"Yo Tails, you alright?" Sonic said as he crossed him arms. I was laying down on our- HIS- old couch. How did I get here? I thought I was on my way to Carl's...

"Yeah I think so. How'd I get here?" I looked at my hip to see if I was still injured, only to see nothing.

"Whad'ya mean? You were asleep all peacefully in your hangar, so I brought you inside so you could be warm. To be honest, I thought you left for good."

I froze for a moment. Was all that a dream then? Clare, Silver? The Lich King? Hell, even the Universe???

"Well anyways. Look... I've been meaning to tell you something for awhile now." He kicked at the floor nervously.

"I'm sorry for all the times I left you in the dust in the past. I was stupid for leaving you everywhere I go, and I need to do better," He looked up at me, "Do you forgive me? Will you be my partner again?"

I could tell he meant it. But, as much as I wanted to say yes...

"No." I looked at my feet to hide my guilt, then looked back at him.

"I know you're sorry, but you should've known by now that this should've stopped long ago. Even IF you stopped... I still don't want to live in your shadow. I want to be my own hero. And no offense, I wanted to stop being your partner after Eggman almost took over the whole planet. Because you and your new partner seems like a great pair to me." I eyed the front door. I didn't want to be here after what I just said.

"That was temporary, plus I was locked up for six months! I was itching for adventure and they came along at the perfect time!" Sonic exclaimed as he sat down.

I began to walk slowly towards the door.

"True, but Sonic, Look. I know you're a great guy deep down, and I know you mean well, but I need this. I want my own life. I want to write my own story. My own adventure!" I began to reach for the knob.

"Are you sure, young one?" Sonic said, but in a different, familiar voice.

I pushed the door open, and a bright white light came over me. I stumbled back, observing it. I turned around slowly towards Sonic. His hand was out, like he wanted me to grab it and join him.

I looked at the door and back at him. I had two choices.

"I either stay and hope you change, and continue living in a shadow, or, go in the light and build a new life." I was thinking hard.

Then I made my mind up.

"I'm sorry Sonic." I locked eyes with him and walked over to give him a goodbye hug.

"I NEED this." He hugged me tight, and I did the same. We let go and looked at each other. He was crying hard.

"Go, be your hero." He smiled and motioned me towards the door. I walked toward it and put one foot out before stopping.

"Tell the others I said good bye?" I turned towards the light, and took another step.

The light got brighter to the point I needed to close my eyes. A few moments later I could feel wind blowing through my fur intensely. I opened my eyes, and the wind stopped.

I was free falling, but very slowly. And Silver was right in front of me, no doubt diving for me and trying to save me from becoming a pancake.

I could feel the power rising in me. The pure lightning crawling around me. Even though, I was perfectly calm. The pain went away. I raised my hand for Clare, and she shot towards me. Then everything went back to normal speed.

I knew I only had seconds before coming into contact with the ground, so I hurried onto Silver.

"Hold onto your helmet! And me!" Clare yelled as Silver lashed back up just in time before we hit the ground.

"Good job, Silver! Bring us closer to that giant bird over there!" I pointed towards the shadow demon the size of a fortress.

"But what about your cut?" Clare looked at the bird and back at me.

I looked at where the cut would be, and it was gone. What the heck..?

Silver squawked, letting us know we were close. I stood up with out a problem. I was confident I could win this fight, despite their being another mountain guard and more of those small shadow birds.

I jumped onto the big bird and tried to keep my balance. Silver kept close to make sure I didn't  fall off again.

"Silver, meet me at the head!" I yelled over the wind, and Silver nodded his head as he flew off towards the front of the big bird.

"You ready, Clare?" I raised her up and got ready to thrust her down into the monsters lower back.

"Are you sure this'll work?" She said nervously.

"Oh yeah, I'm positive!" I thrust down and penetrated the skin. The monster roared and shook in response. I kneeled down to keep my balance, and pulled Clare out.

"Told you!" I smiled, and started to walk towards the head despite the raging winds. Silver was there waiting for me like a good boy.

A few smaller demon birds dived for me, but I managed to dodge them. I threw Clare at the closest one and killed it in mid-flight.

Clare came back into my hand while I got ready for another strike.

"What would be a cool catch phrase?" I asked Clare jokingly.

"NOW? We're in the middle of a fight!" Her crystal changed to grey.

"Fine!" I thrust down into the monsters head, but Clare didn't go in. I accidentally lost my grip and she flew off in the distance in almost in instant.

"Oops." I raised my hand, and she flew right back to me.

I got ready for another blow, but stronger this time. Clare managed to get in halfway, which was a lot.

The monster roared louder and did a slow barrel role to get me off.

"Hang on!" Clare yelled as my grip began to loosen up. The monster was upside down, making it harder for me to pull up. I eventually lost my grip, but thankfully Silver caught me.

"Man am I lucky to have you?" I pet his head as we both waited for the monster to go back to flying up right.

Once it was safe, Silver brought me back up towards Clare.

"Wussy!" Clare laughed as I got ready to jump on the handle.

"Wussy?! I'll show you wussy!" I jumped on Clare with all the strength I could muster, and she ended up going through the head of the monster. Immediately after, the giant began to lose altitude. I called Clare as Silver pulled up next to us.

Silver squawked as we got on.

All three of us watched as the giant crashed into the ground with the sound of a loud thunderous crack.

"Heck yeah!" Clare cheered. But I wasn't done yet. I still had a mountain guard to kill. I looked over to my left and saw it looking up straight at me. I walked off silver and charged myself up for a strike on the mountain guard as I fell closer. Once my feet touched the guard's surface, I put all my strength into the thrust, causing that same electric explosion.

The mountain guard went down with barely any effort. It felt like over kill to me, but it was necessary.

Silver flew down and landed next to me, observing the damage. Clare came out drenched in blood.

"You're getting good at this!" Her crystal changed to yellow.

"Well-" I was interrupted when one shadow demon bird fell from the sky. And then another. Then another, and so on.

"Well killing the source kills them all apparently." I said right before one splattered right in front of us.

I looked at my GPS, which was a little cracked. But it said we were half way to Carl's house.

"Ready, Silver?" Silver squawked in reply. The sun was coming up already, and man was it beautiful.

Silver extended his wings once more, and with just one flap, we were already sky high.

"Next stop guys, Carl's house."

END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN, THE GUARDIAN