Toboe16: (grins) Thanks; glad you're enjoying it :D

FriedBrickWall: Thanks, and rest assured I will ;)

Shaddress: Yes, Sonic is twelve (I think his age is mentioned in an earlier chapter) Mighty is...well, he was a character in an early Sega game and in most of the comics as well ;)

Samantha27: Thanks :D Yes, Tails does know he can fly; in a couple of previous chapters it mentions how he flew down from his secret place...he just doesn't like doing it because then he feels even more of a freak ;) And I'm pleased you liked the part about the drawing as well :P

Sonic-Addict: (blushes) Thanks; glad you liked it :) And...well, is this update soon enough for you? ;)

SaffraEchidna: (grins) Thanks :D No, actually, I haven't got the Shadow the Hedgehog game; I'm waiting for it to be re-released on PC :P

Asher Tye: I agree...although the 'sick' effect was kind of what I was going for :) And like I told Samantha27, yes, Tails does know he can fly (and has flown in earlier chapters :P) but is somewhat ashamed of it; he just wants to fit in and be accepted as a regular fox kid, and he thinks his flying would put something of a dent in that ;) I'm glad you liked Sonic's 'extra' emotions too :P I've started writing the first Sonic game and since I'm a big fan of the whole 'Sonic created Robotnik' idea, it's far more of a dark, psychological story than this one but it sets the scene for Sonic's mood :P

"Sonic, I got it! I got it, Sonic, wake up, I got it!" Tails threw himself onto Sonic's chest then seized the hedgehog by the shoulders and shook him excitedly. "C'mon Sonic, wake up! I got it!"

Sonic opened his eyes blearily. "Huh? Got wha', Tails?"

Tails sat back on his heels, well pleased with himself. "I got the answer."

"Answer t'wha'?" Sonic said around a yawn.

"I know how you won't have to leave me!"

Sonic stopped mid-yawn, then glanced at him. "Tails, we've been through this before; I'm not staying in Emerald Hill Zone."

"I know. You're gonna leave an' go all over Mobius." Now Tails was looking as though all his dreams had come true. "An' I'm gonna leave with you."

"Oh righ'..." Sonic lay back down again, already more asleep than awake.

Tails, who knew the hedgehog fairly well by now, started counting in his head. He'd reached eight when Sonic's eyes flew open again and the hedgehog sat bolt upright, no longer sleepy.

"What?"

"I'm gonna leave with you, Sonic."

Sonic stared at him. "You're gonna what? Are you crazy?"

"Nuh uh! I was sitting up tonight trying to work out how to stop you leaving an' realised I couldn't, so I decided the on'y way would be to leave with you."

The hedgehog shook his head. "You are crazy, Tails. Either that or I'm having a bad dream."

"You're gonna need me, Sonic."

"How'd you figure that one?" Sonic shook his head again. "No offence, kiddo, but I think you need me a lot more than I need you."

"Well...jus' 'cause you're leaving Emerald Hill Zone doesn't mean you're leaving Westside Island. There're loads of cool Zones here to visit an'...an' you'll need a guide. We got some great Zones here an' I c'n show you round."

"Yeah? Which great Zones would these be? According to you, three Zones are so polluted you need a gas mask to last longer than about three minutes, one is underwater, one is the home of gambling addicts and drunkards, one's so dark you can't see the spike traps and one explodes on a regular basis."

Tails floundered. "Yeah but...but all that stuff's jus' for the tourists. You're a...a celery."

Sonic's lips quirked. "Celebrity, and I'm not that either." He shook his head. "Tails, I can't take you with me. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're just a little kid. I can't risk you getting hurt."

Tails frowned. "How would you be taking the risk when it would be me getting hurt? Not that I'm gonna," he added.

"It would be my fault if you got hurt because of some dangerous situation I dragged you into."

"So don't drag me into any dangerous situations," Tails said, with the air of one stating the painfully obvious. "Sonic, if you don't agree to take me along I'll jus' follow you anyway!"

Sonic smiled slightly. "You have your own plane now, do you?"

Tails snorted. "Ha! I don't need no plane, Sonic, 'cause I can—" He broke off, shutting his mouth with a snap. Sonic glanced at him.

"You can what?"

"Nothing," Tails mumbled. Nobody knew he could fly, and he planned to keep it that way. "You gotta take me with you, Sonic. Else you're not gonna have anyone to play the Pounce Attack Game with."

