Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Author's note: Sorry that this is late. Writer's block hit, the website having problems all around before it was fixed over Friday(for now at least), and rumors that Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 may be remade while a Sonic Adventure 3 is in works(or it could just be that the number 3 meant as three new games), all for next year.
However, neither of these are confirmed as it was only vaguely revealed on Twitter last month, and I'm going to take it as a grain of salt until we know for certain. These are most likely proven false and it will be brand new games completely unrelated to Sonic Adventure and it's sequel(s).
Anyway, here's the long awaited new chapter. Enjoy!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. The rights of the franchise and all Sonic characters and media belong to Sega, Sonic Team and other connected companies. I only own the OCs.
The Mutagen Saga.
Chapter 10: Splash of the Titans.
At GUN HQ, when Tower heard that the sightings of odd places were appearing and merging with parts of the country and slowly increasing to other parts of the world, plus more of Sonic's people appearing looking all confused, he wasn't happy. What he heard this made him downright furious.
"What!? What do you mean he's escaped!?" The GUN Commander shouted in anger, glaring hard at the lone cadet who flinched slightly in fear before doing his best to hide it.
"M-Mr. Thorndyke didn't show up at Area 51. Agent Topaz reported that there was a-an attack and he-he used that chance to escape." The soldier explained.
"Could it be Sonic?" Tower demanded.
"No, sir. Sonic was nowhere in sight after he and his friends defeated Dr. Eggman's giant dragon-like robot."
That didn't please the older man even the slightest. He clenched his fist tightly before barking out his orders. "Find that boy, and make sure he doesn't escape Area 51! Arrest any and every single person who are aiding him or support him! This includes his friends and family! But bring me Sonic! I want him under my command! He cannot simply roam free if he catches wind of Christopher Thorndyke's escape!"
Even though he wasn't sure what was going on, the soldier had no choice but to obey, and even flinched in fright when he noticed his superior's eyes going from multiple colour to a glint of purple, but brushed it off as his mind playing tricks on him. The younger man saluted before racing out of the room to give out Tower's orders. The older man in the meantime hissed darkly before turning back to what was happening in front of him.
"It seems I made a mistake to let you go free, hedgehog. But I will not make the same mistake again. You will be mine...!" Tower whispered to himself, holding up his hand as he closed it into a fist once more.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were beating up Eggman's robots that appeared half an hour after they began their new journey to stop whatever plan the evil doctor has conducted again, all the while the youngest of the trio had sent the X Tornado back to the Blue Typhoon despite the damage, but it was still able to fly even on auto-pilot. Sonic Spin Attacked one that looked like a fish on legs, smashing it up almost instantly, while Knuckles punched another several times and Tails knocked out another with his namesakes.
Sonic then swift-kicked at another robot, smashing it's head off which it exploded almost instantly, but he managed to avoid in getting injured. Soon enough the blue hedgehog and his friends managed to defeat the horde of Eggman's robots that ambushed them.
"These guys may look new, but like all of Eggman's robots, they're a bunch of slowpokes." Sonic remarked with a smirk, his hands on his hips as he, Tails and Knuckles observed the remains of the Egg-Bots.
"Knowing Eggman, he sent these guys out to slow us down. We'll have to keep moving, fast." Knuckles reminded him, his arms folded to his chest.
"Ah, relax, will ya?" The blue hedgehog said calmly. "With my speed, this will be a cinch."
"Will you be serious!?" The red echidna snapped, a vein appearing on his head as he was annoyed with his friend's calm attitude. "We still have our planet merging with this one!"
"Okay, okay!" Sonic held up his hands in calm surrender. "Look, I'm worried about both worlds, everybody in them and Chris being in jail, not to mention Eggman about to unleash whatever weapon he's got in a few days, but there's no need to panic over it. Panicking will only make things worse."
"Sonic's right, Knuckles. Didn't you just tell me to relax and that we got this at least a few hours ago?" Tails agreed and reminded. "We just gotta figure out which way to go."
"That's true." Knuckles sighed, admitting to himself that they had a point.
"I say we just keep going forward." Sonic declared, pointing at the path ahead, before he shielded his eyes with his left hand to try and get a better look. "If we make it through here, it might lead us to another part of the mainland of this world. I just hope nobody from our planet accidentally get scared by humans passing by."
His friends agreed on that, only for the Guardian of the Master Emerald suddenly feel like something was clamping him hard on his tail, which made him cringe before jumping up high into the air as he yelped in pain before looking to see that it was a normal crab who had it's pincher on his tail.
"Hey! Get off of my tail, you clawed-thing!" Knuckles snapped, yanking the crab off and tossing it out to sea where it landed with an caught off-guard expression, before he landed on the sand and winced. "Stupid sea-life."
"I hear ya, Knuckles. Crabs are one of my worst enemies under the ocean." Sonic sighed in knowing sympathy, cringing as memories of his experiences with crabs emerged in his mind. "Especially when one cut the air-hose and almost made me drown, plus pinching my tail, and another held the Chaos Emerald in that loot of treasure in the sunken ship."
Flash-Back 1...
Sonic was struggling to pull the hose wheeler free when he noticed something to his right and his eyes widened in horror when a crab suddenly swum over with it's claw ready.
'Oh no! No, no!' The blue hedgehog thought in horror, and true to his terrifying prediction, the crab cut his end of the hose into a much shorter one, causing him to lose air instantly and gulp down water.
In panic and fear and now close to drowning, Sonic gave out a terrified scream before he immediately leaped so high towards the surface he didn't even notice that the crab that wanted to kill him was holding onto his tail. When he leaped out of the water not even five meters away from the shores where Chris was, the crab pinched him harder which made the teenager yelp in pain before he flung it back into the sea before he immediately went to the rocks for much needed air and panted.
Flash-Back 2...
The crab that had emerged from the gold loot held a blue Chaos Emerald, and was about to move when Sonic, having had enough of being under water and wanted to get the Chaos Emerald and get out, immediately leaned towards it while lying on the treasure with an angry look and vein on his head.
"Hold it right there!" Sonic commandeered, glaring at the crab who flinched before glaring back, but stopped. "We need that Chaos Emerald."
The crab just grumbled back, so the blue hedgehog threatened hard, his patience running very thin. "Drop it, or I'll give you something to be crabby about."
That did the trick as despite being underwater, the crab was sweating nervously, before it tossed the Emerald over Sonic's head and scattered away, while the Emerald landed neatly in Amy's hands.
End of Flash-Backs:
"Never liked crabs before then, and those times just made me hate them even more." Sonic said with an exasperated shrug, before realizing something. "Hey, these little guys haven't turned into mutants or anything. Wonder why?"
"Probably because these crabs are from our world, so they're not effected by the weird purple fog." Tails theorized, his finger onto his chin. "Crabs here on Earth though might be a different story, so they could have been effected at the bottom of the sea."
"Great. That means it'll be like Godzilla VS the Sea Monster movie they dubbed in English."(1) Sonic groaned, facepalming himself. "Only like a million of them. Sure hope we don't end up facing any sea monsters around here."
