GIRL TROUBLE
     A Sonic the
         Hedgehog Story
         By Michael Hollis

--------------------------------Legal
Junk----------------------------------
Sonic the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn, Bunnie Rabbot,
Rotor, Miles 'Tails' Prower,  Uncle Chuck,
Knuckles, The Chaotix, Dr. Robotnik,
Snively(c)Sega/Archie Comix; Artie Prower(c)Mike
Reyes; Chaos Fox(c)Mark Smith; Asrial
Cat(c)Jessica Hewl; EG Foxfire(c)Carol
Schneeweiss; Tiffany the Fox(c)Rose Besch; Sage
Racox(c)Miles Thayer; J.Axer(c)J.axer;
Psycho(c)Psycho; Sonya Hedgehog(Sonic's
sister)(c)Unknown;  (Note: I couldn't find Eg,
Asrial, Fang, Ciseal, Firefox, Vixie, or Sonya
Hedgehog(Sonic's sister). I hope they don't mind
their characters being in any of my stories.) All
Characters are copyrighted be the names beside
them.Any attempt to attempt to pass off any of
these characters as your own is strictly
prohibited. (Something I have NO intention to do.)

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 "Man! I finally get some R&R." I yawn as I sit
down next to the Power Ring pool, "Finally,
nothing to do but kick back, relax, and just sleep
the day away!" I drowsily lay down on the cool
grass, and crossing my tails over my chest, let
sleep kick in. But, unfortunately, it's cut short
when sudden snickering rouses me from my nap.
Slowly opening one eye, I spot EG and Tiffany
kneeling down next to me. Both of them are trying
to keep quiet. I decide to get the drop on them
and sit up, catching them both off guard. Watching
the two of them both fall back in surprise, I
calmly grin, "Not bad, but you need a little
practice on staying silent."
 "Well, at least we woke you up." Tiffany says as
we all get up off the ground, "Sally and Sonic
asked us to get you." I let out a disappointed
sigh, "Oh well; the peace and quiet was nice while
it lasted." I start heading back towards Knothole,
"Come on; let's go see what's up."
 As we get near the center of Knothole, a large
group of voices inside the meeting hall grabs my
attention. "Whoa, must be something big." I say as
the three of us head through the door. Inside, the
entire gang is there. They all look at me when I
step in. "About time you got here, dude." Shades
says, thumbing towards Sally, "Sal just picked up
something from old Boulder Butt, and it looks like
he has you in mind." Sally walks over to me with a
worried looked on her face, "I'm afraid he's
right, Tails." She says in a tone that matches her
face. "Nicole just received it from the mike Chuck
hid in Robotnik's control room." She shift's her
gaze to the table, where Nicole is lying, "Nicole,
replay last transmission."
 "REPLAYING, SALLY." Nicole responds. The sound of
Robotnik chuckling suddenly fills the room,
"Amazing, Snively. I never thought I would find
something to rid me of those Blasted Freedom
Fighters during a simple raid. The perfect weapon,
and it's all mine."
 "Excuse me for asking, sir," Snively's voice
kicks in, " but how can we be sure that it IS a
weapon?"
 "As near as I can tell, the disks we found with
it say it's inventor hid it in an effort to keep
anyone else from acquiring it for fear of drastic
results. Unfortunately, everything else is either
encrypted or requiring an access code. If anything
considered that dangerous and needing that much
protection is not a weapon, I don't know what is."

 "Yes, Sir, but, may I ask how you plan to use it
on them."
 "Oh, I won't; One of them will use it for me." I
raise a eyebrow at this. "Of course, they won't
know it."
 "Won't know it; Sir?"
 "Let me put it in terms even you can understand,
Snively. I am going to surgically implant it
inside one of them, with a time-delay field around
it, of course. Once the field decays, it will
activate. When it does, it will be only a matter
of time before Knothole... is a ghost town." I
spot EG cringing as his demented laughter fills
the air. When it dies down his voice suddenly
changes tone, "But I must make my choice
carefully. Which one of them do I put it in? I
need one that's well liked and trusted by the
others. One the princess and that blasted hedgehog
both like being around. One that even those
Chaotix misfits enjoy having around. But which
one, which one?" He gives an abrupt chuckle before
he starts ranting happily, "Of course. Of course!
He's perfect! Sonic's best friend doubling as my
own personal assassin, and none of them will even
know! Not even him!"
 "May I ask who, Sir?" Snively ask with a tone of
confusion in his voice. I raise my eyebrow a
little higher when I hear the sound of of a coin
being flipped. "A counties situation, my dear
Snivley," I hear Robotnik reply, "'heads' we win;
'Tails'...they lose." Nicole stops just as he
starts  laughing. "END OF TRANSMISSION." she
beeps.
