Flipside Chapter 8: SEDI, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

TheGameNguyener, NeckBreak, ItzDarkky, IT'S NO USE I'M OUTTA USE, SpeedsMyGame, SonicPL2012, Samantha27, KnightOfTheWind:

Eight reviews! You guys made my week! :D

In turn, I repay you by updating late. The truth is, I needed a mental break from this story, and I had to do some re-planning of the plot. I was originally thinking and planning on 10 chapters, but I realize that won't be enough to fully flesh out what I want to accomplish with this fic, so I'm planning a longer story now. As for how long, not sure yet. We'll see!

Chapter 8: S.E.D.I.

All this time, Amy had been so focused on how sad and lost she was without him here, how he never showed how he felt - but that was the thing. Sonic was always there for her, being so sweet, taking her out, bringing her flowers, kissing her and pleasing her. Maybe he never said he loved her, maybe he was bad with words, but - he'd always showed her. He had loved her all along.

Original Dimension - Alternate Sonic, Original Amy, Alternate Tails, Alternate Eggman

It was odd for the three heroes to be entering Eggman's factory complex without having to fight for their lives, but here they were - following the evil doctor in through the front door, so to speak. He had glided in effortlessly in his Egg Mobile, pressing several buttons in near comical fashion to disable his large defense systems. Of course, Sonic made a few quips that he could destroy the weapons faster than Eggman could press buttons, and Eggman retorted that the missiles would destroy him first.

Either way, they all made past the dozens and dozens of industrial warehouses to safely enter the control center of the main factory's assembly line.

"Wow, Eggman, this is so cool!" Tails had to gush. He was trying not to freak out at all the equipment and manufacturing happening around him.

"Tails," Sonic grumbled. "This is the guy who tries to take over the world every other day, remember?"

"Yeah, but… imagine if I had all these automated machines, Sonic - I've been wanting to make upgrades to the Tornado for a long time, and there are some other things I've wanted to make, too…"

"Well, my fox friend, it's not too late to come to team Eggman. I'll make sure you're well taken care of as my slave - I mean, assistant." Eggman smiled in fake pleasantness.

"Yeah right, Eggman." Tails crossed his arms. "I'm not that dumb. Don't forget we're only here to solve the energy crisis, as you called it. And we're building that communicator first. We have to get in touch with our world."

"Of course, of course! We can't keep this pesky energy loss! Let's get to work, Tails." Eggman cackled just a bit, and Tails followed him to discuss what they'd need.

Before Amy could wonder what to do or how she could help, Sonic suddenly spoke and headed out the door.

"Amy, come with me."

Her heart skipped a beat after hearing him say that. Was he going to pull her into his arms, stare deep into her eyes, and kiss her deeply…? She wouldn't mind, honestly. Not at all. Even knowing this wasn't her Sonic was not enough to fool her heart.

Her heart was momentarily overtaken by her mind. "Are you sure we should leave Tails alone in there?" She asked, slightly hesitating.

"Heh, Tails has proven he can handle Egghead on his own. Besides, we're not going very far."

Amy followed behind her hero with a racing heart, staring at the back of his head and imagining him kissing her, just like he had this morning. His lips had been so soft, his grasp so tender, his scent overpowering. She wanted to feel him again.

"So, we're here in Eggman's factory, what do you think we should do?" Sonic started as they walked side by side.

Amy paused, unsure of what and why he was asking her opinion. Sonic never did stuff like this, he always just ran off on his own and did his own thing. He was taking the time to share with her.

"Um, I guess we can see what he's up to."

"Exactly." Sonic turned and began a jog, forcing Amy to follow after him, although Sonic moved at a slow pace that allowed her to quickly catch up.

"Let's check out what he's making. Maybe Tails understands the mumbo jumbo he's been spillin' about some energy crisis, but I don't trust him. He's probably got some scheme in the background."

"Neither do I. He's always up to no good," Amy agreed.

"Yeah, you're right. So let's split up, search the place, and then compare notes afterwards. Let me know if you find anything and we'll deal with it together."

"Oh, okay," Amy agreed, but couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice. Here she'd been hoping for some affection, and Sonic seemed to be all business. She let out a small sigh, her heart sinking as the hedgehog ran off. She took off as well, following behind the hedgehog in longing.

Sonic glanced behind himself, and then came to a sudden stop. Amy almost rammed into him.

"Why are you following me? We should split up and cover more ground."

