The Sidekick

"The Sidekick" is the first episode in the Sonic Boom television series. It was first aired on 8 November 2014.

Synopsis
During a particularly dangerous encounter with Eggman, Tails is injured. Sonic decides that being his sidekick is too dangerous for Tails and fires him for his own safety. Auditions are held for a new sidekick. Eggman applies for the job.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Burnbot
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Fastidious Beaver

Plot

 * For the transcript of this episode, see The Sidekick/Transcript.

The episode starts off with Sonic chasing Dr. Eggman in his Egg Mobile through some canyons. The pair enters a corkscrew-shaped mineshaft where Dr. Eggman summons Burnbot to destroy Sonic, but Sonic mocks the inconsistency of Burnbot's name as it does not actually use fire. Regardless, Sonic and Burnbot chase each other towards the bottom of the mineshaft. Tails then arrives in the Tornado, where he contacts Sonic over their communicators and they make a plan. As Sonic and Burnbot are about to clash in the shaft, Tails flies in and helps Sonic counterattack Burnbot, where Sonic swings into the robot with an EnerBeam launched by Tails, knocking it into a wall. However, Burnbot gets up and clips the Tornado's wing, causing Tails to fall. Sonic and Burnbot then face off again, but Sonic knocks a boulder loose which smashes the robot and he gets out of the shaft, only to see Tails crash. As Sonic runs over to the wreckage, Eggman decides to retreat, taking Burnbot with him. Sonic finds Tails unconscious and in bad shape, but alive, and he carries him back home, promising he will never let this happen to him again.

Back at Tails' house, Tails awakens to Sonic's joy. Tails is ready to get back in action, but Sonic instead tells him that he has received early retirement from his job as his sidekick. When Tails is left confused, Sonic tells him bluntly that he has been fired. Despite feeling guilty about his decision, Sonic begins advertising for his "sidekick try-outs," where all qualified candidates are welcome, so that Tails can stay in retirement. At Dr. Eggman's lair, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot learn about Sonic's try-outs. While Eggman finds this unbelievable (despite showing some interest in being Sonic's friend), it makes him slowly hatch an evil scheme.

At Sonic's house, the sidekick try-outs are at full swing with Sonic as the host and several participants having shown up. The first participant that tries out is Amy who tells Sonic that she wants to try out as his sidekick and starts juggling and singing, but Sonic is unimpressed and calls in the next participant. For the next, Fastidious Beaver appears, though he admits he is a coward. Sonic is then met by Amy once more who tries the tryouts again with the same act, except that she talks like an Italian pizza man, but Sonic once again isn't impressed. The next one up is Knuckles who wants to make Sonic his sidekick. Knuckles goes on and states he would have to name him "Knuckles Jr." while Sonic tells him that he does not want to be his sidekick.

At the end of the try-outs, a cloaked figure applies and Sonic is impressed by his answers to the questions. However, the figure then uncloaks himself and reveals himself to be Tails, who is attempting to become Sonic's sidekick again. Sonic disagrees, but Tails proves his right by bringing up that all qualified candidates can apply. Eggman then shows up to apply for the job too, but while Sonic is against it, Eggman uses the same argument as Tails. Despite the fact that Sonic is against them both becoming his sidekick, he begrudgingly lets them move on, and additionally accepts Fastidious Beaver as a third candidate and alternative when the latter wanted his parking ticket validated.

To test his candidates, Sonic sets up a race for them on hoverboards to Mount Safety to capture the red flag he has placed there. While Eggman gives Fastidious an early start instead of waiting for Sonic to tell him and the others to begin, Tails and Eggman soon take the lead where Eggman tries to use his board's weapons against Tails, but the latter manages to avoid them while accidentally knocking Fastidious out of the race. As Sonic watches the race, Tails and Eggman move onto the next part of it and fly towards the flag in the Tornado and Egg Mobile. However, Fastidious gives up and lies down in the fetal position and sucks his thumb. As they fly towards the flag, Eggman reveals to Tails that his real plan with the try-outs is to get rid of both him and Sonic, and picks up Burnbot from the jungle.

Burnbot manages to clip the Tornado's wing again and Tails crashes in a frozen lake, where he is stuck. However, Sonic comes to his aid and gets him out just before the Tornado sinks. There, Sonic comes clean and tells Tails he fired him to protect him. Eggman and Burnbot then face the duo again, except this time he followed Sonic's earlier advice and updated Burnbot so it can actually use fire, which it uses it to make the ice they stand on crack. Sonic, unable to swim, falls through the cracks and into the water and Tails cannot get him out as he is water logged. Sonic instructs Tails to leave him behind, but Tails refuses. When both plummet underneath, Tails saves Sonic. With Tails' help, Sonic lands a hard hit on Burnbot, causing it to break through the ice and sink. Sonic and Tails then fly away while Eggman retreats, promising to return with a better robot.

As the sun sets, Sonic and Tails reconcile and Sonic rehires Tails as his sidekick because of his earlier actions. Back at Sonic's house, Amy demands a callback when Knuckles passes by and notes he was not going well with his own sidekick. Realizing Knuckles needs a sidekick, Amy starts her act again to try and impress him, and Knuckles gets another name idea for his sidekick: Knuckalina.

Trivia

 * This episode was the first footage shown of the series back in February 2014.
 * Like the first episode of Sonic X, this episode showed Sonic's weakness that he can't swim and saved by Tails. However, in Sonic X, he was saved by Christopher Thorndyke.
 * The Fourth Wall is broken three times:
 * When Tails attempts to eject from his falling plane the first time, the lever breaks, after which Tails looks at the viewer in confusion.
 * When the camera takes a close up of Eggman, it immediately tilts to the floor, Eggman focuses the camera back to him, remarking, "Lousy security camera!"
 * When Knuckles tries to change Sonic's name to 'Knuckles Jr.", Sonic looks at the viewer with an annoyed look on his face.
 * When Eggman shows his application form for sidekick auditions, his picture is similar to one of his released concept art.
 * Sticks did not appear in this episode, ergo making it the first episode where a main character does not appear.