Disclaimer- I'm going to write a haiku for this:

I don't own Sonic

Or any of his good friends…

…It's snowing on Mt. Fuji

Chapter 36- See no evil

Knuckles blinked in muted surprise at the open container filled with various supplies held up at him. There were beakers, syringes, measuring cups, graduated cylinders, etc., and the correct chemicals. Purple irises drifted off of the clear plastic and focused on the hedgehog in front of him whose head was cocked to the side a bit. The echidna interpreted it as, "I got what you needed, right?"

"Yeah…" the red Mobian breathed out, grabbing the container and shifting – carefully, mind you –through it, "That and a lot more…"

"Jeez Mephiles," Vector started, standing in the loose semicircle the group had formed around the striped hedgehog. In the thirty minutes the shadow 'hog was gone, Tails' anesthetic had mostly worn off, so he and Silver – who hobbled over – had gathered around as well. Vector scratched his head, "Did ya like, clean them out or somethin'?"

Mephiles shook his head and rubbed the side of his neck shyly, giving them a slightly lopsided smile.

"Are you sure? Because this is a lot of stuff!"

Silver laughed, patting Charmy on the shoulder, "'Course he didn't Charmy! The hospital's huge! If they had just these supplies, then they have bigger problems than us taking them." The psychic then glanced to his left and nudged Tails with his elbow. The kit was hiding slightly behind Amy, who was on the fox's left. "Are we good to go Tails?"

The bandaged vulpine hesitated for a moment, still eyeing Mephiles. He seemed nice enough, but nevertheless, Tails and strangers didn't mix well. The striped hedgehog, seeing this, held up his hands innocently and took a couple steps back from the group, earning a thankful look from Amy.

"He isn't going to hurt you Tails," the pinkette whispered, "And I don't think he ever will because you and him are kinda the same."

The kit looked up at her in shock as he digested what she said. He had been aware enough to understand what was going on earlier. Mephiles was the target of bullies with nothing else better to do with their time…so he couldn't be that bad, right? Taking a deep breath, Tails slowly slid out of his sister's shadow and went closer to Knuckles, making sure that Mephiles stayed where he was in his peripherals.

He shuffled through the materials a bit before nodding, "H-He got the r-right things… All w-we need is the medicine, beakers, m-measuring cups, and the s-syringes though."

Vector gasped, not liking the sound of needles being incorporated into this plan at all. "WHAT?! A-Are the syringes really necessary? Cuz that's the last thing I want near my person," he began vigorously gesturing to himself.

Tails frowned, knowing that this would be uncomfortable for everyone involved. But they really had no other choice, "W-We have t-to-"

"But-"

"Listen to him, Vector," Knuckles levelly gazed at him, "He's the genius here, and what he's saying makes sense. Espio injected the serum into us, so we have to inject the vaccine. Simple as that."

The croc slumped in misery, "Oh man…this is gonna hurt…"

Mephiles, completely lost, caught Cream's attention when she saw his severely confused expression. She skipped over to him, "Let me clue you in! Okay, so this bad guy – named Espio obviously – put something in all of their systems that took their powers away so we can't fight back while he's invading Station Square."

But how? The striped hedgehog thought, It's just one guy, isn't it? He can't invade a city by himself!

Cream seemed to sense his question, "The answer is: robots. Lots and lots of them," she grinned as she watched the other widen his eyes in shock, "Yeah, that's why they need their powers back asap."

"Speaking of that," Silver cut in, him and the others having heard the duo's one-sided conversation, "Where exactly are we gonna do this?" he chuckled to himself, "As much I'd love to have a drama-filled run-in with the law, I think we should avoid that little sitiation at all costs. So…doing it in the hospital's parking lot would be a big no-no."

Amy crossed her arms and pursed her lips, "You're right Silver…" she focused on the darkest hedgehog in the group, "You know the city Mephy," everyone's eye ridges rose at that, especially those belonging the one addressed, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Yeah Mephy!" Charmy echoed, liking that nickname, "You gotta know all the secrets in the city, right?"

…He was really going to have to get used to people calling him that. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Mephiles nodded an affirmative. They could do what they needed to do at 'his place'. 'His place' being a rarely purchased hotel room that the hotel staff didn't know was occupied.

If he was ever found out, well, it would be easy enough to find another empty room.

At the group's various degrees of excitement, Mephiles pointed to them before pointing over to the jeep; then he gestured to himself, hoping that they were getting the message to follow him well enough.

