The girl pulled away from him, "Tails? You seem awfully quiet, was it something I said?" She cocked her head.
Tails stared at her, "Uh..."Quick, think of something" Sorry, I just got up, and when I'm alone with a pretty girl, my brain kinda short-circuits!" He gave a nervous laugh.
"Oh, I understand," the girl smiled warmly, "I can get a little nervous too. Amy told me a lot about how it's normal for a new couple to be nervous around each other." she then blushed, "Not that I think we're a couple it was just what Amy said." she then walked away, before turning to smile at him.
Nicole stood behind Tails, arms folded and narrowing her eyes.
Tails stammered,"Yeah, okay..." He turned to Nicole,"... what's wrong?"
"Your brain short circuits, when you are alone with a pretty girl?" Nicole asked, narrowing her eyes as they began to change from a light purple to a dark red, "You have been able to freely talk with me. Alone. Several times. Am I to assume that means, that I... am... not... PRETTY!?"
Tails began to stammer and wave his hands,"No, you don't understand, it was a spur of the moment thing-"
"Miles Prower," Nicole said, walking up to Tails and putting her finger against his chest fur, "I may be just an AI hologram constructed through superior technology. But I am still a woman and I still liked to be called pretty once in a while. Women do have certain needs, you know?!" she narrowed her eyes and frowned, "I would believe, considering the company that you keep that you would've known that much!"
Turning around, she stuck up her little tail and gave a humph, "You sir are on your own until I decide to come back. Which probably won't be until after some immense ice cream binging!" and with that, she vanished.
Right behind Tails, someone pink began to clack her hammer against her palm, the look of absolute rage in her emerald eyes.
Tails closed his eyes, She heard that too!? He turned around,"Look, Amy, it's not what you think!"
"Not pretty? NOT PRETTY?!" Amy growled, "The only reason why my hammer and your face are not best friends right now, is because it would make her sad. And I am not going to break my friend's heart!" she said, before turning around, lifting her tail and giving a huff.
"Tails, if I'm not pretty then what am I?" asked Cream.
Tails looked at Cream, and quickly came up with something,"Uh, cute?"
"No, that's what Mom calls me. " she then gasped, "I know, sexy! That's what people call Mommy!" she then skipped down the hallway to her room, "I'm sexy, I'm sexy." she sang.
Tails' jaw dropped, before he walked to a wall and slammed his head into it,"Vanilla's going to kill this Tails..." He let out a grumble. He began pacing the floor,"Great, I ticked off Nicole, I'm not home, and there's this creepy platypus guy running around doing who knows what with Fiona and Scourge! Anything else!?" He looked out a window,"Huh, must be night... with no ground visible... and the stars are moving..." He thought for a moment.
"I'm in space!?" He shouted.
A young boy walked by, "I know, isn't it great?" he then walked away.
Tails walked away from the window,"Alright, you're in space, you need to figure out who's on this ship first. You know Cream and Amy are here, but who else? Oh, I hope I wasn't this ship's navigator..." He flew off towards the cockpit,"Oh, who am I kidding, I probably built this ship, of course, I'm the navigator!"
He stopped at the cockpit, and looked over its computer,"Alright, crew listings first, and... emergency journal." He noticed a light yellow journal near the computer.
"Amy
Cream,
Myself,
Sonic, that's obvious
Knuckles, shouldn't he be guarding the Master Emerald?
Cosmo
And Chris..."
Tails frowned,"Two names I don't recognize... which one is the girl? Chris could be short for Christine..."
Sonic raced behind Tails for a second, "Tails, you ok? Why are you looking over everybody? Is anyone missing?"
Tails muttered a bit,"Uh, no, just kinda checking over things. Wouldn't want to miss anyone." He looked over parts of the emergency journal he had grabbed,"After all, we have an important mission to do here!"
"If you are an evil me, please check Pg.14
If you are a time-displaced me, please check Pg. 7
If you are from another universe, please check pg.18
"Yeah, taking out the Metarex, flying through space, collecting emeralds. Easy stuff," Sonic said, "Just take it easy. Don't want to pass out right?"
(pg 14: To evil me, please remember that I will find you and that the mint ice cream is in the fridge. Don't try and kill my friends and I promise not to lead a revolution in your world.)
(pg. 7: Yes, I am a time-displaced you. I will tell you that everything is going to be ok, you are just replaced by an alternate body for a moment. Just continue as you are. Just remember that your alternate self will put down a way to help Cosmo. That is all I can say for the moment because O- I mean your godchild Kilo is asking me to help with flying lessons. And if you are the alt, please write what you learned from the end of your adventure in the following space. I know you will because I remember reading what you wrote.
(pg. 18: Hello alt me. Here are some basics. You are on the Blue Typhoon, you are stopping the Metarex, who are a group of plant aliens that want to turn the world into forests and kill us all. We are looking for the chaos emeralds. The plant girl is Cosmo, and we...um...we...ok, she is adorable and cute and I think I love her but I'm not sure, I try to ask Sonic but he doesn't know and Knuckles has problems with girls and I'm scared to talk to Amy and you know that Cream is to-
Sorry for the ramble. Wait, do you ramble like I do? Is Sonic still the same? Or is he a girl? What about us? Are you a girl? Oh goodness, um...
Sorry for rambling the third time. Anyway, I don't know why we switched. It might have something to do with our adventure, or something is weird. Maybe Knuckles has something or Sonic. Though he is probably running around the ship.)
Mobius prime
Amy sat with Nicole, rubbing her friend's back, "It's ok. He probably didn't mean to be a jerk."
"I just... I thought this form looked good," Nicole said, eating her third can of ice cream, crying, "I thought I looked pretty. I thought I looked good."
"Look, we know you look adorable," Mina said, sitting in her own nightgown, "And Tails, e's just complicated. Come on, let's just watch some TV, and maybe you'll feel better in the morning."
Amy smiled, "Yeah! I can call some of the other girls and we can have a girls' night out together!"
Mina cheered, "Yeah!"
"T-thank you," Nicole sniffed.
Mobius 2003
Sonic ran by Tails as he read, "Hey, you know what we need in here? A workout room or something!"
"Noted." Tails said with a smile,"I'm going to look around the ship for a while, Sonic. I don't think anything too bad is going to happen while I'm not looking." I hope.
"Eh, probably nothing much," Sonic said. "They've been quiet for a while. Probably taking the day off," he said before racing off.
Knuckles laid back next to the master emerald, sighing, "I miss home. I miss the island, and I am getting annoyed with just laying here." he gave a small yawn as he looked up at the ceiling and began to count the tiles.
Tails chuckled a bit,"A villain taking the day off... wonder what the engine room is like..."
He entered, noticing the Master Emerald and Knuckles,"Well, that's surprising..."
Knuckles raised his head, "And what brings the captain in here? Can't you see I'm contemplating?"
"Uh, contemplating what?" Tails asked, walking around to Knuckles' front.
"Everything, " Knuckles said, waving his hand in the air, "My place here. Just what all the little animals are doing on the island and if they are ok." clenching his fist, he muttered a little, "We left without even thinking about what removing the Master Emerald was going to do to my home... my friends."
"But," Knuckles waved his hand, "What does it matter? I'm just the naive idiot redhead who is overly devoted to his large green gem right."
Tails winced at that, "Knuckles, I'm sorry that we never asked you first, but we didn't have a choice!" He sighed, "We needed a power source and we're pretty much on a time limit when it comes to the Metarex." He sighed I can't believe I'm apologizing for some other me...He smiled, "But you're here, Knuckles, you're here to protect the Master Emerald, and I can't see anyone else being able to do that."
He sat down in front of him,"You're not as cool as Sonic... but if anything were to happen to him, I know I can rely on you to get us out of a jam!"
Knuckles looked over his shoulder at Tails as he sat down in front, smiling a little. He also arched his eyebrow in curiosity as he heard these words from Tails. He then let out a small smirk, "Of course, I'm not as cool as Sonic, I'm a little better." Then he added, "You really rely on me like that? I'm surprised you do. You don't usually say it."
"I don't need to." Tails said with a smile.
"Well, you know. It sometimes helps to know that. I don't exactly have his ego," Knuckles said.
Tails chuckled,"Okay, maybe that's one area you're better than Sonic in. He's my big bro, but he does have an ego..." He got up.
"Yeah, he does." Knuckles said, giving Tails a fistbump while he laid back. "And thanks for the pep talk."
"No prob!" Tails flew on out of the chamber.
He flew past Amy, who had a concerned look on her face. He stopped in mid-air,"Uh, Amy, I just want to say-"
"... The cards..." Amy muttered.
"Cards?" Tails asked,"Your tarot cards?"
Amy looked up at him,"You remembered? No one remembers my fortune-telling hobby!" She sighed,"My cards spelled a bad omen for today..."
"How bad?" gulped tails.
"I'm not sure, the cards don't tell me that much," Amy said.
Amy shot a glare at him, before nodding,"Apology accepted." She turned on her heel and walked away,"Although, I think Vanilla's gonna kill you."
Tails paused, and then nodded, "Yes," he then added under his breath, "But I appear to survive it long enough to write a message. Though..." he then began to ramble a hundred theories in his head very rapidly.
Tails flew over to the garage, where he saw multiple Tornadoes, from a steel grey one, to a gold one,"Oh, my god. This version of me is awesome." He walked to his workshop.
