Chapter 21

So, yeah, I now had a small harem of sexy humans, genies, and Mobians in terms of multiple girlfriends. And we had spent nearly 3 full years together, nothing happening in that timeline at all involving Eggman, mainly because he had learned the hard way that Elise didn't have the Flames of Disaster in her anymore... and as a result of his attempted kidnapping of her, as well as his attack damaging a good chunk of Soleanna's main castle town, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for his crimes. So that meant we were good to continue living the life of vacation... but then, I had learned something from Shahra... and Sticks... and pretty much every one of my girlfriends minus Maria.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, what?! You're telling me all of you got knocked up?!" I asked, that making Elise giggle at me in a blush as well as everyone else in our harem. "How? How is that possible?" I asked in confusion.

"I do not know why, but it is true. All of us got impregnated by you during our latest sex session... but I don't know how," Blaze admitted. I then looked at Shahra, who had a massive grin. One that was full of smugness to it.

"You did this to them, didn't you?" I asked the genie girl, her smirking at that.

"Maybe? I am magical after all. Something as simple as fertility magic is child's play to any genie," Shahra said with a smug smile.

"You do realize that I could get in big trouble now, right? Especially considering I'm not married to Elise specifically, since she's a princess. Current sovereign of Soleanna? Hello?" I asked, which made Elise smile at me.

"It wouldn't matter to me. Soleanna is a small kingdom and we've had bastard children in the past be part of the royal house," she said, me being surprised at her saying that term, but I guess it didn't matter all that much if she was okay with it.

"And the tabloids?" Sticks asked, which made Elise smile again.

"Much nicer than you'd think, for Soleanna at least," she smirked.

"Well... fine. So long as nothing bad happens to any of you or our kids, I'll be fine with it," I said... but then, something weird happened. I saw a strange blue light envelop all of us... it made me very confused... but then, we gasped as we suddenly were sent falling through the air! And I shrieked in absolute terror when I found I couldn't use my green emerald powers where I was currently at! I ended up getting my face stuck in the dirt along with everyone of us minus Maria and Shahra... I then pulled my face out of the dirt to see... that we were surrounded by dark enemies, a wizard girl with ears even pointier than Shahra's, and a darkened, armor-clad warrior riding a demonic steed and holding a very cursed blade in his hand.

"W-Where in the world are we?" Blaze asked in utter confusion... we then heard the voice of the wizard girl speak... and I was gobsmacked to see that, instead of Merlina... it looked like an ancient version of... me!

"Brave heroes from a distant world... forgive my abrupt summons," she said with concern as I looked at the demonic scourge and only then connected the dots. Sonic and the Black Knights. Only there was no Sonic again! Just us girls!

"Oh, I think I get it now... simple as this!" I smirked as I proceeded to slam my fists into each of the monsters along with my girlfriends doing the exact same. And using our powers, all of them were completely destroyed in a matter of seconds... minus the big guy on the horse. And I could sense he was just as much a darkened monster as the other imps and demons we'd just slayed.

"I sense this guy is pretty mad," I said bluntly. And the fake King Arthur growled at me.

"You couldn't be more right," he said as the past version of me then forced a tornado to evelop us and, instantly, we were teleported away, me looking around and seeing we were near the first level, the lake.

"Why'd you warp us away? I coulda taken that guy on with my bare claws!" Sticks said with seriousness with a small twitch in her head. She was... crazy.

"It would be impossible to defeat him... the scabbard of Excalibur that he holds makes him immortal," the sorceress said as I then asked the next question.

"Why do you look so much like me when I was fully human?... Only with pointy ears?" I asked her. And her response to that.

"Because... I'm you," she said, that making me very VERY confused.

"Come again?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain... but I am a descendent to you... I am also the one that teleported you to the far, far future from your own timeline... it was an accident that you ended up getting your powers mixed with the two in that emerald, but-" she was about to finish before I stopped her.

"WAIT, WHAT?! What'd you just say?!" I asked, her then smirking at me.

"I said I teleported you to the far future... and this timeline here is very much a part of said future... just hundreds of years after a massive disaster happened to planet Earth," she said, me looking at her in even more confusion.

