Chapter 40

When I went through to Metropolis Zone, I saw that the place was basically a giant city that was trapped within a giant dome made of Plexiglas, and that the different enemies were the same as in the game, those being the Asterodons, the Shellcrackers, and the damn Slicers. But I found that I was able to attack them from a distance with my rings and the Super Emeralds' powers, especially the latter, which allowed me to stop time altogether to get a good jab at them and to get past the more annoying placements of the Slicers. And after going through the entire level in the process, I then hit the Goal Ring, but only after I hit a button that would open up the dome to free the multiple people that were trapped in the city, as I did have to rescue numerous people that were trapped by the Bandiks.

And once I returned to the white void, I saw that Sonic was there and that I'd arrived a bit later than Janet did, me looking at the place as it returned back to normal, followed by the trapped friends that were frozen in time, which Amy and Gamma then rushed to me and gave me a hug and a nuzzle, followed by her kids doing the same thing.

"Thanks so much, Cheryl! It felt so scary! All of us were trapped in complete darkness! We couldn't do a thing! And all we could hear was sawblades," Amy said as her kids then joined in on the hug and Sonic then sighed in relief.

"Yeah... good to hear that. So do you know what this place was? It also seems familiar, but not in a good way," Sonic frowned.

"This is Metropolis Zone, the longest level in your second adventure, which was shortly after you met Tails. It's filled with nasty enemies in the form of exploding metal starfish, crab robots that smash you from afar with spiked claws, and mantis robots that send their scythes at you from afar and are placed so carefully in the nastiest surprise areas," I frowned.

"Yep, that rings a bell. I almost got sliced by one of those mantis creatures, hence I referred to them as the Slicers. He did manage to get some of the fur off my tail, too," Tails frowned.

"By the way, Janet, could I get an answer as to why you don't like Sonic?" I asked her, her frowning before then looking at him.

"You never want to help anyone unless it involves Eggman, including shirking your duties as a government agent to go on a world tour," Janet frowned before then poking Sonic in the chest. "You also ignored Amy's advances for ages until she switched sides, and now you want to pursue her again. And-" she was about to say before Sonic then shushed her, which made Amy look at me with a frown.

"Amy... is that true?" I asked, her sighing and nodding.

"Yes, it is. He wanted to try and hit on me during the wedding, I said no, and he then asked why. And I told him it was because he never cared about me the way I did to him, which is the reason I switched to you and the other girls instead," Amy frowned.

"Why are you upset, mommy?" Axel asked, me sighing at him and giving him a pat on the head.

"Sonic, next time you want to ask Amy, ask me first, got it?" I frowned, him sighing.

"Right... sorry about that... I didn't mean to be pushy back then, but I was just confused why you just stopped talking to me after the Dark Gaia adventure," Sonic frowned.

"Well, there's your answer. I'm not interested anymore, because you weren't interested in me for almost 7 years," Amy frowned, me nodding at that.

"She's right, Sonic. She first had her crush on you all the way back on Little Planet, when she was this girl," I said as I pointed to the classic Amy, which made her gasp and look at her in surprise.

"Is that... it can't be... it's me from when I first met Sonic?" Amy gasped when she saw the younger version of who she was, back when she was only 9 years old.

"It is, and we'll need to make sure she doesn't know a thing about our current dating setup, just to prevent a time paradox," I frowned.

"Right, that'll be hard... but then my kids? How do we explain that?" Amy asked.

"We'll tell her that you decided to be a mother, even though you weren't married to Sonic yet," I said.

"Oogh... fine, but we need to rescue the others, too," Amy pouted as we then decided that Sonic would go to Flying Battery alongside Tails, meaning the rest of our group of me, Janet, Amy, and Gamma would watch over the kids.

"What even is this place, momma? It looks so weird," Roxy asked, which Amy held her close.

"It's... um... Cheryl, you know this place, right?" Amy asked me, me nodding at that.

"This is a void between time and space itself, created by none other than Eggman with a creature called the Time Eater," I said.

"T-Time Eater? Something that eats time?" Gamma asked as I shook my head.

