"Well, Sarah, it looks like that mighty big cold front is going to arrive in the next hour or so." A generic well-dressed man says to a woman off-screen, standing before a green screen showing a radar view of the current weather conditions. Stepping to one side, gesturing to certain parts of the map, he continues, "As you can see looking over the last few days, our temperatures have been steadily decreasing. Now this strong cold front moving in from the northeast is bringing with it even colder temperatures and lots of moisture. There's a possibility we might see some snow, sleet, and ice develop."

Turning to the other side of the screen, the man clicks a button on his remote, changing the radar image. "Looking at this massive storm, it's going to be a very nasty couple of days. I suggest that you folks at home get some last-minute supplies while you can and bunk in cause you do not want to go out in this mess. These temperatures plus the wind chill factor will be dangerous. For those of you who have to be out on the road, please be extremely careful and take your-"

The weatherman was abruptly cut off by the tv powering down; Metal Sonic set the remote back on the kitchen counter just as a scruffy-looking hedgehog pokes his head out from the double doors. "Hey, is the grub ready yet?" Sonic croaks squinting at his duplicate so hard he looked like he was glaring at the robot, but it was too early in the morning for him to bear any ill will at the badnick. "Breakfast will be served in exactly 2 minutes and 38 seconds."

"...cool. Hey, could you make me a cup of coffee while you're at it?" after processing the request and the time that would be added to fill it, Metal responds, "Yes, but there will be a delay of 3 minutes and 12 seconds."

"S' fine. Thanks." the blue blur slurs, then leaves the badnick to his chore. Metal Sonic opens one of the nearby cabinets and grabs a tin can of coffee grounds, pulling a measuring spoon and cup from a drawer. Taking the small spoon, he carefully measures the dark grounds. Placing one sharp finger over the grounds, he slowly scrapes some excess back into the bag, then tips the spoon pouring the brown dirt into its appropriate slot in the coffee pot. Metal enacts the same procedure with the water before pushing the on button; while the machine brews, the badnick returns to prepare Sonic's plate.

Everything was going precisely as he had planned.

The doctor had left early at daybreak to beat the storm leaving Metal Sonic alone to enact his revenge on the blue hedgehog. He had been planning this for weeks, carefully researching, watching, and waiting for the perfect moment.

Ever since Eggman had told him of his leave a few weeks ago, Metal had been working hard on his revenge plan. Since the start of winter, the badnick had kept careful watch of the weather patterns hoping for the perfect storm. And to his luck, one such storm was soon to arrive. In alignment with the outside decreasing temperatures, Metal adjusted the thermostat in Sonic's room to closely match mother nature. Turning the thermostat down by a degree or two each day so that the hedgehog would not notice how cold it was getting. Metal had also made a few changes in his diet, keeping to Eggman's specific instructions and Sonic's vacuum of a stomach; he had switched warm filling foods for more cold, light dishes.

The goal of these changes was to have Sonic's stomach growing colder and his energy decrease. To his delight, the hedgehog responded accordingly, a little too much, it seemed. The badnick was surprised that his counterpart was more sluggish than he had calculated, but it just suited his purpose all the better, erasing any margin for error.

Today was the day Sonic would know not to mess with Metal ever again, and by the time Eggman returned, it would be too late for the blue hero. Metal Sonic would regain his former rightful position by his Master's side.

A cheery ding broke the silence. Metal picked up a mug and filled it with the hot dark liquid placing the pot back in its place and the cup on the tray. Next, he took the finished meal in his hands and exited the kitchen walking up to a barely awake blue devil.

His blue fuzzy head laid in his hands, blinking at the badnick approaching with his food, his nose moved, and the corner of his mouth twitched seeing the cup of freshly brewed coffee. Reaching for the mug, Sonic took the drink, bringing it to his face, and blew gently before taking a sip. "Ahhh..." he sighs in ecstasy, "That's better. Thanks, Metal." The badnick nods taking the cover off the dish; Sonic, more awake now, looks it over, "A parfait?" he asks quizzically.

"It is coconut yogurt."

"Oh, well, thanks." Sonic crookedly smiles; taking a spoon, he digs it deep down into the vertical glass, trying to scoop up all the layers before shoving it into his mouth. The flavors of vanilla, tart berries, crunchy nuts, and chocolate shavings burst on his tongue, making the hedgehog moan in pleasure, and he gives Metal a thumbs up in approval.

