Everyone watched in horror as the Eggmobile crashed onto the beach. Tails landed the plane as quickly and safely as he could, jumping out of the cockpit when they landed with Shadow on his tail.
When they reached the crash site, their jaws dropped. Smoke poured out of the crushed engine, lights blinking erratically, several alarms were sounding off, and the cockpit was empty with no sign of the blue blur.
"Sonic? Sonic! Where are you?" Tails called in a panic crawling over the wreckage, looking for any sign of what had happened to his brother.
Shadow followed carefully, stepping over pieces of warped metal, wondering where his blue counterpart had disappeared too. His sensitive ears twitch, hearing something other than Tails' calls. "Shh, listen!" Shadow whisper yelled at the fox, putting a finger to his lips and pointed to the other side of the vehicle.
The duo crept around and saw a bundle of blue quills mostly unharmed aside from a few scratches and bruises, laying on his back laughing hysterically, tears pouring out of his eyes, and kicking his legs in the air. "Sonic!" Tails rushes to his brother's side, "Are you ok? Did Eggman do anything to you? How many fingers am I holding up?" He asked quickly, but Sonic only laughed harder, gripping his tan stomach as he gasped for air between his convulsions. "Sonic, what's wrong with you? Snap out of it! You need to get a hold of your-" Tails paused, feeling a firm hand on his shoulder, "Stop. He's in a state of hysterics. There's nothing we can do until he calms down." The fox worriedly looked back to his brother, still laughing like he had gone crazy. He nodded silently, hoping Sonic would be ok.
A minute later, Amy and Knuckles showed up. Shadow explained what was going on and suggested they wait before doing anything else.
5 minutes later, the blue blur started to come back to reality. Holding his chest as he caught his breath, he felt light-headed, and everything was a bit hazy. At some point, he felt someone sit him up against a tree and a coconut husk filled with milk placed into his hands. He gratefully gulped the beverage, and sighed as the fog in his brain from not having had anything to eat or drink all day, began to fade. "Thanks, guys." he lazily wiped away a dribble from his chin. "Feeling better?" Amy asks. He nodded. "Yeah...just, tired."
"How did you escape?" Tails slowly asks, "Oh...I uh, just hid in the air ducts until I could hitch a ride..." he slurred, head bobbing up and down, fighting the urge to fall asleep. Shadow noticed the glaze coming over his green eyes, "Get some rest, Sonic; you've had an eventful last couple of days. We can take care of everything from here." he nodded. The blue hedgehog offered a relieved crooked smile, "Yeah...o-k." and with that, he was out like a light.
Knuckles gently picked Sonic up and cradled the knocked out blue hog in his arms. "What now?" He quietly asks. "Now, Pinky, Fox boy, and I will go back and have a word with the good doctor. You stay here and watch over Sonic until we get back."
"Awww, why can't I go with you guys?" Knuckles asks in disappointment.
"Because someone needs to look after the baby while we're gone!" Knuckles pouted; he liked watching over his babyfied friend but wanted to smash Egghead's face too. "Can't we just take him with us?" Amy put a hand over the giant's shoulder, "No, Knuckles, he's not in any condition to be alone right now, and we can't risk letting Sonic get captured again. He needs someone big and strong to protect him right now. You can do that for him, right, Knuckles?"
She was right. He was the strongest on their team, and her appeal to his protective nature worked on him like a charm. "Weeell, I guess so." he smiles a bit, "Thanks, big guy!" she jumps up and pecks his cheek, gratefully, "We'll be back soon!"
"Call us if anything urgent comes up." Tails gestures to his communicator.
"Don't worry about us. Just give that old Eggface a good pounding for me!" Shadow nods once, and the three leave to take care of their unfinished business.
A couple of hours later, Sonic awakens with a small headache, "Ugh, my head." he rubs his temples, "Mornin' sleepyhead!" Sonic blinks his eyes open to see himself being cradled by his echidna friend back at Amy's home. "Uh? W-what happened?" he croaked in confusion. The last thing he remembered was flying Eggman's eggmobile; when did he fall asleep? "You crashed Egghead's floaty thingy and passed out after we found you." He ran a gloved hand through his blue quills as everything came back to him.
"Oh yeah...now I remember. Hehe hehe, man, that was some ride! I should ask Tails if he can trick that thing up, and we could take it for a spin again." he chuckled, "Say where is everyone anyway?"
