A portal had spawned about five feet above the ocean's surface, disturbing the serene beauty of a tropical locale right in the middle. It was an island, just like the heroes' last stop in this dimension, but unlike Isle Delfino, there was no sign of modern civilization, but rather an array of environments all contained within a small stretch of land… even though it looked like mostly rainforest from a distance. As if the portal itself didn't seem out of place enough, a thick wave of snow suddenly fell right out of it, quickly melting upon contact with the temperate waters.
Sonic was the first one to come out, curling into a ball as he skimmed across the surface like a stone, safely landing on the sandy shore. Letting out a cocky chuckle as he shook himself off like a dog, causing his fur to fluff out for a second, he looked back to see his partners exit the portal as well. A screaming Mario was next to fall out, flailing until he was caught by Tails just above the water, who had managed to quickly reorient himself and fly them onto the beach. However, he was too slow to catch Luigi, though he managed to land on a thick patch of snow, quickly standing back up and jumping across the gap to safety.
"Sooo, uh… where are we now, exactly?" Sonic asked as Mario replied in Italian.
"Yoshi's Island? Well, I gotta say, it looks like it could be another cool vacation spot… strong garlic odor notwithstanding," Tails said, before taking out his Miles Electric again. "Hmmm, I'm not picking up any emerald shard signals this time, but there should be a Chaos Emerald nearby."
"Let's-a go!" Luigi announced, before everyone froze at a rumbling sound that seemed to shake the entire island.
It didn't take too long for the source to reveal itself, as a multicolored stampede of Yoshis hurried out of the woods and onto the beach. In a panic, Tails grabbed Sonic's arms and lifted himself into the air as Mario and Luigi each latched onto one of the hedgehog's legs, somehow not weighing him down to any significant degree, though this could be chalked up to the fear-induced adrenaline rush. That pang of fear only continued as the crowd stopped to take in the sight of the newcomers. A few Yoshis stopped to sniff their legs in a dog-like manner, while others backed off and glared at them, some even readying some eggs to toss.
Eventually, Tails' strength gave out as the heroes fell to the sand, though they were still surrounded. It wasn't until one particular Yoshi, who looked identical to the other green members of his species, stepped ahead of the pack; his eyes immediately widened upon recognizing two of the heroes.
"Mario? Whoa, long time no see, buddy! What're you doing here, and who are these guys?" he asked.
As Mario replied in his Italian gibberish, Sonic and Tails just scratched their heads as they listened to the conversation. To them, all of Yoshi's speech patterns just sounded like repetitions of his own name.
"Say, uh, don't you have a translator built into that tablet of yours?" Sonic turned to his best friend.
"Yeah, but it only works on Wisps, and I just realized I left my toolbox at the castle," Tails replied. "Still kinda' odd how we can understand the bros. just fine, but not these lizard things."
Fortunately, Luigi quickly caught onto the foreigners' predicament and was quick to start translating what was being said.
"So out of nowhere, these weird animal-looking things came in through a portal alongside two robots, and they've been blasting everything in sight ever since!" Yoshi explained. Right on cue, a series of explosions sounded throughout the rest of the island, accompanied by a few mushroom clouds accented by sounds of flatulence.
"That explains why this place reeks of garlic," Tails muttered with a wince.
"Boshi's usually here to protect us, but not even he stood a chance!"
"Robots? Well I'm willing to bet Metal Sonic's one of 'em," Sonic pounded a fist into his open palm. "Don't worry, greenie! We'll help your folks out!"
"Just tell us where to look," Tails added.
In spite of the fact that vice-versa did not apply, Yoshi was able to understand the Mobius residents' speech without issue, as he hurriedly waddled off into the woods. This prompted all four heroes to hurry after him as the other Yoshis cleared the way for them, with many cheering them on as they left.
Seeing how there were no emerald shards to collect on the island, Sonic took the lead, looking rather impressed at the ground speed that Yoshi was exhibiting as he escorted the heroes to their destination. Out of all the bouts of running he'd embarked on in this new dimension, this one proved to be the most fun thus far. With Tails not too far behind and Yoshi managing to keep up, he sped through the various regions of the island, consisting of grassy plains, jungles, forests, and even a trek up the mountain range in the center of the isle, which was snow-capped while also containing a volcano on the inside.
