A/N: hello there readers. It's been awhile since I really uploaded anything. I thought this one turned out great. Nothing much to say here, other than to enjoy and give me your feedback!
Disclaimer: Sonic and characters belong to Sega and Sonic Team.
"Ouch! Darn it, that's the fifth time today that I dropped a wrench on my hand!" Tails complained, rubbing the throbbing hand in question.
"You okay Tails? You know it'll never hurt ya' to just quit for the day and give your hand a rest." Sonic said, concerned for his friend.
Tails only shook his head. That last brawl with Robotnik had the Tornado in pretty bad shape and Tails was determined to fix it no matter what. The poor thing is so beat up it won't even change form anymore, Tails thought, a sigh silently escaped his lips, and I really need to remember to put the landing gear in this time. He really did not want to remember the last time he forgot something; he really made a fool of himself in front of Sonic when they were about to land on the Egg Carrier.
"Well bro I don't know about you but I am really craving a chilidog right now. Want me to get ya anything from the city? I'm buyin'; just don't get your hopes up for anything too fancy, though." Sonic grinned, hoping to at least get a verbal response from the determined kitsune.
Flicking an ear to acknowledge Sonic's offer Tails responded, "No thanks Sonic I'm fine, but haven't you had enough chilidogs for the day? I lost count at fifteen."
Sonic chuckled, "Fifteen? Man, I was aiming for at least twenty-five today!"
They both laughed and Sonic said, "Hey, just promise me you'll take a break will ya'? You've been at it non-stop for three days."
"Sure Sonic I will, but don't be surprised if I give this baby here a new paint job!" Tails promised, patting the Tornado's hull.
"Believe me I won't. And I'll catch ya' either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, later Tails!" With that said, the blue hedgehog sped off toward the city before Tails could even blink.
Tails stepped down from the Tornado drawing his attention to his injured hand. Deciding that disinfecting the wound would be the best motive, he left the workshop's garage and headed inside to the bathroom. Walking past the kitchen he glanced at the refrigerator, a slight frown etching his oil-stained muzzle. A light growl from Tails' stomach jogged him out of his thoughts. His frown deepened and he considered getting something into his belly.
Walking towards the refrigerator he could have sworn he heard something cry out, blaming the sound on his stomach he opened the refrigerator, a little more than disappointed at the sight. There were meager offerings in the fridge, some old potatoes, a moldy sandwich made of who knows what, and a leftover chicken leg from when Amy took the gang out to eat after a long day of kicking Robotnik's butt. Deciding that the chicken was the best way to go, he took it out of the fridge, set it on a paper plate and placed it into the microwave to heat it up. As he was walking back to the fridge to toss the festering sandwich he heard the cry again, this time it sounded like it was right outside the window. It's probably only a baby bird Tails thought; I bet it fell out of its nest near the jungle. Grabbing the sandwich and wrinkling his nose at the overwhelming stench he tossed it into the can, making a mental note to take out the trash later. The microwave beeped, signaling that Tails' meal was done. His stomach taunted him, begging for the food, so as not to waste any working time he scarfed down the leg and headed towards the bathroom to fix his hand.
Tails took off his glove to inspect the damage that was done and could see just how bruised it really was. It was cut a little where the wrench made contact, and was bleeding slightly. Wow, maybe Sonic was right about the whole break thing. He shook his head. No. I need to finish this. What if Robotnik attacks tomorrow? I'll never be ready for an attack if I think this way. Tails took a bottle of disinfectant spray out of his medicine cabinet and sprayed the small cut near his knuckle. He winced as the spray took effect, stinging the small laceration. He wrapped his hand in a bandage, slipped his glove back on and headed out to work on the Tornado before it starts to get too dark out.
The sun sank deep into the horizon, bathing everything a deep, bloody red. The Tornado was nearing completion and Tails was about to start the paint job, setting down two heavy cans of blue and yellow paint. Tails opened the paint cans, being careful not to spill anything on the concrete flooring. He heard rustling in the bushes outside the garage, raising an eyebrow he walked slowly outside obviously remembering the cries from before. He rounded the corner suspiciously almost expecting someone to jump out and say, 'Ha, Tails! I got you! Were you surprised?' Tails picked up a nearby twig and prodded the bush, satisfied that nothing was going to frighten him he returned to his work on the Tornado, looking over his shoulder every now and again.
