Disclaimer- I don't own any Sonic the hedgehog characters. They all belong to SEGA.

Premonition

Chapter Four

There were six Mobians packed in a crystalline kitchen. Five of them sat at the table in the middle while one, a two-tailed fox, worked at the stove.

Flash

A boom of thunder echoed in the distance. Knuckles leaned back in his chair and linked his hands behind his head. "We are going to have a bad storm today."

His spot at the table was the closest to the stove…

It fades to darkness

"Ahhhh!"

The sound of a body hitting the floor…

Splashing…

Sizzling…

Flash

The wind was howling outside, but there was yet a single drop of water. The rumble of thunder was steadily getting closer as trees swayed dangerously.

Flash

Rouge was looking out of the window, watching as leaves got carried away by the fast-moving currents. "I wonder how it feels like to fly in that. Doesn't seem too dangerous…" She smirked, accepting the unspoken challenge.

It fades to darkness

"It feels great out here! I'm glad that it isn't raining yet."

The wind got louder, causing the branches surrounding the house to creak and groan.

There was a snap.

"Huh?"

Crashing…

Screaming…

Sonic noticed one thing and one thing only when he woke up the next day:

Tails was dead wrong.

The blue hero groaned in pain when he was rudely interrupted out of his sleep by the severe pounding in his head. Sonic kicked the covers off of him and opened his eyes only to hiss in agony when the bright yellow light of the rising sun seeped through the window. At least he didn't get woken up in the middle of the night like last time.

Pushing himself up in a sitting position, Sonic jumped out of bed and waited for the sudden dizzy spell to go away. Panting, he squatted down and, with all of the focus he could muster, slipped on his shoes and tied them, taking twice as long as normal. Using the side of the bed as a crutch, the blue hero stood back up and stumbled toward his door.

I can't believe this is happening again. He thought as he entered the hallway and turned in the direction of the stairs, not registering Tails' empty room. And I had two this time…Enduring the horrible migraine, Sonic went down the stairs, almost falling a couple times.

Tails, who had always been an early riser, was working in the garage, surprisingly alert at this time in the morning. The kit had a wrench in one hand, screwdriver in the other as he eyed the wings of the Tornado. He wanted to adjust the wings to make the plane more aerodynamic than it was, so it could get more distance for the same amount of fuel. Sticking his tongue out of his mouth, the kit was about to start on the project until his ears picked up movement in the kitchen. Tails paused and looked up at the clock hanging on the far wall. It's just six-thirty. I wonder who's up this early?

The bi-tailed fox placed his tools back on the nearby workbench and walked over to the exit of the garage. Curiosity at its peak, Tails opened the door and smiled when he saw his big brother. The happiness faded away, however, as the kit watched as Sonic's trembling hands opened and closed cabinets with frantic haste. Worry blossomed in Tails' chest when he took in the hero's face which was twisted in agony. Forgetting about his plane, the fox crossed the threshold into the kitchen.

"Sonic!" Said Mobian winced at the shout and folded his ears against his head. He glanced backwards at the kit and tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. Tails came up beside Sonic and looked up at him with concerned eyes. He saw the hedgehog's reaction to his voice before, so he lowered it. "Are you okay?"

The speedster cringed. "Stop yelling, bro…" Tails frowned; he wasn't. Sonic took his eyes off of the fox and continued to look through the cupboards for the painkillers. "It's happening again, Tails." The kit tilted his head in confusion and the blue hero caught the expression. "The headaches." He answered the unasked question, straining his voice.

Blue eyes widened. "Seriously?" Tails was careful to whisper. He didn't want to hurt is best friend again. "I was so sure that it wouldn't happen again!" The kit scratched his forehead, perplexed. "Wait, if you have a migraine, that means you had a vision earlier. Did you?"

Sonic started to rub his temple with one hand, frustrated. He wasn't mad at Tails; he just couldn't find the medicine he desperately needed. "Hold on, bro…" The blue hero now scoured singlehandedly. "Just…just give me a minute so I can find…" Sonic growled under his breath. He had looked through all of the cabinets, where was the bottle? "Tails, where did you put the painkillers?"

