Disclaimer- I don't own the games or the show.

Episode nine! Get ready for some tripping!

Sonic forgot all about his nose pain for a moment as he gaped like a fish. "Metal's…Metal's gone? But how? Why? He was the least deserving out of all of us!"

"He doesn't even get hungry!" Tails exclaimed, his namesakes puffing up in panic as another thought came to him. Frenzied sapphires snapped to the television. "W-Wait! If he's gone, does that mean-!"

"It better not." Shadow growled deeply as he marched over to the discarded remote. He bashed the play button like twenty times before letting out a string of curse words so foul that he put sailors to shame.

Amy put her hands over Tails' ears until he was done. No eight-year-old should lose their innocence like that. "So what…what are we going to do?" The pinkette worriedly asked the others, not liking this situation at all. "If Metal Sonic's gone and we can't play the show, then we're really stuck here forever!" She covered her stomach when it rumbled. Why couldn't they be trapped after Sonic and Tails had stocked up on food?

They were not going to stay here and starve if Knuckles could help it. The echidna glared up at the ceiling and yelled at the top of his lungs. "Hey! You stupid thing!" He ignored Tails' quiet 'Don't', gesturing wildly at the door. "Why in the hell did you let Metal go, huh? Why not us!? He won't go hungry, he won't die, and he doesn't have anything to protect! So what the hell?!"

Everyone was still, waiting either for a response or for Knuckles to be violently attacked.

Neither happened.

Tails didn't know what to feel. "It's…ignoring you?"

That was worse than getting an answer they didn't like. Knuckles gritted his teeth. "Tails, give me something I can break." He needed to destroy something with his bare hands right now.

The kit blinked at him before grabbing a pillow off the closest couch and tossing it to the echidna. That was the least expensive thing in the room now that Metal couldn't be used as a punching bag. Knuckles roared in anger as he tore it in half, feathers floating in the air.

He then doubled over when he accidentally inhaled one, coughing harshly. Amy patted him on the back, wondering if the thing did that, or if Knuckles had just really bad luck.

Eggman disregarded the raspy wheezes as he jabbed a finger in Sonic's direction, a deep frown marring his face. "I blame you for this, cactus!"

Sonic couldn't believe this. "Me? What in the heck did I do!?"

The human narrowed his eyes. "You left Metal alone out here!"

"I left him-" Sonic stomped over to the doctor. "How in the world was I supposed to know that he was gonna somehow escape? And if you're gonna blame me, blame everyone! Metal wouldn't have been left alone if all of you didn't rush into the kitchen and break the jar of honey!"

Eggman snarled before whirling on Amy, who was still helping a hacking Knuckles out. "So the blame falls on you!"

The pinkette gawked before opposing over a choking echidna. "No it doesn't! I told you, Shadow was the one holding it!"

Shadow glared at her. "And who ended up with the mop?"

Amy puffed out her cheeks in a pout. "Who cares what the thing thinks!" Anger was making her blind to potential unseen dangers. "You caused this, Shadow!"

"No I d-" He sent Knuckles a sharp look when the guardian wheezed loudly. "Can somebody shut him the hell up?"

"I'm…sorry…for…dying…" Knuckles breathily forced out. Tails, seeing how Amy was barely helping him, positioned himself behind the echidna, wrapped his arms around the other's torso, and squeezed. With one last cough, the feather escaped his throat and floated harmlessly to the ground. Knuckles stomped on it as he recovered. "Thanks Tails…but did you really have to get me a pillow?"

Tails slowly blinked. "Well I'm sorry for not getting you something made out of glass! I don't know, maybe I wanted to keep something intact while everything else gets broken!"

"But I almost died-"

"I hope you're not blaming me for that, fox," Shadow interjected, his stare heated.

"Well he isn't blaming me!" Amy hopped into the conversation. "I can't reiterate this enough…you dropped the jar!"

Shadow's quills bristled. "We wouldn't have been in there in the first place if those two-" he bobbed his head over at Sonic and Tails. "-learned how to keep a full damn fridge!"

"Hey!" Sonic and Tails yelled at the same time.

And that was when the full-out arguing started.

Most of them were trying to keep the avoid blame of Metal's disappearance, and in turn, Knuckles' near-death experience – he kept bringing that up – while Eggman settled back on one of the sofas, rubbing his temples.

That went on for a while until the first punch was thrown. Shadow had been aiming for Sonic, but then Amy got in the way. She materialized her hammer and swung for the striped 'hog. Shadow ducked however, and the weapon ended up hitting Tails in the side. He hissed in pain before reaching out and wrestling the hammer from her hands, accidentally hitting Knuckles once he did so.

And that was when the full-out battle royale started.

Eggman watched as fists, feet, and a particular hammer flew. Where had he gone wrong in his life?

The Mobians had been too busy with their rather…intense debate and Eggman had been too busy with his self-deprecating thoughts to notice Metal open the front door and enter the home.

However, they all did notice when the door shut behind the robot with a loud slam.

The ones fighting froze. Sonic was on the floor, arms raised to block the hammer about to come down on his still throbbing nose. Amy had been struggling to get Shadow to let her weapon go. Knuckles had Tails in a headlock. They were all bruised, some more than others.

Metal stood there for a moment, soaking the sight in. "I was gone for no longer than ten minutes."

"Ten minutes too long!" Eggman hastily stood up. "How in the world did you get out-"

"Nevermind that!" Sonic sat up, a distracted Shadow making it easy. A delighted smile grew on his muzzle. "He has food!"

