A week later in the Green Hill Zone; Sonic woke up in the house that he had shared with his parents. Getting up from his red race car bed Sonic went through his routine of brushing his teeth and putting on his socks and sneakers. He smiled at the framed old photo of young him with his parents; the last one that he had took with him. Getting some fruit for breakfast he ran outside and to the empty buildings of what had been the village before Robotnik destroyed what had been his home.
The empty library, school building and playground; the hangar which had a plane that he had decided to paint red with white stripes. Waking up every morning to this empty village for the last decade; it felt... Lonely.
He went to the school's baseball pit and had himself had a one hedgehog game of ball. He announced himself as safe as he made the game winning home run; he cheered but looked at the stand which was empty. He shook his head and said sadly "would be nice if I still had my parents or someone else to talk to here..." He then shrugged it off and put on a fake smile and said "I have Sally as a friend and Ant... Sally is all I need and do I really need someone else here? I am pretty much a celebrity now with all the fame that it entails!"
Sonic then decided to shake off his thoughts with a run around the Green Hills before making it back to the village and stopped himself when he was about to run into a guard, he quickly apologised. "It's alright Sonic... I have a message from King Elias..." the guard said getting it out to show to Sonic.
Sonic read it and it said that the kingdom had gotten reports showings of an unknown submarine like craft in the water surrounding the island, new reports had gotten in that morning about sightings of a new type of fish Badniks in the water area outside of Emerald Hill Zone so Robotnik was probably after information about this craft himself if he wasn't responsible.
"Water..." Sonic grunted as the message said to meet the others by the docks.
Soon on the boat Sally was smirking as Sonic was complaining about the water but Antoine got a bit sea sick but soon they were in the area outside the loopy hills of Emerald Hill Zone which made it like Green Hill Zone. They noticed the red fish like Badniks coming out of the water. "I jump out, shred them and jump back in!" Sonic said charging at them in ball zone as Antoine got his sword ready to fight the nearby ones with the same idea going to the guards on board and Sally jumped and attacked the Badniks.
Sonic soon ended up missing his jump and ended up in the water and was struggling to try and swim as he yelled out moving his arms about; "Sonic!" Sally yelled jumping in and swimming to try and get him but from the water was a dark blue submarine which fired missiles to destroy the remaining Badniks; Sally realised this must be the spotted craft.
The craft then used arm attachments to lift Sonic up into the sky and then put him onto the boat. Sally was then helped back onto the boat by the guards. "Sonic; are you alright?" Sally asked with worry as the guards put a towel over him to dry himself and his eyes widened as he saw her soaking hair. "Take a picture; it will last longer..." Sally snarked with her arms folded but then they heard the sound of the top hatch of the submarine open up.
Their eyes widened as they saw a yellow furred fox climb out; he had two tails, white gloves, red and white shoes and he couldn't be any older than 8. He jumped to the boat and bowed before Sally saying "I wanted to be sure but it's a pleasure to meet your presence Princess Sally!" Then the fox looked like he was about to squeal with excitement as he looked at Sonic. "I thought that I had to be mistaken when I saw you through my screen inside the sub but it is really you... Sonic the Hedgehog! I'm your biggest fan!" the fox said as they stared him. "Miles Prowler but everyone calls me Tails, I bet you can guess why..." the fox introduced himself.
"Is it because of your weird extra tail?" Antoine asked as Sonic and Sally glared at him with Sally punching him in the arm and Tails sighed sadly.
"Ignore the buffoon here; nice to meet a fan Tails but can I ask where you got this submarine from?" Sonic asked and Tails then put back on his smile.
"Oh the Sea Fox here? I built it! Took me some time on the blueprints but it all worked out in the end!" Tails explained and they all blinked at him explaining that he had designed and built it. "How about I take you back to my place in the village and I show you what else I worked on?" Tails suggested making his tails turn around and suddenly to their shock they were like a helicopter propeller making him fly back to the hatch of the Sea Fox.
"Did you just use your tails to turn into a buttcopter?" Sonic asked bewildered as the others were silent with Sally shaking her head.
"Only Sonic the Hedgehog could come up with something like 'buttcopter'!" Tails laughed as the hatch closed once Tails went back in and the boat then followed the Sea Fox as it drove above water to the shore of Emerald Hill as it gave a chance for Sally to dry herself with the towels.
After arriving they saw Tails get back out and then there was snickering; Tails gulped as there to meet him were 3 teenagers: a black furred bear, a dark blue wolf a white doe eyed rabbit with a green jumpsuit and a red bow on her head. "So that blue submarine one of your stupid machines, huh Tails? I bet you are just trying to get Robotnik's attention so you can join him!" laughed the rabbit as Tails looked scared under their taunting looks.
"What's with the look Tails? You should be enjoying this; only time a beautiful girl would ever give you attention." the rabbit said blowing Tails a mocking kiss.
"Come on guys... I don't want any trouble..." Tails said as the bear picked up Tails by his tails.
