Here we go, the longest chapter in the fic… And I was honestly expecting to be one of the shortest but life has other plans I guess.

On with the show!

All of the six Sonics had left, leaving Tom and Chris to deal with the freaky Super Sonic that had been invited to the Freedom HQ. The warnings from the other Sonic mixed with the behavior of Super didn't ease the situation but it's not like they were to refuse this "mission".

"My name is Chris," said the kid extending his hand for a handshake the Sonic looked in confusion causing Chris to stop the shake offering.

"I'm Tom".

"I don't remember those names," said Super, and of course, he wouldn't, Tom sighed, unsure as to what he was expected to do here.

"Follow us," he said, leading them down to the main lobby and inviting Super to sit down as he decided to call everyone who was still inside the rooms, these individuals being Rotor, Amy, Ray, and Tangle. Tom explained the state of the situation about how all the Sonics had left the base and that there was a 'yellow Sonic' in the living room and how they were tasked to watch over him because of the reactions everyone had indicated a bad aura. Naturally, they all went to investigate to see what he was talking about.

"Wait, I don't think I've seen you before. I'm Tom" he said to Tangle with a handshake that she gave with her tail completely shocking the human, to a degree of course because by this point almost everything he was experiencing was a tad sillier than the rest and a hand-tail was part of this crazy world and he had to roll with it.

"Name's Tangle! Nice to meet you, Tom! And.. did that arm..?"

"This? It's nothing, just a little banged up but you sure have a firm grip," he replied unsure how to compliment "Are you from this world or another, another world?"

"Uh, same as you I suppose?" she said with a smile hoping he would understand, a nod from Tom confirmed that he did "And you're a friend of Sonic?"

"Yeah! We met not too long ago, actually, and… he seems to be pretty popular in every other place".

"Comes with the 'world hero' thing".

World Hero. That's not how Tom knew Sonic, the hedgehog was fast and knew how to fight and defend himself but there was never a world-level threat. When they defeated Robotnik, it was just getting rid of a weird scientist wanting to dissect Sonic himself and nothing more than that. World hero felt… big and he assumed that's how these other universes roled but he also wondered if that's what his Sonic would end up becoming one day. Anyways, they headed to the lobby where the main attraction was.

Super was now sitting on one of the one-person couches on the side while Rotor, Amy, and Chris were on the three-person ones as Ray searched through the fridge of the kitchen to see if there was something around –which there really wasn't much–. Tom and Tangle approached the people on the couch where the person of interest was around, they all were interested to see how he was going to act or if he was going to say something.

"Does he look familiar?" Tom asked Amy and Rotor trying to get some more insight.

"He definitely reminds me of Super Sonic," remarked Rotor.

"But I don't remember him like that," said Amy, spotting the eyes, the most prominent trait of the hedgehog besides the smaller size.

"Isn't he a lot shinier?" Chris also added.

"I think I'm the only one who doesn't know this Super Sonic you guys talk about," said Tom "Sounds big" the rest of the group looked at him weirdly but Amy gladly explained.

"Well, have you seen the Chaos Emeralds?" an awkward shake of the head from Tom answered the question in a manner they were not expecting but still, she followed "Well, our world has these magic gems that Sonic uses to get a power boost becoming yellow… Never heard of it?"

Again, Tom shook his head mixed with a raise of elbows.

All eyes sharply turned to Super once again as he was now under intense headache trading the view of his signature eyes for his signature sharp teeth grimacing, his anger visibly growing but one could judge he was in pain and after some long seconds, it stopped, leaving everyone in anticipation.

"Sonic!" he exclaimed, taking the group by surprise "And you!" he pointed to Amy who became alert by this.

"You know her?" Tom asked, curious to see if he could recall something else. The yellow hedgehog took a less 'lost-in-thought' stare and slowly shifted into that of realization. Yes, he knew Amy although a different version of her, different outfit and everything but similar enough to strike a memory, he remembered who Sonic was and most importantly, who he was, but that came with remembering what he had done back in his world. Everyone around him also could see that he was coming into his own and while curiosity was prevalent among the group, Tom was anticipating something bad to happen now that he had regained his memories –thanks to a sudden headache no less–, but to his surprise, Super's actions were not aggressive in any way, in fact, kind of the opposite.

