Notes: Wow, sorry for the unexpected 2-month break, guys! This summer was crazy, what with college just starting and whatnot. Not to mention Guardians of the Galaxy came out, so I've been playing around with some drabble ideas for that instead of working on this fic. Anyway, I've rewritten this chapter probably 3 times by now, since it's really important and I really like it and I wanted it to be the best it could be. Anyways, enjoy!
After returning from their excursion to Westside Island, Sonic and Lil' T sprawled out on the available pieces of living room furniture, exhausted. Even after getting some of his strength back when he approached the Emerald, the speedster still felt like he needed a nap and some aspirin. He staved off sleep, however, in order to tell Zonic and Scourge his story, omitting the parts about him not being able to run like he normally could- he didn't exactly feel like mentioning that just yet- and to listen to their own tale. He was pleasantly surprised to hear that Zonic had been the one to find Twinkle Park's Emerald, and even more surprised to learn that Scourge had somehow gotten a concussion at the park.
"How the heck did you manage that?" Sonic asked, tossing the light blue Emerald up in the air and catching it repeatedly. He was sitting sideways in one of the living room's plush armchairs, with his legs dangling over the side and his head nestled in its back.
"Hit my head, genius," the green hedgehog grumbled, mindlessly fiddling with his own Emerald. The two gems were glowing brightly, happy to be close to one another.
"Be more specific, wise guy."
"Big fight on a moving roller coaster," Scourge scowled. "Damn thing turned and I didn't see it coming. Fell and hit my head. Happy?" He turned his head to face Sonic, looking very annoyed.
"Jeez, no need to get snotty about it," Sonic shrugged. The injured Moebian flinched slightly at the mention of his old nickname from Zone Jail, but no one seemed to notice.
"Y-Yeah, well I'm not the only one who got caught off-guard today," he said, quickly covering up his cringe with a laugh and glancing towards Zonic. The Zone Cop shook his head, looking a bit flustered.
"Oh no, you are not to say a WORD of that," he said, his face growing hot. Sonic couldn't help but slyly smile.
"Why, what happened?"
"Nothing happened!" Zonic insisted. This only made Scourge laugh harder.
"Oh, I'll tell you what happened. What happened wa- hmmph!" The green hedgehog's mouth was suddenly slapped shut by Zonic, whose visage was now bright red.
"I said nothing happened," the Zone Cop said bitterly through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed to slits.
Scourge pulled Z's hand away from his mouth and continued laughing. "Fine, fine. I won't say anything, loverboy." He smiled and rested his hands behind his head in relaxed victory while Zonic crossed his arms, huffing in frustration.
"Loverboy?" Sonic said incredulously. "Man, now I'm really curious. Z, I don't think I've ever seen you look this embarrassed before!"
"I'm not embarrassed, it's nothing!" Zonic said, annoyed. "Look, let's just forget about it. Back to the Mystic Caves, what do you think was the deal with the other Sonic and Tails?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Jeez, I don't even know. I guess Mystic Caves had its clock turned back or something?" Sonic rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Man, that was a headache," he said. Scourge groaned.
"How many freakin' Sonics and Tailses are there, anyhow?" he whined. "I can barely handle one of each, and now there's what, three? At least? Not even counting me and the Slowpoke Wonder."
"I doubt we'll run into them again," Sonic shrugged, catching the cyan gem again. "They'll probably just stay on Westside Island. As far as they know, they're still in their own time. Best not get them involved."
"Agreed," Zonic said. "A bigger rip in the time stream is the last thing we need." The conversation fell into a lull, and silence filled the room. The only sound to be heard was the heavy snowflakes lightly tapping the window outside. "So... what do we do now?"
Sonic sighed. There wasn't much to do, he supposed. He could hardly move, Scourge was hurt, Lil' T had been dozing off for the past several minutes, and even Zonic seemed a bit uneasy, though by what he couldn't exactly be sure. Not to mention, they had no leads as to the locations of the other Chaos Emeralds. It seemed like all they could do for the time being was to sit and watch as the world slowly fell into timeless discord.
"Well," he shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm exhausted. Green's hurt. Let's all take a breather and wait for Tails and my younger self to get back."
o o o
Later that night, after much well-deserved napping, relaxing, and healing, the group had a dinner of leftovers and whatever else they could find in the fridge and the pantry. The workshop was starting to run low on food; of course, there were some rations in the basement in case of an extreme emergency, but MRE's couldn't hold a candle to a home-cooked meal (or even leftover take out, for that matter). The snow was making it impossible for them to go into Station Square to get more and stock up, but Zonic reassured everyone that as long as he had his teleportation belt, getting food wouldn't be an issue.
