(Cubed Cinder; idea by Link)
Chapter 1
Jake Becken rubbed his eyes, struggling to stay awake as he kept his eyes glued on the big screen TV inside his lab. It's been a long day for him, but here he was still in the lab late at night trying to finish his latest technological breakthrough. But he always made it priority one to watch the late night news before going home... just in case there was something that would benefit his research. And tonight brought out one such news story.
"Good evening, I'm Scarlet Garcia of SSTV reporting live from Station Square.
Tonight, we can officially confirm that Sonic the Hedgehog has finally returned
home to his native dimension. And so the last of those cute furry heroes who
defended our world from the evil Dr. Eggman has returned home, only a day after
virtually everyone else visiting from the Mobius world had done the same thing
thanks to special technology designed by Chuck Thorndyke." Scarlet said. The
picture then changed to the scene of the rest of the characters disappearing
into a portal, with many of them saying goodbyes to the friends they had made
during their stay on Earth. For some, it was a tearful and painful goodbye, such
as for Topaz, who cried on the shoulders of Tanaka knowing she would never get
to hear insults from Rouge again. Even Chuck couldn't hide back the tears as he
hugged Tails.
But these images mattered little to Jake… who gasped as he stared point blank at
the swirling light blue portal that the creatures were traveling through.
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I
knew it!!! I KNEW IT!!" Jake shouted, running around his lab and sorta pumping
his fist back and forth in excitement. He was missing the part of the news
footage where Chris Thorndyke took Sonic and ran away with him, prompting
Scarlet to speak again.
"As you can see, Sonic was captured by a young boy before he could leave,
presumably because of the emotional attachment the two shared with each other.
This naturally caused grave concern, as it was suggested that both our world and
Sonic's world would cease to exist if he and his friends didn't return to their
world promptly. But, as I said before, it has been verified by GUN sources that
Sonic has indeed returned to his world without the assistance of a portal.
Presumably this is due to the power of Chaos Control, a form of energy that…"
Scarlet said, only to have the picture freeze. That was because Jake had paused
the newscast… as if he were pressing pause on a DVD.
Jake very quickly rewound the news footage using the computer controls in front
of the television, stopping when he got to the footage of the portal being open
and the characters traveling through it. He then typed away at the keyboard and
watched as, in green capital letters, the upper part of the screen filled with
the words IMAGE ELEMENT ANALYZATION. In fact, it was the computer alone that led
to becoming an employee of the company he worked for. He watched as green
squares and circles filled the view screen, mainly on the blue energy that made
up the portal.
"Maybe now I can finally learn the secrets behind this Chaos Control…" Jake said
to himself. Eventually, the results were printed out on his nearby printer. He
looked several times at the papers.
And so for the next week, Jake profoundly studied all the notes he took from the data he collected. He applied this knowledge towards creating his own transdimensional portal, one explicitly built to transport him to the world of Mobius. He wanted to be the first to do it. He was determined to reconnect the link that Earth and Mobius shared. Sonic and his friends were special… their presence, despite the daily threats of world domination from Dr. Eggman, can help shape the future of the world. Lofty goals, for sure… but Jake Becken was that kind of visionary.
After many sleepless nights with only the support of his secretary (a young
Asian woman, fluent in English, named Yuka) because his friends had long
abanadoned him as a man worthy of psycho evaluation, Jake stared long and hard
at the machine that was sitting before his very eyes.
"Whew… it's been a long week, but 7 days and 168 hours later, I've done it. This
machine will allow me to enter the world of Mobius before anyone else." Jake
said. Of course, he wanted to test the machine out first. That's why he created
a simple little orange box (in honor of one of his favorite computer games) with
a camera inside. He would follow the video feed from the camera back in his lab
and if the video held up crossing over to Mobius, then it would be all the
confirmation he needed to make the leap himself. It would also make sure he
landed in a safe spot when making the journey, as no matter how hard he tried,
one thing he had trouble setting in stone was pinpointing the exact coordinates
of the destination portal.
But little did he grasp the many lives that would change from this experiment.
----
Meanwhile, in Mobius, Amy Rose was knocking on the door of a house as she was
catching her breath. Opening the door was Cream the Rabbit and her mother,
Vanilla.
"Oh! Hello, Amy! I'm glad you could visit again." Cream said with a smile.
"Yeah… huff puff huff… me… me too… Cream." Amy said.