The Mobians scampered up to their feet and rushed over to where Metal was. The robot only had three bags, but they were full of stuff. Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow took them out of the bot's hold, shifting through their contents.

"Are those hot dogs?" Sonic asked excitedly, peering over Tails' shoulder.

"And we got an oven cooked pizza!" Knuckles' eyes glistened.

Amy gasped as she pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies from Shadow's bag and hugged it. "Chocolate! Metal, you're seriously my hero right now!"

"I take that as an insult," Metal instantly said, but Amy didn't seem to care. "Why are you all so content at the moment even though all of you were just fighting?"

Sonic cocked his head at that. "Oh yeah." He then regarded the others. "No hard feelings, right guys?"

There were a chorus of 'right' and a 'whatever' from Shadow before Knuckles added afterward, "But I do hate feathers now."

Metal didn't care enough to question that. "I went to the supermarket to resupply the nourishment you need to stay alive, for death means permanent confinement. Is this amount sufficient?"

"More than enough!" Sonic chuckled before nudging the kit. "We won't have to go shoppin' after all, bud!"

"Back to my question." Eggman walked over, eying the bags before giving Metal his attention. "How did you leave here?" The human's words made the rest curious as well now that the initial surprise was over, waiting for an answer.

Metal gave them one. "Simply enough. I used the exit."

Eggman clenched his fists. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!" If there was a way to get out of this torture palace, the doctor needed the ticket pronto.

"I asked the being if I could resupply, and it allowed me to do so."

Shadow rose a brow. "And you didn't take the chance to leave this hell?"

Red opticals found him. "If I did not return, then I would not have completed my objective. I never not complete my objectives." Sonic mockingly coughed and Metal regarded him. "I will end you, copy. It will happen."

Sonic waved him off. "Sure, sure."

Tails hummed in thought. "So…the thing let you go because it knew that you weren't gonna run off." Metal nodded at him. The kit sighed. "Well, that doesn't help us at all…"

"Nope." Knuckles couldn't feel too down right now. They had delicious food. "Because if I step a foot out that door, I wouldn't come back any time soon."

Eggman grumbled hatefully to himself. So there really was no way out then. Well, besides the obvious. Just his luck.

"Hold on." Tails furrowed his brow. "If the thing could pop stuff in and out of existence, then why send Metal out to get food?"

"Easy." Shadow grunted. "It's sadistic."

Tails had no argument against that.

"Hey wait…there's something else." Amy tapped her chin as she regarded the robot. "You don't have any money on you! How did you pay for all this stuff, Metal?"

"I did not."

They all silently stared at the robot.

Metal evenly returned the look. "…There are a few civilians bleeding out as we speak."

Sonic pursed his lips. "You know what…? I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear that." There should be ambulances coming for them now, right? Right. His friends nodded in agreeance. Sonic faced Knuckles. "Let's cook up that pizza for lunch, yeah?"

The Mobians turned on their heels and chatted – Amy's mood lowered when she was reminded about the mess she had yet to clean up – as they went into the kitchen to deposit the goods, like they hadn't been at each other's throats five minutes before. Eggman slumped back down in the couch, taking deep breaths.

Metal stared at his retreating copy's back, thinking that this was the perfect time to strike. However, before he could move a single limb, the same collar from earlier materialized around his neck. He was suddenly yanked back to the middle of the living room floor, where he was before he left.

Not expecting the quick movement, he fell face first and was dragged to his assigned seat.

"You should've known that was coming," Eggman commented as the bot got into a sitting position. Metal saw that no one else had witnessed that rather degrading moment, Sonic and the others having disappeared in the kitchen.

"I do not need your input, doctor." Metal had seen it coming, but…how did that saying go? One couldn't win the lottery without buying a ticket first. "They are irrelevant."

"You're irrelevant."

"Stealing jokes is disgraceful."

About fifteen minutes later, the Mobians came out with hot slices of pizza on their plates. Sonic had two plates, one in each hand. He had a pep in his step as he plopped down beside Eggman – not without sending the collared Metal an amused look. He held one plate out for the doctor. Eggman eventually took it, and Sonic rolled his eyes. "You're welcome, by the way."

Eggman just huffed as he took a bite, inwardly relieved that he got to sooth his rumbling stomach.

Tails did a little dance sitting on the other side of Sonic, enjoying his lunch. "This is so good! Pepperoni's the best!"

"You can say that again," Knuckles said as he sat down between Shadow and Amy – who was giving Tails a pouty look – on the other sofa that the striped hedgehog had fixed. He had grabbed the remote before doing so. "Now we have one less thing to worry about."

"Hurry up and get this show on the road," Shadow ordered, talking around the pizza in his mouth. His tongue could be burning, but he didn't give a damn.

"I'm coming." Knuckles mumbled. "'Guilt Tripping'? This oughtta be fun." He started the show.

The scene opened up with Sonic and Tails racing each other on hoverboards in a forest, wind blowing through their fur as they rode along sturdy branches.

Sonic swallowed a mouthful of cheese, pepperoni, and marinara sauce. "Hey, we haven't seen those since the first episode!" He bumped Tails with his shoulder. "Think this one is just gonna be about our doubles?"

"It's way too early to tell," Tails said with chuckle. "But that'll be cool!"

Eggman would hope that his twin didn't make an appearance, but that was a waste of time. He'd been in every episode so far somehow. He would unfortunately be in this one too.

"And a breath of fresh air." Knuckles received a glare from Shadow and a gasp from Amy when a piece of pizza flew out of his mouth. It was an accident! They need to calm down. "Those two are the most bearable of the group."

