Adventure Underwater

AN: I know, I know, I am prepared to get sticks, stones, and whatever the hell else you want to throw at me. I've been gone a long time, and this doesn't quite mark my return, per se, but moreso a half-assed revival. XD Anyway, enjoy.

Down in the Aquatic Ruin Zone, Sonic and Tails are running. Snickering along the way as they hop along corroding pillars and enemies galore, the two periodically glance at the raging red echidna trailing behind them.

"Grrrraaahhh! Sonic! Tails! You'll pay for that!" Knuckles grunts as he zips along zigzagging pillars. He then jumps into a glide, fists outward.

"Heh," Sonic grins, "gotta catch me first Knucklehead!" He half turns his upper half and makes a silly face at the echidna.

"Sonic…" Tails turns to the blue hedgehog. "We shouldn't make him too mad."

Sonic lets out a soft sigh and jumps to the left, opting for a grassy route instead of hopping along pillars for a change.

The fox follows suit. "Sonic! Wait for me!"

Hmm, gotta lose him fast! Sonic thinks, but… how? He glances down at the deep, vast sea to the right and shivers. Gotta avoid the water, gotta avoid the water, but… this has to do the trick!

Tails watches Sonic plunge into the water. His eyes widen in horror. Why would Sonic do something so stupid, he's afraid of water! "Sonic!" The fox skids to a halt and dives in after the blue hedgehog.

Knuckles slows his pace to a stop as he views Sonic head straight into the water; he grins and says under his breath, "Looks like he did my job for me. Huh, funny how that plays out." He turns around. "Back to the Master Emerald!" The echidna catapults into the trees above and glides off into the distance.

Watching his body sink deeper into the blue abyss, Sonic stares at the precious little air bubbles pouring out of his mouth. With a glance to the left, he finds a Chopper jetting toward him, and hoping to dodge the attack, Sonic spins his legs as fast as he can but to no avail. Before he knew it, the robotic fish had pierced his side and sent him flailing deeper downward, all the while more air escaping his desperate grasp. As he floats down to the seabed below, the hedgehog hears a splash of water from above. Immediately, a newfound hope arises within him. His buddy, Tails, has arrived.

By this time, Sonic had drifted down and landed on the seabed. The Chopper, noticing the extra assistance, alarms the other Choppers to gang up on the two. Tails sees this and immediately swims down to protect Sonic. Using his handy-dandy wrench, Tails whacks at the fish to keep them at bay, while Sonic gets his bearings. After several hits, the Choppers get the hint and swim away, leaving the duo at the bottom of the sea.

They glance at each other, cheeks slightly puffed out. Tails blinks a couple times, and Sonic does the same. It finally dawns on the two simultaneously. Limited air supply. After staring at each other for at least five seconds, the fox giggles and lets out air bubbles spewing upward in a frivolous mass. The hedgehog shakes his head and facepalms. He walks over to Tails and places his hands on both of the fox's cheeks. Closing his eyes and the distance between them, Sonic gives the fox's lips a light touch and begins to blow air into Tails' mouth. The fox's eyes widen at the gesture, body tensing up as well, and a slight blush now reddens his cheeks, but he realizes this is out of kindness rather than out of love. He accepts the much-needed air with stride, and relaxes some.

Soon after they part lips Sonic realizes his air is almost empty as well, and unlike Tails, begins to panic due to his inability to swim. His head darts left and right, keeping his eyes peeled for a brief glance of an air bubble pocket. Alas, there's none to be found. Tails tries to keep his composure as he feels another giggle arise, covering his mouth to hold it in, and the fox walks over to Sonic with a coy smile. Sonic notices Tails' advance after realizing there's no hope for an air bubble pocket. He walks as fast as he can through the water toward the fox, knowing all too well what's to come, but too desperate to care.

They kiss again, but only for air, and this time for an even shorter duration because Sonic gave too much air to Tails, and so Tails only needs to give a little to balance it out. But for some odd reason, Tails yearns for it to last longer, maybe due to the heat of the moment, but one thing was for certain: he wants more. Sonic, on the other hand, plays it cool, no blush on his cheeks unlike the fox before him. In fact, the fox is much redder than the previous kiss. The hedgehog furrows his brows at the sight, but foregoes it for a different much more pressing matter. Land. They need to come up at some point, merely sharing air will only last so long until all the oxygen is then replaced by the carbon dioxide. Sonic shudders at the thought and taps Tails on the shoulder.

The fox was looking out at the scenery around them, anywhere but the hedgehog in front of him, but brought his attention back toward Sonic once he felt the tap on his shoulder. He gave Sonic a slight head tilt, it was a cute expression to the hedgehog, but he refused to admit it. Wanting to get his mind off of that thought, Sonic points upward a couple times, glancing up for an added emphasis. Tails understands in a second and nods in reply.

The two begin their ascent, and Sonic waits for Tails to get a head start so he could latch onto his foot. The fox doggie-paddles to the surface with Sonic in tow. This turned out to not be as easy as they thought. Tails has to swim with the weight of the hedgehog, as well as his air supply being depleted faster due to the extra physical exertion. Sonic gets an exertion-free, all-expenses-paid trip to the surface. When Tails nears the surface, he feels his lungs constantly notifying him for more air like annoying notifications on a cellphone, except these ones hurt a hell of a lot more. But of course, they break the surface a few seconds later gasping for air, otherwise there'd be no story to write.

Sonic and Tails-or just the fox rather, since the hedgehog is still gripping Tails' leg-swim their way back to the grassy land next to them, luckily only a few feet away. They crawl back onto land and flop onto the grass, panting and heaving several times. Now on their stomachs, the two exhausted Mobians rest awhile before standing up again, albeit with a little difficulty. Sonic walks a short distance toward a pillar protruding out from the grass and leans against it, opting to plop back down again. "Man… I'm beat."

"You're beat?" Tails mutters to himself before sitting down next the hedgehog.

Sonic purses his lips, breathes in and out through his nose, then says, "You know, I was pretty scared down there, bud."

"I wasn't all that scared though," the fox replies. "Just having you down there with me made me feel more safe."

Sonic chuckles lightly. "Heh, even if I wouldn't have been much help?"

Tails ponders what the hedgehog said for a moment, then giggles a little. "Yeah, just having you there is courage enough for me." The fox turns to him with a soft smile on his muzzle.

Sonic returns the gesture. "I'll keep that in mind when we both drown next time." The hedgehog bursts into a fit laughter, silently hoping his humor wasn't too dark for it to be considered "not funny".

The fox seemed to understand, since he was laughing as well. "I'll make sure to avoid zones with water next time, or if anything, have you stay home," the fox says with a laugh.

Sonic scoffs."That'll be the day," he says, then turns toward the fox. "I'm not the type who leaves his buddy behind over a little water hazard, though."

Tails smiles. "Right, right, how could I forget?"

The conversation soon dies down as their exhaustion begins to really take its toll. Their bodies ache and burn, fur still slightly wet. One thing still sticks inside their minds throughout this silence, though.

Those kisses definitely meant something more…