TheGameNguyener, Anmynous, ItzDarkky, IT'S NO USE I'M OUTTA USE, Wild card in the deck, MiraCutesy:

Wow, so many reviews! Thanks so much!

(This took me longer to write than expected because I took a detour and wrote some of Chapter 8 first… *sweatdrops*)

Last chapter, it was really nice to write out the thoughts of the four main hedgehog protagonists. I felt I needed that little bit of break from the action to set the stage for the emotional things to come…


Chapter 7: Turn Tails


"Amy…" Sonic wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't want to do anything to escalate the situation. "Let's just… chill for a minute…"

She bared her teeth as she knocked down objects all around her. "No! You're always chill, why don't you try actually having feelings and caring about something for once, Sonic!" Amy screamed.

"Amy, I… do have feelings, okay? I do."


Alternate Dimension - Original Tails, Original Sonic, Alternate Amy, Alternate Knuckles, Alternate Cream

"Tails?"

Bright, blinding light, more intense than the sun's corona burned Tails' eyes and he forced them closed. Noise overwhelmed his ears until he could hear nothing at all for a few seconds, and then, all of a sudden, wind. A loud motor, and spinning propeller. He tried his eyes again, blinking away moisture.

"Tails, we're gonna crash…!"

Sky, clouds, wind, the ground below him - he was falling! He immediately spun his tails around, but when they painfully bumped against metal, he realized he was seated - in the Tornado. He grabbed the controls by instinct and jerked the plane upwards, his stomach turning in knots. Once he reached a high enough altitude, he leveled the plane out and turned it slightly to the left, trying to figure what he'd been doing in this world.

"Tails, what happened?"

The voice behind him - sounded just like Cream. A warmth flooded his chest and cheeks, and he turned around to smile at the rabbit. She was just as cute in this world as his own…

"Sorry Cream. I'm actually, well… what happened was, um - I, I got switched with the other version of myself. But I'm still me, still Tails. What are we doing out here?" He stuttered over his words, blushing more.

"Oh, I thought it was something like that. Right now we're fighting Dr. Eggman," she said, obviously unphased. "Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles fell into that hole and are trying to find the power source."

"Power source?"

Tails squeezed his brows together. That must be the gem that Amy had pointed out to him earlier today. So over here, no one had it yet, not even Eggman. This was good news.

"Yes, but we don't know what it looks like."

"It's a pink gemstone. Looks like a Chaos Emerald. In my world, Eggman has it. But hopefully that will change soon. Anyway, let's see what we need to do here."

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and focused on the battle below him. It appeared the surface was mostly calm, other than Eggman hovering above the giant crater and sending more and more bots into it. The walls of the cave were extremely deep, and it was so dark that Tails couldn't see anything at the bottom. They must be flying over weak ground and a series of huge caves. In that case, it would take even Sonic a while to find the power source down there.

Enough with the thinking. Tails guided the Tornado near Eggman's army, and fired the plane's weapons at the giant truck the bots were zooming out of.

"You!" The doctor yelled, and a few of the bots turned to fire lasers back at him. Tails had to dodge the plane out of the way, but kept up the assault as he guided the plane out of harm's way. He was able to take down several of the flying and ground forces before he spotted his friends emerging from the caves.

Suddenly Knuckles emerged from the left side of the cavern, his red dreadlocks peeking over the edge as he climbed his way up the side. His fists pounded into the dirt and he pulled himself up. At the same time, Tails noticed a blue and pink blur running up the side of the crater, and Sonic soon appeared, holding Amy in his arms. Well. Tails guided his plane down to pick them up.

"It's over, Egghead! We beat you to it!" Sonic gently set Amy down, and lifted the pink gem in victory.

"Oh, damn you hedgehog!" Eggman raised his fists in anger as he flew off in his Egg Mobile in defeat.

"You're too slow, again!" Sonic taunted. "Beat you later!"

"Sonic!" Tails suddenly jumped out of the plane and ran to embrace his best friend. Sonic froze in shock.

"Uh, Tails?" he asked as the fox hugged him.