  I give Sally an unbelieving look. "Come on,
Sal." I say, leaning up against a chair, "Those
terms he used apply to more than of us. What gives
you reason to believe he's got me singled out?"
Psycho kicks his feet up on the table, "Well the
fact he used the 'heads he wins, tails he wins'
term kinda helps, bro."
 "Ok, maybe he does have me targeted for his plan;
but if that's true, he's picked a
fourteen-year-old fox who's not afraid to look a
Swatbot in the eye."
 Sally calmly puts her hand on my shoulder, "We
all know that, Tails," with a smile, she kisses me
on the cheek, "I don't care if there is just a
two-year age difference between us, I just want
you to be careful next time you go into
Robotropolis, ok?" I slowly move her hands off,
"Aren't I always?" I ask, smiling.
 As I leave the meeting hall, I suddenly hear the
sound of footsteps behind me. I wheel around and
spot Sonic and Knuckles standing behind me. Sonic
has an impatient look on his face. "Well, you
ready to go?" Knuckles asks, looking at me
inquisitively. "Wha? Go? Go where?" I ask, feeling
a little clueless. "We're going to see if we can
find out anything on Egg-belly's new toy."
 "Hey, count me in." I reply, "If we can figure
out what it is, then maybe we can find a way to
scrap it."
 "All right! Let's juice!" Sonic yells, and the
two of them speed off in a cloud of dust. "Wait
up!" I yell, flying after them in hot pursuit.
 When I get to Robotropolis, I find them both
waiting for me beside a large junk pile. I land
just in time to see a section of it open up and
Chuck step out through it with a smile on his
face. "Sonic, Knuckles," He spots me walking up
and a sneaky grin appears on his face, "Nice fox
suit, Sally," he chuckles, making my eyes widen,
"you look just like Tails."
 "Not funny, Chuck!" I mutter, attempting to
remind him of how much I hate the jokes I get
sometimes simply because Sally and I have similar
builds, (I mean the two of us are a little on the
slender side, NOT the same body type. Axer made a
joke like that one time and ended up on flying
over my shoulder for it.) even though I'm a little
bit bigger than her.
 "I'm sorry, Tails." he apologizes, "I just
couldn't resist."
 "Say, Unk," Sonic interjects, "The three of us
were going to see if we can find anything out on
this new gizmo Robotnik's got; and we thought you
might have something about it that might give us a
good start."
 Chuck shrugs his shoulders, "Sorry, boys, I can
hack into those disks, no problem; but it'll take
a long time to go around all the security they
have in them." He motions for us to come in, "But,
I was able to get into what little Robotnik
could." He coolly sits down at his computer, "For
one thing, it wasn't created like a chaos emerald
or naturally; like a gem or rock. From the looks
of it, I'd say it came out of a lab." He suddenly
moves out of the way, "And here it is!" He calls
out confidently. The three of us star at the
screen and soon find ourselves staring at the
image of a shining, blue gem. A small, slivery
microchip is in the center.
 "A bomb?" Knuckles asks, his tone telling me he
hopes to get rid of it if that's true. Chuck
shakes his head, "No, it doesn't seem to have any
explosive components in it. Maybe something will
turn up once I get into the disks. I'll let you
know once I learn something."
 "All right; in the meantime, we'll try and find
out something ourselves. Thanks, Unk." Sonic says,
Hugging Chuck.
 Outside, we decide to split up in order to find
the gem faster. "Man, this place makes my closet
look like an operating room!" I mutter, flying
quietly between the massive junk heaps, "Phew!"
 I bank around a building, only to find myself
staring eye-to-lens with a Stealth orb! "Didn't
your momma ever teach you it's not nice to stare?"
I ask, and promptly deliver a swift kick to it
just before darting off in the opposite direction.
Looking behind, I spot a hover unit bearing down
on me, lasers blazing. I stick my tongue out at it
and speed up. I make a quick turn around a junk
pile and watch as it flies by and disappears
around a building. I head back the other way at
full speed. Suddenly, I hear what I think is
another one and look behind me to see where it is.
This turns out to be a very bad move on my part
when, after I convince myself nothing else is
around, I look ahead of me and end up flying
headlong into the side of a building, knocking
myself out cold.
 "Unhhg...;" consciousness eventually returns to
me. "Smooth move, Prower." I tell myself, slowly
sitting up and rubbing my head. As I do, I find it
has a bandage on it as well as a throbbing bump.
