Chapter 15: In Which An Octobot Leads to a Scourge
GT: Well, if anyone remembers the episode this was based off, it was originally Mirror Knuckles. But instead...we're going with Mirror Sonic. As usual, we don't own the Sonic series. Just our OCs.
The lab was quiet outside of the hum of the machines within. Eggman lowered his goggles over his glasses before pulling out a pair of black headphones. Pulling the speakers away from each other, he lowered them over his head and right over his ears. Eggman raised his arm with the device on it and tapped said device, producing a screen. He tapped on several things on it before the screen displayed 'EGGMAN'S TUNES OF ANARCHY - VOL 1' and then 'WHERE EVIL GROWS - THE POPPY FAMILY.'
With that in place and playing, Eggman grinned deviously. Pushing away from his computer, he slid along the floor on his computer chair. Lightly bumping into another desk, he spun around with a whimsical waving of his arms as he spun around a few times before stopping before the desk where the strange fine-cut emerald laid. Picking it up, he pushed away and towards another desk with a clear container on it that he nestled the emerald into. Picking that up and, with another spin, stood up fully and did a few slides towards a bulky device. He placed the container on the top of the machine and a pair of cables came out of the sides with metal clamps on the ends. Picking them up with a dancing crouch, he attached one to one side and, when he attached the other...everything went dark and his music stopped.
"..." Eggman picked up Cubot before tugging his left arm, causing his optics to brighten into flashlights.
Calmly, he carried Cubot down a hallway and into another room. Opening the circuit breaker box in it, several switches were displayed. In the light from Cubot's optics, Several stickers were taped to different sections: 'BADNIKS,' 'EVIL LAIR,' 'SELF DESTRUCT,' and 'MAMA ROBOTNIK RADAR' at the very bottom. He reached up to 'EVIL LAIR' and began to switch on the switches. Once power came back on, he closed the box, tugged Cubot's left arm again to turn off the lights, and tossed him to the side. He tapped his wrist-mounted device and the music resumed and he danced off back to see what went wrong.
A Crabmeat flew over the beach, its casing broken open and its claws crushed. It tumbled along the sand before crashing into a pile of more broken Badniks. Tails chased after a Moto Bug, leading it towards Amy who whipped out her hammer and smashed down on it hard enough to smash it to pieces. Sticks screamed as she threw her boomerang at a Buzz Bomber, breaking its wings and sent it crashing down onto another Crabmeat. The trees shook before a large robot resembling a red octopus emerged, sporting ten tentacles. Sonic began to run at it when the robot fired a blast of ink before him, causing him to start sliding and waving his arms wildly.
"Uh, I could use some help here!" Sonic panicked.
"I'm all over it," Dave spoke, carrying a yellow and green blaster of sorts, as Sonic fell over with a yelp, "Anyone order a butt-kicking with a side of pain and extra humiliation sauce?"
Sonic pulled himself up as Dave aimed and pulled the trigger of his blaster. A hamburger shot out of the gun and hit the Octopus Bot. He flicked a switch and the gun began to fire a barrage of hamburgers at the machine, leaving its windshield covered in various sauces. Inside of it, Eggman growled in annoyance as he fired a red laser at them. Amy yelped as the blast hit near her, sending her into the air. Knuckles approached, riding on a pair of hoverboards, and caught Amy in mid-fall.
"I always knew you'd fall for me," Knuckles noted.
"Ahh…" Amy swooned, a blush forming on her cheeks.
=Knuckles the Echidna, my arch-nemesis= Eggman noted from the Octopus Bot as the condiments were wiped off, revealing him...wearing a green version of his outfit.
"You never learn, do you, Egghead? You'll never defeat my team!" Knuckles declared.
"We're a team? We should get matching uniforms!" Sonic beamed.
"Oh Sonic. Uniforms by definition match," Knuckles chuckled in amusement as he patted Sonic's head, "Now, if you'll excuse me, the grown-ups have some work to do."
