The third day that Scourge was giving Miles a tour of his city was met with some success for the most part, but there were still a few places that the kid was uneasy about. The day started out strong, though, with Scourge taking him to the book store, where there were lots of educational books, including ones on the weather and music, the topics Miles was most interested in. After looking around the store, Miles said in amazement,

" There's so many books here I'd love to read! But I can't just ask for all of them at once. There's only so much we can carry home, and I don't wanna make you spend too much money all in one day… " That last sentence made it clear that he wanted him to pay for the books, and that he wanted the two of them to be able to revisit that place a lot because of all the books he wanted to read. As a result, Scourge decided that he would need to use his stolen money to pay for the books rather than just taking them like he planned. He would later have to make this decision with the very next place they would visit.

When they visited the CD store afterwards, he soon learned that it might be a good place to go looking for Christmas gifts for the fox, considering how much he took a liking to what it was offering. " Here's the CD store! " Scourge said to him. " What's a CD? " Miles asked him, and felt a little embarrassed at seeing the store owner out of the corner of his eye give him a funny look. " It's something you put in a CD player to hear music! " Scourge answered with a knowing smile, and just like he expected, Miles was amazed as soon as it dawned on him just how much music could be listened to in that one store.

" Wow… There's so many of them! Would I ever be able to have time to listen to them all? " Miles said happily. " Why not when you're having your tea? I'll find ya a CD player and then you'll be able to hear all the music ya want! What 'dya like? " Scourge said with a confident smile, proud of himself for knowing him so well and being so excellent at making him happy.

Looking confused, Miles said, " Uh, I dunno. Music with emotions I can relate to? With lots of passion, something that's not boring. I-I barely ever got to hear music, and when I did, it's not like there was anyone there telling me what type of music it was… " Scourge said, " Hmm… Got it, " with an understanding smile and a wink, easily figuring out the type of rock music he would like the most.

When they were heading to the general store, Miles cheerfully decided to fly to take a shortcut to the store and jokingly switch things up by making it so he'd be the one holding the door open for once. Unfortunately, pushing on the door didn't cause it to open. Getting frustrated and with increasing desperation, he tried pushing on it as hard as he could, and after a couple seconds of trying to open the door before someone could run up to him, he started to panic, his heart beating faster as the familiar feeling of failing to open a door led to another painful memory.

" No, no, please! Open! Please! " he started saying quietly, trembling, and when he heard wind roaring behind him and a blue and black blur run up to beside him, he jumped and yelped, " NO! " startled and turned around terrified, backing up against the door ready to make an escape.

" Miles? Relax! " Scourge said with his previous playful joy turning into concern. A few seconds passed as Miles recognized who he was and calmed himself down, sighing at the end in relief as his friend's familiar scent, voice, body shape and blue color made him snap out of his panic. " What's wrong? " Scourge asked with concern, narrowly stopping himself from adding now to the end of the sentence and coming off as unsympathetic to his fear out of exasperation with it. Sometimes he hated having to regularly rethink over sentences just for him, and wished he could just speak his mind without thinking more often.

" I can't open the door, " Miles admitted with downcast eyes feeling pathetic, ashamed at realizing upon saying the words how he panicked over something that was no big deal at all. He continued, " I just wanted to switch things up, hold it open for you for once, as a joke, but it didn't open. I wanted it to open… and you were running up to me so fast… "

Scourge looked at him with sympathy briefly, wondering how many times Miles had to deal with being unable to open a door and being cornered by bullies because of it. Trying to reassure him, Scourge right away smiled and said, " It's a pull door, " and pulled it open with a grin. Miles giggled nervously scratching the back of his own neck, and said, " Oh, okay. I wish it said that on the door. " As he walked into the store alongside him, Scourge replied cheerfully, " Good point, that would be more convenient, " and they started walking down the aisle of the general store to the left of them.

Pretty soon, Scourge and Miles were running through the store, and at some point, they stopped at a part of it that Miles found unusually cold. Scourge exclaimed happily, " The dessert aisle! There's some ice cream here! " and after taking a chocolate ice cream container out of the refridgeration area, he noticed Miles unhappily zipping up his leather jacket. " It's too cold in here, " Miles complained, looking sad and melancholic. Scourge looked at him in sympathy for a little bit, and thought back to the day he had met Miles, when he was telling him at his ship's restaurant how hard it had been for him to survive the winter.

Ruffling his hair, he reassured him, " It's to keep the ice cream cold, so it won't get all melty. We won't be here long, " and the two of them ran out of the cold part of the store immediately. Eventually, they left the store entirely, with Scourge not even paying for the ice cream. As Miles ran alongside him, he was about to point that out in confusion, only for it to dawn on him that he did it on purpose and think, " Oh, right. It's just some general store. He probably doesn't care too much about whether they want him in there, " and shrug it off.

He had gotten so used to having to take his food from people's fridges that Scourge stealing food from a small-time general store didn't even faze him. He didn't understand why it was even wrong, and Scourge was in no hurry to tell him. All he did was say, " Jackpot! " upon getting the ice cream, and bring it home in a brief trip as Miles wondered what that word even meant, and refrained from asking and looking like an idiot.

Soon, they returned to the city, and one of the places Scourge brought Miles to get him familiar with it was the beach. They were standing on a hill overlooking it from above, out of sight of everyone there. " Pretty cool, huh? It's one of the most popular beaches in the state! " Scourge said with a smile. He looked at a squirrel-race Moebian girl his age in a bikini, and he added, " Lots of hot chicks, too! " Miles looked at him in confusion after looking around the beach again, and said, " Chicks? " not understanding what he meant.

" You know, the girls! " Scourge said cheerfully ruffling his hair at his cute naivety. " Uh, oh, okay. But if they're hot, why don't they just go inside where there's air conditioning? Is the beach really that fun that people will overheat themselves for it? Doesn't seem like there's much to do in it, there's just sand everywhere, " Miles replied, still confused.

