Notes: Phew! Sorry it's been... what, two months since I last updated this story? Whoops! This chapter was tough, since I wrote a lot of it a year or two ago, and then I had to fill in the blanks, and then I had to rewrite stuff and stitch different things together, and... ugh. It was a headache getting it done, but I think I like it. I hope you guys do, too!
The next morning was not an easy one for everyone at the workshop. The good news was that Scourge hadn't run off in the middle of the night, and better yet, the Chaos Emerald he had taken up to bed with him had worked wonders on his concussion. In what seemed like no time, he was back to his normal, crabby self. He was a tad less hostile than usual, though; he was in a "good" mood now that his headache had gone away. As an added bonus, the snow seemed to have finally stopped, as the Mystic Ruins got catapulted into a sudden spring. But unfortunately, that was where the good news ended.
The older Tails and younger Sonic still hadn't returned from Metal Harbor, which was a cause for concern. The Emerald radar in the basement hadn't found either of the remaining two Emeralds, and they were starting to run out of time. Sonic's scar was larger than ever before, and now virtually impossible to cover up with bandages. He reluctantly showed it to Scourge and Lil' T when they both woke up, and needless to say, neither were thrilled by it. The fox kit found it extremely unsettling, both in its increasing size and the negative vibes that seemed to be coming off it. Scourge, at face value at least, seemed unimpressed and uninterested, stating that it was merely a cheap knock-off of his own scars, and that Sonic should stop "copying him and cramping his style."
But the worst news of the morning had to be what happened to Zonic. Everyone was down in the living room when the sleeping hedgehog on the couch began to stir. He was about to pull the blankets off from on top of himself when he heard the others' voices in the room.
"Hey, looks like he's waking up," Tails observed. Scourge scoffed.
"'Bout time. I always pegged the guy for more of the drill sergeant type, y'know? Wake up at the crack of dawn, drop and give me fifty pushups kind of guy."
The small fox giggled at that, while Zonic remained hidden under the cover of the blanket. 'Crap,' he thought, a weight forming in his chest. 'Why does everyone have to be in the living room right now? I don't want them to see me like this!' He was not looking forward to this, not one bit. He knew that he should just get it over with, but he was having a hard time building up the courage to move just a muscle.
"Come on guys," Sonic said, sounding unamused. "Lay off, the dude had a rough night."
"He seemed okay enough to have a conversation with you on full volume," the green hedgehog grumbled, clearly still annoyed about having been woken up the night prior by the noises in the kitchen. "He couldn't have been feeling THAT bad,"
Zonic gritted his teeth angrily. Something in Scourge's tone pissed him off, like he was insinuating that the green hedgehog had been the one to have a rougher night. If he was able to call what happened to Zonic 'not that bad...'
"Not that bad?" the No-Zoner grunted, feeling anger rise up inside of him. He sat up and pulled the blanket shielding him off. "Yeah, does this look not that bad to you?!" he demanded, glaring daggers at Scourge. Everyone went silent and wide-eyed at seeing his younger face and hearing his higher voice; even Sonic, who was with him after he discovered that he was a teenager once more, still wasn't used to it. Seeing Zonic like that in the daytime made it seem far more real.
The room was dead silent for almost a minute, no one moving an inch. "Alright," Scourge breathed, breaking the quiet, "I'll give you that one. Rough night. What the hell happened? Why're you a shrimp?!"
The thirteen-year-old hedgehog crossed his legs so he was sitting pretzel style, and slouched down so he sort of curled in on himself. He didn't like being stared at, like he was some sort of zoo animal or freaky lab experiment. Maybe bursting out with impulsive rage wasn't the best idea. "I wish I knew," he said quietly, his very un-Zonic voice seeming to have an even larger impact now. "I just woke up like this in the middle of the night. I don't know why." His shoulders drooped, and his narrowed eyes failed to meet any of the others'. Today was definitely one of those days where he should have just stayed in bed.
"Well, ain't that just dandy. My parole officer's some scrawny little kid," Scourge said. A smile slowly broke onto his face as he realized this. "What are you going to do to me now if I don't follow your precious rules? Threaten to call mommy on me? Start crying until I play nice? Ahahaha!" he laughed, doubling over. Zonic fumed, his face turning red.
"Sh-shut up!" he yelled, the higher pitch of his voice sending the older hedgehog into a fit of hysterics.
"Knock it off, Scourge," Sonic frowned. "It's not funny." He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Scourge, in case his anti-self tried anything while Zonic was like this.
"Are you kidding? This is great! The guy who's supposed to be making sure I don't get into trouble is a kid! I used to steal lunch money from wimps like him!" He began howling again, only serving to make Zonic more and more miserable by the second. The cop decided he liked Scourge better when he had a concussion.
Tails, from his perch on Sonic's lap, glanced between the green hedgehog and the smaller blue one, whose face was now a bright red. The young fox hopped down to the ground and walked across the room to the couch, where he climbed up next to Zonic. Standing next to the teenager, they were almost the same height.
"Wow," the child said, "you are real little now."
"Not helping." Zonic crossed his arms and turned his head away from the fox, glaring at Scourge instead.
"Bein' little's not so bad, though," Lil' T smiled. "I mean, me an' Sonic are both little, and we've saved the world a bunch of times! There's still lots of stuff you can do if you're little. Scourge is just bein' mean." He patted the sulky teen on the back, trying his best to be comforting.
"No, Scourge is being right," Zonic admitted with a scowl. This actually got the green hog in question to stop laughing, at least for a second. "All I was able to do normally was fire a gun," the cop continued, "and now all that muscle memory is gone. What can I do now that's useful?"
"I don't know," Sonic shrugged simply. "I don't know what you were capable of when you were thirteen. But you did get that Chaos Emerald yesterday, and that's nothing to laugh at," he smiled.
