Series 3 - The Runes of Awakening
Episode 2
Sonic's quest begins
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It was raining outside.. the water made a pitter-patter sound as it fell onto the floor of the forest..
A nearby cave was illuminated by a faint glow, and inside was the sound of rummaging. Then silence, then more frantic noises. Until, at last, there was a slight cry of victory.
"It matches!"
A dark figure stood well inside the cave, holding a stone tablet, covered in runes. He was running his fingers over it.. reading it.. translating it.
"Hereby our pact to seperate evenly the lands from the lands, the peoples from the peoples, and time itself be carried through. The key to the old ways is the stone of Awakening, split evenly into five marked pieces and spread across the lands.."
The figure's raspy voice was excited as his eyes moved from the tablet to the wall of the cave. It was also coveed in runes. Millions and millions of markings. A varitable library.
There was a crash of thunder.
"..The pieces can only be located by the special herbal skills of the porcupine alchemist."
The figure, a dark blue hedgehog, droplets of rain running down his cheeks, looked up and grinned.
"Checkmate."
Shoving the stone tablet violently into a knapsack, and threw it onto his back. He looked around to make sure he wasn't being watched. He wasn't. He leapt into a run.. his speed blurred his surroundings. He began to laugh.. quietly, then louder.
"The power will be mine!" he announced. "AND NOTHING ON EITHER OF THESE WORLDS CAN POSSIBLY STOP...... OOF!!"
He collided with something moving as fast as he was. He flew into the air, knapsack flying over his head, and both landed in the mud. Whatever had rammed him landed beside him.
Both he and his attacker pulled themselves to their feet. Two blue hedgehogs. They both cocked their heads to one side, then the other, slowly. Raised their hands and fluttered their fingers.. closed them into fists and opened them. They were completely synchronized, like a figure and it's reflection. Both of them frowned as recognition of the situation set in.
"I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes." One figure said.
The other grinned. Not a friendly grin. He picked up his knapsack.
"Funny I should meet you here.." he said. "Almost as if we think the same, Sonic."
"I destroyed you, Cinos." the other figure, Sonic, snapped back. There was a clash of thunder. "Last year.. you and Ashura."
"You didn't destroy me, Sonic!" Cinos snapped back. "You just managed to permanantly banish me to that infernal Anti-verse again!"
"Still doesn't explain why you're here!" Sonic complained. "Destroyed.. permanantly banished... what's the difference? You don't belong.."
"I hadn't planned to stay.." Cinos replied. "This time, I have NOT come here to try to get you! I have better things to do.. I was just leaving."
"What are you up to?" Sonic asked. "You don't just make an inter-dimentional jump and lurk in a cave for three hours if you have nothing on your mind! I've been tracking you for ages now.. I couldn't believe it was you, I had to make sure."
"Well it IS me!" Cinos shouted. "And my business does NOT concern you! You don't want me lurking around? Then step back and let me be ON MY WAY!"
"Give me that!" Sonic shouted, grabbing Cinos' knapsack. The clone snatched for it back, and knocked it out of Sonic's hands. The tablet tumbled out.
"What's that?" Sonic demanded. "Tell me!"
"Call it a souvenier!" Cinos snapped back. He grabbed the tablet, and pulled something else out of the sack. Some kind of remote control. He gave a big red button on the remote a hard stab, and it lit up.
"Ever seen Sliders, Sonic?" he asked.
"What?" Sonic replied.
Cinos didn't reply... the world seemed to twist around, focusing into a huge hole in space itself.. into which Cinos was violently ripped. There was some kind of huge sound, like an explosion, and Sonic could see his clone brother inside the strange rift, stretched into a long blue ribbon.
"I have to find out what he's up to." Sonic announced to himself.
Then he made one of those split-second decisions - the ones that you completely regret in the NEXT split-second. He took a running jump into the portal, which closed around him.
When the rift closed (closer to collapsing around itself), everything stood still, like it never happened at all. But there was somebody missing - Sonic the Hedgehog... he had no idea what he had just gotten himself into.
CHAPTER ONE:
When Sonic woke up, he couldn't breathe.
Not very well, anyway. His nose was clogged up with the bizarre fog which was surrounding him. He opened his mouth to increase his breathing hole, and stumbled along the wet ground. What had happened? All he could remember was talking to Cinos the Hedgehog.. or was that a dream? No... it all began to come back to him.
