*Note Italicised words are a character's thoughts,*
After recovering somewhat from their shock, Team Sonic silently left the tunnels making their way back to Hedgehog village.
As they drew closer, Amy nervously broke the silence, "Soooo...um, what are we gonna do now?" she asked, glancing at their now tiny blue leader. Who was currently pouting, wrapped up in his banana cradled in Shadow's arms. "Well," Tails sighed, "I guess I better start examining Sonic as soon as we get back to my place so I can figure out how to cure him of his...condition." he worded delicately. "How long do you think it will take for you to fix him?" Shadow asked. "Honestly...I'm not sure." Tails looked down at his now 'little brother' who was still pouting, ear twitching, "It all depends on how babyfied he is."
"Babyfied? Ok, I know I'm not smart, but it sounds like you're just making up words." Knuckles said. "I guess you could say I am. I've never heard of anything like this happening before! This is like...like..." Tails flung his hands up, searching for the right words.
"Whole new undiscovered territory?" Amy suggested. "Yes! Well, I guess not totally undiscovered. There must be some kind of documentation or formula left somewhere in those tunnels for this kind of age-reversal process to happen in the first place?"
"Are you saying we'll have to go back to that Chaos forsaken room?" Shadow grumbled Sonic moaned at the thought of going back there. "Unfortunately, yes, but not today! I need some time to figure out the extent of Sonic's condition...and I think we could all use a breather."
"Well, what are we gonna do about Sonic in the meantime? He can't exactly go back to living by himself in his shack." Amy pointed out. "What? Not go back to my shack! Why not?" Sonic tried to ask, but all that came out was high pitched baby babble. "Pinky is right. That piece of maggot eaten plywood is barely habitable for anyone anyway, let alone an infant. Knuckles doesn't have a home, and I don't think my cave will do well either," said Shadow. "I would say he could stay with me, but I can't take care of him and come up with a cure at the same time, not quickly anyway."
"It wouldn't be safe at your place, either, Tails," Amy added. "With all of that dangerous equipment around, Sonic could hurt himself...I think him staying with me would be for the best, but I don't have any baby supplies." Amy tapped her chin, eyes lighting up, "I guess I have some shopping to do!" Everyone but Amy groaned. Now that they had a plan, the group went their separate ways.
*At Tails' workshop.*
Shadow and Knuckles watched Tails as he examined Sonic sitting on his workshop table, "Hmmm..." Tails hummed, "8 inches! Gosh, Sonic, you're tiny even for a baby." Sonic looked away, pouting and blushed; he couldn't help being small. "Well, this is interesting..." Tails mused, tapping a claw on one of Sonic's quills, "Your quills aren't near as sharp as they were before. They feel more like rubber, and it seems your fur to quill ratio has switched dramatically to keep you warm." The hedgie covered his face, cheeks burning; he just wanted to crawl into a hole and die right then and there. "Yes...interesting." Knuckles mimicked, scratching his chin with a thoughtful expression. Shadow rolled his eyes and 'hmphed.'
"Interesting, very interesting..." Tails muttered again, writing down his findings, "And what, pray tell, is so 'interesting' that it needs repeating?" Shadow grumbled. "So far...physically, Sonic is a perfectly healthy baby. A little small but I can't find anything that even denotes his drastic change in age. Physically anyway. I have no idea what kind of effect it might have had on him mentally, but we can do those tests tomorrow. Right now, I need to get some...samples and have them analyzed as quickly as possible. I'll get a more in-depth answer of what effect the gas had on his system and begin to make an antidote." Knuckles looked confused, "Uh, Tails, I don't think we can get a free sample of that gas back at those tunnels."
"No, Knuckles," Tails sighed and answered nervously, "I need to collect the samples...from Sonic." Sonic's eyes widened slightly, looking up at Tails. Having been on the receiving end of many of Tail's experiments and inventions, he knew a sample could be anything: from a single strand of fur to having a piece of skin cut out, granted it was only one time, and it was a small piece, and it didn't hurt (Tails made sure of that), but it still was a little unnerving. He shuttered at the memory.
Tails turned to some cabinets and drawers, pulling out a small plastic cup, bowl, and something else he hid in his two tails, "Ok, Sonic, what I'm about to ask you to do is...super gross, but necessary."
