Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Disclaimer: 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 7: Thorndyke Jailbird-Part 1.
The GUN headquarters was the building of the military itself. One that Rouge once worked for part-time due to having connections with Agent Topaz, who like everyone else on the planet except children who were not yet nine years old, had de-aged due to the substance. Even the other workers were scrambling on what was going on, reporting in the satellite connections with the News as well as soldiers and cadets giving out reports to their leader, Commander Abraham Tower himself.
In the observation tower within the main base, reports went flying everywhere since yesterday. From the mysterious fog, to the return of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, and then the mutation of Earth-Animals, some were a mixed breed of other species, others were giants with cybog parts and monstrous attacks, and on top of that, the return of Doctor Eggman, the grandson of Professor Gerald Robotnik.
"We have a major update on the terrorism of the mysterious mutation of lifeforms: The giant beetles that were multiplying by any kinds of attack have now all been dispatched and defeated, and once again Station Square is saved by the heroics of Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies." The News Reporter lady says on TV, as video footage of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Cosmo, Chris, Chuck, Tanaka, Vector, Espio and Charmy walking out of the building, and most bashfully waved at the crowd, while Sonic and Charmy looked the most excited, enthusiastically waving at the crowd of cheering soldiers who praised the heroes for defeating the Ice Beetles was shown.
Tower narrowed his eyes, as other news were giving up limited updates on where the fog had come from, with witnesses say that it came from somewhere in the middle of the city, and it appears that Sonic's friends were attempting to investigate the problem as well. The main question is, what has brought them and Eggman back to Earth?
It didn't help that Dr. Kai Narasu went missing and each time the authorities checked his base where he was kept under guard until nighttime, it was empty.
Suddenly the Commander's eyes widened as a thought came into mind. He turned his attention to one of the screen monitors and eyed one particular person on the News that went wild over the young heroes(well, Chuck and Tanaka weren't young, but still), the de-aged twenty one year old who was in the body of a twelve year old boy. Chris Thorndyke.
"Christopher Thorndyke...could you be behind this? This is certainly no coincidence." Tower hissed darkly under his breath.
Ever since nine years ago, that boy had devoted onto Sonic, having keeping him and the other animals in his home, having helped in certain battles against Eggman along with his human friends from school. Tower had heard that Sonic was the only one who hasn't entered the machine since it was shut down before he could, and the blue hedgehog was carried away by Chris and both had been gone for hours and only the boy was found, while the teenage hero had vanished, somehow having found a way to return home and stopping the merge between two worlds.
"Hmph...Sonic may be a hero...but that boy has brought disaster upon us all." The GUN Commander growled, his eyes narrowing in disgust and anger, just as a soldier came up behind him, saluting while making himself known, which made Tower demand. "Report!"
"The building that was once the seal of Project Shadow has once again been shut, sir. The Thorndykes, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends have already left. The giant beetles are gone." The soldier, also de-aged from a thirtyfive year old to a twentysix year old, reported. "They found no existing records of Professor Robotnik's creation."
Tower whirled around with a deadly look in his eyes, barking his orders. "Infiltrate the Mansion and wait until everyone's asleep, then storm it! I want Christopher Thorndyke put under arrest, and should Sonic intervene, and attempt to prove the child's innocence, tell him and his animal cohorts that the same will happen to them if they do not stay out of it and not to bail him out until proven otherwise, which I highly doubt will happen. In the meantime, search the lab in the city and find any evidence of the situation, and bring me Dr. Kai Narasu so we can prove that he and the boy are in the league with each other."
"But sir...! Isn't Young Mr. Thorndyke on our side?" The soldier asked, shocked at such a harsh order.
"He seeks to keep Sonic on Earth, undo the efforts in preventing the merge between our world and the animal world, and has answers to Dr. Narasu's disappearance! That's an order, Soldier! NOW GO!" Tower grunted.
Startled but silenced, the soldier saluted before leaving to deploy the fellow soldiers with no other choice. The Commander turned around once more and glared at the screens once more.
"You have crossed the line with your own people, boy. I know you wish to recreate Shadow. Well, I will not allow it to happen...!" Tower hissed, his hands behind his back once more.
He will succeed for humanity, and he will save the world. Even if it means doing so at all costs.
Having arrived back at the Thorndyke Mansion, Sonic's group wanted to celebrate on their success in saving the world from the Ice Beetles, but felt that time was running out and felt that they should get on with solving the problems, like the Fog that de-aged most of humanity, mutating other lifeforms, and how to get Sonic's continent and Angel Island as well as everyone including Eggman and his robots back to Sonic's world before it was too late.
They collected the defeated beetle and Chris and Chuck were now in the latter's lab running tests on the insect with hopes that a little bit of the substance was still inside it, while having also collected the melted ice water that may also provide some help. Sonic was lounging on a couple of metal crates as he and everyone else waited. Tails was showing Cosmo a few things that Chuck made through out the years, which amazed the young Seedrian.
Cream was with Amy in the house helping Ella with baking some cake and snacks, and the Chaotix were talking about Vector's condition as well as his new fire-breathing ability which, while he did manage to help beat the odds at the facility, still needed to be worked on in order for him to control it. Tanaka went back into the house to help Ella with any needed chores as well as other things he would need to do.
"How much longer is this going to take?" Knuckles asked, his arms folded as he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Sorry, Knuckles. But this sort of thing doesn't get done in just a minute." Chris apologetically replied, as he and his grandfather searched for any particles of the fog substance in the beetle or at least the melted ice water under the microscope and scanning with their computers. "And from the looks of things, this isn't very promising."
"Yes. Any traces of the substance have already been dissipated, and the cells within this beetle and water traces in the ice have returned to normal, not showing any signs of it at all." Chuck said in disappointed agreement. "I'm afraid we're back to square one."
"Just great." The red echidna grumbled.
"Well, then I guess we'd better keep on looking until we find the right way to figure out how the weird purple fog works and then find a way to reverse it." Sonic suggested calmly, opening his eyes as, while relaxing and seemingly taking a nap, wasn't fully asleep yet.
"How can you be so calm when Time is on a verge of collapsing?" Knuckles grunted in irritated disbelief.
"Come on, Knux. I'm just as worried as you, but I don't wanna leave Earth when everybody needs our help in solving this problem. Plus with all the animals and bugs all turned into mutant monsters, things here have gotten more complicated." The blue hedgehog pointed out, sitting up slightly while shrugging with one shoulder. "I mean, there's no way even Eggman would pull this off with just the Porthole."
