Tails turned the dial on the multi-portal generator and green light came out of each part of the machine shaped like a megaphone which formed into portals surrounding it, and Gemerl kicked Metal Sonic's leg through one electrocuting the robot to the same extent as Surge had through the Black Shield, causing him to get sent flying ahead into the wall deactivated while Sonic walked through the other portal.

Eggman exclaimed, " Huh?! " from those noises. Sonic ran up to and around his chair tying the rope around it in a blue and yellow blur as Gemerl flew over to Metal Sonic and Knuckles walked through a third portal and grabbed Orbot and Cubot. Sonic tied a knot behind the chair quickly and then pressed on Eggman's chest with the left hand just in case to keep him from sitting up as Gemerl was stomping on Metal Sonic.

Eggman was covered by the rope from the middle down which Sonic saw would keep him from pulling up his right sleeve as Knuckles whispered to Orbot and Cubot who were hugging in fear, " Stay still or else!" As Eggman struggled against the rope, Sonic called out to Gemerl, " Hold the ropes behind the chair! I gotta get them lower to pull up a sleeve! " Gemerl hovered to the back of the chair right away and held the rope, Sonic pressed his hand down on Eggman's left shoulder and the right hand pulled down the ropes and lifted his right sleeve and grabbed his arm, and pulled it upwards so that his elbow bent up uncomfortably. " Hey! " Eggman exclaimed in fear and pain, unable to move his arm because it was being pressed against him.

Sonic said, " Tie a knot! " lifting the rope back up with his left hand as his order was followed. Sonic turned and pushed on his right arm to keep it against him as the rope restrained his right hand and he said, " Lean back! " Gemerl leaned back holding it keeping it tightly pressed against Eggman from the hands below. Sonic put out his left hand saying, " Needle! " and was handed it as Eggman looked even more scared saying, " What?! What's that?! "

Sonic's right hand clutched his right arm tighter as it was still turned over so that he could see the front of his wrist while looking right. He saw the veins on it and his right hand was still keeping the arm against Eggman to keep it still. With a guilty expression Sonic looked at the needle and took two seconds to hesitate out of discomfort, thought, " Get it over with or Gemerl will do it! " during which Eggman calmed down and smirked, and Sonic had to force himself to inject him. The pricking sensation was unbearable. " Ow! " Eggman shouted as the plunger was pushed down.

" You'll be fine, better than fine! You'll be immune to plenty of diseases and never get a heart attack, and you'll be able to heal really fast! " Sonic reassured him. " By being turned into a zombot?! " Eggman asked angrily, doubting that himself and wondering why he got the nerve to as Gemerl took off his boots. Sonic answered, " NO! A cyborg like Surge, but you won't have her powers. "

Eggman, Orbot and Cubot looked confused as Knuckles let go of the robots and Eggman said suspiciously, " Why would you give me those advantages, what's the catch?! " There was a silence, with Sonic and Knuckles not feeling like telling him what it was because they were uncomfortable with it, as Eggman concluded that Sonic was just that nice based on how naïve he was recently. Eggman said smugly, " Speaking of Surge, she's restrained in the next room. Good luck rescuing her! " and then his chest started aching and he grimaced and hissed in pain as the upgrading began.

Gemerl wasn't on the same wavelength as the rest and said, " Not only are you going to fall asleep, but nearly all of your memories will be erased. " Eggman gasped. Gemerl explained, " All you'll remember are your interactions with Belle as Mr. Tinker. " " What?! " Eggman exclaimed in fear, and Orbot shouted, " Yes! " and Cubot shouted, " Yay! " with his arms up. Eggman complained, " No, no, no, NO! " Gemerl muffled Eggman with his hand and said, " I assume none of you want to hear this either. "

Sonic looked sad and apologized, " I'm SORRY, I wanted you to get to choose to be good but my friends rushed me into doing this! These two, Blaze, Tails, even Cream wanted this and if I didn't inject you someone else would've like Gemerl. Blaze said I should be the one who gets to do this because I'm the main hero of the world. I never wanted it to end like this. It wasn't my idea! " Eggman was drowsy and was forcing his eyes to stay open. He just couldn't believe Sonic got the nerve to do that to him, and he was shocked that his friends were in favor of it.

