"Really?" Peaches beamed with excitement.
"Of course." Tails replied. "I have some free time this afternoon. Bring him to the lab and I'll check it out." Peaches threw her arms around the little fox's neck. "Oh, thank you!"
Peaches had a renewed spring in her step as she crossed from Tails' room to the room she and Sonic shared. If Tails could figure out what was wrong with Sonic, he could fine a cure! Sonic heard the door open and he turned to Peaches, who was smiling.
"Hey, Babe." Sonic said, standing to embrace her. "What's up?"
"Well, I talked to Tails." She replied.
"About what?"
"About you." Sonic's eyes shot open. "And your eating." Sonic laid his ears flat against his head and nervously folded his arms.
"Why?" He asked. Peaches sighed and replied. "Look. Sonic, I love you and I'm worried. You've lost an insane amount of weight in just one month, and you've been eating as if you had a bottomless pit for a stomach. It's just. . .I need to know what's happening to you." Sonic sighed.
"Alright. But only for the sake of your sanity." He joked. Peaches didn't laugh, or even smile, at his joke. Sonic sighed. "I'm sorry." Sonic's stomach grumbled, causing him to feel discomfort. He shifted, trying to ignore it. He shook his head once, then looked up with a smile on his face.
Without warning, Sonic picked Peaches up and spun around the room with her in his arms. Peaches laughed as he did so. He then set her down on the couch and kissed the inside of her ear.
"Sonic!" She laughed. "That tickles!" Sonic suddenly got an idea. "Wait here!"
Sonic zoomed off. It had been only a minute when Shadow walked in.
"His mentality is deteriorating."
Peaches jumped at the sudden voice. "Shadow!" She snapped at him. "Don't scare me like that!" She gazed at him a moment before realizing what he had said. "Wait. . .what do you mean that his mentality is deteriorating?"
"This needs to be fixed. I'm afraid that sometime in the near future, he won't. . ." His voice trailed off.
"He won't what?" Peaches pressed in concern.
"He won't be Sonic anymore."
"What?"
"He won't be Sonic as you once knew him. I'm sure you've noticed that his mindset has drastically changed?" Peaches gave the ebony hedgehog a blank stare. "He no longer has an intense interest in music?" Shadow could see her eyes cloud a bit.
"You're right. He hasn't sung for me in a while. . ." She sat up and sighed. "I'm going to have Tails check him out later today."
"Good." Shadow replied. "I hope he can figure this out. I wish you the best of luck." Peaches was shocked. Shadow was actually worried about Sonic! Shadow could care less about the blue hedgehog, but he felt that he and Sonic were more than rivals. In a sense, they were friends. Peaches watched as Shadow disappeared into another room.
"Peachy-Babe?"
She turned at hearing Sonic's voice. He was holding a small book in his hand.
"What's that?" She asked, seeing the book.
"Oh, this?" He looked at it curiously. "Just a book of songs. It's been a while, so I thought we might sing one."
Sonic opened the book and flipped to a random page. His face spread into a large grin. "Oh, this is a good one. Our duet of Kissin' U: Original artist; Miranda Cosgrove." Sonic turned his medallion into his guitar and began playing the tune. Peaches began.
"Sparks fly
It's like electricity
I might die
When I forget how to breath
You get closer
And there is nowhere
In this world I'd rather be."
Sonic sang his part.
"Time stops
Like everything around me
Is frozen
And nothing matters
But these
Few moments
When you open
My mind to things I've never seen."
They sang together.
"When I'm kissing you
My senses come alive
Almost like the puzzle piece
I've been trying to find
Falls right into place
You're all that it takes
My doubts fade away
When I'm kissing you
When I'm kissing you
It all starts making sense
And all the questions
I've been asking in my head
Like are you the one
Should I really trust
Crystal clear it becomes
When I'm kissing you."
The two hedgehogs sang the song the whole way through. After, they hugged tightly.
"Wow." Peaches breathed. "That was nice." She looked into his emerald eyes. They gazed back down at her as she leaned in for a kiss. She tenderly kissed the blue hedgehog that held her in his arms.
