i love how new sonic fans just joining the fanbase after seeing the movie are having debates that were more or less settled several fandom millenia ago. “was sonic just slowing down for his friends to be able to stay at his pace?” yes he does that a lot. we came to that conclusion 20 years ago my love
The site of the airport was what one would expect to it to be like at this time of the night: busy and filled with crowds of people who were rushing to get to their flights on time, along with loads of luggage I couldn’t keep track of. I let out a laugh of amusement to myself as I turned my head to have a look at my surroundings. I had no idea what it was, but something about watching how everyone appeared to be in a frenzy seemed to be nothing short of entertaining. Then again, it was one of the few things I could think of to pass the time while waiting to board our flight. As I turned my attention back to watch one of the television screens that was on one of the nearby walls, my gaze fell on the person that was seated beside me: my adorable, genius adopted little brother, Tails. He was keeping himself busy with reading my Bible since I let him borrow it while we were waiting. I wasn’t sure how far into it he was, but I figured it best not to bother him. The two of us were waiting for our flight towards London so we could compete in the Olympic Games that were being held there. We weren’t the only ones who would be entering as along with our friends, there would also be representatives from the Mushroom Kingdom. Among us, the faces who would be coming along with me and Tails were Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Silver, Blaze, all three members of Team Chaotix, those being Vector, Espio and Charmy, Metal Sonic and Eggman, both of whom having already arrived there the day before the rest of us. Yeah, even they were joining us for the ride.
Seriously, how those two had managed to enter was something I would never be able to wrap my head around.
Cream was also coming along with us, but she wasn’t entering any events. Instead, she would be acting as one of the referees alongside Espio and Charmy. I couldn’t wait for Cream to get a bit older so she could compete with the rest of us; there’s a lot of fun that she’s been missing out on waiting for her. As I turned my attention back to the sights of the airport in front of me, watching the other crowds head towards their respective flight gates, I let out a quiet sigh as I was starting to wonder how much longer we would need to wait. I was aware that patience was one of the core virtues of my faith, but there were still times where my patience slowly began to wear thin.
And sadly, this just so happened to be one of those times.
“You okay, Sonic?” I suddenly found myself being snapped back into reality by the sound of Tails’s voice, and I turned my head to him to notice that he was looking up at me in concern, apparently having noticed that I seemed to be lost in thought over this long wait. Not wanting to make him worry, I gave a bright smile before nodding.
“Yeah… I’m okay. I guess all this waiting has just got me feeling a little on edge. Especially since I’m looking forward to arriving in London.” Tails stared at me in silence for a few moments before showing a smile of amusement and slowly shaking his head, evidently looking not too surprised by me saying that. With how well the two of us knew each other, it wasn’t surprising that we had figured out the other’s flaws. He then lifted his head up to me so he could have a say on the matter.
“I know what you mean; it definitely feels like we’ve been waiting for a long time. But I’m sure it should only be a few more minutes by now. They’ll let us know when we can start boarding.”
I slowly nodded in agreement, clearly aware that he was right. As Tails turned his head back to resume reading, I leaned back against my seat, letting out another sigh to myself. Between the time we had spent at our flight gate and the time it would take for us to get to London, it felt as though the waiting would never end. I turned my head to have a look at what everyone else was up to while they were waiting like I was.
Amy was keeping herself busy with reading a guidebook she had picked up so she could find all of the recommended sightseeing spots while Cream sat beside her and was looking at the guidebook with her, Charmy was zooming along the seats in excitement while Vector was trying to keep him under control, keyword being trying, and Espio was just sitting in his seat with his head in one of his hands, evidently looking very fed up with his teammates’ nonsense, Silver and Blaze were sharing a conversation about which events they would be entering, even if I couldn’t hear a word they were saying since they were sitting in one of the back rows, and Shadow, Rouge and Omega all just seemed to be together, not paying attention to what was going on around them. I showed a smile to myself, secretly feeling envious of how everyone was keeping themselves busy during this long wait.
I then made myself comfortable back in my seat and shook my head, quickly realizing what I was thinking. I shouldn’t be feeling envious of the others; that wasn’t the most pleasant feeling to have. I knew that I should be following their example, but the problem was I had no idea why I wasn’t doing that. Why in the world was I feeling so impatient today? Just then, my thoughts were interrupted when we saw that the gate door had opened to let the passengers of the arriving flight out and then an announcement rang over the speakers.
“Attention, passengers waiting at Gate Eight. Please proceed with boarding your flight to London.” The moment this announcement reached my ears, I felt a smile of relief cross my lips. After all the time we’ve been stuck at this gate, it was finally paying off. I immediately stood up from my seat and the others seemed to have the same idea as they began to do the same, but as we were about to start walking up to the attendant’s desk to check our tickets, another announcement rang. “Attention, passengers at Gate Eight. We have yet to clear the runway for takeoff, and we should commence boarding in fifteen minutes. We apologize for the delay and would like to thank you for your patience.”
Well, whatever patience I still had had just been sucked out of me after hearing that announcement. While the others simply took their seats, I let out a groan of annoyance before slumping back into my seat, with Tails looking over at me in surprise. “Oh… seriously!? We’ve been waiting here for at least an hour! Why is this taking so long?” As I crossed my arms in irritation, looking not too dissimilar to Shadow, Tails stared at me in silence for a few moments before speaking up.
“Sonic… our flight isn’t going to get here any faster if you keep acting like this. Why don’t you try passing the time with a walk? I’ll let you know when we start to board.” I looked over at Tails in surprise while he was talking and then I turned my glance up to think it over for a few moments before showing a bright smile and nodding in agreement.
“Yeah… I guess I could do that. Thanks for the suggestion. Be back in a few minutes!” With no hesitance on my end, I stood up from my seat and began walking out into the hallway where the gates could be seen. Once I was standing out in the hallway, I looked around to see where would be a good place to start and figured that no direction was better than forward. So with that idea in mind, I started to make my way down the hallway, silently thinking about how much of a thrill it was going to be when we arrived in London. ‘Man… I can’t believe how exciting this is gonna be! We’ll probably get to see the sights before the events begin, and then there’s the events themselves. That’s always the best part!’ The big smile I had been showing slowly faded as soon as I remembered the reason why we weren’t getting there sooner. 'With all that said, though…’ I then threw my arms into the air in frustration. “Why is it taking so long to take there?!”
Silence filled the air for a few moments after my outburst and I slowly looked around to notice that everyone at their respective gates was staring at me in surprise; it seemed that my voice had echoed through the hallway without me noticing. I nearly froze upon seeing the unwanted attention and I quickly showed a nervous smile. “Oh! Uh… don’t mind me! I was… just… leaving.” I let out a nervous chuckle while everyone continued to look at me and I fell silent for a few moments before speeding back to Gate Eight and taking my seat beside Tails, to which he looked to notice that I had returned almost right away.
“Oh, you’re back! What made you come back so soon?” I darted my eyes to him, not feeling enthused to tell him about what happened.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I rapidly replied before darting my eyes back to one of the television screens while Tails simply stared at me in bafflement, looking like he wanted to ask but deciding against it.
Time seemed to pass slower than usual as I kept my attention on the television screen and resting the side of my head in my hand as I was trying not to fall asleep. For being only fifteen minutes, the wait sure seemed to feel longer than that. I looked over at Tails to find that he was still occupied with reading and I was certain that the others were busy with whatever they were doing, and then I let out a sigh as I turned my head back to the screen. Exactly how long was it going to be before we could board? I felt like I had been waiting forever! After a few more seconds passed, an announcement came on the speakers.
“Attentions, passengers at Gate Eight. We have successfully cleared the runway and all passengers can now begin boarding. Thank you for your patience and we hope you enjoy your flight.” I felt a huge smile of relief cross my face at the fact that the waiting was finally over, so me and the others got up from our seats and made our way to the front desk to have our tickets checked. Now we were finally on our way to London.
