Disclaimer- I don't own any Sonic the hedgehog characters. They all belong to SEGA.

Premonition

Chapter 26

"Rope?" At Knuckles' seemingly random statement, Sonic's gaze dropped down to his wrists. He couldn't stop the teasing smirk from growing on his lips even if he wanted to. An amused snort left him, "I guess that'll do in keeping Sunny-side up restrained… Well, only if you aren't the one doin' the job."

The guardian's grin slipped off his muzzle faster than one could say 'Wrong move'. "My knots are just fine, thank you!"

"I beg to differ," the small movement of his hands accompanied the speedster's smart retort.

Shadow had to prevent the urge to groan in exasperation as he took a step to cut off the echidna's path to the insufferable hedgehog. If there was any doubt that Sonic was in fact still remotely like himself, then this took care of that. Faker didn't miss opportunity to taunt another, no matter the situation.

A black ear twitched at the sound of a deep growl behind him. "Move out the way Shadow! He's asking for it!"

"Maybe I misunderstood, but I didn't hear a question come from him." The Ultimate Lifeform didn't know why he was defending his bluer double. Probably because a conscious amnesiac hedgehog would be better to work with than an unconscious one. But Shadow was seriously rethinking that theory.

Knuckles took a step back and crossed his arms, ignoring the extremely rousing victorious look on the blue blur's face. "Whose side are you on anyway? He was practically gloating that he got himself free and had the chance to attack us earlier!"

"I'm not on any side," Shadow responded wondering where Tails was so they could all just shut up and get moving. "I am however opposed to additional fighting when it's not necessary. Especially since we just finished doing so."

"Fine." Knuckles huffed and glanced away before mumbling, "I'll get him later. No one insults me and gets away with it…"

Rouge rolled her teal eyes, "Stop whining Red. You should be used to Sonic's, well…personality by now." Her expression then turned devious not unlike the azure hero's before her, "And by the way, you pretty much set that up for him."

The blaze in the guardian's violet orbs reignited. "I did not-"

He was interrupted by the sound of a slamming door. The attention of the group shifted to a specific two-tailed kit hovering over with arms filled with different things. There was still traces of moisture on Tails' face that didn't go unnoticed.

His smile was sheepish, "Sorry it took so long! I picked up some extra stuff." The kit held an emergency pair of red running shoes and gloves out to Sonic. Tails' namesakes swished behind him as his brother took them, and the fox continued when he received the predicted 'Thanks', "We always kept these incase something like this happened." The young Mobian turned to Knuckles when the hedgehog began the task of switching out footwear and palmed the rope, "Here so you can tie up Egg-"

The guardian's eye twitched when Sonic expectedly scoffed. "Oh don't give it to Dreadlocks. Eggman would most definitely give us the slip then."

"For crying out loud." Knuckles grabbed the rope from Tails' hand a little rougher than he meant to, but the kit didn't hold it against him. The day the echidna didn't get riled up by Sonic was the day the young genius quit having two tails.

Knuckles stomped his way over to the unconscious doctor and started to tie up the human's wrists. "I'll show you hedgehog," he tore the piece of rope from the roll with his teeth before moving to Eggman's ankles. The guardian's lips then curved upwards when he glanced back at Sonic, "The last person who doubted my skills ended up at the bottom of a lake."

The hero's face paled. Knuckles wished he had a camera.

"Don't listen to Knuckles, Sonic! He's just teasing!" Amy consoled with a giggle, pointedly looking down at the blue hedgie to avoid the heated gaze in her direction. "He's never done that!"

Don't listen to Knuckles.

The speedster frowned a bit and shrugged. "I'm over it. S'not like he'll do it to me anyway."

You'd be surprised, Knuckles thought while he stepped away from Eggman, done with his task.

Sonic stood up and dusted himself off, careful not to agitate his wounds. "What I'm not over is this stupid mind control." He focused on Tails, "Now that the doctor's all tied up, can we go on with your plan now?"

"We could…" The kit trailed off as he placed the first-aid kit on the grassy ground. "…but I was thinking that you'd want to treat those burns first." He opened it and pulled out healing cream along with gauze. Tails straightened up, eying the places were the burns were really noticeable until he eventually met Sonic's questioning gaze. "You don't mind, do you?" It wasn't like someone would be against getting fixed up, but Tails wanted to ask anyway. Sonic hadn't had the chance to make choices lately.

