Author's Note: Before we continue with chapter 11, here's a filler chapter for our heroes to relax in, kind of in a way for Sonic Prime to get along with the Guardians of Light, and to say goodbye to 2020 three days early. So happy reading!
Sonic245 and I do not own rights to Sailor Moon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Cardcaptor Sakura, Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Shrek or Ice Age, only the OCs.
Bonus Chapter: Relaxing in Soleanna.
The next morning, everyone was up bright and early despite that the two Sonic the Hedgehogs and Serena having secretly been out in Kingdom Valley, the two cobalt hedgehogs having been training before they and the Moon Princess, having been looking for them, were forced to fight Eggman. They were having a nice warm breakfast cooked by the Palace's chefs. Both Ellie and Rini made sure to try their best to make Crash and Eddie behave themselves and both Sonics decided to admit what they'd been up to the previous night.
Sonic, Prime and Serena did apologize to Elise and the Duke for sneaking out, but the two royals brushed it off, saying that it was perfectly alright as along as they were careful in the future.
"Insta-what now?" Crash asked, dumbfounded as he and his siblings and friends heard the story Sonic and Prime were telling with Serena pinching in.
"Insta-Shield. It's a cool ability that Prime can do by either jumping and spinning like how we can both do our Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks, or in his case at the moment, just swipe his arm and it appears out of nowhere! Now I can do the basic form of it too! Pretty cool, huh?" Sonic explained, smirking.
"That's true. I saw it last night when the three of us were fighting Eggman." Serena nodded in agreement, still a bit sleepy but was glad that her friends were safe for the time being. "And the you-know-what really does protect Prime from being kidnapped, because that creepy's giant Scorpion robot was fried in a matter of a minute or even seconds."
"Wow, that sounds really cool! And I'm really glad that you guys are okay." Sakura said, gazing at Prime and added. "It's a good thing that Eggman couldn't get you, Prime. I was really worried that he would."
"I'll admit, I was kind of expecting it despite how long I've been fighting Eggman in my world. It's a relief that he hasn't made a Metal Sonic here. At least not yet." Prime shrugged.
Sonic shifted a little uncomfortably, admitting. "Yeah, that's what creeps me out right now. Sure Eggman's dumb and really smart at the same time, but where did he get the idea of making a robot version of us in your world, dude?"
"After I took it upon myself to thwart his evil plans, time and time again, he was frustrated by the amount of defeats at my hands. Eggman then took a different approach. He created the robot version of myself hoping he could outsmart me, I defeated them easily but Eggman was still determined to make another robot until he remade his old robot Metal Sonic, he put some upgrade into him and make him has independent minds so after I defeated Metal Sonic, that robot grew stronger and stronger, challenging me for a battle." Prime explained.
He then sighed and continued. "But, one night back at the Death Egg, everything took a turn for the worse. He somehow managed to sneak into Eggman's top secret facility. That's when he made his move. Metal Sonic merged with all of the older Sonic Robots except his clone one Hyper Metal Sonic as it was in the glass recovering and transformed into one Super Robot. Turbo Mecha Sonic!"
"That sounds really scary." Cream shivered, with Amy Rose rubbing her back to comfort her.
"Chao, Chao." Cheese chirped, scared himself.
"Believe me, Cream. None of you really want to go through in facing that robot. On the other hand, Eggman is too smart and stupid for his own good." The older Sonic nodded grimly, before shrugging with a slightly awkward smile. "For an example for his stupidity, Eggman in my world had no idea that sushi always had fish in it, and when I heard the announcement of the Bucket O' Sushi on the Aquarium Planet, he said that he just added fish in it."
The Guardians, except for Crash and Eddie who shared a confused look, and the two royals all sweat dropped in disbelief when they heard this. Cosmo looked very puzzled as, still being new from her world, she was still learning from the lifestyles of other planets across the Realm of Light.
"Ugh. If Eggman here does decide to open up a Sushi Restaurant, remind me to never go there. I'm scared that his food could be poisoned." Sonic groaned, facepalming himself.
"Me too. His cruelty knows no bounds." Tails shivered at the image.
"That's what my Tails said after he tried it. Poor little guy ended up slightly food poisoned, but he recovered okay." Prime replied.
"And I thought my cooking was bad, but at least I didn't give anybody food poisoning." Serena shuddered, and her friends nodded in agreement.
"Well, let's not talk about anymore of Dr. Eggman's horrible cooking and enjoy the real treat." The Duke announced and everyone nodded in agreement, just as the chefs came in with trays filled with the sweet aroma of breakfast, and as they passed it along the royals and their guests, the lids opened up to reveal plates filled with delicious looking waffles dribbled with maple syrup.
"Oohh! Waffles! My favorite!" Donkey cheered happily, licking his lips at the sight of his all-time favorite food.
"Oh boy..." Shrek shook his head with a sigh, with Serena smiling in slight exasperation.
"Is there something the matter?" Elise asked, a bit concerned.
"No no, it's not that. It's just, well, when I first met Shrek and Donkey two years ago, uh, let's just say, the first thing Donkey wanted to do to try and be friends with us was make Waffles." The Moon Princess replied sheepishly, before saying. "Anyway, I wish we could at least explore the Kingdom even just a little bit, 'cause yesterday was a bit of a disappointment."
"Blame Pete for that one." Casey sighed.
"Well, perhaps you all should take the time to explore the kingdom before you leave to find the next Chaos Emerald." Elise suggested.
"That sounds like fun." Sakura agreed, gazing at her friends. "You think we'll have time for that at least?"
"I love that idea!" Madison said in agreement.
"Me too! Imagine all of the shops we can go to!" May cheered.
"I agree! I'm gonna shop 'til I drop!" Amy Rose agreed.
"Hold on!" Ash spoke up firmly, causing everyone to gaze at the young Pokemon Master as he said. "Remember, this is an important mission to find the Chaos Emeralds and also watching out for Eggman and you-know-who, not a vacation."
"He's right. We don't have time for goofing off." Manny agreed firmly, with Diego, Shrek and Riku nodding in agreement.
"The only reason we came here was to find the Chaos Emerald and that's what we did." Knuckles added, folding his arms. "The sooner we find the rest, the better."
"Ah, you guys worry too much. It's not like the Emeralds are going anywhere. Sure it'd be great to find them before Eggman, but we can at least spend a few hours touring Soleanna before we head off. Besides, I think we could all use the time to relax." Sonic pointed out, adding. "Besides, who knows what else could happen if we leave too early. For example, Eggman could attack just to get to Prime or Maleficent could try and attack and turn this place into her new fortress."
"He has a point. As much as we should find the Emeralds, I guess it wouldn't hurt to relax just a little bit." Prime agreed, seeing the logical in his counterpart's words.
"I don't see why not. We do this sort of thing all the time." Mickey agreed.
It soon became clear to the five who weren't comfortable with this idea that they were outnumbered as everyone else made their own agreements to the relaxation idea, and while Ash did want to relax himself despite the timing of the situation, Riku was a bit more reluctant but seeing the slightly pleading looks from Sora and Kairi, he sighed and gave in, and Manny, Diego and Shrek all sighed in defeat.
"Okay, you guys win. I do want to explore more of this place anyway. Maybe we find more time for the Sun Festival after we save the Realm of Light again." Ash shrugged with a defeated smile.
"You wanna come join us, Elise? It'll be fun." Sonic offered to his friend.
"I wish I could, Sonic, but I have a full busy day of my duties. Maybe during the festival when all of you come back." Elise apologetically shook her head.
Despite being disappointed, the fifteen year old knew that the princess had her responsibilities to her kingdom and would one day rule Soleanna as it's queen. So he just accepted it with an understanding shrug. Besides, there'd be plenty of time once Prime returns home and Apsu is defeated.
Prime, even though he didn't want to waste much time either, felt that maybe it would be good for him to relax during this journey. He could get to know his new friends a bit better without having to worry about planning the next moves straight away. It's been ages since he had the freedom to do so.
After breakfast, the Guardians of Light, Cosmo and Prime headed out to the streets of Soleanna for the third time in less than two days and went exploring across the city. Most of the girls went off going shopping with Cosmo, slightly nervous, joining them. Of course, the boys ended up carrying bags of clothes and items, much to their annoyance.
"Why do us guys always get stuck carrying a bunch of stuff that girls really don't need?" Ash complained, carrying at least six bags, two under his arms and two each in his hands.
"I don't know. It's a girl thing." Sonic groaned.
"Gosh, I remember the times when Minnie and Daisy would always buy things that take about at least six boxes." Mickey sighed, as he was trying to keep his balance while carrying six boxes and trying to look where he was going.