Inside his workshop were his usual gears, tools, and equipment. Alongside a photo of him and the green girl from before hugging. Alongside that were notes, particularly of the chaos emeralds and what could be done to improve on their power.
Tails took a look at the notes, and thought about them,"I wonder if the chaos emeralds have similar properties across universes..."
Amy stared up at the ceiling from her bed,"I'm glad someone acknowledged one of my hobbies... it seems that all anyone knows about me is my love for Sonic, nothing else..." She got up,"That's one of the reasons I've been so on edge throughout this adventure. Well, that and the fact that our world will die if we fail." She blinked,"Wait, when did Tails know I'm into fortune-telling?"
Tails put on a bracelet with a red gem on it,"The Metarex want to create forests everywhere. Must mean they're plant-based, so I'll steal an idea from Hope. A flame shield." He clenched his fist, creating a fiery shield around him,"There."
A pencil rolled from a tipped cup, hitting a small turned-over book. The book's cover read "Super forms." with a picture of sonic. As Tails looked through the book, he would see one particular page dogeared. One labeled corruption?
In the image was a blacked-out hedgehog.
"Corruption?" Tails frowned,"What could cause this?" He began reading through it,"False emeralds, severe mental stress..." He frowned, thinking about how Naugus became king, how Antoine got injured, and the roboticization of Sally,"I wonder..." He began to mutter to himself.
Elsewhere, a certain black hedgehog was brooding in a hallway on another ship. The sound of a scream entered his ears.
"ROUGE!" the black hedgehog shouted in his mind as he opened the door and began to race down the hallway. His mind hoped and prayed that his partner had just messed up and turned on the cold water again by accident. His mind also told him that this was not always the case and if so... woe be it to the person who touched her.
Slamming past a few worker bots and kicking Bokkun aside just to make himself smile, he ran towards the sound and slammed open the door.
Shadow would see Rouge with several vines wrapped around her arms and legs. The vines seemed to be coming from a large ring portal in the wall.
Rouge struggled,"I think I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going!" She let out a yelp as the vines dragged her towards the portal.
Several images flashed through his mind, those of an innocent young girl wishing him to make the world better. A failed rescue attempt and feeling helpless to stop the bullets, and the rage he felt. The difference between then and now was, there was no glass in between him and the fools who incurred his wrath. Holding out his hand, he shouted, "Chaos Spear!" and fired several bolts of light at the vines. Then he ran to grab Rouge's hand,
"Why must you remind me of that movie you showed me!"
The spears struck the vines, and some of them were being torn, but oddly, the spears seemed less effective than usual.
Rouge came closer through the portal, attempting to reach for his hand. Shadow would catch a glimpse of a figure through it.
Shadow growled, not liking his ineffectiveness. Looking to the wall, he leaped to the side and bounced off, curling into a spindash to try and cut the vines. Shaking his head at how strong they were, he made one last attempt to reach out for Rouge, his fingers lightly touching hers as she was pulled away. His red eyes looked into her blues for one second as she was pulled away into the ring portal and out of his sight.
For a long moment, he sat there, looking at where Rouge had vanished. His eyes were wide in shock at how he lost another one, another... friend. He turned his head down to look at his fingers, before clenching his hand into a fist of rage. And then-
"Sir, a part of the ship is missing," a yellow robot said to a man sitting in his chair.
"What? Oh, don't tell me that Shadow just lost it again!" Eggman said as he ran out to see a yellow streak leaving the destroyed side of the ship.
Outside was a large green planet with several tendrils coming out.
Tails hummed as he began to pull out some weiners, buns, and some ingredients. He had a little chef's hat on as he began to make some chili.
Cosmo walked by, sniffing the air, "Tails, what is that smell? Why are you cooking tonight?"
"It's chili. I got hungry while working on a thunder shield." He smiled at Cosmo,"I'm going to make some chili dogs, there was a severe lack of them in the fridge."
"Oh," Cosmo said, "Do you think anyone here likes them as much as you do?"
"Well, Sonic does." Tails said,"He likes them really spicy. Me, I like putting mint leaves on them." He looked at Cosmo,"Uh, this is gonna sound weird, but, do you eat food? You look plant-based, so I don't know if you work on normal plant logic and photosynthesize and I don't wanna sound insensitive by offering you one-" He gasped,"I eat mint! is that offensive to you? I'm so sorry!"
"Yes, I do eat," Cosmo said, "Sometimes I just sit back and let the sunlight hit me in my room and take in oxygen, but I can also digest. For the most part, all of my internal organs are much like animals..." she blushed at this and shook her head, "Um, that is...let me change the subject. No, I am not offended by that, though the people who lived on the moon of my homeworld would."
"I... see." He began to boil the dogs,"Well, uh, you want one?" He began to blush Darn it, she is cute!
Cosmo nodded and took one in her hand and took a small bite. She smiled and let out a little burp, "You're right. It is a little spicy. Though, I never saw Sonic eat one."
"..." Tails thought for a moment,"Oh." He said with a frown,"I see." He tapped a finger on the desk,"Sonic?" He called out,"Wanna try something new?" He looked at Cosmo,"I'll explain later."
Cosmo smiled and nodded, walking away with the dog in hand.
Sonic raced by a few seconds later, "Yeah?"
Tails handed him the chili dog,"Try this."
Sonic took the chili dog in hand. He remembered the nice hot dog that he had that one day when he was constantly running thanks to Eggman's cup. Eating it quickly, he opened his eyes and felt a euphoria, his eyes were mesmerized by the taste
"Savor it, Sonic, it is your destiny." Tails whispered.
Sonic, with eyes wide in euphoria, nodded as he took his next bite.
Tails grinned,"Good."
Amy walked down the hall,"I guess I should apologize for threatening the little guy... this is probably a wake-up call for me-" She then heard a portal opening. She spun around, hammer in hand before several vines wrapped around her,"Sonic, hel-"
A shadowy figure watched Knuckles within the Master Emerald chamber.
Knuckles lightly snored, resting next to the gem. Then he opened his eye a little, turning to the direction of the footsteps. Getting up, he asked, "You aren't one of the crew. Your feet sound different. Who are you?"
"Very observant, Knuckles." The figure moved into sight, revealing a white echidna with black eyes staring at him. A long black cape covered his body.
"A...another Echidna?" Knuckles asked as he got up. For a moment, he looked over his shoulder to the Master Emerald. A calm feeling in his heart told him that Tikal was still inside. Turning back he asked, "How? I'm the only one I've ever seen."
As Knuckles asked this, he stepped back and clenched his white gloves tight, showing his spikes.
"In this universe, yes." The other echidna said, a smirk coming across his face,"But others exist on alternate realities. For example, in my reality, our race is filled with zealots who hid in Echidnaopolis." He walked towards the Master Emerald,"I am Dr. Finitevus.
Knuckled jumped in front of him and held out his hand, "They also seem very arrogant if they name their own city after their whole species. But I don't know how your Knuckles act, f you have one, but I don't let very many animals come close to the Master Emerald unless I trust them."
Dr. Finitevus closed his eyes with a smile, lowering his hand,"Well, my Knuckles was far more of a warrior. Hot-headed, yes, but unlike you, he was more successful in defeating people like me." He opened his eyes again,"Tell me, how does it feel to be worthless?"
"Worthless?" Knuckles asked, eyes narrowing, "I am not worthless! I am a warrior too!"
"Oh please." Dr. Finitevus said,"It's funny seeing Tails give you that little pep talk when in reality you've never won a fight in such a long time." HE touched a railing,"Sonic is always there to be the brave hero, while you are just cannon fodder. All of you are, really."
Knuckles just watched him, eyes trained on him with precision and determination. He looked at Fintecvious touched the railing, before looking back at him, "What do you mean that they are cannon fodder? We're more important than that." He shook his head, trying to get images of his past losses out of his head.
Finitevus shook his head,"Are you? Are you more important? That brat is more important than you are right now." He looked at Knuckles, "That is the purpose of this experiment."
Knuckles walked around Fintevious, keeping him in sight and protecting his gem.
"I want to see just how much that hedgehog cares about people other than that kid." Dr. Finitevus said.
Tails' ears perked up to the sound of screaming. He then flew off, before Cosmo came into view, running from some vines, "Cosmo!" He grabbed her and activated the flame shield. Each vine struck the shield with a horrifying shriek.
Cosmo held Tails close as the fox whispered in her ear, "Stay close to me. I don't want the shield to burn you as well."
Cosmo gasped, and then wrapped her arms around Tail's neck. Nodding softly, she said, "Thak you Tails. Those things took Cream and Cheese. Luckily they were asleep."
Tails nodded,"They don't need any more trauma..." He whispered. He backed up and sped off, his tails spinning as fast as they could.
"You can't stop what's happening as long as I'm in this room with you." Dr. Finitevus said,"Once she takes them, she will help in the creation of Sonic's dark transformation."
"So that's what you two are after. You're both insane," Knuckles said, growling a little. His eyes narrowed and then said, "Problem with your assumption though: You think that you can keep me here!" he then launched out with a right hook aimed at the face.
Dr. Finitevus threw up a small ring portal in front of Knuckle's fist. He threw up another one, sending that same fist into Knuckle's stomach,"Yes, I can keep you here. And it isn't two of us..."
