DDR HEARTS: Seperation Anxiety
By
Darkness Shade
A/N: Keeping it steady to the end, let's see how our heroes fair now that they are almost within the end.......(Dark: *raises eyebrow* Hmm, he's up to something.....Ryan's POV...whatever he uses is copyright their original owner, except his characters and this story, which he owns....*goes off to concentrate*)
--------------------------
Space Between Dimensions
This was it, at least...that's what I hoped. It was beginning to get tiresome, even for a hero such as myself.
"Ryan, you okay?" Charmy asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine..." I said, lying to her.
In all honesty, I hadn't been feeling too well after what Terry had told me.
"Well....there it is.......the villians home base....and more than likely where that hooded dude is." Terry said, pointing out the window.
"Whoa!" I said, shaking, "Feel that evil energy...it's like the whole planet itself is...alive..."
We landed on the surface....
---------------------------
Origin Centauri
The five of us stepped out of the gummi ship and surveyed the land.
"This place...it doesn't seem like it was always like this...." I said.
We walked along until we reached what appeared to be the remains of a village.
"*covers mouth* Oh dear....who, who could've done such a thing?" Charmy said.
"That hooded guy, that's who." Shadow said, walking along.
I checked the ruins of an old building..it was a bit dark inside, but I could still make out some things.
From the looks of the damaged machines, I could tell this must've been an arcade at one point.
One peice of equipment caught my eye...what appeared to be the ruins of..a DDR machine???
The pad was cracked and beaten, the trick bar was broken in half and the screen had a large crack right down the middle.
"What the hell?" I said, "This is getting weird."
At once it sparked to life, startling me.
"Who did that?" I said, grabbing my saber and looking around.
Silence....all I heard was silence, other than the machine.
It's bright screen illuminating the otherwise dull building.
"Why has this started up? What purpose?" I said, watching the screen.
I saw the ranking screen....all five for the hardest one was all one nickname: ANSE.
"Anse? What kinda nickname is that?" I said.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the screen shut off.
"Hey, Ryan...Come on!!" Sonic shouted.
"Coming!" I replied, slowly walking out.
"You find anything?" Charmy asked.
"Yea.....no, nothing important." I said, lying to her again.
I didn't like to, but I didn't know if it was important at the time and we had bigger fish to fry.
We walked through the town, the heartless had obviously been here.
The destruction...it was undescribeable. We had dealt with varying heartless at times, and knew their strength was great, but nothing prepared us for what had been left here.
We obviously we're heading towards a very powerful foe and this seemed to be where it all started from.
We traveled out of the town and traveled through a mountainous region, over rivers, waterfalls, and other obstacles of nature.
We soon arrived at the top of the final mountain range and saw....
-------------------------
Destiny Palace
"Whoa...what do you figure the rent on that would cost?" Shadow said.
"For once be serious..." Sonic said.
"Well...this is it...let's face that hooded-dude once and for all." I said, activating the rail car from where we were to the Palace.
As it slowly made its way over to the Palace, I couldn't help but think that this was too easy.
Unfortuantely, I had to be right.
"Hey Ryan, you hear that?" Terry asked.
I strained, it was an unwinding sound...it was almost like...
"Oh no! The rope...it's coming undone!" Charmy shouted.
"Don't worry, just concentrate and we'll fly over." Sonic said, lifting off the ground....which he was above for only a few seconds as he fell back down.
"What happend?" Shadow said, helping him up.
"There's some kinda force-field over the top of this car. We're trapped."
"Damn!" Terry said, "Now what do we do?"
"Well, " I said, with a grin and a chuckle, "We hold on and pray!"
At that moment, the last strand unwound and the line went slack.
We fell for an enternity down into a darkness.
We were unconscious before we hit the bottom.
-------------------------
???
"Oh...anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" I said, rubbing my aching head.
I looked around, the others...they were gone.
"I'm alone....but where the hell am I?" I said, getting up and walking down the corridor.
I was greeted by a blinding light as I emerged out of the corridor.
"Huh?"
I looked around...and saw something that made me stop.
"That's...impossible."
Right smack dab in front of me was the OP Mall.
"I'm back? But how?" I asked.
I entered into the mall, walked towards the arcade, and there it was, the 5th mix machine.
At this moment I noticed that about everyone around me was staring.
"Um....yes? Can I help you guys with something?" I asked, slightly confused.
"Hey...is that...it is!" said a random guy.
"You mean...Ryan?!" said a random girl.
"It is, it is!!!" said the crowd as the closed in on me.
"Um, uh oh....can we talk this over?" I said nervously.
Suddenly a girl jumped in front of me and the crowd stopped.
"Um, sorry to bug you Mr.Ryan, sir.....we'll leave you be now." said the crowd, as the slowly walked away.
"Thanks, " I said, wiping my brow, "Don't know who you are, but thanks for stopping them."
The figure turned around, it was a girl, but not just any girl it was....
"Don't know me?" she said with a smile, "How can you forget your girl Callie?"
I blinked. What was she talking about? Since when was she my girlfriend?
"Sorry....guess the group freaked me out..." I said, playing along.
"Okay then...let's go." Callie said, taking my hand.
Things were going weird, was everything that happend a dream?
"Had it all been...fake?" I said.
"All of what?" Callie asked.
"Nothing, never mind." I said, "Um, not to be weird, but how long have we been a couple?"
"That crowd must've shocked you more than I thought. We've been together ever since we started playing DDR three years ago."
"Oh, okay..." I said.
All right, now I knew that things were off.
Whereever I was, this was not my world.
"See ya later, sweety." Callie said, dropping me off at my house.
"Um, yeah, see ya later too, dear." I said, waving and walking into my house.
Hmm, everything appeared to be the same...the arcade, the kitchen, even the bedrooms..all of it was the same.
"I guess it was a dream...it seemed so real though."
I couldn't think, so at that point I just decided to go to sleep.
--------------------------------
Ryan's subconscious
"Hey...wake up!" said a figure in shades and a leather jacket.
I shook my head and stood up.
"You...I know you!" I said, pointing, "Your Dark!"