Taking a quick look around, I find I'm lying on a
cot in the med-room back at Knothole. Sonic's in a
chair nearby, mumbling in his sleep. I stand up
and scratch my chest, but when I do, I feel
something odd in the middle. "What the heck?" I
say to myself. Pulling back the fur, I find a dark
scar running down the center of my chest, "Must
have cut myself somehow after I hit that wall." I
check my watch, "Whoa!" I whistle under my breath,
noticing how late it is, "How hard DID I hit that
wall?" I began to stretch, but as I do, I suddenly
feel like I've ran halfway around the world, "What
tha..!? What's happening?
So..Tired...Need...to...lay...down." I bluntly
plop back down on the cot and fall fast asleep.
 The next morning, I notice Sonic is still
sleeping on the chair. I quietly walk over to him
and deftly give him a nudge. He drowsily opens his
eyes and smiles when he spots me. "Tails," He
yawns, "you feeling ok, bud?"
 "Yeah," I pull off the bandage, "I just can't
believe I would do something as stupid as fly
right into a wall."
 "Don't worry about it." He stands up and
stretches, "That hover-head Knuckles and I saw
flying near the spot we found you told us you had
your mind on something a little bit more important
than the direction you were going in." He starts
out the door, "Coming?" he asks.
 "Give me a minute." I reply, stretching my legs,
"I'm still kinda tired."
 "No prob." He lets the door close quietly behind
him. I spend the next few minutes letting my eyes
get used to the light again before leaving.
 Outside, I see Sonya and Axer throwing rocks at a
bullseye painted on a rusty piece of metal. Sonya
looks over at me. "Hey, Tails!" she calls out,
motioning for me to come over, "Care to try your
luck at this?"
 "Sure." I walk over and pick up a sharp-looking
one. Aiming for the center of the target, I put
one foot forward and hurl it as hard as I can. It
hits the center full force and ricochets into the
air. Axer's jaw drops, "Beginner's luck." He says,
trying to aim for the center too.
 Smiling, Sonya pats me on the shoulder, "Nice
shot, partner." She says in a western tone. I give
her a sheepish grin, "Hey; I do my best."
 "You know, Tails," she continues, her voice
suddenly lowering slightly, "there's something
different about you. I'm not sure what exactly,
but whatever it is, I like it." She moves her
fingertips down to my elbow, "You been working
out?"
 "A little." I answer.
 A small grin appears on her face as her hand goes
back up to my shoulder, "Not too shabby."
 I nervously move away and turn my attention to
Axer, "Listen; I'm gonna go see what Sonic's up
to."
 "Ok, see you later." He says, looking for a rock
like the one I threw. Walking away, I turn around
and spot Sonya helping him. Suddenly, she shoots
me a strangely coy look. "Weird." I mutter, and
for no apparent reason, my pace quickens a little.

 When their both out of sight, I decide to slow
back down and enjoy the nice day. But, as I go
through Knothole, I notice something strange about
all the girls: Every girl I pass stares at me
sighing, with a dreamy look in her eyes, and the
ones I try to talk to either stutter and squeak or
forget how to talk altogether. And to make things
even weirder, I find a lot of the guys sitting
around looking real bummed out. Some even give an
upset groan the second they see me. "Is this 'Act
Weird Around Miles Prower' day?'" I ask myself.
 Walking past Sally's place, I hear what sounds
like an argument. I take a quick peek through the
window and spot Sally and Sonic in a heated
debate. "I don't care, Sonic," she says, turning
her back on him, "it's over between us."
 "But Sal!" Sonic says. I quickly notice the upset
tone in his voice. He tries to put his hand on her
shoulder, but she refuses to let him even touch
her.
 "Tails is the new man in my life." These words
cause all the blood to drain out of my head.
"ME??" I squeak, trying to stay quiet, "B-b-but
I'm not even attracted to her! I don't even think
I'm her type."
 "But, why Tails? I mean, we all know he likes
romance about as much as  Sonya likes my sense of
humor sometimes." Sonic starts scratching his
chin, "Come to think of it, I saw her a little
while ago, and from the way she was acting, she
seems to have the hots for him lately; as well as
lot of the other ladies around here."
 "The hots for me??" a small shiver runs down my
back as I say this, "Methinks it's time for a
pause in this discussion before anything else come
to my knowledge." Gathering up my courage, I head
for the door. "Hello?" I call out, giving a quick
knock.
 "Big Guy!" Sonic says when I see him looking at
me through the doorway at me, "I don't think this
is a very good place for you to be at right now."
 Before I can respond, Sally suddenly knocks him
out of the way and gives me a wide smile. "Tails!
Come on in!" she yells, pulling me in, "Oh, don't
worry about Sonic. He was just leaving."
 Inside, she pushes me onto the bed and sits down
beside me. "So, What brings you here?" she asks in
an energetic tone. I try to hide my nervousness,
Oh, nothing. Just stopping by." I let my gaze
shift towards Sonic, only to see him leaving! I
give him a 'What are you doing?' look. He walks to
the door, opening the closest window as he does,
and mouths the words, "There should be enough
room." to me just before going out. "Room for
what?" I ask myself, watching the door close.
