Collin Hedgehog was an overlander, and a small one at that, with brown spiky hair, a green button up shirt, and some brown khakis and boots. He lived in a cave and worked on medical sciences as well as reverse engineering anything that Dr. Robotnik sent after him, his cousin Sonic, and their friends in Knothole. What he was looking at now, was nothing to do with anything of the above that he was certain was normal in his life now, or ever.
He had gone out that morning to do some herb collecting, as he specialized in herbal medicines. He had told Sally and Sonic not to expect him before sunset. While he had been doing this, he had been forced to flee in his green cloak away from Robotnik, and some of his robots. He had used his sword to destroy the two robots that had been following him, but Robotnik was still chasing after him.
Collin had jumped to avoid getting shot and accidently got himself and Robotnik to go through a star post portal! The two Overlanders found themselves in another zone or dimension! The sky was purple, and the entire area seemed to feel dark with negative energy. Collin was the first to recover as he ran away, his cloak getting torn in the process again. 'I have got to just start wearing my sports gear. It doesn't get torn as easily, and the rocket skates are far more helpful!'
"GET BACK HERE, SNIVELY!"
"Not my name, Julian!" Collin growled as he kept running. Most would question why Robotnik was calling him such a name. He only questioned the continuation of it. He remembered things from when he was born. He remembered who his overlander family had been born to. He remembered what had happened to his mother, and that his father was always leaving him with horrible sitters and his uncle, unknowing of how bad he was being treated. He remembered being abandoned by a sitter as an infant at the edge of the woods and he remembered being found by the Hedgehog Brothers; Jules and Charles!
Now he was in his teenage years and running from the fat man that only chose to acknowledge him by his middle name of "Snivilous!" Collin scowled as he made his way through the familiar, yet strange landscape of the area they were in. He had seen Robotnik's Egg Mobile accidently destroy the star post that was their way home, and now he had to hope he could find someone who would be able to send him back
"Well what do we have here?" Came the sneer of a green hedgehog that had jagged quills, wore a black leather jacket and shades, and had three scars along his chest. Collin skidded to a halt as he recognized the face of the hedgehog in front of him, though warped with dark intent and green.
"Sonic?"
"The name's Scourge, Snerdly, you know that." The hedgehog scowled. "How'd ya grow your hair back? And why are you so short, dork?" This hedgehog was definitely older than his Sonic, and a lot ruder too.
Collin flinched. 'If this is an alternate universe, then I suppose I'm lucky… if it's the future, I'm screwed.' Collin held his sword out as he unclasped his hood, the pin on his cloak quickly being refitted to his sword. "Sorry to report, but I'm not Snerdly, I'm Collin." He didn't often bring his sword out, but he knew how to use it if he needed to.
Scourge laughed. "So you always say. Sword's new though."
Collin raised a brow. "Is that so? Well that tells me I'm in an alternate dimension at the moment."
Scourge's eyes widened as his smile turned into a sneer. "Well that's new. Usually I have to go out to the other zones to find anyone new to fight." He cracked his knuckles. "So, you're a Snively from another zone? You think you're tough?"
"My zone's Robotnik is here too, ya moron." It felt weird to insult his cousin, but his mind had already grasped that this wasn't Sonic from his world. This Sonic didn't even want to be "Sonic" anymore. Collin then smirked. "I wonder if you have the same Real name as my Sonic? Is it, Og…"
Scourge growled. "SHUT IT!" He lunged at Collin, only for the teen to sidestep out of the way and for Scourge's quills to grind against his sword harmlessly.
"Oooh, I hit a sore point. That means I'm right, or it's close enough, hehe." Collin had a harsh gleam in his eyes as the sound of motors started to come closer. "Sounds like Robotnik's closing in."
"No way, sounds like the Kintobors."
Collin's eyes widened. "The what?" Suddenly, Collin found himself grabbed from behind and disarmed as he was picked up and placed into a moving motorcycle car! "WHA? HEY!" He growled until he spotted the driver!
