Is It Over?

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sonic characters.

Smokestep: I see most of you are GLAD that Sonic's alive, but I didn't say he would stay alive, did I? *Smiles evilly * And being the devil I am, I'm not telling you anything.

sonictailsbros: Believe it or not, I actually suspected unknownman55 was you. I just didn't want to make myself look like an idiot just in case I was wrong. And I guess my answer came a little too late, huh?

sagapaga: I read your review for my poem, and I don't understand it, and I like Dark Sonic. But did you like it, or hate it?

Metalshadow1909: You're back! I thought you forgot all about me!

§ Sonic §

Everything burned. Every movement he made, his limbs screamed at him in agonizing protest. Every time he opened or closed his eyes, he felt a throbbing sensation. Every breath he made, it felt like he was inhaling mouthfuls of water. He felt as if were sinking into molten lava, the hot, thick liquid closing over his head and cutting off his air supply.

Seeing Tails smile at him lightened the pain, even if only a little. Sonic was both grateful and ashamed, relieved that Tails forgave him, even going as far to apologize himself, but he wished the fox hadn't seen how vulnerable he was at the moment.

Not able to stand the unbearable suffering any longer, Sonic felt himself slip into the verge of unconsciousness.

Sonic could dimly feel Tails, or who he assumed to be Tails, shaking him roughly, begging for him to wake up, but no matter how much the fox pleaded, Sonic simply didn't have enough strength or energy to respond to Tails' requests. Instead, he let his mind give in to the tempting darkness of unconsciousness.

§ Tails §

Giving up on waking his exhausted friend, who probably needed rest more than anything, Tails stopped shaking him. He was still extremely worried for Sonic's safety, fearing every other breath may be his last.

Pushing these unsettling thoughts out of his mind, Tails started to relieve Sonic of the weight implemented on him from the cement and other various debris.

As Tails was dragging cement and debris off of Sonic, he contemplated on what to do.

He was no doctor, so he couldn't do anything to help Sonic. If he tried, chances are he'd just make things worse.

Even Vanilla's, Cream's mother, healing expertise wouldn't be enough. Besides, Vanilla wasn't really available right at that moment. She, Cream, and Amy, a pink hedgehog and Sonic's self-appointed girlfriend, took a trip to Adabat, and wouldn't be back for a month.

And hospitals weren't exactly a reliable option either. Doctors work on human patients, not hedgehogs. Since they don't understand the body structure of a hedgehog, they wouldn't be able to do squat anyway. They could possibly wing it and hope for the best. But Tails didn't want to risk it, though he knew Sonic would gladly have chanced it if he was awake.

A vet wouldn't be able to assist either. They help animals, but not hedgehogs. Their patients are usually domestic pets, such as dogs or cats.

After he had hauled the last of the cement and metal off of Sonic, he inspected the base, wary of robots just in case the doctor wanted to pull a fast one on Tails while Sonic was vulnerable. There were none to be seen, and Tails visibly relaxed.

Looking at the damage the explosion caused, he wondered how Sonic could have possibly survived in the first place. Tails knew he was resilient, but not enough to handle an explosion. Well, he must've been if he survived, Tails reflected. It's not that he wanted Sonic to be dead or anything. He was just surprised.

Sonic can last through a lot, but he has never been caught in an explosion. So, for him to survive against the odds, even though he barely survived, shocked Tails. But it was just like Sonic to go against the odds. And he always came through, and always beat them. Even if it was a million to one chance he wouldn't live, he would always be fine in the end.

§ Eggman §

Eggman, flying in his Egg-O-Matic, was scouring the base in hope of finding any surviving robots and other valuable parts he could still use to build another base, one that was not as susceptible to explosions as this one was, hopefully.

He had sent Decoe and Bocoe for the same task, only in the opposite direction he was heading in.

He didn't expect any of his robots to be in one piece, however, but he might as well scrounge around in the base for something he could use.

But it probably would have been easier on the evil scientist on his short mission if he had a reliable source of light. The only thing lighting up his path was the full moon, shining brightly in the clear sky. But it didn't help much. His eyesight was pretty good, but human eyes aren't meant to be able to see in pitch black darkness. If you took Sonic's vision, divided it by two, you would get Eggman's vision. Yeah, the glasses he wears don't help his sight whatsoever. But they do have other uses, such as locating the Chaos Emeralds.

