Space, the final frontier. Final because it wants to kill us. Sometimes we forget that, start taking it all for granted. The suits, the ships, the little bubbles of safety, as they protect us from the void. But The Void is always waiting.
It was a normal day on Mobius. Well, normal the crack in the sky above Angel Island began to expand across the sky. This was strange as it hadn't done anything for two months. Knuckles was moving the Master Emerald from the Hidden Palace to the new Master Shrine. He looked up to the rift and thought of Robotnik, "I bet that Robotnik is out for the Master Emerald!" He snarled, scrunching his nose.
Within seconds, the crack sent out a light, engulfing everything in whiteness. When the light faded, Mobius had changed. Everything was frozen.
Another, smaller, rift opened. The rift spat out a red phone box, which crash landed next to Tails' workshop. Tails was in said workshop when this happened. Strangely enough, he hadn't been frozen. He stepped outside and stared at the sky, "It's like Mobius has been.. frozen in time!" he exclaimed.
"Right you are!" said a mysterious voice from behind. Tails spun around to see a strange human man looking back at him. The man was wearing a long, blue trenchcoat, with a black shirt underneath, black suspender trousers and black boots. Behind him was what seemed to be a red phone box.
Tails stared at the man, studying the strange box.
"..Who are you?" He asked.
In response, the strange man simply said "I'm the Traveller, and I need your help. Time is broken, and we need to fix it before the universe collapses."
The Traveller turned toward the red box and walked up to the door, Tails following close behind. There was a sign above the door that read 'TELEPHONE BOX'. The box was made of iron and painted a shade of bright red.
The Traveller pushed the door open, asking Tails for his name before walking in.
"My name is.." Tails began, but he trailed off as he stepped into the box.
His eyes widened as he looked at the room in front of him. It was like a spaceship! In the centre, there was a control console, a straightforward six sided console with buttons levers and all sorts of controls. Attached to the console were two standalone screens and protruding from the centre of the console was a long blue rotor of light, which extended up to circular features at ceiling. The Traveller walked over to the console and pressed a few buttons.
Around the sides, there were eighteen ribs supporting the room. Each rib swept from the floor to the roof suggesting an organic nature amongst all the high technology. Their colour was a cosmic blue. There were several staircases leading to different levels in the console room.
As the Traveller pulled down a lever, the large circular features at the roof of the console room revolved suggesting that the box was computing something and setting a course through time. Each ring of the rotor was divided into eighteen parts complementing the eighteen ribs of the structure. Lights around the edges of the room began to glow as the box made a weird 'whooshing' sound.
"...Tails." The kitsune finally finished his sentence. He was amazed by this contraption.
"It's.. It's.." He began.
The Traveller glanced over, "It's called the Driftbox."
Tails didn't know if that was a joke or not.
The Driftbox's power turned off, confusing the Traveller, "Uh, okay."
The Driftbox's lights switched the red as the power turned back on. The Traveller walked over to a switch and tried to push it up.
"The power's gone! Something disabled it.." He grunted as he pushed the switch up, but sparks flew from the console. Tails moved closer to the Traveller.
An explosion threw the Traveller and Tails across the console room, knocking them both out. A blue energy beam grabbed the Driftbox and dragged it into the ship. Inside the larger ship, a robot, resembling Sonic, was scanning the Driftbox's exterior. His bionic eyes zoomed in on a dent in the door. He used this weakness to force the door open.
"Wait," the Traveller started, "My friend is still in that box, help me get him out."
Dr Robotnik walked in and laughed, "And why would we do that?"
The Traveller pointed at the Driftbox, "Because if you do.. you can have the salvage of a lifetime."
Inside the Driftbox, Tails woke up under an ornate but light piece of rubble. He blew on his burnt glove and walked along to a door. He opened it, and an explosion burst out. He ran from the fireball into the next room. He looked at the wall and saw that there are deep claw marks, and something growled.
The Traveller jumped back into the Driftbox, followed by the Metal Sonic. The Traveller scanned the room with a wand-like device.
"How big is this thing?" Robotnik asked, through Metal Sonic's speaker.