"Are you alright, Amy? You look like you've been running a marathon." Vanilla
said.
"I think she's been chasing Sonic again, Mommy." Cream said.
"Gee… you think!?" Amy said with a mean look on her face. Cream and Vanilla
backed up a bit thinking she was going to snap like she always does when Sonic
eludes her.
"Sorry. You know how I get when Sonic plays hard to get!" Amy said.
"It's okay, Amy! I'm used to it by now." Cream said.
"Why don't you come in for some tea, Amy?" Vanilla said. The three ladies then
walked inside the house, and already inside were three other characters. These
creatures were the trio from the Chaotix Detective Agency. Vector, Espio, and
Charmy.
"Hi, Amy! I'm glad you could join us!" Charmy said.
"Well, probably not for long. I gotta get hunting after Sonic again." Amy said.
"Oooo! Maybe we can help! Finding lost people is our specialty! Just ask Miss
Vanilla over here!" Vector said.
"Teehee! Yes… you certainly are good at finding things." Vanilla said.
"I don't mean to be rude, but we really should get back to work, you know."
Espio said.
"Awww… don't be rude, Espio! We should favor this hospitalic opportunity given
to us by our friends!" Vector said.
Just when Amy Rose was about to sit down and join everyone at the table, she
suddenly had to stop moving, especially when she looked down and saw her body
fading out and being covered in blue electricity.
"Huh? What's this?" Amy said.
"Amy? What's happening?" Cream said.
"I don't know… I feel like I'm disappearing all of a sudden! Someone hel…" Amy
said before she suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Oh my goodness!" Vanilla said, stunned to see what just happened.
"She just vanished into thin air!" Charmy said. Vector's mouth hung wide open
for a few more seconds (forcing Espio to hold his nose from the crocodile
breath).
"HEY! You know what this means, Team Chaotix!" Vector shouted.
"Don't tell me, we have to find the missing Amy…" Espio said.
"You betcha! It's the case of the missing pink rose!" Vector shouted.
"And how much are we going to get paid, exactly?" Espio said.
"No payment is necessary when I'm doing this as a favor to the lovely Vanilla."
Vector said as he smiled over at the rabbit. It was no secret that Vector had
feelings for Vanilla, who just smiled and took things in stride.
"Oh, Vector! I know you will do your best. Find out what happened to Amy!"
Vanilla said.
"Right! Let's go!" Vector said as he and the rest of Team Chaotix charged out of
Vanilla's home, leaving both rabbits to themselves.
----
When Jake activated the machinery, it was so far so good. The blue portal was
generated with no problem, looking exactly like the one he saw in last week's
news footage. But it was when he threw the orange box into the portal that
things changed.
"Well, here goes." Jake said to himself. He threw the box like a baseball at the
portal… and then BAM! Suddenly the room lit up brightly and sparks showered out
from the portal. The resulting shockwave pushed Jake back against one of the
computer tables but he wasn't seriously hurt.
When the sparks died down and it was finally safe to open his eyes, Jake
looked to where the portal was. No longer was there a blue swirling portal, but
instead a familiar pink hedgehog wearing that familiar red dress.
"…me?" Amy said, finishing her sentence from back on Mobius. Jake obviously
looked stunned, even after a quick glance at another monitor to find out the
status of the orange box. There was no video signal… he quickly thought it's
likely the box got destroyed amongst the fireworks inside the lab.
But more important than that was the creature standing before him. He easily
towered over Amy Rose being 5'3" and Amy being only just under three feet tall.
"Um… hello there." Jake said. Amy Rose suddenly drew out her hammer and pointed
it at Jake, who stumbled backwards in fear.
"Who are you? And where am I!?" Amy said.
"Um… you're… you're on Earth! And my name is Jake!" Jake shouted.
"Huh? Earth? I'm back on Earth? How can that be?" Amy asked.
"Well… it's kinda my fault." Jake said.
"Well can't you send me back!? I need to catch up with Sonic!" Amy said.
"Wait, Sonic? So you are from Mobius?" Jake asked.
"Duh! Of course I'm from Mobius!!" Amy said.
"Oh my…" Jake said. Things didn't go as planned, obviously. He was hoping to
stumble into Mobius, rather than having someone from Mobius come to him.
Nevertheless, someone from Mobius was standing before him.
"Don't just stand there! I demand to know how you're going to return me back
home!!!" Amy shouted. Jake didn't feel comfortable getting constantly yelled at,
and so he walked up towards the pink hedgehog, not knowing yet of another
problem he was facing.
