This is a Archie Sonic the Hedgehog and Persona 3 x-over. In this story, the Main Protagonist will be named his manga name, Minato Arisato.

This story follows the storyline of Persona 3: FES, after "The Answer", or "Episode Aegis".

The storyline takes place after Comic #211, so it's pretty damn recent. It'll also be as realistic to the Archie Comics terminology as humanly possible.

To more-or-less make the date system make sense, I will not be using the Mobius Calendar.

The shadowy organization used in this story belongs to me, however Persona 3 and all of its elements are copyright to Shin Megami Tensei Studios. Sonic the Hedgehog is copyright SEGA, Archie Comics, Sonic Team, etc.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Deck Twice Shuffled

Mobius, New Mobotropolis, August 3, 3237, 23:24 Hours

The overall scene of the circular-walled New Mobotropolis had a… serene look to it from the sky. Most lights were off, but the light of the gibbous moon reflecting itself off the Lake of Rings and lightly-colored stone walkways and other various buildings its soothing nightlife look.

Many Mobians – anthromorphic creatures naturally integrated with human DNA – were asleep, save for a few night dwelling soldiers belonging to the Acorn Royal Family guarding various areas, like the hospital, or the miniature airport…

And especially the New Mobotropolis prison; mostly because of the newly acquired prisoner.

Regina Ferrum, also known to the world of Mobius as the Iron Queen, lay in the lone center cell down the underground hallway.

There used to be several other prisoners – Mammoth Mogul and his crowd – but after a long chain of cloak, dagger and extenuating circumstances, they were able to escape and keep the Freedom Fighters – the lone force of childhood friends (especially the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog) – from being in their reach of recapture.

Now, Regina lay in her cell, all alone.

'How did it ever come to this…? All those years of suffering, torment, isolation and discrimination… and for what? An incomplete kingdom? My 'king' was a total nitwit and is now God-knows-where thanks to that 'King of the Free People' Monkey Khan, the four Ninja Clans I worked so tirelessly to get under my thumb turned traitor on me – thanks to that chimp that DAMN blue RAT – and to make matters worse… my beloved Snively-kins disappeared on me in my hour of dire, DIRE need. And now here I am… laid tattered and broken in an airtight cell of microscopic nanites I can no longer control with my technomagic – thanks that cybernetic… BITCH… 'NICOLE', was it?-, at the mercy of a populous of bloodthirsty, vengeance-hungry animalistic freak-shows!'

Regina slowly sat up.

"If only there were some way to get back those damn fools who denied me my iron rule… some way… some… way…'

As if on cue, or by some random act of action, she began to hear a voice. Either that or she was beginning to hallucinate.

It was a male singing voice. Almost like… in prayer.

(This song is "Lala's Lullaby" form D. Gray Man, originally from Mozart's "Dies Irae")

"La-cu-ri-mo-o-sa Di-es il-laaaaa…"

The Iron Queen's eyes slowly opened wider. Whoever's young voice was singing… was truly talented. It was one of the best singing voices she ever heard!

"Qua re-sur-get ex FA-…vi-la-aaaaaa…"

Slowly, a robed figure was descending down the open-door staircase. Slow, agonizingly rhythmic footsteps, one foot in front of the other.

"Ju-di-can-du-su HO-MO-A re-uuuuuuus…"

By now, his face had been revealed – he was a young man in his late teens, thin and about 6'1" – 6'2" tall. He wore a black Christian priest robe, with a dark purple neck cuff and rosary. However, there was no cross on it. He however had a rope tied around his waist, with bunny-ear-long loops and strings hanging down his right leg.

His face and hair, however, was a sight to behold. His light brown hair was very short – almost buzz-cut – and flat on the top, with a long tassel of hair precariously draped 30 degrees to the right off the right side his hairline, ending in three split ends.

He had a large eyepatch on his right eye, and a large, dark scar from the corner of his left cheek scratching up near his nose, under his left eye. He slowly opened his left eye to reveal a dim, soulless shade of light brown, his facial expression showing a somber expression.

"Huic er-go pa-ru-che De-uuuuuuuuuuu-su…"

He was carrying a small, hand-sized ivory cross in his left hand to his chest. He slowly walked to Regina's cell and knelt to her level on one leg, placing his right hand onto the nanite glass.

"Pie Je-e-su Do-o-mi-neeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeee."

What then caught her off guard was that the young man then sighed heavily. "Now that that's out of the way…", he trailed off and backed away from the glass, then pointed a finger at her cell.

