Series 2 - The Three Tests
Episode 5
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I had the dream again that night. A dream about an incredible horror... the reign of Robotnik over Mobius. It looks like the anti-verse, except Mecha isn't the head of the pack... everyone I know is a robot. I find myself marching through a city.. it doesn't look like Robotropolis, but then, Robotnik has probably taken ALL the cities. Anyway, I'm marching through this city, and I look to my left, and I see the Freedom Fighters.. all robots.. I look to my right, and I see Mecha, Robotnik, and a strange bat.. the latter two appear to be the only living things left on Mobius. Then I look down, and see MYSELF covered in metal. I try to scream, but my programming prevents it. Then I wake up, screaming for real. I try to comfort myself by saying junk like 'It's only a dream' and 'it can't hurt you'. But that stuff doesn't work anymore. Wish it did, but it doesn't. Because I know in the back of my mind that it isn't true. I know that dreams CAN hurt you.. that all it takes is one little mistake, and you can be thrown into a place where all your greatest horrors come to surface. I've been there.. I should know. And believe me, it was infinately more frightning than ANYTHING Robotnik, Mecha, Ashura, or anyone else could EVER dish out. This is my story...
CHAPTER ONE:
The stranger walked very carefully.. his mind fixed solidly on one thing. Money. He cracked his knuckles, and moved a rock out of his way. Behind it, a piercing glow. "Ahh.. you beaut!" he whispered. Seven small objects sat before him, on a pedestal. He greedily snatched them up, and hoarded them into a sack. Turning around, he noticed one of the village elders standing at the entrance to the cave. "Nackston.. what are you doing?" he asked. The stranger gave a toothy grin. "Well mate, I'm nickin' off with your stash!" he replied. The elder frowned. "I knew you wouldn't change. Once a dirty thief, always a dirty thief. Nackston, you should know that this village is heavily guarded.. you step out of this cave, I give the word, and you will.." "SHUT IT!" yelled the figure, now brandishing a gun. "I have my ways. And don't call me Nackston. The name is NACK!" The elder ducked away, and sought assistance, while Nack vanished with his prize.
***
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A bright blue translucent curtain dragged itself slowly around Robotropolis. The first activity from the city in weeks.. just over a month. Nobody went in, nobody came out. Now, this sheild made it certain. For such a long time, Princess Sally Acorn and Rotor the Walrus had struggled with the computers in vain, trying to establish a new connection with Robotropolis.. trying to hack into the system once more, and find out what Robotnik was up to. It was no use. Mecha Sonic had seen to it that every networking secret Knothole had was implanted in his memory banks, and destroyed their machines. Knothole had gathered more computers, but they were barely sufficiant. Robotropolis now knew the composition of the Freedom Fighter virus, and had created an antivirus. No computer signals could get in, airboarne or otherwise. The same went with the physical world.. absolutely no contact. This was strange.. Robotnik had become a TOTAL recluse. No more attacks.. the Freedom Fighters couldn't work it out. Robotnik now had a breed of robots which was much more resistant to destruction than the obsolete SWAT-bots. He had shown that clearly a few months back, when he sent several waves of them to Knothole to wipe them out. It nearly worked, too. So, why get so close to destroying them, then not finish the job? The attacks had ended completely, when Mecha had stolen the village's hacking codes. Perhaps the attacks weren't on the intent of destroying the village, simply squeezing the secrets from it. Perhaps Knothole couldn't be further from Robotnik's plans. Perhaps he had bigger things in mind.
***
Sonic stepped through the thick foliage, searching for the source of the strange humming. Somebody sounded happy.. he wished he could say the same about himself. Looking through the scrub, he saw a figure walking down the thin path. "Home free!" it said, digging into a sack. It was a weasil. A stubby purple weasil with a gun on his belt and a bag full of something. "Heh heh!" he chuckled to himself. "These babies'll fetch me quite a bit 'o cash!" he reached into the bag, and brought out a shining red Chaos Emerald! Sonic's eyes widened. "How'd he get them?" he asked himself. "Only me an' Tails have access to 'em! And this guy doesn't look too stable.." He jumped out of the bushes. The weasil was surprised. "What are you doing with the emeralds?" Sonic demanded. The weasil frowned, and pulled out his gun. "Maybe I should let my friend Larry answer that." he said. "Larry Lead-spitter. He ain't too friendly, but he gets the message across." Sonic stared at the gun in the weasil's hand. Larry? This guy _definately_ wasn't stable. "Who are you?" Sonic inquired, with a lighter tone. "Call me Nack." replied the weasil. "That's all you need to know, I reckon. Now, are you gonna let me past, or am I gonna hafta' ask Larry here to introduce himself.. HIS way?" Sonic put his hands up, and stepped out of the way. "Good boy." said Nack, continuing on his way. Sonic stared at him, as Knuckles appeared. "What's happening?" he asked. Sonic pointed to the strange character, walking away, whistling. "He has the Chaos Emeralds!" Knux frowned. "Well, we'll see about that!" he said. He marched up to Nack, stomping the ground to make his presence well known. Nack spun around, still holding 'Larry'. "Who are YOU, now?" he asked. "They call me KNUCKLES." replied Knux, showing Nack exactly WHY that was his name. "I wouldn't." replied Nack. "My friend Larry, here, might wanna meet you." Knux stared at the gun. "OH YEAH?" he asked. "Well, _I_ have a Larry on the end of my arm who would be _delighted_ to meet your face at about 700 km/h!" Nack stepped back. "These emeralds are MINE!" he shouted, shooting a bullet into the air. "LET'S GET 'IM, SONIC!" shouted Knuckles, charging.
