A/N: Back with a vengeance, this chapter is! Very pleased by the reviews, Shian1998 and DoctorWhatTheHeck41, and the following. I'm going to try to make each chapter push this story forwards so it feels more complete. And trust, the ending of this chapter is super important. Always, feel free to review, favorite, or just take a peek. This is for you guys! And here's some answers...

Shian1998: Thank you! I worked Knuckles' visions in this story very much like those of Garnet in Darknight Universe; a slice of what may and may not happen. To find out what events do occur, you'll have to continue reading. As for Sonic and co, they make their big collision with Barry this chapter.

DoctorWhatTheHeck41: Thank you! That's my intention, to make a relatively good pace and keep things fresh as well.

Now, onto the story!

Chapter Three

Whole New World

When he was younger, Barry had thought about death. He'd wondered if his mother was either in heaven, hell, or really just decayed by worms in her casket. The cold, undying aspects of the final resting place seemed more interesting than him living a life. But even as he got older, he couldn't shake the feeling. Death was everywhere; in his family, his friends. And if it wasn't them, it was most definitely in his casework.

The faster he got to the badlands, all Barry could think about…was this it? Was he going to go out like this, just after getting his freedom back and returning to normalcy?

Apparently not.

As he felt the energy begin to pick away at himself, the scarlet speedster glimpsed a blinding translucent glow emanate all around him. Suddenly, cold and hard pressure tucked his body into some sort of bind. He couldn't see, couldn't feel anything except a dark rush. He wanted to get out of it…and he was, the light fading to leave him be. Coughing, he looked up at his surroundings. Thick, tall buildings made of silver surrounded him in vast height, and the gleam was blinding in spots. He was…home?

Barry suddenly remembered he had the emerald in his palm and looked at it. Whereas once it had been about to blow, the jewel was as inactive as it normally should've been. He sighed, praising whatever had deactivated it…though he was still curious. He got up and took a step in his surroundings, still unfamiliar with this section of Central City. Deciding it was would be best to return to S.T.A.R. Labs and reunite with his friends, he took off.

Faster he went around ordinary streets packed with people, but nothing seemed to jog his memory. There were at least a dozen or so buildings and establishments he'd never seen before. A massive skyscraper was planted in the center of the space he was running around, the letters "G.U.N" printed large and bold. The speedster slowed down to catch his breath, planning on continuing down the street until he found a landmark he recognized. Then he stopped dead and his eyes crept slowly to the left.

There was a pink bird…walking on the sidewalk. In clothing.

Barry blinked his eyes several times to make sure he wasn't hung up from whatever had happened, but the animal was still moving into the distance. His jaw dropped. Was she a meta? How were people just taking it as normal and continuing their business? …Were there more around?

He slowly cocked his head around…and sure enough, there were more. A dog made conversation with a woman in a coffee shop a block down. Two hyenas jogged their way uptown. It was like being in a kind of Disney fantasy. Luckily, it took him a second or two to remind himself that walking, talking animals wouldn't have been the weirdest thing he'd seen.

Shaking his head, the Flash turned back towards the rest of the city and made a break for it. Iris and the rest of his friends had to be waiting for him. And if he got further lost, then maybe he'd ask somebody for directions.

There have to be, he thought. At least something.

To say that Team Flash was unhappy would be a mistake of an understatement. At the moment, Iris couldn't help but cry and sit in the same chair, feeling as if darkness has caught her in its hold. She wanted him back…but he was gone. Even he couldn't survive an explosion. Just thinking about it was emotionally suffocating.

Ralph walked over to her, his hands in his pockets and his face dour. "Iris…" he trailed off sullenly. "…I'm sorry for…what happened…"

She looked up at him tear-faced. "What?"

"It…it was my fault," he elaborated. "I was the one who found the emerald at the park. And…I thought it could help, but…Allen's gone, and- "

"Ralph, no." Iris' words rang through the entire space, a kind of thick directive in them. "What happened to Barry…it's not your fault. Nobody here is at fault…" It was so hard for Iris to speak through her tears, but she managed anyways. "The only thing that's to blame…is that stupid emerald!" After that, she ducked down and put her head in her hands. A sympathetic Caitlyn walked next to her and patted her shoulder, giving Ralph the chance to just stand there to bare the sobs.

"Ramon. West. A moment," Harry said to the other two.