"Oh yeah. Right. Boy, how will I ever survive without being pounce attacked by a fox every two minutes?" Sonic said, grinning at Tails' scowl. The grin disappeared as he added, "Tails...why me? And don't say it's just because I'm Sonic the hedgehog!"

"Well, it is! Kinda. I mean, you haven't called me a freak or screamed whenever I brushed 'gainst you."

Sonic stared at him. "They do that here?"

Tails nodded. "Uh huh. You're the first person who ever wanted to touch me. Everyone else just yells Freak or yelps an' jerks away. I asked one of 'em why an' he said it was 'cause his dad said bein' a freak was con...cun...cantank'rous."

"Contagious."

"Right. An' if a grown-up says it, it's gotta be true. Sonic, aren't you scared I'm contagious? What's contagious?"

"It means...when someone has a disease that other people can get from touching them, that person's contagious."

"I have a disease?" Tails' eyes opened hugely. "A bad one? Real bad? Sonic, I-I don't wanna die..."

Sonic shook his head and caught hold of the fox in a hug. "You're not gonna die, Tails. You're not gonna die and you do not have a disease. It's just a lot of small people trying to talk big, that's all."

"Small?" Tails looked up at Sonic. "Have you seen Ursam's dad? He's humongous."

"Figure of speech."

"What's that?"

Sonic opened his mouth, shut it again and then said, "Never mind. Go to sleep, kiddo."

"Okay." Tails snuggled down in the corner – despite the lack of space, he insisted on sleeping in the cockpit with Sonic – and wrapped both namesakes around him for warmth. "An' I can come with you, right Sonic?"

"We'll talk about it some other time," Sonic said evasively. "Go to sleep." He closed his eyes and burrowed into his blanket, then emerged as a drop of rain splattered on his head. Growling under his breath, he reached out and yanked the sliding roof over them, then went back to sleep.

Tails stayed awake a lot longer, mostly because he had cramp in one foot and was frantically massaging it in an effort to make it go away.

Thunder growled softly in the sky above just as the muscles loosened and Tails cringed. Oh boy. He'd hoped for a little longer with Sonic before a storm came, or at the very least he'd hoped not to be in the hedgehog's plane. Storms were real bad news. You got thrown out in storms, and Sonic wanted to go without him anyway.

Tails frowned hard in concentration. He wasn't stupid, and he knew his chances of being able to fly fast enough and far enough to follow Sonic in the air were almost nonexistent. And he couldn't follow if the hedgehog didn't want him to; all Sonic had to do was carry him real far away and dump him and then zoom back and leave before Tails had even started to walk home. But there had to be a way...

His roving gaze caught sight of a spare cable Sonic had dragged out in the hopes it could help repair the Tornado and his eyes lit up as inspiration struck. Reaching out, Tails picked up the cable and then pushed the button to send Sonic's seat forward. It obeyed with a harsh grinding sound, one which roused the hedgehog from his slumber.

"Tails, wha' y'doin'?"

Tails tied the cable around his waist securely and fastened the other end to the shaft behind Sonic's seat, then pushed it back into place.

"Sorry. You c'n go back to sleep now."

Sonic half sat up. "But what were you doing?"

"Well, the seat whirs real loud when you move it forward an' if you try an' untie me I'll know an' wake up so I'll get some advance warning when you make me leave."

"What?" Sonic sat up more fully. "I'm not going to make you leave, Tails, what gave you that idea?"

"It's stormy."

As though to drive home the point, thunder exploded just above them and Tails yelped loudly and then dived forward, burying himself in Sonic's chest and quivering violently.

"You don't like storms?" Sonic guessed.

A vigorous shake of the head. "Uh uh. 'Cause I was sleeping when those people came an' made me leave my mum and dad's house an' it was dark an' all stormy like this an'...I jus' wanted to get some advance warning for when you make me leave your plane. 'Cause if it hadn't been stormy last time they wouldn'ta made me leave. An' it's stormy now so that means you're gonna make me leave."

Sonic rubbed the fox's back gently. "Tails, who the hell told you all this?"

"No one did, Sonic. I figured it out all by myself. An' when I was bein' carried out, one said to the other, looks like we're gonna have to bar the doors against this one an' the other said, well, it's perfect weather for throwing someone out. An' they did, Sonic, right into the storm."

Lightning and thunder blasted above them almost simultaneously and Tails yelped again, struggling to bury his head further into Sonic's warm body.

"Tails. Tails, c'mon, c'mere." Twisting around, Sonic hugged the fox tightly. "It's only the weather. It's not gonna hurt you."

