Chapter 1
Home Life Gone Wrong
Sonic was in a very, very familiar position. Resting, in the sun. But one thing was very, very different. And he was enjoying every minute of it. As he lay on his personal beach chair with his sunglasses over his eyes, he heard someone walk behind him. He would've been a little cautious, especially with his experience with Blade, who kept sneaking up on him before. However, he knew exactly who it was.
"Here you are," Amy chuckled as she put down a plate with a cup of lemonade and a chili dog. Sonic smiled.
"Y'know," Sonic replied, "you don't have to do this for me."
"I know, but I want to."
"Yeah, yeah, but it makes me feel guilty. Like I owe you."
"Well, if you feel that way…" Amy reached for the plate and began to take it away, but Sonic grabbed it as well.
"Oh no you don't," he laughed. "Thanks."
Amy just smiled and took a beach chair of her own, pulled it over near Sonic, and laid down. Sonic turned and grinned back at his wife. She had a pair of jean shorts over her read bathing suit.
Sonic had wanted to take her on a great honeymoon, but Amy said she'd rather settle down after the hectic adventures back on Earth. That was good, since Sonic didn't have too much money. However, the planet of Mobius gave a large gift for saving the planet many times before leaving for Earth, and that, along with a small loan from Blade's fortune that had grown massive over the years, allowed Sonic to buy a small house with a pool. Sonic had wanted a larger one, but Amy was content with this one. But Sonic was a bit frustrated-the planet's government would have been happy to give them a larger place with a lot of fix-ins-a booming sound system, killer flat-screen TV, and floodlights. Still, at least he was away from the Earth. He had grown to resent the place with all his heart, and for good reason.
Amy put her own sunglasses on and held out her hand. Sonic didn't even see it, but he instinctively put out his own hand and gripped hers.
"I invited Tails over today to watch the basketball game," Sonic informed Amy without looking at her. Amy immediately rose her head, though.
"You did?"
"Uh…yeah. Do you have a conflict or something?"
"Well, I had asked Cream to come with me to the folk concert at the park later this afternoon."
"Okay, then you don't have a problem with it?"
"Well, I hoped you would come. You told me last week you'd think about it."
Whoops. She was right.
"Oh yeah…Who's playing there again?"
"A couple folk and country bands."
"Anyone I know?"
"I don't know."
That was Amy's way of saying no to a question she didn't want to say no to.
"C'mon, Amy, this is the conference championship! North Jihada and Zeeno! Winner goes to the league title series!"
"What game is it?" Amy inquired. Sonic sighed. He hadn't counted on Amy's surprising knowledge of the sports world.
"Game 5."
"And what's the series score?"
"2-2," he sighed.
"Then it's not an elimination game," she concluded. "So you can miss this one game to see my concert."
"…Okay," Sonic gave up. "I'll give Tails a call."
Slowly and grudgingly, he got up from the chair. But as he walked to the house, he felt a push from his right side. He yelped in surprise, lost his balance, and fell into the pool. He flailed and treaded until he reached the surface to face Amy, smiling devilishly.
"You little…" Sonic chuckled. He splashed water into her face. She shrieked, closing her eyes, and walked back a few steps. Sonic flipped out of the pool, quickly hugged her, and began walking back inside the house.
"I'll get you back for that one," both of them told each other. Sonic shut the sliding door, grabbed one of his jackets from his coat rack, and dried himself off. He walked to the beige colored kitchen and grabbed the wireless phone (not a cell phone), dialing Tails' number. He wasn't there, so he dialed the number for his new workshop. It wasn't finished yet, but Tails figured it was important he had a phone in there because he planned on spending a lot of time rebuilding a lot of his old machines.
"Hello?" answered the young fox.
"Yo."
"Hey Sonic," Tails replied. He seemed a bit tired. "Listen, I don't think I'm up for coming over today…"
"Don't bother. Going to some crap concert with Amy."
Tails snickered a bit on the other end.
"What's so funny?"
"It's already happening."
"What's already happening, Tails?"
"She's already got you doing whatever she wants."
"What's so big about that? It's just one thing."
"Well, that one thing is gonna be more than that soon. She'll be getting you to give up the TV during the game, blowing your afternoons listening to the radio and cleaning the house, visiting her…"
"You sound like you've got a lot of experience with this kinda thing, Mr. Bachelor."
