Disclaimer- I don't own the games or the show.

Here's Hedgehog Day for you guys! Enjoy!

"'Hedgehog Day?' Ooo!" Amy cooed as she read the name of the episode after the flaming number disappeared. "Is it going to be a celebration for hedgehogs or something? That sounds fun!"

"I don't know…" Knuckles cut his eyes over to Shadow, who was relaxing in his chair with an unnerving smile on his face. "If that means all hedgehogs will show up, we might see the other Shadow. If he's anything like the loopy one we currently have, I'll be scarred."

Tails shuddered. "One happy Shadow is one thing, but two?" That had to be some hint to an incoming apocalypse.

Sonic eyed his red-striped rival, an idea forming in his head. "Hey, I'm gonna try something out," he said quietly to the ones around him before raising his voice. "Yo Shads, what would you do if I punched you in the face right now?"

"Make you regret ever being born."

Sonic nodded, a little relieved. "Alright, he's not too far gone. That's good."

Tails nodded as well. They weren't hating on Shadow's happiness or anything, but having it happen in such a surprising burst was off-putting. The kit then returned his focus to the television. "Back to the episode, if there's a chance that the other Shadow could show up, then there's a chance that Metal could too."

"It would be a shame if I did not," Metal said. He'd been wanting to see the…condition of his other self for a while now. Though, now the chances of seeing the other soon had risen because of the most recent development. If he had a double, because unfortunately, that hadn't been proven yet.

Eggman wanted to get his hopes up because the presence of Metal Sonic could lead to victory, but how things were going, his double was probably just going to make toast with him.

"There's only one way to find out!" Amy chirped before playing the show.

The scene started with the early morning sun rising over Eggman's lair. Inside, there was a clock on a nightstand that read 5:59. The time then changed to 6:00, and an alarm blared. Eggman's arms reached over and stopped the noise.

Eggman yawned and stretched before sitting up in bed.

"Ahhh!" Amy screeched, pointing violently at the screen. "The onesie's back! Can someone burn it already?! Where's Blaze when you need her!"

Tails was a little confused. "For an episode about a hedgehog party, starting off with Eggman is a bit disconcerting…"

"Especially in that pink eyesore," Knuckles grumbled, hoping that the scene would hurry up and change.

The doors to his room slid open, and Orbot appeared with a breakfast tray. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey!" he greeted merrily.

Sonic's gaze locked onto the steaming food. "Oh man, could I go for some breakfast food."

Metal glanced at him. "But it is not morning."

"You can have breakfast food anytime, Mets!"

"That seems illogical."

"You've never had bacon before, so of course you'd think that."

"Don't ever say that again," Eggman warned as the robot placed the tray in his lap.

"Today's the day we're finally going to defeat Sonic with your new weapon, so I thought I'd make you a special breakfast!" Orbot cheerfully explained himself.

"I highly doubt it." Eggman scoffed even though he was curious about this 'hedgehog stopping new weapon'. If there was some kind of hedgehog party, there'd be more targets, but those targets would be – infuriatingly – powerful.

Seriously, as if one speedy cactus wasn't enough in Eggman's life, there had to be another who had a temper and a strong swinging arm to match, one who had even a bigger temper who could catch you and dismember you all in under a second, and let's not forget the psychic who could possibly made your day a thousand times worse with a single thought.

Damn hedgehogs.

"'You thought?'" Eggman repeated, dubious. "You don't think; you're artificial intelligence, and even that's only half right."

Metal nodded, fully in agreeance. "He is not wrong."

The human glanced down at his tray, eyeing the eggs, the bacon, the waffle, the orange, a cup of coffee, and an empty glass. Eggman growled at the bot. "No fresh-squeezed orange juice?"

Eggman wanted to get mad, but he couldn't because he would've questioned the juice's absence as well.

Orbot took the orange and bit into it. He positioned his finger above the empty cup as juice poured out of it. Eggman's expression twisted into one of disgust. "Suddenly, I'm not so thirsty."

Amy cringed. "That's so gross! Who knows how much dust and stuff is in that thing?" She was glad Eggman didn't drink it, because that would've been worse than Meh Burger, and that was saying a lot.

Tails tilted his head at the screen. "You know, the other Eggman hasn't been that bad so far."

"It's barely been a minute, Tails," Knuckles told him. "Give it time."

He then called to the other helper robot in the room. "Is my Egg Tank ready?"

Cubot held up a tank-top with an egg on it.

Eggman scowled. "My other Egg Tank."

Sonic chuckled. "I doubt he could even fit one of his thighs in that! What, did he buy it seventy years ago when he was a kid?"

Tails tapped his chin. "Or maybe it's actually just a leg warmer, and he called it a tank to throw people off?"

Knuckles scoffed. "What people? He can't make any friends. That's why he relies on robots all the time."

"It is truly a depressing lifestyle," Metal added.

Eggman had the very strong suspicion that they weren't just talking about his twin here.

Amy turned to the human, mirth leaking into her tone. "Yeah, they aren't just talking about-"

"I know."

There was a cut to show Eggman's actual egg tank, it white and armored.

"I would call it impressive…" Knuckles started, eyeing the defensive machine. "But we all know that it's going to explode at least once before this episode is over."

The rest of the room shared his sentiments, even Eggman, who was making mental blueprints so he could possibly steal the idea.

Little did he know, Tails had the same thoughts. "That actually looks pretty cool! I wonder if I could use the same armor for my plane, if it's actually sturdy…"

"No, you can't!" Eggman barked out, hating that he was competing with an eight-year-old for ingenious plans. Why couldn't his enemies be powerless bankers or something? "My double thought of it, so I'm going to use it in the future, not you."

