Chapter 3: The Re-Union

As Sonic and the others finished clearing up the town there was a crashing like noise from the distance and Sonic leapt up onto the cliff side to look down the coast.

'What's that awful noise' said one of the humans, 'it sounds like…'

'A ship' said Knuckles cutting him off as he saw what Sonic was seeing; a small sailboat had crashed onto the shore, how was beyond him though, the water was perfectly calm.

'Shall we take a look' Tails said, flying just above his two comrades.

'Yeah, I think we should, someone could be hurt, come on let's go' Sonic said leaping down the other side of the cliff and heading for the boat.

Knuckles groaned 'why do we seem to be playing rescue so much today' but he followed none the less.

Amy and Cream, unwilling to let Sonic too far out of their sight followed after the three of them.

The sailboat was a mess, the primary damage being the gaping hole in its underside.

Sonic whistled 'wow, that's one big hole, I wonder what happened.'

Tails flew over the boat 'how do you think it got here, I mean who sailed it and how did it crash, the sea is perfectly calm.'

Knuckles shrugged and walked up to the side of it 'beats me' he tapped the side of the boat with his fist 'but it isn't going anywhere now.

'But what about the people' Amy said 'you don't think they are still out there do you' she asked pointing to the sea.

Sonic gulped and gave a small laugh 'well I ain't going to find out, you know I hate water.'

'So you're just going to let them drown' Amy yelled back 'oh that's real heroic of you.'

'Why don't you do it then' growled Knuckles stepping forward.

Suddenly a voice distracted them all and they turned back to the wreck 'uh excuse me but who…Sonic, Sonic the speedy hedgehog is that you and Tails too, oh wow this is bonza just what I need to get out of here, it's great to see you again by the way.'

Sonic scratched his head and Tails flew down to land next to the young, girl, which Tails could now see was a racoon, talking to them 'um…do we know you?'

'Sure you do mate, we met a while back, you and Sonic was passing through my homelands the South Islands, I'm Marine the Racoon' Marine replied scuffing up Tail's hair in a childish way.

'Oh yeah' said Sonic, 'now I remember, you come from the same world as Blaze don't you?'

Marine nodded 'yeah I do but I like to sail around, unfortunately I've been a bit…landlocked here' she said scratching her head and staring down at the wreck under her feet.

'What happened' Amy asked 'the sea looks perfectly calm.'

Marine shook her head 'I have no idea how but I came through some sort of…portal or something, it was weird but on the other side I was stuck in a roaring storm, which is why when I came through I was sent crashing onto the shore.'

Tails gasped and turned to Sonic 'Sonic perhaps that is why the Babylon Rogues got stuck here, perhaps there was a storm or something similar in their world and they came through by accident, and now they are stuck.'

'Whoa stuck' Marine said 'here, you're kidding me right.'

Sonic shook his head 'as far as we know there is no way out of this world once you enter, the only people who might know are the royalty.'

'But there must be a way' Amy said 'what would be the point in having a world so sealed off.'

'Maybe to them this is the only world' Cream added and everyone looked at her.

Tails flew down, and Marine slid down to join them 'Cream's got a point guys' Tails said 'this may be a world where they don't know about others.'

Knuckles laughed 'yeah right, they seemed pretty calm considering all the weird stuff going on and animals like us running around.'

Sonic stepped away from the others, thinking 'we should try and speak with the Princess of Soleanna, maybe she can give us some answers and can help each other out.'

'I don't know Sonic, seek an audience with the ruling sovereign herself, it could be difficult and we don't want to use force' Tails replied, sighing 'but I'll do what I can to help.'

Knuckles sighed 'what can I say, I'm stuck in this world until we find a way out so…I'm with you too.'

Amy turned to Marine 'I'm sorry about your boat Marine, we'll keep an eye out for a new one but…well I was wondering if in the meantime you'd like to join me and Cream as part of our Team Rose.'

Marine laughed 'Sonic warned me he had some weird friends, you must be Amy, but yeah alright, I'll travel with you, for now.'

