Author's Note: Here we go! The beginning of the end of the long written story is about to commence! But before we begin, I have more news to share.
Ian Flynn, one of the writers of both Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics as well as formerly working on the ongoing Sonic IDW comics is in talks of being part of the Sonic Prime TV series. Not sure what his role will be, though, but it's more likely that he'll be one of the writers for the story, and rumor has it that he will also be involved with the upcoming 2022 Sonic game which while the name is still unclear, the two worked on titles are Sonic Rangers and Sonic Frontiers(though I think the latter is fake).
Anyway, let's do it to it!
I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 23: Confronting the Time Nightmare.
"No, Sonic...he-he still has...a chance...to live. Only two realities...can have chosen few to gain d-dual memories...Who knows? Perhaps S-Silver can...experience it and...survive..."
'What did Nega mean by that? Is Silver gonna be okay? It doesn't make any sense.' Sonic thought to himself as he ran towards the two lights, hoping that they were the Sol and Chaos Emeralds. His heart still ached over seeing the alternate future self of Kintobor having just returned mentally to normal only to disappear, tears in his eyes and throat still burning even though the real Kintobor was still alive and his normal self.
He was still so terrified of how disappearing was the similar concept of dying as it looked extremely painful. But the blue hedgehog knew that there was no place for those who vanished to go to. They would just...be gone. Never to be seen again, or at all as the events that happened to that person before history changed would never happen. The more he thought about it, the more he really wanted to go home with his friends and family.
'But then, what would happen to Moebius? Will there be a new future for that world? How can I get Scourge to realize his actions are bad?' He knew he had to do this, he had to get his evil counterpart to see reason. That wasn't going to be easier, but Sonic had to at least try.
"Guys, up ahead!" Young Sonic cried out, which brought the older Sonic out of his musings as the blue hedgehog along with the rest of the group looked up to see that they had made it.
Coming to a stop and saw the promised final two Sol and Chaos Emeralds high above a rock formation where they floated. Though while the eleven year old hedgehog could easily get the Chaos Emerald, the Sol Emerald was a bit more tricky.
"There are the Emeralds!" Silver exclaimed in relief.
"Allow us." Sonic declared, smirking as he and Young Sonic decided to have a bit of fun, before the two blue hedgehogs speed forward to the respective Emeralds they were searching for, while both Tails and Young Tails giggled, Silver and Blaze sweat dropped and Kintobor held a surprised expression.
While Young Sonic jumped and managed to grab the white Chaos Emerald, as he wondered about how they could get the Sol Emerald and was about to suggest either one of the two-tailed foxes or Silver to get it since they can fly, Sonic just smirked knowingly.
"Ready?" Sonic jumped high and once he was, he shouted. "GO!"
Using his boost ability, the teenage hero zoomed straight towards the white Sol Emerald and grabbed out of thin air, much to the shock and awe of everyone except for Tails who cheered on, before Sonic landed neatly on the ground and turned around with the Emerald in hand.
"Wow! That's just...WOW!" The eleven year old hedgehog exclaimed, almost completely speechless.
"Pretty slick move, huh?" Sonic snickered, proud of himself.
"Dude, that was way past cool! I wanna do that!" Young Sonic remarked, giving his older, alternate-self a thumbs up.
"How did he do that trick?" Young Tails asked.
"It's Sonic's boost ability. It helps make him go even faster for a few seconds or a bit more even in mid-air." Tails explained. He then wondered in confusion. "But, why were the Sol Emerald and the Chaos Emerald in the same place? I thought they were in two different locations."
"Hmm...That is rather strange. Perhaps they were moved on their own, but that would be impossible." Kintobor murmured in agreement, his fingers on his chin.
"Hey, look!" Silver called up, gazing up above them which made the others look to see what the ivony hedgehog was talking about. There they saw, was a Wisp which only the Mobians were familiar with.
But what really surprised them was that there this one was a small pink Wisp that looked strangely familiar to the sixteen year old hero, and even to the nine year old fox cub who along with their friends and Counterparts stared in confusion and awe as the little alien hovered towards them. Somehow it looked to be female, and as the hero of Mobius and his little brother wondered if this was the Wisps' mother, they saw that she was too small, and ghostly looking, almost see-through.
"Oh? What's this?" Blaze asked, amazed by the sight of the unusual, small, and admittedly beautiful and cute little creature she, Silver and Kintobor had never seen before.
"It's a Wisp, but, this one looks different to all of the others." Young Tails remarked thoughtfully.
"This is one of the Wisps?" Silver asked, surprised. He had heard that they were gentle alien creatures, but he never thought they were really gentle looking and admittedly very cute.
"Oh my..." Kintobor murmured, thoroughly amazed though a bit cautious, yet even he could sense that the little one meant no harm. "I've never seen anything like it. What a beautiful and adorable little alien."
"Yeah, they sure are really cute, and way past friendly." Young Sonic agreed, then asked. "But, how come nobody's seen this little guy or gal before?"
The more Sonic gazed at this beautiful little Wisp that was the same size as all Wisps, the more he felt he knew this one. Yet at the same time it felt strongly like he never met her...before his eyes widened as he memories came back to him; the vision he saw that Soloman revealed, the past, how Cormain destroyed almost everything, that the High Guard had saved the very first Wisp who, all alone, had grown larger to create Planet Wisp.
"Singarina has spent years living and guarding her children, and gave birth to all of them since. When her time passed, she would be into the present day reborn to continue her cycle, her memories erased and continue to live the happy life, and you know the rest."
"...Singarina." Sonic whispered in realization and disbelief. Could it really be her? The past-self of Yacker's mother's ghost was here? How could that be?
"Wait, this is...the past self of the Mother Wisp?" Tails asked as he and the others gaped at the pink Wisp in shock.
"No way!" Young Sonic and Silver both cried out in disbelief.
Singarina, the past self of the Mother Wisp before she created the planet, nodded and hovered over to Sonic before she spoke in the Wisp language, which Tails quickly pulled out the Miles Electric to translate.
"What's she say, Tails?" Young Tails asked, curiously.
"She says, 'I know why you all came here, and I knew that these gems are very important. When time began to become corrupted and halt, I came here from my past as a spirit and manifestation of my memories to do as much as I could to move them where only Sonic the Hedgehog of both worlds could collect them before the evil one Cormain and those who are about to become his slaves did'." Tails translated.
"So, then, you're a mixture from the past and the present?" Sonic asked, puzzled.
Singarina nodded and twirled around as she spoke, leaving the two-tailed fox to translate once more. "'In a strange sort of way. With Space and Time distorted yet being fixed, I can only exist here for this very moment to help you and your friends, Sonic. My children and my reborn incarnate will never know of this until you decide to tell them your story of this journey. I ask you, Sonic the Hedgehog, to stop Cormain and the Devour of Time. The rest is up to you and your alternate self'."
Realizing that this is the only time they could actually talk to her and saddened that this version of Singarina will disappear which made the group feel saddened by this, Sonic nodded, full of determination.
"Don't worry, Singarina. We'll do what it takes to stop those monsters and save Space and Time. I promise!" Sonic vowed, clutching his fist.
"Miss Singarina...All of this is my fault. If I had never studied the Sol Emeralds, none of this would have happened." Kintobor spoke up, guilt rising once more as he lowered his head in shame. "I am deeply sorry for the trouble I have caused."
Singarina shook her head and flew over to the kindly and guilt-ridden human, gently patting him on the head which surprised the scientist as he looked up, before the little alien spoke once more.
"She says that it wasn't your fault, doctor." Tails translated as he and everybody else knew that she was right. "Cormain was the one who started all of this in the first place, and because of his arrival, that's what caused Space and Time to somehow become slowly connected, but only to a certain extent. With him defeated, everything will go back to normal."