"What's that?" Sonic asked, head tilted. Tails paused, shaking his head and yelling, "Oh, my Chaos!" he hit himself on the head and chuckled, "I'm an idiot! I completely forgot!"
"What?" Knuckles asked. "I forgot Sonic knows sign language! At least I know you can understand us now; that makes things a lot easier." Tails smiles in relief. "Wait a minute, Faker's not deaf, and he certainly isn't mute. How does he know sign language?"
"Well, despite the way he acts now. When we first met, Sonic didn't talk at all. When he was younger, the first time, he wasn't around people enough to learn how to talk. The only way we communicated was by sign language, so while he taught me how to sign, I taught him how to talk. Eventually, he learned enough he didn't need to sign anymore. It's been so long I forgot he could do that!"
Sonic angrily blushed again, crossing his arms. He was happy to have solved his communication problem, yet he was also upset at Tails for revealing a bit of his past. It was embarrassing to have others find out he didn't know how to talk until after he had met Tails just a few years ago. Wait a minute, didn't Tails just mention me having to do something gross and embarrassing? Putting aside his irritation, Sonic waved his little hand to get Tails' attention again, "What do you need me to do?" He signed. "Uhhhh, heh, heh...I-I-I need you to um..." Tails gestured to the plastic cup and bowl, "I need your urine and fecal matter." he said with a low voice. Sonic's eyes shot up, "NO, NO, NO, NO, no, no, no!" he waved his arms, "Not doing that!"
"Sonic, I know this is really gross and embarrassing, but I need it if I'm going to make a cure for you."
"NO!"
"Do you not need to go?" Knuckles asked. Sonic crossed his arms, looking away. "Oh, just suck it up, Faker. One moment of embarrassment will not kill you." Shadow said. "Yes, it will kill me!" Sonic proceeded to exaggerate, making a slicing motion around his neck, rolled his eyes back, and collapsed backward, clutching his chest. A low growl rumbled from Shadow's throat; he had had enough of Sonic's foolish behavior today. If he wasn't going to take this seriously, Shadow was going to make him. The ebony hog marched up to the table, picking up the 'dead' fuzzball by the scruff, making him go limp and forcing him to stare right into his ruby eyes. "Enough, Sonic! Do you really want to stay stuck like this for the rest of your life? Look at yourself; you can't; run, walk or talk. You probably couldn't even stand, let alone even attempt to take on Eggman. You. Are. Helpless. So unless you give the fox what he needs, you're stuck like this forever."
Sonic gawked back, that was the first time Shadow had ever called him by his name, and what was more, he realized Shadow was right. In this tiny, weak, baby body, he couldn't do anything he did before; he couldn't defend himself, let alone others. The reality of this situation of possibly being stuck like this forever struck him hard, like being blindsided by one of Eggman's robots. Tears welled up in his eyes; he hiccuped and cried like a baby.
Shadow panicked; he hadn't expected this kind of reaction from the tiny blue blur. "Aw great, Shadow, look what you did!" Knuckles angrily reprimanded the ebony hog, maternal instincts kicking in as he swiftly grabbed the sobbing blue hedgie from him. "What?! I only told him the facts! This could all be fixed faster if he cooperated." Shadow grumbled; he wasn't about to admit he may have been a bit too harsh. "Yeah, well, look what it did to him! Poor little guy." Knuckles cooed, petting the little hedgie's quills. He couldn't stand watching someone cry, especially when he viewed that somebody as a little brother.
It felt strange to Sonic for the large echidna to pet his quills, but the comforting gesture was oddly enough starting to calm him down. He's right; Sonic sniffed, thinking, I gotta pull myself together and get this over with if I wanna be a teenager again. Wiping his eyes, Sonic waved to get everyone's attention, "Shadow's right, Knux. I gotta face the facts and do whatever needs to be done to get back to normal. Just...tell me what to do."
"I need you to give me some samples." Tails gestured again to the plastic cup and bowl; Sonic sighed, "Ok, I-I-I'll do it...um, I'm gonna need one of you to hold me while I...do my business." he blushed profusely, saying that out loud, he stared at the floor. Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles sweatdropped, eyes darting to each other. "Not it!" Tails and Knuckles yelled, Shadow's shoulders dropped, "Ugh, fine." he muttered in defeat, "Just hand him over and go stand in the corner or something so he can have at least a little privacy." Knuckles returned Sonic to Shadow and followed Tails to the furthest end of the workshop.
