Author's Note: Here's chapter eleven and our heroes of both sides arrive in their next destination! Well, first they have to get there, but you know what I mean. Anyway, 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.
Chapter 11: The Mazuri Entrance.
Waking up somewhat refreshed, having breakfast and having a bit of fun touring around Soleanna felt like what the Guardians, Cosmo and Prime really needed. A few mishaps aside, they enjoyed themselves, but now it was time to get going towards their next destination to find the third Chaos Emeralds. The group were standing just outside of the Palace gates where they were saying their goodbyes to Princess Elise and her father who were almost done in bidding everyone farewell.
"Safe travels to you and your friends, Prin-Er, *Ahem*, Sonic the Hedgehog." Duke cleared his through and sheepishly corrected himself, still not being able to hide his excitement over Sonic's royal bloodline.
"Thanks, your majesty. Same to you and everybody in the kingdom." Sonic replied, bowing his respects to the king.
"I hope you will come back soon once this journey is over." Elise said not just to her close friends, but also the rest of the group.
The teenage blue hedgehog gave his friend a wink and a thumbs up. "Don't worry. We'll be back hopefully in time for the Sun Festival, and even if we're late, we'll spend more time hanging around here. I promise."
"Me too. It's been so much fun here. I love Soleanna." Serena added as she did a curtsy.
The Princess of Soleanna nodded, and even after the hero of Mobius bowed his respects to her, the two did share a quick but deeply bonded hug which made their friends surprised when they saw that, but the Duke simply smiled, knowing how his daughter had a sibling-like bond with the hedgehog who had saved her.
"Is he allowed to do that?" Crash asked with a shrug, dumbfounded.
"Must be a hero and close friendship thing." Eddie replied, just as clueless.
Prime just smiled, seeing how more open his younger self is in this world than he ever was in his dimension. Not that much, but close enough. It made him happy that Sonic expressed his feelings towards Elise before the older blue hedgehog even suggested it. At the same time, though, he felt sad because not only he felt guilty for putting such horrible amount of doubt and fear onto the fifteen year old's shoulders that it weighed like a crane, but at least he managed to make him feel better last night.
"And Prime?" Elise spoke up after she and Sonic ended their hug.
"Yes?" The older Sonic replied, bowing to both this world's version of the Princess he missed so much and her father, surprised that she knelt down to him.
"I...I know that I'm not the Elise you once knew, but if she is anything like me, please know that...that you are very special in everyone's hearts. In your world, and in this world, too, and I believe that she wishes to see you again too, to know that, how much you mean to her in your friendship." The seventeen year old young woman informed.
He stared at he, slightly shocked and felt like he was actually speaking to his world's Elise and not the one standing before him, despite that the two women were the same person like he was with Sonic. Prime missed Elise Prime terribly, but he remembered what his younger self said last night, and finally smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Elise." Prime whispered, and was startled that she hugged him and, looking at Sonic and the Duke over her shoulder with the king nodded with a understanding and sympathetic smile, and the former nodded encouragingly with a slightly emotional smile, also with sympathy, the older Sonic gently hugged her back, feeling his heart warmed.
Despite the dimensional differences, it just felt so...right to be in the arms of Elise. Not Elise in his dimension, but it was very close enough, and it was all he could ever ask for. The rest of the guardians, surprised once more, all felt sympathy for the hero of the Omniverse, with some of them, especially Serena, Sakura, and Amy Rose, shedding tears at the scene. Donald, Goofy, Sid and Donkey sniffled emotionally and close to breaking down into tears, and both Crash and Eddie ended up crying almost instantly and hugged each other.
With that, after Prime and Elise ended their hug, he and his new friends said their farewells to the two royals and headed back to the Blue Typhoon, with the blue hedgehog walking along side by side with Sakura, Sonic and Serena, with Darien by her side.
"Are you okay, Prime?" Sakura asked gently.
"I'll be fine. I miss my world's Elise, but...I feel like some of the weight's been lifted from me. Can't explain why." Prime replied.
"It's okay, buddy. Moving on isn't easy. To tell the truth, I still have some regrets and that's saying something." Sonic reassured, patting his older self on the shoulder.
"He's right." Serena added, before saying as she remembered both Aerith and Tifa's words from almost two years ago. "Still...Dilly dally, shilly shally..."
"Huh?" Prime blinked, staring up at the Moon Princess in confusion. "Say what?"
Realizing what she said, she blushed in embarrassment and giggled. "Sorry. Just something Aerith and Tifa mentioned a while back. It's a long story."
Still puzzled, Sonic Prime glanced at Sonic who just shrugged knowingly as the younger blue hedgehog said. "Something to do with the guilt and having trouble moving on part. Cloud heard it more and almost everybody else know that guy better than I do."
"Ah. I get it." Prime nodded, somewhat understanding.
Sakura smiled, before gazing low as she thought about the moving on parts, and that she was worried about what will they be facing next and concerned about getting Prime back home to his Sakura, her own counter-part.
'I wish I could communicate with her, to let her know that Prime is okay and that we're doing everything we can to bring him back home.' The young Cardcaptor thought to herself.
A few hours later, the Blue Typhoon was souring across the sky and over the ocean as the Sailor Team, Team Sonic, Cosmo and Prime were keeping their eyes and ears pealed for any sightings and signals for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds, and used that time to relax before they reached their next destination. During that time, the Guardians shared a bit more of their stories, this time doing their best to recount the adventures the rest of the Guardians of Light had gone through during the Sailor Team's absence.
Such as Genesis's origins with Angeal and Sephiroth, Zack's journey to recover his memories from his previous life which the adventure had resulted in his heart being in the same vote as Ven's, only it rested inside Cloud's heart up until the adventures in stopping the Asteroid of Darkness. Vincent's past and his team-work with Kaylie/Sailor Dark Moon who had gone through the struggles with her inner darkness, her being the only one remembering Xion, defeating evil villains such as Nasira back on Earth, Deepground in the past, the first encounter with Bhunivelze and saving Vincent's life. The Turks' involvements with Militas Ultra who for seven years tried to prevent them from regaining their memories of their previous lives which had been a struggle in and of itself.
