Y/N groaned from the sudden pain on her head as she got up and found herself surrounded by the running citizens that ran past her.

"What the? What's going on?"

"Pooteetah?"

She looked down to see Kirby and picked him up.

"You okay?"

He nodded and pointed at something to the ground and she looked down and gasped to see Nephrite and next to it is the jewelry box where all her stuffs are. Y/N quickly grabs them and places them in her backpack that was somehow with her out of nowhere. She looked at herself to see she's still in her same new outfit and her weapons and her ruby necklace are with her.

"What happened here? The last thing I remember was babysitting Kneecaps with Knuckles and then we were fighting against those robot version of ourselves and..."

She noticed that she was wet from the rain that's pouring down on her and turned and gasped to see the broken monster robot. Y/N then noticed that Sonic is here and ran over to him.

"Sonic! What happened? Where are we? Why are we here?"

Sonic turned to her in surprise.

"You remember? How?"

"I don't know how, but I have a feeling this is not like our home right now."

"Yeah. I can tell."

Suddenly, Tails flies down to them.

"Sonic! Y/N! You two took a nasty hit! Are you guys okay?"

"We're back in the city outside and there's a monster-thing. Why?!" Sonic questioned.

"When did this happen? I clearly don't remember having a fight with that thing." Y/N added.

Tails looked at them with concern and held up his three fingers.

"You two got hit bad. How many fingers am I holding up? Can you remember my name?"

"Three, Tails and we're fine. It's the rest of the world that stopped making sense!" Sonic said.

"Yeah, Tails. It's... confusing." Y/N said.

"Pooteetah." Kirby agreed.

"Uh-huh. If you two're up to it, let's get back to saving the city."

"Sure, I mean-- Hold on a second! Where's Sally and Silver?"

"Sally is on the mission on her own. We came here to follow-up on Nicole and save King Acorn. This thing was already attacking when we arrived! We haven't seen Silver since we rescued the wisps." Tails said, flying towards the Castle Acorn.

Sonic and Y/N zoomed after him with Kirby on her shoulder.

"I... but... What?! Rewind a second! If we're back in the city and here to save the king, who's involved?"

"I don't know, bro. But we'll find out as soon as we save King Acorn."

"You're right..."

Just as they made it to the castle, the crash of the glass window was heard and they skid to a stop to see Naugus jumping off the window and running past them with... fear. Odd.

"No! I must drive the visions out! Must escape! MUST ESCAPE! Let the quicksters have this place! AHHH!"

With that, Naugus is gone.

"Well... that gets Naugus out of the castle. Or should we..."

"One thing at a time! Monster--Now. Crazy fleeing wizard--Later."

"If you say so, bro."

Sonic and Y/N spin dashed their way over the monster robot's body towards its head where they can see the red gem on it, but it quickly moved out of the way as the hedgehog siblings skid to a stop. Y/N brought out her pink shield and threw towards it, but it moved out of the way as the shield fly back to her.

"The armor is too tough for me!" Tails exclaimed.

"Regular spin dashing isn't gonna cut it! Time to combo it up!"

"Right!"

Tails, Y/N, and Sonic grab each other's hands and together they spin dash the robot, breaking through. Tails fly Sonic and Y/N down gently. They turn to see the robot beginning to absorb the bridge as it tore apart.

"What the...?" Sonic questioned.

"It's absorbing all the... stuff? Where are all the nanites that make up the city?" Y/N questioned.

"What nanites?" Tails questioned in confusion, making Sonic, Y/N, and Kirby stare at him.

"We'll explain later. Our point being, it doesn't matter how much damage we do, because tall, dark and gruesome can rebuild himself out of anything."

"Right! We need to find the control gem!"

"You mean that?" Y/N pointed at the gem at its head or face.

"Yeah! It lets Tails Doll control machinery and build up its outer shell--just like last time!"

"Then let's do it to it!" Sonic said.