"Sonic's right. We're doing everything we can to solve all of this." Chris added, shrugging.
"And on the bright side, at least we won't have to worry about all of that Shadow Android army. Boy, is Eggman really in for disappointment?" Sonic smirked, as they had found that nothing was left of the project on Shadow's creation not long after defeating the Ice Beetles. He could just picture the evil doctor's reaction when he finds that he wasted his time in coming back to Earth.
Despite that he wanted to get back to the Master Emerald and get back home again, Knuckles had to admit that Sonic had a good point. Having no Shadow Android Army was one less thing to worry about.
While that was happening, Tails, blushing a little for being with Cosmo after three months of believing he would never see her again, muttered. "I'm really glad that you're here, Cosmo."
"Me too, Tails. It is strange to be alive again. But in truth, I felt that it was going to happen really soon." Cosmo replied, smiling bashfully.
"Really?" The two-tailed fox asked, surprised. "How did you know?"
"I'm not sure. I do remember my mother telling me that I would soon return to the living world as you were taking very good care of my flower." The Seedrian replied.
Tails looked away a little, scratching his nose. "Well, I did the best I could. I think I did a good job since your flower was growing more beautiful each day."
"I know. I've been watching over you and...I'm so sorry, Tails." Cosmo sighed in sadness, which made the young kit gaze at her once more. "I hadn't meant to make you so sad. Even though I was gone for a while, I wanted you to be happy."
He stared at her in shock, then felt a sense of some relief enter his heart as he realized that Sonic had been right all along. Cosmo never blamed him, or even hated him for what has happened. She had wanted Tails to be happy, to move on with his life, because she loved him, just as much as he loved her.
"So there we were, surrounded by those guys, and I breathed out fire like I was a dragon or something! Pretty impressive, huh?" Vector retold the story to Espio and Charmy, the latter being the only one amazed while the former, believing the story, was skeptical that his friend managed to do that by simply breathing out the fire.
"Wow, Vector! That's really cool! I'd say that you're a Fire-Breathing Detective Crocodile!" The young Bee praised happily. "In fact, I can see you burn off Eggman's mustache off!"
His two friends, surprised by that what they thought was a joke, ended up smiling before Vector laughed while Espio snickered in amusement.
"That's a good one, Charmy!" Vector laughed.
"It would be an amusing punishment to Dr. Eggman for all the evil deeds he has committed." Espio agreed, smirking.
"The only downside is that I wouldn't be able to call him Mustache Moron." The crocodile chuckled.
Then the door opened revealing Cream, Amy and Ella who were all carrying trays with cake and drinks and other snacks.
"Everyone, it's snack time." Cream announced.
"I know it's a bit early for dinner, but you all must be hungry." Ella added.
"We brought some cake." Amy said.
"Sweet. Thanks, girls." Sonic replied, standing up.
"I suppose we could use a bit of a break." Chuck replied, as he and Chris paused in their examining while the three of them handed out places of pieces of cake, which was Cream Strawberry Cream Cake. "My, this looks delicious."
"It's Cream's Strawberry Cream Cake. I haven't had this in years." Chris said happily.
"It is the best cake I've ever tasted when I taste tested it. Much better than my own recipe." The housemaid chuckled, while giving a small glare at Vector who, still nervous of her due to her, in his opinion, scary appearance, and her temper due to the accident he caused earlier, gulped nervously as he slowly and carefully held his own plate of cake.
"Any cake is a yummy cake! That's my motto!" Charmy said brightly, already taking a bite out of his pieces and moaned happily.
"There's still more for everybody else." Cream said, smiling. "I thought I'd give some for my Mom, to your mom and dad, Mr. Tanaka, and to Helen and her family, Chris."
That brightened the de-aged boy's mood. "Thanks, Cream. They'd love it."
Everyone except Knuckles and Espio laughed while the two of them just shook their heads as they gratefully ate their pieces of cake. Yet they were all unaware that GUN vans were driving up to the manor and parked outside of the gates. Many of the GUN soldiers step outside and march towards the house and hidden themselves within the bushes.
"Target is locked on, sir." One of the soldiers whispered from the bushes. "Should we move in?"
"Negative. Wait until they are all asleep." One of the higher Commanders responded in the communicator. "If we strike now, no doubt Sonic will attempt to defend him, just as Christopher Thorndyke has defended the hedgehog. Only this time, the boy is guilty for treason."
"Yes, sir." The soldier replied, then thought to himself. 'I wish I could live in the same lifestyle as Sonic.'
What no one even noticed was that Fulgar the Flybot was now scanning the commotion that was happening here, which was watched by Kai who, still fuming over the latest plan ruined by Sonic, grinned as he heard what was going on.
"Well, there may have been some side effects with my Mutagen, but it seems part of my original plan is working. Soon, that boy Christopher Thorndyke will trouble me no more, and then I can move onto the next phase of my goal." Narasu grinned wickedly.
Yet as his pet continued to examine the situation without being detected by the army, and scanned what was going on inside, the mind-twisted scientist frowned at the group inside the garage.
"That still leaves the problem with Sonic and his cohorts, and Dr. Eggman will certainly get in the way." He grumbled, before standing up and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back while trying to come up with a solution to these problems. "There has to be a way to make them sidetracked, or at least get that idiotic stupid fat man out of the way and lead that hedgehog on a wild goose chase."
Unable to come up with a solution right now as the day was ending soon, and so far Sonic has defeated two of the mutated lifeforms effected by the Mutagen, plus another one of Eggman's giant robots, Narasu groaned as he placed his hands onto his head.
"If only I could easily disguise myself as Eggman to trick everyone and not worry about getting killed unless done so by a strong power source able to destroy my Mutagen!" He complained.
Not even a second after he said this, suddenly Narasu felt very strange, as though he felt his insides and out beginning to...melt?
"Huh?" Blinking in confusion, the insane man looked at his hands and found, to his horror, that he was melting; literally into a silver metallic goo. It was rapidly increasing as his head and legs followed towards his chest, and began to scream in terror, believing that the result of his own creation was killing him.
"NO! NOOOOO! I'm melting! I'm melting like an evil witch in those silly children's fairytales-goomphgomp!" He didn't get the chance to finish as he was soon melted into a pile of goo.
But rather than being the end of it, it soon quickly grew back into a human shape, and Kai's screaming was morphed and strangely changed into that of Eggman's voice, which the shape-shifting followed that of the evil doctor's from Sonic's world. The metallic goo soon faded and soon Dr. Kai Narasu has somehow transformed into an identical mirror-imaged copy of Dr. Eggman himself.