"Aren't they the same people who tried to use Kingdom Hearts?" Prime asked, curiously.
"Yep. Well, Fuhito tried to because he believed that the best way to save the world was to wipe out all life within it." Mickey confirmed. "At least that's what Rufus and Tseng told us."
"I still find it hard to believe that those guys would go and do that and caused so much problems." Mina sighed, leaning against the side.
"Yeah, those Militas Ultras are a bunch of creeps. I wish I could've been there to help beat them and teach them a lesson or two." Lita grumbled, glaring up at the ceiling.
"And to think that Felicia, not my niece but Veld's daughter, had such a dangerous Materia implanted in her by the same guy who caused all that trouble with Jenova and Sephiroth." Serena muttered, gritting her teeth angrily as she growled at the thought of the monstrous scientist Hojo. "Oh, that bigger-than-creep really liked to ruin people's lives for his disgusting entertainment...! If I ever end up facing him again by some sick joke or whatever, I'm gonna scream!"
Sonic nodded in agreement, his arms folded to his chest, glad he never had to meet Hojo but absolutely disgusted by the evil man's cruelty. "That's low. Lower than what Eggman would usually do. Don't get me wrong, since that guy's a monster as it is, but so far his science goes for trying to take over the world with robots, not destroy it and how he tried to roboticitize people was simply putting them inside robots, not like what he lied to me about. Hate to admit it, but I'd give Egghead one point for having very tiny sympathy. Tiny but close enough."
"Definition of tiny?" Shrek dryly responded.
"Okay, maybe I'm being too sympathetic for him, but I'm not heartless." Sonic shrugged apologetically. "But even though it is because he wants to be ruler over everything, in his opinion, if there's no world to rule, he can't rule at all. But whenever it comes to the forced truce, and I am aware that it could change someday in the future if he ever loses it which I hope not, but so far even when the truces are over, he didn't go and attack us straight away."
"My biggest worry is that even if he does end up in the afterlife unexpectedly, he won't be able to realize his mistakes and end up like the situation of Hojo, Fuhito and Zorg." Riku stated grimly.
"And Sephiroth." Serena added, shuddering. "I mean, even after he died, his mind didn't and he managed to somehow create the Geostigma within the Lifestream and Kadaj used the, well, you know, Jenova's cells that transformed him and revived Sephiroth. Mickey, Cloud and I had to fight him straight away."
"Do you think Dr. Eggman will never stop being horrible even after he goes to Heaven?" Cream asked, a little frightened as Cheese chirped worriedly.
"That's a hard one to answer, Cream." Prime sighed, running his hand through his quills. "It depends on what the people who had gone away would do."
"He's right." Sonic sighed in agreement. "If nothing else, Eggman's been bad for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in the Underworld."
"That's another thing I'm worried about. What if Hades brings Eggman back and they'd team up?" Goofy muttered, which made Donald groan in fear.
Sora on the other hand, shook his head and said. "Nah, after what happened with Auron, I don't think the H-ster would be that stupid. I mean, if he did, he would've brought Zorg back already to get revenge on the King, right?"
"You're right, Sora. As evil as Zorg and Hades both are, I don't think Hades would being Zorg back." Mickey agreed.
Knuckles smirked as he stated. "If anything, that guy would find Eggman to be very annoying. I heard that he doesn't want to go back to being partners with Maleficent and Pete."
"Yeah, they'd probably have endless arguments if they ever did team up." Max chuckled, as he imagined Eggman and Hades having a furious heated argument and battling each other on how their enemies should be defeated.
"I can't imagine Eggman and Hades teaming up, but it leaves me worried of what else we would be facing." Cosmo said, before smiling in relief. "But I believe that everything will be okay in the end, right?"
"That's the spirit, Cosmo." Sonic praised smiling, before stretching his arms. "Well, I'm gonna go lounge outside and enjoy the fresh air before we arrive at wherever the Chaos Emeralds are. Call if you need me."
Without waiting for a reply, the teenage hedgehog raced outside to the deck and parked himself on the small balcony of the ship, sitting on the floor and learned against next to the doorway, reclining himself to enjoy the sunlight and pleasant breeze. The hero of Mobius gazed up at the sky which was perfectly blue with white fluffy clouds, as he thought about what the challenges would await for them, and what he and his friends have learned so far, mostly from his counterpart.
"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.
"Eggman's sure getting better at what he's doing. I'll have to be more careful from now on. Hope it doesn't come to...having to end things the bitter way. I'd rather he'd be in jail for the rest of his life." Sonic whispered to himself. He did feel sick and self-disgusted with what he did with Heihachi and Solaris, but at the time he didn't have a choice. He had been glad that he saved Elise's heart and saved the world, being part of saving the Realm of Light even without the Guardians' acknowledge.
Maybe he should talk to Prime about that. For now, the blue hedgehog just wanted to relax and try not to think about all the negative thoughts. He closed his eyes to enjoy cruising on the Blue Typhoon and soon found himself taking a nice nap.
Or so he thought.
He had been running across the Savannah of some place. Mazuri, perhaps? Sonic couldn't tell, and at the moment didn't acknowledge it. All he was focused on was a giant gorilla robot, maybe half the size of King Kong, only smaller, but still giant none the less. He raced towards it as it charged towards him.
"Wanna challenge me, chimp?" Sonic dared, smirking confidently. The fifteen year old ran right underneath the gorilla robot who ended up tripping and falling face first into the ground. He sped past two unfamiliar Mobians and stood on the branch of a tree, taunting his opponent. "Hey, you artificial ape! I'm right here!"
The blue hedgehog then leaped off the branch and ran away, unaware that the giant robot swinging among the branches and turned invisible. Oblivious of the danger he put himself in, Sonic sped and zig-zagged among the trees before stopping in the middle of the jungle, turning around and believed that it was too far to catch up to him.
