Westside Island

Tails has been in the mud for years. Only eight years old and he couldn't catch a break..until this hedgehog showed up and took the time out of his day to talk with him. He's even eating with him! Nobody just does that, but this hedgehog throws "stranger danger" to the wind. Luckily in this case, that's absolutely good. Not just for his mental health, but physically too.

But where were we?

"Right… Be right back."

Sonic takes off, leaving Tails alone for a bit. When a few seconds pass, the hedgehogs still gone. Tails clutches both tails, not letting anyone gross touch them. "Just my luck."

A gust of wind sends Tails on his bum. The first thing he sees from the aftermath is a hot dog with this brown goop over it. His own stomach rumbles. Sonic flies the dog closer like an airplane. "You know you want it."

Tails just stares at that dog. "You..really mean it?"

"Of course I do, buddy! Leaving someone hungry is a dick move." The fox accepts his gift and takes a bite. That meats swishing around, and the mixture of flavor sticks out. Tails takes two bites, three, four—and it's gone.

"Woah, you wolfed that down!"

Tails lets a burp out. "Mmm.." the fox holds his hands out, and the hedgehog tosses him another. That one goes right down the hatch too.

Sonic gets a good snicker by watching this. Whoever this "Tails" kid is, he takes his food seriously. "It's like you haven't eaten in weeks."

Tails wipes some goop from his mouth, but has a short pause. "Um…"

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing! Well, something..but..you know what, toss me another dog. Please?"

Sonic obliges. Getting a look at the fox, he knows three things: he's dusty, poor, and traumatized. Why not give this kid some company? Might be his only fun day for a while. "I'll crash with you for the night."

Tails scratches his head. "Are you sure, Sonic? Only place I have is the garage. I don't think that's really comfortable."

"I'll sleep anywhere..

—

Tails' Garage

The young fox flips the lights on, giving Sonic a view he's never seen before. There's broken gadgets piled in a box. Working gadgets spread across a few tables.

"No way!" Sonic exclaims.

"Do you think it's cool?" The fox asks, clasping his hands together.

Sonic gasps seeing the most eye catching invention of all: the plain white plane in the middle of it all. A red buckets next to it, but Sonic disregards the details. "This is way past cool! How did you get all this?"

Tails scratches the back of his neck. "Oh…I made it."

Sonic swings his head over. Did he just say that? "And how old are you?"

"Eight."

"EIGHT? Heh. You're a real whiz for someone your age." The hedgehog praises, circling the plane. "I'd trust your tech over Robotskeez any day." As he gasses Tails up, his eyes fall on the box of broken gadgets. If this eight year old could build some of the nicest tech Sonic's seen, then how about his failed projects?

"You should give that box another shot." Sonic suggests, pointing to the cursed box. The lightness on Tails' face soon turns to a neutral look.

"Oh THOSE. Um..I've been looking to repair them, don't throw those away." The fox just stands in front of the box.

"Hey man, I've messed up ordering food. You've got nothing to be ashamed about."

"I didn't mess them up." Tails admits, looking away from the hedgehog. "..i wanted to fit in. I thought that maybe if I helped my village enough, they'd look at me better..but even when I did, they never cared. They destroyed everything I brought out." His voice gets shaky. "No matter what I did, nothing worked.."

"Jeez..your village are a bunch of haters."

The fox closes those eyes, and faces the floor. Sonic turns to the table of working Inventions. The shaky voice gave away what's about to happen. Sonic figured that he needs a dose of positivity in his life, and BAD. He settles on a yellow blaster. "What's this bad boy do?"

Tails sniffles. "It's a shrink ray."

"A shrink ray, huh? Shoot me." He hands him the blaster.

Tails is caught off guard, looking frantically between Sonic and his prized possession. "Are, are you crazy?! Why?"

All Sonic gives is a shrug. "Why not?"

"If my other gun jams, you'll be like this forever!"

"Oh well. Not my worst moment."

Tails is stunned silent at how casual he is. He's not worried about this, that, and the other. He wishes he was more like this Sonic. It must be fun living a carefree lifestyle. Rolling with the punches. It's still insane to shoot a literal hedgehog, but this hedgehog's actually taken mercy on him. That's all he can ask for. So far.

Tails takes aim. "If you say so."

Sonic's as small as an ant! His laughter is helium induced! "Do I sound different?"

"Woah!" Tails kneels down, looking like a literal titan to him. "You could join an ant colony at this rate."

"Good idea!" He zooms off, and returns with a breadcrumb. "It's enough to feed 'em for the next dive months. Isn't nature beautiful?"

That gets a snicker from the fox. "You're silly!"

Sonic busts a quick move. "Bring me back and let's see what else you got!"

After being brought back to normal size, Sonic plucks a little circle from the collection. "What's this do?"

Tails opens the garage door. "We'll have to go outside for that one."

The pair heads out, Tails having that circle in his hands. "I don't know how you'll react to this. I have a spare bag if you need to uh..do your business."

"It's cool, just throw it." Sonic says, tapping his foot. That circle lands under the hedgehog, and with one click, Sonic gets launched in the air! The invisible UFO's sucking him up! "Woah you just have this sitting aroooouuuund…"

Sonic's up pretty high. Tails takes a few steps towards his little circle..and jumps in the way, launching himself too! He uses his twin tails to cheat, using them as propellers. Both animals are getting a good view of the land below.