Tails looked around the ship, before the sound of "Laser!" Entered his ears. A large beam blasted Tails out of his shield and sent him and Cosmo flying back. He slowly got up, noticing a black creature walking toward him. He had red stripes on his body. Black sclera surrounded golden eyes.
Tails winced,"A Shadow-knockoff?" He asked.
"Hmph," the creature looked at him,"Name's Eclipse. Not that it'll matter much to you in a bit." He held his hand out,"You're a very tricky fox, surprisingly. How you ended up being one of the hardest ones to capture I don't know."
Tails snarled,"You're not getting anyone else!"
"I beg to differ..." Eclipse rushed at him.
Knuckles let out a grunt as his own fist hit him in the gut hard. Wheezing a little from being winded, he jumped to the side of a wall to climb up it, "There are more of your little party? Where are they?!" he asked before leaping off the wall to glide and send a right hook into Fintevius face.
Matching Knuckles right fist, another gloved hand punched Eclipse as he charged at Tails. Frowning, and glaring daggers at him, was Shadow, "Where... is... SHE?" he asked wincing a little in pain.
"Shadow!?" Tails said, holding Cosmo behind him.
Eclipse stood there, holding his cheek with a smile,"Hello, Shadow." He looked at him,"I'm afraid I can't tell you right now. I'm on a mission here. Now, if I so happen to kill you along the way, that would be great, but I prefer to savor my meals." He grinned.
"Do you know this guy?" Tails asked.
Finitevus held up another ring that warped Knuckles to behind him,"Now now, don't try to spoil things Knuckles."
Knuckles let out a grunt as he spun around in the air and landed on his bottom. Shaking his head he ran out with three straight punches, growling in frustration as each of his hits went into a portal and ended up almost hitting him. The last blow hit him in the face, knocking him back and cutting his bottom lip, "I don't know-"
"Who he is. But I saw him attacking you and that girl," Shadow said, charging up a dim spear, "And I assumed that he might know where Rouge went since the plants followed him." he then stepped in front of Tails and leaped up.
"Chaos SPEAR!" he shouted, throwing three dim spears at Eclipse. Landing on the ground he looked at the energy as it glowed dimly.
Eclipse laughed as the spear hit him,"Useless."
Tails gasped,"He's weakening you!"
"Indeed. I was built to fight you, Shadow the Hedgehog." Eclipse said, running towards him and punching him in the face.
Finitevus walked towards him,"It's useless. You are weak, Knuckles."
"I'm-"
"Not going to be taken down by this man," Shadow said, racing out on his shoes. Leaping up, he tried a mid-air roundhouse into the face. "If you were built to beat me, then your creator is going to have a lot of work ahead of him. Now, where is she!"
Tails shook his head, "He isn't-"
"-going to win this way," Fintevus said, smirking as he stood behind Knuckles as he collapsed to the ground panting.
Knuckles looked up at Finteavus, narrowing his eyes. Then tears began to fill his lids as he said, "Y-you're right!" he cried. Putting his head down to the ground, he began to beat it as he cried, "I'm weak! I'm pathetic! Compared to Sonic, I'm just the meat shield. Someone who distracts the bigger threat while waiting for the big hero!"
Whimpers came from his throat, "I-I always thought I was good at this. I thought I was good at something. But I'm not, am I. I'm a failure. A stupid meathead failure who loses and never keeps the Emerald safe."
Dr. Finitevus looked surprised at this,"Oh my goodness... you're actually crying." He chuckled as he came closer.
"I'm a naive loser who doesn't deserve an ounce of respect," Knuckles pounded the ground some more, "And no one does!"
Knuckles watched as the shadow came over him, "But you know what I know?" he asked, before turning around and quickly giving Finteveaus an uppercut into the face, "We echidnas seem to be naturally naive."
Shadow was blown back by one of Eclipse's punches. Bruises littered his frame as he continued to stand in front of the young couple. Panting, he tried to get back up, wincing from the pain, "You're good. I'm impressed," he said with a smirk. Taking a look back at the couple, he gave a little nod, trying to convince them to leave.
Tails looked at Shadow, and frowned,"Don't die again." He grabbed Cosmo and ran off towards the docking bay.
He neared one of the Tornadoes, "I'm going to put into one of these, then I'm going back!"
Cosmo looked at Tails, "But Tails, do you really think you can beat him?"
"..." Tails smiled and gave a thumbs-up, "Of course!:
Cosmo smiled admiringly at his confidence. Then she looked at him, "You don't die either. I can't stand to-"
"Lose here, not now," Knuckles said, shaking his head as he walked back to the master emerald, "Now, are you going to stand down, or am I going to have to take you down."
Dr. Finitevus wiped some blood from his cheek,"I'm impressed. So you don't need the hedgehog to save you." He smirked,"Well, I see no reason to keep bothering you, my job here is almost done."
"Oh no, you aren't leaving that easy!" Knuckles said, running at him with a right cross.
Dr. Finitevus smirked as he threw a ring portal behind him,"Yes, I am." He quickly left-.
Tails flew down the hall where Shadow was,"Where's Sonic when you nee-"
Shadow was thrown down in front of him by a huge armored brute,"Shadow!" Tails shouted.
Eclipse's voice came from the brute,"Don't worry, he's not dead... but you'll soon be."
Shadow weakly looked up and groaned, "R-run you..."
Tails stood next to him," Sorry, but no!"
The large monster growled,"My, how foolishly brave of you!" He slammed his fist down on the ground where Tails was.
Tails was, however, flying above Eclipse with Shadow in hand,"Too slow?"
Shadow was too far gone to even get a small quip in and fainted. Behind the monster, a blue blur struck him from behind before skidding o a halt in front of Tails, "Sorry I was late, Tails." he smirked. "Hey. what happened to Shadow?"
"That guy weakens him apparently." Tails said, pointing to Eclipse," Also he's a jerk." He then frowned,"And where were you anyway!?"
Eclipse snarled,"I was hoping not to deal with you." He winced,"I need to leave..." He pulled out a ring and threw it into the air before going through it with four little creatures following him.
"Hey you know me,"Sonic said with a shrug, "A hero like me always arrives late and when I need to." there was a small confident chuckle in his voice when he said it. Looking back a the portal, he asked, "They can do that?"
"Yes, they can," Knuckles said, walking in and shrugging off his pain with a twirl of his arm.
"Knuckles-"
"Where were you?" Knuckles asked.
"You know ar-"
"No," Knuckles shouted, pointing his finger against his chest, "You don't get to pull that off this time. We needed you. We needed you to help stop whatever it was that was kidnapping our friends and you weren't there! Like you always do! You run around and let us handle the emergency and wait until we are almost dead before you come in!"
"Hey. I'm not the guy who sticks around. You know that! This place has been suffocating me since we came here," Sonic argued back.
"And where has that gotten us? We're missing several friends, that bastard is knocked out," Knuckles pointed to Shadow.
"F-u...ck you," Shadow moaned.
"And we only have Tails and Cosmo. What do you have to say for yourself," Knuckles asked.
"You haven't been doing much either," Sonic said calmly. "And besides, Tails can find them. We just need to-"
"Pray that we can get there. Because I have a feeling they are in trouble," Knuckles said. "At least Cosmo is safe."
Tails let out a sigh,"Can you two save the arguing until we figure out how to save everyone!?" He ran to a console on the wall,"Cosmo, I think they're gone..." He frowned,"Cosmo?"
A familiar voice to Tails spoke,"I'm afraid she can't come to the phone right now. Would you like to leave a message?"
"Starline!" Tails snarled.
Starline's voice crackled,"... No... you can't possibly have followed me! No matter, I've done my job here." He left with a click.
"Ok, who was that?" asked Sonic.
Knuckles shook his head, "Probably related to that white Echidna I fought earlier."
Tails paled and then stared at Knuckles,"Knux... was his name Dr. Finitevus?"
"Yes," Knuckles said, looking at Tail confused, "But how did you know?
Tails turned away with a sigh,"Okay, long story short, I'm not your Tails. I'm a different Tails stuck in your Tails' body. I didn't tell you this before because this is only my second time doing this multiversal body transferring thing, and the last thing you guys needed was an additional headache." He sighed,"And the last thing I expected was getting attacked by multiversal threats." He looked at Knuckles," Dr. Finitevus is from my universe. He manipulated my Knuckles into becoming a god known as Enerjak. As for Dr. Starline and Eclipse? Those I don't know! I met Starline in a previous universe, but I have no idea who he is or where he came from! All I know is that he's evil enough to want to destroy an island with a floating city!"
"So summing up, we are dealing with a bunch of jerks," Sonic said.
Knuckles looked at Tails, "In your world, Enerjak was real? But he was just a legend."
"So why does he want our friends?" asked Sonic.
"So was Chaos." Tails pointed out. He crossed his arms and frowned,"I don't know why they want our friends."
Chris' voice came over the intercom,"Uh, guys, there are vines covering my door."
Tails clicked it off,"Good, the kid's safe." He looked at Sonic,"Did any of those vines come after you?"
Sonic could only shake his head.
Tails frowned,"It's probably to get to you, Sonic." Tails frowned,"Finitevus just wanted to mess with Knuckles in particular, Eclipse was meant to slow down Shadow... and I was too much of a hassle for them to nab." He said with a slight smirk,"Of course, now we need to actually get to them. If I only knew how!"
Then a ring portal opened up near them, showing a lush green forest as a female voice said,"Over here!"
