Author's Note: A new chapter has arrived!
To GuardianDragon98: In response to your review(which I thank you for, by the way), I don't want to leave out any spoilers, but I can say that you're right on the mark. How it is possible will be revealed through out the story.
Anyway, let's do it do it!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or Kingdom Hearts. All rights belong to Sega, Square Enix and Disney. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 4: Mysteries and Hidden Threats.
Once Sonic knew that, given how Sora strangely dreamt up both Dark Gaia and the Werehog and how he accidentally blurted out the connections with his bracelet, that he had no choice but to warn the spiky-haired teen and tell him what he knew despite his worries of what the Keyblade Wielder might think, they and Tails, who was shocked by what was happening, seeing how it was already close to 6:AM and knew that there was no point of going back to sleep now, headed into the kitchen for some breakfast first of bacon and eggs with glasses of orange juice and ate until their bellies were full.
During that time, Sonic had placed Chip's necklace in the middle of the table, not keeping his eyes off of it.
"So um, Sonic? What's with that bracelet anyway? What's going on?" Sora asked, hesitantly.
Sonic sighed, more than a little uneasy. To think that he actually talked to Uncle Chuck about his worries and the dream spirit of his beloved late relative reassured him that things would be fine and he wanted to believe him. Now the blue blur felt all of his efforts in forgiving himself and that things would be alright were crashing down into the abyss of the void, or so he thought.
"Sonic? Maybe this isn't such a good idea." Tails murmured worriedly, only for his older brother to shake his head.
"No, Tails. This is serious. I mean, the bracelet never glowed before since Chip left, and if Sora's having the nightmares that are obviously meant for me, then I think serious trouble is coming back." The hedgehog informed his younger brother, while still uneasy but he had to tell the truth.
"Chip?" Sora blinked, surprised. Did they have a friend named Chip too? The name made him think about one of the chipmunks back at Disney Castle.
"He's a friend of ours we met five months ago. Well, actually, I called him Chip since the poor little guy had total amnesia when we first met, he didn't even have a clue who he was or what he was meant to do." Sonic answered with a sad smile, gazing at the bracelet on the table again. "This is actually his necklace. He gave it to me as a parting gift in our friendship."
"Oh...Did something else awful happen to him?" The Keyblade Wielder asked, worriedly.
"Nah, not really, besides what we've been through together. The three of us and Sun..." The blue hedgehog paused, before looking up at his and Tails' new friend again and asked. "Sora, five months ago...did you happen to have...noticed anything unusual? Like, the sky turning purple during the middle of the day or monsters that come out at night that kinda look like rhinos or somethin' like that? Or felt as though you've gone crazy during the night?"
"What do you mean?" That only confused the sixteen year old boy, not sure what to make of it. But when he heard monsters shaped like rhinos and the sky turning people, he immediately thought that this world almost ended up falling into darkness and by sheer luck Sonic and his friends had managed to prevent it...would that mean the blue hedgehog was a new Keyblade Wielder?
And those monsters...could have the Heartless been here?
The question though made Sonic and Tails blink before they shared a glance and deduced that maybe Sora's memories went as far back as separating from his friends prior and something else happened.
Shrugging, Sonic continued. "Well, in case you probably forgot or somethin', or maybe you didn't even notice, which is surprising, ha...five months ago, the..." He paused before swallowing hard, forcing himself to reveal the truth. "...the world got split up into seven pieces. Literally."
"What!?" Sora exclaimed, standing up in shock. "Split up into...pieces!?"
"Y-yeah. Eggman's doing. It was one of his evil plots in trying to take over the world and...well, I pretty much screwed up that day." The teenage hero confessed, gazing at the table feeling guilty all over again and felt comforted when Tails gently patted him on the back.
Sonic then told Sora about the events that happened five months earlier, even admitting of the creation of Sun who was originally Sonic's clone which neither of them even knew of and assumed that like Chip/Light Gaia, he lost his memories too, until they learned the truth from Eggman but it didn't make a difference to Sonic who had grown to care for Sun like another brother, the accidental split of Sun and the Werehog who had been unleashed and grown into a giant and had eaten up the evil Cheetah Kaiser the Myth Hunter before it was destroyed, the ultimate battle of Light Gaia(who had gotten his memories back) against Dark Gaia, also mentioning about the Chaos Emeralds, restoring Mobius back to normal, and then two months later, while Sonic had been dealing with his guilt due to what happened and having hallucinations of both Chip and the Werehog, the blue hedgehog and Tails discovered Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, saving gentle aliens called the Wisps...
("Lisps?" Sora raised an eyebrow, prompting Sonic and Tails to chuckle over the slight deja vu.
"No, Wisps, with a W." Tails corrected.
"Don't worry, I had trouble saying that too, so I stuck to calling them aliens for a while." Sonic reassured.)
Once saving the aliens while Sonic recovered from his guilt, Eggman surviving as usual and the blue hedgehog restoring the Mother Wisp back to normal.
"So, yeah, that's what we've been through including sending the Eggster to GUN's security prison just before we met ya' yesterday." Sonic concluded, keeping his cool but in actuallity, he was nervous. Terrified. Afraid of what Sora's reaction to all of this would be like. "But yeah...if anything, I'm..."
Struggling to not breakdown as he embarrassingly felt the first signs of tears beginning to form in his eyes, the fifteen year old squeezed them shut and clenched his teeth, clutching his fists as he waited for the dreaded screaming or yelling, waiting for the terrible moment that Sora would be furious with him, storming out and calling the police to inform them and the world of how much Sonic messed up despite having put Mobius back together again and atoned for his actions.
"I'm really sorry, Sora...I deeply am sorry..." Sonic croaked, while Tails tried his best to comfort him while also fearing of how their new friend would react.
Contrary of their imaginations, Sora only felt strong sympathy yet deep confusion, especially how this world managed to hang on and survive without the heartless seeking out it's keyhole and sending it into the Realm of Darkness, and had zero knowledge about these 'Chaos Emeralds'. Still, seeing Sonic look so guilty despite trying to hold back the urge to cry in guilt, and realizing that the hero of Mobius probably expected him to be angry with what happened when the Keyblade Wielder knew that the true blame rested in the hands of Dr. Eggman.
