"IT'S HIM!" Sally exclaims as she looks at the photos on computer. "Our cute fox!"
"I'd say he's in full fitness," notes reporter Sasha The Cat.
"It's up to us to investigate going forward," informs Bunnie. "The Freedom Fighters!"
"Thank you Sonic much for your help, ok?" Sally thanks Sasha. "You have a future, my girl."
"Well, it was nothing." Sasha smiles. "I just fulfilled my civic duty to show the population the truth."
"Well, we have to pay for the service," recalls Bunnie.
"No need," Sasha assures. "It is a tremendous honor to contribute to Freedom Fighters for the freedom of civilization."
"Well, anyway, you deserve an award." Sally opens a clothes closet and takes out a purple outfit, similar to a Muslim Chador. "Wanna try?"
Sasha's eyes sparkle.
After dressing it over her suit and tie, Sasha looks in the mirror and praises, "It fit like a glove."
"So did you like it, sugar?" Bunnie asks.
"I loved!" Sasha exclaims. "Have you noticed that many Mobian citizens are wearing Chadors like yours, as a sign of loyalty to the Freedom Fighters?"
"Of course," Sally replies.
"But aren't you afraid of being arrested for violating the law prohibiting the wearing of Chadors?" asks Bunnie worriedly.
"For what?" Sasha disdains. "Everyone violates the law and no one gets arrested."
"But maybe because you have a journalism channel on YouTube…"
"If someone stops me, I'll lie, saying I'm a florist. And since my smartphone is encrypted, no one can prove that I use it to take photos and videos."
"As you wish," Sally decides. "After all, being a journalist involves risks."
"Well, I'm going. My work continues." Sasha takes out her smartphone and puts it in her bag. "Thank you so much for the rare opportunity to meet the Freedom Fighters."
"At least two of them," remarks Sally, hand on chin.
"We're the ones who appreciate it," returns Bunnie. "Thanks to you, we've already located Tails."
"If you ordered it, I would have kidnapped him for you," Sasha offers.
"No, no," Sally dismisses. "You've risked enough. We have no right to put civilians like you in unnecessary danger."
"We're the ones who are obligated to give our lives for Tails," Bunnie assures. "Sally and me."
Sasha holds Bunnie and Sally's hands:
"You can trust me. After all, even my face you already know..."
Sally announces:
"Of course. As of today, you too are a Freedom Fighter!"
Sasha freezes. And she widens her eyes:
"WOW!"
Sally and Bunnie waste no time and hug the new member.
"Welcome, soldier!" Bunnie greets her.
"Thanks…" Sasha mumbles.
After a few seconds, Sasha breaks free of the two and walks to the teleport cylinder.
After entering, she sends a last message:
"Anything, call me."
"Sure. See you."
"Kiss. Goodbye."
"BYYYEEE..."
...
After Sasha is teleported, Bunnie comments:
"Curious…She has thousands of followers on YouTube. And none of them know her face. Just you and me."
"And we Freedom Fighters also have thousands of fans," Sally adds. "And none of them know who we are. Just Sasha."
"Well, what about, sugar? What is the next step?"
"Rescue our boy, of course!" Sally slaps her open hand.
"But how?"
"I have an excellent idea!"
In a hallway on the 7th floor of the Hospital, Lassy The Skunk is sick and faints.
As the nurses and other staff turn their attention to her, Nubbia The Raccoon enters room 204.
Inside, sedated, wearing a filthy white nightgown and covered by an equally disgusting sheet, an 8-year-old fox, grimy yellow fur and two tails, rests on the stretcher.
At the moment, no wires connect him to any saline or blood bags. Excellent. There will be less work.
The window on the 7th floor shatters, thanks to a button that Lassy, still lying on the floor, presses into her clothes. Nobody gets hurt, as there's nobody around. They are all gathered around Lassy.