"They're right, Kintobor." Sonic spoke up, walking up to his friends, with an understanding smile. "Remember, it's okay to feel that way even if you didn't do anything wrong. It proves that you care. But you can't let guilt, fear, hate, anger and sorrow overcome you. Learn from your mistakes, and remember everything that's happened, always know that friends and family and caring for others is what's most important."
Even though he still felt guilty for the situation, and given how the teenage blue hedgehog had been devastated for the loss of his now alternate future self and the difficult choice in fighting Nega, with the supporting smiles from his younger friends, Kintobor knew that Sonic was right. Now wasn't the time to wallow into the negative feelings. They had to do everything they could in fixing this mess once and for all.
"You're right. Thank you, Sonic. All of you." Kintobor replied, smiling softly which made his friends smile wider.
"Now that we have all of the Sol and Chaos Emeralds, we're one step closer in ending this nightmare." Tails declared.
"All we have to do now is get back to the others, find Scourge and knock sense into him, and beat Ro-butt-nik, Tikal's Dad, and those two giant monsters!" Young Sonic added optimistically.
"Singarina, thanks for your help. I promise that everything will be alright. Leave the rest to us." Sonic spoke to past-self of Yacker's mother who nodded, before she glowed a little and gently placed one of her tentacles onto the blue hedgehog's head, making him blink and softly gasp a little.
Instantly he heard a lovely sing-song-like voice echo into his mind, speaking to him telepathically.
"Thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog. May the stars shine upon you always...and Happy Birthday."
"Huh?" The cobalt hero muttered in confusion. Before he could wonder what just happened, Singarina waved a goodbye to the Mobians, Moebians and human scientist before the Sol Emerald in Sonic's hand glowed once more and everyone had to shield their eyes as the light engulfed them.
Once it faded, Sonic, Tails, Young Sonic, Young Tails, Silver, Blaze and Kintobor looked around and saw that they were back at the entrance of Planet Wisp, and like many times before, colour and life returned to the scenery, and stood next to the still frozen but thankfully intact Star, meaning that their job was almost complete.
"SONIC!"
Hearing the voice of Amy cry out very close by, Sonic and the others turned to see the pink hedgehog run straight towards him, as she and everybody else were now free from the shield which strangely disappeared, and the thirteen year old girl had tears in her eyes. Seeing them safe and sound and free made the blue hedgehog's group feel very relieved themselves.
"Amy!" Sonic cried out, for once holding out his hands and happily caught her in his arms when she threw her own around his shoulders, for once welcoming it and he spun her around twice laughing in relief. The blue hedgehog gently put her down but the two continued to hug.
"Ovi! Ovi!" Red exclaimed happily, racing over to his best friend and surrogate father and leaped into his arms, the two embracing.
"Red! Thank goodness you're safe." Kintobor happily embraced the young child.
Almost everyone expressed their relief and happiness, even though as Cream and Cheese hugged Tails, they and the rest of the group noticed just how Sonic was actually welcoming Amy's hug instead of pushing her away like Young Sonic was trying to do with Young Amy, the two older teenage hedgehogs, oblivious at first, pushed away slightly and gazed at each other warmly. However, the moment was interrupted when Knuckles, somewhat shocked and annoyed, cleared his throat loudly to get their attention, which worked. Blinking, Sonic and Amy both looked and much to the hero's embarrassment, realized what he just did and that the others had caught him doing so.
'Uh oh...' Sonic thought to himself, finding himself stuck and not sure how to explain his sudden change towards his self-proclaimed girlfriend.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done to our Sonic?" Knuckles asked, suspiciously.
"Uh...No idea what you're talkin' about, Knucklehead...!" Sonic quickly responded, stepping back from Amy and tried to look away, blushing heavily as he scratched the top of his head awkwardly. "I'm just really happy that you guys are okay."
Amy on the other hand, despite her promise, played cool and growled angrily at the red echidna. "You had to go and ruin our moment, didn't you!?"
"What? It's not normal for Sonic to-"
"Annnnnyway, is everybody alright?" The sixteen year old hedgehog quickly interrupted, not wanting to explain himself that he finally self-admitted his feelings towards the pink hedgehog went above the friendship and sibling-like bond.
Not sure what to make of Sonic's behavior, Chris decided to push that thought aside and explained. "Yeah. We were waiting for you guys to come back with Dr. Kintobor, Blaze, Silver and the Sol Emeralds when all of the sudden the shield that trapped us disappeared. Not sure how that happened, though."
"We have reason to believe that given you are all here, you successfully defeated Dr. Nega. His robot controlled that force field and without it, it disspelled." Shadow added. "I take that you have all of the Sol and Chaos Emeralds now, yes?"
"Yep! Got 'em all right here." Sonic confirmed, holding up the last Sol Emerald while Young Sonic held up the last Chaos Emerald. "Wasn't easy, but luckily Mini-Me and Tails found Silver and came to the both of us and warned us about what happened before rescuing Kintobor and Blaze."
"What about Nega?" Rouge asked, folding her arms as well.
Suddenly reminded of Nega's erasure, the birthday hedgehog lowered his gaze and somberly shook his head. "I...I fought him and...for a moment he changed back into his Kintobor-self and told me how he struggled for years to free himself from the corruption, before he..."
"...He's dead, isn't he?" Espio gently guessed.
"Close." Sonic replied, rubbing his right arm again, feeling a lump in his throat. "He...He disappeared. Nega's been...erased from existence since the future in Moebius is changing."
Everybody else except for Kintobor, Young Sonic, Tails, Young Tails, Silver and Blaze all gaped in shock, horror, disbelief and then sympathy of the news that Nega disappeared entirely.
"You mean he just went poof?" Charmy asked in disbelief, feeling horrified.
"Sort of. Seeing it happen like that...it was horrible. That's how fragile time really is for everybody..." The blue hedgehog nodded, placing his hand to his face to stop himself from breaking down into tears again. "Just when he was freed from the corruption, he just disappeared...!"
"Oh, Sonic..." Amy tearfully whispered, gently hugging her boyfriend to give him as much comfort as he needed right now, joined by Cream and Cheese, Chris, Tails, Young Sonic, Young Tails, and Young Amy, while Knuckles and Sun both gently placed comforting hands on Sonic's shoulders while the hero of Mobius failed to prevent his tears from falling.
Red, shocked by this yet heart-broken to see Sonic cry due to what happened as even he knew it wasn't his friend's fault, snuggled into Kintobor's arms while wanting to comfort the alternate good self of his older brother, everyone else in silence.
"He's not gone. Kintobor still lives." Shadow spoke firmly, making everyone, even the tearful Sonic who began to glare at him, before the black hedgehog quickly added. "You saved him from corruption, Sonic, and in turn, through you, you have changed the future and saved Kintobor from becoming Nega. He's not erased from time completely. His dark, evil persona by the corruption of the Sol Emeralds is what vanished and in his place is the good doctor's true self. He just won't exist in two hundred years as his time had already passed, but it's most likely that his legacy will."
"Shadow's right. Throughout this adventure, you have changed the history of Moebius and once this is over, everything will be alright even there." Espio agreed, making everyone slowly realize that they were right.
"Yeah, but still..." Sonic trailed off, gazing at Silver. "Silver...I'm-"
"It's not your fault, Sonic." The white hedgehog shook his head, cutting him off before sighing as he lowered his gaze. "If anything, I've only made things worse before they got better, and had you to finish what I intended on doing. I was young and naive to let Nega trick me like that and use me. I'm the one who should be sorry."
"We are all to blame for Scourge's rise of evil and our failure to keep the Sol Emeralds safe out of evil's hands." Blaze added, bowing her head in guilt and apologies. "For that, I too am deeply sorry, Sonic. To all of you."