Scourge was surprised for a second before saying in amusement, " Hot as in, ' good-looking, ' Tails little buddy. Just look at 'em! " and wolf-whistled before putting one arm around Miles' back moving his other arm in front of him from left to right, encouraging him to take in the sights. Instead of appreciating it, though, Miles looked sad, and soon said with a depressed tone and downcast eyes, " Good-looking?... So you find that pretty important after all, huh… "

Confused, and a bit annoyed, Scourge sighed in annoyance at him spoiling his fun and said to him mildly annoyed at first, " What's the big deal? I just appreciate how they look nice. I-I mean they work hard on looking good, some of them! G-Gotta appreciate the effort! What's to be sad about? " being nervous trying to humor him at the end. There was a brief silence before Miles clarified melancholically,

" I just don't see how that matters… but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Everyone only cares about looks. Why would you be the exception? I-I bet if any of these girls didn't fit society's arbitrary standards on what a normal person should look like, you'd hate her, too… " His voice cracked at the end, and as he continued through his final sentence, his two tails moved in front of him, and he held them in his hands tightly, staring at them with a mixture of heartwrenching sadness and a scrutinizing glare. " Oh, man… " Scourge thought sadly, realizing just how deep that issue went with the child.

Worrying that it could cause problems for their friendship if Miles started thinking about him like that and comparing him to bullies, Scourge placed his hand on Miles' shoulder and reassured him, " It isn't like that. It's okay. C-Come on, so what if you have one more tail? I think it's cool! Hell, I'm gonna go as far to say that I think every fox should have an extra tail! " Surprised, Miles looked at him letting go of his tails and letting them return to being behind him, and said to him, " Really?!... It would've been nice… not being the odd one out… " looking depressed at the end, but not nearly as much as before.

" You can swim, right? " Scourge asked to distract him from his previous train of thought, remmebering how Miles had fallen into the ocean in front of him on their first meeting and was lucky he got thrown back on shore by the waves. The last thing he wanted was his only friend drowning on him. It was bad enough the previous two days out in the city were a disaster.

" Yeah, I taught myself how. Had to observe other people do it from afar, but when I figured it out from practice in a shallow pond in the woods, it saved my life a lot. Can't fly under the water, though, the water's weight slows my tails down too much, " Miles explained, feeling embarrassed and self-conscious of how much unnecessary information he gave him afterwards. He thought, " I talk too much… "

Scourge said in his usual carefree way, " Well, why don't 'cha try swimming here? It's what a beach is for, after all! " and smiled confidently, until he realized that Miles wasn't very happy at seeing all of the different people that were on the beach and in its water. " Hold on, kiddo, " he said comfortingly patting his shoulder.

He quickly ran in a circle around the beach in a blue and black blur, using his super speed to kick around the sand everywhere and create a miniature sand tornado scaring everyone on the beach away. Seeing that there were still people in the water, he shouted, " Shark! " and since a shark movie had been released recently, they were on edge about it enough to immediately assume he was telling the truth and get out of the water, leaving the beach in a panic.

The lifeguard soon went up to him, saying angrily, " Hey, what do you think you're doing? " Scourge smirked and created a sand tornado from running around the large muscular walrus with shades, completely unintimidated by him, and finished it off by homing-attacking him multiple times in a row. " Okay, okay, stop! What do you want?! " he replied in a panic, and Scourge demanded standing on top of his chest,

" To have this beach all to myself, me and Miles! " which cued Miles to reluctantly run up to him after some hesitation and force a menacing look on his face to hide his fear. The lifeguard groaned and reluctantly nodded as he sat up, and Scourge said encouragingly to his brother, " Come on, Miles, the water's great! "

Miles took off his leather jacket and got into the water at first, but seeing Scourge there near him made him really nervous, and he was promptly ashamed of once again being triggered by something that seemed on the surface to be very minor. Noticing Miles looking away from him nervously as he swam at the water's surface near the beach, Scourge asked, " What's the matter, Miles? Do you not like water? You're swimming great! "

Miles knew it was completely irrational to worry that Scourge would ever even consider trying to push him under the water and hold him under there, when he wasn't like the bullies he had to deal with on his island, but there was still that fear, that overwhelming anxiety that automatically showed up every time he could face that risk. He still couldn't stop imagining the worst case scenario, and repeatedly considering the paranoid idea that Scourge might do that on a whim just for fun, just to see what it was like and give him a scare.

" I-I can swim just fine… but I don't like it, " Miles finally admitted, trying to hide how afraid he was just from having someone near him in the water at all. He didn't think him being on the other side of the beach would make it any better, and in fact, the loneliness would make it even worse. The whole appeal of being out of the house was spending time with his only friend, and he wouldn't feel like he was if Scourge wasn't close to him, able to protect him quickly in an emergency.

Scourge was a bit frustrated that he had wasted his time scaring everyone off the beach, and failed at giving him a fun place to hang out outside of the house, but tried to hide his annoyance for Miles' sake and humored him. " Okay, alright, we'll leave. I was getting bored of this place anyways, " he said, and Miles immediately swam out of the water and started rushing up the beach without looking where he was going.

This caused him to suddenly fall forwards onto the sand with a yelp, having tripped on something left behind by the people Scourge scared away. Panicked, he exclaimed, " NO! " and struggled to get up as fast as possible from the strangely bumpy sand below him, thrashing his tails around wildly behind him as if to try and defend himself in his vulnerable state.

" Miles, relax! " Scourge said to him once again at seeing him panic, and thought as he approached him from the front, " Damn it, that's gonna become my catch-phrase at this rate… " Hearing his actual name stunned Miles for a moment, and he slowly snapped out of his instinctive panic at seeing the familiar sight of a blue hedgehog go up to him.

" Huh? W-What'd I trip on?! " Miles asked in a bit of a daze, regaining his focus on the present. Wondering just what kind of memory had been triggered in him and soon deciding that he didn't need to know, Scourge forced a smile and reassured him, " A sand castle, that's all. Luckily there was no one around to see this, " promptly remembered that the lifeguard was watching them the whole time, and was thankful that Miles didn't remember that and correct him.