"Listen here, short stuff! I'm still processing what has happened myself! So I
would appreciate it if you don't berate me and let me think over what's going
on!" Jake said.
"Hmmph… short stuff? You're pretty short for an Earthling… especially one your
age!" Amy said.
"What!?" Jake said. And that's when he saw Amy looked a lot taller than when she
first arrived. In fact, Jake was only a couple inches above Amy in the height
chart at this very moment.
It was with a quick measure from some nearby measuring tape that it dawned on Jake Becken that whatever brought Amy here was also causing him to shrink slowly in size.
Chapter 2
Amy felt like she was in control now that Jake had been mysteriously reduced to
the same height as she was. But at the same time, she was still upset that she
had been pulled from her own world and demanded to be returned sooner than
later.
"So, shortie? What are you going to do to send me back to Mobius so I can resume
my chase after Sonic?" Amy said.
"First of all, don't call me shortie! The same accident that brought you to my
world is causing me to shrink for some reason." Jake said.
"And that's supposed to be my fault!?" Amy said.
"Look, just shut up and let me think, alright!?" Jake shouted.
But before he could think for another second, one of the doors suddenly swung
wide open. Jake looked and saw his female Asian assistant, Yuka, running inside
the lab.
"Mr. Becken! What… happened?" Yuka said, obviously stunned over what she was
looking at. Jake was reduced in size and he was standing next to a short pink
hedgehog who looked like she was ready to bash things. In fact!
"Arrrrgh! I can see I'm not going to get any answers here!" Amy said as she
swung her hammer towards one of the computer consoles, breaking it into pieces
and sending sparks all over the place. Jake cringed as he watched the carnage
play out, and he suddenly found himself having to dodge another swing of the
hammer. He was not hurt, luckily.
"You know what? I'm out of here!" Amy shouted as she started running past Yuka
and out of the lab. The miniature Jake ran up towards his now very tall
assistant, only able to rise past her knees with his current height.
"Mr. Becken?" Yuka asked.
"It's a long story, Yuka, but we can't let that girl escape!" Jake said.
"Understood, Mr. Becken! I’ll catch that girl for you.” Yuka said.
“Wait... I’ll come with you!” Jake shouted. The two then ran out of the lab and
the whole building in pursuit of the pink hedgehog.
Amy ran for a few minutes until she slowed her pace down to a walk, out of
breath from having to look down and see a long path towards Station Square.
“Wow... I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere!” Amy said as she looked around
her surroundings. It was looking around the long path that made her realize
something.
“Ugh... I’m never gonna get back and see Sonic at this rate.” Amy said. She
turned around after hearing the sound of footsteps digging into the dirt. There
she saw Yuka and right next to her feet was an even smaller Jake, reduced now to
just a foot and a half. Amy couldn’t help but laugh no matter how hard she tried
to hold it in.
“Hahaha!! Look at the little shrimp!” Amy said.
“Ugh... listen to me, Mrs. Rose! I may have shrunken, but I’m fully capable of
sending you back to your home world if you’ll just give me a chance!” Jake said.
“Huh? Wait! How is it you know my name?” Amy asked.
“Because I watched you and your friends return to your home world on TV. I saw
that little kid take Sonic away and potentially put our world at risk!” Jake
said. Amy didn’t say anything, the mere thought of the name Sonic enough to send
her mind elsewhere for the moment. She paid attention again when Yuka pleaded
with her next.
“Please! Mr. Becken is one of the brightest minds I know of. If he says he can
return you to your world, I believe in him!” Yuka said.
“Oh... alright. Only because I don’t have anywhere else to go.” Amy said.
“Thank you. Please, follow us back to my lab.” Mr. Becken said. The trio then
walked back towards the lab, with the miniature Mr. Becken staying close to his
normal-sized assistant Yuka, something that Amy found rather cute.
Amy just sat back in a chair at the lab, watching as Jake struggled to put all
the pieces of his machine together. Being only 18 inches tall (a foot and a
half) meant he was forced to let Yuka do much of the moving, lifting,
connecting, etc. And with little knowledge of how his portal generator actually
worked (she was more of a secretary than a true lab assistant), Yuka moved
awkwardly around the lab as she tried to follow Jake's instructions.
"No no, Yuka! That part connects to part MK-2103!" Jake shouted.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Becken. I'm just not used to this kind of machinery." Yuka said.
