Chapter three: Welcome Back
The Peach Creek gang skid to a halt in the middle of the woods. They had lost all traces of the mysterious person. There weren't even any footprints in the mud that they tracked through. Despite the fact that the ground was extremely soft and wet, there was no footprint anywhere.
"Could we have imagined it?" Double D asked after a while.
"Then how could we all have heard it?" Hotshot asked.
"Good point," Double D mumbled.
"I honestly don't like this you guys," Nazz admitted.
"I know what you mean kid," Hotshot agreed, "I mean, I'm an old veteran from the fight against Robotnik, but nothing this weird has ever happened."
Meanwhile, less then a hundred yards away, completely hidden by the cover of dark, two teenagers and one kid were tripping over their own hands as they struggled to hook up the wires on the small machine in front of them.
"I told you that you were spending too much time with Peter Griffon!" Rush growled loudly.
"Well excuse me for trying to have a little fun," the black and green hedgehog growled back.
"You're worse then that end of the world episode, you know that don't you?"
"What, just because I like to throw mud at you doesn't mean I'm like the baby!"
"Please, you go through girlfriends about as many times as that baby tries to kill Lois."
"Do not!"
"Guys, save the quarrels for later, we need to get this thing working!" Nick said.
"What do you think I'm doing, ya dope?" the brunette asked harshly as she pressed more buttons on the device.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" the black and green hedgehog asked, "I mean, aren't we taking a major risk in doing this?"
"Tell me, would you rather leave it up to fate?" his sister asked, "Rika did, and she ended up going from one world to another for more then a hundred years!"
"Now what world are you talking about?" the blonde asked very much annoyed.
"Higurashi not that I'd let you go back to those worlds," the brunette said, "It's way too violent for you."
"I'm twelve years old, I can take it!"
"No you can't. Believe me, it ain't pretty."
"What's so bad about it?"
"Um guys, here they come," Nick said, making sure that a fight wouldn't ensure.
"Shit!" the boy cursed, only to be hit by his sister. She hated it when he cursed and his punishment was either a punch to the head or hitting a pressure point. "Forget the technical junk!"
The black and green hedgehog then clapped his hands together and placed them just over the device. Bolts of blue lightning shot from the ground and hit the device. In a puff of smoke, the device was finished.
"Does it actually work?" Nick asked.
"No time to find out, here they come!" the hedgehog said before ducking into a bush, dragging his sister as he did.
Mumbles could be heard from the bush, somewhere along the lines of "putting starch in Matthew's underwear". While her brother watched through the bushes, his sister groaned, "I wonder if Ratchet ever had days like this with Al."
"Shut it you video game nerd, they're coming!" her brother hissed.
"Did you just call me "video game nerd"?" his sister hissed.
Realizing his mistake, the hedgehog squeaked,
"Oh shi-" His sister grabbed him and pulled him further into the bush before he could finish.
"Sh!" Rush hushed him.
The team of three instantly froze as the Peach Creek kids and Eddy's brother came into hearing range. Rush squinted her eyes in a serious way. Her brother knew that look anywhere. It was the one when they entered the worlds they codenamed "Touched by Higurashi". Rush really liked those worlds not just the people who lived in those worlds but the very twisted and complicated story that came with them. She was really into that kind of thing but he never found out all too much about them. And every time she came back from those worlds, she always brought a strange briefcase, the kind used for carrying laptops and very important papers.
He never dared to ask about it. Whenever he was about to, she'd give him a look that sort of set him off. It was beyond creepy to him. The look would say to him: Disturb me about what's in this briefcase and you'll regret for the rest of your life. He knew how dangerous the Higurashi worlds were, and as to why his sister kept going back to them, he'd never know. Heck, he'd nearly had fifteen nails hammered into each of his hands at each joint by a girl possessed by a demon engraved in her back. This was the first time he went to one of those worlds, and the last time too. He was just lucky Rush had come to his rescue before it could happen. According to her, he could have ended up much worse. "The last thing we need in this is another dead body walking around," was what she had told him. He never figured out if that was a threat, a warning, or an act to keep him away for his own safety. All he knew was that those worlds were dangerous and that Rush wouldn't so much as allow him to ask about going back to them, even almost three years after what had happened.