He let the hedgehog go and smiled up at him. "Sonic, it's me! The Tails from your world!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, Eggman switched me and the Tails from here. But don't worry, things should work out now. Especially since we now have the power source!"

"Aww yeah, Tails!" Sonic grinned and clasped Tails' shoulder for a small shake. "Good ta see ya, buddy. Let's get out of here, yeah?"

"Yeah! Everyone in the Tornado!"

All five of them piled in and Tails took off, the faithful plane carrying them into the partially cloudy sky.

"What about the other Tails? Will he be okay?" Cream asked once they were airborne.

"I think so. I was being held captive by Eggman, but I set up some things for the other version of me to find that should help."

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"Don't worry, I'll explain later. But the other Tails is fine… and if not, we'll be swapped again anyway. We should get back to my workshop - I'll run some tests on this power source and see if I can build something that can send us back."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic nodded.

"Uh… my workshop is in the same spot, right?"

"Yeah, Mystic Ruins, of course, I was able to find it no sweat."

"Right, and that's which way…?" Tails asked sheepishly.

"Northwest of here, roughly. We're in that open field with those short bushes. I never knew there were caves down there."

"So weird… this world doesn't feel any different, but I feel like it should," Tails mused. "Everything looks exactly the same. I even still feel like me, the Tornado runs the same, the controls are in the same spot… If I didn't know better, I'd think I was still home."

Somewhere in between Sonic and Tails talking about their world travels, bonding as true brothers, Knuckles asked to be brought back to Angel Island and to let him know if he was needed again.

"Amy, you're being quiet," Cream asked her friend in the meanwhile. "Is something wrong?"

The girl just nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Her blank stare out the window and sad eyes told a different story.

"Did Sonic say something mean to you?"

"That hedgehog isn't Sonic," she said as she watched Sonic and Tails talk and laugh together, feeling pangs of jealousy. He was so nice with Tails, Knuckles, Cream… and yet, so rude to her. Why was he so different around her? He'd been flirty, but that felt just like he was trying to show off. If he truly did care about her, why was he so terrible at showing her that?

In spite of her spoken statement, she was having trouble differentiating between the two hedgehogs. They both felt like Sonic to her: charming, dreamy, handsome, of course, but also terribly frustrating and inconsistent. They were undoubtedly the same, and if this one was sure he had no feelings for her, where did that leave her boyfriend? Was he just with her because it was something fun for him to do, or did he actually care? Were his feelings genuine or not? She'd never felt that they were. Amy had never given up on Sonic before, but now that she had him, and things weren't as perfect as she expected, all she could do was doubt.

Amy desperately wanted to talk to him. She had to know the truth. So when Tails finally built that machine he'd talked about, she was going to use it. It didn't matter what world she ended up in. If her Sonic wasn't there, and he didn't care about her… what else mattered?


Original Dimension - Alternate Tails, Alternate Sonic, Original Amy

If the bright light and deafening noise didn't disorient Tails, suddenly finding himself stationary and in his workshop was making his head spin. Just a moment ago, he'd been flying the Tornado and helping out his team, Cream behind him. And now?

His jaw dropped when he saw, standing in front of him, no one other than Dr. Eggman, holding a gun in one hand, and a tablet of some sort in his other. What a welcome to this other dimension...

"Well Tails, it looks like you made it safe and sound. Now, you're going to help me fix this dimension and become ruler of the world!" He raised his head in an evil laugh.

"Um… what's going on?" Tails faked ignorance as he looked around. He needed to buy some time. This workshop looked a lot like his own, but a few things were in different places. He was standing in front of a control panel of some sort.

"This dimension is losing energy, at an accelerating pace. I believe it's due to some experiments I've conducted using the Egg Stone."

"The what? Is that what you're calling your power source?" He kept talking as his mind was working quickly. He had already found the button to activate his defense system. It seemed this Tails had lasers set up - perfect.

