Miles "Tails" Prower

Miles Prower, better known by his nickname Tails, (Pronounced in Japan; Mairusu "Tails" Pauaa マイルス・テイルス・パウアー) is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, comics, and animated series released by Sega.

The name "Miles Prower" is a pun on "miles per hour", a reference to the famed speed of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an 8-year-old orange-golden-yellow, anthropomorphic fox with two tails (similar to the mythological kitsune), hence the nickname. He is known to be Sonic's sidekick and a mechanist. He is able to use his two tails to propel himself into the air like a helicopter for a limited time. His debut was in October 16, 1992, introduced in 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2; the 16-bit version was released that November.

During his first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, his fur was an orange color, but the color was changed to yellow-orange for Sonic Adventure, and light-yellow for Sonic Heroes. In 1993 and 1995, he starred in his own games, Tails and the Music Maker for the Pico, Tails Adventure, and Tails' Skypatrol for the Game Gear. Tails is the third most popular character of the series, behind Sonic and Shadow, according to official polls.

Conception and creation
Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, designed Tails as an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog. The character was meant to hold a "deep admiration for Sonic."[4] Tails was originally intended to be a tanuki, a strikingly raccoon-like canid native to east Asia, and extremely popular in Japanese folklore. The designers decided to change him to a fox, however, to avoid possible comparisons with another popular game character. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails".

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He sneaked the name "Miles" in as his legal name; "Tails" would be his nickname, ending up with the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower.

Tails was redesigned (along with all of the other Sonic characters) by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a slightly orange shade of yellow, and he gained visible blue irises.

In the American Sonic comic book, along with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, he was originally a brownish color, but the comic artists eventually decided to change this to match his in-game appearance.

In the anime series Sonic X, Tails is almost identical to his current game design, though he appears to have a round belly in some episodes.

First Appearances
Tails was first seen on Sonic 2 for the Master System, where he was kidnapped by Robotnik for ransom. He was first made playable in the Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where he played the part of Sonic's sidekick and also as a playable character from the second controller, or could be chosen as player one. Sonic Chaos (1993), on the Game Gear/Master System was the second game where the player could control Tails, and the first game where the player could control his flight.

Then, in Sonic 3 (1994) Tails made his third major appearance, this time able to pick up Sonic when possible, while he was flying. This was a big step forward for Tails; he became much better known and respected at this point for his usefulness.

Solo Appearances
Tails starred in his first solo role in Tails' Skypatrol (1995), which was a sort of puzzle game on the Game Gear. This was followed by Tails Adventure later the same year, which was a Metroid-esque platformer with RPG elements.

Tails was the star of Tails and the Music Maker for the Sega Pico.

Secular Appearances
He found himself in the ring for the arcade game Sonic the Fighters, which was later ported to the Gamecube and PlayStation 2 (excluding America) via Sonic Gems Collection. In this fighting game, he can fly into enemies, spin dash and punch rapidly. He is the fifth character the player fights in the story mode, and his stage is "Canyon Cruise", which takes place on a boat.

The fox was also a playable character in Sonic R (1997) for the Sega Saturn. He had good turning and could take shortcuts with his flying ability, but wasn't very fast.

In Sonic Adventure and its remake, Sonic Adventure DX, Tails was one of the six playable characters. His gameplay was standard platforming stages; the goal of each stage was to destroy the capsule or get to the Chaos Emerald before Sonic or Dr. Eggman. However, in the sequel, Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, he was featured in third-person shooting segments, seated in his "Cyclone" mech, not counting his Chao Garden appearances where he performed as he did in Sonic Adventure.

Tails was also a playable character in the Game Boy Advance series Sonic Advance. He could fight offensively with his tails, along with jumping, flying and using the Spin Dash.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, he helps Shadow out in the Circus Park and Air Fleet levels, and can be played using the second controller in the GameCube and PS2 versions. He shows the ability to use Sonic's Homing Attack in this game, but cannot fly. He can attack by hitting enemies with his tails.

Tails was also in Sonic Battle for the Game Boy Advance. His story was second in the main mode. His specials included firing electrical energy with an arm cannon, setting "Chu2" bombs that seek out their target and causing a giant hand to appear and attack. His flying ability is present but very dumbed down, but it is made up with the fact that Tails has one of the best healing abilities in the game.