"Hey, it's not your fault." Sora reassured softly, making Tails and especially Sonic surprised, the two brothers looking up at him as the human boy continued. "You were just trying to stop Eggman, right? And you fixed up the world with the help of Tails and your other friends. You didn't do anything wrong at all. You care for the world, for your friends, and everybody else. To me, that's what I call a real hero."
"Wait, so you're not angry?" Sonic blinked, thankful that his tears weren't big enough to fall freely.
"Should I be?" The spiky-haired teen half-teased with a smirk, which stunned the blue hedgehog and reminded the two-tailed fox cub of the teenage hero.
A moment of pause, before the two Mobians sighed in relief.
"Thanks, pal. Glad to hear that. Though I'm not the only hero in the world, so I can't take all of the credit." The hero of Mobius smiled as his tears dried on their own. He was so relieved to see that Sora didn't hold it against him. He could tell by looking into the guy's sky-blue eyes(heh, given the meaning of the word in two languages, no wonder the spiky-haired teen was called Sora).
Thinking back of his own dream, Sonic was surprised that the dream version of his uncle was right, which made the teenage hedgehog wonder if he really was seeing Uncle Chuck all along, but could only communicate with his spirit through his dreams. If so, then that's probably a better and safer option to speak to the dead to avoid in people looking at him like he's crazy. More than usual. That thought made him feel at ease and mentally smile wider. The next time he dreamt about his late relative, the cobalt speedster made a note to ask him about it and thank him.
Sonic then turned to Tails and playfully ruffled the kit's head which prompted his little brother to giggle. "Like Tails, for example. He helped me a whole lot ever since we met and even saved the day a lotta times. A couple years ago, he even saved Station Square from being bombed by Eggman's missile and fought him all by himself."
"I just did what you would always do, Sonic. Though I guess I gotta really get more practice since I haven't been working up on actually fighting lately in the last month or so." The two-tailed fox pointed out bashfully, and a little disheartened when he realized that over the last five months he hasn't actually been helping in fighting other than in the Tornado or X Tornado, or just through his gadets.
"Well then, how 'bout while we help out Sora, you and me train together to keep up with each other? Whaddya say?" The blue hedgehog suggested.
The nine year old cub's eyes lit up and held up a fist, cheering with determination. "Yeah! Sounds good to me!"
"You actually saved Station Square and fought against Eggman, Tails?" Sora asked, bewildered.
"Yep! I was pretty excited that I managed to do it without Sonic with me, even though I was worried about him when we got separated for a little while despite that I knew he would be okay." Tails replied, a little proudly at himself while Sonic chuckled fondly.
'Whoa...Tails must be really smart to do all of that kind of stuff. He's one brave kid.' Sora thought to himself, admired by the two-tailed fox's heroics and intelligence for his age, the total opposite of Pete who was an adult, big, fat, cruel and completely stupid.
"But, there's something that doesn't make sense, here." Tails began thoughtfully in concern, placing his fingers on his chin which made the two teenagers gaze at him. "How is it that Sora is having nightmares of Dark Gaia and the Werehog?"
"Hmmmm, and there's more to that mystery on the table. No puns intended." Sonic agreed, gazing at the bracelet again before carefully picking it up. "Like, why did Chip's necklace glow in my dream and in reality? This doesn't add up. If anything, I should be the one having those nightmares, and I haven't even gotten one since I fixed myself up a few months ago. Not even a hallucination."
Sora frowned in concern as well as confusion, folding his arms in thought. "Hmmm...I've seen a lot of weird and scary stuff before, and to be honest, in my nightmare before I saw those things you told me about if we're right, I also saw...well, the evil guy who tried to destroy the world and rebuilt it with him as a leader and I'm not talking about Eggman. It's...somebody else who caused misery to a lot of people for the last nearly twelve years."
"Say what? You mean there was an evil guy who tried to destroy the planet? How come I haven't heard of him before?" The blue hedgehog asked in shock after he and Tails both gasped in horror, which made the Keyblade Wielder mentally want to smack himself for revealing too much of that detail.
"Probably the same way as he didn't hear about Eggman, or how none of us knew about Kaiser the Myth Hunter." The young fox pointed uneasily.
'Maybe Sora wanted things to be at low profile. It still doesn't make any sense, though. What's going on here?' Sonic thought, having a bad feeling that there was much more than what the spiky-haired teen was saying. Sighing in frustration while trying to remain calm, he muttered. "Okay, fair point. I just wish I could talk to Chip about it and figure out why on Mobius Sora's suffering with the Werehog nightmares."
That was when Tails had an idea and his eyes lit up. "Maybe Professor Pickle might help."
While Sonic blinked in surprise, Sora was puzzled as the latter asked. "You mean...the guy who helped you guys out?"
"Yeah! He does a lot of research and I'll bet he might figure out the meaning of all of this. He knows more about the ancient history of Light and Dark Gaia, and about how Sun came to us. So maybe there's another part of the history that could link to what's going on now." The young inventor explained.
"Sounds good to me. Since we don't have any other leads yet, the professor might help." Sonic agreed, getting the picture as he smirked. "We'll head over to Spagonia right away."
Sora was surprised that the same guy who had knowledge, at least some of it, onto the relations of Light and Dark Gaia, and the whole Werehog thing which he had to admit sound strongly like the concepts of Kingdom Hearts and the Keyblades, may be able to at least figure out why the keybearer himself was having nightmares of the monsters of this world. If that is true, then maybe Mobius had secret links to what he'd been through. Plus he had been relieved that they managed to avoid the topic that he was from another world and that the worlds including this one had came so close in being destroyed and the darkness dominating.
"I don't know much about the whole Light and Dark Gaia stuff, but if you guys think this Professor Pickle guy can help, then count me in." Sora decided, smiling brightly.
Sonic smirked. "Great, then it's settled. Let's get goin'."
"Hold on, Sonic." Tails, who secretly remembered what he had to do today, spoke up. "I have to do a little adjustments first with the Tornado 1 and uh...the Miles Electric as well. I shouldn't take too long. In the meantime, why don't you and Sora head over town to buy some milk and show him more of Station Square?"
"Uh...Sure, okay...?" The blue hedgehog raised an eye-ridge in suspicion and confusion as he caught a hint of slight hesitancy in his younger brother's voice but wasn't sure what to make of it. The spiky-haired teen also held a puzzled expression as the two-tailed fox excused him before racing over to his lab and garage, causing the two teenage boys to share a glance and the hero of Mobius shrugged cluelessly.
