(Third Person POV)
After a nice day of lunch, the family begins to walk back to the apartment. Brooklyn isn't all that bad, but the blue blur does miss Green Hills a lot. As Sonic looks at his phone and sees photos from JoJo, he looks back on Rachel. Was he too hard on her? He is gentle, but scary when he gets mad. He doesn't know where he gets all this rage from because he's never really been angry at anyone except Eggman. Was it from a repressed memory? Who knows.
As the family get closer to the apartment, Sonic notices something... no, an animal flying out of the penthouse next to their apartment!! Next thing he saw was Mario and Luigi holding onto the poor dog with a plunger. He was pretty sure that was the neighbor's dog Francis. Last week that retriever got aggressive and pounced onto Sonic for no reason at all. But this... why did that dog jump out of a window. Dogs don't feel suicidal! As Mario and Luigi pulled the dog back in, Sonic became concerned about what happened up there.
"Did you see that?!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Yeah, son I saw it." Tom said.
"Did they just save a dog from suicide?" Tails asked.
"It looks that way." Said Knuckles.
"Something tells me that a different story went on up there..." Maddie said.
Sonic sprints towards their apartment, but before their family could cross, a red light flashed up. He sees the Mario bros walking out of the other building. Together they made their way out. Their first assignment, and right away such a disaster happened. He sighed deeply.
"Mario?"
The plumbers lifted their heads to find Sonic with a concerned look and his green hoodie.
"Kid."
"Are you okay? What happened? I saw that dog fly out the window. Were you and Luigi trying to save it from suicide?" Sonic asked.
"No. Lu, broke the dog's bone on accident. The dog pretty much overreacted about it and attacked us, screwing up the bathroom in the process." Mario said.
Sonic was starting to feel less worried about what happened in there. Honestly, how can that dog just attack them over a broken bone? It can just get a new one.
"Oh... I'm sorry. Maybe the next one won't have any aggressive animals." Sonic replied, trying to keep Mario's hopes up.
"I'm sorry," Luigi said in a trembling voice. "This only happened because of me."
Mario looked up along with Sonic. There was his brother beside him, shoulders hunched up to his ears and clutching the toolbox strap with both hands. Was there something wet glinting in the corner of his eye?
"I stepped on that stupid bone, that's the only reason Francis got so mad at us."
Mario shook his head. "Don't say that. The first step is always the hardest. The important thing is that we don't let it get us down!"
"What your bro said, Luigi."
Luigi straightened his back and raised his chin. "Right!"
As the three friends begin to leave, Francis the dog opens up the front door with his snout. Seems like the owners were distracted by arguing. Mario, Luigi, and Sonic look scared.
"Aaand he's back for round two..." Luigi quivered.
No distractions this time. Francis wasn't gonna let his owners witness his revenge. Sonic wanted to curl up into a ball but his hoodie was in the way of that.
"Hi..." Sonic said nervously.
Suddenly, the dog lunged at them, Luigi and Sonic dodged out of the way but the hellhound tackled Mario. Snapping at the plumber. Tails sees the commotion and tries to get the dog off Mario.
"Stop it! Get off him! Mom! Dad! Help!"
Sonic desperately tries to get Tails out of a perilous situation, but Francis uses his hind legs to kick Sonic away. Unfortunately, the dog drew its attention away from Mario, and aggressively chomps down on the little fox's left arm instead!!!
Poor Tails let out a blood curdling scream and when Sonic gets up, a look of horror struck his face. Tom and Maddie rush to the scene to find their youngest child being bitten. Knuckles tries to intervene, but Tom holds the echidna back. Luigi was terrified, not sure of what to do. Mario tries to get the jaws of the dog off the fox, but it was no use. The screaming caught the attention of random pedestrians and the owners of Francis, shocked to find out their beloved pet is assaulting a child!!