"The guys went back to Eggman's place, said they were gonna talk to him. Though I'd rather they give him a good pounding after kidnapping you. He didn't hurt you, did he?" Knuckles asked, caressing his face; Sonic purrs, pressing his face into those massive yet gentle hands, smiling. "Nah, Eggbelly barely even touched me. Actually, I had a good time there, but I'll tell ya about it later, right now..." he moved his face away and blushed, noticing his diaper felt a bit wet. "I-I could use a change if you don't mind?"
"No problem, little buddy!" Knuckles smiles and carried him to the nursery.
Sonic looked around the room as he was laid down. It felt good to be back in his nursery; he spotted his favorite toy waiting for him in the crib, "Hey Knux," he asked just before the echidna began the diaper change. "could you hand me Speedy?" Knuckles gave him the stuffed cheetah; Sonic hid behind the stuffy while he was changed. A bit embarrassed he had gone while asleep earlier; that was a first for him. He peeked around the stuffed animal to see what pattern his new diaper would have, but it was just a plain white one. Aw man, I liked the one's Eggy had...maybe I can ask Amy to find some with some designs or colors on them, no girly ones though, yuck!
Knuckles tapped up the sides putting his hands on his hips. He proudly looked over his work, "There! How did I do blue?" Sonic sat up and wiggled around in the new diaper. His ears perked at the crinkle noise, and gave a thumbs-up, "Feels good. You're getting better!"
"Alright! So what do you wanna do now?" Sonic tapped his chin, "Speedy, what do you wanna do?" he asked the stuffed animal and nodded resolutely, pretending he agreed with it said, "That sounds good! Speedy thinks we should order a pizza and watch a movie."
"Cool idea, Speedy! What kind of pizza do we want?" Knuckles asks, picking up the hedgehog, holding him like a baby, and walks back to the living room, "One with jalapenos and sausage and extra cheese. And we should get an ice cream Sunday too!" he demanded like a little boy hugging his stuffy. Knuckles smiled, happy to have his little blue buddy back home.
After he made the order, the two made a massive fort with the couches using all the pillows and blankets in the house and dubbed it the kingdom of television. Sonic happily ate all of his half of the pizza along with his ice cream Sunday and a bottle of soda, getting his face very messy while they watched a children's film. "Hey, Sonic," Knuckles asks while wiping chocolate syrup from Sonic's muzzle. "Yeah, Kux?"
"What's it like being a baby?" Sonic cocked a brow, "What's it like?"
"Yeah, like, do you like it or hate it?" Sonic chuckles; he wasn't sure how to answer his question, "Why do you ask?"
"Eh, just curious." Knuckles shrugs. Sonic rolls from his stomach to his back and lays his hands behind his head, thinking. "Well, If I hated it, I would be complaining a lot more...I guess the best way I can describe it is like you're sick and need to be taken care of but without the sick part. So it's like having all the benefits but without yucky parts. Does that make sense?" Knuckles scratches his stomach," Kind of?" (he didn't understand.) "Doesn't it get annoying having everyone do everything for you?"
"It did at first, but then...I got used to it and decided to take Amy's advice and look at the whole thing like taking a vacation. And you know what? I like it! It's been fun hanging out with you guys and not having to worry about anything." Knuckles nods, understanding at least that, "So you're not embarrassed?"
"Hehehe, I'm a little embarrassed. There are some things I still haven't gotten used to yet, like the diapee checks..." the hedgehog blushed a bit, Knuckles chuckles at him. "Yeah, I can't imagine wearing one of those."
"Hehe ya know it's not so bad." Sonic furrows his brows and leans on his elbows, gesturing for his friend to come closer and whispers, "Can you keep a secret?" a serious look spreads on Knuckles' face; he leans forward and also whispers, "Yeah...what?"
"I uh...I actually, really like the diapees." Knuckles raises his brows, "No way!" Sonic bites his lip, blushing, wiggling his butt in the air, and nods shyly. The echidna smirked. The hedgehog was full of surprises! "When did you start liking them?"
"After the first day," he hid behind Speedy again, "t-they're convenient and soft."
"You look pretty cute in them too." Knuckles winks, Sonic blushes, his grin was twitching wider. "Really? Even when I'm big?"
"Yeah! You always look adorable in them!"
"Gee, thanks Knux."