Sonic pointed out to him, " But she had a point, this is better than you dying, like how I always thought it'd end! I'm glad I won't be responsible for THAT after all and I'll be making it up to you after this the best I can. You loved being Mr. Tinker, remember? And you hate losing to me, so now you get to retire and just do something you'll love which is better than going to prison! I'd rather see you helping people every day than see you miserable in a cell! You could end up living for centuries for all we know. That's a lot of good experiences you'll get to have because we did this. " He was trying to make himself feel better about what he did and everyone could tell.

Tails went into the room through Sonic's portal and told everyone, " Guys? When he falls asleep, everyone do a thumbs-up. I'm getting bored of waiting. " He felt bad about what just happened like most of the people in the room, but he acted annoyed to hide it. Sonic said, " And what if he only pretends to be asleep and complains the second he gets sent out of here? How long are we supposed to wait to know for sure? I don't know how long he's supposed to BE asleep. " Gemerl pointed out, " In all of the time you'll be taking rescuing Surge, he'll be passed out by the time you come back. "

Sonic said, " Good point. I've been looking forward to the post-amnesia her. And by the way I'm glad you've been talking more like a normal person. It's about time. " Gemerl replied, " It was impossible not to get influenced by how everyone around me talked after all of that time. Everyone wants to speak informally but Omega, and months of being away from other robots makes it hard to remember how they're supposed to talk. " Sonic said, " Not to mention as Emerl you talked just like me, so I never liked that you stopped because Eggman reprogrammed you. Anyways I need Knuckles to come WITH me to break any restraints she's got on. You could do it too but he wanted something to do and Orbot and Cubot weren't a problem. "

Knuckles said, " Thanks. So was amnesia the catch you were worried about me learning about? I'm not mad. Just uncomfortable, but it sounds like the ideal way to end this, the way Sonic put it. Tails, how did you get yourself to make a plan like this? I didn't know you had IN you. I don't know whether to be proud or creeped out. Just promise me you'll never do this to anyone else. " Everyone nodded except Eggman who was both furious and bored by what he was saying, and he continued, " That's a slippery slope. Eggman's a special level of evil and the worst person on the planet. Nobody else is on that level, or ever will be again, probably. I don't want you to make this into a habit. Even if amnesia is better than prison or, the worst case scenario. And it's not like Shadow did nothing wrong when he had amnesia, remember? "

Tails said, " But HE did nothing wrong when HE had amnesia. He'll be under nearly constant supervision in the Sol Dimension and Blaze is gonna keep herself updated on him every day. " Knuckles said, " Okay. An ankle monitor wouldn't hurt though. " Tails pointed out, " No, he'll question it, but a tracking device IN him would be fine, but he'll ALWAYS have amnesia so it doesn't matter. By this point he's got a device in him that's gonna keep his amnesia permanent. Even if he does somehow decide to act like Dr. Eggman would again he'll be made to forget the last hour. Anyways, you've got some rescuing to do. "

Knuckles nodded, ran out of the room, and Sonic ran out of it with him. Orbot said while heading towards them, " I always wanted Mr. Tinker back. I wish I could've helped you do this. But Sonic seemed to have it covered. We weren't tall enough to help either way. " Cubot said, " Yeah I wish you guys just told us you were gonna do this ahead of time. We were really freaking out! " Tails apologized, " I'm sorry, but there was no way to warn you guys without risking that Eggman would find out too. "

Orbot said, " It looked like the plan was guaranteed to work regardless. " " Yeah, it went off without a hitch! A portal showed up behind Metal Sonic and he got kicked before he could notice! It's a cheap shot and it happened so FAST, there's no way knowing it's coming would've saved him. And Sonic's so fast, the boss got tied up before he could think to get out of the chair! " Cubot reiterated. Tails explained, " I know. I'm not the one who was paranoid that it wouldn't work. "

