Tails, Sonic, Amy Rose, The X-Tornado and the Mystic Ruins are copyright to Sega and whoever else holds the copyright at this moment. We intend no copyright infringement.
* * *
As soon as Paul woke up he looked at his hands and feet. No, no nothing, no fur, no claws, no scales, no cartoonish gloves, nothing! Mark, Rings, had promised that he’d come too. While their parents were august at the idea of losing another kid, Paul knew Mark would be there, so there was nothing to worry about when he got there. All knew was that it would be so much fun! And who knew? Maybe he wouldn't have to go to school once he was a cool game character.
Of course his friends thought he was crazy when he said that his brother turned into a Sonic character, much less one that none of them even knew about! Paul however, instead of lashing out as is proper etiquette at his age of ten, simply shrugged it off, confident how he knew he was right and they were wrong. However, why was it taking so long? Why hadn't he changed like Kyle and his brother, and gone to Sonic Land like the rest of them? It was so unfair! Just like the higher grade kids who got break before he did! Just because they were older they got out of school earlier for summer?
A little bitter over still not having his wish, Paul went through all the other mediocre things ordinary people like him did each morning. Cloths, bathroom, breakfast. Listening to his parents discuss the geo-political situation. Opening up to the only deep emotion confident had besides his toys, Paul once again complained about his lack of his exit papers on the club of humanity into the humanoid cartoonish animals. Having slowly accepted the fate of her eldest son, but still not liking her son's decreasing disposition (like a child in line at the movies) she decided to share a tidbit of parental wisdom to have his brain chew on it for a while.
"Dear, you know that good things won't happen to you unless you do nice things for other people." A lie, but hey, if everyone did exactly that, you could hardly say that nice things weren't happening to nice people.
Paul looked at his mom, not sure if he believed her, but what child didn't believe his own mother? Plus, he had to admit he had to be doing something wrong for nothing to have happened to him so far, maybe she had a point. It couldn't hurt, and if it got him closer to the goal faster, all the better.
He considered what to do, he really wasn’t smart enough to help anyone with school and he was too young to be building stuff around people houses. Maybe he could mow lawns but that just didn't seem to be a good deed type of thing. He then realised there was one good deed he could do, he decided to vacuum the house for his mother, it would save her time and he felt it would give him points that would get him closer to being with Mark as an animal person. he ran downstairs and lugged the vacuum all of the way upstairs. It was heavy but if it got him closer to his ultimate goal, it was worth it. When he was finished vacuuming all three floors, a task that took some time, he decided to empty the dishwater so he could load other dishes into it. He did just that, he didn't care that he needed a step stool to put everything away, as long as doing these good deeds got him closer to being with Mark as a critter, it was worth it. When he finished, he put the dirty dishes into the washer and walked up to his mother.
"Okay, I vacuumed and emptied the dish washer. Why aren’t I changing yet? Those are good deeds, aren’t they?"
"Thanks for doing those things Paul but you can't do them just for the reward. A true hero does nice things because the feeling they did something nice is rewarding enough."
"So, I have to do nice things cause they make me feel good? Then I can change and be with Mark?" he asked.
"You have to want to do them because they make you feel good, not just to be with Mark. But Paul, don't be so quick to leave us. I know you miss your brother, but we don't want to lose you too."
"But he said we'd all be together soon!"
"Maybe we will, but until then, if you want something nice to happen you need to be nice because it feels good. Didn't it feel good helping me with the chores?"
"Yeah, but I still wana be with Mark!" Paul replied.
"Well, we'll see what happens," his mother answered.
"I'm gonna go for a walk and see if any of my friends are at the park," Paul said.
"Okay Paul, you be careful now and have fun," his mother said.
"I will," Paul answered as he acquired his hooded grey windbreaker and ran out the door.
Paul's mother thought of Mark, wondering how he was doing. Even after two months, thinking of her son as a cartoon raccoon taking care of a cartoon fox felt strange. She missed him terribly and wondered how he was doing as a pseudo father for an animal child. She hoped she was going to see Mark soon and that he was safe.
Skipping down the side walk, Paul hoped that if anything could take his mind off of Mark’s absence, his friends would. Playing his games had increasingly reminded him of Mark. He could even pretend the character that he was playing was Rings. It dulled the sting and he was able to burn through his games anew with his mental picture, but burn through was exactly what he did. He shot down his old times, emeralds and all, but it was back to the yearly waiting season until Sega coughed up another new Sonic game. Worse was that the new Sonic game had a new dark and violent tone with only Shadow, rather than Sonic and the rest of his friends. After glancing at the preview his mother swore she wouldn't let him play the game until he was fourteen! Fourteen!!! He knew video game violence wasn't real, that using a gun was bad, that shooting someone was bad, that hurting people was bad and that people didn't come back if they died. Of course his mom didn't believe him.
So what was he supposed to do? Mom could be so thick some times. The ten year old with this thought adamantly in mind continued on the fast trek towards the city's park. His family lived in the good part of town so his mom had no fear of Paul going there alone. Typical of a ten year old, Paul bumped into more than a few adults and continued his pace without so much as an 'excuse me.' After the fifteenth person however, it dawned on Paul's childish mind that maybe, just maybe, being nice to people when he was in a rush could possibly count in the realm of probability as a good deed or at least something nice. Thus, the lad thought to put a bit more effort into avoiding other people and actually making a word, a fast word, of apology when he did run into them on his way to his destination. However a child knew frustration as badly as any adult, and he really felt like people were trying to get in his way.
