And here goes my 4th attempt at writing. I said at the end of the last one that this would be based on what health issues I've had and would be my way of sharing what I've gone through. I'm truly grateful to be alive after all I've went through and am always willing to share that part of my life. Now, I'm once again using Sonic characters as they are the ones I am most comfortable with and while I was 20 when all this started, I will keep all characters their current ages. I would also like to say all medical related bits are as accurate as I can remember and I cannot stress that enough. Again, this is not a 'please feel sad for me' or an attempt to make light of the following situation, I just want to share. Thank you and I hope you get some enjoyment out of it.

Chapter 1

"Coming." Tails said as he set the spanner on the workbench. His newest security device was coming along nicely. A portable shield system that could be used in battle to deflect bullet and laser fire. In theory it had a ton of promise but in reality, it only projected a small area that could only accommodate an animal no bigger than a dog. 'Why does the power output not want to go any higher. Maybe it's the energy cells or the refractory lenses for the force field.' he thought as he pulled off his gloves, tossing them on the bench. 'I don't know.'

"Tails?! You coming or what?" Sonic demanded from the top of the stairs.

"Coming. Just give me a sec." he replied as he pulled off his goggles and set them down. Flicking off the lights, the emergency lighting illuminated his lab in an eerie glow as he ascended the stairs.

"You still haven't finished that yet?" Sonic asked as he stepped aside to let the fox pass.

"I don't know what's wrong with it." Tails said as they walked down the hall and into the living room. "I mean, I've calibrated and calibrated it until I thought the dials were going to fall off. It's just not giving enough power. It'll deflect incoming fire but it's just too small an area."

"Well a little sparring should clear your mind." Sonic said.

"Do we have to? Robotnik hasn't been seen in... forever. I know we have to keep our reflexes sharp but we did it last week. Still sore from that." the fox said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'll take it easy. This'll just be ground exercises." Sonic said. While Sonic made that excuse for Tails' sake, in truth the fox was beginning to come into his own. When they actually had a match, Tails could keep up with Sonic as long as the hedgehog kept his speed down to a realistic setting. The fox had come a long way in the few years he'd found him. Sonic had only been 14 when he found the 5 year old wandering the wilderness crying out for his parents whom unknown to him had become victims of Robotnik. When he came upon him, Tails had been hiding in an old tree stump from what he called 'the bad man'.

At that moment, Sonic took him home as at the time, the war was in full swing and any authorities had their hands full with a demented madman scouring the planet and turning it's inhabitants into machines. It was the hedgehog's plan to keep him until a suitable home could be found but in a short time, he grew fond of Tails who referred to him as 'big brother'. That was 7 years ago and they were now 21 and 12 respectively.

"Good." Tails said as they walked out in the backyard. A large mat had been set up in the middle of the yard and various pieces of workout equipment dotted the yard. "I'm still not as strong as you."

"Don't put yourself down like that, you know better. You're stronger than you think." Sonic reprimanded him.

"Sorry." Tails said as he took his position on the opposite side of the mat.

"Besides, do you know any other 12 year old that can run almost 45 mph, fly and build their own airplane?"

"No." Tails grinned as his ego swelled slightly.

"There you go." Sonic said with a wave of the arm. "Now, lets try takedowns. I'm going to rush you and I want you to watch where I'm going to attack. That's going to be your attack point. Use my weight and speed to try to throw me down." Sonic said. Tails nodded and stood in a ready position. Sonic bent at the knees just slightly and lowered his head. "Ready?" he said and Tails nodded.

For several seconds Sonic stood motionless then suddenly at a normal pace, he rushed forward. The fox's eyes locked on his target, scanning for the hedgehog's attack. As Sonic got close, he raised his left arm and went as if he had a knife. Tails readied himself, watching his hand as he waited for the opportunity to grab it. But at the last second, Sonic changed up his tactic and lowered his head. The fox wasn't able to keep up with the sudden change in tactic and Sonic charged him, grabbing him around the midsection with his right arm and taking care not to come into full contact, took him down with a tackle, trying to absorb as much of the blow as he could.