"Oh! That reminds me," Sonic said, stuffing his mouth full of food. He and the others were eating in the living room (the kitchen table was too small to fit them all, and Scourge didn't want to get up from the couch). The TV was playing a news report on the monster attacks, urging people to remain indoors until further notice. A bright red graphic in the corner of the screen read DAY 3. "Shomtin wurd wush hupnin in da Speshuh Shone."
"Swallow," Zonic groaned. His own food was untouched, simply pushed around the plate.
The speedster complied, quickly gulping down the huge mouthful of food. "Something weird was happening in the Special Zone," he said, his mouth now clear of obstruction.
"The Special Zone? What were you doing there?"
Lil' T smiled and piped up, "That's where the Chaos Emerald was!" His face was covered in sauce from the food, making his white fur look orangish and sticky.
"Yeah, and time was stopped there," Sonic said. "The Time Eater's cronies were able to invade, and while we were running through the place, time stopped for a little bit."
The news hit Zonic like a ton of bricks. "They were able to get into the Special Zone?" he gasped, dropping his fork into his plate.
"Uh, yeah. Thought you might want to know," the Prime Zoner shrugged, already poised to shove more food into his mouth. "Why, is that bad? I mean, it's bad, but is it REALLY bad?"
"Yes, that is REALLY bad!" Zonic exclaimed. He got to his feet and grabbed his helmet off the coffee table. "If they can get into the Special Zone, who knows what other Zones they can get into? And if these guys can Zone hop... There's no place in the multiverse that's safe."
"Yikes," Scourge said nonchalantly, stuffing more food in his mouth.
"Oo shud rulleh- You should really be more concerned about this, you know," Sonic swallowed mid-sentence, turning to face his bad twin. "If the multiverse is taken over by these guys, what will be left for you to rule?" he smirked. Scourge was about to say something rude in response, but Zonic talked over him.
"Not to mention, everyone in every world will be in massive peril," he said, slipping his helmet on over his head and flipping down the visor. "I need to report this in ASAP... Call in a total Zone Lockdown. Make extra sure these things can't escape Mobius Prime." He fiddled with some of the buttons on the side of the earphones and walked out of the room to make the call. His face, obscured by the visor, looked grim.
"Sonic? What's a Zone Lockdown?" Lil' T asked, playing with the food in front of him rather than eating it.
Sonic thought for a second about the best way to explain the complicated dimensional physics to a six-year-old. "Well... You know how Zonic is a Zone Cop?"
"Space Police, yeah. I got that."
"Well, all the different worlds out there- our world, Scourge's, Zonic's, and all the others- they're connected by something called the Cosmic Highway. It's kind of exactly what it sounds like; a giant highway with portals that lead to different worlds."
"Okay, I think I get it so far..."
"Basically, what Zonic's doing is telling the other... Space Police... to block off all the roads in the Cosmic Highway so that no one can travel on it. If everyone stays in their own Zones, then everything should be fine, and the whole rip in time thing should be confined just to Mobius Prime. Get it?" Sonic rustled his hand through the kid's springy bangs.
"Uh... sort of?" the fox kit said, clearly having been lost on that last part.
"Don't worry, I didn't get it when Z first explained it to me, either," Sonic sighed.
"Hey," Scourge called to them from the couch, from which he hadn't moved all afternoon. "Will you two stop talking quantum physics for a sec and toss me another one of those sauce packets?"
"Quantum physics would be easier to understand, I think," Lil' T said, picking up a plastic packet of sauce and tossing it towards him.
"Hey, I didn't do that bad a job," Sonic hmphed before polishing off his plate.
After their quick and informal dinner (Zonic never actually ate, but his emergency call went well) and an hour or two of flipping through channels on the TV, almost everyone went up to bed. Sonic was still inexplicably exhausted from his earlier sprint through the Special Zone, so he clocked out pretty quickly. He shuffled upstairs to his bedroom, mumbling something about his chest still aching. Scourge went up next- he was getting bored laying on the couch, and decided it was time to get some real sleep instead of just dozing off for a few minutes at a time. He plucked the yellow Chaos Emerald up off the living room coffee table, hoping that keeping it near while he slept would help to heal his head faster. Zonic was naturally suspicious, so Lil' T tried to reassure him by going up to bed as well. Both the concussed hedgehog and the young fox would take the bunk bed, and Tails double super promised to make sure that Scourge wouldn't Chaos Control away with the Emerald. It wasn't long before Zonic was the only one left downstairs.
He sat down on the battered old couch, thankful for the quiet and the privacy. He felt awful. His stomach hadn't gotten any better- in fact, it had gotten worse. He'd done his best to hide his pain and suck it up, but it was getting tough. He pulled his knees up to his chest and curled his arms around his stomach. 'Can I go ahead and die now?" he thought. 'I'm in a dying sort of mood. I think today is one of those 'just take me now' days.' He felt like he'd swallowed a hungry piranha that was now trying to eat his stomach from the inside out. He couldn't remember the last time he had a stomach ache this bad. 'What the hell's going on…? Why do I feel like my guts are on fire? Because this sure isn't food poisoning from some crappy amusement park hotdog.' The Zone Cop groaned as his gut twisted. He undid his belt and set it aside, hoping maybe that would help. It didn't. While he was at it, he kicked off his boots too, and pulled his hands out of his gloves and gauntlets.