Amy made sure she didn't make a mess of herself when she spoke. "I want my twin in it so I can know more about her and Sonic's love life! It's been teased so much but we haven't gotten more than their date during 'Double Doomsday'!"

"That wasn't a date." Sonic wanted to make this clear. "It looked like to me a completely platonic lunch that everyone was invited to, but they were just late."

Knuckles scoffed. "That's a bit of a stretch. It was definitely a date."

Amy smiled at the validation while Sonic was more than done with this conversation. "Just eat your stupid pizza, Knux."

Tails smirked as he watched Sonic go through a natural loop. "You may be faster on foot, but I invented these things!" The kit adjusted his position and shot forward, hopping over the blue blur and taking the lead with a laugh.

Yellow ears perked at that. "He invented the hoverboards?" If Tails had a chance to meet his other self, he totally would. "I mean, I've made a lot of adjustments to Extreme Gear, but I didn't invent them…"

"But you've invented other stuff though!" Sonic grinned at him. "Both of you have good heads on your shoulders!" The hedgehog fluffed one of the fox's namesakes, causing him to giggle. "It's gotta be this extra tail holdin' those extra IQ points!"

Sonic wasn't fazed at all. "Not bad. My turn!" He flipped over Tails' head and landed smoothly, throwing the kit a smug grin before promptly crashing into a thick branch. Because of his momentum, he launched up, bounced harshly against too trees, and plummeted to the ground.

Amy flinched. "Ouch." Hopefully he didn't get hurt too badly.

Shadow wished there was a rewind button on the remote.

Sonic was peeling his face from the dirt when Tails approached. "Wow! That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

"Does he not know the definition of cool?" Metal questioned.

Knuckles stifled a burp. "Well, how he hit his face twice before hitting the ground is pretty impressive."

"Really?" The hedgie sounded hopeful as he got to his feet.

Tails smirked. "You look cool even when you're making a complete fool of yourself!"

Tails tried and failed to swallow his chuckles while Sonic subtly frowned. "Wait, is that a compliment or a burn? I seriously can't tell."

"A definite mixture of both," Eggman provided, appreciating the fox on screen a bit more.

Sonic pointedly ignored that statement before looking for his discarded hoverboard. He pulled two nearby bushes apart and found the device. He went to pick it up but paused when he heard unfamiliar voices.

"All right, load 'em up!" The voice belonged to a weasel bandit, who had two more in his gang. They had sacks so the big-eared and sad looking villagers could drop their items in. "Hurry up and nobody gets hurt!"

Amy cocked her head, nibbling on her lunch. "Don't those villagers look like that guy the other Sonic was watching on TV last episode? Where the guy was buying something?"

"Yeah, it does!" Sonic agreed before remembering exactly what had been said. "Oh man, hopefully they don't run into that guy here. Really don't want to hear about starving children." Though, the name of the episode didn't really bode well for them.

The two heroes watched as the villagers deposited their money.

Sonic came to a decision right then and there. "Whoa! We gotta stop those jerks!" Sonic ran into the village while Tails trailed behind him on the hoverboard. The speedster focused mostly on the bandits. "What's going on here?"

The chief of the village, wearing a grass hat, was the one to answer him.

Tails finished off his pizza. "And there he is… That hope didn't last long at all."

"Oh, these delightful young men were just ransacking our poor village-" he dropped a bag of money into a sack. "-and taking all of our possessions," he said with an out-of-place smile.

A female villager then spoke up. "They probably need them more than we do, being bandits living on the land and all."

"The entire village is like that?" Amy felt extremely bad for the pair of heroes. "Sonic and Tails need to leave before it's too late!"

Knuckles groaned as he put his empty plate on the ground, knowing that there's about to be around ten minutes of this. "This is about to get painful to watch."

"You say that like it isn't painful already…" Shadow muttered, biting into warm crust.

"Yeah!" A weasel with a red bandana wrapped around his mouth pointed at Sonic. "So back off, blue guy! This is what we do!"

"Oh yeah?" Sonic scoffed. "Well this is what we do!"

"My twin really needs to work on his witty comebacks."

He spin dashed into the weasel bandits, stunning them. Tails tossed over a vine attached to a tree, and Sonic effortlessly tied the evildoers up. Tails wrapped the end of the vine to a tree branch he had pulled down.

"Ugh, this isn't over!" one of the bandits yelled.

Tails let go of the branch, and the weasels were launched into the sky.

"I spoke to sooooon!" the same one shouted as they soared off.

The chief then addressed them. "Thank you, strange travelers. You have saved us Gogobas from the scourge of the weasel bandits, and scattered our belongings carelessly across the dirt." He finished, glancing at the ground.

"It's not like they meant to do it!" Amy argued with the chief, done with her pizza. "And at least you got your stuff back!"

"At least he's appreciative…" Tails assumed. "I think?"

"Sorry!" Tails apologized. "I'll help pick them up."

A female Gogoba waved her hands. "Oh no, we wouldn't want to trouble you." She gestured to herself. "I'll do it myself. It probably won't cause my chronic back pain to flare up too much." She bent down a little bit, and her back cracked, making her gasp. "Oh! Ugh!"

Knuckled cringed at the sound of her cracking bones. "What is wrong with those people?

"Too many things to name," Metal replied.

Sonic and Tails shared an awkward look.

"At that point, I would've just left," Sonic uttered, setting his plate aside. "The thieves are gone and the nice almost-crippled lady offered to help. What other hints does he need to cut and run?"