"And I remember the nightmare in dressing up like them to replace the photo which they hated so much, it was a waste of time." Donald grumbled, with one bag on top of his head.
That made the boys who didn't know the story of Mickey and Donald's misadventure pause, as Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Prime, and Buck gaze at the duo in confusion.
"Say what? Why did you two do that?" Prime asked, dumbfounded as he quirked an eyebrow, having less to carry since Sakura and Madison didn't want to buy so much.
"Well, uh...b-before I even knew anything about the Keyblade, Donald and I were playing football in the house 'til the girls told us to stop and uh, he accidentally kicked it so hard that it broke and ruined the photo of Minnie and Daisy together and the only way to replace it was the two of us dressing up like them and Goofy to take the picture." The King explained, more than a little embarrassed. "That was an adventure itself, 'cause we almost got caught by our friend Clarabelle, then my old rival Carlos, and then the girls when they got home, so we kinda had to lie about it was because the universe was in danger."
"And in the end, they got the photo from being the one millionth customer and replaced the one we just replaced for that instead." The white mage groaned.
"Yeah, even Serena saw you guys in the store when the two of us, you, Sora and Goofy traveled back in time to stop Pete from the present from stealing the Cornerstone in the past, Donald." Ash recalled, adding sheepishly. "And...dressing up like a girl is no fun at all."
"Okay...the King and Donald's story sounds like an adventure, but why you, Ash?" Prime asked, uncomfortably.
"First was when I wasn't allowed in the Salodon City Gym since I hate perfume, and I was a bit of a jerk at the store the Gym Leader Erika ran. That was when I ended up being tricked by Team Rocket since they wanted to steal the secret formula, but all they got was the bottle of bad ingredients, added with some Gloom. Then was when we had to help a guy to reveal his friends to his childhood friend, and I had to dress up like her." Ash shuddered.
"Not to mention that Brock was all ga-ga over her that you resembled to her a little too much that he lost it." Max groaned.
Flash-Back: During the events of Pokemon: Advanced Challenge-Season 7...
Ash, dressed up as Juliete, screamed as Brock tried to get to him thinking the ten year old was the girl the sixteen year old instantly fell in love with. The younger trainger ducked before screaming. "Game over!"
"Come back, my dearest Juliete!" Brock dreamily cried as he chased after his friend.
"You've really lost it it this time, Brock! Leave me alone!" Ash screamed as he ran away all over the porch, with May, Max, Pikachu and Romeo watching in embarrassment and in May's case, annoyance.
End of Flash-Back:
"I'll never forget that nightmare." Ash groaned with a sweat drop.
"I wasn't really that bad, was I?" Brock asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Yes, you were." Ash, Max, Shrek, Donkey, Manny, Sid, Diego, Darien, Crash, Eddie, Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy and even Mickey all chorused firmly.
"It's a good thing you've stopped that once you and Lita realized how close you both were, and on the night on Manny and Ellie's wedding anniversary, Serena learned that you proposed to her." Sora chuckled. "But yeah, you've been going all crazy over every single girl that looked beautiful and wanted them to be your girlfriend."
"That's the creepiest way of flirting I've ever heard." Sonic commented, sweat dropping.
"I don't think flirting is even the right word. Overwhelming attraction, maybe." Prime muttered, saying slightly firmly to Brock. "Brock, it's a relief that you and Lita are together now, but the way how you treated those girls, it would only make them uncomfortable."
"Sorry. Guess I was desperate." The Pokemon Breeder muttered, feeling more than a little guilty for his behavior in the past.
"Don't worry, Brock. Misty, Max, Croagunk, Raye, Donald and Sid always kept you in line." Ash reassured.
"Yeah, with a pull on the ear." Sid added.
"You tried to do the same thing, Sid. But at least not as embarrassing as Brock. Just through, uh...cons and slight tricks. With Brooke, it was love at first sight." Manny pointed out, making the sloth slightly embarrassed.
"Gawrsh, I remember that. It was the first time we went to Geotopia inside the asteriod." Goofy remembered.
Flash-Back: During the events of Sailor Moon: Collision Course...
Brooke's eyes widened as did her smile at the sight of Sid...who was scratching his butt, sniffing at his claws before groaning at the awful smell. But that didn't faze her, because to her, he was handsome. The sloth of her dreams. She then whistled out as she wanted to immediately to get to know him. The mini-corns, Bubbles and Misty, leaped over leaving behind a trail of rainbows as they went over to Sid who looked at them, confused.
"This guy, for real?" Bubbles asked, incredulously.
Misty the Mini-Corn stared, before shrugging it off and said. "Whatever."
She then scooped up Sid who yelped before dumping the male sloth in front of the female beautiful sloth, standing up as she greeted him. "Well, hello handsome. I am Brooke."
Seeing Brooke up close, Sid instantly found himself deeply in love as he laughed wordlessly. She has got to be the most beautiful female sloth in the entire Realm of Light. Her fur down like it was a dress, her long hair, her gorgeous eyes, and her voice! Oh dear Cosmos, she had the most beautiful voice in the Fairy Tale Planet.
"Ohhhh. Such exquisite bone structure. Such a strong jaw. I'm getting butterflies!" Brooke said, rubbing the male sloth's face and flipping her hair as butterflies flew out.
"I'm getting nauseous." James whined uncomfortably as he and everybody else watched the Sloth member of the Sailor Team and Guardians of Light being greeted by the female Sloth of this place, thinking that she must be very desperate.
End of Flash-Back:
"What? Brooke's the most beautiful sloth in the Realm of Light. There's no other girl anywhere that's just as perfect, in beauty and personality." Sid responded, sighing lovingly. "I love her so much."
"She really must've been desperate." Knuckles muttered under his breath.
"Come on, Knux. Everybody knows that you have a thing for Rouge." Sonic teased.
"HEY! I don't have anything for that batty thief! She's the bane of my entire existence! She makes my life miserable for trying to steal the Master Emerald, tricking me, and leaving me in a middle of a sentence so that she can get information that she wants!" The red echidna snapped.
"Who wants from Knuckles now?" Serena asked as she and the girls have finally emerged from another shop, with more bags of clothes and cute sovuneers in hands and arms.
"Rouge." Prime simply answered, as he knew all too well how much his world's versions of Knuckles and Rouge had that very same complicated relationship.
"We were just talking about a few relationships and stuff like that." Eddie said.
"Yeah, and how much you girls were-mmph!" Crash was cut off when Ash covered his mouth.
"Uh, don't listen to these two! They're just trying to tick you girls off and being themselves!" The twelve year old boy chuckled nervously, and began sweating when most of the girls stared at him suspiciously.
"Do they always get into trouble like this?" Prime asked with a raised eyebrow at the two Possums.
Sonic closed his eyes while answering wearily, "They're worse of daredevils than me, and as Ash would call them, trouble-making pranksters. Good hearts, but...you know."
"Guess it's an everyday adventure and misadventure with you guys." The older blue hedgehog chuckled with a small smile.
The younger blue hedgehog chuckled, "Prime, when it comes to the Sailor Team, they went on much more adventures than my team and I did. There was this time in the Galar Region on Earth that we had to try and un-dnyamax a Snorlax that grew into a giant which was one of the weirdest, and I almost got swallowed whole alive when we had to place a giant pear into it's mouth and I ended up in it. It was lucky that it shrank back to normal size before it could eat me."
Prime gasped in shock and slight horror. "Say what!? You almost got swallowed up by a giant Snorlax!?"
"Yep, and believe me, I never wanna go through that experience ever again. Ugh, and that was on the same day I had a nightmare of Eggman being a giant and plopping me into his mouth like a piece of popcorn." Sonic nodded, shuddering over those horrible memories.
"...I never imagined Eggman turning into a giant." Prime said slowly in horror.
"Yeah, well, it's not the first time I had nightmares of the Eggster being a giant. First time was when I was twelve years old, but at least in that dream all he did was catch me and put me in a giant jar. Or maybe I shrank unknowingly in that dream. I don't know." The younger hedgehog replied, admitting in a whisper. "Between you and me, Prime, sometimes I get scared that it could actually happen one day."
The older hedgehog said nothing on that subject, greatly concerned. Yes, his Eggman never turned into a giant before, and Sonic Prime himself never had giant nightmares either, but to hear that Sonic of this world did yet none of those nightmares came true, he was starting to become scared of that possibility if this world's Eggman really lost his sanity to do as the teenage hero feared.
