Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Author's note: Hey, everyone! I'm really glad you're liking this story so far, and thanks so much for the reviews! I'll do my best with this story.
And don't worry, there will be more surprises and shocks, so do enjoy chapter 2!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. The rights of the franchise and all Sonic characters and media belong to Sega, Sonic Team and other connected companies. I only own the OCs.
The Mutagen Saga.
Chapter 2: Major Troubles.
World Location: Unknown Planet...
For such an alien world, it looked somewhat like Earth. The mountains and trees were similar to the human world, the sky was blue, clouds were white, the sun was shining. The only thing different was the unusual species of funny looking aliens. But it did not bother the one who had been stuck here for who knows how long.
No, he was quite content with the bit of peace of quiet. Standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the forest of this new world, was the very much alive and no longer amnestic Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform who was believed by everyone in the defeat the Metarex to have died when he used Chaos Control to stop the huge explosion. He had seen the results of his actions after sending Sonic the Hedgehog away, knowing that the younger hedgehog was needed alive, having so many friends who would be waiting for him.
Shadow had no one. His only dear friend, Maria Robotnik, the granddaughter of his creator Professor Gerald Robotnik who was also the grandfather of the twisted and stupid scientist Dr. Eggman, had died a long time ago, and while the black hedgehog was allies with Rouge, she was better off with those from her planet. He did miss her company just a little bit, but it was better this way.
Yet what really bothered him was that he didn't belong here. He didn't belong anywhere in either Chris' world or Sonic's world.
"Such peace and quiet in this place, but there's nothing here for me. Yet I cannot leave, not without the Chaos Emeralds. Hmph. I suppose I'm fated to spend the rest of eternity on this planet." Shadow muttered to himself, his arms folded to his chest, deep in thought.
There was still left the problem with what he was feeling. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Sighing, the ebony life-form shook his head to rid those thoughts. There wasn't much he could do. He was trapped here, and if Shadow had to stay here forever, then so be it.
"But...where do I belong? What is my place in the universe? Where am I supposed to go?" Shadow questioned deeply.
Just then, he suddenly felt a presence behind him and, narrowing his ruby eyes, spun around to see an alien looking figure. It, or rather, he had a body made of rock, but with a squashed face and black eyes. Shadow's narrowed deeper in suspicion.
"Ah. A lost wanderer. Black and red, I see. Quite interesting." The alien spoke, in a sickeningly calm and smooth tone.
"Who are you?" Shadow demanded, standing in defense.
"At ease, young one. I am a friend, and I could not help but sense that you have lost your way." The figure gently held up a hand for peace.
Shadow scoffed. "Hmph. That's none of your business. I'm virtually trapped on your planet, so if you wish to avoid me, I suggest you get out of my sight and I won't bother you."
The alien simply chuckled. "Ah, but I do not wish to cause you trouble, my young traveler. If you wish to leave and return to whence you came, I can help you."
"What?" The Ultimate Life-form asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Since when did I ask help from strangers?"
"I simply like to help strangers, and really, in order to maintain peace, those from other worlds must return to their own, before they suffer the penalty of the sacred laws, which is death." Said the alien.
"Yeah, well, I can't die easily. Worse case scenario in my opinion is losing my memories and I'm stuck figuring out who I am all over again." Shadow rolled his eyes, one hand on his hip as he looked to the side. "I've been here for ages and I haven't seen any sort of army or whatever yet."
"If you remain here, the people will eventually find you. You said you didn't know where you belong. Well, I can send you back to the world of your origin."
"And how do you know that?" The black hedgehog questioned.
"I have met many travelers who ask the same thing. Besides, it aches my heart to see you in such a state." The alien explained, shaking his head with a seemingly sad expression.
Shadow stared at him with a deadpan expression. "Didn't know aliens made of rock had hearts."
The rock alien chuckled once more, "I may look like a rock on the outside, but deep inside, I am all flesh and bone, same as you. If you can trust me, you may be able to find your place in the universe, by starting with returning to the planet of your origin."
Shadow fell silent on that. This seemed to be too good to be true. If he could leave this place, he'd end up back on Earth, and maybe figure out how to leave without those humans getting on his back. Aside from Chris, humanity wouldn't trust him considering what he had done, especially to Sonic by unconsciously framing him since they both looked identical in the face and that they were both hedgehogs, except that Sonic was born like everyone else. Shadow himself was genetically created.
There was something off with this guy speaking to him. He could sense it, but he had no idea what it was, despite that he could be his ticket out of here. So, he then asked carefully, "What's in it for you?"
"Oh, nothing. I am but a friendly species. I was raised to help strangers who have become lost." The alien reassured.
A long moment of pause.
"Fine. Take me out of here then if you're that eager to get rid of me." Shadow finally in defeat and exasperation.
"I thought you would say that. Not in a very polite words, but I will accept it." The alien nodded with a warm smile, which personally the way how this guy did it gave the black hedgehog the creeps.
He then turned before holding out a hand, which then created some kind of light and cyan portal of sorts which made Shadow a bit edgy. The alien, sensing the unease, reassured him. "Do not be frightened, my young traveler. If you focus on where you wish to go, the portal will take you directly to where you desire to be, or at the very least, where you wish to seek answers."