Unfortunately, the blue hedgehog spoke too soon, because suddenly they heard thundering rapid steps like a crowd running from the distance, causing all three of Team Sonic to blink in alarm before turning to the direction where the noise came from.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all gaped in shock when running towards them was a giant crab, about the size of a bus, had it's claws turned into metal along the top of it's head, but the rest of it's body including it's eyes remained the same. None the less, it was still a terrifying sight to see.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me! That's it! I officially hate crabs!" The teenage hero complained, before the trio leaped out of the way when the Crab came towards them. "Look out!"
Knuckles in the meantime raced forward before jumping and punched away rapidly at the huge pinchers with battle cries, causing the crab to rear back upon impacted, before recovering and glared at the land-dwelling echidna.
"I'm gonna smoke your oysters, you over-sized pincer!" Knuckles grunted, before flinching and groaned with a sweat drop of embarrassment. "Great, now I'm really sounding just like Sonic."
Tails flew up high to avoid in getting hit or caught by the giant claws, while Knuckles attempted to attack the giant crab's legs, only to be knocked back by one of the claws and hit the ground hard, skidding on the sand painfully before stopping. The two-tailed fox used a Spin Attack at the other claw, just in time for Sonic to hit the other with his own Spin Attack, except he went for the claw, then the legs, and then the head with his speed.
"Over here, Crabby!" Sonic taunted with a smirk, sliding underneath the Crab while laughing away. The large monster turned around in sheer annoyance which distracted it for Tails to charge with a kick in the face, causing it to grunt in pain.
The blue hedgehog then spun around and leaped up high before using a swift kick in the same area, combined with Knuckles, who recovered, punching on it's hard shell back and despite it being hard, he still managed to attack it behind it's head. To the trio's shock, the Crab raised it's claws up before thrusting them down to crush them. But Sonic, Tails and Knuckles leaped out of the way to avoid in getting hit.
"This thing is making me crabby." The red echidna grumbled after he and his companions landed in a safe distance, all three of them panting a little.
"Let's try a combination attack." Sonic suggested.
"Sonic, maybe you and I should try a Spin Combo while Knuckles distracts it." Tails adviced.
"You just read my mind, buddy." The blue hedgehog smirked with a thumbs up, liking that idea.
The giant Crab's eye gleamed at the trio before skittering in an alarming speed, but they didn't let this phase them. Sonic and his friends dashed past the giant claws that were thrust at them, before Knuckles leaped onto one of it's arms and then punched at it, making his way up to the face. The giant Crab then shook around to get him off, and he had to hold onto it's eyes, causing it to squeal in pain.
"Here we go!" Sonic and Tails declared, holding onto each other's hands and formed into a Spin Formation attack, flying straight at the monster-Cyborg, hitting it several times until they smashed the metal on it's head, which revealed a gem stuck between the hard armor and the actual part of the head itself. Tails tossed Sonic down while the latter Spin Attacked the blue gem, smashing it which caused the Crab to growl in pain before it began to shrank in the same way as the giant Worm and the giant Ice Beetle.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in the meantime landed safely on the sand and watched as the Crab was reverted back into it's original small form, dazed but cured. The trio glared down at it while the normal-sized Crab recovered, and then looked up to see them giving it no-nonsense stares.
"Be lucky that we saved ya from being a giant, little Crab. Or else you woulda been hit harder." Sonic told it flatly.
The crab began to sweat at the blue hedgehog's words, before it skittered away back into the sea, while the teenager and the others watched it leave as they then sighed.
"Just great. Even the mutant life effected by the fog's already spread across one of our Zones." Knuckles grumbled.
"I'm more concerned about what other sea life critters would look like by the fog. We could be facing real sea-monsters around here." Sonic folded his arms. "Let's go!"
"Right!" Tails and Knuckles both agreed and immediately ran forward to follow hopefully Eggman's trail and stop him before things could get any worse.
Unaware to them, from beneath the water near the shores as they ran along the bridges and the cliffs, was a silhouette of a large creature which seemed to be watching their every move before diving deeper into the sea, trailing Sonic and his friends.
"Seaside Hill Zone's been brought here too!?" Vector exclaimed in shock, moments after he, Espio and Charmy arrived via the entrance.
"I was expecting the outstretch of Station Square's beach, but not...this." Espio commented.
"Guess that means things are getting more complicated. How did this happen?" Charmy asked, blinking.
"It would seem that the merge between both worlds is increasing quicker than we expected, and if Sonic doesn't stop this soon, Time will be destroyed." The purple Chameleon stated, his arms folded to his chest.
"This is serious business, guys. We've gotta get to the bottom of this and the weird fog quickly." The crocodile detective declared, before turning on the walkie-talkie and asked their mysterious costumer. "So, what's the job?"
"First of, I must test your abilities." The mysterious costumer replied.
"You can count on us!" Vector announced with determination, with both Espio and Charmy giving out their words of agreement.
"To prove your investigation skills, there are twenty crabs along either beach you have arrived in. If you see a normal type, I only require ten. If you see crabs effected by the fog, be very cautious because they can be dangerous and it is unknown what kinds of side-effects they have." The costumer continued.
"The only side-effects we know so far is that it causes them to either turn all hybrid or grow into giants with metal on them." The crocodile detective stated.
"I'm counting on you." The caller responded, before hanging up.
"A test to prove our worth...?" Espio mused, folding his arms. "What is this person playing at?"
While Vector wished he knew, and he still felt queasy and light-headed for the past few days, time was wasting and they had to get the job done and figure out what was going on. "Either way, we'd better get to work. Finding those ten crabs is our top priority right now."
"One step ahead of you!" Charmy cheerfully announced, and when his two older friends turned to him, their eyes nearly bugged out in shock as he was holding a large bucket of normal crabs above his head. "I've collected all twenty of them while you guys were busy talking to Mr. Mysterious Guy!"
After a moment of awkward silence, Espio pointed out. "We were only required to gather ten, Charmy."
"I know, but I was analyzing the normal crabs while looking out for the ones that turned into giant monsters by the weird purple fog. Spotted one, but it's already been taken care of." The young bee explained brightly, which confused and alarmed the other two detectives.
"How was the giant one taken care of and where did you see it!?" Vector demanded in disbelief.
"Right there. I saw Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in the distance fighting that thing and it turned back to normal." Charmy answered, pointing at the distance and when Vector and Espio looked up, they saw just in time the end results of Team Sonic finishing in defeating a giant crab who by then shrank back to normal.
"It seems they have already taken care of Dr. Eggman, but why are they here?" Espio questioned, before quickly thinking. "Unless they're chasing after him."
"Sounds logical to me." The youngest detective agreed.
"If I recall correctly, the Seaside Hill Zone also leads to the Ocean Palace, which according to legend, rises once every 1,000 years. In our world, at least." The chameleon added gazing up ahead. "However, it also has the ancient Sea-Guardians who are hostile towards those who attempt to destroy a hidden ancient history."
"If Eggman or those mutant crabs get to it, this is trouble! We'd better get there and warn those guys and help to stop him! While we're at it, we could also find more clues into the current situation." Vector realized and declared.
