Chapter Thirteen – Reunion – Epilogue

Dimension – 23691

'When it comes to a 'Sonic', if there's no body, he's probably not dead.'

It was several months before the Sapphire Dragon was back. He was missed but they knew he'd be back. He'd promised, but to Saffie, he'd only been gone a couple of days. It didn't take Tails long to work out what was going on. One day inter-dimensional traveling was one month back home. That made it tough for those left behind waiting but as Tails also pointing out, excessive inter-dimensional traveling would age you rather quickly, leading to a very short life indeed. This, thankfully, didn't apply to Saffie. Yet another reason, Sonic suspected, he was chosen.

But he looked battered when he got back, so Sonic and his friends worked around the clock, taking it in turns to comfort him, and to keep him company. He really did desperately need them, and it was incredibly nice to see, when he finally began to mentally recover, he turned into the biggest pain the backside Sonic had ever met. Though Tails disagreed, as Saffie drove him bonkers. His fire-breathing as a Dragon did cause havoc, but his flame grilled apples were amazing. Saffie would throw an apple into the air, and then face upwards, his nose skywards, activate his Dragon's breath and flame grill the apples. There were so good. But Sonic did wonder how his own dimension dealt with him, but he got the impression, as both Tails and Knuckles lost their rags with him, that they didn't. He was just too strong and too powerful, but had an enormous heart once you got to know him.

But he needed a home, and the Dragon in Saffie build himself a nest, not far from Tails' House. Sonic could see it from the window of his bedroom, as the Sapphire Dragon had chosen the largest tree in a nearby woodland. The beautiful large oak tree was tall, it's canopy and trunk, above the others, similar to Saffie himself, and to Sonic's utter surprise, he naturally slept upside down. Off the tallest, largest and strongest branch of the tree, sticking out perpendicular to the trunk. It just bristled the tops of the other trees. Saffie, to everyone's horror, robotised the tree. People objected, especially Knuckles who had completely banned him from doing it. But as Saffie pointed out, one, he needed to reenforce the tree to hold his weight, and two, it was only a partial robotisation, the tree was absolutely fine, and none the wiser as to what happened.

Then he climbed the tree, turned upside down, wrapped his incredible prehensile tails around the branch and let go of the trunk, so he was left dangling. He then wrapped his huge beautiful royal Blue wings around himself and fell fast asleep. This surprised everyone but seeing him so comfortable, Saffie was allowed to keep his tree, so long as he promised Knuckles, not the robotise anything else.

Sonic looked out of his bedroom window, and out across to the woodland. He beamed as he could see that the Sapphire Dragon was home. He could just see the Blue of his tail wrapped around the tree branch just above the top of the canopy of the woodland. The rest of him was obscured by the leaves. Sonic did worry about him, because he was out there in all weathers but those amazing wings of his were so incredibly warm when they were wrapped around you, that they realised he'd be fine.

But Saffie didn't fly much, when home. Having him around still scared the locals so he decided against it, flying at dusk and dawn, being very illusive about it. Normal Dragon behaviour, Tails later learned. It was fascinating to find about these giant flying beasts, as they didn't exist in this dimension. But Saffie actually spent a lot of his time in his holographic form, in Tails' House, his body still sleeping, or more actually, in standby mode, in the tree. Yes, his wireless could just about reach that far. Saffie, in his body, never entered Tails' House, he was just too big, so always entered as a hologram, but did occasionally land on the roof, to get a better reception on the wireless.

But truthfully, Saffie was gone on inter-dimensional missions, far more often then he was home. Leaving his tree branch bare, and his best friend, all alone. The little Cyan Wisp, whom he affectionately called Squidling, was so besotted by the Sapphire Dragon that he followed him absolutely everywhere. Whenever Saffie was home, he was always seen with the Wisp, even in holographic form and they were always playing together. Everyone knew how powerful the body of the Sapphire Dragon was but with the Squidling, he was so incredibly gently, tossing the little guy around, as he was curled up into a ball, making him giggle. Or Saffie would lay on his back on the ground and blow smoke rings for him to play though. Being a Dragon did sometimes have its perks. Their friendship was far closer then Sonic and Tails, and yet two creatures, so vastly different, could bond so well, was a joy to see. The little Wisp always slept curled into a ball, a top of Saffie's tail which itself was curled up around his tree branch.