He was thinking of following the lead of the others and hitting the hay. There seemed to be nothing he could do to improve his condition, so perhaps sleeping it off was the best course of action. Medicine, ginger ale, even the Chaos Emeralds weren't doing anything for him. He was starting to ache, and he felt some pressure in his head too. As the minutes ticked on, sleep was starting to sound better and better. 'Well, if I can't be dead, asleep is the next best thing,' he supposed. He pulled off his red jumpsuit, revealing the tight-fitting black t-shirt and pants he wore underneath. He slumped down onto the sofa, dragging the throw blanket over him as he sunk to a lying down position. Miraculously, he was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the couch cushion.
o o o
It was nearing 2 o'clock in the morning, and nearly everyone in the workshop was asleep. Scourge was snoring soundly in the top bunk in Tails' room, while the younger incarnation of the fox snoozed blissfully in the bottom bed. Next door, Sonic was sleeping, but just barely. It had taken him a long time to slip into his light slumber, and his scar was still irritating him. He couldn't get comfortable enough to drift off into a deep sleep, and he kept waking up every hour or so. Meanwhile, downstairs, Zonic was in a similar situation. His stomach was a bit better, but that seemed to be because the pain spread from his gut to just about everywhere else. His whole body was aching and sore, and it felt as if he had been beaten to a pulp and lightly jolted with electricity. His head was pounding, each heartbeat bringing only more pain, and it felt like the room was spinning out of control. He tossed and turned under the large blanket, trying to get comfortable on the couch. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't relax.
He groaned. The pain was coursing through his body fast and hard, like his blood had turned to acid and he was being burned from the inside. Why did he hurt like this? It made no sense. All he knew was that he felt terrible.
This whole 'sleep it off' thing just wasn't working. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. He immediately noticed that something was different… that something was very wrong. 'This… These aren't my hands,' Zonic thought, yanking them away from his face. 'Oh my gods what's going on these aren't my hands.' He tried to look at his hands, see what had happened, but it was pitch black. He reached an arm out to the lamp on the small table next to the couch. The lamp was farther away than he remembered, and his fingers fumbled with the switch. When it turned on, the light burned his eyes, like he'd just been poked in the retinas.
He blinked, squinting to block out the light. Once he could see, he looked down at his hands. They were way smaller than they were supposed to be. 'What's going on…? I need something to drink. I'm probably just still dreaming...'
"Whoa," he breathed as he stood up. He felt like he was standing in a hole. Everything looked taller, the room itself seemed bigger, and he could have sworn that his pants weren't this loose when he went to bed.
"What the heck-" he slapped a hand over his mouth. That wasn't his voice... was it? He was breathing hard now, and starting to panic. What the hell was happening? It did sound a little bit like him, but… higher-pitched.
"O-okay, what's going on?" he muttered. "Because something is very wrong here." He looked down at himself. His clothes had grown several sizes too large and were draping over his body like dark sheets. He wasskinny, but not unhealthily so. His arms were also a lot thinner, and felt strangely weak. His legs and feet were buried, consumed under all the black fabric. He shakily stooped down to roll up his pants. His fingers were barely cooperating. His bare feet, once uncovered, appeared smaller, softer, and more round-looking. He warily picked his helmet up off the coffee table and held it in front of him. He looked at his reflection in the visor. His jaw dropped at what he saw, and he nearly dropped the high-tech helmet right on the ground.
His quills were much longer, and much less professional-looking, drooping down his back so far they were almost level with his waist. His features weren't hard and authoritative, as they had become after years of service as a Zone Cop. Rather, they were open and inviting, giving him an innocent look about him. His eyes were larger, his nose rounder, and his mouth less stern and cold.
Overall, the Zone Cop looked a lot younger.
He stumbled backwards, collapsing into the couch. This couldn't be happening to him. "I'm a... I'm a kid again?" he breathed shakily, staring at his immature, skinny hands. He couldn't wrap his head around it. He knew the time stream was crumbling, but this was the last thing he expected to happen because of it.
He clenched his eyes shut and tried to calm his unsteady breathing. "Okay, Zonic... this is all just a bad dream," he told himself. "All you've got to do is wake up, open your eyes, and everything'll be normal again." He took a deep breath and opened up his eyes. He looked himself over- nope, still a kid. Teenager, maybe? All that mattered was that he wasn't himself. He repeated this process of closing his eyes, desperately hoping, and opening them again at least four more times before he resorted to pinching himself. A few rounds of that convinced him that he was, in fact, awake. He groaned, his child-like voice ringing in his head. Just what he needed: hyperactive hormones and a body that he wasn't used to being in, all while trying to save the multiverse. Just perfect.
