Author's Note: I'm really sorry for the delay of this. Last year has been the worst so far, plus the writer's block for this story. To make up for it, here is the new long awaited chapter.
I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 10: Chaos in the Shadows.
As soon as Shadow emerged from the portal, Sonic and Young Sonic appeared a few seconds later. The three hedgehogs glanced around their surroundings of the familiar alien like hallway, one that two of them recognized and still reminded them too much of the inside veins of a body. To the youngest hedgehog, he looked around in bewilderment and no small amount of nervousness.
"I never thought I would see this place again." Shadow remarked in disgust, glaring in hatred of the place that was the transport and home of those he unfortunately shared blood with.
"Ugh. I forgot how this place makes me feel like we've shrank and been injected into some guy's body." Sonic shuddered, rubbing his arms as though he was feeling cold.
Young Sonic shivered, copying his older, alternate self's movement, stating. "It's giving me the creeps. I think I'm getting goosebumps."
"The sooner we find Black Doom and remind him what we're made of, and get the Chaos and Sol Emeralds back, the better we can get outta here and meet up with the others." Sonic declared, quickly recovering. He turned to Shadow and smirked. "Ready to give that guy round 3?"
"He holds no control over me. I will make Black Doom regret in ever existing." Shadow replied firmly.
"All righty, then. Let's move out!" The blue hedgehog announced, winking with a thumbs up to his rival, and gave his younger, alternate self a reassuring grin to which the younger blue hedgehog nodded with a matching posture.
But just as Sonic and his friends were about to move, suddenly everything seemed to distort, making the trio freeze in their tracks with gasps of alarm.
"Again?" Sonic looked around as he and the others looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.
"...Time and Space...are being disrupted..." A dark but smooth voice echoed in the sixteen year old's ears, making the teenage hero look around more quickly as he tried to find the source of the voice.
"You guys hear that?" Sonic asked, nervously.
"Hear what?" Shadow questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Young Sonic apparently heard it, because he called out. "Is anybody there? Hello?"
Just then, within the quills of both Sonics, the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds began to glow brightly which alarmed them and Shadow as the three hedgehogs gasped and wondered what was going on. Suddenly the crystals shone so brightly that they all had to shield their eyes with their arms.
When Sonic opened his eyes after a few moments, he gasped in shock as he found he wasn't in the Black Comet anymore. Instead, he was in an unusual, creepy place of a wasteland, the sky was in the light of dawn, trees were black with violet coloured leaves, the ground looked rather dry despite the blue looking grass that looked fresh, and buildings that looked spooky and carved with tunnels leading to underground somewhere.
Up ahead were dark towering buildings of a city in a far distance from where the blue hedgehog was. It looked like a city of an evil place, and suddenly he felt chills run up his spine and into his quills.
"Another place from Scourge's world? It's spooky." Sonic muttered to himself, before realizing he was met with silence and as he looked around, he found that he was all alone and began to panic. "Huh? Sonic? Shadow? Hey, guys?"
"Abominations of Time, those who seek destruction...One has escaped..."
Gasping at the sound, Sonic looked around to find the source of the voice. "It's that voice again."
"The Time Eater...it should not have emerged. Yet, your evil counterpart has unleashed it's wrath to doom us all. In your world, the two other worlds, and this world...all existence are in grave danger." The voice continued.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Sonic demanded, spinning around to find the source of the voice, only to freeze up he felt a looming shadow cover him and had a feeling he was in big trouble.
Feeling nervous and shaky while attempting to keep his cool, Sonic slowly looked behind him and gasped as he spun around fully. There stood towering over him, being at least the height of a human man, but was anything but. The figure was in a black cloak, long tentacle arms in snake skin, black boots with laces in snake designs, his hood covering his face, except a trace of a large skin, dinosaur like muzzle, if not of a T-Rex's head, it's teeth shown as he breathed deeply.
Shocked by the sight of this alien, Sonic backed away slowly as he felt a bad feeling about this thing.
"Who or what are you?" He asked, keeping his guard up and narrowed his eyes, bracing himself for a fight.
The figure gazed down at the teenage hedgehog, observing him with his eyes. Finally after a few moments, the figure said. "I ask you and your allies, to destroy the Time Eater, young hedgehog. Hero of your world, you and your other good self are the only ones who can defeat it and defeat your evil counterpart who has caused this to happen."
"What do you mean? Time Eater?" Sonic asked, only to scream as the figure was suddenly right in front of him, reaching out his tentacle arm at him. He screamed louder in terror...
"SONIC!"
Gasping at the sound of his own voice screaming out his name, Sonic snapped his eyes open and found both Young Sonic who had called out to him, and Shadow hover over him as he realized that he somehow passed out and fell onto the floor since he was lying on his back.
"What happened...?" Sonic asked, slowly sitting up, rubbing his head as he felt dizzy.
"You passed out when the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds glowed. Don't you remember?" Shadow asked, actually sounding more than a little bit concerned.
"You okay? You nearly gave us heart attacks." Young Sonic asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a creepy dream. I found myself in the weirdest and spookiest place, and this alien dinosaur guy in a black cloak appeared, saying something about some Time Eater." Sonic replied, sighing softly as he was relieved that what he just saw had been nothing but a dream.
The lighter blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow with a sweat drop. "Alien dinosaur guy, and Time Eater? Sounds creepy."
The older blue hedgehog nodded in agreement, shuddering. "Yeah, I don't trust him, but he seems to know about you, me and Scourge and that he wants us to destroy this Time Eater thing. There's just something about him that seems totally off, though. Especially since he didn't answer my questions, but appeared right in front of me and was about to attack me with his tentacle arm."
That made the eleven year old gulp nervously. "If I end up having a nightmare like that, I think I'll just ignore him."
"It could also be that Scourge, the monster and Dr. Robotnik are not only only problems. Whoever that figure is you saw in your dream, Sonic, I have a bad feeling you're being targeted or he could be attempting to turn you to evil." Shadow said with a deep frown, which made both Sonics' eyes widen in horror as the teenage hero and alternate-hero gasped.
"No way! I'll never turn to evil!" Sonic protested, standing up with determination. "Eggman tried to do that with me once, the Werehog tried to get Sun to ignore me and eat me, and the hallucination of that thing tried to make me drown in my guilt, anger and sorrow, but I came through. I'm not gonna let some Dino-Alien make me turn to the darkness."
"Me neither! Ro-butt-nik's a trickster but he'll never convince me or Sonic here!" Young Sonic added, before muttering as he thought of something. "Scourge, though, that's a problem since he's the evil version of the two of us."
Realizing what his younger, alternate-self meant, the sixteen year old placed a finger to his chin in deep concerned thought. "Hm...Maybe Silver might know about this. We should ask him after we get the Emeralds back from that big ugly guy with the creepy flying starfish."
"Then let's move out." Shadow informed, taking the lead which the two blue hedgehogs quickly raced after him while he skated.
As they three hedgehogs raced down the familiar, haunting corridors of the Black Comet, Young Sonic thought of something and glanced up at his older self. "Yo, dude."
"What's up?" Sonic replied.
"I just realized something. Who's this Sun person?" The eleven year old asked, curiously. "I didn't know there were other people involved with the giant Werehog monster."