Sonic and his friends were left wondering what to do with Scourge. He was still a robot. Saffie did offer to turned him back, which stunned everyone but when he said that de-robotisation wasn't exact and came with enormous side effects like mutation, indicating himself, they all decided against it. Scourge was a total handful without mutation on top, it just wasn't worth it, but Tails was horrified, turning to Saffie.

"You were robotised?" He asked, gobsmacked, finally understanding how the Sapphire Dragon got turned into the Cyborg in the first place. He nodded.

"Yes, but there was a lot of other coincidental factors involved. Super-Speed, lightning, a Power Stone, Dragon DNA on top of the Robotisation Energy to turn me into the Sapphire Dragon." He admitted. "You see, Robotisation normally works by turning people into robots from the outside in, for me it was the inside out." He heaved, remembering the horrendous pain. "And with the extreme mutation..." He added, letting the sentence hand. Tails gulped.

"Means you can't be turned back." He stammered. Saffie shook his head. He was stuck like this, whether he wanted to be or not. He sighed. But Sonic frowned.

"So what to we do with Scourge?" He asked, but Tails suddenly piped up, immediately pulling out his handheld. He heaved.

"I been wondering about that. I can't stay here. Knuckles tells me even a robot, the Master Emerald wasn't happy about it. So I have been searching the multiverse, for a dimension where he can't hurt anyone. A dimension empty and desolate, with nobody there, and more specifically, one of the verge of locking." He smiled. "I found one." He added. Saffie raised an eyebrow, that was impressive. Tails giggled. "I'd suggest that you take Scourge there, and drop him off, and then just before you leave, de-robotise him, ensuring the dimension locks behind you." He smiled. They all stared at each other. It was brutal, but as Sonic pointing out, an evil version of himself was just too dangerous to be let loose on the multiverse.

Saffie agreed, and with Tails' coordinates, he grabbed Scourge, he vanished through a inter-dimensional portal, where the Green Hedgehog was never seen again. Having Saffie come and go, took some getting used to, but unfortunately, it didn't stop the random inter-dimensional portals landing further counterparts of the Blue Blur into their dimension.

The Sapphire Dragon was away on a mission when he came. Absolutely out of nowhere. Sonic and Tails were on his bright red bi-plane, the Fox piloting, the Blue Blur stood on the wing, on their way to intervene with Eggman's latest plans. A large boss robot had just been set loose on a village, just south of Tails' house, and they were immediately on their way to destroy the monster. Saffie had kept his word, and didn't interfere at all with Eggman, though the Human was absolutely scared witless of him, and with good reason. Saffie, alone, had the speed, strength and power to completely destroy Eggman, every base, every robot. But what happened on this dimension was no longer any of his business. He saved the dimension from the red corrupted Master Emerald, time for the inter-dimensionally traveller to move on.

But today, alone, Sonic and Tails were on their way take down the Human. Not permanently, just a defeat in his latest scheme. Nowadays, he never was a real threat, not since the world war with Infinite and the Phantom Ruby. He was more of a terrorist more then anything. Tails took his handheld everywhere with him, and in the cockpit of the plane, the alarm sounded. He frowned.

"What the?" He asked, looking at the device. Sonic knelt down atop of the plane. He frowned.

"What's up, Little Bro?" He wondered. Tails' frown deepened then he gasped.

"It's a portal. But..." He paused and then suddenly he screamed. "Look out." He yelled, as something hit the plane from directly above them. It forced Tails to swerve the plane. Sonic had to jump from the middle of the plane to the very tip of one of the wings just to avoid it. Panting, he looked behind him, and to his horror, saw that what hit them wasn't a missile but actually a person, and they were to promptly sliding off the top of the plane at the opposite wingtip. He was dressed head to foot in black camouflage gear, including a black beanie hat but the bright Blue fur and big green eyes that gave him away. Sonic staring as his counterpart slide off the plane and begin plummeting to the ground. He screamed, tumbling over and over. Tails steadied the plane as Sonic looked down. He panicked

"Land." He gasped. "Land." He heaved, but saw that his counterpart was make no attempts whatsoever to slow his decent and land. He could have landed it easily, but he had the Chaos Power to do it, and was beginning to think that this counterpart didn't. He swore, realising that if he didn't do anything, his counterpart would die. Sonic then suddenly ran to one tip of the wing and Spin-dashed off the other end, diving off his plane. He went straight for his counterpart, diving threw the air like a bullet. Tails was gobsmacked, looking up. There were a thousand feet high, since when do inter-dimensional portals materialise in the middle of the sky? He then looked down, absolutely terrified.