Sonic Rush on the Nintendo DS featured Tails as a supporting character as well as in Sonic Rush Adventure.

In Sonic Riders, Tails is a playable character, and one of the main characters of the game. He modified Sonic's Extreme Gear "Blue Star" to become "Blue Star 2", and rides a board called the "Yellow Tail". Wave the Swallow makes fun of his board design, sparking a rivalry between them throughout the game. When racing, he has the best cornering of all characters, and fights with a giant electrical plug. He is also playable in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

In Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Tails is a playable character. He and Knuckles are amigo characters for Sonic.

In Sonic Rivals, Tails appears in Sonic's storyline as a cameo appearance. When both him and Sonic head over to the mysterious Onyx Island, they discover that Amy has been turned into a card by Dr. Eggman himself. When Sonic doubts Dr. Eggman, Sonic gets a front-row seat to see Tails also get turned into a card! Sonic sets off to rescue the two as other rivals, Knuckles the Echidna, Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Metal Sonic get into the mix as they all head on a search for Eggman. Tails also appears as three collectable cards in the game. He is playable in Sonic Rivals 2.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Tails is one of the 16 playable characters (8 being from Sonic's universe) as a Skill-type character.

In Sonic and the Secret Rings, Tails is a playable character in Party Mode, but during the main story play he acts as a guide, with his likeness used for Ali Baba in place of Tails himself.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Tails calls on Sonic to inform him of numerous going - ons, thus starting the adventure. He joins Sonic's party upon their entrance to Central City, and is the third party member to join (after Amy.) He is of the Support Class, meaning that he has a lot of skills that help keep his party members alive, or help them in their assaults, such as 'Scan.' He can fly on the map, allowing him to get to places only a select few can reach.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is a Green Hill Zone cameo.

Other Appearances
It has been confirmed that in the unreleased Sonic X-treme, which was in development for the Sega Saturn platform, Tails would have appeared, playing in a first person flight mode. Sonic CD only contains Tails in the form of a piece of artwork that features him standing next to a racecar with the caption "SEE YOU NEXT GAME" - a reference to Sonic Drift for the Game Gear.

Gameplay quirks
In Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic Adventure, when the player has opted to play in 'Sonic and Tails' mode (controlling Sonic while the AI makes Tails follow him), it's not readily stated in the manual, but a second player can use the 2P controller to use Tails. The action will continue to follow Sonic on the screen, making him the focal point, but Tails is fully controllable in every way that he is when playing as Tails alone. This can potentially be exploited by players who are having trouble with some problem areas or bosses, as Tails has the benefit of being completely invulnerable, with any "death" he suffers being quickly resolved as the character flies harmlessly back onto the screen after a few seconds. Moreover, in Sonic 3, Tails is granted the ability to fly as he pleases, which can allow the Tails-using player to airlift Sonic wherever he might need to go, though Tails does have an endurance limit to his flight. Sonic Advance allowed this mode as well (via a code entered at character select), however, Tails couldn't be controlled by a second player this time. In the GameCube version of Shadow the Hedgehog, all non-hovering characters, including Tails, could be controlled with the second controller.

Personality
Tails was very shy when he first met Sonic the Hedgehog, but gradually opened up and became Sonic's best friend. Before he met Sonic, In Tail's Adventure, he saved an entire island from the brink of destruction caused by the battle kukku army. He also battled various villains in "Tails Sky Patrol" such as the main villain WitchCart. In Sonic Adventure, Tails saved Station Square from Dr. Eggman without Sonic's help.

He now has many different creations and his intelligence matches Doctor Robotnik's. He does have a few weaknesses though; he is very afraid of lightning and has a tendency to talk too much, which frequently causes him to accidentally blab out secrets or plans (for example, in Sonic Adventure 2, without thinking at first, he told Eggman that the Emerald Sonic had was a fake, thus ruining the heroes plans). He also has a tendency to talk technobabble.

In the Archie Comics, the other Freedom Fighters take care of the fox, him being too young to do much. However, over time he grows up to become a valuable team member.

Physical Appearance
Tails has golden yellow fur, white, fluffy muzzle, inner ears, and tummy/chest, sky blue eyes, three bent, smooth bangs coming out from his forehead, large, triangular, perked ears, small, bulbous black and shiny nose and two large, fluffy, white-tipped tails.