" Need a hand? " he said to him helpfully having his hand outstretched, still with a smile that masked concern, and Miles hesitated instinctively for a moment before happily taking his hand and allowing him to help him back to his feet. Scourge looked over at the lifeguard on his tall chair watching the commotion and shot him an annoyed glare, hoping in vain that it would warn him not to tell other people about his soft side. He wondered just how many people were talking about how they saw him interact with the two-tailed little kid and spreading rumors chronicling all of Miles' freak-outs, characterizing Scourge as a softie at heart, and his best friend Miles as a coward.

" Well, these things seem annoying, " Miles complained bitterly about the sand castle, trying to blame it for his recent panic attack and feel a bit better about himself. He went to standing at his side, looking over the sand castle with irritation.

Scourge started out encouraging him, " They can be fun to build, " only to realize that this was the perfect opportunity to encourage him to be more aggressive, and continued as if he meant to all along, " but they're even more fun to destroy! " Miles shielded his eyes instinctively as Scourge kicked the side of the sand castle once, not wanting to get sand in his eyes and embarrass himself with being triggered yet again in front of him. He wondered just how weak Scourge thought he was.

" Come on, Miles, get your revenge! Kick it down! " Scourge happily encouraged him, snapping him out of his insecure train of thought. " Oh, right, " he said, and closed his eyes before furiously kicking the sand castle as much and as hard as he could until nothing remained of it, letting out stress and expressing anger that he usually wasn't able to at all. At the end of it, he sighed a bit exhausted, panting for a brief few seconds at how much energy he exerted taking his anger out on a mere sand castle. A part of him felt pathetic for wanting to do that. He wished there were more worthy targets for him.

" Felt good, didn't it? " Scourge encouraged with a hand on his shoudler, and Miles nodded in response. " Yeah, it was… good to be able to express my irritation with an action for once… felt less, well, powerless… " he admitted quietly in between breaths, a little ashamed and depressed. Soon, his eyes looked down at the front of his body, and he started dusting himself off depressed at how he was covered with sand. " Great, " Miles muttered, and grumbled under his breath, " it's like I'm a dirty homeless kid all over again, " not understanding that Scourge could hear him and looked concerned once again.

" You should have a bath when you get home. Why don't 'cha wash up for a second in the ocean there and do the rest later? " Scourge advised him quietly, being a responsible older brother to him. Miles nodded, despite the fact that washing the dirt or sand stains out of his fur in an ocean instead of a bath or shower reminded him even more of when he was homeless. Scourge stared at the sight with a sad look on his face, thinking, " Oh, Miles… What am I gonna do with you? " hoping that he wouldn't always be like that.

When Miles finished getting most of the sand out of his fur, he put his leather jacket back on, thankful that it hadn't blown away in the wind or something, and followed Scourge as he showed him around the rest of the city. For the most part, it went by fine, with Scourge casually explaining what the stores and whatnot were pointing them out to Miles and then running to the next area ahead, but after an hour, he ran into one of the last few areas in the city that Miles didn't like. " And there's the orphanage… " Scourge said casually at first, only to slow down speaking and get uncomfortable while saying the final word, remembering something he learned about Miles.

The kid had mentioned to him earlier that his orphanage burned down, and sure enough, looking at the one in front of him wasn't doing him any favors. He had an expression of dread on his face, and what Scourge couldn't recognize was that it was partially mixed with guilt. He blamed himself for what happened to it and the people in it, and felt like he should go into the next one and just stay there, suffering like he did before, because it was entitled of him to ever question the status quo of his old life.

" D-Does it look like your old one? " Scourge whispered to him, rubbing his shoulder as he had him in a sideways hug again. " Yeah, kind of… same yellow look… " Miles said quietly, looking horrified at it. Trying to be a good friend while also encouraging him to be more like him and supposedly " loosen up " as he thought of it as, Scourge said eagerly, " Why don't we spray paint it to make it look different? " Miles looked at him surprised asking, " Spray, paint? We can do that? " He tried to hide his anxiety, knowing that the only reason he knew what paint was, was because someone threw a paintbrush at him and he had to get the paint out of his fur afterwards. He hated the way it smelled, and hoped that sprayable paint wasn't like that.

Scourge said with an excited chuckle, " Haven't you ever seen graffiti before? " Confused and baffled, Miles replied, " What's, ger-feet-ee? " having never actually heard the term before. Having to hold back another chuckle from just how innocent and cute Miles just sounded, Scourge answered happily, " Street art, on the walls and stuff. Come on, it'll be fun! Very satisfying and, it'll make ya feel powerful! Like you have the power to change how things look and they can't catch up to ya after doing it! "

Miles stared down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs nervously thinking it over. He had a feeling that making graffiti would be a thing that would provoke people that Scourge wanted him to do. The consequences of not doing it, getting his only friend to disapprove of him as a spoil-sport, felt much worse than the potential consequences of spray-painting a building, which his super speed would very easily allow him to avoid. As long as no one saw him do it, how would anyone know it was from him? Even if they did, no one would be brave enough to call the police on someone as fast and feared as Scourge, or at least Miles hoped they wouldn't.

So after a few seconds, the heavy peer pressure combined with Scourge's reasoning made Miles agree, " Alright, " and Scourge replied, " Yes! " fist-pumped briefly much to Miles' confusion at having never seen that gesture before, and said, " I am so proud of you! Well, I was before, but now I'm even more proud. Come on, I know where to get some of that paint. "

Miles' first time spray-painting was fairly anxiety-inducing, as he hoped no one would see him, was certain that if they did, they'd stare at him and thus notice his second tail, making him the center of attention, and of course he feared consequences from the police as well, super speed or not. After all, they could still ask around town where he was and find him later, perhaps even in Scourge's house where he was usually safe hiding from the world. But Scourge's encouraging and reassuring words every so often, as well as the lack of any people moving down that particular part of the inner city, reassured Miles and got him at least relatively comfortable with continuing the task.

Trying to feel better about being forced to do it by making a picture he actually wanted to make, his first ever spray-paint " art, " was a large running mosaic of thunderclouds with detailed lightning coming out of them, pouring torrential rain down at a field full of bears and bats being struck by the lightning above them. Of course, it looked crude, since this was the only time he had ever even come close to drawing anything and he was new to using spray-paint – Scourge even had to teach him which way to make the can face so he wouldn't spray it in his eyes – but he at least used all the right colors of paint doing so, using his tails to fly up to the higher parts of the orphanage to spray it.