After going through safety procedures on the plane, everyone had taken their seats and we had taken off. After going all of that, I was feeling content to relax and enjoy the flight. As one would expect, I was seated with Tails and Knuckles with me sitting at the window seat and looking out the window, Tails in the middle and Knuckles at the very back. Also, as one would expect, Knuckles wasn’t exactly too thrilled about our arrangement. “How come I have to sit in the back?”
I looked over at him with a smile of amusement, taking notice of his annoyance. “Well, you weren’t exactly the one who decided which seats we would be sitting in. Otherwise, I would have gladly let you have the window seat.” I then heard Tails attempt to stifle his laughter over my cheeky comment and looked over at him in amusement as he had his hand covering his mouth, while Knuckles stared at us in irritation before turning his head away and crossing his arms. After that bit of cheekiness, I looked over at Tails to check something. “So, Tails, how long do you think it should be before we arrive in London?”
In hindsight, asking that question was a big mistake on my part because Tails turned his head up to think about it before looking back at me. “Well… I’m going to guess that a flight from our stop to there should take about a day, and that’s just one-way like our route is.”
I nearly felt my jaw drop to the bottom of my seat upon hearing that. Having to wait for as long as we did at the gate was bad enough, but now this? By this point, I felt just about ready to start breaking the nearest item I could get my hands on. But since I didn’t have anything on hand close by, I settled for throwing my arms into the air from intense frustration. “Oh, come on! Wasn’t waiting so long at the gate bad enough? Now we have to wait a whole day before we land too?!” It was very safe to say that whatever patience I had left had just been thrown out the nearest window. Tails stared at me in alarm for a few moments at my outburst before showing an expression of annoyance.
“Sonic… I know I’ve been patient with you, but now this is going too far, so I’ll say it now…” I looked over at Tails in surprise as I was starting to wonder what he meant, and I was met with my answer as he took a breath before finishing his sentence. “You’re acting like a child!”
I nearly jumped out of my seat in shock, or at least, I would have if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had my seatbelt on, like any sane person would. “What?! What do you mean by that, exactly?”
Tails stared at me in disbelief like he was wondering if I was being serious before he slowly shook his head. “Have you not been listening to yourself? All you’ve done since we arrived here is complaining. You do realise that getting to London isn’t exactly the same distance as our homes, right?”
“I know that, but I didn’t think would getting there would take this long. If there was one thing that should have been mentioned to me, it was how long our flight was going to be.”
Tails let out a groan of annoyance at my reply. “Well, I did explain it to you, but I think it’s obvious you forgot about it because you’ve been acting so unreasonably! You didn’t see anyone else complaining about the waiting or the delay, did you?”
I was about to reply, but then I froze upon realizing that Tails was right; I hadn’t noticed it, but everyone else had been handling the wait for our flight reasonably well. Upon seeing my silence, Tails crossed his arms. “I thought so. Now I’d prefer it if you stayed quiet for the rest of the flight and let us enjoy some peace.” With that said, Tails went back to resume while I was left staring in silence. I didn’t think I’d see the day where I’d be the one being treated like a child.
Around a few hours into the flight had passed and needless to say, I was still fuming. I was simply staring out the window watching the clouds slowly drift by with my head rested against my hand. After a few seconds passed, I let out a quiet sigh; I was starting to wonder if maybe I was getting a little too carried away with all of this. “Maybe Tails is right… maybe I have been acting a bit unreasonably this whole time.” I had a lot of uncertainty racing around in my mind concerning my behavior and I slowly shook my head as I had no idea where to start. “Hey, Tails?” As I turned my head to my little brother, I was met with a surprise as I noticed that he had dozed off with his head rested against the back of his seat, and Knuckles seemed to have the same idea as he was sound asleep too. I felt a small smile come to my face seeing that Tails had made himself comfortable, but then I looked down to find that he had my Bible lying on his lap, still open on the pages he was reading. I was silent for a few moments before I gave a small nod.
“Maybe a quick read might help me feel better.” With this in mind, I reached over to pick up my Bible, making sure not to wake up Tails as I did so, and flipped it the right way up so I could see where Tails had gotten up to. Much to my surprise, the pages showed that Tails had made it up to James, but what caught my attention was one particular sentence, one that stuck out to me clear as day.
'For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’
My eyes slowly went wide upon spotting that sentence. That was one I never paid much attention to, which was a huge surprise even to me since I always seemed to pay attention to things like that. I slowly read through the sentence a few times, making sure not to miss anything, and at that moment, it all made sense. I felt a silent gasp of shock escape my lips and I slowly raised my head as I closed my Bible, still keeping it tight in my grip and feeling my heart sink the whole while. “I don’t believe it… what have I been doing this whole time?”
All at once, everything suddenly became clear to me. I had gotten so wrapped up in my impatience to get to London right away that I ended up losing sight of one of my virtues as a Christian: Patience. That was one of the most important ones and it was also one that I had nearly completely disregarded in my hastiness. As this realization slowly began to sink in, I felt tears of shame start to build up in my eyes and I shut my eyes tightly as I felt them run down my face. “H-how… how did I not see this…? I got so carried away in wanting to get there that… I didn’t stop to think about anything else…” I then let out a few quiet sobs as I struggled to continue, the strain on my heart becoming heavier by the second. “I…I didn’t realise… just how unlike myself… I’ve been acting. No wonder Tails got so angry at me…” The way I saw it, he had every right to be upset with my behavior, because it was exactly how I was feeling right now. Right now, I hated myself for how I had been acting.
After a few seconds, I managed to calm down a bit and raised a hand to wipe the tears away from my face, and I slowly turned my head to look outside my window and look up at the night sky, placing one hand on the bottom edge of the window and resting the other over my heart. I knew that there was only one thing for me to do.
“Lord… I ask that You forgive me for my impatience. I got so wrapped up in wanting to arrive at London as soon as possible that I lost sight of one of the greatest virtues given to Your children. Everything comes in Your timing, and that’s something I had forgotten about.” While I was occupied with my prayer, I didn’t notice that Tails was opening his eyes after hearing my voice and he turned his head in surprise to listen to me. I felt tears resurface in my eyes as I continued. “I… I know that there’s no excuse for what I’ve done… for me acting the way I have. Yet even with my mistakes, even with my flaws, Your love knows no limits. You see right into my heart and You see me for who I am, and that’s something I thank You dearly for. In Your name I pray, amen.”
After that was said, I let out a quiet sigh as I felt the guilt and shame I had been feeling being lifted off my shoulders and I felt a grateful smile cross my face before I slowly opened my eyes. “Thank You, Father…” I then closed my eyes before leaning back into my seat to make myself comfortable and enjoy the rest of the flight. However, I quickly felt that there was someone watching me and I turned my glance to my right and was met with Tails staring at me in amazement. “Aaahh!” I nearly jumped in alarm before I managed to recover from my bout of panic. “Tails? How… how much of what I said could you hear?”
Tails simply stared at me in silence for a few moments before he slowly showed a big smile. “I heard every word, Sonic.” I felt my eyes go wide in alarm; I didn’t even realise that Tails had overheard my prayer. But before I could even say anything, Tails beat me to it as he continued, lowering his head in shame as he did so. “And… I just want to say that… I know I gave you a hard time for how you were acting when really I was acting no better myself. We’ll all have moments when we slip up and we don’t always get things right. It’s no different when it comes to the two of us. So… I just wanted to say that… I’m sorry for yelling at you the way I did.”
I looked down at him in surprise for a few moments before showing an understanding smile and I slowly shook my head before reaching forward to wrap an arm around him, much to his surprise. “Don’t worry, Tails. If I’m being honest, that scolding gave me just the wake-up call I needed to realise just how unreasonably I was behaving. So really, I should be saying… thanks for pulling me back in the reins.”
