Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Eggman, Tails, or any other character. It all belongs to SEGA. And cover art belongs to DianchanX from DeviantART.

On Mobius, there once was an orphanage who prided itself on being the only charitable building to house over one hundred orphans, as odd as an accomplishment that really is. Kids of all ages who were parentless, unwanted, and love-deprived dwelled there, prepped by cordial but strict staff workers in hopes that the kids would be adopted at an early age. After all, demographics showed that kids beyond the age of ten had little to no chance of ever being adopted, and thus those older orphans were practically hired into assisting the orphanage as underage staff. Welcome to West Side's Home for Children.

Despite this orphanage containing quite a large population of orphans, the building stole only a small street corner by the tattoo parlor and the drug store, meaning fewer rooms and more bunk beds.

It was an early Monday morning, which meant early rise for the orphans at exactly six thirty and standing ready at their doors by seven. However, despite the strict schedule forced upon by oppressive staff, there were still some who refused to heed that order.

In all rooms, every bed was tucked in and neatly kept, all except one, which was hurriedly covered, sheets hastily thrown over.

The late kid, who was a bright yellow eight year old fox, flew across the carpet in the bedroom and entered into the bathroom. He hummed a familiar, quick-paced tune as he sprayed a good amount of Colgate onto his toothbrush and lathered his teeth in it. The fox grasped a comb and hastily swept it over his three primary bangs, making the static in his golden fur even worse.

But at this point, he didn't care. He spit out a glob of blue and started singing. "Movin' at speed of sound-" the fox brushed the comb over his two tails and they bushed out prominently as he tossed it out and skittered back into the bedroom. "-quickest hedgehog around-"

"Tommy!" an abrupt voice boomed from outside.

"Here, sir!"

The fox's eyes- -which were bright and blue as sapphires- -widened, and he started to move even quicker than before. He began to sing again, his words becoming a rapid, muffled mess, as he slipped on his blue uniform. "Mphot ourselves a phsituation. Stuck in a new location-"

"Danny!"

"Here, sir!"

Shoot, Bill was after Danny. And he was after Bill.

Stuffing his stubby legs into his pants and snatching his pair of loafers, the fox dashed outside the door and down the hallway. Murmurings at the end of the hall signaled he was home free. The fox let out a burble of glee as he slowed to a halt by a figure seemingly invisible to the others.

By the short, two-tailed fox sloppily dressed in uniform was a tall lanky blue hedgehog dressed in nearly nothing at all save for cherry red sneakers and chalk white gloves. He seemed to stand out among all the orphan boys; with his stocky appearance and teenage good looks, he looked about fifteen or so. His eyes resembled green grasshoppers, hopping and dancing with mischief, and his smirk, wide with brilliant teeth, broadened as the fox neared him.

"Woah, new record, Tails! Nice!" the blue hedgehog announced, grinning and raising his hand for a high-five.

Tails smacked his little hand against the teenager's outstretched one confidently. "Thanks, Sonic," the kid said, beaming childlike, "I knew I could get ready in ten minutes. The others take forever to get ready."

"Bill!"

"Here, sir!"

Tails jolted to action and rounded the corner to join the line of boys as Sonic sent him a thumbs-up.

"Here, sir, here!" the fox yelped, squeezing between Bill and Zachary. His shoulders couldn't have gotten more tense, but when he saw the humongous man towering over him, his frame stood frozen.

This staff worker, not-so-affectionately called Eggman by Sonic and soon Tails, was an obese, middle-aged man with unusually gangly legs and arms and a belly that bulged out like Santa's. But he was not jolly gift-giver. His wily orange moustache and mysterious glasses always made every orphan uneasy, and his strict voice plus insane rumors of his punishing naughty children in unusual ways equaled a dictator-like figure that every kid tried to avoid.

Eggman was now examining him quite suspiciously as that was part of his job- -to analyze any violations to dress-code. His face seemed normal until it twisted in an almost horrific way. "Why, don't you have your loafers on?" he asked.

"They're too small," the fox quipped with all honesty, "They cramp up my feet, too, and-"

"Your comfort is none of my concern. Put your loafers on," the fat man spat mercilessly.

Tails didn't even try to argue as he quickly crammed his sock-covered feet into the dress shoes. He made a slight grunting noise at the sudden change and squirmed instinctively.

The tall man peered down, his navy blue spectacles gleaming menacingly. "And who are you...?"

"Miles Prower, sir," he squeaked at the looming shadow.

