Disclaimer: Life WON'T be Normal is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the third season of the previous story Life NEVER was Normal, after the second season Life DEFINATELY not Normal, after the first season Life FAR from Normal and after the Epilogue of, "The Betrayal of Light", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.
Author's Note: Ugh, this year has been crazy that I'm delaying most of my stories. Sorry about that. To make it up for it, this episode is now based on one of the episodes of Sonic X(Episode 5: Cracking Knuckles) before we enter another episode I had planned on for ages but failed to make it right. I think it's because of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory that came out in Japan yesterday that I had to do this.
So now here it is! Warning: This chapter/episode contains spoilers from the game.
I don't own anything here.
EP 10: Pinballs and Knuckles.
Three weeks have passed since our heroes' trip to Station Square, and as luck would have it, they have made friends with not just the famous hero Sonic the Hedgehog and his best friend/little brother and sidekick Tails, but also Amy Rose, and after teaming up with them to defeat Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who Ven and his friends including Sonic now call Eggman(much to the doctor's dismay), they hanged out and got to know each other before returning home to Radiant City, promising to see each other again soon. Yet now that Ven's group knew how much of a threat the evil doctor was, that was another thing to worry about, but so far it's been peaceful.
Except for Yozora who, still adjusting to his new life here in this world, tossed and turned in his sleep in his room, as images of a nightmare formed in his mind.
Kairi, the Kairi Yozora knew, was in a watery sky world, same age as him, was facing Master Xehanort, her Keyblade ready and attempted to fight him. But he was far too strong for her. Alternate-Sora knew in that instant he had to do something, even in sleep. Without much choice, he allowed his damaged heart to take over her dream body, and won, before leaving once more.
As Sora's heart left her body, Alternate-Kairi turned to gaze at him, reaching out for him and as much as he wanted to reach our for her, he couldn't. Not in this state.
"Sora...!" Teenage-Kairi cried out, tears in her eyes...
"Kairi!" Yozora cried out as he bolted upright in his bed, his hand reached out to air as he panted, sweat forming on his face, disorientation filling his senses at first before he glanced around, confusion filling up his face and mind before eventually reality sank in. Sighing once the confusion was gone, the teenager from the parallel world rubbed his face.
Two months. He had been in this world for two whole months, and he still couldn't get back home, no matter how hard he tried. Sometimes the sixteen year old snuck out to try and use his Keyblade to get home, but it wouldn't work. Virtually he was stuck, and asking for Genie's help was out of question. Yozora had supposed that he was here for a long time, if not for the rest of his life. He missed his friends; his friends in his world.
He missed his Riku and Kairi, his world's versions of Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Namine, Roxas and Xion, Genie, Iago, Mushu...everyone. To make matters worse, no matter how much everyone else knew, Yozora still couldn't handle being even a mere inch of Headmaster Xehanort, this world's version of the cruel man who had caused so much suffering.
Collapsing back onto his bed, Yozora groaned as he stared up at the ceiling, stuck without much to do. Sure he had fun while he was here, he was living a somewhat normal life, being in school and catching up to his education that he missed out on for a year, keeping up his cooking skills and keeping up his swordsmanship, helped to save the day as in this world, Ven and his friends, and Sonic were the true heroes. But he missed his old life.
"...Kairi...I wonder how you and the others are doing?" Teenage-Sora sighed, closing his eyes as his mind raced, refusing to let him to be lured back to sleep.
Still, things had been uneventful since Station Square, and Yozora felt that it was going to remain this way for a while.
Or so he thought.
In the dark alley somewhere deep within the city, was Dr. Egg-Uh, I mean, Ivo Robotnik...Oh screw it, let's it call him Eggman from now on. Anyway, he was bowing his head down in what appeared to be a begging position, looking like he was a changed man. In front of him was a red anthropomorphic red echidna with boxing-like white gloves, and red and green shoes, violet eyes with a serious expression and his quills hanging down like dreadlocks.
They were discussing something very important.
"So let me get this straight. Sonic has switched sides and is now teaming up with these guys who one of them wields a powerful Emerald Sword that is connected to the Chaos Emeralds?" The red echidna, named Knuckles, questioned a bit skeptically.
"Yes! If that traitor and that spiky-haired boy Ventus keep on tricking people into believing they are heroes, we are all doomed." Eggman replied, looking up at Knuckles with a tearful and pleading expression. "Knuckles, it's up to you to stop Sonic! I am a changed man, I swear it! All I want is the world to be in peace."
Despite feeling that something odd was going on, Knuckles couldn't deny that what he was hearing was shocking. It angered him. He left Angel Island to check up on his friends since he knew that Sonic wouldn't miss an oppotunity for check out a new place, only to find that it was just a ruse. Now he knew what he had to do.
"Alright. I'll deal with Sonic tomorrow. I promise you this, Robotnik." Knuckles finally replied, turning before taking his leave.
However, when the red echidna was out of sight and out of eavesdrop, Eggman grinned evilly as all of his 'changed man' act was done and he chuckled to himself.
"That idiotic echidna bought that, hook, line and sinker. Pretty soon those Emeralds will be mine, and Sonic and those Radiant Academy brats are ancient history." He said to himself.
This was yet another evil plan Eggman had come up with, and Knuckles had been easily tricked into it.
The next morning, Yozora was stretching his arms upward as he yawned, walking into the living room of the Academy where he found Lea, Isa, Reno and Rude packing up and making last arrangements. To the spiky-haired teen's confusion, there was no sign of much of anyone else.
"Hey, guys. What's goin' on?" Yozora greeted with a wave, making the four future Turks to glance up at the newest student of the Academy.
"Wha? You mean you don't remember? Me and the guys are headin' over to Midgar for further training with the Boss today." Lea replied in disbelief.
Blinking in confusion, Yozora realized that he did forget. Lea and his friends and cousin would be in Midgar for at least a week for further Turk training with Tseng.
"Oh, right. What about everybody else?" Alternate-Sora added.
"The girls went bargain shopping before Minnie would meet up with Mickey at some diner for a date, Ven, Melody, Genie, Iago, Mushu, and Goofy went to Sunshine Mountain Lake for a picnic, Donald and Daisy are out too, Terra and Zack are sparing, virtually everybody's busy today even though it's Saturday." Reno explained with a shrug.
"Didn't you want to go on a picnic too, Yozora?" Rude asked, curiously.
"Uh...Not really. I overslept and I forgot about the picnic too. Thought I'd hang out with anybody else who weren't busy today, but I guess I'm on my own for the time-being." Yozora shrugged sheepishly, before asking. "Hey, can I come with you to Midgar?"
"Sorry, Yozora. But this is for ShinRa trained students only. Besides, you asked at the last minute." Isa responded.
"Awww..." Yozora couldn't help but groan, slumping downward in disappointment, before standing up straight in annoyance. "Everybody's busy but me! I might as well go find some place to play a game of pinball or something!"
Apparently he wasn't the only one with that idea.
At the gaming arcade diner downtown, Mickey was waiting patiently and dreamingly in the 50's fashioned seat when an unusual squawking voice calling up from up ahead across the room, getting his attention.
"Awk! Ahoy there, ye' land-lover!"
"Huh?" Mickey muttered in confusion, and to his shock and disbelief, the voice was coming from a robotic parrot on top of a pinball machine.
"If yer' date be late, why not climb aboard and try yer luck? Awk!" The robotic parrot continued.
An awkward moment of silence.
"You're talkin' to me?" The teenage mouse asked, pointing at himself. A normal-language talking parrot that was Iago took some time in getting used to, but a talking parrot-robot? That was just too creepy.
