Says Who? part 13

Chapter 13 – Though Good Times and Bad

Tails about had a heart attack when he saw the horrid conditions Sonic and Chip were in.

He immediately noticed the large stains of blood on their bodies, the multiple cuts and bruises on Sonic, the tired and worn out expressions on both of them. Alone the plane ride, he questioned what had happened last night. Sonic explained everything he could – what very little information he had about Chip's strange dream, the harsh journey to the shrine, the rather brutal fights with the nightmares, the Dark Gaia possessed Phoenix, and about the shrine somehow healing Chip when they had restored the Chaos Emerald. Tails was bewildered about the whole thing. Chip stayed quiet throughout the whole story, both saddened and traumatized by what had happened earlier. As they landed in Spagonia, they all walked to the professor's lab – something Sonic and Chip hadn't done in quite some time. They walked in, and Sonic was almost immediately glomped by Amy, whom he also hadn't seen in a while. Though, her happiness slowly faded away when she noticed how beat up he looked.

"W-what happened to you?" she questioned worriedly.

"I'm fine – don't worry about it," Sonic stated. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the professor walking towards them. "Hey professor! Long time, no see!"

As Amy let go of him, Sonic waved to the man, who gave him a small smile. "Yes, quite," he replied with a nod.

"Got a new shrine for us to go to?" the professor nodded.

"Yes, but you shan't have to venture far – the shrine you are going to is in here, Spagonia."

Sonic gave a grin – he knew he had already done the nighttime half in Spagonia, which only left the daytime, and perhaps a fight with something else after wards. Two day stages in a row! Sonic slightly fidgeted in excitement, but slowly stopped when he noticed how quiet Chip had been. He turned to him.

"You feeling up to a quick run, Chip?" he questioned, kneeling down. Chip considered it for a little while.

"Uhh... I-I don't know... I'm not really in the mood to be left behind..." he answered unsurely. Sonic knew what he meant, but still frowned.

"Come on, Chip – it'll make you feel better," he assured. "And you should be able to keep up this time." The first time, Chip was inexperienced; the second time, he did better, but his injured wing kept him from keeping up; and the third time, he wasn't even there. Chip knew what to expect now, and his wing was... healed? Sonic didn't even see him fly once since the night before. Chip thought about his answer, then sighed.

"...Fine..."

Sonic smiled, then told him to wait outside. He turned to the professor and spoke once Chip was out of ear shot. "Hey Prof – this may seem like a strange question, but have you ever heard of the Temples of Gaia... healing its activator?" he questioned, remembering back to last night.

The professor tapped his chin, then answered. "No, I'm afraid I've never heard of such a thing." Sonic tilted his head. "But it is very possible that it could occur – the Temples are filled with secrets, and there is still much to be discovered about them." Sonic wondered a bit, then nodded. "Now then – why do you ask?"

"Well, umm... something happened last night at the Temple, and..." Sonic raised a hand to the large cut on his arm. "I'll tell you about it later."

With a quick goodbye, Sonic went outside of the University where he spotted Chip mildly conversing with Amy, who gave the hedgehog a wave. Chip ended their small talk, and ran right over to Sonic. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"Had a question I needed to ask – let's go." The two took a quick look around the town, asking anybody and everybody if they had the sun tablet they needed to progress. Though, most of the people they had talked to all looked at Chip with a worried expression, and some even asked if he was ok. He answered all of them confusedly, then continued on with Sonic. After asking all the students hanging around the school (which Sonic was considering skipping next time, as they never knew anything), they ventured into the actual town and found the sun tablet quite easily after they talked to Otto, the dormsman of the University – and apparently was also the Temple Guardian. After wards, they headed into the shrine. Unintentionally, Sonic transformed back into his werehog form from the darkness of the room. The two continued on and placed the sun tablet into the door, then walked through the dark tunnel, Chip somewhat slugging behind.


