"What if I just chucked him off a cliff? If he's dead, the Keyblade would have to pick a different guy, right?"

"Haha, good joke, Al. Just remember that's literally murder."

Having already had their fair taste of Emerald Town, the Pokemon duo found themselves venturing into the seemingly endless Green Hill pastures. In their minds, their mission was to search for their king, but actually walking alongside the two would paint a better picture at what was going on. Alakazam was a leaking fuse and was wasting all the energy he normally would have spent on the task at hand instead in scaring away the fresh air and fauna with his rigorous rants and roars. All Loudred could do in the meantime was accompany his friend, while he waited for the moment the psychic type would finally collapse with all his energy spent.

So they were technically slacking off.

Of course, don't tell Alakazam that.

"Just think; all these worlds and all these people who live in them and we get stuck following around some dumb kid with a hero complex," Al weightlessly flailed his arms around. "Why aren't you as angry as I am about this?"

Loudred shrugged. Just like back on the ship, he still maintained the same straightforward smile even though his mind was an exasperated tumbleweed. "If I'm going to be honest, I think everyone's being way too harsh on him. Poor kid just got flung out of nowhere into this mess. You can't expect him to just ease into things like he knows what he's doing right away."

"This is, what, his fourth world? That's more than enough time!"

"Hey, stuff like this takes time to click. It's not just a new situation for him. Everything he knew about how reality works got thrown out just like that. You can see it in him when we're in battle. He's freaking out on the inside, but he's doing his best to force himself to fight.

"Honestly, I thought you of all Pokemon would be more sympathetic."

…

…

…

…I messed up, huh? Loudred thought to himself.

"What are you saying?" Alakazam creaked his head towards his back and eyed Loudred head-on with a vacant glare. "Are you saying he and I are alike?"

Outwardly, Loudred was as chill and jovial as he usually was. Inwardly, he was sweating buckets.

Don't make it worse, don't make it worse, don't make it worse…

"Yeah!"

Why?

It was like the peaceful backdrop they strolled through was forcibly shaken awake at the crack of dawn. Light trembles surged in the grounds before they gradually grew to violent sways. Rocks and dirt trickled into the air while the grass pointed furiously to the sky like they were on the verge of being torn straight out of the ground. Alakazam launched himself into a screeching tirade, but the sheer pressure of mass that was being yanked from the grounds was like a ringing cyclone, and all words that left his mouth were lost to wind. He was in a state so infuriated that even Loudred wasn't sure how he could possibly stamp his tantrum out.

So it was almost a blessing when a ball of red erupted out of the grounds, having been accidentally caught in the childish maelstrom Alakazam's telekinesis stirred.

A red echidna crashed on to the ground, just as abruptly as he'd been forcibly pulled from below. Loudred and Alakazam jumped, the latter switching off his power like a simple finger snap. After all the nonsense Al had forced the scenery to endure, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Alright," the echidna coughed as he trudged off the ground. "Who do I have to blame for getting my back slammed through fifty-something tons of dirt and then getting thrown back down face first from twenty feet up in the air?"

It wasn't just his fur. His whole expression was a nasty shade of red. Alakazam, who had emanated just as much anger a few moments ago, could only meekly raise his hand upward in response.

"Great! I hope you have a good reason for ticking me off out of the blue today." His face was only getting redder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Now this was the Alakazam Loudred knew; serious and headstrong, but ready to break at a moment's notice. As his partner was left hapless and stuttering at the mercy of the red echidna, he couldn't help but wish Cody was here to witness this moment. Perhaps if Al was forced to show the Keybearer a true moment of vulnerability, they'd finally make a good first step to simmering down the tensions between them.

…?!

Loudred turned around. It seemed their echidna "friend" wasn't the only one who was disturbed by Alakazam's immature little huff earlier. A small army of robots slowly creeped into the scene. And it only took a quick glance at their emblems and color scheme for him to realize these weren't just any other robots they were dealing with; like the almost demonic Pokemon way back in Mystery Treasure Dungeon, they were infused by Heartless essence.

