...

...

...

"Hello?"

"Yes, we need you to come to the hospital right away."

I sat on the bed, hugging my knees, staring out the window at the night sky. It must have been a full moon tonight... Green Hill Zone (and yes, that's actually what it's called), was bathed in a pale, white glow... it was beautiful. I wiped my eyes on the sleeves of some blue, silk pajamas, on loan from Claudio. Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised if these were just from Claudio's own collection... they smelled just a bit like the cologne that the raccoon wore. Oddly enough, it was nice... it felt like I was at a sleepover, and someone loaned me a pair of PJs, and not that I was on some alien planet, about to embark on some quest for 7 mystical stones that would slingshot me who knows how far to get to my home planet.

I took another deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I was so nervous and excited, I almost couldn't fall asleep. I mean... yes, I was terrified of what was to come, but... after putting some deep thought into it, I couldn't deny, a part of me was thrilled. I was going to go on an adventure with Sonic the Hedgehog! I was going to see new places that I might never get the chance to see again. I thought back to my time here, realizing that I'd honestly been pretty down... and I wouldn't be surprised if I was annoying everyone. I resolved to be more positive about what was going on, just like at home. Bad things happen, you can either let it hurt you, or you can keep pushing forward.

I stood up, walking to the window to get a better look out. Where I lived, you never got to see anything like this, no rolling plains or lush, green grass... I wished I had a camera. As I looked around, I caught sight of a soft light coming from Tails' hangar... was he still awake? I watched for a bit more, trying to catch any sign of movement, before getting dressed and slipping out of the bedroom, heading out into the crisp night air. I could hear the whirring of power tools as I walked into the warmly lit space. Tails had on a pair of goggles and was hunched over his workbench, doing something to a small device. I cleared my throat politely and knocked on the bench.

"Sorry, am I intruding...?" I asked apologetically as he looked up at me.

"Not at all!" He motioned to one of the chairs as he bent over his project again. "I'm almost done actually, I didn't need to do as much as I thought. What are you doing up, isn't it like... 2 in the morning?"

"2:30," I corrected, sitting in one of the chairs. "I just can't sleep. I mean, I've never gone on an... an adventure before!" I laughed a bit.

"Are you nervous?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, but... I'm also pretty excited now," I smiled. "Daring adventure, brand new world to explore... I'll never get another chance to do... anything like this! Not to mention getting to meet people you've kinda grown up knowing..."

"What do you think of us so far?" Tails asked, turning to give me his full attention now. He removed his goggles. "Are we anything like the video games?"

"How'd you know about that?" I asked. Tails laughed softly.

"Sonic told me about it while you were falling asleep," He replied. "Soooo...?"

"I guess it depends..." I thought for a moment. "I really only played the earlier games, but then my brother got older and wanted to play more, and most of the games are only single player, so... I just let him take over." I pursed my lips, thinking again. "...you're pretty much like how you are in the games... so is Amy... Knuckles is actually pretty gruff and tough in the games I've played, he's much nicer in real life."

"And what about Sonic?" Tails asked, grabbing a chair and sitting down.

"Sonic... is... kind of a mystery to me..." I spoke slowly, analyzing everything I had seen Sonic do while I was here. "In the games, he's sort of a free-spirit. He's pretty happy-go-lucky and just cocky enough that he seems super confident without being full of himself... He never stays in one place too long, and he always tries to do the right thing, especially where friends are concerned."

"Sounds like Sonic to me," Tails reached over to a small table on wheels, grabbing a mug and taking a drink of whatever was inside. "What's so mysterious about it?"

"...I don't know..." I replied, thinking back to just a few times... times where he had patted me or sounded concerned for me... which ok, maybe it wasn't too out of character... but there was something else. Those... looks... "...he keeps... looking at me funny..."

"Funny?" Tails sat up a bit more. "Like what?"

"I... I don't really know..." I shook my head. "It's like..." I paused. "...like he was sad... like he saw me, and it made him sad..."

"Sad...?" Tails mused, squinting and looking down, obviously deep in thought.

"Yeah. He was staring at me like that on the way here from the hospital, during the first night, a couple other times…" I frowned. "Tails, did Sonic ever mention that he didn't... I don't know, he didn't like me, or he didn't trust me or something?" I asked, feeling a bit of worry settle in my gut. Tails quickly shook his head.