"If I could fly like Tails' I could just get over all them." Reflected Paul. No one really tried to figure out what he meant, contributing it to normal weird child behaviour.
"If I could run like Sonic I'd be there in a sonic second!" Heck, if he was Knuckles he could climb the sides of the building then glide the rest of the way to the park.
But would you like to never be in the same place twice? Or to work on air plane engines, or sit around and just think half the day? Paul started wondering where the stray thought had come from. But he guessed he wouldn't really like travelling all the time line Sonic, or working on things like Tails, or just sitting around alone like Knuckles.
Paul remembered what Mark said about ending up as one of those tiny critters who came out of the badniks when you smashed them waay back in the 2-D Sonic games back on the Genesis. Kyle’s parents said that Kyle had always had a love for Tails at heart before becoming Tails period, so, who did he really like? Was that it maybe? He had no one he loved; he just liked the Sonic World in general. Could that be it? He had no grand praises for or grudges against any of them in particular like some of Kyle’s friends. But neither had his brother. Mark had noted the lack of raccoon characters in the games right before becoming one, but Paul really hadn’t of thought of characters he'd like to see; maybe another raccoon character, maybe that was the key, he needed to think of someone that would be around Mark in his new form, but who? Rings wasn’t a character from the games or comics, so what would someone close to him look like? He was so busy thinking of what he could end up looking like that he banged right into a teenager hard enough to knock him onto his rear end. He felt anger and wanted to yell at the guy for getting in his way but remembered his mothers words. He picked himself up and looked at the teen, who was standing with his arms folded, looking rather angry.
"Sorry man, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, my bad," he said.
The teen raised his left eyebrow, obviously not expecting that response from a kid.
"Gotta watch were you're going man, someone could get hurt," he said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Paul said.
The teen resumed walking, leaving an embarrassed Paul to continue on his way. Paul eventually arrived at the park to find only a few kids there, none of them his friends. He sat down on a bench to further consider his situation. Just what would a character that would be close to Rings look like? Would he be younger or older? Paul assumed younger and smaller. What kind of abilities would be have? Could he fly? Paul liked the idea of flying, but he also liked the idea of running fast. It was all so annoying to decide. Maybe he'd be able to do something different? He did like jokes, maybe someone that did those somehow as an ability? He did wonder about his life and Marks though. He knew that Kyle and the others must have been getting into adventures, but he wondered if that was hard for them. It probably hurt if a robot hit them, and what if someone tried to robotsize them? His desire to be with Mark seemed to outweigh that risk.
He decided to try using one of the swings to clear his mind, all of this thinking was depressing him. The last thing Paul expected to hear was crying, much less it coming from an eight year old girl with black hair, slightly orange tinted skin, brown almost pitch black eyes, not that he could really tell the colour of her eyes from how she was sniffling. He looked around but no one else seemed to even notice her. Her dress was weird looking to Paul, an adult would have recognised it from being made across the border and NOT being shipped to the US of A at a lower cost than it would have been to pay a worker in the buying country to make it. She had on these weird wool things that looked like a super hero cap only it got cut off at the shoulders and went all the way around her. It's green colour looked ugly on her dress. She noticed the shadow over her and looked up at the larger, older boy, and asked before he could even wonder what was going on.
"Can you help me? I told daddy that I could make it all the way to gramma's house all by myself. But I saw this pretty purple plump kitty and followed it, then it was gone, and I was all alone. Please, can you tell me where gramma's house is?"
In spite of the awkwardness of the situation, a thought crossed Paul's mind. Purple plump kitty? Couldn't be . . . Big? Big the Cat? It meant someone -else- got to go before him still! Was he going to have to wait to go with Mark and be Rings' pal forever? The girl's crying brought him out of his internal monologue. He had to ask,
"Did you see which way the kitty went?"
"I think it went that way?" The girl pointed, "Before it vanished."
Paul looked that way, nothing about it seemed weird, but how was he supposed to know a door to Sonic land when he saw one? Maybe it wasn't closed! Maybe he could get to Rings after all! Paul said a quick thanks and began to run like crazy in the direction the girl had pointed, he got about three yards before he stopped, and turned around, see the girl still alone and scared, and everyone around her pretending that she wasn't even there! Mark slowly walked back to the girl, and kneeled besides her.
"What's the number in front of your grandma's house? Do you know what the street's called?" Most boys would never know the actual street names of their home towns, but his mother had been a worrywart since Mark's leaving and had drilled them into him (and there was much crying and grinding of teeth).
"I think it's 181-2, Annversery Street."
Paul knew exactly where street that was, but was also quite a ways away. He looked back the way Big must have gone to Mobius.
Leave her, someone else will help her, you can finally go to Sonic Land. He heard himself think. He looked back at the girl who seemed to be waiting for them to decide weather to help her or not, hope against hope.
But she's all alone
Who CARES? You don't know her, she's a stranger! Strangers are bad! Strangers should just be left alone! Why do you THINK no one else is helping her? Just let her be. Mark is waiting for you.
Mark would want me to help her.
If you don't go now, you'll never see Mark again!' Paul surprised himself at the force of the thought he just had. He looked at the girl again.
Mom said never to talk to strangers.
Paul -then- remember all the stories and cartoons about King Arthur, always help a lady in distress. Paul sighed, if he wanted to have adventures with all those heroes, didn't he have to start acting like it?