"It's stormy, Sonic, an' last time it was stormy I got thrown out. You get thrown out in storms. An' last time that happened I banged my knees real bad. When you throw me out, c'n you do it gently?"

"I'm not gonna throw you out, kiddo. What do you mean, you banged your knees?"

"Jus' that. I tole you they threw me outta my mum and dad's house, Sonic."

"I didn't think you meant literally." Sonic shifted his grip, rocking the terrified fox back and forth in an effort to soothe him. It didn't appear to be working. "Where does your tying yourself to my plane come into this, anyway?"

"On'y that whichever end you untie to throw me out you're gonna wake me up 'cause the chair makes noise an' if you take the bit off my tummy I'll feel it 'cause I'm real ticklish down there."

A wicked gleam crept into Sonic's eyes and he slid one hand down to the fox's stomach. "I know."

"Nuh uh!" Tails batted the hedgehog's hand away, glowering at him. "Don't you dare, Sonic! Don't you dare tickle me! It's not fair to tickle someone an' then throw them out!"

The gleam in Sonic's eyes abruptly went out. "I wish you'd get over this, Tails. I'm not gonna throw you out."

Tails snorted. "Yeah, right. You must think I'm real dumb, huh Sonic? I tole you what that guy said. Nobody could throw me out the cave or my secret place 'cause nobody owns 'em but you own this plane an' I'm in it an' it's stormy an' that means I'm gonna get thrown out."

Sonic started to say (rather irritably) that no, it didn't, when he thought of something better. If he was going to solve this, he had to get to the root of it...

"Tails, tell me about the time you got thrown out of your home?"

The fox glanced up at him. "What's to tell?"

"A lot. From the beginning, please."

Tails looked away, ears drooping. "Well...I kinda don't know much 'cause I can't 'member exactly what happened. All I know was that my mum and dad died an' I went home an' went to bed late 'cause I could. I mean, I did miss my fam'ly an' everything, but no bedtime's no bedtime, Sonic, right?"

"You say so..."

"It was real stormy an' I used to like lying in bed an' listening to storms, but I was real tired an' so I went straight to sleep. Then..." Tails' voice trailed off and he ducked his head.

"Go on," Sonic said softly.

"Then someone grabbed me an' I woke up. Someone else grabbed me an' they both started carrying me out my room an' out the house. I heard 'em say what I tole you they said, 'bout the weather an' everything, an' then they threw me out an' I banged both knees. I tried to go back in but the guy at the door said I couldn't an' that I had to go 'cause of that foreclosure thing. I kep' trying to go back but they kept shoving me away. Eventually one of them hit me an' I fell 'sleep. When I woke up I was in a forest an' I ran back home but there were other people living there an' they wouldn't let me in, not even to get my favourite toy to take with me." Tails' ears had drooped so far down that they were almost pressed flat against his skull and he turned to rest the side of his face against Sonic's chest, then looked up at him. "I miss my toys, Sonic. D'you think those people are taking good care of them?"

"Yeah," Sonic said very quietly. "I'm sure they are. And I'll tell you something else, little buddy; what happened to you had nothing at all to do with the weather. Those guys would have done what they did if it had been sunny, cloudy, snowing or raining frogs."

Tails' ears perked up slightly. "Can it do that?"

"I dunno. I'm not a rain cloud. But I'll tell you what I do know; I'm not gonna throw you out, Tails, no matter what happens or what the weather does."

"Why'd they do it then?"

How did you explain the concept of mortgages and repossession to a four-year-old, Sonic wondered wretchedly. Aloud he said, "Well...your parents had a mortgage, which means they borrowed a lot of money from someone to help buy their house, and when they died they still owed some of that money. So the people who lent it to them decided to take their house instead."

Tails flattened his ears. "But they didn't have to take my toys, Sonic. They're not worth money. Did my mum and dad have a more itch thing for them too?"

"Mortgage, and no, kiddo. You only have mortgages for big things like houses or hovercars."

"Okay, but then why didn't they let me take just one toy? I know I can make toys an' ev'rything, but I still miss 'em. Sonic, am I ever gonna see 'em again?"

Sonic took a deep breath. "No, Tails. I don't think so. I'm sorry, kiddo." He paused. "D'you know who the guys were who threw you out?"

Tails yawned. "Jus' some guys. I'm real sorry I woke you, Sonic. If you're not gonna throw me out, c'n we go back to sleep?"

