Chapter 1 – The Merging Begins

If we consider the everyday choice of, say, choosing what to eat on a morning we could have a multitude of choices. Should I have toast or cereal? This choice seems to be irrelevant but who is to say that the grain the bread is made of is contaminated with a virulent disease and you could die. Every choice we make in life has two or more possible solutions or consequences. Some people say that all of them actually happen and that when we make a choice we actually select all the possibilities. This would mean that there would be an infinite number of universes out there, all following different paths. If there are, we are completely unaware of them….or are we…..?

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Amy stretched slightly and put her feet up on the railings. She raised her head and stared at the sky. The sun was shining and there were only a few clouds in the sky. She started to study one of them. Eventually she became aware of someone's presence. She lowered her gaze and looked to her left. Sonic was standing there holding two glasses of fruit juice and staring at the cloud Amy had been looking at. Amy looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"Mobius to Sonic. Come in Sonic." she said.

Sonic jumped, almost dropping the drinks. He gazed at Amy who sniggered.

"Sorry." she said.

Sonic groaned and handed her a drink.

"Thanks. What took you so long?" she asked.

"Bumped into Tails on my way out. He insisted on having a talk." replied Sonic.

"Oh right." said Amy turning back to the view.

They were both standing at the edge of the Royal Gardens. The view overlooked the western edge of Mobotropolis and the fertile green fields to the west. Amy yawned and leaned back in her chair. Sonic sat down next to her.

"I love this place." said Amy, "Always have."

"Same here Amy. Mobotropolis is quite a place." replied Sonic.

"I'm just glad of a bit of quiet."

"Hmm. I bet. Lavender has got really energetic. What you feeding her?"

Amy gave a small laugh.

"Oh nothing special. She's just energetic. Reminds me of myself when I was young."

Sonic groaned.

"Don't remind me. You used to follow me around like a dog."

Amy made a face at him and moaned.

"Can't blame a girl for trying can you?"

"Guess not. You never had much luck in that sense eh?"

"No I didn't but then if I had caught you I never would have been with Tails."

"True."

Sonic leaned back in his chair. A thought suddenly came to him.

"Say Amy. Where are you're parents at the moment? I haven't seen them in a few months."

"Oh they went off on another expedition somewhere. I'm surprised you've seen them at all lately." said Amy still staring at the sky.

Sonic let out a small sigh. Amy looked over at him. Sonic had sat up and was leaning against hands which where resting on his knees. He was staring into the middle distance.

"Sonic? What's wrong?" she asked cautiously.

Sonic sighed again.

"I never knew my parents." he said.

Amy remembered. Sonic's parents had died shortly after he was born and he had been raised by his uncle until Robotnik took over. He didn't have any brother or sisters either. Amy leaned over and put an arm around his shoulder. He looked at her and she smiled. Sonic smiled back.

"Thanks Amy." he said.

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"Ready Lavender?" asked Tails.

"Let's do it to it!" cried Lavender.

"Alright, but I'm not holding back this time."

"I don't care. I can still beat you."

"We'll see. Ready? GO!"

Tails leapt forwards and spun his tails. He tucked his feet under himself and propelled himself down the corridor. He looked to his side to see Lavender a feet behind him. He wasn't quite going at full speed yet. Lavender drew level with him. Tails could see she was sweating slightly.

"Very good Lavender but you're not going to win this one." smiled Tails as he put on a little burst of speed and pulled away.

"Oh no you don't!" laughed Lavender.

Lavender gritted her teeth and spun her three tails slightly faster. It was starting to hurt now. She had never gone this fast before. Tails was still slightly ahead of her. Lavender closed her eyes and tensed her body. With a small cry she shot forwards. Tails looked over his shoulder and saw Lavender gaining.

"What?!" he said to himself.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and the ground shook slightly. Tails screamed and lost his momentum for a moment. Lavender shot past him and out of the double doors that led outside. Tails skidded to a smoking halt on the other side of the doors. He jumped slightly as the underside of his sneakers started to hiss. He looked around. Lavender was lying on her face on a small section of grass nearby. Tails ran over to her and picked her up. Her cloths had huge grass stains down the front and her face was covered in mud. Tails dusted her off slightly.