Knuckles hummed, getting it, "You want us to follow you to the place?" Mephy smiled as a response, and the echidna shrugged, "Sounds like a plan."

"No it doesn't!" Vector opposed, "I mean, how far away is it? Wouldn't it make more sense to just hop in and tell us where to go?"

Mephiles' smile turned into mischievous grin. He stepped closer to the group, inwardly sighing when Tails froze up, before gently taking the container out of Knuckles' grip. Then, quick as lightning, the hedgehog disappeared into the ground. As he swiftly jumped from shadow to shadow, he was slightly snickering at the shocked sounds coming from up above. About five seconds later, Mephiles reformed himself in the shadow of a light pole on the far side of the lot. He gave the group a small wave.

"That answer your question Vector?" Cream asked, chuckling along with her Chao and waving back at their newfound friend.

The croc just humphed and stomped his way back to his vehicle. He got in the driver's seat, "Alright get in already…" he mumbled. The others laughed as they jumped back into the car, Amy helping Tails and Charmy helping Silver, all of them thinking in the back of their minds that Vector was going to have to get an industrial cleaner for the blood imbedded in the interior of the jeep.

Not ten minutes later, the crocodile pulled into another parking space, this time in a lot belonging to a very expensive looking hotel.

"Uh…" Vector shut his door and gazed up at the impressive building, "I can't be the only one that's skeptical, right?"

"I'm feeling that way too…" Silver winced when a sharp pain went up his leg when he mistakenly put all of his weight on it. Again. Then, tears began to well up in his eyes, "What if…what if he lied to us?! What if he just took off with our stuff! He made fools out of us! He's-" the psychic was cut off when there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and smiled when he saw Mephiles looking at him oddly, "Mephy! You didn't run away!" Silver hugged the other awkwardly – at least for the newest hedgehog– before pulling back. "I got a little worried there!"

Understatement of the century, Mephiles inwardly muttered as he sent a perplexed look over to Knuckles.

The echidna sighed, "It's normal, don't worry about it."

The striped hedgehog didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

Then, Knuckles jerked his head over to the hotel, "So you stay here?"

Mephiles nodded.

"Seriously?" Cream questioned, "So are you rich or what?"

The ends of his mouth twitched downwards before he shook his head. Mephiles pointed – as best as he could with a slightly heavy container in his arms – at the front door. Half a second later, he melted into Silver's shadow.

"That's so cool!" Silver and Charmy gushed, eyes sparkling.

Amy snickered under her breath at the boys' reactions before making her way to the hotel, "I think he wants us to go in and get where no one who works there can see him." She wrapped her arm around Tails' waist to steady him as they went.

It wasn't long until they all were inside glancing at each other to see who would answer the hotel receptionist's question of, "May I help you?"

Knuckles eventually, and reluctantly (they really needed to reunite with Shadow so he could step down from this leadership role) responded, "We're just here to…visit someone."

The worker narrowed her eyes for a moment before yawning, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" When they all answered a negative, she waved them off.

The group walked away and rounded a corner, but Mephiles still didn't show himself. Thinking that the elevator would be a good enough spot, the Mobians packed in and sure enough, when the doors closed, Mephy put himself back together again. He proudly smiled at them as he pressed the fourth floor button.

"So that's it huh? You sneak in here?"

The hedgehog glanced over to Vector, and, thinking that the croc was disappointed, dropped his head and nodded. He jumped when there was a heavy hand on his shoulder; he gazed up to see the other grinning down at him, "Great thinking! Gotta make do with what you got!" Mephiles breathed out in relief.

A couple moments ticked by before the doors opened once more. Mephiles sneakily glanced up and down the hallway. Seeing no one in sight, he ran down the hall as quickly and quietly as he could, the rest of the group following his lead. Now in front of room 432, the room with no window (a major mistake in the structural plans of the hotel), the striped hedgehog merged with the shadow caused by the very small opening at the bottom of the door.

The group of Mobians heard a click and they were suddenly looking at the very fancy interior design of the room.

They oo-ed and ah-ed at the expensive looking furniture and decorations the hotel room came with. It was clear that none of these things were owned by the hedgehog himself. Mephy just snorted in mirth as he watched, closing the door and locking it.

Charmy wooped as he flung himself on the king-sized bed placed in front of a larger-than-life flat screen TV. "This is awesome! Do you really live-" the bee lowered his voice when Mephiles put down the box on the nightstand and rose a finger to his lips, "-here?" The hedgehog nodded, still amused.