"Come on, I'll take ya to yer grandma." The girl hesitated for just a moment, then took the older child's hand and Paul helped her stand up, she stopped crying, Paul off handily noticed she was wearing sandals.
"You can?" She asked not sure.
Paul put on a smile. "Sure I can! Just trust me."
The girl nodded. "Okay."
Paul didn't dare look back, or he might change his mind, so he continued to walk, and perhaps leaving his chance to go to Sonic land behind. On the other side of the brushes and tree was a vendor with pretty much any five cents candy or trinket that a child could afford with the promise included of being free of responsibilities. The vendor had pale almost blue skin and dyed green hair, his eyes were covered by purplish reflective one piece glasses. He looked at his wrist watch.
"That kid should be here by now."
"Mister." Said a girl in a frilly pink dress. "I'd like a candy."
The twenty year old man looked intently at the girl. It would be a shame to go back empty handed. He took out a candy shaped like a robot snake.
"Excuse me -sir-." The man yelped and turned around to see a police officer with spiky hair.
"Do you have a merchant's permit? There have been some abductions of children as of late and-" The officer smirked, the man wasn't there anymore. 'Not interested in a fight yet huh?' The girl looked confused at what was going on, but the officer rubbed her hair and told her to forget about it and five seconds later when the officer was gone that was exactly what she had done.
* * *
Paul, and Julan, he had learned that was her name, had crossed town not meeting any trouble, Paul was just glad it was a holiday, otherwise his mom would have been climbing the walls wondering where he was now. Long after what Paul assumed (not that he had anything to go on) to be the end of his chance to go see Mark, the two arrived at the house of Julan's grandmother. Julan's demeanour had become much more cheerful as they had left, she was clearly happy by the time she was at the white picket fence to her grandma's home. She took a few steps foreword then stopped and looked a bit afraid.
"Um . . . my grandpa really doesn't like anyone who isn't family, I, er, uhm, I'm sorry, you brought me all the way here, but grandma wouldn't really be able to, I wish there was a way I could thank you though!" Julan blurted.
Paul was perplexed by what she had said. The girl stood there clearly deep in thought before brightening up and taking off her wool cape.
"Here, you can have my poncho."
"Poncho?" Paul asked confused.
"Yea!" She said cheerful again. "It's always brought me good luck, it helped me find you, and you helped me find my gramma's house. Maybe it can help you find something you're looking for."
"I, couldn't-" tried Paul, no go.
"Please I insist, consider it a thank you."
"But," Paul tried to think of something. "I don't need a thank you."
"Don't be silly, you may not want a thank you, but I do want to give a thank you."
"Well, I guess so, if you want to," Paul said.
Julan beamed before taking off the poncho and draping it around Paul's back.
"Thanks," Paul said, although he wasn’t sure what to think as he assumed it looked silly on him.
"No; thank you," Julan said before walking up to the gate leading into the yard. It squeaked as she opened it. She waved goodbye to Paul and he waved back before turning around and starting to walk off. When he heard the gate squeak again, he turned to see Julan was gone. She must have ran inside or something.
Feeling depressed, Paul started making his way back to the park. He thought he'd missed out on his only chance to see Mark again and while he felt good for helping the girl, the apparent cost of that help distressed him. The walk back to the park felt like an eternity and to make matters worse, the sky was clouding over as he approached the park. He walked in the same direction the cat had gone, but any hopes of finding a portal proved to be in vein. With a tear rolling down his left cheek, he slouched as he sat back down on the bench. A rumble from the sky accompanied drops of rain. If anything, at least this poncho would give him some protection from the rain, as if he was worried about that at the moment. He pictured Mark going on some adventure with Kyle, he imaged them fighting robots and smashing them, freeing people and perhaps entire cities from Eggman's tyrannical fascism.
He was so consumed with emotion that he ignored the itching on his face, and the fact the poncho and his clothes seemed to be growing. It started raining harder as the itching spread across his entire face. His ears felt warm for a second and then he felt the same warmth on top of his head. At that moment the rain seemed to get louder, he could hear it hitting the sand and wood, as well as his clothes loud, clear and in perfect detail. For a blissful few seconds, he was hit with an image of holding onto Tails' legs as the fox flew him down and landed besides Mark. They teamed up in a battle against a large number of robots as the other members of the gang joined in. It was like a game for Paul, he was too busy having fun with the robots to ever worry of them hurting him. Despite getting a little banged around, they were victorious. Then, the image was gone; the warmth on his face was not. Itchiness was gone, but now his jaw felt funny and the world seemed a fair bit bigger. He stood up, noticing the considerable drop from the bench as his pants fell down around his ankles. He noticed hair sprouting on his legs. I’m a bit young for puberty and since when does hair grow this fast and come in light blue? It can't be! His heart raced as he felt around his face, feeling warm, soft fur. He felt under the poncho, feeling his ears were now a triangle shape and at the top of his head, along with slightly longer hair like fur at the top of his head; just like Mark. His chest felt warm and he couldn’t help but beam as elation consumed him.
"This is so cool, this is actually happening!" he yelled out. His voice was higher pitched and sounded not unlike it had a few years ago. Sorrow vanished in an instant, replaced by enthusiasm and a mischievous side. He became giddy with thoughts of playing tricks on enemies, wanting to have fun with the them as much as defeat him. On occasion he’d play some pranks on his friends, just to keep them on their toes.
