Sonic in Between.
Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Happy New Year! To start off 2023, we enter the beginning of the new arc for Sonic in Between, taking a different turn as I said in the previous chapter, which is also connected to my completed story "Sonic's Space-Time Adventure".
Warning: This Arc contains spoilers for certain Sonic games and Media that were not yet played, read or even watched.
Also, I highly recommending that you read the author's note at the end of this chapter just to be on the safe side.
Let's do it to it!
Summary of Story 14-Part 1: *Set one week before the events of Sonic's Space-Time Adventure in the Original Universe, and three months after the Alternate Ending of Sonic and the Power of the Wisps* While things are peaceful in the original timeline, in an alternate reality where Dr. Eggman is still alive, Sonic and his friends end up deaing with their enemy...which ends up leading them into something that is not meant to be discovered.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Alternate-Sonic's Multiverse Adventure-P1: It begins.
In the Original Prime Reality: One week before the events of "Sonic's Space-Time Adventure"...
It was a beautiful, nice summers day in the world of Mobius. So much so that everybody relished on the peaceful life-style they all gained due to the defeat of many threats which were all sorted out by it's greatest hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. With Eggman gone, other villains like Jeremony, Sir Argo Barry Tobrokin and S.N.A.K.E.S in jail, or in Julian's case, perished as well, it seemed like the teenager could finally relax after all the trouble he and his friends had been through.
...Except something, or rather, someone was dragging him from his nice nap he'd been enjoying and spoiled his attempts to head out for some chili dogs for lunch.
"Amy, are you ever gonna tell me where exactly are we goin'?" Sonic asked in slight annoyance, as he was being dragged by his self-proclaimed girlfriend, Amy Rose, up a small green hill near the shores of Seaside Hill Zone.
"Trust me, Sonic, you're gonna love it. We're almost there." Amy gleamed excitedly, giving her 'boyfriend' a cute, flirty wink at the blue hedgehog who grumbled silently to himself, with a deadpanned expression once the thirteen year old looked away to focus what was ahead of them.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just tell me? You know how much I hate wait...ing?" The soon-to-be-sixteen year old trailed off in sudden surprise and slight confusion when they finally reached the top of the hill, which, as far as he could tell, looked rather beautiful.
The hill was fresh with bright green grass, palm trees swayed a bit in the gentle breeze, the giant palm leaves making it the perfect shades to just simply relax and enjoy yourself. But one tree in particular stood out the most: It looked like a regular Palm Tree, except it's bark was a healthy dark brown, the leaves were even brighter than the grass, tons of healthy-looking coconuts hung ready to be plucked and eaten or drank.
There was even beautiful hibiscus flowers surrounding it, some were red, others in different but lovely colours.
"Tada! Isn't it beautiful?" Amy beamed brightly, moving aside to reveal the tree fully to a confused but admittedly very impressed Sonic who gazed at it in wonder.
"Never seen a Palm Tree this healthy before. How in Mobius' name did I miss it?" The fifteen year old questioned himself, impressed and amazed, shading his eyes with his hand. Not only that, but this spot gave him a flash of deja vu, as though he had seen it before.
"This tree was easy to miss, but I found it last month and kept on forgetting to show you. It's my gift for you, Sonic." The pink hedgehog explained warmly, her hands clasped behind her back with a bright smile.
"For me?" Sonic blinked, before he chuckled lightly with a shrug, feeling a bit awkward but at the same time very grateful. "Amy, you do realize that my birthday isn't until next week, right? Not that I don't appreciate it, but, what's the occasion?"
"I know that, but this isn't a birthday present. It's a special gift for our love and friendship, for each other and for the rest of our friends." Amy giggled even more.
"A special gift? For all of us?" The blue hedgehog was now very curious. Sure any old tree would do, but now Sonic wanted to know what made this particular one so different.
The pink hedgehog nodded with a heart-felt feeling and expression, gazing up at the tree longingly. "I wanted to show you because it reminded me of how close we all are. They say that this tree represents the deepening bond of those positive feelings, and whenever we feel lost and lonely, we can only come here either with company or sometimes on our own to think about the people most important in our lives."
"Really?"
"Yep! It's a symbol to hold onto those feelings and memories if anything were to happen, and according to legend, trees like this are also shown to us in dreams if we ever felt so scared and had some kind of guilt, that it would calm us down until one day one of our friends would show it to us to remind thatm were are never alone."
The more Amy spoke, the more Sonic felt quite lost for words, speechless even. Normally he wouldn't consider in this as his bond with all of his friends deep inside his heart both physically and in spirit was more than enough to help him out, but ever since the whole Dark Gaia incident and the adventures that followed during his recovery from his guilt, fear and sorrow, the blue hedgehog knew that he had changed. Or at least had matured enough to finally accept that he can no longer be reckless whether Eggman was still alive or not. The past three months following the adventures up in Space proved it.
What also caught him off-guard was the legend of these sort of trees and almost instantly Sonic realized now why it felt familiar: Just before arriving in Adabat, that dream he had with Chip's Light Gaia Colossus form before being reunited with most of his friends, laughing, playing, just hanging out...This was the very same hill where they all relaxed having coconuts. The only downside to that is that the little pixie dog was no longer around due to his duties.
'This is totally weird and crazy, but...these trees show us dreams? Did this one...sense what could happen to me when me, Tails and Knuckles were following Metal in his fake Eggman form?' As much as Sonic thought it was far too silly to consider it, at the same time he can't just brush it off as mere coincidence.
Still, whether the legend was true or not, Sonic felt his heart surge with happiness and warmth that a bright and emotional smile formed on his muzzle with his Emerald green eyes shining. This now just proved how much everybody he had come to meet and bond through out his whole life meant so much that it almost brought him to tears. So much so that he wanted nothing more than to ensure they would all get the same treatment for going out of their way to make him happy, unaware that even just by being beside him with their different personalities, fun, quirky, everything that made theim so unique, made him happy.
"Whoa...Not sure if the legend is true, but I think they had one thing right about this tree." Sonic finally spoke up, gently placing his gloved hand ever so slightly onto the tree's trunk, as though afraid he could break it.
He closed his eyes and felt as though he could sense it's life-force, it's very sap and soul brief greeting his own. "When me, Tails, Sun and Chip when to Adabat, I had a dream where all four of us, you, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles, Rouge, almost everybody were hanging out together and before I woke up, we all sat under a palm tree on a hill very much like this one."
Amy blinked in surprise. Sonic really...had a dream like that?
"It was great. I kinda hoped and wished we could all hang out in that place." The blue hedgehog continued after opening his eyes, turning warmly to his close friend. "Thanks, Amy. For this and being there for me all the way. I'd do anything to make all of you guys happy, safe and free."
That nearly brought the pink hedgehog to tears as she smiled emotionally over Sonic's deep gratitude and his confession to her. She laughed happily and clung herself into Sonic's arms which made him wince uncomfortably, but none the less he smiled as he returned it once she loosened up a little. Despite that it was still early for a birthday present, the hero of Mobius was just happy to have all of his friends and family in his life.