Knuckles plopped down next to the bee, face buried inside a fluffy pillow, "Better than living on the streets," his voice came out muffled.

Definitely, Mephiles thought before scooting the box up some, making a scrapping noise. When he had all of the others' attention, he jabbed his thumb over to the closed bathroom door. He gave a short wave and disappeared in the bathroom, the group knowing that he was going to be in there for a while when the shower water turned on.

"I guess we can get started then!" Vector said from the soft chair he was relaxing in. He got his phone and out brought the picture of the paper up, "You need this to get the correct numbers, right Tails?"

Said vulpine nodded, taking the phone with a shaky hand and shuffling over to the box of supplies, ignoring how his stitches uncomfortably pulled when he moved his upper half too much. Humming quietly to distract himself from all of the eyes watching him, Tails pulled out the materials needed and went to work reading, measuring, and pouring.

Eventually, Tails had the vaccine in front of him in one beaker, ready to be put into use. He was a hundred percent confident that everything he did was correct and that they should return back to normal pretty quickly. Reaching into the box, he took out an unopened covered syringe, proving that it had been unused, and popped the cover off. Tails dipped the needle part into the liquid and filled the syringe to the appropriate line.

"O-Okay…" he whispered as he turned around to face the other Mobians, "Um, wh-who's going first?"

Silence.

Cream snickered, taking her focus off Cheese playing with Blaze on the floor, "I think I should pick since I don't have to do it," she tapped her chin, enjoying the anxious looks she was getting, "Knuckles! I think he should go first."

Charmy sniggered in relief before glancing over to the echidna who was snoring beside him. The bee began to roughly nudge him, "Knuckles! Knuckles wake up! Tails is done!"

The red Mobian smacked away his hands, "…And what does that have to do with me right now…?" he slurred.

"Because you're first!"

"Of course…" Knuckles sighed as he peeled himself from the most comfortable bed he had ever laid on, "Can't a guy ever get any sleep around here…?" He stretched before dragging himself to where Tails was, the cub throwing him an apologetic look.

"Y-You can rest a bit after this…i-if you want…"

"I doubt I could even if I wanted to," he responded, taking a guess and holding his arm out. Tails nodded before taking it and moving red fur to the side so he could clearly see skin. The young genius readied the needle and Knuckles held his breath as his skin was punctured. The vaccine kind of stung as it spread throughout his system, but that only lasted for a minute.

After wiping away the droplet of blood left over, Knuckles clenched and unclenched his fists.

"Did it work?" Silver asked worriedly.

A relaxed grin grew on Knuckles' muzzle as his strength steadily returned back to him, "Yeah."

"Really?"

The echidna punched the air, feeling the welcomed power behind each swing, "You think I would lie about this?" Espio is going to have the surprise of his life.

Silver squealed – yes, squealed – as he ran over to Tails and held up his arm, "My turn, my turn!" he shifted his feet impatiently as the vulpine switched out the needles. Yellow eyes crinkled in excitement as Mephiles stepped out of the bathroom, drying his dripping quills. Silver beamed at him, "It works!" he pointed over to Knuckles who crushed an unneeded beaker with ease, "It really works! OUCH!"

Mephy winced when he saw the needle go in, but gave the other a smile anyway.

It wasn't long before everyone was taken care of (it would've taken less time, but Vector had to build himself up first). Tails, rotating his namesakes happily, began putting the stuff back into the box to be returned to the hospital, but not before filling three more syringes for later.

Mephiles, curious to why, approached the fox, dragging his feet along the floor to make sure the other knew he was coming. He saw Tails' body tense up, but he continued. Standing side-by-side with a respectable distance in between them, Mephiles cocked his head, touching one of the covered needles.

Tails took a little step to the side and swallowed thickly, "Um…th-those a-are for some of o-our fr-friends…"

Charmy paused in his flying around the room to elaborate on that, "Those three are for Shadow, Rogue, and Sonic! We're gonna meet back up with them later!"

At Sonic's name, Mephiles' eyes widened, They know him?

"What's wrong Mephy?" Amy questioned, looking away from Silver juggling three rolls of toilet paper with his telekinesis. "What's that look?" her brow furrowed, "Do you know any of those names?"

The striped hedgehog nodded and mouthed, "Sonic."

All of the occupants in the room froze.

