Vanilla, We Shrunk Ourselves

(Cubed Cinder)

Inside the amphitheater, Tails sat as still as he could on the only chair on stage, but keeping his legs still was proving difficult. He had every reason to be either nervous or excited, depending upon who you asked. He was about to receive recognition for all the inventions he has made since he and his friends arrived in Station Square, many for helping defeat Eggman in his numerous attempts to rule the world. It was a big deal when the President of the United States himself was taking the time to praise Tails and reward him with whatever was underneath the white sheets that stood behind the podium.
Meanwhile, in the audience off stage, everyone else who lived in or near Thorndyke Mansion (including Chris's parents) sat with anticipation. All the humans were dressed in formal wear, something that Chris wasn't used to as he kept adjusting his bow tie.
"Chris, darling, will you stop fidgeting with that bow tie? We spent a long time getting that right!" Lindsey said.
"Sorry, Mom, I'm just kinda hot in these clothes." Chris said. Meanwhile, Amy sat with a smile on her face... mainly because she was sitting right next to Sonic.
"Oh, I can't wait to see what Tails gets from Mr. President. It must be extravagant for him to present the reward!" Amy said.
"Yeah... uh huh... real extravagant." Sonic said as he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"Oh look, I guess we're about to start!" Chuck Thorndyke said as he pointed towards the stage, where a secret service agent (looking strangely similar to Agent Superball) came walking out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." Superball said before walking away to a thunderous applause that was made louder because of the vastness of the amphitheater. Everyone stood up when the president himself walked out and took the podium.
"Thank you. Please be seated, everyone." the president said, with everyone doing just that.
"We are all gathered here tonight to salute one Miles Prower, who the world knows as simply Tails..." he said. He would go on to spend the next seven to eight minutes (causing Sonic to fall asleep, but Amy always snapped him out of it) talking about how brilliant Tails is compared to the likes of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and other great inventors. He also read off the list of great things that he had done, namely in helping rescue him and his staff during the one time Eggman and his forces invaded the White House. Y'know, the usual Presidental praising and stuff. Surely you do not wish to be bothered with all that.

So we jump ahead to near the end of the speech, when the president is finally ready to present his gift to Tails.
"Tails, as a thank you from my staff and from everyone around the world for all you have done, I have asked the finest architects in the world to build you a special gift that I offer from the kindness of my heart." the president said. He stepped away from the podium, walking back towards the covered object. As soon as he was standing beside it, the white cover raised up into the air (naturally with the help of people behind the stage pulling on ropes). Tails' jaw dropped upon what he was seeing. A 10-foot-tall bronze statue of himself. The audience applauded over seeing the serene beauty of the statue. Tails got up from his chair, studying the statue from head to toe.
"It's beautiful, Mr. President!" Tails said.
"I was hoping you would say that." the president said.
"Is this really for me?" Tails said.
"Absolutely, my friend. In fact, I have agents ready to deliver this statue to your home at the end of our ceremony." the president said.
"Oh, this is just incredible..." Tails said. And so after the ceremony, everyone that lived in or near the Thorndyke Mansion came up on stage to congratulate Tails and praise him on the statue that he received.

That would change quite a bit as time passed by...

Four months later

Life returned to normal for the Thorndyke Mansion in the four months since that ceremony. With the Tails statue standing proudly near one of the staircases, it was hard to miss for anyone walking by. Especially to Ella, having to clean one more massive object in an already massive mansion.
"Mmph... silly piece of bronze junk! Always taunting me with that finger pointed in the air!" Ella said. Tails walked by and heard Ella's complaining.
"Awwww, lighten up, Ella. It has served us well." Tails said.
"You mean it has served you well, little scientific genius! Mr. and Mrs. Thorndyke still haven't raised my salary to clean this thing." Ella said, getting serious with the brushing of the statue.
"Well, gee... I..." Tails said.
"And he takes up so much room! Unlike you, you little charming fox, you!" Ella said. Amy Rose then came walking by.
"Man, that statue is getting boring. Can't we replace it with a coat rack or something?" Amy asked.
"It's a gift from the President of the United States... not a coat rack, for your information!" Tails said.
"Well, sorry! But I agree with Ella, we could really use the space for something else!" Amy said.
"Hmmm... I agree with you for a change. For that, you can have a break from laundry for today!" Ella said.
"Yay, finally!" Amy said. Tails couldn't believe what he was hearing. Four months ago, the two ladies were part of a crowd that was happy to see Tails get rewarded in such a fashion. Now, they wanted that statue gone.
"Oh, forgive us, Tails, but when Tanaka and I come back from vacation, we are moving that statue elsewhere! And Ella says that is final!" Ella said.
"(sigh) We wouldn't be having this problem if this were at my workshop in Mystic Ruins... but then again that's kinda small too." Tails said.
"Hey, Tails! I'll need to refuel the X-Tornado. Give me a hand here?" Chuck shouted from across the hallway.
"Coming, Chuck! Don't worry, my bronze clone, I'll think of something." Tails said as he walked away from the statue.

Later that morning, Tails and Chuck were in the workshop, working on the X-Tornado.
"Whew... a few more adjustments and this thing will be back in top form." Chuck said.
"Say, Chuck, do you think that statue I got four months ago is bothering everyone?" Tails said.
"Nonsense, child! I say it's a symbol of your great accomplishments. I can't imagine why the ladies want it moved or something else like that." Chuck said.
"I know, but Ella was more insistent this morning. She wanted it gone by the time she comes back from vacation." Tails said.
"Don't worry, Tails. You are very smart. You'll think of something." Chuck said.
"Yeah..." Tails said.
"Listen, why don't I help take your mind off that and other things. I got two tickets recently to the Szalinski Corporation's newest open house this weekend." Chuck said.
"Really? THE Szalinski Corporation?" Tails said.
"None other. Want to go?" Chuck said.
"Heck yeah! Oh wait... who's going to watch over the kids, like Chris and Cream, while we are there?" Tails said.
"I'm sure Vanilla won't mind watching over everyone, much like she did when we went to the Lava Reef Volcano." Chuck said. Tails slapped his forehead as soon as he heard that.
"Of course! I keep forgetting about Vanilla. I must be losing my edge." Tails said.

Shortly thereafter, Chris came walking towards the workshop with his backpack.
"Grandpa, I'm heading off to school!" Chris said.
"Do you need a ride, Chris?" Chuck asked.
"Nope, Uncle Sam's agreed to give me a ride. That's why I have my football helmet." Chris said.
"Haha! Always a good idea when he's involved." Tails said.
"Would it be okay if I brought my friends over, since the weekend starts tomorrow?" Chris said.
"Well, of course." Chuck said.
"Great! See ya later!" Chris said as he ran off.

Much later that day, after the work was finished on the X-Tornado, Tails and Chuck walked around the mansion helping out (like some of the other people still inside) with Ella and Tanaka packing up for their vacation. Assisting them also were Vanilla, Cream, Amy Rose, and Sonic. After a while, everyone headed out to wave the two off.
"You two take care and enjoy your vacation." Chuck said.
"We will, Mr. Thorndyke. We shall enjoy this vacation to the best of our ability." Tanaka said.
"Now don't you go running off like little mice! You all take good care of yourselves!" Ella said.
"Oh, we will, Ella! Don't worry about that!" Amy said. Tails heard Ella's last comment and that got him thinking about his bronze statue again.
"Bye now! Have fun!" Sonic said as Ella and Tanaka both jumped into the limo. It then drove off away from the mansion. As everyone walked back inside, Tails suddenly said something that he hoped wouldn't sound too strange for Sonic.
"Hey, um... Sonic, why don't you and the others head for the forest? I think there may be a Chaos Emerald there..." Tails said.
"Huh? Are you sure? When did you detect it?" Sonic asked.
"About an hour ago!" Tails said.
"Well, why didn't you tell us sooner!? We better check it out right away!" Amy said.
"Yeah, you and the others should go. Chuck and I will stay here and monitor your activities from the lab." Tails said.
"Well, okay then! Off to the forest I go!" Sonic said as he sped off out of the mansion.
"Hey! Wait for us! You don't expect us to just speed after you, do you!?" Amy said as she ran as best she could after him.
"Yay! Come on, Mom! Let's go see what Sonic finds!" Cream said as she took Vanilla's hand and ran with it.
"Oh... okay! Slow down, Cream!" Vanilla said. Watching as the group just ran off, Tails breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Well... that went better than I anticipated." Tails said.
"What are you up to, Tails? It's not like you to send everyone out like that, and isn't our home tracking equipment still under repair?" Chuck asked.
"I knew you would catch on, Chuck. It was all a ruse to get everyone out of the house." Tails said.
"A ruse? What for?" Chuck asked. Tails smiled and then walked past him.
"To save Super Tails." Tails said, suddenly nicknaming his four-month-old bronze statue.