Tails was finishing up the tornado, applying a stencil of his insignia to the hull of the freshly refurbished plane. Shaking a bottle of yellow spray paint he gathered prior to the Tornado's completion, he made a once over of the plane and satisfied that it was like new started to spray the stencil with short, careful strokes. Tails waited a few moments to let the paint set before removing the stencil and running his hand over the hull of the Tornado to check for any air bubbles. He was rather glad that the Tornado was completed, and wiping a small blotch paint off his nose, he prepared to take the paint into his storage room under the garage. Tails was walking towards the door that led into the storage room when something caught his attention. It was so minuscule that he had to do a double-take. He turned around and spotted something on the floor. Quirking a skeptical eyebrow he walked toward what looked like a small heap of… lavender fur?
"When did that get there?" Tails asked himself, looking at the oddly colored fur pile.
He bent down, still rather suspicious, and prodded it.
"IYEEEE!" Tails hollered, nearly leaping out of his orange fur. "IT MOVED! THE FUR MOVED!"
Strangely enough, the ball of fur squealed and bounced out of the way of the horrified fox's scrambling feet. Tails landed on his rump with a muffled thud and winced in irritation of his clumsiness. He shook his head and looked around for the heap of fur. Sure enough the pitiful looking creature was right in front of his feet, squirming in an oblong circle, uttering high-pitched squeals. Tails watched the fur in mild confusion and bewilderment. He slowly lifted his body and rested on his knees. Not quite as afraid as he was before, Tails clapped his hands, trying to get the creatures attention. Fortunately for him it worked and it came to a screeching halt inches in front of the startled fox's knees. He got a better view of the supposed animal and noticed it had long floppy ears that dragged along the floor, small blue eyes, and a short muzzle that almost looked like a Persian cats face. Tails had to admit that the little bundle was quite cute, but he was unconvinced whether it was truly aggressive or not. It looked awfully skittish to him.
"H-Hey there little guy, did you come from the jungle?" Tails wasn't really expecting the creature to answer him straight out, but boy was he shocked when the little bundle of fur looked up at him with teary eyes and nodded slightly.
"Okay then," Tails muttered eyeing the creature, "Are you hurt?"
Tails couldn't believe he was talking to this thing, but kept his attention on it nonetheless. The lavender furred creature looked down at its small, cat-like paws. Tails, watching the little animal intently, did so as well, and noticed a rather large cut on the poor thing's foot. He frowned, hmm; I guess it got cut on one of the bramble bushes that line the edge of the jungle. He stood up and scrutinized the little creature, not sure if it was tame or not. However, as the suspicious fox started to take a step towards it, the creature shot towards him and landed on his foot, whimpering slightly. His kind nature kicked in at that moment and he cautiously cradled the bundle of fur in his arms, careful that he didn't hurt its foot any more. It was surprisingly heavy for its size, and Tails had a heck of a time getting the door to his living room open. When he got to the couch, he gingerly set it down.
"Stay here okay? I'm just going to get some first aid." Tails said.
The cute little creature turned its head towards the fox, and eyed him as he stepped into the bathroom. The kit was right where he left it; still half opened when he rushed to get outside to finish the Tornado. Tails stuffed some gauze that was hanging over the edge back into the kit so it would close properly, and strolled back into the living room where the lavender animal was sitting, already nursing its injured leg. It stopped licking when Tails approached it and gazed up at him with hopeful eyes. Man, Tails thought, Sonic will never believe this. I wonder if he would know what species this guy is. Tails leaned down and took some disinfectant spray out of the kit, along with a tube of ointment and the roll of gauze. The little creature was incredibly curious about what Tails was gathering from the kit and had its body craned over the edge of the couch trying to see. Tails gingerly held the creature's paw in his gloved hand and said,
"Now keep still little buddy, this is gonna sting for a little bit."
The creature shut its eyes tightly and braced itself. This animal is more intelligent than I thought. I have a feeling he might have the same intelligence of a Chao, or maybe an adult Flickie. He sprayed its paw with the disinfectant and quickly rubbed a small dab of ointment onto the wound. The creature has its eyes closed like a vice and its nose was quivering, but it made no attempt to bite or object to Tails' treatment. After the ointment was applied, Tails retrieved the roll of gauze and a pair of medical scissors and cut a large enough piece of it to fit snuggly around the cut. Afterwards, he applied a medical clip to the end of the gauze so it wouldn't come loose.
"Blimey, that was awesome little guy. Thanks for being so good!" Tails smiled and gave the creature a light pat to the head.
The little creature squealed in delight and curled up into a ball next to Tails' arm. A light chuckle escaped Tails' lips, and he picked up the creature off the couch, taking it into his bedroom, lightly setting it down onto his bed.
