Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Jenni unleashed one of her newer projects, Beta, out to face and defeat the hypnotized, berserk Freedom Fighters. Though Amy and Julie proved to be a powerful match for the robot, they were ultimately dealt with. Though Tekno was clever enough to wait until Jenni was by herself. With a heart to heart, Jenni got through to Tekno, allowing her to see the error of her ways… But not before Tails Doll uses Tails as a hostage against Sonic…
Within Tails' Workshop, Sonic was seen glaring at the fake Tails. Tails Doll held the real Tails in his grip, threatening to turn him into fluff on the ground. As fast as Sonic was, even he wasn't sure he could save Tails before anything bad happened to him.
Tails Doll: "See what playing a hero gets you? Situations like these where you can't do anything without risking the life of your beloved friend."
Sonic: "Oh shut it. What do you want, Doll?"
Tails Doll: "Very well, I'll make it short and simple… I want you as my new host. You have proven to be far more capable than this boy's form… As such, if you surrender yourself to me, I'll give back his form and take your's in his place. So what do you say?"
Tails: "Sonic! Don't do it! Please!"
Sonic began to consider his options. Any sudden movements would risk Tails' life; no amount of bluffing could get around this since by all accounts, he is much stronger than Tails; with no backup, Sonic was well and truly alone.
Tails Doll: "Tick tock, hedgehog."
Sonic: "...Fine."
Tails Doll smiles at this answer, charging up his antenna to turn Sonic into a doll and himself into Sonic. But as he was charging, the trio started to hear low humming. Sonic recognized this humming; and just as he did, two walls made of energy appeared and smashed onto Tails Doll, crushing and forcing him to let go of Tails. Sonic was quick to grab Tails before he hit the ground.
Sonic: "Tails! You okay?"
Tails: "Oh, yeah. Just a little stuffed."
Tails Doll: "Grr!? Wh-Who dares…!?"
Voice: "I dare!"
Aleena, who was slowly getting off the floor, had sung a Mystic Melody in order to trap the fake Tails between the energy walls. Sonic smiles as he gives a thumbs up to his mom.
Sonic: "Alright, Mom! You give him the hands!"
Aleena: "Sonic, try to get some distance between yourself and this fiend. I'll take Uncle Charles and get him to safety."
Sonic: "You won't stay and fight, Mom?"
Aleena winks and smiles at Sonic as she answers him.
Aleena: "You're a grown boy, Sonic. You've got this; I believe in you."
Sonic looks at his mom with an awe-inspired gaze as Aleena runs up to Charles and wakes him up so the two of them could leave. Sonic then nods before glaring at Tails Doll.
Sonic: "Looks like the deal's off, poser!"
He then taunts at the trapped doll by sticking out his tongue and pulling down his left bottom eyelid before turning to run and create some distance. The taunting does get under Tails Doll's skin as his antenna glows before erupting the energy walls off of him, letting out an angered roar.
Sonic: "Sounds like he got free. But that's fine; I've got the advantage."
Tails: "B-But Sonic… What if I end up like this forever…?"
Sonic: "We'll think of something. When there is a will, there is a way. And when there's a road, there's a Sonic!"
Sonic skids to a stop as he turns to face Tails Doll, now with a confident grin on his face. The fake Tails flies in and lands on the ground a few feet from Sonic, gritting his teeth as he glares at the blue hedgehog.
Sonic: "Aw. A little salty you lost your toy? Sorry, Doll, but playtime is over!"
Tails Doll: "You are only delaying the inevitable, hedgehog. A little muskrat like yourself cannot hope to win."
Sonic: "Yap yap yap. Did Eggman program you to talk or to destroy?"
Tails Doll growls before firing a series of lasers from his antenna, each one missing thanks to Sonic's super speed. Sonic gets in close before sliding under Tails Doll and swinging an upward kick to the fake fox's chin, sending him flying off the ground. Tails Doll growls before swinging at Sonic with his tails, the blue blur dodging each swing before placing doll Tails on Tails Doll's face. This causes a minor distraction as Sonic uses a Super Peel-Out to send the fake fox flying back with heavy force, grabbing Tails back into his hand after the impact.
Tails: "Why'd you do that?"
Sonic: "Didn't want to leave you out of the action, little buddy. Besides, I have an idea…"
As Sonic tapped his feet in rapidly decreasing patience, Tails Doll began to take a moment to think on what he could do to circumvent the situation. He had to be sneaky… He rose from where he was sent by Sonic and made his way to the fight before glaring at Sonic.
Tails Doll: "Your ability to get under my synthetic skin is dangerous enough as is. And yet for all your taunting, you've wasted too much time. Your friend may as well be stuck as a doll forever."
Sonic: "Wanna test that then? Unless you're bluffing."