Attire
Tails wears a pair of white gloves, backed by a dark gray ringlet and then two thick, sock-like cuffs, a pair of duel-tone sneakers where the back half is re and the frontal half is white, with gray soles and a pair of white socks with an additional set of dark gray ringlets between the socks and shoes.

As a sidekick
The Japanese and western manuals differ somewhat in the story of how the two first met.

In the Japanese manual, Tails lived on Westside Island, which Sonic arrived at shortly after Sonic the Hedgehog in his biplane, the Tornado. Sonic instantly became Tails' idol when the fox first witnessed the blue hedgehog's incredible speed. After Sonic saw that Tails was actually able to catch up with him, he decided to let him tag along (this scene can be witnessed in Sonic Adventure in a flashback during Tails' story). Being a mechanics buff, Tails took the time to look over Sonic's plane when he had gone away. However, around the same time, Dr. Eggman (or "Robotnik") began demonstrating the power of his spacestation, the Death Egg. Tails was more than willing to help stop Eggman, effectively teaming up with Sonic. The added details about his mechanical abilities explain why Tails was so quick with repairs while Sonic fought his way through the Wing Fortress Zone, and have since been referenced in later titles such as Sonic Adventure where he made a much faster, more well equipped plane, the Tornado II, to replace the old one.

According to the western manual, Sonic had been Tails' hero ever since he was a baby fox. After following his hero relentlessly for a long time, Tails became fast enough to keep up with Sonic by spinning his twin tails in a propeller-like style, which gave the fox the ability of flight. Eventually, Sonic and Tails became best friends.

With other characters
Tails has many friends besides Sonic, and his skills are respected by everyone who knows him. In Sonic Heroes he is part of Team Sonic, along with Sonic and Knuckles. Tails mostly treats and respects all his friends the same with a humble and somewhat passive attitude.

For the most part, he has a friendly relationship with Amy Rose. Amy can be quite insulting and outspoken to Tails, like she is to everyone else, but they can work together productively and sometimes Amy is defensive of him; for example, by getting mad at Wave for laughing at him. Tails is also friendly with Knuckles. They converse more than Knuckles does with Sonic, although they do tend to irritate each other occasionally - Knuckles scares Tails in Sonic Heroes during the ghost levels, while Knuckles gets confused when Tails talks about technicalities in Sonic Riders. Tails is also on friendly terms with Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao. Some fans believe that Tails and Cream like each other (see Taiream for more), though Sega has never revealed any relationship between them, and interaction between the two has been minimal. Tails met Rob Elliott from Wheel of Fortune Australia in January 1997 with Adriana Xenides.

In Sonic Adventure 2, he had a rivalry with Eggman, fighting him directly in the Cyclone twice - once on Prison Island, the second time on the Space Colony ARK after Eggman blasted Sonic into space. After this, the rivalry seemed to cease, and Eggman and Tails are seen talking to each other in a quite civil way at the end of the game. He also found a rival in Wave the Swallow in Sonic Riders. In the game, she insulted his Extreme Gear skills to lower his morale, but her action caused a determined Tails to beat her in a race.

Friends

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Big the Cat
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Jet the Hawk
 * Marine the Raccoon
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Sally Acorn
 * Bunnie Rabbot
 * Rotor the Walrus
 * Antoine D'Coolette
 * Dulcy the Dragon
 * Cosmo the Seedrian (Sonic X)

Foes

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Wave the Swallow
 * Metal Sonic
 * Storm the Albatross
 * Chaos
 * Ix
 * Fang the Sniper
 * Mephiles
 * Scratch and Grounder
 * Black Doom
 * Shade

Tails' mechanical creations
Although Tails can fly by twirling his two tails like the blades of a helicopter, he also enjoys flying Sonic's red biplane, the Tornado. As the series progressed, it was obvious his interest in the old biplane went further than just piloting it - Tails is a prodigy with mechanics, and he has a mechanical ability equal to that of Dr. Eggman's (though Tails has never built sentient robots). As a result, many modifications were made to the Tornado, as well as new biplanes and a small, blue submarine called the "Sea Fox", a spaceship called the "Lunar Fox", and a race car called the "Whirlwind S7," which is clearly based upon the Lotus/Catherham Super Seven (hence the name). In Tails Adventure he built small remote-controlled robots shaped like himself to help him on his quest.