Tails and Chuck Thorndyke used all their weight and teamwork to carry the statue through the mansion, eventually reaching the stairs to the attic.
"I still can't believe Ella is making you throw this out. It's mint!" Chuck said.
"Tell me about it! I finally gain recognition for all my great inventions, and the ladies just needle it!" Tails said.
"You could've always negotiated! How are we gonna hide this thing, anyway?" Chuck said.
"Don't worry! I have a plan!" Tails said. Finally, the two were able to make it up the steps, with the Tails statue firmly sitting in the middle of the attic. Tails and Chuck both were breathing a lot from having to carry all that weight.
"Great! *huff puff*" Tails said.
"Yeah... great... looks great." Chuck said. Naturally being much older than Tails, he really had to catch his breath, resting himself against the statue.
"Perfect... whew... the statue's only seven feet tall. Call me crazy... but the ladies might still catch this." Chuck said.
"Not if I shrink it!" Tails said as he walked past the statue towards a set of white sheets. He pulled them off, revealing the very same size-changing machine that caused nothing but havoc the last two times it was used (see Vanilla, I Shrunk the Kids and Hot Vanilla).

Chuck was a little surprised to see the machine still in one piece.
"Wow... I thought you were going to trash this thing." Chuck said.
"Yeah, but I kept thinking in the back of my mind... I knew I was going to be using this thing one more time." Tails said.
"It still looks good." Chuck said.
"Yeah. I got it out of mothballs and kept it polished during my time off from other inventions." Tails said.
"Hey, it's good you don't forget about the stuff you build. If only I felt that way on the things I built as a young boy." Chuck said.
"Well, time to fire it up." Tails said as he walked to the control panel and started hitting buttons and flipping switches.
"Wait... what? You're not going to activate this thing again?" Chuck said. Tails didn't answer as he continued to flip switches. The machine started humming back to life as this process went on.
"You can't start it up again! You are banned from using this thing by a joint committee of yourself and this family!" Chuck said as he walked alongside Tails.
"Is the family here? Is the government here? I've made up my mind. I'm gonna shrink that statue so that I can carry it around with me. Besides... it's a point of honor. Now, can you watch the monitor and tell me when we hit Critical Mass?" Tails said.
"Okay then..." Chuck said.
"This is why I sent everyone on that fake Chaos Emerald chase. After what happened to the kids and then to Vanilla... I'm not taking any chances." Tails said as he pressed some more buttons on the unit. Chuck counted the percentage as it rose on the monitor. What both of them didn't realize was the steam already building up around the unit.
"60%... 70%... 80%... 90 percent!" Chuck said.
"Alright, shrink machine. One last time." Tails said as he rubbed his hands together, getting ready to press the fire button. When the monitor read 100%, Chuck looked over at Tails with a smile.
"We have critical mass!" Chuck said. As soon as he heard that, Tails slammed on the fire button, and the machine fired off its signature blue laser. Once it made contact, the statue began to shrink rapidly. Soon, it disappeared from sight.

"It worked!" Tails shouted.
"Yes... it appears that way!" Chuck said.
"Come on, let's go find it." Tails said. When he and Chuck both approached the spot where the statue once stood and couldn't see anything.
"Magnifying glass." they said to each other. They ran back to one of the tables and each picked up a rather large magnifying glass. They both got down on their knees, less than a yard away from where the statue once stood.
"Do you see it?" Chuck asked.
"No... start on the sides and I'll meet you in the middle." Tails said. As the two were scanning the floor, Chuck's ears picked up the sounds of the machine revving up once again. He looked back at the machine.
"Sounds like the machine is firing up again." Chuck said.
"Oh, don't worry, there's nobody to push the button." Tails said.
"Got ya." Chuck said. Of course, the machine would soon have other ideas. What the two didn't notice was the monitor starting to blink in and out, with the sounds of sparks inside the machine, like they were trying to escape. After the monitor blinked once more, there was an important piece of text above the power level as it was rising in percentage again: AUTOFIRE ENABLED.

"There it is!" Tails shouted after another 30 seconds of scanning the floor. Chuck pointed his magnifying glass where Tails was pointing his... and there on the floor was the Tails statue. It looked to be about half an inch tall.
"Wow! A tiny Tails! You're a genius, Tails." Chuck said.
"You know, I always appreicated the scientific use of that machine, but never its family implications." Tails said, prompting a laugh out of Chuck. A few seconds later as the two continued to admire the statue, the machine hit 100% and opened fire.

To the eyes of Tails and Chuck, it looked like the statue was suddenly returning to its normal size. They were staring right at the feet of the piece of bronze architecture.
"Huh? Darn! It didn't work... it grew back." Tails said.
"Hmmmm... what do you think went wrong?" Chuck said.
"I don't know... but sometimes the induction sequence... *GASP!*" Tails said. As he turned around to head back to the shrinking machine, he had to stop his speech and his thinking when he saw a completely different scenery. Chuck wondered why Tails suddenly stopped and gasped, and when he turned around as well, seeing the shrinking machine so high off the ground, he understood why.

Tails, meanwhile, did the only thing on his mind.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" he screamed out loud, realizing he and Chuck were both half an inch tall.

Meanwhile, Vanilla, Cream, and Amy Rose, all already exhausted from trying to keep up with Sonic, decided to stay behind, just outside the grounds of the Thorndyke Mansion.
"Do you really think it's a Chaos Emerald?" Vanilla asked.
"Well, Tails isn't usually wrong about these things, with all the equipment that technological maniac has back there." Amy said. Then suddenly, Sonic came storming back, stopping right in front of the ladies.
"Did you find the Chaos Emerald?" Cream asked.
"Nope, not a single trace of it. Tails was wrong, for a change." Sonic said.
"Hey, there's a first time for everything!" Amy said.
"There has to be a reason for all this. I mean, why Tails would send us out on a chase like this?" Vanilla said.
"Well, we can ask him when we see him. Come on!" Sonic said as he sped off back for the mansion. The others followed suit, but luckily they didn't have far to go. Sonic was even nice enough to wait at the front door before opening it up and letting everyone back inside.
Once back inside the mansion, and seeing Tails and Chuck nowhere around, the group wondered where they went.
"Hmmm? Where did they go?" Amy asked.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Sonic said as he picked up on the sounds of the shrinking machine upstairs.
"Yes, I do. It sounds like they're working upstairs." Amy said.
"Let's stick our heads in there and see what they're up to." Sonic said. Vanilla started to follow Amy and Sonic, but wanted to make sure Cream stayed out of the picture.
"Cream, my little angel, why don't you go play with Cheese for a little while?" Vanilla said.
"Okay, Mom!" Cream said as she went in a different direction, chasing after her pet chao, Cheese. Vanilla, Amy Rose, and Sonic all went upstairs into the attic.

Meanwhile, Tails was shaking from head to toe, having to lean against his own statue to keep himself from falling to the floor.
"Oh my god... we shrunk ourselves. We shrunk ourselves..." Tails said. Chuck, despite the horrible situation he was in, kept his cool amazingly well. In fact, he walked over to Tails to try and comfort him.
"Oh, Chuck. I'm sorry. I'm so incredible sorry!" Tails said, tears coming out of his eyes. Chuck finally hugged him.
"It's alright, my friend. Accidents like this can and will happen in the world of science and technology." Tails said.
"No... it's all my fault. I never should've turned that stupid thing on!" Tails said.
"You don't have to explain it to me. Let's just stay calm and think of a way out of this." Chuck said.
"Chuck... how can you be so calm? Aren't you mad at me?" Tails asked.
"What good will getting mad do? That's what I learned at a young age. You just gotta keep yourself composed and find the solution, because there always is one." Chuck said.
"You're right. Thanks, Chuck." Tails said. Just then, the two heard loud female voices from beyond the attic door and stairs.
"But right now we have a bigger problem... literally!" Chuck said. He and Tails watched as Amy Rose, Vanilla, and Sonic all entered the attic. Of course, they were still normal-sized, for the moment anyway.
"Hey... where are they?" Amy asked.
"Tails? Chuck?" Sonic said. Vanilla started to walk around the room a bit, trying hard to find the guys.
"Run!!!" Tails said as he and Chuck ran in two different directions. Chuck just barely missed being crushed by Vanilla's shoe.
"They've just gotta be around here somewhere!" Vanilla said.
"Yeah. Where could they hide in a place like this?" Sonic said.
"Hey, look at that! That thing is on!" Amy said as she looked right at the shrinking machine. As soon as Sonic and Vanilla stood where Amy was and looked at it as well, the machine quickly fired up again and blasted away at the trio.
"Uh oh..." Sonic said. The blue laser hit the three and they began to shrink...

It only took a few seconds for Sonic, Amy Rose, and Vanilla to be reduced to the same miniscule size that Tails, Chuck, and the bronze statue were shrunken to.
"Huh? What just happened?" Amy asked. She and Vanilla looked around and quickly realized what had happened to them.
"Oh dear!" Vanilla said.
"Eeeeeeek!!! We're shrunk!" Amy said. Sonic covered his ears from the loud scream.
"Yep, that's about the size of what happened to us." Sonic said, making another one of his bad puns.
"Everyone! Hi!" Tails said as he and Chuck both joined up with the others. Amy looked right into Tails' eyes.
"Tails... we're shrunk, right?" Amy asked.
"I'm not going to lie... yes we are. I was at the machine, and it just..." Tails said, but had to stop as after Tails said yes, Amy fell backwards and landed on the enlarged wooden floor. Tails kneeled down next to Amy and tried to bring her back to consciousness.
"How did this happen?" Vanilla asked.
"Well, it's kind of a funny story..." Chuck said.
"Hey, how did that statue get up here?" Sonic said, pointing out the shrunken Tails statue. Amy was awake again as she sat up, but she heard Sonic mention the statue.
"What statue!?" Amy said. She looked past Tails and saw the shrunken Tails statue standing there. Tails gulped, fearing what was about to come out of Amy's mouth since she was one of those who wanted that statue out.
"Oh... I get it. You thought you could outsmart us by shrinking the statue down to size and I wouldn't notice. Well, guess what, Tails?" Amy said.
"Yes?" Tails said.
"I NOTICED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Amy shouted at her loudest.
"Okay, Amy... calm down." Sonic said. Amy helped herself back to her feet.
"How can I calm down!? I am about as small as a cookie crumb!" Amy shouted.
"Look, can I just say something?" Tails said.
"NO! I will not allow you to say something!" Amy shouted. Eventually everyone was shouting at each other, mostly in trying to get Amy under control from her emotional meltdown. Finally, Chuck let out a loud whistle.