"I do, in a way."
"What you talkin' about, man?" Then, he got it. "Oh man, you gettin' some? Who is it?" Sonic was interested now.
"If I tell you, the whole friggin' country will know by next week."
"You know me, I won't tell anyone."
"But the Mrs. will. Man, that's confusing. What last name did she take? I don't think you have one, do you?"
"Don't try and change the subject, I won't tell nobody, not even Amy."
"Sure you won't."
"C'mon, man!!"
Tails chuckled. He enjoyed torturing Sonic. And he was about to unleash the ultimate diss.
"Alright, I'll tell you. I'm goin' out with-"
But before he got it out, Tails "accidentally" hung up the phone and left it off the hook. He then resumed tightening a bolt on the new Cyclone.
And Tails was right. Sonic was really pissed off. But he decided to wait until later for revenge. Instead, he flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. He could at least catch the pregame show.
But there was a "Breaking News" story on instead. C'mon, Sonic thought, not another one of these again. They always came on during sporting events. Never during a show or something Amy liked, just the sports stuff that Sonic enjoyed.
"-just relayed from Earth from an undisclosed source near the explosion." The newscaster's picture immediately flashed away to reveal a video clip of a colossal building erupting like a volcano and collapsing to the ground in flames.
"Authorities say that the whole of the Affinity terrorist group may have been killed in this incident, which they are calling right now a gas leak. Apparently, the large number was present for a special meeting, and very few members failed to attend. Currently, there is no definite death count, although it is believed to reach in the tens of thousands…"
Sonic really didn't care about happenings on Earth anymore-in fact, incidents like this almost pleased him now.
Realizing this would probably get rid of the entire pregame show, Sonic flipped off the TV and turned on his massive sound system. "Welcome to the Jungle," began to blare from the huge speakers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leo O'Connell had been watching the same news report as his house with Cassie. The two had recently been engaged and were set to marry in five months. However, both of them were much more interested than Sonic was.
"This was something big," Leo commented.
"No kidding, Leo!" cried Cassie, almost jokingly. "If it got on the news here, it must be big! All those people…"
"They were terrorists, Cassie."
"I know, but…"
"That's not the point. It's bigger than you think. Bigger than this news guy thinks."
"How?"
Leo explained. The Affinity was a well known European terrorist group. The member number had been growing, but there had not been a serious attack attributed to the Affinity for a long time. What kind of big announcement would get the attention of nearly every member and get them to come there? And Leo was almost certain that the gas leak was a cover up because the cops probably didn't have a clue what had happened.
"I think I have to go," he said a bit grimly.
"No. No way," Cassie almost began crying. "You're not leaving. I don't want you dead."
"I'm not going to hunt someone down. I just want to see what's going on, see if I can help out. I won't be gone more than a month…"
But Cassie wouldn't have it.
"I've been waiting for years to see you. Can't you just stay until we get married?"
"If I leave now with the War Machine, I can be there and back in a month. I'll be back in plenty of time. I won't take long, and I'll play it safe." RaGiff had just dropped off the War Machine two days ago.
"You expect me to believe that?" she retorted. She then fell silent, sighed, and closed her eyes. "If you want to go…go ahead. But…" She had no finisher.
Leo nodded. "I should go get packed. I'll leave tomorrow." He walked past her, squeezed her hard, and went upstairs. Cassie shook her hair out of her eyes, fell down onto the couch, and fell asleep. She hoped to wake up in time to stop him in the morning.
At 5:30 in the morning, Cassie was breathing heavily in her sleep when a loud thud awoke her. She sprang up and looked around for Leo. She frantically searched in the various rooms for him, but couldn't find him, so she dashed outside. The driveway was empty. The War Machine was gone. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Good luck…Blade…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Knuckles knelt beside the Master Emerald. The moonlight and numerous stars shone on the Floating Island. It was good to be back at his true home.
But something was wrong. Ever since he had returned, the Emerald had an odd red glow about it. Especially tonight. It was getting darker and darker. The gem itself was still green, but it emitted a dark red aura. What was going on?