Sonic pouted at that, 'I was helping…'
Knuckles released one of his Hoverboards that destroyed a Crabmeat. He tried hitting the Octopus Bot with the other Hoverboard and managed to hit Mirror Octopus Bot on the underbelly. The Mirror Octopus Bot caught smoke and fell to the ground, sending up sand. Knuckles jumped up into the air before slamming down hard on the ground with a strong punch, sending out red shockwaves from the impact. The shockwaves blew back a few more Badniks and sent the Octopus Bot up into the air and crashed into the trees, knocking the ones it hit over. It shook before firing a red and blue pair of lasers that went towards Knuckles.
"NOOOOO!" Sonic screamed, charging towards the echidna and barely managed to push him out of the way in time...only to be hit instead and vanish.
"Sonic..." Knuckles gasped...
...as Knuckles put the tray of hot dog weiners on the counter by the lit grill Sticks was manning, "...sure is late, huh? What's taking him and Roll so long, anyway?"
"Well, they did have to go to the vet for a checkup on Tango," Tails noted as he and Amy sat at the decorated picnic table outside Amy's hut, "Being a pet owner seems difficult."
"I know, right?" Amy noted before Sonic flickered into appearance beside Sticks.
"GYAH! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Sticks panicked, making Sonic jump with wide eyes.
"Sticks, chill it. It's just Sonic," Tails replied.
"Oh. ...KILL SONIC WITH FIRE!" Sticks freaked, making Sonic scoot back from her only to trip and fall over.
"Wow! You sure showed up fast," Knuckles noted, helping Sonic up as he looked around, "Wait...Where's Roll?"
"Huh? Who's Roll?" Sonic asked, tilting his head.
"?!" the four paused and looked at him with perplexed looks.
"...What?" Sonic asked before looking around, "...Huh...Where's Eggman?"
"He called earlier and said he's taking today off to test if you don't panic over him not attacking for three days straight," Amy replied.
"Hey, guys!" Sonic called as he skated up on his EX Gear, Roll beside him on her own, "The vet says Tango will be fine."
"Mother is taking care of her for today," Roll added before looking at the other Sonic, "...Huh?"
"...Who's the cool lookin' dude?" Sonic asked.
"I don't believe it! They're both the same hedgehog!" Tails awed, looking at a handheld device as everyone sat at Meh Burger.
"They really look alike," Sticks noted, "We need a way to tell them apart."
"Really? I don't see how we look alike," the other Sonic noted.
"Hmm...I have an idea," Roll noted before pulling out a pair of black-rimmed sunglasses with red-tinted lenses, "Here." she walked up to the other Sonic and put them on his head, "How's this?"
"Huh?" the other Sonic fiddled with them, "...Wow. These are really cool! Thanks, Miss!"
"No problem," Roll assured.
"There's also the issue of what to call them," Amy noted, "We have to distinguish them by names."
"Um...What does 'distinguish' mean?" the other Sonic asked.
"I was just about to ask the same thing," Knuckles noted, patting his shoulder, "I like this guy already."
"He may look like Sonic, but he doesn't talk like him," Sticks noted.
"Hey...I talk gooder than you do," other Sonic pouted.
"Hmm...Well, since you're a guest here, may we ask if you go by another name while you're here?" Roll asked.
"Another name? But Sonic is my name," other Sonic noted, tilting his head.
"...Do you have a middle name?" Amy asked.
"Absolutely not," Sonic stated.
"Didn't you say that it's…"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Sonic interrupted Roll.
"Really? 'Nothing' is a weird middle name. Mine's Maurice," other Sonic noted.
"?!"
"Maurice?" Tails repeated, forcing down a giggle.
"Why did you say it?" Sonic groaned.
"Well...Amy asked. I didn't wanna get hammered for not responding," other Sonic replied.
"..." Sonic and Roll shared looks, Roll's filled with concern and Sonic's being more of a 'What the heck?' expression.
