And so, as my second week of Public Speaking is underway, this is really beginning to challenge my stress level.
Now, a couple of reviews for the previous chapter were asking me what M.I.A. meant. It's an abbreviation for "Missing In Action." Sonic and Tails were considered M.I.A. by Amy, because they're taking the day off from their regular duties.
Anyways, here's another brotherly fluff-filled chapter of Sonic and Tails' Day Off, where things are about to take a turn for the worse back at home.
Chapter 6
Things Turn Cold
Doctor Eggman was resting on his couch within his island fortress, wearing his pink pajamas and watching hopelessly as Amy, Knuckles and Sticks easily defeated his Badniks. The evil doctor had taken a nasty hit from Tails' Gold Ray the other day, and was wanting to get back at Tails for leaving him stuck on the couch.
Among the injuries Eggman received from Tails?
Both legs were broken, which meant that he had to use a wheelchair to get around his lair. His left arm took a nasty hit, and he had a wear a cast at all times. He received a bang on the head from crashing into Amy's house, which led to occasional migraine headaches. Also, his back was slightly bent after crash-landing into Sticks' orchard. It looked as though it would take about a month for Eggman to recover from his multiple injuries.
However, while the Badniks were fighting Team Sonic by virtue of a remote control device set up by Eggman, his cameras caught many punches from Amy, Knuckles and Sticks, but what surprised Eggman was that Sonic and Tails were nowhere to be seen on any of the cameras within the Badniks, which were soon all destroyed by the team's efforts.
"That's funny," Eggman said to himself, "I could swear that I never caught a glimpse of Sonic or Tails at any point during that fight, … and Tails was the one I wanted!"
The evil scientist slumped back on his couch, only for a sting of pain to enter his back.
"UGH!" the villain screamed in agony. "WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HURT JUST TO REST MY BACK!?"
Orbot and Cubot suddenly came bursting into the room with alarmed looks on their … faces (if you want to put it that way; they're only robots with no souls).
"Are you in need of some pain medication, Doctor?" asked Orbot.
"I'll get the medication I really need once I've beaten Tails in a battle! After all, he's the one who turned me into this mess of a slob!" yelled Eggman furiously.
"Did it all go so wrong again?" asked Cubot.
"For one thing, yes! Those robots were all trashed, but what's gotten me even more pissed off is that Tails wasn't even there, and neither was Sonic!" replied Eggman.
"Well, maybe they're off duty today," assumed Cubot.
"How would that make any sense?" asked Eggman.
"Well, … think of what happened when Tails hit you with his weapon," suggested Orbot.
"Don't you dare bring that up again!" Eggman shot back, "I can't stand it when two robots whom I can't stand remind me of my previous failures!"
"But, Doctor, I was just saying-" Orbot began, only for Eggman to cut him off …
"Get out! GET OUT!" the doctor screamed on top of his lungs, so hard that he stressed his back and felt even more pain, "AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
Out of absolute fear and shock, Orbot and Cubot instantly turned their backs on Eggman and scurried out of the room, leaving him all alone.
A moment later, once he had gotten over his back pain, Eggman started remembering what had happened once Tails shot him with the Gold Ray …
"I'll send you on a one-way ticket back to your garbage house for that, you MONSTER!" Tails screamed at Eggman after the doctor had insulted the fox's twin tails, "CALL ME A FREAK AGAIN! I DARE YOU!"
Suddenly, out of Tails' Gold Ray came a ray of golden plasma coming straight towards Eggman. The villain was blasted off his feet and went flying into Amy's house, wrecking nearly everything inside. Then he bounced off the table and was sent soaring straight into Knuckles' cave. The doctor crashed into the echidna's bed and went bouncing right out of the cave and crash-landed into Sticks' orchard, which knocked him out instantly. He then brushed against the soil, killing half of the plants within the orchard.
Then, a thought struck him.
"Hmm. Maybe due to the damage left at all of those places, could it be that the team got so pissed off at Tails and decided to blame him?" Eggman said to himself, "Since Sonic is so protective of Tails' well-being, maybe once he found out, he decided to give Tails the day off to help him get over what happened."
Then, it all added up. This made perfect sense!
"Yes! I got it!" the doctor said to himself, "Sonic and Tails are taking the day off because of what Tails did to me!"
Then, a very evil idea flew into the mad scientist's brain.
"Oh, just you wait, Tails! You think you may be enjoying today with Sonic, but just wait until you get home and you'll have no idea what's in store for you! AAAAH, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!"