"Yeah, I guess we all messed up really bad, and got you guys to fix it up." Red added, and Kintobor nodded in agreement.
"Well, then, now's a really good time to make up for it. The only ones to blame for this whole thing are that monster Cormain and the Time Eater. Not to mention Robotnik." Young Sonic spoke up, his expression for once very serious which was unusual for him, making his friends glace at him. "My Uncle Chuck always told me, 'When you make mistakes and feel terrible about it, learn from it but keep moving forward to make sure it doesn't happen again, and things will be okay'."
'That's something my Uncle Chuck told me too when I was five years old.' Sonic thought to himself, realizing that the words had spread across Space and Time without anyone realizing it. Plus his own words to what he said earlier added to it. Knowing that Shadow and Espio were also right, the blue hedgehog nodded and wiped away his tears.
"You know what? They're right. We can't give up now. We've got all of the Emeralds, so there's a chance in setting things right." Sonic declared, narrowing his eyes as he felt his confidence return, smirking. "Those monsters and that Ro-butt-nik won't know what hit them."
Most of the group cheered, before Sonic remembered something and approached the frozen form of Star, glancing over at his friends who nodded, with Sun looking the most desperate, and then the hero of Mobius held out the white Sol Emerald for one final restoration and just as they wanted, sparkles and colour covered the fifteen year old female hedgehog until she was fully back to normal, blinking in confusion.
"Huh? Hey, where am I?" Star asked, looking back and forth blankly. It wasn't until she noticed the familiar cobalt hedgehog who smiled in relief and waved at her.
"Heya, Star. Long time no see." Sonic greeted.
"Oh! Sonic! Did you...save me?" The younger hedgehog asked, and when her friend nodded, she smiled in relief. "Thank you, Sonic. That was the creepiest thing that's ever happened to me! I had no idea what was going on. That strange black monster just appeared out of nowhere, and the next thing I knew, everything was all black and darkness."
"So I've heard." The sixteen year old hedgehog replied. "By the way, somebody's here to see you."
At first confused, Star turned to see most of her friends, shocked to see younger selves of Sonic, Tails and Amy, new individuals of a silver hedgehog, a lavender cat, a young red-brown hedgehog, and a human scientist that looked kind and reminded her of her father, and...Sun who looked utterly relieved and happy to see her back to normal and alive.
"Sun? Sun!" Star squeeled happily, racing over to her very close friend and lover.
"Star!" Sun exclaimed back as he hurried over to the one he loved, and caught her in his arms while the two embraced, tears silently sliding free from his eyes, finally reunited after the agonizing wait within this nightmare. "I'm sorry...Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm so happy to see you." The lavender-pink hedgehog whispered, silently shedding tears of her own, and at that moment wanted nothing more than to kiss him.
The orange hedgehog wanted to do the same, but he still felt awkward over this, though Sun did look up to see Sonic smiling happily and the former Werehog mouthed 'Thank you' to which the hero of Mobius winked with a thumbs up. Yet as Sun looked at the others, they saw Knuckles raise an eyebrow, Amy giggling, and Vector and Charmy snicker.
"Don't. Say. A word." Sun warned with a hiss, trying and failing to stop himself from blushing as he glared directly at the Chaotix.
"Really, guys? This is kind of getting old." Star rolled her eyes at the immaturity that the green crocodile and the young Bee displayed.
Espio facepalmed himself, muttering. "I couldn't agree more."
'I feel for you two.' Sonic thought to himself, shrugging with an exasperated sigh and sweat drop, while Tails just closed his eyes, Amy sighed, and even Chris, despite not knowing Sun and Star for long, shook his head with a soft groan.
"Do I really wanna know?" Young Sonic asked, skeptically.
"Nope. It's best that you don't." The older blue hedgehog replied flatly.
Fifteen minutes later, while Tails and most of the others now continued to examine what Shadow, Rouge and Kintobor discovered earlier, Sonic and the rest of the group brought Star up to speed on what was happening including on what Nega told him before he disappeared into thin air, which shocked the group, especially Silver who, having been ready to prepare for his own erasement, didn't know what to say about that.
"But, I don't get it. What did Nega mean by Silver will be okay?" Young Sonic remarked.
"You got me. I don't have a clue either." Sonic shrugged, still trying to figure out the meaning of what Nega told him.
"Hmmm..." Star hummed thoughtfully to herself, before an idea came into her mind as, being the archaeologist that she was, she then asked. "Sonic, you did mention about a reality where there were other selves of you having been changed and some of those people having dual memories, right? And that Dr. Nega had dual memories as well."
"Yeah..." The blue hedgehog murmured.
"And Tails came up with a theory of the dual memories too. If Dr. Nega had dual memories before he disappeared, I have reason to believe that maybe, in theory, the same that happened to him could happen to Silver as well." The lavender-pink hedgehog suggested.
That shocked Sonic, Young Sonic, Silver, Amy, Young Amy, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Sun and Red as they all gasped, realizing that she could be right.
"So you're saying that Silver won't disappear, but instead his whole life will change and he'll get new memories?" Sonic asked, feeling an inkling of hope rise inside his chest. If that was true, then Silver wouldn't experience in disappearing, but instead he would just have his memories replaced, or be like Nega.
"But what about Ovi's bad future self Nega? How come he disappeared?" Red asked, confused.
"Considering how Sonic's influence in making Kintobor realize that studying the Sol Emeralds could cause the accident to make his transformation possible and that now he wants to stop the project altogether, prevents him from becoming Nega and thus the latter will no longer exist because Kintobor's future-self would have been replaced and no longer immortal. If that makes sense." Star explained.
"Meaning that Dr. Kintobor will pass on long before I am to be born because he can't gain immortality." Silver realized, his eyes widening in shock. "Thus he can't gain dual memories because both catastrophic futures will have been replaced."
The fourteen year old hedgehog girl nodded. "It's just my theory, but it may be possible."
"So that means you won't disappear at all, Silver! I'm so glad!" Amy said happily, and the other youngsters all cheered in agreement, while Silver, still a little uncertain, smiled in relief as well.
Remembering Nega's last words to him before he disappeared, Sonic felt huge relief that there was a chance after all. While it may be possible that the major downside is memories being replaced, at least Silver would still be alive, and finally able to live in a peaceful future that he always wanted. That the blue hedgehog could accept and it was enough for him.
"Looks like your dream in living in a peaceful future world will come true, buddy." The hero of Mobius smirked, placing an arm around the future hedgehog's shoulders happily. "I knew everything would be alright."
"Right...But it's not over yet. Scourge and Robotnik could be anywhere." The fourteen year old reminded, knowing that things won't be alright until their enemies are defeated and Scourge is brought to his senses.
"Sonic!" Tails' called up, making the others look to see the two-tailed fox and his younger, alternate self fly over in a hurry. "We think we know where Scourge and Robotnik are!"
"Really? Where?" Sonic and Young Sonic both asked eagerly.
Young Tails spoke up this time, explaining. "We think that both the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds are needed to get to where they, Cormain and the Time Eater are."
"That gear portal Shadow and the others found is the gateway, but unlike all of the previous gateways you guys entered, including the portal leading into the Reality-Viewing Tunnel, or whatever it's called, we'll need both sets of the Emeralds to open it up. That's what the two of us and Dr. Kintobor discovered." Tails added.
"Lucky for us, we have an idea on where they should be fitted, and once we pass through, the emeralds will come back to us." The younger two-tailed cub concluded.
"Now we're talkin'! Let's go!" Sonic declared, smirking. Finally, they were almost there. Once this fight was over, they were home free. Still, he reminded himself, it wasn't going to be easy as not only they would be facing against Robotnik and a most likely powerful giant robot he no doubt would've built, the Time Eater, Cormain and even Pachacamac, but...Scourge, his evil self, who had the same skills as the blue hedgehog did.
