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I fired at the pair of animals who were blocking my way to the Master Emerald. They anticipated it and dodged it. That's about all I could do with the plane, so I set it to auto-park and bailed, landing in front of the two. I beat him last time - I'm about to do it again, too!

"Sorry, Eggman, but we'll be taking the Master Emerald!" I crossed my arms.

"And now you've got me to fight, too!" I noticed a pair of metal sleeves wrapped around Knuckles's tails.

"Nice tail-gloves," I taunted.

"Glad you like 'em - they're for you!" Before I could do or say anything, he dashed at me faster than I'd ever seen the little fox go before. The next thing I saw was the pair of metal sleeves colliding with my face as a wave of pain tore through my head. I was knocked from the altar, so I hid in the foliage for a minute to recover from the blow.

x-x-x

"Nice one, Knux," I complimented, "but that's your body, so be careful!"

"I can live with a few broken bones," he stated. "Let's get the Master Emerald to safety!"

I nodded in agreement and spotted the Tornado 3. I sped to the plane and flew it to the altar. I tossed one end of the tow cable to Knuckles. "Attach this to the Master Emerald. Hurry, though - I don't think he'll stay down for long!"

Knuckles finished hooking up the tow cable to the Master Emerald and hopped into the plane. As we were taking off, something in the plane made a bumping sound. I assumed it was the tow cable adjusting to the weight and continued the ascent.

x

"Hey, Tails,"

"Yeah?"

"How did this whole body switching mess start?" I pursed my lips, recalling the past few days.

"Well… It all started after Eggman built this machine that could switch people's bodies, I guess. It was that day we visited you at Angel Island. After you tackled me - while we were rolling around - was when it happened. He intended to get you, but missed. He knew you weren't good at technology, so he was going to keep you locked in his base while he stole the Master Emerald. I hacked out of the base, though, and established communication with him. We were at a stalemate for five days - until I launched the Egg Carrier 2. I wanted to catch Eggman with it, but caught Sonic instead. I used his body to try and kidnap Eggman, but he'd already switched with you. Sonic is now in Eggman's base. You know the rest." Knuckles hummed in consideration.

"Alright, so what are we doing now?"

"Picking up Sonic."

"Solid plan."

x-x-x

I clung to the wheels of the Tornado 3. I was afraid I had bumped the plane too hard when I grabbed on, but they seemed not to notice. According to Tails, they were going to pick up Sonic at my base. I suppose I could steal the Master Emerald with the Eggmobile if we land in the hangar, but… they'd definitely notice… That leaves one thing left to do… I bided my time until we landed. Luckily, we landed in the hangar - right next to the Eggmobile! Tails and Knuckles left the plane and entered the base.

I landed on the ground and approached the Master Emerald. Without second thoughts, I buried my fists into it once - twice - thrice before it shattered into twelve pieces. I grabbed an armful - about five pieces - before the rest scattered throughout the world. I knew that Knuckles had seen the pieces of the Master Emerald; I heard a string of curses directed at me as I rose into the air and left the base.

x-x-x

"That's my mouth you're using - please don't use it like that…"

"Eggman just shattered the Master Emerald! I don't give a d-"

"Knuckles!" Sonic and I shouted in unison.

"Fine…" He crossed his arms.

"Got any chaos emeralds," I asked Sonic.

"Yeah, two, why?" I smiled.

"Where?"

"At your house, in the safe we always hide them in."

"Cool… Be back in five!"

x

I was back in six.

"You're late," Sonic commented.

"Yeah, whatever. We're about to take any emeralds that Eggman has. If it starts glowing, call me." I tossed the yellow emerald to Knuckles, keeping the green one for myself.

"What am I supposed to do?" I looked at Sonic sympathetically - he hasn't done anything all day!

"I dunno - read a book or something!" I glared at Knuckles.

"Go to the kitchen and get some tin foil." Sonic looked at me questioningly, but did as I said. We each parted ways in search of chaos emeralds and tin foil.

x

Knuckles brought back one chaos emerald and Sonic brought back a roll of tin foil.

"What'd you bring to the party, Tails?" Knuckles was stifling a laugh.

"A plan," I answered bluntly. I wrapped my head in tin foil and passed the roll to Knuckles. I received a look of utter confusion. "If he tries to switch with any of us, the tin foil will block the signal."

Understanding the reasoning, Sonic and Knuckles wrapped their heads with the tin foil.

"Now, about the Master Emerald." The two immediately began to listen. "If we collect even just one piece, Eggman can't have the whole Master Emerald. So that's what we'll do."

"Sounds good to me," Knuckles commented.

"Now, about getting you into a useful body." Sonic payed even more attention. "A year or so ago, I built this mech with high ROM capacity. I gave up coding it and put it in storage, but now I think we have a use for it - we're gonna switch you into it!"

"What about Eggman's body?"

"What about it? It only transfers consciousness, the brain stem will work just fine - his body will still do the stuff that it does on its own, just without a consciousness. We'll hook him up to an IV or something for nourishment." Sonic nodded.

"Wait, we don't have that machine!" I silenced his concern.

"No problem!"

x

I had a new Switcher™ constructed, packaged, and brought to the hangar. We attached it to the tow cable and I started the plane.

"Wait - before we go, you two wanna wreck the place?" Both Knuckles and I looked Sonic's idea, so we trashed Eggman's base - and I took a free things for myself - before leaving.

"That was a wonderful idea, Sonic," I praised.

"I know. Just wait until he gets back!"

I hope everyone enjoyed! All reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you next chapter!