Chapter 7: Get Well Never

It was around noon the next day. And instead of used tissues littering the sheets of Tails' borrowed bed, there was a pile of homemade 'Get Well Soon' cards almost burying the sick fox. As he read through all of them, Tails couldn't help but smile at the amusing variety of styles that matched everyone's personality. Cream and Cheese had handcrafted a card with construction paper and doodled a bunch of flowers and hearts on it using crayons. Amy and Vanilla's cards looked a bit more professional, although Tails could tell that Cream had 'helped' both of them as well. Ella's card featured a lot of soap bubbles on the cover, while Mr. Tanaka's had just a fancily brushed Japanese symbol on the outside and a simple, 'Get well soon, Master Tails' written on the otherwise blank inside. Chuck had cheated a little and used a software program to design and print his card, which featured a silly message that got a chuckle out of Tails momentarily. The only individuals that hadn't made him a card were Chris, who was still at school right now and couldn't participate, and Sonic.

"Thanks, everyone!" Tails said to the assembled household. "Especially you, Cream, for this great idea. It really cheers me up a lot."

"You're welcome, Tails!" Cream excitedly blurted out at the praise.

"Chao Chao!" Cheese also chirped in glee.

"Thank everyone but Sonic!" Amy grumbled loudly as she shot a glare towards the blue hedgehog. "He refused to make a card like the rest of us!"

"I told ya, Amy; I can't draw!" Sonic defended himself.

"So? That didn't stop Chuck from cheat- I mean, creatively using a computer instead. Or Cream and Cheese from doing their best anyway!" Amy shot back.

"Um... Thanks, I think?" Cream muttered, unsure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"Relax, Ames. Tails is cool with it, right, bro?" Sonic asked, his big emerald eyes practically begging Tails to play along.

Tails chuckled at Sonic's pleading gaze for a moment before he could speak. "Sure, Sonic. I don't need a card to know how much you care about me," Tails bailed out his adopted brother, much to Amy's frustration.

"I'm just glad you're looking better today, Tails. Especially with those bandages off of your head," Chuck spoke up next.

"Yeah, Mrs. Vanilla helped take those off this morning. My forehead is still pretty sore, but it's getting better," Tails replied with a glad smile.

"You seem to be feeling a lot better today as well, dearie," Mrs. Vanilla pointed out, checking Tails' temperature with her hand just briefly.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you smile this much in days, bro," Sonic agreed.

"Actually, yeah, I do feel a lot better than yesterday at least. Does this mean I can finally leave this bed, Mrs. Vanill-AAAH-CHOOO!" Tails was interrupted by his own poorly timed sneeze.

Vanilla gave Tails a sympathetic smile as she handed him a fresh tissue. "Perhaps later, dearie. Right now I think your body could still use the rest," she politely refused Tails' unfinished request.

Tails didn't bother arguing. He just groaned in disappointment as he accepted the tissue to blow his runny nose.

"Ha ha ha ha! There you all are!" came a high pitched voice from the open door to the outside veranda. Immediately, a small black robot with a jetpack flew into the room carrying a big green satchel bag. "I'm glad that you are all here because that saves me the trouble of rounding you all up!" exclaimed Eggman's annoying message carrier, Bokkun. "I've got a message from Dr. Eggman for all of you losers, so listen up!" The diminutive robot pulled out a small yellow TV from his bag and set it down on the foot of the bed before turning it on. A picture of Dr. Eggman appeared on the screen as the message began playing.

"Hellooooooo everyone!" Eggman bombastically greeted the group as the video recording began. "I hope that such a pleasant day finds all of you well! All of you, that is, except a certain sick fox."

"Huh? How does Eggman know about Tails?" asked Amy with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "No one here has told anybody outside the mansion that he's sick, right?"

"Indeed, I am most curious to find out where Eggman got his information," Mr. Tanaka added, gazing around the room critically like he was searching for a traitor in their midst.

"Hey, pay attention!" Bokoon shouted out, having paused the recording so everyone wouldn't be talking over the important message. Now that everyone was quiet again, he resumed the playback.

"I suspect that you are wondering how I knew about you being under the weather, Tails. But first, Bokkun has a little 'Get Well' present from me to you," Eggman's voice continued. Immediately, Bokkun remembered his other delivery and reached into his bag to pull out a card. It had Eggman's grinning face on the cover, alongside a hand making a peace symbol and a small heart in between the two upraised fingers. Tails was reluctant to accept the card as Bokkun held it out to him, however.

"C'mon! It's just a card! It won't explode or anything, I promise!" Bokoon insisted, annoyed by Tails' hesitation.

Finally Tails reached out and grabbed the card, opening it carefully to read out loud the short message inside. "Get well soon… Or else?!" Tails didn't know if the card was meant as a threat or as a misguided attempt at a true 'Get Well' card from Eggman.

"Don't you like it, Tails? I made it myself... just like your disease!" Eggman's last statement shocked everyone in the room. "Haaa Ha Ha! That's right, you foxy wannabe! You don't just have any normal cold! It is a special disease that I created myself, the Egg Virus! Whooo ho ho ho ho!"

"Oh yeah, Egghead, what's your proof?" Sonic shouted angrily at the TV.

"It's just a recording, Sonic," Chuck quickly corrected the overly zealous hedgehog.