Looking out into the open, Sonic got down into a running position and sprinted forward without hesitation. He took a sharp turn to the right after going straight through the alley way, avoiding a large curve. At the end of the narrow cut, he ran into a few speed boosters, which sent him flying down different pathways until he reached a spring. It bounced him right through a rainbow colored ring and onto the side opening of a building. Turning around to look back at Chip, he was amazed at how close he was to him – just a couple yards away.

"Hey Chip! How's it feeling?" he questioned, taking a sharp left into a rather narrow alleyway. In the way were some pots, which he didn't have time to avoid, so he just crashed into them, which left small, minor cuts on his legs. Chip replied with optimism Sonic honestly didn't think he'd hear from him in a while.

"Great! My wing feels so much better!" he informed. Sonic laughed while running up the stairs, which led back into the regular path.

"Glad to hear."

"Though, I'm actually kinda shocked that I'm actually keeping up with you!" Chip retorted. Sonic smirked, then ran onto a boost pad.

"Oh – so you want me to go faster?"

The fairy's eyes widened. "What-- no, I never said that!! Wait, Soni-- AUAHH!!" The tremendous winds Sonic had suddenly created pushed Chip back, enough to make him yelp in surprise. Sonic laughed, then boosted himself off a ramp and into a rainbow ring. He did some tricks in the air, then landed on some boost pads. Drifting around a rather large turn, he ran into some more pads and found himself sidestepping out of some of Eggman's robots' ways. He continued on, avoiding robots whenever he spotted them and ran right onto a spring. As he was in the air, he homed in on some more robots and attacked them, creating a path. After the trail of enemies ended, Sonic blasted through another rainbow ring and spiraled down to the ground, landing swiftly.

As he ran forward, he was tempted to look back to Chip to see if he had caught up, but another boost pad interrupted his thoughts. He sprinted through another alleyway, and quickly sidestepped out of the way before he could crash into the walls. A quick robot placement led to another path ahead, out of the alleyway, and Sonic didn't take another minute to think about it before he homing attacked them and continued on. Springs sent him flying through the air, until he landed on solid ground again, then another spring sent him up. He homing attacked onto the enemies in front of him, then homed onto a spring strangely placed in a tree. The springs sent him over to a zipline, which he grabbed the handle on it and zipped down it, crashing into a spring at the end. The endless springs seemed to be doing the work for him, and he bounced around on them until he found himself...

Running on the side of the wall. Sonic slightly frowned at the strangeness of the idea, but then smirked as he soon bounced off it with a spring. He landed, then drifted around until he found a straight path again. Like Chun-Nan, three separate paths blocked his way, though they all looked like they led to the same end. Sonic chose the closest one, and homing-attacked the enemies to the left of him and boosted through a ring. He boosted right through the robot blocking his way, knocking it senseless, and continued with more "wall running", as he decided to officially name it. A spring sent him over to the other wall, and at the end of it lied another spring which led him onto another zipline. He landed on the ground, then boosted himself onto a spring and into a rainbow ring, which in turn led him to zip down another line. At the end were some robots, which he simply preformed another action chain and homed onto another zipline. Once on regular ground again, Sonic ran straight forward into a spring, where he wall jumped his way up to the top path. He couldn't avoid showing a smirk, though, as he started to hear Chip's panting.

"Finally caught up, huh? Took ya long enough," he chuckled.

"Hugh... don't do that again!" Chip whined, breathing heavily. Sonic looked ahead, then shrugged slightly.

"Sorry buddy – gotta leave you again."

Chip didn't have time to say anything as Sonic homing attacked onto a robot, then boosted himself through three red rings, which of course ended in another rainbow ring. He spiraled down to a wooden dock-like path and ran down it – which surprisingly didn't end in a spring, but instead a mini cannon. Sonic boosted into it, then pointed the cannon upward and blasted himself out into a trail of red rings. He landed on the rooftops of some people's houses, and jumped onto the next one and the next one until he boosted himself onto the side of a clock tower, which was starting to 'dong' at a rather strange time.