 The second Sonic leaves, I feel something warm
and furry wrap around my neck and chest and a
large object settle near my head. I look down and
discover Sally has wrapped her arms around me and
her head is resting against my back. "S-s-Sal!"
Startled, I pull away and stare at her, "What's
the deal? What's going on?"
 "Oh, come on, Tails," she says, chuckling, "we're
both mature teenagers here. You're a boy, I'm a
girl." She gets up, walks over to the door and, as
I wipe of my sweat-beaded brow, locks it and puts
the key in her boot. "Besides," her voice suddenly
takes a seductive tone, "you have no idea how
badly I want you." Hearing these words make me too
scared to move when she returns to the bed and
lays down. "I'm just glad I found you before
anyone else." She purrs, pulling me down next to
her.
 Now-now, Sally," I stammer, scooting away to the
other end of the bed, "I'm not THAT mature. Heck,
I still think putting a frog in someone's bed is a
scream."
 She doesn't buy it. Instead, she starts crawling
slowly towards me, "We've always been good
friends, now it's time to see HOW good!" All of a
sudden, her lips dart for mine, but I manage to
shove myself off the bed just before they make
contact. "Sorry, Sal," I say, feeling my
nervousness being replaced by determination, "but
if you want this fox kit, you'll have to CATCH him
first." With that, I bolt for the door, only to
remember it's still locked when I slam into it.
"Ouch!" I mutter, rubbing my sore nose.
 "Ok, but it's winner take all. All of YOU, that
is." Sally says, walking towards me. I scan the
room for an escape route and spot the window Sonic
opened a little while ago. Suddenly, I realize
what he meant: enough room for me to squeeze
through. Without a second thought, I dash for it.
"Ally oop!" I call out, diving through headfirst.
Landing with a roll, I hop to my feet and hear
SallY mutter, "Aw, phooey! Oh well, there's always
next time."
 I breath a sigh of relief and stop to catch my
breath; but as I do, I notice several of the girls
are out and are giving me the same looks Sally and
Sonya had! I decide to try a different tactic and
calmly walk by, my eyes looking for a place to
hide. After a few minutes, I spot an unlocked
door. "Looks like Roter's supply shed. Great!
Maybe now I can think for a sec." I say to myself
and slip in.
 "Oh, crud!" I say out loud, looking at my
surroundings. Instead of the supply shed, I've
snuck into Bunnie's place, and she's in bed
asleep! I start to leave as quietly as I can, but
my upset outburst causes her to wake up! In a
panic, I clap my hand over my eyes and turn
around. "Tails?" I hear her say, "What are you
doing here?"
 "I'm sorry, Bunnie! I-I didn't mean to come in
here like this. I thought I was at the supply shed
when I came in here. I wasn't paying attention.
Honest! I'm really sorry."
 "It's all right." She says. I hear the sound of
sheets rustling followed by metal footsteps, "Ah
think it's 'bout time Ah got up anyway." My eyes
still closed, I turn around and feel the twinge of
cold metal on my shoulder. It causes my eyes to
pop wide open. I shoot my hands back up to close
them until I notice Bunnie has a robe on.
Relieved, I lean up against the wall and let my
arms drop. "Oh, man; maybe now I can figure out
what's going on."
 "Tails; you alright? You're sweatin' something
fierce."
 I wipe my forehead off and decide to tell her,
repeating all I've been through today, ready to
move just in case what's happening has gotten to
her. When I'm through, I look at her, but instead
of surprise, as one normally gets when they hear
of things the likes of which I've went through,
she's unbelievably calm. "Well, you can't blame
them, Tails." She says, stepping slightly closer,
"Ah'm more than willing to do the exact same
thing."
  At the sound of this, I try to move out of the
way, but both her arms are blocking any escape!
Too sacred to do anything except flatten up
against the wall as much as possible, I hear a
slight giggle and know right away it's from her.
"Oh, man! Oh, man! Not again!" I cry out to
myself, "What am I gonna do!? I can't run. There's
no way I duck and dodge in this position. No where
to go...but...up?" I feel like I could kick myself
when I realize I've been running all this time
when I could have gone airborne.
 "Bunnie," I let myself relax and stand straight
up, "I've said this to Sally, and now I say it to
you;" I leap straight up with all I've got,
angling myself forward. When my feet are even with
Bunnie's chest, I slam both of them to the wall
and shove off, sending me into a somersault over
her head. I land right behind her and take a
couple of quick strides away. I wait for her to
turn around before continuing, "Want me? Gotta
catch me!" With these words, I coolly walk over to
the window, open it, and slide through.