Tails stared up at me in silence for a few moments before showing a bright smile. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help set you straight.” I let out a chuckle at this comment before the two of us wrapped our arms around each other in a tight embrace. After a few seconds, we let go and Tails was the one to speak. “So, what do you think? Are you up for enjoying the rest of the flight there?”
I felt my smile grow at this suggestion before nodding in agreement. “That sounds great to me!”
With this, the two of us leaned back into our seats and closed our eyes, making ourselves comfortable and awaiting our arrival into London. As I was all set for a relaxing sleep, I turned my head to look outside my window, a grateful smile showing on my face. “Thank You, Father, for being patient with me even when I’m not.” I softly whispered.
I then closed my eyes to start enjoying a long sleep. One thing was for certain: I was so looking forward to arriving at our destination!
In a vast open area with the start of a new day apparent by the fact that there were several clouds drifting across the sky, oceans seemed to stretch out as far as the eye could see with the surroundings appearing to be nothing but open water, with the exception of a small island that seemed to be located right in the centre, simply known as Southern Island. On the outskirts of the island where a small dock was sighted, a small water bike, also known as the Wave Cyclone was taking off with three passengers on board and one of them in charge of piloting: the three being Sonic, Tails and Marine. At the moment, the trio were on the search for islands that they could sail to so they could find new materials to build themselves new vehicles, and Marine had managed to spot one that she insisted that they go and explore for themselves. As the water bike sped across the surface of the ocean, Sonic turned his head to Marine so he could be certain he had this right. “So, where did you say this island you found was, Marine?”
Standing just behind him struggling to stand upright on the water bike without losing their balance were Tails and Marine, with the female raccoon standing in the middle so she could address Sonic. “It shouldn’t be too far now, mate! Just follow my lead and we’ll be clear on our way there in no time!”
From where he was standing behind Marine at the back, Tails tilted his head to her so he could try to clarify something. “Um, Marine? You do know that Sonic’s the one in the lead at the moment, right? After all, he is the one who’s driving this water bike.”
Marine turned her head to him in surprise at his comment before she showed a big grin, evidently unfazed by the correction. “Oh, of course I know that! But don’t forget who your captain is here, cobber, cause she’s the one who’s leading the way!” She then turned her attention back at the expanse of the ocean before her and raised a fist into the air, her cheerful cry prompting Sonic to jump from shock. “Full speed ahead, adventure is waiting for us!”
After managing to recover from the sudden shock he received from one of his back passengers, Sonic raised a hand over his chest to make sure he hadn’t suffered a heart attack before looking back at Marine with a look of annoyance. “Well… I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of adventuring if I end up falling off this thing, and I’d prefer for that to not happen if it’s not too much trouble…”
Marine blinked a few times before she gave a nervous smile. “Oh… hee-hee, sorry about that, mate. It’s just I get so pumped at the thought of getting to see new islands. Blimey, it makes me so glad I met both you and Tails! Then again, I am the one who did save you two when you crash-landed on my home out of nowhere.”
Sonic and Tails stared in stunned silence for a few moments before they let out resounding quiet sighs. They really liked having Marine come along for the ride, but sometimes she could be quite a handful. As Sonic turned his attention back to the area in front of him so he could be certain they were heading in the right direction, he noticed that slowly coming closer into his line of sight was a small island filled with lush green forests, and he turned his glance back to Marine. “Hey, Marine! Is that the place you said to look for?”
Marine leaned her head to the side to take a look for herself and a wide smile came to her face before she nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, mate! That’s the one! Let’s speed up and see what’s waiting for us there!” With her calls in mind, Sonic placed his foot down on the thrusters so they could pick up speed and make their landing.
A little later, the three had set foot to the island and they were beginning their exploration as they were looking around at the sights surrounding them. With a smile of awe crossing her face, Marine turned her head to her teammates. “Wow-wee, look at all of this! This place is filled with forests as far as the eye can see!”
Sonic and Tails weren’t paying much attention to her outburst of excitement as they were taking in their surroundings. “Wow… this island is so small, but it feels so much bigger than it really is.” Tails commented, turning his head back and forth to notice how vast the island appeared to be for its small size. Sonic seemed to notice this as well as he slowly nodded in agreement.
“No kidding… I guess that means we won’t have to worry about any of those ghost machines coming to attack us…” While he was saying this, it was obvious that Sonic was thinking about his battles with the Ghost T-Rex on Plant Kingdom and the Ghost Pendulum in Machine Labyrinth. He didn’t expect to have those encounters, but looking on the bright side, they did supply him and the others with a good amount of Materials they could find on those islands. But after those encounters, having a small island to explore with nothing to worry about seemed to be a welcome relief.
“Hey, Sonic, Tails! You blokes aren’t gonna believe this!” Then again, in the place of those intense battles was a small, yet more worrying problem, and that quickly showed its face as Marine came running back towards Sonic and Tails with a huge smile on her face, clearly enjoying herself being on this small island. “This here island’s got more of those mushrooms we saw back on that first island, but they’re smaller. I reckon we could grab a few and bring them back home with us. Doesn’t that sound a ripper idea to you fellas?”
Sonic and Tails fell silent for a few moments, keeping their attention on Marine in uncertainty as they were starting to wonder if she was going to get this carried away everywhere they went, before Sonic was the first to speak. “Marine, you shouldn’t go wandering off on your own. We don’t want to end up losing sight of you again.”
Tails nodded in agreement as he was listening to what Sonic had to say, taking note of the firm tone in his voice before he continued. “That’s right. Don’t you remember what happened while we were at that island full of machinery?”
Marine stared at the two in disbelief before she showed a confident smile, evidently looking none too fazed by their warnings. “Oh, don’t chuck a wobbly, fellas! Keep in mind that I’m an adventurer myself, so that means I need to be able to see everything on every place we sail to. Isn’t it just the most thrilled thing ever?” Sonic and Tails both blinked a few times in silence seeing Marine’s immense delight over the sights around her and then they turned their heads to each other in worry, silently wondering what it would take to calm her down. As Marine was continuing her sightseeing, her eyes fell on the sight of some large mushrooms out in the distance. “No way… it’s got those giant mushrooms too! Come on, let’s go check it out!”
She then began to rush off ahead while Sonic and Tails watched in alarm before Tails reached one hand forward. “Marine, wait up! Didn’t we just say for you not to go off on your own?”
As Marine was happily rushing off ahead, she turned her head to Sonic and Tails as they were running behind to try and catch up with her. “Don’t worry! I’ll just have a look and then we can get going.” However, as she was running, she didn’t pay attention to the fact that she was fast approaching a ledge and as she got close, the ground under her feet collapsed and she let out a cry of alarm as she could suddenly feel herself dropping down below.
Sonic and Tails let out gasps of shock in unison as they stopped dead in their tracks. “Marine!” Sonic gasped. With no hesitance, Tails began rapidly spinning his tails and zoomed forward over the ledge to get to Marine and reached to grab one of her hands in his, with the raccoon having shut her eyes tightly before she slowly opened one to find that she wasn’t falling any further and she slowly raised her head to be met with Tails having managed to grab hold of her hand and was keeping the two of them airborne with his tails. While she was staring in amazement, Tails looked down at her.
“Whew… are you alright, Marine? That was close.” Tails sighed, a smile of relief on his face at the fact that Marine wasn’t hurt. After a few seconds of silence on her end, Marine gave a bright smile before nodding, her eyes wide in awe at what she was seeing.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. But strewth, Tails, you can fly? I had no idea you could do that! How come you didn’t say anything about it?”
