Tails…
He had been combing through these woods for a long time, but was having no luck with finding anything.
"I've been searching for hours, and still no sign of Knothole" Tails thought. He thought that it would be easy enough to find his way there because he had lived there for so long, but his surroundings seemed completely alien to him.
He didn't worry too much about losing the others, because they had made a plan to go super and fly up out of the forest at dusk, so it would be easy to meet up. But he couldn't shake a feeling of fear that something would go wrong…
Knuckles…
Knuckles was getting fed up with all this green, which he found ironic considering the many years he spent staring at his Master Emerald day in and day out.
"Come on, I'm supposed to be a master treasure hunter, yet I'm not finding a hide or a hair of any base out here" he complained. He checked every bush, climbed any tree with a suspicious branch, done everything he could, yet there wasn't a trace of anything in here.
"If I can't find it, then it's probably just a pile of mulch by now" he thought, ready to give up hope on finding it. Then he felt, no, he sensed someone behind him.
He turned around, ready to engage, but was relieved when he saw who it was.
Goku…
"Hey Knuckles, how's it going for you?" Goku asked.
Goku had been using his razor vision to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He then found himself bumping into none other than the red echidna.
"Well, not too great. This stupid forest probably doesn't even have base in it anymore" he said.
"Hey, if Sonic and Tails say that it's here, then I believe them" Goku said.
"Yeah, maybe, still not sure it's still standing" Knuckles said.
"Well, we're gonna need to split up to cover more ground. Good luck Knuckles" he said.
"Same to you, Goku."
Goku jogged off into the woods.
Sonic…
The atmosphere was tense, neither one of them knowing what to do.
Here he had been, captured, sore, and ready to make his escape. But when he got out, he found himself facing off with none other than-
"Sally?"
It seemed impossible that he had just found his best childhood friend, and she had him bound up and being interrogated. He had no idea what to do next, or what would happen next.
He heard footsteps thumping outside. He looked around for the first time, and realized he was in a wooded, one room house, with an open door. Then, that door was blocked off.
But some of those who entered froze at the sight in front of them. Sonic himself recognized a few of the faces that appeared. Rotor, Antoine, and Bunny were all there. He also saw a few people who he didn't recognize from the original group. One of them in particular ran forward and pointed a weird device at him, and said "Get on the ground, trespasser."
Sally turned around, yanked the device out of his hands, and commanded him to "Stand down."
That person turned to Sally and said "This is the one I caught trespassing in our woods. He's loose, and you want me to stand down?" he asked.
"Yes, I do, Roger, because you may not have recognized him, but this 'trespasser' is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog" Sally said.
Roger gasped. "Not the Sonic the Hedgehog, the best of the old Freedom Fighter agents, who bested Robotnik almost singlehandedly?" he asked in awe.
"Well, not singlehandedly, but yeah, that Sonic" Sally said. She turned to the rest of the group and told them to leave.
She then turned back to Sonic. "So, you finally decide to come visit, after all these years" she chastised.
"Heh heh, well, sorry, I kinda forgot my way back" Sonic said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, whatever the case, it's good to see you again" Sally said, holding her arms out.
Sonic stepped forward and embraced Sally. They held each other for a few moments before separating.
"So what finally made you want to pay a visit your friends in Knothole?" Sally asked.
"Well, I'm not sure if you've noticed it, but a little while back, there was an explosion, one that broke down the walls between our world and another" Sonic began to explain. Then he remembered. "Sally, you don't have any other of those patrols out there, do you?" he asked.
"Well, there are always a few of us keeping watch. Why?" Sally answered.
"Well, I didn't come looking for you guys alone, I came with a few friends" he said. "And if your patrols didn't recognize me, then they probably won't recognize Tails."
"Wait, Tails is with you too?" Sally asked. "I haven't seen him since he left either. Who are the other two?"
"One of them is a red echidna named Knuckles. He has large gloves with spiked fists. The other one is named Goku. He looks like a human, but with black spiky hair, and wearing orange fighting clothes" Sonic gave their descriptions.
"Okay, let me radio these descriptions to the others" she said as she pulled out her radio. She sent the message out to the others, then turned back to Sonic. "So, how did you find your way back to Knothole?"