"Oh, right." The hero of Mobius muttered sheepishly, before saying awkwardly. "It's kinda a complicated story, but you remember what I said about the Werehog coming from something? Uh, actually, it came from not just the thing that sleeps along with Chip every millions of years, but it was..."
Sonic found himself trailing off as he felt reluctant to reveal more of his past to Young Sonic who quirked an eyebrow at him, the teenager remembering how his retelling had frightened his counterpart to the point of slowly shattering his confidence, and he didn't want to go do that again. The poor kid was traumatized enough as it was already, no thanks to Scourge, Robotnik and the giant monster that got everyone trapped within the white area in the first place.
"Actually, I'll explain it later. Short version is that Sun's a new cool friend of mine. Kind of a grouch like Shads and Knucklehead, but he's a great friend...and like Tails and Chip, a brother." Sonic shook his head with a soft apologetic smile.
"Aw, c'mon! I wanna hear more about this Sun guy!" The alternate-hero of Mobius complained. "Ya' can't just leave me in a loop!"
'I wish I could tell ya now, buddy. But not after what happened the last time. I know you're capable in doing things, since we're both the same person from two different realities. It's just...I can't scare you or wreck your confidence. Not again.' The hero of Mobius thought to himself, feeling guilty for not ranting on or story-telling again like he would've liked. But now wasn't the time for that.
The three hedgehogs, despite Young Sonic's complains before the eleven year reluctantly dropped the case for now, then raced through into one of the tunnels that seemed to have this luminescent glow, and as Sonic and Shadow had predicted, the Black Army appeared which forced them and the blue hedgehog's younger, alternate self to take them out quickly before they continued onward.
"Are they Black Doom's army?" Young Sonic asked, cringing after taking out another, ducking to avoiding their attacks. "Man, they're really ugly!"
"They'll only gonna get even uglier, and bigger." Sonic stated, adding as another memory came into mind. "Though compared to these guys, I can't tell who's the ugliest, especially with Eggman and his just as twisted brother."
"Huh!? Ro-butt-nik had a brother!? I didn't know that!" The young blue hedgehog exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"Neither did I, 'til I first came to Station Square where I first met Cream. See, Eggman's brother who's name was Julius, he uh, always hated him and their old man who picked Buttnik as his favorite. He formed his own organization called the Iron Empire while trying to use Cheese, other Chao and both the Chaos and Master Emeralds to try and rule Mobius, and kidnapped Cream's mom and people from the village they used to live trying to find the Chao Colony. Managed to stop those guys and Julius, well, no one's seen him since then. That's a long story too." The cobalt hedgehog shrugged.
The youngest hedgehog cringed, and decided that Maria was the only Robonik besides her grandfather before he went insane that was actually very nice. Which made him concerned again; if Robotnik had a brother in their dimension as well, then Young Sonic may be forced to face him as well. Which left him wondering on how Chao can be connected with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald.
Rather than questioning it even further, he followed Sonic and Shadow who both acted on instincts and memory of the last time they were in this place, as the trio leaped up or down from level of the Black Comet to the next, taking more of the mysterious alien-like monsters who attempted to attack them with either those weird laser gun things that also shot out goo, or attack them with their claws, either appearing from doorways that opened up or literally coming out from the walls.
"Yuck! I forgot about how they did that!" Sonic groaned in disgust as he axe-kicked at another alien, before using his Homing Attack on three more. Shadow did the same only following it up with Chaos Spear and Young Sonic using a Spin Dash and focusing on his Homing Attack which was steadily getting better.
"This comet is more like a giant monster with bad bacteria trying to kill the good kind!" Young Sonic remarked.
"Then I guess we're the cure!" The older Sonic declared, smirking as more appeared. Rolling his eyes while shaking his head and slight exasperation, he said. "These guys are so relentless."
"Then we shall take them down." Shadow declared, mentally grumbling that he didn't have a rifle on him despite that he no longer had any need for those kind of weapons.
But Sonic held up a hand and said calmly. "Leave them to me."
Before Shadow or Young Sonic could say anything, Sonic raced straight to the side and right through the army that blocked their path with just his speed and ability, causing the monsters to be struck down and disappear. While the black hedgehog just stood there with a scoff, the light-blue hedgehog was awestruck as the blue hedgehog reappeared in his original spot with a proud smirk and pose, his eyes closed, quite pleased with himself.
"That...was...AWESOME!" Young Sonic cheered in amazement.
"Showoff." Shadow muttered.
"Thank you, thank you very much." The sixteen year old bowed dramatically, making his younger self laugh and the ultimate lifeform roll his eyes. Standing up straight, he continued. "Last time I did that was when I took out the Black Knight's army after Merlina summoned me to her world."
"Huh?" The younger blue hedgehog blinked in confusion.
Realizing what he just said, Sonic just shrugged sheepishly. "Guess I've got a whole lotta stories to tell during this adventure."
"Not to mention years of experience." Shadow commented dryly, making Young Sonic glare at him in annoyance.
"Hey! I took down Ro-butt-nik's Death Egg last week! And saved Little Planet by going back and forth through time!" The alternate Sonic protested.
"Dude, calm down. You're more than ready to take on anything." Sonic quickly said to reassure his friend.
Despite the encouragement he just received from his older, alternate self, the young blue hedgehog couldn't help but feel uncertain. He was facing things that Sonic and Shadow both had more than enough experience and while he had done a great job so far, the fact he almost died and had to be rescued by the older blue hedgehog made Young Sonic feel quite low. But he hidden it and nodded to his friend.
"Let's just go. Black Doom is waiting and I suspect he'll try to control me." The black hedgehog sighed, taking the lead once more. The two Sonics watched him before sharing a glance with the older one shrugging and then they both quickly caught up with him.
While neither one it, but Shadow was slightly nervous in facing his worst nightmare again, but he forced it down to face it up front and focus on the task on getting the Chaos Emerald and the Sol Emerald back. He will not be intimidated back Black Doom again. Not the real one, or the hallucination, and not the one they were about fight.
After taking out several more of the Black Army monsters and traversing through the tunnels of the Black Comet, Sonic and his two friends finally arrived at the center of the large rock, where the walls had veins with black and red slime oozing out from the cracks, rocks wedged around the area, and it was dark with the only light coming from the slime. In the middle was Black Doom who was holding the yellow Chaos Emerald and the yellow Sol Emerald, waiting for them.
The real one instead of the creepy starfish thing.
"Black Doom. We meet again, but not in a pleasant reunion." Shadow said, glaring at his ultimate enemy.
"I knew you would come, Shadow. As well as you and your little friend, Sonic the Hedgehog." Black Doom greeted darkly, floating in the center. "But neither of you will be leaving here alive, nor will you ever escape. Once I defeat you and take the rest of my Emeralds, I will use them to escape the past, take away all you cherish, while you three will remain trapped in this world for all eternity!"
"Not if we can help it, Black Doom!" Sonic declared, standing besides Shadow and Young Sonic. "We're gonna beat you and take back those Emeralds and you're goin' back to where you came from!"
Black Doom just bellowed a laugh. "Mwahahahaha! Fools. This place shall be your grave!"
"Enough talk, Black Doom!" Shadow yelled, as he and the two blue hedgehogs stood ready to fight. "You have no control over me, and you never will! It is you who will be put back into the grave!"
