When Urkel Saved Mobius
Synopsis: A crossover between Family Matters and various universes in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Steve Urkel (played by Jaleel White, to whom this tale is dedicated) creates another wacky invention. It inadvertently opens a portal to the planet Mobius, creating several wormholes all over the city of Chicago. Sonic manages to travel through one after catching the scent of a chili dog. Inspired after ordering Sonic one, Steve creates Power Sneakers that enable him to match the Hedgehog's speed. But will it be enough to avert a dangerous crisis ?
Chapter 1—Did I Do That?
Steve Urkel was in his laboratory once again working on his latest invention. He had been studying thousands of theoretical physics books and felt he had finally worked out the elusive equation of time travel known as 'the golden constant'. This figure would allow him to obtain the secret of traveling through space/time itself. He decided that he had worked out all the potential glitches, but being the young man he was, he had no idea what he was messing with. The device itself had the ability to open pathways to anywhere or any when possible. The whole idea of that made his head spin, and he had always wanted to see if he could travel to another world with alien life and make contact. It would be done in the name of science, not for gain or selfish profit. Besides, Steve had always imagined in his heart of hearts that aliens had been part of history on Earth and he wanted to prove this theory as fact.
He called the device Interdimensional Gateway, or Portal to Unknown Realms, or PUR for short. Everything in its design was practical and aesthetically pleasing. He had made it easy enough to be portable and carried around in remote control form, just like in the sci-fi/adventure series Sliders. Not dallying for one second longer, he pointed the remote and pressed the on button. Fairly soon, there was a wormhole, right in the middle of his laboratory.
'It worked ! It actually functions !', he exclaimed, practically dancing. He wanted to get out his accordion to properly celebrate, but then the wormhole started fluctuating. From it, came other, smaller, but still powerful mini-singularities.
'Oh, no...Did I do that ?', he thought as more wormholes appeared. He looked out the window and there were multiple wormholes all over the city.
'Oh my...this doesn't look good at all.', he mused, trying to reverse the process by pressing 'rewind' on the remote. The more he tried, the more singularities appeared.
'Stupid remote !', he yelled, slamming it down on a table. It must've been enough force to break it because as soon as it hit the oaken surface, it smashed into a zillion pieces. He moaned. There were portals everywhere he looked and no way to close them. Before he knew it, there were unusual creatures emerging from them, and they seemed to look vaguely familiar.
Chapter 2-Robotnik In Chicago
'What in Sam Hill is going on ?', Steve exclaimed. The PUR's malfunction seemed to be tearing rips in the fabric of space. Venturing outside, he watched, spellbound, as unusual beings emerged from the portals. Many of them seemed to be robots, or, more accurately, robot-animal hybrids. Then came forth a rotund man in a hovercraft.
'Where the devil am I ?', the ginger mustachioed man asked. He pointed at Steve.
'You, spindly bespectacled boy ! Tell me where I am !', he demanded.
'Chicago, Illinois. Who's asking ?', Steve responded, a bit nervously. He didn't know who this villanous man was, but he sensed he was a definite threat.
'I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik, little boy. I am unsure of where I am but no matter. This world will soon be in my control !', Ivo said, confidently.
'You have a lot of audacity saying such things.', Steve said. The goggled, portly Robotnik hovered only inches from Steve's face.
'I have power, might and superior technology at my fingertips. You're just a puny nerdling who can do nothing to stop me !', Robotnik retorted, laughing maniacly as he turned on his hovercraft's thrusters and bolted away. Two animals, both wolfish in apperance, followed him.
'Sleet, Dingo ! Come ! We have work to do !', he barked, and the anthropromorphic canines followed. Once the larger of the two was shifted into a vehicle, the slender one flung himself on his back and began speeding after his master.
While Steve stood completely dumbstruck, he was nearly knocked over by a flash of blue fur. Once the blue blaze stabilized, Steve could see that the anthropromorph was a hedgehog wearing red sneakers.
'Fascinating. I thought you only existed in the video games. Now here you are, in the flesh, or rather, fur, standing in front of me.', Steve mused aloud, transfixed. Before long, Amy followed suit, followed by other familiar faces from the Sega franchise. There were also more obscure characters from the cult cartoon series that appeared. For a moment, Steve's head reeled but then he gathered his senses.
'Mind telling me what we're doing in a human city, pal ?', Sonic questioned, zoning directly in on Steve. From the power of deduction, the Hedgehog's powers of observation were uncanny.
