Chapter Summary: Basically, Tails helps out with the plane since the damn hedgehog doesn't know anything about mechanics. Unfortunately, it leads to something he REALLY didn't want to happen.

Ok.

This was NOT good. The hedgehog should have left DAYS ago. He would've had it fixed and then he'd be off into the sky with the fantastic plane.

And away from Miles.

Unfortunately, this was not the case as the young borrower would watch the blue idiot try to fix the plane on his own. He watched as it only resulted in the plane letting out puffs of smoke in the hedgehog's face as his attempts to fix it failed. Miles huffed in annoyance as he watched the hedgehog try to fix it over and over from the safety of his hiding spot in the tree. He couldn't see exactly what the hedgehog was doing but whatever it was it wasn't the right tools or placement on certain parts. This wasn't good. Over time he had nearly been squashed with the blue rodent blasting off everywhere. Not to mention when the urchin would explore the island he nearly got seen multiple times.

So he had observed the bean for a while, so what? He was just watching the enemy, finding its weakness. So far from what he had observed the bean was fast, had a certain diet of hot dog-like food, and was very curious and adventurous. The worst traits a bean could have. Quick ones snuffed you out easily, and curiosity lead to them most likely keeping you as pets or experiments.

It was clear the bean had no idea how plane mechanics work, and was also too stubborn with pride to ask for help from someone who does. The fox sighed, at this rate, it would take weeks, maybe months until the hedgehog got out of his territory. However, if he did something about this it might take a shorter time...

No.

That was a stupid idea. He couldn't interact with beans, never. Besides, it's not like the hedgehog would stay against a helping hand, right?

Unfortunately, Miles found himself cursing his hopeful thoughts as being wrong.

The damn urchin was still there after four days. This was starting to get riskier and riskier as the blue mobian stayed longer. However, Miles knew he had to make up his mind during one of his borrowing trips.

He had finally managed to catch another lizard. It took a while. This one was a fighter. However, one stab to the skull and it was out like a light. After wrapping a cloth around the head to keep the blood of the lizard from getting in his fur and leaving a trail for predators to follow, he moved the lizard to drape over his shoulder as he prepared to haul it home, the sun beginning to lower, exploding into colors of pink, purple and red in the blue sky.

Unfortunately, this was when the bean decided to crash through. Miles was first alerted to the predator when his fur and ears perked in alarm at the light tremors of larger footsteps. He panicked as they came closer and closer to where he was, and they were alarmingly fast. His eyes quickly darted around for any hiding spot, landing on the bush that was behind him.

He just barely got in the covers of the shrubs when the all too familiar blue of the hedgehog came into view, bright red and white sneakers mere inches from where he was. The thought of how easily they could snuff him out made the borrower shudder. Miles held his hand up to his mouth to muffle his hyperventilated breaths, sky-blue eyes carefully watching the being above, pupils dilated in fear.

The hedgehog looked around the forest for a moment, sniffing slightly, before lifting his tan arm to his face, gloved hand closed in a fist. He moved the hand under his nose, and a finger rubbed under the snout.

Then there was a burst of wind and a flash of blue that sent the little fox grasping onto both the lizard with one hand, not wanting to lose his food, and the bush for dear life with the other, letting out a cry of surprise. After it died down again, the fox huffed in annoyance and stuck out his tongue in the direction where the urchin ran off.

He hated when the bean did that. Almost lost 2 lizards because of it. He didn't want to go back to eating tree sap, mysterious mushrooms, and grass again.

As he headed back to his burrow, thoughts began to run through his head.

This was another close call. If he was a second too late he would have been trampled.

He shivered, not from anything cold, but from heart-pounding fear. This had happened too many times, where he would be getting food or water before the hedgehog would suddenly come out of nowhere. Luckily he hadn't been seen or squashed, however, the gust of wind that would follow the blue blur would carelessly toss the food or the water from the self-made canteen away. Luckily it would only land on the ground, however, it was very inconvenient for the tiny fox, who would sometimes get blown away alongside the supplies, landing hard on the ground. Bruises had begun to form on his fragile body as a result.

He was lucky he never landed or hit anything with his head, his skull would have easily been damaged.

