PoC: Study…must… *looks at clock* can't a guy get a little sleep?

Metal: Stop your whining! It's not like you have two jobs and school. Now get up! I demand that you write!

PoC: What are you, my A&P instructor or upper management? Get off my back…

Metal: Hmph very well. It seems I have no choice. PenFullofChaos819 does not own Copy the Hedgehog or this story!

PoC: That's Sonic the Hedgehog my self-obsessed co-host. And I, PenFullofChaos819, do own this story!

Metal: Well since you're too exhausted to possibly keep this up, I decided it's time I took over!

PoC: *wakes up* WHAT? Oh hell no, not on my watch rusty! *attempts to access story files*

Warning: Your computer has been hijacked XD

PoC: …Say WHAT?

Metal: Hahahaha! On with my story!

-l-

Thicker than Water

-l-

The skies shone clear with the morning light. Sonic couldn't hide the guilt he felt for letting Rouge get captured. Still, true to his nature, he didn't let this negative thinking stop him long. Instead, he took some comfort in finally having a more definite goal.

"Saving a friend. Now that's something I can do." the hedgehog's eyes fell on the city "Here we…GO!" taking one faltering step forward, he felt his body stiffen and collapse. A mouthful of grass later, Sonic realized how hurt he was.

"Well that was…not cool. I guess that Maasawd guy must've hit me pretty hard." checking his injuries, Sonic could see a number of tiny cuts covering his chest, arms, and mostly his legs. Not able to move well, but not losing consciousness, the blue mobian groaned in annoyance. Rolling his body over, Sonic succeeded in standing up. Now all he had to do was limp his way to the city.

"No rest for the wicked? More like no rest for the weary." Sonic mused. Walking was difficult, as every few steps he'd stumble to the ground again.

"This is going to be my longest day yet." he said, rising up again.

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*With Tails*

L

"Come on, hurry it up!" the fox urged impatiently "We're practically there already."

"Tails…really…" the vixen stopped to catch her breath "What set you off last night? First you sounded unenthusiastic about Sonic, and now you're acting like you can't wait to see him."

"I'm just concerned, that's all. Those chaos readings were something out of this world." Tails explained.

"That doesn't answer my question, but how did you find them at all? You'd have to have been scanning all night to notice them."

"So?"

"So, what were you doing up so late to begin with?"

"What's your point?"

"Tails…have you been getting any sleep lately?" Amethyst questioned him cautiously.

There was no response.

"You haven't, have you?"

"Let's keep moving" he changed the subject.

At times like this, she didn't know what to say. How long had he been doing this? And why hadn't he said something before? It occurred to her that he hadn't been himself ever since that day. It wasn't like she could forget. In fact, she could still recall every small detail vividly.

*Flashback*

"Well? Anything yet?" an agent asked hesitantly.

"I'm sorry Miss Rouge, but we couldn't find him anywhere."

"Shadow…"

"Soldier, what about Sonic?" a gold furred fox asked.

"You must be his friend, right? I don't know how to tell you this, but…" the G.U.N. trooper didn't finish immediately, but eventually answered quietly "No trace of him either."

The fox's eyes went wide and, for the briefest second, shimmered in the dim light. Clearing his throat the vulpine said "I understand."

"My deepest condolences." with that, the soldier left.

Bypassing the guard, a girl entered the room. Hearing a sniffle, Amethyst walked over to comfort a crying Rouge.

"I heard. I'm so sorry." the two girls embraced one another. Letting each other go, they both turned their attention over to the vulpine.

"Tails…did they find Sonic?" Rouge asked while drying her eyes.

"…Don't worry about him. I'm sure he's fine." Tails said bluntly, starting to walk away.

"That's it? That's all you have to say? Don't you at least want to make sure he's okay? Don't you care at all?" she asked, but the fox remained silent "Answer me!"

"I just think," Tails stopped to clear his throat again "We should stay calm about this. Worrying alone isn't going to bring either of them back."

"H-how…" Rouge's voice was shaking "HOW CAN YOU BE SO COLD! He may be gone forever! Don't you realize that? Of course you do, y-yet all you can s-say is…" but her sentence went unfinished as she ran out of the room. Now red in the face and eyes, Amethyst glared at Tails.