"Oh look, convenient ring portal." Tails said.
"Right, let's do this!" Sonic said, racing ahead in a blur.
Knuckles looked at the fallen Shadow, turned, and made his way to move. A gloved hand stopped him, "I'm going."
"You're hurt Shadow," Knuckles said.
"I'm going," Shadow said with a growl as he walked away.
Tails looked at Knuckles,"Yeah, I doubt you could stop him." He smiled as he flew through the ring.
Knuckles rolled his eyes, "What is with speedsters and being hard headed."
Nicole woke up and was taken outside by Amy, Mina, and a yellow cat by the name of Honey. The three traveled through the city of New Mobotropolis. They began to shop for friends and enjoy the various sights. Nicole happily tried out the new attires programmed by Honey to look pretty.
They also visited some food courts to try out the latest foods before going to a small game store to try out some games and play a dnd session with some geeks. They then walked through the park talking to each other and watching as the Tails from that world was leaving an electronics store with bags of equipment.
Mina then took them out to Karaoke, singing and dancing together for most of the rest of the afternoon.
Sonic ran alone, his mind thinking about what Knuckles said. The words played out again and again, with the emphasis on his failure to save his friends getting louder and louder. Shaking his head, he ran on.
Knuckles frowned, "Any ideas on how to track them?"
Tails took out a small device and looked it over,"I'm not sure. Did this version of me manage to give you all trackers?"
Blaze the Cat looked over Tails' shoulder,"Perhaps we should go to that large structure to the north?"
"Good idea, Blaze." Tails said.
...
"Blaze!?" Tails shouted, almost dropping his tool.
"Hello, Tails." Blaze said with a little wave,"Sonic just kind of... ran by me."
"Yeah, this version of Sonic does that." Tails said.
"... Version?" Blaze asked.
"I'll explain in a bit." Tails muttered.
Knuckles climbed to a high tree as Tails and Blaze asked, not noticing the purple cat in the light purple uniform talking. After climbing the high tree, he saw a building in the distance. Narrowing his eyes and nodding, he jumped and glided back down, "Tails, I think I saw-who is that?" he asked.
"So, you are a Tails who knows me in another Tails' body and I'm currently in a universe where Sonic doesn't know me yet." Blaze said.
"Pretty much." Tails sighed,"Look, I know it's odd..." He then noticed Knuckles,"Oh, this is Blaze, she's a friend. What are you doing here anyway?"
Blaze waved slowly to Knuckles,"I'm going after someone who stole one of my Sol Emeralds."
"That happens a lot, doesn't it?" Tails asked.
"I'm trying to get a better security system," Blaze muttered, holding her arm.
Knuckles rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "When you find one, let me know. It would help me greatly."
Shadow stood on a tree branch, watching the conversation below. As he brooded in the shadows of the trees, he sighed and rubbed his arm. Looking at the bruise, he frowned, still thinking of Eclipse and of Rouge. He then leaned back, waiting and thinking.
"Oh, you are also a guardian of the emeralds?" Blaze asked.
"Oh, yeah, you've never officially met him, have you?" Tails muttered,"That's so weird..."
Knuckles nodded, "Guardian of the Master Emerald. What are Sol Emeralds?"
"They are much like your Chaos Emeralds. Seven of them. If I don't get them back, my world dies."
"Then we should hurry," Knuckles said, turning around and looking back, "Any idea what is that building?"
Shadow looked down and asked, "Your bigger question should be if this is still our world or another."
"Surprised you were listening and trusting," Knuckles said.
"She's the only one who was already here," Shadow said. " And right now I need someone who can help."
Knuckles sighed, and nodded, "Right."
"And besides...that fox trusts her," Shadow said.
Blaze frowned,"As far as I know, we appear to be in your world." She looked down at the ground, noticing several tree roots covering the ground,"I can't run as fast if the ground is wood, my fire powers would burn it up."
Tails railgrinded on the tree roots, frowning,"We're getting closer to that large palace up ahead. And Sonic's not here for some reason...
Shadow grinded alongside Tails, narrowing his eyes. He tried to ignore the look of fear on Rouge's face or the creeping feeling of failure that trailed along his spines. Instead, he pushed ahead, allowing himself to grind on the roots. Looking back he watched as Blaze found her own way to travel. Knuckles, on the other hand, had to comment, "You never noticed, but he tends to do that in this world. Always leaving on ahead and leaving us to deal with the hard problems until he can beat them when we're almost dead. He's very unreliable."
Blaze was hovering in the air on her flames,"Indeed?"
Tails frowned,"I at least expect him to be there before us. He is supposed to be the fastest thing alive."
Blaze looked at Tails,"Perhaps something is keeping him?"
Knuckles bit his lip in anger, holding back another insult in his head. Instead, he looked up ahead at Shadow as he grinded just up ahead of them, "Are you alright? You are a little slow."
"I'm fine!" Shadow lied, feeling the pain in his legs and arm. The battle wounds still stinging as he skated, This is nothing. It's nothing. I'm fine.
Maria coughed a little getting to her knees. Shadow walked up to her and placed his hand on her back, "A-are you ok?"
She smiled a little, wiping her lips, "I'm fine Shadow. This is nothing really."
"Just focus on the mission."
"You hedgehogs!" Knuckles growled before looking to Blaze, "So, do you know why you had been chosen? I just remember that I had o protect the emeralds."
"As far as I know, the Sol Emeralds were guarded by the royal family. My mother before me guarded these emeralds, like her mother before her." Blaze said.
Sonic ran through the woods, leaping to the trees, and then grinded along the branches to increase his speed. For a moment, he began to remember his and Knuckles' argument. With a frown, he said, "He doesn't get it." Looking ahead at the pseudo-track that lay before him, he said, "Besides, no time o have a crisis! Time for saving people now!" he then ran ahead, arms behind him as he ran along the ground and rolled into a ball.
Using his spindash, he cut into a log, rolled through the hole, and then ran up a tree at the end. He then spun around at the top, launching himself at the next three trees before landing and running towards the building in the distance, "Hey guys!" he shouted as he ran in.
Tails looked back at Sonic,"Hey, welcome to the party! That's Blaze up there, by the way."
Sonic waved hi to Blaze as she landed on the ground in front of him. Turning to look back at Shadow, he raised a finger to ask but Shadow glared back before leaning against the tree. Knuckles ignored him as he walked to the black hedgehog. Sonic then turned to look at Tails, "So, do we split up, or do I get to scout ahead?"
"We're not splitting up." Tails said with a frown,"We need to stick together just in case Starline, Dr. F, or whoever's behind this sends something else after us!" He looked at Sonic,"There's a high chance this person's after you specifically. What he or she has against you, I don't know unless it's Dr. Eggman."
"Personally, I hate the fact that he seems to ruin my plans, or goes near an emerald without telling me," An all too familiar voice said.
Blaze's hand burst into flames, while Tails snarled,"Speak of the Eggman. Are you behind any of this?"
Eggman narrowed his eyes through his goggles and shook his head, "Now Tails, think about it. Why would I capture one of my own teammates? I am just as curious as you are. I even have some of my badniks look through it to see for an entrance. And tell your cat friend to turn it off! It's hot enough around here.
Blaze glared at him some more.
"Oh, really, Doc?" Tails snapped at him,"You just happen to show up here, ready to do whatever to help us?"
"Well of course!" Eggman said with a laugh. "Am I not the type of guy who would offer help when it benefits me?"
"You have the last part right," Sonic snarked.
"... Do you know how to get into that palace." Tails said,"And if you turn out to be a traitor, so help me, I will punch you in the face so many times you'll gain Fennecaphobia."
Two robots in the background and away from the scary hedgehog and the scary cat whispered, "Is that even a thing?"
"Also, stay five feet away from me, and we'll be fine." Tails growled, before storming off towards the palace.
"With pleasure," Eggman said floating ahead as he used a locator.
Knuckles took a few steps back to Shadow and walked with him. Looking at some nearby leaves, he grabbed some and began to squeeze it into a juice with his bear hand, "Shadow, stop."
"In case you didn't-" Shadow gave a small yelp and a shiver as Knuckles rubbed some of the salves on his limbs. "What?"
"You were injured, and you needed help. So I decided to be nice," Knuckles said, before turning around to follow the little band into the palace. "And don't thank me. I know you aren't one to say it."
Shadow looked down at the healing leaves as he felt less pain in his body, and then turned to look back at Knuckles. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and continued to walk. He looked around the palace, interested in the greenery and the way that the place seemed fuzed with the natural surroundings. It was if the plants were the building and never disturbing the natural area around them.
"She's that worth it?" asked Knuckles disbelieving.
"Huh?"
"That bat girl." Knuckles asked. "She is worth that much to you? I know why we would move the heavens for our friends, but you never seem the kind that would give live for a friend."
"Please Shadow, give them a chance to be happy."
"We must give our lives to combat them. Thank you for helping Shadow"
Shadow looked at Knuckles with no emotion as he asked, "I do what I do to respect the memories of those in the past. If I just happen to help others, then fine."
Knuckles nodded, "So she is like that."
"What?" Shadow asked.
"Nothing, just you spew the same reasons I say when I help them," Knuckles snarked.
"He's rubbing off on you," Shadow said, frowning before walking ahead.
Knuckles paused, "Did... did... you just quip?"
"I remarked, there is a difference," Shadow said.