Sonic was on his way to Terantulopolis when he first saw Cinos, his evil clone brother. He was on a rescue mission for Amy Rose, who had been kidnapped by Saddam Spinster (the new 'Robotnik' on the block). But, even though he knew Amy was in need of his help, his mind was very quickly side-tracked when he saw the incredibly bright flash of light behind the trees, and moreso, when he saw himself walking into a clearing. He knew of only one other blue hedgehog who looked so similar to himself - Cinos. "It can't be.." he had thought. But it wasn't enough just to think that to himself. He had to see with his own eyes. He had destroyed Cinos - he knew he had. So, as a storm began to build up in the clouds overhead, he wandered into the forest, tracking his clone, his mind completely oblivious to the original task at hand.
"And I followed him here." Sonic mumbled to himself.
He tripped over something, and went sprawling in the mud.
"Great." he garbled.
Looking back, he noticed what he had tripped on. Some kind of robot.. dead. A SWAT-bot. It was laying face-first in a puddle.
"Haven't seen one of those in quite a while.." Sonic thought to himself. Dr. Robotnik had been using E-series robots for the past year, instead of the scrap SWATs. Was this the remains of a robot that the mad doctor had just forgotten to recall? Sonic wanted to believe that. He really wanted to, but he was lying to himself - he knew perfectly well where he was, and it wasn't Mobius.. not as he knew it.
He was in the Anti-verse.
He had only been there once before, and it was two years prior - he was sent there by Dominatrek as part of a test. But something was wrong.. different. The fog was clearing, and Sonic could now see hundreds of SWAT-bots lying dead all over the forest floor. Indeed, thousands. Probably all of them. Had the Robotnik of this world reached the same conclusion about their uselessness? No... Sonic remembered that the Anti-verse Robotnik was dead - his throne taken by Mecha Sonic. Mecha had wreaked havoc on the planet... then Sonic had a thought. They had defeated Mecha when he and the others were here.
What had happened to Mobius then?
The fog cleared more. Sonic could see a mountain, carved into a shape, in the tradition of Mount Rushmore.. Sonic squinted at it.
The original shape of the statue was obviously a bust of Mecha Sonic. But it had been changed.. re-worked. The robot's face had been changed into the face of a hedgehog. It was Sonic... or somebody who looked like him.
Sonic's eyes watered at the realization.
"Oh God.. I've dug myself in deep now. Look who rules the Anti-verse."
***
"I'M HOME, FELLERS!"
Cinos bashed the door open, and marched into his office. A servant was standing next to his desk, smiling. "Welcome back, sir!"
Cinos threw his knapsack onto the table, and dragged out the stone tablet.
"Oooh, I'm so CLOSE now!" he snarled. "Rasputan was right! Where is Rasp, anyway?"
"He's in front of the television downstairs, sir." the servant replied.
"Aah, that loafer!" Cinos replied, then he cackled loudly. "I tell you, Maximillion, you get a twisted Pagan and introduce him to modern comforts, and he'll eat out of your hand!"
"Only you could formulate such a scheme, my Liege!" the servant announced.
"Yeah, that's right!" Cinos replied. He stabbed a button on the table.
"Get Rasputan up here!" he demanded through the intercom. He waited impatiently for five minutes, and then he was greeted by a knock on the door.
"Yeah yeah, come in!" Cinos rasped.
The door opened, and a figure stood beyond it.. a red porcupine. The quills behind his head were long and thin, tied back in several ponytails, each one decorated with various quill-rings and tied ribbons. He wore a tattered shirt and long trousers, which came down over his feet. Underneath them were a pair of brand new sneakers, which didn't fit in with the rest of his tattered appearance.. they had been presents from Cinos. The porcupine grinned.
"Have you retrieved the recipe?" he asked.
Cinos picked up the stone tablet, and handed it to his visitor. The porcupine nibbled on his nails, as he read through it, his eyes darting from rune to rune. Every so often, he mumbled something like "Nutmeg" or "Starflower" or "Rat-seed". Eventualy, his grinning face stared up at Cinos.
"Yep, definately an alchemical recipe!" he announced. "And the sacred inscription to boot! This will lead you to POWER, my friend, and MUCH of it!"
