I even left myself in suspense on that last chapter O.O

Here it is! Sorry I left you hanging like that, but recent advice told me to split it into two seperate chapters, instead of one big one.

Disclaimer: Grr I hate copyright laws these days. Too strict. I don't own Sonic or related characters, they are copyright Sega and Sonic Team. Amadeus and Rosemary Prower are copyright Archie Comics. Now for the bit I like. This story is mine, as well as any OC characters (e.g. Artemis Prower). Stupid world being too politically correct...

And if you don't know what an intravenous line is, it's a little plastic thing with a flexible rod that is injected into your hand so doctors can inject medical drugs into you, or attatch a drip to it. First hand experience: it hurts! And the anaesthetic feels really weird too (as described later). I didn't like writing that scene. It made the nerve memory (what I call remembering pain etc.) come back and I really didn't like it. :'(

Thanks to Razor da hedgehog for the shortest review I've ever seen: 'O.O OH NO!' I think it's safe to say the cliff hanger surprised ya XD and thanks to tailsisreal for your review and handy tips too ^_^

Anyway, here it is, chapter 4! A lot longer than chapter 3 (since chapter 3 was just over 1,000 words it should be O.O). Read, review, enjoy!

Chapter 4: Premonition

Tails woke to find himself in a bed. His head was spinning so much, Tails didn't even bother to try to sit up. His vision cleared as he looked around and found he was in the hospital.

How'd I get here? The bewildered fox thought to himself. Oww! Was his next thought as the pain on his head struck him. He clutched his head just to find it hurt even more and let go. A pain equally as powerful suddenly reached his left leg. The pain became quickly unbearable for the fox. It was like having your head and leg crushed in an impounder, but not actually being crushed, and being unable to move at all with no one to help you, and Tails almost felt like he was going to cry. It wouldn't stop, it wouldn't ease and there was no way that you could possibly forget such a pain so powerful as what Tails was going through now. He bit down on his teeth as hard as he could to try to help relieve the pain. The pain was so extreme, he would have much preferred to have rammed into a building in the X-Tornado at full speed. Atleast then, he wouldn't be alive to feel the pain. He bit down on the sheets. Still, the pain percervered. Tails rolled over onto his face and buried his head in the pillow as hard as he could. Nothing. He wrapped one tail around his leg, and his other around his head hoping it would do something. Instead of relieving pain, it increased it to an almost suicidal level. He began to cry into his pillow, hoping upon hope someone would save him from this living nightmare. He hoped it wasn't real, but the pain was so excrutiating, it couldn't be possible to imagine it, even in the worst of all nightmares. Tears streamed down his face, the pain was only increasing, never stopping, not leaving any sign of departing. I'm going to die... Tails thought to himself. I'm going to die from this, and no one can save me... He screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping someone would hear.

Just then, an alert female squirrel doctor bursted in which, by pure coincidence, was about to inject a routine painkiller into Tails through an intravenous line injected into his right hand. She had been caught off guard by the sudden screaming and had rushed in. Tail mumbled 'the pain... make it stop... please...' as tears continued to stream down the fox's face and into the pillow. The doctor relaxed, now knowing what the wailing was for and calmly walked over to inject the milky white serum into the line. Almost instantly, Tails could feel the serum going through his veins. It wasn't just generally travelling down his arm though – he could literally feel it travelling through every single vein in his arm. It felt stabbingly cold, and it came from the inside, making it feel even more horrible. He didn't know what upset him more – the pain or the painkiller. He felt like he was being torn apart, like someone was horribly torturing him from the inside in ways that couldn't be imagined.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. The pain eased away quickly, as did the horrible feeling in his arm. He still breathed heavily, but atleast the pain was gone. If I ever have to go through that again...
'Are you ok?' the doctor asked Tails, who's head was still spinning. After catching his breath, and a few minutes from recovering from the trauma, he muttered 'Urrr... I think so...' His head was spinning so wildly, it made him feel sick. He couldn't gain any sense of control over his head, unable to tell where was up and where was down. Eventually, the spinning began to ease, allowing him to look in a straight line for more than a few minutes.