"Oh don't worry about her." The chief placated. "She'll pass out from the pain soon. In the meantime, the rest of us will throw our valiant heroes a victory feast."

Tails stiffened. "That guy in particular is just horrible. How can he just be so nonchalant about it?"

"It's obvious that he's had a lot of practice," Knuckles said, thinking that he would have just blown off the feast and left those weirdos there. He didn't need that kind of strange negatively in his life.

Metal drummed his fingers across the floor. "Does he not care about the ones he leads?"

Sonic scoffed. "If Metal questions someone's morality, then they're seriously messed up."

Two Gogobas brought out a large table filled with different kinds of delicious food.

Sonic slowly blinked. "Thanks…but we really gotta-"

The chief interrupted him. "It's okay. We know how busy you are. Within a few months, this will turn into compost, and we'll be able to grow new food to eat."

Amy couldn't believe that she was about to compliment the chief but, "He might be horrible, but he's good at it. I feel terrible and he's not even talking to me!"

"And the worst thing is that he could be telling the truth…" Tails pondered aloud. "It does take a while for things to decompose…"

The two heroes looked uncomfortable, but Sonic agreed anyway. "Um, well I guess we could stay for a quick bite."

"Too nice!" Sonic exclaimed. Someone seriously needed to slap that out of him. First having Eggy spend the night, and now this? Come on, now!

Shadow resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's free food, Faker. You would've stayed too."

"…That's not my point though!"

The chief smiled brightly. "Wonderful!"

After he walked off, two villagers gave Sonic and Tails chairs to sit on. They did so and shared another look before eating some fruit. It wasn't long before they realized that they were being watched by the Gogobas.

"They are creepy as hell." If those people existed in their world, Knuckles would avoid them at all costs. Or punch the chief in the head. One of the two.

"Uh…" Sonic swallowed a bite of fruit. "Aren't you guys gonna eat?"

The chief shook his head. "Oh no. We'd much rather watch you enjoy your food."

"That's the only nourishment we need." A female Gogoba's stomach growled after she finished talking. She smiled meekly. "That was a growl of joy."

"They need help." Amy couldn't help but to wince. "All of them."

"It is too late. They need to be eradicated." Metal wouldn't have said that if the Gogobas were trying to harm the heroes. But they weren't. They were just annoying.

Amy slowly blinked at the robot. "You're uh…half right."

Tails leaned a bit closer to Sonic and said, "These Gogobas are so nice…"

"Yeah." Sonic slumped a bit in his chair. "So why do I feel so terrible?"

"We gotta get outta here," the kit stated lowly.

"And Tails is suddenly my favorite," Knuckles said.

"Mine too," Tails concurred.

"My twin still has a chance at redemption!" Amy brought up.

Sonic shook his head without hesitation. "She doesn't. The other Tails is the MVP right now."

Three Gogobas walked over with more food. Sonic and Tails stood up before they got to the table. The speedster grinned. "That was really delicious. We loved…loved…loved it! But we…should probably get going."

Sonic strolled away waving goodbye to the sad villagers only to run into the chief. He still had a smile on his face. "Of course, of course! Why would you want to stay with us when we made you this incredible meal?"

Sonic held his head in his hands. "He's just cuttin' the knife deeper and deeper!"

Eggman hummed to himself. If using guilt like this got favorable results, then he'd have to use it. Somehow.

…He was pretty desperate for a win at this point.

Tails approached them two. "No, we do wanna stay! It's just that-"

The chief didn't let him finish. "Wonderful! Allow us to prepare you accommodations."

A couple of Gogobas prepared a bed in the middle of the village for them before tossing the heroes onto it. They then fanned the surprised hedgehog/fox duo with large leafy fans.

Shadow wanted to switch spots with them so badly. Well…not to that exact spot, but if that bed was positioned inside his own apartment, then he'd be all for it. This just wasn't fair. He'd been good for so long and this was how he was paid for it? This was the shittiest pay day ever.

The chief looked on proudly. "Fetch our new friends the finest, softest blankets in the village!"

Two Gogobas covered the heroes with a blue blanket; they polity nodded their heads in appreciation.

"Maybe this won't be so bad." Tails laid down, pulling blanket over him more.

Knuckles groaned. "Don't say that right after I name you as favorite."

"Honestly? He still has a pretty far lead." Sonic assured.

"The children in the nursery can huddle together for warmth," the chief had to say.

Amy wanted to hit him with her hammer. Repeatedly. "So…moral of the story is that they don't care about themselves. Like, at all."

Either they didn't, or the chief was the best liar in the world. Sonic tapped his foot. "You hit the nail right on the head, Ames."

Sonic's face fell as he leaned back as well. "Aww…" he groaned.

Skipping a few hours ahead, it was nighttime now. Sonic and Tails were awake, glancing around to make sure none of the villagers were up and about.

Sonic nudged the kit. "Hey, the Gogobas are finally gone. Let's sneak out of here."

"You should've been gone, but yes! Finally!" Sonic cheered.

"It can't be this easy though…" Tails fretted.

Knuckles sighed. "It's never this easy." Plus, they weren't that far into the episode yet. Something was going to rip their hopes away.

Tails nodded before they slid out of the bed silently, beginning to tip-toe out of the village. However, they soon run into the chief and a couple other Gogobas. "Can we get you something?" the leader asked.

Everyone in the room released an echoing sigh of frustration.

"Use your legs and run!" Sonic pulled on his ears.

The escaping pair forced smiles on their faces. "Whoa, uh…where did you come from?" Sonic questioned. "We thought everyone was asleep."

