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It had been several years since Dr. Ivo Robotnik began to slowly conquer the world of Mobius. He had already taken over the entirety of the United Federation and was beginning to prepare his forces to travel across the ocean, his sights set on Mazuri.
There were a few groups of people who formed small resistances to the empire, but none were as organized as G.U.N: an agency from the United Federation’s old government that was too stubborn to fully disband and worked underground. Some said it was a miracle the agency wasn’t hunted and obliterated the second they made themselves known, others say its no coincidence and they’re secretly being funded by the empire. After all, they claimed to be advanced enough to take out Robotnik so why hadn’t it been done yet?
It was a question Sonic the Hedgehog pondered whenever he was given a mission by the agency.
Sonic was a part timer who would be assigned missions such as stealing from a factory, which was the assignment he was currently on. He didn’t like working for G.U.N at all, hated it actually, but he stuck around for a reason he himself wasn’t quite sure of at this point. He’d originally joined because they were the ones making the most progress on fighting against the empire, but as time went on the progress got more and more stagnant.
He could probably do more if he just fought solo. Oh well, at least he’s getting paid. The second he saw a reason to get the hell out, however, he’d be gone like the wind.
Sonic reclined against a tree and watched the night sky through the leaves as he waited for G.U.N to show up at the specified location. They had said to meet about a mile away from the factory he was meant to be infiltrated to avoid detection. Apparently he was going to be working with someone this time around. How exciting.
His ear twitched as the sound of a vehicle slowly approached him, a black unlabeled van eventually drove through the trees and stopped near to him. With a groan, he pushed himself up and walked closer.
“Took ya long enough. Been out here for ages!” He called out to the driver who made no indication that he heard the hedgehog.
The sound of the back of the van opening drew his attention as he huffed. Several agents holding guns stepped out first, followed by a tall human woman and, oddly enough, what looked to be a little fox kit.
“Sonic.” The agent greeted as she approached.
“That’s me.” Said hedgehog replied with a cocky grin.
The fox kit stood at the woman’s side, his posture ridged as his tails swayed back and before.
Wait. Sonic blinked as he did a double take but his eyes had not deceived him. The kid had two tails.
The agent cleared her throat, directing Sonic’s attention back to her, “I assume you know what you’re supposed to be doing here.”
“Of course I do.” Sonic said, “Break in, steal stuff, break some toys, exit stage left. That sound about right?”
“That’s one way to put it, I suppose.” She mumbled, a hint of annoyance in her tone. The agents never did like him all that much.
“I’m just sayin it how I saw it.” He put his paws up in mock defense before snickering and lowering them, “Anyway, I was told I’d have a partner this time around. What’s the big idea? You guys don’t trust me to work alone anymore?”
“That’s not the case at all. You’ve been assigned a partner because this is a factory with much higher security and his…more unique abilities will be of much help.”
“Fine, whatever. So, who’s the guy?” Sonic asked, looking around at all the agents in the area, smirking at a random one and pointing, “Is it him?”
“This is who you’ll be working with.” The agent said, gesturing to the kit beside her.
Sonic looked at her, looked the kid up and down, then looked back at her as he huffed out a laugh, “Funny. Who am I actually working with?”
His smirk faded when the agent didn’t respond to him, “You’re joking, right? This is a little kid.”
“He’s hardly some little kid,” The woman sneered, “Hardly a mobian either, so be on your guard.”
“Hardly a…” Sonic echoed to himself, brows furrowing in disbelief at the way this lady was talking about someone who was standing right next to her, “What the hell does that mean?”
The agent let out a long sigh. Although he couldn’t see her eyes beneath her sunglasses— Why was she even wearing sunglasses? It was completely dark out! Stupid G.U.N and their weird and outdated identity protection protocols that didn’t even work—, he could tell her eyes were darting all over the place as she considered how much information to give a part timer. He internally rolled his eyes. It’s not like he was asking for the kid’s life story, just a simple explanation as to why she seemed to be so against a literal fox kit.
“He’s a kitsune.” She finally spoke up after several seconds of silence.
Unfortunately for her, that only gave him more questions, “Cool. Next question: what’s a kitsune? He looks like a regular fox to me.”
He visibly rolled his eyes as the agent pinched the bridge of her nose. Forgive him for not knowing every single detail G.U.N does, they don’t tell him anything, “A kitsune is an ancient kind of fox that was more spirit than mobian. They were known for being mischievous, highly intelligent and having a strong connection to chaos energy. They died out many, many years ago,” Her head tilted to look down at the kit, “Or, at least we thought they did. Though this one is mor—“
“What’s his name?”
