I don't own either of these characters (although I wish I did), they belong to SEGA. Unofficial fan characters are my creations, but they are based off the original 'Mobian' designs by SEGA and Sonic Team, so kudos to them.
Dear Oceanera12: Yay! Review! I'm glad you like the way I'm doing this. Out of curiosity, I've been wondering, what is it about my version of 'Classic Sonic doesn't talk' that's better? Anyways. Yep, little kids are adorable. :3 Died a little writing that part. So cute. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Dear xXMannaXx: HUG ALL THE CHAPTERS! :3 Feeeeeeelllllsssssss… *loses maturity briefly and just screws around muttering about adorableness and Classic Sonic* Thank you for reading all my work! I'm working hard on everything for ya, don't worry. I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter time again. Long wait again… sorry. I know, I'm not trying hard enough to update. Sorry, but I'm busy with lots of things these days. I'm writing whenever I can, promise! This story is progressing nicely. Thanks to all of you for the support. This one should be good. I've actually planned out something for this chapter that isn't straight up depressing! Yes… finally, a chapter that involves niceness instead of just me being really mean to all the characters. So things are finally looking up. Yay! Hope y'all enjoy! :D
Chapter 4 - A New Day, A New Start
The morning sunlight shone through the windows. It lit up the room and softly fell on Miles' face. He half-consciously rolled over to block it out. Something was different. He wasn't lying on the ground, but something soft and comfortable… He forced his eyes to open and his mind to wake up. And then he remembered where he was, and his mood lifted. Miles pulled off the warm blanket and stood up. He wasn't sure where to go. It wasn't his house, and he didn't want to do anything without Sonic's permission.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait for long. The blue hero walked out from his bedroom barely a minute later. He waved. Hi, Miles! Miles waved back. "Good morning," he said politely. Sonic smiled. He jerked his thumb towards the front door, then made a 'come' gesture with a questioning expression. I'm going out. Do you want to come? Figuring that it would be more fun than standing around doing nothing, Miles nodded. "Alright."
Sonic opened the door. He held it open until Miles was outside, then closed it behind him. He began to walk, and the fox followed. They walked for several minutes. Normally, Sonic would've ran there in seconds, but he slowed down for Miles' sake. Eventually, they were just outside the town. Sonic continued walking, but stopped when he realised he was no longer being followed. He looked back. Miles had stopped and was standing still. Except for shaking slightly, he wasn't moving. He had just frozen.
Of course. Sonic mentally beat himself up a little. The kid had only just escaped from being bullied and abused by everyone he had ever met, and now he was expected to just walk right into a town full of people as if nothing had happened. He almost facepalmed at his own stupidity, but realised that Miles would probably take it as him having done something wrong, so he held it in. He stepped back towards the fox and made a 'come on' gesture. Miles still didn't move. Sonic took another step closer and offered his hand with a comforting smile. It's okay. I'll protect you. Miles looked up at Sonic. For a moment, he remained still, partially trying to sum up the willpower to go, partially overwhelmed by the action. He finally made the decision. He grabbed Sonic's hand with a surprisingly tight grip. The hedgehog used his other hand to give a thumbs-up. He led his new friend into the small town.
They stepped onto one of the simple paths, and Miles immediately noticed that everyone they passed looked at them. Holding the hedgehog's hand tightly, he tried hard to convince himself that they were all focused on Sonic, although he couldn't help noticing that a lot of the stares were pointing towards him. The blue hero seemed completely indifferent to the attention. He casually walked until he came to a stop at a cart selling food. A brown bear was taking money and exchanging it for hot dogs. He passed some food to a group of teenagers, then called, "Next!" Sonic walked up, bringing a smile to the bear's face. "Heya, Sonic!" he said in a friendly tone. "What can I get you? I don't even need to ask. Let me guess, chilidogs as usual. How many?" He looked down, and only then did he notice Miles. Specifically, only then did he notice Miles' two tails. His eyes narrowed. "Who's your… friend?" he asked.
"His name is 'Miles per hour'," said a voice from behind them. Sonic and Miles turned around to see the green hedgehog from the other day. He was with two other animals: a yellow rabbit in shoes, gloves, a hat and sneakers, all of it red, and a red fox with blonde hair wearing white gloves and a black skirt, short T-shirt and sandals. "Or something like that," the hedgehog continued. "But hey, who cares?" His friends laughed at this.