"I think I understand now," he said, his spiral eyes now sharing a softer and less sharp look.

"You do?" Chris was curious "Are you really an evil Sonic?"

"I'm afraid so," a series of confused stares came from everyone, this confirmation was a tad scary "But the last time I used my powers I felt an uncontrollable urge to destroy which is I must never tap into that power again… but my head… it hurts".

"Are you aware this is another world?" Amy asked, catching the attention of the hedgehog who perked up at this info.

"Another world?"

"Yeah, but no need to worry, Tails is figuring out a way to send us all home, right?".

"That's what they said," said Tom, adding to it.

"You can stay with us in the meantime!" remarked Amy and Super seemed to like this.

The mood of the situation had somewhat shifted positively, Tom and Chris heard some terrible things about this Super Sonic by the way everyone talked about him and one would want for his memory wipe to stay that way but he remembered it alright and instead of going back to that evil persona he had confirmed existed, he retained this sense of innocence admitting to try to change, great stuff. It struck Tom odd, as it was quite a shift from what the Sonics said –including his own Sonic–, nevertheless, he was happy with this outcome and maybe they weren't going to need to worry after all.

"Tangle! Nice to meet you" the lemur introduced herself "You're a version of Super Sonic? That's so cool!"

"I don't think it is, lady," said Rotor "I still feel there's some important information that we don't know".

Amy glared at him in a scolding manner to which Rotor shrugged.

"He doesn't look threatening to me," said Tangle in a supportive tone.

"You're an evil Super Sonic, right?" Rotor interrogated and the hedgehog hesitantly nodded as if figuring out the question but still, this apparently proved Rotor right.

"Didn't you hear what he said?" Amy tried to convince him.

"Yeah, I believe you," it was Chris who approached Super crouching to talk at his size level "I don't know if you know me but I do know you, or at least a version of you I think, anyway, it looks like you did some bad things before but… but if you want to make a change then I would love to call myself your friend!"

For Chris, this was how it was supposed to go. He didn't know much about this dimension thing and it was true that at the beginning, some other version of Sonic dismissed him but after the little talk he had with Wachowski Sonic, he was convinced that he and Sonic's friendship was possible regardless of what universe he was in. Super Sonic was showing a sense of remorse, regret even and Chris was willing to lend a hand, after all, Sonic was his best friend no matter where.

"Great, so now what do we do?" asked the walrus.

A perfectly good question, if they were going to stay around with him then might as well do something while they waited around for Sonic to do his thing. Ultimately it was Tangle who suggested for Super to tell his story, an idea that seemed 'obvious' once said and one that the hedgehog had no problem in telling. He apparently wasn't just an evil Sonic like they naturally thought but rather he was the manifestation of Super Sonic itself, an alter-ego. They learned that in his universe Sonic didn't need seven special emeralds to go gold but instead, it triggered under immense stress although this transformation came with a much more aggressive incarnation of the blue hero.

"Negative chaos energy…" Amy came to a proper conclusion of what she learned "Sally thought it could happen".

"Um, guys? I'll be right back, I think someone's calling me" said Tangle scratching her ear and walking away from the room to the floor above as the rest awkwardly watched her leave.

"But how could you fight Sonic then?" Chris continued, wondering why he kept referring to Sonic in 3rd person.

Super explained how their bodies were separated in order to live as two physically different entities which led to his imprisonment and after what felt like ages he got liberated due to magic shenanigans.

"-And then… then I was here" he finished and through the story his tone was always remorseful and gentle, simply sharing information or telling an old tragic tale "I think I saw multiple Sonics, I feel weak, my head hurts and-".

"It's alright," Amy approached to comfort him "We understand, it's confusing for everyone, but we're all here, we can walk through this world if you need it-".

A loud crash was heard from above them startling the group. Was that Tangle?