"Easy now. No one but Eggman's robots, a danger to the islands, or any of the registered Villains on the islands are getting a hammering from me," Amy assured.
"...y...you sure?" Other Sonic asked.
"Of course," Amy assured.
"You don't mind us calling you Maurice then?" Roll asked.
"Um...No, not at all," other Sonic replied, shaking his head.
"Cool. I was gonna suggest Mr. Needlemouse," Knuckles noted.
"No, absolutely not," Sonic deadpanned.
"Aw man…"
"There's a perfectly rational explanation for all this," Tails noted, earning looks from everyone, "...I just haven't figured it out yet."
"Aw…" nearly everyone groaned in exasperation.
"Oh! Maybe David can help," Maurice noted.
"...David?" Roll repeated.
"Yeah, he's super smart! Even smarter than Tails!" Maurice beamed before noticing the looks he was getting, "...Is...Is that a bad idea? Sorry…"
"No, no, no. It's just, the Dave we know...is a registered Villain," Amy noted, "And a pretty bad one at that."
"What?" Maurice blinked at that, "But...h-"
"Three...two..one…" Amy counted down when Dave tried to give someone a fish burger...RAW fish...as in still alive.
"...Why is he doing that? He hates serving anything without it being perfectly prepared," Maurice noted with wide eyes.
"...We're gonna need someone smarter than me," Tails noted.
"He's from another Zone," Skye informed, sitting on a stump wearing a hardhat while construction was going on nearby on the cliffside.
"Zone?" Amy repeated.
"Yeah. An experiment I did when Roll was a kit caused me to end up on this 'Interstellar Highway,'" Skye explained, "It was there I encountered this officer known as a Zone Cop. She told me about where I was and what Zones were before sending me back to my Zone. Zones are alternate universes all branching from a single 'Prime Zone.' There's basically an entire multiverse out there, inhabited by all kinds of versions of us out there." he motioned to Maurice, who was making a sand castle with Haseo, "Our fellow here is from an opposite Zone of ours, where the personalities of some of the people are opposites of ours. Such as Dave being a genius and professional chef in his Zone while our Dave is...well...Dave. Hmm..." he looked over at Maurice, "Hey, Maurice!"
"Yes, sir?" Maurice asked, looking up with Haseo.
"What is your opinion on Gogobas?" Skye asked.
"Some of the nicest folks you'd ever meet. Always willing to lend a hand and never ask for anything in return," Maurice replied.
"Thank you," Skye thanked before looking at the group, "See? Anything you can note of him?"
"Yeah, he's as smart as Knuckles," Sonic replied, "And keeps tripping every other step."
"...Oh wow," Maurice blinked at that, "Someone thinks I'm as smart as Knuckles!"
"Care to tell us a bit about your team where you're from?" Tails asked.
"Well, the Tails I know uses a lot of magic stuff like spells and potions and stuff," Maurice noted, "Amy really likes Knuckles, but not really much of anyone else. N-Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
"It's alright," Amy assured, "Just be honest, okay?"
"Um, well...If you say so…" Maurice noted, "Amy gets really scary at times when Knuckles isn't around and often it's aimed at me and I don't know what I did wrong. Sticks…" he looked over at Sticks, who was trying to pounce on her shadow, "...is pretty much the same. And Knuckles...oh man, Knuckles. He's so awesome! He's smart, so cool-looking, really tough, and likes to use a lot of big words!"
"...and what about the other me?" Sticks asked.
"Well...Not much is different," Maurice noted.
"So I don't even know if I'm the Zone Double that is here or if I'm actually from here?!" Sticks panicked before running around, screaming in a panic.
"...So how do we get Maurice back home?" Amy asked.
"Well, the easiest is to replicate what caused him to come here in the first place," Skye noted.
"Maurice, how did you arrive here?" Roll asked, kneeling down to him.