"How could you?" was all she said before leaving the meeting room as well.

Tails didn't follow her. He slumped himself in the nearest chair, and stared off into space.

About an hour later, Amethyst came back to check on him, only to hear a deep anguished cry coming from the meeting room. Deciding leave him be she left once again.

*Flashback end*

"I heard him yelling, but I didn't know if he was mad or what." Amethyst thought "After that, he was the first to organize a full-scale search. When we found nothing, he became reclusive, never talking to anyone, not even me. He also stopped 'remembering' to bring his phone around this time too." Amethyst caught a glimpse of the vulpine's face. He seemed to be nervous, excited, and focused all at once.

"I wish you'd talk to me…" she sighed, speaking just quietly enough that he couldn't hear her.

"Stop!" Tails said in a slightly hushed tone. He was a little late as the vixen crashed right into him.

"Warn me next time before you do that!" she growled.

"Shh…look." he pointed to shattered window.

She stared in the direction he was gesturing. It was clear that whoever had done this was attempting to break in, not out. Getting a closer look revealed traces of a red sticky substance that was clearly blood. The jagged edges of glass were especially smattered with a good amount.

"A fist or maybe some blunt object." Tails surmised "I'm not sure, but I think this is Rouge's room."

"It is." Amethyst confirmed "I've been in here once or twice. Who would do this?"

"Hold on…" Tails touched another corner "This part was smashed from the inside out, that's odd."

"Maybe to make their escape easier?"

"Not likely, hitting this spot wouldn't widen the hole at all, and it doesn't look accidental either." Tails said perplexed.

"Wait, what's this?" the vixen knelt down where a few glass shards were, and picked up a crumpled piece of paper. Though it was largely torn, the signature was still legible enough.

"Oh God…" Amethyst covered her mouth. Tails tried to decipher more of the note with no success.

"This is really bad." he swallowed hard. Tails couldn't understand why Knuckles would target her now of all times. It was in his nature, but something just didn't make sense.

"Shouldn't Sonic have been here? I mean, wouldn't he have tried to stop Knuckles?" Amethyst asked.

"Sonic…" Tails once again, despite his hopeful eyes, carried a suspicious tone "There's no use checking for him. If he had noticed Knuckles, he would've given chase. Even if he hadn't, I doubt he'd still be here."

"So, what now?" the vixen asked "It's already morning, and I don't think I can sleep knowing what's happened."

"We don't know anything yet. That's why we're going to need someone to do some investigating for us."

"Then why don't we ask the local police? If not, then I'm sure G.U.N. would be willing to help one of its own." Amethyst suggested.

"The police are next to useless in these parts, and we don't have time for G.U.N. to launch a search. No, this calls for more…subtle methods." Tails said while walking in the city's direction.

"Hmm? What methods?" she inquired.

"When you want to find a rat's burrow, best to have a rat lead you there." he answered.

"I don't follow." she said curiously.

"First, we go to the city. I'll explain everything once we get there." Tails left it at that.

Amethyst merely shrugged "Okay, I trust you. So which way is- Hey do you see that?" she said, tapping the vulpine's shoulder.

"Huh? What? Where?" Tails looked around in confusion.

"Something, or someone, is going the same way we are."

"Is that all? I can't see what you're talking about, but does it really matter?" Tails squinted hard to see what she was pointing at.

"How many people do you know are colored royal blue with long spiny quills?" Amethyst said with a hand on her hip "You know my eyesight is better than your hearing, and that's saying a lot."

"Touché. Alright let's check it out." Tails began to run on ahead.

Panting heavily, the vixen gasped in disappointment.

"I may see better, but I'll never know how you manage to run all day and night without rest." Amethyst pouted, but immediately felt a gust of air from behind "Hmm? What was tha-Tails!" a moment later her whole body was hoisted off the ground.

"Stop Tails! Put me down at once! I-Oh this is so embarrassing!" she turned her head to see an almost child-like pair of eyes.

"Hang on tight, okay?" he said brightly.

She knew she could never argue when he made his persuading 'innocent' face "Oh…fine, but only until we reach Sonic alright?"

"I promise." he finished with a smile, and the two took off into the sky.