Sonic tapped his feet as he followed, grumbling to himself.
Tails stepped back with him,"Too slow for you?"
"Ya think?"
"Look, when we get there, I promise I'll let you run all you want." Tails said with a chuckle.
Blaze frowned at Eggman leading them, before looking at Shadow,"So willing to work with your enemies to save your friends. Hm." She smiled to herself.
Shadow looked up at her and frowned.
She blinked a few times before looking away with a blush,"I was staring..."
They soon arrived at a large golden palace covered in tree branches and roots. At the front entrance was a certain platypus in a purple shirt. He smiled at them,"Ah, our esteemed guests have arrived." He bowed,"And they brought dear Dr. Eggman as well! I am Dr. Starline, your introduction to our little soiree for the evening."
"Soiree?" asked Eggman as he looked at Starline.
Sonic playfully did a talking hand with a bored look, "Where are they?"
"I will take you to them, don't worry Sonic." Starline indicated behind him,"We have some guests for your other friends to meet first. Not you, Doctor, you are special." He smiled at Eggman.
"Oh, I am special, why thank you," Eggman said with a smile. "Now to be sure...they won't be harmed too much?"
Shadow looked at Knuckles as if waiting for a cue to fight.
Tails stared at Eggman when he said that, Did this Eggman lose his spine or something?
Blaze blinked several times, not believing what she heard.
Starline smirked,"Oh, they'll be just fine." He turned,"Follow me." He walked forward,"This isn't a palace, but an entryway towards a tunnel leading into the center of this planet."
Tails looked at him,"Wait, the core!?"
"This is no normal planet, Tails, it is artificial, created by a Seedrian as a way to transport herself from place to place. " Starline explained,"Ah, the first big room is coming."
"What's inside?" asked Sonic
"A duel between two titans." Starline opened the door.
Tails gasped. It was a large square room with another door at the end. Four pillars dotted the corners of the wooden room. The floor was circular as if it was a tree. On top of one pillar was Eclipse, smiling down at them. Leaning on another was a large purple walrus with a beard and wearing a parka.
Tails looked at the walrus,"An aged Rotor?"
The walrus scoffed,"I am not my son, boy. He has strayed too far from what I wanted him to be."
Tails frowned,"I'm sorry, a jerk version of Rotor's dad."
"What, you wanted him to be a penguin?" asked Sonic, and then looked at him, "Or are you upset at him for being something else."
Shadow looked at Eclipse and stepped forward. Knuckles put his hand out and looked at him with a subtle look. Shadow pulled away and nodded before saying, "Don't slow me down."
Knuckles smirked as he stepped out, "Speak for yourself. I'll help after I take him down."
The walrus growled at Sonic for a second.
Starline laughed as he led the others to the other door,"Have fun!"
"Oh this is going to be fun," Sonic said, looking at the other two. Smiling, he tried not to tell them not to die, just letting his confidence in them take over.
Starline lead them down another hallway towards another door,"And through this door, is-"
The door burst down, revealing a large red robot,"Dr. Eggman!" a female voice said, causing the robot to bow,"My lord and master."
Starline sighed,"Couldn't have waited, could you?"
"And you are?" Eggman smiled
"Oh, excuse me sir, I didn't introduce myself, I am Thunderbolt, your most loyal, most wonderful, most effectiv-"
Starline coughed,"Ahem!"
Thunderbolt leaned down at him,"What!? I am prostrating myself before my lord and master!"
"As much as I like prostrating before the most glorious doctor in the world, we have a job to do," Starline said.
Tails stared at Blaze and pointed to this with a slackjawed expression.
Blaze shook her head, "I don't get fanboys."
"Are they gonna start a con?" asked Sonic.
"ONE DAY!" Starline shouted, before straightening himself out,"Anyway, can you take care of the cat, I know it's last minute, but she popped out of nowhere, so..."
Thunderbolt looked at Blaze,"Of course!" She held out her hand at Blaze, firing a large thunderball.
Tails grabbed Blaze and flew out of the way,"I'm going to help you!"
Blaze looked up at him,"You're not going with Sonic?"
"You'll burn the ground if you fight, you need my help more. Besides, we never fought together!"
Blaze paused, thought, began to think, and then said, "That's weird we haven't fought together."
Starline led Sonic and Eggman(Plus his two lackeys, who were now relieved to be rid of the scary cat and hedgehog) out of that situation,"And finally, this." He led them to a large road that led downwards with several spiky tree branches in the middle of it,"Down there is the core, where you'll find your friends. But I can't have you do this alone. Metal Sonic?"
"Metal Sonic?" the lackey shouted, scared out of their robo-minds.
Eggman smiled as he saw Metal begin to slowly lower from the ceiling.
Sonic merely crossed his arm cockily and shook his head.
Starline snapped his fingers,"I'm itching to watch you have a race with this one. Me and the good Doctor will watch from a safe room. Refreshments are available"
Metal landed and wagged his finger at Sonic.
Eggman laughed and smiled at Starline, "Oh you do know me, don't you?"
"Of course! I admire you greatly!" Starline said with a wide grin. He began to lead Eggman to a lavish room with a couch and several screens in front of it.
Shadow raced out towards Eclipse, running up the pillar and then jumping to perform a roundhouse kick at his head. While below, Knuckles walked to the big walrus and performed an uppercut to his jaw.
The walrus took a step back and adjusted his jaw before punching at Knuckles
Eclipse took a step back,"You know how this is going to end, Shadow." He held up his hand, and a little creature came to him,"Sonic Cannon!" His left arm became a cannon that fired an ear-shattering sound wave at Shadow.
Knuckles blocked the fist with his own, causing shockwaves to erupt. Shadow collapsed to his knees as the soundwaves hit him. Shaking his head, he got up, woozily.
Eclipse ran up and kicked Shadow in the stomach,"It's useless to fight with me, Shadow! Give up."
The walrus, Tundra, uppercut Knuckles.
Shadow fought back the urge to vomit from the punch to the gut. getting up, he went for three hooks aimed at Eclipse's chest and stomach, "I DON'T RUN!" he growled, ignoring the pain and the weakening feeling he was experiencing. Shaking his head, he stepped back, unable to see if his hits struck.
Knuckles wiped his lips and then slammed the ground with his fist.
Tundra stood his ground, punching his fists together, creating ice around his hands before punching at Knuckles.
"Laser!" Another creature attached itself to Eclipse's right arm and then he blasted Shadow.
"Ice? That's just-OOF!" Knuckles shouted as he was knocked back with two blows to the chest.
Shadow jumped to the side and raced out at Eclipse. Jumping up he tried for a jump kick.
Tundra began to breathe in, before exhaling a blast of cold at Knuckles.
"Armor!" Another creature flew to Eclipse's body, creating a suit of blackened armor to deflect Shadow's kick.
Shadow delivered a few blows into the armor, wincing with each attack. Knuckles began to take a knee, shivering from the cold air as it hit him.
Eclipse kicked Shadow in the stomach,"You're going to lose, Shadow."
Tundra ran over and punched Knuckles.
Shadow looked up at him struggling to get back up. Saying nothing, he simply began to walk forward. Eclipse sighed and then roundhoused him off the pillar, "Foolish little coward. Suicide is never the right thing."
Shadow let out a grunt as he was flung back towards the ground and into Knuckles, sending them both flying back into the wall. After a few moments of silence, the two began to slowly get back onto their feet, with Knuckles helping Shadow up by his shoulder. Turning to look at the black hedgehog, Knuckles said with a grunt, "They are a little more than I expected."
"He's right, every time I get near him, I get weak," Shadow groaned and looked back towards his opponent as he lowered himself to the ground, "If I could break the armor..."
"Same boat, the walrus is too strong, I can't break through," Knuckles said, shaking his head. " I need your power, and you need mine."
"They aren't stupid," Shadow remarked, "The moment we try to switch they'll switch back before we can get a hit in."
"So," Knuckles said, "You got the brains, and I got the tricks. I made the hedgehog's life a living hell when we first met with every trick in the book."
"Did you now," Shadow chuckled, "After we're done here, you'll have to share your war stories."
Knuckles smirked as he stood up to his full height and held out his fist, "I'll even buy ya a drink, Mate."
"I'm trusting you to keep me covered," Shadow said, holding out his fist, "So don't slow me down."
"And you don't fail me," Knuckles said, performing a fist bump
Shadow broke off from the fist bump and skated towards Eclipse, jumping out of the way as Knuckles slammed the ground behind him to cause a small earthquake. While leaping out of the air, Shadow spun for a few moments and threw chaos spears at Tundra, cutting into his sides.
While Eclipse prepared a laser, he was sucker punched by a fist leading into an uppercut by Knuckles. He then leaped onto the side of a wall, climbing up it, and then launched himself to the falling Shadow to grab his hand in mid glide. Spinning around, he threw Shadow at Tundra, watching as his projectile turned himself into a spindash and striking into Tundra's back. Bouncing back into Knuckles' open hand, he did the strike twice before landing on the other side.
Shadow looked up to watch as Knuckles did a spinning dive into Eclipse's stomach, landing on the other side of the room. Looking back up, he looked over Eclipse's shoulder and back at Shadow. There were no words uttered, just a cocky question of, "Tired yet, Captain Emo?"
Shadow shot back with a grin that said, "Just getting started, 2nd best."
Eclipse began snarling as his body began to mutate into a more monstrous form. With a roar, he ran towards Knuckles.