"Being with you always makes us happy, sweetie." Amy responded, nuzzling her face onto his shoulder, softly purring. All the while she silently thought to herself. 'I'm so happy that he's happy. He'll definitely be more so next week! It'll be the best birthday he'll ever have.'
Even though Sonic still felt uncomfortable with Amy's romantic and tight hugs, lately they were becoming less and less fequent and since his confession to her in Spagonia and the group hugs, he felt himself steadily grow closer to his self-proclaimed girlfriend. He wasn't sure why, but his heart leaped a little in an exciting way that he subconsciously slowly closed his eyes and unknowingly made to gently kiss her on the head in deep gratitude...
Only for a deep and dark-ish voice grunt an 'Ahem!' to snap the blue hedgehog out of his half-hypnotized daze, startling him and Amy out of their deep bonded moment. When the two teenage hedgehogs looked in the same direction, to their surprise, they saw Shadow who, along with a bewildered Tails who held his Miles Electric in his hand, stood there with his arms folded and a serious but slightly embarrassed scowl on his face.
"If you two don't mind, I hate to interrupt your...whatever it is you are doing." Shadow spoke up, attempting to fight off the heated blush that threatened to form on his face and crack his serious demeanor.
Blushing in sheer embarrassment they were unable to stop themselves from forming as he and his self-proclaimed girlfriend shared a quick glance, the two broke apart while Sonic looked away with one hand on his head as he had realized what he was about to do and mentally reprehend himself on what he was thinking, and Amy, despite being intimidated by the black hedgehog, she glared both at the Ultimate Lifeform as well as the twice as embarrassed but still shocked two-tailed fox cub for ruining her and the cobalt teenager's 'romantic' moment together.
"Do you two mind? We were having a lovely moment together!" Amy hissed, her fists clutched tightly.
"Um...Lovely moment?" Tails awkwardly muttered slowly, turning his gaze to his older brother who flinched, sweating nervously.
"Uh, y-you know, friendship sort of thing! Ames was showing this beautiful tree she gave me as a present!" Sonic, not wanting to go through that misunderstanding nightmare again, frantically shook his hands in a panic. "I-It's not what you guys think!"
"Right..." The nine year old fox trailed off, not fully convinced as he has noticed for the last few months that his best friend/big brother was getting closer to their pink friend, just not realizing his own feelings yet. Despite this, Tails remained silent as he didn't want to risk in Sonic getting too embarrassed that could lead to an unnecessary argument.
'I've never known faker to almost...do that.' Shadow thought to himself while feeling admittedly uncomfortable but managed to hide it, before deciding to forget about it and turned sternly to Sonic. "Whatever. In any case, I need to tell you something, and in involves you doing something stupid and catastrophic unless you listen, so pay attention."
"...Say what? I'm about to do something...stupid and cause a disaster?" Sonic slowly repeated, his heart quickly beginning to sink at his rival's bitter but cautious tone yet confused at the same time. What did he mean by that?
"What are you talking about?" Amy demanded, completely clueless as well.
"This is going to sound unbelievable, but it's best to be explained in the fox cub's workshop. We can't take any chances." The black hedgehog sighed, almost impatiently.
Despite not understanding what Shadow was talking about, experience for the last five months has taught Sonic, in a real hard way, to now always take extreme precautions with threats, enemies and other things that can cause major trouble. If Eggman hadn't, the teenage hero would probably dismiss the older Mobian's claims and say that he could handle it with perfect confidence.
'Come to think of it, if Eggman were still alive and I'd actually learn to be more careful and not be overconfident like I used to be, maybe Shadow would warn me with whatever it is he wants to tell me about.' Sonic thought to himself, no longer charging in without seeking advice first, taking careful investigation and steps, observing situations and more importantly, trusting those he was close to or had known for a very long time.
"Well then, lead the way, Shads. I'm all ears." Sonic finally shrugged in agreement, thankfully recovering from his embarrassment and silently thanking the older hedgehog from stopping from...kissing Amy. That would lead to a never-ending teasing for the rest of his life.
"Hmph. I know it's been months since you learned, but it's about time you would actually listen, faker." Shadow smirked, secretly relieved that his younger rival decided to listen. Regardless, Sonic did listen and had been careful even before and after Eggman's death.
Such as the adventures in Soleanna to restore the Sun Stone and defeat the evil organization S.N.A.K.E.S.
While a bit sheepish to admit it that he has mature a little bit despite still being the same, the hero of Mobius chuckled and teasingly smirked back. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, faker. Let's just go already, 'cause if you're gonna tell me somethin', it's really serious."
"Good, then let's get moving."
Nodding in agreement and despite being worried, Sonic and Tails agreed to let Amy come along since it would make sense that she stayed in the loop, the young Mobians followed their former enemies back to the Mystic Ruins. But not before Sonic paused and turned around to gaze at the Palm Tree, feeling the sense of deep compassion for his self-proclaimed girlfriend having gone through the trouble to gift him such a beautiful area to relax in.
Not wanting to simply leave it without being it some sort of symbolization, Sonic softly smiled and gently placed his hand onto the trunk once more, gazing at with his heart even more soothed.
'Maybe after whatever crisis we're facing next is solved and I stop myself from making a dangerous mistake, we should all have a picnic here together. Just like in that dream I had.' The blue hedgehog closed his eyes, as though connecting himself with the tree. 'This will be my new favorite spot from now on. Our favorite spot. For all of us.'
With that thought in mind, Sonic nodded to himself before speeding off to catch up to his friends to learn what Shadow was going to warn him about.
Yet while it may not be the case here, little did the heroes know that this was just the beginning of what was yet to come in their near future...while in another place far away, very much like their own world but with a slight difference, things about to become extremely dangerous. Not just for themselves...but for many other far away places as well.
In an Alternate Prime Reality: Three months after the Alternate Ending of "Sonic and the Power of the Wisps"...
Three months had passed since the adventures up in Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, even most of their other friends and allies, the Chaotix, Team Dark and Sun the Hedgehog and Staria "Star" Amantha, had been pretty busy since saving the Universe from the evil scientist's Mind Control scheme, and even more to protect Mobius from other kinds of threats and problems.
As of now, Sonic was facing off against the evil scientist in the middle of Green Hill Zone to which the blue hedgehog was visiting his parents along with his friends, as well as learning of something very secret. Some trees were already cut down due to the evil scientist attempting to once again destroy nature, Mobini had already run away in fear to avoid in getting captured and those who were were saved by the teenage hero himself, hidden themselves in a safe distance.
"HAAAAAH!" Sonic yelled as he flipped before axe-kicking at the robotic chain-saw arm of yet another giant robot that resembled to an metal Oak-Tree with a monstrous face, crushing it in half while landing safely on the ground.
In fact, it was already the second arm he sliced off which he had used his Homing Attack to do so just moments ago. The teenage hedgehog glared with a growing confident smirk on his muzzle, yet he knew, through out the past five months since the Dark Gaia crisis, he had to be extremely careful now. In hindsight Sonic had been doing some serious training in case he could end up either being super reckless and cause a terrible mistake and disaster or end up being caught off-guard again which he really didn't want.
The same couldn't be said for Eggman, though, despite that he too has been becoming a bit more careful while trying to predict Sonic's heroic movements.