"No, not at all! You're a cool dude Josh!" Tails smiled reassuringly before looking down again. "I can't think of any reason why Sonic would..." Tails drifted off mid-sentence, muttering something to himself for a moment. He raised his head, looking me up and down. "...Josh... did you... um..." He stopped talking again, scratching his head, before huffing, and looking up at me apologetically. "I think he's just worried about you." His smile dropped. "...If you ever need someone to talk to... he's always willing to listen, ok?"

"Oh... o-okay, sure."

"And... you can talk about anything with him, ok? Literally anything, he really won't mind."

"...a-alright…?"

"...sorry..." Tails chuckled sheepishly, realizing how serious he had gotten, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I'm just worried about you too. We were just so freaked out about you and you "

"Ah, yeah..." It was my turn to be a bit embarrassed. "I'm normally not like that,"

That's a lie

"But, I guess I just kinda felt like a fish out of water." I leaned back in the chair. "Today's better though. Now that I'm more used to... everything." I smiled and moved a bit closer to Tails. "So... can you show me what you were working on...?" Tails grinned, his tails wagging behind him. He jumped up, grabbing my wrist and eagerly pulling me to his workbench. He plucked up a set of pins, dropping each in his hand, before handing them all to me.

"...these look amazing...!" I exclaimed, picking one up and staring at it. It looked like a snowflake with a thick, black border.

"Put it on!" Tails insisted, rocking a bit on his toes. I watched him almost mentally urge me to test out his latest invention before I finally decided to give him what he wanted. I undid the small clasp on the back and pushed the pin through my outer shirt. I felt a sudden blast of wind from beneath me, ruffling my clothes and making my hair whip around a bit. I shut my eyes, raising my arms up to cover my face. But when it was done, I noticed that I was wearing slightly different clothing... which was SO COOL. The outer shirt had changed, turning completely white, and extending out into a warm hoodie, the inner shirt turning black, aside from the bronze design on it. My jeans had turned almost black as well, just a bit brighter than the shirt. The only thing that remained the same were my shoes.

"Woah..." I laughed a bit, holding out my arms to check out my new jacket. "The pin did this?"

"Yup! It changes the fabric structure, and can even sew additional material onto the existing one," He took off the pin, reverting me to my normal clothes. "Just don't tell Claudio. He doesn't like it when I mess with clothes." He attached another pin to me, this one a picture of the sun. Another burst of air, and my outer shirt had totally disappeared, my inner turning into a light blue tank top, and my jeans turning into a pair of khaki cargo shorts. "You'll be prepared, no matter what kind of situation you run into." Tails removed the pin and placed it in my hand as my clothes changed back to normal.

"...Tails, I don't know what to say," I said quietly, staring at the pins before looking up at Tails again. "Thank you..." Tails shrugged modestly.

"It's what I do," He replied. "I just hope they'll be useful to you."

I nodded, smiling a bit wider, before chuckling a bit. "U-Um... can I... like... hug you?" Tails just laughed before opening his arms. I squealed quietly and hurried over to him, throwing my arms around him. He did the same, squeezing me tightly... oh my gosh he was so soft... I almost forgot to let go. I stepped back. "Sorry..."

"For what? I like hugs!" Tails laughed again. "Nothing to be sorry for!"

I laughed with him a bit as we both sat back down. And then we just talked. And just kept talking. Talked about what we liked, what we didn't like. We made jokes. We told stories. I listened to him talk about science, and his latest projects. He listened to me talk about my love for singing and my favorite music. I don't think either of us even noticed the sun come up. By the time Sonic came looking for us, Tails didn't feel like someone I had been watching through a television screen for most of my life. He felt like someone I hadn't seen in such a long time, and we just had to catch up… he felt like a friend.

"Looks like you two are getting along," Sonic said as he walked in. Tails nodded enthusiastically, I pretty much mirroring him. Sonic laughed a bit before looking over at me. "Ready to go?" I felt my heart sink a bit.

"Oh... is it that time already?" I asked, looking over at Tails sadly. His ears drooped as he looked back at me, before standing, hurrying over to his bench again, and picking up a glass phone.

