The scenery was calm. My home was as calm as ever. My friends still made fun of me for my twin tails, but I guess that’s not my place to tell them not to laugh at something they think is funny. After all, they don’t tell me not to laugh when I see something funny, so I suppose it’s normal to laugh. Still, their laughter made me feel uncomfortable.

While I was with my friends, I heard a thunder crack. Its loud sound made me cringe, jump, and run for the nearest form of cover. My friends did the same out of instinct, but I noticed something: it was not raining. How could there be a thunder crack if there wasn’t any rain? It was awfully odd.

Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the bushes which surrounded my homeland, and it seemed as though doing so was against his will. Curious, I came in closer to see what the matter with the figure was. The figure was a hedgehog with a blue pelt. His quills seemed unusually sharp, and his eyes were green. The shoes he wore were red with a white stripe across them with the tops of his socks sticking out. His gloves were white.

“Um… sir…” I try to say, to the hedgehog, but he doesn’t hear me. He runs back into the bushes, and a large mechanical contraption comes out of said bushes, nearly missing me. The hedgehog also came out of the bushes, but seemed far too focused on the mechanical… whatever it was supposed to be. It seemed menacing, but intriguing. Something knocked me over. I heard a yelp that sounded like mine and was probably mine, yet I heard also a grunt that wasn’t mine.

Once I recovered, I turned over to see the blue hedgehog. He seemed upset as well as hurt.

“Are… Are you hurt?” I ask. I don’t want him to think I’m intrusive into his life, considering we just met, but I also don’t want to go on not knowing what was happening.

“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for this island, though,” he answered.

He seemed terribly hurt, and placed his left hand on his right side. He grimaced in what looked like pain. Could he have broken a rib, if not many? And what if his ribs weren’t the only things broken? He was lying about himself being fine. But to say that my home island was at stake…

“What do you mean? What was that thing?” I asked, concerned.

“The end of us if we don’t stop it,” he replied. “Of course, he’s no match for me. I let him hit me, but I think I was holding back too much for his sake,” he added cockily.

“I think you’re hurt.”

“I’m not. I’m just giving him a break. Did you recognize what the thing looked like?”

“No,” I answered, but I knew he was lying. He was easier to read than my books.
He chuckled. “My point exactly. That’s how badly I was pummeling him.”

“Listen, I’m sorry for slowing you down, so I want to make it up to you,” I offered. He seemed like he needed help in what he was going to, especially considering his current condition. Besides, I wanted to go do something new, other than listening to my friends’ remarks towards me. I respect them, but I don’t think they ‘re returning the favor.

“How? Fixing me up? I already told you, I’m fine.”

“Not exactly. I just want to help you in whatever you’re trying to do.”

This seemed to have caught him by surprise. Was it something I said or how I said it? “I don’t think you’re ready for this kind of thing,” he told me, almost as if out of memory. “He won’t let up. He knows what will happen if we-“

He was cut off by a large vibration in the floor. Earthquake? Not likely, but not impossible. The hedgehog ran off in a direction, and I tried my best to figure out where he went. Out of luck, or so I thought, I found the hedgehog.

“Hey, I-“ I began, but didn’t finish likewise to the hedgehog. The hedgehog was mesmerized by something, almost as if paralyzed. Then, I saw what it was that had taken his mind hostage: a large mechanical looking sphere. The sphere had a design of a face which had a large mustache, and a large smile that showed teeth. It was enormous. What was that? It was rising out of the ocean, and all we could do was watch, prisoners to our own awe. He said that if we didn’t stop whatever it was, it’d be the end of us.

Was that sphere what he meant?

“What is that?” I asked in my own awe.

“Trouble,” the hedgehog replied. He had a look on his face of hatred. Whatever it was, he really didn’t like it. I look at the sphere once more in disbelief, and I hear that thunder crack once more. I look back to where I heard the crack from, and the hedgehog was gone. Was the hedgehog the cause of the sound of thunder?