"How could we sleep when we have guests to take care of?" the chief responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"These guys are worse than that beaver from earlier!" Tails exclaimed.

The beaver with a red bow tie suddenly appeared on screen, holding up a finger. "Actually, it's 'guests of whom to take care.'" He then disappeared.

Tails deflated. "…Nevermind."

Eggman glared at him. "You had to say something, fox."

"If I never see any of those people again, it would be too soon," Knuckles uttered and Amy inwardly agreed.

"We can't sleep," uttered a Gogoba before he stopped to think. "Of whom."

"We really should be on our way." Tails tried, wanting to get away as soon as possible.

The chief shooed them. "Go, go! We'll be fine."

The audience perked up.

"Until the next inevitable bandit attack," one Gogoba added.

And that positivity left faster than it arrived.

Shadow was sick of hearing them talk. "They deserve another bandit attack."

"Shads, that's harsh…" Sonic opposed, but it was weak and it was clear than he at least somewhat understood where the striped one was coming from.

The one in charge glanced at her. "It's okay." He then regarded Sonic and Tails. "Just promise that you'll come back and visit."

"The smoking crater where our village used to be," provided the other villager.

The duo looked at each other and uneasily shrugged. They then walked past the Gogobas, planning on leaving.

"Yes!" Amy leaned forward in her seat. They could go home, and there could potentially be some Sonic and Amy relationship growth. "Who cares about the smoking crater? Them leave behind!"

Well, that was until a male Gogoba called out to them. "Wait! I got heirloom tomatoes and some really nice pastrami! I'll pack ya sandwiches!"

The chief and the other two Gogobas left toward their homes.

"Bribed by sandwiches…" Sonic released a puff of air. "Y'know, that's completely possible. Can't be mad."

Sonic looked frazzled. "Tails, these guys are nuts!"

Metal glanced over at Eggman. "Though they are terrible irritants, they are successful. How does it feel to be below these random rodents, doctor?"

"The same way you're going to feel when I dismantle you later!"

Tails wholeheartedly agreed. "We gotta get out of here!"

The hedgehog frowned. "But how? We're stuck here as long as there is a threat from those bandits."

The fox tapped his chin. "That's it! If we can create a defense system for the village, the Gogobas will be safe and we can leave!"

Tails smiled. "That's smart! Then maybe the Gogobas would stop guilt tripping them for enough time for them to finally get out of there!" Man, his double was really dependable! Except for that sleepover, but that was forgiven. Everyone made mistakes.

"Hopefully." Sonic leaned forward on his knees. "'Cause wow…those villagers are just…" He paused to think. "Isn't this some kind of kidnapping? I'm pretty sure it is. Why haven't their other friends called the cops yet?"

Knuckles snorted. "Because the other Amy's probably dreaming about that Sonic-" Amy glared at him and Sonic shuddered. "-Sticks is no doubt rolling around in mud somewhere, and my twin's probably talking to a wall and waiting for it to respond to him."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah…I can see that."

Sonic put a hand on his hip. "Yeah, but what if I'm right and they're just nuts?"

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

It was daytime now. The heroes were preparing a defense system for the village, creating rope traps, setting up lasers, camouflaging the ropes with leaves, and finally pulling up a bamboo cage up into the trees. Once done, Sonic wiped the sweat off his brow and gave the kit a thumbs up.

"Taking notes, doctor?"

"Metal, you may have brought us food, but I still despise you with all my being."

The brothers stood in front of the members of the village. Sonic opened his mouth and gestured to the hanging cages. "Gogoba Village, allow us to present your new state-of-the-art defense system!"

"You no longer need us to protect you from invaders, and the best part is…it's totally fool-proof!" Tails said confidently.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Tails bit his lip. The way his twin said it meant that it wasn't completely fool-proof.

"Goodbye friends!" Sonic chirped before he and Tails waved, walking away. Just as they turn their backs, a siren went off. Then there was the sound of ropes pulling and cages hitting the ground. The heroes faced the villagers again only to see that they were the ones trapped in system. Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh come on!"

"Seriously?" Tails explosively sighed.

Amy puffed out her cheeks in anger. "Those guys are the worst! Sonic and Tails helped them out, and they just ruined it! What in the world is their goal here?"

"They don't have one," Knuckles simply said. "They're just crazy."

The chief was hanging upside down by a rope. "I'm so sorry. I wish I had a better excuse, but it's hard to concentrate while all the blood is rushing to my head."

"We'll just hang here until we go numb," a Gogoba behind him said.

"And our bodies will reflect our emotional state!" another one piped up.

"I would just leave them there to rot without any remorse."

"You know, that's probably the reason you haven't shown up yet, Shads."

After getting them down, Sonic and Tails were strolling around the village.

"We can totally fight Eggman or bandits, but…how do we fight guilt?" the fox asked helplessly.

Sonic thought for a second before snapping his fingers. "With more guilt! Follow my lead!" He grabbed Tails' arm and ran off.

"That actually might work!" Sonic smiled, seeing the light at the end of the guilt-ridden tunnel.

Eggman doubted it. "Do you really believe in your double's guilt-tripping abilities, cactus?"

"I have to!" Sonic scratched his nose. "'Cause if that doesn't work, then they're just stuck there. No hope of escaping."

Amy was going to say that her double could probably track them down, but then she'd be pulled into that horrible trap too. For all of their sakes, let this work!

The heroes approached the chief, who was sitting outside of his home. Sonic raised a hand in greeting. "Hey uh, Chief! It's been great and all, but unfortunately, we have to go now."

