"You suck!" the red echidna yelled angrily into his headset. "You are a failure of a living being! Everything in your life up to this point has been nothing more than a long, complicated series of events leading up to now, the ultimate pinnacle of your failures. You need to re-evaluate every single decision you've ever made in your life and then look in the mirror and ask, 'What am I doing wrong? What's the point of life?' and then go find the answers to those questions. I'm dead serious, man, you need serious help. That move you just did? Not only did it cost us the whole game, it was the stupidest move I've ever seen a gold tier player make ever. How you can be gold tier and suck so much ass at this game? How can you be gold tier and be such a failure? Your parents should disown you, you deaf motherf-"

"Annndddd that's enough," Tails said as he ripped the headset off Knuckles' head and walked over to the entertainment center to shut the console off.

Knuckles slammed his controller down on the couch in anger. "Dude! What the hell?! I was in the middle of something!"

Tails crossed his arms. "You were in the middle of verbally abusing what I can only assume was a twelve-year-old in an online multiplayer match in a first person shooter game."

"Like I said, I was in the middle of something."

Tails shook his head and let out a small groan. He walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Knuckles. The echidna crossed his arms and turned away from his kitsune friend, still mad at him.

"Alright man, look," Tails said sternly, "we need to work through this anger you got going on. Where's it stemming from? What happened?"

A grimace formed on Knuckles' face. "That damn hedgehog," he snarled. The echidna slammed his spiked fist down into Tails' couch. "She left me for that damn hedgehog, Tails! Days after we broke up, she's already moved on! It's like I never mattered to her."

Tails blinked. "Which one?"

Knuckles looked over his shoulder and frowned. "Wha…?"

"Which one? We know four hedgehogs. I know I could probably disqualify one of them right off the bat- no pun intended- but Rouge is… well, I wouldn't be surprised if she was batting for both teams, if I'm being honest."

Knuckles turned to face his friend, utterly astonished and confused. "Dude," he said, throwing up his hands in the air, "Shadow, obviously! Who else could it be?!"

"Well, I mean," Tails muttered, "you didn't say who it was and knowing Rouge, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she managed to go out with any of those four, so I couldn't exactly do process of elimination, you know?"

The echidna groaned, then pressed two fingers against his friend's forehead. "You may got a lot of wrinkles on that brain, but damn is it tiny."

"Wha- how- you can't just be scientifically accurate one moment and then not scientifically accurate whatsoever immediately after that! Pick one or the other, don't pick and choose!"

"Yeah, well, I got the point across didn't I?"

"That's not the point!"

Tails squinted his eyes as he thought real hard about something. "Hey, wait a minute…" he muttered. He turned his attention back once again to the red echidna sitting beside him. "Speaking of Shadow, have you even tried talking to him?"

Knuckles gave Tails a funny look. "No," he replied harshly. "Duh. Why would I?"

Tails jumped out of his seat on the couch. "I've got an idea!" he yelled as he pulled out his phone.

Knuckles scratched his head in confusion. "What?"

"It's quite simple really. I'll call Shadow and you can talk to him. Maybe if you have a calm, productive conversation with him, you won't be so angry."

"That's a horrible idea," the echidna scoffed.

Tails bent down and put his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "Look," he said softly. "I know this isn't easy. A break up is a really hard thing to go through, believe me, I know that better than most of our other friends. But that's why I think you should call Shadow. If you can accept that Rouge is with him now, that could help you move on, you know?"

Knuckles looked up at his friend for a few moments before nodding slowly and turning his gaze to the floor. "Yeah," he sighed. "Yeah, I guess it's worth a shot."

Tails smiled and handed him his phone. Knuckles hit the call button on Shadow's contact.

"Really?" Eggman said, utterly surprised. "It's that small?"

"Yep," Shadow replied. "I've seen it a few times."

"Honestly, I just didn't expect that from Silver. Sonic, maybe. Miles, definitely. Not Silver."

"Oh, that's not all."

"It's not?" Eggman leaned in over the table, an eager look on his face. "Do tell."

Shadow sighed. "Well, like, all he has to do is tug on the tip a few times and it just grows. Then it's just huge, it's ridiculous."

"Really? So it goes from like a little dagger to a full-on sword?"

"Yep."

Eggman shook his head. "That's so weird. How did you find out about this?"

Shadow scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Well, I was staying the night at his place one time. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go, but I couldn't find the bathroom. I ended up just walking into his room, thinking he was asleep, because I knew he had a bathroom in there. Well I walk into his room and what do you know, he's in bed just playing with it. He was really embarrassed."

"Oof, that does not sound like a fun time. Does anyone else know?"

Shadow put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "Blaze does," he said finally.

"Blaze? What does she make of it?"

"Oh, she laughed at it."

Eggman slammed his hands on the table and leaned back in his seat. "No…" he gasped.

"Yep," Shadow nodded. "She thought it was so funny. Then he tugged on it a bit and that shut her up."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, when she saw it grow she was a little impressed, actually. At least, that's what he told me."

"Really. Man, that's just crazy."

"Tell me about it."

A sudden ringing sound came from Shadow's pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his phone. "Sorry," he said to the old doctor. "I seem to be getting a call. Excuse me for a second."

"We are miles and miles underground, how do you even have service?" Eggman asked, utterly confused.

"I have no idea," Shadow replied. He answered the call and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

A loud scream of rage came through the other end so intense that Shadow pulled the phone back, cringing a little at the sudden burst in pain in his eardrums. The angry screaming was so loud, even Eggman could hear it. "SHADOW!" the man on the other end of the line finally said. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'RE DEAD YOU WOMAN-STEALING LITTLE-"

"Ok, no!" someone in the background of the call yelled. "No, no, no, none of that! None of that!"

