Hello everybody! You all seemed to really like the last chapter and the concept as a whole, and now we can finally start to get into some more of it! Hopefully you'll all enjoy this chapter!

UntoDelirium: Everyone being their actual animals is going to open up to some interesting things for sure!

Guardian of 2fort: They've certainly met, and how Tails escaped his enclosure is certainly curious, but he is a smart fox.

TheGameNguyener: Seeing what Ivo thinks about all of this is going to be interesting for sure! But we'll have to see what the fox has in mind for our hedgehog.

Singerj199: I wanted to try and get their personalities across as well as I could despite their animal forms. Hopefully it goes well as we go along!

Noonui: Having Eggman act as the scientist gives us an interesting viewpoint on these animals. But I tried to keep their characterization as close to their 'normal' selves as possible!

Perturbo: All the other animals are certainly going to have their parts in this story, but you'll have to wait and see.

LauraP11: Hopefully! We'll have to see what the fox decides to do!

AndTails: It'll be interesting to see what happens here, you'll have to read on to find out!

Wingwolfly: I don't intend on them becoming Mobians any time soon, but we'll have to see!

LordChico: I'd been teasing it for a while, hadn't I?

DoomFox: Whatever they get up to, I'm sure it'll be adorable!

Ieju: Having the two of them together wasn't a good idea, but it'll at the very least be interesting to see what Tails decides to do with the hedgehog!

Kurokokairu: Sonic's certainly nervous as well!

The Eccentric Normad: Here's another chapter for you!

Anon: You don't have to wait any longer!

Feral Bonds

Escape

Sonic knew what foxes did to hedgehogs, that much he was aware of. So seeing one staring him down from just outside his cage was terrifying, to say the least. The fox gazed at him for a bit as he sat paralyzed in fear.

"Well, at least I'm safe in this cage…" Sonic thought to himself.

Almost instantly however, the fox reached up with one of its paws at the small latch at the top of his cage door, seemingly trying to use it. To Sonic's surprise and horror after a few moments and attempts at fiddling with it. The latch released and the door fell open.

The hedgehog felt his heart race as he burrowed into the fluff that lined the base of his cage, hoping that he could maybe avoid the animal much like he did the scientist. This hope however quickly vanished as he felt the mouth of the fox descend toward him and pick him up. The azure hedgehog struggled, trying to break free to no avail, as he waited for the inevitable…

Only for the fox to carry him out of his cage, and descend to the floor, setting the small hedgehog down on the ground. The fox then laid down on the floor and stared at the hedgehog again. Sonic went to flee, but quickly found he would be picked up again and carried back to the spot where he'd been originally set. Eventually, he figured he might be better playing along as he turned to look back at the fox. The fox then cocked his head to the side, as if to ask, "What are you?"

Sonic, not knowing exactly how to respond, decided to play along and cocked his head in kind. The fox set his head straight again and stuck his tongue out slightly so that only the tip was visible. Sonic was confused by this, why would he be doing that? Although, it did look kind of funny...

Suddenly, the fox made his way to his feet and started to walk over toward a nearby table. Sonic watched him go, but as the fox turned away, he realized something interesting. The fox had two identical tails behind it, though this didn't do much to change his opinion of the animal. He was surprised when the vulpine turned back to look at him, almost saying, "Are you coming?"

Sonic thought about it for a moment, but figured that the fox hadn't hurt him so far, he began to make his way across the floor over toward where the other animal was waiting. As he reached the base of the table, the fox picked him up in his mouth again, much to Sonic's horror and dislike, before the fox jumped to put his front paws up on the table and set the hedgehog up there.

Taking in his new surroundings, Sonic instantly noticed a couple open jars of what looked like food. Inside one of them, he recognized the treats he'd be given whenever he was tested. He instantly made his way over toward it, maybe this fox wasn't so bad after all…

Clambering over the tops of some of the other containers and being careful not to fall in, he reached the one he'd been searching for. Before he could eat any of the delectable treats however, the fox let out a quiet whimper. Sonic looked back over at the pleading eyes as the orange animal motioned toward one of the other containers with his muzzle.

Sonic wasn't sure what to do, but after a moment, it clicked to him. The fox wanted treats as well, and he was more than likely motioning to the container that had his. The hedgehog decided to help the fox, after all, he'd helped him up to here, so why not return the favor?

Making his way back down, he pushed his weight into the side of the container that held what the other animal had wanted. Eventually managing to get it to move further toward the edge. With one last shove, he managed to push it over the edge, where it tumbled to the floor below, spilling its contents out across the ground.

The fox seemed overjoyed and immediately began to eat some of the scattered food. The hedgehog quickly returned to his jar and did the same. The two of them ate for a while, but eventually, after stuffing their bellies, the fox fell asleep on the floor, and shortly afterward, the hedgehog succumbed to his slumber atop the table...