After quickly taking the things back to the Blue Typhoon, the heroes continued their tour around Soleanna once the shopping spree was finally over for the time being, and went out exploring the streets, having a great lunch at a diner of meals including Chili Dogs, which both Sonic and Prime enjoyed to their hearts' content.
"Mmmm! It's been ages since I had a Chili Dog. Maybe about a couple a months ago, but still..." Prime moaned happily, though he ate in a slower pace than he used to do, not like Sonic who still had a dozen and ate happily.
"Yeah, nothing beats Chili Dog in the best food competition." Sonic agreed, gulping down his fifth Chili Dog, and licking his fingers to clean them up from the chili sauce that dribbled onto his hand as he ate.
"Yum! Yum! This is so good!" Serena said happily, her mouth full as she ate her plate of Chili Dogs.
Everyone else either smiled or sighed over the trio's happiness over the food even though Sid was in the similar fashion as the leader of the Sailor Team.
"Hey, Prime. I'm curious. What kind of other adventures did you go through after the war against Eggman? You know, because Mecha Sonic...did what he did." Ash asked, while careful not to mention the incident that had Prime's robotic copy destroy his reality's version of Mobius.
Prime paused eating, before realizing that he forgot one adventure up until the young Pokemon and Keyblade Master asked. "Well, there was one time before Mecha Sonic attacked. Eggman actually created a living monster made from both me and Shadow."
Almost everyone choaked on their meals, with Sonic coughing violently while pounding his chest with his fist. Tails reached over to pat his older brother on the back to get him to breathe again, before the blue hedgehog grabbed a class of juice and gulped it down to swallow the chewed up lump of food that inadvertentely got stuck in his throat.
"WHAT!?" The teenager half-screamed in horror.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean your world's Eggman created something from you and Shadow?" Donkey asked incredulously.
"Correct. It all started when Eggman attacked me with a clone of Chaos as I was relaxing on a beach, and I would've been toast if it weren't for Shadow coming in to save me, and he had a Chaos Emerald in hand. But it was all a trap since Eggman copied our battle data and stole the Emerald. I went after him while I sent Shadow to get Knuckles and get the Master Emerald to help us out." Prime explained.
"I'm gonna go out the limb here and say that, something went wrong." Diego muttered knowingly.
The blue hedgehog nodded, and explained how when he confronted Eggman in the Death Egg("Ugh, seriously? Doesn't that guy in your universe get tired of that thing?" Sonic groaned, rolling his eyes. "Not really." Prime shrugged.), the evil scientist used a weapon filled with Chaos Energy to try and kill Sonic Prime, who instead absorbed it's power to transform into Super Sonic at free will without the use of the Chaos Emeralds(that stunned Sonic and the rest of the Guardians who stared at the teenager's counterpart in awe) and having explained what happened to the shocked Eggman and defeated him and his latest robot Greater Digegr Robot.
Prime explained that despite the battle, the creation Eggman made out of the battle datas was completed and so he immediately activated, at first calling it Sonaw("That's the lamest name ever." Sonic commented and everyone else nodded in agreement), but as Shadow and Knuckles arrived and were about to confront Eggman and "Sonaw", the newly created hedgehog interrupted and states that he was created to kill both Sonic and Shadow, and instead wanted to do that as well as enslave Mobius, renaming himself as Seelkadoom("That's even worse." The teenage blue hedgehog muttered with an raised eyebrow over the name.) which forced Eggman, who realized he couldn't control this new 'Ultimate Lifeform', to send him as well as Sonic and two of his friends to another dimension.
The older Sonic explained how during the trip he thought he was about to die, and lost consciousness before awakening to find a purple being who calls himself Nights, explained to him how he already met Knuckles and Shadow who had both left to find a way out of the dimension and the black hedgehog looking for a way to defeat Seelkadoom, and that Nights' brother Reala joined forces with the evil hedgehog since they arrived. Prime had then joined with Nights to find the Sapphire and once they defeated it's guardian Ristar who understood their situation, Reala(who has killed Ristar, much to everyone's horror) appeared to steal the Sapphire which caused Prime to transform into Super Sonic went after him, with Nights following him. Reala lost the Sapphire to them, but while he was flying away with Super Sonic, they engage into battle. Despite being in Super form, Prime was no match for Reala. When Prime woke up, he saw that Reala was gone, but he was reunited with Knuckles and Nights. After being healed by Nights, he and himself went to the Reala's Castle to save Shadow while Knuckles tried to find a way back to Mobius.
They finally got to the Dark Castle, with Reala waiting for them. Nights told Sonic Prime to find and fight Seelkadoom while he dealt with his brother. Prime begrudgingly agreed, flying away from the battle between Nights and Reala. Prime found Seelkadoom and prepared to fight him. Shadow joined in after being defeated by Seelkadoom. The two hedgehogs fought against Seelkadoom, but Seelkadoom was able to defeat the two of them with his ultimate attack. However, after his attack, Seelkadoom was weak, and Prime and Shadow were revived, due to Nights giving them the energy from the Holy Sapphire. Shadow suggested to finish Seelkadoom off for good, but Sonic disagreed and got Shadow out of the battle. Meanwhile Nights defeated Reala with the power of the Sapphire and was about to finish him, only for Prime to arrive to get Nights out to save him.
By then outside the castle while Knuckles was running Prime landed on him along with Shadow and Nights. Shadow was in rage for why Sonic Prime didn't finish him off before the blue hedgehog argue that they need a plan and thought Seelkadoom was weakened but he was still strong, Nights quickly ceased the arguement and suggest finding a place to rest which he found that the cavern is the right place to rest in. Shadow tried to found out how Prime turn Super form without Chaos Emeralds which Prime stated that he was in Eggman trap then he use a weapon with chaos energy try to kill him but Sonic absorbed it then turned Super form.
Shadow then left while trying find a way to get his Super form. The group then suddenly got ambushed a gargoyle and The Ancient Beast while resting in a cavern. Prime, Nights, and Knuckles battled against the Ancient Beast and a gargoyle. While they did defeated the gargoyle, The Ancient Beast was tough to kill, beating the three heroes into submission, until Shadow decides to check on them, realizing that they need his help. Even though Shadow gave the Beast a good fight, it wasn't enough, so the Beast was about to finish them off, until Shadow showed the lizard his true power. Shadow used his power and finished off the Ancient Beast.
Knuckles was then affected by a curse by the Acient Beast's ultimate attack which Sonic and Nights didn't affect because Prime had his Super form to protect and Nights is immune to it. Nights told Sonic Prime that he had to travel to the light side of Herbegitan to retreive the Holy Water from Night's castle in order to cure Knuckle's curse. Sonic Prime then turned into his Super form again and traveled to the light side of Herbegitan. On the way there, Seelkadoom intercepts him but Super Sonic is able to overpower him because Seelkadoom is out of energy and weakened again and make his way to the castle. Once inside, Prime fought his way to Druaga's room and defeats him, retrieving the Holy Water before swiftly hurrying back to Knuckles and Nights.
He also explained that while that was happening, back in his Mobius, Tails Prime was inside the Tornado, flying through the Sky. While wondering where Sonic Prime was up to since he went to vacation and where Knuckles Prime was since he wasn't on Angel Island, he saw the Death Egg. Thinking that Eggman has the Master Emerald, Tails decided to check it out.
Once he got inside, he destroyed the door, which triggered the alarm. Back with Doctor Eggman Prime, he was furious about the fact that even with the Master Emerald, he couldn't find the Seven Chaos Emeralds. Silver Sonic appeared, telling Eggman that an intruder is inside the Death Egg. Eggman tells the Robotic Sonic to rid of the hero, then wondered who could be in his Death Egg, remembering that he sent Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Seelkadoom in another dimension. The next cutscene shows that Tails is getting annoyed by the alarm, which finally turns down, much to his relief, which didn't last long as Silver Sonic appeared, ordering Tails to surrender or be killed. Tails, who didn't want lose to him or Eggman, refused and stood his ground.
After Silver Sonic became Scrap Metal, Tails faced Eggman, who was surprised that Tails was there. The two-tailed fox saw that the mad doctor indeed had the Master Emerald. He then told Eggman to give it back or he'd have to take it by force. Eggman laughs and states that just because he past all his guards, doesn't mean he can't beat this, showing Tails his huge robot. Eggman then told Tails that he should be grateful, stating that Tails should be honored of being the first "victim" of his new weapon. However, even with the Master Emerald's power, Eggman's machine was destroyed by Tails. The two-tailed fox then ordered him to give up the Master Emerald.
