Author's Note: Hello! As part of entering 2022, here's a new chapter of Sonic Twilight, the first of the new year!
Let's get 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 5: Revealed Secrets-Part 1.
Back in Sora's reality...
The trip to the Mysterious Tower was a short one, but for Kairi it felt like it took far too long. She was eager to learn about what King Mickey has discovered in regards in locating Sora, and she believed that her mysterious dream regarding to the Light Gaia as well as the little pixie-like creature's unknown friend Sonic the Hedgehog could be another key role into this.
If it was just a dream, then she would have to accept it no matter how disappointing she would feel. And if it was some sort of clue, then what could it mean? What did Light Gaia mean by shared dream? The Princess of Heart wished she knew the answer to it. Either way, she would have to wait and see what the King has in mind.
While Kairi followed Aqua, Terra, and Ven up the familiar staircase, in the room of Master Yen Sid himself along with King Mickey, were the anxious Donald and Goofy who both felt terrible for Sora's disappearance and blamed themselves for not going with him, Riku who still felt like he shouldn't have let Sora go find Kairi and should've instead asked the powerful sorcerer of an alternative, and the rest of the group; Roxas, the former Nobody of Sora, Namine, the former Nobody of Kairi, Xion, the former replica based on Sora's memories of Kairi, Lea, who by now went by the name of Axel by everyone else except for Ven, and of course finally, Isa, who once bitter and a member of Organization XIII, now an ally and a newly established Guardian of Light due to his role in restoring Roxas and Xion in an act of atonement.
"Do ya' think Sora's really okay wherever he is?" Goofy asked anxiously to Donald who was still in mourning with guilt yet frustrated over the question that was asked like a ka-zillion times by now.
"I don't know! If the King is right, then he's gotta be." The white duck grumbled, irrated and impatient as he wished that the Wayfinder Team and Kairi would hurry up in getting here so that Mickey could explain his theory on how to find the missing spiky-haired teen.
For the past three months, the Disney Trio had searched every world the Royal Court Magician and the Captain of the Royal Knights ventured to with Sora for the previous two years.
Yet none of them had the absent Keyblade Wielder who was known now as the Hero of the Realm of Light.
"Oh, I hope he's right. I really miss Sora." The lanky dog sniffled, wiping away a tear that formed in his eye. "We shoulda gone with him."
While Donald hadn't gotten on quite as well with Sora in the beginning as Goofy did, considering how the captain of the knights always has been a worry-wart, even the white mage couldn't deny that the teenage wielder had gotten to him the same way as King Mickey did they all met as children. While they still had their moments of bickering and getting on each other's nerves due to how slow Sora was in certain things, and Donald, well...everybody knows that he has zero patience and a hot temper, they were had grown to be such good friends that he felt like the spiky-haired teen in the similar way as he would to his own nephews.
He had watched Sora grow from an immature kid learning how to use the Keyblade to a seasoned hero who even back then had a big heart, and even when the back-then fourteen year old had wanted to find Riku and Kairi whereas Donald wanted to find King Mickey, the spiky-haired teen had proven to care for other people, even those he hasn't met. That only grew the more Sora traveled and became a definite hero, caring less about his own health and safety and if anything happened to the people he cared about so much, he would be angished and furious. Not that Donald and Goofy wouldn't feel the same.
"Ooooh...I miss Sora too..." Donald sniffled, on the urge of crying as the horrible memory of seeing Sora vanish like dust haunted him. He had cried for hours on that day. It was worse than the time when the teenage wielder sacrificed himself to free the hearts of Kairi and the other now former Princesses of Heart.
In truth, though, Sora disappearing had affected everyone in the room very badly. So much so that Roxas and Xion had cried for weeks while blaming themselves to the point of asking why Sora even bothered in letting them exist. Even as Axel tried to reassure him, the red-haired man held a near-unbearable ache in his chest of sheer guilt. To him, it hadn't been fair that he finally got all of his friends back(well, almost, considering he and Isa still had to find their lost friend, but right now, she would still have to wait as they still had absolute no clue of her whereabouts either), while Kairi and Riku had both been torn away from Sora yet again. Namine had barely had any sleep as she had been cruely reminded of the times when Marluxia and Larxene forced her to mess up with Sora's memories, and it had hurt that he had to forget about her in order to get his memories back, but it hadn't hurt as much as when he faded away.
Even Isa had feel regrets in tormenting Sora when he was Saix and never even got the chance to fully apologize to the boy.
But one most affected besides Kairi, was Riku. He kept on blaming himself non-stop for letting Sora follow his heart and mind's decision. That had been the biggest mistake that day. He had searched non-stop to find his best friend only to fail. He just hoped that whatever Mickey had in mind now was a step closer in locating his childhood friend.
Everyone's thoughts were cut short when they heard the door behind them(in front in Yen Sid's case) and revealed the final four members of the Guardians of Light: Kairi, Terra, Ven, and Aqua.
"Master Yen Sid, we're here." Aqua announced, as she, her long-time friends and her pupil stood in attention.
"We have expected your arrival. It is good to see that all of you have arrived on time." The powerful sorcerer greeted in response.
"Kairi!" Riku approached his other childhood friend who responded by saying his name as she approached him. The two hugged each other in desperation, feeling like they had been torn away for years since they had both been busy. "How are you feeling?"
"I've...been okay, I guess." Kairi replied, a little uneasily as she and the silver-haired teen reluctantly backed up. In truth, nothing was the same without Sora. "How about you?"
"About the same." The seventeen year old shrugged with a sigh. He knew it hadn't been easy on his friend who he once had a crush on. He had felt left out when it became clear that the auburn haired girl allowed her heart to be unconsciously taken by Sora-both literally and figuretively, but eventually he moved on after knowing that Sora and Kairi were meant for each other.
Especially when he could tell that she had continuously blamed herself for the spiky-haired teen's sacrifice, still covered with the misplaced guilt.
As everyone greeted each other awkwardly since it wasn't the same or as cheerful without their heroic friend who had done so much to being all of them back together at the cost of his own existence, they all stood around waiting for the results of the latest and hopeful clue in rescuing Sora.
"So...What's this that the King wanted to tell us about?" Axel asked, somewhat impatiently. "I'm still bummed out that we haven't even gotten a slightest clue on this whole 'other reality' kind of thing."
"That makes the both of us." Roxas nodded in agreement. "When I first heard that, I thought it was like when I was...well, inside the virtual Twilight Town to merge back into Sora."
"I thought it was in the Realm of Sleep since it had worlds sleeping there and maybe Sora's heart went there as well." Xion admitted.
"It wouldn't be any of those, I'm afraid." Isa shook his head, having softened up since his days as Saix, almost reverting to how he used to be when he and Lea were both teenagers themselves(though the blue-haired man had always been the more mature out of both of them). "The world of this other reality of light and darkness similar to ours would not have meant the virtual reality or even the other realms we know of so far."
"Isa is correct." Yen Sid began, getting everyone's attentions. "As you all know, the laws of the world order have been broken by Master Xehanort's attempts to control Kingdom Hearts and rewrite reality into his own image without darkness, by using the power of darkness to make his goals complete. However, from what Sora, Donald and Goofy have discribed during their previous quest before the Keyblade War, he and the Organization of gone far beyond the lengths, and it stands to clear that he has also broken the ancient laws of realities themselves."