The agent looked back up at him, “Excuse me?”
“I said what’s his name? The least you can do is call him by it.” Sonic pushed.
The lady sighed before continuing, “Miles here is more half mobian and half kitsune, or some combination of the two. He looks Mobian, but I can assure you, he is not.”
“That reminds me,” She dug around in her pocket before pulling out some sort of remote, “If he acts out of line or tries to escape, press this button here.”
Sonic looked at the device held out to him wearily, his quills slightly raising in alarm, “Wait, what? You want me to hurt a kid?”
“Did you not hear anything I just said, hedgehog? He’s dangerous. He may try to escape during the mission. If you notice him missing, press the button.”
“You didn’t say anything about him being dangerous, you just told me that he’s not fully mobian and gave me a history lesson!” Sonic shot back.
“A history lesson about his kind!”
“He’s a kid!”
“Take the remote or I’ll be forced to send another agent to accompany the two of you,” She pushed her glasses up against the bridge of her nose, “And I can assure you that they will not be as lenient as I’m sure you will be.”
Sonic looked at her in shock before he looked down at the fox kit next to her. He was just…staring, his expression blank. It was like he just accepted his reality, this is how his life was.
G.U.N was never the most ethical place on the planet. While they weren’t as bad as Robotnik, they definitely had their own skeletons they were hiding away, and this kit was apparently one of them. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what the kid’s life was like on a daily basis if this was just how he was talked about.
Well, Sonic wouldn’t add to that pain any time soon, “Fine, I’ll take your stupid remote.” He said, swiping it out of the human’s hand with a glare before he turned to look down at the kit, gaze slightly softening, “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get this over with.”
The two began to make their way to the factory. “Make sure you bring him back! We can’t have something like him running around!” Sonic heard the agent call out. He just scoffed and sent a half hearted thumbs up over his shoulder in return.
The walk through the forest was much longer than he thought it would be but then again, he probably would’ve reached the main building by now. Super speed was helpful like that. However, he didn’t want to leave the kid behind and he didn’t know how well he’d handle the whole running at the speed of sound thing, so he settled for walking.
In the meantime, maybe he could get real answers, “Soooo…you’re uh, you’re part spirit! What’s that like?”
He fought back the urge to slap himself across the face. “What’s that like”? Really?
The kid didn’t answer him, he just kept walking beside him quietly. His shoulders were tense and it was as though his steps were carefully calculated, even though he was simply walking at a leisurely pace. His twin tails were stiff as boards and his blue eyes staring ahead of his hard.
He looked scared.
Sonic did another once over of the little fox, frown deepening when he realized he was barely up to his shoulder.
The hedgehog stopped in his tracks. Half spirit or not, this was a little kid.
A little kid who didn’t deserve any of this, “Listen,” He called out, getting the fox kit to stop and look back at him in confusion, his head tilting slightly, “I think it’s safe to say neither of us want to be here. I know I don’t, and I can tell you definitely don’t. So here’s what’s gonna happen.”
Sonic took a few steps forward before crouching down to be on his level, “I’m not gonna use this at all,” he said, holding up the remote and squeezing it until it broke in his grip, “Maybe I’ll trip and it’ll ’shatter into a million pieces’ or something, but I’m not using it. I don’t care if you're technically not mobian, you don’t deserve this. And if you do end up blowing something up, make sure it’s G.U.N HQ, yeah?”
His own muzzle quirked up when that got a ghost of a smile out of the kid, “If you wanna get out of here when we finish whatever it is we’re supposed to be doing, I won’t stop ya. I’ll just say we got seperated or something.”
The kid’s eyes widened, something akin to hope lighting in them as they sparkled. His smile became much more noticeable as he nodded enthusiastically. Sonic ruffled the fur between his ears as he stood up, “Sounds like a plan then! Now let’s get over there and cause some problems for the doc, yeah?”
The kit nodded again, tails loosening as they gave a jerky little wag. Sonic shot him a thumbs up then gestured for him to follow. The broken remains of the remote were left behind as the duo continued their trek towards the factory.
The air felt a little lighter now that they had a game plan. They’d steal and break what they needed to, the kid would go free, and Sonic would get paid. All in a day's work.
“I don’t know.”
Sonic blinked as a new voice broke their short silence. He glanced at the kit who was still staring ahead of him, “Uh…huh?”
“You asked what it’s like being a spirit.” The fox said, “I don’t know. This is just how I’ve been my whole life, I dunno what would be considered different from regular mobians.”
“Hm, guess that makes sense.” Sonic hummed before eyeing him, a playful glint in his eyes, “So, you can talk.”