Back in the other dimension where Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles are, Seelkadoom was having a nightmare, seeing himself being defeated by Sonic and Shadow. After this, he wakes up, and swears that Sonic will pay! Back with Nights looking after Knuckles, who is cursed, the purple Nightmaren hopes that Sonic comes with the Holy Water as soon as possible. However, Nights's day just got worse when Reala appeared, asking for the Sapphire. Nights laughed, ready to beat him again, but Reala reminded him that Knuckles was injured and asked if he'll risk his life. Luckily, Shadow, who doesn't care about anyone, appeared as well, telling Nights that Prime told him to help protect Knuckles, if needed. Reala then battled Shadow who defeated him.
After being defeated, Reala attempted to fly away. However, Shadow wasn't going to let him get away that easy. Nights then used Star Rain on Reala, only for the latter to use a shield against the attack. Luckily, Shadow used his technique and destroyed Reala's shield, giving Nights and Shadow a chance to stop Reala... permanently.
Back with Seelkadoom, he chuckled and decides to give Prime a little surprise, running out the area he was knocked out on, thanks to Prime who by then tried to find a way back to the team, only to encounter a rock monster. After escaping the monster since he was worried about Knuckles, he continued to follow the path, only to see that he's lost again. Getting tired and having enough, he turn Super and flies out of the forest.
Back with Nights and Shadow, Seelkadoom appears before them, seeing that they killed Reala. Seelkadoom then calls Reala an idiot, since he told him to stay in the castle but feels that Reala deserved to die. Shadow, once seeing Seelkadoom, decided to fight him. However Seelkadoom quickly overpowered him and prepare to finish him off, Fortunately Super Sonic come in and save Shadow. Seelkadoom told the group the they must face him in Reala castle for the final battle then disappeared. Shadow woke up after being knocked unconscious demand Prime where was he which Prime said that he was in Reala castle waiting for them, Nights told Sonic Prime and Shadow to face Seelkadoom while he started to cure Knuckles, the two hedgehogs then run off to confront Seelkadoom.
As Prime and Shadow race towards the castle, they notice that the castle was bigger than when they came here at first. After arriving at the castle, they could not see Seelkadoom. Suddenly, Seelkadoom calls them from up above. Prime used a charged spin jump and jumped to where Seelkadoom was and transformed into his Super Form.
Meanwhile Knuckles woke up and asked Nights if he had missed anything, Nights said he didn't. Shadow transformed into his Super Form using the power of the Sapphire. During their battle, Seelkadoom completely surprised the two, as Seelkadoom suddenly overpowered Super Sonic and Super Shadow. Seelkadoom beats Prime back to his base form while Shadow was asking why Seelkadoom was so tough, as if he has some sort of source of unlimited power. He then realized and guessed if it really could be that Seelkadoom possessed the Emeralds all along. Nights and Knuckles come to Reala castle shorly afterward then help Shadow to fight Seelkadoom.
At the same time, after Tails defeated Eggman, Amy Prime quickly came in and demanded him where Sonic Prime was, Eggman explained to them that he transported them to another dimension along with his creation much to their shock. Back to another dimension, despite their best effort Seelkadoom quickly overpowered them all, knocked Nights and Knuckles unconsious then beat Shadow out of Super form. Seelkadoom laughed in victory prepare to destroy the universe but a burst of gold energy make him turn back, Sonic Prime wake up from unconsious turn Super form then absorb the power of the Sapphire and transform into his new form: Hyper form.
Seelkadoom, angry that Prime managed to turn Hyper, started mocking the other hedgehog who then responded with a Sonic Wave, which Seelkadoom deflected with ease. Prime then rushed towards Seelkadoom. Shadow, after waking up, saw their fight and claims that it is completely one-sided, and that Seelkadoom just can't keep up with Prime's speed.
Seelkadoom was impressed with Prime's newfound Power stating that his Speed is astonishing, but mocks him that, that his power won't last much longer. Seelkadoom unleashes an aura of Dark Energy, and blitzes toward's Sonic, scratching his cheek a bit. Prime then dashed away from Seelkadoom, while Seelkadoom was chasing after him. Seelkadoom managed to land a kick on Prime, seemingly having damaged him a bit, but Prime remained unharmed, and punched Seelkadoom in the air, to which Seelkadoom then unleashed a Chaos Spear at him, which Sonic deflected with ease and then finally managed to defeat him.
Shadow realized that Prime used the Sapphire to reach the Hyper form. Seelkadoom yelled at Prime to stop running and then activated the Emeralds power, transforming into Apex Seelkadoom. He could turn the tables on Prime this time, but Prime called Shadow to get back up, and told Knuckles to use the Sapphire. Shadow woke Knuckles up and told him to use the Sapphire. Knuckles and Shadow realized it radiates the same Energy as the Master Emerald and can stop the Chaos Emeralds' power. Knuckles recites the chant of the Master Emerald, using the Sapphire, and the Chaos Emeralds finally stopped functioning, turning Seelkadoom back to his base form. Prime then launched an energy beam, that knocked Seelkadoom out unconsciously. Nights was surprised, asking how they could use the Sapphire like that, which Prime explained that it had the same powers as the Master Emerald. Prime thanked Knuckles for his help to stop the Chaos Emeralds from keeping Seelkadoom in his Apex state. Shadow then start finish Seelkadoom off with Chaos Blast, ultimately killing him.
Prime and Shadow then managed to use the Chaos Emeralds and the Sapphire to Chaos control themselves and Knuckles back to Mobius , thanking Nights for everything, and wishing him luck to rule his empire. Amy Prime and Tails Prime were happy to see them. Seeing Eggman, Shadow told him that if he created something again, Shadow would end his life. Prime quickly ran away ready for another adventure.
"After that, well, you know that rest." Prime concluded.
"Whoa..." The Guardians and Cosmo murmured in awe at such a story.
"Man. To think that you could transform into Super Sonic without the Chaos Emeralds whenever you wanted to. That's pretty cool." Sonic remarked, adding with a grin. "And I've never heard of Hyper Sonic before, let alone experienced it. I thought being transformed into Super Sonic was awesome, but boy, the Hyper Form sounds way past cool!"
"Yeah, it's Hyper-active!" Crash and Eddie cheered in amazement, and while most of the group looked at the twins with dry looks, they did all felt very amazed with Prime's Hyper Form.
"It was. But the downside to that was that after I transformed into Hyper Sonic, it drained away all of the Chaos Energy I absorbed, so I couldn't even transform into Super Sonic with the Emeralds. It's because of the Rainbow Gem that I regained that ability." The older Sonic shrugged, which shocked his younger self and friends.
"No way!" Serena exclaimed, to which Prime nodded a bit sadly.
"And to think, Eggman created Seel-whatever his name was." Manny muttered uncomfortably.
"And how he transformed into Apex Seelkadoom...That sounds very scary." Sakura added, shuddering. Everyone else all nodded in agreement, with a bit of a fright, glad that they never met the monster in hedgehog form before and hoped that they never would.
"It's too bad Shadow didn't get rid of him before that mess started." Shira shook her head in disbelief.
"Yeah...To be honest, I kinda wish he did. But then again, it would've caused Mecha Sonic to destroy my world a lot sooner." Prime sighed.
Sonic lowered his gaze, and while he didn't show it, he was frightened to the core. If the alternate version of Eggman could do all of that, then there was a possibility that this world's Eggman could do the same. Or worse, use the Rainbow Gem somehow to create something that was unstoppable.
'What if Eggman somehow makes a Seelkadoom here? Or even a new Metal Sonic? Or something worse? Or even...turn himself into a monster, or grow into a giant? Could my dreams for the past three years be a warning? What if they're trying to tell me that it's another dark vision of a horrible future?' The teenage blue hedgehog thought, rubbing his arms unconsciously as he felt a chill down his spine.
"Sonic? Are you okay?" Maya asked, as she noticed the blue hedgehog's troubled look.
"Huh?" Sonic blinked, before realizing he was thinking too hard and shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. Don't worry."
To show them that he was okay, he grabbed another Chili Dog and gulped it down in a matter of seconds and sighed in delight. Though as he did, the teenage cobalt hero didn't see that Prime, who also noticed, gazed at him and frowned in concern. He recognized that look from the last couple of days; again he scared his younger self, again he made Sonic realize the terrible horrors that his world's version of Eggman could do.
'I hope Eggman here doesn't do what I went through.' The older blue hedgehog thought.
Once they had their lunch, they went out and at Rini's request, Prime joined her, Max, Lusie, Donkey, Luna, Crash and Eddie towards the park since they wanted to know him more despite that he was another version of Sonic from a different reality. Cream and Cheese joined them as the group began to play while the blue hedgehog smiled as the scene reminded him of how much of the fun times he had with his late friends back in his former home.