"Curse you, Sonic! Just because you're smashing up my Oak-Destroyer, doesn't mean you will defeat me!" Eggman snarled angrily, shaking a fist above his head.
"You might think that, Eggman, but let's face the facts here: Your stupid Egg-Tree or whatever you wanna call it, is already losing it's fake branches." Sonic retorted, folding his arms casually even though he was still high on his guard. Anything could happen and his enemy might have a back-up plan that will come out at any moment.
To his great concern and prediction, however, the evil scientist grinned wickedly as he began to push another button. "Oh, but things go grow back, or in this case, rejuvenate themselves!"
The moment Eggman did, the Oak-Destroyer's destroyed arms began to open up more hatches and several more chainsaws and other material used to cut down trees and what-not formed, axes, choppers, lasers, saws, branch-cutters, and even gripping claws...all in places of fingers of newly made giant hands. Sonic couldn't stop the gasp of shock at the sight of the weapons all in one hit, and a sweat drop forming on the side of his head. Eggman was really going overboard today!
"Okay, that's just going way too overboard, don'tcha think?" Sonic deadpanned with his hands now on his hips, masking his horrified expression with a dull expression. But then again, he shouldn't be too surprised at this stage.
"Heh heh heh...It never hurts to have a back-up plan." Eggman cackled, his grin becoming even wider as he believed he had the full advantage over this.
To his confusion, the fifteen year old just smirked back which wasn't unusual, but what he said next was. "You took the words right outta my mouth, Eggy."
"I don't know what your game is, hedgehog, but this time I WILL destroy you!" The mad doctor snarled, quickly losing his grin.
"Not today, Egghead!" Sonic responded, positioning himself.
"FIRE!" Eggman commanded, the Oak-Destroyer launching the lasers at Sonic who leaped and jumped out of the way, speeding in a zig-zag pattern while the beams caused explosions on the ground, trees to be sliced up like pieces of paper, and vaporizing the palm leaves which deep down made the blue hedgehog so angry he could smash this thing instantly right about now.
When the lasers failed to even touch him, the Oak-Destroyer then stretched out it's arms and began to try and grab the cobalt teenager. But Sonic, watching very carefully this time, somersaulted into the air and Spin-Jumped into the metal and non-sharp parts of the giant robot's fingers, slicing off the axes and choppers first without hurting himself, racing along the arm and yelped when a couple of the claws stretched out to grab him. Sonic's eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth when he looked over his shoulder, before quickly racing up to the shoulder of the machine to where Eggman was.
"Not so fast, rodent!" Eggman laughed, pushing a button on his remote after he secretly pulled it out from his pocket.
Just before Sonic could even reach to his destination, part of the upper arm opened up to reveal a cannon-launcher which forced the hero of Mobius to almost skid to a stop when it locked onto him and opened fire. Yet the blue hedgehog quickly jumped to the side and Spin-Jumped again to bash away the other hand before it could clasp him, while the launcher instead destroyed the claws and even the other weapons on the fingers, much to the evil scientist's dismay.
"Too slow, as always! You gotta do better than that!" Sonic taunted, chuckling as he landed onto the other arm and quickly made a beeline to try again, realizing that this may actually help him to turn the tides even further. 'Let's just hope that the others are almost done here. I'm not sure if I can keep this up by myself.'
Fortunately, Sonic hadn't come here alone as it was part of the secret plan all along.
Unbeknownst to the mad doctor, while Sonic had been fighting him and his massive killing machine, as Eggman had sent out a lot of his robots to conquer South Island once again, or at least try to, all around they were already smashed up into pieces as not too far from where they were, a white spiked fist thrust into the chest of a badnik so hard that it was instantly sent flying and exploded in mid air, belonging to none other than Knuckles, who growled with great determination.
When two more appeared, the red echidna stood his ground before he charged fairly quickly, side-stepping when they opened fire at him, jumping and leaped from one rock to another, before he launched himself into the air with a mighty battle cry and dove straight towards them.
"Outta the way, you pieces of junk!" Knuckles roared, simultaneously punched the heads of the two robots which were flown right off while the bodies slumped onto the ground, malfunctioning with sparks and destroyed eletricical wiring setting off before they too self-destructed.
By the time the Master Emerald Guardian landed on the large rock near by, he noticed a little Mobini Clucky trying to reach a tropical peach yet was far too high for it that it was quickly starting to become more and more frustrated while hoping to avoid in getting captured. Feeling sympathy for the youngster yet never losing his cool, calm and collective attitude, Knuckles simply punched the tree trunk which shook the piece of fruit out from the branch and landed just in front of the smaller animal.
The little Mobini beamed happily and dug into the peach, while making a squeaking noise of gratitude to Knuckles who simply just smirked, pleased with himself. He may be rough on the edges, deep down he really liked helping out others, whether they the Mobini on Angel Island that kept him company growing up before he met Sonic and the others, or helping out his closest friends in the rest of the world.
"Hmph...That's the first half of them out for the count." The red echidna muttered to himself, before frowning in concern as he glanced up at the sky. For all that was going on, he just hoped that whatever his friends had planned, things wouldn't go wrong.
But something within his heart and gut were saying that they were in much more than what they bargained for.
At another part of the checkerboard-like area with palm trees lined up on either side, Bee-Bots were chasing after young Flickies and other Mobini who were trying to escape, panting in exhaustion after running away for what felt like forever, as some looked over their shoulders with frightened looks and cries, squealing or squeaking for help as the badniks closed in on them with nets and capsules.
But before the machines could even snatch up the helpless animals, an orange spinning ball Spin Dashed from the right and bashed several of them in a zig-zag pattern and knocking them over before finishing them off with a final hard hit so quickly that the robots exploded seconds later, pieces of metal flying everywhere as they went.
The Mobini who were stunned in awe stood there amazed, before the ball unraveled itself to reveal none other than Sun the Hedgehog, a physically teenage Mobian who was once a clone of Sonic and at night before Dark Gaia was defeated, would transform into a Werehog before being cured and transformed into a real Mobian himself.
"Now I know why they're called Bee-Bots. These things are annoying." Sun grumbled under his breath, dusting his hands off as he glared at the destroyed machinery laid on the ground.
Before he could make any more comments any further, the orange hedgehog heard movement from his left and turned sharply to see a large Motorbug come wheeling straight towards him ready for an attack and capture.
"No time to play!" The tangerine hedgehog snarled, jumping to the side while carefully making sure that the frightened little animals quickly got to hiding places. He then unstealthed his grapple hooks and shot them out around the trees, swinging so fast that the robot had trouble even as it fired missiles and claws at him.
Then, having an idea, Sun then flipped in mid-air before landing on top of the badnik's head and waited for it to open fire to lock in on him. Smirking mischievously, the orange hedgehog waited until the missile flew straight towards him before he jumped off while the robot saw this too late because the missile hit it's head instead, causing the machine to explode as it had unintentionally destroyed itself.
"Sucker." Sun grinned after he landed, before he was greeted by the grateful mobini who cheered on happily, and began hugging him all over the place, causing the hedgehog to laugh while trying to carefully push them off. "W-Whoa! Hey, hey! Easy there...! Ha ha ha ha ha! Yes, yes, y-you're welcome!"