"Great! I'll get us up there as quick as I can--"

Tails was cut off by the giant tail slamming down towards them as it hit the ground, causing them to go flying. Tails and Y/N along with Kirby fell to the ground with a grunt right in front of the small computer where they can see a glitching red Nicole.

"Is that...? Nicole! What are you doing out here in the grass?"

"*kshk*"

"Nicole! Are you okay?" Y/N asked in concern as she couldn't understand her.

"Are you damaged?"

Tails reached towards Nicole, but for some reason, she's telling him not to go near her.

"*shhk!*3RrOR*zzkt!*"

"That sounds bad. Is it just the speaker? We could really use you against Tails Doll."

"*kvrt!*"

"Hold on, I'll see if I can fix..."

Just as Tails touched the small computer, he suddenly froze in shock as something just came back to him for a second before he began to move again.

"Tails?" Y/N said in concern, carressing his cheek and making him face her whose looking at her like he had seen a ghost.

"Y/N... All that... happened... but... I... remember... everything... differently?"

Y/N was about to ask him when she saw a giant tail up about to slam them again. Before she could move to protect him, Sonic came on time and grabbed them both and zoomed away from the robot as it hit the ground again. Once they're further away, Sonic checked on Tails who's still in shock.

"Yo, Tails? You still with us?"

"Y-Yeah... Yeah, I... Sonic... Y/N... There was another world! We were on a mission, and then we met those robots from that other universe, and then..."

"See? We're not crazy, and neither are you. But like I said, one thing at a time. Let's finish taking care of ugly, here, 'cause I'm sick of running in the rain. Then we can worry about the messed up reality."

"R-Right. I'm with you."

"I knew we could count on ya. Remind me to send a memo to Eggy, telling him not to make anything so creepy again!"

"Let's do this!" Y/N declared with a smirk.

Sonic and Y/N distracted the giant robot with Kirby sticking tongue at it with a raspberry sound.

"You'd be a lot more terrifying if you could actually hit me!" Sonic taunted.

"Nah nah!!" Y/N stuck her tongue out.

Tails pulled out the plug and attached it to the small computer.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Nicole? What if this thing manages to absorb you?"

"*KSSH!* I-I-I-I'll b-b-b-be ffffffine. D-D-Do it! *SHRK!*"

"Alright. Here we go..."

Tails then plugged it on the robot, causing the green electricity to burst out.

"INTRUDER IN THE SYSTEM! PURGE! PURGE!"

Sonic and Y/N jumped up to the control gem and together they spin dashed it through its head. Sonic caught the Tails Doll that was send flying.

"Gotcha!"

They landed safely with the now dead robot fell to the ground with a loud thud behind them.

"This is what all the fuss was about?"

"How are your systems, Nicole? Did any of Tails Doll's coding get back into you?"

"N-N-No. ERROR. FFFFine."

Sonic spins Tails Doll.

"Okay, so what do we need to do to keep this guy from getting big and ugly again?"

"Just disable his control gem." Tails said.

"Cool. Can-do. Sis?"

Y/N smiled and grabbed Tails Doll and snapped the string that's attached to the gem, tearing it apart. She placed it on the ground as Tails held the doll with Sonic getting ready to kick it as he spins his foot before kicking Tails Doll straight to the sky like a football player. Y/N smashed the control gem to the ground with her foot.

"Okay, that settles one bit of weirdness for today. Time to move on to the next crisis."

They head straight to Castle Acorn.

"The two worlds. The two sets of memories... histories... It's like I'm waking up from a dream that felt too real... or still dreaming it. It's not just me, right? You guys remember stuff too, don't you?" Tails said.

"Yeah, and I'm starting to remember new 'old' stuff, too."

"Same for me."

"Pooteetah."

"Like, I remember certain things happening. But some of them feel like I got the details wrong... Nicole, you're crazy-smart-- Are you still bugged?"

"FFFFFFFind F-F-Freedom *KSHK!* Figh-ter-rs."