Tails blinked at him before grinning. "Not if I call dibs!"

Eggman gaped before saying, "D-"

"Dibs!" the kit shouted, content.

Eggman clenched his fists. He didn't have to abide by this childish set of rules. "I can do whatever I want. And plus, there's no way you can touch it, so you can't call dibs!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Wow, Eggy! Depending on some weird rule that dimension made up? That's low."

"Not as low as taking the idea anyway!" Amy shook her head in disappointment. "Not only would you lose the tank eventually, Eggman, but it would be a disgraceful loss. Anything you do with that tank will be tainted because you didn't respect dibs!"

"What is even happening?" Eggman muttered to himself.

Amy heard anyway. "I'm trying to save your manhood, Eggman. Your honor!"

"My honor isn't going to be threatened by-"

"Have you ever dishonored dibs?" Amy asked, and she didn't give Eggman a chance to answer. "Of course you haven't! You don't know how much it will burn you up inside, gives you nightmares, make you regret every bolt you put in that tank-"

The doctor couldn't take it anymore. "Alright, alright!" he growled out. "I won't disgrace dibs if you just shut up!"

Amy nodded at him, smug, and she giggled when Tails threw her an amused smile.

Sonic chuckled. "That was pretty good, Ames. Y'know, if this whole hero thing doesn't work out for ya, you should consider becomin' a lawyer or something!"

While the pinkette thought about that, Knuckles smirked over at the blue hedgehog. "I don't know about that, Sonic. Amy and the law could be a dangerous mix. I wouldn't be surprised if she came up with some kind of reverse restraining order just for you."

"Reverse restrain-" Sonic's stomach sank as he hastily faced Amy. "On second thought, just stick to bein' a hero! Plan B's are for chumps!"

"But it's a smart plan b, though!" Amy lightly opposed.

"No no, it isn't-"

"And thanks for the idea, Knuckles!"

"No problem, Amy."

Sonic wondered how long it would take to change his identity.

The doctor was inside of the vehicle, pushing some buttons. Eventually, the screen in front of him lit up, showing Amy setting up a projector. Then, Knuckles and Sticks were shown unrolling a projector screen. Sonic popped up afterwards along with Tails. The both were exiting a store, the hedgehog carrying a film reel can with Comedy Chimp's face on it.

"A movie night?" Tails cocked his head at the screen. "Doesn't really scream hedgehog party to me…"

Sonic took a break from his mental planning to say, "And unless Shads is gonna make his grand appearance to watch some cheap comedy, I don't think he's showin' up."

"Whoa, enough with the party stuff." Knuckles cut in, something bothering him. "Does that Eggman record everything the heroes do?"

"With no friends, he really doesn't have anything better to do…" Amy uttered, though she had to agree that it was kinda creepy. Who knew what they could be doing when the doctor just…checks in!

Multiple sets of eyes landed on Eggman, and his mustache bristled. "No, I don't spy on all of you like lab rats! I have better things to do with my time, and I don't need to know what you rodents do every second of every day!" He'd go insane like he was in the process of doing right now in this torture house.

Shadow hummed to himself. "That's good, doctor. Because if I had ever found out you were spying on me, a type of hell you've never experienced before would be brought upon you."

A relaxed smile remained on the striped one's muzzle, and that made the imagery all the worse.

The kit was eating some candy until one got caught in his throat, causing him to choke. Concerned, Sonic started to hit him on the back as the kid coughed.

"Movie day, huh?" Eggman observed in his vehicle with a smirk. "Spoiler alert: I win, you lose."

Sonic scoffed. "It's not really a spoiler if it doesn't happen! It's like me saying: spoiler alert! I'll turn into a potato on my birthday."

Eggman pressed a switch off to the side that activated his weapons while he snapped on his seatbelt.

"Weapons online."

He started up the tank and requested, "Play my battle music!" A calm tropical theme played, and Eggman was disappointed. "Eh, close enough."

"I wouldn't even be mad!" Amy said with a chuckle. "I mean, relaxing music would be the best to play during a premeditated evil attack!"

Knuckles grinned. "It is, because it keeps Eggman calm so he doesn't have a heart attack after losing for the nth time."

He grabbed hold of the controls, and the tank instantly drove forward.

The scene then changed to Comedy Chimp falling through the sky. He pulled a ripcord with his hand, a parachute deployed above him.

"I guess that wasn't the men's room door!" The chimp laughed at his own joke, and the heroes watching the movie did so along with him.

Knuckles rose a dubious brow. "Is it that funny? Is there some kind of irony to this guy that we're missing out on?"

"Maybe?" Sonic shrugged. "But he isn't that bad. He could be a lot worse. Like if the movie was free, easily accessible, short, and had complimentary snacks, I might watch it."

Though, Knuckles – with a slushie in his hand – finished laughing first, frowning up. "I don't get it."

Knuckles was more than happy to agree with his double on this one.

Sonic had his hands linked behind his head, relaxing. He said to Tails in a low voice, "Nice job on the projector."

Even though he really shouldn't have been, Tails was surprised to hear that his twin had built the projector. He snickered to himself, thinking that if the heroes wanted the best quality movie, picking the other Tails was a great choice.

"Thanks!" Tails brightened. "I had to re-orient the screws-"

Amy whirled on them. "Shh! No talking!"

Amy narrowed her eyes. "She should know better than to interrupt Tails while he's gushing about his projects!" She then sent the kit a teasing look. "Because he'll pick up right where he left off later."