"Alright, everyone. We can argue some other time... right now we have to find a way to return ourselves to our normal size. Heck, we better get off this floor first! I don't think it's real safe down here." Chuck said.
"He's right. We've gotta get away from the shoes and the cockroaches." Tails said.
"W-W-What!?" Vanilla shouted.
"Cockroaches!? There are cockroaches up here!?" Amy shouted.
"Well, it's an attic!" Tails said.
"I hate cockroaches! And that's just regular size cockroaches... not cockroaches the size of sofas!" Amy said. Chuck walked forward and pointed out one of the leather sofas in the room.
"Hey, if we climb up that chair, perhaps we can get to the windowsill." Chuck said.
"Great idea! Let's get going, everyone!" Sonic said as he ran at full speed towards the chair. Vanilla and Chuck followed suit. As Amy was following, Tails checked to see if Amy was going to be mad for a while.
"Amy... are you going to stay mad at me the whole time we're tiny or help make the most of a bad situation?" Tails asked. Amy paused for a few seconds before finally answering.
"Well, if anyone can get us back to normal, it's you. So let's go for it!" Amy said.
"That a girl... I wonder why Sonic tries to avoid her 99% of the time." Tails said as he was the last to head for the leather chair.

It took a couple minutes for everyone at such a tiny size to climb up the leather chair, although Chuck, thanks in part to being human and having a longer stride, was able to reach the top first. Chuck stood up after climbing a very long way up.
"Whew... yes. I made it! Oh, Chuck, you still got it." Chuck said. He looked behind him to see everyone else still climbing up, with some, like Sonic and Amy Rose, breathing heavily because they weren't used to doing this much climbing. Chuck tried his best to encourage them.
"Hang in there, everyone! You're doing great!" Chuck said.
"(sigh) No, Chuck. Great would be if I were on a nice cruise around the world! I'm doing the opposite of great... I'm doing sucky." Amy said.
"Well, look on the bright side, at least we're getting plenty of exercise." Sonic said. Finally, all five shrunken victims were standing at the top of the leather chair.
"Great. Good job, everyone. Hard part's over." Chuck said.
"Are you sure about that? All we gotta do is... make a huge leap across this chasm onto the window." Amy said.
"That looks like about 50 feet across!" Vanilla said.
"To you, maybe. But to Chuck Thorndyke, it's our only ticket to bigness." Chuck said.
"Hey, this is a great time to utilize the power of flight, wouldn't you agree, Tails?" Sonic said.
"Oh, right! In all this craziness, I forgot that I could fly temporarily with my two tails. Now why didn't I think of that before I chose to climb the couch?" Tails said.
"Well, it was a very long way up. We both probably would've been tired." Vanilla said.
"Okay, I'll carry you, Sonic, while Vanilla can carry the others." Tails said.
"Just like old times!" Sonic said. Tails started swinging his two tails around in a helicopter motion, allowing him to lift up into the air. He grabbed Sonic and easily flew across the chasm, landing safely on the windowsill. Vanilla had a bit rougher time across because she had to carry both Chuck and Amy Rose, but those strong ears of hers eventually helped her get across safely.

All five took a deep breath and looked out the window seeing the vast backyard.
"Whew... that was a fun ride." Chuck said.
"Well, thanks for flying the Vanilla Express!" Vanilla said. She and Chuck laughed a little bit. Amy laughed a little but quickly became serious.
"Ho ho ha ha, very funny. But the problem is we're still tiny. We've gotta somehow tell Chris and the others of what happened!" Amy shouted.
"Hey, that's right! They'll realize we're gone when they can't find us." Tails said.
"Yes, but there's no reason for them to come up here. So we gotta get to them." Chuck said.
"But how? We'll never get down the stairs alive." Sonic asked.
"Hmmm..." Tails said as he went into deep thinking mode, "Well, the fastest way is to get down from this window and into Chris's room."
"You know what we could do?" Chuck said.
"Chuck, I'm the inventor here... let me figure it out. Let's see..." Tails said. As he began talking to himself, the others looked to see a fishing rod that was leaning against the windowsill, complete with hook and lure already attached.
"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If I had some sort of cable system, a pulley system that I could use to transport us down. But what could it be? If only I had some sort of mini zip line..." Tails said.
"Tails." Chuck said.
"Or a neumatic device!" Tails said.
"Tails." Chuck said.
"...powered by some sort of isotope-based thruster system." Tails said.
"Tails!!!" Chuck said.
"What!?" Tails finally shouted.
"How about something like a fishing reel?" Chuck said, with the two ladies and Sonic pointing behind themselves at the line. Tails stared at the fishing rod for a few seconds before finally answering.
"That would work." Tails said.

Downstairs, in the meantime... Cream had taken her mother's advice and was gently walking around the house, chasing after her pet chao, Cheese. She was pretty much alone in this level of the house, but that would change soon as she heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it!" Cream shouted, thinking her mother was going to hear that. Cream walked up towards the front doors and opened them up. On the other side were Chris and his three best friends, Danny, Francine, and the wheelchair-bound Helen.
"Oh, hello, Chris! Everyone!" Cream said.
"Hi, Cream! How have you been?" Francine asked.
"Very well, thanks." Cream said before letting everyone in.
"So how did you all get here together?" Cream asked.
"Oh, Uncle Sam gave us a ride, mumbling about being a taxi driver on duty as usual." Chris said.
"Your uncle is so cool, Chris." Danny said.
"Hey, where is everyone else? I know Ella and Tanaka were starting their vacation today." Chris said.
"Hmmm... I've been wondering that myself. My mom, along with Amy and Sonic, went upstairs into the attic. I'm guessing they're still there." Cream said.
"Well, let's go see! You guys wait here." Chris said.
"Okay, Chris!" Francine said as she and the other kids made themselves comfortable on the nearby couches. Cream and Chris were making their way towards the attic.

At the exact same time, the five shrunken people were now sitting tight on a plastic fish toy that was attached to the end of the fishing line. The line was very slowly unreeling downward with every passing second, with the combined weight of the five heroes causing the line to slowly fall. Amy was shivering, and Sonic could tell just by looking at her.
"You nervous, Amy?" Sonic asked.
"No! It's just... high places like this usually make me sweat." Amy said.
"That's only because you aren't in the comfort of the X-Tornado." Tails said.
"We're almost there. Hang on, everyone." Chuck said. They would literally have to do just that, as suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the line suddenly increased in speed, almost at roller coaster speeds.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Everyone screamed. But as luck would have it, the toy landed on the outside windowsill of Chris's room. Everyone crashed down on the sill.
"So far so good, right?" Tails asked.
"Ugh..." Amy said as she and everyone else got up and entered Chris's room, thanks to the window being open.

Back upstairs, Chris opened up the attic door, with Cream popping her head above to see that nobody was there.
"Huh? There's nobody here?" Cream said.
"Are you sure they went up here?" Chris said.
"Well... I did run off to play with Cheese. Maybe they were quickly up here and left." Cream said.
"Don't worry. I'm sure they're somewhere in the house." Chris said.
"Yes, I agree!" Cream said.

