Well guys, another day, another chapter. So far I've gotten some pretty positive feedback, but I believe we only just started the story. Anyways, I would like to take my time to thank anyone who decided to check this story out. As is customary around here, review check.

Guest (Wedgely): Glad you like the dynamic, because that's going to be the main part of the story after all. We've yet to see how Sonic's decisions are affected by this entity, and I will say that it definitely won't be pretty.

Oh, and almost forgot. I had help from Noonui, who is going to be my new editor. She also makes amazing stories and has a lot in store, so if you ever want to read pure talent with a lot of fluff, please check her out, I know she would love to see you reading her stories. Let's begin then.

The Resurgence of the Arch Nemesis – Part 1

Three weeks after the Sanatorium Incident

For all intents and purposes, the Crawfords were unremarkable. This nuclear family of black Mobian cats were living in luxury comparable both to the upper class and the upper middle class. Their lavish residence and their mannerisms belonged to the former, but their social standing, as well as their general wealth and professions, was more akin to the latter. The father, Henry Crawford, was a proprietor of a small distillery, the brand of his liquor overshadowed by major companies. It wasn't surprising, the quality he could guarantee from his own aqua vitae didn't exceed that of mass-produced brands, not to mention that its existence was a spur of the moment thing and he never expected it to be his source of income. His wife, Amanda, was perhaps the least interesting part of the family, living off her husband's salary and was often satisfying her shopaholic urges. Their only son, Jamie, appeared to be an outlier in the family, lacking both his parents' extroverted nature and their mannerisms. The nine year old was a curious soul, but it was always a miracle whenever he uttered more than a dozen words a day. Not that he minded that, with him being reserved and all that. He gladly let his parents take the foreground while he did something else he preferred.

Clearly the only risk factor that would bring them unwanted attention was their fortune, which is why it was so perplexing when they received a letter from none other than Doctor Robotnik, the evil mastermind with whom Sonic fought throughout most of his life. Monetary gain was something the doctor never really had a problem with, mainly because he was exempt from any financial system due to obvious reasons. Of course, wherever Eggman places his hands on, Sonic and Tails are always there to examine it. Summoned to the estate by the family itself, they took a peek at the aforementioned letter, hoping to see what Eggman had in store.

Unfortunately for everyone in the living room, the letter was vague. Surprisingly so, in fact. No speeches of grandeur, no signs of his bloated ego spilled across the letter, no secret codes, nothing. In fact, the only part of the letter which proved that its sender was, in fact, Eggman was his logo and signature in the corner, which they confirmed to be genuine.

"I know what you have over there.

You may not even know what I'm talking about, but that suits me just fine.

I already helped myself to it. Don't bother figuring out what it is.

I'm going to change the tides this time.

Make sure he reads the letter too. I think you know who 'he' is.

Good day."

Everyone understood right away that the last statement was referring to none other than Sonic. Unfortunately, there was nothing else to infer from the letter, not concretely at least. He was up to no good, it was only a question of what he was planning to do.

Sonic and Tails turned their attention to the Crawfords, hoping they might shed some light on the situation. After all, they were the recipients of the letter.

"Do you have any idea why he would want anything from you?" Tails asked, pointing at the letter.

"We already told you as much, no!" responded the man, "My wife and I can't begin to fathom why this scoundrel would be interested in us."

"He said he already helped himself to it. Was anything stolen?" Tails asked. Sonic was sort of wandering around the room, taking in its décor. His expertise was reassuring people, not prying in their affairs. His only concern was stopping Eggman.

"No, of course not. That's the first we checked," said the man, a tad bit annoyed by the line of trivial sounding questions, "I checked all around the house, the electronics are all in place and nobody went through my paperwork."

"My jewelry is in place, as well," interjected the woman, "Lord knows what that horrid man tried to take. It's such an appalling thought, the fact there are people like that running amok. Oh I could go on a tangent abou—"

"It's alright, Mrs Crawford," Tails interrupted quickly, "We're here to deal with them. You can count on us."

Tails glanced at the timid little kitten hiding behind his father's leg.

