Upper City Taris — Reflections

Miles Prower awoke from a nightmare. The images of the soldiers he had slain aboard the Endar Spire — and those he saw slain — haunted him. It had been years since he had been forced to kill another sapient being, and even if those other beings were not Mobian, they were still people. The thought of it unnerved him, and he was glad he never saw any of the Sith soldiers' faces. And yet, weren't those troops trying to kill him? Would he even be alive right now, had he not fought to defend himself? Miles wondered what Sonic would have done in his situation.

Would Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Planet Mobius, have actually killed in order to save his skin? To his knowledge, Sonic had never, ever, killed anyone before. Why would he need to? Sonic was so freaking fast, he could dodge lasers all day long and actually get bored doing it. Sonic could have, would have, simply ran circles, squares, and triangles around his attackers, taunt them, make fun of their incompetence, insult them, infuriate them, and then knock them out cold. At the very worst, Sonic would have made them shoot each other, and it would have been purely accidental and unintentional. But...

‘I’m not Sonic.’

Miles "Tails" Prower would never have Sonic's raw speed or tactical agility; he would never have Knuckles' brute strength or endurance; he would never have Shadow's obscenely powerful Chaos affinity. Yes, Tails was fast. Yes, Tails was strong. Yes, Tails was a powerful Chaos user. But he never truly excelled in any one attribute.

In order to keep up with the other three heroes (assuming one actually counted Shadow as a "hero"), Tails had to rely on his wits and maintain both a strategic and tactical superiority over his opponents. The fact that Tails was also an engineering progeny on par with Dr. Robotnik went a long way to close the gap.

Looking around, Tails saw he was in some sort of cheap hotel or apartment. Sunlight shone faintly through an open window. His body ached, and he saw that he was covered with bandages. Tails delicately probed his ribs; they hurt on contact, but they didn't feel broken anymore. Slowly, Tails got up and climbed out of his oversized bed.

He nearly lost his balance, and the boy realized he couldn't feel one of his tails. The tail that had parried the lightsaber was very much intact, but felt numb and lifeless. Gently removing the bandage that had been wrapped around it, he saw the horrific damage done to his tail. Where the lightsaber had struck, only a charred ruin remained. Tails gasped, and sincerely hoped his namesake would heal. That, or hope he'd find a Power Ring. Preferably several.

Tails spotted a full-size mirror near his bed, and removing the remaining bandages, he could see the full extent of the damage inflicted on his body. Not three, but six black stripes had seared his form, and he was covered with bruises and other scratches. Miles' entire body was a criss-crossed circuit board of old scars, some older than his battle with the "Egg Walker". These new ones would simply add to his decoration. For some odd reason, Miles always got beat up more than Sonic, Knuckles, or Shadow ever did. At least it made him look tougher.

Sighing, Tails looked around for a bathroom. He needed to relieve himself, and he hoped he could take a shower. Hobbling over to a door that looked promising, he touched what looked like a control pad, and with a faint hiss, the door opened and revealed the facilities he wanted.

The hot shower was as painful as it was invigorating. The detergent was harsh, and his shower brush threatened to re-open his wounds. Soot, grime, dried blood, and loose fur were flushed down the drain. Touching a button, he was blasted by warm, dry air that quickly evaporated the moisture that clung to him. Tails felt like a new Mobian, if somewhat burnt and banged up. The boy tugged on his cranial fur, and three long bangs now bobbed over his face.

Tails strode past the mirror again, and stopped. The creature in the mirror stared back at him. The boy could still hardly recognize himself. Two years ago, he was 80 cm tall and weighed about 15 kg. Today, he was 125 cm tall and weighed 50 kg. His chest was now thicker than his waist, and wiry lean muscle was now clearly visible under his short, dense, orange-and-white fur. Tails doubted even ten percent of his body weight was fat, virtually all of it stored in those namesakes of his.

His twin tails had grown the most. In less only two years, his tails had quadrupled in length, and were now more than eight feet long, twice as long as the boy was tall! Tails' muzzle had also lengthened considerably, and his parabolic ears now were just plain huge, almost fennec-like. Miles didn't realize that crossing into puberty would cause such a radical transformation to his body, and it certainly shocked everyone he had grown up with. Tails smiled. He figured he was already bigger and taller than any other fox on Mobius, and he was only fourteen!

Despite his new, visible adolescent musculature, Tails was by no means bulky. He was still thin and scrawny from an outsider's point of view, particularly Humans', and being only five "heads" tall, the boy still had very "Mobian" proportions. But, no longer was he the chubby, noodle-limbed child of yesteryear! He reminded himself of Olympic sprinters and swimmers from Earth, just in a shorter, thinner Mobian package.