"Play a game, get off yer' butt, unless this for ye' looks too tough." The parrot continued.
"Uh, gee no." Mickey declined apologetically. "It looks like fun, but-but I'm waitin' for Minnie."
The Parrot didn't take the apology lightly, as it then began mocking the young student. "Yellow-belly! Awk! Yellow-belly, Yellow-belly!"
Feeling insulted for being called a Yellow-belly which sounded like it would make him a coward, the teenage mouse took bait and declared stubbornly as he marched over. "Oh yeah? I'll show you I'm no Yellow-belly!"
Mickey flipped out his dollar coin and placed it into the slot, before he began to play, the pinball coming out from the tiny cannon from inside as he began to play, and the pirate image above the game, which strangely looked like Pete but with brown fur instead of black, began talking.
"Ye a part be seas be there to trade. Find the booty or you'll be dead." The machine challenged.
"I'm gonna kick your booty, all the way to cat-man doody!" The teenage mouse declared, successfully hitting a few points before the ball almost reached the top of the pirate ship inside before it slid back down.
"Get the ball into the vast, and win yourself the treasure chest." The machine continued, as a treasure chest hanged from the rope and shone. The pinball hit the bumpers several times.
"Ha! Yo-ho that!" Mickey said, and continued to play while making sure the ball didn't go down into the hole, eager to win the game. He was almost so focused on it that he almost didn't hear Minnie finally arrive after her shopping spree with Aqua and Reynn.
"Yoo-whoo. Mickey!" Minnie greeted with a giggle, seeing her boyfriend playing. "Whatcha' doing?"
"Ha, just finishing up a game of pinball." Mickey replied, smiling as he finally noticed his girlfriend's arrival.
"Go ahead. I still have to decide what I want." The teenage girl mouse replied.
"Oh no!" Mickey cried out, as no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hit the ball to save it and it went down the hole that was shaped like a whirlpool and soon he lost the game.
"Dead men tell no tales." The machine declared darkly.
"Aw shucks!" The teenage mouse groaned, facepalming himself over his defeat.
To make things worse and more aggravating, the parrot began taunting him in a sing-song tone. "Yellow-belly's a loser! Yellow-belly's a loser! Awk!"
Mickey felt humiliated, and felt that he didn't have time to keep going. But when he noticed that Minnie was still deciding on what she wanted, he thought for a second before deciding to try again and will not give up until he won the game.
"I'll show you who's the Yellow-belly loser!" He told it and played again. The teenager came close in getting the ball to the top, but that failed when a miniture pirate knocked it away.
Which after a little bit, Mickey ended up losing again and unfortunately that resulted in him becoming too obsessed with the game that he told Minnie, who finally decided to go for having Soda, that he'll be with her soon, much to her annoyance as she saw that he was far too interested in the game right now instead of her.
"Mickey Mouse! How much longer will you play that silly thing?" Minnie grunted in annoyance.
"I'll be right with ya. This is my last game!" Mickey promised, still too focused on the game.
In anger and annoyance, she could only glance away and waited impatiently. This was going to take a very long while.
Back in town, Yozora decided to go for a stroll by himself. He walked aimlessly with his hands behind his head in boredom. As the teenage boy did, his thoughts returned to the dream he had last night, how his heart went inside Kairi's body to help her defeat Master Xehanort in that place. The place he was familiar with and sighed.
'Why did Kairi end up in the Final World? And what did Xehanort still want with her? I thought he gave up after he and Master Eraqus moved on. Unless it was just a dream.' He thought to himself, yet something inside him was telling him otherwise.
He knew that he had to get his mind off of this, but Yozora felt at loss. His new friends were busy, he hardly knew anyone in Radiant City, and he nothing else to do but to just...walk. Walk around in circles. Normally he had a solution to solve all of his problems. But today...he had nothing. He was pretty much stuck, nothing to do, no one to hang out with, no way of getting back home, and it was becoming so frustrating.
"Ugh...THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!" Yozora screamed out to the sky in frustration, his hands on his head, as his voice echoed through out the entire sector, birds flying out of their trees, tweeting in fear. He then lowered his head with another groan, breathing in and out to calm down, thankful that there was no one else around to see him like this.
Or at least he thought there wasn't anyone else around.
"Can't I have my nap in peace?"
"Huh?" Blinking in confusion at the familiar voice which was still new to him, Yozora looked around to see where it was coming up before looking up and saw, to his surprise, was a familiar blue hedgehog lounging up in a tall tree nearby a building, his hands behind his head and one leg over the over.
"Oh! Sonic!" Alternate-Sora greeted with a bright smile. Of all the people to be bumping into today, his newest friend from Station Square was the last he expected, and for the first time since arriving in this parallel world, Sonic was a new face he hasn't met yet until recently.
"Hiya, Sora. Didn't expect to see you today." Sonic greeted with a wave and bright smile of his own.
"Wasn't expecting to see you today either. What're you doing here?" Yozora replied as he approached the tree.
"Decided to come here for a while. Radiant City is one of the places Tails, Amy and I come to and actually once and a while. Haven't been here in the last two and half years, though. This place is still as cool as ever." The blue hedgehog replied, relaxing once more on the tree branch.
"Really? So you never met Ven or the others at the Academy until a few weeks back?" The teenage boy asked, surprised.
Sonic chuckled, "Nah. Never enrolled there either, or even Galbadian Academy. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. Tails runs a few workshops, Amy follows me around when she gets the chance, that sort of thing. But yeah, I haven't got the chance to met Ven, even when he and his buddies were saving the world from Firehead and other dangerous enemies."
"Because of Eggman, right?" Yozora correctly guessed, climbing up the tree and sat on the other branch near where his new friend was.
"That, and going on tons of adventures." The teenage hedgehog replied, before asking curiously. "What about you? Aren't ya' hanging out with Ven or the others?"
Yozora sighed, lounging on the branch himself in the similar way as Sonic, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the leaves. "No. Ven and some of the others went on a picnic in Sunshine Mountain Lake, K-Mickey's on a date with Minnie, everybody else is busy but me. To tell the truth, I've only been a student of the Academy for two months."
"Why's that?" Sonic asked, blinking.
"Well, um...I-it's a complicated long story. I don't remember much, and I just found out that my cousin Sora is a student here too. I got lost at Star-Lake Forest, and that's where I met the others. I only remember him being my cousin, and I only remember my name, but I don't remember anything else." Alternate-Sora stuttered a bit, scratching the side of his face a little, hoping that his lie was convincing.
The blue hedgehog held a skeptical and thoughtful look. There was something that the other teenager wasn't revealing. He could sense it, but at the same time, Sonic felt that whatever secret Yozora was hiding, it was for a good reason. He caught on the truth about the being lost and meeting the others part, but the rest of it, even the claim of being Sora's older lost cousin, he wasn't sure if it was all a lie or not. He found it strange that Yozora seemed to have no clue about who he was, as rumors went flying everywhere, and all the stories about Ven and the others would've made somebody like this guy excited to be friends with.
"...You really don't remember anything at all?" Sonic asked with a serious tone, which caught Yozora off-guard, as he continued. "Or is there something you're not mentioning?"
"The first one." Yozora replied, far too quickly as he deverted his gaze from the hedgehog, who raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"No offense, dude, but I'm not buying it." Sonic said, adding when he saw Yozora flinch as the slightly older teen failed to stop himself from doing so. "I can get the whole amnesia thing, which believe me, that's no fun even though I haven't experienced it myself yet and I don't want to, but not through a lie."
