I have a question for everybody at the end of this epilogue, so please don't skip over the final note.

It's kind of sad… this is the epilogue of my first story on this site… I really hope you enjoy it!

At some point during the flight home, Eggman woke up. He struggled to break free from Knuckles's grip, but failed, of course. Once home, I parked the plane in its spot in the three plane garage, which was right next to the switching machine. We transferred the struggling hedgehog from the plane into the nearest pod. I detached Eggman's body from the nutrient IVs we 'borrowed' from the hospital and - with Sonic's help - drug it into the other pod. Knuckles was holding the door of Sonic's pod shut. I hurried to press the activation button, and Eggman stopped struggling.

The pods opened after a minute. Knuckles drug the sleeping Eggman from his pod, and Sonic took his place. After another transfer, Sonic was in his own body, leaving an unprogrammed android behind. I put the robot back in storage and had Knuckles lock Eggman in an experimental chamber. I left a pack of ramen and a disposable cup of tap water in the chamber. Sonic and Knuckles thought it was too generous, so I replaced the ramen with a can of green beans.

"Come on, Tails! Give him vinegar instead of water!" I groaned.

"Knuckles, vinegar's expensive. I can't just-"

"You own a business, don't you? I think you can afford it!"

"Yes, no. I only take a little income for myself, but that's irrelevant! We have a problem…" We moved from the garage to the living room to discuss it.

"Well, what's the problem?" Sonic crossed his arms impatiently.

"Well… The few times we've actually ever captured Eggman, we gave him to GUN for imprisonment, but he always eventually escapes, right?" Both nodded. "Eggman's going to escape no matter what. The problem is: we only beat Eggman because he originally misfired and switched with me instead of you, Knuckles. When he gets out, he's going to try again, and we won't even know to stop him!"

Silence. Sonic, for once, didn't have a reply. It was surreal to see him not give a thumbs up and some sort of reassurance. This time, our regular solutions were obsolete, and we all knew it.

"Can you… make some sort of memory washing machine?" I shook my head at Sonic.

"I don't see why we don't just poison him and hide the body." Sonic glared at Knuckles.

"That experiment chamber also serves as a vacuum chamber. I can turn it on and watch him explode! There might be a lot of pieces to hide, though…" Sonic gawked at me, but Knuckles laughed. Sonic was at a loss of words. "I'm kidding!"

He sighed. "Knuckles, is there anything the Master Emerald can do about this?"

"Well… I don't know! There's nothing it can do right now, but…"

"Yeah! Tails, you go to Wests… No, bad idea… I'll go to Westside to get that piece back, you two go to Eggman's base to search for the other three." Knuckles considered the idea for a second before accepting.

"I'll need to delete the machine's blueprints from his database while we're there… Also… How are you going to get to Westside?"

"Uh… I'll use the chaos emeralds!"

"I had Knuckles drain them."

"Right… How about I fly there?"

"How?"

"In your other plane! I can fly it, remember?"

"Yeah… The Tornado 2's at my Central City workshop… Let me get the keys." I retrieved my workshop keychain from my plane. "Here. Central City's the copper key."

x-x-x

I had a rough takeoff, flight, and landing, but I made it there. I called Tails as soon as I was out of the plane. My brother's voice came through the communicator.

"Hey, Sonic! How's it going?"

"I just landed. How are things going over there?"

"Oh, we finished hours ago. All we need now is the last piece." I scoffed.

"Hours ago? It's still daytime!"

"Where you are… Anyways, ask the mayor about it. He's probably in the city hall… If he says anything about last visit, just go with it."

"Uh… right… thanks…" I hung up and circled the city a few times before entering. I assumed that the large building labeled 'City Hall' was the city hall, so I entered. As Tails had suggested, the mayor was there. When I asked him, however, I was grumpily informed that GUN had confiscated it. I decided to say nothing more and returned to the plane. Again, I called Tails.

"GUN confiscated it."

"GUN? Oh, good! Are you gonna be meeting with the Commander?" I shuddered.