"Agreed." Espio nodded firmly.
"Yeah! Let's get to it!" Charmy exclaimed excitedly, unknowingly tossing the bucket full of crabs into the air, which was noticed by his two friends who flinched in panic.
"Charmy, be careful!" Vector and Espio screamed out.
But it was too late, as the crabs were spilled out and all fell towards the ground...and piled onto Vector who was engulfed...and pinched all over his body as the little hermits clamped their claws onto almost every inch of the crocodile's body, from his snout, to his arms and legs and his tail. The poor detective was pinched hard and painfully that he screamed comically and leaped and danced all over the place in circles.
"AIIIIIIEEEE! Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey, don't just stand there guys! Get 'em off me!" Vector cried out as he raced around Espio and a embarrassed Charmy who just remained where they were while their leader was desperately trying to get the crabs off of him.
"You really need to be more careful, Charmy." Espio scolded the young bee.
"Sorry, my bad." Charmy rubbed the back of his head apologetically.
All the while in the background Vector was still screaming for aid.
When Topaz made her way to check up on Helen after she had first taken her to one of the safe houses, and was then attacked by mutant dogs and overgrown rats, she used that as an excuse to claim that Chris escaped during the attack, she had to take a taxi to the Thorndyke house only to be given new orders to track down Chris and heard that Commander Tower now wanted to arrest everyone including all of Chris' friends and family and have Sonic brought to him.
To make things worse, she saw, to her dismay, she had already too late. The military had arrived, surrounding the Thorndyke residence, dragging the protesting parents of the boy she had now inadvertently made a fugitive along with his friends including Sonic's group, Ella and the non-resisting Tanaka who accepted this fate, and that the Blue Typhoon, with the X Tornado already returned to said ship, was impounded, chained and carried away by several helicopters.
That had been the final straw for her and at the risk of becoming a fugitive, she knew that she couldn't let this slide. While responding to her superiors that she will get the job done, she went back to make sure Helen was safe, and had the time to pick up her parents since she knew they would take care of her and keep her safe.
Hiding out in the bunkers in the back alleys of Station Square, Topaz also made sure to make the risk in speaking with the President hoping that she wouldn't be traced.
"...Yes, sir. Commander Tower assumes that Christopher Thorndyke is behind the situation." She reported in a hushed tone while seated in the living room where Helen, still seated in her wheel chair, was along with her parents. The Agent listened in on the conversation. "No, sir. Sonic's not aware that I let the boy go free...Please be careful, Mr. President. The Commander may be coming for you next...Yes, sir. Understood...I know. It's the risk I'm willing to take. The truth will be discovered...Thank you, sir. Goodbye, sir."
After following new orders from the President himself, Topaz hung up on her walkie talkie and placing a hand onto her face with her stress levels reaching to the max. Doug, his wife, and daughter waited anxiously over the results on what was going on.
"Just how much worse can this get?" Topaz groaned.
"So, can you tell us what's going on, Agent Topaz? Why was our little girl's fiancee arrested?" Doug demanded, with his wife holding hands with Helen's.
"It's the unexplainable fog. Not only it has de-aged most of humanity including us, but now I think it's corrupting people's minds, including Commander Tower's. He believes that Chris is behind it all just to bring Sonic back. But it doesn't add up as where are evidence that someone was in his old lab, there's no proof that he was actually in there. But Tower's stubborn. He's determined to prove that his beliefs are right, and now he wants Sonic under his control." The female agent explained somberly.
Topaz closed her eyes in guilt over her mistake. "It's because of me letting the boy go, I put everyone else's lives into jeapody. Sonic's in grave danger, and so are his friends. I can only hope he and his friends and Chris will be able to find out the truth before it's too late."
"They will." Helen spoke up, causing the older adults to stare at her in confusion. "If anyone can set things right, it's Sonic. And Chris became brave and more determined over the past nine years. It might be tough now, but I just know they can find the real culprit and save the world. We just have to have faith in them and everybody else."
"You're right, honey. Sonic is always the hero, and Chris is a caring young man. Let's just hope that things will return to normal." Her father agreed after a moment despite that he and his wife were still feeling uneasy.
"I hope you're right." Topaz sighed, before standing up and straightened her suit before saying. "I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can, but until then, this place has plently of supplies to last for several months and it was restocked a couple days ago, so the food is still fresh. I'm not taking the risk in having any of you wrongly arrested."
"Please be careful, Officer Topaz." Helen's mother muttered worriedly.
The female agent responded that she will before leaving silently and once she was certain there was no one else around, she immediately raced off pretend to find Chris while hoping to give him, Danny and Francies time to catch up to Sonic, defeat Eggman, find the true culprit and solve this mystery as well as a way to find and/or produce a cure.
Helen in the meantime could only clasp her hands together, as she thought to herself worriedly. 'Chris...Sonic...please be okay.'
Meanwhile, as they were searching for a way out of the sewers and into Emerald Coast despite the risks of being spotted, Chris, Danny and Francies were navigating their way while being careful for any signs of danger, like the mutation problem on the animals and insects and people beginning to go all crazy due to the fog that not just de-aged them, but also making them become more aggressive. The three de-aged children were hiding around the corner just as a mutant rat with a Fly's head, bat wings, and horse legs strangely swam in the dirty waters and passed the trio unknowingly.
"Well, that's just weird." Danny commented in a hushed tone.
"This is disgusting. How can the fog do that?" Francies whispered, cringing.
"The purple fog must have some sort of mutation cells as well as having aging cells. The question is, how is it even done and who is responsible?" Chris theorized, gazing down somberly. "And, why would anyone want to use the Porthole in my old lab just for that?"
The de-aged Thorndyke boy closed his eyes as he realized a mistake has hasn't even thought of, and felt guilt rise up inside his chest. "I should've destroyed the Porthole the moment I got home. I didn't think anybody would use it against me and use it as a weapon. Maybe this whole thing really is all my fault."
"How could it be your fault, Chris? Besides, it was probably better you didn't, because if you did, you and your grandpa and Tails would have to go through all the trouble in rebuilding it from scratch to get him, Sonic and everybody else back to their world." Danny pointed out with a shrug.
"Danny's right. Besides, Eggman just only made things worse and we're gonna get to the bottom on what's going on and prove that you're innocent." Francies agreed, placing a hand onto her childhood friend's shoulder, making the young Thorndyke to gaze at her.
"It's just...I promised myself to wait until Sonic would make things right, and now with me having escaped, he and everybody else are in danger. Especially you guys. The fact that Commander Tower was aware that I shut off the machine to stop Sonic from leaving nine years ago before I let him go since he had the Chaos Emeralds with him just gives him evidence against me. If I hadn't done that, none of you or Sonic or anybody else would be made fugitives like me." Chris muttered, his heart hanging heavily.
He paused before adding, "Not only that, but Tower wants Sonic for himself since he can't get Shadow."
"Well, I say Tower is crazy. So quit blaming yourself, Chris." The de-aged girl told him firmly.
"She's right. Think of this as like in the movies and things always turn out okay in the end." The other de-aged boy added.
