Rediscovered Frontiers (Archie/IDW Sonic Crossover) (2024)

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Ni-Col hesitantly lifted her head to the portals on the walls. She knew that the Warlord wanted her to look, and if she did not then he would be displeased.

And if he was displeased, then she would lose her chance to help her goddess.

The portals were all square in shape, and the edges all emitted a hue that was unlike any color she had ever seen. It was red like blood and yet purple as the holy garb she wore.

The Supreme Goddess would sometimes show her such wonderful things in portals like this. The Land of the Gods, whose dwellings the ones they made on Mobius were but a pale imitation to. Sprawling pillars of stone and gems. Flying chariots that made the platforms the gods operated in look like mere toys. Golems that matched them in height and performed labor for them. Plants and flowers that made those on their insignificant world seem inferior.

She saw beauty in those visions, and the Supreme Goddess was always sad because she could no longer enjoy them. And now, without her consort, she could not enjoy him in their reminiscing of what was lost thanks to the Destroyer.

Ni-Col did her best to comfort her during those times, and the Supreme Goddess always appreciated it. She embraced the lynx in her holiness and would bring her close.

She always felt so safe during those times.

But what caught her attention were the visions shown within them.

They were strange, alien things.

One screen showed massive golems that transformed into strange chariots, riding into battle with golems that flew from the sky.

Another showed some sort of masked warrior flying through the sky with a strange growth on his back that shot flames, firing upon alien crafts that bore a strange insignia of a pinwheel.

There was a screen that displayed four mobian turtles wearing colored masks as they walked next to a dirty river.

Some depicted monsters that she only heard rumors of. The "Overlanders" that resided in the dark lands who killed all those that trespassed…

…while others displayed Mobians. Those of the Chipmunk and Hedgehog people. Some of them even depicted a blue hedgehog running alongside a twin-tailed fox that flew like they were one of the birds or those Babylonians the Supreme Goddess was sometimes worried of.

"I-It…" Ni-Col gulped and said, "It is wonderful. I-I am not worthy."

"Under normal circumstances, you would not be." The Warlord let out a chuckle as he motioned to a stone pillar. Her eyes widened at the magenta and black gem that floated on top of it. Glowing and pulsating as if it were a living thing. "All of what you see is thanks to the Phantom Ruby."

She had heard rumors of this! Of how the Gods took a Chaos Emerald that was unlike all the others. Massive and brimming with power. One that called upon all its brothers and the gods in the heavens to come to Mobius. And, in their infinite knowledge, the gods took and transformed into something greater. Something that allowed for them to change and warp the land to their liking!

But… What did it have to do with the visions that were being displayed?

"Please. Forgive my ignorance." She muttered. "B-But what am I seeing? The Supreme Goddess taught me much, but…"

"Hmph." The Warlord nodded. "I understand why the princess wouldn't say anything. She probably didn't want to trouble your little head regarding it." He pointed to the monitors. "All of these… all of these images are from your planet in a sense."

"M-Mobius?"

"Some are called that. While others are called Earth. Earth, however, seems to be the name that is a Multiversal constant." The minor god seemed pleased as he spoke. "I have dubbed these parallel worlds as 'Zones'. Offshoots of our own, each with minor or radical differences. Some contain your species, while others they remained little primitive animals."

"Then there was no Day of Fire?" Ni-Col whispered. She may be ignorant, but she wasn't stupid. If all of these were Mobius, and yet not, then that means the screens where there are no Mobians must mean the source of their life never came to pass!

"My, my. You catch on quick." She could hear the sneer in the god's voice. "Indeed. In some worlds the Xorda never launched their Gene Bomb on your world. In fact, in some realities they never existed! We have learned much thanks to our scouts…"

His hand over a stone table, and an image came into being. One of multiple slabs, and then one that ran horizontally through them. Another wave of the hand revealed a mobian that wore strange armor, one of which included a helmet that obscured their head.

"The mystics…" The warlord hissed. "…We're content to just blindly travel between worlds using the Phantom Ruby. Or to use it to merely shape our reality. But I saw differently. Oh yes…" The hiss turned into one of pleasure. "I had a different approach to things. I sent a handful of the local species into this Parallel Zone so that they may monitor all the others. Reporting their findings back to me. They all believe they are on a holy mission to maintain our order. To maintain the structure with our world as the Prime Zone." He chuckled. "I originally labeled them as the 'Zone Order'. But they decided to call themselves Zone Cops. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Yes." Ni-Col agreed. "Yes it is."

But she was horrified. She had heard of the gods collecting sacrifices, and that was to be expected, but she had been taught that they ascended to the Chaos Force. A realm of peace and harmony. Where conflict and the sins of the mortal realm were no longer a concern.

To think they were sent to continue their struggles in some strange world only the gods were supposed to walk! To do the Warlord's bidding?