"Miles..." he growled. Then, standing straight up, the fat man took a breath of silence then barked, "Zachary!"

"Here, sir!"

Tails breathed a sigh of relief as Sonic acted as if he were going to kick the fat man's hind.

Academics were provided by the West Side's Home for Children itself, another thing it prided itself upon. After all, potential parents wanted smart, well-educated little ones as their children, not homeless ones from off the street.

The fox sighed heftily and shoved away his paperwork, which was already filled out neatly. His baby blue eyes scanned the outdated motivational posters for the millionth time. Sonic, who had drawn up a chair next to the fox, attempted to make paper airplanes out of construction paper and toss them in the air to amuse himself, but to no avail.

"This is so boring!" Sonic cried, sinking in his seat. Then, he sat straight up, ears perked. "Maybe the teacher has somethin' for us!"

As he said this, the teacher- -a young, frisky female Mobian- -made a straight beeline towards them. She lifted her finger once she was in front of the fox. "Listen, Mr..." she faltered.

"Miles."

"Miles," she said, "Why do you have an empty chair next to you?"

Sonic snorted and Tails simply said, "It's for my friend, ma'am." The teacher raised an eyebrow at this and opened her mouth- -about to say something else- -until the fox spoke up again. "I finished my worksheet, ma'am. Do you think that I could try what the older kids are working on, the Pythagorean Theorem?"

The teacher took a deep breath and rubbed her temple with her fingers. "Miles, I think it's best that you just work on multiplication and division like other eight year old boys."

Tails' eyebrows furrowed. "But-!"

"It's for the best," she cut in, thus ending the conversation.

The two-tailed fox slumped instantly as Sonic patted his back and quipped, "It was worth a try, lil' bud." While the teacher walked past them, she pulled out Sonic's chair from under him and dragged it away, causing the hedgehog to fall on his blue bum. "Hey!" he cried, "Doesn't she have eyes?"

"Okay, class, free time!" the teacher chimed in cheerily, nevertheless.

The students immediately left their seats and scattered to the back of the room, where all the toys and games were. Tails, who was finishing up a geometry problem he made for himself, heard the teacher's voice. His eyes widened, and he shot straight up and scampered to the back. Sonic followed in suit to nab some extra construction paper, still rubbing his spiny bottom.

"No-no-no-no!" the fox said, scrambling to the colorful bins, where the crayon packs resided. He scanned the bin in haste and sighed in relief when he spotted a lone twelve-pack at the bottom. Clutching it with glee, Tails called over his shoulder, "Race ya back to the desk, Sonic!"

"You're on!" was the blue boy's response.

The fox sprinted merrily towards his desk, pumping his arms wildly and trying to imagine how fast Sonic could really go. His thoughts were promptly interrupted as he slammed into something hard and fell onto the carpet.

"Ouch..." Tails looked up and saw a young eleven year old human dressed in a similar blue uniform leering over him, "..Hey, Alex."

The boy laughed, his chestnut hair bobbing at shoulder length. "Hey, two-tailed twit, why don't we play a game?" he said, sneering.

"Not 'rock paper scissors' again," the fox moaned, hoisting himself up.

"Why not, freak? Think ya gonna lose?" Alex shot back. When receiving no answer, his fists were raised in expectation. Tails copied the motion. "Okay...rock-paper-scissors! Ha, I win! That means I get all your crayons!"

The boy performed a cutting motion with his oversized hand on Tails' fishlike one. "What? No fair! I wasn't ready!" Tails said, "Can't we just share, Alex?"

"Ha, you gotta be more than ready to defeat me! And don't worry, I'll give you a crayon," Alex said smugly, dropping a brown crayon into the dumbfounded fox's hands, "One. See ya 'round, twerp!"

Frustration coursed through the little fox's body as he plunked into his seat and began to work with the one color.

"What a loser," Sonic said chillily. Tails drove his brown crayon deeper into the thick construction paper.

"I know!" Tails exclaimed, "It's like he's always trying to get on my nerves and get me in trouble. I always get the stinky colors because of him." The fox stared and moped at his picture. "I mean, It could've been a masterpiece."

"Hey," Sonic spoke calmly, "I guess me and you being the same color is pretty cool. At least you can tell we're close."

"Neither of us are brown," the fox deadpanned, sweeping a bushy tail over the drawing. "What a useless piece of junk. I'm throwing it away."

Tails' big brother immediately jumped to the rescue, sliding in between the trash can and Tails. "Woah, woah, lil' buddy, you might wanna think first before you toss it. What if this thing'll become pretty valuable later on?"