Nack tried to shoot, but the hedgehog and echidna were too fast for him. Knuckles' fist DID meet his face at 700 km/h. He flew back, his bag opened and the seven emeralds went flying everywhere. "Nice to meet you!" said Knuckles, in a squeaky voice, making it sound like his hand was talking. "Now, let's get these emeralds back to where they belong!" Sonic grinned. "Where would I be without you, eh Knux?" he asked. Hey, you helped ME get these things back, once!" replied Knuckles. "Just returning the favour!" He picked up a mouve emerald, but it slipped out of his fingers. "Hey, heads up, Sonic!" warned Knux, the emerald flying towards his friend. "I got it." replied Sonic, holding his hands out. But, he missed, and the flying emerald smacked into his forehead. Now, at this moment, three things happened. Sonic slipped and fell fowards, Knuckles rushed to his aid and collided with him, and, most detrimentally, the emerald, for reasons unknown, discharged its energy. There was an ear-piercing blast, and a purple light shot out of the emerald, throwing the two backwards. Then everything fell silent. Neither Sonic nor Knuckles moved. They lay on the ground, cold. Nack, awakened from his unconciousness by the sound, stared at the two. "Uh oh.. they're dead!" he said. "Better be on my way, eh Larry?" He put his gun back into his belt, gathered the emeralds, and left.
Darkness. Solid black. Sonic tried to see anything. Suddenly, as if a light clicked on, everything came into view. Sonic was shocked, and fell over again. He noticed Knuckles was on the ground, still unconcious. Sonic looked around. He had no idea where he was. Then suddenly, it became clear to him. The medical hut in Knothole. But weren't they still re-building that, from the fire?" Sonic shook his head, and turned to wake Knuckles up. Too late, he saw the echidna, staring around baffled. "Where the heck are we?" he asked. "Knothole." replied Sonic. "No we aren't!" Knux protested. "I've never seen a place like this in Knoth... no, wait... no, it is. Sorry." Sonic eyed him strangely, but didn't say anything. "Oh well. Better go outside, find out what's happening." said Knux. Sonic followed him. They started walking towards the door, three feet away. "So, what do you reckon that was all about?" asked Sonic. "I mean, that guy with the emeralds?" Knux chuckled. "Dunno." he replied. "Some class 'A' loony." Sonic chuckled. "Larry Lead-spitter! Well, you gotta give him credit for originality!" Knux frowned. "Hey, we never got those emeralds back! He probably woke up and ran off with 'em again!" "Hey, yeah!" replied Sonic. "We'd better go after him again!" "He can't have gotten too far." said Knux, with a yawn. Sonic, his leg starting to ache, looked to see how much further to the door. Only five feet. He rubbed his head. "That emerald sure gave me one heck of a lump!" he said. Knuckles smirked, looking up at the door. Only ten feet away. "So, why'd you think it went off like that?" he asked. "That was one heck of a blast!" "Dunno." replied Sonic. "Something went wrong. Maybe emeralds can malfunction!" "I s'pose it's possible." said Knux. "They're pretty weird things." He looked up at the door. And bumped into the wall. "OUCH!" he yelled out. Sonic giggled. "Serves you right! You were so absent-minded that you went off-course and hit the wall!" Knux frowned, gripping his nose. "But I didn't turn around!" he insisted. "I was walking with you in a straight line towards the door!" he pointed to the door, fifteen feet away. Sonic giggled again. "You MUST have, Knux! Why else would you be on the other side of the room, running into the wall?" Knux looked at the door again. It was only one foot away. "Sonic, we've been having a long conversation." he said. "Isn't it odd that we've only moved one foot in that time?" he turned to Sonic, but couldn't find him. Then he saw him, lying on the bed. "One foot? I haven't even started WALKING yet!" he said. "Funny.. thought that door was further away a second ago.." Knuckles' jaw dropped. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he demanded. "Of COURSE you've started moving! We've been walking for ten minutes!" Sonic got up, off the grass, and yawned. "It seems like it, doesn't it!" he said. "But we can't have been." he looked around. "When did we get out of the hut?" he asked. Knux looked at the hut behind him. "We must have left it a few minutes ago." he said. "My mind's playing tricks on me, I think."