Even though Chris was still feeling guilty for what was happening, he knew that they were right. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Cosmo, the Chaotix, and his family needed him now, to set things right and save them from the corrupted GUN organization as well as find the one responisble for all of this and clear his name.
"You're right. We should get going." Chris nodded, feeling a little bit better and was determined to keep going. His friends nodded with soft smiles, only for all three of them to hear a rumbling noise before looking back to where they came from, wondering what it was.
To their shock and horror, there was a huge gust of water heading straight towards them which made the vibrations even worse.
"It's a wash out!" Chris exclaimed.
"Let's get outta here!" Danny cried out.
The three childhood friends immediately did run as fast as they could, screaming in panic while trying to reach the exit as quickly as possible, hoping that the water's current wouldn't catch them and then drown them. Chris, Danny and Francies continued on while running around the corner to their left despite that the water was getting rapidly closer to them. Just when they thought they weren't going to make it, to their relief they saw the exit leading to sunlight, which meant they were nearing the drainage where all the wasted water go towards the beach.
Chris and his friends ran faster and then skid to a stop when they saw that the beach was just below them.
"Everybody jump!" Chris instructed.
"Okay!" Francies replied instantly.
"Got it!" Danny added.
"Ready, set, go!" The de-aged boy counted down before he and his two friends leaped down onto the beach's pile of rocks, before running out of the way to the their left just in time for the water to gome gushing out and onto the rocks and ocean, narrowly avoiding them.
The three de-aged children reached the safest distance before stopping and panted, their hands on their knees as they attempted to catch their breath.
"Man, that was close." Danny remarked, breathing hard.
"For a second there, I thought we were gonna get washed away." Francies panted, her hand placed onto her chest while she tried to will her heart to stop beating rapidly and calm down.
"Well, at least we made it." Chris replied, wiping sweat from his forehead.
As they looked up to check their surroundings, the trio all gasped in shock and disbelief as they saw not just part of Emerald Coast all around them, but another beach merged and attached to it with more crystal clear waters and unfamiliar but beautiful scenery in a short distance, along with puzzled beach-goers that were not human, but all like Sonic's group, but instead of hedgehogs, echidnas, rabbits, foxes, crocodiles, chameleons and bees, there were bears, dogs, sheep, cats and birds, having been enjoying their time beach camping with a few houses that no doubt came from Sonic's world up on the mainland until the teleportation happened.
When those said people heard the screaming and talking, the beach-goers turned and their eyes widened in shock, fear and confusion, before they began to whisper among themselves, wondering who Chris' group were, and if they were dangerous or not.
"No way!" Chris exclaimed, bewildered. "This isn't Sonic's continent..."
"What's going on here?" Francies asked, almost completely speechless.
"Where did this beach come from and why is it connected to Emerald Coast?" Danny asked, unable to believe what he and his friends were seeing.
The young Thorndyke folded his arms in thought, then realized with worry creeping up. "I hate to say it guys, but I think the merge between two worlds is getting faster and faster. It must be the mixture of the two portholes reacting since they were connected in the past, plus the Chaos Emeralds being close to Eggman's machine must've triggered this to happen too."
"So it wasn't just Sonic's continent or Angel Island that were brought here. But why is Time still moving?" Danny realized and questioned worriedly.
"I'm just as lost as you are, Dan." Chris shrugged cluelessly.
"Look how cool and cute those people are. How can anybody on Earth be scared of them?" Francies remarked, being the first to recover slightly from the shock of what was going on and, being used to talking animals due to Sonic's group, thought that seeing more of the blue hedgehog's people was amazing.
"Did you just hear them? Those three can talk." One of the dogs whispered, shaking nervously.
"But what are they?" A female sheep whispered.
"They sound like kids to me, but we'd better be careful. They have the similar skin as Dr. Eggman. For all we know, they could be in the league with them." A male bear whispered in return.
"I think they look really cool." A young parrot boy remarked, only to have his beak covered by his mother who shushed him gently.
"Maybe if we wait to see if they do anything bad, and if they do, we run and warn the police." A female ginger cat suggested.
Chris and his friends, not hearing what the animals were saying, got the idea that those people were nervous and shared uneasy glances.
"Maybe we should leave them alone, you guys." Chris suggested. "I don't think they'll be comfortable without Sonic around."
"Yeah, but what if the military come and demand for answers?" Danny pointed out.
"We can't just leave them without making sure they're safe. We have to at least let them know that we're friends of Sonic." Francies agreed.
Even though he would've liked it if Sonic was the one doing all the reassurance and talking, with his blue hedgehog best friend busy right now, the de-aged boy knew that they were right. Plus it was a huge risk at the moment and so they had to at least gain these people's trust. Shrugging uncomfortably, Chris and his friends carefully approached.
"Uh, hi there, you guys." Chris greeted awkwardly, giving the bewildered animals a gentle and friendly wave. "Nice to meet you all."
The animals were left in stunned silence at first, before young parrot removed his mother's hands from his beak and greeted, already sensing that the humans meant no harm. "Hi there. Nice to meet ya's too."
"They really are children." The parrot mother remarked.
"Well, if they are friendly, I suppose we should give them a chance. But still..." The dog muttered.
"Don't be scared. My friends and I won't hurt you. We're friends of Sonic the Hedgehog." The de-aged boy reassured, holding both hands up in peace.
That got everyone's attention as they all asked in unison. "You know Sonic the Hedgehog!?"
"Yeah. My name's Christopher; Chris for short." Chris introduced himself.
"I'm Daniel. But you can call me Danny or Dan." Danny added.
"My name is Francies. Pleased to meet you." Francies concluded.
"Okay, so you kids have names, you know Sonic, and you call have similar skin to Dr. Eggman yet you all seem very friendly. Do you know what's going on and where we are?" The bear asked, skeptically.
"We do have some ideas, but Eggman's our enemy too. In fact, he's the main reason and problem how all of you guys and even Sonic and the rest of his friends ended up here in our world we call Earth." Chris explained.
"On top of that, Earth's having it's own problems and, well, this is gonna be a crazy long story." Danny added sheepishly.
All of the animals stared at the three humans in confusion.
At another part of the Seaside Hill Zone where Sonic's team haven't been to, Amy, Cream, Cheese and Cosmo had arrived already in their search for Sonic as well as the Chaos Emeralds when they were ambushed by Eggman's robots and were currently busy taking them out. Amy was thrust her Hammer at the Bee-like Robots from left to right with all of her strength, knocking and smashing them as she went. Cream flew up and drop-kicked at another with Cheese bashing it in the head with all of his strength, while she gave out a battle-cry of her own. The robot they were facing was knocked over and landed into the ocean with a huge splash.
Cosmo in the meantime swift-kicked at another Robot, hovering upward after finding herself stuck in the middle of two more who noticed too late that she hovered up safely and ended up crashing into each other, exploding upon impact. The young seedrian then focused on her power and from the Palm Trees and bushes, vines appeared and trapped another robot who tried to escape but could, leading Amy and Cream to finish it off with the pink hedgehog's hammer and the little girl kicking it in the head. Cosmo then stopped the vines which caused the robot to be sent flying and crashing into the water itself.