While Shadow didn't know the meaning of these words, he thought about getting answers which made him feel worse. Who was this alien, a psychic? Then again, the only place he could get decent answers was Earth, and he had no idea what Sonic's world really had apart from Eggman, but asking for that guy's help was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Plus it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. So he nodded and began to slowly approach it.
"There thee well, young traveler." The rock alien muttered, making Shadow pause and glance over his shoulder.
"Stop calling me young traveler or wanderer or whatever else you can think of. My name is Shadow the Hedgehog. Don't forget it." Shadow said darkly in annoyance.
"Very well, Shadow the Hedgehog. Safe journey." The rock alien nodded.
Narrowing his eyes further, Shadow decided that he didn't want to be in the company of the suspicious alien who was willingly helping him to get out of here, and, putting his faith onto the portal and hoping that he wasn't falling into some kind of trap, the black hedgehog stepped inside and vanished just as it closed.
Yet once Shadow was gone, the rock alien muttered. "Good luck, Shadow the Hedgehog..."
He then chuckled and all of the friendly demeanor instantly gone, replaced by a sinister smirk. "You and Sonic the Hedgehog will be needing it."
There was much more to this alien than Shadow ever knew, yet no one would be finding out any time soon.
World Location: Sonic's World...
Nearing Eggman's base, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles flew in high-speed while Rouge was close behind despite that she wasn't as fast as the X Tornado. The sun was setting over the horizon, slowly vanishing behind the ocean, but the four of them paid no attention to that. They remained focused on stopping Eggman from using his own Porthole to return to Earth.
Eventually Tails pulled the plane into a hover as Rouge finally caught up, the female bat panting a bit.
"Next time, slow down for me, will you, hon?" The bat thief told the young fox in slight annoyance.
"I'm sorry, Rouge." Tails replied, apologetically rubbing the back of his head. Sonic shook his head in exasperation while Knuckles rolled his eyes.
"Looks to me like you're out of shape, Rouge." The red echidna couldn't help but tease with a smirk. "Maybe you should excersise more often."
"Coming from someone who spends most of his time babysitting that beautiful jewel 24/7." The white bat glared at her rival, insulted.
"Har dee har." Knuckles deadpanned. "It's not just a jewel, you batty thief. It's the Master Emerald, and I happen to be it's guardian, not baby sitter."
"Guys, will you please not argue for once?" Sonic groaned. "The more you argue, the less time we have in stopping Eggman! We have to hurry or else he'll win, and I'd like to try and avoid having to search all over Earth just to find him."
"Sonic's right. If we don't stop him now, it'll be too late!" Tails agreed.
Despite their history of bickering and, in Knuckles' opinion, Rouge taking pleasure in making his life miserable from time to time, the two knew that the two young brothers had a very good point. They didn't know on whether Eggman was already getting ready to return to Earth yet or not, but one thing's for certain, they had to stop him from going into the next phase of his latest evil plot.
"So what's the plan then, if you ever think of one?" Knuckles asked, being the first to get back into the situation.
"Tails and Rouge sneak in to turn off and unplug the machine or whatever. You and me, we fight our way through and distract that fathead the old fashioned way, and smash whatever robots he built to babysit him." Sonic explained, smirking.
While Tails immediately agreed to the plan, Rouge looked impressed and Knuckles stared at the blue hedgehog, dumbfounded at first before admitting with a smirk of his own. "For once, you've come up with an actual plan that makes sense."
Sonic just laughed, shrugging with one shoulder so that he wouldn't fall off. "I have my moments."
World Location: Earth...
The purple fog-like Mutagen spread so quickly, no one even anticipated on what was even happening. The Police were baffled and, getting a bad feeling about the mysterious mist, instructed the people on the streets to head inside and seal off the doors as much as possible or get into their cars quickly. Those who were already indoors were told to say inside. It didn't help that too many were panicking and scrambling to get to safety and reach loved ones.
Chris carefully and somewhat awkwardly placed Helen back into her wheelchair before pulling her further back to safety and away from the doors and windows. Whatever that purple stuff was, it was dangerous. Once at the other end of the room with a few other people who had dined here as well, either in a group of families and friends, or like Chris and Helen, or just by themselves, they could only watch as the substance spread, beginning to spread and fill the air.
"What the heck is that stuff?" One man asked, bewildered.
"Mommy...what's going on?" One little girl asked, clinging onto the coat of her mother who held her close to try and protect her.
"I don't know, sweetheart. I wish I knew." Her mother replied, fearfully.
This couldn't be happening. Nine years of peace, and now suddenly this happened. No one had any idea what was going on, and they couldn't figure out who was responsible, especially since Eggman wasn't here.
Problem is, Sonic wasn't here either to save them this time.
'Sonic...I wish you were here.' Chris thought to himself, feeling afraid for the first time in nine years.
World Location: Sonic's World...
"All systems are clear and ready to go, Doctor Eggman." Decoe announced as he and Bocoe saluted, while Bokkun arrived, having been in charge in packing up Eggman's luggage...which was quite a lot considering how much the evil scientist was taking with him for his extended trip to Earth.