'Uh-oh...' Teenage-Sora thought, gulping softly as he realized that unlike most people, the heroic hedgehog somehow caught him out.
"Not only that, but it's rare that the Chaos Emeralds react to human beings when it normally reacts to people like me. Ven I can understand since the whole Emerald Sword thing despite that it has zero connections to them, but you? I can't help but feel there's something else going on." Sonic continued.
Realizing that he couldn't hide his secret from everyone and while he didn't know Sonic much at all, Yozora sighed in defeat as he sat up a little. "Okay. You caught me. But before I tell you, can you...will you promise to keep it a secret? I'm not supposed to say anything and, well, Ven and most of the others including Sora are the only ones so far that know about me."
Seeing how uncomfortable Yozora looked, the blue hedgehog's expression softened and nodded as he replied with a small smile. "Sure. I promise."
"Okay..." Yozora paused, glancing around to make sure they were alone, before he hesitantly sighed and began. "Thing is...Sora's not my cousin. I...I'm not even from this world. I'm actually..."
The teenager sighed before openly admitted. "My real name is Sora. I'm him, but from another, alternate world."
"Say what?" Sonic asked, shocked as his eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to gaze fully at Yozora, who has identified himself as another Sora. "You're from a different dimension?"
"Yeah. Thing is, things a lot different and I know Ven and everybody else...except for you, obviously, and Zack, Reno, Rude, Lann, Reynn...everybody I know are Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, myself, Riku and Kairi, Namine, Xion, Roxas, Xehanort, Eraqus, Ansem, Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie where I come from." The slightly older teen explained.
As briefly and softly as possible, he admitted to Sonic what happened, how he ended up in this world. He left out details like Kingdom Hearts and only gave vague knowledge of the Keyblade, and told him how he was supposed to disappear forever, only to have end up in this universe without being able of getting back home, meeting with this world's versions of his friends including his younger-self, and remembering the video game character Yozora, adopted the name as his own while he was here. By the time Yozora finished, the blue hedgehog let out a whistle.
"And I thought some of my adventures and things that happened here in the past couple of years were crazy. But I guess it makes sense." Sonic responded, stunned by such a story.
"Really? How can you tell?" Alternate-Sora asked, surprised that Sonic actually believes him.
"The other day before I met you guys, I met this kid named Chris, who somehow knew me and wondered what was going on. It didn't take us long to figure out that he came from an alternate universe where I live in a world totally full of guys like me and my friends and no humans at all, and they somehow ended up in the human world with none of us and it took a whole yaer before they went home. Chris told me that he helped my other self to fight off these crazy alien guys called the Metarex, and that world's version of Eggman was supposed to send him back home, but instead he ended up here." Sonic explained.
"What happened to him?" Yozora asked, worriedly and shocked. Would that mean, he wasn't the only one having been sent to this place?
The blue hedgehog shrugged, "He's okay. We came up with a theory that since both realities have the Chaos Emeralds, we could use ours to sent him back to his human world. Though Eggman didn't make it easy and I had to transform into Super Sonic to defeat him, but I also managed to send Chris home for real. Pretty sure he and my otherself were very close friends, 'cause he was sad to go, but he knew that he didn't have a choice."
"Well, at least he made it back home okay. I've tried everything I could think of for the last two months to get back home myself, 'cause I'm pretty sure all of my friends miss me." Yozora sighed, relieved that Chris made it back to his dimension.
"But you can't, can you?"
The spiky-haired teen slowly shook his head in sadness, making the blue hedgehog think deeply. He wasn't sure if the same method he used to send Chris home would work for Yozora, since it may be possible that the Chaos Emerald's don't exist in Teenage-Sora's reality, but maybe he could help somehow. If realities were somehow connecting with Chris and Yozora's arrivals, then there was something going on and since Sonic knew how the Chaos Emeralds control time, maybe, with Yozora's mysterious powers of travel, plus Ven's connection with the Emerald Sword, those might be they keys in returning this Sora back home.
"Well then, I'm gonna help you which-ever way I can." Sonic declared.
"Huh?" Yozora blinked, puzzled.
"Clearly this is something you can't do alone, and if you're still alive and being able to come here to survive, that just proves how strong you are. Not sure how we can sort this out, but we'll figure something. With me and my friends, and you and Ven and the others who know your secret at the Academy, this will be a cinch." The blue hedgehog said. "It'll take time, but I've learned a long time ago that anything's possible."
"Really? You think we can all figure out how I can get back home?" Teenage-Sora asked, feeling a glimmer of hope rise for the first time in months.
"You bet! And don't worry, I won't tell anybody about where you came from, 'cause I never break my promises." Sonic replied, giving him a wink and a thumbs up.
Yozora knew that it will take time, but he felt that he could trust Sonic on his word. Plus with many friends here in this world to help him out, he felt a whole lot better and was glad to have told Sonic, even though Ven and the others wouldn't be happy about it. But if the blue hedgehog was a hedgehog of his word, then they can all team up and hang out from time to time.
"Thanks, Sonic." Yozora smiled happily, returning the slightly younger teen's gesture.
"No problem. Hey, since we both have nothing much to do today, and I forgot to mention that Tails and Amy are at the Sunshine Mountain Lake too, you wanna hang out with me for some Chili Dogs? My treat." The blue hedgehog suggested with a bright smile.
"I've heard about Chili Dogs, but I never had them, so yeah!" The older teen replied with an eager nod.
"Cool!" Sonic replied happily, for for his and Yozora's new bond to be interrupted when they heard a high-pitched robotic laughter fill their ears.
When the two teenagers looked up, they saw a small flying black robot with yellow eyes, a blue tongue, horns and wearing a belt with an M, red boots and white gloves, approach them carrying a bag of something.
"Ah, not him." Sonic groaned in annoyance, instantly recognizing.
"Who is that?" Yozora asked, puzzled.
"That's Bokkun. He's Eggman's stupid messenger robot." The blue hedgehog explained, just as Bokkun, the small robot landed on the branch in front of him. "And that usually means trouble."
"I have a message for you, Sonic. Here you go." The little robot greeted simply, pulling out, to Yozora's bewilderment, a small retro yellow flying TV.
"A TV? What's that for?" Yozora asked, dumbfounded.
"It's a message, and don't you forget, spiky!" Bokkun ranted at the unfamiliar teenager.
The alternate-Sora glared back in annoyance, not liking this robot already. "That's Yozora, and Sonic's my friend!"
"Well then, friends of Sonic are enemies of Dr. Robotnik." The little robot replied, as he pushed a button and the screen flashed, revealing, not Eggman as both Sonic and Yozora were expecting, but to the blue hedgehog's shock, Knuckles.
"Knuckles!? Don't tell me he's..." Sonic gasped, trailing off.
"Knuckles? You mean, the echidna guy you told us about?" Yozora asked, stunned as, seeing that one of Sonic's friends was giving a message, a dreaded sense of deja vu creeping up.
"Yeah, that's him." The blue hedgehog replied, falling silent as an angry Knuckles was giving out his message, determined to know what was going on.
"Sonic. I'm sick of your selfish stunts and I'm very angry that you sided with the world's enemy Ventus. This time you've gone too far. I'm challenging you to a showdown. Meet me at Sunshine Mountain Lake in one hour...Don't be late." Knuckles informed and demanded, just a Bokkun backed away.
"What? Hey, Ven wouldn't be the world's enemy! He saved it!" Yozora protested.
"This message was brought to you by the Robotnik Empire which was not responisble for it's content..." Bokkun trailed off as he began to fly away, grinning as he added cheekily. "Except this part."
