What if Eggman Abandoned Metal?

Chapter 9

Guess who's back?

I finally got around to finishing writing this chapter! It is the longest chapter I've written so far. (Not by a lot, but still!)
And tbh, I thought I was going to take even longer, but, last week, I didn't have any tests (Thanks to my amazing class director) and I took full advantage of it. In fact, I wrote most of this chapter during that week!

But, at least, 2nd term is finally almost over! In just a few more weeks, I'll have 2 weeks of vacation! So that's nice :)

But, anyways, hope y'all enjoy this chapter. I'm actually kind of proud of this one :3

(Not proofread)

Tails opened his eyes. He got up and stretched his arms while yawning. He looked at his clock (that he had modified to be an alarm) and saw that it was... 2:00 PM?

'Why didn't my alar- Oh, right'

Tails almost forgot his brother had "made" him go to sleep last night.

In all fairness, it wasn't totally his fault. He was doing a quick check on their tornado after dinner when the motor suddenly stopped working. Well, not so suddenly—the tornado did have its years, so it did make sense.

He was going to start fixing the motor until he remembered that his bedtime was in fifteen minutes. Obviously, Tails wouldn't have been able to fix it in fifteen minutes, but he wanted to. So, he pretended to go to sleep, and once he was sure his big brother was asleep (which was pretty easy since Sonic was somewhat of a loud sleeper), he sneaked out to his workshop. After all, it wasn't like he would take much time... right?

As the hours went by, Tails slowly realized how wrong he was. The motor had a way bigger problem than he thought, and he needed more time to fix it properly. The workshop, which was already a mess and a half, had become even more messy.

4:00 AM hit. Tails started struggling to remain awake. Since moving in with them, Metal had always finished (or attempted to finish) his work. Tails was 99% certain that that was a deliberate move by both of them. That wasn't important right now, though. What was important was getting his energy up. And, since they didn't have coffee, Tails decided to eat some mint candy. Besides being his favorite candy, it also gave him some energy. As the little fox was reaching for the candy, he suddenly heard Sonic coming downstairs. Apparently, the blue blur was going to the bathroom when he heard some noise coming from the kitchen.

He was so busted...

Obviously, his brother immediately asked why Tails was in the kitchen with his mouth full of mint candy. Tails didn't have the energy or the desire to lie, so he told the truth to his older brother.

"...Sorry, Sonic..." Tails finished. Embarrassment prevalent in his tone. Sonic wasn't even mad at him. He just looked concerned and disappointed. Tails felt increasingly guilty. He had no idea Sonic would get so worked up about him staying up late in secret.

Sonic crouched down, so he could get to the same size as Tails.

"Bud, you don't have to apologize", he sighed. "Just... promise you'll prioritize sleep from now on, alright? I know you had good intentions, but sleep is more important than the tornado."