Joe looked offended. "Are you serious, Wells? We just lost- "

"Now." He wasn't joking at all in the way he said it. Cisco took the hint and followed him back to the hallway, Joe behind him but appearing perturbed. Once they were against the bending wall on the other side of the cortex, Harry checked to see if they were alone. Then he took a deep breath. "Allen isn't gone. And before you criticize me for saying so, just listen."

Cisco folded his arms. Joe coughed and clenched a fist, another in his pocket defensively. "Go on," he breathed.

Readjusting his glasses, Harry continued. "When Allen went out to the badlands, I saw a momentary blip on the screens before they all went black. It was a cyan blip. Ring a bell?"

"Uh…no," Joe said, lost.

Harry sighed, but made sure not to make it obvious how what he was insinuating was child's play. "Do you know what energy is cyan on a scan, Ramon?" He asked Cisco. "Tachyon particles. And those tachyon particles appeared out of nowhere right when the explosion occurred."

"Wait a sec…" interrupted Joe. He looked like he was on the verge of a breakthrough. "Tachyon particles…those are the things you leave when you time travel, right?"

"Exactly," Harry said. "Or, as we've experienced in the past….travel to another world."

Cisco's jaw dropped, then he immediately closed it. "But…every time someone's gone to another world…there's been at least a breach. Wouldn't the satellite detect traces of one?"

"Not always, Ramon. Breaches themselves are tears into the multiverse generated by truly unfathomable power. With the amount in that emerald…it must've acted the same way."

"And you think Barry's there?" Joe asked, hope filling his eyes. "You think he's not dead?"

"Yes, I do." Harry gulped, almost as if to go back on his own statement. "First, though, we'll need to find traces of the particles in the badlands. Which is much better than moping around here."

Cisco breathed in a sigh of relief. Then he ducked back to the Cortex and shouted, "Yo, Dibny!"

Contrary to what Cisco expected, Ralph hurriedly walked to the trio instead of stretching. "What is it, Cisco?"

Joe talked first. "There's a chance…Barry might be alive."

"What?" Ralph responded. "No wa- "

"There's no time," Harry interrupted blatantly. "We're going to prove it right now, like it or not. Planning on coming with us?"

Ralph gazed over them and thought on it for a bit. Then he looked up. "If it means Rookie's okay…then yeah. I'm in."

Sonic's feet lifted off the ground as he ducked and ran over a small crop of green hills. Tired as he was, he couldn't stop until he found a trail leading to the emerald. That's why he was searching for it intently, dashing around the outskirts of Station Square with ease. Tails had combed the skyline and Knuckles was canvasing another route. Unfortunately, no results yet, but that didn't kill their determination.

He circled back to the highest hill looking down at the city and stopped, hoping to admire the view before he went back at it again. All the little dots and figures filtered into his mind. Trees, cars, animals like him and people behaving normally.

Then something changed. His eyes caught onto a yellow-red dash, careening through the city blocks in a haphazard fashion. He swore he saw lightning, and that was enough to convince him to get on the chase. Sonic galloped a few steps and immediately took off, dashing downhill and straight through the wilds. In a matter of seconds, he was back in Station Square, and no sooner had the very blur he was looking for sped past him. He scurried behind it. The faster he went, the quicker the person or thing he was chasing seemed to be. They turned corners and dodged over cars. The wind was being picked up, but they were so enthralled they weren't paying attention to it.

Things came to a head when the hazel distortion ran up the side of a building, leaving a linear line of lightning behind it. Almost immediately Sonic was catching up, but he made sure to avoid the sparks in his opponent's wake. Focusing on that cost him time, what with his target getting closer to the top. Almost out of options, Sonic realized something and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a small golden ring, clutching it tighter as the air from speeding ahead clawed at him.

"Hope this works!" He shouted, then immediately applied pressure to the ring. A powerful burst of yellow sucked him in and spat him out. Just as the lightning would've reached the top, the familiar blue blur went past him and skidded to a stop on the expansive roof. The sudden move sent the lightning into a crashing motion, collapsing heavily nearby.

Feeling the effects of the power ring fade away, Sonic got himself a good look at the mysterious speedster. He was a human dressed in dark-red spandex with patches of yellow draped across his boots and arms. His face was hidden behind a well-constructed mask, but he didn't look too happy expression-wise.

And then he saw what was in his hand.

The Chaos Emerald.

Sonic tensed. The stranger in red noticed this and chose to tense as well. "…I get this is kind of out of nowhere and all, especially since I don't talk to hedgehogs much, but…I'm kind of lost."

"Really? Zipping around Station Square? Or was that before you nabbed my Chaos Emerald?" Sonic blanked.