 The second I'm outside, I realize how calm I am
now compared to how scared I was with Sally a few
minutes ago. With this in mind, I decide it's time
to try and figure out what's happening.
 To help me do this, I plan to get the other guys
to help. I quietly move through the bushes and
shadows. (Hey, I'm calmer, not crazy! I know I'm
outnumbered.) I pass by Roter's workshop (the REAL
one this time) and hear Sonic's voice inside.
Making sure I'm alone outside, I slip to the door
and move in.
 A small group of the guys are there, all of them
staring at me the second I close the door. "Well,
at least we know he's not taking advantage of his
newfound appeal." Mune says, smiling slightly. "I
plan to make sure it STAYS that way, Mune," I
reply, getting a kink out of my knee, " as soon as
I learn why all the girls are acting like this.
And once we know that,  maybe then we find a way
to turn them back to normal."
 Unfortunately, trying to figure this out isn't as
easy as we hoped; we all spend the rest of the day
thinking of possibilities. It's late into the
night before we decide to stop and try again in
the morning. "Roter?" I ask, stretching, "Is it ok
if I bunk in the workshop tonight?"
 "Sure, bud." He says, and tosses me an old coat I
can use for a pillow. Sage cracks his knuckles,
"Mind if I join ya, Tails?" he asks me, "Sara was
talking all night last night."
 "Sage, she's talked in her sleep dozens of times
and you've ignored it." Sonic speaks up.
 "I know, Sonic. But last night; hoo boy!" He
takes a deep breath, "I'll have to tell you for
you to understand. It all started a couple of
hours after she went to bed. I had just gotten out
of the shower:"
 "Gotta remember to tell Sara to watch how much
hot water she uses." Sage muttered to himself,
passing as quietly as possible by Sara's bedroom.
He was about to reach for the door to his when a
soft noise grabbed his attention. It sounded like
giggling. "Talking in her sheep again." He decided
to take a chance and slowly put an ear to the
door. It was a dream she was definitely enjoying.
He stifled a few snickers too until she started
talking; and what she said was loud enough for him
to hear, "Tails, that tickles." Sage's eyes
widened, "Tails?? That can't be right. Maybe I
heard wrong" He put his ear to the door again to
make sure and heard Tails' name again....
 "After a little while, I figured she was just
dreaming Tails was tickling her and went to bed;
but a few minutes later the laughing stopped and
the sound turned to kissing." Sage scratches the
back of his neck," It kinda gave me the creeps.
Sara never had any romantic interest in Tails
before, and all of a sudden she's dreaming their
kissing. No offense, man."
 "None taken." I tell him, then something comes to
mind, "Did you say it just happened all at once?"
 "Yeah, I mean I'd understand if it was gradual;
but this suddenly?  Besides, there's no evidence
of puppy love, and it's WAY too late for any 'love
at first sight'."
 As I let this sink in, I notice Axer staring at
my chest, like there was something wrong with it.
"What's wrong, Axer?" I ask him.
 "Tails, what's that on your chest?" He takes a
step closer. I pull back my chest-fur, fully
revealing the scar, "This? I figured I got cut by
something after I got knocked out."
 "Tails, now, I'm not a doctor or anything; but I
know that even if you hit something red-hot, it
doesn't leave the skin fused together afterwards."

 "What are you talking about?"
 "Dude, this is a surgical scar!"
 "Wha..!? Axer, you sure about this?" Sonic asks,
walking over. Axer nods, "No doubt. But where did
it come from?" The second he asks this, I feel
things start to fall into place but decide to
confirm my suspicions first.
 I turn my attention to Sage first, "Sage, think
you can give me, as accurately as possible, the
time Sara started talking about me in her sleep?"
 Sage shrugs, "Well, as near as I can remember, it
looked like it was about 2:40, 2:45. I don't
remember exactly. Why do you ask?"
 "Give me a sec and I'll tell everyone." I then
ask Sonic a question, "Sonic, any idea how long it
was from the time you, me, and Knuckles split up
to the time you guys found me unconscious?"
 "I don't know; about 6 hours as near as I can
tell. Tails, what are you getting at?"
 "Something tells me I have a idea as to what's
happening." I tell them about my coming to late
last night, and how I suddenly felt so tired a few
minutes after, "Just before I conked out, I looked
at the clock and noticed the time. It was around
2:30."
 "So?" Artie and Chaos ask in unison.
 "Guys, something tells that after I got knocked
out in Robotropolis, a hover-unit might've found
me with orders to take me straight to Robotnik."
 Chaos falls out of  the chair he was sitting in.
"Wha?!" he starts to panic, "Wait a sec!" he
quickly calms down for a second, "If, just if,
Robotnik DID manage to catch you, how come we're
still alive?"
