Tailspin
By Redtop1995
Creative Consultant and Song by Hatchetstein4Real
"C'mon, Big Guy, keep up!"
Tails the Fox puffed and panted as he tried to do just that. The wind which blew his head fur back and forth wasn't naturally made, but the result of a blue streak that kept zipping this way and that at light speed. It went back to Knothole Village, from which he'd left and then to the Great Oak, a tree on the outskirts of said community.
"No fair, Sonic!" Tails whined. "Nobody can run as fast as you and you know it!"
The streak screeched to a halt a few inches from him, revealing the smug grin of Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Well, that's where yer wrong, T2," the prickly rodent laughed. "Although they don't run half as fast as me, Bunnie can cover a lotta ground if ya criticize her hairdos, and need I remind you about 'Twan after he ate the laxative spiked Chili Dog?"
Despite himself, Tails giggled. "Well, can I at least ride on your back?"
"Uhhhh…no"
Before he could object, Sonic was gone, leaving a sonic boom in his wake. Tails fell head over heels from the shockwave, his twin appendages covering his face. Before the kit could even recover, the hedgehog was back.
"If ya wanna be a Freedom Fighter like yours truly, you can't always depend on me ta fix yer old problems!"
"But I don't have any problems," Tails protested as he picked himself up. "And I could take on Ro-butt-nik just as good as you!"
"I'm sure you can, Big Guy!" Sonic chuckled, "And as much as I'd like to take ya to Robotropolis to prove it, my hedgehog heinie is still sore from when Sal found out the last time!" To amuse his little pal, he then proceeded to rub his behind, wincing and hissing through clenched teeth. Tails got into a giggle fit and fell back down.
Sonic smirked. He was the fastest thing alive and a comedian.
After Tails had recovered, Sonic decided, for the good of his surrogate bro, to take it slow. He complained audibly about it, even though they practically only had a few paces left until they reached the Great Oak. But Tails took it in good humor.
Now, the Great Oak was what some might call a quiet place. Next to the Ring Pool, it was where anyone could sit down, have a think, perhaps a nap or, in Tails's case, have a swing.
It was a simple structure. A smooth plank of wood connected to two ropes tied a branch that Bunnie had made, but Tails absolutely adored it, and had spent many happy hours playing on it until the sun set into night.
But today, something was different.
"Hey!" Tails exclaimed, "Where'd my swing go?…Not that it matters, I'm a Freedom Fighter in the making after all"
Sonic rolled his eyes. The fox wasn't fooling him. That said, he'd asked a good question. Where was the swing?
His eyes darted from one side of the tree to the other. Then his feet took him from one side of the tree to the other, until…
"T2, I see it!"
"Where, where?" The fox followed Sonic's finger as it pointed upwards. There was his swing, wrapped around the branch which was probably on the highest part of the tree.
"How'd it get up…" Tails began to demand before something suddenly willed him to stop and contemplate. "It's up there 'cos of you!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Sonic.
"Me? How?" he demanded, too affronted to notice he'd done a cat impression.
"When you kept running back and forth, you created some kinda turbulence which blew the swing upwards!"
"I'd've known that!'' The cobalt rodent was about to point out that it was probably the fault of the storm the night before, but somehow he felt Tails was right. "Well, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, I'll get it down in an ol' Sonic…" But then something stopped him.
"Actually, no," he grinned. "You're gonna get it down!"
"M-Me?!"
"Yeah, you, Big Guy! It'll be part of your training as a Freedom Fighter!"
"Freedom Fighters get swings down from trees?"
"It's not a swing, it's uh…it's uh…a security camera! You gotta climb up there and disable it!"
When Sonic put it like that, Tails could see how it could be a great opportunity to train. He didn't know if the likes of Sally, Bunnie or the others ever climbed anything, but if they didn't, it would be something HE would be good at!
"Okay, then! I will!"
Striding over to the tree trunk, Tails confidently put one foot on the lowest branch and reached out to take hold of the branch above him.
Sonic backed up to watch as the cub climbed higher, and higher, and higher!
"And Sal says I don't take my duties seriously!" he chortled to himself. "Wait until she finds out I've been putting our newest recruit through his paces!"
Tails meanwhile was having the time of his life. He had never seen the Great Forest from this view before! He felt like a bird! Not only that, but climbing trees was like climbing a ladder. A mossy, wooden one with leaves but a ladder all the same.