"Message me as soon as you get settled somewhere," He said, demonstrating how to unlock the phone and get to messages. "And tell your brother hi for me when you find him."

I stood up as well, feeling like I was going to cry. I quickly hugged Tails again. "I promise I'll come to say goodbye before I go." Tails nodded, holding onto me tightly. We just held each other for a while... I finally chuckled quietly, pulling away and wiping my eyes a bit. "Does this mean we're friends?" I joked, which brought a smile to Tails' face as he laughed.

"I guess so," He wiped his eyes as well, before looking back at me. "...good luck Josh."

"...thank you..." I nodded, before looking over at Sonic. For just the briefest moment, I swore I saw that look on Sonic's face again... but it was gone once again, his normal expression back in place. I know I wasn't imagining it... I don't think...

"Ready?" He asked, motioning outside. I nodded, walking towards him and back out into the sun, Tails following behind him. Amy was standing outside, alongside Knuckles, who was stretching out. The echidna noticed me coming out, smiling at me before going back to his stretches. Amy perked up and hurried over to me.

"Just wanted to say good luck," She said, taking my hand and shaking it a bit. I smiled up at her before hugging her as well. She was a bit surprised, but quickly hugged me back, folding her arms around me.

"Thank you, Amy... for everything..." I said quietly, giving her a squeeze before letting go. She smiled and nodded to me, stepping back and going over to Tails. I looked over at waved at the two, before walking over to where Sonic and Knuckles were. Sonic looked down at me, extending his hand.

"Don't let me go," I joked, slipping my hand into his.

"No promises," Sonic smirked.

Eggman drummed his fingers on the arm of the captain's chair of his small aircraft, the "Egg Pod." And he wasn't happy. His jaw was clenched, his face was a bit red... And it wasn't just because he had an oblivious yellow robot chattering away in his ear, jostling him every now and then. No. He was angry because his plan had backfired more spectacularly than even he could have imagined. He didn't just lose the Chaos Emeralds. He lost the Emeralds without a way to find them again. Not easily anyway.

After that boy ruined his plans, and after he spent the majority of the day pouting and swearing revenge on a new enemy, he discovered that only the console for his new machine had exploded in the wake of Chaos Blast... the rest of it was still largely intact. His plan could still proceed, he just needed to rebuild the console, and find the Emeralds again! It would be easy, he already had a few of his Pawns working on it. He thought finding the Emeralds would be simple too, just a matter of scanning again.

What he hadn't counted on were the supercharged Emeralds putting out such a strong energy signature that he couldn't track them with any efficacy. Even after he finally got his scanner to accept such powerful signals without crashing, the energy signature each Emerald put out was massive. And it wasn't like an Emerald was just in the middle of whatever energy field... he tried that. But when he arrived, nothing was there except for a bunch of trees. So, he had to resort to using an a… less exact method. Basically, a machine that would play hot or cold with you. The closer you actually got to an Emerald, the faster it would beep.

It hadn't changed for the past four hours.

Eggman wasn't happy.

"...so then I was like, 'There's no way you can do that!' And he was like 'Oh yeah?' And I was like 'Oh yeah!' So he took the cucumber and-"

"Cubot, one more word out of you and I'll-"

"Boss, look!" Orbot jumped up from his place lying on the control panel, pointing down to the ground below. Eggman looked down to see Sonic, that red guy he hangs around, and... the boy running across a bridge, sprinting into a forest. Eggman growled, starting to pitch the Eggcraft forward, ready to blow the trio to smithereens. "Wait, Boss!" Orbot waved his hands.

"What Orbot, can't you see I'm busy taking my revenge?!" Eggman growled, whipping around to look at the red, round bot.

"But Boss, why would they be running around out here unless they knew where they were going?" Orbot held up a finger. "If we followed them, we might find the Chaos Emeralds in the process!"

"Hmm..." Eggman twirled his mustache around his finger for a moment. "We could..." He crossed his arms and sunk down in his seat. "But I want revenge noooooow..."