'I'm starting to see why Sonic really likes these little guys. They can't talk but at least their feelings are easy to listen to.' The tangerine Mobian thought to himself, smiling.
He then wondered how Sonic was going...as well as another brother in both of their lives.
Back with Sonic, the teenage hero did a karate-chop and punch at the Oak-Destroyer's left hand, snapping off the laser from one finger, and, surprised that it still worked while irked in using a weapon, leaped back and fired it awkwardly at the other 'fingers', blasting away the other weapons which melted and fell onto the ground below.
"Ha ha!" The blue hedgehog chuckled confidently, before landing onto the arm and spun around only to gasp again in shock and fright when the right hand, now having normal fingers restored in place of the weapons for the giant robot to avoid in exploding, reached out for him. "WHOA!"
Panicking, Sonic opened fire again only to find that laser now useless. Groaning at the worthless short-lived life-saver, he quickly tossed it at the hand before running up to the shoulder to reach Eggman who was, despite the irritation that the blue hedgehog still wasn't backing down, laughing manically as he believed that things were finally turning to his favor.
"Oh ho ho ho! It seems you're in a bit of a tight squeeze, Sonic! Let me give you a hand!" Eggman chuckled, maneuvering the controls of his machine and the hand stretched out to try and capture Sonic and crush him to death.
Sweat dropping when he saw this at the corner of his eye, Sonic felt his heart race as he willed himself to go faster to avoid in getting caught, feeling the terrible flash of deja vu of an incident he really didn't want a repeat of.
'C'mon, Tails, hurry...!' The fifteen year old pleaded in his mind, squeezing his eyes shut before he attempted to run even faster upward but the hand was about to grab him as it loomed over the blue hedgehog that would ensure his enemy's victory.
Except while this was happening, Tails who had been smashing away enemies on his way to help his best friend/big brother with a newly built laser-pistol of his own only meant for Eggman's destructive robots, blasted some away with his weapon while flying as fast as he could with his name-sakes, and when certain Badniks got too close, the twin-tailed fox cub glared before he bravely used a Spin Dash to bash them away.
"I've gotta hurry before it's too late! Hang in there, Sonic! Just a little bit more!" The now nine year old kit whispered to himself, sweating nervously as he feared that he may already be too late to shut down Eggman's machine and save Sonic. If he messed things up now, who knows what will happen and he would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.
Fortunately, half-way during the battle while Sonic was busy distracting the evil scientist as it was all part of the plan since the hero of Mobius no longer wanted to take any chances, Tails finally made it and while it was awkward due to the Oak-Destroyer continuously moving, he managed to fly his way up to it's back where the hatch was to it's inner parts. Quickly making his work by unscrewing the nut-bolts while trying hard not to yelp as it would catch Eggman's attention, the young fox managed to open it and traveled his way into the controlling systems inside.
Traversing through the rather impressive organized maze of wiring, steam-vents, gears, ect., Tails finally saw the very systems and computer-code with Eggman's ugly symbol on it. Smirking, the little kit quickly hurried over and made work in hacking into the Oak-Destroyer's programming, and while it was a little tricky due to Eggman thinking rather ahead this time, for the last few months the heroes all worked together to train themselves in case their enemy caught them off-guard so bad that nothing would stop him.
"I may not be nature savvy, but I'm sure good at this!" Tails whispered to himself confidently, narrowing his eyes as he concentrated. 'Hmm...Not sure how Eggman found all of this NanoTech, but it's no wonder this machine is able to self-repair itself. I just gotta figure out how to suit it down.'
Back outside, Sonic was almost at the summit of Eggman's machine when the giant hand was just inches away in grabbing him, causing the blue hedgehog to unintentionally whimper, resorting to Spin Jump higher.
"I've got you now!" Eggman declared as he controlled his machine to use both hands to grab Sonic who wouldn't have time to escape, being part of his plan to get rid of him.
Before the blue hedgehog could even reach his enemy, both hands clasped together that engulfed Sonic who screamed and forced the teenager to uncurl himself, now trapped inside. Wincing and in an awkward position when the robot's hands were made to then squeeze him flat, he pushed both giant metal palms with his hand smaller hands, straining himself to break free from the grip with sweat forming all over his body.
"T-Tails...H-Hurry up, please!" Sonic whispered, feeling quite scared as he feared that if his best friend/little brother didn't sort out the machine right now, he was as good as a pancake. His heart raced rapidly and prayed for any sort of miracle.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! AH HA HA HA HA!" Eggman laughed evilly, pleased that he has captured Sonic and now in the process of destroying the little blue hedgehog once and for all.
Or so he thought.
Inside the robot, Tails was sweating nervously as he could somehow sense that Sonic was in grave danger, but with a few final keystrokes, his heart leaped when he finally cracked the code and quickly caused the machine to lose all control.
"I just need something to shut-off this thing..." Tails whispered to himself, looking around until he remembered his pistol and reached for his utility belt, smirking. "This should do it!"
Hovering back and taking careful aim, the young fox cub opened fire at the monitor and wrecking it, causing the Oak-Destroyer's alarms to blare a "WARNING! SYSTEM FAILURE! INSERTING SHUT DOWN!"
"Yeah!" Cheering on, Tails quickly flew out of the machine which soon lost all power and began to shut down.
When Eggman was about to command his robot to flatten the teenage hedgehog, suddenly the power died out and he lost all control, much to his shock, confusion and dismay.
"What!? System failure and shut down!? This can't be!" Eggman exclaimed, trying in a futile attempt to get his machine to work but it refused to respond. No matter how hard he tried, they would not respond, bginning to panic and sweat.
Just when Sonic thought he was done for, suddenly the grip all around him loosened, making him softly gasp in confusion at first before realization hit him and he smirked. Silently praising Tails' handiwork and thanking his little brother for saving his life in time, the blue hedgehog then used much of his strength to push the giant hands open, using his Homing Attack to smash them into pieces before aiming straight towards the robot's chest just as Tails flew out of it safely and into the air.
"NO! Impossible! I was this close to winning!" The evil scientist roared in pure angry and frustration, throwing yet another temper tantrum at the dashboard over his loss for the umpteenth time.
To make things worse, much to his horror, Eggman saw Sonic smash his way straight through and it was already too late for the mad doctor to de-attach his Egg Mobile, emerging from the other side and uncurled himself just as Tails caught Sonic by his right hand, the two best friends flying away quickly with shared victorious laughter.
When hearing not one but two boys' laughing, Eggman looked over his shoulder just as his machine was self-destructing and growled angrily when he realized what had really happened.
"You little...You were stalling me!" Eggman snarled.
"Heh heh...What'd ya', expect? It's called the power of teamwork!" Sonic laughed, shrugging with one shoulder. He then winked with a mocked apology. "Oh, by the way, before you do mention, your other toys are broken too. Sorry about that."
"Huh?"
Unfortunately before the evil scientist could demand what his young enemy was talking about, sparks of electricity got his attention and Eggman gasped in horror, screaming just as the Oak-Destroyer was destroyed, exploding which sent the mad doctor flying, screaming before vanishing into the sky as usual.
