Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing back in! It's time for the third chapter, guys. This is turning into a really fun project. I really couldn't have done this back when I first started, but that's probably for the best; trial and error and all that stuff. So, without further ado, here's the new version of the third chapter.
NOTE:
-All of the characters or universes featured in this fic belong to their respective owners. Umbra the Hedgehog belongs to me.
Multi-Dimensional Melee!
"So, who wants to go first?"
Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles were still facing the one who had introduced himself as Scourge the Hedgehog. Most of them were still unnerved by his resemblance to Sonic; unlike so many other cases where he was left wondering if everyone in the world needed corrective laser surgery, this hedgehog really was like some sort of dark, twisted reflection of him.
Knuckles, on the other hand, was completely unfazed. "This is my island, and I want you gone right now!"
"Seriously?" Scourge facepalmed at this, clearly fighting back the urge to laugh. "You're that eager to eat even more of my dust, Rad Red?"
Knuckles scowled at him, which only served to get him to stop holding it back.
"Oh, man… how come my Knuckles wasn't this much of an idiot? That would've made things so much more fun!"
The echidna immediately charged at Scourge, clearly enraged, and punched him right in the face, which got him to stop laughing. However, it didn't stop him from grinning.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Bring it."
Knuckles wasted no time in trying to hit him again, but this time, Scourge effortlessly dodged everything that was thrown at him. Sonic, Amy and Tails could only watch the whole scene unfold, still too surprised to make any moves.
"Sonic…" Amy dropped her hammer without even noticing it. "…he moves just like you."
Tails nodded. "He sounds just like you."
"He even talks like me, except he's a complete jerk." Sonic turned to his friends. "Did he say something about 'his Knuckles' just now, or was that just me?"
Amy shook her head. "No, I heard it too."
"What do you think he means by that?" Tails brought a hand to his chin in thought.
Before any of the two hedgehogs could offer a response, Knuckles suddenly landed in front of them. He didn't look too bad, but it was enough to get the group's attention.
"I can do this all day, Chuckles." Scourge rubbed some dust off his shoulder. "Honestly, I could just take the big rock with me and let you guys drop to the ground, but I'm looking for a good time."
Amy immediately picked her hammer back up and pointed it at him. "Well, you're going to leave disappointed and empty-handed!"
"Pfft, don't make me laugh."
In response, she rushed in his direction and then jumped into the air, fully prepared to smash the green hedgehog with her Piko Piko Hammer. However, the second she hit the ground again, she was shocked to see him standing right next to her, having moved in what seemed like a fraction of a second.
"I'm gonna break this down for you, alright?" He pointed at her with a cocky grin. "You can't catch Sonic! Heck, you can't even get him to remember you exist as anything other than a pain in the butt!"
She quickly brought her hammer back up and swung it at him, but once again, he quickly dodged the attack like it was nothing.
"What makes you think you're going to do any better against someone who's better than Sonic in every way?" Then he pointed at himself. "Just face it, Amy. You can't touch this."
Upset by his comments, Amy made another attempt to smash him from the air. This time, however, instead of dodging, Scourge decided to try a different maneuver. Just as she stopped going up, he jumped up in her direction, and before she could process what had happened, he used a hand to grab her hammer by the handle and forced it out of her grip, which he quickly followed up with a kick to Amy's head.
The pink hedgehog landed face-first right in front of her shocked friends. Scourge was next, although he landed on his feet, still holding her hammer.
"What did I tell you, huh? What did I say?"
Tails rushed over to help Amy up, while Sonic and Knuckles glared at Scourge, who had already begun to play around with the Piko Piko Hammer.
"Y'know, this thing ain't as heavy as it looks." He took a few weak swings with it. "And here I used to think you were at least strong enough to compensate for that empty head of yours." As soon as Amy got back on her feet, he gave her a cocky smirk. "Guess you were half-right after all, babe. I am disappointed."
Her eyes widened. "My hammer!"
"Give it back!" Tails immediately demanded.
For some reason, this drew uproarious laughter from Scourge.
