Note: Pybro2 doing it again this week, thanks to another beta-read

The three groups made their way to Central City. The sparring group made their way to Central City. On the way they ran into some other old friends: The Chaotix Detective Agency. Upon noticing, Vector grinned happily as Charmy could barely contain his excitement. "Mighty and Ray! It's been so long! Where have you been?"

Mighty ran over to fist bump the Crocodile, "Had a chance encounter and joined the Restoration!"

Vector nodded, "Love to hear it! Also, hi there Knuckles and…"

Espio then stepped forward and said, "Tangle. Also, I never noticed before…" Espio started to blush, "But you're kind of cute."

Charmy jumped in, doing a chant, "Espio has a crush! Espio has a crush!"

The tail went frazzled as Sonic suppressed his embarrassed rage to not scream on the spot, then Tangle made a comment, "Guess you make for an attractive girl, huh?"

Sonic then spoke aloud with a look of deranged frustration, "Can I have one old male friend not suddenly want me for a girlfriend? Is that too much to ask?"

Espio was confused, "Is she-"

Mighty then elbowed Espio to say, "He. That's Sonic in her body."

Espio instantly went invisible, "This didn't happen."

Sonic sighed, "It's fine Espio, you're not the first."

Espio went back to normal and asked, "Who else?"

Knuckles and Mighty raised their hands. Vector, who had been listening, reassured Espio, "See, you're not alone." Vector then asked Sonic, "How'd you end up as Tangle, Sonic?"

Sonic scratched his head, "A meteor. Long story, but it led to Metal Sonic claiming my real body."

Charmy smiled, "Where's the real Tangle? She throws great parties!"

Tangle declared, "I'm in Sonic's phone. It's great to see you guys again! Wish I could, but I'm stuck in this."

Vector was horrified, "Why does that phone sound like her?!"

Tangle giggled and decided to mess with them, "BEEP BOOP BOOP BEEP, I AM TANGLE-DROID. YOU WILL PARTY OR BE DELETED. SURRENDER TO YOUR NEW ROBOT PARTY LORD."

Sonic explained, "She was swapped with me before Metal Sonic stole my body."

Charmy asked, "How come you both sound the same? Don't body swaps involve voice swaps too?"

Sonic wasn't sure how to answer that, "Well, uh…"

Tangle came in with the answer, "VOICES OF A FLESH BODY COME FROM THE VOCAL CORDS. MY VOICE IS GENERATED FROM DATA AND SPEAKERS. THIS IS WHY I CAN SOUND LIKE MYSELF, WHILE SONIC IN MY BODY SOUNDS LIKE ME."

Sonic was baffled at this, "How did you know that?"

Tangle mused, "Looked up on the phone!"

Sonic threw up hands in the air, "Ugh, being a girl sucks!"

Vector questioned, "What's wrong with girls, Sonic?" He then went on a rant, "You can kiss them, go on dates with them, marry them…affectionately twist their ears…have them do household chores for you...have kids with them."

Sonic and Tangle were horrified, Sonic suggesting, "Vector, keep your fantasies to yourself!"

Vector apologetically corrected, "Sorry Sonic, I didn't mean to offend!"

Tangle told Vector using his voice back at him, "Yeah Sonic, just let me be casually sexist to you!"

Vector was embarassed, "Hey! Since when could you talk with my voice?"

Tangle imitated Espio next, "I don't know. I need you to make like Espio and take this seriously." Tangle finished with imitating Charmy, "Bee nice to him, he's very stressed."

Charmy's eyes shined in response, "You can imitate me? That's amazing!"

Vector tried to reassure Sonic, "Look on the bright side, Sonic. Now you get to wear dresses and high heels!"

Sonic glared sideways in annoyance as he quipped, "Yeah, because that's what was missing in my life."

Vector insisted, "Come on, they're gorgeous."

Knuckles elbowed the emasculated former hedgehog, "Yeah Sonic, you'd look great in them!"

That was the last straw, Sonic screaming so loud and shrill that a nearby window shattered. Vector noticed after he recovered from the volume of his voice, "Breaking glass like an Opera singer. You've got a real gift!"

Knuckles smirking happily, "You scream like a girl!"

Sonic wrapped the tail around Vector and Knuckles, spinning them silly as he bluntly remarked, "That is quite enough!"