"Bye bye!" Sonic and Tails called out simultaneously, laughing in relief before the latter gently descended and put the former down and landed next to the blue hedgehog, the two surrogate brothers sharing a high-five. "Yes!"
"Great job, Tails! I knew you could handle it!" Sonic praised with a thumbs up, proud of his little brother.
"Was there any doubt?" Tails proudly questioned, his name-sakes swishing as he rubbed his nose the same way his best friend/big brother and idol would do.
"Nope, not at all." The blue hedgehog chuckled, winking happily. "Thanks for savin' me. I thought I was a goner for a moment there."
"Oh, ye' little faith." The two-tailed fox cub teased as he winked back, prompting his big brother to laugh, just as Knuckles and Sun, the latter calling out to him and Sonic who both turned to see, had approached.
"I guess Ro-butt-nik is already sent packing." Sun remarked with a smirk once he and Knuckles saw the results of the battle. Not that he was too surprised.
"Yep. All in the day's work!" Sonic declared, grinning with a thumbs up. "It was a pretty close call, but thanks to Tails, we nailed it!"
"Thank you, thank you!" The aforementioned fox cub dramatically bowed with a smirk.
"I could've done it better myself, but great job, Tails." Knuckles praised with a smirk, even though he did feel a little bit disappointed in missing out on that part of the action.
"Now that Egghead got pushed back by ten steps, we're more than ready for the next part." The hero of Mobius announced, placing his hands on his hips. Since this was all part of what he and his friends had learned earlier, this was a major step in saving the world before another catastrophic event took place.
"That will give us enough time to come up with a plan to stop him from getting to the Paradox Prism, and learn more of it's secrets to prevent anybody from getting to it." Tails announced in relief, before placing his fingers onto his chin deep in thought. "I'm surprised we never even noticed it before."
"Especially here on South Island of all places. It's like it was a signal to call out to us or something." Knuckles folded his arms, agreeing with the young fox's puzzled state.
While Sun was just as clueless about the whole thing, even Sonic couldn't believe either as the blue hedgehog thought. "Hmm, yeah, it's just like how nobody even knew that the Chaos Emeralds were even here to begin with and everybody born here pretty much grew up without even realizing it. But then again, it was kept secret by most people to prevent any sort of disaster waiting to happen."
Sonic then shrugged with a sad sigh. "It's too bad it didn't keep Eggman out of it and he found out before even my parents and late uncle did."
"Yeah, no kidding. It's also too bad he had to be here." The former Werehog rolled his eyes.
"And ruined everybody else's fun time. But then again, we did sort of had a feeling it would happen sooner or later. That's why we had to be prepared." The hero of Mobius pointed out, before sighing as he scratched the top of his head. "Let's hope Shadow and the others came up with something by now."
In fact, the reason for their mission today actually started this morning, when the four boys arrived alongside Amy, Cream and Cheese, Star, and Vanilla.
About Eight Hours Earlier...
It all started on a nice lovely day, that despite the usual threats from Dr. Eggman's plots in taking over the world, Sonic felt it was by time to spend some quality time with his friends and family. Having made steady recovery from his trauma five months ago to the point that was finally back to normal and happy, and more careful now with the dangers, the blue hedgehog couldn't wait for a much needed relaxing time.
Though when they agreed and inviting his friends Tails, Amy, even Knuckles, Sun, Star, Cream and Cheese and Vanilla to visit his parents Jules and Bernadette Hedgehog, Sonic's group met up before noticing something very unusual happening. As of now, while most of the group were happily chatting away outside or simply relaxing, Sonic and Tails were both in the latter's workshop with computers, security cameras and monitors all set up, an image of energy waves higher than that of the Chaos Emeralds being shown.
"Is this the readings of the energy waves that acted up last night?" Sonic asked, curiously with a slightly skeptical expression. But then again, seeing this made something inside his stomach turn since experience taught him to now be more vigilant than ever before.
"Yeah. The waves of the unusual status began to emerge right here on South Island, in the west part of Green Hill Zone. I'm analyzing the current whereabouts of this power, but it's quite difficult to mobilize it's stability and ripple of the air conduct." Tails explained while not looking away from his work.
"Why am I getting a feeling I'm not gonna like the sound of this?" The blue hedgehog murmured worriedly, with a sweat drop.
Despite not being really worried about it right now, even the two-tailed fox cub had his concerns as he continued his work and the more he did, the more his insides were getting quite bad as a sense of dread filled up inside his stomach. Because whenever something unusual happens or is discovered that could potentially be far beyond any mortal's comprehension, it was never a good sign.
"From what I'm understanding, this energy is linked to the very existence of the planet itself...Or even the universe, like a heart or core or something." The young kit explained.
"So why is it here on Mobius?"
"That I'm not sure of."
'This just spells disaster point. I've got a bad feeling about this.' Sonic thought to himself uneasily.
Just then, an image showed up near the cave where Sonic remembered locating the first Chaos Emerald almost five years ago, the energy readings flaring up into another slightly deeper cave with various pink crystals within the ground and walls, a hole in the ceiling and in the very middle, the largest crystal of all with unreadable waves linked across the planet and the universe. The two young brothers softly gasped in shock and awe, simultaneously leaning closer to get a better look.
"Holy Chaos! What is that thing?" The hero of Mobius exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Whoa! I think this is...The energy is coming from the Paradox Prism!?" Tails blinked, baffled beyond belief.
"The para-what-now?" Sonic questioned, dumbfounded.
"From what I learned a few weeks ago in one of the books I burrowed in the library, according to legend, the Paradox Prism is said to maintain the balance of the universe and while unrelated to the Chaos Emeralds, it holds strong powers to grant anybody anything they really want, yet no one knows for sure how it can do that or where it came from." The twin-tailed fox explained, burrowing his eyes in deep concern. "But I never thought it would be true."
"That's definitely really dangerous. I wouldn't wanna go anywhere near that giant crystal." The cobalt teenager felt even more uneasy.
Normally he would go for hiding things that were deemed too dangerous or get rid of them if even that was impossible, but five months of recovering from the Dark Gaia crisis made him be even more careful and refrained from going for jumping in first without really learning of the consequences of what could happen if made the wrong decision. While he wasn't solely responsible for Eggman splitting up Mobius or the Wisps being kidnapped, Sonic didn't want go through causing terrible disasters again.
So instead, he asked carefully as one idea came into mind yet he wanted to make sure this time. "What about if it's smashed into pieces?"
Just as Sonic had feared, Tails flinched in horror, spun around and frantically waved his hands with a terrified expression. "NO! No, it can't be destroyed, Sonic! If it is, then the whole universe will be destroyed and who knows what else could happen!"
"What!?" Sonic softly gasped in horror, his pupils shrinking back as he felt faint, his muzzle paling that he even felt like he was going to faint. The destruction of the Paradox Prism...would being the end of the whole universe?
That instantly tossed that idea as a way to prevent evil like Eggman from getting to it out of his mind. Worst part is, the teenage hero, with a sudden painful jolt in his mind as though someone was shoving in into his head that made him squeeze his eyes shut with a wince of discomfort, instantly saw an image of himself using a Spin Dash into the Paradox Prisim what his enemy tried to forcefully take, and despite warnings from his friends, strangely enough it was just Sonic himself, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and even Rouge, while their enemy had Orbot and Cubot with him but no sign of Decoe, Bocoe or Bokkun, tried to stop him but it was too late.