"And what about you, little guy?" asked Tails with a sweet tone of voice, "Was anything stolen from you?"

The child took a moment to respond, pursing his lips, but he shook his head.

"What about the distillery?" Sonic remembered to ask after listening passively to their conversation, "Did you check if anything was stolen there?"

"Of course I did!" the man responded loudly, "Everything is in perfect order, my inventory hasn't been tampered with."

"You see, gentlemen," the woman stated with confusion in her voice, "We have absolutely no clue on what this man's intentions were. We're truly confounded, I mean, there's no absolutely no reason why someone would target us—"

While Tails was busy witnessing the lady's gift of gab, Sonic trailed off, his attention brought elsewhere. Making sure not to alarm anybody and cause further distress, he gently wandered around the living room looking left and right. He had a hunch something was off, he just didn't know what it was.

It all clicked when he saw a familiar figure in one of the doorways. It was Tails, except… Tails was still talking to the couple and their son, asking additional questions about the whole situation. He needn't double check either, that wide slit of a grin that scarred the fox's face already made it obvious that HE came back again for some torment. Bad timing, Sonic thought, but then again, he knew that the demon wished to be as inconvenient as possible.

This time, it didn't say anything, but that didn't mean it was over. In fact, his appearance in a room was an overture for another one of those dreadful heart to heart moments. The demon made simple movements, tapping his left wrist while snidely staring at his azure victim.

Sonic diverted his gaze to the left wrist, and immediately began to panic. His skin, it was beginning to turn purple and veiny. The physical stage of his condition was beginning to manifest right here in this house. As soon as he saw it, he realized that he was beginning to have tremors, and he was practically gasping for air, as if he was slowly running out of oxygen.

Damn it, he had to move, but he couldn't just leave Tails here. No… No, he needed to stop this thing while it hasn't spread across his body. His stomach wasn't convulsing yet, he could still walk to the bathroom. Yes, that's right. All he needed was to get to the bathroom. Fuck, it's not in his nature to rummage through someone else's belongings like that, but he had no choice. He held his hands together, took a deep breath and turned to the family.

"E-Excuse me, um?" he asked, struggling to stay composed, "I, um… can you tell me where the bathroom is, please?"

Everyone looked at him when he popped the question, but luckily they didn't seem to notice anything off. Good. Good. He held his breath in anticipation.

"Yes, go through this door, turn right, it's at the end of the corridor," the man replied, pointing at the door where the demon stood a moment ago.

"Thanks," Sonic said through an exhale, before hurrying through the room and out the door.

It was a long corridor, a crimson carpet with an intricate golden pattern across a spruce floor. However, Sonic had no time to admire the interior design, he was already beginning to feel a migraine coming. Small, but noticeable. Ditching his act the second he left their sights, he ran to the bathroom door, slamming it closed after pushing through it.

The bathroom was small, but a house as big as that most likely had another, main one. The floor was made out of big, green and white tiles, while the walls were covered only in white ones. On Sonic's left was a toilet and a glass shower, pristinely clean, and on his right was an ordinary washing machine above which was a green overhead bathroom counter. In front of him was a small, circular rug with a pattern of green concentric circles, and right across the room was a beautiful white sink, above which hanged a medicine cabinet with a mirror door.

Good, there was a medicine cabinet in there after all, he sighed a breath of relief. Looking at his left arm, he saw that the purple rash had spread across his left forearm, reaching the elbow. Exasperated, he opened up the cabinet, coming across a plethora of similar looking pill bottles. "Damn it," he mouthed, wishing it was easier than this. He hoped that the room had good sound insulation or else he would be in trouble if someone heard him or saw him like this.

"Well now, isn't this a familiar sight."

Sonic jumped in surprise at the voice, thinking that the fox caught him red handed. He shook his head, however, when he realized it was that entity again. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he continued sorting through the piles of chemicals, not in the mood for any of his signature catchphrases.

"You know, it never crossed my mind before, but this is very much like being a heavy addict," the demon continued, inspired by the realization, "I am your withdrawal symptom, and here you are, storming a complete stranger's inventory to get your fix. Oh, when they find out about this, you are soooo fucked!"