"Long story short, we flew out to find Mobotropolis, and headed for The Great Forest to search from there" he explained. "Speaking of which, no one in Mobotropolis has seen anyone here in a while. Why haven't you guys moved back over?"
"Long story…" Sally began.
A familiar ocean town…
"Mommy, can we go home yet?"
"Now now, Goten, I've told you before, we don't have any way away to get home" a mother scolded her child.
Goten and Chi-Chi were walking along the light grey stone path alongside one of the many canals cutting through the town they were stuck in.
"Maybe we could've gotten a boat out, but the people here don't accept zeni for some reason."
"Why can't we just fly home Mommy?" Goten asked.
Chi-Chi sighed. "Goten, it's because we don't know where we are, or what way is home. And the last thing we need is you getting tired and dropping us in the middle of the ocean."
"Awwww" Goten whined. "I want to go home!"
"Goten, that's enough!" Chi-Chi said forcibly. Surprisingly, Goten calmed down. "There we go, maybe I can think now" she thought.
She looked all around, looking for something to help. A help wanted sign, a little raft, anything that could help them get off of the island.
They had been trapped on this island town for the last few days. Luckily people there were friendly, and they had food, but the only useful thing she had was her son.
"Boy, I hope we can find a way off of Soleanna soon."
On Kami's Lookout…
"So Dende, do you have any idea where any of them are?"
Piccolo and Krillin had both flown to Kami's Lookout to ask The Guardian of the Earth if he knew where any of Goku's family members were.
"Well guys, it's tough to say right now. All of them are in areas that belong to the other world we joined with" Dende answered. "I think that I can sense one of them, but it's a shaky connection."
"Well, where do you sense them? Any lead helps us" Krillin said.
"Hmm, well, from what I can sense, um" Dende searched. Then a signal flashed through his mind as the one he was tracking passed into an area belonging to his Earth. "There we go! He's at the island where they hosted the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. You'd better hurry though, he's on the move."
"Great, thank you Dende!"Piccolo praised.
"Just make sure it's the right island. I sense that the ocean around that area is no hosting a lot of islands from the other world" Dende warned.
"Thanks for the heads-up Dende, we'll be careful" Krillin replied.
At that, he and Piccolo took off for the island that Dende told them to.
Above the World Tournament's Island…
"Come on, I felt them somewhere around here" Gohan said, floating in the air.
He looked all around for any signs of the energy he was tracking, which just happened to be…
"Come on Goten, you're somewhere around here, I felt your energy not too long ago, so where are you?" he asked himself. He hated how his energy sensing skills were all mucked up ever since the walls broke down, because it made it so much harder to find anyone.
"There must be a way to overcome this. Maybe my senses will adjust eventually. But I really need to find my brother and mother before they get hurt" he thought. "For once in my life, I understand the use of scouters" he laughed.
Then he felt a small spark of energy, a few miles away. He could barely feel it, but it felt familiar.
"Goten!" he exclaimed, and then took off after the signal.
However, a mere three minutes later, Piccolo and Krillin showed up at the island Gohan had just left. They looked around, but came up with no sign he had been there.
"I guess Dende's mark was off" Krillin said. "I guess that it's back to the drawing board."
"No, Dende is never wrong. I can sense some residual energy, so we just missed whoever was here" Piccolo corrected. "Give me a second here, Krillin."
Piccolo twisted around in the air, sensing the surrounding area. He then felt minor movement off to the south-east.
"There, that way, I can sense something flying quickly. Let's go Krillin" Piccolo said, and he and Krillin took off after the one they were tracking.
At Seaside Hill…
"So, you tracked the source of Chaos energy here Shadow?"
Silver and Shadow had both traveled a long way tracking the energy Shadow felt. They needed to find a source of Chaos energy so that Shadow would be able to move the group of them around using Chaos Control.
"Yes, I'm sure Silver. My senses tell me that it is just around here, buried in the sand" Shadow answered.
He trusted in his ability to sense Chaos energies, but he couldn't imagine a source being out here. All seven Chaos Emeralds had been in the cannon, and he wasn't sure that one of them could be thrown this far away.