"You want it, shorty? Well, you got it!" He began to spin rapidly on the spot, and once he built up some serious speed, he threw the hammer right at the group. "Catch!"
Knuckles reacted quickly, running over to Tails and Amy and pushing them down. The hammer flew right by them, just barely missing them thanks to the echidna's maneuver, but it still had enough speed to try and hit Sonic, who didn't even flinch.
"Sonic!" Tails and Amy cried out to him.
They weren't really sure if he even paid attention to them or not, but right on cue, the blue hedgehog bent backwards, and in a similar manner to Scourge, he grabbed Amy's hammer by the handle and began to spin around in place. Once he finally stopped, he quickly followed it up by zooming over to where Scourge was standing and then running around in circles rapidly.
The green hedgehog merely raised an eyebrow at this display.
Conversely, Knuckles' eyes widened at that, and he quickly sank his fists into the dirt. Tails and Amy were a little startled by this, since it almost looked like he was going to punch them for a second there.
"Hold onto me, you guys!"
They immediately complied.
It wasn't long after that Sonic had finally built up enough speed, and that's when they understood exactly why Knuckles was so desperate when he said that.
He was going to use one of his techniques on Scourge.
"Hey, what the—"
That was all they heard the green hedgehog say before they saw him being pulled into one of Sonic's trademark Blue Tornadoes. Despite being so eerily similar to Sonic, it seemed like he hadn't recognized that maneuver, and before he knew it, he was suddenly spinning and flying around uncontrollably. He didn't even get enough time to process this before Sonic began to attack him, getting in several Spin Attacks from different directions. Every time he tried to counter, he just got hit from a different direction.
Finally, after the tornado propelled him up into the air, Scourge saw the blue hedgehog leaping up even higher, and he was surprised to see that he was still holding Amy's hammer. Before he could do anything about it, however, Sonic immediately hit him with said hammer, sending him back down to the ground.
"Yeah, that's how you do it." Scourge heard him brag right after landing close to him.
Raising his head to look at him, he saw Amy, Tails and Knuckles running up to Sonic, looking quite pleased with what had just happened.
"That was awesome!" Tails was the first one to speak.
Sonic chuckled at his reaction.
"Nothing less from this guy, little buddy." He pointed at himself while saying that, before turning to Knuckles and giving him a thumbs-up. "Nice job with the quick reaction there, Knux."
The echidna nodded at that. "I could say the same about you, Sonic."
Last but not least, Sonic turned his attention to Amy.
"Y'know, I've never been on the right end of this thing before. It's actually pretty cool." He swung the hammer around for a bit. "Packs one heck of a wallop, too. No wonder you like it so much." He offered it back to her. "Pretty sure you need it more than I do, though."
She took it back and smiled at him. "Thanks, Sonic. You're the best."
"You got that right." He chuckled again.
The group then turned their attention back to Scourge, who actually managed to surprise them by getting back up easily, looking none the worse for wear despite the beatdown he took from Sonic. He even began to laugh at them.
"See, that is what I was hoping for. That's one fancy maneuver you pulled off there, Blue." He walked over and grabbed his sunglasses, which had fallen off his head during Sonic's attack. "Could've done without all the sappy stuff, though."
The group got on their guard.
"So, ready for Round Three?" Sonic took the opportunity to taunt him. "We're all tied up and Team Sonic's going for the gold!"
Scourge laughed again. "You still think you're going to win, don't you?"
"Pretty sure, yeah." Sonic shrugged, like he wasn't even taking this seriously.
The invader put his sunglasses on, right in front of his eyes.
"Oh, that's cute." He walked up to the group. "See, I was just doing this for fun. Mr. Big Shot said he wanted the Master Emerald, but he never said anything about how I should get it, so I figured I'd have some fun while I was doing it."
Tails tilted his head to the side, confused. "Mr. Big Shot?"
"I'm talking here, freak." Scourge immediately snapped at him. "Y'know, part of me actually hopes that you idiots are going to survive this, because after that show, I can't think of anyone better to snuff you out than me. But for now…"
Without any sort of warning, Scourge disappeared in the blink of an eye, taking them all by surprise.
