So Much More
Chapter 3

2BIT had to get Tails to safety, and he would never be safe in a world controlled by a domineering Sonic. So, under cover of night, 2BIT led the kitsune on an escape expedition, leaving his workshop and worldly possessions behind as they dashed for the cover of the jungle. "W-where are we going?" Tails asked, clutching the blue fox's hand tight as they went. He trusted 2BIT decently well at this point, enough to feel that even if the blue fox did try molesting him, it would be far gentler than Sonic. 2BIT looked ahead into the jungle as if searching for something. "We're going to do something technically forbidden... Cover your eyes..." he said as they reached a clearing. Tails gulped and obeyed. "D-do I have to keep 'em covered the whole time?" he squeaked, expecting to feel his rear-end penetrated any moment. Instead, he felt his body lifted off the ground, as though gravity stopped working! "Whoaaa!!" he yelped, spinning his tails in an attempt to gain control of the situation. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "You can look..." 2BIT sighed. When Tails opened his eyes, he gasped and grabbed onto 2BIT as he saw they were floating through some sort of space! It was the space between dimensions. "You're safe with me." 2BIT said, forgetting himself and kissing Tails' cheek as they floated through space together. A strange portal opened before them, and Tails held 2BIT tighter as they passed through it...arriving on a high cliff overlooking a vast, beautiful ocean. Behind them stood a fairly large house, a small manor, even. "Well, here you are. Welcome to Byte House!" said Vixy, catching their attention at the doorway, "...doesn't have the same ring as Byte Space..." she sighed, shaking her head.

Following behind 2BIT, Tails entered the manor, looking around the spacious entrance hall which had paths leading out to the bedrooms, kitchen, rec room, and such. Zed the zebra, Stripes the tiger and Dogson the...dog, were all waiting for them there. "Cupie and Dusk are out on their own little world tour. Blocky had to be in position to transport you guys. Gator's... He's staying in GeneX Prime for the duration." Vixy told 2BIT. He nodded, while Tails hid behind him, holding on to 2BIT a bit as he peered out from over his shoulders. "A-am I...the house pet?" he stammered. "No, pretty sure I am." Dogson said, down on all fours and scratching his ear with his hind leg like a normal dog. Stripes wiped his eyes drowsily. "Hey, you don't bother me, I won't bother you..." he sighed. "Well, the rest of us just want to help you..." Zed said with more sympathy. Tails still cowered behind 2BIT, unwilling to trust these strangers. "Th-they'll want to fuck me, 2BIT... Keep me from the zebra, please..." he whimpered. He didn't want to feel a horse penetrate him. 2BIT patted Tails' hand as he held him. "They're all me, they won't do anything I wouldn't do... Ah, I'll explain it later." he murmured. "I'm not you. We have nothing in common at all." Dogson complained. Vixy watched the fearful Tails and frowned. "Well... Of course you can stay, I just wonder if we can really help him at all..." she murmured. 2BIT gave a confident fist pump. "You watch! In a more positive environment, he'll be the brave, confident, heroic fox I know he is inside!" he announced. Tails blushed at his words, but his ears drooped. He felt sure he would fail to live up to 2BIT's lofty ideals. And true enough... 2BIT might have been a bit overconfident in that moment...