Our shrunken heroes jumped from the windowsill and into Chris's room. Some of the characters had trouble initially recognizing where they were.
"Huh? Where are we?" Vanilla asked.
"This is Chris's room. This is the top of his chested drawers." Chuck said.
"Man, I almost didn't recognize it. The world sure does look a lot different when we're tiny." Sonic said.
"We are in so much trouble..." Amy said.
"Oh come on, Amy. It won't be that bad." Tails said.
"Yeah, I mean... we'll have to find a shoe to live in. And Chris and Cream are sometimes messy eaters... they'll be plenty of crumbs for us to eat!" Sonic said. Vanilla and Tails couldn't help but chuckle at that bit of humor from the humor-bound hedgehog. Chuck laughed a little too, but quickly got serious.
"I must admit that is pretty funny, but we're not going to spend the rest of our lives tiny. We're going to get big again, and hopefully by the end of the day too." Chuck said.
"He's right. Somehow, some way... we'll get their attention." Tails said.
"How? They're not exactly easy to reach... even at full size! Especially Cream. She's probably running around with Cheese already." Amy said. Sonic had a thought running through his head and he quickly got the idea out.
"Unless... unless we make our voices full-sized! I mean... there's gotta be a way! Does Chris have a bullhorn or a karaoke machine?" Sonic said looking over to Chuck.
"No, I'm afraid not. But certainly a good suggestion." Chuck said.
"Wait! I got it! I can rewire the stereo so we can talk through the speakers! That would amplify our voices a hundred times." Tails said.
"That would work?" Chuck asked.
"Sure! Just slip in through the vent of the receiver and hotwire the circuits! I made my living messing with electronic boards, after all!" Tails said.
"Tails, you're as smart as always!" Sonic said.
"What do you think, ladies? Do we have a plan?" Tails asked excitedly.
"Yes! Let's do it!" Vanilla said.
"Hey, it's a plan." Amy said, shrugging her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Chris and Cream returned from the attic, where they rejoined with Danny, Francine, and Helen.
"Well, were they up there?" Danny asked.
"Negative. We're thinking they already came down. Have you guys seen them?" Chris asked.
"Nope. Nobody else here but us, and Francine said she couldn't find anyone either." Helen said.
"I hope you don't mind, but I checked almost everywhere in the mansion. And I couldn't find anyone... not even Mr. Tanaka or Ella." Francine said.
"Well, Tanaka and Ella are on vacation for a few days. But you didn't see anyone else? Not even Grandpa?" Chris said.
"Not a soul. You don't suppose we're on our own, do you?" Francine said.
"No, that can't be. They wouldn't go anywhere without telling us... especially if it were Chaos Emerald hunting." Chris said.
"Maybe they went shopping with Mom?" Cream said.
"Well, that would make sense. You said your mother likes to shop often for food and other things." Helen said.
"Still... what do we do with the rest of the day? I don't want to feel like I came here for nothing..." Danny said.
"Well, didn't you say at school you needed help with some math homework?" Chris said.
"Yeah... I did ask you of that, didn't I?" Danny said.
"Alright then, just let me get my math book from my room." Chris said.
"Hey, Chris... could I use the phone in the kitchen? I want to check with one of my friends." Francine said.
"Sure, not a problem!" Chris said as he walked up the stairs and down the hallway that would eventually lead to his room. Francine, meanwhile, picked herself up to use one of the phones, and Danny ran off to get the homework he needed help on. Helen was left by herself, but only for a nanosecond as Cream sat on the nearby couch and the two talked with each other.

Back in Chris's room, after our heroes thought of their plan, they walked closer to the edge of Chris's wooden dresser, looking at the looooooong way down to the floor.
"Man, a drop from here would be like falling from one of Eggman's space stations." Sonic said.
"How are we ever going to get down there?" Amy asked. As everyone was trying to think of a way, Tails looked over to his left.
"Wow... look over there. What is that?" Tails said. The group then looked to see the miniature (but obviously normal-sized to everyone else) model Formula 1-style car sitting on a yellow track.
"Oh... the Virtua Racer!" Chuck said. As he started running towards the vehicle, the others followed suit.
"The Virtua what?" Amy asked.
"The Virtua Racer. It's a replica of the championship-winning car that Sam drove several years ago in the Sega World Racing Association. I remember taking Chris to the nearby track to see these races when he was a little boy." Chuck said.
"I gotta admit, he's got one cool ride here!" Sonic said.
"Look at the detail... very nice." Tails said.
Just then, our heroes could hear a distinct humming sound coming from outside the room.
"Oh my god, that's Chris!" Amy said.
"Chris! CHRIS!!!!" Everyone shouted as they watched the gigantic Chris enter the room. Unfortunately for them, his humming was drowning out the tiny voices and he couldn't hear them. It especially got bad for our heroes when Chris started to sing the lyrics to the tune he had been humming.
"Toot, toot, Sonic Warrior. Always takes a chance. Toot, toot, Sonic Warrior. Never says he can't. Nothing can survive, the will to stay alive cause if you try, you can do anything!" Chris sung. After picking up some books from one of the shelves, and never looking at the wooden dresser near the window, Chris turned around and left the room. Everyone let out a depressing sigh, having failed to get the young boy's attention. Sonic once again tried to stay upbeat and make even the slightest positive out of all this.
"At least he had to sing one of the coolest tunes ever made." Sonic said.
"Ugh! Sometimes I think you're an ignorant dolt!" Amy said, slapping Sonic in the arm.
"Never mind that, everyone. It's back to our original plan, and I've just thought of a way to get down from here." Chuck said. He then started to climb onboard the Virtua Racer model.
"Huh? What are you doing?" Tails asked.
"Going down the hall the quickest way possible. I think we can wiggle our way off the edge." Chuck said.
"Are you crazy!? We don't even know where these tracks lead!" Vanilla said.
"Well, nowhere from what I'm seeing!" Amy said. She was right. The yellow road that the car was sitting on had a downhill slide to the floor, but it appears the remaining road goes in a loop, like any young boy's Hot Wheels track would.
"And still, these tracks don't look safe to me. Don't we go through speed boosters and things like that?" Vanilla asked.
"With our weight and velocity, I don't think that will be a problem. Let's do it!" Tails said. Everyone jumped into the vehicle and was able to fit inside despite the limited seating capacity. Of course that showed how tiny everyone was. Once everyone was in place, Tails gave the command to start the non-engine powered model car.
"Alright? Everyone ready? Let's start rocking!" Tails said. As soon as he started pushing, so did everyone else, with the momentum carrying the car forward. Eventually, the car finally caught the slope of the yellow track, and everyone held on for the ride.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" everyone screamed as the car went flying down the track. They were getting ready for the ride of their lives, but they didn't count on one thing. One thing that they couldn't see even when looking down on the ground. At the end of the slope was a break in the track, as there was a big section missing.
"Hold on, everyone!" Tails shouted as everyone continued to scream. As the car fell off its track and sailed towards the hallway, they really had to shout when they saw Francine come to a stop outside of Chris's room.

"Chris! Are you here?" Francine said.
"Watch out!" Chuck shouted. At that point, the car rammed head-on into one of Francine's shoes. The sudden stop caused everyone to go flying out of the vehicle and land in between Francine's shoes. Everyone landed on the wooden floor, but fortunately nobody was seriously hurt. At least for the moment.
"Ow! What the...?" Francine said, then looking down and seeing the car at her feet. She picked it up and examined it from top to bottom.
"Goodness, what is Chris doing leaving his toys running around like this?" Francine said. She then casually tossed the car back into the room, specifically on his bed. She then turned her feet to head back down the stairs, giving our shrunken heroes a huge scare as the shoes threatened to crush them, but luckily, her steps were high enough that she was able to step over the heroes.
"Well, he's probably already downstairs helping Danny. Hopefully he won't mind my surprise for him." Francine said. Of course, as tiny as they were, Francine couldn't hear or see them as she headed back down the stairs. Our heroes simply watched as the giant girl walked away.

"Man, when I get back to normal size, I gotta tell that girl to clean up that pair of shoes!" Amy shouted.
"I'm just amazed my old bones could take this much punishment!" Chuck said.
"So... what now, Sonic? Tails? Anyone?" Vanilla asked. Tails, however, wasn't listening to Vanilla or anyone else for that matter. He was instead focused on the metal object sitting by his feet.
"Hey, look what I found, it's a piece of a pin. You know, I gotta stop and examine these things. Like... look at the grain on this hardwood floor. It's beautiful!" Tails said.
"Maybe you got hit in the head too hard after that flight, Tails." Amy said as she folded her arms.
"No, don't you see? It almost tells a story of how the whole tree grew. I gotta take the time to appreciate around me." Tails said.
"Hey, he does have a point. It's not often you get to see things this close." Chuck said.
"Well, it's only because I've been working too hard. I've gotta stop and notice things." Tails said.
"I'm with you, buddy! Especially on the working hard part, but no rest for the weary until we get back to normal!" Sonic said.
"What else have you noticed, Tails? If I may ask?" Vanilla said.
"Well, the intricate weaving of the rug down the hall, for one thing... or the perfect cylindrical quality of this roach turd." Tails said, walking over to a solid piece of... well, as he put it, roach turd. He poked it with the pin.
"Roach turd!?" Amy shouted, walking near Tails to get a close look.
"Oh, don't worry. See? It's dry. Whoever dropped this left a long time ago. Weeks, maybe months." Tails said.
"Yeah, but Ella vacuums much more often than that." Amy said. For once, this prompted a giggle from Vanilla, Sonic, and Chuck. Tails walked around poking at the other few pieces of turd that were around.

"The only thing you have to worry about is if we were to run into..." Tails said. When he poked at the last piece of turd, instead of staying solid in reaction to the sharp end of the pin, it instead collapsed in a mess that almost made Amy throw up.
"Eeeewww!" Amy said.
"A wet one." Tails said, suddenly dropping lots of sweat in a nervous reaction to what he just noticed. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound that slowly got louder and louder.
"Huh? Do you hear that?" Chuck asked. Vanilla gulped nervously as she looked behind Tails and Amy and saw quite possibly her worst fear. A female cockroach had creepy-crawled its way into the hallway, and she was looking straight at her prey.
"Looks like we're the main course..." Chuck said.
"RUNNNNNN!!!" Vanilla shouted. Everyone except for Sonic started to run in the opposite direction.
"Hah! Give me a break! I've destroyed robots bigger than this thing!" Sonic said. Sure enough, with that cool smile on his face, Sonic dashed towards the cockroach and made a high leap into the air, spinning himself into a ball. He bopped the cockroach's head at least a few times, and the cockroach obviously couldn't stand the punishment. The other characters cheered Sonic on.
"Yeah! Go, Sonic!" Tails said.
"Knock that grotesque creature's lights out!" Amy shouted. After a few more bops, the cockroach clearly looked dazed, and as Sonic landed back on his two feet, the female cockroach made a U-turn and scurried away from wherever it was it came from.
"Don't forget to write!" Sonic shouted as he waved off the creature. Amy then ran up to Sonic and hugged him with all her might.
"Oh, Sonic! You were amazing!" Amy said.
"Well, yeah... I always am!" Sonic said, blushing a bit as he tried to get Amy off him.

