The Van Pelt Residence, Birchwood, Minnesota, 5:30am, 13 days after the anomaly
It was a dark and stormy night, at least as far as Amy was concerned, the sound of rain rattled off metal branches in the forest she found herself lost in, drops bouncing off the trees and forming gelatinous grey puddles on the forest floor. Looking ahead and watching the forest get deeper and deeper, she decided that pressing ahead further would be a very bad idea, and she decided to turn back.
Running away from the problem was not one of Amy's way of doing things, but neither was dying, so retreating to safety appeared to be the best option, especially with all the rain. For a while, she managed to calm herself a little bit, causing her to ponder why she was even running into the forest in the first place, but she was not able to rest on her thoughts for long. A throng of shining silhouettes lined the horizon, which only added to her feeling of unease. Regardless, she pressed on, just until she could make out what they were.
Zombots filled the path from end to end, with the metallic husks of Sonic, Tails, Cream, Shadow, Charmy, and many of Amy's other friends lumbering among them. The sight of such an army terrified her, but if she was to escape, she'd need to get past them.
If only she had her hammer. Amy fumbled around her person, looking for her trusty Piko Piko hammer, but it was to no avail. Realising her predicament, she turned tail and ran back towards the forest.
The groans of the army of Zombots grew ever closer as Amy ran, dodging puddles and ducking around the trees, hoping that they would get lost. Inevitably however, the Zombots caught up, and Amy's arm was touched by an outstretched gooey metal hand.
Amy felt the infection rapidly spread up her arm, and in panic, she ran for her very life. Lost in the maze of trees however, confusion and fear reigned, as Amy was forced to constantly stop and change direction, allowing both the Zombots and the infection to gain on her.
Sure enough, the infection spread to her torso and her legs, the metal's density pulling her down and slowing her until the Zombots caught up en masse and overwhelmed her. Amy screamed as she was enveloped by them, the last vestiges of her mind swallowed up by metal.
The scream reverberated around the entire house. Amy was thrust awake, her heart pounding as if it was about to explode. She looked down at her hands and arms and touched her face. "I'm still me. Good." she whispered, breathing a massive sigh of relief, and wiping a heap of sweat from her brow.
This was followed by a wave of embarrassment as she heard a faint knocking on the door.
"Are you okay?" Linus asked from the other side.
"I'm fine." Amy squeaked.
"You don't sound like it." Linus commented. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now."
"Okay." Linus backed away from the door, and whispered something to Lucy, which made Amy feel even more self-conscious. They left before too long, though, and she laid back onto the bed. She'd given up on trying to go to sleep, so she settled for imagining her favourite music in her head until it was time for breakfast.
Linus and Lucy were already eating when she arrived, and both looked short of sleep, unlike Rerun, who had apparently slept the entire night.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Linus asked as Amy sat down with a piece of burnt toast.
"Yeah." Amy responded coldly.
"You can tell us if something's wrong." Lucy added. "I do have my psychiatry stand if you need any help."
"What can you do? You're not a doctor." Amy doubted.
"And you're no war veteran, yet you sound like you have PTSD." Lucy retorted.
"Actually I uh... nevermind." Amy stopped herself, realising Mr and Mrs Van Pelt were also present.
"Or perhaps you are, in which case, we'll talk about it. Lucy corrected herself. "Meet me at my psychiatry stand at 9. I'll be there by then."
"Okay." Amy replied, as she bit into her toast. It tasted terrible, but it was still better than thinking about that nightmare. Any distraction was a good one.
"If you're looking to get your mind off things, the Browns invited everyone for a barbecue by the edge of the lake. I'm sure they'll be fine with it if you joined us." Mrs Van Pelt suggested.
"That'd be nice." Amy replied, as she went to make herself some tea. After finishing breakfast, she decided spending some time outside would do her some good, and promptly headed out. All the kids were outside playing. Sally and Rerun seemed to be playing detective, while Linus and Charlie Brown were practicing for their next baseball game. Schroeder could be heard on his piano, while Lucy, as promised, was waiting patiently at her psychiatry stand, reading a college level textbook she'd borrowed from the local library.
"Well, I'm here." Amy broke the silence, causing Lucy to look up.
"You're a bit early, but we can start now, if you want." Lucy put her book away. "Let's start with the obvious, shall we? You've been having nightmares recently, the nature of which have been causing you severe distress. Could you start by explaining to me what occurred in your nightmare, perhaps?
"Do you want it in detail?" Amy asked.
"As much as you can. It says in that book that I need to build a case history or something to properly advise on what to do." Lucy explained.
"Okay." Amy took a deep breath, as she began to relay the dream to her. Lucy then began to ask her some questions in response.
"Ok, these Zombots, as you call them. Are they based off a direct experience, or are they a manifestation of your current fears? Normally I'd assume the latter but I don't know much about your world. Liquefied metal viruses might actually be a thing where you're from."
"It used to, but thankfully they're gone. That crisis is over." Amy sighed.
"Could you go over that in more detail? I have a feeling those events are probably what's troubling you." Lucy pressed.
"Do you really want to hear about it?" Amy asked. "I don't want to traumatise you or anything. I can suffer through it on my own."