Tails looked down at her in surprise before realising what she was saying and gave a shy smile. “Oh… well, it’s nothing too big, really.” As the two kept their gazes on each other, they were soon met with Sonic’s voice calling from up above and the two looked up to notice that he had arrived at the ledge and was looking down at them.
“Tails! Marine! Are you two okay?” While Sonic kept his attention on the two with an expression of concern, Tails waved up to him with a reassuring smile, allowing him to show a smile of relief.
“Yeah, we’re good, Sonic! We’re on our way up right now.” Once he was certain he had things clarified with Sonic, Tails turned his head back down to Marine. “Come on, I think it’s time we got out of here.” But before Tails could start making his way upwards, he and Marine were met with an unwanted surprise as they could see that the earth holding the rest of the ledge together was starting to crack. The pair felt their eyes go wide in worry at the sight. “Uh-oh… that can’t be good…” Tails was immediately proven correct as the earth cracked a bit more before collapsing in a large pile of soil and dust, plummeting straight down towards Tails and Marine. The two let out screams of alarm and before they could have a chance to react, they found themselves getting caught under the pile and sent plummeting towards the ground.
As he was watching up top, Sonic let out a gasp of horror at the sight. “Tails! Marine!” Without a moment to spare, Sonic leapt up to his feet and sped off to find a route towards the lower ground. Once he arrived at the area he was searching for, Sonic came to a sudden halt as he was standing in front of a large pile of earth and soil, with the dust cloud it had gathered slowly clearing up, but there was no sign of Tails and Marine anywhere. The moment this sunk in, Sonic felt his eyes go wide in shock. “Tails… Marine… where are you two?”
Underneath the large pile that had gathered, Tails and Marine were lying on the ground of what seemed to be an underground opening. As the two appeared to be motionless, Tails was the first to regain consciousness as his eyes slowly flickered open and he began to push himself up so he could sit up and regain his bearings, placing one hand to the side of his head as he did so. “Ugghhh… well… that wasn’t quite the adventure I was hoping to have…” As he began to rub the side of his head, he darted his head back and forth upon realising that someone wasn’t with him. “Marine? Where are you?” He was met with his answer when he spotted Marine lying not too far beside him and she seemed to be motionless. “Marine!” Tails immediately got up on his feet and rushed over to her before bending down and placing one hand on her, slowly shaking her. “Marine, are you alright? Can you hear me?”
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long as Marine let out a groan before she began to sit up, shaking her head rapidly as she did so. “Yeah… I’d say I’m none the worse for wear…” Tails showed a smile of relief once he was certain that Marine was okay, while she was slowly looking around upon realising where they were before turning her head back to Tails. “Uh… where are we, exactly?”
“Hmmm…” Tails raised his head to have a look at their surroundings before looking back at Marine. “It looks we’re in some kind of small underground area. I guess this island goes deeper than we thought.”
Marine felt an expression of surprise cross her face while she was listening to this. “Huh… go figure on that…” She then felt her eyes go wide upon realising something. “Wait a second, how are we going to get out of here? I don’t think I want to spend my time on this island exploration being stuck in this place.”
Tails looked up to notice the large pile of earth covering their opening and he showed an expression of worry before looking back down at Marine. “Uh… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think we’ll be able to go anywhere anytime soon.” As Marine showed an expression of alarm as she wanted to know what Tails meant, she could see him with his gaze turned upwards and she looked up with him to notice that the pile of earth had completely blocked their way out. “That pile of earth has our exit completely blocked. I have a feeling that means we’ll be stuck here for a while.”
“Wait… so you’re saying we’re trapped in here?” The moment Marine realised what she had just said, it suddenly seemed to sink in as she felt her eyes dilute in horror and she clasped her face in her hands. “Oh no… I don’t want to be stuck in this place! There’s still much for us to explore, so much I want to do! This can’t be the end of Captain Marine’s adventures!” She then took a few rapid breaths as she was struggling not to lose it and then she rushed over to Tails before grabbing hold of his shoulders. “What are we going to do?!”
Tails stared in surprise at Marine’s panic attack before he reached over to remove her hands from his shoulders with a reassuring smile. “Calm down, Marine. I’ll let Sonic know where we are so he can find a way to get us out of here.” He then looked down to search through a small bag of necessities he had packed in case they ever needed it before grabbing out a small wrist communicator. “It’s a good thing I made sure to pack this before we left Southern Island.”
As he went to strap it around his wrist, Marine watched with her eyes wide in delight. “Blimey, you think of everything, Tails!”
Tails turned his head up to her before nodding in agreement. “I just make sure we always come prepared. Knowing Sonic, he’ll be sure to have his on as well.” He then proceeded to press a few buttons on the small screen in the centre before it started to dial to call Sonic, Marine leaning forward to listen in while the two of them waited.
Back up top, Sonic was still looking on at the pile of earth in silent horror, and he seemed to be at a loss of words as he slowly dropped on his knees. “What could have happened to them? There’s no way they could be…” The moment the one thought he never wanted to imagine crossed his mind, Sonic clenched his fists tightly as he placed them against the ground before lowering his head. ‘No… that can’t be true… They had to have made it out of that. Please, Father… tell me it’s not true. Tell me they’re alright…’ Sonic then shut his eyes, this desperate prayer being the only thought in his mind. After a few seconds of silence passed, Sonic was met with the sound of his wrist communicator going off and he turned his head to it before pressing one finger against the centre to answer it. “T-tails? Is that you?”
“Sonic! Can you hear me?” At the sweet sound of his little brother’s voice reaching his ears, Sonic felt a smile of immense relief come to his face as the despair he had been feeling just a few moments ago seemed to dissipate almost immediately.
“Y-yeah, I can hear you clearly. Are you and Marine alright?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. We’ve ended up in this small underground area.”
Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, placing one hand over his chest as he was still trying to absorb the sudden wave of joy and relief he was experiencing that his prayer had been answered. “Oh, thank You for Your mercy, Lord…” His relieved whisper didn’t go unheard by Tails as he proceeded to giggle from his end of the line.
“Sorry for making you worry like that. Unfortunately, we’re trapped and I don’t think I can see a way out.” While Sonic was listening to what Tails had to say, he was met with a surprise as Marine’s voice rang over the other end of the line.
“You’ve gotta get us out of here, Sonic! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life trapped in here! I think I’m losing my mind!”
Sonic cracked up in laughter for a few seconds upon hearing how much Marine wasn’t enjoying her predicament before he calmed down to give his reply. “Don’t worry, I get the message. You just sit tight, you two. I’ll see if I can find a way to catch up with you.”
“Okay! We’ll leave it to you.” Tails replied. With everything cleared up, the two proceeded to hang up with Sonic showing a confident smile as he got up on his feet, knowing exactly what to do now.
“All right, so if Tails and Marine are in there, that just means I’ll need to find a different entrance so I can catch up to them. Guess that means it’s time to start searching!” With his plan in mind, Sonic began to speed off so he could find a route that would lead into the underground area that Tails and Marine had ended up in.
Back underground with Tails and Marine, things seemed to be under control as Tails hung up his wrist communicator before looking over at Marine. “Well, it looks Sonic has everything all figured out. There’s just one thing to take care of first.” He then stood up and began tapping one fist against the earth pile while Marine looked on, showing a look of confusion.
“Uh… Tails? Didn’t you just say that we would be stuck in here? Are you trying to mess with my head or something, mate?”
Tails looked over at her with a smile of amusement before giving his reply. “No, of course not. I’m trying to see if I can make us an opening big enough so we’ll get some fresh air.” He then turned his attention back so he could resume doing just that while Marine watched in amazement. Here she was feeling close to losing her mind from being stuck down here, yet Tails seemed to have everything completely under control while she didn’t know what to do. After tapping a few more times, a small pile of earth dropped into the small area, allowing a medium sized hole to become visible and sunlight to filter into the small area, to which Tails nodded in satisfaction. “There we are! All right, I’ve got us our opening.” He then walked over to sit down beside Marine. “It’s not much, but it should hold us over until Sonic gets here.”
