Chapter Text
It had been two entire years since the invasion of Team Doom and their ultimate weapon, The Black Death. Naturally, a lot had happened since that point. Adventure and battle was just the destiny of Sonic The Hedgehog and his friends.
However, a brand new adventure was beginning. An adventure unlike any other. A grand experience years in the making.
Miles Prower’s 13th birthday party.
Sonic The Hedgehog leapt into the air with a grin as he hung a bright yellow streamer on a tree. He then bounced off its trunk just to hang another.
Amy Rose was just carefully setting up the food on the picnic table, which consisted of a large cake decorated to look like Tails’ logo, a large plate of chili dogs, and two bowls of mint candies. Since they knew the two-tailed genius had a large fondness for them.
Knuckles The Echidna was stacking present after present before a familiar ring-tailed lemur swung over and threw a large tarp over it to keep it hidden.
Tangle The Lemur smiled wide. “Man, this party’s looking awesome!!! Tails is gonna love it!!!”
“The present we got him is obviously the best!” Charmy Bee cried as he flew right past the last Echidna and the hyperactive lemur.
Knuckles grinned. “I dunno, the one I got him kinda…rocks.”
Sonic then landed beside him, giving his friend and brother in arms a look. “Did…did you seriously get Tails a bunch of rocks for his birthday?”
“Some of the best from my collection!” Knuckles said, looking incredibly proud of himself.
Espio The Chameleon just gave his old friend a bit of an amused smile. “Knuckles, are you sure he’s even a geologist?”
“...a what now?” Tangle asked, tilting her head.
Whisper The Wolf giggled softly as she walked past her, hanging up a few more decorations. “It’s a scientist that studies various types of rock.”
“Ohhhh! Got it!” Tangle said with an adorable grin and a thumbs up.
Knuckles then sighed. “To answer your question, I don’t know what kinda science he’s into, but I just think he’ll appreciate these! I mean…you’ve seen my collection!”
Maria Robotnik hummed as she set a few more plates of food on the picnic table. “It is a very impressive collection!”
Amy sighed. “You’re not wrong.”
“See? They get it!” Knuckles said.
Sonic sighed. “Still! We gotta go all out for him! You only turn 13 once after all!”
“I’m surprised you aren’t more emotional.” Vector The Crocodile said. “Considering you basically raised the kid.”
Sonic shrugged with his signature grin. “Eh, I was never really the kinda guy to cry. I’m happy for my little bro! He’s come a long way and today’s the day to show him that!”
Cream The Rabbit, now 9 years old herself, then tilted her head as she used her ears to fly into the air so she could hang up a few decorations. “But, Mr. Sonic…I thought I heard you crying in the corner during his last birthday-”
“OH, LOOK AT THE TIME!!! I GOTTA GET THE CAKE!!!” Sonic cried as he quickly ran off at super speed.
Vector blinked. “He…he does know we already have one, right?”
Amy giggled, seeming to be in a mix of amused and smitten. “Sonic The Hedgehog. One in a million…”
“You can say that again!” Gadget The Wolf cried, swinging on his grappling hook to hang up another streamer. “So, how much time do we have left?”
Lanolin The Sheep walked in with a clipboard, humming. “We have precisely 15 minutes before the rest of the guests arrive…excluding Princess Blaze, Silver, and Marine. Apparently they’re all a bit tied up with something back in The Sol Dimension, but they have sent presents.”
“And once everyone arrives, we give the signal to Sonic to bring Tails! And then we surprise him!” Maria said with her signature bright smile.
Gemerl The Robot began calculating the outcome of the surprise party within his systems before he gave a thumbs up. “And Dr. Eggman is currently reveling in his latest defeat, which means he will not be ‘crashing the party’. Unlike last year…”
“That…that was certainly a birthday to remember.” Espio hummed.
Charmy grinned as he flew beside him. “And it was awesome!!! Just explosions and fighting and pure hero-ness!!!”
Tangle then scratched her chin. “Speaking of years and birthdays…has anyone else noticed that we’ve finally started…y’know…aging recently?”
“What do ya mean?” Vector asked.
“Like…I’m pretty sure Cream stayed 6 for a few years. And Tails was 11 for like…a while.” Tangle said.
Knuckles groaned, holding his head. “It’s probably just because of all the timey-wimey nonsense we’ve had to deal with. Can we move on? Thinking about it gives me a massive headache.”
“I’m with Knuckles on this one. It’s probably best not to worry about it.” Whisper said.
Tangle shrugged. “Can’t argue with that logic!”
Meanwhile, far away from the party and soaring through the clouds was none other than the X Tornado. And its pilot, Tails, was grinning as the wind blew through his hair as he picked up speed. Nothing got him more excited for the day than a flight in his beloved biplane.
But today was special. He had turned 13 and he already figured that the reason Sonic was in such a rush to run more than usual was because he and his friends were planning some kind of surprise party for him. At least, that was his most likely theory.
He may have been a genius, but even he’s found himself being wrong a few times.
So, until that party arrived, he would just enjoy his birthday with one of his best inventions. Tails’ grin grew as he began picking up speed on his plane…until suddenly, he began hearing something. A sound he couldn’t quite describe.
But then, as it grew closer and closer, Tails could hear it coming from above and he looked up. Only for his eyes to widen as something rocketed right past him and heading towards the ground, thankfully not touching his plane.
It looked burnt, probably having already passed the atmosphere. And it was going too fast for Tails to get a proper look at what it even was.
Then, before he could even get another thought in, the strange object crashed into the forest, knocking down several trees in the process.
“...that can’t be good…” Tails said, already having a few guesses as to what had just crashed as he began flying the X Tornado towards the crash site.
