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

Premonition

Chapter 20

Tails sighed as he closed his room door, the drowsiness draining from his system. It was about eight a.m., the latest the kit had ever woken up, but he guessed that it wasn't really surprising. The stress from last night just wore him down. With Sonic going missing and all…The fox then blinked and turned around to look at Sonic's empty room, seeing the open door. Did…Did Shadow and Rouge find him? They were out for a while and I went to bed before they came back…

Tails shook his head and planted a small smile on his face. Of course they found Sonic! How can I doubt them? And plus, I don't think they would come back without him! The fox glanced down the hallway to see Shadow's and Rouge's doors open, along with Knuckles'. And they did return, right? Yah! Because Knuckles would still be up here sleeping if he wasn't up with them! Tails noticed that Amy's door was still closed, however, and he decided to let her get some sleep. She was as stressed out as he was yesterday.

The kit yawned a bit before perking his ears to try to see if he could hear any voices coming from downstairs. When he didn't, he remained calm. They all had to be in the kitchen then, talking or something. Tails snickered to himself as he pictured Rouge and Knuckles chastising Sonic for running off while Shadow just glared at him. That would be a funny sight. Spirits lifted higher, Tails made his way toward the stairs and down them, a lazy smile on his face.

But that changed when he saw the living room.

Or better yet, the condition of the people in it.

Tails let out a strangled gasp before holding his hands up to his mouth, completely shocked. The kit took a little step back, his body shaking like a leaf. He hadn't seen any one of his friends this injured before! Wide blue eyes shifted between Rouge and Shadow laying out on the couches, wondering how in the world the two careful G.U.N agents got so…so…

The fox gulped and let out a shaky breath as he stepped forward more into the room, examining the many injuries. Rouge…the first thing Tails noticed was that her arm was in a homemade sling made out of a small sheet. Then, the fox focused on her face and flinched at the sight. Her face was covered with bruises, the sick blue-purple coloring making that her natural white fur only came in patches. Also, on those patches, there were blood spatters that stained the usually pure hair. The red was faded, yes, but still very noticeable. Tails' eyes trailed down to the blood on the couch under her head, and concluded that she had been bleeding even after she had laid down.

The kit, finished with Rouge, turned toward Shadow and deemed then and there that the Ultimate Lifeform had taken the most damage from who or whatever attacked them. Opposed to the female agent, who was laying on her back, Shadow was laying on his stomach, so Tails couldn't see the extent of the damage on his front, but the kit didn't really need to. Dark blood stains nearly covered the whole area of the gauze wrapped around the hedgehog's body, signifying that there was more damage done to his back. Also, Tails noticed that some of Shadow's back quills seemed to be pulled out, with irritated skin being where the longer quills should have.

The striped hedgehog's arms, in which one was hanging off the couch, were both wrapped in gauze as well, but the bandages weren't as soaked as the ones on his back. Shadow's face was nowhere as bad as Rouge's, but there were still multiple bruises present despite the other's dark fur. Under him, the couch was stained with red as well.

Oh Chaos… Tails thought worriedly, staring at their sleeping faces twisted in discomfort, while taking another step closer to them. What…What happened? To have Rouge and Shadow hurt this bad… The kit's thoughts then derailed when he heard snoring coming from the kitchen. Tails jumped a bit before remembering about the other two Mobians that were supposed to be up. Did they both go back to sleep?

After taking one more look at his two sleeping friends, Tails moved toward the threshold of the two rooms, many questions swirling around in his mind, desperate for answers. When he walked in the kitchen, he saw Knuckles sleeping at the table, head laying comfortably on a pillow from the living room. He seemed perfectly healthy, besides the couple drops of faded blood on him. Tails suspected that it wasn't his own though. Knuckles most likely helped with Shadow and Rouge when they came back, and got messy in the process. There was also a red Chaos emerald on the table, but the kit was worrying about something more important at the moment.