A few minutes after Sonic did the dishes with Sora's help since the latter decided that, as a guest, he should help with the chores, while Tails was still doing said adjustments, the two teenage boys exited the house to head over to Station Square.
"So um, we're gonna take the train and back to get milk? Not that I'm complaining." Sora asked, his hands behind his head.
"Nah, we're gonna do this the easy way. We'll be in and out of the store in less than half an hour." Sonic replied casually.
"Really? How?"
"I'm not the fastest thing alive for nothin'." The blue hedgehog grinned, taking hold of the teenage boy's hand. "Better hold on tight, 'cause I bet you never went really fast before."
Sora blinked, then nodded and held on.
"Here we...GO!" Sonic yelled excitedly as he ran in his natural speed while dragging Sora with him, while the latter screamed in alarm, not having expected to be going THIS fast!
Once he was sure that Sonic and Sora were out of eavesdrop, Tails wiped his forehead in relief before fixing up the adjustments on his plane and Miles Electric and then dialed the number to someone on the house phone. Unfortunately, it rang a few times before going over to the answering machine.
"Hi, Amy Rose here. I'm sorry, but I'm not home right now. Please leave a message after the beep." Amy's voice recording was heard.
Slightly annoyed and wondering if his friend was busy getting the last minute essentials for Sonic's birthday, the two-tailed fox decided to leave a message just in case.
"Hi, Amy. It's Tails. Listen, Sonic and I are gonna be out for a little while, and hope that we'll be back before the you know what. Just thought I'd let you know. Okay, bye." Tails spoke into the message before the call ended and he hung up and sighed, gazing up at the ceiling. "I just hope this isn't as bad as it sounds. Why is Sora having these nightmares?"
Something strange was going on and it's only about to get worse.
Deciding to worry about that later, the young cub then decided to call the others and ask one of them to let Knuckles know what was going on. After all, with Sonic out of town for a little while, it was the perfect opportunity to set up the blue hedgehog's sixteen birthday party without him catching on.
Back in Sora's reality...
Kairi had been training hard in the last three months, that Aqua, Terra, and Ven noticed she was approving. The Princess of Heart was sparing with Ven due to him being closer to age, as least physically. They both trained with wooden toy swords. The spiky-haired young man, while stuck in the body of a teenager even after twelve years of being in deep sleep(then again, his two best friends were also stuck being ten years physically young, but they had a lot to catch up on, so it wasn't much of a problem), was her training partner for the day.
Right now, the auburn haired girl clashed with the boy who's face, exactly like Sora's next he was an exact mirror image of Roxas(which took the two and everyone else a while in getting used to, their clothes being the only thing to keep them from getting mixed up), kept reminding her of the missing boy but forced herself to hold back the urge to back off. Kairi leaped back and panted, getting exhausted while Ven was only a little bit tired.
"I think we should take a break. Wouldn't want you to pass out." Ven suggested, relaxing his fighting stance. "You've made a improvement, though."
"He's right. You've been getting stronger each day. Not just in the strength, but in your heart and magic as well." Aqua agreed as she and Terra approached, as the blue-haired woman, being the only Keyblade Master around, was now the head of Land of Departure in the late Master Eraqus's place. "But you also must know when to not overdo it and focus on your heart's strength."
Despite the praise she got, Kairi couldn't help but feel despondent over the fact that she still wasn't getting it. How was it that she and Sora both managed to fight the Xehanort Armor that was created from the evil man's darkness shortly after she returned to life yet right now she felt like she was at her lowest?
Was she really that weak? Was she only strong because of Sora? So many things ran through her mind she couldn't stop them.
Ten minutes later, all four of them sat on the edge of the cobblestone courtyard, gazing out over the mountains and clear sky. Kairi, Ven, Aqua and Terra relaxed even though none of them felt relaxed at all.
"I wonder how the others are doing?" Terra asked suddenly, lowering his gaze. "Like...Like Riku, and all of the others we've just met recently."
"I'm sure Riku's okay, Terra." Kairi half-whispered. "He's always been strong and careful. He usually tries to be the role model and protect us as much as he can on his own."
Despite the sadness over the memories, especially where Sora was concerned, the sixteen year old girl giggled a little. "At least, that was the old Riku."
"The old Riku?" Ven asked, curiously as he and his best friends gazed at her.
"Back before he and King Mickey went to find Master Aqua, after hearing what happened, I noticed how Riku was determined to find her and was acting like Sora. He said that it was more fun to listen to his heart, which was, as he quoted, 'Sora-esque'." Kairi explained, making the other three laugh softly as well.
"He really was brave. Sora had a strong heart." Aqua nodded in agreement, gazing up at the sky, sighing. "Wherever is, we will find him. One way or another."
"Yeah. I still feel bad for having to ask him to have my heart sleep inside his, and a couple of times I could hear everything he could." Ven cast his gaze low. "I could even speak out without him or anybody else realizing it. In a way, he's a lot like me."
"And us." Terra lamented, looking away in growing guilt. "It's...It's my fault that things had gotten really bad. If I hadn't been so gulible and competitive, none of this would've happened. Xehanort used those against me, and the darkness I was unable to hold back."
"He tricked all of us, and made us make mistakes. I guess even...Master Eraqus too, even though he hadn't meant to. The Fairy Godmother once told me that Light and Darkness can't exist without each other, even after we were told that darkness has to be destroyed." Aqua shook her head.
Kairi remained silent over the topic, not wanting to blame them for the suffering they went through. It had all been Xehanort who ruined their lives, and had forced Sora to save them all at the cost of his power and being sent to a new reality somewhere. Where could it be, and why was it similar in light and darkness?
Suddenly these thoughts made her think about the dream she had, the one where she met Light Gaia, nicknamed Chip, who spoke about his friend Sonic the Hedgehog. A young boy who was much like Sora in personality, and...who was potentially suffering from sadness over what happened to his world. Or maybe he has recovered by now.
"I just hope that Sonic's okay. He's been through so much and he loves the planet and the people within it, especially his very close friends. He should be with them by now and I hope he's recovered from his own sadness." The Light Gaia admitted. "Sonic has a powerful sense of justice and a really pure heart. A real guardian of the planet in my absence. His love for everything and everyone is so strong that he never gives up, he always has a way to make people happy, like how he smiles and he doesn't ask for anything in return. Those are the few of the many things that makes him so special."