"EXCELLENT!" Cinos exclaimed. "What do you need?" He was clasping his hands in anticipation.
"Toothpaste." the porcupine announced.
"Toothpaste?" Cinos repeated. "The secret to infinate, post-omnipotent power is contained in toothpaste? How original.."
"No!" the porcupine corrected. "Not for this! My mouth is dry, and I crave that minty freshness described on the label."
Cinos frowned. "You've brushed your teeth five times, today." he reminded. "I WAS rather hoping that we could get down to business, Rasputan."
"Hey!" the porcupine protested. "I am RASPUTAN NETHERGATE! The greatest alchemist this side of the time-space continue-whatever! And if I say I need fresh breath, I know what I'm talkin' about, buddy!" He nibbled on his fingernail.
"Fine, fine, take your time." Cinos rasped. "Anytime before Christmas will be wonderful."
Rasputan grinned, uneven, sharp teeth glittering, and he turned and walked out. Cinos sat down with a huff, and looked over the stone recipe again.
Another assistant walked through the door, almost bumping into the exiting porcupine.
"Cinos..?" he inquired.
"WHAT??" Cinos shrieked, banging his hand so hard on the desk that the contents almost dropped onto the floor.
The assistant gulped. "There's an un-registered Mobian wandering around out there." he said.
Cinos looked puzzled. He turned to look out the window, then turned back. "Out there?" he asked.
"Yes." the assistant replied, nodding. "He's a blue hedgehog.. he kinda looks like you, Sire. He looks lost."
"Looks like me?" Cinos asked. He turned to the door. "GUARDS!! GET IN HERE!!" he shrieked. Then he turned back to the assistant. "Looks like me?" he asked again.
"Yeah..." the assistant replied.
"&$@*!! &$#%!!! &#^&$!!!" Cinos screamed, banging his fist again. Four guards walked through the door at that moment, and were caught unawares by the sudden wave of profanity coming from Cinos' general direction.
"HE FOLLOWED ME!!" he yelled. "That... lousy... handsome... sucker FOLLOWED ME!! GUARDS!! I WANT YOU TO SEAL THIS CITY!!"
The hedgehog jumped from his seat, waving a finger at the guards.
"Get EVERY GUARD on FULL ALERT!" he commanded. "Make SURE that hedgehog can't get in! Make sure NOBODY can get in OR out! NOBODY!! Not YOU, not ME, and NOT THAT HEDGEHOG!!"
The tall fox standing in the corner, Maximillion, Cinos' handservant, raised a hand and spoke up. "Sire, is such bother really required?" he asked.
Cinos stopped screaming and turned to him. His face was red. "What.. did you say?" he asked. His eyelid flinched.
"I mean, he's just ONE BLUE HEDGEHOG!" Maximillion chuckled. "What can he possibly DO? The city is safe!"
"One blue hedgehog.." Cinos repeated. He lowered his arm, and the blush on his face began to fade again. He actually began to smile. "One blue hedgehog!" He giggled, then chuckled. "Just one, blue, Mobian hedgehog!"
"That's right!" Maximillion replied, smiling also.
Cinos began to laugh heartily. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "Just one blue Mobian hedgehog! What can he possibly do?"
Both Cinos and Maximillion were now laughing, as if from some riotous joke.
"I'm so.. worried.. about one blue hedgehog!" Cinos announced between gasps. "One blue Mobian hedgehog! What can one blue Mobian hedgehog do? Oh, hey Max.. do you wanna know what one blue Mobian hedgehog can do?"
Max was too busy laughing to answer.
"THIS!!!" Cinos screamed, suddenly. He brought out a huge gun he had holstered before, pointed it directly at his servant, and fired.
Maximillion's pupils shrank, and he began to scream, but it all lasted less than a second. An enormous beam came from the barrel of the gun, and struck him dead in the stomach. His entire body turned blue, and almost instantly, the servant was reduced to a small pile of smoking blue ashes.
Cinos, fury beyond description raging in his eyes, turned to his guards. They stood and stared.. one of them shaking a little.
