G.U.N. HQ

If one were to see the training room right now, it would just be a chamber filled to the brim with red streaks dashing across the air and sudden and many explosions that happened in the blink of an eye.

In actuality, it was Shadow the Hedgehog, finishing his daily training routine and shredding the last of the training robots to tinsel. The training robots were repurposed Egg Pawns and Egg Fighters that were repainted a metallic gray with the G.U.N. logo stamped onto their bodies. And, of course, all that hard work was being destroyed in less than a few seconds.

He used a homing attack to slam into one bot and teleported behind another in a blue flash, landing a hammerfist move that crushed and bended its head inwards like a crumpled up soda can.

Turning his head, he noticed one bot that was armed with a shield. As soon as he landed on the ground, he immediately went for a spindash, rushing past the shielded bot and taking on the ones behind him that didn't have such protection, kicking them up into the air from the force of the spindash like they were just dirt on the road.

And then there were three…

With its back exposed, Shadow rushed behind the shielded robot and kicked its head off before heading to the other two in a flash, punching ones chest hard enough to shatter the rest of its body and turning midair to toss a chaos spear at the final robot, skewering its frame like a kebab before it exploded in fiery blast.

The hedgehog landed in the center of the room and cracked his neck as all the robots fell in unison, their destroyed chassis smoking and sparking at every interval. And just like that, another exercise was done.

"Simulation complete. S-rank." The robotic announcer said over the speakers, "New record achieved."

The hedgehog smirked cockily, "Perfect."

With that, he adjusted his gloves and headed out of the training room, satisfied with today's results. The moment he exited the chamber, he saw a woman with sandy brown hair and violet eyes standing near the entrance to the room, seemingly awaiting him.

"Agent Topaz." Shadow greeted her.

"Agent Shadow." She responded, "Commander Tower has requested your presence."

He nodded and exited the room, Topaz following him.

As soon as he entered Tower's office, he saw that Rouge and Omega were already there, sitting and waiting for him. Rouge was on a chair, her legs crossed, while Omega looked like he was about to shatter his seat, his smaller lower half just barely fitting in the frame of the chair he was in.

Finally, there was Commander Tower himself sitting patiently behind his desk, his heterochromatic eyes ever stern.

"Commander." Shadow addressed with a nod.

"Agent Shadow." Abraham folded his hands, "It's good to see you."

"Apologies for the delay."

Tower chuckled, "No need to apologize, Shadow." He then pulled out a remote, clicking it and dimming the lights in the room, getting straight to business, "now you're probably wondering as to why I've called you here. Agent Topaz, if you don't mind."

Topaz nodded and a hologram of a map shined in the center of the room, "We have detected an unusual energy spike near the Solaris Plains. The grasslands near Kingdom Valley." As she said this, a ping on the map was then placed in the heart of the grasslands as she said this.

"The old capital of Soleanna?" Rouge asked, receiving a nod, "What could possibly be there?"

"Ruins and scenic views, mostly," Tower responded, almost sarcastically, "but surges of energy don't just randomly appear out in the world. Given the long silence and this sudden anomaly, I have suspicions this could be the location of Eggman's newest base."

Omega seemed to perk up at those words.

"Things have been awfully quiet ever since that Starfall Island fiasco." Rouge intoned

"Too quiet." Shadow added gruffly, "he's planning something big, no doubt."

Abraham nodded at both their statements, "This is where you all come in." He elaborated, "Your mission is to find the possible location of Eggman's base. I want to believe it isn't, but my gut tells me it is. And my gut is never wrong."

He then caught Shadow's unimpressed stare at that statement, his brow raised at the perfect angle to hammer it in. The commander cleared his throat and corrected himself, "Well, usually never wrong."

Though he didn't catch it, Shadow slightly smirked at this.

He clicked the remote in his hands and the room brightened again as the hologram faded away, Tower finished his briefing, "Further details should be awaiting you at your dropship. It has been prepared and is awaiting your arrival. Topaz will escort you all."