"I see you guys hang out quite a lot, huh?" Prime remarked.
"Yeah, and sometimes we go out on adventures in Mystery Dungeons or anywhere in general, especially with Piplup, Chimchar and Grovyle, and lately Celebi. It was through Piplup and Grovyle that we formed Team Moonfriendship." Rini explained.
"Really?" The hero of the Omni-verse replied, surprised.
"Mm-hm! They're my best friends along with Hotaru, then Max and Donkey came up with the idea of us becoming a team, and that's when my memories of the Realm of Non-Existance started to come back. Then with Chimchar when they did, and then Lusie, before Crash and Eddie, and after the War Luna wanted to join us too." The 30th Century Princess replied.
She then sighed in sadness as she gazed up at the sky, which made the blue hedgehog concerned. "Even though I know that Deltora is always real in my memories, I still miss it a whole lot. Before we found out about what happened to Master Aqua, Ven, Terra, Jason, Sceptile and Queen Serenity through the Datascape, even with Axel, Roxas, Namine and Xion, I wanted to do some training to find a beautiful place that hasn't been discovered yet, and rebuild Deltora to make it real again."
Prime listened to what Rini was saying, though that only caused him to remember what Sonic had told him in the last couple of days.
"The King asked if I wanted to rebuild my family's royal bloodline, but I decided against it. Like I said to him, Elise, Ames, Knuckles and Tails, I don't want history to repeat itself, especially when there will always be evil out there, just as there will always be heroes, too. If I rebuild the kingdom, in hundreds if not thousands of years time, it could happen all over again." Sonic explained.
He snapped back and looked at Rini with a sympathetic expression.
"Deltora being rebuilt may be a good idea, but sometimes I realized evil can rise and destroy it again and again and and cause destruction as history would repeat itself." Prime carefully warned her. Rini eyes widened in shock whick make her remember what happened to Crystal Tokyo when she was five years old was almost a repeat of what happened to the Moon Kingdom 1,000 years earlier from the present in the 20th Century
"But I still don't understand why evil would do that, what it's goal. After the world, universe, multiverse or even the Omni-verse would be destroyed, what will they do after seeing everything destroyed then they stand thhere alone in the place doing nothing? Does the destruction satisfy them like Mecha Sonic? I just realized one thing that the evil isn't born but it is made." Prime wondered.
"That's...a good point. Xehanort wasn't always evil. But then, Bhunivelze wanted to destroy us because he hated the idea of us and everybody not being gods having free will, and Solaris followed him, from what Sonic told us." Rini sighed in sadness, realizing that Prime was right. "That's why the other gods sealed them both away because they were too dangerous."
"Don't be sad, the evil can bring back to their good side, they can be redeemed no matter what happens. I promised everything will be alright." Prime said, saying Sakura's famous quote, rubbed her hair gently.
"Not everyone, though, Prime." Rini pointed out, even though she smiled softly. "There were people like Lord Beckett who was reborn and he still was a bad guy. Ash and the others had to fight and defeat him and he died again before meeting the rest of us in Cona Valley."
"Yeah, that's a good point. Some are stubborn and determined to conquer and destroy universe but most evil can redeem themselves and they are the ones who have their tragic past seeking for revenge like Shadow." Prime nodded.
"I remember our Shadow doing the similar thing. But it was because of Serena that he saw the truth, and died while saving her and Sonic from Rinsler." Rini sighed, sniffling as she recalled the day when Shadow sacrificed himself on Earth, absorbed and swallowed by Rinsler's giant form to become almost unstoppable. It was a miracle that Sailor Moon somehow managed to tap into the power of the Chaos Emeralds, connecting them with the Silver Crystal and allowing her and Sonic to transform into Ultimate Sailor Moon and Super Sonic and ultimately destroy Rinsler once and for all.
He found it really surprising that their Shadow sacrificing himself was similar to his own but it was different a bit. Once he saw the tears come out from Rini's eyes, it made Prime feel uncomfortable, he hated seeing people cry because of him. He then wrapped his arms around Rini, giving her a comforting hug, and began rubbing her back.
"Don't cry, Rini. Your Shadow always in your heart." Prime said with a comforting tone, recalling the day in Space ARK the final battle against Finalhazard, how he thought he and everybody else would never see Shadow again until months later.
Despite that she was crying, Rini felt such comfort and hugged him back. It was like the time when Sonic did the same, which makes sense considering that she was in the arms of an alternate Sonic who was no different from the Sonic that was close to the teenage self of her mother. Yet she knew that Prime was right. Like others who were lost in the past, Shadow was indeed with her and everybody else.
"What do I do, Prime? What if I forget about Deltora all over again?" Rini asked, worriedly, going back to her worries.
"Remember Rini, Deltora always in your heart. Eeven if you forget Deltora, your heart will still recognize it and make you remember once you go deep down to your heart." Prime adviced her.
She softly gasped in surprise, before remembering how Axel and Namine told Ash and Sora how their hearts hold their deepest memories. It made her realize that even if she forgot at the time, her memories of Deltora had always been with her, Future-Piplup and Grovyle in their hearts, and once they met again and went on occasional adventures, their memories came back. Like with Serena and Mickey during their time with Cloud and the others.
Smiling emotionally, Rini nodded. "Thank you, Prime. You're right. I'm really glad that you're another good version of Sonic."
She then leaned up and gave Prime a quick gentle kiss on the cheek. Prime smiled then rubbed her hair, making her giggle.
As the group took a break near the bridge to gaze at the city, Prime couldn't help but notice how Cosmo, despite her having gotten on so well with the Guardians of Light who have become her new friends, was gazing at the sky, looking rather said. Immediately sensing what was wrong, the blue hedgehog approached her.
"You miss your home world, don't you?" Prime asked softly as he stood beside her, slightly startling the Seedrian who gazed at him, then realized what he was talking about.
"Yes. I worry that Apsu will do to other worlds as she has done to my homeworld. Mobius is a pretty place, but even with the Guardians of Light helping me, and being my new friends, I miss my friends and my family so much. I...I wish I could see them again." Cosmo sighed, lowering her gaze as her eyes began to tear up.
Sighing, Prime gently placed a hand onto the girl's shoulder. "I know what you mean. Believe me, I really do. Being the last one of your world...it...is like a knife stabbed my heart." Prime said, remembering the events of Mecha Sonic.
"Despite that me and my friends tried their best to stop him, he was too powerful, I did my best effort to stop him but that didn't stop him into killing my friends, they were killed in...a brutal way. No mercy." Prime's eyes then flashed in blue colour but it changed back to green once Cosmo looked at him.
"Sonic Prime? Your eyes turned blue." She informed him, a bit alarmed.
"Huh, it must be the Rainbow Gem doing something to my body." Prime mutered, checking his body.
'It must be my rage that awakened my Soul along with the Rainbow Gem.' The twenty-one year old thought, furrowing his eyes in slight concern. It was no secret that he was somehow transported to this dimension, but he still didn't understand why he was sent here.
"Could it be it was how you came here to this reality?" Cosmo wondered. "Are you alright, Prime?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, it's just one of my powers starting to be active." Prime reassured her.
"I see. Still..." She paused as she gazed at the sky once more.
"I will be alright, Cosmo. You shouldn't worry much." Prime said, patting her head.
"I hope so. It's just...I really want to believe that everything will be alright, and Serena, Sonic, Sora, Sakura, Ash and King Mickey have the determination and courage and reassurance that everything will be alright. I just can't help but fear for the worst." Cosmo muttered, as Prime gently rubbed her back to give her comfort.
"Even the worst will fade away, Cosmo." Prime said, smiling softly.
Cosmo looked at him surprised, and almost instantly, she remembered what Sonic told her just a day after she arrived on this planet, hours after he and the Guardians sent Eggman away when the evil doctor made his shocking return.
"There's nothing to worry about as long as the Guardians of Light are on the scene. We'll stop Apsu and save the worlds." Sonic reassured her confidently, holding up a finger as he proclaimed. "I promise!"
Feeling at ease, she nodded and gave a soft smile. "It is good to see that there are many other versions of you and Sonic that are good in your hearts. You two, Serena, Ash, Sora, Sakura, and the King give such hope and reassurance to many others. I understand now why you all had so many wonderful friends."
"It was great. Sometimes we should forget the tragic past and head to the future. The bright future is what awaits for us." Prime said, smiling at the seedrian.