"…I'm just going to do what I came to do before he tries to ruin the fun." They heard him again, but the voice came from behind them this time. The group turned right around, only to find he was standing on top of the Master Emerald once more, twirling a ring in his finger. "Smell ya later, suckers!"
With that, he tossed the ring to the ground, which immediately grew big enough to fit both him and the powerful gemstone, and the two disappeared into the portal that it seemed to create before it completely vanished from the group's sight.
"No!" Knuckles instinctively reached out to where the hedgehog used to be. "The Master Emerald!"
Not long after he said that, the ground beneath their feet began to shake.
"Uh-oh…" Tails began to look around, already starting to worry about what would come next.
Seeing his distress, Sonic only had one thing to say. "Aw, jeez…"
Right on cue, the shaking started getting stronger.
"The island's falling!" Much like Tails, Amy couldn't help but panic.
Before any of them could take it any further, Sonic suddenly grabbed their attention with a very loud whistle.
"Hey, guys, we better get moving. Not a lot of time here." He turned to each of his friends as he spoke the following words. "Knuckles, grab onto Amy. Tails, you're with me."
Tails immediately complied, grabbing Sonic's hand, but Knuckles seemed a little skeptical. "You sure this is going to work, Sonic?"
"You got any other bright ideas, Knux?" The blue hedgehog immediately replied, and he noticed that Knuckles seemed to be stumped. "How about trying out the plan while you think of an answer?"
As the echidna grabbed her hand, Amy gave Sonic a confused look.
"Sonic? What are we doing?"
He gave her a smirk. "If you've got time to worry, then run, and no one runs like a hedgehog does!" Then he offered his free hand to her. "Edge of the island, ten seconds flat! Whaddya say, Amy?"
If there was a part of her brain that felt like screaming with joy at the fact that Sonic actually wanted to hold her hand for once—which, yes, of course there was—it would have to share focus with the one that decided she needed to live long enough to enjoy the satisfaction.
As she completed the gesture, she nodded at him.
"Sweet!" Sonic got into position, and Amy quickly followed suit. "Alright, guys, let's do this! Ready, set…"
Much to the collective group's shock, it was her who finished that phrase. "Go!"
Despite the surprise, Sonic still managed to react quickly enough that Amy's sudden decision to rush forward wouldn't trip him up, and in one swift blur, the group managed to make their way over to the nearest edge; just as he had playfully boasted, it took them exactly ten seconds to arrive, and they got a clear view of the quickly-approaching ground.
"Great. What now?" Needless to say, Knuckles was not impressed.
Sonic smirked at him before quickly running to his side. "Now, old buddy, you glide."
Before he could even say anything to that, he felt himself being pushed over the edge by the hedgehog. Trying his best not to panic or anything similar during the fall, he eventually got into position, stretching out his arms and legs, and right on cue, he managed to catch an air current and slow down his fall.
As he tried to find a safe spot to land on, his mind went over a simple thought.
Sonic, if we make it through this, I'm going to smack you upside the head.
Meanwhile, back in Angel Island, Tails and Amy were still pretty tense as the rumbling kept on intensifying.
"What about us?" The boy wasted no time as he watched Knuckles getting away.
Sonic chuckled at that. "Glad you asked, pal." He looked at each of them for a moment before focusing on his front again. "It's Fly formation time."
Right away, the two understood what he meant. His words brought back memories of the time Metal Sonic had rebelled against Eggman and tried to take over the world.
"Right." Amy nodded at him. "Let's go."
Tails did the same. "Leave it to me!"
Taking that as his cue, Sonic got into position once more, and after giving the others a moment to do the same, all three of them leapt forward as far as they could. The second they started to lose altitude, they did as Sonic had said and entered what they all knew as "Fly formation", with Sonic holding onto Tails' legs just as Amy did the same with him. The group kept dropping down, and Tails began to spin his two tails rapidly in an attempt to slow down their descent just as Knuckles had done earlier.
"Keep it together, Tails!" Sonic immediately began to encourage him. "You can do this!"
Amy just kept on looking around, trying to find a spot that they could land on.