"Want me to prove it, Eh?" Eggman's message answered Sonic's question anyway, as if Eggman somehow knew exactly what Sonic was going to say. "You may think that Tails' cold is from that unfortunate accident on the mountain a couple days ago..."

"Accident?! He was shot out of the sky by your robot, Eggman!" Chuck now lost his own temper.

"It's just a recording, Chuck, remember?" Sonic interrupted with a smug grin.

"Will you idiots pipe down?! This is the good part!" Bokkun shouted at Sonic and Chuck in exasperation.

"Allow me to explain," the TV continued again, this time Eggman appearing in front of a white marker board covered with crude drawings. "I had just happened to be vacationing in the same resort when I noticed that your whole gang was staying there for the weekend, too. So I decided to keep an eye on you fools just in case you were to, for instance, conveniently find a Chaos Emerald hidden in the snow." Eggman's face grinned cheekily. "But the evening before, you all attended that little party in the resorts' ballroom." Eggman pointed at a horrible drawing of stick figures dancing.

"Man, Eggman draws even worse than me!" Sonic broke in with laughter at the terrible art.

"That's when I had the idea to put my wonderful new Egg Virus to the test by secretly planting it in a drink meant for Sonic," Eggman's hand now pointed to the picture of a vial being poured into a disposable cup. "However, that impetuous hedgehog had left the party early, and Tails ended up drinking the tainted beverage instead. It was unfortunate that my experiment couldn't be carried out on its intended target, but I'm not one to waste a perfectly good opportunity. So I waited a few days for my Egg Virus to take effect before checking in on my new patient." Eggman concluded while pointing at a very poorly drawn picture of Tails' face with large X's instead of eyes.

"Ignoring the terrible drawing... Does anybody actually believe what that man is saying?" Ella spoke up in disbelief.

"Well, it would explain how he knew that Tails was sick," Chuck concluded. "And Eggman does have a few details right, like the party we went to. But still... Eggman has always been a mechanical genius, not a bioterrorist. This doesn't sound right for him."

"But what about how he showed up right when Tails found the Chaos Emerald!" Cream added. "It doesn't make sense how he could show up so fast unless he really was following us the whole time!"

"Plus, it might explain why Tails has been so sick, too," Amy mentioned last of all. "If Eggman really was going to make a virus, he would definitely make it a really bad one."

"But if that is true, Amy, then-" Tails was interrupted by a short fit of coughs. "-Then why do I feel a lot better now?" Tails asked. After all, why would Eggman send a message when he was already recovering? Just to gloat? Maybe his Egg Virus wasn't as potent as he'd anticipated and Tails had recovered too soon?

"Idiots! All of you stop talking and listen to the message!" Bokkun shouted out, "'Cause I won't pause it again!" He then hit a button on the yellow TV to resume the video.

"Unfortunately," Eggman's recording broke in with impeccable timing yet again, "My Egg Virus was not perfected yet, so it may seem to come and go for a little while." The video of Eggman showed a close up of him poking two fingers together in mock shame. "But, rest assured, it is designed to keep coming back worse and worse every time! Tails, I'm afraid that you might be stuck in bed for the rest of your life! Which I would measure as being, Oh... Another week or two? Whoo ho ho ho ho ho!"

Tails went completely pale as he heard the horrible news. "What?! I... I'm dying?!"

"Yes, that's right. My virus was designed to emit a toxin that, over time, is completely lethal to you Mobians! I do so hope none of you have been foolish enough to drink after Tails the last few days. Whooo ho ho ho! Of course, I do have a cure that will stop the Egg Virus before it's too late... but I'm afraid that I only have a single dose of it available at this time," the undaunted recording rambled on while it showed a picture of Eggman holding a small vial filled with a blue liquid. "It's surprisingly expensive and time-consuming to produce, which means, like anything else, it won't come cheap. But I might be persuaded to part with it for... let's say... ALL of your current Chaos Emeralds!" Eggman's face filled the screen as he leaned forward into the camera for the last part of his sentence.

Everyone in the room gasped at the steep cost. Tails especially seemed devastated by the news, his face becoming paler and his eyes seeming to blank out in shock. He knew as well as anyone that they couldn't give Eggman what he demanded. Who knows the kind of destruction Eggman could cause with the power of six Chaos Emeralds? Even worse, what if Eggman already secretly had the last Chaos Emerald as well? There was no way they could afford to make such a foolish trade, even if his life was on the line.

"Sonic, if you want to save your little buddy from an untimely demise, I suggest that you bring all your chaos emeralds to me at Devil's Bluff a hundred miles north of Station Square by four-o-clock today. And make sure to come alone. Any funny business and I might just drop this remarkably fragile vial. Whoo ho ho ho ho ho ho hooo!" the recording concluded before the screen went blank. Bokkun quickly grabbed the small, yellow TV and returned it to his green bag before turning to leave.

"Wait a minute, so that's it?" Chuck shouted out to the retreating Bokkun. "No exploding TV's or cheap insults or spewing slime all over the place? Just a message with no antics at the end?" The entire household knew that Bokkun never simply left after delivering a message until he had played some sort of prank.

