"Nngh Chaos damn it, just straighten!"

Doctor Ivo Robotnik scowled as he stood before a full-size mirror, busily fussing with the ragged ends of his muzzle. He glanced over to a nearby portrait, of a large, barrel-chested human with an extravagant moustache - himself, before his 'accident'. He grunted and went back to adjusting his muzzle fur, attempting to emulate the style of the moustache he once proudly wore.

He straightened up and adjusted his brand new uniform, the short, open-chested jacket more suited to his present furry disposition. Again he consulted the portrait, attempting to strike the same villainous pose. Ultimately he sighed in defeat, ears drooping and tails slumping at his frustration.

"Gah! It's no use!" The doctor groaned, shrugging hopelessly, "It doesn't matter what I do, how hard I try, I just can't look anything other than..." He grimaced, canines jutting from the corners of his mouth, "Cute and fuzzy... "

"Well, I think you look quite dashing, sir!" Orbot put in, assisting the doctor with his morning routine. "The new uniform is particularly striking!"

"Don't patronize me, Orbot " Robotnik leaned forward, an electric razor in hand, carefully trimming at his muzzle ends, "I know what I look like..."

"Well, at least we know what you'll look like when you're fully grown, sir!"

"Oh sure..." The doctor replied darkly, recognising Orbot's reference to his brief period of time as an eighteen year-old fox with the adoration of the entire village, "In about ten years! Jeez, I'm not looking forward to puberty again... do you think fox-mobians get acne?"

"I wouldn't know, sir..." Orbot replied, resigning himself to the doctor's mood.

"Of course you wouldn't, bucket-head!" Robotnik huffed, taking extra care as he snipped at his fuzzy cheeks, "Last I looked robots didn't suffer skin condit-AGH!"

The doctor yelped in shock as a crack sounded from the other room, and the lair's lights flickered off. Cubot's frantic voice soon followed, the boxy robot scolding the lair's new... guest.

Robotnik grit his teeth and held back an enraged snarl as the emergency lights flickered on, and he took in his reflection. The left-most tuft of fur on his cheek had been snipped cleanly off, the startled doctor slipping as the electricity snapped off.

"AGH!" The doctor whined, bemoaning his now totally mismatched cheek fuzz, "Now I have to trim the whole thing!" He turned and stormed toward the source of the disturbance, a resigned Orbot dutifully in tow.

"Sparky!" The doctor said sternly, jabbing a finger at his new apprentice, "What the devil are you doing?!"

A very frazzled twin-tailed fox, identical to Robotnik in every way save for the bemused expression over his face, grinned idiotically as he regarded the doctor. "Hi, Doctor Eggs!" he said cheerily, his voice quivering as he sat near an unoccupied plug socket.

"Sparky..." Robotnik set his hands on his hips and glared. "Have you been sticking your fingers in the electrical outputs again?"

'Sparky', named for this very tendency, cocked his head, eyes slowly wandering in opposite directions as he processed the query. One second went by. Two seconds. Three. Four. "Uh... no?"

"Ugh..." Ivo slapped a palm into his face, as Sparky hopped to his feet, "What use is an evil lab assistant if they keep knocking out the power to the evil lab..."

Sparky frowned as he considered his twin tails, the clone briefly wondering whose they were, before his ears perked and he looked to the doctor excitedly. "Can I have pudding?"

"No!" Ivo replied with a wagging finger, "Good assistants get pudding! Bad assistants do not!"

Sparky's ears drooped and his face fell in despair. "I'm... bad?"

Robotnik's hands remained set on his hips, his eyes glaring resolutely... before he too slumped and an apologetic grin fell over his face. "Oh... how can I say no to those big old eyes?" He said, "Of course you can have pudding! Come on!"

The other fox yipped in delight, running ahead for the kitchen like an excited child while Orbot and Cubot watched on.

"Oh..." Orbot said, clasping his hands. "I think somebody's getting attached!"

"Yeah..." Cubot murmured in reply, "And my shenanigan sensors just pinged..."

"Ugh..." Ivo groaned as he leaned into his sofa, gesturing irritably at the tv as the news channel played. "Local heroes Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles 'Tails' Prower save the village from the infamous Watermelon Poachers!" "Stupid hedgehog..." muttered the doctor, "And Tails?! What's he got that I don't? Infernal canine..."

"Vulpine..." Mumbled a bored Miles Prower, this one presently displaced in space and time.

"Quiet you!" Robotnik snapped, shooting the fox a glare. "Get back to your own series!"

The other fox shrugged before popping out of existence, presumably returning to his own storyline in Eternal Tails.

"Uh... sir?" Orbot raised a finger, as a pair of twin tails waved behind the doctor's head.

"Quiet! I'm trying to brood!"

"But perhaps you should-" Orbot stammered as a pair of ears and blue eyes peeped from behind the couch.

"I said quiet! Are you trying to annoy m-"

"SNEAK ATTACK!"

Robotnik squealed as, with a mighty pounce, Sparky the assistant leaped over the couch and tackled him from the furniture, slamming him to the floor and grappling with the doctor.

"HEY!" Robotnik shrieked as the other fox wrestled with him just like a cub might with its sibling, "GET OFF OF ME!"

"Oh dear..." Orbot worried, while Cubot raised a finger and approached the tussling foxes.

"No, Sparky!" The boxy mechanoid said as sternly as he could muster, "Bad Sparky! Bad Spar... ky..."

The two robots watched curiously as they realised the doctor had ceased his ranting... and instead was now laughing, rolling around with the other fox like a pair of fighting kits.

"Oh..." Orbot clasped his hands together, "Cubot, that's so adorable!"

"Uh, boss?" Cubot said, scratching at his boxy cranium, "You... having fun, there?"

Robotnik seemed to snap out of his sudden trance, shaking his head and disengaging from the wrestle. "Agh! No!" He pumped his fists and scolded himself, the other fox seemingly confused at the sudden stop in the play-fight. "I am a dignified and respected genius! Not a child!"

Across from him, Sparky cocked his head and wore a bemused expression. "Are we not friends any more?"

He couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe it was the utterly innocent and hurt expression on his assistant's face, the fact Sparky had literally saved his life, or the 'Miles Prower' side of his personality taking over momentarily, but Ivo Robotnik suddenly felt very guilty.

"Uh... no, of course we are!" He replied, fiddling with his twin tails as he sat on the floor, "It's just... I'm too old to be behaving like that! I need to take it easy!"

Sparky now appeared very confused. "But you don't look that old!" The cloned fox cub protested.

"Uh, yeah..." Ivo rubbed the back of his head as he pondered his true age. He had been a fifty year old human, now in the copied body of a young fox mobian of indeterminate age, his present body itself being just over two months old. "It's... uh..." He tapped at his chin, wondering how best to explain his predicament. "It's a long story!" he shrugged, wearing a sheepish grin.

"This is the tenth chapter!" Orbot added proudly.

"Eh, if you ask me this fic jumped the shark after chapter 2..." said Cubot.

Sparky's ears drooped and he fiddled with his own tails, slumping on the floor. "I wanted to play..." he said sadly.

Ivo Robotnik never thought he could ever have felt as much sympathy for a copy of Tails as he did now, but here he was. He had to remember, this clone of a clone from a dozen generations of clones... was just a kid.

"Hmm..." The doctor said, rubbing his muzzle in thought, "You wanna play, huh?"

Sparky watched curiously as Ivo leaned into a large box, his legs and butt and tails sticking out from beneath the lid, before he emerged from the container with an armful of plastic. "Here!" The doctor said with a grin, "We can play with these!"

