A golden sun cast its light down through a cloudless sky upon the sprawling canvas of the Mystic Ruins. Far removed from the hustle and bustle of cities such as Station Square or Mobotropolis, the region was a bastion of peace and natural beauty. Which made it the perfect location for a particular workshop of interest.

The young two-tailed fox leaned back in his desk chair, arms crossed behind his head. As he gazed toward the lofty ceiling of his workshop, it abruptly dawned on him just how long he'd been staring at the screen.

Hours, maybe? He checked his watch.

Wow, six hours.

In truth, this wasn't completely out of the ordinary for him. Miles "Tails" Prower had quite the reputation among his inner circle for throwing himself into his work fully and completely, even beyond the point of what a normal observer would call "sanity" or "reason". Seeing Tails with a soldering iron in his hand or a welding mask on his head was as natural as seeing bark on a tree. Still, this was a bit excessive even by his standards. A full six hours of coding was tedious work, to be sure. But for Tails, engineer extraordinaire, it was a labor of love for his most impassioned creation: the Tornado.

The memories came flooding back thinking of the machine. What began as a single, propeller-driven biplane, the Tornado I, had morphed over the years and through many iterations before finally culminating in the Tornado X-1, a screaming fighter jet designed to slice through the skies via the righteous fury of her afterburners.

Today's project (a marathon one, apparently) was to improve coding for the AI in the targeting computers, an area that had been giving the young fox quite a bit of grief over the past few weeks. He was a mechanic at heart, meaning his coding skills were lagging in comparison. Ever the determinator, though, and with more than a touch of genius, there was little in the way of technology that could stump the young mastermind. Even through the haze of fatigue and a generous amount of coffee, he was confident in his latest updates.

The Tornado X-1 was a tried and true, streak-of-lightning machine, doubtlessly capable of handling the most imposing of enemies. And this plane had enemies, none more prominent than the infamous Ivo Robotnik: sworn enemy of Mobius and constant shadow over the people of the Acorn Kingdom, with his mechanized creations and sprawling industrial complexes lashed together for the sole purpose of complete global domination, which evidently necessitated shooting down foxes in jets. He'd yet to succeed in that endeavor, Tails was proud to say, but nevertheless Robotnik and his calculating intellect kept those who would oppose him vigilant.

As Tails ruminated on this, it struck him that he should probably make a visit to the little fox's room, considering he'd been sitting in a chair for the better part of his waking hours today. He hopped away from his desk and, after a healthy stretch, strolled across the shop floor toward the front of the building. It was cathartic, sometimes, to see all of his creations on display. Tails wasn't a vain person, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the sight of all the things he'd put so much time and effort into laid out before him did fill him with a profound sense of pride and enthusiasm.

And hopefully, I can get this targeting system squared away by tomorrow. He thought as he entered the more modestly constructed area of his workshop. He might have called it the administrative area, if he had any employees. As it stood, though, it was merely his home-not-so-far-away-from-home that provided accommodation for any late-night tinkering sessions, of which there were many.

After leaving the restroom, the fox felt a familiar buzz from his wrist communicator, and a grin spread across his face when he realized who was on the other end.

"Hey hey, T2!" came the carefree timbre of Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius, and Tails' surrogate big brother, "What's new in the Mystic Ruins?"

"Not much, Blue," Tails responded, "Just some Tornado maintenance. Should make life a little easier for us when you-know-who rears his ugly head."

"The wiz kid strikes again!" the hedgehog responded, "Hey, listen, you're not busy tonight are ya?"

Tails took a quick glance at his whiteboard, where all of his current engagements were meticulously organized and tracked. He'd gotten ahead of schedule with his binge coding session and didn't have anything in particular that needed attending to - at least not until he could get in some parts for a new ray blaster he'd been scheming up.

"No, not particularly. What's up; coming back this way?"

"Yep! Figured we could hang, watch a couple movies. Been a while since we had a bros' night out!"

"Hey, yeah! Come to think of it, I've been craving a good B-movie. Sounds great," the fox said with a smile he was sure could be heard over the signal. Tails was glad Sonic called. Even he knew that overworking himself like he had been the past couple days wasn't healthy. Movie night was just what the doctor, or hedgehog in this case, ordered to refresh his mind, "Around, uh, let's say 7-ish?"

"Right on. I've got tons of DVD's up in my room we haven't watched yet. We can dig through 'em and decide what to watch when I get there. See ya soon, bro!"

"See ya, Sonic."

Tails hung up the communicator and made his way back to the workstation to back up his code, mentally going through a checklist of things in his fridge. Supplies should be sufficient for movie night, he hoped.

For all intents and purposes, Sonic lived with Tails at his place near the Mystic Ruins. He had his own room there, all of his stuff was there, his mail was delivered there, but in actual fact the hedgehog was a rolling stone. At any given moment he could be blazing across any nook and cranny of the Acorn Kingdom, getting into various degrees of misadventure or general tomfoolery, but always with an eye out for anyone in need.

In short, Sonic roamed often, not out of any kind of malice or neglect for his friends, but simply because that's what brought him joy. It's who he was. More poetic minds may have called him a free spirit – a wandering soul. Sonic preferred to think of it as his sense of curiosity manifest. The feeling of spontaneity and unpredictability washed him in a wave of contentment that never grew stale.

That said, however, Sonic the Hedgehog knew where his home was, and who his friends were. He never went very long without returning to rest his hat for a few days, catch up on things, and spend some time with his little bro before speeding off again into the horizon. And above all else, he never, ever, was without his communicator.

A true blue friend, in more than one sense. Tails thought, and chuckled at the pun.

Man, I really hope he doesn't track mud in again.