- Have No Regrets -

1 - It's Not Him

With dilated, disbelieving eyes, they all watched as the person they thought was their hero, lower his eyes sadly at the ground before closing them. What did he upset about? He held up his hand and hugged his own arm to himself, as if trying to give himself comfort. Even though his posture seemed dejected, he was starting to grow an odd smile on his face. In just a second, his scowl grew into a smirk. Soon, they watched as his body slightly shook as he began to giggle. In a few seconds, he was full on laughing at this point, cackling loudly like a mad man. He then broke his lips into a wide eerie grin. Sharp fangs, gleaming white, all showing in glee. Nothing but sinister, malicious intent spreading throughout the entire city in just one expression. His now shrunken eyes looking at them with malevolent pupils, almost slit like a viper's.

"Ahaha!" He snickered. "Hahaha, ahahaha!"

No one knew what to think, once he said his next choice of words. He looked straight down at the kitsune, and tried to hold back his giggles.

"Ahh," He exhaled from laughing so hard. How funny. They all thought they would have him vulnerable. After they all, he wasn't actually trapped with them. "Tails, I'm so sorry I couldn't be a better big brother to you." He apologized, his voice changing more. That, wasn't the voice they all knew. It was gruffer, maybe even raspier. It almost sounded like a darker person took over and spoke instead. No wonder he never spoke, his voice alone would have revealed he wasn't whom he said. "But, this is where my plan begins!" He exclaimed. "And no one," He backed one leg behind the other, his knees lightly buckling. "Is gonna stop me!" He yelled.

He wasn't trapped with them.

They, at that moment, were trapped with him.

- Four weeks earlier...

"You're, leaving so soon?"

The fox asked with a slightly saddened tone, looking up at his elder brother with wide bright blue eyes. His brother just smiled warmly, knowing full well he wouldn't like him leaving so suddenly. But, they both knew the fox was more than capable of handling himself on his own for a while. However, they would miss each other's company. After all, it was their week to hang out and sleep over in the same house. But, he guessed today was just different. He had explained he wanted a break from it all, that a hero needed to take a load off once in a while. The doctor's been quiet for a very long time, so he figured now would be okay to leave and relax. His brother also said he had something extremely important to do. Something personal that he wanted no one to see or know about.

"I promise, I'll only be gone for a month. If anything happens, I promise you, I'll know. And I'll come runnin'. Okay?"

"I..." He trailed off. But, then the orange fox nodded and smiled back. "Yeah. No problem. Just, you know, be careful. You know I get worried about you when you're on your own."

"Heh. I'm supposed to be saying that to you!" He laughed as he tightened his hold on his bag. "Nah I'll be fine, I swear buddy."

"Okay. See you in a month!"

"See ya, Tails." The elder said as he ruffled the little one's head, before turning and walking out the door.

- Four weeks after Sonic's departure.

That was about four weeks ago. A couple more days, and his brother would be back.

Life for the fox was pretty easy now that Eggman went quiet. About the time Sonic turned eighteen, he hadn't made a move since. See, Sonic was now nineteen years old. Tails was now twelve. The Doctor hasn't done anything for an entire year, and no one has seen or discovered any new bases. If anything, some people found abandoned or destroyed bases of his, completely ruined. Like someone made a horrible attack on them all with a large army. No one saw anything that could have hinted a comeback. So it seemed like no one had anything to worry about.

As things became peaceful, Tails got even more advanced in his mechanical abilities. He upgraded the Tornado 2, and it was a true beauty. A bigger, wider plane with much more detail in it's model. It's color blue like his favorite hero, it's wings bigger and better, reaching greater spans. It's propellers were shiny and sharp, with a nice coat gleaming on the machine. There were small bits of reds and yellows tipped on parts of the plane, giving a throwback to how the plane used to look.

Tails had to remodel the home that he lived in so he could have some room to park the machine in his garage. With that and his messy workshop connected to the house, things often became sloppy or neglected. Sometimes Sonic would have to come over to help him clean up. The fox would work so much, he'd be neck deep in nuts and bolts. Literally.

For now, he wasn't messing with his plane at all. It was perfect as it was. He was pretty proud of his work. For now, he'd work on some smaller scale inventions he had blueprints for. Like the new machine he built that could disrupt other machines with chaotic wavelengths. It wasn't finished, so he'd be testing it today. It was nice to be to himself, and relax for a while. Not having to look out his window to see fleets of an Egg invasion ready to hit Station Square.