"Hmm, since you're here and all, I guess I should give you a name, of sorts," Tails thought aloud. A light knock came to Tails' bedroom door, nearly scaring the poor fox out of his fur. A huge grin greeted Tails.
"Sup Tails? How's the Tornado comin' along?" Sonic asked, walking into the room, "And who might this be?" he asked, patting the creature on the head.
"I found him sitting in my garage when I was touching up the Tornado, the poor thing had a cut on its foot. Oh! And the Tornado is great by the way; sorry I didn't leave the garage door up." Tails smiled, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly.
"Awesome. Your front door was unlocked, I thought I'd just let myself in. No worries though, I locked it for ya'."
"Thanks Sonic."
"No prob'. Have you thought of a name for him? Or are these temporary living arrangements?" Sonic asked, curious.
Tails chuckled. "I'm not sure yet, to be honest. I think I'll let him go when his foot's better."
He might keep the little guy. Maybe keep him for the company, but Tails didn't have much or any money at all to feed him. Amy was the one to bring his 'rations' as he called them, they were meager, as it were, and Tails doesn't even know what he eats anyway.
"Well think it over then," Sonic said, interrupting Tail's brooding. "And when you think of something tell me, I'll give ya my approval."
"Sure thing, Sonic. You staying over for the night?"
"Mmm, probably," Sonic mused. "I'll just steal your couch for the night, if it's okay?"
"Of course. Night Sonic."
"G'night Tails."
Tails tucked himself into bed, and switched off his table lamp, drifting into a deep, dreamless sleep.
CRASH! An unbelievably deafening noise jolted Tails from his slumber, nearly rocketing himself from his bed. He raced down the hallway, heading for the living room where Sonic was supposedly sleeping. I hope nothing's broke into the house; Sonic must have heard that noise. He didn't notice the absence of a small, purple furred creature on his bed.
"Sonic! What happened?" Tails questioned, looking a bit more than confused as he watched a groggy-looking hedgehog rise from the couch.
Sonic yawned, "I'm not sure, buddy. I just heard something crash downstairs." A metallic clang resounded through the house, making Tails jump in surprise.
"C'mon bro, lets check this out."
"Right, Sonic." Nodded Tails, and he followed Sonic to the stairs that led down into his basement workshop. Tails flipped on a light switch at the top of the stairs and looked down. Everything seemed normal to him. Sonic was in the lead, with Tails following in close proximity. They got to the bottom of the stairs; the eerie quiet in the bleach, white room was unnerving.
"Okay, Sonic, lets split up. How about you go and check the computer room, and I'll head into the lab." Tails said, looking around for anything unusual.
"Sure, sure. Be careful Tails." Sonic chuckled to himself, remembering a particular quote about a computer room in a certain video game he'd played before.
Sonic pressed a large, rectangular button on the wall be side the door that supposedly leads into the computer room. It opened with a muffled hiss, and Sonic walked in, taking note that the room stank of hot, overrun electronics. Looking around and wrinkling his nose in disgust, he noticed a rather large hole in the wall opposite of where he was standing. He strode casually over to the opening and peered through it. There wasn't anything unusual on the other side of the hole. A few shredded electrical wires were sparking where they were ripped apart. He turned around, scanning the room for anything else that seemed suspicious. Some movement caught Sonic's eye, and he instantly reacted, dashing over to it. It went behind a computer console and Sonic could see another hole there, not as big as the other one was, however, but large enough that Sonic could crawl through it.
The door to the laboratory closed behind Tails, and he looked around cautiously. He spotted an open air duct to the left of him; the metal cover was nowhere to be seen. A fairly small, purple mass shot straight out of the duct and disappeared inside the laboratory. He walked up to the duct, and noticed bite marks taken out of the four screw holes that were supposed to hold the cover to the outside of the duct. As he peered in, a shuffling noise coming from the air shaft was becoming louder.
A sense of another adventure was pricking at Sonic's hands and knees, or was that the coarsely shredded metal that he was crawling through, inside a metal shaft? He couldn't help but feel extremely claustrophobic in the tiny space, but the overwhelming sense of finding something interesting had overridden that sense of weakness. There was a light at the end of the shaft, and Sonic quickly slid through it, colliding heads with an extremely fear stricken fox.
"Auggh! Get it off me!" Tailed shrieked, absolutely writhing in fear under Sonic's heavy, blue mass.
"Woah! Holy-!" Sonic rolled to the side, wide eyes boring into whatever he'd just run into. Alas, it was only Tails.
"You okay Tails?" Sonic asked his petrified friend.