Marine was staring in silence at how well Tails was handling their situation before she managed to find her voice. “Crikey… I don’t believe this, Tails. While I’m over here bouncing off the walls, you’ve been keeping yourself busy making sure we’re okay until we can get out.” She then raised a finger to tap it against the side of her head as she continued. “How are you not going completely bonkers?”
Tails turned his head to her while she spoke and he gave a shy smile as he started to rub the back of his head. “Well… it’s quite simple, to be honest. I know that there’s no reason for me to panic.” He then rested both hands on his lap and lifted his glance to look at the sky through the small opening. “Whenever I end up in a situation like this, I always remind myself that I’ll be okay because God is watching over me, and He’ll keep me safe through any peril.”
Marine’s eyes went wide and she felt a silent gasp of awe escape her lips as she was listening to what Tails had to say, and then Tails turned his head to her as he continued. “And the way I see it, this is no different. I know it seems terrifying, but really, there’s no reason for us to be afraid.”
Marine gave a few silent blinks while she was paying attention to Tails’s explanation and then she showed an impressed smile. “Well, how about that? You know, you and Sonic tend to talk about this guy quite a bit. I swear, it feels like you know him or something.”
Tails showed an expression of surprise as he was starting to wonder what Marine meant, and then it suddenly made sense: this wasn’t the first time he and Sonic had done this since their arrival on Southern Island. He then showed a smile of amusement as he was more than happy to help Marine make sense of things. “Well… Sonic and I do it so often because it’s how we show our faith. We both hold Him close to our hearts and we like to make sure we never forget that.” As Marine was listening in silence, Tails rested a hand over his heart as he continued. “And we aren’t the only ones; quite a few of our friends back home share our beliefs. We all know that He’s always looking out for us, no matter what comes our way.”
Marine then showed an expression of puzzlement as something didn’t make sense to her. “Hold on a second. If you and Sonic ended up here, wouldn’t that mean your friends would be asking why this happened to the two of you? I mean… you did wash up on my island and I doubt they have any idea what happened to you.”
“Well… I guess that would be true.” Tails lowered his glance to think over what Marine was saying before he looked back up at her as he seemed to have an answer. “But I’m sure they know that there’s no need to worry. After all, nothing God does is without reason. You’ve wanted to explore outside your home for a long time, right?” Marine slowly nodded in agreement, silently wondering where Tails was heading with this. “The way I see things, I think He heard your wishes and decided to bring me and Sonic to where you were.”
“So, what you’re saying is because I’ve always wanted to do that, the response was for you two to suddenly crash-land on my home?”
Tails gave a nod in confirmation upon seeing that Marine was looking even more puzzled than she already was. “That’s right! And now look what’s happened since we arrived: you’ve been able to see what’s been hiding from you beyond Southern Island, and Sonic and I have gotten the chance to see places that we never even knew existed. I mean, Sonic and I do miss our home, but seeing you so thrilled to explore these islands makes what we went through to get here worth it.” He then lifted his head up, clearly remembering how he and Sonic were lost in that harsh storm before they arrived on Southern Island, yet they managed to make it through unscathed. Marine was left in stunned silence for a few moments before she showed an awestruck smile, clearly allowing Tails’s words to sink in.
“Wow… so it’s thanks to Him that I was able to meet you two; the best crewmates I’ve ever had…” The smile she was showing was quickly replaced with a look of puzzlement since there was something she still didn’t understand. “Hold on a second… Tails, you’re supposed to be this technological genius, right?” Tails looked over at her in surprise before nodding. “Well, if that’s the case, how does it make sense for you to believe in this God?”
Tails let out a laugh as he had a feeling that Marine would be wondering about that. “Yeah, I know… you’re not the first person who’s asked that question. Just looking at me, you wouldn’t expect to hear everything I’ve just said from me. And if I’m being honest… I was very much the same way when Sonic was first introducing me to all of it. I mean, it didn’t make sense to me in the slightest; how am I supposed to put my faith in something I don’t understand?” He let out a sigh as he could still remember what he was like at first before he showed a bright smile. “But nowadays… that’s the last thing I ever think about. There are still times where I feel uncertain, but compared to back then, those moments are few and far between. I know it seems scary to believe in something you don’t understand at first, but… the more time goes by, the less you think about that. Now… I don’t think I could ever imagine going without my faith.”
Marine showed a smile of understanding as she was starting to get what Tails was saying, but then the two were met with a shock when they suddenly heard the sound of spinning coming their way. “Huh? What could that be?” Tails asked, him and Marine turning their heads to their left. The two were met with their answer as the wall of dirt suddenly shattered, revealing Sonic standing there.
“Hey, guys! Hope I didn’t keep you two waiting too long.” Sonic greeted, giving a wave to the two while he spoke. Tails and Marine both showed matching smiles of delight upon seeing that Sonic had finally arrived.
“Sonic! You’re finally here, mate! I was starting to think we’d be stuck in here forever.” Marine happily cheered. While she spoke, Tails jumped up on his feet and ran over to Sonic before wrapped his arms around him, which Sonic showed no hesitance in reciprocating. After a few seconds, the two let go to keep their glances on each other.
“How’d things go, Tails? Were you and Marine alright in here?” Sonic asked, showing a smile of relief that his little brother had been alright this whole time. Tails showed a big smile before nodding.
“Yeah, we’ve been okay.” He then showed an expression of worry and lowered his glance while Sonic watched him in concern, wondering what was wrong. “I’m sorry I made you worry so much.”
Sonic kept his glance on Tails in surprise before he showed a reassuring smile and slowly shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. If anything, I’m just glad that you two are safe.” Tails lifted his head back up to Sonic with a smile of relief before the two proceeded to share another hug. As they did so, Sonic lifted his head up to look to the sky with a grateful smile. 'Thank You for keeping my little brother safe, Heavenly Father. I’m so glad he’s okay.’ After a few seconds passed, Sonic and Tails let go of each other before Sonic was the one to speak. “Come on, what do you say we get out of here?”
Tails eagerly nodded in agreement. “That sounds good to me.”
Marine proceeded to nod as well with a relieved look. “Same here, cobber! I think I’ve had enough adventuring for one day.”
Sonic and Tails let out chuckles of amusement in unison before they could calm down, and so the three began to make their way through the small tunnel Sonic had created so they could head back up top and find where they parked the Wave Cyclone so they could start heading back to Southern Island.
As the three were walking, Marine lowered her head with a thoughtful expression on her face, since she was recollecting everything Tails had said to her before wordlessly nodding to herself. It seemed that Tails’s words had begun to give her something to think about.
It seemed to be just another regular day for Team Sonic, as they were busy slowly going through the list of missions disclosed in the Babylon Rouges Schedule upon learning about the fact that there were treasure and legendary Extreme Gear to find, with the small group of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy working together to clear through the missions that were of their speciality. Amy was taking care of the missions that involved performing tricks, to which the others liked to refer to her as the Trick Mistress, Tails had the missions that included searching for Extreme Gear parts and taking air routes, Sonic had the missions that involved finding the quickest route through the race tracks and rail grinding, and Knuckles was easily handling the missions that involved breaking through a certain amount of objects and pursuing runaway vehicles in the quickest time, with the team usually taking turns at doing certain missions. At the moment, the small team of four were taking care of the missions that were taking place in Digital Dimension, with Amy and Knuckles having already gone for theirs and having arrived back effortlessly with their respective gears in hand.
“Whew… that was quite a track! I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy finding ramps to be able to jump off, but I think I did pretty well in there.” Amy commented, wiping the side of her forehead with a nervous smile as she and Knuckles made their way back to Sonic and Tails since the two had been waiting for them to check their results.