Tails Doll flinches at the claim, starting to sweat nervously as he glares at Sonic. Sonic, though, smiles at the reaction before then shrugging.
Sonic: "But hey, not my call. I mean, it's not like you'd be able to hit me anyway."
The fake fox, now starting to lose his patience, charges at Sonic, firing his blasts at the hedgehog; of course, none of the land a hit. Tails Doll swings his tails, fires more lasers, and even tries to get the drop on Sonic with smoke screens, but none of it seemed to hit the blue blur at all. However, Sonic suddenly trips on a log from a downed tree, losing his footing.
Sonic: "Whoa!"
Tails Doll sees an opportunity and quickly lunges, grabbing Sonic's right arm and neck before slamming his tails onto Sonic's legs, pinning him to the ground.
Tails Doll: "No more of your childish games! I will take your body and I will serve the Robotnik Empire proudly as the ultimate robot!"
Sonic: "H-Heh… Talk about childish… While you're nothing more than a child's play thing."
Angered by the insistent taunting, Tails Doll charges his Doll Beam as he smiles a crazy, deranged smile at Sonic, practically drooling with excitement as he smiles. As he gets ready to fire, Sonic quickly moves his free arm to punch Tails Doll off him and quickly slams doll Tails onto the antenna as Tails Doll fires, causing him to get hit from point blank range. A blinding red light greets Sonic as he covers his eyes from the brightness. Once the light disappears, he peeks over to where the two Tails were to see the real Tails back to normal and Tails Doll as a regular doll on the ground.
Tails: "Hey! I'm me again! I'm ME again!"
Sonic: "Alright, it worked! Well, of course it would."
As Sonic gloats to himself, Tails runs up to hug him, almost knocking Sonic down. But the hedgehog couldn't help but smile as he pats Tails on the head.
Sonic: "Good to see you're okay, buddy."
As the two embraced, Tails Doll twitches a bit before rising off the ground. Sonic takes notice, causing Tails to look back as well to see the now voiceless doll glaring soullessly at the duo. But rather than be afraid of his wrath, the two simply looked at each other.
Sonic: "Wanna knock this guy's lights out?"
Tails: "Only if I get the last hit."
Sonic: "Deal."
Sonic and Tails fist bump before they immediately jumped into action, running at the doll at full speed. Sonic bashes him with a Spin Jump; Tails follows up with a flying roundhouse kick; when Tails Doll was flying down towards the ground, Sonic gets under and kicks him back into the air with a flip kick, passing him to Tails; Tails spikes the doll by slapping him with his two tails, sending the Tails Doll towards the ground again.
Sonic: "Tails gives a mean spike! But can Sonic go in for the save!?"
As Sonic commentates, he 'tries' to save the 'ball', but ends up failing as Tails Doll lands face first into the beach sand.
Sonic: "Oh! No luck! Score one for the twin tailed fox!"
Tails cheered for himself as he pumped his arms into the air. He then flies down towards Tails Doll and lifts him out of the sand. Tails Doll had swirls for eyes, indicating his dizziness. The fox then gripped the red glowing gem that acted as the source of Tails Doll's power, and crushed it, destroying it to pieces.
Tails: "And with that, no more trouble from you, Doll!"
Tails Doll could only go limp at that but he had comedic tears streaming from his eyes, showing that while the Chaos Gem was indeed his power source, he was still fully sentient without it. Sonic walked up to Tails before giving him a high five.
Back at the Hill Top Mansion, Sally was looking exhausted and bruised up as she was facing off against Dark Sonic. Though she had done well to defend herself from this twisted version of her boyfriend, his healing factor made it impossible to keep him down.
Dark Sonic: "What's wrong, Sal? Feeling a bit under the weather? You could just lie down… AND DIE ALREADY!"
Dark Sonic rushes at Sally, ready to strike her down there and then; Sally even braced herself for the attack, too tired to conjure a barrier or even simply dodge. But as luck would have it, at the moment Tails Doll's Chaos Gem is destroyed, Dark Sonic vanished, turning into dust with a dumbfounded look on his face. Sally was equally dumbfounded before she… took Dark Sonic's advice and flopped onto her back with a long sigh.
Sally: "About time, Sonic… You have a seriously bad habit of being late…"
As things cleared up at the Emerald Hill Resort, Tekno and Jenni approached Sonic and Tails, with Tekno looking a bit shy around Tails.
Sonic: "Yo, Jen! Clear things up with the others?"
Jenni: "Oh, we just needed a talk. That's all."
Jenni looked down at Tekno before giving her a reassuring nod. Tekno then approaches Tails and extends a hand.
Tekno: "I… I wanted to apologize… for real this time… about what I said… I jumped to the wrong conclusions and… I'm sorry for what I said and did before… Forgive me?"
Tails looked at the hand then at Tekno before smiling warmly and grabbing Tekno's hand… then pulling her into a hug, reassuring her that things were forgiven.