In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (also known as Sonic Anime) Tails tampers with a tracking device given to him by Eggman to find the location of Robotropolis and the whereabouts of 'Black Eggman'. After the escapade turns out to be a trick, Tails uses his quick thinking to modify the device back at his home and uses the chipset to make an interference device which somehow causes Metal Sonic to malfunction. The device is later shot off of Tails' arm by Eggman, narrowly missing his arm.

In Sonic Adventure, Tails was experimenting with a Chaos Emerald-powered prototype plane based on Sonic's Tornado, the Tornado II. The Tornado II has two modes. One is quite similar to the original Tornado, but with a button press, Tails could make it transform into a rather futuristic-looking little plane which outperformed the Tornado in all but one important function - landing gear. Big the Cat ended up flying the wrecked Tornado II to his home after Sonic and Tails crash-landed on Eggman's flying fortress, the Egg Carrier.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Tails had a new plane, the Tornado III. The Tornado III has three modes: a plane mode, a car mode, and a walker mode. The airplane is only seen in cutscenes; the car is used on only one level (In the Kart minigame, Tails uses a go-kart); the walker mode, called the Cyclone, is used most during the game. Tails uses the Cyclone during all other gameplay, except when visiting the Chao Garden. The old Tornado II then appears in cutscenes in both Sonic Heroes and Sonic Riders. In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Tornado III reappeared as its Sonic Adventure 2 version.

In Sonic Rush Adventure Tails constructs 6 new vehicles with the first 4 being playable while the last two only appear in cutscenes. The first is the Wave Cyclone which is a waterbike that has a evective boost function that can plow through enemies, a sail boat called the Ocean Tornado that is armed with machine guns, cannons and a flamethrower, the hovvercraft Aqua Blast that has a charged beam function and can spin, the Deep Typhoon is a submarine that carries missiles and the last of the water crafts is the SS Tornado EX that can do dimensional travel. The last one is the only vehicle that does not travel on water, the Magma Hurricane that is a drilling vehicle.

In Sonic X, Tails uses a variety of aircraft. He starts out with the Tornado II, which is the same as in Sonic Adventure although it appears to be slightly bulkier, and gets damaged almost every time it flies. Later, Tails and Chuck upgraded it to the larger, jet-powered X-Tornado. It has the ability to transform into the X-Cyclone (a walker, like the original Cyclone) and into Battle Armor Mode, which resembles a mecha wielding a sword and a shield. Also in the second episode, he built tiny flying paper airplane-shaped weapons to help Sonic.

At the end of Season 2, Tails heads back to his world in the Tornado II. Seemingly, the X-Tornado was too big to fit through the portal. Whether it was scaled down or is simply a replication is unknown. Upon arriving home, Tails soon finds himself caught up in a battle with Eggman. He transforms the craft into the Hyper Tornado, a sleek jet fighter. This feature was a final present from Chuck.

At the start of Season 3, Tails' primary aircraft is again the X-Tornado, although it is now painted gold. The Hyper Tornado is still used in this season, with Chris Thorndyke being its pilot.

Blue Typhoon
In Sonic X, Tails' ultimate creation is the Blue Typhoon, a starship that is used in the war against the Metarex. Originally built to battle vessels created by Dr. Eggman, the Blue Typhoon was adapted for space travel. Tails intended to power it with the Chaos Emeralds, but when they were scattered across the galaxy, he was forced to use the Master Emerald instead.

The Blue Typhoon features a large hangar where several aircraft are kept. Directly in front of this is a runway with palm trees lining it, modeled after the Thorndyke residence driveway. The vessel is heavily armed, its main weapon being the Sonic Driver, also called the Sonic Power Cannon, which fires Sonic as an accelerated projectile. In Episode 77, it shown that the cannon can also work as a wave motion gun. The Blue Typhoon also comes equipped with a powerful energy projector which can produce a deflector shield or a cloaking field. Its engine, which takes up much of the vessel, allows it to cover great distances in short periods of time, although it requires a "warp ring" (generated by the yellow nose section) to travel at faster-than-light speeds.