The driver was an older and taller overlander with bits of grey peppered into his red hair, and his form was that of a soldier. Collin started quivering as they sped up, only to be joined by another motorcycle as they escaped Scourge. This motor cycle had a skinny man on it and he was slightly taller than Collin. He had a dark blue helmet on his head and had a long thin nose that was similar to Collin's.
"You got him?"
"Yes, but the kid's scared. Worse part is, he wasn't scared of Scourge!" The overlander driving the motorbike with Collin exclaimed as they rode. Collin held on tight and had somehow activated a hatch that was meant to keep him safe and inside the cargo carrier.
"That's nothing. I found a fat man claiming to be a doctor and a genius. I had to use Uncle's shrinking ray to carry him back when he tried to attack me." The other overlander explained as he held up an orb. Collin's eyes widened even bigger as his blue eyes locked onto the tiny figure of Dr. Robotnik in a glass orb.
"That's…"
"You know him?" The older one asked with concern.
"Keep him in there." Collin felt his stomach knot up. "For everyone's safety, sanity, or whatever you like to believe, just please… keep that… that thing… in there…" His eyes were watery with fear and wind as they came up to a dome covered forest. "What is…?"
"One of my uncle's greatest inventions, that shield keeps all of the great forest safe." The skinnier of the Overlanders explained as they made their way through the shield. "You're with us on our bikes, so the shield won't affect you."
Collin calmed down slowly as his mind wrapped around the technological marvel being used to protect the forest. The two motorcycles skidded to a stop just inside the shield, and the older Overlander hopped off first. He offered a hand to Collin. Collin looked at him with fear and confusion.
The other Overlander noticed and had a hand on his shoulder. "Dad, he's from another world. Look at him, he's scared of you. Your counterpart scared him or something." Collin looked at the other man with shock as his mind finally caught up to who he was. He was staring at an older version of himself, and of his overlander father! The taller overlander looked at the tinier version of himself. "How do you address yourself, young man?" He took off his helmet to reveal he was bald with only a few hairs left.
"C…Collin… Collin Hedgehog… my name is Collin Hedgehog and…" Collin looked timidly at the older overlander before crawling out. "I… um… I'll be fine, heh." He gave a weak chuckle. The last time he had seen his father, well… he had just been handed off to a nanny. He hadn't seen Senior since the day he was born… save for a glimpse of him before the rest of the Overlanders had been banished to space… "It's just… been a while since I've seen you in my world is all…" That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the reason either.
The oldest of the trio smacked his face. "What did he…?"
"Ah, thank goodness, you are alright!" Collin's head whipped around at the voice, but the user was nothing he had expected! It was the voice of Dr. Robotnik, but the form was a tall skinny fellow who looked more like a weed than anything. "I trust you were successful?"
"Of course, Uncle!"
"No problems, Julian."
"Um…" Collin's advanced mind was trying to compute all of this. He took a step back as he tried to lock onto the idea that in this dimension, not only did he get along with his human family, they were also healthy, and nice! And SONIC was the evil one! It was enough to give the young genius a heart attack!
"OH, hello there." The doctor, in his white lab coat, bent down to look at the tiny fellow. "I'm Dr. Julian Kintobor, but most just call me Doc or Dr. Kintobor. I see you've met my brother, Colin Kintobor Sr. and his son, Jr. To whom do I have the pleasure?"
Collin looked at his counterpart with shock at the slow realization that he hadn't been put through his kind of hell. He looked at the Doctor's hand cautiously before sighing and shaking it. "My name is Collin S. Hedgehog, and I'm in need of a star gate to get myself and my world's version of you back to my home zone, as I wouldn't dare leave that here." He muttered the last part darkly.
"Ah, well I think we might have something!" The Doc said with a smile. "Though I must say, you're quite small… how old are you, lad?"