He looked at Eggman and said, " It was Starline's idea! " Eggman looked shocked and a muffled scream was heard from behind Gemerl's hand, and he continued, " And he didn't trust Sonic to get it done, but Blaze talked him into it. " Cubot asked, " Why'd he wisen up? I know he failed last time, but still! " Tails said, " He just wants him to like him again! But since he made himself immune to hypnosis, he left him no choice. It finally dawned on him that he'll only be nice to him IF he's nice. Even if he did get hired again he'd be treated like garbage and frustrated with how reckless he is, and he was already bored doing nothing but the stuff you and Cubot could've done, so he might as well make him Mr. Tinker and be bored without being abused. That's right, Eggman, all of this could've been avoided if you treated him right! And you did both him and everyone else a favor by giving him a slice of humble pie. He was in the most predictable hiding place ever, too. "

Eggman growled, thinking, " What was I supposed to do, rehire him as soon as the Metal Virus was sent away? They'd say I went soft! Well it'd have been compensated for if I hit him in front of Sonic! I could've hit him so much more than I did! I should've at least captured him, I knew where he was! Instead I was too lazy! I didn't think he was THAT much of a threat! "

Tails said, " Blaze only found him because Kitsunami took pity on him, after he spent a long time apologizing to the kid. He wanted her support to get him to a hospital on her planet because he didn't feel like going! He was covered in cuts and bruises, but Kit talked him into upgrading himself and now he can heal really fast so he's fine. He's just been sad, but he'll feel better. Even if he doesn't, he'll be supervised and he knows someone cares about him, so he won't do anything really stupid. " Eggman had a muffled response they couldn't understand, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what it was.

Meanwhile Knuckles and Sonic ran into the room where Surge was lying on a work bench with her arms up chained to it and taking a nap out of boredom, with Sonic trying to ignore that he was still scared of her. She opened her eyes startled at the sound of footsteps hitting the floor and heading towards her, and looked over at Knuckles who grabbed the chains and squeezed them into pieces one by one. She grinned saying, " Finally! " and sat up and stretched her arms forwards saying, " So much better! Not the help I was expectin', but thanks! " Knuckles said proudly, " No problem! "

Surge said, " Hope you know a way to recharge me! I only got captured 'cause I ran out of energy smashing robots, and Kit's never around when I look for him. I guess he's so busy with homework that he falls asleep without remembering to visit me. " Knuckles said with a nervous smile, " Tails will figure something out. We could get you around here in the blink of an eye. But it's thanks to Tails that we're even here. " " We? " she said. She finally looked around the room more and saw Sonic, who had a forced nervous smile she saw through right away as he was dreading her trying to kill him again.

She looked sad and uncomfortable, but still had to force herself to blurt out, " I'm not brainwashed anymore. " Sonic sighed in relief and she said looking annoyed, " You've got nothing to worry about, you blue moron! " He looked confused and disappointed and she said with her arms crossed, " Don't look so surprised, of course I'm still mad at you! It's still sorta your fault I got brainwashed. You really should've just killed that jerk before he got to do that! It's not that I don't appreciate the good things you did, I remembered that, but I'm still your fault, so I still hate you when it comes to me. But I'm not gonna hurt ya again! That won't make me forget about you. Getting my memories back made me remember how I used to be like, which was still a tough girl, but, not like THAT, person! "

She wanted to say monster and psycho, but didn't trust herself not to get choked up and tear up if she did. Her sad look still gave away what she was thinking as she got off the work bench and stood on the floor. By this point Gemerl and Tails had come here to check on them since they were alone with Surge too long.

Sonic put out his hand with a smile that she could still tell was forced, but this time it was from pity, which she both appreciated and hated. While she still hated him, she convinced herself to shake his hand anyways, thinking she'd only feel worse if she didn't do that to make it official as soon as possible. She complained letting go, " I don't want you to pity me, that's not gonna help nothing! " Sonic said, " Sorry, I can't help it. What's your real name? It's about time I know. "

Surge admitted, " It's Sara. But don't call me that! I won't be comfortable with you calling me Sara, like you're my mom or one of my teachers. You're not even one of the other students. If it's you or a stranger or my enemy, I'm going by Surge! It sounds cool! Sara's a name for some normal pretty girl. It never fit me. " Sonic awkwardly said, " I think Surge sounds cool too. "

