To Emeralds and Beyond

Blazing through towns, cities, and records, national hero Sonic the Hedgehog struck close to the hearts and minds of many citizens.  His renown for running above the speed of sound reigned parallel with the gratitude of the many Mobians saved from Dr. Robotnik's evil schemes.  Although he was known well, he was somewhat rarely seen; it was supposed he was off running somewhere else.

Not today.  Today the blue blur took more of a walk through the area called Emerald Hill.  Having taken the plane that he was given for his heroism (and admittedly not that great of a pilot for) to arrive in the lush area with the clear skies, he mostly bided his time, taking a chance to watch and listen to the nature surrounding him.  That's not to say he stopped; no, Sonic definitely didn't stop moving for anything.

As he wandered through the palm trees (briefly wondering, 'Why palm trees...here?' then just as quickly discarding the thought), the hyper hedgehog watched it all: the wind, the butterflies, the smoke - the smoke?!  Whipping around, noticing only the smoke on the wind but not its source, he dashed back towards the Tornado, leaving trails of wind-blown grass in his wake.

A young fox, who had a shiny yellow coat of fur that was balanced by his white chest and whisker fur, had come across a red plane. Being the tinkerer that he was Tails just couldn't keep walking by and ignore such a marvel of machinery. He slowly approached the plane placing he hands on the shiny exterior, and upon more inspection of the plane he began tinkering with it.

As time passed he made minor adjustments to the plane here and there. Eventually his tinkering has became a full on tune up as he put his mind to work upgrading every component he knew how. "Wow! This plane is really something. I feel so lucky to be here right now." with a small giggle of giddiness Tails continued tweaking the plane.

Tails was enjoying himself so much, he was like a kid in the candy store. For once he was able to use his brain to do something useful and not get bullied for playing with machines. Tails was enjoying himself so much that before he knew it the job was done, but as soon as he closed the last panel on the exterior shut he wasn't going to be alone much longer.

Wind rushing by, spines ruffled in his own breeze, the blue hero blurred into the area with the plane, causing a miniature windstorm to overtake the clearing for a few moments.  Before the artificial airflow had slowed, he had looked over the plane enough to ascertain that the smoke wasn't originating there.  Sonic almost turned back around to look back the way he came, but another sight by the Tornado caught his emerald-green gaze first.

The cobalt speedster tilted his head when he saw a fox kit standing by his plane.  "Hm?"  He walked up to the kit, who looked hardly more than seven or eight...granted that Sonic himself wasn't much over fourteen, not that he bothered to keep track of birthdays too much.  "Are you lost, bud?"  He put kindness into his voice as best he could, although a bit tense at the moment with the smoke and all.  He hadn't seen random smoke like that since...'...Green Hill Zone...'  A slight bowing of the head, though he didn't reveal it to the kit, instead expectantly watching him.

The fox was startled by the sudden windstorm as he grabs the plane trying to hold onto it so he doesn't get blown away. After the wind had died down Tails' nervousness began to set in seeing as he was just caught, and most likely this blue hedgehog that stood before him was the owner of the plane. His mind began racing as to what kind of response he would have after seeing him messing with his plane.

Tails began to shake as the hedgehog approached him fearing he was about to be scolded he tensed up. Then at the moment Sonic says if he is lost all the tension begins fading away as Tails can sense the kindness in the hedgehogs tone as he slowly looks up at him tearing up a little still wanting to try to explain himself.

"W-Well n-not exactly...I m-mean I was just walking...a-and I saw t-the p-plane..." Even though Tails knew Sonic was a kind hedgehog, he was still afraid of how he would react if he knew the fox had not just looked at the plane, but also tinkered with it.

Sonic watched the orange kit.  He tilted his head again and smiled.  "Hey...hey...you okay?"  He knelt by the fox, gently resting a gloved hand on his shoulder.  The hedgehog took a quick glance around before turning his focus back to the vulpine...who, he now noticed, had two tails.  Definitely an unusual trait, but no more than being able to run faster than the speed of sound, so he didn't bring it up.

The kid was near the plane...and his orange fur looked at least a little bit blackened.  While this did mildly alarm Sonic, he didn't mention it right away lest the young fox bolt.  Judging from his unhappy state, he might do just that.  The blue hero put up his other hand to wipe away the forming tears.  "Did something bad happen, bud?"  Perhaps something was troubling the vulpine far more than just being near the plane, and (apparently) tinkering with it...

Tails was trying his best to calm down so he could tell Sonic the truth. The minute the hedgehog placed his hand on the fox's shoulder, Tails could feel the emotional storm inside of him subsiding. The fox took a deep breath as his tails which Sonic had surely noticed swayed a bit. Finally it had seemed Tails was calm.