Tails puffed out his cheeks. "Only on my big projects! But on the smaller ones, I don't bore you with the details!" He glanced at Sonic and Knuckles. "Right, guys?"

Sonic whistled a light tune while Knuckles pretended to pick nonexistent dust off his arm.

"I believe this is called betrayal," Metal commented.

"Yeah, I noticed," Tails quietly huffed.

"Don't be so down, Tails!" Sonic shot the fox a wide grin. "I don't mind listenin' to how you built your inventions! But, I don't really need to know which bolt goes into which wire-"

"…Bolts don't go into wires."

"See! Goes in one ear and right out the other!"

Knuckles stared at the speedster. "You don't pull any punches, huh?"

"He's used to it!" Sonic reached over and patted the sulking kit on the shoulder. "I'm not saying stop tellin' me about your awesome stuff, bud! Just explain 'em like your talking to Cream, 'kay?"

"Cream knows that bolts don't go into wires."

"Well, Cheese then!"

Tails chuckled, brightening up. "I'll keep that in mind."

Knuckles enjoyed his drink loudly, and she put a finger on her lips. "Shh! No slurping!" Eggman's tank rolled up behind them as thunder rumbled in the sky. The pinkette angrily hopped out of her seat. "Shh! No attacking!"

"They seriously couldn't hear that until now?"

"You heard how loudly your twin was drinkin', Knux!"

Amy, Sticks, Tails, and Knuckles all got into battle ready positions as Sonic sped forward, destroying two crab bots. Some more crabs approached Sticks, who was swinging at them. Amy grunted as she hammered one of the bots, Knuckles beside her punching the pests away.

Tails was messing with the projector, not seeing a crab walk up behind him. Sonic saw this and warned, "Tails, incoming!"

The kit spun on his heel, holding the projector upright. He pressed a button on the device, and a pulsating blue ray hit the crab bot straight on. It crashed to the ground, metallic limbs twitching.

Tails' eyes glistened with excitement. "Not only did he build a projector, he had turned it into a weapon as well? Even though this is probably the only situation where it would come in handy, it's still pretty cool!"

"You two would make a great team!" Amy threw out there, picturing the two foxes tinkering together. "Come to think of it, we all would make good partners with our doubles!" She glanced at Eggman, Shadow, and Metal. "Well, maybe not the Eggmans and who knows what the other Shadow and Metal are like, but still!"

Sonic could agree with that, kind of. "If you're only talkin' about my, your, and Tails' double, sure!" He casted a jeering glance over in the echidna's direction. "Knuckles' though…"

Knuckles exhaled heavily. He was imagining it, and he had to reminded himself about his happy place. "If he makes as little noise as possible, it might work out."

Eggman shuddered at the thought of he and his twin working together. Sure, the other him had some…interesting ideas, but Eggman had already tried working together with a past version of himself, and look how that turned out.

Metal had very low expectations as this point. "If my double is not a toaster, I will be content."

Sonic rose a brow at him. "What if he's a glorified vacuum cleaner?"

"As I said."

Shadow was halfway listening to their conversation, splitting his attention between the TV in front of him and the inviting bed he was going to reacquaint with in less than seventeen episodes. He pleasantly sighed as he pictured himself laying on his soft pillows and being warmed up by comfy blankets.

Knuckles frowned at the relaxed striped hedgie. "Yeah, that's still weird…"

At the Egg tank, a periscope raised up and Eggman looked through it to focus on Sonic. "Activate super weapon," the man said before pressing a button on the control panel.

The tank fired a giant fireball at Sonic. The hedgehog noticed the incoming attack and ran away only for the ball to track him down. Sonic eventually slid to a stop though, and the fire headed right for him until Amy jumped in the way, redirecting the attack with her hammer.

Amy nearly jumped out of her seat, fist pumping. "Woo hoo! Go other me! You show Eggman who's boss!"

Tails furrowed his brow. "Shouldn't it have disintegrated…?"

"Don't ever question the glory of the all-mighty hammer, Tails!"

"Duly noted."

"Fortunately, I'm prepared for this," Eggman muttered to himself. "Activate super-duper weapon!" He pressed another button, and a blue plasma ball was fired this time.

Eggman inwardly groaned. There were many things wrong with this. One, super-duper weapon, really? Two, how was this the second attack any different from the first one? And three, if he knew the first attack was going to backfire – quite literally – then why go through with it?

On second thought, he'd like to meet his twin so he'd have a long conversation with him.

The show slowed down as the plasma and the fire flew towards each other. Thunder boomed in the sky, and a lightning bolt struck between the two attacks just when they hit. There was a bright flash of white.

Sonic blinked. "Well, that can't be good."

"Was it an explosion?" Tails questioned, worried for the well-being of their twins.

Amy was as well. "We'll find out soon enough…"

The same clock from earlier was shown again, the time switching from 5:59 to 6:00 and ringing. In his bed, Eggman turned off the noise before yawning and sitting up.

Orbot entered the room with a tray of food. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey!"

"What?!" Amy leaned forward in her chair, mind spinning. "It's starting from the beginning again!"

Sonic frowned in thought. "Either that, or Orbot does the same thing every day, but I doubt that's the case." He then smirked. "So Eggy's gonna be going through the same day over and over again? That'll be a sight to see!"

Tails almost felt bad for him, but another thought took priority. "There's a good chance that there isn't going to be a hedgehog party…so what's with the title?"

"Who knows?" Knuckles shrugged. "It could be something the thing came up with to throw us all for a loop."

Tails nodded at that, not able to think of another reason. "I guess being tricked isn't as bad as the other Eggman's situation."