"You ok Lav?" he asked.

Lavender was breathing heavily but managed to answer.

"Uh huh." she said through her gasps.

"Lavender. Do you know what you just did?" asked Tails.

Lavender shook her head.

"You broke the sound barrier! You're almost as fast as Sonic!" cried Tails.

Lavender's face suddenly lit up and a huge smile spread across her face.

"Really?!" she cried.

Tails nodded. Lavender let out a happy cry and spun round. Tails looked on. Suddenly a large blue blur shot to a halt nearby.

"I bet she couldn't beat me!" cried a small blue hedgehog.

"Miles!" cried Lavender.

"Hi Lav." said Miles.

"How you doing?" asked Lavender.

"Way past." smiled Miles.

"Let's do it to it!" answered Lavender as they gave each other a high five.

"Hey Miles." said Tails.

"Hi Tails." replied Miles.

"What was all that about not being able to beat you?" asked Lavender.

"Well you wouldn't." said Miles.

"Let's see. Juice and jam time!"

Lavender leaped forward past Miles.

"Oh no you don't!" cried Miles spinning round and running after her.

Tails groaned.

"Something's never change." he said to himself, "I better keep an eye on them."

Tails spun his tails and took off, following the twin blur of colour.

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"Another sandwich dear?" asked Sally.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." answered Alicia quickly.

Sally smiled as she handed Alicia another sandwich. Alicia took it and bit into it. She shuddered in delight and then took another bite. Sally smiled at her. Since the incident a year ago, Sally had spent much more time with Alicia. Alicia herself had also become much more active and had stopped complaining about everything. The two of them were currently having a bit of fun in the Emerald Hills. Sally ran her hand across the linen cloth they were sitting on and sighed.

"Mom?" asked Alicia.

"Huh? Oh, what is it dear?" replied Sally.

"Thanks."

Sally smiled. That must have been the hundredth time she had said that.

"Anything for you dear." she replied.

"Thanks mom."

Alicia returned to her sandwich and Sally looked out at the Emerald Hills. The area was always beautiful but at this time of year wasn't as colourful as usual. That was because the flowers hadn't come out yet, but with Alicia's allergies it was necessary. Sally looked back at Alicia. She was leaning over the small hamper they had brought with them. Alicia looked up holding a large bag of biscuits.

"Alicia." said Sally slightly irritated, "You can't have all of them."

"Aaaaah. No fair." moaned Alicia.

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"And now you darn thing go in!" cried Bunnie.

She flung her right arm upwards and thrust a hand axe into the rock face.

"Got you sugah!" said Bunnie.

"Hey you done yet?" cried a voice.

"Almost Knuckles. Give me a second."

Bunnie took a small gun like object from her side and pressed it against the rock face. She pressed the trigger. There was a whooshing sound and a loud clunk. Bunnie removed the gun to see a large metal clip imbedded in the rock face. She took a carabineer and fastened it to the clip followed by a rope. She removed the axe from the wall and fastened it to her side.

"Ready Knuckles." she said.

"'Bout time." cried Knuckles gliding into the wall next to her and digging his claws into it.

"It must be fun not to have to mess around like this huh?"

"Oh yeah. A breeze. You know how much this hurts after a while?!"

Bunnie gave a small laugh and pushed off the rock face. She let the rope slide through her hand for a few second and then swung back in and caught onto the wall again. She looked down. She was suspended a good mile above the ground on a rope. The mountain rose above her and behind her at the other side of the valley. Knuckles swung down next to her.

"Having fun." he asked.

"Oh yes sugah." replied Bunnie, "Great abseiling place."

Knuckles nodded.

"The weathers closing in. You better get down quickly."

"You got it."

Bunnie reached behind her and took out a harpoon gun. There were two harpoons mounted on it with ropes attached to each one. Bunnie took the two ends of the rope and attached them to the climbing harness she was wearing.

"See you sugah." she said and suddenly released the clips holding her to the rock face.