Tundra breathed heavily,"That... was dirty..."
"Don't whine just because you fought of the coolest ones here," Shadow said as skated towards Tundra, dodging some of the icicles that were blown his way. One of his quick moves got caught by the icicles and froze it still. Looking up, he watched as Tundra stepped over and slammed both his fists into his shoulders. Shadow let out a grunt of pain and watched as he tried to hammer his shoulders again. Shadow blocked the hit and smirked, "Losing strength?" he asked, panting a little as he pushed the shoulder off and [unched Tundra hard in the stomach hard.
Breaking out of the trap by chopping it, he jumped with a rising Spin attack, and then in mid-air, he threw a few chaos spears into his back.
Knuckles thumbed his nose, looking at the monstrous form. Smiling cockily, he rolled ino a ball towards the monster form, and then sprang up with a double punch straight into the groin. He then spun around to deliver another hard right into the groin, "The male's greatest design flaw."
Tundra groaned as he toppled over.
Eclipse's eyes widened as he held himself,"Ow..." before toppling over.
Shadow and Knuckles landed away from their opponents. The two looked at each other and gave each other a fist bump before spinning around, back to each other, and leaning up against each other with arms crossed.
Blaze had knocked Thunderbolt into a large circular wooden room. Tails held onto her and flew in to look at the robotic armor,"I can see someone piloting that. If I can get close to it, I could disable the armor!" He then dodged an electrical blast,"If we could survive."
Blaze smirked, "Jus get me close and I could make the metal a little bit hotter. Until then, I'll give you a minute to find your opening." she then ran at the bot, before leaping up into the air and threw a few fireballs at the bot to distract it.
Thunderbolt let out a screech,"You annoying cat!" She grabbed at her.
Tails flew around to her back, noticing some minor machinery in it. He flew towards her.
"I see you!" Thunderbolt spun around with an electrified hand, causing Tails to fly back with a yelp.
Blaze leaped up in front of the hit, and took the hit, screaming in pain from the electricity. As she hit the ground, she twirled in a circle around one of the feet of the bot, tripping it up. Then she rammed a fire kick into the bots Achilles tendon.
This caused the robot to take a knee,"Darn it, why did I make this robot have tendons!?" Thunderbolt said.
"Maybe you're as prone to creating weaknesses as Dr. Eggman?" Tails said with a cock of his head.
"DO NOT INSULT EGGMAN! EVERYTHING HE DOES IS MAGNIFICENT!"
"But his robots do have a lot of weaknesses." Tails said.
"Yeah, they kinda do..." Thunderbolt muttered,"But they are still works of art!"
Blaze jumped in the air with a twirl, letting her rise with a fire tornado, "And you know what they say about art. It's all in the eye of the beholder. And I can tell you have poor taste in art. His, is like if someone with a giant ego made it." she then landed on the back o burn it.
Tails looked at her,"Still working on the one-liners?"
Thunderbolt let out a yell.
Blaze crossed her arms behind her back and looked away with a cute blush, "I... I tried. Marine keeps telling me to get a new book."
"It's okay..." Tails flew up and patted her shoulder.
He noticed steam coming from Thunderbolt's armor,"If we keep hitting her with more flames... she might be forced out of that thing instead."
Blaze smiled, "Just get her attention."
Tails nodded as he flew up towards her.
Thunderbolt yelled out,"Ah, annoying fox!"
Blaze began to do a figure eight under the bot, causing the flames to slowly increase beneath. After a few dances and moves, she stepped back, "Oh, by the way. Eggman is a complete moron who wouldn't know how to make a good bot.
"WHAT!?" There was an explosion as Tails landed next to Blaze.
Smoke emanated from the robot,"Now we can see what she really looks like!"
A shadowy figure emerged,"So... you want to see what I look like?" She began to laugh. The smoke cleared as it revealed a yellow chinchilla with two cables on her head. She wore an orange shirt with a green furry collar and a pair of grey suspenders.
Tails stared at her for a minute," She's..."
She only came up to Tails' tummy.
"Adorable," Blaze said, sitting down and petting the little rodent, "Excuse me, little girl, are you sure you were old enough to pilot this?
Thunderbolt's eye twitched as she charged with electricity,"Little girl!? I'm 23!"
"23?"
"Yes! I'm just short!" Thunderbolt began to charge even more,"But now that I'm out, I will show you my power!"
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Blaze said.
"OF COURSE!"
"In spite of the fact that you are surrounded by a pyromancer and the most intelligent fox you ever met?"
"Yes!"
Blaze sighed, "Shame, I was hoping I wouldn't have to play, 'fire cat vs electric mouse.'" she then leaped up to do a roundhouse into the face.
This sent Thunderbolt flying into the wall, knocking her out.
"...I do hope Knuckles and Shadow didn't have an epic battle. I'm not one to be jealous but..."
3...
Metal Sonic revved up next to his organic counterpart
2...
Wind blows between them
1...
Sonic began to peel out as the green light showed on. Racing forward as the road began to spiral down towards the core, he took a moment to look over his shoulder back at Metal. He widened his eyes when he saw how fast the robot began to catch up. Letting out a chuckle, he rolled into a ball to pick up speed and increase his agility. Bouncing up from his roll, he began to grind on the side of the ramps.
Metal went over to his side, black energy coming over him.
"Special attack? Are you sure you want to pull that r just run?" Sonic snarked as he leaped off the rail and began to run, backward. For a few moments, he ran backward and then put his thumb to his nose and make a mocking gesture with his fingers. Turning around, he took off in another quick blur.
Metal sped up, holding his hands out to cover himself in an electrical barrier.
Sonic just raced on, not noticing the barrier
Metal cocked his head. He flew through a thorny pillar.
Sonic then looked behind him, and then jogged back behind metal for a few seconds, "Just wanted to give you a slim hope to think you are winning," he said, before revving up and taking off again in a blur, causing a sonic boom to erupt behind metal
Metal narrowed his eye lights,"... I DO NOT HOPE." He sped forward, yellow electricity surrounding him.
"Ah, so you're yella aren't you?" Sonic said, running backward. "Ain't an insult you know. Tails is yellow and he's cute."
Metal turned to him,"IS YELLOW NOT THE COLOR OF SUPER SONIC? THEN I DEFINITELY CONSIDER IT A COMPLIMENT."
"Golden," Sonic corrected while jumping.
Metal broke through the jumped-over barrier.
Sonic ran back, keeping pace with him for a moment, "Personally, I just love it when a guy thinks he can keep up."
"I DO NOT THINK, I CAN!"
"Did you remember to put a comma there? Because it sounds like ya forgot a comma," Sonic said.
"HOW CAN YOU TELL? I AM SPEAKING."
"Yeah and that whole robotic thing you got going there? It makes it sound like you forgot a comma," Sonic mocked, looking over his shoulder at the exit, "And right now." he turned and sped up at the last second, "There's my win. Nice try again!"
After Sonic sped through the exit, two large doors slammed behind him. Metal watched this and narrowed his eye lights,"... NOT AGAIN." He then slammed into the doors.
The room Sonic had entered was pitch black, except for a small light in the distance, where a blue plant girl was overlooking Cosmo's sleeping form.
"Cosmo," Sonic said, seeing Cosmo laying on the bed. Taking a few steps forward, he paused to look around him. Everything was so black that he could bearly see anything else. Shaking his head, he stood his ground and looked at the other plant person in the room, "What are you doing with her?"
"Letting her rest. She's had a rough life in this universe, or so I've heard." The girl ,brushed Cosmo's hair with her fingers. She turned to look at Sonic,"I am Galaxina, and I've been waiting for you, Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Waiting? What do you mean?" asked Sonic.
"You'll see." Galaxina smiled at him,"Would you like to see your friends?"
"Yeah, I would. Where are they?" Sonic said, showing off as much of his confidence as he could.
She snapped her fingers, causing the entire room to light up with glowing green plants.
All of Sonic's friends were stuck in various pillars surrounding the dark green room. Thorny vines were wrapped around their arms and legs, almost fusing them into the pillars. Their eyes were pale white with no signs of irises, and their fur color was slowly greying.
Sonic's eyes widened in horror as he looked at his friends and he gasped. Shaking his head, he raced to each pillar, trying to pull the vines off of them. As his fingers touched the thorns, he winced in pain, feeling the thorns cut into his fingertips and drawing blood. Voice trembling, he said, "What...what are you doing to them?"
Eggman watched and pulled back,"What?"
Starline had gotten up,"Oh, she's just unleashing a demon upon this world. If you'll excuse me, I don't want to be here when he gets out."
Galaxina held her hand out,"Put them in their own nightmare world."
Amy's eyes temporarily turned back to normal,"... how many years has it been?"
"Only an hour, dear," Galaxina said. Amy's eyes barely had time to register before going blank again.
Sonic tried to move but was too slow to stop her. Shaking his head, he stepped forward, speaking with a low growl, "Get them out of there. They'll die at this rate." as he spoke, his body began to shake, as traces of black energy began to bleed from his body.
"This is a bad idea. We don't need to torture our opponents for our pleasure. Defeating him is all fine and dandy," Eggman said, standing up, "But this is too cruel for us."
"Too cruel for you, maybe." Starline held up a ring,"But as much as I greatly admire you, I don't always agree with your decisions."