Amy giggled. "Oh, right, habit! Sorry."

"Amy… remember what I told ya. If you want to be Sonic's girl, you have to show you can watch out for yourself - while I love saving people, I don't want you to hold me back." The words came out a bit more honest than he'd planned.

Amy still took his words in stride and spoke with energy. "Okay, Sonic, I won't let you down!"

"That's my girl. I mean, uh - good, yeah, good." Sonic took off, creating a boom to mitigate the sudden awkwardness.

My girl. Amy squealed a little but upon hearing those words. She was definitely Sonic's girl, there was no doubt about that!

Now she'd have to prove it. Amy took off in the opposite direction of Sonic, gaining momentum as she ran across the industrial jungle. Eggman's factory complex was a collection of rusty and brick buildings, some with huge smoke stacks. Amy managed to peek in a few of the warehouses, but found nothing other than ugly robots in various stages of repair. Some were missing arms, heads, and some were smashed completely. They mostly held the typical Eggman color scheme of gray, yellow, and red, but Amy found some with a more pleasing pallette. But nothing too interesting - they already knew Eggman was building robots, she just couldn't tell what these were for.

Meanwhile, Sonic had searched the whole complex already, taking care to stay out of Amy's way but stealthily watching her. Sonic had to admit that he wanted to help this Amy get with her Sonic. He definitely cared about her, and could tell how much the other him made her happy. It definitely reminded him of how his Amy used to be when they first got together.

He stopped a good distance from the girl, watching her as she looked inside a warehouse. In his head, he was rehearsing his speech to his Amy, but his heart just wanted to take a moment to watch this one.

This is why he hated waiting. Waiting meant he had time to reconsider, overthink, and doubt himself. And he hated that. He hated not getting what he wanted, right then. Why did the rest of the world have to move so slow?

Sonic headed back to where Tails and Eggman were working, but it looked like they still had a ways to go. He sighed.

"Anything I can do to pick up the pace, fellas?"

Tails didn't even turn around. "No, Sonic, you'll have to be patient."

"Ugh!"

"What did you even do with Amy? Why not go spend time with her?" Tails suggested, and then he turned around to give Sonic the suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

He couldn't help but blush, his cheeks warming. "Stop it, Tails, you're too young to be thinkin' about stuff like that."

"I am not!"

Sonic turned to his arch-nemesis. "Egghead, can you at least turn on one your toys so I can kill some time?"

"Not a chance! My brilliant designs are not your toys, hedgehog! And you stay out of my warehouses - there are top secret works in there!"

"Check out the warehouses, got it!" Sonic dashed off.

"Damn that hedgehog," Eggman cursed under his breath. Having Sonic and Amy rummaging through his belongings felt a bit violating, but he honestly didn't have a choice. He had still chosen to take them to one of his smaller facilities, as they were definitely not finding out his real plan here.

He wasn't about to admit it outloud, but he really did need Tails' help. The readings off the Egg Stone were all over the place. He knew he was missing something, and Tails was the only one he knew with a slightly lower IQ. Those objects he'd experimented on had created an energy sink, and he'd already noticed other things in the world disappearing thanks to his constant surveillance. It was odd, because he hadn't used the Egg Stone, and yet items were disappearing all over.

It was all very concerning. Eggman couldn't rule an empty planet - he needed his slaves to worship him, and they'd need things to stay alive and be kept complacent.

After about an hour of work, Tails and Eggman finally got a inter-dimensional communicator hooked up. They first used it to send a digital message in binary code, knowing that the other world would need to build a similar transmitter/receiver. The message contained a simple blueprint of parts needed and the frequency to turn to, and Tails knew the other him could handle this.

At some point Sonic and Amy wandered back in, and Tails wondered what they had been up to. He knew that the hedgehogs kissed all the time, even in front of him, but would Sonic still do those things with another version of his girlfriend? What a complication he hadn't even considered.

With the message sent, all that was left to do was wait for their signal to be received, and the other side to respond. In a side room, Sonic was laying down with his hands behind his quills. He was trying to calm his nerves, but his foot kept bouncing involuntarily. Of course, Amy was by his side as always.

"What's bothering you, Sonic?" Amy asked with concern, gently reaching to touch his fidgeting arm.

Her touch did little to stop his restlessness. "Nothin', Ames, don't worry 'bout it."

"But you seem really worried about meeting the others. Can I help you with something?"

