Sonic X-Z

Arc 1

Chapter 2

"Really!? Tails did that!?" A pink hedgehog exclaimed.

"Yea, he totally freaked out on me! Tails has never raised so much as a finger against me for as long as I've known him!" Sonic said.

"Poor guy, what happened all those months ago must have had more of an affect on him than we thought," A red echinda stated.

"Did you come up with that all by yourself knucklehead?" Sonic responded sarcastically. He could practically hear Knuckles growl at him in response.

"I'm really worried about Tails..." A soft-voiced rabbit whimpered.

"Don't worry Cream, that's why we're all here at Amy's house to discuss what to do!" Sonic said.

"I could take him to come guard the Master Emerald with me," Knuckles suggested.

"We're trying to cheer him up, not bore him to death," Amy responded back to him.

"I could take him on a run!" Sonic practically shouted his suggestion as of it was guaranteed to work.

"I think you're the last person Tails would want to see right now," Knuckles replied with a snicker. Now he could hear Sonic growl at him.

"Oh! I can take him shopping!" Amy exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she clasped her hands together, thinking of all the wonderful shoes and dresses she and Tails would pick out together.

"I thought we weren't trying to bore him to death..." Both Sonic and Knuckles muttered in unison.

"Hey! He's been shopping with me before!" Amy fired back at both of them.

"Tails is too polite to say no, and deep down you know that in advance don't you?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"Whatever," Amy pouted, puffing her cheeks. She then turned to Cream. "Cream, what do you think?"

All eyes were on Cream as she pondered for a moment, then a light bulb went off in her head as she softly suggested, "What if we throw him a surprise party?"

They all stared at her for a moment, as if in a state of shock. Cream, assuming that her idea was stupid, lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Yea, I know, that was silly-"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA CREAM!" They all blurted at her.

"R-Really?" Cream asked, genuinely shocked.

"Yea! I get to go shopping for decorations and plates, and I get to try out my cooking recipes that I learned in Chris's world!" Amy exclaimed excitingly.

"Hurray for chilli dogs!" Sonic exclaimed as well.

"Not everyone likes chili dogs ya know..." Knuckles grumbled.

"Yea, but Tails does!" Sonic replied.

"But how are we going to get Tails to leave his workshop?" Cream asked.

"Ah don't worry about it, just leave that to me," Sonic said, winking at her.


Dr. Robotnick's Base

Deep within a remote forest far from civilization lied a modestly sized base that simulated the appearance of a military facility. It was fortified with electric wires and fences, guard bots, and high-tech cameras as well. It's state of the arch design would be enough to blow anyone's breath away. And within the base, the mad scientist known as Doctor Ivo Robotnick would be plotting a scheme that was nearly six months in the making...

"Decoe! Bocoe! Bokkun! It's time to meet my newest creation!" Dr. Robotnick barked.

The three helper-bots fell into formation (as if practiced), and then stood at attention in front of their creator.

"Decoe! Reporting for duty!" The robot saluted.

"Bocoe! Reporting for duty!" He saluted as well.

"Why are we doing this again?" Bokkun asked lazily.

The mad scientist groaned beneath his face palm. Why he kept those three idiots around he'd never know. "Do you guys remember the new robot I was working on?"Robotnick asked.

"Yes sir!" They all chimed simultaneously.

"Good, at least your memory banks aren't malfunctioning," Robotnick snidely remarked. "Anyways, it's not quite finished yet, but I'll give you three a special sneak peek!"

The three robots watched in anticipation as the magnetically sealed door behind their creator slowly began to rise. The trio were literally left speechless with what they saw, and their surprised faces gave the doctor a twisted sense of satisfaction.

"H-How..." Decoe stammered.

"It-It looks exactly like-"

"Correct," Robotnick finished for Bokkun. "However, the two won't be quite similar unless I can get it jump started by finding some of its counterpart's D.N.A."

"That's impossible sir! Wouldn't the D.N.A. have been literally obliterated?!" Bocoe exclaimed.

"Oooh! Oooh! I know! I know!" Bokkun raised his hand as if he was attending class at school. "Isn't one of Sonic's friends in possession of some!?"

If one could look underneath Robotnick's shades, they would find that his eyes were literally lit with elation. "Bokkun! You're a genius!"

"Heh, yea I know," He said rubbing the back of his head. His praise by their creator made both Bocoe and Decoe jealous as they eyed him with contempt.

"Ohohoho! Thanks to you Bokkun, I found a way to make my plan even more sinister! And you'll have the honor of helping me."


Tails's Workshop

The two-tailed fox had finished running yet another systems maintenance check, but this time it was on the X-Tornado. He smiled to himself softly once he was done, glad to see that his plane would be capable of performing at maximum capacity should the time come that he'd have to use it again. Even though the X-Tornado appeared more than capable now, that had always been the case. Tails had to virtually rebuild it from scratch after his encounter with Shadow during the Metarex War, but it wasn't as big of a hassle as one would think. Tails kept the blueprints for the plane in his workshop thankfully, so he was able to recreate it with virtual ease without the help of Chuck.

