Chapter 68; into the chaos
Sonic couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He was looking outside the window into the war-torn city. Burning buildings people running while screaming in terror and several dueling. He was trying to calculate his next move when he heard a scream behind him.
"Dimension number!" a male voice was heard.
Sonic turned around and saw Knuckles standing in front of him pointing at his face with a duel disc which was somehow used as a gun. He was wearing a weird blue suit and had a mask on but Sonic could tell it was Knuckles he would identify him anywhere. On the mask right above where the eyes were he saw the number 583. It probably meant dimension number.
"Shit" he thought raising his hands on the air. Big mistake. Knuckles 583 saw his hand in shock.
"Sonic 999 spotted! Sonic 999 spotted! Assistance requested!" he screamed into the duel disc communication system.
Sonic didn't waste a moment. He charged at Knuckles and tackled him into the wall knocking him out. He took the duel disc of his hand and wore it on his right hand. Then he saw other people appearing on the corridor. They raised their duel discs and opened fire on him. Sonic immediately charged back into the room and having nowhere else to go jumped outside the window breaking it in the process. He landed on the roof of a car feeling his hand break from the impact as wounds opened on his body. With a lot of effort he focused his powers on healing his hand and made a run for it despite his injuries.
"Damn it" he thought as a stream of blood covered his right eyes while his mark tried to heal his injuries "how did they identify me even though I no longer stand out in terms of my mark?"
Moments later he came across a duel. A masked person wearing the exact same clothes as 583 Knuckles opened fire and killed the opposing defeated duelist. He saw Sonic and turned to shoot him but before he could Sonic fired first. Having no time to think he took the ammo and continued running.
"This has to be hell" he thought in terror "where am I supposed to go? Damn what did I get myself into?!"
Sonic eventually reached a square and saw a giant battle royal duel in progress. They immediately saw him and started trying to concentrate their fire on him in order to get his duel disc to activate and force him to duel. However just as Sonic was about to run again a sewer grate opened behind him and he fell inside. He expected to land in dirty water but he just crashed on the floor breaking his other arm in the process. He let another scream out as his mark could barely keep up with the injuries he got moment after moment. He then saw a small door open nearby and a familiar figure appeared.
"Come in young man fast!" he said in a weak voice.
Sonic sprinted to the door and got in. He immediately collapsed on the floor as his hand was finally healed but he no longer had any energy left. He started to black out but saw the silhouette of his savior.
"Is that..?" he whispered before fainting.
Sonic opened his eyes and saw he was on the bed with Amy. She was looking at him with adoration.
"Finally awake?" she asked him playfully.
"Yeah. I just had this crazy dream about a war. Thankfully it was just a dream."
"Was it now?" an unfamiliar voice asked him.
Sonic turned to Amy again and saw her with bullet holes on her chest as she collapsed while a hooded familiar looking man was standing behind her laughing sadistically.
"AMY NO! NO! NOOOOOOOO!"
"NOOOOOOO!" Sonic scream as he jolted awake. He was breathing heavily and was wet from sweat.
"Finally you're awake. I was fearing you wouldn't be able to heal" a voice spoke to him.
Sonic turned and saw the one thing he was not expecting to see, despite having seen it before plenty of times. Another version of himself. Only older and with a more stern look on his face.
"Who.. who are you?"
"Sonic the hedgehog from dimension 616. And before you worry about it, no I'm not allied with the warlord."
Sonic looked around to stall some time trying to process the situation. The room was small and dimly lit. There was several cans of food along with bottles of water one side as well as a door leading to a small bathroom.
"And from the look on your face" Sonic 616 continued "you must be Sonic from dimension 999. Bold of you to come straight here. I heard the rumors that your dimension was finally found but I never expected you would come here, let alone on your own."
"Ok old man. Listen here. I just arrived in this hellhole, broke both my arms and healed in mere moments and everyone knows who I am and they all are trying to kill me. Why is that?! What do they want from me?"
Suddenly he remembered something.
"Oh no! My family! Now that they know I'm here they will go for my dimension! I got to…"
"Relax. The warlord couldn't care less about your dimension. He is after you."
"Me? Why? What have I done to him?"
"Nothing. He wants your power to finally conquer the multiverse."
"My power? But.. what power do I possess he doesn't?"
"Perhaps I didn't voice it correctly. Now power. The potential of power."
"Just tell me what you're trying to say. What is he after from me? I'm merely a Sonic from a dimension who was revived by his friends. Nothing more. I bet a lot of other dimensions have had a similar incident."
