"WhaaaaAAAaaaAAAAT?!" Tails shouted, shaking his entire laboratory.
"But… you can't! This is a joke, right? It has to be a joke!" Amy exclaimed, hands clasped around her mouth.
"Think of what they've done to us… to everyone!" Knuckles barked, clenching his fists. Sonic stood in front of all his most valued friends, his breath thin and heavy. All in all, he already prepared for their reactions to be worse.
"I know it's a lot to take in, but I've been thinking about this for a while," Sonic sighed. His friends looked on with horror-stricken expressions. "I think… it's best if I return to active duty in the Eggman Empire. According to Ariem, she managed to remove Eggman from the Reverie recently. That means she's awake, and probably with a big new plan. If I were to access the details from the inside, I could stop the scheme before it's even executed."
"It sure sounds like a gamble, though," Amy mumbled.
"Believe me, it'll be safer for everyone," Sonic grumbled. "Eggman's always said she'd accept me back into the Empire, so I'd probably retain my rank and authority from before I left. Depending on how much I can push things, I might be able to mitigate further attacks worldwide."
"That's a lovely thought, Sonic… but there's no way this turns out well. With how much more powerful you've become since then, you'd be the Empire's greatest weapon," Tails said. "There's countless reasons you should never rejoin them. Besides, you've fought so hard for your new life!" Sonic looked to the ground, conflicted.
"I understand what you're all saying, but… I'm not asking for your permission," Sonic said. He smirked, and opened the door. "Everything will turn out okay. I've got this." He zoomed out of Emerald Town, not looking back for an instant. Tails watched as the door closed, his hand outstretched.
"I should… probably head after him," Tails whispered. He flew out of his laboratory, leaving Amy and a seething Knuckles behind.
Sonic felt like he was running in slow motion, no matter how fast he tried to go. With every footprint in the sand, he felt his body shaving away from the toes up. Knuckles especially seemed upset at him, maybe that's because they were so alike. Maybe if Sonic truly had the resolve he projected in front of all of them, he wouldn't be doing this in the first place.
"Sonic? I'm not going to tell you what to do with your life," Tails said, flying after him. Sonic felt every bone in his body spark with electricity, and picked up speed to try and shake Tails off. "But I don't believe for a second you'd do this of your own free will. What's going on with you?"
"I don't want to talk about it. Go home, I'll write you," Sonic replied. He blasted off into the distance, faster than Tails could keep up with.
And yet, Tails kept following.
The two tore through Emerald Beach, Sonic tried zigzagging while kicking up sand to hide himself, then picked up even more speed. Tails twirled around, the gale force winds produced by his tails spinning blowing the waves of sand apart. He knew trying to catch Sonic would be a guaranteed loss for anybody. Metal Sonic had to destroy himself to win the lead even for a moment, Shadow tended to gradually slip behind even with his Rocket Skates…
… With all that being said, nobody is better at chasing after Sonic than Tails.
While Sonic was putting effort into zigzagging, Tails zoomed ahead and spun his tails fast enough to cause a sandstorm. The faded part of the beach disappearing into the distance exploded into full view. Sonic was blinded, his feet completely left the ground, he was lifted into the air… then dropped into the newly-formed mound of sand.
Tails slowly approached his best friend as he kicked his legs upside-down in a figure eight motion, his upper body completely stuck. Tails pulled Sonic out, and the hedgehog coughed up sand. "Ugh… a little extreme, don't you think?" Sonic asked, wiping his face.
"There's no nice way to get you to stand still," Tails laughed, sitting down next to him and looking out at the sea. "I dunno what it's like living in your head, I never have. But you always have a good reason for everything you do. So cut the crap, what do you ACTUALLY want to go back for?" Sonic took a deep breath.
"You're not gonna let me get away from this, are you?" Sonic asked with a sneer. "Alright, so… remember Sage? She was an Eggman invention, and I managed to get pretty attached to her back on the Starfall Islands. Somehow, I've been thinking about her a lot lately. Really, I was hoping I could find a backup in an old warehouse or something and… y'know, run away with her somewhere."
"... You mean Supremely Administrative Gambit of Eggman?" Tails asked, puzzled. "I didn't know that old draft ever got past the blueprints stage." Sonic cocked his head, before it hit him.
"Liar. You are such a liar! No way you created her!" Sonic exclaimed, cracking up.
"Oh, me and my big mouth. Who else could create such an advanced artificial personality?" Tails asked, smirking. "Sonic, if that's all you were after, you could've just asked me. I have all my old SAGE project files on a disc back at my lab… right here in Emerald Town."