Sparky's eyes widened in fascination as Ivo dropped the toys to the floor, hands on his knees as he kneeled, ears perking with interest. "What are these things?" The cloned fox enquired.

"Action figures!" Robotnik replied, grabbing a couple from the pile, "You play with them!" He coughed in an attempt to save face. "Well, I don't! I simply keep these around for... theoretical battle scenarios! An great and evil genius needs to plan out his strategies, after all!"

Sparky reached out and fussed through the pile, eyes wide as he held a toy in each hand. "I don't get it..."

"Uh... well, let me show you!" Ivo held up his selected figures. "This is the Mighty Brain Lord!" He presented a squishy pink character from a video game, "The greatest evil genius in the universe! And these are his hellhounds!" Sparky observed as Robotnik showed him some of his Fuzzy Puppy Buddy figures. "They're all super evil and fight against Spunk Galaxyman!"

"Who's that?" Robotnik now had the other fox's rapt attention. Apparently, Sparky was utterly fascinated by the concept of 'toys'.

"Uh..." Robotnik now began sorting through the pile again, finally locating the correct action figures. "This is him!" He beamed, his pretence at his lost maturity seemingly evaporating as he displayed the toys from his cross-legged position. "He's a space ranger, Brain Lord's arch enemy! He always loses of course, because evil wins every time... oh, and this is space princess Galaxia! She always gets captured by Brain Lord and Galaxyman has to save her, but he fails every time! EVIL WINS! AHA!"

Sparky reached out and Ivo handed him the 'Space Princess Galaxia' figure, in reality a purple-clad swallow woman from some racing series, and the fox clone scrutinised the figure with intense interest. "What's this?" He said, looking back to the doctor with big curious eyes.

"Princess Galaxia!" Ivo repeated with a grin, "She's a space princess!"

Sparky seemed none the wiser. "What's a she?"

Ivo frowned for a moment, his brain calculating... before he understood the clone's confusion. "Oh, of course..." He said, rubbing his muzzle in thought, "If you come from a civilisation populated entirely by copies of Tails... then you've never encountered a girl before!"

"What's a girl?"

"Well..." Robotnik shuffled in place, wondering exactly how to approach the subject of 'gender' with an individual that was less than one week old, and seemingly knew nothing of the concept... or of many other concepts, apparently. "You see, it's complicated. Uh..."

The doctor looked down to the action figures in his hands, and sudden inspiration struck him.

"Well you see, on the one hand you have boys..." Ivo held up his Tommy Thunder action figure in display, "And on the other you have girls..." he pointed to the doll in Sparky's possession, "But then you have boys who are really girls, or girls who are really boys..." He reached out and began selecting figures, searching for individual dolls that might fit his hastily simplified explanations, "And people who feel like neither, and then you have people who might be both, and then... and then..." He shot a helpless look to Orbot and Cubot, "Uh... help me out guys?"

"Oh, I think you're doing just fine, sir..."

"Yeah, I ain't touching that with a ten foot pole, boss..."

"Uh..." Ivo blushed and offered a shrug and a sheepish grin back to Sparky. "So...do you understand?"

Sparky's eyes appeared to drift apart... before snapping into hyper focus.

He cocked his head, a strange little smile on his face. "Yes! It is quite clearer now, doctor! Thank you!"

Robotnik frowned. "Uh... you're welcome?"

Sparky shrugged, his usual vacant expression in place. He held up the swallow doll in his hands. "Can I play with this one?"

"Uh, yeah! sure!" Ivo grabbed his own figures and beamed, his previous intentions of dumping his assistant alone with the toys now forgotten. "Theoretical battle scenarios engage!"

"Oh, Cubot..." Orbot wiped a tear from his optical unit and clasped his hands together, "They're bonding! Isn't this wholesome?"

"Yeah..." Cubot replied, before hunching in suspicion. "Hey, who was that other fox who was here a few minutes ago?"

"What fox?"

The next morning...

"Ha, and there we are!" Robotnik grinned and clasped his hands as he stood back, pleased with his work. Before him, Orbot and Cubot to either side in presentation, Sparky stood clad in a less ornate replica of Robotnik's uniform. "Perfect! Now you look like an evil apprentice!"

Sparky was clearly uncomfortable, tugging at the fabric and scowling. "It's itchy!"

"Oh yes, the fur..." Ivo stroked at his now close-clipped muzzle ends and hummed, "Yes, I understand. But you'll get used to it!"

"Did you ever get used to it, sir?" Orbot enquired dryly, the doctor's constant moaning in his mind.

"Quiet, you!" Robotnik muttered, before turning and adjusting Sparky's jacket collar. "Dashing! Absolutely dashing! A perfect image of myself, don't you think boys?"

Orbot and Cubot offered half to one eighth-hearted mutters of assurance, before the doctor clapped his new heir on the shoulder and gestured to the lab.

"Right! Now we are truly ready to begin your training in evil!" The doctor said rambunctiously, eager to get to work. "I have plans for an experimental new propulsion system for the Eggmobile! That should be quite interesting, and then I need to show you the designs for my Smashbot 5000! You'll never guess what it does, and-"

"Can we go to Meh Burger?" Sparky excitedly interjected, Robotnik pausing in his eager illustration with a finger in the air.

The doctor slumped, the wind blown from his sails. "Great to know you're so jazzed about this evil assistant thing, Sparky..." he muttered dryly. Then a frown descended over his forehead. "Wait a minute... how the devil can you know nothing about girls, yet know about Meh Burger?"

"Perhaps he went there before coming here?" Cubot suggested.

"But how would he even know what it was?" Orbot replied pointedly, "He didn't even know what toys were before the doctor showed him!"

"Hey! They're not toys, they're action figures!" Ivo responded, fists clenched and a red tinge over his muzzle.

"Or perhaps..." Came another voice, of lighter pitch and quiet intrigue, "I have retained particular memories from my forebears, over dozens of generations of copies, reaching back to the original Miles Prower!"

Ivo, and his robot lackeys, slowly turned to regard the now utterly still Sparky, who stood with a small thoughtful smile, hands clasped behind back and extremely focused blue eyes.

"Uh... Sparky?" The doctor approached his apprentice cautiously with one brow raised, "What... did you just say?"

Sparky appeared to consider this inquiry... before his eyes lost their focus once again, and a huge rumble erupted from his stomach.

The clone looked up with an eager, idiotic grin on his face. "I'm hungry!" the fox squeaked.

"Hmm..." Ivo mused, tapping his chin as he regarded his apprentice, "Perhaps my new assistant isn't as dumb as I thought!"

"Well, sir..." Orbot replied, "We did observe that the other clones appeared to become more intellectually sound as they aged!"

"Yeah!" Cubot added, "They got smarter, too!"

"That's correct!" Ivo grinned while Sparky began playing with his own tails, "It seems our little friend is growing up! And a growing boy needs his food!"

Sparky perked up at the mention of food, his tails flopping back behind him as he beamed. "We go to Meh Burger?"

"Well, I was going to save your 'introduction' for when you were sufficiently trained enough..." Ivo Robotnik replied, compelling the other fox to squeak for joy and hop to his feet, "But why not? Yes, Sparky! We're going to Meh Burger!"

"Yay!"

"So!" Sonic the hedgehog set his hands on his hips as he stood before his friends, wearing his usual lopsided grin. "What do you think of my new scarf?"

The rest of Team Sonic, seated around a table at the local Meh Burger, offered him a flat and unamused stare.

"Well..." Amy Rose steepled her fingers and wore a very forced smile, "It's... uh..."