"You KNOW Sonic?" Vector nearly shouted; this information was really unexpected, "How?"

Now how am I going to do this… Mephiles searched the room until his gaze landed on the croc's phone in his lap. He reached for it, silently asking the reptile if he could use it. Vector, understanding, handed it to him after going to an app where one could write notes.

Mephy's thumbs were moving rapidly until he returned the phone. Vector coughed and read aloud:

"'Well, I did know him. A long time ago, he lived in this city as well. As children on the streets, we would run into each other occasionally. We were both timid and scared kids, trying to survive. However, I cut any ties with him when he used me for theft. We were five at the time. I don't know if you all know this or not, but he's been through what I am going through now. Being beaten and bullied and all for years. But, I think he had it worse because of the fact that he had lost a friend as well. Maggie, I think her name was. Then one day he left. Never saw him again.'"

"Lost?" Silver inquired after a moment of quiet, "What do you mean, lost?"

Mephiles didn't answer, but Cream did with a sad frown on her face, "Lost, as in died Silver…" she soaked in the shocked gazes she received, "That was what I was going to tell you guys earlier when we first found you. Sonic had lost someone important in his life, so maybe that plus the fact that he's been targeted-"

"-is the reason why he's like how he is right now," Knuckles finished, staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling, "Oppressing, fighting, and just plain being a pain are defense mechanisms."

Amy bit her lip. Sure, she still heavily disliked everything horrible Sonic had done to people, but now, she was seeing the blue speedster as more of the traumatized victim than the aggressor. Unbeknownst to her, that thought was shared around the room. "So," she began, "What…What do we do with this information?"

The echidna let out a deep breath as he focused on Mephiles, staring for a long moment before saying, "Come with us."

"Wait what?" Vector asked and Mephiles was glad he did, since he had thought those exact words.

"Maybe he can set Sonic straight," Knuckles continued, "Since he knew Sonic way before he turned into the one we know now."

"Do you really think that will work?" Silver crossed his arms, serious-faced, "Because I doubt that an intervention is going to make him do a complete one-eighty."

"It doesn't have to," the echidna retorted, covering his mouth as he yawned, "Any change would be a step up from his current personality."

"That's true but…"

As the Mobians around him continued the conversation, Mephiles' head was spinning. They wanted him to go with them? It…It actually wasn't impossible because he literally had nothing tying himself to this place, besides the fact that the bullies might target someone else… Mephiles was going to have to do something about that. Anyway, the problem was what they wanted him to do. Talk to Sonic? Confront him? By the way the others were speaking about him, Mephiles was a bit hesitant. And besides that, would the hedgehog even remember him? He seriously doubted it.

But…it sounded like Sonic was hurting. And if he was a potential solution…well…

Curse his conscience.

Mephiles snapped his fingers, halting any further conversation. He turned to Knuckles and nodded with a twitch of his lips.

The echidna nodded back, "Well that's that."

"Awesome!" Charmy grinned, "You're gonna like Shadow and Penumbra!" Mephiles didn't know who those people were, but sure.

Cream smirked, "Ooo boy, this is gonna be good." Cheese wholeheartedly agreed.

"So I guess it's time to go now?" Vector glanced around the room that was a tad bit on the messy side, "Do we need to clean this up?"

Mephiles shook his head. He wasn't coming back anyway.

The group left the room as quietly as they had come in, riding the elevator down, and, because the receptionist was gone (bathroom most likely), Mephiles didn't have to disappear into the floor. When they flung the front doors open, Amy pointed and scowled at the group of boys by Vector's jeep, "It's those guys! And I think they're stealing your gas Vector, again!"

Vector glowered and hissed, punching his open palm, "It's payback time."

Mephiles blinked up at him before agreeing. Maybe after they roughed those bullies up a bit, they would learn to stop antagonizing others. A smirk grew on his face before he melted into the shadows and made his way, unnoticed, toward the gang. When he was underneath the feet of one of them, Mephiles reached up and grabbed his legs, preventing mobility.

"What the hell?!"

Before any of the thug's friends had time to react, they were all surrounded by a cyan glow.

Yes…revenge was sweet.

Conscience, take a five minute break.

A low groan echoed throughout a dark room as its single occupant slowly woke up from his deep slumber. The sounds of metal clanking against metal arose when the cuffs around his wrists made contact with the hard and cold floor. That unnatural noise and the lack of any other was the factor that sped up his waking process, delayed confusion and nervousness growing.

