Sorry about the long wait! Note to self, don't write more than one fanfiction at a time. Well any case, here's the next chapter...
Cream walks into the living room with the doll of Tails clutched tight in her arms. Facing the room, Tails sees all that is happening within range of his eyes. With no method of turning his head, he could only estimate where everyone in the room is at a time, including his body-stealing counterfeit Tails Doll. The words he previously typed to Cream seemed clear enough, but Tails knows that the pressure of this mission, even if to her it is only the freedom of a fictitious fairy trapped in a computer, might be too much for the easygoing 6-year-old to handle. Tails can feel her shaking as Tails Doll steals a menacing glance in her direction, obviously directed toward the doll in her hands. Tails wants to apologize to Cream for getting her wrapped up in this, but there's no time or means of doing that at the moment, right now, his number one priority is to reveal Tails Doll for the imposter he is, and to restore his own body to its rightful owner.
As Cream quickly meets Tails Doll's scrutinizing gaze, she frightfully turns her head away and continues her cautious steps through the living room, where Amy is sitting at a table with Silver's hand in hers. Sonic is watching carefully, as many incredible encounters have taught him that in Mobius, the supernatural is extremely possible. If turning into a howling were-beast and fighting dozens of monsters chalk-full of ancient energy weren't enough of an indication, he didn't know what would be. Still though, feeling somewhat adventurous despite the blizzard-like conditions, Sonic watches Amy work her magic and read Silver's personality like a book. This should be fun.
"Hmm-hmm..." Amy mumbles thoughtfully, rubbing her middle and forefinger on Silver's vein.
"What does that mean?" Silver asks, intrigued yet at the same time unnerved at Amy's cryptic demeanor, a drastic change from what Silver has come to know her as.
"Oooh, I feel...a lot of stress and tension. Yet emptiness..." Tails rolls his eyes in relief, because as it stands, it appears as if Amy is just being strange, but his ease lasts for only a short while when she continues. "Your moral compass..." Amy says mysteriously, "Though straying more to the side of good...points in all directions, and when it does, you know not what to make of it. Yes..." Silver starts shaking as this continues, getting more nervous by her change in temperament, as is the Tails Doll. Amy remains impartial and continues speaking, her eyes closed and her voice distant. "You feel, though from the future... inferior to your older peers... and even some of your younger peers. Hmm... But still..."
"What?" Silver asks with a start. Meanwhile, Cream is paying attention to everyone in the room, and looks over to whom she believes to be Tails. He is leaning into the mostly one-sided conversation between Amy and Silver, pricking up his ears as his interest, and fear, grows stronger. Cream is even more nervous, and Tails can tell because her grip on his plush body is getting tighter. Though he can't feel pain, he can feel pressure, and he understands why Cream is nervously gripping him. She tugs on Tails Doll's glove and after three or more tries, he reluctantly loses his burning gaze at Amy, turning it instead to Cream.
"What do you want?" Tails Doll says obdurately, not thinking about keeping his personality in check as much as he was before. Cream cringes at his sharp words, and the Tails Doll almost chuckles. Creams' eyes go wide, and she can barely make out the words she was going to say, scared at the entire situation as it had begun to unfold. Now Tails grew anxious, not that his expressionless face could even relay it to his companions. His mind returns briefly to what he typed into the computer, not averting his attention from the exchange, or lack thereof, of words between Cream and the Faker.
Ok Cream, Read Carefully. Tails typed telepathically into the computer. I need you to politely ask Tails to get a hand reading from Amy. It's VERY important that you do so. Thinking back to it, Tails regrets using the caps, too intimidating he assumed.
"Why?" Cream asked, a completely logical question, but one Tails did not exactly have the answer to. Luckily, his experience with inventing has raised him to become pretty creative...
Because when Amy uses her magic to read Tails' mind, then Tails he will get smarter. Smart enough to take me out of this computer and then I can go home to Spagonianna once again. Reading it again, it made absolutely no logical sense, yet he hoped that a gullible six-year-old like Cream would buy it. So he waited for her response. After a minute, a very long one at that, Cream finished reading what he had wrote down, and responded less than surprisingly.
"Ohh..." She said extendedly. She blinked and smiled. "Ok! Sounds Easy!" She picked up Tails and walked over to the door eagerly. Once she turned outside and closed the door however, the eager smile on her face faded into an anxious lip biting frown. She picked up the doll lovingly by his waist, speaking to him as if he was real, which he was, but she doesn't know that. To Tails, it was a nice change from the typical.
"Oh my Mr. Dolly," Cream said, partially covering her mouth with her free hand, "That fairy's counting on me! I better do this right. Please protect me?" She held to Tails frightened, and he felt a pang of guilt; not only for putting so much pressure on her all of a sudden like that, but for lying to her like he did. He still feels bad, even though he is completely aware that the only way to save his life is with her help.
Snapping back into the moment after observing the small exchange of words between Cream and the real Tails Doll, Tails soon realized that Cream politely asking him is not going to work. Clearly the Tails Doll does not want his palm read, a clear indication that he has something to hide from Amy's spiritual abilities. As Tails heard his own voice raise toward Cream, his guilt becomes replaced with anger for the imposter who stole his life from him, oddly enough, he feels like punching himself in the face. Apparently, the others felt like doing the same thing. Sonic had confronted the agitated fox cub, calling him out for the massive jerk he was being toward the house guests.
"Alright Tails, why are you acting like this? I was easy on ya before, but now you're just acting like a massive brat." Sonic told the cub sternly, trying not to raise his voice in an attempt to just shame the fox into stopping, but clearly, the Tails Doll shows no signs of becoming mild.
