Chapter Text
The wind brushed through his quills as he ran, soles of his red shoes thumping against the ground. He let out a carefree laugh, climbing up the edge of a hill and running down at near-top speed, skidding to a stop in front of his best friend’s house.
Of course, Tails always kept the same code for his lab door that he had given him, and he easily punched it in and jogged into the fox’s house. Said fox was hunched over his table, working on a piece of tech. He turned towards him with large goggles making his clear blue eyes look big.
“Oh, Sonic! I didn’t hear you come in!” The fox hopped out of his seat and pushed his goggles up onto his head.
“How are ya doing, buddy?” He asked, flashing Tails a grin and inspecting his workshop—more as a distraction rather than ignoring him.
“I’m doing fine, and my invention is almost done!” He exclaimed, picking up the invention and showing it proudly to Sonic. At first glance, it looked like the wristbands that everyone in their group wore, with minor changes like the new screen and the wires coming out of the back.
“Um….it’s certainly got character!” He chuckled, looking down at his friend who stared up at him and retracted the invention.
“It’s supposed to be a new version of the wristbands, Sonic,” Tails said, wandering back over to his desk and continuing to work on it. Sonic tapped his foot on the ground three times before jogging over to his friend’s workplace.
“A new wristband? Aren’t our current ones good enough?” Sonic questioned, poking one of the parts with a gloved finger and a curious look on his face. Tails reached over and pulled it away from the hedgehog.
“No, I’ve heard complaints from Amy and Knuckles about it sometimes malfunctioning and shocking them, or the calls would break up, so I’m making a new one. Oh, speaking of Amy—” Tails perked up, holding the wristband up to the light, inspecting it and setting it down. “So remember how, after Eggman lost his memories again and turned back into Mr. Tinker, Amy went to go help people and children hurt by Eggman’s war efforts?”
“Uh, yeah, buddy, she’s my friend, why wouldn’t I know where she was?” He asked, flitting around the workshop. The fox’s gaze followed him around for a moment before he spoke.
“Well, she told me that she found something curious near an abandoned Eggman base,” Tails said. Sonic’s focus latched on his words and he zoomed over, looming over Tails’ shoulder.
“Ooh, what was it? A new badnik? Found Metal Sonic again?” He supplied, holding his balled hands up into the air and mimicking punching something.
“Well….you might want to go see for yourself,” Tails explained, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s….not easily explained, and you might want to bring Shadow.”
“Wait, Shadow? Why?” Sonic wondered, following after Tails with a raised eyebrow. “Why would I bring my rival to a place with my friends ?” He lowered his eyebrow, still following his friend who was starting to walk in the direction that Amy’s work was.
“I thought you and Shadow were on good terms after what happened with Eggman,” Tails stated. “And you’ll find out soon.” He tapped the side of his wristband and punched in a few numbers, and the name “Rouge” appeared on screen. There was a loading sign and she appeared on screen.
The normally perfect-looking bat looked slightly disheveled and her makeup was smeared. “Oh, hey, Tails! What’s up?” She asked, straightening up her appearance.
Sonic raised an eyebrow again. “Uh, what were you just doing?”
“Oh nothing, just….cleaning.” Rouge said, settling down a little bit and folding up her wings. There was a loud crash in the background and she turned to stare somewhere, yelling and then she looked at Tails.
“Well, Rouge, do you have Shadow with you?” Tails questioned, blue eyes scanning the screen.
“Well, yes, I do, why do you want to know?”
“Well there’s something concerning him that Amy sent me.”
“Okay, I’ll go get him then,” Rouge answered. There were muffled thuds and the screen was left staring up at the roof. Sonic tapped his feet on the ground again, and there were muffled thuds and screeches before Rouge appeared again.
“ Weird background noise. ” Sonic whispered to Tails, who giggled at his comment. There were speaking and Shadow appeared in the corner—or at least one of his quills.
“So what did you want, hedgehog?” His rival’s voice sounded and the hedgehog moved over, looking at the screen with a bored look. His red eyes stared at Sonic, boring into him even through the screen.
The hedgehog stared a bit before clearing his throat. “I….honestly don’t know, hahaha,” he chuckled. “I’m still in the dark too. Tails, take it away!” He grinned, patting his friend on the head.
“Well, you two both know where Amy works, right? Or at least you, Rouge?” The bat nodded, straightening up her appearance. “Well, she sent me a message that concerned something that a member of the workplace that she works at found near an abandoned Eggman base, and….well, it’s not easily explained, just meet us there in front.” The fox ended the call, saying a hasty good-bye before rotating his tails and flying up.
“Race you there, Sonic!”
He skidded to a stop in front of the shelter, grinning at his friend who was still flying behind him.
“You should’ve known this was coming, Tails; after all, you don’t become the fastest thing alive in the universe without being fast!”
“Yeah….” Tails drifted dejectedly over to him, landing down and punching him affectionately in the shoulder.
Sonic mocked being in pain and he wrapped an arm around Tails and giving him a noogie [Author’s note: is that a word? He basically just made a fist and lightly hit his head in a playful way].
There was a loud giggle and an ‘ahem’ sound, and Sonic froze, looking over at the bat and hedgehog who were standing by the entrance. “Um….how long were you standing there?” Sonic asked, chuckling weakly as he let go of Tails.
“We teleported here directly after you two ended the call.” Shadow explained, rolling his thin red eyes.
“Long enough to see your display of affection !” Rouge cheered, puffing up the hair-like fur on her head and flashing the two a sultry grin.
Shadow just made a pffft sound before opening the door and holding it open for Sonic, Tails, and Rouge. The blue hedgehog merely sent him a glance, meeting his eyes, before moving inside.
Amy was sitting at the desk in front, and she dropped the notebook she was holding. “There you guys are!” She walked out from behind the desk, brushing off her red-and-white dress.
“What’s this all about Amy? You’re not….pining after me again, right?” Sonic questioned. He crossed his arms, still tapping his foot; vaguely aware of Shadow doing a similar pose without the fidgeting.
“Oh, no, Sonic, I’ve grown past that,” Amy rolled her eyes, dismissing the question. “Tails did tell you, right?”
“Yes.” The two rivals answered simultaneously, sending the other a look before looking away.
“Okay, then, follow me,” she gestured to them and started walking through the hallway.
All of the doors were marked with age groups, and some with names, with sheets that listed information about the resident(s).
“We found her near an abandoned Eggman base, as you know, and when I first saw her I immediately thought of you two,” Amy explained. “Well, you’ll understand when you see her, but she looks different. We don’t know who she was created by, or if maybe she was an experiment by Eggman, but since he’s gone I guess maybe one of his more sentient robots like Orbot or Cubot dropped her off there.” She led them to the end of the hallway, pushing open a door and leading them to a crib at the end.
Sonic and Shadow leaned in to look, and Shadow recoiled back with wide eyes.
“This is why I thought of you two—she looks just like you.”