Just as Sonic and Yozora stared on in bewilderment, their eyes widened in shock and fear as the TV sparked before exploding, while Bokkun flew away, laughing. Once the smoke cleared, the two teenagers just sat there, charred and completely covered in soot, coughing up smoke.
Sonic then growled angrily with his eyes narrowed, as he declared, wanting to get to the bottom of this. "Knuckles is gonna regret that."
"I'm going with you." Yozora declared with determination. "If Knuckles is that, and this was sent by Eggman..."
"Then Ven, Tails, and the others are in danger. Yozora, you go warn them. I'll handle that Knucklehead." Sonic instructed.
"Right!" Alternate-Sora nodded, as he and his new friend jumped down before shaking off the soot from their bodies and clothes, before the blue hedgehog told the older teenager to hold on. As Yozora wrapped his arms around Sonic's shoulders, the latter sped off towards the Lake, with the former screaming as he never expected to be going on a ride this fast.
Meanwhile, back at the cafe, Mickey was still playing the pinball machine, and every time to his annoyance, he kept on losing and to Minnie's annoyance, she was still waiting as he tried again and again, and the annoying robot-parrot repeatedly called the teenage mouse a Yellow-belly, and the robot-Pete laughed evilly.
Eventually Mickey became so focused on the game that his eyes spun as though he was hypnotized, and he soon found himself in an unusual dream.
Finding himself dressed as a brave heroic pirate, Mickey, confused, found himself inside the pinball machine's cannon before being launched and went sliding on the railing where the pinball would roll onto before hitting the hard fake water of the sea. Mickey then heard Pete's evil laughter and saw the real one, dressed as a one-peg pirate, holding a roped and captured Minnie, in a blue 1770's dress and hat.
"Mickey! HELP!" Minnie screamed in fear, before being tossed onto the top of the vast, while Captain Pete laughed evilly.
"Minnie! I'll save ya'!" Mickey called out, before racing over, but was blocked off by plastic crocodiles that attempted to stop him. Determined to not give up, he brought out a cutlass sword, stabbed into the fake crocodile's head and leaped over it before racing over towards the ship where on the deck, Captain Pete watched on.
"You scurvy dog!" Captain Pete growled, taking out his own sword, and gave orders to fire the cannons. Several pinballs shot out. Mickey ducked but found himself trapped by another one in the middle of the bumpers, and the evil pirate laughed evilly.
Having an idea, the teenage mouse then leaped away and pulled back a rubber band where the ball hit, and let go to launch it back where it hit the bewildered Pete squarely in the face with a loud clang, knocking him onto the floor and his hat fell down.
"Ha! Yo-ho that!" Mickey grinned, and Minnie smiled in relief.
Mickey then jumped onto the railing where sharks circled around and threatened to get to him, and to his horror, Pete stood up with the ball in his mouth before he spat it onto the railing. Thinking quickly, he used his sword to block it where it fell and bashed the fake shakes into the hard water before he jumped down and kept going, but was forced to stop when a metallic giant whale came. The teenage mouse tried to run away as it opened it's mouth wide, but he was unable to escape as it gobbled him up, slamming it's mouth shut and trapping him.
Minnie gasped in horror to see her boyfriend being eaten, while Pete laughed evilly, believing that Mickey was finished, but to his shock and bewilderment, the whale ejected him through it's blowhole where he went flying and landed onto the deck and onto the ship at last. Mickey and Captain Pete then clashed swords, the former jumping onto the past as his enemy laughed, before the teenager held onto a rope that held the chest and cut it so that the treasure's weight let him fly up and onto the vast where Minnie was.
Pete in the meantime watched the chest fall, which hit the floor hard and broke part of the wooden plank, catapulting him upward, hitting the floor hard, getting tangled into the rope before being pulled towards the walking plank and was left left helplessly dangling on the edge of it, with a dumbfounded expression as he wondered what just happened, unable to believe that he lost to Mickey who by then untied Minnie, successfully rescuing her.
"My hero!" Minnie sighed happily, and kissed Mickey on the cheek, before they went sliding down onto the deck and landed safely in the treasure. The two shared surprised expressions before he shrugged.
Unfortunately, the whale returned and as it gobbled up the helpless and screaming Pete, it pulled the ship so hard on the side that Minnie went flying and into a whirlpool and to Mickey's horror as he reached out helplessly, she vanished as the whirlpool spun, making chinging noises...
The chinging noises was so loud that Mickey snapped out of his trance as he shook his head, coming back to reality from his midday nightmare, and found that during the dream he scored a new high-score and won, with the parrot repeating the chant, "Yo-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho."
'Oh g-gosh. W-what was I thinking?' Mickey thought to himself, still horrified when he saw in the dream how he lost Minnie because of it. He had to get away now that he won. He couldn't handle it, still in a daze and felt like he was ready to cry.
But as he turned around and walked away, he accidentally bumped into the real Minnie.
"Minnie!" Mickey exclaimed in relief that she was safe, before he saw her angry stance with her arms crossed and, finally back fully into reality and remembered what happened, he sheepishly told her. "Oh, ha-ha. W-won the game."
"Now can I have my soda?" Minnie asked, annoyed as she was unaware of the dream he just had.
However, the parrot had other ideas, causing both mice to look up as it told the teenage boy mouse. "Haverst, be, Mickey. Don't be lame. Climb aboard for yer' free game."
Mickey saw that he not only won, but he also had the opportunity to play one more time. But he was torn, as he glanced back and forth between the pinball machine and to Minnie who, seeing this, pouted before turning and began to walk out. When he looked back, he was stunned that doing so would only make him lose Minnie. It was the machine's fault that this happened.
"Yellow-belly! Awk!" The parrot taunted.
That did it. He wasn't going to be baited by this stupid thing anymore. He didn't care if he was called a Yellow-belly. If anything, the dream reminded him of how much Minnie meant to him, and treasure wasn't always gold and jewelry and stuff like that. It meant friendship and love and family.
"Put a cork in it, salty!" Mickey snapped angrily and purposely kicked the pinball machine so hard, that it malfunctioned and began breaking down with warning sirens, getting Minnie's attention as she turned around and saw what happened.
The parrot gave out a cry as it's head sprung up while the teenage girl mouse approached before the Pinball machine finally 'died'.
"Yo-ho-ho, I found my treasure." Mickey said, gently holding hands with Minnie, as a way to apologize and to remind her how much he loved her.
"Oh, Mickey." Minnie sighed lovingly with a giggle, before the two shared a kiss.
Just then, they heard someone familiar screaming and as Mickey and Minnie looked out of the window as the scream became louder, they both saw a blue blur streak rush past the cafe mixed with red and black so quickly that they didn't see what or who it was. Both teenage mice were shocked and confused, while Mickey thought there was something familiar about the blur.
"Huh? What was that?" Mickey wondered aloud.
"Um, Mickey? Who usually runs that fast in blue?" Minnie asked.
"Sonic the Hedgehog. Me and the others met him in Station Square, remember?" Her boyfriend replied, before he and his girlfriend gasped in realization. "So that means Sonic's here in Radiant City."
"And if he's here..." Minnie trailed off.
"...Sure hope Eggman isn't here." Mickey muttered, worriedly.
"Eggman?" His girlfriend asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know, Robotnik. Sonic calls him Eggman."
"Oh!" She giggled, covering her mouth with hands. "That's a very funny name for an evil scientist."
"But, that scream, it didn't sound like Sonic. It sounded more like..." He trailed off, before a realization hit him and Minnie hard.