Thinking quickly, Maddie pulled out her pepper spray... only for Sonic to swipe it out of her hands. He used it to spray the hot spice into Francis' eyes and the dog whines in pain, releasing his jaws on Tails left arm. The owners grab their dog while Sonic holds his little brother, terribly worried. The blood won't stop dripping and Sonic pulls out a napkin he took from Punch-Out and wraps it on the wound. It wasn't much, but he knew Tails would need medical attention right away. Mario and Luigi embrace and look at Tails, worried. Knuckles looked enraged, but he did his best to hold it back. However, Tom and Maddie scold the couple.
"Jesus Christ— WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT MONGREL OF YOURS?!?!" Maddie screamed at the Brooklyn Couple.
They begin to realize that Francis was the one that made the mess in the bathroom, not the brothers.
"We didn't know!!!" The woman in glasses said.
"We had no idea Francis would react like that!!" Said the man in the blue coat.
"I swear to god, if you don't get that mutt under control, I'm gonna put it down!" Tom sneered.
The argument kept escalating and Sonic had to do something to save his brother. What will he do?
"Thomas, stop. C'mon, they didn't know." Mario said.
Anger slowing down to a calmer level, Tom took a deep breath, and exhaled.
"Ugh, you're right Mario. Now let's make sure Tails is okay and make sure Sonic doesn't..."
He notices Sonic and Tails are both gone! That was faster than Sonic could sniff out a chili dog! But where could Sonic have possibly gone to?
"...run off again!!!!" Tom exclaimed.
Maddie pulls out the tracker app to find his location and the family goes west and the brothers follow in pursuit. The Brooklyn couple looks confused on what to do.
"Should we follow them?" The man asked.
"We should worry about our own pet first."
Francis barks blindly as he attempts to try and see out of his burnt eyes.
"Francis! Stop it! Bad dog. This is why you keep getting kicked out of the dog park!"
~~~
Running through the streets of downtown Brooklyn, Sonic had that fight or flight response swirling through his head, trying to find a hospital. He heard Tails moan in pain, and he speaks to his little brother.
"Just hang in there..."
Where could the hospital possibly be?! Not here or there! Can Sonic even find the hospital? He felt a splash, and looked down to see he stepped in a puddle in his good red shoes. But wait... this was no puddle... it was water. Sonic looks to his left to find a bit of a situation near the duck cafe. It seemed like a water main pipe exploded in the sewers and authorities are doing everything they can to stop the leakage from getting worse. It was so bad that but of rubble hit a building, injuring a few inside. Sonic sees an ambulance door open and sees that no one is in it. He rushes over to the empty ambulance through the flooded streets, and climbs into the hospital truck.
He placed Tails on a stretcher and then he searched the truck for some hydrogen peroxide and band aids. But where were they?! Tails cries and Sonic finds a clean rag on a counter and applies it to the open wound.
"Put pressure on it! Don't look at it Tails! I promise your big brother is going to patch you up, no matter what!"
Meanwhile outside the ambulance, a female police officer with curly red hair named Officer Syrup informed the other firefighters to rescue the last few pedestrians who were struck by rubble from the blast. A few construction workers go to stop the water from the pipe burst.
"Another day, another incident." Syrup muttered.
A canine police dog starts barking at an ambulance.
"What's wrong, Jezebel?"
Officer Syrup draws her gun and heads toward the ambulance and opens the door to say "freeze! NYP... D..?" Only to find two children. One with an open wound and the other terrified and confused, looking for bandages. A tear falls down the older kid's face.
"I don't get it..."
"What?"
"Where's... I don't know where the first aid kit is in here... I can't... my brother..."
Syrup sees the bite on the little ones arm and speaks into her radio.
"Dispatch! I have a 10-91e in the ambulance! I need a medic ASAP!!!" Syrup said.
She ushered Sonic to calm down but the tears couldn't stop. She asks him what happened.
"Uh, my little brother got bitten by a golden retriever... I... I'm scared..." Sonic cried.
As Syrup finds a first aid kit, she applies hydrogen peroxide to Tail's wound and the kid screamed in pain.
"It's okay. Do you remember the dog's name?"