"Nope," the speedster uttered, reaching out for the jar of cream. He was more than happy to take the salve out of the yellow kit's hands. The burns didn't hurt exactly if he stood still or moved around, but he'd be lying if the slight sting wasn't irritating. That plus the small twinges of pain from the cuts he'd received equaled an unhappy Sonic.

"Who would ever turn it down?" The blue blur asked with a chuckle as he unscrewed the top. He pulled off his mangled glove with the help of his mouth before dunking two fingers into the cold substance. Sonic was about to apply it to his arm until he paused and glanced at Tails who was waiting with the gauze in his grasp, a content expression on his face. He looked happy with the knowledge that he was helping out a friend. A friend who seriously didn't deserve it.

The yellow Mobian, seeing Sonic hesitate, immediately questioned, "What's wrong?" Tails' confusion deepened when expressive emeralds shifted up to focus on his forehead. He took the hedgehog's glove out of his mouth so he could understand the answer.

"It's just that…I'm sorry for throwing the phone at you earlier." The hero muttered as he rubbed the cream on his arm before moving to his stomach after snapping his gaze away from the bruise left there from the projectile. The sooner I start the re-bonding process, the better. "Actually, I'm glad you did it so-" He took in a sharp breath when a burn really stung when he rubbed on the salve, "-so I wouldn't be under Eggman's control anymore." No control would be a hundred times better, that's coming soon though. Sonic threw Tails a grin, "Pretty smart if I say so myself."

"We're glad he did it too. If not, it would've been battle royale in there. Again."

"That's true, but I don't think it wouldn't have been as bad as before." The jewel thief laughed to herself, making the Ultimate Lifeform raise a brow at her. She smiled furtively, "I'm sure I would have just used my special attack then."

Sonic cringed at the reminder of the bat's 'hit below the belt'.

"Especially happy I dodged that bullet."

Tails chuckled at the hedgehog's reaction before responding to what the hero had said earlier, "Thanks! The idea came to me after I ran into the garage cr…" he became sheepish, "Well, you know…" the fox bounced right back, eyes sparkling, "I guessed that all that was needed was Eggman's voice, not the man himself." Tails took the jar back when Sonic was finished and began to assist with wrapping the gauze, more than happy that his bro was impressed.

"Hey can you toss me the jar?"

Tails cocked his head over at Knuckles, but did it anyway. "Sure! How'd you get burned?"

The echidna bent down to apply the cream on his leg, grumbling, "Stupid robot got lucky when Bokkun made me get hit."

"Bokkun?" Sonic perked up, looking around the clearing, "I forgot that little troublemaker was here. Where is he?"

The G.U.N. agent jabbed a thumb over her shoulder over to the tree line, "Tied up and powered down like everything else out here."

"Great!" Sonic took a small step to the side when Foxy started to nibble on the cloth around his leg. The speedster took a step forward as soon as Tails was down wrapping his head to protect the exposed and healing stitches there. The azure Mobian sneered over in the slumped bot's direction. "Time to take him apart!"

"W-Wait!" Amy caught his arm before he could take a step, "Don't-!"

"And why not?" Sonic huffed. So it doesn't activate when I cut them off…would've been useful before.

The pinkette actually had to think of an answer. Somehow, with the increasing number of robots Sonic had trashed, Bokkun always stayed in one piece. "Just because…?"

"Just because." The blue blur echoed dully.

"What I think she's trying to say is that we've never had a reason to really." Tails explained, offering the roll to Knuckles who took it thankfully. "That and maybe the fact that he has a personality?" The kit stretched. Honestly, the robot's childlike nature was most likely the reason Sonic left him alone for the most part, but the hero now was out for revenge.

Sonic shook off Amy's hand. "Personality or not…" He sped (still slower than normal, mind you. Feeling lightheaded was not something he missed) over to the limp messenger bot, ripped him from the tree, and returned to his spot. The hedgehog took hold of one of Bokkun's arms, getting ready to pull, "…He's gotta pay for what he did right? I mean, he did lead me to the Omelet's place anyway."

"I think we should-"

There was a pop.

"Oops." Sonic said in faux innocence as he dropped the thin arm to the ground. He then tossed the body into the hovercraft, hitting the doctor right in the face.