 "I have a feeling old Egg-belly made a big
mistake in thinking that crystal he found was a
weapon."
 Psycho looks at me rather confused, "But, if it's
not a weapon, then what IS it?"
 "Only one way to find out, guys;" I head towards
the door, "Chuck said he was gonna try and hack
into the disks that were with it. I'm going over
the. Hopefully, he's had the time to bypass their
security. Anyone wanting to join me is welcome."
 Psycho stands up, "I'm coming."  Shades and Chaos
join him, "Us too."
 "I'm going." Mune says. Then Sonic, Axer, and
Knuckles make their move, "Same here."
 "All right." I grin slightly. "Artie, Roter. I
need you two to keep and eye on the girls." I grab
a comm-link off the table, "If we can find out a
way to stop what's happening, let us know the
second they turn back to normal. Ok?" Roter gives
a quick nod, "Got it."
 "Ok, let's go." The eight of us charge out the
door and head for Robotropolis. The dimly lit
streets make the city look even uglier than it
really is. Reaching the familiar junkheap, Sonic
deftly raps his knuckles on a rusty bar sticking
out of it. As soon as he does, the section raises
up and once again, Chuck looks out from the
opening with a slightly surprised look on his
face. "Whoa! You boys got quite a turnout
tonight." He motions for us to come in, "You're in
luck; I've finally finished going by the disks'
security programming." He sits down at his
computer and pulls up a schematic of the crystal.
We all group around. "In case any of you were
beginning to think the crystal wasn't a weapon
like Robotnik thought, you were right." He stifles
a quick snicker, "Turns out it was created by some
poor guy in an effort to get women to like him."
 "Things are starting to make sense." I mutter to
myself.
 "It seems the gem is actually a high power energy
crystal. Apparently, when the crystal vibrates at
a certain speed , it emits a strange radiation,
that affects the emotional center of the brain,
mildly scrambling the neural impulses in that area
in such a way that love is just about the only
thing anyone affected can feel. The inventor
didn't want it to seem like mind-control, so he
modified it so that anyone affected wouldn't know
the crystal was doing it, they would just know
they were in love."
 "But, what about the microchip in it?" Sonic
asks.
 "That just keeps it vibrating at the
radiation-producing speed. It also puts out a
homing signal with the radiation, that makes all
those affected focus that love towards the person
in possession of the crystal."
 "Wait a sec." Shades says, looking rather
unnerved, "If that's true then won't it make...?"
I look at him and take a fighting stance, "I dare
ya." I tell him.
 "No need to worry, boys." Chuck says, giving us a
reassuring look, "It's inventor saw that one
coming and added a DNA sensor key into the chip.
As near as I can tell, it's activated trough
touch; but only male DNA can activate it and it
affects only women."
 "I'm confused, Chuck." Mune says, scratching his
head, "If he put all that into it, they why did he
hide it? Didn't it work?"
 "A little TOO well, I'm afraid, Mune," Chuck
replies, "I've learned that the crystal has a pair
of rather serious problems in it. First, I've
learned that, after a short while, the radiation
emissions intensify and somehow shift the love
into lust. Second, any lady affected would be in
love with the gut with the crystal and ONLY that
guy. It caused girls to dump their boyfriends and
wives to leave their husbands. Soon the inventor
decided it too much heartbreak and hid it away."
 "Say, Chuck," I say looking at the chip, "by any
chance, did the creator include a way to destroy
the chip, in case it got out of hand or
something."
 "Well, I don't know," he starts hitting keys,
"let me check."
 Chaos gives me a strange look, "Tails, you know
something we don't?"
 "I have a feeling I do." I reply.
 "Well, well, talk about a thorough description."
Chuck says.
 I look at the screen and start reading, "I place
here a message to the person who discovers the
crystal's purpose and wishes to destroy it in case
the flaws come to light. The only way to stop the
radiation output permanently is to electrocute
the  microchip. Fortunately, after I created the
crystal and chip, I was left without sufficient
funds to properly shield the chip from power
surges. But, it will still take a sizable jolt to
short it out. It's affects should be nullified the
second the chip is burnt out It could possibly be
life-threating, but if successful, the chance of
broken hearts caused by this thing will be
eliminated forever. I hope the person reading this
understands I never meant for anything like this
to happen. I only wished for some female
companionship. May your attempt be fruitful."
 "An electrical shock!?" Knuckles exclaims,
"That's all it needs?"
 "That's what I need, Knuckles." I mutter. He
looks at me surprised, "Say what?"