"It was during a battle with some Badniks, and I took a shot aimed at Knuckles. After that...I'm not sure," Maurice answered.
"Do you remember what shot you?" Roll asked.
"Um...Some sorta squid robot," Maurice replied.
"...That's new," Tails blinked, "I don't think Eggman's ever made any squid robots.".
"How many tentacles?" Sonic asked.
"Um…" Maurice looked at his hands, mumbling as he counted them, "Eight."
"Octopus Bot," Sonic deadpanned...before he and Maurice flickered, "?!"
"Ohh...I was worried about that," Skye noted.
"What's wrong?" Knuckles asked.
"Something that Zone Cop warned me about about our Zone having issues with two of the same person in it that are from different Zones," Skye noted, "It tries to deal with it by erasing both in twelve hours of the Zone Double appearing."
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Yup. So unless you can figure out how to get him back to his Zone...both Sonic's go bye bye," Skye noted.
"No one panic!" Amy ordered, "We'll go see Dr. Eggman since today's Saturday and see if we can use his Octopus Bot."
"Yes ma'am!" both Sonic's saluted.
"...Why's it being Saturday important?" Maurice asked.
Amy knocked on the doors to Eggman's lair. After a few moments, a panel opened on it, letting Orbot poke his head out.
"Hello. ...Oh my. Why are there two of Sonic?" Orbot asked.
"We'll explain once we're inside. Where's Eggman?"
"He's asked to not be disturbed while he's performing an experiment at the moment," Orobot replied before the lights turned off, "...And we lost power again."
"Oh dear…" Amy whispered.
"DANG IT!" Eggman's voice snapped.
"As you can see, he's unavailable right now," Orbot noted before closing the panel, "My apologies."
"Ah not good…" Tails muttered, "Now what?"
"...We sneak in," Roll replied as she looked at a vent, "We'll apologize after we save Sonic and Maurice from being erased."
"I'm on it," Sonic noted, doing a Spin Dash at the grate...only to bounce off and land on his face, "...ow…"
"This isn't good. It seems that while you're both being erased, your strength's going away, too," Tails noted in concern.
"I'm on it!" Knuckles beamed as he walked over and ripped open the grate, "Huh. Kinda easy."
"Mmm…" Maurice and Sonic grunted in annoyance.
"What?"
"Grr...stupid...power outage…" Eggman muttered, turning the power back on, "This emerald Skye found is incredible! It's possibly even more powerful than the Meroke Crystal that powers the entire village and my lair or even the Chaos Crystals!" he walked to the machine and looked at the cables, "Just as I thought. The power's so strong, just trying to take a small sample is frying even the cables I use for the larger robots in my arsenal. Cubot, I need those cables."
"The ones you made for what powers…"
"Yes," Eggman replied.
"You got it, Boss," Cubot replied as he floated away before coming back in with thick emerald green cables with gold ends.
"Excellent," Eggman grinned as he took them and quickly went to work replacing the cables, "Alright. Test number ASC-161." he pushed the button and the emerald began to glow, "...Yes! We've got a sample! We've got a sample!"
"Sweet!" Cubot beamed, "So, uh, what is it?"
"...Have you not been listening today?!" Eggman snapped, turning around to glare at Cubot, "Honestly! This is something amazing! Just a mere sample of it has enough power in it to power all the islands if they were filled with villages the same size of the village Sonic and his friends live near for a hundred years!"
Up in the vents, the group crawled along with Maurice at the end of it.
'In the very back as usual…' Maurice thought.
"Enough power to power all the islands with villages for 100 years...that...that's honestly good," Tails whispered.
"It's probably a trick to control our minds," Sticks hissed.
"Maybe. Still, we can focus on that later. Finding that Octopus Bot is more important," Sonic noted.
"You must be excited on getting back home to your Zone, Maurice," Amy noted.
"Yeah. Getting back home will be nice," Maurice agreed.