Along the way, the entire Yoshi race was there to help their new ally out; some of them let him land on their backs, performing a flutter jump to he could reach high platforms, while others tossed eggs at obstacles he couldn't break, or even threw them into the air so he could use them for homing attack chains. Using their prehensile tongues as vines, Sonic was also able to swing around and access harder-to-reach places. A few Yoshis even went so far as to engulf him completely, spitting him out a great distance like a living cannon. Other notable set pieces included mechanized Shy Guys and Snifits, as well as some floating fuzzy creatures that would momentarily disorient the blue blur if touched.
Following a free fall from the highest peak on the island, Sonic descended into another portion of the jungle, landing on a spotted, earless dog named Poochy. At the Yoshis' encouragement, the dog carried Sonic at a high speed across a patch of spikes, a hazard to which he was immune, tossing him a good distance forward upon screeching to a halt. Sonic performed a few front flips and stuck the landing, finding himself on the edge of a sprawling village, presumably where all the Yoshis resided.
"So let me get this straight. Your friend's named after his own species, and you're somehow able to tell him apart from everyone else?" Tails asked, having caught up to his friend alongside the others.
"Mm-hmm," Mario nodded.
"Gah! Look what those goons did!" Yoshi shrieked.
Everyone looked on to notice the village before them completely ravaged. Countless huts were broken, and some of them were on fire, with additional flames and smoke plumes resting at various other points on the ground everywhere. A few Yoshis could be seen cowering in whatever hiding place they could find. Busying themselves in a heated brawl throughout the town square were Team Dark from earlier, accompanied by Wario, Waluigi, and Metal Sonic. The latter appeared to be fighting off both factions, but ended up sustaining even more damage in the process. Waluigi managed to knock him to the grass with a dive-kick, aided by his elf-like shoes, but was unprepared for when E-123 Omega slammed him on the head with both fists brought together. He was about to follow up with a blast from his arm-cannon, but Wario tossed a Bob-Omb at him, stunning him for long enough so he could knock him away with a shoulder charge.
Just as quickly, Rouge flew in from above and threw Shadow right at him, curled into a ball as he mowed him down. While the latter went after Metal Sonic, the former then turned her attention to Wario, who was able to shrug off the kicks she dealt to his belly.
"Chaos… Spear!"
Not too far away, Shadow managed to stun Metal Sonic with a light yellow energy projectile from his hand, before knocking him unconscious with an uppercut, quickly following up by teleporting above him and axe-kicking him into the ground, forming an impact crate. As the sparking doppelgänger landed lifelessly in the middle of the village, the two teams stood on either side of his remains, staring each other down with aggression burning each of their eyes. Luigi let out a growl as he dropped into a fighting stance, immediately recognizing the Wario Bros. before him. Mario put on a confused look, unsure who these shady newcomers could be, while Tails looked rather alarmed to see them.
"Hmm, now that I think about it, that dude with the chest fur almost looks like he could be related to you, Sonic," Yoshi commented.
"I dunno what you're saying there, dino, but I know those three alright," Sonic nodded, before putting on his usual confident smile and strutting ahead of the group. "Hey Shadow, what are you so aggro about this time?"
"Nothing that concerns you, Sonic," Shadow spat, folding his arms.
"But if you must know, once all these portals appeared, we were sent here to investigate, as well as to track down Metal Sonic, after Eggman sent him here," Omega chimed in.
"Omega!"
"But lo and behold, these two guttersnipes are also after him," Rouge added. "Heh, I thought I was greedy, but after meeting them, I feel a little better about myself."
"Well couldn't you guys do this without destroying the island and terrorizing innocents?" Tails asked.
"Well excuse us for being more efficient, fox boy."
It was then that Mario leapt ahead of the pack, mouthing off to the Wario Bros. in Italian. Both of them angrily replied in the same language.