His left eye glowed an eerie blue. Slowly, but surely, the glass started breaking apart, much to Regina's surprise.

'Impossible…! I've been working tirelessly to rip apart these confounded nanites, and he does it with a whisk of a finger? … Who is this man?!'

The scene did not go unnoticed. For as soon the nanites completely disappeared, the sirens began to sound, alarming not only the guards in the vicinity, but the artificial intelligence life-form running the show.

Out of digital nothingness, the figure of a 4 foot-or-so Mobian lynx with dark brown fur and black hair draping over the right side of her face on an angle appeared.

She was garbed in a purple toga-like cloth, had bare feet with black and brown fur that gave the illusion of toeless shoes, and had strands of hair in a few beaded brands. It was NICOLE in her borrowed from.

"Intruder detected in New Mobotropolis prison. …!! Oh, no! The Iron Queen has somehow esca--!"

She never finished that statement as without even realizing it, the young man had somehow stepped 30 feet from his position and stabbed NICOLE where her stomach would be. She let out a light gasp of shock, her eyes shrunken to the size of peas.

"The adults are talking. Little girls like yourself should not be here at this hour.", he said flatly, his tapestry of hair floating slightly like it was possessed.

NICOLE let out another slight gasp before her hologram disintegrated into many pixels and vanished. The young man turned to the now interested Iron Queen, who was at a loss for words.

"Well don't just sit there like an hapless fool, c'mon!", he said impatiently. "You're getting out of here."

"R-Right.", the Iron Queen stammered before she noticed he threw something large at her, thought she caught it and looked surprised.

It was her staff. "Where did you--??" "Less talking, more moving. That is of course you want to be re-incarcerated."

She meekly nodded and ran up the stairs to the outside, only for the two to be encountered by a few gruff looking guards – some of which were Mobian beavers or bulldogs or sorts, all of which were really tall (for Mobians), and really pissed.

"How the hell did she get out?", one guard whispered. "NICOLE must've slipped up or something. Her powers don't work on the nanites anymore, right?", a second guard inquired.

"Well, however she escaped, mates…", came a lone Australian-like accent. The guards formed two small rows to allow a lone Mobain skunk in a high-tech combat suit appeared. His outfit was shades of forest and limestone green, looking like an inflated vest over a long-sleeve shirt and dark green pants. He had several pouches for items and what looked like a knife resting horizontally over his heart in it's sheathe. A crossbow was strapped to the back of his right wrist, locked and loaded. A long black-and-white skunk tail wagged about, it being as long as the figure was tall. He wore a large, high-tech blue Plexiglas visor over his eyes, which were blue, but couldn't be told anyway due to the visor's color. It was partially obscured by his stark-white hair, which shot outward from his 'hairline', and hooked backwards back towards his scalp.

It was the leader of the Republic of Acorn's Secret Service himself – the recently married Geoffrey St. John.

"… she won't be getting' away fo' long. So, Queenie, how'd you do it?"

The Iron Queen face hardened, before the eyepatch-wearing priest boy blocked her with his left arm, the cross lightly gripped in his hand. "She had help, of course, not that actually matters."

Geoffrey raised an shocked eyebrow. "An Overlander?! How'd you get in here?" (In the Archie Comics, humans are sometimes referred to as "Overlanders", especially the mutated four-fingered ones.) The other guards were equally surprised.

The young man merely smirked lightly. "Trade secret, little man. Oh, and by the way, if you call me a lowly Overlander again… I'll have to kill you.", his tone slowly becoming venomous.

"What are you…? …! You're a human?!", the skunk gasped. "Anyway,… guards! This perpetrator has broken a prisoner out of jail! Capture them!", he signaled the group of 6 or so guards and ran into the fray.

The Iron Queen gripped her staff tightly, but the young priest looked unfazed. He simply tossed the cross into the air, spun around and caught in his right hand.

What shocked the Iron Queen was that upon closer inspection, the cross was actually some kind of handgun. And he was pointing it at himself!

"What the hell are you doing?!", she shrieked. The opposing group was also confused.

"… Per…son…a…", he whispered. He then fired a single shot at his right temple, and reared back as what looked like glass shot out his left. But upon doing so a blue aura erupted from his feet.

The light slowly formed the visage of a female humanoid angel with long bleach-blonde hair, porcelain skin and black angle wings. It wore an open white robe half-covering her breasts and suggestively nude body. 'Her' eyes her heavily bandaged, with both ends of the bandage draped off her neck and down to her legs like a scarf, simply floating in the breeze.

