by Dustin Lawson (dustinman77@hotmail.com)
Sonic, Tails, Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, etc. are © Sega, Archie Comics, and Dic. Used by me! without permission, since... oh, geez, it's a fanfic!
Damien, Enosh, and Simone are my characters; please do not use them without permission. Thanx. Bane is ©Bane Keldare.
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SonicWorlds
Chapter 3
"Relations"
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Chapter 3
"Relations"
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Sally was dumbfounded. Her mind went over the words once again... they didn't register. "W... Who?" Who was he talking to? Was it him? Or was she imagining this all? Another possibility drifted through. What if she had somehow changed? Was she really herself? She looked down and saw the same old brown fur she saw every day, ending in the same old blue boots she had worn for years. Why didn't he recognize her?
She looked up at him. He looked the same, as well; bright, green eyes, sharp blue spines, white medallion, red shoes, the-
White medallion?
Sally and the presumed Sonic backed away from each other slowly, eyeing each other with suspicion.
"Sorry, miss, but I don't think we've ever met," he began. He looked around at the hut. "I don't even know where I am."
These words broke her heart, but she could hear the truth in them. The only thing keeping her tears in check was her uncertainty of this stranger's identity. "A... Are you Sonic?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be, squirrely-girl?" He started to laugh, but stopped when he saw the look on her face. "What? Hey, what's wr... whoa!"
He ran forward and barely caught her before she hit the floor.
"Hello? Hey, wake up?" He sighed. "Great."
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"Take this!"
Tails blasted another Stealth Bot with both barrels, sending it spiraling toward the ground far below. "Direct hit!" Unfortunately, it was heading for the Village. "Oh, crap! Bunnie, get it!"
"On it, shuga!" The rabbit flew toward the falling ship, leaving a double-trail of lights behind her. As she finally passed it, she swung underneath it, and brought her robotic arm up to brace it's fall. "WHOOf!" She strained under the weight, but managed to guide its descent away from Knothole.
"Whew, that was a close call," he said, wiping his brow.
"There aren't many left," Damien shouted as he flew past him. "Go check on the other villagers!"
"Oh, right!" Tails shot down to the village, scanning for any survivors, which he hoped were many. As he landed in the town square, he saw many people evacuating their homes, heading for their back-up base. He saw no wounded, so he continued to look. Presently he came upon a young possum couple, the female trapped under a door. He heaved it up and off of her.
"Thank you so much, sir!" he said, helping her to her feet.
"No problem, just get outta here!" They ran off in the same direction as the others.
Tails continued throught the village, helping whoever he came across, sometimes bandaging a wound hurridely. Then, as he passed the hut where the teleporter was, the door flew open.
"What the-"
Sonic. It was Sonic. It had to be him, from his spines to his sneakers.
"Hey, Tails!" He said, running up to him. Tails was too shocked to speak. He was back! Where did he come from? What was going on?! "Is she alright?"
He suddenly noticed Sally was in his arms, unconscious. "Oh, no! What happened?"
"I dunno, she just fell over," he said, shrugging. "I don't know what's wrong with her."
As Sonic set her on the ground, he felt for a pulse. "Well, her heart's fine..." He checked her head for bumps, and glanced her over in general. "She doesn't appear to be hurt at all. She probably passed out or fainted. I don't know why, though."
"Beats me. She hugged me, then asked if I was Sonic, and I said I was, of course... then she looked really weak and kinda sad. The next thing I know, she's diving for the floorboards." He scratched his head. "Weirdest thing. Cool suit, by the way."
"Thanks." Tails stood up. "Well, I guess I can understand her fainting, what with your disappearance and all." He extended his hand. "Good to have you back, man, but... where've you been?"
Sonic's eyebrows arched. "What? When did I disappear?"
Tails was genuinely curious now. "About two and a half weeks ago, man!"
"WHAAT?!" Sonic didn't seem to buy it. "I can't believe this! I lost two weeks!"
"You mean, you don't know where you were?"
"No, I mean the last thing I remember is being home, then being pulled through a ball of light." He looked around. "By the way, where are we now?"
Tails looked at him closely. "You alright, man? This is Knothole!"
"Well, how should I know?" he half shouted. "I don't even know how I got here!"
"Sonic, y-"
"Oooh..."
Their discussion immediately forgotten, they turned their attention to Sally. She was coming around, and they could see her eyes slowly opening.