"Good. Now then, before we go stepping through, I need to send in a test dummy to make sure that it works and if we do arrive on Earth and now anywhere else." Eggman grinned evilly, rubbing his hands in glee.
All three robot minions froze at what they were doing, staring at him in fear before quickly pointing at each other; Decoe and Bocoe pointing at Bokkun who pointed back at them, each exclaiming pleadingly. "Use him/them!"
"Not you three, you bunch of nincompoops!" Eggman growled in irritation. Despite that Decoe and Bocoe didn't like Bokkun who was disappointed to still be stuck with them, all three robots sighed in relief. "Bring me the rogue robot I sealed away last week!"
A moment of silence.
"You don't mean...!" Decoe trailed off, his eyes widening in shock.
"Don't question me! Bring me E-123 Omega! That robot has caused me trouble and who better to get rid of and not have it sitting in the locker room and to have go on a rampage to give everyone on Earth a wild goose chase than him?" The evil doctor grunted impatiently.
Before his minions could even do as they were told, the alarms suddenly blared, alarming all four of them, red lights flashing everywhere in the room.
"Oh no! Don't tell me!" Eggman cried out, racing over to the monitors to see what was going on. True to his fears, the security cameras at the entrance catching sight of Sonic and Knuckles who broke in through the front door, the blue hedgehog having used his Spin Dash to do so, before the red echidna turned around at the camera his friend pointed at, and then Knuckles smashed it with his fist, the auto losing reception.
To say that Eggman was furious would've been an understatement.
"Not that irritating hedgehog and that gulliable echidna again!" The evil scientist shouted angrily, his face almost as red as his outfit. "How did they know that I'm plotting another scheme!? Oh, never mind! I'll just get rid of them myself!"
While Eggman was ranting on about Sonic's arrival with Knuckles, Decoe and Bocoe both shared deadpanned looks, muttering. "Another plan about to be foiled by Sonic again."
"No way! Eggman's gonna win for sure this time!" Bokkun protested.
"Speak for yourself, Bokkun." Decoe grumbled, glaring at the smallest robot.
Bokkun responded by sticking his robotic tongue out, making the other two robots growl angrily, and it wasn't long before all three of them went into an all-out brawl with each other which the fight was covered in a dust cloud. Eggman, noticing this and knowing that they wouldn't be able to hear him this time, groaned in dismay as he turned around in his chair, facepalming himself.
"How can it possibly get any worse than this?" The evil doctor complained.
If only he knew it was about to get even worse. Much worse.
Meanwhile, after breaking in to give Tails and Rouge enough time to sneak in and shut down the Porthole, Sonic and Knuckes raced through the corridors of the familiar base, dodging the lasers that attempted to vaporize them but missed due to Sonic's speed and Knuckles' agility despite the latter being born with power. The large bulky Badnik robots that attempted to do the same or smash them with their weapons were met with the attacks of the duo who combined their abilities with Axe Kicks and Knuckle Punches, plus Sonic's Homing Attacks.
"Heh. Talk about slow and weak." Sonic chuckled as he and Knuckles finished off the four robots that blocked their path and quickly hurried onward towards their destination.
"These were just small fry. Better watch ourselves." Knuckles warned with caution.
"Oh, come on. We've dealt things worse than this!" Sonic reassured with a grin, winking at his companion. "The Metarex for example, and I almost drowned on that water planet when Dark Oak ate me."
"Yeah, well, everybody thought you were going to be digested. None of us knew that he'd go and make the entire planet his stomach." The red echidna responded, resisting the urge to shudder at the memory as, while he didn't say it due to his pride, it had been the worst thing he'd ever seen and the very thought of losing Sonic like that...it had scared him.
The blue hedgehog shrugged, leaping over a spike trap that opened up in front of him and Knuckles who jumped and glided his way over before they reached the other side and kept going, with Sonic saying. "Honestly, I thought I was gonna be digested too. Hate to admit it, but I've never felt so scared in my whole life, being swallowed like that, and going down that giant throat. Ugh."
Sonic felt his stomach irk a little over the memory, before mentally his head to rid those thoughts and said. "But let's not think about that, 'kay? We've got an Eggman to scramble!"
"Along with his plot." Knuckles smirked in agreement for once.
The two friends leaped and rolled when razor blades stuck out of the wall and attempted to slice them in half, but Sonic rolled underneath one and jumped over another, while Knuckles did the similar stunt and avoided other traps such as a pitfall trap which Sonic, not wanting a repeated history, skid to a stop before running along the wall after taking a couple steps back and Knuckles glided over, spring traps, smashed more robots and kept on doing so while in the air vents, after landing the X Tornado in a safe distance, Tails followed Rouge towards the room without getting detected.
Finally reaching the promised door and hoping it was the right one, Knuckles smashed it with his fist and Sonic went charging straight in, startling Eggman who was just about to enter his Egg Mobile and call up another giant robot when the door was smashed off, and Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun who, after being yelled at and being told to shut up, had stopped fighting each other and jumped in fright.
"Well, if it isn't my good frenemies, Sonic and Knuckles." Eggman greeted sarcastically, attempting to hide the fact that he was a bit nervous as Sonic stood there with a deep frown, and Knuckles by his side a few seconds later with an angry glare.