To make things worse, Sonic even saw the results of it sending out uncontained energy which hit all of them and the universe so hard that the blue hedgehog was then swallowed up into a void, falling while everything fell apart, creating a whole new world of shattered crystals leading to places...
Right before the image faded and Sonic was shaken, his head hurting while he felt the dull ache, but passed off this vision as a horrifying image of realization of what could happen if he went through it. He grimaced over the idea and now was paralyzed in terror, his heart beating to the point the was worried it might explode or something.
"Okay, so maybe doing that to stop Eggman if he does get it is not such a good idea." Sonic shakily remarked. Still, the very idea of Eggman getting to it would also spell doom to them all. "Got any suggestions how to keep him from getting to it without damaging the crystal?"
"Hmm...It's hard to say." Tails answered uneasily, with a despondent sigh. "I'm not sure what we can do without causing too much damage."
"Guess we'll have to come up with something, then. That's gonna be tricky." Sonic folded his arms, hoping that whatever they could come up with wouldn't result the end of everything they knew. It turned his stomach over the idea that he would be the catalyst of the destruction when he had worked so hard for the past half a decade to protect the planet, and a few months ago that role increased in saving the whole universe itself.
If that were to happen and he would cause the disaster, Sonic would be blaming himself for the rest of his life. Or even for the rest of eternity if he didn't survive the catastrophic event.
Suddenly the door was being knocked so roughly that it startled the two Mobians who gasped and spun around quickly. Whoever it was knocking it looked as though the unsuspected visitor planned on smashing it into pieces. Sharing a glance nervously, Sonic decided to answer and raced over before opening it to see who it was before they would wreck the door...
Only to be met with a punch in the face by a white-gloved fist with a golden ring around the wrist of a black and red arm.
"OMPH!" Sonic grunted as he was forced back and sent crashing onto the floor hard. Wincing at the bruise he knew he was in for, the blue hedgehog hissed in agony before glaring up at the attacker, turning out to be a deeply scowled and rather concerned Shadow the Hedgehog while rubbing his right cheek. "Any particular reason why you wanted to break down the door and use me for a punching bag, faker?"
"I'm surprised you're here for once instead of running around like you normally would. But at least it makes it easier to stop you from doing something stupendously stupid it would spell doom to us all." Shadow grunted, glaring at the blue hedgehog with a heated glare and ignoring the teenager's comment.
"Like what?" Sonic stood up, his hand covering the newly made deep blue and purple bruise with his gloved hand, while Tails, gasping in horror over what happened, hurried to tend to the teenage Mobian's injury. "If anybody's done something stupid, it's you for punching me for no reason and then accusing me for something I didn't even do yet."
"Look, I know that you have matured slightly over the last few months, but you still have that annoying habit in not actually paying attention to what people tell you." Shadow glared back.
"I do not! That's still no excuse in hitting me like that! So could you please just tell us what I'm about to do that'll cause a disaster?"
"Fine, but you had better listen, faker, because I will come after you if you don't." The Ultimate Lifeform warned darkly.
Both Sonic and Tails, who had also been glaring at the black hedgehog, blinked in surprise over their ally's attitude. If anything, Shadow looked very...Livid somehow. The question is, what was it that had him so on edge into no longer trusting the hero of Mobius?
It was almost like the time when they first met.
"This is going to sound absurd and while I am not sure how it happened, but are either of familiar with the Paradox Prism?" Shadow began.
"Huh!?" The two brothers gaped before sharing a glance, and turned back to their friend.
"We were just talking about that thing after Tails showed me of the weird universal energy thingmajig." Sonic responded with a shrug.
"I just found out about the energy readings and read up about it a few weeks ago, but there's much unknown about the crystal itself." Tails added.
"Hmmm..." Shadow frowned, folding his arms. "I too had read about it and as you well know, Professor Robotnik would have me study on life of the universe as much as what has been learned. The Paradox Prism is one of them. Destroying it will cause the end of reality itself as we know it."
"Yeah...Tails just told me about that too." The fifteen year old meekly scratched the top of his head, uncomfortably. "Mind you, we were discussing about it and how Eggman could use it to his advantage and-"
"Which is why I am here. You should not go after him."
"Say what? How c-Wait a second, have you been spying on us?" Sonic, shocked on how Shadow bluntly ordered him not to go after Eggman, now glared accusingly at his rival.
"It's not so much as spying. Last night, I had a dream, or perhaps a vision for an unusual reason, and it involved both of you as well as Amy, Knuckles and Rouge of all people. All of you were fighting the doctor trying to prevent him from abusing the power of the crystal." Shadow explained, earning shocked gasps from the younger Mobians, casting his heated glare at the blue hedgehog. "And YOU destroyed it by spin dashing into it, causing destruction of our universe and shattering it."
"WHAT!?" Sonic and Tails exclaimed, utterly horrified.
"A-Are you sure that's what you saw, Shadow?" The two-tailed fox cub asked, shakily.
"Yes, I'm positive. I'm not sure why, but I felt it was very important to warn you before it was too late." The ebony hedgehog nodded.
While half-expecting Sonic to stubbornly brush it all off, the reaction Shadow got instead was a ghostly paled expression with a haunted look in his emerald green eyes, lowering his gaze and a terrifying realization of the brief image he just saw moments ago before his rival's arrival...Could that sudden splitting headache and image been a vision too?
"Sonic? Sonic!" Tails, noticing his big brother's glazed appearance, shook the blue hedgehog by the shoulder to get him to snap out of his trance.
"Oh...man...And here I thought it was just a terrible imagination if I did go through that idea." Sonic muttered, placing a hand to his face, his heart aching in guilt even though he hasn't done anything wrong, at least not yet, his eyes beginning to sting with tears forming even though he tried to will them back.
"What?" Shadow narrowed his eyes, now feeling confused himself.
"Before you came barging into here, when Tails warned me not to wreck it when I asked what would happen if it was smashed, I saw a day-mare rush through my head, everything that you saw in your nightmare, Shadow." The cobalt hedgehog confessed, shocking his little brother and rival who softly gasped in disbelief. Sonic sniffled in growing guilt, "It gave me a headache, like somebody was zapping me with a laser or somethin'. I thought it was an imagination that I could at least stop from happening...But I was wrong."
"Wait, so...You saw that vision just now too?" Tails asked carefully, stunned beyond belief.
Sonic glumly nodded, removing his hand with his right arm gently wrapped around his torso. "I didn't see Sun or Star anywhere, or even Decoe and Bocoe or Bokkun, and I got no clue why Rouge was there. I can't even figure out why me and Shads are now seeing it."
Shadow couldn't comprehend on this, but seeing Sonic react as well having the exact same vision as he did, it was some relief that the younger hedgehog actually felt that destroying the crystal was a terrible idea. Yet at the same time it raised more questions.
