Chapter 2: Understandings

Oswald and Mickey stood up together. It had been a few minutes since their sobbing had begun, and the pair had calmed down now. Oswald looked at Mickey with some remorse.

Mickey spoke first. "Oswald, please don't get angry, but… Some time ago, I found this workshop… There was paint, and thinner, and things got out of control, and… (sigh) I caused the Thinner Disaster and I… I created the Blot."

Oswald was just about starting to adjust back to being happy again, but these words sent him into a spiral of emotions. "You WHAT?! I-I can't believe it. YOU ruined my home! But, you-you…" The rabbit was at a loss. He wanted to fight this out again badly, but he wanted to forgive him.

"Look, I-I'm really sorry. It was an accident. I honestly didn't mean it."

"But you're responsible for what you did to me. You ruined my home! My life! That was all I had left. Why?"

"In a way, I can understand too." And so, Mickey began telling the tale of the Toon World, and of its separation and loneliness. He had his friends, but his other friends couldn't remember him, and every time he would try telling his friends, they would never understand. The world's Walt had created were all fractured, and the pieces were scattered in places unreachable. It did make the rabbit feel like he was, indirectly, getting revenge on his enemy, but revenge was empty now. What good could it do him?

"Well, sounds like karma to me." smirked the lucky rabbit. On seeing the mouse's face, his face looked thoughtful. "Though this does mean something."

"What?" he murmured.

"If we destroy that monster, you'll fix your mistake. And, if it saves our worlds, well, then it means we'll be even. Even though I really am annoyed about this mishap, it could be our chance to maybe put the past behind us. But don't think this means I like you." He stuck out his hand. "Shake on it?"

Mickey smiled and reached out to shake it, but Oswald retracted it quickly. "Actually, I think we'll shake on it later. For now, we got something to deal with." Confused, the mouse nodded his head. But he couldn't get rid of the growing guilt inside of him.

An hour later, the pair walked back into the hut, somehow coping with each other's presence. Red and Chuck looked up, and smiled. "Wow," said Red, "this is an interesting development. What happened?"

Mickey looked at Oswald and said, "We talked things out with each other after a bit of fighting." He laughed a bit, but still felt confused about why Oswald had refused to shake his hand. Had he done something wrong? It was quite worrying, but at least he wasn't visibly mad anymore.

As the two sat down, everyone else inside the hut explained what they'd found. Apparently, all their friends had seen the world turning grey where they were, though some from the group claimed to have seen some of the grey fade into a white. Silver had done some research, and had a theory.

"That inky monster is back, but it's not just destroying the dimensions. It also seems to be taking massive pieces out of their timelines, and taking their interdimensional energy. It can't be done by the Blot."

Gus shook his head sadly. "That's right! It can take the life out of things, but nothing else. What could possibly be doing that?"

"WAIT!" shouted Sonic. "The only thing I can remember that can do that is–"

"The TIME EATER!" exclaimed the Sonic crew.

"The WHAT?!" exclaimed everybody else.

Eggman decided to finally speak. "Well, not long ago, I managed to find this creature wandering through time, with abilities far beyond my own. I captured it and with the help of my past self, we constructed a control mechanism for the creature. I was going to use it to defeat Sonic," he glared at him, but received a smug look in return, "but they defeated us and trapped us in time."

"Oh no…" said Oswald. "The Blot and the Time Eater… they must have teamed up." He faced everybody in the hut. "Look, when you zapped me with that ray, I fell into this void, where I landed in Green Hill–"

"Is it ok?" interrupted Sonic. Amy gave him a look that said 'let him speak.' "Sorry."

"Yeah, it did," said Oswald, not mentioning his hallucination, "but then, I was thinking about hope, and I was thrown into this… hub, I suppose, where I was stuck between all the dimensions ever to exist. And I saw the Blot, except… I'm sure I saw some gears on its back. And its eyes… they were green, like the blot, but its mouth was blue."

"Just like the Time Eater!" said Tails.

"Then there's no doubt about it. It's them two who are destroying those worlds." concluded Knuckles.

"But it won't stop there. They'll devour everything until they destroy not just time, but space as well! It'll be the end of everything!" said Chuck. Red shook his head.

"Not if we have something to say about it."

A/N: I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am. So much, that I'm ready to start a few one-shots and/or other series. I'm also open to ideas of your own to type up, so please send them in!

I won't be receiving PMs if you're sending on the app, as it doesn't send to the account I use on the internet. Apologies if I haven't read any yet, and I will try to resolve this soon. It's far easier on desktop, but I'll see whatI can do