𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑: 𝔽𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕤

      Sonic and Knuckles brought Tails through the air to one of the sky islands, where a village of the same angel-like and flying Mobians, as well as people, was located. There were no nagas here, which was strange for a fox. The people on that island lived, oddly enough, happily. Someone, like a soldier, hid behind a wall of sacks and watched through binoculars, someone played ball on wings, trying to hit the ball into a goal on a tree, someone tried to invent a flying car without wheels, someone simply flew racing with each other and playing around in every possible way, and someone flew airplanes. There was even a farm in the village where, as it turned out, even pigs could fly. And the same hens and cockerels, even more so, could fly much longer and excellently than in their world. — Forgive us, of course, for asking, but how do you fly if you don’t have wings? — Sonic asked. — Well, I have two tails. With their help I can fly. — Tails replied. — Like this? — Knuckles didn’t understand. — I don’t know myself. At first I didn’t even know that I could do this. But I like to fly. — Tails explained. Flying Sonic and Knuckles led Tails to the observatory where their mother, a purple hedgehog, lived. Entering the house, Tails saw a large frame with a family portrait on one of the walls. It looked like the same Sonic and Knuckles, only still young, and the two adults were apparently their parents. What's strange is that it was most likely not mom and dad, but rather two moms. Or mom and aunt most likely. Because one is a purple hedgehog and the other is a creamy red echidna. Although the hedgehogs and echidnas themselves looked like lovers in the portraits. Having finished examining the portrait, he followed his new friends further. So far there was only the hedgehog at home, who was looking through her huge spyglass, looking at the distant island where those same nagas lived. — What are these nagas up to again? — she asked herself. — Mom, we're back! — she was distracted by Knuckles’ voice. She flew out to meet the children and hugged them. Then she noticed a two-tailed fox without wings, which they brought with them. — Who is this? — she asked the children. — This is Tails. He came to us from another world, and not alone. He has his own friend, one of the nagas. — Sonic explained. — Nagas? — the mother did not believe the children, looked around the guest more carefully and began to mutter calculations out loud: — So, as Tikal said, string theory, multiple universes and teleportations... These are all not just theories... But reality? This explains a lot! — She said smiling, knelt down and lightly took the fox by the shoulders. — Tell me, Tails, what world did you come to us from? — From where we have no wings. Neither humans, nor Mobians, nor nagas. But I myself can fly with the help of my tails. — Do you have sky islands there? — No, we have the Earth alone under our feet, and the sky with clouds is only above. Clouds, on the contrary, are not solid and you can fall through them. — Really? — Alina didn’t believe it, her eyes bulging. — Are you also watching the nagas from hiding? — No, we have it better, unlike your world. We have people, Mobians and Nagas as friends. — It's true, mom. We saw him together with a black snake hedgehog with red stripes. He looked scary, but he was friendly and hugged this fox. — Sonic explained. — Where is he now? — He stayed there on the cloud, all alone. — the fox lowered his head. He was a little ashamed that he left him there alone. — You can come back for him and bring him here to your island. — This giant? Yes, he will devour us all. — Alina said, protesting the fox’s request. — No, he is kind. Trust me. You don't need to be afraid of him. Tails assured. — Okay, we'll think about your request. — Now answer my question. Where do nagas live in your world? — the fox asked. Alina took Tails to her large spyglass and showed through it the island where those flying nagas with bat wings live. — Over there on the island of suffering. — Why did you call it the island of suffering? — It was not we, but the naked people themselves who called it that according to rumors, because they used to suffer when they lived there. They also didn’t know how to fly then, but they appeared there a long time ago, together with people and us. Well, together. People lived on another island, and we lived on this one. We managed to get along with people, but we can’t do that with them. They sometimes like to fly to us and destroy our houses. — I hope no one was hurt? — No, thank Chaos, no one died. It’s strange that they don’t bother anyone. But it really infuriates us that they always fly to us every night and do this to us. Our leaders and people have even already discussed this topic and decided that we ourselves must attack them and get rid of them. — Wait! Why do we need to get rid of them? Let me fly there myself and stop them so they don’t do this again. — How will you do this, I wonder? Yes, one more! - Knuckles asked. — Well, I... I can talk to them... Awaken nobility in them... If, of course, they have it. — Tails explained. — Are you crazy? They won't even listen to you. — Alina said with excitement and was against it. — If you don’t believe me, then see for yourself! I'll at least try, even if I can't. Please let me go there. Just tell me in more detail, where should I fly to get to the island of suffering? Alina, Sonic and Knuckles refused for a long time, but the fox begged them many times, until eventually their patience ran out and they did not allow him to fly there, showing the way through the air. Tails set off on his own two tails.