How on Mobius did this happen? He tried to think, his mind a confused jumble. The time monsters didn't physically hurt him like they did to Sonic. He didn't understand. He was just fine before! Well, his stomach was bothering him since the afternoon, yes, but he strongly doubted that an amusement park chili dog caused him to de-age overnight. This made no sense! He supposed this could be a side effect of the flow of time going out of whack, but even that theory had holes. He wasn't from Mobius Prime, so why was he being affected by its time stream? He had too many questions, and zero answers.
'I'm a kid. I can't believe this. I'm actually a goddamn middle school kid again. I'm still me, but... I don't even feel like I'm in my own body. All those years of physical training, all my limits, all my strengths and weaknesses, everything about me is totally different. I don't know a damn thing about myself anymore. This body is too small, it's too cramped in here! Little hands, little feet, little voice… Big quills. What was I thinking when I got this haircut? Honestly, did I used to think this looked cool?! They're even longer than Sonic's!' Zonic ran his fingers through his quills in disbelief. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. Was this why he had been hurting all day? He had been going through a massive reverse-growth spurt? Was that it? His body was resisting it all day… And then he just de-aged by several years all at once?
He wondered how the others would react to the sudden change. After all, it wasn't every day that you wake up to find out that one of your allies was suddenly a lot younger than he should be. He hoped that they would have the sense to treat him the same as they always had. He did not want to be babied. Just because he looked like a kid didn't mean he was mentally a kid. Right?
"No. No no no no no, don't think like that," Zonic muttered, placing his head in both hands and looking down at his shrunken feet. "You're still you. Don't start needlessly scaring yourself."
His ears suddenly perked up. He thought he'd heard something. Were those footsteps coming from upstairs? Or was he just hearing things? He stiffened, trying not to move a muscle or make a sound. It was 2 in the morning, no one should be awake. He listened for a few moments, hearing nothing. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. It must have been nothing. Good, he didn't think he could deal with telling anyone about his predicament. He needed some time to accept it himself.
Thump, thump, thump. Nope, he wasn't hearing things. Someone was definitely awake and moving around upstairs. 'It's… probably just one of the guys, having to go to the bathroom. They won't come down here, it'll be fine.' He nodded, trying to reassure himself that he would be left alone for the time being. Unfortunately, he had no such luck- the footsteps began to descend the stairs mere seconds later. "Damn," he breathed, quickly lying back down on the couch to make it look like he was still sleeping. He thought about shutting off the lamp next to him, but knew it would give him away in an instant; surely the light could be seen from the staircase. He threw the blanket over himself, and squirmed around in it until his entire body was covered up by it; this wasn't that hard, seeing as how the blanket was bigger on him now than it was before.
The owner of the footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs and yawned. They shuffled- whoever it was must have had slippers on or something- through the kitchen and towards the bathroom, and Zonic could faintly hear the medicine cabinet opening and its contents being bustled around. After a very long minute or two, the cabinet shut, and whoever it was who was lurking about came back to the living room. Zonic held his breath.
A sigh. "Crap, I can't believe we're out of pain killers, this stupid scar is getting ridiculous... Hey, Zonic, you awake?" the owner of the footsteps said. It was Sonic. Zonic didn't say anything. Maybe if he kept quiet...
"Given the distinct lack of snoring coming from under there, I'm going to assume you are," Sonic said with another yawn. Zonic cringed. How could he forget that he, and almost every other Sonic in existence for that matter, snored? Such a rookie mistake… The kind he would normally never make. He cursed under his breath. He was still mentally twenty, right?
"Unless, Zonic's not in there, and he just stuffed a bunch of pillows under the blanket in a very convincing hedgehog shape." Sonic chuckled. Zonic still made no move to respond to the older hedgehog- the older hedgehog! Just a few hours ago they were the exact same age. This sucked. Sonic exhaled through pursed lips.
"C'mon man, I can't sleep. I need someone to talk to, at least. You're awake, just say something."
"Go away," Zonic muttered, trying to get his voice to go down lower. He overshot, and his voice sounded unnaturally deep, as if he were sick.
"Z? Are you okay?" Sonic asked, taking a step closer to the couch.
"Jus- just go away," the Zone Cop said, instinctively tensing up. Sonic frowned. Something was wrong, especially if the No-Zoner didn't want to talk about it.
"Go away? Look, if something's up, it won't help to keep it to yourself. Come on out." Sonic walked right up to the couch and grabbed the corner of the blanket. Zonic ripped the cloth out of his hands and clutched it tight.
"I'm perfectly happy in here, thank you," he said. His voice cracked on the 'thank you.' He groaned inwardly. Just his luck, he'd been catapulted back into puberty.