"Ha! Lost it. That big ape moves like a slug." Sonic chuckled, only to be caught by surprise when he felt something land behind him with a huge thud after turning visible, because the next thing he knew, it punched him and the blue hedgehog, shocked, landed hard onto the ground.
Groaning in pain at the unfair attack, Sonic sat up and rubbed his chin, muttering in disbelief. "That big slug just slugged me!"
To his shock, it was gone. Now unable to believe it and wondering where it went, the blue hedgehog looked around to see where it went. What was that thing? A ghost-robot? Too late, the giant robot reappeared behind him and kicked the bewildered teenager where he hit the ground hard. Standing up at the unexpected attack, Sonic looked behind him only to find, to his dismay, it was gone again.
Now frustrated and feeling scared, Sonic immediately ran, crying out in alarm when he narrowly missed it, dodging and rolling out of the way before running off yet he knew that it would find him. The gorilla robot turned around and gave chase, turning itself invisible once more. The blue hedgehog looked around trying to find where it went, realizing what it was capable of doing.
'Eggman built this robot with camouflage ability. How can I defeat something I can't even see?' Sonic thought to himself. He had to defeat this thing, but the problem is, he needed a radar.
Once again too late, the giant robot came from above, turning visible and thrust it's fists downward onto the shocked blue hedgehog who was lying on the ground and to make things worse, it picked him up with it's right hand, holding him within it's grasp and lifted him up to it's face level. Having cried out in alarm again, Sonic then tried to pull himself free, but the grip was too strong.
As he struggled, he heard Prime's angered words ring into his ears, and to his horror, Sonic felt it struck into his very core.
"You just went charging without even thinking! One of these days it's going to hit you so hard that you'll end up like ME! Now you see why I'm telling you to not get overconfident!"
'No...I really am overconfident...cocky, ignorant...impatient...Now look where it's gotten me!' Sonic thought, guilt, fear, self-disgust and horror filling his very being. He fought harder and harder to escape, desperation overcoming him, wishing he'd been more careful. He then heard that obnoxious laughter and glared up to his left with a snarl.
"You've met your match!" Eggman declared as he flew over in his Egg Mobile.
"Eggman!" Sonic growled.
"E65 strikes without warning and now you belong to me!" The evil scientist declared.
The blue hedgehog could only glare angrily, before yelping as the robot, E65, held him higher into the air before thrusting him while he screamed, smashing him to the ground and while Sonic was still alive, he hissed in pain as he was pinned to the ground before being picked up again. He struggled to get out, but was soon being squeezed tightly and the hero of Mobius felt the agonizing pressure of being crushed.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! E65 will make a monkey out of Sonic!" Eggman laughed victoriously.
Sonic's heart pounded as he was being squeezed to death, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He couldn't believe that this was the end of him, and no one was coming to rescue him. Even so, he let out a loud, terrified and pained scream...
"AAAH!" Sonic screamed as he jolted himself awake, panting too quickly with sweat forming on his face. He looked around and found that he where he had fallen asleep. Once the blue hedgehog cleared the last of the fog from his mind, he sighed in relief as he placed a hand to his chest, trying to will his heart to calm down.
"It's okay, it's okay. It was just a nightmare." The teenager whispered to himself, though he was more than a little shaken. No matter how hard he tried to reassure himself that it was simply just a dream, he felt that he knew that it was more than that, which Prime's angry warning from yesterday had come back to him at full force, making the nightmare even worse.
No. It wasn't just a nightmare. Sonic wasn't sure how or why he knew, but he just did. It was a warning. He's seen it before. Not the exact dream, but he had dreams that warned him of future events that almost came true, through Princess Sonia's powers even though she's a ghost. It was through his ancestor that the blue hedgehog managed to avoid to being defeated by Infinite, or killed if he went off alone. What sparked her in showing him such a terrible future sight, he had an inkling feeling that it was because if the blue hedgehog wasn't careful, Eggman would kill him and his friends, and capture Prime somehow, to steal the Rainbow Gem as well as the Chaos Emeralds.
Tears of frustration and guilt formed in his eyes, Sonic angrily wiped them away, but despite all the comforting words and apologies his older self had said after scolding him terribly yesterday, the blue hedgehog knew that Prime had every right to do so, and the dream proved his fatal mistakes if he iddn't pay attention. He didn't think ahead of being careful.
'It's all my fault. I wish I didn't use Chaos Control in the first place, then we wouldn't be in this situation.' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, once again feeling the overwhelming guilt rise up, feeling whatever confidence he had shatter. It wasn't fair. 'I really am a screw up. A total lousy hero.'
Sonic hugged his knees, the nightmare just re-proving how much of a mess he made and would make. He thought about how he confessed his weakness and lack of confidence to Prime the previous night, which made him remember what the older Sonic had said in each occasions during the night.
"Sonic, the fact that you actually think of the dangers despite being a lot like me when I was your age makes me feel a lot better."
"I'm sorry, Sonic. I didn't mean to make you scared of me. You don't try to force yourself to be like me instantly. That'll only make your life miserable and then you'd end up like Knuckles or Shadow."
"Everybody makes mistakes. Especially me."
"You're just letting doubt consume you. It's more my fault that I cast it upon you without even knowing."
Eyes widening in realization as he was actually doubting his own capabilities again, and that the nightmare scared him to the point of doing so instead of calming down and thinking of how to stop the nightmare this time, Sonic sighed, willing himself to quit panicking and stop being scared.
"Sonic, you really gotta get a hold of yourself." He muttered to himself, taking a deep breath and almost instantly felt the waves of guilt and doubt ebb away. While the blue hedgehog didn't want to think about the nightmare, he had to focus more on how to combat a robot that could turn invisible if it were real, and Sonic had a bad feeling that it will.
"Okay, think." Sonic said, folding his arms as he attempted to come up with an idea. "How to beat a giant robot that turns invisible?"
He recalled how the trees were to the metal-gorilla's advantage, so the blue hedgehog figured that the first step is to avoid going into the jungle, wherever it was in the near future. Avoiding trees, that was at least the easy part. But Sonic knew better. It wasn't going to be enough. He had to figure out how to catch it off-guard, and find it's weakness.
