Chapter 12

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[Time - 1:10 P.M.]

[Date - July 4th, 23XX)

(Location - The Mystic Ruins, Train Station)

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Amy stepped down off the train as the station's intercom said {Now Departing, Train 22 for Green Hill Heights.} The automatic doors slid closed behind the pink hedgehog before the brakes hissed and the steam whistle could be heard echoing throughout the open plateau. Numerous individuals had already left the platform and were making their way across the deck towards the stairwell. From her previous discussions over the phone with Tails, she knew it was unlikely her beloved blue hero would be here, nonetheless she found herself scanning the vicinity, searching for any signs Sonic might have been there. Frowning, after watching the train disappear off into the distance, she too made her way down into the Mystic Ruins' train station.

'I really hope he's okay.' Amy thought to herself as she descended the stairs. Her heart continued to throb with sadness as she worried for the safety of her lover. Yet, knowing that she couldn't do anything other than search for him, she carried on with that singleminded task.

"Hey, Amy!" A younger boy's voice called out to her.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she jerked her head in the direction she just heard her name being called from. She should have known it wasn't Sonic by the higher pitched voice, still she felt slightly bummed out to see that it was only Tails; not that she wasn't overjoyed to have him helping her on this. Forcing a smile for him so he wouldn't think she was a completely distraught wreck, she waved to the yellow kitsune as well. "Hey Tails… Thanks for meeting me here."

"It's no problem at all." Tails replied as he stood up from a nearby bench. "After all, he's my best friend and practically my brother. I'll do anything I can if I think he needs my help." Walking up to him, Amy saw that he'd gotten a slight bit taller since the last time she'd seen him. Now that they weren't on constant adventures together, each time they encountered one another, she could see the progress of him growing, going from him being a kid to the pre-teen he is now. His yellow body fur had thickened and the white fur on his muzzle had more definition due to his jawline having grown more prominent. Even his white chest fur had expanded along with his broadening chest. In spite of his increase in height as well as other maturing changes, he still looked like the same two tailed fox he'd always been. His canine ears perked up, his bright blue eyes were glad to see her, yet underlined with dark circles, indicating he'd been awake for quite a while. The black oil stains on his chest and the disheveled tool belt he wore around his waist provided a clue as to what he'd been doing.

"You're the best brother he could ever have, Tails." Amy replied as the two gave one another a quick hug.

Tails returned the hug before asking. "I take it you haven't heard anything from him?"

Pulling out of the hug, the pink hedgehog shook her head. "Sadly, no… I've tried his cell about a hundred times. At first it was ringing, but the last ten times I tried, it just went straight to voicemail."

Sighing, Tails wiped downward, pulling on his face in defeat. "What the hell could he be doing? He told me he was on his way to see me and then ghosted me. It's the same thing that happened last time, only we don't have any clue where he is at all. The time before, we had a decent hunch that he was in danger, but now we don't know where he is at all."

"What-…" Amy hesitated to say. "What if he's with Eggman again?"

Tails held up his hand, palm flat facing her, as if to tell her to stop. "Don't-… Don't say that, Amy. I'm telling you, he's not with Eggman. There's no way he'd willingly go back to that evil tub of lard."

With her lower lip trembling in fear in regards to her big blue, she blurted out "But, what if Eggman took him unwillingly! Oh God… What if he's hurt!?"

Immediately motioning for the female hedgehog to calm down, the super intelligent kitsune replied with "Easy, easy… Let's not jump to conclusions."

Although she knew that she shouldn't assume the worst about Sonic, she had trouble not doing precisely that, especially considering all the intense situations her hero had recently been through. It was very obvious that, as of lately, he was incredibly stressed out. She understood that some people needed time to unwind after filling up with anxiety. What she didn't understand was why he would choose to be alone during such a turbulent time, especially after having previously done the opposite by telling a friend that he was going to stay with them. She wondered why he'd renege without any explanation to the fox. Considering how Sonic thought of Tails as his little brother and vice-versa, she didn't think he'd do such a thing to him.

"Come here." Tails suddenly said, repeatedly retracting his fingers to gesture for her to come closer. Right off the bat, he hugged her once more, this time more caringly than a simple greeting. Wrapping his arms around her, he could feel her shiver as she tried to hold back tears.

"I hate this…" Amy lamented Sonic's decisions while leaning against the younger fox for comfort. "I hate how he thinks he can do whatever he wants and disregard everybody else's feelings."

Patting her on the back, Tails ignored the stares from a few people, feeling as if they should be minding their own business. All that mattered to him was that he did his best to comfort the pink hedgehog as well as easing any concerns she might have. "Remember what I told you." He said to her, reminding her of Sonic's personality. "It's just who he is. No matter how cocky he can be, no matter how many times he defeats a villain with a punch to the face, he just doesn't like confrontations with friends… or loved ones." He added that last bit in response to the two hedgehog's newly budding romantic relationship. "He's dropped off the grid a few times before, yet he's always come back. We have to take that into consideration and figure that he'll likely do it again, probably when we least expect it."