"-nevermind." Tails sighed.

"I wasn't totally against that." Shadow said, and if one would look closely, they could see the beginnings of an amused smile.

Knuckles gave the kit back the gauze with a smirk, "Me neither." He then stretched his sore muscles, ready to get the show on the road. "So are we good now? Because I'd rather be in the doctor's lab when he comes to."

Sonic put a hand on his hip, trying to take his mind away from how similar he must've looked like a mummy at the moment. "Why? Don't believe in your tying skills with a moving captive?" There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as he glanced at the other Mobians. "See? I told you that someone else shoulda done it!" Laughter was clearly laced in his tone.

Before Knuckles could retaliate, Tails hastily cut in, "Yeah we're set to go!" He lowered his voice when he effectively diffused the situation, "If no one else needs a little patch up, I mean." There was an all-around negative from the group. "Awesome!" Tails replaced the items back in the bag, "I'll just take this back-"

"I'll do it." The fox jumped a bit when Sonic took the first-aid kit out of his hand. He looked up to a grinning face. "Gotta drop Foxy off in there anyway, so might as well." Tails saw the red fox nuzzled up against Sonic's chest before nodding, not seeing the harm in it. He watched his bro jog off before a thought came to him.

"You might want to put him in the garage! The living room isn't exactly…"

The blue blur peeked over his shoulder with an unreadable expression on his face before nodding.

"Speaking of that Tails…" Amy started, grimacing at the picture of blood in the couches and carpet in the home. "How are you going to clean all of that up?"

The yellow Mobian tapped his chin, "Well, I already figured out that I will have to get the furniture replaced. And I'm sure some tweaking to the vacuum cleaner is all that's needed to get the red out of the carpet."

He was met with silence.

"Honey." Rogue folded her arms in front of herself, "The last time you 'tweaked' something, it caused the biggest power surge on record. And it was because you wanted the microwave to cook food faster."

"Heh. Or we could just install a new carpet…"

"So…amnesia huh? What happened to you?"

"I'm saying the same thing I said before hedgehog: you're going to get your memory back, so I'm not wasting my time telling the story."

"Oh come on! All we have is time! I'm seriously dying from boredom waiting for Humpty Dumpty to wake up!" Sonic groaned, throwing his arms in the air as he spun around to walk slowly backwards on the treadmill he was on. He sent a weak glare over Shadow's way, who was lazily cycling on a stationary bike. The blue speedster had suggested that they go to the exercise room in the lab thirty minutes ago to kill time once it was clear that Eggman wasn't showing signs of waking up soon. Shadow, nearly drained from preforming a Chaos Control to get them all to the massive building, didn't refuse the offer.

They had left the rest of the group in the main room to watch over the doctor; Tails had begun to busy himself by attempting to break in to the scientist's computer. Maybe if he got in and found blueprints, they wouldn't need Eggman. Rouge said that she would get the duo when the fatso woke up.

"Then run," the Ultimate Lifeform provided, chaos reserves nearly refilled by now.

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Even that can get boring after a while."

Shadow nearly fell out his seat in surprise. Am I even talking to Faker right now?! He quickly recomposed himself, schooling his facial expression back into one of neutrality. "Well then I apologize for not knowing that I was agreeing to babysit a two-year-old child who couldn't entertain themselves for more than two minutes when I came here."

The blue hedgehog gaped like a fish for a moment, mind going haywire, before resorting to simply crossing his arms and glaring. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

"I'm the jerk?" Shadow scoffed before increasing the incline of the bike, "If you say so."

"And what do you mean by that?" Sonic asked even though he knew exactly what the other was referring to. "The jerkiness was kind of forced upon me, thank you very much."

"You think you're the only one?" Shadow muttered to himself, but unfortunately for him, the Faker had heard.

Sonic rose a brow, "What was that?" He hopped down off the treadmill and made his way toward his darker rival. An arrogant grin grew on his muzzle, "Care to repeat it?"

"It was nothing, hedgehog." Shadow continued to pedal and tried to block the other out.

Keyword: tried.

"Nothing my behind!" Sonic poked him in his side, inwardly cackling at the twitch he received. Shadow was going to crack sooner or later. "I sense a little bit of drama in that story of yours, or maybe some angst? Tragedy?" Another twitch. "Definitely tragedy then. Come on, just tell me!"