"S-sonic?"
"Yeah?" the blue hedgehog said... a bit too impersonally for Tails's liking. He seemed concerned, but not as deeply as he should.
"Oh, I was afraid it had been a dream!" She stumbled to her feet and literally fell into his arms. "Sorry, I'm a bit woozy."
"Uh, that's okay, miss."
"MISS?" Sally pulled back and stared hard at him for a moment. He returned her gaze, but didn't understand. She looked away as tears began playing at her eyes. "I was still hoping that part was a dream."
Sonic appeared to be making a connection or two in his mind, but trying not to jump to quite so many conclusions. "I'm sorry, but I'm feeling kinda in the dark here. What's going on?" She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come.
Luckily, Tails had figured it out by now. "Oh, don't worry about it, dude. She's a friend of Bane's."
"Oh, okay." His brow furrowed. "But where do we know her from? She obvioulsy remembers me from something."
Sally looked at them, distraught, but Tails smiled. "That's what I thought."
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"Hey, Bane!"
Bane jumped out of the cockpit and walked across the hangar toward him. "Sonic! Where ya been?"
They exchanged a handshake. "Home. More like where YOU been? Manic says he hasn't seen you around Sanctuary the past day or two."
"Here. Did they tell you?"
"Yeah, an alternate Mobius! What a trip, huh?"
Welcome to Caldera Base. A secret Freedom Fighter installation built inside a long-dormant volcano, it had never actually been used for two reasons. For one, it still wasn't finished. And two, they weren't sure the volcano was completely dead. Now, they had no other choice; one way or another, Robotnik had found Knothole, and they all knew if they continued living there it would be signing their death warrant.
The base's biggest problem was that it was extremely warm inside. They couldn't generate enough power to chill the entire base, so the halls and most main rooms remained arid, but individual bedrooms and meeting rooms were well-cooled. Which explained why the meeting in the hangar was as brief as you read above.
They were now heading toward the nearest meeting room to conference. As they gathered around the table, they were very thankful for the air conditioning.
"So, what happens now?" Sonic asked, still not used to the whole idea. "Do we like hit an 'undo' button or what?"
"I'm afraid it may be more complicated than that," Damien said. "Rotor?"
The walrus stood and faced the two otherworlders. "We may not be able to send you home."
"Say WHAT?!"
"Let him speak, Sonic."
"As we've never sent anyone through it, we're not even completely sure it works that way."
Bane looked a little worried. "But it has to. You were going to send me through it."
"I know, but we weren't sure where you would end up. That's why we gave you the earring."
"Hmm?" He reached into his trenchcoat pocket and took it out. He hadn't put it in as neither of his ears were pierced, but had planned to when he got back. "What about it?"
"It has a special device built in that makes it easy for our system to lock onto you, as it creates its own unique signature." He looked apologetic. "If we had sent you to the wrong place, we could've retrieved you with no trouble."
"The good news," Damien continued for him, "is that it wouldn't have mattered. Obviously, it was the correct reality, as when it was destablized by the bombings, it pulled your Sonic through."
"That's so weird for me... 'this' Sonic."
"At least there's only one Bane." The dark hedgehog used the actual earring to pierce his left ear, making a few at the table wince.
"You're pretty extreme," Damien said.
"Yeah."
"Well, what do we do now?" Sonic said. "Can't we go back and get it?"
"Of course we can," Rotor said. "The only problem is whether or not it survived the attack. If it did, we can reassemble it here and get you two home."
"Alright, let's go get it, then!"
"Good thing we've got you," Tails put in. "You can zip in and get it quicker."
"That's my speciality, little bro." He stood up. "Now let's get. The faster we fetch this monster gizmo, the sooner we can get back to our family!"
Bane was oddly silent for a moment. "Hey, bro, what's up?" He looked up at Sonic.
"We can't just leave these poor Mobians like this," he said, standing. "They need us more than ever, now, what with this 'Simone' and all. We should stay and help a while... the wrong Sonic is better than none at all."
"Yeah, I know all that stuff, but I still miss home..."
"Hey, remember that tune we were practicing last week? I put words to it, and I think we need to hear it now."
"Alright, sure."
Bane turned his medallion into his mic, while Sonic morphed his into a double-neck red electric guitar. They were all surprised at this transformation, as they hadn't seen Sonic's guitar before. An amp came out as well, and Bane hooked a small pocket-size device into it.