"Yes...and you were right. This is not the world we knew off. Someone is playing with your mind."
"But if they're playing with my mind, how do I know that you're not one of them pretending to be Dark?"
Dark grinned, "You'll have to trust me on that....look into your heart and you will find the truth. It's never failed you before...."
With that he disappeared to wherever he came from.
"My heart?" I asked, placing my hand over it.
"He's right." I said, concentrating on the old memories, my friends, my world, and most importantly...."CHARMY!!!!"
-------------------------------
Emerald Coast
Sonic looked around, he was back on Earth.
"How did I end up back here?" Sonic said.
He headed along till he reached...
"Hey, that looks like Tails' workshop. Wonder if he knows what's going on?"
Sonic knocked on the door and walked in.
"Yo, Tails, you here?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, I'm in the garage." came Tails voice.
Sonic headed towards the garage and found him fixing up their plane, the Tornado.
"Looking nice, Tails." Sonic said.
"Yeah, the Torando III will be even better that the first two combined." Tails said, getting up from under the machine, covered in oil.
"*chuckle* Man, what a mess....that'll take you forever to get out."
"Funny, Sonic, real funny." Tails said, "Oh, what're you doing here anyway?"
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"I thought you and Shadow had a date?" Tails asked.
"What?? But Shad's a guy...." Sonic said.
"You hit your head or something?....Shadow's a chick, man." Tails said, "You two have been together since college."
"Oh..." Sonic said.
'I'd better play along till I figure out what's wrong...' Sonic thought.
"Well, where was I suppose to meet her?" Sonic asked.
"Shad told me you were going to meet at The Emerald Cafe`. She's been so excited about it." Tails said.
"Oh...well, I'd better hurry then." Sonic said running off.
--------------------------------
Emerald Cafe`
"Oh, dear...where's my Sonikku?" Shadow said, sitting alone.
Suddenly a whoosh of air came flying in and Sonic was next to her.
"Sorry I'm late..." Sonic said, holding out some roses he had gotten, "But I wanted to pick you up some flowers."
"Oh, Sonikku...." Shadow said, hugging him and kissing Sonic.
'Well...it doesn't seem that bad...and Shad does feel like a girl.' Sonic thought.
"So, how're you doing this fine day?" Sonic said, looking over Shadow.
'Shad's actually pretty cute in that sailor suit..' Sonic thought.
Shadow noticed that he was looking her over.
"Like what you see, I take it?" Shadow said with a smile.
"Sorry....I didn't mean to." Sonic said, looking at the ground.
"It's okay...I'd rather it be you than anyone else." Shad said, taking his hand.
Sonic just smiled and went on with the date.
After he payed the bill, Sonic picked up Shadow and they went off.
"Where to dear?" Sonic said, forgetting this wasn't his world.
"Well, I was hoping we could go back to my place." Shad said with a cute smile.
"Sure, just tell me the way....I kinda forgot." Sonic said.
"Okay, this way." Shadow said, pointing out the directions.
Sonic came to a stop and set Shadow down, he followed her inside and they sat and talked for awhile.
"It's been nice today Sonikku....better than any other time....and I know why." Shadow said.
"Why has it been better, Shad?" Sonic asked.
"You've been a kind, sweet, gentlemen....." Shad said.
"And that's different how?" Sonic asked with a smile.
"Well.....that means that....your not the real Sonic...the real Sonic I know is an arrogant, pompous jerk...." Shad said.
"Then why do you stay with him?" Sonic asked.
"I guess it's just stupid blind love." Shadow said, "I wish you could stay, but it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the universe...you must go back to your friends and save all the worlds."
"I figured that this wasn't my world. I just wish that your Sonic could be nicer...wait a tick." Sonic said, searching his universal pocket for something, "Here, you can use this."
"What is it?" Shadow said, taking the golden object.
"Well, it's something I found one day. It's a Millenium Arrow and it can show your Sonic the real person he should be...and how lucky he is to have you." Sonic said.
"*smile* Thank you....and farewell." Shadow said, giving Sonic a kiss.
--------------------------------------
???
Charmy stood up slowly.
"Where am I?" Charmy asked.
"This can't be....no!" Charmy said, looking around.
Yet is was true, Charmy Anderson was now back...inside the machine.
"NO!! It's can't be true..." Charmy said, falling to her knees.
She looked around. There was the couch....the empty darkness...and the game screen.
"No.....was it all a dream. No...it was so real." Charmy said.
"You speaking to yourself again, girl?" said a girl in a beanie.
"Emi? Is that you?" Charmy asked.
"Yeah...you okay? You look like you've died and just lost everything." Emi said.
"You could say that..." Charmy said.
She then noticed what she and Emi were wearing, it was there 4th mix outfits.
"Wait...what mix are we in?" Charmy asked Emi.
"4th mix, of course...don't you know your own home?" Emi asked.
"I guess not..." Charmy said, sitting down and letting it sink in.
Just when Charmy was about to give up ever seeing her beloved Ryan again, something happend.
The screen popped on, the select style came up, and the select charater screen came on.
Charmy was suprised when she was picked.
What she saw next blew her away.
"R...Ryan?!" Charmy shouted in suprise.
Indeed it was Ryan, albeit the less physical, still in training DDRist of the past.
Past Ryan looked around, "I couldv'e sworn I heard someone say my name. Oh, well..."
"Ryan...I'm here...." Charmy said, trying to get his attention.
It was futile, he couldn't hear her.
"Oh...so close...yet so far away." Charmy said, dancing along to the song.
Past Ryan had that solemn look on his face, one of determination and of sadness.
Charmy remembered that look from Ryan's future self, before she came along.
"I guess this was after Callie broke his heart." Charmy said, awaiting the final song.
"Well, Charmy...this one's for you." Past Ryan said, selecting 'If You Were Here'.
"Oh, Ryan...." Charmy said, beginning to cry, "If only I was there with you......"
After the song, Past Ryan got his total score, and looked around to make sure no one was looking in his direction.
Past Ryan smiled, said good-bye to Charmy, and that he'd see her next week.
"Even back then..rather now..he loved me." Charmy said, "Oh, Ryan!!"