"(sigh) I know... it's not your fault. This is a new experience for me as well.
Still, we’ve got to get Amy back to her regular world as soon as possible. Who
knows what kind of damage we may be causing to the space-time continuum right
now?” Jake said.
Amy watched as tiny Jake continued to bark orders to Yuka. The more time that
passed, the more Amy started to feel sorry for Jake. It was then she realized
that the longer she sat around and did nothing, the more time it could possibly
take for him and Yuka to get her transportation back to Mobius up and running
again. She felt compelled to help, getting up and taking the circuit board from
Yuka.
"Here, I actually think it goes here." Amy said as she took the part from Yuka’s
hands. Yuka naturally had a worried look on her face, but when Jake looked over
and saw the part being connected to exactly the right spot, he nodded.
“It’s okay, she’s got it spot on.” Jake said. The two then watched as Amy hooked
up a few more parts without much difficulty.
“That’s incredible...” Jake said. Amy picked up on that and made a comment.
“Actually, I watched Tails build a prototype like this a little while back.” Amy
said. Yuka stepped back and let Amy do her thing, but as she looked down on
Jake, she noticed him shrinking even smaller. He stopped when he was exactly a
foot tall now, six inches smaller than before.
“Oh my, Mr. Becken... you’re shrinking again!” Yuka said.
“I know. I guess I should find a cure for this thing before I shrink to the size
of a molecule.” Jake said. Amy then stepped back and looked down at Jake again.
“Okay, I’ve done all I can remember Tails doing. I don’t know how much it will
help but...” Amy said.
“No no, you did fabulous, Amy. Thank you. The rest of it should not be a problem
for Yuka.” Jake said, who proceeded to give a few more instructions to his
assistant.
“Right away, Mr. Becken!” Yuka said as she walked over and did what she was
told. Jake then looked up at Amy from the table and prepared for any other jokes
she had about his size, but instead he got a different kind of response.
“Look, I... I’m sorry about the way I acted. It’s just I get so fired up when
I’m pulled from a chase with Sonic and it was so sudden of a pull...” Amy said.
“It’s okay, Amy. I forgive you. I would act the same way if I had gotten
suddenly blasted to your dimension.” Jake said.
“Soooo... I guess we’ll soon be saying goodbye, but what about you? Y’know, your
size...” Amy said.
“You need not be concerned for me. I’m a brilliant mind, I’m sure I’ll figure
out a way to return to normal.” Jake said.
“Pfffft... no offense but you can’t even lift a cereal box as big as you are.
Listen, why not come back to Mobius with me? Maybe Tails can figure out a way to
return you to your normal size.” Amy said.
“You’d do that for me?” Jake said.
“Well, sure! I’m not afraid to help people in need! I got that from my old
friend, Francine.” Amy said.
Yuka then suddenly returned to look down on the table where Jake was standing.
“Okay, Mr. Becken, I have connected the final parts as you requested.” Yuka
said.
“Excellent, Yuka. Let’s fire up the machine so Amy and I can travel through the
dimensional portal.” Jake said.
“Wait... Amy and you?” Yuka said.
“Yes, Yuka. Amy says she has a friend who can possibly return me to normal size,
so I’m going with her.” Jake said. Yuka didn’t question the man’s actions any
further, something she learned to do from the very early days she worked with
the man.
“As you wish, Mr. Becken. Shall I pull the switch?” Yuka asked. Jake simply
nodded, and then Yuka ran to the other side of the table and pulled the same
switch that Jake pulled earlier. Amazingly enough, the portal managed to open up
again. But Jake knew this was only the first step, as Yuka was quick to point
out.
“How are we to know you won’t be fried to a crisp when you attempt to pass
through the portal?” Yuka asked.
“I’m confident Amy will be able to pass through with no trouble, based on the
rampant calculations going through my head right now.” Jake said.
“Well, care to hop on for the ride?” Amy said as she lowered her elbow towards
the table where Jake was standing. Jake hopped on the elbow and was gently
nudged up Amy’s shoulder by the ‘giant’ pink hedgehog. Jake then quickly looked
back at Yuka.
“Yuka... if I’m not back in a couple days...” Jake said.
“I know, Mr. Becken. I will do as you instructed.” Yuka said.