"Hey, uh, we've got company, you two."

Alakazam and the echidna halted their one-sided quarrel as they jumped at the sight. In no time flat, they were almost completely surrounded by the strange bots.

"These guys again?" The echidna nearly choked. "Hey, Psychic Guy, mind doing what you did earlier to these things?"

"Uh, n-no, th-that was a spontaneous thing. I can't just—"

A Heartless-bot lunged between the two, its arm now sporting the look of a spiral drill drenched in oil. Alakazam barely missed getting a nasty scratch on him and was shielded only by a spiked punch from their new echidna companion. This was apparently not the first time he'd encountered these foes as he had already launched himself into a brawling state while he smashed his clawed knuckles into as many robot chests as possible. The Pokemon duo were nothing more than extra support in this fight, and even then, they were being overwhelmed. More of the mechanical Heartless hybrids came piling in. The typically prideful Alakazam cursed at himself for possibly being the source of their wrath. There was nothing more they could do than to retreat.

oOo

"So, where do you think is a good place to start?"

Contrasting with the chaos going on all the way in the hills, Cody's romp through Emerald Town was leisurely in comparison. It took him a bit to finally hunt Sonic back down after his emergency escape, but now that the two were together, it was almost like he was on a tour through town with a newfound friend as his guide. Yet again, there was a part of him that desperately pushed himself to take things seriously like that guy kept nagging him to, but yet again, he couldn't bring himself to stoop as low as to admit that that really annoying guy had a point.

"Could you describe them again for me? A bit more specific this time," Sonic asked. "Give me enough to work with and we'll be done in a flash."

"Okay," Cody clasped his hands together and bit his tongue. It'd been a while since he'd seen either of them, so he needed to get his concentration going. "So Trent; medium-ish black hair, weird mullet thing going on, lots of green, some camo, uhhhh, surprisingly kinda emo. You probably wouldn't tell just by looking at him though.

"And Gwen." The corners of his mouth curved into a cheeky edge. "Black and teal hair, pale skin, fishnets, kickass combat boots, she's even taller than me, she's got that look that says she can beat the snot out and you'll probably enjoy the finishing blow, oh, hair's about yay high, that's important, eyes that look like they can stab you if you look at her the long way, and you'd probably enjoy that too, super super gothy, probably the Hot Topic kind, lots of gothy makeup, actually, I'm not sure how much of that pale skin is natural and how much is just really busted up powder, and I can't emphasize this enough, she is really really really really—"

"Two edgy looking teens, gotcha."

Without even letting Cody finish, Sonic dashed off into the far distances of the city and left only fading remnants of lagging colors and light in his place. And even before those could fade away from view, he was already back and standing just as soundly in place like he did before.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to say, but I don't think your friends are here."

"Wh-what?"

What just happened?

"Want me to check again?"

The hedgehog once again broke the barrier of light to speedrun not one but multiple citywide excursions. When he finally returned and called it quits, all he could do was raise his hands in an apologetic frown.

Cody was disappointed of course, but the fact he got to witness something as intense as Sonic's speed seemed to lighten the blow. "Yeah, I kind of figured."

"Sorry, bud."

"Hey," he bounced back with a soft smile. "Since that flew by so quickly, at least you can have that date with that Amy girl."

Sonic coughed.

…Did I say something wrong?

"Uh, sorry. Kinda slipped my mind again," he muttered, followed by an awkward whistle and rapid foot taps. "I, uh, guess I'll head back for that."

"Do you, uh…not like Amy?"

Sonic's eyes widened from the blunt query. "What? No no no no no no no." He rapidly shook his hands. "She's great. Just…she can be a bit much sometimes, you know?"

"How so?"

Sonic gave Cody a reluctant look before heaving out a collapsed sigh, seemingly glad he had an outsider to help get this off his chest. "So, that date; yeah, I agreed to it and I feel bad for always pushing it back, but whenever we're together, that's all she talks about. She keeps bringing up all these places we're going to go to and I swear she bought a planner just for a single date, and just thinking about going on this thing makes me feel exhausted."

