Chapter 7 - All Hell Breaks Loose

Sonic just stood there, awkwardly staring at his best friend who was dressed up like a baby and didn’t know what to think of it.

“Uh, guess I came at a bad time.”  He said rubbing the back of his head.

“N-no, that’s fine I was just uh-” Tails stammered.

“No time to explain right now little buddy.”  Sonic waved his hands vigorously.  “Kind of in a hurry here, you in or not?”

“Oh, right.  Eggman attacking the city right?”  Tails asked hopping onto his feet.

“Yeah.”  Sonic said awkwardly as Tails got up.

“Something wrong?”  Tails inquired.

“Uh, no nothing.  But we should get going like, now.  I’m not sure how long Knuckles can last all by himself.”  Sonic said grabbing Tails’s hand.

“Hey wait!  At least let me throw on some pants before we leave!”  Tails protested as Sonic drug him to the door.

“No time for that!”

Tails barely managed to take his pacifier off and grab a coat and tie it around his waist before Sonic drug him out the door.

“Well that was, weird.”  Ebony’s mother commented once the door slammed shut.

“I’ve never seen a blue hedgehog before.”  Evony remarked.  “Let alone one who’s that fast.  You think he dyes his fur?”

“Well he obviously knows Tails, and whoever this egg guy is.”  Ebony said standing up.

“And where are you going?”  Her mother said as Ebony walked over to the door.

“I’m gonna go see what’s going on and make sure Tails is alright.”  She said heading out of the door.

“You think she’ll be okay by herself?”  Evony retorted.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay, it’s Tails I’m worried about.”  She said with concern lacing her voice.

Tails had a hard enough time keeping up with Sonic as it was, and all of the extra bulk down below wasn’t helping his case at all.  Ebony herself had fallen behind quite a bit, but judging by the broadcast on her radio, downtown seemed to be where all of the commotion was going on.  She sped off towards downtown as fast as her car could. 

Sonic and Tails arrived to the scene of the fight and Sonic dove straight into the action.

“The cavalry has arrived!”  He yelled bouncing off a couple of robots and landed next to Knuckles.

“Took you long enough to get here, good thing Amy happened to be shopping nearby.”  Knuckles yelled.

A few feet away Amy was swinging her hammer around like a madman.

“Jeez, she’s really fired up isn’t she?”  

“Well a couple of her shopping bags got burned to a crisp, I’d stay well away from her for the time being.”  Knuckles said throwing a robot over his head.

Tails stood back a ways and just watched for a moment.  There were a lot of people watching from afar at this point cheering Sonic and the others on.  He really didn’t want to risk getting exposed at this point, but he wanted to help out.  He took a gulp and jumped into the fray swinging his tails back and forth creating a pile of scrap.

“Ha, you think you can beat me?!  No matter how many of you there are it won’t matter so long as I have THIS!”  Eggman yelled holding up a blue chaos emerald.

Ebony arrived just in time to see a whole mass of robots with a big fat guy hovering above the mess.  “What in the world is going on here?”  She pushed through a few people to get a closer look.

“So that’s how he’s getting all of these robots!”  Sonic said before getting pinned down.  “Tails!  Grab that emerald out of fatso’s hand!”

Tails looked up at Eggman and saw the blue gem shining in his hand.  He cleared a path for himself and flew straight towards the egg mobile.  Eggman hadn’t seen the fox coming allowing Tails to easily snatch it from him.

“What the-hey give that back!”  Eggman protested as Tails landed on the ground.

“Now Knuckles!”  Sonic yelled.

Knuckles didn’t need any explanation and chucked one of the robots as hard as he could towards Eggman.  Eggman was too busy yelling at Tails to notice the robot hurdling towards him.  With a direct hit to the egg mobile, it started spewing black smoke and spun a few times making Eggman dizzy.

“Uh, I think I’m gonna be sick.”  He moaned clutching his head.  He shook his head a bit.  “Gah, I’ve had enough of this.  We’re pulling back, everyone that’s left, run!”

“Running away so soon Eggman?  I was just getting started!”  Sonic gloated.