Zonic blinked. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess you're right," he said with a bit more confidence. Not only did he get the Emerald, but he beat Scourge to it. He didn't even have any super speed or Chaos powers at his disposal. Even if he was physically younger, he was still capable.
Scourge stopped laughing entirely and scoffed instead. "Are you kidding me?" he said, rolling his eyes. "It was a fluke, you got lucky. If I hadn't gotten stuck in that damn mirror maze…"
"Hey, you're the one who decided to make a bet out of it," Zonic smirked. At least he could still rub this in the green one's face. Scourge groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. He'd completely forgotten that he'd issued the challenge to race to the Emerald, and then lost. Embarassing. And if that wasn't humiliating enough, the terms of the bet itself…
"A bet?" Sonic cracked a grin, leaning forward in his seat. This was getting interesting. "What kind of bet?"
"The kind that Scourge lost. Now, he gets to spend the day with this lil' guy here," Zonic said, wrapping an arm around Tails' shoulders. "A playdate."
"But he was just bein' mean! I don't wanna play with him," the fox pouted and crossed his thin arms across his chest.
"He just likes giving me a hard time, he won't be mean to you," Zonic said, glaring sideways at Scourge. "As you can clearly see, the guy doesn't know how to have fun. I need you to show him a thing or two. Can you do that for me?"
Lil' T screwed up his features to make a show of thinking hard about this decision. After a few seconds of tapping his finger to his chin, he asked, "What's in it for me?" Both the blue hedgehogs got a laugh out of that, while Scourge wondered how he got himself into this mess.
"I'll throw in some mint candies for you," Zonic offered.
"Sold," the kid nodded in satisfaction. "... after breakfast, though. I'm hungry."
Scourge huffed with relief. If he played this right and dragged out breakfast, he could easily get an hour of peace and quiet before he was forced into babysitting. He had a feeling he was going to need a big cup of coffee if he wanted to get through the day in one piece. Part of him wondered if he should just ask to go back to Zone Jail. That abuse, he was used to. This was just going to be degrading.
Sonic, on the other hand, was rather enjoying seeing his evil twin's look of sheer dread. Now Lil' T would be kept busy until the older Tails and the younger Sonic got back from their Emerald hunt, and everyone could get a good laugh out of it. And besides, Scourge needed someone to keep him in line, and if that someone could be a little kid, well then that would kill two birds with one stone.
Grrrwwlll. Zonic's stomach suddenly emitted an ungodly sound which caught the attention of everyone in the room. "So I think there's a small chance," he said as the gurgling stopped, "that I might be a tiny bit hungry as well."
Scourge laughed. "Yeah, no shit! I heard that from over here," he said. Tails, shocked, flew over and kicked him in the shin. The hedgehog yelped. "Yow! What was that for?!"
"You said a bad word! Don't do that!" the kid shouted, sticking his lower lip out. "Looks like I gotta teach you how to have fun the right way, you're terrible."
"You got that right," the green hog said sourly, sticking his tongue out at the child.
"Play nice, you two," Sonic said, standing up and lifting lil' T up off the floor. "C'mon mister, let's get some food into ya." He set the fox down on top of his shoulders and gave the kid a ride to the kitchen, Zonic following close behind. Scourge growled. Today wasn't going to be a good day.
ooo
The terms of the bet were discussed at length after breakfast, once Lil' T had left the room to explore the newly-thawed Mystic Ruins. After a short conversation concerning safety, Sonic and Zonic quickly agreed that Scourge should wear the inhibitor collar while he had his 'playdate' with Tails, just in case.
"What!?" the green one yelped. "Are you guys freakin' serious? No way in hell am I puttin' that thing back on!"
"We could always come up with another punishment for you," Sonic shrugged. "We could make you wax your leg. Maybe drink a blenderized happy meal or something?"
"Considering both of those sound potentially deadly, I think I'll pass," Scourge said, raising an eyeridge. "So why do I gotta wear the damn collar, anyway? If you guys don't trust me, why the hell did you ask me to tag along in the first place?"
"It's not like we had any other options!" Sonic shouted, pounding his fist on the table. The other two jumped, stunned into silence. The blue blur took a shaky breath and ran his fingers through his quills. "Sorry. Just wear the stupid collar, will you? It's not gonna kill you."
"Alright, sure. Jeez. I was just gonna ask the kid if he wanted to play video games or somethin'," Scourge said, standing up. Zonic unhooked the collar from his belt and stiffly tossed it to him. He caught it and gulped, eyeing the golden circlet. He quickly snapped it onto his neck before he could think about what he was doing. It closed around his throat with a click, and he gasped sharply as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him. Chaos he hated that thing. Why was he agreeing to do this again? He uncomfortably breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. Even taking a deep breath was harder with the collar on; it felt like he was somewhere high up, or like the air was incredibly humid and didn't want to enter his lungs. "Happy?" he wheezed, clearing his throat. Sonic said nothing, he just got up and walked grumpily out of the room. Scourge cocked an eyeridge. "What's his deal?" he asked the teenager sitting across from him.
"Dunno," Zonic half-shrugged. Sonic seemed to be totally on-board with the idea at first, but he just sort of snapped. Something was definitely bugging him. What was going on? "Maybe he's pissed that he needs our help at all. He feels like he should be able to handle this on his own."
"Oh no, we bruised his precious ego," Scourge rolled his eyes. "If he seriously thinks he can save all of time by himself, he's got another thing coming. Dude needs to take a load off and relax while we can. There's not much we can do right now except wait for Tails and Sonic Jr. to come back, anyway."
"Maybe that's why Sonic's in such a sour mood," Zonic glanced at the direction Mobius' hero walked off in. He'd gone through the living room and presumably up the stairs to his room. "We haven't heard anything from the others."
"Well, that solves that mystery," the green hedgehog yawned, cracking his back. He peered at the fox kit playing in the field outside. He was chasing a butterfly, and seemed to be having a great time.