His senses pinged again, this time, practically under his feet. "Here" he said. He kneeled down and dug into the sand. He had made quite the sizable hole in the ground before he caught a glint.
He reached in and pulled out the glint of red out of the ground, but when he had pulled it out, he was very surprised with what he found.
The object he had pulled out had the same red color and reflectiveness of a normal Chaos Emerald, but it just looked like a Master Emerald shard.
"Well this is odd" he said. Silver peered over his shoulder at it.
"But that doesn't look like a Chaos Emerald" he pointed out.
"Yeah, thanks for pointing out the obvious" Shadow replied. "It doesn't look like a Chaos Emerald, but it still radiates Chaos energy. I can use it to make the jump we need."
Shadow stood up out of the sand, brushing off his knees and examining the gem he had found. It looked like a broken red Master Emerald shard, and he had never seen such a thing. The energy it had felt small compared to that of the Chaos Emeralds, but he felt that it had enough energy for Chaos Control.
"Silver, tell me, have you never seen anything like this gem in your world?" Shadow asked Silver.
"No, I never have. Even the Chaos Emeralds have become scarce in my world, and they are all that I've ever seen" he replied.
Shadow took another look at his new find. He hoped that this new object wasn't dangerous. "What do I mean be that" he asked himself. "All sources of Chaos energy are volatile. Even if this is a trap, it wouldn't be more dangerous than using one of the Emeralds."
Shadow breather out. "Silver, it's time. Let's go" he said.
Silver walked over and stood by Shadow. Shadow used his senses to search for another source of Chaos energy, using his Chaos Shard, as he decided to name it, to amplify his search range. As his senses broadened, he suddenly felt a tremendous pocket of energy.
"How did I ever miss that?" he wondered. This energy was the largest he had felt, since that one day on Angel Island, where even his Super Form hadn't been enough. However, he didn't know that they were in this world anymore. But if they were back, there were only a few people who knew about them, and less who understood how to create them.
"Alright Silver, I know exactly where we need to go" Shadow said with confidence. He held his Chaos Shard into, and loudly said, "CHAOS CONTOL!"
The two of them were incased in a bright sphere of light, and the warped away, leaving no trace behind.
Soleanna…
"Goten, come on, it's time for lunch" Chi-Chi called for her son.
"Coming Mom!" Goten called back, and he came scurrying back from the water. His mother had laid out a small spread of fresh fruit, especially apples, bigger and more vibrantly colored than any they had seen before.
Goten climbed up onto the table and reached for one of the apples, but Chi-Chi cut in and said "Now Goten, what do you say?"
"Oh" he said. He turned to the kind old couple running the fruit stand that been so nice to them after hearing their predicament. They had worked out a deal that if Chi-Chi helped out with the stall a bit, that they would supply the two of them with food to eat.
"Thank you very much Sir, and Ma'am" he thanked in his kindest voice to the old couple.
"No problem sonny, it wouldn't be in good conscience to let you starve while you're trapped here" the old man said.
"It's our pleasure" the old lady beside him chimed in.
Both Goten and Chi-chi each grabbed some fruit, and were just about to dig in when they heard a voice behind them say "Mind if I join in?"
Chi-Chi turned around and Goten leaned over to see who had spoken, and it was none other than-
"Gohan!" Goten called. He jumped down from the table and ran over, laughing, to hug his brother.
"Oh, Gohan, where have you been?" his mother asked, standing up and coming over to hug him as well.
Gohan laughed after a bit and said "Alright guys, give me a little breathing room."
Chi-Chi gestured at the table and said "We were about to eat, would you like to join us, Gohan?"
"Sure, I haven't eaten in over a day, I've been pretty busy searching for you guys" he chuckled.
"Gohan, this place has really good apples, you should try one" his brother said, offering him one.
"Heh, sure Goten, I'll try one" he conceded.
They caught up with each other while enjoyed their nice meal of fruit, and Gohan agreed with Goten. This place did have good apples.
"So do either you know what this place is?" Gohan asked the others after their meal was done.
