The Moderns appeared in a forest.
"Well, what do you know," Silver said, surprised, "Eggman stuck to his word."
A blur appeared in front of Sonic.
"Who are you?" It was X Sonic.
"We're the Moderns," Sonic said, "you and your friends, but from another universe."
"Oh," X said, then scanned the group.
"Your Tails is missing too?" he asked.
"Yes," Sonic affirmed.
"How long?" X asked.
"Three weeks," Sonic said, "you?"
"Two months and a week," X supplied.
"Wow," said Cream, "we miss our Tails a lot, but it must be worse for you."
"It is hard," X agreed, "so I try to not think about it too much."
X seemed to realize something.
"You probably want to meet you're counterparts, don't you?" he asked.
Knuckles glanced at Amy, then Shadow.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.
X thought for a moment.
"Amy and Shadow will have a hard time adjusting, but the sooner we get this over with the better. Knuckles... is probably a bad idea, but he'll eventually be at least okay with it," X said, shrugging.
"And who are you?" he asked Silver.
"Silver the Hedgehog. I'm from the future, but decided to stick around with Sonic and them," Silver explained.
"Okay," X nodded, then turned, "let's go!"
_______________________________________
It was as X predicted: Amy and Shadow had a hard time accepting that there were duplicates of them. X Knuckles was on Angel Island, so they didn't get to meet him.
The others ranged from "meh" to "Wow! It's great to meet you!"
The Sonics, Amys, Rouges, Shadows and the others who were old enough (along with Silver and Modern Knuckles) came together, and the Moderns explained what happened.
"So Tails is in your universe specifically to be killed?!" X Amy exclaimed.
"That's our understanding," Modern Amy said, anger leaking from under forced calm.
The imposed calm reminded the X's of The War to Take Back the Planet. Part of the explanation had included a summary of The War, also known as Forces.
Now that they looked for it, Amy wasn't the only one avoiding possible conflict. Even Cream was more serious and sensitive, and Charmy talked much less, earlier rebuking his X counterpart about talking to much and being self-absorbed,
"Your friends and their safety is more important than any flower you want to describe in detail. Observe more, talk less."
The X's had thought that funny, but now they realized Modern Charmy was being completely serious. Whatever The War was, whatever they'd skimmed over it or not, it was terrifying, and forced all of the Moderns to grow up. No wonder they'd dubbed it 'Forces'.
"How did Tails come out of The War?" a small voice asked.
They all turned to X Cream. The Creams and Charmys had been listening in. X Cream had been waiting for a brake in the conversation to ask.
"Bad," Modern Charmy answered, matter-of-factly.
"Thinking Sonic was dead broke him," Modern Knuckles said, closing his eyes and bowing his head slightly.
"Sounds like what happened with our Tails when Cosmo died," X Rouge commented.
Modern Amy shook her head.
"Worse," she said.
"How do you know?" X Amy challenged.
Modern Amy looked X Amy in the eye.
"I know because, as the original Amy, I have the memories of all the Amys in the other universes," Modern Amy said simply, a slight challenge in her voice.
All the X's were silent. X Shadow turned to his counterpart.
"You too?" he asked solemnly.
Modern Shadow nodded.
"Not until after The War, but then I remembered it all," he explained.
"I think all of us could after Forces," Sonic said.
The Moderns nodded.
"Tails too?" X Charmy wanted to know.
"Tails especially," Sonic answered.
The other Moderns were surprised.
"Really?" Shadow asked.
"You'd be surprised how much Tails notices and experiences that he doesn't give the slightest hint to," Sonic said, "it took forever to get him to open up when we met."
"He wasn't completely open after Sonic 3?" Knuckles asked in surprise.
"Not in the least," Sonic said, "and I wouldn't be surprised if he still is hiding stuff from me. Depending on the severity of the secret, it can take him from a month to a year to tell."
"I second that," X Sonic said.
"No!" The X's exclaimed.
"Yep," the Sonics said together.
"What else is Tails hiding that is so major he can't tell?" Silver asked.
"What could he possibly have that's bad enough for him to have to hide it?" X Shadow asked, doubtfully.
X Sonic opened one eye and looked at him.
"You sure you want to know?" he asked.
Modern Shadow made a strange face.
"Now you have me a little scared. What's he hiding?" he demanded.
Modern Sonic shrugged, unfazed.
"Not my place to say," he answered.
The group turned to X Sonic. He shook his head.
"I don't have the right," he said.
"What do you mean?! You have the most right out of all of us!" X Amy exploded.
"This is Tails' personal stuff, his secrets. We have no right there," X Sonic said.
Modern Shadow sighed.
"Sometimes it's annoying how devoted a friend you are to Tails," he grumbled.
"Sorry, can't help it," Modern Sonic said with a wink and a smile.
AoStH Universe
A couple of weeks later, Modern and X Sonic were exploring the universes when they came across AoStH Sonic.
A blue blur zoomed up to them and glared.
"Who are you?" he asked them accusingly, "are you responsible for Tails missing?"
Modern and X looked at each other.
"Well," X started.
"We are you from alternate universes," Modern told him, "and in a way, I may be indirectly responsible for your Tails being taken."
"Why?" AoStH asked angrily, "do you, with your Tails, not care about me and mine?"
"Please don't say it like that," Modern said in a tired voice,"I already feel horrible enough."
"He didn't try to get all of our Tails kidnapped," X said, emphasizing all.
"Wait," AoStH said, realizing what X's comment meant, "you mean your Tails are missing too?"
Modern and X nodded.
"And the other 12 Sonic's Tails too, I'm guessing," X said.
"You mean 11 Sonic's Tails. Underground has siblings instead of a Tails," Modern corrected.
"Sucks for him," AoStH commented, then grew thoughtful.
"Being responsible for all the Tails missing- no wonder you feel awful. Sorry for being rude," he apologized.
"It's okay," Modern said, "I'd have done the same thing."
"Well, do you know where they are?" AoStH asked, anxious.
"My universe," Modern said, "but the Eggmans and Robitniks blocked it with a force field of sorts and we can't get through. I'm worried, because the plan is to gather all the Tails in one place and put them in an arena of sorts, and throw more and more advanced robots at them until they are all killed."
"WHAT?!" AoStH exclaimed.
"See, Modern Eggman was killed in the foiling of his last plan, but he had made a revenge plan in case," X explained, "the point being to make Modern hurt as much as possible. What better way than to use Tails, and then to magnify it by hurting us too, and him knowing he's responsible?" Modern sneered, his hatred for Eggman fully apparent.
"That unfortunately sounds like something Robotnik would do," AoStH said, then realized what X had just called him, "did you just call him 'Eggman'?"
AoStH laughed.
"That's a good one!"
AoStH grew serious again.
"Please show me where your universe is. I may not be able to get in, but I want to know," AoStH practically begged.
"Sure," Modern said, then looked over AoStH's shoulder, "probably should wait until after those badniks are given a beat down, though."
AoStH turned, then smiled when he saw what Modern was referring too.
"Scratch and Grounder don't need beat downs. A little help and they do it themselves."
"Show us," X requested, "I'd like to see badniks that beat themselves up."
"Then sit back, relax and enjoy the show!" AoStH ran up to the badniks and started the most entertaining thing the Sonics had seen in a while.
_______________________________________
Two pairs of little eyes watched the encounter and breathed a sigh of relief. They then turned and silently crept away to where two Chao were waiting, one holding a Miles Electric.
They all surrounded it and turned it on. The more solemn of the two six-year-olds turned the knob on the right, tuning it in to a channel they'd found two days ago.
The screen fuzzed, then cleared, showing a group of young foxes.