------------------------------
???
Shadow heard a voice calling him out of his sleep.
"Shaaaaadoooooooow.....Shaaaadooooooow....wake up." said the voice.
Shadow shook his(her?) head and stood up.
"Where are you?" Shad asked.
There was no response.
"I wonder what happend to the others....." Shadow said, running off.
Shadow looked at his surrondings, from the looks of things he had landed in some kinda forest.
"Where on Earth am I?" Shadow said, summoning his ability to fly to get above the tree canopy.
The sky was dark and forboding, and the forest stretched out for awhile.
"Hmm...." Shad said, noticing some smoke, "Maybe there are some people there that'll help me out."
As Shad got closer, he noticed that it was an overturned car...and there next to the car was...
"Ugh.....what happend?" Shad said, seeing the corpses, "These people, who?"
Shadow did his best to respect the bodies and made a makeshift grave to bury them.
As soon as he was done, he noticed cars coming towards his position.
"Maybe they know what's going on?" Shad said.
The cars skidded to a stop, and some people jumped out of them.
"Hey, you!" one of them said, pointing at Shadow, "What did you do to them?"
"I found them all killed, none of them were still alive. So, out of respect, I buried them so they could find peace." Shadow said.
"Hmmm...." the one in command said, obviously thinking this over.
"I don't think so, I think you killed them and then buried them to cover up your crime." said a tempermental person, "You damn antros have been nothing but trouble ever since evoulution was kind enough to give you animals humanistic qualities."
"Hey, chill! I didn't kill them, that's not my way. And I buried them out of respect. Would you rather I had left them out and their bodies get all muddy and violated by any number of things?"
"Enough!!" said the commander, "You, what's your name?"
"My name's Shadow."
"Okay, Shadow, I'd like you to come with us...I doubt you killed them, but I'd like you to stay with us till we sort things out." the commander said.
"Okay...as long as Mr.Prejudice over there calms down and doesn't try my patience." Shad said, as they got into their cars.
"You coming?" said the commander.
"You go, I can follow." Shad said with a grin.
As the cars took off, Shad ran after them.
"Quite impressive hedgehog, impressive indeed." said the commander.
At the base, Shadow had been given a room to wait in.
"Man, this place is weird." Shadow said, "What's going to happen to me?"
Just then, the commander came in.
"Hello, Shadow. Sorry to put you through this, but things have been tense since the Human-Anthro War."
"Human-Anthro War?" Shad asked.
"Yes, about 45 years ago....you guys...no, your kind rather..I'm not as insensitive as the others. Anyway, your kind finally reached a point where they could easily match humans in terms of population, and they gradually integrated with us. It wasn't easy, of course. Many people discriminated against anthros, and there was a great number of hate crimes. Just as the African-Americans and the Women had their rights movements, the Anthros soon bounded together under one leader to demand equal rights. He was a brilliant leader, he had friends of both the Anthro and human type. Here's a picture of him speaking at the million-anthro march on our capital."
Shadow took the picture and was shocked to see who it was.
"S-S-Sonic?!" Shad said.
"You know him? Yes, Sonic Takeshi Hedgehog was the greatest Freedom Fighter for Antrho rights. However, he was assasinated at the age of only 23. Some say if he were to have lived, he would've led us to a great co-existence. Sadly....it sparked even greater hatred. We beleive this man had something to do with it."
Shadow looked at the picture of this man.
"No way...it couldn't be." Shad said.
"Yes...Doctor Namgge Ovi Kintobor....aka...Eggman Ivo Robotnik. He was one of Sonic's best allies, but then suddenly, without reason, he turned and is the beleived assasin of Sonic. He furthered the flames of hatred, until....the war began. It was almost like another Civil War. It was soon to the point where neither side was winning, and many were dying. Yet it was the act of two people that stopped the war. One was a young man, only 18 and a young female anthro girl of the same age. They looked past each others differences and had fallen in love. However, there secret cost them there lives. They died for each other, just to show the world that humans and anthros could get along. After that, both sides felt horrible with each other and they signed a peace treaty."
"Whoa, that's deep......but I'm guessing some people still harbor bad feeling towards anthros." Shadow said.
"Yes, unfortuantely....some anthros and humans won't let it die....I'm afraid those people you found and buried were part of it. Well, have a good night's sleep. I'll see you in the morning." the commander said, walking out.
"Well, guess I'd better hit the hay." Shad said, "I just wish I could've told Sonic my secret and how I felt before this happend...*shakes head*..oh, well. Too late now, I'll just rest."
Soon Shadow was fast asleep, yet someone else was not.
"Those damn anthros and there ways...all because of that female, my son......" said the tempermental man, "Well, you can fool the others, but I know that your just another Sonic."
The man brandished a knife and came closer to Shadow.
As he sent the knife towards Shad's chest, he opened his eyes......
-------------------------------
Inside the Palace
"Muhahahahahahaha....Those two are trapped forever in their doubt and circumstance, but Ryan and Sonic are coming out of it. Luckily, I've entraped an ace in the hole." the hooded dude said, drawing a certain personage closer.
"You will do well, who better to stop them than there own friend?" the hooded dude said with a smile.
"I can almost summon the power, but I need more time...and besides, I wouldn't think of doing such till they arrived."
--------------------------------
Palace Gates
I shot straight up, covered in a cold sweat.
"Where? Who? What? When?" I shouted in confusion.
"Wait, the sky, the gates, there...it's Sonic!" I said, "I'm Back!"
Sonic was just awakening as I got up.
"Am I Back?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, you are...but we're missing over one half of our team." I said, helping him up.
"Well, I can think of only one place they'd be." Sonic said, pointing towards the top of the palace.
"Shall we fly then?" I said, hovering off the ground.
"Yes...." Sonic said, joining me in the sky.
We floated up for what seemed forever.
We encountered no heartless, it was almost like we were being invited in.
Soon we reached the topmost entrance.
We landed and stood there, facing destiny in the eye.
"Well, shall we finish then?" I asked.
"Yes," Sonic nodded, "We will, and find our friends."