"Yes, you are right. I've heard tales of how some of the Guardians have moved on from experiencing many difficult times. I believe now that everything will be alright, especially once Cloud Strife joins us to save the worlds and end Apsu's evil plots." Cosmo replied, nodding. Prime winked back at her.
"Hey, Cosmo!" Tails called up, causing both Cosmo and Prime to glance up at the young two-tailed fox. "You wanna come see the flower bed? It's right here!"
"That would be lovely, thank you." She replied, turning back to Prime and muttered. "Thank you for cheering me up, Sonic Prime."
The older blue hedgehog smiled as he gave her a wink.
As Cosmo went to talk to Tails after feeling better, Prime sighed as he lowered his gaze as well, viewing at his reflection on the water underneath the bridge, deep in thought. This was noticed by Serena and Sonic and, sharing a glance, approached him.
"Prime? You okay?" Serena asked as she and her blue hedgehog friend stood by his side.
"You still miss your home world, don't you?" Sonic asked, softly.
"Well, there's that, and then there's the concern about how powerful Apsu can be. I mean, Mecha Sonic was just as dangerous that he can easily blow up an island with ease. He take out the Deadly Six with one blow and easilly overpowered the Metals team. He resisted the Erase Card, Maze card, Fog, illusion and the Element cards and worse, he can counter it back." Prime said
"I'm really terrified of how a robot could do all of that. Destroy a planet and even a small island like ripping a piece of paper." Serena admitted, shuddering.
Sonic nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Eggman's robots are dangerous enough, but Mecha Sonic is a definition of one. The way how he could do all of that, like blowing up an island after destroying your world, and other things that made him so powerful, he's a monster."
"And he is capable of destroying the Omniverse in his Phantom form, create his clones called the Meta Demons and he give me a hard time to take him out even I was in my Ultra form." Prime continued.
"Definitely a monster." Sonic shuddered, mentally gulping nervously.
"I wouldn't even call him a monster, 'cause even Monsters in another world that used to scare kids to gain their fears for energy stopped doing that and stared on making kids laugh since laughter is stronger than screaming, for whatever it was in the factory Scully and Mike worked in." Serena shook her head, recalling her time in Monstropolis during the war against Xehanort, Chaos and Bhunivelze.
Prime nodded in agreement despite that he and his youngerself were surprised to hear that. "You're right. He was the worst. You guys are extremely lucky to not have to go through fighting him like I did. It's best to destroy evil robots and make sure they're never rebuilt, or else what happened to me could happen to somebody else."
"I see your point. So far Eggman here hasn't rebuilt any of his robots. I think the closest he does is fix up Decoe and Bocoe if they end up breaking and those two hardly ever fight. They're more like his housemaids." The younger hedgehog remarked.
"So were Orbot and Cubot." His older self shrugged, "And Cubot was the stupidest out of all of them."
"Sounds more a Dumbot if ya' ask me." Sonic replied and Serena nodded in agreement. "But if comes to that, I'll make sure that it won't ever happen. The least I can do is make sure Eggman ends up in jail for the rest of his life, and maybe have GUN make sure he doesn't escape. No more loose ends or sneak attacks. I'll even search every single broken or abandoned base if I have to, all across the planet."
"We'll help too. If it does end up getting close to that, it'll be a good idea to put Eggman in prison before he can. Besides, I don't want the same thing that happened to Xehanort happen even to him." Serena said with determination, sighing. "I mean, I know that not ever villain can be saved or redeemed, not like Jessie, James and Meowth, and Gavin and his family, or even Hein. Beckett definitely couldn't be saved and he was just a Lord of the East Indian Trading Company who wanted to rule Earth twice and destroy freedom."
"That's the thing. Sometimes doing so is the only way to end the evil in most cases. I didn't kill Eggman, but at least now I know that Mecha Sonic will never be coming back. I don't like being violent as much as you guys hate it, it's just...it's a hard lesson if you keep villains like Eggman go for too long." Prime pointed out.
"Which is why I'm not going to kill Eggman, but at the same time, I can't let history repeat itself. Jails is the only way to end the fight once and for all for guys like him. With Rinsler and other villains with evil powers, well...like you said, it's the only way to save everyone. I can't bear the thought of taking away a person's life. Not when there has to be some good within him." Sonic said.
Serena paused, before looking away slightly. The two Sonics were right, but she hadn't thought in the cases of battles that brought death to evil people; the War between Pirates and the Trading Company, and Davy Jones and his crew was the most deadliest she ever experienced and even today, she still felt guilty for all of those people who had either taken the wrong path or died. Not to mention Hojo, Heidegger, Scarlet, Sephiroth, Kadaj's group, Deepground, Farquaad, Snakehead, the Fairy Godmother and Charming...
'Never again. I'm never taking away anymore lives of people that have suffered or aren't monsters from darkness ever again.' The Moon Princess vowed in her mind.
"We'll make sure of it. Maybe if we're lucky, Eggman will understand that everything he does is wrong." Serena spoke up, determined.
"I wish it could happen, but I kinda have a feeling that he won't change. Sure he helped out a bit a few times in the past, but mostly because he wants to rule Mobius, not destroy it." The fifteen year old hedgehog sighed. "Not to mention that he's a coward. Not once has he fought me or anybody else with his own hands. He lets his robots do all the hard work."
"I hope you guys can at least do that. But remember, if it comes to it, then...then there's not much of any other choice. I'm not Shadow but...it's my fault I let it go on for so long that it was too late to stop him from rebuilding Mecha Sonic to the point that he couldn't control him anymore." Prime reminded.
Both Sonic and Serena sighed and lowered their gazes, since as much as neither of the teenagers liked it, they knew deep down with heavy hearts that he was right.
"I just...I don't wanna be a monster. I don't want to have blood my hands. If I end up killing someone, I'd be no better than the Hedgehog King, since even though Mephilies brainwashed him, he's responsible for causing Knuckles to end being the last of the Echidnas, and I feel solely responsible for it. It's awful that Sonia and Manic are his kids and I'm related to that creep." Sonic said, in slight fear and guilt.
"Sonic, you're nothing like the Hedgehog King. You're the total opposite." The sixteen year old girl pointed out, gently placing a hand onto her friend's shoulder.
"She's right. I'm not saying you should do it since violence is wrong, but if or when the time comes, just remember you're doing it because it's the right thing to do and the only thing to do, to protect everybody and the world." Prime added, placing his hand onto his younger self's other shoulder and smiled softly. "I get what you're saying, believe me, and I hope it doesn't come to it. But keep this in mind, just in case. Being a hero has it's ups and downs."
Even though he still didn't want to resort into killing anyone, even his worst enemies unless he had to, and Sonic felt sick knowing that he killed Solaris despite that the Sun God was a monster, he realized that his friends were right. Even though he had helped to defeat Jin's insane grandfather who became a monster himself because of the evil in his heart, the blue hedgehog was still himself. He was still the same Sonic the Hedgehog as he had always been, as a free-spirited adventurer, a great friend, a caring big brother to Tails, and a hero. Nothing has changed.
'Maybe I do have more control of my darkness because of who I am. I was careful during the war, and while I came half-close in becoming the new vessel of Chaos, I'm still me.' The blue hedgehog thought to himself and smiled softly.
"Thanks, guys. You're right." Sonic sighed, gently pulling both Prime and Serena into a small group hug. "Besides, who says there's anything that doesn't come with pros and cons?"
"Somebody we don't know who's just as crazy as Buck?" Serena asked, before sweat dropping as she chuckled sheepishly. "Then again, so far when it comes to craziness, he takes the first place trophy. But that's what happens when you live in solitude in a dangerous underground jungle full of hungry, or grumpy dinosaurs."
Sonic laughed, "Yeah, if I ended up living on my own with nobody to talk to for so long, I'd go crazy myself."
"Yeah, Buck's the craziest guy I've ever met. Marrying a pineapple and adopting a pumpkin? What else does he do?" Prime asked, smiling a little nervously.
"He used a rock as a cell phone, strangled his own foot with a skull on it when he played skull puppets. But at least it didn't drive him to the point of being suicidal. He saved us from dinosaur herds, man-eating giant plants, uh, well at least he saved Ash, Shrek, Puss, Diego, and Manny since Manny thought the red thingy was a piece of fruit, the deadly Gas that literally makes people die laughing and makes your voices sound like you sucked in helium, rescued Sid with the help of Crash, Eddie and Team Pokepals, and saved us from Rudy, and being the sole leader of us saving the Realm of Light from the Asteriod of Darkness." Serena explained.
"He sure sounds like a great hero, just like all of you." Prime said.