"Uh, it's Miles Prower," Miles nervously corrected them. He had intended to help, but the added laughter told him that it hadn't worked the way he'd wanted. Sonic gave them a glare, and they stopped, but it was fairly obvious that they'd start again the moment his back was turned. He made a mental note not to let Miles out of his sight while they were in town.
The bear rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh." He noticed Sonic's annoyed glance. "What? Well, anyways, how many do you want?" The hedgehog held up four fingers, then gave the vendor the appropriate money. "Okay, coming right up." He grabbed four chilidogs and handed them over. As he did, he leaned towards Sonic and whispered loudly, "You might not want to hang around that kid… Miles. I don't think he'd be good for your image." He stood upright again and shouted, "Next!"
Sonic took the food and sat down at a table. Miles followed him uneasily. He kept glancing over towards the three other animals, eating their food and talking amongst themselves. As if sensing his friend's discomfort, Sonic quickly opened the bag of chilidogs. He pushed two over to Miles. The fox looked down at them, unsure what to do. "Aren't these yours?" Sonic shook his head. He pointed at the dogs on Miles' side of the table, then pointed at him. Those are yours. Miles was surprised, to say the least. "But… you paid for them. Why are you giving me some?" Sonic realised that the kid had probably never been given free food - or free anything, for that matter - in his life. He sighed, pointed at himself and then Miles, and gave a thumbs-up. He then jerked his thumb towards the chilidogs again. Because we're friends. Come on, eat something. After taking one last look at the hedgehog to make sure it was okay, Miles finally picked up a dog and started eating.
He had never tasted anything like it. The combination of meat and bread and spices hit him hard, but in a good way. Then the chilli powder kicked in, and he almost dropped it. He started coughing. Sonic thumped him on the back. Miles coughed once more, then went right back to eating. Sonic laughed silently and started on his own food, biting off half the chilidog in one go. They ate in silence for a while. Sonic finished his quickly, while Miles was still working on his first. He pointed at the other dog with a questioning expression. You gonna finish that? The fox swallowed what was in his mouth and thought. He broke the last chilidog in two, pushing the bigger half towards Sonic, who smiled and started eating again.
A few minutes later, they were done. Miles looked Sonic in the eye. "That," he said seriously, "was the best thing I have ever eaten in my life." The hedgehog couldn't help but smile at the reaction. He stood up and motioned for Miles to follow him. Come on, let's go.
Another few minutes of walking passed, then they were back at Sonic's house. The hedgehog opened the door, and they both went inside. Miles looked up at his friend. "Well…" he began, then trailed off, not knowing where to start. Sonic smiled, sat on the sofa, and tapped the space next to him. Sit down. Miles complied. He thought about how to go about it. "Okay…" he started again. "Well, I've been thinking, and I don't really like the name 'Miles Prower' all that much. It reminds me too much of all the bad things that happened while I was called that, and all the teasing I got because of it. So, I'd like to change my name, at least until the memories don't hurt anymore. I was wondering… what should I call myself?"
Sonic considered the question. He liked the idea. It might help Miles to get over his past. "I'm thinking of something that sounds cool, but not too complex. Like your name," Miles added, hoping that the hedgehog would think of something. After a while, Sonic snapped his fingers. He pointed at Miles' two tails. How about 'Tails'? The fox looked back curiously. "…Tails?" he asked. Sonic nodded. Miles thought about it for a moment. Slowly, he smiled. "Tails… that sounds so cool! It's fitting, but… not like a mean name. Like how you're called Sonic, and you're super fast." Sonic gave a thumbs up. Miles looked back at his tails. For the first time, they didn't feel like a curse, weighing him down. They were more like… a part of him. A unique attribute that nobody else in the world had. He laughed slightly out of happiness. "Tails. I like that." Sonic held up a hand, which Mil- er, Tails high-fived. "Yeah!"
And there's the end of this chapter. Now I can finally start calling Tails 'Tails'! Finally, it isn't all depressing! All the happy stuff is going on now, yay! I don't have a definite plan for this, but I know all the key events I want to put in, so hopefully I can find a way to link them all together nicely. Updates won't be that frequent… sorry. This story isn't my highest priority, so it isn't the first thing I'm going to work on every time I can, but I won't forget about it. Promise. Well, I don't want to rant in the author notes too much, so I'm going to leave it off here. Thank you all for reading and I will see all you people in the next update!
