"what happened?!" tails almost yelled before remembering the echidna cub was still sleeping
"I don't know, I just went up to check on him and I found him like this" sonic said as he swayed side to side, not realizing he was doing it
Only for slight moans to be heard from the cub, signalling that he would be waking up soon
"I'm gonna call the others" tails said quickly, obviously trying to escape the upcoming situation
"tails wait!" sonic tried to call, walking behind his brother
But was stopped by the rough movement on his chest, sonic didn't know what was going to happen so he quickly walked to and placed the baby on the sofa
"tails please, I can't deal with this on my own" sonic cried out, noticing one of knuckles's little fist rise to his eye
"ok, I'm coming, I've just texted vanilla to come by since she has more experience with babies" tails said proudly, re-entering the room
"good thinking" sonic complimented
A small yawn was heard by the two mobians, causing the two to face a half-awake echidna
"s..sonic?" the baby asked, his voice was slightly softer and more high-pitched
Sonic and tails were speechless, but only for a few moments before they soon began laughing their heads of
The noise had wakened the echidna cub completely and instead of sleep his face was now full of confusion and rage
"what's so funny" the little knuckles asked as he began to stand up, but gravity was not on his side as he began to stumble and fall back onto the sofa belly first
His face was covered by his own dreadlocks and caused sonic and tails to laugh harder
But after taking some large breaths, sonic walked over to help the struggling echidna
"knuckles, heh, do you notice anything...different?" sonic asked, stroking away the echidna's hair from his face and placing him back so he could sit up straight
When knuckles had first woken to laughter, he knew something was up, as he looked more closely, he noticed a few other things, everything was much bigger and now he couldn't stand?!
Wanting answers knuckles practically exploded
"why is everything so big! What happened! where's-" knuckles started yelling, waving his gloveless fists around only to be stopped by sonic putting a finger to his lip
"chill buddy, we'll explain everything" sonic replied sheepishly, rubbing his ear feeling like he was going to become deaf
"what happened sonic!" knuckles asked angrily, calming down slightly
Sonic just looked at tails for help, hoping he would be able to explain
Noticing this tail went to sonic's side and gently told knuckles
"you got hit by Eggmans ray and it seems you have de-aged...quite a bit and..um..we don't know if it's either permanent or will change anything else to you" tails explained, but it was only after when he said it that he noticed that he shouldn't have said that last part
Sonic started at tails in discomfort while knuckles stared at the fox in horror
"I'm going to kill him, turn me back! I don't want to be stuck like this!" knuckles screamed
"way to go tails" sonic sighed
"hey, he wanted to know, it's not like I told him we called the others" tails said trying to defend himself, only to make things much worse
"what!" knuckles yelled in astonishment
Sonic gave a deeper sigh while tails tried to look innocent under sonic's blank stare
"knuckles, you need to relax, we are going to find a way to turn you back but until then you need to work with us" sonic tried to negotiate with the echidna cub
Knuckles merely sighed as he responded "fine, but no baby talk" crossing his arms
"you got it" the two mobians agreed, but to knuckles obliviousness they had their fingers crossed behind their back
"so, how do you feel" sonic asked, remembering that he hadn't asked it yet
"not bad, considering that I've just turned into a fricken-" kncukles was about to complain before a knock interrupted them
"that must be vannillia" tails announced heading towards the door
"No! I can't let anyone else see me like, like this!" knuckles protested in fear
"why? You scared" sonic bantered, trying to make things feel a tiny bit more normal
"no! I..uh..I just want to keep my dignity" knuckles stuttered, folding his arms tight around his chest, hiding his growing blush
"I think that was lost when you fell on your stomach" sonic laughed as he poked the echidna's stomach, earning the blur a small growl and two bare hands to swat his own away
Sonic rolled his eyes as he began to try and pick up knuckles by his waist
"What are you doing?" knuckles asked angrily, slapping the hedgehog's hands away
"well, we already established that you can't stand, let alone walk so it's either I pick you up or let you stay on that sofa with no way to move" sonic explained with a grin
Knuckles felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place
"fine, let's get it over with" knuckles sighed
Sonic returned back to what he was doing, grabbing knuckles from under his arms and held the echidna cub to his chest
"you're so tiny" sonic cooed with a laugh
"shut up or I'll punch you in the chin" knuckles threatened
But in his situation, he was in, the threat didn't have much of an impact
"yeah yeah" sonic laughed
"guys, vanilla, Amy and cream are here" the voice of tails called out
"wait, Amy and cream are here to!" knuckles asked in disbelief
But when he heard the high-pitched voice of Amy rose, he knew it was true
"like it wasn't enough for you two to see me like this" knuckles groaned as he headbutted and rested his head on sonic's chest
"come on, it's not that bad" sonic laughed as he tried to convince knuckles to lift his head while walking to their friends, but the little echidna refused, to embarrassed
"hey guys" sonic greeted
"sonic!" Amy squealed as she charged towards her true love, but was brought to a quick halt as she noticed a small red figure in sonic's arms
"is that...actually" amy began to ask with curiosity and awe
"yep" sonic answered, hoping knuckles would take this as a signal to face the world once again, but he was having none of it
"if you're going to be rude, I might have to send you to a day care centre to learn some manners" sonic intimidated
Although sonic didn't mean a word of it, knuckles took it as a proper threat and slowly turned his head back to the world
"h,hi" knuckles whispered in embarrassment
Before he knuckles knew what was happening, Amy suddenly took him from sonic's grip and began to hug/squeeze him nearly to death
"he's so cute!" Amy exclaimed
An anime style sweat drop appeared on sonic's head, chuckling sheepishly at the poor echidna's state, as the little cub struggled to breath
"A,Amy, let, go!" knuckles gasped out
"oh, oops, sorry" Amy apologised as she loosened her grip
"so what exactly happened?" Amy continued as she began to sway knuckles slightly
"I'll tell you" sonic responded