"No."

Poke. "It'll make time go faster!"

"I don't care."

Poke. "Don't make me attack you again!"

Too far? Too far.

Shadow glared at him, "For the last time no. Don't ask me again."

Don't ask him again.

Sonic's mouth snapped shut before opening again, sounding exasperated, "Why and how am I even friends with you?"

Shadow's glare melted into a dry look, "Story of my life ever since you pulled me into your circle."

Before the blue hero could attempt to ask again in a loophole-y way, Rouge poked her head in and gave a little knock. "Guess what boys, the doctor's up. He isn't happy, but we all knew that already." She stepped in a bit and leaned on the metal door frame, grinning knowingly, "And he doesn't want to talk."

And Sonic was bored no more. "Well, then it looks like I'm going to have to change that huh?" He chuckled to himself as they all made their way back to where the others were.

The trip barely took five minutes.

Sonic entered and immediately focused on the doctor sitting up on the floor, the last traces of oblivion leaving his system. Bokkun was still turned off, but it seemed like Eggman didn't care at the moment, glaring between Tails at his computer and Knuckles in front of him who was all business.

"Tell us the password before we tear this whole place apart!" The echidna clenched his fists, and, behind him, Amy materialized her hammer for added effect.

Eggman wasn't swayed. He barked out a haughty laugh, "Do you think that would encourage me to help you? Get information from my databases no less! Every single one of you annoyances are crazy." The doctor challenged Knuckles with a confident grin. "Nothing you break of mine will change my mind. Looks like you're out a luck-"

"Really?" Sonic strolled into his line of sight and smirked at the sudden scowl on the man's face, "I say we're pretty damned lucky. You being so easy to knock out and all." The hedgehog squatted down in from of the doctor and rapped his knuckles against one of the bruises on Eggman's head. The smirk grew when he saw the badly veiled wince. "Aaannnnd I think you were lying about that nothing we break'll get you to crack."

Eggman rose an eyebrow, hating the rodent in front of him with everything he had. Why can't I ever win? He should've never escaped the fire! "Oh? And why do you think that, you walking pincushion?"

Sonic's smirk turned into a sneer as he brought attention to his previously broken arm, "Ever heard of the saying 'eye for an eye', doctor?"

Eggman's, along with most of the other Mobians', eyes widened, immediately getting what the hedgehog was implying. The rotund man then narrowed them, appearing unafraid even though on the inside worry was bubbling up. He'd seen what the blue rat was capable of. And now that Sonic was against him once more…

"You wouldn't dare," Eggman growled out, hoping beyond hope that some of the rodent's past 'only hurt robots' personality shined through right about now.

Sonic shrugged. "It all depends on you doc." He gestured over to a shocked Tails, "If you tell my friend over there what he wants to know, no one here would have to take…drastic measures."

Rouge blinked in surprise, wondering when Blue got his memories back, would both personalities mix? Or would he go back to being the regular Sonic before? Because wow…He sure would be a great addition to G.U.N. at the moment.

"You think that your empty threats do something to me, hedgehog?" Eggman spat out, mustache ruffled, "If so, you're going to be sorely disappointed." Behind his glasses, the doctor scanned the room with his eyes, hoping that the other Mobians would say something to stop what was coming. They wouldn't be okay with this right? Shadow maybe, and he didn't know about the echidna, but he was sure the fox would have something to say.

As if on cue, Tails opened his mouth, "Uh Sonic? Maybe we should go by this a different way? Hurting him can't be the only-"

"We gotta get him to talk, don't we?" The blue blur maneuvered himself behind Eggman and began to untie the man's hands. "We can't just sit here forever asking him to. Hey Dreads, can ya keep his other hand still for a bit?"

Knuckles hesitated. This situation was so foreign to him. Yeah, he hated Eggman with a passion too, but to purposely inflict damage..? Sure, it's been the opposite way around many times, but this just seems…

"I'll do it." All eyes were on Shadow as he went up to Sonic's side, bending down and restraining the doctor's left arm. He glanced up to see the flabbergasted looks of Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. Rouge was surprised too, but it also seemed like she kind of expected the move. The Ultimate Lifeform shrugged, "I'm not totally against this either."

