CHAPTER ZONE – ACT 1

A DAY IN THE LIFE

The sun decided to give the small extravagance of an island a beautiful summer's day. It was just the sort of day where one could put their responsibilities and commitments aside just to enjoy the sunshine.

Unfortunately, Tails doesn't enjoy sunshine. In fact, he doesn't enjoy himself at all.

After spending 4 years being educated in the finest - and strictest - university of Spagonia, Tails is not one to "chill out". He needs to do something. Not just anything, though. He has to do something constructive. Whether it's tinkering with the Tornado or inventing a new device that could benefit him and Sonic in their adventures, Tails must be occupied with something so convoluted that it can keep him busy for days. And he cannot relax, that's "nonsense" to him. Sometimes, Tails wishes that he'd stayed in Spagonia and took up a job as a mechanic or something else as physically and mentally demanding. Although he's lived in South Island for over a year now and he loves his gentle Southern neighbours, he still cannot accept their mild-mannered ways.

Today was a typical day for Tails. As he stretched and yawned his way out of his bed, the first thing that came to him was the question "what shall I do today?" After a quick wash and comb, he got into his gloves and shoes and went straight to the Tornado Hanger.

"Is there anything to do on the Tornado today?" he wondered as he examined the bi-plane. To its vulpine pilot, the Tornado looked forlorn as it stood there nose-up, as if it was looking at the glorious day through the small series of windows on the hanger doors, itching for them to swing open so that it can fly off into the bright blue yonder. After a quick scan, Tails couldn't find anything structurally wrong with his precious plane. He did, however, want to clean it. Eager to start, he rushed to the kitchen with a bucket, shoved the grotty thing under the tap and filled it with hot water as he scoured the cupboards for a sponge. After mixing some liquid soap in with the water, he charged back into the hanger, armed with his weapons of mass sanitation and attacked the Tornado with a slap of soapy sponge. Humming a cheerful tune, the young fox scrubbed the entirety of the bi-plane with great enthusiasm.

Tails feels a certain intimacy when he gives the Tornado its daily once-over, a delight that's second only to actually flying the plane, and takes great pride in making his masterpiece as presentable as possible. To him, the Tornado isn't just a plane, it's an old friend who needs his company as much as Tails needs its. The original Tornado, which belonged to Sonic, was destroyed during a dogfight some years back, during which time Tails had begun work on its current incarnation and it's become the fox's pride and joy since. After an intense 2-hour spring-cleaning the Tornado, Tails turned his attention to the rest of the workshop and spent the best part of the day cleaning, scrubbing, tidying and reorganising the place until that evening when he was finally satisfied with the outcome.

After draining the bucket and replacing the now-devastated sponge, Tails rushed outside to check on his plumbing mechanism. To his disappointment, everything was in order. Tails hates it when everything's working, because it leaves him with nothing to do and that's when he does the one thing that irritates him the most; fidgeting. Because he has a natural urge to stress about something, Tails finds it very difficult to stop once he starts and that's what causes his fidgeting habits. He's always hated fidgeting, likening it to the silly irresponsible "nonsense" life of the Southern Islanders, and used to pester his GP in Spagonia about it all the time. In fact, it had gotten so out of hand that the doctor had to ban the kit from "misusing his services", something that caused quite a stir afterwards. That little incident was one of the reasons why Tails moved to South Island. At least here if he was genuinely ill, he wouldn't have to worry about getting thrown out of the surgery again. But there were no surgeries on South Island, just gypsies with various herbal remedies which in their eyes could cure any ailment, but Tails, ever the realist, doubts that absurd claim. So with absolutely nothing else to do, the dejected fox trotted back into his abode.

Tiredly he sat in the armchair. This armchair acted as a source for inspiration for Tails. Whenever he had nothing else to do, he'd sit in the armchair and another job would suddenly spring to mind. However, tonight the armchair wasn't as reliable as it usually was, probably due to the fact that it was now sitting by the door to the Tornado Hanger rather than its usual resting place next to the front window of the house, and Tails ended up slouching in boredom, his bright blue eyes weary, fidgeting with his three thin strands of fur that dangled from his forehead until he eventually dozed off.

--

On the tallest mountain of South Island sat Sonic the Hedgehog. The sun had long since disappeared to illuminate the other side of the world and everything was silent and still, save for the slight breeze that lazily animated the towering palm trees that covered small areas of the mountainous region known to the Southerners as "Mountain Zone".

South Island is split up into several areas or "Zones" as the residents call them. For example, Tails lived in the Mystic Ruins Zone, a zone so-called for its mysterious ruins in its palm tree forest that are said to have existed for over 4000 years. Mountain Zone's name refers to its twisty-turny towers of rock formed in ancient times by constant tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, or so the legend goes. The mountains are a peculiar sight. Although some are quite normally shaped, the majority of the region consists of South Island's famous loop-de-loops, inclines and even long winding roads that twist in the air, an odd formation the locals call "Mobius Strips". To travellers, trekking South Island, especially the Mountain Zone, is a dangerous, if not impossible, task on foot. But to someone like Sonic, who not only has amazing running speed but also super-human dexterity, traversing these freakish monuments of land isn't only simple, but fun.

Born and bred with South Island's renowned sense of carelessness, Sonic prefers to live life to the fullest and South Island's "laws" provide him with the freedom he craves in order to do just that. He spends his days running, exploring new areas and taking in everything the world provides for him. Although he was born in South Island, Sonic rarely ever stays there, because his curiosity is so unquenchable that he could be gone for years seeing the world and doing his best not to waste a second of the life he loves. For the past couple of years, however, he has stuck to his roots, purely to take advantage of the surreal landscape he sees as nothing more than a giant playground.

As the moonlight shone down onto the Mountain Zone, Sonic fell into a doze, smiling contently as his blue form glistened mystically against the moon's pale glow. This was one of his many favourite pastimes. When he isn't hitting the ground running, Sonic likes to find hidden places to relax in. These areas have an underlying pattern. Not only are they absurdly hard for the average Joe to get to, but they also have the most beautiful sights of the world. Sonic is a sucker for natural beauty.

As he drifted off to sleep, he had a thought.

"Tomorrow evening, I'll pay Tails a visit…"

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EDIT: Cleaned it up a little.