"Yes." Eggman showed him the pink gem. "This gem is capable of creating a wormhole in the space-time continuum, and therefore we can use it to travel between dimensions. After this world's Dr. Eggman somehow found it and used it to swap that blue hedgehog, he swapped himself and I. Now that I had access to the Egg Stone, I tried to use it on immaterial objects. But instead of them swapping places with similar objects, it seems I sent them to some other place entirely. They just disappeared. And that means our world, our dimension, is losing energy, and will rapidly become unstable. We need to find where I sent those objects and bring them back."

"So, when we swap individuals, they always go to the same dimension, but when we swap objects, they don't swap at all, just leave our world. Hmm. And you want my help… why?" Just a few more things he'd have to set up… he stealthily took apart the remote and fused a few more wires into it. "You mean you can't solve this yourself?"

"Of course I can solve this myself, you little twerp! I'm only asking for your help as an assistant. The faster we solve this problem, the faster I can use the Egg Stone to conquer both worlds!"

Tails had to hide his smile as he connected the last wire. This was too easy. And apparently Eggman had an IQ of 300…

"Okay, Eggman, I'll work with you."

"What? You… will?" He was temporarily surprised at how easily Tails gave in. This wasn't supposed to happen...

"Yes, I will. But I have some conditions."

"Conditions? You? I'm the one with the gun to your head, fox boy!"

Tails jammed his finger against the defense button, and immediately his laser grid activated. Eggman was surrounded by bright red lights, framing his fat body and not allowing him to move a muscle. Explosions echoed outside, and Tails winced from the noise, but knew that it'd worked - the Octo Scramblers were destroyed, and he was securely in this world now.

"No Eggman, I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me! Now drop the gun!"

He kept waving it in Tails' face. "No, never! You may have destroyed my OctoScramblers, but I'll just make more!"

"Drop the gun, Eggman! Sonic and Amy are coming, and you know they'll be worse to you than I will be!" Tails held up his remote, ready to push the button to cook Eggman at any moment.

"You fool! If we don't solve this problem, none of us in this world will make it!"

"We are going to solve this problem. Together. But as I said, I have conditions! Now drop the gun!"

"No!"

"Egghead, drop the gun or I'll have Tails fry that mustache off your face." A deep, cocky voice broke their standoff.

Sonic walked in, glaring at the doctor with ice in his eyes. No one hurt Tails. No one.

Amy stood behind him, her hammer at the ready.

"Urgh, fine!" Eggman dropped the gun to the ground, and Sonic was quick to retrieve it and put it away somewhere. Tails turned off the lasers aimed at him. "You're all making a huge mistake! This world is crumbling, I tell you!"

"Tails, first off, heh, nice job! Seems you didn't even need me, buddy," Sonic grinned proudly at his best friend and gave him a thumbs up.

"Aw, thanks Sonic."

"Second off, what is Egghead blabbering about?"

"Well, he is right. This world is becoming super unstable - just look at this graph!" He projected a downward sloping line onto the front wall. "I didn't notice anything like that in our world!"

"Our world…?"

"Yeah - oh, right. So while he was here, Eggman switched me and the Tails from this world. So, yeah, I'm the Tails that you grew up with." Tails smiled at his big bro.

Sonic's mouth dropped. "No way! Tails, it's really you! Jeez, I've been thinking the other you was you the whole time - you don't seem any different!"

"Can we please skip the touching reunion and get to the part where we fix the looming energy crisis?" Eggman butted in.

"Yes, as I was saying," Tails cleared his throat. "It's gonna take both of us to fix this. So, condition one - "

"No conditions. Either we do this my way, or I blow this workshop to kingdom come!"

"Uh, Eggman, you have no weapons here, remember?" Sonic rolled his eyes.

The doctor drooped. "You furry freaks are so insufferable. I can't believe I thought this was a good idea."

"You could say that about all your ideas, Eggface," Sonic snickered.

"As I was saying, Eggman. You made this mess, and we're gonna be the ones who fix it. So, condition one. We build a communicator with our world, the other world. Although I didn't notice anything wrong over there, since the worlds are tied together now, it's probably in trouble, too, and we have to coordinate the final swaps at the same time.

"Second, you share all your data with me."