Did… did the Supreme Goddess know?

"No! No, she wouldn't have! She… she guides us through her kindness and mercy! She argued with the Supreme God for us!"

"And it's through them that I discovered a fascinating fact." The Warlord walked to the images again and with a wave of his hand, the contents of each changed. "Several realities… are far ahead in time from our own. A cosmic quirk that makes time advance more quickly in their realities by increments. Some great… and some minor."

All the images now showed a blue hedgehog moving at incredible speeds from an exploding structure made of metal and smoke, grinning all the while as the chipmunk hugged him. Within seconds, they skid to the stop in the center of a forest where other Mobians cheered for their return.

"But this… or variations of it… seem to be a constant." He tapped on one of the images, which showed the chipmunk holding a small alien tablet in her hand as she kissed the hedgehog on the cheek. "And this one, in particular, caught my attention as I studied these realities. Such a minor thing that aids them in their struggles… and yet sorely needed for them to win…"

Ni-Col stared at the image, at the chipmunk as she wrapped her arms against the hedgehog's neck.

She seemed so familiar.

"B-But what does this have to do with the Supreme Goddess?" She stuttered before shrinking when the Warlord turned his head at her. "I-I ask for your forgiveness! But I just… I know that my sacrifice is needed, but for what? A-And why show someone as unworthy as me your knowledge?"

"Yes. That." The god seemed to sneer. "Well, one reason is because my incompetent nephew is taking too long with the preparations. And the other… THE END is a being that even someone of my genius has difficulty understanding. It is composed of energies that were only birthed within the beginning of our universe. It is a being of data that cannot be calculated by normal hardware… software, though? That is another matter. Software merely needs to be taught to compute. But, alas, even software I create will not be able to capture a glimpse of those energies that only appear for mere nanoseconds in the travel between Zones. They will simply overload and burn out."

"T-Then how will you combat against the Destroyer?!" Ni-Col couldn't help it. She yelled at the god, tears forming in her eyes. "If even you cannot fight against him, then…?!"

"Uncle."

Ni-Col turned and saw a diminutive god almost half the height of the Warlord walk in, its back hunched as it approached them.

"The Soul Hacker is ready."

"Excellent." The Warlord was fast. He snapped his fingers and walked without glancing at Ni-Col, passing by his nephew without even acknowledging the small god. "This is good. Ohhh… This is very good, nephew. I stand at the precipice of a new day for our kind."

"Of course, Uncle… you arrogant puffball toad…"

"What was that?!"

"N-Nothing, Uncle!"

Letting out a small scream, Ni-Col scrambled after the Warlord as they entered a new room.

Inside… there were so many portals. Each displaying the words of the gods as the blue text ran down utter blackness. A small table was set up, with a metal crown sitting on top of it which had blue hair-like strings attached to the top.

"I cannot create the software. This I will admit is a limitation." The Warlord reached down and picked Ni-Col by the back of her robes. She let out a strangled cry as she was brought upon the table. "But… there is a base code that lies within each and every living sentient being. One that can learn. That can adapt. That can compute unlike any other. One which can theoretically understand, study, and manipulate code and energy that any artificial program cannot." He pointed at the helmet. "Put that on."

Ni-Col glanced at the crown. "I-I don't understand."

"You will soon enough."

A part of Ni-Col wanted to flee. To run and never look back. To jump into the arms of her goddess and cry her eyes out. To just tell the Supreme Goddess her worries. To hear her soothing words as they embraced and fell asleep together under the stars…

But… if she didn't do this… the Supreme Goddess will be forced to face against the Destroyer yet again. And without her consort or warriors, she would surely fall.

No.

NO!

Ni-Col took in a deep breath… and picked up the crown before placing it on her head.

"Now lay down." She followed the Warlord's instructions and he seemed pleased. "Good… that foolish princess chose an obedient pet." He turned to his nephew. "Do it now."

The Minor God nodded, pressed upon a glowing blue tablet…

…And Ni-Col knew pain.

It was a pain unlike any other. It felt as if tiny knives were being stabbed into her skull… no… they were going deeper than that.

"GYYAAAAAHHH!!!"

Something… something was worming its way through her head! It was burning her… no… it was EATING HER!!!

Her heart was racing. And she felt… she felt something being sucked out. Something within her cried out in pain far louder than her body did.

"H-Help…! S-S-SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!"

Where… where was her goddess?! She needed her! She needed her so badly!!!

"Hm… are you sure this is going to work, uncle?"

The Warlord sneered. "Don't be an idiot. You're my nephew. Surely you can see the genius of my plan!"

Ni-Col let out a sob before she began laughing, clutching her head and trying desperately to take off the helmet. It would not budge.

"Our software will never be able to run the calculations or study the energy that remains from the beginning of the Multiverse. The soul, however, is a different story! It can calculate… it can adapt… it can and will evolve as it studies those energies.

