I do not own any Sonic characters.

Chapter 10

Miles "Tails" Prower, a golden two tailed fox with an extraordinary mind, threw his arms in the air and stretched his back with a moan. Wave and he were working on the files Eggman gave them for about an hour. The silence between the two was unsettling and at most dreadfully uncomfortable.

The purple swallow has even gone so far as to pull up a chair, rest her feet on the computer desk, and read the files in front of her. Tails thought of this as lazy, but then that was her last file. Tails had already finished his and watched her read it. He lowered his head into his crossed arms resting on the table. He was tired out of exhaustion.

Suddenly the world around him became dark and his memory wiped away as he fell into an instant and unexpected slumber.

Wave stood over the fox with her arms crossed. It has been a few minutes since she finally finished the last file. She tried talking to Tails, but he didn't seem to listen. At first she was furious and stomped over. She stood over him and looked down to see he was vast asleep. His face faced the side resting in the center of his crossed arms.

Wave now looked down at him unsure what to do. Out of rage against the fox she was tempted to shove him off his chair to wake him, but the other side realized something. This is the first time she has ever seen the fox at least slightly peaceful.

A finger soon poked the swallow causing her to jump. She turned to see Jet giggling like a little child "Why so jumpy?"

"I didn't hear you come in!" She nearly yelled.

Jet raised a finger and shushed her "The fox's asleep."

"Yah! So?!"

Storm shook his head "Isn't sleep important?"

Wave scoffed "Why should I care?"

"Then why didn't you wake him yet?"

"Go ahead and wake a major criminal that nearly destroyed the planet."

Jet sweated "Ohh… good point."

Storm looked down at the fox "I think he trusts us more."

Jet looked at the albatross "What makes you say that?"

"… He's sleeping next to us."

Jet looked at the fox "Err… sure, but he doesn't know we're here."

"Wave."

"… Sonic might want him so we should-."

"Leave him alone?"

"Huh?" The three birds turned to see a man walking toward them. "Leave him alone? Ralph. Sonic might-."

"He isn't needed right now. People are turning in and water is now in process. Can you believe Eggman's the only one who didn't give up his bed?"

Wave raised her hand and rolled her eyes "I can."

Ralph burst out laughing "That was rhetorical swallow."

Wave lowered her hand with a blush "Oh."

Ralph suddenly spun around and was in a fighting stance and nearly struck a shocked hedgehog. Shadow backed up "Wow, no one has ever heard me coming before."

Ralph shrugged "I'm wearing armor that increases my senses. Also I was required to have the highest amount of training in the world. Of course I heard you. Just be happy that I know it's safe here otherwise a nice imprint of your form will be on the wall there." Shadow only looked at Ralph with a look that was hard to tell if he doubted that, or just did not care. Ralph relaxed and sighed "What do you want?"

Shadow revealed a file "This Mysterious Villain. I read up on him."

Ralph shift positions fretfully "Realy?"

Shadow was busy evaluating a file to notice "Says here he broke Sonic's leg, destroyed Knothole and other cities, actually killed Sally only to bring her back to mess with Sonic, and imprisoned an entire island in torture cells. He sounds quite heartless."

Ralph tried hard, but he had to place both hands behind his back to hide the clenching fists "You don't say?"

Shadow looked up at him "Is he really gone for good?"

"Yes. Tails made sure of that."

"… I'm going to keep my eye out for any Mysterious Villains."

"There was only one."

"Do we know who he is?"

"Not much of a "Mysterious" Villain if we did."

Shadow glared at the robot dog and then crossed his arms "What's going on here? Everyone has been touchy on this subject."

"Maybe because it brings back bad memories."

Shadow turned and huffed "I will get to the bottom of this!" the hedgehog then turned to leave.

Ralph sighed "I swear, why would Tails want to befriend him?"

Jet then spoke up "Oh, is that why you haven't told him about it?"

"Yah."

"Tell who about what?"

They all turned. Tails was back up and his arms were in the airs as he stretched, his expression looking like he was in pain. He sighed in relief when he relaxed the stretch. He had half closed eyes as he looked at the group "Sorry, did I fall asleep?" Tails yawned as he finished "That came up on me without warning."

A blue blur came dashing in "Hey bud. Do you know how to hide from psychos?"

Tails' eyes shot open "What?!"

"Amy."

"Oh. Nope. You're doomed." Tails smiled with his nearly closed eyes again.

Sonic hunched forward "Come on!"