Realizing that he was still alive, Narasu groaned before placing his hand to his head, and spoke, but in Eggman's voice. "Someone please wake me up from this nightmare." Hearing this made him gasp in shock and bewilderment. "What, wait? What happened to my voice?"
Looking at his hands, Narasu found he was staring at Eggman's gloved ones, and red sleeves. Eyes widening behind the fat man's glasses, he quickly went over to a mirror he doesn't use often but likes to keep for decoration, and found to his utter dismay, he has transformed into Eggman himself...and screamed loudly with his hands on his head.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! NO! This can't be happening!" Narasu screamed in terror, going into a hysterical break down. "Somebody please help me! Do something! Turn me back into myself, even with the mutagen side-effects!"
His wish suddenly granted again, Narasu was then transformed back into a metallic goo which made him scream and melt, before reforming once more, this time back as his normal self but still with the robotic-Cyborg parts he was affected with.
"Huh?" Narasu muttered, with his voice restored to normal and looked into the mirror once more, then at his hands, and back and forth. Then, another realization dawned onto him, as he blinked. "Wait a minute. My mutagen allows me to do what I wish with not just myself, but with those mutated with my Mutagen? Well, this is...very odd. It shouldn't be even possible. This is something out of those ridiculous sci-fi movies."
As he thought about it, his eyes widened before he grinned evilly. "Yes...yes, this is perfect! This is precisely what I need! Now, all I need to do is find the real Eggman and his robots, lock them up and then conquer the world by scanning many of the abilities from Sonic the Hedgehog and his people from battle upon battle until I become strong enough to rule the Earth!"
Narasu quickly turned back to his monitor and spoke through the microphone. "Fulgar, leave that hedgehog for the time-being. Find Dr. Eggman's secret base and report back to me! I'd like to pay my rival a little visit."
As the Flybot did as it was commanded undetected, the twisted-minded scientist continued to himself in glee. "Now that Chris Thorndyke is to be sent to prison, I will lead Sonic and his friends far from Station Square, and use that dumb doctor's blueprints for my own purposes, and soon they will die, their people from their continent will become extinct, and all of humanity will bow down before me! Mwahahahahahahaha! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Looks like things were really beginning to work in his favor despite a few mishaps.
After finally leaving the forest and into Station Square in the late afternoon while dealing with more of the mutated creatures, Shadow, Rouge and Omega walked around the city undetected as the black hedgehog didn't want to draw any unwanted attention, and saw that even the people were affected. Not mutated, but having de-aged by nine years.
"Scanners detect that these humans are nine years older than they are in appearance. Unusual Substance detected within their body cells." Omega reported. "It seems they have all been de-aged rather than aging as they normally should."
"De-aged? Like they all have turned young again?" Shadow questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"This is starting to really creep me out." Rouge said, folding her arms. "There's something fishy going on here."
The ultimate life-form rolled his eyes as he kept walking. "Yeah, well, we don't have time in asking these humans. I doubt they would have any clue on where the fog came from."
"And you have any idea where we can find a clue on what's going on, Shadow?" The albino bat asked, skeptically as she placed her hands on her hips, making her friend pause.
"Not yet. But, given my history on this planet, Sonic would have a better chance in asking them, if he isn't wasting his time. If anything, our priority is finding the one responsible for all of this and force him to produce a cure if anyone else looking into this fail to do so." Shadow replied, referring to the fact that he himself almost destroyed Earth, and while Sonic pardoned and his name was cleared, the black hedgehog didn't feel comfortable nor did he believe he would have the same pardoning.
"I detect hesitation, Comrade Shadow. Is there something wrong?" Omega asked.
"It's nothing. I'm fine." Shadow answered, walking off once more.
This prompted Rouge, who began to feel worried for her close friend, to fly over and hover by his side, saying. "You know, if something's on your mind, you could always talk to me about it. I'm nothing like Sonic, and I'm definitely not gullible like Knuckles, even though I'm not as smart as Tails."
While he felt unusually reassured by his friend's concern and support, and, despite that he wasn't really as close as he had been to Maria, Shadow did feel a sense of loneliness and while he wasn't used to being in a group, Rouge did make good company. She cared about him, despite her history in being a jewel thief and formally part of GUN due to her time here on Earth.
But he wasn't ready to open up his true feelings. He couldn't. Not when he had already lost so much, and for some reason his chest ached when the black hedgehog remembered the horrified expression Sonic had the moment Shadow punched him away to protect the teenage hero. Despite their past encounters as enemies, the second time being due to his loss of memories, the younger blue hedgehog, as annoying as he was, also cared. That young hero had a pure heart, just like his lost best friend/sister figure.
Shadow also could've sworn, after having survived the explosion, he heard Sonic scream out his name and cried, obviously believing that he was dead.
"I don't want to talk about it." Shadow finally muttered, adding softly. "Not yet, at least."
"It was just a suggestion. Nobody's pushing you. Take as much time as you need, Shadow." Rouge replied, smiling softly as she landed and began walking again. "You're not as alone as you think."
'Not as alone as I think? Tell that to my past.' The black hedgehog thought to himself, but he did secretly smile. Maybe she was right. Still, it was better to be really careful.
"Alert: Mutant life-form on verge of attack!" Omega's robotic voice startled Shadow out of his thoughts, making the black hedgehog and Rouge to stop and whirl to their left.
True to E-126's words, another, more dangerous animal affected by the purple fog emerged from the manhole which it smashed through and made it a lot bigger to fit half of a giant robot, revealing it to be what it appeared to be a very large python snake with a cat's head, a bird's beak with sharp teeth, and arms and claws that seemed far too alien for either of them.
"These things keep on getting more slimy and ugly." Rouge remarked, alarmed.
"You have the ugly part right." Shadow responded in agreement, already in a battle stance. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the black hedgehog went for a Spin Dash and hit the mutant-snake right into the chest, shoving it back as it hissed in pain like a mixture of a cat and a snake.
The mutant stumbled back and hitting a trash can, but Shadow didn't give it a chance to recover as he then went for a punch right at it's jaw. Rouge quickly followed by giving it a kick, but to her shock, the Snake recovered and lashed out it's tail, wrapping it's coils around her tightly, pinning her arms and wings and enabling her to escape. She cried out in alarm and in pain, struggling to get free.
"Rouge!" Shadow grunted without thinking.