His art was completely upstaging Scourge's mere spray-painting dirty words and whatnot in the most uncreative display of graffiti imaginable, and he was fortunate that Scourge didn't care. If anything, he was just proud of him for trying to enjoy it.

Deep down, he didn't feel like he was making art, like he did when he played the violin. He didn't feel like he was making " street art " by spray-painting an orphanage's walls. He was just taking his anger at his old orphanage out on an unrelated one and falling victim to peer pressure like a weak-minded fool. But at the very least, the fact that he wasn't angry in the slightest while doing so helped him at least try to delude himself into thinking it was a normal and healthy activity. And when his conscience warned him that the owners and workers of the orphanage wouldn't appreciate his efforts, his personal hatred of orphanage workers only made him proud of what he was doing for standing up to bullies, and with that, he finally started to enjoy it.

When he was done, Scourge pulled him into a sideways hug once again, and as the two of them looked up at the front of the orphanage fully painted like a thunderstorm mosaic, he said, " I'm so proud of you. See, this is how you loosen up! Reading and playing music is alright, but stuff like this, is how you show society that you're in charge! "

With that, he ruffled his hair, and instinctively gave a quick kiss on the forehead to the little brother he never had, not even realizing he hadn't done it before as he turned around saying casually, " Love ya, little bro. Now let's get some lunch! " Appreciating the display of affection in complete bliss, Miles sighed with a smile, and took a second to notice Scourge was running away before gasping and running after him. They left the spray-painting materials behind, and since they were wearing gloves, they left behind no evidence of who did the deed.

The next restaurant they went to was the Moebian equivalent of McDonalds. Just as before, Scourge cut in line with Miles and got their orders first, which included nuggets, fries, and for Miles, a salad. The entire time they were in the store, Miles had to contend with hearing people quietly whisper about him and express disapproval of looking at his unique genetic feature. He tried his best to hide how sad he was because of it, having a serious expression and his arms crossed as he waited for his meal.

Soon, they were out of the store, but to Miles, it couldn't have happened soon enough. Scourge, of course, wasn't able to see his reaction to the whispering in the store because he was too busy looking ahead at the people working behind the counter. Fortunately for him not flipping out, he didn't hear what people were saying about his little brother because since his life didn't make him deal with such insults, he hadn't gotten good at pinpointing that kind of talk in the middle of random restaurant chatter.

They sat down with their lunch in front of the right wall of the building. " Enjoying your salad? " Scourge asked playfully, still not used to the idea of someone liking vegetables at all. Miles nodded, still lost in thought. " Come on, you gotta at least try a McNugget once in your life. You've been missing out! " he said with a forced smile at the end. " Okay, " Miles said reluctantly, taking one of his chicken nuggets and eating it.

After he was finished, he said politely, " It's good, " not too impressed. " Want more? " Scourge asked. " No thanks, " Miles replied, clearly preferring his salad. Scourge rolled his eyes, thinking, " Worth a shot. Then again, I guess I can't expect a not normal kid to have normal eating behavior… "

Suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard causing Miles to jump up from his spot on the grass gasping in panic, and Scourge immediately became alert and asked, " What's wrong?! " It was a bee. The kid clearly had experience with being stung by them, as he exclaimed backing away from it, " No, not again! Run! " and ran away from it in a yellow blur. Thankful that he at least showed he was in touch with reality by speaking directly to him, Scourge quickly got up and caught up with Miles before the kid could panic at being separated from him.

He had hidden himself in a group of bushes in the forest to the right of the fast food restaurant parking lot. " Good thing you didn't go far. I think we lost it, " Scourge said with a chuckle, trying to still be lighthearted and cheer the scared kid up. " Yeah, " Miles replied, forcing a smile. " Damn bees. This is why I hate summer, " he added bitterly, and Scourge was once again surprised and amused at him imitating his characteristic cursing at such a young age. Fortunately, Miles had instinctively kept his salad with him as he had ran away from the threat, so he was able to resume eating it rather easily.

" So how are you enjoyin' your day so far? You getting used to the people of the city yet? Likin' your new home? " Scourge asked him, continuing to eat the rest of his lunch. " I don't know. They still insult me, Sonic. They still call me names… " Miles replied sadly. " Like what? " Scourge asked with a serious expression. " The words, ' abomination, unnatural, abnormal, and mutant come to mind, " Miles answered bitterly, forcing an irritated expression on his face to hide the oncoming sadness. Needless to say, Scourge was far from happy at hearing that, and a desire for some kind of payback was only held back by the knowledge that they'd never stop, and that he could think of his regular mischief as that revenge later.

Looking depressed with downcast eyes, Miles continued, " The people of my island… they didn't just call me a mutant, they called me a demon, a monster… blaming me for all the bad weather the place had gotten! T-They said that because the spike in thunderstorms started when my parents left me there, I had the island cursed! They blamed me for everything! It's not fair! As if I like constantly dealing with the rain! " Scourge was struck speechless. At the same time, he did notice that the weather of his city had become more cloudy and rainy than it used to be, and that only started when he brought him home. But would thinking of those accusations as true make him no better than the people who made them?

Miles couldn't possibly have been intentionally causing thunderstorms as a baby, for years on end, so either the island inhabitants were wrong, or he could cause them subconsciously. If the latter was true, then he was far more powerful than he could've ever imagined. But Scourge immediately dismissed that as too good to be true. The fact that his best friend was a genius who could keep up with him and fly was amazing enough.

He became distracted from that train of thought when he heard a sniffle beside him, and almost immediately after that heartbreaking sound, it started to rain, as the clouds started increasing in size unnaturally rapidly above him and covering the sky. Thankfully, the rain was more of a drizzle at the moment, not enough to make him want to rush inside right away. " I-I love ya, little bro, " Scourge said to him quietly with a sad expression of pity, hoping that would be comforting enough to remind him that his present life had been a lot better than his past. Miles, who was wiping away his tears frantically with one hand and finishing the last of his salad with the other, smiled a little bit, and said, " Thanks, Sonic. I love you, too… "

Scourge smiled, while still being a little embarrassed and self-conscious of saying that, and while the rain continued to happen, it seemed to be completely caught in the leaves of the trees surrounding them during the rest of their time eating, keeping them from getting wet, and a thought crossed his mind and passed by that maybe, just maybe, Miles was directing the rain away from him.