Knuckles screamed and released from the wall. He dove downwards towards the falling rabbit. Just then he saw Bunnie raise the harpoon gun. She pointed it at one rock face and fired. She quickly spun and fired the second harpoon at the other rock face. Both harpoon hit the rock faces and stuck in. The ropes took up the slack and then started to stretch. Knuckles watched as Bunnie came to a slow stop and then shot upwards. Knuckles flew downwards and caught her.

"Thanks sugah." said Bunnie.

"You're nuts, you know that!" cried Knuckles.

Bunnie just winked at him.

Soon afterwards they were both standing at the bottom of the valley around a small fire. Bunnie was busy eating a selection of toasted marshmallows while Knuckles finished putting up the tents. Bunnie looked up as Knuckles came over.

"Want some?" she said through her latest mouthful.

"No thanks. I think your little stunt destroyed my appetite." he replied.

"Too bad."

"Do you enjoy doing things like that?"

"Umm…..yes."

Knuckles blinked and shook his head.

"Oh boy."

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Hi there.

Hi T2.

You busy?

Not really.

Good. Can I have a moment?

Sure.

Petya slowly opened her eyes. She looked around the room and smiled as T2 came in through the far door.

"Nice to see you again." she said.

"It's only been a few hours." replied T2.

"Yes well."

T2 went over to her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Listen. I just found something amazing." he said.

"You've been experimenting again, haven't you." asked Petya.

T2 looked slightly uneasy.

"Umm…..yes." he said.

"You know we shouldn't do that alone. What if something goes wrong?"

"Petya."

"No listen to me. This new power of ours is dangerous. We hardly know anything about it. We don't even know the purpose of it!"

"We know some things about it!" argued T2.

"Yes fine! It's made us telepathic and given us the power to sense thing. But what else does it do?! Maybe it also gave us the power to destroy worlds! What if your experiment uncovered that?!"

T2 was about to comment again but decided against it.

"You're right Petya." he said defeated.

"As always. Now if this experiment didn't end the world, what did it do?"

"Let me show you."

T2 held out his left hand palm up. His half of the Deep Power Stones was still embedded in his palm. It glowed bright yellow. Petya understood. She placed her right hand on his left. The two halves of the Power Stone met and a surge of energy shot through them both. Petya made a small gasping sound as she usually did at the feeling. T2 just smiled.

"So what now?" asked Petya.

"I was trying to extend my senses using the power we have. It was incredible. I found that if I controlled the energy flow in my body I could just think of a place and POOF, it almost seemed as if I was there. With both of us doing it we should be able to go even further."

"So what do I do?" asked Petya.

"Try to feel the energy flowing in a constant stream from your feet, up your body to your head and then outwards. Stretch forwards with this energy and focus on a specific area. I was exploring the southern areas of the western plateau earlier but we should be able to go much further. Concentrate on the southern continent."

"You mean Paradise Island?"

"That's it. Tails was telling me about it. Apparently that where he was born. It sounds beautiful. This would be the next best thing to going. You ready?"

"I think so."

"Good. Now concentrate."

Petya and T2 closed there eyes and took a deep breath. There bodies suddenly started to glow bright yellow.

Wow.

I told you Petya.

This is incredible.

Petya's face softened and a smile spread across it. From where she was concerned, she was standing in a lush green forest surrounded by wildlife and brightly coloured flowers.

Huuuuuuuuh.

T2?

Sorry just amazed.

This really is incredible.

Do you want to try and go further?

Why not?

The glow surrounding their bodies increased in colour.

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"WAY PAST!" cried Miles and Lavender as they screeched to a halt in the palace.

They leaped towards each other and gave each other a high five. Just then a rather fluster looking Tails landed next to them.

"Don't…….don't you two…….EVER….get tired?!" he gasped.

"Tired is for sissies!" said Lavender before she realised what she had said, "OH! Sorry dad!"

"That's ok. I just need to sit down for a moment."

Tails collapsed to his knees on the ground and took a few deep breaths.

"Hey Lav. Wanna go see T2 and Petya?" asked Miles.

"Sure. Why not? Dad, is it ok?" said Lavender.