"Yeah, we all have different personalities, but we always manage to sort things out, and while I'm still a daredevil and admittedly reckless, we've always been careful." Sonic replied.
Suddenly Crash and Eddie could be heard screaming and as the trio looked up in alarm, the two Possums suddenly came catapaulting themselves from a pole and went flying past them before landing in the water in a big splash, the trinklets of water getting to Serena, Sonic and Prime who cringed. The twins then emerged and shared a high five, laughing.
"That was cool!" Crash exclaimed excitedly.
"And refreshing too!" Eddie agreed, before he and his brother began swimming happily.
"Not as reckless as these two." Serena deadpanned to Sonic, glaring at her two Possum friends in annoyance.
"I'll never understand these guys' ideas of fun either." The blue hedgehog grumbled. "They're great friends and all, but still...
Even Prime was glaring in annoyance at the two Possums, realizing that Serena was right; Crash and Eddie were just as reckless as himself and Sonic.
Spending one last hour of touring Soleanna before heading back to the Palace to share their goodbyes to Elise and her father and then head out to find the next Chaos Emerald somewhere in Mobius, the group were now back at the same beach they had been yesterday, this time taking the time to enjoy the scenary. Prime had to admit, he felt more relaxed than he had been since he came here to this reality.
'Maybe it's because I'm in a world that's much like my own before I came to live with Saki-Chan. Man, I miss being around people like me. Guess I really get how Cosmo feels, and now I understand how Knuckles feels in each and every reality he's in...or at least most of them anyway.' Prime thought to himself, smiling as he saw some of his new friends splash water at each other as they played by the shallow parts of the beach.
Amy seemed to be getting into playing despite that she looked to be a more serious member of the group despite her sweet personality. The female warrior of Mercury did care for her friends and given her story, before meeting Serena, she didn't seem to have fun as much. She giggled along with others when Serena, and Sid were accidentally hit in the face or back of the head by a beach ball.
"Hey, Prime." Sakura spoke up, as she noticed the blue hedgehog sitting by the beach relaxing before approaching him. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm doing okay. It's just...guess I'm feeling a little bit homesick. But I'll be okay." Prime answered, as his sister's counterpart took a seat next to him. "You sure have a lot of great friends beside Tomoy-I mean, Madison and Kero."
The teenage Cardcaptor giggled. "Yeah, we've been through a lot even in our own separate adventures. I still remember how I felt I couldn't be a Cardcaptor since I was a kid. I never even knew I had magical powers until I discovered the Clow Book. But you know what? If I hadn't found it, I wouldn't have met Kero, or everybody else."
"Even Li?" The blue hedgehog asked, and smirked a little when his friend blushed as she looked away slightly in embarrassed. "Let me guess, you really love him, don't you?"
"W-well, I, uh..." Sakura stuttered. "D-does Saki-Chan love him in your world?"
"I'm not supposed to say it, but yeah. They're in a relationship. I remember how Syaoran didn't trust me when I first met him a few months ago. Couldn't blame him since he was protective over her." Prime nodded.
This made Sakura surprised, before sighing as she looked back and forth and then admitted. "Yeah, it's kind of the same thing with me and Li too, except he has responsibilites around. We do check up on each other every now and then. Last time I saw him was back in the Sinnoh Region, back when my friends and I had to fight Starazia and met Akiho. I...revealed my feelings to him in Medge, though. Back when I had to capture the Nothing Card last year."
"When Saki-Chan explained how she captured the Nothing Card, she and Syaoran were in a Play along with the other school kids. She played the role of a Princess while he was her Prince. It's too bad that the Nothing Card ruined the show." The twenty-one year old said.
"Huh!? Sakura in your world played as a Princess and Syaoran was a Prince?" Sakura asked, before blushing heavily as the image of her playing the role of a Princess and Li being her Prince formed in her mind, romantically dancing and smiling at each other. In embarrassment and feeling quite giddy and happy for that possibility and daydream, she buried her face into her hands. "Now I wish I could do that, but it's so embarrassing!"
"Aw, it's okay. Your secret's safe with me." Prime chuckled, smiling. This made his friend smile as she slowly lowered her hands, and nodded in gratitude. "It's just part of growing up. I mean, I've never been a romantic kind of guy, but even I know what love is."
"Guess you're right. Even Diego felt embarrassed when he found that he'd fallen in love with Shira, and I wasn't there when they first met. I was leading everybody else to a safe place when Rumple damaged the Magical Core." Sakura sighed.
"Yeah. You got a point. What I'm really relieved of is that King Mickey has taught you how to protect yourself with the magical shields inside your body, preventing you from losing control over your powers, and I'm glad that you're learning a new one and gave the Clear Cards to Akiho." He nodded in agreement. "I really should keep a better eye on Saki-Chan, in case the same thing happened to you could happen to her, and I'd never forgive myself if I lose her too."
"Maybe you can tell her what I went through, just in case the D-Clan do exist in your world, Prime. I mean, we're sharing each other's stories, so maybe it'll be a good idea to share each other's experiences and prevent them from happening again." She suggested.
The blue hedgehog thought about it, and while he knew that it was a bad idea to interact with realities together, maybe it would be a good idea to remember what he heard and use that knowledge to keep Saki-Chan safe if the D-Clan really do exist in his reality. Sonic vowed to use what he learned from Prime to prevent himself from falling into the same tragic path as it happened to him, and the teenager was serious about it.
"Maybe you're right, Sakura. I'm not sure if they are real back at home, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Thanks for the advice." Prime finally said.
"You're welcome." Sakura giggled, to which her friend who was the counterpart of her friend Sonic the Hedgehog joined her. The two then unknowingly clasped hands together, giving each other a gentle squeeze of comfort and friendship which, despite having only met two days ago, seemed to be growing stronger.
Almost like they really were brother and sister. Which they both realized this and shared a surprised glance and ended up blushing a little before smiling and decided to accept it. Prime then wrapped his arm around Sakura's shoulder and gently brought her closer to him, with her head resting on his shoulder as they gazed over the horizon like they did yesterday afternoon.
When it was time to head back to the Palace to say goodbye to Elise and the Duke before heading back to the Blue Typhoon to continue their journey across Mobius, the Guardians, Cosmo and Prime were walking along the street when Prime suddenly heard a sound that made him stop. Pausing in his steps and looking to see where it was coming from, he saw a young blond-haired girl, about Cream's age, being cornered by three grown men who appeared to be thugs wanting nothing but trouble.
"Please, please leave me alone! I don't have any money." The little girl pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.
"Oh, don't worry, kid. We don't want your money. You'll be coming home with us. Right boys?" One man, apparently the leader with muscle, grinned evilly as his two thugs laughed, one of them holding a sack big enough to fit the child and even Sonic and Prime in.
"We're just going to hold you for ransom." Another man said.
"Or just have you with us forever. We'll take good care of you." The third man, the one holding the bag, added as he edged closer and closer.
Prime was horrified as he gasped at the sight, memories when he saved Saki-Chan from a group of bullies formed in his mind.
Sonic Prime was on his way back from is run when he heard Saki-Chan crying out for help, causing him to skid to a stop. To his shock and horror, his new sister-like friend was being harassed and bullied by a group of kids close by.
"Stop it! Leave me alone!" Young Saki-Chan yelled, but the bullies ignored her and knocked her down to the ground. She began crying as the bullies were about to attack again.
Angered by the sight, Sonic Prime then quickly sped towards them and knocked the bullies back. He stood in front of Saki-Chan and told them with a glare. "Hey! It's not nice to bully her, kid!"
"Who are you, freak?" One of the bullies, the leader of the bully trio, asked.
"What? You've never seen a hedgehog before? Well, you kids just leave her alone." Sonic Prime joked and informed, standing in a stance to protect the girl who he quickly grew to love like a little sister.
"Who cares?" The boy scoffed, before telling his cohorts. "Boys, take down this creature thing!"
The bullies charged to attack, which made Sonic Prime dodge easily. He smirked at how easy it was thanks to his speed. The blue hedgehog continued to dodge their futile attacks before running around the three bullies, creating a tornado that lifted them from the ground, while Saki-Chan watched on in awe at her new friend's speed and power. By then, the bullies fell to the ground and, realizing they were dealing with the wrong guy, ran away in fear.
"That will be a lesson for them." Sonic Prime said, then turned to Saki-Chan while holding out his hand, asking. "You okay, Sakura-Chan?"
"Thanks, Sonic-Kun. I'm fine." Saki-Chan replied, taking her friend's hand and stood up, then asked in amazement. "Sonic-Kun, how did you go that fast?"
