DIMENSION DOMINATE

A Sailor Moon/Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Story
by cookirini

The Dimensional Door
Part II

The sun on the Mobian plains was starting to crawl up to high noon, its bright light shining down on the sparsely populated prairie. The occasional tree that could be found was usually used for shade, or rest, from the hot sun.

Indeed, there were two people who knew where all the trees were, and knew which ones were the best to camp under for a relaxing lunch.

"Mmm, mmm." Stuffing a chili dog into his mouth, Sonic ate it all in one gulp. "Nothing to top off a good day of running without a plate of chili dogs, huh, bro?"
"You got it, Sonic!" Tails had just finished his own meal. "Nothing beats a chili dog!"
"Nothing," Sonic rubbed his nose, "except beating Robotnik, of course."

With that, Sonic picked up his plate, and with lightning speed, cleaned it and his place at the table. Then, standing up, he tapped his foot impatiently.

"I'm waiting, bud."
"I'm ready when you are!" Tails jumped up, his dish making a mess on the ground. "But what do you think Robotnik's up to now?"
"I think the better question is 'when is Robotnik going to attack', bud."
"Yeah, I guess, but..." Tails looked around. "I don't know. It seems awful quiet today. In fact, it's been awful quiet the past couple of days."
"Too quiet. Which is always an excuse to attack for Robuttnik." Taking Tails by the hand, Sonic began to rev his feet up for the run. "So we're up, over, and goooone!!"

With a burst of speed unattainable by anyone else in the world, Sonic blasted straight through the prairie, leaving a trail of fire and wind in his wake. He blasted through the end of the plains and jumped up into the Mountains of Mire in two minutes; such a journey would have taken a normal person four days to accomplish.

"So, where to, Sonic?" Tails flew alongside his hero as the scaled the ranges. "Maybe we could go to Endsville and see if he's doing something there!"
"...Naaah," Sonic looked up as he raced. "He wouldn't do the same thing twice. Maybe we can go scouting around the fortress, see if there's anything new going on down there before anything can happen."

With that, the two shrugged, and continued on their merry way. Down the hills, and into another set of plains, before finally, after passing outskirt cities around the domain of Mobius' detested despot, stopped with a screeching halt on top of a hill overlooking the fortress of Robotnik.

"...Ten minutes from the Mobian plains?!" Looking at his watch, Sonic almost looked mortified. "I'm losing my touch!!"
"Sonic, look!!"

Sonic casually looked over to where Tails was pointing, only to be met with a cloud of smoke and dust. The cloud descended on the two heroes for several minutes, causing them to choke and cough, before it lazily drifted off to the north.

"Woah...eech!" Sonic hit his chest. "Man, that was disgusting!"
"I hope that...sniirf!...I hope that wasn't a trick of Robotnik's." Tails hacked up some black dust. "Otherwise, we're doomed!"
"...I don't think it was a trick, little buddy..." Sonic squinted. "In fact, I don't think Robotnik intended this at all..."

Sonic pointed in the direction of the fortress, and indeed, the entire area around the castle was smoking. As the two tried to get closer, they found it was nearly impossible to breathe with all of the debris in the air. By the time they got to the base of the mountain that Robotnik's lair sat, they knew they weren't going to make it up there without help.

"We're gonna asper...aspick...mmm!" Tails coughed. "We won't be able to breathe much longer!"
"No fear, Tails!" Sonic quickly turned tail. "I'll be right back!"

With a flash, he was gone. A mere second later, he returned, wearing a gas mask on his face.

"Here, bud." He handed it to Tails, who gratefully put his on. "That way, we'll be able to breath inside there."
"Way cool, Sonic!" Tails gave a thumbs-up. "Let's do it to it!"

With that, the two sped into the crumbling entrance of the fortress, and found themselves inside a mess like they'd never seen before. There were twisted metal beams, imploded ceilings, and rooms than seemed to have just disappeared from Robotnik's floor plan permanently. As they began ti inspect the damage, Sonic and Tails began to look worriedly at one another.