"Mutant Snake must be annihilated! Proceeding to open fire!" Omega declared, preparing to fire at the monster as his hands transformed into machine guns.
"Wait! Hold your fire!" The Ultimate Life-Form snapped. "It would only injure Rouge!"
"Then what do you suggest we do?" The robot asked, in a hint of sheer annoyance.
"Guys! A little help here!" The trapped bat screamed out, struggling to free herself.
"Be patient!" Shadow grunted, thinking carefully as he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't end up hurting Rouge and aimed for the chest of the Mutant-Snake. He then summoned out loudly, "Chaos Spear!"
The attack hit home, but to his shock, the Snake's wounds on it's chest began to heal, leaving behind a sickening red fleshy scar.
"What!?" Shadow exclaimed, his and Rouge's eyes widened while Omega seemed to be in shock and disbelief as well. "What kind of trickery is this fog?"
To make things worse, the Snake stretched out it's arms to strike at the two remaining members of Shadow's new team. While the black hedgehog easily dodged out of the way in a similar fashion to Sonic, Omega tried to fly up but was hit hard and flung onto the ground. Thankfully he wasn't destroyed, but he did end up with a dent on his back. Shadow attempted to skate towards the monster and Spin Dash once more, but the Snake somehow formed a barrier around itself that not even the Ultimate Life-Form could break through. It forced him back as he cried out in pain and alarm before smashing into a planted tree.
He hissed in pain as he slid to the ground, eyes squeezed shut while the Mutant-Snake, satisfied, then slithered back into the large hole, with Rouge, horrified to see her two comrades down for count so easily, screamed out.
"Hey, don't you dare take me into that sewer, buster! It will ruin my outfit and it's very expensive!" The frustrated bat shouted, before screaming as the Snake carried her down into the hole and deep into the sewers.
"Rouge!" Shadow shouted once he opened his eyes and saw what happened. Ignoring his injuries which began to heal up, he skated over towards the hole and found that the snake and it's prey were already gone.
He attempted to hide his panic with a scowl, refusing to give into the memories of failure in trying to protect Maria. "Just great. That bat had to go and get herself captured, didn't she? By an ugly mutant snake of all things."
"What do you propose we do now, Comrade Shadow?" Omega questioned as he walked up to his side.
"We rescue Rouge. That is what we will do. Don't get me wrong, I wish to get this mission over with, but we do need her help." Shadow replied emotionlessly.
"Distractions will only cause eliminations." The robot warned.
The black hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you want. I'm going in."
"Then I will join you. That mutant snake must be annihilated." Omega stated.
Nodding, Shadow stared down hard before leaping down and skated his way onto the unstable slope but surfed his way with Omega hovering down behind him, as he thought to himself. 'You'd better hang in there, Rouge. At least for that faker's sake.'
This mission has now been delayed and become a rescue operation.
Not long after the snack and a few failed attempts to find the answer of the unusual fog, the group decided to call it a day, with Team Sonic, Team Rose, and the Chaotix deciding to head back to their continent to sleep in their houses, promising to return to the mainland of Station Square in the morning. They were saying their goodbyes to Chris, Chuck, Tanaka, Ella, Lindsey and Nelson who stood with them before Sonic's group would board the Blue Typhoon.
"You sure you don't want to spend another night here?" Lindsney asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "You're all welcome to do so."
"Thanks, Mrs. Thorndyke. But we'd like to check up on everybody back on our island before sleeping in our houses. We'll be back tomorrow. I promise." Sonic replied.
"I wish I could go with you guys or at least visit. I never really got the chance to explore your world during my time there." Chris responded.
"Well, maybe there could be a chance when things calm down a little, even if the merging is paused or whatever." The blue hedgehog suggested. As much as he'd like to give his human friends a tour given how Chris only had time to see Cream's house and was familiar with Angel Island, plus the nice forests just outside of the village, he didn't think it would be such a good idea with what was going on right now.
"Remember, Sonic. The merging cannot happen or else Time will stop all together, and we're not sure how much time we do have left." Chuck advised firmly, his arms folded.
"Don't worry. There's no way I'm gonna let Time disappear. Today wasn't so lucky when it comes to the Chaos Emeralds, but we'll find them and solve the other problems as well." Sonic reassured.
"Sonic's right. If we make a new Porthole that's bigger than the one before, it might give us a chance to get our islands and everybody back home after we cure the world from the weird fog." Tails agreed.
"But what about you, Cosmo, dear? Where will you stay?" Ella asked the young Seedrian, concerned as everyone gazed at her.
"I'm sure I will be fine. I have friends with me, if they are okay with me staying with them." Cosmo replied, gazing at Sonic's group who all smiled warmly at her.
"'Course you can, Cosmo. We were gonna invite ya' to stay with us anyway." Sonic replied happily, winking at his little brother's new 'girlfriend'.
Tails nodded in agreement, saying, blushing a little unknowingly. "You can come stay at my house. I have a guest room for you to use. Sonic uses it sometimes whenever he comes over."
Cosmo gazed at him and smiled softly, blushing a little herself. "That's very sweet of you, Tails. Thank you." It made the young fox bashfully scratch the back of his head.
'My li'l bro's growing up fast. Not as fast as my speed, but close enough. I'm really happy for both of them.' Sonic thought to himself as he smiled at the very adorable scene. To think that both of his best friends/younger brothers(or at least, Chris used to be younger at this stage here on Earth) were both in love with the girls they grew very close to, it felt like the surrogate family was only getting even bigger despite on what's going on.
With that said and done, Sonic's group said their goodbyes to Chris and his family and butler and housemaid, before the three teams took off in the Blue Typhoon to head back to their continent to rest up in their homes and continue the mission to solve the mysteries as well as figure out how to get the Continent and Angel Island back to Sonic's world.
"Sonic is leaving and is set to return tomorrow. Should we follow him?" One soldier reported in a whisper as the army still waited.
"No. So far that continent has not made any links. Should more of Sonic's people come, force them back. Only allow the blue hedgehog and his friends over unless they do something against humanity. But make sure Christopher Thorndyke is locked up in prison and then within the next 37 hours, move him into Area 51." Commander Tower ordered darkly. He was aware of the mysterious continent appearing out of nowhere as well as the return of Angel Island, but unless Sonic has done something to alert his people from his world, it seems that everything is fine so far.
But he still wanted to keep an eye out, just in case. For now, GUN's top priority was Chris.
