Author's Note: Nothing much to say, except to say thank you for all the reviews and favorites. Both Sonic245 and I really appreciate it! Here's another chapter and hopefully you guys will like it. Enjoy!
Sonic245 and I do not own rights to Sailor Moon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Cardcaptor Sakura, Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Shrek or Ice Age, only the OCs.
Chapter 10: Sonic's Training.
It wasn't long before Sonic and Prime returned to their shared room as the two blue hedgehogs took the seat on the edge of the former's bed, the youngest feeling a bit at loss for what he had to say. Everything he has heard in the last couple of days left him feeling cold on the inside and it left him terrified. His older counterpart gazed at him worriedly when he saw the younger Sonic looking rather scared and guilt-ridden.
"...You feeling okay?" The older Sonic asked gently.
"Honestly?" Sonic replied, before sighing. "No. I feel like a stupid jerk who's arrogant, ignorant, overconfident, cocky, impatient, and simple-minded."
"You referring to yourself, or me?" Prime raised an eyebrow, given they were both Sonic the Hedgehog, just from two separate dimensions.
The teenage cobalt hero was silent for a moment, before admitting. "Me. I should've been the one to cheer Amy up. Not only that, I messed up epically this time. I keep...I keep putting my friends and family in danger, and when I try hard not to and do my best to keep them safe, neither are enough."
"Come on, Sonic. You've done a great job. Don't go beating yourself up." The twenty-one year old hero attempted to reassure his friend.
Sonic shook his head, "You don't get it, Prime. My dad keeps blaming himself for Eggman attacking our village three years ago ever since he brought the Chaos Emerald home from one of his expeditions, but I know for the fact that it was all my fault. I should've known that Eggman's spy-bot watched my moves, wanting to use my speed for his evil purposes, and followed me and decided to attack while most were asleep. I was stupid to think I could fight him and his robots even though I did a good job, but Dad...he saved me and got himself and Mom captured to protect me and Tails."
"It's not your fault. You know that Eggman does things on purpose. How were you or your dad or anyone else to know what that loser was up to? I certainly didn't know until the Eggman I know showed his face for the very first time." Prime pointed out.
"That's what Tails and pretty much everyone else try to tell me. You know, the not knowing part." The fifteen year old sighed. "I know wishing won't change the past and the Time-line here's been going nuts, with Ultimecia, the Sands of Time, Temporal Tower, and all of the time-traveling Serena and the Sailor Team've been through. I only traveled back in time once and that was when Sonia took me, Tails and Knuckles to meet with her past self, tell me that I'm a chosen one to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds. I should've listened to you, Prime. But I acted recklessly, and today didn't make it much better."
Sonic then hugged his knees to his chest. "Face it, Prime. I keep screwing things up. Elise died, her heart being stolen by Solaris, her soul placed inside the Medallion I kept safe with me 'til I defeated him and gave both her heart and soul back to revive her."
"At least you didn't have to travel back in time to prevent her death, and you found a way to bring her back to life." Prime told him reassuringly, sighing as when Sonic looked at him, he continued. "When my Elise first died, she and Eggman were killed when the aircraft exploded, so there was no way of even saving her body. I failed to save her that time, and it was when Silver and Blaze told me that time-traveling was the only way to prevent that from happening, I swore to not fail again. Put it this way, I didn't see my future-self accomplish that before I traveled back in time."
Prime then gently placed a hand onto his younger self's shoulder, smiling softly. "Sonic, you accomplished much better than I did. How many times did your Elise did kidnapped during the war anyway?"
"Uhhhh...Hmmmm...Once, I think." The hero of Mobius thought, and when he realized that he only remembered Elise being kidnapped by Eggman once as he had saved her when he first met her and managed to get her back home, he nodded. "Yeah, definitely once. Had the help from the others, though."
"Then that just proves that you really are the better Sonic the Hedgehog than I am." The hero of the Omniverse declared. "My Elise ended up kidnapped more times than I could count since I wasn't careful enough."
"Are you jealous of me?" Sonic asked, feeling a little uneasy.
"Maybe a little bit." Prime shrugged sheepishly with one shoulder. "But that's more my own fault than anything else. Remember when I told ya' about the Lost Hex? How I messed up and had been forced to join forces with Eggman before he faked his death to continue his own goals?"
"Hey, I had to join forces with Eggman twice. First last year in order to reach Xiaoyu and Alisa's dimension, and heck, we even saved each other after I saved Cream and Knuckles when we shrank down to the size of bugs. Then during the war when Solaris came back." Sonic shrugged, before realizing something as he muttered thoughtfully. "Hm, come to think of it, I didn't have to fight him again straight away when the truce was over. He just...left to come up with new plans to take over the world. Strange, isn't it?"
"Probably because things already settled down and he had no way of using those ideas against you." The older Sonic wisely told him. "Remember, my Eggman tried to take down Chaos with the Egg Fort II, and he was betrayed by his own grandfather who died long before I was born."
"Point taken. To tell the truth, and, I uh...I only told Serena this last night, but if your Eggman was capable of controlling the Phantom Ruby and trap you on the Death Egg for six months, can you imagine what my Eggman would do if he did manage to get the Rainbow Gem? It'd be way worse than the War you had to go through. I'm too scared to even think of that possibility. It's already bad enough that he wants to use the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic shuddered at the thought.
"Only if he can catch me." Prime reassured smirking. "Remember, the Rainbow Gem will zap anybody who tries to capture me. Not even those Ascian guys can lay a finger on yours truly."
The younger blue hedgehog chuckled despite still feeling uneasy, and wisely told him teasingly. "Careful, Prime. You're starting to sound like me."
"Well, I was a lot like you when I was younger. You just got it in reverse." The older blue hedgehog teased back, adding mockingly. "I was born before you were."
"Only by six and a half years!" Sonic smirked, then added. "But then again, age before beauty."
"Wise guy." Prime smirked, which resulted in both of them laughing before stopping after a little while, and then he continued. "Sonic, the fact that you actually think of the dangers despite being a lot like me when I was your age makes me feel a lot better."
"How so?" Sonic asked, blinking in confusion.
"I think you're more open in revealing how you really feel deep down." Prime answered, before saying seriously. "Though if I were you, I'd tell Elise how you really feel about her...considering I never got the chance to meet mine ever again, or tell her how much she means to me."
Sonic frowned in sympathy, feeling his heart break into two. It was terrible that Sonic Prime never got the chance to be friends with Elise Prime after the time-line was changed, and today he only got his memories back, but he never got the chance to tell her how much she meant dearly to him. He thought back on how he admitted how he felt with Elise earlier.
"Aw, Elise...Have I ever told ya that you're like a sister to me that I love so much?" Sonic smiled, feeling a whole lot better despite the lingering guilt he still had in his heart.
"Well, I...I never had a brother like you. That's what you are to me, because I love you so much that way too." Elise confessed, blushing a little.
"I...N-not to make you horribly jealous or anything, but I did that already." Sonic admitted, stuttering a little. "Earlier this afternoon when I came back to check up on her. She's...like a sister to me, like how Cream and Serena are. Elise sees me as a brother she never had, too."
To Sonic's surprise, Prime sighed in relief. "Oh, good. You're one step ahead of me. To be honest, that's exactly how I felt with my Elise; she was a sister I never had. Just wish I could've told her that."