"Quite the opposite. Under Eggman's control, it can assist him doing something that's extremely dangerous. Fixing all his past screwups so that he'll never know the meaning of defeat. And he's starting off with Sonic's first adventures. We need to rescue everyone that's been captured and restore the powers of the Chaos Emeralds," I said, me then looking at the green one and smiling at how it was now back to normal as soon as Sonic rushed back to us, followed by Tails, who had been in the Classic mode.

"That place was nostalgic for sure, but not in a good way," Sonic frowned as the level then regained all of its color and then the color and life was restored to Knuckles, Priscilla, Mighty, and Charmy! And the four looked at us in surprise, but for Priscilla, she looked quite shaken up.

"It was so dark... s-so tight... the containment pods... it reminds me of the horrid containment pods..." Priscilla said with fear and worry on her face as she then turned into fetal position, which Janet then went to her and gave her a hug, which she sniffed at. "T-Thank you... i-it just... Area 51... horrible memories..." she sniffed.

"If it was like that for you, I'm really worried about what the others are going through, especially Elsa and Tirsiak," I gulped.

"We need to find them, but first, we need to get through Stardust Speedway. So who will go there this time?" Sonic asked.

"I think I'll head in there, and I'm thinking Amy should go, too," Knuckles smiled.

"Hah! I can't wait to beat you in that race, Knuckles!" Amy smirked as the duo of them went to the speedway and they started to run into it.

"So this place is, what, some kind of white museum or something?" Charmy asked.

"It looks more like we're trapped in a space and time void in the middle of nowhere. I know this because I recognize these places from my past. I saw them on the news before I teamed up with Team Chaotix in the past with Knuckles," Mighty admitted.

"You are indeed, smarter than I thought... no offense, Mighty," I admitted.

"None taken. After all, I'm not really that into the whole adventure plots. And this is a bit much for me," Mighty admitted.

"Same to me. Oh dear, the space government is going to chew me out big time for not getting this information to them fast enough..." Janet groaned as a few more puffs of smoke came from her exhaust.

"We're going to need to get to the boss, soon, look," Sonic frowned as he pointed to a boss gate and that three locks were unlocked on it out of four. And that meant that we needed to wait for Knuckles and Amy to return from their journey, which we did so for at least 10 seconds before Amy rushed out first, followed by Knuckles.

"HAH! I'm officially faster than you, Knuckles!" Amy smiled.

"Yeah, good job, Amy," Knuckles smirked, looking to be tuckered out from the contest. And shortly after, the group of Brittany, Yacker, Metal Sonic, and Rosy then returned back to normal and for the last of the bunch to look around in shock before then looking at Amy.

"WHOA! I-Is this real?! Are you me from the future or something? Robotnik didn't win, did he? I'm so... SONIC!" Rosy shouted in excitement when she saw Sonic, him then running fast behind me, mainly due to the age gap being much wider. "Wait... he looks older, too? And who are the rest of you? I'm so confused!" she said, obviously looking to be battling an internal confusion. Which didn't help when she brought out her Tarot cards and she then saw her future, which had the pictures of a triangle with human, Mobian, and Chao, followed by a rewind arrow, then an upside-down egg, and then, after that, a clock. "Huh? I don't get this... the powerful trinity, the return to start, an upside-down egg, and a watchful clock? Is this right?" she asked, Amy sighing.

"Unfortunately, it is. Trust me, I know more at my new age," Amy frowned as she then looked at me. "It said return to the start, meaning the beginning of someone's journey. And it was after the powerful trinity and involves an evil egg going back in time. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Cheryl?" Amy asked, me sighing at that.

"I am, and I don't like it... Eggman plans to go as far back as my toddler years to kidnap me and my mother!" I frowned.

"Your mother, too?! And why you? Wouldn't Robotnik hate Sonic more?" Rosy asked.

"In your timeline, yes, he would. But in your future, I appear, and Eggman starts to hate me more, as I become more prevalent to stopping his plans," I frowned. "And I expect you to forget about that, because otherwise, it'd cause a paradox," I said, her looking at me in confusion.

"I see... well, at least he's still a hero, right?" Rosy smirked at me.

"Yes, he is, and he's still avoiding me to this day," Amy smirked, Sonic facepalming himself after, knowing he couldn't say a thing. "And I decided to have these little guys on my own, since he still won't commit," Amy said as she showed off her kids.

