Chapter 6: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Sonic dashed through downtown Station Square at just barely subsonic speeds. Normally he'd be taking in the sights as he ran, but today his mind was laser focused on the task at hand. He knew that every second that it took for him to get Tails' medicine would feel like one more hour of agony for his little bro. Quickly he located the drugstore at a corner of two busy streets and rushed towards the automatic glass doors that served as the front entrance.

Unfortunately, in his haste Sonic had forgotten that he was much faster than those doors were, and he ended up with his face splattered against the glass like a bug on a windshield. It was only after embarrassingly peeling himself off of the now heavily smudged glass that the doors finally opened to let him in.

"No need to be in such a hurry, young man," an elderly lady addressed Sonic from behind the desk at the front of the store.

"Sorry, but I've got a very sick friend at home that needs some medicine right away," Sonic replied to the elderly storekeeper.

"Your friend needs something from Rite-Aid? I'm sorry, dear, but this is the wrong drug store," the elderly lady tried to assist Sonic despite her failing hearing.

"No, I said 'right away'! As in this is kind of urgent!" Sonic tapped his foot impatiently.

"Oh! Well I'd love to help your friend, little boy, but you'll need a prescription before I can sell you any medicine," the elderly clerk insisted, adjusting her bifocals to try and peer down at Sonic from behind the tall counter.

"Right. Here it is," Sonic said as he quickly produced the paper that Chuck had given him and laid it on the countertop.

"Oh, well let's see what I need to get for you then," the old woman said as she read the prescription he had given her. "Darned if these doctors don't know how to write legibly these days," she grumbled as she squinted at the letters on the parchment in front of her. "D-E... No, wait, that's an R. Oh, it's just his signature down here. The actual prescription is typed out up above! How convenient."

She finally disappeared into the back of the room behind the counter for a few minutes. Then she returned with a small brown jar full of a pale, pasty liquid. "Your friend must really be not feeling well. This is one of the strongest antibiotics we sell. The only thing stronger than it is it's taste!" She rambled as she placed the jar into a white, labeled sack and sat it on the counter. "Now, what insurance does your friend have?" she asked.

"Insurance?" Sonic muttered in confusion. "We don't have any insurance. At least not that I know of."

"Oh dear... No insurance? But this medicine is quite expensive, young man," the old lady explained. "Perhaps I can talk to your parents or your friend's legal guardians about this?" she requested.

"But Chuck told me it would all be taken care of!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Don't worry, sonny, your friend Chuck will be taken care of. I just need payment for his medicine first," the old lady insisted.

Sonic felt like slapping his forehead in frustration right now. "Lady, do you have any idea who I am?" he asked.

"Yes, I think that I do," she calmly replied. "You're a nice boy in a strange blue hooded jacket that needs to learn a bit of patience."

"I'm not a human at all! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! And this body doesn't come with pockets for a wallet!" Sonic explained as he demonstrated by tugging at the skin on his hips.

"Sonic the Hedgehog? Why he's the nice fellow that keeps saving the city from that rude Dr. Eggman. In fact, I just got a call this morning saying that Sonic would be coming here to pick up a prescription and that I should give him whatever he needed for free. Although, I do plan to ask for his autograph while he's here," the old lady whispered as if she was giving out secret information.

There was an awkward silence as Sonic just stood there blinking at the senile clerk for a moment. "Ooookay then... So does that mean since I'm Sonic that I can take this medicine now?" Sonic asked with a bit of trepidation.

"Oh yes, certainly, Sonic! Best not keep your friend waiting, after all!" the elderly lady smiled as she handed over the white bag.

"Uhh, right. Because that never occurred to me before..." Sonic answered sarcastically as he stopped tapping his foot impatiently and finally accepted the parcel from the old lady. "Thanks! And good luck with that autograph!" Now that he finally had the medicine in hand, Sonic wasted no time zooming back out of the drug store. He did remember to pause for the sliding glass doors this time, however.

Unfortunately, once he got back out on the street, Sonic was greeted by the last thing he wanted to see right now. Smoke and sirens rose from part of the city nearby as a crisis was clearly unfolding in that area. And that usually meant just one thing, another attack by one of Eggman's contraptions. Sure enough, Sonic quickly caught a glimpse of a gigantic metallic spider with eight long legs that was currently destroying the cityscape. And there, on the central body of the five-story arachnid, was the telltale symbol of Eggman's grinning face.