"I think she already knows, Prime." Sonic said softly, smiling a little and when his counterpart glanced at him in confusion, he continued. "King Mick' once told me that his late great-uncle always watched over him, and so did his parents. Ghosts do like to visit the Realm of the Living sometimes even when most living people can't see or hear them. It was because of his Great Uncle that he soon realized that ghosts aren't the scary, monstrous guys most people come to think they are."
Sonic looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully as he laid back on his bed, his hands behind his head and one leg over the other. "They're really people's souls that used to live inside their bodies before their time was up, and it really depends on whether they changed or not. It's only those like that Zorg guy who don't change their minds even after they died is when they're the most dangerous. Or mischief ones who were twisted in their heads that they come back to lure people to the Spirit world or whatever."
"I guess ghosts in this dimension work differently to where I come from." Prime remarked, somewhat surprised. "Does Sakura know that?"
"Yeah. Mickey's the one who told her that." Sonic replied, sitting up-right once more. "He's also the one responsible for encouraging Serena and Ash and Riku for being braver than they originally believed. I admire him for that. Anyway, loved ones that have gone to the afterlife always watch over those who they had no choice but to leave behind. I know for the fact that everybody in your world are watching over you, because you love them and they love you. Who knows? Maybe Elise got her memories back too, given the circumstances."
Prime thought deeply on Sonic's words, and, remembering how he was visited by Saki-Chan's mother before he defeated Metallix made him realize that his younger counterpart was right, to most extent. How she had asked the blue hedgehog to take care of her daughter.
"You're right. Just wish I could see them again." The older blue hedgehog nodded, and smiled when Sonic gently patted him on the back with a soft sympathetic smile of his own. He then realized something and asked his younger self. "Hey, you said that Elise is like a sister to you like Cream and Serena are, right? Right about Amy?"
"Oh, right! Yeah, Amy's like a sister to me too, and a really close friend." Sonic quickly replied, looking down slightly, realizing that he forgot to add his self-proclaimed girlfriend and without realizing it, his muzzle turned slightly pink on the cheeks.
Unfortunately, the older Sonic noticed the hint of pink and stuttering, and, admittedly shocked at this unspoken revelation, smirked in realization as he said. "Ah...you really like Amy more than a close friend and sister, don't ya'?"
"WHAT!?" Sonic exclaimed, then lowering his voice after remembering that everyone else were still asleep in the castle and quickly shook his hands while his face turned from light pink to a crimson pink, denying. "No way! I-I'm not romantically involved with Amy! That's crazy! I just don't have the c-courage to tell her that without-without hurting her feelings yet!"
"More like you're not ready to admit that you have special feelings for her yet, even to yourself." Prime grinned.
"Oh, shut up!" The teenage hedgehog grumbled, folding his arms pouting. "Look, I really care about her like nothing else, and while she is obsessed with me and is scary with her temper and that hammer of hers, she's brave and strong and kind and caring, and fun sometimes, and strong willed and determined, and I'd do anything to keep her safe like I would with everybody else I love, even if I have to give up my life to save them, and she made me this beautiful seashell bracelet that-"
He cut himself off after realizing what he was saying and became even more embarrassed, much more so when his older self snickered, covering his mouth with his gloved hand to hide his laughter.
"Oh, man. You are so totally in love, Sonic. Who've thunk?" Prime muttered through laughing, which made Sonic groan and bury his face in both of his gloved hands to hide his embarrassment and humiliation.
"Man...I can't believe I said that!" Sonic groaned, shaking his head in his hands. "Why me?"
Prime just laughed, before forcing himself to stop with a fake cough and then told his embarrassed younger self. "Don't worry, I won't say anything about your secret. I promise. I'm just surprised that out of the two of us, you really do like Amy more than just a friend and a sister, since I never had any romantic feelings with my Amy and she came to accept that."
Sonic just sighed, lowering his hands and, seeing that he wasn't getting out of this and, feeling like his secretive feelings towards Amy was beginning to surface, the tingling feeling that still tried to make him understand. Was this...the feeling of true love? He wasn't certain, but the more he absently thought about it, the more he began to realize that his feelings towards the pink hedgehog has grown since meeting her three years ago.
"Okay, maybe I do like her more than a sister and a close friend. But I'm not ready to settle or slow down yet. I wanna explore all of Mobius and keep on running, go on adventures and things like that. Besides, we're both way too young to get married." The teenage hedgehog admitted with a grumble, looking away. "Not only that, I can't risk in doing the whole real boyfriend thing, not with Eggman and many other threats out there."
"I get the idea." The twenty-one year old hedgehog stated, before asking curiously. "And what about this bracelet she made for you?"
Sonic blushed even heavier, before sighing as he reached into his quills and held a pink seashell bracelet which he fixed up and answered. "Back in the Galar Region on Earth, before those two stupid crooks Cassidy and Barf or whatever that guy calls himself smashed it while trying to get rid of Serena and the others, Amy made this for me. She said that it's to protect me in water and if I wear it, it would bring me good luck. I did the best I could in fixing it up. It's...one of the nicest things anyone's given me."
Prime whistled. "That's pretty cool. But, what kind name is Barf?"
"Actually, no one really knows what his name is since his voice is so raspy it's even worse than Donald's. Everybody else's been calling that guy either Biff, Bob, Pooch, Bath, and the list goes on." Sonic shrugged with a chuckle. "I called him Barf 'cause that's what I thought he said his name was before the others told me otherwise, and boy does he hate it whenever people get his name wrong."
The two laughed at that, before Sonic continued. "Anyway, when Amy gave me this bracelet, that's when I realized how much she really loved me. How could I refuse something like this?"
'Maybe Amy in this world does have a chance. It's strange how Sonic and I are the same person and yet we're both different at the same time.' Prime thought to himself, smiling warmly. Earlier today aside, Sonic has already proven to be more mature than Prime himself ever was in his teenage-hood years.
"...I sound like one of those lovesick guys in those romance novels and movies, don't I?" Sonic muttered, putting the bracelet carefully back in his quills. "If anybody else finds out about this, they'll never let me live it down."
"It's part of growing up. I never had any romantic feelings, but even I know what it's like." Prime pointed out.
"Yeah, well, Dad used to tell me how Uncle Jules was all romantic to his girlfriend Bernadette, who they called Bernie for short and how before they died they planned on getting married when they grew up. They really loved each other when they were around my age." The younger hedgehog sighed. "Sometimes I wish I could meet them."
Sonic sighed again, before going back to the previous topic. "Anyway, I really try not to mess up a lot. Not after what happened today, or what you went through."
"I know." The older hedgehog replied softly. "I'm sorry, Sonic. I didn't mean to make you scared of me. You don't try to force yourself to me like me instantly. That'll only make your life miserable and then you'd end up like Knuckles or Shadow."
"Then, what do I do?" The teenager asked, helplessly. "I mean, when you said yesterday how your friends have been killed before you told us about the Omniverse, I knew something awful happened and I had to do something to stop myself from losing everybody I love. Then when we were trying to get out of that creepy place we got sent in, you were disappointed in how I reacted to water despite that you gave me comfort."