"Ngh!" Tails grunted as he fell backward, Sonic falling to his right. "What the hell was that?"

"I told you, you have to look for anything. If that were real you'd probably be dead now." Sonic told him as he stood up and helped his brother up.

"That wasn't part of the deal. It was supposed to be ground exercises." Tails protested.

"And it was." Sonic said. "We both went to the ground."

"You know what I mean." he grumbled, dusting himself off.

"Ok. Let's try some ground work. I'll let you go first."

"No." Tails said. "I want to try some thing else." Tails said. Sonic could see the gears of payback turning.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Standing drills." Tails said. In their regimen, 'standing drills' were code for take downs such as throws or hand to hand combat. Though in the hand to hand they used padded gloves but let it fly full force.

"You s-" Sonic began but stopped himself when he saw the fox pulling on his gloves. Sonic sighed and went to put his own on. 'He's not gonna be happy until he gets in a good one. No sense in trying to stop him.'

"Now you better not go easy on me. I'm not going to go easy on you." Tails said as he took his spot on the mat and began to devise a plan. Sonic could see the fire in his eyes and while Tails preferred to fight using his brain, he insisted that the fox know some type of close quarters combat in case he were ever in a situation that called for it.

"I won't." Sonic replied and they walked to the middle of the ring. "We'll go on you-" but Sonic couldn't get the words out quick enough as Tails rushed him, going for one of the hedgehog's legs. "Jeez!" Sonic blurted out as he moved to the side, the fox barely getting a hand around it. "You want a wrestling match?" Sonic said out loud as Tails turned back to him.

"Can't you see that's what I'm doing?" he asked as he rushed Sonic again. Tails was incredibly fast, much faster than usual; probably running full adrenaline Sonic thought. The fox was about 6 feet away and charged Sonic again, however, the hedgehog saw it coming. Ducking quickly, Sonic dropped low as Tails came close to him and the fox tried to stop, but Sonic caught him in a fireman's carry, lifting him up on his shoulders.

"Let me go!" Tails demanded, wriggling around. It was at this point that Sonic realized that Tails had lied about the soreness he had. It was all a ploy to get Sonic's guard down and try to best him but Sonic was too quick.

"Not until you calm down." Sonic said, but the fox wasn't listening. He was sure he could beat his brother but Sonic was still too quick for him. Tails kept wriggling, trying to break free.

"I'll put you down when you stop." Sonic said. Tails struggled for a few seconds more, then stopped, laughing slightly. "I thought it would work this time." he said.

"Like the last two times?" Sonic asked.

"Can you blame me?" Tails asked.

Sonic shook his head. "You gonna play nice?" "Mm-hmm." Tails mumbled and the hedgehog went to let him down but when he did, Tails started to slip and not expecting the sudden shift in weight, Tails let out a sudden "Ngh!" as he fell outside of the mat and right on the hard ground, landing on his left side. His hip slammed first, followed by his body; fortunately his head didn't slam as he barely managed to keep it from doing so.

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed as he immediately went to the ground. The fox moaned, rolling around and letting out sporadic grunts. "Nnngh! Mmmmmmm!" he groaned, clutching both his hip and side.

"Are you fine?!" Sonic demanded.

After a few seconds, Tails managed a short nod and stopped rolling around as the pain began to slowly subside. "Everything... feels like it's been... moved two inches to the left." he said with a smile and small laugh.

"I'm so sorry." Sonic said as he helped Tails to his feet slowly. The fox leaned on him for support as a bit of pain from his hip cried out. "Wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have been stupid enough to try it." he said as they began to head inside; Sonic threw Tails' arm around him and helped him walk toward the house.

