Sonic: (munching on cookies) So these are the perks of being an author. Sweet! Anyways, sorry for the long wait guys. TeamSSSFan257 has been really busy lately, and she's the one who does all the editing on my chapters. This is why I never went to school, it takes up a lot of a person's time.
Sonic: Also; have you seen Mario's new movie? He's beating records! He better not beat my record; but if he does, Shadow will make sure my third movie bounces back and beats that fat plumber! Nothing against Mario, of course, but a rival is a rival.
Sonic: Back to the point. It's time we introduced all the versions of me, to all the versions of our friends. Enjoy!
...
The Sonics got along instantly, and started swapping stories from their worlds.
They discovered that Prince Sonic was a triplet and performed in a band with his sibling called: Sonic Underground. Oh! And his medallion could turn into a real guitar that shot lasers. They all spent about two hours playing laser tag.
Boom Sonic hadn't had any real excitement in his life, but it was fun hearing about all the crazy things that happened on Bygone Island. Especially Sticks' wacked out ideas.
Then there were First and Extreme, who had a few adventures that were very similar. Except for the Metarex Extreme had had to deal with.
Sooner or later, with no more versions of themselves showing up, and no obvious way out of the white room; the Sonics fell into varying states of boredom.
Short Sonic was asleep on the giant pillow; snoring louder than you'd expect from a small, silent hedgehog.
Prince Sonic was playing some sick rifts on his guitar.
First, Boom, and Extreme were racing around the room in frenzied states; completely cooped up, due to the confining space.
And the two newest Sonic's, Electric and Prime, were talking about their own universes, and the similarities between them.
"So you've already met Knuckles, Tails, and Eggman; correct?" Prime said.
"Yeah. Is there anyone I should look out for; more friends or enemies?" Electric asked.
"Well...There's Amy Rose; a pink hedgehog who will most likely follow you around, completely lovestruck, for the first couple years you know her."
"Ohh," Electric Sonic felt his face heat up slightly. Imagine if she shows up when Tom and Maddie are around! Talk about embarrassing.
"Don't worry, she'll calm down sooner or later; and you'll probably become really good friends. Until then; run like heck and avoid her ridiculously large hammer, that thing hurts."
"Well, uh, thanks for the advice. Any other maniac friends I should know about?"
"Amy's not a maniac." Prime Sonic argued, "If you want to talk about maniacs, I could tell you about Shadow."
"Who's Shadow?"
"Our psychotic twin brother." Prime joked.
"Wait...WHAT!" Electric Sonic stood up, and accidentally stumbled into Boom Sonic.
"Hey! What gives!" Boom asked, annoyed.
"Nothing. Nothing." Prime answered, waving his hands. "I was just making a joke.
"So, Shadow's not our brother?" Electric asked.
Boom, First, and Extreme burst out laughing; causing Short Sonic to sit up with a snort and look around, confused.
"Shadow?" Extreme gasped, "Our brother?! That's got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"
"So, who is he then?" Prince asked, putting his guitar back in medallion form.
"He's our rival." First explained. "He looks a lot like us, except he's: black and red, some of his quills are pointed up, he has chest fur, and is our polar opposite personality wise."
"But he is a hero." Extreme pointed out. "He's saved the world, and even universe, plenty of times."
"He's an anti-hero." Prime suggested.
"Pretty sure my Shadow's evil, actually." Boom said. "I mean, have any of yours tried to destroy the world?"
First, Extreme, and Prime all raised their hands. "Mine tried twice! Technically." First grinned.
Electric Sonic whistled. "Sounds like I better watch out for psychotic black hedgehog's who look like me. Who knew I'll end up in a classic rivalry, like Thor and Loki!"
"Man, I wish he was here right now." Extreme said. "My Shadow sacrificed himself, again, to save the universe. I'm sure he's fine, he is Shadow after all, but I could use someone to race with right about now."
"You could keep racing with us." Boom pointed out.
Something caught Short Sonic's eye, and he started waving his arms; trying to get his alternates attention. Everyone ignored him.
"Yeah, but it wouldn't be the same." Prime said. "I doubt we could all annoy each other the way we annoy Shadow."
"I know!" First exclaimed. "It's so much fun to goad him into a race that ends in a brawl."