“I’ll say you did really well, Amy.” Tails was holding a small electronic clipboard in his hands so he could keep track of how many points Amy scored with her tricks, and he walked up to her before turning it around to her so she could see how many points she had rounded up. “After all, you managed to rank up thirty points in total.”
Amy had a look down at the clipboard to notice that she had successfully gotten one X rank, which was ten points, two double S ranks, which were eight points each making a total of sixteen and a double H rank, which totalled four points. Upon spotting her total score, a big smile immediately crossed Amy’s face and she leapt up into the air in excitement. “All right! I cleared that one easily!”
Knuckles turned his head to the pink hedgehog in amusement, taking notice of her excitement. “Well, there is a reason why you call yourself the Trick Mistress.” He then let out a chuckle to himself, while Sonic and Tails followed suit for a few seconds before stopping.
“That is true.” Sonic agreed, showing a cheeky smile while he spoke. While Amy glared at the three with an expression of annoyance at their teasing, Sonic turned his head to Knuckles to hear his result. “And speaking of missions, how’d your search for those Gear parts turn out, Knuckles?”
Knuckles quickly showed a confident smile as he was looking forward to sharing this to the others. “Well… have a look in here and tell me what you think.” He then held up a small brown sack he had brought with him for his mission and placed it down in front of the others so they could have a look inside, and they were met with twelve parts sitting inside, the total amount that had been scattered in the track. After a few seconds, Sonic was the first to break the silence.
“No way… you managed to find all of them?” He then turned his head up to Knuckles with a big smile before resting the back of his hands against his hips. “I’d say you’re getting just as good at this whole finding those parts as Tails. Then again, it doesn’t surprise me considering that you’re an expert treasure hunter.”
Knuckles simply showed a big smile while Amy turned her head to Tails before she spoke. “But if we’re being honest, I don’t think any of us will be as good at those missions as Tails. He always seems to know just where to look so he can find them.” Sonic and Knuckles both nodded in agreement since they seemed to be aware that Amy was right, while Tails gave a shy smile at the compliment.
“Oh, well… it’s not that big of a deal, really.” He then turned his attention back to his clipboard to check what other missions there were left to do, while the others gathered to look with him. “Let’s see… there’s another one for Knuckles and one for Sonic.” Sonic then leaned forward to have a look at the screen to find out what his mission was while Tails read it out. “Traps in sub-space? Get past these obstacles by doing five or more grinds.”
“Another grinding mission, huh?” Sonic had a look at the mission description before showing a confident smile and standing upright. “Sounds like it’s right up my alley. Better get moving and get it done!” Without any hesitance, Sonic rushed over to grab his Gear, Blue Star, before turning to the others while they were watching. “I should have this one done in no time. Be back in a moment, guys!” With this, he began to head off towards the track while the others were staying behind so they could monitor his progress.
“All right! Do your best!” Tails called, giving a wave while he spoke.
“I’m sure you’ll knock this one out, no problem!” Knuckles stated.
“We’ll all be watching you!” Amy added. Once Sonic had left, she then turned her glance to Tails and Knuckles nervously. “You think he knows what I meant by that?”
Tails proceeded to start giggling under his breath and placed a hand over his mouth to try and stifle it while Knuckles gave a smile of amusement, since they were aware that Amy was doing her best to keep her usual habits around Sonic under control nowadays. “Don’t worry, Amy. I have a feeling he got the message.” Knuckles assured, to which Amy gave a smile of relief. Once he was certain Amy’s worries had been put at ease, Knuckles turned his attention back to Tails as there was something he wanted to be certain of. “Say, Tails?” Tails turned his head up to Knuckles to hear what was up. “Are you sure that was all the missions we have on this track?”
Tails quickly showed an expression of puzzlement at this question. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well… we usually have five missions on each track and that was only four you listed. Maybe there’s one that you overlooked.” Amy suggested; given how Tails seemed to browse through the list of missions rapidly, it made sense that he’d miss at least a few. Tails had a look at the two in surprise before nodding in agreement.
“Oh… yeah, that’s probably it. I should probably check to be on the safe side.” With this, he turned his attention back to the screen to be the safe side. “Let’s see… after Sonic gets back from his mission, there’s another one for Knuckles and there’s also…” Tails felt his eyes go wide in alarm the moment he spotted the third mission. Namely, who would be going for it. “O-one for… myself?!” From the looks of the description, it seemed to be a mission to find the quickest route, but that wasn’t what was worrying Tails. What was… was the track he had to go on to do it. As the pieces were starting to fall into place, Tails began to bite down on his bottom lip while he started shivering where he stood. ‘I have to do this one? Me?’
“Everything okay, Tails?” The moment that voice rang in his ears, Tails found himself snapped back into reality and he turned his head to Knuckles and Amy to find that they were watching him in concern, with Amy having been the one to ask that question as she was starting to wonder what had gotten into him.
“Oh! Uh…” Tails fell silent for a few moments before giving a nervous smile. “Y-yeah, I’m good. N-nothing to worry about from me!” He then let out a nervous chuckle while Knuckles and Amy simply stared down at him in surprise, wondering what exactly had gotten into him. “I, uh… I just need to… make sure everything’s all set with my Gear before Sonic gets back. Be right back!” The two-tailed fox then sped off to find where he had placed Yellow Tail while Knuckles and Amy watched in surprise before turning their heads to each other.
“Is it just me, or is there something going on with Tails?” Knuckles asked; he had rarely ever seen his two-tailed friend get this jumpy, with the exception of when they were navigating Hang Castle and Mystic Mansion. Amy had a look in the direction Tails had taken off in and she furrowed her eyebrows before beginning to rub the bottom of her chin with one of her fingers.
“Hmmm… it’s not just you, Knuckles. I think there’s something he wants us to know about, but what could it be exactly?” Knuckles gave a shrug since he was feeling just as clueless about the matter as Amy was, but their contemplation was suddenly interrupted.
“Hey, guys! I’m back!” At the sound of that voice, Amy and Knuckles turned their heads to find that Sonic had arrived back from his mission and judging from the big smile on his face, it seemed that things had gone smoothly for him. “Ah… managed to hit all of those rails without any problem. Guess grinding is like second nature to me!” However, after a few seconds, the smile of his face was replaced with an expression of surprise once he realised that one member of their team was unaccounted for. “Huh? Have you guys seen where Tails went?”
Amy and Knuckles both nodded in confirmation before Amy was the one to fill him in. “He just left a few seconds ago. He said he wanted to make sure everything was all set with his Gear.”
Sonic raised his eyebrows in surprise before he lowered his head to think. “That’s strange… Tails never leaves anything unfinished before going off on a mission. Why would he leave all of a sudden?”
“Don’t ask us. We’re feeling just as clueless about it as you are.” Knuckles replied. Sonic showed an expression of puzzlement as he was starting to wonder what had gotten into his little brother before he spotted the small electronic device lying on the ground where Tails had left it.
“I get a feeling I know where we can get our answer.” With this, Sonic made his way over to pick up the device and had a look at the screen while Knuckles and Amy made their way over to look with them and they could see that the screen was showing the list of missions for them to get done. “Let’s see… there’s the missions that me and you guys have done, there’s one that Knuckles still needs to do and there’s also…” As Sonic was scanning the list, his gaze quickly fell on the third mission: finding the quickest route through the track. “Hey! There’s one for Tails to do here!”
“That’s right! The moment Tails saw that one, he took off right away.” Knuckles commented, turning his head to Amy to make sure that was right, to which she nodded in confirmation before the two looked back at the screen. “I get the feeling he doesn’t exactly want to get that one even though we need to if we want them done.”
