Chapter 2; the prophecy

White. White everywhere. All Sonic could see was a white infinity. He wasn't sure what happened. He remembered that their runners sped up and he accidentally crashed on Amy. Could it be that they were dead? Was that what religions called heaven? A white infinity? Sonic tried to move his hands and feet. They were moving. He was in one piece. He thought that if they died and were in heaven they wouldn't be able to touch themselves. But he could touch his face. So he was still real not aetherial. Next to him he was his duel runner. For some unknown reason it was intact and ready to ride. Sonic got up. He looked around him. The white infinity was all around him with the exception of a tunnel in the horizon. At his right he noticed the rose of revenge at a distance.

"AMY!" he shouted and started running towards the runner. Amy was right next to it lying on the white ground unconscious.

"Amy. Wake up." Sonic tried to wake her up. But she didn't move at all. Praying that she was ok he put his ear on her chest exactly where her heart was supposed to be. He heard a heartbeat. And his own heartbeat calmed. She was ok. Thanking god for it, he continued trying to wake her up. Eventually she started pulling herself together.

"Uuuh. What the..?" she saw Sonic's face above her.

"Am I dreaming?" she thought.

"Amy are you ok?" Sonic asked her.

"This isn't a dream." She concluded.

"I am fine but… what happened? Where are we? All I remember was that the lunar dragon made our runners go faster and that you accidentally crashed on me. But then nothing. I can't remember past that."

"Me neither. I thought we were dead in the beginning. But as it seems we're alive. But this is either the infinity or the zero."

"Hey did you see the..?"

"The tunnel? Yeah. Looks like it is the only way out. Let's ride."

Amy waved her head agreeing.

They rode their runners and accelerated heading to the entrance of the tunnel. When they entered all kinds of colors started to flash around them.

"Wow. This is so beautiful." Amy said.

"Indeed." Sonic agreed "But I cannot see an exit."

"Everything that has a beginning has an end too Sonic. We're gonna be ok"

And after those words they continued riding through the tunnel.

Back to earth

Tails and Knuckles were searching around the highway for all sorts of clues that indicated a crash. But there was nothing. No runner part, no sign of a tire on the blacktop. As for the rest they asked anyone who passed by that place if they saw 2 runners crash somewhere. But no one saw a thing.

"This doesn't make any sense." Tails yelled " they crashed and yet they're gone."

"How can we be sure they crashed Tails?" Knuckles asked " the last thing I saw was them crashing and a sudden light appearing that made them vanish in the blink of an eye."

"Guys what if the lunar dragon took them to the past or the future?" Jet wondered

"Or maybe somewhere completely different?" Wave added.

They all silenced. There were no answers. Only questions.

"Maybe if we use our power to feel their aura we can communicate with them." Tails suggested.

They all agreed and concentrated on Sonic and Amy in their thoughts. But no matter how hard they think they couldn't feel anything around them. It was like they were erased. Like they never existed.

"What do we do now? The world will realize immediately that Sonic went missing". Knuckles said.

"This is the least of our problems you dimwit. Their parents will be expecting them eventually to come back home" Shadow mocked him "how will we cover their disappearance?"

"Like you got an idea? You're not even a singed one." Knuckles got in Shadow's face.

"Well at least I put priorities in problems" Shadow answered back angry.

"Calm down guys." Wave yelled causing the gang to look at her "We will just say that we are out and that we will have a sleepover at one of our houses all of us. Now I know won't last long. But the only thing we can do is wait for a sign from Sonic or Amy."

"What if they get called by their parents?" Rouge asked

"They will never reach them in another time or dimension. We'll just have to cover for them."

Seeing no other solution they all agreed to Wave's plan and continued searching for clues.

In an unknown location

Sonic and Amy kept riding for 10 minutes through the colorful tunnel when they spotted a light ahead of them.

"Sonic! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah. I see it. The end of the tunnel."

They exited the tunnel and found themselves in a cave. More accurately at the opening of a cave. And in front of them was a large open field full of flowers in many colors.

"Oh this is so romantic" Amy said dismounting her runner and running in the flowers smelling them "and they smell so good."

Sonic, on the other hand looked at the flowers themselves. He had had to travel around the world a few times to participate in the pro league tournaments and had seen a lot of places. But he never saw a field of flowers in many different colors.

"Amy isn't it a bit weird?"

"What is weird?"

"How can this field be full of different colored flowers? There's no such ecosystem on earth".

"Then.. where are we?"

"On a different planet. Or a different dimension. Or even in a different time."

"How do we find out?"

Sonic rode his runner again.

"We go to explore."