Surge replied, " You do?! " At first she loved the flattery, but then asked, " But why would you compliment the name of that… " Sonic reassured her, " Because it's how I always felt and now I can tell you. It's nice to get to actually talk to you properly, you know? 'Cause I never could before. I'm glad you kept your hairstyle too. It's pretty. " She looked stunned at that flattery after how she treated him, and said, " Everyone says that, even my mom. That's why I always keep it around. Not that I care what people think! Heck, even Starline said it was pretty! He said, ' It makes you look like a princess. That's why I picked it out for you! ' "

Sonic remarked with a smile, " Really?! That sounds like somebody's mom after she picked out her daughter's hairstyle! That's almost sweet. " Knuckles agreed with a smile, " Yeah! A bit creepy but sweet! " She complained, " That doesn't surprise me. Look, I just wanna go home before my mom jumps to conclusions, but I think I'd rather walk than let you carry me. If it was Blaze, it'd be a completely different story. So get out of here! I'm gonna let Knuckles escort me around the base. We'll find a place for Tails to recharge me at so I can smash badniks again and run home myself. " Tails thought, " And I'm gonna close the portal to Starline's base as soon as I can to keep you from seeing it. " He told Knuckles politely, " First I want you to follow me to get the rest of the plan done, and then you can come right back here. "

Tails flew away in a yellow blur followed by Knuckles and was back through the portal to Angel Island with Gemerl in no time. Sonic ran back to Eggman, Spin Jumped to cut the rope behind his chair, and watched a portal appear below him. Eggman fell into it sitting on the chair, which landed with a loud noise on Angel Island's grass. He told Knuckles, " Push over the chair to get him out of it. " Knuckles did as Sonic said, " We want him to land on something soft. "

Tails gestured at the portal to Starline's base for Sonic to walk through, aimed the megaphone-shaped part of the portal generator at the ground, held some buttons and then turned a dial to send a portal below Eggman connecting to the couch in Starline's base, causing him to fall onto it, with his old Mr. Tinker clothes and a note to the right of him. Back to wearing the clothes Sonic knew him for, Starline was nervously eating a tuna sandwich at the desk with the computer to the left of him when he heard him drop in and Sonic walk into the room. He looked at Sonic who confidently gestured to Eggman saying, " Here you go! Everything went perfectly! " The portal behind him closed to keep Knuckles out of it.

He was so stunned at something going well for him that he stared without a word to say, his mouth agape for a few seconds as he felt nervous about how he'd wake up any second. With his eyes looking sad at the bittersweet victory, he exclaimed, " Thank you! " sounding like he was sighing in relief, and Sonic replied, " No problem, " deciding to do him a favor by not rubbing it in that he was wrong to not trust him. A part of him still didn't trust Starline, feeling conflicted about helping him, and that was part of the reason why he wanted to stay with him until he got to his new home.

Sonic looked at the note for Mr. Tinker and Starline told him, " I doubt you'll approve of my note there but I won't stop you from reading it. It'd be pointless and make you even more suspicious of me. " Sonic commented unhappily, " I get why you wrote it. You can't tell him the truth. He went into denial about who he was right away and no one could convince him. Telling him he's Eggman and your mistakes would make him dislike you, at least for the first impression before you'd take it back, and while people wouldn't think you earned getting him to like you, I'd gladly take that if it means you being nothing but helpful! You've made up for most of what you did, so you sorta did earn his respect. "

Starline said, " I don't feel that way but I'm going to be spending the rest of my life trying to make it up to him, so hopefully that means I'll deserve it eventually, and while I'll probably be uncomfortable being helpful at first, it's what I deserve, and I'll remember that. I knew it'd be easier if I wrote down what I was going to tell him instead of told him them to his face. That way he wouldn't see me being nervous or hear me stumble over my words, and, you know. It'd be a disaster otherwise. " He didn't want to be too specific in case Eggman was about to wake up.