The three girls and little Chao all cheered before sighing in relief, with Amy wiping her forehead. "Trying to find Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and the Chaos Emeralds are hard enough, but did Eggman really have to send out his robots now of all times?"
"Eggman always sends his robots whenever he wants." Cream sadly reminded.
"Point taken." The pink hedgehog muttered, realizing that her friend was right.
"If Eggman is sending out those robots, then he must have some kind of back-up plan already, as you say." Cosmo muttered worriedly. "I hope Tails, Sonic and Knuckles are alright."
"That's why we need to find them, quick and the Chaos Emeralds." Amy declared, pointing up ahead. "C'mon, girls! Onward forward!"
Just as she was about to take a step forward, however, her boot hit something hard on the ground, which made her stumble and fall with a cry of alarm. The pink hedgehog fell face first onto the sand, much to the alarm of her friends who saw what happened, before gazing at what she tripped on. Amy in the meantime pushed herself up and spat out the gritty sand that got into her mouth.
"All right! What made me do that!?" She demanded angrily, looking over her shoulder.
However, her anger cooled off almost instantly when she, Cream, Cheese and Cosmo caught sight of something familiar shining within the sand. A glimmer of light blue that felt warm. Eyes widening and wondering if it was what they were looking for, Amy and her friends immediately went over and dug away the sand slightly and true to their thoughts, was the gem filled with Chaos Energy.
"It's a Chaos Emerald!" Cream exclaimed happily.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese cheered.
"We found one of the seven!" Cosmo said in relief.
"Yeah! That means we've only got six more to go!" Amy cheered happily, picking up the light blue Chaos Emerald and held it carefully in both hands. "Best part is, we found it before Eggman did, so we're one step closer in finding them and Sonic, Tails and Knuckles."
"Yeah." The little rabbit girl nodded in agreement, with Cheese echoing her thoughts.
Suddenly there was a loud rumbling noise and the earth shook a little which frightened Cream and Cheese, causing Amy to scream and Cosmo to gasp in shock and fear. When they all looked up ahead, they could see from the distance that something large was coming up from the ocean, as though a huge building was emerging from the sea itself. The eyes of Team Rose widened in shock, wonder and disbelief as they saw what appeared to be a palace of sorts.
And they weren't the only ones who were witnessing this.
As Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were nearing the end of Seaside Hill Zone which would lead them to the next part of Station Square, outward to the desert and towards the jungle, they ended up skidding to a stop when they(like Amy's team unknown to the trio) saw a large white ocean-like building emerge on a whale-shaped island that was incredible to see.
"Hey, what's goin' on?" Sonic asked as he and his friends attempted to keep their balance as the earth shook due to the rising of the mysterious island.
"Look!" Tails exclaimed, pointing at the emerging island.
"Hey, there's a building coming out of the water!" Charmy exclaimed as he, Vector(who had finally recovered from the Crab attacks), and Espio were heading towards their next job after their first task by the mysterious caller was done when they too saw what was happening.
"Could it be?" Espio murmured in shock and awe.
Chris's group along with the animals they just met also saw what was happening and they were all in shock and disbelief.
"What is that building?" Danny asked.
"Whoa! It's like a palace is growing!" The parrot kid exclaimed in awe.
"Could it be the legendary Ocean Palace?" The Bear whispered.
"Ocean Palace?" Chris asked, confused and finding himself curious.
Then a realization came to him almost instantly as he thought to himself. 'If these people know about this, could it mean that the Ocean Palace came from Sonic's world too? But why is it rising here? Could the merge be getting worse already?'
From the looks of things, the de-aged boy had a terrible thing about this.
Even Shadow, Rouge, and Omega, who had already arrived in Seaside Hill with the albino bat shocked that part of her home world was brought here to Earth and merged with the main continent of Station Square, saw what was happening and even Omega couldn't understand what was going on.
"I don't remember this place being here in Station Square, and now there's a mysterious island coming out from the ocean. What is going on?" Shadow demanded, admittedly shocked by this unusual events.
"Well, I can at least tell you that this beach is the Seaside Hill Zone from where I come from, which means that because of Eggman's Porthole going all crazy, both worlds are merging and that Time is about to be destroyed unless Sonic does something about it." Rouge folded her arms in concern. She then turned her attention to the emerging Palace. "That on the other hand, I'm not so sure of."
"An ancient civilization emerging from the sea? I never heard of that." Shadow remarked as Ocean Palace finally came to a stop. It was white and blue, apparently more made for outside purposes than anything else, but other than that, it appeared to be deserted(given it was underwater, so it was no surprise).
"Warning: Distraction leads to elimination. Must locate Dr. Eggman!" Omega interrupted in a warning tone, which also had a hint of impatience in his robotic voice, making Rouge all her eyes and Shadow, while in agreement, to shake his head.
By then, the place had fully emerged for many to see, even those from Sonic's continent and from Station Square could see it and many were in awe and confusion on where the palace had come from. Some even commented on whether if it was the ancient lost city of Atlantis or not.
"I don't believe it! It's...it's the Ocean Palace." Tails muttered in shock and awe once he, Sonic and Knuckles saw the whale-shaped island fully emerge from the ocean and almost towered the trio.
"The Ocean Palace?" Knuckles asked the two-tailed kit.
"Not much is known about it, but it is an ancient city that appears once every 1,000 years in our world. I guess even though time runs faster here on Earth, it must've been brought here as well." The young fox nodded, admitting to Sonic. "I was gonna tell you, Amy and Cream about it, but I kinda forgot. Plus, I know that you hate water."
Sonic whistled, admittedly impressed by the palace's appearance. "It may have come from water, but I gotta admit, this place is pretty cool. You don't get to see this happen everyday. This is a once in a lifetime chance."
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! It certainly is, and it will certainly be the last place you will ever be!" An unfortunately familiar voice laughed evilly above them from their right, startling Sonic and his friends to look up and saw, to their annoyance and dismay, Eggman in his Egg Mobile which was attached to yet another robot.
It resembled to a Hawk which swooped down towards the group who ducked just in time to avoid in getting hit, before the blue hedgehog, the two-tailed yellow fox, and the red echidna stood up with glares before their enemy came to a stop and simply hovered in front of them, blocking their path from continuing onward. The mad scientist grinned fiendishly down at the heroes.
"Eggman!" Sonic grunted, clenching his fist and teeth.
"Great! Now we can beat him since he's here!" Knuckles grunted, quickly getting into a fighting position.
"You think you can stop me this time?" Eggman sneered, pointing at the group. "My Egg Hawk will swoop you like little worms that you brats are!"
"Egg Hawk, huh?" Sonic remarked, before smirking as he taunted smugly. "More like Lame Chicken if ya' ask me."
"Curse you, Sonic! You will regret that!" The evil scientist growled, before thrusting the controls forward while commanding. "Squash that hedgehog and his little friends like bugs they are!"