Tails glanced around and his namesakes twitched nervously when he didn't spot Sonic. Where could he be? Sonic wasn't upstairs from what the fox could see, and he wasn't down here… And I'm pretty sure Sonic isn't in Amy's room. The kit wringed his hands together as he glanced over to the garage door. Also, it's not likely that he's in there because Sonic and tools don't mix well. Tails frowned. Then where is he? Outside? The fox gasped when that thought came to mind.

Panicking, Tails went over to Knuckles and started to shake him awake, only a bit apologetic in waking the other from his sleep. "Knuckles! Knuckles!" The bi-tailed fox nudged the red echidna, trying to get the other up. "Wake up!" He loudly whispered. Sure, he wanted the guardian awake, but he didn't want to disturb Shadow and Rouge. Chaos knew that they needed their rest.

Knuckles, forcefully kicked out of a dream he instantly forgot, blinked open his eyes sleepily. He wiped away some of the drool from his mouth as his vision focused on the one beside him. The guardian blinked as the yellow blob in front of him started to focus. "Tails?"

"Knuckles!" Tails removed his hand once he realized the other was awake enough. "Where's Sonic? Do you know where he is? Please tell me you do!"

The echidna just stared at him before his tired brain comprehended the fox's frantic questions. Once it did, Knuckles sat up in his chair and yawned, stretching his back against the wooden furniture. "Yeah…" Knuckles mumbled out with a small frown. "I know where he is."

Tails let out a gigantic puff of relieved air at that answer, but now he was confused to why Knuckles had a little frown on his face. "Well…" He started, figuring to ask that after he knew the location of his big bro. "Are you going to tell me where-"

"You don't want to see him." Knuckles said lowly, looking straight at a surprised Tails.

"W-Why?" The kit asked, wondering why the other was being so serious. Why wouldn't he want to see Sonic? Was he hurt? By the same thing that injured Shadow and Rouge?

Knuckles sighed and looked past Tails, into the living room. "You saw the condition those two in there, right?" The fox nodded, getting more scared that his last thought was true and Sonic was critically injured. The echidna scratched his cheek, not really wanting to tell Tails this, but he was going to find out eventually. No point in hiding the truth. "Alright, let me tell you what happened after you went to bed." Knuckles gestured to the chair beside himself. "You might want to sit down for this."

Tails gulped anxiously before he sat down, eyes trained on the guardian. What's going on? What happened? "T-Tell me."

Knuckles ran a hand through his hanging quills. "I'm going to spare you the details, because as you can tell…they aren't pretty." The kit nodded, not wanting to know full extent of how Shadow and Rouge ended up the way they were. "Okay, so after you and Amy went to bed, Shadow and Rouge came back from their search…" Tails began to smile. "…empty handed." Blue eyes widened to their fullest.

"What?! They didn't try to-"

"Let me finish, Tails." Said Mobian closed his mouth, but not because Knuckles sounded mad, it's because the echidna sounded exasperated. And not with the fox either, but with the whole situation. Curious to why, besides the obvious, Tails decided not to interrupt anymore. "So they came empty handed, but then asked me to take them to Eggman's to see if he had anything to do with Sonic's disappearance."

If Knuckles' scowl when he said Eggman's name told anything, Tails concluded that that's where Sonic was found. The kit frowned. The doctor probably had his brother tied up or something worse!

"We went," Knuckles continued, "and caught the fatso in trying to hide another ray gun from us. The same one he shot Sonic with that started this whole mess."

Tails gaped. "Are you serious? Another one?"

The guardian nodded before gesturing to the Chaos emerald on the table. "Yeah, and he used this to power it." Knuckles sighed again and got ready for Tails' reaction to what he said next. "And, unlike before, it did what it was built to do."

The kit tilted his head. What it was built to do? What's Knuckles talking- Tails then froze, remembering. "No…" He started to shake, knowing how this story was going to end. "No…it isn't true!"

"He used it on Sonic, Tails. Eggman had him under his control." Knuckles watched gloomily as the fox held his head in his hands, tears dripping on the table. "Rouge and Shadow fought him, and…you saw them out there."