He could die if this continued.

Miles shivered once more, before feeling the lizard starting to slip, he paused, readjusted a firm grip on the lizard, and continued once more, his eyes dimming with relief at the sight of his home up ahead. It wasn't messed up or showed any signs of a predator deciding to nap there, he didn't have to worry about any more danger.

He always hated it when an animal, mostly bunnies, would come and claim his home as their own. When luring them out with food didn't work, he'd have to go in and fight to reclaim his territory once more. He didn't kill them, he never killed them, didn't even think he could, he simply gave them wounds of warnings to stay away. Oftentimes they'd run away and leave him alone.

But Miles didn't think he'd be able to fight any more animals for today. The lizard really was a stubborn fighter. Took all of his energy to take it down, now he needed a nap.

He entered his little cavern, making sure to close the entrance behind him, which was just two big rocks covered in some kind of moss. It had once been leaves, however, he learned quickly that leaves weren't good at keeping things out, nearly drowning under sloshy mud made by the occasional rain, or having to chase more bunnies out of his home.

He fumbled around, trying to find the light bulb, when he did, he turned it until it gave a soft click.

Soft yellow light erupted from the bulb, illuminating the small room. Miles placed the lizard on a long wood slab, which acted as a table, and moved over to his bed, landing face-first in it with a deep sigh. His bed was a carefully assorted pile of leaves and moss, soft enough to be comfortable, and warm enough in winter. He closed his eyes, wanting to let sleep take him away into his dreams, but opened them again when his stomach started begging for food.

He hadn't eaten anything all day and had been scavenging for food until he found this lizard. He groaned and moved off the bed, preparing to skin the lizard. It was a long and tedious task, one that took almost an hour to complete. His stomach moaned once more at the reminder. However, it needed to be done, the lizard's skin being too hard to chew.

He went over and grabbed the things he needed, a sharp shard of glass for the cutting and a flat rock for the scrapping of the excess fat, then he moved over to the lizard, held it in a certain position, and began the process. He knew how it was done, he'd watched his father do it plenty of times, and he memorized his father's instructions when the old man taught him. He knew where to cut, how to place the animal, what to remove, and the careful way of removing the skin without taking away any of the meat.

As he worked he found his thoughts trailing back to his father. How his father would praise him when he did something correctly during his teachings, how his father comforted him when he first cried over the dead lizard, his father's rough but warm hands holding onto his own, showing him the right pace on scrapping the fat faster. He missed that. He wished he hadn't done what he did that made him lose any chance of having those again.

He shook his head, not wanting to recount his past stupidity, his past carelessness.

He had to focus. The last time he didn't he had to bandage his hand, having nearly cut his finger off.

He worked on removing the lizard's genitals, making sure his cuts were careful and precise. After he did that he worked on removing the scent glands, finding himself lost in his thoughts once more.

This time it was about the bean, notably about his past and recent encounters.

He couldn't continue like this. Not with the hedgehog speeding around. He nearly got killed several times with the urchin around. More times than usual. With the bean so close to his territory it was now becoming clear that ignoring it was a death wish. Either that or it was a desire to be discovered.

But what could he do? He couldn't be discovered, but he needed to push the bean along to leave. Another thing came to mind. The plane. It was busted for now. There was obviously something misplaced or something that needed to be fixed. He had researched a lot about planes and their functionality of them.

He paused in the pelting process he nearly forgot he was doing.

That idea was insane. He could easily get killed by the plane or the bean, not to mention he'd easily get discovered. However, it might just be the only one that could work. The village he used to be in was miles away and could take days to get to at his size. Even if he got there, there'd be even more beans to evade and hide from. If he somehow managed to find someone who could help, what would he even do?

If he wanted the bean to leave as soon as possible, he'd have to go out there and fix the engine himself.

It was clear the bean had absolutely no idea how to fix it, but maybe he could.

It was a stupid idea, one that absolutely terrified him, but maybe it was the only way he could make sure he doesn't get killed.

He wished and prayed that there was another way, but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't end in immediate death. His hands began shaking as he figured this was the only thing he could do, his legs began to wobble as they began to feel like jelly.