Just then, his back lashed out in pain again due to his excessive laughter.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" came Eggman's scream echoing throughout his island fortress.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and Zooey had reached Bygone Island's icy territory. Temperatures dropped way down, and it soon became apparent that their own fur wasn't enough to keep them warm.
It had been about three hours since they had eaten their lunch, and now that Tails' nose was completely healed from the consequences of the Gold Ray incident, things were only getting better for the trio of explorers. They had decided to venture back into the canyon and explore some more of the jungle just for the sake of exploring. Sonic and Tails had shared some more laughs and brotherly moments, then Tails got to enjoy a few love-making sessions with Zooey at points where they stopped.
As the trio entered the cold air of the snowy mountains, they each pulled their jackets out of their backpacks and put them on over their chests to keep themselves warm in the cold. Sonic wore a blue jacket, Tails' was yellow, and Zooey's was in a beautiful crimson shade of red.
"Well, at least we can keep our chests warm," commented Zooey.
"Yeah, but what about our legs?" added Sonic.
"I guess there's nothing we can do for our legs other than just sit down and cover them every once in a while," said Tails.
Sonic and Zooey agreed with their fox friend, and the three set off into the snowy mountains.
Sure enough, as they had expected, after just half of a mile of walking, their legs grew cold, so they had to sit down and tuck their legs into their jackets to warm them back up.
"(sigh) I don't know what we were thinking coming here," said Sonic.
"Look at the bright side, Sonic," replied Tails, "We've explored nearly the entire island at this point, and we still have a few hours before we're expected to return home."
"True, … but where do you think we'll go from here after we're finished up here?" asked Zooey.
"We could get some more fruit down in the jungle once the sun starts setting," suggested Tails.
"Sunset's still a few hours away!" protested Sonic, "I couldn't possibly wait that long!"
"Sometimes, good things happen to those who wait, Sonic," said Zooey.
Sonic exchanged a strange half-grin with Zooey. She could tell that he had no interest in waiting to get out of the cold.
Just then, an idea hatched into Tails' head; one which he felt would make Sonic enjoy this place.
The hedgehog noticed his fox brother's grin as he appeared to be deep in thought.
"Daydreaming again, Tails?" asked Sonic.
"Not quite daydreaming," the two-tailed fox replied, "I'm thinking of something fun."
"Whaddaya mean, fun?" asked Sonic curiously.
With that, Tails ran off into a big pile of snow and started piling up some snowballs.
"Oh, boy," Sonic said to himself as he noticed what Tails was doing, "I hope he doesn't plan to hit me with any of them."
But his hopes were to be dashed …
"Sonic! Look out!" yelled Zooey as she spotted a snowball flying directly towards Sonic.
Sonic looked in the direction Zooey was pointing, only for a snowball to smack him directly in the face, much to his surprise.
"Agh!" the hedgehog yelled.
Down the hill below, Tails was laughing hysterically as he saw what had happened. He appeared to be enjoying himself tremendously.
But not for long …
A snowball suddenly smacked Tails' face, and he fell into the snow, landing on his back.
The fox looked up and found Sonic and Zooey laughing at him.
"Okay! Which one of you threw that at my face!?" he asked angrily.
Zooey immediately pointed at Sonic, much to the hedgehog's dismay.
"Nice job, Zooey! Now Tails will want revenge!" Sonic complained.
"Well, you had extracted revenge on him, so it could only be fitting," commented Zooey.
"Oh! It's on!" yelled Tails as he rolled up another snowball and threw it at Sonic.
The hedgehog dodged the attack by curling into a ball and speeding down the hill towards Tails.
"You are so unfair!" complained Tails.
"Unfair, you say?" replied Sonic, instantly picking up another snowball and tossing it right at Tails' face.
"Ugh!" groaned Tails as he wiped the snow off his face, "Eat snow, hedgehog!"
The fox grabbed another snowball and threw it right at Sonic's face.
Zooey watched from the top of the hill as the two brothers ultimately engaged in a brotherly snowball fight. She laughed her head off as she lost count of how many snowballs the two had splattered each other with.
Over the next few minutes, Sonic and Tails threw so many snowballs at each other that they were now covered from head to toe in snow, but they weren't tired just yet.
Tails then leaped onto Sonic the same way he had done back in the jungle earlier that morning, and knocked him down into the snow. Then, the two brothers started rolling around in the snow, trying to get the upper hand in arm wrestling and pinning each other to the ground.
Eventually, they wore themselves out with their playful fight, and it ended with Sonic pinning Tails to the ground, "Lion King" style.
"Looks like I win this time, bro!" teased Sonic.
"Oh, I'm not finished just yet, Sonic!" replied Tails.