Tails happened to be right in the path all of the robots were headed and covered his head expecting the worst.  Fortunately, most off the robots simply ignored him and ran right past him, save for one robot that accidentally bumped into him snagging his coat.

“Hey, give that back!”  Tails yelled running after the robot.

“Just let it go Tails, no point in chasing that thing across town.”  Sonic said walking up to him.

“B-but.”  Tails clamored getting nervous and covered himself up.

“Yo Tails, nice save back there.  Way to get old Egghead distracted.”  Knuckles said offering him a high five.  “Something wrong dude?”

“N-no, nothing’s wrong.”  Tails stammered as people started to flock towards them cheering.  “I-I just really need to get going.”

Knuckles took a good look at Tails and saw what he was wearing.  “Woah, what the heck are you wearing?  You going to a costume party or something?”  He laughed a bit.

Tails started blushing and tried his hardest to cover himself up.

“What are you trying to hide there?”  Knuckles grabbed Tails’s arm but stopped upon closer inspection.  “What’re you-are you wearing a diaper?!”

Tails pushed himself away from Knuckles and blushed.  The crowd had quieted down and started staring at Knuckles and Tails.

Knuckles started bursting out laughing followed by a bunch of people pointing at Tails.  Some were whispering into each other’s ears while others had joined in laughing with Knuckles.  Tails covered his ears and shut his eyes tightly.

“Tails?”  Sonic turned around.  “You okay buddy?”

Ebony was fighting her way through the crowd pushing people out of her way.  “What the heck are they all laughing about?”

Tails couldn’t stand it, he crumpled to his knees and clenched his teeth.  There were voices in his head calling him a freak, pointing and laughing at him, and throwing insults at him.

“Tails?”  Sonic put his hand on Tails’s shoulder.

Tails’s eyes shot open.  “YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL!”  He screamed at the top of his lungs before running through the crowd.

Amy and some of the others noticed Tails running off and looked at Sonic.

“Follow him!”  He yelled.

They nodded and took off after Tails.

Ebony heard Tails scream and pushed even harder until she was out in the open.  She looked everywhere but couldn’t see him.  She spotted Sonic and ran up to him.

“Hey, you!”

Sonic spun around to see the girl who was with Tails before.  “Oh, it’s you.  What was your name again?”

“Ebony, Ebony Gale.  I’m Tails’s babysitter.  And you are?”

“Sonic the Hedgehog, his best friend.”  Sonic said sternly crossing his arms.

“Oh, well do you know where he went?  I can’t find him.”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“What in the world happened?”

“You should ask Chuckles the idiot over there.”  Sonic walked over to Knuckles who was still laughing his butt off.  “Hey, knock it off already!”  He smacked Knuckles over the back of his head.

“Hey, what the heck was that for?!”

“You know damn well what that was for!”  Sonic yelled angrily.

“What?!  I didn’t do anything!”  Knuckles protested.

Ebony was shocked at how angry Sonic was getting and just let him handle it.  Fortunately, people had started to leave now. 

“You humiliated Tails in front of all of these people!  You know how sensitive he can be, I must have told you a million times!”

Knuckles backed off a bit, he hadn’t seen Sonic this angry since him and Tails got into a fight a couple years ago.  “Well, it must’ve slipped my mind.”

“Slipped your mind?!  God your head is like a damn sieve, in one ear and out the other!”

“Well maybe Tails ought to learn to man up for once!”  Knuckles yelled back.

“How can he when he’s been traumatized for half of his life!”

“I-wait, what?” 

Sonic let out a sigh.  “You really don’t know anything, do you?  When he was younger, Tails got bullied, a LOT, more than average.  It got so bad at one point that he didn’t even want to leave his house to come out and play anymore, he was just so scared.  Eventually his parents couldn’t leave him at daycare anymore, it was almost a year before he built up his confidence was able to go out in public again.”

“Wow, I had no idea.”  Knuckles said sitting on the curb.

“Well maybe you should’ve thought things through first.”  Sonic said sharply and turned around to Ebony.  “Come on, let’s go find the poor kid.”