“And I think I know why that is.” With a firm expression coming to his face, Sonic turned his head to Knuckles and Amy as it seemed there was only one option. “We better go check on Tails and find out what’s going on for ourselves.”
Amy and Knuckles both nodded in agreement with this idea, so with this, the three began to rush off to find where Tails had gone.
With the two-tailed fox in question, he had retreated towards the hotel he and his friends were staying in during the EX World Grand Prix and at the moment, he was up in the room the four of them were sharing and having made himself comfortable hiding up in there. Once he was certain the coast was clear, he let out a sigh of relief. “Ah… that was a close call. I doubt the others would think to check here.” However, he was quickly proven incorrect when he suddenly heard a knock on the door, followed by Sonic’s voice.
“Tails? Are you in there?” Tails nearly jumped in alarm at the sound of his brother’s voice and he quickly scattered to take cover under his bed while the automatic door slid open upwards, allowing Sonic, Knuckles and Amy to step inside. Once they were inside, the three started to look around wondering where Tails could have gone. “Tails? Tails, you here? You’ve got a mission to get done.” After a few seconds, Sonic received no answer and he turned his head to the others in confusion. “I don’t get it. Where could he have gone?”
Amy crossed her arms with an expression of annoyance as she was starting to think it over. “Well… if he went in here, you’d think he wouldn’t be so hard to find.” As Knuckles was taking a look around, he turned his eyes downwards and was met with a pair of dark blue eyes visible from under one of the beds and he showed a smile of amusement before looking back at the other two.
“I think I’ve figured out where he could be.” Sonic and Amy looked over at him in surprise, to which Knuckles pointed downwards and the two turned their heads in that direction to find that Tails had taken cover under his bed.
“Tails? What are you doing down there?” Sonic asked, bending down to find that sure enough, while the majority of his body was covered in darkness, that pair of blue eyes was clearly visible. Tails felt his eyes go wide in alarm upon realising that his hiding spot had failed before he showed a nervous smile and gave a small wave.
“Oh, hey, guys! Don’t mind me. I just… thought I’d make myself comfortable for a rest before we moved on with our missions. Speaking of, doesn’t Knuckles have another one he needs to do?”
“That’s actually what we were going to mention.” Knuckles replied. While Tails blinked a few times as he was wondering what Knuckles meant, he was met with his answer as the red echidna held up the small device in his hands before showing the screen to Tails. “We noticed that just below my first mission, there’s one to find the quickest route. And it’s the one that you still need to do.”
Tails felt his eyes go wide open in alarm at hearing that the others had figured it out before he showed a nervous expression. “Uh… does it really need to be me who has to do it? I mean, Sonic is the best at finding the fastest route around the tracks, so I figure it’d be right up his alley.”
Amy shook her head in response before crossing her arms. “Nope. It says clearly that you need to do it, so come out of there and let’s get back to that track!” Her attempt seemed to have no success as Tails only crawled further backwards under the bed, something that Sonic took notice of before turning his head to the other two.
“Maybe it’d be best if you leave this to me. I think I know how to handle this.” Knuckles and Amy were silent for a few moments before they slowly nodded; after all, out of the four of them, no one knew Tails as well as Sonic did. Once he was certain they understood, Sonic slowly walked over to one side of the bed where he could clearly see Tails and he sat down on the floor before turning his attention to the two-tailed fox. “What’s going on, Tails? Is there something wrong?”
Tails raised his glance to see Sonic looking down at him with an expression of concern, wanting to know why his little brother was so hesitant to go out for his mission when he hadn’t been like this for every other mission he had done so far. After a few seconds of silence, Tails let out a sigh, seemingly fully aware that there was no chance in the world he could lie to Sonic. “Well… the truth is… I’m scared to go out on that track.”
Sonic showed an expression of surprise at this simple, yet honest reply. “Why would you be scared? I mean, me, Knuckles and Amy have been out there ourselves and we made it through without any problems.”
“I know…” Tails let out another sigh before he could continue. “It’s just that… that first section of the track scares me. I know it’s not very long, but it feels so intimidating. I’m not sure if it’s because of the thought of all those twisted walls surrounding me, those beacons of fire… or that pit with those ghostly hands trying to drag me down with them…”
Sonic felt his eyes go wide as he was listening to Tails’s description, since he could tell exactly where he had heard all of that. “That sounds all too familiar. Sounds a lot like you’re talking about the Valley of Shadow, doesn’t it?”
Tails slowly nodded in agreement as he was aware that Sonic was right about that. “Yeah, it does… and that’s what scares me the most. Feeling like I’m in the one place no person should ever be in…”
Sonic felt an expression of worry cross his face once it all started to make sense. He didn’t find it hard to blame Tails for thinking that, since he didn’t enjoy that feeling himself, and he suspected that Knuckles and Amy felt the same way when they went there too. “I hear you, Tails… that place gave me the creeps when I went too.” He then showed a reassuring smile as he had a feeling he knew exactly how to ease Tails’s worries. “You know what I did while I was there?”
“What?” Tails quietly asked, raising his head to listen to this closely.
“I remembered one of my favourite verses: 'even though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.’ Once I remembered that, I knew I had nothing to fear since I knew that God is always with me and He’ll never forsake me.”
Tails felt a bright smile slowly cross his face once he heard this and he slowly crawled forward to poke his head out from under the bed. “That’s one of my favourites too.” Sonic felt a big smile come to his face upon seeing that his attempt was successful.
“You guys aren’t the only ones.” The two then looked up at Amy as she had walked over to them upon hearing what Sonic had to say. “I felt extremely nervous when I stepped onto that track and saw what was ahead of me; I felt as though I wouldn’t be able to pull off any of my tricks! But then I remembered that exact same verse and that was when I remembered that as long as God was with me, I could do anything.”
“Amen to that, Amy.” Knuckles commented, nodding in agreement with her with a bright smile, since he could remember feeling on edge the moment he stepped onto that track, but then remembering all of that helped him get his mission done. Tails was simply stared up at his friends in amazement upon hearing that they all felt the same way he did before Sonic continued.
“See, Tails? You’re not the only one who felt worried about going onto the track. But after clearing that first part, the rest of it was a lot of fun to get through. If we were able to make it through with no problems, then so can you.” Sonic then reached forward to grab one of Tails’s hands in his before he gave a wink. “Besides, what am I always saying?”
Tails felt a bright smile cross his face since he could remember exactly what Sonic always say from the top of his head, especially since he heard it so often. “A heart that trusts in God…”
The two proceeded to finish in unison. “…is a happy heart forever.” They then began to crack up in laughter for a few seconds before they managed to calm down and they fell silent for a few moments before Tails was the first to speak.
“Yeah… you guys are right. Thanks for reminding me.”
Sonic simply gave a bright smile before he stood up and turned around before bending down to look at Tails. “No problem, Tails. We all need a little reminder from time to time.” He then took a few steps back as Tails crawled out from under his bed and got up on his feet before he ran up to Sonic and wrapped his arms around him tightly, to which Sonic showed no hesitance in returning his embrace. Amy and Knuckles both watched the two with matching smiles of delight, and after a few seconds, Sonic and Tails let go to turn their glances to each other.
“So, what do you think, Tails? Are you ready to head back out there?” Sonic asked, wanting to hear what Tails had to say. Fortunately for him, whatever worry Tails had been displaying had completely faded as he showed a confident smile before nodding.
“You bet I am! After all, we’ve got two more missions to get done and there’s no time to waste. Meet you guys back on the track!” Without a moment to spare, Tails sped out of the room to head back to Digital Dimension while the others watched in amusement.
“Guess that means he’s ready to get going, huh?” Knuckles asked, crossing his arms upon taking notice of Tails’s anticipation to get going with his mission right away. Sonic happily nodded in agreement before turning his head to the other two.