That was going to be a very hard fight. While Sonic had won before in their first match, this was going to be one of the most challenging battles he would ever face in his entire life. Not to mention that he would have to defeat him and then talk since into him. If that didn't work, then all hope rested in Red's hands. Speaking of the eight year old hedgehog, he looked at his young friend who looked a little uneasy, looking like he was doubting himself if he could help to get his big brother back. It ached the blue hedgehog's heart that this was similar to what happened to Eggman and his brother Julius.
'I hope it doesn't come to that. Except Scourge didn't kill his parents. Finitevus did, and that guy should've been erased himself, but that creep managed to escape and ruin a lot of people's lives...Even my own, and my other self's. If that didn't happen, maybe Scourge wouldn't have turned evil, Uncle Chuck would still be in Mobius, the other Sonic's parents would've still been with him. But no, we can't change that. We have to save what we can do, for everybody's sake.' Sonic thought to himself, praying that Scourge wouldn't remain evil for the rest of his life.
Wanting to give his young friend comfort, Sonic smiled softly and gently stroked the little Moebian's head, making Red gaze up at him curiously.
"It'll be okay, Red. I promise." The blue hedgehog whispered reassuringly, which made the younger hedgehog smile with a nod, knowing that he was right.
With that, the group hurried over to the rest of their friends and found them...with the Chaotix in the middle of an argument on how they should enter the giant gear-like gateway which seemed to be closed, and fourteen slots fitted for Sol and Chaos Emeralds. Seeing the three detectives fight however made Sonic and the others sweat drop in annoyance.
"Oh, brother." Chris groaned.
"Here we go again..." Sun facepalmed himself, having seen this before in his own adventure months ago.
"How long have they been at it?" Sonic grumbled dryly.
"Personally? It feels more like half an hour or so. But it's probably more like ten minutes or something." Shadow answered, exasperated.
"They started fighting five minutes after we've began looking at this gateway. So yeah, probably ten minutes." Knuckles shook his head, folding his arms.
"Do they fight like this all the time?" Red asked, uneasily.
"I'm not sure." Young Amy admitted with a sweat drop.
Amy on the other hand, sighed as she replied to both the Moebian hedgehog and her younger, alternate self. "You don't, but I know, and yes, they do fight like that all the time. For detectives, they're totally clueless."
"Well, anyway, Tails and his other self mentioned about the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds are needed to open up this giant door, right?" Young Sonic spoke up, after watching the awkward argument with a sweat drop. "What do we have to do?"
"For starters, both sets of the emeralds need to be put into these slots everywhere, and in theory, they will open up the door to our final destination." Kintobor explained, pointing up at the said slots as well. "It will be difficult to reach them all at the same time, however."
That only made Sonic smirk. "Difficult? I call it easy. Since there's more than fourteen of us, all we have to do is split up with an emerald each and put 'em into the slots. Those who can fly and jump high can get the higher ones, while the rest of us handle the lower slots."
"That sounds like a good idea. I can't fly, so I can help with the lower slot things." Big spoke up, with Froggy croaking in acknowledgement.
"Sweet! Let's do it!" Sonic declared, and everyone except for Shadow, Rouge and Knuckles(and the Chaotix who were still fighting) all cheered.
While Silver, Rouge, Cream, Tails and Young Tails along with Shadow and Blaze placed the Sol Emeralds at the slots on top, Sonic, Amy, Young Sonic, Young Amy, Knuckles, Big and Sun placed the Chaos Emeralds at the lower slots all around the giant gate, before stepping back to rejoin Red, Kintobor, Chris, Star and the three detectives who, being finally told to shut up by Sun, finally stopped arguing and the group stepped back waiting. They didn't have to wait long as by the power of both Emeralds, they glowed brightly and began to turn the gears around in the opposite direction while the group watched in awe and slight hesitation.
The gate then activated with a bright glow, before opening up and revealing a portal very similar to the previous ones that lead to great big battles. The group stood intimidated, but knew that there was no stopping now or else they would be trapped here in White Space forever. Or worse, face erasement themselves.
"This is it, guys. After we go through, there's no coming back out into this place." Sonic declared, firm and narrowing his eyes, ready to take on the enemies. "Ready?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, despite that some of them were scared, but they all knew that the time has come to end this once and for all. With the hero of Mobius and his younger, alternate-self taking the lead with the two foxes, Kintobor, Blaze and Silver following as it was agreed that Red wouldn't be seen yet, the red-brown hedgehog with Amy and Young Amy, Cream and Cheese, and everyone else following shortly after. Once they were all through, the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds vanished and returned to the two blue hedgehogs and somehow placed into their quills.
Despite the confusion, they shared a glance before shrugging and continued onward. The group walked slowly as they stepped through the gate, finding themselves in a strange gear like realm. Glancing around before finding themselves on a large rock format, Sonic, Young Sonic, Tails, Young Tails, Silver, Blaze and Kintobor all looked up and gasped in shock when they spotted the Time Eater, but in it's true, terrifying form; a giant black lifeform with gears surrounding or sticking onto it's body, for huge arms with six wings, and a large orb on it's head.
"Oh my..." Kintobor muttered nervously.
"Okay, whatever you are..." Sonic began bravely, as he and his alternate self took a step forward. "If you want to avoid a painful beat down, you'd better give up now! Where's Scourge?"
"Why don't you ask me for yourself, blue?" The aforementioned evil green hedgehog's voice spoke, seemingly from behind the giant monster. The rest of the Terror of Moebius then leaped up from it's back and landed on it's head, grinning down wickedly with a snicker, folding his arms. "Gotta say, though, you sure kind of impress me how you managed to survive this long. But was it long or short? Time sure is messed up here, wouldn't ya say?"
"Scourge..." Blaze and Silver both hissed angrily, their eyes narrowing upon finally meeting their enemy once again, though they and Kintobor, and even both Tails and Young Tails were shocked that Scourge was like a mirror image of Sonic, only wearing different clothes and having green fur instead of blue.
"Oh, so you're here too, Kitty Princess, Silvy-Wilvy, and Kinto-butt? Should've known you'd be dragged here to try and stop me." Scourge mocked a surprise, before sighing as he shook his head, exasperated. "You three just don't know when to quit, do you?"
"Whaddya think you're doing with the Time Eater, you creep?" Young Sonic demanded.
"And how are you here?" Tails demanded, only for him and the others to hear a familiar laughter ominously echo and the orb to open up to reveal...Robotnik at the controls.
"He's not the only one here, you brats." The evil scientist declared, grinning.
"Robotnik!?" The two Sonics and both of Tails exclaimed in disbelief, while the two Moebians and Kintobor gasped in disbelief.
"Gah! He does look just like me, but overweight!" The kinder scientist exclaimed in horror, recoiling.
That made Robotnik glare at what he realized was his good, alternate self. "So you're the good version of me and my dead self Dr. Eggman. Dr. Kintobor, with a similar personality to the annoying little pincushion."
Sonic glared hard as he grunted. "I knew it...You two were teaming up, but I didn't expect you guys to team up with the Time Eater as well!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Glad to see you figured it out, Sonic." Scourge laughed manically, which was creepy to the group below. "Normally, I'm not one for story-telling since they're too slow and boring. But I can give you guys a hint."
Scourge's Flash-Back:
After being knocked out by the Sol Emeralds strangely powering up and causing a huge vortex to appear, Scourge was left all alone floating in darkness of endless space, drifting as he began to regain consciousness slowly but surely.
"After I made the wish to merge three worlds and the Sol Emeralds going all crazy, I found myself all alone in the most dark and spooky place I had no idea what it was. Wondering where I was, that's when I found my new friend here."
