Here we go, time for another update to this time travelling adventure. Last time we had two characters dying, so what happens next? Read to find out. But first, we've got some anonymous reviews to take care of!
Nightshade: Well you'll find out what happens to them both in this chapter!
Yago: I love Aurora too, that's why I wanted to use her in this story and why I'm so grateful to E-vay for giving me permission to use her. But, stories like this don't always end in happy endings every time...read and find out.
Shadowthhedgiefangirl: Glad you liked the sparring match, I tried to make sure it was exciting but I still think it could've gone better...oh well, there's always room for improvement. Hope you like this next chapter!
With all that said ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy this next chapter! I own nothing except the story and Yukon "Houdini" the Sugar Glider. Aurora the Hedgehog belongs to E-vay
_
Being in love with someone usually means you've invested the entirety of your heart and soul into the person your affections are aimed at, you'd do anything to make them happy and even the slightest of smiles is enough to get your heart beating faster...the flipside of that however, is that if that person were ever taken away from you for whatever reason, the pain becomes nearly unbearable as your emotions spin wildly out of control with grief.
That was exactly what Amy Rose was going through right now, her heart screamed in agony inside her chest as she watched her beloved Sonic slowly be ripped away from her by a force she couldn't even attempt to fight back against. He was dying, and there wasn't a thing that she could do about it. "Tails, there has to be something you can do!" she exclaimed desperately.
For his part, the young genius was working feverishly to set up some brand new equipment, sweat built up on his forehead as the stress of the situation slowly began to overtake him. "I'm working as fast as I can..." he practically said it to himself, just barely loud enough for anyone else to hear it. His breath was short and he was scrambling as fast as he could, until finally he had hooked Sonic up to some more wires and activated a large machine next to Sonic's hospital bed. "This is all I can think of, a prototype life support system I made only for extreme emergencies...it's still just experimental, it may not even work."
"There's no better time to test it! Do it!"
Nodding at the frantic pink hedgehog who was clinging desperately to Sonic's hand like a lifeline, Tails activated the machine and waited with baited breath as it warmed up. "Life support system activated...it's trying to keep his heart beating..." Sonic's vitals began to stabilize somewhat, and the entire group gasped collectively at what they were witnessing. "It...it's working!"
"Way to go Tails!" Knuckles pumped a fist in victory.
But the celebration was cut short as Sonic suddenly flatlined.
"No!" Amy cried as she whipped around to stare at the young fox. "Tails, do something!"
"I-I've done everything I can!"
The pink hedgehog gave a strangled sob, and she released Sonic's hand to get up and start pressing her hands hard against his chest in an attempt to restart his heart. "Thirty compressions, two breaths!" she whispered to herself before leaning in and placing her mouth over Sonic's. She saw his chest rise when she gave the breath, and so she did it again and repeated the CPR cycle. "You can't die Sonic, you can't!" she grunted with each press. "You promised you'd never leave me!"
Everyone watched in sadness as Amy desperately tried to bring Sonic back, the sharp and steady sound that was the machine reading the flatline hadn't stopped once, acting as a never-ending signal that the fastest thing alive...was no longer alive. "Amy, it's over...just...stop." Tails tried to place his hand on her shoulder, but she snarled and glared at him when he touched her, and immediately went back to work after she turned back to the blue hedgehog's body.
"You can give up if you want to! But he's not dead! Not yet, I can feel it!" she gave another two breaths, and then stepped back to see if anything had changed.
Nothing.
"Sonic...you can't be...dead..." She began to sob uncontrollably, and she fell to her knees as her grief over the loss of her one true love threatened to drown her altogether. "I'm sorry Sonic, I tried..." All hope was lost. Her heart gave an agonized lurch as she thought about how she would never again see that cocky smirk, or the way his eyes would flash in excitement whenever a new challenge presented itself...he was gone, and he took her heart with her.
Silence overtook the laboratory with the exception of Amy's sobs, even Cream was unable to let loose any tears, as she was still in a stunned disbelief over what had happened. "Tails...is Mr. Sonic really...gone?"
Before the fox boy could answer, a bright flash came from the back of the room, and everyone turned to see Shadow standing there in his golden super form, and walking up to Sonic's dead body. "Stand aside."