"Well in honesty, I didn't see it coming. You've gotten better but you need to plan your movements out a bit more." he said as they stepped inside. They went into the living room and Tails sat down on the couch. Their house was a modest two bedroom, two bath given to Sonic by his parents who, much like Tails had passed when he was young and Sonic took the house when he was around 13. His Uncle Chuck had taken care of him up until that time training him, but Chuck had been captured by Robotnik and made a machine. Sonic tried to get him back but it had been too late. Now with Robotnik gone or at least in hiding, the loss of his Uncle allowed him a place to raise his brother.

"Wasn't Aunt Sally coming over tonight?" Tails asked as he flipped on the TV.

"Yeah. She didn't say what time thought. Only three thirty so there's still time." he said as he walked into the kitchen.

"She's staying the night, isn't she?" he asked.

"Yeah." Sonic said as the fridge shut.

"She making those little ravioli's?" Tails asked. "I don't know what she does but I could eat those every day."

"No, I don't think she had time. I'll be cooking." he replied as the sound of another door shut and something solid hit the counter.

"So chili?"

"Very funny." Sonic said.

Later that night after dinner, they sat in the living room relaxing. Sally had a cup of coffee, Sonic a soda and Tails an ice pack on his hip.

"Seriously, you boys get too rough sometimes." she said, scolding both of them. "You're going to end up killing each other someday."

"It was my fault this time Aunt Sally." Tails said as he removed the ice pack to check the bruising. "I thought I could surprise him again."

"He is getting good though." Sonic said.

"Mmm." Tails moaned as he moved slightly.

"You ok?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, just took a fall today; my own stupid fault. Landed a bit awkward. Do we have any asprin?" Tail asked, his ribs yelling.

"Bathroom." Sonic said. Tails nodded and stood up. "You gonna be ok?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm just gonna head to bed."

"Okay. Goodnight sweetie." Sally said to him.

"Night Aunt Sally." he said, bending down and hugging her.

"You better be careful." Tails said to Sonic with a smile. "I'm going to be looking for revenge tomorrow."

"The way you're limping around, better make it a week." Sonic said.

"Yeah." Tails agreed with him. "Night. Love you both."

"Night." Sonic replied as the fox headed off to bed. In the bathroom, he opened the cabinet, taking the bottle of asprin, but putting it back and opting for the nighttime aspirin instead. He wasn't a fan of putting pills and meds into the body and only used them when he needed them and this was one of those times. It was sore as hell and he knew a bit of help would be needed for him to get any sleep. Opting out of the usual two and taking one, he swallowed it with a bit of water, brushed his teeth and shut off the light. "I'll take a shower tomorrow." he said quietly as he walked out of the bathroom. He passed by the doorway into the living room and saw Sonic holding Sally close, her head on his shoulder and the lights out save for the glow of the TV.

Walking into his room, it was decked out with a plethora of electronics, knick-knacks, small robotics and machinery among other devices he had either completed or kept in his room when it was late at night and he didn't want to head down into his lab to satisfy his urge to tinker and build. Against the wall where the door was was his bed, a small nightstand next to it. A lamp and clock he built himself stood on it. In front of it and just to the right was a large TV on the wall, a gaming system he also built himself using parts from an actual system but using his own hard drive and CPU to crank a bit more out of it. To the left sat a small workbench, various projects in different stages of completion sat. One in particular was a small robot about 5 inches tall posed in a fighting stance. It was a toy he was designing that was going to be a robot you could fight other robots with. But it wasn't a serious project and only one he began to challenge himself.

Going over to the bed, he gingerly sat himself down, removing his shoes and laying down. "Mmm!" he yelled as his ribs yelled again but once settled down and the blanket over him, they quietened down. 'Maybe it won't be so bad after all.' he thought, turned on a bit of music and drifted off to sleep.

"NGH!" Tails yelped as he bolted upright, his heart racing. It felt as if it was about to leap out of his chest as it pounded and pounded, hearing his pulse echoing in his ears. 'This isn't right.' he thought and threw off the blanket and immediately headed for Sonic's room. Making his way down the hall, his heart continued to pound, feeling like someone was slapping his chest from the inside. Making his way to Sonic's door, he knocked.