Metal Sonic disregards the hedgehog's praise and leaves his organic copy to eat in peace, returning to enacting his plans while he waits for Sonic to finish. Once all is secure, I can fulfill the most crucial part of my plan. He beeps in pleasure; if he had a mouth, an evil smirk worthy of a big-time villain would have traced his muzzle. He pulled up his internal clock and Metal checks to see how long he has to prepare for the next phase.

5 minutes and 32 seconds

Sliding the timer to one side of his optical screen, Metal made his way to the control room in the downstairs lab. It only took him a hand full of seconds to reach his destination, putting in the code sequence on the keypad. The little light blinked green, and the door opened to a room filled with monitors.

The blue lights from the screens reflected off the badnick in the darkroom, giving his outline appearance a sinister look, his red eyes adding to the effect glowing eerily. Metal approached the control panel, typing in the passcode, and opened a file labeled "Door Security." scanning its contents, he quickly found what he was looking for and made a few adjustments. "Access removed. Do you wish to proceed?" a digitized woman's voice asked. Metal clicked yes, and the pop-up disappeared. With that done, all the badnick needed to do now was figure out a way to lure the blue devil into his trap. He rechecked his time, 3 minutes and 11 seconds.

Plenty of time!

Drawing power away from his engine and directing it to his processors, Metal begins calculating, simulating, and comparing figures and scenarios at speeds that would rival the world's smartest man-made computer.

Metal was better than a computer; he was a robot, an Eggman robot.

Finally, after an eternity of clockwork cycles, he finds a solution to help him in his endeavor. It was simple, just like his counterpart, who would none be the wiser. Switching gears and putting his power back to normal levels in their appropriate places, Metal checks his timer one last time—57 seconds to spare! After closing the files, he had opened and double-checking that everything looked as it did before. Metal leaves the control room going back to the dining room where his prey awaited.

Sonic scrapped his spoon at the bottom and ate the last bit of his parfait, dropping the silverware in the glass and licking away any residue from his lips. As he finished his last bite, Metal walked in, "Hedgehog." he beeped. The blue blur's ears twitched in the badnick's direction before his head followed with a questioning brow. Metal steeled himself for what he was about to say, hating every syllable about to come out his voice box, "I require your assistance."

"Uh, sure, Metal whatcha' need?"

"One of Master's experiments escaped outside..." he abruptly paused; Sonic flicked his eyes around, questioning the pause, and impatiently gestured for the badnick to finish his sentence.

Though he didn't have the nerves to feel pain, Metal swore he felt his head scream at him in agony as he says quietly. "I am...not...fast enough to catch it." Slowly a wide cheeky grin spread on Sonic's muzzle, hearing this little admission, "Is that so?" he asks, very interested in what his copy was saying now. "...yes." Holding his head up high, Sonic sniffs and jumps out of the chair, acting as if he wasn't sure if he could pull such a thing off, "Well, I guess I could help you out. Buuuuut..."

"There is no time." Metal cut him off, pretending to be stressed when in reality, he was just as impatient as his counterpart, "The experiment will surely be damaged beyond repair if you do not stop your nonsense and help me!"

"Alright, alright, lead to way then, and I will help." Sonic continues to sneer, pleased as pudding to hear his copy finally admit that he was not perfect and was, in fact, inferior to the original.

Maintaining his inadequate facade as bait for his copy was a struggle, but in the end, Metal reminded himself it would be worth it. He showed Sonic to the hanger and opened the garage doors revealing an ominously dark sky; a massive cold gust of wind almost blew them both back. Metal held tightly onto the hanger door's leaver while Sonic cried out in surprise, holding an arm above his head, and re-stabilized his footing, "Chaos! Ok, you're right. We gotta make this quick. Where did the thing take off to?"

"In that direction." Metal pointed vaguely at nowhere, the blue devil looked at the tree line being pointed out and nodded, "Right, you stay here, and I'll be back in a flash." without waiting for a reply, Sonic dashed into the weather that was quickly getting worse. Metal locking him to his fate, the howling winds prevent him from hearing the screech of the hanger doors closing behind him.

