Miles Prower's head throbbed. The boy felt dizzy and nauseous, and his skin tingled. In fact, his whole body felt like it had been jammed into an electrical outlet.

'What had just happened?'

He sensed that he was lying down in bed, but Miles could feel it was not his bed; it was big enough for someone four times his size, and the bedding was of unusually high quality. He opened his eyes: darkness. In an instant, his natural night vision kicked in, and the Mobian fox could now see his surroundings. At least, he could see the ceiling. He saw a window, but the stars were totally alien to him, and they appeared to be moving. He tried lifting himself up, but a sharp pain pierced his skull, and his muscles burned in protest. Pain. The room seemed to swirl around him, and Miles "Tails" Prower drifted back into unconsciousness.

In his dreams, Miles saw himself fighting against Dr. Robotnik. Alone. It was six years ago, back during Team Sonic's visit to Planet Earth. He had just disarmed the 50-megaton-yield nuclear missile that threatened to destroy Station Square. Miles was only eight years old then, but he had to stop Robotnik. Alone. This was the pivotal moment in his life. No one was there to help him. No one was there to save him. It was just Robotnik and a tiny lump of orange fur that was scared out of his mind, despite his proclamations to the contrary. Alone. Miles remembered charging Robotnik's "Egg Walker" battle mech. He remembered trying to body-slam the cockpit, only to be electrocuted by the mech's plasma shielding. He remembered the machine's flamethrowers stripping the fur from his skin. He remembered the bullets from the machine guns ripping through his flesh. Miles remembered dodging the hundreds of missiles hurled his direction, only to be knocked flat by their shock waves. He remembered how raining bits of burning buildings and exploded cars fell on him, and how many times he was nearly squashed when the "Egg Walker" tried to step on him in the city streets. But for all his pain, for all the pieces of his body that were missing, for all the blood he lost, Miles remembered something else.

He won.

For all of his engineering genius, Dr. Robotnik often overlooked important details. His "Egg Walker" battle mech was no exception. Near the machine's "ankles" were bits of weakly armored circuitry that occasionally left themselves exposed after a "stomp attack". His shredded body was failing him, but Miles knew that was where he must strike. Miles focused all of his naturally-generated Chaos energy into his twin tails — his namesakes — and flattened them into razor-edged ribbons. Sharper than any sword crafted by Human or Mobian hands, Miles' Chaos-enhanced tails cut true, and the "Egg Walker" fell to the ground. And for all of two seconds — the shield was down. Miles speared the cockpit with his tails, severing vital systems, and the "Eggman" was forced to flee his battle mech before its power core detonated. Thrown aside by the blast, Miles lay in the middle of Main Street in a puddle of his own blood. Happy in the knowledge that he had saved Station Square, the fox waited for death to take him.

But death never came.

Miles had awoken in a full body cast in an undamaged hospital, surrounded by grateful Humans he alone had saved. The police had tried to stop them, but the mob of people wouldn't hear of it. They wanted to see their savior. One Human stood out: a young girl in a wheelchair named Helen. She actually had a Power Ring in her possession. Few people knew of their significance, and only Chaos wielders like Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles could actually use them. His limbs useless, Miles couldn't take it from her, so the girl placed it in his mouth. Instantly, the Power Ring flashed and was gone, and Miles' whole body glowed gold with raw Chaos energy. The body cast burned away, and the worst of Miles' injuries were healed. The crowd cheered at the momentary spectacle, and praised him for his heroism. Yes, he was a hero that day. Miles "Tails" Prower was now a hero, even if only thirty inches tall and eight years in the making. Sonic the Hedgehog, his best friend and older "brother" would be proud of him. And it wasn't the last time Miles put his life in jeopardy to save the people he cared about. He remembered the time—

CRASH!

A sudden jolt re-awoke Miles from his dreams. An alien alarm blared in his ears, and his bed bucked and heaved beneath him. Still dazed and disoriented, Miles tried to get up, but another jolt sent him sailing to the floor. Using his twin tails as counterbalances, Miles finally got to his feet. Outside the window, strange craft whizzed about, and colorful streaks of energy pulsed from their frames. His whole room shook, and the teenage fox fell to the floor once more. Clawing his way back to his bed, Miles shook the last of the cobwebs from his brain.

"What on Mobius... am I... on a spaceship?!"