The Typhoon's design may have been influenced by the Space Battleship Yamato, from the anime series of the same name.

Moves and abilities
Like many of the other characters in the Sonic universe, Tails has super speed (but not as fast as Sonic or Shadow), and can perform the Sonic Spin, Spin Dash, and the homing attack. He also has several unique attacks, such as attacking with his tails by twirling around. Most notably, he can achieve flight by spinning his two tails around like a helicopter rotor. He can also swim quite well, which is an ability Sonic never had. This, when combined with his flying ability, actually makes him quite an unfairly skilled character in some games.

In Sonic Adventure, he obtained the "Rhythm Badge", which enabled him to attack with his tails by continuously spinning around. In Sonic Heroes, he is the Flight member of Team Sonic, which means that he can also use the Thunder Shoot attack, where he electrically charges Sonic and Knuckles and kicks them at his enemies. When alone, Tails can also throw Dummy Rings, which electrocute enemies who blunder into them.

In Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails can once again fly through Dash Rings and use Dummy Ring attacks. The first attack is "Dummy Ring Bomb", which throws multiple Dummy Rings that explode on impact, "Dummy Ring Snipe", which allows him to aim and throw a Dummy Ring, and "Dummy Ring Blitz", which throws a huge amount of Dummy Rings to explode on impact.

Unlike many Sonic characters, Tails can't transform into a super form by using the Chaos Emeralds, but he can do this with the Super Emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. He also has other transformations in media beside the games.

Weaknesses
Tails has a tendency to talk too much as shown in Sonic Adventure 2 when he reveals to Dr. Eggman that the Chaos Emerald Sonic was trying to give him was a fake. He is also said to be afraid of lightning. Tails occasionly lacks self-confidence but has been shown to get over this weakness on some occasions.

Comics and TV shows
Tails has appeared in three cartoon shows, SatAM, its comic spin-off, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Movie, Sonic X, Sonic the Comic, and the Sonic X comic series. However, he is absent from Sonic Underground.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, he is a lot younger than in the games; he is "only 4 and a half", as he says in the episode "Slowwww Going." As with the SegaSonic canon, his real given name is revealed to be "Miles" in the episode "Tails' New Home". In this same episode, it is said that he hates the name and wants to keep it a secret, which means Sonic can use it to blackmail him out of danger ("You get out of here now before I tell everyone your real name!"). However, in later episodes, he is not shy at all in using his real name. It is also revealed that the "Tails" name come from Sonic's naming of Miles. In the episode "Tails Tale", it is revealed his full name is Miles Prower, keeping with the SegaSonic canon. Like in the games, Tails and Sonic are best friends, but AoStH takes it a step further by making them surrogate brothers. Tails seems to have a vast intelligence in mechanics and can operate independently in drastic situations, such as in one instance lacing an entire building with booby-traps (in a manner similar to those seen in Home Alone) in order to revive Sonic from a nasty ailment. He also bulit Sonic a flying bike for his birthday out of parts he found from a junkyard and invented a machine the would have stopped Doctor Robotnik forever if it wasn't tampered with. He is not that intimidated by Robotnik or any of his creations, and Scratch and Grounder often fall for his elaborate ruses. While Tails is indeed useful to Sonic in many situations, he can be a hindrance. Because he is very young and he cannot defend himself, he is incredibly susceptible to kidnappings. Sonic appears to know of this flaw and does his best to protect him, but his protection methods are often the reason why he gets kidnapped in the first place. There are times where it seems like Tails isn't that smart at all in AoStH. According to the episode "Slowwww Going", he cannot write, only "scribble". In the episode "Over the Hill Hero", Sonic gives him a lesson about air pressure. He also seems to have a large appetite (exemplified in the episode "Too Tall Tails," in which he eats so much that he grows to a gigantic size), and like Sonic, his favorite food is chili dogs (it is revealed that he likes his with extra cheese). Tails is also known to get jealous whenever Sonic stops paying attention to him, whether it's a girl or something else. When Breezie appeared, Tails became jealous of her because Sonic would listen to every word she said and ignore Tails, he also yells "yuck!" when Breezie kisses Sonic, However, Tails discovers the truth about Breezie after a short swim (Breezie throws him into a lake, instructing him to float down the river and get "lost at sea"). Tails is usually the one that discovers a way out of situations that look bad, and due to his young age he occasionally gets into bad situations. He is a fan of a famous pilot called William La Duck, and gets help from him in the episode "Tails Tale".

