"Shadow, who won?"

The dark hedgehog didn't reply. He watched the replay over and over again, slowing down the time more each time. He squinted his crimson eyes, trying to see who actually won. Because to him, it was a dead tie.

"It's a tie…" Silver said quietly, looking over Shadow's shoulder.

"Wait…" Shadow held up his hand to stop the other hedgehog. He zoomed in onto the finish line and watched Sonic and Jet's gear inch toward the finish line in super slow motion. Finally, he smirked. Hopping off the rock he stood on, he rushed over to Sonic and Jet.

When he reached them, the two team leaders were already yelling at each other about who won.

"I came in first!" Jet yelled.

"It was a tie!" Sonic snapped back. "And besides, everyone knows I won again if it wasn't a tie!"

"Lies!" Jet retorted. "It can't be a tie!"

"Guys!" Shadow said to catch their attention.

They didn't hear him.

"Guys! HEY!"

The hedgehog and hawk fell silent as they looked at Shadow.

"If you want to know who won, look at this…" he held out his phone for the two to see. What they seen caused both of their jaws to drop.

Shadow showed them the slow motion results. Yes, in the end, both of them had reached the finish line at a tie, however, Shadow spotted something that would declare one of them the winner…

"This is a tie! Just like I said!" Sonic declared.

"Well, yes, but look closely at the very ends of the boards…" Shadow pointed out, "You and Jet would have reached the goal at a dead tie if only your gear wasn't pointed downward, Sonic."

"Huh?"

"The points on the end of Jet's gear is similar to yours, but when you hit the boost on your gear, the end was facing down unlike Jet's. Therefore, Jet's gear technically hit the finish line first."

Sonic narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "What are you saying, Shadow?"

"Sorry Sonic…" Shadow smirked at his rival. "Jet won."

As the hedgehog stood in disbelief, Jet was shaking with excitement.

"Finally!" he cheered. "I won! I beat you, Sonic the Hedgehog!" The hawk jumped onto his gear and rode around the track, yelling in happiness and glee.

Tails, Wave, and the others showed up just in time to see Sonic with a highly disapproving look on his face and a very hyper and excited Jet flying around on his gear.

"Uh, what did we miss?" Tails asked, a little freaked out from the scene.

Storm gasped. "Did Jet find more candy?!" he asked. Tails laughed silently to himself.

"What? No! He won the race!" Sonic told them. Everyone's expression suddenly went to both shock and disbelief.

"Wait, he beat you in the race?!" Knuckles cried. "What is this?!"

Wave and Storm also looked shocked. "He won? Really?"

Sonic then sighed and chuckled. "Oh well, it was fair race. Besides, I can't win all the time, huh?" He gave thumbs up.

Jet came to a halt in front of the group. "Looks like I won!" he gloated. "And that also means, I win the bet!"

The only person in the group who had a look of total horror was Tails.

'Jet won…' he thought to himself. 'What's going to happen to me and Wave? Does this mean I'm a Babylon Rogue now?'

"You okay, buddy?" Sonic nudged his little brother a little to snap him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah I'm fine…" the fox lied.

Seeing this, Sonic knew exactly what he was worried about. "Alright Jet. You won the bet, what's the deal?"

"You know what the deal is, Sonic!" Jet said. "The winner gets to choose their permanent mechanic."

There was a silence as Jet eyed both Wave and Tails. The swallow looked disappointed, lowering her head and Tails stood motionless.

"Tails…" Jet finally spoke. "I…-"

"Don't say anything," Tails interrupted. Sighing, he grabbed his gear sadly. "I'll go get the rest of my stuff to bring up to the airship."

"Wait!" Jet snapped. Tails froze and looked up.

The Babylon Rogue leader cleared his throat. "Get your stuff from the airship. You're going back with Sonic and Knuckles…"

Tails' ears perked up. "Really? But I thought you said-"

"Ah, forget what I said. I guess all that matters in this race is that everyone is okay after that earthquake." Jet explained. Smiling slightly, he added, "..And I think our old mechanic wants to come back."

Hearing this warmed Wave's heart. "You guys want me back on the team?" she asked.

"Of course, Wave!" Storm said, bringing her into a big bear hug. "We missed you!"

All Wave could do was laugh.

Sonic came up to Tails. "It's good to have you back, pal!" he stated, giving his little brother a high five.

Just as the two teams started to walk away, Sonic stopped Jet. "Hey, Jet!" he called. "Rematch?"

The hawk smirked. "Rematch!" he called back. The two leaders then hopped on their gear and raced another lap around the track.

"Go, guys, Go!" Silver cheered them on, still waving the flag. Shadow stepped up next to him and snatched the flag out of the psychic hedgehog's hands.