"Where'd the music go?" Double D asked.
Matthew was snapped out of the thoughts of Higurashi and to the humans less then five feet away from them. One little sound and they could be all over them like leeches. Eddy was in fact within arm's reach.
"You move, and I'll turn you into a stink bug," his sister threatened, "I'm sending in Max II."
Double D looked around for the source of the music. No one was really sure as to what to think. There had been music but it needed a source, so where was it?
"You think someone's playing with us?" Eddy asked.
"I don't think so, and if they are, it's not very funny," Hotshot said.
Double D looked into a bush, hoping to find something.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Jimmy was the one who screamed.
"What's wrong kid?" Hotshot asked.
"Something ran across my foot!" the young boy squealed.
Double D, who just so happened to look to the ground, saw a flash of white and brown.
"Jimmy, it was just a wild hamster, nothing to be scared of," Double D explained calmly.
"But, I'm scared of mice!" Jimmy whined.
"He stared Robotnik in the face more then once and he's scared of a little hamster?" Eddy asked Hotshot with his arms crossed over his chest.
"It was a hamster, not a mouse, there's a difference," Double D explained.
Matt wisely scooted away from his sister. There were practically flames shooting from her body as she restrained herself from strangling a certain weakling. She already had a dislike for Jimmy because of the Friendship Day incident, but now, anyone who didn't like rodents were on her top hundred most hated, at least until they started liking them, she even liked naked mole rats. She really, really hated it when they mistook hamsters for mice and rats. His sister was just weird that way.
"Activating mini-port…NOW!" she whispered harshly.
The Peach Creek kids jumped at the sudden blue light the seemingly appeared out of nowhere. A swirling vortex slowly replaced what was once nothing but air.
"What the bloody hell is goin' on here?" Hotshot asked rather bluntly.
"…I think I know," Double D said as he slowly approached the vortex.
When the energy cleared some, it revealed a familiar city, seemingly made out of gold and jewels.
"Mobotropolis!" Double D said in surprise.
"WHAT?!" Hotshot nearly ran the kids over to get to Double D's side before nearly yelling, "ARE YOU SURE IT'S MOBOTROPOLIS?!"
Double D was somewhat worried. Being a Freedom Fighter Veteran, Hotshot's reaction to the downfall of Robotnik was equivalent to his birthday and Christmas coming early and on the same day. Double D wasn't exactly prepared for it.
"Yeah, I think so."
Hotshot looked for himself. He saw it, but was somewhat careful. Hotshot slowly raised his hand to the portal and just barely touched it before pulling back. The energy swam around his hand for about ten seconds before vanishing.
"What do you think Hotshot?" Double D asked.
"Well, the only way to really tell is if we check it out for ourselves," Hotshot replied.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! THE MOUSE IS BACK!!" Jimmy suddenly screamed.
His reaction this time was different. If they could see clearly enough, they'd see a small hamster walking up to him, causing Jimmy to step backwards, before he turned around, and broke into an all out run for the portal. He wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
"Jimmy!" Sarah cried as he vanished.
"Looks like we don't have any choice to go now," Hotshot said, "We've gotta get the kid back."
Sarah didn't even give another word before chasing after her friend. Nazz went next, followed by Kevin, Johnny and Plank, Rolf, the Kankers, Hotshot, and the Eds taking up the rear.
Once the portal closed, the team of three came out of hiding. The brunette leader was clearly steamed by Jimmy's reactions to her favorite robot hamster. The tiny robot moved towards her on its one wheel, into her hand, up her arm, and stopped on her shoulder.
"You did perfectly Max II," she said softly as she gently rubbed the top of his head, "Jimmy's cover at the Friendship Day thing is so gonna be blown."
"What 'cha gonna do?" Nick asked.
"I…don't know… But I'll think of something," Rush said.