"I'll check the dungeons. You check the throne room." Sonic zipped away. "We'll meet at the lab!"
"Gotcha, Sonic!"

With that, Sonic spun down the many flights of steps towards the dungeons. He was stopped, however, by a giant pile of steel and block which completely obstructed the way down into the basement. Meeting the challenge, Sonic began to saw his way through, but after several minutes, he hit hard matter and was bounced back up the stairs.

"Oh no! It's solid all the way down!" Quickly recovering, he worriedly started to run off. "I'd better get Tails. If there's people down there...!"

Within seconds, he had zipped up into the lab, where it was clear that it had taken the most damage. A giant hole in the ceiling revealed the Mobian sky, or it would have if smoke had not been pouring from the lab. The lab itself was hot, almost sizzling, as if there was a gas pipe lit up underneath it. When Sonic took a step, smoke came from underneath, and the smell of burning gas filled his nostrils.

"Woah." Sonic's voice was low, but a astonished, as he saw the damage to the lab. "There's no way...no one could have gotten through this kind of heavy-duty explosion..."
"Don't...huugh!...count your chickens like that, hedgehog."
"Huh!?"

Sonic's head turned in time to see an animal pop up from under the debris, followed by the sound of strained coughing. As fast as he could, Sonic tossed the debris away, and gave a gasp when he saw what was underneath.

"...Rocky!" Sonic held up the dusty squirrel, who was covered in scratches and bruises. "Dude, what happened here?! Are you ok?!"
"Better than I should be, Sonic..." Rocky heaved violently. "But don't worry, I'll pull through."
"Is there anyone else here? Anyone in the dungeons?"
"No, it was just me, but I have bad news regardless!" Rocky tried to wipe his eyes to no avail. "Robotnik has created a machine guaranteed to destroy you...it certainly got close to doing the job on me!"
"Well, he didn't do a good job of destroying you." Sonic looked around warily. "Speaking of which, where is the bad egg? Did his yolk fry in the explosion?"
"Worse..." Sonic slowly helped the injured rebel on his feet as the squirrel spoke. "The impact of the machine's laser beam on the fortress did something! I don't know what exactly...well, what happened, I was unconscious...but when I came to, I saw those two badniks, Scratch and Grounder, gathering up all the machinery they could find, including the new invention, before heading past me. I don't know where exactly they went...but as far as I could tell, they never left the fortress!"
"That's odd..." Sonic rubbed his nose, his suspicions growing more unsettled by the minute. "With the level of damage to this place, you'd think that everyone would have been crushed. But if Scratch and Grounder managed to get out without a scratch, then Robotnik may have as well. But how...?"
"Sonic!! Come quick!!"

At the sound of Tails' voice, Sonic's head quickly came up. Slipping off his gas mask, he put it on Rocky, before picking him up and racing to the two-tailed fox.

"Tails, what is..." Sonic came screeching to a halt when he felt the bright light in his eyes. "Ugh! What's that?!"
"I don't know, Sonic..." Tails was staring at the light, reaching his hand towards it. "I wonder what it is..."
"Tails!"

Before Sonic could stop him, Tails already put his hand on the light. Instead of staying steady, however, his arm started going through the light; startled, Tails jerked his hand back out of the light.

"Yaaah!" Tails started stumbling backwards. "I thought that was solid!"
"...Hmm...!" Sonic stuck his head into the light for several seconds before bringing it back out. "I think you figured out how Scratch and Grounder got out of the fortress."
"Really?" Tails stopped running off at this. "You mean...?"
"This is some kind of portal or something that must have opened up and trashed the place!"
"To where?"
"I don't know, little bro..." Sonic's eyes narrowed as he slammed his fist into his palm. "And it may have opened up on accident, but if I know Robotnik, he's having a field day with it. And we have to stop him!"
"Yes..." Still gasping for air, Rocky staggered. "I'd love to go..."
"Not in your condition. You'd better get to safety." Sonic began to rev up. "As for us, let's bail, Tails!"