"What are you up to this time, Eggman?" Sonic demanded, his arms folded to his chest, taking a glance around and true to Rouge's words, not only there was the Eggman version of the Porthole which the blue hedgehog was reminded of the one Tails and Chuck created back on Earth, one that he never got the chance to step through due to Chris shutting it off in an emotional attempt to keep him before realizing his mistake. Thankfully Sonic had kept the Chaos Emeralds just in case and that time had finally succeeded in getting himself back home, but not before sharing an emotional goodbye, but also a huge luggage and other things the evil doctor intended on taking with him back to Earth, obviously.
He then continued to the evil man sarcastically. "Going on a little trip, are ya?"
"Uh, well, it-it's not what it looks like. I was just about to test this thing on going to another, more empty-ish world where I can build my Eggman Empire there without any interference." Eggman stuttered, lying. "So that way you can keep this world and never have to worry about me ever again."
"It's way too crowded with people around here." Decoe quickly added, catching on.
"The less crowd, the better." Bocoe continued.
"Yeah, and no interruptions either." Bokkun perked up.
Sonic raised an eyebrow and deadpanned. "Really? You don't say."
"Actually, I do. I've decided to give up on taking over your world since it's too much stress." The evil doctor replied, grinning sheepishly.
Neither one of the heroes were convinced, as Knuckles scoffed. "Yeah, right. The moment we turn our backs and take our leave, you'll just vaporize us and then continue whatever evil plan you've got."
"How do we know that'll even take you to an empty world, anyway? If you thought of that, why not just take a space ship and leave that way? Why go through all the trouble building the very thing that got us back home from Earth? That thing's the one-way trip to Chris's home since both worlds are still linked somehow, and you know it!" Sonic grunted angrily.
"How dare you accuse me!?" Eggman growled angrily in return. "What proof do you have?"
"Why should we believe you, when 99 out of 100 times you're lying?" The blue hedgehog responded, standing in defense. "You're not going anywhere, Eggman, except to Jail!"
Realizing that neither one were going to fall for his tricks this time, the evil scientist growled darkly. "If that's how you want to play it, then fine!"
He then commanded his minions, "Unleash E-123 Omega, and have him burn these annoying pests into crisp! I want that hedgehog and his echidna friend turned into swiss cheese!"
Despite the hesitation, the minions nodded and dashed off quickly, unlocking the door on the side of the room before backing away quickly, hiding underneath the desk for cover. As the door was unlocked, a mad beeping noise came through and soon was followed by a mad rapid fire aimed at...well, pretty much anywhere, really. This not only forced Sonic and Knuckles to jump out of the way, just as Tails and Rouge had arrived and waited for their chance to sneak behind the Porthole, but also Eggman to yelp in alarm and run for cover. The owner of the firing was from another robot, similar to the other E-100 series robots, red and...apparently furious all the same.
This was the E-123 Omega.
"E-123 Omega! I command you, dispose these two pipsqueaks!" Eggman ordered, only to scream when Omega, hearing his voice and scanning him, didn't obey and fired right at him. The evil doctor ducked, much to the surprise of Sonic and his friends who stared on in confusion.
"Must destroy Dr. Eggman! Annihilate! Annihilate!" Omega shouted, apparently ignoring the heroes but had to stand back to avoid in getting caught in the mindless rapid fire, while Eggman had to hide and run for his life, realizing his mistake.
"No! Not me!" The evil doctor screaming in a panic, shouting at his cowering minions. "Don't just sit there like trash cans! Lock up Omega before he kills me!"
"We'd like to, Doctor Eggman, but E-123 Omega would most likely eliminate us if we do." Decoe apologetically replied.
"The other robot army have been ultimately destroyed by Sonic and Knuckles, so we're pretty much doomed." Bocoe added.
All the while, Sonic and Knuckles hid behind a crate as they watched the performance unveil before them with sweat drops.
"What's wrong with that robot?" Knuckles asked, dumbfounded.
"Guess even robots don't like being stuffed in a closest. Maybe that guy's letting out all his stress on his creator. Can't say I blame him, though." Sonic shrugged, trying to lighten the mood.
Even Tails and Rouge, who had both silently snuck out of the air vent and attempted to creep their way towards the Porthole, watched on in shock.
"I guess that robot decided to go against Eggman too like Gamma and Emerl." Tails whispered, blinking in bewilderment.
"After being locked up in that storage room, can't say I'm too surprised." Rouge whispered in agreement, all the while Eggman was screaming unmanly and pleading for help before he leaped behind another crate and hoped that he was out of sight.
Unfortunately, Sonic's plan to shut down the Porthole and prevent Eggman from returning to Earth went downhill from here, because the blue hedgehog then noticed, to his horror, that Omega was now shooting pretty much everywhere on a rampage, including the very thing that was the cause of this problem. Everyone else saw too and all gasped in horror and despite the blue hedgehog's warning to try and get the out of control robot to stop, it was already too late. The robot's rapid fire hit the controls of the Porthole as well as the computers, which began to spark and blow up a bit.
"The Porthole!" Tails exclaimed, horrified. Rouge covered her mouth with one hand to muffle her gasp.