He looked up at it again. What happened? Now it was black. Not just the aura, the whole Emerald was charcoal black. In a single instant, then, it cracked into four large pieces. A massive column of blue light shot from the Emerald and pierced the night sky. Knuckles was blinded for a few seconds. He regained sight for a split second, then passed out.
When he came to again, he saw a beautiful young echidna staring at him. Oh man, not again. He wasn't in the 8.75 dimension again, was he? If he was, he hoped Crystal was still here so he could kick her ass again. Although he doubted it-that blast they shot through her back on Earth used up all the strength of the Master Emeralds. She couldn't have lived through that-could she?
"You are not dead," spoke the echidna.
Great, that's exactly what Crystal had said before.
"My name is Tikal."
Didn't remember that part.
"Who?"
"You know me, Knuckles, and I know you. I am Tikal, the goddess from your tribe of thousands of years ago."
"Wait-Tikal? The one with Chaos?"
"Yes, Knuckles."
As if on cue, a blue puddle next to Knuckles rose into the form of Chaos. Knuckles started a bit, then remembered Chaos was actually on their side. He slowly got to his feet.
"What're you guys doing here again?" he asked.
"We are eternally in your debt for what you, Sonic, and your friends did for us many years ago on Earth. But we bring bad news. There is a disturbance on Earth. The power of the Chaos Emeralds has plummeted."
"I know, we had to use it to defeat-"
"We know of that," Tikal interrupted. "This is a different situation."
Knuckles paused for a minute. "What kind of disturbance?"
"We do not know. But it requires our immediate attention."
"What should I do about it?"
"You must come with us. You must come with us to Dimension 8.75. Don't worry about Crystal," she comforted when he saw Knuckles' objecting face. "Your victory on Earth wiped out all of her forces in that dimension, and the good inhabitants would like to thank you in some way. They have an invitation for you."
"What kind of invitation?"
"I'm afraid the ruler of that dimension would like to make that announcement on his own. Now please, come along with me and Chaos."
Chaos then grew to twice his regular size and spread around Knuckles. He couldn't breath for a while, but soon found he didn't need to, for some reason. His vision turned from pure aqua blue to a vivid, psychedelic color. He knew it very well now.
"Welcome back to Dimension 8.75, Knuckles," Tikal announced.
Home Life Gone Wrong
Sonic was in a very, very familiar position. Resting, in the sun. But one thing was very, very different. And he was enjoying every minute of it. As he lay on his personal beach chair with his sunglasses over his eyes, he heard someone walk behind him. He would've been a little cautious, especially with his experience with Blade, who kept sneaking up on him before. However, he knew exactly who it was.
"Here you are," Amy chuckled as she put down a plate with a cup of lemonade and a chili dog. Sonic smiled.
"Y'know," Sonic replied, "you don't have to do this for me."
"I know, but I want to."
"Yeah, yeah, but it makes me feel guilty. Like I owe you."
"Well, if you feel that way…" Amy reached for the plate and began to take it away, but Sonic grabbed it as well.
"Oh no you don't," he laughed. "Thanks."
Amy just smiled and took a beach chair of her own, pulled it over near Sonic, and laid down. Sonic turned and grinned back at his wife. She had a pair of jean shorts over her read bathing suit.
Sonic had wanted to take her on a great honeymoon, but Amy said she'd rather settle down after the hectic adventures back on Earth. That was good, since Sonic didn't have too much money. However, the planet of Mobius gave a large gift for saving the planet many times before leaving for Earth, and that, along with a small loan from Blade's fortune that had grown massive over the years, allowed Sonic to buy a small house with a pool. Sonic had wanted a larger one, but Amy was content with this one. But Sonic was a bit frustrated-the planet's government would have been happy to give them a larger place with a lot of fix-ins-a booming sound system, killer flat-screen TV, and floodlights. Still, at least he was away from the Earth. He had grown to resent the place with all his heart, and for good reason.
Amy put her own sunglasses on and held out her hand. Sonic didn't even see it, but he instinctively put out his own hand and gripped hers.
"I invited Tails over today to watch the basketball game," Sonic informed Amy without looking at her. Amy immediately rose her head, though.
"You did?"
"Uh…yeah. Do you have a conflict or something?"
"Well, I had asked Cream to come with me to the folk concert at the park later this afternoon."
"Okay, then you don't have a problem with it?"
"Well, I hoped you would come. You told me last week you'd think about it."