"It's terrible." Sticks finished bluntly as she attempted to apply camouflage makeup to her face.

"Worse than the last one," added Amy.

"Scarfs really don't suit you, Sonic." Sticks said, "You know 'dat, right?"

"I agree!" Amy nodded profusely as she teamed up with the other female, "Just because it works for famed explorer Indiana Drake, doesn't mean it works for you, Sonic!"

"Wai a minute..." Knuckles said slowly as he frowned at his Double Hammy Meh Burger, "You wear a scarf now? Since when?! That sounds dumb!"

"Well jeez, thanks a LOT guys!" Sonic said as he plonked himself a the table, setting his head in his hands with a hurt expression over his face. "Hey Tails!" Sonic nudged his unresponsive younger brother, "Back me up here, buddy!"

Tails, who had blissfully been staring into nothing with his eyes half closed, jerked in surprise at the unexpected contact. "Oh, uh... yeah!" The fox replied, offering his hedgehog brother a thumbs up. "Skydiving, huh? That sounds... coolamundo!"

The others exchanged brief incredulous glances at the kitsune's distracted response. "Uh... Tails?" Amy leaned over the table, "You haven't been listening to a word we've been saying, have you?"

"Sorry guys..." Tails shrugged and offered his friends an apologetic half-smile, "It's just..." He grinned as he leaned back in his chair, "I haven't felt so... at peace for a while, y'know?"

"Oh really?" Sonic shared a sly grin with Sticks before returning his attention to his younger brother. "And why's that?"

"Well..." Tails leaned forward on his elbows and lazily set his chin in one hand, "The sun is shining... I'm having a fun day out with my friends..." Amy cooed with adoration while Sticks simply rolled her eyes. Knuckles attempted to bite into his sandwich, a confused expression over his face as the meat slid out of the other end. "The adjustments I made to the Tornado's autopilot system are... beyond advanced!" The yellow fox went on as Knuckles grumbled about his order being wrong again, "And best of all?" Tails now leaned back again and closed his eyes, hands clasped behind his head, "We haven't heard a peep from Egghead for days!" he breathed a sigh of bliss. "Nothing can ruin today... absolutely nothing..."

"Well!" A horribly familiar, sneering voice interrupted Tails' moment of peace, "Hello, Team Chronic! "

"And there it is..."

Robotnik absorbed the shocked expressions of Team Sonic with relish as they fixed their gaze on not one, but two identical twin-tailed foxes clad in red uniforms. One leered maliciously, while the other beamed idiotically at the prospect of making new friends.

"Hello!" piped Sparky, waving excitedly.

"Uh... Tails?" Sonic leaned over and nudged his brother, "You... might wanna see this..."

"Ugh, no way!" Tails, angry at the disruption, turned on his evil doppelganger. "I am NOT letting you ruin my day, egg... brain..."

Ivo grinned with glee as Tails' face first registered irritation... then confusion, bewilderment, and eventually horror as the other fox leaned way back in his chair and pointed in shock. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Hi!" Sparky said cheerfully, "I'm Sparky!"

Tails' eyes bulged as he regarded the other fox. "Why..." He hissed, "Do you have ANOTHER clone of me?!"

"Hey, get out of my fur!" the doctor retorted, "For once, this has nothing to do with me! This is all your doing, Fails!"

"Please..." Sonic palmed his face in both hands, tired of the constant bickering of the 'twins', "Just explain, Eggs?"

"Well, it's kinda complicated..." Ivo replied, twizzling his finger around a tail, "But... do you guys remember that whole incident when Tails split himself into multiple copies? And we had dozens of half-wit canines running around creating havoc?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah!"

"That was a good episode!"

"Meh, overrated imo..."

"Vulpines... "

"Well anyway, it's a long story but..." Robotnik rubbed at his muzzle and frowned, "Basically... two of them escaped into the jungle and found Ancients technology that they were somehow able to cobble together into a cloning machine using leftover knowledge from Tails' brain and now there's a whole city full of clones who worship Tails as their God."

The silence that followed was deafening, but expected. Until Tails shoved back his chair and raised his hands in surrender.

"I... can't deal with this." The yellow fox said flatly, "I'm not dealing with this. You guys deal with this. Peace out." With that, the kitsune rotated his namesakes, and fluttered away.

"So..." Ivo rocked back and forth on his feet, "Is everybody up to speed?"

"Well that's... interesting," Sonic said.

"Interesting?!" Shrieked Sticks, "Dat's CRAZY!"

"Eh, seems pretty clear to me..." shrugged Knuckles.

"So what's he doing here?" Amy said, pointing to the new fox, who wandered away in search of food.

"He kind of followed us home..." Robotnik replied with a shrug, "But Sparky here appears to be more unique than the other copies! He has displayed immense curiosity, and even some higher intelligent thinking!"

"I want a burger, and a hot dog, and a burger, and a fries..." Sparky rolled off his order to the restaurant's drinks machine, "And a burger... ooh! And do you have any pudding?"

"I see your genius is already rubbing off on him, doc..." Sonic said dryly.

"Sparky!" Robotnik rushed to the other fox, not having noticed his absence. "Don't go wandering off like that!" He shook his head and sighed as he led the less intelligent copy back to the group by hand. "Kids, huh?" He said to Amy.

Amy offered a bemused smile, and felt a spike of awkwardness as Sparky suddenly gaped at her in fascination. The fox copy looked over the hedgehog with intense curiosity, before pointing with a finger. "Girl!"

"Yes, that's right Sparky!" Robotnik said, grinning proudly as Sparky turned to regard Sticks with equal fascination. He pointed again while Sticks grimaced with suspicion. "Scary girl!"

"HEY!"

"That's right!" Robotnik chuckled like a proud parent, "Good Sparky!"

"Wow!" Knuckles said, a big grin on his face, "He IS smart!"

Sparky smiled happily, clutching a purple swallow doll to his chest.

"Yes!" beamed Robotnik, "And with my elite tutorage, Sparky here will become the greatest apprentice an evil genius could ask for! And with his help, we will DESTROY you, Team Sonic!" The doctor cackled evilly before shrugging sheepishly. "Or kind of hang out and annoy you, which seems to be my usual fare these days... SPARKY, NO!" Robotnik again chased after his 'evil' apprentice as the fox, now on his knees, began prodding at an unoccupied electrical outlet. "BAD SPARKY!"

"Well doc..." Sonic said, "Good luck with that..."

Amy Rose sighed happily as she adjusted her shelf full of fuzzy puppies, arranging the miniature pieces into neat rows. She smiled to herself and stepped back, hands on hips as she admired her work.

Then she turned, ears perked, as she heard her front door squeak open.

"Sonic? Tails?" She wiped her hands on the sides of her tunic as she headed through to her living room. She usually left her door open in case her friends decided to pay her a visit, but they were usually a lot more verbal at announcing their presence. "Anybody?"

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. She was met with the sound of mattress springs... and the sight of a red-jacketed fox bouncing endlessly on her bed. She shrieked as she noted the damage, the sheets strewn all over and plastered with dirt.

"Doctor Eggman!" She cried, "What are you DOING?!"

The 'doctor' landed on his rump and considered Amy with big, curious eyes. It was then she realised... this wasn't Robotnik.

"... Sparky?"

Her suspicion was confirmed as the fox spun his tails and briefly fluttered over the bedroom to land before her, a trick the doctor still didn't have down. She raised her hands defensively as the new fox began sniffing at her in fascination.