We entered through a long corridor, down towards a large door in the form of a heartless symbol.
"This should be no problem for my Keysaber." I said, pulling it out, "Burning Slash!" I shouted, invoking it's special move.
The heartless symbol twitched and them slowly evaporated.
We walked forward into...
-------------------------
The Chamber of Dance
There was an odd sense of familiarity about this room.
As if we had been here before, as if I'd been here before.
When we walked in, we saw a sight that blew us away.
There, encased in tubes along the sides of the walls, were seven woman.
"Look, our friends." Sonic said, rushing over to one of the walls.
Sure enough, we saw our missing friends.
Charmy, Emi, and Mia. All set about in a row.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who was in the other four tubes.
One was..Callie?
"Holy Hell! That's unexpected."
I moved on and the next two made sense, Yuni and Alice.
But it was the final one that completely blew me away.
"What in the hell? Sonic get over here!" I said.
"What is it, Ryan?" Sonic said, walking over to where I was.
Sonic about fainted when he saw that, in the last stasis tube, was....Shadow!!
'Heh, I wondered if all Shads were really girls like the one in that world...guess I was right.' Sonic said with a grin.
"You know, it appears as if Charmy and Shad are in a lot of agony, how do we free them?" I asked.
Just then we felt a rush of energy eminate from the floor above.
"Hmm, I feel that may be what we're looking for." Sonic said, as we ran up the stairs.
We stood in front of a machine with a huge keyhole in front of it, it was the source of all the evil we had detected.
"Well, time to seal this sucker up and free our friends." I said, readying my Keysaber.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." said...Terry??? as he lunged at me.
"Terry, what's..happend to you?" I asked.
"Let's just say the heartless opened my eyes to the truth. If you want to seal that keyhole, you're going to have to go through me." Terry said, "And your friend won't be able to help you."
With that he flung Sonic out of the way and put a magic barrier up, preventing him from getting in.
"Sonic! That's it Terry, your going to pay for what you did." I said, lunging at him.
With that Terry pulled out his own Keysaber and blocked my move.
"How?" I asked.
"Let's say that there are really two Keysabers....let's find out which is more powerful." Terry said.
Terry pushed me back and charged his Keysaber, than began dashing all around the arena, trying to strike me.
I was able to block most of his attacks.
"Nice one, now try this." I said, charging back my Keysaber and letting it rip. It struck Terry and returned like a boomerang. I kept throwing it back till I let loose with the final strike, 'Judgement'.
Terry was beaten, but he smiled.
"I didn't expect you to be so strong. This weak form is so pathetic...hahahah, but now, I can regain my old form."
With that Terry transformed.
His hair became whiter, he was a bit taller, and was now....a woman?
"What in the hell?" I asked.
"Hahahahahaha.....you won't win. You may be the greatest DDRist now, but I was the original and will always win. I will rule the world...and you'll never be able to stop me."
"Wait......that name on the list.....you, you're....Anse!!!" I said.
"So, you've figured it out, eh? Well, congratulations. I am Ansemian....ugnh!"
Just then, Terry's image formed in front of Anse.
"Ryan...help.....I won't let you take over my body Anse....I won't let you win!!"
"Terry!!" I shouted, not knowing what to do.
"Ugh, you brat.....you won't win, I will silence you...but I'm not in the best condition to fight you yet, Ryan. You'll know where to find me when you're ready to try and save your friend. Till then, farewell!" Ansemian said, disappearing.
"NO!! Damn!! Terry...now we've lost you....." I said, "First things first."
I sealed up the keyhole and the heartless and evil stopped pouring out.
The barrier dropped and I ran over to Sonic.
"Hey, bud. You okay?" I asked, helping him up.
"Yeah, let's check on the others." Sonic said, as we headed back towards the others.
When we got down, we were happily suprised with what we saw, everyone was free from their capsules.
"Thank God!! We saved them." I said.
"Ryan!!!" Charmy said, running me over and falling on top of me.
"Um, hey Charmy..it's nice to see you too." I said smiling.
"I thought I'd never see you again." Charmy said.
Shadow stood there, looking at Sonic.
'Well, now we'll see if Shad's a she or not.' Sonic thought.
"*blink*...S-S-Sonikku!!!" Shad said, running into Sonic's arms.
"Guess that means you are a girl." Sonic said.
"Yeah...I wanted to tell you earlier, but...." Shadow started, but Sonic put one gloved finger on her lips.
"It's okay, I understand...others wouldn't understand it. But I'm glad you are a girl, now I can feel safe about my feelings." Sonic said.
"You mean you...?" Shadow said, "I'm releived...."
Yuni and Alice stared at us.
"You guys saved us, again?" Yuni asked.
"Yeah, of course. We're the heroes." Sonic said.
"Besides, we had to repay the favor for what you did for us Yuni." I said.
"Okay, well, now what?" Alice asked.
"Um," Callie said, speaking up, "I think that me, Yuni, and Alice should stay here and make sure that no more evil breaks out. While I was in that thing, I saw a vision...of our past. This is our destiny, we must succeed."
"Right, Callie. It's nice to know you've changed." I said, as Sonic, Shadow, Mia, Charmy and I ran as fast as we could back to our gummi ship.
--------------------------------
Space Between Dimensions
"Well, how do we find them?" Mia said, "We must rescue Terry."
"Ansemian said that I'd know where she is when I wanted to find her." I said, "That must be a clue."
"Well, perhaps it has to do with your mastery of the force and the ability to sense evil." Sonic said.
"Yeah, he's got a point. Maybe you can detect them." Shadow said.
"Right." I said, concentrating, searching for Terry's unique energy aura.
It must've been no more than a few moments when I locked on to it.
"Whoa, it's pretty high. Ansemian must want us to find her." I said.
"Well, then..." Mia said, crakcing her knuckles, "Let's not disappoint the bitch!"
'Hey, Ryan....Mia's pretty hot when she's angry.' Dark thought.
'What, you telling me you like her?' I thought, cracking a smile.
'.....So what if I do? *runs off into my consciouness*'
'I wonder about him sometimes....' I thought, as I set the ship towards the source of Terry's energy aura..........
