[Cover art above drawn by me. P a i n cuz phone :')]

Knuckles' POV:

The red echidna pushed through the countless vines blocking his path, ignoring the sharp thorns puncturing the fabric of his gloves. It was certainly odd, being in a place like this, but what unnerved him was the scent of decay and chemicals.

What is this stuff?

He took note of the glowing flowers, and the glowing patches on the leaves. Whatever this was, there was no end to it.

Knuckles pushed through the endless sea of plants, unsure about where his destination was supposed to be.

"What the...?"

A squelching sound from beneath his feet caused him to pause. He lifted his foot, noticing some sticky black substance, with traces of blood and glowing particles.

...Huh.

All of his senses were now screaming at him, to turn and flee, but he ignored them and pushed on.

The deeper he went, the stronger the metallic scent of blood grew, making him cover his nose with his hand in an attempt to block it out.

Perking up at the sound of heavy breathing, he picks up the pace. His vision began to darken, but he could make out the sharp glow before him. Some figure stood before him, their fur pitch black like a starless night. What stood out was the countless splotches of light blue. And their eyes.

"Who...Run. Run. Get away from this insanity, before it-"

Knuckles couldn't hear the rest as something went straight for his left eye, stabbing through it and his skull.

Before he could even process what happened, everything went pitch black. For a few moments that felt like forever, he felt himself floating in some sort of void.

Am I... dead?

As if it were an answer to his unspoken question, the guardian blinked his eyes open, greeted by the warm green glow of the gemstone he had fallen asleep on. He looked up at the sky, seeing the hairlike clouds from high above.

He could've sworn he'd heard Tails called that ' cirrus' or something along those lines.

He sits up, confused about his dream...vision?

The gemstone glows in and out, reacting to his emotions. It began to quicken, like a person's heartbeat when they got excited or scared.

"You sent that... didn't you?" He placed his hand onto its smooth surface. Some electricity tickled it as if it were an answer, and he pulled it away.

"I see. I'll try to see what I can do." He sighs.

I'll try to help with... whatever that was.

Tails' POV:

"SONIC-!"
He pulled his friend away from the table and tried to see if the blue hedgehog was ok. His breathing had steadied, but his expression made it obvious that it hurt.

Tails checked where the chemicals had made contact, on his back. The fur that had grown there was unable to withstand the acidic properties of the liquid in the vials, leaving some very damaged skin.

"...This... We have to treat this. Maybe get you to a hospital."

Sonic pulled away, shaking his head in refusal.

"I'm alright, Tails. Just a minor burn, nothing much."

"Your yelling a moment ago tells me otherwise." The fox's ears fell back a bit.

"That was from the shock," he replies. Waving it off, he adds on. "Plus, you know that I heal fast! It'll be gone in no time."

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to argue with the stubborn hedgehog, he sighs.

"Alright... Have it your way. But I still feel like we should have that checked out." Pausing and thinking, he looks back up. "Could we at least bandage it?"

Sonic agrees to this, and Tails is given the chance to help out.

After adjusting to the bandages, he gives Tails an apologetic look.

"Sorry about the mess." The kit sighs. "It's alright... Really. I'll just start over." He looks down at his brown shoes.

A hand on his shoulder causes him to look back up, into the emerald-green eyes of his companion.

"Hey... I didn't mean for all that work to go to waste. I know it may not seem like a lot, but I could get you some ice cream. Just to take your mind off of this for now"

Finding that a good idea, Tails nods. He gives a faint smile.

"Sure, ice cream sounds good."

With this, Sonic picked him up in a swift movement and ran out of the workshop, seeming just fine as he laughed.

"Don't you love the rush of the wind in your face?"

"I can't feel it, my mask is on-!" Tails attempted to take off the metallic accessory and was immediately met with a blast of wind to the face as his brother sped up.

"I'm pretty sure you're going the wrong way!" He shouted. Sonic smirks at this. "Just wanted an excuse to run!"

He makes a sharp turn, and in a few moments, the duo were in front of some small ice cream shop. The walls were a pastel pink, and a large pane of glass allowed them to see the inside.

Brushing imaginary dust off of his jacket once let down, he follows his brother inside.

"H-Hey there!" A slightly raspy voice greets them, coming from the left-hand side. A cheetah stood behind the counter, her expression showing that she was slightly stunned.