Amy slowly raised her head to look at Shadow, her tears still flowing freely as she wiped her eyes to try and clear her vision. "Wh-what...what are you going to do?"
The Ultimate Life Form said nothing, and instead merely walked past the mourning pink hedgehog and stood right in front of Sonic. "Alright Sonic...this is your last chance...if this doesn't work, it was nice knowing you." he slowly raised up in the air and began glowing brightly, as a sphere of what appeared to be golden chaos energy formed inside his hands.
"What...what's that?" Amy stared up at the sphere in awe.
Everyone looked on in confusion at what was happening...all except for one, who suddenly felt a sharp pang in his chest the moment he recognized what Shadow was about to attempt. With eyes wide in painful remembrance, Tails spoke up with a wavering whisper, his emotions only barely contained. "I know what he's doing..."
"Chaos...Regeneration!"
The sphere slammed into Sonic and the glow of the chaos energy enveloped his body for a brief moment before slowly dissipating, and then Shadow powered down and landed on his feet. As soon as the black hedgehog had uttered the words, everyone in the room who had been present for the first time it was attempted gave a silent gasp. "Do you think it'll work?" Rouge whispered almost to herself.
Knuckles gave his answer via a shrug. "Who knows? It...didn't work for Cosmo...but maybe it'll work this time?"
After a few more moments, Sonic remained motionless, the steady beep of the flatline still going strong. "I guess that's it then." Shadow turned his back on the blue hedgehog with his eyes closed. "Sayonara, Sonic the Hedge-"
Beep
Everyone froze in place, eyes wide in shock and not daring to even blink as if doing so would make reality come crashing down on them.
Beep
"I'm...not the only one who heard that...right?" Knuckles finally broke the silence. "Was that what I think it was?"
Beep
"A beat!" Cream clasped her hands together as a grin slowly spread across her face. "Tails his heart beat!"
Beep
The fox boy hurried over and checked all the systems, making sure that this sudden miracle wasn't just a glitch. "I-It worked?" he pressed two fingers to Sonic's wrist and checked for a pulse, and moments later a watery smile appeared on his face as he choked a half laugh-half sob. "He's alive!" he turned around suddenly as the others around him erupted into cheers. "Shadow you did it! It worked!" But then his smile faltered slightly as a memory hit him again. "It worked this time anyway."
No one had noticed the young genius have his sobering moment, as they were all still celebrating with the exception of Shadow and Omega. Of course Tails was happy that Sonic had been revived, but there was a small part of him that ached due to the method that had been used. Both Sonic and Shadow had once attempted to combine their strength and use Chaos Regeneration to keep his beloved Cosmo from dying after he himself had been forced to shoot her down to save the entire universe from the Metarex threat. It ultimately failed, and all Sonic brought back was one tiny seed which he'd planted the moment they got back to Mobius.
It was a bittersweet feeling for Tails, and he closed his eyes as a sad smile graced his features in remembrance of the love he lost. "I'm sorry Cosmo." He would've stood there for a few moments more, but he was brought out of his musings when Cream put her hands on his shoulder and shook him to get his attention. "Cream?"
The rabbit's eyes were filled with worry all over again as she looked up at him. "Mr. Sonic still isn't waking up Tails!"
Tails turned back around and faced Sonic again, and there he saw Amy sitting next to the blue hedgehog's body, her eyes staring intently as if watching him would somehow wake him up. "Lemme see." he walked up to the bed and checked the systems again, pulling back when he concluded with a scratch of his head that everything was in working order. "The life support system is keeping him going now, but I couldn't even begin to tell you why he won't wake up."
"So we're back to waiting?" Amy glanced up at the fox with a distressed gaze.
He slowly nodded with his eyes closed. "I've done everything I can, there's no science I can use to bring him back, and I don't think hitting Sonic with another blast of Chaos Regeneration would be a good idea, we still don't understand the full scope of what effect that has on a person." he winced a little as Cosmo returned to his mind, but he quickly shook it off. "My suggestion would be to just wait and see what happens from here. Maybe we can..." he gulped. "Start working on a plan on how to beat Eggman and Ba'Gan without Sonic."