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Francine had returned to the couch area where she saw Chris helping out as best as he could with Danny on his homework, while Helen and Cream played a game of chess (with Cheese kinda being the referee). Francine was sweating a bit, hoping Chris wouldn't be mad for what she was about to tell him.
"Hey, Chris. Listen, I hope you won't be mad at me for this..." Francine said.
"What is it, Francine?" Chris asked.
"Well, I told my friend Sarah on the phone that I'm in your home and the grownups weren't home... so I kinda told her to come here." Francine said. Chris started to sweat. This is something he never in the least expected.
"Um... well..." Chris said.
"She should be here any..." Francine said, before the doorbell sounded throughout the mansion, "minute."
"I'll get it!" Cream shouted, getting up from the couch and running towards the front door.
"Just what we need... uninvited guests, right?" Danny said.
"Play it cool, maybe they won't be so bad." Chris said.

Cream finally opened the door, and outside was Sarah Bryant (Virtua Fighter Kids version) along with her brother, Jacky (also VF Kids; what? You thought I was going to bring over the real Sarah and Jacky?).
"Oh, hello. I don't think I've seen you before." Cream said.
"What the...? A talking rabbit!?" Jacky said.
"Calm down, Jacky. It's just Cream the Rabbit. Don't you remember? We saw her on the news not too long ago." Sarah said.
"Oh yeah, along with Sonic." Jacky said. Francine then joined up with Cream at the front entrance.
"Hey, Sarah! Thanks for coming!" Francine said. Sarah and Jacky both walked in the door, with Sarah holding a few bags in her hands.
"Yeah, no problem! I even called some other friends of mine... they shouldn't be long." Sarah said.
"Wait a minute, hold on a second..." Chris said.
"Oh, hey Chris!" Sarah said.
"You're not seriously thinking of throwing a party, are you? In MY home?" Chris asked.
"Hey, come on, Chris. We should loosen up every once in a while, especially with the grownups gone!" Francine said.
"She does have a point, and this would be a good time to have some fun after all the homework we've all done this week." Helen said. Chris tried hard to fight what was going on, but didn't have the stomach to turn down everyone like this, especially with Sarah going through the trouble of bringing extra items AND already calling a few extra guests that weren't too far away. On top of that, there was almost no saying no to his future wife, the wheelchair-bound Helen.
"Alright, alright. Just as long as things don't get out of hand." Chris said.
"So what's in those bags?" Francine asked.
"Oh, the usual party stuff. Chips, CDs, the sour cream... and my dad's bubble machine!" Sarah said.
"A bubble machine?" Francine asked.
"Yeah, it's the coolest thing. The bubbles would go great with the atmosphere." Jacky said.
"Well, alright then. Let's set it upstairs so the bubbles can fly all around the first floor." Francine said.

Back upstairs, while our shrunken heroes were still celebrating their victory over the cockroach, they had to get back into focus when they saw the young giantesses Francine and Sarah Bryant coming up the stairs.
"Look out! Here comes Francine again!" Tails said.
"Yeah, but who is that with her?" Vanilla asked. In any case, everyone (with the help of Sonic's super speed) scurried out of the way as the girls walked past them. Francine kneeled down with Sarah and helped her set up the bubble machine, resting it in between the rails, which only took a couple minutes to set up. Bubbles were already floating all over the mansion, and not just on the first floor where the 'party' was taking place.
"Hey, that looks like Sarah. I remember seeing her at school one day." Sonic said.
"But if she's here... you don't suppose?" Chuck said, and that's when everyone heard the doorbell ring again.
"Oh, that's probably the other guests! Chris, can you let them in!?" Francine shouted.
"Sure, no problem... I guess." Chris said. At this point, he began to wonder where the grownups that would rescue him from this nightmare were. Sonic ran right up to the edge of the stairs leading down to the main floor, watching as Chris opened up the front door and greeting the other guests as they came in.
"Um... Chuck, I hope you don't mind your home becoming a party zone!" Sonic said. After waiting for Francine and Sarah to go back downstairs, Chuck and the others joined up with Sonic and looked down at the main floor to see who was coming through that door...

Chris opened the door, and the guests slowly walked inside the vast mansion. Luckily enough, he was able to recognize the guests as they came walking in. First up was Billy Hatcher and his best friend, Rolly.
"Oh, Billy? I didn't know you were coming." Chris said.
"Yeah, well... when I heard there was a party going on at the world famous Thorndyke Mansion, I couldn't resist! Cock-a-doodle-do!!" Billy said. Rolly gently tapped him on the shoulder.
"Billy! You promised you wouldn't do that while at a party!" Rolly said.
"Whoops... my bad." Billy said. He and Rolly entered the house.

Next in line? Another fellow student at Station Square Elementary School... Alex Kidd! And with him was a rather unusual companion, 15-year-old Alis Landale, the star actress at the local high school. Chris suddenly had a smile on his face, he was good friends with Alex Kidd despite his unusual haircut and personality.
"Hi, Alex!" Chris said.
"Chris, what's up? Want to play Janken tonight?" Alex said.
"Well, perhaps. It depends on how the party goes. And who's this with you?" Chris said.
"Hmph... is that any way to address Alis Landale? The star of the famed high school play, Phantasy Star?" Alis said.
"Um... no. I'm sorry, Alis. I really am. I just... well, you're not dating her, are you Alex?" Chris said.
"You bet I am! Come on, sweetie, let's check out the party." Alex said. With a smile on her face, Alis walked right by, right behind her short boyfriend. Chris just raised an eyebrow.
"And I thought Sonic and Amy being apart was weird." Chris said. With nobody else outside, Chris finally closed the front door.

As the heroes upstairs watched as the party started to become full forced with all the characters suddenly joining in, Chuck folded his arms and didn't show much disappointment.
"I knew it. Children's intuition." Chuck said.
"What do you mean, Chuck?" Tails said.
"With no grownups around to watch them, they think they have total control of the house and they can do whatever they want, including inviting their friends and throwing any size party they want to." Chuck said.
"Wow! You sound like you've done this before!" Sonic said.
"As a matter of fact, I have... in my days of youth." Chuck said.
"Well, that just increases the urgency of our situation. We have to get down there and rewire that stereo immediately!" Tails said.
"But it could be dangerous with all those children down there! Perhaps there's another way we can get their attention." Amy said.
"She's right, Tails. We're only half an inch tall. It's best we have a backup plan in case the stereo plan doesn't pan out." Tails said.
"But how are we going to get downstairs?" Vanilla asked. Tails then looked down the hallway... towards the bubble machine.
"That! That's our ticket downstairs." Tails said as he ran towards the machine. Everyone else reluctantly followed suit.

Everyone reached the bubble machine and watched as the nozzles rotated like a clock, blowing bubbles in the air and towards the ground floor.
"Oooookay... this doesn't strike me as safe." Sonic said.
"But there's no other way down, is there Tails?" Amy said.
"Well, it's certainly the fastest route. And it's the same base of concept as a parachute. If we stand in front of the nozzle as the bubble is being created, I think the surface tension should hold our weight." Tails said.
"Should?" Chuck said.
"Well, if there's no other way, then I'm going." Vanilla said.
"Wait, I'll go with you. But where would we go once we hit the ground floor?" Amy said.
"The kitchen! It's getting near Cream's dinner time... she'll probably go into the kitchen looking for food, and we can get her attention there!" Vanilla said.
"Hmmm... I'm not too comfortable sending you two alone out there in that humongous world below. I think it would be best if I accompany the two of you to keep you safe." Chuck said.
"Alright then, Sonic and I will head to the stereo and we'll meet up later." Tails said.
"Hey, cool! Just like old times on Emerald Hill, right?" Sonic said.
"Darn! I wanted to have Sonic as my knight in shining armor..." Amy said.
"Maybe another time, Amy." Vanilla said, patting Amy on her shoulder. The group climbed on top of the bubble machine, right in front of the rotating nozzles. Amy and Vanilla took their positions. They would jump first, followed almost immediately by Chuck who would fly in his own bubble.