"Grigori… Morning Star!!", the boy yelled.

A large ball of light was created out of thin air above the soldiers and St. John, whom had all paled instantly . "Oh shi--!", Geoffrey started before being engulfed by a mighty force of light.

When the smoke cleared, all the soldiers were facedown, battered and bruised. By the time Geoffrey struggled to look up, the Iron Queen and the mysterious priest boy had vanished.

"No…! Damn… it… uuuuuuugh…", Geoffrey stammered before finally losing consciousness.

3 miles outside of New Mobotropolis limits - 23:31 Hours

The Iron Queen was huffing heavily, due to the fact she had just run the most intensely pressured 3 miles of her life.

"Alright… -huff- just –huff- are –huff- you…?", she managed to say before collapsing on all fours and panting harder.

The young man however, looked like he didn't even break a sweat. "I guess I owe you that much…"

The young man stood up, a powerful about him as he stood up. "My name is Lacri. I am a member of The Organization."

"The… excuse me?", Regina asked, confused. "I was ordered to spring you from those swine's custody to offer you… something worth while, shall we say?"

"A proposition, you say?", she asked, interested.

"You posses something we call 'the potential'. We are looking for humans with such power to aid in our noble cause."

"What is this 'potential' you speak of? What 'noble' cause…?"

Lacri smiled weakly; a malevolent smirk. "Come with me, Empress, and you will get the worldly vengeance you so desperately crave. You are…", he began as his smile stretched slightly. "…among friends."

The Iron Queen took Lacri's extended hand and walked off-scene as New Mobotroplois slowly erupted into a state of chaos from the latter woman's escape.

Port Island, Japan, Gekkokan High School Rooftop, May 1, 2010, 15:15 Hours – After School

A group of high school students sat on the benches on the roof of the high school overlooking the large courtyard.

From the far left stood a strawberry blonde-orange haired girl with brown eyes in a pink sweatshirt and a dark blue skirt with a neck corset.

Next to her sat a boy wearing a black school jacket and pants, not buttoned, wearing a blue hat over his buzzcut hair with lazy steel-blue eyes, fiddling the small amount of peach fuzz on his chin.

On the second bench sat a sea-green-blue hair in a black school jacket and blue undershirt sat twiddling her fingers. Opening her eyes, they are revealed to be a grayish-purple.

A final girl with blonde hair with strange headphones clamped to her head in a black school jacket and blouse sat, a sad expression on her face.

Come to think of it, they all had sad faces on.

"Hey… Fuuka…?", the first girl asked out loud, addressing the second girl with green-blue hair. "Yes, Yukari-chan?"

"It's hard to believe it's been 1 month, hasn't it? One month since… that day…", she trailed off, sadness evident in her voice.

"Aw, c'mon Yuka-tan. Cheer up!", the boy jeered in a cheery voice. "Moping around isn't gonna bring him back."

"That's easy for you to say, Junpei. You were able to get over Chidori's death, but… I'm just not that strong-willed a person to get over death. First my father…", she began, slowly tearing up. "…Then…him… I keep losing people…"

Junpei sulked slightly. "Yeah…" Fuuka and the third girl lowered their heads.

Finally the blonde girl stood up. "Oh. The others are here.", she trailed in a slightly robotic tone.

Sure enough four figures emerged from behind them. The first was a tall young woman in a white dress shirt and dark blue skirt. Her dark red hair had a part on her right which draped on an angle to cover her left eye. Her right eye revealed that her eyes were a reddish-brown. She looked like a rare combination of strong, intelligent, graceful and beautiful.

To her left was a tall young man – as tall as the redhead and probably just as old – with short silver hair in the shaped of a baby hedgehog's spine hide parting towards the right slightly, a white bandage next to his left eyebrow, matured silver-gray eyes, and wearing a red classy sleeveless vest over a with dress shirt and black string-tie, also wearing skintight black gloves. He was carrying a similar school jacket over his right shoulder. He had a swift boxer build – turns out he is one. A good one.

Finally came a rather interestingly different twosome. One was a short boy, an elementary school-aged student with big brown eyes and sun-kissed light brown hair parted on the left with hooked-shaped spilt ends over his right eye and two over his left wearing a slightly different black school jacket over an orange dress shirt and gray pants came with probably the most odd of the bunch.