Sonic huffed. He could understand wanting to be left alone if he was tired, but something was wrong. Z's voice was all over the place, and the fact that he wouldn't even show his face to the speedster was definitely concerning. "Well, if you're not coming out on your own, I guess I'll just have to force you out," he sighed. He went to grab the edge of the blanket near Zonic's feet, where the Zone Cop couldn't hold on.
"No. No, no, no, no, no-!" the No-Zoner insisted as Sonic jerked the blanket off of him. Sonic could only stare at him open-mouthed. The hedgehog under the blanket was not at all what he was expecting. Zonic looked… tiny. Not as small as Sonic's younger-self, but without a doubt smaller than he was before he went to bed earlier that night. He wasn't just smaller, though. He was younger. That much was easy to tell just from the terrified expression that was on his face.
"... Z? What..." He could barely get the words out of his mouth. He had a thousand questions to ask, and his brain wanted to ask them all at once. He eventually settled for just one: "What the heck happened to you?"
"See why I wanted to be left alone?" Zonic said glumly, slowly sitting upright. Now that he wasn't trying to disguise his voice, Sonic realized just how young and innocent he sounded. How scared and vulnerable he must feel. It was extremely strange, especially coming from a guy like Zonic, who was, essentially, the group's main authority figure. The young voice didn't suit him at all. Being younger in general didn't suit him at all. Sonic tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. It wouldn't go down.
"So, I uh… I guess that anti-aging cream is really working out for you, huh?" he said, trying to crack a smile. The grin didn't travel into his eyes, which were currently telling a very different story. He gently sat down on the couch next to the No-Zoner, trying not to notice the difference in height between them or the way Zonic's feet dangled off the edge, not reaching the floor.
"Now's really not the time for jokes, Sonic," he said softly, his voice breaking. The captain looked down, not meeting Sonic's eyes. "I-I mean, just look at me! I'm a kid for crying out loud! I'm a goddamn twenty-year-old elite transdimensional police officer in- in a preteen's body! This is... this is wrong, all wrong..."
"Hey, come on, dude," Sonic said, draping the blanket over his friend's shaking shoulders. "I know what'll cheer you up. How about some hot chocolate, huh? We don't have the real stuff, I mean, just the mix, but I'll whip some up and you can tell me what happened."
Zonic sheepishly glanced up at him, and the looked back down again and shrugged half-heartedly. "There's nothing to tell. I just woke up like this a few minutes ago, I don't know what's going on or what happened," he said. He hugged the blanket tighter around himself, and noticed Sonic's shoulders droop as the older hedgehog looked away. 'He doesn't know how else he can help,' Zonic realized. "Um... hot chocolate sounds good though," he added.
Sonic smiled. Hot chocolate was always his number one comfort drink- he was hoping that this was the same for his No-Zone self. Sometimes the best cure for being scared was a steaming mug of something delicious. They both stood up, Zonic's knees wobbling slightly, and started walking to the kitchen. The kid's legs gave out quickly though, sending him to the ground. He cursed under his breath.
"You okay? What happened?" Sonic kneeled down next to him. His voice was hushed and laced with concern. "You're not…" He wanted to ask if Zonic was getting even younger again, but he didn't have the heart to finish the question.
"My legs are... too different. I have no idea how much weight to put on each one… I have to learn how to goddamn walk again!" Zonic practically yelled, slamming a fist on the floor. He felt like he wanted to cry. This just kept getting worse and worse.
Sonic helped the teenager up and let him lean on him for support as the two entered the kitchen. The older one turned the lights on dim; enough for them to see without difficulty, but not bright enough to hurt their eyes. He left Zonic by the round kitchen table and went to the sink, pulling two mugs out of the cabinet directly above it. He opened the cabinet next to that one, which held the packets of cocoa. He laid everything out on the counter before turning on the small hot tap, which began to spout steaming water.
Zonic's throat was still closed up, and his hands trembling slightly. 'Man up, you big baby, don't let this get to you..' he thought, though there was no real force or sentiment behind the words. Screw it, he was upset. Might as well man up to that. He breathed shakily as he climbed into one of the chairs set out around the table. "Jeez, everything's so big…" he said, looking around. The room felt at least twice as big as it did normally, and he found himself at eye level with most of the countertops. "I know that it's kind of a given and all, but still… I don't like it. I don't feel like myself."
"You don't look like yourself," Sonic said, turning around to look. "Too soft around the edges. You look too much like me."
Zonic opened his mouth to argue that he always looked like Sonic, but decided it wasn't worth it. He supposed it was sort of true, though. There were some subtle differences in their appearances, and they gave off two totally different vibes. Zonic was hard, cool, calculating. All sharp angles and straight lines. He practically oozed officer. Sonic was almost the exact opposite; outgoing, laid-back, and free. Fluid, inviting, and a bit arrogant. Sometimes it felt like it was impossible that they were technically the same guy.