Mark no longer seemed distant, feeling much like Paul could reach out and touch him. Or play a tick on him Paul grinned. His base of his spine tingled then something pushed at the back of his shirt ... he felt the shirt against something. Paul lifted up his shirt to see his belly covered in navy blue fur and the rest of him in light blue, the opposite of rings, he realised. He looked to see the back of his shirt pegged up by a cute chubby ringed tail, three rings to be precise. He realised that as with Mark as he'd changed, he no longer had a need for modesty and put the poncho on the bench before slipping his shirt off. He easily slipped out of his already far too big shoes before slipping the socks off as his feet plumped up into five toed clawed feet.
As the rain started to pour down, he ran though the puddles, splashing with a care in the world. He felt free and peaceful, the rain not bothering him at all even though it weighed down his fur. He came upon a large puddle and peered into it, the face of a raccoon like creature peering back at him. He smiled at the reflection before running back to the poncho, realising the girl must have been testing him. Whomever she was, he wished he could thank her. As he wondered what would happen next he heard the sound of a car pulling up, it was his mothers. Now this is going to be hard to explain.
Paul blinked and suddenly smiled which in a flash became a full mouth grin. He remembered being this way, of playing tricks on his friends, this was going to be fun. He quickly slipped the wool poncho back on over his head, even if it was moist now from all the rain, unlike the rest of his clothing it didn't feel restraining at all. Besides, the girl had given it to him as a present. It would be rude not to keep it.
"Paul!" His mother called, concern clear in her voice, an umbrella shielding her from the rain.
Paul in a blur climbed up one of the trees, that chersar cat grin never leaving his face. Paul called out making his voice as low as he could.
"Mom! I'm right here!" He said throwing his voice towards his pile of cloths, not caring how he knew, just knowing it was a pretty fun thing to do! His mother looked around, confused why she couldn't see him.
"Mom look down!" He threw his voice again, his grin getting somehow bigger. She looked down at his clothes. "I've melted! Help me! Get a bucket!"
His mother gasped in shock and fear, and Paul was very proud of himself not breaking out laughing like a lunatic just yet. His mom got on her knees and mushed her hands in his wet cloths. Paul sniggered, waiting till just the right moment to break to the punch line. Just his mom started to shed tears, he wrapped his new tail around the branch he was hiding on, having perfected the trick over the years and like a human kid on a swing fell back over, came face to face with her and made his eyes as huge as possible before opened his mouth like a double door way and bellowed, "Boo!" His mom fell over on her rear splattering her in mud. Paul couldn't hold it anymore and still hanging on the branch, laughed, losing track of anything else curling in a ball hanging in the air like a giggling ball of fur.
"You . . you . . ." Paul couldn't contain himself. Finally he burst out his arms and legs in a star burst design, "TA-DA!" He declared.
He let loose of his tail and did several flips in the air before landing on the ground, a trick he picked up after failing to learn Sonic's spin technique. He landed perfect on his mom, who was too stunned to speak. "Abracadabra!" He did a quick showman bow and continued to cat grin at his mother who was still open mouthed. He kissed her right on the mouth, and hopped off.
"Guess who? Three guesses! It's not Santa! It's someone you know! And that leaves guess number three!" He had always loved that line.
The rain slowly began to let up, his human mother just looked at him stunned, the clouds slowly departed, the sea in the sky letting up. His fur was drenched to the skin, he didn't care, this was just too perfect.
"Come on guess," he said, still beaming.
"P... Paul, is that really you?" his mother asked, her voice trembling.
"Bingo!" Paul said, giving his mother two thumbs up.
"But how ... when?"
Paul told her about the girl and how he'd helped her.
"Well, the first thing we have to do is get you home. Don't tell anyone about this!" she said.
Paul jumped off his mother, landing on the ground gracefully.
"Hang on, don't forget your clothes!" his mother said. Paul noticed a few leafs from the trees laying on the ground, probably the result of the wind. He grabbed two of them and in a puff of smoke had vanished, his mothers eyes went wide and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone tap her back. She turned to see Paul standing there holding his rain soaked clothing and giggling.
Paul had long ago learned to play a variety of tricks, he used leaves as a sort of fuel, each trick cost one leaf. With the remaining leaf, he giggled before again vanishing in a poof of smoke. His mother turned to see him standing ankle deep in mud. He of course, found it amusing, of course as a kid, getting dirty was almost second nature to him.
"How are you doing that?" she asked.
"I learned how to do it a long time ago, it's like second nature now, you know like Tails flying. I barley even hafta think about it!"
"Paul, calm down, we need to get you home before someone sees you like this!" his mother insisted.
"Oh okay," Paul said, picking up another leaf and vanishing in a puff of smoke, only to re-appear in the passenger seat of his mother's car. His mother ran over to the passenger side door, her eyes wide.
"You're making a mess!"
"Getting dirty is fun! You should try it more often!" he said.
"Maybe later," his mother said, rolling her eyes.
She drove Paul home, making sure to take side streets as to minimise the chance of someone seeing Paul. When they got home, she hurried him into the house. Standing just inside, she closed the front door and looked at her son's mud covered feet and soaked fur, not sure how to respond to this.
"Paul, I hate to say this but you need a bath!" she said.
Paul eyed a leaf stuck to his clothes and grinned widely.
"No problemo mom!" he said.
He again vanished in a puff of smoke. His mother undid and removed her shoes and threw off her coat before running upstairs to see Paul sitting in a filled tub, washing his feet off.
"How did you?" she asked.
"Awe come on Mom, I've been doing this stuff for years!" Paul said.