He asked, " Not that I'm complaining but why are you the only one here? " Sonic explained, " It turned out Eggman was keeping Surge captive so Knuckles had to rescue her, but she doesn't wanna kill me anymore so it's all good, so Tails is trying to recharge her so she can fight badniks again. She said she'll go home after that. We couldn't imagine that you'd want her here, so you don't have to worry about that. I'm gonna stick around as long as HE'S here. " Starline replied, " Fine, that makes sense. "

Sonic, who couldn't help but worry the second he saw his old clothes that he had returned to his old ways, said awkwardly, " I see you're back in your old clothes. He would've been uncomfortable if you were still wearing the bathrobe. " Starline explained, " That's why I bothered to put them on, and took a bath. I wanted to look more presentable to him instead of, uh, the kind of shut-in, who'd wear nothing but that all day. I didn't want him to think less of me than he would this way at least. I don't have any outfits looking different from this on hand other than the robe. I'll give you the address of my house so that I could wear something else most of the time. It'd save me some money and time if I got every outfit from there to my new place. " Sonic agreed, " Okay, " and because of the uncomfortable silence, when Eggman groaned and woke up they were incredibly relieved at it happening, because there was nothing else they wanted to say to each other. Sonic was holding back from insulting his outfit as it was.

Sonic greeted him happily, " It's about time you woke up, Mr. Tinker! " " Why am I in a place like this? Who are you? " he asked, not liking the looks of the base. Sonic put the note on the couch in front of him, as Mr. Tinker sat up and asked, " Why would I wear this military costume again? Why'd I pass out? And where's Belle? " Sonic said, " Relax, you're among friends! My name's Sonic. You've got a note to read from Dr. Starline here. He's too shy to tell you all of this himself. "

Mr. Tinker looked at Starline in the last two sentences noticing the pitiful-looking nervous person on a computer chair with healed scratches all over him, a concerning sight that at least told him that he wasn't a threat, just someone who had been through too much. He looked worried as he read it, getting alarmed by just the first sentence.

" ' I wrote this note to make sure you know what happened because a doctor found out you've had some memory loss again after what you just went through. Windmill Village was flooded, so you'll never be able to live there again. ' What?! ' You happened to be at a higher elevation than it at the time, and Belle was safe from it too. Don't worry, she was completely unharmed by the flood. ' Thank goodness. ' I didn't take her with me because you two weren't close enough together for me to see her. Right now she's busy helping out in Sonic's garage because you were away from her so long. ' "

He said, " Thanks, Sonic! A lot of people get uncomfortable around her because she's a robot, so it's nice to see even a complete stranger would show her some hospitality. " He read, " ' I made sure you got out of there safely, and I was lucky to have your old outfit with me for a change in clothes because I got it a day before the flood. I've been an admirer of your work for several years so when I found out you had moved to that town, I wanted to work for you! ' How flattering! ' And I really wanted to make a good first impression, so that's why I made sure to get your old outfit back just in case you ever wanted it. You could always go to a costume party with it, or donate it to a thrift store. So I was outside of the village at the time when the flood happened and I was very lucky I managed to find you. "

That hadn't been inaccurate either; Starline couldn't have afforded to stay up any later looking for him, and he also wouldn't have survived if he had happened to start looking through the portal with its location set in any other part of the continent, so Starline nodded at Sonic looking depressed to try to tell him that. " ' You weren't interested in wearing your overalls after the flood happened, of course. You wanted to put on this dry costume instead. As for why you're in this retired military base, it was the closest place I could take you on such short notice. How do you like the couch I put in there? I made a livable home out of it a long time ago just for fun. A friend of Sonic's is going to get you and Belle to another village that's just like Windmill Village. She can afford to get you a nice place to live there where you'll be able to resume what you were doing before. And I'm planning to dedicate the rest of my life to helping you in every way I'll be asked as an assistant. It's what I've wanted for the last five years. You won't have to pay me. It'll be an honor just to have you around. All I ask is you do most if not all of the talking to those people, because I'm not a social person who's comfortable with most people. From Dr. Starline. "

