Come Together, a Tails fanfic

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures (Sonic)

Eggman's security system wasn't even on when I got to his lair. Vector was right when he said the guy was bored. He was just waiting for me to show up.

I just waltzed straight into his living room. There he was on his couch, coat and all, ready to jump into his Eggmobile and fight at a moment's notice.

He stood up when he saw me. "Sonic?" he said. "What are you doing here? And how did you- oh right, I let you in. But what are you doing here?"

"It's a bit of an interesting case this time," I told him. "You notice anyone in particular that hasn't been fighting recently? Aside from you, of course."

"Hmm, let me think... no."

"Really?" I was surprised.

"No, not really, of course I noticed Tails is gone! He's the only one that puts up a fight half the time! Let me guess, you want me to help you get him back?"

"...yes. Will you?"

"Yes I will, it's something to do around here. I'm getting bored."

I told him to follow me in his Eggmobile (thankfully he didn't bring Orbot or Cubot) and took him back to Tails's workshop. Vector had our assumed culprit in his hands when we walked in, trying to see if he could figure out what went wrong.

"What do we have here?" Eggman asked me.

"This is what we think got Tails lost," I explained, motioning to the device. "Far as we know it generates wormholes." Vector handed it to me and I handed it to Eggman. "Have a look at it if you want."

He examined it for several minutes, looking at every possible angle at least twice and muttering to himself the whole time. "It generates wormholes, that's for sure," he said. "Or at least it used to. Looks like the materials themselves couldn't hold up to the energy required for it to work."

"So you can't fix it?" I asked.

"No, of course I can fix it! I'm just telling you what went wrong! This is my chance to finally do something better than Tails can..."

Eggman spent the next hour or so re-soldering it and replacing fried circuits in a seemingly meaningful way, testing parts of it as he went and managing to break it a couple more times in the process.

"I think it's working now," he told us as he set it back down on the ground. "But someone's probably going to have to go through the portal to find Tails."

"I started this whole thing..." I began. "It's my duty to finish it. I'll go. Tails likely made it through without any protective gear, so I should be fine, right?"

"You should," Eggman replied.

"Alright. But what does this number mean? It's reading out 100."

"No, no, that says 1.00. See the decimal point?" He pointed to said decimal point. "As far as I know it's some sort of time multiplier, which means the universe he's in goes at the same speed as ours. He's been there from his perspective for as long as he's been missing here."

Vector handed me a comlink. "Take this," he said. "It's really not all that likely to work, but if it does you'll be able to communicate with us while you're searching for him."

"Thanks," I told him. "You guys ready?"

"Yep," he replied.

"Eggman?"

"I'm ready as well," Eggman responded.

"Let's fire it up, then."

Vector initiated the system with Eggman monitoring the outputs, both of them standing about six feet away from the projector. A blue oval was emitted from its lens, a little taller than me and oriented like a door. "Is this it?" I asked them. "Is this what I'm supposed to go through?"

"Yes," they said.

"Why isn't it pulling on me, then? Don't we think Tails got pulled through?"

"This is no time for questions!" That was Eggman. "This isn't going to stay stable for much longer! Just go through!"

"3... 2... 1..." I ran right in at top speed. I thought I saw the field turn greenish as I touched it, and start to shrink.

Then it knocked me out as my head went through.

I woke up laying on a sidewalk, with the projector on my chest. It looked to be about the same time as it had been when I'd left, so I knew I hadn't been out very long. Maybe the projector landing on me woke me up.

I stood up, holding the projector under one arm, looking for somewhere to hide it. Every single house around me was similar enough that I probably wouldn't have been able to remember which one I put it in, except for the one at the end of the street. It was a different color, a different shape, and had another small building next to it. I decided to try that small building, so I ran over to it, found the (unlocked) door, and went inside. There was a sort of workbench attached to one wall. I hid the projector under that, then ran back outside (making sure to close the door) to where I'd first found myself.

"Vector?" I said into my comlink. "You there?"

Silence.

"Eggman? Hello?"

Nothing.

Vector had said that my comlink probably wouldn't work, but I felt alone and vulnerable because I couldn't talk to him. I just stood there, thinking about the mess I'd gotten into.