What were his guesses? Simple.
Alien ship, mystic relic from thousands of years ago, bomb from Eggman, or a failed experiment by G.U.N. He did remember they were beginning to experiment with more technologically advanced ships after all.
Eventually, Tails landed the X Tornado nearby and leapt out of his plane, his two tails beginning to spin around rapidly as it carried him through the air. The young genius began flying into the forest, using the great amount of speed he could achieve with just his tails to get there faster than any normal human or Mobian could.
Then, he arrived at the crash site. A crater with the strange object dug inside of it awaited him. And as the young genius slowly walked closer, his eyes widened.
He had guessed right with the idea of an alien ship because what was in front of him couldn’t have been made by man. It was some kind of techno-organic pod, designed to look like a light green seed. Tails could see tiny bits and pieces of lights and metal, implying the use of technology, but the rest looked…natural for lack of a better word.
Cautious, Tails slowly began to step towards the pod to investigate, his brain already conjuring up a million theories. But before he could even reach his hand for it, the pod suddenly peeled itself open to reveal something inside it.
Or rather…someone.
It was a girl. But she definitely wasn’t human or Mobian. She looked to be as tall as Tails was, with peach-pale skin, bright green hair that almost looked like leaves on a plant, and two rosebuds on each side of her head. She was wearing a green blouse with golden trim and a likely plant themed skirt with green tips. Finally, alongside shoes that heavily resembled ballet slippers, she had some kind of amulet or brooch right on her chest. It shined the moment Tails got a glimpse of it.
And Tails himself was in awe at the sight of the girl. His inner scientist was utterly fascinated, especially since he had never seen an alien species like this before…but a more simple part of himself thought that the girl actually looked quite pretty.
He slowly took a few more steps forward, but the girl didn’t move. She was likely in some form of stasis or maybe she was just unconscious.
“H…hello…?” Tails finally asked, but got no response. Then, cautiously, he began to reach forward to possibly shake her awake.
But the girl beat him to it. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up, looking side to side with a panicked look across her face. She then saw Tails and let out a gasp, backing away from him.
Tails’ eyes widened and he held up his hands. “W-whoa, whoa! It’s okay!”
The girl’s panicked expression didn’t fade away as she felt her back hit the walls of her pod. Her breathing was quick and fast. She looked terrified.
Tails then very gently took a step back, just to show the girl he wasn’t a threat. “It’s okay…see? I’m not gonna hurt you…”
The girl’s breathing finally began to calm down, her fearful expression finally beginning to leave…at least a little. “W…who are you…?”
Tails, a bit shocked that she was able to speak English, just gave a kind smile. “My name is Tails…you’re probably wondering why?”
The girl slowly nodded.
Tails then proudly showed off his two tails, even lightly spinning them around. “Because of these!”
“You…you have two tails…?” The girl asked timidly.
“Yup! I’ve had both of them as long as I can remember.” Tails said before facing her again. “So, what’s your name?”
“I…I-I…” The girl seemed to have trouble finding her words for a moment, as if she was unsure if she should trust him. Eventually, she spoke again. “I…I’m Cosmo…”
“Cosmo.” Tails repeated. “That’s a nice name…are you hurt? That crash looked pretty nasty.”
“N…no, I…I’m fine…” Cosmo said, very slowly stepping out of her pod and onto the ground. And when she felt her feet hit the dirt, she started looking around…only for her eyes to suddenly widen in awe at the sight of the forest. Or at least, the parts of the forest that her crash landing didn’t smash into.
Tails knew the look all too well and felt his smile grow. He gently stepped forward. “It’s a beautiful forest, isn’t it?”
“It…it is…” Cosmo said, walking over to a tree and gently setting her hand on it, letting herself feel the texture of bark. “I…I’ve only seen a handful of trees like this in the garden…but here, there’s…there’s so many.”
Then, her attention was brought to the sound of chirping. Cosmo turned around and looked up, seeing a bird land in its nest and sing its song without a care in the world.
“W…what is this planet?” Cosmo asked.
Tails then took another step forward. “You’re on Earth.”
“Earth…Earth!” Cosmo cried, her eyes wide as if she suddenly had a realization. She then quickly ran over to Tails, now no longer afraid of him. “You have to help me! I need to find The Chaos Emeralds!”
Tails’ eyes widened in surprise. “Y…you’ve heard of The Chaos-?”
But then, another sound began filling the air. And it sounded just like Cosmo’s ship when it was crashing towards the ground…which could only mean…
Tails looked up and his fears were realized as another pod began heading right towards them. Acting on pure instinct, he suddenly scooped Cosmo into his arms and flew high into the air.
Cosmo’s eyes widened and she held onto Tails for dear life, even burying her face in his chest as the second pod crashed right into Cosmo’s, completely destroying it and making the crater even bigger than before.
Tails held Cosmo close…and his heart clenched when he suddenly felt her shaking in his arms. He looked at her. “H…hey…it’s gonna be okay…”
“N…no…!” Cosmo whimpered. “Y…you don’t understand! T…they followed me…!”
“Who followed you?” Tails asked before he soon got his answer.
The second pod, completely made of metal and almost in the shape of some kind of cocoon suddenly opened up…only for several robots to fire right out of it like missiles, their metallic feet stomping the ground once they landed. All of them were identical with each other, having a head similar to that of an insect.
And like nearly every evil robot…they all had glowing red eyes, which quickly caught sight of Tails and Cosmo.
Tails’ eyes narrowed as he readied himself for the worst, still holding the plant girl in his arms.
The robots then all lunged at him, their backs opening up to reveal massive thrusters that allowed them to take flight.
This wasn’t the birthday gift Tails was hoping for…