The kit scoffed, “‘Course I can.”
Sonic couldn’t bite back the smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. Sassy little guy. “Then why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Didn’t have anything to say to them,” the kid shrugged before hunching in on himself a little, “And, uh, I didn’t want to speak out of turn. They don’t like when I do that.”
“Figured. They don’t like people who actually have a personality.” That got a laugh out of both of them, the pair’s snickers filling the otherwise quiet night air.
“You got a name, kiddo? Or am I just gonna have to keep referring to you by that?” Sonic asked once they both quieted down.
The fox tilted his head, “Didn’t that agent say it earlier? It’s Miles.”
“Well, yeah, but is that a name you like going by or one they dumped on you?”
“It’s the name my parents gave me.” He shrugged, “It's what everyone calls me.”
Sonic blinked, “You have parents?” He winced when Miles’s expression soured before he just looked sad, arms crossing over his chest in a sort of self hug, “That was stupid. You don’t gotta answer that if you don’t want to.“
“It’s fine. I understand your curiosity.” Miles said, “Yeah, I have parents. Or, I guess I had them.”
A sudden flair of awkwardness exploded between them. “Shit uh- I’m sorry dude.”
The kid shrugged, “It’s fine. They just didn’t want to deal with…this. They wanted to lead a normal life without G.U.N breathing down their necks. Which I understand. It’s probably scary to have a baby who’s somehow part extinct magical species when you’re both just regular mobians.”
Miles suddenly grimaced, “I’m sorry, that was so much more than you asked for. I didn’t mean to—“
“Hey, don’t even worry about it, dude. You’ve got nothing to apologize for.” Sonic assured him, his smile quickly falling back down, “You haven’t had anyone to talk to in a while, huh?”
Miles shook his head, “Not really. G.U.N doesn’t really care. They just keep me in a room and occasionally send me to help out with whatever they’re doing.”
Sonic arched a brow, “They don’t let you outside?”
“No, not really. Not even for their weird training stuff.” The kit huffed, “Which is also really stupid. They tell me I need to get better at using my abilities, but they never let me practice in my room! How am I supposed to get better at something if I’m not allowed to even use it!”
“Yeah, that is dumb.” Sonic stretched out his arms and tucked them behind his head, “So you got some kind of magic or something?”
The kid just smirked. After a few seconds of him not answering his question, Sonic looked down at him, “Y’know smiling isn’t really an answer to someone’s ques—!”
In his peripheral vision, that human agent from before appeared and he let out a startled shout, instinctively swatting at her. The human disappeared when he made contact, little wisps of light blue floating about until they too faded.
Sonic stared where the agent had just been with his mouth agape, but his ears twitched at the sound of laughter at his other side. He sent an unimpressed glare at Miles who was just giggling to himself.
“I haven’t been able to do something like that in months!” He said in between gasps of breaths. The hedgehog just watched as he pulled himself together, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“So what was that exactly?”
“An illusion!” The kid’s eyes were sparkling, “They’re not that good yet and fall apart pretty easily, as you just saw, but someday they'll be stable and just as realistic as you and I! Hopefully.”
“Hopefully?”
“Since I’m not a full kitsune, my connection to chaos energy isn’t as good as theirs. That limits how strong my abilities are.”
Sonic hummed, “Hey, even if they aren’t as strong as those old timers, I don’t know anyone else who can just make an illusion like that. You’d still be stronger than anyone I know.”
“I guess…” Miles mumbled, still sounding disappointed.
Sonic sighed, not really knowing what else to say. Silence fell over them, the only sound being those of leaves crunching under their footsteps and the night breeze rustling the surrounding trees. It was a mystery why Robotnik hadn’t torn this forest to shreds. Maybe the doc could appreciate some greenery every now. A ridiculous thought, but it was the only one that could explain it. Well, that and maybe he just didn’t need any more wood.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“What’s it like being fully mobian? Or just…not part spirit in general?” Miles asked, “Everyone at G.U.N made it sound like I’m so much different than them so I just wanna know what it’s like.”
The kit looked up at him, his baby blue eyes alight with pure curiosity about an experience that was said to be so far out of his reach. Sonic brought a hand to his chin as he thought about something he never really put any effort into thinking about. Being a mobian was just…being mobian.
“Well,” He started, “We uh, we have heartbeats and breathe oxygen and bleed. Though that also describes a flicky. We’re more sentient than a flicky, but so are you. Ugh, someone a little more philosophical could probably give you a better answer.”
But Miles’s head tilted, “A heartbeat?”