-X-

Tangle reached the lab of the base where she was out of the main group's view and activated her comms that connected her with the rest of her team, the Secret Freedom Fighters.

"Tangle," said a male voice from the other side of the line that she instantly recognized.

"Elias!" she replied in excitement "How's everyone doing?"

"Spades, you can return to the base now".

"C'mon, there's no one around! I'm sure you can drop the codename thing for a sec".

"And you should know by now not to call me by name".

"Fine… what do you need me for?"

"Well, the Director wants you where he can see you; did you find that Sonic you were looking for?"

"I did and… a few more things. Just wondering, has Sonic ever gone evil in this world? Maybe he goes Super and starts acting weird?"

"I can't recall something like that, what did you find?"

"Oh just a hypothetical scenario, you know…" there was a pause from the other side.

"Return to the base and tell us what you know".

"Yeah! This place is starting to feel a bit boring without you around!" another voice came from the transmission that made Tangle's heart instantly drop.

"Shard? You're alive?!" she said, trying to contain her excitement upon hearing this news.

"What? I never said I was dead! Came back from a volcano, I'm not gonna go in a mediocre battle against some copy that can't even smile".

"Metal?!"

"Yeah, he specifically".

But Tangle wasn't talking to the radio, she was talking to Metal Sonic, the robot that now stood in front of her engaging in an intense stare contest between the two. The static red eyes from the badnik instilled fear in the lemur unsure as to how to react to this, she loosened up getting ready for a showdown.

"Yeah, Metal's here," she said, ending the transmission.

As soon as she finished it, the badnik launched forward ready to tackle her which Tangle dodged by crouching. She used her tail to land a punch that Metal didn't expect but shook it off and went straight for it, grabbing her tail and spinning her across the room crashing into all the technological equipment possible before letting her go messing the room even before.

But she wasn't her target so he walked away leaving an injured lemur behind.

"Ouch… guys?" she called in again to Secret HQ "I think Metal Sonic's back".

-X-

As they heard the commotion upstairs, the whole group stood up wondering what was going on staring at the stairs to see if someone was gonna come from them, and someone did come but from the roof itself, breaking through it, leaving a small cloud of dust and disorienting everyone, for a second before seeing what was it.

"Metal Sonic?" said Amy instantly pulling her hammer out with Rotor by her side, getting ready for battle but the badnik was not interested in any of them, he locked in one individual only and that was the confused Super Sonic, he launched forward, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him with all his strength into the wall before being knocked away by a big red hammer. Metal Sonic didn't slow down, quickly getting up, going for another blow before his leg was held by Rotor bringing him back to the ground.

They were starting to gang up but Metal's target was still the priority, he kicked Rotor away going back for Super, slashing him repeatedly until he felt his entire body wrapped tightly by a gray rope around his body that slammed him three times into the hard ground before unwrapping.

"What's his deal?" said Tangle holding her shoulder that was slightly hurt.

Her answer came as Metal kicked her away and launched to grab Super by the neck flying away with his leg caught by Tangle's tail once again, this caused him to drop the hedgehog and slash the tail of his body.

"That's his deal," said Amy referring to Super "Tom! Get him out of here!"

The human did his part, quickly rushing to the hedgehog in pain carrying him on his shoulders, and leaving the room up the stairs, Chris following behind him. There wasn't a clear 'out of here' but maybe a 'far away' was enough. That left Amy, Rotor, Tangle, and Ray who were now jumping into action to stop Metal Sonic.

The robot was outnumbered but not outmatched.

It quickly devolved into a series of kicks, slashes, punches, and hammers, all of which spanned across the room, with the group quickly overwhelming him, not letting a chance to breathe, and that was all Metal needed, as soon as they took the slightest of pauses, Metal had his chance and he took it, using his booster, he slayed the four of them in one swipe, grabbing Amy's hammer to deal a finishing blow to all of them sending them to the ground.

But the quick battle wasn't over, Metal was finishing but Tangle wasn't backing down, she managed to get up, visibly struggling, trying to land a punch that by now Metal could easily dodge thanks to the lemur's exhaustion. The robot gave one final kick to put her down for good before flying away through the roof to get on the true mission at hand.