Oh come on! I don't have time for this right now, Egghead! Sonic thought to himself in annoyance. He momentarily considered running the medicine back to Tails before engaging Eggman's latest robot, but even with his speed that would allow more destruction to take place before he could return. I promise I'll make it quick, little bro, Sonic inwardly apologized as he dashed off to fight the giant spider.


"Ah, here comes that blue thorn in my side now," Eggman said while one of his surrounding viewscreens showed a video of Sonic running towards his newest creation. "He might have defeated my Freeze-a-tron 5000, but my new Egg Tarantula is indestructible! I have plated the entire body with the strongest metal alloy known to man, so even Sonic can't spindash his way through this one! And my electrical spiderweb cannon will be sure to stop Sonic in his tracks!"

"Doctor, who are you talking to?" Decoe the slender, tall, yellow robot on Eggman's right asked.

"I think that he is talking to himself," Bocoe the plump, short, silver robot on his left answered.

"Arrggg! ENOUGH!" yelled the easily angered Eggman. "It is because of you two dunce bots that my chair isn't fixed yet so that I could be there personally!" The blast from the destruction of the Freeze-a-tron 5000 had caused his floating chair to malfunction and need lengthy repairs, so Eggman had been forced to view the fight and control his Egg Tarantula from his secret, undersea lab instead.

"We are sorry, Doctor!" both robots immediately apologized while bowing deeply in an attempt to avoid Eggman's wrath.

"You'd better be! Because if this is the time I finally beat Sonic and I don't get to be there personally to gloat, I'm going to turn you both into toasters!" Eggman threatened. "Now watch as I finally rid the world of this pesky hedgehog!" Eggman grinned widely as he spoke.

"Psssstt! Do you really think that he has a chance?" Bocoe asked Decoe in a whisper behind Eggman's back.

"The Egg Tarantula is his best idea yet... but no, I would not bet on it," Decoe replied back in a whisper as well.

"Grrrrrrr...! I can hear every word you two are saying!" Eggman shouted at the insolent duo of robots.

Decoe and Bocoe both froze in fear, hugging each other and shaking at the certainty that they'd be dismantled for sure this time.

"Now where was I? Ah yes, I was about to destroy Sonic once and for all!" Eggman instead let out an evil chuckle through his toothy grin as he grasped the controls at the console below the array of monitors. Behind him, both robots gave a sigh of relief that the battle was distracting their master from carrying out his punishment on them for the moment.


When he was only a couple blocks away from the giant metal spider, Sonic saw a large turret rise above the robot's torso and point in his direction. Here it comes, Sonic thought to himself, preparing to sidestep whatever kind of blast came from the obvious weapon. Immediately after that thought, a long strand of sticky, synthetic webbing shot out at Sonic. He dodged right, but the stream of webbing followed, forcing Sonic to hop and kick off of a parked car back to the center of the road to keep from getting caught by the sticky substance. But still the stream of webbing chased him, forcing Sonic into even more acrobatics in order to keep dodging.

It's going to take me forever to close the distance at this rate! Sonic thought to himself as he kept ducking and jumping the continuous blast of webbing. Then he spotted a manhole in the street ahead of him and suddenly got a simple idea. Sonic cartwheeled over the manhole, grabbing its cover while narrowly avoiding the web. When the robot quickly corrected its aim, Sonic stopped and held up the manhole cover as a shield. The stream of webbing splattered harmlessly against the heavy metal, now unable to stop Sonic's advance as he raced straight forward.

"Come on, Eggman. Is this really the best you goOoOoO-!" Sonic started to taunt before a powerful current ran through the long web, threatening to crisp the unsuspecting hedgehog. He quickly tossed away his unhelpfully conductive shield, collapsing to one knee in the middle of the street as the painful zapping ended. Okay, that hurt, Sonic recognized to himself as he made a mental note that the web was more than just sticky. Now it's my turn, though! He quickly ducked into a spindash and raced towards the Egg Tarantula's nearest leg.

Unfortunately, Sonic simply bounced off of the metal appendage like a blue pinball, not even causing a dent. Realizing his failure, Sonic darted behind a large van to buy some time to create a new strategy. Figures that this was actually one of Eggman's better inventions at a time where he really didn't have much time to play around. That metal armor plating was just too thick for anything short of Super Sonic to pierce through, so how was he going to damage the darn thing if he couldn't...