"I AM ONE BLUE MOBIAN HEDGEHOG!!!" Cinos screamed. "I AM ONE BLUE MOBIAN HEDGEHOG!!! Wanna know what I did? I INVADED THIS CITY, AND DOMINATED IT!!! I TOOK THE WHOLE FRIGGING THING!!! I BUILT A DE-ROBOTIZER AND FREED ALL OF YOU TO LIVE AS MY SERVANTS!!! DON'T you DARE underestimate my powers! And WHATEVER you do, DON'T you DARE underestimate HIS powers!! Because HIS powers and MY powers are the SAME!! In order to stop him, you have to protect this city EVEN BETTER THAN IT WAS WHEN I TOOK IT OVER!! Because I got through the defenses, and HE CAN TO!! Now GO AND DO IT!!" His entire body was shaking with fury. The guards stumbled over themselves to get out of the office. Cinos slammed the door behind them, and marched over to the window, kicking Maximillion's ashes on the way. (The pile exploded with a 'POOT' and formed a small cloud of dust.) He couldn't see through the window.. the fog was too thick. He turned to his desk, and stabbed the intercom button. "RASPUTAN!" he shouted. "It's time. NOW!"
***
Sonic stared in awe at the city. He hated Robotropolis. He hated Terantulopolis. And he hated this nameless, polluted, foggy place.
"I don't think I like cities anymore." he announced out loud.
"If we ever tear down Terantulopolis, I vote we erect a fast food joint."
There was somebody standing there, in the fog... the figure was staring.. then he began to walk up to Sonic. Sonic (never knowing what to expect from this universe) readied himself for a possible fight.
But the figure just saluted. A tall fox in a uniform.
"Welcome back, sir!" he announced.
Sonic almost questioned this, but then realised...
"Yeah, yeah!" he snapped, making his voice as raspy as possible. "Get out of my way, you idiot, let me through."
The guard thought he was Cinos! And the trick worked, too, because the hedgehog was given access to the city.
"Now I need to find out how Cinos made that rift.. and I gotta make another one! 'Else I'll be stuck in this ratty Anti-verse forver.."
The thought of living in this universe spooked him quite a bit. It wasn't exactly a prime vacation spot.
He didn't notice that the guard was still standing there, but he should have.
He should have heard the beeper sound.
He should have seen Cinos' message against blue hedgehogs flashing across its screen.
He should have seen that the guard wasn't lightly armed.
He should have felt the guard's supicious, piercing gaze.
But, if none of the above, he should have seen the butt of the gun, sometime before it came in contact with his skull and knocked him out cold.
CHAPTER TWO:
Sonic opened his eyes, and he could see. Much to his horror, much to his disgust, he was not rendered blind. He shut his eyes tight to compromise.
He had a throbbing, agonizing pain on the back of his head, which gave him a clear picture of what had happened to him. And while he was unconcious, he had been taken to this nightmarish place.
He was in a dungeon, or something. And the only thing which matched the terrible sight of this place was the potent smell. Slowly, gagging, Sonic opened his eyes to bravely face the sight again.
It was very dark.. underground, or something.. but there were luminous lights bathing everything in a dark red glow. There were prisoners, too, although most of them were nothing but polished white bones hanging from chains and shackles on the wall. Some of them were alive, though, but in terrible condition. One furry Mobian, Sonic couldn't tell his species, had a chunk of metal for a head. He was walking in a circle. It took Sonic a while to realise that this creature was a victim of either robotization or derobotization gone wrong. He guessed it was the latter - he himself knew nothing about derobotization, so his identical clone surely wouldn't either. It would have taken him a very long time to devise a strategy.. a very long period of time filled with mistakes, errors, half-robot mutants...
"You're new here!" somebody shouted. Sonic turned to see an extremely boney weasel sitting beside him. He could see the Mobian's ribs.
"Did you bring any food?" the weasel asked. "I'm.. so hungry..."
Sonic now realised that the weasel was robotized from the pelvis down - he had one robotic leg down to a stump of a knee, and one hole filled with limp, burned wires where a second leg used to be.
"N...no" Sonic stammered. "No, I didn't, I'm sorry. You mean.. He doesn't feed you at ALL down here?"
"No.." the weasel replied. "We're freaks. Cinos' freak show.. his house of horrors. He doesn't need to keep us alive, we're useless to him. It won't be long now... I'm the only one left now. The only one with free will.. except you, of course. Are you a freak?"
"The only freak around here is Cinos." Sonic replied.