"Nah, it's nothing like that. I just - I hate making a decision and not being able to act on it immediately." Amy was so good at getting the truth out of him, it was uncanny.

"What decision?"

"Nothin', nothin', nothin'." He waved his hand in dismissal.

"What decision, Sonic?" Amy persisted.

The decision to break the heart of the girl I'm in love with… because I hate what she does to me…

Even thinking it made Sonic feel like a terrible hedgehog. But at the same time, he'd compromised so much for her, did everything she wanted, took her out, made her feel good - and all he was asking for was a little space, some time to get himself back. It wasn't selfish, not at all. Amy was an amazing girl, and she'd understand.

He just hoped he could keep his resolve when he saw her pretty face on that monitor.

Alternate Dimension - Original Sonic, Alternate Amy, Original Tails

What started out as a simple trip to his supply shed, ended up with Tails cringing as he heard numerous bangs and crashes, punctuated with yelling and screaming. What made him even more worried was when it all stopped, and he pictured what his destroyed workshop looked like now. He couldn't leave his workspace alone for two seconds, especially not at the hands of two powerful hedgehogs.

Tails took a deep breath, his furry chest expanding and then resetting. He placed his gloved hand on the door and pushed it open, bracing his eyes for what they were about to experience.

It was worse than he imagined.

All of his tools had been knocked off the walls and lay strewn about the floor. Or, at least, that's where he thought they might be, as he couldn't see beneath all the other trash and debris. Wordlessly, Tails used his namesakes to helicopter in the air and survey the rest of the damage. Another deep breath passed through his lungs.

"Guys, what happened?" he asked, looking down at his two friends.

Amy looked to the ground in shame, avoiding any glances at her destruction. She scuffed her right boot across the floor, twisting her lips, feeling childish and dumb.

"Well…" Sonic paused, not wanting to point the finger at Amy. "We, uh, got into a fight and we weren't paying attention, and - "

"I did it, Tails," Amy admitted, finally raising her eyes to meet Tails' blue ones. "I got carried away, I'm sorry."

The fox let out a small sigh, and placed the materials he'd been holding onto the now-empty work bench. "It's okay, Amy. It'll just take me a little longer to build this machine now."

"Nah, Tails," Sonic said with his smile. "We'll help you build it, so it'll be done in no time."

"Aw, you guys don't have to," Tails said, thinking that the two hedgehogs would only get in his way.

Amy looked from Sonic to Tails and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's the least we can do… I can't believe I let my anger get in the way of you two possibly going home. I just wanted to see my Sonic again." Her eyes fell to the ground again, but she slightly gasped when he felt Sonic's hand on her shoulder. She looked back to him with hurting eyes.

"Don't worry, Ames, we'll get you two back together," he winked at her, and Amy's heart warmed. Maybe this Sonic wasn't so bad after all.

"Thanks, Sonic. But what about you and your Amy? I'll have to make sure the two of you get together as well." Her smile returned with a hint of mischief.

Sonic removed his hand, and raised it to scratch his ear. "I-I dunno 'bout that."

"Well, I do!" Suddenly excited, Amy expanded her arms to hug him close, and Sonic responded by slowly raising his arms to her back. "I want you and Amy to be just as happy as me and Sonic are!"

Except you don't seem too happy with him, Sonic couldn't help but think as he continued to hold Amy. While on one hand he was impressed with her dedication by trying to take the gemstone herself, on the other hand, he was definitely intimidated by her sudden mood swings and emotional outbursts.

Amy was a bit of a mystery to him, and he didn't like not knowing what to do with her. He never did, not when he first saved her from Little Planet, not when she followed him around Station Square with that flicky, not when she freed him from prison, not when she hugged him so tightly he couldn't breathe, or any of the other moments she'd stolen his breath…

No. No. No. This wasn't happening. Sonic wasn't going to admit it, he wasn't going to think about it, he wasn't. He would never be Amy's boyfriend. He wasn't into her, wasn't into all that mushy stuff, he wasn't interested, period.

He untangled himself from her hug, standing at a distance, his heart a mess of emotions. Part of him really wanted to go hug her again, bring a smile to that lovely face. But he couldn't do it. He'd even seen just how unhappy she was now with his other version, so why did he want to embrace that and go down the same path?

"Sonic, don't you want to be happy?" Amy asked him with a soft, uncertain voice.