Sonic blinked before snorting in amusement as he tossed the rope out of the way. Then, the hero pushed Eggman to the floor on his side, earning him a startled shout. With Shadow still holding a hand behind the man's back, Sonic took hold of the other arm and stretched it out on the ground. He stepped on it and reveled in the flicker of fright on the doctor's face.

"I'll give ya one more chance. Tell us the password."

Eggman ground his teeth together. What's more important? My pride or-

"Guess that that's a no. Your loss." Before the doctor could respond, Sonic readjusted his foot so it was right on the joint of his elbow and put all his weight on it. The hedgehog gave Eggman a sidelong glance as he grabbed the man's wrist with both hands.

Sonic began to pull up slowly.

The doctor let out a gasp at the unnatural tension in his arm, causing severe pain.

The hedgehog stopped. "What was that?"

Eggman just glared with all of the heat he could muster.

Sonic scoffed before continuing, ears twitching when the shouting started. He glanced askance at the scientist when they turned into screams. He sighed when tears fell. He stopped and the noises did also.

"Just tell us the password and this can be over with."

Eggman, filled with pain and rage now, spat in his face. "I told you before, you stupid rodent! Nothing you do will make me tell!"

Amy, hands covering her mouth in shock at the whole scene, gasped when Sonic growled and grasped the wrist harder than before. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the hedgehog was about to do next. This was all too much! This wasn't like the Sonic she knew!

"Don't Sonic!" She called out, feeling bad about utilizing the mind control, "Don't break his arm!"

Don't break his arm.

Sonic froze in what he was doing, the command echoing around in his head. Everyone around thought that he was going to listen…but that wasn't the case. Sonic was tired of being forced to obey. This was his body! Not anybody else's! Preparing himself for the pain he knew was about to come, the hedgehog snapped Eggman's arm in one swift move, the thunderous migraine making its return once again.

Eggman cried out in agony, and Sonic flinched badly when the sound made the thumping in his brain worse. But he didn't give up. This was the precise reason why they needed to get into the computer. So he could get his life back.

"What's the password?!" He yelled out, moving the broken arm back and forth, hurting himself and the doctor. His head was pounding like someone was hammering it over and over, each thud leaving a loud ringing in his ears. "What is it!?"

Knuckles gaped, not believing that Sonic actually didn't listen and was still going through with it. The arm was broken for Chaos' sake! Now this was overkill! "Sonic, stop!" He took a step forward and grabbed the hedgehog's shoulders. "That's enough!"

Stop!

Sonic shook him off. "No! I won't go back to normal unless he tells us!" He squeezed the growing bruise tightly as the stabbing pain grew in his head, causing rapidly forming tunnel-vision.

The doctor yelled out in torment that he never knew he ever had to face. Bones grinding, arm burning, pain spreading… "It's 463958Eggland! 463958EGGLAND! Now stop! STOP!" This was kind of torture was indescribable…he wanted – needed – for it to end…

Sonic let the arm go and gave a pained yet satisfied grin. "Now was that…so hard…?"

Then he passed out.

Consciousness slowly crawled back to him. First came the knowledge that he was lying down on something hard and cold. Maybe metal? Second came the sounds, the voices. He recognized them all, but they were too far away or he was just too out of it to interpret any of the words spoken just yet. Third…came the memories.

Sonic, way too drowsy to show any outward movement, inwardly groaned at his behavior earlier. Okay, he admitted, maybe I did go too far…but I at least I got Eggman to talk right? And plus, he deserved it! But if I had listened to the others, then I wouldn't have fainted like that… Also, my head wouldn't have been still pounding.

It was nowhere near the intensity as the migraine from before, but it hurt just enough that it was tough to ignore. Sonic's face slowly twisted up in a grimace before he decided it was time to attempt to get up. Letting out a deep and raspy groan, the azure Mobian blinked open his eyes only to see blurry blue irises that were close up. Too close.

"Gah!" Sonic shouted out, startled, as he tried to instinctively move his sluggish body away from the fuzzy form. The voices stopped. The speedster quit moving when his vision cleared and saw that the eyes belonged to Tails, who had a small relieved smile on his face. But…he also looked a little hesitant. Like he didn't know how to react just yet.

"You're awake!" The kit said, chuckling a bit.

"Yeah," Sonic panted, putting his hand over his speeding heart. "Just don't do that again alright? Man…" When it eventually slowed down to a more normal rate, he shifted his focus to the other Mobians in the room, who were just staring at him. His ears lowered a bit as he looked away and crossed his arms. "So what? Are all of you scared of me now?"