The kit, growing increasingly worried, pointed to the open cupboard to the left of the speedster. "It's in there…you passed right by it."

Sonic furrowed his brow. "Wha?" Sidestepping, he stood on his toes and shuffled through the contents for a few seconds before regarding Tails. "You sure?"

Said Mobian nodded. "Yeah, it's right there in the white bottle." The fox slightly nudged Sonic out of the way and hopped up to get the bottle. "See?" He held it out to the blue hero who grabbed it.

The speedster frowned. "Weird. I could've sworn that it was black…" He then shrugged, it didn't matter what color the container was, just that it'll help him with his problem. Sonic popped two pills into his mouth and returned the bottle back to its place. Tails, wanting to be helpful, got a glass and filled it up with water. He offered it to his big bro who nodded in appreciation, cringing at the pain that sudden action caused. Sonic took the cup and downed the liquid along with the pills.

Feeling the medicine's slow effects, the hedgehog sighed in relief, just knowing that his ordeal will be over soon. Sonic, still stumbling a bit, went and sat down at the table to wait out the pain. The blue hero bent over the table, resting his cheek on the cool wood. Tails plopped down in the chair next to his brother, but didn't say anything, knowing that Sonic needed some time to recover. He couldn't remember the last time his big bro was in such a pained state. Sure, he had gotten hurt before, but Sonic would usually crack a grin, wave it off, and continue whatever he was doing, which would most likely have been fighting off some of Eggman's robots. This is the first time he had seen the hero so…vulnerable.

The speedster closed his eyes as the pounding of his skull waned before diminishing altogether. These migraines were the worst pains he had ever felt in his life. They even placed higher than the time he had broken his arm after landing wrong while he was doing parkour in the forest. It wasn't just a fracture either; the bone snapped in two. The headaches were ten times worse, in his opinion.

After puffing out some air, emeralds opened and peered over at their owner's neighbor. The kit was biting his lip and fiddling with his thumbs, looking down at the table. Sonic's lips pulled down at the edges. He hated seeing his little bro like that. Even when he had broken his arm, Sonic planted a grin on his face so the fox wouldn't worry too much. But…he couldn't hide the pain this time.

"Ok Tails…" Sonic started, gaining said kitsune's attention. "What did you want to ask? I didn't mean to ignore your question before, but, you know."

The kit nodded, understanding why. "It's alright. So…did you? Have another vision, I mean."

"Yeah…" Sonic sat up, placed his elbow on the table, and leaned on his gloved palm. He still wasn't feeling a hundred percent; he was never up at this time, so he was still tired. "I actually had two."

"You did?" The hero hummed an affirmative. "What were they about?"

Sonic thought for a second before shaking his head. "I…I don't remember."

"Wait…if you don't remember, how are you supposed to know what happens?" Tails asked, extremely confused. What was the point of seeing a vision if you forgot what it was?

The blue hero furrowed his brow. "I don't know what's going on. I remembered the one with Amy…why can't I remember the one's I just had?"

Tails tapped his chin. "That's weird…" The young genius, for once, was stumped. Sonic could recall the one had yesterday, but not his most recent?

"But," The fox was knocked out of his reverie by Sonic's voice. The Mobian had changed positions, he was now looking at the ceiling in thought. "I don't think that matters." He returned his gaze back onto Tails. "The reason is that when I was in Station Square yesterday, I had a feeling like déjà vu in the back of my head every time an event from my vision happened. So…I think it'll be like that."

"Hm…it's like a 'calls it as I sees it' kind of thing."

Sonic chuckled at the kit's choice of words. "Yeah, I guess it is like that." He then sobered up when a thought passed through his mind. "Tails…"

"Yeah?" The fox immediately picked up on the hero's change of tone.

The speedster drew circles with his finger on the table. "I don't think all this is worth it."

"What do you mean?"

Sonic sighed. "I know seeing in the future is cool and all, but these migraines are really something else. If I'm going to have these every morning…" He shook his head. "I don't even want to image it!" The hero jabbed his thumb over to the garage. "Don't you have a machine in there that could 'fix' me, or something?"