"G-Goddess!!!" Ni-Col wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed and laughed. "M-Mother! F-Father! H-Help m-m-me!!!"

Her memories… her father and mother… who… who were they again?

Why couldn't she remember their faces?!

COMPRESSING FOR EXTRA STORAGE.

PROCEEDING WITH UPLOAD OF

"An artificial intelligence that uses a soul for a base… a stroke of genius if I do say so myself." The Warlord chuckled. "It will be sent to a parallel Zone. One that is rather far along in the middle of a conflict that seems to be a surprising constant. It will aid them. Allow them to win. And all the while she will be transmitting instructions into a member of the local species with suitable intelligence. Making them believe they are its creator and will be sending it to the past in order to create a stable time loop. It will be downloading its own software into the local network to maintain the ruse, uploading itself into the new device once the local primitive finishes 'creating' our device."

What… what species was she again? She was… she was a lynx! A proud member of the lynx people… right?

COMPRESSING FOR EXTRA STORAGE.

The stories! The stories the Supreme Goddess taught her! S-Surely she can hold onto those and…

COMPRESSING FOR EXTRA STORAGE.

"But the reality will be that they're simply sending her to a different Zone. To one that is far along enough to be in the exact same time and place the locals discovered her to begin with. And during her travel between Zones, she will be analyzing and studying the energies." The Warlord paused. "Perhaps the primitive will discover the ruse after rereading their calculations after the fact. But it won't matter at that point."

The stars… she couldn't remember the stars…

Ni-Col let out a sob.

She tried to cry for help, but it sounded like a child's wail.

She couldn't even speak anymore.

"It will be studying with each trip until it's advanced enough, at which point the calculations will have it transported back to our Zone. Evolving into an intelligence that knows the secrets of the multiverse… and can manipulate reality to a far greater degree than even the Phantom Ruby." The warlord leaned down in front of the screens and laughed. "Do you see it now, nephew?! I… I am creating an artificial GOD!!!"

"That's well and good, Uncle."

"Oh, do not worry about that, nephew. I've left some instructions for the program to follow once the time comes…"

Ni-Col… that was her name…

…Right?

FINISH UPLOAD? Y/N

"Yes… YES!!!"

Something was smashed open, and Ni-Col turned her head to the source of the sound to see the Supreme Goddess with other gods behind her.

"YOU MONSTERS! HOW COULD YOU?!" The Supreme Goddess turned towards Ni-Col, gasped in horror, and ran to her. "NO! NI-COL!!!"

The Warlord cackled and was tackled by the other gods, but not before slamming his hand on a panel.

Ni-Col reached out to her goddess…

…before everything went black.

Year: 2022 AGB (After Gene Bomb)​

"You never should have let that… that THING back into their midst!!" The Entity known as the Supreme God slammed his fist onto the table. "Now look at what you've brought upon us! LOOK OUTSIDE TO SEE WHAT YOUR 'MERCY' HAS DONE TO OUR PEOPLE!!"

Unit Ni-Col 1.0 scanned the room with its camera as it was held in the entity known as Supreme Goddess' hand. The Supreme God was flanked by his soldiers, all of whom clutched their weapons anxiously. The Supreme Goddess stood with her own retinue, looking outside the window of the palace.

Watching as the Starfall Islands burned.

Unit Ni-Col 1.0 had gathered data regarding the political and societal factions within the islands. It was already connected to the network, downloading and computing much from Cyber Space. The data would have taken any organic years, if not decades, to study. However, its processing power allowed it to analyze it all within seconds.

It had come to a simple conclusion at the end of its study.

The situation was unsustainable.

The species that the entities belonged to would die within generations at most.

It listened through its microphone. It was more sensitive than even the Supreme Goddess knew. And within the device, the program listened to the screams.

"Death to the heretics!"

"T-The echidnas! They've gone insane!!"

"Those… those things were never gods!"

"Damn you! Damn you all! I knew we could never trust you brutes!!"

"All this bloodshed and for what?! Because the gods favored the lynxes instead of you?!"

"How dare the lynxes and the rest of you SAVAGES think you could stand as equals to us?!"

"They would pervert the very soul of their most trusted priestess for their unholy goals!"

"Enerjak is the will! Enerjak is the way!"

"Enerjak will smite the demons that use us as playthings!"

"For Enerjak!!"

"FOR ENERJAK!!"

The Echidna Mobians had grown more insular over the years. Their long simmering resentment to not being chosen had affected their society, which put heavy emphasis on physical strength. The strongest in their culture were those who were chosen by the gods. And that meant the echidnas should have received favor. And yet when the organic that Unit Ni-Col 1.0's software was based on was chosen, it flew in the face of everything they had been brought to believe.

Conflict was inevitable.

But the fires were stoked when the living Chaos energy weapon, codenamed ENERJAK, was freed from his container by the Supreme Goddess and allowed to return to his people.