"He's waaii-ting," Zonic sang, enjoying every second of grating on Scourge's nerves. The Moebian growled, grating his sharp teeth. He was not looking forward to this. The King of Moebius spending time with a happy-go-lucky little kid? It sounded like a bad joke. But he wasn't going to let Zonic enjoy himself too much with this.
Scourge huffed, walking out the back door and into the warm sunshine. 'I can't believe I'm about to do this.' He jumped off the porch and started walking through the tall grass covering the plateau. 'Why the fuck am I doing this.' He looked around. "Hey kid," he said as he spied the small fox.
The child poked his head up out of the grass a few meters away. His expression soured as he saw who it was. "Oh, it's you," he said with a pout. Apparently Tails was still mad at him because he was laughing at Zonic earlier. Great.
"Get off my case, I told Officer Pipsqueak I was sorry," the hedgehog crossed his arms. It was a lie, but Zonic didn't seem to be mad at him anymore either way, so it really didn't matter. Tails' face immediately lit up.
"You did? Good!" he exclaimed, much more like his usual, chipper self. "What's up?"
"Well," Scourge scratched the inside of his ear, sounding completely bored. "Chrome Dome thinks it's time for us to… hang out." He forced those last two words out of his throat, and they left a bad taste in his mouth. Ugh.
"Really?" Lil' T said excitedly, his eyes shining bright. The hedgehog groaned, his face resting in his palm.
"Yeah, really."
"Awright, cool!" the kid cheered, jumping up and wrapping his arms around Scourge's torso.
"Okay, first rule of Playtime with Scourge," the hog grunted, feeling a vein in his forehead starting to bulge. "Personal. Space. Learn it." The fox quickly let go and took a step back, though his smile didn't diminish.
"Question," Tails said.
"Yes?"
"Does that rule apply to playing tag?"
Scourge blinked. "Um, I guess not-"
"Good! You're it!" Tails laughed, slapping Scourge playfully on the arm before he ran off. He took off, spinning his twin namesakes behind him to boost his speed and vanishing within the overgrown grass.
Scourge smirked, ready for an excuse to run and chase someone, before he remembered the collar locked around his neck. "Oh, dammit," he growled under his breath. "Kid, wait up, will ya?!" He started running after Lil' T, extremely self-concious of how slow he was. He felt like Zonic; grumpy and slow as molasses. This was going to be a long playdate.
ooo
Zonic looked up at the door in front of him. He was on the second floor of the workshop, outside of Sonic's bedroom, where the older blue hedgehog had retreated not too long ago. He'd been acting weird that morning, and with Scourge being kept busy with Lil' T, the No-Zoner decided to find out why. "Hey, Sonic, you in there?" he said, rapping on the wood door with his knuckles.
The door swung open without much hesitation. "What's up?" Sonic poked his head out the door, looking completely fine.
Zonic decided not to beat around the bush. "Are you okay?" he asked, not entirely sure how the speedster would answer. He had always heard that Sonic Prime had been one to bottle everything up and not discuss to any negative feelings, so he wasn't expecting the guy to say much.
Surprisingly, Sonic blinked and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "... Depends on what version of 'okay' we're using," he said, scratching the back of his head. He nodded for Zonic to come in, and sat down on the foot of his bed.
"The kind of okay where you're not suddenly snapping at people," the Zone Cop said, eyeing him carefully. "… Look, if you're worried about the other Sonic and Tails, I'm sure they're just fine. Just because they're young doesn't mean they're not capable."
"I know! I know. But it's been a whole day. It should not be taking them this long."
"Do you want to go look for them?"
"And leave Scourge without proper adult supervision? Even with the inhibitor collar on, I don't know if I trust him enough to leave him alone in my house. No, I think I'll just wait it out for now. You're probably right, they're totally fine. I just get worried, what with the flow of time breaking and whatnot." Sonic exhaled heavily and laid back on his bed, his legs dangling off the side. "Man, I wish I could just go on a run to relax a little bit. But running for too long actually hurts now. For some reason… my body's having a hard time taking it." He grimaced and gently kicked his legs back and forth. "I mean, I know you're not fast and all, so I don't know if you'll really get it, but… running just feels good. It's who I am, and I feel like I'm losing it, almost."
"Trust me," Zonic said, hopping up to take a seat on the bed next to him, "I know how you feel."
"What?" Sonic sat up a little bit, propping himself up on his elbows. "What do you mean?"
Zonic crossed his legs at the ankles and looked down at the floor. "Promise you won't make a huge fuss about it," he said after some thought.
"Do I ever?" Sonic smirked. "Okay, promise."
"Okay." The smaller hedgehog took a deep breath. He followed Scourge's lead from earlier with the inhibitor collar, and just decided to get this over with as fast as possible. "When I was thirteen, I lost my speed."
"Wait, so you mean… you were fast before? You could run?!" Sonic gasped. He couldn't believe it.
Zonic scratched behind his ear uncomfortably. "Yeah, that's what losing something means. For reasons that should be obvious to you, this isn't really a topic I enjoy discussing all that much, y'know?" He coughed. "But I know how good it feels to run, and how shitty it feels when you can't."
"I… I'm sorry, dude. I didn't know," the older blue said sheepishly. "That… wow, that must've really been rough. I never even thought about losing my speed permanently... Sorry." He really didn't know what else he could say. Zonic didn't want to talk about it, and Sonic didn't even want to think about it. Losing his speed for good was something that happened only in his nightmares, but the No-Zoner had experienced it first hand. He couldn't imagine what it must've been like, to lose something that was such a big part of who he was. Zonic's serious and more grumpy disposition definitely made a lot more sense now. "How did that even happen? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."
"It was Doctor Nega," Zonic said simply. "You know, the guy who's been trying to take over the No Zone since forever. Don't worry, I didn't lose it because I hurt myself, and it didn't happen naturally. A version of you losing his speed is insanely rare, you have nothing to worry about."