At last, his stranded swing was but a few inches within reach. Perfect!
Now, climbing up trees is easy. But climbing down is a whole different story. Tails was going to find this out the hard way.
"Sonic!" He cheered triumphantly. "I did it! I…AAAGGHHH!"
Whilst celebrating his accomplishment, he had looked down. Sonic was looking up at him, a tiny blue dot amidst the sea of green. The world seemed to spin. The tree seemed to be growing taller and taller as if it had decided to be an elevator.
The little fox impulsively seized the branch he was on with both arms and legs with a vise-like grip. Tiny beads of cold sweat suddenly dotted his forehead. His twin tails tied themselves together.
"What's goin' on up there, Big Guy?" Sonic's shout came from a million miles below. "Fix the swing and come on down!"
CRACK!
The sound rang out like a gunshot. It was one of those moments that takes but a second but seems to stretch out for an eternity.
The branch Tails had practically wrapped himself around could no longer support his weight. He suddenly jerked downwards, but didn't fall. He now had a perfectly horrifying view of how far he had to fall.
"NOT THAT WAY!" Sonic yelled in horror, as if he could control what the tree could do.
Tails appeared to be frozen in abject fear. It was only a matter of time before he'd be back on the ground whether he liked it or not.
"Aww, man!" the blue blur thought, looking up at the petrified cub dangling what seemed like several stories high above him. His sneaker covered feet weren't moving but his mind was racing a mile a millisecond.
"Wait… wait a sec!" His mind told him. "This is like that time those SWAT Bots cornered me when I was at the vending machine years ago! I had ta think on my feet back then! This is perfect for T2!"
"Big Guy!" he shouted. "What would a Freedom Fighter do in a scenario like this?"
There was a long silence. Sonic wasn't too worried. Tails was a smart kid. He'd think of something or…
"AAAAUUUNNNNT SAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY!"
"AH! NONONO!" The hedgehog hastily scanned his surroundings. Sally always had that uncanny knack of sensing when the kit was in distress. The last thing he needed was being faced with an angry chipmunk, demanding to know how and why her charge was in such a precarious position in the first place.
"Sal ain't here, Big Guy, you gotta figure this out on yer own!"
Tails wasn't listening. His namesakes, now curled tautly around each other, twitched madly, and his eyes were shut so tight that he felt they'd tear.
Creeeeak… Sonic's heart stopped.
It wasn't fair pressuring the little fox now. It was just a matter of running up the trunk and simply picking him off the branch before it…
SNAP!
Scratch that, catching Tails before he went splat!
Sonic sprinted up the tree trunk, his arms outstretched. "Hold on, Tails, I'm comin'!" A flash of brown and green told him that the branch had just passed him on the way down. Tails was sure to follow. A muffled thump and crackling of leaves and bark indicated that the branch had hit the ground. Sonic rushed to the top of the tree…
…But Tails wasn't there.
"Ohhhh, maaaaan!" The hedgehog's mind was clouded with panic. His head whipped around, his eyes trying to scan the whole wood at once. Tails couldn't possibly have fallen, he'd have seen him. But where was he?
"BIG GUY?! T2?! TAILS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he shouted. Never mind Sally's reaction, if something terrible had happened to Tails, he would never forgive himself.
"SOOOONNNIIICCC!"
He almost fell out of the tree himself. Relief washed over him like a hot shower. Tails was okay, but where was…
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Sonic rubbed his eyes. He pinched himself. "Ow!" No, he wasn't dreaming.
Tails was hovering. HOVERING above the tree! His namesakes were now a whirling blur of brown and beige, almost like a helicopter. His paws were clamped firmly over his eyes.
"Sonic, I'm dead!" The kit wailed. "I fell outta the tree and died and now I'm going to the great Knothole in the sky!"
"You ain't dead, Big Guy!" Sonic reassured, "But whatever you're doin', cut it out so you can get down!"
"What am I doing?"
"I dunno, but stop it before you leave the atmosphere!"
Without taking his paws away from his eyes, Tails began to panic. A lot of what he did next, he regretted later on.
"I don't wanna leave the atmosphere! GET ME DOOOOWWWNNN!"
To Sonic's horror, Tails shot off, flying over the tree tops at a remarkable speed.
"Come back!" he bellowed after the wayward vulpine. "And then come down!" Inwardly, he groaned. He knew for a fact that what he was saying made no sense and was probably stressing the kit out even more, but he didn't know what else to do.