The fox stared at the picture glumly. "I don't think this is million-dollar worthy," he answered, his face becoming more downcast.

Sonic grinned and grasped the paper. "Hey, it very well could be," he shot back, straightening out the picture, "Say, brown crayon is gonna be the new chic around here. We'll make it be the new style, that's what!" The blue hedgehog then frowned, clueless. "But...how?"

"Well, why don't we confiscate all the brown crayons in the whole orphanage? Things become more valuable if there's less of 'em," Tails muttered slowly. "At midnight, when all the caretakers are sleep...it would be perfect to take all of them. Then everyone will want a brown crayon!"

Sonic snapped his fingers at the end of Tails' statement, grinning vigorously. "Now that's what I call a plan!" he said excitedly.

In the dead of night, one figure shuffled out of his bed silently, careful not to disturb his roommates, and tumbled outside his bedroom. A taller, lankier figure walked ahead of him, trying to blend with the shadows as well. Tails the Fox could barely see a thing in this thick darkness, so Sonic had offered to scout ahead and make sure to notify Tails of any obstacles.

"Anything up ahead, Sonic?"

"Uh...nope. Not at all. Oh, wait! Toy box! Toy box!"

The two-tailed fox didn't receive a fair warning and stumbled clumsily into the box stationed below, his feet making contact with the sharp edges of toys. Tails covered his mouth and nearly squealed as he teetered his way out of them.

"...Wall! Wall!"

Colliding into a wall, Tails was able to regain his balance and his breath. "Are we almost there, Sonic?"

Silence followed until the blue hedgehog's voice piped up again. "Yeah, yeah, a couple more steps ahead, I think, and we'll be at the classroom in no time!"

Tails gulped and tried to follow the voice of his friend, who started to hum a vaguely familiar spy tune. Since he was already engulfed in darkness, the fox shut his eyes, tuning into his other senses. The prickly, sticky feeling of the popcorn-like wall helped guide him straight. There was nothing to be heard except the scuffing of his own short steps against the carpet and the humming of a reverberating vent down the hall.

"We're here!" the friendly voice declared.

The fox stuck a hand out blindly in the murky pitch black. Sure enough, he felt the cool, rough surface and took a deep breath of a fresh forest in early morning.

A door.

Tails found the door knob and swung the door open, revealing a world different from the day. Spots of the room were showered in moonlight, but most of the classroom was eerily immersed in shadows as the two stumbled over to what looked like the back of the room.

"Found the crayon bin, Tails!" Sonic whispered.

From there, they made quick work, pilfering the brown crayons from their containers and collecting the ones left at the bottom of the bin.

"Wow, can you believe it, Sonic? There must be over a hundred in my own paws!" the fox sputtered.

"Yeah, this is certainly the mother lode!" Sonic said, his teeth glimmering, "I bet there's-"

A door creaked and slowly shut.

They froze.

The fox's baby blue eyes flickered to the door of the classroom. Still open.

"Someone's awake with us," Tails whispered through gritted teeth, his fur standing on end.

Instantly, Sonic shot ahead, "Let's make a break for it!"

The two scrambled towards the door, crayons safely tucked in their arms, made a mad dash to the bedroom, leaped into their lower bunk bed, and kept their mouths shut.

A lengthy silence followed.

"Hey, Sonic?" a hushed voice asked.

"Hmm?"

"I think we made it."

"Me, too."

The two silently high-fived as Tails cheered softly, "Operation Brown Burglary- -complete!"

The next two weeks for the two-tailed orphan and his blue imaginary friend were heavenly. The plan had worked like a charm; staff workers were befuddled at the sudden act of thievery and none of the kids had any brown crayons to color with. Thanks to a little glamorizing about the color of dirt, Tails got many of the children his age hungering for what once was the least-desired crayon.

Then, the dashing duo set their plan to work, with the two-tailed orphan subtly cluing others in on his brown-tooled dynasty and the blue hedgehog encouraging the behavior and giving advice as it went. Soon, there was a steady business of exchanging going on between Tails and the other children: a brown crayon for not ratting him out. However, when Sonic demanded that he and Tails should receive a real reward when giving away a brown crayon, that's when they really hit the jackpot.

"Seventy-one...seventy-two...seventy-seventy-three! Seventy-three mints, Sonic! Have you ever seen so many all at once in your lifetime?" Tails announced, bouncing on his lower bunk bed in glee and rattling his winnings with each motion. Sonic lay backwards on his spiny blue back, his sneakers resting on the pillow.

"Yeah, we've really been getting it big since we took all those crayons," Sonic said, tapping his foot against the wall idly.

Noticing the hedgehog's lethargic attitude, the fox searched for something underneath the ruffled covers. "Don't think I left you out, Sonic! I've got something for you!"

The blue teenager sat straight up at the sound of plastic crackling. A wild grin overtook his placid expression. "You did not."

"Did!" Tails cheered, tossing a pack of nacho cheese chips onto Sonic's lap, "I know you don't have a sweet tooth like I do. So I pulled a few strings to get you some. Though it's not a chilidog, your most favoritest food..." The fox glanced up from his bashful speech to see that Sonic had practically devoured all its contents, orange powder smeared across his tan muzzle.

The blue hedgehog chuckled and gave him a thumbs-up. "Hey, anythin' spicy or savory I like. Thanks for thinkin' about me. You're way past cool, Tails!" he said, revealing nacho cheese-stained teeth.

"Thanks!" Tails said, accidentally spitting out one of the five mints he had in his mouth in the process. He slipped the candy back into his mouth- -five second rule, right?- -as Sonic scooted closer.

"So we still have a lot of brown crayons left, lil' buddy. It's a miracle that the adults haven't found out about our plan. How long do ya think we can keep this up?" the blue hedgehog asked, grasshopper eyes glittering with curiosity.

The two-tailed orphan gathered the brown crayons in hand. "It's simple," he stated, "We continue to hide the remaining brown crayons under the covers and bed and slowly sell them all to the kids like we've been doing. Then the adults will have nothing to worry about once we have them all out of our possession!"

Sonic nodded, assured. Then an apprehensive look flickered across his face as he swiveled his head around. "Ya know, don't ya think that class will be starting up again soon after free time? It's been a while," he said.

Tails nodded to the teenager's remark and leaped off his bed, crayons in his gloved hands. "You're right. We better head down there right now. Otherwise somebody might've noticed we were missin' and-"

"Ah-ha!" a voice cried, and a fat man- -none other than Eggman himself- -barreled into the room. He pointed a finger at the startled orphan triumphantly, "I have you now, little rotten smuggler!"

Tails dropped his crayons as Sonic simultaneously whispered, "I told you we shouldn't've given a brown crayon to Alex."

...

And so, Miles Prower was founded out to be the mastermind behind the brown crayon caper, an elaborate smuggling of brown art tools in exchange for rich mint candy and scrumptious cheese chips. As punishment, West Side's Home for Children sentenced the orphan to two weeks of mopping up the boys' bathroom alone. After all, the orphanage had no room for that kind of behavior going on amongst the kids. With one of the staff workers- -Eggman, to be precise- -bellowing on about 'that blasted two-tailed Prower', one thing was sure: Miles Prower, indeed, had become the most wanted among staff workers.

Alas, if that were the case for potential parents for him, his life would be splendid. In fact, at times, Miles wished he would've had a completely different life, one where he wasn't stuck in an orphanage, first ignored and now despised.

Tails swept the mop sullenly over the bathroom tiles, his arms weary from menial work. Sonic was at work as well, and when he saw the eight year old's despondent countenance, he shuffled over to him indiscreetly.

"Hey. Hey, Tails."

"What?" the fox grumbled, only to be doused with mop water, "Hey!"

Sonic was already in a laughing fit, so Tails ruefully flicked his mop's water into his friend's face. He smiled sinisterly at the hedgehog's sputtering astonishment.

Sonic saw the devious little fox's smirk and grinned in response. "This means war!"

The two of them immediately hurried over to the water pail, dunked their cleaning tools in, and ensued in an all-out battle of epic proportions. It persisted for a while but over the course of fifteen minutes, it soon deteriorated into fox and hedgehog in laughing conniptions on the flooded floor, fur and clothes soaked to the skin.

...Maybe an entirely different life with loving parents and devoid of evil staff workers could've made Miles' life splendid. Yet, still, what was life to Tails without his imaginary friend?

So, I'm trying something a bit different for once, an AU! This honestly was just some an experimentation with a random idea that I had about Sonic technically not existing in real life but in Tails' mind. If you liked it, let me know whether I should continue via review, favorite, follow, or PM. 'Cause if not, I may leave it as a random one-shot. And also, if you liked my style but generally prefer more serious content, check out my other stories!

Thanks!

-JD