After taking out the Fleetway Robotnik in his zone-hopping, Scourge's response to meeting Grimer was, " You're the weirdest looking Snively I've ever seen. I'll make this quick. " Wanting to brag about his accomplishment taking down the major villains of an alternate Mobius, Scourge eventually came to meet that zone's alternate Tails by a lake in Jade Hill Zone. The two got to talking, starting out with Tails nervously saying to his displeasure, " Sonic, is this a new transformation? A new evil super form? "
Scourge replied, " Huh, YOUR Sonic has an evil super form, too? Maybe he's not as much of a self-righteous goody-goody who thinks he's better than everyone. I'm Scourge the Hedgehog, NOT Sonic. I get that a lot. " " Well, actually he DOES think he's better than everyone, but how are you not Sonic? You have Sonic's voice! And face, and body shape, and scent! How could you not be him? " Fleetway Tails replied after looking bitter for the first sentence and confused after that.
" Well, I'm NOT! I used to be an alternate universe Sonic, but a little sample from the Master Emerald made all the difference! I've been the most badass Sonic around ever since, " Scourge explained, looking annoyed at first and smirking at the end. Before Fleetway Tails could react to what he said by asking which Emerald he was talking about, Scourge looked surprised and asked, " Wait, is that a bruise? Who did that to you? " pointing to the purplish mark on Tails' arm.
Tails immediately looked uncomfortable, and the brief silence was all he needed, as before he could lie about it being the expected answer, Scourge said looking serious with a worried tone, " It has to be something other than a robot if you didn't answer me right away! It's someone you wanna cover for, isn't it?! It's Sonic, isn't it?! " his cynical paranoia against humanity paying off as he easily jumped to the conclusion he wanted to believe in. Looking scared of the obvious criminal, Tails stammered with his hands in a placating gesture while flying a little, " N-N-No! No! Don't hurt him! He just did it on an impulse because I was especially stupid that day. He doesn't usually hit me, just call me pixel-brain. "
Scourge exclaimed, " Pixel-brain?! You sure that was Sonic?! That sounds like one of your bullies! I've been all over the multiverse and no Sonic would treat a Tails like that! Well, it sounds like he thinks he's gonna be another Evil Sonic. Well, I don't want him cramping my style! There's only one Evil Sonic if anything and that's me! " Tails exclaimed while flying a little above the ground to keep his distance from him, " Evil? You're not gonna try to destroy him, are you?! "
Scourge stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms looking at him. Being reminded of the Tails that defended Robotnik for raising him, Scourge asked with a mixture of concern and outrage, " What are you doing defending that guy? What kind of a sicko Sonic would treat a cute little kid that way? What, just because you're a mutant? No offense. You're a cool flying fox and that's not good enough for him?! You're only defending him from Stockholm Syndrome! Do you know what that is? "
" Yeah, I'm not stupid! No matter what people still think. But he didn't kidnap me, " Tails said defensively, with what Scourge only saw as a cute pout. All the while, Tails never failed to notice how nice and considerate Scourge was being of him, even calling him cute as a big contrast to Sonic, and he didn't like the implications of the idea that Evil Sonic would've been nicer to him than his own Sonic ever was. He was stunned at Scourge calling him cool, and remembered that Sonic had told him he wasn't cool straight to his face.
Scourge explained looking worried, " It's what happens when you're forced to be with someone for a while and you start to see a lack of abuse as kindness, because you start trying to look on the bright side to comfort yourself, and see positive treatment wherever you wanna see it. I've been through it before, and I stood up for myself the minute I got strong enough to. He 'only ' hit you once, never mind all the times he insulted you like dirt, so that makes him a good person? No, it doesn't. He's still the worst Sonic in the multiverse! So I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind! " He ran off in a green and black blur before Tails could try to reason with him some more, leaving him shouting, " But he's a hero! " and flying after him.