“My car is over there, we can start searching around here.”  Ebony pointed.

Sonic nodded and the 2 of them left Knuckles sitting alone with his head in his hands.

Elsewhere, Tails had been flying for what seemed like forever.  His flying was shaky and he wobbled every couple of seconds dropping a couple feet every time.  Once he was a couple feet off the ground, his tails stopped spinning altogether and he hit the ground, hard.  He rolled a few times and stopped on the sidewalk.  He slowly crawled to his feet covered with scrapes on his arms, legs, and face and slowly limped down the street.  After working his way down a whole block, he reached a house and knocked on the door.

“I’ll get it!”  A voice called from inside.

Tails stood there holding his arm with tears still streaming down his face.

“Hell-Oh my god Tails!  What happened to you?!”  Mrs. Stryk gasped upon seeing the battered boy.

Tails broke down crying again and rushed into her arms.  She picked him up and tried to comfort him as best as she could.

Evony rushed over to see what was going on.  “Woah, what the heck happened to him?!”

“I don’t know,” She grabbed a pacifier and offered it to Tails who gladly accepted it, “but let’s get him cleaned up first.”

Evony followed his mother into the bathroom.  She set Tails down on the edge of the tub and got some band-aids and disinfectant spray out of the closet.

“Now this might sting a little bit but bear with me.”  She said before spraying a large gash on his knee.

Tails winced at the pain but kept sucking his pacifier to try and ease it.

“Sorry sweetie, Evony cover that up please.” 

“Sure thing, don’t worry buddy we’re gonna have you good as new in no time.”  Evony smiled patching some gauze on Tails’s knee.

Tails let out a small smile from behind the pacifier but quickly winced again as Mrs. Stryk sprayed another scrape.

They repeated the process for another 5 minutes until Tails was all patched up.  Mrs. Stryk carried Tails out into the nursery and set him on the changing table.  As she was getting the onesie off of him she heard another knock at the door.

“Evony, can you get that?”

“Sure thing mom!” He called from downstairs.  He walked over to the door and opened it.  “Can I help you?”

Amy, Cream, and Vanilla were all waiting outside.  “Uh, yeah.  We’re looking for a friend, he’s a yellow fox with 2 tails.  Somebody said he came to this house.”  Amy asked.

“Oh, are you friends of Tails?”

“Yeah, is he here?”  Cream asked with concern in her eyes.

“Yeah I’ll go get him, just make yourselves at home.”  He invited them inside and headed upstairs. 

“Who was that?”  His mother asked while changing Tails.

“Some of Tails’s friends, they seemed pretty worried about him.”

“Do you wanna see your friends?”  She asked putting the last tape in place and sat him upright on the table.

He slowly shook his head and let out a sniffle.  He was clearly still upset.  He raised his hands to signify that he wanted to be picked up and Mrs. Stryk happily obliged. 

“You wanna lie down for a little while?”

He nodded his head and she placed him in the crib with his plushie.  He grabbed the plushie and hugged it tightly to his chest and rolled on his side facing the wall.

Mrs. Stryk pulled a blanket over him and motioned Evony to leave.  He simply nodded and left the room.  She hated to see the poor boy like this, but some alone time is what he needed right now.  As she turned off the lights and started closing the door, she could hear the faint sound of sobbing coming from the crib and shut the door.

As Evony came back into the living room, Amy, Cream, and Vanilla stood up with concern in their eyes.

“Sorry guys, he doesn’t want to see anyone right now.  He’s really shook up about whatever happened.  You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you want though.”

“He’s really that shaken up?  I should go talk to him.”  Cream said taking a few steps.

Vanilla put her hand on Cream’s shoulder.  “Just let him be sweetie, he’ll talk when he’s ready.”

“Okay.”  Cream sat down.

“Hey Evony?”  Mrs. Stryk called coming down the stairs.

“Yeah mom?”

“You sister is still out looking for Tails isn’t she?”

“Oh yeah, she hasn’t come back yet.”

“Give her a call and tell her Tails is here, no need for her to spend any more time worrying.”  She said sitting down.

