This story is based off some concept art drawn for Sonic during the development of the original 1991 game for the Mega Drive/Genesis. In this art, Sonic is seen performing as the lead singer in the "Sonic the Hedgehog Band" (a stroke of ego which I imagine led to a bitter breakup somewhere down the line), backed up by four characters whom we never saw again. And no, I refuse to acknowledge that crocodile as Vector, as the two look nothing alike.

Anyway, with Sonic Mania Plus on its way, I thought it would be appropriate to write a short story about opening old wounds. Enjoy!

Warning: there is a bit of fluff in here, but towards the end we do get to the first bit of plot.

Tails ticked off the seconds in his mind. 33. 32. 31.

His chest huffed and puffed from equal parts desperation and determination as he let some of the energy out of his whirring appendages, giving him the velocity to perform yet another low swoop over the ruins. There seemed almost no point to it all. A birds' eye view of the scene only gave him another look at the same dead ends he'd run into before. The crystal lake, the abandoned train tracks, the cliff overlooking the river...none yielded a clue.

The world passed below him in the blink of an eye, blurring into something without shape or form, almost too fast to notice. But if Tails kept his head on a swivel, he might spot—wait. Nope. Too late. Out of range. He'd have to circle back.

28. 27. 26.

Come on, Sonic. You couldn't have just disappeared. I can read you like the back of my hand.

I'll find you...I know I will!

Suddenly, a familiar landmark passed by on his left. ...Wait! That's it!

How could he have forgotten? For years, long since the mining company packed up their things and moved on, the shaft had blotted the landscape like a rotting wound. In the intervening time, he had apparently come to accept it as a natural part of the cliff face. Somehow his mind had conjured up a non-existent point in time where the cliff never had a massive hole drilled into it, as if the wound had healed itself over time – when, in fact, it hadn't.

22. 21. 20.

Tails made a quick 180-degree turn, diving just low enough to clear the opening in the rock face before ascending once more. Inside, the last remnants of sunlight glistened off the stalactites and stalagmites, reflecting off the precious few chunks of diamond left behind by the mining team to create its own ethereal, fairylike glow.

Wow. No wonder they chose this spot to drill! thought Tails.

And no wonder Sonic chose this spot to hide. There he was, lying back with his head resting against a column of limestone, unconscious of how the light bounced off the chunks of diamond to grant him a surreal, almost holy aura. Or, if he had been aware of this, he didn't show much interest. Not enough interest in it to stay awake, anyway. Okay, this was getting annoying. Sonic had to have noticed Tails by now. He couldn't be that tired, could he?

The sound of Tails' bespoke helicopter blades echoed through the mineshaft, bouncing off every surface and causing a dull roar that blasted out like the thrust of a rocket engine. And yet Sonic refused to budge. Wait. Ooohhhh, no. He didn't...oh, yeah, he did. He totally saw Sonic stop and point his head in Tails' direction as he turned over. For crying out loud, he...aaagh, that smirk! Sonic knew, all right. He kept his eyes closed the whole time, but Tails wasn't fooled for a second.

All right, that's it. This game ends here.

His arms folded in mock disappointment, Tails dropped out of tail-flight, landing mere inches in front of Sonic's resting place. This would get his attention, no doubt. He waved his weapons to and fro, readying them for the final assault. Sonic had made one last, fatal mistake – he left his weak spot open to attack.

"You're it!" Tails shouted, as he poked and prodded and rubbed his tails against Sonic's chest. It worked a little too well. For once, Sonic reverted into the habits of his species, curling into a ball at the first sign of attack. It was only when he noticed the uproarious laughter from his friend nearby that he realized the jig was up...though if he thought that would somehow end the torture, he was mistaken. Tails wasn't about to let that happen. The moment Sonic turned to escape through the jagged rocks of the shaft, Tails kept tickling away with his furry tickling machines of war.

His laughter was infectious, inescapable. When it reached Sonic, he made nary an effort to avoid its spell, and gave in. This could go on forever. For one fleeting moment, Sonic wished it could, but deep in his heart, he knew no moment could. Pinned against a jagged column, he had little choice but to tap out.

"All right...all right..." said Sonic, struggling through his own laughter. "I give up! Ya found me! I'm found!"

"Yes!" Tails celebrated in his own unique way, pantomiming a champion athlete holding up a trophy, then twirling around several times until he lost his balance and fell over against the column alongside Sonic.