Eggman nodded. "Fine. And my factory will have to be used to build what we need."

"But - "

"Please, if you think an evil genius like myself is working in this dumpheap you call a glorified garage, you must be mistaken."

"Fine. It'll be faster anyway. Okay, third condition."

"There's more?"

"I'm just getting started, Eggman! No more swapping, anything, until we figure this out, okay? It's bad enough that the three of us are in the wrong spot.

"Also, we both put down our weapons and actually work together. No tricks, Eggman. And we promise not to destroy your factory on our way out."

"I'll hold you to that!"

"And lastly. We're not calling the power source the Egg Stone."

Eggman's jaw dropped in horror. "But why! It's the perfect name!"

"No, I agree with Tails, it's lame." Sonic nodded.

"Super lame," Amy agreed.

"Well, what do you propose as a name, then?"

"Something not related to eggs. At all," Sonic said.

"From what we know about this… rock, it has enough power to transport things between dimensions," Tails said. "Why don't we just call it the Dimension Stone? Or the Traveler's Stone?"

"Since it got me and Sonic together, why not the Love Stone?" Amy suggested with a huge smile.

"Uh... " Sonic shook his head slightly, forcing a sheepish grin on his face.

"It kinda looks like a sapphire. A pink one," Amy continued as she stared at the gem.

"Sapphire is too long of a name," Sonic shook his head.

"No it's not, it's two syllables!" Amy insisted with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't even know sapphires could be pink, I thought they were always blue?"

"They're a special and rare gem. When I first heard about them, I immediately thought of me and Sonic together, pink and blue…" Amy's eyes glazed over a little.

"See Amy, when you say stuff like that…" Sonic uncomfortably tapped his foot against the ground.

"Say stuff like what?" She asked, her eyes still cloudy and her head in the sky. "I even looked up the meaning of pink sapphires, and it was all about love and emotional protection…"

Sonic sighed a little. He'd just given Amy the advice to be strong and independent, and here she was being overly romantic again. She was never going to win the other him over at this rate. Then again, why did he care? He just wanted a break from her, from his Amy…

His stomach dropped at the thought of seeing her again. Those shiny eyes, that cute happy smile, that amazing body, and her bone-crunching hugs that he loved too much - and then he'd turn away and run from her once again. Could he do it? He'd have to. Sonic had to get himself back. He wasn't about to lose himself to a girl. As much as it hurt, he'd have to do this.

But the waiting was killing him. And being around this Amy, being just as beautiful and so purely herself, was not making it any easier.

Tails cleared his throat. "Anyway, whatever we decide to call it, we should get started on the communicator. The sooner we get in contact with the other world, the sooner we can work out a plan with them to get us all in the right spot again."

"Right," Sonic said, and posed to take off, brushing off his brooding thoughts to grin again. "Never thought I'd say this, but let's head to Eggman's Factory and not destroy it this time."


Alternate Dimension - Original Tails, Original Sonic, Alternate Amy

Tails was thrilled to see his workshop in the other realm was nearly identical, although he was puzzled by some of the places some equipment was kept. It didn't make sense to put the screwdrivers up high, and why was there not a separate place for his drills? He'd have to make due with this space.

Sonic and Amy were still hanging around though, and he needed to ask for some time and privacy to build the machine. He was confident he could scan the properties of this gemstone and get them back home. But he had no idea how long it'd take. As much as he loved hanging out with Sonic, the hedgehog was not exactly patient enough to help him with his tinkering.

"So, what exactly did you do in our world to get Eggman off your back?" Sonic asked. He was leaning against one of his bookcases, looking exceptionally cool.

Now this, he didn't mind talking about. He continued to organize his metal pieces as he spoke. "Well, I just thought about what I would do if I was suddenly placed in that situation, finding myself in front of Eggman. I would immediately activate the defense system, not knowing better. But that was a good thing - because if I would have activated it, I would have been swapped either way. But according to what you said… well, the other you said, he could destroy the bots after they had made a swap. I'm guessing a cooldown of some sort? Anyway, so that Tails would destroy everything and then he'd have Eggman captive. He's the one that knows more about this than me. I don't think the doctor thought that one through…."