"Nope, not this time! Although that slime thing is a pretty good idea. I should write it down for next time," Bokkun responded in a sincere voice. "But if you really want something to spew all over the place, I think Tails is about to!" Bokkun pointed towards Tails as the fox was already grabbing the nearby bucket and quickly began emptying his stomach's contents into it. "Ewww, gross! Even I think that's disgusting! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Bokkun remarked one final time before flying off.

"At least his aim is improving," Ella commented as they all uncomfortably witnessed Tails' vomiting. Once he was done, Ella gently took the bucket from Tails and left the room with the rancid contents.

"I will fetch a suitable replacement for you, Master Tails," Mr. Tanaka quickly excused himself as well.

"Come on, Cream. We should probably go and let Tails rest now," Amy tried to get the young rabbit to leave, noticing that she and Cheese were both nearly at the point of breaking down into tears at the thought of Tails' death.

"B-But, Amy! I don't want Tails to... to...!" Cream initially refused, her young mind too horrified by the terrible news to be able to cope with her emotions.

"Shh, It will be okay, my dear," Vanilla quickly tried to calm her daughter before she started bawling, which would likely get everyone else going, too. Including herself. "Tails is going to be just fine, dear. Sonic and his friends always find a way to stop Eggman, remember? This time will be no different," she offered her daughter an empty promise as comfort. "Now, please go downstairs with Ms. Amy, and I'll be there as soon as I'm able," Vanilla instructed. As much as she wanted to be there for her daughter right now, she knew that Tails was going to be even more grief-stricken and lost than Cream and would need her gentle presence to comfort him.

Cream sniffled a few times as she wiped away the tears that had already started to flow. "O-Okay mommy," she finally composed herself enough to turn away from Tails' bed and take Amy's outstretched hand.

Amy cast a quick glance at Mrs. Vanilla, who gave Amy a grateful nod for caring for her upset daughter. Then Amy put an arm around Cream and led her and Cheese out of the room, glancing back at Tails one last time with her own wet eyes as she left.

"There, there, dearie. I'm sure that awful message made quite the knot in your gut. It's perfectly understandable," Mrs. Vanilla now tried to console Tails tenderly, wiping his muzzle with a clean cloth.

Sonic watched for a moment as Vanilla tended to Tails, his stunned expression gradually settling into a determined frown as he crossed his arms in thought. Then, wordlessly, he started walking towards the door as well.

"Sonic? Where are you going? Shouldn't we at least talk about what we just heard?" Chuck stopped the blue hedgehog before he could get more than a couple steps across the floor.

"There's no need to talk about anything, Chuck. We're giving Eggman the Emeralds," Sonic resolved in a stern voice.

"No way, Sonic!" Chuck immediately refused. "Look, I'm sure I care about Tails just as much as you do, but we can't give Eggman all six of the Chaos Emeralds that we have collected so far! That means that he would only need one more to have them all, and the last time that happened the entire world was nearly destroyed!"

"Don't pretend to tell me how much I care about my little brother!" Sonic yelled back at Chuck with a clenched fist. Sonic took a moment to calm down, then continued. "Here's my plan. I'll find some way to trick Eggman and get the Emeralds back after he hands me the cure. With my speed, it should be a piece of cake."

"You don't think Eggman hasn't already thought of that, Sonic?" Chuck replied as he shook his head at the poorly thought out plan. "He'll be expecting something like that from you and take measures to stop it from happening. Maybe he'll even give you a fake cure the first time, just to see if you're going to be honest. Then when you try to double-cross him, Eggman might destroy the real cure! Listen, I have a better idea. I may be able to find the cure to the Egg Virus using the various high-profile contacts I have in the medical field without needing Eggman's help."

"But that will take too long!" Sonic shot down Chuck's plan in return. "Tails may only have a few days! He could be dead by the time anyone else finds a cure!"

"Well, it's better Tails than the whole planet!" Chuck shouted back in aggravation.

"Some friend you are, then!" Sonic retorted as the two glowered at each other in a mutual rage.

"I'm just trying to think about the greater...!" Chuck started to yell back, only to be interrupted by a piercing cry.

"STOP IT!" Tails suddenly stood up in bed and yelled so loud that he thought his lungs would burst. Poor Vanilla sitting right beside him yelped in pain as she quickly tried to cover her large ears.

Both Sonic and Chuck were immediately stunned into silence as they looked back at the trembling fox. Neither had ever expected such an outburst from their soft-spoken companion.

"If... If this is what's going to happen to my two best friends because of what Eggman said, then I wish I was already dead so you'd have nothing to fight about!" Tails chastised the two thoroughly, both fists clenched in a rarely witnessed fury.

"Tails, please don't say things like that, dearie," Vanilla immediately replied in concern, reaching out for the irate fox.

"If you two really were my friends, then you'd know what I would want! And that's certainly not to lay here listening... to the two of you... fight..." Tails' words started to break up as he gradually lost his composure. It was just too much to take in all at once. Here he thought he was getting better this morning, but now that he was facing the reality of an agonizing death...

"Tails! Oof!" Vanilla just barely managed to catch him as his weak legs gave out, laying the sobbing fox back onto the bed carefully. "It's going to be okay, dear. It will be," she reassured Tails over and over as he tried to hide his crying by burying his face into a pillow.

"...Sorry, bud. I just didn't..." Sonic tried to mutter an ashamed apology.

"Me neither, Tails. We're both very sorry for how we just acted," Chuck apologized as well, his expression looking equally as guilty as Sonic's.

