A Broken Bond

1. That Day

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I should really mention this as a disclaimer: I have never, in my entire life, finished a Sonic game. This means I have very few to no knowledge about the canon Sonic timeline, nor about the intricacies of its world such as various stage/place names, the size of Super Emeralds, how they turn from regular Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles' prayer lines in order to make that happen (assuming that is required), etc.; all of which I had to know from the Sonic Wiki or other sources of info like other people's media, animation series such as Sonic X (which I have finished a long time ago) and Sonic Boom (finished recently in 2020), etc. I suppose what interests me in the fandom in the first place is the character designs, their personalities, and the chance for me to use my imagination to come up with comedic situations for them or anything else.

With that being said, I am also quite sure that this is a rather subpar fanfic since this is my very first one; in fact, I came up with the basic idea of a "Sonic vs. Tails" fanfic (which isn't very original, I am aware of that [*ahem* Archie Sonic issue #178-#179 *ahem*]) in 2014/15. I've made several renditions of it, it's went through several hiatuses, and years later, it's finally finished on November 2020. I can honestly list a lot of reasons why I think this is rather subpar, but y'know what, I'm not gonna beat myself up about it. Instead, I'm gonna let you beat me up about it with a comment or two. Enjoy.

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Eggman's base, 12 PM mid-day. After picking up a Chaos Emerald signal on Tails' radar system, which seemed to be emanating from the heart of said base, our two heroes now stand outside the walls to the base, attempting to infiltrate and swipe the emerald from the doctor's possession after effortlessly bypassing the security of the outer perimeter. Sonic the Hedgehog waits rather impatiently at the side, crossing his arms and tapping his foot while Tails slowly and carefully carves an arch in the metal wall with a blowtorch. Soon, the blue blur, desperately lusting for some action, begins to lament.

"So tell me again. Why can't we just do this the old-fashioned way and blast through the front gates? It'd be easier and faster that way," said the hedgehog to his twin-tailed fox sidekick who is occupied at the moment with the weld work. Upon hearing his complaint yet again, Tails lets out an annoyed sigh as he takes off his welding mask and puts down his blowtorch.

"For the fifth and last time, it's too risky, loud, and dumb. We don't know the exact numbers of Badniks inside," replied Tails.

Small bicker such as this isn't rare among the two Mobians and recently, it has been happening even more. For there exists an ironic dichotomy between the two; whilst Sonic is the thrill-seeker type who would prioritize acting before thinking, Tails is the exact opposite, preferring to approach his problems rationally before engaging to action. In fact, moments before this mission is put into place, Sonic and Tails had briefly argued about whose methods to use and this time, Tails' stealthy approach had won, much to Sonic's dismay.

"So what? That never stopped us before. What are you, scared?" Sonic mockingly replied.

"Look, I've got the security system disabled already and it could come back on any second. We're wasting time. We're doing it my way, the smart way, and that's final."

"Sheesh, fine. I'm just saying my way could be more fun," Sonic scoffed as he averts his uncaring gaze away from Tails.

"At least we won't risk ending up dead this way," dismissed Tails.

After a brief moment of interruption, Tails dons his welding mask and picks up the blowtorch once again to finally finish what he had started. Seconds later, the blowtorch reaches the other end of the arch and the thick metal wall falls backwards with ease, exposing an entry gap. Tails then removes his welding equipment and beckons Sonic to proceed first, seeing that he is the leader of the team and all.