"You're a genius, Tails." Sonic grinned.

"Nah, not really. Oh, and I also quickly transmitted the security feed around my workshop to all nearby restaurants so, the other you and the other Amy would know to come help out."

"Nearby restaurants?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, the other yous are currently on a date."

"What?!" Sonic yelled.

"I-I-mean, uh, maybe date was a bad word?" Tails cringed.

"Oh boy…"

"No, no, they're not dating. Just talking. I'm pretty sure, heh.."

"Oh boy," Sonic breathed again. He'd have to go back home to an Amy that was dating the other him. He was not looking forward to seeing her again. Then again, he was intrigued. He was still amazed that another version of himself was dating this girl… this girl he'd thought so much about...

While Sonic and Tails were busy "bro-ing" out about the fight in the other dimension, Amy was standing behind a nearby bookshelf, the very one that Sonic was leaning against on the other side. She was conflicted on the news that her Sonic was dating the other Amy. Part of her was silently fuming, but part of her was a little relieved. Had he even noticed the difference between them?

Either way, she had to stay focused. Any moment now, Sonic would take off to do Sonic things, and she would have Tails alone.

"Well, I'm off, Tails. I'll be back later to check on ya. Good luck, bud!"

"Thanks Sonic, see ya later!"

This was her chance. Amy leaned back against the wall, the coolness of the metal chilling her back. Her ears were trained to listen for Tails himself leaving his work area to go into his storage room. She had to be stealthy. If she could take the stone without Tails noticing, she could try to use the stone herself.

Her original plan had been to wait for him to build the machine, but that would take awhile. She was also getting strange vibes from the gem itself. Amy had never been able to use the Chaos Emeralds like Sonic, Shadow, or Knuckles… but she'd also never tried. Her Sonic had attempted get her to try before, but she'd never been interested. Her trusty hammer had always been enough for her, and since Sonic was good at using their power, she'd let him handle them. But this time, it would take more than her hammer to get her Sonic back.

This was something Amy would do herself.

"Hiya Ames!"

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned around to find Sonic right in front of her.

"Sonic! What are you doing here? I thought you were off on a run."

"I was, yeah. But uh, just wonderin'... while Tails is in here geeking out, do ya feel like hanging out with me?"

"No."

Sonic blinked. He wasn't used to rejection, and not getting what he wanted. He definitely wasn't used to Amy Rose refusing him.

"Why not? We can do anything you want."

Amy let out a huge sigh. "Why do you want to hang out right now?"

"I got nothin' better to do."

"Wow, you really know how to make me feel special."

"I - ! I didn't mean it like that, Ames. Let's just… I don't know, grab a milkshake or somethin'?"

"No, Sonic. I'm busy right now."

"Doing what, creeping around in Tails' workshop?"

"It's none of your business what I'm doing!"

Sonic took only a second to study her, and then he looked to the gemstone that Tails was analyzing.

"Wait - what are you up to?"

Amy immediately pulled out her hammer and raised it above her head, aiming at Sonic. He panicked and backed away from her first swing.

"I said it's none of your business, Sonic!" She took another swing, which Sonic dodged. "I just want to find out - " Her arm spun parallel to the ground, her hammer flying through the air. " - the truth!" She hurled her hammer at him, lodging it into the wall.

"The truth about what?" he asked, jumping to the side.

"Oooooh!" she yelled in frustration, and stomped over to her hammer to peel it out of the wall.

She couldn't fight Sonic - he was too fast, too agile, just better than her in every way. She made a beeline for where the gem was sitting on a nearby table, ready to snatch it.

But of course, Sonic beat her to it, standing in front of the table, his arms spread out. "Amy, what are you doing?"

Her hammer still in hand, Amy took a few swings at him, but he dodged each just in time, returning to the same spot.

"Get out of my way! I need to know!"

"Need to know what?" He asked between swings.

She whirled her hammer around in a tornado, knocking everything off the table around them. Sonic managed to grab the gemstone and tucked it away, knowing he had to keep it safe from this crazy girl.