'Sonic...Light Gaia...' Her eyes widened as a thought came into her mind, before she turned her gaze to her tutor and asked. "Master, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course you can." Aqua replied kindly, attempting to push back her guilt as she found, to her and the two boys' surprise, her young pupil suddenly held a linger of hope and an idea in her eyes and expression.
"Have you...ever heard of this Light Gaia?" Kairi asked.
"Light Gaia?" Aqua tilted her head sligthly in confusion, while both Ven and even Terra were puzzled.
Before Kairi could explain, though, the older woman's gummiphone began to ring which startled them and the boys, before the blue-haired Keyblade Master pulled it out and answered.
"Hello?" She answered.
The screen opened up to reveal Mickey's face as the King responded. "Hiya, Aqua! How are you and the others?"
"Mickey!" Aqua and Ven chorused while Kairi said. "King Mickey!"
"Your Majesty!" Terra greeted.
"We're doing fine, just taking a break from training." The female Keyblade Master then responded to her fellow Keyblade Master and friend. "Is there an update on Sora?"
"Well, not quite. But, I do have an idea based on what Kairi, Ansem the Wise and his apprentices found out." The mouse King explained. "Master Yen Sid needs all four of ya's and everybody else to meet us at his tower. I think we may be getting closer in figurin' out where Sora is."
"That's great!" Ven exclaimed with feeling as the others felt hope begin to linger a bit more. "You know where he is?"
"Welp, not yet, but I remembered somethin' really important, so everybody should hear it." Mickey answered, a but sheepish but also hopeful.
"Alright, we'll be there soon." Aqua promised, as she and Mickey bid each other farewell before hanging up and she stood up, declaring. "Alright, let's go to the Mysterious Tower. If Mickey is right, then we're one step closer in locating Sora's whereabouts."
"Yeah! I can't wait!" Ven cheered happily, standing up with a small leap. Finally, after three months of searching, they were getting somewhere.
"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but it at least it's a clue. Either way, let's hope that it's a lead." Terra added as he also stood up.
Kairi, feeling her heart leap a little as hopefully King Mickey and Yen Sid do have some sort of answer to the clue she discovered and maybe they knew more about Light Gaia, stood up readily and said. "Let's go! I'm ready."
'Maybe I should wait and tell everyone about this Light Gaia. It might be connected to what King Mickey found out.' She thought to herself, as she watched her mentor and friends summoned their Keyblades and then opened up a portal, the Corridor of Light Gateway, to their destination. As Kairi followed them after Aqua asked if she was ready and she responded with a nod, the teenage girl took a quick glance at the sky. 'Sora, we're coming to find you. Don't you worry.'
Despite that she still felt incredibly guilty for Sora's sacrifice and ending up being, theoretically, somehow teleported to another reality, Kairi was determined to set things right and rescue him. No matter what it took.
Back in Sonic's reality...
"I still can't believe you can run so fast like that, Sonic. That was just...whoa!" Sora remarked, still feeling a bit woozy from the unbelievable speed that the blue hedgehog displayed on their way to the grocery store.
"I get that a lot. You won't believe that me being fast on my feet makes other people who claim themselves to be fast jealous." Sonic chuckled as he and his new friend were now inside the building heading towards the dairy section for the much needed milk. "Chris' Uncle Sam, who's the leader of the S-Team Police Squad, for example, likes to call himself the Speed King just because he can drive a super fast car. One time he even had the Government put in a Rocket Engine in a new car, came to Chris' place while we were fast asleep at 3:AM in the morning having a crowd of people around and closed off Station Square just so that he and I could race."
"What? Seriously?" The spiky-haired teen asked in disbelief and some annoyance. "Couldn't he just waited until at least the sun was up?"
"When it comes to wanting to be the fastest guy on the planet, and even though we're friends, he doesn't take no for an answer even though I didn't want to race. I was cranky because I had my beauty sleep interrupted. It's no thanks to the President's former Aid Jerome who wanted to keep his job I had no choice." Sonic shrugged in annoyance over the memory.
"How come?"
"Because all that guy cared about was politics so that he can stay in the Government for another four years. Or even become President himself. So much so that he secretly made a deal with Eggman and..." Sonic paused and shuddered over the memory. "Had sent out a kissing robot threatening to use it to kiss me."
"Ew..." Sora cringed in disgust. "That's just gross."
"And it was terrifying to look at. Practically a stick with two feet with great big lips and girly eye-lashes that were creepy." The blue hedgehog shrugged with a sweat drop. "I'd rather be kissed by Amy!"
Just then as the hero of Mobius was reaching out for the fresh carton of milk, suddenly someone grabbing Sonic from behind and pulled him out of his chair, by the shoulders and covered his eyes which surprised Sora.
"WHOA!" Sonic yelped in fright, his heart hammering for a bit while trying to brace himself for an attack...only to realize that the hands and even the body of his apparent 'kidnapper' felt extremely familiar.
"Guess who?" A bit high-pitched girl's voice spoke in a sing-song tone, before the owner released him. Speak of the devil.
Now freed and able to see again, Sonic looked over his shoulder to find, to his surprise, somewhat relief and unfortunate dismay, was the familiar now thirteen year old pink hedgehog who had claimed herself to be his girlfriend; Amy Rose. While he was glad to see her, it annoyed the blue hedgehog that she had to be here now of all times.
"Amy?" The fifteen year old responded as his self-proclaimed girlfriend stepped up to stand by his right. "What are you doing here?"
"Fated lovers are drawn together, silly." Amy said lovingly with her hands placed together, and gave him a playful wink.
"Amy..." Sonic sighed, exasperated and impatient, rolling his eyes as he wondered to himself.
Thankfully, the young hedgehog girl dropped her act and replied giggling. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. You got me! I was just doing grocery shopping and I just happened to have seen you and this guy here. Talk about a coincidence. So, is he a new friend of yours? Aren't ya' gonna introduce him?"
While the blue hedgehog was a bit annoyed that his friend was still flirting with him, over the past few months she toned down and had even began to stop with her crushing hugs and enthusiastic love towards him. Even though she was still in love with him, lately Sonic had become more comfortable hanging out with her and he slowly began to feel like his feelings towards her was starting to become more caring for her than just a close friend and a sister.
