#and everyday a new brainworm came and didnt let me...

[brainworms-all-night-long]

please tell us more about babyfied nine

Ok so the thing is that Nine grew up in a totalitarian metrocity under algorithmic supervision done by giant intimidating hunks of metal that have zero room for negotiation 24/7 instead of a small village who's people were kinda assholes, so he's even more skittish and alert than baby Tails would be

Hes also quiet, like scary quiet like Sonic considered giving him a little jingle bell quiet because he jumpscares people with his sudden presence and dissapearece so much, and also rarely talks. And when he does it's either the most imicitly heart breaking shit imaginable or his cassual sass

I am never going to give him a break so I thinks the sudden change in size of his body and brain development by couple of years and the fact he didnt have his matal tails back then they're kinda awkwardly too big for him and cause some severe nerve issues 👍

Also since this ask took so long to answer because my brain jumped through fifty other things since then, have a little drabble as a compensation :'D

[676 words]

———

He gathered himself from the ground, hand trying to rub off the physical pain of sudden blinding light, and eventually managed to get back to his feet.

The second he felt in control of his senses he whipped around to assess all the damage done by that explosion and immediately noted a worrying lack of one fox in particular.

"Is everyone ok?!" Sonic called out with worry pricking his voice, while still trying to spot anything that vaguely resembled Nine.

"What do you think you rodent. Our magnum opus was blown to smithereens!"

Aaand the hedgehog immediately deadpanned when the starchy voice of Dr.Done It entered his ears he flattened against his head

"...Everyone who didn't try to kill me and I actually care about?"

He got his answers soon enough when the resistance was back at the eggheads' case and he heard a piece of plastic from the Way Back machine clatter to the ground.

"Um, Sonic..?" Tails called out for him but too late as they were both looking in the same direction. And unmistakably, both of them spotted something moving in the rubble near the still smoking remains of the machine.

"Nine?"

At least he hoped it was. There was a possibility that for whatever reason the fox would want to play a smart-ass — since he did try to kill him at one point, and for the love of him doesn't want to accept the fact he's cared about — but even if it's in the past and all that, Sonic needed to go check on him.

Any catastrophic ways in which the fox could've been hurt in a way leaving him physically unable to actually respond running through his head came to a screeching halt once he rounded the corner and stood face to face with a tiny fox kit.

After the millisecond he had to get over just how utterly adorable he was, the hedgehog quickly registered the vwey clear terror displayed on Nine's little face. And he could tell it was Nine if by anything else than the depressing gray attire, a painfully fresh-looking cuts under his eye, and most importantly, the seven mechanical tails laying uselessly around him.

First quickly making sure everyone was too busy with the fight elsewhere, Sonic outstretched his hand to stop Tails in his place when the other it froze like a deer in the headlights and obviously prepared to bolt it out of here. (Through Sonic wasn't sure he could with those metal appendages holding him down. They didn't exactly seem responsive because otherwise he was sure they'd be treatening pointed his way.)

And as taken aback as Tails was, he complied and decided that just discreetly peeking over the metal frame would have to suffice.

"Hey there buddy..."

Sonic tried with a low tone while rising both of his hands in front of him slowly. The last thing he wanted was to apprehend the little guy and scare him even more.

However the way his scared blue eyes jumped all over the place in search of an exit wasn't exactly reassuring against that.

"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you."

The terrified face was replaced by a deep scorn as Nine pulled himself as far away from the hedgehog as possible. The thing stopping him from going further being the dreadful realization he has seven deadweights of metal stapled to his waist.

"Then what do you want."

Ok, Nine didn't only look tiny, he sounded the part too. The usual cold edge in his voice, which pretty much everyone grew accustomed to at this point, was gone and replaced with a tired rasp.

Sonic's features dropped at that and the the adorable-angry face morphed into confusion because of course it would.

Sonic, like an idiot, wondered why this felt so familiar and just why every single one of his moves was so instinctual when the realization he'd done all of this already hit him.

Well, either way he needs the little guy to trust him now, and Tails can figure out the technical side of how this even happened.