Sonic looked down at him, “Yeah. Comes from the heart pumping blood through our body or whatever it does. Right here.” He placed a paw over his heart, his faster heartbeat thumping rhythmically.
Furrowing his brow, the kid placed his paw over his own chest, right where his heart should be. He stood there for a moment, focusing intently on something that should’ve been simple to find. Eventually, he shook his head, “I don’t think I have that.”
“Huh,” Sonic said. He raised his paw hesitantly, “Do you mind if I…?” Miles nodded and Sonic gently placed it on his chest, not missing the way the kid tensed. He focused on his paw hard, but Miles was right. Sonic couldn’t feel anything.
Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. He could feel something, it just wasn’t a beat.
“Well would ya look at that. Guess we found the difference.” The hedgehog said, hands going to his hips.
“Um, can I…?” Miles asked, question trailing off the same way Sonic’s did.
Sonic bent down and took the kit’s paw in his own, pressing it up against his chest, right where his heart was. While he couldn’t feel it, the kid definitely could and he saw Miles’s eyes widen with every beat. He smiled at his awe of something simple as a heartbeat. After a few seconds Sonic let go of the kid’s paw and got back up.
“So do you like, not bleed or have blood?”
Miles blinked out of his amazed trance, “I do have blood, I think. I can bleed. It probably looks different from yours though.”
“Let’s not test that one out, I’ll take your word for it, yeah?” Sonic said as he continued walking towards the factory.
Miles just nodded as he fell into step with him. His paw had gone back to his chest, still trying to find something that obviously wasn’t there. He almost looked a little sad.
Sonic bumped into him to get his attention, “Hey, you never answered my question earlier.”
“What question?”
“Do you like being called Miles?” He asked once again.
“What else would I be called? It’s my name.” The kit said with a sigh.
“I could give you a nickname if you want.”
“A nickname? You hardly know me, how could you give me a nickname?”
Sonic scoffed, “Please. I’m the master at giving people I barely know nicknames.”
Miles shook his head in amusement, “Whatever you say. Yeah, sure. You can give me a nickname.”
Sonic hummed as he looked the kid up and down, an over exaggerated look of pondering on his face.
“What about Tails?”
The kid snorted, “Tails? Really? You just looked for the most obvious thing on me!”
“Hey, I tried not to! They’re cool! They show that you’re special, not like anyone else.” Sonic defended his choice, “I think it works just fine!”
The kid looked at him, “You really think so?” He wasn’t just talking about the nickname.
“Yeah,” He replied easily, “I do.”
Miles looked back down as he considered his words and Sonic didn’t miss the way his tails gently wagged and the soft smile on his muzzle. Finally he looked back up at him, “I like Tails.”
“I do too.” Sonic returned the smile with a hint of fondness bleeding through his words.
Miles— Tails gave him a shove, “But you gotta change that title of yours. You’re definitely no master if that’s the best you could come up with. That’s like me giving you the nickname Quills or Speedy or something.”
Sonic laughed, “I never said they were clever or creative nicknames! Just that I’m good at given’ them out!”
Their joint laughter filled the air, both of them trying and failing to quiet each other down as Robotnik’s factory came closer and closer. They had to pause until they contained themselves so they wouldn’t set off any alarms by accident. Sonic’s laughter died down first, but his smile stayed as he watched Tails wipe at his eyes as he giggled helplessly.
Sonic’s smile faltered. How long has it been since the kit laughed like this, if he ever had.
“Hey,” He called out, waiting until he had Tails’s full attention, “What if instead of running off on your own after this, I meet up with you somewhere and we stick together?”
Tails’s smile faded and his brow furrowed, “Don’t you work for G.U.N?”
Sonic just waved it off, “Eh, I’ve been meaning to quit for a while now. Plus they’ll probably fire anyway after this because of the whole letting you run loose thing.”
“Oh. But what if they get suspicious of you and track you down after you quit?”
“Even if they do, there’s no way they can catch me!”
But Tails still looked unsure, fiddling with one of his tails as he considered the offer. Sonic sighed and crouched down, putting a paw on his shoulder, “It’s up to you, alright? If you don’t think you’ll be safe with me, we can go our separate ways.”
Blue met green as they looked into each other’s eyes, Tails searching Sonic’s for something. Maybe he was looking for dishonesty, maybe something else, but Sonic tried his best to look as earnest as he possibly could.
“…Alright.” The kit mumbled.
Sonic gave him a pat on the shoulder as he stood back up, making a show of him stretching out his back and arms, “Let me know your plan when we’re finished here, yeah?” He waited for the kid to nod, “Cool. Now, let’s go ruin the doctor’s night!”