Some ten minutes later, Sonic came in with some food. 'See you're finally up bro!' Sonic exclaimed with glee.
'Yeah... but... why am I here again?' Tails said with a still dazed expression on his face.
'Don't you remember? You got hit by a car!' Tails gave a confused expression, trying to think of what he might have forgotten. After a few seconds thought, he shook his head.
'I think he's had a concussion, causing some memory loss,' the doctor concluded after checking Tails' vitals and leaving the room with a slightly satisfied expression. Wow... finally finding your parents then losing your memory of it minutes later. He'll be devastated Sonic thought to himself. He looked down at his little brother, thinking of how he'll react. He was about to ask Tails if he remembered it, but Tails said something that confirmed his fears.
'Aww man! I'm gonna be in here for my birthday!' Tails scrunched his face up in disappointment to find it hurt his head and stopped.
'You've forgot your birthday aswell then. It was two days ago.' Tails tried to sit up at Sonic's statement, but found it would be too painful to do so, even though the painkiller should have restrained it, and Tails fell back down into his pillows. Sonic approached his brother and sat down beside him.

Sonic began to explain the recent events in as much detail as he possibly could, hoping it would bring back some memories. Sadly though, no matter how much Tails looked delighted, no such memories returned to the dishevelled fox. Hopefully, something will return... I really want to remember my parents... and the little brother I have now... Tails thought to himself as he listened intently to Sonic's explanation.

Sonic then gave Tails a description of the accident. He said that Tails was saved by the fact his legs were in mid air because of spinning his tails. Had he been on the ground, the impact would have killed him instantly. He said that his left leg was the only one hit because of the angle the car had turned at, leaving his right leg relatively unharmed. Sonic finally finished, leaving Tails with a mixed emotion of excitement and fear. Tails sunk into his pillows and thought about what he had been told. A few flashes had returned to him; the fighting moves Knuckles had taught him and the headline and the dinner with his father, mother and brother. Failing to remember anything else he looked round to Sonic who had now started on his lunch with a typical chilli dog. The aroma reminded him of his breakfast yesterday, which also triggered the recall of the cruel prank that he would soon repay, given the chance.

The hospital had shunted a very objective Sonic out of the hospital for the night, followed by an equally objective Tails' complaints. Eventually giving up, Tails sunk into his pillows and started to think of what he had managed to remember. This wasn't very helpful as it seemed that thinking hurts a lot more now, due to his concussion. Instinctively, he reached for his head and felt the bandages on them. He hadn't realised they were on there before, even if it was obvious that they would be. He assumed that his legs were in the same way, but he barely had enough energy to sit up, let alone take the sheets off of him. Even arguing with the nurses had drained most of what he had left. He quickly fell asleep, hoping it could probably jog his memory in some way.

Tails had a dream where he was in his X-Tornado, flying aimlessly and without a care in the world of where he would end up. It was night time. Soaring just above the clouds, the view above him was stunning. Countless stars could be seen. So many, they actually made making out corellations a difficult task. Tails just kicked back and relaxed, allowing the auto pilot to take control of the uncharted flight route. He stared at the stars, thinking of their beauty, and yet, also of the forces that lay out there, that contrasted the magnificence of them.

As if something had read his mind, a small, but bright star suddenly appeared from nowhere. At first, Tails thought nothing of it. However, when it began to grow steadily larger, he began to notice it. That's odd. If a meteor entered the atmosphere, it would be falling at a supersonic speed, not slow and steady. Tails sat up and took a pair of binoculars from a holster. He had second thoughts because he remembered what would happen if you looked at the sun in the same way, and feared the same might happen with looking at a falling object and stowed the binoculars back.

The orb suddenly sped up its pace, hurtling towards Tails at an alarming rate. Suddenly alarmed and alert, Tails immediately took control of the X-Tornado and steered it away from the falling object's path. Tails then spun round and into a dive below the clouds and towards ground to see what it was when it landed. Following its fall, he noticed that it left some sort of purple gas-like substance in its wake. A dull thud told Tails that it had struck the ground. A blinding flash of light came from the impact zone. It expanded to fill the whole area, blinding Tails with its magnificence, and everything disappeared, to be replaced by the real world.

Tails woke to find himself panting and sweating. The pain had subsided overnight, so Tails was able to sit up properly, even though he still felt a little light headed. He relayed what he had just seen. It seemed so real Tails thought to himself. What was it? He relayed the object that had shot by him, and the trail it left behind. Purple smoke... The only reason this dream had bothered him so much was because of its somewhat realism. He soon let the matter go, and turned his attention to the window. The sun was just rising up over the horizon. The sky was clear of clouds, and the snow had long since melted away, leaving a landscape of clear buildings. Tails sunk back into his pillows. Upon doing so, he found how hungry he was and wondered when a doctor would come along to give him his breakfast. He then remembered how bad the food was, and hoped someone would save him from despair.

