Back to Chapter 95

“Listen. Tails. I’m really trying not to be funny here, but you’re bugging me, okay?”

Sonic was irritable this morning. He’d fallen out of bed to start his day an hour before his alarm went off, with absolutely no hope of getting that hour of sleep back. Breakfast wasn’t much of an improvement, with undercooked sausages, an uncharacteristic misfire for Bernie. Then one of his guitar strings had snapped during practice and almost taken his eye out. And now Tails was getting under his feet as he tried to enjoy a morning run.

It wasn’t Tails’ fault, of course. How could Sonic expect the kid to keep up with him? Nobody could keep up with him! It was one thing when they were all on a mission together to save the world and Sonic had to sometimes slow down to let everyone else catch up, but today Sonic just really needed to clear his head.

Seeing Tails’ hangdog expression, Sonic sighed, “Look, buddy. I’m in a lousy mood and I don’t need you adding to that, and I don’t want to take it out on you either. I just want a little time to myself to really let loose and get to top speed, okay?”

Tails tried to protest, “But, Sonic—”

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, “I mean it, Tails! Just for once… gimme the morning to myself, okay? I’ll catch you later”

Sonic rocketed off at super speed. Tails kicked a pebble sadly and talked to himself, “It’s not fair. I feel so useless lately. I suppose it’s just desserts. Sonic does all the world saving stuff and what do I do? I lie about it to my family and take all the credit. Gosh, if Sonic ever found out about that, he’d really be upset with me!”

Tails decided to head back home and to his room. Wandering over to his desk, he looked at his latest letter to the Nameless Zone. He read it up and down and then declared his findings to the universe, “This is rubbish”

Even by his own standards, the lies and half-truths in this one were something to behold. Tails felt tremendous shame in lying to his uncle but what else could he do? Within days of leaving the Nameless Zone, Tails had almost drowned in a swamp. Not long after, he was kidnapped by Doctor Robotnik. Following that, Robotnik waged war on West Side Island. It clearly wasn’t safe. The Nameless Zone wasn’t exactly free from danger but Robotnik was next level stuff- and Tails owed his life to Sonic multiple times over!

And how did he repay that debt of gratitude? By lying and saying Sonic was his sidekick.

Tails looked at himself in his mirror, “I dunno what you think you’re looking at, pal, but I’m pretty disgusted by it all the same”

This latest letter detailed the story of how Tails had saved Mobius from Robotnik’s latest scheme. He hadn’t, of course, as he’d actually been one of the first victims to fall foul of it. The insane doctor’s latest machine was something he’d called the Reality Inversion Beam. Any organic matter zapped by it was instantly turned into a robotic lifeform, making it something of a portable form of the Roboticizer that Robotnik had so cruelly stolen from Uncle Chuck, grossly using a tool designed to help the injured into a machine that made them into more machines.

Tails was one of the first to be caught in the beam. Whole Zones turned metal and so did their inhabitants. He’d been turned into a robot. The whole experience was quite frightening, for Tails to be so easily turned into a mindless slave of Robotnik’s.

Of course, Sonic had saved the day. But it was Robotnik’s own oversight that had helped Sonic win. The Reality Inversion Beam quite literally inverted the reality of organic and mechanical- and that went in both directions. This meant that things that were mechanical to begin with, when blasted by the beam, would become living creatures.

This was what happened when a Grabber Badnik from the Chemical Plant Zone was caught in the beam. It turned into a real life spider! Sonic, of course, wasn’t too fond of spiders, which meant he had difficulty trusting this one, particularly as it was created by Robotnik in the first place. But, as it turns out, the Grabber- or Fetcher as he preferred to be known now- was a true friend and ally to Sonic. As it turns out, Fetcher even had quite the appetite for metal, meaning he could dispose of Badniks with ease.

Sonic had also enlisted the help of Cool Nak Nik, a suspicious character who seemed to be entirely out for himself, but who was able to get Sonic close to Robotnik- for a price of a decent stack of Power Rings, that is. In truth, Sonic had been suspicious of Nik as well, thinking he may be a spy for Robotnik. But, as it was, he really was a neutral party, out to make a quick ring or two out of a desperate situation. No point in judging, Sonic had thought, times were hard in some Zones.

Obviously, Sonic had managed to undo the beam’s effects. Of course he had, Sonic was brilliant, Tails knew that.

But it did upset him on some level. Sonic had been working with a reformed Badnik and a spiv, while Tails had been a robotic threat. Tails- supposedly Sonic’s friend- was a threat to him while two usually untrustworthy characters had proven to be great assets. It wasn’t just mechanical and organic that had inverted, seemingly good and bad had too. Fetcher even retained his friendly personality after reverting to being a Badnik. Tails wondered if that made him a Goodnik. It’d be useful to have someone on the inside in the Chemical Plant Zone that could spy on any plots launched by Robotnik.

All in all, Tails felt pretty useless.

And he felt pretty rotten about lying about Sonic to his uncle.

But he couldn’t go home.

Not to the boredom.

He just couldn’t.

Tails looked down at the letter. How could he possibly send this? It was just lies upon lies. He’d have to start again. Perhaps it was best to come clean. Tell Uncle Merlin the truth. He’d been silly- no, stupid- but if he owned up to it, maybe his uncle wouldn’t be so mad. And clearly Sonic was looking out for him. He was safe in the Green Hill Zone.

Tails’ room lit up green.

A vertical rectangle of green nothingness seemed to hover in the air before Tails.

“Oh no…” Tails gasped, “Anything but that…”

“Miles Prower…” a voice called out from inside the shape, “We have come for you…”

On to Chapter 97