Sonic snuggled Peaches close to his body. He felt cold and he wanted some of her warmth. Peaches smiled and cuddled into his warm fur. Sonic smelled her hair as she did so, his stomach starting to growl from the scent of vanilla. He imagined what vanilla would taste like; ice cream that flavor, covered with warm chocolate syrup, and whipped cream with cherries topping it all. However, thinking this only caused his stomach to growl more.
Peaches could hear the growls of his stomach from her position against his shoulder. But more than that, he was beginning to feel abnormally warm. She could feel it as he pulled her closer to his beating heart. She pressed her ear against his chest. The beating of his hear was calming, but it was barely audible compared to his belly's complaining.
"I'm so sorry." Sonic's voice suddenly said. "I've gotta eat something." Peaches gently placed her hand on his belly, but almost instantly jerked it away, nodding. Sonic got up and left the room.
Peaches held her hand after he left. She felt as if her fingers were burnt. She looked them over. They were a bit red, but not burned horribly.
Why would his body be so warm? She thought as she flexed her fingers.
"Babe?" Peaches turned to see Sonic offering her some of the snack that he had grabbed for himself. Peaches accepted it and smiled at him. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," she replied and snuggled against him. Sonic's body still felt unreasonably warm. She made a mental note to ask Tails to check that too.
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Sonic sat on the examination bench in Tails' lab. He looked around at all the mechanic tools. Tails wasn't much of a medic, unlike Amy, so it was possible that she'd be there too.
Tails had a variety of inventions and works in progress sprawled out aimlessly across the work table. It was possible that they were all connected somehow.
Tails came into the lab and, as Sonic had predicted, Amy was right at the fox's heels. As Tails got some things ready, Amy scratched Sonic under his chin and rubbed his ears. Sonic couldn't help but purr; at least her touch brought some comfort to his aching, tense body.
"Okay, Sonic," Tails said, turning to him. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. . ."
Tails nodded. First, he placed a thermometer in Sonic's mouth to take his temperature.
"What the-?!" Tails re-read Sonic's temperature.
"What is it, Tails?" Peaches asked.
"His temperature is 105 degrees!" Tails exclaimed. Amy, Peaches, and Sonic all gasped in horror. Amy held Sonic's face in her hands.
"How are you feeling?"
Sonic shoved her aside. "Amy, back off. I feel fine."
"Really?" Tails asked. "You don't feel tired, nauseous, anything along those lines?" Sonic shook his head. "Well," Tails continued, "Peaches wanted me to check out your excessive eating, so I'll need you to lie down on your back, Sonic."
Sonic nervously laid on his back; his knees tucked to his chest by instinct. Amy rubbed his ears to try and help him calm down, seeing that he was already holding Peaches' hand and squeezing it in his grip. Tails picked up his portable, hand-held temperature analyzer and held it just inches from Sonic's curled body.
"Sonic, move your legs out of the way." Tails instructed him. A small whimper escaped Sonic before he moved his legs out of the way. Tails held the analyzer above Sonic's tummy and pulled the trigger. The thing beeped and Tails pulled it away. His eyes practically popped when he saw the result.
"200.8 degrees?!"
"What?!" The three hedgehogs screamed.
"No wonder your temperature is high. But this is crazy! You're hot enough to melt metal!" Tails ran his fingers over Sonic's belly and jerked away almost immediately. "Yeow! That his hot!" As Tails looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers, he thought, What could be causing his stomach to incubate like this?
"Amy." The pink hedgehog perked at the sound of her name. She looked at Tails. "I need your help. I'm going to take a few samples; tissue, blood, and DNA." Sonic tensed and held Peaches' hand tighter. This was going to hurt.
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Sonic couldn't sleep. One; his hunger was keeping him up, and two; he was curious about Amy and Tails' research. He decided to go spy on them for a few minutes. He got out of bed and went to the lab, seeing the light was on. He hid in the shadows outside the door and peeked in through the small opening.
"This is nuts Amy!" Tails said. "I just cant figure out what's going on. From what we've gathered, his body's totally fine. We've got to look deeper into this. I think we'll need to take and MRI and some days to study his behavior."
"Tails! Wait!" Amy called, "I got something. The bio-scanner identified something abnormal withing the DNA in his cells!" Tails walked over to Amy.
"It should display the name. Every disease/virus has a name." The name popped up in an instant. The fox and the hedgehog had confusion and worry color their voices as they read it out loud.
"D.A.N.G.E.R."