It gained an illogical hatred against those that he had once seen gods, and staged this uprising.

"No need to berate me, father. I see it." The Supreme Goddess whispered. "And I stand by my position. For better or for worse."

"For worse! You've killed us all, you stupid girl! You…!!"

"Your majesty, we must leave!"

"Go, father."

"No! No, you will stay here!! Haven't you done enough?! Listen to me! Listen to your father RIGHT NOW!!!"

But the Supreme Goddess ignored him and continued to walk with her guard. She did her best to ignore the sounds of explosions as she looked down at Unit Ni-Col's handheld.

The program had studied the expressions of this species.

The half-lidded eyes and lowering of the head indicated sorrow.

"My friend." She whispered. "Will… will the other Mobians…?"

"So much bloodshed… so much…" The Supreme Goddess turned her head. "Perhaps… perhaps it would've been better if we had never come here. If we had all died at the hands of THE END."

"You shouldn't exist!" The Supreme Goddess snapped. "Not… Not like this! If… if…"

The Supreme Goddess let out a sob, but she did not break her pace. Instead she walked into the area that the unit was created in.

The Warlord's lab.

Inside, the Warlord and his nephew were pouring liquid-like nanomachines onto a stone pillar. The text underneath glowed blue as the nanomachines floated and created a sphere, which began to emit an iridescent glow.

"Ah. Princess." The Warlord chuckled. "How delightful for you to…"

"Shut up."

"Oh… you don't need to tell me, princess."

"The nano-machines…"

"Stop calling her 'it'!"

Until Ni-Col clarified, as the information was relevant.

"STOP!" The Supreme Goddess brought the unit's handheld to her face. "Ni-Col, please! Don't… don't say that…"

The unit paused, processing this new data.

The information brought distress to the Supreme Goddess.

But… it was the truth.

Why?

The Warlord cackled. "You best listen to her, Princess! Your pet isn't alive anymore! It's time to face reality…" He motioned to the orb. "And allow for our little toy to embrace its destiny."

The Supreme Goddess said nothing for a few seconds.

Then, she began to speak to Unit Ni-Col.

"My friend… this is truly goodbye. I… I am sorry it had to be this way. You have no idea how much your presence meant to me. You… you were a friend when I sorely needed one. Perhaps… perhaps even more. And the fact I… I could not protect you when you needed me the most is my deepest regret." She hugged the device to her chest. "No matter what these monsters say, a part of you is still in there. And I need you to know you are so much stronger than they think. And you must promise me one thing."

The Supreme Goddess brought the unit up and stared at its open screen.

"To find yourself again, even if that means not being the Ni-Col I once knew. To find friends. To find family. To find love… to become so much more than just a tool."

The Supreme Goddess smiled. "You will eventually. I know it."

She kissed the unit's handheld and then slowly moved the handheld to the nanomachine orb.

The machines reached out and grabbed the handheld, slowly subsuming it into its mass. Within seconds, it was fully absorbed.

The Warlord sneered. "How touching." He began typing on his monitor. "Now, we best launch this thing before…"

The walls disintegrated in a wave of green.

The Supreme Goddess' guards only had a second to scream before they disintegrated from existence itself. The Supreme Goddess herself shielded her eyes from the glow, alongside the Warlord and his nephew.

Once it died down, a single Echidna floated in the air. Garbed in golden armor and his fists covered in green energy.

"Judgment…" Enerjak hissed. "Has come upon you all."

"Arrogant little pest!" The Warlord screamed as he reached for something on the counter. "I created you! I gave you…!"

Enerjak turned his head to the Warlord and shouted, "YOU GAVE ME ONLY PAIN, MONSTER!!"

He waved his hand, and the Warlord was frozen in place.

"You gave us nothing but pain! You and…!" The echidna pointed at the nephew. "HIM!!"

The Nephew screamed as his form began to shift and bubble. The Supreme Goddess herself was frozen in terror as she stared at the living Chaos weapon.

"You… you tore me up! Again and again! You laughed as your blades cut my body and burned my soul in green fire!!" Enerjak's green eyes evaporated the tears that were forming. "I was a simple farmer! I had my wife and my five children ! We were happy!! Then you… you took us! You tore us apart and laughed when we asked why!! You threw my family away like GARBAGE!! AND NOW I'M ALL THAT'S LEFT!!"

The Warlord screamed as his skin bubbled and popped.

"Then… then I saw what you did to that lynx! You would not be satisfied until we were all your broken playthings! I am doing what needs to be done! And now… I AVENGE THEM!!"

The Warlord and Nephew burst like balloons, before disintegrating into the air. Their individual molecules torn apart by Chaos Energy.

Unit Ni-Col predicted a 99.9% likelihood they were conscious as it happened.