"Uh, y-y-y-eah, s-sure Sonic." Tails answered, shuddering uncontrollably.
Sonic gave the horrified kitsune a light pat on the shoulder, and headed off in a random direction, hoping to get a hold on what was in the laboratory. They searched the entire lab from corner to corner, but haven't found any clue as to what was demolishing the place. They left the lab, feeling utterly defeated at the fact that there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. The two brothers entered the main room they started from and took a look around. Tails spotted one of his old, broken down fusion reactors lying on its side across the room, spewing hydrogen in a lazy arc all over the shiny tiles. He trotted over to it, with Sonic trailing close behind him.
"You sure it's okay that thing is leaking, Tails?" Sonic asked, wary that his friend was getting too close to the gas.
"It's fine Sonic, hydrogen is pretty much harmless, the ventilation shafts should take care of the rest."
Tails picked up a nearby wench and re-screwed the hole tightly. The hissing of the gas stopped and Tails righted the cylinder, reconnecting one of the cables to a valve on the wall behind it.
"There, that should do it, ready, Sonic?" Tails grinned, proud of his work, and they headed off to the other side of the room.
The two brothers passed through a narrow passage and kept a look out for any signs of activity. There was a large metal door blocking the end if the hallway. Tails walked up to it, punched a code into the key pad, and the door beeped, signaling that it was okay to pass. Tails opened the door and they both stepped quietly into the room. It was tail's other workshop. And in the corner of the shop was a treadmill, or rather an incredibly glorified one.
"Your home-made treadmill that you made for me is still here?" Sonic asked, trotting over to the dangerous looking machine.
"Collecting dust, and taking up space, yes." Tails answered.
"Heh, this thing caused quite the ruckus back in its day," Sonic chuckled, "I think I even broke it a few times, too. But you know, running stationary indoors has nothing on being outside."
"I never could get the thing to run over 300 miles per hour." Tails sighed, "I was thinking of taking it apart for the parts, the engine is pretty valuable."
"Hmm. Yeah" Sonic acknowledged, "The engine you say? That large thing in the back of the treadmill?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Looks like our 'Buddy' got to it before us…" Sonic said. He pointed to the back of the machine.
Tails moved in front of Sonic and peered behind the treadmill, "Aw, man. I really wanted that engine, too"
"It's fixable isn't it? I mean, you can fix anything."
"I don't think so, Sonic. The inside's pretty fried." Tails moved away from the machine and headed off in a different direction.
Sonic meanwhile was following a trail of shards of computer parts and steel. There was something about the metal cabinet in front of him that didn't seem right, either. It was vibrating. Raising an eyebrow, Sonic tapped lightly on the side of the cabinet. It stopped moving. A shuffling noise resonated from the back end of the cabinet.
"Hey Tails, come here, quick!"
Tails' ears flew backward toward Sonic and he bolted over to him.
"Did you find something Sonic?"
"Listen, There's something in the cabinet."
Tails pressed an ear to the door of the cabinet and listened. Something was shuffling inside of it. He put his attention on the front of the cabinet and slid one of the shelves out.
"Graaah!" Something small, furry and purple erupted out of the cabinet.
"Augh! Sonic!"
"Woah!"
The creature landed on the ground and ran in circles, shrieking in fear.
"Hey!" Sonic shouted over the shrieking. "It's your little…uh...pet"
"Yeah! I wonder why he was in there." Tails thought aloud while he bent down to calm the distraught animal.
"C'mon little guy, calm down." Tails held his hands out for the animal to climb into.
The animal calmed down instantly and hopped into Tails' awaiting hands. He nearly dropped it because of its weight.
"Jeez, somebody gained a bit of weight. Didn't he?" Tails said, hefting the animal higher.
"Gained weight, huh?" Sonic inquired, "Wait, Tails! I got this! Uh…Here!" He passed a burnt computer chip to Tails.
"It's an old computer chip, Sonic. I don't see where we're going with this."
"Just give it to him Tails." Sonic pressed.
"Okay…" He handed the chip to the little animal.
It took it in its uninjured paw and gazed at it. The creature's eyes turned a shade darker and it growled maliciously. It whipped around and hissed at Tails. He dropped the writhing creature in surprise, and shuffled backwards a few steps. It landed on the floor with an 'oof' and took a large bite out of the computer chip. It savagely devoured it and continued on to the steel filing cabinet, making absolute shrapnel out of it.
"Tails! We need to contain that thing!"
"Uh…" Tails looked frantically around the shop, avoiding the pieces of steel flying towards him. "There Sonic! That plastic animal crate!"