After dropping off Knuckles onto Angel Island where, to the red echidna's relief, the Master Emerald, having recovered after the Metarex battle, was still intact, the Chaotix back to their 'house', Amy to hers, and Cream and Cheese back with Vanilla, Sonic hopped off himself to allow Tails and Cosmo some quality time while he dashed around the village and mountains to make sure everyone that also got dragged were okay.
Some questioned on what happened, why half of the Moon was metal-like, the unusual continent with large buildings in the distance, and the weird light. Sonic tried to reassure them that everything will be alright, and even made a quick visit to the Mayor's house that everything will be fine and that he and his friends will handle the situation, kindly urging him to not let anyone else go over there due to curiosity or suspicion, saying that he's been to that place before and that most people there are friendly, but are not used to outsiders.
With that taken care of as the Mayor, still concerned, agreed, the cobalt hero made a beeline for his house which has also been dragged across Space and Time and made himself Chili Dogs for dinner before calling it a night. He laid in bed with a sigh.
"Well, it's the first time I've been on Earth with my house here, but at least I can be in my own bed while I'm here. It's almost like I've never crossed Space and Time again." Sonic muttered to himself.
As he took off his shoes and slipped under his covers and made himself comfortable, he stared at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, deep in thought. 'Still. What did Cosmo mean by everything will change forever? I keep on forgetting to ask her. Maybe I should do so tomorrow when we head back to Chris' place. I know that I can save both worlds and time, but this is gonna be a lot tougher than before. How can I fix up the mess Eggman caused?'
Thinking about it made him feel sleepy and before Sonic knew it, he drifted off into sleep. Yet fully unaware that things were about to take a turn for the worst.
Hours later, Chris knew that he should be asleep by now, but a lot was still on his mind that he hasn't even changed into his pjs yet. He sat on the edge of his bed even after saying goodnight to his family, Tanaka, and Ella. His home felt a bit empty again, but he knew that Sonic would be back. It still didn't change the fact that his future wedding was on hold and wondered if he could ever return to normal along with Helen and everybody else.
Plus even if things did return to normal, there was the lingering fear of saying goodbye to Sonic again, forever this time. He had accepted in never being able to see his best friend again after returning home three years ago, but now...now it was like the first time around and as much as the de-aged boy tried to tell himself that it would happen eventually, his twelve year old self was starting to take over the maturity he gained over the past nine years.
Back to when he didn't want to let Sonic go, despite on what the blue hedgehog had told him the other night.
"Even though this may really be our last adventure together when everything's back to normal, I want you to know that I'll always be with you in your heart. Just like you are in mine, Tails', and everybody else's. It'll take more than worlds and difference in time and space to really keep our spirits apart. As long as think about each other, we'll always be friends." Sonic replied with a warm smile that looked very sincere.
"Sonic..." Chris whispered, and while he knew that Sonic was right, and that they and the rest of their friends were all very close, as selfish as he felt which made him also feel very guilty for feeling like this all over again, he deeply wished that Sonic could stay here forever.
But he knew that it was for the best.
"Man, I guess it doesn't matter if being a kid is tough or being a grown up is tough. Life's hard no matter how old you are or what kind of lifestyle you live in. Sonic's really lucky to being able to go where he wants." He sighed to himself, scratching the top of his head.
Just then, there was a loud bang that almost rocked the entire house, bringing the former twentyone year old out of his thoughts. Alarmed, Chris immediately raced out of his room, and his grandfather, parents, Tanaka, and Ella did the same. None of them having any idea what was going on, they all jumped in fright as suddenly Chris's window was smashed open, and to their shock, the GUN soldiers were reaching inside, and from downstairs more came coming and soon from all directions of their home.
"What? What is the meaning of this!?" Nelson demanded, as he and his father, wife, son and servants were all surrounded by the army.
"Freeze!" One of the soldiers barked, their machine rifles aimed directly at them, or, to the family's confusion and alarm, mostly at Chris.
"What's going on?" Chuck demanded.
"How dare you barge into this house in the middle of the night?" Tanaka frowned deeply at the men.
"That's none of your business, butler-boy! You and everyone else stay out of it, or else you want to join that brat we'll be taking!" Another soldier snapped dangerously.
A cold chill ran through the bodies of six of them, as Chris, finding himself really nervous, pointed at himself as he asked in confusion. "Me? What did I do?"
Ignoring his question, the main leader of the army stepped forward, saying in an authorized tone. "Christopher Thorndyke, you're under arrest for violating human and animal rights, and endangering the planet along with that of Sonic the Hedgehog."
"WHAT!?" Chris' family all exclaimed in shock, while Chris himself stood in horror and confusion. Why were these men accusing him for what was happening?
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything wrong!" The de-aged boy protested.
"Who you think you are, accusing the poor boy? He would not do anything to hurt anyone." Ella grunted angrily, glaring at the men attempting to arrest the youngest Thorndyke.
"Obviously you don't know him you all thought you did. We know that he is the reason for Sonic's return, wanting him to come back." The Commander of the operation said deeply. "Now, move aside while we take Mr. Thorndyke into custody."
"You can't take our son!" Lindsey pleaded, edging closer to bring her son to her.
"You have no right to say things like that!" Nelson added.
"Chris did miss Sonic, yes, but he isn't the reason for the hero's return!" Chuck added angrily. "Dr. Eggman is the one responsible and Sonic tried to stop him!"
"I will say this one more time, and we will find Dr. Eggman and bring him into justice as well. Get out of the way!" The leader warned. "Or else you will all go to jail!"
'I have no idea what's going on, but I can't put Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Mr. Tanaka or Ella into prison because of me. Why would GUN think I'm the one responsible? Unless they think I wanted to bring Shadow back. Guess I don't have a choice and only hope for everybody to clear my name, like how Sonic was mistakenly arrested when he had been innocent the whole time.' Chris thought desperately to himself.
"Wait!" Chris cried out, stepping in front of his family and servants, before saying in resignation. "I'll go with you quietly, but only if you promise leave them and my friends alone. Especially Sonic and Helen."
"Chris!" His parents and grandfather cried out in alarm and dismay.
"What are you doing?" Chuck demanded his grandson. "You're not going anywhere."
"No, Grandpa. I don't want this to be any trouble. I'm sure you guys and Sonic can figure this out later and clear my name, and find out who's really behind all of this. Trust me." Chris said firmly and with sadness. "Besides, better me than Sonic anyway."