"That's what...six—"

"Seven in a row!"

"A'ight, whatever, seven, I'll take your word for it," said Sonic, as he pulled Tails back to his feet. "Man...there really is no hiding from you, is there?"

Tails held his arms out and rose onto his tippy toes, trying (and failing) to look as menacing as possible. "You can't escape me...I know where you live!" he whispered directly into Sonic's ear.

He kept up the appearance only as long as it took for him to finish the sentence. The two shared yet another laugh before settling down against the limestone column, peering into the mouth of the shaft and into the morning sky. The sun just peeked over the city skyline off in the distance, spraying hues of golden amber across the landscape.

"You've always been good at catchin' up with me," said Sonic. "Right from the day we met. Remember that?"

Tails chuckled. "I don't think it's that. I mean...I guess after all this time..." He searched high and low for the right words. Master mechanic he might have been, but master of communication he was not. "...I just have this...sixth sense in my head. Where you are...what you're doing...why you're doing it..."

He waited for a response. Nothing.

Did...did I say something wrong?

He backtracked from what he said before, waving his hands back and forth. "Okay, strike that last one."

"You know...it's funny," said Sonic. His voice turned faint, almost whisper-like, barely loud enough for the fox to make out. "Just like I told myself the other day, it was like…"

"Huh?" Tails asked, to no avail.

Sonic just kept staring off into the mouth of the cave, as if the rising sun itself had a message for him. His voice grew softer with each word, practically fluttering along with the beat of his heart. "The faster you run, the harder it is to..." Sonic paused for a moment to stretch out a sore calf. "...to get away from it all. Heh. How ironic..."

"What was that?" asked Tails.

Sonic gulped and turned around, finally acknowledging Tails' presence. With more than a hint of embarrassment present on his face, he answered, "Oh...uh...that was...uh, I was just talking to myself there. Nothing important."

"Sure didn't sound like nothing to me."

"Yeah, well..." Sonic tried to reassert control of his body language, only to lose it within moments. His eyes darted back and forth in any direction other than towards Tails. "…nothing you really needed to hear."

"Uh..." Tails reached out a reassuring hand toward Sonic's shoulder...just in case. "...are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!"

Tails jumped and squirmed away, taken aback by the suddenness of Sonic's response. The look of anxiety on the fox's face instantly made Sonic wish he could have picked any other way to respond. "Sorry...I just had a bit of a...brainstorm, that's all! Nothin' to worry about!"

If only it were that easy. Tails wished he could put that little episode behind him…store it in a neat little box in the back of his mind and forget the whole thing so he could go back to horsing around. But he couldn't. Every which way he looked, there were more questions that needed answering, and the only possible answers he saw merely led to more questions. For the first time in goodness knew how long, he saw holes form in Sonic's carefree aura, and it tormented him.

He reached out his arm again, hoping the second time would be the charm. "Y'know…we don't have to keep playing if you don't wanna," he said. "If you'd rather just talk, or—"

Oh?

As if someone flicked his power switch on, Sonic leapt to his feet with a nimble backflip that shook the dirt out of his quills. Upon landing, he burst into his signature Super Peel-Out, his legs disappearing into a figure-eight-shaped blur that kicked up a typhoon of dust behind him. It was one of the oldest tricks he kept in his bag: the ability to keep his legs in motion and his feet gliding along the surface of the earth while not actually moving his body. The fact that Tails hardly flinched anymore was a testament to the strength of their friendship.

"Who said I was ready to quit?! I can do this all day! I'll find the perfect hiding spot if it kills me!" he said.

"Well…" Tails kept his lips sealed.

Oh, forget it. Not worth it.

"C'mon! We've got all the time in the world!" said Sonic, still going nowhere. "I don't see Eggman hangin' around anywhere! Do you?"

"Uh…isn't there something you're forgetting?" asked Tails. "I just found you. It's your turn to find me."

"…Ooohhhhhhhhh. Well, then…" Sonic jumped out of the Peel-out and walked up to Tails, making wild gesticulations with his arms and fists as he did so. "…I will have to settle for getting...my revenge!"

"Oh, I don't know..." said Tails, stifling a giggle. "This time I might be one step ahead!"

"Bring it on!" said Sonic.

"Ten second head-start!" Tails shouted. And just like that, he was off and through the mouth of the cave, already in tail-flight before Sonic even turned to notice his absence.

What was I even worried about? He seems okay…I think, he thought.