"Well, if you see what they know, not only can you beat them to the Emeralds so you can take over the world, but then you can destroy them that much easier!" Orbot held his hands behind his back, looking like a proud little kid. Eggman hummed a bit before leaning forward, slowly moving the Egg Pod forward, just enough so that he could still make out his enemies without them seeing him.

"...well... I guess it couldn't hurt..." He grumbled, before sitting up, shutting off his radar. "Alright, we'll follow them." He concluded, flipping a few switches and starting to get the vehicle into motion... but stopped. "...wait..."

"What's the matter, Boss?"

"They'll see me," Eggman grumbled, sitting back again. "They'd try to throw me off the trail," Eggman growled. He quietly brooded for a moment, trying to think of a solution, before a wicked grin crossed his face. "...so we'll bribe someone to keep an eye on them," He quickly started typing something into the control panel in front of him, before a screen popped up in front of him. There was a quiet ringing before someone picked up.

"I told you never to delete my number."

"But you picked up!" Eggman chuckled. The person on the screen huffed a bit.

"What do you want?"

"I have an offer for you-"

"I don't care."

"That involves taking out Sonic the Hedgehog."

"...I'm listening."

Eggman sneered. "Excellent. Come over, and I'll explain everything."

"This better not be a waste of my time."

"Trust me... it won't be."

The figure hung up.

"But Boss, I thought you wanted to take out Sonic..." Orbot seemed a bit unnerved after seeing who his boss wanted to bring here.

"And I will. But we need eyes on the ground, someone who can blend in without anyone seeing him." Eggman pressed the tips of his fingers together. "When the time is right... I'll take my revenge."

"Sonic!" I did my best to cry out over the wind rushing past us. "Can we stop?!"

Sonic nodded, heading over to Knuckles and tapping his shoulder. I felt us slow down until we were back at walking speed. We found that, while we could run for quite a while, I was the weak link of the three of us. I already wasn't in the best shape, and then having to run/skate alongside Sonic… it was surprisingly taxing. I didn't have inexhaustible stamina as Sonic and Knuckles did, though I certainly liked to think I did. In fact, the first time we stopped, it was actually because Sonic noticed I had no color in my face and I looked like I was about to throw up. He made me tell him whenever I got to the point where I felt like I couldn't hold a light conversation after that. And he'd check. Often.

"Doing ok?" He asked as we walked through the forest. I nodded, taking a deep breath like how Sonic taught me during our first pit stop. "We still on course?"

I held up my hand, my ring turning red again. I nodded. "Yup."

"Alright..." Sonic nodded, squinting ahead a bit. "...looks like we're getting close to something... When we get going again, wanna make that your next goal?" That was our system. We set goals. Sonic would look ahead and either point out a landmark or name one that he knew was ahead. Then, when Sonic saw that I was ready, we'd run to the goal, and if I could keep going, great, if not, we walk for a bit to take a break. We never really stopped, there was always some forward movement. I felt bad for stopping at first though, apologizing every time we had to until Knuckles "snapped" at me.

"Yeah, you better be sorry you're taking care of your body!" He "yelled" at me, giving me an over exaggerated glare. He cracked a smile after a moment before stretching. "Seriously, don't apologize for this. It's better to take these small breaks now than it is to run until you're exhausted. We don't want to have to take you back to the hospital."

I hadn't thought of that. I stopped apologizing afterward. And I made sure we took regular breaks.

"Alright, my turn..." Sonic mused, putting a finger to his chin. The second time we stopped, I thought it would be fun to ask one of those "ice breaker" questions. You know, like, "If you were stuck on a deserted island, and you could only have one personal belonging, what would it be?" (That was my first question. Sonic said his guitar, Knuckles said the Master Emerald.) The guys thought it was kinda fun, and Knuckles wanted to give it a shot next time we took a break. So, we decided that every pit stop, as we walked, we'd get to know each other a little bit better.

Sonic's guilty pleasure is listening to a German girl band called "The LaLas." His biggest regret is not going to college. Knuckles has never kissed a girl before, not on purpose anyway. If he weren't guarding the Master Emerald, he would love to go on a wine tasting tour across the globe. I revealed that I sing female power ballads when I'm in the shower. Tomatoes make me feel sick. So far, we'd mostly been talking about pretty surface level stuff, nothing too crazy.

