14 Chapter Thirteen- Boom Universe

            Sonic sat on the beach, in the same spot he and Tails had sat many times before.

           Tails had loved this spot. At sunset, the sky turned red and orange and gold and pink, but with blue sky still visible.

            Tails would point out each color, saying,

            "There's Knuckles, and Sticks, and Amy, and you."

            Sonic would then point to the gold and say,

            "What about that?"

            "What about it?" Tails would ask, feigning confusion.

            "That's you, isn't it?" Sonic would ask.

            "I guess," Tails would say, and shrug.

           "You guess?" Sonic would say, pretending to be offended.

            Tails would laugh, then ask seriously,

            "Am I really worth pointing out?"

            Sonic would put his arm around Tails, hugging him, and say,

            "That's a trick question, right? You're special, and don't you forget it."

            Tails would smile and reply calmly,

            "But not as special as you and the others."

            "Be quiet. You're the gold," Sonic would elbow Tails and both would laugh.

            Sonic smiled thinking about it, but he soon grew solemn. Such times were over. Tails was dead.

            Thinking it in a sentence made it chillingly real. Tails was gone.

No amount of anger or revenge or bargaining could bring him back.

            Sonic suddenly noticed a strange wave on the horizon. As it grew closer, it became two waves, then three. Closer, and it became apparent they were not waves. They were tall wakes, like what happens when a speed boat cuts through the water. There were three pairs, and in the middle of each pair there was a blue figure.

            Sonic squinted. Was it? Yes it was. Three Metal Sonics were flying low over the water towards him. Sonic stood to meet them.

            They were surprisingly well made. Each Metal looked like a living, breathing hedgehog. That, however, could not be. The Metals made land in front of Sonic.

            "Wow," he said, offended, "now Eggman can't even get my image right."

            "What's that supposed to mean?" The Metal on the far right asked, annoyed.

            This Metal was the shortest of all of them. He only had one row of spikes and no tail. No neckerchief or sports tape either, and peach colored arms.

            "Do you think we're Metals?" The one on the far left asked.

            He was shorter than Sonic, but taller than the other Metal. He had no neckerchief either, and had peach colored arms too. However, his spikes we're in the same place as Sonic's.

            "Aren't you?" Sonic asked, "and how can you talk? You finally got a voice chip? Tell Eggman to lay off with the insults; he already hurt me bad enough with killing Tails."

            The Metals that had already spoken looked to the middle one, probably the leader. He was the same as the second.

            He cleared his throat.

            "We aren't Metals," he started, "we are you from different universes. And..."

            He paused.

            "...and your Tails isn't dead. He was sent to my universe..."

            Sonic ran up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

            "Why didn't you bring him?!" Sonic yelled in his face.

            The other Sonic glowered.

            "Because he was captured by whoever is carrying out my Eggman's revenge plan, and me and the others were kicked out of our world and all the Tails are grouped together out of my reach so the Eggmans can kill them and I feel terrible because I unintentionally caused it and I can't do anything about it!"

            The other Sonic talked faster and his voice got angrier as the sentence continued.

            "WHAT?" Sonic was furious.

            "Basically," the Sonic under him said, "it's my fault your Tails was taken and now he is with mine, X's, and AoStH's Tails as well as the others from all the other universes. And by the way, my name is Modern."

            Sonic let go of Modern, comprehension dawning on him. He forced his arms to be by his sides, then clasped behind him. He began to pace.

            "So let me get this straight- Modern, in his universe, did something that caused his Eggman to make and initiate a plan that includes gathering all versions of Tails... to kill them. All the Eggmans are in on this, and to throw the gang, from my world specifically, off the trail, our Eggman chose to tell us he'd killed our Tails."

            "Looks that way," the first Sonic, AoStH, said.

            "But Tails isn't dead," Sonic wanted to clarify.

            "Nope," X affirmed.

            Sonic sat with a sigh of relief. The stress of the past month melted away, leaving him exhausted. The other Sonics sat next to him.

            "Pretty sunset," Modern commented.

            "Yes," Sonic agreed, then smiled, "me and all my friends are in it."