Amy clapped 'great' turning to talk to Sonic she said 'right no…' but Sonic and his team had already ran off into the distance.

Amy turned red and cried in frustration 'oooohhh that hedgehog, he's going to be sorry, come on let's get after them.'

By the time Amy and her team caught up to Sonic and his team they were way into the grasslands and had stopped near a small village. Knuckles and Tails were waiting outside the village, knuckles lying against a rock and Tails sitting on top of it.

'You guys could of at least waited for us' Amy shouted over her heavy breathing 'you just ran off without even saying goodbye.'

Knuckles looked at her 'oh yeah, sorry, goodbye.'

Amy tried to leap at him but Tails stopped her and Marine soon pitched in to help, Cream stayed where she was reluctant to get involved in the fight.

At last sighing Amy said 'where is Sonic?'

'He's in town, apparently they actually sell chilli dogs in this world, or something like it at any rate, it got him all excited and he ran off, we're waiting here' Knuckles explained, looking forward, not sounding like he cared greatly.

'Well I'm waiting until he returns and then he is going to have to apologize to me for leaving so rudely back there' Amy said, her arms crossed stubbornly.

The five of them waited patiently for what felt like hours but probably wasn't anywhere near that long. What finally drew their attention wasn't the sound of Sonic's approach though but the hard to forget sound of Extreme Gear.

Knuckles got up and looked around suddenly looking eager and grinding his fists 'I know that sound and that sound means revenge time for us, right Tails?'

Tails didn't feel so sure 'don't you think we should wait for Sonic, we can't take them alone.'

'Sure we can' Knuckles said and before Tails cold stop him he leapt off the rock and onto one of the passing boarders.

'Aaaaaggghhhhh' cried the boarder, it wasn't a voice Tails recognised and it didn't sound like Jet despite being green.

'I got him' Knuckles yelled happily, getting off the guy and pulling him up 'I…hey, you're not…who are you?'

The second boarder had stopped and turned to come back 'hey, whoever you are let my brother go before I smack you round the head with this thing' she said nodding to her board 'and trust me, they hurt a lot.'

Knuckles grumbled and put the guy down 'yeah I know that from experience, sorry, thought you were someone else.'

The two boarders looked at each other and then back at the group; the girl leapt off her board and the boy picked up his own and the two walked to stand a few feet away from them 'this…"someone else"' said the boy 'it wouldn't happen to be a gang of buzzards called the Babylon Rogues would it?'

Knuckles gaped 'you know them, I didn't know many people who did, at least not by their true name anyway, some just call them the skilled X-Gear boarders.'

'We've had our own run ins with them over the last few years' the boy replied 'my name is Manic and this is Sonia, we're X-Gear riders and…' he looked at Sonia.

Sonia decided to continue 'my brother is uncertain how much to say that's all, we're looking for someone, someone I have no doubt you will have heard of.'

'Who' Tails asked curiously.

'His name is Sonic the Hedgehog, believe me we have a meeting with him that is long overdue' Manic replied.

'What' said Tails, shocked 'how do you two know Sonic, why do you want to talk to him?'

Amy frowned at Sonia 'I sure hope you aren't looking for a date with Sonic, Sonic's my boyfriend.'

Sonia laughed 'No you completely misunderstand our connection to Sonic.'

'To your infamous blue hero' Manic added, rather snidely 'who can supposedly do no wrong.'

'Manic' Sonia cautioned, seeing that Knuckles and Amy were both glaring at his comment.

'Who do you two think you are, you don't know the first thing about Sonic' Amy shouted 'he's a great hero and always has been.'

Manic smiled 'on the contrary, I'm sure Sonic has done many great things since we last saw him, but we know the true him for Sonia and I are Sonic's brother and sister.'

Sonia smacked her hand into her face, sighing, clearly wishing Manic wasn't so forward.

Tails was so dumb founded he forgot to rotate his tails and fell to the ground 'what!'