'Huh. Guess they never did fix it,' he thought to himself as he ran up the tower. He couldn't help but laugh as he jumped onto the spring, which bounced him onto a rail. He grinded down it in a spiraling decension, then bounced onto another tower, which he ended with a zipline. Landing on another rooftop, he zipped down another line and continued onto a stone bridge, where he once again heard Chip calling out to him.

"Hey!" Sonic smirked. Chip caught up to him and frowned. "That wasn't funny!" His random comment made Sonic laugh. But he soon noticed Chip's whimpering as he suddenly clutched onto his back and pointed upwards. He looked up, and found a large robot, similar to the one in Apotos, only this one was an olive-green color, and was different in design. The sight only made Sonic laugh even more.

"Seriously Chip?" he questioned between laughs. "You already know I'm gonna take it down. Hold on tight." The robot turned around, and blasted a rather large laser to the left of him. Sonic stayed in the middle of the bridge, and jumped every time the robot suddenly let loose a rocket. The robot blasted another laser, which Sonic just barely avoided by quickstepping. More missiles came, this time, two at a time, but Sonic just simply jumped over them and boosted his way to the end of the area. Once he reached it, he skidded to a stop, and in turn sent Chip flying off his back with a yelp. He fell to the ground, and was greeted by Sonic's rather... cheerful laughter.

"Haha!! That was great!" he said between laughs, all the while walking over to the dog. "I left you in the dust so many times! That was friken hilarious!!"

Chip frowned, while picking up the tablet fragment. "Hey! I caught up to you, didn't I? Three times!!" he argued, holding the fragment up. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, true – I'll give you props for that. You actually did pretty well." Chip smiled, but soon frowned.

"Well, actually... um..." he started, but never truly finished.

"What?"

"I don't wanna say it..." Sonic rose an eyebrow. His glare snapped the thought into Chip's head, and he soon found himself saying it anyways. "Well.... you seemed kind of... slower... than you usually are..."

Sonic's eyes widened. "...What?" he questioned in a forced tone.

"I didn't wanna say anything, but... you just seemed slower than usual," Chip explained. "...Maybe you're just tired?"

Sonic frowned at the idea, but then considered it. He did feel a bit sluggish throughout the run – a little bit, anyways. He scoffed. "Let's just go." Chip nodded, then got up off the ground and followed him to the exit.


As soon as they left the shrine, the two made a quick stop over at Pickle's lab and got their new destination. The professor told them that, again, they had to go to the shrine here and defeat the guardian, and restore the planet piece. Though, shortly after, he questioned the two if they were alright or not, and commented on how worn out and beat up they looked. Sonic just shrugged and answered for both of them, telling the man they were fine. Then they left, and went straight to Otto, whom the professor said was the person to go to when they needed to piece the tablet fragments together. After wards, they ventured back into the shrine and put the newly formed planet tablet into the star door, opening it. The two rushed through without saying another word.


The two dashed down the path, which looked a lot like the bridge in the stage they were just in, and proceeded forward, waiting for any signs of an Eggman machine. Just then, a huge devil-ray looking machine bounced right at the side of them, making Chip jump. Sonic glanced at it, and surprisingly didn't spot Eggman in it, but rather three small robots and the doctor's orb robot. Though a little bummed out that he was facing the doctor's robots instead of the doctor himself, Sonic smirked and watched as the Devil-Ray passed him by, smashing a few pots on the way.

"How long do you think it'll take me to finish this guy off?" Sonic questioned, turning to Chip while racing towards the machine.

"Uhh... normally, I'd say maybe a couple minutes, but..." Chip never really got to finish his sentence before Sonic just scoffed.