"Yeah, we asked around, and apparently, this island is called Soleanna. It's got a city, a nice forest, and this town here. Apparently they have a massive castle around here somewhere too" Chi-Chi explained what she knew.
"Well, I suppose there are worst places to get stranded it" Gohan said jokingly. "Better than where I ended up" he continued while leaning back and stretching out, enjoying himself for the first time since the disaster.
"Oh Gohan, what's that bruise on your arm?" Chi-Chi asked in a mom voice.
"It's nothing Mom, it's just a little scrape I got while helping some people out in the city I ended up in" Gohan said, trying to calm his mom down before she went into full-on worry mode.
"Anyways, I waited in the city before I was feeling steady again, and then I took off to look for you guys and Dad" Gohan explained.
"Did you find Daddy before us?" Goten asked.
"No, it's been weird. Long story short, when the breakdown happened and the worlds merged, the two world's energies became mixed up, and it's been muffling my ability to sense energy" Gohan explained.
"Well, now that you've found us, we can get off of the island, right?" Chi-Chi asked.
"Yeah, but just out of curiosity, why haven't you guys left yet? They must have had a boat going in and out, and we still got millions of zenifrom Mr. Satan" Gohan asked.
"Strange thing, they don't accept zeni for payment here, nor do they have any conversions" she replied.
"Huh, weird. Well, I know which way a came from, so we should be able to fly off this island and back to the mainland easily enough. From there, we can start searching for Dad" Gohan strategized.
"Sounds good to me Gohan" Chi-Chi replied. "What are we waiting for, let's get-" but she was cut off by the sound of a massive explosion halfway across the town.
Gohan immediately got up and flew over to the sound of the explosion, reacting before his mom or brother had stood up. As he flew over the rooftops, he felt a dark, evil energy coming from the ground, and saw a massive black cloud rising from the spot.
He cleared the distance in a matter of moments, and touched down in the now bare spot in the center of a plaza. As he landed, there has still a bit of black smoke leaking up from the center of the crater.
Gohan took his fighting stance and called out "Ok, I can sense you in there, come out."
However, he was not expecting the response he got, when he heard a deep, evil laughter ring throughout the square.
"Oh, it seems we have a challenger. This is quite the interesting turn of events, for I was not expecting a welcoming party" the same deep voice rang out over the area.
The smoke cleared from the crater, revealing the figure within. It was unlinke anything Gohan had ever seen.
Standing at the heart of the crater was a strange, crystalline being, whose main body was a deep black, accented with purple. The spikes sticking out of the back of his head were the same color, but the tips were white, with the same purple accents. The white color was also present in a tuft of hair-like crystal on his chest, the tips of his clawed fingers, and in the boot like formation around his feet. But that wasn't the worst part.
This being's eyes, were a deep, evil red, with green irises and slit pupils. Staring into them game him a feeling of dread, and helplessness.
He shook the feeling off. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" he challenged this new mysterious foe.
"Forgive me if I answer the second question first. I am merely here, enjoying my return to existence, for I have been gone a very, long, time."
"And now, for your first question. I am the darkest of shadows that exist in this realm, the embodiment of the darkness in the Time God. I am Mephiles the Dark, and I am here to destroy all who stand in my way!"
"Look, I didn't ask for your life story, but thanks for the extra info. Now, I will introduce myself, *ahem, briefly!"
"My name is Gohan, and I stand up for those who cannot protect themselves. You have injured many innocent people, and that makes you an enemy. And I have a special word for my enemies."
"Oh, a verbal beatdown. Let us see this special word" Mephiles taunted.
"Fine, you asked for it!" Gohan said.
"Kaaaaaaaaaa, Meeeeeeeeee, Haaaaaaaaaa, Meeeeeeeeee…"
And that is the end of this chapter. In this chapter, Sonic found Knothole, although not in the way he expected. Also, Piccolo and Krillin took it upon themselves to find Goku's family, although Gohan had already took it upon himself to find them himself. However, the return of an old villain cut his reunion short. And with Gohan on the scene, there is sure to be a huge battle in Soleanne's near future. Prepare for this story's first big battle, next chapter! Until then, read and review!