First of all, I have to say the following chapter is shorter than usual. I apologize to anyone who doesn't like the fact it's too short. I promise the next chapter after this one will be much longer, though. With that said, here's the newest chapter.

Chapter 11: United

After getting sucked into the vacuum, all the heroes ended up in the same glass cage where Knuckles was. The majority of them groaned before standing up.

"Mamma Mia! We gotta break this-a cage-a right now!" Mario exclaimed.

"Let's do it!" Sonic exclaimed.

Just as the heroes ran to the various sides of the cage to try to destroy it, Wario prevented Shadow from going further.

"Hold on a minute! I want-a my revenge!" the fat man exclaimed.

"Not now, fatty." The black hedgehog said as he was about to run to the side.

"Hey!" Wario yelled while preventing the Ultimate Lifeform from going further again. "I'm-a not fat! I have-a muscles to prove it! I want-a my revenge-a now!"

"It's neither the time, nor the place to fight you, Wario. Eggman and Bowser managed to capture us. We need to escape and stop their plans once and for all." Shadow said.

"I don't-a care-a what these-a two are up to! I just want to fight you and prove-a that I'm-a superior to you!"

"I don't care what you want. I've made a promise to Maria to protect my planet. And I'm not gonna let these two taking over it."

"Maria? Oh! Is that your girlfriend? Kissy-kissy!" Wario said teasingly.

"No. She was the only friend I had years ago." The black hedgehog said, frowning at the fat man.

"And where is she now? Baking you some-a cookies?" the fat man asked, in a teasing tone again.

"No. She's dead." He replied, still frowning

Soon after, there was a silence that lasted about twenty seconds. However, that silence felt like an eternity. Hearing what Shadow just said, Wario was speechless.

"Ooh... Awkward." The fat man said, looking down and scratching the back of his head.

The black hedgehog took a deep breath, thinking about horrible events in his life.

"I'm not an average hedgehog. Far from it. I'm actually an experiment, created by Pr. Gerald Robotnik. His granddaughter, Maria, had a rare disease. The professor created me in the hopes of finding a cure for her. When I was created, she was the only friend I had. I have nothing but great memories of the times we passed together. But then... Militaries came to shut down the project the professor was working on. I was frozen for 50 years. As for Maria... she... I don't want... to remember it."

Shadow was clutching his fist, feeling pain as he thought about the fate of his friend. The black hedgehog turned around and ran to the side of the cage. Wario stood there, for the first time feeling bad about something.

"Boy... That's-a depressing." He said before shaking his head. "What's-a going on with me? I'm-a not-a supposed to have a conscience!" he yelled in annoyance.

After thinking about it, he groaned furiously before catching up with the black hedgehog.

"Okay, look... I'm-a sorry about what I just said." The fat man said. "I can't-a believe I said those-a words-a together." He said to himself. "But... Hum... If I can do anything to help you..."

"Breaking this cage and helping me fight Eggman and Bowser would be a good start." Shadow said before looking at the fat man.

"This cage doesn't resist against the mighty Wario!" the fat man exclaimed before running to the side of the cage.

The black hedgehog nodded before running towards the side of the cage as well. At the same time, the rest of the heroes were busy trying to break the cage to escape. Knuckles was the only one not doing that since he already tried to break it earlier.

"Guys!" the echidna exclaimed, getting everyone's attention. "It's just no use. I've tried to break this cage with all my strength. It just won't break."

"He's right." DK said. "I've just tried it myself. That cage is too solid to break."

Everyone else was disappointed to hear that. They now had no idea how to get out of this cage.

"Mamma Mia!" Luigi exclaimed as he sat down, looking defeated. "How are we gonna get out of here?"

Everyone tried to think of something that could free them from this cage. Mario tried his hardest to find an idea, but he wasn't able to find any. He sighed in frustration. The plumber then looked to his right and noticed Sonic, also thinking. Mario thought about everything that just happened. It was now time they had to talk. The plumber came right next to the hedgehog. The latter noticed the former and looked at him.

"So... You're-a not a villain?" Mario asked.

Sonic smirked as he heard that.

"I could ask you the same question. I'm guessing we would both answer 'no'." the hedgehog said.

"That's-a what I thought."

"Who is this Bowser guy?" Sonic asked.

"My archenemy. The evil-a king of all-a the Koopas, ready to take over the Mushroom-a Kingdom." The plumber replied. "What about Dr. Eggman?"

"My archenemy as well. He's no king, but he's one heck of a mad scientist. It's too bad for him that I always foil his plan of taking over the world." The hedgehog replied.

"Hmm... They tricked us into fighting each other just so they could have-a the emeralds-a to themselves."

"Yeah, I think that pretty much sums up the whole situation." Sonic said.

"Honestly, I feel-a bad for thinking-a you were-a my enemy." Mario said, looking a bit ashamed.