The Egg Hawk let out a loud shriek before swooping down at the trio who leaped out of the way. Sonic responded by using his Air Spin Attack at the giant robot's wing, putting a dent into it while Tails flew up and performed a drop kick at it's leg, and Knuckles leaped before punching it in the chest hard, causing Eggman to cry out when it nearly fell. But the mad doctor fumbled with the controls which had the Egg Hawk straighten itself up and was now behind the trio who turned around after land and as he laughed evilly, he pressed a button.
"How about you have a nice little flight, Sonic?" Eggman taunted.
"Look out!" Sonic shouted, and quickly grabbed hold of Tails and Knuckles to try and get of the way as the Egg Hawk flapped it's heavy metal wings to blow them away. But even with his speed as he sped towards the Ocean Palace in hopes to avoid the gusty powerful wings the giant bird robot would no doubt create, the blue hedgehog knew that they wouldn't be able to make it.
Just as the teenage hero feared, the huge powerful winds ended up lifting him and his friends up as they all went flying up into the air forward and screamed as they ascending before descending, to Sonic's horror, towards the water between the mainland and the Ocean Palace. While Tails and Knuckles landed safely and could swim when they and Sonic all splashed into the ocean, the cobalt hedgehog wasn't so lucky as he flailed his arms while trying to stay afloat, panicking as the grip of fear held onto him as he began to sink.
"AHH! HELP ME! TAILS! KNUCKLES!" Sonic screamed, panicking just as he quickly disappeared beneath the water's surface.
"SONIC!" Tails and Knuckles both cried out, before they made to dive down to save their drowning friend, only for the Egg Hawk to swoop down and captured them with it's metal talons, causing both of them to scream out while being lifted from the water and into the air.
"Hey, let me go!" Tails screamed out, struggling to pull himself free as Knuckles also attempted to escape, but unfortunately, they were trapped, and even worse, Sonic was drowning. Neither one could save him and thus he couldn't save them.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! And thus, a fellow worthy opponent has met his watery end while his friends are about to get squashed. That little hedgehog is finally finished!" Eggman laughed victoriously, ultimately pleased to have finally beaten Sonic the Hedgehog, much to the dismay of Sonic's friends who knew that, by the time they did escape if they could, it was already too late.
Sonic was gone.
"No...Sonic..." Tails whispered, tears leaking as horror, sorrow, guilt and loss almost immediately swept over him. Not Sonic. Not just when he got Cosmo back. As he began to cry, the distraught fox screamed out to the sky. "SONIC!"
"You murderous...YOU MONSTER!" Knuckles shouted furiously, devastated that Eggman had actually managed to kill Sonic. Angered to the max, the red echidna attempted to punch the talon off to free himself, only for it to tighten it's grip on him and Tails, causing both to cry out in pain and making sure they couldn't escape.
It looked like Eggman has already won...Or so they thought.
Underwater and having seen his friends being captured, Sonic helplessly tried to reach to the surface, but sank further deeper and deeper into the depths of the sea while trying to hold onto his breath as long as he could. Panic, fear, worry and dismay was taking him over, and the blue hedgehog quickly began to feel his air running out. Memories of when Dark Oak swallowed him up and he almost drowned on the Water Planet filled his mind, and even the memories of his nightmare a couple of nights ago returned and echoed in his ears.
"I have told you, Sonic the Hedgehog. Water is your weakness, and my strength. You belong to me now! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
'NO! NOOOOO!' Sonic thought in devastation and fear, clutching his throat as he squeezed his eyes shut. This couldn't be the end. It can't end like this!
To make matters worse, there was an unusual roar that was gurbled but also deep and moaning like a whale. Opening his eyes nervously but quickly, the blue hedgehog hesitantly looked down and saw a silhouette of something huge swimming towards him from below. He flinched in horror as from the sun's light up on the surface, it emerged from the shadows and revealed itself to be a giant sea monster, almost like a dinosaur but with flippers, a long neck and sharp teeth, with yellow eyes and black pupils. It was hard to tell what colour it was, but he guessed it was pastel blue, and it was coming straight towards him.
Possibly for a meal.
'SEA MONSTER!' Sonic thought hysterically as he inadvertently opened his mouth while letting out a terrified scream, believing that he was about to be eaten as more memories of when the Metarex's giant dragon forms swallowed him whole alive and he could see himself falling into the same fate, only this time he would be in this thing's actual stomach...and no one would come to his rescue.
Screaming while drowning, Sonic curled up into a ball while bracing himself for his bitter end, expecting to be engulfed and gobbled up before being swallowed down into the massive throat. To his surprise and confusion, the giant sea creature didn't engulf him. Instead, it simply swam underneath him before lifting him up with it's head and swam towards the surface, with the blue hedgehog uncurling himself and laid on top of the head as he was taken for an unexpected ride.
Back on the surface, Eggman was ranting on about his ultimate victory while commanding his Egg Hawk. "Now then, my Egg Hawk! Squeeze Sonic's helpless friends! Then dump them into the sea!"
"You won't get away with this, Eggman!" Knuckles shouted as he and the heart-broken Tails glared up at their enemy for seemingly killing their best friend and in the latter's case, older brother.
Just then, all three of them heard an unusual sound coming from the water below them and as they looked down to see what was happening, they saw the surface bubble up along with a shadow of something large coming up quickly. While Tails, Knuckles and even Eggman wondered what was happening, they all gasped in shock and fear as a huge cyan-coloured sea beast emerged with a roar, towering at about at least 112 feet.
"AAAAHH! It's a sea monster!" Tails exclaimed in fear while Knuckles yelped in fright, completely speechless.
"GAAH! Where did that come from!?" Eggman exclaimed, completely scared.
While they all screamed in horror at the sight, they all discovered something on it's head, or rather someone. To the duo's relief and Eggman's dismay, it was Sonic who, safe and back out of the water, coughed and spluttered the gallons of water he ended up having in his lungs, soaking wet but still alive. Once the blue hedgehog managed to regain control of his breathing, the teenager looked to see that he was really on top of the giant sea animal's head, one that, instead of eating him, had saved his life.
Sonic stared in shock and awe as he never had seen or heard of any real sea monsters in either his world or Earth, before figuring out that it may have something to do with the Ocean Palace emerging. Could it be the island's protector? If so, why would it save him instead of treating him like an intruder and kill him?
The Sea Monster's eyes glanced up at him and he could see that, despite that he couldn't understand Sea-Creature language, they held such a gentle soul within the massive beast's body, fierch to only those like Eggman, yet kind and understanding to those like Sonic the Hedgehog.
"You came to save me?" Sonic asked hesitantly, and yelped a bit when it nodded it's head, somehow understanding him as gently as possible without making him fall off. "And you came to help me save my friends and stop Eggman?"
Again it nodded.
Not sure what to make of it and still frightened to the core, Sonic could sense that this monster had a good heart despite his dislike of water and that he couldn't swim. Deciding to question it's motives on why it came to his rescue, the blue hedgehog knew what needs to be done, so he simply shrugged and turned his attention back in saving his friends and beating Eggman.
"Sonic!" Tails and Knuckles cried out in relief.