Knuckles stopped beating his fist and slowly just let his jaw drop 'brother…sister…but… but but, that's not…how…'

'It's a long story' Sonia said 'long story short we are triplets; Sonic was born gifted with super speed, neither Manic nor I was gifted but we were separated by our mother to keep us safe. I was raised by nobility, Manic on the streets and thus became very street smart and Sonic on the average door step. We eventually found each other and had many adventures. Uncle Chuck helped us with most of them, he was blue like Sonic but with a moustache. We later discovered our father was Julius or Jules a veteran war hero but became an outcast of the kingdom we lived in. We never met him though and what happened to him neither Manic nor I know, Sonic might…which is part of why we are looking for him.'

'But…'Amy said 'how can you possibly be…why did Sonic never tell us about this?'

Knuckles rounded on Tails 'tell me you knew something about this, you've known him longer than any of us.'

Tails shook his head 'I'm as shocked as the rest of you but I'm sure he had a good reason for not telling us.'

Manic gave a small doubtful cough like noise 'and I suppose you're going to tell us he also had a reason for up and leaving us behind, Sonic could have taken us with him on his adventures but no…he just left.'

'Sonic would never do something like that' Amy said angrily, narrowing her eyes she said 'are you sure we're talking about the same person here?'

Sonia put a hand on her brother's arm 'there's only one Sonic who can run at the speed of sound is their not and is known by names such as the Blue Wind…you'll have to forgive Manic, he's found it harder to forgive Sonic, but I have, whatever the reason he left I'm willing to forgive him…if only we could talk to him.'

Tails looked around at the others, nodded then said 'well he should be here any minute, we're close friends of his.'

'Let's not exaggerate' Knuckles grumbled.

'Where is he' Sonia asked curiously.

'He's in the village, getting food, I wonder what's taking him so long' Amy muttered.

They didn't have to wait much longer, the sound of Sonic's approach soon reached their ears 'hey guys, we're in luck, they do sell chilli dogs here and boy do they look tasty I…' but he stopped talking when he saw Manic and Sonia and dropped the plate of Chilli Dogs to the floor, letting it smash to pieces.

'No…it…it can't be…it's impossible…Manic…Sonia' Sonic stuttered, he had never looked so shocked and paralyzed in all of Tail's time with him.

'It's us Sonic, still alive' Manic said 'are you happy or disappointed?'

Sonia shoved Manic 'brother! I mean…Manic, we agreed no jumping to conclusions, remember.'

'What are you talking about' Sonic said 'and how can you ask me that, why would I be disappointed to see my own brother and sister alive?'

There was an intake of breath from the others as their identity was confirmed by Sonic.

Manic refused to move nearer to Sonic though, unlike Sonia who had moved a step or two nearer to him 'I want to hear it, hear it from him Sonia…what happened that night Sonic, why did you leave us?'

Sonic frowned 'I didn't leave you, I thought you were dead, I was told you were both dead…how was I to know you were still alive and…what…waiting for me?'

Sonia nodded in confirmation 'you see Manic, I knew there must have been a reason but…who told you we were dead?'

'Robotnik of course' said Sonic; still not quite believing he was staring at his long lost siblings.

'And you believed him' Manic said laughing 'gullible much?'

'We were only kids Manic, get over it. He had a very convincing set up to fool me I can tell you, thought a lot more than just you died, I thought Uncle Chuck and all the Freedom Fighters died too and mom as well. I left because I thought there was nothing left for me anymore.'

Sonia's face saddened and she ran over to hug Sonic 'I'm sorry Sonic, sorry you had to suffer that.'

'Yeah and I'm sorry I left you two behind…I just didn't know.'

Manic sighed, looking at the ground and kicking a pebble 'well, I guess that's fair enough' and he walked over to hug him as well. The three siblings embraced and then split apart.

'Before we move on though…I gotta know, what happened to mom' Sonic asked.

'Sorry Sonic, we tried but without you and…well me and Manic left a couple of years after you, using this tech to get around' she gestured to the airboards.