Concerned, I chased after him in the direction I thought he went, and saw him getting in a plane that was blue and was christened the “Sonic”, though that name doesn’t seem to have a ring to it as a boat. Perhaps that was his name? I chased after him, and he turned the ignition on the plane before he recognized me.

“Sorry buddy,” he apologized. “I run really fast, and hate slowing down. I just hope that you can keep up if you’re going to tag along,” he told me. Was he challenging me?

“O-okay. I want to come along, but I don’t want to hold you back,” I told him. I didn’t want to seem like I was taking over the situation. After all, he knew more about what was going on than what I knew.

“Right on. Then let’s do it to it,” he said happily, as if he could just taste adventure. “My name’s Sonic, and I’m the fastest thing alive, arch-nemesis to mister Round-Bottom: Ivo Robotnick.” I was surprised to see that he was self-confident, but also had a strange hint of hatred in his voice that almost felt like daggers, even though his hatred wasn’t directed towards me, or so I hoped. “What about you?”

“Oh, me? Well, my name’s Miles Prower, but my… friends called me Tails, if you want to call me that.” I didn’t want to tell him about how I didn’t like that name, since it reminded me of my friends’ teasing and bullying since he probably wouldn’t want me to come along if he knew I was in trouble and din’t do anything to help myself. Can you blame me? He did seem pretty cocky about himself, so how would he feel about others who couldn’t help themselves?

“Okay, Tails. You ready to save our world?”

“Wait, what!? What do you mean, ‘save our world’!?” I shouted in surprise. I was never told of this. Was that sphere really going to destroy our world? What that really what he meant when he said that it’d be the end of us?”

“I’m talking about that ball in the sky with the doctor’s face on it,” he explained, pointing towards the sphere. “He calls himself the Eggman. He’s going to use that to do something. I don’t know what, but I don’t like the looks of it. I know what he’s capable of, and I’m not going to let him have his way when I can have mine.” He probably doesn’t realize how self centered he sounds. I wonder how much of the time he’ll know I’m with him with that kind of personality…

“So we’re going to go there?” I questioned.

“Well, of course. Ro-butt-nick is a tricky guy, but he’s still no match for me. It’ll be fun. Just be careful he doesn’t catch you,” he added, turning the ignition on the plane. The engine roared to beautiful life of a well maintained motor, though it sounded old. I’m sure I could make it better, if I had the time right now.

“Why is that?” I inquired.

His reaction gave me the feeling that my question stabbed him harder than any insult I could tell him. “Because he’ll roboticize you, that’s why!” he shouted angrily clearly over the engine’s noise.

“I-I… I’ll become a robot?”

“Yes,” he answered more calmly, but with a saddened tone. He roboticized… he roboticized a lot of people I knew. And I’m not letting him get away with it,” he added, which sounded more like he was out for blood. This Ro-butt-nick guy must really be a kind of terrible guy. Sonic seemed like the kind of guy who could rarely be pulled down, but Ro-butt-nick managed to do it. Somehow.

“I’m sorry if…”

“It’s not your fault,” he interrupted. “Do you know how to fly a plane?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

“It… depends,” I answered honestly. I had played around with handgliders and dreamed about one day making my own airplanes. I read all the books I could, but I’ve never actually been in a plane.

“Then prove it. Hop in,” he said in cheerful challenge.

Seeing that I had no other decent way out of the situation, I hopped into the cockpit, and tried to make sure that everything was in check, according to the books I had read. Once everything was good, I gave myself the green light. However, I saw that Sonic was on the wings.

“Um… Sonic? I don’t think you should be up there. It’s not safe,” I warned.

“That’s what makes it fun,” he answered back, throwing my warning out the window. I sighed, and began pushing forward on the throttle. The plane began to fly forward, and we were soon airborne.

“Ya-hoo!” Sonic cheered through the wind in his quils, bracing himself for the adventure ahead. I too was anxious to see what lied ahead, but I still had the fear of danger in the back of my mind. The fact that I was flying a plane was enough to shove that idea of imminent danger out of my mind, and into my subconscious, where it would eventually come back to haunt me…