This person wasn't a persona at all; he was a small white-and-gray dog. A Shiba Inu to be exact, wearing a light yellow dog shirt with small comical angel wings attached to the sides and a very strange, futuristic large collar around his neck. He had gorgeous red dog eyes, and was panting happily despite the melancholy situation around him. He had a second collar that read "Koromaru".

"Mitsuru-sempai, Akihiko-sempai, Ken-ken, Koro-chan!", Fuuka said happily, clapping her hands together lightly.

"Don't call me sempai, y'know. Me and Mitsuru already graduated.", Akihiko huffed, closing his eyes and sighing in disapproval. Mitsuru giggled lightly.

"Well", she began in a slightly deep voice. "How is it being seniors?"

"Eh, not too bad actually. Get to be basically the alpha students once in a while, I guess.", Junpei jeered, putting his arms behind his head and laughing lightly. Fuuka and Yukari sighed and sweatdropped.

"Ha ha, I know the feeling.", Akihiko admitted.

"It's also hard to believe that Ken-kun is starting middle school. And I heard you skipped a grade!", Yukari said, smiling.

Ken, the young boy, smiled widely. "Two, actually.", he began in a voice that sounded very intelligent for his age. "All thanks to Mitsuru-san's and and Akihiko-san's study sessions last school year." Koromaru barked happily twice, then panted. Ken rubbed the dog's chin lightly with two fingers, who stuck his tongue out in approval. (Awwwwwww~!)

"So that's what you three have been doing most of those nights in February! You were helping Ken-kun study for the middle school evaluation exam.", came from Fuuka.

"Well, Ken here did most of it. He's got a lot of potential for a 12-year old. Wish I had more time to study at that age…", Akihiko sighed.

"You, studying more than boxing?", Mitsuru jeered uncharacteristically, laughing lightly. "That'll be the day." "H-Hey!", Akihiko shot back.

The whole group, minus Koromaru and the blonde-haired girl with the strange headphones, laughed. Yukari was the first to notice. "What's wrong, Aegis? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, you haven't said a word since we arrived.", Akihiko stated. "Something wrong...?"

"No, it's…", Aegis began in her faintly robotic voice. "…I'm glad that we're able to get together and laugh about 'the good old days', as you put it, but…"

Akihiko's expression became sympathetic. "You're thinking about Minato, aren't you?"

The name 'Minato' was a strike on the heartstrings for Yukari, Aegis and Mitsuru; the latter two looked more hurt, a grimacing look on their faces.

"Even after all we been through… both Nyx and the Abyss of Time… we still couldn't save him from that fate…", Yukari said sadly, tears slowly forming in her eyes. It was clear she had feelings for this 'Minato'.

"I've never felt so powerless… even after defeating Erebus… I failed in my mission to protect him… as a machine… as a member of S.E.E.S… and… as a friend…", Aegis began to shake slightly as she continued, looking distraught.

"Minato-kun…", Fuuka stammered.

"Minato…", came Junpei.

"Minato…", said Akihiko.

"Minato-sempai…", uttered Ken.

"Minato…", stated Mitsuru.

"-whimper-", whined Koromaru, roughly translated by Aegis as "Minato…"

"Minato…", sighed Aegis.

"M-Minato…", Yukari slowly cried, tears brimming in her eyes.

The sad moment of remembrance continued, but was interrupted by what would soon be a small twist of fate.

Fuuka's head shot up and gasped. "What's wrong, Yamagishi?", Mitsuru asked. "I sense…No, it couldn't be!"

"Couldn't be…", Akihiko pondered before deepening his stance and raising his fists. "You mean a Shadow?! Here?!"

"But that's impossible! The Dark Hour was destroyed! The Shadows can no longer exist in this world!", Mitsuru objected, flailing her left arm once.

"Well, it's not exactly a Shadow's presence… it's… somewhat different.", Fuuka trailed.

"How 'different'…?", Junpei worded carefully, adjusting his hat and arching his eyebrows.

"It… doesn't feel malevolent, I can say that much…", Fuukla trailed off.

"Did everyone bring their Evokers, by any chance?", Mitsuru asked, pulling a small strange-looking silver handgun out of her shirt. (DON'T GET ANY BRIGHT IDEAS, YOU FOOL! MITSURU WILL EXECUTE YOU!)

"You know me.", Akihiko smirked as he raised his.

"Same here.", replied Yukari, holding up hers.

"I never leave the dorm without it.", Ken admitted, revealing his.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have.", smirked Junpei with his cocky grin, spinning the handgun by its finger loop.