"I'm…" Collin actually had to think about that. "Let's see… I think Tails is about Six now… Sonic should be about eleven now… and Princess Sally is twelve for a few more months… so… I'm…jeez… I think I'm about seventeen now." Collin scratched his head. "Man, I'm old…" Collin laughed bitterly.
The other overlanders looked at each other and then at the teen in front of them. Colin Junior was the first to speak. "You forgot your own age?"
The tinier Collin looked up at his counterpart. "Is that so bad that I forgot my own birthday when I have need of remembering others?" He asked slowly. It was one of the rare times when he would admit, his memory wasn't perfect, that he was just a man, and a small one at that.
Senior's face looked horrified while Dr. Kintobor looked paler than he already was. Colin Junior looked down at his shorter counterpart and knelt to his height. "How did you end up in this situation?"
Collin glared at the orb that housed his own world's Robotnik. "There's a war going on in my world." He shrugged. "Look, um… no offence, thanks for the rescue and all, but I have to go home, and probably going to have to take that piece of garbage back with me…" From inside the orb, Robotnik could be seen pounding and glaring at the tiny overlander.
"You're quite brave." Dr. Kintobor nodded. "I have a set of star gates. I'll just have to adjust them to your home zone."
"I'll do it, Uncle. Come with me, Collin Hedgehog. We'll get you home. Dad, go fix up the bikes and check on the others." The tall adult version of Colin indicated for the small teen to follow. "Come on, I've got some friends from other zones, so I'm best equipped to help you."
Collin grabbed the orb with Robotnik in it and ran to catch up to his counterpart. "I could end this right now, Julian…" Collin muttered to the orb as he ran. "I could stop you from harming my friends, my family anymore… but then there's your own child to worry about. Oh, I know he's a robot, and I could learn to reprogram him to be better… but for now… I suppose the only thing I hate about living with the Mobians of our world is that I don't have the guts to kill you for all this hell that you've put us through, and yes, I know, I know, big mistake. Freedom Fighters respect all life though…" The two entered a large building and a room with computers all over it. Colin Junior went right to a computer next to a set of star gates.
"Ah, good, you have them." Collin's head shot up and looked up at a man of similar height to himself, but standing on a wall! He had the trademark looks of himself and his counterpart, but had no hair like Colin Junior, and wore a military uniform that placed him at the status of Major! "I'm Major Znivley. I'm another version of you from another zone that goes between the other zones, known as the No-Zone. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hedgehog." He held out his hand.
Collin looked at it before shaking, trying to get an understanding as to what he was dealing with. "This is part of that whole theory where every event branches off due to possibilities and alternate universes, isn't it?"
Major Znively smirked. "My, that's quite an interesting conclusion for a sixteen year old."
"He said he was seventeen." The taller Colin pointed out.
"He's off by a month. Don't worry about it." The Major chuckled. "That perfect memory thing is only so useful. To be more accurate, it'll help you to remember more important events."
Collin grumbled as he glared at the orb in his hands. "Like the day Mobotropolis fell or the day I was born?"
Colin Junior stopped working at the computers and looked at his smaller, and younger, counterpart with concern. The Major grimaced. "Unfortunately. Think though, surely it's helpful in some way?"
Collin nodded slowly. "Why do I have it? Surely you all don't have this curse."
Major Znively then glared at the orb as well. "I usually don't jump into other zones, but after the complete cut off from the Prime Zone, I've taken to checking on the other zones that have… let's say good versions of myself, without permission." He changed his gaze to Collin with a complete calmness in his eyes. "In your zone's case, you are one of the most similar to the Prime Zone that I've seen in a long time. Your perfect memory is no doubt caused by the experiments that your mother was subjected to during the conceiving of yourself, and the further experimentation done to you by your uncle has more than likely allowed for you to suffer through other changes which will need to be addressed at another point. That… other incident from when you were six months old might come back to haunt you though.." The major said cryptically.
Collin stood there for a moment to compute all of the information. "You do realize that telling me all of that in such a way doesn't tend to confuse me, right?" His glare hardened.
"I could hope it would." Znively shrugged.