Sonic's counterpart was still screaming and when he saw Sonic, he immediately grabbed him, absolutely panicking, refusing to let go. Sonic growled, this temper flaring, his counterpart was not helping at all. His eyes were streaming with tears of fright, and Sonic desperate tired to control the decent and was failing. Swearing, he put them both into another dive and aimed for a nearby woodlands. Sonic desperately tried to grab for the trees as they hit them, but the friction significantly slowing them down. Suddenly, Sonic's counterpart slipped out of his hand, and sliding through the leaves, he split a different way to the Blue Blur.

Suddenly, Sonic finally landed on the ground, beneath the trees, with a thump. Slight battered and bruised, but alright. His counterpart, on the other hand, not so much. He slide horizontally through the canopy of the trees and came out right on the edge of the woodland to a farm that lay next door. He then promptly landed in the pit of little critter manure, that the farmer used to fertilise his land. It stunk. The Blue Blur was fuming as he got to his feet, and was pleased see his counterpart was alive. A landing you walked away from was a good landing. Very quickly he was joined by Tails, who immediately grounded the plane and went to find them. Both were panting, staring at Sonic's counterpart get out of the pit. Correction, tried to get out. He did, but then toppled over the edge and then face planted the floor in the most undignified way possible.

It would have been funny if Sonic wasn't so angry. This stupid counterpart nearly got them both killed. What was he doing dialing a portal up so high up? He'd inter-dimensional travelled himself, a couple of times. You could completely control where the portal landed. Suddenly, there was an explosion behind them reminded Sonic and Tails why they were traveling by plane in the first place. Now Sonic's temper really exploded, swearing loudly.

"Eggman." He roared, and promptly vanishing, to an almighty explosion of the sound barrier, leaving Tails, trying to get his counterpart to his feet, all the while holding his nose. Eggman didn't stand a chance, not with Sonic this angry. He just disintegrated the Human. So much so that Knuckles noticed from Angel Island and came down to find out what was up, especially with the Master Emerald kicking off. Yet another counterpart. He rolled his eyes, but wondered what he'd done to make the Blue Blur so angry. Within the hour, Sonic was back, still shaking with anger, a blue aura all around him, Eggman now no longer a threat.

No one said anything, giving the Blue Blur some space to calm down. They moved to outside Tails' House, where the Fox was filling a wooden tub with hot water. The counterpart still absolutely stunk from the manure and Tails was not allowing him in the house. But he looked so strange in his beanie hat and black clothes, but it was the complete lack of any quills at all that was weirdest. But right now, he was flat out refusing to get in the bath. He'd been staring at Sonic, deep into his eyes, as if looking for something, pleading with him. But the Blue Blur had no idea what. Suddenly, Knuckles showed, and what happened next, completely broke Sonic's temper.

His counterpart then rounds on Knuckles, but instead of grabbing him, he fell to his knees at his feet, and proceeded to bow to him, like some kind of deity. Everyone is shocked and Knuckles is taken by storm. The counterpart gasped.

"Elder!" He breathed, but to much giggling from Sonic and Tails, but Knuckles just blinked. He stared.

"Er, I know Echidnas are an ancient species but I'm not that old." He exclaimed, suddenly he sniffed and promptly held his nose. He grabbed the counterpart by the arms and lifted him clean off the ground. He heaved. "You, bath, now." He spat. "You stink." He smirked and walking across to the tub, he promptly dumped the counterpart in it. Suddenly, he screamed as there was an almighty fizzy sound, smoke, and suddenly, the counterpart was completely unconscious. The trio absolutely panic, pulling the counterpart from the water, lying him on the floor. Sonic grabbed him, taking off his jacket off, to check if he was alright, to the most otherworldly sight of his life.

His counterpart's entire torso was covered his electronic sprockets, black, circular, perfectly woven into his skin. Several of them were still smoking. There were eight down his chest, with a further dozen down his back, in three lines. A line down his spine, and two lines either side, down from each shoulder to his ribs. They also travelled down both arms. They took off his hat, to find his long, royal Blue, super soft, quills completely flatten against his head and the biggest electronic sprocket they had even seen right on the back of his head. They all stared. They all knew what it was, and where they had seen it before.

Within minutes, he woke up, and was sat up by Sonic and Tails, both looking terrified. He was very shaken but finally decided to speak. He sniffed.

"Sorry about that." He admitted, his voice incredibly cracked. "They don't like being submerged in water." He heaved, indicating his sprockets "Apparently, it improves after a couple of months, and stops happening, once, I guess, they get used to it." He stammered. Sonic frowned.