“Alright.”  Evony went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed his cellphone. 

“I’m sure Sonic is worried sick too.”  Amy sighed.

Elsewhere, Sonic and Ebony were still searching around town, and Sonic was getting more and more worried by the second.

“Tails!  Where are you!  Tails!”  He yelled as loud as he could.

“Sonic I think-”  She started as she felt her phone vibrate.  “Hold on a sec.  Hello?”

“Hey, sis?”

“Evony, what is it?”

“Uh, Tails sort of found his way back to our place.  You guys can come on back now.”

“Oh thank god.”  Ebony breathed a sigh of relief.

“What?  What happened?”  Sonic asked.

“Tails is at my place, he’s just fine.”  She said to Sonic who let out a sigh of relief.  “We’ll be there in a few.”

“Right, see ya soon.”  Evony hung up.

Ebony stepped on the gas and rushed the couple miles to her house.

Sonic impatiently tapped his fingers on the door.  “Jeez can’t this thing go any faster?”

“Not if you want me to get pulled over, I’m pushing my luck as it is.  So just be patient.”  She said taking a sharp turn drifting a bit.

Sonic was a bit impressed.  “Nice driving, you can really handle a car.”

“Thanks, my dad’s pretty good when it comes to fancy driving.”

After some maneuvering through traffic, Ebony eventually pulled up to her house and they both hopped out of the car.  Sonic rushed into the house first followed by Ebony a second later.

“Sonic, there you are!”  Amy said running up to him.

“Did you guys follow Tails here?  Speaking of which, where is he?  Is he okay?”

“Woah woah, calm down Sonic.  Tails is just fine, a little shaken up yet, but he’s okay.”  Evony reassured him.

“Well, can I at least see him?”  Sonic asked.

“He kind of wants to be alone for a bit right now.”  Mrs. Stryk said standing up.  “But first, I think some introductions are in order, I’m Mrs. Stryk, Ebony’s mother.  And this is my son Evony, Ebony’s twin brother.”

Sonic shook her hand.  “Sonic, the Hedgehog.  Tails’s best friend and pretty much his brother.”

Evony shook Sonic’s hand and smiled at him. 

“Now that that’s out of the way, why don’t you explain what exactly happened to Tails?”  Mrs. Stryk asked him.

“Alright.”  Sonic sat down.  For the next 5 minutes, Sonic explained the battle with Eggman and how Tails was humiliated in front of the whole crowd of people. 

“Wow, that’s terrible.   I can only imagine how he feels right now.”  Evony said sadly.

Sonic got up from the chair.  “I’m gonna see how he’s doing, I’m sure he’ll talk to me.”

“Good luck Sonic.”  Amy said as he walked upstairs.

Sonic walked up to the nursery door and knocked a few times.  “Tails?  It’s me, Sonic.  I’m gonna come in, okay?”  He slowly opened the door.  The room was dimly lit with the only light coming from some gaps in the curtains.  He turned the lights on and spotted Tails laying in a crib to the left.

“Sonic?”  Tails quietly asked turning over on his back.

“Hey there buddy, how you feeling?”  Sonic peered into the crib and smiled.

“A little better I guess.”  Tails sniffled.  “You’re not gonna make fun of me are you?”

“Of course not, you’re my best friend and my little brother.”  Sonic picked him up and hugged him.  “I’ll love you no matter what.”

“Thanks Sonic.”  Tails said letting a few tears fall from his eyes.  “What about everyone else though?  They probably think I’m a freak, just like Knuckles and all of those people.”

“Don’t worry about them buddy, they’re your friends too no matter what.  And I gave Knuckles a pretty good talking to, he’ll come around eventually, I hope.”  Sonic said sitting down in a rocking chair still holding Tails.

“But all of those people, I’m sure there were cameras around there.  It’ll probably be all over the news.”  Tails buried his face in Sonic’s chest.

“Hmm,” Sonic thought about it for a moment, “I bet I can get the footage from them before they air it.  The city owes me a LOT of favors you know.”  He patted Tails’s head.

“You’d really be able to do that?”  He looked up at Sonic.