"You know what? I am not slowing down, ok? And I'll prove it to you!" Sonic gave a small smirk as he sped up. "Bye!" He boosted closer to the Devil-Ray, and crashed into it, leaving Chip in the dust. Though, Sonic didn't actually damage the machine – a pixelated shield suddenly flashed around the Devil-Ray, but quickly disappeared. Suddenly, the blasters on its sides shot out at least six lasers, blocking any way for the hedgehog to maneuver left or right. Though, he didn't really pay attention to those as he blasted himself right into the machine again, this time actually starting to make some progress as it bounced back a few times.

"Proceeding combat mode: level 2," he heard the orb robot announce. The shield suddenly regenerated, and the machine's blasters hovered over to the side of him. All six lasers blasted out, and rotated around him. Though, Sonic jumped and slid under the lasers to avoid them, and when he got close enough, he homing attacked into the Devil-Ray, making the shield disappear again. He jumped over the oncoming laser, then homing attacked it again, this time sending it back.

"Proceeding to combat mode: level 3. Commencing all full out attacks now," the orb robot stated. Sonic smirked, as he realized it was going to be a rather short fight. He boosted forward and caught up to the bouncing machine. The Devil-Ray got up straight, and did just as the orb robot said it would – pull out all attacks. The arms of the machine centered, and soon after blasted their lasers, making Sonic have to quickstep to the right to avoid it. When the lasers ended, Sonic boosted and crashed into the machine, destroying the shield for the third and final time. As he bounced back, Sonic didn't give it a chance to rejuvenate its lasers as he boosted into it one last time, this time, putting the Devil-Ray out of commission.

"Ahh! I knew this would happen!" He could hear the orb robot call out. Sonic smirked as he passed it by.

"Heh, not a bad toy – but playtime's over, pal!" he shouted out as he passed it. He skidded to a stop once he caught sight of the Temple of Gaia just ahead, once again hearing Chip's tired pants as he approached him. "What did you say I was? Slower?"

"Hugh.. ok, ok! Fine, you're not going slower!" he choked out as he flew to the ground and grabbed onto Sonic's leg. "Don't leave me like that again! It's hard to catch up to you!"

Sonic picked the fairy up and placed him on top of his head, as he knew he was too worn out to continue on his own. "Well, there's no guarantee for that, buddy." He hopped down to the Temple and entered it. Though he had actually expected it, it wasn't necessarily any different from the last two Temples they had gone to. When he reached the column in the middle, Chip hopped off his head and rose the inner alter for him, which made Sonic start to question. "Hmm..." Chip turned back to him.

"What?"

"Oh nothing..." Sonic pulled out one of the dead Chaos Emeralds and placed it in the hole. After a few seconds, the Emerald glowed its original color – dark blue – and rose off the platform. It emitted a white ring of light, and suddenly the ground started to shake. Both Sonic and Chip held onto the column for support until the shaking died down. The two high-fived each other, then walked out, feeling rather accomplished by having put two pieces of the planet back together in a row.


Chip couldn't help but have a slight grin on his face the entire way back to Pickle's lab. He fluttered right next to Sonic, a small skip in his step despite having been left behind by him so many times that day. Though he'd never actually admit it, Sonic was right – the run had helped him take his mind off things, and was rather entertaining as well. The two conversed the whole way back about random things, but eventually got onto the topic of how tired they were. Chip immediately noticed the hedgehog's bloodshot eyes and the big dark circles undershadowing them. Sonic's eyelids slightly drooped, and he found himself zoning out every now and then on their conversation. Chip knew it was the only reason he was moderately able to keep up with him. If he had been fully rested, there was no way he could've stayed by his side.

His small trail of thought led him to fall behind, and he quickly caught back up. Chip found the hedgehog on his knees and in the middle of a transformation, then looked up to see no sun shining in the sky. "Guess the fun had to end sometime, right?" he heard Sonic mumble. He turned back to him and nodded silently. The two walked into the laboratory and were greeted by the Professor and Tails waving at them. Sonic gave a silent wave back, but continued down the hallway. Chip was slightly confused, but followed anyway. The two entered the bathroom, and Sonic immediately walked over to the bathtub and started to fill it up with warm water. Chip scratched his head.