"But we haven't finished stitching your friendship quilt!" The Gogoba pointed to the side, revealing a villager working on the quilt with a picture of Sonic, Tails, and the Gogobas prancing under clouds and a smiling sun.

Knuckles clenched a fist. "Just tear it apart! Who cares about a stupid quilt?!"

Tails shot him a grin. "But then they might choke on the fibers or something."

"Tails, do you want me to come over there?"

The smug chief and a serious Sonic then stare each other down, a tumbleweed passing between them.

Amy's ears twitched when a particular sound cue came from the screen. "Was that…old Western music?"

Sonic chuckled. "It does look like a stand-off! There's tumbleweed and everything!"

Shadow wasn't satisfied. "There is a disappointing lack of guns."

Metal nodded. "There is not nearly enough violence."

The blue hedgie pursed his lips. "I seriously want to know what happens in the episodes where you two show up." It couldn't be anything good.

"That makes me think…" Tails glimpsed at Metal. "He might be a toaster when we see him, but-" the kid focused on Shadow. "-but we don't know how Shadow will act."

"True!" Sonic smirked over at his rival, imagining the many personalities the others could have. "I mean, Knuckles is a total idiot there, so you could be a pacifist hippie for all we know!"

Shadow glared at him, but realized that horrible possibility. If his twin was different from him in any way, he was going to lose it.

"Alright." Sonic cleared his throat. "Well, we could stay, but our plants back home…without us to water them…" He shrugged. "Oh well, I suppose it's their own fault for being plants."

"Ooo…" Knuckles leaned forward a bit. "Yeah, it sounds completely stupid, but he might be doing something here."

Amy wasn't so sure. "I don't know…he's comparing the welfare of plants to people…"

The chief wasn't bothered in the slightest. "No, you have to go. Far be it from us to let the wellbeing of our entire society hold you back from watering your precious house plants."

"See!"

It was Tails' turn. "No, your wellbeing is much more important. I mean, if the plants need water so badly, they can walk to the kitchen and get it themselves." He finished with a smirk.

Tails looked over at Amy, proud of this quick-thinking double. "Still think their argument won't work?"

Amy rolled her eyes, a smile on her muzzle. "Okay, okay, their comebacks are really good! I'll admit that."

The Gogoba just smiled, thinking for a moment. "Oh no, we've just met, but you've known your plants for a long time! Go to them! We'll be fine."

Sonic squinted his eyes in thought. "But in all that time, the plants have never given us anything…except oxygen."

"And nutrition." Tails added.

"Goin' for the hard hitters!" Sonic's hopes were rising swiftly. But then he wondered something. "Hey Metal, how long we got?"

"Approximately four minutes."

Sonic blinked. "Four minutes? Are they really about to lose this? Sure, the topic of their argument could've been better, but they're makn' it work!"

"Maybe they do win and…something else happens afterwards?" Tails guessed, trying to keep his positively.

Sonic and Tails both smirk. The two sides stare each other down again, but this time the chief's smile was gone. Seconds ticked by until the villager finally gave up.

The chief slumped, ears subtly drooping. "Alright, you win. We can't keep you here. You should go."

Most of the room cheered.

Eggman couldn't believe that actually worked. There went his own guilt tripping plan…

Sonic perked up. "Seriously?"

The Gogoba waved them off. "Yeah. Go. Leave us. Goodbye forever."

Amy giggled. "He's trying so hard to pull them back in! Save your breath, you crazy!"

Sonic was more than relieved. "Thanks for everything, Chief!" He shook the reluctant rodent's hand. A few Gogobas stepped up to the leader's side as the heroes strolled away.

"Call to let us know that you made it home, okay?" The chief shouted at their backs. Sonic rolled his eyes as the other continued, "Otherwise, we'll just sit here and worry."

"If they do that, then I swear I'm going to find a way to punch them both in the face," Knuckles grunted lowly.

Sonic and Tails were now approaching the hedgehog's shack with their hoverboards tucked under their arms. The blue blur had a burger in his other hand, having stopped somewhere to pick it up.

"I'm going to pretend that it isn't a Meh burger so I won't throw up," Amy said with a cringe.

"I thought we'd never get out of there!" Tails exclaimed as they propped the hoverboards against the side of the shack.

Sonic snorted. "Well, at least we're finally back hoooo-" The pair of heroes stared in shock inside of the home, not expecting the Gogobas to be lounging around the place.

"Are you kidding me?!" Sonic exclaimed. "How in the heck did they get there so fast?!"

"A better question is how did they know where they lived?" Tails was stupefied. Those villagers didn't give up easily, did they?

Amy furrowed her brow. "So they're stalkers now? They've gone too far!"

"Ironic, coming from you."

Her heated jade orbs fell on Metal. "Hush you! There's no way you can understand the power of true love!"

The robot's opticals flashed. "No, however I do understand desperation."

"I am not desperate! I can get any boy I'd like because I'm beautiful!" She turned to her neighbors. "Right Knuckles? Shadow?"

The echidna avoided eye contact. "We're friends, so saying anything would be awkward."

Shadow didn't have enough damns to give. "Think what you want."

An angry red dusted her cheeks after hearing those answers. "What's that supposed to mean?!" There was silence. She crossed her arms and huffed, mumbling that she was perfection gift-wrapped in a hedgehog's skin.

Even though Amy hadn't been yelling at him, Sonic was glad that this conversation was over.

The chief, sitting at a table, greeted them. "Welcome home!"

Sonic dropped his burger.

The hatted villager spoke on. "We had to let ourselves in, since you don't have a door."