"Good." Rouge responded, "I enjoy her company."

Topaz caught Rouge's wink at her and blushed before leaving the room with Teak Dark.

Just as they were about to leave, Tower remembered something else, "Oh, and Omega." the robot turned his head, "This is a stealth reconnaissance mission."

Omega just turned his head again, a burst of steam releasing from his vents. Abraham knew that was a sigh of frustration.

Eggman Outpost Theta

In the industrial halls of the outpost, Eggman and Doctor Doom walked along it, continuing their conversation of the dynamics of how their world's sciences worked in comparison to others. It was such a riveting conversation that Orbot and Cubot turned off their audio receptors to stop hearing more of it for they were unworthy of hearing it.

"I must say, Doom, this has been a rather interesting discussion," Eggman beamed, "I never knew you could merge ionic energies with that of an organic being!"

"At least in my world, you could," Doom added, "I'm not sure if these properties work the same in every way in yours."

"Ah, yes, of course…" Eggman muttered, stroking his mustache, "one of the many constraints with the multiverse. You never know if each world will follow the same rules."

"Indeed."

They both continued walking past the grand metal halls, the sound of steam hissing and clangs of metal can be heard all across the facility. The never-ending cacophony of noise was only silenced when they entered a large room with a giant monitor on the wall. Doom quickly deduced that this was Eggman's primary planning room.

"Impressive." Doom muttered in spite of how lacking it felt in regards to magical tools.

Orbot and Cubot sighed in release at the conversation's end, "I'm going to get some more coffee," the latter said.

"Right behind you." The former said, catching up to him.

Metal Sonic, meanwhile, stayed near the edge of the room, the automatic door never closing for his presence. His optics gazed upon Victor's form as if just waiting for him to make a sudden move so that he could secure the kill.

"Metal," his creator suddenly said, "You are dismissed."

If he had a proper face, it would express confusion, perhaps even shock. But he turned to see his "sister" Sage give him a reassuring nod before she disappeared in a flash of blue. Knowing things were under control, he left the room, the doors finally closing and leaving the three alone.

Just as Doom took another step, a sudden ray of blue light shined around him. He did not need to touch it to know what it was, exactly.

"A ray shield." He commented, not really impressed.

Eggman chuckled, "Just because you and I are working together, doesn't mean I fully trust you in walking around here all willy-nilly."

Victor would admit that he would have done the same were he in Eggman's shoes, "Wise."

As Doom got adjusted to his "prison", Eggman went to work on his keyboard, displaying the feed of dozens of cameras, including live footage of the Egg Fleet, many of the warships in the air or in various docking bays either being repaired or ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. Doom was rather impressed by it all. Dozens, if not hundreds of warships all at one man's disposal was no laughing matter.

"You have quite the fleet, doctor." Doom stroked his chin, "I know several organizations that would destroy half the world to have one of that size."

The doctor chuckled haughtily, "when you have a genius as big as mine, with aspirations that would change the world forever, you would have to create such a force to ensure victory against your disgustingly persistent and loathsome enemies," he steepled his fingers together as he turned to the Latverian, "surely, you've dealt with that, before?"

Doom grumbled, "far too often…" he spat, "If it isn't the meddlesome Fantastic Four, it's the Avengers, the X-Men, or even Spider-Man and his annoying friends."

"Hmmm, the costumed hero variety," Eggman deduced, the outlandish names reminding him of the many comic books Cubot would read when he was slacking off, "my opponents are more… in tune with nature."

He turned around, pressing a button and turning on the screen, bringing up an image of several anthropomorphic animals of many profiles and colors. "My greatest threats to my glorious empire are the Freedom Fighters," the doctor growled, clenching a fist, "Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Knuckles the Echidna, among countless others, have been a constant thorn in my side for many years. And no matter how brilliant the scheme or powerful I become, they always overcome the odds and beat me."

Doom tilted his head at the images. "Hedgehogs? Foxes? Echidnas?" He asked, rather confused, "Your biggest threat to your plans are common woodland pests?"

