I just want to make something clear; this isn't supposed to be Sonic 'Leaping' in the same way as Sam from Quantum Leap. You'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Still don't own any Sonic characters.
"Wow." Knuckles commented when Sonic had finished relating his story. "It's all rather confusing, really."
"I know." Sonic replied. "What I don't get is how this happened? How did it all start? The last thing I remember from my world is going to sleep in the forest. Did something happen then? Or before then?"
"I'm not sure." Knuckles said. "But I know one person who might be able to help us."
"Let me guess… Tails."
Knuckles smiled. "He must be a mecha-whiz where you come from, too."
"Right, now." In his lab, Tails pulled on a plastic glove and picked up a small torch from his desk. "Open your right eye, please?"
Sonic, lying on the examination table, obediently opened his eye as wide as he could. Tails shined the light in, and studied what he could see in the brain. He examined for a few minutes, Sonic fighting back the urge to blink, and finally lowered his torch. He went back to his desk and jotted a few things on a sheet of paper; comparing the results of the various tests he had put Sonic through.
"Hmmm." Tails turned back to Knuckles, Sonic and Amy, stroking his small goatee. "It appears to me, that your quantum molecular makeup is substantially different to that of those inhabiting this quantum universe."
They all just stared at him for a while. Finally, Knuckles said;
"And for those of us who don't speak fluent twit?"
Tails sighed, trying to think of a simpler way to explain his theory. "You know the theory of alternate universes?"
They nodded. Sonic had seen billions of sci-fi movies where people had gone and seen themselves in a parallel universe.
"Well, it seems that this Sonic is from a different quantum reality than our own. Sonic – or one of the Sonics in the many universes - has somehow triggered a displacement effect, thus switching places with the other quantum Sonics in the other realities. This Sonic has been travelling through other universes, according to his story, and unless we figure out a way to stop this displacement effect, the Sonics could go on switching indefinitely."
"Do you have any idea how we could stop him switching?" Amy asked.
"If I ran a few more tests, then I might have some idea of how to limit the process, but I'm not promising anything. All we can do now is hope that he doesn't switch before we find a solution."
"How long were you in the last universe?" Knuckles asked Sonic.
"I'm not sure." Sonic replied. "It was hard to keep track of time, what with the shock of waiting up with Amy. No offence." He hastily added.
"None taken." Amy said, coolly.
"Anyway, it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours." He continued.
"It's been two hours since the bungee jump." Knuckles said. "How much time do you think he has?"
"Well, you say you were asleep when you first switched?" Tails asked.
"I must have been. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary until I woke up."
"In that case we might have more time than we thought. I'm going to run a few more tests. If you'll just lie down again." Sonic lay down on the table again, and Tails turned back to Amy and Knuckles.
"I'm afraid I'm going to ask you two to leave. There's no way of telling how long the tests could take, and it's sure to be very delectate work."
"Sure." Knuckles nodded. He and Amy left, their arms around each other. Tails picked up another one of his tools and began prodding around Sonic's neck.
"Tell me," He asked. "Are you and Amy together where you come from?"
"Uh, no. No we're not. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I noticed the way you were looking at her. You seemed a little jealous of Knuckles."
Sonic stared at Tails. The kid he knew wouldn't have the first idea about romance, yet this Tails seemed to pick up on everything.
"Hey," Tails said, noticing Sonics puzzlement. "I may be young, but I can pick up when a guy like a girl. In fact," He lowered his thick glasses down to his nose. "I was the one who set her and Knuckles up. After you… well, the other you… and her broke up, I figured if you weren't with her, and… well, Knuckles had always liked her, so…"
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I never really saw you as a matchmaker. I remember a time when…"
They got quite chatty after a while, swapping stories about friends from their respective universes, Tails conducting various tests and experiments. Sonic lost track of the time, and the stress he had been feeling from the switches eased away.
"I'm telling you!" Sonic laughed. "You really punched him!"
"No." Tails chuckled. "Me? Punch the bartender?"
"It was your first drink. And I mean ever. And he downright refused to give a refund."
Tails laughed again, whilst prodding some utensil into Sonic's ear. "Well then, I think that's all the results wee need." He jotted something onto his sheet of paper and inputted the results into the computer on his desk.
"Now, according to these calculations…" Tails' face suddenly fell when he saw the results on screen. He hurriedly turned back to Sonic.
"The estimated time until your next switch is within minutes." He said, becoming scientific again, urgent suddenly.. "Now, you need to remember everything I told you about quantum switching. Tell the Tails you meet in the next universe and tell him everything you remember. He should be able to pick up my work where I left off."
Sonic nodded. He looked at the countdown on the screen of the computer. One minute… 50 seconds… They waited in silence. Finally, the figures reached 10 seconds. Sonic suddenly remembered:
"Tell… Tell knuckles and Amy… I wish them good luck with their lives."
Tails smiled. "I'll tell them."
The world began to shimmer and fade. The image of Tails blurred and whished into a haze of whiteness. Sonic shut his eyes tight against the intense light. He was spinning, spinning…
He fell and landed on hard ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a dimly lit nightclub and a crowd of people in suits and fancy dresses, staring down at him. He felt a hand grab the back of his neck and pull him up. He found himself staring into the eyes of a rough old dog, anger in his eyes and holding him by his collar.
"Right then, you young ruffian. Where is my daughter? Tell me, where she is!"
Sonic looked around at the faces staring at them.
"Oh, boy."