Tails held his hands out, surprised. "Whoa! Wait a minute! I know the headaches are a bad side effect, but we have medicine that controls it. You can just take it up to your room with a glass of water if it happens in your sleep." He gave the hedgehog a small smile. "Just think, Sonic! You can see in the future! You can keep people from getting hurt! I know Amy still had her nose broken, but that's because you didn't know what the heck was going on. Why would you want to give this up?"

Sonic let Tails' words sink in for a moment before giving his brother a sly grin. "Is that your way of saying that you don't have something to cure me?"

The kit blinked then laughed nervously. "Maybe…But seriously Sonic, don't you agree that this is at least kind of cool?"

The speedster crossed his arms, thinking about his question. Yeah, this new ability could be useful, especially if someone's in danger. The headaches were a setback, but like Tails said, the pills could take care of those. Sonic laughed inwardly at himself. Since when had he thought so hard about decisions? That was usually Tails' job. He gave his little bro a smirk. "Way past! Knowing the future would come in handy…"

The fox snickered as he hopped out of his chair. "I'm glad you see it my way!" He then hovered over to the garage door. "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going back out to improve the Tornado…unless you want to help?"

The hero waved him off. "Nah. You can go ahead! Trust me, you'll get done much faster without my help." Sonic and tools mixed as well as oil and water. Or better yet, like fire and propane. Don't put them together unless you wanted something destroyed.

Tails laughed. "Alright! I'll be back in about an hour to make breakfast since it's still early and not everyone's up yet." With those parting words, the fox exited out of the room and closed the door with a click. Sonic chuckled. Tails and that airplane. But hey, without it, adventures would be much harder.

Looking around the kitchen, the speedster wondered what he could do. Well, I really could go for another hour of sleep. Deciding that he was going to take a little cat nap, Sonic stood up and left the kitchen. In the living room, the hero vaulted over the side of the closest couch and landed on the soft cushion. Yawning, he reached for the remote and turned the TV on. Some background noise couldn't hurt. The house doesn't seem right without some kind of noise going on. After flipping through some channels, he finally settled for the weather. Heh, that'll do. Placing the control on the top of the couch, Sonic laid his head on a pillow and curled up slightly, drifting off.

Ruby eyes blinked open and roamed around the pale green room, the owner of them wondering where he was. Sitting up, Shadow looked over to the window to see continuous hills with a very faint tree line in the distance. The setting jogged the hedgehog's memory. Right, I'm at Faker's place. If Shadow had a choice, he would still be working for G.U.N, going on missions. He would rather be doing something productive than just lounging around somewhere. The Ultimate Lifeform didn't do lazy.

Sighing, the striped Mobian got out of bed and put on his hover skates. He wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Rouge. As soon as the Commander brought up the proposition of a vacation, Rouge jumped right on it and pulled them out of the office to go do their next job before he could say a word. So now here he was, staying at his rival's house, apparently having an extended sleepover with Faker and his friends. It's better than just wandering aimlessly around, I suppose.

Smoothening out his slightly ruffled quills, Shadow headed toward the door and opened it. Because his guest room was at the end of the hall, there was nothing but a window to his left and all of the other rooms were on his right. Closing his door, his ears picked up some of the occupants of the second floor opening theirs. A perky Amy and a relaxed Rouge stepped out of their respective rooms.

"Good morning Rouge!" She turned his way with a cheery smile. "You too, Shadow!" The bat replied with the same words and the hedgehog nodded her way, recognizing the greeting. Rouge then went down the hall some and faced a still closed door.

She tsked and shook her head. "Red should know better than to sleep the day away." Rouge raised her fist and knocked on the door multiple times. There wasn't any response. The jewel thief placed her other hand on her hip. She tried again. "Come on Knuckie! Wakey wakey!" When she finished knocking, there were muffled curses behind the door and Amy giggled, finding this entertaining. The white wood was then yanked open revealing a still drowsy Knuckles.

He glanced at Shadow and Amy before glaring at Rouge. "Please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up." Knuckles leaned on the doorframe and crossed his arms.