That's when the idea came to him, causing Sonic to grin as he figured out the robot's weakness. Metal armor plating, was it? It was a good thing that Sonic's inspiration happened so quickly, too, as a giant mechanical spider leg came smashing down overhead at just that moment. Sonic zipped away just in time to avoid being pancaked, unlike the poor van.

"Ha! As usual, Egghead, you're too slow!" Sonic taunted the Egg Tarantula by bending over and shaking his tail at it. Predictably, it immediately fired its web cannon again to try and punish his arrogance. But that's precisely what Sonic had wanted as he quickly began dodging and weaving around the Egg Tarantula's legs, followed by the dangerous stream of webbing.


"On the right, Doctor!"

"No, left! Sonic is to the left!"

"No, your other left!"

"Now he's on the Egg Tarantula's back!"

Eggman growled in frustration as his robot henchmen tried to call out Sonic's movements across the various displays showing live footage from the battlefield. The joystick controlling the web turret's aim was being jerked around furiously, spraying the endless webbing haphazardly over the entire area, the Egg Tarantula included. "Gaaaah! Hold still, you annoying little hedgehog!" Eggman shouted at his screen. "Where did he go now?"

"I'm not seeing him anymore, Doctor," Decoe reported as the robot scanned the various screens for signs of the abruptly absent hedgehog.

"Well he wouldn't have just run away! Find him!" Eggman shouted as he scanned the various monitors as well.

"Doctor! Here! Sonic is trapped in the web!" Bocoe suddenly called out, pointing to one viewscreen that showed Sonic struggling to free his foot from where he'd accidentally stepped in some of the trail of webbing laid out like unraveled yarn across the streets.

"Ha Ha! Sonic should have been watching his step!" Eggman gloated as he noticed his trapped opponent. "Now for some fried hedgehog! Sayonara, Sonic!" Eggman's thumb then mashed the big red button on the trigger of the joystick.

"D-Doctor Eggman! The Egg Tarantula is reading a massive energy surge on all vital systems!" Decoe suddenly reported as flashing red lights lit up the remote diagnostic displays.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Eggman exclaimed in disbelief, pushing his robotic assistants aside to check for himself. "B-But where could all this extra power be coming fro- SOOOOOONIIIIIIC!" Eggman pounded the control panel in frustration as he yelled at the ceiling, while one by one all the various cameras attached to the Egg Tarantula quickly overloaded and their monitors turned to static.


As soon as he felt the first jolt, Sonic jumped up and spun into a midair buzzsaw, cutting himself free from the electrified webbing. Then he landed and watched his handiwork with a smirk as the Egg Tarantula, covered in its own shocking web, proceeded to electrocute itself. The huge machine shot sparks like a giant Van De Graaff generator as its legs twitched uncontrollably, explosions from overloaded electronics jetting out small plumes of flame and knocking off chunks of the otherwise impenetrable armor.

Normally this was when Sonic would go for one final spindash through the exposed weak points to take out the robot's core. But today he was in a hurry, and Sonic could already tell that this robot was as good as dead. He gave a flippant salute to the short circuiting robot before zooming away back towards the Thorndike mansion.

Sorry for taking so long, buddy! I'm coming! Sonic thought as he heard the deactivated Egg Tarantula collapse far behind him.


"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Eggman as he watched Sonic taunt him with a smug salute before the last live camera feed from his robot cut out. "I can't believe he beat my Egg Tarantula in only five minutes! And with it's own weapon, no less!" Eggman fumed as he yanked at his bushy brown mustache without any regard for the pain.

"Perhaps we should have installed better surge protectors?" Decoe advised.

"Or maybe a more conventional main weapon?" Bocoe also tried to help.

"Shut your mouths or I will remove them!" Eggman threatened, holding up a wrench for emphasis. "I mean, the least he could have done was have the decency to finish the job! Honestly! It was almost like Sonic thought he had something better to do today!"

"Wait, Doctor Eggman! Maybe he did! Look!" Bocoe pointed to a still image of the last moment the Egg Tarantula recorded. "Look, in Sonic's hand! He is holding something!"

"Some kind of white paper bag, it seems," Decoe agreed as he scrutinized the picture as well.

"Step aside and let me see!" Eggman ordered as he forced his way between the two bots to examine the image closely. He stared at the strange object for a minute while stroking his chin silently. Then he figured it out, and his face quickly went from a smirk, to a full grin, and finally a hearty laugh. "Heh... heh heh... Ha ha ha ha haaaa!"