"Well hopefully Eggman will be able to help with that," Amy whispered.
"So you're up for going back to a Zone where I'm me, Stick is crazy, Amy likes hitting people except for me, Dave's being a good cook, and Tails being weird?" Knuckles asked, earning looks from the others but Maurice, "...What?"
"Eh, it's home," Maurice replied, 'Sure, it's nice here...what with Amy being nice and not threatening to bash my head in...Tails not casting spells on me when I'm not looking...Where Knuckles doesn't treat me like a kid...and actually shows me neat things that I can understand…' he reached up to his sunglasses, '...Where I get gifts from nice ladies...or gifts from anyone, really...' he glanced past Tails at Sonic, '...'
"...Somethin' up?" Sonic asked, noticing Maurice looking at him.
"Huh? Uh...No, not really. Just thinking is all," Maurice replied, "Ugh...Makes my head hurt."
"Oh, you said it," Knuckles noted, "If it's not fighting, reading, or counting, then I get a headache, too."
"..."
"...What?" Knuckles blinked, noticing the looks the others were giving him, "...What?!"
"What was that?!" Eggman's voice exclaimed, making them pause.
"Sorry, Boss. I pushed a big red button," Cubot replied before explosions and laser shots were going off.
"Ack! No, no, no! Stop firing! Stop firing! AH! MY GOOD CHINA!" Eggman freaked, "CUBOT! YOU PUSHED THE 'ATTACK EACH OTHER' BUTTON! THAT WAS FOR NEXT MONTH'S EVIL PLAN!"
"Oopsie…"
"Go, go, go," Sonic whispered as they continued on, "Roll, which way to the armory?"
"Five vents ahead to the right," Roll replied.
"Good. Knuckles, think on punching things that don't look like octopi or squids," Sonic ordered.
"You betcha. ...Um...All I can think of is eating those deep fried balls of octopus Miyuki served when Tails got eaten by one."
"Amy, Sticks, keep listening in on Eggman."
"Right/You betcha."
Maurice blinked a few times, 'Wow...They all listen to Sonic here instead of Knuckles. That...that's a major plus...maybe...maybe me and him were born in the wrong Zones...'
"I think this is it," Roll spoke as they stopped.
Sonic reached for the vent opening before his and Maurice's bodies flickered again, "Ugh…"
"Guh…" Maurice whimpered.
"Knuckles?" Roll asked.
"Heh. Leave it to the grown ups," Knuckles smirked as he punched the grate open.
"We are grown ups…" Maurice grumbled under his breath, unnoticed by the others as everyone got out of the vent and landed on a large crate.
"Okay guys...start looking," Sonic spoke as they stood up, "Once we find the device, we get Maurice back to his Zone."
"Gotcha."
"...Actually here's a thought…" Maurice spoke, earning their attention, "How about I stay here, and Sonic goes back to my Zone and stays there?"
"...heh heh. That's a good one, Maurice," Sonic chuckled.
"Heh. Yeah," Maurice chuckled in return, 'Hoo boy...Why did I say that aloud?! Stupid, stupid, stupid...'
An explosion outside shook the room.
"NO! NOT THE POKER TABLE! TOMORROW WAS TEXAS HOLD 'EM!" Eggman shouted, "Gah! I was too slow to shut it off...I'm going to have to get the spare I keep in Octopus Bot! Don't touch the Emerald Scanner!"
"?! Hide!" Sonic ordered, grabbing Maurice and pulling him to hide behind a crate big enough to hide the two of them as the others quickly went off to hide in other places.
"Ugh...honestly…I should've painted that button green. Cubot never touches green buttons..." Eggman muttered as he walked in, dusting himself off as he looked around, "Okay…Now where did I put that thing…? I swear I need to get this place more organized..." he held up his arm with the device on it and pressed a button, causing the crate the group had landed on to give a muffled beep, "Ah, there he is!" he pushed another button and the side of the crate near him broke open, letting out Octopus Bot, "Perfect! Now to get that Poker table for tomorrow. Maybe one day on one of my weekend days off, I should take Sonic to the mainland and see the Inventory. If he's lucky enough to win against me every time, I'm sure he'd take the pot there."