"Relax. I can take it. Somehow, I doubt I'll ever fight zombies in my lifetime." Lucy rebuffed, tapping the wooden frame of her stand.
"If you say so." Amy relented. "It all started after the war. Eggman had taken over 99% of the world in the space of 6 months, but with the help of Sonic and everyone else, we managed to defeat him, and restore everything back the way it was. Eggman was so humiliated at the loss that he decided to dish out revenge more brutal than he'd ever sought before.
He created this virus which infected every living thing it touched, turning it into this gooey, metal, mindless husk that would go out and spread it. Eggman would infect entire cities by the bucketload, and as leader of the restoration, I had to keep everything organised while trying to keep everyone safe. Which became harder and harder as more and more people got infected. For whatever reason, Eggman was no longer content with just ruling the world with an iron fist. He wanted to destroy it, and kill every last one of us along with it. A planetary scale genocide, if you will."
"An Omnicide?" Lucy reached for her best vocabulary.
"Yeah. In the end we all had our backs against the wall, so to speak. We managed to defeat it, thanks to Sonic, Silver, the power of the Chaos Emeralds and a lot of hard work, but it was the closest we've ever been to death in a long long time." Amy concluded.
"Hmm." Lucy made notes as she thought hard over what Amy had said.
"Your nightmares seem to point towards your insecurity, both of your ability to protect your friends when you're not around, and as well as not knowing what Eggman will do next, now that he's carved out a new moral low for himself. Unfortunately, given what you have said about you and your friends constant battles with him, I'd say these fears are rational to have. A lot of ex-soldiers, and some other people in our world suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Lucy explained. "My personal advice would be to lean on friends and people you value, if any of them are here. I can't say a lot about medication or any of the other treatment methods this book mentions; I'm only 8, so I'm not able to get my head around all of this just yet."
"They aren't. Shadow doesn't really count as a friend, well, not one to lean on at least. He largely keeps to himself." Amy muttered bitterly.
"Other than that, I guess you can lean on us as long as you're stuck here. We're going to a barbecue later."
"I heard." Amy interrupted.
"There's salad." Lucy tried to cheer Amy up.
"Isn't there still a couple of hours before lunch?" Amy asked.
"The lake is across the other side of the city. With the traffic, we'll be late if we don't leave soon." Lucy answered, packing away her book. Amy glanced upwards at the stand's sign. "So where do you suppose I can find 5 cents?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. My beauty sleep is worth more than money." Lucy replied, getting up and carrying her library book back home. With nothing better to do until the barbecue, Amy did likewise, until she saw Lucy's mom and dad loading their car with camping chairs and paper plates.
"You coming along with us?" Mrs Van Pelt offered.
"If you want me to." Amy tentatively agreed. Shortly after, the three kids joined them, and the family drove off towards the lake.
A small wisp of smoke rose into the sky as they approached the lakeside. Mr Brown was busily tending to the burgers and sausages cooking on the stove while Amy and the Van Pelts set up their camping chairs. Sally and Charlie Brown were already sat down and Schroeder and his parents were there too. By the time the first burgers were ready, Peppermint Patty, her dad, Marcie and Franklin had also arrived, arranging their chairs so it formed a large circle.
"Lunch is ready!" Mr Brown called out, as everyone lined up to receive their food. Amy chose to head to a side table that Mrs Brown had adorned with salads, bread rolls, soft drinks and pre-made sandwiches. She took a tomato salad, some bread and a cup of orange juice, before sitting back down. Peppermint Patty studied her face with a look of confusion.
"You must be Amy." Marcie spoke for her. "Charles mentioned you on the phone, I'm Marcie. These are my friends Peppermint Patty and Franklin. Are you having a good time here?"
"Mostly." Amy replied uncertainly, taking a bite out of her bread roll. It's a lot different to what I'm used to, but you and your friends have been very kind to me.
"You ever do sports where you're from?" Peppermint Patty asked.
"Sometimes." Amy smiled, "when we have the time. Normally I have too much work to do."
"Just like our parents." Franklin replied, as Marcie nodded in agreement.
"They couldn't come?" Amy asked.
"No." Marcie replied. "His parents are at work. Mine are out buying a new bed.
"What was wrong with the old one?" Peppermint Patty asked.
"It broke." Marcie replied. Amy gave a light smirk, as she ate her salad and finished her drink.
"Anyway, you want to play baseball with us sometime?" Peppermint Patty got back on topic.
"Sure. It'd be nice to explore a bit, right? Especially if I end up staying for a long time." Amy replied.
"How about Tuesday?" Peppermint Patty suggested.
"Works for us." Franklin agreed. Amy nodded along as everyone else finished their food and chatted for as long as the sun was shining.
3:47, Jewel's Office, Restoration HQ, Mobius, the same day.
"Hello, Rouge?" Jewel spoke into the phone from her office.
"Hi. You have any news for me?"
"Yeah. Vector and Espio called in to say they've tracked down one of the Chaos Emeralds. They found the red one in some deep forest, not exactly sure where.
"Good to hear. How many have we got left now?" Rouge asked.