Meanwhile, the older hedgehog was almost done with the hot chocolate, now loading up the two beverages with mini marshmallows. He walked carefully over to the table, both steaming hot mugs in hand. He passed one of them over to his counterpart and sat in the chair across from him. "Careful, it's hot."
"Mmm," the cop acknowledged, noting the steam floating up from the surface of the hot liquid. The scent of chocolate wafted into his nostrils, exciting his taste buds. He warily sipped the drink, barely avoiding scalding his tongue. It was almost too hot to taste, but it warmed his insides as it went down. He could feel himself beginning to loosen up and calm down almost immediately. He went for another sip. "So, you think there's any way to turn me back to normal?" he asked. "You're better with this supernatural mumbo jumbo than I am, anyway."
The Prime-Zoner scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I hate to say Chaos Emeralds, but... They are kind of my go-to fix-all, ya know? Unless defeating the Time Eater will undo this, which is totally possible, too. Do you…" He searched for the right words, not knowing what to say. "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked tentatively. Zonic looked down at the brown liquid in his mug unsurely.
"I… I don't know. Right now, 'okay' feels a long way off. I need to get used to this younger body, and relearn my limitations. I don't know a thing about myself anymore. Not to mention my hormones are probably going crazy, and I'm probably going to get babied by the others whether I like it or not, and… we don't even know if fixing the time stream will get me back to normal." His voice faded near the end, turning into a whimper. He didn't like the idea of being stuck like this, and having to grow up all over again. He brought his knees up to his chest and gripped his mug with both hands.
"How old do you think you are right now, anyway?" Sonic asked.
"Hmm... Good question," the kid shrugged. "Um, I think I have an idea. Can you grab my helmet and gauntlets? They're on the coffee table inside…" His eyes lingered on the spot in the living room. Sonic nodded, getting up from the table and going to fetch the gear. The swiftly picked them up and brought them over. "Okay, now put 'em on. They… won't really fit me now, will they?" he said, a sort of sadness tinging his voice.
Sonic hesitated, holding the helmet in both hands. He didn't want to put the helmet on. He felt like it was Zonic's, and Zonic's alone, even if, technically, he and Zonic were the same person. It was almost like being told to hold his gun. Nevertheless, he slipped the helmet onto his head, his quills barely fitting inside the cramped space. The computer display in the visor flashed to life, providing him with instant information about his surrounding area, the very dimension he was in, and the No Zone. "Whoa. This thing is pretty neat," he said under his breath. He slipped the chunky gauntlets on over his bare wrists, and information on his vitals popped up on the corner of the visor's display. "Really neat," he corrected himself.
"Alright, good," Zonic nodded. "Now, just… uh, point one of the gauntlets at me and say 'bioscan.'"
"Um, okay…" the speedster complied, pointing his arm at Zonic as instructed. "Bioscan," he said. Some device in the gauntlet whirred to life, and from a small hole shot a wide beam of red light. The long, skinny beam scanned from top to bottom, focusing on Zonic. The younger hedgehog shut his eyes when the bright light passed over his face, but aside from that, the scanning process was quick and painless. When it was done, the information processed for a split second before the results of the scan came up on the visor. "Oh, and this thing'll tell us exactly how old you are…?"
"Yeah, it should," Z said as Sonic skimmed through the slew of information. "Of course, it might just tell you that I'm twenty anyway, but I figured its worth a shot."
"Yup. Alright, let's see… Oh," the speedster said, sounding disappointed. He removed the helmet and gauntlets and placed them aside on the kitchen table. Zonic looked at him expectantly, and he looked back down at his hot chocolate sitting in front of him. The marshmallows had by now melted all into one giant, gooey lump. "You're about thirteen years old," he said finally.
"Yeah, that… that sounds about right. Right around thirteen… So I'm a little older than your younger self, huh?"
"Yeah. I mean, we did have that growth spurt right around… your age… It makes sense that you're almost the same age as him but you're taller, you know?"
"Right…" Zonic drifted off into thought for a few seconds. "I wonder if something like this is happening to anyone else? Maybe there are people all over the multiverse right now, in all different Zones, suddenly aging or de-aging like this... Sonic, what if I'm not done getting younger? What if I regress back into an infant? Wh-what if I... I keep on getting younger and younger until there's nothing left of me? I mean, I've already regressed back by, what, seven years? And it's only been a couple of hours! Oh Chaos, what if-"
"Hey, hey! Z. Calm down, okay?" Sonic said calmly, trying to get his friend to relax. "You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you keep thinking things like that. Just breathe." Seeing the No-Zoner freak out like this was a first. He was usually calm and collected about everything, skilled at hiding his emotions. The mask he normally wore had cracked.