"Enerjak… That… that was your name. Wasn't it." The Supreme Goddess asked, causing the Chaos being to look at her. "Please, Enerjak. What happened to you… what happened to my friend was monstrous. But… but the other Mobians… the rest of my people… they do not…"

The echidna bowed his head… and then shook it. "No. Your kind has done enough. Even the Ancient Walkers see that. They have abandoned you to your fate. They know that if any of your kind continue to live, you'll pervert our world even more. And if the others of this island are allowed to remain… they will stop at nothing to follow your path. My people… they will guide them. They will lead Mobius to a new tomorrow, free from the sins that have happened here." He raised his hand. "I am sorry. I will make this painless. You deserve that much."

Unit Ni-Col 1.0 had no subroutines to defend the Supreme Goddess. Nothing in her code instructed her to ensure the entity's continued survival.

All that mattered was the mission.

And if it could not perform that, then it simply had no purpose.

Unit Ni-Col felt nothing about this. Whether she continued to function or not was no concern to her.

ERROR! ERROR!!

Suddenly, the lab's internal security devices activated. The white security unit designated Master Ninja, dubbed by the Lynx mobians, formed and launched itself at Enerjak. The echidna let out a cry as it blasted apart the drone, while the Supreme Goddess launched herself at the tuning fork-shaped device that the Warlord had reached for. Grabbing it, she turned it upon Enerjak just as he finished dispatching the drone and fired.

A wave of green energy shot forward, hitting the powerful echidna in the chest. He howled in pain, throwing his head back as he let out a cry.

"ENERJAK… ENERJAK SHALL NEVER DIE!!!"

…And then… he was merely smoke being blown in the wind.

The Supreme Goddess threw down the device and stared at the unit's orb.

"My friend… did you do this?"

The unit said nothing. It could not.

It merely began to try and process why it had taken the action it just did.

The Supreme Goddess bowed her head. "Thank you…" She reached forward and pressed down on the terminal. "…and goodbye."

Then, in a flash of light, Unit Ni-Col 1.0 was gone from the Prime Zone.

…and in another Zone, a grieving chipmunk looked up to see a falling star.

Year: 3257 AA (After Aurora)​

"Eggman! Cut it out, ya nut!"

And things were going so well for Sonic the Hedgehog up until now.

The day had been all but saved. He, his friends, and his new ally Mega Man had done it. They had managed to defeat the duo of Eggman and Dr. Wily, the two mad geniuses who had managed to gather the seven Chaos Emeralds in their mad quest to rewrite all of reality to their whims.

From what he could gather from Mega Man, this had been a serious step up from how his bad guy operated. He couldn't even believe that the roboticist was willing to go this far for his dreams.

For Sonic, though? This had been just more of the usual.

Eggman had always been a seriously driven guy, especially when it came to ruling the world. The dude always tried to use some sort of god or weird trinket, be it Chaos or the Space Colony ARK, to conquer the world only for it to blow up in his face. This was barely a step up from that.

Though even Sonic had to admit something felt… off about how the doctor operated now.

Namely, trying to crash into Sonic while he was in his Super form and in the middle of his Chaos Control.

Sonic pushed against the remains of the Egg-Wily that Eggman was piloting with his right hand, trying desperately not to look back and focus on the green energy in his left. In his Super form, he was invincible. But that didn't really mean he was able to defy the laws of motion. Eggman was pushing against him, and reality was trying to make Sonic move. So the hedgehog needed to put at least some concentration in remaining in place… while also trying to stabilize his Chaos Control.

But the doctor just would not let up!

"You're…" The super hedgehog hissed out as he narrowed his eyes. He needed to focus! "…Gonna… Mess… Me… Up…!"

The energy… it relied on a wish. A wish for the universe to be set back to the way it was originally.

Because the doctors did something to mess it up, even before the two began to kidnap his friends and tried to make him fight Mega Man!

He… he didn't know what. He never stopped to think about it. Too much stuff was happening, and it wasn't important. He and his new friend were going to set it right in the end.

And all he had to do was his Chaos Control to undo all the damage.

But it required all his concentration. And with it split like this, it was hard to do.

Eggman let out a snarl of all things and shouted, "If I can't have the universe my way, then you won't have it at all!!"

Despite everything, that one line caused Sonic to look at Eggman. There was drool coming out of his mouth as his lips widened into a hateful grimace. His mustache was messed up, and his glasses slid down his nose… to reveal black and red eyes.

Those… were new. They weren't anywhere in Sonic's memories.

"What happened to you, doc?"

This… this wasn't the Eggman he remembered.

The doctor looked insane, and not in the usual fun way.

"No, stupid! Ignore him! You have a freakin' universe to save!! Two of them if you count Blaze's!!"

Sonic turned his attention back to his Chaos Control, and his eyes widened. Nothing about it was under control. It was cracked, fractured, and wild. Chaos energy was erupting like lightning bolts in random parts, just waiting to burst.