Sonic rubbed his sore head, and looked up. A figure was walking towards him. "Who's that?" he asked. Knuckles squinted. "Dunno.." he replied. The figure was pink.. could it be..? "Amy?" asked Sonic. The pink hedgehog walked closer. Yes.. it was Amy Rose. "Amy! Hey, Amy! What are you doing here?" Sonic asked. Amy just shrugged. "It's nice to see you again!" said Sonic. "You too, old pal!" replied Amy, spreading her arms, for a hug. Sonic was about to do the same, but something was strange. The pink hedgehog.. changed. Sonic stopped dead when he saw Ashura standing before him. The all-green shamen smirked. It was creepy.. not as if Amy 'changed' into Ashura.. she just 'was'.. as if it always had been, and he was mistaken at first. Knuckles gasped, and raised his fists. "What tricks are you playing, Ashura?" Sonic demanded. The shamen laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know!" he replied. He raised his scepter, and his eyes began to glow red. But those weren't HIS eyes. Sonic was so shocked by the change that he almost fell over. "MECHA?" he asked. Mecha Sonic chuckled, boosted up his rockets, and blasted towards him. Sonic ducked the attack, and Knuckles was taking swings at the robot. But Mecha just vanished behind the huts. Sonic shook his head. "Did that just happen?" he asked. "What was that all about?" "I.. don't.. get it!" replied Knux. "Was that Amy, Ashura or Mecha?" SOMEBODY is trying to confuse the heck outta us!" Before he could say anything else, Mecha snuck up behind Sonic, and grabbed him. "Greetings."
CHAPTER TWO:
Sonic spun around, startled. Not Mecha. He stared at a strange looking human. The human was just as startled. He was kind of short and stubby. "Who are you?" asked Sonic. The man smiled. "I am known as Soul Man." he said. "I manipulate magic to transport one's soul between bodies.." "I don't believe in magic." Sonic replied promptly. Soul Man chuckled. "Well, I like to think it is. There's a perfectly scientific explanation.. I won't go into depth about it." "And what are you doing in Knothole?" asked Knuckles. Soul Man grinned. "I'm not." he replied. "Neither are you." "Huh?" asked Sonic. "I'm sorry? Where the heck are we, then?" "You're BODIES are in Knothole, if that's what you call your village." replied Soul Man. "But YOU are in your mind." Sonic moaned. "Please.. I've had more confusion in the last ten minutes than I've had in the rest of my life. I don't need this." "But it is true!" replied Soul Man. "There has been some kind of major kinetic power flux.. it has transported your souls into the catacombs of your very mind. I felt a soul crisis flux, so I came to investigate.." "Look, mister, can you PLEASE try and explain this in more detail?" asked Knuckles. Soul Man thought a second. "Well, you are not currently in a physical state." he said. "You have disembodied your soul. You know those 'out of body experiences'? The same thing.." "So, you mean I'm a walking talking soul?" asked Sonic. "More or less." replied Soul Man. "May I have your names?" "Uh.. Knuckles." replied Knux. "And this is Sonic." "Right, thank you." replied Soul Man. "Now, you are not really Sonic and Knuckles. You are their souls. Sonic and Knuckles, in a physical state, are in Knothole, lying on beds, in a coma. Whenever somebody falls in a coma, it is simply because their souls are absent from their rightful place." "Wait, wait, hold on, fruitcake." said Knux, making a 'T' with his arms. "If we are inside our minds, how come we can see each other?" "Not mind's'" replied Soul Man. "You are both in the one mind. The mind of Sonic, here." Sonic looked at him strangely. "You mean Knux is trapped in MY brain?" he asked. "Yes, and so are you." replied Soul Man. "But not brain - mind. They are different. A brain is a physical thing, while a mind is mental. You have to think in six dimentions." "Okay.. okay." replied Sonic. "Enough with the science lesson, already! How do we get outta this mess?" Soul Man's expression changed, and he sighed. "To get back to normal, you must place your soul back into Control Central. That is a place in the very centre of your mind, where the mental world meets the physical world." "Piece of cake.. how do we get there?" asked Sonic. "Keep moving, you will know." replied Soul Man. "But it is not a piece of cake, exactly. You see, if a coma victim 'never wakes up', it is because their soul has been destroyed." "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Knux. "Well.." began Soul Man "A soul can be destroyed if the mind wishes it to be. In short, dreams can kill you." Sonic and Knuckles gasped. Soul Man continued. "When you are dreaming, you are simply watching your imagination.. your manifestations.. through a peep-hole. You are not actually there. Well, now.. you are there. You are walking amongst your very dreams themselves. If you were to die here, your mind would render your soul destroyed. With no soul, your body would become an inanimate husk." He leaned closer to the two. "You must listen to me. Getting to Control Central is going to be hard. Very hard. Your mind can manifest anything, as long as it is within the realm of your imagination. And, in the end, the greatest threat to you will be yourself."