"Wait, they're trying to scrap Metal Sonic and sell his parts to get rich?" Tails had a look of shock on his face. "Don't they realize just how dangerous that could be?!"
"Hold the phone…" Shadow abruptly spoke up, having largely ignored the conversation thus far. He directed his reddish-orange eyes at Mario, who was still in a fighting stance. "Hmm, similar attire, facial hair, and manner of speaking? Prominent noses?"
"Shadow, what are you being paranoid about now?" Sonic asked.
"Shut it, Sonic! Those guys following you around are clearly in cahoots with these crooks! Now step aside!"
"Wait, what? No they're not-"
Before anything more could be said, Shadow teleported right in front of Mario and delivered a leaping clothesline to his gut, sending him reeling into the woods as he knocked down several trees in his path. He quickly skated after him, as Rouge flew in the same direction.
"Guilt by association! Must annihilate plumbers!" Omega chimed in, rocketing into the jungle as well.
"Ugh, they can be real hotheads sometimes," Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Gives Knuckles a run for his money," Tails added.
In a panic, Luigi sprinted after Team Dark in order to assist his brother, but before Sonic and Tails could join him, they were stopped as Wario and Waluigi dashed into their path, sharing a mischievous grin accompanied by a chuckle.
Mario landed in a nearby grassy clearing, sliding along the ground a bit upon impact. Groaning to himself, he was about to get up when he was surrounded by a series of pink, heart-shaped metallic objects. He wasn't sure what they were until they all started flashing in unison and exploded, launching him into the air again in a gust of pink smoke. It was then that Rouge flew up from her hiding place in the canopy and sent Mario back to the ground with a screw-kick.
"Mamma mia…" he groaned, watching as she stood over him, pulling another heart-shaped bomb out of her cleavage with a half-menacing, half-sultry smirk. Shadow quickly teleported in front of him as well.
"Hmph, you're pathetic. Not even worth my time," the black hedgehog sneered, stalking away. "Rouge, you can take him, can't you?"
"Mario!" Luigi screamed, scrambling into the clearing as well, before he was stopped by an energy bullet that landed in his path. He briefly stared at the resulting tiny smoke plume, before abruptly rolling to the side as E-123 Omega nearly landed on him.
"Target Locked: Plumber in green! Engaging combat mode!"
With the two pairs positioned at opposite sides of the clearing, it was time for yet another fight, with the heroes of the Mushroom World taking on the antiheroes of Mobius in a no-holds-barred showdown. Luigi found himself having to dodge Omega's energy bullets and lasers, with a few punches and claw-swipes mixed in as the fight wore on. He eventually managed to find a rhythm in his evasive tactics, but found it hard to counterattack with his punches or dives, as Omega would either fly out of range or grab him before he could land a hit, harshly throwing him aside. Luigi grunted as he slammed into a tree, barely having enough time to leap over his opponent, who was dashing over in an attempt to suplex him. He managed to land on Omega's head, stunning him enough to where he could punch his torso a few times.
Meanwhile, Mario seemed to be keeping an even pace against Rouge. When the latter was on the ground, she fought with martial arts, mainly utilizing her legs, though the former was able to counter her with his fists. As a result, Rouge vowed to switch up her strategy; she mostly hovered above the ground and delivered quick strikes from a distance, mainly consisting of bomb tosses and screw kicks. Mario had no way to counter the latter, but he could knock the bombs back with his punches, momentarily stunning and downing Rouge so he could land some more hits. More of such opportunities would also pop up whenever she whiffed her screw-kicks, getting her boots stuck nearly a foot in the ground.
"Oof!" Rouge grunted, upon being knocked into a tree. She flopped onto the ground and panted, too worn out to get back up, save for lifting her head. "Gee, you sure like to play rough with women, don't ya?"
Mario just replied in Italian.
"Oh, really? Well, I'm surprised you're able to catch anyone's eye with how much you've get yourself go."
Angered, Mario let out a growl as he balled his fists, sprinting over to his opponent, only to screech to a halt as a scoffing Shadow teleported into his path. He barely had a chance to leap backwards, avoiding a leg sweep that would've sent him onto his back. Mario landed in a handstand, before flipping back onto his feet and entering a horse stance.