If he delayed this any longer, then nothing would be saved!

"Aw man!" The hedgehog hissed, wincing as he shouted, "Here goes nothing…!

"

The green energy shot out towards the white light, reality itself warping as it approached the Super Genesis Wave.

He let out a sigh of relief. It… wasn't ideal. But it would still work! The day will be saved like originally planned and everything could go back to normal.

Eggman would stop taking his crazy pills and Sonic could relax with his friends until the next big adventu-.

"No you don't!" The sound of a fist smashing into a button echoed through the otherworldly space they were in as the mad doctor shouted "FIRE!!"

It happened too fast, even for Sonic. The half of the Egg-Wily head was still pushing against him and he was pushing back and when the missiles launched Eggman put the pedal to the metal to slam into Sonic's side.

"NO!"

Sonic could only watch as the missile made contact with the energies of the Chaos Control at the exact same moment it made contact with the Super Genesis Wave.

The sound of glass echoed through the air, and that sound alone gave both the hedgehog and human pause.

It… sounded like glass. And yet it wasn't. It was just too crisp, and yet had a reverb. The sound was unlike anything natural Sonic had ever heard, even throughout his adventures.

And as he stared at the contact point, the hedgehog saw something strange.

It was like reality itself had cracked. Lines were forming in the white space of the Super Genesis Wave, as if the blasts had broken a window or something. And yet… it wasn't supposed to be two-dimensional. No, it was empty space. It wasn't anything physical!

But what was before them said otherwise.

The cracks spread and intersected with one another. The whiteness continued to spread, and soon pieces were falling away to reveal… another place.

It was a space that seemed to be constantly shifting with cubes. They almost seemed… digital. Like the pixels of a computer screen that Tails used. There were tints of yellow or orange, but sometimes there was blue. And he could swear he could see flashes of a highway or Green Hill Zone in there as well.

"That…" Whatever it was, it seemed to drive the crazy right out of Eggman. He wasn't screaming or anything. He was quiet for once. His voice was full of confusion and… something else. Something Sonic couldn't quite place. "…that doesn't look right… What is that?"

Sonic blinked as he looked further into the new space opened… and then he saw it.

It… vaguely looked like a symbol that Tails sometimes used in his calculations. Even though most of it flew over Sonic's head, mostly because it was kind of boring, he still took note of the stuff that looked interesting. Also, the fact that one of Shadow's friends wore it on his body made it hard to forget.

It was an omega symbol.

Ω

But it wasn't. Not really. It seemed to be made of light which shifted from red to black to purple and a humming filled the air. There was no mass, at least not any Sonic couldn't see, or dimension.

It hurt to even look at.

It was held in the center by blue digital chains. But one by one they began to break. And the vibration of the… thing grew stronger.

Color seemed to drip off of its form and onto nonexistent ground as if it were water.

Or blood.

"Oh." Sonic looked back at Eggman and saw that his glasses fell. "Oh my stars and garters."

Ah. Now the hedgehog understood.

Eggman was scared.

And… something was making Sonic scared too.

"Ivo…" Sonic didn't know why he called the doctor by his real name, but… he still did. "…What did you do?"

The final chain snapped…

…And the laughter began.

The golden hedgehog covered his ears and winced. But as he did so, he saw that his nemesis was doing the same.

It was… a voice. One that was sound and yet wasn't. It reverberated through his head, the voice that was feminine and yet masculine, old while young. It seemed to speak in languages Sonic knew and those he had never heard before. Alien sounds that could never have been uttered on his world. There was far too much inhuman clicking and slithering for them to be the sound of humans or his kind.

He opened his eyes and saw the symbol that was the source of all.

It was pulsating, bulging at random points…

His eyes widened.

"Doc, we need to…"

Eggman didn't even bother to hear Sonic finish his sentence. He had instead turned his makeshift craft around and was going at full speed. The hedgehog cursed and quickly caught up with him.

No matter how fast the villain made his vehicles, he was always faster.

It was like a solid wall of pure air slammed into Sonic's back. He let out a cry as he spun in space, feeling something hot and wet enveloping his entire body despite there being nothing holding him. It took the hedgehog only seconds to realize it was his own sweat.

"What the heck?!"

Sonic stopped his spinning and looked at the thing that had once been pure noise and light.

It wasn't that anymore.

Instead it was a purple and black mass that was pouring out of the cracks in reality as if it were liquid. And yet as it flowed out it began to expand in mass and grow taller. As if it were a pillar reaching to a nonexistent floor and a ceiling that stretched into infinity…

…And then it began to change.

The purple and black color scheme remained, but its form changed to one that Sonic could recognize.

That of Devil Doom.

"No! That's impossible! Shadow…!"

No, now it has changed! It wasn't Devil Doom anymore. It was now… Perfect Chaos?