"SONIC!"

Sonic jumped "Gotta go!"

Amy ran in with her hammer "GET BACK HERE!"

Sonic was only seen running into a room in the carrier. As Amy marched by Ralph snickered "What'd he do now?"

Amy glared at him "He dumped a cold bucket of water on me after I asked him out!"

Ralph was trying not to laugh as well as everyone else in the room. Jet spoke up "What happened more specifically."

"I asked him out. He said he'll show me what I remind him of."

"Huh?" Ralph snickered

"HE DUMPED WATER ON ME! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW I REMIND HIM OF WATER!"

Everyone burst out laughing and fell to the floor. Amy's grip on the hammer tightened "What's so funny?"

Tails sat up still laughing "Y-you remind him of water be-because you scare him."

Tails suddenly stopped and scooted back as Amy marched at him with fury in her eyes "YOU'RE THE ONE TO TALK YOU TWO-TAILED BASTARD!"

Amy was suddenly yanked back and twirled away. Amy turned to see Ralph "Enough Amy. There's nothing wrong with laughing. Otherwise there isn't any warmth."

Amy stomped her foot "And HE has ANY warmth? Sure, sure. Only when hell freezes over!"

Ralph put his arms out like he figured something out "Woah! Hell froze over. And considering how hot it was you'd think that was impossible."

Amy turned and stormed off mumbling something about Ralph being an imbecile, stupid, or something like that.

Seven walked in just as Amy was going to leave. The pink hedgehog tried to bump the robot with her shoulder, but Seven's armor was too strong. Amy's shoulder only bounced off and shot pain through her arm. She cursed as she left rubbing her shoulder.

Seven turned to Ralph and pointed back at Amy "Hmm?"

Ralph scratched his metallic helmet "Oh… She tried picking on Tails and so I stood against her making her annoyed with me."

"Mmmmh." Seven nodded in understanding. "Mhh hmmm mmm hmmm mh."

Ralph reeled his head back "What?"

"Mhh-." Ralph interrupted the robot by tossing him a white board.

The robot pulled out a writing utensil and wrote on it. He then revealed "Its night time. Blaze has ordered me to tell you guys to get some sleep. Blaze also wrote down who sleeps where for the team."

Ralph nodded. Seven nodded as well and gave back the white board. Ralph took it and began to rub the surface to be rid of the words. He flung his arm down in frustration. He then revealed the board to Seven showing that it didn't even smudge "You wrote in sharpie. Didn't you."

Seven's shoulders bobbed up and down as it laughed in its high pitched tone. Tails stood with a smile. He took the board and sprayed it with a bottle. One wipe made it disappear. Ralph thanked the fox and scolded playfully at Seven.

Tails walked past Wave and the rouges to walk outside. Sonic suddenly came up behind him "So, Blaze has sleeping arrangements?"

"Apparently."

"Wait. So we have to go to bed now?"

"There will be a night watch."

"And who will do that?"

"Omega and MS."

"Figures."

"Yep."

"…"

Sonic stopped and looked at Tails "Are you all right? You seem down."

Tails shook his head "Amy. That's all."

"Oh… I probably shouldn't have lured her here then. I keep forgetting that others don't trust you."

"Why is that?"

Tails and Sonic froze. They almost bumped into Blaze who was standing in front of them with her arms crossed. Tails eyes looked worried and Sonic's was plain old surprised "Didn't see you there."

"I figured. Why doesn't the group trust Tails?"

Sonic looked up at the sky. Tails began to back up "W-well Blaze. I-I-I am-."

"- He's a very shy person and the way he knows things just make them think he's hiding something."

Blaze didn't look convinced but dropped her arms to her sides and said "Okay. Anyways, I have the list."

Tails took it and read it over "That's it?"

"Well I can't tell where my people will sleep since they will already sleep. That is a list of our team and who sleeps where."

Tails looked at it "Eggman will sleep in his room, obviously. According to this the living room in the carrier will be over flooded with barley and room."

"Yes, but I did try to make it more comfortable."

Tails nodded. "I'll go tell everyone their quarters." The fox turned and walked away staring down at the list.

Blaze turned to Sonic "Is he always like that?"

"Like what?"

"A do everything kind of guy."

"Heh, gets it from me."

"That's what I thought." Blaze walked past Sonic and toward the camp to talk to some of her subjects.

Sonic watched her go and then quickly turned toward where Tails was "Wait!" He stepped back ready to leap forward "TAILS!"