"Aw come on…" Maurice whispered as his ears drooped, "He actually takes days off?"
"Eh, had a bit of a breakdown from him taking a vacation, so he takes the weekends off now to try to help me not go...well...kooky," Sonic quietly explained, "Hope he remembers Roll gets airsick whenever he does offer this trip."
"...Okay, why?"
"Huh?"
"Why is it that you seem to have all the luck and I'm stuck with...with myself?" Maurice asked, "It's not fair."
"Hmm?" Eggman blinked, "...Okay I know I heard someone there."
"Seriously Maurice, now i-"
"No! It's not fair!" Maurice snapped as Eggman moved closer to his and Sonic's hiding spot, "You get all the good things here while I get all the...the...all the fudge in my Zone!"
"Dude, chill! W-"
"Ah ha! I knew I...!" Eggman began once he found the two, "Wha?"
"SHUT UP!" Maurice snapped, "You...you don't deserve any of this...you...don't deserve those friends...you don't deserve that village, that villain...you don't deserve that girl with you!" he barked as he tackled Sonic, sending them tumbling out of the storage room.
"...Roll, I know you're here. What is going on?" Eggman asked.
"Orbot wouldn't open the door so we came in through the vents," Roll replied, peeking out behind a rectangular crate with Amy and Sticks.
"We were trying to find the Octopus Bot to send Maurice-that other Sonic-back to his Zone before they both vanish," Amy added.
"And we never thought to think 'Hey, if everyone else was different, what about the other Sonic?'," Sticks noted.
"Oh! Did he get hit with the red and blue beams from Octopus Bot?" Eggman asked, "Honestly, I never tested what would happen if that happened since I tend to use him to go to the mainland to do deliveries for my company or to spend time in the Inventory and..." crashing went off outside of the storage, "Right. Two Sonics fighting each other in my base."
"Dude, stop!" Sonic snapped as he pushed Maurice off as the stood before the Emerald Scanner, "I don't know the full story of what happened to you in your Zone, but this gives you no right t-"
"It gives me every right!" Maurice snapped back, "I deserve everything you have! You deserve everything I had got in my Zone...the one where I was abused and made fun of!"
"Well you can't stay here! This is my Zone and it doesn't want two of us here!" Sonic replied, neither aware that the emerald was flickering between green and black.
"Why you…" Maurice charged at Sonic only to trip on his own feet as the others ran in, "Wh-Who-Whoa!"
"Ah! No! Don't let him fall on the Emerald Scanner!" Eggman panicked.
"Huh?" Sonic pondered, having already moved to the side, letting Maurice stumble in a semi-Spin Dash and hit the device...with the emerald having turned pitch black.
The container shattered as the machine sparked and crackled with Maurice tangled up in it. The Zone Double cried out in pain as green and black energy crackled off the emerald that landed on him along with the currents going through him from the cables. Everyone was knocked back by the explosion the machine created after a few moments. Several moments passed, smoke covering the side of the room the machine had been, as everyone began to get up.
"And just when I had got it working…" Eggman groaned, the emerald rolling out of the smoke and stopped at his feet, "Back to the drawing board."
"Anyone get the number of that explosive?" Knuckles asked.
"Oh man...Maurice!" Sonic called, jumping up, "...Huh?" he looked at himself before becoming a blur, zipping around before stopping by Roll, "Hey, I don't feel tired anymore."
"...Sonic…" Roll began, turning pale, "Think about it."
"What? I...ohh…" Sonic realized before looking out at the smoke, "He...Did he…? Maurice!"
"Heheheheheh…" a voice chuckled from the smoke, "Sorry, ya blue brat..."