"NO!" Sonic screamed, dismayed.
"Oh, no!" Knuckles cried out, shocked.
While the Porthole began to operate just as Eggman had originally planned, it was sparking strangely all purple and yellow and at the same time while nobody even noticed, the Chaos Emeralds within Sonic's quills began to glow and vibrate, which the blue hedgehog soon felt and noticed, feeling the Chaos Energy pulse.
"Huh?" Sonic blinked, then softly gasped as he realized that somehow the Porthole is causing the Emeralds to activate...much like how the Master Emerald glowed and that opened up the gateway connecting to Chris's Porthole that lead him here months ago.
On Angel Island, the Chaotix, despite knowing that Vector still needed to rest, had been hoping to find Knuckles and ask him for a bit of advice on burrowing the Master Emerald's power to send them to Earth, only to find that the Guardian was absent. Puzzled, they went to Tails' workshop but found that empty as well. Finally without any further leads, the trio went over to Cream's house and while the little girl and her mother were home, Amy was there as well, along with Cosmo's plant since the pink hedgehog thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on it...and they had some bad news.
"Eggman's what!?" Vector, Espio and Charmy all exclaimed once they were told of the story, after they explained to the three girls of their situation.
"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Rouge went to try and stop him from using the Porthole to go back to Earth." Amy repeated calmly, with a worried expression as she felt that something was wrong. In more ways than one.
"Of all the things to happen..." Espio grunted, facepalming himself. "That evil villain has gotten too far. I will not allow him to do as he pleases."
"Well, neither would Sonic and he and the other guys are already stopping that bad man." Charmy pointed out, shrugging. "I don't think we should be too worried."
"Ugh! I can't believe that guy would go a-a-a-AH-CHOO!" Vector sneezed again, this time in a handkerchief, groaning before continuing. "And try to do all of this. Knowing him, he'll end up making things worse before we can ask for Chris and his grandpa's help."
Vanilla went up to him and gently placed her hands onto his arm, saying. "You really should be in bed, Vector. It's not good for you to be standing up when you're ill."
Blushing at the presence of the young and very kind and beautiful mother, the crocodile sighed miserably. "I really wish I was in bed, ma'am. But this ain't a normal cold for me to recover easily from and if Espio's right, then the only way for me to get better is to get help back on Earth."
"Oh, I wish we could help." Amy sighed, worriedly.
"Please don't be sad, Vector. It'll be okay." Cream muttered, feeling very sorry for the sick detective, with Cheese chao-ing in agreement.
"Cream is right. We will do our best to care for you until Sonic, Tails and Knuckles come back." Cream's mother added kindly.
Vector smiled, blushing heavily. "Thank you."
However, things didn't seem to be okay right now, because the ground suddenly began to shake, causing everyone to cry out in alarm.
"What now?" Espio exclaimed, shocked.
"An Earthquake!?" Charmy cried out.
While this was happening, on Angel Island itself, like the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald pulsed and glowed dramatically, faster than it normally would.
Back at Eggman's base, the impact of the Porthole being damaged was causing an tremor that was making it hard for everyone to keep their balance. To make things worse, Sonic could feel the Chaos Emeralds starting to go out of control and his heart leaped into his throat. Eggman, seeing the damage and Omega losing his balance, saw what was happening and felt his own heart drop into his stomach.
"Oh no!" The evil doctor screamed out in horror, his hands on top of his head. "The Porthole is going out of control!"
"Sensors detect mass amount of damage and activity!" Omega exclaimed in warning. "Explosive impact from Porthole, teleportation to commence within 60 seconds and counting!"
"This is bad!" Sonic cried out, trying to calm the Chaos Emeralds with his will power, and found that he couldn't, no matter how hard he pleaded them to stop. "The Chaos Emeralds are going all crazy too!"
"If this is happening to the Chaos Emeralds, then it might be happening to the Master Emerald too!" Tails screamed out. "I think we're in for a very bumpy ride! The damage from the Porthole is reacting to the Chaos Emeralds, just like Chris's reacted to the Master Emerald!"
"You're not saying what I think you're going to say, are you?" Rouge asked, worriedly.
The young fox nodded, frightened. "We're about to be transported!"
"WHAT!?" Sonic and Knuckles both screamed in horror.
World Location: Earth...
Just when things were starting to look up for Kai, he then noticed that the ground began to shake violently, and the Porthole as well as his device and the Mutagen began to spark and bubble like mad. Noticing this and wondering what is going on, he gasped as he saw in horror that it fired up again and repeated the process, this time it was covering the mist into black and red and golden colours, spreading faster and replacing his original plan with a new mist that it was engulfing not just Station Square, but the entire planet in general.
"Oh no! Something's gone wrong! What is happening!?" Kai screamed out in horror, before the machine began to spark and, believing it was about to explode, gulped nervously as he realized that this was yet another plan that was about to go up in smoke, before muttering. "Perhaps I'd better go...!"
Just as the mad scientist was then making a run for it, the substance then went into the porthole, which soon re-reversed the teleportation back to the way it was before Chris had shut it down when he returned home three years earlier.
