Taking a break from the last chapter let's see how our other heroes are doing shall we?
It was almost sunset and being outside in a world you knew nothing about could get dangerous but that's not how this Sonic felt, right now he was just tired. He was tasked with finding a yellow two-tailed fox he had never seen before in a new place that he had never been in before with only vague directions and nothing else to find him. All of this because the weirdly-shaped man instructed him that that fox would help him find Tom… How did that doctor knew? No clue. But at the time the offer was simple enough, until he actually tried it.
Not knowing where to look was tedious and he had already done it for quite a while reaching certain towns asking about a yellow fox, it was cliché but there wasn't the best guide for it and the answer were either between 'no' or 'yeah, I know him' with no more substance. So Sonic was now wondering if the doctor's intentions were legit or he was just bad at this, in any case, returning to the base wouldn't be a bad choice… He decided one last place and that's it after all this one last place looked more interesting than the ones he saw before.
It was like a dome, a big crystal-like dome with some sort of a pretty tall "ring" surrounding it probably being the support for the whole thing, he noticed the main metal door so he obviously decided to gently knock on it like anyone would do when facing a dome structure.
"Who lives here?" he said to himself in a mockingly way doing a lap around it in less than two seconds "Does someone live here?"
"We do-" said a passive female voice cutting herself off "Sonic?!"
"You know me?! Who are you?" the hedgehog asked quite confused.
"My name is Nicole and… you look… different" she said slowly coming to the realization that this wasn't the Sonic she knew "Wait, what do you want?"
"Are you a hologram?" Sonic said curious fazing through Nicole much to her annoyance "I'm sorry, um, I-… do you happen to know a fox that goes by the name of Tails? I mean, where he is?"
A bit of surprise sparked in Nicole but quickly remembered her previous conversation with Tails in Freedom HQ.
"I do know the person you're looking for but… what interests you to find him?"
"Oh, someone told me he might help me to find my friend".
If the blue arms, and different eyes weren't enough, Nicole knew at this point that this Sonic was obviously from another dimension but the fact that Tails wasn't his friend let alone know him so she was surprised but completely understanding the situation.
"Well, I think I can't tell where he is but I think I can figure it out… Do you mind waiting for a while?"
"Um, sure! But the sun's coming down so-".
"Don't worry, I'll try to be as quick as I can" she replied very kindly ending the hologram leaving Sonic all by himself.
"O…kay, guess I'll just wait here… outside this dome… while the holo-lady gets some information… wish I could get inside".
After Nicole finished her little talk with the 'different' Sonic, she immediately went into the, she immediately went into the Digital World, but what is the Digital you may ask? A large and vast digital place made up by mostly green cubes resembling the real world itself that works as a link or bridge between systems, something like a pocket dimension where Nicole goes when she is not around
Here, she was trying to contact Tails in Freedom HQ since it was the last place she saw him and right now she didn't even know anything about the Sky Patrol, as expected, Tails never replied the call, her second attempt was going to try it with T-Pup but before she started it, she caught the glimpse of something in the background.
A building-like structure just disappeared. That wasn't strange but only she was able to do something like that and if that happened then it meant that someone else was around and could control the place and if someone was controlling the place, then they could easily control the city as well if they decided to and that could only mean massive chaos. She slowly approached the location trying primarily to see if he could spot who it was and she did find who did it but was not expecting the result.
It was her… or at least the other version of her.
"Wha- Nicole?" she called out from afar with the other Nicole noticing her and being just as shocked "Wait, you're the… 'visitor' Nicole?"
"You're the Nicole from this dimension?" she asked.
The two lynxes looked each other and their looks for a few seconds, with the first Nicole having nothing more than a purple tunic on her and the other Nicole wearing a more sophisticated and full-body black and purple suit, the two of them ultimately came at one similar realization.
"I like your outfit" they both said at the same time causing a chuckle from them until the first Nicole remembered what she saw previously breaking the smile.
"What were you doing back there?"
"Oh, I just- I was checking some files… And was also curious about this dome-structure right here but-"
"Oh, you were doing your own thing?"