Burying her face in the fox's neck, she found he smelled of grease and a fairly sweet scented sweat. Yet, there wasn't anything romantic about her actions. All she was doing was attempting to seek solace in the embrace of somebody that cared about her feelings for both herself as well as her newfound lover. "Oh, Tails…" She cried. "My heart hurts."

"I'm sorry, Amy." He hugged her a bit closer, ignoring the feeling of her breasts pressed to his chest or her perfume going up his nose. For another minute, he rubbed her back as he focused on soothing her. "Don't forget what his letter said though. He told you he wasn't breaking up with you and didn't leave because of anything you did."

Shedding a tear that quickly soaked into the fox's yellow neckfur, Amy held back a depressed whine. Sucking in a deep breath, she chose to hold in her emotions until her body shivered in response. "I know…" She managed to squeak out.

Hugging her a bit harder, Tails then pulled away, but kept his hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing them. "Don't give up, okay?"

"Okay…" Amy sniffled. "I won't." Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she showed her appreciation by giving him a little kiss on the cheek. "Thanks again for helping me."

Tails' eyes widened a bit as he smiled with a blush plastered on his cheeks. Closing his eyes, he rubbed the back of his head with a soft chuckle. "G-Gee… You don't have to kiss me, you know. I told you already that I don't mind helping." Re-opening his eyes, he glanced around at the interior of the station, looking at anything other than the pink hedgehog. Being young and yet to have a girlfriend of his own, he was embarrassed at having an attractive girl show him affection, even if it wasn't really romantic. Knowing that it was his adoptive big brother's lover made it even more awkward. Moving on from the situation, he tried to expedite their journey outside the train station so they could proceed with their plan. "Any-… Umm… Anyway, do you need to get anything from baggage?"

Amy retrieved a tissue from her pocket prior to turning away, using manners as she blew her nose. Turning back to Tails, she shook her head. "No… I didn't bring anything." Stopping from talking, she abruptly removed a plastic bag from her pocket as well, showing it to the adolescent brainiac. "Well, I did bring this." The baggie turned out to be what she put the loose 'pain pill' in, the one that she found in Sonic's go-bag.

Tails' ears lowered and his eyes darted side-to-side as pushed the bag back into Amy's hands. "You really probably shouldn't pull out a pill like that at a train station? What if the authorities think we're doing a drug deal or something?"

Raising an eyebrow out of curiosity as to why the fox would say such a thing, Amy once again pushed the plastic bag into Tails' possession. "What? You've been watching too much television. I'm not worried about the police, I'm worried about Sonic."

Pursing his lips, Tails thought about what she said, realizing that Amy was likely right. After all, it isn't like they were suspicious people. They were both reputable, well-known citizens unlikely to be thought of as doing anything bad in public. Plus, it was a single pill and he wasn't giving her any money for it. "I guess you're right." Taking the pill in a bag from her, he gave it a brief examination prior to chuckling. "I just didn't want to get into trouble with the law in case we needed help from them in trying to locate Sonic."

"I doubt the police have any clue where he is." Amy said, completely unaware of how ironic her words were.

"You never know." Tails instilled hope, never giving up, even when facing the unknown. "Maybe the police picked him up. Didn't you say they wanted to question him?"

Amy puckered her lips in advance of retracting them. "There's no way the police could capture him."

No matter how many times she shot down his ideas, he kept thinking of every possible scenario that might explain where the heroic hedgehog had disappeared off to. "Well… Maybe he turned himself in?"

"Wouldn't he have called one of us?" Amy responded questioningly. "When you're apprehended, you get a single phone call. Surely he would have called us. Who else would he have called?"

"A lawyer?" Tails once again speculated.

"A lawyer!?" The fox's explanation backfired as Amy grew increasingly anxious thinking about Sonic being interrogated at a police station. "Oh god… What if they've already sent him to prison?! What if he's on Death Row!?"

Tails blinked in shock at the pink hedgehog's ability to suddenly shift emotions at such a breakneck speed. Again, he motioned for her to calm down by holding his index finger up to his lips, shushing her. "Would you relax? There's no way he's on death row. What in the world would he be on death row for? First of all, the process is never that fast since an individual has to be tried and convicted, which isn't going to happen in a single day. Second of all, if something like that did somehow happen, it would literally be all over the news. Since we haven't seen anything, all we can do is assume he's free, running around somewhere while ignoring us." Scrutinizing the pain pill tablet in the plastic baggie, upon spotting the Eggman Empire symbol engraved into the top of the medication, his concerns returned to Dr. Robotnik in addition to what nefarious plans the maniac may have cooked up. "What we need to focus on is the fact that he's been given medicine by the fat man and is ignorantly taking it. That's what's getting under my skin the most. He should know better than to accept anything given to him by Eggman; it always has to be a ploy."

Exhaling as she calmed herself from worrying that her beloved Sonic was about to be put in the electric chair, she asked Tails. "Do you think it's something bad?"

"Definitely." Tails confirmed without even needing to know precisely what it was.

"What is it?" The pink hedgehog continued to push for answers.