* Sometime later*

"Well, shit..." Sonic cursed to himself. He had spent the last 20 minutes running around the property looking for the experiment that had gotten away and hadn't found the darned thing. In fact, he hadn't seen anything outside to indicate anything other than him was wandering around the property. Not even any little feral animals as they had either migrated or were hibernating.

Sonic was starting to suspect Metal had tricked him. No, he knew Metal had tricked him. That dastardly robot! And now the weather was getting worse; a cold rain started to pour on Sonic 5 minutes after coming outside.

Now the wet hedgehog was stomping around the grounds, fists shaking, muttering curses. "I swear when I get my hands on that no good rust bucket-!" Grumbling, the blue devil stopped at the closed hangar door, raising a fist; he bangs loudly, "METAL! Open the door!" Tapping his foot, he waited a reasonable amount of seconds before banging again, "Metal! Open this door!" silence greeted him as the rain drenched his coat further. Frustration and anger boiling, Sonic growled, tossing his hands in the air, giving up on that tactic, and walks to a different entrance.

The bottom of his prized shoes were heavy and caked in mud, the shiny red paint and golden buckles a disgusting shade of brown, socks squishing inside, making his skin crawl. It was hard for him to tell which made him shiver the most—the gross texture of his wet socks or the quickly dropping temperatures. Sonic paid no mind to the latter as he would be indoors shortly. He smirked, thinking of the butt-kicking the two-timing badnick would get as soon as he found the robot. Eggman may have stipulated that none of his robots were to be harmed, but Sonic was sure this time would be an exception after the stunt the badnick had pulled on the blue devil in his Master's absence.

"Ouch! What the?!" startled, he rubbed his sore dripping nose, glancing up at the door he walked into, "What...?" he gasped and looked down at his collar. The light was red. "Oh no." Dashing to another entrance, he stopped in front of another door that didn't open, "No. No. Nononononono. No. No!" Sonic exclaimed in horror.

He ran to each window and doorway, pulling where ever he could get a grip, hoping and praying that one of them would open. But to no avail, everything was locked tight. "No. No! NO!" he screamed, desperately grasping his wet quills on his head, backing away from the last window he had tried to open, "This bad, this is really, really bad!" Sonic whimpered. Suddenly, the wind howled, blowing a stream of water into his face. He cried out in surprise and disgust, holding his hands to protect his face.

Shit shit shit! He curses, dashing back for the hangar doors again, pressing himself into a corner where a small part of the roof stuck out, offering a measly shield from the rain. Crouching down half curled, Sonic shivers, hugging himself tightly, trying to preserve body heat. Wishing his internal boiling anger would warm him up.

He had never wanted to kill a robot more than he did right now, "Well, this is just great! I'm stuck out here in the worst storm this winter, locked out of the base, for once Egghead isn't here when I need him and won't be back for a couple of days!" The hedgehog's foul mood at his situation morphed from anger into uncertainty and dread as it sunk in.

Here it was the middle of winter; he was stuck outside where it was dangerously wet and icy with no way to get warm. He couldn't make any shelter for himself as the wind and rain had either blown away or drenched anything useable. And the blue devil couldn't leave the property unless he wanted to be hedgehog barbeque.

He gently rubbed his stomach, realizing how cold it was, making an alarm go off in his head. The longer he stayed out here, the more likely he would slip into hibernation. Underweight, tired, and without a safe, warm place to wait out the storm, Sonic would either freeze or starve to death in his sleep.

"Damn." he breathed, watching steam escape his mouth, actually feeling frightened. "No, stop, don't think like that!" he yelled, "This storm can't last forever. I've made it out of worse situations, I can do this. Just gotta stay awake is all!" not letting himself delve into morbid thoughts, Sonic tried to think of another way out. Surely some robot of Eggman's has to come out here at some point, right? Or Metal will let me back in? He can't kill me. It's not in his directive or whatever anymore, and Eggman would have his head if he found me frozen out here later, right?

But even these thoughts were questionable. The more he thought about it, the idea of any robot coming out here seemed less plausible, all of the base's functionings were inside, and there was no reason for any bot to come out in this kind of weather. Also, just because Metal's directive had changed did not mean the badnick didn't have his own motives, not involving the doctor's, for wanting to rid of the hedgehog. In other words...