Tails expressed a smile of gratitude as Sonic wiped away his tears. Despite the fox who was slightly dirty by the grease, he shrugged it off and looked Sonic in the eyes with sincere intentions as he spoke. "T-thank you, my name is Miles Prower. I was passing by your plane, and, well I have a nack for building and fixing things. I decided to upgrade your plane to make it faster than before. I'm sorry for touching and tinkering without asking mister." The fox bowed quickly trying to show how sorry he was to the hedgehog.

Sonic somewhat relaxed as the fox relaxed, though only slightly.  Rising and taking the hand off the kit's shoulder, he took a deep breath while listening.  The hedgehog returned the smile, locking emerald-green eyes with sky-blue.

The young fox definitely looked and sounded sincere...did he think he was in trouble?  Granted, Sonic didn't exactly want anyone touching the plane without knowing what they were doing, but...could it be that the kit did know?  "Great to meet'cha, Miles!  Not an everyday name...not an everyday fox, either, I guess."  A not unkind glance at his tails.  "Well...sure you're okay?"  A glance over him.  'A little dirty, maybe...but that's it.'  "Mind if I see how it runs now?  Not leaving, but seeing how it goes..."  His expression remained kind, and who knows...perhaps it would work after all.

Tails looked up at Sonic, much more relaxed now seeing that he was not upset. When Sonic stood back up he knew everything was okay as they locked eyes with each other.

The fox politely bowed to him. "Heh, thanks for the compliment." Tails shows a little discomfort at the mentioning of his name, but he shrugs it off quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine now, Don't worry" The fox looked over himself after he noticed Sonic glance over him. "I guess it was quite a messy job, heh. Not at all it is your plane after all mister..." Tails had just realized he never asked for the name of the blue hedgehog standing before him.

The hero stuck a pose, grinning and a thumb up.  "I'm Sonic!  Sonic the Hedgehog!"  He left the pose, still grinning at Miles.  Although...‘He didn't seem to like it when I said his name...with a name like that, though, I wouldn't like it either...it was bad before I stopped using Olgilvie and Maurice...‘  "Hey, bud...want me to call ya' differently?  Like a nickname?"

At this time he also approached the plane controls.  Sonic waited -twitching just a little at the idea of waiting - to hear back, kindly nodding to the fox.  He looked around the interior too, checking it.  The hedgehog smiled over it...everything did look pretty new.  It seemed ever more likely that Miles was right.

The fox was taken aback a little at Sonic's heroic pose, as his eyes started to glitter in admiration. "Sonic, huh? That name sounds awesome!" Tails suddenly thought back to his name. "Miles Prower sure isn't an awesome name like that" The fox's ears perked up in interest at the mentioning of a nickname.

The Fox followed close behind Sonic as they approached the plane. He thinks for a very short moment as Sonic looks over his work, then Tails looks at him with a smile. "That would be great!" The fox couldn't hide the excitement of having a cool nickname as his tails began to sway a little.

Sonic started up the Tornado.  The engine rumbled a bit, then roared to life, the front blade spinning rapidly.  Grinning, he shut the plane back off, the noise eventually dying down.  The hedgehog jumped up onto the wing of the plane and swung his legs over the edge, giving Miles a thumbs-up.  'How does someone so young do that...?'  After glancing back at the plane once, he jumped down and landed by the kit.

"Great job, bud!"  He appraised the young fox.  "...hm...what to call you...something cool that's you..."  The cobalt hedgehog walked around him twice.  "I've never seen another fox with two tails...how about I call you Tails?"  He offered 'Tails' a high-five.

The fox flinched a little as the blades spun furiously, the wind draft it created made his tails and hair shake rather roughly. Tails was a little shocked at just how good of a job he did on it, as the plane died back down his hair and tails dropped back into place. The fox smiled blushing a little from Sonic's praise. "Well, I guess I just have a nack for these things, heh heh."

"Aww, thanks Sonic." The fox blushed even more not used to such praise. Tails waited as Sonic walked around him thinking of a nickname, then suddenly at the mentioning of the name Tails, his eyes lit up once again a smile appearing on his face. "Tails...yeah I like that name, it's great Sonic!" The fox gave Sonic a high-five, with the excitement too much to contain, Tails flips into the air flying around Sonic, obviously overjoyed.

Still grinning, Sonic jumped and spun in the air after the high-five.  This being his usual spin-jumping, he remained in the air a second or two by force of his own momentum before dropping back to the ground and landing on both feet with practiced ease.  A bit of bristling took his hair as he thought back over his last adventure.  'If only getting up speed for jumping was as easy over short distances...'  As the hedgehog's spines settled, he glanced at where his newly-named friend last stood.  The young fox, of course, was no longer standing right there.