Silence again came over the laboratory at the implications of that statement. While everyone easily understood the logic of what Tails had said, the very idea of preparing a plan that they could execute in case Sonic actually didn't pull through left a heavy weight in their hearts. "I'll say this...if we end up having to do that, then Ba'Gan better be ready, because I'll show him what real pain feels like." Knuckles growled as he slammed a fist into his palm.
"That goes triple for me." Gemerl - who had since been repaired - finally spoke up. "After everything Sonic did for me in my past life, I'll unleash every fighting technique I've got in my memory banks all over that walking booger!"
"Guys!" Everyone turned to look at the pink hedgehog who once again seemed on the verge of tears. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she steeled herself and looked at her friends with all the resolve she could muster. "If you all wouldn't mind, I'd like to be alone with Sonic for a few minutes. Would that be ok?"
"Yes." Tails said quickly before anyone else could have the chance to say otherwise. "Come on everyone, let's give them space." The fox boy began ushering everyone out despite their protests, but he did take a moment to address Shadow. "Leave the Chaos Emeralds here."
The black hedgehog quirked an eyebrow. "Any particular reason?"
"Like I said, there's no science I can use to bring Sonic back..." Tails looked over his shoulder, and Shadow followed his lead as they both glanced at the pink hedgehog who was keeping watch over her beloved. "So maybe science isn't the answer, maybe it's something much simpler...and much more powerful."
Shadow looked down at the fox and nodded once before placing the Chaos Emeralds on a table and walking out. "We'll see if you're right."
As Tails followed him out, he stopped a moment to look over his shoulder again, breathing out a despondent sigh as he felt his heart ache for the young woman who was suffering so. "Good luck Amy." he walked out of the room, and almost immediately he was approached by Cream, who looked nearly as worried as Amy did. "Cream."
"What's going on Tails?"
The young genius sighed again and shook his head. "There's nothing I can do Cream...so now we're down to just hoping and praying that a miracle happens."
Pondering his words, Cream found it in herself to relinquish a small smile as she looked up at him. "Well, Mr. Sonic always said that miracles were his specialty."
Tails laughed a little at that, and looked over his shoulder at the closed door he'd just walked through. "True that...who knows? Maybe this is what we should've done all along, after all," he placed his hands on Cream's shoulders and smiled at her, a tender smile filled with gratitude for her cheering him up, even if it was only a little bit. "Power is enriched by the heart."
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"Still you fight. Why? Surely you don't still believe you can defeat me?"
Sonic grunted in frustration and fatigue as he gripped his right arm with his left one, how long had this battle against Ba'Gan been drawn out now? Hours? Days? Weeks? The blue blur had lost track of passing time during his exile in this strange dream world he'd gotten himself stuck in, and for some reason he couldn't even begin to explain, he'd felt himself growing continually weaker as he continued to fight. It wasn't even that Ba'Gan was a particularly difficult opponent.
In fact it was just the opposite.
After the initial burst Ba'Gan had used, he'd seemed fairly content to just take the hits Sonic gave out. Punches, kicks, spin dashes and homing attacks, he'd even tried to see if he could unleash a Light Speed Attack but it was to no avail. The longer the battle went on, the more tired he became, and it was taking every ounce of willpower within him to not just give in to the increasingly powerful temptation to lay down and close his eyes.
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear," the blue hedgehog grunted out weakly. "Giving up isn't exactly my style." He took a deep breath and steeled himself as he went in for one last attack. He revved up a spin dash, his teeth gritted in determination as he fought off the exhaustion that was overtaking him so suddenly, and he charged ahead with all the strength left in his body.
He was promptly deflected by Ba'Gan and he crashed to the ground in a heap.
"Fool."
Sonic tried to get up, he tried to get his arms to move so he could lift himself back up, but his body was disobeying his will. He wanted to scream, shout, do anything except lay there and be pathetic, his friends were counting on him! He had to get up and fight, he had to-
"Sleep."
Sonic gasped and suddenly felt the urge to pass out increase. "No, I've got to...I-I've got to-"
"Sleep."
What was Ba'Gan doing to him? He couldn't let himself be taken out, not like this, he was Sonic the Hedgehog! The fastest thing alive! He always had energy to spare! But then again, sleep did sound pretty good right about now, he was just so tired.