“Of course, as for the people that did see you, we can just deny anything they say.”

“What if they took pictures or videos though?”

“We’ll just have to hope they’re not anyone important on the internet, but you can just lay low for the time being.”

“Okay.  You’ll come back right away?”  Tails sniffled as Sonic stood up.

“Of course I will,” Sonic hugged him again, “I’ll be right here for you.”

“Thanks big bro.”  Tails returned the hug.

“No problem baby bro, and try not to squeeze the life out of me.”  Sonic chuckled as Tails let go.

Tails couldn’t help but laugh a little too.  “Sorry, guess I got a little carried away.”

“There’s the cute little brother I know and love!”  Sonic ruffled his hair a bit.  “Now, is there anything you need before I take off?”

“Hmm,” Tails thought for a moment, “I guess a diaper change would be nice?”

“Consider it done, wouldn’t want you to get a rash down there.”  Sonic smiled and carried Tails over to the changing table.

Tails cutely sucked his thumb as Sonic went about changing his wet diaper.  In a matter of minutes, Tails had a fresh diaper taped snugly around his waist.

“By the way, what happened to you?”  Sonic motioned to all the bandages.

“Oh that, I kinda crash landed on my way here.”  He winced a little and held his arm.  “It’s nothing serious, just a couple scrapes and bruises.”

“Alright, if you say so.  Anything else you need?”  Sonic asked picking him up from the table.

“Hmm, nope.  I’m good for now.”

“Alright,” Sonic set him down in the crib, “you just take it easy for a while.”

“Okay, thanks Sonic.”  Tails smiled up at him.

“Hey, whenever you want to talk to me about all of, this,” Sonic motioned around the room, “I’m all ears, okay?”

Tails nodded and laid down.

“See ya later baby bro.”  Sonic smiled and closed the door behind him.

Once the door had been closed, Tails curled himself into a ball and slipped the pacifier back into his mouth.  He hugged his plushie tightly and stared up at the mobile above his head.

What am I gonna do now?  He thought closing his eyes.

Sonic walked back down the stairs and into the living room where everyone was waiting.

“Well, how is he?”  Cream asked as Sonic walked into the room.

“He’s okay, a little down in the dumps, but fine otherwise.”

“Well that’s good,” Ebony said, “hopefully he can get out of this slump.”

“Yeah, but I’ve gotta go take care of something quick.”

“And what might that be?”  Amy asked as he walked towards the door.

“There hasn’t been anything on the news about Eggman’s attack right?”

“Well, no.  Not yet anyway.  They’re probably saving that for the top story tonight.  Why do you ask?”  Mrs. Stryk asked flipping through the television channels.

“Good, cause I’m gonna head to the Station Square news station and have a chat with them about the footage.”  Sonic smirked.

“You’re not gonna threaten them are you?”  Evony asked.

“Of course not, just gonna ask if they can remove any footage of Tails before they air it.  He’s already been humiliated by more than enough people, letting that get broadcasted to the entire city would kill the poor kid.”

“You’ve got a point there, he’s been through more than enough torture for one day.”  Ebony agreed.  “Mind if I tag along?”

Sonic thought about it for a moment.  “I was kinda planning on getting there and back as quickly as possible.  And no offense, but your car is anything but fast.”

Ebony scoffed at Sonic’s statement and crossed her arms.  “Fine, guess I’ll just stay here then.”

“Alright, I’ll be back in a few.”  Sonic said before speeding off.

Amy watched as he sped off down the street and sighed.

Elsewhere, Knuckles had been feeling pretty somber after Sonic had told him off earlier.  He didn’t know where he was walking, he didn’t really care at this point, he just needed some time to clear his head.  “God I’m such an idiot, and a real asshole.”  He kicked a pop can.  “Some friend I turned out to be.”

The pop can came to rest at the foot of a certain black hedgehog who looked down and picked it up.  He saw Knuckles walking down the sidewalk towards him.  “The hell happened to you?”

“Huh?”  Knuckles looked up.  “Oh, it’s you.  Nothing you need to worry about.”

