brightsquid: You binged read this? Wow, that's great and I really like your theory!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONIC!

Boom Sonic was still reunited with Antoine and Bunnie -and of course, the little T-Pup- in the little room walking back and forth with them sitting on the bed and if you asked him he would probably tell you they were having a good time, after all, the best way to spend the time was telling the many adventures he and his friends had. Pillow fights, finding lost hammers, temple runs, and making boy bands… such fantastic adventures, and it got to a point where the couple had listened to enough campfire stories to realize that all of this was leading them nowhere.

"Zis is ludicrous!" Antoine interrupted getting up from the bed "We must reunite with ze team".

"You're right, stayin' here is doing no good".

"Did he just say 'ludicrous'?" Boom's comment gained him looks from the couple that had enough of his attitude "Yeah, yeah, you're right, I also want to get some credit when this is over".

The credit, was that really his main priority?

"Ah'm sorry, you think this is a joke?"

"Hm, well you guys talk funny, but the situation? Eh, I've defeated Eggman, go home, defeat him again- that's what me and my friends do".

"Your stories make zat very clear," said the coyote.

"But someone could take that home," Bunnie added with a sentence quick enough to grab Boom's attention, it was a statement that he clearly wasn't expecting "That home, that security can be taken away, ya know? No warning, and it's gone, just like that… Ah can't tell if that's happened to you but-".

"Eh, you're right, you probably think I'm a joke," he interrupted with Antoine hm-ing in the background "Fine, it's not the credit, I was only half-joking when I said that. I know that you think that your version of Sonic is cooler, stronger, saves the world and all, and who knows what else he does and I know he also thinks I'm some sort of joke but… I'm also Sonic!"

Nothing he was saying was related to what Bunnie said which had the two of them wondering where he was heading, nevertheless, he continued.

"You know, I'm not the hero of my world for nothing, I have saved my friends from evil robots before… Eggman never gets what he wants, we'll win like we always do and we save everyone's home. We end the story".

Antoine and Bunnie looked at each other with Boom not done.

"And as a heroic Sonic, I will be the one who gets us out of here".

"How?" Antoine inquired with genuine curiosity and before Sonic could reply, the response came in the form of a ring slowly materializing in the room that grew bigger, opening a portal leading to an unknown location and leaving the group confused.

"I totally did that," Sonic broke the shock "Not like this comically timed ring is not gonna get us out here".

"My friend, zat feels like a trap," said Antoine with Boom looking at him finding his statement rather ludicrous.

"It's a comically timed ring," he said as if it was extremely obvious picking up the yellow puppy robot "You can follow me if you want".

Disappearing through the ring, the bunny and coyote couple stood there for a few seconds hesitating to go through but it was for a reason a bit deeper than just 'could be a trap' and Bunnie could tell the reason when she saw Antoine staring at the door.

"You're not the Antoine she needs," she said snapping the coyote out of his little moment "And ah wanna help too".

"She's a strong girl… she'll get through this" through Boom's stories, the coyote had come to terms that this wasn't his world as much as this wasn't his story, yes, he wanted to help this other version of Bunnie but at the same time, he realized that the biggest person that could start that change was Bunnie herself and maybe through an ironic interaction that was exactly what happened.

Boom hadn't returned through the portal so now it stood less of a reason to think that it was a trap.

"Let's go" Antoine finished grabbing his wife's hand and going through the ring together.

As Boom Sonic crossed the ring portal the location transition was certainly jarring, going from a locked brown room into an open field illuminated by the night sky surrounded by odd-looking buildings, and in front of them, the upbeat mood he had ready to face anything that came out from the other side quickly changed into confusion as he looked all around him and saw three two-tailed yellow foxes and four figures of himself staring right at him. Three of them looking exactly similar and one of shorter height.

"Long time no see… took you a while" it was Archie finally reuniting with Boom after their separation from the Death Egg.

"Hey! Yeah sure. I saved your friends, you're welcome" he pointed at the portal with his head and letting T-Pup fly into the hands of its owner "Hey there buddy".

Boom Tails was happy to see him back, rushing in for a hug as Archie Sonic and Tails were more captivated by the 'saved your friends' line, after T-Pup returning they stared at the portal to see if something or someone else was going to come out. Prime Sonic was in disbelief at the fact that a Warp Ring had just worked just by searching for a person without knowing the location… something someone like Knuckles would desperately want to know. But before he could ponder any more, two more figures popped out from the ring, Antoine and Bunnie and his heart almost dropped with a reaction that he hoped no one noticed before quickly composing himself and brushing it off; they weren't his versions after all.

"See? Told ya, there they are" said Boom Sonic.

"Guys!" Archie called out putting an arm around Antoine with Tails also joining in the excitement "Where have you two been?"

The image was surreal. Another set of Freedom Fighters was nothing new for him when it came to alternate dimensions, but back then it was a hostile takeover along with its own hostile version of himself to simplify it, but now, here he was alongside a version of him that he could only imagine had similar experiences with the group. Watching the four of them interact brought a smile to his face, and one that his Tails noticed causing him to smile as well.

"Sonic, where are we?" asked Bunnie "Where's the team? Where's Sally?"

Those were some questions but Sonic only answered the last one in the form of his own question.

"What?"

Not paying attention to the main reunion, Boom Sonic also had questions of his own as to where were they which his Tails answered as best as he could, a big futuristic city from this brand new world and that was the best description, simple, but in the middle of this explanation his attention was caught by the other two Sonics in the room, especially the taller one, it felt familiar and naturally this Sonic spotted him intensively staring him.

"You okay?"