Out of all the weapons I have in this machine, why don't I have headlights? Eggman asked himself irritably, then reconsidered. Maybe I do. Halting his Egg-O-Matic, he then started messing around with the controls, scavenging for some sort of light.

Let's try this one, he directed himself, pressing a button on the far left, confident that it wasn't a deadly weapon, but useful nonetheless.

But all he could do is stare, dumbfounded, at a cup holder as it slid into his view, a bottle of water waiting in its grasp.

"Really? I've had this the entire time and forgot about it? Forget the lights, this is ten times better," Eggman rejoiced, grabbing the water bottle and raising it up to his parched lips, drinking a few sips gratefully. Water really tasted good when you're tired, hungry, and thirsty.

I wonder how it had stayed cold for all these years, Eggman questioned. Unless he had installed a mini-fridge in the Egg-O-Matic, there was no other possible way.

Completely forgetting about the utter darkness surrounding him, and enthusiastic at a possible chance of getting food, Eggman tested his controls again, now searching for both the headlights he claimed to have installed and a fridge he suddenly believed to be in there. He was imagining himself already eating a foot-long sandwich, with juicy tomatoes, lettuce, ham, and turkey, on Italian bread, the biggest hamburger you can imagine, and a rich, scrumptious chocolate cake for dessert. Though we all know he doesn't need the extra calories and could stand to lay off a few pounds. He understood this too, but food was just too tempting for him to resist.

After five minutes of testing random buttons, his machine pulling out various weapons, transforming and distorting into strange appearances at a remarkably fast pace, and causing a fair amount of noise, he finally gave up and sighed regretfully. He had really been looking forward to that chocolate cake, even if it was just a crumb. He'd eat anything that was edible and non-poisonous, just to get some food down his throat. His stomach growled in agreement.

He ignited the engine again, its roar ringing through the empty air, and set off on his way once more. His machine advanced onward, hovering a safe distance above the ground, careful of hitting anything, yet at the same time, low enough to the ground so that Eggman would spot any possible robots that might come his way.

After a few minutes of progressing forward, Eggman's gaze fell on a small sphere and cube, both half buried under the wreckage. The spherical figure was half red, half black, while the top half of the cube was yellow and the bottom half black.

Eggman landed the Egg-O-Matic, climbed out, and kneeled down, picking up the sphere first.

They must have switched into shut down mode to avoid any damage the explosion would have caused, he mused. Of course THEY would be explosion-proof, while my base is practically defenseless. I really should have thought that out more, Eggman thought, aggravated at himself, as he searched for the reset button he had installed on the robot. He found it and pressed it, and set the robot back on the ground.

Almost immediately, the two different-colored halves of the sphere separated and robot unfolded itself, not yet fully functional. It was searching its data banks to recall what had happened, while Eggman moved onto the next robot, and repeated the same process. The cube divided into its respective halves, and the robot became visible. It cocked its head to the side as it examined its surroundings,

These two were Orbot and Cubot, robots designed by Eggman. Orbot was the spherical shaped robot, the smarter of two, and noticeably the more helpful one. Cubot, the cube-shaped robot, was not as bright as Orbot, but he tries. They both were loyal to Eggman, but they've both had their fair share of taunting him, telling him his plans wouldn't work and that he always gets defeated by Sonic. And Eggman proved them both right.

Orbot was created first, before Eggman had set his sights on harnessing Dark Gaia's power. He usually points out Eggman's mistakes and often somewhat insults him because of them. His main function is to be simply for relaying information to Dr. Eggman and making sure the processes of his plans are carried out correctly. His eye of efficiency is what allows him to constantly criticize Eggman or inadvertently point out his flaws, however. He is very insensitive and doesn't skip out on the chance to be critical to the doctor and his feelings when he sees fit, though he does not mean to insult his master, just trying to give him constructive criticism, for that is what he was programed to do, though all it does is just makes things worse. Although, occasionally, he does enjoy giving a sarcastic remark to Eggman.

He had been originally white and back, his eyes a glowing pink, but when Eggman remolded him, he got his white coloring switched to red, pink eyes switching to white. He also got a new voice as well.