"Enough with the flag already!" the dark hedgehog snapped while walking away. Silver just fell silent, folding his arms across his chest. But a grin reappeared on his face. Running over to the rock where they previously stood on, he grabbed a smaller identical flag from behind it and began waving that one around.

Seeing this, Shadow sighed and closed his eyes. "Whatever…" he shrugged.

Wave walked over to Tails to congratulate him on the extreme gear he made.

"Hey, shrimp! You did a pretty good job on those gears." the swallow greeted.

"Oh, thanks Wave! I really liked yours, too!" Tails said back.

"But yours won the race. Mine didn't."

"So? That doesn't matter." Tails reminded. Wave nodded. "You're right, Tails."

The fox then began itching at his wrists irritably.

"What's wrong?"

"My wrists have been itching the past few days…" Tails replied, still scratching. "I think it might be these fake tattoos."

The Babylon Rogue's bright blue eyes widened. "Did you say fake tattoos?"

"Yeah?"

"Tails, who gave you those tattoos?"

"Jet did. Why?"

Wave didn't reply. She grabbed her gear and sped off down the track, towards the river. Tails stood there, confused, as Knuckles happened to walk up to him.

"Uh, why is Wave in a hurry?" he asked.

"She didn't say."

The swallow came rushing back with a water bottle filled with the river water. "Give me your wrist." she ordered. Tails held out one of his wrists. She poured a little river water on the tattoo and told Tails to scratch at it. It started to come off.

"Good…this one comes off. Give me the other; is this the one that itches a lot?" she asked. Tails nodded his head in response.

Wave did the same procedure for his other wrist but however, the tattoo on this one would not come off.

"Oh no…" Tails whimpered. "It's permanent!" He threw his hands up in the air and began screaming and running in circles.

"They're permanent?!" Knuckles practically exploded. "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't give them to him! Jet did!" Wave yelled back at him. Then, narrowing her eyes in anger, she stomped over to the finish line, awaiting Sonic and her leader to come around the corner and cross over it.

When they did come around, Wave snatched Jet's wrist as he flew by and yanked him off his extreme gear. He fell to the ground next to her.

"Ow! Wave! What the heck?" Jet growled at her.

"Why did you give Tails a permanent tattoo?!" she yelled at him.

"What are you talking about? They were both fake!" Jet told her.

"Oh really? Is that why one comes off and the other doesn't?" Wave showed the hawk Tails' wrist. Expecting a yell from her leader, all Wave got was complete silence.

"Okay…I didn't know that was permanent…" he finally muttered.

"You didn't know what you were doing anyway!" Tails cried.

"I'm sorry!" Jet cried back.

Sonic came running up to them. "Hey what's going on?"

"Jet gave me a permanent tattoo!" Tails pointed an accusing finger at the hawk.

"You what?!" Sonic bellowed, turning his full attention to Jet.

All Wave did at this point was laugh.

"What's so funny?" they asked.

The swallow tossed a small bottle of something to the fox. "Use that. It will take the tattoo right off. Our tattoos are different than original ones; they aren't actually permanent forever like original tattoos. That there will take it right off." she explained, pointed at the bottle in Tails hands. Tails instantly poured some of the liquid on his wrist and it started to come off, just like Wave said.

Tails chuckled slightly. "Well, that's good."

Sonic sighed in relief, laughing uneasily.

Knuckles grabbed his extreme gear. "I think it's best if we head home now…" he said. Sonic and Tails agreed and grabbed their gear.

Storm caught up to Jet and Wave as the three Babylon Rogues hopped on their extreme gear.

"Until next time Sonic the hedgehog!" Jet called over his shoulder as the three birds flew to the sky, going back to the airship.

As Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles started back towards home, they started to chat.

"So Sonic, can I ask you something?" Tails asked.

"What's that?"

"Can we never, ever have another mechanic swap again?"

Sonic laughed. "Sure buddy…"

"What was it like to be a rogue?" Knuckles wondered out loud.

"Horrible." Tails' answer was simple. "I think it's best if I just stay on your team, Sonic. I'm no thief."

"I know you're not." Sonic agreed. "You wouldn't be 'Tails' if you were. It's great to have you back, little bro."

As the three of them flew to the edge of the island to head home, they never did notice Silver and Shadow following behind them, also heading home, with Silver still waving both flags and Shadow sighing and covering his ears.

A/N: The last chapter of Mechanic Swap! I'm so glad so many of you loved this story! I enjoyed writing it and I'm sad that it is over. And thanks for the idea from Rynn Wolfe about Tails' permanent tattoo. I also want to thank my totally awesome reviewers for liking this story so much. You guys are the best! Hope you all liked the last chapter and until next time, thanks for reading! Review please!