You know what I love? Amy or Sally-haters. Seriously. What the duce?
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Tails stared in shock at the spot where his much-adored mentor had been. He looked to Sally, to see if she was any better off.
She wasn't.
"Sonic?" Sally's voice trembled out softly, her voice choking with unmistakable agony. Then, eyes brimming with tears and anger: "SONIC!" Her knees buckled and the heartbroken squirrel fell to the floor as she continued to gape at the place her boyfriend had last been.
Knuckles's uncontrollable temper had gotten the better of him again. And, before Rouge or anyone could stop him, he charged full speed at Eggman.
"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!" He snarled, breaking away the safety glass in Eggman's machine with an ease built on a more powerful source: rampaging fury. Beyond just talking (which he had never intended to do so in the first place), he dragged the villain out in lightening speed and jammed him into the wall before any of the Gang could so much as utter a shred of protest. Like they would have anyway.
Eggman smirked and gave his trademark 'maniacal' laugh. "I told him I'd send him to the next life." He said laughing, as if this was something as casual as telling them a funny joke. His beady eyes glittered like coal diamonds with glee, and his absurd mustache twitched more than ever like a sweeper. "However, I didn't intend to put his girlfriend into orbit too. Oh, wait, YOU'RE the girlfriend aren't you?" He added, taking Sally in as if for the first time. Knuckles's grip grew stronger, his weapons of choice bearing his name poking dangerously.
"So happy you realized," she snapped darkly. Sally's fur bristled. Resentment filled her whole being. Sonic! She thought to herself.
"You can't be gone Sonic, you just can't." She said aloud unintentionally. Her fists clenched and the squirrel thought absently at the pain in her heart. It was such a strange feeling she had never been accustomed to before. She stared at the ground. This wasn't happening! Sonic had endured so much more than this! Flashes of memories with and without her whirled past before she could stop them, and Sally bit back a sob at the last recollection of Sonic's know-it-all grin as he held ANOTHER chili-dog in his gloved hand before Tails burst in with the newest telecast to destroy the world.
'So this is what it feels like...shock I mean.' Tails wondered slightly, staring at where his heart was. 'I'm not at the waterworks like Sally, and I'm not a raging hurricane like Knuckles. I can't...express anything. I saw him die...or whatever happened to him, but it hasn't really sunk in yet. Strange how our bodies are sometimes so good at denial. I wonder, if Sonic was in denial at that final moment?' The small fox jammed his eyes shut. 'I let go of Amy!' He thought as guilt he had never come into contact with filled through him. Although he protested, a single thought was blasted in the corridor of his brilliant mind: 'It was your fault.'
Sally shakily started to close her eyes, "I can't..."
Eggman's grin grew wider if possible. "Oh, he's not gone in the way you all think."
Rouge's head jerked up instantly. She had been so busy staring at where the pink and blue hedgehogs had been the last words said by the maniac were a violent jolt. "What are you talking about?"
"Now, why would I tell you that?" He said, genuinely puzzled.
With a volt of reality, Tails met Dr. Eggman in the eye and said, trying to keep his voice as controlled as possible: "Because," Tails said angrily. "I don't think Knuckles will be able to hold back much longer."
Tails was correct; Knuckles's little self-restraint was ebbing away with increasing speed. The only thing keeping him back now was Rouge's hand on his shoulder. Soon even that would not be enough to keep the echidna's anger in check.
Dr. Robotnick took this in stride, barely even the slightest bit miffed. "Well, that does pose a problem to YOU, now doesn't it? If you kill me, you'll never find out what happened to them." He looked very pleased with himself for coming up with such a smart comeback the gang.
"Who says," Sally began, so deadly she surprised even herself. "That we have to kill you?" She smiled slowly, dangerously; she was also fingering her gun. The safety came off with a click, the needless gesture creating an even more tension-filled atmosphere and she looked pointedly at Eggman's legs. "You don't need those do you?"
Eggman paled. Apparently this hadn't occurred to him. The gears were turning in his head, and then he swallowed.
"Well then, it seems like we won't have to that after all." Rouge said smiling now too. "Good, I didn't want to get my boots dirty."
Eggman looked at them all. And, seeing their terrifying faces filled with fury, gave up. He then began. "The device I used on your little hedgehog friends opened a portal." he said. The others waited for him to go on, and when he didn't, Knuckles lost it temporarily.
He punched him in the gut. Hard. With his pointed gloved hands. The doctor cried out in pain. "WHERE ARE THEY?!" He yelled as Eggman clutched his stomach.