  I decide it's time to tell them what I've been
thinking. "Guys; put it all together. Robotnik's
'weapon' is really some dude's attempt to get
girls, Ro-butt-nik's decision to to put it inside
me, thinking it'll destroy us; the scar on my
chest that most likely says he DID put it in me,
but we're all still standing; the time I passed
out last night is real close to when Sage said
Sara was talking about me in her sleep, possibly a
little bit later or earlier than the other
ladies."
 "You think Robotnik did what he said he was gonna
do with it and instead of destroying us, it's
making all the girls hot for you?"
 "Yeah." I feel my muscles tighten, "Robotnik's
done some pretty rotten things in the past, but
now he's gotten personal, even if he didn't know
it would have this effect." I close my eyes and
start planning, "Now it's time to put a stop to
all this, and the only way I can think of is one
of Butt-nik's generators."
 I start out and hear footsteps behind me. I turn
around to see all the guys coming too. "Sorry
guys," I tell them, "but I have to do this myself.
If we all go, that'll just increase the risk of
getting caught."
 "No way, Tails," Axer says, shaking his head, "we
came here together and we're going to shut that
crystal down together."
 I know I can't argue with them anymore after
hearing that, "All right. Let's move."
 Remembering what happened the last time I was
here, I decide to go on the ground. Our path takes
us across a lonely, shadowed area. Stealth-orbs
and hover-units fly overhead, causing us to take
cover every now and then.
 Soon we reach a large, dark, building. the
entrance is guarded by a pair of Swatbots. "Ok,
Tails," Psycho whispers, "we'll keep these two
busy while you go in there and try to bust that
chip."
 I nod in reply and all seven of them rush up to
the robots, stick their tongues at them, and run
off with the both of them on their tails. As soon
as their backs are turned, I dash through the
door. Inside is Robotropolis' main generator.
"Ka-ching!" I tell myself, "Step one done. Now for
step two." Looking for a place to get some juice,
I find a repair panel and pry it open. Out pops a
large, glowing cable. "Here goes."
 Taking a deep breath, I grab it. My body suddenly
stiffens as I feel an incredible amount of energy
surge through me. After what feels like hours, I
manage to let go of it. I feel so weak, I'm barely
able to move when a group of armed Swatbots
surround me. "Freeze, intruder. You are under
arrest." One of them says. "Ah, go suck a
battery." I tell it just before I pass out.
 "Welcome back, Tails." A harsh voice greets me as
I regain consciousness. getting up, I find I'm
chained up inside a roboticizer tube. I look
around and spot another one next to mine. A girl
skunk, a little bit younger than me, is inside
banging on the glass. She looks at me with tears
in her eyes, "Please, help me!" she begs.
 "Well, at least I know the surge took out the
chip." I tell myself.
 Suddenly a large object appears in front of me,
shaking with laughter. I recognize it instantly,
"Robotnik." I growl, giving him a dirty look. "Now
is that anyway to greet an old acquaintance?" he
asks sarcastically, "Although, I do admit; i never
thought to see you again. At least, not alive."
 "You didn't think of much when you found that
thing." I mutter angrily under my breath.
 "But I plan to rectify that. Your little stunt
with my generator was quite foolish, and you will
pay for it, along with anyone else who helped
you."
 "I'd hate to disappoint you, Mac, but that
generator job was a solo operation."
 "You did it alone? No problem, one will do just
fine."
 "If just one," I motion to the girl skunk next to
me, "then why the two of us?"
 "Oh, she's going to help me test a new device.
Lately it seems that all the debris has hampered
my Swatbots and Stealt-orbs' life-force detection
systems slightly. And since I can't find a decent
place to transport it all, I've decided to just
destroy it. This device is just a prototype until
I can create a mobile unit. You see, your tube
will still roboticize whoever I put in, while HERS
is designed to emit a high voltage energy
discharge, capable of disintegrating anything
inside."
 "NO!!" She cries, trying desperately to get out.
 "You slimebag!" I snarl, and punch the tube, my
anger rising.
 "Don't worry," he tells us, "it will all be over
in a second. There will hardly be any pain. At
least, I don't think there will. Snively! Begin
the countdown." He walks over to the computer.
 "Yes, Sir." Snively calls out from near the
console, "T-minus one minute until activation."
 I look over to where the skunk is and see her
sitting on the floor, crying. As I listen to her
sobs of fear and sadness, my anger slowly turns
into rage. Suddenly, a strange sensation comes
over me. I feel stronger than I've ever felt
before! Quickly taking advantage of it, I grab my
chains and start pulling on them. To my amazement,
they snap like plant stems. Robotnik wheels around
when I do that. "What's going on!?" He demands.
 "This is!" I yell, and start pounding on the
glass with all my might. The first blow cracks it.
The second sends shards flying everywhere. Hopping
out, I spot Robotnik grabbing Snively and start to
rant, "Don't just stand there, ACTIVATE THE
DISENTIGRATOR!!"