Tails flew over and looked at the boards 'can I take a look?'

Manic nodded 'sure go ahead.'

Tails looked them over 'hmmm, I didn't know X-Gear went back as far as that, at least not this kind.'

Sonia shook her head 'it didn't, the kind we used originally was an older design, it wasn't even called X-Gear, we got this later when we met those buzzards in a racing tournament.'

'The Babylon Rogues' Sonic said 'you've met them?'

Manic nodded 'yeah, we've had our share of meetings, they've been making our life pretty tough, Sonia and I need money to get by and we can either get it by winning races or some thievery both of which they get in the way off.'

'Yeah tell us about it' Knuckles growled.

'Thievery' said Sonic frowning slightly.

'It's not what you think Sonic' Sonia said 'Manic and I needed a way to get money and get by, we never steal much and always find ways to pay the people back…but the Rogues put thieves in a bad light and ruin it for us.'

'I see' Sonic said 'well…we should get moving, Manic and Sonia you um…you're welcome to come with us…if you like.'

The two looked at each other, thinking about it for a minute 'maybe we'll join you later, we just need some time, now that we've found you again' Manic said, scratching the back of his head.

'Ok' Sonic said 'we're headed for the capital of Solleanna, this world, to try and speak with their ruler Princess Elise.'

Sonia nodded 'all right, we'll catch up. Sonic, one last question, did you ever find our father, Jules?'

Sonic shook his head 'no, never…and there's only one living man I can think of who might know anything about him.'

'Who' said Manic and Sonia together.

'Dr Robotnik' Sonic replied

Chapter 4: Past Future

Silver moved through the streets of his city, troubled by the flashes running through his head, was it some new power or an outside influence. His future world was peaceful and happy but somehow it seemed…wrong…like something was missing. Before he could think about it anymore he heard screams and shouts from far off in the distance and levitated into the air to look around for the source of the disturbance. He saw something going on far off near the edge of the city; he propelled himself forwards and shot off towards the screams to help.

When he arrived he found a ruined street with people and rubble everywhere, he ran over to the nearest wounded 'hey, are you ok, what happened here?'

The man held his stomach as he stood up 'I…I don't know, something came from the sky and, it was like a bolt of lighting and then it was chaos, everything was everywhere' looking at Silver he said 'you…you're that hedgehog, Silver, the one with the powers.'

Silver nodded 'that's right, don't worry, if who ever did this is still around I'll deal with him.'

A voice spoke out from the smoke 'will you now' it was an arrogant and cocky sounding voice, one Silver instantly didn't like.

Silver moved past the retreating civilians and yelled out into the debris 'show yourself, whoever you are.'

'Up here, stupid hedgehog' came the voice and Silver looked up to see a figure standing on top of a lamppost 'I've been looking for you…Silver, figured you'd come running if I stirred up some chaos.'

Silver frowned 'you…who are you.'

The figure crackled with electricity and then vanished, reappearing at floor level near Silver 'I'm Quill the Porcupine, they call me the Harbinger of Storms.'

Now that Silver could see Quill he was able to get a good look at him, he was a light slate blue/grey colour and had many very long quill needles for hair going down his back. This stood to reason though, porcupines having much longer and sharper spikes than hedgehogs or echidnas. Quill's eyes were golden like his own and also had black shadows around them like his own. He had black lighting bolt tattoos on his arms and legs leading up from his boots and gloves. Quill's boots were long like his own but instead of being black with a white stripe down the middle his were white with a purple stripe down the middle and a small black trim between the purple and the white. The underneath of his boot was black. His gloves had a purple stripe on the top and the same glowing mark on the underneath as Silver but his mark, as well as the stripe, was purple. The ankle/ wrist of the gloves and boots was black with spike studs. In short he looked like a more punky futuristic figure next to Silver who looked simply futuristic.

'Why…why are you harming innocent people' Silver asked blocking Quill's path to the people.

Quill smirked 'it's you I'm after Silver, I'm looking for Blaze, last I heard she was travelling with you, where is she?'