'Ho ho ho hooo!'

Decoe and Bocoe let out a sigh as their creator had come up with his latest invention. The two robots doubted that this creation wouldn't do much damage however. It was simply a dragonfly shaped robot with a camera and an engine that could drive it to high speeds in seconds.

'Doctor, you really haven't put much thought into this idea,' Bocoe exclaimed. Eggman rounded on him.
'Aah, but with this robot and my chaos emerald, I'll be able to follow Sonic's every move. Then, using the data it collects, I can create the perfect robot!' Eggman rambled before turning back to the console.
'Why doesn't he just give it a bomb or something to blow Sonic up while he's running?' Decoe whispered to Bocoe. Indeed, this would be the logical solution. However, despite Eggman's high IQ of three hundred, he always seems to come up with slow robots that have weapons that hardly ever hit Sonic and almost always have their weak point sticking out like a sore thumb. The only robot that had ever come close to defeating Sonic went out of control and required all seven chaos emeralds to nearly obliterate the hedgehog in the first place.

'Or better yet, not create it at all and just build a robot that blows up when Sonic gets near it,' Bocoe whispered back.
'Or just send Bokkun with a bomb' Decoe concluded. They both knew it would never happen as Eggman was the type of person who played with his food rather than have it gone quickly and without problems. Eggman was unaware of their discussion of logical solutions and instead carried on with the current robot. The two robots decided not to tell Eggman just so they could watch him fail yet again at another plot.

Tails took a big bite from the chilli dog Sonic had just given him.

'Thanks for saving me from that, Sonic' Tails said as he nodded to a small cardboard box with the worst breakfast either of them had ever seen. Sonic would of responded if his mouth wasn't full. Instead, he just nodded to show his appreciation. The two of them ate away at their breakfasts. Tails thought it uneccessary to explain his dream, passing it off as a nightmare and didn't want Sonic to over react or get troubled by it. He soon forgot about it himself and turned his attention to his general health, which the doctor was currently diagnosing.

'It seems that you're recovering quite quickly. You should be able to leave the hospital later today at this rate, but you'll be confined to crutches because of your leg. And we will have to leave the concussion to repair itself,' the doctor explained.

'That's great news!' Tails said with a large smile, happy that he would be able leave so soon. Sonic was equally happy, but was halfway through another chilli dog so couldn't express himself any further than an equally large smile. The doctor exited the room just before three more visitors came in. It was Tails' family.

Tails waved to them then realised something. 'How'd you know I was here?' Tails asked. By this time, he had remembered almost all of the events, with the exception of the conference where Amadeus had explained Arnold and the accident.

'Sonic dropped us a note last night saying about the accident,' Amadeus said as Rosemary ran over and gave Tails a hug. He painfully regretted this as it made his head hurt.
'Mom! Please! My head hurts!' Tails managed to say before Rosemary let go and said an apology. Amadeus set Artemis down on the side of the bed before pulling up a chair for him and Rosemary. Because Tails couldn't remember the accident, he let Sonic explain it to them instead. Meanwhile, Artemis had crawled over to Tails and sat next to him. He then mimicked Tails by resting his head in the upraised pillows in a similar fashion. Tails shifted around, unaware that his little brother copied the shifting precisley. No one noticed because they were all listening to Sonic's explanation. Tails reached round to scratch an itchy part on the back of his head. Again, Artemis was quick to copy his actions and scratched the back of his head. Tails noticed it this time and looked at his little brother, who looked at him back with blue eyes that were incredibly like Tails'. Everyone in the room was also quick to spot this, and therefore Sonic had stopped his speech. Tails raised his other hand. Sure enough, Artemis copied him. Tails then brought out one of his tails from under the covers and brought it round over his head. Again, the toddler matched the movement. Tails then moved his left ear so that it pointed downwards, followed by Artemis doing the same thing. Tails then looked at his parents, hoping they'd give an explanation of this strange behaviour. Amadeus chuckled but shrugged his shoulders.
'Perhaps he's following his brother's footsteps already. A little too literally, I might add.' Everyone chuckled at this except Artemis, who clearly couldn't see what was funny. Tails looked back down at his little brother, and the sudden thought of the copy-cat robot Emerl came into his head. He remembered the technique that was used to defeat the robot, which was doing two seperate attacks at the same time so it couldn't read them. Tails tried this theory by turning his head round to face his brother completely, pointing both tails infront of him and holding his arms up at the same time. Again, Artemis reflected his movements. Tails then smiled and gave the now laughing fox cub a hug and sat him on his lap. Everyone started talking again with Artemis occasionally blurting out words that he caught from the conversation.