"Whoa... I get to be a mommy?! OH YES! Is Sonic the daddy? Please say yes!"

"Unfortunately, no. I had to get a donation to have them," Amy smirked.

"Dang, well, at least I get to be a mommy regardless! So how are we going through the rest of this place?" Rosy asked before Brittany then poked her in her neck and, shortly after, Rosy then fell down with a sigh of relief after.

"She's being a bit too noisy for my tastes. We need to decide who will go to the portal to the boss. And we all know who is going to be the ones to go in," Brittany frowned as we then proceeded to the portal, me going inside and soon being joined by Janet and, of all of us, Priscilla! And when we went inside, it was in the form of the large window room before the boss itself, me looking in the 'mirror' and seeing nothing... but Janet and Priscilla? They looked at their reflections in it and saw them, but from when they were MUCH younger! Priscilla looked like she were when she was first placed in Area 51 (when she was at least 2 feet shorter than now) and Janet looked smaller and more chibi-fied almost. We then heard the voice of Eggman ahead of us.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" he asked, me then hearing another voice that I recognized instantly.

"Get back! I will not let you hurt my daughter!" said MY MOM! I then rushed ahead, me then gasping as I was joined by the younger versions of Priscilla and Janet! We then zoomed into the window at the same time, leaving the other two modern girls in the dust, me managing to rush into the scene I saw in my memory flash! It was of my mom getting sucked into the Death Egg Robot and it then shot out a clawed hand at me! And I was just about to get sucked in! And then, I gawked at how JANET was the one to zoom in and slash the arm in two, which also caused the robot to fall down! My child self then ran back to the car and hid underneath it, me then rushing in and attacking the giant robot's center and disemboweling it with my new strength, not stopping until I found my mother and I got her out of the machine! And just in time, as it then exploded and for Eggman to be stuck in the wreckage of it.

"W-Who are you?" mom asked me, me sighing as I then gave her a hug, her looking to try and struggle before I then called her the name that only I called her.

"Meemeemaw..." I said with tears in my eyes, which made her gasp before then looking at me and then hugging back.

"I... I don't understand..." she admitted, me sighing at that.

"I come from the far future, Meemeemaw. I was sent far forward in time, nearly 10 thousand years ahead, and shortly after I turned 21," I said, her then looking at the car and gulping. "Do not tell her a single word of this. It's important that she does not know what happens in the future. Convince her this was a nightmare, because I sense she's cried herself to sleep," I said, mom nodding at me.

"Just tell me something... who are your new friends?" she asked.

"I am Priscilla... it is a pleasure to meeteth thee," the dragon halfbreed smiled in her ye olde speak.

"And I'm Janet. Interplanet Janet," the solar system miss smiled back. And then, we heard Eggman speak in his robot.

"Help... can't breathe..." he said, me shrugging my shoulders and then rushing in to break him out, but then getting beat to the punch by the Time Eater! But I didn't let him go without a fight, and I proceeded to use the Phantom Ruby to create a whole slew of rockets and sent at least 10 explosions his way, which the Time Eater then got damaged again before then escaping with Classic Eggman! And then, a portal appeared that led back to the white void.

"We have to go now, meemeemaw... remember, don't say a word of tonight to anyone," I said to her.

"Wait... could I also know... why do you look like that?" she asked.

"One of my descendants from 3 thousand years from now, she's the one who sent me to the far future. And when I got there, I was mixed with the traits of two different species, which gave me tons of powers, including changing my shape to be different animals. And the new hue of skin?" I asked, showing that I was currently pink in my tone of fur on my body. "That's due to being intertwined with these powers and experimenting with them. My skin changes based on which emerald powers I use, and right now, I'm using a pink one with white stripes... but that's all I can say... stay safe, and don't tell a soul... bye mommy... for the last time," I sniffed as I then went through the portal with tears in my eyes, feeling like I was saying goodbye to not only my mom, but my old life at the same time.

"So... what'd you see?" Modern Janet asked, me sighing at that.

"I managed to defeat Eggman and save my toddler self and my mom... b-but... I knew I couldn't stay, and I made her promise to keep it secret and to tell my toddler self, who cried herself to sleep, that it was all a bad dream... it... I felt like I was saying goodbye to both her and my old life at the same exact time..." I said with tears in my eyes.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," said Amy, me sniffing at that.

