Chapter 2: Mental Madness

“Uh, did he just, wet himself?”  Rouge gasped.

“I hope that’s ALL he did.”  Knuckles said as Tails began to stir.

“We’ve got another live one, let’s hope he’s not all loopy like Sonic.”

Tails opened his blue eyes only to see Rouge looking directly down at him.

“Morning sleepyhead, looks like you had a nice….nap.”  Rouge said noticing that Tails had wet himself as well.  “Here, I’ll help you get cleaned-”

“WAAHHH!!!”  Tails cried as Rouge put her hand on his arm.

She quickly withdrew her hand and covered her ears.

“What the hell did you do?!”  Knuckles yelled.

“How should I know?!  All I did was touch him!”  She yelled back.

Amidst Tails’s crying, Sonic started crying as well waking up both Shadow and Amy.  Within a minute all 4 of them were crying as loud as physically possible.

“What in the world is going on in here!”  Vanilla yelled running into the bedroom with her hands over her ears.

“I don’t know!  Rouge touched Tails’s arm and he started wailing like crazy, and then it was like a domino effect!”  Knuckles yelled into Vanilla’s ear.

“Please just make it stop!  This is killing my ears!”  Rouge pleaded stuffing pillows into her ears.

“God, it’s almost like they’re acting like big babies!”  Knuckles shouted.

That gave Vanilla an idea as Cream came running into the room to see what was going on.  “You two try to calm down Sonic and Shadow, Cream try to calm Amy down.”

They all nodded their heads and Vanilla picked up Tails who was crying the loudest.  She carried him well away from the others into her room and rocked him gently with his head pressed to her chest.  Eventually, his crying subsided to some sniffling and the occasional hiccup while his thumb gravitated towards his mouth.

“There we go, all better now?”  Vanilla asked laying him on the bed.

Tails just looked at her and contently sucked his thumb.  Vanilla left the room to see how the others were faring.

“Ugh, well at least they stopped crying.”  Knuckles said rubbing his head as Vanilla walked in.

“I see you got them to stop, nice job.”

“Actually, you can thank Knuckles for being such a klutz.”  Rouge retorted rubbing her ears.

“What do you mean by that?”

“He kinda tripped over his own big feet, that got them to laugh instead of cry.”  Cream said happily.

“Did you manage to calm Tails down?”  Rouge asked.

“Of course, I know a thing or two about calming a baby down.”  Vanilla replied proudly.  “A mother’s intuition is never wrong.”

“So what?  Did their brains get scrambled or something?  There’s gotta be some reason as to why they’re acting like a bunch of babies, literally this time!”  Knuckles exclaimed.

“I don’t know, maybe those concussions messed something up in there.”  Vanilla walked over to Sonic.

“I hate to go off topic from the conversation, but don’t you think we should get them dressed into something so they don’t pee all over the place?”  Rouge suggested.

“Hmm, I’ve got a whole bunch of old cloth diapers.  We could pin a couple together to make them bigger.”  Vanilla suggested.

“You sure those would work?”  Rogue asked.

“Hey, it’s better than nothing.  Now help me look through these boxes, I know they’re in here somewhere.”  Vanilla opened the closet door.

After a few minutes of searching, Rogue opened up a box full of what appeared to be a bunch of rags.

“Nothing in here but a bunch of rags.”

“Wait, those are the diapers Rogue.”  Vanilla said grabbing the box.

“Really?  I thought they were dishrags or something, I mean, they are pretty small.”  Rogue said holding one up.

“Hmm, smaller than I thought they would be.”  Vanilla examined one.  “But they should work for the moment.  I’ll string a few of these together and then we can try to get these onto everyone.”

Rogue and Cream watched as Vanilla folded a couple diapers together at a time and eventually wound up with 4 larger diapers.  She handed one to Cream and the other two to Rogue.

“I’ll go get Tails dressed, think you can handle the others?”

“I call Amy!”  Cream yelled.