"I got it!" Sonic hurled himself at the crate and spin dashed back to Tails. He caught up with, and scooped up the animal inside the crate.
It howled in absolute fury, gnawing on the plastic covered bars. They watched the animal with a mix of emotions, surprise and amusement glazing their eyes.
"What should we do with it Sonic?" Tails looked over to Sonic, who had a malicious, toothy grin etched onto his muzzle.
Tails had only seen Sonic with that expression once before, when they went to 'visit' the guardian of the Master Emerald. Sonic had gotten bored with the thick headed echidna's rants about how he would kick the butts of any intruder on the island, and thought he would play a prank on his red-furred 'pal'. Tails watched from afar as Sonic found several buckets of red paint from under the train station. While Knuckles was sleeping, Sonic painted the master emerald red, along with the stone ruins around it. He also snatched a fawn colored fur coat from a poor unsuspecting human and ripped it apart around the shrine. The next morning Tails walked onto the floating island to a bawling echidna and a blue hedgehog that was patting his back, his eyes squinted and lips puckered trying to hold back laughter. Apparently Sonic had told Knuckles that the emerald was actually a mass murderer by heart and he 'watched in horror as the emerald slaughtered every innocent, brown colored animal that crossed its path.' The horror-stricken echidna found out later after a thunderstorm that the 'blood' was actually paint, and Tails had to fish the blue prankster out of the ocean below the island.
"Uh…Sonic?" Tails asked, obviously concerned for the hedgehog's well being.
"Hold on bro', I have the most glorious idea!" Sonic chuckled. "Let's take this cute lil' fella upstairs and 'spruce' him up!"
"Doctor! You have gotten a package in the mail!" A scrawny yellow robot jogged into the control room, toting a medium-sized candy cane striped package with a purple bow. He was tailed by an excited looking, portly silver robot.
"What? A package for me? My new emerald cufflinks aren't due for another week!" The fat scientist swiveled his chair around to face his servants. "Give me the package Decoe."
"Yes, Sir!" The yellow robot handed the package to Robotnik.
"Oh, Oh! Open it Doctor!" The Silver robot exclaimed.
"Bocoe! Don't rush him!" Decoe scowled.
"Silence! The both of you!" Robotnik scowled. "Your ruining my moment here!"
The robots silenced their squabble when they heard paper ripping. The box inside was cobalt blue, and the doctor took the top off with care, savoring the moment. He had never actually gotten a present before and wanted it to last. Inside was a plastic crate. On top of the crate was a card. It read:
Dear Doctor Ivo Robotnik,
We would like to give you Mr. Chewychompums as a token
of how really awesomely smart you are. Don't forget to
give him this honorary piece of metal that's strapped to
the back of this card!
Yours truly and epicly, epic,
You-Know-Who…
" You-Know-Who?" Decoe asked, craning his head to look at the back of the card.
"Hmm," Robotnik mused, fiddling with his moustache. " Bocoe, lift the crate out of the box."
"Yes, Doctor!" Bocoe nodded, he waddled over to the box and lifted the crate out of it. All three of them peered into it.
Inside the crate was a ball of long, purple fur. Decoe opened the crate and pulled out the fur. It shook itself and looked around, the blue bow attached to its head bounced around. It squealed in happiness and jumped onto Robotnik's lap.
The doctor jumped in surprise. "What in the…?"
"It's adorable!" Bocoe scratched one of the creature's ears.
The little bundle of fur looked up at Bocoe, like he was a prime cut of beef, and made a purring noise.
"I think he likes you Bocoe!" Decoe said happily. He took the tape off the back of the metal shard and handed it to the little animal. It completely disregarded the shard however and latched itself to Bocoe's head.
Bocoe screeched and ran around the room, "It's got me! Aaagh someone HELP!"
Robotnik stood out of his chair, "what is this thing?" The creature took a chunk out of the histerical robot's head and hopped off, chewing happily. It looked around, and found an opening in a pipe on the wall. Its eyes gleamed in bloodlust and it shot through the hole. Sounds of shredding metal resounded through the base.
"NO! My base is ruined! Security, capture that monster!" Robotik howled. The screens in the room turned black, and the power snapped off, red emergency lights flashed.
"Doctor! Look at this!" Decoe pointed to a symbol on the back of the card, two yellow tails, incased in a blue circle.
The Doctor turned a dangerous shade of purple, and bellowed as loudly as he could, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"
I hope you all enjoyed this story! I certainly had a lot of fun writing it. Till next time folks! Ciao.