With that, the strange entity vanished.
"Oh, great." muttered Knux. "Flippin' GREAT! He's gone! NOW what do we do?" Sonic shrugged. "Go to Control Central, I guess." Knux put a hand on his forehead. "But Sonic.. just THINK about this!" he said. "We're stuck inside your brain, being attacked by your imagination. We have to go somewhere that we don't even know where it is, and all this was told to us by a semi-opaque human with a funny name who says he uses hocus-pocus to do all sorts of stuff with people's souls! Now, come ON!" Sonic looked around. "Well, stranger stuff has happened.." he said. Knux began to lose it. "Yes Sonic, but stranger _within reason_! A dragon with a self-esteem problem who burns down villages.. that was strange, but POSSIBLE! You being cloned by the Negatron after it floated around the galaxy a few times.. that was POSSIBLE! Strange green hedgehogs with scepters, and Rocket Knights, and great flippin' Death Eggs and time stones.. they're all almost-unbelievably strange, but they all have a reasonable explanation! This, Sonic, THIS is what you call weird.. Supernatuaral.. UNEXPLAINABLE!" Sonic frowned at him. "So maybe it is weird, stupid and seemingly impossible, but that ain't gonna make it untrue.." "Maybe it IS untrue, Sonic." replied Knuckles. "Maybe it's just a dream.." Sonic looked around again. "Well, Knux, if what that guy said is true, this IS just a dream. But a dream that can kill us. Now, lets go.." Knuckles hesitantly agreed.
"But where do we start?" asked Knuckles. "We don't know if this place is north, south, east or west, up or down.. it could be ANYWHERE!" Sonic nodded. "Hey, I wonder if anyone else is here.." he said. "I mean, if I imagine that Sally is here, could we interact with her, or would she just ignore us?" Knux shrugged. "Dunno.. but it doesn't look like anyone else is here, anyway!" Sonic ran up to Sally's hut, and knocked on the door. He waited. "Why don't we just storm in?" asked Knuckles. Sonic turned the knob. "It's locked.." he said. "I have a key." replied Knux. He walked up to the door, raised his fist, and punched it down with a crash. Sonic grinned, and the two walked in. It was so dark.. they couldn't see anything until they were right inside. They appeared to be standing on a metal balcony. "Never seen something like THIS in Sal's room before!" said Sonic. Knux turned around, and saw a wall behind them. "Sonic, where did we come from?" he asked. Sonic's eyes adjusted to the dim light. They weren't in Knothole anymore.. they were in Robotropolis. "Whoa man.. I gotta get used to these quick scenery changes!" he said. "Hey, where'd these people come from?" Sonic and Knuckles looked up to see a gathering of Mobians forming an arc around behind them. Each one had a puff of streamers in each hand. "GO SONIC, GO SONIC, GO GO GO!" they shouted. "Cheerleaders?" Sonic asked, confused. "YEAH SONIC! HE'S OUR MAN! IF HE CAN'T DO IT, NO-ONE CAN! YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAH SONIC!" Confetti fell on their heads out of nowhere. Knuckles cringed. "Welcome to Sonic's dream."
CHAPTER THREE:
They could hear robots approaching from every angle. "Uh oh!" shouted Sonic. He and Knux began to run. "Remember, whatever happens to us in here happens out there!" They rushed down the corridors, SWAT-bots pouring out of every nook and cranny, guns drawn. They were gaining on the two. "We can't fight these guys!" yelled Sonic. "What are we going to do?" Knux grabbed him and pulled him towards the edge. Grabbing a cable, the two swung down to the ground, and began running in the other direction. "Who are you? Indiana Knuckles?" he asked. Knux just grinned. "Come on.. there's gotta be a way outta this building!" They opened a door, and ran inside, slamming it behind them. They could hear more robots running through the corridors towards them. "Man, your dreams suck!" shouted Knux. "At least I'm not dreaming about falling!" replied Sonic. "Come on.. I think the exit is this way!" Knuckles turned, smacked his fist into a robot, and kept running. Another few SWATs dropped down in front of them. They took a detour, and finally found their way to the main hallway. As more SWATs appeared, they ran towards the two double-doors marked 'exit', opened them up, and gasped..