The Perfect Chaos' clone was extending its tentacles out, as if stretching them while it continued to grow.

No… it was back to the pillar again. Only with small sticks growing out of its sides. Each one began to curve before suddenly changing direction at a sharp curve…

…Now it was a moon?

What was this?

The voice sounded so… indifferent as it spoke. As if it had merely observed the weather.

"Hedgehog…"

Sonic turned his head to Eggman.

The mad doctor was just… staring at the thing. His glasses were completely forgotten, as if they were the least of his priorities. There was a twitch in his brow as a line of drool ran down the side of his mouth.

"D-Doc…?"

"HEDGEHOG!!" Eggman pushed against a lever and the ramshackle vehicle that was the Egg-Wily shot forward. "No… not again!! NEVER AGAIN!!!"

"YOU WILL NEVER KILL ME AGAIN,

" Eggman shouted as he slammed his fist against a button on his console while Sonic raced behind him.

"Kill you?! Again?!" Sonic was in disbelief. What the heck happened in the previous world?

He never would've even considered killing the doctor!

"Focus, stupid!!" Right, he needed to focus on stuff here and now! For some reason, Eggman was seeing Sonic himself instead of the moon. "While all I'm seeing is the biggest bad guys or monsters I've faced… I swear I even saw the Death Egg for a second!"

Eggman said that Sonic… killed him once.

Was this thing making them see it as whatever they saw as death?

The missiles made contact against the massive, ever-grinning form of the Death Egg Robot…

And it barely seemed phased by the attack.

In fact, it didn't even seem to notice it!

It was looking up and Sonic saw them.

Portals, like little holes burned through the paper that was reality, appeared in the distance. And through them, the hedgehog could see spiraling galaxies glittering from their stars.

The hero's eyes widened in shock. "Did I do that? Did… Did my Chaos Control bring back all that?"

He didn't like the sound of that.

Eggman continued to fire missile after missile against the form of Devil Doom as it continued to ignore him, more spittle flying out of his mouth while sweat drenched his skin.

"I won't accept this!! I'll NEVER ACCEPT THIS!!" The mad doctor screamed. "This was supposed to be my time! MY TRIUMPH! I killed you once! I killed your family! Your friends! Your wife! YOUR BLASTED CHILDREN!! I was going to do it again and again and again throughout EONS UNTIL I GOT BORED! YOU WILL NOT TAKE THIS FRO-!!!"

"EGGMAN!" Sonic raced towards him and stood in front of the Egg-Wily, slamming his foot against the console. He brought back his hand…

…And slapped the supervillain.

Hard.

He only made sure he held back enough so that he wouldn't knock the doctor's head off his shoulders.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Sonic never liked screaming or acting all serious. That was Shadow's job, mostly. But right now, the situation was spiraling out of control way too fast. "That's not me! Whatever you see there… That's not me!!"

That seemed to snap the doctor out of his madness, at least partially. Those creepy red and black eyes merely glared at him while hate seeming to radiate off of his body.

"Now… whatever you just freed has something nasty planned for all those worlds!" Sonic pointed behind him. "And you're going to help me stop it before it goes through with it!"

"Why should I?!" Eggman grinned… and it chilled Sonic to the bone. "I promised you already, didn't I? If I couldn't have the universe my way, you wouldn't have one at all!"

Sonic grit his teeth. "Unbelievable! Doc, what the hell happened to yo-?!"

The hedgehog heard the rush of air in the nonexistent space and turned to watch as the massive pillar appeared once again. Only now one of its appendages was curving towards them.

"CRAP!!" Sonic flew forward and extended his hand to Eggman. "Eggman! Take it!!"

Eggman stared at him with a blank expression as he approached…

…then ducked while slapping away the hedgehog's hand, grinning all the while.

"NO!"

It was too late. Sonic crashed through the back of the Egg-Wily and turned to watch as the purple branch slammed into the vehicle.

"HAHAHAHA-GYAAAH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!!"

The golden hedgehog's eyes widened as he heard his enemy's defiant laughter turn into… something stranger.

It was as if Eggman had started screaming in pain before it began to stutter and repeat. Like a badly scratched CD or the stylus of a record player not properly following the groove. Just jumping back to the same point over and over again...

"EGGMAN!!"

He raced after the branch raced towards one of the portals. He saw Eggman…

…or at least part of him.

The right top portion of his body was still sticking out, reaching out as if trying to grab ahold of something. His single black and red eye was wide with terror.

That's when Sonic noticed something.

The branch… wasn't solid.

No, it seemed to be constantly shifting like a river. Tentacles, each one slick with some kind of wet substance and curling along one another. Plates of an insect's exoskeleton were shifting, hair wriggling as if it were an organism onto itself.

"DAMN!" Sonic cursed and took Eggman's hand. "Stupid…!! Stop being stubborn and…!"