Grimacing, Shadow held the little hedgie over the cup, so he didn't have to aim. Shadow nodded that he was ready. Blushing, Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated, trying not to think about everyone else in the room. He gave a little push, and a moment later, his ear twitched, hearing a hiss as his urine landed on target. He sighed in relief as he finished filling the cup halfway; looking down, he didn't realize he had to go so badly. "Ah." Sonic squeaked to Shadow. "You done?" He asked, opening one eye. "Ah!" Sonic confirmed. Shadow moved the hedgie over to the bowl nodding again and closed his eyes. Sonic did the same and pushed again, his cheeks puffed out in effort grunting, he pushed and waited, but he couldn't go. "Uh?" Sonic sighed, confused, he needed to give his...sample, and he knew he could, but nothing was happening. "Ah, Ah!" He patted Shadow's arms. Shadow blinked, opening his eyes, "You're done already?" Sonic shook his head, "What's the problem? To embarrassed still?" he smirked.
Sonic's blush grew, "No...well, maybe a little, I just can't go. I don't know what's wrong?" Shadow looked over the tiny blur, a thoughtful look in his eyes. He laid Sonic back on his bandana and gently pressed his fingers on Sonic's tan tummy. The blue blur grimaced at the pressure and whined. "Hmmm...you feel like you might be a little constipated. I think I know how to fix that, don't move, ok." Sonic nodded in understanding, wondering how the ebony hog was going to fix his problem. Shadow moved two of his fingers down the side of Sonic's lower abdomen and gently rubbed his fingers around in circles, slowly adding pressure. Oh! Ah! If things were weird before, this has to top it off as one of the weirdest things ever! Sonic thought as he winced, grunting and whining, feeling his insides reacting and rumbling to Shadow's massage.
After two minutes, Shadow stopped and held Sonic over the bowl again, "Ok, try again now." he gently spoke. Sonic closed his eyes and pushed again; this time, it took less than 10 seconds for everything to come out. "Good job!" Shadow praised Sonic when he finished. The little hedgie crossed his arms, looking away. He didn't realize Shadow had still been watching him, and shyly he signed 'thanks.'
"Tails, he's done!" Shadow called. "Excellent! Just one more thing..." Tails waved for Shadow and Knuckles to come over and whispered in their ears. Sonic leaned back on the workshop table, sighing in relief, At least that's over, just one more thing to do, and I'll be done. He cocked a brow over the whispering group. What's going on? He didn't have to wonder long as the group parted, hands behind their backs walking back to him, Tails and Knuckles with smiles on their faces while Shadow had his usual frown.
Something was up. He didn't know what but was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it. They all stopped and stared at him for a few moments; Sonic's quills rose as he tensed up watching them.
5...4...3...2...1...
"Now!" Tails yelled. Knuckles and Shadow each grabbed an arm and a leg, pinning him down to the table. Sonic shrieked in surprise, helplessly tugging his appendages to be released as he watched Tails pull out a needle hidden away in his two tails. Sonic strangled and screamed. He HATED needles almost as much as he hated water; he'd prefer to do a hundred embarrassing things than getting stuck with a needle. Not able to pull himself out of his friend's grip, Sonic gave his best puppy dog eyes, ears pulled back, lip trembling, tears almost breaking, begging Tails not to do this to him!
It hurt Tails to do something he knew he hated to his brother, "I'm sorry, Sonic, but I need to do this." he apologizes before poking the needle into his soft flesh. Sonic cried in fear. Shadow and Tails pulled their ears down to lessen the volume of his cries. Poor Knuckles had to take it in at full force. A few moments later, Tails got what he needed and finally pulled the needle out, now filled with blood. "I'm done, I'm done, it's over!" he said, quickly gathering the rest of the samples to begin analysis.
Shadow and Knuckles released Sonic, yanking his arms and legs back, curling into a ball, sobbing for the 2nd time that hour like a baby. Shadow picked up the pint-sized blue ball in his bandana, attempting to calm him down, cradling and bouncing him up and down in his arms. He sympathized with the blue blur. He didn't like needles either. "Perhaps that is enough for today. We should head towards the pink hedgehog's home; maybe she's finished with her errands," said Shadow. Knuckles agreed. Carrying a shaking and crying ball of fur, the two left the yellow fox to his work.