Cubot was created as Eggman initiated his plan to conquer the universe when he built that interstellar amusement park. Cubot had been invented for the purpose of catching wisps and cleaning up destroyed robots with Orbot after Sonic trashed them. He didn't enjoy working that much, which often led him to make mistakes. He was also evidently a lot more talkative than Orbot, and instead of criticizing Eggman like Orbot, he just liked to bug his master.

He had had problems with his voice chip when Eggman had first insisted on changing it. He had gone through three different voices and accents, the first one being that of a cowboy, the second a pirate, and the third a Brooklyn mobster accent. Each voice and accent seemed to have changed his personality as well though. He finally got his original voice back (Which, in my opinion, is the most annoying out of all of them. My personal favorite had been the last one), with Orbot's help, that is.

"Boss, the base exploded, didn't it?" Orbot inquired dryly, relaxing on his side the same way Sonic does, and prepared himself to give Eggman another lecture discussing his mistakes.

"What do you think?" Eggman mumbled sarcastically, regretting ever building a robot that was programmed to point out his faults. "It definitely looks more 'exotic' now, doesn't it?"

"I'll say," Cubot interrupted, dense as ever.

Both Eggman and Orbot face-palmed, understanding that the cubed robot was hopeless at common sense, Eggman wishing he had gave Cubot at least half the intelligence his companion possessed. But then he'd have two derisive robots mocking him, complete opposites of Decoe and Bocoe. Even if they insulted him behind his back, at least they didn't openly say it to his face in a scornful manner.

"But one good thing may have come out of this," Orbot thought aloud, staring out in the distance.

"Hmm . . ." Eggman eyed his surroundings, trying to look on the bright side of things, and comprehend what Orbot was talking about. He couldn't find any possible outcomes of this. His base has been shattered like glass, he had lost a fortune, and will now have to pay more money to get more supplies to repair everything. So, to him, nothing had been gained.

Orbot, seeing how Eggman didn't understand what he meant, attempted to get his point across. "Look at it this way; Sonic's gone," he explained.

Eggman felt torn in half as the robot finished his statement. A part of him felt triumphant, dominant, that he had finally defeated his archenemy, while the other half felt nothing but the raw grief at Sonic's death that hadn't quite settled in yet. He was glad, however, knowing that the explosion would've ended the hedgehog's life before he had felt any real pain.

But he also knew taking over the world and constructing Eggmanland wouldn't be nearly as thrilling as it would've been if he had an opponent to go against him. A challenge. Sure, he still had Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow to deal with, but his toughest, and not to mention first, adversary has always been Sonic.

But he couldn't reveal this to his two mechanical assistants. Orbot would probably call him a hypocrite for wishing he had his enemy back, and Cubot would just point out, once again, that with Sonic around, he had never accomplished anything, and that he never won.

Besides, without Sonic, he could finally make his dream come true, so it would be well worth it in the end. The good outweighed the bad, in other terms.

Pushing his remorse to the back of his mind, Eggman halfheartedly agreed. "Yes. I suppose you're right. Though I still don't understand how my base exploded. Everything was functioning perfectly."

"Yeah, I mean, I connected the blue wire to the red one just like you told me, and it still blew up," Cubot put in, running away from them to check out what remained of the base, for he was always eager to look at stuff, no matter what is.

Eggman started nodding, but stopped abruptly as his mind registered Cubot's words. He turned on the idiotic robot, anger practically steaming out of his ears, and bared his teeth. "You IDIOT! You were supposed to connect the blue wire to the BLUE!" he yelled, chasing the robot, though, after realizing he was in danger, Cubot easily out sped the his master and even putting some distance in between them.

Orbot sighed and decided to wait for them to lose their energy and tire out instead of trying to stop them. While the other two were running around in circles, Eggman swearing he was going to kill Cubot once he got his hands on him, Orbot took this chance to relax. And, sure enough, a few minutes later, the doctor, weakened from thirst and starvation, slowed to a stop, panting heavily, ad sauntered slowly over to the Egg-O-Matic. He reached in for the still half-full water bottle and drank the rest of it, fighting to get his breath back as well as his authority.

Cubot also stopped running and made his way over to Orbot and laid down beside him. Orbot gave a hopeless shake of his head, and the other robot shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Come on, let's get back to Decoe and Bocoe, and discuss what we're going to do," Eggman ordered, climbing unsteadily into his Egg-O-Matic and igniting the engine. Orbot and Cubot jumped in just at the last moment as it hovered away.