"I wasn't disappointed in you, Sonic. I was annoyed with Knuckles in scaring you on purpose. In truth, when I saw how you were trying too hard in facing your fear when you weren't ready actually scared me, I felt terrible. Just be yourself, but don't let overconfidence or impatience get to you." Prime shook his head.
"I got caught by the giant sea-witch, though, like everybody else. If that's not messing up, then I don't know what is. I know for the fact that this can't happen again. I was scared. I thought about where you were..." Sonic looked away, guilt-ridden and ashamed.
Prime said nothing. He could only look on in sympathy before lowering his gaze, blaming himself for Sonic's decreasing confidence, for having caused this to happen. If he hadn't turned up, Eggman wouldn't have attacked or forced Sonic to use Chaos Control, and Prime wouldn't have lost control of the Rainbow Gem in the first place. He still didn't understand why he lost control of it, or why he had been sent to this dimension.
'yOu LeT oThErS dOwN...tHeY bEcOmE oVeR aNd UnDeR cOnFiDeNt BeCaUsE oF yOuR rEcKlEsS aCtIoNs...' The distorted voice he heard a few times before echoed in his mind again, causing Prime to squeeze his eyes shut and mentally shaking his head to ignore it.
'Shut up!' The blue hedgehog hissed mentally, before sighing and gently pulled his dishearten friend into a comforting hug, which Sonic, flinching a little, returned it with his eyes closed, feeling like a small child in the protective embrace of his parents and Uncle Chuck.
"Sorry..." Sonic whispered. "It's just...I hate letting everybody down."
"It's okay. Heck, she certainly was tough for me, but I'm really proud with how you handled that fight today. All of you guys really are the Guardians of Light despite what happened." Prime said soothingly. "Everybody makes mistakes. Especially me."
The younger blue hedgehog nodded, and while he still felt terrible for making such slips, he was relieved knowing that the older blue hedgehog didn't hold any grudge against him. He leaned up as the two Sonics loosened on the hug and Sonic smiled softly.
"Thanks, Prime. Weird as it is, I'm starting to understand how everybody else feel whenever I cheer them up." Sonic said, feeling much better.
"No problem." Prime replied, before suggesting. "We should get some sleep. Got a big day tomorrow."
"Yeah. Problem is, I'm still not exhausted enough to actually fall asleep. I know I should get some rest and the battle today really was tough, but my brain's still too active." The cobalt teenager replied.
The older hedgehog knew the feeling, because even he was still too awake to actually fall asleep. He then had an idea and snapped his fingers. "Hey, remember yesterday we should start with me teaching you some of the skills I learned?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, how about we sneak out and I start training you on some of the basics? That'll get our minds off of the events for a while and hopefully help us get some sleep. Even if we have to sleep on the Blue Typhoon 'til we reach the next Chaos Emerald." Prime replied, winking.
Sonic's eyes widened in surprise, and then he beamed a smile of excitement as he stood up, having forgotten about that until his older self mentioned it. "Really? Cool! Let's go get started then!"
"Sweet. Let's find a large area where we can start your training." Prime smirked as he stood up.
"Not to worry, Prime. I know just the place!" The fifteen year old smirked in return with a thumbs up and a wink of his own. While he knew that there was a chance he and his older self would get into trouble for sneaking out just because they couldn't sleep, his new training would be worth it.
But as Sonic and Prime opened the balcony doors and as silently as possible leaped down and dashed through the empty streets of Soleanna while having a midnight race, neither one were aware of the danger they were about to head into.
Apparently sleep was a hard thing to come by tonight, because Serena found herself having trouble getting to sleep herself. Darien was sleeping soundly, but the Moon Princess just stared at the ceiling as she laid in their shared bed. Feeling a case of déjà vu, the sixteen year old sighed as she thought about what has happened in the last couple of days. She felt horrible for what Prime has gone through, and was very worried about Sonic.
Her close hedgehog friend had been spooked ever since his alternate self arrived, and while she knew that the older Sonic hadn't meant to scare him, Serena felt that the younger Sonic was haunted by the horrors that Mecha Sonic, an evil robotic creation of Eggman who had been killed by his own machines, has done. To make matters worse, she has seen a vision of a time-line that no longer exists except in Sonic Prime's original memories.
It haunted her that Prime lost everything in his birth-world, even his dimension's version of Princess Elise, and after hearing his story, Serena realized that Sonic, who is very close friends with this dimension's Elise, had returned to the castle in fear of never being able to reveal how much he cared about her, or that something horrible was about to happen. Sighing, she got out of her bed and, feeling the need for some fresh air, silently approached the balcony without waking up her husband, and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.
She leaned against the railing and gazed out of the beautiful streets of Soleanna with a sorrowed and guilt-ridden expression, whispering to herself. "Prime...Sonic...How could both versions of Eggman do such horrible things? Especially with robots and the Chaos Emeralds? And Solaris...Huh?"
Serena was brought out of her musings when she spotted two blue blurs race down across the streets below and towards out of the Kingdom. She almost instantly recognized them.
"Sonic? And Prime? Where are they going?" Serena muttered in confusion, before deciding to herself. "Guess I'll just have to find out."
Silently transforming into Sailor Moon since she was in her night gown, she then leaped off the balcony and landed on the cobble ground, before racing as fast as she could before hiding behind a building, and then took out a Pokeball and tossed it. It opened up to reveal her Charizard whom a couple weeks ago decided to allow to visit from the Charizard Valley on Earth. It roared before she shushed.
"Charizard, can you give me a ride? I need you to follow two trails of blue blurs and find two hedgehogs that are our friends." Sailor Moon requested. Her fire-type Pokemon nodded and gestured her to hop onto it's back. She did so and climbed onboard, before flapping it's wings and took off into the night sky, keen on following the two Sonics and figure out what's going on.
Meanwhile, finally back up in the air, the restored Egg Fortress was cruising through the night sky while attempting to track down the Guardians of Light, Cosmo and Sonic Prime after finally escaping from the whirlpool and had spent most of the day locating Eggman's enemies.
"You may have escaped this time, Sonic. Mark my words, I will find you and your little friends, and your other self with the powerful gem will be mine." Eggman growled under his breath, cranky due to the lack of sleep and the embarrassing incident under water.
"I think he's lost it." Decoe whispered to Bocoe.
"Must be because he had to handle not one but three of Sonic in two different time-frames, two that are here in this universe." The gray robot whispered in return, sounding in an unease.
"But I wonder how and why Sonic "Prime" came here to this dimension. It can't be a coincidence." The yellow robot replied, thoughtfully. "Unless he's Sonic from the future."
"It doesn't matter where Sonic Prime has come from!" The evil scientist grunted, hearing the conversation behind him which made his two minions yelp in fright. "Every single version of Sonic and that Princess brat Sailor Moon will soon cease to exist, and with that powerful gem, it will make things easier in getting rid of both of them! I'll slice that Prime hedgehog in half to get that power if I have to!"
"That's a bit extreme, Doctor." The two robots remarked nervously.
"So?" Eggman asked, only for the scanner to pick up and alert them.
"Sir, we're picking up the signal on the gem." Decoe announced, typing a few keystrokes, it showed the continent. "It seems that Sonic and his friends are on the continent of Soleanna and Sonic and Sonic Prime are heading towards the cliff-side of the Grassy Plains near Kingdom Valley."