The fox charged at his brother again, and the two went rolling down the hill, curled together in a ball, before Sonic once again pinned Tails down.
"I win again!" the hedgehog teased.
Tails smacked his own forehead, feeling defeated.
"You're suddenly so good at this, and I'm not," the fox complained.
"Hey. C'mon, little buddy. We're just having fun," said Sonic.
"Ya think that you beating me every time is fun for me?" protested Tails.
Sonic sighed, feeling sorry for Tails.
"Sorry, lil' bro," the hedgehog said as he got off Tails and allowed him to sit up, "Sometimes I tend to go a little hyper while having fun."
"So you've told me a few times before," replied Tails.
"The only thing that really matters is that it's always fun no matter what the result is," explained Sonic, "Just the fact that we're doing it is fun. Don't feel so down on yourself just because you can't win every time."
Tails looked thoughtfully at Sonic. He knew his brother was right.
"I'm sorry I played a little rough on ya, lil' bro," Sonic apologized.
"I'm sorry, too, bro, … since … I'm the one that really started the whole thing," replied Tails.
"Doesn't matter to me who started it," said Sonic, "It's the fun that finishes it!"
The two brothers chuckled and pulled each other in for a brotherly hug.
"I love you, Sonic," said Tails.
"I love you, too, Tails," replied Sonic, kissing the fox on the forehead in brotherly fashion.
Tails returned the kiss on Sonic's muzzle, and the two broke apart as Zooey rejoined them.
"You two really are great brothers!" she commented with a chuckle.
Sonic and Tails laughed and hugged each other again.
"Yeah!" giggled Sonic, "That's us alright!"
"Brothers forever!" agreed Tails.
After the brothers ended their hug, Zooey pulled Tails in for a romantic hug and kiss, making the fox blush deeply.
"I love you, Zooey," said Tails sweetly.
"I love you, too, Tails," replied Zooey.
Sonic grinned at the sight of Tails and Zooey sharing their passionate love for each other.
"Now then, … I'd say it's time we head back into the warm stuff," the hedgehog announced.
Tails and Zooey broke apart and kissed each other one more time before the three walked back up the hill to retrieve their backpacks.
"Well, since we still have a few hours, why don't we relax in the jungle for a little while?" suggested Zooey.
"Good idea," agreed Tails.
"I'm in," said Sonic.
The trio slid their backpacks back on and headed down the snow-covered hill back towards the jungle.
"That was a lot of fun!" chuckled Tails to Sonic.
"It sure was, little bro!" agreed Sonic, pulling Tails back in for another embrace.
It took them a few minutes to get out of the snow since the cold air nearly froze their legs again, but the three managed to push on and eventually make it back into the jungle. Then, they took their jackets off and slid them back into their backpacks before continuing on into the lush-covered jungle.
Back in the village at Seaside Coast, Sticks had not been able to find any of Eggman's spy bots, and she was now sitting at Meh Burger, along with Amy and Knuckles, who also had negative results in their searches for spy bots at Sonic's shack and Tails' house, respectively.
"I still have a hunch," said Sticks, "Even if there aren't any spy bots, I still have a bad feeling about something."
"About what?" asked Knuckles.
"If Eggman was using a remote control to fight us with his robots, wouldn't there have been cameras in them?" asked Sticks.
"That sounds very possible," pondered Amy, "You can't use a remote control without seeing what you're doing, and since Eggman is stuck in his lair, maybe he might have used cameras."
"But then, that means he could have noticed that Sonic and Tails are not here," said Sticks.
"So, therefore he didn't need any spy bots," assumed Knuckles, "He had the cameras in his remote-controlled … -"
He suddenly paused, and the three all shared horrified looks. They were sure that Eggman had likely found out that Sonic and Tails were taking today off.
"Oh, Chaos!" they all screamed.
"Just you wait, Tails! You'll get what's coming to you!" Eggman shouted in delight with an evil laugh as he watched his robots creating the latest weapon which he planned to use in his next evil scheme.
No, your eyes did NOT deceive you. Eggman has gained knowledge of Sonic and Tails taking the day off, and now Tails may get a nasty surprise when he, Sonic and Zooey return home that evening. Amy, Knuckles and Sticks will now REALLY have their hands full as they try to figure out how Eggman plans to pay Tails back for the Gold Ray incident.
What do you think Eggman's robots have in the works for his new plan? Will Team Sonic find out what their archenemy is plotting against Tails?
Those questions will be answered in the next chapter, but until then feel free to imagine what could be Eggman's new creation!
As always, please review, and I'll see you in the next chapter!