Author's note: ARGH! SCREWED WRITER'S BLOCK! I KEEP MAKING NEW STORIES, HOPING THAT IT WILL GO AWAY! IT MIGHT WORK... HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE!
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Extreme Injury
Chapter 1
Sonic sat upon the roof of Club Rouge, waiting for Knuckles to join him. Shadow stood there, pacing back and forth with his arms crossed.
"How long does it take to see if a person's doing okay?" he asked. He stopped pacing and tapped his foot rapidly.
Sonic laughed. "He's not exactly the fastest person I know. If it were you or me, we'd have been up and down in a jolt. Give him a break."
Shadow stared over the Night Babylon's brightly lit casinos and bars to look at the setting sun. He sighed. He wished he'd had someone to love and care for, like Knuckles did. Knuckles had married Rouge only ten months ago.
Finally, Knuckles came up through the stairway onto the roof.
"Well?" Sonic asked.
"Rouge is doing okay. It doesn't seem as if we need to call the hospital yet." Knuckles reassured.
"I told you, you should have called already, no matter what!" Tails said, flying up to the roof. Landing, he added, "Rouge should be in the hospital if she's in labor. Unless you're going for an in-home delivery."
Knuckles looked at the orange-yellow fox. "But the pain she's having is rather acute."
"Acute? That isn't right… usually the pain is greater…"
"How would you know this stuff, Tails?" Sonic asked, laying down on the roof.
"Well, before I met you, I went to many college classes, one of them being a medical school. I even have a medical degree!" Tails took out a diploma. "Mechanics and science aren't my only strengths!"
Knuckles nodded. "I guess so."
Tails smiled. "Would you like me to check on her? I am VERY experienced. I passed medical school in only a month and two weeks."
"What? It takes four years at least to pass medical school!" Shadow noted.
"Well, yeah, but I knew 75 of all that stuff already. I did a lot of reading." Tails walked to the stairway. "I'm sure Rouge wouldn't mind me running a few tests on her, maybe hook her up to some machinery if necessary."
"Sure." said Knuckles. "Let me bring you to her."
Knuckles led Tails down into Club Rouge. They walked down the hallway until they reached Rouge and Knuckles' room. The walked in, and Rouge looked over at the two.
"Hey Tails," she said, weak and tired.
"Rouge, Tails will be your, uh, doctor for now." Knuckles said. Tails stepped forward.
"Don't waste time asking why; I've got a diploma from medical school." Tails said, putting on some medical gloves. "Let's just run through the checklist and see if you're okay."
Knuckles left the room, so Tails could run through the list in peace. Knuckles headed back to the roof.
"Okay, first off, how much pain have you been experiencing so far?" Tails asked.
Rouge gave a weakened smile. "Not much, I'm just tired."
Tails frowned, writing, 'Not much' on his checklist. "Well, If you're in labor, that is not right. You sure you're not suppressing the pain? I'm positive you would be able to handle it."
Rouge frowned. "I have. But I've experienced worse. The pain just seems like it should hurt a lot more."
"It should. I've experienced quite a few births from medical school, and let me tell you, those women were screaming their faces blue. Now, I shouldn't expect that much from you, being tough and all. But if you're really in labor, then I'm worried. No woman has been in labor for one hour and not feel much pain at all, unless something's wrong. But that aside, let's continue here. Do you feel nauseous?"
"No, not really."
"Hmmm." Tails said. He paced around the room. "Well, this completely proves it. You AREN'T in labor. I don't know why Knuckles seemed so urgent when he called me. The main two symptoms don't exist. Buy you are due today, I don't know why you-"
Tails was then cut off by screams, ear-piercing screams. Tails rushed over to the source of the screams- Rouge.
"Rouge? Rouge, you okay?" Tails cried. "Okay, did you do any breathing exercises? Good, 'cause this is where they come in! Oh, god where's Knuckles?"
Meanwhile, Knuckles was waiting with Sonic and Shadow on the roof.
"So, you think Rouge is okay?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah-" Knuckles was cut off, not only by Rouge's screams, but Shadow had dropped to the floor, grunting in agonizing pain.
"Something's-GAH!- Wrong! Rouge is-Ugh!- in labor! FOR REAL!" Shadow grunted. "Hurry up!-GAH!"
Knuckles raced down through the stairs, leaving Sonic to tend to Shadow.
"Tails! What's going on here!"
Tails frantically hooked up machines to Rouge. "Seems someone kicked up the pain level in Rouge labor stage- She's not gonna last if we call an ambulance!"
Knuckles panicked. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No. You're not experienced in all, or any, medical situations! I can handle this!" Tails cried. "But we're aiming for an in-home birth!"
Knuckles asked if he should stay in the room, but was turned down.
"Okay, Rouge, push! You're strong, PUSH!"
Rouge tried, and an even worse surge of pain coursed through her body, making her scream even more. The pain was like being beaten by a hundred hammers. A hundred MILLION hammers.
Tails put his hand to Rouge's forehead. Oh my God! A fever! She's gonna freaking die in childbirth! Knuckles will kill me if I let her die! Tails thought.
Tails tried to conceal his worry in his voice as he calmed Rouge. But the look on his face was all Rouge needed to see.
"I'm- gonna die, aren't I?" Rouge managed to ask.
"I'm not gonna let you." Tails said, fighting back an urge to cry. "Just hang in there, alright?"
"Let's… both." Rouge replied.
Tails was worried. He had ton's of equipment at home that he required for these purposes. It was a wonder how Rouge had IV equipment at Club Rouge. Tails panicked. How would he get the equipment without leaving Rouge?
Just at that moment, Knuckles came through the door again.
"Tails, what's going on? You look worried!" Knuckles asked.
"Knuckles! Thank God! I need you to help me! You have to get some equipment from my house!" Tails shouted, tossing Knuckles a booklet with circled pictures. "I need you to get me those, pronto!"
"But I'm not fast enough!" Knuckles complained.
"Then get Shadow and Sonic!"
"But something's wrong with Shadow!"
Tails was stunned. "What? Bring him here."
No sooner had that been said than Sonic had brought down Shadow and raced off with Knuckles to get Tails' machinery.
Both Shadow and Rouge were now in agonizing pain. Tails didn't know what to do. Shadow seemed alright, but the fact that both he and Rouge were experiencing great pain told Tails one thing- they had some sort of connection through the Chaos Emeralds they owned.
Rouge was sweating mildly, pain still surging through her. Tails sweated as he tried to keep Rouge alive with his lack of machines. Rouge was breathing short, quick breaths. Tails had to do something, or he could lose Rouge- maybe even Shadow.