"B-But I haven't had kids yet... how the... how does that-" I was about to ask before she shut me up.

"Your siblings. That's all I'm going to say," she said to me.

"You're saying that you are not only Cheryl's ancient descendent, but Cheryl was even more ancient than you are... and that she comes from super far into the past? How far?" Maria asked in confusion.

"Back during the original AD. A massive radioactive experiment covered the entire world... but it didn't kill all of humanity... some of the human race survived, but others were transformed into what the experiment consisted of, those being animals... as a result, the first Mobians were created... and that was roughly 10 thousand years prior to your current timeline," my descendent said, me gawking at that.

"Um... okay... wow. So what is your name, anyways?" I asked her.

"My name is Meryl... and I need your assistance to stop the threat of the accursed King Arthur... he is very dangerous ever since he grabbed hold of the scabbard of Excalibur," she said, me looking at her in concern. Would she reveal too much? Or not?

"But uh... how do you have magic in you?" I asked.

'I'd rather have you gain the only tool we may need to defeat Excalibur than explain anything that you'd not understand. There is a special sword that exists in the nearby lake. Only the chosen one, filled with a balance of courage, power, and wisdom will be able to pull it out of the ground... and we also need to watch out for the traitorous Merlina, whose grandfather created the accursed scabbard," Meryl said, me looking at her in surprise.

"Merlina, huh?" I asked.

"Don't say a word," she said with a small smile.

"A word about what?" Maria asked.

"It's basically like this. There is a story in my own timeline about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table... and the wizard was an old man named Merlin... and this other wizard mentioned is female and named Merlina... just an a after the original name. It makes it a pun to me," I explained.

"That's one of the oldest stories still around, you know," Elise smirked. But I still had one more question.

"But why does everything in this world look so different than my previous life in the far past, as you say?" I asked her. Most of my allies looked confused, but Meryl simply smiled.

"It's more I messed with your perception with the world so it'd be more... palatable. If you wish, I can make you see them in your version of reality," she smiled, me then shaking my head no.

"No, no, no thanks, that's fine enough... or... y'know what? Five minutes. Then back to normal," I said. She then simply waved her fingers and I instantly saw the world... turn back to normal looking. Meryl looked even more like I did, I then looked behind me and... was honestly surprised. The characters from the Sonic universe... looked fine. Sure, they had realistic fur, but they all looked like what'd happen if you had them in the Detective Pikachu movie instead of the BETA Sonic the Hedgehog live-action film.

"Y'know what?... So long as Eggman doesn't look horrifying, I'm okay with this. This looks... better than I thought it would," I smiled.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Sticks asked.

"No, no, it's more that I have a bit of a concern about seeing... human-looking animals from where I came from as opposed to what Meryl was making me see," I admitted. Shahra tilted her head at this, but the others simply nodded.

"Now if we're done talking about pointless stuff, let's go and find this sword... and I do believe that Cheryl should be the one to try and pull it out first," Maria suggested, me smiling at that.

"Thanks," I smiled as we then proceeded to go out towards the area in question. I had to hope that the monsters didn't look bad, as well as the frog-lookin' people that I might see in this adventure. Or not... who even knows at this point?

Meanwhile, the darkened King Arthur had his horse gallop up to a nearby hill, where his three most loyal knights of the round table were watching what had just happened.

"Find those females by any means necessary! Kill them all, except for that horrid magician. I want to savor killing her myself," King Arthur said to them, the knights then nodding as the king then galloped into the distance, which caused the first of the knights, Lancelot, to speak.

"It's time to get going, then," he said, his powerful green scales hiding his powerful muscles.

"But what of the royal code of chivalry? I can't be expected to slay a woman of any pedigree!" said the more self-righteous Gawain, who flew off the ground with giant ears.

"We have been given a task by our king, so we are expected to follow it through... though, you are right... the king has changed, and so has the kingdom. He'd never want to hurt a woman before..." said the final of the knights, Percival. She simply grabbed her legendary sword along with the others and they proceeded to spread out in search of where they went to. Lancelot went towards the lakes and wooded areas. Gawain went towards the vibrant prairies to the east. And Percival, with her poofy head of red hair, went to the mines to the southwest.