"Out on a little midnight run, eh?" Eggman snickered evilly. "Perhaps we shall give both Sonics a midnight surprise. Send in Bokkun. I have a little surprise party for them."
"Yes, doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe saluted, quickly going to inform the messenger bot who was still recovering from the whirlpool incident.
Left alone for the time being, the evil doctor grinned widely and hideously. "You won't be getting away this time, hedgehogs."
He will be ready to kill Sonic and capture Sonic Prime for the Gem.
In hindsight on having snuck out of the castle, the grassy cliff-side, large enough to be a perfect training ground, would've normally taken hours or days to reach from Soleanna. But for the two fastest things alive, it only took less than half an hour and before long, Sonic and Prime skid to a stop at the large, grassy and beautiful cliffside of the ravine. The two blue hedgehogs gazed around before setting their sights over the horizon of the ocean. The Moon was full and bright, the stars were out and twinkling, and the reflections of both made the water sparkle. It was a beautiful, picture perfect sight.
Sonic breathed in deeply before exhaling as he stretched out his arms, enjoying the gentle cool breeze that sweept against his face and quills. "Aw, yeah. You can't ask for a better peaceful night like this. Perfect place for training, eh, Prime?"
When he didn't get a reply, Sonic glanced over to his friend and to his concern, Prime just gazed out over the horizon with a somber and glassy look. This place...it reminded the older blue hedgehog of how saved Elise Prime after changing the future the first time by traveling back in time to a few hours before her first death. The memory of the two having been blasted up by an exploding piece of Eggman Prime's aircraft, tumbling over the grass, the two recovering and laughing and smiling, gazing over the scenery in the peaceful early afternoon with the sun up.
Hours before his own death by the hands of Mephiles. Before history was forever altered, and those events Sonic Prime shared with his Elise...were erased and the only thing left of that now was in his memory.
"Prime? Yo, Mobius to Prime." Sonic said, waving a hand in front of the other Sonic's face, snapping him back to reality.
"Wha-what?" Prime blinked, turning to his friend who gazed at him worriedly.
"You okay? Is something wrong?" The younger hedgehog asked, wondering what the problem was.
Realizing what his friend meant, the older Sonic shook his head and smiled softly in sadness. "Oh. No, it's nothing. It's just...This place is, at least in my old world, where I saved Elise after traveling back in time to stop her and Eggman from dying. The two of us landed pretty hard on the grass, but otherwise okay. We laughed and stared out over the horizon exactly like this one, only it was in the middle of the day instead of nighttime."
"Oh..." Sonic barely even whispered, realizing what Prime meant. He hadn't even realized that this area was exactly the same as in Prime's old world before it had been destroyed by Mecha Sonic.
Now feeling guilty for taking his older self to a place where it brought back more memories of his past, the teenage cobalt hero muttered apologetically. "Sorry, man. I didn't even know. I just thought this place would be good for our training. W-we can go somewhere else, if ya' want."
"Nah, it's okay. All in the past of the old time-line." Prime shook his head with a soft smile. "I'm just surprised you even came here."
"What can I say? I get out a lot." Sonic shrugged, still feeling guilty but managed to mask it with a small smile of his own, gazing out at the horizon. "One time after the War, I found this place and just felt so...so free. It's one of my favorite spots to just chill out and let the wind blow against me, and I feel like I can just fly along with it. I sometimes train here to keep myself nice and fit for whenever Eggman would show off his ugly mug again."
"Well, that explains why you picked this place as a good spot for me to teach you a few basics of what I learned." The older hedgehog remarked, smirking as he forced down his sadness of his lost past.
"You sure you don't wanna go somewhere else?"
"Your Mobius is virtually the same as mine. The only places I don't think I've ever been to are New Mobotroplis and the Cave of Lyric since they're new to me and pretty much far away even if we can easily jog there." Prime shrugged.
"Point taken." Sonic ran a hand through his quills, before mentally shaking his head and said. "So, to take our minds off of what's happened today, whaddya' say we get started."
The older Sonic nodded. "All right then. You ready?"
"Ready when you are." The younger Sonic replied, smirking a little as the two moved away from the cliff for better space, before they paused and he asked. "So, what're you gonna teach me first?"
"First, I'm going to teach you how to use the Insta-Shield, but we'll go for the basic one for starters, 'cause the Insta-Shield I can use now is pretty advance and takes a lot of concentration." Prime responded, holding up a finger to indicate of teaching his younger self one of his own skills.
"Given how easy your Insta-Shield looks, I can already tell it took a lot of effort to master the advanced one, right?" Sonic asked with a shrug.
"Correct. Here's an example on the basic level, so watch very closely and carefully." Prime instructed, and when his younger counterpart nodded, the older blue hedgehog took a couple steps back before jumping up and appeared to be Spin Jumping.
But then sparks of electricity and energy formed and like with the advanced Insta-Shield that Sonic saw earlier, a shield of energy formed around him and kept at it for a moment before stopping and uncurled himself before landing stylishly on the grass, standing up and nodded. Sonic whistled, utterly amazed.
"Even the basic one looks pretty cool. How does it work?" Sonic asked in awe.
"It works on generating enough energy to create a temporary shield for a split-second to defend yourself. It can even slash through enemies in a short notice, and it can also be useful for defeating more defensive enemies and even avoiding projectiles." Prime explained.
"Awesome! Let me try!" Sonic exclaimed, and, having memorized how his older counterpart could do it, he was about to perform his own Insta-Shield when he realized he forgot something and then paused, before turning to his friend and asked sheepishly. "Uh, how do I generate it?"
"First off, focus on yourself. Don't think of anything else differently. Focus by thinking of all the good things, and don't let any bad thoughts or feelings distract you." The older hero adviced, having been seconds from telling him to stop when the younger hero asked him that question.
"Hm...That's gonna be tricky." Sonic admitted, before saying with determination. "Here goes."
Moving back a couple of paces so that he wouldn't hurt Prime, Sonic inhaled before he exhaled, closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could. He willed his inner thoughts and feelings about the good things that were important to him. He then jumped and Spin Jumped, hoping to generate energy and tried to think about the good things. Unfortunately, when he felt confident about it, it almost instantly brought out dark memories which made him lose focus.
Memories of Eggman's first invasion, his father Nick Hedgehog telling him and Tails to run before he and his mother Alena were captured, days of when after they were saved when Sonic became Super Sonic for the very first time, his father blamed himself for days on end with Sonic reassuring him that it was his own fault, and everything Prime told him earlier and what the younger blue hedgehog thought of himself.
"Sonic, don't let overconfidence get to you, otherwise you'll end up in the same situation as I did. That's one of our two weaknesses."
"How can I call myself a hero if I keep messing things up? It's not just overconfidence or water that are my weakness. It's that I'm not smart enough to even think carefully, that I'm too impatient for my own good. Impatience in my other weakness."
"I feel like a stupid jerk who's arrogant, ignorant, overconfident, cocky, impatient, and simple-minded."
"AAHHH!" Sonic screamed as he remembered those bad feelings, making him lose focus and unceremoniously uncurled, falling flat onto his stomach into the soft, fresh green grass.
"Sonic!" Prime cried out worriedly, racing over to his friend who just laid there at first, before slowly pushing himself up on his hands and knees. The older blue hedgehog knelt on one knee while gently placing a hand onto Sonic's back. "Are you okay?"