"Right, right." Sonic chuckled, before introducing his two friends to each other. "Ames, I'd like you to meet Sora. He came to town yesterday and me and Tails met him."
"Hey there." Sora greeted with a friendly smile and wave.
"Nice to meet you too, Sora. A friend of Sonic is a friend of mine!" Amy greeted happily. "I'm Amy Rose, and I'm Sonic girlfriend!" Amy happily responded, much to Sonic's embarrassment as he rolled his eyes with a soft groan despite that he did smile a little.
"Girlfriend?" The Keyblade Wielder asked, blinking.
"Long story." The blue hedgehog quickly said, before turning to the pink hedgehog and said. "Amy, come on...I asked you to stop going all fangirl on me."
"As I said, sweetie, I can't help it." She replied.
Deciding to forget about this for now, Sonic smiled and asked. "So, I guess it saves me for having to call you later since we'll be going on another adventure today."
"Huh? You're leaving? Where to?" Amy asked, now surprised and confused herself.
"Well, let's just say that me and Tails are helping out Sora to find his friends who went missing and, well..." Sonic paused, before looking back and forth only to find that each every fifteen seconds there was someone coming back to get any dairy product which didn't seem like a good idea to explain what was going on. "Actually, can you meet us outside and we head over to my place? The situation's already pretty concerning."
"Um...Okay." The pink hedgehog blinked, not sure what to make of it.
Despite Amy's confusion and Sora's concerns in letting the female hedgehog know about this, they agreed with Sonic who picked up the milk carton while Amy went to buy what she needed. Afterwards, the blue hedgehog first carried Amy to her house to put away her groceries before rejoining Sora who waited and all three of them headed back to the Mystic Ruins. Once they were there and headed into the fields and forest, Sonic explained what occurred yesterday and the nightmares Sora had, plus Chip's necklace mysteriously glowing.
When the nightmare part was heard, Amy gasped in horror that she covered her mouth with her hands. "Sora had nightmares of Dark Gaia and the Werehog monster!? How can that be?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Sonic shrugged. "It doesn't make any sense, and I haven't even had a single hallucination in months. You'd think that I'd be having those nightmares, not anybody else."
"And I never seen either of the monsters either. This is just too weird." Sora agreed, though his thoughts were onto something else.
"That's why the three of us are gonna head to Spagonia and ask for Professor Pickle's advice and maybe we'll find Sora's friends there too while we're at it." The blue hedgehog reprised. "We know that two of them are named Riku and Kairi, so that's a start."
'I wish it was that easy, but there's no way they'd find my friends here unless they're here looking for me already. But, the Gummiphone still doesn't work. Maybe it's broken?' The spiky-haired teen thought, saddened that Sonic made it sound so simple and hopeful.
"Riku...Kairi..." Amy repeated the names, before she giggled and said to their human companion. "I bet Riku's like a brother to you like Tails is to Sonic, right, Sora?"
That surprised Sora who paused which made the two hedgehogs stop in their tracks as well, before he shrugged, realizing that he never considered that idea. "Uh, I guess. Riku's my best friend and we grew up together, but I guess he was kinda like an older brother I never had. But I never thought of it that way before, but when we were separated more times than I can count, I missed him so much. Kairi's the same age as me and we both met her when I was five years old, so we're close to her too."
"Mm-hm...and I bet you really like Kairi more than just a friend, only you're too shy to admit it that she's your girlfriend." The pink hedgehog continued.
"Whaaaaat!?" Sora exclaimed, blushing heavily. Despite that, remembering how he did tell Kairi that he loved her and she returned those feelings before he ended up, he was too embarrassed to admit it and held up his hands, shaking them quickly. "I-It's not like that! Kairi and I are just really close friends!"
But Amy wasn't buying that as she giggled knowingly, clasping her hands together in her usual romance-day-dreams. "Yep, I knew it! You do love her. It's so sweet that you both met as children and grew up slowly falling in love but don't know how to admit it. Oooh...! Could anything be more romantic?"
"Man...why does everybody tease me and think that Kairi's my girlfriend?" Sora grumbled, placing a hand to his forehead. First Riku, then Donald and Goofy, now Sonic's friend Amy. Okay, so he did really love Kairi, but he felt uncomfortable having other people know about it and he was still clueless on how love actually works.
Sonic just let out an exasperated sigh with a sweat drop as he shrugged, feeling sorry for his new human friend. Ugh, he'll never understand romance.
By the time Sonic, Sora, and Amy got back, Tails was just done with the adjustments and had been genuinely surprised to see the pink hedgehog(and wondered if she got his message). Even more so along with the two teenage boys that she decided to come with them as she felt sorry for the spiky-haired teen and as a good friend with a good heart, she wanted to help too. Even though Tails secretly protested, Amy reassured that things were fine and would feel bad for not helping out, especially when Sora mentioned how he hasn't seen his friends in Station Square yet and doubted that he will.
To Sora's surprise, Tails piloted the plane with perfect ease after Sonic agreed to let Amy come along since things were relatively calm now that Eggman was in jail. Thus the four of them were already airborne to Spagonia and a few hours later, the three Mobians and the Keyblade Wielder arrived at their destination just outside of the city, before heading towards the University where Professor Pickle was.
"Wow! You sure knew how to fly, Tails! That was really smooth sailing." Sora remarked as he walked alongside the aforementioned two-tailed fox and the two hedgehogs who smiled proudly at the youngster who blushed.
"Years of experience." The nine year old cub replied. "I've been flying planes since I was four."
"FOUR!?" The sixteen year old exclaimed, bewildered.
"Yeah, and he managed to do it perfectly at first try in less than five minutes." Sonic explained, smirking. "Isn't that way past cool?"
The spiky-haired teen blinked, stunned before shrugging. "If Donald was here, he might trust Tails in piloting a plane more than me." In fact, Sora was certain that Donald would only be criticizing Tails due to his age more than his skills.
"Who's Donald?" Amy asked, curiously.
"One of my friends I met after I got separated from Riku and Kairi. Though we didn't get on that great at first and he and my other friend Goofy were looking for their friend K-er, Mickey. Plus, Donald's got a real bad temper." Sora explained casually, while careful not to mention that Mickey was in fact a king.