Opening his eyes and placing his hand onto his head, the green hedgehog groaned before snapping his eyes fully open and gasped and quickly rightened himself up, looking around in shock and disbelief. Wondering where he was, and admittedly becoming frightened of this place before he heard a soft growl which made his quills stick up. Looking over his shoulder while slowly turning around, Scourge let out a terrified scream when the giant Time-Eating beast, still in it's base form, approached.
But then as it reached out for him and the seventeen year old waved his arms to try and shoo it away before shielding and bracing himself for what he thought would be his end, it instead gently stroked his back, confusing the hedgehog who looked up hesitantly before it scooped himself up carefully and held him close to it's face.
"At first I had no idea why he was being so nice to me, since nobody had done that to me before, but then it gave me the power to understand what he was telling me, what he knew, what he could do with his power. That's when I realized that it was part of what I had to do in order to get what I want; to bring Fiona back and take control as King of Moebius."
Passing him the power to understand what it was saying and heard it speak to him within his mind, Scourge grinned wickedly as it then showed him a couple of realities that were caught up into his wish; Sonic's world which showed the blue hedgehog and his friends as they were setting up his birthday party, which disgusted and angered the green hedgehog, and even showing him events of beforehand, including the death of Dr. Eggman.
And Young Sonic's world as the young blue hedgehog and Young Tails happily playing while Robotnik ended up falling in his Death Egg which began to fall and collapse, but the evil scientist survived. Knowing what to do, Scourge spoke to the Time Eater with an idea, and it seemed to agree, before they set off into grabbing hold of Robotnik from Young Sonic's world.
"Originally I was going to get Eggman, but since he died and there was no way in bringing him since we couldn't bring him to this place before he lost his life, he was the lost cause. Plus it was a hassle to bring back the dead, anyway. Not that it would've happened since he's trapped in the Prison of Evil. So we went for the next best thing, and dragged both your worlds here, even though I didn't know that you and your other self were heroes, Sonic. I thought you normal guys having everything that I didn't."
Scourge laughed evilly as he and the Time Eater vanished to begin their goals...
End of Flash-Back:
"But since I'm no expert and as much as I hate scientists, I decided to ask the next best guy who would be smart enough to help me and in return I help him." Scourge continued explaining, grinning down at Robotnik. "And who better than Ovi's evil self, Dr. Ivo Robotnik?"
"You are too kind for being evil, my young friend, Scourge." Robotnik replied, grinning evilly, despite that his soon to be former partner was about to face his own demise. "And I was happy to help."
"And to add it all up, we trapped your pathetic friends so that you could understand the pain of losing loved ones, just like I did." Scourge continued at the two Sonics who along with their friends growled in anger.
"So you and the Time Eater were the ones who froze my family and friends, all because you were jealous of me and Sonic!?" Sonic demanded furiously, with Young Sonic clutching his fists that shook. "Just how low can you get?"
Scourge scoffed, frowning in annoyance. "Low? Are you kidding me? I told you that you made a mistake in saving my life, so now it's really going to bite you in the butt, hedgehog. 'Cause once we get rid of you, nothing will stop us! Moebius is MINE to rule!"
"But the more that monster tears through Space and Time, the more damage you do to the worlds!" Tails protested, and his older brother nodded in agreement.
"You must stop this, Scourge! Be rid of your madness and come to your senses!" Blaze demanded.
"Oh, please. You think you losers can stop me? Sure Sonic is a fun challenge for once, but I'll bet right now he's hitting himself for letting me go and coming right where I want him." The green hedgehog rolled his eyes.
Sonic shook his head, becoming desperate. "I told you before, I had my reasons! Do you have any idea what will become of the future in Moebius? Everything will be destroyed if you or even Kintobor use the Sol Emeralds either by your selfishness or even through an accident! We've seen that future, where many lives have been lost, everything's in ruin and even on fire! Heck, Silver was one of the only survivors, and Kintobor ended up turning evil, becoming Dr. Nega."
Scourge raised an eyebrow at this, before gazing at Kintobor and questioned. "You, turning evil by accident? Well, then that gives me a new reason in getting rid of you."
"No, I will never become Nega." Kintobor narrowed his eyes. "Sonic made me realize that I should never had used the Sol Emeralds, because once everything goes back to normal, I will cease the Sol Project for good and find another, non-power sourceful ways of ridding the world of evil!"
"I've fought Nega, and he turned back to normal before he disappeared from the timeline, because his past-self right here can prevent himself from being evil, and I know that you can do the same too! If you don't, then you'll be trapped in the Prison of Evil just like Eggman!" Sonic continued.
"And how did you know about that?" The evil green hedgehog growled darkly.
"Because I've been there. I've seen what that horrible place is like, and I was brought there by one of the guards who fought against another monster that's behind all of this, and as weird as this will sound, when the others and I went to Spagnoia from my past, we were shown visions of your past too, how you've lost Fiona, that you've been tricked by the monster who forced the guard Soloman and his people to trap it into that place before Finitevus escaped from the timeline he was supposed to be erased from. Cormain is using you, Scourge!" The blue hedgehog explained, trying really desperately to make his evil counterpart understand.
"...What?" Scourge muttered, feeling his heart stop for a second. How could his good, alternate self possibly know all of this? He then glared skeptically. "Wait a second, how did you know about Finitevus anyway? That guy was a doctor back in my world who-"
"Who told you and your brother that your parents died." Young Sonic continued, stunning the green hedgehog once more. "We know everything about that, Scourge. But everything that's happened to you, and even to us before we even realized it, was all because of not just Finitevus or Cormain who long ago attacked an alien planet since he was evil, but another version of Robotnik, of Eggman, who broke the rules of Space and Time before, where one world and it's entire timeline and other universes that were linked to it were destroyed."
"But during that time, Finitevus managed to escape, avoiding in being erased while other versions of us ended up with dual memories of both the timeline that's now gone, and the new one that was created by a powerful force. He couldn't get revenge on the other me of that world, so he chose the next best thing to ruin the lives of the rest of us. Making an enemy I fought years ago trap my Uncle and fifty other people in the Prison of Evil, and the guy himself, Finitevus I mean, trapping Young-me's parents in the same place. Doing so slowly freed Cormain, which added by a tribe of cruel echidna's lead by the father of a gentle and kind princess, when they too became trapped for their cruel evil ways, also releasing the Time Eater who is no doubt using you and Robotnik as well." Sonic added.
"If you let the Time Eater and Cormain get the Sol Emeralds, Scourge, you will be destroyed along with the rest of us. You won't be able to even go back home!" Tails explained.
"Everything's all set up to turn you evil, and the more you follow this path, the more you'll become trapped. I know you want to save Fiona, and while I don't know her, I know how much you love her. But you've been focused on that and your pain while driving away the one thing you still have." The blue hedgehog continued.
That only made Scourge furious, clutching his fist and gritting his teeth, snapping as he knew that Kintobor must've told Sonic about his late brother and fed him with ideas just to get him to stop.
"Shut up! You don't know a thing about me! I was left with nothing! NOTHING! You're just trying to trick me into stopping so I could be all alone again and you goody-goodiers get everything that was taken away from me!" Scourge snapped angrily.
Robotnik stared on in shock upon what he was hearing, whispering to himself. "What is this Cormain? And how much do those fools know about all of this?"
"You don't know what it's like having your family and loved ones being taken away from you, that you can't take them back by just simply saving them and preventing their deaths!" The evil green hedgehog continued, anger, hate, and sorrow rising rapidly within his chest. "Being left all alone with nothing more than people breathing down your neck wanting to kill you, and just when you get up again finding a new purpose, it's all been taken away again and again! All of you got what you want! What I always wanted! Being King is the only way to make me happy, and changing the history of time is the only way to bring Fiona back, to save her from the Prison of Evil!"