4 MONTHS LATER...


"You're wasting your time, 2BIT." Stripes said with a yawn. A few of the squad members were seated around the kitchen table. Zed and Vixy looked fairly serious as well. "Tails is terrified of me..." Zed murmured. "He keeps trying to convince Zed to fuck me to spare him!!" Vixy shouted, flustered. 2BIT glanced between them. "...And did you?" he asked. "Th-that's beside the point!" Vixy and Zed stammered at once. It was true that any progress Tails was making seemed distressingly limited. BIT Squad was surely not a group of therapists, and the trauma Tails was dealing with had built up over the course of years. 2BIT wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet, though. "We just need the right breakthrough. And I may have it." he told them. As if on cue, Cupie the mouse flung open the door, cheerfully flying in to greet the squad. "Helloooo! How are you, my lovely friends? Is everybody happy?" he asked with a cute smile. "Huh? Oh, hey. Where's Dusk?" Stripes asked, his drowsiness unbroken by his surprise at seeing him. "He's on a mission, silly!" Cupie giggled, "I brought the stuff you wanted from Byte Space, Twoy!" he added. 2BIT tilted his head. "Twoy? Uhhh, thanks, Cupie. Hey, how is the mission going?" he questioned. "Still touring the worlds! It's fun! But we haven't figured out what's making worlds die." Cupie reported a little too cheerfully. "Worlds are dying?!" Zed gasped. "We lose our godhood for four seconds and everything starts going to hell!?" Vixy stammered. Cupie gave a salute. "We'll be in touch! Stay happy!" he smiled, flying back out of the kitchen. 2BIT looked at the group awkwardly. "Yeahhh... A few dimensions got weirdly raptured. Missed it without our powers, but I saw the aftermath while wandering. Maybe it's a terrible glitch of us going mortal? We'll figure it out... but for now, I gotta talk to Tails." he stated. Besides, if they weren't demigods anymore, how much could they really do in the grand scheme of things?

Greater problems of the multiverse aside, it was time to return to more down-to-earth matters. Stepping through the door Cupie had left through, the blue fox spotted Tails hunched by the wall, looking a bit depressed. He'd been listening in. "How much did you hear?" 2BIT asked. "Enough to know I'm a disappointment not worth your time." Tails sighed, "And that's true... Without you, I'll just return to my old ways. Just letting everyone walk all over me... I mean, this time here has been swell, and I'm grateful that no one touches me...but yeah..." he sniffled. 2BIT patted Tails' shoulder. "Follow me. I want to show you something." he said. Tails wasn't sure what to expect, but he had grown to trust 2BIT if no one else over these months, so he followed him to the office he shared with Stripes, and waited while the blue fox prepared something on his laptop. He'd loaded an odd disc into said laptop. "Cupie had to go and fetch this old footage... I want you to see it." 2BIT stated, and with a few clicks, a collage of videos started to play on the screen. Tails looked, and let out a gasp. The videos were of him, but not him. They were Tails across the multiverse, all beating adversity in their way. One battling Eggman's giant walker solo, one standing up to Shadow of all people to defend a plant girl, one engaging in Extreme Gear racing and besting his bitter rival, one fighting on as the literal world was ending around him, and a few sweeping their chosen girls off their feet, be it Zooey, Mina or Cream. There was plenty of footage of brave, confident versions of Tails, and it filled the fox boy with awe to see it. "You have the power in you to be so much more, Tails. They've all done it, and you can too." 2BIT said with a smile, glancing at the screen. He yelped and hid a window that had popped up, something that somehow got into the slideshow. "Ahhh, but that's enough of them!!" he stammered. "Cupie, why is Heat Tails fucking me RECORDED??" he thought, face red.

Tails was turning over everything he saw in his head. They were definitely versions of him. They didn't seem to have anything he didn't have...except maybe experience. "I get it... I do. There's nothing they could do that I can't. I'd like to truly believe that... I'd like to get stronger... But I don't know where to start." he sighed, ears drooping dejectedly. 2BIT closed his laptop and patted Tails' head. "We need to build your confidence! And now that I look at that footage, I realize nothing will build your confidence better than overcoming hardships! So, we need to go on an adventure!" he concluded. Tails looked at him with a light smile. He used to adventure with Sonic, and recapturing some of that magic with 2BIT sounded nice. "Err, uh... So, what kind of adventure?" Tails asked. 2BIT looked a bit startled by the question. "Aaaahh... I kinda didn't think that far into my idea. Guess that'll take some figuring, hehe!" he chuckled awkwardly. Tails found a chair in the office and flopped down into it. "Well, we're back to square one, then..." he sighed. 2BIT glanced at him. "We're at least at square three. You're away from those jerks and you've seen it's possible to be better. Now it's just finding our way there." he pointed out. When he put it that way, it did sound like progress. Tails gave him a small smile. "But hey, am I, like... SUPPOSED to be with girls? Is there no version of me that has a steady boyfriend?" he questioned. 2BIT thought back to the naughty clip he hid, and blushed. "Ahhh... I'm sure there are gay versions of you in healthier relationships but finding one who's the alpha dude in the relationship is next to impossible. N-not to discourage you!" he stammered. Tails nodded. "It doesn't. I mean, s-sex isn't everything, right?" he stammered, blushing a little. Both foxes felt quite embarrassed at the moment. "Hey, is Vixy calling? Oh, excuse me!" 2BIT babbled, dashing off hastily.