Galaxina smirked,"No... they'll remain alive... just in eternal torment."
"And that's supposed to be better?" asked Sonic, clenching his fists.
"No, it is supposed to be a fitting torture for them." Galaxina snapped.
"They did nothing to you..." Sonic said calmly, his quills beginning to darken, the area around him coming colder and colder. The very life around him was begging to tremble and die as he glared pupilless eyes at Galaxia, all sense of enjoyment gone from his eyes.
"That's right... feel the rage." Galaxina said.
She would find herself on the outside of the room, with Sonic's elbow deep in her stomach. He then stepped to the side in a blink of darkness to deliver a roundhouse into her back to send her back into the room, leaving a trench in the ground, "Is his what you really want?"
Galaxina coughed as she got up. She gave a sad smile,"Yes... kill me..."
"Kill you?" asked Sonic, cocking his head to the side. "You want to die?"
"I killed all the inhabitants of my home universe out of revenge for what they did to my sister, but I felt empty, I felt alone." She frowned,"So kill me... I'm a monster who has no will to live."
He then smiled as he grabbed her neck, "You know what?" he then chuckled evilly, "I think it's far worse to you, to watch..."
"Watch?" She coughed.
"As I destroy everything. I'm tired of letting people like you harm my friends. Of letting people like you free to hurt others again and again. Now," Sonic began to lash the vines to Galaxia, tying her to the wall, slowly strangling her, "You get to watch as I fix this."
He looked behind him at his friends as they were tied up, "I'll remove everything from this universe. Kill everything that might hurt my friends. And when I'm done, you'll see the worse fate than death. The knowledge that you hurt her most of all." Sonic then looked at Cosmo. "She may fear my name from now on. But if it means this world is safe. Just remember, every night she cries for the loss of this universe, the loneliness she feels? It's all because of you. You made your sister suffer."
And with that, he vanished, causing small explosions in the building. Knuckles braced himself as he felt the shaking and quaking around him, "Did you feel that, Shadow?"
"Yeah, something is very wrong..."
Tails winced as he held on to the wall,"What in the-?"
Thunderbolt moaned as she got up,"Uh oh, I'm getting out of dodge!" She grabbed a ring and threw it to the ground to escape.
More explosions are heard and above, Tails could see a small black blur passing by. Before he could react, there was a bright flash of light and he would find himself outside of the temple next to Shadow who was panting. His shoulder was gently shaken by Knuckles as he asked, "Tails, what is going on?"
Tails looked at Knuckles,"I-I'm not sure!"
Blaze looked around,"I saw a black blur pass us by."
There was another explosion, and a figure walked out of the burning building with several bodies in his hand. Throwing the passed-out bodies of the crew to Tails, he looked up at Blaze, Knuckles, and Shadows. With a growl, he said, "You...have sinned against me. You fought me, tried to beat me. I gave you a second chance... Time to remove it."
"..." Knuckles paused and looked back to Shadow and the others. Then he said, "Run."
Before Knuckles could move, he felt three hard blows into his stomach which sent him flying through several trees. Then he looked back at Shadow and Blaze. He narrowed his eyes, and said, "Protect them from you."
"How are you holding up?" asked Shadow to Blaze.
Tails was about to object before he began to feel a pain in his chest,"Not... again..." He panted as his mind imagined Sonic shifting into a robotic figure,"No... not again..." He began to pant.
Blaze looked at Shadow,"I'm fine." She looked at Dark Sonic,"We should be able to knock some sense into him!" She ran at him, bursting into flames.
Shadow smirked, "Good, I'm glad you won't slow me down," he then raced after her.
Sonic glared at them both, looking at their bodies. He could see blackness radiating off their bodies, "Sin...you have both battled a version of me. You are both dangerous." he then charged at them both, grabbed them by the face, and then ran them through several trees. Pulling away, he looked as they both slowly got back up, and then wagged his finger.
Knuckles blinked as he began to regain consciousness, laying flat on his back. In the distance, he could hear the battle between the three fighters. Rising from the group of fallen trees, he groaned in pain as a sharp pain shot up in his arm. Looking down, he saw the limb hanging at his side. Growling, he grabbed the arm, bit into a tree branch, and ten popped the limb back into its socket, "Ancient Walkers damn it all. That was a dumb move."
Panting, he made his way through the fallen trees, keeping his eyes to the sky as fire and light began to collide. Turning around, he saw Tails, "Tails. We need a plan."
Above the tree line, Shadow landed on a tree branch and held himself up. Looking back at Blaze, he said, "If...if you need to rest, best do it now. I can..." he winced, and wavered for a moment, "c-continue." and then he looked up, trying to blink the blurry image away.
"D-damn that fight with Eclipse..."
Blaze panted as she landed on another tree branch,"I don't need to rest... you do." She said, before looking at Dark Sonic,"If I had my Sol Emeralds we might be able to stand more of a chance..."
Tails shook his head,"Sally, is Knuckles going to be alright? The roboticization might be permanent!"
"I..." Shadow reached for his limiters, "am the ultimate life form. I don't need rest. But, I can give you time to find your emeralds." he then removed them, his body becoming surrounded by flames, "two minutes." he then leaped at Dark Sonic.
"Chaos control!" Shadow then began to warp and dance around Sonic, trying to strike at him, watching as each of his blows was being blocked by the world-shaking around them.
Blaze got up,"You're a liar... you know that?" She glared at Dark Sonic, eyes bursting with flame before she leaped forward to knock Dark Sonic on the back of the head.
Knuckles looked at Tails, "Robotization? Tails, what are you talking about? Who is Sally? Tails. We need you now more than ever. I don't know how long those two can last and I'm too weak right now."
"Do we need emeralds? Maybe Super might do. Mecha Sonic'll kill us all if we don't do something!?" Tails screamed,"Knothole, fire, Super Emeralds, help!" He fell into a fetal position, holding his head.
Shadow looked at Blaze as she attacked, "What are you-UGGH!" he groaned as Dark Sonic punched Shadowhard in the stomach, and then roundhoused him out of the sky.
Turning around, he grabbed Blaze's fist, "Naughty kitty," he snarled.
Shadow hit the ground with a loud crash, some of the flames burning his arm. Slowly getting up, he looked back at Knuckles, "K...Knuckles, what's wrong with him?"
"Tails is having a breakdown. So I'm stumped for a plan," Knuckles said watching as Shadow began to walk slowly toward him, "And you-"
"I'm fine!" Shadow denied. "I'll rest after I stop him from killing us all. I'll rest once I'm sure we're all safe, and I'll rest once I and sure that we can see another sunrise! But right now, I'm... still," he slumped to the ground, "Needed."
Blaze was sent flying towards them, skidding along the ground. She slowly got up,"This... is hopeless... we... need to escape."
Tails shook his head,"Hyper. Super Emeralds. Mecha Sonic will kill us all, please, Sally, think of something, Sonic's gonna die!"
Shadow saw from the corner of his eyes, one small red gem. Narrowing his eyes he rolled over to grab it and pull it close. Then he skated towards the others as Dark Sonic began to fly towards them, black tendrils of energy flowing off his body. Closing his eyes, Shadow said, "Chaos..."
An explosion tore through the area, leaving behind a small crater where one hedgehog stood. Slowly rising to his feet, he smirked before looking to the sky, "Think you can run from me? Consider this a little reprieve. Because I'm coming for you all soon..."
Knuckles panted as he looked around the cockpit of the ship, Shadow holding himself up by the side of the wall as he struggled to hold onto the emerald. Looking around, he asked, "Shadow, how did you get-"
"Hohohoho!" Eggman's voice was heard over the comms, "I best start hearing words of gratitude from the lot of you. Thanks to being connected to the Metarex, I happened to have a small supply of those fake emeralds on standby. Plus the real one that our broken Shadow is holding."
"I...didn't need it, Doctor," Shadow said, wincing.
"Sure you didn't, but I take it all the same. Now, unless one of you has a new plan, we need to start running or escape," Dr. Eggman said. "Because I give it a minute before the hedgehog remembers I still live and will go hunting for me. And currently, all I have planned is to throw these three dumb bots at them plus a few worthless badniks at them!"
"We currently lost our main planner-" Knuckles said.
"I can't think of anything," Chris said, pulling the knocked-out fighters to the med bay
"And Tails is-"
"H-hyper, super emeralds..."
"Is speaking about legends," Knuckles said.
"What legend?" asked Shadow.
Knuckles sighed, "There is a legend, of how the master emerald can lend its great power to the seven servers. By lending its power to the emeralds, it can increase their powers to something better and 'heighten them to gods.'"
Shadow looked back at Tails, and then to Knuckles, "The fake Emeralds are good for one shot. Send me to the room now."
"What?!" Knuckles said, eyes wide before stepping up close to him, "No! You are badly injured, near death, tired, and weak. We are also using fake emeralds plus one real one. If this doesn't work, then all of that power I send into you could KILL you!"
"What choice do you have?" Shadow asked.
Knuckles paused, lowered his head, and looked to Blaze and Tails.
Blaze held her arm, and looked away,"I'd do it myself, but I am not connected to those emeralds." She sighed,"It's our only chance, as much as I hate to say it."
Tails shook his head repeatedly,"No, stay away stay away stay away..."
Shadow stepped forward, and patted Tails' head, "You did good. We'll take it from here."
Knuckles looked outside, watching as the bright explosions took place outside, "We need to move, now!"