His mother walked over him, confused.
"What do you mean for years?"
"I ... don't know, it's like I remember being this way. It feels like I've been this way for years, this body feels normal to me! I know how to do all sorts of crazy stuff!"
"Do you know if your brother is okay?" she asked.
"Rings ... I mean, Mark is fine, he's rooming with Tails until his parents come back. I dunno how I know that, I just know," Paul said as he washed himself off. Once he was done, he leapt out of the tub and his mother dried him off, the process taking some time with all of his fur.
"Then you're going to be ... joining him soon?" she asked.
"I think so ... I've missed him so much, it'll be so fun to be able to hang with him like this!"
"And what if we never see you again?"
"You will, I know that too. Then we can all play and have fun together!"
"Yes dear, now let's get you dressed, you can't walk around like that."
"Why not? I remember normally wearing only shoes and gloves."
"I ... guess," his mother said. "I can only guess what your father is going to say about this."
As if on queue, they both heard the front door open. Paul instantly recognised the sounds of his father’s shoes against the floor.
"Let's go ask him!" he said.
Paul secretly admitted to himself he felt more naked without any leaves on hand then he ever did without his gloves and shoes on. His poncho seemed to be the only bit of attire he truly felt adamant about. As it was, Paul just kept up his grin and skipped and jumped out of the bath room, his only real regret was that humans couldn't really appreciate a Mobian streaking. Paul actually sniggered at himself realising that was one thing that almost made him wish he was human sometimes, if it wasn't for the cost effective trade in losing his ability to perform all his other pranks.
He saw his father had already come in the front door had no doubt wondered what all the cloths were doing at the front step. Glancing over a sick house plant, Paul picked up a leaf and got a wonderful idea. It would either be a blast or give his dad a heart attack, either way, it was gonna be one to remember! He chuckled to himself.
"Dearest!" Called Paul's mother to her husband below as she ran down the stairs and embraced him. "Dear! There's something very important I need to tell you! Something I've kept from you for so long!"
"Honey . . . what-"
"I'm a alien from Mars sent to eat your brain!"
"Wha-"
"Gotcha!" She laughed. In a puff of smoke, she turned into a little two legged blue cross between a raccoon and a dog.
"I'm really a tanuki out to entice you to enter fairy land! We're running low on centaurs!" His dad looked even more confused and alarmed.
"Paul!" Said the raccoon dogs real mother and she came down the stairs and stopped, spotting her love.
"Er, dear - it happened again."
The man couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he looked at the cartoonish animal in front of him.
"Paul?"
"Rats! You got it on the first try! I was gonna have so much fun making you guess!"
Paul made a giggle with a full teeth grin that seemed almost plastered to his face due to its size. In spite of Mark's fate, the man still wondered if this could really be his son. The last time Paul had been this hyper active, he had been four and had just eaten a pound of sugar behind their backs.
"Paul the Tanuki at yer service!" The Mobian did a double back flip and landed on one foot. "The show never ends, and neither does the fun, well, fun for me at least, not sure about everyone else!"
"Taku-what?" His mother said.
"I think that's a Japanese raccoon . . . in the mythology their tricksters and shape shifters."
"Ah!" Mock pouted Paul said Tanuki. "You make me sound so old school! How's THIS for old school?"
Paul pulled out a very expensive vase that belong on the family table.
"Paul!" Commanded his mother. "You put that down this instant!"
"You didn't say please!" Grinned the child, and began to juggle it, with his feet, upside down, balancing on his nose. After the fifth circle it hit the floor with a crash, Paul dad was sure he was about to have a heart attack when the vase in a puff of smoke turned into scatters bits of a leaf.
"Gotcha! You should have seen yer faces!" Paul laughed so hard he was in tears.
"Quite . . . a trick." Said his father split between relieved and over-heated. "Paul is that really you? You sound, younger."
"Younger? . . . Yea I know I'm younger than Rings!" Breathed Paul struggling to keep from laughing more at his own prank, his sides were hurting too much! "But hey! That's what happens when you're a younger brother! Comes with the package!" Paul had to giggle again.
"Are you sure he's not a hyena instead?" Injected Paul's mom.
"Hyena? No way! Their jokes are always so used!" Retorted Paul sounding almost sincerely offended. "But I can be one if ya want! Tasmanian or the rest of Australia?"
"Neither!" Responded his parents. "How about a ten year old human boy?"
"Human?" Paul raised an eye brow. "Sorry, no doing, nuh-uh, no offence, really, I experimented with that form a few times, but I found it was just too . .. too … confining!"
His mother momentarily forget the sheer chaos of the situation they were in. "Are you calling us boring young man?"
Paul responded of course with a laugh and a grin. "I love you guys! Does it really matter? Me and Rings have always loved ya! It's not being different species has ever changed that!" Paul 'sat' on his tail, as it bobbed up and down Paul really looking the part of the Chisare cat from Alice In Wonder Land. "But if you're that worried!"
He tossed a couple of leafs at them, they were startled and were enveloped in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, they pointed and yelped at each other both seeing a very blue, and very naked humanoid Raccoon and Tanuki staring back them. They looked at their son in shock and opened their mouths to say some very loud things only to have them 'poof' in another puff of smoke and finding themselves human and fully clothed again.
" . . . Too bad . . . that trick never -does- hold, I never can get it to stick to others. Depends on the quality of the leaf I think. I once got these really good ones from Knuckles' island this one time and was able to make Eggman think he had gotten his hair back! 'Noooooo!'" Paul said in his best imitation of Eggman's voice. "That was priceless when it wore off! I think he actually made an appointment with barber he had to cancel!"