Day 4:

I returned to a surprise this morning, as not only had the fox specimen broken out of his cage, but he'd also managed to release one of the hedgehogs. Rather than trying to consume the hedgehog as I'd initially feared, he seemed to use the hedgehog to his own benefit. The two then managed to reach and steal a good number of treats from the table before falling asleep, which is how I found them this morning.

While this behavior is odd, breaches like this threaten the experiment as a whole, and I've requested a new cage for the fox specimen, one that's much more secure to contain him. It seems however that there is a short delay in acquiring the equipment I've requested, and they will have it early tomorrow rather than today... This is problematic, as the animals could escape once again tonight and potentially cause issues, though this does allow me to better investigate exactly how they were capable of doing this...

I will report my findings in this log tomorrow, and tonight will most likely be the final time that they are allowed to freely roam the premises...

As night descended upon the lab once more, Sonic thought about his experiences from the previous. The fox was curious to him, mainly as he didn't try to instantly eat him once they'd met, but rather seemed legitimately intrigued by the hedgehog. The duo had managed to eat quite a sizeable amount of treats the last night, and Sonic still felt somewhat full from them.

With the night time however, he heard the same quiet footsteps he'd heard before, only this time, rather than a sensation of fear, it gave the hedgehog a feeling of anticipation. Soon, he was face to face with the fox once more. The orange creature opened his cage and tried to grab him with his mouth once more, only for Sonic to shake his head at the fox. The vulpine seemed confused by this, even somewhat distraught that his new friend didn't want to come with him. Sonic instead stepped out of his cage on his own, and over toward the fox, trying and failing to climb up the larger animal's leg.

Finally catching on to what Sonic was trying to do, the fox laid down, allowing the hedgehog to clamber up the fur on his side and onto his back. Once he was on, the kit jumped down onto the chair and floor once again, this time with an additional new passenger.

He continued to carry the hedgehog atop him as he moved toward a few other cages around the room, seemingly investigating them a bit. The other cages were rather inactive this late at night, but Sonic could still notice the sleeping forms of the other animals.

The fox seemed to stop outside a cage that Sonic recognized as Amy's given that he'd been placed in there not too long ago. The rose-colored hedgehog seemed asleep, and Sonic didn't want to bother her. Unfortunately, the fox he was riding seemed to have other plans, as he pawed at the latch, rattling the cage and making quite a bit of noise in the process, enough to wake Amy, who screamed at the figure of a fox towering overtop her.

"Amy! Relax, it's just me!" Sonic exclaimed.

"What are you doing with that thing!? It could eat you!"

While the fox could hear they were communicating in some way with their squeaks and noises that they were making, he had no way of telling what exactly they were saying, and as such, cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"He seems friendly enough," Sonic answered.

"Friendly? There's no way, now get that thing out of here before it attacks me!"

Sonic gestured away from the cage, trying to get the fox's attention away. The fox seemed to notice the hedgehog trying to signal to him along with the distress of the pink colored one and decided to leave her alone for the time being.

He walked off, carrying the azure hedgehog on his back along with him to find another cage. They still seemed rather quiet this time of night, but he was still curious. The duo came across a cage with a purple cat in it. Which the kit seemed rather intrigued by, that is until the cat came to the bars of the cage and growled angrily. Which seemed to spook the small fox causing him to flee. Sonic gripped on as the fox ran, trying not to fall off. Eventually, the fox seemed to calm down a little bit as the two continued on.

The rest of the animals seemed to be rather fast asleep, and searching the remainder of the cages through the night showed that none of them would respond. This seemed to trouble the fox, who had no idea what to do about it. As he let the hedgehog off his back, who was still there and had seemed to rather enjoy the ride.

The door for the entrance to the lab opened up, causing the two animals to turn their head toward it as Robotnik entered into the lab. He looked at the two animals curiously, before making a move toward the fox. The kit was scared by the sudden approach, and as such made little resistance when he was grabbed by the scruff. Sonic however ran, ducking underneath the nearby desk in order to try and hide. Using the shadows of the furniture from the morning sun to try and conceal himself. The doctor however seemed to see through his ruse rather quickly and chased after the small hedgehog. Sonic ducked behind one of the legs to dodge the hand reaching for him but still continued to flee. Running across the tiled floor, he knew he wouldn't be able to run forever, but it was still fun to mess with the scientist. Running underneath the edge of one of the countertops, he managed to dodge the scientist again. He quickly however found himself in a corner, but he didn't necessarily feel concerned, their chase would have to come to an end sooner or later. As the human picked him up and he managed to get a glance of his new fox friend as he was put into his cage, he was looking forward to all the other things they would get up to soon...

Alright everyone, that's it for today! Let me know your thoughts and I'll see you next time!