Getting his little bro safely on terra firma wasn't the only thing he had to worry about. What if a Buzzbomber was on patrol? What if Tails flew all the way to Robotnik? What if Sally found out?
"He may fly pretty fast," he muttered as he ran back down the tree. "But I can run faster!"
High above the trees, Tails cautiously peeked out from behind his paws and then wished he hadn't.
The Great Forest unfurled beneath him like a map. He saw the Great River, he saw Knothole Village. Even the ugly stain that was Robotropolis looming in the distance.
If the only thing keeping him from falling was his now spinning tails, this would be so much fun.
"C'mon!" He cried out, wildly jerking his body. "I don't wanna go that way, I wanna go home!"
This motion paid off, as he changed direction, still high in the air but at least heading for Knothole.
Antoine Depardieu sat near the Ring Pool, writing as speedily as Sonic could run in a small book. Was he planning a strategy to sabotage Robotnik? Was he even planning a way to get rid of Robotnik?
"My dear sweet Preencess Sally…your breast…non…your charm eez as beeg as a…valley? NON!" He ripped out that particular page, scrunched it into a ball and had it join the pile of other rejected ideas.
"Preencess Sally, pour tu, ah shall not dilly-dally… Ho, ho, Depardieu, vous clevair devil!"
He continued another stanza.
"My love pour tu eez as beeg as ze whales. When ah look at tu, ah see…"
"ANTOINE, HEEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!"
"TAILS?!"
The little flying fox rolled his eyes despite his predicament, as Antoine promptly fainted at the sight of him.
A few seconds later, Antoine felt himself being shaken violently.
"Yo, Ant! Wake up!"
The coyote awoke with a yelp, his toupee almost flying off his head. The first thing he saw was Sonic's irritated face looking at him.
"What's the idea, nappin' on Power Ring duty?"
"Oh, Sonique!" Antoine squeaked, "Ah 'ad ze strangest dream! Tails, 'e was…'e was flyeeng!"
"Which way did he go?!"
"'Ow was ah to know, ah felt faint!"
Antoine suddenly saw his blue interrogator look to the sky, his eyes widen and rush off at top speed.
"Sacré bleu cheese!" he cried as he flew head over heels into the water. "Ah should stop eating joost zat!"
In her hut on the other side of the village, Princess Sally Acorn (who insisted on just being called "Sally" or "Aunt Sally" to a certain someone) was consulting NICOLE, her personal handheld computer.
"Okay," she commanded, "scan these blueprints Bunnie stole".
Whatever the blueprints entailed would have to wait. For seemingly, from out of nowhere, she stopped. A chill ran through her body and her tail began to twitch.
Her ears pricked up as if searching for a threat. Robotnik? No. She'd have been alerted way before time had that been the case. He wouldn't have noticed that the plans were missing so soon. Her eyes zipped from one corner of her hut to the other. Her tail quivered in a manner akin to a metal detector. She had had this sensation before, but could never understand why her body seemed to do it.
"What on Mobius…"
"AAAAAAUUUUUUNNNNNNTTTT SAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYY!"
Sally whipped around so fast she nearly fell. That was what that twitch in her tail was. It was whenever her surrogate nephew was in trouble.
A muffled sonic boom outside her hut told her that the blue blur was rushing to the rescue.
"Oh, no! Tails! Aunt Sally's coming, honey!"
Placing NICOLE on the table, the auburn chipmunk sprinted to the door, wrenching it open with such force that anyone would be forgiven for thinking it would fly off its hinges.
Where was her nephew? She'd heard him screaming her name but he was nowhere to be seen. The rapid sound of light footfalls told her that help was rapidly approaching.
"Sonic!"
The eponymous hedgehog screeched to a halt, his sneaker-covered feet practically digging a small trench in the process.
"Oh, uh, hey, Sal!" he grinned unnaturally, "Look, it's good ta see ya but I don't have time ta…"
"It doesn't matter what you don't have time to talk to me about," she interrupted. "Where's Tails? He went to the Great Oak with you!"
"Yeah, he did, didn't he?" The princess could have sworn she smelt burning from how fast her cobalt comrade was rubbing the back of his head. "He, uh, he had ta dash. He's probably off playin' Dirt Hockey. No need ta worry!"
Sally frowned. She'd come to know, even as a little girl, that Sonic was laughably bad at lying.