As they stopped spinning, Vector dizzily commented, "Vanilla, how about we name our kid Argyle?"

Knuckles himself dizzily spoke, "Rouge, I need to protect the Master Emerald! Can't leave it right now!"

Sonic smirked happily watching the aftermath, "I'm sure Rouge will love to hear about that."

Knuckles shook his head back to lucidity, eyes going wide, "Wait, Sonic! We can talk about this! She doesn't need to know!"

Sonic grinned with malice, "Tell you what: You stop taunting me over 'being a girl', we can keep this a secret between us. Deal?" Sonic reached out with the tail, imitating a hand.

Knuckles gripped it in a firm handshake, "Deal."

Tangle commented through the earpiece, "You're doing it just like me, I'm so proud."

Sonic whispered, "Not letting him do the painful handshake trick. Not this time."

Tangle commented, "You know I'm pretty strong, and not just with the tail, right?"

Knuckles kept up his cocky attitude, "But Sonic, you could have just asked me to stop."

Sonic glared seriously, "Uhuh. Anybody here buy that?"

Might and Espio bluntly stated, "Nope."

Ray added, "Doubtful."

Vector agreed, "Yeah, Knuckles, that doesn't sound like you."

Charmy had dozed off and asked, "What was that?"

Vector dismissed it, "Nevermind, Charmy."

Knuckles was frustrated, "Fine, gang up on me."

The group then went to the Central City branch of The Restoration.


Jewel was waiting at the Central City branch for others to arrive. First to arrive were Tails and Amy. But others weren't too far behind. Sticks arrived next.

Jewel greeted them, "…Sticks right?"

Sticks was glad to be acknowledged, "You remembered! You're not tracking me are you?"

Jewel facepalmed, "Not beyond security cameras…"

Sticks gladly replied, "Good."

Amy greeted her friend, "Thanks for coming Sticks. How's the Yeti hunt going?"

Sticks frustratedly clenched her fist, "I keep thinking I found it, only to find a person with white fur! They're out there, I swear!"

As that discussion finished, Shadow, Lanolin, and Rouge arrived. Jewel was intimidated, Lanolin commenting, "The Diamond Cutters have arrived!"

Rouge countering, "No, we're Team Dark."

Shadow had an annoyed expression as he spoke, "It doesn't matter."

Jewel commented, "Uh, please take a seat. And please don't hurt me, Shadow."

Shadow folded arms and glared, "Why would I?"

Jewel was sweating, "I'm just intimidated by you. Not used to seeing Whisper's eyes with such…anger in them."

Sticks correctly called the actual reason, "It's because you're not used to seeing her eyes open, huh?"

Shadow glared at Sticks, "I am not a girl."

Sticks was similarly intimidated, "I'm talking about the real Whisper."

Shadow closed his eyes and looked away, "Whatever."

At that moment came the last group, The Chaotix and Sonic's sparring group. Vector made his grand entrance, "The Chaotix Detective Agency is on the case!"

Shadow put a hand to his forehead massaging it in frustration, "Great, these jokers."

Espio respectfully apologized, "Sorry about that, Whisper."

That got him to glare viciously, "That is not my name!"

That caused The Chaotix to shiver in fear, Charmy asking, "Why's the wolf lady look like she's gonna kill us?"

Vector answered to the best of his ability, "I don't know Charmy, but I can take her. I promise!"

The glare intensfied, Sonic coming in to explain, "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you guys that's Shadow in Whisper's body."

Shadow glared at him, "You're on thin ice, Sonic."

Charmy noticed this and asked, "Wait, so Whisper crushed on Tangle, and now Shadow is in her body while Sonic is in Tangle's body. Is this a sign?"

Sonic made a kissing face, "I dunno, is it Shadow?"

Shadow gave a dismissive, "Hmph."

Sticks glowed, "That's something I'd say! I'm impressed Vector you're raising that kid right!"

Vector hadn't met this girl before and so rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to respond, "Uhhhhhhhhhh…Thanks?"

Mighty gave him an elbow of congratulations, "You're doing great, Vector, I'm proud of you!"

Knuckles gave him a pat on the back, agreeing, "You're a great father!"

Vector wasn't ready and crashed onto the ground, Ray asking Knuckles bluntly, "Maybe ease on that one?"