"At least he can go outside," Eggman grumbled, hating his current predicament. Reliving the same day over and over didn't even seem that bad. His twin could just fine tune his strategy until…

Eggman's eyes slightly widened. Would his twin actually win this time? Something surely had to go wrong, right? Hm…

"I told you not to say that!" Eggman growled as the robot placed the tray in the human's lap.

Orbot's mood wasn't brought down. "Today's the day we're finally going to defeat Sonic with your new weapon, so I thought I'd make you a special breakfast!"

"This seems awfully familiar…" The doctor's brows creased. "What's going on here?" He moved the tray of food onto the bed as Orbot bit into the orange, the juice flowing out of his finger and onto Eggman's leg. Orbot blinked in surprise as Eggman glared.

"Yes! Yes!" Amy chanted. "Stain the evil thing so he has no other choice but to burn it!"

Knuckles didn't get his hopes up. "I have a sneaking suspicion that the onesie's going to stay until we're set free." Though, at least their time here had been cut short. Maybe now he wouldn't have nightmares about it.

Amy slumped in her seat. "Please don't say that…"

The doctor was in his tank now, putting on his seatbelt as "Weapons online," echoed within the small space.

Next, the tank was shown crashing the heroes' movie night once more. Eggman used the periscope to target Sonic again. A fireball was sent the speedster's way, and Amy deflected it. The blue ball of plasma followed suit, and lightning intercepted the two attacks as they collided. There was another bright white light.

"It's gonna keep startin' over until he beats them?" Sonic questioned, not as excited anymore. "That's no fair!"

Eggman scoffed. "It's not like he did it on purpose, cactus. It just turned out that luck was in his favor today." The doctor let a smirk settle on his face. "It gives me an idea…"

Sonic pointed at him. "No! No time loops for you! That's cheating, Egghead!"

"As long as I'm not disrespecting dibs, it's perfectly fine."

The blue hedgehog grumbled to himself.

Knuckles wasn't worried. "Eggman would probably go crazy before he finds a way to defeat all of us. Think about it. Repeating the same day for weeks, months, or years would be insane. Almost as insane as being stuck in this house."

Tails pursed his lips in thought. "About the time loop…we see Eggman just waking up, but what about the others? Do they just reset…or something? Without any recollection of what happened?"

"I guess…" Amy didn't like the sound of that. "So does that mean that someone could be reliving today over and over without us knowing?"

Sonic opened and closed his mouth before saying, "My brain hurts thinkin' about it, so let's not."

No one opposed.

A clock blared once six o'clock hit. Orbot appeared from behind sliding doors, breakfast in his hands. "Wakey-wakey, eggs-"

Eggman towered over the helper bot when he approached, scowling. "If you say 'eggs and bakey', I swear I'll dismantle you!"

Amy frowned up at that. "It's not his fault that you're stuck in a time loop!"

Orbot simply stared up at him in fear.

Metal appreciated this greatly. Now he could only hope that the other doctor kept his promises.

"This is nuts…" Eggman mumbled to himself. "I'm reliving the same day over and over!" He then glanced to the side to see Cubot holding up the egg shirt.

"No?" Cubot asked, holding it up more. "Nothing?"

Sonic couldn't help but to chuckle. "That thing is so ridiculous, I swear. He's better off giving the shirt to one of the bots."

"And see it flaunted every episode from now on?" Knuckles snorted. "Yeah, no."

Eggman was now sitting at his desk in another room, messing around on the touch-screen control panel. A schematic of the Egg tank was shown as translucent math equations sporadically filled the room. Eggman busied himself with looking over the tank, looking at polygraphs, and pouring mysterious substances in beakers.

Sonic's attention shifted over to the fox. "Uh…what exactly is he doing?"

Tails didn't have an answer. "No clue. Eggman?"

"Don't expect me to read the nonsense going on in his mind."

"Cubot," Eggman called while swirling a liquid, shooing said mech. "Stop playing with my hologram thingy."

Cubot seemed guilty as he cut the machine off, the numerous math equations disappearing.

Eggman was going to ask why, but he decided to save his breath.

Eggman then pumped a fist when a thought came to him. "I've got it! When my laser, the plasma ball, and the lightning collided, the fusion reaction caused time to fold back in on itself!"

"He needed to do all of that to figure it out?" Amy gestured at the screen. "He couldn't guess that after seeing the collision? Twice?"

"He probably needs to check the prescription on his glasses…" Tails uttered.

"So!" Eggman faced his observing helper bots. "I just have to avoid going into battle! Piece of cake!" He laughed evilly until a bright white flashed.

The alarm clock blared, and Eggman woke up disappointed. "Well, that didn't work."

Eggman blinked in surprise. So his other self had no other choice but to win? Interesting…

Sonic just wished that one of heroes somehow figured out what was going on so they could prevent the impossible. If Sonic saw any Eggman win anything, he was probably going to break out in hives.

Orbot entered the room once again with a breakfast tray held in his hand. Before he could say anything, Eggman hopped off his bed and yelled, "I don't want eggs and bakey!" He slapped the tray away when Orbot got closer to him. Orbot silently stared down at the mess.

"Now that's just a waste of good food!" Any support Eggman was giving his twin had marginally diminished. It was such a sad sight.

"Same day over and over again…" Eggman pondered aloud before smirking. "Maybe this isn't all bad! I can keep refining my attack on Sonic until I can get everything just right!"

Sonic crossed his arms and didn't pout, muttering 'cheater' multiple times.