"Well, they're on Mobius now, does that mean our job is done?" her brother asked.
"No, it doesn't," she growled.
'It is only beginning,' she then thought, 'I should know, I'm the one writing this story out.'
In the heart of the Freedom Zone…
"You guys have no clue as to how lucky you are that this came up," Cyan said as she painted her claw-like fingernails a shade of red.
"Yeah right, we're still gonna get our tails fired by the commander sooner or later," Chris groaned.
"Well then, maybe this'll teach to not be so dumb and cocky," Cyan said, "And maybe if we're lucky, you'll stop being such a big bully to Nick."
"Bah, not my fault the tub o' lard's a major weakling, and can't even hold him own against his little brother," Chris replied.
"Yeah, yeah, you said the same thing about your little adventure to the Underworld, and wouldn't you know it, it's causing-"
"I KNOW WHAT IT'S CAUSING!" Chris yelled.
"Man, if I knew what we'd be going through, I'd have never let you guys talk me into this," Jacob said as he slammed his thumbs on a Nintendo Gamecube controller.
"That makes two of us," Eric agreed.
Kenny didn't say anything, for he was too focused on making his character move to really listen, let alone pay attention.
"Rush is so going to skin you alive, boys," Cyan said as she checked her nails, "And then hang your sorry asses over the mantel after she's done with you."
"She doesn't do that! She hates animal-head trophies and skin-rugs, and stuff like that!" Eric snapped. That was one of the few things that hadn't changed since they were little kids; Rush's hatred of anything made from animal pelts. She'd been known to go off on people for so much as kidding about hurting an animal. She had the force of ten atomic bombs when she got mad, so if you wanted to keep your head on right, you wouldn't be stupid enough to kid about that kind of thing.
"Animal pelts, no, but humans, that's another story entirely," Cyan said, "I mean, your species is over populating your many different Earths, after all. You're messing up the ecosystem, causing global warming, creating wars left and right, nearly wiping species off the face of their planets, and the list goes on and on."
"No one even asked you, Cyan!" Jacob now snapped, "How would you know anyways? You're not even entirely human! You're one quarter human, one and a half quarters wolf, and one and a half quarters cat!"
Cyan's cat ears twitched in annoyance.
"This coming from one of the four stooges who sent all of the dimensions into chaos for ten seconds?" she growled, "I mean, we're still trying to determine the exact number or deaths you caused."
"It was an accident for the love of Pete!" Jacob now yelled.
"Wow Jake! I didn't know you were gay!" Cyan said in a fake surprise.
"…She got you good dude," Eric said.
"DAMN YOU ALL!" Jacob yelled at the top of his lungs.
Cyan simply shook her hands gently, waiting for the pain to dry.
"You're lucky she isn't using you for target practice with the R.Y.N.O., otherwise you'd all be dead meat by now," Cyan said, "There's no surviving that puppy."
"Says you!" Jacob snapped.
"Don't believe me? Go to the training room and see for yourself, I don't really care," Cyan said, "My job is just to baby-sit you guys so you don't cause anymore trouble."
Eric simply turned to the second TV, as it changed to the Peach Creek crew as they flew through the portal.
"Well, well, well, now," Cyan said as she turned to the window, "Wouldn't you know it? There they are now."
She gestured with her hand to the window, revealing several shooting stars flying over the sky, but not disappearing.
"Those guys don't even know they're shooting stars right now, do they?" Eric asked.
"Did you when you came here?" Cyan asked.
"Touche."
Elsewhere in the Freedom Zone…
"Oh look! There they are!" Caria pointed to the sky.
Thomas looked to the sky, to see a group of shooting stars streak across the sky. Like everyone else in the Freedom Zone, they could watch the whole adventure of the Peach Creek Crew unravel on their new watches, which doubled as TVs.
"Oh wow, I wish we were as lucky as Rush and her team," Thomas admitted.
"I'll say," Caria said.
"Bah, like Rush would pick weaklings like you!"
