AN: Wow! Reviews make me happy :) Thanks to ASHPD, Gamenoise, Scyphi for coming back, and thanks to Shadowy Flip Flops of Doom, Jakeroo123 for the adds!

Mind over Matter

Chapter Four: A Turn for the Worse

"Sonic!" Tails cried out as he continued to struggle in Grounder's hands. "Sonic, you've gotta snap out of this!"

"He can't do anything, pipsqueak!" his captor sniggered.

Scratch clucked his signature laugh as he continued to hold the Mind Scrambler steady, the yellow luminescence pouring out of the weapon's barrel like water from a tap, splashing against the Hero of Mobius. He patted the side of the weapon with care.

"Thanks to this, the hedgehog is as good as ours!"

Tails refused to believe it. Sonic had escape from far worse situations before without even breaking a sweat. The fox looked his hero directly in the eye, a small tear falling from his own. Sonic had not moved once since the beam was activated, though if the expression on his face was anything to go by, he was aware of everything that was occurring. The young cub frantically wracked his brains for a way to escape.

What can I do? He thought desperately. What would Sonic do?

Another tear leaked down his muzzle as his brain shared the answer to this question with no forethought.

Sonic can't do anything. He's trapped, remember?

The kit shook his head, dispelling any further sobs that threatened to leave his throat. He wasn't going to cry about it. Not when Sonic needed him. The kit reluctantly tore his gaze away from his best friend and instead stared at the two Badniks. There had to be some kind of opening somewhere: something that he could take advantage of.

Scratch continued to cackle incessantly, hopping from one foot to the other in some kind of victory dance. He was enjoying their success far too much.

"This thing is great!" he exclaimed, looking over the device that he held in his hand with an appreciative eye. "Just a few more seconds, and then I can bring the hedgehog to Dr. Robotnik gift wrapped!" The Badnik's smile spread even further across his beak. "When he sees that I've managed to capture Sonic, he's going to be so proud of me!"

The mouth of the young vulpine twitched as he suppressed a grin. It appeared as though he had found what he was looking for.

Tails turned to face Grounder, who was still holding tightly onto his two namesakes, and smiled. "Hey! Bolt-face! I've got something to ask you," he said in a conspiratorial voice.

The tank robot raised the fox by his tails to eye-level.

"Prisoners aren't allowed to talk, brat!" he told the cub with a sneer.

Tails shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. I was just going to ask why you were letting him-" he pointed to Scratch "-take all the credit for capturing us. I mean, you worked together, right?"

"Huh?" Grounder's eyes followed the direction of the extended digit, going wide as he allowed the fox's words to sink in. "But that's not fair!" the robot spluttered indignantly. "He never would have blasted the hedgehog if I hadn't grabbed you!"

"I know," the fox agreed. He beckoned the robot closer with one paw. "Do you want to know what I think you should do?" he asked in a whisper. Grounder nodded. Tails smiled. "I think you should call Robotnik before its too late, and tell him yourself!"

The tank robot's mouth split into a contorted grin, "Yeah," he said slowly. "Then he'll know that this was all my idea! Thanks!"

Grounder released one of the fox's tails and opened his chest compartment, retrieving the phone contained within. Tails acted quickly, swinging his loose tail into the robot's face with as much force as he could muster. Many years of flying had developed the muscles within both appendages, making them very strong. This meant that a hit from one of them could very well be the equivalent to a strike from a heavyweight boxer. The tank robot yelled out in pain as the tail socked him in face with a loud 'THWACK', causing him to drop the fox in surprise.

Tails quickly scrambled to his feet, rubbing his sore appendages. "Whew! I can't believe that worked. Now to go and save Sonic!"

The twin-tailed cub started to run over to the endangered hero when Grounder snatched his arm. "Oh no you don't!" the robot yelled. "You're not going anywhere!"

I don't have time for this, the fox thought angrily. I have to save Sonic now!

The kit turned and pushed against the robot's metal chest with both feet, attempting to tug and twist his arm away from the vice-like grip. As he struggled, strands of fur were painfully torn out as they got caught in the small divots of metal lining the robot's hand, and he began to sweat from the exertion. The perspiration enabled him to slide his arm free of Grounder's grip, though the sudden release caused him to lose balance and stumble backwards.

Tails crashed into Sonic with a yelp, knocking the hedgehog backwards and into Scratch. The synthetic chicken hollered in surprise at the forceful contact and dropped the Mind Scrambler. The weapon shattered into numerous pieces, dispersing the energy ball that had wrapped around the two heroes and throwing everyone off of their feet from the resultant shockwave.

Everyone lay still for a moment, the silence broken by the soft tinkling of metal falling to the concrete.

Sonic groaned. Each one of his limbs felt as though they had been removed and then reattached into the wrong sockets, and his brain felt as though someone had been scrubbing it with a scouring pad.