"What?" He asked, got cut across by Tails. He'd staring at the huge sprocket on the back of his counterpart's head.

"That's a Direct-Neuro Interface." He stammered. But the counterpart just rolled his eyes. He giggled.

"Er, yeah. Everyone born in the Grid has one." He exclaimed. All of a sudden, everyone remembered. The Grid and what Saffie's memories showed of it. All of the sudden all of the electronic sprockets on the counterpart body made sense. Knuckles suddenly when white then rather green. He stood there shaking with horror. He gulped.

"You've been in one of those red pods, haven't you." He stammered, but the counterpart frowned.

"I've spent by entire life in a red pod." He announced. "I only got out a few weeks ago." He shrugged, to everyone's absolutely horror, then the counterpart frowned. "Hey, how do you know?" He asked. Suddenly Sonic smiled.

"Saffie told us." He shrugged. But the counterpart grabbed the Blue Blur, both gobsmacked and desperate. He heaved.

"You've seen Saffie." He panted, swearing. "I knew it." He sighed. "Everyone believes him to be nothing more then a ghost, but I believed him to be real. I thought I felt his digital signature here, so I came looking." He explained and then suddenly, the alarm went off on Tail's handheld followed by an enormous explosion of the sound barrier, high above them. The counterpart screamed in terror. He wailed.

"What was that?" He cried. But Sonic, Tails and Knuckles just all giggled. Knuckles folded his arms. He smiled.

"Just the Big Guy." He smirked, pointing upwards. It had been several months since they had seen the Sapphire Dragon, but they were so used to him coming and going that nobody noticed nowadays. But the mighty Blue Dragon didn't show himself. He vanished rather quickly, but suddenly, his hologram suddenly materised right in front of the house. He was wearing a very cheesy grin. The hologram was looking very different, completely solid, no longer see through and even managed to interact with the environment around him. His beautiful Blue fur shining in the afternoon sun, and his large black eyes bright. He giggled.

"Oh, yes, it worked. Check it out, I've acquired some new tech." He grinned, examining his holographic body all over. "Hard Light Hologram." He announced. "And no, I didn't steal it. I was given it by some friends in the previous dimension." He smirked, but suddenly he eyes fell on the counterpart, who eyes were streaming in tears of pure delight.

Saffie's jaw dropped. He immediately recogised his digital signature. He gasped.

"Chosen One?" He stammered, to raised eyebrows from everyone. But he immediately nodded, and crawled right for him along the floor, as Saffie also ran for him, them meeting in the middle, on their knees, hugely embracing. He hugged the Chosen One with everything he had. It felt weird to have a sense of touch through his hologram. Saffie heaved, swearing.

"I thought you were dead." He stammered. But the Chosen One shook his head. He smiled.

"No." He sniffed. "You saved everyone." He exclaimed. But Saffie's eyes widened, not believing him at all. He gulped.

"How?" He questioned. "I left you in such a mess." He heaved, but the Chosen One smiled, now bouncing.

"No, you didn't. When my 'Freedom Code' was uploaded into the Grid, it knocked me out. I have since learned." He added, looking around. "That happens rather a lot with me." He heaved. "Anyway, the Grid became sentient and fought back and attacked us, but." He paused. "You'd managed, and I had no idea how, to rip an almighty hole in the Grid itself. It managed to close it temporally using the bodies of the Demons for a while but it couldn't close it permanently and heal it, as it just kept getting larger and larger. With that on one side and my 'Freedom Code' attacking it from the other, he just couldn't cope and..." He giggled, only to be cut across by Saffie. He smirked.

"It crashed." He grinned, but the Chosen One got excited. He giggled.

"Well, partially crashed. Enough for us to get people out. But once we got them out, the Grid had less resources, on top of fighting a war on two fronts, so it crashed again, allowing us to get yet more people out and so..." He panted, talking fast, only to cut across yet again by Saffie. He sighed.

"It avalanched." He cheered. But then the Chosen One looked intently worried. He sighed, looking somber.

"Yes, but that's not the problem." He cried. "You seen the real world on my dimension." He sniffed. Saffie nodded. The Chosen One heaved. "Then you know there's nothing left, no food, no water. We're getting thousands of people out of the Grid and leading them into nothing. We're now facing mass starvation." He gulped. Everyone stared. Saffie was gobsmacked. It made sense from what he'd seen, but he, like everyone else, just hadn't thought of it. The Chosen One sniffed. "That's why the Freedom Fighters are inter-dimensional traveling. They're looking for a new dimension, not occupied, but had the resources to feed out people, before our dimension locks, whatever that means." He added. Everyone looked at Saffie. He was the resident expert in dimensions nowadays. He stood up and looked around, but then frowned.