Shadow nodded as he followed Knuckles deep into the Typhoon's engine room and stood surrounded by the seven emeralds. Behind him, Knuckles stood in place behind the Master Emerald. his head, Shadow gave a smile to Knuckles and sighed, "See you on the other side, Echidna."
"Meet you there," Knuckles said. "Good luck."
Shadow slowly clenched his fist, "If this doesn't work... any ancestors you want me to punch for you?"
"Pachacamac, Locke, and Dimitri," Knuckles said, "I would have more but I can't think of anything. And if this doesn't work?" he then paused, "I'll tell her."
Shadow smiled and then closed his eyes as he heard Knuckles began to speak.
"The servers are, the seven chaos
The controller serves to unify the chaos.
Chaos is power
Power is enriched by the heart."
Shadow breathed as the seven emeralds glowed, being hit by the glowing light of the master emerald behind them. The master emerald shone seven beams of light into the seven emeralds, making them shine bright enough that they seemed to enlarge to the same size as the master emerald. As they glowed, they began to shine their light onto Shadow.
In Shadow's mind, he thought he saw a hand reaching out, smiling when he saw the white glove.
And then...
The ship exploded. Dark Sonic laughed, standing over the fallen bodies of his foes. Soon other worlds began to fall. Soon he stood alone on his throne, satisfied at his victory while a lovely squirrel princess sat by his side.
The ship exploded, Shadow lay dead, but Tails stood crying over a dead Sonic.
The ship exploded, and Blaze turned into a phoenix
The ship explod...
The ship...
Knuckles closed his eyes as a star exploded before his eyes, and then when his eyes cleared, there was nothing left of Shadow. Knuckles fell to his knees, "No..."
"Times up," Dark Sonic said, flying fist first towards the ship, only to be stopped by a palm, causing a shockwave to wreck across the solar system.
"Fake," Shadow said, his pure white quills shining in the darkness. His emerald eyes flashed in time with his quills as they began to flash the colors of the emeralds.
Dark sonic sneered at this and pulled back to deliver a quick series of kicks, each dodged by Shadow. Hyper Shadow then punched Dark Sonic into the gut, sending him flying through space and through a few asteroids before coming to a stop in a crater. Breathing hard he looked up and said"Fake? You think I'm the fake? HA! Aren't you the fake hedge-"
Dark Sonic paused as he saw Shadow appear before him, only to watch as he vanished behind him. Dark Sonic stepped back in shock, backing up to Shadow, "You are a fake Sonic. You deny everything that makes him Sonic. His compassion, his free will, his heart, love of adventure, belief in others."
Dark Sonic growled as he did a back fist, getting it blocked by Shadow, "Freedom? Trust? Compassion? What did that give us!? Eggman comes back constantly, evil threats after evil threats come for us! We are never safe, not unless I fix this and make everyone realize that they need to fall before me."
"That free will is what makes us alive," Shadow said, dodging another blow, returning it with a hook kick to the face and then a back kick. "That trust in others is what made Sonic, Sonic."
"IT made me weak! IT made me almost lose everything!" Dark Sonic said, slamming his fist into the ground, causing a crater and missing Shadow.
"The real Sonic also valued the power of choice. On the day he told me that he loved adventure above all else, on the day a pink hedgehog reminded me of Maria, I realized something important," Shadow said, watching as Sonic began to attack at a rapid pace, his fist going through his body."There has to be more to life than killing, suffering, and darkness. Otherwise, you'll be all alone in the world."
DarkSonic screamed as he punched faster and harder, "Shut up! ShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutupShutup! And stop dodging!"
Shadow smirked, "I haven't been dodging for the last two seconds."
Dark Sonic quirked an eyebrow, and then looked at his fist with his eyes widening in horror slowly. His fist was being blocked by Shadow's index finger. Realization dawned on him as he began to play back the last few blows in his head, seeing that Shadow was merely blocking his hits. Growling, he pulled back and did
"A tornado kick, followed by a hook kick," Shadow thought, before smiling as he said, " I can see your moves, you won't win."
"SEE THIS!" Dark sonic said, going for an uppercut, only to be knocked into the back by Shadow.
"I can see the past, present, and future!" Shadow said, back fisting Sonic through another few asteroids, "I can roll back time! Time is my toy!"
Dark Sonic began to scream in rage as he tied to attack Shadow, each attack causing a shockwave when it was blocked. Turning around, he looked at Hyper Shadow in fear, "N... no."
"I am the ultimate life form. The one created by the Doctor to protect those who are weaker than me to repent for his sins."
"No-please-" Dark Sonic pleaded, "I-I"
"I am SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG! And there is only one being capable of beating me!" Shadow said, flying at Sonic at such a speed, he turned into a rainbow lighting bolt, chaos energy flowing along his body, "And I am bringing him back!"
"STOP!" Dark Sonic shouted as he was struck hard in the gut by the lightning bolt, The attack forced Dark Sonic to fly across the solar system in a few laps, before crashing through the hull of the ship and into the cockpit, causing a small crater.
Shadow slowly stood to his feet, panting, the chaos energy leaving his body as he stood. Looking back, he smiled when he saw a set of blue quills rising from the crater. Slowly getting to his feet, Sonic stumbled and walked to his 'brother'. Panting, he rested his arms on Shadow and whispered, "Thanks for the save Shad..."
"No-no problem. Wanna take a break now?" whispered Shadow.
"Breaks goo..."Sonic didn't even finish the sentence as he fainted.
Tails' eyes looked around, noticing the ship around him,"... where... where is everyone?"
Chris, coffee in hand, Walked by Tails, "Everyone is currently in the medical room. Sonic and Shadow are sleeping, while Eggman has taken Rouge back."
"Oh..." Tails got out of bed and walked out of the room,"... I missed a lot..."
"Indeed." Blaze said next to him.
"Blaze?" Tails then felt her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." She said with a frown.
"Sorry?" asked Tails, looking up at her, "For what?"
"For... whatever happened to cause you to break," Blaze muttered.
Tailseyes widened, and then he sighed. Shaking his head with a soft smile, he said, "No...it's ok. I just...have a lot of issues I need to handle." he said, looking down a little, "And a lot of problems to fix.
Blaze rubbed his head,"I'm certain whatever problems you have, you'll be able to handle it." She smiled.
Tails smiled warmly, "Thank you." he then hugged er tightly.
In Eggman's ship, all was quiet except for the low hum of the lights and the occasional squeak of a wheel from a badnik. Shadow, bandages on his body, walked slowly through the halls only pausing to glare at Bokkun. Having scared the little bot to death, he walked into Rouge's room and stood in the doorway for a moment to watch her sleep. He smiled as he watched her chest slowly rise and fall under her blanket, her lips in a still frame as she slept soundlessly. Moving to her, he sat down and pulled back the cover to show her hand. He then held it tightly and looked at her with a warm smile. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through her white fur, and lowered his head onto her bed.
Knuckles caught a flying bunch of grapes, being thrown from the shadows. Smiling, he said, "Thanks."
"Peace offering," Sonic said, walking to sit with Knuckles at the Master Emerald, chili dog in hand. "For being evil, and...because of what you said."
"Oh?" Knuckles asked, eating a few grapes.
"Look," Sonic sighed, rubbing his head, "I...I'm not one to like sitting still for too long. I like traveling around the world, going from place to place and living life to the fullest. Sure I like having fun with my friends, but I don't think I need to be with ya 24/7, I like going on my own way. Y'know?"
"I think I get it," Knuckles said.
"I'm not you, I can't be stuck protecting one thing for all of my life." Sonic said leaning back, "So when I go, I do it because I know you guys. You have super strength, Tails is a genius, and Amy is... Amy. You guys don't need me to be around all of the time, and you definitely don't need me to be some sort of Deus ex Machina button that is needed to save you all the time. You're awesome all on your own."
"We needed you when you went evil," Knuckles said, before sighing as he ate a few grapes. "Nut maybe you're right, we do need to remember our own strengths once in a while. Trust is a two-way street, and we need to show that you don't need to worry." he then looked his violet eyes at Sonic, "Just...know we would like to know we can rely on you once in a while and you can be there. Ok?"
Sonic laughed as he finished his dog, "Hey, if I mess up again? Feel free to punch me hard."
"I shall aim for your groin instead. The weakest spot I heard," Knuckles laughed, and Sonic laughed in turn.
Blaze turned away,"I still need to search for the Sol Emeralds though... Maybe we'll see each other again." she threw a platinum ring to the side, creating a portal before leaving.
"Wait, where did you-" Tails watched as the portal disappeared,"Huh..."
Nicole then appeared next to him,"Tails, I have decided to forgive you... and apologize for leaving you like that." She sighed,"I understand you were just thinking on your feet, and meant no harm..." She looked around,"... What did I miss?"
Tails laughed,"Nothing... what does Z say I needed to do?"
Nicole held up her hand,"Save Cosmo... not sure what that means."
"I do." Tails ran to where that journal was and began to write down,"Super Emeralds = Hyper Tails." He smiled at her,"Done." With that, a bright flash came to his eyes.
Tails found himself in a cage, where a rooster bot and a green drill bot were looking at him with wide grins. He looked at his situation, and sighed,"Oh boy..."
Off-Topic:
Chris snarled as he looked at the script,"Only four lines? First Omens and now this! I'm firing my freakin' agent!"