"Um… yes," she said confused by that odd question "I just opened and closed it… just like that, but what is that?" she asked referring to the dome.
"I can tell you later just… don't interfere with it… please," she said this last word almost as if she was begging for it leaving to some awkward silence and staring "Sorry I… I need to talk with Tails, do you know where he is?"
"I do, in fact I know three," quickly ignoring the little discussion, she booted up a set of screens in front of her starting a transmission that was quickly received by Boom Tails with co-operation of Sally back on the Sky Patrol with the fox still being amazed by the technology "Hi again Sally, Tails".
"Anything else to report?" asked Boom Tails trying to sound clever.
"Surprisingly, yes, I ran into the me from this dimension and she is saying she wants to see Tails… I assume it's the Tails".
"Oh, right away" said Sally after the situation perking her interest calling the main Tails who right away attended Nicole… her Nicole, who popped up on screen with now two lynxes being on screen with enough clothing differences to keep them apart.
"Nicole? What is it now?" the fox asked.
"Well, there's a Sonic in front of New Mobotropolis that wanted to see you, he says that you might help him in finding someone… and given his physical appearance he's most likely from another dimension, so that would be yet another Sonic in the list".
Tails didn't have time to even sigh about this last fact.
"You think this Sonic is looking for his own Tails? We have three Tails-es right now but they all have their respective Sonic".
"Wait, where are you right now?"
"Heh, it's a flying ship the me from another dimension built, it is really impressive… We're heading back to the Death Egg right now, you can tell him where it is and maybe we can meet up there".
"The north? Pretty well".
The transmission finished now with the two Nicole's being next to each other back in the digital world-city systems or something.
Returning to the front gate of New Mobotropolis, Nicole materialized herself in a hologram once again to give him the information but now there was one problem. Sonic was nowhere to be seen.
In Albion, Metal Sonic appeared so suddenly and so out of nowhere that it confused the heroes taking them a second to process what it was, it was even more confusing when the only person who had previously faced this guy was currently sitting at the edge of a dock, Knuckles noticed him of course but had a much more slow reaction compared to the others, it was so abrupt that the mood change was also a weird one.
And surprisingly this version of Sonic hadn't fought either Metal Sonic previously… but it wasn't any trouble because the bot was very busted that everyone was just awkwardly looking at him trying to get on his feet.
"Who is that anyway?" asked Mighty.
"Eh, he's trying to get me and seems like he doesn't care about anything else… I'm pretty sure I can take him".
"In that state anyone can" Vector added.
"Maybe-"
A blast from Metal went right through them completely missing but catching the attention once again.
"He wants to fight" Mighty said unfazed.
"I don't have time for this but I'll give him a fight" the hedgehog replied smirking going right for him.
With a fight that could barely be considered a fight, it was just Sonic running around him avoiding blasts left and right just to mock Metal and probably just delay what could easily be resolved with a strong kick, but that would be anti-climactic wouldn't it? Also that would remove challenge and would end things too easy, something Sonic never enjoys
"Shouldn't we join?" asked Vector.
"Do we need to?" said Mighty.
Espio didn't added anything to the conversation, he just grabbed one his shuriken and trying to find the right moment to hit Metal while avoiding Sonic at the same time and surprisingly it wasn't hard either, he just waited for the hedgehog to move behind the bot leaving a clear and massive shot for him to aim. Something Metal managed to notice activating his crystal-shield on time blocking it.
"Oh, so you have one of those?" asked Sonic "Hey! You guys still have that ring thingy?"
"Warp Ring?" Vector asked with Sonic confirming it with a thumbs up, the croc hesitated a bit looking at Espio for approbation with him giving a quick nod before tossing it to Sonic.
However, Metal Sonic noticed it and tried to catch it but one kick from Sonic and the robot was once again in the ground beaten but not fully out of commission with the hedgehog successfully having catched the ring.
"Nice throw!" he said playing some little tricks with the ring changing to a more sassy tone "Now...I'll make this guy disappear the same way it came here!"
