The Incurable Disease

The Endless Fight

Tails blushed, "Sorry, Sonic. I'm not sure what happened. I thought there was a big explosion and I just shut down." Tails took Sonic's hand and held it in his own, clasping his other hand around it to ensure the most out of the limited contact he was allowing himself to have. "I promise, I'm ok now. How about I make it up to you by giving you your anniversary gift?" Tails released one of his hands from Sonic's grasp and dug into his jacket pocket.

"Gift?" Sonic looked at tails as if he had slapped his hand. "I thought you had forgotten about the anniversary?"

Tails giggled, and looked up to him while pulling out the gift and placing it in Sonic's hand, "Did you really?"

Sonic rolled his eyes and took a look at the tiny box that the gift came in, "No, but I didn't expect a gift." He opened the box to see a golden ring, etchings dug into its surface. Attached to the ring was a chain, one with a lot more weight to it than it gave off in appearance. The words on the ring read, "Velox Fortuna adiuvat,"

"And I really didn't expect it to be something this awesome!" Sonic spun the ring around with the chain before clasping it around his neck. "This is amazing. Thanks, Tails. And here I am, giving you a heart attack as my anniversary gift."

Tails chuckled, "It's fine, really. It was weird however, since I knew about the surprise party, and was fully expecting everyone to be here. It was the explosion that I was not prepared for, I suppose. I'm glad you like the gift, though." Tails smiled and started eating his piece of cake.

The party went on, the two talking about this and that and the other thing. By then, Tails had completely calmed down, however his heart was still beating at an irregular pace.

"So how much did this cost you?" Sonic asked, the ring moving along his fingers as he's gotten quite good at fiddling with the new prized possession.

"Sonic. It's never polite to ask about the price of a gift. But that doesn't really matter since I made it." Tails said casually, appreciating the fact that it garnered so much subconscious attention.

"You made it? Where did you get the gold from? And what the heck is this chain made of? It's a lot heavier than I would expect of some small chain." Sonic took it off from around his neck and bounced it up and down in his hand.

"Well, I got the gold from catalyzing the circuit boards of some of Eggman's robots that I collected from our last interaction from him. The chain is this really durable metal alloy that would need to be melted down in order to break. Those also came from Eggman's robots. Now if you know where he gets the resources to make all these robots, I would say black market if it weren't for the sheer abundance of robots he's made so far. I have no ideas after that." Tails began thinking of all the robots that have just been basically thrown away at the expense of the two.

"Tails, I have no idea what catalyzing means," Sonic said bluntly.

"Oh, wel-"

"And before you start, I do not intend on knowing what it means by the end of the day. Just relax for a bit. I feel like you need this more than I do. What all have you been doing in that hangar of yours?" Sonic asked, idly fumbling with the ring again.

"Oh, you know. Just upgrading, preparing, and tuning up all my machines. I think I've got the Tornado's rough landing issue fixed and the mech is fully stocked with a payload that could make Shadow's destructive tendencies look like a child's temper tantrum, which if I'm being honest basically is." Tails laughed, his little giggles bringing a smile to Sonic's face, the slowly descending sun adding a golden sparkling hue to his already yellow-orangish fur.

"That's good to hear that you are staying busy, but have you had any time to hang out with other friends?" Sonic asked, noticing Tails' laughter immediately stopping.

"Eh, not really. But that's only because each time I get time to hang out with someone, I'm either too tired or really want to get to work on the next probl-I mean project. Even when I do go out with someone, it's hard to concentrate since I would have been running on a couple hours of sleep from two nights before. There's just a lot to do to stay ahead of whatever the next calamity will have for us." Tails said, almost embarrassingly.

"Well, how about you come over to my place tonight and sleepover. That way I'll be there to make sure you get enough sleep for the fun stuff we do tomorrow. Sound like a plan?" Sonic gave Tails one of his famous sly smiles that is near impossible to say no to.

"I don't know Sonic. That all sounds nice, but it feels like you're babying me almost. I can get enough sleep when I have the time, plus I have projects back at the hangar that I would rather get done sooner than later." Tails shifted his body to where it leaned away from Sonic.

"I don't know about you having projects that are that important. You said to me earlier that you had just finished one of those projects easily. And I'm not trying to baby you. We both know Amy does a better job at that than I ever could." Sonic chuckled at the fresh memories of Amy chastising tails for looking dead tired at one of their last get togethers.

Tails shivered, "No need to remind me. I suppose I could spend a night over at your place, sure. Thanks, Sonic!" Tails reached over to hug the happy hedgehog, who eagerly reciprocated.

"No problem, buddy. Now let's get a couple more pieces of cake!" Sonic broke off the hug to point towards the half eaten cake that once spelled out happy anniversary.

Tails could only roll his eyes.