"Yozora!" Mickey and his girlfriend exclaimed, now worried as, while they could be overreacting, both of them suddenly felt that something was wrong and given Sonic being a hero, and Yozora being a hero in his dimension, that meant this wasn't just a casual run for Alternate-Sora to see how fast the blue hedgehog was.
The two shared a worried glance once more.
Meanwhile, at Sunshine Mountain Lake that looked more like a valley, Ven, Melody, Genie, Iago, Mushu, and Goofy were finishing up their picnic and having done a bit of exploring around the area since their friends had been so busy.
"Man, that was great. I wish the others could've come with." Ven said happily, stretching up his arms as he and the others had fun today.
"Yeah, great...for ants having stolen my lunch. Next time, how 'bout we go into a fancy restaurant instead!? Or at least have Yozora cook up a storm." Iago complained, walking towards a rock and leaned against it with one wing as he remarked calmly afterwards. "Speaking of which, that kid should get a job at one, or open up his own."
"Iago, we talked about this. Yozora can't stay here forever." Melody reminded, "It might take years, but eventually he has to go back home to his friends."
Ven nodded in agreement. "We promised we'd do everything we can to help him, and keep his past a secret."
"Yeah, but how can we send somebody from another dimension back there if even the kid has no idea how he got here in the first place?" Mushu pointed out with a shrug.
"It is a problem, but I'm pretty sure if we figure out the right materials of traveling across space and time, we might be able to sent our little buddy back home." Genie said optimistically.
"That's the main problem! We've never traveled through that sort of continuum phooey stuff! Unless you wanna count going into Mirage's world one time as an exception." The red parrot pointed out with an annoyed glare.
"Hey, ya'know. We shoulda invited Yozora along for the picnic. With everybody else busy today, I bet he's feelin' even more lonely than when we first met him." Goofy realized.
His friends paused, before they, except Iago who rolled his eyes, shared guilty glances as they realized the teenage dog was right. They really should've invited Yozora to keep him company.
"Right...We really gotta make it up to him, huh?" Ven muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"Make it up to who?" A familiar girl's voice asked, causing both Ven and his friends to flinch and turned to see, to their surprise, Amy Rose and Tails approach them with their own picnic basket. "Ven! Goofy! Iago! Mushu! Genie! Melody! Hi there!"
"Hey!" Tails greeted with a wave.
"Amy? Tails?" Melody greeted back in surprise and a beaming smile.
"Hey, guys. Didn't expect to see you two today." Ven greeted.
"We didn't either. We came here to visit Radiant City with Sonic and decided to on a picnic. I guess you guys had the same idea." The two-tailed fox replied.
"Sonic's here too?" Goofy asked, before looking around and found that the blue hedgehog was absent. "Where is he?"
The pink hedgehog then pouted as she folded her arms, "That Sonic! He didn't want to come with us and instead opted to race around Radiant City as usual. It would've been more fun if he was here with me!"
"Finally! Somebody who had the right idea! If I had to choose, I'd rather hang out with that blue hedgehog kid! Picnics are for ants only." Iago said, which earned him annoyed glares from his friends, but he ignored them.
"Party pooper." Ven muttered under his breath, grumbling at the fact that Iago had no sense of fun. He then said while realizing. "Guess that explains the blue blurs I've been seeing once in a while before two years ago. Should've realized it was Sonic all along."
"You mean you never even noticed before the four of us came along!?" Mushu asked in disbelief as he, Genie and Melody stared at both Ven and Goofy who both shrugged sheepishly.
"Well, uh...nope." Goofy replied.
"Anyway, who were you guys talking about?" Amy asked, deciding to ignore Iago.
"We were talking about Yozora and, well-" Melody was cut off when all of the sudden, the water from the lake splashed and as she and everyone else looked and screamed and cried out in alarm, a huge robot with a glass tube in the middle and a large eye appeared.
"Look out!" Ven shouted, as he and his friends quickly made a run for it, with Genie attempting to use his magic to get all of them out, only for the giant robot to grab them before placing them inside the storage tube inside and closed shut, trapping them.
They then heard an annoying obnoxious familiar laugh before looking up and saw, to their shock, was Eggman hovering down in his Egg Mobile with a huge grin on his face.
"Eggman! You're here!?" Ven exclaimed, glaring at their most recent enemy.
"That's Robotnik!" Eggman snapped, hating the nickname Sonic had given him, before grinning once more. "But yes, I am here, and I've come to get my revenge as well as getting the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic and his friends have."
"Ugh, great. There goes the hopes of not having to deal with a main bad guy to defeat in the future last episode like in Life FAR from Normal story." Iago groaned, rolling his eyes as he broke the fourth wall, referring to the fact that season-1 really didn't have a final battle boss like seasons 2 and 3 had.
"Well, his plans fail, 'cause we're outta here!" Amy declared, pulling out her hammer out of nowhere and attempted to break through the glass by hitting it. To her and everyone else's shock, it didn't even make a crack. She tried again and again before losing steam and panted.
"Well if that didn't work, then it's time for Genie's magic to do the trick!" Genie declared, magically turning himself into a construction worker with a driller and began to drill their way out, only to met with the same result. He then tried to transform into a giant wrecking ball, but was bounced around and nearly hit everyone who screamed and ducked just in time while hurting himself in the process.
Transforming back to normal and battered, the magical being wobbled, dazed as he remarked. "Uh, sorry, Ven. I hate to say it, but...Eggman sure knows how to make glass that's elemental proof like a bottle." He then collapsed onto the floor and passed out.
"If that's the case, then even my fire won't be able to get us out." Mushu muttered, worriedly.
"Now what do we do?" Goofy asked, dismayed.
Eggman laughed at the group's failed attempts before declaring. "You can't leave. I need you in case my first plan to beat Sonic fails."
"Sonic isn't here!" Amy grunted.
"And you've got the rest of our friends to worry about!" Melody added, glaring angrily at the villain that trapped them.
"He'll be here any second now." The evil scientist grinned, glancing up over his shoulder where, high on a cliff not that far away, was Knuckles who, unaware that he had been tricked, was sitting on a rock impatiently with his arms folded to his chest.
'Where is Sonic? He should've been here by now.' The red echidna thought to himself with his eyes closed, before opening them as he heard rapid footsteps and saw the aforementioned blue hedgehog slide into the scene, his eyes closed and doing some kind of pose, with Yozora, dazed by the constant speed but eventually having the time of his life, recovering before standing by him.
"Hey there, Knuckles." Sonic greeted casually.
"You're late, slowpoke. And who's this kid? You're supposed to have come alone." Knuckles grunted as he stood up.
"Yeah, well, you never said I'd come alone. This here's Yozora, my new friend. He wanted to come along." Sonic replied, still smiling.
"Hey there." Yozora greeted with an awkward wave, while attempting to keep an eye out for Ven and the others and hoped that they were okay.
"I've heard of you. You're that new student at the stupid Academy." The echidna grunted.
The Alternate-Sora blinked, before glaring back. "Hey, it's not stupid! I've learned alot from that cool place! Besides, how do you know me anyway?"
"None of your business! I'm just here for Sonic!" Knuckles snapped.
"Come on, Knux. This place is another home to me and we were enjoying the scenery." Sonic stated calmly, sniffing at a blue flower he picked up along the way. "Radiant Valley is pretty cool. It's nice here. Yeah, you'd like it too if you weren't such a party pooper."
"Enough talk. Let's go." His 'former' friend growled.
"Ah, relax, will ya?" The blue hedgehog told him, which made Yozora stare at him in confusion at just how calm and patient he was, play messing with the echidna before the fight would start. "We have all afternoon to duke it out, buddy boy."