His breaths were now shaky, and he felt a cold pang in his gut. He stayed far away from beans after the incident, but now he didn't seem to have any choice. The kit felt tears begin to form, ones of horror and slight anger at no other choice. He swallowed.

It was the only option, and he hated it. He looked down at the lizard, its opened stomach and bloody limbs becoming nauseating to him despite having been used to it. Only one thought rang through his mind.

Crap.

Miles stared at the plane, blue eyes now filled with fear and uncertainty. The hedgehog wasn't around, having most likely gone on one of his runs, so Miles had about an hour to do whatever he could to fix the machine. Despite that knowledge, the fox still hesitated to move from the bushes he hid behind. His heart hammered in his chest, and his palms began to sweat and shake.

He knew he had to do this, if he waited, he'd keep putting it off. If he did that the hedgehog would never leave. His legs still refused to move, his body frozen in fear. He wanted to go back, to hide away in his burrow and never leave the safety of the cavern. He took a shaky step back, beginning to humor the idea, before clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes. He took a deep breath and returned his gaze to the airplane.

No, he could do this. Even if he didn't want to, he should at least try to push the hedgehog into leaving.

He should try.

Eyes narrowed in found determination, he began to approach the aircraft, ignoring the jelly-like feeling in his shaky legs. His tails swished quickly with unease behind him. He held out a hand to the flying machine, his palm brushing cold metal.

He let out an exhale, not even knowing when he held his breath. The fear was slightly forgotten as a small excitement began to take its place for a moment. He had never gotten this close to the plane before, and it was exhilarating. It was even more beautiful and amazing up close. He walked along the side of the metal tin, his hand trailing behind him, having never been taken off the hard warm metal.

He approached one of the big red wings and began to feel those as well, despite them not feeling any different from the other parts of the plane. His fear began to diminish as he continued to explore the plane, his tails now wagging happily behind him.

"Incredible! You can fly for miles, huh? Travel to all sorts of different places, to so many different adventures.", he murmured to the inanimate object. His eyes dimmed as he remembered the objective at hand. He moved his hands to grasp the wing, pulling himself up, grunting with effort as he began to climb the transport. He made his way to the engine, uneasiness beginning to form when he finally made it to the desired location. A new problem rose.

How was he supposed to open the engine?

He huffed in frustration at the new problem. All that preparation for this to happen, what a waste. He sat down on the part that needed to be open as he began to think. He had to get it open, but how? He obviously couldn't open it by himself, but maybe he could use something to help him. If he had something long and sturdy maybe he could pry it open, or he could have something hit the cover to open it. Miles found himself leaning towards the former, not wanting to damage the plane and leave traces that he was there.

His eyes darted around the scenery, eventually landing on a long stick having been broken off by the tree above it near the forest he emerged from. He carefully navigated off of the plane and retrieved the stick, dragging the heavy, for him, object back over the plane. He moved to the engine and placed the stick in the crevasse of the cover, after sticking it there so it would lift off the ground, he jumped on the other end several times until both the wooden object broke and the engine popped open.

He fell to the ground with a hard grunt as his body collided with the earth. He got up, brushed himself off, and once again navigated to the engine, being careful not to fall in. He took his time to examine the mechanics, eyes glimmering with pure awe, and the hedgehog was momentarily forgotten. It was absolutely beautiful, with all sorts of gears, and gadgets used to function the lovely machine.

He found himself getting giddy once more before he shook his head and regained his composure. He needed to concentrate. However, he needed something to help him with this, maybe the plane had something lying around somewhere to help him with this. He moved off of the engine once more and made his way to the cockpit.

Glancing in, he couldn't find anything. He moved over to the rim of the plane and hopped down onto the soft seat, landing with a gentle thump. He eventually caught sight of it at the bottom of the pit, he landed on the hard, but somehow still soft, ground and moved behind the box. He groaned and grunted as he pushed the box over to the seat. He then moved it so the side of the box leaned against the seat, and moved under it. He didn't have a muscular build, in fact, he was quite skinny compared to borrowers his age, but he somehow managed to slowly, but surely began to push it onto the seat. Making it fully on there but having his feet push against the dashboard, paying mind to avoid pushing any of the buttons.