Amy agreed and rode her runner too. They left the flower field behind them and found a road. They saw a railway line at some point. And then a train whistle was heard.

"Let's follow the train." Sonic suggested "It may lead us to civilization."

They accelerated racing against the train. Eventually they made it to in front of the engine. But when Sonic looked at the engine it looked familiar to him in a spooky way.

"Amy call me mad but I think this locomotive is the express train trolley olley from that train card set that was released like 5 weeks ago."

"What? Sonic get real. That's impo…" she stopped talking when she saw the locomotive.

"How the heck does the exact same train exists here?" she asked

"I have a theory. But I need more proof. Let's go faster." Sonic said

They ran past the train and continued following the rail. Eventually they saw some buildings on the horizon. They saw a big city in front of them. They drove inside the city to find a lot of old vehicles like road wagons but spaceships too.

"This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen" Amy said after they stopped in front of a cafeteria.

"They should make a movie like this. Something like 'Crossing of future and past.' That would be cool." Sonic answered while looking around him.

"Call me crazy too but I think this spaceship reminds me of the big core spaceship card."

"What kind of a world is this?" Sonic wondered.

They headed inside the cafeteria. Everyone looked at them. Sonic and Amy ignored them and sat at a table. They ordered a coffee and when they came there was also some biscuits very similar to emergency provisions picture. They drank their coffees silently when Sonic decided to bring his deck from his runner just to be sure it would be safe. After he left someone in a formal costume sat next to Amy. And he looked exactly like the sand gambler card guy.

"My my. What do we have here? Never seen you around here dolly. What might your name be?"

"My name is Amy rose and I hate it when people sneak up on me like this. So beat it man or I'll punch you till you can't see straight!"

"Oh tough girl huh? Just my type. Say, what about a ride on my formula car? You'll love it. And then we can probably stop by my house for some time."

"I said beat it you pervert."

"Come on dolly don't you like fun?" he said while grabbing her palm with his palm.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"Don't resist please it annoys me." The guy said before he felt someone grabbing his wrist. He looked next to him and saw Sonic looking at him in rage.

"Nobody touches my friends!" he said calmly and then kicked the sand gambler with all the strength he had. The latter landed on a table ruining a poker game that was taking place. Everyone got up staring at Sonic while they raised their fists.

"Sonic let's just leave." Amy said worried.

But before they could leave it was too late. A police siren was heard from the road. Sonic grabbed Amy by her hand and both ran to their runners. They rode them and started a run for it through the city. But eventually their pursuers surrounded them. They demanded that they demounted their 'motorbikes' and put their hands on the back. The officer that tried to put tie up Sonic also kicked him. Sonic fell to the ground trying to breathe.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Amy screamed

Sonic surprising everyone jumped and punched the officer at his jaw. But by doing so his mark was spotted by another officer.

"EVERYBODY STOP!" he ordered his men.

Then he approached Sonic while dropping his gun to the ground.

"Who are you two? And what is that thing on your hand? Don't try and cover it. I already saw it."

Sonic didn't try to hide it. Instead he revealed it. The dragon's head was now completely visible.

"My name is Sonic the Hedgehog. And this is my friend Amy Rose. I know this will sound crazy but we're not from this world. We were dueling when the dragon god who gave us these" he said while Amy revealed her mark too "led us here. We are completely lost here. Could you please tell us where we are?"

"What do you mean by 'you were dueling'?"

"Nothing. Just a card game."

"A card game?"

"Yeah like this." Sonic went to his runner and put the Black-Winged dragon on the runner's duel disc. The dragon appeared and let out a mighty roar. The officers were ready to shoot it.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" The leader ordered looking in shock at the Black-winged "Can this be the black feather beast?"

"The black feather beast?" Sonic asked.

"You girl. Do you have a flower beast?"

"My entire deck is made of plants. How can you be meaning anyone of them?" Amy asked him.

But Sonic knew what he was referring to. He went to Amy's runner and summoned Black Rose dragon who appeared and stood next to Black-winged.

"The black feather beast and the flower beast. You are them."

"We are who?" they both asked.

"Follow me. Take your cards with you. You will get your motorbikes back later."

Sonic and Amy knew they had no choice so they entered the police car and headed through the city. After some minutes drive they reached outside a gate.

"The king is expecting you." The officer said.

"The king?" they both asked again.

"You will see."