"Mmm...?" Tails heard Sonic mutter weakly. Tails pounded harder and he heard Sonic grunt then spring to his feet. "What's wrong?" he asked, flinging the door open and saw Tails standing in front of him. The fox was calm but had a puzzled look on his face.

"Something's wrong." Tails said. "My heart is racing- I don't know why. I just woke up like this." he said, leaning against the door.

"Get in here." Sonic said, ushering Tails in his room and sitting down on the bed which woke Sally. "What's wrong?" she asked, bleary eyes.

"Heart won't stop racing." he said to her and grabbed her hand, placing it on his chest. Sally's eyes went wide and she jerked her hand away. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she grabbed for her phone. A puzzled look came over the hedgehog's face as he sat down beside his brother, reaching over and feeling for himself. "Oh my..." he said pulling his hand back. "Lay down. Now." Sonic told him and he did. Sonic immediately began getting dressed while Sally called an Ambulance.

"You having any pain?" Sonic asked, his own heart racing.

"No." Tails said calmly shaking his head.

"I need an ambulance." Sally said into the phone, giving them their address. "I don't know. My nephew just came in saying his heart was racing. I can feel it when I put my hand on him." she said. "Are you having any chest pain? Shortness of breath? Dizzy?" she asked Tails.

"No." he said to her as Sonic pulled on his shoes. Oddly enough, Tails wasn't nervous even though his heart felt like it was trying to punch his way out. He felt no pain either as he said but just felt like had ran a marathon with out any of the usual side effects. But the odd thing was, he was more worried about Sonic and Sally than himself. She was almost crying and Sonic had a look on his face he'd never seen before.

"You sure you're fine?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah." he said calmly.

Within 20 minutes, they heard an air horn blowing from outside and lights flashing through the window as the Ambulance pulled up, both human males. The passenger climbed out and headed around to the back to get the gurney while the driver put it in park then climbed out, grabbing a black bag and what looked like a TV monitor. Pulling the gurney out, the driver set the bag on the gurney and they wheeled it inside. "Through the doorway and to the left." she said and they headed back.

"Morning." the driver said to Sonic and Tails "I'm Rick and this is Steve." the driver said as the other one nodded. "What's going on this morning?" he asked.

Tails waved. "About 20 minutes ago, I woke up and my heart was racing. I don't know why, I was just sleeping." he told him as the medic that pulled the gurney out began unpacking the bag. "Are you having any pain, shortness of breath, dizziness?" Rick asked as he sat down next to Tails on the bed; he felt Tails' chest quickly, then pulled his hand away. "Let's get a BP and hook him to the monitor." he said quickly to Steve who nodded, pulling out a string of wires.

"No. Other than this I feel fine." he said. Steve began working with the monitor connected the wires to a port, letting them dangle down as the driver began getting a BP. "And you were just sleeping?" Rick asked as the cuff inflated.

"No." Tails said again. In fifteen seconds, the cuff finished. "132/104." Steve said.

"Let's get him on the gurney and hook him up." Rick told him. Tails went to get up but the driver stopped him. "No, no. Try not to move. We'll get you on there."

"Is he gonna be alright?" Sonic asked as he stepped out of the way.

"I can't say at this point but we're gonna do what we can." Rick told him as they grabbed the sheet he was laying on. "Lift on three. One, two, three." Both medics lifted the 62 lb. fox onto the gurney with ease and once there, they began hooking Tails up to the monitor. "How you feeling, hon?" Sally asked, trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.

"Fine." he said with a smile while Rick and Steve began slapping sticky pads on his chest and arms, these a bit stickier to ensure they would stick to the fur of Mobians. Everyone in the room watched tensely as the monitor started and began picking up his vital signs. Within 10 seconds it did and it was chaos. His heart rate was over 180 bouncing between 170 and 210 quickly and at random. The line that scrolled across the screen wasn't the usual broken line, but erratic; alarms went off almost immediately and Rick silenced them. "V-Tach. Let's get him out there now." Rick said and they began strapping Tails down so he wouldn't move.