As if responding to this statement, a familiar raspy voice similar to his own could be heard from somewhere in the darkness.
"Where is he? I want to see him." it commanded. A few shapes emerged from the mist, one of which was a hedgehog with a spikey haircut.
The weasel who was next to Sonic took one look at the figure, one look at Sonic, and gasped. "It's you!" he shouted. "There.. there are two of you!"
"SONIC!" Cinos shouted, his face inches from Sonic's. Sonic leapt at the clone, but he was held back by shackles he didn't even know of before. They hurt.
"Don't bother, Sonic, you're on MY turf now." Cinos smirked. "I have the advantage here, not you."
"How did you do it?" Sonic demanded. "How did you take over this whole planet? You don't have the strength..."
"Of COURSE I have the strength, phoney!" Cinos snapped back. "Of course, YOU helped me. In fact, you paved the way! First you cleaned the place by deactivating that awful Metal Sonic back in '98, then you banished me here.. Shooting me with that energy blast, smashing the Negatron.. neither of them destroyed me, Sonic, they just warped my matter into this universe! Now I'm the king of the castle, and you.. you're just a dirty rascal."
"DIRTY?" Sonic shouted. "Who's DIRTY? I wouldn't create these.. these ACCIDENTS and then BANISH them to a DUNGEON to STARVE and SUFFER!!"
"Of COURSE you wouldn't!" Cinos replied. "In fact, that's the exact OPPOSITE of what you'd do, right? The EXACT opposite!"
"You're not just opposite, you're insane." Sonic said.
"Takes one to know one!" Cinos rasped. "That applies to twins especially!"
"What about all the other clones?" Sonic demanded. "The ones you made with the Negatron! Are they here too?"
"They were, but I vaporised them." Cinos replied bluntly. "After all, they would all have tried to take over. We fought. I won."
With that, the hedgehog clone was grabbed around the neck in a choke-hold by two metal hands. His eyes bulged in surprise. One of the mutants had grabbed him. Cinos' guards shouted and shot at the half-robot. It shot back. Somewhere in the gunfire, a projectile struck the chain holding Sonic to the wall, breaking it away. He clasped his hands together and looked upwards.
"I'll never ask for anything again." he swore, before bolting off in the direction Cinos had come from.
"GET HIM!" he heard Cinos' frantic scream. "HE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!! GET HIM!! AND DESTROY ALL THESE $%#% %#%#%#% &^#^#^#% &#^##&^#^ MUTANTS!!!!"
It was an hour later. Sonic was somewhere in a building, upstairs from the dungeon, but that's all he knew of his location. He no longer cared what Cinos was doing.. it was a parallel universe, he could do whatever the hell he wanted. All Sonic wanted to do was get home.
He looked down at himself. He didn't know how long he was in that dungeon unconcious, but he certainly was filthy. And he may have been free from the prison, but he still carried chains which made it difficult to move. His hands were chained together, his head was chained to his hands via his neck, a heavy chain was tied to his waist (it used to be attached to the wall, but was broken from Sonic's stroke of luck), and his left ankle was shackled to a long chain with a great big lead medicine ball (which he was carrying).
He walked down a long corridor, chains rattling behind him, his arms beginning to ache from carrying the ball, and came to a large extravagant doorway. Most of the rooms in this building were uniform in appearance, size and colour, but this room appeared to be a luxury suite. It was very dark.. black curtains everywhere. Curiosity overwhelming him, Sonic peered inside.
Little yellow points of light were everywhere. They were candles, set up in circles. Black cushions were padding the middle of the floor, and somebody was sitting on them. He appeared to be an echidna or a porcupine.. he had red fur, and was facing away from Sonic. He appeared to be humming something, and every so often he broke his concentration to dip into a bag of potato crisps. His spines were covered in all manner of silver oranamants, chains and decorations, but below his waste were a pair of long cargo pants and white sneakers. There were several strange jewels spread out before him.
Sonic looked in fascination, not making a sound except to breathe. He stood for about a minute watching, before the character's hand shot out backward and pointed directly at him.
"YOU! Whoever you are, don't bother me! I'm trying to contact the astral plane, it's not as easy as you think."
Sonic, having no idea what an astral plane was, didn't have a clue how difficult it was to contact. But he was discovered, so he decided to move away quietly before he was recognised as a fugitive.