Tails couldn't reply at the moment, though. In the awkward silence that followed, all that could be heard was Tails' muffled sobs and frequent coughs, as well as Vanilla's gentle, yet ultimately useless platitudes.

"I think it would be best if we all left for a moment and discussed this elsewhere," Vanilla finally decided after several minutes, realizing that her efforts to comfort Tails weren't going to work right now.

With a hesitant nod, the other two agreed and silently headed for the door with Mrs. Vanilla. Like her, they hated to leave Tails like this, much less know that they had only made Tails' sorrow even worse than it had to be. But there was nothing anyone could do at this point except let Tails come to terms with what he'd just been told on his own. Still... No matter how far away from Chris's room they walked, Sonic could hear Tails' crying and see the broken fox's hopeless expression in his mind. It haunted his every thought. What if he really did lose Tails? How would he even begin to live with that reality?


"Approaching the underwater DZ, captain!" a sailor seated at a desk full of charts of the seafloor shouted across the cramped bridge of the submerged submarine.

"Very well then, carry on," the captain of the military submarine told his men. Suddenly there was a crackle from the overhead speaker as a voice came out of the small box.

"Captain, this is sonar, we have one large and one small unidentified contacts leaving the base at mark zero-zero-seven at twenty knots and closing!" the voice of an officer came out of the speaker from a man working in a different compartment of the submarine.

"All hands, rig for silent running! Confirm the range to those targets and get me a firing solution for both!" the suddenly alarmed captain yelled out. The whole submarine seemed to become a flurry of activity, but impressively it all seemed to be getting done with the least amount of noise. Even the constant drone of the engines quickly cut out, leaving everything eerily quiet on the normally noisy interior of the vessel. "Just in case," the captain quietly reassured Rouge who stood nervously next to him.

"You do realize that if that is Eggman, shooting at him will only make him angry?" Rouge replied in her own hushed voice.

"While I certainly value your... expert opinion, ma-am, let's get one thing clear. This is my damn boat, not yours, and I'll be damned if it goes down any way but armed and loaded," the captain vehemently responded under his breath.

"Sonar, sir, targets have changed course to zero-three-eight and are proceeding to surface," the speaker again crackled with a whispered report. Tense minutes passed by where it seemed like the whole crew was holding their breath quietly before the next report came across the speaker. "Sir, sonar has lost contact. They broke the surface and disappeared entirely from our scopes."

"What?! How could...?! Sub-surface to air vehicles?" the captain responded in shock at the report.

"Pfft, for Eggman that's as easy as falling out of bed," Rouge chuckled at the crew's surprise. "Eggman must have just left with one of his robots in tow. Lucky me, that should make sneaking in a lot easier."

"We should surface and warn the President of a possible incoming attack," the captain decided. "As soon as we drop you off here first, Agent Rouge."

"I'm much obliged," Rouge smirked as she touched up her lipstick casually.

"I do hope this voyage hasn't been any trouble for a lady such as yourself. Most landlubbers find submarines a bit less pleasant than a pleasure cruise," the captain tried to act cordial now to cover up his earlier rudeness.

"Not to worry. A lady such as myself is hardly disturbed at being around so many sea men in such tight quarters," Rouge joked back, earning a bunch of perverse chuckles from the bridge crew. "It's been a pleasure, Captain...?"

"Crisp. Captain Crisp," he answered.

"..." Rouge just gave him an incredulous look for a moment. "Really? Crisp, like a potato chip or breakfast cereal?" she asked.

"It's my family name, yes. I'm Captain Roger Crisp," he clarified.

"Well then, thanks for the hospitality, Captain Crunch," Rouge waved goodbye as she started to leave the bridge compartment.

The captain's face grew heated as he heard his men laughing even harder at the unflattering nickname. "It's Crisp! Captain Crisp! And I don't remember giving the order to abort silent running procedures yet!" the angry captain glared at his mutinous crew.

"Crisp, Crunch, whatever," Rouge just waved her hand flippantly as she disappeared into the torpedo room at the front of the submarine.

Inside the even more cramped room, she put on a custom, skin-tight scuba outfit over her usual attire that accommodated her shorter height and wings, among other features. Then a sailor helped her don her large air tank and helped her into one of the open, unloaded torpedo tubes.

"Torpedo bay one is loaded and secured, Captain," Rouge heard the sailor report over an earpiece she wore under the suit.

"Open the exterior hatch and flood the tube," Captain Crisp ordered.

Suddenly the ocean started rushing into the narrow tube, pummeling Rouge for a moment until the small space quickly filled. She could now see the ocean floor landscape outside the submarine through the narrow opening in front of her. But as she started trying to half-swim, half-crawl her way out, she heard an unexpected transmission over her earpiece.

"Let this be a lesson to you, men. If anyone repeats a word that bat just said to me, then you're next," the captain warned. And before Rouge could figure out what he was talking about, suddenly a blast of pressure shot her out of the torpedo tube like a bullet.

Rouge shouted curses to herself as she tumbled through the water at high speed. Everything was too blurry to even tell which way was the surface! Luckily the friction of the water eventually slowed her down enough that Rouge could orient herself and figure out just how far she'd been launched. Surprisingly, the captain's aim had been remarkably accurate, as Rouge quickly discovered that she was floating less than a hundred feet from Eggman's dome-shaped base.