"No. I can't do it." The guilt-ridden teenager muttered, choking with tears in his voice. "I was too overconfident again. I thought I could this...but I was wrong."
"Hey, don't worry. You were probably thinking about too many bad thoughts, weren't you?" The twenty-one year old hedgehog muttered, comfortingly rubbing his younger self's back to calm him down.
"I felt confident, but the moment I even thought I could do it, it all came back to me. My Dad risking his life to save me and Tails three years ago before I saved him and Mom, what you told me in the last couple of days...It hurts, Prime. It's all my fault. I'm so humiliated." Sonic explained, closing his eyes in shame and guilt.
"It's okay. Learning how to use the Insta-Shield doesn't happen overnight. You're just letting doubt consume you. It's more my fault that I cast it upon you without even knowing. Like I said, think about all the good things, all the accomplishments you did, and what's most important." Prime reassured, continuing to comfort his younger self while feeling guilty for having caused such doubt and guilt engulf him to the point of almost drowning Sonic.
Despite still feeling uneasy and shaken, Sonic breathed in and out to calm down, slowly thinking about the good times again, and the knowledge that Prime wasn't disappointed in him and was giving him comfort was really comforting. Eventually after an agonizing one minute, he settled down and sighed once more.
"Feeling better?" Asked Prime, and his friend nodded, before the former helped the latter up. "It's okay. Just try again. I'm positive that you'll get the hang of it."
"Right. Thanks, Prime." Sonic replied, and once the older hedgehog moved back to give him some space, the younger hedgehog sighed and closed his eyes once more, focusing harder on the words of encouragement, and this time didn't think on just thinking on how cool it would be to use the Insta-Shield but at the same time knew it would do him good.
This time he thought about what made him feel happy and jumped high before Spin Jumping and while he thought about how to protect everyone he loved, he thought about his mother's lullaby and that instantly made him think of all the good memories throughout his life:
When he was very little, his mother would tuck him in at night. When he first met Tails, then Amy and Cream, and then finally befriending Knuckles, defeating Eggman and reuniting with his parents, the fun times like the Station Square Amusement Park, winning the War, hanging out with his friends and going on many adventures, both here on Mobius, on Earth, in the Fairy-Tale World, his most recent memories of good times despite what was going on.
In Sonic's mind, he saw all of his friends and family smiling at him, and his determination to protect them, to keep them and the world and the Realm of Light safe. His accomplishments, both on his own and with everyone as a team.
Then it happened; the very same energy he saw Prime produced gathered around him, a shield of energy formed and kept at it for a moment before he stopped and uncurled himself, landing stylishly on the grass the same way his older self did. When Sonic stood up, his eyes widened in awe as the effects of it still hanged around for a second or two before fading and when he looked at his arms, he saw that his body was glowing in blue light slightly before it faded. His mouth gaped open for a bit, then a wide smile formed on his muzzle and he turned to his older self who smiled in amazement and proudly.
"Yes! I did it!" Sonic cheered happily after the realization of his new skill registered, punching the air with his fist.
"I knew you could do it. Great Insta-Shield!" Prime replied, giving his younger self a thumbs up and a wink, which Sonic copied like a mirror image, before the older hedgehog approached him. "You must've been thinking of really great memories there, Sonic."
"I was. I thought about the things that make me happy and all the good times. It was when I thought about all the times my mom would sing me the lullaby when I was really little. Then I thought about when I first met my friends, beating Eggman as Super Sonic for the first time, saving my parents, the Amusement Park in Station Square, all of my friends and hanging out with them, all of my adventures, every single one of them smiling at me, and my determination to protect them and the Realm of Light. All of the accomplishments I did, both on my own and with everybody else as a team." Sonic explained, feeling rather good with himself.
In fact, the blue hedgehog realized that he felt like he had been before this whole mess started. Back to his normal self.
He then thought about how he managed and muttered, "Maybe it was my love for them and my determination to never give up, to keep going until I reached that goal, knowing that everybody's safe and sound and free."
"It's more of thinking about all the good times, and yes, love for friends and family does make you stronger and more determined." Prime nodded, his arms folded to his just at first, before gently placing a hand onto Sonic's shoulder with a warm smile. "Keep on practicing on the basic and we'll get you to the advance level in no time, as long as you never forget what you've learned today."
"You bet!" Sonic replied eagerly with a grin.
"But fair warning. Using a lot of the Chaos Force can decrease your stamina and energy. If you use too much of it, you pass out for a while. I know, because there are some abilities that I use that make me pass out all the time, one especially that I hardly use unless it's for major emergency." The older blue hedgehog cautioned.
"So it's like being Super Sonic for too long, or how the Silver Crystal drains away the user's energy." The younger hedgehog stated, and his friend nodded. "Thought there was a catch, so I'm not surprised. Just curious, what kind of skills that make ya' pass out?"
"Dragon Wind. It's my strongest attack I learned through the Chaos Force. Basically, I form a strong aura around my body, float off the ground, a magic circle appeared behind me, kinda like Sakura, Saki-Chan and even Sailor Moon's magic circles, and then I summon a giant dragon to attack the enemies. Of course, it uses up my stamina and energy, so I end up passing out before it even disappears." Prime explained.
The fifteen year old hedgehog whistled, both impressed and somewhat nervous. "Whoa. That sounds like both using the Star and Moon Cards or even magic creatures both from 8,000 years ago, Spira and even Hydaelyn. Summons, GPs or whatever they are, Aeons and even the Primals through rituals. I never saw the magic creatures being summoned, though."
He looked up at his counterpart again and muttered, "Still, using the Dragon Wind does sound really dangerous."
"Yeah, that's why I hardly ever use it unless the situation calls for it." The twenty-one year old hedgehog shrugged. "So if I do end up using it while I'm here,"
"I'll be sure to tell everybody else so that they wouldn't panic." Sonic finished for him, understanding the reason. "No problem. Thanks for letting me know. Makes things a little bit easier."
Prime nodded in thanks, before suggesting. "Okay, let's continue training with your Insta-Shield and remember what I taught you. Next up, deflecting opponents and items."
"Okay!" Sonic smirked, determined to get this right this time.
The two took several paces from each other after agreeing to use one another as target practices. Sonic stood ready and at Prime's signal, he stood firm while his older self charged by using a Homing Attack. Sonic in the meantime focused calmly and carefully, being used to training with Knuckles occasionly before leaping up and, thinking about what he thought of the first time he succeeded in summoning his very own Insta-Shield, successfully summoned it and despite being a bit of a hit and forced back a little due to Prime being stronger, it was surprisingly still effective and both were forced back by the sheer force. Sonic stumbled a bit after landing, but shook his head and looked at the older Sonic who landed neatly on the ground.
Prime smirked with a nod of approval, and Sonic smirked in return proudly for his success. They then kept at it while being careful with the younger Sonic's stamina by using thrown rocks and with the older hedgehog's instruction, Sonic learned to use a combination of Spin Dash and his Insta-Shield to cross through other items like logs that they collected from the jungle minutes earlier and before long, Sonic felt like he was already mastering the basic form of Insta-Shield.