The more Scourge ranted on, the more Sonic and his friends felt their hearts break over the evil hedgehog's agony, while the Terror of Moebius continued. "I was even betrayed by the only family I had left and he stupidly got himself killed to save me! And it's all Kintobor's fault! He brained washed him! HE BRAIN-WASHED MY LITTLE BROTHER!"
"That's not true!" Sonic shouted back, tears leaking in his eyes. "I have a fair idea what it's like, and even though I finally found a way to see him again, for ten years, I thought I lost my uncle forever, everybody thought he was dead, that I would never see him again, and even now I still love him like he is a second father to me. But not all of us had happy lives. Some of my friends had it even worse than you did, Scourge. I know a guy who lost everything too. He lost his best friend who had been killed by the authorities over a misunderstanding, and he tried to destroy the world. And another guy who's the last of his kind, so he can't have any descendents at all."
"And I've lost my parents when I was really little. I've spent two years all alone and bullied because of my tails, and I didn't have any real happiness until I met Sonic five years ago." Tails added, just as tearful with Young Tails nodding in agreement. "But I wouldn't want to go back in time and change history just so I can see them again. I'm happy with what I've got."
"Scourge...we understand your pain now, but this isn't the answer just to get what you want. You're only sentencing yourself to an eternal imprisonment, or even being devoured by the Executioner." Silver added gently, and both Blaze and Kintobor nodded.
"And besides that, you didn't lose everything." Young Sonic added, shrugging a little. "As a matter of fact, despite what you did was a great big mistake, it also kinda helped to save the one person you still have, and helped Sonic to rescue the trapped people including my parents."
The green hedgehog's eyes flared up darkly in anger. "You don't know what you're talking about, pipsqueak...!"
"Yes they do! Because I'm here!" Red's voice shouted from behind the heroes, making Scourge gasp in shock upon hearing it.
Could it be? Was he...hearing things?
Startled by the young voice, Sonic and the others turned to see Red appear and race up to them, stopping just in front of the heroes and glaring desperately at his older brother, facing him for the first time in a week and placing his arms out to stop the green hedgehog, Robotnik and the Time Eater from hurting them.
"Scourge, you've gotta stop this right now!" The red-brown hedgehog added pleadingly.
"M-M-Maurice?" Scourge spoke shakily, unable to believe what he was now seeing. His little brother, whom he thought he would never see again unless he changed history...is here and alive?
"Red! What're you doing!? It's too dangerous!" Sonic cried out worriedly, not having planned on his friend to face the latter's brother before the fight.
"Sorry, Sonic. But I just couldn't wait any more. I don't like the idea of you and my big brother fighting even though you might still have to, but I have to at least try and make him understand." Red apologetically explained, but his eyes narrowed with determination. "I'm not gonna run away and be scared anymore! I won't let him push me away! I won't give up on him! That I promised!"
"This is too dangerous, Red! You must go back to the others!" Kintobor pleaded.
But the eight year old hedgehog shook his head. "I'm not leaving, Ovi. My mind's made up! I'm not gonna lose Scourge again!"
While Sonic and the others could only murmur their friend's name, Red turned back to Scourge who stood there shocked and in disbelief, his mind spinning around like he was doing a Spin Dash.
"Who is that little brat?" Robotnik demanded, confused at the sudden arrival of an unfamiliar child.
"My...My little brother. Maurice..." Scourge responded, shaking his head before squeezing his eyes shut and growled. "You must be from the past somehow brought here to try and stop me before I get the chance to do this! Before you stupidly pushed me out of the way to be dragon food, because you're dead!"
"No, Scourge. I didn't die, even though I was close in being so. I was stuck inside that dragon's tummy for a whole week, because dragons in the Bamboo Jungle don't digest their food. They just swallow them and keep them inside until they starve to death." Red explained, sniffling. "I thought I was gonna die, but what you did here, even though it was all bad, also saved me. It helped Sonic to save me, because he let himself get eaten and got us out alive."
"What do I look like, an idiot?" The green hedgehog snapped angrily, still refusing to believe what he was hearing. "You abandoned me for that lying son of a Chaos who brain-washed you into giving out more lies! You betrayed me! I went looking for you after realizing that I left you behind in that hospital, then I saw you and Kinto-butt talk and happy, and that's when I knew that you were craving for attention! Right through that window, you forgot all about me!"
That shocked Red and the others as they shared a glance, before the youngest hedgehog in the area, tears forming in guilt, shook his head.
"I never abandoned you! You're the one who left me behind, but I wanted you back! Ovi and I looked everywhere and asked for everybody's help to find you! I couldn't remember how to get back home, and I waited for you!" The red-brown hedgehog snapped, tears falling freely. "I never wanted attention! I just wanted things to go back to normal! I wanted you! You're the only family I have left, Scourge!"
Sonic by then took a step forward and said more softly. "Don't you see, Scourge? What you saw that day was a big misunderstanding. The only ones to blame with your life being ruined are Finitevus and Cormain. But you still have Red here. Brothers aren't meant to throw each other away. They're meant to be there for each other. Do you really want to give up this chance to be with him now and try and make a better life? And just so you know, Fiona's not in the Prison of Evil. You know why? Because she loved you, and that kind of love was enough to keep her safe from being trapped there. If you love her so much, then you have to stop and accept that what you're doing now is wrong."
Scourge just stood there, the words attempting to sink in, but the more stubborn side of him, his desires, his wishes, refused to make him believe this and shook his head and growled furiously.
"You...You and your friends can't fool me, Sonic the Hedgehog...!" Scourge growled dangerously. "I will get what I want, even if it means dealing with my little brother once I change history, but that's a minor problem. You on the other hand, are the biggest pain in my quills...and once I get rid of you and the rest of your group, nobody will stop me! NOBODY!"
"Fine. If words can't get to you right now, then I guess I'll have to knock sense into you, so that the truth will finally get into your thick skull!" Sonic growled back, gently pushing Red to Kintobor while ordering the scientist. "Ovi, you, Blaze, and Silver take care of Red, and both of Tails."
"Sonic, wait!" Red protested as he was picked up by his human friend who looked on worriedly.
"Don't worry, Red. I'm still keeping to my promise, but the only way to do this now is first fight your brother and then hopefully he'll understand." The blue hedgehog reassured, taking a step forward along with Young Sonic who gave Young Tails a thumbs up.
"I've just about had it with this mushy business." Robotnik growled, growing tired and impatient. "Because we're about to destroy both Sonics...FOREVER!"
"Gimme a break, Ro-butt-nik!" Young Sonic grunted as he and Sonic stood their ground. "I've beaten you all by myself lots of times..."
"And now there's two of us!" Sonic concluded while gesturing at himself and the young blue hedgehog who back-flipped in the air.
Scourge just grinned insanely. "Pretty shortly there'll BE none of you! It's you and me on, Sonic the Hedgehog, while the Time Eater and Robotnik squishes your puny-self!"
The green hedgehog then leaped off while the pod closed on Robotnik and absorbed into the Time-Eater who roared, forcing the others back, and while Sonic and Young Sonic quickly pushed Tails and Young Tails out of the way and tried to reach their friends from Moebius, Kintobor only had enough time to push Red aside despite Blaze flaring up balls of fire, throwing them at Scourge and the Time Eater and Silver attempted to freeze and trap the villains and monster with his power, levitating nearby boulders and the Moebian Cat covering them with flames to make the most effects, the evil green hedgehog was too fast and Spin Dashed into them, sending the two hedgehogs and two foxes back as they all screamed before they and Red hit the ground hard.