The bat shrugged, looking like she hadn't done anything wrong. "What better reason than just to join your friends? I'm pretty sure sleeping all day isn't healthy anyway." She grinned when the echidna glared harder.

"Just come on, Knuckles!" Amy gestured down the stairs. "Tails is probably making breakfast already!"

The guardian actually sniffed the air. When he didn't smell any type of scent belonging any joyous food, he deadpanned. "I don't smell anything."

Rouge's grin turned devious. "Fine. If you won't join us, I'll just tell Sonic what I caught you doing on Angle Island the other day."

Knuckles' eyes widened before narrowing dangerously. Despite his anger, if one would look closely enough, they could see nervous sweat forming on his brow. "I hate you so much…" He muttered under his breath before stepping back and slamming the door.

Amy glanced at Rouge. "So, what did you catch him doing?"

"I didn't catch him doing anything." She answered, curious now at the echidna's reaction. "I was bluffing to see if I could lure him out."

Shadow rolled his eyes. It was just like Rouge to do that. She perfected that strategy and used it on suspects they questioned on the job.

The thief smiled at the pinkette. "But let's keep that our little secret, okay? Don't want Mr. Grumpy to get any grumpier."

Amy mock saluted. "Roger that!"

The door opened again and Knuckles walked out, now wearing his gloves and shoes. He pushed right past the other three and headed down the stairs. Rouge and Amy stifled chuckles and Shadow watched in mild entertainment. The trio followed the still tired guardian to the first floor.

Down there, the first thing they heard was the TV saying something about a thunderstorm, but they all focused on the more interesting sound in the room. There were snores coming from a sleeping Sonic. Amy let out a loud squeal. "Oh my gosh! Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?!" She took a step closer with her arms outstretched. "I missed my chance before when he was taking a nap yesterday, but I just need to hug him once-"

Before the pinkette could get any closer to the unsuspecting victim, Rouge grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the kitchen where Tails was preparing pots and pans to cook. "You've got to learn to keep your hands to yourself, missy."

"But…but…!"

Shadow and Knuckles watched them go, the latter grinning widely. The echidna then laughed and looked over to Sonic. "He sure is lucky Rouge was here, because I sure would've let Amy be his alarm clock today!" He made his way into the kitchen, still chuckling.

The ebony hedgehog didn't trail after him though. He stood there in the living room, noticing that something wasn't quite right. Shadow looked down at his resting doppelgänger with a frown. He knew from experience how sensitive their species' ears were and from the amount of noise Amy and Knuckles just made, Sonic should've been up by now. Or at least had shown signs that he had heard the sound unconsciously, like a twitch of the ear.

Shadow went over and stood in front of the occupied furniture. "Faker." He called, voice leveled. There wasn't any reaction from the hero whatsoever. The black hedgehog tried again. "Faker." He was louder now, but he still was ignored. The Ultimate Lifeform shifted his weight to his other foot, a bit worried about the Mobian on the couch (If asked about later, however, he would blatantly deny that claim). He reached down and shook the hero's shoulder once and Sonic blinked his eyes open. Shadow gave him some room as he stretched. The Faker wasn't even in a deep sleep. How did he not…?

Sonic, after fully waking up, saw Shadow looking at him oddly and he gave a slightly nervous grin. "'ey, good mornin', Thads." The striped hedgehog raised an eyebrow at his new name, but Sonic wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He was a bit worried to why his voice came out in a slur; he cleared his throat.

"Are you sure you're not still drugged up, Faker?" What was wrong with Sonic's voice?

The hero shook his head. "No…" Huh, my voice is fine now. Sonic smirked at his rival. "Nah. I guess I wake up faster than my voice." The speedster hopped off the couch and strode toward the kitchen. He glanced back at Shadow. "You coming?"

He seems fine now…The addressed just grunted as an answer and followed the other into the neighboring room.

Inside, Sonic saw the rest of the occupants, sans his little bro, sitting at the table. He raised a hand in greeting after he sat down at his spot. Shadow took the seat across the table from him. "Hey, Amy…Rouge…Knuckles." No one seemed to notice Sonic's hesitation saying the guardian's and bat's names because they all greeted back regularly. The blue blur felt the feeling in the back of his head. So the visions were about Knuckles and Rouge…

Keeping that fact in mind, Sonic turned to Tails at the stove. "Hey lil' bro! Watcha cooking today?"