"Huh. Sounds like this Donald guy is kinda like a certain Knucklehead we know." Sonic remarked, though he, Tails and Amy thought it was a little unusual as the names sounded strangely familiar. Heck, they realized that one of Sora's friends had the same name as the animated character Mickey Mouse in the TV shows and video games and there had been rumors that the guy was based on a real-life person, but for years no one's ever met him in real life and thus came to a conclusion that he was just from someone's imagination.
Could it be a coincidence?
"Ah! I was wondering when I would see you all again." A familiar old man's voice called from the group's right, causing Sonic and his friends to turn their heads into the same direction to see the very guy they were looking for, the elderly man who strolled towards them.
"Professor Pickle!" Tails greeted happily as he, Sonic and Amy smiled while Sora blinked.
"Tails, Sonic and Amy. How good to see you all again." Pickle greeted in return.
"Hello, Professor!" Amy waved.
"Heya, Prof'. Long time no see." Sonic greeted casually.
"It does seem like a long time, and I can also tell that you're as cheerful as ever the last I saw you, Sonic. I take that things are going well for you and everyone else, yes?" Pickle nodded, smiling warmly.
The blue hedgehog chuckled with a thumbs up. "Yep! Never been better. It took me two months to get over the you-know-what, but thanks to Tails, Amy and the others, I'm A-okay!"
"Wonderful! And how is that young lad Sun?"
"Great! He's been out traveling and not sure if you heard, but he saved the world four months ago from Eggman's number 1 fan Dr. Starline and a bunch of creeps he controlled. The four of us, Knux and Shadow even sent Egghead into jail yesterday." The hero of Mobius explained.
"Splendid! I am glad to hear the boy has improved, as have you, Sonic." Professor Pickle praised, before asking as he finally noticed the spiky-haired teen. "Oh? Ah, pardon me for not noticing you, young man. Who might you be?"
"Me? Oh, sorry." Sora replied, placing his hands behind his head as he grinned. "I'm Sora."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sora. I take that you are a new friend of Sonic, Tails and Amy, yes?" Pickle greeted, gazing back at Sonic before noticing what was on the blue hedgehog's left wrist, placed just in front of the material cuff of the teenager's glove. "And I see you still have Light Gaia's gem, Sonic."
Sonic nodded, knowing that they had to get into business as he had put on the necklace before leaving on the Tornado 1 despite being worried about it. "Yeah. Actually, we came here came see you since we think that, well...something's going on which involves Chip's necklace and that..." He paused, gazing at the teenage boy in growing concern. "That something bad's gonna happen with Sora."
"We were hoping you could help us solve this new mystery, Professor. That's why we came here." Tails added.
Despite that he had no idea why it concerned the youngsters' new friend, Pickle nodded. "How strange. I suppose I can see what I can do in to help inr your services, with a little research over a plate of lucious cucumber sandwiches."
While the group were thankful for the elder human's help, Sonic, Tails and Amy all sweat dropped in annoyance and/or exasperation, the blue hedgehog groaning in his throat. Sora on the other hand blinked in confusion and, judging by the looks from his new friends' faces, he began to think that cucumber sandwiches were the professor's favorite food.
Big time.
Yet as the three teenagers and nine year old fox followed Professor Pickle to the University, none of them were aware that the mysterious figure that had spied on Sora in Station Square was now watching them from above another building with a frown under his hood.
"So it has already began, and it would seem that the bearer of the Keyblade is in grave danger of the darkness of Dark Gaia and the minion who is about to return. Yet Sonic, having saved himself from the remnants of the beast, his heart is linking to that of Light Gaia through the Emerald Gem of Light." The figure whispered to himself, gazing solely onto both Sonic, the bracelet on his wrist, and Sora. "It may be up to him, the Protector of Light, and the one whom he chooses, a Maiden of Light, to save the boy and both of the Multi-Realities."
Knowing what needs to be done and sensing more dangers ahead, the figure walks away and disappears to begin his mission under his Lord's orders. Yet what he didn't realize is that down below, Amy felt a sudden strange eerie feeling which made the pink hedgehog stop as she felt a sudden cold aura like a breeze blowing against her.
"Huh?" Pausing in her steps, the pink hedgehog looked around before looking behind her as though trying to figure out what she sensed, but couldn't see who or what made her feel so...uncomfortable. This was noticed by her friends who also stopped and turned to her.
"What's wrong, Ames?" Sonic asked, shrugging.
"Gues, is it just me, or did the air just suddenly get a little colder than usual?" Amy responded, uneasily.
"Whaddya mean, Amy?" Tails asked, confused.
"I'm not sure. It's just, I got a funny feeling that the wind just felt like we were in the mountains or something and...it's almost like, like somebody's or something's watching us." The thirteen year old answered, now starting to become a little scared as she rubbed her arms as though trying to warm herself up.
Despite not understanding what she meant, Sonic did looked around and attempted to feel the air by closing his eyes and focused. Normally he didn't use any kind of sense apart from harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds or other powers he can somehow easily burrow and use without much trouble, he did remember Knuckles once telling him how Chaos Energy can also feel energies from the air and even through Light and Darkness from said energy. Almost instantly he felt the lingering cold chill and very strange aura which seemed to have mostly vanish and it was fading away as though it wasn't there, not as strong as Amy could feel, but he could still feel it.
"Now that you mention it, it does kinda feel like it. But I can't sense much since I'm no expert in sensing that kind of stuff. That's more into Knuckles territory." Sonic said after two minutes, frowning deeply in concern as he glared up at the sky. "Whatever it is, I got a bad feeling about it."
"This is getting more and more strange. I think we should be careful." Tails said, starting to become more and more uneasy.
"Yeah, good idea." Sora agreed, trying to sense any signs of danger like if they were any villains with strong darkness around or even the Heartless, but found that he couldn't sense what Sonic and Amy were sensing.
"Sonic, I'm a little scared." Amy shivered a little, rubbing her arms.
"Don't worry, Amy. It'll be alright." Sonic reassured with a soft and caring smile, placing his hands onto his self-proclaimed girlfriend's shoulders. "If there are any more bad guys around, I can handle them and there's way I'm gonna let anything happen to you, or Tails, or Sora, or anybody else. I promise."