"Or any cold beverages or snacks." One Gogoba grinned.

The chief gestured to their mess. "But don't worry. We made do."

"Every single one of them need to be drop-kicked," Knuckles suggested, leaning a bit away from the fuming Amy. He had absolutely refused to open that can of worms.

Sonic stomped over, emitting rage. "What are you doing here?!"

Sonic was a little shocked. "Whoa…he's finally gettin' angry!"

"We'd figured that if we were here, you could keep protecting us and in exchange, we could water those house plants of yours." The chief glanced around. "Where are those by the way?"

"Was that the reason they invaded?" Amy asked, not completely over the earlier conversation. But who cared about what those two thought, anyway? No one! "So they could catch Sonic and Tails in their lie?"

"They should've been attacked by those weasels on the way over…" Eggman would've never thought that he and those rodents would be on the same side of an argument, but those Gogobas needed to go away forever.

Sonic attempted to attack him, but Tails stopped the hedgie.

"No, Tails! Get out of the way!"

"We're heroes, Knux, remember that."

The chief peered over his shoulder. "And that's not all we've done for you."

A Gogoba held up pieces of paper. "We've opened all your mall."

Another villager shook opened aluminum cans. "And we uncanned all your food!"

Sonic growled in anger.

Shadow rose a brow at that. If the other threw a punch, he'd be very amused.

The hatted Gogoba went over to the answering machine. "Next, we'll check all your messages." He pressed a button on it.

"Gimme that!" Sonic ordered as he snatched it away from the intruder.

"Well, we learned that the other Sonic has a shorter fuse than ours…" Tails observed.

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe. But I think that anyone would be mad when people barge into their house, especially ones who no one wants to be around ever."

The answering machine beeped. "You have four messages." It beeped again.

Eggman's voice came through.

"Of course." Eggman knew that this was coming, but he still had wishful thinking. He knew better than to have that next time. Every irritating episode he has to show up…

Sonic patted him on his shoulder. "It's okay, Eggy! Now my twin probably has something to take his anger out on!"

The doctor grumbled under his breath.

"Hey Sonic! It's Doctor Eggman! Just so you know, I'm planning to blow up the dam this Sunday. Hope to see you there! Not that you can stop me!" The human laughed.

"Just blow it up! Why would you want to tell him-" Eggman cut himself with a sigh. Why did he even bother? His twin was never going to learn and this experience would never get any better.

Sonic stared at the machine in confusion when that message ended only for another to take its place.

It was still Eggman. "Hey, I'm here at the dam. Just waiting on you now. Gonna blow it up any second now. Bet you don't wanna miss it."

Eggman groaned. "How many are there?"

"Enough for a laugh!" Sonic snickered. "It's needed after what those Gogobas did!"

Sonic looked unamused.

There was yet another message. "Oh! Sorry, wrong dial. Didn't mean to call you."

The speedster leaned at the table, drumming his fingers on the wood in boredom.

"I'm thinking that this happens a lot." Tails chuckled, seeing how the other speedster was so unbothered by this. "Which is weird."

"Extremely so," Eggman muttered.

Sonic laughed out loud. "I dunno Egghead, callin' before doing any of your schemes would help us out plenty!"

The doctor didn't bother replying.

The last message came through. "Alright! It was a trick! I was gonna ambush you, but you didn't even have the decency to show up! That's really rude, Sonic!" There was another beep.

"Rude? The doctor has more things to worry about than my copy's copy being rude. Like his lowering intelligence level." Metal twirled his finger around his leash, slightly regretting lashing out without thinking about the consequences. He would truly have to wait until this was over to complete his objective. Unfortunately.

"Wow." The chief had been entertained by that. "That guy can't take a hint."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Says the one who guilt tripped two guys into staying in their village after saving their butts and who had broke into someone else's house."

Amy wasn't one to have grudges for too long. And plus, she was stuck in here for hours. Having a grudge would be a waste of energy. She didn't want to become like Shadow, tired and cranky and more homicidal than normal. She glanced at the echidna. "Maybe he's like your twin and he hit his head one too many times?"

Knuckles was a bit relieved that a particular hammer wasn't going to be materialized any time soon. "More like five too many times."

A whistle then came from outside of the shack. Sonic ran out of the door to see Eggman and his robots ready to attack.

Eggman huffed. "Well, well, look who it is! Mr. I-don't-have-time-to-show-up-to-Dr. Eggman's-ambush!"

Sonic groaned as Tails and a few Gogobas exited the shack as well. "Ugh, this is a really bad time, Egghead."

Sonic scoffed. "You know if I'm not amped to see a horde of easily defeated robots, then it's definitely a bad time."

Eggman folded his arms across his chest. "Anytime he shows up is a bad time. He doesn't know when to give up."

The blue blur smirked at him. "And you do?"

"We aren't talking about me here, rodent!"

Eggman blinked. "No problem. I'll come back later when you're ready." He walked off a few steps before running back and pointing. "Just kidding! Robots, attack!"

The robots rushed forward, and Sonic instantly destroyed three of them with his spin dash. Tails was having trouble dodging a Bee bot's lasers because of two scared Gogobas holding his arms.

"They've already done enough!" Tails was worried. "Don't get my twin hurt too!"

"Excuse me!" He side stepped a beam. "It's really hard to-" He dodged again. "Whoa! Would you mind?" The villagers eventually let him go, and he picked up a nearby stick. He smashed two of the flying bots with it.

Knuckles deadpanned. "The villagers are going to get in the way, aren't they?"