When he confronted the Fleetway Sonic, he punched him in the leg immediately while running at him, stopped in front of him and shouted, " So you like hitting two-tailed foxes, do ya?! Well how do YOU like it? " Sonic landed on the grass lying on his back grunting from the attack, and Scourge stood over him with his hands on his hips saying bitterly, " You're a disgrace to Sonics everywhere! " Sonic looked alarmed from hearing that as he stood up from the painful blow that left him in too much pain to run, and said while overwhelmed with everything he had to reply to,
" How'd you know about that?! If you think that's a regular event for me, you're wrong! What's a punk in a leather jacket with fangs like you doing caring about someone anyways? You're obviously evil! And what's the ' Sonics ' thing about? Metamorphia, is that you again? Or a fake Sonic created by Eggman again? "
Scourge, used to those confused accusations from Sonics who didn't recognize him, explained casually, " I'm you from the Anti-Mobius, a universe where everyone's morality is reversed! Well, ALMOST everyone. My own Tails had other ideas. I changed my appearance with a Master Emerald to look more unique, and after taking over my planet and seeing how BORING running a country was, I eventually got myself a new mission; to find every single Robotnik and Snively, and kill 'em all! And spare me the moral lecture. I'm gonna beat you at your own game, you and every Sonic out there, and I've already taken down hundreds of them by this point! Which makes me hundreds of times better than you. "
After Fleetway Sonic stared at him in stunned confusion trying to take in all that information, wondering at some point who Snively was, Scourge said looking serious, " But that's not the point. I've never heard of a Sonic treating his Tails the way you do. You're the biggest bully of a brother I've ever seen! So I figured you deserved a punch for it. You're just lucky I don't kill you outright for that, now that your planet no longer needs you. I'm done with your Robotnik, AND his weird-looking green Snively, so you can just pack up and go home. "
Sonic went into denial, unable to believe what he just heard, and said, " No way, you gotta be kiddin' me! You gotta be flippin' KIDDING me! You killed Robotnik and Grimer, you stole my victory, and you think I bully Tails?! This has gotta be some kinda joke! " Scourge rolled his eyes and said with a condescending smile, " Tons of Sonics have acted like this. They don't take bein' upstaged well. I just learned to take it in stride, they figure out I'm not lying eventually. Just check Robotnik's security footage if you don't believe me. "
Fleetway Sonic shook his head, and replied bitterly, " Well, even if you did do it, it's still wrong! And nobody decks Sonic the Hedgehog and gets away with i- " Scourge immediately hit him in the leg again predicting what he'd do, and it was just when Tails flew up to them from behind that he said, " I'm not gonna kill you, 'cause a wuss like you's not worth it. A-And it's DEFINITELY not because I wanna humor Tails or anything. I'm a rebel who plays by my OWN rules, and I can come and ice ya at super speed any time I want, especially in the middle of the night. My problem is the zone cops, that's all. If I thought they'd let me get away with it, I would. I'm just waitin' for a monster like you to go villain from boredom so I can get the A-okay to beat you. "
As Tails stopped and landed beside him in confusion, Scourge continued, " Where do you get off treatin' a little kid that way anyhow? He's supposed to be your brother! You raise him, don't you?! You think you're so damn cool? Well, he's fast AND can FLY! I'd say that makes him cooler than YOU! Some lame bully that treats him like garbage out of nowhere! "
Sonic glared at Tails and said, " Nice goin', dummy, you got me in trouble! Do you WANT me to snap at you again? " Scourge punched him in the face and kicked his leg immediately for that, making him fall to the ground crying out in pain as Tails cringed, not sure whose side he should be on. Fleetway Sonic said looking intimidated, " I was just saying! "
Scourge scoffed and said bitterly, " Yeah, just like my pops did, yeah right! " Tails and Sonic cringed at the revelation Scourge slipped out, and he was so angry at the moment that he didn't even notice the impact of what he just revealed, continuing, " It wasn't even Tails' fault, he just didn't answer me right away! Sue me for bothering to ask about his bruise, because I'm a Sonic who actually gives a damn! " Tails looked depressed with his head hung low and his eyes downcast, which Sonic noticed and looked worried at before yelling, " You're turning him against me, you jerk! " and starting a fight with him. Since Sonic had started it, Scourge felt fully justified in responding with some punches and kicks of his own, hoping that if the zone cops were watching through a security monitor, they'd understand.