"Phew...That's almost like using my Homing Attack to the next level." Sonic remarked after he and Prime stopped, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"You're getting really good at this. Before long, we'll be moving on to the advance level." Prime praised proudly as he and Sonic sat on the grass. "But I think we should take a break for a while. Before you pass out."
"No argument there." The younger hedgehog agreed, and smiled softly. "Hey. Thanks for teaching me how to use it. I never knew I had it in me to learn all that kind of stuff that you did."
"You're welcome." His friend replied, smiling in return and rubbed the teenager's back gently.
The two Sonics just sat there for a few minutes after the younger Sonic's first training in how to use his very own Insta-Shield, waiting for him to regenerate some of his energy so that they could then head back to the castle and get much needed sleep, when a familiar and unwelcoming laughter filled the air, one that only Sonic knew of. Confused and alarmed, the two hedgehogs looked up and saw, to Sonic's annoyance as he groaned before he and Prime stood up, Bokkun flying towards them.
"Hi Sonic, and Sonic Prime!" Bokkun greeted as he landed in front of the two of them.
"Not you." Sonic grumbled at the sight of the messenger robot, while on high alert as he knew almost instantly what this meant. If Bokkun was here, then there was no doubt that Eggman was close by and that meant the evil scientist was about to attack, when an alarming thought came to him and he fought down the urge to panic.
Was his enemy attacking Soleanna during their absence?
"Yep, it's me! Are you satisfied, Sonic?" Bokkun asked childishly.
"Hardly." The blue hedgehog scoffed.
"Who's this puny robot?" Prime asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's Bokkun. He acts as Eggman's messenger and sometimes carries bombs or messenger TVs that explode when Egghead's message stops in some occasions." Sonic explained, exasperated. He then asked the aforementioned robot. "Let me guess: Another message from that creep himself?"
"He's on his way here to come collect Sonic Prime for his magic power gem, and says to stay right here or else he'll attack the Kingdom." Bokkun confirmed, before digging out through the carry bag and pulled out a bomb. "Here's a starting blast for a warm up!"
Both Sonic and Prime flinched with wide eyes as while the small cheeky robot set the bomb down before flying away laughing, the younger hedgehog panicked before picking it up and threw it away right at Bokkun who looked over his shoulder, and screamed when his own bomb was aimed directly towards him. The messenger-bot yelped when the bomb exploded and he was blasted away into the sky, vanishing while screaming and charred at the same time.
"Man, that was close. I'll never understand Bokkun's obsession over explosives." Sonic sighed in relief, while shaking his head with a shrug in exasperation.
"Well, I never seen Eggman in my universe have any messaging robots before. This is new, at least for me." Prime remarked awkwardly, folding his arms at what just happened.
"Prime, if there's one thing I know about Eggman, it's a lot of times he embarrasses himself." Sonic wisely told him, before saying firmly. "But considering what Bokkun just told us, I'll betcha one hundred rings that this is a trap, but I'm worried about everybody else back in the kingdom."
"Especially since he wants me. But if he thinks he can get the Rainbow Gem, he's mistaken. Let's see what happens and-"
Prime was cut off when there was a loud rumbling and when both he and Sonic looked to the direction of the ocean, their eyes widened when they saw a huge octopus like robot with four legs and only two rubber hose-like tentacles climb up on the cliff. The two hedgehogs leaped back to a safer distance, and glared up hard when they heard the obnoxious evil laugh, followed by the owner which was none other than Eggman who was in his Egg-Mobile, grinning evilly at the two Sonics.
"Eggman!" Sonic grunted angrily as he and Prime stood in defense, the latter growling under his breath.
"Man, trying to find two speedy hedgehogs in the middle of the night is like finding two needles in a haystack with my eyes closed. Where could they have gone?" Sailor Moon grumbled as she and Charizard continued to fly over while seemingly going around in circles trying to locate both Sonic and Prime. "Maybe it was a bad idea in following them."
Her Charizard would've responded when both it and Sailor Moon heard a loud bang, and when they looked up, they saw smoke and caught a glimpse of something moving in a distance. Squiting her eyes a little, the Moon Princess gasped in shock as they widened, recognizing the unforgettable around figure in a flying mobile.
"It's Eggman! What's he doing here? Only one way to find out." Sailor Moon grunted, before ordering her Pokemon firmly. "C'mon, Charizard! We've gotta stop him! Let's go!"
Charizard roared, before speeding up towards where Eggman and, unknowingly to it and Sailor Moon, both Sonic and Prime were.
"Well, what do we have here? Out on a little stroll, are we?" Eggman mocked. "It's way past your bedtime, hedgehogs."
"Like you're the one to talk." Sonic responded. "Is this another trick you're pulling off?"
"Would I do something like that?" The evil scientist asked innocently.
"Knowing you? Yes." Prime spoke up, glaring hard. "You're here for me and the Gem. Why else would you find us?"
"That is exactly right, Sonic Prime. Which is why I'm here to make a deal: You will come with me where I shall remove that powerful gem inside you since surely it must be hurting, or else Sonic and all of his friends and all of the Kingdom of Soleanna will all perish under my rule! So, what will it be?" Eggman challenged and warned darkly.
"How about we both smash your robot into pieces and kick your butt instead!? There's no way you're gonna get Prime or that gem, or even hurt our friends!" Sonic shouted, as he and his friend glared harder, gritting their teeth. "Besides, you'll just go back on your word as usual, so what makes you think we're gonna fall for it?"
Eggman growled when he saw that both hedgehogs didn't even budge. "Well, if that's what you want, then I will take what will soon belong to me by force and crush you while I'm at it!"
"Only if you can catch us, Eggman!" Prime grunted as he and Sonic both stood ready to fight.
All the while Sonic, remembering what he learned from his older self, eyed the giant octopus-robot, mainly the tentacles and felt a bit worried. 'Those tentacles look too thick and rubbery for an Axe-Kick to break through. Guess I'll just have to settle with my Spin Dash or Homing Attacks.'
"Get them, Octotron!" Eggman commanded, pointing at the two hedgehogs who stood ready.
The robot, Octotron, charged by stretching out it's tentacles towards Sonic and Prime who leaped and sped out of the way before they kept at it and the teenage hedgehog raced forward, zig-zagging out of the way to avoid the tentacles hitting or grabbing him. He leaped up high into the air and ignored Prime's warning to wait when Sonic seemed to be aiming for a kick. But then the teenager instead went for a Homing Attack and sped towards the robot who rose up one of it's tentacles to stop him. To Eggman's shock, Sonic's sharpened quills sliced through the hose and hit the robot hard, shoving it back and creating a hole in it before coming out from the other side and around to safely land besides his older self who stared in surprise.
Octotron on the other hand began malfunctioning from inside out before exploding, easily defeated, much to the evil man's dismay.
"Oh no! He's beaten it already!?" Eggman exclaimed, his hands on his head.
"Well, that was easy. I was expecting more of a difficult challenge." Sonic remarked, surprised and felt that the match wasn't over yet.
True to Sonic's prediction and Prime sensing that something was wrong, Eggman growled before holding up a small remote, declaring. "Well, if plan A has failed, time for plan B!"
He pushed the red button and there was another rumbling before another, larger robot appeared, crawling up from the cliff after emerging from the ocean. Both Sonic and Prime braced themselves as it emerged and stood ready. It looked like a giant Scorpion with huge but not sharp claws, a laser-like pincher and coloured in red and black with glaring yellow eyes, and the unmistakable Eggman logo.