"Okay... 1, 2, 3, jump!" Tails shouted. Amy and Vanilla jumped together, and sure enough, they got absorbed by the nozzle and were now floating through the sky in their own water bubble. Vanilla and Amy couldn't help but enjoy the ride they were taking.
"Hey, it worked!" Vanilla said.
"Yeah, and this is pretty fun too!" Amy said.
"Oh, look! There's Chuck coming down!" Vanilla said, slowly pointing up at Chuck who had already jumped through and was now gliding down with the girls. Sonic and Tails watched as the three were closely floating towards the ground.
"Whew... looks like this'll work after all." Tails said.
"I gotta hand it to you, Tails, you've got one crafty mind." Sonic said.
"Gee, thanks!" Tails said.
And as Vanilla, Amy, and Chuck all came up towards the ground, they looked to see all the children, plus the invited guests, in the living room.
"Oh my! Look at all those kids in the living room! I just hope Cream will be alright." Vanilla said.
"Well, it looks like they're not partying like crazy. They're just chatting with each other. What a break that is." Amy said.
"Okay, we're coming in for a landing." Vanilla said. She and Amy then landed on the ground, and the bubble popped upon making contact with the floor. About three seconds behind was Chuck, and he landed right next to the girls.
"Whew... everyone alright?" Chuck said.
"Yeah, and no mess too!" Amy said, noting how their clothes weren't wet from the bubble.
"Come on, let's get to the kitchen." Vanilla said as she, Amy, and Chuck all made their way across the vast living room and towards the kitchen. With all the normal-sized people chatting it up in the living room, there was no immediate danger for the three heroes.

After Sonic and Tails witnessed the safe landing by the three, it was time for them to take the magic bubble ride.
"Ready?" Tails said.
"Hey, I was born ready!" Sonic said.
"Alright... GO!!!" Tails shouted as he and Sonic leapt together into the nozzle. Like the girls and Chuck, they too were successful with their timed leap and were now floating around in a bubble.
"Cool! Mission accomplished." Sonic said.
"Now all we gotta do is get down to that stereo." Tails said. Unfortunately for the two, their ride downstairs was not as easy. They were watching the kids have their mini-party much like the other three heroes had done earlier.
"Hey, Chris, I'm kinda hot. Can that maid you always have please turn the air on?" Alex said.
"Well, she's on vacation this weekend, but I'll go turn it on for you." Chris said. He got up to head for the room temperature switch. But as he walked by the bubble with Sonic and Tails, the wind that trailed behind him caused the bubble to float towards the nearby air conditioning vents, and as soon as they came on, the cold air caused the bubble to blow upwards.
"Hang on!" Tails said.
"To what?" Sonic said. He and Tails could only watch helplessly as the bubble was floating all over the place now, and even the slightest movements would cause their bubble to pop and they would drop to a most painful death below. Tails was looking around, trying to find a safe place they could nudge their bubble to, but Sonic was looking straight ahead at something he didn't like.
"Tails... we've got a problem." Sonic said.
"Huh?" Tails said. Both looked to see they were heading right for one of the chandeliers.
"Oh no..." Tails said. He and Sonic tried nudging the bubble away, but it was doing no good. They were pretty much heading for a dead end. They either pop the bubble prematurely and fall to their death... or let the bubble go sailing to the chandelier, let it pop, and then fall to their death.
"Well... it's been fun knowing you, Tails!" Sonic said.
"Look on the bright side... we're gonna die underneath a bright light." Tails said. As soon as the bubble made first contact with the chandelier... pop.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Sonic and Tails both screamed as they fell.

At that exact moment, Jacky Bryant got up from his seat and picked up the nearby bowl of onion dip.
"Well, who's up for some chips and dip?" Jacky asked.
"Oh, me me me!!" Sarah said. Jacky then moved the bowl just as Sonic and Tails fell right into the middle of it. The two splashed inside the bowl, covered from head to toe in the creamy treat. After spitting some of the dip out, Sonic and Tails both realized they were still alive.
"Hey, Sonic! We're alive!" Tails said.
"Whew... you're telling me!" Sonic said.
"We've been saved by... onion dip!" Tails said.
"So you're saying we owe our lives to an appetizer?" Sonic said.
"Hahahaha!!!" Tails said, laughing at Sonic's silly little joke.
"Still, we better get out of here before we're eaten." Sonic said.
"Oh, relax, Sonic. They're teenagers. How much can they eat?" Tails said. But right as he said that, both he and Sonic looked up to see themselves being surrounded by five young girls... Francine, Helen, Sarah, Alis, and Rolly Roll. All of them had a potato chip in their hands.
"EEEEEKKKK!!!" Sonic and Tails both screamed as they immediately started paddling away. But as tough as the creamy dip was, they were making very little progress, only when they were getting pushed around by a chip or two.
"Watch out!" Tails shouted as a chip came down towards them, but they were able to just barely escape from it. They had to just avoid another one, all as the voices of these kids echoed overhead.
"Hey, Cream, don't you want some?" Helen asked.
"No thank you. I'm supposed to be having dinner by now. Hold on, I'll be right back." Cream said. She got up and proceeded to walk towards the kitchen, with Chris walking behind her. Cheese stayed behind as it partied with the guests.
"Man, they're everywhere!" Sonic shouted.
"Try the backstroke!" Tails said.
"Yeah, sure... if only I had any experience with swimming!!" Sonic shouted. Finally, another chip came down, but this time, it scooped up so much dip that it started to spill out of the container and onto the table below, and Sonic and Tails rode down with the dip down on the table.
"Rolly! You're making a mess!" Francine said, pointing out the dip that was spilling out of the container.
"Sorry, I can't help it... this stuff is really good! What's in it?" Rolly asked.
"A hedgehog and his two-tailed companion!" Sonic jokingly said.
"Ha ha ha..." Tails said, trying to laugh but too exhausted at the moment to do so.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Vanilla, Amy Rose, and Chuck were all walking around the bottom of the countertops.
"Well, here we are. But how are we going to get up there!?" Amy said.
"And I'm gonna assume that the counter is too high for Vanilla to fly us up there." Chuck said.
"Oh dear, I'm afraid so." Vanilla said.
"Wait, someone's coming!" Chuck said. Indeed, the three heard footsteps approaching the kitchen and they looked to see both Chris and Cream entering the room. They placed themselves as close to the wall as they could to keep from getting stepped on, and even then, the shoes of both giants were probably only a foot away from them.
"Oh... I wonder where Mommy is. I'm starving... normally she's home by now making my dinner." Cream said.
"I'm sure she'll be home soon, as will Grandpa and the others. But yeah, I wonder where they are myself..." Chris said.
"Maybe we should go look for them?" Cream asked.
"No, I've gotta keep this party from getting out of hand. We'll just wait a little longer." Chris said. He then turned around and stepped out of the room, leaving Cream all by herself.
"Oh, Mom. Where are you?" Cream asked. She slowly walked around the kitchen, perhaps trying to find a little something to snack on just to keep her hunger satisfied.
Down below, Vanilla immediately got an idea as she looked up at her gigantic daughter.
"Wait, this is the chance we need! Cream and I have extremely good hearing! She'll be able to pick up my voice!" Vanilla said.
"Are you sure, Vanilla? And even then, what makes you so sure she won't collapse on top of us like you almost did to her when she was shrunk!?" Amy said.
"We're just gonna have to take that chance. Go for it, Vanilla." Chuck said. Vanilla stepped out, as did Amy, and the two started shouting.
"CREAM! Down here!!" Vanilla said.
"We're down here, Cream!! Come on! You can find us!" Amy said.
"Huh? What's that noise?" Cream said. As she slowly walked towards the spot that Vanilla and Amy were standing in, the two had to increase the volume of their voice, especially as one of Cream's shoes hovered directly above them! Chuck was about to run out to try and make a diving rescue of the two, but he stayed put.
"Cream! Stop! You'll step on us!" Vanilla shouted.
"Move your foot! We're directly underneath it!!!" Amy shouted. Sure enough, before the shoe could come down on the two, she lifted it back up and put it to the side, looking down at where she was about to step. That's when she looked closer and could finally make out the two specks on the floor to be Amy Rose and Vanilla, her own mother.
"Mom!?" Cream said.
"Yes, Cream. It's us!" Vanilla said.

But as Amy predicted, Cream thought she was seeing things and it was almost too much for her to take. She started falling... forward towards the two!
"Run run run!!!" Amy shouted as she started pushing Vanilla to the left. The two made it just inches before they could be flattened by the giantess. Cream, meanwhile, landed on her stomach, her face turned to the side and her eyes closed.
"Oh no! She fainted!" Vanilla said.
"Do you think anyone else heard that?" Amy asked.
"Never mind that! Come on, girls! We have to try and wake her up again!" Chuck said as he ran towards the fainted Cream.

Back in the living room, with the children now either talking with each other or dancing to the soft music, Sonic and Tails were drying themselves of the onion dip with a piece of torn napkin drenched in soda pop that had dripped onto the table. As they both wiped themselves clean, they watched as the kids continued to have a good but very safe and clean time. Sonic was especially focused on Chris.
"You know, it's nice to see Chris come as far as he has." Sonic said.
"What do you mean, Sonic?" Tails asked.
"Well, I mean. Look at him. He's become more friendly, a lot braver... I can see why he owes his changes in life to me." Sonic said.
"Since when did you become so philosophical?" Tails asked.
"Well, since when did you become so fascinated with being small?" Sonic said. Tails quickly caught on to the backtalk and just laughed. He then looked over to the side and saw a very important item.
"Ah, perfect!" Tails said as he ran towards the aluminum-looking wrapper.
"What is it, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"This gum wrapper is just what I need to help ground the current inside the stereo." Tails said.
"Ground the current?" Sonic said.
"Well... put it this way, this'll keep the entire stereo from shocking me when I rewire those circuits." Tails said.
"Ah, that makes perfect sense to me." Sonic said. Tails then wrapped the gum wrapper into a roll.
"Come on, we better get to that stereo. I can fly from here. You'll need to hold this." Tails said as he gave Sonic the rolled up wrapper. Holding it between his legs and using both his hands to grab Tails' hands. Tails jumped up and twirled his tails around to fly into the air. With all the kids distracted, they were in no danger of being walked to, or worse, swatted out of the sky.

