Shadow warps to his place, and returns with baby Robotnik in his arms. He passes the baby to Tails, who takes him inside a metal room. He returns a moment later, his head hung low. Walking to a console, he types a series of commands, and the ray is moved so that it's pointed down into the room at Eggman.
"I put the hair in his diaper," says Tails. His hand hovers over a big red button, and he hesitates.
"If you want, I'll do it," Blaze says, walking forward. "I pressured you into going this far, you're done now."
Tails nods, and steps back. Blaze steps up to the console, and takes a deep breath.
"Cross your fingers."
She slams a hand down on the button, and the ray powers up they see it blast purple light into the room. They hear the startled cries of a baby, and then silence. The light of the laser fades, and still they hear nothing.
Tails walks over to the door of the room, and slides back a panel to peer inside. His muscles tense, his tails puff like a startled cat's, and he collapses to the floor. Silver rushes over, and turns tails onto his back. His expression is that of horror, and he's barely even breathing.
Knuckles looks through the panel, and leaps back with a terrified cry. He runs to the nearest trashcan, and immediately hurls into it.
What have you done," Knuckles looks at the stunned Tails, the echidna's face a mask of true fear, and disgust.
…
Sonic is bouncing a baby Amy in his lap, listening to her cries of delight. The phone rings, and Cream answers it.
"Hello? … Silver, he-... please slow down, what's wrong? … yes… yes... Oh no! Okay, here he is!"
Cream passes the phone to Sonic, and he says, "Silver what's up?"
a moment of silence, and the Silver chokes out, "It's Tails, he needs you."
Sonic puts Amy in Cream's arms, "Okay, I'm on my way."
Sonic hangs up, and dashes for the door. Less than a minute later he's in the lab to a sight that sends shivers down his spine. Knuckles is passed out on the floor, and Rouge is trying to revive him by waving a fan in his face. Blaze has her head hung, and both hands pressed firmly into one of Tails's lab tables. Silver is bent over Tails, who is staring at the ceiling with wide, horrified eyes. Only Shadow seems to have an once of composure left, so Sonic walks up to him.
"Shadow, what happened?"
Shadow says nothing, and suddenly Sonic understands.
"You didn't..."
Shadow looks away, "Yes, we did."
"I told you it wouldn't work," Sonic growls through his teeth. "I told you you shouldn't have done it."
A look of disgust comes over Shadow's features, "You were right, we should have planned this better."
Silver looks up from Tails, "Well, at least we know it works now, right?"
Sonic pauses, it works?
He looks at the others not understanding one bit, if it works, and Eggman's back to normal, then what are they freaking out about?
As if reading his thoughts, Rouge looks up at Sonic, "Just be glad you weren't here an hour ago, Sonic. I don't think these two boys will ever be the same."
"Just tell me what happened," Sonic looks around at all of them. Finally Sonic hears Silver speaking to him.
"About an hour ago we ran the test on Eggman, and it was a complete success. But tails forgot to take his growth spurt into the preparations, and..."
"And?" Sonic is waiting for him to continue.
Silver gulps, and chokes his words out, "... When we put him in the machine, he was only wearing his baby clothes... only those of us who didn't look were spared..."
Sonic staggers backwards as that image flashes through his mind. His eyes shoot to Blaze who looks up at him with guilt in her eyes. She was willing to condemn Eggman to death to save Amy, but this...
Silver is still talking, "Shadow, and Rouge held themselves together in order to get Eggman out of here, fully clothed thank Chaos, and then we called you."
Sonic kneels next to Tails, and shakes his shoulders gently, "Buddy, talk to me! It's me, Sonic!"
Slowly Tails's eyes turn to him, a look of madness in them. "Sonic," he rasps, and his hands come up to grab Sonic's. "It was a nightmare, right Sonic? It was just a bad dream, right?!"
Sonic winces at his friend's grip, but nods, "It was just a bad dream, buddy. You fainted the moment the machine turned off."
A smile comes across Tails's lips, "A bad dream... I knew it had to be... a bad dream..." And then the yellow fox promptly faints.
Sonic looks up at Silver, and they share a nod. Sliver turns to Rouge, "You should tell that to Knuckles when he wakes up."
Rouge nods, she may not really be best buddies with the echidna, but no one should have to recall that kind of trauma.
...
Tails, and Knuckles wake up in Sonic's house. Amy giggles as they sit up from their spot on the floor.
"W-what happened?" Knuckles rubs his sore head.
"You guys fainted as soon as the ray turned itself off," Silver lies to them. "It worked, and we got rid of Eggman easy enough."
"Looked like you two were having one heck of a dream," Rouge smirks at them. "I almost care enough to ask what it was."
"Ugh," Tails groans. "That was no dream, it was a nightmare. May Chaos forbid anyone having to ever see that."