"Do you think he has finally lost it?" Bocoe whispered to his companion, confused by Eggman's behavior.

"I guess after losing the Egg Tarantula to Sonic, there wasn't much left for Doctor Eggman to lose," Decoe tried to guess with a shrug.

"And at least since Doctor Eggman lost it also means we won't become toasters now," Bocoe also noted.

"Do I have to spell out everything for you duncebots?" Eggman spoke as he turned back towards the duo. "Note to self, the next time I create a pair of minions to assist me, I won't choose any more bargain parts," Eggman said with a groan. "That white bag Sonic was holding was from a pharmacy in Station Square. Which means he must have been on an errand to fetch some sort of medicine. Clearly that explains why he was in even more of a hurry than usual."

"But, Doctor! Sonic didn't appear to be sick at all!" Decoe replied.

"Of course not! The medicine is clearly for someone else," Eggman leaned back and laced his fingers together in his lap, like a teacher impatiently waiting for a student to answer. "Someone Sonic clearly cares a great deal for," he added as a hint.

"But Sonic cares about everyone! It could be any of his friends!" Bocoe objected to Eggman's flawed logic.

"Perhaps... Or perhaps there's one individual in particular that might have been in the perfect condition to catch a cold recently," Eggman offered a more obvious hint.

"Wait, Doctor, are you implying that Tails is the one who is sick?" Decoe finally guessed correctly.

"I'd say the chances are quite good, wouldn't you?" Eggman asked rhetorically. "After all, there was no sign of the X-Tornado helping Sonic out this time, was there?"

"That could be because it might still be damaged after being frozen and falling out of the sky into a mountain," Bocoe interjected.

"Yes, and perhaps that's also because the X-Tornado's chief mechanic and pilot is out of commission for the moment," Eggman further supported his own wild conjecture.

"But even if it is true, why would the fact that Tails is sick make you happy, Doctor Eggman?" Decoe inquisitively added, noting his boss's unusual behavior right after another humiliating loss against Sonic.

Eggman just grinned widely at the anticipated question. "Because I think that it gives me a brilliant idea! Whoo ho ho ho ho ho hooo!" His annoying laughter filled the room even as he got up to leave.


"See? I told you it would get the stain out!" Ella shouted from the doorway to Chris's room. "Now you stop worrying about what Chris will think and just get to feeling better! I will have you back to your own room before he even knows you were here!" she promised.

Ella then left Chris's bedroom with a bottle of carpet shampoo and a small garbage pail containing another, much more putrid liquid. "Never before in my life have I met someone that was actually too nice for their own health. The poor little dear..." she muttered to herself before rounding the corner and unexpectedly confronting Chris and his friends, Danny and Francis.

"Hi, Ella! Were you cleaning my room just now?" Chris asked.

"Oh, Christopher! Y-Yes, I was just cleaning the carpet," Ella dodged the question by giving only a partial answer.

"But didn't you already clean my carpet just yesterday? Remember, because you told me I couldn't go in there until after supper so it could dry?" Chris recalled, reminding Ella of the little detail.

"Oh, well then I, ehh, must have missed a spot?" Ella said nervously while she attempted to hide the bucket behind her back.

"That doesn't sound very much like you, Ella," Francis, a girl Chris's age with a face full of freckles, pointed out quickly.

"Yeah, Chris says you never miss anything when it comes to cleaning," Danny, Chris's darker-skinned friend, quickly agreed.

Before the nervous maid could think of a plausible excuse, a blue streak flew up the stairs and stopped beside Ella. "I've got the medicine, Ella. How's he doin'?" Sonic asked worriedly as he pointed to a white bag in his other hand.

"Wait a minute! How is who doing? And what medicine?" Danny asked.

"And what is in that pail behind your back, Ella?" interrogated Francis. "It really reeks!"

"Oh my... Well I guess that I have been found out," sighed the defeated Ella. "Chris, Tails woke up sick this morning and accidentally ruined his bed. The poor thing has felt terrible all day long, and I had him put in your room to try and make him feel better, but I am afraid that just a minute ago he got sick again on your carpet. Tails got most of it in this bucket, but it happened so fast that, at first, he missed."