Although his efforts did a good job of keeping them safe for most of the descent, eventually, Tails began to tire out.
"Guys… I don't know how much longer I can keep this up…"
Sonic immediately looked at him. "Come on, buddy. Just a little more! You've got this!"
"I…" Despite his exhaustion, he kept on pushing ahead. "I don't know…"
Much to their surprise, Amy suddenly spoke up.
"Guys! Flagpole!"
The two boys looked right in front of them, and sure enough, there was an empty flagpole closing in.
"Cool!" Sonic definitely seemed enthusiastic. "We can do a Tornado Jump on it!"
Amy wasn't as confident. "But you can't build up speed like this, and I can't use my hammer in this position!"
Before Sonic could argue with her, he noticed something strange, and upon looking up, he figured out what it was. Using whatever energy he had left, Tails had begun to swing the two hedgehogs back and forth, like he was trying to build up momentum.
He was confused for a moment, but after thinking about what Amy had said to him, he quickly understood what his friend meant to do.
"Amy…" He looked down for a moment, and he saw her turning her attention to him at the sound of her name. "…think fast!"
Her eyes widened, and before she could say anything, he felt Sonic pushing his legs forward as hard as he could, the inertia propelling her just high enough that Tails could grab onto her legs.
The young fox managed to spit out a single word. "Now!"
Realizing that her arms were no longer occupied thanks to her friends' risky maneuver, Amy brought out her hammer and took a swing at the flagpole with all of her strength. Sure enough, this was just enough to send a gust of wind right at it, and right as she put her weapon away again, she stretched her arms out and reached out in its direction. Much like she often did when she was leading Team Rose in their search for their missing friends, she managed to grab onto it, and the strength of the wind made her and the others spin in circles as they began to slide down it.
Once they reached the bottom, they were catapulted away from the pole and in a different direction, but their speed had already decreased enough that they were able to land atop a building.
"Whoa… that was tight!" Sonic immediately stood up tall, fully basking in the exhilaration of the desperate maneuver he and his friends had only barely managed to pull off, before turning to look at said friends. "You okay, guys?"
Amy groaned as she tried to stand up.
"I… I think so." She then looked at Tails, who was just lying on the ground. "He looks like he could use some rest, though."
"Yeah, well, he's more than earned it." He did the same. "You really saved our bacon there, little bro. Take it easy now."
No sooner did he finish uttering those words that he was surprised again.
"Guys!"
The two hedgehogs turned around, only to find that Knuckles was approaching them, having apparently had a much easier time controlling his descent.
"Are you alright?" He landed right in front of the two. "What happened?"
Amy looked at Tails once more. "We made it. Tails really pushed himself hard for us, but we all made it here safely."
"Good." Knuckles sighed in relief, although this quickly gave way to frustration and disappointment. "If only we had stopped that guy…"
Sonic immediately patted him in the shoulder a couple times.
"Hey, don't sweat it, Knuckles." He then reassured his friend. "We'll get it back. We always do. As soon as Tails can get back up, I can bet you that he's gonna work on tracking it down." He took his hand back. "And hey, Angel Island's gonna be just fine too. It always lands safely in… the…"
Knuckles was taken aback by how Sonic had suddenly stopped, not to mention how his expression had suddenly switched from the usual confident smirk to what looked like… shock. The fact that Amy's expression was an exact match did not help, and when he turned around to see what they were staring at, he quickly found himself doing a similar thing.
"What…?" That was all he could get out.
Unlike what Sonic was trying to get across, Angel Island wasn't falling back into its usual place in the ocean… it was heading straight for them.
"Oh, no…"
Amy gulped loudly. "What's happening?"
"It's not supposed to do that, right?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles could only shake his head in answer to that.
Before anything else could be said, the three were surprised by…
"…ry up!"
…something.
Sonic, Amy and Knuckles turned around, and they noticed something odd near the still-exhausted Tails.
"…on, hurry!"
They thought it was just their imagination, but they heard an echoing voice once again as some kind of spatial rift suddenly began to open right next to their young friend.