“He sure is. All he needed was that little push to get his motivation. Come on, we better get going so we can catch up with him.
Amy and Knuckles both nodded in agreement with that idea, so with this, the three began to make their way out of their room so they could catch up with Tails, and give him all the support he needed so he could get his mission done.
Sonic Shuffle Dreamcast Playthrough - My Precious… Precioustone
You know I personally don’t think Sonic Shuffle is that horrible of a game, it just needs some improvements
hell I had this idea for a Gamecube port of Sonic Shuffle called “Sonic Shuffle PLUS”, but since it’s past that generation I had the idea to make it for PS4, Xbox ONE, & Steam to make it compatible with the ports of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 (I’ll explain as it goes on) and what would happen it would basically have these improvements:
Gamma & Big would be unlocked from the start and would be available to play in Story Mode
each of the six characters has different endings of the story mode with chosen character getting their deepest dreams as a reward for saving the day (with each opening with them on a Rainy Day wishing for something, but then magic happens to take them to maginaryworld, and the ending would have them back where they were with the weather clearing up with a rainbow and their wish coming true), they include:
Sonic wishing for a fun beach vacation
Tails wishing for an easier way to get his work done
Knuckles wishing for a better security system for the Master Emerald
Amy wishing for the perfect gift to give to Sonic (which ends up being a box of tasty chili dogs)
Big wishing for more Frogs that are like Froggy to come and visit them
& Gamma (in his original bird form cause his dreams allowed him to get his robot body back when he entered maginaryworld) wishing for a better nest after the old one breaks down from the rain (which ends up being his old robot body)
Each character has 4 different color palates so multiple players can play as the same character
You can hold one of the shoulder buttons to see your cards (in the original Gamecube version it would’ve given you the choice to use the Gameboy Advance to see your hand with the Gamecube-Gameboy Advance Link Cable)
you can bring your Chao from Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 to the game, and depending on which one of the six characters raised it in that game, it gets that character’s abilities in this game (with in Adventure 2 having Rouge represent Amy, Eggman represent Big, & Shadow representing Gamma), like Emerl from “Sonic Battle”, and you can mix and match different characters’ Board Specials & Battle Specials into the chao depending on how much they care for it (like a trainer teaching an animal new tricks), for example, you can have Knuckles’ Wall Climbing Board Special with Amy’s Spin Hammer Battle Special or Gamma’s Hover Mode Board Special with Sonic’s Light Speed Battle Special and not only that but also the cosmetics you decorate your chao with from Sonic Adventure carries over to this game to, so you’ll see your cute chao walk around the board in their cute outfits
it’ll have an ONLINE mode with your choice 3, 4, or 5 precioustones to be in play and if a player logs out, he/she’s character will be taken over by the CPU for the rest of the game
there would be two new boards in both the versus, online, & story mode, “Toy Kingdom”, a place representing the dreams for fun and enjoyment where it’s a big playroom with a big castle created by Void in the center that you’ll have to enter by landing on a !? space and it won’t stay down you’d have to land on the space over and over to get from inside the castle grounds to outside the castle grounds, & “Robot-Tropolis”, a place created by Eggman’s and the other peoples dreams of Greed and Manipulation to lure Sonic & co into during the story mode as the second to last board before Fourth-Demension Space (which they are both unlockable boards you’d have to get by beating them in the story mode) where it’s basically like the Robot-Tropolis from the cartoons (even to having SWAT Bots from both Satam & Underground as Battle Enemies) just with a rustic factory-esc feeling to it
there would also be more emblems to give for scoring in the final results of the game, so not only you’d have:
an emblem for each Precioustone collected
the player with the highest amount of rings in the game
the winner of the Stage Clear mini-game at the end of the board
the player who fulfilled the board’s quest
and the player who’s won the most duels
but also
the player who used the most Forcejewels
the player who won the most battles
the player who moved the most spaces
and an extra emblem for every 30 rings they had at the end of the game
(also the results screen for the Versus mode would be the same as the results sprint when a stage is done in Story Mode, having the emblem count be shown as the players are running)
Super Sonic would be only unlocked by beating the expert mode with all 6 six characters and cannot be played in ONLINE (since he’s over-powered in the original game)
lastly, there would be a 2D animated opening to the game with a song that’s similar to the ending theme to the original Dragon Ball, “I’ll Give You Romance”, as the opening has the song playing as the 6 characters explore maginaryworld and play some mini-games
Honestly at this point I don’t care if Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is cringey or lame or whatever. I want it to break records. I want it to make Marvel and Nintendo and Disney nervous. I want them tripping over themselves to try and one-up a movie franchise about a preteen hedgehog fighting Jim Carrey.
When am I going to get my obligatory Sonic Learns to Swim scene? I mean, the kid almost drowned, so I would hope the next movie takes care of that, because the idea lives rent free in my head.
It should be a really cute moment too, right? The idea of his parents teaching him how to swim while his two new brothers cheer in the background. It sounds super sweet and wholesome, doesn’t it?
WRONG.
That shit is going to be like watching a Roman Gladiator battle and it nothing short of chaos incarnate as Tom paddles violently in the water, holding onto Sonic’s legs as Sonic holds onto the dock with every last shred of strength in his body.
“BETRAYAL,” he screeches, as Knuckles pries his fingers off of the dock. “I SAVE YOU, AND THIS IS YOUR PAYMENT.”
“This is for your own good, brother,” Knuckles says solemnly.
“SONIC WE’RE IN THE SHALLOW PART,” Tom screams over Tails wailing in the background about how his new big brother is being murdered. “LET GO!”
“MY OWN FATHER HATH FORSAKEN ME,” sobs Sonic. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!”
“Sonic just let- DID YOU JUST LICK ME?”
Maddie eventually needs to jump in to wrench him off. But that’s a whole other issue in itself, which ends in Maddie holding a flailing, sparking child above the water, screaming at the top of her lungs about how “MOMMY WON’T LET YOU DIE BUT I SWEAR TO GOD SONIC IF YOU ELECTROCUTE ME YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR A YEAR.”
“TELL HIM, MADDIE,” shouts Tom.
Meanwhile, Tails finally gains enough bravery to grab at a floating toy off the dock. “FOR SONIIIIIIIIC,” he screeches between his tears, before beating Tom across the head with a pool noodle.
This is my dream. No I don’t take criticism.
The mental image of Sonic clinging to Maddie for dear life and just going “ma. Ma. MA I DIDN’T GIVE UP THE POWER OF A GOLDEN GOD JUST TO END UP HERE”*points to the innocent looking pool toy* “it’s gonna pop the second i move AND THEN IM DONE FOR.” They see he sorta has a point (HA!), so they bundle him up in one of those heavy duty life jackets instead. But it’s the one used for toddlers where he’s floating on his back and has pictures of frogs printed on it.
Knuckles can swim just fine and likes to race Donudad and Momaddie all the time. He’s trying to teach Ozzie to swim underwater for long periods of time. The races are one of the only ways to get Sonic in the water cause then he just runs across and if he’s feeling confident he’ll let himself lose momentum and float back up with his life jacket. Knuckles likes sitting at the bottom of the lake and he eventually gets Tails into doing it by make it a whole contest to see who can float back up the slowest and hold their breath the longest.
sonic has physically grown between the 1st and 2nd movies.
i completely didn’t notice at all in the first, but on my rewatch, as tom dropped down to sonic’s knees i realized he wasn’t. puny anymore.
in the 1st he’s only up to tom and maddie’s knees. by the 2nd, he’s doubled in size. hes also lost a bit of face chub since the second movie. it’s subtle, but it’s there.
when sitting, he used to reach just up to their waists. now he’s able up to their shoulders and is able to lean on them, as we saw in the final battle of sonic 2
his frame and body have gotten bigger. we’re seeing him grow up.