Knuckles took a confident pose, "Everybody knows my greetings and congratulations go hard!"

Espio further pressed, "You wanna pay his medical bills?"

Knuckle's eyes shrank, "Right. Sorry about that Vector."

Vector got up, "It's fine, I've taken worse."

Jewel facepalmed, "Well, with everyone here, let's go over why we're here today!"

Jewel started a news report, "In today's news, Sonic the Hedgehog has been spotted roaming around in Central City and neighboring towns. He's been showing up to random places, wrecking them, seeming to look for something."

Jewel ended the clip, "We have a chance to capture Sonic's body thief."

Sticks eyed the clip suspiciously, "But that doesn't look like Sonic."

Sonic began running, "Then what are we-"

Lanolin stopped him, "Every time you rush into this, you've made it worse. Stop and listen for once, okay?"

Tangle chimed in from the earpiece, "She isn't wrong."

Sonic commented in response, "Fine."

Jewel nodded, "Don't worry, I'll be quick. Chaotix, you go to the northeast. Team Sonic, southeast. Team Dark, southwest. The rest, northeast."

Knuckles cheered, "Alright! You can call us Team Knuckles!"

Ray and Mighty glared to the side, Ray snarking, "Of course…"

Mighty winked, "We'll be great!"

Lanolin asked, "Wait, what about me?"

Jewel replied, "Go with Team Dark."

Lanolin grew a bit annoyed, "I said no and still wound up with you guys."

Rouge smiled, "Maybe it's a sign…"

Sticks declared, "I'll go with Amy!"

Jewel nodded, "Sure, sorry I forgot."

Speaking of forgetting someone, Silver finally made his appearance, "Hey guys! Sorry, it took me a while to find this place!"

Jewel was frustrated to have him suddenly show up. She asked, "Could you go with-"

But he'd already made up his mind, "How about I go with the Guardian Angel!" Silver spoke as he ran to Shadow in Whisper's body.

Shadow chuckled in disgust, "I assure you, I'm no 'angel'."

Silver grimaced, "Right, my bad."

She then sent them off with a fingerpoint, "Now go get him! Best of luck!"


The Chaotix were looking around blocks, trying to find any sign of 'Sonic'. They started with looking for footprints, fingerprints, and other signs. Except that when Vector was going to apply some fingerprint powder, Espio wisely pointed out, "What good is that? We all wear gloves."

Vector looked back at Espio to contradict him in frustration, "What about Tangle and Mighty?!"

Espio frowned as he walked up to Vector, "And are we looking for them."

Vector facepalmed, "...Right."

Charmy was flying high above the skyline when he noticed a blue streak. Charmy told Vector, "Sonic spotted, near the grocery store!"

Espio heard and responded, "On it." And blitzed over to spot 'Sonic'. 'Sonic' stuck out his tongue, "Try and catch me!" 'Sonic' ran into the store. Espio tried to follow, but lost him in an aisle. Charmy and Vector entered the building shortly behind, "Attention, The Chaotix are locking down the building. Nobody leaves until Sonic is found!"

Vector guarded the exit while Charmy and Espio searched the store. But, everywhere they looked, they couldn't find Sonic. Charmy checked the shelves too, "No sign of Sonic here!"

Espio was confused himself, "He came in here. Where did he go?"

None of them had any luck finding him until he opened an emergency exit, declaring, "Sorry, you clowns, better luck next time!"

Vector put hands to his face, "We forgot about the emergency exits!"

Charmy reassured Vector, "We'll get him next time."

Espio gave a confident smirk, "We aren't done yet!"

Vector hugged them both, "Thanks you guys." Vector began walking out, saying, "Sorry for keeping anyone too late!"

The customers were annoyed, but got back to their shopping.


Knuckles and his impromptu team were searching the streets. Knuckles started climbing walls while Ray flew about the skyline with an assist from Mighty. Mighty hadn't had the chance to ask and so asked Knuckles, "You're determined to stop Metal Sonic, aren't you?"

Knuckles gave an angry expression, "Absolutely. Sonic is not a villain and we will make him pay for this! Though, now I'm curious what having Sonic's speed is like."

Ray raised an eyebrow as he continued flying, "Really? We're plenty fast too."