To his surprise, though, he started feeling dissatisfied after a while with fighting a Sonic, feeling increasingly melancholic, worried and stressed out as the fight went on, stopping when Sonic was all bruised and injured from fighting him. He was frustrated with himself and didn't understand why he was hesitating, because part of him was fully on board with it and thought he had it coming, while the other part started bothering him, saying in his thoughts in a voice that sounded like Sonic, " What if the zone cops see this? What if that Tails breaks down crying from you injuring or killing him, or even has an out-and-out-breakdown because of it? What if he feels guilty about how he's just watching you doing it feeling helpless and he spends his life blaming himself for Sonic's death? What would your daughter and Fiona and your new gang of ' Freedom Fighters ' think if they found out about this? Would you be kicked out? Would they lose all respect for you? And is this even what you really want? You're just mad, lashing out, not really having fun and smiling at all, and this isn't making him a nice person, it's not solving the problem you want! "
Finally Scourge snapped at the nagging in his head and threw Sonic to the ground from on top of him, shouting, " Forget it, this isn't fun anymore! " angry with himself. He stood up, crossed his arms and muttered to the confused and stunned Sonic, " Doing nothing but the same repetitive attacks over and over again is getting boring. If I'm gonna be doin' that, I'd rather be fighting Robotniks, " making up an excuse as he let Tails help Sonic up.
Sonic and Tails saw him look depressed briefly in deep thought, and Scourge muttered, " What happened to me? " still trying to get used to that increasingly hard to ignore conscience as he walked away past some bushes, getting a zone-link generator out of his leather jacket. Still simmering with bitterness from being humiliated like that, and only not going after him because he was smart, Sonic thought, " It's a bad day when your evil twin calls YOU out on being too evil for him, " not being sure what to think of the accusations. " Was I really a bully? I'd expect that more of him! "
After Scourge left with his Warp Ring generator, Sonic started walking away, and snarked, " Thanks for the lack of help. Come on, let's go, pixel-brain, before your bad-mouthing me gets me into even more trouble. " After a brief moment where he walked from being too hurt to run and noticed that he wasn't hearing Tails walk behind him, he turned around in annoyance and confusion, and asked the glaring child simmering with resentment, " Hey, did you hear me, dummy? Let's g-OOF! " A punch in the face, and he was immediately thrown to the ground. He laid on the ground aching even more and couldn't believe what was happening, staring at him in shock and disbelief.
" STOP calling me that! I'm SICK of it! " Fleetway Tails shouted at him with his fists clenched, feeling about ready to explode, and as he let loose tackling him and letting a flurry of punches come to his face, an idea came to his head, as he remembered one of the latest inventions Tekno recovered from Eggman's base; a forget-me-now, a ray gun device that would erase a person's memories of the last few hours. If he used that, he could finally release all the pent-up resentment he had against Sonic standing up for himself, and completely escape from the consequences he feared so much. All he needed were a few minutes to let it all out before it would explode out of him far worse at a much less convenient time. That thought reduced the anxiety in him immensely and made him stop holding back.
Not wanting to outright injure Tails, Fleetway Sonic grabbed his wrists and held them away from his face, saying with a serious expression and a panicked voice, " Tails, what are you DOING?! I'm already hurt! What, did Robuttnik brainwash you? "
" Of course you'd say that! You think you're always right and nothing could ever be YOUR fault! " Tails shouted while feeling like he might never learn his lesson, glaring at him with hatred flaring up in his eyes. Sonic hated to admit it, but he was intimidated. After Sonic sat up with him while saying seriously, " Glad we understand each other- " Tails smacked him with his tails to get him to let his wrists go.
The two of them stood up, with Sonic saying resentfully while walking towards him menacingly, " You're making it REAL hard for me to hold back against you, pal. Would Amy approve of you treating me like this? Don't you like heroes of Mobius?! " trying to guilt him at the end while sincerely believing that he was in the right. Tails briefly looked sad at that.
