Green Hill Zone, 3:30 PM. On a long, wide wooden bridge, stretched out across a raging rapid, Tails stands under the pouring rain. Arms crossed, waiting impatiently for the last few minutes. Then, the blue blur approaches from the horizon and makes his halt a fair distance away from Tails.
"Never thought I'd see your face here," said Sonic.
"That's what I thought too. You're late. And you're telling me you're the fastest thing alive?"
"Nah, it's just... y'know, I actually thought about ditching you here. Under the cold rain, all by yourself, waiting for someone who's never gonna come. But then I thought: "Wait a sec, I couldn't do that, this guy's come all the way here to get his ass kicked. So, I might as well give 'em what he wants." And that's how I got here, right at the final minute," said Sonic in his trademark snarky attitude.
"Ha ha. Very funny, you comedian. You're about to see what kind of harm I can do to you!" Tails threatened as he puts on his fierce expression and steps into his fighting stance.
"Ooh, I'm really scared... what are you gonna do, teach me trigonometry? Nerd," mocked Sonic, letting out an arrogant laugh afterwards.
Having had enough, Tails starts propelling himself towards Sonic with his fist raised and pulled back, ready to throw a punch the moment he gets to him.
"You won't be laughing soon!"
Tails swung his fist at Sonic, but in the blink of an eye, Sonic suddenly vanished, leaving Tails to hit only the air and fall face down on the hard, wooden surface. Tails pulls himself up and looks around in confusion when suddenly, something tapped on Tails' shoulder. He immediately turns around and is greeted by a condescending Sonic, standing there as if he never moved from that spot.
"What are you trying to hit, air? I'm right here, bro."
Tails immediately swung his fist again, only for the same result to happen: a complete miss. He tries again, and again, and again, hoping that this time, the hit will connect. This only served to intensify Tails' anger.
"WILL YOU JUST STAND STILL AND LET ME HIT YOU ALREADY!?"
"What? I am letting you hit me! It's not my fault you're so slow!" Sonic sneeringly said while sticking his tongue out as he dodged Tails' strikes.
This vicious cycle would continue for some time and after a while, Tails finally becomes exhausted. He stops his attacks to catch his breath while resting his hands on his knees. Sonic smirks triumphantly, celebrating what seemed to be a very early victory.
"Dude, you can't even land a single hit on me? Really? That's pathetic. Tell ya what, maybe you should just- ARGH!"
Sonic's arrogance finally got to him. Tails exploited his vulnerable moment by landing a punch to Sonic's gut and then an uppercut, knocking him hard onto the wooden boards.
""Never take your eyes off the fight." Wasn't that the first lesson you taught me?"
"Hmph. Not bad, I admit. Let's see what else you remember."
Sonic springs up and proceeds to unload a barrage of punches and kicks (mostly kicks) at Tails, who falls back into defensive mode and either blocks or dodges the incoming hits, waiting for an opening to counter. He then ducks to dodge Sonic's roundhouse kick and realizes this is his chance. He performs a sweep kick, knocking Sonic down on his back once again. Tails walks over to Sonic but is caught off guard when Sonic delivers a double kick to Tails' gut while standing on one hand, causing him to flinch. Sonic swiftly gets back on his feet and throws a straight punch to Tails' nose and another roundhouse kick, sending him to the ground. Tails groans as he covers his nose with both his hands, which are now partially covered by streaks of red running down his nose and hands. Seeing this, Sonic himself is mildly surprised as he'd never thought that he would one day spill his own best friend's blood.
"...ouch. That's gotta hurt."
"Why, you...!"
Now enraged, Tails pulls himself up and throws a haymaker at Sonic, followed by a gut slug, and finally, a swipe from Tails' namesakes to Sonic's chest. The force from the last hit is enough to send Sonic flying a few meters away from Tails and landing on his back. Sonic gets back up slowly. He then coughs out a few spurts of red which he can now see on his hand.
"Looks like we're even," said Tails.
"Not for long," said Sonic as he wiped the blood off his mouth.