She wasted no time in swimming the rest of the way to Eggman's secret base, using ancient, barnacle encrusted boulders as cover just in case he had exterior cameras watching. The base was simple in design; it was essentially a large, metallic igloo on the sea floor with a huge metal door at the narrow opening. Reaching the base's only entrance without incident, Rouge quickly typed in the passcode that Topaz had given her earlier into a simple waterproof keypad that controlled the massive, water-tight doors. She prayed one more time that these codes were right as she waited.

Sure enough, the doors soon opened to admit Rouge, closing again the second she made it through them. At first Rouge was alarmed at the thought that she had just been trapped behind a second massive door and the first she'd just passed through, until the water level in the room started falling. As the last of the salty water was pumped out, the second door into Eggman's base proper opened up. No guards, Rouge observed. Eggy must think that no one can find him down here, much less get in if they did. This really is my lucky day, isn't it? Rouge thought confidently to herself. With the most dangerous part of her infiltration accomplished flawlessly, she quickly hurried down a long corridor to find a reclusive spot to change out of the cumbersome suit and get to work.


"We've already been through this, Sonic. It's just too risky to give Eggman all our Chaos Emeralds, regardless of the consequences," Chuck repeated as he folded his arms and frowned down at the distraught blue hedgehog. The rest of the residents of the Thorndike Manor were also gathered together with them in the main hall to witness the debate.

"Consequences? You make it sound like I'm getting a spanking, not trying to save Tails' life!" Sonic vehemently replied, and it was hard for the assembled group not to sympathize with his point of view. None of them were very happy with the terrible choice Eggman had forced them to make.

"Sonic..." Amy tried to reason with her perceived boyfriend. "I want Tails to get better just like everyone else does. But what good does it do getting him healthy if we're giving Eggman enough power to take over the world and enslave us all in return?"

"And not just this world," Chuck re-entered the conversation. "You said you all managed to come here because of an accident caused by Chaos Control using all seven emeralds. And Chaos Control happened again, bringing Angel Island and even more of your kind into our world the last times all the Chaos Emeralds were assembled, too. What's to say if Eggman got hold of all seven he wouldn't find a means of controlling that power and taking over both of our worlds?"

"That sounds extremely likely, Professor Thorndike," Mr. Tanaka agreed.

"Yeah, but aren't you forgetting that we still managed to beat Eggman both times you're talking about, even though he had all the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic countered.

"Hey, Sonic's right! We do always beat Eggman one way or another," Amy sounded like she was beginning to be swayed by Sonic's reasoning.

"That was just luck and we all know it," Chuck refuted. "In fact, if Chris hadn't managed to break free and steal those Chaos Emeralds back, that Eggsterminator robot was about to pummel you into hedgehog pudding! And it took both you and Shadow to go super in order to stop Space Colony Ark!"

"Still... My point is that we always find a way to beat Eggman somehow, so we'll find a way to do it again, even if he gets all the Emeralds," Sonic replied.

"Oh my... That still sounds more dangerous than Mrs. Thorndike's cooking," Ella worried. And she wasn't the only one, judging by the conflicted faces all around the crowded hallway.

"Indeed. Far too risky. We can't gamble the fate of two worlds on our track record against Eggman so far. What if this time we couldn't find a way to beat Eggman?" Chuck was quick to point out. "Sonic, I understand what you're feeling. And while I've not had the pleasure of knowing Tails as long as you have, I still consider him a close friend that I'd do almost anything for. But just not this. Like Tails said back in the room a little while ago, you know what he would want us to do."

This statement visibly shook Sonic, making him grimace as if he'd just been stabbed in the heart by those words. It only hurt, though, because Sonic knew Chuck was right. He just wasn't ready to accept that yet. "But we can't just do nothing!" Sonic protested.

"Yes, we have to help Tails somehow!" Cream resolved alongside her partner, Cheese.

"We're already doing everything we can," Chuck replied with a heavy sigh. "Mrs. Vanilla is caring for Tails and keeping him comfortable, and I have the best doctors in the fields of epidemiology and exobiology working on deciphering this Egg Virus right now. With any luck, we can find our own cure without Eggman's help."

"You know it's not gonna work," Sonic glared at Chuck. "How long has it taken your best brains to try and understand even a fraction of Eggman's technology?"

"Sonic, dear, that attitude isn't very helpful for anyone right now," Vanilla tried to defuse the situation before it got heated like before.

"But it's the truth!" Sonic objected.

"So is this, Sonic! If Eggman gets all the Chaos Emeralds, then we're all no better off than Tails is right now! Unless we knew exactly where the last Emerald was and could be absolutely sure that Eggman couldn't get a hold of it, it's simply far too dangerous to trade the other Emeralds for Tails' cure. And even then I shudder to think what Eggman could do with just six Emeralds anyway," Chuck gave the definitive answer to the ongoing debate. "Now, does everyone agree with me?" he asked the assembled household.

Slowly, every head in the room finally nodded as they took the silent vote. None of them were happy about it, each face showing a different form of regret or disapproval at their forced acceptance. All except Sonic, who still refused to agree and crossed his arms staunchly. Even so, there was no further verbal protest from the upset blue hedgehog.

