Chapter 4: Levelling the Field
After what seemed like hours, Oswald felt himself drop onto the floor. His eyes darted around rapidly, as he observed the land around him. What once was a crowded place that had been nicknamed 'the world that never slept', was now abandoned. A thick fog of black seemed to hang in the air, but the faint glow of neon lights did somehow penetrate it; a remarkable feat considering how much of it there was. Far away, at the edge of the observable city that only the rabbit could see, a wave of grey was approaching, but ten times slower than it had been.
Everybody got off the dusty floor. They were surrounded by buildings large, small, cheap and luxurious, but they all had one thing in common. Isolation. Flickering lamp posts could be seen overhead, and the once relaxing sound of the water fountain made of pixels was eerie. Everything seemed to feel… intimidating.
But there was no denying what needed to be done.
Shadow got off his feet, and brushed himself off, looking around at the wrecked Internet. The little girl, Vanellope, had told him of a similar incident, but it wasn't as bad as this. Not that he could compare anything.
"So, the mouse caused all this destruction…" he said solemnly, his arms crossed.
Mickey rubbed the back of his head sadly, and said with a very small voice, "I know… I've made a lot of mistakes, but I'm hoping to fix what went wrong." Oswald tried to hide his glad smile at the sound of that. "Plus, I got you guys to help me. Together, we'll defeat these monsters from our past." He raised his fist to the sky. "Who's with me?"
Sonic laughed. "Well, we've got some baddies to destroy, and worlds to save. The fate of the multiverse literally is on us – I think it's a bit too late to back out now." He too raised his arm.
Without any hesitation, Tails copied. Shadow thought for a second, before confirming, "That Time Eater… was that the spirit that broke time?"
Tails nodded, and Shadow lifted his arm. "I'm only doing this for Maria. She wanted people to have the chance to be happy, and I intend to do that."
Sonic gave him a thumbs up with his spare hand, which Shadow ignored. The only person left was Oswald, and everybody turned to face him. He looked around and nodded. All that was left to do was to find the Blot and Time Eater. Unfortunately, it was above this dimension, and there was no way to get to it.
"So, guys, heh… Silly question, but how do we get to the Blot and the Time Eater. Gosh, that's a mouthful…"
The genius fox thought for barely a second before saying, "Firstly, we can safely assume that not one of the creatures could have caused this on their own, so we can call them something like, uh… the Blot Eater, or… I don't know, the Time Blotter?"
Shadow and Sonic agreed to the last suggestion, as did everybody else and I, and that was settled. Tails then continued, "Well, we are inside the internet… Maybe we could build something?" Nobody seemed too sure about that, sadly. Inventing had gotten them this far already, but it could take them no further. A new method was due, and it had to be powerful.
Nobody seemed to have any ideas, and were about to keep going with suggestions, when someone pointed out the grey was getting closer. Truth be told, it was still quite far, but nevertheless, it caught the group's attention. The group looked around for a safe spot to go to, and saw a blue sign flicker in the distance. It read 'Sonic'.
Moving fast, the hedgehogs sped to the site, leaving Tails, Mickey, and Oswald running after them, panting. Tails managed to get there after a few moments, but due to the brothers not being as fast as those three, the pair took a little longer. Eventually, they reached the wrecked remains of the once-active site.
The massive Shadow statue that had been made was ruined, and the Sonic crew's behind him were dented and scratched. "What happened here?" asked Sonic. Tails had assumed that, in the midst of the Time Blotter's attack, everyone had rushed out to escape. But it seemed more likely that, actually, everyone had left beforehand at the first signs of white and grey. The internet was abandoned, but this might not have been all bad.
Oswald thought for a moment. "So, guys, how exactly do we plan to get from here to out there?" He gestured wildly at the sky. "I mean, we knowIcan, but I don't think I can bring everybody." Sonic scratched his head in thought, and everybody waited; it was clear one of them had an idea. Facing him, Sonic hummed a little tune, hoping he'd remember. He closed his eyes, then opened it again and after realising everybody was expecting a suggestion from him, Sonic muttered something about… the Grim? What was that meant to mean?
Then, Shadow understood. "I see… If we can thin the walls of this dimension, we can battle the Time Blotter from here. Not bad for a slow-thinking hedgehog."
Sonic exclaimed, pointing at him, "Was that a compliment?"
Shadow shook his head, which earnt a sad groan from Sonic, not that that bothered the dark-quilled hedgehog. Tails thought about how this would work silently. Sonic had said he was only ever able to strengthen the walls between dimensions in what he called 'The Shatterspace Stand' by using his speed. But what if it could work the other way around? Shadow had also told him that the blue hedgehog managed to thin the veils to the space between the dimensions in his last adventure. That could work…
"Sonic!"
"Yeah, Tails?"
"I've got an idea."
A/N: Sorry if my comment felt harsh to anyone, but it is getting slightly annoying. I would love to do commissions, but I cannot afford it. I hope you all understand. Maybe in the future?