"Ah, the drum box," Sonic said. "Good thing, too, 'cuz Manic ain't here."
"Okay, let's rock."
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"We're In This Together"
(by Nine Inch Nails)
(loud, hard techno-rock, medium tempo; Bane sings the whole thing, as he's the only one who knows the words)
I've become
Impossible
Holding on to when
When everything seemed to matter more
The two of us
All used and beaten up
Watch it fade as it flows
Down the path we have chose
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
Awake to the sounds
As they peel apart the skin
They pick and they fall
Trying to get the fingers in
Well they gotta kill what we found
Well they gotta hate what they fear
Well they gotta make you go away
Well they gotta make you disappear
The farther I fall, I'm beside you
As lost as I get, I will find you
The deeper the wound, I'm inside you
For ever and ever I am a part of
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
-guitar solo-
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you...
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As the music comes to an end, Bane looked at Sonic steadily. Sonic tapped his foot for a few seconds, then spoke.
"Fine, let's kick ol' Buttnik one more time."
Everyone cheered and stood to shake hands, glad to have two new Freedom Fighters on their team, however temporary.
Then Sally came to a halt in front of Sonic. She wasn't sure what to say to him; he was the hedgehog she loved in every way, but then again... he wasn't. It was awkward, and she didn't know how to handle it.
He saved her the trouble. "Good to serve the kingdom, your majesty." He shook her hand, trying to read her expression, then moved on to shake Rotor's.
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Princess Acorn walked down the hall holding a map, trying to find her room. She needed to think, and she could think of no better place. She also wanted to work on an idea she'd had, but still hadn't worked out all the bugs with. She wasn't sure what she'd do, but she at least had to get out of this sweltering heat.
As Sally passed one of many dining halls, she saw Sonic in there, scarfing down a plate of chili dogs. She raced by quickly. She didn't think she could face him now.
Why did he have to show up? Though they were better off now, things would be so much easier if he hadn't come... for her anyway. She scolded herself for having such a selfish thought, but it didn't make it any less real to her. She had to get to her room.
"PRINCESS!"
{Oh, no, why is he following me?} she thought, walking faster.
"Hey, Princess! Wait up!"
She gave up and turned around. There was no way she could outwalk Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Fast as I am, you gave me a run for my money, there," he said, screeching to a halt in front of her. "Why didn't you stop?"
"Sorry, but I... I'm feeling a bit tired, and felt like a nap." She leaned against the wall. "You wanted something?"
"Well, uh... yeah, I did, kinda." He looked uneasy, but continued. "You always seem sort of... you know, around me. Uncomfortable, I guess is what it is."
She glanced at him, but couldn't read his expression. Then, embarrased, she looked back down toward her boots. "I apologize for that if it makes you feel strange."
"Well, no, not really, it's just that you won't talk to me, and when I first met you, you kinda left consciousness." He leaned against the wall next to her. "I guess what I want is... what's up?"
"What's... up?" She wasn't sure how to go about explaining it. How do you tell someone you love them... but you don't?
After nearly a minute of silence, he spoke up. "Does this have something to do with... your Sonic?"
She still couldn't look at him. "Yes."
"Oh." He thought a moment. "Ohh..."
"Yeah," she said, nodding.
"This clears up a lot of things..." He sighed and turned to go. "Maybe we should just steer clear of each other, then."
"That may be for the best."
"Yeah."
As he walked off, she found herself desperately wanting to call out to him, to be in his arms. But she knew how wrong it would be; she would be using him. With great difficulty, she made her way to her room, the opposite direction. He wasn't her hedgehog, and it wouldn't be fair.
That didn't stop the longing.
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Sonic sat in a guest room, guitar in his lap, strumming the same chords over and over. Tomorrow they would go back to Knothole, to try to recover the portal thing. He wasn't sure about the details, but it didn't matter. It was better that they tell him in the morning; that way, it would be fresher in his mind.
But he wasn't really thinking about that. As he continued to play, he sang quietly, coming straight from his heart.
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You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
Even after everything
You're the queen and I'm the king
Nothing else is anything...
======================================================================
He couldn't stand thinking about it any longer. He returned his guitar to his medallion and flopped down on the bed. Things would make more sense in the morning.
¤¤§¤¤
the end
(chapter 4 is
in your future)
the end
(chapter 4 is
in your future)