"Poor Tails!" Chris immediately replied, not even the slightest bit upset that he had taken over his room and accidentally made a mess of it. "Can we see him?"

"Sure, why not? He will probably be relieved to know that you are not angry at him, Chris," Ella said as she stepped to the side to allow everyone to pass.

Chris and his entourage quickly made their way into his room, immediately spotting Tails sitting on the side of Chris's bed while Vanilla wiped his muzzle tenderly with a wet rag. "Are you OK, Tails?" Chris asked as he walked up to his bed, being careful to avoid a spot on the carpet next to it that was noticeably wet.

Upon hearing Chris's voice, Tails immediately looked up with big, quivering blue eyes. It was hard to mistake the expression of guilt, much like a puppy that knows it's about to be scolded.

"Don't worry, Tails. Ella told me everything, and I'm not mad at you. I know it was an accident." Chris comforted the teary-eyed fox before Tails could get out a single word of apology. "I hope my bed has helped you rest a lot."

"Thanks, Chris," Tails weakly muttered between coughs. "Not really, though. But it's not your bed's fault. It's actually pretty comfy."

Sonic could tell that even in his short absence Tails had gotten worse. Tails went into a brief coughing fit, with Vanilla gently rubbing his back until it subsided. After which Tails desperately pulled in a deep, raspy gasp of air. Both his face and eyes looked paler than normal, and all Tails' fur seemed matted down from sweat. Sonic really pitied the poor guy, now more than ever.

Tails finally seemed to notice the small bag that Sonic was holding. "Is that my medicine, Sonic?" Tails asked in a mixture of relief and dread.

"Yeah, bud. Sorry it took so long. I got a bit sidetracked on the way back thanks to Eggman," Sonic apologized.

"Yeah, we saw the whole thing," Tails said while trying his best to muster up a small smirk and give a weak nod towards the television. It was off now, though; presumably ever since the broadcast of Sonic's victory had concluded. "Nice moves, using that electrically charged web against that robot. But why didn't you finish it off with a spindash?" Tails inquired.

"I was thinking about you, bud. I knew the sooner I got this medicine back here, the sooner you could start feeling better," Sonic replied honestly.

"Sonic, if I may?" Vanilla interrupted just long enough to politely snatch the medicine from Sonic.

"Aww, thanks, Sonic," Tails finally gave a genuine smile at his brother's answer, followed by another fit of coughing.

Meanwhile Vanilla had already examined the label on the bottle and was pouring out an appropriate dosage of the thick, white substance into the small, plastic measuring cup already provided.

"What can we do to help, Mrs. Vanilla?" asked Chris. Like everyone else, he and his friends all wanted to assist their ailing friend as well.

"I know what you could do for me," Tails answered in a raspy voice. "You could go and-" he was interrupted briefly by coughing, "...play with Cream and Cheese for a while."

Chris and his friends were taken aback at the odd request. "How is that helping you, though, Tails?" Chris asked in hopes of understanding the counterintuitive suggestion.

"Well, this morning, Cream and Cheese woke me up saying that they were really bored and wanted someone to play with," Tails explained. "So I bet they're both still bored and probably now worried, too."

Vanilla smiled at Tails' selfless request. To be able to think of someone else's concerns at a time when one felt so miserable themselves... It was inspiring to the kind mother to see someone as young as Tails with such virtue.

"Well, if it's what you want, then... Sure thing, Tails!" Chris accepted Tails' unusual mission. He and his friends promptly left the room to find Cream and Cheese.

"Time to take your medicine now, sweetie," Vanilla informed Tails as she handed him the medicine in the cup. "My advice would be to drink it all and swallow as fast as you can."

Tails stared into the tiny cup he now held in his hands. The medicine didn't look very tasty. As a matter of fact, it looked downright repugnant. Tails swirled it around a tiny bit in the cup, grimacing at how viscous the white liquid appeared to be. And then there was the awful aroma of the stuff, too!

"Do... Do I have to take it?" Tails whined as he sat there staring at his best hope for feeling better and almost wishing to keep his illness instead.

"Hey, I didn't speedrun that last fight with Eggman just so you could play with the medicine, Tails," Sonic tapped his foot impatiently at Tails' reluctance. "Come on, bro. Just like Vanilla said, it'll go down the hatch so fast that you never even taste it."

