A FEW DAYS AGO…

The Streets of Station Square...

Mainstream Bunnie and Antoine threw Regime Rouge into the prison bus along with the last remaining Regime members— the only members who willingly served the High Councilor, mostly consisting of former villains— into the prison bus. They watched as the last Regime operative to enter— Regime Bunnie— walked on willingly, cuffed behind her back.

She paused for a minute to look at the parallel duplicates of herself and her husband. The counterpart of the one man he loved, who died in New Mobotropolis. Antoine simply smiled, while Bunnie gave a salute, to which Regime Bunnie complied with a silent nod. Unlike the other Regime members, she was doing this willingly, and would pay with whatever sentence was given to her to make up for what she had done.

The back door closed, and the prison bus drove off with the captured Regiments, with Regime Bunnie looking at Antoine one last time until he faded from view.

Insurgency HQ…

Dr. Eggman was forcibly walking into the inter-dimensional transporter's portal designed to send him back to his own Mobius. Mobius Prime's Shadow and Insurgency Hope stood by the portal vigilantly as this world's version of Snively forced him forward with a gun which he occasionally had to shove behind his back to keep him moving.

Angel Island…

"Sonic and his accomplices have been rounded up, or turned themselves in. As for the ones who defected, like Tails and Fiona, they decided to remain with us and help with the reconstruction."

"At the very least, helping others is the best way to make up for what they did. Am I right, dupli-Shadow?"

Knuckles watched as the Regime duplicates of himself and Julie-Su were being taken away by the Echidna warriors. The two echidnas have been strapped in restraints designed to cancel out their Chaos Energy. Regime Knuckles shot one last dirty look at his Mainstream self before being dragged away, Regime Julie-Su bowing down her head in regret. Mainstream Knuckles jumped off the edge of the Master Emerald's altar and glided in the air to rejoin his friends for the trip back to his reality.

The Dragon Kingdom…

"Yes, Sonic. Now all that remains is to restore civil order."

"The transitional government's got its hands full, but we're here if they need a hand."

"Thanks, but no. The people need to know they're in control, not us."

Mainstream Khan brought the imprisoned Regime Khan and the Iron General Jun Kun to face trial in front of the Dragon Kingdom's newly established court.

The New Mobotropolis Cemetery…

"So you still haven't changed your mind?"

"I respect the president's offer, but I don't belong in politics. None of us do."

Espio stared at the tomb which had been built in record time following the One-Planet Regime's defeat. It was built over a small pool of water, leading up to a slab featuring the image a white Albino Echidna. Underneath the carved face read the words 'Here Lies Finitevus: A True Hero, Believer, Husband, and Father. His Sacrifice Will Never Be Forgotten' engraved in the slab. Espio placed his right fist into the palm of his left hand and bowed silently in respect towards the grave, offering the greatest tribute he can bestow. Espio left the gravesite to rejoin his friends as they would depart soon.

"Ha-ha-ha, still think the Ultimate Life Form's got a place here?"

"Crime and war will return, Sonic. Espio would've called me a pessimist. I'm just being realistic."

"What about your Sonic?"

"We took him to Prison Island. It turns out he's completely drained of his Chaos Powers, thanks to you. Until then, he'll stand trial. They all will."

A FEW DAYS LATER…

Insurgency HQ

The Freedom Fighters and Insurgents gathered together to talk one last time before the Mainstream heroes would take the way back home.

Sonic grinned crossing his arms, "Looks like the ex-Big Blue won't be getting out of there anytime soon." The Freedom Fighters chuckled in agreement, a few Insurgents joining in.

Snively spoke, drying a single tear from his eyes, "Words cannot express how much we wanted to thank you, duplicates, especially your Sonic. You've given us back our freedom, our hope, our dignity, and our lives."

Sonic chuckled, "Aw, it was nothing. How can we help you back, Colin?"

Ex-Regime Tails interjected and smiled, "You guys have done enough for us already. Now that we're free and Sonic is out of the picture, it's up to us to make this world a better place for everyone."

Hope agreed, placing a hand on Tails' shoulder, "It will be hard work, but we can do it together! We'll rebuild our world into the best we could ever dream of! All of us! This was Dr. Finitevus's final wish!"

Bean agreed, standing on top of Bark's shoulders, "Yeah! It'll be a bigger playground for everyone to play in! A brand new world where all of us can laugh and play and sing all day long!" Bark silently nodded.

Fang smiled with hands on his hips, "And a brand new world means brand new bounties to collect. But I think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it for the money today, you know?"

"Money?" Bean exclaimed hearing those words. Then again, this was a very serious reminder. "Oh, yeah! Fiona promised us lots of money! Cupcakes too! We almost forgot!"

Suddenly, Bark heard someone walking along the floor behind them, only for him and Bean to turn around and see Fiona trying to sneak off.