"Please, there isn't a lot of time!" Said voice seemed to be coming from inside of it. "Jump in!"
Amy stared at it in amazement. "Wh-What is that? Who is it?"
"More importantly, can we trust it?" Knuckles immediately followed it up.
Sonic quickly rushed over to where Tails was standing, the suddenness of it all startling the two of them. "No idea, but it can't be any worse than those guys!" He pointed behind them as he said that.
Confused by his comment, they turned around again, only to find that there were some monsters climbing up from the edge of the building. They looked like some kind of deformed, mismatched golems, and they were covered in what seemed like rock, grass and dirt; it was almost as if they had been created from the ground itself. They didn't look friendly, either.
"Hurry!" The mysterious voice called out to them once more.
Sonic picked Tails up. "No need to tell me twice!"
This got Amy and Knuckles to look at him again, just in time to see him jump into the rift and disappear along with Tails.
"Sonic!" Amy quickly chased after him.
While Knuckles was reluctant, one last look at his island closing in on him and the monsters who had turned up out of nowhere got him to follow along, although his face made it clear that he wasn't the least bit happy about it.
Despite all of them entering the mysterious rift at different points, the group was very surprised to find that they had all arrived at their destination at the same time… and ended up falling on top of one another.
"Guys?" Stuck at the bottom, Knuckles did his best to speak up under the weight of his friends. "Are you alright?"
Amy was right in the middle. "I… I think so." Then she looked up. "Sonic?"
"I'm cool." Sonic shook his shoulders a couple times, since he had fallen face-first and his best friend was still on his back. "Tails? You okay?"
Tails groaned. "Wha… what happened? Where… are we?"
"Oh, good, you're awake." Amy quickly retorted. "I'm not really sure where we are, but we made it. We're safe."
Sonic chuckled briefly. "Nice going, big guy."
"Oh… great." Despite his exhaustion, Tails managed to smile.
The others laughed at this, before their attention was diverted by something nearby.
Another rift opened up, looking just like the one that they had jumped into mere moments ago. Before any of them could say anything, a figure walked out of it. It looked humanoid, but was covered in what could only be described as some sort of… organic armor.
"What?" It spoke in a male voice. "Where am I? What's going on?"
Suddenly, another one opened up close to where the first one had turned up. This time, the figure was clearly some kind of robot, except it had a very human-looking face, and unlike the first one, it fell through the rift and landed on its back, with nothing to say for itself that might explain the abrupt entrance.
The next rift delivered a much stranger surprise for Sonic and the others. This time, it was two figures who came from it instead of just one, and as opposed to the other two that had suddenly appeared, these ones seemed more like themselves: small talking animals. In this case, they looked like a pair of rabbits, one blue and one pink, and they were clad in matching training shirts. The pink one also had a violet bow on its head, and much to everyone's confusion, their ears seemed to be floating above their heads, as opposed to being attached to them.
"Ow!" While the pink one was floating slightly above the ground, the blue one fell right on its head.
Finally, one last rift suddenly opened up, and that one gave them the biggest surprise of all. Once again, only one figure came through it, pulling off a perfect three-point landing. When it raised its head, its eyes widened at the sight of Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles all piled on top of each other, and it quickly noticed that their faces looked exactly the same.
It was a hedgehog. Almost exactly identical to Sonic, but its quills were thinner and messier, and its body was almost entirely black, save for its green sclerae.
Everyone was clearly very confused, or too hurt to think about being confused, but in the end, Sonic and his friends were the only ones to say anything in response to all the things that they had seen just now.
"Whoa…"
Okay, here we go. I'm gonna have to apologize because I really hoped I'd be uploading five new chapters and I only managed to come up with three, but this year made it really hard to work on them and I just really wanted to have something ready before this old chestnut's tenth anniversary flew by. I can only hope that the insanely long wait is still worth it for those of you who just happened to revisit the story and found these new chapters.
Just like before, I really hope you feel like the alterations made on this chapter have been worthwhile. Review, if you please, and let me know what you think. I welcome any and all feedback, good or bad, so long as you keep it civil.
This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.