"This is where you would be mistaken".
"Huh?"
"Your dimension is the only one where you merged your soul with the spirit of the lunar dragon and then were revived by sacrificing it. That is why you are so special."
"So…. Ok. I was resurrected because my friends transferred the life of the lunar dragon into me. But what does that make me special?"
"Look at this" Sonic 616 said reveling his own mark of the dragon. It was the dragon head just like Sonic's. But upon closer look Sonic saw a major difference.
"Wait a minute" he said looking at that mark and his "they are… different".
"Exactly. Know why?"
"My mark was altered slightly twice as I got more powerful than my friends. So… does that mean?"
"That you are potentially the strongest Sonic in the multiverse. And the warlord doesn't like this idea."
"He wants my power?"
"Yes. He has an ulterior motive which I'm not aware of. But one thing is for sure. Now that he knows you are here we need to get you out of this dimension. And we need to find a way to cover your mark. Everyone will recognize you upon seeing it."
"Ok. I'll just need a jacket for this. As for how to leave I've got…." But he cut his sentence short when he saw the wristwatch.
"No! Come on! It broke?!"
"It must have broken from the force of the impact when you fell."
"Now what?" Sonic said discouraged.
"You will need to steal a new one. Preferably one of the higher up enemy soldiers. Those ones are made from a special element from the warlord's dimension that makes them nearly unbreakable."
"Ok… any plan for that?"
"Yes. There is one. We just need to follow the sewer. It will lead to an alley right next to their stronghold. If we can just catch that idiot 583 Knuckles we can get his wristwatch."
"Damn. I came across him when I arrived. I could have taken it then and there."
"No use to regret it now. Let's just wait until night arrives. It will be easier then."
"Ok" Sonic agreed.
The next few hours passed by very slowly. Sonic and Sonic 616 were barely talking each one lost in their thoughts. One hour before they left Sonic 616 prepared some food for them to eat so they could recover their strength. While eating Sonic voiced a question.
"How did you know all those things about me and my powers?"
Sonic put his dish down and looked down sighing sadly.
"I was interrogated by the warlord himself on a fake rumor that I knew where dimension 999 was. He didn't believe my words. He… killed my family right in front of my eyes."
"Oh man. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up."
"It's ok. Right afterward his son came in and told him they had been able to redirect the power of a captured singed one from dimension 264 to decode a memory of the lunar dragon of dimension 999 through the particles of his power. They said all those things right before me thinking I was wallowing in my self-pity for the death of my family. The warlord seemed pleased and ordered his son to end my life. Right before he drove a giant spike through my heart I used my powers to redirect his aim and hit my left arm bond releasing it. I fought him hand to hand and escaped after that. I've been hiding down here ever since helping the residents of this dimension, the dimension 785 to survive the war."
"Is there a plan to counter attack?"
"Here no. unfortunately this dimension will continue suffering from the war. The only hope we have is getting you out of here. You are the only one who can stop the warlord. But you need to find him first."
"Ok so how do I find him?"
"That I do not know. But before I escaped from captivity I stole a list from his son. It contains several numbers. My guess is that they are dimension numbers. Whatever their purpose is, they must be vital. You need to travel there and gather clues. And if possible you need to find and…" he stopped mid-sentence.
"And what?"
"Nothing".
"You're hiding something. What is it?"
"There is a rumor that a resistance has risen to oppose the warlord. But no one has seen them. They're probably not real."
"You don't believe it. I can see it in your eyes. You were about to say that I should find this resistance and ally myself with them right?"
"….Yes."
"Why did you hesitate before telling me?"
"I… wait a minute. We're late. We need to move towards the stronghold."
Sonic was still not convinced he was telling him everything. He decided though that the mission to retrieve a wristwatch was more important currently. Once they were done Sonic would confront him properly.
They walked through the sewers for about 10 minutes. They then climbed a ladder and came out on a dark alley. Right outside of the stronghold.
"Ok here is the plan" Sonic 616 said "Knuckles 583 is so drunk with power that he demands these 2 bins are brought inside so he can order his underlings to throw the trash in themselves. We will get in these bins and once they arrive we attack them and take their uniforms. Hopefully we won't be noticed before we get to Knuckles."
"Ew. This one has moldy food inside" Sonic said feeling he would vomit.
"Yeah…. He also is a little sadistic. He lets the food get moldy so he can see his underlings make disgusted faces."
"Dude… I can't go in there".