"Nobody's going to find out about this," Sonic replied firmly, reading the labels of several bottles he scooped up and cradled in his hands. He was visibly starting to sweat and shiver.

"Oh what an imbecile you are. Look at you! Everybody can see something is wrong with you," the demon replied, audibly facepalming at his host, "All those conquests to save the world mean nothing to them, all it takes is one small spot on your record and boom! You're no longer trustworthy, your name is forever struck off the hall of fame."

"T-T-That's not true, I can explain it to them," Sonic stammered, visibly shaken up by the thought, "They'll understand. I saved the world multiple times, for Chaos' sake!"

"Some people are beyond listening to explanations. You put so much faith in them, but you're so dumb to realize how wicked they can be. They don't want to hear your excuses, they revel in bringing down heroes to their level because they can't stand someone being better than them. Those are the people YOU keep on fighting for, don't you see, dipshit?!"

Two more pill bottles left to check. One of them had to be it, he just felt it. Quickly, before anyone notices, he's gone longer than needed.

"You know, it doesn't matter what you do, the citizens of this world will all end up killing themselves anyways. Just take any other thing here… chug it down, put an end to this madness. Let the weak be culled, stop prolonging this world's life… just put it out of its misery."

There it is! It was in his right hand, right there. The blue hedgehog leaned on the sink, not being able to support himself anymore. He opened the lid, and with no time to think it through, poured out the contents into his mouth. He tried to keep some of it in the bottle, but he knew it was noticeable. That's alright. Nobody would notice right away. It's not like he was going to be dead with one or two pills more.

Inhale. Hold it. Exhale. Repeat. Three more times. He felt vigor surging through his legs and arms again. That's it. Keep calm, take a few more breaths.

He inspected his forearm. The discoloration began to vanish, leaving only his preferred shade of blue. He noticed that he teared up a bit, so he wiped it off with his left arm.

Feeling much better, he stood up relieved. Luckily, he didn't make a mess, so he quickly returned the much lighter bottle of the lifesaving tablets back into its place. He closed the cabinet door. The mirror on the door reflected off of him, showing that his eyes became redder than usual, but he also saw the orange two tailed fox standing behind him, diamond eyes gleaming with something vile in them.

"You got away this time, but it's only going to get worse from here," the demon stated as Sonic turned on the sink and poured some water on his face, "You don't know it yet, but one day there will be nothing you can do to prevent it. Your body will change until you become nothing more than a hideous fucking monstrosity. I live for that day."

Sonic merely looked back at the mirror, his eyes showing a hint of fright. He couldn't deny the possibility of what was going to happen to him if he failed to take one of those pills. He remembered how his stomach seemed to rearrange itself painfully during those periods, how his skin not only became different in appearance, but also in how it felt. He saw the figure smiling devilishly, like it knew what he was thinking. Oh, how he wished to wipe that grin off its face.

The blue hedgehog jolted up when he saw the door open. He almost forgot that he didn't lock it, and in that moment felt a bit stupid, knowing that anyone could have barged in while he was knee deep in their private stuff. He quickly turned around to face the person who entered, but saw no one at first.

A second later, a small black cat peered from behind the door, watching closely with his big eyes. It was Jamie, the Crawfords' child. He must have decided to break off from the group, sneaking out into the corridor. One could see that this kitten noticed things others could not. Perhaps it wasn't Tails nor the parents that were closer to discovering his little secret, but it was him.

The little kitten revealed himself in full, standing still while staring into the blue blur. Even though he knew the kid saw nothing, the amount of attention he still got caught him off guard. What if the kid heard something after all? No, Sonic made sure not to be a decibel louder than necessary. The kid continued to stand and stare, not saying a word. Odd one, he didn't give off the impression of being mute. Perhaps the kid is just shy, or maybe he's just like that all the time. Still, it seemed that he was leaving the kid hanging, so Sonic formulated one of his cheesy responses:

"Heya there, little buddy? You snuck out to see the hero of the planet up close, eh?" Sonic said, leaning over to his height.