"You should have thought of that before you were born with that freaky tail and worked on your stupid machines! Here is your routine beating..." said the bear as Sonic and the others glared.
Sally and the guards were about to step forward but Sonic put out his arm saying darkly "Let me take care of this!" Sonic then rushed at suped speed knocking down the wolf as he was about to kick at Tails' head. Sonic then did the same to the bear and then the rabbit. Sonic then helped up Tails as Sonic glared at them saying "you probably know who I am but something you should know about me is that the only thing I hate more than evil guys with moustaches who builds death machines are bullies!"
They then charged at them but Sonic spin dashed into a ball to knock them back with them being thrown into a heap by the boat. "Have you learned your lesson..." Sally said offering a hand to help the rabbit up.
"If it isn't the princess? Going about wanting to show off in that two piece outfit; I bet you love stringing guys along like that because you don't have the natural looks that I have." the rabbit remarked and with that Sally glared and pushed her right into the water of the sea.
"Such clumsiness; she really should have been watching where she was going with how slippery the mud around here must be..." Antoine said with a hint in his words and tone that even he was disgusted with these bullies even with his earlier insensitive comments about Tails' tail; Sally made him want to faint with the smile that she gave him as the guards nodded along with Antoine's words.
"You saved me... Carrottia has the village around her finger as the 'queen bee' with all the parents wanting their kids to marry her and she has Bearenger and Hocke-Wulf as her muscle so no one even thinks of messing with them..." Tails muttered in awe with wide eyes.
"Well I don't let bullies get away with anything in my watch!" Sonic responded as Sonic went to the Sea Fox and clsoed the hatch and opened up an area near the front with everyone's eyes widening as they saw Tails take out a Chaos Emerald and then took out a remote control to send the Sea Fox into the water. Robotnik must have known that Tails was searching for the Chao Emerald.
"My computer back home was scanning for energy readings and it found this buried in the water. I finally found it after some days searching. Was the best chance to test out the Sea Fox. After I show you my stuff; you can take this back with you!" Tails explained as he then began showing them the way to the village.
"This child not only built a sub but was able to track a Chaos Emerald that has been near the Island this whole time?" Antoine whispered to the others and it was a good point.
Bearenger and Hocke-Wulf pulled the utterly wet Carrottia onto ground as she complained about her ruined clothes. "This... Do you know how much this cost my 3rd boyfriend buying it for me?" Carrottia cried looking at the ruined bow in her hand which was all muddy and wet.
"That stupid hedgehog... Some hero! I would like to throw a bomb down his throat!" Bearenger roared.
"He caught me unprepared; if I had a chance to plan I will show that I am twice as smart as he or that fox!" groaned Hocke-Wulf.
"Some hero; making a fool out of us! To think that before when I got the chance, I wanted to make him the crown jewel of my collection of trophy boyfriends!" snarled Carrottia when the trio noticed flying Badniks coming towards them making them gulp especially as they spotted Robotnik in his Eggpod.
"You don't happen to know where that blasted hedgehog is with whoever was piloting that submarine? I must warn you that I get mighty upset at not getting the answers that I want so I may... Act out" Robotnik warned with them understanding the implication.
"We know where the fox lives and where to take you! How about we make a deal? You are building the Eggman Empire and we would be more than happy to pledge our allegiance! Plus you might need a baroness to run the village for you?" Carrottia suggested on her knees and Robotnik motioned for them to continue as they smirked.
Sonic saw that the village wasn't that big and there were wide eyes noticing them; Tails showed them to a small home and the guards waited outside. Sonic, Sally and Antoine eyes widened as they saw the machines around the place including a computer and posters of Sonic on the wall.
"You built all this? Wow your parents must be relieved to know that they don't have to save up for your college considering I think you are guaranteed a scholarship..." Antoine muttered and Tails sighed sadly.
"I don't have parents... Not anymore... They died in an accident... Been on my own since then..." Tails explained and Antoine muttered apologies as they looked sorry for him. "The kids... Everyone laughs at me, makes fun of me or beats me because of the extra tail... I focused on my inventing and building thinking that it would get respect but just another thing to make fun of me for..." Tails said as Sonic thought of those 3 bullies angrily and Sally pulled him into an embrace sorry that he had to go through all that.
"On your own in a village like this after losing your family so young..." Sonic muttered sadly thinking about how similar their stories were; only Tails did have people in his village but had to endure cruelty that no kid should have to go through.
"I heard about you Sonic... You were different like me... You didn't let it get you down... I saw the reports off you fighting Robotnik and his Badniks and heard that you first beat him when you were only half my age! You quickly became like this great hero with your difference and the idea gave me hope..." Tails told Sonic and he pulled him in with a smile.
"Being normal is highly overrated pal." Sonic told him softly with a smile as Sally smiled at the display but then they heard noises and gasped as they saw the Badniks outside.
The bullies here are bosses from Tails Skypatrol and I am using characterisation from the Archie version of Carrottia; I mostly know them from the recent Tails 30th Anniversary Special comic from IDW.