"Tch, I suppose I was wrong about you taking him out," Shadow said.
"I don't wanna hear it, Shadow!" Rouge barely had the strength to sit up, narrowing her eyes.
"Personally, I'd be more worried about what Commander Towers would say about this," Shadow stepped a little closer to his opponent. "Now then, as for you, you'd better watch your back. I'm already the Ultimate Life Form back on Mobius, so who's to say I couldn't also be the Ultimate Life Form in the whole multiverse?"
Back to the others in the middle of the deserted Yoshi village, Sonic and Tails had split up and were each facing off against Wario and Waluigi, respectively. All the while, Yoshi himself sat off to the side, munching on a pile of fruit resting next to him. He probably could have joined in the fight, but he didn't want to make it unfair by pitting three against two. So far, however, his new friends didn't seem to need his help.
After sizing him up, Tails figured that Waluigi would best be fought from a distance, given the high mobility granted by his physique. But that approach seemed to prove more difficult than the former expected, as the latter used his acrobatics to dodge all of his arm-cannon shots with the slightest of ease, maintaining his cheeky grin as he let out a mocking guffaw.
"Take that!" Waluigi barked, tossing a Bob-Omb at his opponent, who quickly shot it out of the air.
Tails took the opportunity to sneak through the smoke cloud and wallop his foe with a couple of homing attacks, leaving him open to an arm-cannon shot.
"Oh, come on!" Waluigi whined, caught off guard by another blast.
From then on, the two second bananas continued on with their fight, with countless energy balls, Bob-Ombs, and physical strikes as the gap between them repeatedly widened and narrowed again.
The pace of Sonic's fight against Wario appeared to be a lot faster, with the former appearing shocked at how the latter was able to keep up with him, despite his obesity. He seemed to have no trouble performing acrobatics, even if he couldn't leap as high as his brother, and his elbow charges allowed him to pick up some speed, even if they were still relatively easy to dodge. Easy to dodge as he was, however, Sonic found that he was surprisingly hard to damage, as every homing attack seemed to harmlessly bounce off his belly, eliciting a cocky laugh from him.
"Y'know, part of me always wonders why I don't bother directly attacking Eggman after destroying his mechs, but after fighting your lardy butt, I can see why," Sonic teased. "Ah well, there's still one thing I haven't tried yet…"
Stretching in place a bit, he charged up a boost and attempted to ram into him, but was caught off guard as Wario grabbed him with both of his big, burly hands, stopping him in his tracks. Before Sonic could even try to break free, he found himself subjected to a lariat, pummeling him into the grass. He log rolled out of the way, avoiding a stomp attack in the process, and leapt back to gain some distance.
"Beat that, loser!" Wario taunted, wiggling his butt.
Sonic didn't have the time to taunt him back as he was assaulted by several lunging bite attacks, thrown Bob-Ombs, and shockwaves caused by his opponent punching or butt-stomping the ground, with another elbow dash chucked in there on occasion. Dodging everything else, Sonic countered the charging attack with his boost, which finally allowed him to knock him back, homing attacking his head a few times and finishing his combo with a boost, sending him into the air for a spell and leaving him open to one last homing attack that sent him plummeting into the ground.
Sonic dusted his hands off before smirking at his downed foe, who only got angry as he kicked himself back up, his large fists trembling with rage. Wario quickly calmed down and pulled out a clove of elephant garlic, wolfing it down in a single bite and letting out a celebratory burp. Both of them just stood there for a moment, with Sonic cocking an impatient eyebrow, before Wario started laughing again and raised his rear end, letting loose a massive fart that clouded the arena, significantly reducing visibility for everyone nearby.
"Aauugghh! That reeks!" Yoshi shrieked, gripping his bulbous nose.
"Suddenly, your chili dog gas smells like nothing compared to this, Sonic," Tails snarked.
"Waaahhh!" Waluigi cried out in protest, before he started babbling away in Italian.