Sonic then pulls himself up and dashes past Tails while also landing a punch that is impossible to dodge, causing Tails to stumble for a moment before stabilizing himself. Soon, he realizes his opponent had vanished again. Not long after, Sonic comes dashing past Tails again from the other direction and scores another hit on him, causing him to fall face down. Tails easily picks up the pattern of Sonic's attack and on his third run, Sonic's tactic comes to a halt by a very precisely timed twin-tail swipe, sending Sonic flying back while hitting the ground several times. Sonic, now slightly disoriented, slowly gets up, readjusts his vision, and immediately sees Tails already in front of him, about to throw a punch which Sonic swiftly blocks by grabbing a hold of the incoming fist. Tails attempts the same with his other fist, only to be given the same response by Sonic. With both of Tails' hands now locked within Sonic's grasp, both now attempt to push each other away in a show of raw strength. Tails, being smaller in physical build than Sonic, slowly loses his ground as his feet slowly slide backwards.
"Give it up, Tails! You know I'm stronger than you when- whoa, hey! What the-!?" Sonic said as he slowly felt his feet sliding backwards instead.
Tails starts to propel his twin tails, granting him additional force to counter Sonic's strength. As his tails spin faster, Tails now lifts his feet up into the air and starts to slowly push Sonic back, turning the tables around. Tails then changes the direction of their struggle sideways, towards the edge of the bridge without any side barriers. At the very edge of the bridge, Sonic unleashes all his strength to counter Tails' push and the force of his twin, rotating tails, although futile as Tails also starts to intensify his push force and tail speed, slowly pushing Sonic towards his soon-to-be watery demise.
"What the hell are you trying to do!?" Sonic said as he hung by the edge, trying his best to stand firm.
"What's it look like, huh!?"
"Oh, I dunno, you trying to kill me!?"
"Hah, that's one way to say it!" Tails maliciously said.
"Are you out of your mind!? Us fighting is one thing, but now you're straight up trying to drown me!?"
"It's only fair! You've treated me like dirt for too long! And now, it's all about to come full circle!"
With only one leg now still standing on the bridge while the other hangs in the air, Sonic now realizes that this is the end for him. But then...
"Not if I'm taking you with me!"
Sonic pulls Tails' hands and jumps backwards, dragging Tails to fall into the rapid along with him. They both crash into the rushing water and are dragged away from the bridge by the massive current. Tails tries to swim up to the surface but is given a hard time due to the current; even more so for Sonic, who is now flailing and struggling in hopes of not drowning and being able to catch his breath. With enough effort, Tails' head finally emerges from the water as he gasps for air. He then dives back in. A few seconds later, Sonic's head emerges, but not long after, Sonic's legs are dragged down by Tails who then proceeds to pummel Sonic with a barrage of punches. Sonic then retaliates by kicking Tails' gut, pushing him away. He frantically tries to swim upwards again but is too late as Tails had already grabbed one of his legs. Sonic retaliates once more by using his other free leg to kick Tails' face, releasing his grip. Tails swims upwards as well, resurfaces, and before him lies what seemed to be the end of the river, where the water disappears into the cliff below: a massive waterfall. Now panicking, Tails attempts to fight the current and swims against it, although this only slows his descent towards the waterfall, even with the help of his twin tails. Sonic is first to plummet, then Tails.
A few moments later, a gloved hand with a gray, metal bracelet emerges out of the calmer, lower part of the river and pulled himself up onto dry land, revealing himself to be Tails. He then coughs out all the water that might have entered his respiratory system and started gasping for air. He then lies down to catch his breath. After about a minute or two, he gets back on his feet and realizes what he has done.
"Did... did I really just do that?" Tails said to himself.
"No, you didn't."
Upon hearing that familiar voice, Tails turns around and is startled to find Sonic, still standing and drenched from his short trip in the river. "You're gonna have to do better than that to kill me," said Sonic.
"What!? But, how!? I thought you can't swim!"
"Let's just say my survival instincts kicked in at the right time. Now, where were we exactly?"