"Whatever is happening, it seems some unknown source is prompting us with these visions of the future. Perhaps the Paradox Prisim is sensing danger coming and given how you have learned to become less and less reckless as of late, it decided to show not just me, but also you to prevent the disaster from happening." The black hedgehog theorized.
"That must explain the radioactive energy surge recently." Tails said thoughtfully.
"But wouldn't that also risk it being targeted by Eggman? You know how that guy's stupid technology junk can pick up readings of pretty much anything even through out the whole universe." Sonic pointed out, shrugging.
"Yeah, that is a good point." The twin-tailed fox sighed, dejected.
"It is still too dangerous of a risk to go after him." Shadow informed sternly.
"There's gotta be a way somehow, 'cause if we don't figure it out, there's no future for any of us!" Sonic desperately argued. "If we don't go after him, he could use the crystal to take over the entire planet, and if we do without coming up with a decent plan, I'll end up destroying our home, or even one of us! Either way, if we don't think of something now to avoid both dark futures from happening, we're done for!"
Breathing heavily in frustration, guilt, and helplessness, Sonic then began pacing back and forth in a futile attempts to calm down. "What're we gonna do, guys? I promised myself I wouldn't do anything stupid like what happened with Dark Gaia ever again. Now this is happening."
Tails felt just as sunk, lowering his gaze in guilt and helplessness as well. He knew that his best friend was right, and while he didn't understand the concept of these visions the two hedgehogs had just seen that was predicting a dark, cruel fate that wasn't even fair, but at the same time the two-tailed fox cub felt upset for failing to think of a plan.
Plus learning of the Paradox Prism's existence as well as the fears of what Eggman would do with it, and now the knowledge of what the blue hedgehog could do without a plan not only lead Sonic back to being an emotional wreck as he had been five months ago, but also learning that he was to be the catalyst of their home's destruction began to shatter the teenage hero's heart and soul.
Then, an idea formed into his highly intelligent mind, one that may actually help out. The young fox wasn't sure if it will work, but they had to at least give it a shot and give Sonic a chance to prevent Eggman from getting the crystal without accidentally destroying it himself.
"Maybe...We could distract Eggman while some us come up with a plan to protect the crystal before he can get to it?" Tails suggested.
"Huh?" Sonic, who still gazed in helpless fear and guilt, and Shadow, who now felt guilty for hitting Sonic and forgetting how the teenager has miraculously changed into now actually paying attention, turned their attention to the two-tailed fox cub in confusion.
"Say if he arrives sometime today or is already here looking for the crystal, maybe some of us could distract him enough while the other half figures out who to do in order to be ten steps ahead of him. That way, knowing that he has tons of robots, we can be sure to catch him off-guard without risking the fate of the universe." The nine year old cub explained theoretically.
The two hedgehogs thought about it for a moment before sharing a glance, both of them coming to a mutual and hopeful agreement that it seemed like the best course of action to take.
"The idea has merit." Shadow admitted with a spark of hope rising in his chest, seeing the logic of the plan.
Sonic, feeling renewed hope rise into his heart as he couldn't think of any other idea how to protect the Paradox Prisim and the Universe without accidentally destroying them both, smiled happily and pulled his best friend/little brother into a tight hug, earning a yelp from the twin-tailed kitsune.
"I am never going to ever doubt you, Tails! That's my little bro'!" The blue hedgehog enthusiastically responded, giving his best friend a noggin on the head.
"Ha ha ha! S-Stop! I can't take it! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Tails laughed playfully, trying to wriggle himself free. He felt very relieved that Sonic was already feeling a whole lot better and, in retrospect, he was glad that the cobalt hero actually asked earlier before suggesting the terrible idea he'd came up with and going for it.
Sonic continued to happily thank his sidekick, before calming down and moved away with a smirk. "Then let's get started on creating a diversion." He turned to the Ultimate Lifeform. "Shadow, you meet up with Amy and the others and tell them what's goin' on. Me and Tails will call in Sun and Knuckles to distract Egghead and then we'll meet up back at our parents' place for a meeting."
"Understood. Just don't do anything dangerously reckless." Shadow nodded, before approaching his younger rival and whispered, with a hint of apology in his tone. "Also...Sorry for attacking you like that. I just had to make the message bright and clear."
"I woulda done the same thing if it did happen. Thanks for the warning, Shads." Sonic whispered back gratefully, placing a hand onto his older rival's shoulder in deep respect.
The ebony hedgehog smirked, before taking his leave while the two younger Mobians made to contact their friends to let them know what was going on...
Which lead into heading into yet another battle against Eggman who had arrived to smash his way through to formate his own goals.
Back in the Present...
"Sonic!"
Blinking out of his thoughts while recalling what happened earlier, Sonic and the others, hearing Amy's voice calling out his name, turned to see his self-proclaimed girlfriend racing towards him with Star and Shadow, who decided to keep at a normal pace, right behind her and Rouge, who gotten the message a short time ago and arrived via the black hedgehog using Chaos Control to transport her to South Island, following.
"Hey, guys-Wah!" Sonic yelped when the pink hedgehog nearly glomped onto him, hugging the cobalt teenager tightly, much to his discomfort as he tried to wriggle out of his friend's arms. "A-Amy! Can't...Breathe...!"
"Is everything okay? I was so worried!" Amy asked immediately, tightening her grip on her 'boyfriend' who winced and gently tried to push her back.
"I'm fine, Ames...Can you please let me go?" The blue hedgehog requested pleadingly, feeling as though his lungs were about to burst. "I can't get any more bluer than I am already."
Star, trying very hard not to giggle at the cute scene unraveling, calmly told her friend. "Amy, I think you should let go of him. He's having trouble breathing."
Fortunately Amy got the message as she then loosened up, causing Sonic to slump a little and panted for air, one hand to his chest while thinking to himself. 'Boy, I think she's getting stronger every day, she might even out-beat Knuckles.'
"We managed to drive off Eggman and his robots for now, but we're not out of the woods yet. He'll be back for the Paradox Prisim, no doubt." Tails informed firmly, knowing that time was running out.
"He's right. The sooner we figure out what to do, the better." Sun nodded in agreement, turning to the Ultimate Lifeform. "Got any ideas how to keep him away from the crystal, Shdow?"
"Our best solution we have come up with is to, unfortunately, get to the Paradox Prisim before Dr. Eggman does, and when he comes, that is when we launch our attack while protecting the crystal without casualties." Shadow nodded, with a serious and grim frown formed on his muzzle. This was one mission they couldn't take any chances of doing anything reckless that would spell disaster in a horrific way.
Hearing this made Sonic smirk as he folded his arms, liking the idea. "So it's to ambush Baldy McNosehair and drive him off or capture him, huh? Without damaging the giant crystal?"
"Essentially."
"Sounds good to me. The less we risk in even touching that thing, the better." The blue hedgehog agreed, adding with a slight concerned frown. "I don't wanna take any chances, considering what we both saw in...whatever you wanna call it."
"I'm even more surprised how you both saw it when it never happened before. Wonder what's the occasion this time?" Rouge folded her arms, in curious concern.