And with all that said, Amy charged forward (with Jake holding on tight) and
jumped through the portal. She made it through without any problems to herself,
to Jake, and most importantly, to the lab equipment itself. Yuka ran over and
pulled the lever to shut the portal down. She sighed deeply, hoping that Jake
would come back safe and sound.
-----
Inside the house of Cream and Vanilla, they both worried deeply for their
friend, Amy Rose, hoping Team Chaotix would find out what happened to her sooner
than later.
“Mommy, I’m really worried about Amy suddenly disappearing.” Cream said.
“Oh, don’t you worry, Cream. Team Chaotix will find her, I just know it!”
Vanilla said. And then, just as quickly as Amy disappeared, a wave of blue
electricity suddenly swirled at the front door. It suddenly transformed into Amy
herself.
“AMY!!” Both Cream and Vanilla shouted as they ran towards her.
“Hey guys! I’m back from my dimensional trip.” Amy said with a smile.
“Oh Amy! We were so worried about you! Wait... what’s that on your shoulder?”
Cream said as she looked at the tiny Jake Becken sitting on Amy’s right
shoulder.
“Oh, he’s someone I met on Earth. It’s a looooooong story.” Amy said.
“Well, before you tell it, I better call Team Chaotix and tell them that you’ve
returned.” Vanilla said.
“You might want to contact Tails too, Vanilla. Little Jake here is going to need
our help!” Amy said as Vanilla ran to another room while Amy and Cream sat down
at the table they were going to have lunch at earlier.
Meanwhile, as the two sat down, nobody had yet noticed that Jake had shrunken another
three inches...
Chapter 3
Jake was almost mesmerized by what he was witnessing with his own two eyes.
He was in another dimension. A place so far from Earth he probably wasn’t even
in the same galaxy anymore. But it didn’t matter to him. He had done it. He had
crossed the dimensional gateway that his friends called a joke and nothing more
than science fiction. He had done what he set out to accomplish, and that was to
travel to the same world that Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends had come from.
Of course, that victory was short-lived, especially as he snapped back to
reality and realized he was even smaller than before. He guessed he was down to
under twelve inches tall now, and each subsequent shrink would only make the
world around him look even bigger, especially Amy Rose and the rabbit girl he
got his first glimpse of.
"So Amy, can you tell me what that is on your shoulder? It looks like a little
man!” Cream commented.
“His name is Jake. He’s the one who transported me back to Earth.” Amy said.
“Oh? You were back on Earth? The same planet that Chaos Control transported us
all to when Sonic was rescuing me?” Cream said.
“Yep, that’s it. Jake was experimenting with dimensional travel, and he wound up
zapping me to his world as soon as he tried to step through the portal.” Amy
said.
“Well, that’s kinda what happened. But nevertheless, the resulting accident not
only brought Mrs. Rose to my world, but also shrunk me to the size you see me
at.” Jake said. He then kept still as Amy lifted him up from her shoulder and
set him down on the table. Jake found himself basically surrounded by three
giant creatures… Amy, Cream, and her pet Chao, Cheese.
“Geez, you don’t have to be so darn formal with me! Just call me Amy, if you
don’t mind.” Amy said.
“I don’t know… Mrs. Rose sounds kinda cute to me! Hehehehe!” Cream said as she
and Cheese both laughed. Amy couldn’t but laugh a bit as well, as it was easy to
upset Cream if she was yelled at.
Soon after, Vanilla walked towards the table and looked straight at Amy.
“Amy, Tails wants to talk to you over the phone. I think he has questions about
your little friend.” Vanilla said.
“Okay…” Amy said as she got up and headed towards the phone laying on a nearby
counter. As Amy proceeded to chat with Tails, Vanilla took Amy’s place at the
table. As she did so, Cream decided to make a comment about Jake.
“Jake, you look very cute.” Cream said.
“Gee… thanks, I guess.” Jake said.
“In fact, you’d make a perfect toy person. Can I please play with him, Mom?”
Cream asked.
“Well, sure, Cream… but you must be very very VERY careful. He could easily be
injured at the size he’s at right now.” Vanilla said.
“Okay, Mom! I’ll be extra careful.” Cream said with a smile. As she gently
wrapped her gloved hand around Jake, the tiny visitor naturally was nervous
about being played with by a young rabbit girl and was sweating.
“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Jake said. Vanilla heard that and said
something to try and put the shrunken man at ease.