"FIONA!" Bean cried joyfully. "MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! CUPCAKES! CUPCAKES! CUPCAKES!"

Fiona dared to turn in Bean and Bark's direction, witnessing a polar bear and a dynamite rampaging towards her. Yelping, the vixen sped off as fast as her legs would take her, in hopes of getting out of her "promised payment." As for the rest, they simply burst in jovial laughter at that façade.

Bunnie called her friends, "C'mon, y'all! Let's get out of here and not make a mess of their rebuildin'."

Mainstream Shadow elected to be the first to go. He said, "Time to return home."

Bunnie gave a salute to the Insurgency, "So long, partners!"

Amy cheerfully waved her hand, "Goodbye, not-so-evil world! Goodbye, everybody! I hope we'll meet again someday!"

Antoine waved enthusiastically, "Au revoir, mon ami!"

Khan bowed in respect, "Thank you for asking for our help."

Espio placed his right fist into the palm of his left hand and bowed, "It has been an honor to serve."

Knuckles saluted and smiled, "Take care of yourselves, you hear?"

With that, Shadow, Bunnie, Antoine, Amy, Knuckles, Khan, and Espio left for the inter-dimensional portal and disappeared in a bright light. Snively, Hope, and Fang sent them off with goodbyes of their own.

"Goodbye, everybody! See you again!" Hope called, waving a hand cheerfully.

"Good-bye! I'll miss you!" Snively cried with tears of joy.

"So long!" Fang called with a salute.

Insurgency Shadow simply crossed his arms and replied with a smile and a simple "Hmph."

Before Sonic could leave with the rest of his friends, he stood beside the ex-Regime version of Tails.

"Well, ex-Regime Tails," Sonic grinned. "This was a way past cool adventure in your world, don't you think?" He then noticed a cheerful expression appearing in the two-tailed fox's face. "Hey, what's with the smile and the cheesy look? You remind me of my Tails."

Ex-Regime Tails cheered and hugged Sonic tightly. Though this Sonic is a world apart from his, Tails couldn't help but embrace the feeling of seeing his big brother again for the first time in years. He cried, "Oh, alternate big bro! You're the bestest best EVER!"

That moment was interrupted when Mainstream Tails dragged Sonic away, breaking Ex-Regime Tails' hug. Mainstream Tails glared jealously at his counterpart before shoving Sonic to the portal, who waved silently at the Insurgents with a nervous smile.

Sally was the last to enter as she smiled to herself, "Let's go home."

All of the Freedom Fighters vanished into the portal, returning them to their original world. The plug has been pulled. The portal has shut down. The transporter has been offline.

Now the Insurgency is left to themselves with one last job.

"Come on, guys. We've got work to do," Ex-Regime Tails told his friends, and they all joined together to rebuild their war-torn world.

THAT AFTERNOON…
New Mobotropolis Plaza, Mobius Prime

"Well, Sonic… If we hadn't saved their world, our world was almost threatened by a war that may be worse than Dr. Eggman's or Moebius. I wonder if our other friends are laughing right now about everything that happened back there. But even so…"

Sally was talking to Sonic, who lied down on the branch of a tree with his arms stretched around the back of his head. Sighing, Sonic looked up in the sky.

"He was right, you know," Sonic said.

"About what?" Sally asked curiously.

Sonic stood up and stretched his arms. He explained, "Put in the same position, I might've done the same thing. What if our friends were gone from our lives, and we end up losing our minds? We never know what we're capable of, 'cause it's life…"

The leader of the Freedom Fighters was silent at first, but she found the right words to say, "I truly hope for our world's sake, you don't find out." She placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder, "Just keep this in mind."

"Yeah?" Sonic asked.

"If something ever does happen, and you do lose it…" Sally assured. "We'll be there for you. We'll help you anyway we can, and we'll turn you back to the good side. No matter what it takes."

Sonic couldn't help but let out a light-hearted chuckle at Sally's assuring words.

"You'll have to get in line, Sal," Sonic smiled. "I gotta face the worst threat of all: Gone without eating chili dogs at an empty stomach for a whole hour. So what do you say? Care for a walk in the park after getting some chili dogs, just like old times?"

Sally just giggled and blushed.

"Yeah. Just like old times."

With that, the two held hands and walked off together. Just like old times, indeed. Can you just feel the love?

Oh, and whatever happened to the Regime version of Amy Rose? She was still locked up in that empty escape pod, stranded and floating aimlessly in the middle of the ocean.

"Hello?" Amy whispered despairingly, tears continuously streaming down her face. "Hello? Sonic? Anybody? Aw, come on…"

The escape pod continued flailing around, with a flock of seagulls standing on top of it. One thing's for sure, we won't be hearing from the Regime's ex-Assistant High Councilor anytime soon. Two identical yet separate worlds can now live in peace, never to taste the foul flavor of injustice from gods among Mobians ever again.

THE END