"So they returned from grocery shopping? Did they happen to get any oil?" Orbot questioned inquisitively. "I'm running pretty low here."

"How should I know?" Eggman snapped, gradually growing impatient as exhaustion and hunger shortened his temper fuse. That water was enough to quench his thirst for now, until he had a chance to drink anything else.

Cubot started jumping up and down, much to Eggman's irritation. His imbalanced weight bounced the Egg-O-Matic vertically. "Well, where are they? I don't see them, unless they're invisible! Hey, why don't you give us abilities like that? I bet they'd be useful! And I –"

Cubot's endless chattering ceased as Eggman harshly slapped him, leaving his robotic body, not built to take physical attacks, a great contrast to Sonic's, vibrated violently for a few moments more.

"Does it look like they're here?" Eggman asked sarcastically, gesturing around them, aggravation getting the better of him.

Cubot chewed on that for a minute, while the three of them sat in silence. "Is that supposed to be a trick question?"

Eggman sighed in exasperation and face-palmed. "This is going to be a long night."

§ Tails §

Now that he had gotten everything off of Sonic, Tails inspected his friend a little more closely, concern shining in his eyes.

It was painfully easy to see that Sonic's chest had taken most of the punishment. The lengthy cut across his torso was still bleeding severely, though the rest of his wounds covering the rest of his body had receded to small, weak trickles of blood, steadily forming a pool of the thick, red liquid on the ground.

Tails had gotten some on him, staining his fur and gloves, but that matter was trivial compared to Sonic's safety.

Tails ran through his options through his mind, contemplating which was the best choice.

I guess the hospital is my best bet, Tails admitted to himself, still uncomfortable at the thought of putting his best friend's life in someone else's hands, but yet, at the same time, still willing to do so if it was the only way.

Tails felt a cold breeze whip his fur around and he hugged his body, enduring the harsh wind as it raced by him, until the air grew calm once more.

But the chilling feeling Tails received from it, as well as the scent of smoke and fire it brought with it, stayed with him, and he started shivering self-consciously, instinct taking over.

His throat and nostrils burned from the smell of smoke and fire, and he started coughing.

As he was coughing, clouds slowly covered the moon, throwing darkness over the island, and icy raindrops fell onto the ground below, cleansing the air. The rain was gentle as it drenched Tails fur and he didn't mind it, he actually was enjoying it. He also noticed that it was rinsing the blood off Sonic's fur, making him look healthier, and washing it away.

Tails stood up and stretched, the muscles that had become stiff from kneeling down loosening once more.

He then picked Sonic up bridal style, (And no, they're NOT gay!) the fallen hedgehog, unconscious, not resisting. Tails supported the hero by his knees and neck, his legs and head falling limp in Tails' arms.

Tails carried him back to the X-Cyclone, his ears twitching in surprise; Sonic was lighter than he had originally thought. Sure, Tails could openly admit that a lot of other things weighed less, but, still, considering all the chili-dogs and junk food he eats, you'd think he weighed two hundred pounds.

But Tails still struggled carrying him though. He wasn't physically built like Sonic, or, most notably, Knuckles. He prefers to allow his machines do the combat, but them alone makes up more than enough for it.

Finally making it to the X-Cyclone, Tails gently set Sonic down on the ground and climbed into his plane. He lowered it down closer to the ground using the controls, and scrambled back out.

With the X-Cyclone in a lower position, he was able to lift Sonic into the passenger seat, behind the pilot's seat.

He strapped Sonic in, gazing at him with a worried expression, and jumped into his own seat.

He hit the 'Flight Mode' button on the X-Cyclone's control panel, and the wheels slid out and landed on the ground while the X-Cyclone's legs folded back in. The wings of the plane twisted and reverted back to their original place.

Tails tilted the controls forward and turned as his plane slowly picked up speed. He drove his plane along the path that had the least amount of debris covering the ground.

As the plane took off, the wheels folded back in as well, with Tails thinking about which hospital was the nearest one, while Sonic was off far away in dreamland, albeit it may be a nightmare.

Smokestep: That was an abrupt ending. Oh well. I just wanted to publish what I had done, since I didn't have much time to write today. Yeah, I slept in later than I usually do, and had tons of homework. But at least I got to go ice skating, which was pretty fun.

Seriously, though, there was so much Eggman, but I had fun writing it though.