"Maybe I should ask Tails to make a robot detector or something. But that'll probably take too long." He muttered to himself, already figuring that a radar made now wouldn't be done in time.
Before Sonic could continue to think about how to fight the real E65 if Eggman ever built it, he felt the familiar warmth radiantly in his quills, bringing him out of his thoughts. Curious, the blue hedgehog reach up, only to stop and darted his eyes around. He was out in the open, where Eggman could clearly see him and get a signal. Feeling his stomach churn at yet another mistake, and forcing himself not to think about it right now, Sonic stood up before heading back inside to meet with his friends and then get an idea on where they were.
As predicted, everyone was still lounging around, though Prime was having a conversation with Buck who was retelling his story of the day he lost his eye and almost became digested by Rudy(the Weasel was wisely careful to whisper that part to avoid in scaring Cream due to her age).
"...And then the next thing I know, chomp!" Buck dramatically said, while clasping his hands together to make Prime imagine how it would actually happen. "Then he swallowed me...!"
"But you managed to get out, though. How'd you climb out of the stomach?" The blue hedgehog asked, mystified by the story.
"I never reached the stomach, mate. But I was half-way towards it." The Weasel answered.
"Whoa!" Prime murmured.
"Hey, guys." Sonic spoke up, getting everyone's attention and interrupting Buck's story the moment the younger blue hedgehog stepped in, pulling out the green Emerald he kept in his quills. "Got a signal from the Chaos Emeralds that we have."
Surely enough, it was glowing, brighter than before which almost instantly told everyone that they were getting close to their destination.
"So that means it's located somewhere in Mazuri since we're getting pretty close towards it anyway." Tails summarized, checking the world map with Mickey and Amy helping.
Sonic felt his heart drop. Mazuri. Where else but could the Savannah and jungle be? 'I knew it. It's happening again. I'd better come up with an idea to beat that thing if it is real.'
"Sonic, isn't that where you, Tails and Knuckles discovered that Temple where the Chaos Emerald was during the war?" Amy Rose asked her 'boyfriend' curiously and he nodded to confirm it.
"We did, but we went to another temple nearby where it was actually located. I don't think it'll be there again though I am surprised that it came back here." The blue hedgehog replied.
"So you never actually explored what the inside of it looked like?" Serena asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sonic shrugged a bit sheepishly. "Well, we were busy trying to locate the emerald and with the war going on, even I knew there wasn't any time for sight-seeing."
"Good point." The Moon Princess muttered, realizing that wars never did allow time for much breaks or exploring.
"Mazuri. Haven't been there in a while. Not back at home, I mean." Prime muttered softly, so soft that it was almost unheard.
"You've been to Mazuri?" Namine asked, curiously.
"It's one of the places where the Temple of Gaia was. I went there with Chip to restore it's continent as well as the Chaos Emerald's power." The older blue hedgehog replied.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot that Mazuri's one of the places you've been to." Sonic said, snapping his fingers in recognition.
"So, does that mean the Temple Sonic has seen could be this world's version of the Gaia Temple too?" Kairi wondered, aloud.
"Hard to say. Every dimension is different, just as Prime has told us." Knuckles reminded.
"Maybe it is." Sonic murmured, folding his arms as he thought of something. "I met Light Gaia. He saved me after Eggman blasted me into the Cave of Lyric, but he's a big guy, nothing like Prime's friend Chip. Maybe the Temple is one of the Temples, except it's honoring Light Gaia himself. Heck, he even helped me take out one of those giant Heartless Tornadoes in the Keyblade Graveyard."
"You don't think Eggman could be planning on something with the Temple, do you?" Dawn muttered worriedly, which raised concerns for everybody else as they all shared worried glances.
The teenage blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes, clutching his fist as he remembered his dream. "Then we'd better make sure he doesn't get to it, and also be careful. He could even make a robot with camouflage ability."
The Guardians, Cosmo and Prime gazed at him in confusion, with Manny asking, skeptically. "What're you talking about?"
Sonic sighed, realizing what he just said before explaining. "Before the Chaos Emeralds signaled the third one's location, I fell asleep and had a nightmare. I was fighting one of Eggman's robots that was built like a giant gorilla. I lead it into the forest, but it kept on sneaking up on me before it caught me by surprise. When I woke up, I knew, especially since we're heading into Mazuri, it's not just a dream."
"It's a warning sign." Knuckles realized and finished for him, almost instantly knowing what his friend was talking about. "Sonia sent you another vision of the near future, didn't she?"
"Huh? You mean like this happened before?" Ash asked, surprised.
"Well, how else would I see these dreams and then manage to change the future? C'mon, guys. I don't get them even once in a blue moon." The blue hedgehog shrugged. "I mean, I haven't figured it out since I saw Heihachi in his giant monster form and that came true. I just went along with it 'til Sonia told me that she gave me the nightmare the night before the Freedom Fighters were formed. So I figure that whenever I have kind of dreams, that means she's telling me to avoid in making any kind of mistakes."
"So you have dreams of the future and unlike Sakura, Ash and Serena, and even myself, you manage to change the future." Mickey surmised thoughtfully. The teenage hedgehog nodded to confirm it.
"Well then, we'll just beat up this robot easily." Sora suggested.
"No, it won't be easy. This thing is-" Sonic was cut off when the alarms quickly went off, alarming the group as they wondered what was going on. Tails, Amy and Mickey quickly scanned the scanners and gasped in shock.
"What's going on?" Darien asked, concerned.
"Big trouble! There's a fortress wall surrounding the village of Mazuri and there are Nobodies approaching it!" Tails informed in horror.
"WHAT!?" Everyone else gasped in horror.
"Not Nobodies too!" Raye exclaimed in shock.
"It can't be Organization XIII. We beaten them." Donkey stated, worriedly.
"Let's worry about that later! We've gotta stop the Nobodies and save Mazuri!" Rini pointed out.
"Right! Let's make a move, fast!" Serena declared.
