#Silver's blunt as hell and doesn't care about that‚ plus he doesn't lack confidence in the slightest

[true-blue-sonic]

Based on his personality traits, what kind of kid would make a good Tails/Marine type sidekick for Silver?

That's a good question I find difficult to answer, because every time I consider the idea of Silver having a younger sidekick, I get a very strong "no that is wrong" feeling, haha! That's presumably because Silver's always been teamed up with people who "act older" than he does, namely Blaze, Espio, and arguably Knuckles in Forces and the prequel comics. Silver's definitely not a kid sidekick, but in my mind he works better as the younger and more hotheaded person of a duo wherein there's a more quiet and logical (on the surface) person helping him out. But then in the same vein, I do see Silver as either the full decision-maker or someone on equal standing with his partner. So he fills an interesting niche in my mind when it comes to the "role" he fills as part of a duo or a group: while he's certainly The Leader, he's in the same vein someone who needs a companion who helps with decisions and lend a hand behind the scenes. He encompasses both leader traits and simultaneously traits of a sidekick who the leader must help, if that makes sense. Silver's dual nature, my beloved <3

But that being said, Tails and Marine are both foils towards Sonic and Blaze, respectively. Where Sonic is the embodiment of confidence, Tails is more insecure and humble about his achievements. Where Blaze is withdrawn, doesn't like being called by her title as Highness, and has a burdened past because of her responsibilities, Marine is completely full of herself, firmly convinced she's the boss before her character development, and definitely more sociable but also yearning for adventure because her life has been dull for years. So a kid sidekick for Silver would then presumably follow the same principle of said sidekick having opposing core traits as he does. Let's see...

Silver is fully confident around his abilities and is quite full of himself at times, has a strong sense of justice, has a heart of gold and a strong desire to help others, enjoys seeing smiles and lovely sceneries and gets sad when there's people jeopardising these, is extremely honest to a fault and therefore doesn't always get believed even though he's always right in the end, has a rather black-and-white mindset wherein his perspective is The Right One and people who don't share it are against him in the Rivals games especially, is a bit snotty and competitive at times and seems to enjoy brawling... I think with those characteristics, a kid sidekick with a similar personality as Tails seems the most fitting if we're going true foil here XD

Hmm, but that is boring, since Tails as a character already exists. One interesting thing about Silver is his honesty: in Rivals 2 he gets into a fight with Knuckles because he (objectively correctly) indicates the Chao are needed to save the world, for which Knuckles deems him crazy. In a Sonic Channel story from 2021, he doesn't get believed by Soleannan officials when he tells them he knows a bridge is going to collapse because he's from the future, even insisting to Sonic that that's the truth of the matter (which, also here, it is, haha). Since Silver's blunt, straight-to-the-point, and completely honest demeanours are therefore a core part of his personality, I think it'd be interesting if a kid sidekick is not that. But then immediately on the other hand, Silver wouldn't hang out with liars for sure if he values honesty so much XD The same goes with his sense of justice, which is often noted in bios and also seen in the games: Silver wouldn't waste his time on an unjust person, because the trait of justice (and honesty too) by its very nature cannot get along with someone who is not that. So I find it difficult to conclude what characteristics a true younger foil for Silver would have to embody to fall in the same category of sidekick as Marine and Tails are without becoming too much like those two, to be quite honest. But if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear about them!

UPDATE: asked a friend and she stated Venice as I wrote him in my very first fic ever, Belong: "someone quiet who does not at all want to be involved in things, whereas Silver is hotheaded and throws himself headfirst into any conflict". So someone very withdrawn who doesn't like brawling and fighting in the slightest, then!