He put down the note looking unhappy, and said, " Well, thank you, Starline! It could be nice to have some extra help. You could start by getting my daughter over here. " Starline looked nervous and Sonic said, " I'll come along. I can get him there a lot faster! " Starline said nervously, " Good idea. " He walked over to him, put his own hands together nervously when he stopped in front of him, and said sadly while still afraid of the old him, " Um, sir, I'm sorry you went through the kinds of stressful things you have, especially the flood. That never should've happened! "

Mr. Tinker could tell by his tone that he was being sincere and put his warm hand on his shoulder, which filled him with overwhelming joy as he said, " Aw, you don't have to apologize, I'll be alright. " Starline had to wipe away tears of joy, as he was told, " And you don't have to call me sir. I'm not literally your boss. " He wanted to keep how sad he was about never being able to see the Windmill Villagers again to himself to avoid depressing everyone. He would've felt a lot worse if he could actually remember them outside of his memories with Belle in them.

Starline found himself appreciating how nice he was to him already, but was still nervous about saying, " W-Well since I've been reading about your work for over a decade, I know your first name's Ivo. I know it's sudden but may I call you that instead? It'll be faster than Mr. Tinker and I'll be more comfortable calling you that than anything else. "

" Sure, why not? Just try not to let people hear that my name's Ivo. I get the feeling that people would think it's weird, " he replied. He had a gut feeling that a lot of people wouldn't think Ivo was a good name, that he might have been mocked for it, but he wanted to humor him to put him more at ease when he was so unusually nervous around him. Starline was asked, " Why did you take so long to try to work for me? " and was told, " I didn't think you'd believe my help was necessary, so I didn't think you'd say yes, and I was too nervous that I wouldn't make a good impression. So I only ended up meeting you when I felt like I had to or I'd never forgive myself. " Sonic said to Starline, " Alright, I'm gonna get you to Belle, so hold on! In the meantime, you go change! "

Starline told him, " Follow me, I'll show you where the bathroom is, " and got him all the way over there with his overalls, telling him on the way, " If you ever want a change of outfit I could get you another pair of overalls with a darker shade of pink and you'll look much better in those. " He nodded in response and Starline made sure he went into the bathroom and closed the door before holding his wrist out for Sonic, who reluctantly grabbed hold of Starline and ran off with him, amazing Mr. Tinker by speeding off in a blue blur that protected him from getting hurt by the speed.

They were instinctively nervous about leaving Eggman alone in the base so easily without checking to see if he had actually been upgraded first, and Starline was even more nervous about seeing Belle again, let alone living with her and working alongside her from now on, and he reminded himself in his thoughts that it'd be worth it because it was the only way he could work for Eggman again. All he had to do was remember how wonderful it felt when Eggman put his hand on his shoulder and was nice to him for him to know it was the right call.

On the way, Sonic asked him, " Are you sure there's nothing in the base for him to discover to find out more about you, like a diary? " Starline said, " I deleted all of it, as soon as you asked me for my boots. So he'll never read about the fact that I wanted to turn Eggman into him and become off-put by me. I've had a diary read more than enough times by now to know it's better to get rid of. And I won't make one again. I can't risk anyone in that village finding it. " Sonic stopped at his house's door and rang the doorbell.

When Blaze answered the door, he said happily, " We did it! I'm gonna go get Belle! " She looked thrilled at the news and Sonic ran all the way up to Belle in a second, scooped her up in his arms telling her, " I've got a surprise for you! You'll have to see it to believe it! " and went over to Blaze and told her, " Keep Starline with you and follow me! " which of course she already knew she had to do. They all got back to the base in seconds, Sonic opened the door in the ground as Belle was wondering why they were going there, expecting some presents. She did wonder if he got Mr. Tinker back, but didn't want to get her hopes up.

They walked down the staircase and opened the door at the end of the underground tunnel, and Sonic rushed inside with the confused Belle, who gasped at seeing Mr. Tinker leave the bathroom and smile at her calling out happily, " Belle! " Sonic picked up the note and whispered to her, " Starline got him back, I'll explain later, " facing away from him. She was so stunned at what happened that she couldn't talk at first, wondering if it was just a dream.