"Wait, you're Sonic!" Boom said quite excited rushing towards before stopping in front of him so as to not make physical contact "Hey Tails, look, it's Sonic! Not that I'm any less of a Sonic, of course, I'm also a totally good-looking Sonic but… who would have thought? Boom and the Main Sonic together, am I right?"

Silence.

"Do I know you?"

"Is he famous in other worlds?" the little Sonic asked who was invested in the curious interaction.

"Not really, Grounder-".

"Grounder?"

"-But the way fans describe it, I'm certain it is you. I mean, the shoes, the quills, and the arms! No doubt you're the main one".

The two Sonics he was talking to looked at themselves as Boom explained the qualities and then looked at the other two hedgehogs who were exactly the same, everything that Boom was saying was like gibberish to them. And in the middle of this, Prime caught the conversation and was beginning to get puzzled at the behavior of this new Sonic.

"Main Sonic?" he joined "You know, I have a friend that loves to call me Prime, I think that qualifies me as a Main Sonic".

Boom looked at him with a distasteful look.

"And who are you? You don't feel like the Main Sonic over here".

"Sonic Prime, I just told-… what's with the bandages?" this little comment was starting to get Boom's nerves, it was just some bandages what was the big deal? It was just a piece of clothing, there was no reason for anyone to act this confused about it.

"Tails" Archie Sonic broke the discussion. Bunnie had explained what had happened in the Death Egg and how exactly the trio got separated, this meant that his version of Sally was still out there, but at the same time, he remembered that Tails had said the Sally situation was 'done'. So apparently the main mission was finished, but still.

"Yeah?" the three foxes asked at the same time embarrassed that they still were having these issues but it was clear that he was calling for Prime Tails.

"Where's Sally?"

Bernadette was now wide awake, the arrival of someone startled her sleep and once she realized who was the visitor, she was more than willing to stay awake and attend to any of Sally's calls who was now on the couch of the living room with a lot going through her mind or systems or whatever you would like to call it, the recent experiences with the dimensions gave her more than enough to think.

From the moment she was in the Death Egg and that bright light engulfed everything, she felt as if every part of her body got rearranged in this weird limbo-state of mind, and once she was back in the real world, her first instinctive command was to return to the ship and so she did and while the physical side of Mecha Sally was fully functioning although with minor damage, the Sally inside had been definitely affected. Two sets of data to sort through, familiar faces that she could sense were different, and at the center of it all, Sally Acorn herself.

She couldn't do anything about it, she was still a prisoner in her own body having to watch and experience everything through the eyes of Mecha Sally… But then that one Sonic appeared, alone, freezing and confused, this wasn't her Sonic, it was pretty obvious but it didn't matter. Eggman's orders were clear and to the point, every single time, bring him to the Death Egg, take him to this and that machine, he was scared and confused and the presence of a highly aggressive robot didn't help. Then there were the intruders, she recognized who they were and her drive to see them somehow affected Mecha Sally's motivation and desire to see them as well and once she did, well, this led to a battle, a battle against herself.

Beings from other universes, another Bunnie, another Antoine, and another Sally.

There was no command for priority but Mecha Sally's focus stayed on the other her. What followed it? Capture and roboticization of this other Sally once again unable to do anything about it, actions that were never ordered from Eggman himself… All of this leads to two last final stands against Sonic, the true Sonic, it was a small fight but it was a fight Sally was begging to lose, and what a magnificent loss it was.

With a flash of light followed by pitch darkness, Sally opened her eyes, her eyes instead of someone else's with the Sonic she knew and loved standing in front of her but as soon as the hedgehog hugged her, she could feel something was horribly wrong. She could not feel it. Warm, tight, deep- nothing.

"Sonic…" she said to herself catching the attention of the two hedgehogs.

"Princess," Bernadette called out "There's someone who wants to see you".

A line that instantly caught the attention of Sally, she could only imagine who was this person, it could be anyone but instead of pondering about it, she headed for the door that Bernie kept open for her.

It was Nicole. It was her friend waiting just outside the house. And with that came a hug, a hug that the lynx gladly returned.

"You're back" Nicole stated softly, breaking the hug.

"Nicole…" Sally stared at her friend with the digital eyes seemingly glitching "I'm- I'm so sorry".

"What?"

"I'm sorry, for everything!"

"Sally, don't-," she brought her for another hug 'I'm sorry' she thought. It was Nicole who was with Sally when it happened, helpless to the situation, only able to execute the chipmunk's command that activated her sacrifice.

"Nicole, I-".

"You…" a third voice spoke up, startling the two of them who looked away at the source of it. It was none other than the Wachowski Sonic who had stumbled upon the two friends.

Heavy damage, highly unusable, close to the enemy ground, and overall another big loss. The Death Egg had been destroyed beyond repair –for the moment being– all thanks to one single hedgehog but that wasn't anything new for Eggman, not at all, chaos is constant after all, but it was extremely annoying the fact that multiple Sonics were running around, one was enough of a headache for more to join the party.

And that's why he tried to bring his own chaos variable to the mix in the form of an army of Sonics from other worlds but that plan failed, at least that's what he thought. One came out but not that he didn't exactly have the time to take in the moment and it wasn't the current time for it either, no, he had returned to the Death Egg for one small item he forgot, one item that he was using before this entire thing even started, the one item that was able to activate a Genesis Wave. A Chaos Emerald; still located within the remains of the ship.

Hiya! Feels so good to finally publish two chapters in the same month since... the first two chapters I think? Anyways, There are way too many in this characters in this fic- it's insane, I don't know how I managed to do this.

We finally got more of that Sonic-on-Sonic talk which is always a treat and believe me... you're about to have fun with it, oh boy, wish me luck. Thanks to everyone for the love this story is getting! See you soon!