"You mean like, how they brought in those toys that could come to life into a fake world based on their real one?" Ven asked as he, Roxas, Xion and Donald and Goofy gaped in shock and surprise, even though the Disney duo looked confused.
"How did you know?" Donald asked, raising an eye-ridge skeptically.
"Well, just because I couldn't see everything Sora could see, that didn't mean I couldn't hear from time to time." The golden-haired boy scratched the back of his head sheepishly, so much like Sora. "Since he saw Xehanort from the past and a glimpse of Vanitas, I started to become more aware as my heart began to fully wake up."
"I thought I heard something like that, but I thought it was all in my...uh...mental heart-head, I guess?" Roxas confessed, slightly embarrassed as his heart as well as Xion's had also been inside Sora, it was a mixed bag of confusion.
Axel sweat dropped at that as he dryly commented on his best friend. "Roxas, that has gotta be the lamest thing I've ever heard ya' say."
The former golden-haired Nobody chuckled, then teasingly shot back. "Coming from a guy who once fell on your butt chasing around Heartless and complained about they wouldn't hold still, after you told me that you were tough after I thought you were eliminated."
"He's got you there, Lea." Isa smirked smugly.
"Hey, whose side are you on!?" Axel pouted, though he did smirk. Ah, it was just like the old days. Boy, he definitely missed this. This made Roxas and Xion laugh and giggle, soon joined by almost everyone else which lifted the atmosphere in the room.
'Just like when I first met these guys.' Ven thought to himself, thinking back to when he, Lea and Isa were all teenagers. It had been a great short-lived time in hanging out with guys at his age after being the youngest of the friendship trio for so long.
"Hmmm...Ya' know, Woody did say that Buzz couldn't use a real laser and he couldn't fly back in their world. Do ya' think that comin' to the fake world of their home changed that?" Goofy wondered as he thought deeply, tapping the side of his head with his finger.
"Welp, that's one way of puttin' it." Mickey spoke up, explaining. "Each reality works differently besides out own, like how each and every world have different rules and timelines all across the Realm of Light itself. It could be the case that since they were magical living toys but only had the power to come to life at will, like you fellas once said, that magic increased due to so many magical powers within the Realm of Light. Or say, what coulda been real but it wasn't for them, was actually made real because of the influence of Xehanort's magic."
"Alas, the world of the living child possessions are still far more closely linked to our reality, and as Xehanort has been defeated, it is very likely the fake world he created has vanished and they have returned home to their reality, the border between both has closed. It would take far greater magic to cross the borders of both and a dangerous risk as well." Yen Sid continued firmly.
"Could it be the reality Sora went to?" Kairi asked almost immediately, feeling her hopes die down as her dream didn't seem to link to that of what she and everybody else had been told.
"Well, maybe. But it's not the kinda place I had in mind since their world's light and darkness isn't as the same as ours or even close to it." The mouse king shrugged uncertainly. "Ya' see, long before most of ya's were even born, back when I was Master Yen Sid's apprentice, I accidentally discovered a whole new reality far beyond our own, and I think it could the one that ya' discovered in your dreams, Kairi."
"Huh!?" Everyone else safe for Yen Sid exclaimed in shock, not having expected to hear that.
"You...what?" Riku gaped, dumbfounded. Okay, granted, both he and Sora did discover that early in their friend's training years, Mickey hadn't been the brightest of apprentices, having burrowed Yen Sid's magical hat without permission to increase his own magic skills, and at one time tried to use an chanted broom to do his chores...only to end up falling asleep and flooded the whole tower.
Mickey was sheepish as he confessed. "I wasn't always the way I am now, so I kinda messed up a lot while learnin' how to use magic, let alone a Keyblade. One time, I was reading a certain spell I thought it would take me to other worlds. But what I didn't realize was that it was an ancient kinda spell that's strictly forbidden and it would only take the user straight to a world that's similar to our realm, only that realm had worlds that didn't have hearts, or even the Realm of Darkness."
"A realm with worlds...with no hearts but not the realm of darkness..." Aqua murmured in thought.
"One world is very much like Disney Castle, but it also had people like you, and had so many countries and stuff that are kinda in the same timeline. A world called Mobius, and it has it's own sources of light and darkness depending on how folks that are like Donald, Goofy and I but with a couple of slight differences since human beings cannot have access to magic at all, and even then, only a handful of those fellas can use them if they're careful." The King continued.
That made Kairi softly gasp in shock, recalling what Chip first told her within the dream.
"You know, Sonic the Hedgehog? The hero of Mobius? Ring any bells?"
Not sure what to make of the question, Kairi shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I don't know anyone of that name, or even of Mobius. Is it...your home world?"
"Wait, you mean you don't live in Mobius? I've never met or heard of anybody that come from another planet."
'Then...The dream is real and that means, Light Gaia is real too, and so is Sonic, who is the hero of Mobius.' Kairi thought to herself, her eyes widening in full realization that this could be linked to hopefully where Sora is.
"So, basically, it's like how the Keyblades work, right?" Axel guessed.
"Sorta. They only come in seven gems called the Chaos Emeralds, seven rainbow crystals on the power of light and darkness, having the power over space and time, and other say that can they freeze time briefly itself, and having the power of healing. Or at least it was thought they had the power of healing. They can also power up machines and together as one, they can hold a much stronger power." Mickey explained.
"Chaos Emeralds...of light and darkness..." Kairi whispered, and the more she heard, the more she just knew that both Light Gaia/Chip and Sonic are the other keys in locating this reality, the same reality that King Mickey has gone to. It must be where Sora really is!
"So you accidentally went that world and learned about these Chaos Emeralds, that have the power of light and darkness as well as space and time. You believe that it's the same world where Sora is right now?" Terra questioned.
Mickey nodded. "That's what I'm hopin'. I accidentally traveled to there as well as goin' back in time to around 40 years before our time about 20 years ago, and I met a fella named Professor Gerald Robotnik, who was a really kind scientist, and a grandfather of a baby girl named Maria, who was really ill and he tried a lotta things to find a cure for her."
Mickey's Flash-Back: 15 years before the events of "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep" and 66 years before the events of "Sonic the Hedgehog"...
Sonic's reality-ten years before the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog...
"Whoooooooaaaaaaa!" Mickey, still as Yen Sid's apprentice and wearing his sorcerer's apprentice robe, screamed as he was sucked through the portal he accidentally created before finally being spat out through to the other side and crashed onto the ground with a thud. "Ow!"
Seeing stars circle around his head and the tweeting of birds in his ears in a daze, Mickey groggily pushed himself up and shook his head to clear it and rubbed his forehead.
"Ooooh...Why can't I get any sorta spell right?" The young mouse complained, annoyed that it was yet another spell gone wrong. His master was sure going to berate him for this for sure.
Looking up to see where he ended up, Mickey blinked in surprise to find that he was in some kind of area near a forest and a beach that overlooked the ocean and stood up, looking around.
"Hey, where am I?" He asked himself, a little frightened and alarmed as he felt a case of deja vu before a sudden horrifed realization dawned onto him. The young mouse placed his hands on his head as he groaned in dismay. "Oh no...! I've sent myself to another world...! I've gotta get outta here, fast!"
"Now, what in Mobius was that flash of light?" An unfamiliar old man's voice spoke from around the corner, startling Mickey who flinched in fright just as the owner of the voice came around the corner of the canyon walls, revealing himself to be a sort of roundish man in his late 50's or 60's, with a bald head and a white mustache, pez like glasses in a lab coat and large nose.
