Note: Pybro2 did another beta read, thanks as usual.

On the flights back, the group of Jewel, Silver, Omega, Rouge, and Lanolin sat with the unconscious bodies of Tangle and Whisper closeby. Lanolin was bored and asked Rouge, "How do you guys operate?"

Rouge gave a smile, "Sorry, that's classified information."

Lanolin clarified, "I meant as a team."

Rouge closed her eyes and shrugged, "We do our own things, teaming up when needed."

Lanolin raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't sound like much of a team."

Rouge gave a smug smirk, "Perhaps."

Silver then raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Then what about Shadow?"

Rouge frowned, "Saddened, but he'll find a way out. If not, we will. We might seem cold, but we don't forget our teammates."

Omega built on the claim, "AFFIRMATIVE."

Silver was shocked, "Even Omega agrees. I'm impressed."

Lanolin nodded, "I can respect that. But I know you have…other interests too."

Rouge giggled and snarked, "Of course not, I have a squeaky clean reputation to uphold."

Jewel countered, "She's an infamous gem thief."

Rouge smugly replied, "You have any proof?"

Jewel flew up and glared, "I have you on camera!"

Rouge shrugged, "Sure you do. You think I could get this gig as a thief?"

Jewel glanced to the side, "Maybe that was your qualification."

Silver asked, "You two have a history together?"

Jewel reacted with disgust, "Only because she stole from my museum!"

Rouge admitted, "Nah, never met her. She must be mistaking me for someone else."

Jewel flew away in frustration and annoyance, "Whatever. This is why I needed high security, *grumble grumble*."

Rouge then asked back to Lanolin, "You're the leader of the Diamond Cutters, correct? Amazing team name, BTW. You like gems too?"

Lanolin refused to entertain the notion, "Yes, I am the leader. No, it has nothing to do with gems."

Rouge tilted her head, "Then what's it from?"

Lanolin smirked, "Classified information."

Rouge shrugged, able to accept a good comeback, "Touché." She then narrowed her eyes, "Also ironic our teams are led by such busted women huh?"

Lanolin glared away from Rouge, "Not going to dignify that with a response."

Silver looked curious, having overheard the discussion, and was about to ask what that meant before Jewel put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't."

Silver sighed, "Okay."

As they arrived back on their normal island, Silver, Lanolin, and Jewel left with Sonic and Whisper in tow. Rouge bid them, "Farewell. Hope they recover well! Until next time!"

Silver pondered, "Wonder what's going on with Sonic and Whisper…"

Jewel shrugged, "Can't know. But, we'll be taking them to The Restoration Hospital wing."

As they arrived they were set up in their hospital beds. Jewel bit her lip, "Hope they're okay…"

Lanolin reassured, "Commander, They've taken worse. I'll watch over them."

Silver then left, "Guess my work here is done. I need to take care of my garden. See you around!"

Jewel and Lanolin waved him goodbye. Jewel admitted, "That's enough adventure for one day. I need to get back to my office. Later Lanolin."

Lanolin gave a nod, now playing the waiting game on the recovery of her teammates' bodies.


Sonic found himself running down a seemingly endless road and occasional loop. He was unsure if it would ever stop. After doing this for seemingly hours Sonic came across a familiar face running alongside him.

"Heya Sonic!" Shouted Mighty.

Sonic stopped, "Hey Mighty, what's up?"

Mighty smiled, "Wanna hang out at my place?"

Sonic was never one to turn down such an invite if he wasn't busy, "Sure thing!"

The duo ran, in a friendly competition of speed, Sonic holding back a bit. After they made it, Might brought them inside.

Sonic smiled, "What shall we do?"

Mighty thought about it, "How about I watch some tv?"

Sonic nodded, "Odd choice, but sure."

As he tried to take a seat, Mighty put a hand to stop Sonic from sitting down, "You misunderstood. I didn't say we watch some tv."

Sonic was dumbfounded, "Why not?"

Mighty elaborated, "You need to make dinner, the kids need to be fed."

Sonic was even more confused, "What?!"

Then into the room came running a young armadillo and lemur. "Hey dad, hey mom! What's for dinner?"

Sonic eyes shrank, MOM?! Mighty was giving one of the children a swing-around hug. "Oh, it's so great to see you. Mom over here was about to go make us her signature chili dogs!"

Sonic asked the obvious question, "Since when was I a 'mom'?"

Mighty then revealed a mirror, "You tell me."

In the mirror was Tangle's face. Sonic began looking at the rest of his body, only to confirm it was Tangle's wearing some weird housewife dress. His eyes were now microscopic. But he didn't have time to process it as he suddenly found himself sitting at the table with Mighty and these kids. Sonic mentally shut down during this, Mighty complimenting, "You make a great chili dog!"

The children happily nodded, "Where did you learn to make it Mommy?" Asked one.