“And that leaves me and Knuckles with the hedgehogs.”  Rogue sighed.  “This oughta be awkward.”

Vanilla gave them each a few diaper pins and left the room.  She walked back into her room only to find that Tails was no longer on the bed.

“Oh no, where did he go now?”  She glanced around the room.  She hadn’t left the door open so he had to be in here somewhere.  As she walked closer to the bed, she could hear giggling coming from underneath it.  She looked down and saw the tip of a fluffy tail sticking out.  She got down and peered under the bed only to find that Tails had wedged himself under there and giggled loudly as he saw Vanilla.  “And what exactly are you doing underneath there?”  She pulled him out from under the bed and laid him on top.  She tried to get the diaper pinned on Tails, but he kept giggling and kicked his legs.  After much frustration, Vanilla eventually managed to pin the diaper snugly around his waist and picked him up.

Rogue and Cream successfully got the others properly dressed and sat down with a sigh while Knuckles leaned against the wall.  Sonic, Shadow, and Amy were all sitting on the floor giggling to themselves as Vanilla walked into the room.

“I take it you had a bit of trouble as well?”  Vanilla asked.

“How could you tell?”  Rogue asked sarcastically and noticed Tails in her arms.

Tails could tell that Rogue was looking at him and buried his face in Vanilla’s chest.

“I don’t think he likes you Rogue.”  Cream said.

“I think he’s just a little shy is all,” Vanilla turned to Tails, “do you wanna play with Sonic, Shadow, and Amy?”

Tails looked up and shook his head.

“Okay then.  Why don’t we get these guys into the living room, we’ll have a bit more space in there.”  Vanilla said walking out of the room.

Rogue and Cream coaxed Sonic and Amy into following them down the hall and into the living room where Vanilla was sitting on the couch holding Tails.  Knuckles had to pick Shadow up, carried him into the room, and set him onto the floor.

“So what’re we gonna do now?”  Cream asked.

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to take care of them and hope that this wears off.”  Vanilla bounced Tails on her knee a bit.

“I hope they get back to normal soon, cause I’m not good when it comes to babysitting.”  Knuckles remarked.

“Really?  Cause all you do is babysit a giant rock all day long.”  Rogue smirked sarcastically.

“Oh ha ha, at least the Master Emerald doesn’t cry, need food, or crap and piss itself.”  Knuckles rolled his eyes.

“Knuckles!”  Vanilla said covering Tails’s ears.  “Don’t say words like that in front of them!”

“Hey it’s not like they’re actual babies, they just got their marbles a little scrambled is all, no harm done.”  Knuckles shrugged.

“Still, I’d rather not have them running around cussing left and right.”  Vanilla said as Tails happily continued to suck his thumb.

“Fine fine, I’ll try not to swear as much around them.”

Tails’s stomach started to grumble and he looked at Vanilla with confusion.

“Sounds like somebody’s a little hungry.”  She said patting his tummy.  

“We should try to get some food into them.”

“You think they’ll still be able to eat regular food?”  Cream asked.

“I don’t see why not, they only have the mentality of babies.”

Vanilla sat Tails into a chair next to the table and rummaged through the refrigerator.  Knuckles, Cream, and Rogue got the others to sit at the table and waited on Vanilla.

“Hmm, this should do.”  Vanilla pulled out a box of leftover pizza.

“Ooo, pizza actually sounds really good right now.”  Knuckles rubbed his hands together.  “You think there’s enough for the rest of us?”

Vanilla pulled out 2 more boxes.  “Looks like there’s more than enough!”

“Sweet.”  Knuckles rubbed his hands together.

Vanilla heated up a couple pieces for everyone and set the table.  “Dig in everyone!”

While everyone else started eating, Vanilla cut a slice into smaller pieces to feed to Tails who had been trying to climb onto the table.

“Open wide Tails, here comes the plane!”

Tails giggled and opened his mouth as Vanilla fed him.  He swallowed the bite of pizza and licked his lips.