"Got one," Sonic smiled, looking at the two of us. "You just found out you have an hour to live, what do you do?"

Well, surface level until now.

"Woah, where did that come from?" Knuckles asked, looking a bit surprised. Sonic shrugged a bit.

"It's great that we're talking about our hobbies and interests, but if we wanna get to know each other, we gotta dig down to the important stuff, right?" He asked, scratching his ear.

"That's tough though… would money be a problem?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, there's a lot I'd like to do, but if I've only got an hour…"

"Money isn't a problem, and I'll add that you could go anywhere in the world in no time at all thanks to yours truly." Sonic folded his arms, looking more and more proud of his question.

"Oh, easy then, go eat a fancy meal at one of my dream vineyards," Knuckles nodded, satisfied.

"Oh gee, thanks for inviting your friends," Sonic deadpanned, almost looking offended. Almost.

"What? I don't want to spend my last hour talking and being cried over! I'd rather be alone, so I can enjoy my meal and reflect on my life," He replied. "If I had some warning, I'd be with you guys the day before, but I just would rather spend my last few minutes by myself." Sonic seemed a bit taken aback by how deep Knuckles' answer actually was… He nodded and turned to look at me.

"...well…" I had to think for a little while… one hour huh…? "I'd probably… talk with my little brother. Tell him how much I love him, and that I'll do everything I can to keep watching over him…" I shuffled my feet a bit. "Just to make sure he didn't feel like he was all alone."

"Man… you're a good big brother, you know that?" Knuckles said, shaking his head as if he were in disbelief. "Your parents must be proud."

"Yup…" I replied.

They sure were.

"...well, you ready to keep going?" Sonic asked, giving my hand a squeeze. ...funny, I totally forgot we were still holding hands. I nodded.

"So, what is that up ahead anyway?" I asked, pointing forward.

"That's the next city we can stop in to rest," Sonic looked ahead, starting into a run already. "Casinopolis."

We dashed toward our next goal. As we did, I happened to look up and catch a glimpse at Sonic. For the briefest moment, it seemed like he was giving me that funny look again… but, just like always, it was gone, as if he had never made eye contact with me before.

I just had to wonder… what was he thinking…?

Oh hey there friends! You're probably wondering what this is! Well, I missed doing little author's notes at the beginning/end of chapters like I used to back when I was writing the original My Brother's Keeper. So I thought I'd do something like that once again! I'm putting this at the end in case anyone wants to skip over it, so that it doesn't ruin the flow of the chapter. But… yeah, I'll put little extra stuff down here if I feel like a chapter warrants a bit more of an explanation! And for my first one, I thought I'd talk about why I made some of the plot changes I did between MBK and MBKr:T!

So, how are you liking it so far? Good, bad? For MBK veterans, those who have been with me since I wrote the original, I hope you're liking some of the changes. If you're new and have never read my first try at this story, lemme explain a few things.

So, Josh and Jacob were orphans in the original story, but they never told ANYONE back on Earth about it. They were, somehow, able to live and survive on their own. So, that bit of backstory, obviously, I wanted to be changed, make it seem just a bit more believable. Not only that though, I also wanted to better flesh out what they were like before they came, hint at some of the darker things that they've been dealing with since their parent's passing. Losing family is hard, and different people deal with it in different ways.

Writing this new opening was fun, having Josh start off a bit more reserved and emotional, not really as happy and excited to be doing this as he felt he should be. I'm really glad I could expand upon the original opening chapters a bit, while at the same time condensing them so that we can get to the action just a bit faster!

I really wanted to do Jacob some justice this time, so I was really happy to devote nearly a whole chapter to him. And there'll be more where that came from! However, just a heads up, the focus will remain on Josh, as this story is mostly about his struggles. While Jacob has his own coming up, they'll possibly be explored further in a later volume.

Now, to address something that one of the reviewers PMd me about: No, the shoes do not mean that Josh has powers now. They were simply a way for me to justify Josh getting tugged along at high speeds by Sonic, something I didn't do in the original. That being said… Josh may be getting some abilities… later on… don't freak out, he won't be overpowered or anything like that, but I figured it would give him something to do rather than stand around and panic. So there.

Until the next chapter, PEACE!