The two twelve-year-olds jumped and turned around. They had made the terrible mistake of entering Fullmetal Alchemist fan territory. Upon coming to live in the Freedom Zone, gangs were formed, depending on which Seria the kids and teenagers liked. These barely even knew anything about Fullmetal Alchemist other then the name, being major Sonic fans. The punishment of entering the others' territory depended on who discovered them. It was peaceful as long as everyone stayed in his or her own area. Those who were fans of more then one lived between the others. They were ones that got along with all the others the best. It was just a different version of the World Wars.
"P-P-Please Ricky, we just got here, we haven't even looked at our maps yet!" Caria bagged.
Ricky was a sort of ringleader of this area, and was one of the nastiest teenagers in the entire Freedom Zone. The twelve-year-olds were beginning to think they were better off in Rush's half of the zone.
"No excuse, time for a pounding," Ricky growled with a grin.
"B-B-B-But Flame won't allow it! He's not that heartless!" Thomas stuttered.
"Who's to say we can't teach you a lesson and beat on ya at the same time?" Ricky asked as he cracked his knuckles, "There is such a thing as humiliation in your dimensions, isn't there?"
They both gulped as the fifteen-year-old lifted up Thomas, who braced himself for a punch or something. Another, a female, lifted up Caria, who readied herself for a verbal lashing female bullies were famous for.
"We're gonna say it once; put down the kid and we won't hafta kick your sorry tails all the way to Tokyo in some random dimension."
All of the bullies jumped at the voice. They turned to see Gear standing about six feet away. He wasn't much bigger then an Omochoa, but he was armed with Glue Pellets.
"Hah, what are ya gonna do, glue us to the ground?" Ricky taunted the small robot.
"No, but Rusty and ACDC are gonna beat you something awful," Gear said in a know it all voice.
That stopped the bullies dead in their tracks. Rusty and ACDC were a team to fear when they were working together. Rusty, Flame's Infernape, and ACDC, a Dark Choa, were considerably the law of this sector, as well as the judge. When working together, they were a pretty well put up team. The only team better was probably Twinkle and Shelby's amazingly large collection of pokemon.
The two walked out from behind a fence, with smug looks on their face.
"SHIT! RUN!" Ricky yelled as he dropped Thomas.
As they watched the bullies disappear around a corner, Rusty and ACDC gave chase, just to make sure they got the message.
With the Peach Creek crew…
They were being propelled at incredible speeds, even faster then the speed of light. They were practically flying as they flew headfirst straight forward, through an amazing tunnel of colors and bright lights. The wind's force was amazing, yet they still somehow managed to penetrate it. Double D clutched his hat as the winds whipped at him, threatening to remove his hat. If they had been going slower, they may have seen some spectacular sights, most of which they'd have never imagined.
Although, the whole time, they felt their bodies twist and reshape themselves, cell by cell. It didn't hurt, but it did feel strange. Skin became armor-like scales, hair became fur, their clothes changed into different materials, and they felt it all happen with no pain.
"Hang on guys, we're exiting to Mobius…NOW!" Hotshot said loudly.
In a blinding flash of light everything vanished, but they didn't pass out like they did the last time they came to the distant planet. All of them shielded their eyes, as they looked away, some of them seeing slight changes to their appearances. They felt ground appear under their feet as they somehow turned upright and gently floated to the ground.
Double D was the first to open his eyes. They were standing in a lively city, full of humanoid animals, all of which were walking freely and happily, not fearing anything. Children could be heard giggling as they played in the night air, while the light of the moon reflected of the gold and jewels that actually made up the entire city, some making lunar rainbows. Some of them were looking at holographic maps, others were riding on hover bikes and things similar to hover units only these were more like cars. There was no denying where they had landed. That was when a small, yet very cute, choa-like robot landed less then a yard away from them, flying with a small propeller on its head.
"Hi and welcome to New Mobotropolis, I'm Omochoa, I'm here to help you! I will be you guide this evening!"
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So, how'd you all enjoy this chapter? It's also the very first time I put cuss words into a fanfic! I'm gonna focus more on the Peach Creek crew in the next few chapters. R&R please.