As for Sonic, the preteen didn't know much about the location he disappeared to. He just said something vague like, 'I'm going to visit my old home.' But, the only home Sonic could ever call 'old', would be the old house they built together when they were children years ago. At least, that Tails knew of. He couldn't think of anywhere else Sonic would consider 'home' besides the house he reluctantly owns by himself now. He didn't really want to have a house, considering he liked to sleep outside, and be active out in the beauty of nature. In fact, the only reason why he bought a home was because he had the money and because he needed a place to crash just in case a tree branch wouldn't do it for him. And to have a fridge to store food of course. Oh yeah, and somewhere to pee. And well, he couldn't keep crashing at his little bro's house. It'd be more grown up to live in his own home after all. But, regardless of all that, this still didn't explain what he meant by that.

This baffled him. He'd have to ask the hero where he went to spend his time.

Did Tails miss Sonic? Absolutely. Everyone missed him, because everyone didn't expect him to disappear for this long. When Sonic suddenly left somewhere, he'd be gone for a week, maybe even two weeks at most. Amy of course was hopelessly waiting for his return, spamming Tails' phone on end, asking if Sonic would be back or not. The kitsune ended up ignoring her calls entirely after a while. Knuckles of course pretended to act like he didn't give a damn, when in reality, he did miss the company of someone he could call a brother as well. He visited every now and then to check up on Tails, while insulting Sonic for 'leaving his brother all alone by himself'. No one knew where Rouge went off to, and no one's seen Shadow.

It was almost afternoon now. Guess he should probably prepare lunch-

A loud bang was heard upstairs. Tails was in his workshop, so he was down in the basement. It was so loud, he heard it over the sound of his power drill. The kitsune furrowed his brows and scooted himself off of his work stool, landing on his feet. He put down the tool back on his desk, and walked his red and white sneakers over to the stairwell. He walked up the steps and made it back to the ground floor of the house. He traveled to the entrance of his home quickly, hearing another loud knock. Whoever this person was, they were pretty heavy handed. It couldn't have been Sonic, it hasn't been a month yet. Plus, he wouldn't bang like that, not even Knuckles.

Suddenly, he felt something in his gut. Something telling him that he shouldn't open this door. Sonic aways told him that. If you feel something in your gut or your heart go off the instant something happens, follow it, even if it might be wrong. Because nine times out of ten, it'll be right.

But, maybe this was Sonic. Hell, he could be wounded and can't knock on the door as fast as he usually did. It couldn't be a robot or Eggman, at least not now. Ah the heck with it. Tails unlocked the knob, looking up at the blinds covering the high window of the front door. He turned it and slowly pulled the door open. Once he did, his eyes blinked several times in surprise.

"Sonic?"

"..." The other didn't respond. He only made a smile on his peach muzzle and held up his gloved hand to wave. His crystal clear lime green-like eyes stared at him with an emotion that seemed more or less pleased. He had no wounds or scars on his blue taller body, and he even looked...clean. As if he never traveled or left the house. Well, of course the hero probably would have washed or something before he came back, but, he'd still look a bit tired at least, right? At least have his shoes a little dirty. At least smell like he normally did, like nature.

Like trees and fresh wood, wild flowers and fruits. In fact, Sonic said he'd go somewhere that had absolutely no civilization. No, he smelled like he just came from a city. And his shoes were practically spit-shined. That shouldn't be right...

...And why wouldn't he talk?

"Um, h-hey!" He stammered with an unsure smile. He was still happy to see him again. "You're early, come on in!" He exclaimed.

Something was wrong here, he was sure of it.

Once he let Sonic back in, he noticed immediately that something wasn't right. When Sonic left, he had a small bag with him. Normally he wouldn't travel with one, but for some reason he needed it for his vacation. Said he needed it for where he was going. The Sonic that came at his doorstep had absolutely nothing on him. When Tails asked him what happened to it, he just looked back confused. Just shrugging with a raised brow.

Again, he wouldn't talk. When Tails asked about that, Sonic managed to make some gestures that his throat was extremely sore. At first Tails didn't understand, until Sonic found a pen and paper and wrote it out. Tails was again, baffled. First of all, he wrote in flawless cursive, something Sonic couldn't do very well. He could read it, but definitely not write it. Also, Sonic was not one to catch an illness that easily, especially not something common like a sore throat. Saying that Sonic was sick, would cause as much shock as someone saying they had the cure to cancer. When Tails asked how, Sonic wouldn't really give an answer.

When Tails offered for him to eat lunch, ol' classic chili dogs, Sonic just shook his head no, saying no thank you with a silent smile. Sonic never turned that down. Never. Especially not after traveling. One would think he'd be starving! Even more confused by this, Tails watched as Sonic went to the bathroom to wash up. Feeling suspicious and curious, Tails secretly followed his older brother to the bathroom. By the time Sonic turned on the shower, it was like reality suddenly changed on him.