Sonic sighed in relief. "Good to know," he muttered to himself. He sat upright and crossed his legs pretzel-style on the bed. "Wait, so you could still run when you were thirteen?"
"L-look, I had my speed back then, sure, but I was thirteen when I lost it, too. There's no way to know for sure if I can really run or not unless I go for a run, y'know? And my hopes aren't particularly high," he said glumly. "I was barely thirteen when I lost it, only a few months had passed since my birthday. The chances of me being the right age-"
"But it's still worth a shot!" Sonic said, shooting up. "Dude, if there's a chance you can run, you should take it! Why haven't you tried yet?"
"I don't want to talk about it, okay?! It's my business!" Z said, jumping to his feet and stumbling for a second on his pants, which were way too long on him. He turned away from Sonic and grimaced. He knew that if he just tried running, he'd know right away if he could or not. He wanted so badly to be able to run again, to feel the wind whipping through his quills and the rhythm of his feet on the ground. He wanted to be able to do something, to be useful. But if he was unable to run… To be so close and just miss it… He didn't know if he would be able to take that on top of everything else that had happened so far. He'd been through plenty of ordeals for one day, he didn't need to add that on top of it all.
'If this body isn't young enough for me to still have my speed… I'll be completely useless. I'll be useless all over again,' he thought grimly. 'Even past-Tails is more helpful in the field than I am if I can't run.' His quills drooped, and his muscles in his gut stiffened. He felt nauseous. All he had to do was take a few steps, run for a split second to see if he could feel it in his legs. A few seconds could lead to either blissful excitement or bitter defeat. He wanted to find out so badly, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Like his whole body was paralyzed.
"You know," Sonic started, grabbing the teen's attention, "it's okay if you're scared. You don't want to be let down. That's fine." Zonic clenched his fists and looked to the floor, but didn't respond. "The problem is, if you never try, you're just automatically doomed to never run again. However low your chances are of being able to run, by not trying, you lower it to 0%. I think you owe it to yourself to give it a shot."
The No-Zoner looked down at his feet. As always, his Prime Zone counterpart seemed to have a point. He supposed he couldn't give up before he ever started trying, could he? He wiggled his toes, noticing that his small feet were uncovered and unprotected. "Well, I'm not going to be running very far with no shoes on," he said, turning back to face Sonic. "What am I supposed to do? My boots are several sizes too big, y'know. And I don't suppose you'd happen to have a pair of size 5's just lying around," the Zone Cop said, his hands on his hips.
Sonic sighed. "Yeah, you're right," he said. He smiled. "I do have a pair of size 6's though. Don't move!" He shot up from his bed and zipped to the closet, which he began frantically rummaging through. Zonic, dumbfounded, watched him go through his things and toss aside old jackets and various pairs of shoes. The Zone Cop found himself wondering if the older hog was serious, and if he was, why the heck he still had shoes that were that small.
He didn't have time to wonder for long, though, because Sonic quickly emerged from his closet, pair of sneakers in hand. The shoes he held weren't gross or ratty-looking by any means; in fact, they looked like they were well cared for, even though they were obviously too small for their owner's feet. They were a shiny red, with a futuristic design, skinny white straps going across them, green lights in the heels, and flashy metallic arches.
"... SOAP shoes?" Zonic asked skeptically, taking the sneakers from Sonic and looking them over. "Jeez, talk about old school. I can't believe you actually bought into this stupid fad..."
"Says the cop who wears a Christmas-colored uniform," the Prime-Zoner smirked. "And besides, they worked! They make grinding rails a breeze."
"You're such a dork," Zonic laughed as he slipped the shoes onto his feet. They didn't fit him perfectly, but it was a close a fit as he was going to get on such short notice. He did the straps up extra tight to compensate. They were well broken in, and pretty comfortable. He shifted his weight from foot to foot to get a feel for the shoes. "Not bad," he admitted.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Sonic slapped him on the back. "Come on, let's get going. I'm coming with you, there's no way I'm gonna miss your first run in seven years!"
The two left Sonic's room and went downstairs (Sonic slid down the bannister, always one for flair), opened the front door, and stepped outside. Miraculously, the weather in Mystic Ruins was perfect for running. The Ice Age was out, and springtime was in. There was fresh green grass all over the place, most of which needed a trim. Wildflowers dotted the landscape, and a gentle breeze rolled in from the ocean, bathing everything in a relaxing, salty smell.
"Boy, did we luck out with the weather," Zonic said, stepping outside and walking down the couple of front steps.
Sonic laughed with relief. "I'll say! It's a beautiful day. Great running weather! Hey, maybe it's a sign."
Zonic rolled his eyes. "Are we going to try this or not?"
The older one held his hands out, telling him to lead the way. The teenager gulped. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. He couldn't wait, the idea of being able to run again tantalizing. The feel of the wind blowing through his fur and whipping his quills around. The pounding sensation of his feet on the ground and his heart in his chest. The rush of pure adrenaline going through his veins. The feeling of knowing that not even sound was as fast as he was. It was an incredible feeling, one that he had sorely missed.
But he was also worried that he was just a bit too old, and that he would have already lost his speed at this point in his life. Being a kid again was his only shot at being able to run again, and he was terrified at losing that opportunity. He took a deep breath. Well, there was only one way to find out.
He took off running, starting off at an average speed. He accelerated slowly, not used to traveling much faster than that. He found that going faster came easily, and he sped up, grinning. The rhythm of his feet pounding on the grass was familiar and comforting, like an old friend. He sped up further still, the world blurring past him. The air rushed past his face, cascading over his aerodynamic quills. He was doing it. He was actually doing it. He was running. Not the pathetic excuse for a run he'd be doing for so long, not the miserably slow run that would let criminals get away from him. Not the embarrassing so-called run that forced him to use a motorcycle or hovercar to reach any sort of real speed. This was an actual, legitimate, blood-pumping, bliss-inducing run.