Shadow caught Knuckles’s shoulder and turned him around to face him.  “Bullcrap, something’s bugging you.”

Knuckles sighed.  “Since when do you listen to other peoples’ problems?”

“Rogue is trying to make me more, sociable or something.”

“Heh, that’s something I’d pay money to see.”  Knuckles grinned.

“Oh shut it, you want to talk or what?”

“Fine, no one else would probably talk to me right now anyways.”  Knuckles sighed.  “Long story short, I pretty much killed any self-esteem Tails had in him.”

“What the hell did you do to the poor kid?”

“I pretty much exposed his darkest secret in public and now everyone basically hates me.  Some friend I turned out to be.”  Knuckles sighed sitting on a bench.  “He probably never wants to see me again.”

“It can’t be that bad.”  Shadow sat next to him.

“Oh it wasn’t, it was worse, believe me.  Tails has always been kinda insecure, and that many people laughing at him must’ve been torture.”

“You really are an idiot.”  Shadow leaned back and draped his head over the back of the bench.

“Thanks for reminding me.”

The 2 sat there in silence for a minute until Shadow broke the quiet.  “You gonna go apologize to the kid?”  He asked without moving.

“I dunno, I really want to, but-”

“But you’re afraid he won’t accept the apology, right?”  Rogue came up behind them.

Knuckles jumped a bit.  “Y-yeah.”

“So what?  Either apologize to him and let bygones be bygones or don’t and lose one of your best friends.  Tails is a sweet kid, I’m sure he’d be willing to forgive you if you really mean it.”  Rogue said trying to cheer him up.

“I guess you’re right, only problem is I have no idea where he even went.”  Knuckles stood up.

“I have the solution right here.”  Shadow pulled out the white chaos emerald.  “Hope you can stomach chaos control.”

“You can really transport us right to him?”

“Sure, so long as I know who or what I’m warping to.”  He held the emerald up.  “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”  Knuckles stood next to him.

“I’ll come along too.”  Rogue smiled.

“Chaos, Control!”  Shadow said loudly as the emerald glowed brightly.

In a second, the 3 of them disappeared in a flash of light.

Across Station Square, Sonic walked out of a tall building with a rather pleased look on his face.  “That should make Tails a little happier.”  He dusted his hands off.  “Guess I’d better head back now.”  He quickly sped off quite happy with himself when something caught his eye.  He skidded to a halt and jogged back to the storefront and saw that it was a baby store.  Maybe they’ll have something Tails would like.  He thought before entering the store.  Upon opening the door, a little old lady greeted him.

“Why hello there dearie, is there something I can help you with?”  She smiled at him.

“Oh, hello there.”  Sonic smiled back.  “Where do you keep the toys?  I’m looking for something to give my little brother.”

The lady took a look at him.  “Hmm, do I know you from somewhere?”

Oh crap.  Sonic thought, he hadn’t taken into consideration that he was pretty well known around here.  That and everyone knew he didn’t have any actual family.  “Uh, maybe.  I’m Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

“Hmm, nope.  Not ringing any bells.”  She scratched her head as Sonic breathed a sigh of relief.  “Mind’s not what it used to be, what was it that you wanted again?”

“Toys please, something for my little bro.”

“Ah yes, the toys are on the back wall.”  She lead him to the back of the store, which wasn’t terribly big.  “Here we are, anything specific you’re looking for?”

“Well, my little bro is pretty big into airplanes.  Got anything like that?”

“Let me see.”  She browsed the section as Sonic searched the other way.  “Here’s something.”  She picked up a plush plane.

Sonic was about to grab it when he saw a box with planes on it buried under some other things.  He dug it out and saw that it was a mobile with a bunch of little planes and other things attached to it.  He also saw a rattle with some cartoony planes printed on it and picked it up as well.  “I’m sure he’ll love these things.”  Sonic said grabbing the plush as well.

“Alright, let’s get these things rang up and get you on your way.”  She led him up to the cash register where and old man was reading a newspaper.

“Huh, didn’t even know we had a customer.”  He said putting the paper down.  “Just these 3 items?”