By
Darkness Shade
A/N: Keeping it steady to the end, let's see how our heroes fair now that they are almost within the end.......(Dark: *raises eyebrow* Hmm, he's up to something.....Ryan's POV...whatever he uses is copyright their original owner, except his characters and this story, which he owns....*goes off to concentrate*)
--------------------------
Space Between Dimensions
This was it, at least...that's what I hoped. It was beginning to get tiresome, even for a hero such as myself.
"Ryan, you okay?" Charmy asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine..." I said, lying to her.
In all honesty, I hadn't been feeling too well after what Terry had told me.
"Well....there it is.......the villians home base....and more than likely where that hooded dude is." Terry said, pointing out the window.
"Whoa!" I said, shaking, "Feel that evil energy...it's like the whole planet itself is...alive..."
We landed on the surface....
---------------------------
Origin Centauri
The five of us stepped out of the gummi ship and surveyed the land.
"This place...it doesn't seem like it was always like this...." I said.
We walked along until we reached what appeared to be the remains of a village.
"*covers mouth* Oh dear....who, who could've done such a thing?" Charmy said.
"That hooded guy, that's who." Shadow said, walking along.
I checked the ruins of an old building..it was a bit dark inside, but I could still make out some things.
From the looks of the damaged machines, I could tell this must've been an arcade at one point.
One peice of equipment caught my eye...what appeared to be the ruins of..a DDR machine???
The pad was cracked and beaten, the trick bar was broken in half and the screen had a large crack right down the middle.
"What the hell?" I said, "This is getting weird."
At once it sparked to life, startling me.
"Who did that?" I said, grabbing my saber and looking around.
Silence....all I heard was silence, other than the machine.
It's bright screen illuminating the otherwise dull building.
"Why has this started up? What purpose?" I said, watching the screen.
I saw the ranking screen....all five for the hardest one was all one nickname: ANSE.
"Anse? What kinda nickname is that?" I said.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the screen shut off.
"Hey, Ryan...Come on!!" Sonic shouted.
"Coming!" I replied, slowly walking out.
"You find anything?" Charmy asked.
"Yea.....no, nothing important." I said, lying to her again.
I didn't like to, but I didn't know if it was important at the time and we had bigger fish to fry.
We walked through the town, the heartless had obviously been here.
The destruction...it was undescribeable. We had dealt with varying heartless at times, and knew their strength was great, but nothing prepared us for what had been left here.
We obviously we're heading towards a very powerful foe and this seemed to be where it all started from.
We traveled out of the town and traveled through a mountainous region, over rivers, waterfalls, and other obstacles of nature.
We soon arrived at the top of the final mountain range and saw....
-------------------------
Destiny Palace
"Whoa...what do you figure the rent on that would cost?" Shadow said.
"For once be serious..." Sonic said.
"Well...this is it...let's face that hooded-dude once and for all." I said, activating the rail car from where we were to the Palace.
As it slowly made its way over to the Palace, I couldn't help but think that this was too easy.
Unfortuantely, I had to be right.
"Hey Ryan, you hear that?" Terry asked.
I strained, it was an unwinding sound...it was almost like...
"Oh no! The rope...it's coming undone!" Charmy shouted.
"Don't worry, just concentrate and we'll fly over." Sonic said, lifting off the ground....which he was above for only a few seconds as he fell back down.
"What happend?" Shadow said, helping him up.
"There's some kinda force-field over the top of this car. We're trapped."
"Damn!" Terry said, "Now what do we do?"
"Well, " I said, with a grin and a chuckle, "We hold on and pray!"
At that moment, the last strand unwound and the line went slack.
We fell for an enternity down into a darkness.
We were unconscious before we hit the bottom.
-------------------------
???
"Oh...anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" I said, rubbing my aching head.
I looked around, the others...they were gone.
"I'm alone....but where the hell am I?" I said, getting up and walking down the corridor.
I was greeted by a blinding light as I emerged out of the corridor.
"Huh?"
I looked around...and saw something that made me stop.
"That's...impossible."
Right smack dab in front of me was the OP Mall.
"I'm back? But how?" I asked.
I entered into the mall, walked towards the arcade, and there it was, the 5th mix machine.
At this moment I noticed that about everyone around me was staring.
"Um....yes? Can I help you guys with something?" I asked, slightly confused.
"Hey...is that...it is!" said a random guy.
"You mean...Ryan?!" said a random girl.
"It is, it is!!!" said the crowd as the closed in on me.
"Um, uh oh....can we talk this over?" I said nervously.
Suddenly a girl jumped in front of me and the crowd stopped.
"Um, sorry to bug you Mr.Ryan, sir.....we'll leave you be now." said the crowd, as the slowly walked away.
"Thanks, " I said, wiping my brow, "Don't know who you are, but thanks for stopping them."
The figure turned around, it was a girl, but not just any girl it was....
"Don't know me?" she said with a smile, "How can you forget your girl Callie?"
I blinked. What was she talking about? Since when was she my girlfriend?
"Sorry....guess the group freaked me out..." I said, playing along.
"Okay then...let's go." Callie said, taking my hand.
Things were going weird, was everything that happend a dream?
"Had it all been...fake?" I said.
"All of what?" Callie asked.
"Nothing, never mind." I said, "Um, not to be weird, but how long have we been a couple?"
"That crowd must've shocked you more than I thought. We've been together ever since we started playing DDR three years ago."
"Oh, okay..." I said.
All right, now I knew that things were off.
Whereever I was, this was not my world.
"See ya later, sweety." Callie said, dropping me off at my house.
"Um, yeah, see ya later too, dear." I said, waving and walking into my house.
Hmm, everything appeared to be the same...the arcade, the kitchen, even the bedrooms..all of it was the same.
"I guess it was a dream...it seemed so real though."
I couldn't think, so at that point I just decided to go to sleep.
--------------------------------
Ryan's subconscious
"Hey...wake up!" said a figure in shades and a leather jacket.
I shook my head and stood up.
"You...I know you!" I said, pointing, "Your Dark!"