"We can take you on, big guy! You're messing with the wrong hedgehogs!" Young Sonic added, glaring at the evil alien.
"You have no idea what you are into, child." The evil leader sneered, floating around to attack.
Sonic leaped to the side which his younger self did the same while Shadow made the first attack to use his Homing Attack, hitting Black Doom hard despite that he smacked him back. Young Sonic was about to use his own, but Sonic held him back and instead carried him off to the side safely as the evil alien summoned six portals which revealed meteors that came crashing down to kill the three hedgehogs. The two blue heroes and the black hedgehog avoided the attacks as quickly as possible despite that it was chasing after them.
"Watch out for those attacks and aim for the eyes!" Sonic whispered to his younger self who nodded, taking in that advice to heart.
Shadow in the meantime made to attack the eye first given the experience as soon as Black Doom's attack finished, going for a punch right into them and forcing his enemy to reel back in pain and agony, but the evil Black Army Leader was prepared this time and smacked the black hedgehog to the side. The ultimate Lifeform flipped and landed safely, but hissed in pain, while Sonic dashed forward and avoiding the flame attacks which were also aimed at Shadow and Young Sonic who tried to attack with his Spin Jump. Unfortunately the two heroes didn't get the chance as Black Doom suddenly aimed forward and smacked both of them who yelled and were about to crash onto the ground. Sonic flipped and landed safely and his younger self spun into a ball and bounced slightly before uncurling himself, landingly neatly.
"Ow...That's playin' dirty." Sonic grunted, wincing a little while Young Sonic rubbed his head.
"Not cool, you creep!" The younger blue hedgehog yelled, dashing forward to attack again with his older self following in suit, and Shadow using Chaos Spear, only for Black Doom to deflect them, sending the trio back and crashing against the wall. The three hedgehogs slid, but leaped back despite the injuries, and were forced to avoid the meteor and fire attacks again, with the Ultimate Lifeform teleporting via using Chaos Control and attacked his enemy from behind, catching Black Doom off-guard.
"Insufferable little worm!" Black Doom roared, making to attack Shadow who repeated his attacks.
But the two Sonics used this distraction to attack the evil alien head on, Sonic landing a punch at the eyes while Young Sonic kicked in the same area a few seconds later, forcing Black Doom to reel in agony over the three attacks from the trio. Even so, when the three hedgehogs were about to try and finish off the fight, the evil leader of the Black Army aimed a purple beam at them, to which Sonic flipped and spun and while his younger self thought he was about to use another Homing Attack or Spin Dash, what the hero of Mobius used instead was his Insta-Shield which generated and blocked the attack though it did force him back a little. While amazed, Young Sonic then used his Homing Attack at Black Doom's arms while Shadow punched and kicked at the evil alien, which began to weaken their enemy yet he was still floating strong.
Hoping to finish this, the trio decided to use the special Hedgehog Whirlwind, Sonic taking the lead, Shadow following him, and Young Sonic decided to follow their head. The three super fast heroes began creating a blue tornado that was mostly blue and glowing which had Black Doom caught in the middle and before he knew it, he was forced up into the air. It was more powerful than before that he found himself trapped and unable to escape, much to his dismay as he tried to escape, growling in fury at the three hedgehogs.
"Eat this, Mutant-Eyeball!" Sonic shouted, leaping right into the cyclone, using his Homing Attack several times, hitting the helpless Black Doom who let out a hideous scream of agony.
Once Sonic stopped his attack before grabbing him from behind the head, Shadow leaped away and Young Sonic did the same, while the trio's attack sent Black Doom hurling into the air and Sonic holding on while trying to stop himself from falling off and prevent the evil enemy from attacking, struggling.
Black Doom scowled before making to reach up to grab Sonic. "Let go, CHILD!"
"I happen to be sixteen now, Black Doom!" Sonic grunted with a smirk. "If you want your revenge on me, you're a year late!"
By then Shadow jumped high into the air and made to finish the battle. With a grin as Black Doom and Sonic noticed, the latter smirking while the former's eyes widening in horror, the black hedgehog chanted. "Behold, the ultimate power! CHAOS SPEAR!"
The attack hit home as while Sonic finally let go and quickly leaped back, Black Doom only head little time to recoil as he was hit straight into the eyes, screaming in horror and pure pain before beginning to fall to the ground. But not before Sonic noticed both the Chaos and Sol Emeralds and narrowed his eyes before grabbing them quickly from the monster's chest, yanking them out and jumped out of the way with both in hand. While the hero of Mobius landed safely on the ground, Black Doom wasn't as lucky. Unlike his first defeat against Shadow and Sonic, he seemed to be at his weakest state because he crashed onto the ground with a thud, lying on his front with some liquid that could only be described as Black Doom's blood, green and yellow but slimy, oozing out from his eyes.
"Yeah!" Sonic cheered.
"Yeah, alright!" Young Sonic cheered happily, sharing a high-five with his older self who then handed him over the Chaos Emerald for safe keeping. The young blue hedgehog tucked it safely into his quills while the blue hedgehog held onto the Sol Emerald securely in his hand.
"S-Shadow..." Black Doom hissed, his breath ragged and heavy. "Why...why can I not...control or...destroy you!?"
"I told you, Black Doom. You hold no control over me. I let go of my past, and I live my life the way I want to now." Shadow replied coldly, taking a couple steps forward to his enemy who was half the reason of his creation. "You had no control of me in the past, you couldn't control me through the hallucinations. Face it, you parasite. You will never trouble me or anyone else in Mobius ever again. You're nothing more than a memory."
To his and the two Sonics' surprise, Black Doom chuckled darkly.
"Hey! What's so funny?" Sonic demanded, feeling a chill down his spine as he felt that were was suddenly something more than what Black Doom was making out. "You lost!"
"That may be...But I have told you. I was reborn, thanks to the meddling of the green hedgehog you call Scourge, and Dr. Eggman. I have been...freed from the...eternal prison...all evil...are sent to...as their...punished demise." The evil alien said.
"You mean the Underworld?" Young Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow before gasping in realization. "Wait a sec! You mean you were brought back to life!? I thought you were from the past!"
"That's what I thought!" The older Sonic exclaimed, horrified. "What's going on!?"
"I thought Scourge and Eggman intended on using the Emeralds to merge the worlds, not randomly bring back the dead!" Shadow hissed angrily, though the anger was to mask just how shocked he was.
Before Black Doom could respond, suddenly everything seemed to distort once more, alarming all four of them while Sonic, Young Sonic and Shadow glanced around in alarm, turning into that of grey, black and misty-like. The youngest hedgehog looked down and gasped in horror as a large portal began to form.
"LOOK OUT!" Young Sonic screamed, causing both Sonic and Shadow to notice and the older two hedgehogs leaped back, with the teenager scooping up his counterpart in his arms and held him close even though there didn't seem to be any sort of escape. It spread until it was underneath them.
Fearing for the worst, the two blue hedgehogs cried out in alarm and held onto each other, squeezing their eyes shut as they and their friend, who couldn't find any form of escape, braced themselves for falling into whatever kind of new trap they were being prepared for. Yet nothing seemed to happen to them and they were still standing, which made the three Mobians hesitantly open their eyes and gasped in shock when they saw, right underneath Black Doom, was the most hideous giant creature any of them had ever seen.
