch that."
"Ha-ha, I'm sure some company's doing that as we speak."
"They better… when does the episode start?"
"Right… now."
Pressing the play button on his remote, Tails leaned back and enjoyed his ice cream.
"And now… you're watching the OK K.O. and Sonic the Hedgehog crossover special!" a narrator said on the television, as it showed a picture of KO and Sonic fist-bumping.
The two brothers enjoyed as the crossover began.
END OF STORY
A/N as of 2023: I remember my original thoughts on this special being more negative than positive, and I do apologize for that. I wasn't in the best mood when it came out due to life issues. But going back to the special itself, it's cute. I've never watched a single episode of OK K.O but I thought this special was cute. I loved all of the Sonic Easter Eggs and I did like the wholesome Sonic and Tails moment at the end. I do wish we saw more of K.O. though. He gets turned into a robot in the second half and becomes the bad guy. I feel he got ripped off and I don't even know much about him lol. I also wish Dr. Eggman was involved. He would have been great. Other than that, it was great. If you're a huge Sonic fan like me, I highly recommend it. Thank you all so much for reading this story! I hope you all have a great day and let's hope 2023 is a better year.
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~SD321 (SpiderDom321)