Sonic then delivers a sharp uppercut to Tails' jaw, sending his feet off the ground briefly before falling back down onto the ground, lying flat on his back. Sonic approaches the downed Tails but, just as Sonic did last time, is caught off guard when Tails' double kick hits Sonic's gut hard. Tails then gets up and pounces Sonic. Now sitting on top of Sonic's chest, Tails throws a flurry of punches to Sonic's face. But just as Tails is about to top it off by slamming his clasped fists onto Sonic's face, a bright, white flash appeared in the sky followed shortly by a loud, rumbling noise, causing Tails to instinctively cover his ears. Seeing this hard-to-miss opportunity, Sonic counters with a left hook to Tails' cheek, grabs a hold of Tails' chest, and rolls his body over to his right, away from the river. Now it is Sonic who's sitting on top of Tails and punching him repeatedly, staining his glove with spots of blood from Tails' mouth. Tails then manages to shove Sonic off of him and get back on his feet. He then jumps and lands a Superman punch on Sonic, causing him to flinch but still standing. Once he lands, Tails continues with an elbow strike to Sonic's mouth followed by a backhand punch. He then tries to score another haymaker but was dodged by Sonic who now grabs a hold of his arm and knees him in the stomach twice before ending with a headbutt, knocking Tails down hard on his back.
Sonic then backs off from Tails to create some distance as Tails slowly gets back up. The two combatants now stop to take their breaths. Both are now in a noticeably terrible shape as their entire body is covered in bruises, they each have a black eye, and streaks of blood run from their nose and mouth along with splatters of blood on their torn, once-white gloves. Their fur has also been soiled by the rainwater and slightly muddy terrain. Sonic, however, being a naturally experienced fighter, still appears to be standing strong despite all the injuries he's sustained while Tails seem to be quite weakened in comparison.
"Give it up already! You don't stand a chance!"
"Never! I'm... not stopping until... one of us gets knocked out cold!" Tails threatened in-between short gasps for air, which only amused Sonic.
"Hah! Tough words for a kid who looks absolutely wasted. Come on, then! Try to 'knock me out'!"
In what might seem to be a last, desperate charge, Tails exerts all his energy and charges towards Sonic. But as a result of fatigue, all of Tails' attacks were too slow to be able to hit Sonic and he dodges them effortlessly. Finally, Sonic counters with a right hook, a left roundhouse kick and, to finish it off, a 360-backflip kick to Tails' chin, sending him off the ground briefly before falling headfirst and landing hard, face down. Sonic then approaches Tails who is now struggling to even get back on his feet.
"What, is that all you got!? Come on, tough guy! Get up! "Until one of us gets knocked out", right!? I'm still alive and kicking and so are you! Now get up and fight!" Sonic said as he lightly nudged Tails' body with his foot.
Tails desperately tries to pull himself up, but all of his energy had been depleted. He knows that this is it, the end of the line for him. He's lost the fight. Knowing this bitter fact, and due to the immense pain all over his battered and bruised body, Tails breaks down and starts to sob while still lying face down on the ground. Sonic then proceeds to lecture Tails.
"Oh, so that's it, huh? You're just gonna lie there and cry? Not gonna finish this just like you said!? Well, look who's got a way bigger mouth than I do! You know what else this means? This means I'm clearly tougher than you are. Now how do you expect to be able to beat Eggman's army, who's a lot stronger in numbers than I am, if you can't even beat me? Huh? Can you answer that? Of course, you can't. You never should've started, Tails. Now stay the hell away from me!"
Sonic, having done what needed to be done, walks away from Tails' weak and injured body. But not long after, Sonic hears a small blast coming from behind him. He turns around and is startled to find an energy orb, coming towards him at a great velocity. Fortunately, Sonic reflexively dodged the orb and it explodes at a safe distance away from him. He then sees Tails, standing with whatever remained of his stamina while holding his Energy Cannon with its barrel now smoking.
"Alright, that's it! I've had it with you!"
As Sonic rolls into a ball and spins in place, preparing for a Spin Dash attack, Tails charges his Energy Cannon for another shot. But Sonic got the attack first, hitting the Energy Cannon and bouncing back on his feet safely. A huge crack is left on the cannon which is now emitting sparks. The cannon's LED interface is now irresponsive. It is also overheating fast and looks like it will explode soon. And that's exactly what happened; right on Tails' left arm as the recoil of the explosion sends Tails flying back and slamming onto the ground hard. His left arm is now covered in third degree burns and parts of his body covered in shrapnel, causing Tails to scream in absolute agony. Sonic, still mad at Tails for pulling such an unfair move, proceeds to berate him.