Where am I? He wondered blearily. Last thing I remember was squaring off against those two dingbats, and then I wake up with one way un-cool headache.

The Hero of Mobius slowly parted his eyelids, shutting them again as the intense sunlight stabbed against his retinas. He tried again seconds later, blinking rapidly in an attempt to quicken their adjustment to the brightness. Seconds later, he could see well enough to know that he was still in Metropolis City.

Okay, that was the easy part. Now for stage two.

Fighting against every nerve ending in his body, and sparring with natural instinct to curl into a protective ball until the uneasiness vanished, Sonic got to his feet. His legs shook upon application of body weight, almost as though he had never used them. He growled softly from frustration. Why was this taking so much effort?

Come on, hedgehog – you can do this.

One of his legs trembled, unbalancing him. With a small cry, Sonic fell back against a nearby wall.

Sonic grumbled and tried again, successfully easing himself to a standing, if not completely stable, position. He breathed heavily as he leaned against the wall for support. Man, my head is killing me! I just wish I could remember why.

The hedgehog tried to recall whatever memory he could; hoping that one of them could fill the void in his recollection.

What was I doing before I woke up? He looked across the street to the diner that was nearby. That's right. I was at that diner, eating Chilli Dogs with Tails, when-

"Tails!" Sonic gasped. "I've gotta make sure he's alright!"

The teenage freedom fighter raised a hand to block excess light from his vision and looked over the surrounding area properly. There seemed to be a couple of scorch marks littered around the masonry, but nothing suggesting a full-scale battle. As he continued his search, his ears picked up the sound of metal scraping on concrete. He turned to see Scratch and Grounder, hoisting each other up to their feet (or treads, in Grounder's case).

"Oh...no thanks, I don't need a new suit," Scratch burbled, counting the canary birds swooping before his face. "I think my mother has something just in my size."

"What happened?" Grounder asked, straightening the antenna fixed to his head, and then twisting said body part to face in the right direction.

Scratch tapped his head a few times, allowing a couple of dislodged circuits to slip back into place. He then looked over toward the remains of the Mind Scrambler, which had been broken down into most of its constituent parts. He gasped in horror.

"The Mind Scrambler!" he shrieked.

Grounder covered his mouth in shock. "Now what are we going to do?"

Sonic glared at the two Badniks, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. They hadn't noticed him. That would be their mistake. Ignoring his aching body for now, the hero jumped over to them and lifted his foot in preparation for a kick. "How about you both go for a little ride?" he said with a smirk, not realising that his voice was now at a higher pitch.

Scratch and Grounder turned to face him, both staring in surprise at the person they saw. Wasting no time, Sonic delivered a sharp boot to Grounder's midsection. The strength of the blow drove the tank robot on his treads back into his brother. Scratch yelped as the body of his non-identical sibling connected with his own, and carried the both of them careening into a brick wall. The surface shuddered with the impact, allowing a billboard sign to break free from its supports. The Badnik duo looked up at the large advertisement board that was tumbling down to greet them.

"Oh..." Scratch uttered.

"Ah..." Grounder concurred.

The billboard sign crushed both robots beneath the force accumulated from its descent, kicking up a cloud of dirt and debris.

The Hero of Mobius wrapped his hands around his foot, which was throbbing in agony. "Ouch! Oh, man that hurt!"

Sonic limped across the area, keeping his eyes peeled for a sign of his young friend. There was something different about his movements that distracted him. He felt sluggish, as though the muscles in his body were straining to follow commands that his subconscious had delivered hundreds of times, something that had become even more prominent in his mind with the pain in his foot.

Maybe that thing Scratch and Grounder were talking about did this to me, he wondered.

It wouldn't have been the first time, either. Sonic could recall only too well the effects of Robotnik's slow-mo gun from about a year ago, and the incident had left a nasty taste in his mouth. Whilst hoping that this was not the case, his ears picked up on the sound of somebody breathing lightly mere feet away from him. It had to be Tails. Sonic moved closer to the sound. What he saw, however, was not what he had expected at all.

Lying before him, spread-eagled on the ground was...him?

Tails had heard the commotion from earlier, and felt the reverberation across the ground as a large object had fallen from a great height, possibly from a building. Unfortunately, this hadn't served to assist him in deducing his location. The only thing that he knew right now was that he felt sore. He felt very sore. He had pain in places that most medical dictionaries didn't keep records of. A voice was calling out to him, and his body was being shaken gently. Someone was trying to wake rouse him.

"Tails?" the voice said. There was something familiar about the pitch of that voice, but he couldn't quite place who it belonged to. "Tails!" it called again. "Wake up!"

"Sonic?" the young hero ventured. "Is that you?"