Short Sonic waved his hands more insistently, pointing at something on the other side of the room.
"Sounds like fun, I wish I had a Shadow in my dimension." Prince mused.
"He'd probably be on the Egg-dictator's side for a while." Extreme pointed out. "He'd make you and your sibling's lives miserable."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
Short Sonic had had enough of being ignored, and pounced on First Sonic; almost knocking him over. "Whoa! What's up little buddy?"
The little blue hedgehog pointed behind them, and all the other hedgehogs turned and sucked in breaths at the same time.
A door had appeared.
They all stared at it for a while, seeing if it would disappear. It didn't.
"Okay." Electric Sonic finally said. "Who wants to go over there and open the mysterious, magical door?"
"Magic?" Extreme asked, raising an eyebrow. "What makes you think it's magic?"
"It appeared out of nowhere! It's like Harry Potter!"
"I'll open it." First volunteered, striding toward the titanium door. The others followed behind him.
As First Sonic reached out to grab the door handle, the door ominously, and suddenly, slammed open on its own; smacking Sonic in the face.
"Ow." He moaned, rubbing the spot where he'd been hit.
"You've got to be kidding me." A deep voice groaned
About half the Sonics recognized the owner of that voice. "SHADOW!"
Sure enough; the room on the other side contained five, disgruntled, black hedgehogs. And another giant pillow.
"Oh, so that's Shadow." Electric Sonic said, looking over his alternate's shoulders. "Yeah, he does look pretty intimidating."
The Shadow who had opened the door narrowed his eyes at the hedgehog. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"
"Uhh..."
"Simmer down, Shadz." First Sonic said, leaning against the frame of the door. "Uh, you are my Shadow, right?"
All five Shadows rolled their eyes in sync, prompting their blue counterparts to hold back snickers.
"Like you'd ever be able to tell, Faker." The first Shadow snorted.
First Sonic turned to his alternates. "Do any of your Shadows call you Faker?"
They all shook their heads, and First, grinning, turned back to the door. "Looks like your are my Shadow, Shadz."
"Great." First Shadow said sarcastically. "My guess is you're bored and you want to race?"
"You know me so well, Shadow. First to 50 laps around the room!" First declared running around the perimeter of the room the Sonics had fallen into. Hos Shadow followed, skating at high speeds.
"Wow." Electric Sonic gaped, as he watched the two blur by. "I can see why he's our rival. I mean, your rival. I mean...oh, you know what I mean."
"And now I can see why the others thought Sonics were annoying." One of the black hedgehogs responded. He had the same individual quills, and was glaring at Electric Sonic; who stared right on back.
"Eh, my handsomeness makes up for the annoyingness."
"Ugh, put me back in stasis please; I'd rather not get to know you."
"What does that mean? Have you not met your Sonic yet?"
The Shadow shook his head. "Idiot." Then skated back into the room he was in before.
"What? Was it something I said?" Electric asked.
Boom Sonic chuckled, "Yeah, you could say that."
"Wait a sec, was that my..?"
A different black hedgehog suddenly grabbed Boom by his necktie and threw him into a wall. "It's your fault we're in this mess, isn't it?!"
Extreme Sonic and Shadow, who had been catching up in the corner, turned to see what had happened.
Boom Sonic got up, stumbling a bit. "Nice to see you to, Shadow. But I have no ideas how we got here, so you can stop picking meaningless fights."
"No fight is meaningless. Especially one where I destroy you." Boom Shadow declared.
But before he could attack, Extreme Sonic and Shadow intervened; pouncing on the crazy black hedgehog. A fight cloud was kicked up around them, blocking the battle from view.
"Whoa, I've never seen one of these in real life." Electric Sonic said, trying to take a closer look without getting sucked inside.
"Umm, why is Extreme Shadow fighting his alternate?" Prince Sonic asked.
"Cause we all hate him." The last Shadow answered. "He's an idiot, who doesn't deserve the title of Ultimate Lifeform."
Electric chuckled, "Ultimate Lifeform? Who came up with that?!"
"Whoa! Let's not get violent here!" Prime shouted, pausing the brawl. "We're all stuck here together; so how about we make the most out of it and try to find a way out. Pointless fights aren't going to solve anything."