Tails' Workshop back in his own world had been ransacked, turned upside down practically. Sonic was zooming back and forth through the rooms of the building, looking for any sort of clue as to where his sidekick had gone. At the door stood Knuckles, arms folded and shaking his head. "It's been four months, Sonic! Face it, he's toast!" he complained. Sonic stopped in front of the echidna, his normally blue face red with anger. "He's not toast, but he will be! Who does he think he is, skippin' town on me!" he growled. Knuckles couldn't help laughing. "Maybe he grew some balls and decided not to be your little slave anymore!" he smirked. Sonic glared at him, unamused. "I'd watch my tone, if I were you. Rouge is a loose slut, but I could probably make an honest woman out of her..." he said in a threatening tone. Knuckles gave Sonic a light shove. "I ain't Tails. You're not gonna cuck me and keep your dick. We've turned this place inside out, there's no clue here. He just ditched...or he's dead in a ditch. Either way, he ain't coming back." he grunted, turning to exit through the door. Left alone, and truly frustrated, Sonic kicked some papers he'd left scattered on the floor. "Last thing that happened was that blue fox showin' up! He's bangin' Tails somewhere! I'll kill him!" he snarled, fuming. "No one disses me! I'll fuck 'em both up, big time!" As Sonic sped out of the Workshop, it was probably fortunate for both 2BIT and Tails that he had absolutely no way of finding them. But were he to find a way...there would be no mercy.


"Really, why should we only be helping Tails, anyway?" This question from Vixy was what 2BIT heard as he found the squad in the kitchen again, still busy discussing things. "You guys want to help someone else?" 2BIT questioned. Zed pointed at the female fox across from him. "She's still hot for Sora." he murmured, getting a dirty look from Vixy in return. "Notwithstanding, there IS a version or two of Sora who gets treated just as shabbily as that Tails!" she snapped. 2BIT folded his arms. "Is this place big enough to become a boarding house for abused heroes?" he wondered. Stripes hummed softly as he looked over a smartphone in his hand. "I've got a list here of a few unfortunate souls. Fox McCloud, Link, Mewtwo... Hey, we lookin' for women? Because pretty much every version of Rouge is objectified to the max." he murmured. 2BIT scratched his head awkwardly. "W-we haven't even proved we can help Tails yet!" he stammered. "Sure you have." Tails' voice was heard at the door, and it seemed he had been listening again. He stepped to the table, a little shyly, but with 2BIT next to him, he took a breath and spoke. "I may not be 100% yet, but just by freeing me from Sonic, you've made me...happier." he told them, glancing at 2BIT with a small smile, "And tracking down these others... That could be the adventure I need." he said. 2BIT still seemed unsure. "Are we even prepared for that much dimensional travel?" he asked. "Nope!" Stripes admitted. Still, despite how challenging it might be, it did sound fair in a sense. If they were going to help Tails, they shouldn't ignore everyone else they were aware of that needed them.