Sonic was screwed.

"Shit." he lowly cursed again. For the first time in his life, he wished that Eggman would come and save him. He pitched the skin over his knees, making sure this wasn't a dream and to help keep awake as the storm bellowed, showing the poor blue devil no mercy. It was hopeless. Sonic needed some kind of miracle if he was going to make it out of this alive.

The blue devil sat there in the icy rain, feeling useless, lost, and growing fearful that he would freeze to death in his sleep. It's not the worst way to go. Just not how I imagined it would be.

Blankly watching the rain, boredom reared its ugly head even though he was slowly freezing to death. If Sonic was going to go slowly, he didn't want to be bored. So with literally nowhere to run, all the hedgehog could do now to pass the time was think. Fortunately, something in the back of his mind had been bugging him over the last week, and now was the perfect time to reflect; unfortunately, the subject matter wasn't pleasant.

"Why can I not stop thinking about baby stuff?!" he exclaims, "Ugh! So not cool and embarrassing, seriously, why?!" sighing, he mopily rubbed his face. "Ugh! Ok, let's do this logically, alright? Like how would Tails approach this?"

"List the facts!" he snaps his fingers, "Ok. I'm having nightmares on the regular. I haven't slept for over a week. Eggman's stopped treating me like a baby, yet I keep thinking about baby stuff."

"Next? Timeline." rubbing his chin, Sonic put some thought into that math. "I've been here for almost 2 months. Halfway through the first month, Eggman started treating me like a baby, then last week he just, stops...that was a full month of being a baby...huh." he muses surprisingly at how fast that time had passed. Shaking his head, Sonic resumed, "Anyway! After that is when the nightmares started and the babyish thoughts. Ok, that's all the facts and the timeline, but how does it all connect?"

He winced as a shiver ran through his body, and Sonic pressed himself closer to his meager shelter, shaking against the cold concrete. For at least a minute, the blue blur noticed he didn't feel as cold while he was distracted, or maybe everything seemed less frigid because he was literally freezing to death? Probably. He shrugged. At this point, what did it matter? Sonic just wanted to distract himself, so his morbid situation wasn't at the forefront of his mind.

"How is this all related?" he muses, "Well, the nightmares and the baby treatment have to connect cause they started or ended at the same time. The question is, why? What do they have in common? Nightmares are, well...nightmarish, and all that baby stuff is practically the exact opposite." suddenly, he recalls how he felt when he had dreamed of being a baby with Eggman.

Those warm fuzzy feelings, along with the sense of security and comfort. It was exactly the opposite of how he felt during the night terrors. Scared, vulnerable, and lost. Well, technically, he felt helpless as a baby too, but it was a good kind, being looked after by someone who you knew would keep you safe.

There was the commonality! Vulnerability! In each of its forms. But that begs the question, why did Sonic feel vulnerable?

Before he had moved in with Eggman, Sonic had been in control; there was no one to tell him what to do, where or when to go, how to do something, or why he should or shouldn't do it. He made those decisions, always had, and at times made those choices for others. Sonic cherished freedom fought to protect it.

Yet there had been times when he was younger or when there were high-stakes risks where it would have been nice for someone else to have taken the torch and made those decisions or at least to have had someone with more wisdom and experience to help him out. Being a hero was not all action, adventure, and coolness. Hard choices had to be made; sometimes, the outcomes of those choices almost didn't seem worth it. And he had been tasked with such a responsibility at a young age. To be honest, Sonic had been terrified at times that he wouldn't make it out of a battle. Yolo and live free and die hard were his motos, but even he didn't want to die at 15! There was so much the hedgehog had yet to explore and experience! And now, with Eggman more or less retiring, he had that chance.

But having the doctor retire came with a price—namely, having his freedom stripped away. Spending at least 6 months with his former enemy living in an entirely different way he was used to. It was all very alien to the hedgehog, being under the doctor's watch and having restrictions. At first, the rapid change left Sonic feeling angry, defenseless, and unsettled that he couldn't do anything without Eggman's permission. Over time though, those feelings faded as they got to know each other, building on their budding friendship, and Sonic was beginning to conclude that he could trust and view the doctor as a friend. Something he had secretly wanted for years.