"What's going on here?" he thought. "Who was that? It doesn't seem like the kinda guy Cinos likes to socialise with, but he sure has been given his share of luxuries!"
"Full alert, everybody! Cinos look-alike escaped in main process building. Capture any blue hedgehog unable to produce the secret password." a voice boomed throughout the complex.
"Uh-oh, better split!" Sonic exclaimed, looking both ways down the halls. Guards would probably spill out towards him any second.
Sonic stumbled away, carrying the heavy chains, searching for a place to hide. He bolted down a corridor to the left, and collided with a ten-foot crocodile in a suit of armour. The croc looked down at him and growled. Sonic gulped.
"Are you Cinos, or the prisoner?" the guard inquired.
Thinking quickly, Sonic worked up a bit of spit in the back of his throat to try and mimic Cinos' voice as best he could.
"I'm Cinos, you idiot! Are you telling me you can't tell me apart from an imposter? You make me sick! Get the hell out of my way and make yourself useful!"
The guard, who could crush Sonic without batting an eyelid, actually seemed intimidated. But he stood his ground.
"What is the password then?"
Sonic shivered. "Well, I... it's... Hey.. Never mind asking ME the password, why don't YOU say it? YOU could be an escaped prisoner, for all I know!"
The guard was startled. "HUH?"
"Come on, cough up the password!" Sonic shouted, gaining confidence as he knew he was winning. "Or else I'll have you thrown in the dungeon before you can say knife!"
"Awakening!" the guard shouted at once. "The password is Awakening, sire!" He shot his hand to his forehead in salute.
"And are you going to let me past?" Sonic demanded.
"Of course, sir!" the crocodile replied, stepping aside.
"And are you going to give me the key to these chains?" Sonic inquired.
"Of course, sir!" the croc repeated, holding out a small silver key.
"Good!" Sonic yelled, snatching it and stomping fowards past the guard in a very Cinos-like manner. He was feeling very proud of himself. He had managed to out-wit one of Cinos' guards, despite the fact he was in chains and had no idea about the password. Now he knew the password, ditched the chains (as soon as he was around the corner he unlocked himself and dumped them, giving the medicine ball a hearty kick down the hall), and all that was left to be done was find his clone's chamber and get back whatever it was that he used to hop between worlds. He would be home again. But Sonic had absolutely no idea how much work he would have to do when he DID get home. He had no idea that he wouldn't see his friends again for the remainder of the year. He had no idea that he would need to save the entire universe from his evil twin.
CHAPTER THREE:
Cinos walked side-by-side with Rasputan, the red porcupine. "You're sure you know the locations?" Cinos demanded.
"Got 'em all locked into my head, yessiree!" Rasp replied. "The herbs never lie! Them runes are stuck all over the world in a massive five-point-star-shape, they are! We may have to cross an ocean or two to get 'em all."
"As long as you know what you're doing." Cinos replied. "The train's leaving for the Universe very soon."
"They're not all smiles and sunshine and milk and cookies there, are they?" Rasp asked.
"Not exactly.." Cinos replied. "It's not quite like the Anti-verse, but you'll be fine."
Sonic found Cinos' office. It wasn't very dificult to get around, just as long as he barked "Awakening" at every guard he saw and acted evil and controlling. He couldn't help but think about what a strange password
"Awakening" was. It certainly served its purpose - nobody would ever guess it.
Now Sonic was scrounging around a desk in a large room. Cinos had slapped a poster of himself on the wall, over a window which looked over much of the city, which otherwise seemed to stretch forever. It was actually surrounded by foggy woods, the trees of which, Sonic discovered on his last visit, were artificial.
Lining both side walls of the room were bookshelves, and in the center was a large desk with an intercom, and a lot of strange equipment. There was a doorway off the side leading to Cinos' bizarre bedroom. There were also a lot of strange ashes spread around the floor, but Sonic didn't want to know what his so called brother was up to.
"Where is it?" Sonic demanded, searching through the desk. He knew what he was looking for - it was a remote control, not unlike those used on a television or VCR. He didn't notice the door opening up behind him, nor did he see who stepped through it.
"Well well well.." Cinos growled. "You're like the virus there's no cure for, Sonic."
Sonic spun around and came face to face with Cinos and the strange porcupine he saw earlier. He gulped.