"All right, if you say so, Sonic," Tails cringed before deciding to take a trial sip from the medicine cup. Immediately after it touched his lips, however, Tails pulled it away in revulsion. "This stuff tastes nastier than my own vomit!" he complained loudly. "And I would know from just a bit ago!"

"The drug store lady did tell me that it was some nasty stuff," Sonic said in a mirthful chuckle. "But you still gotta drink it, Tails, if you ever want to feel better and get out of this bed. Now quit messing around and chug it already!"

Tails groaned once more in complaint. He knew they were right, and at least this wasn't some big scary needle or another, even more horrible treatment. With a resigned sigh, Tails began counting down from three mentally. As soon as he hit zero, Tails tossed his head back and downed the putrid medicine in two gulps.

He quickly learned that Sonic had lied about taking the drug fast enough to not taste it. The overpowering nasty taste seemed to cling to his taste buds, even as Tails tried desperately to swirl his tongue around to get rid of it. It was every bit as horrible as Tails had feared it would be, and even then some. Tails felt someone pass him a glass of water as he writhed, and the fox eagerly began to down it in hopes of drowning away the medicine's diabolical taste.

Vanilla chuckled at Tails' reaction to his first taste of nasty medicine. She remembered having to almost physically restrain Cream the last time she'd been sick because of the younger bunny's refusal to take her medicine. "Don't try to drink too fast now, dear," Vanilla cautioned.

Tails immediately discovered the wisdom in her words as his stomach suddenly felt upset again. He quickly sat the cup down, his hands grasping around his midsection as it felt like the horrid medicine was about to force its way back up his throat. Tails felt Vanilla place a comforting hand on his back as she reached for the bucket in preparation.

But after a couple minutes of waiting on the edge of the bed convinced that he was going to hurl again, Tails slowly got the sense that the urgency of the situation had passed. Once he was absolutely certain that his stomach was settled again, Tails gratefully waved off the bucket that Vanilla held at the ready. "That was close," Tails groaned after the whole ordeal was finally over.

"Gee, bud, was it really all that terrible?" Sonic asked with one eyebrow raised, as if trying to evaluate whether Tails had been overreacting or not.

"Why don't you try a taste and find out for yourself?" Tails dared the hedgehog.

"I think I'll pass on that one," Sonic quickly refused. "Besides, I gotta leave enough medicine for your next dose later."

"What?! I'll have to do that again?!" Tails exclaimed in horror.

"Relax, dear. It will be a while before you need to take more medicine. And in the meantime, I suggest resting as much as you can," Vanilla tried to calm Tails once more.

Tails just groaned as he lay back slowly into bed. It was official; this illness was the single most miserable thing that had ever happened to him in his life, Tails thought. He felt Vanilla place a fresh, cool washcloth on his burning forehead as he tried to get as cozy as he could under the blankets. But another violent bout of coughing interrupted his rest.

"We are going to leave you alone to sleep, Tails," Vanilla announced as she straightened the washcloth once Tails finished coughing. Then she got up from the bedside, motioning for Sonic to follow her.

"Get feelin' better soon, bro," Sonic said a quick farewell as he followed Vanilla's lead and closed the bedroom door behind them.

"Sonic, a quick word with you, if I may?" Vanilla asked the blue hedgehog out in the hallway.

"Huh? Oh, sure thing, Mrs. Vanilla. What is it?" Sonic asked, wondering what Vanilla had to say to him. Had he said something wrong to Tails that he was about to get scolded for?

"Tails told me that this is the first time he's ever been sick before. Is that really true?" Vanilla inquired.

"Well, it might be. I mean, as long as I've known him, Tails has never been sick before," Sonic replied.

"Never? Not even a small cold or a short infection?" Vanilla repeated her question, disbelieving the answers she was getting.

"Come to think of it... nope, not even any of that. I haven't even seen Tails have allergies before, to be honest," Sonic answered after thinking back as best he could.

"And that doesn't strike you as odd?" Vanilla got to her point.

"Nah, not really," Sonic spoke with a casual shrug. "I'm pretty much healthy all the time, too. Plus Tails and I get plenty of exercise and eat well. The only exception being that time with the chili dog that had gone bad." Sonic felt queasy just remembering the incident now.

"So you've never been sick, either?" Vanilla sounded astonished.

"Eh, once or twice, I guess. When I was pretty little," Sonic recalled.

"And has Tails ever told you about being ill before when he was little?" Vanilla continued her questioning.