"How you feel about me! How he feels about me! About his heart, his feelings, because he's such a frustrating hog and no one wants to tell me the truth or give me a straight answer so I'm going to go up to him, grab him and make him tell me how he feels about me!" She panted, her face bright red with rage. "Now get out of my way!"

"Amy…" Sonic wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't want to do anything to escalate the situation. "Let's just… chill for a minute…"

She bared her teeth as she knocked down objects all around her. "No! You're always chill, why don't you try actually having feelings and caring about something for once, Sonic!" Amy screamed.

"Amy, I… do have feelings, okay? I do."

"You're just saying that! Why do you always run away, hm? Why do you ask me out and be so nice, but you're so cold! And you're always be rude to me! Or deny our dates! And never say… " she stopped, still breathing hard, her fists clenched as she gripped her hammer. Veins were popping out of her neck as she fumed.

"You never say you love me."

The two hedgehogs remained silent, staring at each other with matching green eyes. The room remained a wreck around them, a mirror of Amy's heart and mind. Sonic wasn't sure what to say, what to do, he found himself unfamiliarly paralyzed. Anything he would say could only make things worse, but what were his options? Continue staring at her in silence?

"Amy, I - "

"I know you're not him," she interrupted in a softer voice, looking down at her boots.

"But I am him. He's Sonic, and so am I. So I kinda… feel responsible for… all this," he looked around the workshop, knowing Tails would kill them both when he came back.

"Being around you, it's made it all feel so empty," Amy whispered, staring out the window. "I thought being with him would be all I've ever wanted, but… if he doesn't care about me, after all we've been through… what's the point?"

"Look, Ames, I can say, with like, 99% confidence that Sonic does care about you. Because I… care about you. Okay? So if I care, he does too, right?"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No… why do you not trust me, still? After all this?"

"Because if you really cared, you wouldn't do the stuff you do!"

"I - I'm not good at this stuff, okay? I don't know nothin' about romance. Heck, I don't even know the first thing 'bout it. And maybe I don't have, ya know, feelings or whatever for Amy, I do care about her."

Amy stared at him intensely. "What's the first thing you're going to do when you see your Amy again?"

Sonic paused. "Uh…"

"Run away from her, right?"

"Uh… maybe not immediately... "

Amy sighed and fell down to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest as her hammer disappeared. "I rest my case."

"Ames… however he feels, I don't know. But I do know that you goin' rogue and trying to use this gemstone when we don't understand it is a bad idea."

"You do stuff like that all the time," Amy accused, shooting daggers with her eyes.

"Yeah, but… I'm Sonic." He grinned, but Amy was not amused. "Do you even know how to use this thing?"

She held out her hand. "Let me see it."

"No way. You can't even handle a Chaos Emerald."

"Because I've never tried!" Amy protested.

"Well, you're not doing any experimentin' with this thing."

Amy crossed her arms and pouted. Sonic had won, of course, like he always did. There was no way she'd be able to peel the gemstone off of him directly. Now she'd have to wait even longer to get some answers. Meanwhile, her Sonic was with her other version, and probably totally oblivious to her turmoil, just like always.

If only the unpredictable wind didn't captivate her so...


I actually love, love, LOVE how I wrote Tails in this chapter. I know that he's normally kinda shy and quiet, but I feel that SEGA makes him a bit too passive and weak in some games. The dude's a brilliant badass, and I really wanted to give him a moment of being able to stand up to Eggman himself. Even though this is mostly a SonAmy story, I wanted to give both Knuckles and Tails their moments to be awesome, because they deserve it!

Also I added some humor in the conversation with Eggman, because I could. I may have made it sound too "Sonic Boom-ish" (because I've been watching that a lot lately), so I apologize if I went a bit too far with making Eggman sound goofy and not threatening. Oh well, maybe some slight OOCness made the chapter better for it.

Oh, and yeah, there's quite a bit of SonAmy here, though they're not doing so great at the moment. Lots of conflicts to solve, feelings to untangle, and words to say between them. Stay tuned, guys and gals…