Everyone else either wanted the doctor behind bars or dead, but Sonic had always hoped he could help change the man. His wish was coming true!

Then the baby incident occurred, and Sonic felt a whole new slew of emotions. Confusion, embarrassment, anger, doubt, exposure. And those feelings had faded as well, thanks to Eggman's constant reassurance and his promise to keep the incident a secret. Not to mention Eggman had been very affectionate, not in an inappropriate manner (he knew his boundaries, and also, that's just gross!) but more like a parent. The doctor almost acted like a mother at times fussing over the hedgehog.

The baby treatment had lasted longer than Sonic had anticipated. He had expected to be out of the diapers after a week, but he was in them for a whole month!

"That seems excessive?" Sonic wondered why it had lasted so long? Surely the doctor hadn't been that mad over him trashing his room. There had to be another reason. To make sure he had learned his lesson? Humble him? Make sure he knew his place? Then again, the doctor had seemed like, at times, he enjoyed treating Sonic like a baby; could that be a reason? If so, why did he stop?

Only the Eggman had the answer.

And if Sonic was honest with himself...he had liked it too.

The blue devil hid his muzzle underneath his arms, turning pink. Whether it was from the cold temperatures or embarrassment, no one could tell. He gently rubbed his stomach again. It felt colder. "Man, I wish I had a diaper on. Those things were so warm. Not that it would help much it would probably just fall apart since I'm soaked, heh." he dismissively sighed, remembering when Eggman would pet him and how a hot flame would light up inside him at the touch. Or when Eggman would carry him and offhandedly mention how cute he looked in his diapers, making Sonic blush furiously.

He recalled how tender Eggman would be when showering him (yes, the doctor refused to let him bathe himself still), trying to make Sonic as comfortable as possible and accounting for his aquaphobia—even playing calming music in the background and picking soaps with soothing scents—always commending him for being brave afterwards and giving him a big hug with a nice ear scratch.

Man did Sonic like those ear scratches...and rubs and being petted and being held closely to Eggy's warm and soft body like in his dream of being a baby.

His nose twitched. Sonic sniffed, he rubbed his nose in annoyance. It twitched again, and he shakily sniffed again as water filled his eyes and his bottom lip threatened to tremble. He missed being a baby.

"No, no, no!" Sonic screamed, "I can't. I'm not a baby; I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! I'm the fluffing hero of Mobius! I take down gods, evil geniuses, and any threat, no matter how big or dangerous the adventure is! It's what I do. It's what I am-gasp-I am...I am..." he weakly faded, shaking his head as the tears broke from the barrier.

He couldn't admit it. He couldn't say it out loud. If he did, it just solidified the idea into reality. Sonic was not a baby. He wasn't! His age spoke for itself; he was too old to be wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier, dragging around a blanky with him like a toddler. Yet here he was bawling like a baby, unable to accept that Eggman was right about him.

But why? Sonic didn't understand?! Why did he like acting like a 2-year-old? Why did it make him feel happy, safe, warm, and fuzzy? Why did he feel like pretending to be so young felt like an escape? A relief? Why did he want to be cared for and loved by his former enemy like he was Eggman's baby?

He loved his life! He liked being a teenager! He didn't have that many responsibilities besides saving the world, and he loved doing it! So why did being a baby right now sound like it fit him more than being a hero? It was all so mind-boggling it made the blue blur's head spin...or maybe that was his exhaustion talking.

Shoulders shaking, he suddenly breaks out into hysterical laughter, "I'm going crazy! I'm so tired I'm hallucinating, or this is all some sort of weird dream from eating too many chili dogs at some party Amy had. I'll wake up on her couch asking Tails the number of the bus that hit me!" he laughs and laughs until the desperate laughter turns into anguished sobs once again.

After crying for a half-hour, Sonic calmed down. Though his nose was now dripping like a leaky faucet, he had come to his senses enough to notice that it was now snowing. He curled into himself further, eyelids fluttering, emotionally and physically numb while watching the fat white flakes drift down into a slowly rising cold blanket. He gently bit his arm, leaving red teeth marks behind, "G-gotta stay awake. I-I can't go to sleep if I wanna have any chance of someone finding me and making it out of this alive. A-and if I do, I need to fess up to Eggman about what's going on. M-maybe just maybe he c-can...help me figure it all out."