Whoops. She was right.
"Oh yeah…Who's playing there again?"
"A couple folk and country bands."
"Anyone I know?"
"I don't know."
That was Amy's way of saying no to a question she didn't want to say no to.
"C'mon, Amy, this is the conference championship! North Jihada and Zeeno! Winner goes to the league title series!"
"What game is it?" Amy inquired. Sonic sighed. He hadn't counted on Amy's surprising knowledge of the sports world.
"Game 5."
"And what's the series score?"
"2-2," he sighed.
"Then it's not an elimination game," she concluded. "So you can miss this one game to see my concert."
"…Okay," Sonic gave up. "I'll give Tails a call."
Slowly and grudgingly, he got up from the chair. But as he walked to the house, he felt a push from his right side. He yelped in surprise, lost his balance, and fell into the pool. He flailed and treaded until he reached the surface to face Amy, smiling devilishly.
"You little…" Sonic chuckled. He splashed water into her face. She shrieked, closing her eyes, and walked back a few steps. Sonic flipped out of the pool, quickly hugged her, and began walking back inside the house.
"I'll get you back for that one," both of them told each other. Sonic shut the sliding door, grabbed one of his jackets from his coat rack, and dried himself off. He walked to the beige colored kitchen and grabbed the wireless phone (not a cell phone), dialing Tails' number. He wasn't there, so he dialed the number for his new workshop. It wasn't finished yet, but Tails figured it was important he had a phone in there because he planned on spending a lot of time rebuilding a lot of his old machines.
"Hello?" answered the young fox.
"Yo."
"Hey Sonic," Tails replied. He seemed a bit tired. "Listen, I don't think I'm up for coming over today…"
"Don't bother. Going to some crap concert with Amy."
Tails snickered a bit on the other end.
"What's so funny?"
"It's already happening."
"What's already happening, Tails?"
"She's already got you doing whatever she wants."
"What's so big about that? It's just one thing."
"Well, that one thing is gonna be more than that soon. She'll be getting you to give up the TV during the game, blowing your afternoons listening to the radio and cleaning the house, visiting her…"
"You sound like you've got a lot of experience with this kinda thing, Mr. Bachelor."
"I do, in a way."
"What you talkin' about, man?" Then, he got it. "Oh man, you gettin' some? Who is it?" Sonic was interested now.
"If I tell you, the whole friggin' country will know by next week."
"You know me, I won't tell anyone."
"But the Mrs. will. Man, that's confusing. What last name did she take? I don't think you have one, do you?"
"Don't try and change the subject, I won't tell nobody, not even Amy."
"Sure you won't."
"C'mon, man!!"
Tails chuckled. He enjoyed torturing Sonic. And he was about to unleash the ultimate diss.
"Alright, I'll tell you. I'm goin' out with-"
But before he got it out, Tails "accidentally" hung up the phone and left it off the hook. He then resumed tightening a bolt on the new Cyclone.
And Tails was right. Sonic was really pissed off. But he decided to wait until later for revenge. Instead, he flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. He could at least catch the pregame show.
But there was a "Breaking News" story on instead. C'mon, Sonic thought, not another one of these again. They always came on during sporting events. Never during a show or something Amy liked, just the sports stuff that Sonic enjoyed.
"-just relayed from Earth from an undisclosed source near the explosion." The newscaster's picture immediately flashed away to reveal a video clip of a colossal building erupting like a volcano and collapsing to the ground in flames.
"Authorities say that the whole of the Affinity terrorist group may have been killed in this incident, which they are calling right now a gas leak. Apparently, the large number was present for a special meeting, and very few members failed to attend. Currently, there is no definite death count, although it is believed to reach in the tens of thousands…"
Sonic really didn't care about happenings on Earth anymore-in fact, incidents like this almost pleased him now.
Realizing this would probably get rid of the entire pregame show, Sonic flipped off the TV and turned on his massive sound system. "Welcome to the Jungle," began to blare from the huge speakers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leo O'Connell had been watching the same news report as his house with Cassie. The two had recently been engaged and were set to marry in five months. However, both of them were much more interested than Sonic was.
"This was something big," Leo commented.
"No kidding, Leo!" cried Cassie, almost jokingly. "If it got on the news here, it must be big! All those people…"
"They were terrorists, Cassie."
