Lethal Mutation: A Tails Fanfic

Important Note: This was my very first fanfiction ever written, and perhaps one of my earliest works of writing in general ever to be publicly displayed. As such, my writing skills have improved leaps and bounds since then, and I have recently begun a project to give this story a fully rewritten version that I believe is much more improved over this original. I will be leaving this original version here completely as is for any and all that wish to read the original full story, but I highly recommend anyone who finds this to also go to my profile page and read Lethal Mutation: Remastered for the definitive version of this story.

Summary: 99 of all genetic mutations are harmful or neutral in its effect on the host organism. For a certain fox, being in the 1 of the lucky ones whose mutations are actually a benefit is both a blessing and a curse. But is his uncanny IQ and extra appendage totally benign or will Tails find himself, for the first time ever, not being the exception to the rule?

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or any related characters. They belong to Sonic Team and Sega. All references to and characters from Sonic X belong to 4Kids TV.

Foreword

A few things I should say about this story before I get started:

1. This story takes place during the second season of Sonic X, between the episodes A Wild Win and Map of Mayhem to be exact.

2. The dialogue was meant to be read as the character's voice would say it in the show, so those who are familiar with the cartoons will probably get the most out of it. (case in point, Mr. Tanaka's and Ella's dialogue is meant to sound like their real wording and will sound wrong to anyone who doesn't know these characters.) Also, underlined words are meant to be spoken with an emphasis, where as sentences in italics are always unspoken thoughts from the character who is thinking them.

3. Characters that do not appear in this fic are anyone outside the Sonic X universe, Cosmo (she comes in at season 3.), the Chaotix (I love them, but they just didn't fit!), and Shadow (he is considered dead at this point in the cartoon series.)

4. Anyone who reads this story is strongly encouraged to review each chapter. I want reviews that ask about the story, point out non-grammatical flaws, and contain well thought-out compliments as to a particular portion of the story. Do not flame this story just because you hate Sonic X!

Well, there you have it! Note that I will attempt to post a new chapter at least every week and that the story gets much better after the first couple chapters. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Freak

Some things were not meant to come in two's, He thought. Even after becoming Sonic's best friend and loyal sidekick, people still call me a freak! It's not as bad here as back home on Mobius, but, still… I mean, sure they love me when I help Sonic save the day, but when he's not around I feel like the main attraction in a traveling circus sideshow! Wherever I go, people gawk and sneer. And the insults, I've heard them all: "Two-Tails, the Flying Furry Freak-a-zoid, Hairy-air, even Double Butt." The fact that I am too weak to really stand up for myself just makes things even worse. If only I was powerful enough to punish anyone that dared to call me names, then at least I would have some kind of respect from them. It seems like my whole life I have been ridiculed and despised because of my two tails, and many times I wish that I could just chop one of them off.

Tails the fox walked through downtown Station Square as he had these thoughts. People gaped and turned to see him as he walked alone on the sidewalk. Some wondered if he would give them an autograph, but still more of them pointed and stared at the only known talking fox with two tails. He had gone to run some errands because Mr. Tanaka, Ella, and Chuck were all busy, Chris was at school, and Sonic, as usual, was nowhere to be found around the house. The two heavily loaded grocery bags that he was carrying forced Tails to walk home, since he wasn't able to fly for long with this load and the X-Tornado couldn't land in downtown Station Square, at least not legally. Being essentially the best pilot in both his home world of Mobius and this world called Earth, He didn't doubt that he could land in the downtown area easily, especially if he transformed his plane into the multi-purpose walker mode, the X-Cyclone, for the landing and takeoff in the downtown area.

I guess the people who can fly the best are the ones who don't need planes to do it, He chuckled to himself while he waved his tails behind him freely. Even though they seem to be a magnet for ridicule, my twin tails really do help me a lot! How many foxes can fly on their own, or humans, or even hedgehogs for that matter! I may be called a freak, but those people are probably just jealous. If it wasn't for my tails I never would have been able to keep up to Sonic as well as I do, and I would be worthless to him except to design new planes to fly for him. Tails' smiling face started to sag as his next thoughts came into his mind. Although, lately it seems that that's my only real job anyway. Oh, great. Here comes that depressing feeling again...

He always hated feeling like he was almost useless to his best buddy. Sometimes he dreamed about Sonic facing off against Eggman's newest robotic creation and still succeeding easily without his help. Worst of all, sometimes Sonic actually would single-handedly foil the evil Doctor's plans and confirm Tails' nightmares. If he started carrying a ring with him into every battle instead of waiting for me to fire one to him, I would be out of the job, except maybe as a transport to take him to places he can't run to himself for a fight. I sometimes get to play a decoy role in really tough bouts, but I never defeat any of Eggman's robots, Sonic does. I sometimes wonder if Sonic actually cares for me as a little brother like he says or just as a talented mechanic that's a liability in battle. Lately, it almost seems like he spends much more time with Chris than with me, even though Sonic still calls me his little brother and best friend. At least he cares enough about me to not make fun of me like everyone else does.

Tails stopped at a bench on the sidewalk and sat down for a moment to clear his mind. He had absently wandered into the middle of the park in Station Square. He saw little kids playing with their parents. Obviously too young to go to school yet, Tails observed. One fell down and immediately started crying. Tails remembered something similar to that same thing happening to him once, not so long ago, on Mobius. He had only just met Sonic and had gone to live with him. One day, he fell out of a small tree and hit a rock with his knee near the house he and Sonic shared in the Mystic Ruins. Despite wanting to act tough around his new big brother, Tails had cried his eyes out because of the unbearable pain. But instead of calling him a wimp like everyone else would, Sonic had simply hugged him tightly until his tears stopped, just like the little boy's mother did now to the small human child Tails had been watching. Back then, Tails had been completely shocked by such a caring embrace from a person he had met for only a month or so, least of all from the legendary Sonic the hedgehog. Well that answers that question, Tails quickly thought as he resumed his hike home. If that doesn't prove that Sonic really cares for me, then nothing else will!

Now feeling somewhat lighter, even with the heavy load of groceries, Tails resolved to put his namesakes to work and fly the rest of the way home to Chris's house, mostly to avoid the gawking faces of the other pedestrians. But as he took flight, one more question popped into his mind that made him spontaneously laugh out loud. When I fell out of that tree way back then, he mused, why didn't I just fly safely to the ground instead of falling like a brick!? This question, he knew, would probably never be answered.