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Two years ago.
The Nameless Zone. Magically accessible via portal, but otherwise almost entirely cut off from the rest of planet Mobius, this Zone offers gorgeous vistas of mountain ranges, rocky canyons, rolling hills and thick forests. The Nameless Zone is connected to a handful of other settlements, varying in size, but most of Mobius believes it to be nothing more than a legend- assuming they’ve heard of it at all. And most haven’t.
The people of the Nameless Zone are a quaint, simple folk. The small village at its centre houses the Zone’s entire population, wholly constituting Mobian foxes. Science and technology are all but alien here and magic, swords and sorcery rule. The foxes of the Nameless Zone wish for nothing more to live in peace and harmony with their neighbours.
Which is a shame, as most of those neighbours don’t feel the same way.
On the outskirts of the Zone, taking a morning walk along a beautiful mountain path was a young fox cub by the name of Miles Prower. Miles’ parents had disappeared some time ago and he’d been raised by his uncle Merlin, a member of a powerful order of wizards sworn to protect the Nameless Zone and beyond, granted this great task by mysterious beings of great power. But Miles was growing up and his natural curiosity was starting to get the better of him. His morning walks had been taking him further and further outside the village each day. In truth, Miles was bored with life in the Nameless Zone. He wanted more.
Of course, there was one reason in particular that Miles felt like an outsider in his own home. Miles was born different to the other foxes- this sweet-natured, orange cub had a distinguishing feature that set him apart. Miles had two tails.
Of course, that was out of Miles’ mind as he breathed the fresh mountain air. He tromped happily along the stony path, playfully kicking at pebbles with his large sneaker-style shoes, a bright red colour on the back and a clean white on the front. Miles was happy on this particular morning.
Some people, of course, see happiness and determine it’s their right to spoil it. One such individual was Witless Chris, the nastiest fox around. This teenage bully, flanked by his lackey Scratchy, lay in wait for Tails to pass along the mountain track.
Witless Chris guffawed to himself, “Here comes that freak Miles Prower!”
Scratchy let out an equally dopey laugh, “Are we gonna have some fun, huh, Witless? Huh? Are we?”
Witless leapt out in front of young Miles and pointed an accusing finger, “Hey, Wimp!” Miles turned, startled, seeing Witless looming over him, a stern look on his dance, “I see you’ve got something you shouldn’t have!”
To Miles, the thought of stealing something had never crossed his mind. He was kind-hearted and honest and instantly grew nervous at the suggestion he’d been accused of being a thief. “M-me?” he stuttered, fearful of the bully “N-no! I don’t think so!”
“Oh yeah?” Witless grinned broadly and grabbed at one of Miles’ tails, “Looks like you’ve got more than your fair share of tails to me, weirdo!”
Scratchy laughed with delight, “Nice one, Witless!”
Miles shrunk in on himself but protested, “I was born this way! Everyone’s different, Chris, I’m sure you know that”
“Oh yeah?” Witless bore down on Tails, “Well I say an extra tail is useless- so no arguments, ‘Tails’!”
Miles ran off, not wanting Witless to see the tears forming at the corners of his eyes, “Look, just leave me alone!”
Witless placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest, “Prower doesn’t have much backbone for a fox with two tails!” He awaited confirmation from his friend and when none came, gave him a nudge, “Right Scratchy?”
“Oh, er, right, Witless!” Scratchy nodded.
“Still,” Witless flexed his muscles, “not everyone can be as fearless as me, eh?”
Scratchy shrugged, “If you say so, Witless”
Witless grabbed Scratchy by the collar and shook, Scratchy’s tongue lolling out of his mouth in response as Witless ranted, “I do say so! Don’t I always tell you how I battle six bears each morning before breakfast?”
“Er… that’s definitely what you always tell me, Witless!” Scratchy confirmed.
Behind a nearby boulder, two high ranking bats from a clan watched on. The Nameless Zone may have been home to a peaceful people, but the Land Beyond was home to all manner of mean and monstrous types- the sort of people you really wouldn’t want to go on holiday with.
“Hear that, Sergeant Claw?” the superior bat asked.
“Sure did, Captain Tooth!” Claw nodded with a grin, “He sounds ideal to fight in our Arena of Doom!”
Tooth clicked his tongue about his mouth, “I suspect he isn’t as good as he claims. But even if he isn’t, it’ll still be a laugh for the crowd watching him get torn limb from limb!”
Further down the road, Miles kicked at a pebble, this time dejected as he let out a sigh. “Maybe Witless Chris is right,” he groaned, “Why did I have to be born with an extra tail?”
“Help! Heeeeeelp!”
Miles looked up to see Tooth and Claw flying off, with Claw holding Witless Chris in his namesakes.
“Help!” Witless yelped, fearing for his life, “I’m being foxnapped!”
“Fight them, Witless!” Scratchy yelled to his friend, “You can do it!”
“I can’t…” Witless whimpered, “I… I made those stories up…!”
Tails rushed over to Scratchy, “Those bats will make him their slave! We’d better save him!”
“Why should you care, ‘Tails’? He always bullies you!”
“Yeah, well,” Miles rolled his eyes and walked off without looking, “Even a moron like him deserves some—HELP!” Miles slipped over a cliff edge.
Scratchy tutted, “Well that was short-lived”
As he fell, Miles, covered his eyes, fearing the landing that awaited him would be bumpy at best, “I guess I’m doomed to always lose…”
Then, something miraculous happened. Miles’ tails began fluttering and twirling in the wind. Soon, they picked up enough of a spin that they were whirring like the rotor on a helicopter- not that Miles knew what a helicopter was, of course. Feeling his descent slow, Miles, slowly moved his hands from his eyes as he discovered his natural talent.
“Awesome!” Miles shouted out, “I can fly!!”
Miles zigged and zagged as he angled his tails in order to give himself a little boost forward, a determined look falling over his face as he felt suddenly emboldened, “Right! Where are those bat creeps?”
Tooth and Claw laughed raucously at a successful capture, but their laughter turned to dismay as Miles swooped at them from behind, awkwardly bodychecking Tooth and giving Claw a smack on the head, knocking his helmet off.
“I don’t believe it!” Tooth shouted, “A flying fox?!”
Claw, meanwhile, was dizzied by Miles’ blow and released his grip on Witless Chris, who fell to the ground rapidly as the bats flew away in fear, headed back towards the Land Beyond. “Catch me-yeeeee!” Witless yelled.
Miles flew as fast as he could towards Witless and made a grab- but the older fox slipped through the cub’s fingers. “Sorry!” Miles called out, “I’m new to this game!”
Witless landed with a wet splat in a deep muddy bog, overflowing with the dirty water of a particularly rainy night before. Witless grimaced. Scratchy caught up to Miles and Witless just in time to see the sight, “Miles, did you let him fall on purpose?”
Miles did his best to hide a smirk, “You’ll never know for sure”
Miles extended a hand to Witless and pulled him out of the bog, a warm and friendly smile on his face.
“Guess I owe you an apology, ‘Tails’. Um… I mean… Miles. Thanks for rescuing me”
“That’s probably the nicest youv’e been in your life,” Tails raised an eyebrow, “I think we could all get used to that. And you know what else? I’ve always hated my real name! I think I could get used to being called Tails after all!”
Scratchy shot Tails a wry smile, “I don’t think Witless will be spinning any more of his tales”
“Maybe not,” Tails smiled back, “But I think I might spin a couple of tails of my own from now on… so to speak!”
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