"What're you doing that for?" he questioned, flying up to him. Sonic grabbed a bottle of soap and began to pour it in.

"Cleaning you – everyone looks at you like you just got mauled by a wild animal," he answered, pointing to the tub. "Get in."

Chip took a small moment to think about what Sonic was referring to, and realized he was right. He remembered the strange and concerned looks they had all given him. Quietly, he did as he was told and stepped into the water, which felt quite good against his rugged fur. He slipped himself in completely, and pushed the endless bubbles that were engulfing him away. Sonic stopped the water and drained a little so Chip could stand with the water just reaching his chest. He pulled him towards the center of the tub and grabbed a sponge. He soaked the sponge in the water and pressed it against Chip's dry blood covered chest.  Moving it around he held the fairy in place with his free hand as he slowly chipped off the blood with the sponge. Afterwards, Sonic wordlessly signaled the fairy to keep his mouth closed as he wiped the blood that had gotten onto his chin and lips. After doing this for a few minutes, he scrubbed other parts of the fairy's face that had dried blood. Almost minutes later, Chip's face was completely covered in soap bubbles that he tried to keep away from his eyes, nose and mouth. Sonic lied his hand on the top of Chip's head lightly.

"Hold your breath," he commanded. Chip did as he was told, and took a deep breath. Sonic lightly pushed down on his head, enough pressure applied to make the fairy's head go under the warm water. Though, after entering it, a strange but familiar sense of fear suddenly entered him, and he suddenly was reminded of that horrid dream. Small flashbacks of nearly being drowned entered his mind, and he soon found himself letting go all the air he had just gotten in fear. He rose his hands onto Sonic's, and pulled it off, which surprising didn't take much force (as Sonic wasn't necessarily pushing down on him that hard), then leaped out of the water with a large gasp for air. He jumped onto the corner of the bathtub, shaking wildly and breathing heavily.

"Don't do that!" Chip shouted, huffing between words. He pushed his now wet hair out of his face and soon noticed most of the soap bubbles were gone. Sonic just stared with a confused look.

"Do what?" he replied.

"Push me under like that!" Sonic thought for a second, then looked back at Chip.

"What, didja think I was gonna drown you or something?" he questioned. Chip didn't answer. "Chip we both know that's the last thing I would do to you. Now come back down." Chip shook his head, but still stayed silent and rather frightened. Sonic sighed. "Come on, Chip." Still no actual reply. "I won't push you under again," Sonic tried to reason with him. But his reply was still the same – silence. He placed his hand on the side of the tub and slowly pulled himself up.

"Don't make me have to pull you in," he threatened. An unnoticeable smirk appeared on the fairy's face, though Sonic didn't pay attention. He leaned over the tub, his upper body looming over the bubble filled water. He reached his hand out, for a second forgetting the fact that his arms could stretch. "I'm serious, I'll-- woah!!"

Leaning a little too far, Sonic lost his balance just as he reached out to grab Chip, who jumped to avoid him at the last second, and he suddenly toppled into the water head first, enveloping himself in the warmth of it. Because he was in such an awkward position, he had a little trouble getting up, but he managed to surface just fine. He spit the soapy water out of his mouth, then turned and glared daggers at Chip, who didn't seemed to be concerned at all. He was just doubled over... laughing. Sonic growled.

"You did that on purpose... didn't you?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. His annoyed expression snapped Chip out of his laughing fit, slowly but surely. He giggled once more before speaking.

"Hmm... Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," he answered with a smirk. In truth, it was just an accident, but Chip found the idea rather funny. Sonic continued to glare, but his frown turned into a small grin.