"What!?" Black Doom exclaimed, sounding bewildered.
"Black Doom, leader of the Black Army, carrier of the Black Comet. You have caused too much destruction, death and despair among the mortal realm and do not show or feel any guilt or remorse within your black, ice cold, stone heart." A voice echoed from underneath yet seemed to go around them.
"That voice..." Sonic whispered, his eyes widening in horror as he gasped. "I-It can't be!"
"That's the same voice we heard earlier!" Young Sonic muttered in shock.
"Wait, this is the voice you two have heard before Sonic mysteriously passed out?" Shadow questioned in shock, now also hearing it.
The two younger hedgehogs nodded as the hero of Mobius muttered, gulping nervously. "It's that guy I mentioned from my dream. The Dino-Alien."
"What!?" Young Sonic and Shadow exclaimed in shock.
"You have been warned before, the time you came to the eternal prison." The voice continued, causing Sonic and the other two hedgehogs to glance back despite they couldn't see the owner, but knew it belonged to the monster from the teenager's dream. "If you remain evil, you will never move on, nor will you be allowed to revive yourself. Returning would only cause you to disappear."
"This is NOT the real world! It is the world were Space and Time are halt!" Black Doom growled, though there was a hint of fear in his voice as he struggling to push himself up, but then found himself held down when electricity formed, keeping him pinned to the invisible floor. "UGH! U-Unhand me!"
"SILENCE!" The voice bellowed which shook the area, and startled the three heroes, with Sonic and Young Sonic clinging onto each other. The youngest hedgehog was about to whisper something when his older self quickly shushed him, fearing that they could be next on the monster's list of whatever's going on. "You know the penalty. You are deemed unworthy to remain. Face your true ultimate punishment for your crimes for all eternity. This portal will have the Executioner claim you this way alone."
"WHAT!?" The evil alien exclaimed in horror, before he and the three hedgehogs looked down and saw, emerging from the darkness of the portal were tiny black eyes belonging to a massive ugly beast that resembled to a Bull Horn Monster of the Black Army, only it was a shade of brown with massive jaws, 100 meters long and can easily engulf all of them.
Sonic and his friends tried to lean back as far as possible, horrified beyond belief. Even Black Doom was horrified and before he could even say anything more, a massive clawed hand reached up and grasped him. He grunted while trying to free himself, only to be pulled towards the giant monster while screaming and to the horror of the three hedgehogs, was pulled down and soon about to be eaten.
"AAAAAHHH!" Young Sonic screamed while looking away, burying his face into Sonic's shoulder while the latter squeezed his eyes shut, almost screaming himself. Even Shadow had to look away despite his hatred towards his enemy.
"NO! Not again!" Sonic exclaimed, as memories of the deaths of both Kaiser and Eggman, both being eaten just like Black Doom by the Werehog-Beast and the Nega-Mother Wisp, began to resurface.
But neither one had to see or hear it as the monster sank back into the portal with Black Doom in it's grasp with the evil alien screaming to his second demise filling the air until they both vanished, and the portal faded away with reality rippling back to somewhat normal. The heavy silence filled the air before Sonic, Young Sonic and Shadow looked up and saw that they were back in the Black Comet, only Black Doom was absent. The trio looked around in wariy silence, finding that they were on their own.
"What in the world...?" Shadow whispered in shock.
"What's going on here? What happened to Black Doom and that giant monster?" Young Sonic asked, blinking as he was still shaken by what he just saw.
"I dunno." Sonic muttered, before coming up with a theory. "Maybe that thing we just saw, that was about to eat Black Doom...was the Time Eater?"
"If it was, then did it not take us with it? We must be on full guard with that thing you saw in your dreams, Sonic." The black hedgehog frowned deeply. "I have a feeling he may be coming for you as well."
The teenage hedgehog lowered his gaze uneasily. His friend was right. But at the same time, it didn't make any sense. What did that Dino-Alien want with him? Before the sixteen year old could pounder more onto this, the yellow Sol Emerald then shone which brightened up the scenery and the next thing he and his two friends knew, they were back standing outside of the gateway leading to Station Square, and like the previous times before, colour returned to the scenery as Sonic gently lowered Young Sonic onto the ground.
"What is this?" Shadow questioned.
"The same place that giant monster and Scourge got us stuck in." Sonic shrugged, turning his gaze to the still frozen forms of Big, Cream and Cheese even though he was worried that he could only use the Sol Emerald he gained to revive one of them.
"Sonic?" Young Sonic muttered, as though having the same thoughts as his older self.
Deciding to try out his luck, the blue hedgehog held out the yellow Sol Emerald which glowed and like the other Sol Emeralds had done with Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Kintobor, sparkles and colour returned to both Mobians and Chao who blinked in surprise, looking around before seeing the three hedgehogs, mainly the hero of Mobius who smiled in relief despite the emerald dimming a bit, but didn't fade.
"Sonic! Thanks a lot! I thought I was going to be floating in black forever like a dream and never see Froggy again." Big sighed in relief, just as the aforementioned Mobini Frog suddenly appeared from behind him and perched himself onto the large Mobian cat's shoulder, croaking.
"Glad to see you're okay, Big." Sonic said as he gave his friend a thumbs up, before turning to Cream who smiled happily.
"Mr. Sonic!" The seven year old girl cried out, hugging the blue hedgehog who laughed and hugged her back, laughing even more when Cheese hugged him on the face. Though the teenager had tiny traces of tears in his eyes, but he willed them back for the time being...if time was moving in this place, of course.
"Chao, Chao! Chao!" Cheese squealed.
"Cream! Cheese! You both alright?" The sixteen year old asked, very relieved to have them both back, as they were like his own siblings just like Tails, Chip, Sun and maybe Amy, which she still was.
Cream nodded, and said while a tad nervous but still holding the bright look in her eyes. "Thanks for saving me, Mr. Sonic. It was scary in the dark, but I tried to be brave."
Sonic smiled affectionately as he gently rubbed his youngest friend's head, making her giggle. "Atta girl. Don't worry, one way or another, we'll be back home soon. I promise."
The young rabbit girl's smile beamed even more, before noticing Shadow and to her and Cheese and Big's surprise, Young Sonic who smiled the same smile Sonic normally wore with a wave. "Oh! Hello, Mr. Shadow and...um...Mr. Sonic?"
"Nice to see you again, Cream." Shadow greeted, attempting to sound civil.
"Hi there." Young Sonic greeted.
"Cream, Cheese, Big. This here's me from an alternate universe. It's a very long story, but he's a great friend. There're even other versions of Tails and Amy." Sonic introduced and explained.
"Sonic! Cream! Big!" Amy cried out before Cream could ask, and soon enough she, her younger self, Tails and his younger self, Knuckles, Silver, Red, and Kintobor all came rushing in to see them and to the group's surprise, Shadow who just scoffed and looked away, his arms folded.
"Amy!" Cream cried out happily. "Tails, and Mr. Knuckles!"
"Chao!" Cheese cheered.
"Thank goodness! I was so worried!" Amy said, hugging her best friend in tears as the younger girl returned it.
"Oh, they're so cute!" Young Amy squealed at the sight of both Cream and Cute, despite that the rabbit girl was only a year younger than her, but still.