"Sleep, Sonic the Hedgehog. Rest now. The battle is over."
"No it's not," he managed to whisper out. "As soon as I take a little nap, you're mine." He felt his eyes begin to droop, slowly closing as his vision blurred and what little strength he had left leave him. His friends would be alright until he recovered, right? "I'll be right back guys, promise."
Chaos...Regeneration!
Sonic heard a voice echo around him, almost ethereal in nature. "Shadow?" he blinked a few times and laid there as he tried to ascertain what exactly it was he'd heard, then his eyes shot open in awareness. What was he doing? Taking a nap? There was a baddie that needed bashing!
"No!" Ba'Gan shouted at the sky, shaking a fist in rage. "It was over! You meddling menace, I will be sure to come after you next!"
"Impressive alliteration there pal," Sonic laughed as he slowly got back to his feet, taking a few deep breaths as he relished in the feeling of strength returning to his aching body. "Gotta admit, you almost had me there for a while, but it's not that easy to bring down Sonic the Hedgehog!"
The creature growled in barely contained rage, his fists and teeth clenched so tightly that the sound of bones cracking was loud enough for them both to hear.
"So," Sonic wiped his nose with his thumb before getting into a battle-ready stance. "Ready for round two?"
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It had been a few minutes since the room was cleared out, leaving her and Sonic alone in silence, save for the beeping of the medical monitor and the hum of the life support system. Her mind was still awhirl with everything that had just happened, as soon as she saw Sonic flatline her whole world had come crashing down around her. Years ago she'd taught herself CPR in case of an emergency, but it had never quite sunk in that one day she'd need to use it, and certainly not for Sonic the Hedgehog.
For all the good it did either of them.
Her attempts to resuscitate him had been useless, he surely would've been dead already if it hadn't been for Shadow and his utilization of a Chaos-based move that she'd ever only seen used once before...and that one time it had been a dismal failure. She chuckled dryly as her thoughts briefly led her to the idea that she should be thankful that this time it had worked...but somehow she couldn't let herself think that way.
"Your body's alive, but you're still dead..." she whispered to herself as she choked back a sob. She looked him over, taking in his features. He was just so beautiful, brilliant cobalt blue quills sharp enough to shatter any robot he went up against and yet so smooth to the touch, strong arms that had saved her countless times and enveloped her in a protective embrace...and those breathtaking emerald green eyes, always so full of life and twinkling with excitement, everything about was him just...perfect.
The thought of losing him made her throat tighten and her heart lurch painfully in her chest.
"I don't think you have any idea how much you mean to me Sonic..." she gently placed his hand inside hers, stroking a thumb over his knuckles as her eyes began to water. "For years I chased you, talked about how we were meant to be...how one day I'd marry you and we'd be together forever," she laughed through a sob as she removed one of her hands to wipe away the tears that had begun to flow. "I still remember the day you promised you'd never leave me again, and I was so happy to see you that I turned into a sobbing mess in your arms...a-and you held me, you let me get it all out, you'd never done anything like that for me before...a-and...y-you've always managed to...t-to keep that promise." She squeezed her eyes shut to try and stop the flowing of her tears. "Sonic, come back to me...please...we need you! I need you!" she sniffled before she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sonic's forehead, hovering over him in a silent plea that he would somehow feel her presence. "Please...please Sonic..."
She continued murmuring that word through hiccups and sobs as she grasped his hand desperately as if it were a lifeline, totally unaware that her tears were rolling down from her cheeks to his...and unaware of the steadily increasing shine emanating from the Chaos Emeralds behind her.
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"Come on, don't I ever get tired?!"
Sonic had quickly come to the realization that his sudden revival and burst of strength had a few downsides to it. On the one hand, he no longer felt tired, in fact he felt like he could fight forever if he needed to...on the other hand, he was starting to think he needed to.
Once his strength returned, Sonic had immediately been attacked by Ba'Gan, who all of a sudden didn't seem content to just take hits anymore, now he was actively dishing them out too. The super form he'd stolen was making the battle even more difficult, as it seemed that nothing Sonic was able to pull off even made Ba'Gan flinch, and for every attack Sonic was able to get in, Ba'Gan was able to get in three or four.