Tails shouted, " You're wrong, Sonic! I'm not letting you talk because I know what you're gonna say! And I won't be manipulated by your hurtful words! Not now, and never again! " Sonic rolled his eyes thinking he was being melodramatic, and snarked not taking him seriously, " Grow up, you pixel-brained dum- " " SHUT UP! " Fleetway Tails shouted, slapping his face in response with his eye twitching at the familiar insults that he dared to use again at a time like that.
Sonic looked stunned staring at him with his hand on his cheek, wondering if this was all a dream or simulation by Robotnik, or a fake Tails robot made to fool him, and while he was lost in thought trying to piece together what was really going on, Tails gave him a uppercut to the chin saying, " THIS is for pretending you were DEAD just to prank me! " hitting him at the first word. He would make sure to hit all the best weak spots, starting with that one.
Sonic landed on the ground after briefly being sent upwards from the attack and then stomped on in the worst of places, and while he didn't admit it right away, he couldn't deny that he had a good point for being mad at him for that. It was the worst thing he ever did to him, and possibly to anyone, but all that he thought in response ended up being, " But that was just a JOKE! Pixel-brain knows I'm just pulling his leg! Right? " Before he could verbalize an excuse while standing up from the attack, Fleetway Tails punched him in the ribs and said bitterly, " THIS is for leaving me behind on so many missions, and being condescending of me all the time! "
As Sonic bent down a little grimacing from the blow, Tails immediately punched his face after the last sentence to send him into the tree behind him, while saying angrily, " THIS is for all the times you doubted me making fun of me, and never believed me when I tried to tell you about my own adventures! "
Finally getting to the best part in his eyes, he smirked briefly in anticipation saying quietly, " And THIS, " before spinning around with his tails hitting Sonic with every word, yelling, " is for EVERY time you called me Pixel-Brain! " Sonic screamed while spinning around from Tails doing so earlier, and stood there dizzy afterwards, before Tails kicked him in the left shin saying, " Or DUMMY! " and kicked the right shin to make him fall into a sitting position saying, " Or ugly! " reminding him of the time he said that his face was ugly on Angel Island. Then he kicked him in the upper leg saying, " Or said that I wasn't cool! "
He stood over him looking irritated and added, " Even your evil twin called me cool, even HE's nicer to me than you! Maybe you ARE the worst Sonic! " Realizing how much trouble he'd gotten himself into with all his insults, Sonic exclaimed looking panicked, " Okay, okay, I get it! I didn't know you were so sensitive! "
Tals ranted, " You don't have to be sensitive to get fed up with years of abuse! There's only so many insults a guy can take! Oh, but I know what you wanna say. ' Can't you take a joke? You're just being a brat throwing a tantrum, can't you see that I'm always right? Stop clowning around, pixel-brain, and being an idiot trying to stand up for yourself. ' NO! " He smacked his chest with his tails one last time for the last word.