"It's name was Francis? Look I don't even know this dog's history! I'm just... scared it didn't get a rabies shot..." Sonic said.
As Sonic grabs the bandages, he patches up Tails' wound and hugs his brother, tearfully.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you in time. Forgive me...."
Tails hugs Sonic back.
"It's okay." Said Tails.
Once the Wachowski's showed up, Syrup gets Nurse Mage and she examines the bite.
"It wasn't that deep. I'd take it at least ten to fifteen days for it to fully heal." Said Nurse Mage.
Knuckles and Maddie look worried for Tails as Mario comforts Sonic near the duck cafe. Cops however interrogate the Brooklyn couple as Tom and Luigi were involved.
"Thomas, they said they were sorry. It was just an accident, it's just a dog." Said Officer Syrup.
"Did you see my son's arm?! That mongrel is a damn monster is what it is! It even attacked my wife's friends over a broken toy!" Tom said.
"Mr. Wachowski, can you please calm down?" Said the fancy man in glasses.
"Calm down?! Get your animal under control for gods sake! I want that dog's head cut clean off!!"
"Tom! That's a little intense! It's just an animal." Luigi said.
"Yeah, so that gives the owners the right to let their pet harass someone over the tiniest things?!" Tom yelled.
"Look, I get you're angry and you have every right. But telling them to put down the dog isn't your call. They will inform the couple of what to do." Luigi informed.
He's right, this isn't Green Hills. He takes a deep breath and calms down.
"You're right." Tom said.
"Well what about Francis? What should we do?" Said the woman in the pink coat and fancy glasses.
"I dunno, put him in obedience school? Unless you want him to bite everyone around him." Said Officer Syrup.
Back with Mario and Sonic, the plumber couldn't believe that this was all happening... all because of a dog and a broken toy. However, Sonic felt like he was having a heart attack. His breathing was labored and his palms felt like they were sweating underneath the gloves. He felt it would burst, his heart. He couldn't think anything, only that his chest might get crushed any minute and his heart might burst open. Mario turns around to see Sonic not feeling well.
"Kid...? Are you okay?"
He was trying to breathe but he couldn't. It felt like something was clutching his throat, stopping him from taking full breaths. But there was no one, he was alone. Tears started trickling down his eyes as he realized this might be the end for his brother. If only he had just stopped that dog sooner, none of this would be happening. He tried to think of something nice but all that was going through his head was worry and fear. He felt like he was getting hot, so he takes off his green hoodie to reveal his blue pointy ears flopping down, hand to his chest, and a look of fear on his face. He never felt his heart beat this fast and he wanted it to stop, but worrying about Tails only made things worse.
"Sonic, what's wrong?"
The poor hedgehog felt like his lungs were gonna collapse at any minute. He places his right hand on his head and his left hand was still on his chest. Shaking in fear, he felt like Tails was gonna die because he wasn't paying attention. He sat down, knees against his forehead and it felt like he was drowning, but there was no water around him. Mario gives the kid a hug, knowing what's wrong with the kid.
"It's okay... Tails is gonna be alright... what happened to him wasn't your fault... it's alright... you're gonna be alright..." Mario said, fighting back tears.
Sonic hyperventilates and tears kept falling down his face. Luigi and Tom see what's going on after they finish their chat with the cops.
"What's going on?!" Tom asked.
"I'm not sure! Lu, get Maddie! I think Sonic is having a panic attack!" Mario said.
Luigi goes to get Maddie and Tom hugs his son.
"It's okay, Daddy's here. I'm here."
Sonic grips both Tom and Mario's arms surrounding him and tearfully cries "I don't wanna lose Tails..."
Mario knew he had to be calm for his friend.
"Just take some deep breaths kid. I promise you, your brother is gonna be alright." Mario said.
After some deep breathing, Sonic finally calms down and his heart stops racing. He hugs Tom and Mario.
"Thank you guys." He sobbed.
"Don't mention it." Mario replied.
Tom picks up his son and gets up along with Mario.