After several muscle-straining moments, he finally managed to lift it all the way onto the seat. He collapsed to the ground in utter exhaustion, moaning with relief. He stayed that way for about five minutes before begrudgingly hauling himself back up. He didn't have time for a nap, he had to get this done before the urchin came back. Orange fur-covered aching arms lifted him back onto the seat, the owner panting heavily, his face slightly red as he collapsed once more onto the seat.

Okay. All he had to do was push it over the cock pit and out of the plane and he wouldn't have to lift it anymore. That's all he had to do, and the horrible box wouldn't make him hurt anymore. That's the only thing and then no more. After resting for a bit he began to once more push and lift the cursed object out of the plane. His muscles threatened to buckle under the pressure of the large box, half sobbing, half laughing with relief as it landed outside with a loud clang, the toolbox's contents spilled across the ground below. He panted and sat down on the cushion, leaning against the wall of the aircraft.

Then the fear started to kick in. What if the bean was nearby? He might investigate whatever that was. That thought made the kit freeze in terror. He stayed still and held in his breath for what seemed like forever, ears perked up and listening for footsteps, voices, anything that might signal that the bean was nearby.

But nothing. He slowly peered over the rim of the cock pit, and all he saw was the peaceful forest, and only heard the chirping of birds. He sighed with grateful relief and went back to rest for a bit. He couldn't stay that way for too long, he knew that, but he couldn't tire himself either. He could at least wait until the strain in his muscles died down before he did any more strenuous activities.

As he rested the kit still had his ears perked up for any sounds that could alert him to the arrival of the bean. Luckily he didn't hear anything that showed signs of that. As the borrower's muscles strain died out to the point where he could manage enough, he pulled his tired body out of the resting spot and fell hard on the ground he forgot was there. He groaned, slightly muffled due to his face planting of frustration. He sighed and moved himself up, looking over the tools he spilled with slightly dimmed determination and resentment.

As much as he wanted to give up and wobble back to his hut, he already got this far. If he did that he'd just have to start all over again, and he did NOT want that. He moved over eyeing the instruments of the invention with careful eyes before landing on a wrench. He hoisted the stupid thing up and made his way back over to the engine. It was hard to climb a 200-ton machine with a device that was over 5 times his size, but again, he managed.

He began working on the engine after seeing what was wrong with it. He first started with a slow careful attitude, cautious with the soon-to-be returning bean on his mind, however, that soon became forgotten as he became lost in his own gear-ticking brain and excitement. This was exactly as all of the books he'd found about planes described it. It was even better now that he was doing it himself. His tails swished happily behind him as he tinkered away to his heart's delight, not only fixing the engine but also rearranging some things to make it go even faster.

Unfortunately, he was so lost in his own excitement that he neglected to keep alert, missing the footsteps of the bean returning, nor the gasp that followed. He was alerted when there was a loud thump and rustle of something hitting the ground, most likely a paper bag.

Miles froze, and he moved over to look at the source of the sound, praying to Chaos it wasn't what he hoped it wasn't.

Unfortunately, the gods of luck didn't seem to be on his side because his sky-blue eyes landed on emerald green ones. The hedgehog's face was caught in an open-mouthed stare. For a second time seemed to stop for both of them, one in absolute pants-wetting terror and the other in shocked disbelief...

...before Miles became an orange blur, quickly moving off the engine and away from the mobian. The action only drove the urchin into motion, as he registered the bigger beings' footsteps giving chase behind him, the beans voice reaching his ears.

"H-hey wait little fella! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

Yeah right!, was the fox's only thought as he avoided the large white hand, barely slipping its grasp. He ran under the plane, eyes widened in terror as he glanced behind him, catching the confused, shocked, and somewhat awed eyes of his pursuer looked under after where he ran. He had to get out of here, had to get away. Unfortunately, if he even had a chance of escaping, it was foiled by the kit suddenly slamming hard into the carelessly discarded red toolbox. He fell back on his back as he fell dizzy.

Everything began to blur, colors condensing into a blurry soup as he began to lose consciousness. He barely registered a shadow looming over him, barely registered the beans voice speaking to him, all he saw was a darkened blob of blue above...

...before everything went black.