"I mean, it sounds like she's just excited."

"It's not just that though," Sonic looked around in guilt like he was making sure no one else was here to hear him spill the rest of his grievances. "She sees me in the distance and she just drops what she's doing to run for a hug. That's a normal greeting for her. And in the first place, this date is only happening because she'd ask for one every time we've seen each other. She's my friend, so of course I'm not gonna rip into her or anything, but I wish she'd tone it down a notch."

As Cody continued listening, his mind began to wander. He still processed everything Sonic said, but in his head, the words were no longer about the pink hedgehog girl named Amy. No, a horrifying realization dawned on him.

"Oh crap, I'm Amy. Shit, I'm a guy, so I'm even worse than Amy!"

Sonic's thoughts trailed off. "Huh? What?"

Cody keeled over while his hands and arms tried their best to hide away the mess of embarrassed blushes that were heating up his face. This wasn't anything new. He always knew the kind of person he really was; annoying, always in over his head, overeager where it didn't count. He thought back to how annoyed Gwen was during those last few days on the island. And even before then, just how much and how long was he a sore blotch in her sight?

"Holy shit. She thought I was a creep, didn't she? Oh my God, just end me…"

"Hey, uh," Sonic awkwardly patted his back. "I mean, I said Amy's still my friend. I'm sure you weren't that bad."

Cody blinked. A new memory emerged within him. At the time, he foolishly took it in stride, too drunk off of the promises that starring in a reality show would bolster his standing no matter how he chose to act on TV. Now, he was both stunned and perplexed as to how his past self actually went and did the deed with a straight face.

"I asked her for her bra!"

Even Sonic couldn't sugarcoat that.

Thankfully, or in actuality, unfortunately, a small chorus of screams just a few blocks down was enough to snap the internally humiliated Cody right back to reality. Without even thinking, he reached out his arm to manifest his Keyblade. And on the same exact wavelength, Sonic reached for his other arm and slid them right to their battleground.

Another set of Heartless-bots had gathered in an area filled with shops and fleeing innocents. Much smaller than the mob they faced back in Green Hill Zone, the duo made quick work out of them. While Sonic bounced and kicked against the outer circle of bots, making sure none of them had an opening to leave the vicinity, Cody engaged in close combat to the ones at the center of the pack. His movements of course were still amateur in speed and ability, but that didn't deter from the confidence of his movement. Any time a swing failed to land, he turned it into a feint that led the bots to clumsily bolt against one another. And any time he fell, he would turn his own blunder into a weapon and dodge movements meant to pin him down and force the enemies to face a hard whack on the back before smashing to the ground. In no time flat, the streets were cleared.

"The Badniks are showing up in town now, huh?" Sonic, arms on his hips, tapped his foot rapidly while deep in thought.

"Badniks?"

"Yeah," he nodded sternly. "That dunce Dr. Eggman sends these dudes out on the regular to kidnap animals and mess everything up. Only now, these things have started getting really freaky with what they can do. They can crawl on the walls and sneak up on you like nothing. They're a step up from the usual ones. How did Egghead manage to do that?"

There was no doubt in Cody's mind that whoever this Eggman guy was, he seemed to have direct access and control over the Heartless. His face scrunched up. This entire time, he assumed they were mindless monsters that merely acted and spread on instinct. How was someone able to control them enough to breed an entirely different species subset out of them?

He was about to ask Sonic for more information. Who exactly was Eggman? Where could they find him? And just like the screams of the citizens from earlier, it was a combined stroke of good and bad luck that led to his answer.

A garish fissure sounded into the air. All the TV sets from a nearby electronics store emitted waves of static. Each screen displayed the same agitated patterns in an uncanny sync. By the time the crackling ambience faded and the chaotic pixelations started to level out, every single screen formed a combined wall of the same bald mustachioed man.

