Chapter 16: Blast from the Past! (Part I)

Peach's Castle: Lobby

The heroes were all discussing where the next emerald could be when Tails walked in.

"So according to the scanner there's another emerald near Dire Dire Docks!" He announced.

"I know where that is!" Mario said.

"Then let's go!" Sonic agreed, forgetting that a dock has water.

"Uh Sonic…" Tails said, looking out a window. "I think I see Amy coming this way.

Sonic was horrified. "What!?" He shouted. "I have to find a place to hide!" He began looking around desperately.

"Why not hide there?" Espio suggested, pointing to a room on the right.

"Thanks!" Sonic said, running in. "Gaaah!" He screamed. "This painting is almost nothing but water!"

"Don't worry about that." Tails said, chuckling at Sonic's fear.

Just then the castle door opened and a pink hedgehog walked in.

"Sooooniiiiic!" She shouted. "Where arrrrrrre you?"

"Hi Amy!" Tails greeted, sitting down on a chair.

"I think Sonic said something about going for a long run." Rouge craftily said. "He left a couple minutes ago."

"What!?" Amy asked in disbelief, looking at the bat. "Why are YOU here!?"

"Hallo my friend!" Mario greeted. "I'm Mario, and this is my brother Luigi."

"I don't care who you are!" Amy snapped, making Luigi nervous. "Have you seen my Sonic anywhere?"

Just then Sonic ran out of the room at his top speed, barely stopping in time to avoid running into a wall. "There's just WAY too much water in there!" He exclaimed. "Gives me the creeps!"

Amy quickly ran to him and hugged him. "Oh Sonic!" She said, squeezing him.

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed, trying to get away. "Cut it out Amy!"

"Why should I?" Amy asked. "It's been SO LONG since we've seen each other! I just want to hug you all day!" Sonic sighed sadly and with his eyes asked the others to help.

Tails chuckled. "Well," He said. "As soon as Amy lets Sonic go we can go to Dire Dire Docks, but that may take awhile."

"Sonic," Amy said, looking at him. "I'm coming with you!"

Sonic groaned. "Ungh, fine. Whatever. Just PLEASE let go of me." Amy nodded and stopped hugging him.

"Well, let's a go!" Mario said, running down the hall to the portal. They reached the portal near the basement and jumped in.

Bowser's Castle: Throne Room

The villains were discussing plans when Dimentio appeared.

"The heroes are on their way to the docks now." He announced.

"Is the ambush set for them?" Eggman asked.

"Yes Doctor." Shadow nodded. "Everything is set and ready to go."

"Then let's do this!" Bowser crossed his arms.

"Here's how the attack will go:" Eggman said to the villains. "Dimentio and Shadow will open the attack by fighting head on. When the heroes' attention is only on them Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic will attack them from behind, driving them towards the shore."

"Let's go already!" Metal Sonic impatiently stormed.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow said, teleporting the two teams to the docks.

Dire Dire Docks: Entrance

The heroes had arrived and were looking around them.

"This place has WAY too much water!" Sonic almost screamed in fear. "Are you SURE this place has a Chaos Emerald!?"

"According to the radar it's on the other side of the lake." Tails told him.

"Then let's go!" Mario said, as he began walking.

"Oh Sonic," Amy exclaimed "This will be so romantic! A walk by the lake!" Sonic simply rolled his eyes.

"I don't see any sign of the emerald." Rouge complained.

"It's on the other side of the water." Tails told her. So the heroes began walking toward the other side of the lake.

"Look at them." Dimentio exclaimed, him and the villains watching from on top of the cliffs. "Walking unknowingly to their doom, like ants to the shoe."

"They are very pathetic!" Shadow grunted.

"Shadow," Dimentio turned to his comrade. "Do you really think that Eggman will keep his agreement with you?"

"Why shouldn't he?" Shadow asked, not understanding.

"Well, has he kept his promises to you in the past?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Shadow said, looking back toward the heroes. "I suggest you drop the topic."

"I'm just saying there may be a chance that the Doctor is just using you." Dimentio nodded as he looked back in the heroes' direction.

"Here they come!" Metal Sonic announced.

"Party time!" Bowser Jr. said, grabbing his paintbrush.

Just then the heroes reached the other side of the lake.

"OK, we're here now Amy." Sonic said to the pink hedgehog. "Can you PLEASE let go of me now?"

"Hmm…something's not right." Tails said, looking at the scanner with a confused expression on his face.

"What do you mean?" Mario and Luigi asked in unison.

"The signal just disappeared." Tails told them. "I think it was just a trick."

"About time you figured that out." A voice said, as Dimentio and Shadow jumped down and landed in front of them.

"Dimentio!" Mario and Sonic exclaimed.

"I'll spare you my boring speech Mario." Dimentio said. "But I will say this: It's payback time! You will finally pay for what you did to me!"

Sonic laughed. "All of us against you and Shadow?" He teased. "I think we all know how that'll end!"

"Oh really?" Dimentio winked, as he created several clones which began to attack the heroes alongside Shadow and Dimentio.

"Oooh!" Charmy exclaimed. "Sonic jinxed it!"

"Shut up Charmy!" Vector snapped, as he and the heroes began defending themselves against the attack.

Espio jumped over one clone and threw a shuriken into it, destroying it. "We must drive them off!" He stated, rolling under an energy beam.

Just then Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic joined in the attack, and very slowly began to drive the heroes back toward the water.

"Ungh!" Sonic grunted, taking a direct punch in the stomach by Shadow. "I don't know how long we can last against these guys! They're much stronger now!"

Shadow snorted. "I told you that you cannot defeat me!" He boasted, jumping into the air and attempted to kick Sonic. Sonic however was able to block the attack.

"Come on team!" Sonic said, trip-kicking Shadow. "Let's do this!"

Just then Mario was knocked to the ground. As he stood up he saw two figures watching the fight on top of a mountain. "Hey! Who's that?" He exclaimed, prompting Sonic to look where he was pointing.

"No!" Sonic said in surprise. "It can't be!"

..

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To be continued...