It wasn't exactly a stress-free journey back to his workshop, what with the currents from Sonic's dash-and-go searches pushing and pulling Tails along on his flight path. Regardless, he made it to the front door, sight unseen.

Tails eased the front door shut, hoping not to attract attention. Behind him rang the familiar sound of the air tearing apart and hastily reconstructing itself, bending before Sonic's will as he neared the sound barrier. The noise crossed over behind Tails and to the left...then to the right...then even further to the left, in the direction of the fishing boats. And then...silence.

He was home free.

With safety assured, he jumped to grab a key and a flashlight off a nearby table, then hurried to the furthest corner of the wooden shack. There, waiting for him, was an innocuous set of steel double-doors sloped between the floor and the wall.

The moment after he pulled the doors aside, a blast of cold and musty air swatted him in the face. Shivers raced through his spine at the possibility that this was less an act of nature than an omen, that these were wicked spirits set free to wreak havoc on the outside world. Or maybe it was an effect of the difference between air pressure in the two areas. Yeah, probably the latter.

He tiptoed down each of the creaky, descending floorboards, flashlight in hand. Once far enough down, he yanked a pair of ropes connected to each door's handle, slamming the doors shut and casting the chamber in absolute darkness.

I bet he'll never think to find me down here. Not in…"the cave"…

Tails just barely kept a fit of mocking evil laughter inside himself before he gave away his position.

To others, it would look like an ordinary cellar…and indeed, it used to be. That's how Sonic and Tails were able to store boxes upon boxes of tools, mementos, supplies, and other assorted junk down there in the first place. Then one day, Tails switched on the cellar's sole light source, a 120-watt light bulb, only to see it flicker its last. On that day, he tried to swap it out for a fresh bulb, but found that the metal base of the bulb had somehow melted and fused itself to the socket, rendering it stuck. From then on, the cellar could only be safely accessed on clear and sunny days during broad daylight, and even then, only when the sunlight streamed through the window at a certain angle. With such pitiful illumination, the mass of overflowing storage bins, boxes, and shelves became walls in a sadistic maze crafted by a madman. There was no telling where it ended – and for those who ventured deep enough, no telling where it began. Legends spread about people who allegedly slipped and fell on toy cars, lost track of where they were in "the cave", and starved to death before ever finding their way back to the ground floor. Of course, these "legends" were mostly spread by Tails himself to discourage break-ins, but there was still a nugget of truth in there to consider.

Tails' plan was simple. He figured he would lay low and play it safe if he confined himself to the stairs instead of venturing down to the wider storage area. It wasn't like one of those days when he went spelunking in the dark, overturning bin after bin in search of the size of socket wrench he needed because he forgot to label anything. No, this was just a game of hide and seek.

"The Waiting Game" it was. And the only other players were his flashlight and that sound, which roared like thunder as it bounced off...whatever this material was that lined the cellar walls.

Two minutes passed. The whooshes increased in frequency, but not in intensity. This could only mean Sonic was widening his search. What were the chances he'd give up and call "ollie-ollie-oxen-free"? Zip. Zilch. Tails knew he was in this for the long haul.

Five minutes down, 25 to go, but the contest looked well in hand. At this point, he couldn't even tell if Sonic was still in the Mystic Ruins at all. A smile crept across Tails' face. He figured this hiding spot would stand a chance against Sonic's speed...but not this well.

Ten minutes down.

Soon enough, the smile faded. His mind drifted away from the silly little game. He started...ugh...thinking again.

Maybe the game had ended without his knowing it. Maybe, as he tucked himself away just passing the time, Sonic was fighting a battle on the outside. Maybe. He didn't know for sure, but that was the rub, wasn't it? The not knowing. The hardest part of all. Sometimes the qualities that set them apart as people actually brought them closer together as friends, because those differences made them need each other. But other times, they did exactly that – drive them apart.

Sonic was an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a hedgehog. If you could crack the riddle, solve the enigma, you were friends forever with the blue blur. He often professed that there was nothing more to him than a guy that loved adventure, but that didn't stop others from forming their own interpretations of him. Even Tails wondered sometimes whether there was something more to Sonic than he let on...that maybe he was running away from something. But try as he might, he never dared to ask. That sixth sense could only get him so far.

He smacked himself over the forehead. You idiot! He said it himself, he's fine! He would tell you if he wasn't! And friends have nothing to hide from each other!

...right?