Doom almost chuckled, something Eggman didn't miss, "If you had dealt with these 'woodland pests' as long as I have, you'd know they are not to be underestimated," he scowled, "or have you never been humbled by the surprisingly efficient combined forces of vermin before?"

Doom's amusement ended with those words. He crossed his arms with a sigh, "Unfortunately, even Doom has been exposed to these deceptively dangerous pests." He emitted a sound that resembled a growl, "specifically of the squirrel variety."

Eggman snorted in affirmation before turning back to his supercomputer, bringing up his many blueprints, "Over the years of fighting them, I've come up with thousands of plans, each plan having hundreds of different ways that can go wrong for each of them. It equates to many restless nights for me."

As Ivo lamented, Doom couldn't help but be impressed by some of the blueprints that were conceptualized. Eggman certainly had a knack for engineering and it showed. Even if some looked far more gimmicky than others.

"You have quite the assortment, Doctor." Victor commented, "I can see any one of these leading the charge against your enemies."

"Indeed. The problem is I can't decide on which one!" Eggman lamented, rubbing his temples, "Creator's block is such a pain."

Ivo continued lamenting while Doom silently stared at the blueprints with a hand on his chin, "May I see some of your blueprints?"

"Of course."

And so a myriad of plans and schematics were shown. Some looked simple. Others were deceptively complex. And others just looked plain useless. But it wasn't long before the monarch would point to one specific set of blueprints. "That one."

Said blueprints he pointed at depicted a mech that was elephantine in shape, complete with massive metal tusks and a trunk.

Eggman twirled his mustache in curiosity, "The Egg Mammoth?"

"Throughout history, proboscideans have been used in warfare due to their massive size and intimidating presence," Doom intoned, "A legion of them armed with modern weaponry and tactics would be a most devastating foe."

"An interesting proposition, yes…" Eggman said before holding up a finger, "except there's one problem: Mechs of that size and calibur aren't exactly quick and easy to make, let alone an entire legion of them."

"You are correct…" Doom admitted before carrying on with a sarcastic bravado, "if only you had access to someone who knew the formulas for artificial replicas of the most powerful metals in his world."

Eggman immediately caught on, "Ok, smart-alec, you've made your point." He crossed his arms and leaned forward, "tell me about them."

Beneath his mask, Victor smiled, "with pleasure, doctor."

The Sol Dimension

In her palace, Blaze sat at a large dinner table, sipping her drink as Marine the Racoon was telling a story to entertain the guests, that being nobles from other kingdoms and provinces.

The contrast between her and Marine was very obvious. Blaze was dressed in a red saree with golden fire decals made with the finest silk, meanwhile, the raccoon still opted to wear her regular green tube top, even at a dinner party. Had the other nobles not been used to her companion, they would have found such an act disrespectful.

Blaze won't deny that the life of a royal wasn't as exciting as it seemed. Especially in comparison to all the adventures she had with Sonic and friends. Though she would never admit it, she often snuck out at night to travel back to Sonic's world for a quick trip around the world with the blue hedgehog.

But she knew her responsibilities and tried to keep a good balance between her duties and sense of adventure. Especially given the fact that she was going to become queen soon, the coronation being prepared months in advance.

At the very least, Marine was here to keep her company and liven up the place, telling the other royals about her stories out on the ocean. Currently, she was telling the tale of an encounter with some "gorilla-whale" out at sea.

Marine leaned forward in her seat, "So there I was, the beast making a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound as it glided across the water, its spines like jagged rocks and its skin as rough as a barnacle-coated hull." Her tone was foreboding, "the beast was as big as a building, but as fast as my own ship! No matter how much I sped up, it was always right behind me!"

The royals all had various looks to them. Some had smiles, believing the mariner to have a very active imagination, others had looks of horror as though she were telling a ghost story.

"How did you survive?" One royal asked, very into it.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there," Marine responded, "I was in both awe and terror as the beast drew closer and closer. The water splashing upon my vessel, as rageful as the very monster that swam in it. When suddenly, it's spines began to glow an ethereal blue-"

BOOM

The sound of a thundering boom interrupted her story. And just as she was about to get to the best part, too.