Shrugging, Tails flicked the pill a few times to see if it fell apart easily. "I don't know. Whatever it is, it's well manufactured. It definitely isn't cheap pressed together ingredients. Unfortunately, I really don't know much about drugs… I dabble in chemistry, but I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist."

"What about that laboratory you said you could send it off to?" Amy reminded him.

Slowly cocking his head to the side, he pursed his lips. "Well… I could do that. But, like I said, it could take weeks to get the results sent to us." Shaking his head as he stared at the pill in the bag, he eventually lowered it as he contemplated what to do next. "Honestly, without knowing what it is at all, there's no way of telling how dangerous it is. My first instinct is to consider it a potential poison, in which case, he might not have weeks for us to figure things out."

Rubbing her forehead out of nervousness, Amy asked "What are we going to do? Can we expedite the process of the test?"

"Not really…" Tails replied while tapping his lips with his index finger, weighing all his options. "But…."

"What?" Her eyes widened as she prayed the fox had come up with a solution. Seeing him hesitate, she encouraged him by saying "If there's anything you can think of, we might as well try it. I really don't want him running around with poison coursing through him. Please, tell me anything that's on your mind."

Giving in, the young fox sighed as he hung his head. Upon looking up, seeing the desperation on her face, he formulated an idea. Thinking about it, in spite of not having a device to identify unknown substances, or immediate access to a lab willing to test for him, he realized that he might know a person capable of helping. While he wasn't totally acquainted with her, he knew that this particular individual would likely have a greater chance of being more informed on illicit substances than himself. "Rouge…" Tails finally said. "We could try Rouge."

Amy narrowed her eyes as she pondered the idea. "Rouge the Bat?" She formed a query. "What would she know about this?"

"Think about it." Tails pointed out. "She runs her own club in Central City. Gambling and late night dancing? Come on… She obviously knows a bit about partying. Maybe she could tell us what it looks like to her and we can go from there."

"No way." Amy refused right away, not liking the thought of recruiting a super thief for the job. "If she finds out Sonic's missing, she'll probably just come to town so she can loot it dry."

"Amy…" Tails spoke in a slightly condescending tone. "I know you two are a bit jealous of one another, but this is for Sonic. You gotta do it for him. Rouge won't turn us away if our reason for visiting is for his wellbeing and you know it. She might be arrogant and selfish, but she does have a heart."

The pink hedgehog crossed her arms as she was forced to admit that Rouge wasn't a bad person, no matter how aggressively cocky the bat tended to be. "Yeah… I know, I know. She just irks me." Shoving the small grudge she held for Rouge deep down inside her, she sucked up her own feelings in order to track down her beloved hero. Before long, she was just glad that Tails thought up the suggestion. If it weren't for him, she most likely wouldn't have thought of Rouge at all. "She thinks she's so much better than me and I could just pluck her eyes out for looking at me that way!"

Tails rolled his eyes at the bat and the hedgehog disliking one another. Nonetheless, he still made sure their goal of helping Sonic was the main focus. "She's something else, she really is." He said in reference to Rouge's personality. "She's sassy, cunning and greedy as hell. But, regardless of having an intense obsession with thieving the biggest jewels she can find, she's also a government agent. She's a freelance G.U.N. spy. Yet, still she's helped us out on more than one occasion, particularly those moments that were important." Speaking the truth, he proceeded with convincing the pink hedgehog with all his mighty intellect. "If we go to her and say that Sonic's missing and Eggman gave him a strange pill, I bet you money that she'll use the tools at her disposal to help us out."

"Okay, you've convinced me." Amy caved in to the proposition. "We'll go see Rouge." Stretching her legs a bit, she cracked her back prior to turning around towards the counter where the tickets were sold, curling her upper lip in frustration over the thought of having to ride another train so soon. "If she's still in Central City, then we should go ahead and buy a couple of tickets. It's going to be a four hour trip."

Tails waved off her concerns as he began walking in the direction of the exit to the station, passing by the few random citizens remaining there for their own reasons. "Nonesense, we'll take The Tornado and be there in half an hour."

Amy looked around at the people in the station before hustling to catch up with Tails as he walked away. "Ughh… Flying? You know that makes me queasy."

"I'm a smooth flier." Tails grinned as he pointed to himself. "The best, if I do say so myself."

Amy couldn't help other than to crack a smile at the fox's confidence; it also helped her relax knowing that he was indeed a professional pilot for his age. In another sense, she was also relieved she wouldn't have to sit on a train for several more hours, even if it did entail a bit of time in the sky. Making her way outside the station alongside Tails, they saw a few humans getting in taxis, likely hired to take them to the small community being built down the road. For a split second, she thought about flagging one of the cabs down, then she realized how stiff her legs were from the train ride. Because of the fact that her muscles needed to be stretched more, she decided to simply walk the solid mile (1.5km) from here to the top of the plateau Tails' Workshop rested on. Luckily, Tails appeared to be thinking along the same lines as her, wanting to walk instead of ride.