"You know our story.", Aegis replied, referring to herself, Fuuka and Koromaru. Koromaru nodded.

"It's here.", Fuuka tensed. Everyone went tense and eyed the entire roof's edges, cautiously seeking out the Shadow.

Ken gasped. "Over there! By the air vent!" Everyone turned instantly and sunk into defensive stances. They may not have been armed – except possibly Aegis (finger bullets) and Akihiko (his fists) -, but that didn't stop their instincts from kicking in.

Hiding behind one side of the air vent hid a small, all-white Shadow. Actually, upon closer inspection, it looked more like some kind of pint-sized fairy or pixie. It was roughly the size of a baby. It had two backward horn-like appendages shaping its head, and it wore a 'theater smile' mask. It had stubby little legs and arms, which caused it to move awkwardly if it did so.

Despite its cute and pathetic appearance, the group formerly known as S.E.E.S. didn't leave this creature's existence up to chance. Aegis's gloved fingers turned into bullet turrets, while Akihiko began rushing at it with his fists up like the professional boxer he was.

Alarmed, the Shadow leapt from his position to its left about 20 feet and dodged Akihiko's punches.

Because it was not the Dark Hour, they couldn't use any of their Personas as they pleased – a double-edged sword in itself.

Since the Evokers were useless in this situation, S.E.E.S. had resorted to trying to charge the defenseless Shadow.

For the next 90 seconds it ran about, alarmed and scared, as different members tried to double-team it, only for them to crash into each other in a comical fashion.

Fuming, the fallen Yukari shot up angrily. "That's it! This. Thing . Is. DEAD!"

If the Shadow could scream, it would, instead it gave a strange gurgled shriek and darted for the exit door.

"Don't let it escape! If anyone else sees that Shadow, it'll be catastrophic!", Mitsuru yelled as she got off all fours and jumped off her heels and ran as if she were a trained assassin.

As the Shadow closed in on the door, the 8 members of S.E.E.s – even Fuuka, who had stood from afar trying to trace its path so she herself could cut it off – attempted to dump-pile the Shadow, but it had successfully closed the door behind it.

The group was sandwiched into the closed door by each other. Had it not been an urgent situation, someone might have laughed.

"Grrrr… oh no, you don't!", Yukari yelled as she hastily opened the door and rushed in.

It was the biggest mistake of the day.

Yukari suddenly saw herself slowly falling over the edge of the doorway into a distorted, rainbow-colored downward tunnel with no way to stop herself.

"Huh?…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

Junpei gasped. "Yuka-tan!!", he yelled as she dove after her. However, by doing so, he caused the whole dump-pile to tumble into the distorted tunnel with him. "Junpei, you—IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!", Akihiko screamed.

The eight members screamed, some more than others. They fell in the order of Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Aegis, Fuuka, Ken then Koromaru.

Ken was spinning like a tire, Koromaru was flailing his legs, Junpei was desperately trying to keep his hat on, Akihiko was clinging onto Mitsuru's legs like a frightened child, the latter whom had a shocked expression on her face, Aegis remained silent but mouth agape, Fuuka's legs were folded as she tried to keep he skirt down, and Yukari looked like she was diving freestyle.

Yukari's scream was by far the loudest. Her eyes were clamped shut as she thought that this was the end. 'Just great! Good going, Yukari! You got everyone into ANOTHER stupid jam! And just when I thought things were finally going to be normal around here… I'm going to die, aren't I…?'

She slowly opened her eyes, and they shrunk considerably as descending along with the group, by about 10 feet, was a speeding rocket of light, being on eye level with Yukari.

She squinted as if to closely inspect it, and realized there was something inside it.

No… not something…someONE! She gasped at this realization, only to behold it slowly shrinking and taking form.

Slowly but surely, it formed a familiar shape, and Yukari's eyes shrunk to the size of peas.

"Could it be…?!"

By now, all the other members of S.E.E.S. saw the light near Yukari, and watched as it slowly shrank to human form. Mitsuru came to a shocking realization.

"It's--!!!"

She never got to finish that sentence as the group was enveloped in a white light shooting upward in a flash.

Mobius, New Mobotropolis, August 3, 3237, 9:05 Hours – Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital, First Floor Lobby

A black-and-white Mobian cat in a similar suit to Geoffrey St. John's suit sat in the lobby of the high-tech hospital, twiddling her thumbs. "Geoffrey… Please be okay…"

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the glass door to the lobby slid open, causing the cat to turn her head.