The blue blur's self-proclaimed girlfriend couldn't help but smile back, blushing at little over just how close he was to her and her eyes sparkled with the overwhelming sense of love. If there was one thing she knew about the hero of Mobius, it was that he was so kind, caring, brave, fun, adventurous and loyal. His heart was in the right place.
While Sonic and his group were busy in Spagonia, the rest of his friends were all somewhat scampering around in Station Square getting last minute things needed for Sonic's surprise birthday party they planned to set up for him. As such, the Chaotix were madly getting the party poppers and streamers, and Vanilla, Cream and Cheese were getting presents and recipes to make sweets like cupcakes, cookies and a birthday cake.
Among the group of friends secretly setting up Sonic's upcoming birthday was Sun the Hedgehog, an orange-tangerine hedgehog who was once a night-dark blue hedgehog, a former clone of the cobalt-blue hero himself, and a former Werehog, but thanks to Sonic and Light Gaia's efforts, he had been cured from the Werehog curse, freed from the Dark Gaia Spawn the Werehog Beast, and made a real Mobian with a new fur colouring to match his name.
Right now, the usually grumpy hedgehog who had learned to become more optimistic like some of his friends was wandering around aimlessly around Station Square, thoroughly as annoyed as ever.
"Ugh, for a guy who enjoys life to it's fullest, you would think that finding him a great birthday present would be easy!" Sun grumbled to himself, kicking an empty can aside and sighed in frustration. "If Tails hadn't gone off with him and some other guy to Spagonia, I would've asked him for help."
In fact, it was just about an hour ago that he got a call from the two-tailed fox who had let him know that he and Sonic and a new friend would be out for a little while, but he was only told the basics while sounding rather concerned and worried. The orange hedgehog had been advised to not think about it as much and just focus on getting a gift for their blue brother's birthday. Yet he couldn't stop thinking about it as, in Tails' words, it involved a you-know-what which linked to Sun himself and Sonic.
The Werehog-Beast, who was nothing more than a memory now, ancient history, never to be seen again except in nightmares. The more Sun tried to not think about the monster that had been created alongside him five months ago, the more he ended up remembering the creature's pure evil desire to devour every single life on the planet for it's diet, mainly including the two hedgehogs, it's destruction by their teamwork and brotherly love, how they both suffered with nightmares and hallucinations for a little until Sonic and Sun resolved their inner problems.
'Maybe I should've gone with to figure out what's going on. I mean, how can some guy we hardly know about have nightmares of both that mutant hair-ball and big ugly giant snake with multiple ams and eye balls?' Sun thought to himself, thinking deeply about the situation. It didn't make any sense at all.
As he was thinking about it, he was unaware that a near-invisible presence approached him with very all known stealth with an ability of camoflouge. Though the orange hedgehog did suddenly sense movement yet moved too late as he suddenly felt a sharp quick pluck from his quills as though someone pulled a few strains off of his head.
"Ow!" Sun yelped, placing his left hand to the top of his head and spun around angrily. "Hey, who did that!?"
But as he turned around to give whoever it was that pulled his quills a piece of his mind, to his great confusion people who had been behind him didn't seem to even notice what happened even though some looked very confused as though he was the one who was acting strangely. None of them looked like they were acting suspiciously and there was no laughter of the punk that had decided to mess with him. Almost like it didn't happen at all.
"Huh? What the?" The tangerine hedgehog blinked, looking all around him, bewildered. "Okay, what's going on? I could've sworn that somebody pulled at my head." He then winced as he rubbed his head. "And it still hurts too."
"Hi, Sun!"
Startled a little over the familiar but very welcoming voice now behind him, Sun turned around while to smile fondly at the sight of the most beautiful girl he has ever met since coming to be five months earlier, running towards him while waving; Staria "Star" Amantha, a young lavender-pink hedgehog who was known for researching ancient things like the history of Light Gaia and Dark Gaia, while having to have rescued her from Dr. Starline who knew more about her past than even she and her adoptive father Professor Amathyst "Andrew" Amantha did, and the Deadly Three lead by Zavok.
The girl who Sun was secretly in love with.
"Star!" Sun greeted back, as his very close friend stopped just in front of him. "It's great to see you."
Star giggled before hugging her friend back, almost making him fall over but he didn't mind as he returned the embrace while making sure nobody was noticing and then gently kissed her on the head.
"I'm so happy to see you too! I'm just sorry that I couldn't meet up with you yesterday." Star beamed, blushing a little.
"Same here. But you know how Ro-butt-nik is like. That guy just doesn't-tch, ouch-know when to quit. He's such a sore loser." Sun replied, though he did winch and rubbed his head again as the pull still stung a little.
This didn't go unnotced as the lavender hedgehog gazed at the top of the former Werehog's head, muttering. "Looks like he's not the only one who's sore. What happened to your head?"
"Beats me, I felt as though someone decided to pull me at the back of my quills, but when I turned around to see, I couldn't find or hear anyone laughing at me or even any kind of movement besides the people all around us." The orange hedgehog explained, shrugging with one shoulder.
"That's really strange." The female hedgehog murmured, looking around before suggesting. "Maybe it was a prankster chameleon who isn't Espio that did that and nobody even noticed."
Now that she mentioned it, Star did have a point as Sun looked around. Yet while it did make a whole lot of sense, for some reason his insides were tossing and turning and his stomach was giving out uncomfortable waves like it was someone who meant more serious trouble than just a simple prank.
"Yeah, probably." He finally conceded. "Not the weirdest part on what's happening today. Which reminds me, did you hear from Tails earlier by any chance?"
"Now that you mention it, while I didn't get a call from Tails, Amy called me a short time ago that she's going with Tails and Sonic and a human boy named Sora to Spagonia. They said that it was something very strange that they think Professor Pickle might help them out with." Star said after realizing that Tails, to her surprise, must have told Sun the same thing.
"Wait, Amy's going too? I thought she was helping out with Sonic's birthday party." Sun blinked, shocked to hear this. Since when did Amy get into this loop? What in Mobius' name was going on?