Unkown to the group, Eggman's new robot hovered outside of the window. It was much smaller than the plans suggested, and could no way be able to hold a chaos emerald without being seen. Eggman had told Bocoe and Decoe that he was working on it when they pointed out the design flaw.
'Hmm...' was Eggman's first sound as he watched the young fox repeating the moves exactly. 'If I can harness his mind, maybe I can harness his abilities...' Eggman thought out loud. Bocoe and Decoe understood what he was thinking and felt obliged to protest.
'Doctor, you can't possibly think of kidnapping a child!' Bocoe shouted with concern.
'That's just going too far!' Decoe said immediately after with a look of absolute outrage.
'Quiet! I'll do things the way I want them done or I'm dismantling the both of you!' Eggman blasted out at the protesting robots who reluctantly backed down at the threat. 'Besides, all I'm going to do is collect his brainwaves while copying things and create a newer version of that old robot.' Eggman turned his attention back to the display screen. It showed that now they were all talking and had nothing else to do. Still, the robot hung around for a little while longer incase something did happen before returning. Eggman let out a short chuckle before pressing a button.

In a hangar in Eggman's base, a large lift brought up a new robot. It was a modified E-72 that would be remote controlled from the base. It also had two interchangeable cartidges for the main cannons, so while one charges up, the other can fire. The E-72 accelerated out of the hangar and towards the city. Bocoe and Decoe wanted to object further, but the thought of being scrapped apart restrained them just enough.

It reached two o'clock and Tails was finally able to leave the hospital, although he had been confined to crutches until his leg was fully healed. The small group left the hospital together to the car, since Amadeus had offered to take Tails back to his home at Angel Falls. With Sonic running along side, they drove off to the outer suburbs of the city and towards the mountain.

Half an hour later, back at the hospital, the E-72 arrived at the window of Tails' previous room. Eggman watched through the camera he had built into it to find the room vacant. He grumbled as he quickly realised that Tails must have left the hospital by the time E-72 had arrived. What a waste, now I'll have to track them down Eggman thought to himself. He didn't know the location of Sonic's and Tails' house, and since he had lost track of them after calling back the dragonfly-type robot (which he named the Egg-Spy) he decided to give up and call the E-72 back for a later purpose. He no longer had any intentions of kidnapping Amadeus, and instead focused on how he would capture his youngest son.

Tails was having his ear pulled by a now mischevious Artemis in the car. It made his head hurt a little, but he didn't mind because it wasn't doing any real damage. They stopped off infront of the house and Tails climbed out with a bit of difficulty, tyring to get his crutches out. Sonic came over to help him out, and he was soon climbing the stairs to his house.

The day passed on smoothly. Tails had a few hitches getting around the house, and Sonic had forbidden him from going to the workshop for his own safety. Tails' family stayed for dinner before heading off home. It reached eleven o'clock and Sonic helped a struggling Tails upstairs to his room before setting off for his own and falling asleep. Tails, however, had no intentions of sleeping.

He kept his mind occupied with a few logical games for about an hour before grabbing one of his crutches and the warm bowl of water that was still hidden under his bed. Carefully opening his door so as to not make a sound, he turned left and crossed the short hallway in a few paces and reaching the front of Sonic's bedroom. Looking through the keyhole to check the hedgehog was sleeping, he carefully pried the door open. Now for the tricky part. Moving very slowly towards the bed took the crippled fox a few minutes. How can Sonic do this so easily? Tails thought to himself. Well, he isn't confined to crutches when he does it for a start. Even with this in mind, Tails was determined to repay the sometimes immature hedgehog. Reaching the side of his bed, he placed the bowl carefully on the bedside table. He carefully took Sonic's hand in his own and placed it in the bowl. Success! Tails congratulated himself before turning round to exit the room.