"Hey, everybody! Thank goodness you're all okay!" Big cried out happily, and before anyone could protest or even say anything else, the largest Mobian of the group quickly picked up Sonic, who yelped in fright, Cream and Cheese, Amy, Tails and even both Knuckles who cried out in fear and Shadow who wasn't expecting this, and hugged all seven of them too tightly despite that they were all relieved to see him alright as well.
"AAAAHHH!" Sonic and the others all cried out at the tightness of the hug.
"I'm so happy to have my friends back!" Big continued, squeezing them close to his chest while unknowingly making them lose air as they tried to squirm themselves free despite being relieved that their friend was alright.
"O-ow! B-Big!" Tails exclaimed with a grunt.
"Hey, you're squashing us!" Sonic yelled out, unable to breathe.
"Big! N-Not too tight!" Amy cried, squirming.
"P-please be gentle, Big!" Cream cried out.
"C-Chao!" Cheese squealed in complete discomfort.
"OW! Stopping crushing us!" Knuckles grunted.
"Put me down this instant, you big oof!" Shadow commanded, grunting.
Young Sonic, Young Tails, Young Amy(who was now hugging her 'boyfriend' tightly, much to his discomfort as he tried to push her away), Red, Silver and Kintobor all watched the reunion of the eight Mobians and small Chao with surprise and a bit of embarrassment.
"Oh my..." Kintobor muttered, almost speechless and feeling sorry for Sonic's group.
"Who's he?" Red asked, blinking.
"A friend of our other selves named Big the Cat. And the girl with the Chao are Cream and Cheese." Young Sonic briefed on the others. "And that black guy is Shadow. Kind of a strict rival of the other me."
"Big sure seems very friendly, but kind of clingy." Young Tails remarked with a slightly awkward raised eyebrow.
Sonic and the others were still being hugged tightly, until he couldn't handle it anymore and screamed loudly. "BIG! WE'RE SUFFOCATING HERE! LET US GO!"
That got the message through as Big, realizing this despite being known as not very bright at all, finally put his friends down as they all stumbled before sighing in relief and wincing at the tightness of the hug.
"Thank you." The group all murmured.
Knuckles then turned his attention to Shadow and grumbled. "I should've known you were part in all of this."
"Hmph. I have no idea what you're talking about." The black hedgehog scoffed, folding his arms while frowning at the red echidna. "In case your feeble mind doesn't catch up, I only heard of what is happening from Sonic and his alternate self because I got caught up in this mess as much as you did."
That only made the Guardian of the Master Emerald grunt angrily.
"Easy, Knux. Shadow's telling the truth. The three of us just had to fight off Black Doom who stole the Chaos and Sol Emeralds from us, right after we beaten a giant bird robot." Sonic quickly told him to prevent a bickering fight that he sensed was about to happen between his two friends.
"A giant bird robot and Black Doom!?" Tails exclaimed in shock.
"I don't remember a giant bird robot. But, who's Black Doom?" Young Tails asked, confused and worried.
"We have a theory that the bird robot came from the same world as our new friends and Scourge." Young Sonic told his adoptive little brother with a shrug. "Black Doom is the enemy our other selves had to fight and the guy who Shadow here beaten to save the world. Creepy and scary looking, and no pushover."
"Ew. I wish I could forget about Black Doom and all of those mean alien monsters he sent." Amy cringed in disgust and slight fear over the memory.
"Join the club. I still can't forget about how that guy paralyzed us and Shadow ended up the one to save us. I couldn't even lay a punch on that three-eyed creep." Knuckles groaned, suppressing the urge to shudder.
"That sounds worse than Metal Sonic." Young Amy shuddered in fear, before being comforted by her older, alternate self.
"Even worse than when Chaos was still angry and used the Chaos Emeralds." The thirteen year old pink hedgehog added.
"But you both did get the two sets of Emeralds, right?" Silver questioned the two blue hedgehogs.
Sonic smirked as he held up the Sol Emerald while Young Sonic held up the Chaos Emerald, the forming saying. "Wouldn't have saved Big, Cream and Cheese otherwise, unless with the other Emeralds we both got."
"Um, Sonic?" Big began, as he then noticed Kintobor and asked nervously. "Why is Dr. Eggman here and when did he go on a diet?"
Cream also noticed and gasped in shock, before noticing something different and said. "Um, I'm not sure if it is Dr. Eggman. He seems really nice."
"This is Dr. Kintobor, and our other new friends Silver and Red. The three of them come from another alternate universe, not the one our otherselves came from, though." Amy explained reassuringly.
"Oh, yeah. That reminds me..." Sonic suddenly said, his smirk instantly vanished and replaced with a furious scowl that surprised his friends, storming up to Kintobor who flinched in shock and fright, wondering what he'd done to make the teenage blue hedgehog mad now. "Care to explain the giant bird robot, Kintobor? Did you send it to steal the Emeralds from us?"
"What!?" Everyone else except for Young Sonic and Shadow exclaimed in shock, while the other two hedgehogs glared at the man.
"Beg your pardon?" Kintobor asked, sweat dropping.
"Don't play dumb with me, doctor! My younger self and I guessed that you sent it after us, and tricked both Red and Silver into gaining the Sol Emeralds!" The sixteen year old growled angrily. "Tell us the truth! How did you sent that huge robot from Moebius!?"
The human man's eyes widened in shock, before protesting. "Sonic, please! I can assure you that I have done no such thing! I have built robot assistances, but that for helping out in my lab and cleaning up the mess when I don't have time to do so myself."
"He has a point, Sonic!" Red added, hurrying over. "Ovi would never hurt anybody and his robots are really nice! In fact, they're only for cleaning purposes and helping out but only one or two. But he never made anymore than that!"
"Then how do you explain the bird robot with claws sticking out of it's mouth?" The blue hedgehog asked suspiciously.
"And that it grabbed Sonic after he saved me and Shadow before I saved him?" Young Sonic added as he approached.
"What did it look like?" Silver asked, angry that the two Sonics were accusing Kintobor again.
"It was like a mutant monster." Sonic began, attempting to describe what it looked like. "It looked like a raven, a crow, a gargoyle and a pterodactyl all mixed up, about the same size as Tails' plane the Tornado 1, maybe a bit bigger."
Kintobor went pale over this, muttering so softly that it almost came as a whisper. "Snively."
"What?" The blue hedgehog asked, narrowing his eyes at the alternate 'good' version of Eggman.
"Dr. Snively. The mastermind criminal scientist, and my former co-worker until I discovered what he planned on doing and cut all ties with him." Kintobor began explaining. "I fear that Scourge may have found that robot and with Dr. Robotnik's help, fixed it up to try and destroy you both for the Emeralds. That thing was called the Pterogoyle, one of the most dangerous creations he has ever built. Had it not been for Princess Blaze and Silver, all would've been lost."
"Say what?" Young Sonic asked, blinking. Still, like Sonic, he still had his suspicions despite that he began to slowly think that maybe he was wrong about his theory, and if so, then he'll be kicking himself for a while.
"I remember that thing." The silver hedgehog muttered, causing everyone to gaze at him. "Dr. Snively was worse than Scourge until the latter killed him in rage."
"Are you sure?" Knuckles asked, suspiciously. Silver nodded to confirm it.