"Wh... HEY!" The hedgehog, bewildered at the fox's behaviour, grabbed his shoulder and stopped him in his investigation. "What the heck are you doing?!"

Sparky cocked his head, ears perking. He pointed at his pink companion. "What are you wearing?"

Amy frowned at the curious little fox, puzzled at his statement. "What do you mean?" She said, curious.

Sparky blinked. "What's that thing you're wearing?" He repeated, innocent curiosity in his eyes.

"Uh..." Amy hummed, searching for an answer as she checked out her current attire, "It's... a dress?"

"I like it!" Sparky said happily, before cocking his head quizzically. "Can I have one?"

Amy simply shook her head, utterly unsure how to deal with the fox. Despite being physically identical to Tails, there was a completely different, innocent intelligence behind those blue eyes.

"I don't know, Sparky..." Amy said carefully, "There's a pretty big difference between girls' clothes and boys' clothes..."

Sparky appeared to deflate. "I'm a boy?" he plucked miserably at his red uniform jacket that had been manufactured for him by Robotnik. "Oh..."

Then Amy understood.

Strange. This wasn't a personality trait of Tails'. Maybe Sparky really was unique.

"Well..." Amy said thoughtfully, "I do have some old clothes left over from when I was younger... do you feel like taking a look? Seeing if there's anything you like?"

Sparky lit up as though a switch had been flipped. "Yeah! That sounds like fun!"

Amy smiled kindly, and led her new little friend into her walk-in closet.

"Ugh... blast it, Sparky!" Robotnik grumbled, rapping a gloved knuckle against Amy Rose's front door a second time, "Why do you keep running away?! Good evil assistants don't abscond!"

"CAN I GO NOW?" beside him, a full head taller, Metal Sonic Mark Two crossed his arms impatiently, having been dragged along by the doctor to scan for Sparky's life signature. The mechanoid, sulky as ever, tapped a foot against the earth and glowered.

"Why?" Ivo sneered, "You got a date with your girlfriend?"

Metal clenched his fists petulantly. "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND."

"Uh huh, sure..." Ivo rocked back and forth in his heels and adjusted his uniform jacket. He'd elected simply for a short jacket and boots today, in the manner of most mobian males, to cope with the heat. His fur was thickening again. He needed a trim. He ruffled his own head fur out of his face and secured it with his goggles. "Where've you even been? Would it kill you to call your evil creator once in a while?"

"I'M LEAVING," Metal replied, already boosting away on his anti-grav units, "YOU'RE THE LAMEST CREATOR EVER."

"Agh!" Ivo Robotnik raised his hands in surrender, "What is it with KIDS?!" His ears perked and he turned to find Amy, now stood holding her door open, a sheepish expression over her face. "Oh, hi Amy!"

"Oh, hello doctor... uh... what are we calling you again? Egg-Fox?"

"Whatever. I don't care." The doctor grunted, before raising a hand level to his own forehead. "I lost something! Y'know, yay-high, yellow, physically identical to a particular other twin-tailed yellow fox you might know? Standing in front of you right now?"

"Ah," replied Amy, folding her arms, "Sparky."

"Yes!" Robotnik clasped his fingers and wore a look of irritation. "Keeps wandering off! I know he's just curious, and barely a week old, but it's kinda getting on my nerves. So..." He looked up at the hedgehog pleadingly. "Think I could... have him back?"

Amy sighed and opened the door. "Come on in..." she said, "But... there's something you should probably know... Sparky had... one or two things to work out..."

"Huh?" Robotnik frowned, ears perking quizzically, "What's that?"

"DOCTOR EGGS!"

Robotnik turned at the familiar voice... and released a high pitched screech as his eyes landed on his newest evil assistant. Sparky had discarded the uniform created for him that morning... and was now clad in one of Amy's old dresses and a pair of her tall red boots, beaming with joy. Amy had arranged the fox's head fur into a tight bun at the base of the neck.

Sparky's hands raised in presentation. "Girl!"

Ivo blinked a couple of times, before regarding Amy with confusion. "What... did you do to my evil apprentice?!"

"Well..." Amy said, while Sparky began happily twirling, "Sparky came round here and wanted me to help pick her a new outfit. So I helped! Is that a crime?"

Robotnik frowned. "... her? "

Amy nodded. "Yeah, I think... I think Sparky has some identity issues you guys need to work out."

"No kidding," Muttered the doctor, while Sparky grinned happily from the floor. He sighed and turned back to Amy. "I might need a little help with that? I've... never dealt with something like this before..."

"Sometimes kids need to make their own decisions that are best for them!" Amy said, fishing around inside her tunic pocket and producing a scrap of paper. "Here's my number. If you need a little help, just call! I'm sure Mombot would be happy to help, too!"

Robotnik took the paper and pocketed it, his boisterousness having completely evaporated, now appearing more like Tails than he realised. "Thanks, Amy..." the fox said, "You're a pretty good friend sometimes, you know?"

Amy snickered. "Uh, only sometimes? "

"Well, I AM an evil genius!" The doctor responded, running the edge of his muzzle through a hand, "Can't be too nicey-nice!"

"Uh huh, evil." Amy replied dryly, "Sure."

"Anyway... Sparky!" Robotnik turned and addressed his apprentice, the other fox hopping to his- or rather her booted feet. "Home time!"

The fox beamed, her head cocking. "Can we have pudding?"

"Sure!" the doctor replied, leading his apprentice out of Amy Rose's house, "Of course we can have pudding! Say bye to Amy!"

"Bye, Amy!"

Amy simply chuckled and waved in return as the 'evil' doctor wandered away, his pink-clad apprentice in tow.

"Still going with the whole 'evil' thing, huh?" She said lightly, "I wonder how much longer that's gonna last..."

"Damn it Metal..." the doctor muttered to himself, tapping his wrist-computer, "Pick up the damn phone!"

"What do you think is wrong with Metal Sonic Mark Two, sir?" Orbot enquired, a stack of empty plates in hand, "He seems awfully preoccupied sometimes!"

"What do you think, bucket-brain?" Robotnik said in reply, "He's soft for that infernal badger girl, Sticks!"

"That's weird!" Cubot added, "Why's that, boss?"

"Unforeseen personality traits!" came a higher-pitched voice in response, gaining the trio's attention. Sparky, chocolate covering her face, appeared to stare curiously at Ivo and his minions. "A result of premature activation, perhaps?"

Robotnik shared a glance with Orbot and Cubot. "Having another big-brain moment there, Sparkz?"

Sparky grinned happily. "I like pudding!"

"Sure you do..." Robotnik shrugged out of his uniform jacket, once again bare-furred in the manner of most mobian males, and set himself at the lair's living room table. He regarded his apprentice, Sparky still clad in the clothes Amy had given... them. Ivo hummed, considering how to bring up the subject. "So!" He said at last, playing with the tip of his left-most tail, "You... like those clothes Amy gave you?"

Sparky nodded happily. "I like being a girl!"

"Oh..." Robotnik looked pleadingly to Orbot and Cubot. "So... do you want to be a girl more than you want to be a boy?"

Sparky nodded again. "I think so!" then the blue eyes appeared to glow with intelligence once again. "I do not believe my outward physical appearance matches my internal identity... if that makes sense?"

Robotnik, again taken off-guard by the sudden shift in Sparky's intelligence, frowned as he considered. "I suppose that does make sense..." he muttered, drumming his yellow fingers together. Then the doctor stood and raised a fist into the air, grinning with intent. "An evil genius doesn't judge! If my evil apprentice wants to be a girl, that's fine by me!"