"Tails, have us hover in a good distance for most of us to jump but stay well clear form those things!" Sonic quickly ordered.
"You got it!" The two-tailed fox nodded.
The Guardians quickly got to work on who should jump and take out the Nobodies and who should stay(Cream and Cheese, obviously), with the Sailor Scouts and Darien transforming and those who had weapons summoning them. Prime gazed at Sonic in concern, wondering what his younger self had intended on saying, but decided to worry about that later. Right now, Mazuri was in trouble.
The team that would be jumping down from the Blue Typhoon were Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Sailor Magic-Dust, Sailor Comet, Tuxedo Mask, Sakura, Akiho, Ash, Pikachu, Rena, Misty, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Piplup, Casey, Sora, Riku, Kairi, (the princess of heart wanting to come this time and made no room for an argument), Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Prime while Madison, Kero, Sailor Mini Moon, Future Mini-Moon, Sailor Luna, Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss, the Herd, Namine, Buck, Tails, Cream and Cheese, and Cosmo stayed behind with the two-tailed fox promising to jump in just in case.
A bunch of dusks and creepers were heading towards the apparently newly-made fortress surrounding the once peaceful village of Mazuri. It made the blood of those going to fight the monsters boil, but none more so than Team Sonic and Prime.
"No you don't!" Ash grunted after he and the others of their team jumped and landed behind the monsters, before quickly holding up his Keyblade and chanted Double-Thunder with Pikachu using his Thunderbolt Attack, zapping and defeating five Dusks into oblivion, and Sailor Jupiter using Thunder Crush, defeating five more.
The trainers of the group already sent out their Pokemon to help with the battle, taking on some Dusk and some Creepers, though the Pokemon and the fighters did get surprise attacks, but they fought back as hard as they could. Sailor Moon thrust and thrashed her Keyblade as hard as she could, leaping back to dodge a Dusk's attack with a yelp before knocking it away quickly. She then dodge-rolled out of the way and thankfully Tuxedo Mask came to the rescue, tossing a spinner at it's head, before taking out two more with his cane and martial arts skills.
Sailor Mercury used her Shine Aqua Illusion to swipe away more before leaping back to avoid one of the creeper Nobodies from sneaking up on her, though Kairi came to the rescue with her Flower Shoot and thrusting her Destiny's Embrace Keyblade down at one of them in a surprisingly good hit. The Guardian of Mercury nodded her thanks to the Princess of Heart who nodded back with a smile before they both charged again at the other Nobodies.
Sora, Donald and Goofy did their team-work of the Trinity skill, the sixteen year old Keyblade Master holding up his Keyblade, the magician holding up his staff and the Captain of the royal guards holding up his shield after the white mage used his magic to summon Fireworks to take out a large attacking number of Nobodies, taking them out despite the swarming numbers. Mickey and Riku performed their special attack of spinning in a circle and the King using his power of Light to create a large light circle which as the two Keyblade Masters and close friends spun, the enemies that tried to reach them couldn't and were in pain before being destroyed.
Sakura and Akiho used the combined powers of both the Windy and the Gale Cards, the two Cards themselves creating gusts of winds made up of magic and dust from the ground, creating a tornado that sucked up the Dusks and Creepers and tying them up before being destroyed. The two good friends then leaped out of the way when more appeared and Sakura used the power of Keyblade to transform her Staff back into it's Keyblade Form, thrusting and using the combination of the training she gained from Mickey and her own Gymnastics to get the job done, while Akiho used the Siege Card to trap the other Nobodies and used the Aqua Card to eliminate them from inside.
Sailor Mars used her Mega Mars Fire Flash to burn a bunch of Nobodies who were dancing around like mad to avoid in getting burnt, only for the monsters to be taken down by Sailor Venus's Love Beauty Shock as they had no chance to get away. Sailor Magic-Dust and Sailor Comet used the combination of their Attacks to create a beautiful mist of Magic-Dust Mist and Comet-Rainbow Meteor Shower that rained from the sky and took out a good number of the monsters before some tried to attack both of them. They leaped out of the way just as those said Nobodies were hit by the last of the two Sailor Scouts' attacks.
Rena raced over to help Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, using Blizzaga to freeze three Creepers in ice, giving Sailor Moon a chance to use her Moon Light Harmony Attack to take them out, before she leaped out of the way along with her husband and friend when another Nobody came back with two others. The trio then leaped and jumped, thrusting their weapons down at the monsters. Knuckles used a rapid punch to take out a bunch of Nobodies and dodge-rolled out of the way when one attempted to swipe at him before he took them out as well. Amy let out a battle cry as she thrust her Piko Hammer downward hard, spinning around as she knocked away several more, attempting to keep her lesson she learned from Prime to heart and determined to not let doubt get to her.
Sonic and Prime used the combined attacks of Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks against several other Nobodies, their combined speed being too fast for the monsters to catch up to the two blue hedgehogs. While Sonic, trying not to let doubt and negative thoughts or overconfidence get to him, jumped just as the Nobodies came to attack him and spun in mid-air, once again successfully using his Basic Insta-Shield which knocked away the five Nobodies that jumped at him and were thrown back, hitting the ground hard and vanishing. Prime on the other hand drew back his arm and to Sonic's surprise, his older self sent out a huge blue energy wave at the three Creeper Nobodies, sending them into oblivion. The older blue hedgehog then finished off the remaining three Dusks by racing around and around them, gaining such incredible speed that Sonic thought was going to be the Sonic Tornado.
But as the younger blue hedgehog leaped out of the way to take out three more Creepers and used a combination of his Axe-Kicks, Stomps speed with Boost included, leaping up and swift-kicking at the sudden appeared three Dusks, Prime's body was then covered with blue electricity that it reached to his hand and he punched at the three Creepers so hard that it created an electrical shock-wave, instantly sending them into oblivion, much to Sonic's(figuratively) shock, as well as for everyone else once the battle was finally over.
"Whoa! Prime, what kind attack was that?" Sonic exclaimed as he and the others regrouped, with the rest of the Guardians, having seen this from mid-air and Tails landed the Blue Typhoon before he and everybody else exited.