Sonic took a glance around.  "Woah, woah, woah, Tails.  You can fly?!"  He stared at Tails in surprise despite his earlier resolution to not show surprise.  Emerald-green eyes open wide, he stepped back...then stepped forward again.  The hedgehog chuckled.  "Next you'll be telling me you can fly the plane and keep pace with me?"

The fox chuckled as Sonic seemed absolutely astonished as his tails continued to spin keeping him afloat "Yeah, it's the main advantage to being a two tailed fox after all." Tails thought back to all the times he was bullied about his condition, but quickly shook it of smiling.

"Actually, I can fly pretty fast, and I have been reading many books on piloting and driving vehicles. I think have the gist of what needs to be done to fly your plane, Sonic" The fox gave a timid smile realizing he may be boasting a little much. "I don't mean to brag Sonic, but I can fly pretty fast with these tails of mine, heh." Tails thought for a second. "Oh yeah! I have one other trick you might like." The fox lands then ducks curing into a ball revving up, then launches off at sonic speed, keeping my ball form. He finally stops then un-tucks and flies back to you. "How did you like that, Sonic?"

Watching closely, the hedgehog quietly stepped back again to give him more flight room, at least while he was in the air.  Since trying to figure out how Tails could fly and not get his tails twisted up just made Sonic's head hurt, he dropped the thought and moved onto other thoughts, such as his brief loss of a smile.  '...something isn't right...he seems pretty young to be here, alone...'

Sonic snapped out of the thoughts in time to pick up on the kitsune's next few words.  "...hm...you can, huh?"  Since he moved on to showing something else almost immediately, the hedgehog didn't press the question...although the speed and the wind blown up were definitely enough to startle him.  "That's impressive, Tails...not many could do that.  Listen...I'm guessing you want to come with me?  It's...dangerous.  You need to stay with your family for a while longer before you can go out on big adventures, bud."  A thought, of course, crossed Sonic's mind...'Unless he doesn't have family, which would explain some things...just hope I'm wrong.'

The fox lands next to Sonic, his demeanor changing drastically at the mentioning of a family, Tails never had a family, at least not that he remembers. Maybe he was too young to know at the time. The end point being, he had been alone all of his life, that's what he thought at least. Tails dropped his head down not looking at Sonic as he says in a serious, and melancholy tone, "I don't have a family, and if I did, I can't say I remember them, Sonic." A few tears fell to the ground from his non-viewable face.

Tails quickly wiped away his tears, then looked back up to Sonic with his usual smile back on his face. He ran over to his plane, wanting nothing more than to change the subject. "S-So you want to see me fly this plane of yours, Sonic? I can totally do it, and maybe even show you some cool tricks." The fox was just boasting in vain, he just wanted Sonic to forget the subject he had brought up, as quickly as possible.

Sonic winced when the kit's face fell.  It was a lot of information gained, but...at what price?  He came a little closer to Tails and knelt again as the fox looked down.  "Sorry to hear that, bud..."  The past flashed through the hedgehog's mind and his own history without any family for backup.  He glanced down too at the thoughts - it wasn't a good time, although he could always outrun anyone chasing him...

The fox had already moved on.  It wasn't much of a moving on, though.  The worry of the subject was still written on his expression and his words - which meant it was necessary to move on ASAP.  "I don't know about right now, Tails.  But...if you don't need to stay here, you can come with me...if you think you can keep up."  Normally, Sonic wouldn't have offered this under any circumstances.  However, smoke was blowing in again, and having the orange kit with him was probably safer than leaving him here at this point.

As painful as it was when Sonic apologized for bringing up the question, Tails did his best to shake off the feeling. "Hey, don't worry about it Sonic." He stared off for a few moments, trying not to break down. The last thing Tails would ever want to be is useless, and breaking down at this point would serve no benefit.

As the fox fought back his tears, he noticed, after Sonic's rejection to his offer, the black smoke that he had his attention on "I think you are right Sonic, now is most likely not a good time to be messing around. People may need help." Tails turned back to Sonic, a determined look on his face. "I'll do my best, Sonic. I want to help in any way that I can." He stands there waiting for Sonic's response as the smoke continued blowing past.

Sonic sighed once more, then looked directly at Tails.  Although the hero's ears had drooped, they rose again at this point.  He quietly crossed his arms, then ruffled the kit's hair, noting the three bangs of orange that stuck out.  "It'll work out okay, Tails...give it to the wind!"