Bbut when Mr. Tinker put his arms out and told her, " Give me a hug! " something Eggman would never say, she ran up to him and slowed down a bit before jumping into his arms to hug him. He said, " I'm so glad you're alright! " She exclaimed, " Me too! And I never want us torn apart again! " And when they let go, Starline kept her from questioning his presence by saying, " And you never will be! You need something to eat, like that delicious sub I've got in the fridge! Sonic, you can get it in a second, right? "

Sonic ran over to the fridge to open it and get a wrapped up sub for him, which he opened and started eating, and Starline said nervously, " I-I need to talk to Belle outside. " Mr. Tinker said, " He's my new extra assistant, Dr. Starline! He saved me and got me here. Don't worry Belle, you're still my main assistant, you just won't be overwhelmed with stuff to do anymore. All he asks is that someone else do the talking for him in front of people. You two are both shy and stand out in a crowd, so you've got a lot in common! "

They looked surprised at him, and Belle reassured him and Starline with a smile while saying, " You're right, " and whispered cheerfully to them as he was distracted, " He was always a little insensitive. It's why I've got a match in one of my fingers, and a nose like this, but he's still nice enough anyways." Sonic cleared his throat behind Belle directing her attention to the note in his hand as Mr. Tinker was distracted by how good the sub tasted. He whispered to her, " Please just play along with this! Come outside. " He made sure she'd walk out the door and closed it behind him and her as Blaze kept an eye on Mr. Tinker.

Starline looked nervous and wished he didn't have to be there as she read the note silently, boring them all as Sonic read it over her shoulder, and when she was finally done, she remarked quietly, " It's amazing that you can mislead someone so much while still telling the truth. " He replied quietly, " It made it easier on me. At least this way I know that at no point did I actually lie to him. I know you have every reason not to want me around but I'm begging you to humor me on this. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to be as helpful as I can to the two of you, suppressing every complaint I have, and I'll even let you get back at me. I won't have the freedom to not put up with it because I NEED him back. Every day since you last saw me, I've been miserable, so this can't be any worse! "

While thankful that the door was soundproof, he said, " The only reason I bothered to leave that city and lived this long was that I thought HE should be the one who gets to kill me, and that he wouldn't get to get back at me if I stayed where I was because the city was collapsing above me, and he wouldn't get to beat me up for nearly as long if I didn't wait until I fully healed before coming back to him. I only changed my mind about doing that because I had a lot of time to think when I was recovering. I had to get Sonic to upgrade him to give him his amnesia back because it's the only way he'll treat me properly and the only way I'll be able to trust him. Even now I don't fully trust him yet, because it's still sinking in that I really did this, so I couldn't stand being around the real him. Blaze is going to get us to a new village that's as similar to yours as possible. So you'll essentially get your life back to normal. "

He reassured her, " You don't have to like me and I'm under no delusions that I'll outright love my new life as his assistant. I doubt I'd be comfortable talking to people I don't trust, I want to keep to myself and let him do all of the talking, and it'll be boring, but anything's better than the alternatives. I bet the real him would only take me back for a punching bag after putting cybernetic enhancements in me that'd let him punish me at will, at least according to the nightmares I had. I'll be on my best behavior for him either way but I'll be comfortable knowing that a single mistake won't get him to shock me, or worse. It'd be relaxing compared to how it was working for Dr. Eggman, so you've got nothing to worry about. And I mean that, he's got a device in him that's keeping his amnesia permanent. Even if I did want to leave the village I'd just go live here again and leave you two alone, but I'd miss him too much to not go back to assisting him the next day. "

She replied, " Alright, alright, you didn't have to convince me. If you're the reason I got my father BACK, this is the least I could do to repay you. " They shook hands, as she thought, " But I'll still be keeping my eyes on you, just in case. " Belle let go and said, " I just wanted a quick little apology, that's all. " Starline said sadly, " I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made you so miserable and made the most embarrassing mistake on the planet because I didn't know any better. It's part of why I've been so depressed and still haven't cheered up. I should've known he'd make a terrible excuse for a boss without amnesia but I didn't want to believe it until it happened, so I had to do it to appreciate him as he is now. And Kitsunami wondered if he would've gotten his memories back on his own regardless because Shadow did but I would have some nerve to insist that he definitely would've as some sort of defense, and I doubt it's really true. "

