Spark Five: The Battle for the Multiverse

Chapter 1: The Battle Begins!

Once again, Tails had to build a few things to start the fight. But with the help of Oswald, nothing was impossible, and the pair between themselves had made a factory's equivalent of weapons, ranging from an Energy Drainer, which did what it said, to a Light Cube, which actually stunned it momentarily. It was quite powerful however, and he didn't want to use it yet.

However, despite the need for battle equipment, the cartoon rabbit hadn't revealed his secret weapon. It had no name yet, and really, no purpose. He wanted it to be a last resort. Who knew what it could do…

So, Tails and Oswald upgraded their own technology, whilst Sonic and Shadow stretched. They needed no tech: only the regulators that gave them powers here, and their own skills. But, of course, this was going to be a battle between the two hedgehogs as well, to keep things fun, as Sonic had insisted. The only reason Shadow did not refuse was because the last time they were facing this monster, he'd lost because of holding back his powers. This was his chance to do that fight again. And why he would was obvious. After all, he said he would either fight him on equal terms, or not at all.

And so, the battle began.

The Time Blotter hit first, swiping at the building which the team were on, but jumping off, the aerial pair made their way towards the monster. Meanwhile, the hedgehogs and the mouse jumped off, and started making their way towards the base of its body.

"You can't catch us!" taunted the blue hedgehog.

Tails flew up towards the left side of his back and silently landed on his shoulder as Oswald copied on the other side. They were close to its shoulder blades, but more importantly, the gears. The pair waited three seconds, before they both shot streams of electricity at it. Slowly, the gears turned, and the creature let out a ferocious snarl.

The Time Blotter shook its shoulders, and they fell off, plummeting towards the ground. Then, their regulators came into action, and magically formed a magic blue cube around the pair of them, leaving them hovering midair.

But the hedgehogs had already discovered this – yet just started their fight – and were using these cubes to levitate upwards. When they were level with his middle body, they broke out of the cubes, and smashed into its sides. The pressure with which they did this was spectacular, somehow making its arms flail around as their enemy screamed in pain.

"Woo-hoo! Go Tails!" Sonic shouted. "Give up now, and we can forget about all of this ever happening, because youaren'twinning anytime soon!"

The monster snarled, and started glowing a faint purple. Small tears that had appeared on its skin closed up like magic, fading, and the monster gave a knowing, vicious grin. Sonic grinned back, and let out a laugh. "Alright, but I ain't going easy on you!"

Shadow then noticed something else. He was sure that nearby, just behind the monster, in a building the monster had just damaged with his hands, was… Could it…?

It was. The white Emerald.

Wasting no time, Shadow summoned the cube by clenching his fists. He shouted to Sonic, "Cover me!" to which Sonic nodded and started running around. Dodging the Time Blotter's futile attacks at trying to drain him of his paint, Sonic stuck out his tongue at him. At least, he seemed like a 'him'.

"Nyah-na-na-NA-nah! Try and keep up!"

Within two seconds, Shadow was already at the remains of what appeared to be a headquarters for them all. It was actually quite pretty, with pictures of them all on the walls, and inventions on the floor, plus some chilli dogs, which appeared to be stale. He didn't have time to admire the scene though. Looking on the sofa, he overturned a few pillows, searched between the armrests, and scanned underneath it. But it was useless. Getting up, he was about to leave, when he saw sixteen more couches.

Shadow groaned.

Mickey Mouse was really getting a taste of the pressure he'd always heard about in adventures. Usually, the Walt Disney Company wouldn't organise something this tense for him, but he'd heard about it from some of his now-gone friends. However, the fact that the scenario he was originally in in his dimension, was actually agame, did say something about a shift. And, to be honest, having an experience like this wasn't actually as bad as it sounded. It was quite exhilarating, to swipe at the monster with his brush, occasionally absorbing the impact of his Paint and Thinner.

But, if the monster were regular-sized, it would have been like an ant trying to bite his skin, having little to no effect.

The Time Blotter was now using a new move and shooting massive portals at him, which he could only escape with some hidden luck. It was making the ground glitch, and making some of the nearby buildings shrink and grow. In fact, some of them vanished for a few seconds at a time before blinking back into existence. Fortunately, it was also sapping the creature of its energy, repeating every time the move was attempted, which gave Oswald time to ask:

"What's happening?"

Tails had no trouble figuring it out, especially considering they'd battled this monster before, and shouted, "Its portals are causing the past and present to collide!" He shouted to the hedgehog down below, "Don't get hit by them, Sonic, or you'll get trapped in White Space!"

The information seemed to come out too late, as Sonic rushed to the left of it, which was where a portal was headed. Mickey ran as fast as he could, calling out to Sonic to stop, but he didn't hear him.

And just when it seemed like it was over for the blue blur, Mickey got in front of him, and spun around, hitting the portal with his brush, causing it to fizzle and fade away. Through it, he saw something and formulated a plan.

His chest was visibly the thinnest part of the entire body. If they could possibly get a shot at it, it might just be enough to stop him in his tracks. Mickey pointed to his chest, and after a few moments, Sonic realised that was his weak spot too. He jumped up, and Mickey spun around when the blue blur got close, causing him to go flying in the direction of its belly. He curled up, leaving a blue trail behind him.

WHAM!

The impact momentarily separated the two, as the Time Eater's chest could be seen from behind him. However, it created a vortex, and disappeared through it.

"Oh great… What's it doing?!" called out Sonic.

"Mickey… I think it's going back in time – but where?" shouted Oswald.

"No…" Mickey realised. That monster that had separated his world… It wasthatmonster. He tried to jump up to reach it, but it was futile. For the first time ever, he felt something weird pulsating through him. It was like a… more… irritated sadness, more painful. It felt like it was forcing him to act, blinding him. He was feeling rage.

That monster had destroyed his world, ravaged everything he ever knew… It had tried to destroy his memories. His memories. And it had ruined his friends memories. If he'd stopped it now, then maybe that wouldn't have happened.

And now, he felt a lot of guilt. If this was how the event had started, then that meant he was responsible. He had the idea. He'd sent Sonic into the creature. He didn't stop it.

The creature reappeared and merged back with the monster, but Mickey barely noticed.

It was all his fault.