Kintobor, Blaze and Silver on the other hand, were suddenly trapped by the same cages that 'kidnapped' Robotnik earlier, suspended high into the air as they cried out in alarm, struggling to try and free themselves. Sonic, Young Sonic, Tails, Young Tails, and Red pushed themselves up grunting, and gasped in dismay.
"Guys, no!" Sonic's group screamed out in horror as they saw what happened. Then all five of them growled when they heard the evil green hedgehog laugh before glaring at him as he stood, with both Robotnik and the Time Eater hoving behind him.
"Give me the Sol Emeralds, Sonic, so I can make your erasure a lot quicker!" Scourge demanded, holding out his hand.
"Never!" The blue hedgehog snapped back, glaring at his opponent. He pushed himself up and sped forward, which his evil self grinned before doing the same and the two met in a near-on collision, but they grasped hands in a wrestling struggle, Sonic glaring at Scourge who returned the glare.
"I'm coming, Sonic!" Young Sonic cried out, racing over to help his good older, alternate-self. But he didn't even get the chance to even be behind him.
"Oh, no you won't!" Robotnik snarled evilly, commanding the Time Eater who roared and fired several purple orbs at the hero of Alternate-Mobius who saw this and was forced to dodge out of the way, running and avoiding in getting hit.
"S-Sonic!" Sonic grunted, before promptly kicking at Scourge's leg in desperation and causing his enemy to yelp in pain and fall onto the ground. The cobalt speedster than raced over to save his younger, alternate-self.
"Ow!" Scourge yelped, before hissing furiously and stood up, before speeding in a green blur, snarling. "You'll pay for that!"
Young Sonic in the meantime attempted to avoid the attacks and use his Homing Attack on the giant monster, with the quick aid of Sonic who did the same and forcing the Time Eater to roar in slight agony, but it wasn't enough as it was still too strong for the heroic hedgehogs. Robotnik though yelped in fright as he held on, not having expected to see his young enemy and the alternate version of the blue hedgehog to use an attack that was new to him. Still, he pushed another button which deattached one of the arms and as Sonic and Young Sonic were about to attack again, the former saw this and gasped.
"Incoming!" Sonic yelped, grabbing his younger self and sped out of the way, only to be unexpectedly hit on the back by Scourge who used his Homing Attack, tossing the two heroes forward as the sixteen year old screamed in pain, and their friends screaming out his name in horror and dismay.
To make things worse, the deacttached arm vanished into a portal before reappearing to where the two blue hedgehogs were about to land and smacked them both into the opposite direction, where they both grunted in pain for being smacked and hit like ping-pong balls. The green hedgehog grinned madly before he jumped and did a series of Spin Attacks at Sonic and Young Sonic who screamed out and grunted, thrown to the side only to be hit again by the Time Eater's arm that reappeared behind them. The two heroes then hit the ground hard on their backs and side, hissing in pain with serious injuries.
Despite this, as Scourge began to approach, Sonic struggling to push himself up and landed a punch into the former's chest and forced him back, causing the green hedgehog to grunt in pain as well, before the hero of Mobius picked up Young Sonic and dashed out of the way just in time to avoid in getting hit by the Time Eater's deattached arms.
"Get back here!" Scourge growled, giving chase.
"Are you alright?" Sonic asked his younger, alternate-self who groaned and nodded.
"Yeah...But I was probably too over confident back there. Ow...Those guys hit really hard." Young Sonic admitted, placing a hand to his head and winced. He then heard movement behind his older, alternate-self and gasped, and screamed out. "Scourge alert!"
"Huh!?" The cobalt teenager looked over his shoulder and flinched with a sweat drop, attempting to speed faster only to be nearly knocked back by the deattached arm, forcing Sonic to run to the side and Scourge to follow, flipping and snarled at the two heroes.
"Hold still, you little pests!" Robotnik complained, becoming more and more frustrated by this.
"Are they gonna be alright?" Red asked, worriedly as he, Tails and Young Tails could only watch helplessly.
"They'll be fine. They do this all the time." Tails reassured, despite that even he and his younger, alternate-self were fearing for their big brothers' safeties. But they both knew that they had to believe in the two blue hedgehogs, and they strongly did.
Realizing that this was getting them nowhere, Sonic came up with an idea. "We're gonna need to do a combo attack! Ready?"
"Ready!" Young Sonic responded with determination.
Spinning around quickly, Sonic and Young Sonic quickly held hands and performed a powerful Spin Attack which caught Scourge and even the deattached hand off-guard, sending both back as the green hedgehog shouted in pain before being caught by the injured hand and then set to the ground gently as it retreated back into the portal.
"Thanks, T-E." The Terror of Moebius grunted, wincing before he stood up and glared hard, only to be forced to defend himself when Sonic then sped forward once more and they blocked and attacked with each other's attacks with the same skills of Axe Kicks, Karate-Kicks and Punches, Spin Dashs and Homing Attacks, even going as far as leaping into the air briefly to continue each other's assaults.
Young Sonic in the meantime dodged more of the Time Eater's attacks and made a made dash towards the monster with Robotnik controlling it before the young blue hedgehog used his own Homing Attack once more, only able to attack the deattached arms which were forced back and even sent the giant monster recoiling and the evil scientist to scream in panic. Once the eleven year old stopped, he raced back to try and help his older, alternate self who by then was back on the ground in the matching speed and skills as Scourge who fought back brutually.
Sonic in the meantime was once again in a wrestling struggle against Scourge, the two grunting and sweating with injuries while trying to overpower one another. Then the blue hedgehog, with regret, kneed the green hedgehog in the stomach and tossed him above his head with another kick, sending his evil self flying backwards where he hit the ground hard. The evil Moebian grunted in pain as he landed on his back as he skid briefly on the ground. While that was gone for a moment, the sixteen year old, seeing the deattached arm about to hit Young Sonic, raced over.
"Look out!" Sonic shouted, leaping up and used his Homing Attack at the arm, forcing it back after he added an axe-kick as hard as he could, before he did a series of Spin Dashes at the monster's chest and the orb, saving Young Sonic who skid to a stop and gasped, shocked that he hadn't even noticed.
But then the eleven year old noticed Scourge standing up, wincing and hissing before the green hedgehog let out a furious yell before speeding quickly to attack the unsuspected Sonic who did his best to go for the head. Horrified, Young Sonic speed forward as quickly as he could, using his Spin Attack to block the evil Moebians who grunted at the unexpected attack, before the younger hedgehog kicked him right in the stomach, sending him back once more.
Sonic, briefly noticing this and his eyes widened in shock, was reassured by his younter, alternate-self who gave him a wink and a thumbs up, saying. "I'll catch up with ya shortly, big bro!"
"Thanks, li'l bro!" The sixteen year old replied, back, leaping back to avoid even more dark spheres that attempted to him, and even managed to make his way forward before an idea formed in his head. Dashing about while dodging all four deattached arms attempting to punch, whack or grab at him despite the fatigue he was feeling. Jumping up to avoud the giant hand, Sonic held on and allowed himself to be pulled into the portal, much to everyone's shock.
"What!?" Robotnik exclaimed, wondering what his enemy's alternate-self was thinking, only to hear a whistle from his right and turned just as Sonic reappeared from the hand and with a smirk, stood calmly with his arms folded.
"Hi there." Sonic greeted casually, which made the alternate version of his late enemy flabbergasted.
"H-How did you do that!?" The evil scientist exclaimed, not once having seen his Sonic do this before.
"Easy. I've got years of experience!" The hero of Mobius answered, before racing up in his super speed while trying to keep his balanace as the Time Eater, furious by this and under Robotnik's control, attempted to grab him, but missed as he was too fast this time.