"Then it's settled. Let's just all do our best from here on out. After all, Tails isn't dead yet," Chuck somberly dismissed the meeting.

Everyone else slowly started to disperse as well, heading back to other tasks or to take some time alone to reflect. Sonic refused to budge, though, standing like an angry gargoyle rooted to the main hall's floor and glaring at the carpet. The only movement he made was his tightly clenched fists hanging at his sides as they trembled under the stress of his emotions.

"Sonic, I know this isn't... Ahh!" Vanilla tried to defuse the tense hedgehog, only for Sonic to disappear out the mansion's front door with a blue flash and a loud slam. She'd never expected him to take this very well. Vanilla had hoped that after Sonic opened up to her a little yesterday that perhaps he'd be willing to talk things over with her now, but clearly that wasn't the case. Vanilla only wished that maybe she could find a way to help Sonic cope, especially when Tails would soon take a turn for the worst and ultimately...

She quickly shook her head at her own thoughts. Now she was doing it, too; thinking and acting like Tails was already gone. She'd be no good for counseling anyone if she herself couldn't keep a positive attitude. There were so many broken hearts right now that she didn't have the luxury to be one of them. She had to be strong for her daughter, and for Sonic, and of course, the one who was probably more distraught than any of them at the moment, Tails himself. It was just one of her many duties as a mother.


Stupid Chuck! Stupid everyone! Sonic swore to himself as he ran along the beach outside Station Square. Tails is gonna die because of this decision! And for what? I've beaten Eggman countless times before, Emeralds or no Emeralds! So why this time do I have to play it safe and let my best friend die?! Onlookers on the beach noticed the speeding hedgehog, pointing and waving at their hero. But Sonic just whizzed right by, knocking over umbrellas and scattering towels across the sand with the strong breeze he generated as he mindlessly rushed through. I don't care if they're right or if it's really what Tails would have wanted! I just want my little bro back!

"Hey, Sonic! WHOA!" a voice suddenly shouted directly in his path, causing Sonic to snap back to reality and plant his feet deep into the sand to come to a skidding stop. The deceleration was too sudden, unfortunately, leading to Sonic tumbling unceremoniously forward and getting a face full of gritty sand as he finally stopped. "Okay, now who just made me do that?!" Sonic shouted as he got up even angrier than he was before.

"Heh, nice moves there, Sonic," Knuckles snarked as he chuckled at the sand-covered hedgehog. "What, did I scare ya or something?"

"...I'm really not in the mood right now, Knucklehead," Sonic grumbled back as he identified his unknown greeter. He began brushing the sand off himself with his gloved hands in irritation.

"What, get in another fight with Amy again?" Knuckles joked, clearly not taking Sonic's uncharacteristic bad mood very seriously.

"NO! And if, for some crazy reason, I really did want to talk about whatever is bothering me, I certainly wouldn't come to you!" Sonic growled back.

"Geeez! Someone got up on the wrong side of the roof after their nap today!" Knuckles spoke as he took a step back at the unexpected venom in Sonic's voice. "And here I was coming to give you guys a gift! Some gratitude," Knuckles huffed as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah, well you can just keep your stupid..." Sonic initially tried to give Knuckles the brush off, but his curiosity suddenly stopped him. "Wait, a gift? It's not like you to just show up with a present for no reason, Knucklehead. Is it something important?"

"Something important enough to leave the Master Emerald and come deliver it to you guys personally, yeah," Knuckles announced with a proud grin. "Feast your eyes on this, Sonic!" Knuckles then pulled out the last thing Sonic was expecting from behind the echidna's back.

"I-Is... Is that...?!" Sonic stammered in disbelief as he stared wide-eyed at the glistening, perfect red gem now held out in front of them.

"Ta Da! The one and only red Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles declared, giving his presentation its own tiny fanfare. "If I'm not mistaken, you guys already have the other six, right? So now we finally have them all again! We can finally use Chaos Control to take us all back home!"

While that was exciting news to Sonic, something else had him even more overjoyed to see the final Chaos Emerald. Eggman couldn't possibly have known about this last Emerald yet, meaning Sonic could still give up the other six while also knowing for a fact that the final Emerald would be safe. That made the choice to trade the remaining Emeralds for Tails' life a lot safer of a gamble, although still not one that Sonic expected Chuck or anyone else to approve of. But Sonic took Knuckles' uncanny timing as a sign. Now wasn't the time to sit back and let the inevitable happen to his little brother. No, Sonic finally decided on his own plan, regardless of anyone else's approval.

"Hey, Sonic? Yoo hoo? Did I make you speechless or something?" Knuckles asked as the awkward pause lingered on uncomfortably.

Sonic's frown quickly turned to a big grin as he snapped back into the conversation again. "Sorry, Knux! I was just so impressed for a moment there!" he lied, giving Knuckles a proud thumbs up.

"Really? Well, I didn't have to do much for it this time, honestly. A friend of mine found it and gave it to me. But I figured you guys needed it to work on getting us all home again, so I brought it over," Knuckles explained a bit sheepishly at Sonic's rare flattery. "Anyway, you gonna take it or what?" he asked, holding the red Chaos Emerald out a bit further towards Sonic.

"Oh, so you're not gonna take it all the way to Chris's house, Knux?" Sonic requested, earning a curious look from Knuckles in response.