"Oh, doctor!" Orbot said, "That's so open-minded and accepting of you!"

"I wish he was more open and accepting of us..." Cubot grumbled.

"Thanks, Doctor Eggs!" Sparky beamed, hands grasping at her stomach, "I... I..."

"Uh... Sparky?" The doctor frowned with concern as the other fox began clutching at her gut, "You... okay there?"

"Ow..." Sparky complained, before her eyes screwed shut and she began rocking in place, clutching her stomach in pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Hey, calm down!" Robotnik headed over and kneeled next to his apprentice, a spike of worry stabbing through his own intestines, "What's the matter?"

"My... tummy hurts..." Came a whimpered reply.

"Huh..." The doctor grunted as he observed the empty dishes of pudding that Sparky had demolished. "Yeah, I can't imagine why... Okay, young m... lady! No more pudding for you tonight!"

"No!" Sparky whined in protest, "My pudding!"

"Nope, no more!" the doctor instructed, "Orbot! Cubot! Help my apprentice clean up, and then take her to her quarters!" He raised a finger into the air and grinned maliciously. "We have lots of work to do tomorrow!"

"Oh yeah?" Cubot said dryly while Orbot lead a still cringing Sparky away by the hand, "Like what?"

"I'unno..." the doctor shrugged, "Probably just hang out and annoy Sonic and his friends some more. Get up to some shenanigans. You know how it is." Robotnik grinned and flopped into his sofa, tv remote in hand. "And now... time for some cartoons!"

The great 'evil genius' doctor Ivo 'Egg-Fox' Robotnik giggled with delight, wrapping himself in his twin tails as the opening chimes to Flappy the Happy Toaster began to play. Cubot shrugged, secretly relieved that the new Robotnik was nowhere near as bad as the old.

"Okay pal..." The squat form of a proud member of Bygone Island's mail service scratched at his butt as he handed Robotnik a sheet of paper. "Just need you ta' sign here..."

Ivo huffed as he received the delivery statement. "Two days overdue!" the doctor grumbled, "I've been waiting for two days for this blasted delivery! I am a very busy fox, do you understand that?!"

"I don't care." The mailman replied, "Are you gonna sign for this or not?"

Ivo muttered something under his breath as he scribbled his signature onto the dotted line - Ivo Robotnik the Fox. He frowned at his own signature. He hadn't signed for anything since his accident, but the words had come out as naturally as though he'd been signing that way his whole life. He shrugged. No point changing it now. He handed the delivery statement to the wolf-mobian and received his package. "You can be sure I'm taking this up with your manager!"

The mailman leaned forward. "I AM the manager. I have no staff, which is why your parcel is running late!"

Robotnik squeaked as he recoiled, cowering behind the oversized package in his arms. "Oh, well, uh... gotta go!" he stammered, hopping up and palming the door controls, now modified for his shorter height.

He padded through to his workshop excitedly, taking a brief glance into the garden where Sparky was busy playing, watching the frogs jump around. He slammed the package onto a workbench and tore into it like a kid with a freshly-wrapped gift, and squeaked with delight at the device he revealed.

"Yes! This plasmic inductor is just what I need to boost the Eggmobile's new prototype propulsion system!" He chattered, sniffing around the thing. He retrieved a pair of claw-like devices from the workbench and slotted them onto the ends of his tails. The tri-pronged claws snapped and he lowered his goggled, ready to get to work. "Now if only I could get back that missing fuel cell that Tails stole from me..." He grumbled, his tail-hands reaching for tools and equipment, "Stupid Tails... breaking into my lair?! I swear if he ever tries that again I'll-"

"DOCTOR EGGS! DOCTOR EGGS!"

Ivo whipped around in surprise, raising his goggles as a distressed Sparky came running into his workshop, a slimy green shape clutched in her hands. Tears appeared to be running freely down her cheeks, a look of innocent terror in her eyes.

"Woah, what's the matter?" Robotnik set his tools down and approached the distressed fox. He looked at the inert frog as Sparky held it out for his inspection. "Uh... Sparky? Why have you brought me a frog?"

"He's not moving!" Sparky moaned, "I was playing, and I found him, and I thought he was asleep! But he won't wake up!"

"Ah." Ivo understood now. The frog was most certainly dead. "Sparky..." the doctor said carefully, removing his safety goggles and gesturing his apprentice to sit beside him on the workbench. It looked like it was time for a particular conversation. "Do you understand what 'death' means?"

Sparky seemed to go blank, accessing her higher brain functions. "I... am unsure..." the fox said lightly, frowning.

"Okay..." Ivo leaned forward and clasped his hands. "Well... you see, Sparky..." He contemplated, doing his best to figure out to explain the concept of life and death to a nine day old fox clone. "All living things, whatever they are, eventually... die. One moment they are alive, just as you and I right now, and the next... nothing... do you understand?"

Sparky frowned. "Like being asleep?"

"I suppose, but... you never wake up again..." Ivo licked his lips and gestured to the dead frog still in Sparky's hands. "So this frog? He was alive a little while ago... and now he's dead."

Sparky looked sadly at the frog in her hands, before the blue eyes met Ivo's again. "Forever?"

Ivo nodded grimly. "Forever."

"And this happens to everybody?"

Ivo nodded again. "Everybody."

"Even you?"

He considered that for a moment, fiddling with one of his tails. He had technically cheated death once already, transferring himself into the cloned body of a young fox-child... but even he wouldn't be able to keep that up forever. "Yes," he replied, giving Sparky a stern look. "Even me."

Sparky looked at the frog and perked her ears quizzically. "So what do we do with him now?"

Ivo looked over the frog and frowned as he considered. "Well..." he mused, "We could... give him a funeral?"

"A funeral?" Sparky seemed to concentrate, reaching into her subconscious for any memories that might reference these things she was learning. "I... don't remember..." Quizzical blue eyes met Robotnik's once again. "Could you explain, doctor?

"Well..." Ivo took a deep breath. He hadn't expected to ever be attempting to explain such concepts to a child before. "When a person dies, their family and friends will hold a ceremony to remember them! If you want we can do that for your frog friend?"

Sparky seemed to consider, before smiling and nodding. "Okay... that sounds nice..."

"Okay!" the doctor hopped from the workbench they shared and back onto his feet. "Then let's give our little friend a nice send-off!"

And so they did, Ivo pulling the whole 'ceremony' from between his tails as best he could. Teaching Sparky these things was taxing on the doctor. He had never expected to be, essentially, raising a child in this manner. And ultimately, that's what Sparky was. A child, learning her way through life, as best as her caretaker could teach her.

"Goodbye, mister froggy..." the other fox said sadly as Ivo finished covering the small grave he'd dug for the thing. Ivo felt a stab of sympathy for his little friend. Sparky appeared extremely put out by the whole experience. Her face was gaunt, with huge bags beneath her eyes.

"I have an idea..." Ivo said, in an attempt to cheer Sparky's spirits, "Why don't we have a nice bit of supper, eh? We still have pudding... what do you say, huh?"

Sparky managed a small, fatigued grin. "No thank you doctor," the fox replied lightly, "I'm not hungry..."

The doctor watched as his apprentice gave one last sad look to the small grave they had dug in the garden, before she turned around, tails slumped and clutching a red jacket around herself as she made to head back inside.

"Are you feeling okay Sparkz?" the doctor said, concern in his voice at his apprentice's disposition. Sparky's intelligence flip-flopped, but he had never seen her like this before.

The other fox turned and smiled. "No... I'm very tired... I..." the fox clutched her jacket around herself even tighter as her face lost colour, eyes going blank. "I don't feel very well..."