"I guess that's that," Tails beamed, flashing his treasured plant a smile. Slowly however, his smile turned sour into an eventual frown. He then remembered how he lashed out at Sonic the other day, and now he felt guilty for what he had done. Sonic was his best friend and he had only wanted to check up on him, as well as to touch the flower that had grown exponentially. The two-tailed fox soon came to the realization that there was no excuse for the way that he had acted. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to apologize to him the first chance I get!" He promised the flower.

As if on cue, Tails heard a loud knock on the door. Having an idea of who it was, the two-tailed fox opened it and sure enough, a grinning blue hedgehog was on the other side.

"Hiya Tails!" Sonic said with a smile.

"Hi Sonic," Tails replied.

There was a brief pause between them, and Tails decided to use the opportunity to apologize for his rude behavior the day before.

"Sonic, I uh-"

"No time to chat lil buddy!" Sonic cut him off as he grabbed the two-tailed fox's arm and literally sprinted out of the door.

"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed. His body was being literally dragged through the air by the fastest thing alive, who traversed the lands to an unknown location at speeds approaching (or surpassing) immeasurable levels. Thankfully, it ended just as fast as it had began, and Tails (whose fur was less than presentable due to the high speed in which he was forced to travel) had a lot of questions for his blue hedgehog companion.

"Why did you drag me out of the house like that!? Why are we at Amy's house!? And why did you mess my fur up like this!?"

Sonic chuckled at his friend, ignoring him for now and opening the door to Amy's house.

"Sonic! Sonic are you even listening to me!?" Tails shouted at him.

Sonic, still ignoring him, entered Amy's house and seemingly disappeared within the darkness of it. Tails, clearly beside himself, huffed and entered the house.

"Sonic stop ignoring me-"

"SURPRISE!"

The lights flickered on, and Tails was able to clearly see Amy, Cream, and Knuckles give him a warm, inviting smile. The house itself was also decorated like a typical party. There were pink table covers with matching pink curtains and pink plastic cups as well. Tails could have sworn that he also saw a pink cake on one of the tables too.

"Wh-What is all this?" Tails managed to ask through his shocked state.

"What does it look like? It's a surprise party!" Sonic exclaimed from behind him. He pretended to have disappeared when he entered the house, but he had been tasked with operating the light switch near the door once Tails was lured inside.

"A-A party? F-For me?" Tails stuttered.

Knuckles placed a caring hand on Tails's shoulder. "Sure is buddy. You deserve it."

Tails blushed faintly, lowering his eyes in embarrassment. "Y-You guys, you could have at least told me first..."

"Well if we did that, then it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?" Sonic remarked, placing his hand on the two-tailed fox's shoulder, opposite of where Knuckles's hand was.

"Yea! And besides, you have Cream to thank for this! It was all her idea!" Amy exclaimed.

Cream's face turned red, her eyes avoiding contact with Tails's. "It-It was nothing..."

Tails couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way before. He was so grateful for having such good friends who would go as far as to throw him a surprise party just to lift his spirits. But it was because they were such good friends that the two-tailed fox began to feel guilty for the way he had mistreated them for the past few months, so he opted to give them all a formal apology, especially Sonic. They all brushed it off however, as they were more concerned with having a good time then they were dwelling on the past. Let bygones be bygones, as they say.

Before they all knew it, it was nearly midnight, and Amy promised to have Cream home before the day was over. Knuckles had left just a couple of hours earlier, no doubt to check up on the Master Emerald. This just left Sonic and Tails together, who were now on their way back home.

"Hey, Sonic..." Tails started.

"What is it buddy?" Sonic asked.

"Do you mind carrying me home? Y-You know, just like before?" Tails asked shyly.

Sonic smirked. The blue hedgehog couldn't remember the last time Tails had asked to be carried by him. It was a bit of a surprise but, maybe the two-tailed fox had more fun being dragged to Amy's house than he had originally let on.

"Sure, why not, hold on tight lil bro!" Sonic warned, gripping Tails's wrist and taking off at again, virtually immeasurable speeds. This time however, Tails was ready for it, and he enjoyed the way the wind licked at his fur constantly, as well as how the passage of time seemed to slow down through it all, as in a literal matter of seconds the duo were back at Tails's workshop in the Mystic Ruins.

"Hehe, thanks Sonic," Tails nearly giggled, coming down from the adrenaline rush.

"Don't mention it," Sonic replied back to him.

"Want to come in?" Tails asked as he approached the door. Sonic, realizing that he had nothing better to do at this hour, agreed and stepped in alongside Tails.

"Dibs on the couch!" Sonic exclaimed, flopping on it.

Tails chuckled as he entered his workshop. Usually, he never let the flower out of his sight for any extended amount of time, but he knew for a fact that he had locked the door behind himself, as well as the door to the workshop. The garage openers were never unlocked unless the Tornado or the X-Tornado were about to take-off.

"Hey, I'm back! And you won't believe what happened-"

Tails felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach as he eye'd his work desk in disbelief. He knew for a fact that he had left the flower right on his desk...

but now it was gone.