“Yeah, nothing else.”  Sonic scratched the back of his head.

“That’ll be 60 even.”  The man said as he slid the mobile box across the scanner.

“You take rings?”  Sonic asked.

“Sure, just dump ‘em in here.”  The man said holding up a bag.

“Thanks.”  Sonic made sure to deposit the exact amount into the bag.

The old lady had finished putting everything into a bag and handed it to Sonic.  “You take care now, dearie.”

“You too, have a nice day.”  He waved as he walked out of the store.

The old couple smiled and waved back as the door closed behind him.

“This oughta make Tails happy.”  Sonic said peering into the bag before taking off.

After his short detour, Sonic made it back to Ebony’s place within a couple minutes.  He figured it was sometime around 4 in the afternoon since it had been about an hour since he left.  As he walked up to the door, a bright light appeared in the front yard and Shadow, Rogue, and Knuckles all materialized.

“Ugh, this is why I take the bus.”  Knuckles said a little woozy.

“Oh come on it’s not that bad, you get used to it after a while.”  Rogue smacked him on the back.

Upon seeing Knuckles, Sonic’s mood quickly soured.  He was still pretty ticked off at the blundering idiot.  “You had better come to apologize, if not then you can drag your sorry ass out of here.”  Sonic said sternly.

“Of course I’m here to apologize!  I even went out of the way to have Shadow bring me here!”

“Geez, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so pissed off.  Mind if we go in?”  Rogue asked as Sonic stared at Knuckles.

“Sure.”  Sonic said as Rogue and Shadow passed him.

“What the heck is going on out there?”  Ebony asked as she opened the door.  “Oh, I see we have more guests.”

“You really gonna apologize to him?  You’re really really sorry?”  Sonic questioned him.

“Yes!  You have my word, I truly am sorry for being such an ass to him.”

At this point, everyone in the house has gathered by the window to watch as Ebony stood in the doorway.

“Alright, I’ll let him know that you’re here.  No promises that he’ll want to see you though.”  Sonic picked the bag up and walked inside.  “Stay here until I get back.”

Ebony let Sonic through the door and watched him walk upstairs.  She turned back to Knuckles and gave him a death glare before closing the door.

Before he opened the door to the nursery, Sonic knocked to let Tails know he was back.  “Hey buddy, I’m back.”  Tails didn’t answer so Sonic just let himself into the room.

Tails had been trying to get a little sleep when Sonic let himself into the room.  He rolled over to face Sonic and rubbed his eyes.

“Sorry buddy,” Sonic kneeled down to his eye level, “did I wake you up?”

Tails pulled the pacifier out of his mouth.  “Nah, I couldn’t fall asleep anyways.”  Tails’s eyes wandered to the bag next to Sonic.  “What’s that?”

“Oh this?”  Sonic held the bag up.  “Just something for a little baby fox I know.”

Tails giggled at Sonic’s comment which made Sonic laugh a little as well.  “Thanks big bro.”

“And you don’t need to worry your little head off, there won’t be any baby foxes in tonight’s news either.”

“That’s a relief.”  Tails sighed.

“That’s not the only surprise though.”  Sonic said with a shift of tone.

Tails noticed the tone shift and got a little worried.  “What?”

“There’s someone outside who’s got something to say to you, a certain knucklehead if you may.”

Tails picked up on the hint and his ears drooped.  “Did he come to laugh at me again.”  He pulled the blanket over himself fighting back tears.

“He says he wants to apologize to you.  I told him it’s up to you whether or not you want to hear what he has to say.”

Tails laid there in silence for a minute before he decided.  “Okay, let him in.”

“You sure?  If you’re not feeling up to it-” Sonic started.  “Alright, I’ll go get him.”

Sonic left the bag next to the crib and left the room.  Tails pulled his head out from under the blanket and slipped the pacifier back into his mouth.  He only hoped that Knuckles wouldn’t laugh at him.

“You’re really gonna let him in?”  Amy asked as Sonic paused in front of the door.

“If Tails is willing to hear him out, then so am I.”  He opened the door.