"That looked like Pikachu's Thunderbolt, only it was blue and with a punch!" Ash added.
"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu echoed.
Prime chuckled, "Well, it's what I call Blue Thunderbolt. With enough speed, I can create electricity with a powerful punch. I can even break strong shield barriers with this attack."
Again, this impressed everyone with different ways of complete awe.
"I bet that took a long while to come up with that one." Sonic muttered, his hands on his hips as he was very impressed.
"Without shocking yourself." Knuckles added with a smirk.
"You want to try it or not?" Prime asked, as the remains of the eletrical energy surrounded his fist.
"Is that a threat or not?" The red echidna asked, skeptically.
"So how can you do that? You know, not shocking yourself?" Sora asked, curiously.
"My fur is surrounded with Chaos Force energy so the electricity can't shock me." Prime explained.
"I don't believe you. You must be making that up for how your electricity didn't shock yourself." Knuckles said, before try to touch Prime's fur.
"No Knuckles! Wait! It's..." Prime yelled to warn him.
But it was too late, Knuckles touched his fur and as a result, he got electrocuted while screaming before being knocked into the nearby trees.
"Really Sensitive..." Prime finished his speech, then sweat dropped.
The poor Guardian of the Master Emerald twitched a bit while comically daze, his own fur all fizzled like he's been into an electric socket.
Sonic sighed in exasperation before approaching the guardian, shook his head at his slightly older friend who still looked rather frazzled, and the blue hedgehog said. "Here's a piece of an advice, Knux. Next time, don't touch people or things that are still high on electricity."
"Especially when it's high voltage." Tails added as he approached, just as exasperated.
Recovering a little, Knuckles glared up at his two friends while grumbling in sarcasm. "Duly noticed."
The rest of the group all sighed, some of them facepalming themselves, with Shrek muttering in exasperation. "Oh boy..."
"Guess it makes you an Electric-Type Hedgehog." Ash commented a little teasingly at Prime who softly chuckled.
"That reminds me of the time when we had that brief super power." Crash remarked, and his brother nodded in agreement.
"No, that was just the static from the unusual storm we had to go through." Brock reminded.
"And you two caused the friction, ignoring Buck's warning." Puss added dryly at the two Possums who whistled in embarrassment.
"But man, Prime. Your Blue Thunderbolt is totally cool." The younger blue hedgehog continued, ignoring the twins' embarrassements.
"Yeah, it makes my electrical powers look like teeny shocks." Sailor Jupiter added.
"Why, indeed. It is very impressive for a child who claims to be the cousin of Sonic the Hedgehog." An eerily familiar female voice echoed, causing the Guardians, Cosmo and Prime to glance around in alarm, only to gasp in shock, confusion and dismay as out from the corridor of darkness, walked in a familiar pale-green skinned woman in black and purple robes, a horned hat and a long staff with a green orb, and behind her walked up Pete who smirked evilly.
It was Maleficent.
"Such overwhelming power." She added with an evil smile.
"You're even more surprising than back at that Kingdom, ya' Sonic-Cousin pipsqueak." Pete commented.
"Not you guys again!" The Sailor Team and Team Sonic(except for Cream who hidden herself close to Amy who held her close) exclaimed in annoyed and defensive unison.
"What do you want this time?" Sakura demanded angrily.
"Hmph. I was just about to send my Heartless take out those Nobodies, but you pitiful fools have come to once again be in my way. You are all far too meddling for your own good." Maleficent scoffed, frowning in annoyance.
"Well, whatever you're here for, you're won't take it!" Sailor Moon declared, as she and her friends got into defense. "Go away or you'll be sorry!"
"Yeah, sorry for takin' you squirts out." Pete taunted, pulling his lower eye-lid down to mock the heroes, which while most of them attempted to ignore it, Knuckles growled as he was insulted.
"Enough of being childish." The evil witch ordered her henchman darkly, making Pete back off.
Prime glared angrily at the evil duo, commenting. "So you're Maleficent, huh? I've heard a lot about you. You've caused a lot of trouble for the past twelve years, especially towards my cousin and all of our friends here."
"And I have heard brief information on you, boy. Your resemblance to Sonic the Hedgehog is uncanny, too much of a coincidence." Maleficent smirked.
"Hey! Back off from my cousin, lady!" Sonic snapped furiously, standing in front of his older self with on arm in front of the other hedgehog to shield him. "It's like Sailor Moon said, whatever you're here for, you can just forget it! And don't think I'll ever forgive you for what you've done to Shadow and what you made him go through!"
That made Maleficent frown angrily. "Why have compassion for that tool? He was created by your enemy's grandfather. He was nothing more than a puppet needing strings, controlled as like Riku, he belonged to the darkness."
"You're wrong. Shadow had a heart of his own, whether he was created or not." The blue hedgehog shook his head. "He sacrificed himself to save me and Sailor Moon from Rinsler after she made him realize the truth. Shadow died a hero, a very brave hedgehog who will never be forgotten. A friend I wish I got to know better."
"Sonic's right. Shadow didn't belong to the darkness. He just had a terrible past in losing a very dear friend to him because of a tragedy. You used him for your evil and selfish ways like you always do and it has to stop!" Sailor Moon added, glaring hard with a heart-broken expression, the memories of seeing Shadow's past through the Dimensional Scream, and his sacrifice to save her and Sonic resurfacing and the Moon Princess struggled to fight back tears that formed.
"You should be ashamed with yourself, you horrible mean Maleficent!" Cream shouted tearfully and angrily, despite being shielded by Amy and Tails who stood close in front of Cosmo just in case.
"What you did is awful and unforgivable." Cosmo added.
"I see you brought two more little girls with you. A young child with radiance with a light, not of a Princess of Heart, but radiant enough to not be covered with darkness, and a young girl with unforeseen abilities, a flower which must be sent to an icy frost." Maleficent commented once she saw and heard the two of them.
"You leave them alone!" Tails yelled.