"Would you believe.. I know the password?" he tried.
"I have to give you five points for effort!" his clone snarled. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Look, Cinos.." Sonic stammered. "Following you here was an accident. Whatever the heck you're doing in this universe is none of my concern. Just send me back.. you have no use for me."
"None of your concern?" Cinos asked. "HA! As a matter of fact, Sonic, it DOES concern you... not directly, but the Universe is at stake!"
"My universe?" Sonic asked. "I doubt that you and that bloke's silly rituals can do anything to harm anybody's UNIVERSE, Cinos."
"Hey!" Rasputan protested. "Those 'silly rituals' date back before the ECHIDNAS even BEGAN their CIVILISATION, pal!"
"What?" Sonic asked. "That's ridiculous. The echidnas were the first civilisation."
Both the porcupine and Cinos appeared insulted.
"WRONG!" Cinos shouted. "Wrong, wrong, WRONG! That's the most COMMON mistake, Sonic! The the porcupines PRE-DATED the echidnas by thousands of years! They just.. lived practically invisibly.. somehow."
"You're crazy.." Sonic said.
"I've been studying, Sonic!" Cinos replied proudly.
"STUDYING?" Sonic asked. "And you reckon you're equal to me? When was the last time you saw ME study?"
"Try being trapped in some parallel reality for a year with nothing to do and see how bored YOU get." Cinos growled.
"Even so, the history of THIS universe is completely different to MINE." Sonic protested.
"First of all, don't call this a universe, Sonic, because it's NOT." Cinos replied. "There is only ONE universe.. UNI means ONE. Secondly, you're wrong about the history thing. Pay attention, you might LEARN something. I've been studying up on the ancient history of Mobius, and discovered something startling.. the further back in time you go, the closer our dimentions RESEMBLE each other. And it all goes back to one common time, around a thousand years ago, when our histories are EXACTLY THE SAME. The Universe and the Anti-verse were exactly alike until one important event SPLIT the timelines.."
"Lovely." Sonic interrupted. "Let me know when you get to something relevant."
"SHUT UP!" Cinos commanded. "This is more relevant than you know! The porcupines were the dominant civilisation before the echidnas even discovered fire! They were all into that herbs and jewelry and candles crap. They lived like that for hundreds, maybe thousands of years! But then some of them got greedy and twisted, and went against the more timid and peace-keeping ones. So, to prevent an all-out war, all the porcupines created a pact.. they made a deal. Then they gathered up all their little candles and their crystals and weeds into a little pile, and they SPLIT THE ENTIRE FRAGGING SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM, Sonic! THAT was the intersection in our history! All the nice goody-goody porcupines and their %^$@!! candles were given the Universe, and all the twisted, greedy ones were given the ANTI-verse, which goes a LONG WAY to explaining why this place has gone to hell!"
"I still don't see why this concerns me.." Sonic admitted.
"DUH!" Cinos shouted at once. "Everything has an 'undo' function! The porcupines created a tablet, see.. 'the stone of awakening' it was called. It served to connect the two dimentions together, kind of as a land bridge.. the two porcupine races could still communicate with each other even though they couldn't trespass in each other's dimention. But when the Anti-verse porcupines became too scheming and maniacal, the Universe porcupines decided they would BREAK the connection, for their own sakes. So the tablet was SHATTERED into FIVE STONES, each one with a rune.. they were called the RUNES of Awakening. I'm not confusing you, am I? It doesn't matter, Sonic, because if those runes came together again, they would generate so much sudden force and bring the two dimentions together so quickly that they would MERGE once again, just like they were merged a thousand years ago!"
"And what's in it for you?" Sonic inquired.
"I'm glad you asked." Cinos growled. "It's the side-effects that I'm interested in. The force that the runes generate would grant me post-omnipotence. Know what that is? Think of a god, Sonic... then think of what exists AROUND that god.. what controls that god's decisions and ideals. I would be the power of FATE ITSELF, Sonic! I would be behind everything which ever occurs! Think of all-powerful, and DOUBLE it! Or so the legends say, anyway."
"And he's gonna make me a god after he... you know, turns into fate, and all that." Rasputan added.
Sonic just laughed. "That is so stupid! You guys are insane!"
Cinos grinned evilly. "Think so? Maybe you'll think twice when our realities merge. When you see what has become of the Universe in the split second before I will you into eternal torture."