Despite his mother's tearful protests which broke his heart, his father demanding him to not do it, and Ella almost yelling when Tanaka held her back and sadly and silently shook his head, respecting his wish, Chuck said nothing while Chris nodded and with a resigned look, he approached the soldiers quietly as he prepared himself to be placed into jail.
"I'll see you guys later." Chris said to his family and servants with a sad smile as he paused, looking over his shoulder. They could only watch as he turned back to the leader and muttered. "I'm ready."
"Hmph. A wise, but don't expect anyone to bail you out and unless proven otherwise, you're guilty. Let's go, Mr. Thorndyke." The Operative Leader scoffed, gesturing two his men to restrain the boy.
The de-aged young man didn't resist, but he did grunt in discomfort as one soldier grabbed him by the arms and held him in place while another hand-cuffed him before they all dragged Chris down stairs and out of the door, leaving his distraught family and servants behind, with Lindsey crying into her husband's arms.
'Chris...you really couldn't have done this, could you?' Chuck thought in disbelief. 'I have to tell Sonic and Tails of the bad news and find whoever's truly responsible for what has happened.'
As Chris was being dragged into the van which was sealed shut once he was inside, before being driven off to jail, he couldn't help but sit on the floor. For the first time in years, he felt scared, confused, not sure what to do but only hope for the best. He couldn't believe that the gorvenment would accuse him for something he didn't do. The de-aged boy just wanted to help solve the problem, now he was being treated like a criminal. He now understood how Sonic felt when he was wrongly accused, mistaken for Shadow, and only trying to stop Eggman's plot when he powered the moon to block out the sun.
'Sonic...please save the world.' Chris thought pleadingly, feeling disheartened right now. He could only hope his best friend can clear this up.
At Tails' Workshop, with the lights being off and both occupants fast asleep, Tails was restless. Tossing and turning in his bed, whimpering as he was having a terrible nightmare which covered his body in sweat, unable to escape as the images were vivid.
The battle was intense, deadly even. In the center of the universe, things seemed to go from bad to worse. The Metarex were destroying the Blue Typhoon even as Tails tried to fight bravely in the X Tornado. Many of his friends were injured and captured, held in vine-like cages and grips. This included Sonic who was held in a tight grip in the grasp of a giant Dark Oak who was laughing evilly.
"Sonic!" Tails cried out, attempting to fire missles at the monster-alien that was holding his big brother in his massive hand.
"Tails! R-Run, Tails! Get outta here!" Sonic exclaimed pleadingly, grunting in pain as the grip that kept him from freeing himself tightened. "Get Cosmo and run!"
Tails was conflicted, not sure what to do, as he looked to his right and saw, to his horror, that Cosmo was held in a glass cage as she looked all around her, terrified and worried and was about to be clasped by Dark Oak's other hand.
"Cosmo!" The two-tailed fox screamed out, not wanting to leave her, but he didn't want to leave his best friend either. Or any of his friends who were all either crying out for help, trying to fight back and/or escape, or telling him the same thing the blue hedgehog was.
Unfortunately, a tall, Final Nova like Metarex appeared and used it's vines to capture the X Tornado, including around the hatch which, to Tails' horror, prevented him from escaping. He screamed in terror and dismay, held in place. He began to panic, unable to do anything.
"NO!" Sonic screamed in dismay, before crying out in alarm when Dark Oak lifted him towards his face, and began struggling to free himself. "Let me go!"
"Stop! Let them go! Please, take me, instead!" Tails pleaded. He didn't care suddenly what would happen to him. As long as his friends can escape and save the Universe, that was more than enough for him.
Dark Oak simply chuckled. "Sorry, little fox. But Sonic and Cosmo belong to me now! As all of the Universe! Now, which one shall I absorb first? The hedgehog?"
He turned his attention to Cosmo's sphere cell, and grabbed her, causing the Seedrian to scream and brought her to his face, continuing. "Or the girl?"
"Tails...!" Cosmo whispered, gazing at the two-tailed fox she loved.
"No! Please, don't!" The young kit begged, tears forming in his eyes.
"Well, seeing she is one of us...she will go first!" The evil alien declared, laughing evilly as he began crushing the sphere to crush Cosmo and steal her energy. She screamed out Tails' name, while Sonic pleaded the Metarex to stop.
Tails tried punching through the glass of the hatch, trying to shove it open, to do anything to save the girl he loved, and his surrogate hedgehog brother. But it was no use, the grip of the vines kept him trapped. He cried out Cosmo's name, and could only watch helplessly as Cosmo cried out his before she was engulfed within Dark Oak's hand, green and white light being absorbed into his body while he grinned wickedly.
Heart-break and tears overcoming him, the young kit screamed. "NOOOOO!"
"NOOOOO!" Tails screamed as he jolted awake, sitting up and panted, the paralyzing fear covering his body. Full with anxiety and fear, the young fox's wide blue eyes scanned the sight before him, the sight of his bedroom made him realize that he was just having a nightmare.
Despite sighing in relief over the dream, the fox cub couldn't stop the terror that ran through his entire body, or the tears that formed in his eyes. It had looked and felt too real despite the fact that the Metarex were gone. Only it filled him with the memories of when he lost Cosmo, and the only thing Sonic could save of her was the single seed, which that, along with Tails's kindness and love, taking good care of her flower, and the increase of the light caused by the Porthole and the Chaos Emeralds, was what brought her back to life.
"Tails?"
Startled out of his thoughts, Tails looked to see that the door opened which he didn't hear, and Cosmo, having been awoken up suddenly, and obviously having heard him scream, came to check up on him. The sight of her sent a wave of relief and yet guilt all over him. Unable to help himself as she approached, Tails sniffled before getting out of bed and approached her and hugged the Seedrian, crying.
"Tails? A-are you-?" Cosmo gently cut herself off when she saw her 'boyfriend' cry, and it broke her heart.
"I-I'm so sorry, Cosmo...! I'm so v-very sorry, that I-I couldn't save you before! Please...please don't go!" Tails wept. "I don't wanna lose you again...!"
"Oh, Tails..." The young Seedrian girl teared up, hugging him back. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. It's not your fault...!"
"But I...I killed you!" The two-tailed fox sobbed.
"Because I asked you to. It was the only way to help Sonic and Shadow to save the Universe and stop the Metarex. I knew that you didn't want to and I didn't want leave you, but it wasn't our choice. I never blamed you, Tails. If it wasn't for you, all would have been lost. You made the right choice." Cosmo reassured.
Tails sniffled, admitting. "That's what-what Sonic always told me."