"Well, adding that one to the one Cream and Charmy found, and the two you found in the ocean over the past week, we should have only one to go."
"Good. I'll see if I can help them. How's the portal coming along?"
"We have all of the parts built. I'll make sure it's assembled at the port by the end of the day." Jewel confirmed.
"See you there." Rouge replied, before she hung up. Jewel got up and headed down to the workshop, where all the parts were being loaded up into a truck by Lanolin the Sheep, who seemingly was having a hard time keeping everything tied down.
"You need any help with that?" Jewel asked.
"No. It's okay, I'll manage." Lanolin replied, buckling down the last of the straps. "There. Done."
"Good job!" Jewel smiled proudly.
"So, where are we setting this up?" Lanolin asked.
"We're assembling it at the ruined Eggman base. I predict that since that was the place the anomaly first happened, the portal should be more likely to work, when it's done." Jewel answered.
"Roger that." Lanolin acknowledged, getting into the driver's seat. She and Jewel drove off in the truck and headed to the ruined base. Rouge had seemingly already left, but Cream and Charmy were waiting there in her place.
"Cream?" Jewel asked as she and Lanolin got out of the truck. "What are you doing here?"
"They're all gone, aren't they? Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Tangle and her friends. What happened to them?" Cream stared Jewel down accusingly.
"They're fine." Jewel tried to deflect.
"As if." Charmy pointed at the ruins behind them. "Look at this and tell me they're okay. Nobody's seen them for two weeks. I know you're trying to protect us or whatever, but we weren't born yesterday." Charmy argued.
"Okay. I admit it. They're not here. They're missing. Rouge and I believe that Sonic and the others, as well as Eggman, were all thrown into a different universe. And we're going to build a portal to bring them back. Do you guys want to help us or not?" Jewel posed the question.
"Of course." Cream needed no encouragement.
"Okay." Charmy reluctantly agreed, tagging along with Cream as they all unloaded the pieces out of the truck.
Building the damn thing was like assembling flat pack furniture, but without the instructions. After a lot of fiddling around with Allan keys and screwdrivers and plenty of hammering, the portal was eventually finished.
"So how do we know that it works?" Charmy asked.
"Well, when we get the last of the Chaos Emeralds, we'll find out." Jewel replied. At that moment, Lanolin's radio started going off, and she picked up.
"Go for Lanolin."
"Is Jewel with you?" I've been trying to reach her phone but she's not in her office." Rouge spoke over the airwaves.
"We're at the ruins. I'll hand you over." Lanolin confirmed, handing the radio to Jewel.
"Ah, Rouge! I assume you have an update for me."
"Vector and Espio found the last Chaos Emerald at the bottom of a gorge. I am en-route, Emerald in hand. Have you built the portal yet?"
"It's done." Jewel replied.
"That was quick." Isn't just the two of you there?" Rouge asked.
"Cream and Charmy decided to help out. We couldn't keep it from them any longer, though I suspect they knew already." Jewel explained.
"I see. See you in about 10 minutes. Rouge out." Jewel handed the radio back to Lanolin as they waited for her to arrive.
The four of them waited patiently as Rouge flew into view, landing in front of them. Rouge handed the Chaos Emerald to Jewel, who slotted it into the last remaining slot in the machine.
"There, finished." Jewel proudly admired the group's handiwork. "Now, if I've engineered this correctly, this should..." She turned the switch on which booted up the machine, as it began to form the portal, safely within the confines of the two arms that formed the portal gate.
"Great! It works." Jewel cheered.
"Is it safe?" Rouge asked.
"We haven't tested it yet, obviously, but we can find out, I made sure there were fail-safes in the machine." Jewel answered. "Eggman seemed to have gotten pretty far in his design plans before he abandoned it. We can't be too careful though. Does anyone have a pole or stick or something we could use?"
"There must be something among all this mess." Charmy replied as he buzzed around, fishing a metal bar out of the wreckage. With the help of Jewel, he pushed the bar into the portal before taking it back out again. Jewel then analysed it for any damage and as her hand hovered over the metal, she found it wasn't emitting any heat either.
"It's safe." Jewel confirmed with a confident smile.
"Can I go in? I wanna see." Charmy pestered her.
"Hold on a minute, Charmy. If we send you through the portal, you might not be able to get back. Sonic and Tails may not have built one yet.
"Just poke your head in." Lanolin dared him.
"Okay." Charmy did as instructed, poking his head through the portal. He could see before him a walled city, far below him on the ground, and decided it was wiser to pull back.
"So, what did you see?" Jewel asked.
"I saw some city from above. It didn't look like one I've been to, but wherever it is, just like you said, they haven't made a portal yet on their end.
"What should we do, then?" Cream asked.
"Well, we could send someone in to fetch Sonic and the others, but they wouldn't be able to get back until Tails manages to make them one. Plus, Eggman might be making his own portal to attack us with. I think, for now we should wait, at least until we have a more detailed plan of action. Jewel answered.
"Okay." Cream replied. "Mom will want me to get home soon. See you tomorrow!"
"See you then." Jewel replied, as the rabbit sped off into the distance.