"Sonic Hedgehog," she began, "Tails is, was, and always will be your responsibility! If something's happened to him, you are in a LOT of trouble!"
"What makes ya think he's in any kinda trouble with the ol' Hedgehog?" came the indignant reply.
"It's…well…" Sally wasn't too sure how he'd react to her saying that her tail seemed to warn her. "It's my tail…"
"It's a nice tail, too, if ya don't mind me sayin'…" Sonic wisely trailed off as he realized that flirting wasn't an appropriate response.
"Try to be serious!" She snapped. "Every time Tails is in trouble, my…my own tail begins twitching"
There was a short pause. The chipmunk half expected the hedgehog to burst out laughing and make a crude joke about it.
"Sal, what makes you think somethin's wrong with T2 'cos yer butt's vibrating?"
"Compared to your nose that wiggles every time a chilidog's nearby!" she snapped, immediately feeling her cheeks redden. "But that's not important right now. Tails is in trouble and we…"
"SAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!"
She turned just as the fox cub soared over their heads out of control.
"TAILS!" she almost shrieked. From her perspective, her charge was in the clutches of one of Robotnik's flying machines. A flying machine that was programmed to bring him straight to the diabolical doctor himself and a waiting Roboticiser.
"After that bot, QUICKLY!" she demanded, pointing in the direction Tails had flown.
"Sal, you ain't gonna believe this," Sonic's comparatively nonchalant tone surprised her. "But this has nothin' ta do with Buttnik. Tails is flying"
"Flying? How can you make tall tales at a time like this?"
"Don't jinx it! The last thing we want is his legs growing too!"
"Never mind, let's get after him before he ends up in real danger!"
Sonic didn't need telling twice. Holding out his arms expectantly, Sally leaped into them and they took off in pursuit!
"How is he flying? It's not possible!" she yelled over the wind.
"Tell that ta Big Guy, Sal!" he replied. "As long as he doesn't fly outta the Great Forest, we got no reason ta panic!"
"I take it you have a plan to get him down?"
"Yeah, I was hopin' you had one!"
Meanwhile, Tails had figured out a way of steering himself so that he wouldn't fly too far away. By roughly jerking his body from left to right, he was able to do laps of Knothole and the Great Forest.
"I can't stay up here forever," he thought. But that was almost a bigger problem than the one he was facing now. He was beginning to grow tired. His tails couldn't keep spinning for much longer. To add to that, there was a big fall awaiting him: far too big for a little fox!
"What would Sonic do?" his mind inquired. He couldn't answer. Sonic could do many impossible things, but flying wasn't one of them.
"What would Aunt Sally do?" his mind tried again. Aunt Sally wouldn't panic for one thing. She faced Robotnik for days on end, she wasn't afraid of falling from a great height that could seriously injure her or…
"AAAAAUUUUUNNNNTTTT SAAAAAALLLLLYYYY!"
From what seemed like a million, billion miles back on the ground, Sally's tail twitched again.
"Sonic, we've got to do something, he's panicking!" she implored. "I don't think he can stay up there much longer!"
"Sal, yer startin' ta creep me out with that," the hedgehog commented, as they reached the Great Oak.
"How did he end up flying in the first place?" the chipmunk mused, looking up at the canopy of leaves and branches.
"Who knows?" Sonic shrugged, inwardly knowing that this denial was futile, but hoping Sally would buy it.
"Who knows?" Sally smirked, "I think YOU know! Now, come on, tell me everything you remember!"
"Alright, alright!" the hedgehog knew she wouldn't react well. "The kid's swing got blown up to the top of the tree and I made him go up and get it-"
"WHAT?!"
"It was a Freedom Fighter exercise, Sal! Now, he got up to the top, freaked out and the branch he was on broke-"
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"
"Sal, quit buttin' in! I ran up the tree ta catch him, got to the top and he was flying!"
"Sonic Hedgehog, if he gets hurt, I will hold you personally responsible!"
"Well, how about instead of lecturin' me, let's get Big Guy outta this jam!"
"You're right. Help me climb this tree. You used it to make him fly, I'll use it to get him down!"
The airborne cub had done one last lap of the woods and was hovering back to the Great Oak, where his unintended escapade had begun. His tails began to slow down. He puffed and wheezed.
All he could do was cover his eyes and wait for the drop.
"Oh, Tai-ails!" A familiar gentle voice called in a sing-song voice. "Open your eyes, I'm here."