After a few seconds of the muffled sounds of two people wrestling over the phone, the call ended.

Shadow and Eggman sat in silence for a bit, neither sure of what to say. Eventually, it was Eggman who broke the silence. "So Silver's really into LARPing, huh?" he asked the hedgehog.

Shadow turned to the old doctor and nodded. "Yeah, he mostly plays as a rouge. One of his friends plays a wizard, and they always do this thing where they enter battle and when things look dire, his wizard friend casts a spell that temporarily expands the blade on his dagger, turning it into a sword. They got tired of always swapping out the weapons, so he commissioned someone to make that."

"Oh, I see…" Eggman said. "Well, that's pretty cool."

Shadow shrugged. "I mean, I guess, I don't know. I'm not into that nerd stuff."

Tails shoved his phone in his pocket and turned to face Knuckles. "Dude!" he yelled in his friend's face. "What the actual hell was that?!"

"Bro, I'm sorry!" Knuckles yelled back, upset. "I don't know what came over me, bro, it was just so all of a sudden! I got this, like, feeling of intense rage I couldn't control and it just like, it all came flying out of my mouth!"

Tails let out a long sigh and plopped down on the couch, sinking into it. "No, it's fine man, you're good," he muttered. "It's my own fault for pressuring you into that. I'm sorry, Knux."

"Hey, come on, don't be like that!" Knuckles placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You had the best of intentions."

"Yeah? Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Knuckles stood up and headed for the front door. "I'm gonna go on a walk to try and clear my head," Knuckles said.

"Alright, have fun," Tails muttered as he pulled himself off the couch and walked over to the hangar. Just as he was about to walk in, he paused and turned to Knuckles. "A walk, right?" he asked.

Knuckles stopped just in front of the door and turned to face Tails, confused. "Yeah, a walk. Why?"

"It's just a walk, right? Not a stroll?"

Knuckles waved his arms and shook his head. "Oh! No, no, no! Not a stroll, just a walk, don't worry."

Tails nodded at the echidna. "Ok, good. Have a nice walk."

The kitsune entered the hangar and walked over to his lab area. He opened up his laptop to check his email. The only new message was one from G.U.N. informing him that Eggman was cleared for another visit. Tails frowned at the message on his screen. "Already?" he muttered, placing his hand on his chin. "That's strange… it's not even been a month. Usually they make me wait two or more…" He thought about it for a moment before shrugging. He closed the laptop and wrote down a reminder to schedule a time to visit him on a sticky note. As he stood up, he felt his phone buzz.

"Probably Shadow," he thought. "I'm gonna have to explain what happened. I hope he understands."

He opened his phone and read the message, his eyes shrinking. All of a sudden, his whole entire body felt weak. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest and his breathing quickened, yet he felt like he couldn't breath at all. On top of all this, his mouth had suddenly gotten really dry. For the first time in years, Miles Prower was having a panic attack. It wasn't a small one either- it was a major, awful one.

At that moment, a certain pink hedgehog entered the hangar with a few bags slung over her shoulder. "Hey, Tails!" she yelled cheerfully, her eyes closed. She immediately turned her attention to the bags at her side. "I hope you don't mind me barging in here. Knuckles let me in. I got off early today and I know you're excited to work on that outfit together, so I brought a bunch of-'' Amy froze as she looked up at her friend, expecting to see him absorbed in some work, only to find him clutching the side of his desk for support and hyperventilating hard. "Oh my god!" she yelled, setting her bags on the floor and rushing over to her friend. "Tails, are you ok? What's wrong?"

The kitsune turned to face her. He wanted to speak and say he's fine, but he couldn't. Slowly, darkness surrounded the corners of his vision and his eyelids grew heavy. No longer could his body support its own weight, and he began to fall to the floor. The pink hedgehog caught him in her arms just as he was passing out. His phone slipped out of his hand and landed on the floor with a soft clattering sound. Amy ignored it and sat him down in his computer chair. She pressed her ear against his chest.

Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.

Amy sighed with relief as she heard his heartbeat. "Oh, Tails…" she muttered, running her hands through his bangs. "What happened to you? What sent you into that state?" She tried to piece together what could've happened in her mind, but to no avail. She looked around the room for clues, her eyes landing on his phone which now lay abandoned on the floor. Amy walked over to pick it up, only to realize it was still unlocked. She was about to close it when she realized what was on the screen- a text message from a few minutes ago, from Cream. She bit her lip and thought for a moment, before giving into her curiosity and reading the message.

"Hi, Tails. I'm sorry to randomly message you like this out of the blue after so long. How have you been? I hope you're doing well. Listen, there's a lot I want to say to you right now, but I think it would be better if we meet up somewhere. Are you free this weekend? We can find a place to meet up between Green Hills and Mystic Ruins. Station Square is really far for me, so maybe somewhere just beyond that? Please let me know what you think. I hope to talk to you again soon. Stay healthy and happy."

Amy closed Tails' phone and took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. She turned her head to look at the passed out two-tailed fox, her face full of worry. "Oh, Tails…" she muttered.

"Poor guy," she thought to herself. "He must not have known how to react to that at all and his body just shut down."

The hedgehog put his phone back in his pocket and picked him up, slinging him over her shoulder. "Come on, Miles," she said to the sleeping kitsune. "Let's get you inside."

Author's Note: Hope this chapter makes up for the last one being so short. Hope you all enjoy, don't forget to review! Your feedback is appreciated.