Silver frowned 'Blaze…who is Blaze, what are you talking about?'

'I have little patients for hedgehogs as it is, don't test me, tell me where she is and I'll go peacefully' Quill snapped.

'I told you, I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't know anyone called Blaze' Silver replied.

Quill frowned 'very well, if you won't tell me, then I'll just have to beat it out of you.'

Before Silver could reply he was smashed backwards by Quill diving into him in some sort of corkscrew dive, electricity crackling around him as he did.

Silver pulled himself up 'big mistake, take this' and threw a crate at Quill but quill stopped it in midair.

'What' Silver muttered 'you are Psychokinetic too?'

Quill laughed 'no, not quite, but in today's modern world I may as well be.'

'Then…how…' Silver muttered watching the floating crate.

Quill smirked 'Harbinger of Storms Silver, think about that name for a moment…Plasmakineses I can create and control electricity I can also lift anything magnetic like metals and link myself to lightning in clouds or electricity in cables like that lamppost.'

Silver frowned 'I don't care how strong you think you are, I will beat you.'

Quill jumped forward and landed several punches on Silver before leaping behind him at the speed of light using a cable on the ground and hitting him with a kick, knocking him down 'don't make me laugh!'

Silver staggered to his feet and turned but by the time he did Quill had moved again 'you're too slow, you'll never win' Quill said hitting him with a mailbox.

Standing over Silver he said 'as much as I love kicking a hedgehog's butt, I'd rather just know where Blaze is, so tell me already will you.'

Staggering up Silver muttered 'I don't know any Blaze, I swear.'

'I saw you with her, ages ago, but when I came back, you were gone and so was she. Now you're back…and she isn't, where did you go?'

Silver was about to answer when a crackling noise started up and a portal suddenly appeared not far from the two of them, the people around them backed away in fear but Quill, ever the reckless on jumped straight for it and Silver leapt after him 'hey, get back here!'

Quill emerged in a strange foreign place, it looked like…castle ruins 'what the…where am I…I've seen portals before but' turning to look back at the fading portal he muttered 'that was no ordinary portal' moving over to the edge of the ruins he looked out over a valley of castle ruins 'I need to find out where I am.'

Silver fell out of the portal into a jungle 'agh…' as he hit the floor flashes suddenly went through his head; a flaming beast, a black hedgehog and himself holding…gems and a purple cat calling his name from a ruined city and his own voice replying 'Blaze.'

Clutching at his head he muttered 'what…what was that…a black hedgehog…and this cat called Blaze…that was who Quill was looking for…but I've never met Blaze before…what is going on?'

He stood up and looked around 'I need to get to higher ground, find out where I am.'

Quill ran through the valley but soon found himself surrounded by strange machines 'ha, you think you can stop me, no metal can stand against me' he said to them as they circled him.

One of the robots was sending camera feed directly back to Dr Robotnik at White Acropolis, seeing this mysterious new figure he watched Quill on the monitor 'hmmm, strange, who is this one, I haven't seen him before…not one of Sonic's old acquaintances' he looked him over and ran his face through a database analysis 'strange, I've got no data on him.'

He continued to watch as Quill began to charge up his energy 'alright then, if you won't move, I'll just destroy you all, send you straight to the scrap pile.'

There was a flash and the camera's went dead as Quill's electrical powers short-circuited the connection, he attacked the robots one after the other, driving into them like a corkscrew surrounded by electricity. The few robot that managed to avoid him tried to fire missiles but he grabbed them with his powers and threw them back at them.

Quill continued on, leaving the pile of wrecked robots behind him, he finally found himself inside a half destroyed castle building and he looked around at the portraits on the walls, they were pictures of human men and women but their clothes were older, and a different style to that of where he was from. One picture was a man who died, at least according to his time…almost 300 years ago but, the last picture was a Princess Elise the current ruling Sovereign…the time just didn't fit 'this…this can't be…this isn't just my world…but it isn't my time, it is the only thing that could explain this place…and Silver…I heard him come in after me…where did he go?'