He explained, " I should've made a way to make his amnesia permanent either way, but I couldn't have done that at the time, especially since the technology I used to do it to him today was based off a non-contagious version of the Metal Virus in the first place, the same thing I upgraded Kit and Surge with. And speaking of upgrades, I want to scan him with my cybernetic scanner to make absolutely sure he was upgraded exactly as intended, not that there was a chance of failure. It worked every time I used it. But I'm still so absolutely stunned at the fact that my plan looked like it worked that I need to make sure he's not faking, somehow, so I'd like to go back to the Sigma base real quick and get the cybernetic scanner. It tells me exactly what technology is in a person and what's going on in it. "

Sonic opened the door, calling out, " Mr. Tinker, I'm gonna get him home to get some of his clothes, " and closed the door, and headed for the staircase with a satisfied smirk to Starline's annoyance, as they knew that now he had no choice but to come back with his other clothes. Sonic said, " You're welcome. Besides he'll wonder why you have only one outfit otherwise, so you're lucky I thought to do this. " As they started walking down the hallway towards the staircase to the door in the ground, he remembered calling him a fashion disaster, and felt guilty about it since he wasn't acting like the same person anymore.

He felt even worse when he remembered being told that he used to be bullied, which made him wonder if that made him compare him to bullies and if they always made fun of his clothes. But he couldn't bring himself to apologize to him for that insult, at least not right away, because it'd only fly in the face of what he thought was a good message he was giving him that he should do away with his old, villain's outfit, if he immediately did a 180 and told him he shouldn't have made fun of it.

He remembered what it was like to go to the Sigma base, and told him, " Actually I'll have to get Kit's help if I wanna get around that base. " " Why? " he asked, and got told, " When I went there he locked down all of the routes around the place so that I could only go to one room. Obviously the routes would still be locked so he'd be needed to unlock them. " As Starline figured out, Kitsunami had been too ashamed to tell him about that. Starline told Sonic, " He lives on 102 Pine Street in Central City. " He opened the door above the stairs, they walked out of the underground tunnel, and Sonic brought Starline with him at super speed to Tails' house so that he could look up his address on the computer to get the directions there.

When they got there, Starline hid behind a tree, Sonic rang the doorbell and Kitsunami answered the door to him, to his surprise. He said, " My mom was too busy to answer the door. I'm really busy with homework right now. " Sonic told him, " Sorry but this'll only take a minute. I need your help getting your old home base out of lockdown so I could get Starline's cybernetic scanner out of it. That way he can check on the upgrades that made Eggman Mr. Tinker. "

Kit looked surprised, and said, " Really?! You did it, already? Well, okay if it makes him feel better, but we'll have to tell my mom I'm leaving first. " Sonic followed him from the door to the kitchen, where he saw a blue fennec lady with an apron on covered in cake batter, who was honored to meet him. So it didn't take any convincing on his part to get her permission, especially since Kit already told her the base was free of any danger beyond the training rooms.

Things went exactly as one would expect, with Kitsunami flying up to an air duct to get to the computer in the base, getting it out of lockdown, and then Sonic sped around wherever he needed to go. They left the base after getting the scanner, and briefly visited Starline's old mansion with the mortage long since paid off so that Sonic could take a few of the clothes from the closet and sling them over his shoulder.

He rushed to Starline's current base with the clothes and came back to get some more, and started running back to the base with Kit's frozen hydro coils around him so he could be brought with him as he held Starline's wrist. On the way there, Kit said, " Can I have a talk with you for a while before you move to the Sol Dimension? There's some things I want to ask you. " Starline agreed reluctantly, " Alright, I owe you that much. " Sonic brought him and Kit back there, which all led up to the point where Starline pointed the scanner at Mr. Tinker when he wasn't looking and confirmed that he had nothing to worry about, which was some bittersweet good news making him smile nervously in relief. There was still a part of him that felt bad about doing that to Eggman that still thought he could've been a good boss as the old him and wished he could've gone back to those days to do it right that time, but he knew Mr. Tinker would be a much better boss than Eggman in a good mood anyways.