"No no no…" Tails whispered desperately to himself before standing up and pointing accusingly at Knuckles. "No! You're lying! Sonic didn't do that to them!" More tears streamed down his face. "He wouldn't! He wouldn't…"

"Sorry Tails, but that's what happened…" Knuckles stood up and grabbed the emerald. The echidna then put a comforting hand on the fox's shoulder. "How about we go in the living room and change Shadow's gauze?" Maybe I can distract him from asking about Sonic again. At least for a while so I can think about what we are going to do with him. Can't exactly keep him in the garage forever. "Chaos knows I need help with that. Took me forever the first time."

Tails just nodded, the whirlwind of thoughts in his brain keeping him from focusing on one thing.

The duo walked into the room and Knuckles placed the red gem on the floor by the couch only to pick up the roll of gauze on the floor that Tails must have overlooked. Knuckles held the roll out to Tails and the kit took it without question. With a grunt, the guardian bent over and held up the striped hedgehog, Shadow's upper body slumping against Knuckles'.

"You're gonna have to unwrap and replace the used ones." The echidna rose a brow at Tails. "It's not going to be pretty. You up for it?"

"Yeah…" The kit took a deep breath before moving closer to the Ultimate Lifeform. He let his namesakes hold the gauze so he could have both hands free. He began to unwrap, and immediately saw the extent of the damage. There were a lot of slashes on his back, varying in depth. It looked like the more shallow ones had healed already because of his fast healing, but the deeper ones were still open and bleeding.

"Sonic spin dashed on his back…in case you're wondering…" Knuckles muttered out and Tails felt like he had gotten punched in the gut. Sonic…actually did that? With the speed he must've gotten back? But it's so dirty and…and…

The kit held in a sob as he shakily undid the stained bandages. The more of Shadow's back uncovered, the more Tails felt sick to his stomach. Not because of how it looked, but because of how it happened. Eggman's going to pay for this… "Why don't you let the Chaos emerald heal him?" Tails sniffed.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Good idea, but Shadow kinda needs to be awake for that."

Tails let out a forced chuckle. "Right…"

Eventually the fox got all of the used gauze from around Shadow. He dropped the bunched up bandages on the couch beside the hedgehog. He didn't really care about the state of the couch anymore. He already knew that it, and the other one, was going to have to be replaced anyway. When Tails was about to wrap the new gauze around the Ultimate Lifeform, he paused when there were footsteps coming down the stairs.

Tails and Knuckles glanced up, the former wiping away some of the tears left on his face. They both watched as Amy walked into sight. The pinkette took in the condition of Shadow for a second before she let out a high-pitched shriek. "Oh my goodness SHADOW!" Amy then pointed wildly over to the bat. "And ROUGE! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

The fox folded his ears against his head, wincing at her loud voice, while Knuckles grimaced. "Be quiet Amy!" The latter whisper/yelled. "You're going to wake them up!"

There was a pained groan. "Too late…" Knuckles turned his head some when he felt the words mumbled into his shoulder. Shadow, awake now, gritted his teeth as he used his sore arms to try to push away from Knuckles. The echidna tightened his grip, not sure if the other should be moving much yet. Shadow growled weakly at him. "Let me go…"

"But…"

"I'm fine…"

Knuckles seemed hesitant for a moment, but then realized that Shadow wasn't going to take no for an answer. Giving in, the guardian loosened his grip and let the other push away, but still held his hands out just in case something happened.

The striped hedgehog slumped back down on the couch, his face twisted in obvious pain. He reached back to feel his wounds and hissed when he brushed against a deep slash. Tails quietly held out the gauze, but Shadow shook his head. "Where's the Chaos emerald?" He breathed out.

"Right here." Knuckles bent down to pick up the gem again. He tossed it up once before handing it over. Violet eyes roamed over the other's form. Man, what happened before I showed up? "Sonic really put a number on you, huh?"

Before Shadow could attempt to build back up his pride, Amy gasped and ran over to where the three were. "Are you serious? Sonic did this to you?!" The Ultimate Lifeform nodded. "And Rouge?!" Shadow nodded once more before he focused on the Chaos emerald in his hands. Tails, Knuckles, and Amy watched as, slowly but surely, the injuries on Shadow began to disappear.