That particular question got an odd response from Sonic, however, as his gaze abruptly dropped and his ears slightly flattened. "Well, ya see, Mrs. Vanilla... Tails, Ahh... He doesn't like to talk about stuff that happened before we met," Sonic revealed. "He's told me a few things, and, based on those stories, I don't think I even want to know any more than I do. Sorry, I can't tell you any more than that. But let's just say Tails had it pretty rough growing up."

"I understand, Sonic," Vanilla was quick to reassure him that she wouldn't try to pry out any information that Tails might have preferred not to be shared. "Cream shared with me once that Tails grew up as an orphan. Is that right?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, there's some of Tails' past that not even he knows, like who his parents were," Sonic shared.

"That's simply horrible to grow up without a family," Vanilla empathized. "It's little wonder then that Tails gravitated so strongly towards you, Sonic. He needed a strong older brother to care for him."

"Heh, if only he knew how much it works the other way as well," Sonic muttered as he scratched his scalp sheepishly. "And sometimes I wonder if he takes after me a bit too much."

"He wants to be as strong and as great as you are because you are his older brother, Sonic," Vanilla spoke candidly. "You two share a strong bond together and always have. It was obvious to me the moment I first met you and Tails."

"Really? That's some pretty strong intuition there, Mrs. Vanilla," Sonic remarked with a grin.

"There are certain things a mother can just sense," Vanilla replied with her own tiny smirk. "Just like with Tails and his illness right now. The worst will soon pass and then we'll start to see him feeling better again. That's just the way it always was with Cream, at least."

"Thanks, Mrs. V," Sonic spoke with a bit of renewed hope. "And thanks for taking such great care of Tails, too."

"It's not a problem, dear," Vanilla assured Sonic. "I would gladly do the same for anyone." She left it unclear as to whether she was referring to her care of Tails or her stopping to listen to Sonic's concerns.


Long after dinner when everyone was in their beds asleep - except Chris, who was sleeping in his father's room so that Tails could continue to use his - a tall figure strode quietly through the dark upstairs hallway. She made her way to Chris' room, opening the door with the tiniest of noises to check on the sick fox.

She could make out the shape of Tails in the darkness, laying amidst a mess of unstraightened blankets that betrayed a fitful rest. Also at the foot of the bed sat Ella in a rocking chair, illuminated a bit more in the moonlight by her proximity to the windowed wall leading out to the balcony. Ella was snoring softly as she peculiarly appeared to be cuddling a handheld carpet cleaner like a teddy bear.

Both individuals seemed peaceful and asleep for the moment, so quietly she started to close the door back, her worries having been satiated by the short peek.

"Mrs. Vanilla?" Tails spoke softly, trying to identify the shadow in the doorway. Apparently he hadn't been as asleep as she'd first thought.

"Yes, dear?" Vanilla whispered back as she now opened the door fully and approached the fox's bed. "I'm sorry, Tails. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, you didn't. I couldn't sleep," Tails admitted. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's almost two o'clock in the morning, sweetie," Vanilla replied. "You slept through supper after taking your medicine."

"Oh, I did? Well it's good to know I at least got some sleep then," Tails said in return. "You know, maybe it helped, too. I think I feel a little better now," he reported, only to begin a loud series of painful coughs that startled Ella awake.

"Whaa! Who is there?!" Ella shouted out in momentary fright. "Oh, Mrs. Vanilla! What are you doing here? I thought tonight was supposed to be my shift since you sat with Tails all day," Ella wondered as she quickly calmed down.

"Sorry to intrude, Miss Ella," Vanilla replied. "It's just, well, a mother has a hard time sleeping when they are concerned about a sick child. I only intended to check on Tails to calm my own fears," Vanilla explained. She then bent over the bed and touched Tails' forehead to do just that.

To her relief, his forehead felt cooler than earlier. But Tails was still clearly feverish, and without a thermometer handy Vanilla couldn't tell exactly how bad it was. "Miss Ella, do you mind if I stay here with Tails tonight? Since I won't be sleeping anyway if I go back to my room, I might as well take over here for you."

"Are you really sure, Mrs. Vanilla?" Ella asked reluctantly. "I don't mind staying so you can get some rest."

"No, I'm quite sure. Thank you," Vanilla politely declined with a shake of her head.

"Well... okay then. If you insist," Ella finally acquiesced, getting up from the rocking chair and gathering her supplies to leave.