The chief strolled into the battlefield with his cane as Sonic fought in the background. "Oh pardon me. I didn't mean to get in the way of your deranged evil rampage."

"Called it."

Sonic noticed him in the middle of the fray. He took out some Bee bots before pushing the chief out of the battlefield. "Out of the way!"

Shadow heavily sighed. Was at least one dead body too much to ask?

Tails destroyed a Crab bot as Sonic carried the leader to safety, placing him on a rock.

"This isn't working!" Sonic called to the fox. "We can't keep fighting around these Gogobas!"

"Fight them then. It would be cathartic."

Knuckles glanced over at Shadow, who had seen better days. Probably because he'd gotten a good night's sleep before said days. "Are you okay?"

"I'm never okay."

"Alright." The guardian left it at that.

"Maybe we should fight over them!" Tails suggested before sprinting over to the hoverboards and throwing Sonic his.

The speedster caught it as Tails hopped on his own. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Tails is really the star player in this one!" Amy chirped.

"I know!" The kit was really happy that his double hadn't strayed down a dark path like a specific echidna. Hopefully he stayed like this the whole show.

The fox flew high in the sky, a group of Bee bots following after him. He grinned as he aimed right for another group of hovering robots in front of him. At the right time, he backflipped, causing the two hordes of Bee bots to crash into each other and explode.

The Gogobas cheered as the beach was littered with metallic parts.

"Y'know, they could just go were the fighting isn't." Sonic mused. "They aren't trapped on the beach like how our twins were caught in their mind trap."

"They don't care about themselves, remember?" Knuckles reminded him.

On his hoverboard, Sonic rushed a few robots, and before they could attack, he bashed into them. They ended up in pieces. "Take that!" Sonic taunted.

The heroes then sped toward each other and held hands, moving quickly in a circle and destroying any robot that came close. All of the bots were out of commission.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" Eggman cried out in frustration.

Amy just shook her head. "He seriously can't be surprised! That robot horde wasn't even that big!"

"He's just mad that he got stood up." Sonic chortled.

Beside him, the chief was stroking his beard. "I suppose it was our own fault, for being in the way."

Eggman jabbed a finger at him. "Yeah, you know what? It was your fault! I usually win at these things!"

"His pants should be aflame."

Tails nodded at Sonic's statement. "Either he's really confident in his…subpar tactics, or he has chronic short-term memory loss."

Picturing Orbot or Cubot whacking his double hard enough in the head with pillows to cause that made Eggman feel warm inside.

Sonic and Tails approached them, the former asking the human, "Hey, are you trying to steal our new teammates?"

Eggman rose a brow. "New teammates?"

"Yeah!" Tails agreed, him and Sonic clearly up to something. "We couldn't have won this battle without the Gogobas."

Sonic caught onto what was going on. "They're gonna hand the Gogobas over to Eggy!"

Amy grinned. "Now both the villagers and Eggman are going to bother each other!"

The hedgehog nodded. "And if they joined up with you, it'll be like you won this battle. You'd be unstoppable!"

Eggman was buying it. "Yeah…I would, wouldn't I?"

Eggman face-palmed so forcefully that his forehead turned red.

The leader looked slightly concerned for a moment. "We wish to stay with our protector, Sonic." He looked at the blue blur.

"Fine. Let poor Eggman suffer the humiliation of defeat after defeat, even though you could help him," the speedster said, using the Gogoba's trick against him.

"Bet they regret exposing our doubles to that mind trap!" Seeing this made Sonic happy. There would be no more guilt tripping, no more Gogobas, and no more Western stand-offs…wait. Not the last thing. Those could stay.

The chief was hesitant. "Well…"

"Come on, crowny. What's an evil genius gotta do to get you to switch sides?" Eggman bargained.

"We pretty much bend a knee to the nearest tyrant who wants to enslave us." The leader breathed out.

Sonic and Tails shared a victorious look.

Sonic and Tails high-fived even though they technically didn't do anything.

"Done and done! Follow me." Eggman began to walk off with the Gogobas in tow. "So long, losers!" He grinned at the heroes before addressing his new charges. "Um, march in unison please. I like organized followers."

"He's more than an insecure bully than an evil genius." Eggman commented, figuring out what category to put his other self in.

"He is all insecure bully, actually." Metal mended. "There is no drip of evil or genius in him. At least you have a teaspoon of malicious intent in you."

"That's the best compliment you've ever given me, Metal."

"Do not get used to it."

Once they were gone, the brotherly duo fist bumped.

At Eggman's lair, the Gogobas were having breakfast.

"Hey, do you have any unsalted butter?" the leader asked Eggman. "It's not a problem if you don't. I'll just have an allergic reaction that'll make me smell like feet, but don't worry about it."

Eggman was rubbing his temples in anguish before deciding to bang his head against his couch.

Eggman could sympathize with him one hundred percent.

Knuckles stretched his arms over his head. "I'd rather deal with Dave and that beaver multiple times over than see those people again."

Sonic mulled it over. "Dave yeah, the beaver…eh."

"Those Gogobas aside…" Tails started. "I liked this episode because the good guys didn't anything overly stupid."

Shadow scoffed.

Amy played with her hanging quills. "Not hurting people isn't stupid, Shadow."

"It is relative." Metal defended the striped hedgie.

Knuckles patted his stomach. "Can we stop talking about this one though? I honestly want to forget about this episode and never think about it again."

"I hear ya! We can go to the next episode…" Sonic hopped up out of his seat, his smile cheeky. "…after I get some more grub. Anyone else still hungry?"

Remember readers: you're not you when you're hungry.

Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome!