A/N: First off, I like to thank a few people that helped me out with this in one way or another. There's Shardwing52, who helped me out with some of the ideas for how the characters will be in this story. Then there's Jowy's Pixie that suggested my (former) collaborator to this story. Finally, there's my (former) collaborator, aliixo, who has been helpful so far.

This AU is strictly based off of the game-verse, so there will be nothing that's from the comics or TV shows. There will of course be some moments that may feel OOC, but keep in mind that the characters' lives will be effected differently in a pretty big way even if it may not seem like it at first. I know several sources have said Tails is 8 years old in the modern games (and most likely 4 in the classic if you think about the four years difference between classic and modern Amy's age), but he's always felt a little older to me, so I'll be making him 7 for the classic and 11 for the modern.

Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't own the franchise, or else I would actually try to make something good with it.

Chapter 1: The Lone(ly) Fox P1

This was it. This was how his life was going to end; not surrounded by his friends and enjoying what's left of his life, but rather watching helplessly as his friends all fought with their lives against the monster that was the cause of his current condition. That crystalline-looking anthropomorphic hedgehog known as Mephiles was just messing with them. He was enjoying the torture he was inflicting on all of them as he taunted their attempts to stop him. They thought they had won, but one of their own being on the brink of death had proved them wrong.

Miles Prower, well known hero of the world, was dying. He had hoped against it, but had always figured he would more than likely go out this way. That's what happens when you help save the world so many times after all. As he watched his friends battle, he couldn't help but question "Did I do everything right?" and if perhaps things would have been better if someone else was the hero instead of him. How he found himself in such a role is a story that takes place years ago back when he was nothing more than a shy and scared little fox.

Miles had just taken up residence on West Side Island, but the natives were anything but welcoming. Their ridicule of his two tails made it so hard for him to not cry, which he would wind up doing more than half of the time. Some of them would even get physical in their bullying and attack him in groups, but it was because of those desperate times that the young seven year old yellow-orange fox learned his two tails proved useful by using them to fly a safe distance away. At the moment, he was at the outer reaches of the forest known as Emerald Hill Zone with a depressed look on his face.

"Everywhere I go it's the same thing," Miles said with a depressed sigh, walking around aimlessly. "Why do they all have to be that way? Why can't I meet one person on this whole planet that doesn't pick on me?"

A gust of wind then blew pass him as though it was responding to his question. If it really was giving the sad anthropomorphic fox an answer, it was an empty one like the wind itself.

"I don't know why I'm talking to myself about this, or even why I'm asking," he said as he stopped and looked at his shoes covering his feet. "It's not like it's going to change anything."

As the two tailed fox just stood there with his thoughts, a giant flash occurred in the forest and brought him back to the real world. That flash was no doubt caused by an explosion. What was going on? Was anyone hurt? Was the whole forest about to be burned down? All of these thoughts came to the boy's mind all at once. He knew how the people of the island had treated him, but that doesn't mean he wished for something horrible to happen to them.

With that, he ran into Emerald Hill Zone as fast as he could, spinning his tails to pick up speed. When he arrived at the source there were robots searching through the place. What they were in search of, he had no idea. Now, Miles was a great admirer of mechanical stuff, but just looking at those machines told him that he should keep his distance from them as much as possible.

"NO!" screamed a woman. "Let go of him!"

"Mama!" cried another voice in fright.

The outcries caused Miles to look in the direction they came from, and what he saw was an anthropomorphic mother bear desperately trying to hold onto her son, who was being pulled by a monkey-looking robot. The sight of the scared little boy trying to cling to his mother as a heartless machine tried to rip him away broke the young fox's heart. He knew exactly what it felt like to be scared and not being able to do anything about it, and seeing another going through that made him do something unexpected even to himself.

"Hey! Leave them alone!" shouted Miles, gaining the attention of not just the robotic monkey having a tug of war with the mother bear with her cub as the prize, but all of the other robots within the vicinity as well. "Uh...please?"

He then jumped backwards and cried in surprise as one of four robotic wasps fired a beam in his direction. As all four of the wasp-looking robots opened fire on him, Miles hid himself behind the vast amount of trees in the area. As sturdy as the trees were, he knew they wouldn't hold up for long against all of the blasting from the mechanical bugs.

He could just run or fly right now and get away, but then what would happen to the mother and her son? He couldn't just leave them in such a state, but just what could he do? He had nothing to combat against these machines other than himself, and it doesn't seem like getting close is an option at the moment.

'Come on Miles, think!' thought the fox. He then spotted a golden ring on the ground that was big enough to fit his wrist, and carefully picked it up as he observed it. 'This looks like one of those rings that are scattered across the world that I hear so much about, and are supposed to protect you from any fatal harm no matter what. Though that's all just superstition if you asks me,' he tapped the ring with one hand, and felt the density to it. 'But maybe it can still be useful.'

The firing soon died down, and all four of the robotic wasps hovered slowly towards the trees their target was hiding behind. As soon as they were close enough, the young boy jumped out to the side and threw the ring at the nearest robot in the air. With the strength used to throw the ring behind it, the robot was destroyed on impact and the ring bounced right back to the fox's hand. He then twirled his tails and flew in the air as one of the remaining three same model robots fired at him again, just before he tossed the ring in its direction and the item ricocheted off of it and another one of the machines before returning to his hand. The last flying robot fired a beam at him, but he was able to nullify it by tossing the ring at it. With the attack being canceled out and distracting the machine, Miles flew to the robotic wasp and doubled kicked its head clean off.

The two tailed fox then hovered gently to the ground and picked the golden ring back up. His blue eyes were then on the robotic monkey as the mechanical animal released its hold on the bear cub, and the mother took her offspring and backed away from the oncoming fight. Before, the robot's sensors indicated that the abnormal fox was not a threat, but the danger scale went higher and higher for each time one of the other robots were destroyed.