"Do you prefer to get in one with something worse inside?"
Sonic looked inside the other bin and backed away in disgust.
"Dear lord this guy is sick!" he exclaimed hoping he wouldn't throw up right then and there.
"Shush! If they hear us we're dead meat."
"Can't we just find a clean one?"
"You expect a trash bin to be clean during war?"
"Well i…"
At that moment they saw the gate was opening.
"Get in!" Sonic 616 said picking up Sonic 999 and throwing him inside the bin with the moldy food and closing the lid. He then jumped in the other one and also closed the lid.
Sonic tried to pinch his nose to avoid smelling but it was too much. He made a superhuman effort to not throw up. He heard voices right outside the bin.
"Come on let's get this over with."
"I swear if next time I'm again on trash duty…"
"Now!" Sonic 616 shouted.
They both pushed the lid up and punched the soldiers very hard. They both fainted. Upon closer look Sonic saw they were alternate versions of Jet and Shadow.
"Hurry and take their clothes. We need to get in now!"
They changed in record breaking time. They then put the unconscious bodies of Jet and Shadow in the trash bins and took them inside the fortress.
"Just play cool. With some luck we will make it."
They walked through the corridors being laughed at by other soldiers and higher-ups they passed by. Some of them though took a long look at them.
"We need to hurry" Sonic whispered to Sonic 616 "if anyone figures out we are imposters it's over."
"We're almost there."
They soon got to Knuckles 583's office. When he saw them he took an evil look.
"Finally. The trash have come to take out the garbage. Hurry it up".
Sonic and Sonic 616 approached the office to fulfil his orders until they were right next to him. They immediately jumped on him and immobilized him. Sonic 616 held him down while Sonic took his wristwatch. Unfortunately Knuckles being stronger physically than Sonic 616 overpowered him, kicked him out of the way and grabbed a walkie talkie from the table.
"Intruders in my office!" he screamed before being banged on the head by Sonic.
However it was too late. Sonic and Sonic 616 heard footsteps from the corridor approaching fast. Thinking quickly they barricaded the door with the desk but they soon realized it wouldn't last.
"Quickly activate the wristwatch! Set dimension 412!"
"Got it!" Sonic said activating the wristwatch. Merely moments later a portal was created.
"But wait a minute! What about you? You aren't guaranteed to go through a portal created by me!"
Sonic 616's silence was enough of an answer.
"You are planning to stay behind?!"
"Yes."
"You idiot! Why did you make such a plan knowing you would stay behind?!"
"Cause the war won't be won by me. It will be won by you!"
"I'm not leaving you behind! I'll fight them too!"
"No!" Sonic 616 screamed grabbing Sonic by the shirt.
"Listen... I didn't want to say this but… the resistance leader… I know her… she was from my dimension too. I… can't tell you the whole story."
"Why not?!"
"I just can't! Go! Find her and help her win this war! Gain her trust and you will get the answers you seek from me! Now go!"
"No this is crazy! We can win together!"
"GO!" Sonic 616 screamed shoving a small piece of paper into Sonic's hands and pushing him through the portal. At that moment soldiers barged in. Sonic heard Knuckles 583 scream "FIRE!"
Sonic witnessed in horror as Sonic 616 was shot multiple times dropping on the floor with a thud. He saw the soldiers turning the weapons on him. In a flash move he closed the portal through the wristwatch.
After overcoming the initial shock he got up and saw he was in a forest. Dark tall trees surrounded him. Sonic tried to take a step but simply collapsed on his knees as he broke down in tears.
"Why you idiot? Why?"
He kept looking at the ground as the tears fell on it watering some of the grass. He had no idea how long it had been that he was in that position but he realized it was hours because he had arrived there at daylight and now the sun was about to set.
"Damnit!" Sonic screamed as his voice echoed through the forest.
He sat on the ground as small gusts of wind hit his face. It was no use. He didn't have the courage to move on anymore. It was too much. He had experienced more physical and mental pain in the last day than he had in all his lifetime. He realized something while mourning Sonic 616. The soldiers probably had no idea where he went since no one followed him. He could just open a portal back to his dimension… and let the war rage on. No one would figure out he returned home. And if they ever did…. He would fight with his friends and family whether they won or went down in a blaze of glory.
Sonic got up and started typing the number 9 3 times on the wristwatch. However he was struggling to press the activate button. If he did… Sonic 616's death would have been for nothing.
The minutes he lost thinking it over proved vital.
"I've found you!" a sinister voice said.