"Now I know how Eggman feels fighting me," Sonic grunted as he was suddenly knocked onto his back by a lightning-fast kick, and he used the side of his fist to wipe his mouth. "Not a lotta fun, gotta admit."
"You amuse me less and less," Ba'Gan raised his hands above his head and charged a huge ball of chaos energy, and he sent it flying down towards Sonic who quickly dashed away and tried to rush up with a spinning kick, but it was easily blocked, and moments later he found himself being swung around by his ankle as Ba'Gan had grabbed him after the block. "You cannot win, yield!" Ba'Gan slammed him to the ground. "Yield!" another slam. "YIELD!"
Sonic grunted as he slammed his palms into the ground to try and regain some balance, and he rolled up into a spin dash which forced Ba'Gan to release his ankle. He zoomed away and gained some distance before uncurling and getting back into a battle-ready stance, but he didn't even get a second to react before Ba'Gan was on him again, the monster's hand wrapped tightly around his throat as he was slammed to the ground again. "Not exactly a fan of fighting fair, are ya?"
"Silence!" Ba'Gan raised Sonic off the ground and bashed his head against the ground on his way back down. "I've already tolerated far too much of your insolence, your strength cannot possibly compare to mine and yet you insist on resisting, but that ends now!"
The blue hedgehog choked out a grunt as he felt the pressure around his throat increase, his mind raced as he found his ability to breathe quickly fading away. "I've gotta do something...anything!" Panic began to set in as he desperately clawed at the hand tightening around his throat like a vice, hoping against hope that maybe he could get it to let go.
"Goodbye Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Just as Sonic began to think those were the last words he would ever hear, another faint voice registered in his ears, just as familiar as the one before but much softer and with much more emotion. "Amy?" As he fought to focus on her voice, he soon found every other noise starting to fade into the background as her voice came to the forefront, and the words he heard gave him an unexplained burst of strength as they came in. "What's going on?"
"No, not again! How many times must someone interfere?!"
He'd barely registered Ba'Gan's shout of frustration, nor was he even able to feel the monster's hand around his throat anymore. All he could really hear anymore was Amy's desperate cries for him, and the more he heard, the stronger he felt.
Sonic, come back to me...please...we need you! I need you! Please...please Sonic...
"You heard the lady!" Sonic grinned and turned his head back towards his opponent, who judging by the snarl on his face, was well aware that things were about to go sour. "Looks like this party's over! It's been real, but part of being a hero means I go where I'm needed, and right now, she needs me!" Sonic felt the familiar warmth of chaos energy coursing through him, and moments later he too was bathed in the golden glow of his super form, and he kicked his imposter off of him and went on the attack.
"This...is impossible!" Ba'Gan reached out with his fist, but his punch was easily caught within Sonic's palm, and the monster soon found himself flying across the blank landscape after Sonic unleashed a punch of his own. "No, I had you defeated! You were already dead!"
"Nope, just mostly dead!" Sonic tapped Ba'Gan's shoulder from behind, and as soon as he turned around to meet him, he unleashed a brutal eagle kick that sent Ba'Gan crashing to the ground, then he curled into a ball and slammed into the creature's back as he pushed him farther into the ground. "Wanna know the thing about being mostly dead?" he grabbed the exhausted alien by the scruff of his neck and grinned triumphantly at him. "Being mostly dead means you're still technically alive, and that's all I need!" he threw Ba'Gan higher into the air, and mere seconds later he launched a powerful beam of chaos energy that completely enveloped Ba'Gan, and when Sonic ceased fire...there was no sign of his opponent. "Finally...can I wake up now?"
Just as he said that, Sonic was blinded by a white light.
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Amy had cried so much that she was practically numb, the ache in her heart had dulled but now it just seemed to sit heavily inside her chest, her mind blank after several minutes of pleading with Sonic to return to the land of the living, all to no avail. She stared straight ahead, purposely keeping her gaze off of Sonic so that she didn't break down into a new wave of tears that surely would've exhausted her even more than she already was.
So she failed to notice when Sonic's eyes fluttered open. "Amy?"