"Don't tell me what to do! I just told her to stop badgering me, but she's getting really annoying!" The Tails doll says with wild eyes, pointing at Cream with scorn. She's on the verge of tears, and Sonic decides to put his foot down.
"Alright man, you need to calm down!" Sonic yells over the sniffling of Cream, and the shuffling of Silver out of his seat. He's taken the situation as a perfect cover up to slip away from Amy's frighteningly accurate palm-reading. Amy continues to sit at the table with her palm outstretched, listening with worried inquisitiveness at the conversation, or the more accurately named shouting contest, between Tails and Sonic. The two friends should not be fighting anyways, and even though it's just a feeling, she senses that something is off.
"Don't tell me to calm down! You're the one who insisted I come here!" Creams small sniffles turn into loud wailing, and Silver tries to calm her down, yet to no avail.
"Well excuse me for trying to be a pal!" Sonic towers over the auburn fox, yet because of his experience being the little guy who towered above all, the Tails Doll is not faltering, even in Sonic's shadow. As their argument continued, Cream continued to bawl, holding Tails very close to her as she was doing so. Tears run down her cheeks and her screams almost mask the shouts between the Tails Doll and Sonic, yet they continue to fight, only taking note of her in the backs of their minds. Her shouts agitate both of them, yet the Tails Doll more so; and even though Sonic cares about sharing her feelings, Tails Doll does not.
"Like I asked?" Tails Doll yelled at the blue hedgehog, not caring to hide his true personality anymore.
"What the matter with you Tails? You jerk!" Cream starts crying even louder, and at this point, Tails Doll can no longer take the aggravation. He turns to cream and his eyes briefly glow red, scaring the tears right off her face. He yells at her at the top of his lungs with his fists raised in emphasis.
"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Tails Doll yells, stunning Cream and pulling Sonic's last straw.
"That's it Tails! GET OUT!" Sonic yells, with half a mind to throw him out himself. He has no idea what's going on with his friend, but he's clearly tool peeved to think clearly. And frankly, there's no excuse to act like how he is. As Tails Doll looked back at the furious speedster, Tails knew that his window of opportunity is closing fast. He has to do something, yet he doesn't know what it is he has to do!
"Whatever," The Tails Doll scoffs, rolling his eyes and swinging his twin tails in front of him, "I don't need this, I'll find somebody else to hang out with..." As Tails doll began to step away from the group, Tails knew something had to be done. Now, or else it would never be.
NOW! He yells inwardly. With a burst of supernatural power, red lighting shocked the arms holding the doll, causing Cream to stumble and drop the doll.
"Ah!" She squeaks in shock, falling into the Tails' imposter and causing him to shuffle backward. While he tries to regain his balance, Tails Doll slips on Tails' plush body, causing him to swing backward into the table. His body crashes on the edge, shattering the table to pieces with immense force. Shards of the table went everywhere, showering everyone with wood splinters, cookie crumbs, and shards of glass. Tails Doll groaned in the table, trying to get a clear image of his surroundings, as the whole room had gone blurry. He'd never felt the sensation of 'dizzy' before, and he had definitely not wanted to feel it now. He felt shamed and humiliated, and his eyes could not help flashing to their true blood color every so often to reveal his inner wrath. Sonic quickly snatches Cream and rolls her into a spin dash, effectively covering the rabbit from the debris. Amy immediately swings around Sonic to help Tails. Despite how strange he's acting, he's still her friend... right? When she nears him, she makes a grab for his hands, to which the Tails Doll attempts to force her to stay way.
"No! Stop!" He yells, flailing his arms, and closing his eyes, yet Amy snatches up his hand, shifting her palm to his on an impulse. When their palms meet, she unconsciously reads his mind and intentions. For a normal person, the connection that allowed for the spiritual connection would not have been made without her allowance, but with an aura so pungent with emotion and wicked intention, the connection had pretty much snapped itself on.
After lifting him up halfway, Amy hurriedly releases her grip and falls down to the floor, shrieking a little as she does so, causing Tails Doll to crash back into the table with a loud THWUNK! She grips her head and face as if she's seen something horrifying, and she's whimpering to herself uncontrollably. As she's quivering frightened on the floor, Silver doesn't hesitate to come to her aid; he crouches near her and tries to get her to speak, getting no response but a few inaudible murmurs from the trembling hedgy. Sonic is completely dumbfounded, he has just released Cream and is watching his best friend stuck in the shambles of the dinner table, but he doesn't want to help him. Instead, he dashes over to Amy, who looks like she needs more help than Tails does. Cream follows Sonic on impulse, like a baby duck. As Silver helps Amy sit up, she's breathing heavily and pointing a trembling finger towards Tails, who is still stuck in the table with nobody coming to help. Her eyes are wild and she's still covering half her face with her left hand, trying to articulate words through her horror.
"THAT'S NOT TAILS!" She accuses, backing away from the imposter straight into Silver and Sonic's arms. They first look at the terrified girl, and then they turn their attentions to Tails, who is struggling to get out of the remains of the table. The imposter glances at the group for a second, and in that time, his eyes flashed a menacing red shade. As Cream, Sonic, Amy and Silver looked on at the yellow fox, all essence of familiarity has left their being; it was if they were looking on at a stranger, or more accurately, an enemy.
As the real Tails was on the floor with a slightly torn arm, his plush eyes looked on at his friends, he gloated with victory in his mind, aiming silent curses at the imposter away from his view. He's exhausted a lot of his spiritual energy, and now he just waits for the rest of the situation to unfold.
Bingo. He thinks, victorious.