"...I had to say that, didn't I?" Sonic muttered a bit sheepishly to Prime.
"Well, it was too easy." The older Sonic replied. He was a bit annoyed, but not surprised at all. His younger self had enough scolding for a long while.
"It's always good to have a back-up plan." Eggman declared, grinning madly. "Octotron was just a warm up. My Scorpi-Egg will vaporize you into oblivion!"
"You always come up with names for robots that sound lame, don't ya?" The teenage blue hedgehog deadpanned.
"I'll lame you, you irritating little hedgehog!" The evil doctor growled, before commanding the Scorpi-Egg. "ATTACK!"
The giant Scorpion robot aimed it's laser-pincher at the two Sonics and fired. They both easily dodged and their eyes widened when it scorched the ground slightly, but it still very dangerous. Sonic and Prime dodged it before they went for an attack. Sonic somersaulted as he dodged the giant claws that made to grab him before Spin Dashing at it's face and kicked it shortly after, but was shocked when he only managed to make dent. He was then shoved back and forced to land safely before running away from the claws and laser attacks and tried again, this time going for a Homing Attack at one of the claws, creating some sort of damage.
Prime jumped and leaped avoiding the claws himself before doing a Homing Attack at one of them, denting it a bit and then raced away to avoid the laser himself. He then formed a Sonic Wind, tossing the large ball of energy at the Scorpi-Egg's laser-pincher, blocking the laser that was fired, much to the surprise of both Sonic and Eggman who's eyes widened behind his glasses. The older blue hedgehog then Axe-kicked at the other claw that attempted to catch him and jumped out of the way once more.
"Don't just stand there like a rock, Scorpi-Egg! Catch that Sonic Prime and get rid of Sonic!" Eggman shouted angrily, shaking his fist impatiently.
Before Eggman could shout even further, a large flame of fire engulfed him and his Egg Mobile, causing him to scream at the burn and when it stopped, he was covered in soot, coughing up smoke. Then a Moon Tiara came flying and hit the Laser-Pincher, knocking it away and aimed it harmlessly into the sky when it was about to fire at the two hedgehogs again. This was soon followed by a young woman's battle cry as when everyone looked to see to Sonic and Prime's right, Sailor Moon, after jumping off of her Charizard's back, thrust her Keyblade at one of the claws and somersaulted away and to safety.
"Hi, guys!" Sailor Moon greeted as she stood side by side wobh Sonic and Prime who gazed at her in surprise and no small amount of relief, while Charizard landed behind them, ready to keep fighting.
"Sailor Moon? What're you doing here?" Sonic asked his friend.
"I couldn't sleep and then I saw you and Prime sneak out earlier, so I followed to see what was going on." The Moon Princess replied, half sheepish, half annoyed.
"We were just out of a jog and some training 'til Egghead showed up." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly.
"Sorry 'bout that." Prime added, also sheepish, then gazed at Charizard and praised with a smirk. "Nice aim with your Flame Thrower by the way."
Charizard nodded happily at the older blue hedgehog's compliment, before they, Sailor Moon and Sonic glared back at Eggman who, in sheer anger, shook off the soot which the group couldn't help but chuckle over the fact that he'd been burnt to crisp.
"Not you again! Isn't it past your bedtime, you little Moon Brat?" Eggman growled in irritation over Sailor Moon's arrival. "Or do you sleep during the day?"
"Har dee har, Eggman. My sleeping habits are none of your business! Besides, how can anybody sleep with you making all of this racket?" Sailor Moon retorted, standing in defense. "Get ready, because we're gonna put out those lights where you will have nightmares!"
"I'm already in a nightmare, and that nightmare is you brats, which I'm going to end!" The evil scientist yelled, then commanded the Scorpi-Egg to attack the four of them.
The giant robot did so and fired it's laser at them once more, forcing Sailor Moon and her friends to leap out of the way, though while Sonic, Prime and Charizard were busy handling with the Claws which extended to thrust at them and forcing the two hedgehogs and one pokemon to avoid the grabbing hooks that formed out from the arms which Sonic sliced through with a Spin Dash, Prime slicing with a Sonic Boost, and Charizard using Dragon-Claw attack, Sailor Moon attempted to knock them back with her Keyblade but panickly dodged with yelps and shrieks with near-clumsy results.
She continued to knock and hit them hard with thrusts and dodging them with comical results, chanting magic like Thundaga and Wateraga, smacking the hooks as hard as possible in the similar away she learned from Sora, and Cloud. But Sailor Moon was still being chased as her friends were too busy to help her out at the moment. She aimed at the giant robot and bashed at the claws that tried to hit her, but soon the hooks began to follow her once again, much to her dismay.
"Moon Light Flash!" Sailor Moon panickingly chanted, aiming her Keyblade at the hooks, shredding most after she landed, but more kept coming and she screamed when she had no time to dodge. Luckily, Sonic, who saw this, dashed over and scooped her up into his arms while easily dodging the cables, holding her in a bridal style.
"You okay, Sailor Moon?" Sonic asked as he stopped in a safe-ish distance.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." The sixteen year old girl replied, a bit shakily at the close call, and relieved that her friend came to the rescue, before she was gently put down and stood up.
The two glared up at the robot which was now busy with both Prime and Charizard, before Sailor Moon and Sonic shared a glance and nodded before racing back towards the battle. Charizard was using Tail-Whip attack to blow away some of the hooks while Prime swiped his arm using his advanced Insta-Shield to block out five, sending them back towards the Scorpi-Egg which reared back due to the , the giant robot swiped at everything in all directions and even with the two hedgehogs' speeds, to their, Sailor Moon and Charizard's shock, it opened up a large blow-hole which created a huge gust of wind which forced them back, sending them flying as they screamed.
Sailor Moon and the two Sonics hit the ground hard, while Charizard was knocked out, all four of them grunting in pain. Sonic hissed in pain as he, Prime and Sailor Moon slowly pushed themselves up, glaring hard as more hooks came right at them, while Eggman grinned evilly. Then just as the hooks made to attack once more, before any of them could do anything, one of the robot's giant claws reached out and clamped onto Prime, capturing him before pulling him towards it.
"PRIME!" Sonic screamed out in horror, reaching out a hand towards his other self.
"Oh no!" Sailor Moon shouted in horror and dismay.
Prime struggled and grunted as he attempted to free himself while trapped in the grasp of the giant claw, hissing in pain while being squeezed tightly.
"AH HA HA HA HA HA! You're mine, Sonic Prime the Hedgehog!" Eggman laughed evilly and victoriously, only to frown in confusion when Prime glared at him hard, but was very calm as he stopped struggling. "Why aren't you struggling?"
"You seriously think it's that easy to catch me, Eggman? You don't know a thing about me or the Gem inside my body." The older blue hedgehog grunted, knowing what was coming next.
True to his word, his body began to glow in a rainbow aura, with electricity forming from it, and while this was happening, the hooks aimed directly towards Sailor Moon, Sonic and the knocked-out Charizard, forcing the blue hedgehog to stand up and stand protectively in front of his friend who stared at him in worry, and, seeing her Charizard down and out, recalled it back into it's Pokeball for the time being.