In a split second, he saw Sonic turn...Green? Then back to blue again. It was like he saw a glitch happen right before his eyes. Not only that, but he also saw deep scars on his body, that instantly went away when he blinked.

The heck just happened?

There was another thing. When Tails went to give him a hug when they were at the door, Sonic wouldn't hug back. He just looked around, feeling awkward, and even disgusted. It made Tails feels really uncomfortable, so he stopped the moment he saw his expression. Sonic would have ruffled his hair, gave him a noogie, hugged back...Heck, he sometimes would peck him on the forehead. And there was one more thing before Sonic left to the bathroom. He had written to Tails, that he didn't want anyone else to know he was back yet, and he wouldn't give a reason why.

After all that, Sonic was still in the shower. Tails had long since moved to the living room to sit down and think about all this.

Later that night, Tails made an accidental experiment. He placed a hidden camera in the guest room that was made for Sonic and watched his movements. He had the machine in his workshop that worked with waves. After all, he was planning to work on it anyway. He powered it with a fake chaos emerald he had forged a while ago so it could work like it was intended. As he tampered with the device, he was watching Sonic just chilling and doing whatever he wanted. Strangely enough, he was reading a book. Sonic wasn't illiterate, even though he wasn't necessarily book smart. He did know a thing or two about some stuff, and did have some books he liked to read. But, he didn't do it often. In fact, it was rare he was ever caught reading one. Especially not one about...theoretical physics. Yeah, that's what he was reading. One of Tails' books.

Anyway, Tails wasn't paying attention to what he was doing himself. He accidentally tripped the wrong mechanism in the machine, and in a split moment, Tails saw a green hedgehog again in the camera. He blinked, and it was back to blue Sonic. He tampered with the machine once more, and with a gasp, he saw the green hedgehog again. He tried over and over and over, and he got the exact same result. It was another person. This wasn't some glitch on the camera's feed, because he saw this exact same thing earlier. And unless he needed his eyes checked, he knew what he saw.

It was official. The person in his house was not his brother.

But what could he do? What if he was a robot? What if he was a clone? What if he worked for Eggman?

He couldn't do this by himself.

He needed a plan. But, he didn't have good solid proof. Would anyone even believe him?

- Three Days later, present time.

"Um, Tails, are you sure about this?" Amy asked as she leaned against her trusty scarlet hammer that stood on the concrete ground. Her face looked very dubious, not of just the situation, but Tails as well. Over the years, Amy still had the same personality, with her maturity levels slightly rising. She was still an annoying fangirl, she just wasn't as intolerable as she was when she was Tails' age. The pink quills she styled as hair grew a bit longer, and she still wore the same red dress that was just slightly modified. It wasn't as kiddy-looking as before, with her dressed being more frilled and stylish. She still wore the same boots, and her eyes gained a few lashes. "Seriously, this is a bit crazy."

"She's not entirely wrong." The red echidna added, leaning against a brick wall with his arms crossed over the white crescent on his chest. The three were talking in an alleyway that had stairs leading up from it. It was between a candy shop and some vacant building that was currently being worked on. "Eggman's been quiet for a year, and no one's found anything to prove that he might be lurking about. I even did a few rounds around Mobius, and I can assure you he's long gone. If he's not dead, he's sure as hell taking a long vacation from Sonic." He closed his eyes and silently exhaled. "I know I would." Knuckles never really changed. He was still a little gullible, a hard-head, and grumpy. He never became extremely beefy or girthy as time flew, but he did gain some extra muscle here and there. And, he wasn't as easily fooled as he used to be. He was much more careful about the Master Emerald as well.

Amy silently rolled her eyes at him and turned her deep forest eyes back to Tails. "Anyway, you sure this isn't some misunderstanding? It can't be some robot, or clone or something." She said while lightly scratching her head with her finger. "I mean, like Knuckles said, Eggman's dead to the world. And he couldn't have made something without you knowing about it. In fact," Amy tilted her head a little. "Didn't you invent something that acted as a signal to notify you if something seemed Eggman or robot related?"

Tails became conflicted by this. "Y-Yeah but-"

"Then again," Knuckles spoke again. "It is weird he didn't want you to let us know he was here. Frankly," Knuckles leaned off of the wall and opened his eyes to face the two. "I don't think Eggman has anything to do with this. But I do think there's something up with Sonic based on what you told us."

"Oh please, you're just saying that cause you always have something against Sonic!" Amy scowled.