"I'm-a gonna win! Hah hah hah!" Wario cheered, proceeding to hurl out more Bob-Ombs and shockwaves in all directions, presumably trying to compensate for the fact that he could no longer see his opponent.
Meanwhile, Sonic remained calm, ignoring the watering of his eyes from the thick, pungent air around him as he zipped around, picking out where the garlicky scent was the most prominent and managing to bombard Wario with several more homing attacks. At the same time, Tails took advantage of Waluigi's disoriented state and blasted him with more shots from his arm-cannon, knocking him into his brother, before turning around and spinning his tails around, blowing away the yellowish cloud and the aromatic odors that came with it. The two friends walked over to each other and high-fived, but were taken by surprise as their respective opponents hopped back to their feet, preparing one last ditch effort.
Wario grit his teeth and snorted like a bull, dragging one leg against the ground a few times as he charged at Sonic with his elbow extended. Sonic still had an edge over him in the nimbleness department, but it impressed him nonetheless. At the same time, Waluigi leapt high into the air and, much to Tails' surprise, paddled all of his limbs and glided above him, appearing to somehow swim through the air. He then kicked off a tree and attempted to nail Tails with a dive kick, but the fox stayed calm and aimed his arm-cannon right at him, managing to strike his extended foot and blasting him into a tree. Keeping his cool, Sonic performed a side-flip over his charging foe and knocked him into the same tree, squashing his lanky brother in the process as they both fell unconscious.
"Mamma mia…" the Wario Bros. moaned in unison just before they went under.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow called out, using his unique shoes to hover above the ground as he fired yellowish-white energy bolts at Mario, who rolled and flipped around each and every one.
Once the projectiles finally ceased, Mario attempted to fight back, but Shadow teleported away from every single one of his punches and jump attacks, sometimes countering with a strike of his own, whether it be a punch, kick, homing attack, chaos spear, or even a body slam. When he realized he wasn't landing as many hits as he would've liked, no thanks to Mario's incredible mobility, he growled to himself and pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, coating his opponent in a reddish aura as he appeared to be frozen in time. He capitalized on the opportunity by nailing him with a series of homing attacks, finishing with a powerful bodyslam that formed an impact crater around Mario's incapacitated body. "Hmph, pathetic- oomph!"
Mario managed to catch him off guard with a leg sweep, kicking himself back upright and jumping on Shadow's stomach, before quickly leaping away and breaking his fall with a backflip, entering a fighting stance as he anticipated his next move.
"Tch, you just got lucky," Shadow scoffed as Mario quipped back in Italian. "Shut up! I will prove to you that the Ultimate Life Form is not one to be trifled with!"
Mario watched in cautious silence as his foe shut his eyes, coating himself in a scorching red aura.
"Chaos… Blast!"
Mario barely managed to flee into the woods, although he was still launched a bit by the force of the deadly explosion of red energy that set Shadow's surroundings on fire. Once he saw that the black hedgehog had exerted himself in performing that attack, he made his move, attacking him with several punches and ending his combo with a jump on the head. From there, Shadow decided to stoop to Mario's level as the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat, not possessing enough energy to use another chaos attack, but still able to teleport once in a while. He did attempt a couple more chaos blasts, but these whiffed as well, leaving him open to more blows.
"Enough of this!" Shadow grit his teeth, having just slid along the ground after Mario tackled him. "Time to stop holding back!"
With that, he removed the golden bracelets around his wrists, holding his Chaos Emerald up again as he shut his eyes, seeming to glow even brighter than he had before his other attacks. Mario maintained his fighting stance, but his expression looked a lot more fearful, having never witnessed such power before, let alone from another dimension.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted, though surprisingly, there was no effect. "I said, Chaos Control!"
Mario just looked around, confused as to what was supposed to happen. That being said, he did start to feel some warmth course through his body, but what he didn't know was that it was due to the emerald shards he had stored in his pockets and cap, which were glowing radiantly and nullifying the Chaos Emerald's power. Impatiently, Shadow tossed the gem away and skated towards the plumber, putting his inhibitor rings back on as the fight resumed.
