Chapter Text
"I am conqueror of the seas," Knuckles said, sitting on his unicorn floaty. "I will ride my mighty one-horned horse into battle!"
Tails started to laugh, splashing water in Knuckle's direction. It hadn't taken long for the two of them to become friends. Both of them had seemed desperate for family and friends. It was something neither of them had seen in such a long time.
"I wonder what's taking Sonic so long," Tails said, swimming to the pool's edge. "Tom went in to get him a long time ago."
"The blue one fears the mighty water," he said, paddling his float closer to Tails. "Maybe he is not made to be a sea warrior."
"Knuckles…" he said, looking thoughtful. "Has Sonic been acting strange lately?"
"Strange?" he asked. "How could he act any stranger than he normally does?"
"Do you think he's mad that we're here?" Tails questioned.
"Why would our presence anger him?" the Echidna questioned. "I thought we were a tribe."
"This was his family," Tails said, frowning. "Maddie and Tom are like his Mom and Dad. So we just kind of showed up and forced our way in."
"Oh, I see," he said. "He might think we're trying to steal his parental figures."
Tails didn't know what to think. Sonic had changed. He was far more distant from him. What had he done? He thought Sonic liked him.
"Hi!" Sonic said, suddenly reaching the edge of the pool. "Sorry, I'm late. Tom was giving me a lecture on the state of our bedroom. He thinks the place is a bit of a mess."
"Oh!" Tails said, perking up. "We can clean it up after we play."
"Yes," Knuckles said. "I apologize for making a mess of your personal abode. I should keep things cleaner."
Sonic frowned, looking at the water. It wasn't a very deep pool. Maddie and Tom talked about installing a big inground pool, but they wanted to wait until Sonic felt more comfortable in the water.
"Why do you guys want to swim?" he asked.
"The water's fun," Tails said before diving under the water.
Sonic shook his head and backed away from the pool. He just didn't like water. It was wet and made other things wet. So why would anyone want that?
"Come on, Maddie got lots of new floaties," Tails said, nodding to a pile by the pool.
Knuckles had claimed the Unicorn one right away, but there was a flamingo and dinosaur. There were also some smaller donuts. He grabbed the dinosaur and threw it into the pool. The device would make sure he didn't drown. He kicked off his shoes and socks next to other ones. Tails held the dinosaur in place as Sonic climbed the ladder into the pool. Sonic looked terrified as he slid into the dinosaur floatie. As soon as his feet touched the water, he started to panic.
"I'm gonna drown!" he cried, clinging to the floatation device.
"You're safe," Tails said, still holding onto the device. "See?"
Sonic took a few deep breaths holding onto the head of the dinosaur.
"Thanks, Tails," he said once he collected himself.
"No problem," he said. "I'll pull you around the pool. You just relax."
Sonic smiled as Tails started to spin his tail under the wall. Then, as gently as possible, he began to pull his friend around the pool.