" But that's ridiculous… You think he'd know he can do something like control the freaking weather by now, if he's been accused of it so much. Why wouldn't he at least try it out to see if they're right? I would!... But then again, I'm not him… " Scourge thought, only not doing more to comfort Miles as he silently cried due to the fact that his hands were too full of nuggets and fries to hug him. The minute they were free, he did exactly that, and the rain completely stopped as the sun began to shine through shrinking clouds.

As they ran through the city after they had finished lunch, Miles felt alarmed and gasped at hearing police sirens from a car driving around the corner behind him, and was immediately reminded of when he was back on that island when that familiar sound warned him of the people most dedicated to gunning him down. At least the teenaged gang members and random civilians had an incentive to keep him alive in the form of having someone to torment, but the police outright wanted him dead immediately for the " good of the island. " The mere fact that he had been told there were people of that occupation nearby him sent him into a panic, and he strained himself to move as fast as he thought he could, breathing rapidly with his heart pounding, the sky above him darkening as a thunderstorm started.

Scourge heard his rapid breathing and said to him while continuing to run ahead, " Miles, relax! That police car is way behind us and isn't even going the right way. And no one even knows it was us. The orphanage is all the way on the other side of the town, we'll be fine… " Miles whimpered, still following behind him instinctively even in his panicked state, and Scourge sighed heavily. " You know what? Maybe we should go home before we get too drenched in this rain. You've had a long day, " he said reluctantly, changing his course to heading home. Miles quietly replied, " Thank you, " and followed him home, hoping he'd never run into the owner of that police car.

The more time he spent running while scared out of his wits, the more absorbed in his memories he became, to the point where by the time he got back to Scourge's house, he was barely able to speak from being choked up and in tears. He flew over the gate in front of the mansion and rushed over to his room as Scourge had to stop and speak into the voice recognizer to catch up with him.

Knowing full well how upset the police sirens had made Miles, he ran into the kid's room as soon as he could get in his house. Seeing him crying into his pillow, he closed the door behind him and sat down beside him in his bed, stroking his head and back to reassure him. " It'll be okay… " he whispered to him, trying to force a smile.

If he was to have Miles break the law with him to join in on his fun, the kid was going to have to deal with the police a lot, and he was starting to get the depressing feeling that Miles wouldn't ever be truly happy with participating. While Scourge was an infamous juvenile delinquent who found it thrilling and empowering breaking the law and getting off scot free, Miles only became a nervous wreck at it from fearing the consequences. He wasn't a natural born risk-taker like him, he only broke the law because he thought he had to. Miles wasn't like him, and he might never be.

But none of that mattered. Miles was the only person who cared about him at all, the only person to tell him that he loved him. He was his only friend. " Beggers can't be choosers, I guess… " Scourge thought. Out of sheer stubbornness, he was determined to keep trying to get Miles to get used to his criminal life, thinking that giving up breaking the law just to humor him would make his life unbearably boring with nothing thrilling enough to fill the void. It wasn't like he could be a superhero or anything.

Stroking his head and back, Scourge thought as Miles cried under his sheets, " I love this kid to pieces, no matter what he's like. I'm not giving up on him. That past of his made him so restrained and afraid, he freaks out at even hearing police sirens at all, but if I can get him to loosen up, to be more like me, maybe he'll be happier finally. Maybe I can change him… "

Trying to distract Miles, he said desperately, " Come on, kiddo, cheer up!... H-How about a game of tag? " There was a silence as Miles looked at him confused, or at least tried to through the tears obscuring his vision.

Scourge awkwardly clarified, " You know, you chase me, and then I chase you! " " NO! No chasing! Please! " Miles impulsively exclaimed hiding under the blankets. He immediately felt even more ashamed, as the rational part of his mind knew that Scourge would never hurt him like his bullies did, but he impulsively acted like he would anyways. " Oh… Alright… " Scourge replied unhappily, understanding why he reacted that way.

He sighed, and realized that the only way he'd be able to make him feel better would be to give him a hug. It was a bit difficult since Miles was lying down in bed, but he managed to do it, and he could tell that Miles was calming down just from realizing what was going on. The sound of the rain outside seemed to change from a torrential downpour to a light drizzle, and while he couldn't see outside because Miles always kept the dark curtains on his window closed, the increasing amount of sunlight coming in from the curtains lit up the room regardless as the clouds in the sky became less dark than before.

" Why don't we take a nap for a while? Then I'll show you the last of the city, like the arcade where there's lots of fun games to play! And all for free! " Scourge said to him comfortingly, smirking at the end knowing just what he was going to do. Miles nodded, and sighed happily as he hugged his older brother figure as closely as he could get away with. As usual, Scourge felt a little self-conscious of just how nice he was being at the moment, but if it made his only friend feel better, it was worth it.

After resting for a few hours, Miles and Scourge finally got out of bed, with Miles being reluctant to do so, and the two of them left the house and ran to the city arcade at nearly the speed of sound. By this point, the weather was relatively sunny out, although still having puddles around from the rain that happened earlier, and Miles found them annoying, both because he could briefly see his reflection in them, and because they splashed him with their water when Scourge ran over them on the sidewalks. He avoided voicing those complaints in front of Scourge, thinking he'd only frustrate him because he wouldn't be able to avoid splashing him, and because he already thought he had too many triggers to begin with.

" Well, here it is! The most fun place in the whole city! " Scourge said happily as he ran up to the arcade and stopped in front of it. Miles smiled nervously as the two of them walked into the arcade together putting their sunglasses over their eyes and saw all of the different people in the building. The arcade was a bit dark in the lighting, which wasn't good news for Miles, who already had his dark sunglasses over his eyes and didn't have the best vision in the dark even without them, but he kept them over his eyes anyways, wanting to look menacing for the sake of it.