"Paul-"
"Er," Said the raccoon dog almost nervous, not that nervous had been an emotion he had ever actually experienced. ",that's something else I've been meaning to talk about for a while now. I know you gave me that name and all, but I've never really felt it was me. I've always felt that I needed a different name ever since I was able to pull off my first trick with a fig leaf. I considered fig in honour of it, but while it was silly, I realised there wasn't much of a punch line to it!"
"Paul be serious!" His father said, worried about his son's sanity.
"Sorry, never have been, never will be. I can be focused if I need ta be of course, but you've always known that even before Rings woke up to it. Like I was saying, I just always felt sine then I needed a name that was a lot more, less, -me-!" He did a upwards jump flip, his poncho had been flattened by the drying process, clearly a dry clean only item, it sadly looked like, but Paul didn't exactly have his mind on that at the moment. Not that he ever had been able to have his mind on anything for more than five seconds unless it involved life and death. Rings had tried to show him the finer points of infiltration, and Tails had made the mistake of trying to show him basic mechanics (Tails promised to use the X-Tornado's laser canon on him if he came within one hundred feet of Tails' workshop in Mystic Ruins ever again.) before realising this fact of life.
"Paul, concentrate. What do you mean you've never felt your name seemed right for you?"
"Concentrate?" Paul asked.
"Pay attention, don't let your thoughts drift! You know what concentrate means!" His mother said.
"Yea I know but why would I want to concentrate?"
"Because we want to know how you know these tricks and why you suddenly think your name doesn’t suit you!"
"Suddenly? What do you mean? I've felt this way a long time! I learned these tricks from the guys. Like, I learned that shape-shifting a while ago. There was this time these robot guys captured me and I pretended to be one of them and they let me out then I ran away. It was funny!"
His mothers expression became serious.
"When did someone kidnap you? What robots are you talking about?"
"The eggman ones, what else?"
"Paul ...," his father started, Paul folding his arms and tapping his right foot.
"What do you want us to call you?" his mother asked.
"I like playin' tricks on people, so how’s about Tricky?"
"Tricky ... fine then, we'll call you that for now. But what's this about eggman robots? That's not real, that's just a videogame!" his father said. "Rings isn't just a videogame I'm not just a videogame!"
"But when did someone kidnap you? This never happened? And you never met these people you're talking about!" Tricky pouted for a second before fidgeting.
"But ... I remember them! If I'm like this and Rings is like that then we're real, so they must be real! What if you guys are wrong and I'm remembering right?"
"This is getting confusing, what if he's right dear?" his father asked.
"Don't start on me, this is crazy enough as it is. Don't go saying those ... things he made us look like are what we really look like!"
"See!" Tricky said pointing to his mother and jumping up and down, "I just gotta figure out how to get rid of those fake human bodies then we can all be with Rings!"
"I'm think I'm getting a headache!" his father said.
"I got something that'll clear that right up!" Tricky said, pulling out another leaf, it vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced with a giant white pill.
His father took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Paul ... Tricky! Be serious, this isn't a game!"
"Not a game? What are you talking about? Life is always a game!" Tricky giggled.
"If you've changed then I take it you're going to be joining Rings in that fantasy world soon?" his father asked.
"Yep, then I can drive those bad guys crazy! Maybe if I make em laugh enough, they'll stop being bad guys and be nice!" Tricky said.
"Well, when you get there ... tell your brother that we love him, and be careful. Don't go getting yourself hurt over a joke!"
"Don't worry, I'll be too busy having too much fun playing tricks on Kyle. I can just imagine his reaction to seeing me again," he said, using another leaf to mimic Kyle's Mobian form.
"Stay away, you're crazy, go bug your brother! No, stay away from my Tornado, she’s too young to be blown up! No, I don’t want to be a girl!" he said in a joking tone before resuming his normal form. "That guy needs to calm down, have some fun and act his age!" he said.
His parents could just stand there, not sure what to say.
Tricky rubbed a couple of leafs together thinking things over while looking at his parents. "It's too bad I can't really change things, or I could just fix you guys, then we could all be with Rings again and problem solved! . . . But don't worry, I'll be sure to drive him acorns, coconuts, and avocados until you get fixed on your own and join us. Bro'll likely be never more happy to see your muzzles!"
Tricky grinned, truth to be told, his face looked odd, even empty without it, like that grin was the natural state of his muzzle and any neutral expression. A swirling hole of colours opened up in mid-air in the centre of the family's living room, the two parents gasped in shock at this.
"Is that-" Tricky's mother didn't need to finish.
"Yep!"
"A little convenient."
"Hey!" Defended the Tanuki. "A good show always has to end with a good sense of timing! You've been a wonderful audience! I love you both! And Rings does too! Don't worry! This will be a simple intermission! Your viewing of Tricky the Tanuki will resume soon! I know you guys will be fixed up and back to normal in no time to be with us! I know Rings will want you to take me off his hands! " Tricky did a hand stand. "Always go out with a catch phrase! I know I'll see ya later, so hello, good morning, nice ta see you could make it!" Pushing off the floor, Tricky did several spin flips going squarely trough the portal, cheerfully, grinning all the way! His mother took a step foreword but the portal collapsed in on itself before she could take any action and could only stare at where her second born had been.
"Paul . . . Tricky?"