"It's a long shot...Time to put it to the test." Sonic whispered to himself, and while he was exhausted from the battle and trainining earlier, he wasn't about to give up just yet.
He focused hard on despite the fatigue, and while the hooks got closer, the fifteen year old was determined. Sonic closed his eyes briefly and thought about everyone he cared about, all the good memories, his desire to protect them and live a happy life. Snapping them open a second later, he jumped and Spin Jumped in mid-air and just as he wanted, his Insta-Shield activated which blocked the hooks and not only did it slash through them, it also caused the rest of the hooks to bounce back and hit the robot's face so hard that he stumbled back while still holding Prime in it's left claw. The force of Sonic's attack caused deep holes within the robot's body as it began to spark and malfunction.
"All right! It worked!" Sonic cheered, then noticed something going on with Prime and blinked in confusion.
"What!?" Eggman exclaimed in shock, horrified over Sonic's new ability, and briefly forgetting about Prime who's Rainbow Gem was giving off it's self-protection shield. "How did that blue rodent do that!?"
"Whoa! Sonic, where did that come from? I've never seen you use that before." Sailor Moon exclaimed in awe and confusion.
"I just learned it tonight. Prime taught me how to use it. It's a basic form of the Insta-Shield. The one he uses is the advanced version." Sonic replied, shrugging with a smirk.
No sooner had Sonic's Insta-Shield caused damage to the Scorpi-Egg, Prime's body then sparked higher than Pikachu's Volt-Tackle attack electricity which electrocuted the giant robot with a rainbow lightning so much that it sparked and fizzed, the claw that held him captive disintegrating and breaking off, allowing him to break free before he jumped and leaped away while the Rainbow Gem's power that saved him seemingly finished off the work, because the robot stood no chance after that.
The next thing everyone knew, the Scorpi-Egg was engulfed before exploding, utterly destroyed and left as nothing but pieces of scrap, much to the awe of Sailor Moon and Sonic, and the horror of Eggman. It wasn't until as Prime landed near his friends, that the younger hedgehog remembered.
"Oh yeah. I forgot that the Gem won't allow anybody to capture Prime. It was using it's self-protecting system." Sonic remarked, feeling silly for forgetting that detail, but at the same time utterly relieved.
"Oh, right...Well, when he said it ran on high electricity, he wasn't kidding." Sailor Moon blinked, dumbfounded.
"OH NO!" Eggman screamed, his hands again on his head. "How did you escape!?"
"The Gem protects me from being kidnapped, even from the most evil of immortals." Prime explained.
"Serves ya' right for sicing your robots on Sonic and Prime." Sailor Moon added, giving the evil man a raspberry to taunt him for his failure.
"Tough break. You'll never get to Prime or his Gem...Baldy McNosehair." Sonic added tauntingly with a smug grin.
Not only was Eggman furious over this revelation, but the newest nickname Sonic just given him made him just as mad and embarrassed, feeling insulted over it. "Baldy McNosehair!? I'm the world's most brilliant scientist!"
"Whatever you say, Nosehair." The teenage hedgehog smirked.
"Curse you, Sonic and Sailor Moon! And YOU, Sonic Prime! Don't think you'll be lucky the next time! You and that powerful gem will be mine!" Eggman shouted, pounding his dashboard childishly.
"Oh, put a cork in it, Eggman! You're giving everybody a headache here." Sailor Moon scoffed.
The evil scientist growled, before deciding to retreat for now as he controlled his Egg Mobile to return to his Egg Fortress, but not before hissing at them with a vow. "I'll be back!"
Sailor Moon and the two Sonics watched their enemy go and once they knew he was gone for the time being, they all sighed in relief, the Moon Princess slumping forward a bit in exhaustion as she sighed, glad that the fight was over for now. "Phewie..."
"That fathead never learns." Sonic shook his head, before chuckling. "But I liked the look on his face when I called him Baldy McNosehair. It was priceless!"
Prime just sighed, knowing that even though the Rainbow Gem will always protect him, it was only a matter of time and unless he went back to his world soon, Eggman will continue to attack just to try and capture him.
He then glanced at his younger self and smiled proudly. "Nice work on the Insta-Shield. I saw how you used it to deflect those hooks and smash them. Great job!"
"Well, I had a pretty cool teacher." The cobalt teenager reminded, shrugging with a slightly embarrassed smile.
The older hedgehog just smiled, before he and Sonic shared a bro-fist with Sailor Moon, not sure how their training turned out before Eggman attacked, smiling happily over the two hedgehogs' friendship despite being the same person from two different realities.
'It's really weird how Sonic and Prime are the same, yet they're so different. It's almost like, they're acting like brothers.' The Moon Princess thought to herself, her hands behind her back as she clasped them together over the wonderful moment between them. 'Maybe it's not so weird after all. Prime's probably lonely, and his family back in his world are waiting him. His Sakura and her family must be very worried by now.'
Sonic then yawned tiredly, as sleep was finally catching up to him.
"Tired now?" Prime asked, smiling softly even though he finally felt sleepy himself.
"Yeah. All that training and fighting Eggman really took it out on me." Sonic replied, rubbing his eyes. "I'm ready to get some shut-eye."
"*Yawn* Me too. Being a super hero and doing any kinds of training is totally exhausting." Sailor Moon yawned, her hand over her mouth as she did.
Prime nodded, telling the two teenagers firmly. "All right. Let's head back to the castle and get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."
Sailor Moon and Sonic both nodded in agreement, and as the former was about to use the Fly Card to fly her way back, Prime volunteered to carry her. Too tired to argue, she agreed, and before long, they and Sonic, staying awake long enough to make the trip back, raced their way to the castle.
It had been a short trip, and as Prime gently set Sailor Moon down onto her balcony as they wished each other and Sonic who returned to his and Prime's balcony a goodnight, the Moon Princess retreated back into her room, and while still felt guilty for what the older hedgehog had gone through, she felt more relaxed and after de-transforming, settled back into her bed without waking Darien who was oblivious of her absence.
As Prime entered his room after telling Sonic that he wouldn't long, he closed the balcony's doors and found the younger blue hedgehog having just flopped onto his bed and passed out, softly snoring his head off. The older blue hedgehog smiled warmly, glad that his friend was feeling better now, having learned a new skill and finally managing to fall asleep.
He silently approached Sonic and carefully repositioned him so that he was lying in bed properly, and tucked in him with the quilt just resting under the teenager's chin, without waking him up.
"Night, Sonic." Prime whispered, gently caressing Sonic's quills while the latter moaned peacefully in his sleep, and even unconsciously smiled.
"...Thanks...Prime." Sonic mumbled in his sleep.
The older blue hedgehog's smile only grew, before he approached his own bed and laid down, covering himself with his own quilt and turned the night-light off before resting his head on his pillow, his eyes sliding shut as sleep finally took over his brain and soon he too was in dreamland.
What they, Serena, the rest of the Guardians and Cosmo didn't know, was that on the roof of a building in a distance from the Palace, the dark figure of a Jackal just stared darkly with his arms folded to his chest before turning and simply vanished in red and black particles.
A/N: Another chapter done and now Sonic has learned his very own Insta-Shield! The next chapter will see the heroes continue their quest as they head towards their next destination to find the third Chaos Emerald.
See you later!