This is the second-to-last chapter of Sonic Reborn! Hope you're all enjoying it and thanks to everyone who's been following, favoriting, and reviewing this fanfic up till now!
Chapter 119: Beatdown
On the other side of the portal, Sonny, Sonic, Tails, and Miles found themselves on a large platform with no end to either side. At the edge of the platform stood the shadowy monster but this time it was more clearly defined. Apart from a menacing face with blue fire coming from its eyes and mouth, the creature had four mechanical arms coming from a single spine with orb-sized parts, clockwork gears coming out of its back and along its wrists, and sharp purple crystals for fingers and spikes. Beyond it, the area was covered in a thick red mist but Sonny could partially see large clock gears turning slowly.
"Hey!" Sonic said, getting the creature's attention. "If you want to avoid an embarrassing beatdown by yours truly, you'd better give up now!"
"You're not in a position to make any bargains, Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Above the creature's head a small pod opened revealing Dr. Eggman to be sitting inside it at a control panel similar to the one in his Egg Mobile.
"Eggman!" Tails exclaimed while Sonic shook his head in annoyance. "But you were kidnapped just a second ago!"
"Not exactly," said a voice that sounded similar to Eggman's as a second pod opened along the creature's mid-drift.
To Sonny and Miles' surprise, it was a man that looked exactly like Dr. Eggman from the pointy nose to the thick mustache and even the red tailcoat.
"Robotnik?" Miles asked out loud.
"Oh, dear," said the second Dr. Eggman. "It seems he has gotten us mixed up, Dr. Robotnik of the Future Mobius."
"It seems so, Dr. Eggman of the Past Mobius," replied the first Dr. Eggman. "After you and Sonic defeated us on the space elevator, Sonny, we got sucked into a black-hole that formed as the result of an influx of Nega-Wisps leaking out into space due a sudden rupture in the park's generator. We found ourselves flung halfway across the galaxy and were essentially paddling through the vacuum of space when we came across this creature we're riding in currently. Eggman and I soon discovered it was a living entity formed from a combination of the energy we used from the Scepter of Darkness to power our Nega-Wisp converters and the Hyper-go-on energy we drained from the Wisps we captured. Calling itself the Time Eater, the creature took us to the Mobius of the distant past where I met the man who's been in my head all these years in the flesh."
"Naturally, we hit it off since we both had rivals we wanted to destroy," added the second Dr. Eggman. "So we decided to use the Time Eater to tear space and time apart for both Mobiuses to erase our past failures consecutively. While we were able to use the Time Eater's mind-control abilities to manipulate Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver to do our bidding, we decided to capture Sonny's friends and use them as bait to lure Sonny here hoping that he'd flounder without Sonic's spirit aiding him. But once it became apparent that this wasn't working, we manipulated Shawn and Silva to fight you instead."
"But don't you two realize what you're doing?" Tails said. "The more time and space your creature tears apart, the deader our worlds become!"
"Precisely," said Dr. Robotnik. "And once we have Sonny and Sonic out of the picture, Eggman and I will rule both Mobiuses unopposed!"
"I couldn't have said it better," Dr. Eggman said gleefully.
"How could you do this, Dr. Robotnik?" Miles shouted. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with taking over the world."
"People change, Miles," replied Dr. Robotnik. "When the whole world is constantly hunting you for crimes that may not have been of your own design, you're forced to accept the new life that someone else has created."
"And so he's chosen to follow in my footsteps just as you and Sonny chose to become heroes because the spirits of Tails and Sonic beckoned you to," added Dr. Eggman.
"Listen, Egghead," Sonic said abruptly. "I don't know what you and your copycat are talking about, but one thing's for certain: Sonny and I going to beat you no matter what!"
"Then we'll have twice as much fun beating you into the ground," Dr. Robotnik said as he pressed a button that caused the Time Eater to start firing purple lasers.
While Tails and Miles flew out of the way, Sonny and Sonic ran in opposite directions dodging the lasers. Then Dr. Eggman pressed a button on the control panel of his pod which caused one of the arms of the Time Eater to disappear into another vortex. However, Sonny and Sonic were focused too much on attacking the Time Eater directly to pay attention. When they attempted to slam into the Time Eater, it used two of the arms on its left side to swat Sonic and Sonny backwards. Both landed flat on their faces and before either of them could recover, the fourth hand appeared out of a vortex behind them and crushed Sonny and Sonic underneath it.
"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed.
"Sonny!" Miles shouted.
"Come on, Sonny!" Amelia said appearing on a floating rock.
"Get up already!" Chuck shouted showing up behind Amelia.
Then on another floating rock Shawn and Rouge appeared.
"Pull yourself together, Sonny," Shawn said folding his arms.
"You've been in worse situations before," Rouge added.
"We're right behind you!" Victor said as he Espen and Charles showed up on a third rock.
"You can count on us!" Espen said.
"We'll be cheering you on the whole way!" Charles cried.
"We believe in you, Sonny," Crème said as she and Blake appeared on a fourth rock.
"Give it your best shot!" Blake shouted.
"Show these guys who's boss!" Silva yelled appearing behind Crème and Blake.
"Ah!" Dr. Robotnik exclaimed. "Where did you all come from?"
"We had help from some friends," Amelia said as several creatures appeared on each of the floating rocks.
"Ugh! Not them!" Dr. Eggman said with disgust.
"I know you can beat Dr. Eggman, Sonic!" said a pink hedgehog that stood beside Amelia.
"Punch him!" responded a red echidna next to Chuck.
"You've got this," Shadow nodded standing by Shawn.
"Don't die on me, Big Blue," said a white bat wearing a skin-tight outfit near Rouge.
"You're the toughest hedgehog I know!" Vector yelled standing next to Victor.
"This is nothing!" Espio said beside Espen.
"Come on and fight!" shouted a large bee with an aviator cap that buzzed around Charles.
"You'll do fine, Sonic!" cried a cream-white rabbit that stood behind Crème.
"Just believe in yourself!" said a slender purple cat standing by Blake.
"Give it everything you've got!" shouted Silver while Silva nodded nearby.
"We're all counting on you!" Miles and Tails said together.
Then to both Dr. Robotnik and Eggman's surprise, the seven Chaos Emeralds flew out of Sonny's pockets and surrounded both Sonny and Sonic. After a few seconds, the two awoke and found themselves floating in the air with the Chaos Emeralds spinning rapidly around them. They briefly looked at each other and nodded before turning their attention to the two Eggmans.
"Time for a good old-fashioned egg beating!" Sonny said.
"Super Style!" Sonic added.
The Chaos Emeralds glowed simultaneously as the two transformed into their Super forms. With Sonic, his fur changed from blue to gold and his eyes from green to red. As for Sonny, his hair turned gold and stood on edge while his eyes turned red as well.
In turn, Dr. Robotnik and Eggman closed themselves up inside their pods and the Time Eater took off while Super Sonny and Sonic followed close behind.
To be continued…