Sonic The Hedgehog had many wild stories and tales he could tell. It was wacky. He had even wackier friends in an even stranger world. But he loved it all the same.

So when he was visited by GUN agents with a warrant for his arrest, well, even his brain couldn't keep up with it. Luckily, (did that word fit this situation?) he'd been through this before so he chuckled and lowered his hands.

"Let's talk this out, yeah?"

"You'll have all the time to talk when in a cell."

"Chao chao!"

"Sonic?"

Unfortunately, he was with his friends this time. He panned to Tails, Amy and Cheese in question and, Chaos, the looks on their faces turned him completely sour. It was bad enough when it was him alone, but it became so much worse when his friends were dragged into it. Still, with the agents stepping into their home, Sonic was forced to backtrack and meet the baffled trio.

"H-hold on!" Tails tried. "This is silly, don't you think? Sonic hasn't-."

"We have strict orders from the Commander himself to detain Sonic...and any that try to stop us."

Amy's eyes narrowed. "Towers sent you?"

"You fail to mention a few stupid robots and suddenly you're the bad guy." Sonic grumbled, eyes rolling and Cheese crossed his little arms in agreement.

"Don't question the Commanders instructions." The middle agent ordered, raising their weapon with the others following.

Tails paled. "But you clearly are. Your whole demeanour shows you don't quite get why this is happening."

The three shared glances, stiffening and making their guns click. "We don't need to." The one on the left argued. "We trust him."

"At least our leader shows us we can." The right jabbed.

Sonic could feel their eyes on him. Tails and Amy may frown, but he knew after hearing the same thing for years they were bound to question him. They should. He-

'It's the right thing to do.'

Amy twirled her hammer (a nervous habit she had), but the agents seemed to take it as an act of aggression.

"With that said." The middle spoke again. "I'd rather not take you in by force."

"What's the plan here, Sonic?" Tails whispered.

"Working on it." The speedster muttered back, eyes burning.

"Sorry, but I've got some friends that need me right now- so we'll have to postpone this for later."

"Chao!"

"This isn't optional."

"When you're as fast as me, there's always another way."

Green eyes darted across three gun barrels and pulled his friends down just as the weapons sounded off (they were quieter than he'd expected). Quickly, he knocked the coffee table on it's side with Amy's help and hid behind.

"Are you sure fighting them is the best course of action?!" Tails jumped, wooden splinters scattering just overhead.

But Sonic had his hands to his eyes, digits slightly digging into their lids. Was he hurt? Had one of the agents-?

"Sonic." Amy's voice sliced through, hands reaching to pull his down.

His head turned before she could see his face and he peaked past the tables left when the shooting had seized.

"Again, I ask for you three to come peacefully."

'Don't let them hurt your friends.'

"Buddy?" Tails murmured. "Thanks to Breezie, Mobius is already gonna be paranoid about mobians. We can't have that again. Think about this."

"Yeah, let's go along and explain-."

"No." Sonic looked back at the pair. Sweet Gaia, was it always this cold?

"Dudes gone and asked for my arrest. Something tells me he's not open to what I have to say. And we gotta get out to find Vanilla and Cream." Their expressions. Shock, fear. He'd seen them angry at him before, frustrated, but never scared.

"W-what's-?"

"Your eyes." Amy cleared her throat, doing her best to sweep the terror away and Cheese hugged her quills.

"Don't forget teeth." Tails thickly swallowed, giving a weird smile.

Sonic paled and looked away. 'What're you doing?!'

'You need me. Let me-.'

"Fine. If you refuse to cooperate, we really are left with no choice."

"Wait-!" Amy started, jumping up- but hurriedly fell back when the weapons began blasting again.

"This got way out of hand too quickly!" Tails flinched from more damage to the table.

"Stay here." Sonic ordered, cleanly slipping around and shooting past the three agents.

"Fine! I'll come along, but you gotta catch me!"

"What's he doing?!" Amy grumbled.

"He has a point. Right now, we gotta save our friends. Can't really do that from a cell. He's just going about it in a very...Sonic way."

"Then you go talk some sense into him. I'll try and calm these agents down."

"Right. Be careful."

Amy peaked overhead, observing the blue blur sprinting across the wall. What caught her attention though, was the lack of bullets following him. For guns they seemed to have very little ammo.

"I think I'll be okay." With a nod, she jumped over and held her hammer out like a shield (Cheese following) as Tails took chase for his brother.

"Hey! The more you shoot the less inclined we are to come along!"

Two GUN members whirled to her. "Didn't seem like you were going to anyway."

"I...yeah, sure. But we never said never. We just need to help our friends first." When they aimed, Amy stopped and raised her free hand.

"The missing rabbits? Vanilla and Cream, right?"

"Chao Chao!"

"Yeah."

"Commander Towers said you might use this as an excuse. He informed us you don't need to worry about them."

Amy cocked her head to the side. "Don't need to-? What?"

"Sonic!" Rushing past the sofa, Tails swirled to the speedsters side.

"What's going through that head of yours?"

"Honestly, just trying to buy us some time."

"By making us targets?!"

"The plan has holes!"

"There is no plan!"

'Finish this.'

Sonic groaned and colours melted into each other, so he shook his head to try and focus. "Amy's talkin' to them ain't she?"

"You always like the risky route, huh?"

"Just need you to trust me."

Tails' eyes widened and briefly, he faltered. "I-...you know I do." Didn't he?