"Mario, thanks. Don't worry, we'll be heading back to the apartment now. Let us know how things are going, okay?"
"Okay. See ya later Tom." Said Mario.
"See ya."
Tom, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Maddie all leave the area and walk back to the apartment. He hopes that Sonic will be okay. This day has been bad enough... Mario just hopes that dinner with the family tonight will be a bit better.
~~~
Lena knew that the pipe to escape the Koopa Castle was past the throne room and in the left hall next to the dungeon. She knew she had to be sneaky. Her siblings had to too. Donning their little dark cloths that Crysta stole from the kitchen, they head for the mini green pipe on the ceiling that acts like a vent. Lena grabs her baby brother and holds him in her arms. The wisps and Lumalee float up and go into the pipe. Once they find the exit, they find themselves outside their prison room.
"Okay, let's go." Lena the Lumalee whispered.
"On it." Whispered Ethan the crimson Wisp.
"Right." Crystal the Cyan Wisp whispered.
She was lucky her baby brother was asleep right now. One cry and they would be caught. The whole castle was plunged into darkness, and the Lumalee and her Wisp siblings directly felt a terrible draft everywhere, which bothered them a little, but not too much. When they reached the end of the hall, Lena found a the left hallway that lead to the throne room. As she neared the hall, she began to doubt her plan, fearing what would happen if she was seen. However, she remembered the promise she made to her mother about the secret of the Super Star. Lena took a deep breath and exhaled. Thank the stars no guards near the throne room door.
When they reached the throne room door, she looked behind and smiled, pleased to know that no one was following her and her siblings. Crysta and Ethan go forward but her mission was interrupted by a very disturbing and unpleasant sound. It was a growling sound that resembled wolves devouring their prey. This scared the Lumalee, but not so much that she refused to eavesdrop near the throne room, to hear a terrifying sight.
It sounded like Bowser was chewing on something... no... someone. That must've been the last member of the Hyro-Rebel gang that stumbled here a few weeks ago. Lena swore that thirteen came in, but twelve of them got sacrificed for the king to savor. The crunching of bones and flesh was heard which sent chills down her spine. Lena swore she heard the sacrifice let out a gurgled cry, but she really hoped that was just her imagination. Rubbing her little beady eyes, Lena tries to forget what she heard and she follows her Wisp siblings.
"Lena? What was that?" Crysta asked.
"It was nothing... probably just Bowser chewing at a pillar again." Lena lied.
She didn't want to tell the truth to her little adopted siblings, not at a moment like this. She just hopes this whole thing will go smoothly—
"There they are!" Y-17 shouts.
Oh no! It seems like one of the Badniks noticed they escaped. Lena (carrying her little brother still), Crysta, and Ethan fly as fast as they could and find the small green pipe next to the dungeon doors! The poor Star child heard the many battle cries of the army down the hall and she spent no time to hesitate and she pushes her siblings into the pipe. Clutching her baby brother in her arms, she zooms into the pipe and is immediately sucked into the warp zone! The pink and rainbow-ish clouds reminded her of the observatory where she slept in the nursing nook.
"Wheee!!!! Freedom!!!!" Crysta exclaimed.
"Just stay together you guys! If we can find the Kongs, they can help us find Mama!" Lena said.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Even with a tightened grip, that wasn't enough to keep the baby Luma from slipping out of Lena's arms, especially when the centrifugal force started to pull the two apart. Lena was heading for a dark pipe while Baby Luma, Crysta, and Ethan were heading for the other pipe.
"NOOO!!! CRYSTA!! ETHAN!! TAKE CARE OF MY LITTLE BROTHER!!!"
And with that one plea, the siblings got separated. Once the darkness took over Lena's vision, she was spat out the other end of the pipe... landing in the Darklands.
"Crap."
This place was basically a rotting island and nothing ever grew here. The magma river drained the island of its rightful nutrients and it was hard to find food. She only hopes that she can make it through the night without getting hunted by the Dry Bones.