"Y-yeah... Yeah, you're right," Zonic stammered, closing his eyes and setting down his cocoa. He wrapped his arms around his knees. "But... you don't think I'm going to keep getting younger, do you?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know." Sonic admitted. "I know that if you DO keep de-aging, that I'm gonna be right here for you if you need me. And I know that if anyone can handle something like this, it's you. And I'm not just saying that- out of everyone on this team, you're probably the most qualified to deal with this sort of stuff."
"Are you kidding?" Zonic scoffed. "I have the least experience with time travel and random magical transformations out of all of us. Not to mention the fact that I was the least teenagery teenager ever. I became a Zone Cop when I was pretty young, and I had to grow up fast after that."
"Dude, I don't act like I'm twenty. Little-me doesn't act like he's twelve! Don't worry about your age, just worry about you." Sonic took a swig of hot chocolate, drinking about half of what was left in one gulp. Zonic chuckled.
"Wow, could you be any more of a cheeseball?" he asked, raising an eyeridge. He smiled slightly, finally loosening up.
"Hey, my speeches may be cheesy, but they work."
"Oh yeah, just like- what was it that one time, the 'superpower of teamwork?'"
"Wh- hey! You weren't even there for that!" Sonic laughed loudly.
"Doesn't mean I didn't see it! Monitors, watching everything, kind of my job? Remember? I got that whole thing burned onto a DVD for my viewing pleasure."
"Yeah, well, let's see you come up with an inspiring speech off the top of your head right before you go battle one of your worst enemies!" Sonic grinned.
"Hey!" a harsh whisper came from the loft upstairs. It was Scourge. "Will you two shut up?! Some of us are trying to experience this new phenomenon called SLEEP. Maybe you should try it!"
"Aw, did we interwupt baby's beauty sweep?" Sonic called back upstairs with a goofy smile on his face. Scourge muttered something- probably a string of curses, given how he was grumbling- before tromping off back to bed. Sonic half-shrugged. "S'pose we'd ought to quiet down then," he said, turning to Zonic. The Zone Cop didn't look at him, however. He was staring up at the ceiling.
"Man... Scourge is gonna have a field day with this. His parole officer is suddenly thirteen again... Honestly, I'm barely a year older than your past-self. I'm closer in age to him than I am to you. I'm practically the same age as Tails...!"
"Just don't start freaking yourself out about this," Sonic reminded him. "You'll be fine if you stay chill about this whole mess."
"I know, I just- I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, y'know? Stuff like this doesn't happen every day." He brought his mug of cocoa up to his lips, but stopped before he took a sip. The ceramic mug felt so big in his small hands. Everything's proportions seemed off, like he was in some sort of funhouse or kiddie playground. It reminded him of Zector's favorite coffee mug, which was way too big for himself or Zespio to drink out of. "Gods, what am I going to tell the others... 'Hey Tails! Guess who's your age now?' Or better yet, 'Hey Zector and Zespio, now you have to take orders from a kid who should be in middle school right about now!' Yeah, this should be fun."
"Hey, I got your back. Don't sweat it, dude," Sonic said, finishing off his hot chocolate. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, if you're sure you're going to be okay, I'm gonna run a quick check on the computer downstairs, see if it's found any more Emeralds yet. You should probably go to bed. You... I mean, you're a kid now, after all. You need your sleep," he said modestly.
Zonic gently sipped his cocoa and sighed. "You're probably right... Though if I manage to get any sleep tonight, it'll be a miracle." He turned his hand over and looked at it. It wasn't just small. It was softer, newer, missing so many of the calluses and scars that had once dotted its landscape. This hand, which had once been his own, just… wasn't him anymore. He wondered how anyone could sleep after just waking up in a body seven years younger than what they were used to.
Sonic stood up and collected his own empty mug. "Well, you should at least try and get some shut eye. After Tails and lil' Me get back from Metal Harbor, we need to hurry up and find the sixth and seventh Emeralds. I don't think I need to tell you that we're running out of time?" He flashed a hopeful half-grin. His optimistic expression didn't last long though. As if on cue, he felt intense heat suddenly burst through his torso, and he didn't think it was the hot chocolate. The mug dropped from his hand, the ceramic shattering upon impact with the floor. His lungs jerked, causing him to take a sharp breath. He doubled over, trying to contain the fire inside. His scar had been at a dull ache all night, but why did it suddenly feel like something was trying to tear his chest in half?
Zonic jumped out of his chair with a start. What was happening? He knew that his Prime-self had sustained some injuries in the past few days, but this was looking more like a full-blown heart attack than a couple of bruised ribs. He hurried to the older hedgehog's side and placed his arm around him, keeping him from collapsing entirely. He almost had to pull away- Sonic's body was painfully hot. A jagged purple glow seemed to be emanating from his chest, shining through the bandages that he still wore. And was it... getting bigger?