"How about you go find some other things to do, like not borther with anybody and quit your stupid world conquest?" Manny dryly suggested.
"Maleficent, can't you just accept that you'll never win against love and friendship? Those are the strongest feelings that will always defeat you." Sora almost pleadingly said, glaring at the evil witch.
"It's our friendship, love and deep bonds that keep us going, no matter how deep into the darkness we end up being lost into." Kairi added.
"Even so, those bonds do not last forever. You may believe they give you strength, but they are your greatest weakness, Sailor Team." Maleficent grinned cruely, before turning her eyes to Prime and added. "I sense that deep within your heart you have lost most of what you cherish, Prime the Hedgehog, was it? And you have such incredible power, yet that power will also be used against you, with your dark emotions slowly swallowing you whole."
"You don't know a thing about me." Prime grunted, his eyes narrowing, yet he couldn't help but feel a painful sting within his heart. He tried to ignore it, but it was becoming too painful that he tried not to squeeze his eyes shut.
'ThE wItCh Is RiGhT. yOuR fRiEnDs ArE yOuR wEaKnEsS. bEcAuSe Of ThEm, YoU hAvE lOsT eVeRyThInG. pOwEr HaS bEcOmE yOuR oBsEsSiOn.' The same distorted voice echoed darkly in the older blue hedgehog's mind, which squeezed his heart tightly that made him clutch his fists tightly.
"Oh, I believe I do. In your heart, there is darkness waiting to awaken, as your power is becoming beyond your control. Leave these fools of the light, child, and come to my side. I will help you awaken you true power." The evil witch grinned.
"No! I'll never join you!" Prime hissed, doing his best to ignore the dark distorted voice he had no idea where it was coming from, just as Sonic, Sakura, Sailor Moon and almost everyone else stood in front protectively of their friend.
"You won't be using anyone else again!" Riku declared.
"Leave Maleficent, or else!" Mickey threatened.
"Go away now!" Sailor Mini Moon ordered, her Keyblade in hand.
While Maleficent hissed at the Guardians' irritating meddling, Pete quickly grew worried as he saw that they were already outnumbered and suggested to his 'friend' nervously. "Erm, I think this would be a good time to hit the road, M'lady. That blue pipsqueak's cousin ain't gonna be changin' his mind, not with the Sailor Twerps around."
As much as Maleficent refused to be a coward, she knew when to force herself to fall back, and glared at her enemies, before simply stating. "Know this, Sailor Moon, King Mickey Mouse, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Someday soon, all of you and your friends will walk into your doom and all the worlds will be mine."
She then turned and began to walk away, opening up a portal, but not before whispering to Pete. "I know now who Prime the Hedgehog is. He is not the cousin of Sonic. I can sense he is like that buffoon Dr. Eggman."
"...He's what?" Pete asked, dumbfounded and clueless on what his boss meant. But he didn't get an answer and quickly hurried after her into the Corridor, calling out. "Hey, wait for me!"
With that, the Corridor of Darkness closed and the two villains were gone for now, the Guardians and the others relaxing a little, but still glaring at the spot where Maleficent and Pete had vanished from.
"Losers." Diego scoffed.
"She knows." Prime muttered, lowering his gaze which made his friends glance at him, quickly growing concerned. "She knows who I am, and where I came from."
"Prime?" Sonic murmured, worriedly. "What do you mean?"
"I can't explain why, but I think she can sense that I'm you from another dimension. Just a bad feeling that I have." The older Sonic shrugged.
Realizing what his older self meant, the younger Sonic sighed as he scratched his face gently. "Dang. Maleficent's a clever liar like Eggman, but I guess she could tell when other people are lying. Pete's a dumb guy, but that creepy old lady, she's smart and wicked. Should've known she'd figure it out."
"But how can you tell, Prime?" Tails asked, concerned.
"I think she can sense a little bit of the Rainbow Gem, and that I transformed into Dark Super Sonic, Darkspine Sonic and Sonic the Werehog in the past back at home." Prime shrugged.
"But your heart's too strong to be controlled by the darkness." Sonic pointed out with a shrug. "You shouldn't listen to her, man. She's just as a trickster as Egghead."
"Yeah, you're right." Prime nodded, but the ache of how Maleficent's words made him think about how he lost his friends and his Mobius all over again. He was slightly startled when Sakura placed a hand onto his shoulder as she bend down to his height level with a look of sadness, sympathy but kindness and comfort in her eyes.
"We won't let anything happen to you, Prime. It's going to be okay." Sakura said softly, and to Prime's surprise, she gave him a gentle and comforting hug, which he returned a moment later with a soft smile of gratitude, with everyone else smiling at both of them.
"She's right. Maleficent is always on our case, but that never stopped us from ignoring her or fighting her and Pete." Sailor Moon added reassuringly, as she and Sonic both stood close to both Prime and Sakura.
"Thanks, guys." The older Sonic said gratefully.
"Hey, it's what friends are for, right?" Sailor Moon asked brightly. Prime nodded.
"Just ignore that dumb old lady. She doesn't have a clue on what she's talking about anyway." Crash adviced with a shrug.
"But, those Nobodies. Where did they come from?" Sora muttered, gazing up at the sky which his friends followed that gaze. "Could it be Apsu's doing?"
"Considering the Heartless and the Youmas, I wouldn't be surprised." Sonic commented. "My biggest concern is why there's a fortress here in Mazuri and the safety of all of those people."
"Eggman?" Sid guessed.
"Nah, it would've been turned into his Eggmanland by now. This is a different one." The blue hedgehog denied, shaking his head.
"Sonic's right. These walls are made of stone and bamboo. Recently made, in fact. But nothing related to Dr. Eggman's robots building it." Tails agreed, gazing at the walls even from a small distance. "This is done by something else."
"Well, only one way to find out." Ash declared, determined to get to the bottom of this. "We'd better go up there and see for ourselves."