Tails felt a wave of relief wash over him. He didn't care how close she suddenly sounded to him. She was there. She would help. But his terror outweighed him and his paws were superglued to his eyes. "Aunt Sally, I'm scared!" he wailed.
Sally's heart cried out at the cub's anguish, but she continued. "You'll never get down if you don't open your eyes. Besides, I'm up here with you."
Of all the things that had happened to him today, Tails hadn't expected that. "Y-You can fly?! Then get me down, please!"
"Open your eyes and find out!" Sally giggled and simply repeated. "I'm up here with you!"
Very reluctantly, Tails did so. There was his aunt, high up in the air with him…on the very top of the Great Oak.
"Hi, honey" she smiled warmly.
Just like that, Tails's natural rotors gave out and he fell…straight into the chipmunk's waiting arms.
Sally held him close and began to comfort him as he shivered and sniffled.
"I…" he stammered, "I th-thought I was gonna f-fly away and never see you or my friends again!"
"Ssssh…" the chipmunk whispered. "Ssssh…you're safe…you're safe…"
Looking around, she saw that she had to get herself and her surrogate nephew back down on the ground.
Hugging Tails tightly to her with one arm, she began to climb back down.
"Honey? Oh, honey?" she gently got the weeping cub's attention. Her coaxing paid off as he slowly turned her bloodshot eyes to her soft smile.
"Look at me. Don't look anywhere else. Can you do that?"
"Uh-huh…"
Down and down Sally climbed, feeling the fox's twin tails wrapping themselves around her back. He stared deeply into her eyes.
It looked as if he was going to cry again, so Sally began to sing him his favorite lullaby.
It went like this:
"Hush now, my little angel,
Aunt Sally is here to stay,
There's no need to shed a tear
With all your fears gone away.
Listen, my little angel,
I will always be with you,
My words are as true as steel,
So promise me you won't stew.
Hug me, my little angel,
You'll always be in my arms,
The warmth of my heart's stronger
Than missiles and firearms.
Don't cry, my little angel,
You have those who love you so,
Sonic, Bunnie, and the rest,
Who will never let you go.
Hush now, my little angel,
Aunt Sally is right here now.
To be with you forever
And I will make that my vow"
Despite his valiant efforts to follow her instruction and keep his eyes open, the cub's head began to bobble slightly as he fought the impending slumber which his aunt's voice brought forth.
Sally looked down and noticed that she had reached the ground, just as his head slumped against her chest.
"Oh, Tails…" she sighed lovingly, just before giving him the funny kiss: on the left cheek…on the right…and on his little black nose.
Another sigh made her jump. There was a lovelorn Sonic, chin resting on his hands as he relaxed against a tree stump. The princess blushed. She'd almost forgotten he was there.
"Sal-ly!" he grinned. "Just when I thought I knew you like the back 'o' my hand, you surprise me with those pipes of yours! Why don't ya ever sing for the old hedgehog?"
"Oh, I'll sing for you, alright," she smirked. "Maybe I'll sing you a dirge for putting Tails in danger like that!"
This snarky rejection snapped the blue blur out of his trance. It took him a surprisingly slow amount of time to recover as he watched Sally carry his little brother home.
"Did I put Big Guy in danger? Ooorrr did I just discover a way past cool method of stoppin' Ro-butt-nik?"
"By scaring him out of his wits?"
"No, by finding out he can use his tails to FLY, Sal! Picture him in Robotropolis, dropping a bomb right over one of those crummy factories…"
"No, Sonic. That's a terrible idea"
"No, it ain't, Sal. He's like a bullet when he gets up there. He could probably even keep up with me! And he's gonna be more than eager to help us get the Big Round Guy outta the picture, so it may as well be now!"
"Judging by how he reacted, he's got no intention of getting airborne ever again!"
A few hours later, to Sally's surprise and Sonic's smug satisfaction, Tails woke up in utter excitement about his adventure, and wanted to do it again.
Sally reluctantly agreed that perhaps his newfound flight could come in handy and agreed to allow Sonic to help the cub practice. So long as they went no further than the Great Oak, away from Robotropolis and especially away from Robotnik.
There were a few clumsy takeoffs and some sloppy landings, but even Sally admitted that her charge had become perfectly adept at flight.
When Sonic confidently declared that Robotnik should be worried about Knothole's very first flying freedom fighter, Sally's pride at Tails's new talent faltered somewhat.
But that is a story for another time.
The End