"Wha- what's that mean?" Sally asked.

"His heart is beating out of control. He's ok at the moment but we need to get him to the hospital now." Steve said as they began wheeling him. "You ok champ?" Steve asked Tails.

"Yeah." he replied.

"Let's get him to Station Square General." Rick said and Steve nodded.

"Don't worry buddy, we'll be right behind you." Sonic said as they headed outside.

"I'm so glad I slept in my clothes." she said as she grabbed her purse and trying to keep her composure while Sonic grabbed his wallet. "I've got the keys." he said as she rounded the corner.

"Let's go." she said. Standing outside, Sonic locked the door behind them and watched as the began loading Tails into the back of the Ambulance. He saw them and waved as best he could with his arm under the belt and both Sonic and Sally waived until they had him inside and the gurney locked down. While Steve climbed in the back with him, Rick took the front and started the Ambulance. "What's your name?" Steve asked.

"Tails." he said.

"Cool name. How old are you?" he asked. "12." Tails said, sighing a little inside. He hated being talked to as if he were still 6. "Well, I'm Steve. If you start feeling any pain or shortness of breath you let me know."

"I will." Tails told him. He glanced over at the monitor as it displayed his vitals, which showed his heart racing at over 160 and still bouncing around. The Ambulance roared to life and it lunged into gear as they pulled away and Steve could be heard talking into the radio and the siren blaring.

Steve started to get another blood pressure and pressed a button on the monitor. Tails hadn't noticed until now, but on the sides were two paddles, both had handles and a large red button on both; he didn't know much about that stuff but he knew enough that's what they used in case someone was dying and he prayed that it wouldn't come to that.

As the cuff inflated, Steve stood up, opening a small door on a row of shelves built into the cab. "I'm going to try to get an IV started in case we have to give you fluids." he said, grabbing a package and tossing it on the gurney between Tails' knees along with a clear bag of fluid. Shutting the door, he sat down and pulled on a pair of gloves then opened the package. Inside was a needle connected to a long tube which he connected the tubing to. Grabbing Tails' arm, Steve tied a rubber band around his upper arm and began tapping his forearm for a vein. Tails continued to watch the monitor, which was now up to 228 the went down to 196. "There we go." Steve said as he found one and grabbed an alcohol swab, ripping it open and swabbing Tails arm. Taking the needle off the cap, he readied it.

"On three. One, two, three." Steve pierced the fox's skin and Tails yelped as it did. "Fu-u-u-u-uck!" he cried out. The Ambulance bounced around and for a moment, he saw the flash of headlights not too far behind them.

"Sorry." Steve said as he moved the needle around, trying to find a vein. "Shit." he muttered and pulled it out, deploying the protective cap and tossing it away. "Sorry Tails." he said, going back to the shelf and grabbing a couple more just in case.

"Mmmm..." he moaned as the burning in his arm from the needle began to calm down. "Can't it wait until we get there?" he pleaded.

"I know it hurts, bud. But we need to get an IV started." Steve said as he opened a new one. He tapped around to find another vein and after a few seconds of tapping, he found one and swabbed the area with alcohol. "Just make it quick." Tails said.

"I'll try." Steve said as counted to three again and plunged the needle in Tails arm. The fox yelled out in pain, a bit moreso this time. "Dammit. C'mon!" Steve muttered as he tried to find a vein but had no luck. Tails had to bite his lip to keep from screaming and when it got too much, Steve in a show of mercy pulled it out. The Ambulance bounced again and made a long right turn as Steve grabbed yet another needle. Again and again, Steve tried to get a line in, trying both arms, different gagues of needles, tying the band a bit tighter but he couldn't get one. Finally after 10 attempts he stopped as Tails was crying openly.

"Rick, call the hospital and tell them I couldn't establish a line."

"Got it." Rick replied and grabbed the radio.