Some are startled and turn their heads to see the damage, but before they understand anything, Nubbia comes out of room 204 like a rocket, carrying the little fox in her lap.
In a seemingly insane act, she jumps out the window and the two descend outside in free fall.
Lassy wastes no time getting up off the ground. She "climbs" some employees still crouched and also goes out the window.
Everyone there despairs, thinking that they have embarked for death.
But no: the jet-glider breaks the fall of the two (or better: three) and takes them flying away from there.
As soon as they, standing on the jet-glider, leave town and dive into the forest, Lassy takes off her mask: it's Sally Acorn!
She soon removes Nubbia's mask: Bunnie Rabbot!
"PERFECT!" Sally does a positive with her hand, mimicking Sonic. "Nothing could go better."
"Iit was so easy to get in," Bunnie marvels, with Tails sleeping in her arms. "They didn't even realize we were undercover. They didn't have a metal detector or anything. And we just had to change the letters of our place names. How mediocre!"
"Or maybe that is a conventional hospital, newly invaded by the occult forces," speculates Sally, hand on chin. "They mustn't have had time to properly equip it or train staff."
"But what's up, General?" Bunnie asks. "Tails is still passed out. The next step is to wake him up?"
"Not yet," Sally dismisses. "We don't know what he's capable of doing if he wakes up. What if they turned him into a deadly machine? Let's apply another sedative and then put it on MRI."
"Okay."
"And call me sugar. It's less heavy."
Sally rubs her nose at Bunnie, who chuckles softly.
"YAAAWWNN!"
"Hey look, Sally! He is waking up!"
"Excellent! We can talk!"
Tails finally awakens.
Now he is lying on a mattress spread on the floor, covered by a terrycloth sheet, wearing a new nightgown. Everything already washed well.
"Where am I?!"
"In good hands, sugar," Bunnie assures, bending down to kiss the fox on the forehead. "SMAC!"
"Bunnie!"
"And who else here?"
"Sally!"
Funny Kiss...
Sally serves hot chocolate for the three of them.
While each one holds their cup, Tails asks:
"What happened?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" Sally inquires.
"I don't know."
"Don't you remember your abduction?" Bunnie tries to help him.
"Not. What abduction?"
Sally explains:
"Quite simple: you were with us facing a mysterious army of 'black robots' when one of them fired a strong beam at you and took you away."
"And only now, after about 3 months, we came to find him," Bunnie concludes. "With the help of a friend."
"Wow." Tails puts his left hand on his head, while his right hand holds the glass. "And where have I stayed all this time?"
"At the hospital, I believe," Sally conjectures.
"That's where we kidnapped you," Bunnie informs.
"Kidnapped me?"
"Yes, with the help of your jet-glider and a few more toys you invented."
"That place wasn't safe," Sally explains. "You got out of there really dirty. I gave you a bath while you were still under anesthesia."
Tails notes:
"Well, surely Dr. Eggman kidnapped me so I could work for him."
"We still don't know if Eggman is behind all this," Sally cautions. "These 'black robots' that have emerged now act in a very weird way."
Bunnie continues:
"But then you fell ill and this boss of the 'black robots' decided to admit you to the hospital, to treat your illness. At least that's what it looks like."
Tails is amazed:
"Illness? Which illness?"
Sally and Bunnie stand up, fold their arms and bow their heads.
They thought a lot about whether or not they should tell it.
Bunnie starts:
"You know, sugar? As soon as we brought you back to this lab, we put you on MRI and found you have an autoimmune disease."
"Autoimmune?"
Sally confirms:
"Yeah. It means your own body is at war with you, killing your healthy cells. And the 'black robots' apparently were not to blame for that."
Tails is amazed!
"Killing? How is it? Am I dying slowly? Without Eggman's help? And what is this disease?"
Almost immediately, Tails' right hand shakes, loosens, and his cup of hot chocolate crashes to the floor.
CRASH!
To the horror of all three!