"Snively was not only a mastermind, he was a con artist and lies through his teeth that they are almost always convincing. But his goal was to use a very dangerous invention from the blueprints of a machine that is thankfully destroyed, but almost destroyed us all. Or rather, erase every existence of flesh and blood except for himself." Kintobor explained, memories of Snively's evil ways resurfacing and he wished that he didn't remember as it had haunted him and many others for a long time.
"I remember hearing all of the scary stories that people would disappear whenever they went near Snively and he'd have new robots that looked just like them the next day." Red mentioned, shuddering as he hugged himself. "I get nightmares about that."
Despite the suspicions, everyone, even both Sonic and Young Sonic, despite their anger towards Kintobor which began to half cool off still remained, slowly felt fear enter their hearts and form on their expressions.
"W-what did Snively do to all of those people?" Sonic asked, shakily.
"You're not about to say what I think you're gonna say, are you, Doctor?" Tails asked, as he and his younger self along with the two Amys and Cream became very afraid.
Kintobor nodded grimly. "The machine Snively used from the blueprints left behind by his precessor named Professor Kaiser the Metal-Changer, as they would call him, was called the Roboticizer. It was very dangerous. Kaiser built it, claiming it would be used as a medical tool to help the severely wounded, but it was a ruse. He plotted to use it to turn innocent Moebini animals into machines and sell them off for children to play with only to have those children killed at night."
"WHAT!?" Everyone else except for Red who gulped, Silver who shuddered, and Shadow who's eyes widened in shock, exclaimed in horror.
"Thankfully, before this plan was carried out, I discovered this and warned the government who had shut down the project, destroyed the blue-prints and had Professor Kaiser executed. But what nobody even realized, even myself, was that he kept a back-up blueprint in a USB stick, locked away. But Snively found it and used it to rebuild the Roboticizer, for his own gains and turning innocent people he lures into robots with no free will." The kind scientist explained.
"Blaze found out about this as did Dr. Kintobor, and did what they could in stopping Snively. They managed to destroy the machine and the blueprints, but, well, Scourge and Fiona didn't make things easy as they carried out the attack which had Fiona killed." Silver continued.
"Um, actually, I have a confession to make." Red spoke up nervously, causing everyone else even Kintobor to glance at him. "It wasn't Scourge or Fiona who caused an attack. Unless Scourge was lying when I found him again after that...It was Snively."
"What!?" Everyone else shouted.
The young red-brown hedgehog lowered his gaze in guilt, explaining. "Snively's the one who caused the attack and framed Scourge since everybody knew my big brother being the terror of Moebius."
"Mr. Scourge is your big brother?" Cream asked, shocked. The youngest hedgehog nodded in sadness and guilt. "Oh, I'm really sorry, Red."
"It's okay, Cream. How were any of you guys to know?" Red shrugged, before continuing. "I found out about the attack and went to confront him on why it happened, before I...well, before I ended up here."
Red's Flash-back: Before the confrontation in Bamboo Jungle...
His mind was still reeling over what has happened. Red was unable to believe it. How could his older brother cause such an attack!? Sure, he'd seen Snively being just as evil as Scourge, with all of the stories of the madman turning people into robots, but for the green hedgehog to actually kill him during the attack!? And Fiona Fox...Scourge's girlfriend, was among the victims! The young red-brown hedgehog ran to where his brother would be hiding as fast as his legs could carry him.
Finally he reached the old abandoned castle where Scourge and Fiona had claimed it to be their castle with plans in turning it to their fortress to rule the world, to become King and Queen, and barged through the wrecked front doors.
"GET OUT!" Came Scourge's angered, terrifying and...devastated voice?
"Scourge!?" Red exclaimed, racing through the corridors and made it into the throne room were the newly fixed throne was. But what caught him off-guard was his older brother, collapsed onto his knees and...
Cradling the lifeless body of a beautiful female fox who was a year younger than Scourge, red fur, brown short aubun hair, pale yellow front, muzzle and tail tip, wearing elegant clothes similar to the green hedgehog's, her eyes were closed, but her deathly pale face was seen, as the teenage criminal was shaking, sounds of distraught and heart-break coming from his throat and mouth.
"Scourge?" The younger hedgehog muttered, hesitantly approaching his brother in fear and caution, but told himself to do this, even if it meant facing the consenquences.
"What-what you want, loser?" Scourge asked bitterly, his voice all cracking as, hidden from his younger brother, he was actually crying. Tears falling from his eyes as he wept.
"Why did you...do it?" Red asked, heart-broken.
"Do what?"
"The attack...all of those people...F-Fiona...why did you do it!? It doesn't make any sense at all!" The young hedgehog exclaimed tearfully. "I don't like it, Scourge! Y-You even ki-killed that horrible scientist Snively! I mean, everybody's been scared of him, but still-!"
Scourge hissed in a mixture of rage and grief. "He deserved it...! So what-so what if the world hates me and thinks I caused the incident that he did!?"
"Huh?" Red blinked, now confused. He shook his head and demanded angrily. "What do you mean that he did!?"
"Get your head out of Kinto-butt's lab, brat! But why should you care, huh!? You came here to tattle-tale on me and hand me over to the police!? Is that why you're here, Maurice!?" The green hedgehog demanded, not in the mood to be with his brother.
"I just want to know why. I'm not here to tattle-tale on you, Scourge. And there's no way in a million years I'm defending Snively. I heard all of the horrible stories about him turning people into robots." Red defended. "And seeing all of those robots that looked like the people a day later...it kinda makes a lot of sense."
Not replying at first, for the first time in their lives since Scourge disowned his own brother who couldn't see his expression, his face softened a little. "At least you believe in that truth, Maurice. 'Cause it's all true. But then again, your buddy didn't tell you yet since you're just a kid."
"But I came here to ask you your side of this story, Scourge." Red pointed out. "Come on, even I know that the world's not full of rainbows and happy endings. But Ovi's trying his best to stop all evil in the world."
"He's a doctor and a scientist, and I hate them with a passion. They killed Mom and Dad three years ago. Now that stupid Snively...He...he killed Fi'. That attack was caused by him, since he figured he couldn't turn anybody into robots anymore." Scourge hissed in anger once more.
Red blinked on shock, before hesitantly asking carefully. "So then, why were you and Fiona there?"
"Because of this." Scourge admitted, pulling out some kind of ruby with black markings that looked broken and dull as his brother's eyes widened in confusion, shock and concern. "Legend says that this Ruby can make things into a virtual reality, as well as people themselves. Fiona and I stole it from the Metal-Changer's lab and planned on using it to make the construction of our home a lot faster...then the attack happened and everybody was running around all crazy."
The green hedgehog then glared at the broken gem before tossing it aside where it smashed against the wall, now completely destroyed while Red gasped in shock. He turned worriedly back to his brother who sniffled.
"We were caught in the attack and as we fought back while trying to get out of it, Snively found us and attempted to kill me. I could've easily taken him on, but a building crumbled with so many robots surrounding us. I got stuck and Fiona, she...she moved me out of the way and...and took the hit from Snively...!" Scourge continued, his voice cracking even further, hugging his beloved lover's body once more. "She sacrificed herself for me...!"
"And you killed Snively because you wanted revenge?" Red asked, tears falling freely, not sure if his brother was telling the truth, but he knew how much Scourge loved Fiona.