She continued following her hero's adoptive younger brother as they walked down the path leading away from the train station. They remained in silence for a decent duration. Occasionally, Tails would pull out his computer tablet to examine data as he traveled. Before long, they approached Mystic Lake. Having been several years since last having come out here, Amy found herself surprised to see the tiny housing division that had been developed in a half circle around the lake. There was a young boy and two girls riding bicycles down the newly constructed sidewalk as a man was outside cutting his lawn with a push mower, even one of the taxis she'd recently seen was dropping off people from the train station, using the fresh asphalt to drive right up to the doors of their home.

Although it was definitely the last thing on her mind considering Sonic being missing, she did notice a conflicted feeling in regards to the recent development in the Mystic Ruins. On one hand, she understood that humans were trying to reclaim the lands they once owned a long time ago. On the other hand, it was a shame that society believed the only way to make progress was to interrupt the serenity of nature. Frowning at the realization that she'd never be alone at that lake again, she moved on, walking with Tails until they finally came to the incline that led up to his workshop.

"Aww, man!" Tails abruptly exclaimed excitedly, shaking his fist in response to whatever he was looking at on his computer tablet. "Friggin' LimboPunk32. He's always getting the parts before me… Ughh! Now I'm going to have to buy it off of eBay."

"What are you talking about?" Amy asked

Tails grumbled before telling her. "Oh, I've been bidding for airplane parts online. I've gotten some pretty sweet deals too, those that this one guy hasn't snagged out from underneath my nose."

"You're bidding online for airplane parts?" The pink hedgehog lifted an eyebrow in advance of stopping dead in her tracks. "Wait… Is something wrong with The Tornado? I'm not flying in it then, no way!"

"Amy…" Tails chuckled at her slightly annoying behaviour as he stopped to reply. "The Tornado is fine. I'm bidding for parts because I'm trying to make my own jet."

"A jet?!" Amy exclaimed one more time.

Waving his arms, he tried to clear her misconception. "Not like one of those jumbo jets you see carrying hundreds of passengers, more like a military fighter jet. Actually, it'll be more advanced than anything the Guardian Units of Nations have. I'm planning to make it a VTOL."

"What's a VTOL?" Amy asked curiously as she resumed walking up the incline to the plateau.

Tails smirked as he rubbed his hands together happily in regards to what he could create. "It's an absolutely revolutionary airplane." Giddy at the thought, he chuckled. "Well, it's basically an airplane, it's also like a helicopter; kinda both really since it'll utilize dual turbines, one on each wing for enhanced aerodynamics. Instead of a propeller, it'll have a tri-nozzled jet engine for unparalleled power in comparison to standard single engine aircrafts." Slowing down on the mechanical jargon, talking to Amy in a way she could understand, he informed her of what the letters in the word stood for. "But, if you're just curious about what it means, it's Vertical Take-Off and Landing."

"Sounds…. Uhh…" Amy raised her eyebrow at his excitement. "Exciting."

"Definitely!" Tails confirmed with the same giddy voice he'd had as he discussed the idea. "I'm going to add some seriously awesome weapons to it as well; lasers and seeker missiles, plus a generic machine gun. You know what they say, even if you don't think you need a machine gun, you need a machine gun."

Shrugging, the pink hedgehog giggled softly at the fox's enthusiasm. In spite of knowing that Tails and Sonic adored tinkering on aircraft, Amy herself didn't find getting greasy or hammering her thumb to be the most exhilarating task on the planet. So, even though she was certainly impressed by Tails' knowledge in addition to his engineering expertise, she had no clue what he was talking about. "Do they?" She asked, playing along. "I wouldn't know."

"Totally!" Tails walked backwards as he spoke, continuing to elaborate on the functions of a prototype vehicle he hadn't even designed yet. "I was going to go so far as to install anti-missle flares, but I decided to go with a more modern infrared jamming system instead." Getting overly animated, enlivened by his own imagination, both of his tails rapidly spun in a circle, bouncing as he walked. "On top of all that, I was thinking of installing some sort of sophisticated autopilot. It'll be hard work as it'll require a certain degree of artificial intelligence. It would really make my life easier. The A.I. could help me land or even avoid other aircrafts." Snapping his fingers, he stated "There's also the matter of my blueprints for what should hypothetically be a fully functional camouflage design. I'd really-really-really love to build that. Do you know how useful a cloaking system would be?" With a twitching ear, he reached around to scratch the back of his head prior to admitting. "My biggest problem is going to be a power source. I need a battery or a reactor small enough to fit inside the craft while also strong enough to run the engines. It has to be light enough to not weigh it down either… I'm sure I'll have to sacrifice a few of my planned accessories, but it'll be worth it."

Amy giggled softly as they both approached Tails' Workshop. "Sounds like you're going to have your hands full when you actually start building it. If anyone can make one, it would be you."