"Greetings citizens of Emerald Town. And a special nod to a certain meddling hedgehog."

"Speak of the devil," Sonic spoke under his breath.

"I'm sure you've all seen my latest models out and about by now. A lot more vicious than usual, yes? Well…" He launched himself into a disgustingly self congratulatory fit of laughter. "That's a sign you'll all fall down to me much sooner than you'd expect. These aren't just your normal run of the mill machines. They're fused with the power of darkness." He took a pause before leaning forwards with a sinister grin. "And if darkness can make my beauties this ruthless, think of what would happen if I used them alongside the Chaos Emeralds too."

Sonic's jaw dropped. "He didn't…"

Eggman resumed his loathsome laughter. "Yes, right under your nose, I've managed to collect all seven of them. Soon enough, this whole world will be covered in darkness and it will all be mine! So, Sonic the Hedgehog, if you're watching this, and I know you are…

"Let's see just how fast you are."

Eggman's image quickly fizzled away on the TV sets until Sonic and Cody faced nothing but darkness.

Cody was agape. "W-wait, what does that mean? What are 'Chaos Emeralds'? Th-this is bad, isn't it?"

"A challenge huh?"

Cody blinked. Sonic didn't break a sweat at the ordeal. In fact, he smirked like his victory was a given.

"If he really wanted to be serious, he should've invited me in person." He motioned over to Cody. "Ready for some fun?"

"I…uh…I guess?" And Alakazam thought he was the cocky one.

Nearby calls of Sonic's name blew through the air. True to his name, Tails, with both Amy and Mokona in tow, helicoptered his way over to the duo with his own twin tails. He waved around some kind of transmitter device.

"Sonic, we've got an urgent call from Knuckles! He's over in Green Hills right now."

Sonic took hold of the transmitter and the screen suddenly flashed to a frantic scene of battle. The camera shook violently. Its wielder obviously must've been having difficulties balancing between the call and the danger that was right in front of him. A pair of distraught voices could be heard in the background as Heartless-bots bounced around in the chaotic backdrop.

One robot edged itself close to the camera before it was smashed down cold by a pair of sharpened fists. Finally, the one named Knuckles managed to find time to position the camera towards him, though the random flails and shakes continued throughout the call whenever his attention was needed elsewhere.

"I see you're having fun over there."

"Can it, Sonic," Knuckles responded before he landed another smack at a nearby bot. "I finally got a lead on where the rest of the emeralds are."

"Yeah, Egghead kind of already revealed himself earlier."

"Look, I've been snooping around this place all day, and I think I finally found where the Doc's been…" Before he could finish his thought, Alakazam came flying right towards him and nearly knocked the shorter echidna to the ground. "Hey, watch it!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Any surprise Cody had to his companion's presence was overpowered by schadenfreude.

"You need help over there, buddy?" Sonic asked his friend, flippantly.

"You think?!"

The transmission was over.

"Well," Sonic glanced at Cody. "Not just Knux, looks like your friend needs a hand too."

"Ptht, that wise guy can handle himself," he scoffed in return.

"Hey, trust me, I think it'd be hilarious to leave Knux alone too, but if I did that, I'd regret it."

Without even leaving a single second for him to protest back, Sonic nabbed Cody's arm and sped off into the distance as the whirring echoes of the teen's screams trailed behind them. Back at the starting line, Amy pouted her face, annoyed Sonic didn't even say a word to her in that whole exchange. But even so, she diligently held on to Mokona as Tails once again lifted them up into the sky as they followed along.

oOo

"You literally shook the ground earlier! What do you mean you can't do that again?"

"I told you, that was an emotional response!"

"And this isn't making you emotional?"

"Hey, uh, Knuckles, was it? I think you're starting to make Al cry."

Having fled from the wide open fields, Knuckles, Loudred, and Al were all cornered in front of a walled cliff. Just like before, they were surrounded by seemingly endless droves of robots, and their numbers only increased the more they fought.