"It's fine... I just... I need to let loose a bit when we go to the next set," I said, the Time Eater then rushing through the place and creating four more different locations for us to travel to. These new locations included Casinopolis from Sonic Adventure, Crazy Gadget from SA 2 (my favorite again, geeze), Hang Castle from Sonic Heroes and Night Carnival, which surprised me that he'd try to change that part of Sonic Rush in particular, as he wasn't even present in that adventure... or was he?

"Where'd it go? It just showed up and now it's gone," Rosy asked. The answer was given by Brittany.

"I think I understand how this goes, now! That Time Eater creature is trying to tear apart Time and Space. And whenever it comes back, it shows the areas where Eggman is trying to mess with the most. And whenever we rush through at super speed, the areas become healed from the time distortions caused by it, and as such, allows us to rescue our friends that have been captured and sent to those parts in time," she explained.

"Then we better be running like no tomorrow, or there won't even be a tomorrow," Sonic said, one of the few good lines in both the original and the current situations.

"Okay, then we know what we gotta do. And now to see who we need to rescue next," I said as we then looked at the others and saw that each area had a lot of faces that were familiar.

Casinopolis had Big, Froggy, Tikal, Cream, and all of her 12 kids. Crazy Gadget was home to Cosmo, Sally, Wanda (Cosmo's daughter), Shadow, Rouge, and Omega. Hang Castle was where Tirsiak, Elsa, Anna, Espio, and Vector were captured at. And Night Carnival was home to Blaze, Sparks, Meryl, Topaz, Maria, and...

"Ugh, Agent X? Why does the universe hate me so?" I groaned.

"Who's Agent X? I don't believe we've been told of him before... he looks old," Janet asked, me frowning at him.

"He used to be the commander of GUN, a government on this planet that was made to protect the world from bad guys. But under X's command, he did some horrid stuff, which included kidnapping innocent Chao to try and make a new weapon, backstabbing and almost killing Maria whenever they found out their funds were going to a man who was making dangerous weapons, kidnapped Cream when she was still a child and stuck her with a cattle prod when I told him to release her, and he tried to kill Maria and Rouge whenever he thought we were teaming up with Eggman by freeing the captured Chao and saying that everyone that was an Agent at the time had been fired for suspicion of betrayal. Only by getting enough evidence on him and sending it to everyone in the world did he get dethroned," I frowned.

"Why would Eggman want him to be here, then? What good does he have to this whole plot?" Priscilla asked before her younger version spoke.

"I don't know, but I doth desire an explanation as to why I'm here with myself from a bygone era," her younger self asked, me looking at Priscilla, which she then looked at her younger self and sighed.

"I do not know why, but I can only guess that Eggman wanted to eliminate you at the same time as Cheryl... and just like with her, it would've been when we were much younger, with you being from when we came from originally, in the Painted World of Ariamas," Priscilla said, her younger self frowning at her.

"Why doth your voice soundeth less refined? I fail to understandeth some of what thou sayest," Classic Priscilla frowned, me frowning at her.

"Because she spent 10 thousand years of her life in this world alongside both bad humans and other unfortunate souls that had been taken from their homes. Trust me, being away from your old life for so long does things to you," I admitted.

"And for me, I grew so much more distant, while gaining an understanding of modern language," Modern Priscilla said while Janet and her younger self looked at each other and even locked hands with each other to check the differences.

"So... you're me when I was first created? Almost 15,000 years ago?" Janet asked her younger self.

"I am, and I only recently discovered the planet of Zeti to want to rule the universe... and then, out of nowhere, a large creature of shadow and time appeared and locked me in solitude... and then, I suddenly end up here outside of that door when you entered it... are my coordinates out of date as of current? For both of us?" Classic Janet asked her modern self.

"It's less they're out of date and that we were transported to a dimension outside of time and space. But enough about that, we need to get to saving our friends," I said, us then deciding that the next group would be me and Metal Sonic to go through the next place, it being Casinopolis. And I had to hope that, when I got to him, that Xavier wouldn't be too egregious.