In came two figures; one was a blue Mobian hedgehog with bright green eyes, white gloves and weird-looking red running shoes.

Accompanying him was a tan-brown and tan-yellow-furred, blue-eyed chimpmunk-squirrel mixed Mobian girl with a large hooked poof of mangeta-red hair and nothing on both a light blue vest and light blue knee-high hiking boots.

"Sonic! Princess Sally! I'm so glad you made it…!", the cat said, sounding comforted.

"It's fine, Hershey.", Sally remarked, a weak smile on her face, regarding the situation. "How's your husband?"

"Yeah, how is ol' stinkybutt?", Sonic joked. Sally stomped on his foot. "Sonic!" "OW! Not the merchandise!", Sonic yelped as he hopped on one foot, holding his other foot in pain. Sally sighed while Hershey stiffed a slight giggle. She then gave a slight frown.

"He's with Doctor Quack at the moment. I'm not too worried, but…" "But…?", both Sonic and Sally inquired, looking at each other, blushing slightly and looking away for a spilt second.

"…It's his story that worries me. About how he and the six guards were hurt in the first place.", Hershey trailed, grabbing her left arm and looking to her left.

"So what'd he say?", Sonic asked, slightly impatient and tapping his injured foot.

"He said… that when he was attacked, there was a flash of bright light that somehow beat them up… but the person who did it…"

"Yeah…?", Sonic asked, leaning in. Sally did the same.

"He was definitely a human. A young boy.", came Hershey, the suited cat's voice full of conviction.

"A human kid?!", Sonic yelled, taken aback. "Are you certain?", Sally asked assertively.

"Geoffrey said it, the guards it… and I think NICOLE witnessed him break the Iron Queen out of the jail."

"NICOLE?", Sally asked out loud. Suddenly digital code started forming next to her, in the form of the same brown-furred lynx from the previous night, her green eyes painted with sorrow.

"Hello, Sally. Yes, it's true. After coming back online from being attacked, he actually broke the nanite glass that kept her--"

"WhoawhaowhaoWHAO!! Back up!", Sonic shouted, pushing his hands back and forth four times, the last time with the most emphasis. "You mean to tell that the nanite glass – the very same nanite glass that kept Mammoth Mogul of all people under wraps – was broken by a kid?!", his voice full of skepticism.

"The footage was never recorded for some reason, but I witnessed him with the Iron Queen out of her cell, talking… that was, until he attacked my borrowed form and froze me…", she admitted weakly, imitating what Hershey had done a while ago.

"Oh maaaaaan…", Sonic whined as he started rubbing his temples with two fingers each. "And just when me ol' monkey fuzz finally beat her… Oh, man, he's gonna kill me! I can see it now – my ass on a silver platter and my head mounted on his fireplace mantle! I'm so dead!", he completed, exasperated, his arms expressing his every word.

"Sonic, Ken is the least of our worries! What about Eggman? We don't know where the hell he and Snively disappeared to after the Iron Dominion was finished off! If that lardo finds out someone broke out of our prison under our noses, we'll be a laughingstock! Eggman will never let us live it down! Ever!", Sally exclaimed. She started clutching her head and paced back and forth. "I already told my parents, my brother, his wife and the Council of Acorn! They're the only other ones who know of this at the moment and already we're in a state of panic! This even scared Hamlin! Hamlin, Sonic! And I'm already concerned about how to break the news to our people, much less the entire world!"

"Y'know, Sal… it's not that bad…", Sonic pleaded, raising a hand as to try and calm her down. "Not that bad?! Think about it, Sonic! Station Square, the four Ninja Clans, G.U.N., our enemies, not to mention our other Freedom Fighters sects…! Catastrophe is too weak of a word for this situation!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEERGH!! We are so DEAD!!", she screamed pacing faster.

"Please, could you not yell in my hospital, Princess?", came an mid-aged voice. The three Mobians turned to the hall to see a yellow Mobian duck wearing a white lab coat over a green sweater and a doctor's mirror and stethoscope walking down holding a cane in one hand. He wore and eyepatch over his left eye, and wearing no pants or shoes.

"Dr. Quack!", Sally said in slight excitement. "I'm sorry… it's just the royal stress talking…"

"Quite all right, my dear.", he said smiling. He then turned to Hershey. "Geoffrey going to be alright. He just needs some bed rest and some daily doses of aspirin."

Hershey sighed in relief. "Thank goodness…" Dr. Quack nodded before turning to Sonic and Sally. "Is Tails up?"