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*With Sonic*

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"Slow. Slow. SLOW!" he shouted "I HATE being this slow!" the spiny mobian had found a wooden branch to steady himself, but was clearly being driven insane by his newly set pace. Hobbling too fast always resulted in a shameful tumble back into Gaia's bosom. Grinding his teeth, Sonic tried to stop thinking about the exhilarating breeze only super-sonic speeds could bring.

"Steady now." he said, carefully timing each step. Soon he had found slightly quicker way to use his makeshift crutch. "I think I've gotten the hang of it! Oh yeah!" it was strange to see the hero so proud of his small accomplishment, but at least he had no audience to witness this.

"SONIC! Over here!" a girl's yelling caught the hog off balance, thereby ending his injury induced crutch-frolic. Tasting the grass again wasn't half as bad as controlling his temper, for the last thing he wanted right now was another needless disruption.

"Whoa! Are you okay?"

Sonic was just about to wave off the passer-by until he caught sight of them. The large pointy ears and the big bushy tail told him this person was a fox, more specifically a vixen. Initially not fazed, Sonic was about to return the greeting. Before he could though, that sinking feeling crossed his mind again. Everybody did call Tails a male, right? Nervous enough, Sonic gulped loudly as his eyes unwillingly traced her petite frame.

"I always said Tails was cute, but this was totally not what I meant!" words failed to reach his mouth as the girl stared back.

"Um…you can stop staring now…" she said in a hinting tone, snapping him out of his daze.

"S-sorry." he internally smacked his head in disgust "Way to say 'hi' genius! Now she probably thinks you're a pervert. This really isn't my day…" Sonic hung his head, but was able to push out a single word "Tails?"

"Sonic?" another voice said behind him.

Time moved very slowly as the hero tilted his head towards the speaker. Face to face now, Sonic looked into a similar set of crystal blue irises.

"Tails…is that really you?" Sonic first noticed how big he was. The vulpine was now easily his height, and had a much longer tuft of fur hanging from his forehead.

Tails on the other hand gaped at Sonic like he had seen a ghost "Sonic…you are alive."

"It's…great to…see you." Sonic spoke barely above a whisper.

For reasons the fox couldn't explain, tears began to well up in his cerulean eyes. Amethyst saw the suspicion and doubt exchanged for pure relief. Taking a step forward, Tails put a hand on Sonic's shoulder "Where have you been?"

Giving as tough a look as he could muster, Sonic reached out his free arm and hugged the vulpine. Tails returned the embrace with the similar look of a man fighting back tears. Neither understood why the other was relieved, but inwardly neither one cared. It was enough to know that their best friend was right here when they needed it most. Amethyst cried openly at the heart-warming reunion. She had not seen Tails this happy since Sonic's assumed death.

Releasing the brotherly hug, the two cleared their throats capping off any trace of former emotion.

"Sonic, what are you doing out here?" the vulpine spoke first.

"Looking for you actually." Sonic replied "Listen we've got a lot to talk about."

"We sure do, and Sonic? What happened to you?" Tails noted his wounds.

"A lot more than you think. Look, can we take this someplace else? It's pretty hard to stand here." Sonic cringed at his hurt leg.

"Of course." Tails placed Sonic's right arm over his shoulder, and braced his torso with his left "It really is good to see you."

Sonic smiled "My thoughts exactly…"

"Just one thing though…" Tails said rather suddenly.

"What's up?"

"Keep your hands, eyes, and whatever else you have to yourself." he said, gesturing to a grinning Amethyst.

"Huh?" Sonic looked at Amethyst too "Oh! Oooohhh…My bad."

"As long as that's clear, it's all good. Welcome back bro."

-l-

End of Chapter Nine

-l-

So at last Sonic meets Tails. I must've gone through at least ten different versions of this chapter. I hope this one turned out well. To be honest, I was getting tired of giving Sonic a hard time. The next chapter deals with mostly non-main characters, just a heads-up.

To DanceDream & Ghostkid33: Back to school too huh? Good luck to all of us then! I hope you guys enjoy your classes as much as I do mine.

To Serenity: Really, you would? Hmm…I might have been kidding, but I guess I could give it a shot. If that's an official request, consider it done.

To jakeroo123: I hope you approve, but I understand if that's a no. Regardless, feel free to send me your comments; I do look forward to them.

Until next time.