"Well, I was going to, originally," Knuckles admitted. "But what's the point when I already ran into you here? After all, I do have to get back to the Master Emerald and..."

"Aw, too bad. And Tails was really looking forward to some new company, too," Sonic laid on the guilt as he tried to entrap the unsuspecting echidna.

"Tails? What, is he bored of working on machines or something?" Knuckles took the bait, curious about Sonic's unusual statement.

"Well, truth be told, Knuckles, Tails has been really sick the last couple of days," Sonic acted like he was reluctant to share this information.

"Tails? Sick? Ha! Now I know you're fibbing, Sonic!" Knuckles proudly remarked. "I don't know what you're getting at, but, trust me, I'm not going to be fooled into anything ever again."

Sonic worried for a moment that Knuckles actually was on to him, but decided to double down on his little scheme rather than bring Knuckles up to speed on everything that had happened so far. "No, seriously, Knux. Tails has been feeling really awful, and I'm sure he'd like to see another friendly face right now," Sonic explained as sincerely as he could manage. It helped that up until now Sonic hadn't really said anything that was a lie, either.

"..." Knuckles was silent for a moment, studying Sonic warily is if trying to read the blue hedgehog's thoughts. "Well... I guess it couldn't hurt to say hello to everyone before I leave. But is Tails really sick? I mean, I've never heard of him..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Everyone is saying the same thing; they can't remember Tails ever being sick before. Now can we hurry up and get back there before he starts feeling any worse?" Sonic impatiently interrupted, tapping his foot on the sand.

"Okay, Okay! Now you're all grouchy again. Good grief," Knuckles finally stopped asking questions. "Well maybe this little present will get him feeling better again."

"Oh, it will, Knuckles. It most definitely will," Sonic quickly turned around as he spoke to hide his smug grin. "Come on, slowpoke!"

"Hey! No fair! No head starts!" Knuckles yelled as he did his best to catch up as Sonic dashed away.


"It seems your fever is gone now, dear," Mrs. Vanilla proudly announced as she read the results of Tails' latest thermometer test. "And you certainly seem to be feeling a little better as well."

"Mmm Hmm!" Tails hummed a reply through a mouthful of tasty noodles. In fact, he was feeling a lot better, as was evidenced by his appetite returning. He just HAD to know how Ella made her chicken noodle soup this tasty!

"But I don't understand," Chris muttered as he scratched his head, having come to see Tails in the boy's former bedroom the moment he'd gotten home from school. "If everything you told me Eggman said in his message was right, then how come Tails is getting better and not worse?"

After having swallowed, Tails was ready to answer for himself. "Well, Eggman did say that this Egg Virus of his was a prototype, so it might come and go," Tails replied.

"Yeah, but... You look almost completely healthy again, Tails. It's hard to imagine you're actually dying when you're getting so much better," Chris observed.

"Eggman said the virus would create a toxin that would build up to lethal levels over time. Although I have to admit, I certainly feel healthy again," even Tails expressed a hint of doubt now.

"It's because you are, Tails!" Chuck suddenly burst into the room, looking like he'd just ran the entire length of the mansion to deliver the exciting news. "My colleagues were able to analyze the samples I gave them and identify the virus!"

"So they found a cure already?!" Tails exclaimed in excitement. He'd honestly thought like Sonic and everyone else that the chances of finding a cure to the Egg Virus in time were hopeless odds, but if they really had managed to crack it so soon...!

"No, Tails, they haven't... But that's only because in the entire history of mankind we've never found a cure for the common cold before," Chuck delivered what sounded initially like bad news, except the smile on his face was still beaming.

"Wait, but... If there's no cure, then why are you so happy, grandpa?" Chris didn't catch on at first.

But Tails soon did. "You mean, it wasn't the Egg Virus?" Tails remarked in disbelief.

"There is no Egg Virus, Tails! Eggman was lying the whole time! All you had was a new strain of influenza the doctors are now calling the Mobian Flu!" Chuck reported in excitement.

"Grandpa, does that mean Tails isn't going to...?" Chris started to understand, but it was a lot for the boy to process at once since he'd only just learned about Eggman's threat minutes earlier.

"Die? Of course not! Just look at him! Tails is almost completely well again!" Chuck spoke as he rushed over to give the surprised fox a tight hug.

Tails was speechless for a moment as Chuck embraced him. He really wasn't going to die? The whole thing was just a hoax to try and get their Chaos Emeralds for a bogus cure? That was despicably low, even for Eggman! But Tails found it hard to be upset right now because of how overjoyed he was at this wonderful news. "Has anybody told Sonic yet? We need to let him know right away!" Tails exclaimed as finally his own face lit up in joy as well.

"You mean Sonic didn't beat me here?" Knuckles called out from the open bedroom door as he stepped into the room from the hallway.

"Knuckles?" Tails remarked in stunned surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you never left the Master Emerald."

"Eh, I decided to come by and give you a little get well present," Knuckles casually announced as he produced the red Chaos Emerald from behind his back. "Although you don't look very sick to me, honestly."

"The last Chaos Emerald!" Chris shouted in response to the unexpected gift.

Tails couldn't believe his luck. He'd gone from trying to accept his own impending death hours ago to suddenly having the best day ever! "Sonic has gotta see this! Did you already meet him, Knuckles?" Tails wished his older brother was around to share in all this joyous news with everyone else.