Shadow scoffed, "It'll take more than a broken bone to do that, Faker. We were all wondering if you were back, and apparently, you're not."

"Back from whe-" It took a second for Sonic to get it. "Oh…well yeah. My amnesiac self is still here. How long was I out?" he asked to change the subject.

"About an hour," Tails answered as he came closer and held out a hand. He pointed over to the side with his other, the smile still in place, "Enough time to rebuild Eggman's ray gun!"

Sonic followed his finger to see the big piece of machinery that looked exactly the same as it was when Eggman shout him with it to put him under his control. Red Chaos emerald in place in the holder and everything. "You did it that fast?" The hedgehog took the fox's hand and stood up, hoping that that slight stumble wasn't noticeable. "Impressive."

"Thanks!"

"Faster than you think," Knuckles spoke up, stretching his back. "He got it done in thirty minutes. It took no time to get the materials and Tails can read blueprints like a second-grade picture book. We've actually been waiting on you to wake up for fifteen minutes."

Sonic scratched his nose, kinda annoyed that he was the one that impeded progress. But hey, he was awake now. "Well then I'm glad that I got that password for you." He pursed his lips, "Speaking of him, where's Humpty?"

Rouge gestured over to the corner of the room, grinning, "Over there brooding about his whole thing."

The hero glanced at that corner and resisted rolled his eyes at the sight of a sling holding his injured arm in place. Eggman's other hand was retied together with his feet so he wasn't remotely a threat. He was slightly surprised that the doctor was glaring right at him, but he recovered with a smirk. "What's the matter Over-easy?"

"I swear to everything I have rodent, you will pay for this! The dream of my own empire is not dead!"

"It's not…but it'll take a while. I wiped your whole network clean." Tails stated and Sonic high-fived him after staring in amazement.

"Kid, you're amazing! You know that?"

The fox's response was interrupted by the sound of Eggman's frustrated shout (of defeat, Sonic thought). The blue blur's ears pinned themselves against his head at the loud noise, reminded of his headache. Wanting to do something about it, Sonic recalled the bathroom that had medicine there.

He turned toward the door, "Hey, I'll be right back. I got a killer headache and I know how to get rid of it." He was gone before anyone had a chance to react.

"A headache?" Amy asked with a worried frown, "It must've remained from before…"

Rouge flicked a piece of lint off her arm, ignoring Eggman quietly muttering to himself in the background. "About that, how in the heck did Sonic even go through with what he did?" She pointed to the pinkette and then the echidna, "He pretty much ignored the both of you! He was under control, right?"

Shadow nodded, "He was, still is. I think that the outcome of his actions were more important than his own health at that moment. He knew the migraine was going to come, but he did it anyway."

Tails anxiously played with his namesakes, "I'm just glad he won't have to deal with that soon…"

The Ultimate Lifeform tilted his head, eying the kit, "You don't seem too sure."

"I am! I made sure to change some stuff so the ray would take away the effects, I'm just worried about the other problem Sonic has. How are we going to deal with that?"

"Easy," Shadow responded, "The laser that caused his ability came from the mind control ray gun. All we have to do is get the doctor to tell us what he changed to make the laser become mind controlling."

"I'm right here you know!" Eggman's voice boomed out, "And there is no way I'm assisting you a second time!"

"We can always sic Sonic on you again," Knuckles stated, mischief clear in his tone.

The doctor's mustache flared, but he didn't comment.

"I'm back!" Sonic rushed back in, visibly looking better than before. The hero went over to the ray gun and studied it. This better work… He shook his head a bit. I shouldn't doubt! The kid's a genius; he knows what he's doing. Me? I'm sure I would have to reference ten 'Do-it-yourself' websites. Even with the blueprints. The speedster clasped his hands together, "So let's do this!"

"Right!" Tails flew over to the gun and aimed it at his brother, who had backed up a bit. He crossed his fingers as he hovered his other hand over the button that would fire the laser. "Say when you're ready!"

Sonic took a deep breath, preparing himself. If he remembered right, the ray wasn't exactly painless. But it's different this time, maybe it'll be a walk in the park…? He braced himself anyway, just in case. "Ready."