"I'm not your buddy, and don't you forget it, smart aleck!" Knuckles hissed, his patience running thin. "Now put 'em up! I didn't come here to sniff the flowers!"
"What's gotten into you, Knuckles? Why do you think Ven is-"
"That's your loss. You don't know what you're missing." Sonic cut Yozora's bewildered words off, then turned fully around and continued with a smug smirk. "But if you'd rather get clobbered by me-"
"Shut up!" Knuckles snapped, now interrupting the blue hedgehog. "Give me the Chaos Emerald you and Ventus stole or else!"
"Huh?" Both Yozora, and Sonic gaped in confusion and shock, wondering what the echidna was talking about. They both thought they'd given the Emerald to Tails after three weeks ago.
"Um...What Chaos Emerald?" Yozora asked, shrugging in confusion.
Sonic on the other hand, shrugged more smugly as he had an idea that his red echidna friend was tricked again, but knew that words alone weren't enough to make him convinced. "Your brain's even slower than your feet."
'Does Sonic do this to Knuckles often?' Yozora asked, half wondering what was going on.
Knuckles, feeling insulted, growled angrily as a vein appeared on his head, and Yozora stepped back a little. He wished he could help, but he knew this was between the echidna and Sonic, who remained cool, calm and collected. Just as the blue hedgehog casually threw away the flower, he wasn't fazed as his opponent charged with his fists balled up and ready to punch him. But Sonic leaped away into the air as Knuckles punched the ground.
The blue hedgehog smirked as he easily leaped away and dodging several of the red echidna's punches and jumped back just as the latter smashed a rock into pieces. Sonic landed on a higher ledge above him and gave him an unimpressed frown with his hands on his hips. Yozora watched on while glancing back to find out where Ven and the others where, worried that they weren't seen and half hoped that they went back to Radiant City by now.
Sonic jumped high into the air while dodging another punch, much to Knuckles' shock as he gasped, before the former attempted to swift kick at him, but the latter dodge-rolled just in time and attempted to punch the hedgehog again, repeating the last time before the two leaped over rocks across the river near the water and reached the other side. Yozora, glancing around to try and find their friends, made to follow before deciding that Sonic could handle this. He then leaped and raced as fast as he could to find them, leaping away.
In the meantime, Sonic reached the other side and ran, gesturing for Knuckles to follow him and the two raced into the bushes and trees before making their way up the cliff wall. Sonic ran easily with his speed and laughed with a smug look, while Knuckles climbed, keeping up with him in anger. The blue hedgehog then ran up a tree on the edge of the cliff and perched himself onto the very top, after passing Timon and Pumbaa, who had climbed up earlier with difficulty and were eating flies when the teenager passed them, startling them and nearly fell off.
"Hey, was that Sonic?" The warthog asked, surprised.
"Since when can he run up trees and climb them without having much trouble?" Timon asked, bewildered, staring up in disbelief. "Hedgehogs don't climb trees! Let alone run up them!"
Sonic, unaware of the two, casually stood there, before noticing the sight and peered at it with a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun and one leg up. "Oh! Not a bad view."
However, Knuckles, having made it and having such strong strength, grabbed hold of the tree and pulled it right out of it's roots, causing Sonic to almost lose his balance as he tried not to fall, and Timon and Pumbaa to hold onto the branches for dear life, screaming in panic.
"Hey, there are animals in this tree, pal!" Timon shouted down at the echidna.
Knuckles didn't listen, as he then thrust the tree forward and tossing it, with Sonic, trying to hold on, being flung up and upward while screaming before he began to fall. Then he smirked and flipped before landing safely on the ground, though Timon and Pumbaa went flying out screaming hysterically. The blue hedgehog, gasping as he recognized them and mentally criticizing the red echidna for being reckless, sped around and caught the two animals in his arms.
"Hi there." Sonic greeted casually, while the two groaned and panted.
"Hi, Sonic." Pumbaa greeted happily, while Timon groaned.
"Care to explain who the crazy super-strength echidna was, kid?" The meerkat asked skeptically, before he and the other two looked up and saw, to their shock, another tree about to crush them as Knuckles was punching it to kill the blue hedgehog, and Timon let out a loud scream in panic with his eyes bugging out comically and Pumbaa doing the same.
"Hang on!" The blue hedgehog instructed, leaping back and avoided as many trees as possible, before gently setting the two down to the safest part and told them. "You'd better get outta here. It's dangerous."
As Sonic leaped away and gestured the red echidna to focus on him, Timon and Pumbaa stared on in shock before dramatically fainted at such a close call. Meanwhile, Knuckles was still knocking down trees to crush the blue hedgehog who easily ran away to avoid them with a confident look. Sonic taunted his rival by wiggling his fingers over his ears and stuck his tongue out to mock him before continuing to run. That only made Knuckles to swing his arms wildly in anger, knocking down more trees in the process.
Sonic then decided to leap up onto another one that was being brought down and then used his Spin Dash to attack Knuckles, rolling down the tree, much to the latter's shock. But the echidna caught him even as the younger teen still spun and he struggled to hold onto him, being forced back before the two were forced over and split a tree into pieces, glaring at one another. Sonic and Knuckles then rolled down a hill as they wrestled trying to overpower one another before they landed into a lake with a splash, much to the fifteen year old's horror as he couldn't swim.
"Hey, help me! AAAH!" Sonic screamed, panicking as he flailed his arms, splashing in the water, only to realize that he wasn't even sinking. He stopped in confusion and surprise, then saw that the water was no deeper than just up to his ankles as he was just sitting in it.
He then noticed Knuckles on the shore, glaring at him in anger and annoyance over his overreaction and paralyzing aqua-phobia.
"It's lucky I fell in a kiddie pool." The blue hedgehog muttered sheepishly with a shrug. He then gritted his teeth as he leaped out and landed on the other side and declared, ready to continue. "Get ready, you're going down!"
The red echidna gritted his teeth as he stood ready, determined to finish the battle. "Let's end this now!"
Across to the main lake, Yozora was still trying to find the others while seeing the battle unfold, wishing for Sonic and Knuckles to stop fighting, until he spotted a familiar man in the Egg Mobile, a large robot and, to his horror, Ven and the others including Amy and Tails who were trapped inside. The alternate-Sora glared hard as he recognized Robotnik.
"It's Eggman! He's got the others!" Yozora gritted his teeth, pulling his sword out of it's scabbard since he had to avoid in using his Keyblade, and raced and leaped over to rescue them without the evil doctor noticing for the time being.
Unaware of Yozora approaching them, and focused on Sonic and Knuckles' battle, Eggman cheered on through another lie. "Go Knuckles! Show Sonic he has been tricked by that foul child Ventus! Our only hope is for you to trounce these tyrants!"
"Do Sonic and Knuckles usually fight like this?" Ven asked Amy, worriedly.
"Yeah, and Knuckles always gets tricked by Eggman. That's how he and Sonic first met. But do they have to fight right now!? Can't they free us first?" Amy replied annoyed.
"This is like how Al and Razoul would usually go on, only without crazy speed and strength!" Iago complained in annoyance.
"There!" Tails suddenly spoke up, as he opened up the panel, causing the others to glance at him in surprise.
"Hey, great job, Tails. Ayhuck. How'd you do that?" Goofy asked, impressed.
"I...used my screwdriver." The eight year old fox replied, showing his tool for them to see.
"Being out-smarted by a cute eight year old fox kid." Iago shook his head while gazing at Genie who twiddled his fingers and thumb, whistling as he felt embarrassed for not thinking of that.
"Wow, you're really handy." Melody remarked.
