Doppelgangers
Things are getting weird.
Or, rather, I should say "weirder." Because things have always been weird in some form or another. They've been weird from the moment I jumped into a giant golden hula hoop and found myself in a dimension with giant fish, giant birds, and one really big floating maze that constantly rotated. That's to say nothing about magical rocks, robot duplicates, floating islands, egg-shaped battle stations, water demons, more space stations, fairies, magic lamps, magic swords, energy aliens, and everything else under the sun. And moon. Because I know what can happen to you when the sun goes down. It ain't pretty, let me tell ya.
So yeah, things have always been weird. Stuck in limbo with white space and fragmented pieces of reality? Yeah, okay, groovy – isn't the first time the world's been carved up after all. But even by the standards of this place, things are getting so weird, I'm feeling inclined to ask my doppelganger about it.
"Hey," I say. "Other Sonic."
He turns round and looks at me. I can see on his face that he doesn't like being called "other Sonic." Still, exactly what he wants to be called isn't something I'm sure of, because he doesn't speak. Like, yeah – was I a mute way back in the day? Didn't think I was, but how can I be sure of anything anymore?
"Need to ask you something," I say.
He taps his foot impatiently, and I gesture to one of the purple gates. Y'know, the gates that take us to fragments within fragments, and have bells above them that send out physical notes whenever we hit them. Because reasons.
"You been followed at all?" I ask. "Like, when you go into those gates – ever see another you?"
He tilts his head sideways, and I gesture to the area we're standing at. The one with the burning city and demons.
"Like, I keep seeing it out of the corner of my eye," I continue. "Go into one of those gates, and every so often there's another me."
I see something in his eyes – a flash of understanding.
"Like, it's not even following me," I say. "It doesn't even seem to be aware of my existence either. But it's running the same route I am, as if it's racing me, and…" I shake my head. "Am I crazy?"
He nods.
"Gee, thanks."
He makes gestures with his hands – one hand chasing after another, before both hands come back to him.
"It's happening to you too isn't it?" I ask.
He nods.
"Happening, and yet I'm crazy."
He nods.
"Crazy for other reasons?"
He nods.
Jackass. I'd call him that, but he's probably a bit too young for such language – certainly the other Tails is. "Think it's coming from us?" I ask. "Some weird echo of us running through time?"
He shrugs.
"Or…or maybe it's other me's," I say. "Or usses…which probably isn't a word, granted."
He shakes his head.
"Like, if I'm the Sonic of my dimension, and you're the Sonic of your dimension, who's to say there aren't Sonics of other dimensions?" I ask.
His eyes grow wide, as the scale of the realization dawns on him.
"Yeah," I say. "I mean, just think about it. Maybe in one dimension I'm a guy with a magic medallion in a rock band. Maybe in another I live in a forest with a small group of rebels. Maybe there's one where I fight robots in outer space. Maybe there's one where I end up creating Eggman accidentally through evil stored in the Chaos Emeralds. Maybe there's a version of me where I wear a scarf round my neck, and my arms are all different, and…heck, maybe there's a dimension where I'm not even wearing gloves, and look hideous, and-"
The other me jumps up into a ball and bonks me on the head.
"Ow!"
He lands and begins tapping his foot, giving me a disapproving look.
"Thanks," I say. "I was kind of overthinking it wasn't I?"
He nods.
"I mean…" I look at my gloved hands. "I'd always have these, right? Gloves, sneakers...all that?"
He shrugs, but I can tell from the look on his face that he's running out of patience.
"Sorry," I say. "But, like, you've encountered robot doubles right?"
He nods.
"Like Metal Sonic?"
He nods.
"Yeah, well, get used to them, because he's just the start of it. Because if your dimension's like mine, you're going to end up encountering robot doubles with delusions of grandeur, black hedgehogs who are edgelords, and silver hedgehogs who..."
He shakes his hands at me.
"Oh, right. Don't want to know the future and all that?"
He nods.
"Right. Fair enough." I spare the city another look. "It's weird. Every other place is one I've been to, but I don't ever remember going there." I look back at him. "That is weird, isn't it?"
He shrugs.
"Fine. Sure. We need to get that big gate at the end open, so we might as well hop to it. Ghosts or no ghosts."
He smirks and nods. I open my mouth to say something witty, to get the last word, but he nevertheless zooms off.
Darn, I think to myself. Didn't get the last word.
I watch as he starts jumping up on platforms to reach one of the purple portals.
Still, you don't speak, so I guess I got the last word in either way.
I watch him disappear into one and I stretch my arms and legs. Better get back to it as well. I get ready to zoom off…but glance over my shoulder. For any sign of a doppelganger. A ghost.
Nothing but empty whiteness, with a few outposts of colour scattered through it all.
"Just checking," I murmur.
I zoom off.
A/N
Yes, this is admittedly what happens after playing Sonic Generations and reading way too deep into the whole "beat your double to the end of the stage" challenge.