Besides his tails, the muscles in his legs had grown prominently. Tails had always been a swift runner and a strong jumper — one had to be to ever keep up with Sonic! — but, now, his body had developed to the point where he really looked the part. The boy's abs, butt, thighs, and calves all looked like a single functional unit designed for quick sprinting and powerful leaps. Tails' upper body strength was certainly nothing to joke about, but it was obvious to anyone who looked at him that it was his lower body where his strength truly lay. Nothing looked so bulky to look silly or out of place on him, but the muscles now popping out from beneath his fur could make any Mobian girl swoon!

Between ages eight and twelve, Tails didn't grow all that much, but after his twelfth birthday, the Mobian fox grew like a weed on commercial fertilizer. He wasn't done growing yet, either, but the pace of his growth had slowed considerably after his initial eighteen-month spurt. He was now taller than all of his friends, even Sonic. In fact, only Big the cat, Vector the crocodile, and Bark the polar bear were still bigger and taller, and not by much. Big, Bark, Vector, Mighty, Knuckles, and Shadow were now the only ones still physically stronger than he was, despite three of them being shorter.

In addition to the extra height and muscle mass, Tails had gotten quite a bit fluffier in places. The was now extensive 'feathering' of longer, softer, exceptionally fine fur under his elbows and armpits, over his sternum and pectorals, over his navel and pelvis, and over his calves and ankles. There was even a thin, 'mane' like line of fluff from the back of his head to the middle of his shoulder blades. He kept this new, fluffier fur trimmed and combed to prevent it from looking ratty, and the boy liked how the new fluff accentuated his teenage look. And his tails, of course, got even fluffier than ever before, and they both sported an especially soft, airy appearance that the boy kept well groomed.

Naturally, adolescence brought with it various negative traits, as well. Tails got angry a lot easier than before, and often had verbally chewed out his close friends over some petty slight. He even punched Sonic in the face once over some stupid disagreement they had. He hated that, and felt ashamed of it, even though he felt Sonic deserved it. Tails was just finding it harder to keep his emotions under control when people pushed his buttons.

Puberty had brought on other problems. His more... hormonal responses to the females around him had caught him off guard. The fourteen year old fox was still a virgin in all possible definitions of the word, but if Tails let his mind wander, he would invariably start thinking about girls.

The fact that all the girls he knew were older and fully "developed" didn't help much. The fact they were mostly all prey species like hedgehogs, rabbits, mice, and squirrels played havok with his brain. Thus, Tails tried to avoid females as much as possible. Unfortunately, the war against Robotnik and his mechanical hordes made interacting with members of the opposite sex mandatory. Further complicating his dilemma was the fact that various females had begun courting his attention. Aggressively. And almost none of them were canine. Tails' hormones made his brain hurt.

Miles Prower shook his head, jostling unclean thoughts out of his mind.

'Focus, Miles...'

The boy rummaged through a banged-up footlocker beside his bed. He found new pairs of combat boots and work gloves — these ones a two-tone brown and black instead of plain white — and immediate slipped them on. He hated being naked. They fit comfortably; the cuffs of the gloves nearly came up to his elbows, and the tops of the boots nearly came up to his knees. There was other clothing in the locker, but Tails wasn't too interested in wearing more than he had to: Human-style clothing irritated his fur, and always left him uncomfortably warm.

Walking over to the window, Tails peered outside. He was at least thirty stories off the ground in a city he had never seen before. A numberless multitude of flying craft whizzed about in a semi-orderly fashion.

'No way... that this could be Earth!' Tails thought to himself.

A half-million questions bombarded Tails' mind. Where was he? Why was he here? When did he leave Mobius? Why did he leave Mobius? Did he really join this "Republic"? Why did he join it? Why was he serving as a scout and/or soldier within it? Who were the "Sith", and why were they enemies of the Republic? Who were these powerful Chaos wielders who called themselves the "Jedi"? How were the Humans involved in all this? When did the Humans expand beyond Earth and the Sol System? Were the Humans the primary species within this Republic, or only a marginal influence? Did this Mobian fall into some sort of time warp? Was he now in an alternate universe or timeline? Did Mobius even exist in this universe? Could he ever go back? Would he ever see Sonic and his friends again?

'Why can't I remember anything?!'

The room was silent.

Sighing and shaking his head, Tails walked back to his bed and sat cross-legged on top of it. He stared blankly at his sheets. For the first time in what seemed an eternity, Tails could actually think. All the commotion aboard the Endar Spire forbade him from thinking. Tails reflected upon his limited memory of that ship. He pondered his interactions with Trask Ulgo, and how compliant he had been with the ensign's orders. He thought about the soldiers he killed, and how they had tried to kill him. Tails' brain stared hurting. Introspection was never his favorite activity.

The fox attempted moving his injured tail, but it only twitched pathetically. At least it responded!

That moment, Tails' ears picked up someone outside the main door, and he readied himself for action. The door clicked and whizzed open.

It was Carth.

"Oh, you're up!"