-X-

"Who is that?" asked Super.

"Uh, no clue, kid?"

"I don't know him either!" the three exited the base out into the open field with Tom unsure where to head next, Chris noticing the big ship next to them had a proper idea "Can we use that?"

Maybe, maybe not but Tom's instincts acted and he approached the Sky Patrol's hatch realizing that he didn't even know how to properly open it, so that was that, he was about to let it be until Chris hit the bottom of the shuttle which in turn caused the hatch to open, granting the entrance. Tom looked at the kid in confusion but they shrugged it off, entering the ship's bridge and placing the Super hedgehog on the floor now encountering another problem, what was he supposed to do with the ship? It's not like he knew flying, let alone a ship from another dimension.

The screen of the hub turned on by itself revealing the trusty lynx.

"Oh, hey! It's you- um…" Tom tried to recall.

"Nicole?" she completed it for him "I am busy at the moment but I did sense the Sky Patrol, do you need anything?"

Tom paused for a second thinking about everything that just happened, thinking about what exactly he did need help with.

"So, uh, can you fly this?" he said, realizing that there wasn't a way for him to get away.

"Fly it? I'm sorry, but I can't do that, I only operate the Sky Patrol in small sizes… what do you need it for?"

"Are you like a computer?" asked Chris, mesmerized by the environment he was in.

"Um, yeah… is he with you?" she asked Tom to which he nodded.

"There's this weird robot that is after us so we kinda need to get away," he said as he looked around for Super Sonic to not lose sight of him "We also found this other Sonic".

Nicole had a lot of questions but he had enough information, 'a robot that is after us' was a familiar situation and enough to understand their position and the small Super Sonic was curious but unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do.

"Alright, Tom listen to me-" there was a small thing she could try, she instructed him where to go for the main control panel listing the procedure to boot up the ship step-by-step and he was doing exactly as told, and once the engines could be heard igniting, a big sense of pride washed over him. A feeling that didn't last too long as a loud bang was heard. The ship had been hit.

That had to be Metal Sonic and Tom didn't want to suffer another beating in the Sky Patrol, there were no more impacts besides the first one which only fueled the anxiety of everyone as they awaited for the next one. But it never came, instead, Metal Sonic himself walked on board the ship as any guest would, they had left the hatch door open. Chris and Tom were powerless to stop Metal but lucky for them, he wasn't interested and they knew it.

Tom and Metal looked at Super at the same time, with the robot winning the face-off, grabbing his target, and blasting away from the scene before they could even react.

Tom's instincts led him outside to try and chase after him, fully knowing that it was a lost cause, Chris naturally followed him but it was no use, the only thing they could do was watch Metal Sonic fly away with the yellow hedgehog as they stood there, frozen in place.

"Tom!" he heard Amy calling him seeing how the group was also leaving the base joining in their stare seeing the two figures get smaller to the sight.

"C'mon! We gotta help him!" Chris rallied the five of them, going back into the ship where they all instinctively followed. There wasn't a plan beyond 'helping him' but the adrenaline was the driver. Rotor quickly took control of the Sky Patrol in the captain's seat, surprised that Tom managed to turn it on but he finished the final preparations and fully set the ship on the air briefing Nicole of the full situation and heading to where Metal was heading: off to the horizon.

"That robot is only going for our little friend, do you two know him?" asked Tom.

"Yeah," Rotor replied "Can be quite a nuisance".

Doesn't change much then. The human thought "But why is he attacking him?"

There was no response for it, but Tom thought about it for a few seconds coming to a theory of his own.

"Whose ship is this?" Tangle asked in excitement once she settled in.

"This is the Sky Patrol," Rotor explained, always being proud to announce it "Home of Freedom Fighters in a sense".

"Huh, but I thought that the place we were just in was the home of the Freedom Fighters," she said, placing some emphasis on the title.

"I've never seen this ship before," said Ray, almost startling the lemur who hadn't noticed his presence "In fact, you look different".