Eggman then suddenly had a mop, thrusting it in Orbot's direction. When the mech hesitated, confused, the doctor explained, "Just because there's no tomorrow, doesn't mean I want ants today!"

"He could've just not spilled food everywhere."

"That's too reasonable for him, Ames."

Eggman aimed at Sonic through his periscope to attack, and unsurprisingly, Amy deflected the fireball that was launched. The doctor gritted his teeth and punched his control board as a white light lit up the screen.

During another attempt, something actually changed. A crab bot managed to grab hold of Amy's hammer, the pinkette struggling to tear it out of its grip. Tails aimed the camera and produced waves that deactivated the mech instantly. Amy smiled in appreciation, and Eggman growled.

Sonic smirked, feeling a little better about this. "At this rate, the problem will would probably fix itself before Eggy can do anything!"

The alarm clock rung, and Eggman woke up with a devious smile on his face.

And the smirk was gone.

Eggman was in the village, loading all of the film reels the store had into his hovercraft. With it full, the doctor hopped into his vehicle and flew off just as Sonic and Tails approached the emptied store. The duo stared in shock as one lone reel fell to the floor.

Amy just realized how heartless the other Eggman was. First knocking freshly made breakfast to the floor, and now depriving people of a relaxing movie night? She knew the doctor was desperate after taking loss after loss, but that was taking it too far.

The crab bots were attacking the heroes, and Tails was fumbling with the projector. Nearby, Amy cried out in shock when her hammer was being yanked by one of the mechs. Tails aimed the projector at the incoming dangers and pressed a button. However, nothing happened, and he stared at the device in confusion.

Knuckles slowly blinked. "The projector was powered by Comedy Chimp's specific reel?" Why was that even a thing?

Tails was bewildered as well because yeah, that was a blaring problem, but he said, "Every invention needs some kinks to be worked out!"

The kit pressed the button a few more times, the outcome not changing, before picking up the film reel at his feet. It showed a happy clown on it.

"Just adding insult to injury…" Tails mumbled.

He shook his head at Amy. The pinkette then lost her battle with the crab bot, it taking her hammer and swinging it. Sonic ran up and blinked in surprise, and Eggman was looking through his periscope at the azure hedgehog. Sonic had his back to him this time, distracted.

Eggman's smile was wide. "I've got you know, Sonic!" He fired the fireball, and Sonic noticed the incoming attack too late. It smashed into the speedster, trapping him in a blue forcefield that lifted him into the air. Sonic struggled to escape, but it was all for naught.

Sonic audibly groaned, shaking his head. "It's just so unnatural! How could they let him win?!"

"Time was on his side, rodent," Eggman a little smugly. It was satisfying seeing Sonic wriggle around in the ball, completely trapped.

"Wait a minute." Knuckles glanced over to Metal. "How much longer do we have until this ends?" Because – even though he wished it did – it didn't feel like eleven minutes had passed yet.

"Approximately five minutes."

"We're just beyond the halfway point." Knuckles stared at the TV before smirking. "Something tells me that Sonic's isn't going to be trapped for long."

"Hopefully not!" Sonic exclaimed. "Heroes always win in the end!"

"Yeah!" Tails and Amy cheered at the same time.

The doctor did a little celebratory dance in his tank. "Yeeesss! This day will go down in history! The day I captured Sonic the hedgehog!"

The screen flashed white.

Metal cocked his head at the screen as high-fives went on around him. "Winning did not fix the time loop. Is he permanently trapped?"

Knuckles grinned. "Somebody pick up the phone because I called it."

"It's bittersweet though," Tails commented after a moment. "I mean, Eggman won't win, but the heroes are kinda trapped too, and they still don't know about it."

"Ignorance is bliss?" Sonic guessed. "They don't seem too bothered!" And plus, he was sure the problem would somehow get worked out in the end. It always did.

The clocked rang, and Orbot entered with a bright, "Wakey-wakey!"

Eggman was laying in his bed, sullen. He glanced over at the red robot before silently flipping over and ignoring him.

"Aw…" Amy huffed. "He's going to make me start to feel bad for him!"

Tails absently played with one of his namesakes. "Well, he is going to repeat the same day again and again forever. It's a little messed up…"

"Tails, you're not helping!"

"I'll start feeling bad when his mental state deteriorates some more," Knuckles said. A defeated Eggman was the best Eggman. "Right now, I'm enjoying the show."

Eggman was too, but man if he wasn't just a bit disappointed.

Orbot was upset. "But I have bakey…"

"I can't take another day of the same day!" Eggman groused to himself, laying comfortable on his pillow.

Later, Eggman was writing something on a white board. Orbot and Cubot were behind him, the former reading a book aloud. "String theory, super string theory, string cheese theory…"

Sonic rose a brow. "String cheese theory? What's that? If someone takes a bite out of the cheese without pulling it apart first, then they need serious help? I can get behind that."

Eggman continued writing on the board while eating a donut.

Cubot focused on him. "You really should eat healthier!" he admonished.

"It doesn't matter," Eggman said after finishing the treat. He then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off half his mustache. The robots stared in shock as the human sighed. "None of this matters. Tomorrow will just be a do-over, anyway."

Amy's eyes grew wide. "He just…He just cut off his mustache like it was nothing! I thought he treasured that caterpillar on his face!"

Eggman ignored her last statement. "That right there is a truly broken man."

Well, the mental deterioration happened quicker than Knuckles thought.

While he felt the tiniest bit sorry, Sonic stifled a snicker. "What are the chances that this is the day he gets out of the time loop? Eggy with half a 'stache is definitely picture worthy."