"I can believe it," Sonic grins. "Tails you actually woke up, and nearly attacked me while you were dreaming, and Knuckles threw up in his sleep."
"So that's what that taste is," Knuckles makes a face. "Can I get a glass of water to clean my mouth out?"
Cream appears with one, and Shadow speaks up.
"Now that we know it works, when do we proceed with Rose?"
Tails stands, helping knuckles to his feet, "Well, the cannon should have cooled down by now, so as soon as we have the DNA we need, then we can start."
"I think I got just the thing," Sonic heads upstairs, and return with a ring of red cloth.
"Amy's headband," he explains. He turns it inside out so that they can see the shed fur from her quills.
Tails smiles, "That ought to do it! Let's go!" they all head to his lab as fast as their feet can carry them. Silver flies with Amy, since they figure that would be the least jarring way to travel at high speeds.
Minutes later Blaze takes Amy from Silver, and heads into the metal room. Secretly she's carrying Amy's clothes under her arms, and sets them to the side as she puts Amy on the floor. She leaves her there, and closes the door to the room as she leaves.
"Throw the switch Tails!" She calls over, and, with a smile, the fox slams a hand on the big red button. They all watch with smiles as the metal room fills with purple light. When it fades, Blaze opens the door to look inside.
She freezes.
Slowly she steps inside, her tail twitching anxiously. There, in the middle of the room, is a sleeping baby named Amy Rose. Blaze bends down, and scoops her up in her arms before carrying her outside to the others.
Tails's jaw drops, "It didn't work?"
"Is she okay," Sonic demands.
Blaze nods, "Her breathing is even, and her heart is fine. She's just asleep, Sonic, just asleep."
Sonic carefully takes Amy from Blaze, staring at her sleeping face. Silver looks around at the others, "So what do we do now?"
"Well, for one, we don't panic," Shadow looks pointedly at Silver.
"Shadow's right," Sonic takes a breath to calm himself. "I never thought I'd say that, but Shadow's right."
Tails scratches his head, "It might be a bad idea to try putting Amy through the ray again, so I suggest we wait. It's getting kinda late, so why don't we get some rest, and think this through while we're freshly rested?"
They all nod in agreement, and head to their respective homes. Cream offers to stay with Sonic some more, but he tells her she should go home to give her mom the news. Luckily Cream changes Amy's diaper before leaving, and bidding them both good-night.
Sonic carries Amy upstairs, and sets her in her crib.
"Don't worry your little head, Ames," Sonic whispers to her. "We're still gonna help you, I promise."
He brushes the sleeping hedgehog's quills with a hand, and then heads to his own bed. He stares at her clothes, which now sit on top of his dresser, with remorse. They may have failed this once, but he's not finished yet. Not by a long shot.
…
Midnight comes, and moonlight creeps in through the bedroom window. Sonic, and Amy are fast asleep, each in their own dreamland. A violet light begins to shine from the crib, not bright enough to wake Sonic. Amy's limp form rises out of the crib, and begins to pulse with the purple light. The pulses get faster, and faster as she begins to grow, ripping the baby pajamas. As the light begins to fade, Amy slowly floats down to the floor; once again sleeping like a baby, but not as a baby.
Amy groans, and turns on her side, she feels itchy. She's cold too, and she tries to rub some warmth into her limbs. Her eyes flutter open, and she sits up to take in her surroundings.
"Huh, where am I?"
Then she remembers throwing herself in front of the beam to save Sonic.
"So... am I dead?" She takes another look around, "If so, heaven is a lot darker, and bluer than I expected."
She sneezes, and rubs her nose, noticing her nudity. She wraps her arms around herself, "I wish I had my clothes."
She spots them sitting on a blue dresser, maybe she really is in heaven. She dresses quickly, and turns when she hears Sonic snort in his sleep.
"Sonic..."
Did he die too, was her sacrifice in vain? She mulls that over, and then decides that she's probably just in Sonic's bedroom. It would explain the color... But was she doing naked in his room?
Her eyes go wide with a sudden thought, but she quickly dismisses it. Sonic would never do that to anyone, least of all her.
"Amy..."
Amy freezes when she hears him call her name in his sleep. She tiptoes to the side of his bed, and peers at his sleeping face. Is he dreaming about her? She sees tears in his eyes, and the crease between his eyebrows suggests it's not a good dream.
"Ames... my fault... so sorry..."
Amy can feel tears in her own eyes, and she reaches out a hand to wake him.
"Amy," Sonic whispers, and she stops. "I got you... you're safe now... please be okay..."
Amy takes a quiet breath, and steps back. She smiles to herself, he really does care about her. Sonic rolls away from her, and she quietly slips out of his room. She quietly heads downstairs, and sees the time, just a little after midnight. She spots a pillow, and a blanket on the couch, and decides to wait until morning.