"Waait…" Tangle figured it out "You are not from this world, right..?" That was quick. Tangle had been here for weeks now, so any little line like that was a direct giveaway as to who was who, especially when there was no major difference between two individuals. Also, also, she had noticed that Amy didn't look familiar with who Tangle was, something she had also realized, she wasn't very popular in these other worlds. "...But you're also Freedom Fighters… you're a Freedom Fighter?!" she asked Amy with excited surprisement.

"Huh?" the pink hedgehog was confused "I… am, are you one as well?"

A tricky question because the answer was yes but you know, the secrecy and the vagueness were necessary and commanded by Harvey Who, something that Tangle was already getting tired of.

"No?" she said, coming up with her most convincing lie "Actually my world doesn't have Freedom Fighters, but I've heard about you guys! You sound pretty cool… You don't know any lemur in your world?"

"Not that we know of" that was the confirmation alright.

"Um, what are the Freedom Fighters?" Chris added, curious by their discussion as he was also new to the concept.

"Oh no…" Tom broke out from his thought process coming to a realization "That Super Sonic, what he said- about his powers, you guys remember?"

"He can't use them," said Rotor.

"He doesn't want to," Tom corrected, "It's an evil Sonic, right? He said that but he won't use them so if he fights back against that thing-".

"He goes evil?" Tangle finished the sentence for him, realizing what he did, Tom pointing in approval of this "You think that's what the robot wants?"

"It might cause it for sure".

"Not unless we get there first!" Chris called heroically which they found admirable on the little kid… Hopefully, that was the case, maybe they could reach Metal quickly and keep the fight away from Super Sonic, maybe even call some backup, none of them knew why Metal Sonic had attacked from so out of nowhere nor why exactly his focus was on Super and nothing else, all they knew was that Tom had a point and if the fight went for longer then who knew what the outcome would be.

-X-

Metal Sonic saw the Sky Patrol behind him knowing that he was going to be followed but he didn't care about it, he continued his path holding firmly to the yellow hedgehog in his grasp who was struggling to get free. Metal slammed him into the ground dragging him through it as well, throwing him to the air and hitting him back down and all around more senseless violence without diverting from its straight path; his destination not being too far.

Super Sonic tried his best to block and dodge every swipe and slash that was coming, succeeding in some, failing in most and he was getting tired, and it was painful. He could barely register what was going on before the next hit landed, and the next, and the next… Their punches had led them to a large beige wall that Super used to rest in gasping for air, his eyes still staring at the blue robot now standing in front of him dreading his following attacks. He saw the robot's chest light up in red beginning to charge up, realizing what was coming.

No matter what he did, there was no blocking from this. A large red energy blast engulfed him as Metal Sonic only amplified its power –with careful use–. From his point of view, all he could see was a dim shadow of the hedgehog in the ground, until he saw it get up.

Neat. More power.

He saw the shadow get closer and closer as he slowly began walking through the blast itself seemingly unaffected by it, he kept this until he was directly facing Metal as close as possible and that was when the robot stopped firing realizing that he was doing it for nothing now. Once he shut it off he was met face to face with a yellow hedgehog, signature spiral red eyes much more aggressive and rougher than before, and a sickening devilish grin, the teeth as sharp as a knife.

"Hello…" he grabbed Metal Sonic's neck, throwing him upwards and jumping into the sky with such force that it sent a shockwave close to a sonic boom leaving a decent-sized crater in the ground.

He reached Metal's height, grabbing him before throwing him again off to the horizon. He was ready to do some payback but his attention was quickly shifted as he noticed the place below him. A city, a large, shiny city surrounded by a huge circle, this being the wall they found. This view from above caused an earlier memory flash in his mind, a memory that featured him holding one certain blue hedgehog. Now he remembered everything.

"Sonic" he recalled and one look down confirmed it. There he was, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Metal Sonic had successfully completed his mission.

And at last, after 70k words, all the pieces are in place for this exact moment, man… I hope it lives up. Thanks to all of you who have reached this point, and much thanks to those who leave comments, favorites, and more!

See you soon!