Meanwhile, Luigi and E-123 Omega were still going at it, though both of them looked equally worn out by now. As the former was a bit slower to catch his breath, the latter attempted to charge at him again. Barely, Luigi managed to leap off the ground, but was surprised to see his opponent randomly trip on something, faceplanting into the grass. Flipping back onto the ground, he noticed that the object was none other than the yellow Chaos Emerald, which he quickly scooped up and slipped into his hat, unintentionally dodging another laser while he was crouching down.
"Serious injury from stumble averted! Must continue extermination measures!" Omega droned on in his robotic voice.
"Waugh!" Luigi screamed, quickly leaping into the air to avoid a grapple. He then jumped onto Omega's head, knocking him onto his stomach again, before jumping on his back and damaging his built-in jets.
Omega attempted to rocket away, but ended up swiveling around in an uncontrollable flight pattern and smashing into Shadow, who was close to nailing Mario with an elbow-drop. Both of them were knocked into a tree, the same one that Rouge was recuperating under, knocking it over in the process. Omega shut down upon impact, in order to reduce the amount of damage he took, while an out-of-breath Shadow struggled to lift him off, he and Rouge panting and resting their arms on each other's shoulders.
By this time, Sonic, Tails, and Yoshi, managed to find Mario and Luigi. They were hoping to provide backup, but thankfully they seemed to have already taken care of things. As the Mario Bros. high-fived each other, Sonic walked over to his downed rival.
"So Shadow. Now that you've calmed down a bit, let me explain," he said. "These plumbers are the heroes of this dimension. They're helping us save the day this time, and that included tracking down Metal Sonic. Wario and Waluigi are just… uh, what are they again?"
Luigi provided an explanation in Italian.
"…oh, right. Their childhood bullies."
"Pfft, whatever," Shadow rolled his eyes, never liking it when he took a blow to his ego. "You're just lucky I merely toyed with them."
"Well thanks for that. Now you three can be on your way. The rest of us have a mission to complete," Tails chimed in.
"Speak for yourselves. With all the stuff that's gone down today, we've effectively failed ours," Rouge said, simultaneously turning E-123 Omega back on.
"Not necessarily," Yoshi abruptly spat Metal Sonic's trashed remains onto the ground, covered in drool. "Sorry for the mess, but he was too heavy for my saddle."
"O… kay then."
"I will carry him. Foreign substances cannot contaminate me!" Omega stalked over and picked up their downed enemy. "Job well done. Team Dark dismissed!"
"See ya' 'round, guys!" Sonic called after them as they walked off into the jungle.
"Later, handsome!" Rouge called back with a wink, while her partners refused to answer him.
It was then that Mario piped up, asking a question in Italian.
"Nah, I don't go for her. Truth be told, settling down with a woman isn't really my bag," Sonic shrugged. "You and your brother might get your jollies dedicating your lives to a princess, but not me. I'm like the wind!"
"And like the wind, we should probably get moving again, huh?" Tails asked.
"Okie-dokey," Mario and Luigi replied in unison.
"It sure was nice seeing you again, Mario," Yoshi said, nuzzling his cheek against Mario's arm, prompting him to pat him on the head. "I don't suppose you're gonna have another kart race or sporting tournament anytime soon?"
Luigi replied in Italian, shrugging his shoulders all the while.
"Playing it by ear, huh? Well regardless, she travels everyone! And nice to meet you, Sonic and Tails!"
"Bye bye," Mario waved at his lifelong pal.
"Bye, Yoshi," Sonic said as the dino waddled off into the woods.
"He's certainly an… interesting character," Tails scratched his head. "I can't imagine how hard it must be to collaborate with such a big language barrier."
"Heh, there were probably a lot of blows to the head exchanged at first."
"Y'know, domestic abuse is nothing to laugh at," Tails narrowed his eyes a bit, as Mario blushed, rubbing the back of his head.
Before anything more could be said, everyone looked around as a rustling sound could be heard in the foliage surrounding the clearing, growing louder by the second. The quartet slowly backed up into a close-knit formation, nervously clenching their fists as they wondered who could possibly be approaching them.