"Uh… Commander and I had a pretty nasty argument during the whole monopoly incident, remember?"

"Oh, yeah… I guess you want me to go instead?"

"Come on, the Commander likes you! You've got the best chance of getting it back."

"Yeah, I know… He's just… scary…"

x-x-x

I arrived at GUN HQ. Inside, I asked the secretary if the Commander was available. He was, so I made my way to his office. I knocked.

"Come in!" The Commander was sitting at his desk. The office was a neat, round room with a round table in the middle. The Commander greeted me loudly and offered a seat. After formalities, I asked about the piece of the Master Emerald.

"The piece we took from Westside City? Yeah, we've got it! Do you need it?"

"Yes, sir, it's the only one left!" He turned towards his desk.

"I'll write a transfer order…" He picked up a pen and began to jot something on a piece of paper. Afterwards, he stamped a seal onto it. He turned and handed me the paper. "Give this to the secretary. She'll know what to do."

I too the paper and got up. "Thank you, sir!"

"Anytime, Tails." I left the room and returned to the secretary. I gave her the paper. She read the order and dialed a number into her phone.

"Send two men from your department to the lobby, please. Thank you." She returned the paper to me. "Give these to one of them when they get here."

"Yes, ma'am." A minute later, two men in GUN uniforms arrived in the lobby. I handed the paper to the nearest one. He nodded and led me down a flight of stairs. We crossed a corridor with metal doors on either side. We stopped at one such door, and one of the soldiers opened the door. Behind it was a big, green, luminescent shard. They took the case it was in and brought it up to the lobby. They asked me where it was to be transferred, so I led them to my plane. They loaded it into the cargo pit, informed me that I was free to leave, and returned into the building.

I started up the plane and took off. "That was easy…"

x

"Thank chaos you're back, Tails! Eggman's been yelling at us the entire time!" I glanced over to see Eggman pouting in the corner of his chamber with a half-eaten can of green beans. "Well, until now…"

"Sorry, Knuckles. I've got the last piece, though!" I opened the cargo pit. Knuckles stepped into it and carried out the shard. He brought it to the rest of the Master Emerald and fit it into its place. With a flash of light, the Master Emerald was complete. Once again, I heard the faint vibrations emitted from the emerald. I called for Sonic. He quickly joined us in front of the Master Emerald.

"So… What do we do?"

"I dunno, Sonic! How about we do what we planned to do?"

"Gee, sorry Knux! So… What exactly was that plan?"

"To erase his recent memory!" Eggman suddenly sparked to life, grabbing our attention.

"What? Erase my memory?" He was shaking. "That's impossible!"

Knuckles turned back to the Master Emerald. "Oh, Master Emerald! I request that you erase the last two weeks from Eggman's memory!"

I can not erase memory without the content of the recipient.

Knuckles turned to Eggman. "I'll need you to give the Master Emerald permission to wipe your memory."

Eggman crossed his arms and turned up his nose.

"Oh, yeah?" I walked towards the chamber. "You want me to turn on the vacuum?"

He flinched. "V-vacuum?"

I flew on top in the chamber to seal the air vent. I then activated the vacuum and slightly turned the air valve. Air was slowly sucked from the chamber. After a few moments, his skin began to turn red. Sonic was visibly uncomfortable. Eggman gave in.

"STOP! STOP! I'LL DO IT! STOP!" I deactivated the vacuum and unsealed the vent. Air rushed back in and his skin returned to its normal color. "You have my permission…"

"We don't need it, the Master Emerald does,' Knuckles commented. Eggman sighed.

"Master Emerald, you have my permission." Just then, Eggman fell unconscious.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: What do you want my next story to be? A prequel to Masterminds about the "monopoly incident" Sonic mentioned, as well as the rise of Prower Technologies? A two-tailed samurai in feudal Japan? A soldier in the crusades who excels in aerial melee? Something I haven't mentioned? Please do tell me what you want to see next!

Until next time!