"Whatever." Knuckles growled back. "The point is, I'm with you one hundred percent. I don't think that's Sonic either."

"And when you're both wrong, you'll both have to apologize!" She 'hmphed', looking away and turning her nose up.

Tails groaned at their bickering. "Just, both of you stop." He said calmly. He looked at Amy and placed his hand on hers, the one that held her hammer. "Amy, just listen to me for a second. I hate to brag but, when have I ever been wrong, especially when it involves Sonic?"

To this, Amy's face slowly dropped. "Well...never."

"Exactly! Trust me, I hate to do this too. I hope I'm wrong. But, I just got this gut feeling, that's not my brother." He took his hand away from hers and glanced at Knuckles. "And if it's not, I'll need your help."

Knuckles nodded, assuring the fox he had his back no matter what happened. "You got it."

Amy heavily sighed and shook her head. "You are my friend. So I trust you. I got your back, too." She smiled. Tails smiled back in relief and sighed in satisfaction.

"Good. Then let's-Ngh!" As Tails was about to turn around, he bumped himself right into someone's chest. Rubbing his nose in pain, he looked up and almost gasped when he saw his older brother standing in front of him. Those eyes...They look meaner than before, yet he was smiling at him. Is this, was this really Sonic? And, he didn't notice until now, that Sonic seemed slightly more muscular than the last time he saw him. Yeah, as the hedgehog matured, he did get stronger and actually grow more muscle but...No, he looked more 'rough', for lack of a better term. Kinda like Shadow, but even the ebony hedgehog looked much refined than this.

To this, Amy raised her brows, while Knuckles scoffed. Despite Sonic's smart mouth and attitude, he was still somewhat of a gentleman. He wasn't that sloppy, at least not in public. He always looked good, and not at all like he was some kind of thug. After all, heroes needed to keep up their appearances right? But his Sonic, no. His eye sockets even seemed darker, like he hadn't slept in days. No, like he smoked or something. His green eyes weren't as pretty as they were supposed to. More sinister. His smile didn't even seem genuine. It seemed ill-willed. Even his quills seemed a little more jagged and sharper.

"S-Sonic!" Tails smiled nervously. "Uh, how long you been standing there?"

Sonic's smile faded to a flat line and narrowed his eyes at Tails. He did what he asked him not to do.

Catching this, Tails instantly began waving his hands back and forth anxiously. "I-I know you didn't want anyone to know about you being here yet but, I was just-"

"It's fine Tails." Knuckles walked over to the hedgehog while cracking his namesakes. His expression grew dark as he came closer. "You can stop pretending now. He's not gonna be able to do anything anyway." He said menacingly as he took one more step closer to Sonic. "So let's just cut to the chase here-"

Amy began to get worried. "K-Knuckles, wait!"

"-According to Tails, you've been acting seriously strange. You're not running that big mouth of yours. You're not going out to run. And you surely don't look like the Sonic I know of. So," He roughly seized Sonic's peach shoulder with his spiked glove. He gripped it tightly, wanting to cause pain. "Who are you really?!" He snarled.

"..." At first, Sonic said nothing. He just stared at Knuckles with a small grin, unimpressed and not at all threatened. Then, he slightly shook, as if he chuckled. This made the echidna rear his arm back to prepare to punch.

"What's so funny!?"

Sonic actually brought a hand up to his mouth and covered it. He looked over at Tails, giving him a look as if asking to explain what the hell was going on here.

Tails looked down and steadily walked over to gently push Knuckles away from Sonic. He got between them, but didn't dare look at the person he thought was his brother. "You're, not Sonic. You can stop with this stupid game." He said harshly, making Sonic actually take him seriously. No longer smiling, but frowning. "I..Thought I'd be okay on my own. But I gotta admit, a month without my big bro does hurt. But it hurts even more that some faker is walking around pretending to be him!" He whipped his head at Sonic angrily. The blue hedgehog was taken aback by this, even backing away a little. "Don't look so surprised!" Tails scoffed. "I saw you on my camera, I know you're someone else! You must have some kind of device on you that helps disguise you."

Amy blinked several times. "W-Wait, what?"

"I saw a different person on my cameras. When I was tampering with my wave-link machine, it had to have disrupted something that was on this person. It wasn't some color error on my screen, I know that for sure because I saw it the first time you came to my house!" He yelled as he balled his hands in fists. To this, the blue hedgehog began to back away even more until he reached the steps that lead out of the alley. He backed up all the way to the top step and looked absolutely offended at his friends' behaviors. "Well?" Tails called. "What do you have to say for yourself? Who are you!?"