"Alright!" The yellow fox hit the button and most of the Mobians watched with bated breath, seeing the laser hit Sonic square on.

Just like the speedster predicted, there was pain. Sonic clutched his head as he fell to his knees, his head throbbing harshly every second. "Ugh…" he breathed out, rubbing his temples, "This'd better be worth it…"

"Did it work? Did it work?" Amy questioned, looking back and forth between Tails and Sonic. She really wanted this to work so they could take a step forward in getting her old Sonikku back. After this, they could work on getting rid of Sonic's ability to see visions, and then he wouldn't have to worry about anything else but getting his memories back.

"Well let's see…" Knuckles thought for second before letting out a single chuckle. He clapped his hands twice. "Sonic! I order you to massage my feet once more!" the echidna commanded in a horrible snobbish accent.

The blue hedgehog heard the guardian's voice, waited, and let out a long relieved sigh at the absence of that annoying voice that had been part of him for far too long. "And you can shove that where the sun don't shine!" Sonic laughed as he wobbled his way up to this two feet.

"Yes!" Amy ran over to give Tails a hug, "You did it Tails!"

The kit, not expecting that reaction, let it happen and rubbed the back of his neck with a loop-sided smile when the pinkette finished. "It was nothing…"

"Oh it was something alright, hon," Rouge gave him a proud pat on his shoulder before she focused on the blue hedgehog, putting a hand on her hip. "As for you, we're not going to have to worry about you attacking us, are we?"

"Pfft." Sonic waved her off, "Don't worry yourself. I don't feel like having him manhandle me again just yet." He stated, giving Knuckles a grin. The hero tugged on one of the many wrappings on him for emphasis. "But if I'm bored later on…" He began to hop back and forth, throwing mini-punches in the air. "I never did get the chance to beat you." Sonic barked out a laugh at the look he got, "No blood of course."

Before Knuckles could make a decision, Shadow crossed his arms and gave Sonic a glare. "So you're implying that you won that fight against me."

The hero locked his fingers behind his head, "Well…yeah. Last time I checked, bleeding out on the floor doesn't count as winning." Sonic smirked at the tensing of the darker one's body. And there's sparring partner number two!

"We were interrupted."

Sonic scoffed, "Excuses excuses…" Yes, he was sorry that he ever attacked them in the first place, but it was so fun to rile Shadow up. Plus, they were equal to each other! It'd be awesome to do it again, you know, without the kill order that is.

The Ultimate Lifeform narrowed his eyes for a moment before he seemed to calm himself down. Somewhat. "You'll get what you asked for sooner or later hedgehog. But for now," He turned to Tails, "we need to finish up here."

The kit nodded as he spun his tails to go over to Eggman. Tails shook off the glare he received from the bald man. "How'd you turn the laser into a mind controlling one?"

The doctor huffed, "Did you not hear me before you insolent child? I-" Eggman saw, in the corner of his eye, the blue rat take a step closer so he edited the words he was about to say. Was he scared? No. He just wanted to avoid more unnecessary pain, thank you very much. "I…just changed the frequency of the laser." The fox in front of him was waiting for more information (how much, in what direction, etc. etc…), but the doctor's mouth was sealed. He answered the question.

Tails ran a hand down his face. "That's next to no answer at all!"

"Not really." Sonic tapped his chin before snapping his fingers, the look on his face telling everyone that he had a plan. They were curious though, since his last one wasn't exactly…moral. "He can be our little guinea pig!" The hedgehog pointed at Tails, "Every time you change whatever he said, we fire it at him until we know which one is right for me."

Chaos dammit… Did the stupid pincushion get smarter as well or something? I'm metaphorically cornered! If I don't tell them, then who knows what would happen to me? A cold sweat formed on Eggman's brow as he grinded his teeth together. Threatened by my own creation…actually not the first time that has ever happened.

He sighed. My dignity has gone down the drain…

"I lowered it thirty hertz."

"Huh?" Tails asked intelligently, not catching what Eggman said under his breath. "What was that?"

The doctor refused to repeat it, but it seemed he didn't have to since Rouge's hearing was off the charts.

"He said he lowered it thirty hertz hon. That means you'd have to increase it that much to make it do what we want it to do." The bat then flapped her way over to the ray gun and aimed it at Eggman. "I say that we still test it on him. Better safe than sorry." They seriously couldn't take any chances.