Tails tilted back and let out an anguished sigh into his hands. Perhaps a little spelunking in "the cave" wouldn't hurt after all, if only to give him something to do to regain his composure. Off he went, with his lantern-standard flashlight in hand.

But as he trudged down the stairwell, the legend of "the cave" began to overcome its own owner and operator. With each tentative step, his pace slowed, and his arms wobbled on the banister...until the banister ended mid-run and he was forced to clutch the bare walls, all the while cursing himself for cutting corners with construction. For all of that, he was no closer to the bottom. Oh, and there was that creaking sound to worry about...

Crack. Tails had dilly-dallied too long on one fragile step, causing it to crack and give way under his weight.

It happened too fast to react. One, twice, three times the fox was sent tumbling end-over-end, and just as soon as it began, his ride was mercifully over. The good news was, he reached bottom. The bad news was, he'd done so with his head stuffed neatly between his legs. Suddenly he was reminded why he didn't come down here very often anymore.

After he untangled himself, Tails noticed that the flashlight, although stripped from his grasp managed to complete the journey intact. Just to make sure it was in absolute tip-top shape, he groped around the exterior casing for any cosmetic damage and pointed it at a nearby wall to test the luminance of the bulb. So far, so good. He was just about ready to move on...

...wait a minute.

Tails noticed something specific on that wall...something that wasn't there the last time he went into "the cave". He noticed a red milk crate on the floor resting against the wall, and that much he did know – but there was something in the crate itself. He didn't know how, but it caught his eye. Dodging the spilled nuts and bolts on the floor from one of his own spilled bins, Tails went over to examine the crate for himself.

he wasn't sure what he expected to find…but this wasn't it.

"What the…?" he blurted.

Cassette tapes.

Thirty cassette tapes, all identical, all neatly arranged to stuff every square inch of the box. For albums on a long-outdated format, these looked like they had come fresh from the factory the day before, each one snug in its original plastic case and shrink-wrapping. On the spine of each cassette was the famed "Mobius Records" logo of old, which depicted a Mobius-loop shaped vinyl record playing on a phonograph. Obviously, this was one of Sonic's contributions, since Tails had no cassette player.

Tails craned his head closer, as more decades-old secrets filtered through the opening and into his eager mind. He sorely wished each of these cassettes had a voice of its own, something more tangible than the program recorded on the magnetic tape. Something through which it could express its journey through existence. Where had it been? How many pairs of eyes had exchanged passing glances with it in some store somewhere, only to pass it by? Most importantly…how did it end up in his hand?

Bleaurgh! Tails shook his head back and forth in the manner a dog would when sprayed with a hose. Maybe Sonic was right…I do kinda get lost in thought sometimes.

On the spine, directly facing the eager observer, there was a prominent name in flashy green letters – Primary Color.

"Primary Color"? Well, that doesn't sound like anything Sonic would listen to, Tails thought. He chuckled as memories of bitter and bloody battles over the Tornado's radio flooded his mind. For someone who so loved nature and did everything in his power to preserve life, it seemed ironic that all of Sonic's favorite bands had some variant of "Blood", "Metal", or "BloodMetal" in their names...usually a variant in which the word was spelled incorrectly and had unnecessary ümlaüts tacked on for the sake of being "EXTREME".

I guess these "Primary Color" guys must be good if Sonic's such a fan of them. After all, he bought thirty copies of this one album.

Curiosity pushed to the breaking point, Tails took one cassette out of the box for a closer examination. He turned his attention to the front cover, hoping to at least get a look at who or what "Primary Color" was...and that's when he saw it. The thing that caught his eye in the first place.

And in that moment, everything made sense. Tails could practically see the glow from the lightbulb going off over his head.

Only...that wasn't a lightbulb.

Tails turned around and, just to be sure, switched off his flashlight. Sure enough, a thin beam of natural light poked down from the first floor. He knew this could only mean one thing.

"Aha!" shouted Sonic, from upstairs. "Found you!"

Well...so much for that brilliant hiding spot, Tails thought. Still, he had made up his mind. This time, he wouldn't let Sonic go without an answer.

"Heh...this is kinda awkward," he said through sheepish laughter. Once he was confident he was in Sonic's line of sight, he turned on the flashlight and pointed it toward the cassette in his other hand. "I just found you."

He pointed the fateful front cover of the cassette album toward Sonic, which featured a profile photograph of the band members – including, at front and center, lead guitarist and vocalist Sonic the Hedgehog.