"Said the guy who got us all in this mess!" Prime Shadow accused. Every eye turned to Prime Sonic; even the First had stopped their race to stare at him.
"Look, we don't if this has anything to do with the shards and the shatter-verse." Prime argued.
"Oh, and it's just a coincidence that not long after you destroyed the Paradox Prism, this happens?!"
"Well, uh..."
First Sonic stepped up to his alternate. "Look, Sonic; it sounds like we need to hear this story. Get talking."
So Prime explained everything: destroying the prism, New Yoke city, the giant forest, and the pirate world.
"I had just caught Dread, when the shard flew right into my face. Next thing I knw, I'm falling down a black void and, well, here I am." He started panting, trying to recover the air he'd lost from telling the story.
There was a moment of silence, as the Sonics and Shadows processed what they'd just heard.
"So what your saying." Extreme Sonic spoke up. "Is that this whole thing might be your fault?"
"A little bit, yeah." Prime sighed.
"Not a little bit." Electric shook a finger. "It is entirely your fault."
Short Sonic suddenly ran into the middle of the group, once again waving his hands like a lunatic.
"What is it now, little guy?" Prince Sonic asked.
The little hedgehog pointed out three more doors that had spontaneously appeared.
"Where do you think those ones lead?" Boom Sonic asked.
The doors creaked open as Amy, Knuckles, and Tails peaking their heads in.
"Sonic!" Amy called, running over to First Sonic and hugging him. "I was so worried about you!"
"Amy? Knuckles? Tails! You guys are all here!"
"SONIC!" Another Amy cried; running at Extreme Sonic, hammer in hand.
"AAAAHHHH!" The hedgehog ran as fast as he could, away from the crazy pink girl.
"GET BACK HERE SONIC! YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!"
Electric Sonic turned to Prime, "You said she wasn't a maniac."
His alternate shrugged, "Well mine isn't. Usually."
Once the crazy Amy had calmed down, and all the other alternates had been gathered in the Sonics room; introductions occurred. And there were a lot of alternates to meet:
7 Sonics
5 Shadows
6 Amys
8 Tails
And 8 Knuckles.
34 mobians in all; a really big group. And among them was a cyborg Amy, a feral Tails, and a mad-pirate Knuckles.
As the alternates discussed how they'd gotten there, and possible ways out; Boom Knuckles suddenly had the most outrageous, yet smartest, idea ever.
"What if; this is a room created between the shatter-verse, and it responds to our thoughts! He cried.
Everyone looked at each other; unsure whether to ignore the crazy echidna, or take his suggestion seriously.
"Well, as crazy as that sounds." Prince Sonic said. "The doors leading to you all appeared after we started talking about you, and I don't see how that could be a coincidence."
"Crazy stuff happens to us all the time." Boom Tails pointed out. "Why not now?"
Boom Amy stood up, "There's only one way to know for sure."
"How?" Extreme Tails asked, but Amy wasn't listening. She'd closed her eyes really tight, concentrating on one thought.
"What is she..?" Renegade Knux started, but he paused in the middle of his sentence to gape.
The room was changing. The walls turned pink, shelves of food popped up against one wall, the pillow disappeared and was replaced by counters and ovens, and on the top of the wall a timer was set for 7 hours.
"Amy." Boom Sonic said slowly. "Why does the room now look like your favorite baking contest?"
Amy smiled. "That was just the first thing I thought of."
"Cool! Let me try." Electric Sonic closed his eyes, but nothing happened. They waited for a couple minutes. Still nothing.
"Maybe the room's already tired from forming Amy's thought." Nine, an alternate of Tails, suggested.
"Well, until it recharges; why don't we make use of all this equipment." First Amy ran over to one of the counters. "Let's have a baking contest!"
...
Sonic: Wait what! A baking contest! What is this; did TeamSSSFan257 just change my story?! Oh, wait I've got a note right here from her.
SSSFan: Hey Sonic, you're probably really mad at me right now, but my friend requested a bake off, so I changed the chapter a little. Please don't be mad at me! Also, tell the readers that Sonic: Future Generation will get a new chapter posted tomorrow and the next chapter for Journey Across Frontiers is almost done.
Sonic: Well, if someone requested it. I guess I can move the race back a couple chapters. Anyway readers, hope you like the chapter. I'll see you later!