With that, Sonic leaped into the portal, with Tails in close pursuit. They smashed through the light, and straight into the fog, where they continued going, nevertheless.

"Let's make tracks, Jack!" Sonic sped along through the fog as though it were nothing. "I'm sure we'll find Robuttnik soon enough!"
"I hope so!" Tails looked around worriedly. "This fog is so thick!"

They seemed to be running forever, with no direction, and no bearings. Finally, after what felt like forever, Sonic simply stopped running through nothing and stopped.

"Man, this is hopeless!" Tails, who had kept going on, quickly realized his mistake and flew back behind his friend as Sonic spoke. "There's nothing here. And we keep going in circles!"
"The portal behind us is the only thing here..." Tails scratched his head. "Then where could Robotnik have gone?"
"I don't know, bro." Sonic looked around, confused. "It's as if he's disappeared into this air..."

Sonic's voice trailed off as he light suddenly hit him in the corner of the eye. Turning to the left, he focused and gave a gasp at the sight he saw. There was a doorway in front of them, and the doors were wide open.

"I think we just found where he went!" Not even taking notice to the woman lying unconscious on the ground – as she was far enough away from them in the fog that they did not see her – Sonic and Tails both revved up and darted through the open double doors. "Let's get cracking, Tails!!"

With one last burst of seed, the two quickly ran into the door, flying head first into whatever awaited them, as they always did. The tailwind from Sonic's running, and Tails' flying, caused both great doors to slam shut, its echo the only sound to be heard in the dark, distant netherworld of the so-called Dimension Door.

----------------------

"Here we are, boys! The other dimension!!"

The skyline of the enormous city loomed beneath the Egg-O-Matic as Robotnik, Scratch, and Grounder's forms appeared in the city that had appeared beyond the door. Time had clearly passed since they had gone through; instead of it being night with the waning moon, it was morning, the sun ascending into the sky, beckoning citizens young and small to school and work, and to their life of strict schedules and paper pushing.

Their appearance was a mere blip, not even noticable by people who were watching the sky, but that soon would not be the case.

"Aah, yes, civilization!" Robotnik took out a small laptop and began to type on it. "My portable network is soaking up information on this world as we speak...Ah, yes! They call this world 'Earth'. What a silly name!"
"Look at all the lights, Scratch!" Grounder was looking down at the city with a View Finder. "Its like a rainbow."
"So...this city is called 'Tokyo'. Capital to one of the most prosperous countries of this world." Robotnik's eyes darted greedily as information piled up. "Yes, yes...Aaah! Their technology looks to be inferior to ours! This is an advantage..."
"Give that to me, you dope!" Scratch began to lean over to grab the View Finder from Grounder. "It's my turn!"

The two robots began to wrestle one another for the honor of looking through the invention, causing their cabs to unhinge from the Egg-O-Matic. Both of them instantly fell into the ground inside a narrow alley, making giant dents in the concrete as they did.

"Well, at least we came to the right place the first time...no thanks to you dolts." Robotnik closed his laptop and floated down onto the street. "According to my readings, there is an amazing amount of mystical power here. It may be possible that the legendary untold power lies in this very city. And when I find it...Guhuhuhuhuh!"
"You're going to use it to get rid of Sonic, Your Nastiness?"
"Even better!" Robotnik leaped out of his machine. "I plan to take over Mobius with it! And, now that I've found this Earth, perhaps I can get it as an added bonus."
"But doctor," Grounder looked around. "How are we gonna take over Mobius if we're here?"
"Nincombot! We go back through the door..." There was a sudden beeping on Robotnik's wristwatch. "Wait! Someone is coming! We may have been detected and defenses are coming after us!"
"Don't worry, boss." Scratch clanked back up to his feet and bent his knees into a defensive position. "We'll protect you!"
"And we'll smash the enemy!" Banging his drills on the ground, Grounder also crouched down. "The SSSS Squad, ready for action!"
"Who's there?"