"It's no big deal." Tails said, before turning his attention back to the panel. "Now I just have to figure out how this thing is wired."
"We don't have time for this Tails! Step aside!" Amy said impatiently, marching over to the panel with her Hammer ready. "I'll fix that robot."
That only caused Tails, Ven and the others to panic and tried to tell her to stop, but it was too late. The pink hedgehog thrust her hammer onto the panel, causing it to explode as they screamed. While it wasn't enough to destroy it, which thankfully wasn't enough to injure them either, it was enough to make a big hole in the glass which cracked all over. It spread all over the area, just as Yozora saw what happened and sped up as fast as he could.
Ven and the others groaned before standing up, and peered out of the hole.
"You're just as reckless as the stupid Genie!" Iago snapped at the twelve year old hedgehog. "My feathers almost got burnt off!"
"Can't you think of anything other than your over-sized ego, bird-brain!?" Mushu shouted, glaring at his rival who glared back.
Eggman, seeing what happened, hovered over and ranted. "Look what you've done! You've wrecked my robot, and it isn't even insured!"
Just then, before Ven or anyone else could say anything further, Yozora came charging in with his sword ready and combined with some of his abilities, slashed the robot's legs which caused the robot to tumble backwards and the group cried out before they hit the ground. The spiky-haired teen then landed in front of them.
"Hey, guys! You okay?" Yozora waved.
"Yozora!" Ven cried out in relief and surprise. "How'd you get here?"
"I met up with Sonic earlier and we both found out what was happening, through a weird little robot named Bokkun." The Alternate-Sora explained.
Before his friends could respond to that, Eggman glared angrily at the unexpected arrival of the other teenager. "You again! I should've known I was missing some Radiant Academy brats!"
"Let my friends go, Eggman!" Yozora demanded, holding a tight grip on his sword as he glared at the evil man back.
"IT'S ROBOTNIK!" Eggman shouted. "It's not over, Yozora! My robot may be down, but it certainly isn't out!"
To Yozora's shock, the robot's arms then transformed into legs, flipping Ven and the others upside down which had it's eye appear on the new top as well, along with fire arms opening up. Eggman then ordered it, "Attack!"
It fired which forced Yozora to leap and jump out of the way, and cried out in alarm as it fired a missile, causing a huge explosion as it hit the ground.
From where Sonic was, he heard two explosions, which the second one made him gaze over his shoulder in confusion and worry, wondering if Yozora, Ven and the others were okay. Unfortunately Knuckles used this distraction to his advantage as he punched the blue hedgehog so hard the younger teenager went flying into the air as he winced in pain. As Sonic spun around to make a landing, he caught sight of Yozora being chased by the robot he's attempting to fight, with Ven, Tails, Amy, Genie, Melody, Goofy, Iago, and Mushu trapped inside, and the evil scientist in his Egg Mobile.
"Get that spiky-haired brat!" Eggman shouted at his robot.
"It's Eggman." Sonic narrowed his eyes, before landing and immediately took off to save his friends, much to Knuckles' anger and frustration.
"Get back here!" The red echidna shouted, chasing after him. "You quitter!"
"We'll settle this later!" The blue hedgehog replied, annoyed before speeding up to help Yozora.
Yozora in the meantime tried slashing at the robot without hurting his friends, but was knocked back even as he flipped before landing safely and then hid himself behind a rock. To his shock and horror, the robot fired at it which the rock itself was vaporized into oblivion.
"Uh oh..." The spiky-haired teen muttered, his eyes widened. He then jumped back before stumbling as the shots made him lose his balance and fell onto the ground. His stomach dropped as he couldn't find time or an escape route to get out of the way quickly enough. He squeezed his eyes shut while bracing himself for his bitter end.
"Sora, look out!" Sonic shouted as he came speeding through, grabbing his friend in his arms and easily avoided the shots fired by the robot. "You okay, Yozora?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Sonic!" Yozora nodded, surprised and relieved that the blue hedgheog came to the rescue as the two came a stop, the teenage boy bing set down and then they both leaped and avoided more of the robot's attacks.
"Get that hedgehog and that kid! Fill them with holes like swiss cheese!" The evil doctor commanded.
"The others are trapped inside that thing!" Yozora informed as he and Sonic dodged more of it's attacks.
"Just like him to kidnap our friends!" Sonic grunted.
Before Eggman's robot could attack Sonic and Yozora further, Knuckles suddenly came in and kicked one of the guns on the machine, smashing it, much to the evil man's shock and confusion before the red echidna landed on the ground, glaring at his 'ally'.
"This is a battle between Sonic and me! I'll fight my way!" Knuckles growled stubbornly.
Sonic and Yozora stared, before the latter shook his head, exasperated. "Man, and I thought Donald had a bad temper."
The blue hedgehog just shrugged.
Realizing that his first plan had failed in the most unexpected way, Eggman grunted. "Fight your way? If you're going to insist a clean fighting a clean fight, then I'm going to start playing dirty!"
To the shock of the three teenagers, and the red echidna's confusion, the robot then flew off from the ground with Ven and the others trying to hold on for dear life as they screamed, before they all landed on the other side of the lake, with the evil scientist hovering over Yozora, Sonic and Knuckles.
"Plan A didn't work, so now we'll have to go to plan B. Bring me that Chaos Emerald or you'll never see your friends again!" Eggman declared and commanded.
"Lowlife!" Yozora hissed angrily.
"What's this?" Knuckles asked, dumbfounded. "Robotnik swore to me that all he wanted was to live in peace."
Sonic was shocked, before gazing at his friend in surprise at what he said, realizing now that the red echidna had been duped again, which confirmed his suspicions. He placed his hands behind his back and said with a grin. "He sure is tricky, isn't he?"
"This guy reminds me too much of another trickster I once knew, both of them causing problems and lying to other people to do their dirty work." Yozora, catching on what the blue hedgehog was saying, placed his hands behind his head.
Realizing the meaning of the two other teens' words, Knuckles was furious, both at Eggman and at himself for falling for it...again. "That swindler...He lied!"
"You're catchin' on, pal." Sonic replied calmly, still grinning calmly.
"Oh, Sonic!" Eggman called out in a sing-song tone, making the teenage hedgehog gaze at him. "We all know your weak spot is water, so I stuck your friends over there where you can't save them without treading H20."
"Uh..." Yozora murmured, glancing around at the lake and saw an easy alternative; for Sonic, all he had to do was run all the way around which is a piece of cake for the blue hero. The spiky-haired teen then gazed up and said dully. "For an evil scientist, you're pretty stupid."
"Yeah, that's what you think." Sonic added, before grabbing hold of Yozora's left hand while the latter held his sword in his right, and ran straight around the lake with a grin on his muzzle, much to Eggman's bewilderment. The two then made it in seconds and combined with Sonic's speed and Yozora's sword, they sliced through the robot once more, causing it to fall over as Ven and the others cried out, this time the hole being sideways and easy for them to get out.
The two teenagers stopped and smirked with grins before sharing a high-five and laughed happily.
"Show-off." Eggman grumbled at the blue hedgehog.
"You guys okay?" Yozora asked, as he pulled Ven out while Sonic helped the others.
"Yeah. Thanks, guys." Ven replied gratefully.
"You know, I'm surprised Eggman didn't even realize this lake can be walked around." Genie remarked as he had also realized how the two teenagers got here without swimming.
"I'm kinda surprised that Sonic's weakness is water. Why is that?" Goofy shrugged.
Sonic flinched, before admitting sheepishly. "Let's just say, I'm the only hedgehog in the world that can't swim. Me and water don't mix."