Said Mobian looked up from the water he was about to boil. "I'm going to cook some pancakes for all of you while, because I'm not that hungry, I'm just going to make me some boiled eggs."

"Boiled eggs? For breakfast?"

Tails shrugged. "It's no different from having them fried or scrambled." He then froze, perking his ears. "Wait, did you hear that?"

"Hear what, bud?"

"Yeah…" Amy said, pausing her conversation with Rouge. "I didn't hear anything."

"Listen…"

A boom of thunder echoed in the distance and Sonic's breath hitched; the feeling just got stronger.

"Thunder? Oh right…I heard on the news that we are going to have a bad storm today." Knuckles leaned back in his chair and linked his hands behind his head. "Or more like the three seconds I heard it." Sonic was starting to get anxious; he knew something bad was going to happen soon. The echidna rose his knee and placed it against the table ledge. He pushed against the wood, making the chair rise up on its two back legs, rocking back and forth. Sonic noticed that if Knuckles would lean back far enough, he would be able to touch one of Tails' namesakes as he cooked.

His spot at the table was the closest to the stove…

Sonic choked on his spit trying to say the guardian's name. A couple of seconds and a few hits on the back from Rouge later, the hero finally found his voice again. "Knuckles!"

Said echidna raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you almost died trying to shout my name for no reason? Weird."

Sonic rubbed the back of his neck and pointed at the guardian. "Uh…I was going to say to keep all four legs of the chair on the floor. You might fall and hit your head, you know?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, still rocking. "Thanks for the concern, mom." The room burst into laughter and Shadow even cracked a smirk. "But, I think I'll be okay."

Sonic tried to keep his inner turmoil just that, inside, but it wasn't contained completely. He was fidgeting a little in his chair. He gave a strained smirk. "I know, but still, it doesn't hurt to be more caref-"

"Geez, Sonic! Do you think I'm that clumsy?" Knuckles was faintly affronted. "I mean, I know I'm not graceful at most times, but-ahhh!"

Time seemed to move in slow motion.

Everyone at the table watched as Knuckles fell backwards, having pushed back too far with his knee. The echidna's arms were flailing in the air, hoping to grab onto something to keep their owner from crashing, but they didn't grab anything aside from air.

Tails, having a slow reaction to Knuckles' yell, was just now turning his head around, raw egg in one hand and the handle of a pot containing boiling hot water in the other. His blue eyes looked down at the falling echidna and realized that the weight of the body and chair were going to crash down on one of his namesakes. The kit's mind processed the dilemma faster than his body, so he didn't move his tail out of the way in time.

Knuckles landed on the furry appendage and Tails cried out in pain. The shock made his knees buckle. The fox unconsciously let go of the egg, which fell and cracked on the stove, spilling its contents; however, his other hand didn't loosen its grip of the handle. As a result, the pot jerked up at an angle and flung scalding water just over the hurting kit's head, heading straight for the downed Knuckles' face.

Purple irises widened when they saw the oncoming liquid. The guardian's brain couldn't even function properly. The only words it was coherently thinking were: pot, water, stove, hot, very hot, excruciatingly hot! Moving on instinct, Knuckles crossed his arms over his head, guarding his face. The liquid splashed on him and a sickening sizzling noise filled the room. Knuckles screamed like he was being murdered then and there.

Splashing…

Sizzling…

Having a crazy fast reaction time, Sonic jumped out of his seat and helped Knuckles off the floor, careful just to grab his hand and not touch any of the burned areas. Moving just as fast, Shadow picked up the chair off of Tails' namesake. The kit held the appendage, and sighed in relief to find it wasn't broken or anything, but that soon melted away when he focused on a still screaming Knuckles.

Sonic, highly upset that his friend was in so much pain, turned to the jewel thief. "Rouge!" The bat looked at him, teal eyes wide. "Aren't you experienced in this kind of stuff?" Sonic yelled over the echidna. Rouge, still in shock about what happened, nodded. The blue hero gestured to Knuckles wildly. "Well, do something!"