"Just what I said!" Eggman coughed. "Honestly, we inventors get no respect-none at all. As I said, your friends are in another dimension."
"Dimension?" Tails asked thoughtfully. His intellect already spinning with a speed surpassing Sonic own foot-power: the plans, the calculations, the possibilities. His mind and soul were delving into the prospect, anything to get his mind off of the two companions he had known since a child.
"Yes, you stupid idiot! What are you, deaf?"
"What kind of dimension?" Sally demanded glaring. She didn't like the sound of it. Coming from Eggman she knew that it was not good. And with a hatred like his for Sonic...
Dr. Robotnick looked at her blankly. "Well, that's the brilliance of it. I don't know."
Silence.
"YOU WHAT?!!" The group exclaimed. Knuckles punched him again. The 'doctor' doubled over again.
"Araagh!"
"What-do-you-mean-you-don't-know?" the red echidna hissed, yanking the doctor back up and threatening to do it to his face.
His glasses had enough abuse, and Robotnik peered up through the shattered lenses as he tried to maintain as much dignity as possible. "I say, that's no way to treat me." Eggman scolded. He sighed, as if trying to explain two plus two equals four, not twelve, to children. "There are many dimensions besides our own. In it, there can more or less of anything. One dimension could be basically a hell on earth, another could be of wise and beautiful people where peace is eternal. Or it could be a world were magic replaces technology, or traveling back in time. Or it could be as simple as a species change. Or-"
"ENOUGH! EITHER YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM RIGHT NOW OR THERE WILL BE NOT ENOUGH OF YOU TO SCRAPE ON TOAST!" Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Haven't I already told you that I don't know? It is impossible to actually pin point their exact location, yet I have structured another magnificent invention in case I wanted to reverse it-What?"
They were all staring at him, in unbelieving expressions. "You mean-" Sally started. "You mean you can bring them back?"
"Haven't I already explained that they are NOT dead?" Dr. Eggman said aggravated. "Of COURSE I can bring them back. I am the greatest genius in the world after all!" He puffed out his chest and, despite his terrible wounds and blood and cuts, looked extremely satisfied with his statement.
"Get my boyfriend back!" Sally said unsympathetically, ignoring the mad scientist's statement.
"What makes you think I want to?"
His question was never answered. The rest of the group politely left to find blue-prints and hack into the one remaining mega-computer whilst Knuckles had a little 'chat' with the Eggman. They had some catching up to do, after all.
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'Am I alive?' Sonic thought groggily. He was the fastest hedgehog on earth. He had saved that Earth a million times, plus two. He had destroyed an ancient snake, very big-ass snake. He has killed the BIO Lizard. He had beaten Shadow twice, and survived fighting in space for crying out loud! He had survived joining with the Chaos Emeralds, NOT very easy!
'And I died...because of a bright light!'
That was...so...LAME.
He hadn't even gotten a last chili dog before he croaked.
Something was shaking him. No, no go away...he wanted to kill it. He was dead too after all, he deserved peace. And babes.
'Maybe I'm in heaven,' He thought dimly. He certainly had done enough to it, in his high opinion. Plus bonus points. Oh, what if it was a babe?!
"Sonic! Sonic please wake up!"
'Sally?'
He opened his eyes, but could only see hot white light-the sun. Maybe he was on a beach in heaven? If that could be true, bring on the chili dog stands! He forced them to focus, expecting to see his girlfriend's worried expression in her pretty eyes. He didn't even think as to why Sally would be there with him. Maybe that's why he reacted the way he did.
They were green eyes. Sally did not have green eyes.
Someone else did.
"AHHH!! IT'S YOU! THIS MUST BE THE OTHER PLACE!! NOOOO!!"
Slap!
"Jeez, you can't even take a joke." He said, rubbing his eyes. He...still...could...not...see...
Welcome to Hell! Population: You and Amy! Yay for you.
Darn it, no wonder you weren't supposed to look at the sun directly.
In this case big-ass laser-pointers.
"SONIC! LISTEN TO ME!"
"Whaddya want?" Even though this was not the right thing to do, especially where one's eyes were concerned, he continued to rub. 'Darn those purple shapes-go away!'
Wait.
His hands...didn't feel as they usually did. They felt...odd...
Naked.
Amy snatched his hands, not even in the 'romantic' way that she sometimes tried to do.
"LOOK AT ME YOU STUPID IDIOT!" She screamed at his face, her voice carrying violent notes of panic.
"Amy, for the love of--" He couldn't finish his sentence.
To say Amy was different would be an understatement.
To say Amy was taller would be there also.
Her features were very different. So must be his.
They were human.
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