Tails woke under his blanket with his plushie by his head. It was a beautiful morning, and he stretched, gasping as he felt an antagonizing pain in his side and a headache to top it off.
He noticed his stomach had drag marks and his tails felt like they'd been ripped off.
'My whole body feels so beaten... what on earth happened?' he thought.
"Morning bro! How'd you–" Sonic cut himself off.
"What happened to you?" He finished.
"Huh?" Tails asked.
"Your face and stomach... did you get into a fight?"
"He got attacked by a crazy echidna." somebody said.
Tails looked and smiled, brightly as he saw Huck.
"Huck!" He exclaimed. He got up and gave Huck a hug, then guided him to Sonic.
"Huck, this is Sonic. My best friend in the whole planet! Sonic, this is Huck. He helped me find my way out of the forest." Tails said.
"Nice to meet you." Huck said.
"You too..." Sonic said.
"Sonic, is it all right if I steal Tails for a while?"
"For what?"
"To get him cleaned up is one thing, but to hang out, too."
"Go for it."
Tails gave Sonic a hug and followed Huck to a lake saying,
"Why do you think Sonic was staring at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"The living dead."
"Have you even looked at yourself?!"
They got to the water, and Tails looked in gasping at his reflection. His face and chin were scratched up, and he had a bloody lip.
"What happened to me?" Tails asked, quietly.
"Knuckles found out about the prank."
Tails closed his eyes as memories slowly came back to him, then he stared into the water for a second and said,
"Huck... why didn't you help me?"
"I ran off to find Max and the others. By the time we came back, he was dragging you out of the forest by your tails. Sorry, but we tried."
"It's not your fault. It's okay."
Tails cleaned himself off and leaned against a tree staring blankly ahead.
"I can't believe Knuckles did that to me..."
"Well, your pretty strong."
"Huh?"
"He beat it out of you, and you didn't shed a tear. You just... took it. Sure you're a bad fighter, but... you're pretty strong." Tails blushed.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Let's go."
"Okay."
They got up and out of the forest and suddenly somebody said,
"Hey Tails." They looked and saw Knuckles who looked at Huck and said,
"Give us a minute."
"After last night?! No way!"
"It's okay, Huck. I can handle this." Tails said with a reassuring smile.
"Well, okay, then. But call me if you need me."
"Okay."
He turned to Knuckles after Huck left and said,
"Knuckles... how could you do this to me?"
"Do what?"
"Look at me! I'm beaten up, Knux! How could you do that?! It was one prank, just one stupid prank, and you beat me up for it?! It was based on your story! I didn't hurt you!"
"Calm down–"
"Why're you even so mad, anyways?! Nobody hurt you! We just scared you–"
"I DID NOT GET SCARED!!!!!!"
"Yes you did! Just admit it, already!"
"See, this is why I beat you up!"
"Because I scared you?"
"No, because you didn't! You and Sonic, all day calling me scared! I'm tired of it! I don't feel fear! I can't! I wont! And you are ANNOYING ME!"
"Join the crowd!"
"You don't–"
"YOU TRIED TO SCARED ME, TOO!!!!"
"I did!"
"You're right. But, at least I'm not too scared to admit it." Knuckles paused.
"Did you tell Sonic?"
"No, Knuckles. I didn't."
They stood in silence for a minute, and Knuckles sighed.
"I'm sorry I beat you up, Tails."
"Hmm?"
"You heard me."
"No, I mean... did you just apologize to me?"
"Did I stutter?"
"No..."
"Exactly." Tails sighed.
"Knuckles I'm–"
"Don't apologize. You did right before you passed out. That's good enough for me."
"But–"
"SHUT-UP!" Knuckles yelled, putting a fist in front of Tails. Tails looked down, and Knuckles slowly turned the fist to a open hand and said,
"Truce?" Knuckles asked. Tails looked up and smiled.
"Truce." He said, shaking Knuckles' hand.
"No, Tails... would you mind keeping this just between us 2?"
"Okay."
"That means don't tell Sonic."
"I know."
"You know, Just–"
"I get it, I get it."
"Good."
Then they nodded at each other and went their separate ways. Tails went to Huck who said,
"How'd it go?" Tails smiled and shrugged.
"He'll never change."
They laughed, and walked back to Sonic.
"Hey, bro! You look better. How do you feel?"
"Great!"
"Mind telling me what happened?"
"I was... attacked by a group of crazy echidnas."
"That seems to happen a lot, nowadays... whatever. Come on, Tails. Wanna gon for a jog?"
"Yeah! Later Huck!"
"Bye, Tails."
Then Sonic and Tails sped off and had fun the rest of the day.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
At night as the sun was setting, Tails stared blankly at the forest.
"Tails, are you okay?" Sonic asked.
Tails nodded.
"You aren't still scared are you? Wanna sleep next to me again?"
Tails shook his head and faced Sonic with a reassuring smile.
"I'll be fine, Sonic."
"You sure."
"Yeah. After all, it was just another stupid story."
"True... night, then."
"Night, Sonic."
Then Sonic put out the campfire and they went to bed.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
In the morning, Sonic and Tails packed their stuff and said goodbye to Knuckles and Huck. They turned to leave, and Tails paused and took one last look at the forest. It still gave him an eerie feeling and a lot had happened in it, the past 3 days. Suddenly he felt something grb him on the shoulder and jumped. He turned and caught his breath saying,
"Sonic! You scared the life outta me!"
"You coming or what?!"
Sonic sped across the bridge from Angel Island and said,
"I'm WAIIIIIIITTTTTTTIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!"
Tails laughed and flew after him.
"You don't still believe those stories, do you?" Sonic asked.
"Nope! And remember, those weren't just stories... they were..."
"The Legends of Angel Island." they synchronized.
Then they paused, exchanged glances, and laughed all the way home.
The End.
Rated "S" for "Stoopidafied."