The speedster gazed at the emerald in his palm, then gawked. "That's what this thing is called? A Chaos Emerald? Must be worth the trouble it caused."

"…You stole that without knowing what it was?" Sonic was confused.

"Wait a second!" The figure said defensively. "I didn't steal this, and I really don't know where I am! Can you just calm down for a sec and be rational in all this?"

Taking a moment to consider what he'd said, the hedgehog hero decided to agree. "…Fine. What's your name?"

"The Flash," the man said passionately. He walked forwards and held out a hand. Sonic eventually took it cautiously. "I take it this is yours?"

Sonic grinned. "You're very perceptive, Flash. The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Nice to meet you," the Flash stated. He held out the jewel to the hedgehog hopefully. "Here. You can have it back."

The whole affair was surprising to Sonic. Out of nowhere, he could have his emerald back? It seemed too good to be true, but then again…he didn't want to jinx it. He eagerly reached for the emerald, cupping it in his hand. Despite being satisfied, however, he didn't like the aura he that he was feeling.

"Thanks," he replied cheerfully. "So, you said you're lost?"

The speedster chuckled awkwardly. "It's a long story…but yeah. You good at directions?"

"Just as good at running, too," Sonic said. "I've got a friend of mine who could probably help ya.' Race you there!" Then he whirled around and darted down the side of the building, emerald in hand. The Flash just stood there, shocked.

"And I thought I was the impossible…" he muttered in a bemused way. Collecting himself into a stance, he took off after his new friend with positive energy.

The badlands were a section of Central City's countryside left to waste after a small radioactive spill. Much of the plant and animal life was gone, and all that remained were small vestiges of dirt buried by heavy piles of sand and ash. Whenever things might've gotten nuclear in Central City, the badlands acted as a good testing ground.

The breach opened in the midst of the area, spewing Cisco, Harry, Joe, and Ralph out. Accustoming themselves to the barren wasteland of an environment, the four walked quickly to the epicenter of a large black hole in the ground. Wells took out a scanner from his pocket and immediately fawned over the sand with it.

"Anywhere, in particular, we should be looking?" Joe asked, his eyes trained on the massive splash of blast marks they were in.

"Try and find the epicenter of the blast," Harry said, focused on his meter. "That's where tachyon particles are most likely to congregate."

Ralph nodded and turned to the other direction, gazing directly at the scorch marks permeating his line of sight. A few feet in the direction and his eyes widened. "How's this for an epicenter? Cisco? Harry?"

Cisco walked up to him, almost about to deny his findings when he let his jaw hang. The very spot Ralph has located bore the darkest blast marks of the entire area. More shocking was the sparkling bits of energy floating mere centimeters over the spot. "He's right! We found some particles!"

They made way for Harry and Joe, the former inching closer and scanning it with his device. Immediately, the meter scorched up to a blazing red. Harry froze dead and looked back at the sizzling grains of sand now levitating above the blast mark.

"What's it say?" Ralph wondered out loud.

Harry looked back and sighed. "The good news…is that these particles are definitely Tachyon particles. Something, most definitely Allen, was propelled through a wormhole to another plane of existence. And the fact that they're still sizzling means it wasn't too long ago."

"Phew," Cisco breathed in relief. "That's good to hear."

Joe, however, was still unconvinced. "What's the bad news?"

The earth-2 scientist got up to glare daggers at them. "You want to know? If this data is correct…Allen may have been sent somewhere beyond our multiverse."

From a shadowy lair, a large man with round glasses and an explosive mustache watched several screens in front of him. One was completely static, another showed recorded footage, and a third watched over Station Square. He was enjoying soaking up the information, but frankly, it had become boring at this point.

"Master?" Eggman looked behind his chair, finding the shape-based Orbot and Cubot looking at him with urgency.

"What? What is it, you pesky fools? Is there something new you have for me, or are you going to waste my time?"

The two shivered with fear, looked at each other, and strolled forwards. Orbot was the one to speak. "You requested data on the Chaos Emerald anomaly, correct?"

"…Yes. Why?"

The tiny robot flexed his hand. "I-I mean, the two of us, recently discovered footage of that emerald reappearing in Station Square. And you will most definitely be surprised as to what it picked up."

Eggman's face contorted into a menacing glace, his mustache large and looming as his fingers interlocked. This most definitely has his attention. "Do tell, Cubot. Do tell…"

That's all for now, folks. Though I can promise next time things get only more complicated for Barry and his new blue blur of a friend, as well as for Team Flash back on Earth-1! See you then!