At that moment, two people appeared at the other end of the alley. A middle-aged man and an older woman, both dressed in business suits, stared at the group as the goofily began to advance towards them.

"Eyy-haa! Iiiieyaah!" Scratch made swiping motions with his wings. "Don't come any closer, rebels! In the name of the glorious Dr. Robotnik!!"
"Surrender now..." Grounder rolled his drills menacingly towards them. "Before we have to smash and trash you both!!"
"...What's going on?" The man looked at the newly arrived group, scratching his head. "What's the commotion here?"
"Aah, Hisei-san, they're just costume players." The older woman shook her head at the sight of the oddly-dressed people. "Dressed up as ugly mechas."

The defense of Robotnik slackened at the remarks. They stared at the two as they casually started talking about the three of them, as if they were hardly a threat to their way a life. In fact, they were being treated as being unreal.

"Strange, though," the man pushed his eyeglasses up to his face and scrunched his nose at Scratch, "that they should be here playing around."
"Otaku are strange by nature. It's a surprise they even leave their bedrooms." The woman started walking off. "We should hurry back to the office before these people actually decide to start talking to us."

With that, the two left, leaving Scratch and Grounder to stay in relatively ridiculous positions, which varied between somewhat defensive and definitely confused. Robotnik, on the other hand, was much more observant to what had happened.

"Baawk?!" Scratch scratched his head. "They didn't even bother to attack us?!"
"It's like they didn't even know who we were!" Grounder looked at Robotnik. "I've never had that happen before, boss."
"Hmm..." Robotnik walked past the two, a gleeful grin on his face. "Yes, they seemed unaware of who we were..."

Turning the corner, he spotted the two just as they were beginning to round the corner. Taking out a ray gun, he steadied his aim towards them and peered into the gun's telescope to better his accuracy.

"...And that's just fine by me!" He caught the both of them by the cross hairs. "FIRE!!"

The blue beam that shot out from the gun hit both people dead on. Screeching and writhing in pain, they tried to move, but were unable to. Within seconds, their skin was turning into metal, and the transformation was spreading rapidly.

"Aahahahahaha! Excellent!" As soon as the deed was done, Robotnik motioned to the two. "Both of you! To your new master this instant!"

Slowly, the two turned to reveal their metallic faces and clothing. Their eyes lighting red, they picked up their feet, and sprouted boosters from their shoe soles, rocketing to Robotnik within seconds.

"Take these roboticizers," Robotnik gave them the gun he had held, and an extra one from his clothing. "Go and use these to induct people into my illustrious service. Fly wherever you please in this entire world, and shoot anyone you wish, but remember, I want 10,000 robots by tonight! No...I want 100,000! NO! A million robots from each of you!! And I won't receive you again until you have completed my orders or until I have a change in plans. Is that clear?!"

The two methodically nodded, their minds clearly and totally bent under to serve the Mobian madman without question. Without another word, they fired their boosters and rocketed off into different directions, leaving a small trail of smoke.

"This is going to be better than I thought! Scratch! Grounder!!" The two robots, who had been picking through a trashed bag of wood, suddenly stood up at attention knocked into each other's feet in the process. "Stop fooling around this instant! We have work to do!"
"Yes, sir," Grounder saluted, noting not to his his nose or his eyes while doing so, "Your Evilness!"
"Into the Egg-O-Matic!" Robotnik walked back into the alley, his two bumbling followers staggering behind him. "We are going to go searching for the location of the untold power, so we can begin my newest evil scheme to fulfill my greatest dreams!"

As they rocketed up into the sky, Robotnik could see that, to his delight, his orders were being carried out expeditiously. Though one of the newly-born robots had already left the vicinity, one was staying behind; faint beams of blue light rained down on the skyline from a new location with each minute.

"From this moment forward, Operation: Dimension Dominate has begun! And nothing's going to stop me now!!"