That surprised Ven and his friends, before shrugging as they felt sorry for their newest friend who by then turned his attention to his self-proclaimed girlfriend who was on her knees. When the blue hedgehog went for her, she immediately got up and hugged him tightly before she began crying.
"Take it easy, Amy." Sonic told her, pushing her back to an arm's length, but she hugged him again, causing him to cringe at her obsession over him.
"I just knew you would come here to save me!" Amy cried.
"You!? What about me!?" Iago protested angrily. "Not only I almost got killed by a stupid robot created by that stupid Eggman, but you almost blew us up with that hammer of yours!"
Just then, the robot began to shake and begin to recover, much to the shock of the group who saw this and all gasped, before Ven, Yozora, and Sonic all quickly exclaimed. "Run!"
They all ran, screaming as the robot stood up, preparing for round 3 just as the group hidden themselves behind a large rock for shelter while Eggman hovered over, declaring evilly. "I'm not calling it quits, brats! You've only had a preview of this robot's power. You're all through! And stop calling me Eggman!"
The robot then began firing missiles all over the place while Ven, Sonic and their friends ducked as low as they could, while Eggman laughed evilly. "I've got you now!"
Iago gulped, before going to his knees and clasped his hands/wings together, crying out in a begging position and apology. "Sorry, oh powerful Doctor Robotnik!"
"We're gonna die! There's no way we're gonna survive this!" Mushu cried out in dismay, panicking.
Just as they were all trapped, Knuckles, knowing what he had to do in order to get his revenge as well as atone for being tricked, slid in front of them, glaring at the man who lied to him. "Leave Robotnik to me!"
"Okay." Sonic replied, smiling as he knew that his friend would come through.
"Right." Yozora nodded, sensing the same thing.
"Look! It's Chuckles!" Goofy exclaimed, yet getting the echidna's name wrong, causing their savior to flinch, but ignored him before racing off to defeat Eggman and the robot.
"It's Knuckles, not Chuckles." Tails corrected with a sweat drop.
"Oh, right! Ayhuck! I knew that." The teenage dog replied, causing Ven and the others to roll their eyes and shake their heads in exasperation, while Iago facepalmed himself in annoyance.
Knuckles in the meantime easily dodged the shots fired at him, before punching and leaping his way up the robot, smashing it and then jumped high to meet at Eggman's current height level, much to the evil scientist's shock.
"You!" Eggman shouted.
"You liar!" Knuckles growled angrily, before punching the evil man's Egg Mobile so hard that Eggman was sent flying while screaming which faded as he vanished into the sky in a glint like a star.
"Going, going...and gone!" Genie cheered as he magically transformed into an announcer with a megaphone in hand, before Ven and Yozora pulled him back down.
Ignoring the commotion with Genie, Knuckles then landed back on top of the robot and punched it right in the middle, where it began to split in half before it then exploded, sending pieces all over the place which forced the group to look away. Sonic, seeing his friend being blown away, immediately raced over to save him, with Yozora, and Ven hurrying to do the same. The red echidna grunted as he was thrown, but then looked up when he felt and saw that the blue hedgehog had grabbed him by the wrist with his left hand while holding onto a tree branch with his right, holding on tightly.
Yozora then grabbed Knuckles' other hand while he was held on by Ven who held onto another branch, all of them hanging on tightly as they fought against the winds from the explosion. Eventually it died down and as the rest of the group looked up worriedly, they all sighed in relief, while Ven, Yozora, Sonic and Knuckles landed safely back onto the ground, and the red echidna gazed at the trio, before smiling in gratitude for them saving his life. The blue hedgehog and the two human teenage boys smiled back, glad that things had cleared up.
"Ven! Yozora!" Melody cried out.
"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, crying as she and the others hurried over while the pink hedgehog hugged her 'boyfriend' once again.
"You made it!" Goofy cheered in relief.
"It was nothing." Yozora said, slightly embarrassed.
"Hiya, fellas!" Mickey's voice called up, causing everyone to look up and saw, to their surprise, Mickey and Minnie flying on Reddy before landing on the ground and hopped off the magic carpet.
"Mickey? Minnie?" Ven asked, blinking in confusion.
"Hey, I thought you guys were on a date." Yozora stated.
"Well, we were, but uh..." The teenage male mouse trailed off, sheepishly as he still had to fix up his date.
"Mickey and I saw you and Sonic pass by, Yozora. You looked like you were in a big hurry." Minnie explained.
"We figured that Eggman was behind whatever's goin' on, so we went back to the Academy and asked Reddy to take us here in case there was trouble." Mickey added, before seeing the wreckage and added. "Though I guess things are already taken care of."
"Yeah, you missed out on a lot." The Alternate-Sora nodded.
"Yeah. Knuckles, Yozora, Ven and I had it all under control." Sonic explained, while Knuckles, despite seeing new unfamiliar faces, decided that it was time for him to return home and began walking away, which the others noticed.
"Hey, Knuckles?" Yozora called up, but the red echidna just smiled, waving a goodbye to them.
The group stood there, before Amy hurried over and walked along side him, her hands behind her back as she said to him with a knowing smile. "I bet you want to apologize to Sonic and Ven for believing all the lies Eggman told about them? And you probably wanna thank them and Yozora too, only you're too proud."
"Zip it!" Knuckles snapped as he paused, making the pink hedgehog stop as well, but she still smiled knowingly. So he smiled back and turned to the others who all held smiles as well(except Iago who shook his head while gazing at the sky), before he walked away once more, waving again. "Later."
The group watched him walk off into the forest to return to Angel Island.
"Knuckles may be a bit of a loner and a knucklehead, but he's a cool guy." Sonic explained to the others.
"Yeah." Yozora nodded, smiling as he felt that Knuckles reminded him of his world's version of Cloud. He then stretched out his arms and said. "Well, today turned out to be exciting after all."
"Yeah, about that. Sorry we didn't invite you for the picnic, Yozora." Ven apologetically turned to his friend.
"It's fine. Besides, I got to hang out with Sonic and at least I didn't have to be desperate enough to play with a pinball game or whatever." Teenage-Sora replied, waving it off.
Unfortunately, while Mickey flinched at the memory of how he went crazy in playing several games of Pinball that almost costed him Minnie, Genie then magically created a pinball machine while saying. "Well, if you're really that desperate, here's a game for everybody!"
"Oh no, you don't!" Mickey growled angrily, pulling out a hammer out of nowhere and to everyone else's surprise, he smashed it repeatedly and quickly until it was squashed flat like a pancake. "No pinball games allowed under my watch!"
While Ven and everyone else stared in shock and confusion, Minnie shook her head before saying in exasperation. "I had to wait for half an hour before Mickey and I could have our date, because he was obsessed with winning the game."
Cooling off, Mickey sheepishly added. "Well, uh, a robotic parrot made me by insulting me."
An awkward moment of silence.
"Guess it's a good thing you bumped into me, huh?" Sonic grinned awkwardly at Yozora who just shrugged.
"Yeah." The Alternate-Sora chuckled nervously, and not only that, he knew that he had some explaining to do now that the blue hedgehog knew of his secret.
But that was for until they went back to Radiant City, as the two conjoined groups of heroes become one, and their future adventures lied just around the corner. No matter what they were, it would always be unexpected.
To be Continued...
A/N: This is really to celebrate the release of the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, with the English version coming out tomorrow. The game itself is the next step of the future of the series, and the first step of the next saga.
I'll probably take a while before I post the next episode, but I will finish this even if it takes next year(if Fanfiction is still around). See you next time!