"Then why are you here?" He asked. "This dimension was clearly occupied." He added. But the Chosen One grabbed his hand. He cried.

"I felt your digital signature. I wanted to see you." He said again. "I wasn't meant to inter-dimensional travel. I was ordered to stay at home. The Freedom Fighters say I'm to precious." He growled. Some people stared. But the Chosen One spat. "No ,I'm not. That just their way of saying I'm too clumsy and too dangerous. The Freedom Code which I carry and still do, wasn't a code at all. It's a stupid virus. A computer virus, so powerful that it will permanently scramble and shut down any electronic system it touches." He panted but everyone looked at Saffie, who gulped, going absolutely white.

"Including me." He whispered, quietly under his breath, now fully realising the truth. He hadn't twigged back on the Grid. The Sapphire Dragon wasn't indestructible, though he never claimed he was and did have a weakness. Computer viruses. As a Cyborg, he had little defense against them. Just firewalls, but they could only go so far. He'd almost lost his life to a computer virus back on the R.I.N. and the one the Chosen One carried, would instantly kill him. Saffie was terrified but somewhat relieved that the Chosen One wasn't wireless. The Hedgehog put both his hands over his Direct-Neuro Interface, on the back of his head, violently shaking his head. He gulped.

"Don't plug me into anything." He declared. "I've already destroyed, not only the Grid back home but also the Freedom Fighters emergency back up system. That how they learned I still carried the virus. They wasn't very happy about it." He said, sheepishly. "So they insisted I stay behind. I just break everything. Well, except rollerblades. I can do those, and drive, apparently." He added, stammering. The potential destruction he could cause to a global computer system, that a institution like a hospital would use, was catastrophic and bared not thinking about, so Saffie decided not to go there. He sighed.

Suddenly Tails piped up. He'd been searching his handheld and the multiverse for a possible dimension for the Chosen One and his people, not really listening to the conversation. The incredible Fox had done it again. He grinned.

"Hey. I found one." He grinned. "A suitable dimension for your people. But you need to be quick, your dimension is indeed on the verge of locking." He heaved. "Take Saffie with you." He ordered. The Chosen One was delighted but Saffie's heart fell. He gulped, going white.

"Er, there might be a problem with that." He admitted, pointing to the Chosen One. "He doesn't know me as the Sapphire Dragon. Just my avatar in the digital realm." He added, indicating himself and thus the hologram. He suspected, correctly, that the Elder hadn't told the Freedom Fighters the real truth about him. Why? He reckoned it was because he actually had succeeded there and the Elder didn't want to cause panic. Saffie had been claimed a hero, the Sapphire Dragon, a monster, to find out they were actually one and the same person would be devastating. But he may not have the choice. He clearly remembered the last time he saw the Chosen One as the Sapphire Dragon, just after his used his long silver Adamantium knives to slice their Robotnik to pieces. He wasn't proud. But Chosen One looked up. He frowned.

"Who?" He asked, as if to prove the point. Saffie closed his eyes, utterly ashamed, and snapped his fingers. He heaved.

"This." He sighed, and suddenly his body, the mighty Sapphire Dragon, began to fly from it's nest in the nearby woodland. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails all stared. Tails raised an eyebrow. He gasped.

"Remote control?" He wondered. Saffie turned and nodded.

"Yeah, like I said, I've acquired new tech. But it only works within the range of my wireless, which I have learned does have a limit, and as I have recently found out, so do I." He heaved. But Tails looked worried. "If my mind and body get separated by a inter-dimensional portal." He added. "I will die." He sighed. He was good, just not that good. Everyone nodded, as finally the Chosen One saw it arrive. The Sapphire Dragon came soaring in, the body landing, very Dragon like, on all fours. Heaving and growling. The new technology could clearly be seen assimilated down both the arms, and his eyes were glowing bright green, though looking incredibly blank. Saffie wasn't home, he was still stood in his hologram, knowing exactly what was coming.

The Chosen One outright panicked. He screamed.

"Monster!" He yelled, desperately trying get away only to be caught by Saffie himself. His Hard Lite Hologram wasn't actually that strong and only just about keeping the Chosen One in place, but he was still severely physically weakened from a lifetime on the Grid. But Saffie growled.

