IV. Cornered at the Brink of Time and Space

Hurtling through the air, I slammed against a wall, while Eggman, sitting on another one of his works, just sat there cackling to himself. From what I remember, we were running out of time. While Amy was distracting Metal, Knuckles came to help…

"Hey, are you all right?!"

"Y-Yeah," I groaned, trying to get up.

"…I can feel they're overusing the gems. I can't tell what could happen if they keep this up."

Everything was getting dire by the minute. The gems were fueling that machine of his, creating some sort of portal to who knows where. Or when. The doctor believed if he could conquer the world in the past, the future would follow right after.

"Miles, how are we looking?!" I yelled, checking on him while he scrambled through his pad hooked up onto a large desk.

"Not good! It won't shut down!"

"Just, break the thing!" complained Knuckles.

"We're talking about time and space here! I can't risk anything!"

Eggman's machine jumped right at me and Knuckles, its claws ready to grab us both. Knuckles and I jumped to either side, making our way behind it, but the sheer size of the machine alone was taking up a lot of space, making it somewhat awkward to make our moves.

"What about the gems?!" I asked. "Can't you take them off?!"

"I tried, but they're sealed shut-"

"Can't shut it down?!" Eggman's voice boomed across the room. "Don't even try. It's designed to accept only my biometric data. You'd have to kill me if you want to stop me! You destroy the machine… you destroy all of us!"

"Knuckles, see what you can do about the gems. Buy us some time," I whispered. At the time, it seemed like our only option.

"Right," he agreed as he started making his way to Miles.

On the other side, Amy had her hands full with Metal. Most of the swings of her hammer were misses, while the rest just slowed him down. While she took another missed swing, Metal bent himself backwards as he rushed behind her. Amy saw this, her hammer already quickly coming around. Metal had no choice but to block it with his forearm, but he was still sent sliding away from her, tearing the floor to stop himself.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled, and I turned to face her, only to notice that Metal was gone. Next thing I know, he sent Knuckles straight at me.

He wasn't going to give us a chance. At anything. We hit the ground hard, and tried to recover as quickly as we could. Metal didn't stop, grabbing Knuckles' arm and swinging him towards Eggman's machine, which grabbed him right after. Struggling and squirming, he tried to free himself. The moment I thought of helping him, Metal stopped me, hitting my leg too hard for comfort.

"Hang on!" Amy said as she leaped, hammer in hand.

It didn't even take a second for Metal to grab the hammer away, sending her rolling beside me. Knuckles yelled and freed himself, parts flying all over. He flew towards Metal, who took a swing at him with Amy's hammer, and sent him landing in front of me. I quickly tried to stand up, but I quickly realized Metal did a number on my leg. The pain started to kick in, and I went back to one knee. Metal dashed towards me, cutting my side and kicking the back of my head, sending me rolling out of control against the steel floor. Knuckles stood up and sent a punch, hitting the back of Metal's head. But he grabbed him and flew him up, pinning him against the ceiling and throwing him towards Miles.

"Hey, Metal!" Amy yelled.

While Metal took its time walking towards me, Amy jumped on top of him, ripping an opening in Metal's shoulder with a small blade of hers. A knife, infused with chaos energy; a present from a certain faker. But Metal didn't even flinch. Once he quickly clenched his fists, sparks started to shoot all over, shocking Amy in place.

"Amy!"

The blade clattered on the floor, and she slid off of Metal, out cold. He had us cornered, and I couldn't focus, let alone stand straight. I looked over at Amy. Knuckles was still trying to get up. And Miles was still working on his pad. But he looked at me, both of us realizing the circumstances.

That familiar cold breeze in the back of my neck. Always felt so promising… but, so obscure. I could ignore it, only for so long. But at that moment… I had to call to it. Force it out if I had to. Stop all of this, and make sure they'd get out of there. There was no other way. At least, that's what I thought.

Suddenly, Miles jumped from the railing and flew straight at me…

"Sonic!" he yelled, while flying above and throwing something at me.

I dashed right at Metal with my good leg, grabbing whatever Miles had thrown. While distracting Metal, Miles managed to send an electric charge with a gizmo he threw at Eggman, covering his handiwork with sparks. Miles took that chance to gather Amy, before trying to help me out with Metal.

"Miles! Look after them," I yelled while I continued my dance with Metal.