"They're our friends." Amy argued, surprised she even had to.

"Look, I think it's best you three come along."

"Just on the basis Sonic missed a few reports? I'm missing something."

"His negligence led to Eggman's return and the failure for his arrest. That endangers Mobius. We understand Eggman's taken up a lot of everyone's lives, but you must remember GUN stands against any opposition to Mobius' safety."

"I can hear it in your voice. You know Sonic's not an enemy."

"I-.... Orders are orders. The Commander hasn't been wrong before."

"Well, we both know that's not true." Amy gripped her hammer, giving it a twirl. "But hey, like I've said before. If the world makes me pick between them and Sonic- I'll always pick Sonic."

Their weapons raised, but she whirled and hurried after the brothers. Holding her hammer out at her side to protect herself from harm, she hugged Cheese close with her free arm. Still, it was curious how little the guns actually shot.

"Amy?" Tails double took.

"They won't listen to reason. Something makes me suspicious about what's really going on, too."

"Like?" Sonic pushed, dragging his friends behind the open floor kitchen worktop.

"We'll talk about it later. Right now we gotta get out of here."

The blue blur grinned. "Finally came around, huh?"

"We were never against it." Tails reasoned. "Just thought a...talk and kick butt later approach was better."

"Well-."

A static pulse of a Walkie Talkie sounded, silencing the few gunshots. "We could do with backup."

The four's eyes shrunk. Backup? That-

The front door, although already open, slammed against the wall as the kitchen and living room windows shattered- agents slipping inside. Ropes discarded, they panned around the room until they were brought to Sonic's yell.

"Run!" He grabbed the pair's hands and rushed by a couple aiming agents.

"Front doors blocked!" Amy called.

'Don't let them suffer.'

"Windows too!" Tails added.

'Use that speed of yours.'

"Chao?"

"Aim for the legs!"

Legs?

'Do something!'

"Sonic!"

Amy pulled him aside, let go, and shoved the part of her hammer connecting both faces against an agent blocking their path. Although enough force to take the breath, briefly, from their lungs- she found peace knowing they'd soon be alright.

"I don't think running in circles is much of an option anymore!"

"Then let's clear a path to my workshop! We'll get on the Tornado and head to Angel Island! Don't- don't hurt them too bad."

When Tails and Cheese took to the brown bag with scattered items beside the coffee table, Amy pressed her back against Sonic and swung her hammer. Even when it was rather gentle, she still cringed from the agents collapsing.

"This really won't make us look any better."

"We tried to talk. Worry about our reputation when we're out of this mess."

"Right." She set her hammer down like a golf club, allowed a (rather dark) spiky ball to lean against it and with a shout swung it towards agents like rolling pins.

'Tear them apart!'

The voice was hungry now. Almost desperate. It clawed away at him like paper and burned him like coal. In a sphere, he collapsed onto his side and unraveled to hug his twisting stomach. He had to get back up. There wasn't time for-

Chaos. That...really hurt.

Was he going to be sick? Explode? Melt? Somehow, freeze? Would it all happen at once? He could tell when his heartbeat was too quick and right now it was going dangerously fast. His teeth pulled away from their gums, narrowing at the ends like how his claws stretched from their beds.

Was this what drowning felt like? At the very least, it showed Sonic he was absolutely right to be terrified.

But Amy had a knack for showing up somehow at the best and worst times in his life. A hand lifted his chin and he met widening forest green eyes. She dropped her hammer and muttered something too far and quiet and flooded and lifted him up. Did he speak? Did he answer her? He must've for she seemed to reply and helped him stand.

Clarity.

His ears seemed to clear and his lungs could move. His shoulders could lift and he could see. His legs shook, but he didn't care when he heard that voice again. How had that utterly agonising torment so swiftly seized?

"Sonic? Chaos, you're so pale. B-but you're okay. No need to panic."

He was panicking? Maybe he was dramatic but it felt more like dying.

"Hey, look at me." She brought his head down to her gaze by the cheek.

"Say something? A-are you okay?"

He was definitely dramatic. It didn't even feel like he was entirely...here.

But Amy was worried and damn it, he was Sonic The Hedgehog. He's always okay!

He flicked his nose. "Ya might've swung me too hard, Ames." He joked. "Just a bit dizzy."

"Dizzy? That looked like something much more-."

"Well, you're really strong. So...."

Tails had only gone to retrieve his backpack and supplies. It was simple. It was meant to be quick. But it was enough time for Cheese to cry out and pull his goggles, pointing towards his big brother curled on his side struggling for breath and whimpering in pain. He hurried yet Amy was faster and pulled Sonic up. They talked, but Tails found one of the dazed agents aiming their gun to his brother. No.

Maybe this could've turned out differently. Maybe he could've been smarter. It all led to him disappointing the one person he looked up to most just the same.

It didn't matter if he was just as intelligent as Eggman, he would always fail in finding the best solution.

In a cruel twist of irony, the one argued as the smartest was perhaps the smallest mind of them all.

"SONIC-!"

He gasped. Tails could fly, but it never felt so light and empty and cold. Was he floating? Falling? There was an indescribable, excruciating chill in his lower side, but he dropped to his knees before he could look. The room swam and he reached for his friends, but he just wasn't strong enough to escape the clutches of that icy pain.

But he did manage to catch Sonic's vanishing eyes and black fur.

And he'd be damned if he didn't wake to rescue his brother too.