Sonic the Hedgehog - "Sonic, help me!"

This is THE most out-of-character moment for one of Sonic the Hedgehog's own friends.

I mean, you can control Tails solo in Sonic 2 and S3&K. His arc in the Sonic Adventure series was spent with him trying to carry on Sonic's legacy as his own individual hero. How can he go from being a resourceful teammate to Sonic the Hedgehog, to just additional baggage that's too afraid of fending for himself without his surrogate older brother?