Just then there was a noise outside and he turned to see three people walking towards him, he braced himself, ever weary of others; the one in the lead was a green hedgehog with a black leather jacket and red shades, on his right was a female red fox and on his left a brown lynx.

'Well, well ,well, I guess you're the one who destroyed Robotnik's toys, we've been cleaning them out as we go, what's your name?'

'Quill' he replied cautiously, watching all three with guarded eyes, he was in an unknown time and place and he didn't like hedgehogs at the best of times.

Smiling wickedly the green hedgehog offered his hand 'Scourge, that's Fiona and he's Lightning, we're known as The Destructix.'

Quill didn't shake his hand he stood still 'where am I, what is this world?'

Scourge raised an eyebrow 'this place, it's called Soleanna, it's a human world, they worship this Sun God called Solaris apparently, but I, well, we don't care much about all that, we're looking for someone, a hedgehog by the name of Sonic.'

'Never heard of him, can't say I care much for you hedgehogs' Quill replied frowning.

Scourge's smile faded 'what have you got against us?'

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I have my reasons' Quill muttered and began to walk past them.

'This Sonic travels with a two tailed fox and red echidna by the name of Knuckles, you sure you ain't heard of him, he's known as the Blue Wind and all sorts of ridiculous names cause he's supposedly so fast.'

Quill turned to look at the three 'supposedly?'

'Sonic and I are kind of like…twins…in a way, we're not related but I'm like the evil twin I can do anything he can, including run at the speed of sound.'

Quill thought about that for a moment, speed of sound huh, impressive but I can do better, under certain conditions of course.

'Did you say echidna' Quill asked and Scourge nodded, Quill scowled, he hated them just as much, or did, but that confirmed it now, in his time echidnas became extinct over 50 years ago, this was definitely not his time.

'Where exactly are you from anyway' Scourge asked.

'None of your business, if I find this blue hedgehog I'll deal with him myself, don't worry' and Quill headed fro the door but Scourge zoomed in front of him to block his way.

'Sorry, can't let you do that, Sonic's mine' his two partners had moved to surround Quill.

Quill laughed 'trust me, you don't want to get me mad, now get out of my way.'

Lightning leapt for Quill but he quickly lifted a piece of metal lying in the corner and hurled it into him before he reached him, hitting him in mid air.

'Lighting' Fiona yelled and ran over to check him 'are you ok?'

Scourge looked between Lightning and Quill 'what…how did you…'

'Like I said…I wouldn't mess with me if I were you' Quill said standing up straight, moving out of his fighting pose.

Scourge however didn't seem ready to give up 'you'll pay for that, suffer the wrath of the Destructix' and he zoomed forward and Quill faster then Quill had ever expected and was knocked backwards and through the far wall.

After a moment Quill yelled and jumped back through 'alright you want rough, I'll give you rough you inferior creature' and he leapt forwards his fist crackling with lightning, Scourge met him head on with a homing attack and the two collided, holding each other fists, snarling at each other, teeth clenched. Quill's teeth crackled with electricity as did his eyes and fists where as Scourge's just seemed to radiate force as though trying to push forwards with incredible difficulty.

'What…are you' Scourge snarled 'how…are you doing this' he noticed his gloves beginning to sizzle under the electricity.

Quill put on an evil smile 'I have powers far beyond what you can understand.'

Their grapple broke and Quill hit Scourge high into the air with an uppercut he then moved for the door 'I don't have time to play around with puny hedgehogs anymore, I got to go.'

Scourge pulled himself up frowning; he had seen some strange things in his time…but that guy…that was new.

Silver moved through the jungle ruins using his psychokinesis to levitate himself over gaps, move over water on logs and hurl rocks and fired missiles back at patrolling robots. The robots were strange, there were a few in the city but they were all harmless.

He reached the highest tower of the ruins and looked around, far off in the distance he could see what looked like castle ruins and a sort of valley, and what looked like mountains in the other, this didn't look like any part of his world.