The two landed next to one of the stereo speakers. Fortunately, the music was playing at a low volume, so they could still hear each other.
"Interesting that they aren't playing it any louder than they are." Sonic said.
"Well, be glad that's the case! Our hearing would be gone by then." Tails said. Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Huh? I wonder who that is?" Sonic said. The two, before they got to work on the stereo, decided to see who showed up uninvited next.

As the doorbell rang, all the kids stopped talking and looked towards the front door.
"You think that's the neighbors?" Alis asked.
"We don't have any neighbors for at least a few blocks..." Chris said.
"So who could that be?" Helen asked.
"Well, I'll go check." Chris said. He got up and walked towards the front door and opened the double doors up. He gasped when he saw who it was.

"Why hello, Christopher Thorndyke. It's been a long time!" Dr. Eggman said.
"Dr. Eggman!" Chris said. He started to close the doors, but Eggman and his two faithful robots (Decoe and Bocoe) held the doors open with their feet. Complicating matters even further was the fact that both robots had small laser rifles in their hands.
"Now now, why be in such a rush? We just want to be a part of the party. Besides, we know how to make parties livelier!" Eggman said.
"It's true! You should've seen him last week when he threw his own birthday party!" Decoe said.
"Yes. The doctor really likes to boogie, that's for sure!" Bocoe said. He then got bonked in the head by Eggman.
"Quiet, you bumbling bot!" Eggman shouted.
"Come on, Eggman. Cut to the chase, why are you here?" Chris said.
"Hehehe... you know exactly why I would show my pretty face on your suddenly unprotected property. I want your Chaos Emeralds and nobody here is going to leave until I get them." Eggman said.
"Ugh... whatever, fatso! I'm outta here!" Alis said. She got up and tried to leave the mansion, but was pushed back by Eggman. The high school actress lost her balance and fell down on her behind, near one of the speakers (but not coming anywhere close to Sonic or Tails). Sonic and Tails, after watching Alis go down in front of them, knew everything had changed now that Eggman was here.
"Okay, time to hurry now that Eggman is here!" Tails said as he quickly unfolded the gum wrapper.
"Oh, that's just low for Eggman to push that young lady! I should show him a thing or two!" Sonic said. He started to walk towards the normal-sized Eggman, but Tails raised his voice to get Sonic's attention.
"SONIC! We're only half an inch tall, now is not a great time! Come on!" Tails said. He then flew up into the air again, landing on one of the higher shelves where the base of the stereo sat.

"Sonic! I need you to climb up that speaker! I'm gonna rewire the stereo so that the speaker becomes a microphone! When the music cuts off, you yell into that speaker as loud as you can! You got it!?" Tails shouted.
"Yeah! Just one thing!" Sonic said.
"What's that!?" Tails said.
"Try not to get electrocuted while you're in there!" Sonic said.
"Right, thanks for the advice!" Tails said.
"Seriously, make it fast! I don't know how long the kids can hold off Eggman!" Sonic said.
"Right, wish me luck!" Tails said. He then, with the gum wrapper in hand, crawled into one of the vents on the stereo. Sonic, meanwhile, got climbing up the speakers.

Tails was now inside the stereo, looking at a vast landscape filled with integrated circuits, solid state switches, diodes, transistors, and whatever else electronic you can think of. He jumped onto one of the circuit boards and analyzed the lettering on the board (such as LINE IN, REC, etc.), trying to find the right place to be.
Eventually, after following the circuit paths, he saw a couple hooks, surrounded by some large fuses. Near the hooks were MIC IN, and LINE OUT.
"There we are." Tails said as he began to wrap the gum wrapper around the hooks.

Sonic watched as the situation slowly got worse for Chris and all his friends, as Eggman was growing impatient waiting for someone to deliver the Chaos Emeralds.
"Well, what are you waiting for, a midnight launch party!? Come on!" Eggman said.
"They're not here! Sonic has them... he ran off not too long ago in search of the next one." Chris said.
"Oh, is that so? Why thank you, little Chris. You've been most helpful." Eggman said.
"Wait, Dr. Eggman! Might we suggest something?" Decoe said.
"Well, what is it!? Out with it already!" Eggman shouted.
"Instead of chasing after Sonic, why don't we wait for him right here? We'll surprise him the moment he steps through those front doors." Bocoe said.
"Hmmm... for once you bucket of bolts have thought of something halfway decent for a change! Alright, we'll wait for him right here. And in the meantime, we have all these lovely little kids to take hostage. In fact, I command one of you to dance with me!" Eggman said. All the kids looked at each other, wondering who would be brave enough to dance to the music that softly came out of the speakers.
"Okay, Eggman... you can dance with me." Francine said, taking a deep breath as she said that.
"Francine, no!" Sarah said.
"Ah, very good. Shall we?" Eggman said as he held a hand out. Francine was obviously hesitating as she was moving at a snail's pace towards Eggman. Sonic pounded on the foamy material that he had been hanging off of for a few minutes now, feeling helpless since he couldn't do anything to save Francine and the other kids right now.
"Dang it! Eggman's gonna make flat feet out of Francine with that bad dancing of his. Hurry up, Tails!!" Sonic shouted.

Back inside, Tails was finished wrapping all the hooks and wires with the gum wrapper.
"Alright... this should hold the current. So now... WHOA!!" Tails said. In his effort to speed up his walking pace, he missed a set of wires and tripped into them. Fortunately, they were not live wires, but Tails still had to fight tooth and nail to escape the tangled mess.

Chris, meanwhile, wasn't about to let Francine touch Eggman's dirty mitts, and he stepped in between the two to intervene.
"No! I'm not gonna let you touch her, Eggman! There's only the three of you and many more of us to stand against you!" Chris said.
"My my, we're showing a little spunk, are we? Yes, you may outnumber us, but don't forget that we're the ones holding the weapons. As a matter of fact, one blast from my portable robotization ray and you'll become robotic slaves for the rest of your lives!" Eggman said.
"I... I'm not afraid of you or your useless gadgets. You get out of this house now or you'll be sorry once Sonic comes back!" Chris said.
"Shall we zap this little brat, Dr. Eggman?" Decoe said.
"Not yet. Let's see what other lines of justice this little boy can deliver. It's quite amusing if I say so myself!" Eggman said with that evil grin of his.
"Um..." Chris said.
"Go ahead, Chris. Say something else! What are you gonna do about it with Sonic not here!?" Eggman said.
"Well..." Chris said, sweating like crazy and backing away from the villains, especially as they were ready to fire their robotization rays. Even Sonic was sweating nervously.

But the only one not sweating was Tails. He fought his way out of the wires, pulling out his mini emergency knife (much like his emergency screw driver) and using it to cut the conductive trace. Suddenly, the music cut off and there was feedback from the speaker for about two seconds, causing everyone in the room to shield their ears. Tails yelled as loud as he could...
"NOW, SONIC! NOWWWWW!!!!" Tails shouted. Sonic picked up on that and started talking.
"Alright... listen! Listen to me, everyone! I want you all to stop what you're doing!" Sonic said, his voice booming out from the speakers as if he were in the room with everyone else.

Everyone, including Eggman and the robots, looked around wondering where that noise came from.
"Huh? Who said that?" Eggman said.
"This is the voice of..." Sonic said. Suddenly, as he was thinking of whether to use his own name or something else, he quickly came up with an idea. That's when he lowered his voice by a couple octaves.
"God... ye... Yes! God is talking to you! And I want you all to leave this house immediately!!" Sonic shouted. Despite the different voice and name, Chris was not fooled so easily.
"S...Sonic? Is that you?" Chris asked.
"Normally I would be silent, but your outrageous behavior has forced me to speak!" Sonic said.
"Ha! Don't be ridiculous! If that were God, he would know my name by now." Eggman said.
"Is that so... Dr. Eggman!? And those toy robots of yours, Decoe and Bocoe!" Sonic said.
"Eeeeek! How does he know of us!?" Decoe said.
"Dr. Eggman, I'm scared! We must flee immediately!" Bocoe said.
"Ridiculous robots! Can't you see this is just a trick? A trick to scare us into believing these pure fantasies?" Eggman said.
"Dr. Eggman... I don't think you want to anger God." Francine said.
"That's right... I hear he will strike those he hates with lightning. Quite painful too." Helen said as the two girls started to play along with Sonic's gag.
"Now I said I want you OUT!!!" Sonic said, shouting out so loud that the voice started to reverberate around the entire mansion.
"Okay, okay... take it easy, big guy! We'll leave as soon as..." Eggman said.
"O-U-T!!!" Sonic said, spelling the word out with a lot of vigor, though not as much as a few seconds before.
"Arrrgh! This is a trick, I know it! But we will depart for today. Don't think you have won, little children!" Eggman said before he and the robots broke through the front doors and jumped in Eggman's ship to fly away.
"Yes, that's right! Out, and that goes for the rest of you! Out out out!!!" Sonic shouted. The other kids, Sarah, Jacky, Alis, Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher, Rolly Roll, they all ran out too, thinking they would be punished too if they didn't leave the house because of their uninvited status. Danny, Francine, Helen, and Chris all stayed behind.
"That will teach you all a lesson in proper party etiquette. Mwa ha ha!" Sonic said.