"And he's right." Cosmo said softly, gazing at him with a tearful smile. "But I'm here now, and I promise we don't have to go through that choice again. Just promise me, that you will be careful whenever we have to split up for a little while during this crisis."
All self doubt began to wash away, as the love he felt for the alien girl who loved him back gave him comfort. Despite what was going on due to both Eggman's latest scheme and what was happening here on Earth, Tails was happy that everyone he cared about was still with him, and now Cosmo was back, to stay, unless whenever she may go out with Amy and Cream during this situation, but she will be okay. He just has to make sure he, Sonic and Knuckles would be alright as well. Chris and his family too.
"I promise." Tails replied, smiling tearfully as well.
The two young lovers smiled at each other, before hugging more warmly and happily this time, finding comfort in each other. At long last, they were together again, and when everything was back to normal, it would be even better in his world once they found a way to get the continent, Angel Island, themselves and the rest of their friends home. Sadly the moment was ruined when the Miles Electric began beeping, bringing Tails and Cosmo out of their embrace. Puzzled, the young fox quickly went over and answered.
"Hey, Chuck. What's up?" Tails answered, wondering why the elder Thorndyke would call in the middle of the night. Seeing the man's distressed and somewhat pained expression instantly made him and Cosmo who went over very concerned.
"Tails, I'm sorry for calling you at this hour, but we have a huge problem. I need you to get Sonic over here ASAP." Chuck replied.
"What's going on?" The young fox asked his old friend.
The answer he and Cosmo got sent shock-waves.
In his house, Sonic was fast asleep, for once not having that unusual dream. He softly snored as he was having more normal dreams. Unfortunately for the cobalt hero, the sound of someone banging on his front door downstairs roused him from his peaceful sleep.
"Wha-what...?" The blue hedgehog groggily mumbled, sitting up with his brain still half asleep. He yawned as he stretched up his arms, tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Can't a guy have his decent night's sleep? What time is it?"
The knocking on the door became more frequent, if not desperate. Given what was going on, Sonic tried to wake himself up as he slipped his shoes on, calling out to, possibly one of his friends if they didn't have time to simply call him,(if the life-lines still worked here), that he was coming. He dashed down to the first floor and answered. What caught him by the surprise was a very pale looking Tails, who looked like he had a bad night of sleep himself.
On the footpath was the X Tornado, with Cosmo in the cockpit and even from the distance, he could tell that she looked very worried herself.
"Hey, Tails. What's goin' on?" Sonic greeted, quickly becoming concerned.
"Sonic! We've got a major problem!" Tails exclaimed frantically. "Chuck called me a short time ago!"
Suddenly finding himself awake as he felt a terrible feeling in his stomach, dread filling his senses, Sonic asked. "What happened?"
"It's Chris! He's been arrested by GUN and is now in jail!" The two-tailed fox cried out, while still mindful of the sleeping neighbors.
Sonic gasped in horror as his eyes widened, and quickly remembering the neighbors as well, he exclaimed softly but still in shock none the less. "What!? No way! I thought they were on our side! Why would GUN arrest Chris!?"
"Chuck didn't tell me. He just said to get you and get over to the mansion ASAP." Tails answered.
"Then what are we waiting for? Chris needs us!" Sonic quickly declared, determined to get to the bottom of this and figure out why their human best friend was in jail. He felt a bad case of deja vu wash over him, only this time it was Chris being wrongly arrested instead of the blue hedgehog himself.
That begged the question, though. What was Chris being accused of? Was it because of what was happening? As Sonic rode on the wing of the X Tornado once he and Tails boarded and soon the three of them were quickly making their way back to Station Square on the other continent, he then had memories of when Chris shut down the machine to stop him from returning home.
Did GUN think that Chris was the one responsible for what Eggman had done with the Porthole, and believed that he was also responsible for the purple fog?
'I knew those guys were superstitious from the start, except for Topaz since she was friends with Rouge, but this is low. Maybe the new President is a tattle-tail and isn't as nice and forgiving as the guy I knew once.' The blue hedgehog thought to himself. Either way, he knew that he had to get answers fast, and there was only one way to do that.
Back in Eggman's new base, after returning and recovering, Eggman was fast asleep in his large, luxary bed and snoring. Sadly for the evil scientist, he was rudely awakened from his dreams of conquering either Sonic's world or Earth, and both Decoe and Bocoe were also woken up from their sleep modes when Bokkun, being sent on a late night-shift(and the smallest robot complaining as he wanted to get some sleep himself), came flying in, and landed onto the mand's bed.
"Wakey, Wakey, Dr. Eggman." Bokkun whispered, poking the man on the nose, which not only woke him up, but also easily irritated him to the point of growling and sitting up quickly.
"What do you want!? Can't I have my beauty sleep!?" Eggman shouted, wearing his jammies which was simple with a night cap and pulling the sleeping mask off from his eyes...which he still wore his sunglasses as well, which was odd considering.
Undaunted by the anger, Bokkun said perking up. "I thought I'd show you something really interesting. You're not gonna believe what I saw. Looks like we're not the only ones that came back, and it looks like Omega's with a ghost."
"What are you talking about?" The evil doctor asked, which also roused Decoe and Bocoe as they both yawned, walking over.
"Couldn't this have waited until morning?" Decoe complained, tiredly.
"We may be robots, but we were programmed to even needing sleep ourselves." Bocoe grumbled.
"Hey, I didn't get any sleep at all! Besides, this is way more important!" The smallest robot argued, flying over to a nearby monitor, and cabled himself to show off his memory-core on screen. "See for yourself."
As Eggman yawned and mentally grumbled while approaching with the other two robots behind him, they watched as Bokkun's memories showed off Station Square from his point of view. It looked about the same, which wasn't surprising, and they even caught sight of a Mutant-Snake that was about the height of five or ten men. But the opponents the monster was facing almost instantly woke the trio up fully.
The sight of not just Rouge or Omega caught their attention, but the third member, with a face that resembled to Sonic with crimson eyes was what shocked them the most; the black fur with red streaks on his arms and quills that sticked up a bit, the white tuff on his chest, the skate shoes...the attack of Chaos Spear.
"HUH!?" Decoe and Bocoe both exclaimed in shock and disbelief, now realizing what Bokkun meant by ghost. A ghost from the past.
"What...It can't be! SHADOW!?" Eggman exclaimed, just as shocked to see the black hedgehog alive and well. He recalled how Shadow used Chaos Control to stop the explosion and seemingly has sacrificed his life, and obviously having saved Sonic's to prevent him from suffering the same fate, and the evil doctor had to admit, he had been saddened for his grandfather's creation's noble heroic deeds.