"Thanks!" He happily chirped as he walked up to the door leading inside of the living quarters to his workshop. Using the key on the lock, he opened the door, instantly flipping on the lightswitch just inside on the wall. Going inside, it smelled warm and earthly as the scent from wood making up the majority of the workshop permeated the air. As the overhead lightbulb flickered on, Amy looked around at the big room, seeing the kitchenette attached to the front door area. There was no dining room, just a cheap plastic kitchen table with a few mix matched chairs. The living room had a scratchy couch with a sleeping bag draped across it, a big leather chair, a beanbag chair and a giant spool that once held cable now currently being used as a coffee table. Unlike everything else, but precisely like a typical pre-teen male, the only thing new and in good condition was the Wi-Fi router, television, tablet and video game consoles. "I can't wait to tell Sonic about it." Tails said in response to the airplane he had modeled. "He's going to be ecstatic!"

"If we find him." Amy replied, her smile vanishing as she remembered their predicament.

"Amy…" Tails' cheery attitude dissipated along with Amy's smile. "I told you not to think like that. Sonic can protect himself, we know this."

"I know he can usually take care of himself." The pink hedgehog admitted as she closed the door behind her.

Cocking his head, opening the refrigerator, he grabbed a can of soda, popping the top to take a sip of the fizzing liquid. "It's the subsistence Eggman gave him that you're worried about, huh?" The yellow fox speculated as to what it could be that's making Amy so on edge.

"Yes…" She quietly meeped with a gentle sniffle.

Pursing his lips, Tails grabbed a keychain off the counter in advance of walking back towards the door. "I had a feeling. Well, I'm going to go start The Tornado. The sooner we get help from Rouge, the sooner we can start getting answers."

"Can I use your bathroom first before we go?" Amy requested.

"Of course." Tails replied as he reopened the front door. "Met me around back, in the garage when you're done. Don't forget to lock the door when you leave." Walking outside, leaving the door open behind him, he quickly disappeared from view as he walked along the side of the workshop to go towards the garage.

Amy sighed from the misery she felt, the intense anxiety making her chest tight from not knowing where her soulmate was. Although she didn't want to, she could feel another bout of tears welling up in her eyes, ready to spill out like a broken dam. Tearing off a sheet from a roll of paper towels on the kitchen counter, she dabbed at her eyes, then blew her nose into it. Strolling in the direction of the bathroom, entering the living room, she had to walk over to the ladder leading up to the loft where Tails' slept. There was a separate room right next to the ladder that housed a toilet, sink and shower. Turning the doorknob, she was pleased to find that the brainy kitsune had used his newly learned carpentry skills to renovate the workshop's restroom. Instead of the bareboned walls like the rest of the place, it was now tiled and smelled of men's shampoo.

'Nice.' She thought as she closed the door behind her, taking off her gloves and lowering her panties before sitting to relieve herself in the toilet.

On the outside of the workshop, she could hear through the walls as Tails lifted the powered hangar door where his airplane was stored. Hurrying as quickly as she could, she finished using the bathroom, stood up, flushed the toilet and lifted her panties back up to her waist. Going to the sink, she saw that it was a motion sensing sink, meaning she had to place her hands underneath the faucet for it to come on. Techy as always, everything the fox did was about upgrades. She didn't mind too much for the time being. Then again, having to glance around for soap, she saw that it was attached to the wall like one in a public building. She realized that Tails had installed an automatic soap dispenser too. She certainly wasn't a technophobe, but she wondered why he believed he needed to go as far as having a battery operated soap dispenser instead of a traditional pump action. Regardless, she went ahead and stuck her hand under the dispenser to receive a glob of blue soap. Finally, she giggled a bit to see that it was dish soap instead of hand soap. Tails was definitely maturing, yet still a careless kid in many ways.

Washing her hands, the pink hedgehog stared at her own smile in the mirror. It made her happy to see herself doing anything other than frowning. In fact, being with Tails instead of being alone was already making her feel better, much better than the depressive solitude she'd been in at her apartment. The only thing was, she knew that her contentment would swiftly wane. Sure enough, it did just that as her mind soon drifted toward her blue hero. Arriving with the same thought she'd tormented herself with for the last two days, that desperate concern made her wonder what Sonic was doing right now. She wanted to know if he was okay. Just like that, all of it overwhelmed her mind, making her barely hear the engine of Tails' airplane, The Tornado, starting up. Delving into her deep worries, she pondered 'Where are you, Sonic?' Her lips began to wiggle as her frown returned with vengeance, accompanied by a single tear rolling down her cheek. 'This isn't like you… Sure, you always ran from me, but I've never seen you run from your family like this.'

'I don't get it.' Slowly shaking her head, her eyes drifted down to stare at the water cascading onto her hands. Lost in thought, she contemplated why the blue hero would avoid those he loved. Thanks to Tails, she understood that it was something Sonic had always done, but it didn't explain why he was the way he was. 'Why would you blow off Tails when you told him you'd visit? Why won't you answer when he or Vanilla call you? Why won't you answer when I call you?' Sniffling, she cried while imagining the worse things that could have happened. 'Did you get captured? Have you done something to yourself? Did you just abandon us?' It was true that the pink hedgehog had experienced this all once before, during the week it turned out he'd been held hostage by Eggman. She was almost as worried then as she is now; the only difference now being that she'd had sex with him and made leeway in starting the relationship she'd dreamed of since she was a little girl. 'Don't you realize how torn up I am?'