“Don’t you worry. I can assure you my daughter will make sure she doesn’t hurt
you.” Vanilla said, with a smile similar to Cream’s. Seeing how similar the two
smiles were, Jake felt a little bit better. He couldn’t breathe a total sigh of
relief yet when he was put inside a toy red convertible car (which looked way
too much like a Ferrari from Earth) by the young rabbit girl.
“Yay! It’s time for our new friend to visit the city.” Cream said. She gently
pushed the toy car around, almost in circles while Jake just sat back and tried
to enjoy the ride. Eventually he was ‘driven’ to a model city. He could tell
judging by the many Lego type block buildings.
“Did you craft this city yourself?” Jake asked.
“Um… I don’t know what that word means, but I did build it with my own two
hands! Well, with a little help from Cheese.” Cream said with Cheese shouting
its name in happy approval.
“Well, I must say it looks very, very nice!” Cream said.
“Oh thank you! Thank you so much. You’re actually the second person to
compliment me that much on my toy city, aside from Mom!” Cream said.
“I have no doubt she was very proud of you.” Jake said.
“Well, we’re here! Let’s explore the city and meet new friends.” Cream said.
Once the rabbit girl had stopped moving the toy car, Jake hopped out and was now
standing amongst the toy buildings. Even as he shrunk another two inches
(bringing him down to seven inches tall), many of the buildings were almost the
same size as him. So while it was not an accurate portrayal of whatever Cream
was imagining, he wasn’t going to be the one to burst her bubble, so he played
along.
“Wow… what a big city. I hope everyone here is nice and friendly.” Jake said.
“Says Mr. Jake as he wondered around looking for people to talk with.” Cream
said.
The act went on for a few minutes, even as Amy had returned from the phone to
watch Cream play everything out. She could tell Cream seemed to be enjoying the
presence of tiny Jake and hoped Tails could find some way to not only stop the
shrinking of him, but also find some way for him to easily travel between Earth
and Mobius.
“So what did Tails say?” Vanilla asked.
“Well, of course he found it fascinating and that he would be over shortly to
analyze Jake.” Amy said.
“Cream seems to really like Jake. Look how much fun she is having.” Vanilla
said.
“Yeah… I may have some competition for him.” Amy said. She got a concerned look
from Vanilla, but it was wiped off when Amy quickly clarified what she meant.
“Oh, but I don’t mind sharing with Cream. She’s like a little sister to me.” Amy
said.
As the two ladies continued to watch over Cream, the young rabbit girl
decided on a new plot twist for little Jake’s adventure in Cream’s Legoland.
“But as Jake continued to find new friends to make, suddenly the wind really
picked up. It was very strong… almost like a hurricane!" Cream said. Jake
understandably was quite nervous about what he predicted would happen.
"Um… prehaps we can discuss this matter in a more civilized…" Jake said, but
before he could finish his thought, he watched as Cream leaned her head forward
and blew. The air coming out of her mouth was certainly too much for Jake to
take as he began to lose footing.
On top of all that, he shrunk once more, and the reduced weight coming with his
new smaller size of a measly two inches tall caused him to go flying in the air.
"YIKES!!!" Jake shouted as he went flying through the air. He actually flew out
of Cream's toy city, and Cream was so taken aback by how high Jake was in the
air… she had to stop blowing and yet lost track of where Jake went!
"Oh no! Mr. Jake! Where did you go!?" Cream shouted as she frantically looked
around her city.
"Cream! You blew too hard!" Amy shouted.
"I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" Cream said.
"We can worry about that later. Let's find Jake… and be careful so we don't
accidentally step on him!" Vanilla said. That being said, she and Amy and Cream
all got down on their hands and knees and crawled very slowly on the floor
trying to find the tiny Jake, all of them unaware that he had shrunken even
further.
Not too long after, there was a knock on the front door of the house.
"It's open!" Vanilla shouted. The door then opened and coming inside the house
was Tails, and behind him was a wagon full of machinery, no doubt all designed
by him.
"Hey guys! I got here as fast as I could, and…" Tails said.
"DON'T MOVE!!!" all three ladies shouted. Tails stopped walking in his tracks,
leaving one foot in the air in fact.
"Ooooookay… I'm frozen. Solid as a rock." Tails said.
"We're trying to find little Jake before we accidentally step on him." Amy said.
"I see him!" Cream suddenly shouted. She had gently lifted up one of the toy
buildings, and hiding behind it was a now 2-inch-tall Jake.