Everyone agreed and approached the large wall which surrounded the entire village, which they couldn't see since it was blocked off. To Sonic Prime, it reminded him somewhat of a town he hadn't visited in a long while, memories of when he and Knuckles Prime worked together sometime after the War against the Eggman Empire. On the top of the wall, stood an Mazurian Man who stood guarding the entrance.
"Let me take care of this." Knuckles said, stepping up.
"Uh, Knux?" Sonic began, but was ignored.
The red echidna then hollared at the guard at the top. "HEY! WE'RE THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS! WE TOOK OUT THOSE MONSTERS! LET US IN!"
"I'm sorry, sir! But I am u-under orders to not let anybody in!" The guard said nervously.
"Says who!?" Knuckles asked.
"I can't say!"
The group shared concerned glances, with Goofy asking worriedly. "Now what do we do?"
"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." Sonic declared, shrugging. "Invite ourselves in."
"Sonic!" Amy, Cream and Ellie scolded in shock.
"No, he's right. It's our only way in to investigate." Prime said firmly, before saying to his younger self. "I'll go with you."
"You're not leaving me behind." Knuckles stated, wanting to get to the bottom of this.
"I'll go too!" Ash declared.
"Me too!" Sora added.
"Count me in!" Riku added.
The three Keyblade Masters and three Mobians turned to their friends with nods and hurried over to the wall, five of them running up along it with Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, and Knuckles climbing his way up.
"Hey, you're not leaving me out of this!" Sailor Moon whined, as she raced over.
"Wait, Sailor Moon!" Sakura cried out, hurrying over.
"I'm going too! Wait up!" Kairi surprisingly called out, racing over despite everybody else calling out for the three girls to wait, before they all groaned in dismay that even Buck was slightly annoyed.
Misty sighed in exasperation. "The influence of Ash, Sora, and now Sonic has really gotten to them."
"Welp, I used to be like that." Mickey reminded sheepishly.
"How so?" Cosmo asked, curiously.
The King chuckled in embarrassment, shrugging. "Rushing before thinking...?"
"Well, at least Sailor Moon is more adventurous and energetic than she used to be." Sailor Venus pointed out. "Which is less scary than her actually being very serious."
"That's what we're worried about." Sailor Mars groaned, facepalming herself.
By then, Sailor Moon, after she and Sakura saw each other and then Kairi who was doing her best to scale up the wall, helped their friend and together climbed the wall together, much to the guard's shock and bewilderment. The three teenage girls finally made it to the top, while during this, Ash, Pikachu, Sora, Riku, Sonic, Knuckles and Prime made a perfect landing on the other side. The village to the trio was exactly the same as they knew, but the people, seeing them and the three unfamiliar human boys and one Pokemon, all quickly went inside their huts in a panic, and for Ash he reminded him of Dark City when it was in lockdown two years ago.
"Why's everybody so scared of us?" Ash asked, looking around, only for him and the others to be startled when Sailor Moon, Sakura, and Kairi landed behind them. "Sailor Moon? Sakura?"
"Kairi?" Sora and Riku both exclaimed in unison.
"You didn't think we were going to let you have all the time, did you?" Kairi asked, teasingly.
"I for one wanna find out what's going on here. This is also a Scout thing too, you know." Sailor Moon added, miffed for being left out despite that she isn't one for fighting unless she had to.
"Sorry, guys. I just had to follow Sailor Moon and Kairi followed me." Sakura apologetically said with a sheepish smile.
"Don't worry 'bout it, girls. It's no biggie." Sonic reassured with a wink, deciding to quickly drop the decision.
"It's nothing to worry about, but I'd be more comfortable to make this quick." Prime acknowledged and the others nodded in agreement.
"So many people hadn't been this fearful since the War. Do you think the memories of that and with the monsters around is what got everybody spooked?" Knuckles wondered as another man hid himself up on a tree branch.
The teenage blue hedgehog shook his head as he frowned in concern. "I don't think so. Something else is going on."
'Why am I getting a case of deja vu?' Prime thought to himself as he mentally agreed with his younger self.
"Halt!" The same guard from before shouted, causing all ten of them to turn around and saw the man climb down and demanded to the teenagers, twenty-one year old and Pikachu. "It is forbidden to scale these walls. You shouldn't be here!"
"Why not?" Sailor Moon asked. "What's going on?"
"We saved your village before. Whatever's wrong now, we can fix it." Sonic reassured.
The Mazurian human Man shook his head, looking quite lost and afraid. "You don't understand, young Sonic. They took us prisoner! They have all of our food, weapons and water!"
"They who?" Sakura asked, gently.
"Please, we only want to help." Kairi gently said.
"Yeah, we can handle whatever's happening here." Ash added.
"We can take care of ourselves. Can you tell us from the beginning?" Sora said kindly.
Seeing how these young people were offering to help, the man finally gave in and sighed. "I understand. You see, one week ago, when those monsters began to appear, two mercenaries came with ferocious strength and personalities. They defeated those monsters and saved our town. They claimed to offer to help us make our defenses stronger, but in reality they imprisoned us, forced us to built these walls to keep people out and never allow anybody leave. We could not fight, we were forced to obey them, and now with these monsters outside, we are trapped."
The ten friends shared serious looks and nodded, before turning back to the man as Prime said. "We'll take of this."
"My cousin's right. I think we need to take our complaints straight to the management, right guys?" Sonic added, smirking. The others nodded with Knuckles cracking his knuckles together.
"Where are they?" Riku asked.
"Around the tree in the biggest hut where we would teach our children. They've now turned it into a fortress down the road to the right." The guard said. "You can't miss it."
"Cool. Sit tight. We've got this." Sonic promised.
"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine." Sailor Moon promised. With that, she and her friends all shared nods before racing off to find the school and take care of the two clowns.
Yet they, the rest of the Guardians and Cosmo were all unaware that approaching Mazuri and in the far more preserved parts of the land from the village, Eggman's Fortress was approaching and deep within the compartment of the vessel, was the very robot Sonic foresaw from his nightmare.
The real E65, ready to be deployed.
A/N: The next chapter will reveal who these two clowns are and the adventure in Mazuri continues.
See you later!