The fox stopped and turned as Sonic skidded to a halt "What? What's wrong."

"You didn't tell me where I sleep."

Tails nearly closed his eyes "In the living room like the rest."

"The whole group?"

"Yep."

"Sooooooo… go now?"

"YES!" Tails threw his arms in the air.

Sonic raised his hands "Sorry good sir." He then dashed off into the carrier.

Later, after Tails told everyone to go in Eggman's flying fortress, the group assembled. The only one who wasn't there was Blaze who decided to sleep in a tent since the carrier was packed full. Tails smiled "Well now that we're all accounted for you can all take a rest."

Cream stomped her foot "How do we know you won't kill us in the night."

Tails lowered his ears "Errr… I won't."

"Sure, we can just BELIEVE YOU!"

"Was that a reference to our first encounter?" Tails nearly yelled.

Sonic stood between them "Guys, Guys… and girl- we have to remain calm. Besides, we're all a team."

"But he-."

"Drop it!"

"But-!"

"Drop… it!"

Cream sat down on the couch. Tails glared at her and then looked at the list "All the robots, Seven, Omega, and Metal Sonic, will be night watching. The rest of us have to sleep in here."

They all moaned. Wave spoke up "Don't women sleep separate from the men?"

Tails rubbed his eyes. He knew why she said that "If you want you can ask if you want one side to be females and the other to be males."

Wave looked around "Well?"

Sally raised her hand "No objections to it."

Cream shot a fist in the air "No way will I sleep near a freak of nature!" Shadow glared at her "Not you- TAILS!"

Shadow rubbed his forehead "Oh… I'm not use to someone being more hated than I."

Tails' ears lowered. The fox sometimes swore that Shadow never cares. The two groups, male and female, were separated. Female got the left side and males got the right. Ralph had to sleep on the couch, because of his metallic body didn't let him easily get off the floor. Tails was trying to fix that. Sonic laid on the ground like everyone else, except Cream who they decided could sleep on the couch because of her age, but the blue blur looked up to see Tails stepping out "Tails?" The fox stopped but didn't turn around "Where you going?"

Tails turned to face him "I need to go and work on the well. We still don't have an easy way to get it."

Sonic nodded and lay back down. Tails turned to watch the blue hedgehog till he was fast asleep. The fox spun around to leave the carrier and walk outside in the cold where the grass was already freezing over. The moon illuminated across the ground. It wasn't scary. It was somehow… soothing. When he looked into the forest he could see the lake they were getting water from. Its waves swayed back and forth. Flowers bloomed all around making the sight more warm and welcoming than it was. All this reminded him of Knothole and its beautiful sights. He never seemed to notice that before though, and now all it did was bring him grief of the pain he did to his friends.

Tails couldn't bear the memory. He let tears fall off his cheeks and freeze on the ground beneath as he walked past. The fox was walking right toward the trees where a pair of red eyes was watching him. And the spheres that were seen appeared to be alpha signs.

In the morning Seven walked into the dark carrier. The ship turned off all lights and allowed the soothing color of the moon to shine in, but now the sun was up, but no amount of its light gleamed inward. The robot walked into the center of the room. He brought up its thumb and placed it where his mouth should be. Suddenly, with its high pitched voice, shrieked trying to imitate a horn. Unfortunately Seven stood over the couch with Ralph.

Ralph, out of instinct and military training, grabbed Seven's foot and flipped him hard enough that the robot flipped all the way around and landed on his stomach. Ralph sat up while everyone jolted awake. The dog stretched his back and looked around "What's up?"

Seven stood up and patted its belly angrily "Sorry did I flip you over? Well, you should have known that you have to wake a soldier by their feet, otherwise they will attack you. That's how we were trained."

Seven nodded. Everyone else groaned angrily at the robot who only giggled at them. Ralph already got his revenge so it was Sonic's turn "Tails? TAILS!" Or not.

Sonic jumped to his feet. Adrenalin kicking in at full throttle "TAILS!"

Sonic ran around the room, everyone was now fully awake. "TAILS, WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Seven looked around worryingly. Ralph twisted around everywhere. Silver lifted both couches to find him. Sonic then looked around the room. Then it dawned on him "The room was completely full."

Last night Tails had lied. There was no room for the fox and so he went outside. Sonic ran out. He took a step out and ran into a purple thing. Sonic opened his eyes to see Blaze under him. The cat didn't seem disturbed by it "What's wrong? Why the rush?"