Tails returned to his own room in the large house. It might not have been as big a space of his own as compared to his Workshop, but it was cozy and, more importantly, safe. In the time he'd lived here, no one ever entered his room without permission. The lock on his door was respected, unlike back home where Sonic would break it down if he felt like. The fox sat on his bed and let out a wistful sigh, grabbing his pillow and hugging it to his chest. He wanted to get stronger. Once it was a dream he had to prove himself to Sonic... and though that failed spectacularly, he now found that he wanted to get stronger again. For 2BIT. Not so much to prove himself, no. The reasoning was different this time. As his eyes glanced around the room, his gaze rested on the workbench 2BIT had given him. He had a few unfinished projects in their early stages sitting there. He still hadn't completed anything since moving here. However, his thoughts started to turn to the footage he saw. Other versions of himself, all triumphing over their own adversities. He hopped off the bed and started toward the bench, tossing back the pillow. "If I wanna be strong, I'll need the right tools... They knew it. They were prepared." he said to himself, picking up some goggles hanging over the edge of the workbench and setting them over his eyes. "Keep believing in me, 2BIT. We'll see what I can do!" he smiled, picking up a wrench as a thoughtful glint came to his eyes. He planned to make something this time. And he planned to finish it, too!

It was a bit later in the evening when Vixy stepped into 2BIT's office. "Alright, look, maybe I've been too harsh with y-oooou pervert!" Her thought shifted due to finding 2BIT plopped in front of the laptop, watching the footage of himself getting fucked by the other Tails, and stroking his own dick to the scene. He grit his teeth at the sound of Vixy's voice, turning hastily. "Shut the door! I-I don't want him to see!" he stammered. Vixy did as she was told, but growled at him. "So, can you admit now that you do just want to 'help' him so he'll fuck you?" she said in a harsh tone. 2BIT let out a mock laugh. "And what about you and Sora? Admit it, you want a vulnerable Sora that you can 'comfort' yourself!" he spat. Vixy pulled up a chair and sat next to 2BIT, the pair of them hanging their heads in unison. "We're pathetic..." they groaned. 2BIT moved to switch off the video, but Vixy started to slip down her skirt. "Got any footage not of you?" she asked him. 2BIT nodded. "Whoever compiled this footage was a perv... But I guess they'd be me, technically, so..." he said awkwardly. The laptop started to play video of Tails making sweet love to Sonic. Such a difference from the Tails living in their house. This one had Sonic pinned down, and both of them clearly liked it. Vixy slipped her fingers into her panties, softly gasping. "I-if it'd help, I'd take his cock..." she huffed. 2BIT gently stroked his own shaft beside her. "Best not to complicate our relationships with him..." he said with a soft gasp, "I really do want the best for him..." he sighed. Vixy nodded, blushing. "Y-yeah... Sora, too... Mmm, Sora..." she cooed, rubbing inside her panties faster, "There's definitely a selfish side to wanting to help them, isn't there?" she frowned. 2BIT couldn't deny it. But if he didn't keep it in check, he might end up as bad as the version of Sonic they rescued Tails from. But as he watched the naughty footage... he certainly wondered if he COULD keep it in check...

Tails held what looked like a blaster in his hand. Pressing a switch, a beam sword popped out of the barrel of said "blaster," and he held it up to admire it. He then deactivated the weapon and placed it on his workbench. "I did it... I finished something!" he said a bit excitedly, but also a bit sleepily. He yawned, turning to his bed. He needed this weapon, something to make him stronger. It would protect them on their adventure, wherever they would go. Tails hopped into the bed and huddled under the covers, his two tails poking out and drooping over the side of the bed. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep too easily, but it was already late. "I need to be stronger..." he sighed, the imagery of 2BIT at Sonic's mercy returning to his mind. Sonic had only beaten up the blue fox the one time, but the moment had stayed with Tails. He was beaten for standing up for him. Tails never wanted to let that happen again. "I'll...protect you..." he said softly, hugging his pillow close to his chest. Would they journey forth to rescue other abused heroes through the multiverse? Or would they find another adventure, probably something more within the scope of an abused Tails' abilities? The questions filled the fox with anxiety and kept him awake late into the night. He'd managed a small victory, clawed back enough of his self esteem to finish an invention, but even after several months, there was still a ways to go. He still wanted to be so much more...

To be continued...