"I wasn't expecting you two to enter, welcome!" She straightens her posture. "How may I help you?"

Tails flicked his ear as he heard Sonic give a light chuckle.

"We just came for ice cream, nothing else!" Before the mobian could ask, he listed the flavours he knew the fox loved and got some ice cream for himself. Once paid, the two left the shop.

The kit just looked down at his ice cream, which was mint-flavoured.

"Thanks, Sonic." He looks up at the seventeen-year-old. "But if you think that'll get me to forget about the events earlier, then you're wrong."

His eyes fell back to the bandaged torso of the azure hedgehog.

"I'm still worried."

Before Sonic could reply to this, the attention of the two was diverted to the faint sound of explosions, and smoke rising from buildings a distance away. They exchanged knowing glances.

"Eggman?" Tails immediately replies to this.

"Eggman."

Sonic shot forward in a light jog, before suddenly blasting ahead, and the fox immediately follows after, his tails spinning rapidly.

So much for enjoying the ice cream in peace.

Eventually, the two reach their destination, the far side of town. There was no sign of the egg-shaped human, much to their surprise. In his place, however, was a large fleet of badniks.

"Huh, I guess McNosehair decided not to show up." Sonic shrugs. "You up for some scrapping?"

He nods and flies up in the air, his portable cannon appearing in his right hand. He immediately began to take down the badniks one by one, making sure his brother wasn't risking anything in the meantime.

Speaking of which, the hedgehog was simply just taunting the robots as he spun, dodged and leapt into them, having fun.

Tails couldn't help but notice that despite his energetic demeanour, his movements were a tad bit sluggish. He pauses in the air, concerned for his brother.

He soon realized that he'd made a mistake.

Suddenly, an intense burning feeling erupted from his back, and before he could even process what had happened, he was down, yelling out in pain.

Sonic's POV:

The azure mobian immediately froze when he heard his little buddy yell out, and snapped his head in the direction of the fox.

The nine-year-old was...unconscious. Standing over him was Sonic's long-time rival, Metal Sonic.

Sonic often enjoyed fighting this particular badnik of Eggman's. He'd often taunt and play around with the robot, then smash him to smithereens once done.

But now?

All the hedgehog could see the limp figure of the one person closest to him. And the figure responsible for that.

"What... did you do... To... my little brother?!"

His vision blurred as he shot forward, grabbing Metal by his arm and slamming him harshly against the ground.

Obviously, Metal fought back and scored a deep cut down Sonic's abdomen.

But he didn't feel the pain.

"I would've been more than happy to kick your sorry metal butt any day, but now you've simply crossed the line."

His anger was near its peak as he tore the leg off of his metal doppelganger.

In the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but notice another badnik just about to finish Tails off, and in a split second, he changed course and drilled a hole straight through it, freeing the little pocky that had been powering it for Chaos knows how long.

Once he'd done that, Sonic looked back, his vision focusing and unfocusing on Metal.

He could feel every bit of his body screaming at him to destroy the badnik to the point he was irreparable.

Just as he was about to do exactly that, some sort of stabbing feeling caused him to double over and yell out. He immediately regained his bearings and turned back, assuming he'd been hit by another robot had hit him while he was distracted.

Nothing.

Sonic definitely felt the shift in his balance, but his mind went blank before he fully registered what had happened.

The next thing he was able to remember, he was holding Tails in his arms, cradling the kit. He wasn't exactly sure about what had happened here, but the ruins of his rival not too far ahead gave a sense of comfort.

Shrugging, he simply got up, his brother in his arms.

"Don't worry buddy, everything will be alright."

He stood up wincing at the sharp pain from his back.

It didn't feel like he was bleeding.

He shifted Tails' weight onto one arm and used his free hand to reach behind him.

He was immediately greeted by a long, black limb wrapping itself around his arm. Another two wrapped around the kit in his hold in a protective manner, and a fourth simply rested on his shoulder.

"W-What...?"

He certainly didn't know what the heck these things were. He turned around once more, assuming that someone was there, but there wasn't.

Wait, so that means...

Whatever these were, they came from him.

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END OF CHAPTER TWO

Word count: 1741

Oh dang, this chapter had been waiting in my notebook for quite a while, I was just too lazy to write it all down here hahaaa-

Chapter three is actually halfway done though, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading here, and have a wonderful day/night!