Everyone screamed and panicked, with some believing it was the monster that Marine was talking about, back for its revenge. Marine wouldn't deny the possibility, even if that did lead to one of the nobles fainting on her feet.

Blaze led everyone out of the palace and towards the source of the noise: The courtyard. In the center of it was a crater that had what appeared to be some sort of spaceship.

The cat leapt down to the gravel roads below her, not caring about the shocked expressions the other royals had at this action. Marine did the same thing, but landed with a lot less grace than her friend, nearly slipping as she readjusted herself.

The two inched closer to the ship. From what they could tell, it was big enough for at least two people. Blaze won't pretend she knew anything about space travel, but it didn't seem like the type of ship that would be well-suited for that kind of ordeal. Maybe it was some sort of lifeboat? Or lifeship in this case?

Suddenly, steam erupted from the ship's door opening. Blaze and Marine leapt backwards in defensive poses as the door opened to reveal…

A duck wearing a suit.

The duck stepped off the ship, dusting off his outfit and looking around with a curious glance. After an awkward silence of looking around, he finally spoke, "Yeah, this isn't Duckworld at all." He sighed, reaching into his shirt and bringing out a flask, taking a swig, and putting it back in his pocket.

"Um… excuse me?" He heard the voice of Blaze say, both her and Marine just staring at him with confused expressions.

The duck saw Blaze approach him and he immediately got into a fighting stance, "Back off, kitty cat! This bird is off the menu!" He said, getting into another fighting pose, "I know Quack-Fu!"

Blaze stared at him with an unamused glare. She turned around to Marine, "I'm going to call Tails for this."

"Right on!" The raccoon beamed before turning back to the duck, deciding to get friendly with the unusual fellow, "So, mister, what's your name?"

The duck calmed himself seeing that they were friendly. Or at least appeared to be friendly. He introduced himself. "The name's Howard. Howard the Duck."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Duck!" Marine said before introducing herself, "My name's Marine. Marine the Racoon."

Howard chuckled at her formalities, "Calling me Howard is fine, kiddo." He then looked around before turning back to Marine, "Say, uh, you got a bar around here?"

"Um… I dunno. We have wine."

The duck grumbled before settling for that, "Good enough for me."

Marine then escorted Howard inside the palace, a few of the guests murmuring in confusion over their sudden visitor. Howard noticed many of these whispers and assumed they were bad mouthing him in some way.

"What, you guys never saw a duck emerge from a spaceship?" He asked them all, almost sarcastically.

Marine finally caught up with Blaze, who was on her way to her room. "Hey, Blaze," she caught the cat's attention, "I'm taking Howard to the wine cellar, is that ok? His name is Howard by the way."

"How ya doing?" he asked.

Blaze looked behind her friend to see the duck known as Howard eye the palace. Whether eyeing because he was in awe or looking to steal something, she did not know.

She sighed, before finally answering, "It's alright, Marine. Just as long as he doesn't get into trouble."

"Relax, kitty cat, I won't cause any problems." Howard piped in.

Blaze was very unamused by his choice of words, "You will address me as "Princess Blaze" or any other titles relating to royalty, Mr. Howard."

The duck was slightly surprised at this, but he did a slight curtsy, "Of course, Your Majesty."

Marine gave Blaze a confused glare, "I don't think you ever did the whole royal titles thing with anyone."

"I would prefer to be called anything else other than… kitty cat."

The sailor nodded at this as Blaze went to her room to get her interdimensional communicator. Marine escorted Howard to the wine cellar. "So how did you end up here, anyways?" She asked.

"Well, kiddo, that's a long story, so I'll give you an abridged version." the duck answered, "It all started when I was trapped in a world I never made…"

Meanwhile, back at the spaceship, the guards surrounded it to make sure their investigations weren't disturbed. Aside from a tommy gun that was thankfully unarmed, and a case full of martini kits, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Well, ordinary for a spaceship that crashed in the middle of a courtyard with no warning, anyways.