Collin looked down at the orb in his hands. "You experimented on my mother while she was pregnant? Really?" Robotnik just shrugged as though it shouldn't bother anyone. Collin shook the orb with Robotnik in it. "YOU MORON! NO WONDER SHE DIED THAT WAY! IT'S A MIRACLE SHE DIDN'T DIE RIGHT AWAY BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU MORONIC METAL BRAINED NITWIT!" tears were in his eyes from the grief coming over him, and some relief that it hadn't been his fault she had died.
"Collin…" Major Znively scratched his head as he tried to think of what to say. This teen was one of the most dangerous in the multiverse. "He's necessary to the balance of your universe…" Znively muttered, not really all that concerned if the fat tyrant died there or not.
Collin looked up at the major and rolled his eyes and dried them with a sleeve. "Fine, I'll deal with this creep when I get back to my home zone." Robotnik looked sick now in the tiny orb, and no one could hear what he was saying in the little thing. "As for this talk about a prime zone, am I to assume that you have some idea as to how my own life will turn out?"
"If it keeps going along the same lines as the prime zone, then there is a chance that you can end up in a similar situation and will be predictable. My job is to alter your timeline as little as possible to achieve the greatest results possible that will benefit all in your world and avoid a zone lockdown like what happened with the Prime zone." The major explained uncomfortably.
Collin thought about this. "How long until the portal is zoomed in on my zone?"
Colin Junior nodded. "Already locked, just gotta activate the gate."
"Thanks… I suppose this means that I'll see you boys again?"
The two alternate versions of Colin/Collin nodded. "Most likely."
"I do have my eye on you and a few others after all."
"Uh-huh…" Collin Hedgehog activated the Star Gate Posts. "Let's go, Julian, before I decide to take after you on something and throw you in a vat of acid." With a shimmer, the young teen and the orb carrying his version of Robotnik disappeared.
"We could have dealt with his Robotnik." Colin Junior pointed out while the Major shook his head.
"No, as I said, he's necessary for the balance… at least for now. You know how it is."
"Doesn't mean I like it."
Meanwhile, back in Collin Hedgehog's Mobius…
"Why did you release me?" Robotnik asked suspiciously as he regained his normal size.
Collin just shook his head and started to walk away. "Because if I'm going to beat you, it'll be me from this dimension, not some alternate version of me that has an alternate version of you to help him."
"What if Sonic is the one to beat me?" Robotnik finally stated as an afterthought, though he truly believed himself to be the victor in the end of this drama.
"More the better. I never hated Him, but I do hate you, Julian." They both knew who Collin was talking about. "Learning what I have today just made it worse. You'd better hope you don't fall under my mercy too often. All it would take is a voice of permission from the princess, or her family, and I'd kill you in a second."
"You say that as though you can." Robotnik sneered.
Collin looked back at the fat man with a glare in his blue eyes that seemed to bore right through him. "I know at least a dozen poisons, liquid and gaseous, that would be easy to slip to you. None of the Robotosized would be effected, and I could easily come back and deal with Junior and your other robots afterwards. Don't test me unless you're the one ready to be schooled." With that, Collin Hedgehog left Dr. Robotnik with wide eyes and a surprisingly startled expression on the fat man's face. For a guy who healed people for a living, Collin knew how to threaten them as well…
Soon…
Collin finished collecting his herbs without issue for the rest of the day, and made his way home. Princess Sally was waiting for him. "Collin, what happened? You've been gone all day! And what happened to your cloak?"
Collin merely sighed and gave a small smile towards the princess. He ruffled her hair and kept walking into the cave. "I went herb gathering and ran into some complications… gave me a lot to think about…"
"Oh?" Collin didn't tend to ruffle her hair much anymore. Tails was more likely to get his fur ruffled, due to his youth.
"Yeah… I think my overlander life wouldn't have been so bad… if they didn't make the mistakes that they did." A single tear fell from his face as he entered the caverns that hid Knothole once more, his only true home where he belonged…