* * *
Tricky laughed like he was being assaulted by an army of feather dusters, all the colours, ever shifting, ever moving, so bright and cheerful it was almost too much to stand, of course, he had always been too! While he regretted that mom and dad couldn't go with him, just yet, being able to drive Rings and Tails crazy again was going to make it bearable till they returned as well! The poncho he was wearing glowed for a few short seconds before becoming a giant leaf. He may have been amazed at that had he not seen a giant wall of light at the end of the tunnel, and was almost sad the thrill ride was coming to an end, but it just meant another one was just beginning! In a flash he was several feet above the ground, and saw the look out spot built right into the roof of the house on top of a familiar plane hanger. Not missing a beat, he twirled gracefully, spotting a blue and orange pair on the dusty take off field that made up most of the tiny island literally a rock's throw away from Mystic Ruins mainland. Tricky landed on one hind paw right on the railing of said look out spot, with a sly grin, he held a leaf in his right hand.
Sonic's quills stood up on end as if he had suffered an electric shock.
"What's wrong?" Asked Tails, concerned for his friend.
"Tails, I just had, the most powerful sense of dread and foreboding I could imagine!" Ben breathed out.
"What are you…"
Sonic and Tails felt a breeze behind them and turned around from the modified X-Tornado and looked up at the tanuki. Sonic shivered.
"Amy, where, how did you?"
"Aw Sonic, did you really think you’d get away from me!" She said a in fake loving voice.
"Hey, I thought you liked Rings now?" Retorted Tails.
Amy zipped over to Tails, running a finger across his chin.
"Now Miles, don’t go getting jealous of us; you’re kinda cute too," Amy said
"Eep!" The fox started. "No one calls me Miles -except-"
"Oh, Miles, you know I love you to. Why wouldn’t I call you Miles?"
"Tails?" Said a familiar voice behind Tricky followed by the noise of a metal door opening and closing fast.
"Look I know you love to be near your toys, but I'll go crazy if we have to sleep over at your shop … one … more … time … oh no." The voice was filled with dread. Tricky turned around to face Amy.
"You don't need to guess who!" Amy said, zipping over to Rings.
Standing in front of Rings, a puff of smoke surrounded Amy. When it cleared Tricky was standing in her place, a huge smiled plastered on his face.
"Tricky?" Rings asked.
"You know this pint sized loony?" Strange words considering Tails' size, but Tricky was having too much fun with the look on his brother's face to insert a gag there. Tricky jumped in front of Tails, staring him in the face.
"You don’t remember me Miles? I’m hurt, come on, how could you forget me?" Tricky asked.
"Well … I," the fox said. Knowledge hit him like a title wave, he didn't know if it was implanted knowledge from their unknown abductors or maybe a memory from his predecessor, but oh boy, he knew who this was, he really knew who this was! Oh no! Kyle backed a protective stance towards the defenceless X-Tornado and its helpless inner workings. He didn't care none of them had been given life memories of their originals (assuming there had been originals) before, but right now, Kyle only knew he had to be on guard to protect his baby!
"Sonic," He whispered deeper. "-Ben-! Do NOT let that kid near my Tornado! She's too young to get blown up!"
Rings slumped. "-You- might have blocked out the traumatic memories, but I haven't . . . what guy could forget his little brother?"
Tails and Sonic looked at each other and then at Rings.
"Brother?!?" they both exclaimed. Right on queue, Tricky appeared on Sonic's shoulders and peered down into his eyes.
"Born and bred!" he responded.
Sonic didn't have a chance to respond before Tricky had done a back flip off of his shoulders and landed in front of Rings. Rings' shrugged and nodded, petting Tricky’s head. Seconds later, Rings ears perked up as he heard something in the distance approaching.
"Oh no," he said.
Sonic looked into the distance, dread appearing on his face.
"Amy!"
Tricky jumped in front of Sonic and Rings, a grin appearing on his face.
"The real deal eh? No problem, I'll get her off yer tails," Tricky beamed, turning and throwing a leaf at both his brother and the hedgehog simultaneously.
Smoke surrounded both Mobians and when it cleared, they both felt a bit … different.
"Hey Tricky, wha," Rings started, his voice higher pitched. He cupped his mouth, in shock.
Sonic smirked at Rings, pointing at him with his right hand.
"He turned you into a girl!" he laughed, seeming not to notice his voice was higher pitched.
Rings looked down at his body, finding himself clad in black pants and a bikini top. His fur was now purple instead of its usual colour and his figure was a female one that would make even Rouge jealous. He looked at Sonic, seeing the hedgehog had pink shorts, a short sleeved shirt and a very female figure.
"Feel any different lately?" Rings smirked.
Sonic’s eyes went wide and Panic overcame his face when he looked down at himself, trembling.
"What did you do?" Sonic screamed, tugging at the pink shirt. "Change me back! Change me back!"
Tails grabbed at the ponytail now sitting upon the hedgehogs head; he had to cover his mouth to prevent laughing out loud. "it kind of suits you," he said.
"No it doesen’t! I’m not a girl! This isn’t funny!" Sonic screamed.
"Yeah Tricky, come on, change us back!" Rings cried, covering his chest, feeling humiliated.
"Trust me sis," Tricky said, giggling. "It’ll be worth it; just watch!"
Both Sonic and Rings glared at Tricky and were about to say something when a pink blur zipped between them; it was Amy. She looked at the duo, a look of confusion on her face.
"Hey, any of you seen my sweethearts Rings and Sonic?" she asked.