"Nah, don't feel so bad. We were both tricked into fighting each other. There was no way anyone could have figured out the other wasn't a bad guy. It's neither your fault nor mine. It's Eggman and Bowser's fault if this happened. So... Don't feel bad about it." The hedgehog said.

Hearing what Sonic just said, Mario smiled. The hedgehog was right about it. The plumber felt a lot better at this moment.

"Still, I would-a like to apologize-a for thinking you were-a my enemy, Sonic."

"I may as well apologize too, Mario."

Sonic held his hand, waiting for Mario to shake it. A few seconds later, the plumber grabbed the hedgehog's hand and shook it. They both smiled at each other, reconciling once and for all. Seeing this happening, their respective friends realized it was now time to reconcile as well. Yoshi and Rouge looked at each other.

"Hey, Ms. Bat. I'm sorry for thinking you were a villainess." The dinosaur said.

"Well, honestly, I'm not a heroine all the time, but I'm not a villainess all the time either, dino-boy." The bat said. "Still, I accept your apology... if you promise to never turn me into an egg again!"

"I promise!" the dinosaur said before shaking her hand.

"Hey... hum... What's-a your name again?" Luigi asked the fox as he stood up.

"I'm Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails." The latter replied.

"Okay then. Listen, Tails. I'm-a sorry that we had to fight."

"I'm just as sorry as you are... Hum..."

"Luigi."

"Thanks." Tails said before shaking Luigi's hand, the two of them smiling at each other.

DK and Knuckles then looked at each other.

"Hey, big guy... Hum, I hope I didn't hurt you too much during our fight." The echidna said.

"Eh, I've been through worse. You were still a great opponent though. I like your style." The gorilla said, smirking.

"I like yours, too." Knuckles said, smirking as well.

Instead of shaking their hands like the others, they bumped their fists together. Soon after, Peach and Amy came right next to each other.

"So... You're a princess?" the pink hedgehog asked while looking at the blonde-haired woman's crown.

"Yes, I am." She replied.

"Do I have to call you 'your majesty' or something like that?" Amy asked, nervous about talking to a royalty.

"Friends of mine call me Peach. Call me that as well." The princess replied, smiling.

"Wait... 'Friends of mine'... You consider me, Amy Rose, to be your friend?"

"I can tell from our fight that you are filled with spirit and I'd be glad to be your friend."

Amy briefly smiled before remembering something.

"Wait a second. I remember our fight. I remember it ended with me losing consciousness underwater. Then, Sonic told me you brought me back on the surface. Why did you do that?"

"I wouldn't let anyone die like that, even if it was my enemy. That's all." Peach replied.

"Well... I'm glad you had a good enough heart to save me, Peach." She said before smiling at the princess.

"My pleasure." The blonde-haired woman said before hugging Amy, who then hugged her back.

"Okay! Alright! That's enough!" Wario exclaimed in annoyance, getting everyone's attention. "Have you guys-a forgot we're still-a trapped in this-a cage!?"

"Wario's right. We have to find a way out of here." Shadow said.

"Got any idea, buddy?" Sonic asked Tails.

The fox gave more thought about it. Suddenly, he found an idea as he snapped his fingers.

"I think I know what we could do. There's probably a weak spot on this cage. We just need to find this weak spot and we'll use it to make a hole in it and escape." Tails replied.

Everyone nodded at that and tried to find the weak spot. They gently tapped everywhere on the glass. After a while, Rouge was the one who found it.

"Over here, guys." The bat said to the others.

"So, what do we do now?" Luigi asked.

"The strongest ones among us will use their strength to punch a hole on this weak spot." Tails said.

"Let me handle this!" Wario exclaimed as he came next to the weak spot.

"You ain't the only one to be strong here, Wario." DK said as both him and Knuckles came near the weak spot.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let's-a just end this already."

Using all their strengths, the three strong ones punched as hard as they could on the weak spot at once, causing it to shatter and make a hole.

"There you go." Knuckles said, motioning the others to go through the hole. "Just make sure you don't step on any glass. It can give you a cut."

Several seconds later, all twelve heroes were out of the cage, all of them standing now on the floor.

"So... what's next?" Yoshi asked.

"It's pretty obvious. We go see Eggman and Bowser and we fight them until they give us the Star Emeralds back." Sonic said.

"For the first time, we're-a gonna fight as a team, not as rivals." Mario said.

"You got that right, Mario." The hedgehog said, smirking.

The plumber smirked at him.

"Alright, everyone. Let's show to Eggman and Bowser they haven't won yet and they never will!" Sonic exclaimed.

"YEAH!" everyone, except Mario and Sonic, exclaimed in excitement.

End of chapter.

Mario, Sonic and their respective friends are now united against the villains. The next chapter will see plenty of action happening.

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