War for Mobius
Act 1 Chapter 12

Rotor pants heavily as he finally collapses at the meeting place.  Being a tech-head, the walrus is not built for speed, and the run he has just made pretty much wiped him out.  He leans up against a large rock behind him and begins fanning himself with his yellow baseball cap.  Nearby Antoine has also collapsed, less to the physical stress and more due to the mental stress.  
Bunnie is the only one of the group who remains prepared for action.  She looks at her mangled arm from the beating it took as it pounded against the wall back at the chemical plant.  The dents are deep, and there are large cracks running down the forearm.  It would probably take more than a simple patch job to fix it up.  For the moment however, she decides to keep it from Rotor.  It can wait till they get back to Knothole.
“How long do you think we should wait for the others?” the cyborg-rabbit asks her companions.
Rotor is only able to respond between pants, “Sally said ten minutes.  If they’re not back by then…”
“We head home without them,” Bunnie finishes, “I don’t like that plan.”
“I’m not liking that plan either,” the coyote adds.
“I know,” the walrus shakes his head, “But we can’t risk everyone getting caught.  So we can’t wait too long.  I’m sure Sonic will-“
Rotor is cut off when if on cue the blue hedgehog skids to a stop between the trio, kicking up a large amount of dirt that comes crashing down on Antoine.  The hedgehog laughs, “Sorry about that ‘Twan.  Sup guys, how smooth did the mission go?”
“About as smooth as a cheese-grater sugar,” Bunnie replies, “What happened to Miles and Sally-girl?”
“The kid is a bit pooped, so is Sal,” Sonic replies with a smile, “They sent me ahead to let you guys know they’re alright.”
“How’d Miles do?” Rotor asks, climbing back to his feet.
“You should have seen him Rote,” the speedster beams as he begins to describe the young fox’s accomplishments.  The others listen intently.  By the time the hedgehog has finished, Sally and Miles arrive.  
“Well if it isn’t the hero of the day himself,” Sonic praises and gives the kid a thumbs-up.
“Freedom Fighter Miles Prower, I salute you for your Heroic Bravery,” Antoine grins as he does so.
“Aw,” the two tailed fox blushes, “It wasn’t that big of deal…”
“Sure it was,” Rotor corrects, “Not only you saved Sonic and Sally’s lives today, but you destroyed Robotnik’s chemical plant.  Those chemicals were likely going to be used to fuel Robotnik’s campaign against us.”
“Go on and enjoy yourself kiddo,” Bunnie continues, “Not every day do we come home from a trap with this much success.”
“C’mon guys,” Sally pats Miles on the head, “Let’s head for home.”
The others are about to say something, but Sonic puts his fingers to his lips to shush them, “Home sounds good, let’s go.”


About the time the Group arrives back at Knothole, Miles remembers what he had asked Sonic earlier, “Oh yeah.  Sonic, you were going to tell me how to be cool remember?”
“Huh,” The Hedgehog thinks for a moment, “Oh yeah, I guess I was.  But I don’t need to now.”
“What do you mean?” the fox boy asks.
“You already know what it means to be cool.”  Sonic grins.
“I do?  I don’t understand, I just had to be a hero?”
“No,” Sonic places his hands on the young fox’s shoulders, “You took your weakness and turned it into a strength.”
Miles looks confused, “My weakness?”
“Everyone made fun of you because of your two tails,” the blue hedgehog explains, “but it was because of those twin tails you were able to save the day.”
The fox ponders this for a minute and then smiles, “So the real answer is not that people need to think I’m cool, but I just need to believe I’m cool?”
Now it’s the hedgehogs turn to ponder for a moment, “You could say that.  Look it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, all that matters is what you think about yourself.  Don’t let anyone else decide if you’re cool or not.”
“That’s kinda corny,” Miles laughs, “Like the moral section on a kids T.V. program.”
The hedgehog laughs as well, “Yeah, tune in next time to Sonic Says for a more well thought out moral, same Hedgehog Time, same Hedgehog Channel.”
They both laugh.
After a moment the laughter dies down, and Sonic messes up the kid’s hair, “You know what kid you’re pretty cool.”
“Thanks,” Miles replies, “Now if only my name was.”
“What do you mean?”
“Miles is such a boring name.  I mean you have a really cool name,” the fox explains.
“Don’t tell anybody this but Sonic isn’t my real name,” the hedgehog corrects.
“It’s not?” Miles scratches the side of his head.
“Yeah, but don’t think you’ll ever find out my real one,” the blue blur smirks.
“So it’s just a nickname?” Miles frowns.
“Yeah, I got it because I was such a speed demon as a kid,” Sonic boasts.
“You still are a speed demon,” Miles corrects.
“Speed demon is too slow for my tastes,” Sonic shrugs, “Anyways, if I had to pick you a nickname, it would have to be…..”
“What?”
“Tails” the hedgehog beams.
The young fox ponders it for a moment, “Well then Tails it is.”
“Nice to meet you Tails,” the hedgehog smiles as he stretches his hand out to the two tailed fox.
“Nice to meet you Sonic,” the fox takes the hand and shakes it.  The two then high five and laugh again.
“Yeesh,” Sally interrupts, “You two have been laughing over there for a while now, what is so funny?”
“Oh nothing,” Tails grins.
“Yeah,” Sonic adds, “Nothing to do with your new hair.”
“My new what?” the princess looks confused.  She feels up on her hair see what the joke is all about.
“Yeah,” the hedgehog continues teasing, “Blond is a good look for you, but I prefer your old color.”
“Blond?!” Sally looks around for something she can uses as a mirror, finding one hanging on the side of the nearby Knothole hair salon she takes a peak.  Her normally auburn-red hair was now a golden blond, and her usual brown fur carried a slight, but noticeable, orange tint to it, “What?!”
“It must have been the chemicals,” Tails explains, “Something in them must have dyed your hair and fur.”
Sally looks to the others, “Why didn’t anyone say anything before?”
“We would have Sally-Girl,” Bunnie shrugs, “But Sugar-Hog told us to keep quiet.  I assumed you already knew and didn’t wanna talk about it.”
Sally looks around and notices that some of the local mobians have noticed and are whispering about it.  It was embarrassing.  She turns angrily to Sonic who gives her a mischievous smile.
“Sonic Hedgehog!  When I get my hands on you…”
But it was too late, as she opened her mouth, the blue blur took off.  The Princess chases after him but she knows she’ll never catch him.  The Freedom Fighters just laugh.