"Heya, guys! Be right with ya in a jiffy!" Sonic responded with a confident wave and bright casual smile as he winked, acting like he hadn't been scared or nearly died at all. He and the Sea Monster then turned their attention to Eggman, the teenager adding. "And as for you, Egghead!"
Eggman sweat dropped nervously at this, knowing that despite that he was up in the air, he knew that he was in serious trouble...again.
"S-Sonic! I-Er, I was just kidding about the flight comment." The evil scientist stuttered with a nervous grin. Not only he was terrified of being defeated by Sonic again, but what scared him the most was the threat of the giant Sea Monster that obviously decided to choose to be on the young hero's side since it saved him from drowning.
"Looks like you're all washed up this time, Eggman." Sonic taunted with a smirk while the Sea Monster glared at the evil man, gritting it's teeth at the scientist who began to shake in fear. The blue hedgehog then gently asked his savior. "Hey, think you can give me a bit of a boost, please?"
The Sea Monster nodded, before it flipped it's head upward which caused Sonic to be flown forward and upward, which he used to his advantage by Spin Dashing up towards the Egg Hawk's tolons, slicing straight through it's legs which fell off and caused both Tails and Knuckles to fall. Fortunately, the young fox spun his tails to keep himself afloat while Knuckles glided before grabbing hold of the echidna's hand and Sonic grabbed hold of the Guardian's other hand. The beast in the meantime roared before rearing it's head back and then head-butted the large robot on the side, causing it and Eggman to tilt sideways.
"AAH! Stop it, you over-grown water-lizard!" Eggman cried out as he held on for dear life.
"Knuckles! Toss me up! Tails, hand me a Ring!" Sonic instructed, knowing what to do to finish off this battle.
Instantly his two friends knew what he was thinking and gave their leader smirks of agreement. Knuckles then tossed Sonic up and straight towards the Egg Hawk while Tails then quickly tossed a ring which the blue hedgehog caught behind him, which it's power flowed it's energy right into his body as he absorbed it before smirking and to Eggman's dismay just as the evil scientist straightened the robot, the blue hedgehog Spin Attacked straight through the Egg Hawk's chest and out of it's back.
"OH NO!" Eggman screamed, before quickly un-attaching his Egg Mobile from the Egg Hawk and narrowly avoided in being blown away, just as it exploded into a thick fiery smoke.
"Yeah!" Knuckles cheered.
"Go Sonic!" Tails cheered happily.
"HA! Ha-ha!" Sonic laughed victoriously, celebrating as he descended and landed safely onto the Sea Monster's head when it swam up to him and allowed him to land and as he was relieved to see, it really was friendly because it didn't eat him up.
As Sonic and his friends gazed up at Eggman, the evil scientist growled angrily, before the man declared. "Don't think this is over yet, Sonic! I still have my ultimate weapon to unleash in a few days! Mark my words!"
"Don't count on it, Eggman! We'll stop you!" Sonic shouted back just as his nemesis flew off in the Egg Mobile.
The blue hedgehog and his friends could only glare at the mad doctor's retreating form, while he thought to himself. 'Why would Eggman unleash a powerful weapon when both worlds are merging and Time is being destroyed? Doesn't he even realize it, or has he cracked up even more to the point of not even caring about Time itself?'
There was something very strange going on. For some reason, Sonic felt that Eggman seemed to be acting...not quite himself despite that he was acting like he normally would. The question is, why?
He had a feeling that things aren't what they seemed.
Amy, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese had just witnessed not only the Ocean Palace emerging, but also the Egg Hawk appear out of nowhere. They followed what they knew was Eggman's trail and saw glimpses of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles fighting it before they all vanished over the horizon. Soon as they did, they saw the explosion before Amy, utterly worried about her 'boyfriend' saw through the binoculars that the blue hedgehog had defeated it with the help of, to her shock, a giant sea-monster which appeared to be friendly.
"Are Sonic, Tails and Knuckles okay?" Cream asked, worriedly.
"Chao..." Cheese murmured.
"Yeah, it looks like it. They even got help from a giant Sea Monster." Amy reported, lowering the binoculars as she added in confusion and slight fear. "It kind of looks like a dinosaur, but as big as when the Metarex turned into giant monsters, except this thing didn't eat Sonic. I think it was helping him and the other guys."
"Maybe it was a gentle sea creature which sensed that Sonic has such a good heart, like Tails and Knuckles." Cosmo suggested calmly, making her friends glance at her in confusion while she continued. "If they were in danger by it, it would have swallowed them by now, right? I think it knew that they were all good hearted and decided to help in their time of need."
"Wow! I think you're right, Cosmo. Sea Monsters would be really horrible and scary." Cream remarked in agreement.
Amy though was still uncertain. "I guess so, but we can't be certain unless we went up to it and make sure the guys are okay."
"Then let's move on. We know where they are and we found one of the Chaos Emeralds." The seedrian girl informed.
The pink hedgehog and the little rabbit girl nodded in agreement, only for them, Cheese and Cosmo to be held back they heard a scream coming from their right and when they looked, they saw to their shock that a real life mermaid about twelve years old, with dark raven hair, light blue tail and a sea-shell bra of the same colour being cornered by a huge mutant Lobster with four pincers, six eyes and eight legs who snarled at her.
"Oh no!" Cream screamed out in shock and worry.
"That mermaid needs help!" Amy exclaimed.
"We have to do something!" Cosmo exclaimed.
Despite that she wanted to get to Sonic quickly as she was worried that he could potentially be in danger still, the pink hedgehog knew that the alien girl was right. The blue hedgehog would have to wait as long as he still had Tails and Knuckles with him.
Praying that Sonic would be alright, Amy nodded firmly before bringing out her Hammer. "Yeah! This is gonna be tricky, girls, but let's get that over-grown sea-food!"
"Right!" Cosmo nodded with determination.
"I'll do my best to help!" Cream added with the same feeling despite that she was scared, and that she was just a child, but she wanted to help as best way as possible.
"Let's go!" Amy declared as she and her friends charged to stop the Lobster and save the Mermaid.
This was going to be a tough battle.
"The Ocean Palace...the legend is true." Espio whispered in awe.
"And it looks like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are beating us to it, and they're fighting Eggman with a giant sea monster there." Charmy remarked, holding up a pair of binoculars, witnessing the battle play out.
"A sea monster? Are you sure you're not seeing things, Charmy?" Vector asked, skeptically.
"Nope. It's actually helping them. See?" The young bee replied, handing the binoculars over to the crocodile who peered through them, and true to the former's words, he saw the sea beast actually helping Sonic, Tails and Knuckles take down the Egg Hawk.
"You've gotta be kidding me! Where did that thing come from?" Vector exclaimed in shock with a sweat drop, lowering the binoculars with wide eyes and his mouth gaped open.
"It would seem that the sea creature could sense that Dr. Eggman was up to something, which I knew all along." The mysterious caller suddenly spoke up from the walkie talkie, startling the Chaotix.
"How'd you know what we were talking about?" Vector demanded, holding the communicator in his hand in disbelief.