"Yeah? Well, if I'm going in, you're coming in with me!" Sonic outstretched his arm with such speed that Chip didn't have time to fly away. He grabbed his small foot and yanked him back into the water, making a splash. Chip surfaced, coughing and sputtering the horrible tasting water out, but still continued to laugh. Sonic quietly rose an eyebrow, then started to join him in chuckling lightly. About a minute later, the two stopped laughing, and Chip finally let Sonic finish cleaning him on two conditions – that Sonic promised not to ever push him under the water again, and if Chip could wash him after he was done. Sonic admittedly was a little skeptical about the idea, as he thought he didn't really need it, until he saw the dried blood and dirt coating his fur. He reluctantly agreed, and continued his work on the fairy. When he finished washing all the blood off of him, he started washing out Chip's greasy hair. Sonic occasionally messed with it, spiking it up into a punkrocker's mohawk, then flattening it down and putting it into other crazy styles, which made the both of them laugh. Though, when Sonic stopped messing with his hair and reached down to clean off his necklace, Chip swatted his large hand away, telling him that he could wash it himself. Sonic rose an eyebrow at his over protection of the jewel.

"Chip, you gotta stop this obsession of yours – it's gonna be your downfall someday," he stated which rubbing his eye. He watched the fairy snap the string off of his neck, and noticed that the ends were beginning to wear out. "Not everybody wants to take it from you." Chip didn't really listen to him as he wiped off the trails of blood that had gotten onto his necklace, then tied it back around his neck. He looked up to him, and a small smile appeared on his face. Sonic sighed as he realized what was next.

"My turn," Chip announced, then climbed up onto his back, sponge in hand. He started scrubbing his rather bloody backside, scraping all of it off. Once he was done, he dipped down, wiped the sponge off in the water, and scrubbed the blood and dirt off his sides, which had multiple small cuts on them. He felt Sonic tense up every time he wiped the sponge over one of the wounds, and whispered 'sorry' to him every time he did. As he did so, he tried to recall when and where Sonic had gotten all of those wounds, and came up with a lot more memories than expected. His first thought after seeing him so bloody was that the blood had come from him, himself, but then he realized how much more Sonic had been beaten down that he recalled. After unconsciously wiping his chest with the sponge, he moved to his arms – probably the dirtiest parts of Sonic's body. They were covered with blood and dirt, and his fur had become rugged from all the fighting he had put them through. He started on his left arm and scrubbed off all the blood and soot, occasionally scraping over a small cut which made Sonic wince. His hands were quite red too – his knuckles were slightly bloody from fighting so much, and his palms and fingertips were both stained red. Chip silently scrubbed both of his hands until they were back to their original pale blue color. Then he moved onto Sonic's other arm, which was much bloodier. He started from his furry wrist, then moved his way up his arm. Occasionally he'd accidentally scrub over a small wound, which would earn a tiny wince from the werehog. Though, Sonic practically jumped right out of the water when Chip just lightly scraped over his large cut he got last night.

"GYAAAH!!" he yelped while jumping up slightly in pain. He accidentally threw Chip back in the water as he clutched his sore arm, and held onto the side of the tub for support. Short, agony-filled gasps were the only thing audible as an awkward silence between the two filled the air.

"...I... I'm so sorry, Sonic," Chip apologized, clasping his hands in front of his mouth in shock. Sonic didn't reply immediately, nor did he make eye contact with him.

"... It's ok... I'm fine..." he stated in a strained voice, heavy breaths in between. Chip climbed back up onto him and looked at the large wound.

"Where did you get that?" he questioned. He knew it was a recently obtained cut, and he had noticed it throughout the day, but he didn't particularly know where it had come from.

"Last night... when the bridge collapsed... a piece of bamboo went through it," Sonic answered, still clutching onto it. Chip sighed, then put a hand to his chest, remembering last night – remembering that sharp pain he felt after he fell off of Sonic's back when the bridge had collapsed.

"I'm sorry..."