'It's a long story and I have to start working on a way to fix it. I'll fill you in once all of you arrive.', Steve said, starting to feel as if he was part of a grand sci-fi saga unfolding right before his eyes. He couldn't allow himself to be too taken in by the majesty of it all. Chicago, no, the earth itself was about to be in peril, and all because of a glitch in the invention he had made. He had to put a stop to it, and fast, but coming up to a solution to a problem this large would need assistance from outside sources. In other words, he had to work on the solution with the help of friends as intelligent and innovative as he was.
Chapter 3-The Red Sneaker Transmogrification
Sonic already knew that this realm was in for immense amounts of trouble due to the PUR's malfunction. He wondered if massive amounts of speed could reverse the singularities in the area. Then he came upon a plan.
'You're already superiorly quick, right ?', he asked Sonic, as if it were rhetorical.
'Well, duh ! I am the fastest thing alive.', Sonic retorted, with some sarcasm. He did so in a joking manner, laughing a bit. Steve knew the Hedgehog was simply jesting and meant no harm in his reply.
'I don't know if you're going to like the plan I have in mind, but I need your cooperation.', Steve began. He knew he was going to have to enlist the assistance of Myra, his overly-clingy admirer. This was only a small sacrifice he would make to save Chicago and the whole world before matters grew any more out of hand.
'What do you have in mind ? Anything specific ?', Sonic asked.
'I'll need a few partners to assist.', Steve replied. He was referring to Miles "Tails" Prower and Sonic's very own Uncle Chuck, or Sir Charles Hedgehog, the brother of Sonic, Sonia and Manic's mom Queen Aleena.
'I'll help too !', Myra chirped. She had been lured by the eerie glow of the otherworldly singularities. Steve cringed lightly but knew there was no other recourse. He would just have to bear with her clinginess in this situation. She had perfected a formula recently that allowed her white lab mice to excellerate to the point where they passed through brick walls. Unlike the debackle with the PUR (which was purely human error and nothing else), this 'excellerant' would probably work on Sonic's shoes. The other creatures were already chasing after Robotnik's creations. The PUR had decided to start functioning, strangely, and had a device within it that could pinpoint the traveler's whereabouts.
'I guess fortune's starting to smile on you, Steve.', Myra said, sweetly.
'I'd like to know what you have planned with that excellerant, Myra. I think I have a clue, but I'm not sure if it's going to be safe for our hedgehog companion.', Steve began. Myra chuckled and giggle-snorted adorably.
'It worked on my lab mice. I don't see why it wouldn't work with Sonic here.', Myra said. She explained once she poured the formula on his sneakers it would cause him to move at triple or quadruple the speed he achieved normally.
'This could give him the ability to achieve light speed and move into space and time.', Myra said.
'You really are a genius.', Steve complimented, in spite of himself.
'I try to follow the example of the one I adore.', Myra said. Sonic was growing impatient. He wanted to thwart Robotnik in the worst of ways.
'We don't have time to see whether this juice works or not. Let's do it to it and get a move on !', he said. In a matter of seconds, the excellerant had been splashed on his sneakers and he zipped into the right dimension where Robotnik was wrecking havoc. On the PUR, Steve could see two blips and they were ramming against one another. Against his better logic, he crossed his fingers for 'good luck' and prayed that Sonic knew what he was doing. Hopefully the formula would last. It was the only method of Sonic arriving back in Chicago and Steve was his only way back to Mobius. Same thing could be said of the other animals as well.
Chapter 4-The Interdimensional Brawl
Robotnik was in China, devistating the land with his armada of robots. Fortunately, Sonic had come just in time and had walloped him more than once.
'Why must we continue doing this, Robuttnik ? Haven't you learned by now that good triumphs over evil ? It's a cosmic fact !', Sonic said, finally knocking Robotnik to the ground once and for all. Just like in the video games, pixel by pixel he depixellated and nothing was left but dust. Sleet and Dingo were in another realm, terrorizing the locals there. Miles Prower, Uncle Chuck and Sonic's siblings had followed them there and already defeated them. There was an Einstein Rosen-Bridge that had linked this reality with the present in China.
'Hey ! I can see you guys from over here ! Woah, trippy !', Manic said, waving.
'Don't just stand around, Manic. Come on over !', Sonic said. There was a small reunion between siblings and friends. Amy could see them from another bridge that had formed strangely after the other one had collapsed upon itself. From there, she could see Steve and Myra with smiles 6 inches wide. They were pretty certain they had known evil had been defeated this momentous day and the PUR had been repaired, almost by itself, somehow.