"Chosen One." He spat. "Chosen One!" He yelled, shaking the Hedgehog. "Calm down. Yes. I admit it. I am a monster. What I did to your Robotnik was inexcusable, but your situation and the Grid just caused me to snap. But please forgive me. I swear, right here, right now, I mean you no harm." He pleaded.

The Chosen One stared at him. Saffie was the monster. He didn't believe it. The real hero of the Grid. He stared at the hologram and then at the Blue Dragon, and feeling utterly betrayed. He panicked, throwing himself off of him, grabbing his jacket and running for it. Absolutely desperate to get away, Sonic and his friends chased after him, as Saffie just stood there in tears. He knew the reaction would be bad, just not that bad, and now he absolutely hated himself.

As Sonic chased the Chosen One down, suddenly an inter-dimensional portal opened up immediately ahead of them, to Tails' alarm on his handheld. Immediately, some people ran though, wearing the exact same clothes as the Chosen One, and more important, they all had Direct-Neuro Interface's in the back of their heads. Sonic stopped chasing as he saw the Chosen One get grabbed by his friends and embraced, them having successfully finally found him.

They all looked back at Sonic, and then seeing the body of the Sapphire Dragon directly behind him, and hearing the Chosen One telling them the truth, they too panicked and disappeared straight back through the still open portal, it vanishing into thin air. Gone. Saffie sniffed as the others returned to him.

"I've destroyed them all, haven't I." He cried, but Tails smiled.

"Actually, no you haven't. While they were talking, I uploaded the coordinates to the dimension I found for them, to the female Wolf's wrist communicator." He grinned. "She appeared to be the leader. We're done everything we can. They're on their own." He added, only be immediately hugged by both Sonic and Saffie.

The Sapphire Dragon sniffed. He felt so guilty, wishing he could have done better. He was now beginning to learn the real reason of what he meant to be a hero, and the horrendous consequences when you get it wrong. But he realised that all he could do, was the best he could with what he had at the time. Not even the greatest 'Sonic' in the multiverse could do no more.

Soon Sonic and his friends were gone, and now finally, he was alone, two halves of one whole, the hologram and the Sapphire Dragon, a King. He'd been accepted here, as one of the pack, but he still felt he didn't belong, but he couldn't go home, but as the Wisps came through the skies looking for him, he still had a job to do, more worlds and dimensions to save.

Sometimes he would win, sometimes he would loose, but from then on, he vowed to, one, give every dimension his all, his absolute best, and two, to never become the monster again.

He never did.

As the days, turned into weeks, months, years, decades and centuries, the Sapphire Dragon was still there, being the hero. Strong, powerful, ageless, still inter-dimensional traveling, fighting to save those dimensions. Restoring the balance of power back to where it should be. To lock them, and finally return the multiverse back to one singular timeline universe again. However long it took.

But one day, he decided he had to look. He had to go back. To the dimension of the Grid. Did the people get out? Did they find a new home? He found the dimension locked. But he'd acquired a way of observing a locked dimension without landing or interfering with it. He found the tall, black towers, cold and dark, the millions of pods empty. He then looked to the new dimension. The one Tails had suggested. That to was also locked, but it was thriving with people. The Sapphire Dragon beamed. Did they make it?

Yes, they did.

As for Sally, she married her attractive male Chipmunk, and become the mother, Saffie so desperately wanted her to be. He watched the wedding, and the birth of the baby, quietly observing from the distant ethos, the proudest 'Sonic' in the multiverse.

Author's Note

Each of the dimensions described in this story, all have a number associated with them. These numbers are not random. They are actually dates, written in the form, Day, Month, Year.

Dimension – 18993

Saffie's home-world. This is 18th September 1993. The very first broadcast of the Sonic The Hedgehog television, which has come to be known as SAT AM. This is the series the story, the Sapphire Dragon, was a continuation of.

Dimension – 23691

The dimension of Sonic and Tails. This is 23rd June 1991. The release date of the first Sonic The Hedgehog game for the Megadrive / Genesis. This is the video game home-world and is, of course, the main timeline.

Dimension – 11699

The dimension of the Chosen One and the Grid. This is 11th June 1999. The release date of The Matrix. A film staring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss. This is what this dimension is based on.

Dimension – 22306

Scourge's home-world. This is 22nd March 2006. The publication date of the 160th issue of the Sonic The Hedgehog comic series. This is the issue where Scourge is revealed, when Evil Sonic tried to take the Master Emerald for himself, but is defeated by Locke and turned into the green monster.