"Wooooohooooo!" he cheered, blasting through the ruins at speeds he forgot he could hit. Sonic quickly caught up to him, even with his chest hurting like it was. The Prime-Zoner couldn't help but smile. It wasn't very often that Zonic showed any signs of being happy, but this was certainly an exception. After all, he was doing what he was born to do, what all blue hedgehogs across the multiverse were born to do. The Zone Cop didn't care anymore that he had woken up that morning and discovered that he was suddenly one of the youngest people in the group. He didn't care. Right now, he was happier than he had been in years. He wasn't just happy, he was ecstatic. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed this. He had allowed himself to forget what it was like to just leave life's problems behind and run. He could explore, travel around the globe with nothing but his feet. The amount of freedom he had suddenly found himself with was unbelievable. The possibilities were endless.
Sonic suddenly broke off, skidding to a halt while Zonic kept on going. The teen glanced back at him, wondering why he stopped. Sonic seemed to be trying to get his attention, but he couldn't hear what he was yelling. By the time he turned his head back around to face the front, it was too late. He had unknowingly ran off the side of a cliff, and was now careening towards the surface of a small lake. "Oh, shi-"
Splash! The sudden feeling of cold water on his skin stung, and water was already rushing into his mouth and nose. The impact with the surface of the lake had spun the hedgehog around and made him dizzy, and he couldn't make out which way was up. He closed his eyes to try and stop the world from spinning around him and kept still, trying not to spend any energy. He could hold his breath longer if he didn't move much. 'Focus, Zonic. Just find the surface, then you can get outta this lake!' he thought. He opened his eyes and expelled a short burst of air from his nose, letting the bubbles cascade up to the surface. 'Bingo.'
Meanwhile, on dry land, Sonic hopped down the cliff and rushed to the water's edge. "Zonic!" he shouted, his breathing heavy- almost wheezing. He hated being injured like this. "Zonic, can you hear me?... Aw jeez, what am I supposed to do? I'm no lifeguard!" he gasped. He didn't even want to be anywhere near the lake, forget about diving in and swimming in it. He could see air bubbling up from under the surface, but the No-Zoner was nowhere to be found. He immediately feared the worst.
Just then, Zonic exploded through the lake's surface, coughing and spitting out water that had found its way into his respiratory system. He forced fresh air into his lungs, taking deep breaths in between his coughs.
"There you are!" Sonic exclaimed from the shore. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Since when can you swim?!"
"Since I was a kid!" the teenager yelled back before he began swimming his way back to shore. It wasn't a long way, so he was soon able to stand up in the shallow water. "I wouldn't have anything more substantial than a desk job if I couldn't swim, you know," he smiled.
"Well, you are just full of surprises today, aren't you?"
"The surprise dip is something I could have done without."
"I tried to warn you!"
"Warn louder next time!" Zonic laughed, splashing water at his double. He crawled out of the lake, water dripping off him. His clothes, sopping wet, looked ridiculously baggy hanging from his small frame. His long quills were weighed down with water, which he did his best to wring out. The sneakers that Sonic had loaned him squished as he walked away from the body of water. "At least it's warm out so I can dry off," he said. He pulled his t-shirt off, yanking the sopping wet cloth over his head.
All of a sudden, he felt something jerk him to the side. He stumbled sideways, but didn't fall. "What was that?" he muttered. He jerked again. It felt like gravity was starting to pull from the side rather than from below.
Zonic glanced at the silver band around his wrist. It was dented in places, and sparking. 'Uh-oh.'
All at once, his stabilizer gave out, and he fell to the cliff face a few feet away. He collided with the rock with a thud. "Ugh… Dammit," he groaned. He yanked the metal bracelet off his wrist and inspected it. The electronics inside were fizzling dangerously. He huffed. So much for being able to run again. It was hard enough just to walk sideways sometimes.
"What the- what happened?" Sonic asked as Zonic stood up, feet planted firmly on the cliff wall. He was back to standing sideways.
"Spatial Stabilizers aren't exactly waterproof," he grunted. "That, coupled with the force of the impact when I hit the lake must have caused it to bust."
"At least it had the courtesy to wait until you were on solid ground," the older hedgehog pointed out with a grin. "'Sides, I kinda missed seeing you sideways. It's more 'you.'"
Zonic punched him in the arm. "Oh, shut up. Seriously though, I hate staying sideways for extended periods of time. It's disorienting, even with my training."
"Well then, what are we gonna do? Tails isn't here, so he can't fix that thing up for you."
"I guess I'll have to go get another one from No-Zone." Zonic sighed. Going back to his home Zone would probably mean his friends and co-workers finding out about his little age problem. And he was really hoping that no one else would have to find out about it. "Well, a hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do, I guess."
"I hear ya," Sonic nodded. "I'd probably only slow you down if I tagged along, so I'll meet you back at the workshop. Cool?"
"Sounds like a plan," Zonic said, fiddling with the controls on his- thankfully waterproof- belt. "I'll catch you later." He pressed the button on the center of his belt buckle, and zwoop! He was gone.
ooo
"So, what else are we gonna do today?" the tiny fox asked cheerfully, following the green hedgehog inside with excitement in his step.
Scourge stopped and glared down at his young charge, his eyes like daggers. "We're not doing anything," he spat, still highly annoyed at being forced into playing tag with a tiny fox child who was faster than he was. "I'm gonna open a bag of chips and watch some TV. You are not invited." He opened the pantry to retrieve said bag of chips, and grabbed a soda from the fridge while he was at it. Just as the two-tail was about to reach inside to grab a juice box, he closed the door.
Lil' T pouted. "But Zonic said-"
"Zonic is also now several years younger than me," the hedgehog said, "so I don't give a damn about what he says. He can't do a thing to me." He sat down on the couch in the living room, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. He made a face as Tails hopped up next to him.
"Well what am I supposed to do?" the kid asked. "Big Sonic and Zonic are off doin' stuff in the ruins, and Sonic and older-me aren't back yet from getting the Chaos Emerald. I don't have anybody to play with!"