"Yes...and you were right. This is not the world we knew off. Someone is playing with your mind."
"But if they're playing with my mind, how do I know that you're not one of them pretending to be Dark?"
Dark grinned, "You'll have to trust me on that....look into your heart and you will find the truth. It's never failed you before...."
With that he disappeared to wherever he came from.
"My heart?" I asked, placing my hand over it.
"He's right." I said, concentrating on the old memories, my friends, my world, and most importantly...."CHARMY!!!!"
-------------------------------
Emerald Coast
Sonic looked around, he was back on Earth.
"How did I end up back here?" Sonic said.
He headed along till he reached...
"Hey, that looks like Tails' workshop. Wonder if he knows what's going on?"
Sonic knocked on the door and walked in.
"Yo, Tails, you here?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, I'm in the garage." came Tails voice.
Sonic headed towards the garage and found him fixing up their plane, the Tornado.
"Looking nice, Tails." Sonic said.
"Yeah, the Torando III will be even better that the first two combined." Tails said, getting up from under the machine, covered in oil.
"*chuckle* Man, what a mess....that'll take you forever to get out."
"Funny, Sonic, real funny." Tails said, "Oh, what're you doing here anyway?"
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"I thought you and Shadow had a date?" Tails asked.
"What?? But Shad's a guy...." Sonic said.
"You hit your head or something?....Shadow's a chick, man." Tails said, "You two have been together since college."
"Oh..." Sonic said.
'I'd better play along till I figure out what's wrong...' Sonic thought.
"Well, where was I suppose to meet her?" Sonic asked.
"Shad told me you were going to meet at The Emerald Cafe`. She's been so excited about it." Tails said.
"Oh...well, I'd better hurry then." Sonic said running off.
--------------------------------
Emerald Cafe`
"Oh, dear...where's my Sonikku?" Shadow said, sitting alone.
Suddenly a whoosh of air came flying in and Sonic was next to her.
"Sorry I'm late..." Sonic said, holding out some roses he had gotten, "But I wanted to pick you up some flowers."
"Oh, Sonikku...." Shadow said, hugging him and kissing Sonic.
'Well...it doesn't seem that bad...and Shad does feel like a girl.' Sonic thought.
"So, how're you doing this fine day?" Sonic said, looking over Shadow.
'Shad's actually pretty cute in that sailor suit..' Sonic thought.
Shadow noticed that he was looking her over.
"Like what you see, I take it?" Shadow said with a smile.
"Sorry....I didn't mean to." Sonic said, looking at the ground.
"It's okay...I'd rather it be you than anyone else." Shad said, taking his hand.
Sonic just smiled and went on with the date.
After he payed the bill, Sonic picked up Shadow and they went off.
"Where to dear?" Sonic said, forgetting this wasn't his world.
"Well, I was hoping we could go back to my place." Shad said with a cute smile.
"Sure, just tell me the way....I kinda forgot." Sonic said.
"Okay, this way." Shadow said, pointing out the directions.
Sonic came to a stop and set Shadow down, he followed her inside and they sat and talked for awhile.
"It's been nice today Sonikku....better than any other time....and I know why." Shadow said.
"Why has it been better, Shad?" Sonic asked.
"You've been a kind, sweet, gentlemen....." Shad said.
"And that's different how?" Sonic asked with a smile.
"Well.....that means that....your not the real Sonic...the real Sonic I know is an arrogant, pompous jerk...." Shad said.
"Then why do you stay with him?" Sonic asked.
"I guess it's just stupid blind love." Shadow said, "I wish you could stay, but it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the universe...you must go back to your friends and save all the worlds."
"I figured that this wasn't my world. I just wish that your Sonic could be nicer...wait a tick." Sonic said, searching his universal pocket for something, "Here, you can use this."
"What is it?" Shadow said, taking the golden object.
"Well, it's something I found one day. It's a Millenium Arrow and it can show your Sonic the real person he should be...and how lucky he is to have you." Sonic said.
"*smile* Thank you....and farewell." Shadow said, giving Sonic a kiss.
--------------------------------------
???
Charmy stood up slowly.
"Where am I?" Charmy asked.
"This can't be....no!" Charmy said, looking around.
Yet is was true, Charmy Anderson was now back...inside the machine.
"NO!! It's can't be true..." Charmy said, falling to her knees.
She looked around. There was the couch....the empty darkness...and the game screen.
"No.....was it all a dream. No...it was so real." Charmy said.
"You speaking to yourself again, girl?" said a girl in a beanie.
"Emi? Is that you?" Charmy asked.
"Yeah...you okay? You look like you've died and just lost everything." Emi said.
"You could say that..." Charmy said.
She then noticed what she and Emi were wearing, it was there 4th mix outfits.
"Wait...what mix are we in?" Charmy asked Emi.
"4th mix, of course...don't you know your own home?" Emi asked.
"I guess not..." Charmy said, sitting down and letting it sink in.
Just when Charmy was about to give up ever seeing her beloved Ryan again, something happend.
The screen popped on, the select style came up, and the select charater screen came on.
Charmy was suprised when she was picked.
What she saw next blew her away.
"R...Ryan?!" Charmy shouted in suprise.
Indeed it was Ryan, albeit the less physical, still in training DDRist of the past.
Past Ryan looked around, "I couldv'e sworn I heard someone say my name. Oh, well..."
"Ryan...I'm here...." Charmy said, trying to get his attention.
It was futile, he couldn't hear her.
"Oh...so close...yet so far away." Charmy said, dancing along to the song.
Past Ryan had that solemn look on his face, one of determination and of sadness.
Charmy remembered that look from Ryan's future self, before she came along.
"I guess this was after Callie broke his heart." Charmy said, awaiting the final song.
"Well, Charmy...this one's for you." Past Ryan said, selecting 'If You Were Here'.
"Oh, Ryan...." Charmy said, beginning to cry, "If only I was there with you......"
After the song, Past Ryan got his total score, and looked around to make sure no one was looking in his direction.
Past Ryan smiled, said good-bye to Charmy, and that he'd see her next week.
"Even back then..rather now..he loved me." Charmy said, "Oh, Ryan!!"