.

Tails sat in the two seat cockpit of The Tornado. For all his talk about creating a futuristic VTOL, this aircraft was his favourite; that is, in spite of it being on permanent loan from Sonic. The vintage bi-plane had a red fuselage with a single horizontal white stripe white running along the center, slashing upward at the back as it went around the word 'SONIC' boldly emblazoned on it. Its white wings were painted with thin yellow stripes going parallel to the fuselage. The empennage was simple with a decent sized vertical stabilizer assisted by two smaller horizontal stabilizers. Four of his own personal 'Tails' symbols of two spinning white-tipped yellow tails had long since been added to the plane, one on both sides of the top wing and one on each side of the vertical stabilizer.

Pushing up a tad on the throttle, the pristine conditioned aircraft revved up its engine; the yellow three-headed tractor screw propeller spun faster as the blackened steel power plant that turned it hummed with energy. The Tornado gradually rolled on its three wheels, exiting the garage to his workshop. Thanks to where he'd strategically placed the workshop on the plateau, he was able to construct his beloved personal runway. Steering the airplane away from the workshop, the fox stopped a few yards out. Halting, he pressed the button on his garage remote, watching as the door slowly slid closed. 'Okay…' He thought as he idled the engine and put on the parking brake. 'Central City….' Using his phone, he input the location into his map app, finding a decent airport to land at. 'It looks like I'm going to be flying to Washington International Hub.' He grunted as he continued thinking 'That place is always super busy, but it's the closest to Rouge's Club. At least the weather is going to be nice.'

Upon several minutes of waiting for Amy, he started looking around for her. Not seeing her anywhere, he gently chewed on his lower lip, brooding over Sonic to pass the time. He put on a strong exterior for Amy, a confident demeanor and attitude. However, on the inside, he found himself beginning to fret for his adoptive hedgehog brother. It wasn't completely unusual for the blue blur to get sad or depressed, what seemed different this time was the prolonged slump he'd fallen into, the way he was unable to escape it. That seemed strange. Sonic had never been exceedingly hard to cheer up before now. In fact, Tails could recall the hedgehog practically shutting off tears over the smell of chili-dogs.

"Hormones?" Tails wondered aloud, trying to think of what it could be causing Sonic's mental state to degrade. "Ego death? Maybe from the way people treated him after the Death Egg Robot killed those innocent civilians?" Blinking a few times, his ears twitched as he retrieved the plastic baggie given to him by Amy, examining the pill on the inside of it. "Or… could he really have been poisoned by Eggman?" His teeth grit tight as he got angry at Robotnik for potentially doing such a thing, yet frustrated as well by Sonic's foolishness for ever willingly accepting a drug from a homicidal maniac in the first place. 'If so, who knows what it's doing to him.' He thought instead of speaking. 'We need to break down the ingredients so I can understand what they're doing to him.' Seeing that Eggman Empire logo pressed onto the middle of the pill, he put away the bag, not wanting to look at it any longer. Nonetheless, seeing it helped him realize something. 'It can't be good. Eggman doesn't give away good things.'

Sighing at the frustration, he looked up again to still not see Amy. This time, he wondered what she was doing. Since she told him she was using the bathroom, he didn't want to rush anybody's personal business when they're on the toilet. Yet, he figured she would have been done by now. Hopping out of the cockpit, he left the plane idling as he decided to simply check on her. Walking around the side of the workshop, it didn't take him long to make it back inside.

Right away, he heard Amy's cries as he crossed the threshold of the doorway. The pink hedgehog's wails echoed throughout the interior of the workshop, but couldn't be heard outside due to the roaring engine of The Tornado. His heart sank in his chest. It hurt him emotionally to hear the anguish in her voice. Knowing that it was Sonic who caused her to be so distraught, it was highly frustrating as well. He didn't want to besmirch his best friend, his adoptive brother, yet he was beginning to be annoyed at the irresponsible behaviour of this so-called hero. Sighing, he sucked up his own feelings, walked across the kitchen and living room, then stopped in front of the bathroom door. Gathering his composure, he also thought of what he was going to say, how he was going to cheer her up. Once he felt sure enough of his ability to help, he knocked on the door.

"W-What?" Amy immediately replied to the knocking sound from within the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" Tails asked. "Can I come in?"

"No!" She shouted in response prior to settling down. "I… I mean-… I'm fine. Just, don't come in here right now." The saddened pink hedgehog sniffled. "I look ugly."

Tails furrowed his brow as he cocked his head to the side. It took him a moment to realize what she meant by ugly. Nervously holding his hand to his cheek, he spoke through the door so she could hear him. "You don't sound okay."

"My make-up…" She sobbed in between breaths. "It's running all over the place."

Huffing, the young fox didn't understand the concern over eyeliner or lipstick anyway. Nonetheless, he still wanted to comfort her. "Amy… I don't care about that. Just let me in."