"Uh oh...another human." Mickey gulped nervously, taking cautious steps backwards nervously as he quivered just as the elderly man noticed him and looked rather curious and surprise.
"Hm?" The elder man hummed, before smiling kindly, surprisingly more gentle then when the young apprentice first met Yen Sid. "Why, hello there, young man. Are you lost? Quite early for Halloween, don't you think? I must say, that is a fine sorcerer's costume you're wearing."
"Huh?" The young mouse gaped in confusion, before gazing at his clothes and then blushed sheepishly and then said. "Oh, uh...Y-yeah, I guess you could say that, Mister. Sorry, I'm kinda lost."
"Hmmm...well, perhaps I can help you find your way home. You seem to be a very lively and friendly young fellow. I've never met a Mobian mouse like you before." The kind human man remarked.
'Mobian? Wait, does that mean that humans and fellas like me live in the same world? I never thought it was possible.' That caught Mickey by surprise. So that meant that this world had humans and people like him, apparently called Mobian animals, co-exist in peace. Well, at least it makes things easier for him to blend in besides his clothes.
"Gee, that'd be swell. Thank you." He instead replied brightly. Wherever he was, he immediately had a feeling that he was going to get along with this nice human guy since he began to like him already. He sensed no ill from the man despite being a scientist.
"It is not a problem. What is your name, young mouse?"
"I'm Mickey. Mickey Mouse." Mickey introduced himself.
The man chuckled and shook hands with Mickey, responding. "A pleasure to meet you, Mickey. My name is Professor Gerald Robotnik."
It was from that point on that in spite in wanting to get back home, or at least back to the Mysterious Tower, Mickey and Gerald Robotnik became fast friends.
End of Flash-Back: Back in Sora's reality...
"It was then on I learned more about Mobius from Professor Robotnik who was one of the kindest men I've ever known. Especially his strong love for his granddaughter Maria, who couldn't live on the planet because of her illness." Mickey continued. "I had to help to save the world from an evil fella who tried to kidnap him for research and use the Chaos Emeralds. But we stopped him and he was put under arrest, and while we did promise that the Chaos Emeralds were best kept secret since nobody else was around, combining their power as well as the spell I managed to master, I was able to get back home."
"So we just have to use the same spell you used to get to Professor Robotnik's reality and find Sora as well as the Chaos Emeralds." Riku surmised, growing determined to do whatever it takes to bring back his best friend.
"Right! If we can, we can ask the professor for help. Hopefully he found a cure for Maria by now." The King confirmed. "I'm sure he can give us some help."
"Sounds good." Ven agreed happily.
"Alas, the journey will not be easy as we still know very little in using the power of the Chaos Emeralds." Yen Sid reminded. "It will not be an simple quest and without them, you could all become trapped in Professor Robotnik's reality. And as it has been years, he may or may not be alive."
This realization hit everyone hard as they didn't think of that. Unlike Yen Sid and Master Xehanort who had magic to keep themselves alive to certain extent, Robotnik was a simple human scientist and could have passed away by now.
"Gawrsh, that means we might not be able to find the Chaos Emeralds on our own. We could be stuck there for ages." Goofy murmured worriedly.
"Professor Robotnik might not help, but I know who else can." Kairi spoke up firmly, causing everyone to glance at her.
"Huh?" Donald asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Kairi, what do you mean?" Namine asked, puzzled.
"I had this strange dream last night where I met this little creature who is called Light Gaia, but he had a nickname, Chip. He said that he was dreaming as well, put under a deep sleep every ten millenia. He mentioned about how strange it is for him to share a dream with me, and was expecting to share it with a close friend of his named Sonic the Hedgehog." The Princess of Heart explained.
"Sonic the Hedgehog?" Mickey blinked over the name.
Kairi nodded and explained her dream in surprisingly every clear detail, about Light Gaia's friendship with Sonic who was much like Sora in personality, having a strong sense of justice, a deep love for his friends, family and world, never giving up, always being there for people, and that something happened that made him feel sad, the name of the world itself and even the ice cream that tasted real which she had found this morning she could still taste for a little bit afterwards.
"Hmmmm...If what you say is true, and as Mobius is a real world in another reality, it stands to reason that this Light Gaia is another key similar to light and darkness in our world." Isa surmised, his fingers on his chin.
"Right, and if we can't find Mickey's friend, then maybe we can ask for Light Gaia and Sonic's help." Kairi agreed hopefully. "If I'm having dreams about Light Gaia, then he must be aware of me in his sleep but he can't wake up in his world."
"Which stands to reason that whatever has happened in Mobius required this Light Gaia to awaken once every ten millenia, and the one who he chose to save the world is no doubt real and like Sora, his heart is strong. Yet, there is sadness that within it that may provide him to recover, the same as all of you. Thus the key in saving Sora and protecting both realities is Sonic the Hedgehog." Yen Sid concluded.
"So we all gotta do is head over to Mobius, find Sonic, ask him for help to see if Sora is there and find the Chaos Emeralds to get back to our world." Axel correctedly guessed, sighing. "Something that sounds way too simple is gonna be the complete opposite."
"And we don't know what Sonic looks like, either." Xion added.
"Well, we won't know 'til we look." Goofy pointed out. "If he's like Sora and he's the hero of Mobius, I'd bet there are a lotta folks there who'd know where he is and what he looks like."
"Then, let's do it." Roxas declared with determination and excitement. "Sora saved us all and if it weren't for him, the Realm of Light would've been lost by now. Now it's our turn to save him."
"Yeah! Let's go to Mobius and ask for Sonic's help!" Ven declared.
"I'm in!" Riku nodded.
"I can get us there, and with our Keyblades, it'll be a smoother traveling. But we still gotta be careful and not tell anybody where we really came from. It's our only chance in findin' Sora." Mickey announced, then gazed at Yen Sid who nodded before the king turned to Kairi and added. "Kairi, I hate to ask ya', but we're gonna need you to come with us."
"Huh? You mean...?" Kairi trailed off, shocked. She had expected to be staying behind to continue her training and while she did want to go look to find Sora, she felt that she wasn't ready yet. But for King Mickey to ask her to come with?
"It stands to reason that your heart will lead you to Sora, and you have formed a connection with Light Gaia, and the dreams and memories you have discovered, no doubt that Sora is indeed within Mobius. You and Sonic must ensure he is to be found and brought home." Yen Sid explained and while he didn't like this idea either, there was little to no choice.
Realizing that the powerful sorcerer was right, the sixteen year old girl nodded with determination and if she sticked with Riku and the King and listened to them, and maybe have more of those dreams to learn more about Sonic from Light Gaia, maybe they can find Sora at long last.
"Master Yen Sid, if it's alright, we're going too." Aqua declared, with Ven and Terra nodding in agreement.
"Us too!" Donald stood in attention.
"Sora needs all of the help in gettin' home!" Goofy added bravely.
"I'm going too." Xion decided.
"Me too." Roxas added.
"There's no way you're gonna leave me outta of this. We all owe that kid." Axel grinned.
"And since you're going, I'll join you as well. Plus, someone has to keep you out of trouble." Isa volunteered while smirking.
"Hey!" The redhead pouted.
Namine, having been training to use magic for good that wasn't based on memories, decided with determination. "I want to go too. Sora is everyone's friend."
"We'll make sure to bring Sora home. That we promise." Terra concluded.
"I think we'd better open up the portal in the Keyblade Graveyard since it's pretty empty and has a lotta room. That way we wouldn't have to worry so much in anybody else gettin' hurt." Mickey decided the location on where to chant the spell.
The group nodded in agreement. Plus, it had been the place where Sora transported himself one last time they ever saw him anyway.
"I would not have it any other way. However, there is one other thing you must be aware of. As many of you no doubt have been reunited after years of separation, light and darkness are similar in both of the planes of existence, but they are not the same. As such, the darkness there may cause you more harm if you all have been seeing hallucinations. Memories based on the suffering you have endured can make you slowly be swallowed by the influence of your greatest fears, so you must be vigilant. Even when you locate Sora, you must learn to face your sins within your hearts and overcome them as well as forgive them." Yen Sid spoke with caution.
Despite that all of them wanted Sora to come back, each and every one of them realized that this was true. Letting Sora go to revive Kairi wasn't something to easily dismiss and they all had a feeling that despite that he would be forgiving as always, the group's hearts wouldn't be as forgiving due to the failures they endured and even now it seeped deep within them. Plus if they had trouble with it now, it could prove to be just as dangerous for them in Sonic's world.
So they agreed to try and work through in locating Sora, Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds and also atone for their failures and learn to forgive themselves.
"We won't let you down, Master. We'll be back with Sora. I promise." Mickey announced firmly.
His mentor nodded and responded. "Go forth, young champions and be careful on your new journey. May your hearts be your guiding keys."
The Guardians stood in attention and bowed before the powerful sorcerer, ready to rescue Sora.
Yet what they didn't know was that they were heading straight into danger that would only put both their reality as well as Sonic's reality into deep further trouble.
Especially when they were being eavesdropped by a bumbling fat cat who, listening to the whole conversation and learning about where Sora could be as well as the pretty gems called the Chaos Emeralds, snickered evilly.
'Chaos Emeralds, eh? That sounds a whole lotta easier to find than that dumb old black box. Better tell Maleficent about d'is.' Pete thought to himself, before he tip-toed down stairs to find his mistress and give out the good news.
And also to lure the enemies into a trap.
Back in Sonic's reality...
Back in Spagonia, fully unaware of what was going on back in Station Square, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Sora were now in Professor Pickle's office where the young group explained to him everything that happened yesterday, including Sora's sudden appearance, Chip's necklace glowing, and both Dark Gaia and the Werehog-Beast hunting the spiky-haired teen in his nightmares.
"Hmm, that is rather strange. And I can tell you know little of what occurred five months ago, young man." Pickle murmured thoughtfully as he stood before the youngsters.
"Only from what Sonic and Tails told me, sir." Sora scratched the back of his head. "What's even more creepy is that this Werehog thingy tried to have me for dinner or something."
"Creepy is a total understatement for Fuzzy." Sonic said, folding his arms worriedly. "I'm more concerned about why he's haunting you. Especially he's the type of monster that not just preys on people wherever he would go if he were still alive, he feeds off of people's negative emotions. Anger, hate, sadness, fear, greed, and guilt. Not even in a particular order either."
The teenage boy blinked and blurted out. "You mean, he feeds off of people's darkness?" That sounded like a mixture of the Heartless and the Unversed, for the latter kind than the former.
"If you think of that and the Light being based one people's positive feelings, like friendship, love, compassion, everything that's the opposite of the negative emotions, then I guess it does sound more like it. It's like he's an negative-only embodiment of the Chaos Emeralds, especially when the Emeralds themselves turn people's thoughts into power." Tails agreed, though he and his friends were surprised that Sora had put his choice of words interestingly.
"Sora, how did you figure this out?" Amy asked, curiously.
"It's kinda complicated." Sora replied, uneasily as he still couldn't reveal the whole truth. "I learned a long time ago that, well, light and darkness are inside people's hearts, and monsters are attracted to the darkness, though they can attack those who have hearts full of pure light too."
"Huh?" Sonic, Tails and Amy gasped in shock and confusion before sharing a concerned yet bewildered glances.
"Where'd ya' learn that?" Sonic asked, shrugging.
"A-A lot of things happened and, well...Did you happen to have seen anybody wearing black coats?" The Keyblade Wielder responded.
"Hmmm...Nope. Doesn't ring a bell." The blue hedgehog folded his arms and shook his head. "Though there was a time two months ago that a bunch of creeps called S.N.A.K.E.S that tried to take over the world with their leader trying to force our friend Elise into marrying him and rule Soleanna."
"Snakes...?"
"They were an evil organization with their leader Julian Fredrick who wanted to rule Mobius by gaining the power of the Sun Stone which held the powers and soul of the sun god Solaris. Elise is the current ruler of the kingdom and we had to save her and, well, it's a long story." Tails explained. "The name S.N.A.K.E.S really stands for Society National Agents of Killing Existence Squad."
Sora just blinked in confusion. "Society, National...what?"
"You think that's complicated, you shoulda' seen another nasty group that harassed me and hated Mobians. Their full organization name is really complicated, but the way how they organized it, they didn't even realize that once they did what Snake-head did with his organization's name and easy to fit into the diagram, it stood for S.O.N.I.C.X, which sounds more like my own fan club!" Sonic snickered, knowing how his new friend was feeling.
'And I thought Organization XIII weren't that much organized.' The sixteen year old boy thought skeptically.
"Well, depending on what you have told me, I do recall finding an interesting fact which hasn't been proven. But in the Gaia Manuscripts, I've come up with something that may be related to Sora's nightmares, but it could be just a superstition." Pickle spoke up, causing Sonic and his friends to turn back him. "You all know of what happened regards with the Gaia Temples, given Sonic and Light Gaia's battle against Dark Gaia, with the aid of Tails and Sun who was made a real hedgehog."
"Yeah, and Dark Gaia was really scary. I knew that Sonic told us that it was huge, but I didn't think it was that big!" Tails grimaced.
"And I thought it was big enough when I first saw it up in space, but man, to see it up close and what the big guy actually looked like, I could sense that that thing was nothing but pure evil." Sonic added, scratching the top of his head, mentally shuddering over the memory.
"Indeed. I had thought that it and Light Gaia would not awaken for another ten millinenia. However, through the past five months, I have discovered another prophecy." Pickle continued.
'Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?' The blue hedgehog thought uneasily.
"It speaks that there is a world, another reality far beyond the borders of our own, of a universe similar to ours." Pickle continued.
"Another reality!?" Sonic, Sora, Tails and Amy exclaimed in shock.
"Indeed. Unfortunately, what I've found so far is only just 1% of the research and the rest is still being analyzed." Pickle explained, which made the four of them all slump with slight groans, but none more so than Sonic and Sora, while Amy looked very annoyed, before the older man continued. "However, I have one interesting clue that may help you that could prove useful to add up with this discovery."
That made the quartet perk up instantly with renewed interest and hope.
"Sonic, you recall the locations of the Gaia Temples, don't you?"
"Yeah, but they're all gone. Chip took them with him after he used the temples to make his giant armor to fight against Dark Gaia." The blue hedgehog confirmed, once again feeling disappointed that the clue may be lost forever.
"Then that means we'll never find the clues if they were inside the Temples or around them." Tails sighed, lowering his head while Amy pouted in annoyance.
"So then, we're back to square one?" Sora asked, slumping again with a sigh.
"Now, don't panic, boys and young lady." The professor quickly advised the group. "The clue itself were not within the temples, but located on pathways near them. Given his desire to take over the planet, I doubt Dr. Eggman would even consider this possibility as he would have believed the whole thing as a pure myth and, given such, it was never really much proven."
'Tell that to Erazor Djinn and Merlin.' Sonic thought to himself as he remembered his fights against the evil genie and evil wizard who was the counterpart of his archenemy, thinking about his adventures in both the Arabian Nights and in the realm of King Arthur, but somehow those sounded too close to home than being far away.
"To lead the way, the necklace will provide not only a map to those locations, but according to what I know, it is also the key in learning the mystery between Sora, and why he is having these nightmares of Dark Gaia and the Werehog." Pickle continued.
Sonic was shocked, as he gazed at his bracelet, though he didn't know what the old man meant by another reality or how this was all connected with both Chip's light and Sora. Maybe that was why it glowed in his dream and just after he woke up. It might be trying to tell him that Sora was in danger and needs to be saved. Plus, given how the blue hedgehog was chosen to help to restore the planet should things go wrong, which they did, it made sense that even after the major event wouldn't happen again for another millions of years, Sonic was still needed and was still connected to Chip's power.
"Then I guess we're goin' to find the clues in solving this mystery." The hero of Mobius declared with a smirk, deciding to get into it. "We'll search around here first and then see where we can find the other clues."
"Wait, you mean there was a Gaia Temple in this city?" Sora asked, surprised.
"Yep, though it wasn't easy since we needed keys to get into it. But it was still here, and since I know where it is, it'll be a piece of cake." Sonic grinned.
"A dangerous quest to find the clues of another reality." Amy said as she clasped her hands in excitement, adding dreamily. "Could anything be more romantic?"
"You can count me in, Sonic." Tails promised.
"Yeah, me too! Plus, if you guys need any sort of help, I'm just the guy for the job." Sora declared with excited determination, once again following his heart's decision.
Sonic smiled, knowing that his friends were by his side and declared. "Great, then it's settled. We're going to find the Gaia Pathways!"
With that sorted, Sonic and his friends thanked Professor Pickle once more before heading out the door to head over to where the Spagonia Gaia Temple was located.
It didn't take the group long as Sonic used his memory to find where the Temple used to be, though they found that the area was placed off limits due to it having been summoned the Chip five months ago. But they just paused and gazed at where it used to be as it was under renovations.
"This is where the Gaia Temple used to be?" Sora asked, softly.
"Yeah. The place where one of the Chaos Emeralds had it's power returned, and this part of the world brought back into orbit." Sonic replied, feeling the nostalgia of this area. Last time he was here, and having passed the very spot where he, Sun and Chip fought the robot and the former Werehog used the power to grow into a giant to save the blue hedgehog's life, the moment of bonding the trio had when the sun rose.
He missed Chip, but knew that deep down they would always be friends, because the little pixie-dog would always remain in Sonic's heart. Who knows? Maybe the Light Gaia was helping out in spirit even in deep sleep. Either way, the cobalt speedster wasn't going to let regret, fear, sadness, guilt, hate and anger get to him.
"I wonder where this clue Professor Pickle walked about is?" Amy queried, glancing around for any pathway or something that would lead them to it.
"Professor Pickle did say that the clue is located on a pathway near it and Chip's necklace will lead us the way." Tails recalled as he checked the world map on the Miles Electric.
"Wonder how that's gonna help?" The Keyblade Wielder muttered aloud.
While Sonic had no idea himself, he gazed thoughtfully at the necklace and narrowed his brows, thinking. 'Chip did kinda lend me some of his powers which helped out more than I could count and the bracelet did glow. I wonder...'
Deciding to try it out, the blue hedgehog held out his left arm, closed his eyes and focused, confusing his friends as they wondered what he was doing. Before they could ask him, suddenly the green gem glowed once again which made Sora, Tails and Amy gasp in awe and having Sonic open his eyes with him gasping as well. To make things more amazing, to their left there was a glimmer of light shining in the distance about three miles from here and as Sonic turned towards it, the gem glowed a bit brighter as though reacting to it.
"WHOA!" Sora gaped in awe.
"So that's how it is." Tails realized, his eyes really wide as he realized what happened.
"So the bracelet is like a compass." Amy said, beaming a second later. "Isn't that just one of the coolest things you've ever seen?"
Sonic whistled, thoroughly impressed himself. "Yeah. This is way past cool."
"Sonic, how'd you do that?" Sora asked, not having expected that. To him, it was almost like...like the blue hedgehog just lead his heart be his guiding key.
"Don't know. Chip's necklace did make those pillar thingys rise up since it's connected to his light power, and even without him around it still worked. So I kinda figured that it might still work in leading us to where the clue is." The cobalt teenager shrugged, then turned his gaze over to where the clue is. "Turns out I was right."
"If the bracelet is reacting to wherever the clue is, that means something is really happening related to all of this." The two-tailed fox remarked, making the others blinked in realization that he was right.
"But, what did the Professor guy mean by, another reality?" The spiky-haired teen asked.
"It could mean another dimension. I've been to other dimensions twice before which were total mixtures of reality and in stories like the Arabian Nights and King Arthur." Sonic guessed.
That caught Sora off-guard. "The Arabian Nights?"
The blue hedgehog nodded, deciding to give out that detail. "It's secret, so you gotta promise not to tell anybody. Weeks before the whole Dark Gaia crisis happened, I was asked by Shahra, the Genie of the Ring to help save the Arabian Nights from an evil guy named Erazor Djinn, who was the Genie of the Lamp in the story of Aladdin. Almost died during that adventure, but I managed to beat him and placed him back inside his lamp, and used my three wishes to save Shahra, return the stories back to the way they were and trap him for the rest of time."
Now that only confused the Keyblade Wielder as he thought to himself. 'There's another world that's like Agrabah, and Sonic has been there? And, what did he mean by 'stories'? Aladdin's my friend and so is the Genie of the Lamp there. It was Jafar who had been sucked inside the lamp after he used his last wish to turn into a genie. Another dimension...another reality...How does it work? What's going on?'
It didn't make any sense at all. How could Sonic have been to another Agrabah and say that Aladdin's adventures were just a story?
"Guess you were fan of the stories too that you probably didn't notice the books losing their pages, right?" Sonic asked, unknowingly incorrectly guessing.
"Um...Uh...Maybe?" Sora shrugged, a little uneasily which made the Mobians confused as they all wondered why he looked really uncomfortable.
'Something weird's going on. Does Sora know something we don't?' Sonic thought to himself, sensing that there was more to the spiky-haired teenage boy than the human was letting on.
But before the group could even make a move on either the conversation or even approach where the clue is, just then the Miles Electric began beeping which caught Sonic, Tails, Amy and Sora off-guard before the nine year old cub quickly analyzed it to see what was happening. When he did and got the emergency signal whenever Eggman attacked, his eyes widened in horror and disbelief.
"AH! Oh no!" Tails cried out in dismay.
"What is it, Tails?" Sonic immediately demanded, worriedly.
"It's Eggman! He's somehow escaped the GUN security cells and is now heading towards Station Square with another giant robot heading his way!" The two-tailed fox explained frantically.
"WHAT!?" The blue hedgehog shouted in fear and shock, his heart dropping right into the pit of his stomach. Eggman managed to escape!? How could that be?
"Sonic...!" Amy began fearfully.
Narrowing his eyes knowing that the people of Station Square were in danger and he felt like kicking himself when he realized that the evil scientist did have a back-up plan Sonic and his friends actually failed to stop after all and weren't careful enough, the hero of Mobius quickly sped off towards the pathway leaving his friends behind and seconds later came back with a piece of green Emerald-Like tablet which glowed slightly, and gave it to his self-proclaimed girlfriend.
"Amy, take this to Professor Pickle and wait there. Tails, Sora, you're both with me! We're gonna call in Sun and Knuckles since I have a feeling Shadow's already on the case to stop Egghead." Sonic instructed firmly.
"Right, Sonic!" Tails nodded in agreement.
"Right!" Sora added, determined to help out as much as he possibly can.
"Hey, I'm going too! There's no way I'm going to let Eggman get away that easily." Amy protested, and added more firmly before her 'boyfriend' could refuse. "And don't think you can talk me out of it this time, Sonic! It might be tougher than you think and it could take all of us to handle it."
Sonic froze for a moment, as he didn't want to get anybody else into this while blaming himself for not being careful enough, but then realized that she may be right. Plus, she wasn't a weak little girl. Far beyond it. After a moment, he sighed before nodding with a smirk.
"Just be careful yourself, Ames. Let's do this." He finally said, and she smiled back and nodded with equal determination.
While Sora was uneasy in letting Amy join in, Sonic and Tails knew her for a long time and that she could have some sort of skill herself. None the less, he knew that things were about to get more and more tricky in the upcoming fight against Dr. Eggman and his robots.
Meanwhile, Knuckles, still confused over the mysterious message he'd gotten, attempted to find Sonic and Tails at the Mystic Ruins but couldn't find even the two-tailed fox cub. Feeling at loss at the bad timing of their absence, he decided to look around to find them or at least to ask if Amy or the others had seen.
"Why did they have to leave in short notice?" The red echidna grumbled as he headed towards Station Square to see if his friends were in the city. How was it that Sonic always manages to find him yet it was difficult to find a blue hedgehog who stood out like a sight for sore eyes?
Then again, as he was born with super speed, he's difficult to catch as well.
But as the guardian of the Master Emerald looked around, he heard a loud rumbling noise that startled him and looked up to see, to his shock, a giant robot flying overhead and towards the desert outskirts of Station Square. Alarmed, Knuckles hurried as fast as he could to follow it and reached the seashores of the ruins and saw that it was powered by rocket engines, about at least 50 feet tall with a giant sledge hammer, looking like a purple version of the usual Badniks.
"What the!?" Knuckled exclaimed in shock and horror, before a quick realization dawned as he growled angrily. "Eggman...! So that's his real back-up plan!? He tricked us again! Well, I'm going to give that creep a piece of my mind and smash that junk into bigger, useless junk!"
Knowing what he had to do, Knuckles hurried to catch up to it.
Things went a lot easier than Terrance thought. Now that he had successfully broke out Eggman in secret as the evil doctor had no idea how he had managed to escape with Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot before summoning his latest robot to begin his real plan by attacking Station Square, the evil hedgehog grinned as he silently followed before stopping at the base of the cliff.
"Once he deals with Station Square, I'll deal with Sun and Sonic and soon the power of what I deserve will be mine." The former Hybrian soldier grinned wickedly.
Just then, he heard movement and frowned before turning his head sharply to look over his shoulder, only to see an angry Sun the Hedgehog appear out of nowhere, ready to punch him as he had jumped and leaped. Terrance frowned before leaping back and the tangerine hedgehog ended up punching the ground. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Sun glared up at his enemy who stood calmly in anger.
"You again..." Terrance grunted, glaring back at his archnemesis. "You're really becoming such an annoyance to me, Sunspot."
"Terrance...!" Sun hissed darkly as he stood up in a fighting stance. "I thought you were dead!"
"I would have had been, but I'll let in a little secret that you and your original self Sonic don't know about." The purple hedgehog grinned coldly.
But the former Werehog beat him to it. "Yeah, we figured that much, but we didn't think it was true. You survived long enough to avoid in getting killed by Solaris and the S.N.A.K.E.S no thanks to Eggman being a distraction. I can only assume that you're here to free that Egghead, so he could continue that new plot of his and you could join him."
That made the evil hedgehog groan and frown deeply. "I hate it when you figure out plans before I even finish them. So did Dr. Starline."
"That's because we've been training, Sonic's my brother as I'm not his clone anymore, and Beak-Face's monologues are always so dull, dragging and boring. Then again, he was a fan of Buttnik, so I shouldn't be surprised." Sun pointed out dryly, then said more firmly. "But if you think Eggman will conquer the world and you will be his top agent, think again, Terror-jerk!"
"Well, that's new. Did you and Sonic finally grow up to gather your friends and come up with a plan?" Terrance grinned coldly with the look going into his icy-blue eyes, as he removed his right glove to reveal his still implanted replaced metal arm which, under his command, switched into a more upgraded laser cannon mode, powering it up. "Not bad...but your hopes for freedom about to be scrapped!"
"In your dreams!" Sun hissed, preparing himself for another fight.
In truth, he and Shadow had suspected this and while Sun had hoped that things would finally calm down so that the orange hedgehog could get what he needed for Sonic's birthday party in a few weeks, he got a call from the Chaotix, much to his shock and anger. Thus this was why he hurried here after informing the Ultimate Lifeform to tell GUN to strengthen the security levels in case Terrance did succeed to break in and free Eggman.
"Hmph...Oh, how I've been waiting to face you again, Sun the Hedgehog!" Terrance grinned as he and his enemy prepared themselves to fight.
By then while this was happening, Eggman's robot appeared and the evil scientist grinned wickedly from his Egg Mobile, while unaware of what was going on nearby.
"There's my Egg-Hammer. The perfect plan to give Sonic and his friends a wake-up call to see that their plan as ultimately failed!" Eggman declared.
"I wonder how we managed to escape?" Decoe muttered in confusion.
"It cannot be ghosts and we don't know anyone who isn't Espio to use invisibility to open up doors and knock out the guards." Bocoe remarked, shrugging.
"Who cares how it happened? All that matters is that I'm back and those fools are about to get a taste of my ultimate weapon!" The evil doctor declared.
"Not if he gets to smash the robot first, boss." Cubot suddenly pointed to the right, and as his creator and fellow creations looked to see where he was pointing at, just as the Egg-Hammer was about to land, a familiar red figure came charging in and delivered a huge punch right at it's head, causing it to topple over a little.
The six of them were shocked just as the figure revealed itself to be Knuckles who glared at the giant robot which began to recover, and then at the bewildered mad doctor and the five other robots who exclaimed in shock and fear.
"Knuckles!?" Eggman exclaimed in disbelief and dismay, before demanding in anger. "That irritating gullible echidna! What is he doing here!?"
"My guess would be that he saw the Egg-Hammer fly over earlier and came to stop it and maybe Sonic will be arriving shortly as well..." Orbot theorized nervously with a gulp.
"Oh! I don't wanna go back to jail!" Bokkun whined as he knew that this was going to be another humiliating defeat.
"I don't know how you already managed to escape, Eggman, but you and that robot of yours are going to be crushed!" Knuckles warned with a growl.
Eggman wasn't impressed. "You fool! Just because you and that hedgehog and the rest of your friends have imprisoned me yesterday and foiled my latest plot, I have another trick up my sleeve!"
"Oh yeah!? I can take whatever you dish out!" The red echidha challenged.
The evil scientist once again grinned. "If that's what you want, then I'll gladly to serve you my special recipe." He then commanded his robot. "Get rid of him!"
The Egg-Hammer thrust it's hammer side to side before it charged and made to crush the echidna who leaped out of the way to avoid in getting crushed, and the battles were just beginning.
After giving Professor Pickle the clue they had found, Sonic and his friends had boarded the Tornado 1 and made a flight speed back to Station Square as quickly as possible, the blue hedgehog once again standing on the wings as they knew they had to hurry before it was too late.
"I can't believe Eggman managed to get out in less than one day! That's gotta be a new record for him." Sonic grunted in irritation, determined to crack the evil egg-shaped scientist and get to the bottom of how and why the GUN security failed to keep the mad doctor locked up so quickly.
"Something must've happened or we missed something even when we were really careful." Amy remarked worriedly as she couldn't understand what went horribly wrong.
"Guess that means we weren't careful enough after all. He must've had another robot to help him get out." The blue hedgehog murmured, realizing that they had once again messed up. At least he did. He didn't understand how they had failed to ultimately stop Eggman and now the cobalt teenager felt that he hadn't been cautious enough after all. He thought about on what his long-time enemy told him yesterday and felt that maybe they did miss something and he pretended to be shocked.
"This isn't over, hedgehog! I've got a back-up plan you won't be expecting!" Eggman growled. "I'll be back, Sonic! Just you wait!"
'What is it that we missed? We spend the last three months figuring out Eggman's latest plot. Did he know about it and came up with another plan?' Sonic thought to himself, then narrowed his eyes while gritting his teeth. 'Whatever the case is, I'm not gonna mess up again! We're coming for you, Ro-butt-nik! And this time, you're not getting out of jail!'
"Sonic, I've picked up the signal where Eggman and the giant robot are. They're close to the outskirts of Station Square, but for some reason they've stopped. Maybe the others are already working on stopping them." Tails informed with a serious expression.
"I'll meet you guys there. Tails, you contact as many as you can!" Sonic ordered, and before Sora could even tell him to wait since they were still high up, the fifteen year old leaped from the plane and spun towards the ground as they were getting closer anyway, landing safely in style before speeding off in high speed.
"Do you think that Sonic can handle it?" Sora muttered, worriedly.
"Sonic's known for battling Eggman's robots. But we'll be there to help him soon." Amy attempted to reassure despite that she was gravely worried about her 'boyfriend'.
Tails in the meantime, quickly went into the plane's contact list installed and attempted to call Knuckles, only to see his face with a grunt and looking as though he was already in a battle.
"Tails!? It's about time! Where are you and Sonic!?" Knuckles demanded, before making a movement like he was dodging an attack.
"Uh...We were in Spagonia for an important merriet. Are you already fighting Eggman's robot?" The two-tailed fox apologetically replied.
"What do you think?" The seventeen year old echidna, who had tried to find Sonic and Tails earlier only to have noticed Eggman's robot flying towards Station Square, and punched at the hammer that was made to swing at him but managed to shove it back, grunted sarcastically.
The large robot was pretty tough, though, and Knuckles had a feeling it was going to take more than just him to stop it.
"Sorry, didn't mean to. Sonic's on his way and we'll be right behind! Just be careful, Knuckles! We're coming!" Tails replied quickly as he realized that the situation was already getting worse.
'We're? Wait, what's going on here? Ugh! Better to ask later after this thing is taken down!' Knuckles groaned and jumped back to avoid it's attack again and quickly telling Tails to hurry before hanging up and glared at his opponent.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Having a little bit of trouble? I'm surprised that Sonic isn't even here yet. Is he enjoying his unscheduled little day off?" Eggman laughed manically, enjoying this latest game of squash.
"I can take this thing down before he gets here!" The red echidna grunted, half-hoping that Sonic was still on his way.
Yet before he could make another attack on the robot, a sudden blue blur beats him to it and unleashes a serious of Homing Attacks at it and it's hammer, causing the robot to stumble backwards at the full force before falling over with a crush. This shocked both the Guardian of the Master Emerald as well as the evil enemies before the blue blur lands revealing the Hero of Mobius himself.
"I stand corrected." The evil scientist grumbled in annoyance, frustrated that his young long-time enemy has arrived already while the five robot minions now looked pretty worried and lowered themselves within the Egg Mobile, preparing themselves for another painful defeat.
"It's Sonic..." Decoe moaned.
"We're going to be dismantled!" Bocoe wailed.
"Eggman! This is a new low! How did you escape from the GUN's prison cells!?" Sonic demanded immediately, glaring at the mad doctor and wanting to get straight to the point.
"How did I escape? Well, that's none of your business, hedgehog! I did warn you that I had a back-up plan and I would be back!" Eggman snapped in return, glaring at the teenage hedgehog. "Unlike previously in the past, I learn from my mistakes and now you and your friends are about to pay for not paying any much attention!"
Sonic just hissed, attempting to ignore the fact that the mad doctor was right, and knew that he and his friends would still have to continue fighting him until they were certain he wouldn't escape again and stay in jail.
"Actually, we were securely locked up, but somethin' invisible let us out and it ain't Espio but maybe another Chameleon who's a fan of the Big Bad Egg." Cubot dimwittedly pointed out, which only made the rest of the bad guys groan in dismay and Eggman facepalming himself in exasperation.
That caught both teenage Mobians by surprise as they shared a glance in confusion over this revelation. So if Eggman didn't escape on his own, then who was the supposed chameleon that was apparently a fan to free the doctor? Well, it did at least lower the guilt Sonic felt for not paying much attention to Eggman's escape attempts.
"Guess you didn't really learn after all. You just got lucky because you got yourself another fan who isn't Starline to free you." Sonic taunted with a grin, folding his arms while Knuckles couldn't help but smirk.
"Oh, shut up! You have the entire world fan-basing on you and yet you just go off exploring!" Eggman yelled in irritation.
"That's because I love exploring and making friends, not taking over the world which FYI for a millionth time, it belongs to everyone, not just one person, especially you." Sonic argued, frowning deeply. "I didn't ask to be a hero, I just became one because it's the right thing to do! And I'll keep on doing it 'til the day the world is in real peace and I can die peacefully."
"Well, I guess we can agree to disagree, because you will be dead before you can live to see my Eggman Empire finally be built!" The evil doctor declared and once again commanded his robot. "CRUSH THEM!"
The Egg-Hammer swung it's hammer high above it's head as it recovered and thrust it down at the two Mobians who leaped back and avoided in getting crushed while dust was sent flying everywhere even as Sonic and Knuckles landed. The two glared up at it when it's eyes glowed and was ready to attack once again, with Eggman laughing darkly before it charged once more, yet Sonic quickly sped around it to make it lose concentration as it tried to hit him with a surprising speed, but still not as fast as he was. The blue hedgehog was running so fast that the giant robot, and even the evil scientist, Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, Orbot and Cubot were all quickly getting dizzy and saw stars in their heads.
"C'mon, ya' slow poke! I've seen snails slither faster than you!" Sonic taunted, grinning as he wanted to have it disoriented before he and his friend could give it another attack.
Once the blue hedgehog made it dizzy enough, Knuckles charged forward and gave the giant machine a series of attacks before Sonic joined in with several Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks which seemingly left the robot helpless with the attacks of the two Mobians. But to their shock as they made to land, the Egg-Hammer then held the hammer with one hand and it's left hand then transformed into a second, smaller Hammer which as they attempted to block or attack it, it smacked them both hard where they both screamed in pain before hitting the ground hard.
Sonic hissed as he pushed himself up and wiped his chin, glaring at the huge robot. "That robot's like a giant metal version of Amy!"
"Looks like he was serious when he has other plans up his sleeve. We've gotta find a way to beat this thing!" Knuckles grunted as he pushed himself up, trying to ignore his injuries, placing one hand onto his left knee.
"Right!" The younger teen agreed firmly.
As the two teenagers got up to continue the fight, the Egg-Hammer began to swing it's now two hammers at them, forcing Sonic and Knuckles to leap back and try and attack it with the same stragety or come up with a new plan. But to their dismay and Eggman's delight it was getting quite difficult. While this was going on, the Tornado 1 was flying in closer as Tails, Amy and Sora could see the fight from mid-air with the young pilot pointing out to them and also noticed the newly escaped scientist, who they noticed was wearing prisoner garments as were five of his robots.
"It's Eggman!" Amy cried out, fully alarmed that the evil scientist really did escape.
"That's Eggman?" Sora asked, seeing the mad doctor for the first time. The weight of the man and the robot that Sonic and Knuckles were fighting almost immediately reminded him of a combination of the mad doctor in Halloween Town and Pete, but in a more evil way.
"Looks like that robot is designed to wield two hammers. This is gonna be tricky to beat." Tails analyzed worriedly with a nervous sweat drop, feeling his stomach drop, fearing for his two best friends' safeties.
"Well, if that's the case, then I'll join in and fight fire with fire!" The pink hedgehog declared, determined to rescue her true love and friend, already getting up from her seat and began to climb up into the wings of the plane.
"Amy, what are you doing!?" Sora exclaimed, his eyes wide. "You don't even have hammer!"
The thirteen year old just turned to the teenage human boy and winked cutely. "Watch and observe, Sora. I've got more up my magic sleeve."
"Huh?"
Instead of explaining, Amy had Tails to fly in closer as quickly as possible and as the two-tailed fox, realizing already what the plan was, nodded and told his friends to hold on. Just as Sonic and Knuckles began to notice their friends' arrivals and smirked before continuing to dodge, Eggman was only vaguely aware while shouting at his robot to flatten the hedgehog and echidna.
"You leave them alone!" Amy shouted aloud, and instantly summoned her Piko Piko Hammer, much to the shock of Sora who's eyes widened in disbelief.
"NO WAY!" The Keyblade Wielder shouted. Amy can...summon a weapon too!? Just like he and most of his friends can with their Keyblades, only similar to how Donald and Goofy can summon their magical staff and knight's shield. If so, then why didn't Sonic summon a Keyblade if this world had the pink hedgehog doing so?
Unless it was Amy who is the supposed Keyblade Wielder to be.
Unaware of Sora's shock and believing it to be astonishment, Amy threw her hammer directly at Eggman's Egg Mobile, smacking it dead on and causing the ride along with it's rider and passengers to lost altitude slightly and stumble, the six occupants screaming in alarm.
"Energy Gum ready for launch!" Tails quickly set the special gum-missile ready, aiming at the evil group who were about to reposition themselves. "Rocket fire!"
The same missile he used yesterday launched and then once again activated the special gum which flew straight towards the evil scientist and the other five robots to which Orbot noticed and gulped. "Boss! Incoming!"
"Huh!?" Eggman looked up too late and yelped in dismay and fright as he saw what was about to happen. "NO! Not again!"
As he and his robots panicked and tried to move away, the gum hit them and they all became stuck before embarrassingly fell to the ground and crashed with the sticky substance having them glued to each other and on the dirt floor, causing them to struggle to free themselves, grunting and complaining as they were hitting each other by accident.
"Hey, you're shoving on my head!" Bokkun complained.
"Get off of my leg!" Decoe shouted.
"Don't pull my arm!" Bocoe grunted.
"Stop hitting me, you idiots!" Eggman exclaimed.
"Ow, ow! That's MY head!" Cubot complained.
"We are definitely in a very sticky and painful situation!" Orbot exclaimed.
Sonic and his friends would've laughed at their enemies' sticky problem if the Egg Hammer didn't continuously try to smash him and Knuckles. The two teenage Mobians were still struggling to get a good hit on it and to Amy's dismay she can't really attack it yet since she didn't want to accidentally hurt Sonic and Knuckles. Tails tried to analyze how to save them, but was struggling to do so.
"No good! We gotta need more than just Sonic's speed, Amy's Hammers and Knuckles' strength to beat that thing. We're gonna need a fourth pair of hands on this one, and I can't risk on putting this on auto-pilot!" The nine year old fox grunted.
"I'm gonna need a good shot to hit that thing, but even if I could summon more, I'll need somebody else to help me distract it!" Amy grumbled.
Sora, not willing to see any more of his friends to get hurt and whether he liked it or not, he had to help and had to reveal his Keyblade now that he knew that Amy was a magic weapon wielder of Mobius, narrowed his eyes with determination and stood up from his seat to jump.
"I'll help them! Tails, you just keep flying!" Sora instructed, and before Tails and Amy could stop him, he jumped off and began to free-fall just as they cried out his name.
Sonic and Knuckles also noticed this just as the Egg-Hammer almost hit them again and the blue hedgehog gasped in horror. "Sora, no!"
Not really listening to his new Mobian friends, Sora then thrust out his right arm and summoned the Kingdom Key of Light Keyblade and thrust it down hard on the left hammer arm, causing the giant robot to stumble back in surprise. He didn't stop as he continued slashing and whacking it with his weapon as while he may have lost the Power of Waking, at least he didn't lose the Keyblade itself.
"FIRE!" He chanted, summoning the Firaga spell which hit it right in the face and the huge machine fell onto it's back once more.
That shocked Sonic and his friends who couldn't believe what they seeing. Sora can...summon a weapon just like Amy, and he's a human!
"Where'd did that giant key-sword thing come from!?" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief.
"Who's that guy and how can he do that?" Knuckles asked, dumbfounded.
"His name's Sora and Tails and I just met him yesterday." The blue hedgehog meekly replied.
Sora in the meantime mid-air somersaulted and flipped before landing beside Sonic and Knuckles who stared at him in shock and disbelief, while the Keyblade Wielder paid no mind to their, Amy and Tails' stunned expressions.
"Let's take this thing down!" Sora declared, standing in fighting stance.
Despite not understanding the meaning of this while the strangeness from his new human friend got stronger, Sonic decided to worry about that later and, seeing how the spiky-haired teen was indeed a really brave and skilled hero himself, smirked and nodded.
"Alright!" Sonic agreed as he stood between Sora and Knuckles who, wanting to know what was going on, just sighed and joined the other two teenagers just as the robot got up. Up in the air, Amy and Tails got ready to keep on fighting the robot which seemed to be slowing down thanks to the attacks from the group.
It was a showdown between Eggman's robot and Sonic and his friends, while Sonic's brother Sun the Hedgehog was battling Terrance the Hedgehog at the same time.
A/N: Sorry for cutting the battle short, but the chapter was getting too long, so I had to break it up into two parts. So now Sora has revealed his Keyblade and Sonic and his friends are about to learn more about the Keyblade Wielder's past. But what could Terrance want with Sun's quills and Dr. Eggman? All will be revealed as the story continues on.
See you later!