The kid was stiff, made no motion apart from the barely noticeable fidgeting of his fingers. Gosh, what if the kid saw something? Sonic began to sweat a bit, uncomfortable by the silence. Tension, luckily, dissipated only a few seconds after, when the kid nodded his head, at first reluctantly, but then energetically, a sweet little smile appearing on his face.

"Listen, kiddo," proposed Sonic, "How about we go back into the living room, hm? I'll be right—"

Before he even finished the sentence, the kitten hopped away back through the corridor… into another room. Sonic had a confused look on his face, but quickly reassured himself that the kid saw nothing. It was fine. The child's had enough for today. Better to leave him be.

Sonic made his way back into the room, doing some arm stretches along the way. It was a huge relief that no one suspected a thing. He may be witty, but he doesn't want to purposely lie.

"Remind me again how you got into the possession of said letter?" Sonic caught Tails in the middle of asking that.

"It was our son, Jamie, that discovered the letter. I think he got it from the front porch. We honestly don't know really."

"How so?" added Tails, "If you don't me asking?"

The man responded, "Well, Jamie… I'm sure you've noticed that he doesn't talk a lot."

"Jamie is an unusual soul," the woman added, "He was always interested in things that... well, wherever my husband and I see one thing, he sees another. He has his flaws, but…"

"What my wife is trying to say is, " the man interjected, "No matter if he talks or not or if he doesn't like the same things as we do, we believe he has the capacity for something greater than we could ever reach."

"That's pretty poetic, Mr and Mrs Crawford," exclaimed Sonic, "I know for a fact that in each and every one of us hides a hero. Isn't that right Tails?"

Tails chuckled at his remarks, Sonic's mellow words of praise making his heart warm and mushy.

"Well, I think there's nothing much else we could ask you two. Tails?"

"Yeah, I've run out of questions for now."

The Crawfords offered to accompany them to the front door, which they politely accepted. The duo assured the family that they would get to the bottom of this soon, and bid them farewell.

As the duo was waving to the family, Sonic couldn't help but notice Jamie wasn't anywhere in sight. He supposed that it didn't matter as much, though he got the feeling that the child did in fact notice something off. Sure, Sonic was conventionally quiet, but from what he heard, perhaps Jamie could have noticed something weird after all. For now, though, he had no choice but to leave the family to their business.

Sonic and Tails strolled around town, stumbling upon an area which was incidentally full of in progress renovations. Scaffolding, concrete mixers and 'Caution' tape surrounded the whole section. The streets were vacant, most likely because everyone was at work. A few minutes have passed since they left the Crawford residence, and it was time to go home now. They decided to take it slow, and had a chat about some trivial matters, sometimes cracking a few jokes, at which the duo laughed at for dozens of seconds.

However, they needed to address what they knew about this whole thing with Eggman.

"What do you think, Sonic?" Tails changed the topic to it first, "Eggman seems to have targeted this family for a reason, but what could it be?"

"Well we know he didn't steal anything from them… so what did he mean when he said that he already helped himself to it? Any ideas?"

"Well…" Tails gave it some thought, "Maybe Eggman used the distillery to brew something? It's the only thing I can think of, but why would he go to the effort of using someone else's when he could have easily built it himself?"

"I don't know Tails," said Sonic, trying to think of something else, "Perhaps he didn't even enter the house and just sent that letter to distract us."

"Maybe, but still… what could he be doing?"

"Beats me, Tails! That egghead is always so unpredictable."

They walked silently for a bit, both pondering about their enemy's plans. Something seemed off, however, and they just couldn't help but feel a bit shaken up by the whole letter. Maybe that was the plan, after all, but still… if what he wrote was true and it was no coincidence the family found it…

"I don't like this, Sonic," confessed Tails, "Eggman is becoming weird."

Sonic was perplexed by his brother's words.

"What do you mean Tails?"

"Well," he explained, "It's just that… Eggman is always so blunt about his plans. He had no subtlety, he always spoke like 'I, Doctor Robotnik, am about to conquer this world!' and all the other stuff."