Sonic Prime smirked, pointing a thumb to his chest. "I'm the fastest thing alive."
"The fastest thing alive?" She asked, surprised.
"Yeah! I run faster than the speed of sound." He replied with a thumbs up, surprising her even more.
"Hoe! Really?" Saki-Chan asked.
"Yeah. Want a run?" Sonic Prime asked, and his friend nodded.
She climbed onto the blue hedgehog's back with her arms around his neck as he instructed her with a smile.
"Get ready, Sakura-chan." He told her with a grin, before he took off with Saki-Chan on his back.
Prime blinked before he glared angrily at the three men. Kid bullies were bad enough, especially hurting other kids on purpose. But grown men attempting to kidnap children for their sick entertainment? That was just way beyond low.
By then, the little girl sniffled in fear as she began to cry. "I want my mommy!"
"Get her in the bag before we get caught." The leader ordered, knowing that they were in the risk of a large crowd hearing them.
But before the thugs could even grab the helpless child, a blue blur suddenly knocked them off their feet and sent them flying backwards. They screamed and hit the ground hard and when they looked up, they gaped in shock to see Prime stand there shielding the little girl.
"Hey! Why don't you creeps just leave her alone!?" Prime shouted, glaring at the thugs.
"What's this? Sonic the Hedgehog?" The leader gaped in disbelief.
"Uh, boss? He looks a bit taller and older. Are you sure this is Sonic?" The leader with the sack asked, nervously.
"You're close, but I'm Prime the Hedgehog, Sonic's older cousin. And like him, I don't like bullies or thugs like you attacking innocent kids. Leave the little girl alone!" The blue hedgehog responded, not taking his eyes off of the crooks.
The leader stared in shock, especially when he heard that this was apparently Sonic's older cousin, before smirking. "Ha! Get a load of this shrimp. He thinks he can do what the squirt Sonic the Hedgehog can do. Let's capture him and use him for ransom! Maybe we can force that blue brat to hand over a Chaos Emerald or two."
"I like that idea, boss! We'll be stinkin' rich!" The second thug grinned evilly, though the third guy was reluctant.
Prime just continued to glare, standing in a stance as he prepared himself to fight. "I'll say this again, in case my warning hasn't gotten through your heads; Leave. Her. Alone!"
"Sorry, kid. But you two are comin' with us! Get him!" The Thug leader ordered, and the three men all charged, ready to throw punches at the blue hedgehog who stood there, waiting, until he easily dodged their attacks and delivered a powerful karate chop onto their heads.
Prime didn't stop as he kicked right into their stomachs, cart wheeling out of the way when the thugs, stunned and in pain for having been attacked first, charged again to try and get him. But the blue hedgehog was too fast for them while he was careful not to use his speed unless he had to. He kicked one of the men's legs in a slide-kick which knocked Thug Number 1 down to the ground, hard, being the second man of the group. He hit his face hard that he was knocked out.
"YOU LITTLE RODENT!" The Thug Leader shouted furiously, charging forward to attack.
Again, Prime was too face for him as he flipped into the air and delivered a series of martial art-like punches and kicks, sending the man back flying and crashing into a nearby trash can, halfway inside, taking down Thug Number 2. The third Thug, shocked to see this while the second Thug stood up groaning, stared at the twenty-one year old hedgehog who glared at them, his arms folded to his chest.
"...Mommy." The third Thug squeaked, before running away screaming.
"Hey, wait for me!" The second Thug shouted, as he didn't want to be beaten up further by Prime, the two men passing the leader who struggled to get out until the trash can tipped over to the side. When he managed to pull himself free while covered in filthy slime and thrown away half-eaten food and junk, he saw that his cohorts were gone.
"Get back here you cowards!" The leader shouted, before turning to Prime and, realizing that like Sonic, the older blue hedgehog was simply too fast for him.
"I suggest you go, before I really hurt you." Prime warned. "But if you ever so much as hurt this girl or anybody else ever again, you'll have both me and my cousin to worry about."
Despite the terrifying warning as the Thug Leader was now scared himself, he growled as he attempted to threaten him with a warning which failed to hide the fear in his voice. "I won't be forgetting this, Prime the Hedgehog! You and Sonic will pay!"
With that, he ran away down the street.
Once he knew that they weren't going to be causing anymore trouble for the time being, Prime headed over to the little girl who stared in awe and bend down onto one knee.
"You alright?" He asked softly.
"I'm okay. Thank you. Are you really Sonic's big cousin?" The little girl asked.
"Yep. Guess you could say that Sonic takes after me when it comes to speed." Prime answered, though he felt guilty for lying but what else could he do? "My name's Prime. What's your name?"
"I'm Emma! Thank you for saving me, Mr. Prime." Emma the little girl replied, giggling as she was gently stood up by the blue hedgehog who smiled.
"Just glad I could help. You should get home. Your mother would be worried about you." The blue hedgehog replied.
Emma nodded, "Okay. If you see Sonic, can you tell him I'd like to meet him and how cool you really are being his cousin, please? I wanna see you both again!"
While Prime felt sad that unless it was going to take weeks or months before he can return home and he could end up helping out Sonic and the Guardians in defeating Apsu once they found the Chaos Emeralds, he just couldn't make this sweet, innocent little girl who reminded him so much of Saki-Chan when she was a little girl sad.
"Okay. I can do that." Prime promised, gently rubbing the little girl on the head, making her giggle again, before she hugged him which surprised the blue hedgehog, and then he gently hugged her back. It's been ages since he has done this sort of thing in a world much like the one he was born in. Yes he did this sort of thing in Saki-Chan's world, but still...
After that, Emma waved Prime a goodbye which he did the same before she skipped away to head for home, which wasn't too far from where they were. Prime watched her go just as he heard Ash call out his name and when he turned around, he saw the twelve year old boy and everybody else approach him, clearly realizing that he had been accidentally left behind.
"Hey, what happened?" Sora asked, concerned.
"You alright, mate?" Buck asked.
"I'm okay. Just took out a couple of thugs that were attacking a little girl." Prime replied.
"What?!" Sonic gasped, before groaning. "Oh man! Sorry, Prime. I should've been there to help."
But the older Sonic shook his head with a soft smile. "Don't worry, Sonic. Those guys are already taken care of and they'll think twice before attacking her again."
"Still..." The younger Sonic sighed, scratching the top of his head. "I bet she's probably annoyed or angry with me for not saving her."
"Actually, she wants to meet you and for me to tell you for her how cool I am being your cousin. She wants to meet us both again someday." Prime reassured.
"Really?" Sonic blinked, and when his older self nodded, he smiled softly. "How can I say no to a little kid like her? Great job in saving her from those creeps!"
"That kind of reminds of me how I first met Lita and how cool she was in taking those big muscle guys out." Serena remarked, smiling.
"And how you and Shrek took out those mean knights chasing after me." Donkey added smiling, which only made his two friends gaze at him with deadpan looks.
"Donkey, I didn't do anything, and Shrek just walked up to them talking calmly. Those guys just ran away like babies since they thought he was scary looking." The Moon Princess pointed out.
The aforementioned orge nodded. "Yeah, and I didn't even roar at them. I just had my hands behind my back, and after most of the knights just ran away leaving behind their weapons, I said to the captain, "Oh really? You and what army?" After that, he just ran away, screaming."
"They sound like a bunch of cowards if they can't handle just looking at you." Knuckles stated, his arms folded to his chest.
"Yeah. Some knights." Crash nodded in agreement. "I mean, Shrek's a cool guy, just a bit ugly, but come on."
"That isn't a nice thing to say." Cream scolded.
"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm used to being called big and ugly." Shrek reassured.
"Shrek, you're not ugly. We've battled monsters that are a million times ugiler." Mina pointed out.
Sonic snickered as he added, "Yeah and Eggman takes the crown of being the ugliest guy on the planet, if not the entire universe."
"Yeah, that hasn't changed." Prime chuckled in agreement. "Anyway, as much as I like to hang around here for a bit longer, we should get going."
"You're right. Now that we've got two Chaos Emeralds, there's only five more to go." Tails agreed.
Everyone nodded in agreement and made their trek back to the castle, with Prime feeling glad that he had fun today and saved a young girl's life. Not to mention feeling like he was growing closer to the Guardians of Light as well as Cosmo. They were a great bunch of friends and family, bigger than his ever was and almost stuck together like glue.
He wished he could hang out like this as he did when he was a teenager.
A/N: And that's the filler chapter done! Chapter 11 will appear hopefully in the early first days of January 2021, but it's hard to say.
See you later, and (somewhat) Happy New Year!