***

      When Tails arrived there, the whole atmosphere already looked like he was in Hell. The sky turned dark red and the clouds black. Even the ground on the island itself looked lifeless. Kind of sad. There were only stones with sand and dust in the form of earth around. Not a single grass with trees. This even scared Tails, but he landed on this territory and headed forward. As soon as he walked a few slopes, he met two giant snake-like Mobians on the way. The nagas looked like a green hedgehog and a green eagle. They looked at the fox very menacingly, for he was an uninvited guest. They crawled up to him and bent down. — Hello! — he told them, waving his hand and standing still, waiting for them to answer him. — Why weren’t you afraid of us? - asked the green snake hedgehog. — And why don’t you run away? — asked the bird. — In what sense? — the fox answered the question with a question. — You are a small animal. You are just as afraid of us as people. Aren't you even afraid that we might grab you and eat you on the spot? — Scourge asked. — No. — Tails answered them briefly, continuing to stand in place. Although he was prepared for the fact that they might attack him and eat him. — Then return the favor. Why the Holy Devil did you come to our territory? Who gave you permission to fly to our island? — Forgive me for coming to you without an invitation. — the fox apologized. — I wanted to meet all the nagas in person. That is, every single one of you. I have a very important conversation with all of you. If you agree to listen to me, of course. The green nagas were quite dumbfounded that this daredevil dared to come to them just to talk to them. Maybe it really isn’t worth eating yet? After thinking about this, the snake bird extended his hand. Tails obediently stood on it and both nagas dragged him to the center of their island. The hedgehog-snake, using a signal horn, blew it loudly and called absolutely all the nagas to him. Even those who flew on reconnaissance and returned back to the island, as if by an alarm signal. Tails even managed to count these nagas. There are almost five hundred of them on this island. — Did the snack itself come to us? — one of them licked his tongue. — Wait! Before you eat me up, let me tell you something. — the fox demanded his rights. — We are listening to you. Just don’t take too long from us, otherwise our leader himself will eat you right away. One. — To begin with, I will ask you a question. Why are you attacking other sky islands? For what? Why are you destroying forests, houses and scaring their inhabitants? — For what? Because we have fun with it. — It may be fun for some, but for others it’s painful and offensive. Haven't you thought about that? — Tails asked indignantly. — What? — Would you yourself be pleased if, for example, we ourselves attacked you and your island, and also offended you? — What are these threats? — Of course no. I’m asking all this to make you think about what you’re doing. Do you think that since you are so huge compared to little ones like me, you supposedly have the right to attack us and offend us? — Tails stated questioningly, and at that moment an old acquaintance, a scorpion naga, crawled out from the crowd of nagas. — And to be honest, I don’t care! — he said. Tails recognized him by his voice and turned to him, as all the nagas turned to him questioningly. — When are you going to leave me alone with your licking nug? — Do you know each other? — Yes. This is my sworn enemy. Let me eat it myself? — Luz asked and crawled up to the fox, grabbing him in his fist. The fox did not resist and try to break free in order to show the other nagas that he was not at all a coward to run away and would do anything for the sake of peaceful communication. — Your last wish, red thorn! — Don’t even think about it, Luz! — Why is this? — Even if you eat me or just crush me, I will haunt you even in Hell. — Oh, I scared you! — the scorpion said mockingly and just opened his mouth when he was stopped by the green snake hedgehog. — Wait! This fox is quite brave. He does not run away from us and even directly threatens us, even when facing death. Doesn't he even realize that he's about to die? — I understand. — the fox answered him. — But this is no longer my problem, but yours. You could have gone a different and peaceful way. Live in peace with humans and Mobians, then your life would be much better than here. You would probably have your own new homes on luxurious and beautiful islands, as well as a lot of friends. — Don't listen to him! — Luz insisted on his opinion. — He says all this on purpose so that you all naively believe him. But in reality it will lead to the death of all of you. He wants the humans and Mobians to all unite together against all of you and exterminate your entire race. — What? — everyone asked at once. — Liar! — the fox ran into Luz. — You made it all up for yourself. You haven’t even really seen how in our world I was able to try on nagas with people and Mobians, and you are already judging in advance how supposedly bad I am, and how supposedly a saint you are. It is you who spoil all the worlds, not us. On the contrary, we save them from you and your actions. When