"What is wrong with you, you dirty little rat!? First you tried to drown me and now you try to shoot me while my back's turned!? Look, let me let you in on a little secret, alright? I've been holding back this entire time! Yeah, that's right! I could've kicked your sorry ass on top of that bridge in just a few minutes! But I chose not to, because I want you to think of this as a fair fight! I took all of those hits for you! But then you went and ruined it for yourself and now, this is what you get!"
Sonic walks away again. At this point, Tails' scream has stopped as he now falls unconscious from the unbearable, burning pain. Initially furious, Sonic now looks worried and turns back to check on him.
"Aww no. No, no, no. I've gone too far," said Sonic, remembering his commitment earlier to hold himself back.
Sonic lifts up Tails' body and hastily makes his way towards the same hospital where he took Tails to on that last incident; only this time he's the one to have caused it.
-----
7 PM. It's beginning to turn dark outside and Sonic still hasn't returned from his battle to an anxious Amy, waiting at home as she paces back and forth, expecting a ring on her doorbell. What came instead was a phone call from the hospital telling her to come and see Sonic and Tails who have been injured badly (especially true for Tails). She makes haste and after taking the elevator for a few floors, she enters door 1052 to see Sonic lying in bed and covered in bruises along with several bandages and an ice pack which he is holding on his cheek.
"There you are! Oh, you look terrible! Are you alright?"
"It's nothing. It's Tails you should be worried about."
"Well, where is he?"
"In the room next to mine, 1053," Sonic said, gesturing to the wall behind him.
Amy heads out to look after Tails. Not long after, she comes back marching into Sonic's room, this time with an angry expression, demanding an explanation from Sonic.
"Okay look, before you-" Sonic tried to explain, but was cut off by Amy.
"What did you do to him!? His arm's completely wrapped up in a cast, he's unconscious, and he looks even worse than you do!"
"I was about to explain, alright!? Firstly, I did what you said. I held myself back. Otherwise I wouldn't be so purple all over. Secondly-" Sonic is then cut off again.
"Suuure... you held back, alright. Because you clearly hurt Tails' arm!" Amy cynically remarked.
"Will you just let me finish!? I took a lot of hits for him when I could've ended it in like, less than a few minutes! How is that not holding back!?" Sonic yelled, before continuing with his recount of the battle. "Now, this kid... it wasn't just a fight he wanted. He straight up tried to get rid of me. We were on this bridge and he tried to push me off. So, I grabbed his arm and we both fell into this really fast river and after that, a waterfall. I'm not sure how, but I survived, and we fought again. He was down, it was over. I was about to walk away when who else got up and tried to obliterate me with his arm cannon?"
"No... did he really...?" Amy asked in disbelief.
"That's right. He did. Twice he nearly killed me. So, I decided I had enough and... smashed his cannon to bits and it... blew off... on his left arm." As Sonic finishes his sentence, his tone gradually changes from furious to more and more guilty, becoming aware that he could've done irreversible damage to his (ex-)best friend.
"You WHAT!? How could you!? What if his arm needs to be amputated now!? Did that ever come across your mind!? How are you going to be responsible for that!?" Amy berated Sonic.
"Okay, fine! So, it was my fault! I had no idea what went through me, I was just... really pissed off with the fact that he tried to shoot me when my back's turned! I mean that's just dirty and low! Look, at least I got him here, alright? I could've left him behind to bleed out, but I didn't. And that's the last favor I'm ever gonna do for him."
"...I can't believe what you just said. You monster! Didn't you say you wanted to protect him!? So, why are you doing this!?"
Sonic then sighed before staring out the window. "...is it even worth protecting someone who wants to kill you?" He asked.
After half a week, Sonic was released from the hospital. Tails, on the other hand, had to stay for half a month. This time, Sonic was never there. Only Amy would occasionally come by to check up on his arm. After half a month has passed, Tails was finally released from the hospital. Fortunately, there was no need for amputation as his arm was still functional, although it still had to be covered with bandages since it would take quite some time for his fur to regrow and his skin to regenerate. During the entire time of recovery, Amy, as per Sonic's request, kept this conflict secret to their other friends. Their involvement, he believed, would only serve to complicate matters even more.