By the time it narrowly missed him, Sonic curled up tightly and Homing Attacked both the head and Robotnik's pod several, causing both the giant monster to roar despite it only being weak by the Chaos Emeralds, and the evil scientist to scream in terror as he held on for dear life. At the same time, Young Sonic spun around and around and around Scourge who attempted to catch him but to his dismay was eventually caught in the middle and ended up becoming dizzy with stars circling around his head.
"Here we go!" Young Sonic shouted, using his Homing Attack all over Scourge who barely had time to recover and screamed in agony for being caught off-guard, sent flying back before hitting the ground hard while Sonic did a final kick before leaping back and the two blue hedgehogs landed safely on the ground.
But as they did, the Time Eater growled, Robotnik was briefly knocked out, and Scourge...was livid. Badly injured like Sonic and Young Sonic, but livid and alive. The evil green hedgehog breathed heavily and deeply, as he pushed himself up, struggling to stand. To everyone's concerns, however, he looked to be so furious that it reminded Sonic of how Chaos reacted in the vision of it's past, with a mixture of himself as Dark Spine Sonic, only without the transformations.
"You...You have gone and done it this time...Sonic the Hedgehog!" Scourge roared, snapping his head up and shouted loudly, charging forward towards the two Sonics.
"Scourge!?" Red exclaimed as he, Tails and Young Tails shivered in fear.
With the incredible speed, even Sonic knew there was no time to save both himself and Young Sonic who was ready to move out of the way, but the older blue hedgehog pulled him to the left and tossed him to the others, taking the full hit from the evil green hedgehog, grunting in pain as he was body-slammed right into the chest and gut, but as they were both speeding out of control towards the wall part, instead of hitting it, the two hedgehogs were thrown off of the ledge and fell towards the lower cliff.
"SONIC!" Everyone else screamed out in horror and dismay.
"Well, that's two hedgehogs down..." Robotnik muttered to himself, thinking that both Sonic and Scourge were gone, then turned his attention back to Young Sonic and the rest of the group, grinning wickedly. "One to go..."
Young Sonic, horrified at what just happened and fearing that his older, alternate self was dead, suddenly sensed that despite that he wanted to try and save the blue hedgehog he had to focus on Robotnik and the Time Eater. He turned back to glare at his enemy and even though he was injured, he wasn't about to give up. He stood up and prepared himself to continue the fight.
'Please hang in there, Big-me...You can't give up now...!' The young blue hedgehog thought to himself, narrowing his eyes with determination.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he and Scourge towards the lower cliff and hit the ground hard. The blue hedgehog rolled and tumbled before landing his front, laying there badly injured. He could still hear the commotion going on above him and the green hedgehog who, wincing as he wasn't faring any better, stood up with the most hated glare anyone could ever even muster.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! This is what happens when you play hero, loser." Scourge laughed manically, determined to end this fight and claim what he wanted. "Eventually you will lose everything you hold dear. You will end up being all alone, and you will have no one to blame but yourself. So now, why don't you just make it more easy and give me the Sol Emeralds, that way I can end up miserable existence. Or better yet, you can join me, and we can both rule the worlds to claim what we always wanted."
Hearing the last part made Sonic shocked, as instantly he remembered hearing the very similar words when he was an eleven year old child. One that haunted him day and night, from the very man who changed his life forever.
"Your unnatural speed will have us control all of Mobius along with the Chaos Emeralds. Imagine the power we can share against all who oppose us. Join me, Sonic the Hedgehog, and together we can rule the world. Help me with your greatest ability."
Narrowing his eyes as he felt disgusted over such thoughts of turning evil, to rule the planet which wasn't what he wanted, Sonic squeezed them shut and slowly pushed himself up weakly, but his determination, his love for his friends, his family, and for Mobius, even for the Universe, his compassion to help others and protect freedom, was helping him to regain his inner strength, reminded of the good and willing to sacrifice himself if he had to, remembering everything that he has learned...they give him the strength that he needs.
"I'll never...join you, Scourge." Sonic strained, forcing himself to stand, one hand on his knee as he attempted to ignore his injuries. "I am...nothing like you. Not in the way...we both think."
"Are you kidding me? You got power! You've got speed to overcome anything! Are you just willing to throw it all away?" Scourge grunted in disbelief. "Eventually people will hate you because of mistakes you will make!"
To his surprise, the sixteen year old chuckled softly, smirking a little as he gazed up at the older hedgehog. "'Fraid that you're a few years too late, pal. I got mistaken for turning rogue because of a guy who looked like me in the face and put into jail when I was innocent, my friends rescued me...and they've always been there for me just as I've always been there for them, even if I made mistakes that I regret, and even now, I still have some guilt over failing to stop certain disasters that Eggman caused."
By then, Sonic managed to shakily stand up, but brushed it off as he continued. "Back at home, five months ago...I unknowingly landed in a trap that he set up...to split Mobius into seven pieces, to unleash a giant embodiment monster of darkness, and caused it's counterpart of light to lose his memories...and created another monster through my guilt, anger and sorrow...the Werehog, who was created through my greatest fears. But it also created a new friend, who became another brother to me, and thanks to my love and Light Gaia who also became my friend, he's a real Mobian now. But that didn't mean I could just brush off that guilt even after we've put the world back together..."
"...Huh?" Scourge raised an eyebrow skeptically. Did Sonic really...make mistakes that he regretted?
"I lived through two whole months unable to forgive myself, and scared that I'd be all alone even if I did deserve it, that everybody would leave me and...I would have to accept it, no matter how broken my heart was. I can't force anybody to do what I want, and I don't want to. It's not my place. I can only do the best I can, and tried not to make the people that I love worry about me...But you know what? They will always worry for my safety, because they love me, just as I love them. They helped me recover from my guilt and negative emotions, because nobody blamed me, so I had to learn to forgive myself, since I already atoned for my mistake that wasn't my fault. Nobody's perfect, not even me." The hero of Mobius explained, placing his left hand onto his right arm.
Panting as while he still felt guilt, his love for everyone else surged, remembering everything he has gone through.
Sonic then looked up with a sad smile, "I know that deep down you loved Red too, you just couldn't handle in losing anymore. You let your anger, hate and sorrow overcome you, making you believe in thoughts that weren't true. Your little brother knew that, and he saved you, because he loved you so much, even through the bad things you did."
"You don't know...anything. About. ME!" Scourge shouted furiously. "You don't know the pain of loss!"
"I might not know fully what you've been through...! But I know what it's like!" Sonic argued desperately. "And I also know that what you're trying to do is wrong! You're making the same mistakes as both my friend Shadow and an old Echidna guy from 4,000 years ago did! But at the same time, it's because of this that I saved Red, meaning that your actions here had saved him from death!"
"My brother IS dead! You just plucked him from the past and used ideas from Kintobor's words to trick me! The Sol Emeralds are the only way to bring back Fiona, and even bring back my entire family! But you...You're the obstacle that's preventing me from making it happen! Your biggest mistake is saving my life, so now I will take your life, Sonic! You're mine!" Scourge shouted, preparing himself to fight once more.
Sonic narrowed his eyes as he stood ready for one final round against his evil self, knowing that words alone were not going to help.
'Red...I have to knock down your brother before we can both talk sense into him. Just please, put in as much faith as you can, little guy. We can't let Scourge remain evil and lose everything we both care for and love.' Sonic thought to himself, sensing that his opponent was now really struggling.
He could see that the Terror of Moebius was beginning to doubt himself. Now Sonic had to finish what he started, and hope that it's not too late.
A/N: And so the final battles have began, but now Sonic is about to face Scourge one-on-one for the final time. Will he and his friends triumpth and talk sense into the green hedgehog? Will they be able to defeat Robotnik, the Time Eater, Pachacamac and Cormain?
Hopefully I'll be able to update again very soon(if I'm able to) as we're almost done with the story.
See you later!