will you finally understand this? — Do you really think that I will listen to some little guy like you? You are not even capable of challenging me. — Luz said threateningly, looking at Tails. — Really? — he asked him and painfully bit him with his sharp teeth on the hand with which he was holding him tightly. Luz screamed in pain and clenched his fist harder to squeeze the fox properly. However, the fox grabbed the naga’s hand with his teeth even more tightly. So much so that it is about to bite off a piece of skin from his hand, leaving a bleeding wound. Unable to bear such pain from the smallest but sharpest teeth, Luz let go of Tails, unclenching his hand and grabbing it with his other hand. The fox himself began to fly in the air on his tails and spit. — What? Didn’t expect that I would escape so easily from your dirty hands, tyrant? — See! He is dangerous, like all people with Mobians. He just hurt me with his sharp teeth. — the scorpion-snake shook his rights, showing a barely noticeable bite on his hand. — If we don’t unite against them all and stop them, they will get to us all and destroy us all. — Don't listen to this liar. He himself will lead you all to death. If you believe me and come with me, then I give my word that none of you will suffer. You can live differently and continue. — Tails explained. — I'm not a liar. He's the one lying to you. He's not even naked. You are all naked and must trust only me, since I am one of you. — Luz insisted. — But you don’t even have wings and you can’t fly, like us. — said the green snake bird. While they were chatting, they didn't even notice that their island had already been attacked. — ATTA-A-A-A-ACK!!! — someone shouted from above and everyone even threw their fishing nets. All the nagas fell under them, became entangled and fell. They couldn't even take off. — This is not the end yet! — Luz said and again with his ring he opened a portal to another world, where he quickly crawled away. — STOP, IRAD!!! — Tails shouted to him, picking up a stone and throwing it at the back of the naga’s head. The stone managed to fly before the portal closed. At that time, people and Mobians with wings, armed with swords, shields, crossbows and bows and arrows, descended from the sky. The captured nagas were trapped and stopped trying to escape. — Oh no! — said one of them. — Prepare to die, monsters! — STOP-STOP!!! — Tails stopped them and all the hunters were distracted by the fox. — What are you doing, buddy? We saved your life from these monsters. — NO, WAIT, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! — We're not, what? Explain to us! — I know this is hard to believe, but... They are not to blame for anything. They just act like children in adult bodies. To put it simply, hooligans. They weren't even raised correctly. They barely even had friends. They can actually be good if you give them a chance. — What kind of nonsense are you talking about, fox. These monsters are truly evil. They have no place among us. They can't be trusted! They all need to be exterminated to the last, before they themselves destroy us. — STOP-STOP!!! — Shadow shouted. Tails, like everyone else, looked up and saw that the people from that island, using a net, had dragged his friend here. They lowered him to the ground of that island. The soldiers took aim at him and were preparing to shoot if he dared to attack. — Don't shoot him! He is kind. He will explain everything to you now. — said Alina. And then Shadow began to explain to them everything that happened in their world with Tails until they began to travel to other worlds and hunt Luz Bucket, who is also trying to ruin other worlds, including this one. On the one hand, everything they heard from the naga Shadow sounded like nonsense. But since he told them this himself, and has never attacked any of them, then maybe it’s worth believing him. — Release them all! — the commander of the people ordered and all the caught nagas were unraveled from their nets where they were caught. Now they were free. For one thing, these same nagas were convinced of the correctness of Tails’ words. He did not deceive them at all, that the Mobians and people would not kill them, and most importantly, that they could live in peace with them. Besides. They even felt ashamed. After all, they attacked their islands at night and destroyed their houses, while they first caught them and wanted to kill them, but spared their lives. And this despite the fact that they themselves even almost killed them once. The main thing is that Tails and Shadow once again accomplished what they had in mind and were ready to move to another world to continue pursuing Luz. Shadow opened the portal again, fortunately Tails remembered where Luz went and told him where to open the portal. Then they enter through the portal and leave this world. The flying nagas remain alone for now with the flying people and Mobians, having decided to start the meeting with communication, long apologies and promises that they will no longer bully them like that. They even promised to make amends and fix everything that was broken for them. People and Mobians agreed, because such healthy and strong helpers would not hinder them.