The next morning Sonic ate some of the fruit the fox left and got ready to do some hard searching for the emerald. As he got ready he couldn't help but notice the fox hiding. He decided to ignore him since Sonic knew he would just run off if he even tried to talk to him. Once he was all set he ran off into the forest to begin his search. He didn't use his full speed to allow the fox to follow just in case. After all, even at a distance, Sonic could tell he was quite young.

For half the day Sonic continued to search, only stopping every now and then to eat. Eventually, he got upset that he couldn't find anything. He got desperate and ended up calling the fox.

"Hey. I know you're there." Sonic said this as calmly as he could but the minute he spoke to the fox he heard rustling indicating the fox was running away. Sonic needed help at this point and actually chased him this time but even with his super speed, he lost track of the fox.

"Where did he go?" he said, looking around for any sign of disturbance. There were no footprints, no branches or leaves moving and Sonic heard nothing around him. "Don't tell me it was a ghost?" He said half joking to himself. "Nah." he then gave up and began his search again.

A few minutes later he was surprised to see a couple of kids setting up more traps. Sonic did not want to talk to them since every other person on this island was harsh except the fox. Sonic began to walk away until he heard one of them say.

"...you think that two-tailed freak is still around?" The works 'two-tailed' caught his attention so he crept up to them to eavesdrop.

"Don't think so. That wimp wouldn't dare come here again after what we did to him." the other said laughing.

"True he is just a freak of nature that shouldn't have been born." Sonic was sickened by what he was hearing. He wanted so hard to jump out and yell at the kids but couldn't until he heard them say. "that creepy fox should just do all of us a favor and die."

The word fox enraged him. There was no way they could be talking about the kind fox that has been helping him. They couldn't seriously mean what they said. The thing that really sent him over the edge was.

"Next time I see him I will make sure he never appears again." At this point, Sonic jumped out and began yelling at them.

"How can you say stuff like that?! He is just a kid! No one deserves to be talked to or treated like that!" Sonic just let loose on them but they seemed unfazed.

"Have you seen him? He's a freak." one said.

"A mutant." the other said.

"A monster." the first one added

"Why do you care anyway? Are you actually siding with that thing?"

Sonic wanted so badly to argue but he couldn't since it was apparent the kids wouldn't listen. He couldn't listen anymore and began to walk off. The two just laughed at him as he walked away. "Pathetic." was all he heard before he sped off to get away from them. However, after a few seconds of running, he actually ran into someone.

He fell to the ground while hearing an "ow!" from the other person.

"Oh Sorry. I didn't…" When he got up he was surprised to see the little fox right in front of him.

The fox was scruffy and dirty, and parts of his legs were bandaged up. The thing that surprised him the most was that the bandages he saw on the fox's tail were unwrapping and he could see clear as day two tails.

Sonic quickly recovered from his surprise and reached a hand out to the fox but when he did the fox flinched and scurried a few feet away.

"Hey, you ok? I'm sorry. I didn't see you." Sonic said as gently as possible. The fox didn't answer. Only shook in fear. Sonic tried to walk closer but after the first step the fox quickly got up and began to run away but before he could get very far Sonic yelled, "thank you!" This caused the fox to freeze.

He turned to Sonic and quietly asked, "f-for what?"

Sonic was happy he was able to talk to the fox now. "For all your help. Without you, I would have been in trouble seeing as I don't know anything about this island." Sonic gave the fox a thumbs up.

The fox was still quiet and said, "r-really?"

"Absolutely. Everyone else on this island are so harsh." Sonic said with an annoyed face showing on his face.

The fox looked sad and only whispered, "yeah." his ears were down and tears began to form in his eyes.

Just then the bandages on his tails began to slip further which startled the fox. He looked at his tails and instantly freaked out. He hugged his tails, turned around, and ran off again.

"Hey!" Sonic began but in the next instant, the fox was gone. With how freaked out he was Sonic just figured it might be best to just leave the kid alone for now.

For the rest of the day Sonic continued to search but no matter where he went there were just no clues on where the emerald could be. Eventually, he had to give up for the day and returned to his boat. When he got closer he saw a fire going. He was sure he was not the one to start it and instantly grow suspension. He slowly approached the location and to his amazement, the fox was there by the fire. Just waiting. His fur was not as shaggy and his tails were rebandaged. Sonic instantly relaxed and walked up to him.

