Tales from the Phantom

Thunderstorm on Angel Island

Running into the house, Sonic shook the cold water out of his deep blue fur, splashing the walls, that Tails rolled his eyes at "Seriously Sonic. Could you not wait two seconds while I grab the towels?" The fox questioned, and the Hedgehog chuckled a bit. "At least the mud is gone now,"
A clap of thunder and a shot of lightning was heard and seen from outside, scaring Tails, and the scared kid ran into the room and jumped onto the large couch, shrinking into it, hiding his face.
Not surprised, Sonic walked into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and then when in a higher up cupboard and found two towels, and then made his way into the small living space, and handed Tails one of the towels. "Here. Couldn't you wait a few seconds before getting everything wet?" He playfully joked, and Tails smirked, "Very funny." He then took one of the water bottles and took a large sip, the coldness of it satisfying.

"Come on buddy. I think that the best thing to do would be to go to bed." It was dark outside, and the rain was making them both sleepy. "Okay," The two then climbed the staircase, and into their rooms. Sonic in his, and Tails into his.
Pulling the bedsheets away and falling into the warmth of his head, Sonic heard a familiar purring sound and turned his head to see his normal type neutral chao sat in their small bed, the sort that you would get for a cat or a small dog. The chao in question was the same one that adored the movie Chao in Space and the same one that had accidentally injured the hedgehog's nose whilst sleepwalking*
Smiling at them, Sonic then took his Phantom Ruby hanging from his neck off and settled down, and within a few minutes was asleep, snoring gently.

"Hey, wake up!" Someone was shouting outside the small house, throwing some stones frantically at the bedroom window, voice slightly drown out by the thunder. Sonic's eyes opened a bit, blurry from the sleep. Huh? He thought, before looking around. It was still pitch black. Confused, he got out of his bed and walked over to the window, opened it, popped his head out, and saw Knuckles standing at the bottom, with a drained Master Emerald. That's no good He thought to himself as Knuckles explained:
"It was struck by lightning! The whole island fell to the sea! But the waves are too high! We'll be swept away!" Gasping silently, Sonic then ran back to his bed, pulled the Ruby over his head, put his shoes on, and grabbed the sleeping chao from their bed.
Running into Tails' room, he found the cub already awake, quivering from fear. "What's wrong Sonic?" He asked nervously, and Sonic could hear the anxiety in his voice. "Tails, we need to leave. I'll explain on the way, but the island is down," he softly said, and Tails jumped out of bed, pulled on a dressing gown and some slippers, and grabbed the plant from his shelf. "Cosmo, can't leave her behind," he expanded as the two headed downstairs. Nodding, Sonic gasped at the downstairs. It was completely flooded. Tails looked away at the sight of it.
The two then made their way across the swamp of floating furniture, books, and kitchen utensils.
Coming out of the house, they were greeted by a blinding light. A few seconds later, they could make out the figure of a man standing by a boat, clearly waiting for them. "Come here. Quickly, there's a big wave about to hit," he told them both kindly but sternly. Looking at the side of the boat, Sonic realized that these were lifeguards, and had probably been sent to help them get off the island. Nodding, he handed the woman next to him the sleeping chao, shivering from the cold, and she wrapped them up in a towel. "Come on, let's get you out of here," she told them as the man also picked the shaking fox up, and carried him up the ladder, where they found Knuckles waiting for them with the Master Emerald. Next came the lady with the chao, the poor creature shuddering from the cold.
But as Sonic was about to climb aboard, the wave hit, the water reaching over the deck. When it all faded away, the blue was nowhere to be seen.
"Sonic? Sonic!!" Tails screamed, afraid that he was lost to the inky blackness, unable to save himself.
"Nooo!"
The two lifeguards looked at each other, worry increasing.

But before anyone could take action, Sonic's head appeared from the side of the ship. "I'm ok," he informed them, climbing back onto the deck, and Tails slumped to the floor, relieved, his breathing still unsteady. "What? You didn't actually think I was gone, did you?" He laughed, and the fox looked at him seriously in the eye before the hedgehog turned to the lifeguards, "thanks a lot. That would have been a disaster if you hadn't shown up," "Do you have somewhere to go?" The one holding the Chao asked with worry in her voice. Remembering Tails' other house in the outskirts of the city, Sonic nodded, "Yeah. We should be fine." He then turned to Knuckles and nodded at the drained emerald. "It will take about a week for the energy to return to it," the red one explained, and the blue one turned back to the humans and nodded at them, just as they reached the small dock at Station Square, where some police cars, some G.U.N. soldiers, and even an ambulance was waiting for the arrival of the three Sonic heroes.
"Hey," Sonic greeted them in his usual cheerful tone, and he was immediately swarmed by crowds of news reporters, microphones, and LIVE cameras. "Mr Sonic, is Angel Island gone?" "Is your home ruined?" "Will the emerald return to its former glory?"
"No, for now, and yes," the hedgehog answered with, used to the paparazzi, but now wasn't the best time. He desperately looked around for Tails, relieved to see him with some police officers and a medic. Shoving his way through the crowd to get to them was pointless, they were relentless.
Thankfully, there was an officer there to help. "Ok everyone, let's give them some space now!" She informed strictly, and everyone stepped away and eventually scattered. "Thanks," Sonic nodded, and the officer bent down to his level. "Hi, my name is Topaz, and I'm here to help you in any way you need," she informed him, "Well, a towel or something would be nice, I can feel a cold coming on." "I think we can sort that out," the lady smiled, and Sonic continued. "A lift to Tails' house would be nice as well,"
She nodded and led him towards the police car where Tails and Knuckles were sitting, Knuckles holding the chao. "Get in," she informed them kindly, "I'm giving you a lift home. Or, whatever it is you call this one,"
Tails clutched his plant even tighter
Home.

Waving the car off, Sonic turned towards the house door, of which Tails had just opened. They hadn't been here in forever, and it showed. Dust was everywhere, it was dark, and freezing. Tails sneezed from the dust, and Sonic flipped a light switch on. "At least we got furniture here," Sonic remarked, grimacing at the mess. "Yeah but there's only one bed," Tails remarked, and Sonic smiled, "We can sleep on the couches, don't you worry about that,"
He tried to sound positive, but he couldn't help but notice the anxious look on his brother's face as he hugged the plant harder, "ah," the blue nodded, "I understand," he quietly said, remembering the origin of Cosmo, the plant.

It was when he had been captured apparently, Tails' anxiety had been so bad that he wasn't sleeping, eating, or even drinking. Who could blame him, he thought that his brother was dead. To try to resolve this, Silver had brought him a plant to help keep him company and to take his mind off things, and it seemed to work. The plant in question Tails had called Cosmo, and he seemed to always be around it.
You could say that it was his emotional support plant.

Putting an arm around the cub, Tails looked up at his friend, and the look on his face just seemed to make him better, "Hey, what's up? We're safe, ain't we?" Sonic questioned, and Tails let the tears roll down his face. "We almost weren't though," he sobbed, "You was almost washed away, and there would have been nothing that you could have done, and I felt so helpless, and so scared that you would have been gone again... and our home! My workshop, the tornado, gone! If Knuckles didn't wake you, that could have been us!"
"But it wasn't, was it?" Sonic told him, and Tails stopped crying, wiping salty tears away, "No, it wasn't." He then hugged Sonic back slightly, "thanks, bro. I think that I needed that,"
"Anytime," Sonic answered softly.

Meanwhile, Knuckles checked out the fridge, "Bey guys! I hate to interrupt a major character development or something, but we got no food!"

*Chao in Space (2019 YouTube short)