He blinked his eyes open and yelped when he saw nothing but pitch blackness; he rose both hands to his face – fear festering when he identified the metal cuffs – and couldn't see them. Trying and failing to swallow the lump in his throat, he carefully sat up from his laying position, wincing in pain when the movement of his wounded shoulder sent uncomfortable jolts throughout his body.

When the pain had faded away some, he attempted to use his strength to foolishly break the hard steel, accomplishing nothing but making his wrists raw and sore. He stopped when he found that he wasn't getting anywhere. Heart rate skyrocketing, he stood up - thank goodness he didn't have shackles on his ankles – and endured another round of pain coming from his wrapped shoulder.

Blood pulsing in his ears, he called out, "Hello?" he flinched when his voice cracked and came out breathy. He cleared his throat before trying again, "Hey! Anyone hear me?" There was no response but the echoing of his own frightened voice. He began to tremble, "T-This isn't funny man!" Nothing again.

He clenched his fists, racking his brain for answers, but it was no help at all. It was fuzzy and he couldn't pick anything apart, not at the moment anyway. He stopped when he felt a headache coming on.

"Okay…okay okay okay…I just gotta get outta here…" he reassured himself, "Shouldn't be too hard." He squinted through the darkness, absolutely hating that he couldn't see anything. "This is so messed up dude…"

Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward and promptly yelled in fear when something metallic harshly gripped his unhurt arm. He tried to jerk it away from whatever had taken hold of him, but it was futile. He wasn't getting any leeway. He shouted again when searing pain sprouted from the inside of his elbow; it was being stabbed by something, and it hurt like hell.

When the crushing hand let go, he immediately jerked back, backpedaling and tripping over his own two feet. He fell back to the floor hard, cringing as he held his throbbing arm as close to himself as he could. Straining his ears, he heard chuckling.

"That was just in case…the impossible happens."

His breath caught. He knew that voice.

"Espio…" his heart jumped into his throat and terror bubbled deep in his stomach, the fog in his head fading away. The chameleon had sent robots to the house they were in and he…and he had… "I-I didn't die…?"

Goosebumps formed on his arms when the chuckling grew louder, "Fortunately, you didn't. I would thank you for being so…resilient, but it's not part of my nature."

He searched all around him in the darkness; the voice seemed like it was coming from everywhere, but he still couldn't see. "S-Show yourself!" he stuttered out, "D-Damn coward!"

"You know, I would be insulted if you were describing me, not yourself."

He jumped in surprise when a latch opened multiple yards away on his right, filling the room he was in with much needed light. He swore his heart stopped when he saw those cold golden irises staring back at him from the entrance. Not just because of the eyes either, Espio was covered in armor. Dark, sturdy, and impenetrable armor.

And there was this…energy coming from it that made him want to get away as soon as possible.

"Well?" those eyes remained cold, "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Instead of responding, he got up on shaky feet and began to run toward the exit, believing that this was the worse time for his ability to fly to be stripped away. However, he didn't get very far. He cried out in anguish when another metallic hand clamped down on his injured shoulder. His knees buckled, the torment draining strength from them.

There was a condescending scoff, "Wrong answer," there was a resounding thud and the room – which he didn't get a good look at – was taken over by darkness once more. But he didn't care about that. The hand was still there.

He attempted to pull away, fight back, something, but that did nothing but torture himself more and more. Suddenly, his feet weren't touching the ground. He heard the sickening pop before the waves of agonizing pain from his dislocated shoulder took over his senses. A blood curdling scream ripped his throat apart.

The next thing he knew was that he was airborne. Then came the unforgiving landing, his body bruised and battered and his face bleeding from something on the floor that cut his cheek wide open. He was laying on his side. It didn't matter which one it was at this point; the pain was everywhere. Blood was dripping down his face as all of his energy was spent to not break down then and there. He needed to escape.

But he didn't know how.

When blood red eyes shone out of the darkness, Rogue desperately wanted to disappear into the floor.

Welp, looks like Tails was wrong about our little bat friend. In a coma for a few weeks? Have some faith in Rogue little kit. XD And I feel reallllyy bad. He just can't catch a break, huh? Sorry I kinda lied last chapter, there wasn't really action in this one…more like torture. Oops.

Also, yep…Sonic's sis isn't a recognizable character. She's just a – I don't know if she's even considered an OC or not…but meh. Who she actually is doesn't matter as much as how she had affected lil Sanic. :)