The sheer amount of people in the arcade made him anxious, but he tried to hide it with an annoyed judgmental expression, and tried to look cool by leaning his foot against the wall with his arms crossed, imitating Scourge's rebel relaxation pose. Deep down, seeing all of the children, teenagers, and young adults in front of the various arcade machines made him a nervous wreck. But he hoped that Scourge's presence alone would protect him.

Scourge ran through the entirety of the arcade at sonic speed in a blue and black blur throwing everyone on the floor, immediately getting everyone's attention, and cleared his throat before shouting smugly, " I'm back! You know what to do, bozos, hand 'em over! " with his hands in front of his mouth standing on top of one of the toppled over teenagers. After that, everyone started emptying their pockets of their arcade money and giving them all to him, and Miles helped him carry the various coins accumulated from his efforts.

" Now get outta here, all of ya! " Scourge demanded, an order that surprised everyone in the room but was immediately followed. Miles backed away from the people running out of the arcade, his back firmly against the wall. The only person who remained in the arcade was the intimidated owner of it, who they would have to awkwardly ignore. When all of the customers were gone, Miles sighed in relief, and Scourge returned to giving him the familiar reassuring smile that he always had. " Now lemme introduce ya to every game in the arcade! You've been missing out! " he said, less cheerful by the second sentence.

The first one he brought Miles to play was the famous Pac-Man. " You just put this coin in the thing, and then you move this lever around to move the cursor and your character, and press the button on it to do other stuff. That's how all arcade machines work, " Scourge explained casually to the confused genius beside him, feeling a bit sorry for how much he missed out on while appreciating how it made him feel smart. " What is this show called? " he asked, relating the screen on the machine to a television. " Not show, video game. That's what these all are. They're like shows, but interactive, you can control a character in them, " Scourge explained with a chuckle. " Cool, " Miles replied.

As Miles progressed past the game's title screen and started the game, he had to hold back from asking what he meant by cursor and character, as he didn't want to sound completely ignorant. It took him a second to realize the character he was supposed to be controlling was actually the yellow ball that appeared on the center of the screen, and even then, every so often he'd get confused and think he was controlling one of the various ghosts on the screen instead, not that he knew they were supposed to be ghosts to begin with. The primitive 8-bit graphics fascinated him, like he was looking at an entirely new world made of abstract concepts. Scourge generally stayed quiet and let him enjoy the arcade games he played as he himself played the one beside Miles, and waited for him to ask questions instead.

The games in the arcade included Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Pole Position II, Rolling Thunder, Rally-X, Dragon Spirit, Sky Kid, Xevious, Mappy, Pac-Mania and Galaga '88, and Miles enjoyed them all, more than any of the law-breaking he did, not that he'd tell Scourge that extra tid-bit. Ms. Pac-Man was basically the same thing as the previous game, which was a bit disappointing, and made him assume all video games were like Pac-Man, until Scourge casually explained,

" Oh, that's basically an expanded update of the game you played before, it plays the same way as the other one. Except you can hold down a button to go faster. " Miles appreciated that new information, and didn't seem to mind that he was playing as a technically female " Ms. " Pac-Man that time around, but the game only held his attention for one more level because he was so interested in playing the other ones with different gameplay.

He liked Pac Mania more, the game being a 3D isometric version of Pac-Man with the same basic gameplay but a more interesting looking graphical style to it, but he was eager to get to the other different-playing games. While he enjoyed making Pac-Man eat the ghosts, he could only do that after making him move into the big dots and then hoping he'd get close enough to a ghost in the first place, and most of the time, he had to nervously avoid the seemingly random movements of the ghosts, which made them feel like a constant annoyance.

Galaga, Galaxian, and Galaga '88 involved pressing a button and moving left and right to shoot down various enemies that moved around, which gave Miles a feeling of anxiety and tension mixed with the calm satisfaction of eliminating all the things threatening him. It ultimately wasn't worth the anxiety, but he did find the concept of eliminating threats rather satisfying for an arcade game, at least. It helped that they weren't real, so he didn't have to worry about feeling guilty and proving the people who demonized him right.

Dig Dug confused him a bit at first, and Scourge had to explain to him, " You have to press the button over and over to get rid of your enemies, " which sounded tedious, but was at least satisfying as he watched his character make the various enemies on the screen pop. He heard sound effects that seemed to create a nice melody any time his character moved, and that made him want to move around as much as possible to keep hearing it. It was fascinating to him.

Dig Dug didn't hold the evil genius' attention for long either, even if he did appreciate being able to experience it on principle. Pole Position and Pole Position II were racing games, and they had an off-puttingly different control scheme from the other arcade machines, featuring a steering wheel and a gear shifter for low and high gears – whatever that even meant – and an acceleration pedal. " How do you use this one? " Miles asked unhappily.

" Oh, uh, you sit down here, you turn this wheel to move the car left and right on the screen, you put your foot down on this pedal thing to move it forwards, and the gear shifter is there to make you go faster, " Scourge explained to him. He wasn't used to explaining video games of all things, when he was very obviously much more interested in having a reputation as a law-breaker and thrill-seeker, but for his only friend, it was worth it. " These two machines are racing games! The first of their kind, actually, " he commented.

Once Scourge explained the controls to Miles, he seemed to get the hang of it, despite clearly preferring the much simpler controls from the previous machines. They were games where Miles would control a race car and complete a time trial lap within a certain amount of time to qualify for a race against seven other CPU-controlled cars. One of the challenges of the game was to avoid going off the road because that would send the car crashing into the billboards. Scourge noticed glancing at Miles' screen that he seemed to be a safe driver at heart, not really being into racing to go as fast as possible. He stayed on the right side of the road at all times, and found the other cars annoying, not appreciating the challenge of a race. He only tried out the second Pole Position game just because, although like with all the other games, he was still happy he was able to experience them at all.