"It's me, bud," the speaker replied. "How are you feeling?"

Tails sat up with great difficulty and rubbed his head. "Ugh," he grunted. "Not good, Sonic. I don't feel like my usual self at all."

He heard the sound of feet trudging awkwardly across the gravel, and a soft snort of humourless laughter. "You don't know how close to the truth you are, little bro. Take a look at yourself in the window."

Confused by his friend's odd request, Tails opened his eyes and pulled himself to his feet, using a lamppost for added leverage. When he looked into the glass, he did not see what he knew he should have. His eyes didn't view the three bangs of hair that hung from his forehead, or the short stature of his brown and white body that he was so accustomed to.

No, the person staring back at him was a blue hedgehog. Tails' jaw dropped.

"No way..." he muttered, running a hand through the slick spikes that stuck out from the back of his head and body. "No way – this had got to be a dream!"

"It isn't a dream, bro. Take a look at me," Sonic responded. Tails turned to see a small fox with two tails looking into his eyes, the twin limbs swishing back and forth with agitation. The former fox cub gasped and pointed at the former hedgehog.

"Y-you're me!" he spluttered. "But, how?"

"I wish I knew," Sonic the fox shrugged. "But I can guarantee that it has something to do with that doohickey those two dumb-bots had with them."

Tails the hedgehog studied his hands and his feet, taking in every nuance of his new body. "This is just so-"

"Weird?" Sonic put forward.

"Cool!" Tails replied. "I always wondered what it would be like to be as fast as you, and now I get to see for real!" Excitedly, he looked around, setting his sight upon a building that stood four blocks away. He pointed at it and smiled. "I bet I could beat you to that skyscraper in a race now, Sonic! Come on!"

The now hedgehog prepared to dash off when the now fox grabbed onto his arm. "Whoa, hold up, pal!" he said. "We've gotta figure this thing out! Don't you want to have your own body back?"

Tails kicked his foot and looked down, sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess," he said slowly. "But how are we going to do that?"

Sonic walked toward the remains of the Mind Scrambler and picked them up. "This is what's left of that hunk of junk they were using on us. It looks pretty totalled now, though."

"Can I take a look at it, Sonic?" Tails requested. Sonic stepped aside, allowing his best friend to kneel and examine the damage.

"Hmm," the 'hedgehog' mumbled after a few seconds, frowning. "If I had some blueprints or something, I might have been able to do it myself. But the thing has completely fallen apart." He stood back upon his feet and shrugged his shoulder. "I have no idea what would go where."

"And it's not exactly like we can stroll up to doc Butt-nik's fortress and ask him if he's got a spare," Sonic agreed.

The former fox thought for a second. "Well, what about Professor Von Schlemmer? He likes to build stuff. Maybe he could take a look at it."

"Yeah," Sonic considered. "Good thinking, my not-so-foxy buddy! Let's jam over to the professor's house and see if he can, literally, make something out of this." He grabbed hold of Tails' hand. "Up, over, and gone!" he yelled breaking out into a...jog.

At first he was confused about the lack of speed, but slowed to a stop and released his friend's arm when he remembered why this was the case.

"Oh...yeah, that's right," he murmured.

For the first time in his life, Sonic felt completely naked. His speed was his identity, and now it had been taken away from him.

Worse still, he thought, how can I stand up to Ro-butt-nik if I can't juice? The now fox shook his head, trying to dispel these negative scenarios. What am I saying? Everything will work out – it always does! I'm sure that the professor will help us think of a solution to this when we get to him.

The not-quite-so-blue blur turned to look at Tails, who appeared to be having some difficulty in controlling his new found acceleration.

"Sonic! I...can't...whoops!" he yelled as he finally lost his footing, Sonic cringed as he saw what had until recently been his body take a nosedive to the floor, skidding through the dirt on its muzzle.

Scratch that, Sonic thought to himself. Make that if we get to him.

Scratch and Grounder poked their heads out through a large split in the wooden billboard sign that rested atop of them. The tank robot sighed. "Sometimes, I just don't think I'm cut out for this job."

"Shut your yap! This is your fault, anyway!" Scratch hissed. "Because of you, Sonic and Tails are getting away with the pieces of Dr. Robotnik's Mind Scrambler!"

"What do you think he'll say?" the tank robot nervously wondered. "Do you think he'll be angry?"

The phone in his chest compartment began to ring, shaking the robot's body forcefully. Scratch patted him consolingly on the shoulder.

"Just remember," he said to his younger brother. "You were the one who was in charge of this mission."

(End Chapter)

AN: Aha! Plot! I was wondering when it was going to show up in this story! :D

Just a heads up: I've still got some work to do on chapter 5 before posting, so it may take a little longer than the others. Thank you very much if you've made it this far, and I look forward to hearing what you think! Seeyall next time! :)