"I hope it isn't!" Amy argued. "Half-mustached Eggman is just wrong. Like, happy loopy Shadow wrong!"

Shadow could see where she was coming from.

Metal nodded at the pinkette. "It is very unsightly. Almost worse than having the doctor shirtless."

Amy shuddered. "Nothing will be worse than that." They all really owed Rouge.

"Really?" Cubot drew the question out, reaching behind himself and pulling out a cup of water. He tossed the liquid in an unamused Eggman's face and zipped away with a, "See you tomorrow!"

Sonic gave him a round of applause. "Say what you want, Metal, but those guys were really growin' on me."

Metal produced a scoff. "A broken clock is right twice a day, copy."

Eggman returned to the white board, wiping away some of the equations he wrote with his detached mustache. "It's no use! I can't figure this out alone!"

The next shot showed Sonic and Tails leaving the film store.

Tails saw where this was going, and Eggman was right, the other doctor was seriously broken. "Wow…"

Knuckles barked out a laugh. "Even Eggman goes to Tails to fix problems."

Sonic had Comedy Chimp's reel in his hands, and the kit was chowing down on some candy.

Eggman – who was still missing half of his mustache – walked up to them. "I need your help."

"He's crazy if he thinks that's going to work!" Amy grinned. "But yeah, he must be really desperate to go to them!" As if they needed any more proof that the other Eggman had jumped off the deep-end after chopping his 'stache off.

Sonic gave him a level look, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Cartoons are over by the counter."

"Either my twin needs to get his sense of humor checked, or he's just seriously good at laughing on the inside-" Laughter was bubbling out of Sonic's throat. "-but I would've busted a lung seeing Egghead walk up to me like that."

Eggman forcefully chuckled. "Yes, yes, very amusing, but that's not why I'm here!"

Sonic clearly wasn't in the mood. "What do you want, Egghead?"

This couldn't be going any better. Knuckles was greatly entertained. "They aren't in any mood to deal with the doctor."

Amy nodded. "Well, yeah! He's cutting into their movie time!"

The doctor rubbed the back of his head, trying to appear friendly. "Um, funny story, you're really gonna get a kick out of this. I was attacking you with my Egg tank, when a freak accident caused an endless time loop!"

Tails threw him a disbelieving stare. "There's no such thing as a time loop," he said before chewing on some candy.

Tails furrowed his brow, not knowing what he would do in that situation. Yeah, he'd never seen or heard anything about time loops, but if someone came to him saying that they were stuck in one, he would probably look more into it.

But then again, it was Eggman, and he was cutting into movie time.

Eggman crossed his arms. "That's what I thought too! Oh, by the way, you're about to choke on that piece of candy."

Not a second latter, Tails coughed as the snack got lodged in his throat. Sonic patted him on his back, and the kit still didn't look convinced. "Lucky guess."

"Okay, that might've tipped me off that something was wrong…" Tails admitted.

Sonic wasn't going to fault the duo on-screen. "I mean, if I've never dealt with time stuff before, I wouldn't be quick to believe Eggman either."

The doctor focused on the hedgehog. "Sonic is about to get a message from Amy saying the projector is all set up." The speedster's communicator then beeped. Sonic glanced down at it and pressed the screen, reading what was there.

Finished, Sonic not-so-apologetically told Eggman, "Love to help you out, Egghead, but we got a movie to watch."

Eggman stared unbelievably at the TV hedgehog. "He's just going to ignore all of the signs that were given to him?"

Knuckles shrugged. "They have their priorities straight."

Tails smiled at his bro. "I hear there's a cool twist ending!"

Eggman huffed. "Turns out Comedy Chimp's partner is a ghost."

The duo angrily glared at him.

Amy shook her head. "That's just dirty!"

The next scene was the trio sitting at a table at Meh Burger.

The pinkette flinched. "Correction. That's just dirty."

Eggman was glancing between Sonic and Tails as he talked. "There was a one-in-a-million chance that when the laser, the plasma ball, and the lightning collided, it would create a time anomaly like this!" Tails jotted down notes as the human went on. "It resets, charges for a while, then explodes, and the day starts over!"

Tails perked up, holding a finger in the air. "I know how to fix it!"

"I guess they had nothing better to do than to listen to Eggman's problem since the movie's been spoiled for them," Knuckles grunted. "Though it's hilarious that Eggman has said two sentences, and Tails already knows what's going on."

Sonic chuckled. "Never doubt the ingenious mind of an eight-year-old fox!"

The screen flashed white.

"There's no such thing as a time loop." Tails threw a piece of candy in his mouth.

"Ooo…so close," Tails commented. "So, he's on a timer too."

Eggman was beginning to think that inducing a time loop was a bad idea.

Eggman – with a normal mustache-

Sonic sighed in disappointment.

-growled in frustration for a second until an idea came to him. "You know what? We need to start this earlier! What say I pop by your house first thing today?"

Sonic and Tails gave him odds looks until the fox choked.

The human and the kit were standing in Tails' house.

"There's no such thing as a time loop," Tails said while gazing up at the doctor, skepticism in his tone.

Amy giggled. "Every time he says it, it gets funnier!"

"Watch he turns into a Soar." Knuckles frowned at the memory of that eagle. He was going to have violent flashbacks every time someone mentioned soaring.

"So I've heard," Eggman grumbled under his breath before saying louder, "How 'bout we come to my lair and do some math? Maybe watch a movie?" He revealed Comedy Chimp's film reel.

That brought a smile to Tails' face. "I hear there's a cool twist ending."

"I wouldn't know."

