AN: Finally, a request! Yaaaaaaay!

...You can tell I don't have too many ideas of my own right now xD Maybe 'cause I've used identical ideas for my past 4 oneshots. Oh well.

Anyway, I feel like not using Pages today. Go randomness.

Alright, enough of that, I just wasted two minutes of my time typing useless shit. This was the exact request: "One morning, Sonic has injured himself while visiting Knuckles somehow and now Knuckles has to take care of him until he's better". I'm not used to writing about people getting hurt unless it happened sometime before the events of the story (don't ask me why I avoid that), but hey, challenges are fun.

Enjoy the fic! (-^.^-)^

Temporary Doctor

Requested by KoopalingFan

It was just another lazy afternoon on Angel Island. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The sun's rays shone on the Master Emerald, making it glisten glamorously.

A certain echidna sighed peacefully as he lay on the steps to the Master Emerald altar, taking in the beauty of his home and daydreaming like usual. These were one of his favorite kind of days: it was nice out, there was no sign of danger anywhere, and the hedgehog wasn't there to annoy him with a bunch of wisecracks. Not that he had anything against said hedgehog, but that didn't make him any less irritating.

As he chuckled to himself at the thought of the silly bickering he participated in with his blue friend, Knuckles's thoughts drifted to wondering what that cheeky speedster was up to. He started to become woozy from the warmth of the sun as he pondered. The guardian yawned and put his hands behind his head.

He fell asleep just before the whirring of the plane's propeller came into hearing range.

Sonic the Hedgehog hummed to himself as he turned the radio up on his plane, the Tornado. The bright and sunny weather put the teenage hero in a good mood that day, so he decided to go to Angel Island to pay that cranky echidna a visit. Sonic hoped that the weather made Knuckles happy, too.

Sonic saw a small speck forming in the distance. He smiled to himself, knowing he was getting close to his destination. He turned down the radio and flicked a switch, increasing the plane's speed (he was grateful his friend Tails had installed that function, he hated slow plane rides).

All of a sudden, another speck showed up on a small LED screen that was near the plane's control. It was the rearview screen, and the object seemed to be getting larger with every passing second. Getting a bit nervous, Sonic flicked another switch, and the Tornado's boost engines were ignited. The plane started accelerating, and oddly, so did the object.

Sonic wanted to move quicker, but the biplane was already at its maximum speed. He tried dodging the mystery projectile, but it followed him. The object kept hurtling towards Sonic, and...

BAM! It collided with the back of the plane, and the engine exploded. The plane began to descend quickly. Sonic wanted to panic, but remained cool and calm. Angel Island was becoming closer. He pounded the "Emergency Landing" button, but it broke upon impact, as the entire plane's internal systems were weakened by the blast.

Sonic muttered a swear under his breath. Angel Island was only a few feet way, and he couldn't stabilize the plane, which was plummeting at a rapid rate. He shut his eyes and braced himself for a crash landing.

Knuckles awoke to the sound of an explosion. His eyes flashed open. His muscles tensed as he jumped up and got into a fighting stance. He glance around cautiously, but found nothing of interest. He was about to lie back down, wondering if he had just imagined it, when he sniffed the air and smelled something burning.

The echidna, fearing the worst, rushed down the stairs and followed the unpleasant scent. It seemed he was getting closer to the edge of the island. Suddenly, he tripped over something sharp stuck in the ground. He shook himself off and examined it. It looked like...a propeller rotor? That's when it hit him. Who did he know who had a plane?

His heart rate stooped higher and higher as he dashed towards what looked like a large, broken-down, flaming metal object in the distance. He screeched to a sudden halt and his eyes grew wide when he saw something charred and spiny lying face-first in the dirt. That can't be...he thought, turning the figure over onto his back. He saw a familiar face staring back at him with his eyes closed, unconscious. "Oh shit..." Knuckles said in a frightened manner, his heart nearly thumping out of his chest. "Y-you idiot!" he exclaimed, "Wake up! Speak to me!" He shook the black-and-blue hedgehog furiously, but to no avail.

"SONIC!" he screamed, tears starting to well up in his eyes. He was extremely worried. What could have happened here? He just woke up to find his best friend in a condition that he'd never seen him in before. Crimson put his head to the hedgehog's chest, relieved to hear the soft beating of his heart. He was alive, but barely.