"What is this disease?!" Tails repeats, more emphatically.
"We don't know yet," assures Sally, a little tensely.
"Yes, you know! You are hiding from me!"
"Oh sugar! How can you think that?!" Bunnie grieves.
Tails jumps off the mattress, picks up a shard of glass and marches over to Sally!
"Tails, what are you doing?!" Sally is startled and backs off. "Drop that piece!"
"Speak soon!" The fox demands, wielding the shard as a weapon. "What's the matter with me?!"
"Sugar, you're out of control!" Bunnie gets excited. "You must not hurt us! That's not what you want to do!"
"So see if you collaborate!" Tails exclaims, his eyes slightly reddened!
"OH MY GOD!" Bunnie covers her mouth with her hands.
Suddenly, Tails starts to lose strength in his legs.
He takes two more steps and falls face down on the floor, dropping the shard of glass!
BONC!
"OH!" Sally approaches Tails on tiptoe.
As Bunnie watches the scene, dumbfounded, see suggests:
"We have no idea, but...
... Have you ever heard of...
... Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?"
The pupils in Tails' eyes dilate!
Lou Gehrig?! Mao Tse-Tung?! Stephen Hawking?!
"NO! NOOOOO!" Clenched fists and punches the ground!
Sally drops to the ground and hugs the fox.
"Calm down, boy, calm. We're here."
"NHOC!" Tails bites Sally's arm!
"AAAHHH!" Sally screams in pain.
"Neither of them cares about me!"
"Miles, stop it now!" Bunni rushes to intervene.
"What did you call me?!" Tails hates being called by his real name.
"Oops! What an idiot I am!" Bunnie regrets.
Tails lets go of Sally and grips Bunnie's metallic left arm tightly!
"You pulled me out of the hospital so I could die faster!"
"No, fox!" Bunnie refutes, while her arm is twisted. "We saved you from that filthy place, controlled by black robots!"
"Liar! Back in town I was safe! Now you brought me here, in this end of the world, just so I can die with you!"
"We are not going to die!" Bunnie assures me. "At least if you..."
CRASH!
"AAAHHH!" Bunnie screams too, but not so much in pain"
She disengages the metal arm...
...but her robotic hand stays with Tails!
"YOU BROKE MY HAND!" She despairs!
"AND JUST THE BEGINNING!" Tails kicks Bunnie in the belly!
"OUCH!" She falls hard to the ground!
BONC!
Tails prepares to pounce on Bunnie and get his face punched!
But he is electrocuted!
"AAAHHH!"
"SALLY?!" Bunnie is amazed to see her friend use the Power Blades against the once helpless little fox!
"This will exhaust his excitement!" Sally justifies it.
...
After the Blades are used, Tails collapses to the ground. Again.
And he breathes heavily.
"ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF..."
Sally hugs the boy.
"Shh. It's okay now."
CHABRUM!
"AAAHHH!" Tails shivers all over. An old fear.
"Don't worry," Bunnie assures. "Lightning fell outside. Here in the laboratory, we are very well protected."
Tails cries.
"I WANT SONIC!"
"We don't know where he is," warns Bunnie, at a bad time.
"What?"
"Sonic, Antoine, Rotor... They're all gone."
"ENOUGH!" Sally rebels, with the fox in her lap. "There's been too much spoiler for today!"
"Sorry!" Bunnie covers her face with her cowboy hat.
Tails cries and screams compulsively.
"I WANT MY MOM!"
After being sedated again, Tails is placed back in the MRI Chamber for a new check-up.
"It's not possible," Bunnie doesn't understand, pressing buttons on the scanner, still missing her left hand. "The first time, we didn't find any chips or anything abnormal inside his body. How could he have had this psychotic break?"
"It's time to find out a little more," Sally announces, pointing to the giant monitor. "Are these the new images from his head?"
"Yes. Hey... How weird... That area of his brain... It's kind of dark now..."