"These guys really trust Eggman a lot," Sonic observed. "If Eggy tried to persuade me to follow him to his lair, I would figure he was tryin' to blow me up or somethin'."

Amy kicked her legs back and forth in her chair. "To be fair, their Eggman comparatively is way nicer than our Eggman. I guess it's enough to have some trust in him!"

"And no, Egghead." Sonic threw the human a smirk. "Suddenly being nice to us isn't gonna drop our guards."

Eggman glared at him. "I'm not thinking of doing something that degrading!" Anymore.

Now in the evil base, Tails was staring in shock. "I can't believe it!"

"What?" Eggman asked immediately in front of the white board, dropping the donut he had. "What is it?"

Tails held up the film reel. "Comedy Chimp's partner was a ghost!"

Knuckles couldn't hold in his laugh. "He's the best. Anyone want to disagree?"

No one volunteered.

Eggman shrugged, unamused. "Yeah, who could've seen that coming?" He then knocked on the board behind him. "Can we focus, please?"

Tails approached the written equations, studying them. "What we need is a shell made of super-dense matter to contain the recurring explosion."

"The doctor just needed to think of a ball." Metal was grateful that he hadn't served that human. He glanced over at Eggman. "Doctor, though I despise you, I appreciate you not being that dense."

Eggman held onto that compliment, because who knew how long it would be until he got another one.

Eggman nodded. "I'll have to invent it!"

Doubt was radiating off Tails in waves.

"Don't worry," the doctor reassured. "I have lots of time."

"Like what Tails said before-" Sonic leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head. "-the other Eggy's not that bad in this one. Maybe it's because his mental health is at stake?"

"If that's the case, I need that looming over his head constantly," Eggman huffed.

Later, Eggman was wearing a mask as he welded his shell. He lifted his protective gear and stood up, patting the finished product. Sonic and Tails were looking on with interest. "Okay, let's get it to the beach!"

Sonic walked over and attempted to life it. The ball didn't move an inch.

Shadow snorted in amusement. "Faker lifting that thing? Not in a million years."

Knuckles wholeheartedly agreed. "Seriously. He's got leg strength, but it might as well be Tails trying to pick it up."

"Hey!" Sonic and Tails chorused. "We're right here!"

"We know," Knuckles and Shadow answered.

"Testosterone powered teasing aside," Amy pursed her lips. "Why can't they just roll the ball to the beach?"

"Because Eggmen like making things more complicated than they need to be," Metal provided.

He ignored Eggman's glare.

Eggman watched him. "Did I mention it's super dense?"

Sonic scoffed with a smirk. "So is Knuckles." He backed up a step. "Maybe he can lift it?"

"Woooooow, that's a burn!" Sonic snickered, plotting revenge on Knuckles and Shadow in the future. "And you said that I don't pull any punches, Knux!"

"You don't." Knuckles was surprised that his twin's…state had been directly addressed. It always had been just the rest of the group reacting to whatever he said or did. "But your twin doesn't pull any of his low blows either."

"He's gotta close it around the anomaly just before it explodes," Tails informed.

"Okay." Eggman leaned on his invention. "So how do I get you to believe me about the time loop right away tomorrow?"

"By listening to Tails saying that he doesn't believe in time loops," Knuckles predicted.

The screen flashed white.

Sonic and Tails were standing outside of the film store again.

Knuckles patted himself on the back.

"There's no such thing as a time-"

"Last night, you dreamed you were being chased by a giant sock puppet," Eggman cut Tails off. Tails gaped in shock at the human while Sonic threw a questioning glance at the kit's way.

"T-"

"No, I don't have dreams like that, Sonic!"

"…Tails."

"Okay, it was like once when I was six!"

"Tails."

"And last night."

The screen flashed white.

Eggman was in his lair, finishing welding his metallic shell together. He flipped up his mask when he was done, Knuckles looking over it. Then, the echidna approached the invention and lifted it up with both hands.

Knuckles took a deep breath and prepared for anything that might happen. He'd gone this far into the episode being relaxed; he could make it to the end.

He began to walk towards the exit, but his paused in his stride, groaning. "Oh, my neck itches!"

Eggman strolled up to him, exasperated. "Seriously?" The echidna nodded, and the doctor didn't even argue.

He began scratching the spot Knuckles wanted. "Little higher," the red anthro said, and Eggman lifted his hand. "Little higher." He lifted it again, and Knuckles' eyes widened. "Uh, too high!" Eggman lowered his hand, and Knuckles relaxed. "Yeah, right there!"

Knuckles and Eggman shared an uneasy look.

"Never."

"Never."

Eggman frowned as he checked the time on his wrist, and the screen flashed white.

Knuckles grunted as he tried to lift the newly finished shell. It was barely in his arms a second until a crack was heard, Knuckles flinching. "Ugh, my back!"

Most of the occupants of the room winced at the sound.

The sphere was dropped right on Eggman's foot. "Ow!"

"Oops!" Knuckles moved the shell off the other's foot, watching as the doctor hopped on one leg. He guiltily shrugged. "Sorry…"

The ghost of a smile settled on Knuckles' muzzle. He had a feeling that his twin wasn't apologetic at all. "He's trying hard to get on my good side in this one."

The screen flashed white.

Knuckles grunted as he lifted the shell in his arms, but he suddenly tossed it to the side when his communicator started to beep. "I'd better take this!" He pressed a couple buttons on it as Eggman stared at the gaping hole in his floor. Knuckles held the communicator up, the doctor now glaring at him. "Hello?"