The Tornado started making popping and fizzing noises. The shocked echidna looked up and saw that the plane had started vibrating. Shaking, Knuckles scooped up Sonic in his arms and ran as fast as he could away from the area, not even looking back as he narrowly escaped right before the plane exploded.

Settling next to a small rock near some trees, Knuckles gently placed Sonic back on the ground and checked his pulse. Somehow, he was still alive. Although thankful, Knuckles wondered how he could have possibly survived that landing. Now in a quieter area, he was able to hear the faint and shaky breaths coming from the hedgehog, and for the first time payed attention to the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Knuckles was panicking. If he didn't do something fast, Sonic would die, but he was no doctor. However, he couldn't bear the thought of losing him, so he strained his brain to think of something. That's when he remembered his exotic plants.

There were many different plants on the island that could cure numerous ailments. He knew the Tswar Flower contained a special cream that could heal burns, which were all over the cobalt one's body. He had also figured that Sonic might have broken a bone or two, and noticed that his head was bleeding. He couldn't tell which bones were broken, so he'd have to wait until Sonic woke up (if he woke up) to find out what hurts, but he knew that a few Naro Leaves made for a great makeshift bandage for the head injury.

Without another thought, the echidna placed Sonic's body against the rock and let out a deep sigh. "Don't die on me, okay?" Knuckles told Sonic, even though he couldn't hear him, "I'll be right back." With that, he ran off to find what would change Sonic's fate.

It had been thirty minutes and Knuckles had not returned. He had found a Tswar Flower easily, but it was extremely hard to distinguish Naro Leaves from regular leaves. He feared that he was too late, and he wanted to cry again, but he sucked it up. What am I doing crying? he thought to himself, I don't cry. I know I can do this. I just have to...pull it together...he'll make it through...won't he?

Tears slid down Knuckles's cheeks as he continued to sift through leaf after leaf. Time was running out.

When his eyes opened, his vision was incredibly blurry. Where am I...? He wondered, looking around him. He had regained a bit of his sight, but the constant pounding in his head made it hard to see. He glanced around and realized he was in a forest. That's when his memories came back to him: the object, Angel Island, the crash landing. Somehow, although he wasn't left unscathed, he survived.

He cheered silently to himself until his body started to feel hot and it became hard to breathe. He hacked up smoke. Great, he realized, I'm burnt and I can't breathe. His body ached all over, and for a few fearful minutes, he thought he was going to die a slow and painful death.

Just then, his slightly muffled hearing heard rustling in the bushes. He saw a figure, something read carrying green objects, emerge from the clearing. Sonic smiled to himself, knowing what it was.

Knuckles, exhausted and rife with worry and guilt, plopped down on the ground, panting. "Been...an hour...must...be too late..."

"Too late?" said a weak and tired voice, "You're just in time."

With a gasp, a scratched-up and slightly bruised Knuckles, with tear stains on his cheeks, looked up to see the one he'd been panicking over looking him right in the face, his emerald-green eyes a little darker than usual. "...Sonic...?" he asked meekly, staring his friend in the eyes.

"The one and only," he chuckled, trying to sound like he wasn't in agonizing pain. His heart ached for the poor echidna. He realized that he must've rescued him, and he must have gone nuts trying to save his life.

Before Sonic could say anything else, Knuckles buried his head into Sonic's chest and sobbed heavily. "WHAT THE HELL, SONIC?!" he cried despairingly, "I thought you were dead! Why do you have to do such risky things, Sonic...why..."

The shocked hedgehog just stroked his friend's quills comfortingly. "Relax," he whispered, "I'll be okay..." He squeezed the echidna tight. "You didn't have to go and exert yourself like that..."

"But...you were...you were near dead...you still are." Remembering why he came back to Sonic in the first place, Knuckles slowly rose to his feet and grabbed the medicinal herbs. "These plants should heal some of your wounds," he said, "but I don't know what to do after that..."

"Let's just focus on the injuries first," Sonic suggested, "My head is killing me."

"Right, Knuckles agreed, picking up the Nora Leaves. "These are Nora Leaves," he explained as he carefully wrapped the plants around Sonic's head, "They're absorbent enough to make great bandages." He then turned his attention to Sonic's burns. "I brought something for the burns, too..." he said, grabbing the Tswar Flower. "This Tswar Flower should help."