More hallways. "There's always been an exit here!" shouted Sonic. At the sound of the approaching robots, and discharging weapons, they continued to run. "Darnit!" shouted Knuckles. "I don't think this place HAS an exit! It just keeps going and going.." "We can't keep running forever!" replied Sonic. They ran down a corridor.. and smacked into a wall. "Oh crap! A dead end!" announced Sonic. They could hear the robots approaching closer and closer.. "Wait a second!" shouted Knux. "Sonic.. this is a DREAM, right?" Sonic nodded. Knuckles turned around, and put his hands on the wall. "What are you doing?" asked Sonic. Knuckles ripped the wall, as if it was made of paper! It made a tearing sound, as he shredded it with his knuckles. There was a green field outside. The two vanished out the hole he had made, and into the grass. When they turned around, Robotropolis had vanished. "Well, that was.. strange.." Sonic muttered, picking a strip of metal-coloured paper off his shoulder. Knuckles giggled. "This is GREAT!" he yelled. "I can do ANYTHING!" He jumped into the air with his arms outstretched, and landed with a thump in the grass. "Oh.. except flying, I guess.." he added. Sonic looked around. They were in a field of flowers. "Oh, this is pretty." he muttered. "Where do we go now?" Knux shrugged, picking himself up. "I dunno.. this place seems to stretch over the horizon!" He looked down at one of the flowers. It was bobbing back and forth. A dark blue flower.. Sonic's skin colour. The flowers beside it were all the same colour, and the grass was remarkably similar. Looking up, Knux realised that the entire field was blue. He shook his head. "Was this place always blue?" he asked. Sonic shrugged. "I think so." Knux moaned a little. "Geez I hate this place... the planet keeps shifting around like a rubix cube, and it always seems like it never changed." He looked down and saw water, just off the edge. "Oh, I know where we are, now!" he said. "We're in Hydrocity!" Sonic looked around. "Weren't there flowers here a second ago?" he asked. "I don't think so... were there?" asked Knux.
Something watched them, as they walked. Something wet and slippery. After they left, it turned into a puddle, and slid across the wet stone in the same direction.
As Sonic walked, he recognised his surroundings. "This is the exact same path I took last time I was here!" he said. "Of course." replied Knuckles. "You've never seen any other parts of Hydrocity, so your mind can only reproduce what you've already seen.." He was cut off by a low snarling sound. "What was that?" asked Sonic. His gaze turned to the water. It was bubbling and boiling.. changing shape. Sonic squinted. Emerging from the water was what looked like a giant moray eel.. but his dream was obviously fuzzy, because so was the vision. The creature let out a gurgled roar. "Aw, crap!" yelled Knux. "Sonic, do you ever dream about anything NICE?" he asked. "Some fuzzy pink plush bunny-rabbits would go down REALLY WELL, about now!" The figure appeared to shrink, into something smaller and more visible. Sonic could see who it was, now. It looked like him, only a darker blue, and rougher. His gloves were dark grey, and had chunks missing out of them. "Cinos!" Sonic said, beginning to fret. "Where did YOU come from? You were destroyed!" Cinos chuckled. "But Sonic.. I never left!" he said, raspilly. Sonic remembered. "Oh yeah.. it's a dream." he mumbled. "Cinos was grinning. "It's so nice to see my brother again!" he announced. "Wish I could say the same." Sonic grumbled. Cinos took one hand from behind his back, and produced the Negatron. Sonic and Knuckles recognised it immediately. "I like brothers." said Cinos, matter-of-factly. "In fact, I wouldn't mind having a few more!" He discharged the weapon, and Sonic went flying back from the blast. When he got up, there were two Cinoses standing there. They both chuckled. The original Cinos shot Sonic again and again, creating more and more dark hedgehogs. Soon, the room was full of evil-minded Sonic duplicates.. closing in on Sonic and Knuckles..
"OH YEAH?" shouted Knux. He stormed down the hallway towards the attacking army, punched several hedgehogs out of the way, and approached Cinos. The echidna reached behind him, and pulled out a MASSIVE red mallet, with yellow stars around it, like something you'd see in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. "Take THIS!" he shouted, slamming the mallet down HARD onto Cinos' head. The Negatron fell out of his limp hands. Knux grabbed the machine, pointed it at Cinos, and fired. When the light faded, there was another Sonic standing there. Kux fired again and again, producing more Sonics. Then, when all the good and bad hedgehogs began to attack each other, Knux tossed the Negatron into the crowd, and bolted towards the wall. He grabbed the knob of a door (which Sonic was SURE wasn't there before), and called to his compodre. Opening the door, there was an incredible wind, and Knux and Sonic were sucked out.
Looking above them, they could see an aeroplane. They were falling from it. "We were in a plane?" asked Sonic. "I thought it was Hydrocity!" He awaited Knuckles' reply, but he saw that the echidna was way below him. Suddenly, it came to his attention that they were FALLING. He saw Knux pull a ripcord, and a parachute opened above him. Feeling his back, Sonic realised that he had a chute, too. He pulled the cord, and the bag on his back opened. Cups, pots and pans flew out. "Uh oh." he said. Desperately searching for a secondary chute, Sonic found another ripcord. He pulled it, and it snapped off. One of the rare times that Sonic openly swore.