"Sonic, wait!" Mighty tried to stop him once he saw what Sonic wanted to do, opening up a portal under Metal Sonic himself but the key factor was that Metal was not sleep, he was lying on the ground but still movable enough to catch the ring in mid-air before the effects of the portal could take place.
Espio didn't waste any time, he launched another set of shuriken to Metal Sonic but he just opened a portal which led the knives to a completely different spot, grabbing back the ring immediately. Mighty also went straight for the blow but since his fight style was a brawler, a tackle was more efficient… in practice because Metal opened once again yet another portal this time very close to the armadillo giving him no time to react against, going right through it, and Metal taking it back.
"Hey! Not cool!" said Sonic.
Metal Sonic shot a menacing glance with only one thought in mind for what was his primary target, he tossed the ring in front of Sonic, activating the last portal to a complete different location; and thanks to the beautiful inertia, the hedgehog fell right through it.
'Where did he go?' Nicole thought, he told Sonic to wait here but of course he didn't, he was Sonic after all and is not as if they could easily keep him in one spot he probably ran away because it was getting late as he said but it wasn't that late but it was the most likely possibility, he just left the area.
She left the hologram outside going inside the city back to her physical form right away spotting Sonic to the right of the dome.
'How did he get inside the city?!' Nicole thought quickly teleporting to where he was –this given that Nicole is in the coding of the city systems- and scaring the young hedgehog in the process.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Wh- the door opened!" Sonic replied a bit defensive due to the suddenness of Nicole "Also this place looks so cool! Is it bad to be here?"
"Ye- No, but… you can't be seen here" she replied 'I never asked for the door to open anyway', she wondered, was there a malfunction? If so, this would be the first time of there being one in the first place.
"Oh, right, can't be seen," Sonic said to himself a bit disappointed by it "What about Tails?" he asked returning to the main point.
"Right, I heard they going to the north, they're willing to intercept you there".
"Wait, the ice place?"
"Um, yeah the ice place…"
Sonic seemed thrilled at this probably because of the fact that it was where he just came from and that he already knew where this fox he needed was going to be, this thrill made him instantly blast away towards the exit of the place only for it to be closed, Nicole saw this and was going to open it but had one little question.
"Wait, you know where it is?" she said now unlocking the door.
"Yes! That's where I've been, thanks holo-lady!" now he stormed off and out of New Mobotropolis but not without leaving Nicole still with questions. The biggest one being who told him about Tails if he doesn't seem to know him? And now he was saying he came from Artika so that could easily mean he bumped into more than one person if he came all the way from there.
Anyway, he was gone now and in the hands of Tails… whoever which Tails was, right now she wanted to focus on the other Nicole she was with before and finding why the door would suddenly open.
The ring was thrown, a portal was opened, Sonic accidentally went through it, the portal closed. That what was happened.
It took him a second to process it but once he did the only way to go back was already gone, and now he was in… some place, it looked peaceful a bit quiet to say the least which was surprising for someone who was trying to kill him a few seconds ago, one would imagine something like a dungeon, or even on the other side of the galaxy if that's possible but nope, it was just a grassy Cliffside that led into the vast ocean with an gorgeous sunset being practically night, and not too far from it you could see some white buildings or windmills of what could possibly be a village.
Sonic sighed, he was going through so different places in such a short amount of time that it was becoming annoying but still, this was a beautiful place not to be ignored, if he was going to be stuck here for a while then he might as well enjoy it. But as this teleportation kept happening the more he thought of his own dimension and friends not to forget Chris who he doesn't know if he's here or not.
He stood on the edge of the cliff looking how the last piece of sun disappeared over the horizon slightly starting getting used to this place-jumping…
Welp, we've got more interesting things happening in this chapter and I'm excited to continue with them... Now, some of you have asked me questions and left some of your thoughts about this fic but now I have a question for ya'll:
Is it confusing? I'm asking this because I came into this story knowing that I had to make sure to explain things especially when I'm using the Archie-verse which may not be that well-known. And not only the setting but the plot, I know, I have too many plotlines and characters for my own sanity, -many will eventually mix- but what about you? Is it clear enough? Please let me know to see if I need to change/explain some things before I go any further.
Thanks. See you soon!