Rolling Thunder was a side-scrolling action game where the character would use various firearms to attack enemies, something Scourge could see that Miles clearly didn't feel comfortable with and was only able to deal with because of the 8-bit sprites making it hard to tell. At the very least, he loved defeating the enemies regardless, and commented at one point about the game,

" So I go in doors and move through high and low areas eliminating threats, with stuff that look like, guns. I really like being able to attack my enemies from a distance, at least, rather than getting right up close to one and hoping he won't hurt me. My character falls over in like two hits, so there's that too. Wish I had a way to attack from a distance in real life. I don't see why the character has to use, well, guns, though! Isn't there any other way? "

Scourge looked at him with sympathy and pity in his eyes at hearing that, not failing to understand the implications. He wished he could get him projectile weapons that weren't firearms that he'd refuse to even look at. " There's the bow and arrow, I guess, but no one's used those in hundreds of years, so imagine trying to find them, " Scourge replied awkwardly, choosing not to bring up the touchy subject with trying to convince him that using firearms might help him not fear them. " That's a good way to deal with animals in the woods. Can you get a bow and arrow for me? " Miles asked in confusion.

" Never mind. No one makes 'em anymore, and besides, it's better to attack head-on. Sure it sounds scary, but getting into the habit of that will make you braver than sticking back and attacking from afar… I could always compromise and get you a long stick to attack with, at least. We'll go in the woods to get a new ' staff ' for ya, how 'bout that? " Scourge replied. " Sure! Sounds good to me, " Miles said happily, unconsciously imitating Scourge's way of speaking.

It didn't take him long at all to move onto Rally-X, a driving game set in an overhead, scrolling maze where the goal was to collect flags shown on a radar before the red cars did. While the game itself was pretty simple and harmless, aside from the fuel system, the thing Miles liked the most about it was that it had actual background music. " I've never heard music like this before. What instrument is this? " he asked.

" Instrument? Uh, I dunno. It's 8-bit music, it comes from some sound chip I heard. T-That's what I heard some nerds saying here, anyways. It's trying to imitate actual instruments, " Scourge explained, caught off guard by the random-seeming question. A kid playing a video game and the thing he was most interested in was the music? " Maybe he really is a musical prodigy. Shame that can't do anything for me, though, " Scourge thought.

Miles, still focused on the game, asked innocently, " What does ' nerds ' mean? " Scourge was briefly surprised, before explaining awkwardly, " Well, uh, it means… Smart people. Like you. You're a music nerd! And they were game nerds. I'm not one at all. I'm a badass lawbreaker, a thrill-seeker! Y-You can be one, too, if you try hard enough. " He was about to explain the insult behind the word, but upon remembering how upset Miles got about how he talked about pretty girls, he realized Miles would just get upset at him labeling people again. Miles simply replied, " Thanks! " secretly wondering why Scourge would be so quick to deny that he was a nerd if all it meant was a compliment towards his intelligence.

" This game is kinda fun. Don't see what the worth of meaningless flags is, though, it's not like they're food or anything like the yellow circle ate, " Miles added. Scourge said, " Well, uh, they're very valuable flags, and the driver is sellin' 'em to the black market for a lotta money! Then he can buy all the food he could ever want! " proud of how he was able to think of that so quickly. " I wish I could buy stuff... " Miles replied sounding depressed, not even caring that he accidentally sent the car he was controlling into a rock.

" No one ever lets me buy anything. They take one look at my mutation, and take my money without letting me have what I asked for! How can they expect me to not steal from them and then turn around and kick me out of their stores when I try to pay them?! It's just, ugh… they deserved to be stolen from… " the four-year-old fox continued with a tone that alternated between bitterness and sadness.

Feeling sorry for him, Scourge was faced once again with the fact that his only friend wanted to be a law-abiding citizen deep down, and only broke the law because he felt forced to. He probably would've been a lot happier if instead of his best friend stealing ice cream earlier, he let him pay for it himself so he could actually buy something for the first time in his life. But that might only encourage him to obey the law, and while Scourge was certain he'd still be just as emotionally attached to Miles, he still didn't want him to become a regular law follower if he could help it. From his perspective, that would just be making him restrained as usual rather than showing him that he had the freedom to break the law and get away with it because of him, letting it finally sink in that he was free from the restrictions of his past.

Dragon Spirit was a vertically scrolling shooter arcade game where the plot involved a villainous dragon that captured Princess Alicia. No, not that one – and Anti-Sally didn't even go by that name back then – but Miles would end up looking back on it as a strange coincidence. Miles controlled a dragon that could drop bombs on enemies on the ground, shoot fire breath through the air, and unlike in Galaga, move in 8 directions, which was mind-blowing to him. The powerups that gave the dragon extra heads gave him double or triple the firepower, but they also seemed to decrease the amount of hits he could take from enemy fire, and in the later stages, the fire ended up being intensely difficult to avoid. As a result, Miles, being someone who didn't like anxiety and challenge very much, would end up preferring the simpler to control and understand Galaga despite the much less impressive graphics.

Sky Kid, which had by far the most memorable music out of all of the arcade games, was a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade game involving controlling biplanes through inhospitable terrain and bombing targets like ships. It was the first one Miles experienced to have multiple buttons instead of one, and the B button caused the plane to loop around, which he found pointless and even endangering at times. Needless to say, he didn't exactly discover a love for biplanes with the game like Tails would have. Still, he loved the music, and the satisfaction of eliminating various enemies without consequences like guilt.

Xevious was a vertically scrolling shooter with 8-directional movement and bomb-dropping like Dragon Spirit, but without the appealing interesting concept of controlling a dragon. As a result, while he liked defeating enemies in it, it didn't hold his attention for very long, especially since most of the games in the arcade already let him do that.

Mappy was a side-scrolling platform game with a mouse character that opened doors to get various household items like radios from six different elevations of platforms, using trampolines that would break upon being used a fourth time, and avoiding cat enemies in the process. Technically, the mouse character was a policeman according to the story, but to Miles, with the primitive graphics, it just looked like a mouse dressed in blue for some reason, and with the graphics of the game and arcade simplicity, he could easily believe it was about stealing household items rather than finding stolen goods to return them.

However, Scourge's passive annoyance at how he was playing the game soon discouraged him from continuing with it. When Miles finally noticed the art on the side of the arcade machine, he realized why. Neither of them liked policemen very much, but for two completely different reasons. Miles could at least respect the concept of someone upholding the law for the good of the people, he just didn't trust that someone not to abuse their power and hurt innocents regardless.