WHAM. Pain filled Sonic's body. Knuckles ran over to see if Sonic was okay. The hedgehog moaned. Amazingly, he was not injured. "Sonic!" Knux yelled. "Sonic, you really have to be a lot more careful!" he said. "Remember.. if you got killed here, you'd get killed out there!" Sonic sat up and shook his head. "I couldn't help it!" he said. "My chute didn't work!" "Mine neither!" replied Knux. "But you can do things, remember? When I pulled the cord, the bag fell off.. so I reached behind me and pulled out a bedsheet! Sonic, you can't let the dream rule you.. fight back!" Sonic moaned again. "I'm not sure if I can.." he said. "Sure you can!" replied Knux. "You just have to concentrate! Now come on, let's keep going." Sonic looked up, and realised they were on Sky Sanctuary. "Why can't we stay in one place for more than five minutes?" he asked. "This is getting annoying!" "Don't worry." replied Knux. "We'll get outta here eventually." "What makes you suddenly Mr. Hopeful?" asked Sonic, remembering how disbelieving Knux was at the beginning of their adventure, and how he himself was so calm. "We gotta have hope." replied Knux. "'else, what chance have we got?" Sonic nodded, and they trekked on.
"Help!" came a voice. "Help me!" Knux instinctively searched for the voice, while Sonic ran after him. "It ain't real!" he shouted. "There's nobody there!" Knux didn't hear Sonic's shouts, and pulled aside the bushes. There was a girl there. An echidna. Remembering a few months back, Knux realised that it was Rose O'Sixty. Or, as the pronounciation was properly written, Ro.Se. 0-6-T. Robotnik's recon assassin android. "What are you doing here?" Knux demanded. Ro.Se. whimpered. "Help me!" she said, ignoring the question. "You big ol' hunk o' man!" she grinned and fluttered her eyebrows. "WHO'S dream is this?" he asked Sonic, who just approached. "Ugh." Sonic moaned. "It's HER. This old dream again.." Knux looked at him. "Old dream?" he asked. "Yeah." replied Sonic. "Had it a few weeks ago. Rose just sits there, begging you to help her, I dunno why..." His eyes suddenly widened. "Ohmygod.." he muttered. "What?" asked Knux, failing to notice the shadow rising behind him. "What happened next?" Sonic grabbed his wrist. "What happens next.." he repeated the question. "She chops your head off, and pumps fifty bullets into my face!!"
Knuckles ducked the sudden swipe of a sword. "Where'd she get that?" he asked. As she was dazed and confused (this wasn't how the dream was supposed to turn out), Knux rolled behind the robot, and gave her an uppercut. She sprawled foward, and Sonic kicked her off the edge of Sky Sanctuary. The two grinned, and slapped each other high-fives. When they looked away, they were on the ground again. "We were on Sky Sanctuary before, weren't we?" Sonic asked. "I think so.. we butted Rose off the edge of _something_, anyway.. Hey, what's that?" They stared at a large building in the middle of nowhere. Lit up like a casino (it was suddenly night-time), was a gigantic neon sign which read "Control Central".
CHAPTER FOUR:
Stepping inside the building, Sonic and Knuckles saw that it was like a nightclub. People were dancing all over the place, some of them recognizable, people Sonic once knew, or knew still, locked away in the back of his mind. "Weird.." Knux muttered. "Yeah." Sonic agreed. "But whatever it looks like, it's still the place, all the same. We can finally go home!"
A figure appeared before them. It was Rotor. "You made it!" he said. There was the sound of bells, and confetti fell onto their heads. "How do we get home?" asked Sonic, yelling over the music. "Quite simple!" replied Rotor. He held out two shoes. High-heels. They were red, and covered with glitter. Knuckles, knowing what was going to happen, suddenly burst out laughing. He fell to his knees, cacking up. Sonic blushed heavily. "Put them on." continued Rotor. "Put on the ruby slippers!" Sonic looked down, and realised his original red shoes weren't there, and he was standing in his socks. He grabbed the shoes, and put them on. He nearly tripped in the high-heels. Knuckles laughed harder. "Now, tap the heels together three times." said Rotor. Sonic followed his instructions. "Now, repeat after me.." Rotor began. "There's no place like home.. there's no place like home.." "There's no place like home.. there's no place like home.." Sonic repeated over and over again. The world around him began to brighten. Everything was going white. "It's working!" Sonic thought. "I'm waking up!" Everything around him faded out of view, and he could hear new noises.. people walking around in his hut.. he could feel his blanket.. and then he snapped awake.
"Sonic!" shouted Sally. "You're awake!" "Me too." said Knux, from across the room. Sonic moaned. "I had a dream." he muttered. "Yeah.." replied Knux, pointing to Sally and Rotor. "And YOU were there, and YOU were there..." Sonic reached over and slapped him upside the head. The echidna grinned in return. Sally cast a glance out the door. "Man, I wish you guys were fit to fight." she said. "Robotnik's sending an army of SWATs into the village." "WHAT??" Sonic shouted, jumping up. "Lie down.." Sally said. "We're fit.. really!" said Sonic. "Sal, we HAVE to protect Knothole.." Sally hesitantly agreed. "You've been in a bad way, though.." she said. But Sonic and Knux were already up and out.