"Yeah. Yeah, lil buddy, let's get some shuteye."

Satisfied, Tails closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes.

Next to him, Sonic remained awake for a long, long time. Tails had told Sonic about getting thrown out, and the hedgehog was shrewd enough to read between the lines and understand just how traumatic and frightening an experience it had been for the little fox.

Falls asleep in a nice warm house and gets woken up by some strangers grabbing him and forcibly ejecting him...that must've been bad. Poor little guy. Sonic reached down and ran a hand over the fur on Tails' head and back. The fox mumbled something deep in his throat and squirmed, pressing close to Sonic's touch. Jeez, would it have killed them to at least wait until morning?

He shook his head. Someone as naturally playful and affectionate as Tails...it stood to reason that the kid would feel loneliness more acutely than most people.

Well, there was only one way to sort this once and for all. Wrapping Tails securely in a blanket, the hedgehog slid out silently and set out for the restaurant where he'd bought Tails that lunch. He needed answers, and the bear who owned that restaurant was the only one he trusted to give them to him. The guy hadn't acted the way he had because he thought Tails was a freak – which had been Sonic's first impression – he'd acted that way because he thought Tails was sneaking out without paying...in short, he'd treated Tails (and Sonic) exactly the same way he'd treat any other customer, and that alone had earned him Sonic's respect.

"You lived here long?" he asked as soon as he arrived. The bear didn't even blink.

"All my life."

Sonic traced a finger through the spilt gin on top of the bar as he said casually, "So...if I were to ask you about a certain family, you could tell me?"

The bear froze, then glared at him. "Asking questions like that can lead to a heap o' trouble in these parts."

"More trouble than Robotnik?" Sonic asked, squashing the mental wail that always surfaced in his mind whenever the doctor's name was mentioned, a wail that was a kind of inner anguish. "Look, I'm not gonna drop you in it. I just want to know...that two-tailed fox who was with me a month or so back. D'you know anything about him?"

"Young Miles Prower?" The bear shrugged. "Not much. Folks died in a hovercar accident a couple years back and his house was repossessed."

"Who by?"

The bear stopped rubbing glasses and stared hard at Sonic. "You wouldn't be thinkin' along the lines of revenge, would ya?"

"Revenge!" Sonic feigned offence. "Perish the thought! No, I just want to find out who chucked that little cub out in the middle of the night and left him on his own and have a little chat with them."

"Yeah? This wouldn't be the kinda little chat that leaves broken limbs behind, would it?"

"What?" Now Sonic's offence was real. "No! What kinda guy do you think I am?"

"Just checkin'." The bear shrugged. "I can tell you what you wanna know, but it'll cost ya."

"How much?" Sonic said resignedly.

"Twenty five Mobiums, plus you recommend this place to anyone you meet on your travels."

Sonic, who hadn't expected to get away with less than fifty, rolled his eyes. "Fine. Here." He handed over three ten Mobium notes and took the five in change. "Now who are they and where can I find them?"

The bear pointed. "Straight outta here, turn right and keep on that road. You'll come to a club called Shakers. They hang out in there, when they hang out anywhere. You're looking for a civet and a...actually, there's just the civet; the jackal half of that partnership died three years ago. Guy's got a son called Caud, maybe you know him?"

"We've met," Sonic said flatly. "Shakers, huh? Okay, thanks." Turning, he sped away, not stopping or even slowing until he was standing in front of the club. Then, taking a deep breath – clubs like this really weren't his scene – he pushed open the door and stepped in.

He was pleasantly surprised to find it well-lit and nicely decorated, with several families sitting around various tables and chatting to each other. The gang (big surprise, Sonic thought wearily) was clustered around the bar and each taking turns trying to persuade, cajole and intimidate the person working there that they were legally old enough to drink.

Pity that guy wasn't on duty when I got plastered, Sonic thought, then shifted in readiness as the jackal caught sight of him and nudged Caud, who turned.

"Finally get sick of hanging out with the freak, huh Sonic?" the civet drawled by way of greeting. "Not before time. You wanna drink?"

Sonic shot him an icy stare. "Not with you. I'm looking for your father."

"Over here."

Glancing in the direction of the voice, Sonic saw that the civet who spoke could only be Caud's father; the resemblance was uncanny. His friends might prove a slight inconvenience, but nothing to worry about.

"I'm glad I found you." Sonic didn't have to raise his voice; the entire club had fallen silent and was watching the proceedings with a predatory interest. The DJ had even stopped the music, the better to eavesdrop.

