Chapter 10 is finally here! I lied last chapter. This one'll just be for Madi. I'll write Fang's part next chapter, and Dagger's after that. I love this chapter. I'll save the reasons for the end so you can see for yourself. Oh, it's good to be back here!

Bangs

Tails stayed up late that night trying to fix his radar so it was more precise. I couldn't even stay awake to see how long he worked. But he wasn't working by the time the rest of us woke up, so I assumed he got some sleep. But when I finally decided to wake him up so we could search for another Chaos Emerald, something was wrong.

He was laying on his back in the bed, deathly still besides his stomach moving with his breath. His eyes were closed, his face slightly scrunched up in pain, and his breathing was labored. The blankets were all scrunched around and wrinkled, but wrapped tightly around him. He was wheezing and moaning quietly.

"Uh oh." I ran out of the room. "FAAAANG! Tails is sick!"

I ran through the house, found Fang at the kitchen table, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her straight to Tails' bed, blocking out the yelling and protests to "Let go of my freaking arm, Bangs!".

But once she saw Tails, she tapered off to a quiet "Oooooh..."

She immediately shooed me out of the room and shut the door. I told the others what the hay was going on, then sat down at my desk and distracted myself in a drawing. I hate it when people get sick. Especially kids. I always feel so sorry for them.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Fang came back out and announced "Well, Tails is gonna be outta commision for a few days. He's got a cold. And a bad one at that."

"How bad?" I asked.

"At least three days bedrest bad."

"Oh. That's bad."

"Yeah. That's three days minimum he can't do any Emerald or Clue hunting."

"OK, so Tails can't search, and we can't all search and leave him alone. Someone needs to watch him. Dagger?"

He swiveled around to face us. "I can't do it. I won't do it. I'm kind of on a roll right now. But..." He looked at Fang. "How many Clues have you and Madi found so far?"

"Uhh..." She looked up and muttered to herself while counting her fingers. "Fffffooouurr? No. Five."

"Then you and Madi split up. One of you goes with Bangs to search for Chaos Emeralds and the other watches Miles while I get closer to finding out the final Clue."

"I'll stay."

We all turned to Madi, surprised she had spoken up so suddenly. "You sure?" I asked. "You don't want Fang to do the work?"

"I'm sure." She replied. "I want to stay and help Tails."

We all shared a look. Dagger shrugged. "I'll be here in case of disaster." He sent a Dagger glare to Madi. "But only disaster."

"I did kinda want to find a Chaos Emerald." Fang admitted. "I'll make a list of stuff you'll need to do, Madi. You should be able to handle him."

"Then it's settled!" I said."Madi's gonna be a doctor and Fang's comin' with me!"

Fang's face paled a bit. "Oh, great." She facepalmed.

I pointedly ignored that. "C'mon, Madi. We'll tell Tails who he'll be bugging for the next few days."

She smiled wryly at me, grabbed Funshine and walked with me to Tails' room. We settled the situation with him, and I left a sick child in Madi's capable nine-year-old hands.

After all that, me and Fang grabbed Tails' Emerald radar and checked if it was together enough to work. Not only did it work, but the dot on the map was a good bit smaller than the first time. We shared a look and simultaneously said "Sweet." We rushed to the Tornado, which Tails only gave me permission to use when he couldn't, and set off toward Station Square.

Tails

I hate getting sick. I always feel so lousy that I can't even get out of bed, and I get so bored that I go crazy! Luckily, I was so tired I slept through most of the first day, which is always the worst. Then again, staying up all night is probably what got me so sick in the first place. Egh. Madi had decided to look after me instead of going out to find Chaos Emeralds, which I found surprising. I'd choose Chaos Emeralds over tissues any day.

When I woke up the next morning I immediately knew I was gonna get bored quickly, so the first time Madi came in I begged her to stay and talk to me before I went insane. I may have been a bit overdramatic. Madi gave me a wary look, then ran out of the room, came back in with a chair and sat down.

"Thanks." I coughed. "I can't talk much. My throat hurts. It's your turn to tell me stories."

She told all the funny stories she had acquired living with the Cahill gang, like the time Dagger heard Bangs singing Witch Doctor in the shower (Fang had to hold him captive until the song wore off), how for a whole month Funshine would insist on sitting on Fang's head whenever she worked out (they never found out why), and the time all three of the older foxes were stuck on a puzzle in a video game and Madi figured it out in three minutes (they insist on her being around whenever any of them play a video game now), among many more.

She barely stuttered at the beginning, and by the time she finished she wasn't stuttering at all. I laughed like crazy, ending in coughing fits most times, but they were so worth it. These guys went through some funny stuff.

Eventually she said "That's all the stories I've got. You're gonna have to give me something to talk about now."

"Well," I cleared my throat "I wondered why you wanted to be stuck with me instead of going to find Chaos Emeralds."

Her mood darkened a bit and she slumped in her chair, looking down. She spoke quietly again, but the stutter was still conquered. "I didn't want to go."

"But why not?"

Instead of answering right away, she leaned out the door and called for Funshine. The chao floated in and landed in Madi's lap, chaoing consolingly. Madi sighed and continued talking, absently petting Funshine's head. "I never like going. Bad things happen when any of us leave home. And even when they don't, I'm scared they will. That's why I try to go out as little as possible. I... hate living like that. In constant fear." She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. She spoke louder than before, the emotion in her voice clear. "If I had the choice, I would have nothing to do with any of this. I hate it. It scares me so much. But I'm stuck in this dangerous, lonely life with no parents and a mission to do what my entire branch has been trying to prevent for centuries. The only up side is that I at least get to know Dagger, Fang, Bangs, and you."

I didn't know what to say to something so sad, so we just sat in silence for a minute before I managed "Thanks, for... y'know... telling me that."

"Yeah." She mumbled. "No problem. Maybe I... shouldn'tve told you that, though... I think I'm gonna... go... for now. Yeah, uhh... bye."

She rushed out of the room, pretty comically if not for the situation, and silence reigned. But I was OK with it this time. I had a lot to think about.

OH MY HYLIA I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST WROTE THAT! Seriously, that was a LOT better than I thought it'd be. I'm just speechless. You're lucky I'm typing. The feeeeels! I didn't think I could be deep like that. Anyway, the last story of Madi's I wrote actually happened to a friend of mine and his friends. Also expect Fang's part soon, and Dagger's part. You guys may not have voted for him, but I am positively PSYCHED for his part. I love loving what I write! With my oozing enthusiasm out of the way, TatlTails out. PEACE!