Sonic the Hedgehog comics
Tails also appears in the American Sonic the Hedgehog comic published by Archie Comics, where he is developed upon as the "Chosen One," a hero destined to be greater than either Sonic or Knuckles, and the son of Rosemary and Amadeus Prower, also having an uncle named Merlin. In the Archie Sonic comic, he seemed to have lost his parents at an early age, and admired the Freedom Fighters, particularly Sonic. He has grown pretty close with the Princess Sally, as he calls her Aunt Sally. He is also Sonic's surrogate little brother. Jules and Bernie Hedgehog (Sonic's parents in the comic version) also view Tails as a son to them. During his journey through space, Sonic met Tails' parents on Argentium, home planet of the Bem aliens.

When he absorbs fifty rings and seven Chaos Emeralds, he becomes Turbo Tails. His fur color changes from orange to dark orange, all natural abilities are upgraded and he is, like Super Sonic, immune to all attacks that come his way. He has only once made an appearance as Super Tails after he had absorbed the power of a thousand power rings in a battle along side Ultra Sonic against the evil wizard Ixis Naugus. He was aided by four flickies that have chaos energy and that will attack whatever he wishes them to. Tails, like Sonic, has multiple other-dimensional counterparts, whom he teamed up with to fight his nemesis, Mammoth Mogul. When this proved ineffective, Tails merged with his alternate selves to become a massive cosmic being known as Titan Tails.

Archie Comics produced a supplementary 3-issue mini-series in the mid-nineties, in which Tails embarked on a solo adventure to the land of Downunda, a supposed parallel of Australia, where several marsupials befriended him including one Barby Koala. Leading into the story arc featured in the mini-series was a two-part mini-adventure in which Tails encountered a disguised robot named Fiona Fox, a robotic duplicate of a young vixen. He fell in love with her before discovering her robotic nature. The organic counterpart of Fiona is now featured in the Archie comic and Tails (now 11 yrs old) seems to have a crush on her, although she is less than interested in him as she is several years older. (Fiona Fox herself has recently been seen dating, of all people, Sonic; Tails ended up screaming "I HATE YOU!" at Sonic when he found out.) Later, Tails was abducted by A.D.A.M., who intended to use Tails and Shadow to collect every Chaos Emerald in the universe to give himself unimaginable power. However, A.D.A.M.'s plan was brought to a halt as Eggman woke him and Shadow up. Turbo Tails, working through intuition, had Super Shadow use his time-space warping abilities to access Zone of Silence; they then sent the collected Chaos Emeralds there, with Tails saying he hoped it would cause "something special." When Tails and Sonic went into the Zone later to retrieve an emerald, they were met by Feist, who gave them the grey Chaos Emerald composed of thousands of others-one of seven he had created-as thanks for them sending him the jewels in the first place. Thus, the Chaos Emeralds had been limited and hidden in the newly-created Special Zone, in part fulfilling the prophesized "Great Harmony." Later, Tails was reunited with his parents with the help of Sonic, Knuckles, and his uncle Merlin. He was then one of the few members of the Freedom Fighters to have escaped being captured by Eggman's forces during the assault on Knothole that resulted in the city's destruction, and assisted Sonic, NICOLE, Amy, and Knuckles in the ensuing rescue mission.

Unfortunately, Tails' tense relationship with Sonic deepened to an argument as to how they should proceed with the rescue. This stressed to the point of breaking as the pair found themselves on opposite sides of a schism in the Kingdom of Acorn, Tails supporting the side led by his father and Sonic remaining loyal to the House of Acorn. When Tails helped his mother break Amadeus out of jail, long suppressed hostility was released as he and Sonic fought with each other. Tails was quick to bring up his fury at Sonic's lack of sensitivity, and refused to explain it to the baffled Hedgehog since he felt that Sonic would probably just ignore what he was saying again. Finally, the young Fox revealed that his main dispute with Sonic was over Fiona and Sonic's seeming dismissal of his feelings for her, and Sonic admitted that he had known about Tails' feelings and apologized, explaining that he had hoped that it would help Tails get over his crush. Reconciled, the two headed off to stop a duel between Amadeus and Elias Acorn, only to find out that Sally had beaten them to it. With his father returned to duty, his mother running for a seat on the new ruling council, and his friendship with Sonic restored, Tails' life seemed destined to make an upturn.