"No, actually, he slept in.", Sonic admitted. "Well, wake him and his dad up. I need to get in contact with his uncle Merlin. This damage is from a magic I have never seen before – I was hoping to see if he could identify it so that I can give the injured soldiers proper treatment – I don't want to risk anything here…"

"I'll send for him shortly, doctor. I just have to--"

She was interrupted by NICOLE's sudden gasp and a city-wide alarm going off; this alone began to wake up the animal citizens.

"NICOLE? What's wrong?", Sally darted. "I sense a special distortion occurring… it's right outside the city!" "What?!", Sally yelled. Sonic immediately ran outside, followed by Sally, Hershey and finally, Dr. Quack. They all saw what many awoken citizens roaming the streets had seen.

A small congregation of black clouds in a distorted swirl began crackling with energy, darkening the hue of the slightly overcast sky.

"That's no ordinary thundercloud. NICOLE, contact the remainder of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, an tell them to meet me outside the city wall. Then, I want you to analyze that cloud – something tells me it's not a good thing."

"Right.", NICOLE nodded.

7 minutes later…

Sonic the Hedgehog stood his ground outside the entrance to the domed city, arms crossed. With him stood various other Mobians. To his right stood a orange-cream two-tailed fox boy with blue eyes, a blue-eyed tan-brown coyote with blonde wearing a blue, red and yellow French general's jacket, red boots and no pants, a yellow rabbit girl with green eyes, purple mascara, a rolled-up-sleeved tan cowgirl jacket and had a metallic left arm and legs – the latter two was holding hands -, and a petite, green-eyed female pink hedgehog with a red dress, hairband and boots while holding an oversized hammer with white gloved hands.

To his left stood a red echidna with purple eyes, spiked gloves with two finger wholes –a thumb and four-finger hole -, a pink echidna with a tuft of pink and purple hair above cerulean eyes, wearing a green-blue and black open vest and belt holding the former's hand, a black-and-yellow, blue-eyed armadillo with a red shell, a small yellow flying squirrel with a large curved tail and a blue denim vest, a large green, orange-eyed crocodile with a gold chain necklace and bracelets over thick-cuffed whites gloves and large fangs, a purple chameleon with ninja-like arms and leg cuffs with a small horn on his forehead between his yellow eyes, and a pair of two floating pint-sized bees – one a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl wearing a jacket and pink shirt holding a doll, and an orange-eyed boy with a helmet of some kind, with an orange vest and black-cuffed white gloves.

"So, what'd Sally and Nicole say about this clod-thing, Sonic?", came the fox, concerned. "I dunno, Tails." Sonic admitted. "Knuckles and Julie-Su were the last two to see her, maybe they know."

"Sorry, blue.", the girl echidna, Julie-Su sighed. "Not a thing." "Well, by the looks of it, it appears to be a time-space continuum rupture…"

Sonic's eye ridge rose. "And you knew that…how?" "Hey! I'm smarter that I look, Sonic! At least I pay attention!", Knuckles barked comically.

"That's enough, Knuckles.", chided the chameleon, Espio. "This is serious."

"Zat eez correct.", the coyote, Antione, replied in a very thick French accent. "We do not know if eet iz an enemy, so we must be on our guard.", he said fiddling with the sword in his sheath. "S'right, Sugah-Twan.", the rabbit, Bunnie, cooed her husband. Antoine smiled.

"Hey! Hey, Saffron!", the excited boy bee jeered. "Yes, Charmy?", the girl bee replied. "What's a space-time continuum?", he asked sheepishly. Saffron sighed.

Sudddenly a loud rupturing noise was heard. Looking up, the group of Mobians relized that the dark cloud was expanding, and small traces of yellow-white began to seep out.

"Something's coming!", the pink hedgehog, Amy, yelped, gripping her hammer tightly. "Everyone, get ready!", Sally yelled from the gate as she ran outside.

Everyone began assuming fighting stances or just stood idly in Charmy's, Saffron's or Ray's case.

In a large crackle of light, eight sharp, violently torrential beams shot on an angle away from the group and the city, colliding with the earth about a fraction of a mile from where they stood.

"Here we go, guys! Let's do it to it!", Sonic jeered and ran ahead, followed by Bunnie – who flew using rockets apparently imbedded into the soles of her robotic feet, Tails –who flew by twirling his tails like a propeller, Ray and Knuckles – who glided in midair, and Amy – who ran rather fast for her age and figure.