Sonic listened carefully, and couldn't help but agree with everything he said.

"But now, he's gotten really secretive all of a sudden. No evil gods, no mercenaries, not even his speeches, nothing. He's become this sort of shadow, and… it feels as if he's actually going to be out for blood, y'know?"

"Tails, maybe you're just a bit tired from having to listen to them talk. Besides, this is only the beginning, I'm sure he'll be back to his old self once we see what he's really aiming at here. It's going to be fine."

Tails seemed to contemplate in silence, but he exhaled, a worried look lingered on his face.

"It's just that, I don't know what to think. Ever since the Sanatorium Incident—"

"Tails!" yelled out Sonic, "Please, we agreed not to talk about!"

"I know, Sonic! You think I don't know why we agreed on that? It's just that… maybe he found something else down there…"

"Tails, please…"

"I'm telling you Sonic, something was so wrong with that place! Those rooms, the… blood. A-A-And that machine…"

"STOP!" Sonic shouted, begging for Tails not to awake the memories they tried so hard to repress.

"There was something so horrible in that huge metal machine… it was like a demon—"

Sonic grabbed Tails by his shoulders and shook him.

"Tails, for the love of… please stop! I can't just…"

Sonic began to tear up, and not long after he noticed several tears streaming down Tails' cheeks. Did he… make him cry? No, he couldn't handle that. Stupid, stupid! He never should have grabbed him like that, but… he just needed him to stop.

"I'm sorry buddy, I shouldn't have done that, I…" Sonic apologized. Tails was sobbing now, clearly shaken up by everything. Sonic kneeled down and Tails hugged him tight, crying into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry." Sonic whispered, as he padded Tails on the back, trying his best to console him.

Then he stopped, all of a sudden. The demon, the one who looked like Tails… he was there. Sonic looked past Tails' shoulder, staring into the very thing that got them into this mess. He stiffened up, felt anger coursing through his veins as he watched the figure standing in the middle of the road.

The demon pointed at Tails, raising his eyebrows. He then ran his finger across his throat, his tongue poking out. The demon then chuckled at his own gesture, knowing how riled up Sonic would be by what they implied.

Sonic was unamused, clenching his fists. Nobody was going to treat the boy like that, not on his watch. "Just you wait!" Sonic thought, eager to see that horrible thing gone for good.

"Sonic?" Tails asked through tears. He must have noticed that Sonic was getting riled up over something.

Sonic glanced at Tails, and stood up swiftly.

"Yeah!" he responded, clumsily, "Yeah, I think we should go now. Come on, I'll get you some ice cream, okay."

Tails nodded immediately, a despondent look still on his face. Sonic helped him up, and the two were on their way, not saying a word. Words wouldn't have changed anything now anyway, he thought, it was only a matter of waiting. Waiting for Eggman to make his first move.

As they walked however, Sonic was reminded of an unusual thing that happened in that bathroom. Of course, at the moment, he was caught up in something else, that something being the kid, but in retrospect, he noticed something… off. Something he could use to his advantage if he's right about it.

The demon, the entity that took on the form of Tails, he saw him in the mirror… he was there until he looked back to see who opened the door. But, even though he saw the demon right next to the door in the mirror, once he turned his head to face the door, he was nowhere in sight.

Was that his weakness, he thought? That was it, wasn't it? He's not a real object, he's just a projection of something in his head. A real person would have a reflection in the mirror and still exist outside of it, but there could only be one instance of the demon. The demon was in the reflection, but not in the actual space. Does that mean if there was a mirror and he saw the demon in the room… was the demon not going to have a reflection in the mirror?

If Sonic was correct, that meant another important thing. He could finally distinguish who is the real Tails and who is not, simply by quickly glancing in a nearby mirror or in the space around him. Looks like this is cause for some experimentation. Well, he supposed having a bunch of mirrors around the house couldn't hurt.

The duo made their way back home, reflecting on their experiences for the day. They would sound the alarm and call their friends over when that doctor finally sets his plan in motion, but for now, they could only wait.

Sonic knew, however, that, regarding his condition, waiting was the last thing he should be doing.