While the two young hedgehogs were having their conversation, little did they know that high above them on the roof of another building, an old enemy of theirs stood holding a couple of strains from Sun's quills in his hand. It was a hybrid of a hedgehog and an echidna, a dark shade of purple with big ears almost like fox ears, but in hedgehog style with four quills on it's back, five quills in a dread-lock, wearing an eye-patch over his left eye, the other eye being icy light blue in colour, long leather dark-grey gloves, a chest-plate with a red gem that glowed and blinked, and red and black boots with blood-stain designs, and sporting a large gashed scar on his right arm up to his shoulder.
This was Terrance the Hedgehog, Sun the Hedgehog's archenemy and former agent of Dr. Starline and the Hybrians, and having somehow survived his last encounter with the tangerine hedgehog.
"So, the clone of that fool Sonic the Hedgehog has gone to Spagonia with his little friends. This couldn't get any more perfect than this." Terrance whispered to himself in a somewhat deep voice, grinning evilly as he held up the strains of quills and fur in his gloved hand above him. "Especially when this will be just as what I need. Now all I have to do is retrieve Dr. Eggman and soon things will fall into place."
The evil hedgehog clasped the fur strains tightly, chuckling before leaping and jumping away to break out Eggman and soon the evil scientist's plans that Sonic and his friends thought to have stopped were about to really begin.
Meanwhile, on Angel Island, Knuckles had just returned after buying stuff for Sonic's birthday since he had, for once, been fully convinced to intend and was actually looking forward to it. The reason he returned home was so that he can check up on the Master Emerald and make sure that no one would steal it, like a certain white bat thief woman who was considered a friendly rival but also a bane of his existence besides Eggman.
"I can't believe Sonic's going to turn sixteen in three weeks. Heh, feels like only yesterday that I was sixteen. Time really does fly without you even realizing it." The now seventeen year old echidna muttered to himself in amusement. While he had always been a year older than the blue hedgehog, and sometimes he felt like the older brother of not just Sonic, but also Tails in a rare occasions in spite that the hero of Mobius was the surrogate older sibling of the two-tailed young genius.
Over the years as the fights against Dr. Eggman continued, Knuckles had began to become closer to Sonic, Tails and everybody else. From enemies to strong rivals with the blue hedgehog, even though while the hero of Mobius always crititized him for being gullible and, much to his dischargen, a 'knucklehead', even though the red echidna hated to admit it but the younger teen was right, Sonic always saw him as a valuable ally and friend and would even risk his own life to save the guardian's, which soon made Knuckles to slowly and finally accept Sonic's friendship. So much so that the seventeen year old would risk his life to save Sonic's, and even do his best to comfort him, especially during the Dark Gaia crisis and the whole Interstellar Amusement Park adventure.
In truth, Knuckles had been very worried when Sonic had been so upset with himself even after Mobius was put back together, and not just because he had to say goodbye to Chip/Light Gaia forever, but the unbearable misplaced guilt the cobalt teenager held in his heart had been difficult to ease and the situation with Eggman kidnapping the Wisps and using them for energy to fuel up his Mind-Control Weapon didn't help matters. It had been a huge relief that the supporting words from the red echidna, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and surprisingly even Shadow and a hallucination of Chip that Sonic kept seeing helped him to overcome that guilt and finally found it inside his heart to forgive himself, and defeat the negative emotions that manifested into a hallucination of the Werehog-Beast and had haunted the teenager who despite the real Werehog having been destroyed, was still afraid of it until that point.
'Since he's saved the Universe and all of those aliens, Sonic's back to his normal self, but I've never knew he would actually grow up a little to consider in finally putting Eggman in jail and come up with ways to trick that guy. Guess lessons really are learned the hard way.' He thought to himself, glad that his blue friend was now happy again.
"Let's just hope Eggman doesn't get out of jail, but GUN's got the highest security in the world." Knuckles muttered, sighing as he hated to admit it, the organization still left him uneasy. Plus their record had been pretty bad for decades and even though they had reformed, they were still shady and strict and, as Sonic would call it, 'control freaks'. But then again, desperate times calls for desperate measures.
Speaking of desperate times and desperate measures, apparently fate had other ideas, because as Knuckles was making one last check on the Master Emerald before preparing himself to glide down to meet up with the others and figure out how to make sure Sonic doesn't figure out the surprise party, he then heard a mysterious voice chant in an echo and in a language he couldn't understand.
"Ifaras zaras yezaras, Ifaris zaris yezarik...Iraris roris yezaros..." The voice, sounding like a young woman's, spoke and echoed which alarmed the Guardian of the Master Emerald who froze, hearing the unfamiliar chanting.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Knuckles demanded, standing in defense to fight the seemingly threatening intruder.
"Being who resembles to the Knight of the Sun, deliver this message to the Knight of the Wind in an urgent manner." The voice continued, as just then the Master Emerald glowed brightly behind him, causing the teenage echidna to sharply spin around and his eyes widened as he left out a gasp.
It glowed more brightly than before as an unusual portal made of light and wind opened up and out came flying a rolled up piece of paper which then hit Knuckles right on the forehead causing him to yelp in pain and crashed onto the ground.
"OW!" He exclaimed, and groaned as the paper rolled off of his face and landed next to him on the ground. By the time he got up and rubbed his face and grumbled about what just happened, when he looked to see what was happening with the Master Emerald, to his shock, it returned to normal and the portal vanished without a trace.
"What the?" Knuckles blinked, bewildered. Shocked what just happened, he looked to his right and gazed at the rolled up piece of paper, finding that it was actually a medieval scroll. He picked it up and gazed it before standing and found himself completely lost.
What did that voice mean? Who was it that spoke to him, calling him someone who resembles to some Knight of the Sun and deliver the message to a Knight of the Wind? Why was it urgent?
"Hmm...Maybe I should take this to Tails and Sonic and see what they know of this. This does sound kind of familiar, but why though? What's with this scroll?" The red echidna narrowed his brows.
Something was wrong, and suddenly he had a feeling that things were only just going to get worse.
A/N: As this is the final story I'll be updating for 2021, I'd like to explain that due to what's going on with both Sonic's and Sora's realities that our heroes don't fully know of yet, I'm sure you can all guess where this is going to lead.
Sorry that I didn't make this chapter as exciting as I would have hoped, but hopefully the next one will be promising as we say goodbye to 2021 forever and enter 2022 with many new challenges awaiting for us. But my stories will continue, so I'll be seeing you all in the next year.
So Happy New Year everyone and please be careful and be safe.
See you later!