His voice...so faint, was her mind betraying her now? Forcing her to hear his voice in her head to compensate for the fact that she refused to look at him? "Terrific, I'm going insane, as if I wasn't messed up enough already."
"Amy."
It was louder this time...much louder. "Wait...am I...not hallucinating after all?!" She was afraid to look down. If she looked and he was still unconscious, it would only act as a confirmation that she'd driven herself mad with grief, and that was a reality she didn't want to have to accept.
"Ames, come on already."
That was so much like Sonic it wasn't even funny. She squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head down so that she would see him when she opened her eyes, and she sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening that she would look down and see a miracle. She counted to three and she opened her eyes, and almost immediately her breath hitched in her throat.
She was staring right into the emerald green orbs of Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Sonic?" she breathed out in disbelief.
"Hey..." Sonic rasped. "What's a guy gotta do to get something to drink around here?"
"SONIC!"
The blue hedgehog yelped as he was suddenly glomped by the sobbing pink hedgehog, who was now clinging onto him like a lifeline. "Hey, c'mon Ames, you didn't really think I'd break my promise didya?"
Amy pulled back and choked out a sobbing laugh, a watery smile appearing on her face as she slowly shook her head in response. "I'm so glad you're ok, do you have any idea how close we were to losing you?"
"Pfft," Sonic scoffed weakly as he lazily waved a hand in the air. "Ya can't get rid of me that easily, although after that dream I just had, I'm seriously craving one of your homemade chili dogs."
Amy laughed again when he winked at her, the tension she'd been holding inside her faded as she laughed with extreme relief and adoration for the blue hedgehog laying on the bed in front of her. "I'll make sure to whip you up a batch the first chance I get."
It was then that the rest of their friends suddenly burst through the door and witnessed the sight of Amy laughing and talking to Sonic...and Sonic was talking back. Tails managed to get in front of the stampede and was the first one through as he started unhooking his big brother from wires, and he spared a glance at the table where the Chaos Emeralds were, smiling to himself as he noted the fading glow they were emitting. Then he took in the sight of Sonic and Amy, joking and laughing with youthful abandon as if nothing had ever gone wrong, save for the rasp in Sonic's voice from disuse. Tails grinned and shook his head as he got back to work. "Power is enriched by the heart."
"What was that buddy?"
"Nothing Sonic," Tails grinned internally. "Nothing at all."
As the group of friends reunited with their almost lost colleague, no one noticed the absence of a lavender cat who had left moments after confirming Sonic was truly alive.
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"Aurora?"
The bright pink hedgehog heard her name being called, maybe Silver's voice, and the first thing that came to her mind was when had she fallen asleep? She remembered beating Shadow in the sparring match, and now she was apparently on the ground. When she opened her eyes, she saw all of her friends from her own time - and of course Blaze - sitting around her with worried looks on their faces. "Um...this may seem like a stupid question, but why am I laying in the dirt?"
"Rory!"
Aurora grunted as her best friend suddenly jumped on top of her, wrapping her arms around her torso as she started babbling incoherently...of course this wouldn't be the first time. "Hey, easy Sticks! You've stopped using words!"
"Sorry!" the badger pulled back a bit and grinned sheepishly, but the relief was very evident in her eyes, as well as everybody else's. "In my defense, you almost faded out of existence! How would you react if some uncontrollable phenomenon tried to steal your best friend from you?!"
Aurora's smile fell, and she glanced at each of her friends with eyes wide in shock. "Is...is that what happened to me?" her hands began roaming around her own body in an attempt to reassure herself she was still there, then she focused on Silver who had his eyes downcast. "Silver, what happened?"
Silver rubbed the back of his neck and his frown grew. "Sonic almost died-" he was cut off by Aurora's pained gasp. "No it's ok! He's fine!" he chuckled once. "Which, ironically enough, is the reason that uh...you're fine."
"It was a close call," Blaze chimed in with her arms crossed over her chest. "From what I heard it took a combination of Shadow using a move called Chaos Regeneration, and apparently something along the lines of Amy praying to the Chaos Emeralds or something like that, I wasn't able to hear a more valid explanation before I came outside to check on your status."