Sonic turned around and saw Miles standing in front of him.
"M-Miles?"
Miles raised a taser and pressed the trigger. Sonic jumped out of the way using his powers.
"You're not my son!"
"Of course not! I would never be the son of an unruly wretch like you! I'm the son of the great lord Sonic!"
"No! you can't be… the warlord is another version of me?!"
"Another version? Don't make me laugh! You are a faker! He is the true Sonic! And he will have all the multiverse with me as the successor to it! Imagine how happy he will be once I drop you at his feet like a dog!"
"You're not taking me without a fight!" Sonic said activating his duel disc.
"Don't make me laugh! You can't beat me!"
"I'm not letting you take me to your warlord!"
"I will fight you if you are so desperate to lose. But you should start accepting the fact that he is lord Sonic not warlord. Then again deny it. It is funny watching you suffer like that!"
"Bring it on!" Sonic said.
"DUEL!"
"I'll show you just how big the difference between us is! I activate the spell card pendulum call. I discard supreme king dragon darkwurm as a cost."
"And I use ash blossom and joyous spring to negate it!"
"Too bad! Activate crossout designator! I banish one of my ash blossoms and boom! Yours is negated!"
"Oh no!"
"With my spell card I add dragonpit magician and harmonizing magician from my deck to my hand! Next I use the effect of darkwurm in the graveyard. I summon it back. Then I use its effect to add supreme king gate zero from my deck to my hand. But it won't be in my hand for long! I set it in the pendulum zone! Then I use the spell card duelist alliance. Because I have a pendulum monster in my pendulum zone I add double iris magician from my deck to my hand. Now I activate dragonpit magician in my other pendulum zone! Now swing pendulum of souls! Unleash your power upon my enemy! Pendulum summon! Come forth my monster servants! Double iris magician and harmonizing magician! Then harmonizing's effect activates. I summon timegazer magician from my deck! Now I set the link markers with my harmonizing magician and darkwurm! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Crystron needlefiber! I use its effect! I summon red rose dragon from my deck! Now I tune it together with double iris magician! Rise from the great beyond dragon with the odd-eyes and pulverize my enemies! Rise! Odd eyes meteorburst dragon! Upon summoning I use its effect along with the effect of red rose dragon in the graveyard! I summon with its effect white rose dragon from my deck. Then with my meteorburst i summon dragonpit magician from the pendulum zone! I now overlay these 2 level 7 monsters together! Xyz summon! Come forth odd eyes absolute dragon! But it won't be here for long! I set the link markers with it and needlefiber! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear cross sheep!"
"That combo is pretty standard. I know how to beat it! You're not getting anywhere!"
"You're speaking too soon faker! With the effect of my absolute dragon I summon from my extra deck odd-eyes vortex dragon! And because a fusion monster was summoned on cross-sheep's link I can revive red rose dragon from the graveyard. I tune it with my white rose dragon! The two flower dragon will open the portal to the world of speed! Synchro summon! Come forth f.a. dawn dragster! Now for the last piece of the puzzle! I set the link markers with cross sheep and timegazer magician! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Selene queen of the master magicians! And with her effect she gets 3 spell counters and by removing all 3 she can revive dragonpit magician!"
"And now you will use them to link summon apollousa bow of the goddess right?"
"WRONG!"
"What?!"
"I set the link markers with selene and dragonpit magician! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Unchained abomination!"
"Wait what?!"
"And now for the last card in my hand! The spell card painful choice!"
"Painful choice?!"
"I choose 5 card from my deck and you have to choose one for me to keep while the others go to the graveyard! I select 2 copies of odd-eyes pendulum dragon, odd-eyes summoner and 2 copies of king of the swamp. Now choose!"
"What… what is his endgame?" Sonic wondered "I select odd-eyes pendulum dragon".
"Why thank you. Because now with odd-eyes summoner's effect I banish it to normal summon an odd-eyes monster without tributing! Come forth! Odd eyes penedulum dragon! Now I set the link markers with odd-eyes vortex dragon and odd-eyes pendulum dragon! Circuit combine! Link summon! Rise! Predaplant verte anaconda! And now for its effect! I pay 2000 LP" (evil Miles LP 6000) to send to the graveyard dragon mirror! Now I can use its effect! I banish my 4 dragons from the graveyard! The dragon with the odd-eyes, the dragon controlling vortexes, the dragon with the power of meteors and the absolute dragon! Merge together and open the gates of hell! FUSION SUMMON! COME FORTH! SUPREME KING DRAGON Z-ARC!"