Sonic jumped off her "Tails is missing, and I don't know where he is."

Blaze leaped up "Where did you last see him?"

"Leaving the carrier last night."

Blaze looked around and on the ground "I don't see any signs that he is here."

Ralph ran out "Any sign of him."

Blaze glared at him "I just got done answering that."

"Then WHAT WAS IT!?"

Blaze nearly jumped back. Ralph just left his character. Silver flew out "I can't find him."

Blaze ran inside "Everyone. Help find Tails."

Cream sat on the couch "Let him die for all I care."

"…Why are you in here?"

Cream seemed startled and Cheese only went "Chao?"

Blaze walked up to the rabbit. The sight scared the rabbit and chao as they began to huddle together in fright "You were suppose to sleep in a tent!"

Sally then jumped up "Wait, wait. She was? Tails said everyone was going to sleep in here."

Blaze slapped her forehead "There wouldn't have been room unless you want someone to sleep on top of you. I was going to put Cream outside since she wasn't supposed to come with us anyways."

Cream shivered in fright as the cat leaned toward her "Where is the fox?"

"I-I-I don't know."

Blaze stormed outside "He has to be here somewhere. Keep looking!"

Metal Sonic landed nearby "What's wrong?"

Sonic jogged up to him "I can't find Tails. He's missing."

Metal Sonic's eyes suddenly shot out a scan and began to look around at the ground "Frozen dewdrop." Metal kneeled next to it "Traces of sodium is in it. Scanning… DNA sample found. Match to Tails the fox."

Metal Sonic stood and followed the trail of "dewdrops" that everyone is guessing is "teardrops" but they didn't question him, but Sonic spoke up "What's with the robot out look?"

"The people here find it more comfortable when I mention what I'm doing instead of acting like an AI and doing whatever. I programmed myself to speak what I'm doing unless it's a threatening situation."

"Ah."

They followed it but Sonic grabbed the robot's shoulder. MS looked at the blue hedgehog who in turn was looking in horror before him. Tails the fox laid on the ground shivering. The fox was curled into a ball with his tails wrapped around him trying to keep warm. The fox shivered violently from the cold and moisture he collected during the night.

Sally ran over and fell to her knees next to him. She almost touched him, but suddenly a flashback reminded her of when Tails laid in his room on the cold, hard, metallic floor shivering just like this. Sally pulled her hand back.

Sonic came over and patted her on the shoulder. She looked at him and nodded. She stood and walked off. Sonic knelt down and lifted the fox off the ground gently. The fox only whimpered as tears rolled down his face. Sonic held the fox close and ran into the carrier.

Not bothering to talk to the others when they saw the freezing fox before them, Sonic marched to a room and kicked on the metal door hard. There was some mumbling inside "Go away. A genius needs his sleep."

Sonic snapped. He lifted his foot and began to kick it like crazy. It was so fast that it sounded like a machine gun. Inside He heard Eggman scream in shock at the sudden noise, but the hedgehog didn't stop. The door suddenly opened and Sonic stopped. Eggman, in pajamas and a night cap stood before him "WHAT?!"

The doctor stopped when he saw the whimpering and shivering Tails "What happened to him?" Eggman stated in shock "Never mind. Bring him in quickly before hypothermia kills him."

Sonic walked in fast as Eggman stepped out of the way. The doctor took Tails gently and placed him on the bed. The top closed and Eggman turned to the hedgehog "What was the temperature this morning?"

Sonic scratched his head "Around sixty-five Fahrenheit."

Eggman grabbed a rotating handle and began to turn it clockwise in till a number reached twenty-one "Don't worry that's seventy Fahrenheit. Just be happy I can convert Fahrenheit to Celsius."

"Why is it in Celsius?"

"Because men of science do not use Fahrenheit."

"Oh."

"Wow egghead. You wear THAT at night?"

Eggman turned to Silver "Not now. Tails might be in the brick of death. Hypothermia is a killer. All I know is that the fox has it, but not what stage does he have it."

"How many stages are there?"

Ralph turned to Silver "Around three."

"How do you-?"

"I use to be military Silver. They teach you survival skills. Last stage of hypothermia is the body's core will release its remaining heat as a last resort. This usually kills people because they're dumb enough to try to cool down from the sudden heat, not realizing that they are wasting the remaining heat keeping them alive."

"Sounds harsh."

"No… that's the body trying to survive."

"So you have to keep trying to get warm after you're suddenly hot."

"Only if you use to be unbearably cold and then suddenly hot. If you're just plain old hot and then getting hotter you'll want to cool down before you get Heat Exhaustion or Heat Stroke."

"What's that."

"Let's just say the opposite of Hypothermia."

"Soooo… as a last resort the body makes you really cold."

Ralph swayed his head side to side "Yahhhhh…You wish."

Eggman smiled and turned to the group "He's calming down."

They walked up to the glass to see the fox taking deeper breaths as if calming down and the shivering seemed to stop. Ralph knocked on the top of his metal head "Uhh… how? The core of the body usually takes hours to warm back up." Eggman looked at the dog with an offensive look "Oh right. You have special technology."

Eggman opened the glass and Tails sat up rubbing his head "Whu-what happened?"

Eggman crossed his arms "Why is it you had Hypothermia?"

Tails' ears fell "Uhh."

Sonic began to tap his foot with an angered expression "Why did you lie to me and say everyone could fit?"

"I never said everyone could fit. I just decided that I should go out and sleep in the cold."

Silver shook his head "If you knew it was cold why did you sleep out there and not somewhere warm?"

"… Uhh… I never thought about that." Tails didn't even look at them. His eyes turned to the corner.

Sonic immediately thought that he lied, but then the fox could have felt embarrassed or didn't want to talk about it.

Eggman ushered the team out "Leave me with my patient."

Blaze turned to the doctor "You're not that kind of doctor!"

"No, but I know things more than you." The door slid shut and the group, after waiting a while, walked off to continue business."

Eggman walked up to a pod and it slid down over him. After a few seconds it came up and the doctor wore his regular attire. He walked up to Tails and said "Now then Tails. Why did you sleep where you were?"

"I guess I got use to trying to find the coldest place to sleep." The fox watched Eggman node and walk off and the fox then looked down having his flashback.

Flashback

Tails walked away from the carrier and toward the bushes. He stopped and sat down on a rock. He closed his eyes and breathed. A noise flew through his head going "Something's happening, mind distracting, agony inside of me, my pulse is rising, mental torture, self destroyer, can't ignore the paranoia."

(The Mysterious Villains theme is good right now)

A foot stepped out of the shadows and Alpha One stood before Tails "Master."

Tails stood "What? What's so important that you had to give the code "Miles" to me? Otherwise you're in big trouble"

"Is your Plan B in stage two?"

"Obviously it is. I now know Sonic better than others. There is now no way he can defeat me."

Alpha One chuckled "You're an unstoppable person master. I fail to see the flaw in this plan."

Tails sneered "Of course there is no flaw. They think I changed into a sweet "adorable" fox." Tails made a disgusted face "Uhh… they make me sick. I can't wait to get out of here."

"Is there anything you want me to do or prepare for?"

Tails stood there crossing his arms glaring at the Egg-carrier. He handed a flash-drive "Eggman was dumb enough to access his files on the Egg-Carrier. I now know everything there is to know about it."

Alpha One took it "Lovely. I also have an ambush waiting at the castle. Would you like it to remain in progress?"

Tails snickered "You do, huh? Keep it there. I'll convince the group to go there and reveal you should never trust an evil genius. Seriously, Egghead should have known that every evil plan must have a backup one in case the first fails."

Alpha One nodded "I fail to know how Eggman counts as a genius."

Tails laughed "He doesn't. Now leave and get ready. Now that Sonic is completely attached to me I can now rip him apart as he has to fight his "little bro"."

Alpha One turned and walked off. Tails then pointed at the robot "Wait!" The robot stopped "Give me a case of Hypothermia. Not one that will kill me in the morning, but one to get them to think I slept out here too long."

Alpha One turned and walked up to its master "Before I forget…" Alpha One took Tails arm and a hiss sounded as a shivering cold ran through the fox "I have all Sol Emeralds."

Tails began to shiver and nodded "I-I-I-I Kn-know."

The fox laid down and tried to sleep. Alpha One knelt down "This might help." He placed his hand on the fox and another hiss initiated sending the fox asleep.

End of Flashback

Tails looked back up at Eggman who was now messing around the sink. The only look he gave Eggman was not friendly or innocent, it was a glare as if he were looking at a devil "You're world will soon be destroyed Eggman!" Tails smiled sinisterly.

End. Apparently Tails was never good. I do not own the song "My Enemy" in Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Mysterious Villains theme).