"Keep yourself busy."
"I'm a little kid stuck in the future. You think letting me 'keep myself busy' with no supervision is a good idea?" Lil' T said, recalling the mac 'n' cheese incident of a few days prior. The kitchen still had a lingering burning scent. He reached for the bag of potato chips that Scourge had opened up for himself, and got his hand slapped away.
"Fine. Just… sit there and don't bother me," the hedgehog grunted. He tuned on the TV and shoved a handful of chips in his mouth, keeping the bag away from Tails.
Every show had been replaced with news reports about the mysterious stopping of time all around the world and the monster attacks that coincided with them. Every once in a while, Scourge flipped the channel to something concerning the multiple Sonics and Tailses currently running around (huh, so people had noticed after all), but there was nothing interesting on. Even so, whenever Tails opened his mouth to speak, he turned the volume on the TV up higher, effectively drowning the kid out. After a while, the fox gave up on trying to get a word in, and he reached over Scourge for the bag of chips. The hedgehog held the chips further out of reach. Tails reached further. Scourge moved the chips farther away. After several minutes of this, Scourge was lying on his side, holding the bag of potato chips as far out as he could. Tails was on top of him, stretched out as far as he could go, fingers barely grazing the bag. The fox was giggling, tousling with the hedgehog, and as much as Scourge tried to be mad at the kit for interrupting his TV time, he couldn't muster up anything more than a mild annoyance. There was nothing on anyway, so at least he wasn't getting distracted from anything good.
"Okay, hey, time out! Your knee is in my ribcage, ow!" the hedgehog said, pushing Tails off of him and back onto the couch. He sat up and breathed, readjusting the sunglasses that rested atop his head.
"It's not my fault you weren't sharing!" Lil' T said with a laugh. He picked up the remote, which had been discarded in their wrestling match, and muted the TV. "That was fun. What now?"
"What now?" Scourge asked incredulously. "Look kid, I for one am completely content to just sit here on this couch and spend the day drinking all of Sonic's soda." He took a sip from the can and burped loudly.
"So then what am I supposed to do?"
"Keep quiet and not bother me, preferably."
"I'm gonna tell Zonic that you're not playin' with me," Tails said, crossing his arms.
"Is that how we're doing this?" Scourge cocked an eyeridge. "Fine! If that's how it's gonna be, fine. I'll play with you. Go look through the video games, pick out a good one."
Lil' T nodded happily and leapt off the couch, diving for the game cabinet. He searched through the shelves of games, looking at the covers of the interesting ones and reading the backs. The kid had to hand it to the older Sonic; the hedgehog had never been terribly neat or tidy, but the games were carefully organized. Then again, maybe the older Tails had been the one to organize the cabinet while Sonic wasn't home. He couldn't tell.
He searched for several minutes, occasionally holding up a game for Scourge to see and give his opinion on. Most of Tails' suggestions were met with scoffs or snorts, and one or two were met with a "Hmm, maybe. Keep looking." After what felt like far too long to the fox, they finally agreed on a game.
"Okay, what about this one?" the two-tail held up the game, starting to get annoyed.
"What game is that?" Scourge squinted, unable to read the small text on the cartridge. He got up off the couch and walked over to Tails, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the game cabinet. The kit held up the game in his hand, which Scourge promptly snatched and inspected. The title of the game was Monster Truck Madness, and it looked to be a game where you just drove a monster truck around and raced and ran over stuff. He handed it back. "Put it in," he said, approving of the choice.
Lil' T got up and excitedly plugged in the game, setting everything up while Scourge watched. The green hedgehog wasn't super eager to play, but any game where he could run stuff over was A-OK in his book. They turned the game on and, since the controllers didn't have long enough cords to reach all the way to the couch, they sat on the floor, looking up at the widescreen TV. After the opening sequence, Scourge selected race mode from the menu (he'd demanded to be player one so he would have control over what was going on, and also because he was once the King of Moebius and he wouldn't let some little kid be player one instead of him). They picked out their monster trucks, Scourge selecting a green one and Tails picking out a yellow, and then the race began. Lil' T held the A button down while the clock counted down for the race to start, so he got a slight boost when he took off from the starting line, allowing him to pull ahead of his opponent easily.
"Whoa, what the heck, how'd you do that?"
"You underestimate my gaming abilities," the young fox said, his tongue sticking out his mouth at an angle. He didn't take his eyes off the tv.
"That's not fair, I want a restart," Scourge said, crossing his legs as he mashed on his controller, desperately trying to catch up. It seemed like Tails somehow knew every single shortcut on the track.
"It totally is fair! Neither of us have played this game before, so it's fair. I'm just better, I guess."
"What do you mean you've never played this before- you're hitting like, every freaking shortcut!"
"I can just see 'em coming," the fox shrugged. "It's not hard if you just look at the map. You can figure out where the shortcuts will probably be."
"I still want a restart, this is ridiculous," the green hedgehog grunted. He crashed into the side of the course, eventually getting stuck and having to go in reverse to get out.
"Why, because a six-year-old is beating you?" Tails giggled. He was already done with his first lap, while Scourge still had a quarter of the way to go. He growled, his sharp teeth showing. No, he couldn't- he couldn't be beaten by a little kid. Even if that little kid was cheating, he had to find a way to win. So he shut his mouth, leaned in forward, put on his game face, and starting mashing at the buttons even harder.
"Third lap!" Tails cheered. "Just one lap left and I win!"
"You know, I haven't exactly played video games in a while! I've been busy taking over my planet and whatnot."
"Yeah, and I was teaching Sonic how to swim."
"What, you don't believe me? I had a crown and everything!"
"Sure, if you say so, 'King Scourge.'"
"Whatever. Look, just because you're winning doesn't mean a thing, got that?"
"Got it."
"Why are you being so smug?"