Knuckles reluctantly admitted, "Sure, but Sonic's speed is on another level. I'll admit, challenging him is intimidating, even if it's actually Metal Sonic."

Mighty grimaced himself at the thought, "All of Sonic's speed, none of the restraint? That could be ugly."

Knuckles still kept his bravado up, "But, just you wait. When he shows his stolen face I will-"

Then a blue blur sped by them. That set Knuckles berserk, "Get back here!" The trio split up to cover different routes, Knuckles barely keeping him in sight. Then 'Sonic' ran into a crowd. After this, Knuckles, Ray, and Mighty tried their best to search through it, but were chagrined to learn he'd escaped without a trace. Knuckles punched the ground, sending rocks flying that Mighty fortunately caught. "Dang it. He got away! How!"

Mighty put a hand on Knuckles' shoulder, "We tried our best. We'll just keep looking!"

Ray gave a soft smile, "Agreed, we aren't done yet!"

Knuckles smacked his hands together to make clear a desire to get back to it, "Thanks you guys. We will capture him!"

So the trio did a 3-way fist bump and went back to looking.


Sonic was more determined than ever. He could smell one important piece of this puzzle to fix the mess that was about to be caught. He gave a smirk, "I'm already to capture that wannabe Sonic."

Amy had her hammer out and ready, asking Sonic as she stood with it, "Even if we pull this off, we have more to do."

Sonic sighed, "I know Amy. But, baby steps."

Amy stared off dreamily, "It'll be nice when you have your face back."

Tangle snarked, "Now kiss!"

Both Sonic and Amy blushed bright red at the suggestion, Amy asking, "Tangle, why?!"

Tangle giggling through it, "Payback for yesterday!"

Sticks had been watching and laughed, "Oh, Sonic, are you developing a harem?"

Sonic blushed even harder and responded in deep disgust, "No! Why would you say that?!"

Sticks continued, "You have every other guy and girl swooning over you. It's the natural conclusion!"

Sonic began wrapping the tail around himself, "In what universe am I a harem protagonist?!"

Tangle poked fun at the idea, "That does sound silly. But, maybe you're just unbelievably attractive as a girl."

Sonic put hands on the side of his head and bent forward, "Let me out of this body! Please!"

Tangle asking, "Would you rather be a robot or program like me?"

Sonic said from within the tail, "Yes, actually."

Tails came in from above, "Metal Sonic has been spotted, coming in hot!"

Sonic immediately untangled Tangle's Tail, launching it across the road in hopes of a trip wire. But, it didn't work, 'Sonic' just hopped over it. Tangle semi-congratulated Sonic, "Quick thinking, too bad it was easily avoided."

Sonic sighed, "We tried. Let's keep looking!"


Team Dark and their temporary partners looked around. Rouge looked from above, while Silver stayed around Shadow. Shadow noticed this and was not amused, "I don't need your protection. Leave me alone."

Silver, however, gave a soft blush, "Your eyes are so pretty, I got lost in them."

Shadow an annoyed glare at the hedgehog, "Are you seriously flirting with me?"

Silver gave a response of embarrassment, "I've never seen her eyes so open before. They're gorgeous."

Shadow kept walking, "Well, they aren't mine."

Rouge had noticed what was going on from above, flying in to ask, "Silver, honey, please give Shadow some space. He doesn't like you ogling that body."

Shadow smiled, "Thanks Rouge." Rouge got back to flying.

Lanolin requested, "Silver, how about you come with me?"

Silver shook his head, "Actually, these hours of searching have made me hungry. I'll be back with some food for everyone!"

Shortly thereafter Rouge notified Shadow with their GUN Walkie Talkie, "Shadow, Blue's been spotted heading your direction."

Shadow smirked, "It's about time!"

Shadow broke out the emerald and declared, "Chaos Control!" And disappeared, placing himself right in front of the Blue hedgehog. He was caught off guard, letting Shadow rip the Rocket wisp to launch 'Sonic' into the air.

Sonic had also been nearby, noticing the chaos control happen. He ran over, Tangle shouting in her body's ear to Sonic, "Now's our chance, grab him with the tail!"

Sonic launched it, wrapping it around the imposter. Sonic jumped in joy, "Yeah, we got him!" Sonic ran over to give a high-five to his fellow former-hedgehog, "Nice shot! High Five."

Shadow kept his usual glare, "No."