They walked through the gate and past the guards and headed for a huge palace. Around the palace huge hedges resembling monsters from duel monsters most of them Sonic recognized decorated all of the garden. Soon they reached the palace entrance. The guards opened the doors. They found themselves in the beginning of a long hallway with endless doors at their left and right. In the end of the hallway another door was opened for them. And on a big throne in front of them was sitting an old man. He seemed familiar. But when they got close they were 100% sure that they were dreaming. The king was Sonic. Or actually another Sonic. An older Sonic. And on the throne next to him.. they predicted who would be sitting there without telling each other. An older version of Amy.

The king looked at them from top to bottom. He got up and approached them.

"So.. you are the ones sent to fulfil the prophecy. You don't look all that mature enough to me."

"Your highness" Sonic started talking " we don't know what this prophecy thing everyone is talking about is. All we know is that we ended up here. Could you please inform us where is here?"

"You are duelists. Right?"

"Right." They both answered.

"This world.. was born from the creation of your cards. Each man contains the spirit of a monster inside of him. That's why you had all these déjà vu feelings. In case you wonder how I know, I was informed by the leader of the police force."

"And what is that prophecy your majesty?" Amy asked.

"My wife will tell you that. I can't speak this story again. It is too painful for me." He said and sat on his throne closing his eyes. Sonic noticed a tear falling from his old counterpart's eye. Queen Amy got up and approached them.

"This kingdom was once peaceful. But one day a nobleman who desired Sonic's throne performed a dark ritual at the black mount at the north. He was trying to curse the king but instead opened a portal. A portal from which strange and deadly machines emerged. Our scout who was sent to see what was going on reported to have seen them draining that man like water is drained to the sew. Several days later the machines attacked the villages in the north. But all the men and women who possessed the spirits of synchro monsters were drained as well. Soldiers who were sent to destroy the machines.. never returned. The castle mage.. before he died.. he gave us a prophecy. 'One day, the holders of the black feather beast and the flower beast will arrive and set this world free from the threat of the machines.' From the police reports you two possess these 2 beasts. You are the only hope we have then."

"Your highness we would like to know if you could tell us.., why did you tell us the story and not the king?" Amy asked her old self.

"Our only son.. the heir of this kingdom… he was killed in the battle with the machines…. That's why we….." but she could no longer speak. Tears came out of her eyes and she burst out crying. The king mocked her for being so weak saying that he was sad but as rulers they had to be strong. Sonic objected saying that these weren't the tears of a queen who lost the heir of the throne. These were the tears of the mother who lost her only child. The king silenced. After some seconds he asked them.

"Are you 2 the ones the prophecy sends?"

"Your majesty" Sonic answered " it is how someone understands something that makes it mean something. Anyone could be. But we are willing to help. We will go to the north and take down the machines."

"Hmmmm. I understand. It is decided then. We will give you enough supplies for your journey to the north. But I warn you. The machines are clever. They even call themselves troopers generals and emperors. You will have to be very careful."

"We will Sir."

"Guards. Escort them out and bring their runers to the palace immediately also start gathering supplies for them."

"Yes sir" the guards answered and left. Soon after the runners were brought to the palace. Sonic decided to take a look at them and make sure they were in tiptop shape. Amy was sitting and watching him, thinking of what they got into. She decided that she would tell him right now that she loved him so should anything happen to anyone of them, he would know her feelings. She was about to walk towards him when…

"Amy Rose?"

Amy turned around and saw the queen standing at the entrance of a garden 'maze'

"Would you like to accompany me in a walk through the garden?"

"S-sure. Sonic I'll be back soon."

"Ok Ames."

Amy went next to the queen and they started walking.

"Nice garden." She said trying to break the ice.

"Thank you. I have something to ask you. Do you like him?"

Amy blushed.

"Uuuh…"

"You don't have to be ashamed to say it. I was also lie this when the king and I were children. He was the prince and I was just a village girl. But I wanted him like nothing else."

"Yes" Amy confessed "I love him very much. In our world I almost lost him because he was bit by a poisonous snake. And even after that I haven't managed to tell him how much I love him."

"You're afraid of the storm that's coming right?"

"Yes".

"Then tell him. I know what you're thinking. 'I need the perfect chance'. There is no perfect chance. You take a chance and make it perfect. I k now that you're young and don't quite understand it now. But before this war is over you will come to understand it."

Amy tried to process these words when..

"Amy we're ready to go!" Sonic informed her from far away.

Amy walked back not before thanking the queen for the advice. They rode their runners. The king came out and approached them.

"Good luck chosen ones. May all odds be on your side. We are all depending on you."

Sonic and Amy waved 'yes' and accelerated to the north exit of the city. From there they followed the road towards the black mountain which was some days with their runners. Amy looked at Sonic. He was determined to help this world. All she could do was wait the chance to tell him, and pray that these days would not be their last.