Yet like the last time Shadow returned after the first time he was thought to hav died when he and Sonic saved Earth, the black hedgehog was alive and back, and already in action. Having teamed up with Rouge and that rogue robot E-126 Omega. Eggman and his robots watched as the Snake then kidnapped Rouge and slithered into the large hole down the sewers, and oddly enough, Shadow and Omega went in to apparently rescue her.
Bokkun's memory then simply went to flying around before the small robot stopped the memory recording and unplugged himself, turning to his creator and fellow robots with a grin. "See? Wasn't that shocking?"
"Unbelievable! Could it be that Shadow was here all this time, and Chaos Control simply sent him here?" Eggman muttered, still in shock. He already ruled out that it was a Shadow Android as it was his plan in the first place. But now...with the real Shadow here, it makes things even more complicated because he highly doubted that the black hedgehog would work for him again, not after the last time.
"I thought Shadow sacrificed himself to save us all?" Bocoe asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Well, considering how he survived the last time he was thought to have perished, it's no wonder he's called the Ultimate Life-form. He's just as stubborn as Sonic." Decoe stated.
"On the contrary, if Shadow was here the whole time, he was most likely living his life in secret from the human eye, or else everyone would have mentioned him by now." Eggman said in agreement, before groaning in annoyance. "And seeing how he has teamed up with that stupid bat and treacherous robot, no doubt they will eventually meet up with Sonic and his friends, which makes things just as complicated with my Shadow Android Army."
As soon as he said this, however, the evil scientist snickered, rubbing his hands together as another idea formed in his mind. "Unless we find those documents my Grandfather found, or at the very least get a piece of Shadow's DNA, like his quills and I can build my Army. Then I send them out one by one to make that blue hedgehog believe Shadow is against him once more."
"That's easier said than done, sir. Shadow and Sonic may not be related, but they're both super fast." Decoe pointed out in concern.
"Trying to catch Shadow is like trying to catch Sonic without the Chaos Emeralds or his friends coming to the rescue." Bocoe added dryly.
"True, but there's always a back-up plan should my Grandfather's documents be destroyed in the base where we found Shadow. There's one other place nobody even thought of searching." Eggman said, grinning, chuckling evilly. "The Space Coloney ARK."
All three robots stared at him in shock as even they haven't thought of that, and while that place has been shut down after Professor Gerald Robotnik's plot to destroy Earth and Humanity due to Maria's death driving him insane, that didn't meant it wasn't accessible. Once again, Eggman's plans were really getting underway.
Tired, a bit hungry, guilt-ridden, and miserable, Chris sat all alone on the lower bunk-bed in his cell as dawn began to barely peak from outside even though he couldn't see it. He had been forced to change from his old childhood clothes into prisoner garments, almost blankly staring at the cold, hard floor.
He never would've thought this would happen. Just when he finally proposed to Helen and begin preparing for their future wedding in months to come, disaster struck. First the purple fog which de-aged most of humanity in Station Square, if not the entire world, and mutated animals into either giant Cyborgs or mutant monsters, then Eggman's latest plan caused him, Sonic and his friends to return to Earth along with Sonic's continent and Angel Island as the blue hedgehog attempted to stop the evil man, now the young scientist was locked up and wrongly accused for something that wasn't his fault.
Chris had no idea how long he was going to be here, but he tried to hold onto the hope that his family and friends would find the true mastermind and stop him from making things worse and fix up the Earth and everyone in it.
"Christopher Thorndyke." A prison guard approached with a harsh tone, bringing the de-aged boy out of his musings. "You have a visitor wanting to see you."
When Chris looked up, his eyes widened in relief, surprise and concern as said visitor was Sonic, who, after gaining permission to see his friend while failing to convince GUN to bail the boy out, not even Chuck or Nelson were able to convince the President, stood waiting with a concerned frown on his muzzle.
"Sonic?" Chris muttered as he stood up, while the guard opened the cell's doors, and Sonic, with hesitation as he felt and obviously looked very uncomfortable for going into a cell with memories of when he was wrongly locked up on Prison Island returned to him, stepped inside.
"Hiya, Chris." Sonic greeted with a friendly wave, despite the situation. His human best friend waved back gently with a sad smile.
"You have fifteen minutes." The guard informed the teenage hero, and purposely slammed the doors loudly and hard, making both the blue hedgehog and the de-aged boy jump in fright.
"AH!" Sonic yelped, whirling around as his eyes widened while the prison guard locked the door and thus trapped him inside with his friend. His heart hammered while he tried to calm down, and briefly wondered if he had been tricked into getting arrested himself and that what the guy said was just a lie.
"Hey, what's the idea!?" Sonic cried out, grasping at the bars of the cell.
"For safety precautions, and don't expect to break out with him, or you'll be jailed for jailbreaks." The prison guard warned darkly, stepping away, repeating what he said to the teenager. "You have fifteen minutes."
"You could've at least told me that you were gonna lock me up on a time limit." Sonic grumbled sourly as the Prison Guard walked away to give him and Chris their fifteen minute reunion and talk.
"I'm guessing you don't have this kind of prison visits in your world, do you?" Chris asked, awkwardly, shrugging.
The blue hedgehog sighed, letting go of the bars as he turned around but still glared at the direction of where the guard walked off over his shoulder. "No. We only just have chairs outside of cells for visitors to sit on while they talk to the prisoners, either friends or families who betrayed them, or wrongly accused. Not that I visited jails that often, and I hate being locked up while being accused."
"I can see why." The de-aged boy muttered, finally getting the idea.
Rather than commenting on how terrible it was for him due to the time limit, Sonic sighed before turning back to his friend with a firm expression, knowing that he had to get down to business if he wanted to solve this new crisis.
"Chris...I can feel that you didn't do anything wrong, and you're going through what I went through when Shadow first showed up, but...we need to talk." Sonic told him.
The two friends stared down at each, as this would be one of the most difficult discussions either one would have in their entire lives.
It would also test their friendship.
A/N: Uh-oh! Chris is going through what Sonic went through! What will happen now? And what will happen to Rouge? Will Shadow and Omega save her on time? Will Sonic clear Chris's name?
Oh, and as for Narasu's transformations, that's based on how Metal Neo Sonic from Sonic Heroes had disguised himself as Eggman, only without Metal Sonic in this story since he doesn't exist in the Sonic X Universe.
See you later in the next chapter!