Back in the city, the quakes gotten worse and as everyone braced themselves and screamed when the windows all shattered, the substance, dramatically changed, spread into the room and other buildings, making their way towards the people who all screamed in horror, believing that the end was here. Chris, unable to believe that this was happening, did his best to shield Helen and squeezed their eyes shut.
"Helen...I'm so sorry. I wish we could've gotten married." Chris whispered to his would-be-future wife. "I love you."
"I love you too, Chris. At least, if this the end, the last thing I got to see is you." Helen whispered in returns, tears falling.
The twentyone year old man teared up as well, before leaning towards his lover's face and the two passionally kissed just as they and everyone else were all engulfed and then began to glow in light, which was soon spread across the planet before it soon faded, and all was silent.
But it wasn't the end as everyone had originally thought.
Chris, hesitantly opening his eyes, realized that he was still alive. But as he looked down, the real shock set in as he found that his hands were smaller, his clothes had changed, and Helen...she looked just like back when they were children. She looked up as well and found the similar problem. Both muttered each other's names in shock, then noticed the rest of the crowd and found the exact same thing happened to them happened to most of them.
The only ones not affected were the children who, seeing the sudden change in their parents, were asking what was going on, not believing that their families had just de-aged.
"We're...kids again?" Chris asked, shocked beyond belief. This was like what happened to him when he went to Sonic's world three years ago.
Only this time it happened to everyone here on Earth...everyone except the children to those who were the similar age as him and Helen...they all had de-aged by nine years!
'What could have happened? What kind of substance that made us young again? Man, this is weird.' The now once again twelve year old thought, wondering how this could happen.
And if this was reversible or not.
World Location: Sonic's World...
The quakes were getting worse, dust and ceiling parts began to fall and the walls began to crack through out Eggman's base as Sonic and everyone else tried to brace themselves for what they thought would be the end of them. Just then, out of the Porthole, something spread out and engulfed the entire room, causing all of them to scream and shield their eyes. It then fled through the corridor and out of the base itself, spreading across the planet and engulfing it in white light.
However, the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald suddenly shone brightly, and while no one even noticed, they then formed barriers not just around everyine in the base, but also across the land, with almost everyone who, seeing the unusual event, screaming, were all covered in unusual auras that was protecting them. At Cream's house as everyone inside cried out and braced themselves, the only one not protected was Vector. Instead, the substance unknowingly seeped itself into his snout and into his blood stream, soon merging with the Mutagen he didn't know he still had.
What they did notice was that the light was there and even though it was bright outside, Amy and everyone else hesitantly looked up and wondered what was going on. However, the cause of the quakes began to rattle the table Cosmo's plant was on and while she was busy trying to hold onto Cream and Cheese to protect them, they noticed that the pot was about to fall over.
"Cosmo's flower!" Amy screamed out, horrified as she felt her heart break. If the flower was destroyed now, Tails would be devasated. How was she going to tell him if no one would save it?
Fortunately, an unexpected rescue came.
"I GOT IT!" Charmy cried out, flying over and to everyone's surprise, he went under the pot and caught it with his arms and landed on his back, with the plant still upright, heavy but still intact.
Having his eyes shut before slowly opening one, he opened the other and sighed in relief. "Phew...Got it."
Everyone else all sighed in relief, surprised yet glad that the young bee had saved the flower.
"Nice catch, Charmy!" Vector praised, giving his youngest friend a thumbs up.
"Well done." Espio praised with a proud smile.
Charmy giggled, pleased that he saved the plant, only to blink in confusion when strangely enough, above every other unusual events, the flower soon began to glow as well, much to his and everyone else's surprise. Cosmo's plant felt warm and strangely full of life, now more than ever.
"What's happening?" Cream asked, confused and worried even more.
"Do...flowers...glow like that?" Charmy asked, nervously with a sweat drop.
"Not on our planet or Earth. But possibly on Cosmo's...Maybe." Espio replied, as this was the only logical explanation he could come up with that made sense.
"Today keeps getting crazier and crazier!" Vector exclaimed, sweat dropping.
"Yeah..." The youngest detective muttered in agreement, before gasping as the flower soon began to change shape and the bright light from it and from outside grew.
This made everyone scream even more while bracing themselves.
The quakes stopped, but then there was another problem. The Porthole, now absorbing the power from the Chaos Emeralds which Sonic felt, began to suck everything in the room in, forcing everyone to hold onto something as hard as they could. Omega, unable to hold onto something, ended up being lifted slowly due to his heavy weight.
"Warning, Porthole teleportation reaching dangerous level!" Omega exclaimed. "I cannot hold on!"
Before anyone knew it, the robot was soon lifted up and swallowed up into the portal.
"Omega!" Sonic found himself screaming, and while knew that he would've ended up fighting the robot, the fact that it didn't attack him or his friends and that Omega had been cruelly locked up made him feel sorry for him. He then gasped along with his friends as Eggman, and his remaining robots soon found themselves dangling while trying to hold on.
"This is not what I planned!" Eggman screamed out, fearing for his life.
"We're done for!" Bokkun wailed.
"If this is how it's gonna end, for once I blame Dr. Eggman for this!" Decoe cried out while trying to hold on and began losing his grip.