Amy pursed her lips, "But I don't think we have to! I mean, why would Eggman lie to us, even though he knew that he would get shot with it?"

"Believe it or not, she's got a point." Knuckles grumbled, eyeing the uncharacteristically melancholy doctor.

Tails, after applying what he just learned to the machine he tweaked himself and figuring out what he needed to do, hovered over to where Rouge was, picking up a wrench along the way. He unscrewed a couple of bolts before flipping down a panel that held a multitude of buttons and knobs. "I think Eggman's had enough for one day don't you think…?" Tails stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth as his hands went to work, "And Amy's explanation does makes sense."

Sonic's foot tapped against the floor as he frowned; he glanced over to Shadow when his deep voice reverberated throughout the room, "We don't want the doctor dying by the laser. He doesn't deserve that, yet." Piercing ruby eyes clashed with dull blue ones hidden by navy glasses. "If anything happens to the Faker, doctor, then he won't be the only hedgehog you will have to worry about." The voice was monotone, but everyone could tell it was filled to the brim with painful promises.

The blue blur sighed, crossing his arms, "Fine, let's just trust the man who started all of this… If I grow another head, I'm taking it out on all of you!" Sonic glared, but they could tell it was empty of real malice. "'Cept for you Rouge."

"That would be entertaining to see from the sidelines," the bat said mirthfully.

"Annnd there! We should be good to go now!" Tails put the panel back in place and twisted the bolts back in. He patted the metal and focused on Rouge, "It's at the right frequency, so will you do the honors?"

The G.U.N. agent mock saluted before aiming the run at Sonic, who braced himself once more. The speedster didn't know what to think this time. You know, since he couldn't exactly remember the very first time he apparently got hit with the machine. He could just hope for the best.

Rouge pushed the button and the hero saw the bright line of light zoom towards him until he closed his eyes right before it hit him. What happened was the last thing Sonic would've thought. It was like the complete opposite of pain. There was a soothing sensation within him, mostly concentrated in his head. It lasted for all of one minute until the feeling fadded away. And for some reason, Sonic's head felt…emptier? Lighter? He couldn't really explain it. He just knew that something changed.

"You okay Blue?"

Said hedgehog opened his eyes to meet Rouge's worried ones. "I'm fine…" Sonic answered slowly, not sure if the laser worked or not.

"Huh, that went better than expected." Knuckles commented, "The first time had you on your knees."

"Shouldn't that have happened this time then?" Tails questioned, a bit anxious. He hovered around his brother, seeing if the effects of the beam were different than they wanted. When he didn't notice any extra body parts, he grounded himself in front of Sonic. "You don't look different; do you feel different?"

"I sure do," Sonic scratched the back of his head, "but I really have no idea how to explain it."

"And we won't know if it worked or not until Faker goes to sleep. Which won't be for a while." Shadow took the Chaos emerald out of its compartment before regarding the Mobians around him. "We're done here. We can take the gun with us in case it didn't work."

"Whoa whoa wait! You can't just leave me like this by myself!" Eggman shouted out, wriggling his tied fingers for emphasis.

Shadow just scoffed as he glanced down and picked up a limp Bokkun. He studied him until he found a specific switch on the messenger bot. He flipped it on before dropping the robot to the ground. "There, you're not alone." The Ultimate Lifeform held up the emerald before yelling out, "Chaos control!" All of the Mobians disappeared in a flash of bright light.

Eggman silently fumed.

Bokkun groaned as his systems restarted. "Uh…" The bot blinked his artificial eyes open as he sat up. "What happened? Where am I?" He scanned the place until he recognized it, "Oh, I'm back at the lab, but why? Wasn't I fighting Sonic's friends?"

"You were supposed to be."

"Gah!" The messenger robot jumped, startled, as he focused over to the figure in the corner of the room. He winced when he saw the Old Man's condition. "What in the heck happened to your arm?"

"I could ask the same to you," Eggman deadpanned.

"What are you-" Bokkun screamed when he realized one of his arms were missing, wires sticking out of the socket. "My arm's gone!" Activating his jetpack, he flew all around the room in a panic.

"Obviously!" The doctor barked out, "Now come untie me!"

His order fell on deaf ears.

"I liked my arm! Where in the heck is it!? Old man, fix me!"

Eggman groaned in self-pity. What is my life…