"But h-how?" Amy stuttered, continuing on from before. "W-Why? I don't understand!" Tears started to well up in her eyes, and Tails felt the stinging of his own again.

"It was Eggman…" Tails sank down to the floor, staring blankly at the bottom of the couch. "He-" The kit choked on a sob he couldn't hold back anymore. "Eg-Eggman mind controlled him…" Knuckles glanced down sadly at Tails before nodding in verification.

"Unfortunately…" A new voice spoke up and four pairs of eyes drifted over to where a certain bat was lying. Rouge smiled at all of them, but it soon melted off her face when the little action hurt more than it should have. Grunting, the agent used her good arm to push herself upright on the couch. Her body was pretty much untouched, so she had no problem doing so. "And another fun fact of today… Sonic is stronger than we think he is…"

There was a brief silence, besides Tails' near silent crying, until Knuckles spoke up. "Are you okay, bat-girl? Do you need an ice pack or something?"

Rouge waved him off. "No thanks, hon." She then gingerly touched her nose, only feeling a dull pain. "And good job on fixing my nose, Knuckie."

Shadow stood up, mostly healed, and went over to where Rouge was. He squatted down in front of her. "Sonic broke your nose too? What happened before I found you?" He focused on the gem's healing powers at the same time.

Rouge sighed as she felt a warm feeling wash over her. "Well, Blue pretty much just attacked me when I found him. I tried to fly away to find you and Knuckles, but he sent me crashing to the ground, causing this." She shrugged her healing shoulder, only to wince a bit at the small twinge of pain it caused. "He obviously didn't know to not hit a lady." The bat took her arm out of the sling.

"Wait…speaking of S-Sonic…" Amy, her eyes moist and cheeks wet, looked around the room. "W-Where…?" The pinkette's words were cut off by a hard thud coming from the kitchen.

Knuckles crossed his arms with a frown on his face. "He's in the garage."

"Oh my goodness SHADOW! And ROUGE! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Emerald eyes shot open and immediately scanned the room their owner was in as soon as their vision cleared. Sonic's breath hitched when he realized that he was someplace he had never been before. It seemed to be like a workshop, but there were no tools in sight, just places where they could go. Also, there was a computer in the corner, waiting for someone to turn it on.

Sonic, after kinda solving the mystery to where he was, moved to the next question.

Why am I tied up on the floor?

When the blue hedgehog tried to move, his whole body throbbed with a dull pain. Sonic winced, remembering the brawls he had gotten into the day before. Or at least, I think it happened yesterday. After letting out a silent sigh, Sonic gritted his teeth and attempted to move any of his limbs, working through the pain. However, he couldn't get anything to move. His ankles were tied together tightly along with his wrists behind his back. Sonic cursed inwardly when he realized that his fingers couldn't move either. And the hedgehog had a good idea who tied him up.

From that voice before… Sonic lifted his head and glanced around before focusing on the only door in the room. I'll say that place belongs to Shadow or Rouge or both. The speedster then chuckled to himself, remembering the damage he'd done to the duo. But, considering their conditions, I bet that uh…Knuckles – yeah that's his name – put me in here. Sonic began to inch his way toward the door on his stomach, the cement under him rubbing uncomfortably on his chest and knees.

He eventually made his way across the floor and up to his blocked escape route. Dull emeralds narrowed before Sonic rolled onto his back and sat up, half his body off the floor. After taking a breather, the hedgehog scooted backwards until his back was up against the door. Sonic turned his head and perked his good ear to see if he could make out any conversation. However, all he heard were muffled voices that he couldn't make out.

Sonic huffed before moving to his next plan of action: trying to stand up. If I even can. The speedster looked down at his tied legs. Ugh, this would be sooo much easier if I could use both of my legs. Sonic furrowed his brow for a moment before he glanced around the garage once more, figuring that he would need help in getting on his feet.

The pair of eyes zeroed in on the chair by the computer. That could work… Bracing himself for more harsh treatment on his chest by the floor, Sonic laid himself out on the ground again before inching his way over to the other side of the room. The hedgehog breathed a sigh of relief when he made it to the chair. He then let out an inaudible grunt as he got up on his knees and practically threw his whole upper body onto the seat of the furniture.