"Power is enriched by the heart." Aurora nodded once in apparent understanding, her lips pressed into a tight line as the gravity of what had happened hit her. "Mom always told me that growing up. Our emotions, our passion, they can make differences even we don't realize, and the Chaos Emeralds respond to those feelings and can make amazing things happen. That must be how Mom brought Dad back, and I bet she has no idea that she did it."
"Hey guys," the group turned to Yukon. "If Aurora's ok, we should probably get inside before someone gets suspicious, I don't think the whole 'fainting from happiness' excuse is gonna fly for much longer."
"Wait, what?"
Silver drew into himself and sheepishly shrugged when everyone turned to glance at him, although in Aurora's case it was more of a glare. "Well uh...here's the thing, we couldn't exactly say that you passed out because you were in danger of fading out of existence, so-"
"So you told everyone that I was so excited to hang out with Shadow that I fainted like a crazed fangirl."
"Pretty much, yeah."
Aurora groaned and slapped her palm against her face. "Great, all that time spent trying to gain Shadow's respect and now I gotta get past that little detail."
"Well in his defense, there really weren't a lot of options..." Yukon withered a bit under the glare he was receiving from the pink hedgehog, but he trudged on. "I mean, even if we told them you were sick, that probably would've made them start looking into what was wrong with you, and then we would've been found out!"
"I get the picture, thanks." Aurora sighed and slowly stood back up, stretching out once she was back on her feet. "In hindsight, what Shadow thinks of me is the least of our problems."
"What do you mean?" Blaze asked.
Aurora looked down to the ground for a moment before addressing her comrades. "I mean the dangers of this mission just got more real than ever before, especially for me." Aurora looked back down to the ground, her brow furrowed in thought as she began to truly realize what was at stake here. "If anything happens to my parents, whether they get hurt in a fight or catch the freakin' flu, there's a chance that something might happen to me as a result...and that's only the beginning."
"Come on, you're overreacting!" Sticks scoffed.
"No, she's right." Silver was now the center of attention, as a serious expression overtook his face. "Any little thing we do could potentially have a drastic effect on the future, it's called the Butterfly Effect. Even something small and insignificant we do here could turn into a monstrous disaster twenty years from this time."
"But I thought that was the point," Yukon raised an eyebrow. "Go back in time to change the future, right?"
"That's right." Aurora walked past the others and stood so that her back was facing them, then she turned to look at them with a determined gaze. "My Shadow sacrificed himself to make sure we got here safely so we could change things for the better, and that's exactly what we're gonna do. If we start second-guessing ourselves then we won't be able to actually do something when the time comes. It could even get to the point where we're weighing pros and cons of letting someone get hurt because maybe they were supposed to. We can't afford to do that."
The group nodded, even Silver who still looked rather anxious about the whole situation couldn't help but agree with Aurora's assessment. "I guess you're right...but everything I know about time travel is screaming at me that this is wrong."
"You have voices in your head? I can fix that!"
Silver activated his psychokinesis when Sticks made a move to tackle him, and he briefly glared at her from the side of his eyes. "Please don't, I'm ok." he released the badger who glared back at him after she was back on the ground, but he paid it no mind. "I get it, it's not your typical time travel story. Normally it's about making sure the future isn't changed, but in this case we're purposely trying to make it better."
"We got that, what's your point?"
The psychokinetic hedgehog ignored the snide tone of Sticks' voice and continued. "Just this...whatever we do here, let's be careful and only try to make changes that we really think will actually make things better...the last thing we need is to go back to the future and find that we made things worse."
"Agreed." Blaze uncrossed her arms and looked into the distance. "And our first step should be finding that creature and destroying it. It's the source of all our problems. We take it out, and your future should be secured, and my dimension will be safe as well."
"Somehow," Sticks said. "I get the feeling that's gonna be easier said than done."
Meanwhile, deep inside a secret base at an undisclosed location, a pair of swirling red eyes snapped open, and a mouth emitted a vicious snarl as embarrassment over being defeated turned into rage. "You think you're rid of me Sonic the Hedgehog? Think again. Your world shall fall just as all the others before have. Mark my words."
_
A/N: Well, there you have it! I hope you guys liked that little bit of Sonamy I threw in! Some of you are probably wondering what took so long, heh. There'll be more as time goes on, things will start speeding up soon too. Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!