"I know, but…"
"That's not the point. It's bigger than you think. Bigger than this news guy thinks."
"How?"
Leo explained. The Affinity was a well known European terrorist group. The member number had been growing, but there had not been a serious attack attributed to the Affinity for a long time. What kind of big announcement would get the attention of nearly every member and get them to come there? And Leo was almost certain that the gas leak was a cover up because the cops probably didn't have a clue what had happened.
"I think I have to go," he said a bit grimly.
"No. No way," Cassie almost began crying. "You're not leaving. I don't want you dead."
"I'm not going to hunt someone down. I just want to see what's going on, see if I can help out. I won't be gone more than a month…"
But Cassie wouldn't have it.
"I've been waiting for years to see you. Can't you just stay until we get married?"
"If I leave now with the War Machine, I can be there and back in a month. I'll be back in plenty of time. I won't take long, and I'll play it safe." RaGiff had just dropped off the War Machine two days ago.
"You expect me to believe that?" she retorted. She then fell silent, sighed, and closed her eyes. "If you want to go…go ahead. But…" She had no finisher.
Leo nodded. "I should go get packed. I'll leave tomorrow." He walked past her, squeezed her hard, and went upstairs. Cassie shook her hair out of her eyes, fell down onto the couch, and fell asleep. She hoped to wake up in time to stop him in the morning.
At 5:30 in the morning, Cassie was breathing heavily in her sleep when a loud thud awoke her. She sprang up and looked around for Leo. She frantically searched in the various rooms for him, but couldn't find him, so she dashed outside. The driveway was empty. The War Machine was gone. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Good luck…Blade…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Knuckles knelt beside the Master Emerald. The moonlight and numerous stars shone on the Floating Island. It was good to be back at his true home.
But something was wrong. Ever since he had returned, the Emerald had an odd red glow about it. Especially tonight. It was getting darker and darker. The gem itself was still green, but it emitted a dark red aura. What was going on?
He looked up at it again. What happened? Now it was black. Not just the aura, the whole Emerald was charcoal black. In a single instant, then, it cracked into four large pieces. A massive column of blue light shot from the Emerald and pierced the night sky. Knuckles was blinded for a few seconds. He regained sight for a split second, then passed out.
When he came to again, he saw a beautiful young echidna staring at him. Oh man, not again. He wasn't in the 8.75 dimension again, was he? If he was, he hoped Crystal was still here so he could kick her ass again. Although he doubted it-that blast they shot through her back on Earth used up all the strength of the Master Emeralds. She couldn't have lived through that-could she?
"You are not dead," spoke the echidna.
Great, that's exactly what Crystal had said before.
"My name is Tikal."
Didn't remember that part.
"Who?"
"You know me, Knuckles, and I know you. I am Tikal, the goddess from your tribe of thousands of years ago."
"Wait-Tikal? The one with Chaos?"
"Yes, Knuckles."
As if on cue, a blue puddle next to Knuckles rose into the form of Chaos. Knuckles started a bit, then remembered Chaos was actually on their side. He slowly got to his feet.
"What're you guys doing here again?" he asked.
"We are eternally in your debt for what you, Sonic, and your friends did for us many years ago on Earth. But we bring bad news. There is a disturbance on Earth. The power of the Chaos Emeralds has plummeted."
"I know, we had to use it to defeat-"
"We know of that," Tikal interrupted. "This is a different situation."
Knuckles paused for a minute. "What kind of disturbance?"
"We do not know. But it requires our immediate attention."
"What should I do about it?"
"You must come with us. You must come with us to Dimension 8.75. Don't worry about Crystal," she comforted when he saw Knuckles' objecting face. "Your victory on Earth wiped out all of her forces in that dimension, and the good inhabitants would like to thank you in some way. They have an invitation for you."
"What kind of invitation?"
"I'm afraid the ruler of that dimension would like to make that announcement on his own. Now please, come along with me and Chaos."
Chaos then grew to twice his regular size and spread around Knuckles. He couldn't breath for a while, but soon found he didn't need to, for some reason. His vision turned from pure aqua blue to a vivid, psychedelic color. He knew it very well now.
"Welcome back to Dimension 8.75, Knuckles," Tikal announced.