"You work in the repo business, right?" Sonic continued.

Caud shifted his weight, suddenly uneasy. He may have been a bully but he wasn't stupid, and he had a very good idea what Sonic was there to talk about.

Caud's father took a swig of his drink before fixing slightly bloodshot eyes on the hedgehog. "Yeah, 'sright."

"Two years ago, you repossessed a certain house belonging to a family by the name of Prower."

"What if I did?" Alcohol, along with his own natural temper, was making the civet belligerent and he shoved his chair back from the table, rising to his feet in an attempt to intimidate Sonic. It would probably have worked too, if the hedgehog hadn't spent a recent six months of his life fighting a guerrilla war single-handedly and coming face to face with far larger and more terrifying adversaries than a half-drunk civet.

"You seized a two year old kid and threw him out into a storm much like this one."

The civet shrugged. "Just doin' my job. Kid like that don't have no real feelings anyway."

Sonic stared at him coldly. "Did he cry? Plead with you to stop or let him go, or at least explain why you were doing what you were?"

Another shrug. "All kids cry. And why should I waste my breath explaining somethin' to a freak who won't understand it? What business is it of yours, anyway?"

Sonic took a long, deep breath. For the first time in his life, he understood how someone in a towering rage could commit murder.

"Touch him again and I will annihilate not only you but your entire Zone into the bargain," he said in deadly tones. "You know who I am. You know I can do it. I guess it's no surprise your son turned out how he did. You know his gang told Tails to mutilate himself?"

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't come up with that idea!" Caud protested, then cringed as the hedgehog's jade stare swivelled around to pierce him.

"Did you try and stop it?"

Caud squirmed. He was three years older than the hedgehog and at least eighty pounds heavier, but something about Sonic's stare made him feel like a little cub again.

"It was only a bit of fun. That kid's got no sense of humour."

"Well, at least you think of him as another kid now," Sonic said. "I guess that's something of a step forward." He shook his head. "Is there anyone here who can tell me truthfully that they had no idea what was going on?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Caud protested again.

"It damn well was!" Sonic practically snarled at him. "All of you who turned a blind eye to this crap, who didn't have the guts to stand up and say something, it's your fault. I now have a fox cub hanging onto me who has been begging me to slice off one of his tails because he thinks if he only has one, you'll be more likely to let him join in and play with you."

The jackal sitting next to Caud snorted with laughter. "Yeah? Man, he really is a freak, isn't he? Did he say when this was gonna happen? I wouldn't mind watching." A strange glitter appeared in his eyes. "Hell, if he needs help, I'll be more than happy to do the honours."

"Yeah," Sonic said icily. "I bet you would, you sick jerk. And what I said to that guy goes double for you; come near Tails again and I will beat you into the ground. And you—" this was addressed to the rest of the patrons, who all seemed suddenly very interested in their meals— "you could have done something. You could've taken him in, fed him, looked after him, hell, even just given him a hug once in a while. And instead, what are you doing? You're stuffing your faces, drinking, chatting and having a good time while some little kid cries his eyes out every night because you've convinced him he's a freak, that nobody's ever going to want to be friends with him or play with him." He spun on his heel and raced to the door, where he paused. "I'm leaving now," he added in hard tones. "Feel free to pick up where you left off."

---

The sound of someone clambering in next to him woke Tails out of a deep sleep. Opening his eyes, he came face to face with Sonic, who was eyeing him with folded arms, although the hedgehog looked more amused than angry.

"Miles Prower, huh?" he said.

Tails winced. Oh boy. How had Sonic found out his real name?

"Don't call me that, mister, please," he said aloud. "Anything but that."

A wicked gleam crept into Sonic's eyes. "Then don't call me mister."

"Sorry mister."

"Apology accepted. Miles."

"Where'd you go to, Sonic?"

The hedgehog smiled slightly. "I had some business to attend to, Tails, that's all. Go on back to sleep."

"You gonna sleep too?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am, but not here; it's too crowded with two of us. I'll be in the passenger seat if you need me."

Climbing out, he slid noiselessly along into the seat in front and settled in. Out the corner of his eye, he was vaguely aware of Tails double-checking the security of the cable around the fox's waist and sighed. He couldn't blame the kid for being reluctant to trust his word. All he could do was wait and hope Tails lost a little of his paranoia, preferably sooner rather than later.