"Yeah, I thought he ran here ahead of me. Must have gotten distracted along the way. You know Sonic," Knuckles answered. "But it's great that you're feeling better already. Now you can get started right away on sending everything back using Chaos Control since we have all the Emeralds."

"Sure thing, Knuckles! I just can't believe Sonic's not here to..." Tails seemed fixated on Sonic's absence. Something about all this just still didn't seem right.

"Master Chris! Master Chuck!" Mr. Tanaka suddenly ran into the room, looking just as out of breath as Chuck had been and bearing even more urgent news. Unfortunately this news wasn't nearly as pleasant as the last bit. "Someone has broken into the Chaos Emerald containment unit and stolen all the Chaos Emeralds!"

"WHAT?!" nearly everyone in the room exclaimed simultaneously.

"Grrr... It had to be Rouge! That lousy bat always did want those Emeralds for herself!" Knuckles was quick to jump to conclusions.

"That doesn't make any sense, Knuckles," Chuck quickly objected. "Rouge has never tried to steal them from us before, so why do it now? Besides, doesn't she work for the government now? They would never condone something like this."

"Eggman, then?" Knuckles tried another guess.

"If it was Eggman, we'd be fighting a bunch of robots right now." This time Chris was the one to raise doubts about Knuckles' hypothesis. "Besides, why the whole message and lies about a fake Egg Virus if he was just planning to break in and steal the Chaos Emeralds himself anyways?"

"Oh no... Sonic..." Tails' muttered as his joyous grin quickly faded into a worried frown.

"What was that, dear?" Mrs. Vanilla asked, having not quite understood what Tails had muttered under his breath.

"It's Sonic," Tails finally stated to the whole room. "He took the Emeralds to trade with Eggman."

"But why would he do that, Tails? The Egg Virus was just a lie and you're better now," Chris questioned.

"Sonic doesn't know that!" Tails quickly pointed out. "He still thinks I'm going to die if he doesn't give Eggman the Emeralds!"

"Wait, wait! Hold up! Egg Virus? Giving Eggman the Chaos Emeralds? What's all this about?" Knuckles asked as he felt hopelessly lost in the conversation so far.

"Sonic didn't tell you when you saw him earlier? Eggman sent us a message today that said I was sick because he infected me with his Egg Virus, and he also said that I would die if we didn't trade all our Chaos Emeralds in exchange for the cure," Tails gave Knuckles a very quick summary of the situation.

"And you guys all fell for it?" Knuckles asked in slight amusement. "I mean, come on, that doesn't really sound like Eggman's kind of style, right?"

"It was pretty convincing in the moment," Tails felt a bit sheepish now that he realized how quickly they had all believed Eggman's lie.

"Ha! Let the record show that for once Eggman managed to fool all of you guys, but not me!" Knuckles boasted as he raised his chin up proudly.

"This is all my fault, Tails," Chuck bemoaned as he held his head in his hands. "I told Sonic that as long as we didn't know where the last Chaos Emerald was, it was far too dangerous to risk giving Eggman the other six. But when he saw that Knuckles had the final Emerald, Sonic must have reasoned that it gave him permission to try such a risky trade."

"Won't Eggman be upset when he finds out Sonic didn't really give him all our Chaos Emeralds?" Chris asked, pointing to the red gem in Knuckles' grasp.

Tails shook his head. He understood Sonic better than anybody, so he knew what Sonic must have been thinking. "Eggman doesn't know about this Emerald yet, Chris. And, technically, it isn't ours right now, either, since Knuckles hasn't given it to one of us yet."

"Wait a second... That's why Sonic wouldn't take the Emerald from me! If he did, then he'd have to bring this one to Eggman, too. But instead he lied to me to get me to bring it here, which means...!" Knuckles paused as his fists curled up and he gave an angry growl.

"Which means what, Knuckles?" Chris asked the angry echidna to finish his statement.

"Which means I was tricked by Sonic, who was being tricked by Eggman at the same time! So I've been double-tricked!" Knuckles shouted in fury.

"I'm not sure that's how it works, Knuc- Whoa, Tails, where are you going?!" Chuck got distracted from the conversation as he saw Tails swing his legs over the side of the bed and quickly begin to put his red and white shoes back on.

"To go stop Sonic from making a big mistake! There may still be time to warn him if we hurry!" Tails announced as he got to his feet and rushed for the door.

Just outside the door coming up the hallway was Amy Rose carrying a tray with a second bowl of soup on it. "Hey, Tails! Good to see you up again and- Hey!" she objected as Tails ran right past her.

"Sorry, Amy! No time to talk! Sonic's in danger!" Tails shouted back over his shoulder without missing a stride.

"Wait! Sonic's in wh-AH!" Amy shrieked as Knuckles nearly barreled into her as he also rushed down the hall after Tails.

"Whoops! Sorry, Amy!" Knuckles also apologized on the run.

"Knuckles?! What are you doing here?" Amy replied, now even more confused.

"No time to talk now! Hey, Tails, I'm coming with you!" Knuckles shouted ahead as both Mobians quickly disappeared down the main staircase towards the garage.

"Hmph! Well Tails could have at least said thank you for the soup first," Amy pouted, wiping her chest where a small amount of broth had splashed onto her outfit.