Sonic grinned when the chair held his weight. Perfect! Now… The blue Mobian sucked in as he slid his legs under himself, getting into a squatting position. Thinking that the hard part was over, Sonic inwardly celebrated as he stood up to his full height, wobbling a bit.

Then he realized that he had to get back to the door.

Cursing his luck, Sonic willed himself to not lose his balance and fall to the floor with an embarrassing thud. He counted down in his head before making the first hop…and falling to the ground, aggravating his hurting body even more.

Sonic scowled before repeating the process, minus the loss of balance.

Finally, the hedgehog made it over to the door with a few more bruises that he had woken up with. Panting slightly, Sonic looked upon the wood with disdain, especially the locked doorknob that was taunting him. Sure, in a regular situation, he would be ecstatic that the door would be ridiculously easy to unlock, but he could barely move his fingers! He couldn't turn the lock if he tried.

The more practical solution was ruled out, so Sonic had to go for his second and more noticeable option. Hopping a little to turn his body some, the speedster rammed the door with his shoulder, cringing at the pain. But, he didn't stop. Thankful that his balance hadn't gone on vacation yet, Sonic continued to ram the wood, thinking that if he did it enough, it would fly off its hinges.

Sonic did it again, again, and again until…

He fell down once more.

Dammit!

The group of five Mobians in the living room had slowly migrated to the kitchen, standing as far away from the garage door as they could while still in the room. They frowned to each other before Tails shakily whispered to Knuckles, "W-Why is he in the garage?" His moist eyes got even wetter as he continued to hear the pounding on the door.

"I had to put him somewhere." Knuckles crossed his arms, studying the door to see if there were any signs that it would tear down. There wasn't. "I'm surprised that he's actually up…I tied him up pretty good…"

Tails wiped away some tears, for them to only get replaced just as quickly. It was devastating to see his brother acting like this, to know what his brother had done. Yes, he was told that this was all Eggman's fault, but he couldn't help to feel…to feel if he hadn't come up with the idea to collect all the emeralds… He knew Rouge said that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help it.

The bat knew exactly what was going on in the kit's head, but before she could tell him to think rationally again, Tails quickly turned his body toward Knuckles, pointing over to the thudding door. "He's tied up, right?" Startled, Knuckles nodded. "Then why is he trapped in there? Why are we keeping him like that? Like he's a wild animal!" The fox's voice broke, but his eyes were angry and desperate.

"Because he will kill us like one if we let him out." Shadow provided in a chilled tone. Honestly, he was a bit disgruntled that he had lost the fight between him and Sonic. "At least, he will try. Did you not see the condition Rouge and I were in?"

Tails dropped his finger and took in a calming breath. Both to keep his mind level and to prevent any more sobs from escaping his mouth. "I did…but Sonic's bound! He won't be able to-"

The bi-tailed fox was cut off when the sound of someone falling sounded behind the garage door.

Amy gasped, eyes as wide as saucers. "Did-Did he…"

"Fall?" A small grin grew on Knuckles' muzzle. "Sounded like it."

"Well, now there's no doubt that Blue's been reacquainted with the rope." Rouge said with the ghost of a smirk on her face.

Tails glanced over to the door worriedly. "Can we…Can we take him out?" He turned back around to look at the echidna. "Please?"

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Why not? He can't attack!"

"I agree with Tails!" Amy held her hands together in front of her. "And don't we need to talk with him anyway? To help him? We can't do that when Sonikku's focused on nothing but taking down the door!"

"Hm…" Rouge looked over to Shadow and Knuckles. "She's got a point there."

"'She's got a point there'?" Shadow rose a brow at her. "Rouge, did you forget how you ended up waking up on Tails' couch?"

The agent frowned. "No, but what she's saying makes sense. We do need to talk to try to get him to resist Eggman's control, since trying to beat it into him apparently didn't work."

Shadow paused before cutting his eyes over to Knuckles. The guardian seemed conflicted for a moment until he just shrugged, signifying that now he wasn't totally against the idea. Shadow inwardly sighed. He wasn't fully against it either, hearing Rouge's explanation, but the Faker still had the command to attack them, to his knowledge. He just didn't want Sonic getting loose. Shadow could let his pride take over and say that he was just worried for the otherss health, that he would be fine should another fight break out. But the Ultimate Lifeform was a realist. Anything could happen if fists started swinging. Shadow didn't fear the unknown. He just wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

The striped hedgehog grunted as he came to a conclusion. "Fine." He strolled over to the garage door and placed his hand on the door handle. He strained his hearing to make out any noise on the other side, but there were none. Then, without any more hesitation, Shadow twisted the knob and pulled open the wood separating the two hedgehogs.

Ruby eyes automatically shifted downwards to see Sonic sitting up with his back to Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform saw the many bruises present and when Faker turned his head, Shadow focused on the contrasting black eye Sonic had on his face. The striped hedgehog was going to smirk victoriously, but then the other began to scowl up at him. However, Shadow didn't miss the extremely confused glint in those eyes when Sonic took in his healed form.

Shadow kindly returned the scowl as he squatted down and flicked the speedster right under his bruised eye. Like he predicted, Sonic winced violently. "That's only a preview of what's to come if you attack any of us again." Shadow glanced behind himself to the others. "Knuckles, come help me with him. Everyone else, go back into the living room." The four Mobians nodded, three heading for the adjacent room and one coming closer.

Shadow watched in interest as Sonic followed Tails' and Amy's movements until the innocent curiosity morphed into hatred toward an enemy. What's going on inside Faker's head?

"Alright, what do you want me to do?"

The striped hedgehog none-too-gently grabbed one of Sonic's peach arms. "Help me drag him."

Knuckles grinned. "Easy enough." He took hold of the blue hedgehog's other arm and the duo dragged the squirming speedster out of the garage, through the kitchen, and into the living room where everyone else were sitting on the couches where there wasn't any blood, Tails looking the most distraught.

Shadow and Knuckles dropped Sonic in the middle of the floor before the latter sat beside Tails, and the black hedgehog backed up to stand beside the couch Rouge and Amy were occupying. It was silent for a long while, the two sides staring each other down.

Amy was very surprised to see that her hero had this side to him. A darker and more violent side. Every time those dulled emeralds locked with her own greens, the pinkette would freeze up until Sonic moved his harsh gaze to another one of her friends.

Tails couldn't even meet the blue hedgehog's gaze, not believing that a simple mission to retrieve the Master Emerald could turn out as bad as this. But it did. And the kit had no idea if they could get his big brother back.

Rouge was conflicted. She knew that Blue wasn't any harm to her in his condition, but she couldn't get what happened last night out of her head. She didn't remember the last time she had been in so much pain that she gladly accepted the relief of being unconscious… All the more reason to get the old Sonic back.

Knuckles wasn't intimidated by Sonic's glare, for he was the one who had brought the hedgehog down the night before. However, the reason for that was mostly because his attack had surprised Sonic. Knuckles saw Rouge subtly tense when the speedster focused on her. I really think that the outcome would have been different if it hadn't…

Shadow's mind remained blank. He returned the glare full-force when the Faker sent him one.

Sonic was ticked off. And who wouldn't be? He was trapped in enemy territory, unable to do a single thing. Also, how in the freaking world were Shadow and Rouge healed already?! And the last thing that was annoying the hell out of him and increasing his anger was that the stupid voice in his head kept on-

Attack anyo-

Shut up! Don't you see I'm trying here?

Attac-

…I think I'm going to go insane.

Gritting his teeth, Sonic pulled, twisted, and strained against the thick rope keeping him contained, but he was getting nowhere. He eventually stopped when his ankles and wrists started to hurt and burn from being rubbed raw.

"Just stop trying." The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes up at the red echidna who was smirking smugly down at him. "You won't be able to get out of them without help."

Sonic didn't say anything – not that he could – and inwardly flinched when he heard the same monotonous voice in his mind telling him to attack. On the outside, the blue hedgehog stared back, sending daggers. He wouldn't give in even in this bleak situation. Plus, Robotnik should be looking for me anytime now…

"You know…" Rouge started, crossing her legs. "This is kind of like before when we were introducing ourselves to you yesterday, Blue. Except, well." She gave a flip of a hand. "You were sane. An amnesiac, but friendly nonetheless."

Sonic blinked in confusion. I had amnesia before today? And I…knew them enough to be friends? No. That can't be true. Robotnik wouldn't have told me to attack them if they were somehow good people…Right? But they don't seem so…

Att-

Okay okay! I get it already!

Shadow watched in mild curiosity as Faker seemed to have a conversation with himself after the perplexed look the blue one had on his face made the Ultimate Lifeform pause. Why did Sonic look that way when Rouge mentioned the introductions? It was like that information was new to him… Wait, today is a new day. That means that he had to go to sleep, have another vision…and perhaps get amnesia again? It had to happen before Knuckles, Rouge, and I arrived at Eggman's base, since Faker doesn't seem to have a headache right now. I have to try something, but I don't know if he will cooperate.

"Sonic." At the sound of his name, the blue hedgehog stopped looking at the crying fox, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, in anger and a bit of confusion and glared over at Shadow. What does this guy want? When the other had his attention, the black one continued. "Do you know who those two are?" Shadow gestured over to the fox and pink hedgehog.

At first, Sonic wasn't going to answer-

Attack an-

Now this is getting ridiculous.

-but then he realized that there wasn't really anything dangerous in responding. His head barely moved at all, but the Mobians around Sonic clearly could tell that he motioned 'no'.

"He doesn't remember them? Then he doesn't remember us either!" Knuckles sat up straight on the couch, flabbergasted. He scratched the back of his head and pointed over to Shadow and Rouge. "That probably explains why he beat on you two so bad." The black hedgehog glared, but the echidna ignored it. Knuckles ran a hand down his face. "Who knows what kind of mumbo-jumbo Eggman put into his head."

Sonic furrowed his brow the tiniest of margins. Mumbo-jumbo? As in lies? What in the world? And who in the heck is Eggman? The only person I've met is Robotnik…but now that I think about it…he does kinda look like an egg… The speedster shook his head violently. No! Why would I trust these people over the guy I've known for like…not that long actually, from what I can remember. Huh. At least I had a room in his lab, that's saying something.

"W-Wait." The pink hedgehog stuttered out. "Does that mean that…Eggman's mind control isn't as strong as we thought?"

Rouge looked slightly relieved. "That's exactly what it means, hon. Eggman could have just told him lies to get him to hate us, and only commanded him to attack."

"So we can get Faker to change his opinion of us, and then it's probable that he will fight the order." Shadow added, rising the spirits of the whole group, besides Sonic of course. He was too busy blocking them out, knowing that every single word spilling out of their mouths were lies.

The blue Mobian then jumped in surprise when the yellow fox hopped out of his seat with a desperate look on his face. "Sonic!" The vulpine took a step closer. "I-I'm Miles Prower, o-or Tails. A nickname that you gave me." The blue blur just scoffed and turned his head. "P-Please listen! We're b-best friends, brothers actually! We've known each other for so long…" Tails took another step. "I-I'm a good guy, and you are too!" Then the fox lunged forward, and Sonic braced himself for an attack. But that wasn't the case.

Tails was hugging him.

"Please Sonic…" The vulpine muttered against his shoulder, causing his good ear to twitch. "W-We aren't your enemies… Fight it. We…I need you back…" Sonic's eyes widened when he felt tears dripping onto his fur.

The speedster didn't know what to do. On one hand, he was told to attack anyone who had found him – Rouge – and anyone who was associated with her – the rest of the Mobians there. But on the other…there was a kid fox crying on his shoulder, calling him his brother! Sonic slowly focused on the yellow furry form that was hugging him around the neck. The blue blur's whole body was tense, not knowing how to react.

Attack anyone who finds you.

…I…can't…

And their friends.

No…he's…

No mercy.