Taking a box of tissues, he handed them to Tails and he dried his eyes. It wasn't like him to be afraid of needles and in fact he wasn't. But being in the state he was in and the fact it had been repeated over and over again, he broke down. "Sorry." he said, looking around for a place to throw the tissue.

"Just throw it on the floor." Steve said and Tails did.

"I'm sorry but like I said, we have to try."

"No, I understand. It's just that hurt a lot." he said laughing.

In less than 15 minutes they arrived at the hospital and Steve and Rick began taking Tails out the back. "Doing ok?" Rick asked.

"Yup." he replied as they pulled him out. The air was cold compared to the warmth on the Ambulance and moving quickly they wheeled him inside. When they hit the doors, a nurse met them. "Whadda got?" he asked.

"12 year old male, in sustained V-Tach; unable to get a line in the field." Steve said as they wheeled Tails down a hallway and into a room. Suddenly the room began filling with nurses as they frantically moved about.

"Chest pain, shortness of breath?" one of them asked.

"No. Last BP was 132/104." Steve said.

One of the nurses unhooked him from the medics monitor and up to their own. It came to life and showed his heart rate was at 170 and still bouncing around; another nurse had a small plastic bag. "What's your name?" he asked Tails, which the fox answered.

"Alright Tails, my name is David and we're going to work on getting you all fixed up here. He come with any other clothing?" he asked Steve.

"No. Aside from that, that's it." he said. David tossed the bag on a counter and another nurse, a female cat Mobian began tossing large plastic pads, white on one side and black on the other. "You guys can go." David said to the medics who walked out to leave them to their jobs. Tails tried to take in the flurry of activity. There were four nurses and what he assumed was a doctor working around him; they were a mix of humans and Mobians, the Mobians both feline. The one he assumed was a doctor walked over to him.

"Hi Tails, I'm Dr. Aho. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was sleeping and I woke up and my heart was going nuts."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Tails repeated.

"Ok. Let's get a line into him; what's his BP?"

One of the other nurses pressed a button. "Getting it now." she said as Dr. Aho turned back to Tails. "Alright Tails, we're going to get an IV in you and give you something to knock you out, then we're gonna have to shock your heart to get it to calm down."

"Ok." Tails said calmly. He really had no other response as it was one of the few his brain could say while he was dealing with the goings on. They sat him up and began slapping the pads on his back, then laid him down and put them on the front. "Those are gonna hurt when they come off." he joked.

"Alright hon." one of the feline nurses said as she grabbed his arm. "I'm gonna try to get the IV in."

"Do you have to?" he asked, the painful sticks still fresh in his mind.

"Don't worry." she reassured him. "We're not in the back of a box going 70; we do this all the time." she said as she wiped his arm down with alcohol. "Ready?" she asked as he nodded quickly, gritting his teeth and tensing his entire body as he awaited the stick. But it never came and in a second he heard her say a gentle "All done."

He looked at his hand and there indeed was an IV sticking in it, a piece of tubing with running out of it and two ports, one at the end of the tubing and one in the middle sticking out of it, resembling a slightly misshapen 'y'.

"Start 20 of anesthetic and run a course of fluids." Dr. Aho said and the nurses went to work. Tails out of curiosity glanced at the monitor and it showed a rate of 199 which dropped to 186. While he was fortunate to not have any pain, the constant tapping in his chest was getting annoying but he was glad that it wouldn't be for much longer. "Alright Tails, you should start feeling sleepy in a minute." Dr. Aho said. "Still no pain."

"No." Tails said. "That thumping is annoying though."

"Don't worry. Hopefully we'll get it calmed down in a minute."

As Dr. Aho talked, Tails could feel the anesthetic taking effect. He suddenly felt very sleepy and relaxed which thanks to his slender frame, allowed the medication to work quickly. As he began to drift off, he saw the rigging that anchored the overhead light begin to move around, like when you watched something moving in one direction then looked away and you could still see residual movement. That was the last thing he saw before he knocked out.