Tales from the Phantom

Kitten' around

   "Hey Tails, did you hear that?" Sonic flexed his ears a bit, and there was that sound again. Sounded like someone was in trouble.
"No, Sonic... wait, where are you going?" Tails followed the blue to the side of a busy road, when to his complete horror, Sonic ran out onto it, dodging the cars, until he came across something small and furry.
Picking it carefully up, he ran over back over to the worried out of his skin kit, Sonic just narrowly missing one of the speeding cars.
"Sonic! Why did you do that?" Tails shouted, Sonic showing him the small and terrified creature in his arms.
"Oh... a kitten?"
Sonic nodded, beginning to walk off, "I think that it's hurt. I'm going to take it to the vets, maybe it was a microchip as well."

Arriving at said place, the two walked in, the kitten sleeping peacefully. A woman at the desk looked down at the two and smiled, "You here to get your dog a check-up?" She nodded at Tails.
"What..?" Tails deadpanned. "She thinks I'm a pet?"
Laughing, Sonic shook his head, "No ma'am. That's my friend! This here is who we've come for," he motioned to the black kitten, and the lady's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, oh! Of course! Let me just..." she then pressed a button on the desk, and spoke into it. She was mumbling quite a bit, so neither Sonic nor Tails heard what she was saying.
"If you two could just take a seat, someone will be with you in a few minutes."
The vet itself wasn't all too big, with a small waiting room and two rooms, generally it was appointment only, unless it was an emergency. That was probably why an old man with his Great Dane was staring intensely at them. Sonic hugged the kitten closer, scared that the massive dog easily bigger than him would lunge at the baby cat.
It also smelt, half like animal fur, the other of chemicals. The smell burnt at Tails' sensitive nose.

Eventually, someone came out, walking over to the friends, "Are you the ones with the kitten?"
Both nodded, and the vet motioned, "follow me," he then lead them into a room, gently taking the kitten.

After about ten minutes, he finished the examination. "Well, everything seems fine. She's about 8 months, so she's fully weaned. But there's no microchip. She's a stray. Unfortunately, we can't just keep her here,"
"We'll take her," Sonic quickly said, nodding to Tails. The vet gave them the kitten back, and after saying thank you, left. "We'll find a home for her," he explained to Tails, "Until then, we'll just keep her with us. I don't think the Chao will mind."

The Chao most certainly did mind. They hissed before running up the stairs and into Sonic's room.
The kitten itself sat there, feeling very confused.

"Do you think she's hungry?" Tails looked up at Sonic.
"Maybe," he nodded, "What do cats eat?"

"Hedgehogs," Tails joked, watching as Sonic's eyes grew wide.
"I'm joking, I'm joking. They don't! Or at least, I don't think they do..."

"Whatever," Sonic shrugged, getting up off the floor, and walking to the fridge, where he spied a bowl of leftover chili.
"Can cats eat chili?"
"I don't think so. There's a tin of tuna in the cupboard I think."
"Good. Because that chili is mine."  Sonic finished in a salty tone, opening the tin, grimacing at the fishy smell, before emptying it into a bowl and presenting it to the small cat.

She must have been famished because the bowl was emptied in a few meme moments. The cat then meowed intensely, the two friends looking at each other confused.
"What does she want?"
"I don't know. Do I look like I speak cat?"
Sonic thought long about that one, "Yes,"
Tails slapped his forehead.
"I know! Why don't we get Blaze to come over here? She's a cat, she's a cat, they can communicate!"

Sometimes, Tails could not believe the things that Sonic comes out with. "I don't think it works like that."
But that did give Tails an idea. "But Shadow might be an idea. He's always said that he likes cats."
Tails didn't hesitate to pick up the phone, leaving the room to talk, leaving the kitten and Sonic alone.
"Hey there little buddy!" The kitten looked at her in the eyes, purring, and Sonic reached out a hand to pet her.
The kitten then hissed, swiping at the hand, Sonic pulling it away just in time.

Tails returned to the room, "Shadow's coming over. He said that he'll take a loo... what is with your face?"

"You know what Tails? This kitten has an attitude, I'm sure Shadow will get on just fine."
"What are you talking about, she's super friendly." Tails picked him up and cuddled her, and the kitten seemed to smirk at the blue.
"I think he's bored," Tails started to look around for something for her to play with, but the kitten already had her eyes on something.
Something bright, red, and glowing dully.
Sonic's Ruby shard.

"Hey, Sonic..."
"No."
"Please. We'll have your favorite food tonight,"
Sonic sighed. He couldn't resist an offer like that. "Fine," He then handed it over, the kitten pleased with her 'toy'

Shadow didn't even knock, he just simply walked in. "Sonic, Tails," he nodded, "where's the kitt... oh my chaos she's adorable!"

The kitten looked up, locking eyes with the hedgehog as he walked over.
Rouge then walked in. "Hello there, long time no see," she greeted in her normal sassy tone.

The kitten meowed happily, purring as Shadow pet her, abandoning the Ruby, Tails handing it back to Sonic.
"Oh, so now we're friendly?" Again, Sonic reached out to stroke the kitten, but yet again, the cat swiped it.
"Ow! Come on, dude! I was the one that rescued you!" Sonic protested, but the kitten continued to glare daggers at him.

Shadow laughed, a proper laugh, it was the first time any of the three had heard it and was quite taken back, "I'm going to call her Maria." Shadow decided.
The name didn't really surprise anyone.
Shadow then got up from the floor, picking the kitten up, "I'm taking her home," he announced, walking towards the door, "Come on Rouge. We gotta go to the pet store on the way."
"Yeah, I best, uh, go with him. See you later," Rouge followed Shadow out of the house.

"Well, that's that sorted," Sonic turned to Tails, "So what do we do now?"
A call over Tails' communicator saying that Eggman was attacking again.
"Well, that answers the question," the two of them set off, ready to stop the evil scientist from building his evil theme park.