Knuckles glared towards the ground. The three were situated above a metal hatch marked with a red mustachioed emblem. No doubt the growing numbers of enemies was all because the three managed to stumble upon their nest. This wasn't just a random mob; it was the enemy's line of defense. If only they could find a way to break into there. He already attempted to coerce Alakazam into using his telekinetic abilities to force the hatch open, but the useless psychic had suddenly become too frazzled to focus. Knuckles however stayed firm. The transmission he sent moments before was less of a cry for help and more of a trigger.

If anything, Sonic arrived on the scene much faster than he expected.

Sonic immediately launched into a barrage of homing attacks and took aim at any bot that was unfortunate enough to be within his proximity. Cody meanwhile, completely overwhelmed by the extreme momentum he was forced to endure, was sent crashing violently into a large mass of targets as if Sonic had planned to use the poor dude as a living projectile from the start.

He groaned as he slowly lifted himself up from the newly formed pile of scrap parts. He was at a point where the near slapstick nature of the pain he received from combat left aches that felt nothing more than irritable knicks and scratches. However, that didn't mean his stomach was faring any better. His hands passed over a peculiar liquid, and his still noxious face quickly switched over to disgust, realizing what exactly that implied.

And then he looked over at Alakazam who, while not drenched, had enough questionable fluids dripping off of him to reasonably hold intent for murder. Cody couldn't decide whether to bask in the satisfaction of once again pissing off this douche or to gag in shame.

The space between them was equal parts rigid and disgusting. Time stood still as they initiated their staredown that was mixed with both animosity and the pure shock that Cody had actually projectile vomited on to Al in the middle of battle. Their glares grew all the more unyielding, and the awful smell around them began to fester.

Loudred body slammed all three of them straight to the ground. While the two were busy letting their differences and the smell of barf garble around, a crowd of Heartless-bots gathered around them completely unchallenged, and Loudred had just saved them from being roasted on the spot by laser blasts. Still, even he wasn't immune to the spreading puke stain, and they honestly should have been lucky he and his huge ass mouth didn't add on to the already revolting atmosphere.

"Wow, you three smell like garbage!"

Mokona stood in front of them and grinned like he was meeting up with friends for a picnic rather than joining them in battle.

Alongside the unhelpful mascot, Tails and Amy finally arrived at the scene. Tails was quick to join in on Sonic and Knuckles's little fighting corner. The two who'd been mostly squaring off in their own separate battles were now joined into a perfect trio. Tails, still in flight, grabbed hold of both Sonic and Knuckles and tossed them around like a kid in the playground slinging dodgeballs at unsuspecting passerby. They were completely in sync. In comparison…

Amy reviewed the scene in front of her. While Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were united in their efforts, the remaining four chucklefucks were way too absorbed in whatever intergroup drama they had going on to actually be useful. The Heartless-bots replenished their numbers just as fast as they were losing them, and having half their manpower lazing around did them absolutely no favors in changing that.

She puffed her cheeks. She couldn't find the right words to describe how she felt in this situation. Not quite angry. Perhaps annoyed? Either way, her hands gripped on to the handle of her oversized Piko Piko Hammer, and with all her might, she swung her way into a spinning spiral.

And that's when the tables turned, almost too suddenly.

One smack of her hammer easily sent the enemies flying. Strange pulses of light bounced off with each impact, as if her hammer was adding an extra kick to her attacks. As she spun and spun and twirled around the battleground like a petite pink tornado, a trail of white aura followed her with each strike and swing. They quickly went from a seemingly never ending slew of bots to virtually none at all.

Seemingly out of instinct, Amy braced herself for one final blow. She leapt into the air and smashed her hammer right on to the center of the hatch. Even she probably expected to just make a small dent. Instead, a burst of light spewed right out of the point of impact like an ill timed landmine. She yelped out in high pitched confusion. The broken metal cracked and crumbled like glass, and everyone was forced to tumble down into the unknown.