The smoke slowly dissipated as footsteps echoed from within. Approaching them was Maurice...but different. His quills were now a rich emerald green while his eyes were a deep sapphire blue. The black rims of his sunglasses had turned crimson while his shoes had turned black and green while the sports tape had been burned off.
"Maurice? Sonic? Old news," he grinned, showing his teeth were far sharper than originally, "The new hotness...is a real Scourge." he inhaled deeply, "Whew…" he stretched, "I feel great...better! I feel...like a king!"
"What happened?" Amy gasped.
"The energy sample I got from the emerald must have gone into him," Eggman realized as the green hedgehog finished stretching while Tails pulled out a rectangular yellow tablet-like device.
"It looks like he's been altered enough that our Zone doesn't think there's two of Sonic now," Tails noted.
"Oh please…" Scourge snorted before looking at Sonic with a dark, excited look in his eyes before flicking his sunglasses down, "By the time I'm done...There won't be a Sonic at all here."
"Wait, wh…" Sonic began before a green blur slammed into him, tearing through several walls to breach the outside wall, "GAH!"
"Sonic!" Roll gasped, quickly following.
"My fortress!" Eggman freaked.
"Oh…Anyone get the number of that blur?" Sonic groaned as he got up.
"Yeah...and he's number one!" Scourge's voice laughed as he slammed into Sonic, knocking him into a boulder and breaking it, "Whoo! I feel great! Better than I ever was as a blur dunce! My head feels clearer and I haven't tripped once! Maybe when I'm done here, I can mosey on back t' where I'm from and show 'em who da King is! Oh and of course...a king needs a queen after all, so hope ya don't mind me 'borrowing' your girl." a yellow ball slammed into him, knocking him away, "Gah!"
"Sorry, but what we have doesn't work that way," Roll stated, helping up Sonic.
"Snrk! I'll make sure of that," Scourge snorted, "I don't know if it's a clan thing or something...but the moment I'm king, I'm tearing those rules down."
"Yeah, how about no!?" Sonic shouted as he blurred up to Scourge and grappled with him, "She's not something to own!"
"So? Not like you treat her any better," Scourge countered, making Sonic tensed before he kneed him in the gut, making him fall to his knees, "Face it...We're both sides of the same coin, and you just hide the fact that having a hot babe like her is a major bonus. But let's face it...just one bad day...and you'll end up just like me." chains clinked before Scourge's arms were pulled behind his back, chains binding it, "?!"
"I don't like being called 'babe,'" Roll growled before pulling hard on the chain she was holding and threw him away from Sonic, letting him smack into the wall of the fortress as her chain came back to her, revealing it to be a kusari-gama that she hid in her hair, "You okay, Sonic?"
"Ugh...Yeah…" Sonic replied, rubbing his gut.
"Heh…" Scourge grinned as he stood up, cracking his neck as he spread his arms out, "Got another one in ya?"
"Really should've kept a closer eye on him…" Sonic muttered as he stood up.
"Nope," Roll replied.
"Huh?" both asked.
"Look to your left," Roll replied, pointing her tail to the left.
Scourge turned in time to be smashed in the face with Amy's hammer with Stick's foot meeting his gut. Scourge was knocked back several yards before a spinning yellow blur slammed into him, knocking him into the ground before it stopped, revealing Tails as he stumbled into Sonic's arms.
"Ugh…"
"New move?" Sonic asked.
"Working on it…" Tails replied.
"Ugh...You…" Scourge growled before the ground shook, "?!"
Scourge jumped back as the ground below him broke apart from Knuckles erupting from it. His eyes widened as pain erupted on his chest. He and Knuckles landed several yards away from one another, Scourge keeping a hand to his chest as the glove started to turn red. Knuckles blinked twice before looking his his right fist to see blood on his knuckle spikes and cringed.
"Oops. Uh, sorry about that!" Knuckles called.
