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.
My sneak peek for the @fyr-zine The theme of the zine was ‘core’ so I wanted to show the core of Sonic and Jet’s relationship- their love of racing. There’s a sort of admiration and joy they feel around each other that I can’t really put into words. I was definitely inspired by the ending of Sonic Riders.
Alternate version of the other Riders Sonic. This one is an experiment. I tried to draw it as fast as possible and it took half the time that the previous one took, also the color palette is slightly different. I am happy with the result :D
I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone about my shameful Sonic art roots, but @snapscube always makes me relapse into my old addiction from middle school.
No more gravity distortions or whirlwinds have been reported in the past hour; as such, the Severe Weather Watch issued in Monopole has been cancelled. In unrelated news, Ancestry.com is offering free DNA kits to all birds worldwide