"Okay, Sonic! They're gone... you can stop acting like God now." Chris said. The other kids struggled to contain their laughter after hearing Sonic talk like that.
"(cough) Good idea. That kind of voice is not good for my coolness factor." Sonic said, finally talking in his normal voice.
"So where's the hidden camera?" Danny asked.
"Yeah... where is he broadcasting from?" Helen asked.
"Kids, I'm over here by the speaker! We got shrunk by Tails' shrinking machine." Sonic said.
"What!? No way!" Francine said.
"I thought Tails said he would turn that thing off for good..." Chris said.
"I know, I know. Long story. Come on, give me a hand! I've been hanging around here a while." Sonic said. Finally, the children approached the left speaker, where they got their first look at the tiny Sonic.
"Wow... look how tiny he is." Francine said.
"It's incredible to think we were once that small." Danny said, referring to the events of Vanilla, I Shrunk the Kids.
"Okay okay, you don't have to rub it in."
"Is it just you, Sonic?" Chris asked.
"Nope. Five of us got hit. Tails is inside the stereo, and I hope Vanilla, Amy Rose, and Chuck made it to the kitchen." Sonic said.
"Oh my god! That many got hit?" Helen said.
"Wait... Cream!!! In the kitchen!!" Chris shouted. He suddenly turned around and ran out of the living room, heading for the kitchen.

Soon after, Tails finally exited the stereo the same way he entered it. He waved his hands to try and get the kids attention, and Helen amazingly was the first to spot him.
"Look, there's Tails!" Helen said, pointing towards the base of the stereo. Francine held a hand underneath Sonic, allowing him to climb onboard.
"Here, Sonic. Don't worry, I'll be careful!" Francine said.
"I know you will!" Sonic said before he let go from the speaker and landed on Francine's hand. He quickly dashed towards the palm of her hand where he wouldn't be in danger of falling. Tails later coptered his way to the same spot. He and Sonic high-fived each other.
"Alright, normal size here we come!" Sonic said.
"And not a moment too soon." Tails said.
"We better check on Chris in the kitchen." Danny said. Francine nodded and she led the way towards the kitchen, keeping her hand extremely steady for the benefit of Sonic and Tails.

Meanwhile, Chuck, Amy, and Vanilla were struggling to wake up Cream, who was still out of it from the shock of seeing so many tiny people. The three had agreed to try and wake up the giantess rabbit by trying to get her attention from three different places. Chuck was yelling into one of her outstretched ears. Amy was pounding on her nose, and Vanilla was trying something different by massaging one of her arms, or what little she could of it.
"(sigh) It's no good everyone! She must've been out for several minutes now!" Chuck shouted.
"We have to keep trying! She's the only hope we have!" Amy said.
"Cream, don't move!" Chris shouted from outside.
"Huh? That's Chris! They must've found Sonic and Tails!" Chuck said.
"Oh, good! We're safe!" Amy said.
"Ugh... what happened?" Cream said as she slowly awoke once more. She moved her head enough to cause Amy to fall off her nose.
"What the...! Yikes!" Amy said.
"Got ya!" Chuck said as he ran over to catch Amy from her fall.
"Oh thank you... you're my new knight in shining armor!" Amy said.
"Thanks... you should try that on Sonic someday." Chuck said.
"Oh my goodness! Are you alright, Amy?" Vanilla said as she joined up with the other two shrunken heroes. Cream slowly sat up after laying on the ground for so long.
"Get back!" Chuck said as he and the other two backed away towards the bottom of the counter. Not only did they have to put up with Cream being awake again, but Chris as well who entered the kitchen.
"Cream? What happened?" Chris asked.
"Chris? Um... I thought I saw my mom, but she was really, really tiny. Maybe I was seeing things." Cream said.
"Cream, it's very much real. So be very careful... we could crush them trying to find them in here." Chris said.
"Hurry, Vanilla! Now's your chance!" Amy shouted.
"CREAM!!! Down here! On your left!" Vanilla said. Once again with thanks to Cream's super sensitive ears, she looked to her left and focused on the bottom of the counter. That's when she saw her tiny-sized mother, along with the shrunken Amy and Chuck. This time she didn't faint, knowing that what she was seeing was quite real.
"Mom? Is that really you?" Cream said.
"Yes, Cream. It is, along with Amy and Mr. Thorndyke." Vanilla said.
"But how?" Cream asked.
"I'll explain later. Please, we need you to get us off this ground." Vanilla said.
"Okay!" Cream said as she very carefully picked up each of the shrunken heroes and placed them in the center of one of her gloved hands.

Cream climbed to her feet, with Chris walking over to get his first look at the shrunken trio.
"Hi, Grandpa. I can't believe you got shrunk too!" Chris said.
"Heh, well you know what they say, science is full of fickle mysteries!" Chuck said.
"Yeah, but the mystery is that you got zapped by Tails's shrinking machine." Chris said.
"Yep, you're right on that. But now that you've seen us, all will be back to normal soon. Do you have Sonic and Tails?" Chuck asked.
"I think they're still in the other room. But we'll go get them now." Chris said.
"Chris!" Francine shouted. He turned around and saw his other friends coming in, including Cheese.
"Oh, there you all are. Don't worry, we found the others." Chris said.
"They're right here!" Cream said as she carefully showed the others in her hand.
"Oh, good. Thank goodness they're alright." Helen said.
"I've got Sonic and Tails right here." Francine said.
"Okay, good. Come on, let's get them to the attic where the shrinking machine is." Chris said.

Much later, with the five heroes reunited, they were all set down on the same spot that they were all shrunken before. How could they tell this? Because Tails was quick to point out the shrunken Tails statue that had not moved from its original spot since near the beginning of this long story that I hoped you have enjoyed. As Danny, Helen, Cream, and Cheese all stood to the side, Francine stayed near the shrunken characters, resting on all fours and leaning in with one of her ears for instructions from Tails on how to operate the shrinking machine. Chris followed these instructions with absolute precision.
"Are you sure you know how to work this thing, Chris?" Danny asked.
"Positive! I've watched Tails and Grandpa operate this thing before. Okay, Francine, come on over here!" Chris said. Francine got back up, her fingernails coming close to the heroes as she got back on her feet.
"Alright, what next?" Francine said.
"I've got it set on growing. Let me know when the monitor says Critical Mass. And then I'll hit the switch, and I'll need your help in shutting this thing down." Chris said.
"Okay, Chris." Francine said.
"Not bad for someone who doesn't really like science class." Chris jokingly said.
"Hey! Anything to get Sonic and his friends back to normal!" Francine said.

Finally, the monitor blinked red with Critical Mass, 100%.
"Okay, show time..." Chris said. He and Francine decided to press the fire button together, and the laser fired out of the machine. Just like that, Sonic, Tails, Chuck, Vanilla, Amy Rose, and the Tails statue were all back to their normal sizes.
"Yes!" Sonic shouted.
"Oh man... I feel so big all of a sudden!" Amy said.
"Woohoo! Alright!" Tails said. After properly powering down the machine before it could go haywire again, Chris and Francine ran up to give everyone a hug, as did the other kids, especially Cream and Vanilla.
"Oh... Mom! I was so worried about you!" Cream said as she buried her head in as much of Vanilla's dress as she could.
"Oh, me too, my little Cream. Don't you worry. I will never leave your sight ever again." Vanilla said.

"Listen, Chris. I'm proud of the way you handled yourself against Eggman." Sonic said.
"Yeah, well... I did the best I could. Considering you weren't there, I mean. Well, you know what I mean." Chris said.
"Yes, I do. But still, as you said, you did the best you could. There are not that many people from my world that take that simple bit of advice." Sonic said. Chuck then patted his grandson on the forehead.
"Be proud of what you did today, Chris. I know your parents would be proud too if they saw all this." Chuck said.
"Yeah, I bet they would! Thanks, everyone!" Chris said.

Then, some of the people in the room turned their attention to the giant Tails statue.
"Hmmm... what about this thing?" Vanilla said.
"Amy, I promise, I'll get rid of the statue..." Tails said.
"Tails, Tails! I'm not gonna sweat the small stuff anymore. I want you to have fun... you do whatever you want with the giant statue." Amy said.
"Really?" Tails said.
"Of course! I'll stand up for you if Ella ever complains again." Amy said.
"Well, that won't really be necessary, because I've made up my mind ever since we got shrunk on what I'm going to do with this thing. Can I borrow your hammer?" Tails said.
"Well... okay." Amy said as she magically summoned her Piko-Piko Hammer and handed it over to Tails.
"You know what? I don't have to have a shiny gold statue from the President of the United States to show off my achievements in inventing things. I have the praise of my friends and the people around the world to thank for that."
"Tails, are you sure you want to do this?" Chuck asked.
"You bet. Now stand back! Haaaaa!!!" Tails said. After everyone stepped back, Tails took one mighty swing at his own pretty statue, and after making contact, the statue slowly broke apart into many pieces.

Tails smiled. The very thing that started this whole day of trouble, let alone months of nagging from people like Amy Rose and Ella, was now out of his sight.

Too bad, because of Ella out of town, that he would have to be responsible for the cleanup!

END