The next day…
At Agatha's Cafe in Metropolis, Julie, Rosie, and Amy were all looking at Sally with confused looks as Sally explained about why in-fighting was a bad thing and that they needed to solve their issues.
Julie: "In-fighting?"
Rosie: "Um… Sally? What do you mean 'we were fighting each other'? I don't recall anything like that."
Amy: "Yeah. I remember you and I going to Emerald Hill Resort, but after that… I'm drawing a blank. Next thing I know, it's the afternoon in my room."
Sally: "W-Wait… You three don't remember anything? But then… How does Tekno…?"
Julie: "I think you've had one too many cups of coffee, Sal."
Rosie: "She is more used to tea~"
Amy: "Hah! A bit of a coffee newbie then!"
The trio start to laugh at Sally's expense, causing the chipmunk to get red in the face and puff out her cheeks in frustration.
Sally: "I-I am not! I-I can drink coffee just fine! Agatha! Give me another round!"
Agatha looked at Sally from her position behind the counter before just shrugging, going to make more coffee. Tekno and Jenni laughed at the scene that was on display before Tekno decides to ask what was on Sally's mind.
Tekno: "How is it that they don't remember what happened at the resort, but I do? Any theories to that, Jen?"
Jenni: "Hmm… It could be that you were a 'Patient Zero' type deal. Kind of like a hypnotic virus that latches onto the darkest part of a person's psychological mind. How me, Sonic, or Sally were not affected is beyond even me though… Perhaps Sonic's lax nature towards trauma and Sally's cool headedness acted as a deterrent for that 'virus'."
Tekno: "...And you?"
Jenni went quiet, but she did have a theory. But she soon stood up and left some money for her coffee and biscuit on the table, along with money for Tekno's meal and a tip. Tekno looks at the money before looking as Jenni went outside. Once outside, the doctor looked up at the roof to see Sonic and Tails enjoying some freshly made chili dogs.
Sonic: "Yo, Jen! You done eating already?"
Jenni: "Oh, I wasn't that hungry. That and I'd like to check up on you, Tails. If you don't mind."
Tails: "Um… Sure! But can it wait until after breakfast? I'd like to feel more of the fresh air after being a doll for what felt like forever."
Jenni: "Of course. Have a good day, you two!"
Jenni walks off, gesturing a 'See ya' to them as she left. Tails then turns to Sonic, who chows down on the rest of his chili dog.
Tails: "I caused you guys a lot of hassle… Bringing in that Chaos Gem was my fault… And what happened to our new team… I'm so sorry, Sonic…"
Sonic: "Ah, don't worry, buddy."
Sonic places a hand on Tails' shoulder, giving his friend a reassuring smile.
Sonic: "You couldn't have known that thing was dangerous. And dangers like these are something to expect, especially from Eggman. Sally is right; we do need to work on our coordination. But we'll be ready. The Freedom Fighters will be ready."
Tails looks at Sonic with the same awe-inspired gaze Sonic gave to Aleena earlier before smiling and nodding, chowing down on his chili dog before the duo laid back to enjoy the morning sun together.
Elsewhere, on a different island, inside of a rundown home. A figure in a long coat is seen laying back on their chair before their phone rang. Jenni's voice is heard on the other end, and the one she was talking to seemed to have a raspy, deep feminine tone to her.
Jenni: "Hello. Figured you'd be in today."
Raspy Female Voice: "Jen. Been a while. How's that shit hole of an island running for you?"
Jenni: "Better than your shit hole. But I didn't call just to exchange jabs. I called to ask a favor. From one old friend to another."
Raspy Female Voice: "Look, I can't just do any old friend a favor. Whatever it is, I'm sure you can-"
The raspy sounding woman stops as she hears the news from Jenni about the latest update of her condition. Hearing this, the woman sat up in her seat and seemed a bit upset.
Raspy Female Voice: "You… You… only have that long left…?"
Jenni: "Yes. So… This would be a big favor for me if you'd agree… I wouldn't just call if it wasn't at least important…"
Raspy Female Voice: "...Alright. Tell me the details…"
The female figure stood up, revealing herself to… not be very tall. Comparably shorter than Sonic, even. Though despite this, she was of a modest agility build, looking to be quite flexible. The woman looked to the somewhat broken mirror, revealing herself to be a gray furred, seemingly 40-something year old, blind rat Mobian in a black long coat, an orange sweater, a pair of blue shorts with a black belt around her waist, and a pair of black leather low platform shoes.
Rat: "I see… That's all, huh? Sure… Rei the Gunslinger's got your back, Jen. Just tell me where to aim."
The rat, now named Rei the Gunslinger, pulls out a pistol from her long coat pocket and loads it full… ready for whatever assignment she was asked to do…
To be continued…