Sadly, this was not to be the case, as Dimitri the Echidna arrived with an urgent message for Knuckles: Enerjak, the Guardian's most powerful foe ever, had returned-and just after Knuckles had left for Angel Island by himself, only to disappear mysteriously. In an effort to appease the Chaotix, who were determined to go after their missing leader, Sally sent Tails along with Sonic to look for Knuckles. After narrowly missing Enerjak on Angel Island, Tails accompanied Sonic as they raced back towards New Mobotropolis. What awaited them was the ultimate nightmare: Knuckles, their strongest ally, had become the new Enerjak and thus their worst enemy. After bringing Sonic back to New Mobotropolis, however, Tails had virtually no role in battling the brainwashed Knuckles, and in fact remained in the city for the duration of the battle in which Super Sonic-aided by the sacrifice of Knuckles' father Locke-freed Knuckles' from Finitevus' spell.

Tails then returned to Knothole to help with repairs on Freedom HQ, and was there when Mina Mongoose arrived home from her concert tour. Both of them, along with Mighty the Armadillo, were then revealed to have all had a hypnotic suggestion implanted in them by Mogul years before, who used his telepathic abilities to bring them into his service. When a similar attempt on Sonic proved less than successful, the trio were sent to aid their master's attempts to recruit the Hedgehog into a new Fearsome Foursome-by force. Sonic proved too much for the trio, however, so Mogul commanded Tails to fly into the stratosphere, effectively forcing Sonic to deliver the grey Chaos Emerald to him or else see Tails faint from the lack of oxygen and die from the eventual fall. His demand met, Mogul freed Tails and the other before departing, having decided that he would use his regained immortality to wait until his foes were either dead or too old to fight him before continuing his open campaign of world domination.

Later he and Rotor were attacked by the Suppression Squad in Freedom HQ.

Sonic the Comic
Tails also appears in the British Sonic the Comic, published by Fleetway, where he hails from the Nameless Zone, a region which can apparently only be accessed by a space warp. A misunderstanding led Tails to the Emerald Hill Zone, where the streets of which he believed were paved with real emeralds, but once there, Tails immediately became fascinated with Sonic, and eventually became his sidekick and eventually best friend. Unfortunately for him, though, he exaggerated the relationship in letters home, professing that HE was the great hero of Mobius and that Sonic was HIS sidekick, which resulted in the elders of the Nameless Zone often calling him back, and gifting him with a suit of enchanted armor to defend their Zone from assorted evil - and poor old Tails never did quite manage to explain the truth. One time, Knuckles almost blew Tails cover, he had noticed the kit entering the Nameless zone and came to the conclusion that he was being kidnapped. Knuckles followed Tails and entered the nameless zone; unfortunately for Tails, everyone mistook Knuckles for Sonic, and Tails was sure he was going to be forced to tell the truth. He explained to Knuckles the siuation, Knuckles agreed to play along and kept it all a secret from Sonic, though he had a little talk with Tails afterwards. Tails is an unstoppable Zonerunner (a Freedom Fighter who travels between Zones) by the Chemical Plant Zone rebels known as the Flock.

While the Zonerunner & Nameless Zone adventures were 'secret' adventures where Tails was accidentally seen as a major hero, later stories would have him actively doing heroic deeds, though these were mainly short arcs or more comedic stories. On occasions, he would save someone and they would grumble he wasn't a more famous hero! Despite this, Tails gained his own rogue's gallery including the brutal goblin lord Trogg, the psychotic robot Nutzan Bolt, Fleabyte the bounty hunter and the gangster Max Gamble, as well as allies such as Errol & Morain Blackthorn (brother and sister warriors of the Nameless Zone). He also fought many criminals after the defeat of Robotnik, defended the Casino Night Zone & its people from Brutus' Badniks, and was chosen by Sonic to protect the planet while he went after Robotnik during the Planet In Peril/Game Over story. While he is self-conscious, Tails has proven time & again (and openly stated) that he is much tougher than some people may think.