"Hey, what's that?!", Tails yelled as he saw a ninth flash of light descend in a different direction, far slower than the first eight; it was like it was in slow-motion compared to the others.

"I'll go after it! You guys deal with the others!", Sonic yelled as he veered into the direction of the slowly descending light, leaving the remainder of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix to investigate the large crater the impact had been created.

Upon getting there, the group of Mobians saw a group comprised of six human teenagers – four female and two male -, a shorter boy and a small white dog all laid scattered about. Next to all of them save for the sea-green and blonde-haired girls and the dog were a strange-looking handgun.

Tails dove in and landed next to the small boy with light-brown hair. Picking up the handgun loosely gripped in his hand and shuddering – probably from his people's fear of bullet projectiles –, the young fox read aloud the inscription on the side of the gun. "'S.E.E.S.'?"

As some of the others, Sally included, skidded into the crater, Tails approached "I wonder what that is…?" "What what is, Tails?", Sally inquired.

Tails showed Sally the handgun, which in turn caused most of the Mobians to gasp. "Overlanders? With guns?", Knuckles asked edgily.

"No… look.", Espio said as he walked over and picked up the silver-haired boy's black-gloved hand. "Look. Five fingers. They're human."

"So… they're not Overlanders?", Charmy inquired, the young bee confused.

"What's with these handguns…?", Sally said as she toyed with the one in her hand. "They're not loaded. No ammunition in them."

"Really?", Julie-Su asked as she inspected the gun. "…You're right! There's not even a compartment for bullets!"

"Mon dieu…", Antoine gawked. "You mean to zay zat these children have guns, but are totally harmless?"

"Maybe we'll ask them when they wake up…", Bunnie surmised in her thick Southern accent.

Finally, one of the children stirred. It was the strawberry-blonde girl in the pink shirt and blouse. She slowly got up and observed her blurry surroundings thorough her hazel eyes.

When she finally focused, she saw about 15 or so animal-like creatures of different colors and species staring right at her. Her eyes shrunk as she screamed as scrambled backwards, grabbing onto her handgun out of instinct. "W-w-w-what the hell is this?! A-animal people on two legs?! And clothes?!", she freaked.

Sally, in an attempt to calm her down slowly approached her, hands up in the air. "Miss, please, calm down. Just what happened here?"

"Holy crap, they talk.", she gawked in shock. "Wait until Junpei sees th--… wait a minute…"

She then looked around to see her friends lying unconscious either on their sides or facedown, all unconscious.

"Junpei…?", she squeaked, looking at the boy with the baseball hat.

Worried she looked to the girl with long red hair and the boy with short silver hair. "Mitsuru-sempai? Akihiko-sempai?"

Getting even more worried, she started looking at the girl with sea-green hair, followed by the girl with blonde hair, then the younger boy with light-brown hair and finally the small silver-white dog. "Fuuka? Aegis? Ken-kun? Koro-chan?"

"They're all unconscious.", Espio said as he carefully turned over the silver-haired boy face-up like he and Vector did the others. "They're all sleeping."

Yukari sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Oh! Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Princess Sally. Sally Acorn.", Sally said as he extended her right hand.

Yukari smiled. "Yukari Takeba.", she said as the girls shook hands. 'Now where have I heard that name before…?', Yukari and Sally both thought at the same time.

"So, Miss Yukari, how did you guys end up out here, if I may ask…?", the green crocodile asked, comically pulling out a pen and pad of paper. The chameleon sighed. "You'll have to forgive Vector. He's a moron.", Espio said flatly, with a twist of amusement. "That was uncalled for, Espio!", Vector barked.

Yukari giggled. "Well, it was after school and we all gathered up at school to get ready to go to a friend's memorial, until…", she said as she began to trail off. "…A weird Shadow appeared and…", she said as her eyes widened, stood up, and saw the slow light in the sky.

"It's him!", she yelled in shock as she climbed out of the crater and ran towards the falling light.

To her, the light slowly died around the figure to reveal a young boy her age in a black school jacket with dark-blue hair draping over his right eye.

Tears began forming in Yukari's eyes as he ran. 'It's him! It's really him!!'

Mighty, Ray, Bunnie, Amy, Charmy and Saffron – the ones who didn't dive into the crater – nodded to each other and began to run after her.

Yukari was running at full speed, tears flowing from her eyes. "MINATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Next Time: Two 'Fools' in This World

That's Chapter 1. Please Read and Review! :3