With that in mind, he fell asleep and didn't even stir until—

"Sonic." Tails clambered into the passenger seat and shook the hedgehog. "Sonic, wake up."

"Huh? Wha..."

"Look." Tails pointed. "What're them?"

Sonic sat up, followed the fox's finger, caught sight of the machines and abruptly dropped down again, pulling Tails down with him.

"Ow! Sonic, what—"

"Quiet." Sonic's hand clamped over the fox's mouth, not hard but firmly enough to prevent Tails from crying out. "Don't move. Don't make a sound. Those things are buzz bombers. They don't carry bombs or anything crazy like that, but their targeting system's based on sound and movement."

Tails started to say that this targeting system would probably find it much harder to actually target them if Sonic would stop explaining all this to him, then thought of a better question.

"Is it Robotnik?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." Tails barely breathed the word, but there was no mistaking the excitement that shone in his eyes.

"No it damn well isn't cool! It's..." Sonic shook his head. "Damn, I thought he'd given up for good after our fight in Sky Base."

"Sonic, what's the red light for?"

Sonic froze.

"What red light?" he said very carefully.

"The one that's moving up your tummy."

Sonic glanced down to see the red light of a buzz bomber tracker beam passing over his hide.

"Oh crap!" He seized Tails' wrist and bolted into the forest, towing the fox along behind as though he weighed next to nothing. Behind them, he heard the whirr of machinery as one, then two, then half a dozen buzz bombers locked in on his movement and picked up the pace.

"Sonic, there's a chasm ahead!" Tails yelped over the rushing wind. "Sonic!"

Sonic jammed on the brakes, skidded until he was knee deep in sand, then abruptly veered off to the right. There was a rumbling sound and the ground collapsed under him, spilling him down towards the rushing river at the bottom.

"No! No!"

"Hang on!" Tails shifted to grip Sonic's wrists, there was a thwapping sound and to his amazement, Sonic found himself being propelled through the air. Tails managed to fly him across the river, namesakes whirring frantically as he tried to compensate for Sonic's weight, then both tails cramped simultaneously and he yelped, dropping out of the air to land hard on top of the hedgehog. Twisting around, he grabbed both tails and rubbed them hard, whimpering slightly.

Sonic stared at Tails, mouth open.

"You can fly?"

The fox squirmed. Here it came, the cries of Freak and Loser. Still, his flying had saved Sonic's life, so he supposed that was something to console himself with.

"Uh...yeah."

"You can fly?"

"You don't have to rub it in," Tails said miserably. "I jus'...I didn't wanna see you die."

There was a silence.

"You can fly?" Sonic said for the third time. He seemed to be having difficulty getting his head around the concept of an airborne fox.

"Yeah. Look, you don't gotta tell me I'm a freak, Sonic, I know I'm a freak."

"Are you kidding? A flying fox..." Sonic shook his head, now grinning broadly. "Oh man, how cool is that! I wish I could fly."

Tails hesitated. "You mean...you're not gonna start yelling things like freak or loser?"

"Are you kidding?" Sonic said again. "That...you just...where'd you learn how to do that?"

"Dunno. I jus' always been able to do it. That's how I found my secret place; I flew up there. An' my cave, though you can get there by walking too, it's jus' real far up in the mountains." Tails perked up slightly. "You...you wanna see it?" he asked hesitantly, as though frightened the hedgehog was going to throw the offer back in his face.

Sonic glanced at the little fox and forced a grin. "Sure."

"Okay!" Tails leapt to his feet, grinning back and seized Sonic by the hand. "C'mon, let's go!" He tugged the hedgehog behind him for all of three yards before abruptly stopping and slumping. "Oh."

"What's up?"

"I forgot. It's all freezed up. Completely solid 'til spring."

Sonic considered. "Ice? Solid ice?"

"Uh huh. That's why I sleep in the woods or in my secret place. Or in your plane, but on'y recently."

"Ah." Sonic looked over his shoulder. No signs of badniks. Was it possible he'd imagined them, hallucinations brought about by the stress of his fight with Robotnik?

But if that was possible, how had Tails seen them?

Sonic puzzled over this for a few minutes, then dismissed the idea, shoving the badniks to the back of his mind. Probably just a routine patrol. Yeah. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

Smiling at Tails, a more genuine smile this time, Sonic winked.

"Well, if it's only ice stopping you getting into your cave, I may be able to help you there."

Okay, so that's it for this chapter (just as well since I'm on the evening shift at work and I gotta go in about ten minutes :P) Anyway, if you read, please review!