We ended up going through the entirety of level 1 of the game with minimal resistance. Hell, even the giant dragon that appeared was just child's play to our powerful Mobian attacks, which Meryl simply smiled at. But then again, when I saw the 'villagers' I was relieved to see they were normal everyday people as opposed to the green frog-looking people in the actual game. And then, we finally arrived at the area in question, me seeing the sword stuck in the ground at the top of the hill.

"I think that's our target... you said I get first try, right, ladies?" I asked, them nodding at me.

"After what you did with the incident in Soleanna, I think you've got all three of that stuff in you," Elise smiled at me. I simply nodded as I then went to the hill and proceeded to put my hand on the sword... and only then did I recall that the three things were just a copy-paste of the Legend of Zelda's Triforce. But regardless, I grabbed the sword and was shocked at how I managed to pull it out like it were a toothpick inside of a sandwich!

"Oh my! It's like you didn't even need to try!" Meryl gawked at me. I then looked at the sword and felt that it was about to talk, since I did see that he had eyes on it.

"Hey? I can sense something weird about you, sword. Are you... sentient?" I asked. And what happened afterwards. I managed to surprise the sword, which spoke with a gasp and it opened its eyes at me.

"Ah!" was how he gasped before then gaining his composure. "You are the chosen one? You are but a fair maiden! How could you possibly hope to weild me?" the sword spoke, which I could tell surprised the others below me.

"It's not really nice to judge by appearance, mister sword. If anything, I'm the furthest thing from a fair maiden, since I swear like a sailor and I have a tendency to beat up villains," I said with a smug smirk.

"Be serious about this? Caliburn is the one who chooses its controller, after all," Meryl asked, me then looking at the sword with a smile.

"So if you say that I'm not the chosen one, then how come I was the one to pull you out of that rock? Since apparently you choose who holds you?" I asked, that making Caliburn frown at me.

"Hmph, very clever you are," he frowned... but then, I gasped as I felt my compass powers going overboard... to the point it hurt me! And where was it pointing at? Behind me! I then dodged out of the way of none other than the cursed King Arthur before he could slash his sword against my body!

"Well, that's not a very fair sport there! Striking a girl when her back is turned? Seems someone wants to be proven a lesson in hurt!" I smirked widely as I held Caliburn... but then I saw something on the knight's arm that made me gasp... it was... A RING! But not just ANY ring. One of the Seven Rings from... Sonic and the Secret Rings! What the hell?!

"Oh my gosh! That's one of the seven rings! That ring is the one of death! He must be using it to bolster his powers!" Meryl gawked, me then frowning at the king and then proceeding to rush in and attack him. Arthur attempted to parry one slash I made, but I faked him out and slashed the leg of his horse instead, which threw off his swing long enough for me to plunge my talking blade into his torso! And before he could even think of doing anything, I grabbed the ring he had on his wrist and placed it on my wrist... the pain that came afterwards was INDESCRIBABLE! You ever felt like you had unbearable hives all over your body that made it impossible to move without insane pain? It was that bad!... But it only lasted for 10 seconds before I then breathed in and out, noticing that the scabbard of Excalibur managed to revive the fallen king, which made Maria gasp.

"Impossible! The scabbard revived him!" Maria gawked.

"At least she managed to get that dangerous ring off of that creep!" Sticks said with anger.

"Peh, a fool of a knight, not even worth slaying," he said as I then focused with the power of the death ring... could it be possible?... YES! It was made out of an ancient form of the Chaos Emeralds! I focused on it, hoping to revive the dead around me... revive dead people... maybe a former ruler? And shortly after I thought of this, we all gawked at how, right after Arthur galloped into the distance, a creature came out of the ground... and it turned into... a human that happened to look like an ancient queen. And what queen did it look like?

"Oh... my god..." Elise gawked when she saw her. "Is that... it is... my most ancient ancestor... who are you, miss?" Elise asked the resurrected royalty.

"Elsa... My name.. Elsa..." she said, me seeing her voice was hoarse, but her clothes were still pristine...

"You... you've just resurrected the queen... the one that Merlin killed twenty years ago after cursing the scabbard..." Meryl gawked at me.