Before the doctor could respond, the light completely faded from his apprentice's eyes, and her red and pink clad form smacked into the grass with a soft *flump*.

Amy hummed to herself as she wiped her hands off on her apron, happily pottering around the kitchen while she baked. "Oh, Sonic's gonna LOVE these cookies!" She said happily, "Maybe even enough that he'll ask me to marry him!" the pink hedgehog retrieved the tray of cookies, baked in the shape of smiling hedgehog faces, and set them on the side. She removed her apron and oven gloves, washing her bare hands before finding her usual handwear.

Brief, happy thoughts of her and Sonic's inevitable wedding floated in her brain, giving her blissful pause... before her communicator began bleeping from the kitchen table, snapping her from her daydreaming.

She grabbed the communicator, fingers crossed hoping it were Sonic... and was instead met with the frantic voice of Tails.

"Amy! Amy, please pick up! It's an emergency!"

"Huh?" Amy frowned as Tails shrieked at her. "Tails, please! Slow down and explain!"

"What? No! This isn't Tails! This is Ivo!"

"Oh..." Amy responded, slightly taken off guard at the doctor's use of his first name, "Sorry... uh, Ivo! What can I do to help?"

"It's Sparky!" the doctor cried frantically, "Something's really wrong with her! I... I need your guys' help!"

Amy set her jaw. Despite his protestation, he sounded exactly like Tails when the other vulpine was upset. "Talk to me," she said, switching her cooking appliances off as she prepared to leave her house, the cookies now forgotten.

Tails glowered at the pencil in his hand, the writing implement having gone utterly unused. He tried to focus. Tried to force himself to jot something down on his paper. Couldn't. His mind had been far too preoccupied this last two days since... the other fox had shown up. The other clone of him. Sparky.

Not real... I'm not the real Tails...

He gripped the pencil tight in his ungloved hand. There was no way he could be the real Tails. Ever since he had been... put back together, for lack of a better term, after his experiment in splitting himself into multiple new individuals... it had been a few days until he had fully recovered. He had been groggy, unfocused. And now he knew why.

Because I was never fully put back together in the first place.

If two of his copies really had escaped capture - a perfectly reasonable possibility, considering the chaos of that day - then the real Tails had never been reconstituted in the first place. He himself was just a copy. Albeit a far more complete one, but still...

A copy. A clone. Not real.

The fox positively jumped in his seat and squeaked in alarm as rapid knocking rapped at his door, the pencil in his hand snapping into two parts as he involuntarily clenched his fists.

"Tails?!" Amy's voice muffled through the door, before the rapid knocking continued. "Tails, open up!"

Tails dutifully and miserably stood from his workstation, slinging his goggles to one side as he made his way to the front door. He released the chain lock... and recoiled as Amy shoved past him, a pair of very familiar yellow individuals accompanying her.

"Ah, jeez!" Tails cried as he recognised her company, "What the heck's going on now, Ames?!"

"It's Sparky!" The pink hedgehog remove her jacket and helped Robotnik set his limp friend on the couch, "There's something really wrong with her!"

"Wait a minute... her?" an utterly bewildered Tails watched as a very gaunt yellow fox, head fur arranged into short pigtails and clad in one of Amy's old dresses, was laid to rest on the couch.

"It's a long story," Amy replied, "But..."

"She's dying, Tails!" a distressed yellow fox, who just couldn't be Robotnik, grabbed Miles' shoulders and regarded him with wet, pleading eyes. "She's dying and I don't know why!"

"Okay..." Tails said, doing his best to make sense of his predicament, "Okay... let's get him... or her, into my medical bay..." He looked over the limp form of the other fox, who appeared almost corpse-like, barely breathing as they lay on the couch. "We can figure this out from there."

"Okay..." breathed Robotnik, who seemed genuinely frightened at whatever ailment was affecting his apprentice. Tails watched as the doctor leaned over the other fox like a concerned parent, even raking Sparky's hand. "Sparky? We just have to move you, is that okay?"

There was a whimper of compliance from the couch's occupant, before Ivo turned back to Tails. "Okay, where are we going?"

Tails retrieved his safety goggles and replaced them in his head. "Follow me.

"Okay..." Tails breathed, rubbing his tired eyes as the doctor hovered nearby. The two foxes had worked together to figure out exactly what was happening with their clone counterpart, though it was Tails who had run through most of the information, defensively keeping Robotnik away from his computers. "I think I know what's happening..."

Robotnik approached, arms wrapped around himself, while Amy sat next to the bed Sparky had been placed in. "Go on?" the wide-eye doctor prompted.

"You're right..." Tails said, doing his best to maintain a professional demeanour with the doctor. "She's dying. Her body is deteriorating rapidly. At this rate... I don't know, it might be a couple of days, it might only be a few hours, but her body will give up completely. It's just a matter of time."

The doctor appeared to deflate, utter misery over his face. "But... why?" the other fox whispered hoarsely, staring through the floor.

"I have a theory..." Tails replied, "Based on what you've told me? About these moments of high intelligence Sparky displays? I think she's... and unstable copy. And while she is capable of higher thinking, it's coming at a price... her body is dying, the more her intelligence increases."

Robotnik looked up resolutely. "So that's it? There's nothing we can do?"

"I didn't say that..." Tails folded his arms and glared at the doctor. "I have a plan. I can't calculate the chances of success, and it'll be risky... but if we work together, we can save her."

Robotnik set his hands on his hips. "I'm listening."

"We can't save her body. It's deteriorating too rapidly and too thoroughly." Tails explained as he stood from his chair, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "But... we can save her mind. "

"And how do we do that?" The doctor replied obliviously.

"Dude..." Tails scoffed, gesturing at his double, "Because that's exactly what you did! Remember?"

Robotnik's ears drooped as he considered the body that was permanently his, and his long-destroyed human form. "I see..." the doctor mused, stroking the sides of his muzzle, "Based on my designs we may be able to develop the technology necessary for mental transference... but we don't have a body to switch her into!" The doctor tapped at his own head. "This vessel was mindless, blank, when I switched my intelligence over. And it took days to produce! There is no way we can find a workable equivalent in the time that we have!"

"You sure about that?" Tails replied, gesturing as he led the doctor into his workshop. "We might not have an organic body at hand... but we do have this. "

The doctor gawped, bewildered, as Tails pointed directly toward the occupant of the workshop's interior - the gleaming yellow form of his beloved Tornado.

Robotnik shook his head with disbelief. "You must be joking! You want to upload an organic intelligence... into a plane?! "

"I recently upgraded the Tornado's autopilot systems..." Tails explained, "Into essentially the basis for a hyper-intelligent AI!" He banged a fist on the hull of the plane and grinned. "I haven't wrote up an intelligence yet, however. So she's blank. With a little tweaking, by my calculations we should totally be able to transfer Sparky's mind into these systems!"

"So your plan is to turn my apprentice into a light aircraft?" The doctor replied dryly.

"Only temporarily!" Tails raised his hands, "We can store her mind in the Tornado's systems for now... until we can construct a brand new artificial body for her! I'd suggest cloning a new organic form, but I don't wanna try converting twice in such a short space of time. This is entirely theoretical, as of now."

Robotnik glowered through the floor as he considered. "Sparky saved my life..." he muttered, "If this is the best chance of saving hers... then I have to take it."

Tails nodded. "We'll have to discuss it with her, right? See what she wants to do?"

Robotnik nodded. "Yes," He replied, suddenly appeared very tired... and old. "I owe her that much."