"And he's even smaller too…" Cream said. The young rabbit girl very gently
plucked Jake up off the ground and held him in the middle of her right hand. The
other characters walked up towards Cream and noticed the smaller Jake too.
"Oh my, you're right! He's shrinking fast!" Amy said.
"I thought you said he was only seven to nine inches tall." Tails said.
"He was when I called!" Amy said.
"Hmmm… this is serious. I better get started with the body scanning right away."
Tails said.
Before Jake knew it, he was standing on the edge of a table, underneath
probably the biggest microscope he’ll ever see. He stood under the lens for
probably half an hour, barely moving around as the giant Tails moved back and
forth between machines. Nobody questioned the methods of this mechanical genius,
especially after Amy was able to fill him in on the whole situation via the
phone. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and didn’t exactly have a thrilled
look on his face as he looked back at Amy, Cream, and Vanilla.
“I have bad news, everyone. I don’t think I can save our little friend with the
equipment I have. He’s shrinking so rapidly because of his body defending itself
against the particles that are spread all over his body from when he first tried
to transport himself here.” Tails said.
“Huh? Are you sure? So he’s just going to keep shrinking until… gulp…” Cream
said, not wanting to speak out the horrible fate she was already thinking of.
Jake knew what she was thinking of, but amazingly did not react at all. He had a
good reason why, but kept his mouth shut for now.
“C’mon, Tails! Can’t you build something to cure Jake? Maybe some kind of
enlarging ray?” Amy shouted. Tails quickly shook his head.
“Unfortunately, it’ll be too late by the time I build something like that. I
don’t even have anything to slow the rate of shrinking.” Tails said.
“Look! He’s shrinking again!” Vanilla said. Indeed, everyone looked to see Jake
reducing himself further in size. He was coming up on just a mere one inch tall…
and that was a sign that his time had come. He looked all the way up at the
giantesses, Amy in particular.
“It’s okay, everyone.” Jake said.
“WHAT!? NO! This is not the end! We’ll fix you up and then find a way to return
you home!” Amy shouted.
“Amy… I can’t thank you enough. You helped me realize my dream the moment you
came teleporting through my portal. I literally owe my life to you.” Jake said.
He looked down at the wood on the table continuing to come closer. Now nearing
half an inch, he had to step up a bit to avoid falling into an ordinarily tiny
crevice on the surface of the table.
“We’re about to lose sight of him…” Tails said. Amy leaned forward, trying not
to let the shrinking man disappear from her sight.
"Don't you give up! You still have your whole life ahead of you!" Amy said.
Jake, however, stayed cool and shook his head.
"I've given all that I can possibly give in my life. I've accomplished what I
set out to do. I'm willing to accept my fate. I won't let anyone else share in
the knowledge that I've gained." Jake said. He couldn't help but feel squeamish
as he watched the tears come down Amy's face, but he had to talk fast (and loud)
as he continued to shrink. At a tenth of an inch tall and continuing to shrink
rapidly, Jake knew he was out of time.
"Goodbye, Amy. Tell Sonic I said hello for him…" Jake said, waving as he watched
the world around him become impossibly big even as he finally stopped navigating
around the crevices and allowed one of them to swallow him. For Amy and the
others, he was gone… too small to see with the naked eye.
"Jake!! You can't gooooooooooo!!!" Amy shouted as she finally collapsed onto her
knees and cried her heart out. Tails simply patted Amy on the back.
"I'm so sorry, Amy." Tails said. Cream approached her best friend and gave her a
hug, allowing her to cry over her shoulder.
"Me too, Amy. I can't believe this has happened." Cream said. Vanilla joined in
on the hugging as well, mostly to console her own daughter as well, but Cream
was able to take it well.
And eventually, so did Amy. She leaned her head back and stood back up,
looking at where Jake once stood on the table.
"I… I'll be okay. (sniff) I guess I was upset that he gave up." Amy said.
"I don't think he gave up, Amy. He knew his time was coming… maybe even before I
gave the official diagnosis." Tails said.
"Actually, I did hear him say a couple more things before he shrunk to nothing."
Vanilla said.
"Oh? What's that, Mom?" Cream asked.
"He said goodbye to Amy and to say hello to Sonic for him. And that he was
willing to accept his fate and take the knowledge he gained with him… probably
to keep it from falling into the wrong hands." Vanilla said.
"Very good point. Still… that's a heck of a way to go… to shrink all the way to
nothingness." Tails said. Amy sniffed a couple more times and wiped her eyes.