…
Sonic blinks his eyes open as the sun shines across his bed. He yawns, getting up, and heading for the shower. As he gets out he stops, and sighs. He doesn't hear Amy crying, she must still be asleep. Just what did that laser do to her. He checks his clock as he heads to his room, just a little after eight in the morning. With a sigh, he walks over to Amy's crib.
She's not there.
Sonic staggers backwards, a look of horror on his face. He turns, and runs, tripping to go headlong down the stairs. He barely feels the rising bump on his head as he grabs the phone off of the counter, and hits Cream's number.
"Hello?" Cream answers after barely one ring. It doesn't look like she was able to get much sleep after yesterday.
"Cream, Amy's gone! I checked the crib, and it's totally empty!"
Cream gasps, "Oh no! I'll be right over!"
"Good," Sonic says. "I'll call the others."
Sonic hangs up, and starts dialing Tails's number.
"Sonic?"
Sonic freezes, and slowly looks over his shoulder. Standing there dressed as he's always known her is Amy Rose, once again her sixteen year old self.
She rubs the sleep from her eyes, and blinks at him. She lets out a gasp, and glomps him. Sonic takes her face in her hands, and feels her arms, not entirely sure if he's still dreaming.
Amy blushes slightly, "Um, Sonic?"
He blinks at her, "This is real right, it's not a dream or anything?"
Amy blinks at his, not entirely understanding, "Yeah, as far as I can tell."
Sonic surprises her by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.
"You're back," she hears him whisper. "Thank Chaos, Ames, you're back."
Amy is unsure of what to do, Sonic has never treated her this way before. And what does he mean by "You're back"? Slowly, and admittedly a little reluctantly, she pulls back to look him in the eye.
"Sonic... What happened?"
Sonic blinks, and grins at her before letting her go, "It's kinda a long story..."
Sonic calls Cream to let her hear the news, and then proceeds to call the others. In little to no time at all the entire team is in Sonic's living-room as he tells Amy what happened.
"No way," Amy scoffs. "Me? Turned into a baby? This has got to be some kind of practical joke."
"I almost wish it was," snickers Blaze, and she shows Amy the album of baby pictures. Amy's eyebrows hit the ceiling as she flips through the pages. She want to say that these are doctored photos, but she doesn't have any baby pictures of her own.
She blushes madly as she grabs Blaze's hand, and presses it to the cover of the album, "Please Blaze, for the love of everything good on this planet, burn it!"
"No way," Blaze shouts, snatching the album back from Amy. "I'm keeping this!"
"Good idea," Rouge grins. "That way if princess here starts getting uppity we got some ready blackmail material."
"Go away," Blaze, and Amy shout at Rouge. Silver is standing in a corner of the room, scratching his head.
"What I wanna know," Silver says. "Is why it took so long for Amy to turn back. As I remember it, Eggman turned back right after he got blasted with the second ray.
Tails shrugs, "I have a few theories, but nothing definite. It could be that she was turned into a baby for so much longer than Eggman, It could be the fact that the DNA we used was gathered off the headband she was wearing at the time, or it could just be the fact that the ray works differently on Mobians. We may never know."
"I'm just glad it's finally over," Sonic sighs. He's not the only one.
…
Sonic is sitting under a tree in the park at Station Square. It's been a few days since Amy returned, and everything is almost back to normal. Eggman hasn't reared his head in a long time, but Rouge explained that away. Apparently the book she stole from Eggman's base was his diary, and so she is blackmailing him to stay quiet. Sonic's thinking about talking her out of it, it's just too peaceful for him these days.
"Oh Sonic!"
Sonic looks to see Amy running up to him from his right. He grins at her, and she sits next to him.
"Heya, Ames! How's it going?"
Amy shrugs, "Same old, same old. Now I'm starting to see why you always let Eggman get away."
Sonic chuckles, "Great minds think alike, eh?"
Amy scoots a little closer to him, sitting on her knees, "You know Sonic... Blaze sent me a copy of that album she made. It looks like you really did look out for me while I was..." Unable to continue, she blushes.
"It was no big deal," Sonic says, folding his hands behind his head. "You're one of my best friends, Ames. Besides, what kind of jerk would I have been if I pushed you off on someone else after you saved my bacon back at the bank?"
Amy grins, and leans in close, "Thank you Sonic..."
Sonic sees where this is going, and he looks over her shoulder, "Huh, since when does Silver do Ballet?"
"What?" Amy looks over her shoulder, and feels a sudden gust of wind. She narrows her eyes, he didn't! She turns back to Sonic... Correction, where Sonic used to be.
She glares off into the distance, eyeing the Blue Blur as he retreats an maybe a hundred miles an hour.
"Sonic," she shouts, chasing after him, hammer in hand. "Get back here!"
Okay, now everything is completely back to normal!
