Chapter 1 - Legends

"Whu…"

Thorn wakes up from a lengthy, deep slumber.

"Wait, where… Rayl!"

Panicked, the orange hedgehog gets up and looks around, astonished by what he's seeing: Green grass, stretching as far as the eyes can see, decorated with tall, vibrant trees. The whole area is filled with life, something he hasn't experienced in years. Realizing that the dimensional leap must have worked, Thorn begins to cry.

"If only you could see this, Rayl… it's beautiful..."

He feels the warm breeze through his fingers, then averts his gaze to the peaceful morning sky. His crying quickly transitions to laughter. He doesn't have to be worried about being hunted down anymore. For a fleeting moment, life seems simple again. Thorn lets himself fall to the grass at his feet, and lies there for a while.

Though seeming like mere seconds, several hours pass by before Thorn opens his eyelids once again. When he finally does, he wakes up to a yellow fox inspecting his face.

"Whoa!" Thorn yelps, rising to his feet in an instant.

"Gee, sorry sir!" says the fox, "I didn't mean to wake you!"

"Why were you staring at me like that?"

"Well it's just… I haven't seen you around here before, I wanted to make sure you were okay!"

"Who are you?"
"My name is Miles, but you seem friendly enough, so you can call me Tails."

"Tails… that name seems familiar..."

"Uhh… okay, so do you need any help then, or are you good?"

"I would like to know something actually," Thorn inquires, "Where are we?"

"Huh? You don't know Green Hill? It's a pretty popular spot."

"No way, this is... Green Hill!?"

In Beta-182, Green Hill was set ablaze before Thorn was even born. In fact, it was the act that started the whole war in the first place. To see it now as it should have been in his world, he finds nothing short of amazing.

"Yeah… now that I've answered a couple of your questions, if you don't mind me asking, who are you exactly?" asks Tails.

"My name is Thorn. I'm from Beta-182. I've come to seek assistance."

"Hmm, I don't think I've never heard of a place like that, but I could bring you to Sonic! He sure is great at helping people!"

Thorn's eyes widen. Sonic! That's where he's heard of him! Sonic and Tails were old legends that used to be passed down through the generations in his world.

"That would be great, actually. Where is he?"

"Just follow me, Thorn! I'll show you where he is."

After a short walk, Tails and Thorn stop at a relatively small, blue plane that looks as if it's seen better days.

"Is this your plane, Tails?"

"Sure is! Built it myself! Me and Sonic used this thing to… Well, I shouldn't bore you with the details."

"Wow, so you really are a great mechanic then, huh?"

"I guess you could put it like that," Tails chuckles, "Wait, where did you hear that?"

"Uh… Never mind. So are we gonna use this thing to fly to Sonic?"

"Yep. With the power of this Chaos Emerald here, this thing gets going in no time."

"Chaos Emerald, huh? Never heard of that."

Tails clicks the Emerald into the front of the plane, then hops in the front seat.
"Come on, get in!"

Thorn has never flown before, but the idea of it seems exciting to him, if not a bit terrifying. He jumps into the rear seat of the plane. Tails flicks a switch, and the propeller starts to creak. After a minute or two, the plane is up and running, ready to fly.

"Three, two… One!" Tails shouts. The plane starts moving forward.

"Whoa!"

The plane takes off without a hitch.

"So, you said you were from Beta-182, right? Where is that?"

"I'll explain it to you when we get back on the ground, I don't want to distract you or anything."

Throughout the ride, Thorn's mind races. What happened to Rayl? Will he ever see her again? Will he ever return to Beta-182 at all? With all that happened, he didn't even realize until now that the dimensional leap machine is missing. Shouldn't he have woken up inside it? He hopes that Rayl, in some dimension far away, can still hear him.
"Rayl, if you're still out there… I hope you know I'm going to do everything I can to save you, and everybody else in our world. If you can hear me somehow, please… know that everything is going to be okay."

For some reason, Thorn doesn't feel like that last part is really true. He sheds a single tear, then falls asleep again.