"Pay attention, you're about to drive into a ditch."
"What? Whoa!" Scourge immediately swerved, narrowly missing the huge hole in the ground that his truck would have plummeted into. "Jeez, that was close."
"You're welcome," Tails said with satisfaction, getting ready to complete his finish lap. Scourge was only halfway through his second.
"Don't get cocky, kid, I can still beat you. Come on, power up, power up, power up..." he muttered, hoping to drive through an item crate soon. Luckily, he did, smashing it open with his huge tires. "Missiles! Oh yeah, baby! Suck nukes!" He fired all three of his homing missiles, which traveled around the track and stopped Tails' monster truck in its tracks, only one hill away from the finish line. While the yellow truck got pummeled with weapons, the green one shot ahead, driving across the finish line just as the yellow started to move again. Scourge stood up, holding his controller in the air like a trophy. "Oh yeah, that's right! All hail the king, baby!" he cheered triumphantly.
"You didn't win," Tails said simply, not taking his eyes away from the screen. "You just finished your second lap."
"I what." Scourge looked at the screen and saw that, while his truck had stopped dead in the middle of the road, Tails' was making a beeline for the finish line to complete his third lap. "What?! That's impossible! I beat you!"
Confetti appeared onscreen as the yellow monster truck crossed the finish line and drove over the green one, crushing it. "Sorry, not really," he said calmly. There was a hint of smug contentment in his voice. "Good race, though!"
"Good race my ass, you cheated in the beginning. I demand a rematch."
"If you insist," Lil' T smiled, starting a new race.
Three races later, and the fox was up 4-0 on the ex-con. Scourge was starting to run out of excuses for his losses, so Tails was just nodding to whatever he said, figuring it would make him feel better. He suggested they try something besides race mode, to which Scourge quickly agreed. They decided on a free-for-all mode, which had a big arena with never-ending amounts of things to smash.
While they were playing, Sonic came back through the door, entering quietly enough so that they didn't notice him.
"Ew, no, girls have cooties," Tails said, sticking his tongue out. The blue hog had apparently walked in on the middle of a conversation. He couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, that's what everyone thinks at first," Scourge said, driving over a pile of sedans. "You're not gonna think that forever, though."
"Yeah right. Girls are gross! They like flowers, and dolls, and-"
"I know plenty of girls who don't like that stuff."
"You come from a different universe, that doesn't count."
"The kid has a point," Sonic said smiling, making his presence known. Scourge nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Jeez! Ever heard of knocking?!" the green one shouted, turning around to face him.
Sonic held his hands out and glanced around. "It's my house," he said simply. He walked over to the couch and sat down. "Looks like you two are having fun," he observed.
"Not really fun when I'm actually playing fair for once, meanwhile shorty over here feels the need to cheat all the time," Scourge said, turning his attention back to the game. While he wasn't focusing, Tails had pulled ahead in terms of things squished. "See? He's a cheater."
"Yeah, well Scourge likes girls!" Lil' T exclaimed.
"Not an insult, Tiny. Nice try, though. Maybe next time." Scourge punched Tails in the arm, nudging him over. "So where's the incredible shrinking Zone Cop?" he asked Sonic.
"He had to go back to No Zone to get a new spatial stabilizer. Guy ran into a lake and shorted it out."
"He can run now?" Scourge asked, raising an eyeridge.
"Yep! At least something good came out of all this. Did little me or Tails report in while we were gone?"
"Nope," Tails' younger self replied. "They've been gone a long time, huh?"
"You said it. Almost a whole day…" Sonic said nervously. "I'm getting pretty worried about them. If Z hadn't just taken off with his fancy teleportation belt, I'd be tempted go and find them."
"I think they're okay," said the small fox. "Sonic knows what he's doing, he wouldn't let the military people at Metal Harbor catch him. And older-me is even better at doing stuff than I am, so I think he's okay too."
Sonic sighed and sat back in the couch, letting his quills relax and splay out as he did so. "I sure hope you're right, kiddo."
ooo
Zonic reappeared ninety degrees away, in a small, dark room. He grinned. Just as planned. If his 'porting was correct (and it always was), he was in a broom closet, not far from the monitor station he shared with Zector and Zespio. He didn't want to pop in there suddenly and scare the crap out of one of his friends, so he made sure not to teleport directly into the monitoring room.
The teenager groaned. He knew hoping for the station to be empty was useless. One of his friends was sure to be on duty, and there would be no sneaking around them. He was going to have to let them in on his 'condition.'
Unless they already knew. Sure, there wasn't a monitor in there that showed Zonic specifically, but surely he would have shown up on Sonic's or Scourge's. But if Zector or Zespio knew, they would have called him by now, without a doubt.
Then again, he hadn't been wearing his helmet since he shrunk a few hat sizes. They could have been ringing him up all day and he wouldn't have noticed.
Well, Zonic figured there was only one way to find out, and that was to go in there and talk to them himself. And pick up a stabilizer or two, of course. So he gently opened the door of the closet and peeked out, making sure no one was in the hallway. Luck was on his side. The corridor was empty, so he stepped out into the fluorescent light and shut the door behind him. He started walking in the direction of his monitoring station; his shoes were still too wet to run in without slipping and sliding all over the place. The squishing sound they made also made it impossible to sneak past anyone he might come across. 'Wonderful.'
He was about to turn a corner when he froze. He heard high heels, coming his way. He glanced behind him. A female, purple cat in a decorated uniform was headed this way, checking something on a clipboard. He cursed under his breath and ducked into the hall he was turning into. 'Great. Of all the people to find me like this, it just has to be the Commander. Fan-freaking-tastic!' he thought bitterly. It wasn't far to his monitoring station. If he could just dash in there... Compared to his boss, explaining his situation to his best friends would be a piece of cake.