The bat glanced back and forth between the hedgehog and guardian before hardening her eyes. "Right." She was in work mode now, no time for silly games or mistakes. Rouge focused on the fox. "Tails!" Said Mobian looked at her. "Was the water bubbling in the pot?"

"I-I don't know!" He stuttered.

"You have to! This is important!"

Tails thought for a second before shaking his head. "No! I remember now, it wasn't!"

Okay, okay. He might not need to go to the hospital. Rouge took a deep breath, calming herself. "Alright, how long was the pot on the eye of the stove?"

"I don't know…less than five minutes?" Tails was nervously playing with his uninjured tail.

"What setting was it on?"

"Medium!"

"This is good, this is good." He won't have to go. These are just second degree burns. Rouge then pointed to Amy, who eeped in surprise. "Amy, go to the sink and turn on the tap. Make sure the water is cool, not cold." The pinkette scurried over to the sink and did what Rouge said, checking the temperature with her own hand.

"It should be good Rouge!"

The bat guided Knuckles over to the sink. He had stopped screaming, but he was now hissing in pain. The G.U.N spy gently placed a slightly blistered arm under the spray of water and Knuckles had to bite his lips from crying out.

"This isn't going to do…" Rouge muttered to herself referring to the single source of cool liquid. The other arm needed treatment too. "Sonic!" She barked as she glanced back at him. "Go get some washcloths! He needs them!"

"No problem!" He sped off, knowing exactly where some were. They were located on the second floor in a closet by the bathroom up there.

Rouge gazed at the kit again. "Tails, do you have a first-aid kit around here somewhere?"

The fox perked up. "Yes! It's in the garage. I'll be right back!" Using his namesakes, Tails hovered over to the door to the garage, not even bothering to close the door back.

Sonic then entered back into the room with a handful of square cloths. "I have four. Is that enough?"

"Plenty." Rouge gestured to the bubblegum hedgehog. "Give them to Amy." Sonic passed them over. "Amy, I'm going to need you to soak those in the cool water here and space them out on Knuckie's arm."

"I'm on it!" She picked up two and held them under the water that was running off the echidna's arm. The pinkette didn't want to interfere with that arm's healing. When those two were drenched, she placed them on the other arm, over the swollen burn. Amy repeated the process with the other two.

"I got the kit!" Tails said reentering the kitchen. He stood beside Rouge, holding a white box with a red cross at the center of it. "What do I do with it?"

"Just leave it on the counter for now, we are going to need it later. There is gauze and burn cream inside, right?"

The kit nodded, shaking the container. "Yeah! The last time I checked there was some in there."

"Great. Shadow, you're going to help me apply the cream and wrap his arms in the gauze when the fifteen minutes are over."

Shadow leaned on a nearby wall and crossed his arms. "Oh joy. Can't wait."

Rouge chuckled at him before nudging Knuckles' side. "You're lucky that the kid didn't know how to boil water. If he had the temperature on high, you'd be in the emergency room."

"Yeah…" The guardian panted, the harsh pain was still there, but he was beginning to feel the healing effects of the cool water. "Because I feel so lucky right now…"

Sonic, standing to the side, had to resist from pulling his quills out. Yes, it had been a clumsy accident, but he still thought that he could have stopped the incident somehow. Ugh! This is my fault! I could've been more forceful in telling him to put the chair down! Or…or…I don't know! Maybe I should've just gotten up and done it physically! Oh man…The blue blur hated to think that he was the cause of this. Knuckles' scream was still fresh in his mind. Sonic gritted his teeth as he looked at Rouge. He was going to stop whatever was going to happen to her, no matter what.

The lights flickered.

"Oh no!" Amy cried out, done with her job.

"The electricity's gonna go out!" Tails whimpered.

"Calm down." Shadow drawled. "It doesn't matter of it does. We still are going to have light. It isn't nighttime. And besides, just because it flickered, it doesn't mean we're going to have a power-" There was a faint click, and the bulbs lost their shine. "-outage..."

"Just wonderful!" Knuckles groaned. "Now, what are we gonna eat?"