Once they're inside, Sonic rapidly shook his body to get the water out of his fur while Tails squeezed out water from his twin tails and Y/N shaking herself along with Kirby like a dog would do.

"Well, sure we will, but how would that help the dual memory thing?" Sonic asked, after getting the water out of his fur.

"I think I get what she means. Before I picked her up she was badly bugged. After that... spark of energy between us, I remembered both worlds and she defragmented a little."

"But not me, sis, or Kirby? Is it because we were right at the heart of the Genesis Wave when Eggman made it collapse on us?"

"Maybe. With space-time so horribly misshapen anything is possible."

Tails brought out the hologram of the members of the Freedom Fighters, including themselves from the small computer as it showed check marks and question marks on them.

"If you three are the epicenter of all this, maybe the others and I can react with Nicole since we all have such a close connection to you guys. We'd need to find the others to test this out, of course. As for Naugus, he was pretty messed up by the first Genesis Wave. I bet he interacted with Nicole and that's why he freaked out and ran off. I know it shook me pretty badly."

"Well, he's a problem that solved himself for once. We need to find the rest of the team, so let's hurry up and finish saving the king." Y/N suggested as they zoom off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon—Under Castle Acorn, Tails is working on the locks of the giant door.

"This is some serious hardware. Naugus prides himself on his magic. Where did he get this?"

"Maybe that stupid Geoffrey gave it to him..." Y/N mumbled quietly.

"F-F-First W-Wave *ZZT!* powerless-less-less. St-St-Stole from Egg-g-g-g-man, who *KZZT!* T-T-T-Tails D-D-D-Doll." Nicole glitched out.

Once the door was unlocked, it revealed King Maximilian, who was now in perfect health in both body and mind and his aura is surprisingly kind and fair. He beamed to see them.

"Nicole! Guys! Thank heavens you're safe! Did Naugus give you any trouble? The coward. No worries, I'm sure you'll find him in time."

"Nope, just a laugh. He bailed before we could kick him off."

"He was screaming like a little girl as he had seen a ghost." Y/N smirked, making King Maximilian chuckle.

He then placed his hands on Sonic and Y/N's shoulder, surprising them.

"I'm just thankful to be out of that other dreadful cell. I don't even know why we have this old dungeon still!"

King Maximillian turn to Nicole who's in the small computer.

"I apologize for getting you capture, Nicole. Had I not delayed you, your physical form wouldn't have run out and... hello?"

"She's dealing with a... system error, sire. Naugus must've done something to her." Tails said with a slight lie.

"Then I'm doubly sorry, dear girl!"

Sonic and Y/N then thought the same thing as they had never seen this side of King Maximilian.

"It's weird seeing King Acorn so healthy, lively... and not a total jerk. Maybe some good will come from this world change after all!"

"Is there anything I can do to assist you in repairing the damage?"

"Can you put us in contact with Rotor and the other Freedom Fighters? We... uh... kinda lost contact with everybody." Tails said.

"Not directly, but I can point you in the right direction."

King Maximilian then lead them to the Royal Study as he worked on the computer.

"I know you were all working on a top-secret project. The only communique I received was from Rotor, and was highly-encrypted."

"Looks like a set of coordinates to me." Tails said.

"Great! Let's get moving then. The Tornado is parked at the Royal Airstrip, right?" Sonic said.

"Right... I think." Y/N said, feeling a little unsure since this universe is much different than she remembered.

King Maximilian stopped them before they could leave.

"Guys, if I could trouble you for one more thing..."

"Sure thing, your majesty." Y/N said in respect.

"While I would not ask you to prioritize your friends, I ask you to let me know the moment you've found my daughter. I know she's capable of taking care of herself, but still, in these dangerous times, it would ease my mind to know my Sally is safe."

Y/N smiled at him. Even though Maximilian was a jerk in her universe, he still cares for his daughter's safety.

"We will. I promise."

"Thank you, kind Y/N."