------------------------------
???
Shadow heard a voice calling him out of his sleep.
"Shaaaaadoooooooow.....Shaaaadooooooow....wake up." said the voice.
Shadow shook his(her?) head and stood up.
"Where are you?" Shad asked.
There was no response.
"I wonder what happend to the others....." Shadow said, running off.
Shadow looked at his surrondings, from the looks of things he had landed in some kinda forest.
"Where on Earth am I?" Shadow said, summoning his ability to fly to get above the tree canopy.
The sky was dark and forboding, and the forest stretched out for awhile.
"Hmm...." Shad said, noticing some smoke, "Maybe there are some people there that'll help me out."
As Shad got closer, he noticed that it was an overturned car...and there next to the car was...
"Ugh.....what happend?" Shad said, seeing the corpses, "These people, who?"
Shadow did his best to respect the bodies and made a makeshift grave to bury them.
As soon as he was done, he noticed cars coming towards his position.
"Maybe they know what's going on?" Shad said.
The cars skidded to a stop, and some people jumped out of them.
"Hey, you!" one of them said, pointing at Shadow, "What did you do to them?"
"I found them all killed, none of them were still alive. So, out of respect, I buried them so they could find peace." Shadow said.
"Hmmm...." the one in command said, obviously thinking this over.
"I don't think so, I think you killed them and then buried them to cover up your crime." said a tempermental person, "You damn antros have been nothing but trouble ever since evoulution was kind enough to give you animals humanistic qualities."
"Hey, chill! I didn't kill them, that's not my way. And I buried them out of respect. Would you rather I had left them out and their bodies get all muddy and violated by any number of things?"
"Enough!!" said the commander, "You, what's your name?"
"My name's Shadow."
"Okay, Shadow, I'd like you to come with us...I doubt you killed them, but I'd like you to stay with us till we sort things out." the commander said.
"Okay...as long as Mr.Prejudice over there calms down and doesn't try my patience." Shad said, as they got into their cars.
"You coming?" said the commander.
"You go, I can follow." Shad said with a grin.
As the cars took off, Shad ran after them.
"Quite impressive hedgehog, impressive indeed." said the commander.
At the base, Shadow had been given a room to wait in.
"Man, this place is weird." Shadow said, "What's going to happen to me?"
Just then, the commander came in.
"Hello, Shadow. Sorry to put you through this, but things have been tense since the Human-Anthro War."
"Human-Anthro War?" Shad asked.
"Yes, about 45 years ago....you guys...no, your kind rather..I'm not as insensitive as the others. Anyway, your kind finally reached a point where they could easily match humans in terms of population, and they gradually integrated with us. It wasn't easy, of course. Many people discriminated against anthros, and there was a great number of hate crimes. Just as the African-Americans and the Women had their rights movements, the Anthros soon bounded together under one leader to demand equal rights. He was a brilliant leader, he had friends of both the Anthro and human type. Here's a picture of him speaking at the million-anthro march on our capital."
Shadow took the picture and was shocked to see who it was.
"S-S-Sonic?!" Shad said.
"You know him? Yes, Sonic Takeshi Hedgehog was the greatest Freedom Fighter for Antrho rights. However, he was assasinated at the age of only 23. Some say if he were to have lived, he would've led us to a great co-existence. Sadly....it sparked even greater hatred. We beleive this man had something to do with it."
Shadow looked at the picture of this man.
"No way...it couldn't be." Shad said.
"Yes...Doctor Namgge Ovi Kintobor....aka...Eggman Ivo Robotnik. He was one of Sonic's best allies, but then suddenly, without reason, he turned and is the beleived assasin of Sonic. He furthered the flames of hatred, until....the war began. It was almost like another Civil War. It was soon to the point where neither side was winning, and many were dying. Yet it was the act of two people that stopped the war. One was a young man, only 18 and a young female anthro girl of the same age. They looked past each others differences and had fallen in love. However, there secret cost them there lives. They died for each other, just to show the world that humans and anthros could get along. After that, both sides felt horrible with each other and they signed a peace treaty."
"Whoa, that's deep......but I'm guessing some people still harbor bad feeling towards anthros." Shadow said.
"Yes, unfortuantely....some anthros and humans won't let it die....I'm afraid those people you found and buried were part of it. Well, have a good night's sleep. I'll see you in the morning." the commander said, walking out.
"Well, guess I'd better hit the hay." Shad said, "I just wish I could've told Sonic my secret and how I felt before this happend...*shakes head*..oh, well. Too late now, I'll just rest."
Soon Shadow was fast asleep, yet someone else was not.
"Those damn anthros and there ways...all because of that female, my son......" said the tempermental man, "Well, you can fool the others, but I know that your just another Sonic."
The man brandished a knife and came closer to Shadow.
As he sent the knife towards Shad's chest, he opened his eyes......
-------------------------------
Inside the Palace
"Muhahahahahahaha....Those two are trapped forever in their doubt and circumstance, but Ryan and Sonic are coming out of it. Luckily, I've entraped an ace in the hole." the hooded dude said, drawing a certain personage closer.
"You will do well, who better to stop them than there own friend?" the hooded dude said with a smile.
"I can almost summon the power, but I need more time...and besides, I wouldn't think of doing such till they arrived."
--------------------------------
Palace Gates
I shot straight up, covered in a cold sweat.
"Where? Who? What? When?" I shouted in confusion.
"Wait, the sky, the gates, there...it's Sonic!" I said, "I'm Back!"
Sonic was just awakening as I got up.
"Am I Back?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, you are...but we're missing over one half of our team." I said, helping him up.
"Well, I can think of only one place they'd be." Sonic said, pointing towards the top of the palace.
"Shall we fly then?" I said, hovering off the ground.
"Yes...." Sonic said, joining me in the sky.
We floated up for what seemed forever.
We encountered no heartless, it was almost like we were being invited in.
Soon we reached the topmost entrance.
We landed and stood there, facing destiny in the eye.
"Well, shall we finish then?" I asked.
"Yes," Sonic nodded, "We will, and find our friends."
We entered through a long corridor, down towards a large door in the form of a heartless symbol.