He squeezed a tan-colored cream out of the large, bulky flower, rubbing it into Sonic's skin, treating each of his burns one by one. "Is there anything else that hurts?" Knuckles asked quickly, "I could call Tails and ask him to get you to the hospital. We can't do it now because your plane exploded, and there's no way I can glide you there...does he have a backup plane? I don't know what to do if he doesn't...we need to see if you have broken bones or-"

"Knuckles." Sonic interrupted, weakly raising his arm and putting his hand on the echidna's shoulder, "Calm down...I hate having to see you like this." Knuckles, who was now done treating Sonic's burns, looked down at the floor in shame. Was he really helping? "I'm sorry, Sonic. I know this isn't like me at all. I just-"

"You don't have to be sorry." Sonic comforted. "You saved my life, man. I couldn't ask for anything more. In fact, I'm feeling better already." He beamed at Knuckles ad gave him a thumbs up, tears of joy stinging his eyes. Knuckles, too, was now tearful, but in a good way. The two sat in silence for a minute until Knuckles queried, "What happened, anyway?"

Sonic sighed. "I was flying here and all of a sudden, something showed up behind me. I couldn't really make out what it was, but it was circular and gray, looked like a meteor, if I remember correctly...there was an image on it, too..."

"But meteors don't have..." that's when Knuckles remembered a certain someone who put an image of his face on nearly all of his creations. He growled and furrowed his eyebrows. "Eggman..." he muttered, his voice dripping with malice.

"Chill, dude," Sonic told him. He realized his own voice sounded less cracked. "I suspected that it was him...but let's not worry about it right now. We can kick his sorry ass later, right?" Sonic smirked, and Knuckles grinned back, cracking his sharp knuckles. "It'd be my pleasure." He added, deadpanning, "I'll bring the pan, too." They both laughed for a few seconds, both of them feeling a bit happier and less fatigued.

Just then, they heard a jet engine in the background. Both their ears perked (AN: Yes, Knuckles HAS to have ears somewhere, people) and they spotted a white jet circling them overhead. "Tails!" they simultaneously exclaimed.

It was the X-Tornado, an upgraded model of the classic Tornado Tails had constructed a while back. "SONIC! KNUCKLES!" the fox kit called, landing the plane. He jumped out of the cockpit the minute the hatch flew open, and tackle-hugged his older brother. "I got really worried!" he exclaimed, "I tried to contact you and didn't get a response and was afraid something happened to you..." Sonic laughed as his brother's tails wagged happily. "I'm sorry, little buddy," he apologized, hugging him back, "something just came up..." he coughed up smoke again.

Tails stood up and got a look of worry on his face. "Sonic?" he asked worriedly, "what happened?" Knuckles turned to the fox cub. "One of Eggman's new toys hit the Tornado and it exploded..." he growled again upon thinking of the egg-shaped doctor. "Oh..." Tails's ears and tails drooped, upset that his favorite creation was destroyed, but was more concerned about Sonic's condition. "Well, good thing I'm here then. Let's get Sonic to a doctor right away!" his appendages perked up and wagged triumphantly. "That's the spirit, Tails," Sonic encouraged, beaming at his best friend. Tails giggled happily and twirled his twin tails, becoming airborne. He picked up Sonic and carefully placed him in the passenger's seat. Knuckles got in next to him. "You're coming?" Tails asked quizzically. "Of course he is," Sonic butted in before Knuckles could answer, "he was the one who saved me, after all." Sonic and Tails smiled and Knuckles blushed. "Heh..." he managed, settling in his seat.

He fell asleep within minutes from exhaustion. Sonic, too, was about to take a nap, not afraid that he wasn't going to wake up anymore. He reached over and squeezed Knuckles's shoulder. "Thanks a bunch, buddy," he whispered. Somehow, Knuckles must have sensed him, because he squirmed happily. Tails and Sonic both saw this and chuckled quietly. "I think you made him happy, Sonic," Tails pointed out. Sonic shook his head. "He already was happy. Or at least I hope he is, 'cause he did a damn good job today."

Knuckles figured the Master Emerald was feeding him information or something as he slept, because he heard the hedgehog's every word. For the rest of the ride, there was a strong, warm feeling in his chest, because he knew that everything was going to be just fine.

For a story that only took around two hours to write, it turned out pretty good, no? It must've been, because my heart was actually pounding and I knew what was coming. Anyway, thanks for the request, KoopalingFan, I had a great time writing this. Hope you and the rest of you readers enjoyed! Don't forget to review and leave a request if you wish!

(Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna upload this chapter and play some Kirby, because this chair makes my bum hurt T.T)