Knux smacked his fist into a SWAT-bot, and it fell to the ground. "I wonder why 'Buttnik's using SWATs again?" asked Sonic, attacking a robot. "I mean, the E-100s are much stronger.." Knux shrugged. "I have no clue." he replied. "What's more on my mind is why would he become a recluse, as if he's planning something, and then suddenly attack us with less force than he had a month ago?" Sonic shook his head. Looking around, he saw that the attack had ended. Except for one. It was Mecha Sonic. Mecha chuckled evilly. "What is your boss up to?" Knux demanded. "You mean Robotnik?" asked Mecha. "Heh.. he's dead." Sonic took a step back. "You heard me." said Mecha. "He's been dead for weeks now. The sheilds that were put up over Robotropolis.. the reclusiveness... it was all simply preparation.. turning the robots to obey Packbell and I! We now rule Robotropolis." "Is.. is that true?" asked Sonic. "Yes." replied Mecha. "And you are next."
"Sonic.." began Knux. "Sonic.. this is.. too weird." he said. "We're not out of it yet." "Huh?" asked Sonic. "It's true." replied Knux. "We're still in it." "In WHAT?" asked Sonic. Knuckles reached behind his back, and pulled out some kind of bazooka or missile launcher. With an incredible bang, but considerably little effort, he blasted the robot hedgehog into next week. When the smoke cleared, they couldn't see anything except metal. Metal buildings, metal ground. "We never got out." Sonic mumbled. "It was another manifestation.. I'm still dreaming."
It looked like the anti-verse... everyone around them was a robot. they found themselves marching through a city.. it doesn't look like Robotropolis.. Sonic looked to his left, and saw the Freedom Fighters.. all robots. "Robots?" he asked. "How did THAT happen?" he looked to his right, and saw Mecha, Robotnik, and a strange bat.. the latter two appear to be the only living things left on Mobius. "What's going on?" he asked himself. "All these robots! And who is that bat?" The bat looked at him and grinned. Then Sonic happened look down, and got a shock... HE HIMSELF was also covered in metal! He lost it, and tried to scream.. but his programming prevented it.
"We're ROBOTS!" shouted Knuckles, in a strange, digital voice. "NO!" Sonic shouted (or tried to). He shook his head, trying to get the metal off. He grabbed his arm, and tried to shake the cold steel from it. He thrashed around, until he felt a tingle. Looking down, he saw.. blue! In the other hand, he held a strip of the metal.. it was just masking tape! He continued to tear the tape off his body, revealing more and more blue. Soon, he was himself again. He looked over at Knuckles.. he had the right idea, too, and was removing the metal piece-by-piece. Suddenly, they heard a voice. "You did it! Finally!" Sonic looked around for the source of the voice. they were now in a building.. and a very strange one, at that. There was an odd contraption in the center of the room, with a hole in the center, and a strange eerie light in the hole. A figure stepped out of the shadows. A hedgehog. Sonic's first thought was that it was Cinos again, but it wasn't. The figure looked exactly like Sonic in every way. He was grinning. "You did it." he said. "You finally did it! You took control of your manifestation, and defeated it! And in return, you have access to this place.. Control Central!" "Huh?" asked Knuckles. "But I've been doing that from the beginning! I've been defeating his dumb imagination.." "SHUT UP!" shouted the second Sonic. "I wasn't talking to you, Outsider! God only knows why you're even HERE! You've been ruining the tests all day!" he turned back to Sonic. Sonic looked dumbfounded. "You look just like ME!" he said. The second Sonic grinned. "Yes, Sonic. I am the head of Control Central. I am your humour.. your sadness.. your anger.. your joy.. your happiness.. I am your essence.. your lifeblood. I am YOU, Sonic." Sonic shook his head. "Well, whatever you are, we have to get home, so can you just 'abracadabra' us back into our bodies?" The second Sonic smiled coldly. "Oh Sonic... Forget about home!" he said. "What?" asked Knux. "There is no way back." repliied the entity, wavering slightly. "That portal leads to death! There is no way back." "NO!" shouted Knuckles. He bolted towards the machine in the center of the room, and leaped through the hole. The second Sonic made no attempt to stop him. "Now it is just you and I, I suppose." he said. "Where did Knuckles go?" demanded Sonic. "The outsider?" asked the other Sonic. "Knuckles is dead."