"Okay..." Tails, clad in surgical scrubs and mask, gestured to the time on a wall-mounted clock. "We're all set... if you have anything you want to say, doc..." He spoke to the identical fox across from the bed, "Now's the time..."

Robotnik, wearing the same garments as his double, swallowed and nodded. He lowered his mask and did his best to grin supportively at their patient as she lay on the bed, tubes and wires inserted into her flesh. "Hey, Sparky!" the doctor said, "Are you ready?"

The third fox, who had remained almost utterly silent since being brought to Tails' workshop, looked up to the doctor, her eyes constricting as intelligence was forced back into the forefront of her brain. "Hi, Doctor Eggs..." The clone coughed and shuddered, her forced intelligence taking its toll on her body. "Can I... discuss something... with you first?"

"Hey, come on Sparks! Don't do this!" The doctor, who betrayed nothing of the character he had once been, rubbed at his friend's hand, and Tails swore his eyes were wet behind the goggles. "You're just hurting yourself!"

"It's okay..." the clone croaked, cracked lips offering a smile as intelligence shone in the blue eyes, "There's... only a thirty-three percent calculated chance... of this working, anyway..."

"Nah, don't be daft!" Ivo responded, "You have the two greatest geniuses to ever live on the job! We're going to fix you, right Miles?"

Tails, who had shelved his rivalry with the doctor in the interest of saving a life, offered a thumbs up. "Best team you could ask for, right here!" He said.

Sparky seemed to chuckle. "Ten days..." she said lightly, staring into nothing, "It's not a long time to be alive, is it?"

"Well when we're done with you," Ivo replied, "You're going to live a good long time! You'll see!"

Sparky smiled, bright blue eyes meeting Ivo's own. "In case that I don't," the clone, attempting to maintain a level of intelligence that was presently consuming her body, whispered, "Thank you for being my friend, doctor... and thank you for my life..."

With that, Sparky appeared to slump, eyes going blank again.

Miles coughed. "It's now or never, doc..." he said pointedly, "We have a lot of work to do..."

"Quite... quite..." Robotnik reached up and wiped beneath his goggles, before setting his mask in place and clearing his throat. "We have the tools and parts we need... we have the smarts... it's been a while since I operated on a living patient, though..."

"Yeah well..." Tails muttered. "This is my first time... so I'm following you, doc."

The two foxes' eyes met from behind the goggles as they prepared to operate. "Thank you for this, miles..." the doctor said, voice hoarse.

"Just remember," Tails chuckled, squashing his nerves. "You owe me."

Ivo moved to put his friend to sleep, when Sparky regarded him with sleepy, dumb eyes. "Can we have pudding tonight Doctor Eggs?"

Robotnik nodded, thankful for the mask covering his face. "Of course we can, Sparky!" he replied as he inserted he syringe, "We can have all the pudding you want..."

Sparky mumbled something unintelligible as she went under, and was gone.

"Right..." grunted Tails, "Let's do this..."

"Upload at... eighty-seven percent..."

Tails fought back a squeaky yawn, as Robotnik returned from the kitchen with a pair of energy drinks. The two foxes had been left alone to carry out their work, and after hours of careful surgery, Sparky was now hooked up to the systems of the Tornado. Her mind had been connected via neural implant, based on the very same tech Robotnik had used to transfer himself into his present form. However, unlike his transition, Sparky's mind was being converted entirely into artificial intelligence. The means of this conversion were fantastically complex, and far beyond the capabilities of this author to adequately describe, so just go with it yeah?

Robotnik checked on Sparky's life-support, the life-signs of her organic body pulsing weakly. Unconsciousness had given her more time... but the body was nerve-rackingly close to complete deterioration.

"Hold on, Sparky..." the doctor muttered, clutching his energy drink, "Just a little longer..."

"Everything we can do, we've done..." said Tails, stretching as he tapped at a data pad. "All we can do is wait..."

"Yes, well..." Robotnik replied, setting himself down on a chair across from the other fox, "This technology is... untested... all of it... I'm terrified of something going wrong..."

"It's your tech," Tails said, "Do you have that little faith in your own ability?"

Robotnik shrugged weakly. "Let's be honest, Miles..." he replied, "I've never been what you might call 'successful' in my endeavours..."

Tails sipped his drink, scrutinising the doctor before him. He had never seen Robotnik, in either his old human form or his present body, being so passionate about saving a life before.

But then, the doctor hadn't really been the same since his 'accident' those few months ago.

"What's it like?" Miles asked, thinking of something to say to the former human who had infuriated him so much, "Switching bodies like... like this?"

Robotnik chuckled, idly running a tail through one hand. "Bright light... pain... like being born again, I suppose..." the doctor fiddled with his tail, ears drooping as he considered. "And then there were the changes in behaviour... in my personality... memory issues..." He looked to his double, a sad look in his eyes. "I know I'm not the same person I used to be, Miles... I'm not that oblivious to my own mistakes..."

Tails frowned. "Doesn't it bother you?" the fox said lightly, "Knowing you aren't the same person any more?"

Robotnik shrugged. "I simply learned to deal with it, and moved on... what else can I do?"

Tails cocked his head and thought for a moment. There was something he needed to know, something he wanted to hear from the self-proclaimed 'Egg-Fox'. "If you could..." he said carefully, as Robotnik turned back to check Sparky's life-support equipment, "Would you go back?"

There was no reply, the doctor absorbed in his readings... though the slight twitch of an ear told Tails the doctor had probably heard him full well, despite failing to acknowledge Tails' query.

That probably told him all he needed to know, after all.

But then, perhaps not. Both foxes' ears perked as instruments began bleeping, and Robotnik shot Tails a look of dread.

"Her life signs are fading fast!" The doctor cried, "We're losing her!"

Tails scrambled for his data pad, checking the status of the conversion. "Upload at... ninety-five percent! We almost have her fully converted and installed!"

"Hold on Sparky..." the doctor whimpered, "Please hold on..."

It was over. They had done what they could, but Sparky's life signs had faded completely into nothingness. Upload at ninety-six percent. It was over.

Sparky was gone.

Tails gently set his data pad down on a workbench and sighed, while the doctor stared gloomily at the lifeless form of his friend. The kitsune sighed. "I'm sorry, doc. There's nothing else we can do."

Robotnik didn't reply, simply staring at Sparky's limp form. He wore the darkest expression Miles could ever imagine being on that face, fists clenched and limbs slack.

"She's gone," Tails grimly checked the status of his data pad. Ninety-six percent. So close. He looked up to the still form of the fox who had once been a seemingly ruthless, uncaring villain. "What... do you want to do with the body?"

Robotnik turned slowly, and glowered at his double. He shrugged, turning to leave the workshop. "I don't care," the fox muttered, removing his surgical garments as he left. Tails drew a breath to stop him, but thought better. He knew nothing of the relationship Robotnik had seemingly shared with his apprentice. What could he say?

"I failed her," the doctor paused and glanced over his shoulder, "She saved my life... she was one of the only people to ever want to be my friend," he continued, "And I failed her."

Robotnik continued, leaving a sullen Tails to awkwardly consider what he was supposed to do with the body.

And then there was a ping.

Tails' ears perked, and he checked his data pad.

"Upload at... ninety-seven percent..." he whispered. He calculated. Her body was dead but if Sparky's intelligence was someway between it and the systems of the Tornado, there was still...

"Doc!" Miles called, sudden hope in his chest, "Get your fuzzy butt back in here! We still have her!"

Robotnik came positively sprinting back into the room. "Wait, WHAT?!"