With that, the hedgehog took a running stance then bolted, causing a miniature windstorm as he headed for the source of the smoke, blowing it out of the way.  The trail he blazed looked wind-ruffled, and heat rose from the grass after the massive friction.  The hero wore, of course, his trademark sneakers, which augmented his own resistance to the high friction.  They started looking a little loose, though, as he sped through the emerald hills, pausing in front of a bridge near a waterfall.

Tails let out a childish chuckle as Sonic ruffled his hair. He could quickly see Sonic as an older brother type, but he thought he may be taking that scenario a little fast. "Awesome!" Tails smiled as Sonic said a rather cryptic thing to him.

Tails watched Sonic bolt off quickly, completely amazed at just how fast his speed and acceleration was, right at the start. "Whoa, he is faster than I thought he was, heh." Tails began spinning his tails to launch himself off the ground flying almost as fast as Sonic ran. He knew this was the start of an exciting adventure, as he stopped behind Sonic at the bridge, a little puzzled. "Something wrong, Sonic?"

"...hm..."  Sonic paused, looking out over the water.  His mind reeled at the sight...

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A younger blue hedgehog stood at the place that the junkyard ended and crumbled away in the underground caverns.  It looked like ruins.  "...huh..." As usual, the cobalt-colored adventurer sped into the area, into the increasing gloom...

*Sploosh* went the water as the hedgehog entered, getting soaked and losing ready access to breath, now madly trying to tear his way back to the surface...
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The same, present hero shuddered, then glanced back, noticing that Tails had approached during that vision...no, that nightmare.  "Hm?  Nah, nothing, just figuring out which way to go from here..."  It wasn't the best excuse, but Sonic tried to make it sound convincing.  Working to fool himself as well as Tails now, he went on, "Think I have it now.  Let's move!"  He continued his rapid forward pace, flying past a star-post and leaving it spinning rapidly.

Tails looked at Sonic a little puzzled. He could tell Sonic was in a bit of a trance, since the fox was standing there for quite a few minutes, trying to get his attention. Tails could tell Sonic was a little shaken by the event also, but had not said anything about it.

Tails was a little cautious at Sonic's rather forced response, but decided not to press any further, It wasn't his business to get into another's issues, anyway, but he was a tad worried about it. "Okay, Sonic." Tails quickly took off behind Sonic, as they flew past the star-post, he couldn't shake the event that just happened, it would continue to linger in the back of his mind, as they sped off.

Sonic sighed briefly as he went on, stuffing the bad memory back into the depths from whence it came.  He pushed forward, jumping through robots to slice them with his sharp quills and rolling through a couple of loops to speed forward through the air like a blue bullet at...well, sonic speeds.  He showed no sign of slowing from his ricocheting rampage until he finished spinning through a curling wall and paused on top of a ledge.  From this ledge he jumped over to a sign-post that contained Robotnik's ugly mug and glared at it for a moment before pulling out cans of spray-paint and repainting it in his own image at speeds faster than the eye could detect.  The hedgehog then gave the sign a spin, after which it stopped to display his countenance to himself and Tails.  "Ta-daaaa!"  He leaned on the post, most of his cocky confidence back.

Tails flew fast behind Sonic, as he blasted through the ground badniks, leaving the sky ones to Tails. The fox jumped on a few, and even tail whipped a few others, freeing the animals inside. Once they arrived to the loops, Tails flew behind Sonic, going through the loops with him, doing a full flip while flying. Tails experienced a few moments of dizziness due to this, but kept his composure, then the fox darted with Sonic, going straight up the vertical wall, reaching the top with him. Tails lands as Sonic begins repainting the sign post, as he chuckles. He looks at Sonic's work of art. "You, Sir Sonic, are a true artist." Tails clapped in agreement, to Sonic's display, He wasn't fooled, even if Sonic was back to his usual self. Tails still knew he was hiding something.

The hedgehog smiled in response to Tails's comment and spun around a bit, doing a few tricks in the air around the sign, ending up spinning upside-down with one gloved hand on the middle of the rotating sign.  "All right, I feel good!"  He glanced up at the sun.  "Aw, man, we've wasted five minutes already."  Another glance around.  The smoke was all cleared from the area they just left, but it cast a definite shadow on the bright green of the area ahead of them.

Sonic shook his head.  "The robots, the smoke...you saw that ugly mug on the sign before I got rid of it, right?  Bet'cha a million rings Robuttnik is behind this."  With that, he dashed off again, not saying a word about the water since the Zone had been largely clear of it after the one waterfall.  He zipped through narrow spaces, rocket off of springs, and blew up robots along the way by spinning through them, freeing more of the imprisoned woodland critters.