The other also complimented, "They're to die for!"

They finished their plates and ran off to their bedrooms. Mighty chuckled, "Aren't they great?"

Sonic tried not to scream, only managing a courtesy, "I guess?..."

Mighty nodded, "How about we have another?"

That was the last straw. Sonic began to subconsciously wrap himself in Tangle's tail in horror. He repeated in his mind, This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening! This went on for minutes, his vision going blurry, until suddenly he heard a different voice.

"Uh, Sonic, are you feeling alright?" Said Amy.

Sonic was now at a fancy diner sitting across from Amy. He quickly checked his hands to check if he was back to normal, and he was. He thought, Now I'm dreaming of a date with Amy? Why?

Amy asked, "Sonic, are you there?"

Sonic replied, "I have a lot on my mind."

Amy smiled, "Sorry to hear. What do you feel like?"

Sonic gave an answer, "How about some spaghetti?"

Amy giggled, "Not a chili dog? What have you done with Sonic?"

Sonic smiled confidently, "I can mix it up!"

Amy confirmed, "I remember the first time I saw you order something other than a chili dog. It feels so long ago."

Sonic had to process the remark, "How many dates have we been on?"

Amy smiled, "19"

Sonic remembered again it was a dream, but couldn't bring himself to be mean to Amy. He gave a smirk, "You must really like me, huh Amy?"

Amy blushed, "You know it Sonic. I love you like nothing in the world."

Sonic bragged with his signature grin, "Of course. I'm just that lovable."

Amy smiled, "I love when you smile." Then she became a bit more melancholy with a sad frown, "It's the only thing reminding me you're in there. It's a shame we'd never have kids together."

Alarm bells were starting to go off in Sonic's head, "What do you mean, Amy?"

She then pulled out a mirror, and it was Tangle's face again. Not again! Sonic got up, "Sorry Amy, I need to go!"

Amy frowned, "It hurt to accept myself. I hope you'll come to peace with it too."

Sonic was running out of the restaurant, entering a gray void. He was once again his normal self, and before him the gray void quickly took the form of Green Hill. Sonic began running, shouting, "Subconscious, I'm done with your games. Just talk to me!"

As he made his way through Green Hill, he heard various clips from friends he could recognize.

"It doesn't matter your body, you'll always be my brother." Came a clip from Tails.

"I admit, for becoming a girl, you still put up a decent fight!" Spoke Knuckles.

"This is even more fun than Mighty throwing me! WEEEEEE!" Shouted Ray.

"You look…Different from last time." Trip mused.

"Hi there…are you really Sonic?" Questioned Big.

"Hi…Ms.? Sonic. What happened to Ms. Tangle?" Asked Cream.

"Guess It's my job to save the world now, huh?" Remarked Shadow.

"This isn't so bad, is it Sonic?" Rouge prodded.

"This thing is so cool! I can string it around like party decorations!" Spoke Charmy.

"Charmy, leave her-I mean his tail alone!" Followed Vector.

"You've lost your friend, your own body, and still want to spare Eggman? You're insane Sonic." Spoke Espio.

"Agreed. You can't replace Tangle. Stay out of our way!" Whisper added.

"I miss seeing your face, Sonic." Noted Blaze.

"I've made a lemur friend in the future. Weird coincidence, huh?" Mused Silver

"You really are a lot like Tangle. I sometimes forget she's gone." A clip from Jewel spoke.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I preferred Tangle. You're even more annoying!" Were the words of Lanolin.

"Do you believe in spirits, Sonic? I know it's weird to hear from a robot, but I hope Tangle is still out there. I miss her." Added Belle.

"Hahaha, you thought you could beat me when your new tail makes you an easy target? This is pathetic!" Bragged Surge.

Sonic had quite enough of what was being said, "Could you just stop and make your point already?!"

Green Hill disappeared into the void again as he heard someone speaking with a voice of legion with the most recognizable of which being Tangle's, "You can't outrun your problems forever, Sonic!"

Sonic was a bit disturbed but mostly annoyed at the remark, "What a revelation! Show yourself!"

In front of him was a seeming liquid which formed a silhouette, eventually taking the form of Tangle, who glared intensely, "Hello there, I'm here to teach you a lesson!"

Sonic immediately began running, "If you can catch me first!"

As he ran, the voice angrily remarked, "And that is the first part of our lesson!" Sonic found himself somehow caught by the tail. He was slowly brought back towards the Tangle doppelganger with the tail.

Sonic was confused, "How did you catch me!"

The voice smirked, "This is my domain, you play by my rules. And the first rule is you don't get to be Sonic anymore."

Sonic glared, "What's that supposed to mean?"