"..." Sonic squinted his eyes with a disappointed frown, and crossed his arms. "...How cruel." He suddenly said. It was a low tone, but it surely didn't sound much like Sonic. It did, but at the same time, it didn't...

"Thought you said you had a sore throat?" Tails retorted.

"I guess I don't anymore, kid." Sonic shrugged with a growing smirk.

Amy just shook her head back and forth. "No no...This is-So you're really not Sonic?" She asked in disbelief. "B-But-"

He looked down at her like a peasant. "I 'look just like him'? I've been told that all my life."

Knuckles shoved his fist into the wall, gaining the 'hero's' attention. "Then quit being difficult! Just admit it already! You're not Sonic!"

The hedgehog just shook his head and raised his hands up in another shrug. "Who knows?"

"The hell with it!" Knuckles yelled before making a sprinting start and throwing his fist into the face of the person who dared to wear his friend's face. Once he landed the hit, he realized he hit nothing but air. He growled and turned to the side to see Sonic leaning against the wall, still with a shit-eating grin.

"You're too slow~" He lightly sung.

"Son of a-" Knuckles was about to attack again, until he was held back by Amy.

"Quit it already!" She demanded. "You don't even know who you're really up against!" Amy clenched her teeth and angrily looked at the man she thought was her crush. "We don't know who this guy is."

"Whatever he is," Tails spoke up, still glaring at the fake Sonic. "He needs to be detained. At least for questioning or something. Maybe I can get in contact with Rouge, and let her and Shadow deal with it. Hand him over to GUN."

With dilated, disbelieving eyes, they all watched as the person they thought was their hero, lower his eyes sadly at the ground before closing them. What did he seem upset about? He held up his hand and hugged his own arm to himself, as if trying to give himself comfort. Even though his posture seemed dejected, he was starting to grow an odd smile on his face. In just a second, his scowl grew into a smirk. Soon, they watched as his body slightly shook as he began to giggle. In a few seconds, he was full on laughing at this point, cackling loudly like a mad man. He then broke his lips into a wide eerie grin. Sharp fangs, gleaming white, all showing in glee. Nothing but sinister, malicious intent spreading throughout the entire city in just one expression. His now shrunken eyes looking at them with malevolent pupils, almost slit like a viper's.

"Ahaha!" He snickered. "Hahaha, ahahaha!"

No one knew what to think, once he said his next choice of words. He looked straight down at the kitsune, and tried to hold back his giggles.

"Ahh," He exhaled from laughing so hard. How funny. They all thought they would have him vulnerable. After they all, he wasn't actually trapped with them. "Tails, I'm so sorry I couldn't be a better big brother to you." He apologized, his voice changing more. That, wasn't the voice they all knew. It was gruffer, maybe even raspier. It almost sounded like a darker person took over and spoke instead. No wonder he never spoke, his voice alone would have revealed he wasn't whom he said. "But, this is where my plan begins!" He exclaimed. "And no one," He backed one leg behind the other, his knees lightly buckling. "Is gonna stop me!" He yelled.

He wasn't trapped with them.

They, at that moment, were trapped with him.

In maybe the next two split seconds, Tails found himself being sucker punched, right in the jaw, and flew against the opposite wall. He heard Knuckles and Amy yell his name, and heard more grunts and wails of pain. Right before his vision failed him, he saw once more...that the blue hedgehog that stood before him, changed into green once again, with bright blue eyes.

1 - END

Not my first time in the Sonic section of this site. Many don't know this, but this is where I started. I did however, delete my old stories that were here. After all, they sucked. But now I return to my old home, just to get my feet dug in with this chapter of this new story I've been developing for a year. So what do I have to say to anyone who cares to view this story?

Well for one, sorry for a chapter of boringness. It was all just anticipation for what's to come. I don't really wanna spoil anything, but let's be real, the person at the end of the story isn't Sonic. It's someone we all know and love. Someone who I desperately wish would make an appearance in the comics once more.

For those who get the obvious hints, let me jus say this. This story is not strictly set in any Sonic universe. In a way, it's a combination of both the comics and the games. I have yet to see someone write a good story about the anti-characters, so I developed my own. (There are a couple good ones, but they never make the anti-characters evil enough for me.) Hopefully it is indeed good enough for those who wish to see an anti-Sonic story done right, with lots of villainy goodness.

And oh yes, he won't be the only hedgehog running amok in this story. It's gonna be hedgehog-galore in this story. And it won't be set on just him of course. Also, don't worry. This story is strictly Sonic x Shadow, but...Well, I'll leave that for later. Don't want to let out anymore info.

Have a nice day. I'll see you later.