"Yeah, he's definitely not on board with the whole 'helping Eggman' thing." Sonic snickered. He didn't know why, but it was hilarious. "And he's destroying Eggy's stuff in the process! Excellent work!"

"I wonder why he's doing it though." Amy mused out loud. "Does he know something the other heroes don't?"

Knuckles scoffed. "Doubt it. It's probably something random, or he just doesn't feel like helping."

The screen flashed white.

Eggman was now standing on the beach with the rest of the heroes. "Itsy-bitsy problem." He gestured to the echidna. "Knuckles doesn't seem to want to fix the time loop."

Sonic smirked. "In other news, the sky is blue."

Amy turned toward Knuckles, hands on her hips. "Knuckles, is there something you want to tell us?"

He crossed his arms and looked away. "No."

Amy narrowed her eyes. "Knuckles…?"

The echidna stared her down before giving in. "Okay, okay. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow! He's gonna pull my tooth!"

Knuckles was completely flabbergasted, but eventually he said, "You know what? I'm not even mad."

Tails nodded, understanding the other echidna's plight. "Getting your teeth pulled can be scary! And I guess it's scary enough for Knuckles to keep time from flowing properly. An extreme move, but it worked for a bit."

The pinkette glanced at Eggman. "Let me try reasoning with him." She walked up to her red friend. "Knuckles, the dentist wants to help you. Good hygiene requires-"

A war cry from Sticks interrupted Amy. With rope in her hands, the badger pounced on Knuckles. She then pulled the rope taut, and something popped, an "Ow!" coming from the echidna. Sticks stood back up smiling with a tooth in her hand.

Everyone who had teeth covered their gaping mouths.

Metal stared at the screen. "I am assuming that the pulling of teeth without any preparation is painful."

Amy slowly nodded while Eggman lowly commented, "That girl is crazy."

Knuckles was a bit dazed laying on the ground. "Hey-hey!" He laughed. "Problem solved!" He then blinked a couple times. "What am I supposed to do again?"

The screen flashed white.

The alarm clock blared once it showed 6:00. Eggman pressed the button to silence it before yawning and sitting up in his bed.

Orbot floated into the room with a steaming tray. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and…" He put the food in Eggman's lap. "…sausages!"

Tails managed to find his voice again, trying the push the agony of impromptu teeth pulling to the back of his mind. "They did it! I guess they got Knuckles to carry the shell for Eggman to use."

When no one replied to him, the kit looked around to see the others still covering their mouths. Sonic's voice was a near whimper. "She used a rope…"

"I have done – will do – many things," Shadow started, his smile gone at his point. "But I won't ever do that."

"I'm just glad it wasn't me," Knuckles muttered, cradling his jaw.

Amy simply shook her head, trying to get the visual and the sounds out of her mind.

Eggman glanced down at his breakfast, seeing that were indeed sausages on it instead of bacon.

The doctor's eyes widened, happiness filling him. "Yes, yes!"

Orbot had wilted somewhat. "We're out of bacon. Don't be mad!"

Eggman placed the tray on his bed before suddenly scooping up the red bot in a hug, laughing in relief.

If Metal was still organic, he would've shuddered. "If you had tried that, doctor, I would have no other choice but to kill you."

Sonic had recovered enough to say, "But I thought you learned not to hurt-"

"It would be painless."

Cubot approached them two. "Want to hear about the broken vase?"

Eggman sharply looked down at him. "Don't push it."

The screen flashed white.

"It's still not over yet?!" Amy questioned in a panic, not wanting to relive that tooth scene again.

Cubot lowered the camera in his hand. "I wanted to capture this beautiful moment for posterity!"

Amy breathed out in relief, lolling her head back against her chair. "I was so scared for a sec!"

"You weren't the only one!" Tails attempted to calm down his rapidly beating heart.

Sonic stretched his arms over his head. "The last minute or so aside, that was a pretty good episode!"

Knuckles grunted in agreeance. "No one was overly stupid, and my twin redeemed himself a little bit."

Eggman could say the same for his double. He had captured Sonic eventually – even though it had been rewound – and he had definitely been worse in previous episodes.

"If only my double had showed up to make it more interesting." Metal tapped his fingers on the floor. "It has been long enough."

"He'll show up sooner or later!" Sonic reassured before looking over at Shadow. "Same goes to you, Shads!"

Shadow hummed in response. He'd rather it be sooner than later – on the off chance that he could go home even earlier after the appearance – but he could wait out fifteen more episodes. That was more bearable than enduring the whole fifty-two and possibly-

There was a blinding white flash.

Shadow cursed under his breath as it faded, him blinking the blurry spots in his vision away. A yawn then overtook his system as he thought about what the hell was that, ears twitching when a voice rose up.

"'Hedgehog Day?' Ooo! Is it going to be a celebration for hedgehogs or something? That's sounds fun!"

"I don't know… If that means all hedgehogs will show up, we might see the other Shadow. If he's anything like the loopy one we currently have, I'll be scarred."

Shadow was completely frozen at this point, mid-yawn.

"One happy Shadow is one thing, but two?"

"Hey, I'm gonna try something out." He heard Sonic whisper before raising his voice. "Yo Shads, what would you do if I punched you in the face right now?"

Shadow slowly faced him, muscles tense and rigid. He was met with curious eyes, but the striped hedgehog didn't answer the blue speedster first. His mortified scarlets snapped over to the TV, and 'Hedgehog Day' was clear on the screen.

Shadow felt like screaming.

Poor Shadow, and he was just so happy too.

Guest- I'm still planning on doing the Robots in the Sky arc when we get there. Sonic and crew will learn about Tails' robot…somehow!

Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome!