3
"Hey Sonic, shouldn't we have planned where we needed to go first?"
Sonic stopped in his tracks due to Super's question. He was just going to wing it and hope for the best, but maybe a plan was the better option.
The three Sonics gathered in a small clearing.
"First off, we need to know how many other forms of ourselves there are," said Super Sonic.
"About that...I have no clue," replied Sonic.
Werehog sighed.
"However, I think I found another Sonic." Sonic pointed up in the sky, where a blur of flashing colors shot across the sky ridiculously fast.
"This will be fun. Come on Sonics, let's go catch a Sonic!" hollered Super, as he shot off into the forest, with the other two bounding after him.
The chase for this extremely fast form that escaped from the regular Sonic lasted most of the morning. But eventually, the rainbow hedgehog noticed he was being followed, and descended into the forest.
This Sonic's fur was slowly phasing between seven different colors, their eyes a lime green, and their quills were bent straight up. Thick golden bands encased its wrists, like Super Sonic, but also its ankles as well.
"Hello other mes! I'm Hyper Sonic!" This form spoke in a voice with its cockiness dialed to 100.
"Hey there Hyper, welcome to the Sonic squad," said Sonic. "We're looking for other Sonics."
"And it would also be nice to find a way out of this forest," added Super, with Werehog just nodding.
"WELL, you would be happy to know that I've found a way out of the forest! No luck on any other Sonics though."
"It's no big deal. We'll find the other forms of me eventually," reassured Sonic.
Werehog made a bunch of dog noises that the three other hedgehogs interpreted as "Let's get out of here!" And so they did.
"So Super," the blue hedgehog struck a conversation with the yellow one as they ran towards what they hoped was the exit to the forest, "What's the deal with the yellow bands on your wrists?"
"I think that they act similar to Shadow's bands," answered Super in an intelligent manner. "They're inhibitor rings that limit how much power I can tap. If I were to remove these, then I'd probably be able to level a city. And Hyper," he pointed to the flying, color-changing, slightly jittery hedgehog, "If he were to remove his inhibitors, then it would probably create an explosion that would wipe out a country."
Sonic wondered about something besides inhibitors. "Once we get out of this forest, where will we go? Oh wait, this one's obvious."
"Hey Sonics!" The three other forms glanced at Sonic, "When we get out of this forest, we probably should head to Tails' place. He'll figure out what to do."
"That sounds like a great idea," said Super and Hyper in unison. Werehog didn't say anything because, well, he can't. The four Sonic forms sped off to Tails' house.
Tails sat on the couch in his modestly sized house. He glanced around his spotless house that he had time to clean after Sonic left to fight Eggman the previous day. Just as he does often, Tails asks himself. "I wonder what happened to Sonic?"
Tails heard a knock at the door. "The knock of Sonic." Sonic has a distinct knock, you would know if he ever knocked on your door. Tails opened the door, and was flabbergasted by the sight of four Sonics!
"Huh?" Tails gawked before shaking his head. "What have you gotten into this time Sonic?"
"Well, it's a long and complicated story."
"Well don't tell me out there. Come inside, all of you!" Tails gestured into his quaint abode, with the Sonics filing in like a line of schoolchildren.
"Please tell me what happened out there, and don't leave out any unimportant details. I need to know as much as possible," Tails spoke up after the Sonics all got comfortable. Each of the Sonic's relayed their version of the story, but for the sake of length we'll only focus on Hyper's, because we haven't heard his side of the story yet.
"WELL," he began, "I woke up in the sky! And I thought 'Huh that's really weird why am I not falling?' but I quickly realized that I was HYPER so I can fly fast. I was flying around the forest trying to get my bearings, when I noticed the Sonic Squad down by the forest floor attempting to keep up with my incredible speed! I joined them and now we're at your place!"
"I see, I see," Tails soaked in the information. "I had no idea that the Chaos Emeralds could do such a thing."
"Wait wait wait, hold up!" Super stopped Tails dead in his thought tracks, "Why would you assume that the Chaos Emeralds split us apart? We don't have enough evidence."
"Well Super Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds are still very mysterious even after countless years of research. They can probably do just about anything! I...I need a bit more time to see what I can do to help put you, all of you, back together."
"Alright buddy, we'll just hang out here and try not to trash your place," Sonic gave an affirming thumbs up to Tails, while also nervously glancing at Hyper and Werehog.
"What, what am I going to do?" Hyper asked, Werehog chuckled.
Tails shook his head and walked to his workshop. "Many Sonics…" he thought to himself, "How will I figure out this situation? Of course it will be solved by the power of science, but how will I begin?"