Ignoring his sloshing sneakers, he raced down the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him. It really wasn't far- Zonic was so caught up in focusing on his feet that he almost missed it. He slammed the open button next to the door, which slid open quietly. He stumbled into the room and slammed the door closed. He collapsed to the floor. 'That was too close,' the hedgehog thought.
"Zonic?"
'Oh right. Not out of the woods yet.' He looked up warily to see Zector and Zespio both staring down at him. 'Crap.' He only expected one of them to be there, not both. They must have just been about to switch shifts. 'Well, they were bound to find out about this sooner or later,' he gulped, glancing downward.
"What are you doing here?" Zector asked, getting up from his chair.
"And why are you all wet?" Zespio raised an eyeridge. Zonic slowly got to his feet, his heart in his stomach.
"It's… complicated," he said. The high-pitched timbre of his voice left a bad taste in his mouth, and it seemed to linger in the silence of the room. Zonic suddenly realized again just how short he was. Zespio was normally a little taller than him, but now the chameleon trumped him by a solid half a foot. Zector towered over him now. He felt tiny, and for a reason he couldn't quite explain, he felt scared.
"... Zonic?" Zespio gasped, both he and the crocodile taking a tentative step closer. "Is that you?"
"In the flesh," Zonic shrugged sheepishly, shaking some of the pond muck off of him and onto the floor. "The damp… soggy, flesh."
"What the hell happened to you?!" the chameleon asked, shocked.
"Why are you so tiny?" Zector wondered.
"Shh!" Zonic hissed, mainly at Zespio, who was being his regular loud self. The chameleon and crocodile were strangely different from their Prime counterparts, something that never ceased to confuse Zonic. "I almost ran into the Commander on my way here, and for obvious reasons, I'd really rather not see her today!" he said. He looked down at himself and sighed. "I… I don't even know what to say, really. I don't know how to explain this. I just… woke up younger like this."
"How does someone just wake up younger?" Zector asked, his voice low.
"It has to have something to do with Mobius' crumbling time stream. I must have been affected by it somehow. Look, I don't really know how or why this happened to me. I just know that it did."
"Blue…" Zespio pulled off his helmet. He let his concern show on his face. "Are you okay?"
The hedgehog rubbed his hands over his arms. He was covered in goosebumps. "I… Yeah. I mean, I've definitely felt worse." His heart lifted a bit as he recalled his earlier run. At least being thirteen had an upside to it.
"But… how do you know you're okay?" Zespio asked. "If you don't even know how this happened, how do you know it's run its course?"
Zonic's eyes widened. "What?"
"Hey, Zespio, calm down," Zector said softly, placing a large hand on the chameleon's shoulder to hold him back.
"But what if he keeps getting younger? Zonic, what if you wake up tomorrow and you're an eight-year-old, or a toddler or something?"
"You don't know that'll happen," Zonic took a step back.
"You don't know that it won't," the chameleon said grimly. "Can you even change back? What if Zec and I get stuck taking care of a- a kid?"
Zector narrowed his eyes at him. "Zes, cool it," he said, his voice quiet and authoritative. "You're freaking him out."
Zonic did look visibly shaken that his friend could suggest something like that, that he could be stuck this way. He swallowed the lump that was quietly forming in his throat. "Sonic and I have it covered," he said in a low voice. "I'll fix this. Look, I just came back because my stabilizer broke, so let me grab a new one and I"ll get out of your hair."
"Wait, so… when were you going to tell us about this?!" Zespio exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the sides. Zector didn't try and calm him down this time, instead looking at the young hedgehog expectantly.
"I…" Zonic breathed. All eyes were on him, and he didn't like it. He didn't know what to say. "I don't know. I guess I was kind of hoping that I would fix this without having to tell you guys at all."
"But… why?" the crocodile asked. "Hey." He got down on one knee and put his hand on the teen's shoulder, engulfing it. "Kid, we're your friends. Why didn't you want to tell us?"
"'Cause… 'Cause look at me!" Zonic gasped, his throat squeezing shut again. "I rank higher than you guys, but now I'm so much younger-"
"So what?" Zector smiled toothily. "You're normally younger than us anyway."
"Yeah, but…"
"But what? Don't tell me you were scared of how we'd react."
"Well, I…" the hedgehog said softly. He didn't know what to say. Was he scared? He supposed he hadn't thought about it, but… "I don't know if scared is the word I would use… Nervous, I guess? And can you really blame me? No offense, but you guys can get a little… over protective. I just…"
"You didn't want to feel babied," Zespio cracked a small grin. "Same old Zonic. Are you sure you're any different? Maybe you just shrunk."
"No, there's something definitely the matter with him," Zector chuckled. "Look at those quills! When'd you get that haircut, the eighties?"
"Oh, ha ha ha. You guys are hilarious," Zonic rolled his eyes and brushed the croc's hand off his shoulder. Even though he wore a smirk, behind it he was concerned about what the chameleon had said. What if he got even younger, what if he was stuck like this? He had of course thought of these things last night and all of the morning, but Sonic had been there to calm him down and take his mind off of it. Now that one of his closest friends was suggesting what he had been so afraid of, it seemed all the more likely. "Look, guys-" he started, but he was promptly cut off by the door swooshing open behind him.
The sound of high heels entered the room, as their owner stepped in and shut the door. "Lieutenants Zector and Zespio, I need to talk to you about-" the purple cat glanced up from her clipboard to see Zonic. Young, sopping wet, trying really hard not to freak out Zonic. The hedgehog quickly came to attention, standing up straight and holding his hand up to his head.
"C-Commander Zlaze, ma'am."
Notes: Oh, no! Not Zlaze! Hehe, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if there wasn't a whole lot going on. But hey, Zonic can run again! Makes you wonder how exactly he lost the ability, hmm? ;) Hopefully chapter 19 won't take another two months to get up. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month, and I'm working on Time Warp again! I'm hoping to make a lot of progress on this story, and to make it the best it can be. Thanks for being patient, and thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it, it really makes my day. See you next time!