So I got the serious urge to write this because I got idea and it intrigued me. And yeah… Still writing Fate Realized, I wanna pump that out before Forces releases, but gosh… the urge to write something sometimes, so with that said, enjoy this oneshot.

Basically, it's been confirmed that Classic Sonic will be adventuring with Modern Tails in Forces, so this scene came to mind.

I'm Not Him

Zavok let out a roar as he fell back into the pit of lava for the very last time to which the small blue hedgehog put his hands on his hips and smirked.

"And stay down, you overgrown lizard." The pudgy blue Hedgehog quipped with the flick of his nose.

With that, Tails flew in and gave Sonic a high five. "That was great, Sonic!"

Sonic returned the high five and snarked, "Are these really the type of bad guys you face over here? Metal gave me more trouble than this loser and that Dragon Badnik Eggman had in Green Hill."

Tails shrugged. "Zavok and the rest of the Deadly Six are tough customers. But looks like you were able to beat him no problem. Still… Sonic drowned him in lava the last time. I bet he'll be back sooner or later."

"Hopefully later, because I'm getting tired of this Lost World Place..." The younger hedgehog said.

"The Lost Hex, Sonic." He corrected.

The hedgehog shrugged. "Whatever."

Sonic then looked around and noticed that the fox was alone. He frowned at this and added. "So… were you able to find him?"

Tails' ears drooped, his two eager namesakes sank at the question to which he slowly shook his head no.

The younger Sonic let out an annoyed sigh. "Seriously? Man… the other me really doesn't waste any time does he?"

Tails let out a small smile at the thought of his brother. "Nope, he's always moving forward. Surprised he left Zavok behind though."

Sonic nodded. "Rude, leavin' us to clean up his messes."

"Nah, Sonic would've cleaned up no problem." Tails said. "Guess he had bigger problems than Zavok."

"Everything is a bigger problem than Zavok." The younger hedgehog deadpanned to which Tails laughed.

"But now what?" Sonic asked. "If the other me isn't here then where should we go?"

Tails frowned. "I dunno… The last lead we had was Zavok and he wasn't very helpful…"

Sonic sighed. "Maybe we head back to the tornado. There could be something on the news about him."

Tails sighed. "Maybe?"

And so they walked in silence, over the scorched lands of Lava Mountain back to the tornado. Sonic felt bad for the fox next to him, he wanted nothing more than to know that his brother was safe and sound and ready to take out Eggman. He too longed for his own Tails, but knew that he had to stay here for the moment and help this world and this Tails with not only finding him, but saving this world in general.

Still, looking at the fox next to him, he knew he had to cheer him up, he couldn't stand to see Tails, his or not, so down.

"So… Tails." Sonic started.

"Mhm?"

"Tell me a little more about the other me." Sonic mused. "I still say there's no way he's faster than me, but there's no way he's cooler than me."

Tails laughed. "Sonic is the coolest guy I know. Always so quick, brave and heroic. There isn't anybody in the world that doesn't wanna be him."

"That Shadow guy you mentioned doesn't sound so happy with him."

"Shadow's different. The two of you have a rather… interesting relationship. When you'll eventually meet him, you'll see when you eventually meet him."

Sonic raised an eyeridge at this. "When I eventually meet him?"

"Sure." Tails nodded. "You are Sonic after all, and eventually you're gonna grow up into who he is today."

Sonic frowned. "Tails…"

Tails shook his head. "Look, I know you said before that you weren't him, that he had to be a different Sonic but I know it's true."

Sonic shook his head. "Tails, please. Don't do this again."

"Look, Sonic. You came to us before, do you remember everything with the Time Eater? You were there. You fought with us to save time and space."

Sonic shook his head. "This is the first time I'm meeting you or any of these crazy people in this dimension, Tails. I wanna help but please don't do this."

"You probably forgot. Time travel is always weird. But trust me, I know you're my Sonic."

Sonic shook his head. "You claim that I was on that adventure, but the question is, what do you remember? Sure, our first adventure. But do you remember Angel Island and when we first met Knuckles."

"Sure." Tails said. "He punched you in the gut and took all the emeralds."

Sonic crinkled his nose at this. He got him there. "Okay… well what about what I just went through before I got here? Do you remember the Phantom Ruby? Studiopolis? The Hard Boiled Heavies?"

Tails answered matter of factly. "Of course I-" But he fell short. "I…"

"You what, Tails?"

He deflated at that. "I don't…"

"I told you, Tails. I'm not him."

Tails shook his head. "But, I don't understand! You have to be Sonic!"

"No, Tails." Sonic stated. "I'm not. Well… I mean, I am, but I'm not the one you think."

"But Sonic…"

"No, Tails. You're not a little kid, you're grown up now and honestly? You're putting too much on the other me."

Tails whimpered. "But I need you, Sonic…"

"No, you don't. Tails, when I met you, you were one of the smartest kids I had ever seen and my little bro. Nothing is going to change that. And I really am sorry that I'm not him, but geez man… you're sounding almost obsessed."

Tails looked away from him.

"I understand that you miss him, I miss my Tails. But what you're doing just isn't healthy. I'm probably fine, we need to go back to the resistance and stop kidding ourselves here, Tails."

"But I have to find you." Tails insisted.

"No, you don't." Sonic retorted. "Tails, you're one of the bravest people I've ever met. Standing up to Eggman like that with that weird dragon thing, going all over the world in all of this, that's insane! And that's what makes you great. I'm glad that you care for him."

"But you don't need him, Tails. You don't need me."

Tails looked away again.

Sonic took a deep breath and calmed down. "Do you remember back in Station Square, when I took on that Chaos guy you were talking about?"

"You said you had never met him before."

Sonic nodded. "True, but not the point. Do you remember what you told me after that?"

"About how I saved Station Square?"

"Exactly." Sonic nodded. "When you told me about that, I was so surprised. This is Tails we're talking about here, and he saved a whole city by himself? He stood up to Eggman and told him no, just because he knew it was the right thing? That sounded amazing to me and I was incredibly proud of you. I hoped and still hope that my Tails grows up to be even half as brave as that."

Tails sniffled, brushing a lone tear off of his muzzle.

"But I don't see that bravery today." Sonic shook his head. "I see someone who's scared and confused, focused on one person and I'm wondering if he should even be fighting here today?"

Tails eyes widened at that. He really had been focused solely on finding Sonic this whole time and that wasn't right. The world needed as much fighters on the resistance as it could get and to sit here crying about Sonic. Meanwhile, Eggman and Infinite were on the prowl destroying everything in their path and making sure the world wouldn't have anything left. What had he been doing?

Sonic then shrugged. "But that's for you to decide. As for me, I'm gonna go find the resistance."

"Sonic!" Tails called out.

The blue blur looked back at him.

"You're right. I really have been a little too clingy towards Sonic lately. It's just… I'm really worried about him and I just wanna make sure he's okay."

"I understand that, bro. But still…"

Tails nodded. "Still, I can't drop everything to look for him. He's Sonic after all, he'll be okay. We've got more important things to worry about, like Eggman."

The younger hedgehog smiled at sticking his fist out at him. "That's the spirit, bro."

Tails returned the fist bump to which the two beamed at one another.

"Alright! Let's join the resistance and get Eggman!" Sonic cheered.

And with that, together they headed off to the Tornado to go to the nearest resistance base and catch up on all they needed to.

With Tails and the alternate dimension Sonic truly on the side of the resistance, the Eggman Empire won't know what hit them.

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