"I don't care what other people think anymore. If they want to believe that I caused all of it, then fine...! I'm the Terror of Moebius, Maurice and you know that. So...So don't borther in telling them the truth...! So GET LOST!" Scourge wailed.
Even though Red did want to tell Ovi that Scourge for once had been innocent and had killed Snively that actually saved the world from the evil man's cruelty, it broke his heart that his older brother had lost yet another person who would've one day been his sister-in-law, but now that future had been shattered and broken. Plus, as Scourge had said, it wouldn't make any difference considering the criminal records, and now the green hedgehog decided to accept in being framed for the rest of his life.
"...Okay." Red whispered, his voice full of tears, sniffling before turning and ran away, crying. Leaving behind his grieving brother...
And made the difficult decision not to tell anyone. Not even Ovi. Until at least the time was right, the time when Red would make Scourge see the light and give up his evil ways.
End of Flash-Back:
"...I couldn't tell anybody because Scourge was already bad enough, and he figured that being framed by what Snively did wouldn't make much of a difference." Red concluded his story, and everyone remained silent over hearing this.
Amy, Young Amy and Cream began crying, Tails was sniffling and did his best not to cry, while Young Tails was being comforted by Young Sonic who hugged him, yet couldn't say anything and didn't know what to think. Big was crying himself, Knuckles looked absolutely shocked, Silver stared at Red in disbelief and his muzzle was almost the same colour as his fur, Shadow looked away as hearing this story made him think of how he lost Maria in the similar way.
Sonic also remained silent, and despite what he still felt uneasy with Kintobor's claim, and that Scourge may have been lying to Red, there was no doubt that maybe his evil self really did love Fiona. Given what was going on, maybe he and his younger, alternate self had jumped to conclusions too quickly.
"Red..." Kintobor whispered, shocked, horrified and sorrowed over what his young friend had said.
By then, the eight year old male hedgehog sniffled. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to not tell you. I just couldn't...I didn't know how to prove that Scourge didn't cause the attack that day...Grown ups never believe kids anyway."
The kind human doctor could only bend down and pull Red into a comforting hug, allowing the young hedgehog to cry in guilt.
"There, there, Red. I do wish you would've told me, but I understand the fear you were feeling." Kintobor said, sounding quite sorrowed himself and to Sonic's surprise when he looked up at the two, it wasn't anything like any of Eggman's fake remorse, nor did he detect it like he usually did. "I always had my suspicions that Snively had a connection with you and Scourge, and I think he wanted to claim your brother as his own."
"Huh?" Red muttered tearfully.
"Whaddya mean?" Sonic asked.
"Snively was not only a scientist, he also worked at one of the hosptials in the city until a week after I met Red, he was fired. I have my suspicions that since there had been rumors he had been looking for a young Moebian that could use the Sol Emeralds the same as Princess Blaze to experiment on, he was looking for Scourge and...to do that, he may have been responsible for the deaths of the boys' parents."
"What? No way!" Young Sonic exclaimed after everybody else gasped in shock.
Red sniffled, saying. "I was five years old when Mommy and Daddy died. Scourge was still blue, just like you, Sonic. There was a bomb attack while I was out playing and Scourge was doing something else."
Red's Flash-Back: Three years ago...
A five year old Red had been sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room, sniffling and worrying about his parents, while a fourteen year old Scourge, who was still a cobalt blue that was identical to Sonic on Mobius, same appearance with the exception of the shoes, pacing back and forth in front of him. They were black and dark green, while wore a black leather jacket with dark sunglasses that were on his forehead.
The two brothers had just arrived an hour ago when they heard the news that their parents along with 20 other people had been attacked by a bomb and severely injured, 15 had already died and now both Scourge, who had a bit of a bad-boy attitude but not as bad as he would become in the future, and Red were waiting for the news on their parents's conditions.
Then, one of the doctors, a Moebian albino echidna with a black upside down triangle on his forehead, approached.
"Scourge and Maurice Hedgehog?" The Echidna, named Dr. Finitevus, spoke up, causing the two brothers to gaze up at him with hopeful eyes, with Red hopping off the seat as he joined his brother who approached him. But the grim look on the older Moebian's expression said otherwise.
"How are Mom and Dad?" Scourge demanded.
"Are Mommy and Daddy okay?" Red asked.
Finitevus shook his head. "I'm afraid your parents did not survive the attack. We did all that we could to save them..but it was too late."
The hearts of both brothers were crushed by the news. It couldn't be true...it just couldn't! Red felt like his whole world was gone in an instant, sniffling before he began wailing.
"...W-what?" Scourge asked, shakily with tears forming his eyes. "Mom...Dad..."
"I hope you two will be able to make it home." The white echidna nodded his head, and began to turn away. While Red was too heart-broken to give any thought of the doctor's cold farewell, something within Scourge burst, a surge of rage building up.
"That's it!?" Scourge demanded, storming up to the doctor and roughly grabbed the older Moebian by the coat and spun him around, yelling in pure hatred, anger and sorrow. "That's all you have to say!? You tell me that my parents are dead and expect us to leave without even saying goodbye, or even saying sorry!?"
"They can no longer see or hear you, young man. If you had wished to say goodbye to them, you should have stayed with them." Dr. Finitevus stated, emotionless.
That sent Scourge into absolute rage, before he screaming and shoved the echidna onto ground. "I knew doctors were useless! All you care about is your reputation! You don't care about anybody else! You just-you just let people die! It's a miracle how nobody would fire you idiots! I hate you! I hate all scientists and doctors! I HATE YOU ALL!"
That frightened Red when saw his brother change right before his very eyes, and as everyone else looked to see the teenage hedgehog's rage, Scourge just stormed out with his speed, ignoring his younger brother's cries to wait and not leave him. The poor five year old hedgehog could only stare, before being escorted out himself, telling him to return home.
But Red couldn't remember his way back, and without his older brother who just left him, he just wandered around aimlessly and found himself lost. The red-brown hedgehog wandered for five days, feeling his entire world come crushing down. His parents were gone. His brother abandoned him. He felt he should feel the same sorrow and anger as Scourge, but that display scared him. It was almost like the brother he knew had died as well.
Eventually he came a stop and leaned against the wall of a building, sliding onto the ground and sobbed. It wasn't fair. Why did his mother and father have to die? Why did his brother have to leave him all alone in grief? Red was so lost in his crying episode, that he failed to notice someone approach him.
That someone was Dr. Ovi Kintobor who was just returning home after several days of helping with saving as many survivors as possible at the nearest hospital, his heart aching in guilt that so many have passed away. Seventeen people, humans and Moebians, all killed.
"I wish I could've done something more to prevent such an awful attack. Those poor people." Kintobor muttered to himself, guilt-ridden and exhausted. All he wanted to do was get some sleep despite that he still wanted to help, but the other volunteers had told him to go home and get some rest.
He was brought out of his guilt thoughts when he heard someone sniffling and as he looked up, he paused in shock to find a young hedgehog boy all alone, crying and seemingly lost and heart broken. What would a young child be doing all alone? Concerned that the boy may have been separated from his family, Kintobor approached the child and knelt beside him.
"Are you alright, lad?" Kintobor asked, gently.