“You like that don’t you?”  Vanilla chuckled a bit.

Tails opened his mouth again and excitedly waited for more.  As she continued to feed Tails, Sonic started whimpering a bit.

“Don’t worry Sonic, I’ll get to you 3 when I’m finished with Tails.” 

“I’ll feed them.”  Rogue suggested.

“I’ll help too!”  Cream stood up and cleaned herself off.

Knuckles was still stuffing his face and looked up.  “Don’t look at me, I’m still hungry.”

“Some help you are.”  Rogue rolled her eyes.

Knuckles resisted the urge to give her the finger and just focused on his food.

After about 15 minutes everyone had finished eating and Vanilla was working on cleaning off Tails and Sonic’s faces while Rogue cleaned off Amy and Shadow.

“Jeez, you guys are such messy eaters!”  Vanilla poked Tails in the nose causing him to giggle.  “I’ll have to remember to pick up some bibs next time I go shopping.”

“I’ll say, there’s enough pizza sauce on their faces that you’d think they just brutally murdered a tomato.”  Rogue said as she finished wiping Amy’s face clean.

Knuckles rolled his eyes and left the room to recline on the couch.

“Hold on there mister!”  Vanilla called as he sat down.

Knuckles sighed and got back up.  “What?”

“Somebody needs to clean up the kitchen, why don’t you do it?”

“Woah there, I don’t do housework.  Hell I don’t even live in a house!”

“Well it’s either that or diaper change duty.  Take your pick.”  Vanilla shrugged lifting Tails up.

Knuckles shuddered at the thought of changing 4 oversized diapers, or diapers in general for that matter.  “Alright alright, I’ll clean up the kitchen.  No way in hell am I touching any diapers, not from little babies or big ones.”

At that remark Tails stuck his tongue out at Knuckles.  Knuckles shook his fist at Tails who then hid his face in Vanilla’s shoulder.

“Not like it’s any different, just on a bigger scale.  Come on girls, let’s go get these 4 changed and ready for bed.”  Vanilla turned around and left the kitchen.

“Okay, you got those 2 Cream?”  Rogue asked picking up Amy.

“Yup, come on guys, let’s go.”  Cream took Sonic and Shadow’s hands and led them out of the room behind Rogue and Amy.

Knuckles was the only one left in the kitchen and let out a sigh.  “At least there are only a couple plates and forks to wash.”

After a few minutes, Knuckles was finishing wiping down the table when he heard a loud crash followed by a yell from Rogue.

“The hell is going on in here?”  Knuckles popped his head into the room.

“Sonic’s being a pain in the butt, and my head.”  Rogue rubbed her forehead as Sonic giggled.

“At least you got the diaper on him before he kicked you.”  Cream said trying to sound optimistic.

“And got his shoes off beforehand.”

“Well that leaves only Tails.”  Vanilla said picking up a clean diaper.  Vanilla was able to change Tails out of the wet diaper and into the dry one in a matter of a couple minutes.

“At least he sat still for you.”  Rogue said still rubbing her head.  “Are we done here?”

“Not yet, we still need to get them to sleep.  Fortunately there are 2 beds in here.”  Vanilla scooted the beds to the adjacent walls.

“Hopefully they don’t fall off, I’d actually like to get some sleep tonight.”  Knuckles yawned.

“They’ll have to sleep as they are, I don’t have any pajamas that would fit any of them.”  Vanilla tucked Sonic and Tails into one bed and Shadow and Amy into the other and kissed each of them on the forehead.

Vanilla turned off the light and everyone piled out of the room.

“So, now what?”  Rogue asked quietly.

“We could watch TV for a while, it’s only 7 right now.”  Cream suggested.

“Sounds good to me, as long as it’s not something stupid or boring.”  Knuckles slumped down into the couch.

“I’m sure anything could be more exciting than watching that dumb rock every waking moment.”  Rogue snickered.
“Hey, it’s my job.  Not like I signed up for it anyways.”