"DEAD?" shouted Sonic. "KNUX!!" The second Sonic held him back. "Do not worry about him." he said. "You need not worry.. You can simply conjure up another friend! You see, you have proved yourself.. proved that you can take control of your own overactive imagination! Now that you can do that, you have been given access to Control Central! Here, you can control EVERYTHING!" "Huh? What do you mean?" asked Sonic. "Simple!" replied the second Sonic. "Everything you see around you.. evrything you DON'T see, even.. you have the power to make things happen! If you want to go on a jungle adventure, just imagine it! If you're thirsty, imagine a glass of soda! Don't you see? Control Central IS the missing link between imagination and reality! Imagination IS reality here! Therefore, anything within the limits of your imagination is YOURS!" The strange Sonic clone was shouting, by the time he reached the end of his sentance. Then he calmed a little. "You need not worry about what is going on 'out there'." he said. "Live through infinity here with me! 'Out there' only leads to death, but your soul will live on, here! Forever.."
Sonic began to consider the other entity's proposition. The Sonic clone looked around, and a monster appeared. The same monster he and Knuckles had seen in the dream Hydrocity zone. The eel/lizard, made of liquid. It was still blurry, as it was last time. "What made me dream about this thing?" Sonic muttered, in disgust. "You know, dreams can sometimes be premonitions.." the other Sonic said. "Visions of the future.." "What?" asked Sonic. "Nevermind." replied the second Sonic. "It is no longer any of your concern. Now, if you do not like this beast, get rid of it! Make it go away!" Sonic stared at the horrid creature. "I.. I can't." he stammered. "YOU HAVE THE POWER!" shouted the second Sonic. "Go away!" Sonic shouted at the monster. As if following an order, the beast seeped into the pavement, and vanished. "AH! YOU SEE?" shouted the Sonic clone. "You can do anything you want!" "Hey.. that WAS pretty cool.." Sonic said. He imagined a bowl of ice cream, and it appeared in front of him, as if by magic. Then he concentrated some more, and the confectionary turned from white to brown.. from vanilla to chocolate. "Yes.. YES!" shouted the second Sonic. "You have the idea! YOU HAVE THE POWER!!" "I could get used to this!" Sonic thought..
But then his thoughts drifted.. currently, in the REAL world, his friends were fighting a war. Staying here would be abandoning them. "Forget about them!" said the second Sonic, apparently reading his mind. "You want to fight a war, just imagine one!" Sonic remembered what Soul Man had told him.. the last thing he said..
"In the end, the greatest threat to you will be yourself."
This was some kind of test.. His own self was posing a threat, trying to keep him here.. away from his life. "This is all wrong." he said. "What?" asked the second Sonic, smile fading. "It's all terribly WRONG!" Sonic repeated. "God put me on Mobius so I could live my OWN LIFE! Not to be some kind of.. immortal being, who controls everything in the universe!" "No, that's not true!" yelled the second Sonic, hurriedly. "Sonic, you ARE God! And THIS is your Heaven! Your HOME! YOUR ESSENCE!" "NO!" shouted Sonic, bolting for the machine. "GET BACK HERE!" screamed the second Sonic.. he began to change shape.. He became Amy Rose! "Please Sonic.. stay! Stay with us! Stay forever!" Sonic looked back, frowned, fought off the urge, and ran back towards the machine. Amy turned back into Sonic's clone. "YOU CAN MAKE THINGS HAPPEN HERE!" he shouted. Sonic stopped, and turned. He walked back towards his clone. "You're right." he said. The se cond Sonic grinned. "Yesssss!" he hissed. Sonic raised his hand, his forefinger locked behind his thumb. "I can make things happen." he repeated. He flicked the Sonic clone's forehead. Screaming, the second Sonic flew through the air and smashed through the window above. Dusting his hands off, Sonic ran towards the machine, and jumped through...
EPILOGUE:
"Sonic.. wake up buddy.." came a voice. Knuckles' voice. Sonic awoke, to see the echidna standing next to his bed. "Finally!" he said. "Heck, I didn't think you'd come back!" "He told me you were dead.." said Sonic. "Dead?" asked Knux. "Do I look dead?" He pinched Sonic's arm, to prove that he was actually alive. "We made it! We're out of your dang-blasted head!" Sonic grinned. "Now, I hope you don't know any more about what goes on up here than I'd like known.." he said. Knux shook his head. "It was a dream, remember? As easily forgotten as any other dream.. heck, I've already forgotten everything that happened except the major things.." Sonic smiled, and got out of the bed. This time, the distance to the door actually decreased as he was walking. It was good to be back in logic again. He opened the door, and stepped out. He wasn't looking below him, until it was too late.. nothing but air beneath him.. and he began to fall.. falling.. falling.. falling..
THUD.
"Ah crap." Sonic said, picking himself up. "I really should pull that root out.. that's the third time I've tripped on it this week!"
SERIES TWO CHRONOLOGY:
1. The New Girl
2. Dragon the Chain
3. Never Say Nemesis
4. When a Hedgehog Meets a Fox
5. Just Your Imagination
6. Shred
7. The Death Machine
8. Metal Made Flesh
9. Power Corrupts
10. Halfway Across the Galaxy
11. Two For One
12. Prologue to an Adventure
13. Adventure