Whaddaya know, I forgot something XP. I wanted to ask anyone reading this story if they would want to be my story artist, for just this one or future titles. If anyone's interested, draw something, post it somewhere and PM it to me. Simple as that. But without further ado, here's Chapter 7. Enjoy!

Sonic

I was just running around, exploring, when I remembered I hadn't checked up on Tails in a few days. I figured now was as good a time as any, so I turned toward Mystic Ruins and sped off.

As soon as I got to the workshop, what I saw shocked me to a standstill. There was no workshop. All that was there were charred remains of who-knows-exactly-what, burned black. My eyes widened. "Oh, no. Tails!" I shouted as I ran to the wreckage.

I dug through every bit of rubble, searching for any sign of my bro. I finally pried open the hatch where he kept the original Tornado and sighed in relief. It wasn't there. That meant he had used it to escape. So he's OK. Phew.

I paced around, trying to figure out where he would've gone. "OK, the kid's workshop just burned down, what's the first thing he'd do? Well, he'd probably wanna start rebuilding as soon as possible. So he'd need materials and stuff. Where would he go to get junk like that..." An imaginary light bulb appeared over my head. "The junkyard!" I ran to the nearest one faster than sound.

Before I had even gotten within hearing distance of the junkyard, I was shouting "Tails?! Lil' buddy?! Please be here!" As I ran inside the gate, I saw the white tip of a tail slip behind a pile of junk.

"Tails?" I asked, just to be sure. I thought I almost heard whispering, but it could've been the wind.

After a minute or so, someone slowly shuffled out from behind the pile, their body language screaming embarassment. My mind immediately went 'Hold on. Wait a second. What?'. I could've sworn this was Tails, but something was very wrong.

First of all, this fox was a girl. Wait, what? She looked older than Tails should be, her fur was green, her bangs were thicker and not sticking up, and she was wearing clothes, but everything else...

"Tails?" I had no idea whether to think this was Tails or not. "Is that you?"

The fox nodded. I still wasn't sure, though I remembered how relieved I was when Tails recognized me after I got turned into a werehog. I decided to return the favor and trust him... her? Let's just go with him for now. 'Her' just sounds too weird.

"What happened to you, lil' buddy?" I asked.

"Well," Even his voice souned different. "I was working on an experiment, but it kinda backfired... I came to the junkyard to find parts for a machine to reverse the effects. The clothes were lying around here somewhere."

"But how did the workshop burn down?" I asked. Maybe he hadn't heard...

"What?!" Yup. He looked genuinely surprised and shocked. "The workshop burned down?! How did that happen? Why didn't the sprinkler system go off? What happened to the Tornado 2? Or the emerald radars? Is anything left?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, lil' bro." I said. "There was nothing left." I put a hand on his shoulder.

All of a sudden, I heard suspiciously familiar laughter coming from behind the same junk pile as before. Then Tails stepped out from behind the pile, laughing his head off, looking just like I remembered him! "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold it in anymore. You actually fell for it, Sonic!"

I took my hand off the first 'Tails', who had started laughing too, and looked back and forth between the two of them, my eyes wide and my jaw on the ground. "What the-? How-? Tails, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

"Well," He said, walking up to me. "This is Bangs. She's actually my..." He turned to this 'Bangs' character. "How many 'greats' would I use?"

"Don't bother." She replied. "Just go with distant."

"OK," He continued. "She's my distant cousin."

It took a second to realize what this meant. "Wait, you actually found a blood relative to you?" I ran over and gave him a huge hug. "That's great, lil' bro! I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah, it's great!" He replied after I let go of him. "And it turns out I'm-"

Bangs nudged him and gave him a look like 'Don't tell him.'

"Staying with her while I rebuild my workshop." He seemed to remedy from what he was going to say before. "I already knew it burned down."

I wanted to ask him what he wasn't telling me, but with that girl around, I knew he wasn't gonna say. So instead I went for "Promise me you'll be OK?"

"I promise!" He replied with a thumbs up and a grin that could've rivaled one of my best.

"One more question before I go." I said. "Why did this 'Bangs' girl-" I turned to her and narrowed my eyes. "-try to trick me?"

"I wanted to see if I could." She answered simply, grinning like a little troll. "And I did."

"You sure you're gonna be OK with her?" I asked Tails skeptically. He nodded, so I said "OK then, great to see ya bud. Take care!" And rushed off.

I HAD SUCH WRITER'S BLOCK ON THIS SCENE! It seriously took me 4 months to get the gall to just write it already! Yes, this is the one I mentioned in Chapter 3.

But here it is. I'm keeping my poll up for another couple days because NO ONE HAS VOTED YET. I need someone to vote so I can decide what to do next! I don't have a set plot for this next chunk of story, so I need a bit of help here. Please vote, or even answer in a review. I'm sorry I've been sounding so beggy, but I kinda need this stuff. All that aside, hope you enjoyed the chapter (I particularly like it myself). TatlTails out. PEACE!