He remained at a distance, his gloved hands clenched and his face scrunched in thought. "I do."

"I'm sure that's all Amy wants for you, too…"

"No, I'm pretty sure she just wants me as her dream husband so she can hug and kiss me anytime she wants," he dismissed, crossing his arms firmly across his chest. "I never got the feelin' she really cares about what I want. She doesn't care about me, just about bein' with me."

That was it - once the words left his mouth, Sonic suddenly realized what was his holdup. He nodded firmly, and felt the pieces of his heart seemingly come together in understanding. It had taken him a while to figure out, but there it was.

Upon hearing those words, Amy had a similar epiphany, and she stared at him wordlessly as this inexplicable guilt ravaged her heart. Every part of her wanted to disagree with him, but his words had a ring of truth that stung her to her core. I do care what Sonic thinks, what he wants, that's all that's been bothering me… I just wanna know his true heart, but he never shares it, that's what I've been upset about…

And yet - Amy shook her head slowly, barely noticing as Sonic began to work alongside Tails, picking up the debris and organizing the supplies. He zipped and zoomed around her, but she remained planted. She searched her suddenly aching heart, questioning her motives. Do I not care about Sonic? She wondered. It was a silly thought, of course she cared about him, he was all she thought about, all she desired - but what did he want, what would make him happy, what had she done for him, just for him, and not for herself? Whenever they went out, it was always something she wanted to do, she always had to drag him along, he was the one making the compromises and adjustments.

"Sonic, I… think I understand," she said, a soft smile blooming on her lips as she closed her eyes. Despite feeling terrible and guilty, Amy felt optimistic know that she knew what was wrong, and it wasn't Sonic, it was her.

She wanted to talk to him more than ever - or, more like, she wanted to listen to him more than ever. Really get to know what he wanted. She'd been horribly selfish, but no longer. If she wanted to stay with Sonic forever, she would have to make him happy, too. And she'd start immediately.

As Amy came back to reality, Sonic and Tails made quick work of clean up duty. Amy was about to jump in and help them, but they were already finished. She felt bad they were cleaning up her mess, but nothing could be done now.

"Uh, guys… I'm getting a weird transmission…" Tails suddenly said. He squinted at his computer monitor, trying to read the binary code.

"Who is it from?" Amy asked as she walked behind to look at the data with him.

"I can't tell, give me a minute to read it." His blue eyes ping-ponged across the screen, his mind translating the binary to English as he typed out the result. "It looks like… instructions of some sort? It wants me to build something? Some sort of radio, a transmitter and receiver…"

"Egghead?" Sonic suggested.

Tails shook his head. "I don't think so, he normally doesn't communicate with us like this, he's usually more overt and over the top with his messages. This, I can't even tell who sent us this."

"How about we try and build it, maybe that would help," Sonic said.

"Maybe. It just seems like someone is trying to communicate with us… and this frequency it wants me to turn it to, it's something I've never seen before…" his voice drifted off as he seemed to do some math calculations on another monitor.

"Oh, that's it, I figured it out! It's the other dimension, our home, Sonic!" Tails yelled in excitement, punching his fist into the air.

"Really?"

"Yep! They want me to build a video communicator so we can plan how to swap us all back to our correct worlds."

Sonic nodded. "That's awesome. You got this, right Tails?"

He scratched his chin. "I'm sure I can tinker around and make something that'll work. With the help from the other us, it looks like we'll be going home soon!"

"Alright!" Sonic grinned. "This is great news! Right, Ames?"

Her heart was beating quickly, and she nodded just as fast. "Yes! I can't wait to see Sonic again."

"Yep. Alright, Tails," Sonic's eyes narrowed in determination. "Tell us what you need."

They immediately got to work. Tails decoded the blueprints and did all the building, Sonic ran for supplies, and Amy helped to organize the blueprints. Tails was surprised with Sonic and Amy's dedication to the cause, as they'd never been this good of helpers. Maybe he'd have to send them to a different dimension more often to get this level of help again.

Finally, the little device was ready. It consisted of a large TV as a monitor, and a small box attached that would allow them to transmit and receive messages from the other world. Thanks to the pink sapphire that Sonic held, they could power it easily.

And now, all that was left was to turn it on.

"Well, you guys ready to meet our other selves?" Tails asked.

"I'm excited," Amy said, doing a little twirl.

Sonic was already at the control panel, and pressed the 'on' button. "Let's do it."