"From what I have heard, the Paradox Prisim is clearly unknown, only that it not only has a connection with this world or the universe, but legends say that it's even connected with the continuum." Star spoke up this time, furrowing her brows in deep thought. "Traversing through space is difficult enough, traveling back and forth through time is just as impossible unless it's with the Time Stones on Little Planet. But to do both is pretty much non-existant."
"Yeah, except I've been sucked into a book to save the Arabian Nights and the real world from the evil genie who has a grudge against humanity and me, and a few weeks ago Merlina asked for my help to save King Arthur from the Black Knight. If that's not dimensional travel, then I dunno what is." Sonic pointed out with a shrug, speaking from experience.
"We'd better get moving before Eggman comes back for round 2. For this to work, we need to be extra careful." Knuckles impatiently reminded.
Sonic nodded along with his friends. "Right, we've only got one shot at this."
Knowing what needs to be done, the heroes quickly made to find the cave that belongs to the legendary Paradox Prisim, a crystal that links to the very existence of the universe itself and all of their lives. As they hurried along with the two speedy hedgehogs taking the lead neck-to-neck, the Ultimate Lifeform turned to the hero of Mobius with a stern expression.
"Remember what Tails and I have told you before, Sonic. Be careful in using your attacks and don't destroy the crystal." Shadow warned deeply in a whisper.
"I'll be careful. I promise." Sonic whispered back with a strong vow. "I made a terrible mistake five months ago, I'm not gonna let that happen again or do anything worse."
"See that you don't. Because if you do and we both survive this...I will kill you."
Despite that they had been allies for nearly a couple years now and the blue hedgehog gave his trust to his former enemy, Sonic knew that underestimating Shadow the Hedgehog was always a mistake. Plus the threat was visible enough to make the teenager mentally gulp, though to be fair, he would be killing himself if he did screw this up before the older hedgehog would get the chance.
Sonic just hoped and prayed to all deities above to help him get through this without messing up.
Fully unaware of what was yet to come and could spell disaster...Despite all of their efforts into preventing the calamity that may yet to come.
Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the woods in the Forest Zone, Dr. Eggman's once abandoned facility was once again operated with badniks construction workers chopping down trees for lumber to make way for the newly renovated base, other robots repainting the walls, working on a reactor that had the awful smell of oil, smoke, rust, metal, and toxic fumes.
By then, Eggman fell from the sky screaming and crash landed right into an unfinished part of the building, accidentally crushing some of his construction badnik workers who, sensing him coming, yelped before being squashed flat...and the working platform collapsing underneath which soon became nothing but rubble. Once the dust cleared and the injured and humiliated scientist who laid flat on his front was shown groaning with a serious of bruises and his clothes a bit torn and burnt, approaching him were three of his five assistants: Decoe, Bocoe and Orbot, the floating robot holding a device very much similar to Tails' Miles Electric while the other two held the ready first aid kit and bandages.
"Welcome back, Doctor Eggman." Decoe greeted as he and Bocoe both saluted, yet they both feared in getting yelled at again while concerned for their evil creator's welfare
"We have been expecting your arrival." Bocoe added.
"How was your, erm...fight against Sonic, boss?" Orbot asked, meekly.
Eggman growled while lifting his head up, grunting sarcastically in a seriously foul mood. "Let me give you a good guess on how it went..."
Ten minutes later...
Taken to the medical bay of his secret base and treated by Decoe and Bocoe who were cleaning up his bruises and scratches, bandaging him up around the head and upper arm, though thankfully not needing to use a sling again, Eggman sat on the bed in a foul mood. Cubot and Bokkun had arrived with extra supplies.
"Why does that hedgehog always get in my way? It's almost like he and his friends are mind readers or something!" Eggman ranted on angrily.
"This is the same complaint and conversation you always talk about everytime you lose to Sonic, doctor." Decoe pointed out nonchalantly.
"You know what I mean!" The evil man barked, scaring his five minions who yelped in fright while Cubot ended up flying backwards and hit the wall hard(and ironically letting out a malfunctioned cat-screech of alarm in the background), raising a threatening fist to hit something or just them in general. "I was this close in locating the Paradox Prism and yet that little pincushion somehow knew and got in my way!"
"He could just assumed you were simply after the Chaos Emeralds on this island again, or just attempting to take control of it." Bocoe suggested nervously.
"Sonic may be fast and Tails may be smart, but they aren't that smart." Bokkun added in agreement, shakily a little as he was terrified in getting squashed flat and dismantled.
"On the plus side, at least he wouldn't be aware of the crystal or the scouting squad you have sent to guard it until you arrive to retrieve it." Orbot attempted to lighten the mood with a big grin. "It's energy is so powerful it holds a connection to the universe itself, more so than Dark and Light Gaia holding the very life force of Mobius."
Eggman frowned over the thought, before he smirked a little as another evil plan formed into his highly intelligent mind. "I suppose that is one good thing through this failed operation. Surely Sonic only brought that two-tailed fox brat brother of his and no one else, and the stalling was meant to destroy my Oak-Destroyer. In just a few hours, we will retrieve that crystal, and once I get my hands on it, Mobius will soon be in my clutches and we can begin construction on Eggmanland."
Chuckling darkly under his breath while his minions sweat dropped over his serious and terrifying demeanor, Eggman clutched his fist tightly. 'You think you have outsmarted me this time, blue brat. But you are in for a taste of something that will spell your permanent doom and there is nothing you can do about it...'
Little did the mad doctor know was that things are, as usual, not going to go according to plan.
Because in the very chamber Sonic and Tails have seen on the computer security monitor, the giant crystal was letting out blinks and glows...Making an unusual whispers in the wind as though it was calling...Calling for help.
This was just the beginning of what was yet to come.
To be Continued!
A/N: This marks the beginning of Alt-Sonic's(I'm calling him that in the notes as well as in the chapter selections since the full title is too long) adventure.
Important note(Sorry that it's long by the way): The events that happened in this alternate reality is similar to that of the original time-line of Sonic and his friends due to Eggman's survival.
For example: Eggman was involved with the crisis in Tesrod Town, yet he too was infected by Jeremony's mind-control before Sonic destroyed the Scepter of Illusion. Similar to the events of "Sonic and the Curse of the Sun Stone" which is has yet to be finished.(Sorry about the lateness of updating it and my other stories, by the way)
Alt-Sonic's adventures in Camelot is also mostly the same as well, yet in this reality, Gaiver is still not cured from his giant form crisis due to Eggman's presence, thus Rouge and Knuckles didn't fight over the Master Emerald which lead to Galandia since they were helping out in keeping tabs on the evil scientist.
As for the Paradox Prisim, while I have yet to fully watch Sonic Prime TV series, this actually links to that show's reality which more will be revealed in the future chapters yet will not be acknowledged in "Sonic's Space-Time Adventure" despite still having a connection.
Finally, this will not be linked to my ongoing crossover story "Sonic Twilight", even though like Alt-Sonic's adventure here it is set after the alternate ending of Power of the Wisps, it is not fully canon to any of my main Sonic stories.
Like I said, more will be revealed. I was originally going to reveal it in this chapter, but it ended up being too long so...yeah. Anyway, once again, Happy New Year everyone, and I hope you all continue to stay safe and we look onward yet be cautious of how 2023 will turn out.
See you later!