" So that's the last one, " Scourge said walking towards the exit of the arcade, smiling despite the dissatisfaction with the game Miles ended with. " So from what I gather, video games are about letting you eliminate enemies in a world free of consequences. Well, if you get hit enough, you have to repeat stuff you already did, but that's still better than what happens in real life. I wish real life was that simple… " Miles commented, as they left the arcade.

" Yeah, but in a game, nothing really matters. You don't have the satisfaction of building up a reputation getting yourself respect and making people do what you want. It's not fulfilling, " Scourge casually replied, only to have an oh crap moment at realizing that the final word of his sentence had opened a whole can of worms he didn't want to for Miles.

" Fulfilling… My reputation has never been anything I'm proud of. Is that the only thing you can feel fulfilled at? Is that the only thing real life offers? " Miles asked, hoping the doubt in his mind about it was correct. " N-No, of course not! There's also getting new skills and learnin' stuff so you can be capable of more. Getting stronger, accomplishing stuff! And hanging out with your friends, being cared about and making them happy, " Scourge replied hurriedly with a nervous smile.

" Friends… I see what you mean, " Miles said, sounding more at peace at hearing that. It was clear that he was getting his sense of fulfillment in life from being a good friend and being cared about, not from seeking thrills and building a feared reputation, but Scourge supposed he could at least appreciate how it meant it would encourage Miles to be as good a friend as possible to him, if he felt like that was his only purpose in life.

" That's not all there can be to life. You'll be almost just as feared a criminal as I am some day, I promise you, and then nobody will be gutsy enough to mess with you ever again! That's somethin' to be proud of getting, " Scourge explained to him.

It soon dawned on Miles that Scourge was trying to not-so-subtly guide him to living the way he wanted him to, just like how Scourge's father tried to pressure him to stop breaking the law and be a productive and responsible person, on the rare occasions he actually talked to him. Scourge, despite being closer to his age, was essentially raising him, just like his father at least in theory raised him. If there was anyone that he was supposed to be asking for advice, then, it was him, and since he was full of doubt and uncertainty, he realized it might be best for him to do that a lot.

He asked Scourge timidly twiddling his thumbs and looking down, " Bro, um, you know how you're the one raising me right? And, um, usually people who do that give valuable life advice on how to live life. W-What would you give me, for, uh, life advice? " Scourge looked at him surprised at first at what he was asking him, grinned in amusement commenting, " Never been asked that before, " and then after a brief moment of consideration, he smirked confidently while saying eagerly, " Live life to the fullest! "

Miles asked Scourge in youthful ignorance, " Uh, fullest? " not understanding what he meant. When he thought, " full, " he thought of how much water was in a water bottle, and wasn't sure how that could apply to life. Scourge lightheartedly teased him, " You know! " finding his ignorance cute. He chuckled and ruffled his hair before elaborating, " Enjoy life! It's as simple as that. Do what you want, and don't let anybody get in your way! If it makes ya happy, then do it! "

Miles looked stunned at hearing that advice. It wasn't that he was surprised that his thrill-seeking criminal friend was so hedonistic, it was more that he had no idea how to follow that advice to begin with. The only thing he could think of that he could do to make himself happy, and thus follow that advice, was to be a good friend and be cared about in return. Was that enough to make up for the depressing reality of how most of the people he passed by insulted him? Was that alone enough to make his life qualify as fulfilling and worthwhile despite him spending it breaking the law like a selfish nuisance? Was that enough to distract him from the violence and neglect he suffered in his past that he remembered every time he went to sleep at night?

" But in a game, nothing really matters, " he remembered Scourge saying, and wondered if it applied to his life, too. He determined that at the very least, he would focus on being as loyal and caring a friend as possible, because that was the only thing that gave his life purpose. He was Scourge's best friend. Without that identity, he was back to being just an ugly mutant.

" N-Now come on, little bro, next up, the playground! " Scourge said nervously with a forced smile, noticing how depressed and worried Miles looked at what he thought would be inspiring advice. This got Miles' attention, and the two of them ran through the city on their way to the playground in it. As Miles expected by this point, his brother ran in a tornado around it scaring everyone away so the two of them could enjoy it in peace.

Unfortunately, the playground wasn't exactly that interesting, especially compared to the fascinating and satisfying arcade machines he got to enjoy just before that point. There were just a few slides, including one that turned around, and there were monkey bars which Miles could easily fly up to, and all of the equipment was in sand, something he had learned to despise. Still, he deeply appreciated how Scourge was nice enough to make it so that he had it all to himself, and tried to enjoy it for what it was.

He mostly used the slides, though, as pushing the swing a little and seeing it go back towards him made him too nervous of the consequences of the swing hitting a person to even consider asking Scourge to push him in it. Besides, he couldn't imagine it being fun to just push someone on a swing over and over. He wanted Scourge to enjoy himself, too, and he wouldn't be able to enjoy his time there knowing Scourge wasn't happy.

After nearly a half an hour, they left the playground to return home, as it was getting close to dinner, and they preferred not to miss enjoying the dinner the servants at their mansion made for the house. After finishing a delicious meal of mashed potatoes, broccoli and steak, with Scourge giving him all of his broccoli, Miles was given some more ice cream with chocolate sauce as dessert, and while he didn't like ice cream headaches, it was at least tasty enough to be a nice treat as usual. The first thing they did after breakfast the next morning was go to a forest to find a long branch for a staff for Miles, giving him a weapon at last. He wouldn't be able to spindash while holding it, but it didn't seem to matter to him.

Scourge taught Miles a lot of common knowledge that he missed out on from not going to school, having proper social experience, or even watching the right TV shows. He felt like the wiser one compared to his naïve and inexperienced friend, and that only made their age difference feel more obvious, as despite being the one who wasn't the genius of the duo, Scourge was still the older and wiser one. He tended to read words on signs and whatnot out loud to subtly teach Miles how they were pronounced, and he would often have to correct Miles when he struggled to pronounce certain words, usually words that had two vowels right beside each other in them, and he had to resist chuckling at how cute he thought it was, even if it was from a tragic lack of education. It was strangely satisfying, casually correcting his mispronunciations and teaching him everything he knew. He felt like a parent.