 "B-b-beginning energy flow!" Snively squeaks, and
starts hitting button on the control panel.
 "Oh, no you don't!" I say, pointing my hands at
it. Suddenly, a bright beam of energy shoots out
from them and melts the controls. "How did you do
that?!" Robotniik yells, looking perplexed. "Good
question." I reply, and hurry over to the tube the
girl skunk is in. "Cover your eyes!" I tell her.
Grabbing the tube, I begin to squeeze. Almost
instantly, the tube shatters and I help her out.
 She buries her face in my chest-fur, "Thank you."
she says, still crying, but not as hard. "Shh,
it's all right," I say gently, wiping the tears
off her face, "You're gonna be ok." A laser
whizzes past my head as I say this. "Uh, oh. Looks
like we just wore out our welcome." I pick her up
and sprint out the door with a group of Swatbots
hot on my heels and Robotnik yelling, "After them!
AFTER THEM!"
 Charging down the stairs, I look behind and stare
in horror at the robots gaining on me. My mind
starts racing. "Hang on!" I tell my passenger,
"I'm going to try something!" Concentrating, I
start trying to build up speed. It works; soon,
everything starts racing by like I was hanging on
to Sonic! "All right!" I yell, leaving the
Swatbots behind in a cloud of dust.  Spotting a
window, I zip out of it and run down to the
ground. "Now, to find the guy and blow this
place." It takes me a few minutes of dashing
through the streets until I bank around a building
and come face-to-face with Knuckles! "Tails!" He
yells happily, "We've been looking everywhere for
you. Where the heck did you go?" He spots the girl
skunk I've been carrying, "And who is this?"
 "Actually, I'm not sure." I notice a hover-unit
coming towards us, "Guys, perhaps we should
continue this at Knothole."
 "Good idea." Sonic says, and we all blast out of
there (I decide to fly until I have time to show
them what the crystal can let me do), not stopping
until we reach Knothole. Artie and Roter are the
first ones to meet us. Hey, what happened, guys?"
Roter asks, "We tried to get you to let you know
all the girls are back to normal over half an hour
ago."
 "Sorry, Rote." I apologize, "I think the
communicator got burned when I zapped the chip."
 Before any of us can say anything else, almost
everyone else in Knothole comes out. Some of them
greet my fellow escapee and begin showing her
around. As I let my muscles relax, Sonic and
Psycho come up to me. "Hey, Tails, why did it take
you so long to short the microchip out?" Sonic
asks me. Still letting myself loosen up I tell the
about getting caught and about breaking both the
skunkette and myself out a very unpleasant fate.
"One thing I'll never forget," I let a surge of
energy jump between my hands, "is the look on
Ro-butt-nik's face after I did this." I can't help
but laugh when their eyes bug out at my
demonstration.
 "How did you do that??" they ask in disbelief.
 "Without the chip, the crystal's given me some
rather useful talents. Check this out." I'm about
to show them when a small group of the girls walk
up. "Guys, can we talk to Tails privately?" Sally
asks.
 "Sure, ladies." Psycho says, then turns to me, "I
gotta find out what you can do now."
 "Ok, Psy. See you later." As he leaves, I notice
both my gloves are shredded and burnt. I pull them
off and throw them away. "What's up?" I ask,
turning to the girls.
 "Tails, hunny," Bunnie starts saying, "Chaos and
Shades told us about the crystal and that it was
what was causing us to want ya. And well, we wanna
apologize for how we acted and for any fear we
made ya feel."
 "Yeah," Asrial pops up, "when that thing took
effect, none of us could resist."
 "Well, I'm just glad you were capable of
resisting the moves we tried to put on you." Sally
says.
 "Look, it's no big deal." I give a quick chuckle,
"I mean, it's not like any of you actually liked
it, right?"
 "Weellll" Bunnie and Asrial say.
 "O-k," I mutter, stepping back slightly, "anyway,
I'll see you all later." I start heading back
towards my place.
 "Tails where're you going?" Asrial asks,
Everything's back to normal and Robotnik's
probably having a fit right now. I kinda figured
we were all gonna party down!"
 "You guys might, but THIS fox kit's had enough
excitement for one day. All I want to do now is
grab a shower and hit the hay."
 "Ok, Tails," Sally says, kissing me on the cheek,
"We'll see you in the morning."
 All right. Have a ball." I reply, watching them
head back to where the others are before going
home.
 After getting out of the shower, I look out the
window and spot what looks like Sonic and Sally,
as well as a few other familiar couples, dancing
together. "Well," I say quietly, "I never thought
I'd say this, but," I get into bed and turn out
the light, "thanks Robotnik."

       The End