"Sure. I'll join you in a minute." he replied.

Miles and Lavender looked at each other, nodded and raced off down the corridor.

"Kids." said Tails to himself.

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Oh my!

I know what you mean.

I can sense the whole planet!

Me too.

I wouldn't have though it possible to……wait.

What is it Petya?

This can't be right.

What?!

Look!

Oh my god! What on Mobius is going on?!

I don't know.

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Miles and Lavender slid sideways into the large room Petya and T2 used during the day and stopped dead. They stared at the sight. In the middle of the room was a bright yellow glow that resembled T2 and Petya.

"Whats going on M?" said Lavender slightly nervous.

"I don't know Lav. It looks like there testing their power again but I've never seen them like this before. We betta find your dad." replied Miles.

Lavender nodded and the two of them raced off.

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Petya this can't be right!

I know T2. Where on Mobius is this place?

It looks like the area Mobotropolis is on. See the mountains in the background? Those look like the great peaks!

But it can't be! Mobotropolis isn't like this!

I know. What is this frozen wasteland?!

Wait…..its going! There's something else! OH MY!

My god!

It's Robotropolis!

You better call Sonic!

Right! SONIC! SONIC HEAR ME NOW!

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Sonic suddenly jumped to his feet sending his drink flying. Amy jerked upright as well.

"Sonic? What is it?" she asked quickly.

"Petya just touched my mind! She needs my help. NOW!" replied Sonic starring at her.

Amy jumped to her feet.

"Let's go!" she said.

"Grab on then. We're hitting warp seven!"

Amy grabbed Sonic's arm and Sonic sped up the garden and back into the palace.

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Tails was almost knocked over as Miles and Lavender shot round a corner and narrowly missed him.

"WOAH kids! Slow down will you. You're giving me a headache." he said.

"Dad! Something is happening to T2 and Petya!" cried Lavender quickly.

"What?! Show me." said Tails.

Miles and Lavender turned and shot up the corridor. Tails forgot his tiredness and shot after them.

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Sonic flew into Petya's and T2's room and stopped quickly. Amy let go of his arm. In the middle of the room there was a very large yellow glow. The forms of Petya and T2 had been completely lost now. Sonic ran over to the glow. He got to within a few feet and was suddenly thrown backwards against the wall. Amy ran over to him.

"Sonic, are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm ok. If T2 and Petya are in there we can't do very much about…."

"WHAT ON MOBIUS IS THAT?!" cried Tails voice.

Sonic and Amy turned round to see Tails, Lavender and Miles standing in the doorway.

"Tails!" cried Amy.

"Amy? What are you doing here?" asked Tails.

"Petya called Sonic for help. I was with him. You?"

"The kids found them like this a few minutes ago. I came to see."

"We have to figure out what's going on. Petya only calls me like that if she's in BIG trouble." said Sonic getting up, "Something is definitely wrong."

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T2?

Yes.

There's here.

I know.

They can't help us, we're on our own.

That's not good.

I think I might be able to break us out of here but I don't know what will happen if I do.

No. I'll do it. You try to contain whatever happens.

Right T2.

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"Sonic. Look!" cried Tails.

Sonic looked at the glowing ball. A small section of it had turned blue in colour. Gradually the blue glow expanded over the entire surface. Suddenly two red spots appeared on the surface. The red spots started to glow.

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T2, its working.

I know Petya. Just try to keep everything contained.

I…..I can't. Those places are coming back to me! I can't keep them out.

PETYA!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

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The glowing orb suddenly shattered in a massive blue explosion. The two red spots gave a brief twinkle. Suddenly one shot towards Sonic and Amy and the other towards Tails, Lavender and Miles. They couldn't do anything as the orb expanded and surrounded them. With a final pulse the two red orbs shrunk to pin prick size and disappeared.

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Petya and T2 collapsed to the floor gasping for air.

"That was close!" said T2 quietly.

"Not close enough. I couldn't contain everything." gasped Petya.

"Well it doesn't look like anything is……..wait. Where are the others?"

T2 and Petya stared around the empty room.

"There gone." said Petya slowly.