With great speed and strength, Miles threw the ring with the intent of obliterating the mechanical being in front of him just as he did with the others. However, he had forgotten one important thing during the heat of the battle; robotic monkeys have hands. Fear and hesitation had returned to the young boy when he witness his weapon now in the enemy's hands. The mechanical primate then started pounding the ground as an act of intimidation, which was proving to be working if the look on the fox's face was any indication.

'Okay, just calm down,' thought Miles, trying to stop his muscles from tensing. 'You just took out four of its companies that had weapons built into them. This one doesn't look like it has any of its own weapons, so its sole design must be for scouting and retrieving,' a sweat drop appeared on his head as the machine took a stance in preparation to throw the ring in an attempt to kill. 'Or maybe not.'

He then dodged out of the way of the ring thrown at him, and saw it bounce off of a tree behind him and back into the robot's metallic hands. Said robot was once again trying to intimidate by pounding the ground. During that moment, Miles had turned his attention towards the wreckage he had created out of the other robots, and a plan started formulating in his mind.

He ran as fast as he could to the pile of metal, easily dodging the attack being made on him. He then began to rummage through the pile of scrap with the hope he can find what he needs. Find it he did, for one of the blasters that were connected to the robotic wasps was still intact and seemed to be functioning. Now he just had to time this right, or else that mechanized primate would just counter the blast with the ring just as he had.

The ring was once again thrown in his direction, and he dodged it at a moment's notice. At the same time, he had also managed to cross a few wires in the weapon he held and fired at his target. Unfortunately, it was a one-shot deal and the circuitry to the blaster were fried afterwards, but the upside was that he had hit his mark and took it out. He then dropped the now useless weapon and made his way to the mother and son.

"Are you okay?" said Miles as he watched the mother bear hold her child tightly in fear of losing him.

"Oh thank you. Thank you so much," the mother almost sobbed. "I would have lost my little boy if it wasn't for you."

"Mama?" said the son, pushing his head away from his mother's chest and staring up at her. "Is it safe now? Are they all gone?"

"Yes, they're all gone," consoled the mother with a gentle smile. "They can't hurt you anymore."

"What did they want?" said Miles as he went to pick the ring he's been using as a weapon back up. "What were they exactly?"

"You mean you don't know?" said the mother bear, receiving a negative shake from the fox's head. "Those were Badniks; robots created by Dr. Robotnik. I don't have any idea what he's after, or what it has to do with those things trying to take my son from me."

"Dr. Robotnik?" said Miles, putting one hand under his chin in a thinking position. "Just who is he?"

"Boy, you're not very smart, are you?" said the bear cub.

"Rupert, be kind," said the mother before hearing a bashful "Yes, Mama" as a response. "He's been trying to conquer the world for almost a year now. I heard he just got through making all of South Island his territory, and those who live there are forced to be his laborers. He's getting closer to his goal each day."

"Isn't there anyone that can stop him?" said Miles in a mixer of depression and fright. "His machines don't seem to be invincible by the looks of it."

"There have been others who've tried," said the mother. "But no matter how many of those Badniks they took out, Robotnik always seem to overcome them in the end and win."

"Hey mister, what's that behind your back?" said Rupert in wonderment. "It looks like an extra tail? Is it, huh? Is it?"

The younger child's curiosity about the twin tails embarrassed Miles to no end. He even subconsciously grabbed one of his tails and started rubbing it with one hand.

"Rupert, shh," said the mother.

"That's okay," whispered Miles as he looked down to hide his blush. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. Besides, I'm used it."

"Well, that's all I can really tell you," said the mother before bending over to put her son down and releasing her grip on him. "We're getting as far away from here as possible, and I suggest you do the same. You may have taken out five of those things on your own, but Robotnik has an army of them."

The mother and son then turned their backs to him and slowly walked away, hand in hand. As Miles watched them, he couldn't help but see himself in place of them. Whenever he felt like he couldn't handle something when they got tough, or because others caused problems for him, he would leave and find somewhere else to live. Now this man, this Robotnik, was forcing everyone to bend to his rules or to run away and hide until the inevitable.

"He's just a bully," said Miles, clutching his fist in anger. The two bears were still in earshot, and so turned their attention back towards him. "terrorizing others and making them do what he wants is just like a bully! You go, but I'm staying! I've met enough people like him in my life to last me a lifetime. There's no way I'm going to let someone like him take over the world and make everyone's life miserable. It just isn't fair for someone like that to win in the end!"

Miles honestly had no idea where that came from. He had often runaway from his problems, and this obviously went beyond anything he has dealt with before in his seven year old life. Why was it now that he chose to stay and stand up against someone? Was it easier to stand up for others than it was for himself, or was the adrenaline from the fight still kicking in without his noticed? Either way, this just felt different and that he had to stay.

"Here you go mister. For luck," said Rupert, catching the yellow-orange fox off guard as he appeared in front of him with a purple jewel. "I found it yesterday. You can have it though."

Miles carefully picked up the object from the bear's hands and looked at it. Through the jewel, he could still see the younger boy's smiling face before he ran back to his mother. Miles then lowered the purple gem and looked up. The bear family waved him bye and wished him luck, which he returned in kind. He then tucked the jewel and his ring away and prepared himself for the consequences of his coming actions.

A/N: I like to think that Tails (Miles in this case) would have found another reason to try to stop Robotnik if he had never met Sonic. Perhaps I could have done better with his conviction when he chose to stay, but I felt that he needed some sort of connection from his life for him to start his adventures in this story's universe.