Sonic X
Throughout most of the anime series Sonic X, Tails mirrors his game role in various stories and game adaptions, though he sometimes plays a smaller role due to Chris Thorndyke. He quickly befriends fellow inventor Chuck Thorndyke, who helped him build the X-Tornado jetplane.

In Series 2 (Season 3), Tails falls in love with Cosmo, the plant-like alien girl introduced in Season 3. The strength of Tails' love is shown in Episode 73, where Shadow, in an attempt to kill Cosmo, clobbers Sonic, Chris, and Knuckles, but, despite his best efforts, could not manage to get past Tails, who was determined to protect Cosmo, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, Cosmo sacrifices herself in Episode 77, fusing herself with the Metarex planet so that Tails could destroy it with the Sonic Driver. Tails was extremely hesitant to fire, and only did so at the urging of Dr. Eggman and Cosmo herself. In Episode 78, Super Sonic and Super Shadow use "Chaos Regeneration" to try to bring Cosmo back to life, but only manage to produce a small seed. When Sonic shows the seed to Tails, the fox collapses with grief. However, it is possible that Sonic and Shadow succeeded; at the end of the episode, the seed begins to sprout.

How Sonic and Tails met
In every version of the Sonic series, there is a different version of how Sonic and Tails met (excluding Sonic Underground, since Tails was absent from it). As stated earlier, in the video game version (as taken from the official Sonic the Hedgehog 2 manual) Sonic instantly became Tails' idol when Tails first witnessed Sonic's incredible speed. After Sonic sees that the fox is actually able to catch up with him he recruits him as his sidekick. The sequence, as stated above, reappears in Tails's story of Sonic Adventure.

In a flash back in Sonic X, Tails and Sonic became friends after Tails rebuilt and repainted Sonic's antique airplane blue, Sonic stating that he never liked it in red (this could be a careful bite at his and Knuckles' relationship, although they meet much later). Before he met Sonic, Tails was bullied by other animals because of his skills.

In a flashback shown in the Adventures Of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Tails' New Home", Tails literally landed on top of Sonic. The baby fox cub explains to Sonic he had just been kicked out the nest of some birds, young Tails had decided he was a bird due to his ability to fly. Sonic tells him he is in fact a fox and is shocked to see that he can actually fly. Baby Tails follows Sonic and after getting him into some mishaps, Sonic agrees that Tails can stay with him.

In Sonic The Comic, Sonic saved Tails from drowning in a swamp when they first met when he saw two tails peering from the swamp, the rest of Tails' body completely submerged. Mistakenly believing there were two foxes in the swamp, Sonic only had time to grab one tail and believed one fox had drowned; he soon realized that both tails belonged to the same fox.

The Saturday morning cartoon did not give an explanation as to how they met, but the comics based off it did. In the flashback story "Eve of Destruction", the five-year-old Sonic witnesses Tails' birth and befriends with him 2 pages later.

In Sonic the Pirate he met Sonic in the first episode (no flashback whatsoever) when Sonic's Island was turned into shards. He finally befriended Sonic when he saw Sonic's Birthmark

Voice acting
Christopher Welch - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1999)

Bradley Pierce - Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) (1993-1995)

Chris Turner - Sonic Christmas Blast (1996)

Lainie Fraiser - Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1999)

Corey Bringas - Sonic Adventure (1999), Sonic Shuffle (2000), Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

William Corkery - Sonic Heroes (2004), Sonic Battle (2003), Sonic Advance 3 (2004)

Amy Palant - Sonic X (2003-2006), Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), Sonic Rush (2005), Sonic Riders (2006), Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and others.

Theme songs

 * In Sonic Adventure, Tails' theme song is called Believe in Myself, which is a soft rock theme.
 * In Sonic Adventure 2, Tails' theme song is a remake of Believe in Myself, which has a pop rock tune and rearranged lyrics.
 * In Sonic Heroes, Team Sonic's theme is called We Can, and refers to Tails in the line "Tails keeps us flying high to stay above trouble".
 * In Sonic Riders, Tails' team theme, shared with Sonic and Knuckles, is an instrumental one called High Flying Groove.