The Traveller stopped for a moment, "Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen. Are you picturing it? Yeah, this is bigger."
"How do you fit it all in a small phone box?"
"Nexus Engineering. It's.. complicated."
Tails found a library, and he walked in. He took down a model of a globe from a shelf. The globe contained small rift shards. Someone else was there with him. He found a large book on its own special stand, about the 'Nexus'. He opened it and started to read. A growl emitted from nearby. Tails went behind another rack of books to hide from the thing. It got closer and he ran for the entrance.
The Traveller walked down a corridor, searching for Tails. Metal Sonic remained in the console room, being commanded to start breaking it apart. Tails had managed to find his way into another room, but so had whatever was following him. The creature was a dark hedgehog with a red stripe above its eyes, which themselves had red irises. It growled
"Wh-what are you?" Tails asked fearfully.
"My name.." it snarled, "..is Shadow."
Suddenly a purple, ring-shaped portal opened beneath Tails' feet, dropping him into the console room. The Traveller closed the portal with his device. Tails stared at the Traveller and Metal Sonic, almost instantly recognising the robot as a threat and going into a spin-dash.
"No, wait!" the Traveller said, "He's helping.. well he is now, anyway."
Tails cancelled the spin-dash, and Metal Sonic looked at the console, "Okay. Now give us the box."
The Traveller nodded but suddenly an explosion rang out from further within the ship.
The Traveller's eyes widened, "Oh no. We need to get to Angel Island."
Robotnik deactivated the beam and the Traveller piloted the Driftbox down to Mobius. Once it reached Angel Island, he activated the charging station and the Driftbox started feeding off of energy that came from within the island.
The hedgehog burst into the room, "I found you!"
The Traveller gasped, "Who's.. that?"
"He said his name was Shadow." Tails replied.
Metal Sonic scanned the creature, "Sensor detects alien DNA... human and... Metarex?"
"Ah, Shadow, yes. Uh, an otherworldly being helped me create the Ultimate Lifeform, but it sorta failed and he was placed in a chamber. Somehow, he must have broken out."
The Traveller got an idea, "Okay. We're close to the rift, so if I.. yes, I know what to do!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Robotnik laughed, "Metal Sonic - attack!"
The Traveller readied his wand, pointing it at Metal Sonic, as Tails spin-dashed into the robot, who simply knocked him back. Metal Sonic fired lasers at the Traveller and Tails, knocking both of them out. Robotnik cackled as the robot flew out of the Driftbox and back to his ship.
"Now to take this time machine and use it to conquer the universe!" Robotnik laughed.
Tails regained his consciousness. The Traveller had already done so and was approaching the console.
"Wait, Traveller!" Tails called out, "What is your plan?"
"Memory wipe."
"Oh. Well, uh, if you're going to wipe my memory - could you at least tell me how this happened?"
The Traveller turned to him, "Oh, that must've been Metal Sonic and that Dr Robotnik guy trying to lure me and this time machine to Mobius. They messed with the rift over Angel Island. It'll be unfrozen by the time you wake up. Hopefully"
"And who are you? Really?"
The Traveller sighed, "I'm.. the Captain. That's all you need to know."
"But what about-"
The Traveller snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Back in the ship, Dr Robotnik woke up. He looked over at Metal Sonic and Shadow, both of whom lay unconscious on the ground. He sighed and ejected Shadow into space, before disassembling Metal Sonic for parts. Shadow fell through space and hit the atmosphere, where he fell to Mobius. He fell through the rift and vanished.
The fields were a fresh, vibrant green. The waterfalls glimmered in the distance. Monkey Robots climbed the palm trees and threw coconuts to the ground for no reason, other than they've been programmed to. The sun bounced off of the ocean around West-Side Island giving anyone who sees it a beautiful view, this was Emerald Hill Zone.
Tails was working in his workshop on his latest invention. It was like the events with the Traveller never happened.
Sonic walked in, "Hey, bud. I was taking a nap. Anything interesting happen?"
Tails shook his head and smiled, "Not really."
The most unforgettable experience of a lifetime.. forgotten. Or, the most unforgettable experience of a lifetime so far.