Tails' Workshop

[Huu B.]

A less experienced impersonator than Huu might have blown his cover in reacting to Tails's remarks, but the tanuki was a professional in the field. He just laughed along.

"Oh, Tails, you crack me up."

His eyes drifted to the watch Tails was holding. No way around it, that had to have been what he came for.

"So, about that watch..."

[Chadin]

[Never fear, Plot Man is here!!! Sorry corny side joke.]

Unbeknownst to either Sonic (AKA Huu) or Tails inside the house but outside emerged from the shadows and foliage and went straight to the place Huu had hidden the real Sonic. Still apparently immobile the dark-clad figure quickly pressed an ear bud into each of Sonic's pointy little ears and activated a small device he held that attached to the ear buds. Inaudible to anyone else, even the mysterious figure, the device piped whatever it was supposed to straight into Sonic's ears.

A light flashed on the device and the figure pulled the ear buds out. He then snapped the frail device in half, tossed it to the ground and shattered it under his boot. Whatever the device's purpose was now all but impossible to discern any longer. In a flash the figure disappeared just as quickly as he arrived leaving Sonic just as he found him.

[Tails]

Tails asked. "What about it?"

[Huu B.]

((Um, what? Tails doesn't even know what "Sonic" was going to ask about the watch yet. His conclusion that his friend is actually an impostor (accuracy notwithstanding) is a little hasty, isn't it?))

[Sonic]

Lying out in the bushes Sonic's eyelids slowly pulled back, revealing his emerald green irises to the world again. He blinked a few times, as if uncertain of where he was for a moment, and then hopped back up to his feet gymnast-style. Without missing a beat the hedgehog brushed off any remaining greenery that clung to his quills and fur and then zipped back towards the workshop, looking fairly at ease though focused. Sort of like the look he tended to have while facing the beginning of his next big challenge or adventure.

"Hey Tails, gonna borrow the Tornado 1 for that job you needed!" the hedgehog said quickly but slow enough to make out as his form slipped through the living area of the workshop toward the hangar, right past the fox and the fake Sonic. The sound of the hangar bay doors opening filtered back to them before there was even time for the two-tailed genius to ask any questions. In the next moment the Blue Blur's head reappeared around the corner to look back at the pair he'd passed. "Hey, that's a handsome friend you've got there. Introduce us when I get back."

And with that he was gone again, only having returned because there were a few seconds to kill before the doors were open, and then the sound of a propeller over-powered the door mechanics. The red bi-plane was out of the building, zooming just below the bottom of the still-rising door just as it was high enough to let the vehicle through, and then lifted off the ground and into the wild blue yonder just as it reached the end of the runway. Perfect execution.

And with that Sonic was gone, leaving no chance for Tails to question any of his odd comments... but plenty of time to question why there were two of him.

[ Sonic to Cross Country. Have fun, guys. ]

[Huu B.]

((I feel like a bowling pin, always getting set up to be knocked down.))

"Are you going to be using it for anything anytime soo- HEY!"

Huu balked upon seeing the real Sonic run through the room and obviously notice him.

What the-? I thought the nerve gas was supposed to last longer than that!

After the silence following Sonic's departure, Huu turned back to face Tails and spoke again. "Well, isn't this just dandy? Another wannabe faker trying to pass himself off as me. I'm not THAT big-headed, though, am I Tails? Tell me the truth."

Despite his words, Huu could tell that the jig was probably as good as up already.

[Tails]

When Tails saw two Sonics, he was a tad confused, but what got to him even more was that whether fake Sonic or not, he had just flown away with his blue prints.

He went crazy. He couldn't hold it in. "There went my blue prints! Darn it!"

[Huu B.]

((Okay, it's official: I'm the one person here who knows the least about what's going on in this topic.))

Huu was secretly pleasantly surprised by how well this was working out for him. But on the surface, he appeared just as distraught as Tails was.

"Man, what would that faker want with those? You go after him, Tails, while I fetch the cops."

((I'm just speculating here, I don't know the truth, but here's my invisible-text theory of what's going on here... Huu's employers don't actually need the watch at all. The real prize is the blueprints. The enigmatic device with the earbuds was used to hypnotize Sonic so he'd steal them. The whole stealing-the-watch gig was just a setup to create the necessary opportunity. Among other things, this explains why Huu's employers specifically instructed him to paralyze Sonic with a provided package of nerve gas and copy his body before attempting to get the watch from Tails. Just a speculation; may be accurate, may be a total miss. I just love to theorize.))

[Tails]

Tails looked the fake Sonic's way and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, he just got the outer shell of the battery's blueprints. I didn't put everything on there, so all they have is just the way to create the outer shell, which can be bought at any old store. I think you should go after that faker, I'll just stay here and go over something important to me. Like figuring out why there was two Sonic's in my workshop and just go over my pocket watch to see what it's doing right now."

Tails walked into his kitchen in hopes that this Sonic wouldn't follow him so he could think about what just happened. He got himself an apple and looked at the pocket watch very quickly. It was spinning, but it didn't really make Tails think that there was a chaos emerald around. He thought about the little detail of discovering two Sonics and thought about what exactly is going on here.

[Huu B.]

Things had switched between being in his favor and not being in his favor so rapidly, Huu was beginning to get a headache right now. But it didn't show. He just shrugged.

"Eh, sure."

He then began towards the exit door and opened it, but instead of leaving he turned around, picked up a chair, and proceeded to the kitchen where Tails was.

I hate to resort to force... but at this point, what are my options?