"You talk big." Sonic stated. "I don't believe ANYBODY can have THAT much power.. but whatever you're REALLY up to, it can't be any good."
Cinos laughed heartily. "What do YOU care? It's not as if YOU'RE going to EVER get back to your Mobius! I'll see to it that you stay here.. HELPLESS to interfere while I take over the Universe, the Anti-verse, science, fate and every other noun you can think of!"
"I'd like to see you try.." Sonic replied.
"As you wish..." Cinos replied. "Rasp, sleeping powder."
The porcupine tossed him a small bag tied with string. Cinos held it and grinned. Sonic darted away, but Cinos had the same reflexes.. the same speed.. Sonic was barely aware of the bag contacting his head and exploding, and the last thing he saw was that porcupine.. that Rasputan.. nibbling on his fingernails with an entertained smile.
NO!
He jerked himself awake. He was NOT going to submit to this bag of pink powder.. after all he'd been through, fighting Robotnik, fighting Mecha, fighting Ashura, fighting Chaos, fighting Zero, fighting Sky Sanctuary, fighting the Chichi Bobo, his life was NOT going to end with the strange alchemy of an insane porcupine. He dragged himself up.. his muscles didn't work properly.. Cinos and Rasputan were gone.. he had been asleep.. for how long? A moment? A week? Was it too late? There was a flash of light behind the doorway.. the rift.. it wasn't too late.. maybe.. his muscles didn't work properly.. he shouted in strain.. did he make a noise? Was he heard? He wanted to rest.. so tired.. so tired.. NO! Get up.. He dragged himself.. eyelids falling.. cripes, his muscles didn't work properly.. couldn't hear.. all the noises around him melted together.. his muscles didn't work properly.. can't.. move.. so.. tired.. HIS MUSCLES DIDN'T WORK PROPERLY!!
Sonic found an ounce of strength that he deposited in the form of a spindash. The simple move in which he boosted himself, rolled into a protective ball and smoothly transported himself never seemed as crucial as it did at this moment. He couldn't see where he was going, he never could, but he sensed the glow of the portal was fading.. the rift was closing. Would he make it? His blood was curdling.. adrenaline was pumping.. he boosted himself again. Time slowed to a near stop. The glow was fading.. fading.. suddenly his strength returned, as his body refused the evil compound that caused his drowsiness. He was as sonic as he ever was.
At the time he entered the portal, it was exactly one millimeter in diameter wider than Sonic's curled body. Ten centimeters were shaved off most of his spines.
EPILOGUE:
Sonic flew through the air and landed in familiar dirt.
Cinos had been back in the Universe (THE Universe, uni meaning one) inspecting a cave. Sonic had intercepted him. Cinos had opened a rift and entered it. Sonic leapt and missed, in one of those split-second decisions. Everything else, the trip to the Anti-verse, the mutants, the porcupine, Cinos' story, had all been a fleeting dream he experienced during his flight. Cinos' footprints could be seen in the muddy ground, where the clone had been wandering around, and later departed for his home again. The Universe was safe.
That's what Sonic wanted to believe.
In actuality, it was quite obvious that the footprints weren't leading into the cave, they were leading into the forest. And there were clearly two sets, made with two different kinds of shoes - one pair being sneakers.
"Cinos is loose on Mobius again." Sonic lamented. "For the third time."
He stared at the footprints.. then he turned around and saw the thin, winding track to New Knothole. He could just go home and forget it.. go back to normal life. But he realised that normal life would be worth nothing if there was any drop of truth behind Cinos' legend. But what could Cinos do? He was a clone of Sonic, and Sonic couldn't imagine himself even REMOTELY capable of destroying the UNIVERSE.
He looked at the footprints, back to the path, footprints, path, footprints, path...
Sonic let out a deep sigh. Both of the last times his clone was here, Sonic had perhaps underestimated him a little, and had been surprised at his power. If Sonic never gave up, Cinos wouldn't either. At least he knew his enemy.
So Sonic made the decision to follow his evil twin wherever he might go. He wandered into the forest wondering how long he might be absent from New Knothole.. weeks? Maybe even months? He had no clue that this adventure would send him away from his friends for the full period of a year. But the rest of this story is to be told another time.. For now, this story has come to..