After thirty or so seconds of silence, the doorknob clicked as she unlocked it from the other side. Upon opening the door, she already had her other hand up to block the view of her crying face. She had shed a few tears on the train and more in the station, but this time she found it was all coming out, perhaps because she was in a safe place that wasn't in the public eye. Although she did indeed have make-up running down her face from the tears she had shed, she didn't look ugly. Tails didn't think she was ugly at all. He knew that she was merely upset. Even though he didn't have any experience in the matter, he made an attempt to cheer her up. "You're not ugly."

"I am…" She cried, hot salty tears falling to the tiled floor.

Tails shook his head as he walked in the bathroom to hug her. "You're not." Embarrassed as he was to say such a thing, he knew it would make her feel better. "You're beautiful, Amy."

Sniffling, she wrapped her arms around the kitsune, letting more out as she bawled into his neckfur. "I don't feel beautiful!"

Patting her on the back, Tails exhaled, trying his best to stay calm. "It's because you're stressed out." He explained as he continued to console her. "Those tears are gonna help release the inner-pain."

"They're ugly tears!" She wailed as a string of snot dribbled out of her nose.

"They're not ugly…" Tails did his best to talk sense into her. "They're symbolic of how beautiful you are on the inside too, not just the outside."

Following a couple more minutes of crying, Amy started relaxing, ceasing the waterfall of tears. Before long, she thought about what the yellow fox had said to her. She mentioned one thing in particular. "What do you mean by my tears being symbolic?"

Breaking the hug, Tails grabbed a tissue off the counter by the sink, handing it to the pink hedgehog so that she could dab at the tears ruining her mascara. "I mean, you're a really good person. You have an amazing soul…" Holding back a few cracks in his voice from his own anxiety, he kept explaining what he meant about her being beautiful on the inside. "Sonic hurt you by being an immature punk; I'm sure that some of your crying is because of that. What confirms that you're a kindhearted individual, that you're beautiful inside and out, is the fact that you're still willing to stand by him and rescue him from the danger he might be in." Clearing his throat, he shrugged. "I guess I'm also trying to say… Someone as selfish as Sonic can occasionally be is very lucky to have someone as selfless as you."

Doing her best to clean the damage her tears had done to her make-up, she sniffled before asking. "You really think so?"

Tails nodded comfortingly in advance of tenderly rubbing her upper arm. "I do." Smiling at her, he brought his hand down her arm, gently taking her by the hand. "Now, come on." He slowly led her out of the bathroom. "You still got me, and I promise you that I'll help you figure out what's going on with Sonic. Together, we'll gather more allies to get him back."

Amy used the tissue, holding it to her eyeball before closing her eyelid on it, letting the thin paper absorb her tears without smearing her make-up by wiping her entire eye. Tails let go of her hand halfway across the living room, but she made sure to stop him at the front door with another enormous hug of gratitude for all he'd been doing, for the friend he'd been to not only Sonic, but her as well. Appreciating all he'd done, she said "I can't thank you enough for this, Tails. I'm sorry that I keep turning into a baby. You're right though, this is, like, totally stressful."

Giving her another big hug that was reciprocated this time, he told her "It's nothing. I'd do it for all of you anytime, same as how I'm sure you and Sonic would do the same for me."

Pulling away, she smiled softly. "Of course we would. We're family."

"And, family is often all you have in this world." Tails added in as he walked with her out the front door, flipping off the lights on his way out. Locking the door behind him, he turned around and nodded at Amy. The two walked together this time, side-by-side as they made their way to the other side of the workshop, toward the hangar and airstrip.

On approach to the plane, Amy started looking a tad nervous again. Tails, who had been keeping a close eye on her, noticed this and took her by the hand again, assuring her that they were in this together, that she wouldn't have to worry about the flight since he was a superb pilot. Arriving next to The Tornado, Tails helped to lift her up into the passenger seat situated directly behind him. He quickly looked away from beneath her dress with a soft blush and wide blinking eyes as she climbed onto his shoulders before hoisting herself the rest of the way into the plane. Amy got as comfy as she could in the seat as Tails proceeded to walk around the aircraft doing a final inspection before take-off.

'I really hope we figure out what that pill is and where Sonic's at.' Amy thought.

Leaping upward toward the cockpit, using his twin tails to hover upward, Tails maneuvered over to and above the pilot's seat prior to dropping down into it, landing perfectly due to thousands of times practicing that quick entry method. "Oof…" He grunted as his butt hit the seat. "Okay… Let's see." Grabbing an aviation headset, he placed it on his head and turned it on. Removing the second headset, he turned it on and leaned up to reach behind the seat, attempting to place them over Amy's ears.

"HOLD ON!" Amy shouted over the noise from the engine as she took the headset out of his hands to do it herself. "YOU'RE GONNA MESS UP MY QUILLS!" Pulling her pink quills back a bit, she positioned the headset directly on top of her head, making sure the rubber earpads completely covered her ears. There was an immediate reduction in noise from the plane once she put on the headphones, revealing them to be manufactured using a decent level of passive noise-canceling material. Not thinking, however, the hedgehog still yelled into the microphone. "WOW! THESE THINGS REALLY MAKE IT QUIET, HUH!?"

