AN: I didn't get any reviews . . . *SNIFF* ANYWAY, I've decided to try a new style of writing that will hopefully make this easier for others to read. Sorry if I bored you to death with my bad writing skills . . .

Disclaimer: (Opening Screen) SEEEEGAAAA!

Chapter Sixteen: Merger, Part One

Fifth Dimension__________________________________________________________________

*High on a dark and desolate mountain top where not even a blade of grass grew, A gigantic castle stood. With six huge towers towering over the gloomy village below, this place had the kind of evil prescence that made Robotropolis appear inviting. The ruler of this parched and ruined land sat on his throne, glaring at the pictures hovering before him. With each passing second, his rage grew hotter and hotter.*

Shadow Lord: *glaring angrily at his strongest servant* "You're telling me you were beaten by one lousy PUNCH!?"

*Shadow Knuckles cringed in fear as his master's voice raged. He grabbed the bruise on his face, as it still hurt him just as much as when he got hit.*

Shadow Knuckles: "A thousand apologies, your lordship!"

*The Shadow Lord stood to his feet.* "A MILLION apologies won't help my current situation now!"

*He walked off of his throne, with his staff in hand, then raised it into the air.*

"Master what are you doing now?"

Shadow Lord: *looking down at him* "Sending my message to all dimensions. I will let them know who their future lord and master is!"

SATAM Era_______________________________________________________________________

"WHAT!?" Sally, Bunny, Tails, Rotor, and Antione screamed in unison from Sally's hut.

*SU-Sonic looked down at the ground in despair. After a long silence, he lifted his head into the air.*

"Dead," he answered. "Your Sonic's uncle is dead."

*Knuckles and Julie-Su stood across the room, looking at the Freedom Fighters with pity. Maxamillion Hedgehog gazed on sadly at the scene. Sally and Bunnie were crying. Rotor and Antione were staring solemnly at the floor.*

Knuckles: "Who did it? Robotnik?"

*Sonic looked over at him* "Nope. Much worse."

"Worse than Robotnik?" Tails asked. "Who was it?"

"Shadow Knuckles!" Max Hedgehog piped up. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Who is this 'Shadow Knuckles?'" Julie-Su inquired.

*All eyes were on Max as they waited for his explanation.*

"Shadow Knuckles kills for money! He gots lotsa powers and stuff!"

"You wanna tell us what this guy looks like?" Knuckles asked impatiently.

*Max, obviously annoyed by Knuckles' question, looked up at him.*

"He looks like you!"

Knuckles: "WHAT!?"

*Everyone was looking at Knuckles now, with bewildered expressions on their faces.*

"So, Knux . . . you gotta distant relative you never told us about?" Sonic asked

Knuckles' face grew red in anger. "NO! MY WHOLE FAMILY'S DEAD!"

"Whoa! Calm down, big guy! Maybe he's like one of those relatives you never heard about!"

"I think I'd know if I had another relative, Sonic!" Knuckles fumed.

*Sonic was about to say something back, but suddenly, a loud voice was heard.*

"GREETINGS, MY PATHETIC SUBJECTS! IT IS I, YOUR FUTURE RULER!"

*Max's eyes opened wide.* "It's him!"

"Him who?"

"The Shadow Lord!"

"AH, YES! MAXAMILLION HEDGEHOG! THE ONE WHO ESCAPED FROM MY CASTLE! IF ANY OF YOU IN "KNOTHOLE VILLAGE" WANT ANYONE TO THANK FOR THIS BROADCAST, IT IS HIM!"

"You?" Julie-Su asked.

"Well . . . kinda . . . yeah," he finally said.

"SALLY ALICIA ACORN! YOU WANT YOUR PRECIOUS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BACK, WELL NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!"

"What does he mean?" Sally asked.

"I'M GOING TO FUSE THESE FOUR PRIME DIMENSIONS INTO ONE GIANT DIMENSION, WHICH I WILL THEN CONQUER!"

"That's not possible! That would mean that you have power over dimensions, but dimensions are infinite!" Sally exclaimed in disbelief.

"YOU CATCH ON QUICKLY, SAL. I HAVE INFINITE POWER!"

"This guy got an ego, or what?" Sonic stated. Everyone turned to look at him after he said that.

*Suddenly, a large red object flew into the hut through the window, grabbed Max, and jumped out the window.*

"MAX!" Sally yelled.

*Shadow Knuckles stood outside of the window, laughing maniacally. He held Max by his quills in his hand.*

"Looking for this?" He laughed maniacally.

*Sonic practically broke down the door as he dashed over to Shadow Knuckles. He had a bright blue aura around his body.*

"Oh no, ya don't!" Shadow Knuckles' eyes glowed a blood red, and the ground in front of Sonic exploded. Sonic flew back and landed on the ground.

"One last going away present!" Shadow Knuckles' fist glowed bright red, and he punched the ground with all of his might. A mighty earthquake shook the ground as all of Knothole was destroyed in a matter of seconds. Animals fled their homes as they came crashing down.

*Sonic got up off of the ground and transformed his guitar into the laser. He was about to shoot him when S. Knuckles held up Max, who was struggling violently. Sonic lowered his weapon.*

"Whatsa matter?! Can't shoot your friend!?" S. Knuckles laughed again as a portal opened up behind him. Before leaving, he said, "Knothole really IS a hole, now!"

Max's screams could be heard even after the portal closed.

*Suddenly, many loud explosions could be heard as all of the dimensions came together. All Sonics in all four dimensions felt heavy earthquakes, explosions, and other disasters.*

Sonic Adventure Era______________________________________________________________

*Just when AOSTH-Sonic was about to board one of Eggman's shuttles, the entire base exploded, taking Tails, Knuckles, and everyone else with it. A few minutes later, Sonic surprised himself by waking up alive.*

"Whoa . . . I shoudn't have eaten all those chili dogs!"

*Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Eggman, and Rouge all woke up. Shadow was already awake, and was staring at the horizon.*

Shadow: "Doctor, you better take a look at this."

*Dr. Eggman looked up at what Shadow was looking at and gasped.*

"Where'd that come from!" Eggman exclaimed.

"Yeah, and where'd that loud, annoying voice come from!?" Rouge asked, quite mad.

"Say what!?" AOSTH-Sonic looked over at the horizon. As Amy, Knuckles, and Tails came over, they were shocked to see what everyone was talking about: the gloomy city scape of Robotropolis.

AOSTH Era_______________________________________________________________________

*Shadow had just finished with his device, when he had gotten the Shadow Lord's message. Surprisingly, Sonic and Tails had slept through the whole thing. He was still wondering what the guy meant when he said he had "power over dimensions."*

*He turned around, and SATAM-Sonic and Tails were still fast asleep. Shadow shook his head.*

*Shadow lifted his arm to check his watch. Three full days had passed since Robotnik had last tried to break into his base. When Tails asked, Sonic had passed it off by saying he had simply given up. Shadow didn't buy that for a second.*

"Well, I'd better wake him up," he said. Just as he was about to, however, the ground started to rumble. A large piece of the roof landed on Sonic's head, waking him up instantaneously.

"Hey! What's with the rude wake-up call!?" Sonic complained. Just then he noticed that Robotnik's Mountain base was crumbling to the ground.

"Aw, man! Time to juice!" He ran out the door, picking up Tails along the way. "Hey, man! You'd better hurry!"

"Just a sec!" Shadow zoomed over to the Dimensional communicater, when a large brick landed on top of it, crushing it.

Shadow and Nicole: (At the same time) "All of that time, wasted!"

"C'mon, man!" Sonic called from the door. Exasperated, Shadow jumped through the door just as the base collapsed.

*As Shadow got to his feet, he looked in complete and utter amazement as he was surrounded on all sides by forest.*

"Aw, man! This is the Great Forest!" Sonic exclaimed. He immediately ran through it, desperate to find the entrance to Knothole. "Wait, Sonic!" Tails flew after him, with Shadow in pursuit.

*AOSTH-Robotnik watched this scene in horror from across the street. Scratch and Grounder, just rebuilt, also watch in disbelief.*

"NO! MY LABORATORY!" Robotnik screamed.

"NO! MY SONIC COMICS!" Scratch screamed. Robotnik and Grounder glared at him for that.

"What? I just . . . look at the fan art!" he said lamely.

*ANYWAY . . . Sonic dashed over to the familiar tree stump. Shadow and Tails stopped suddenly.*

"Why'd you stop, Sonic?" Tails wondered as he landed on the ground.

Sonic turned toward the others. "I'm home," he said.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked. Just as he said that, Nicole leaped out of Shadow's hand. Sonic caught her.

"Check it out." Sonic reached up and pulled a vine, and the stump opened to reveal a hidden passageway. "You comin, or what?" he said as he jumped in. Shadow and Tails looked at each other, shrugged, and jumped in after him.

*All three of them went through a series of twists and turns as they went down. Sonic was happy to be riding down this slide again; Tails, however, became very dizzy. After a while, the slide emptyed out on the ground. Everyone landed in a pile of hay except for Shadow, who jumped off at the last second, did a midair flip, and landed on his feet.*

"Past cool! I gotta try that next time!" Sonic's happy mood was cut short when he saw the condition his home was in. There was chaos as animals dashed out of their huts, which were quickly being demolished. He was even more surprised to see who was saving them.

"Is that Sonic!?" Tails exclaimed. SATAM-Sonic stared as SU-Sonic rescued two small children from being crushed by their own hut. Shadow watched this scene, too.

*SU-Sonic finished helping everybody after the destruction was over. He walked over to Sally's hut.*

"Am I cool, or what?" SU-Sonic gloated.

"You're OKAY, but not as cool as me!" SATAM-Sonic ran over to Sally's hut as well. SU-Sonic stared at his dimensional twin in stunned silence.

*When the residents of Knothole saw Sonic's sudden entrance, they all cheered. Sally and Tails practically tackled him to the ground.*

"Sonic, you're alive!" Sally exclaimed as they embraced.

"Sorry I was late, Sal; I got a little sidetracked," he explained as Shadow and AOSTH-Tails came over.

"Aww, man! Mondo headache!" SU-Sonic said after seeing not one, but two look-alikes here.

AOSTH-Tails and SATAM-Tails both looked at each other. "Are you me?" They both asked at the same time.

After Sally and Sonic let go of their embrace, Sonic said, "Yo, Sal! Lemme ask you something."

"What?"

*Sonic points to SU-Sonic.* "This guy as fast as me?"

Sally got a cocky expression on her face. "Sonic, you aren't JEALOUS, are you?"

"What? MOI, jealous of HIM? Silly girl," Sonic laughed as he dashed over to SU-Sonic.

"So, lemme get this straight, you're me from another dimension?"

SU-Sonic gave him a smug look. "Yeah, so what's it to you?"

SATAM-Sonic examined him for a second, then said, "You look pretty cool."

"Ah, so do you!"

Both of them: (At the same time) "Way past!"

*Sally, who was watching this, sighed.* "There's two of them now!"

SATAM-Sonic: "So . . . you think you're fast enough to beat me in a race?"

"Sure do!"

SU-Sonic and SATAM-Sonic both looked around.

"Race you over to that tree!"

"You got it bud!"

Both of them: (At the same time) "Up, over, and gone!"

*As they both started off, Sally sighed again.* "Boys!"

_________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's it for this chapter! See ya soon! Please try and review this time!