"No!" Sonic said in terror as one of the most powerful monsters in the game descended on the field.
"Your plan all along… was to use abomination's effect on z-arc!"
"Indeed! Abomination! Destroy Z-arc and send it to my pendulum zone!"
Unchained abomination destroyed z-arc and it was then placed in the pendulum zone starting to emit a dark aura.
"This is how you end faker! Now you can't use any fusion synchro or xyz monster effects! And any time you try to add something to your hand from your deck it will be immediately blown away to oblivion! It's over!"
"NO!"
"WHAT?!"
"I will admit that this board is strong! But you made one crucial mistake!"
"And what is that?!"
"You are facing the strongest Sonic in the multiverse!" Sonic yelled as his mark started shining.
"I draw! I will show you how weak you really are! I activate black whirlwind! Now I summon forth blackwing kris the crack of dawn! With the whirlwind I add to my hand blackwing gale the whirlwind!"
"Oh no you don't! I destroy gale with zarc's effect!"
"And this is why you will lose!" Sonic said as gale was destroyed "you have no real skill! If you had you would know not to use such a powerful effect carelessly!"
"Why you little!"
"I activate blackwing simoon the poison wind's effect! I banish blackwing bora the spear from my hand activate another black whirlwind to my spell and trap card zone! Next I summon simoon due to its effect. Because it was summoned I add blackwings bora the spear and another kris the crack of dawn to my hand! Now I summon them due to controlling a blackwing! But there's more! I activate blackwing feathers! So I draw 4 cards!"
"It doesn't matter! You still can't use any synchro effects! your deck is based on synchros!"
"It is good then that I have another way to win! I activate the spell card ancient chant!"
"WHAT?!"
"I add to my hand with it slifer the sky dragon! And now I banish ancient chant from the graveyard to have an additional normal summon as long as it is for the tribute summon of a divine beast monster!"
"Oh no! you can't!"
"I sacrifice kris, simoon and bora! Gates of heaven! Open up and release the mighty beasts of thunder and storms! I summon the Egyptian god slifer the sky dragon!"
Slifer descended on the battlefield summoning a mighty storm with it.
"You…! you! your deck is blackwings merged with the Egyptian gods?!"
"Yes! And now I use the spell card blackwing flight! I tribute a blackwing on my field and draw 2 cards. To use this card I need to have 3 or more blackwings in the graveyard! I tribute kris the crack of dawn to draw 2 cards! Then I use pot of avarice! I return the 5 blackwings in my graveyard to my deck to draw 2 more cards! Now I hold a total of 7 cards! It's over! Slifer! Destroy verte anaconda! Thunder force!"
"Nooooooooo!" (Evil Miles LP 0)
"You!" Miles said trying to raise his duel disc to fire on Sonic but he sprinted and jumped on him immobilizing him.
"I beat you! Now tell me where is the warlord!"
"Go to hell!" Evil Miles screamed as he headbutted Sonic knocked him back. He raised his duel disc aiming between Sonic's eyes.
"Later faker!" he said as he pulled the trigger.
At that moment he felt a bullet being buried in his back. He dropped to the ground and saw a small portal in front of Sonic. The portal showed Miles' back.
"You damn piece of… you made me fire on myself…"
Sonic didn't answer. He was in shock despite doing what he just did with no regrets.
"You.." Miles coughed spitting blood "you may have beaten me… but my father will avenge me.. mark my words… I will be waiting for you in hell" he said as he collapsed on the floor dead.
Sonic dropped to his knees once again. He was merely pretending to not be in shock. What he had just done meant the end of his plan to return home. If he went back… the warlord would come for his loved ones first. The only way to keep them safe was to keep the warlord's attention on himself.
"No turning back now" he whispered as dragged Miles' dead body to a tree. He made it sit on the ground with the back against the tree as if he was sleeping. He then closed his son's other dimension self's eyes.
"I'm sorry" he said in a low voice meaning it.
He then got up and used the duel disc firing system to fire on the tree several times creating words to leave a message for the warlord. Once he was done. He got up and left walking while taking out and reading the small piece of paper Sonic 616 had given him. It was the list. And he was on the first dimension on the list, dimension 412. He looked once again at Miles' dead body and the words he created on the tree with the firing system. Right above Miles read
HERE LIES MILES THE HEDGEHOG SON OF LORD SONIC
And on the next tree read another sentence.
THE WAR IS ON. COME GET ME. SONIC 999