Sonic sighed, "Buzzkill."

Lanolin was happy to congratulate them, "Well, we did it, Sonic and Shadow, now we just need to get this 'Sonic'-"

Sticks had run over and examined the hedgehog and came to the conclusion, "That's not Sonic."

Sonic's eyes went wide, asking, "Sticks, why do you say that? We already know that."

Sticks folded her arms and glared at the imposter, "No, I don't think it's your body either. Your body's eyes aren't brown."

Tangle took a look from her earpiece's vision, noticing that, "Sonic, she's right. That's Mimic!"

Sonic's eyes went wide in bafflement, "I knew he felt funny."

The imposter hedgehog sighed, revealing his true form, "Fine, you got me!"

Sonic asked him bluntly, "You had a great thing with your previous team, why'd you betray them?!"

Mimic rolled his eyes, "Haven't we been over this. We. Were. Never. Friends."

Tangle gave a digital sigh, "I tried that already, wow are we alike. But, he's a selfish prick willing to sell friends for his own safety."

Lanolin asked the next question, "We meet again, what are you doing imitating Sonic?!"

Mimic gave his explanation, "Clutch's criminal empire has been…restructuring since his capture. With no other safe options, I took a gig for Eggman to ensure my safety. He even gave me a speed core!"

Tails was intrigued, "That's how he imitated Sonic's speed?"

Sonic smiled as he started to walk back to base, "Doesn't matter, you're caught now. That's one less fake to distract us!"

Lanolin reported to Jewel, who relayed the message about the capture.

As they walked back, Silver rejoined the group, "Hey guys, are you all hungry, cause I got lunch!"

Sonic smiled as the others nodded. Silver started unpacking his food, giving it to each person he bought for, "Here is a sandwich for Shadow, hamburgers for Lanolin and Rouge, some strawberry shortcake for Amy, a cheeseburger for Tails, and of course, a chili dog for-"

His giving out food was startled by Sonic shouting in extreme pain, "AAAAAIIIIIIEEE!" Silver had somehow hit Sonic in an eye with the chili from the chili dog. In this pain, the tail let loose of Mimic, who shapeshifted into Sonic again and dashed off.

Lanolin was infuriated, "Silver!"

Shadow glared infuriated, "You dimwit!"

Silver gave a sheepish look, "...My bad."

Sonic shouted in frustration, "Silver, why? Why didn't you catch him?"

Silver gave an arm fold and glare back, "Maybe don't shout so ear-piercingly loud!"

Shadow had reached his limit, "I'm done with you jokers. Rouge, let's head back to base. Lanolin, my offer still stands."

Lanolin looked before her as she thought of Whisper's pain and was frustrated by this turn of events, but called back on Shadow's statement "The day's not over yet"

Rouge smirked, "Is that so?"

Shadow sighed, "Fine, but you'd better make your next mission count!"

Tails nodded, "We will!"


Eggman was scheming from his new base, which was somewhere else on the continent, "Oh, that went swimmingly. They'll remain distracted trying to guess which is the real Sonic!"

Sage asked, "Father, what's the current plan?"

Eggman turned around, "That's simple. Keep Sonic's friends distracted while I gather the Chaos Emeralds. Speaking of which…" Eggman called 'Sonic' again, asking, "How's our hunt for emeralds going!"

'Sonic' gleefully replied, "Got another. I swear, people will give museum displays to the wildest things. Did they really think no one would steal an emerald?"

Eggman stared at the screen, "Nice work again. Keep it up!"


From the security room, Orbot and Cubot watched various security cameras. Orbot saw the prison ones and asked, "Cubot, look at this!"

Cubot said, "These cameras are so boring! This better be good!" He ran over and saw the wolf in a hedgehog's body, who had a horrified expression while throwing what appeared to be Chaos Spears at the walls. "She's really losing it!"

Orbot agreed, "She is. The boss is such a genius, isn't he? Now let's get back to work cleaning!"

Cubot digitally sighed, "You got it Orbot!" They started sweeping the nearby base rooms, making sure it was tidy and placing things around for this new base.

Note: For next year, I'm planning to move to an every-other week upload schedule. I'm just more busy during the weekend than I was previously, and it might give me time to further spruce up some of the more dismal elements of the story up to this point too. Have a Happy New Year!