"I … um, I think they went to Central City or something," Tails said, his hands behind his back as he tried not to make eye contact with the pink hedgehog.
"Who’s he?" she asked, pointing to Tricky.
"He’s … a friend, I was just showing him around," Tails said.
"Who’re they?" she asked, running up to both Sonic and Rings, looking them in the eye with scrutiny "my competition?"
Sonic and Rings looked at each other.
If only she knew. She’d never let us hear the end of it.
"No, I’m … Ring’s cousin … Rosetta and this is Sonic’s cousin … Sasha. We wanted to see these fantastic inventions of Tails that Rings was always talking about," Rings said.
Amy zipped over to Tails, looking him in the eyes and putting her arms around him.
"Eep!" he said.
"You sure that’s all they’re interested in," she said, grinning and winking at him.
"Ammmmmy!" he cried.
Amy laughed.
"Too bad you’re too young for me; you’re almost as cute as Sonic," she said. Little beads of sweat dripped down Tail’s forehead and he shook nervously.
"Um … yeah, I guess it is too bad hun?" he said, trying to back away, albeit unsuccessfully as Amy had her arms around him.
"It might have been … fun. Well, gotta go, my Rings and Sonic await me!" she beamed and let go of Tails before zipping off over the horizon in a cloud of dust.
"That was close," Rings said.
"Okay, dude, jokes over change us back!" Sonic yelled.
"I dunno, I think you two look cute like that!" Tails grinned.
Sonic glared at Tails and then at Tricky.
"Don’t encourage him!" Rings said.
"I was looking forward to having a big sister but if you insist!" Trick joked before making a grabbing motion at Sonic and Rings.
Both were engulfed in smoke and when it cleared they were restored to their normal male selves, clothing and all. Rings patted his shirt just to make sure.
"Tricky, that wasn’t funny!" Rings griped.
"Don’t do that again!" Sonic yelled.
"Hey, it did get rid of Amy," Tricky said, a look of innocence of his face.
"He’s got you there guys," Tails grinned.
"Well, let’s not play the gender games again; that was just plain wrong!" Sonic said.
"I’m just having a little fun. I’d never leave you like that … permanently," Tricky said with a sly grin and his hands behind his back.
Sonic could only stare at the Tanuki with fear and annoyance on his face. Despite how much his little brother drove him nuts, Rings still loved the little guy. He petted Tricky's head, he was happy to see him after so long, although after spending two months with Tails, he was used to a more balanced and calmer child.
"Man Rings, how do you put up with him?" the hedgehog asked.
"Well ... my parents usually watch em," Rings said.
"And until they get back, I'm all yours!" Tricky beamed.
"Er, Rings ... where's he gonna stay?" Tails asked, the nervousness in his voice impossible for him to hide. Tricky ran up to Tails and brushed a leaf up and down his chest.
"Looks like you've got a little brother to play with now," he grinned. "Of course, I wouldn’t mind a little sister."
"Rinnnnnngs!" Tails yelled.
"Don't worry, I'll keep him under control," Rings said. Tricky folded his hands together and grinned.
"Gotcha!" he winked.
Rings and Tails looked at each other, their eyes going wide.
"So, do you have enough space for him at your place in Emerald City?" Rings asked.
"Yes but he’d better be good!" Tails replied.
Tricky put his right hand on his chest, right over his heart, with his other hand hidden behind his back with his fingers crossed.
"I promise to be nice."
It was amazing he didn't break out into laughter. Tails eyed him carefully, but realised that he'd alienate Rings if he forced Tricky to get other accommodations.
"Fine but, I'm keeping an eye on you!" he said.
"Don't worry." Said Rings holding up a leaf. Now it was Tricky's turn to be surprised. "Without these he's just a hyper active kid with a bad sense of humour."
"How did you do that?" Tricky was sure he still had that leaf on him.
"Your good bro but you're helpless before a second rate pick pocket."
"I don't have pockets for you to pick! Unlike some I don't wear those kinds of things." Which for a Mobian male to say to another was pretty much calling'em a girly man.
"Which makes it easier for me to pick them." Smiled Rings.
"That makes no sense …" Tricky broke into his grin again and hugged Rings. "There's hope for you after all big brother!"
Tails was quick to pluck the leaf out of Rings' hands. "I think I'll hold onto this."
"Good, now you just need to defoliate every tree on the planet, and we'll be perfectly safe."
"I'm not half as worried about me as I'm worried about the Tornado."
Still hugging and grinning, Tricky looked Tails in the eyes. "Come on, you named that biplane the Torpedo, I thought the front end was supposed to blow up!"
Tails had a tiny smoke cloud over his head for a moment. Tails moaned, Kyle knew beyond a doubt this kind, if Tricky was Mark's little brother, he truly was Rings little brother now in both worlds. At least things hadn't changed that much … and they did seem happy … now Kyle just wondered if he could keep his sanity.
"I know we're going to have so much fun together just like before," Tricky laughed. Kyle looked right at Ben. "Sonic! If you can help me put the X-Tornado back together in 3 minutes, you get all the chilidogs you can get. On me!"
A few days later
"You put your shoes and gloves on this instant young-" Tricky vanished and the presuming Ring's head rammed straight into an awaiting wall, his tail shot up like a pipe clean. "Ugh."
"Was he always this much trouble?" Asked Sonic.
"No, before mom and dad could always team tackle'em."
"And bump -their- heads together?"
"Yep."