"Don't ask me, dude!" Tails grinned, raising his tablet, "There's some kinda dramatic deus ex machina bs going on right now!"

"Oh, sweet!"

The two foxes leaned over the tablet as the upload status bar crawled impossibly slowly.

"Ninety seven percent..." Tails muttered, the bar climbing up. "Ninety eight percent..."

"It's working..." Robotnik said, one hand gripping Tails' shoulder, "It's working!"

"Ninety nine percent..." Tails said, before turning to observe the Tornado, clutches of cables connecting the now deceased fox to the aircraft. "One hundred percent!"

Miles, data pad in hand, swirled his tails and fluttered into the aircraft's cockpit. He leaned in close, observing the machine's upgraded AI systems.

"Sparky?" the doctor slowly approached the idle aircraft, peering into the hull-mounted microcameras. "Are you in there?"

There was a long silence, punctuated only by clicks and taps as Tails fiddles with the plane's systems.

And then there was a voice.

"Doctor Eggs?" a tinny, crackling, artificial voice crackled from the cockpit. "I feel funny..."

Tails grinned, and gestured to the plane's dash. "We got her!" the fox said.

Robotnik cackled with glee at the improbable rescue of his friend, batting the Tornado's hull with a fist. "Sparky?" the doctor said, "Don't ever do that again, you hear me?!"

"Okay!" there was a pause, the microcamera Robotnik inspected swivelling. "... can I have pudding now?"

"Sorry, Sparks..." the doctor replied happily, "It's going to be a while before you can eat pudding again..."

"Oh..."

Some days later...

Once again, Ivo Robotnik found himself adjusting his appearance in his tall mirror. He tugged at his jacket and straightened his back, glancing to the portrait of his old human self nearby. He stood as tall as his three-foot-something frame would allow... before all six limbs went slack, along with his ears.

"Ugh..." he groaned, unzipping his jacket, "What's the use?"

The doctor removed his uniform coat and threw it onto a nearby chair, instead opting for his utility harness and goggles. His attitude regarding clothes was finally beginning to alter, the thick fur of his mobian physiology making garments for the most part needless.

"Orbot? Cubot?" the doctor called, pulling on his elbow-length gloves.

"Yes sir!"

"Here, boss!"

Robotnik grinned and set his hands on his hips, tails swishing as his lackeys appeared. "Today is going to be a great day, boys!" He said pointedly, raising a finger in the air, "The Eggmobile's new propulsion system is certain to leave even that infernal hedgehog Sonic in the dust!"

"Oh, yes, Sonic..." Orbot said, offering his companion a wry look.

"Oh, uh..." Cubot snickered, "Sure, boss! Because that's totally still your ultimate goal! 'Destroy Sonic'! Riiiiiiiiight!"

"I don't know what you're insinuating..." the doctor said, glaring at his minions, "But however tame my recent activities may have become, I am still the greatest, most evil supervillain to ever live! And I will NOT STOP until that rambunctious rabble known as Team Sonic has been elmina-"

"DOCTOR EGGS!"

The doctor squeaked as a yellow and pink figure slammed into him from a doorway, wrapping him in an impossibly tight hug.

"DOCTOR EGGS!" A golden mechanoid, similar in design to Metal Sonic though based on the form of a mobian fox, plonked the doctor back on his feet and spread its arms in presentation. "AMY HELPED ME PICK OUT A NEW OUTFIT!"

"Oh, really?" Ivo grumbled, his head spinning as the now fully-artificial form of Sparky did a twirl, showing off her brand new red tunic-dress. "That's... great..."

The mechanoid stopped in her spinning and cocked her head with a slight whir or motors. "BASED ON YOUR RESPONSE, YOUR TRUE FEELINGS APPEAR TO BE NINETY PERCENT AMBIVALENT!" the mechanoid said, vocal synthesizers warbling excitedly.

"Okay, okay!" Ivo raised his hands defensively, "Fine! You look... very nice!" He put on his best smile as he clasped his hands, unsure how to complement a female robot on her looks.

"AWW, THANKS DOCTOR EGGS!" Sparky reached out with telescopic limbs and wrapped the doctor in another hug. Robotnik, embracing his fate as a plushy toy, squeaked as the air was driven from his lungs.

"Yes, YES, you're WELCOME!" Ivo shook himself off, fur poofing out as he was deposited back on his feet. He set his fists on his hips once again and grinned up at his apprentice. "So, Sparkz!" He said, "Everything okay in that noggin of yours?"

"ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONING ADEQUATELY!" the new mechanoid said, hands clasping behind her back. "INTELLIGENCE HAS BOUND WELL TO CURRENT SYSTEMS!"

"Fantastic!" The doctor replied, before leaning in conspiratorially, "And... we haven't been sticking our fingers in any more plug sockets now, have we?"

There was a pause, lasting several seconds. Sparky, no longer in possession of facial features outside of a nose-like sensor module and a downswept black visor, remained still and silent. The only response from the orange mechanoid was her glowing blue LED 'eyes' slowly drifting apart. "... NO!" came the eventual response.

"Of course you haven't..." the doctor chuckled, twizzling his finger around the end of a tail. He'd let it slide for now. Sparky couldn't hurt herself in such a fashion, after all. Although he didn't relish the idea of his electricity grid being knocked out again by a curious and energy-hungry robot.

Sparky couldn't help it, though. She had only been inside her new mechanical body for a few days, after all. At least her intelligence seemed to have smoothed out.

"Anywho..." Ivo said, clasping his hands behind his back as he continued walking through his lair, "I was looking for you, Sparky! We have some important business to take care of today!"

"OH, COOL!" the female mechanoid copied Ivo's hands-behind-back gait and followed on, briefly hovering above the flooring on foot-mounted anti-grav boosters. "WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY, DOCTOR EGGS?"

"Well..." Ivo replied, checking the time on his wrist-pad and leading the mechanoid through the lair's halls, "I thought we could take it easy today... just a nice bit of 'quality family time,' wouldn't you say?"

"FAMILY TIME?"

"Yes!" Ivo said, leading her down the entrance hall. He checked the lair's external security cams. It seemed timing had been quite fortuitous after all. "There's a couple of people who would really like to meet you!"

Sparky watched, curious, as the doctor palmed his door controls and the thick front doors to the lair hissed open... revealing a trio of other robots.

"Oh!" Mombot jumped slightly, about to ring the lair's evil doorbell, "Ivo! Did you know we were here?"

"Yes, Mombot!" the doctor replied, "I planned this down to the last second!"

"Yo, bro-skimo-so!" Morpho, that Robot that can Shapeshift and Might be from Another Dimension or something, raised bags full of special Roboken nitro-glycerine and grinned widely. "Well good to see you, bruh!"

"Quite," the doctor said, regarding the third mechanoid with shrewd eyes. "And what about you, Metal?" he said sternly, "Any reason I haven't heard from you in a week?"

The sulky machine rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the cell phone in one hand.

"Oh..." Said Mombot, raising a steel hand to her faceplate as she noticed the new figure, "And this must be..."

"Yes!" Ivo replied, as Sparky cowered uncertainly behind him, "Come on, don't be shy!" the doctor reached back and guided Sparky around, the mechanoid's glowing blue eyes timidly flicking between the new arrivals.

"H... hi!" she chattered, offering a small wave, "I'm Sparky!"

"Everybody? I'd like you to meet my..." Ivo contemplated, before throwing out the term 'apprentice' for good. Sparky was family now, whatever that meant. "I'd like you to meet my best friend!" He said instead, "Sparky!"