"Can you zoom in?"
"Of course I can," Bunnie annoys. "I don't need two hands for this."
She turns her head and looks into Sally's eyes.
And she cries.
"Sorry..."
"All right." Sally cuddles her friend.
After zooming in, Sally analyzes:
"Hmm... Looks like his neural network is malfunctioning. It's a lot of information to be processed."
When looking at the heart...
"Hey look!" Bunnie points. "Looks like his heart is a little bigger. Maybe that's the reason for his extraordinary strength."
"That hospital serum must be a powerful new drug they were injecting him periodically." Sally reasons. "At least we are on the right track."
"And what do you mean?"
"That now that he's been taken out of the hospital, the drug should slowly leave his body."
After checking the rest of the body, the two save their work and turn off the computer.
"And now? What do we give him to drink?" Bunnie questions.
"I have a little medicine here to calm his neurons." Sally pulls out the bottle. "That should keep him numb for at least the next day."
That night, Tails, now much more serene, rests on the mattress with his two guardians: Sally and Bunnie. One on each side of him.
"I'm sorry I quarreled with you," he recants.
"Okay," Sally forgives him. "You weren't 100% lucid."
"I'm sorry about your hand, Bunnie."
"Okay, sugar," Bunnie ignores, still with her severed hand. "I can lose my hands, my arms, my legs... The only thing I couldn't bear to lose is you."
"Thanks for rescuing me," he thanks.
"It was our duty," Bunnie assures. "We would give our lives for you."
"But you won't be able to stay with us much longer," Sally laments. "We are unable to treat your mysterious illness. Nor the powerful drug that infected you."
"But someone can," Bunnie recalls. "And you know who it is, little fox."
"Yes I know," Tails guarantees, while grabbing the arms of his "aunts". "But I promise I will never forget you. Wherever I go, you will all always be in my heart."
He kisses each one's arm.
"SMAC! SMAC!"
Sally and Bunnie laugh with their mouths closed.
"Wouldn't you rather kiss my flesh and blood arm?" Bunnie suggests.
"Whatever."
Sally then blows out the candle.
"Good night, Tails."
"Good night, sugar."
"Good night, loves."
The next day, in the morning, before the sun rises, Tails packs his things and prepares to go away.
When he leaves the workshop-lab, Sally and Bunnie are already waiting for him in the clearing.
And someone else.
A tall figure, wearing a blue-gray Chador, and no shoes.
When she takes off her hood...
"Miles Prower?"
"MOMMY!" Tails drops his bag and runs to his mother, Rosemary Prower, but loses his balance and falls.
BONC!
"Son! Didn't you get hurt?!"
"Not. It's OK. I mean, more or less," Tails muses, a bit bitterly.
Rosemary gathers her son into her arms.
"Oh my brat. Don't scare your mother like that."
"Oh Mom, give a break," complains the boy, good-naturedly. "And call me Tails."
"Don't worry, OK? Your 'girlfriends' have already told me about your autoimmune disease."
"MOMMY!" Tails yells, now very serious.
Rosemary laughs. Sally and Bunnie smile but are embarrassed.
The matriarch continues:
"But don't worry: living with me, in our own country, you will have a much more robust and complete physical therapy than you could have lived here, amidst the ruins of Freedom Fighters."
"I'd rather they go with us too," Tails complains. "But since there's no way, what can I do?"
"We'll have a lot to do here," Sally informs. "First locate Sonic and the others. Then defeat the 'black robots'. And with the gadgets you left ready for us, everything will be easier."
"We'll send news," Bunnie assures.
After kisses and hugs, Tails wears his own brown Chador.
He and Rosemary climb into the jet-glider and cover their faces with their hoods.
Sally and Bunnie, holding each other, watch mother and son fly away and disappear over the horizon.
Tears fall.
"He'll be fine."
"Another battle that our little soldier will overcome!"
THE END!