"This should be no problem for my Keysaber." I said, pulling it out, "Burning Slash!" I shouted, invoking it's special move.
The heartless symbol twitched and them slowly evaporated.
We walked forward into...
-------------------------
The Chamber of Dance
There was an odd sense of familiarity about this room.
As if we had been here before, as if I'd been here before.
When we walked in, we saw a sight that blew us away.
There, encased in tubes along the sides of the walls, were seven woman.
"Look, our friends." Sonic said, rushing over to one of the walls.
Sure enough, we saw our missing friends.
Charmy, Emi, and Mia. All set about in a row.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who was in the other four tubes.
One was..Callie?
"Holy Hell! That's unexpected."
I moved on and the next two made sense, Yuni and Alice.
But it was the final one that completely blew me away.
"What in the hell? Sonic get over here!" I said.
"What is it, Ryan?" Sonic said, walking over to where I was.
Sonic about fainted when he saw that, in the last stasis tube, was....Shadow!!
'Heh, I wondered if all Shads were really girls like the one in that world...guess I was right.' Sonic said with a grin.
"You know, it appears as if Charmy and Shad are in a lot of agony, how do we free them?" I asked.
Just then we felt a rush of energy eminate from the floor above.
"Hmm, I feel that may be what we're looking for." Sonic said, as we ran up the stairs.
We stood in front of a machine with a huge keyhole in front of it, it was the source of all the evil we had detected.
"Well, time to seal this sucker up and free our friends." I said, readying my Keysaber.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." said...Terry??? as he lunged at me.
"Terry, what's..happend to you?" I asked.
"Let's just say the heartless opened my eyes to the truth. If you want to seal that keyhole, you're going to have to go through me." Terry said, "And your friend won't be able to help you."
With that he flung Sonic out of the way and put a magic barrier up, preventing him from getting in.
"Sonic! That's it Terry, your going to pay for what you did." I said, lunging at him.
With that Terry pulled out his own Keysaber and blocked my move.
"How?" I asked.
"Let's say that there are really two Keysabers....let's find out which is more powerful." Terry said.
Terry pushed me back and charged his Keysaber, than began dashing all around the arena, trying to strike me.
I was able to block most of his attacks.
"Nice one, now try this." I said, charging back my Keysaber and letting it rip. It struck Terry and returned like a boomerang. I kept throwing it back till I let loose with the final strike, 'Judgement'.
Terry was beaten, but he smiled.
"I didn't expect you to be so strong. This weak form is so pathetic...hahahah, but now, I can regain my old form."
With that Terry transformed.
His hair became whiter, he was a bit taller, and was now....a woman?
"What in the hell?" I asked.
"Hahahahahaha.....you won't win. You may be the greatest DDRist now, but I was the original and will always win. I will rule the world...and you'll never be able to stop me."
"Wait......that name on the list.....you, you're....Anse!!!" I said.
"So, you've figured it out, eh? Well, congratulations. I am Ansemian....ugnh!"
Just then, Terry's image formed in front of Anse.
"Ryan...help.....I won't let you take over my body Anse....I won't let you win!!"
"Terry!!" I shouted, not knowing what to do.
"Ugh, you brat.....you won't win, I will silence you...but I'm not in the best condition to fight you yet, Ryan. You'll know where to find me when you're ready to try and save your friend. Till then, farewell!" Ansemian said, disappearing.
"NO!! Damn!! Terry...now we've lost you....." I said, "First things first."
I sealed up the keyhole and the heartless and evil stopped pouring out.
The barrier dropped and I ran over to Sonic.
"Hey, bud. You okay?" I asked, helping him up.
"Yeah, let's check on the others." Sonic said, as we headed back towards the others.
When we got down, we were happily suprised with what we saw, everyone was free from their capsules.
"Thank God!! We saved them." I said.
"Ryan!!!" Charmy said, running me over and falling on top of me.
"Um, hey Charmy..it's nice to see you too." I said smiling.
"I thought I'd never see you again." Charmy said.
Shadow stood there, looking at Sonic.
'Well, now we'll see if Shad's a she or not.' Sonic thought.
"*blink*...S-S-Sonikku!!!" Shad said, running into Sonic's arms.
"Guess that means you are a girl." Sonic said.
"Yeah...I wanted to tell you earlier, but...." Shadow started, but Sonic put one gloved finger on her lips.
"It's okay, I understand...others wouldn't understand it. But I'm glad you are a girl, now I can feel safe about my feelings." Sonic said.
"You mean you...?" Shadow said, "I'm releived...."
Yuni and Alice stared at us.
"You guys saved us, again?" Yuni asked.
"Yeah, of course. We're the heroes." Sonic said.
"Besides, we had to repay the favor for what you did for us Yuni." I said.
"Okay, well, now what?" Alice asked.
"Um," Callie said, speaking up, "I think that me, Yuni, and Alice should stay here and make sure that no more evil breaks out. While I was in that thing, I saw a vision...of our past. This is our destiny, we must succeed."
"Right, Callie. It's nice to know you've changed." I said, as Sonic, Shadow, Mia, Charmy and I ran as fast as we could back to our gummi ship.
--------------------------------
Space Between Dimensions
"Well, how do we find them?" Mia said, "We must rescue Terry."
"Ansemian said that I'd know where she is when I wanted to find her." I said, "That must be a clue."
"Well, perhaps it has to do with your mastery of the force and the ability to sense evil." Sonic said.
"Yeah, he's got a point. Maybe you can detect them." Shadow said.
"Right." I said, concentrating, searching for Terry's unique energy aura.
It must've been no more than a few moments when I locked on to it.
"Whoa, it's pretty high. Ansemian must want us to find her." I said.
"Well, then..." Mia said, crakcing her knuckles, "Let's not disappoint the bitch!"
'Hey, Ryan....Mia's pretty hot when she's angry.' Dark thought.
'What, you telling me you like her?' I thought, cracking a smile.
'.....So what if I do? *runs off into my consciouness*'
'I wonder about him sometimes....' I thought, as I set the ship towards the source of Terry's energy aura..........