He hesitated, but agreed and got back with the rest. Enduring the pain, I managed to land hits fast enough to back away before he'd counter me, but he would just keep going at it. I decided it had to end one way or another, so I dashed right at it with all I had left. Metal just waited for me and clawed deep into my shoulder.

"S-Sonic!" Miles yelled.

It hurt. A lot... But, it paid off well.

"T-Thanks, Amy," I muttered, as I grabbed onto his head and shoved Miles' charge in between the opening she had left.

I grabbed onto his arm and used the last of my strength to swing Metal right at Eggman's machine. The blast caused a chain reaction, sending me flying right into the portal. The last thing I saw was Miles on his knees on top of Amy and Knuckles, his back against the fire. He looked at me, right before I went through that portal, onto who knows where to...

And that was the last thing I remembered.

"Ughhhhh… w-what…"

Waking up was the strangest part. I was, confused, to say the least. I thought I would land in some weird, forgotten, dystopian world. Not on an oddly comfortable bed under warm sheets. Then again, I had to take what I could get.

I tried to get up, finding out how exhausted I really was…

"P-Please, refrain from moving too much!" said a lady hurrying towards me. "Please, relax. Your body still heals... You've been unconscious for quite some time."

"...I-I'm guessing I should be thanking you?"

"No worries, I just helped, is all..." she said, while serving me a glass of water. "Theobald is the one who you should be thanking… He saved your life."

"Saved me…?" I asked, taking the glass. "Thanks... H-How long was I out?"

"You've been resting for almost two days since they found you."

"T-Two days?" I exclaimed, while trying to get up but failing miserably. "Huh... Talk about a power nap…"

"Do not worry, you're safe. I will inform Theobald in a moment to check up on you. Please, wait here."

"A-All right…"

I tried to raise myself a bit to look out the window beside me, but I couldn't even turn my neck without having to grunt in pain. Then slowly, everything came back to me. The machine. Eggman. Metal. My friends. The blast. And then, that portal... My thoughts were a bit scrambled, but they were interrupted when a door opened at the end of the hall, followed by footsteps approaching me.

"Well if it isn't our fallen angel."

He walked up to my side and sat beside me, holding my shoulder slightly…

"How are we feeling?"

"G-Good. Thanks."

"Wonderful. Because, to tell you the truth, we, almost lost you there..." My stomach sank a bit at those words... "But. We managed to treat you properly."

"I see," I said, looking at my bandaged side. "You called me, 'fallen angel'?"

"W-Well. From what I've been told, there is reason to believe you, fell from the skies…"

"I fell, from the sky…?"

"Yes. Quite a bright entrance... The gods must've not been too fond of you."

"Huh… Sorry," I chuckled. "Guess I can't help making a scene wherever I go."

"...Y-You do realize you shouldn't be alive, right? Are you in any pain? Any discomfort?"

"Yeah. It, hurts all over…"

"You were in a battle, were you not?"

"How, did you know...?"

"Your wounds are quite... precise, to say the least," he said, pointing to my bandaged shoulder. "I'll supplement you with some herbs. In the meantime, try to rest."

"All right… And thank you. For saving me."

"It is my pleasure, Sir…?"

"Sonic... Where, are we, by the way?"

"Theobald. Well, Sonic. You happen to fall right into our kingdom."

"Sorry… Kingdom?"

"Yes... Welcome, to the Kingdom of Sol."

"The Kingdom, of Sol?"

That was a whole different dimension... Did I travel through time? Or realities? I wasn't so sure.

Theobald, grabbing jars from a shelf, continued, "That's right. This kingdom has stood for hundreds of years. We are quite peaceful... At least, we try to be."

He walked over to the window and took a look outside.

"We've been in conflict with a certain doctor who has been interested in conquering the lands, for a very long time. But, he has disappeared, leaving us in a period of tranquility that not even I would take for granted."

"Nega…" I whispered.

"You, know the doctor?" he said, quite surprised.

"Yeah. He came to my world years ago. Which I'd prefer he didn't. I already have my own madman to deal with on my end."

"You do too..? I truly hope my expertise doesn't bring me to that point," Theobald admitted, fixing his glasses.

"You'll be fine," I chuckled. "Wait… So if we are in Sol, and Nega's here, then…"

Eggman Nega. I'd never thought I'd hear that name again. Almost a perfect twin for Eggman, then again, this world was somewhat mirrored to mine. It didn't matter where I'd go, I'd always have something or someone on the loose to take care of. But this time, it would be in the Kingdom of Sol. And where there was a kingdom, a certain princess was ruling over...