Knuckles had been pacing for the last couple of minutes until the door finally opened.  “Well?”

“He’s okay with it, come on.”

Knuckles rushed inside and into a sea of eyes staring at him as Sonic closed the door behind him.

“He’s up here.”

Knuckles nodded and followed Sonic up the stairs.

Tails could hear voices and the sound of 2 people coming up the stairs.

“He’s right in there.”  Came Sonic’s muffled voice from the other side of the door.  Tails hugged his plushie and felt his diaper grow warm.

“Hey Tails, it’s me Knuckles.”  Knuckles knocked on the door.  “Mind if I come in?”

“Y-yeah.”  Tails said quietly.

Knuckles slowly opened the door and his eyes went wide upon seeing the room.  He looked around until he saw Tails sitting in a crib to his left.  He was only wearing a diaper and was continuously sucking on a pacifier, then Knuckles noticed all the bandages.  “H-hey man.”

Tails simply crossed his arms and turned his back to Knuckles.  Even if he was here to apologize, he wanted Knuckles to work for it.

“Come on man don’t be like that.”  Knuckles said kneeling down to the crib’s bars.

Tails huffed and kept pretending he was really mad at Knuckles.

Knuckles sighed.  “Come on, I came to apologize to you.”

“Awe you weawwy sowwy?”  Tails asked turning his head around.

Knuckles had to hold back full out laughing at how Tails was talking.

“See!  You’we wauffing at me wight now!”  Tails yelled bonking Knuckles on the nose.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!  It’s just, I’ve never really been around little kids before.  The lisp just kinda surprised me is all.”  He rubbed his nose.  “Look, I really am sorry for what happened earlier.  I was a real jerk to you I can understand if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore.”

Tails held up his hand to stop Knuckles and took the pacifier out of his mouth.  “I don’t want to stop being friends with you.”

“So, you’re not mad at me?”

“Oh I’m still mad at you, but friends forgive each other.  Right?”

“Yeah, of course they do.  All water under the bridge now?”  Knuckles stood up and held out his hand.

“Don’t think that this means I’m not still ticked off at you, but a sincere apology is better than nothing.”  Tails stood up in the crib but instead of shaking Knuckles’s hand, he gave the big idiot a hug instead.

Knuckles was a little surprised but returned the hug nonetheless.  “So, you’re really into all of this baby stuff huh?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I have a double life now.”  Tails giggled.

Knuckles wanted to ask about the bandages but decided against it.  “Well, if there’s anything you want me to do don’t hesitate to ask.”  He turned towards the door.

“Actually,” Tails smiled getting into a squatting position, “I’ll be needing a clean diaper in a minute.”

Knuckles seriously regretted his offer as Tails grunted and let loose in his diaper.  “Do I really have to?”

Tails let out a sigh of relief.  “Nah, I’m just messing with ya!  You don’t have to if you really don’t want to.”

“Good, I’ve never even changed a diaper before.”  Knuckles wiped his forehead.

“Maybe you should stick around and find out.”  Sonic walked into the room.  “Wouldn’t hurt to know how to.”

“I think I’ll pass, thanks anyway.”  Knuckles said as Tails held his arms up.

“Suit yourself,” Sonic lifted Tails out of the crib, “just hope you don’t end up babysitting him one of these days.  Boy you really are a stinky little fox you know that?”

Tails giggled and slipped the pacifier back into his mouth.  “I know dat.”

Knuckles left the room before he had to see whatever Tails had dumped into the back of his diaper and ran into Ebony.

“Well?”  She asked with her hands on her hips.

“We made up, he’s perfectly fine now.”  Knuckles explained.

“Good, I’m glad you were able to patch things up with him.”  She smiled at him.

“Yeah, me too.  Anyways, I’d better get going.”

“Where to?  It’s almost dark outside, why don’t you at least stay the night here?”  Ebony offered.

“Really?  Is everyone else staying the night too?”

“Yup, we’ve got enough space to accommodate for a whole party!”

“Thanks.”  Knuckles said before walking down the steps.  This day has just been one crazy moment after another.  At least it can’t get any worse.