"Never mind blaming him! We're all pretty much goners!" Bocoe screamed.
Soon enough, the four of them lost their grip as well and were swallowed up into the Porthole, screaming in fear as they soon vanished. All Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Rouge could do was watch helplessly before trying to prevent themselves from suffering the same fate. Unfortunately, they were each slowly losing their grip, and Tails ended up being the first, with Sonic and the others gasping in horror.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH! SONIC!" Tails screamed helplessly.
"NOOOOO! TAILS!" Sonic screamed, and without thinking and ignoring Knuckles' orders to stay back, he willingly let go and ran as fast as he could without being sucked in, jumping and managing to grab onto his fox friend's wrist before grabbing hold of another table as the two were left dangling as the Porthole threatened to engulf them as well.
Soon enough, Knuckles lost his grip and felt himself being sucked in as he screamed. But Tails somehow managed to grab his wrist, and in a chain of events, Rouge lost hers, causing the red echidna to grab her wrist and the four of them were left struggling to hold on despite Sonic's orders to hang on tight. The Porthole's winds were too strong for the four of them as it's light spread and began engulfing the entire continent yet still intended on swallowing Sonic's group up last.
"I...!" Rouge began, struggling.
"...Can't...!" Knuckles continued.
"...Hold...!" Tails added.
"...ON!" Sonic concluded, losing his grip on the table as sweat slid down from his face as did on his friends. 'This can't be it! This can't be the end! Not when we fought so hard for peace! Eggman...what have you done!? This is all my fault!'
Finally, Sonic the Hedgehog had lost his battle to hold on, and soon his fingers lost the grip of the table before and his friends found themselves being sucked in, screaming as they were swallowed up and vanished into the Porthole before it exploded just moments after they did, and soon everyone else on the continent vanished as well, along with part of it as well.
Then...there was silence as the light faded.
World Location: Earth-About an hour later...
The gentle breeze and the scent of familiar but beautiful flowers began to stir Sonic awake as he had passed out during his unexpected ride through the Porthole that had swallowed him up. The blue hedgehog was lying on his stomach, his eyes slowly opening as his fingers twitched.
"...Where am I?" Sonic muttered tiredly, groaning as he pushed himself up, placing a hand to his head, bending on one knee and grumbled. "Ow. I hate Eggman."
Once he knew that he didn't have too much injuries, Sonic slowly looked up and around, and gasped as he almost instantly recognized this place. The field of flowers, the mountains...this was nowhere near his home village. This was...where he usually would come to during his time...
"This is..." Sonic trailed off as he stood up, shock filling in as realization hit him hard. "I'm...back on Earth...! It's Earth!"
While relief filled him a little that he ended up in a place he was familiar with, dread covered him as he knew that, if he was here, then Eggman's plan had half-succeeded. This was another realization as he also remembered what happened, including his friends...his friends!
"Hey! Tails! Knuckles? Rouge! Anyone?" The blue hedgehog called out loudly, hoping to hear or see any sign of the missing three, or at least Eggman so that he could clobber him hard for getting them into this mess. The only response he got was silence at the dead of night, the full moon up and shining, and his own voice echoing through out the area.
Feeling the sense of deja vu, and the worry that followed with it, Sonic knew in that instant he had to find his friends and fast. Suddenly also remembering the Chaos Emeralds, the teenager quickly reached into his quills only to realize that the seven gems were not there. They were gone. Quite possibly lost across Earth again, just like the last time.
"Great. Just when I had them with me in case of emergency, that stupid Egg version of the Porthole had to make me lose them. So much for a peaceful day." Sonic grumbled in frustration. He clenched his fists in anger, mentally stuck between blaming Eggman and himself for the situation.
Sonic then took deep breaths to calm down and sighed, knowing that standing here and coming close to screaming in fury were not going to help. He knew then and there, there was only one thing to do, and one place he could go in order to get started on his search.
"Well...I guess Chris is in for a big surprise. At least I know where he is." Sonic sighed, shrugging as he attempted to make the mood light as usual.
With that thought in mind, Sonic then sped off across the field, as having spent a lot of time here on Earth before returning home months earlier in his world's time, which here, it was nine years, knew his way by heart. To him, didn't feel like years since he was last here on this planet that he had come to accept as his second home. Running up the mountain terrains and across the forests, the teenage hero made it to the top and while he saw the promising view of Station Square, shock, horror and confusion lit up his face.
Not only was the city a bit wrecked with some windows shattered, but the buildings were still standing, but across the fields and deserts, and the ocean...it had another huge island connecting to the mainland. One that he recognized along with the sight of Angel Island floating in the distance. His heart stopped for a moment or two, memories of what could've happened if he and his friends and enemies had remained here filling up his mind, the merge of the two worlds that would've destroyed time...
The continent was his own from his world!
"What the...!? It...No...NO! No, it can't be!" Sonic cried out, shaking his head as he didn't want to accept this reality. "What's my village doing here on Earth too!? What's going on!?"
His mind whirled with questions that had no answers, horror mounting onto horror before he placed his hands onto his head and squeezed his eyes shut, muttering to himself. "This is not happening! This can't be real! I'm dreaming! This is a nightmare! Sonic, you gotta wake up! Snap out of it!"
