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“I have to make this right. I have to fix it.”
After his latest invention failed to work, putting his friends in danger and causing them to lose the fight, Tails felt an overwhelming amount of guilt. The only way he could live with himself was to fix his faulty machine, but he neglected to take care of himself in the process.
A whir of blue zipped across the field. Upon impact, Sonic’s spin-attack broke the robot into pieces. The components crumbled to the ground with a clank. The air was filled with the sound of zips, clanks, and grunts of force. Amy smashed a robot into bits with her Piko hammer. Knuckles launched another into the mountainside with a forceful punch. Despite the chaotic noise, it was like a symphony. The team worked in sync to dismantle the army of machines sent by Dr. Robotnik.
“This is the fourth robot army this week. It’s annoying, but I gotta admire Eggman’s tenacity.” Sonic threw a roundhouse at an approaching badnik.
Knuckles chimed in with sarcasm. “Yeah, until it interrupts my plans.”
“What plans? Sitting around guarding the Master Emerald?”
“Yes. As the guardian of the Master Emerald, it is my duty. And Eggman’s attacks are keeping me from doing so.”
“Oh, come on. Isn’t this more fun?”
The familiar spinning of two tails approached them. “Don’t worry, this fight will be over before you know it… After I use my new electromagnetic-robo-interceptor!” Tails excitedly set the device before everyone. “It uses radio waves to detect robotic signals from within an adjustable radius. It then locks onto those signals, and I can control the robots and activate a self-destruction sequence!” Tails looked around expecting looks of awe, but all he saw were confused faces. “It makes them blow up.” Tails said, deadpan.
“Oh…” everyone replied in unison.
Tails got on his knees and began to set up the device, his two tails waving excitedly as he did so. While Amy whacked away at the robots, she asked, “Are you sure it will work?”
Tails perked up. “Absolutely positive! Well, eighty percent. I haven’t tested it yet.”
Knuckles looked up from in the distance. “What?”
Amy gave a look of concern. “You haven’t tested it?”
Tails looked down shyly. “Well, I just didn’t have the time… I’m sure it will be fine though! My inventions have a seventy-five percent success rate!” Tails looked around, but nobody seemed to be reassured. “It- It’ll work!”
Sonic ran over. “Come on, guys. You can trust Tails. He’s the smartest dude I know!”
Tails smiled, flattered and reassured by Sonic’s compliment. Upon pressing a few buttons, the machine was prepared. Tails stood up and admired his work. “All right, the device is all set.” He turned a knob labeled with various distances and flipped a switch. Everyone watched the machine, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.
Tails’ eyebrow raised. He went through all of the possible problems. Maybe he pressed the wrong button? Or he forgot to put batteries in it. As Tails examined the possibilities, a plume of smoke began to rise from the device. Everything felt silent.
Sonic said what everyone else was thinking. “Tails… Is that thing supposed to be doing that?” Tails shook his head slowly, indicating that this was not in fact part of the plan.
A few more silent moments passed before Sonic sneezed and called out, “Everyone get back!” Amy and Knuckles ran for cover, and Sonic quickly grabbed Tails. Behind them, a loud explosion rang. Everything felt blurry to Tails, and he was unfocused. Lost in his own thoughts, he couldn’t hear Sonic trying to reach him.
“Tails? Tails, are you okay?” Sonic waved his hand in front of the fox’s face.
“I… I messed up.” Tails murmured with guilt in his voice.
Sonic put his hand on Tails’ shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You were only trying to help.”
Knuckles walked over, covered in soot. “Are you kidding? He almost blew us up. You should have tested the device. You’re smarter than that, Tails.”
Tails looked down shamefully. Defeated, he walked over to collect his broken machine. Sonic watched sympathetically as the young fox walked away. When Tails was gone, Sonic gave Knuckles a dirty look.
“What?”
Sonic’s voice raised. “What do you mean, ‘What?’! Why’d you get on Tails like that?”
Knuckles sighed. “I didn’t mean any harm.”
Tails walked into his workshop and plopped the broken device on the table. His discouragement was replaced by a burning sense of guilt and determination to make things right. He stared at the pile of scraps that was once going to be his greatest invention yet. His hand rested on his chin thoughtfully. “What went wrong?” he asked himself. He tapped his finger on the table. Like a switch, he instantly got to work. He began scanning the device for any faults or errors in code. He tested the circuits, which were half smoldered from the explosion. He tinkered with the device ceaselessly, not even realizing that hours had passed and it was pitch black outside. His workshop was well lit, and his focus did not break. It wasn’t until Sonic had come to check on him a couple of days later that he’d realized how much time had passed.
A knock at the door made Tails jolt back into reality.
“Hey, Tails. I figured I’d come and check on you. You’ve been in here for a while.” Sonic said as he walked in. He slid onto a stool, and it spun slightly. “What’cha been up to?”
“I’m trying to fix my electromagnetic-robo-interceptor, but I can’t figure out where I went wrong.”
Sonic watched Tails type unfamiliar strings of code on his computer. “You’ve been at this for days. Have you even slept? Eaten?”
“No time for that. I have to find my mistake so it never happens again.” Tails went back to examining the components. Sonic watched him with a look of concern.
“Tails, nobody blames you for what happened. Why don’t you take a break? You look exhausted.”
Tails got up from his workbench and walked over to a shelf full of tools and spare parts. He reached out for a tool with a shaky hand. The object trembled in his grasp as he walked back to his work station. His legs felt like they were betraying him. “I must’ve sat for too long,” he thought to himself. His vision was blurring. The room didn't seem real. He stumbled to the floor as his entire body gave out.
“Tails!” Sonic rushed over. Tails had collapsed right in front of him. He kneeled over the tiny, delicate fox. He looked at him with worried eyes. The young fox had taken it too far. Sonic scooped him up in his arms. Tails was light, yet he felt so heavy. He carried him over to the sofa on the opposite side of the room, pacing himself ever so gently so as not to jostle him. He set him down as if he were made of glass and draped a blanket over his tired form.
Tails began to stir and looked up at Sonic with tired eyes. He saw his hero, his best friend, his brother, looking frightened. Tails’s eyes burned as they filled with tears. His voice was broken. “I-I’m sorry. I-I-I didn’t mean to- I just-”
Sonic gave him a warm smile and kneeled down beside him. “It’s okay. I understand you wanted to make it right, but,” Sonic wiped the tears from Tails’s face, “You gotta take care of yourself. I care about you, buddy.”
Tails sniffed and nodded his head. Sonic went off to scavenge for whatever food Tails had lying around his workshop. He found a granola bar and tore it open, handing it to Tails, who gladly accepted.
“Thanks, Sonic,” Tails said in between bites. “And I’m sorry I scared you like that. I got so caught up in my work that I forgot to take a break.”
“I forgive you. Just take better care of yourself? For me?”
“Yeah, I can do that.” Tails smiled wide, thankful that Sonic wasn’t angry with him. Though, he’d never really been mad at him before.
“Thanks, buddy. Now, we need to get some real food in you. What’d’ya think about some chili dogs?”
“That sounds amazing.”