"She's not only the queen... she's my ancient ancestor! The very first of the house of Soleanna! But the name was originally called Camelot, since Solaris's arrival is when we changed the name," Elise said with surprise.

"So... thou art my descendant?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, she is," I smiled.

"What strange tongue thou dost speak... thou hast come from a distant time, then?" she asked.

"Me, specifically, was around in the year 2021... but then, because of contrived convoluted craziness, I was warped to over 10 thousand years ahead of now," I said.

"I could sense that much when you held onto me," Caliburn said, me frowning at him.

"How about explain how we couldst defeat the accursed scabbard? Because it is dangerous in the hands of that monster... he is not my beloved King Arthur anymore," Elsa asked in annoyance.

"I wish I could say, but I fear that my time in that rock has left my blade a bit... dull... I require a blacksmith to sharpen me correctly. Then I will show you where to go to find answers," Caliburn said, me looking at my female allies and them nodding.

"Then it's time to go to the town... but what of Meryl and Elsa?" I asked.

"If you want, we could probably split into two groups. Group one will protect Meryl and the queen and the other will follow you into town to get a meeting with the blacksmith," Blaze said, me nodding at that.

"In the meantime, keep your eyes out for more of those 7 rings. They may be the only thing we could use to defeat that accursed scabbard forever... to think that is where they went to after... that happened..." Shahra said, me tilting my head in confusion at what she'd just said.

"You're saying you've seen them before?" I asked her.

"They come from where I originally come from, which was from a book about the Arabian Nights. I asked Silver for assistance in defeating the Erazor Djinn, who wanted to erase the works of the book so he could escape and destroy the world... Silver assisted in defeating him by finding the 7 Secret Rings and using them to defeat the Erazor Djinn..." Shahra said as I saw some tears fall from her face. "It's sad, though... he used to be a kind genie like I was... and we were in love for centuries... but then, when he was cursed to grant 1001 wishes before he'd be allowed to be freed from his lamp, he grew hatred for everything... if I had the power to do so, I'd try to prevent it from happening to him," Shahra said, me looking at her and simply putting my hand on her shoulder, as I was still one of the few that could touch her... or at least, one of the few that could do so without gloves... which were 99 percent of the Mobians in this world.

"If it makes you feel any better, Shahra... I know what it's like to lose a boyfriend to the darkness," I said, her looking at me with a sniffle. "I had a boyfriend once... back in high school. He was one of the few that ever helped me out... or at least, that's what I thought. Both of us were deeply in love, but when he was told that I was suicidal, which was a lie, he ended it immediately. And shortly after, he was humiliated by all of the other jocks on his team because they had pictures of him with marker on his face of crude pictures... he became a druggie afterwards and I never saw him again," I said with a sigh.

"Is uh... is that why you became a goth?" Maria asked.

"I was a goth before then. But I did go into a deep depression shortly after that incident, as it was Senior Year. I didn't even go to the prom after that happened... but when I went to a high school reunion with my parents supporting me, I saw that everyone that bullied me the most turned into horrible people. And it made me feel a bit of cathartic justice that they turned into the trash they treated me as," I said with a small smile.

"Save the sappy stories for later, milady? I do need to get my blade sharpened, after all," Caliburn said, me frowning at the talking sword in annoyance.

"Okay, talk about a buzzkill. Here's the teams. Sticks, Blaze, Elise, you come with me. Maria and Shahra, you protect the queen and Meryl. And just to make sure none of you are completely defenseless... Shahra? I wish that we all had proper equipment to fight our opponents," I smiled, the genie then giggling and snapping her fingers, causing everyone of our group to gain gauntlets instead of gloves, small bits of armor on our shoulders, legs, and even small helmets, and each of us got a weapon that fit us perfectly. Elise got a magical shield that had a chain on it, Maria got a crossbow with tons of bolt arrows, Shahra got a magical staff that was filled with magic, Sticks acquired an awesome boomerange that was powered with the power of fire (like the Flamerang from Ty the Tasmanian Tiger), and Blaze got a spear that was imbued with tons of fire, which was perfect for the princess of flames.

"This is going to be fun! Thanks, Shahra!" Sticks smiled widely as my group proceeded to rush to Camelot Castle to meet the blacksmith.