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The music was loud and the lights blinked and flashed. People cheered, danced, and stumbled around. The stars and moon hung above, but you could barely focus on them with the lively atmosphere taking up the plaza tonight.
While most patrons took to the floor or stood to the side in loud, slurred conversation, the blue hero stood to the side, tucked in a corner with a mystery drink in hand.
Sonic didn’t really care for parties. While he didn’t mind small get-togethers with his close friends for birthdays and the like, he found large parties full of strangers absolutely draining. So, naturally, he avoided them at all costs. Tonight however, he dropped his guard.
Big mistake.
While out for an evening run on the beach, he went past some folks who were engaged in a lively conversation. And, upon seeing the blue blur run by, they flagged him down.
If this was when he was younger, Sonic would’ve chose to run right by them. He didn’t really enjoy conversing with strangers after all. However, he’d been told by his friends (namely Amy) that he needed to try to be at least a little more sociable. After all, it was (apparently) rude to ignore people who just wanted to meet a famous hero.
Unfortunately for Sonic on this night, these folk just happened to be taking a break on the beach from a large party in their village. And one thing led to another, and that’s how he ended up in his current predicament. Stuck at a loud, crowded party, holding a glass of…something. He wasn’t exactly sure what was in the red liquid, but it had been forcefully thrust into his hands by one of the partygoers, and, once again trying not to seem rude, had been slowly sipping on it while folks badgered him with questions.
In hindsight, drinking a strange liquid that someone forcefully handed you probably isn’t the best idea. However, Sonic was so preoccupied with all the others things going on around him (and thoughts on how to escape this entire situation) that he hadn’t even considered that.
Fortunately for him, the party started slowly dying down, with partygoers stumbling back to their homes and the people who had chatting with him becoming increasingly more bleary eyed. Seeing his way out, he quickly downed the rest of what was in his glass, said a quick goodbye, and dashed off into the nearby forest.
‘Finally’ he thought, as the cool night breeze blew by him, ‘I’m outta that mess.’ If that was the last large party he ever attended, he would be absolutely fine with that. Now, he could head home and just-
BONK
Dazed, he looked up to see what he had run into. With years of weaving and dashing through various terrains and biomes, the only time he’d ever run into something was if it was something one might deem unexpected…
…a tree.
He had run straight into a tree. ‘Huh…’ He mused. That party must of left him more distracted than he thought. Dusting himself off, he got up…
…and stumbled right back onto the ground.
Now that was weird. He’d experienced hits harder than that before and had gotten up completely fine. What was going on? Had he been poisoned at the party? If that was the case, then he had to hurry home before the poison set in. If anyone knew how to reverse the effects of poison, it would be Tails after all.
Trying his best not to panic (Him? Panicking? Okay, something had to be really wrong—), he got up slowly, before hastily stumbling back home.
—————————————————————
Crickets chirped gently outside the workshop, with the wind howling slightly, creating a sort of natural harmony.
This soft symphony of nature contrasted with the torrent of loud music blaring inside the workshop.
Sonic had insisted that he should keep the music down, but the twin-tailed fox never listened to his advice. If he was going to damage his hearing, he was going to do it own his own terms—or something like that.
But the loud music was the least of Tails concerns at the moment. While normally very organized, parts were currently strewn all over his workbench. He groaned in frustration, pinching his temples. He just couldn’t get this project to come together.
When this sort of thing happened, he’d generally just talk it out with Sonic. But Sonic had yet to return from his evening run. He leaned back in his chair and peaked at the clock.
1:00 am.
“Ughhh…” he grumbled. Sonic wasn’t going to be thrilled when he came back and found the kit still awake. While Sonic himself didn’t abide by any bedtime, he (unfairly, in Tails’ opinion) pushed one on Tails. Something about it not being healthy for someone his age to stay up late. (Tails knew this was true, but he still didn’t like it)
Deciding that he wasn’t going to get anything done by just sitting here staring at the unfinished project, he started organizing the mess…before being interrupted by an abrupt CRASH from inside the house.
His fur stood on end. Was someone breaking in? No, there’s no way they could get past his security measures…was there? He grabbed a laser pistol off his desk. If there was an intruder, he wasn’t going in unprepared.
Slowly, he pushed open the door and found…Sonic? On the ground? And the door broken off its hinges?
‘What is going on?’ Tails thought. But he wasn’t going to have to wait long for an answer.
“Taaaails!—hiccup—I’ve been hic-poisoooooned! Heeelp meee! I’m dyyyying!”
Tails stood there, absolutely dumbfounded. Here Sonic was, whining on the floor about being…poisoned? Where had he got poisoned? HOW had he got poisoned? Knowing he had to get some answers to properly assess this situation, he kneeled down to the distressed hedgehog.
“Okay, okay. Calm down—what happened?”
Sonic turned his head to face Tails, eyes unfocused.
“There was—hic—a party—hiccup—near the beach…drank something funny…”
Tails scrunched his face. Something was off about this whole situation—he could smell it…literally.
His assessment of the situation? This hedgehog was drunk out of his mind. He could smell this booze on his breath. But just to put any lingering fears of poisoning out of his mind, he utilized a recently-made gadget of his that measured the concentration of different substances in the body. He didn’t know when he was going to need to use it, but he definitely didn’t expect this to be its first use.
And he was correct. Sonic was absolutely drunk. But how? He’d mentioned something about a party and a drink…but how did he not notice the alcohol in the beverage. Tails could’ve sworn hedgehogs had a good sense of smell, right? He shook his head. That didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered right was getting this hedgehog up to his room to sleep this off before he damaged anything else. (Tails glanced at the broken door—he was going to have to fix that before he slept)
“Weeelll…? What’s the diagnosis doc? How long do I haaaave?”
Right. He still thought he was dying.
While Tails knew it would be absolutely hilarious to play into it, he decided against it. “You’re not dying. It appears you just drank too much at this…party…that you were at. Wait—why were you even at a party?” He knew that going partying was out of character for Sonic.
“hic—They made me gooooo…”
Tails started to ask who ‘they’ was, but promptly realized that he probably wasn’t going to get a straight answer while he was in this state. So instead, he chose to drag the hedgehog off the floor.
“Where are we—hic—going?”
“You are going to bed.”
“Whaaaat? But I—hic—don’t have a bedtime! You do!”
“Well tonight you—“ Tails hoisted Sonic over his shoulder, “—do!”
“Ughh…” groaned Sonic, but he didn’t put up a fight.
Dragging him up to his room, Sonic didn’t say anything. However, once Tails had placed him on his bed is when he finally spoke.
“Y’know, you’re the best—hic—lil buddy ahead hedgehog could ask for.“
Tails looked at him before giggling. “Haha, thanks Sonic.”
“Are yoooou laughing at a dying person?!”
“You’re not dyin—“
“Yesss I…am…” This final voice of protest was followed by a loud snore. He was finally asleep. Tails slowly tiptoed out of the room before letting out a soft chuckle.
This was going to be so funny in the morning.
But right now…he had the fix that door.