'Tangle' answered by beginning to wrap the tail around Sonic like a burrito. As this happened, he could feel his body be forcibly changed inside and out. As the tail unwrapped, he realized it had become his tail, as he had been transformed into Tangle. He looked down into the ground, seeing his reflection, Tangle's face staring back. Before him stood his original form.

Sonic kept up his braggadocious behavior even as he was forced to speak with Tangle's voice, "What kind of twisted lesson are you trying to teach? 'Cause it won't work! I'm Sonic, you can't ever take that from me!"

'Sonic' just gave a glare back, "Then prove it!" It spoke with Sonic's voice backed up by the same echoes as before. It launched his spin dash at him. Sonic tried to dodge, but got caught by the tail and was then smacked around like a ragdoll until he couldn't get up, being finished off with a ball bounce.

He then found himself back to where he had been after being forcibly transformed. Once again, his stolen form launched a spin dash. Sonic this time made sure the tail was far out of reach of a grab. As 'Sonic' stopped, Sonic launched the tail to grab him. He smirked as he spin dashed Sonic into the wheel formed from Tangle's tail. "You tried that before, what did you expect to happen?" 'Sonic' spun the wheel as hard and painfully as possible until Sonic once again found himself at the start of the fight.

Sonic avoided the dash again, this time anchoring the tail right where 'Sonic' stopped, landing a powerful punch this time. Sonic smirked, "How's that for proof!"

'Sonic' arrogantly dismissed it, "Lucky shot." Then he did a circle around Sonic, throwing him into the air. His opponent jumped, grabbing the tail to slam him into the ground and comboed him with the ball bounce until the fight reset again.

This time, 'Sonic' started with a homing attack, blowing Sonic back and ball bouncing him into another reset. That left Sonic fuming, "You just changed the pattern! How is that fair?!"

'Sonic' glared with a frown, "Nothing about this is fair!" He then did another loop combo into homing attack into ball bounce to restart the fight.

This cycle continued for 50 times, Sonic starting to get an upper hand before the rug was pulled out from under him with a well timed homing attack into death-combo. After that, 'Sonic' told him, "You lost the right to be Sonic. It's time to accept that!"

Sonic declared, "Never! It's my name, it's my body, I will fix this!"

As he was dealt another 20 resets with minimal progress, 'Sonic' taunted him, "Your determination is admirable. Too bad it alone can't save us."

Sonic chuckled, "I'll keep trying!"

'Sonic' gave a smirk, "And that's why we're here."

After several more resets, something different happened, Sonic could see various friends, ready to defend him for once. However, 'Sonic' began trying to take them out, one by one. Sonic intervened, and with the help of his friends, they finally knocked out his form thief. Sonic was triumphant, "You forgot about my friends, didn't you?! Sure, I'm powerful, but it's my friends who help me come out on top!"

Then, his body was surrounded by the Chaos Emeralds. His body took on a black aura with his green eyes now glowing. He then rampaged as he took out Sonic's friends one by one. Sonic glared, "Oh no you don't!" As he tried to use the tail to siphon off some energy…only to find Tangle's tail getting grabbed and then getting smacked around even more brutally than ever before, stopping just short of killing him.

Sonic, ever defiant, gave one more quip as his enemy stood in front of the wall he'd been smashed into, "What was that for?"

'Sonic' didn't laugh for once, "You were the hero. Now your body belongs to a villain."

Sonic kept up his cocky grin, "Your point?"

The Dark Super 'Sonic', "You dug this grave, you will lie in it. And that may include never being yourself again! It's time you accepted that!" He then launched as fast as possible to deliver a killing blow.

Sonic barely dodged and frowned sincerely, "I know."

'Sonic' stopped, "What?"

Sonic somberly admitted, "I get it. Those visions could be my future. I'm sorry."

'Sonic' started breaking down into tears, the dark form subsiding. "You always just ignore your problems until it's too late. Your friends deserved better. Tangle deserved better."

Sonic frowned, a single tear streaming down his face as he walked over to put a hand on his own shoulder, "Not so fast…I know it's ironic coming from me. But, if Metal Sonic has our body, Tangle should be in his."

'Sonic' suggested, "Even assuming so, how do we restore her? You saw how damaged Metal Sonic's body was, it's too risky to use the meteor again. If you're such a wise guy, figure that out."

Sonic smiled, "Remember Mecha Sonic's attempt to steal our body?"

The other Sonic began to light up, "Of course! But how will we get to use that?"

Sonic smirked with an unclear look on his face, "I don't know. But there is hope!"

'Sonic' asked through tears as he stood up, "So what now then?"

Sonic hugged his alternate, "We need to stop fighting. We'll get through this, I promise."

The other Sonic hugged back, and he began to glow, being absorbed into Sonic. However, to his annoyance, this did not restore his mental self back to being a hedgehog. "Really? I'm still Tangle? Why?!"

From in his head came the other Sonic, "Whose body are we in again?"