Dull emerald eyes shifted from the yellow fur to the four other Mobians who were watching warily. He then focused only on the bat and her two friends: his initial targets. He stared until a glint of anger flashed in his eyes. Sonic looked back at the fox, missing the slightly surprised faces of the trio. Sorry kid. The speedster thought as he repositioned his head a bit. Maybe you shouldn't have been hanging with the wrong crowd. Resulting to his last resort, Sonic opened his mouth and was about to bite deeply into the kit's shoulder – like he had with Shadow's wrist previously – but then Tails' weight was suddenly ripped off of him and he swiftly was punched full force in the jaw.

Sonic was knocked back, but before he hit the ground, his quills were grabbed and his head was jerked up. Green irises met blazing reds. Sonic automatically scowled, vaguely noticing the blood dribbling down his chin. Shadow was standing over him, for a second time, while growling deep in his throat. Sonic growled back, but it wasn't audible of course, so the only way one could tell was the deepening of the scowl that was already there.

"Why did you pull me away?" Sonic glanced over to the side to see Tails looking questionably up at a rigid Knuckles, who was glaring at the blue blur.

"Because he was about to hurt you Tails." The echidna answered, his focus unwavering. The kit was about to protest, but Knuckles cut him off. "This…isn't the same Sonic right now Tails, you have to realize that."

The fox took a step away. "But…But…" Tails stared at Sonic briefly with stormy eyes before he sprinted off into the kitchen. Then there was the loud slam of a door.

"Tails!" The pinkette cried out.

"There he goes again…" Rouge muttered sadly.

"He will be alright. Just give him some time like before." Shadow returned his attention back to Sonic. "As for you." He raised up his unoccupied fist. "It seems like the preview wasn't enough." The speedster braced for the hard hit until the pink hedgehog ran up and grabbed Shadow's hand, lowering it.

"Don't hit him!"

The black hedgehog frowned and took his fist out of her grip. "And why not?"

"Because it isn't helping anything! Hitting him won't work and talking won't do the trick either because what Tails just did should have triggered something! But it didn't, and I don't think any of us can top that." Amy said, looking down at the ground as she finished. "I dunno…but the best thing I can think of is just letting him live with us…"

Sonic inwardly sputtered. Live with them?! Is this girl alright in the head?

Knuckles slowly blinked. "Amy…I think that's the worst idea you've had in a while. Wouldn't that, I don't know, be dangerous?" He asked, throwing his arms in the air.

The pinkette shifted her weight. "Not if we keep him tied up…" She mumbled as a reply.

"Hon, I don't even think that's moral." Rouge put a hand on her hip. "Who knows how long it's going to take to fix him."

"Maybe it won't have to be for a long time, you know?" Amy gave the bat a small smile. "He should learn quickly that we aren't the bad guys here! And then he won't attack us anymore, and we can untie him!"

Rouge tapped her chin. "You are right. The more he knows about us, the more he will fight the command." Hearing this, Sonic silently scoffed. How in the heck does she know? She can't tell the future or anything. "And then it won't be needed to keep him tied up. It's really farfetched, but it's the only plan we have."

"I can see so many things going wrong…" Knuckles sighed out exasperatedly. "But I guess…" Shadow just grunted as an answer, neither opposing nor agreeing. The hedgehog then grabbed Sonic's arm and gestured for the echidna to do the same. Knuckles furrowed his brow before doing so. "So what are we doing?"

"About to go eat breakfast." Shadow muttered out, basically telling the others that he was going to go along with the plan as well.

Amy let out a quiet squeal. "I'll cook something up then!" She then sobered up when she casted a glance over to an enraged Sonic. "But um…who's going to feed…?"

"Easy." Shadow answered shortly. "Nose goes." He placed a finger on his nose. Amy and Rouge did the same.

Knuckles looked around with practically a huge question mark hovering over his head. "Wait…What?!"

"Oh, but before that, I've gotta wash up." Rouge took a whiff of herself and frowned up in disgust. "I smell absolutely rancid."

Nose goes, the easiest way to volunteer somebody and they can't do a damn thing about it. XD