"Thank you," Vanilla spoke in a grateful voice as Ella left the room. "Now as for you, Tails... I know it will be difficult, but you need to at least try to go back to sleep again," Vanilla insisted.

"But, Mrs. Vanilla, what about you?" Tails objected.

"Don't you worry about my health, dear. Even without sleep, it's far better than yours at the moment," Vanilla comforted Tails by placing a hand on his head and gently stroking his furry bangs.

Tails was left with no argument. He obediently snuggled down into his bedsheets again, closing his eyes with a soft yawn. His tails curled up around himself in his most comfortable sleeping position. Tails was unconcerned about Vanilla judging him for it, unlike with anyone else but Sonic. Tails found Vanilla's gentle touch on his forehead oddly soothing, and pretty soon the drowsy fox drifted back off to sleep with a tiny grin on his face.


The rendezvous was set for a deserted corner of Station Square's central park. Rouge waited out of sight, hanging upside down in the canopy of a nearby tree while she scanned for her contact.

A tall, fit woman wearing a black military jacket finally strode into view and stopped on the sidewalk beside the tree. It was clear the woman was looking for someone as well, confirming to Rouge that this was the individual she was supposed to meet. Casually, Rouge let herself fall from the branches, somersaulting in midair to land silently on her feet behind her target.

Sensing the movement behind her despite Rouge's stealth, the woman quickly turned around and in one fluid motion had a large caliber pistol already pointing at Rouge's head. "Oh, there you are, Rouge," Agent Topaz said as she identified her target.

"Yeah, it's me, girl! Are we back to only talking at gunpoint again after I decided to ditch that last assignment? Or is this a trap to capture me so I can be court martialed?" Rouge spoke in agitation. After all, it was hard to keep a positive attitude when she was staring down the barrel of her best friend's sidearm.

"It's better than what you deserve, and you know it," Topaz grumbled as she quickly holstered her weapon. "Actually, the President has a new priority mission for you. We need you to sneak into Eggman's secret undersea base and find out what he is planning to do next. There's been troubling rumors that he's working on something big down there."

"Fine, but do I have to swim there? Water tends to smear my makeup," Rouge vainly acknowledged her orders.

Topaz knew how Rouge loved to make annoying remarks, so she simply ignored her and continued the briefing. "You will be taken by a submarine and quietly inserted near the base. Then, it is up to you to find a way inside the main doors using the passcodes we've obtained."

"Hold up, now just how am I supposed to believe that somehow the President got the secret code that unlocks the doors to Eggman's secret underwater base?" Rouge skeptically asked, folding her arms defiantly.

Topaz grinned at the understandable question. "Simple. Sonic didn't completely destroy Eggman's robot today, for whatever reason, so our best scientists and programmers got to study the wreckage relatively intact. We found some codes in its memory that we think it used to leave Eggman's base on its way over here."

"Good enough for me, I suppose. And what is the plan if I get myself caught?" Rouge asked in a flippant voice that suggested she didn't see that outcome as being actually possible.

"You're better than that, right Rouge?" Topaz mocked her right back. "Actually, your extraction time will all be up to you. Learn as much as you can, then radio it in if possible. Use this when you are ready for a pickup. Hit this button and the sub will be waiting for you at your initial deployment location within an hour." She then handed Rouge a handheld locating device disguised as a tube of lipstick. "It's also your favorite color, Midnight Rouge," Topaz mentioned.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Rouge proudly exclaimed as she snatched the high-tech lipstick in her hand. "Fashionable and functional, all in the same little tube. Oh, and by the way, I have a little something for you as well, Topaz." Rouge pulled out a velvet box that had the insignia of a jewelry store marked on it. She handed it to her friend and watched her reaction as she opened it.

"This... This is stunning, Rouge!" Topaz exclaimed as a gorgeous necklace set with actual topaz gems sparkled in the dim light of a distant street lamp.

"Hey, just repaying the favor for the rocks that you got me before Chaos Control sent the Mystic Ruins here," Rouge was quick to explain. After all, she couldn't have Topaz accidentally knowing that she really cared for her as a friend. "Besides, at the price I found it for, it was practically a steal!" Rouge chuckled as she flew away.

"A steal? Wait, Rouge, this better not be stolen! You know I won't accept stolen jewelry!" Topaz shouted at her retreating partner. But Rouge never turned around to show if she'd even heard her.