Chapter 5-The Wormhole Home
The battle seemed like hours in those other locales when back at home, Myra, Amy and Steve had been waiting for only minutes. Steve had deemed that the PUR was unstable if in the wrong hands. He vowed never to use it again, fearing it would end in the wrong hands, but not until everyone had enjoyed a hearty meal before returning home.
After the collosal adventure and the heartpounding defeat of that bloated Eggman, Sonic and his family were invited to the Mighty Weenie for a tasty reward.
'Lots of doggies with the works, pal. Extra chili !', Sonic exclaimed. Waldo quickly cooked up 30 chili dogs for the Mobians and some extras for all others who were availible for the festivities. Carl himself couldn't believe he was seeing. He kept disbelieving it, but Laura confirmed it.
'All of this is real, dad. And we're witnesses to history. Besides, Steve and Myra just averted a cataclysmic event that could've wiped us all out. We owe all of them this much for their hard work.', Laura said, with a sincere smile.
'Not to mention the dogs are the best in the known world.', Carl agreed.
Sonic soon called for a toast. 'A toast to victory, for both worlds !', Sonic proclaimed.
'To victory !', the others responded, as they 'clinked' their plastic drink holders together in celebration. It was a festive occasion, and it gave all of the humans and anthropromorphs a chance to know each other slightly better before Steve sent them home with the PUR. He had the back-up blueprints locked away in his lab under lock, key, and PIN code. Only he knew the passcodes to access his special documents, lest the PUR be built again and be used for malintent.
It had been a jovial feast, but everyone was growing weary and Sonic was looking forward to returning to Mobius. The gathering took upon a more somber tone as Steve began to say his farewells to his newfound friends.
'This was my best invention ever, and alas, I have to destroy it for everyone's safety.', he said, after opening one last wormhole to send everyone back home. They were all heading back to Mobius, the planet from which they had been taken. Even though he had only had a few seconds interacting with Sonic, Amy, Sonia, Manic and the other video game personalities, there were a few tears shed. It had been a bittersweet farewell, and all too short. For some strange reason, Steve felt a sort of connection with the Hedgehog he couldn't quite discern, yet he knew that he had interacted with a true hero. Maybe some of that had rubbed off on him, he thought. He hoped that perhaps the street cameras had captured all of the unusual activity so he could 'brag' a bit to Laura. After all, if anyone was worthy of being impressed, it was his princess, Laura.
Epilogue
Laura had been one of the few people that had found all the events of the day believable, especially the singularities she had seen with her own eyes. She was amazed that the media hadn't come and hounded Steve about the paranormal happenings around Chicago and the world in one day in such a short amount of time. In reality, it had only occured in a matter of minutes, while in the other realities, it seemed to be as if the battle against Robotnik had gone on for hours at a time. He had been happy to have made Laura speechless for once. At least he hadn't had to use his tonic to transform into Stephan to make her knees a little weak. Perhaps he was making progress with her ? Only time would tell. For now, he had a new idea he was working on. It had been inspired by Sonic's sneakers and Myra's accellerant. They were 'Super Sneaks', or 'Sonics', aptly named. They bore the same coloration of the iconic Hedgehog and warranted their wearer unheard of running speeds. Of course, these were purely for experimentation only, unless someone approached them with a grant to sell them to the public.
Before Steve knew it, the excellerated shoes had begun turning a profit and he had more than enough money to help with charity orginizations amongst other projects at home. Even Laura's middle class family got a hand with bills and loans that needed to be paid. Steve had become magnanimous so young, but it made him feel good. After all, the money was going to good use, he felt, and he would continue being a philanthropist until Sonics weren't in vogue any longer.
Meanwhile on Mobius, Sonic had become so inspired by the restaurant in the human world that he had chains made in many locations all over Mobius. It used to be unusual for him to come across a chili dog stand, let alone cross a vendor that wasn't a SWAT Bot or Dingo in disguise. Without those louses messing up his meal plans, he was happy to instill 'Hot Dogs & More' restaurants throughout his usual stomping grounds. They served tofu dogs to appease Ms. Sonia and offered Manic the ecclectic bratwurst and sauerkraut. Certainly, life had become much better and all due to the help of two seemingly 'insignifican't people, people who didn't believe they amounted to much. Yet, these two youngsters had been the catalysts to restore order to Mobius, and possibly instilled better lives and times in the human realm as well.
The End