"Hello again," he said, which startled the fox. So much so that the fox fell over. "Sorry. Just surprised to see you." The fox got up but still looked extremely nervous. "So what brings you out into the open?" The fox was surprised by this.

"Y-you noticed?" he quietly said.

"A few times," Sonic said with a small chuckle.

The fox instantly got red. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well for the last few times you ran off whenever I even tried to talk to you. I figured I would just leave you alone till you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh." the fox said.

They both then sat in silence for a few moments. It was beginning to get awkward so Sonic asked, "so what did you want?"

"W-w-well…" he began but he was so nervous he couldn't speak.

"Hey, hey calm down. Take your time." Sonic said calmly.

The fox looked at him and took a deep breath. "Could I sleep here tonight?"

Sonic was stunned by the sudden question from a near stranger. "What brought that up?"

"I -I'm scared." the fox said while shaking hard.

"Are you sure? I mean, you just met me." Sonic pointed out.

"I have no other choice. Besides, I don't think you are a bad guy." The fox said.

"Well…" Sonic thought about it and remembered what those awful kids said before. He wondered if this fox had heard them too. Judging from the fox's behavior it was possible. "Fine."

The fox actually gave a smile and somewhat cheerfully said, "thank you."

"Yeah yeah. It had been a long day. I just want to eat and then sleep." Sonic said to which the fox just nodded his head in agreement.

As they ate, Sonic asked, "So what's your name?"

The fox froze and quietly said, "Miles."

"Miles huh? I am surprised it's not tails." Sonic at first laughed at his joke but then immediately saw how upset the fox was getting. "OH, I am sorry. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"It's fine. It is one of the better insults anyway. Just call me Miles ok?" the fox said looking at Sonic with a desperate look on his face.

"No problem. I'm Sonic.`` The fox smiled and continued to eat.

For the remaining time neither spoke. There was really nothing to talk about at this point. But then there was also something Sonic just had to know.

"Hey… Miles? Why did you help me?" " Miles was stunned by the sudden questions. He thought for a moment and said, "well you looked like you needed help. No one really comes to this island on purpose so I thought I would help you get ready to leave faster."

"Well thanks but there is still something for me to do here," Sonic said seriously.

"What?" Mile's said curiously. Sonic looked at him wondering if he should tell him, Miles saw the seriousness on Sonic's face and said, "if you don't want to tell me that is fine too. I just thought I might be able to help you or something."

Sonic thoughts for another moment and finally made up his mind. "I am looking for the chaos emeralds and I believe there is one on this island."

"Chaos emeralds?" Miles looked confused.

"Yeah." Sonic went over to his boat and pulled the emerald out to show Miles. "It looks something like this."

Miles reached up to grab it for a better look but before Sonic handed it to him he warned him to be careful. Miles nodded his head in agreement and grabbed it. The moment he did he instantly felt the power.

"Wow," Miles said in surprise.

"I know right," Sonic said laughing at the fox's face. He then retrieved the emerald from Miles and went to put it away. When he returned he asked, "so seen anything like it."

"No. Sorry." Miles looked sad he couldn't help Sonic.

"Don't worry about it. I have searched pretty much everywhere I can and still have no clues."

Miles thought for a moment then said, "I-I might be able to help you find it faster though."

Sonic got excited, " really! How?"

"I like to make things…" he began.

"I can tell," Sonic said, looking at the boat's motor.

"...and I think I can make something that can find a similar energy reading as the emerald you have."

"That would be awesome but can you really do it?"

"I'm not sure but I can try."

"Miles you are a lifesaver."

Miles blushed since this was the first time he never heard that before. "Don't thank me yet. I still am not sure if I can do it."

"We will have to see then," Sonic said. He then yawned which caused Miles to yawn. "Better get to bed. Let's see what you can do tomorrow."

Without any more words, they both finished eating and headed for bed. Pretty much the moment Miles lay down he fell asleep.

Sonic however stayed awake for a while more. He looked over at the young fox and wondered if the little fox was going to be alright. Just with their few interactions, he could already tell the young fox had a really hard life. To make it worse he was still living this hard life. He just couldn't believe the other kids could say such things about the little guy considering he was so nice. He then looked at the bandaged tails and wondered if that was really the only reason for all this hate.

"That's just stupid," he said to himself unable to understand the logic behind having two tails and this harsh treatment. Eventually, Sonic got tired and went to bed. He took one final look at Miles and whispered, "I wonder if there is something I can do?" He then fell asleep.