Tails winced as her loud voice came through the headphones. He laughed in spite of motioning for her to lower her volume. "Yes! But, you don't have to shout into the microphone. Just talk with a raised voice, the technology is really good at picking up voices while tuning out the environment!"

Holding her hand to her mouth, she giggled softly. "Whoops! Sorry!"

Giving an 'A OK' signal with his hands, Tails said "It's fine! I'm going to do a quick in-cabin check and then we're taking off, okay?!"

Amy nodded and watched what he was doing with a bit of interest, allowing it to distract her from her episodic depression. She noticed he didn't have any paper for a list. "Where's your list?!" She asked.

"In my head!" Tails chuckled as he started reading off important plane information, a vital diagnostic for pilots. "Auxiliary fuel pump? Off… Flight controls? Free and correct…" Tapping on the control panel, he scrutinized every gauge there, ensuring they were functional. "Instruments and radios? Checked and set… Altimeter? Set… Directional gyro? Set… Fuel gauges? Checked… Trim? Set… Propeller? Exercised." Fastening his safety harness, he continued to list off systems and pieces of the plane. "Magnetos? Checked… Engine idle? Checked… Flaps? As required… Harness? Fastened." Craning his neck, he looked back at Amy in advance of asking in a raised voice so she'd know he was speaking to her "Do you need any help with your harness!?"

Looking left, then right, Amy saw the harness attached to the sides of the seat. Grabbing them, she wasted no time in buckling herself in. "Nope! I think I'm all set!"

Grabbing a pair of goggles, he handed them back to her. "Do you want some goggles!? It's not an enclosed cockpit, so it's going to get windy!"

Thinking about it for a moment, the pink hedgehog soon took the goggles from the intelligent fox, realizing that her quills would blow around so much that they'd probably poke her in the eye. "Sure!" Taking the headset off for a moment, she pulled the goggles down over her head until they covered her eyes. Straightening her quills, she then replaced the headphones. "Are we ready now!?"

"Almost!" Checking the final systems, he momentarily spoke to himself. "Mixture, rich… Lights; landing, taxi, strobes, all on… Transponder, on." Giving a thumbs up, Tails then said. "We're good! Let's go!"

Taking off the parking brake, the fox gradually pushed the throttle forward more and more. At first, The Tornado barely moved, inching forward. Once he was oriented on the runway, the throttle pushing made the engine work harder, spinning the blades faster, thus generating more forward propulsion. Since she was fairly new to flying, on instinct, Amy grabbed Tails' seat, holding onto it to steady herself. Tails, on the other hand, was busy controlling the yoke, ensuring they drove directly down his homemade runway. A mere hundred feet from the end of the airstrip, the plane's wheels lifted off from the ground. True to his word, his unnaturally superior aviation skills made the transition from ground to air rather seamless. Amy barely felt anything before she realized they were already in the air. Flying off the end of the runway, Tails pulled down on the yoke, making the plane gain a bit of altitude, being sure to avoid the ground effect of the Sapphire Sea.

Amy peered out both sides of the aircraft enjoying the unique view of the Mystic Ruins from above as they ascended in altitude. Knowing where to go after numerous trips there, Tails turned the yoke to the left, making the rudders adjust so the plane veered off to the right. Heading into the direction of Central City, in only twenty seconds, they had approached the tracks as well as the train station; passing by it, Tails turned The Tornado more until they were in the direction they needed to continue going in. Central City was only thirty minutes away, forty-five tops when traveling by air.

"This isn't so bad!" Amy said in response to flying, still examining her surroundings.

"Of course not!" Tails replied with his usual chipper tone. "The Tornado's a smooth flier!"

"It sure is!" Amy added in. "No wonder you and Sonic enjoy this so much. There's a real feeling of freedom, huh?! Being able to fly right over all the obstacles and traffic in the way must be amazing!" She found it a tad annoying that the wind was blowing her quills all over the place, especially if she looked out over the side of the aircraft. Nonetheless, observing the tops of the trees as they flew over the Mystic Ruins, letting the sun hit her in the face with fresh unpolluted air, it brought a semblance of peace to her aching heart. "Other than the noise from the airplane's engine, it's pretty quiet up here! Peaceful!"

Looking in the mirror that was made to see the passenger, the fox saw the look of uncertainty set on her face. He could tell that she was trying hard to stay calm despite the harshness of the reality around her. "I find it peaceful too!" The kitsune kept the conversation going so she'd stay distracted from her overwhelming sadness. "Getting a different perspective like this really helps the brain clear itself of all the gunky thoughts!"

Giggling, Amy said "I have a few of those right now, for sure!" Adjusting her quills, she pulled them back prior to using her headband, pulling it down the back of her head a bit in order to have it hold her quills still. Noticing Tails' eyes on her in the mirror, she made a squishing motion using her index finger and thumb. "Trust me, I'd love to crush Sonic's head right now!"

They both laughed together as they continued to fly toward Central City.