“Oh yeah?  Then why aren’t you watching it right now?”

“I called in a favor, it’s protected well enough without me.”  Knuckles retorted.

“Hey look, The Avengers is on.  That isn’t too stupid or boring for you is it?”  Cream flipped through the channels.

“That’s fine by me.”  Knuckles crossed his arms.

Once the movie was finished, Vanilla turned the TV off and stood up.  “Alright guys, I think it’s time we got some sleep ourselves.”

“I’ll just crash out here on the couch.”  Knuckles kicked his shoes off.

“Guess I’ll just sleep in the chair.”  Rogue said.

“You can sleep in my room, I can just sleep with my mom.”  Cream offered.

“Thanks Cream.”  Rogue smiled.

Knuckles got comfortable on the couch as Vanilla, Rogue, and Cream walked down the hallway.  Vanilla peered in on the others to see that they were sleeping quietly.  She smiled and slowly shut the door.

“Hey Vanilla, you got anything I could change into before I go to sleep?”  Rogue asked as Vanilla passed by Cream’s room.

“Sure, I’ve only got simple nightgowns I’m afraid.”

“Fine by me.”  Rogue said starting to undress herself as Cream finished getting herself ready for bed.

Vanilla came back with a white nightgown and handed it to Rogue.  “I hope this’ll do.”

Rogue slipped the gown on.  “This will work just fine, thanks.”

“Good.  I’ll leave you to get some sleep, come on Cream.”  Vanilla turned to leave the room.

“Coming mom.”  Cream trotted after her mother as she closed the door.

“You all dressed for bed?”  Vanilla asked pulling the sheets back to let Cream climb under.

“Yup, got my pull-up on and everything.”  Cream smiled as her mother tucked her in.

“Good, cause I don’t want to wake up to a wet bed in the morning.”  Vanilla said pulling the covers over herself.

“I hope Sonic and the others get back to normal soon.”  Cream said as Vanilla reached for the lamp.

“I hope so too honey.”  Vanilla said turning off the last remaining light in the house.

Morning came around faster than expected and Vanilla stirred as the sun began to rise.  Cream was still sleeping, so she carefully got out of bed and tiptoed out of the room.  She headed straight for the kitchen and caught a glimpse of Knuckles splayed out all over the couch snoring loudly.  She chuckled a bit and started brewing a pot of coffee to wake herself up.  As the coffee was finishing, Knuckles groggily walked into the kitchen with a yawn.

“You’re up plenty early.”  He sat down.

“Just thought I’d get an early start, was planning on making some breakfast for everyone.”  She took a sip of the coffee.  “Want some?”

“Sure, thanks.”  Vanilla poured him a cup and set it on the table in front of him.

Knuckles took a swig of the coffee.  “Mmm, that’s good joe.”

“You mind checking in on Sonic and the others while I start making breakfast?”  Vanilla asked as she pulled a few things out of the fridge. 

“Alright, I’ll be back in a sec.”  Knuckles stood up and walked over to the spare bedroom.  He had a hard time seeing anything with the combination of the room still dark and that he was still a bit tired, so he quickly flipped on the lights and saw that the room was empty.  “The hell?  Where’d they go?”  He walked into the room and saw something move underneath the covers of the closest bed.  He lifted the covers and his jaw dropped.  “Uh, Vanilla?”

“Yes Knuckles?”  Vanilla called from the kitchen.

“I think you might wanna get in here and see this.”

Vanilla set the eggs she was cooking aside and walked into the room.  “What is it?”

“This.”  Knuckles held the covers up for her to see.

Vanilla gasped and held her hands to her mouth.  “Oh my god.”

“I think a little more than their minds were effected.”

“Well, at least their size matches their minds now.”  Vanilla chuckled nervously.  “Should make diaper changes easier now.”

“We’ve gotta find out what the hell Eggman did to them before they wind up stuck like this.”  Knuckles looked down at the baby hedgehog and fox cuddled next to each other.