"...heh...it's fine…" Scourge grinned as he stood up, revealing the two bleeding cuts on his chest, "Saves me the trouble of getting a tattoo once this scars..."
"...Okay, this guy is nuts," Sticks whispered, "And that's coming from me!"
"It has to do with that emerald Eggman was studying along with his machine," Tails guessed.
"Possibly a few years worth of mental issues as well," Amy added, "But that can be discussed later."
"Yap, yap, yap...Is that all ya do?" Scourge complained before getting down on all fours, "Less talky…" his legs turned into a black and green figure eight of sorts, blowing up the sand around him, "...More BREAKY!"
WIth that, he shot off at them, making a small 'boom' of sorts on his startoff. He nearly reached them before a pair of lasers-one red and one blue-hit him with his fist just inches away from Knuckles' face, causing him to vanish.
"Phew! That was close…" Eggman sighed in relief, Octopus Robot near him, "Had I came a minute sooner, Knuckles would've actually died from that punch."
"Wait...I would've died?!" Knuckles freaked.
"He just made a sonic boom from a running start. What's more, he was aiming directly at the center of your face. With the force behind that punch, he would have more than likely broken your nose and the bones in it would've gone into your brain," Eggman replied, "Orbot, next time there's more than one of Sonic and his friends with them? Tell me immediately no matter what I'm doing at the time. I don't want a repeat of this."
"Understood, doctor," Orbot saluted.
"Doc, what the heck were you doing anyway?" Sonic asked.
"Ah, studying this emerald," Eggman replied, holding up the gem, "Skye asked if I could help him with analyzing this gem. I've had to replace the wires I was using to channel a sample of the energy in this almost two hundred times. Though it's strange."
"What is?" Amy asked as Eggman tapped on his wrist device before a holographic screen popped up on it.
"When I was taking the sample, the energy was as green as the emerald itself," Eggman noted before the screen changed to security feed of Maurice and Sonic tussling before it, "Yet look at this. Before that other Sonic hit the machine, the emerald was pitch black." he held up the emerald, "But it's green now. I may need to use the next weekend to discuss this further with Skye. May need your help that day as well, Tails."
"Gotcha," Tails nodded.
"...I just thought of something…" Sticks spoke, earning the group's attention, "Where'd you send that green Sonic anyway?"
"Back to his home Zone hopefully," Eggman replied, "Wh….oh…" his moustache began to droop in realization, "Oh dear…"
"What?"
"I fear…"
"I have made a breakthrough!" the Eggman of Maurice's Zone laughed as the other Knuckles and his group stood before him...said Eggman currently covered in some bandages, "When my Octopus Robot's lasers hit him, the conflicting energies of the two lasers mixed with his biology and teleported him to another universe!"
"Meaning that bringing him back would need to have either one of us get hit with those lasers and find the you of that dimension to hit us again or be lucky and have him figure out a way back himself," David noted, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Exactly," the other Eggman nodded, "Now we just need t-" he tensed when a green blur suddenly rushed into the room, "gh!?"
"What was that?!" the other Amy gasped as she ran behind Knuckles.
"What indeed?" the blur asked before crashing into a crate and shattering it, sending up several dozen bundles of leather into the air.
"Ah! My leather for next month!" other Eggman exclaimed before the green blur zipped around the bundles before skidding to a halt before them, revealing a green hedgehog wearing black and green sneakers with a pair of red rimmed sunglasses with red lenses and a black leather jacket with fire-print designs on the shoulders.
"...Sonic?" other Knuckles asked, "My word. What has happened to you? You look as if you've had an encounter with a dying machine."
"...heh," the hedgehog smirked, "Sorry, but Sonic ain't here anymore." he stood up fully, crossing his arms while flicking his sunglasses up, revealing his sharp cobalt blue eyes, "Your King...Scourge is in da house now!"
GT: Ooh...Yeah, that Zone's screwed. Our bad!
SZ: They is doomed! Our bad truly! Ahem..p...please read and review!