Sonic clenched his eyes shut and clenched his teeth together to keep from yelling out in pain. Why was his scar acting up all of a sudden? Just what exactly WAS this injury, anyway? He squeezed his fists until his knuckles were white. It felt like his scar was cutting into him, like someone had taken a hot blade to the very edge of the gash and was widening it while simultaneously taking a hammer to his ribcage. The searing feeling snaked steadily up his chest, trailing up one side of his neck, even intruding into his muzzle a bit, and finally going over his lips and stopping an inch above the corner of his mouth.
If Zonic hadn't been there supporting his weight, the hero of Mobius would have fallen over without question. His body was trembling, his knees buckled, and he felt as if every drop of energy had been sucked from his body. The No-Zoner eased him back into his chair just as the burning pain started to ease a little bit. Sonic relaxed his tight jaw and fists, but only slightly.
"Okay," Zonic breathed, clearly frazzled. "What the hell was that?" Sonic groaned in response, still curled up over his chest. The Zone Cop frowned, biting his lip. Sonic's scar had grown- instead of being merely confined to his chest, it now reached into his muzzle, and in the opposite direction, stretched a little bit down his right thigh. "What the hell..."
"This scar..." Sonic said through his teeth. "It grows. It's been happening steadily, and it only really hurts when I exert myself or… or use Chaos Control…" he replied, panting.
"You mean this has happened before? Thanks for telling me."
"It never came up!" Sonic argued. "A lot has been going on, cut me some slack," he breathed heavily.
"You're okay, though? You're not gonna, like, die right now or something?"
"I don't think so."
The teenager shook his head and sighed. "We're just a couple of wrecks, huh?" He crouched down and started picking up pieces of the broken mug off the floor.
"Got that right..." the older hedgehog's lids dropped, and he rubbed his eyes. "Great, NOW I'm tired..."
"Go to sleep then. I'll finish cleaning up here, don't worry about it," Zonic shrugged. He didn't mind cleaning up the kitchen alone; he needed time to himself to think.
"Alright, if you insist," Sonic said, pushing himself to his feet. He limped gently towards the living room, favoring his left leg- the leg his scar wasn't ripping into. He stopped at the door, and leaned against the doorframe. "You're gonna be fine, Z. I promise." He smiled tiredly before stumbling into the living room and slumping back up the stairs, disappearing from view. Zonic slowly continued picking up all the big chunks of ceramic off the floor, deciding to vacuum up the rest in the morning.
'I still can't believe that this is all really happening,' he thought. 'And it's not just that I'm thirteen. Sonic and his weird magic scar thing… What else isn't he telling us? Having an injury that glows in the dark is pretty important information in my book. And Scourge… Something was DEFINITELY bothering him when we were in Twinkle Park, with all those mirrors. What the heck was that all about?' He threw the ceramic shards into the trash and grimaced. He didn't like being left out of the loop like this. He knew from experience that teams with secrets were not successful. He was starting to wonder if this entire fiasco was just a dream. Maybe he would wake up in the morning with his body back to normal, Scourge still in prison, and with Mobius Prime completely stable.
Having tidied up the kitchen floor to the best of his ability, Zonic placed the remaining mug in the sink (someone else could clean it up later, he really didn't care at the moment), turned out the light, and went back into the living room. He slumped back onto the couch, exhausted and miserable. 'I'm thirteen years old.' The thought raced through his head on repeat as he laid down and dragged the blanket over on top of him. 'This isn't a bad dream. This isn't something that can be undone at the drop of a hat. I'm thirteen years old, and I'm gonna be stuck this way for a while.' It wasn't easy or fun to think about. He had already been doubting his abilities in terms of timeline-saving, but now… He had no idea what was going to happen now. Everything was up in the air. Zonic didn't know what he was going to do, or how the others were going to react.
He was unable to sleep, his mind was running through every possible way in which his friends would respond to his sudden drop in age. And he found himself hoping that Sonic was right, that everything would be okay. Somehow, though, that idea seemed a little too good to be true.
As much as he wanted to stay awake, he felt himself starting to go under. Sleep meant the morning would come faster, too fast, and that meant he would have to confront Scourge and Lil' T. It also meant that he might start getting younger again… but he just couldn't keep his eyes open. Sonic had made a good point before- he was young, and he needed his sleep. He was starting to drift into slumber, and there wasn't much he could do to stop it. Eventually, he gave in, and allowed himself to fall into a dreamless sleep.
Notes: Wow! Betcha didn't see that coming, huh? This won't turn into one of those fics where a character turns into a baby and the others have to take care of them while learning about the true meaning of friendship or whatever. Zonic still knows he's twenty on the inside, and he makes sure everyone else knows it ;) He's just going to be out of his comfort zone for a while- just like our other hedgehogs! Now everyone ('cept Tails) has their own conflicts to deal with, so let's see just how they continue working together. Hopefully the next chapter won't take two months to update =A= Of course, you can always follow this story to know when it updates! And maybe leave a review while you're at it. Thanks guys, see you next time!