Up in the sky, however, was Uatu, observing them with his neutral expression and glowing eyes. In spite of his size rivaling the clouds next to him, he did not cast a shadow, nor did anyone even notice when they looked up. In this state, he was above mortal perception. They simply lacked the power and the ability to see him in such a state.

"The Norn Stone landing near Tail's domain. Doom's first contact with Ivo. Now a most unlikely of visitors in Blaze's castle. This is just the prelude of what is to come. What is coming, you might ask? I believe it would be better if I showed you…"

The far future…

Silver the Hedgehog floated in midair in the lotus position as his fur glowed with the aqua green of his psychokinesis. Everything around him, from old books to cracked vases, was also floating with the ethereal aura surrounding it, orbiting around him like electrons around an atomic particle. Or perhaps like an asteroid belt orbiting a planet.

He was calm. Like the water in a lake. Any interruption would be a ripple to the surface, but he knew they would slowly dissipate. Earlier, he had felt a strange sensation, like a sudden cold breeze that would give one goosebumps, but he paid no mind to it. For he was a mighty lake and no ripples would disturb it…

"Wake up, Silver!"

Unless the ripple was a cannonball splash.

Silver's eyes snapped open. Instantly, the aqua aura that surrounded him dissipated in an instant thanks to his break in concentration. With a yelp, he fell on his bum, the items that surrounded him also falling to the ground, the old vases shattering into dust. The hedgehog nearly stumbled while getting up, "Wha-what's going on!?"

He looked to see his mentor, Mammoth Mogul, standing in front of him, his brown wool matted and frizzled thanks to the millennia of his existence finally catching up with him. Of course, he was no slouch when it came to his power, but both he and Silver knew it was but a shell of what it was. His power, much like his life, was fading away thanks to the sands of time.

"Master Mogul?" The hedgehog asked, wondering what the interruption was for.

The mammoth merely pointed to the door of his room. Silver raised a brow before standing up and heading outside, gasping in horror at what was in front of him.

Were there ruins? Of course, but they were all floating in an empty void of constantly shifting colors. There were no stars, so it was impossible to tell if it was day or night, the only source of light being the shifting colors themselves. It's as if all of space and reality had just… stopped working.

Silver has seen his fair share of horrifying worlds. A perdition full of fire and brimstone thanks to ancient beings composed of hellfire, a totalitarian citystate that kneeled under the banner of the Eggman Empire, and even a desolate wasteland where a former hero turned dark demigod ruled over after killing his allies.

But this? This was something else.

"Wha-whatt happened?" he asked his master, who merely sighed, his old body limping towards him.

"It appears the Chaos Force has somehow been… disturbed." The former warlord answered.

Silver tilted his head, "Disturbed?"

"Something or some one not native to our plane of existence has taken control of it. Resulting in…" he waved his hand to his surroundings, "this."

Silver looked back to the empty void, looking downwards this time, noting the pure white abyss that swirled around. He saw stray masses of what looked like the remnants of planetary bodies slowly, but surely, spiraling into the white void.

This was not a world where hope could linger in spite of everything. This was the worst kind of fate: Nonexistence.

"Everything will be consumed by entropy." Mammoth elaborated, "the only reason we are still here is because I was able to shield us from further harm. But it is merely delaying the inevitable. Eventually, nothingness will consume us as it consumes everything else."

Mogul then headed back inside, reaching for a chest and opening it, pulling out what appeared to be some sort of small flag, tattered and ripped in a few places.

He gave the strip of cloth to his apprentice. The flag's design was not something Silver recognized at all. "Whoever was responsible for establishing this nation was the one responsible. This… Doombringer."

"Doombringer…" Silver repeated as he looked at the flag and back to the empty void beneath them both. A grimace formed on his face as he clenched both his fists and the flag in his palm.

He looked up at his teacher, grit and determination radiating off of him.

"Where are the Time Stones?"