“So, buddy, you built a spaceship…in our basement?”

Well, it wasn’t exactly our basement, since we had to go through what was probably about a half-mile of tunnel to get there, but it had at least started in there, after Tails had shown us a, very well-concealed, entrance in one of the walls.

I was impressed. This basically confirmed a number of suspicions I had long had about my science-obsessed friend (I mean I just knew my little buddy had to have a secret laboratory somewhere…though the spaceship docked in it was a bit more than I had actually expected to see). Of course, I couldn’t really let on just how cool I thought this was right now, given the reaction of a certain someone else.

“Yes, Tails, and while you explain that to Sonic, I’d also like to know exactly when it was that you built this spaceship?”

My friend Amy was giving Tails a distinctly unamused look right now, clearly calculating just how much sleep (and other important aspects of self-care) he had probably neglected to build this thing, apparently (quite literally) under our noses.

“Nice one, kid. Like the color.”

Rouge, however, was significantly less disapproving, as was Knuckles, who along with Rouge was looking at my buddy’s spaceship with clear admiration. Again, I have to admit (though not to Amy) it was really cool. The secret laboratory ‘basement’ itself was pretty cool too, and impressive in its size, since, you know, it could actually fit a spaceship…though I definitely had no idea how (or when) he’d managed to build any of this.

But as far as the spaceship itself, I could see that my buddy had themed it a bit off the Tornado, as some of the design and accents were clearly the same, though the color leaned more towards a pinkish red (or ‘rouge’) than his plane. I could only suspect that this was an intentional (or maybe subconscious) attempt to make Amy less inclined to react poorly if she ever were to discover that he had built it…which didn’t really seem to be working out for him like he’d probably hoped (well, probably hoped just under her never actually finding out about it).

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Seeing Tails looking more and more uncomfortable and Amy about to dive into another one of her ‘lectures’ about my buddy’s need for better self-care, I decided to cut in. As much as we’d probably need to have a talk about this later…there were unfortunately more important things we had to take care of right now.

“...Ah, Ames, there’s definitely some things we’re going to have to talk about later…but kind of need to deal with something else right now.”

I tried not to quail a bit when she suddenly directed her baleful gaze at me before her expression softened.

“...Yeah, I guess you’re probably right, Sonic.”

I breathed an internal sigh of relief at having avoided her wrath…for now. But, really, she is a very sweet girl.

Her face did harden for a moment though as she looked back at Tails.

“...But we will be discussing this later, Tails!”

My buddy, showing that he actually was a smart dude, just nodded fiercely. Man, I did not envy him that later ‘discussion’ (though, as his guardian, and the one…possibly…Amy might regard as ultimately responsible for this ‘lapse’ in his behavior…I probably wasn’t getting out of being involved in it myself).

“So, Tails, this can actually get us to the station?” I went on to ask him.

“Definitely!! After all the nights I stayed up working on it, I’m sure it could even take us out of the solar system if we needed it to!!”

Tails looked back at me bright with excitement and enthusiasm…then took a look at Amy and decided that he probably shouldn’t have said that last part….Yeah, buddy, that ‘discussion’ was nooot going to be fun.

“Uhm, I mean…yeah, it should work just fine.”

Nice try, buddy, but judging from Amy’s expression there was no saving you now….Well, we better focus on the things we could, hopefully, actually save.

“That’s great to hear. So, I guess we better get going then….We don’t have any more time to waste.”

I gave everyone a serious but also hopeful look, and, with that, we all began to file into the (really cool) spaceship my buddy had built, though not without Amy giving him one last look promising that even the actual end of the world wouldn’t get him out of the lecture coming his way. I feel for you, buddy; I really do.