Sonic groaned, "Point taken."

Sonic's dreams returned to a more normal one, letting him finish his reluctant slumber in peace.


While Flying back on the Tornado, Mighty was curious about yet another friend he hadn't met. "What's your name?"

Sticks smiled gladly, "Sticks. I'm Amy's friend."

Amy nodded, "Yep, we go way back. She does her own thing."

Ray asked, "Which is?"

Sticks confidently elaborated, "Hunt for hidden conspiracies and expose them to the world!"

Tails frowned, "Which happens how often?"

Sticks was glared at Tails, "I got to join that…'Team Dark' on their mission because I found their base. I told you there was a GUN base in that forest Amy!"

Amy giggled, "Good job Sticks. Did you get a photo?"

Sticks nodded, "Here we go!" The photo was over her taking a selfie as she made her way through various guards. "They had no idea what hit them!"

Ray had stars in his eyes, "That looks cool! Nice job!"

Mighty however prodded her, "And what exactly does that prove?"

Sticks confidently explained, "Location data lets me know where it was."

Tails then got very smug, "You set location data on with your phone's photos? Are you sure they aren't tracking you?"

Sticks nodded, "They can't. This phone doesn't give out that data."

Tails was skeptical, "If true, show me later."

Tails and the others arrived back at his house with the plane and they entered his lab. Tails frowned and sighed, "Could have gone worse. Now we just need to get Metal Sonic's body so I can-"

Sticks pulled out the robot from who knows where, plopping it on the floor, "Why wait?"

All except Amy were floored at this, Tails asking, "Sticks how did you-?"

Sticks smiled smugly, "How do you think Amy learned to store her hammer?" Amy backed her up with a wink.

Tails was about to ask further questions, but realized he still had no idea how she does that. Unable to counter, he shrugged, "Thank you Sticks. You may all head out now. It'll be very boring to watch me fix and analyze Metal Sonic's body."

They agreed, Mighty winking as he left with Ray, Mighty saying, "It's been nice seeing you again. If you need us again, give us a call!" Tails nodded.

Sticks explained, "With the GUN base found, now I need to look for that Yeti. See you later!"

Amy giggled, "See you later Sticks! I'm going to check up on Sonic in the hospital. Let me know how the repairs go, Tails!"

Tails nodded, "Guess it's just me now." He immediately got to work on the robot. He found the state Metal Sonic's body was in alarming. There were burn marks and other indications of severe electricity overload damage. He eventually found that the connection ports were badly damaged and currently unusable, "Dang it, I'll have to repair that…" And so the young fox got to work on his brother's robotic doppelgänger.


Sonic finally awoke in a hospital bed. Upon waking, he saw two familiar faces awaiting his recovery.

Lanolin was first to speak, "About time you woke up."

Amy chided her, "Lanolin, please, let's be gentle."

Lanolin dialed it back, "Copy that ex-commander."

Amy re-assured, "No need to be so formal."

Lanolin got sheepish, "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

Sonic closed his eyes, "Thank you for checking on me."

Amy smiled, "Of course, I'm always happy to help, Sonic."

Sonic frowned, unloading his insecurity at his new circumstance, "Be honest, do I deserve that name anymore?"

Lanolin and Amy were stunned, Amy replying, "How could you say that?"

Sonic grimaced with a deep sense of guilt, "Just look at me, whose face is this?"

Amy argued otherwise, "It wasn't your fault."

Sonic closed his eyes sadly, "But I let this happen and now my body and identity has been stolen by a spiteful robot. Is it even worth claiming anymore?"

Lanolin countered confidently, "Yes. Sonic, what kind of quitter talk is this?"

Sonic emphasized, "It's not about quitting, I won't stop until I have my face back! But, until then, what's the point? I passed fine as Tangle too…"

Amy now positively added, "Metal Sonic doesn't get to decide who Sonic is, you do. Would Sonic let a thief drag his name? Or forcefully take it back?"

Sonic gave a pondering expression putting a hand to his chin while closing his eyes. Lanolin added, "I followed you guys because you're so courageous. You're right Sonic, you could pass as Tangle. But, the world doesn't need Tangle right now, it needs Sonic!"

Sonic finally regained his confident grin, "Yeah. Get ready world, Sonic is making a comeback!" He got out of the bed and gave a thankful thumbs up, "Thank you both."

Lanolin and Amy smiled respectfully, "You're welcome."

They released Amy smiling at the scene. Then news came to Lanolin, "Ma'am, your other teammate is waking!"

Lanolin nodded, "Let's go see Whisper!"

Amy and Sonic nodded. They walked to her room. Lanolin entered first, the others following. As the Wolf showed signs of waking, she began to sit up. She opened her eyes a bit, showing an annoyed confusion, "Where am I?" Her eyes shrank, "Who am I?!"