Sonic looked at the fairy, then rose an eyebrow. "What're you apologizing for? Not like you could've done anything to prevent it."

"Yeah, but if you weren't in such a hurry, maybe you could've seen it before it happened..." The two stayed silent, considering the thought. Finally, Chip held up the sponge to Sonic. "Maybe you should do this... You know what you're doing."

Sonic shook his head, and pushed the sponge back. "No – you're already this far, so you might as well finish the job."

"Yeah, but--"

"It's ok – just stay away from that cut, and I'll be fine."

Chip sighed, then reluctantly continued on. He cleaned the parts he hadn't gotten to yet with much more caution than before, and avoided the large cut at all costs. A few minutes later, he finished, though it seemed like an eternity with the time he was taking. The two got out, and Sonic drained the now dirty water. He grabbed a towel for both himself and Chip, then proceeded to dry himself off. Though, impatience got the best of him, and he dried himself off a little too fast, as he fur poofed up, like in cartoons, a couple seconds after he finished. The event admittedly made Chip laugh at him, which brought a small, rather unnoticeable grin to Sonic's face as he tried to brush his fur back down, yawning in between. Once he accomplished that, the two walked out of the bathroom, Chip occasionally apologizing for things Sonic didn't necessarily believe were his fault to begin with. Though, he found himself zoning out again and stumbling a bit, his head reducing the fairy's voice to nothing but an echo ringing in his ears. Sonic staggered into the wall unintentionally, but managed to keep his balance. He could see Chip's worried eyes staring into his as he questioned something he couldn't make out. Taking a guess, he replied.

"I-I'm fine... Let's go."

Sonic let Chip go in before him so he could follow. The two walked back into the lab, where the professor, Tails, and Amy sat patiently, and wove to them when they walked in. Amy got up and gave Sonic a quick hug, though he wasn't fully  aware of that until he felt her let go of him and went back to her seat. The professor began informing the two of where they needed to go next - none of which Sonic could understand, and he hoped desperately that Chip was listening to it for him. His hand reached out for the nearest wall to catch himself as he stumbled again, this time nearly falling over. Everyone must've noticed, as the professor stopped his explanation and spoke with a concerned tone. He opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn't form any words. His sight was blacking out, and he was beginning to lose consciousness. He lost all feeling, but he realized that he collapsed onto the floor. Everything blacked out, and all Sonic could make out were worried shouts of what he presumed were his name right before he lost all consciousness.

Chip examined the fallen werehog with both shock and worry. "Sonic??" he called out for about the third time in a row. But still no reply. He shook Sonic's arm lightly, trying to wake him up, but he still wasn't moving. Tails and Amy joined him in worrying, until the professor bent down and turned Sonic around so that he was laying on his back. He put his ear to his chest, hearing for a heartbeat, which he let a small sigh of relief escape him when he got one. He took a look at his pupils, which were dilated, then turned back to the three.

"He's quite alright," Pickle stated, earning comforted sighs from each of them. "He's just... asleep." He spoke those words like he had been expecting it for quite a long time. Chip put his hands to his mouth in fear. He knew something like this would happen eventually, as Sonic had been mentioning his fatigue for quite some time, then started to feel guilty. The fairy had occasionally fallen asleep when he shouldn't have, and was always a lot less tired than he was.

"Will you three help me bring him to the bedroom?" the professor questioned, snapping Chip from his thoughts. The three nodded and did as they were told, picking Sonic up and carrying him to the bedroom. They lied him onto one of the two beds and reluctantly walked out one by one, but Chip stayed behind. He noticed the professor look back at him with concern as he was exiting, but then nodded and turned the light off, closing the door as he left. Chip sighed, then looked back at Sonic. Rubbing his eyes and yawning slightly, he curled up against him and pulled his arm around him as a blanket. He stayed silent and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, but then finally closed his eyes and fell asleep in an attempt to push all the problems and worries from his mind.