" Okay, maybe you're not as dumb as you look, because that's just what I was thinking, " he admitted, one of his eyes closed from a black eye. Tails said angrily, " Thanks for the backhanded compliment. It's all I can expect from you! I have to do this, Sonic, because if I don't let it all out now, it'll explode out of me even worse at the worst possible moment! At least here we're in a field we freed of badniks, and nobody can see us. "
" You mean there's still some anger left? I thought you got it all spent on me! " Fleetway Sonic said looking worried. " Don't try to play the sympathy card, you bully! " Tails retorted bitterly. Sonic replied sadly, " Who's the bully here? I was already limping home before you snapped at me! And sure, I've insulted you a lot, but those punches HURT! I'm surprised you learned how to hit so hard. It's like it's almost at sonic speed. " Tails smirked in a more harmless, confident way, proud of himself for proving to him that he'd gotten stronger, and said, " You're right, I HAVE learned to hit like you, " briefly worrying that Sonic would think he was agreeing with him and clarifying himself later, and continued,
" Because I wanna prove that I can take down badniks on my own! But every time I do, no matter how many times I accomplish something on my own, I never feel like anyone would believe me without witnessing it for themselves, and sometimes I couldn't even BELIEVE that I did it on purpose! That I got Trogg to melt his invincible ice body with his fire-shooting from saying your name twice, or used the microputer to keep chemical ice from melting, by accident! You got me thinking I couldn't do anything on my own and that I was lucky I could survive my own adventures! You think I was just hiding in those times like a coward! You act like even destroying three badniks in a cave is too much for me, even when I showed you the evidence! And you actually got me believing you were right to think so little of me, that EVERYONE was right to think that of me! "
After Sonic looked completely confused at hearing about Trogg the enchanter king, Tails shouted, " You make me feel like I'm nothing! " giving him one last slap in the face with tears escaping his eyes at last. He ranted with a breaking voice, " Every time I was whisked away on an adventure, whether it was in the Nameless Zone or with Sab's flock of Freedom Fighters, I kept wishing you were there because I had no confidence in myself! I didn't know what to do and had to improvise or luck out, and it took a while for me to start thinking for myself and being useful on my own! " He shouted quickly, " Who do you think made me that way, pixel-brain? It was you! "
He rubbed his eyes and wiped his face of the tears as fast as he could, feeling humiliated and angry at how it was making him look weak and pathetic when he wanted it to be more of an epic moment for himself, only for it to be ruined by the tears. " Okay, I'm sorry! Stop crying! " Sonic exclaimed, making him gasp and look at the less familiar worried expression on his face through the white fog of his own tears.
Sonic put his hands on his shoulders and told him, " Calm down, little buddy, shake yourself out of it! Deep breaths. Just, tell me what those adventures were like! " getting another one his many clever ideas at the end because he knew Tails would be distracted by those long explanations. It was a miracle he managed to make himself apologize to someone who had attacked him so much, even if he realized he was in the right and made a mess of his friendship.
Tails was stunned. Even after everything he did in his outburst, Sonic still bothered to apologize, and as a result, Tails willed himself to take the risk and hug him, which caused Sonic to hug back awkwardly, making Tails savor the rare affection and sigh with a smile. " Well… Okay, but it's a long story, and you have to promise me you'll believe me, " Tails said sadly, wanting to forgive him, while not looking forward to telling him about his letters to the Nameless Zone. Sonic let go, put his hands on his shoulders, reassured, " I promise, Tails. And see, I'm not callin' you by that anymore. " " Okay… well, it all started when I sent some letters to my family… "
Sonic's reaction to all of his explanations was a lot better than he'd expected. He was worried about Tails from hearing how much trouble he'd gotten himself into, and complimented him for making it out of it, and every time Tails recounted to him that he had wished he was there, his heart ached in sympathy as he wished that he had been. At one point, he finally said in response, " If I HAD been there, you wouldn't have been able to prove that you could do all those things on your own. Maybe it was helping you realize you could be more independent, instead of needing me for every little thing. You figured out a lot on your own after a while, I mean, going into that robot to break it while shrunk? That was genius! You've come a long way from me having to tell you to do even the simplest of things. Though maybe I didn't HAVE to tell you and you knew all along, and were just doubting yourself too much to take the initiative. If I'm, to blame for that in any way, I'm sorry about it. "
He then took a bit of a deep breath as he felt his eyes water just from saying the last sentence, and felt uncomfortable about how much of a softie he had been acting like recently, before admitting, " Okay, so I'm being a softie right now. But it's better than being a grade-A jerk ' bully. ' You're a nice kid, it takes a lot to make you snap like that. And that ' a lot ' was me. So you're not in trouble for doing all that. I, if I met someone who had been acting like I had for so long, I'd say he deserved the same thing. "
He ruffled Tails' hair playfully for once and said, " But TALK about it next time! Don't bottle everything up and brood around! " Tails giggled enjoying it once he realized what he was doing, confused at first about the unfamiliar and rare affection.