While this scheme was being pulled, a dark comet hurtled towards Angel Falls. Knuckles stood on top of one of the pillars surrounding the Master Emerald to watch it. Despite it's bright light from coming into the amosphere and coming towards the mountain, it left no visible trail behind it. Knuckles didn't think much of it except from So long as it doesn't bring any trouble as it struck the base of the mountain.

As Tails turned to leave the room, a blinding flash of light from the window caught his eye. Sonics window, like his own, over looked the forest beyond the home, so it wouldn't be obscured by the mountain. Briefly after the flash, a dull but soft 'boom' could be heard. After recovering from the blinding light, Tails looked at Sonic to make sure he was still asleep before looking out of the window to see what the flash was. He seen a smoking crater in the ground. The suspicious and curious fox left the room quickly but quietly, closing the door behind him. He struggled to his room to fetch the other crutch before heading downstairs and outside to see what had happened.

He struggled down the steps from out of the house but reached the bottom eventually. Moving towards the impact area, Tails tried to make out a shape from the smoke. After a minute or so, the smoke cleared to reveal a meteor that could fit three of Tails in easy. But it's size wasn't what was scaring the fox. It wasn't the thought of if it had struck a few minutes later, it would have crushed his house. It was what was rising up from the meteor. A purple gas-like substance rose from the smouldering object. Tails was in shock. It looked strikingly like that of his dream. Did I see into the future? A premonition? Tails' heart was racing as he watched the gas forming shapes in the dark night sky.

A few moments of entrancement suddenly turned into fear. The rising gas started to form a shape above the meteor that held in place longer than the previous patterns. Tails instinctively turned to run, forgetting he still had crutches and fell over. He quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbed his crutches and moved towards the steps as fast as his tired arms would let him. The forming creature, a great dragon-shaped demon, stretched its wings as it stood on top of the blackened meteor. Bowing its head down and raising its wings high above itself, it prepared for flight. Tails was stumbling up the stairs. 'Sonic! Sonic, help me!' Tails cried to the night sky as he continued to scramble frantically up the steps. There was no response except an echo of Tails' fear-filled voice. The strange gas creature smashed its wings down towards the ground as it raised its head at the same time. The force of the wind obliterated the meteor, shattering it completely, as well as widening the crater further. Tails reached the top of the steps and crawled to the doorway, long abandoning his crutches. He climbed to his feet, trying his best to ignore the returning pain in his left leg and limped to the door as fast as he could. But it was too late. Tails turned round to check where the possessed smoke was. It was rising high in the sky, directly where the annihalated meteor lay. It quickly pulled down into a direct dive towards what was left of the meteor. Tails tried to run, but nearly stumbled and threw his balance off. He regained control before attempting again, but the demon had now reached his level. It soared towards him as the poor fox turned round. The demon quickly became a thin stream of purple gas before hitting Tails with enough force to blast him through the door. Tails landed halfway in the living room on his back, before bouncing up and landing again, rolling across the floor and slamming into the counter seperating the living room from the kitchen on his side.

Sonic lay fast asleep when he heard a crashing noise from downstairs. Jolting awake, he sat up. He was completely unaware of the bowl as he quickly climbed out of bed and rushed downstairs to see the commotion. He found the door laying in splinters. Two small pieces hung on the doorframe, still attatched to the hinges. One shortly fell off. Sonic looked down the path of the destruction to a barely concious fox. 'Tails!' Sonic cried out, rushing to his brother's aid. 'Tails! What happened?!' Sonic said as he tried to help the fox to his feet, but shortly gave up when he seen the poor kit squirm in pain. Nothing was bleeding, but the ruined door spoke for itself. Tails could hardly think, let alone explain. Pain returned to his head and leg quickly, as well as several other parts of his body. Although it wasn't as bad as the hospital, it was still unbearable. His whole body throbbed and complained. Tails began to phase out yet again, his vision blacking out.

Sonic shook the unconcious fox gently to try to wake him up, but it was no use. He picked him up and carried him upstairs before setting him gently in his bed. He then headed downstairs and outside to see what had caused the colossal damage. A large smouldering crater lay in the ground infront of the house. He couldn't see what had caused it, or how it could have harmed Tails, but he was sure it wasn't welcome. He walked back through the ruined door and upstairs to his bedroom. Still not noticing the bowl, he climbed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately, despite how worried he was.