"Hehe, come here, you adorable little hedgehog." Knuckles pulls him over and gives Sonic a lovable noogie, making both of them laugh. Sonic bats him away, and the two return to their movie.
Shortly after their talk, Knuckles leaves to go to the bathroom. Sonic just went in his diaper, happy he didn't have to miss any of the movie. Knuckles changed him afterward, and the two watched another film.
It was quite late before Shadow, Tails, and Amy returned. "What on Mobius?" Amy gasped, walking through the door and seeing someone or someones had completely renovated her living room. Knuckles poked his head out of the blankets. "Hey, your back!" Amy crossed her arms, and sternly asked, "What happened to my living room?"
"We made a fort!" Knuckles replies. Sonic poked his head out above the echidna and silently waved at his friends. "Did you have to use all of the blankets and pillows in the house?!" Both nodded. Amy groaned at the two. Sonic whispered into the red giant's locks; he widened his eyes, listening before exclaiming, "Oh yeah! We ordered you guys some pizza. Too, if you want, it's inside the fort."
"Pizza? Alright, thanks!" Tails fist pumped and ran further into the room, dying for a greasy slice of pie. He bent down, attempting to enter the fort, before Sonic blocked the entrance, "Password." he signed, "Uh password?" Tails asked; Sonic nodded. "Um...chili dogs are the best?" the fox shrugged, "Eh, close enough." pulling back the blanket; Sonic let his best friend in.
Amy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She felt like she was surrounded by children, "What am I gonna do with you guys...alright, let me in." Amy pushed her way past the blue blur; Shadow grunted, following behind.
"Wow! This place is enormous!" Tails exclaimed, taking a bite of the still-warm pizza. "I didn't realize I had this many pillows and blankets." Amy mused, taking a slice herself and sits Indian style. Sonic returned to his spot sitting Indian style, also hugging Speedy, "How did it go with Eggman?" he asked.
"We peacefully agreed not to bother the other for the time being," said Shadow taking a swig of a bottle of soda. "A.k.a. Shadow threatened to shave his mustache and then pull out all his internal organs if he didn't leave us be until you were back to normal." Amy interpreted, "And that was after we destroyed all of his robots. Except for Orbot, Cubot, and Mom-bot, of course, they're harmless." Sonic silently thanked Chaos and sighed in relief that Mom-bot was ok, he didn't care that much about the other two, but he did like Mom-bot. Tails laughed, "You should have seen Eggman! He was squirming and squealing like a little girl! Hahaha!" Sonic frowned, "Aw, Shadow, did you have to be so hard on him?"
"Would you rather I had invited him for dinner and a dance after a show at the opera?" Shadow scowled, "No! But you could have died down the threats a bit. He may be an evil genius, but he's not exactly the best villain."
"The man threatens to send you six feet deep every week and attempts to take over the world with his crackpot inventions. I think he more than qualifies as a villain." Sonic huffs at Shadow. The ebony hog could be more bullheaded than him sometimes, "Just go easier on him next time, please." Shadow doesn't answer. Growling, he chugs the rest of his soda and lays back into a pile of pillows, pouting and ignoring the rest of the group.
Tails and Amy finish off the rest of the pizza and continue watching the movie with Sonic and Knuckles.
Sonic is the first to fall asleep towards the end of the movie, Tails and Knuckles follow shortly after him, Amy a little longer after the film finishes.
Shadow watches the group sleeping soundly with a small smile. Amused that they had all gradually crawled to each other in their sleep like magnets forming a colorful cuddle pile. It looked inviting; he wanted to join, yet he felt like this moment wasn't his to be a part of.
His gaze floated to the tv, now showing nothing but static, the noise grating his ears. He quietly crawled over the furry pile to turn the tv off, he sighed in relief, and his face relaxed. Suddenly he felt a firm grip pull his arm. Alarmed, he looked down to see Sonic while searching for Speedy he had lost in his sleep, found Shadow's arm instead, and was pulling him down as he cuddled the appendage. "Let go! You little..." Shadow whispered, pulling his arm back, but Sonic just held on tighter and turned to his side, taking Shadow with him.
Shadow groaned as he now found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, I.e., stuck between being cuddled by his rival and squished by the rest of the inhabitants of the cuddle pile. Tired of the day's events, he breathed out and gave up on any thoughts of escaping. His eye lips drooped, and he smiled again, falling asleep to the soft breathing and snores of his fellow teammates.