Hearing an unfamiliar voice, becoming frightened as his mother always told him not to talk to strangers, Red tearfully looked up and saw, to his fear and disdain was a human doctor. He edged away, whimpering.
"Please, don't be frightened. I won't hurt you." The human man spoke softly, carefully placing a comforting hand onto the scared young hedgehog's head, carefully patting him. "Are you lost? Where are your mother and father?"
In that instant, Red burst into tears, memories of his parent's deaths and Scourge abandoning were still fresh on his mind. He wailed. "Mommy and Daddy are gone! My big brother Scourge a-abandoned me! I-I'm all alone! I don't know how to get home! WAAAAHHH!"
That broke Kintobor's heart to hear such tragedy the little boy in front of him had gone through, and wondered if the child's parents were among the victims that died in the attack. What made it worse was that Red's only family had abandoned him when the child needed his older sibling the most.
"You poor young fellow. I am deeply sorry." Kintobor muttered, gently picking up the distraught child and allowed him to cry in his chest. "Shhh...There, there. It's alright."
Red was still too upset and despite that he hated doctors who couldn't save his parents, there was something about this man that seemed to be comforting, supportive and actually sympathetic. It made him feel safe, almost like he was in his own father's arms. Maybe not all doctors were as bad as Scourge had believed. Even so, the young hedgehog just cried while being comforted.
End of Flash-Back:
Red sniffled, wiping away his tears as Kintobor was comforting him the same way as he always did, especially when they first met. Everyone else stared at the poor young hedgehog boy, not sure what to say.
While Sonic still felt uneasy with Kintobor, he began to feel guilty for accusing the man who had taken actual good care of Red who had lost his parents and his only family had abandoned him. He cursed Scourge for leaving Red without comforting him, though at the same time the blue hedgehog couldn't blame his evil counterpart. It was the deaths of their parents that torn them apart, that the doctor who informed them of the news had been so cruel, and if Kintobor was right, then Snively was the one responsible for such tragedies.
"I'm sorry, Red. I really am." Sonic finally muttered, approaching the two and gently rubbed his new young friend's arm. "I...I can't believe all of this happened because of what happened."
"I-It's okay, Sonic. It's not your fault." Red replied, smiling sadly.
"Yeah, but...that's no excuse." The blue hedgehog sighed, guilt-ridden and gazed up at Kintobor. "I...I still don't trust you, but...I'm really sorry for yelling and accusing you like that. I guess...I guess I'm...not much better than Scourge after all."
In fact, what terrified Sonic now as that he lashed out the similar way Scourge that and that tore him apart. The blue hedgehog almost done the same way as Scourge did, and wondered if it hadn't been for Red and Silver and his friends by his side...he could really turn evil as well. He felt nauseous over the very thought. Uncle Chuck's death hit him hard ten years ago. Almost losing his friends nearly shattered him. The deaths of Shahra and Yacker almost destroyed him before they were revived.
"It's alright, Sonic. You are nothing like Scourge." Kintobor reassured.
"No. I think we are more alike than just being counterparts." The hero of Mobius whispered, making everyone even more worried. "Can I ask you something? Was this Kaiser the Metal-Changer...a Cheetah by any chance?"
"Urm...yes? How did you know that?" The human scientist asked, quizzically.
Sonic sighed, gazing at his friends who knew since the Dark Gaia Crisis, who all looked worried about him. He then nodded before turning back and explained. "Back at home, we met our world's counterpart, except he was known as the Myth Hunter, a murderer who wanted to prove that Myths were fact, and make money out of them. Ten years ago he...he sent fifty-one people to another dimension...one of them was my uncle. My Uncle Chuck...Kaiser killed them, and I cried for a whole week when my Dad came home to tell me and my Mom of the news, but he didn't know it was Kaiser and, none of us did at the time."
"What!?" Young Sonic exclaimed in horror, while he too was guilt-ridden over what just happened.
"...Even today, I still miss him. I only found out the truth five months ago...I was angry, but only managed to stop myself by remembering who and what I still had...My temper's not much better than Scourge's..." Sonic running a hand through his quills with a sigh. "To think that the way he is, because of what happened."
"I'm pretty much disgusted with the doctor who told you and Scourge the news without even showing any sympathy." Knuckles remarked, angry over the doctor that informed Red and his older brother the tragic news. No wonder Scourge lost it. To make it worse, in Moebius, it was an echidna doctor of all things, and the seventeen year old felt even more angry to be one, let alone the last of his kind in Mobius. He wasn't angry with Tikal, since she tried to stop the tragedy of her own. It didn't make things any better, though.
"Dear heavens..." Kintobor muttered, shocked that the cobalt hero had lost a family member to another version of Kaiser. "Sonic...I'm deeply sorry for your loss."
"It's okay. I'm really, deeply sorry too. Guess I...I was scared. Battling Eggman for so long, and then this happened, I...before now, I never really believed much in alternate universes and stuff like that." Sonic shook his head, and while he still felt he couldn't trust Kintobor just yet, he felt bad for jumping to conclusions the way he did.
While Young Sonic still had his Uncle, his heart broke as he realized that the loss of families he and his other self endured were in reverse to one another, sighing in guilt for having caused the false theory and approached his older, alternate self, Kintobor and Red.
"I'm sorry, too...to all of ya's..." The eleven year old said, his head low in guilt.
All of Sonic's friends watched on in worry, while Kintobor sighed and gently placed one hand each onto both blue hedgehogs' shoulders, one on Young Sonic's right, and the other on Sonic's left.
"I understand your suspicions and concerns. But remember this; as long as you continue believe in what is right, appreciate what you have now, and do your best to protect them, and remember that you are never alone, neither of you will be become like Scourge. I don't ask you to trust me straight away. Take as much time as you need." The human kind scientist told them wisely.
Both Sonics stared at him in surprise by these words, realizing that they were everything they knew already, and was actually being supportive despite still not sure on whether they should trust him or not, Sonic nodded with a soft smile as the man lowered his hands.
"Not sure how this will turn out, but I'll give it a shot to trust you." Sonic decided, holding out a hand to him. "Agreed?"
"Agreed." Kintobor replied, gently holding the teenager's hand into his own and shook it.
"Agreed." Young Sonic added, shaking the man's other hand which the scientist did without hesitation.
The others felt a mixture of relief, suspicion, sympathy and concern over what was happening, but felt at slight ease despite that Shadow still silently frowned at Kintobor, not sure if he could be as willing to trust him like Sonic and his younger, alternate self were. At least for now. Strangely enough, the only human of the group had the same personality as Professor Gerald Robotnik before he lost his mind.
Even though everyone knew this was a very intense adventure in order to set things right and get back home, so far they were one step closer in solving the new mysteries.
And for Sonic to find a way to save Scourge and stop him, and save all three realities before it was too late.
A/N: Whoa...When I came to the parts of the flash-backs, I was shedding tears myself. Things are becoming bleak despite that both Sonic and Young Sonic have retrieved the Emeralds from Black Doom, who was taken back to the place that was hinted in the Epilogue of "Sonic and the Power of the Wisps".
Dr. Finitevus is the antagonist from the Sonic Archie Comics, while the Roboticizer is from both that and the Satam series, but both only exist in Moebius in this universe.
See you later and hopefully I'll do the next chapter quicker than this one.