"Well… if that's the way he wanted to live his life, then I guess I better
salute him, right?" Amy said.
"I agree. That was no easy feat what he did… trying to travel between dimensions
like that! I didn't think it would ever be possible." Tails said.
"Hey! I got an idea that will cheer everyone up! Why don't we go grocery
shopping together?" Cream asked happily.
"Oh, that's a great idea, Cream! How about you, Tails?" Vanilla said.
"Sure… just as soon as I take all this equipment back to my workshop." Tails
said.
"I'll come too." Amy said.
"Huh? Are you sure, Amy?" Tails asked.
"Yeah… going shopping with Cream is sure to cheer me up. And since he did
mention Sonic, I REALLY should get back to chasing him down!" Amy said.
"Great! Come on, Cream. We'll help Tails take his machinery back." Vanilla said.
"Okay, Mom!" Cream shouted. The four characters soon walked away from the table
and eventually out of the house. Everyone except for Amy, that is. She took one
last look at the table where Jake once stood.
"Goodbye, Jake." Amy said before turning around and following her friends out of
the house.
As Jake watched the world around him slowly transform into many, many
circles, he quickly presumed he was officially in the microverse, where the only
things he could see were atoms and molecules. At the same time, he started
coughing and gasping for air. He used the last bit of consciousness to figure
out what was happening to him.
"I'm so small now… oxygen molecules are too big for me now. I'm going to die of
suffocation… not that anyone will notice." Jake said to himself. As he let out
another big gasp, he could hear Amy's voice echoing overhead.
"Goodbye, Jake." she said. Jake smiled and started to regret not spending any
more time in his life getting to know the pink hedgehog. But alas, the time to
regret had passed. Jake blacked out and was now fully unconscious. He continued
to shrink further into the microverse despite passing on.
----
Yuka walked into the quiet laboratory. Four days had passed since she saw her
boss, Jake Becken, enter the portal to another dimension. She remembered him
saying if he wasn't back in at least 48 hours, take the steps necessary to
ensure none of the lab's secrets came out in the open. Yuka sighed.
"Well, Mr. Becken, I hope you're happy in this other dimension." Yuka said to
herself. Of course, she had absolutely no way of knowing what really happened to
Jake, but it was her duty to follow his instructions in the event he didn't
return.
Yuka went through a double set of doors in the back of the lab. She used her
own set of keys to open a drawer on the bottom of the computer desk. Inside this
drawer was a small box and inside this box, as she opened it, were two slips of
paper and a tiny box with a single red button. The first thing Yuka decided to
inspect were the slips of paper.
"Oh? This is…!" Yuka said. She gasped seeing what the slips really were. Two
plane tickets with Kyoto, Japan, listed as the destination on both tickets. One
ticket had Jake Becken on it. The other belonged to Yuka Koshiro. Yuka
immediately knew what these plane tickets meant.
"I can finally go home after all these years…" Yuka said, smiling knowing that
Jake cared so much for her and her passion to one day return to her home country
of Japan (a country she had to flee because of the 2011 earthquakes).
She next turned her attention to the red button. After pushing it, an alarm suddenly went buzzing off in the entire lab, along with a female computerized voice that said:
"SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. 1 MINUTE TO LAB SELF DESTRUCTION"
Yuka dropped the red button and put the two plane tickets in her pocket. Then she left the room, and eventually the entire lab (with of course plenty of time to spare).
Yuka, now wearing a black coat, calmly walked down the lonely path that would
lead her back to Station Square. She stopped when she heard a massive explosion.
She turned around… and the entire lab she once worked at was now a huge pile of
rubble and flames. She gently rubbed her right eye and smiled.
"Thank you, Mr. Becken… for everything." Yuka said. She then turned around and
kept on walking down the path.
Once the media (including SSTV) got around to covering the massive laboratory
explosion, Yuka was gone and the entire city was left to wonder if Jake Becken
managed to survive.
By the time Yuka had gotten to the airport and secured her flight back to Japan,
she looked up at a nearby television and saw a reporter talking (the sound
wasn't loud enough over the airport crowd, however) with a picture of Jake
Becken and the headline "JAKE BECKEN PRESUMED DEAD."
Yuka had no reaction, because she had already reacted before the rest of the
world did.
Much like how Jake Becken made dimensional travel possible before the rest of
the world did.
END