"I have my ways. Besides, you left this thing on." The caller responded in a slight deadpan tone. "If you can see what he is up to, he may provide what is happening. Following him is one of your top priorities."
"Do you believe Eggman is part of the problem of Earth being engulfed by the mysterious mutating and de-aging fog?" Espio questioned, skeptically.
"That's left to debate, but he could be using this to his advantage. Good luck!" The caller replied, before hanging up once again.
The trio shared stunned glances, before Charmy asked. "Do you think Eggman's gone too far and doesn't care about Time being stopped?"
"I wouldn't put it past him. That guy is pretty tricky." Vector replied, yet there was something in his stomach that was telling him otherwise. He wasn't certain what it was, but he was having suspicions that there was more to this than even their unusual costumer was saying.
Question is, what?
Suddenly, Espio sensed something and turned sharply to his left before his eyes widened as he exclaimed. "Look out!"
When Vector and Charmy turned to see what their friend was looking at, their eyes widened in shock and disbelief as a huge mutant turtle with a shark's head and a long tail like a lizard's emerge from the water, with horse legs as it roared, glaring at the trio who stared in shock.
"Whoa! That turtle sure is having a bad day!" The young bee exclaimed.
"Looks like we're gonna have to stop it since it's blocking our road, and we can't let it hurt any innocent people!" The crocodile declared with determination, putting away the device and stood in a stance.
"There's no other choice. We must fight it." The purple chameleon agreed, preparing himself.
"Yeah! C'mon!" Charmy added.
But as the three of them were preparing themselves to battle, Espio could've sworn he noticed an unusual purple aura forming around Vector's body and, to his alarm, his friend's eyes were gleaming in a mixture of light purple and red colours before returning to normal, which worried him. At first he thought it was just his imagination, but then he sensed that something was wrong within the leader's body.
Mentally shaking head as he decided that now wasn't the time to worry about this, Espio turned his attention back to the battle he and his friends were about to get into.
Yet unknown to all of them, even to Vector himself, the substance within his body was acting up and starting to get even worse.
Back with Shadow, Rouge and Omega, the three of them were heading towards the Ocean Palace as they witnessed Eggman appear, but caught glimpses of not only Sonic, Tails and Knuckles fighting him in his Egg Hawk, but also a giant Sea Monster which strangely was helping them to defeat the robot. They skid to a stop as they saw the explosion before the blue blur emerged safely and landed on top of the sea creature's head.
"Alert! Eggman is escaping! Must annihilate Sonic the Hedgehog for interfering!" Omega declared, only to be held back by the white bat.
"Easy there, Omega. Take your anger out on Eggman." Rouge said to calm him down, before remarking. "Though I'm surprised that the boys have their hands full with him all the way here. But now I know that they're still okay."
"Hmph. Just as I thought. Sonic never ceases to show off himself." Shadow scoffed, remembering how he spotted the younger hedgehog a few days back when he first came back here to Earth. "Still, the merging between both worlds...It's possible that he and his friends are attempting to stop it. Am I right?"
"Yeah, most likely, and Eggman isn't making things any easier considering how he wanted to use the documents on your birth to make robotic clones of you, Shadow." Rouge nodded in agreement, with a hint of worry on her face. "Not to mention people de-aging and animals mutating. I'm really getting worried here."
"Well then, let's continue to chase down the doctor and demand answers right out of him, because things get worse." The black hedgehog declared calmly and sternly.
Unfortunately, before Team Dark could even make a move to keep going, they heard the sounds of helicopter repellars fill their ears(or Omega's senses) before they turned around and saw a trio of choppers fly over their heads, before simply hovering and slowly descending which sent sand flying everywhere, and forcing both Shadow and Rouge to try and shield their eyes with their arms.
"Alert! GUN Helicopters!" Omega scanned.
"Oh boy...this is not good." Rouge muttered, knowing that despite that she was an ally of the organization, there were two problems which made her a problem now. "Not only they'll see that I'm with an Eggman robot, but they'll see that you're still alive Shadow, and I doubt they'll be happy to see you."
Shadow glared hard, as the surge of anger, annoyance and hate filled his senses which, despite that the people of this generation having nothing to do with the deaths of Maria, the fact that they worked for the very Organization that had taken away his dearest friend fifty years ago, tried to kill him when they mistook him as a threat, and driven Professor Gerald Robotnik to insanity despised him to the core of his heart.
In one of the helicopters, one of the pilots scanned the trio down below and gave out a shock and disbelief while reporting to Tower in the communication device. "Sir! You won't believe this! Rouge the Bat is here, but she's not alone!"
"Is she with Sonic or Chris?" Tower questioned darkly.
"Negative. She's with one of Dr. Eggman's robots...and Shadow the Hedgehog." The pilot responded.
Back at the HQ, Tower's eyes widened in shock and disbelief on what he just heard.
"Shadow!? He's alive!?" The Commander exclaimed in disbelief, and quickly anger and hate. That black hedgehog...was among the living? Did that mean that Sonic was unaware of this? Or did Rouge find Shadow and kept him hidden in her and Sonic's world? Was the blue hedgehog aware of this?
His eyes glowing unknowingly once more, and his mind becoming even more twisted, Tower shouted his next orders. "They have an Eggman robot! Rouge has betrayed us! Kill her and Shadow and destroy that robot! I want that hedgehog's body brought back to me! After that, bring me Sonic! DO IT NOW!"
Back in the helicopter, the Pilot, shocked by the sudden orders, knew he couldn't disobey and stuttered. "Y-yes, sir!"
On the ground, the helicopters then began preparing their machine guns, which shocked Rouge and annoyed both Shadow and Omega as they all realized that things were getting just as worse.
"Oh well...there goes my hopes in seeing Topaz freely again." Rouge sighed, resigned to the fact that she was now a fugitive.
"Permission to destroy these helicopters?" Omega questioned, preparing his machine gun arm.
"Not destroy, but distract them enough to make them retreat. But if they refuse to leave quietly, well..." Shadow trailed off, before glaring at the helicopters. "We'll see. These humans are too judgemental for their own good."
Despite wanting to protest, Rouge knew that there was no point in arguing. Plus, it could also mean that something else was going on and she had a feeling that Sonic's group were in for some tough time. So she had no choice but to agree and turned her attention back to her former comrades.
It would seem that things are becoming more dangerous and difficult for Team Sonic, Team Chris, Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark, all the while Chris wondered if he, Danny and Francies will be able to get to Sonic on time.
Not only they had the purple fog and Eggman to worry about as well as the merging between two worlds, but now all five of them as well as allies to Sonic and his friends were made enemies of the corrupted GUN organization because of Tower's corrupted mind, and, unaware to them, Narasu being behind the whole thing.
This was only just the beginning of the dangers the lie far ahead of them.
A/N: I know this chapter was rushed, but I'll try and make it up to it in the next chapter(if Fanfiction is still alive by the time I get to it).
(1): Reference to the English dubbed version of the Godzilla movie "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep", which on the VHS that I still own, it's called "Godzilla VS the Sea Monster".
See you later!