The Fox catches up with that reckless hedgehog, who's out flat, arms behind his neck. "Oh hey bud."

"You aren't sick?"

"Nope." Sonic responds, closing his eyes. "Floating is underrated. I could get used to this."

Tails gets a look back down. He can feel the airwaves from his tool decreasing. The Fox gasps, grabbing ahold of Sonic. "I've got some bad news."

"What?"

CLICK.

Sonic's view gets closer. As if he's falling from the sky. The second he realizes he is, he flail around! "Ah! Not again! I'm too young to die!"

Tails puts his..tails to use by spinning them rapidly. He's a furry helicopter, grabbing hold of this new friend to stop his fall. Instead of a breakneck speed, Tails goes slower on the landing. Sonic's still got those eyes closed.

"Ah! Ah. Ahh…huh?" He looks up and sees the Fox, flying him down. "Just when I think that was the best you could do."

"Ha-ha-ha!"

After messing around with more of his gadgets, Sonic takes a seat at the wooden wall. Legs are crossed, arms behind his head, he's at peak comfort. Watching Tails hop onto the wing of the plane, wrench in hand..he decides it's time for more positive affirmation. "Don't let anyone hate on you because you're a little different. They are the lame ones. Missing out on the fun things like this."

Tails' wrench almost slips away, but he catches it with his other hand. "..thanks, Sonic." His eyes are getting watery again. This many compliments in a short amount of time are getting to him..maybe in a good way.

Sonic raises a brow. "You need a hug?"

Tails just runs over and hugs him tight. The kid can be considered overly emotional, but that's what he is. It was just another Tuesday until this beam of light sped into his life. He's not into him romantically or anything, but he appreciates the help this hedgehog's done.

Sonic ruffles his head. "You're hangin' on tight. A little too tight."

Tails releases his grip. "Oh..sorry."

"It's cool." Sonic leans on the wall yet again. "Get some shuteye. You've got a big day tomorrow." he says, staring at the plane. "Take her on a flight."

Tails nods. "Ok. Good—"

He's already out.

"Night."

The fox's gaze lowers all the way down to his shoes. They are in the roughest shape possible, with a couple big holes on the bottom. It's a matter of time before they're unusable. So, Tails hops into his toolbox and tosses spare parts out until he can get what he needs.

.

.

The next morning, Sonic yawns and does a big stretch. He can feel the cold concrete send a chill across his barefeet. "Yikes! Tails, where are my shoes?"

Tails enters the garage with a new design. Red shoes, with white stripes, and a white bottom. "Your shoes were in terrible shape! I couldn't let you run with worn out shoes..so I made you these!" he explains, with a smile.

Sonic takes the shoes and examines every crook and crevice. No holes, no burns, and brand new! He slides the shoes on and does a little spin. "That's what I'm talking about! They feel so fresh. Thanks, buddy."

Before Tails can explain further, Sonic takes off, leaving the kid alone in his garage. The earth beneath the hedgehog feels smoother than it ever has. New shoes fixed that problem, and he's ready to take advantage of them. Maybe he could break the sound barrier, AGAIN.

He feels a gust brush his head. Looking up, he spots that fox flying with a yellow aura around him. That puts a smirk on the hedgehog. "You're too slow!"

"No I'm not!"

Sonic boosts, and Tails follows suit. The hedgehog doesn't really have a destination in mind, but this new adventure will bring him to places he never saw on South Island. An exciting prospect for sure, or as Sonic would say: radical.

Southside Island

Green Hill

More wildlife runs for their souls, as that menacing Doctor rips through in his mobile. The palm trees have been cut down, the flowers shredded by his attacks. The beautiful place Green Hill once was, will turn into a dumpster at this rate.

The Doctor raises his vehicle up..only to spot a ring, spinning at a slow pace. He gets a peek inside, and…

Robotnik clicks a button. "Stone."

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Cancel my 5PM." He orders.

"Why? Are you being attacked? Do you need me?"

"NO." Robotnik demands. "You couldn't comprehend the spectacle inside this portal. It would rot that naive little brain of yours."

"A PORTAL? How are you going to get in?"

"For Christ's sake." Robotnik turns on the video feature. Stones smiling face looks back at him, but the Doctor isn't reciprocating. He lifts a couple special items from the car floor.

"Are those..shoes, Doctor?"

"Not just ANY shoes." He replies, dangling the boots in front of his servant. "Jet shoes. These were my dear father's parting gifts before he vanished. Reminded me about my grandfathers genius, and said I deserved to improve them with mine." the sourness seeps out. "..and then I was sent straight to the orphanage."

Stone puts his hands up. "You know what? I'll make your favorite tonight. It'll make up for all the repressed trauma." He tries to give that reassuring smile..

But Robotnik looks straight ahead into that portal. "Prepare my latte. Immediate."

"Now?"

"A normal man would be trapped in there for an eternity. I'll be back in five minutes."

—

The difference between how Sonic and Tails treat each other, and how Robotnik and Stone operate is funny to me. On one hand, you have a wholesome friendship growing, and on the other, you have an antagonistic partnership.

Oh and by the way, that little circle Sonic and Tails used, was a weapon from the second Sonic Movie. Maddie and Rachel threw it under a guard and he went crashing into the cake. Not the Cake! :( it looked so good too.

Next chapter, Robotnik takes on this new environment with his grandfathers jet shoes. We'll see how that turns out for him. Plus, Sonic find a new location on Westside, and Tails might find out a motive.