Yet no matter how hard he tried to convince himself to wake up, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, knocking himself on the head, the reality of the situation became more and more real. Finally unable to take it, Sonic finally let it all out.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed loudly, his voice echoing across the entire area. Once it faded, Sonic lowered his head, tears forming in his eyes, devastation and dismay hitting him hard. "Why...? How...how could have this happened? This is all my fault...! I should've...I should've stopped Eggman...I should've stopped that robot...! Time has been destroyed!"
Sonic buried his face into his gloved hand, feeling utterly defeated and lost. How was he going to fix this mess? What was he going to do? He felt helpless, guilty, angry, sad and scared. How was Chris and everyone else going to react to this?
"Sonic...It's not too late." A young girl's voice echoed.
"Huh?" The guilt-ridden hedgehog muttered, slowly looking up and looked around, asking. "Who's there?"
"You must find the others. Only you can make things right. However, things are about to change forever, but Time is still flowing and it can still be saved, as can the two worlds. Except...something has happened. Both here, and in your world." The girl's voice continued.
"Who are you? Have we met before?" Sonic called out, trying to wreck his brain to recognize the voice. It was the same one that instructed him to meet with Tails earlier back at home.
"You'll see me soon enough. I'm communicating with you through my spirit and your mind. I do not know what will happen to me, but you must know, I have faith in you, Sonic. You are the two worlds' only hope." The voice told him.
"...Cosmo? Is that you?" The blue hedgehog muttered, as another realization hit him hard. Had it been...Cosmo's ghost that was speaking to him the whole time? Did she know that something was about to happen from the Afterlife?
Before he could get an answer, he caught sight of something yellow just down below near the entrance of the city, and Sonic's eyes widened as, even from the distance, he recognized it. Relief filling his chest, the blue hedgehog, while still uncertain on whether the voice was the spirit of Cosmo or not, and how he could fix up this mess, immediately raced down and soon enough himself near the entrance. True to his thoughts, there stood Tails who was glancing around in shock until he heard the familiar Sonic boom and spun around, as relief filled up the young fox's face.
"Sonic!" Tails cried out, immediately racing over.
"Hey, Tails! Glad to see you're okay!" Sonic greeted happily, and met his little brother in the middle before immediately hugging him which was returned. "You okay, li'l bro?"
"Yeah, just shaken, but I'll be fine." The young kit replied.
The two stayed like this for a little while before stopping their hug and while Sonic wanted to tell Tails that he was hearing Cosmo's voice, he didn't think that doing so would be such a good idea. Instead, he told him that it was a voice that sounded familiar that told the blue hedgehog what he heard, and what he saw.
"I guess Eggman's Porthole malfunctioned so hard that it caused a reaction to the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, merging part of our continent with Earth." Tails theorized. "How are we gonna fix this up?"
"I dunno, Tails. But one thing I do know, we gotta find the others and make sure they're okay. Then once we meet up with Chris and his family, we'll have to find the Chaos Emeralds and stop Eggman from finding those files." Sonic told him firmly.
"I never thought we'd ever come back to Earth, not after the dangers of the merging, which is now really happening. I'm not sure how much time we have left before Time itself stops." Tails muttered, worriedly.
"Then we'd better hurry and fast. Otherwise there won't be Time. C'mon, let's head over to Chris's place." Sonic decided.
His friend nodded in agreement, before following him through out the streets. Though as they did, what they found was something really shocking. Despite that it had been nine years since they and their friends had been here on Earth, it looked as though it was just nine months like in their world and apparently the people noticed this unusual change as well. People that should've had left childhood were looking at themselves in wonder, yet some children didn't de-age at all and were calling those a bit older than them their parents. Like no one has even aged by years at all.
As Sonic and Tails wondered what was going on, they noticed a restaurant that looked a bit smashed and, despite wanting to check up on Chris who would very likely twentyone years old now, decided to investigate as the blue hedgehog felt something felt very off. When they peered inside, their eyes widened in shock as the people inside were mostly children, the olderish ones informing the young ones that they were their parents despite the disbelief.
"What's...going on?" Tails asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Sonic was speechless, unable to come up with an answer. What shocked him even more was that, in the middle of the crowd was a familiar twelve year old kid, or rather, a twentyone year old man now again stuck in a twelve year old body, this time wearing his old clothes along with a young girl in a purple dress and wheelchair who were still trying to comprehend on what just happened and why they were children again. Yet he knew who they were.
"Chris? Chris!?" Sonic softly exclaimed, before racing over towards his friend, while carefully moving through the crowd. "Excuse me, pardon me, coming through."
Chris, hearing the familiar voice belonging to someone who he thought he would never see again, blinked in shock and confusion.
"Chris...look!" Helen whispered, now back as a twelve year old girl herself, as she noticed the familiar face in shock.
Chris turned around and his eyes widened, staring at the blue hedgehog who stared back with a similar expression.
For a moment, Chris thought he was dreaming, as he could only mutter one word.
"Sonic!?"
A/N: Looks like things have gotten really crazy now! What will happen next? Only the future chapters will tell.
See you later!