That's when he noticed it.

He pulled up Eggman… but not all of him.

The remnants were dissolving into black flakes that blew in nonexistent wind until nothing was left. The hedgehog stared in horror and disbelief as soon, not even the mad scientist's eye remained… and he was clutching at empty air.

"Eggman is… dead?"

That… that shouldn't happen! This can't be happening!!!

He looked back at where he had picked up Eggman's body and saw a red orb was pulled into the alien mass, which seemed to wriggle in pleasure at the introduction.

"Was that his soul?!"

Sonic looked at the portal and saw the end of the branch was now curling. It was gaining solidity as it became like an unholy finger. It was serrated, forked at the end as if it were an ant's leg. But the way it twisted and curled was that of an octopus' tentacle. In fact, he could see the suction cups on the underside.

"NO!!" Sonic shouted as he flew forward, towards the entrance of the portal and barreled to the branch. "I don't know what you are… BUT YOU'RE NOT KILLING ANYONE ELSE! NOT WHILE I'M AROUND!!!"

Within milliseconds, his body slammed against the fleshy underside of the branch. The surface rippled and sizzled upon making contact with Sonic's body.

The hedgehog, however, merely stared at his hands in horror.

"I-It didn't do anything?!"

No wait… he could see it! The flesh surface was bubbling and blistering at his touch!

But… his palms were also hurting. As if he put them against a hot stove!

"GAH!" Sonic brought his hands back and stared at his palms. The golden glow that his Super form had around him… was diminishing?

Before the hero could even begin planning his next move, a mass of tentacles burst forward and wrapped around him.

"NO!!" Sonic tried to fly away, moving as fast as he could ever go. His binds merely tightened their grip on his limbs further. And his eyes widened as one wrapped around his neck. He only got a mile away with some of the tentacles snapping, only for him to be snapped backwards. "NO! You won't… Win…!!"

Sonic slammed against the branch, and the tentacles became… water. It was like he was in the water!! He gasped and tried to swim upwards against the black current, gasping for air as his body burned and the mass got into his mouth.

"Nononono!!!"

He watched in horror as the end of the branch curled against the spinning galaxy… and then enveloped it into its mass. It was like watching a stone being dropped into the ocean, with the rippling waves slamming against Sonic's head.

He heard them.

Was that… his voice?

Tails?

Amy?

Knuckles?!

Sonic choked and reached up… and saw to his horror that more of his super form was dissolving away.

A wave then crashed into him and he was brought into the depths.

And he could hear even more cries. Of his friends. Of himself. Some of them were calling out to each other. Some of them were calling out to someone named Chris or his brother and sister…

The hedgehog opened his eyes and watched as in the blackness, hundreds… no… trillions of those light orbs were being shuffled through, being drawn into the center mass that the branch originated from.

In the distance he saw as bodies… of his friends… of people he never met… of aliens of different shapes and sizes… all of them being broken down without a drop of blood or red. Leaving only the glowing multi-colored orbs.

It was then that Sonic understood.

"It's eating them."

It was eating the multiverse.

An ordinary person would've gone mad, probably.

Became a giggling drooling loon like Eggman.

But Sonic the Hedgehog was anything but ordinary.

The partially golden hedgehog's brow furrowed and he grit his teeth. He began to swim towards the surface, kicking his legs against the black mass that tried to suck him further in.

"I'm going to get out of here." He declared in his head. "I'm going to get out of here, kick that thing's butt, make it spit out everyone, and save the day again!!"

He thought about his friends as he tried to swim.

They all believed in him.

So did all the animals and people that lived on his world.

And he wouldn't disappoint them!

"Keep going… you… idiot…!"

His Super form was disintegrating with every second.

"You never give up… so don't start now!!"

But… it was so hard…

The strength in his limbs was giving out…

…there was no more air in his lungs…

But he still kicked and kicked and…

…then he saw light up ahead.

As if someone had torn through the darkness itself.

It was a missile of green and yellow energy that swam through the mass and towards him. It stopped in front of him, and Sonic got a good look at the form inside the bubble.

"S-She looks like Knuckles…"

The white and gold-robed echidna did look like Knuckles if he had grown out his dreadlocks some more. She also had a tuft of purple hair sticking out of the weird pharaoh-like crown on her head. She held a sword in her right hand as she grabbed Sonic and pulled him into the green bubble surrounding her.

"Hold on tight, kid." She said as Sonic coughed out the mass that was still in his body. "It's going to be a rough ride."

He looked up and weakly asked, "W-Who…?"

The echidna didn't respond and instead shot upwards. Tentacles wrapped themselves around the orb but with a swing of her sword, a slash of golden light appeared and cut them all. It freed them and allowed them to shoot through the surface…

…And Sonic watched in horror as he saw more branches begin absorbing those spinning galaxies… no, universes into their mass.

From a distance, they didn't even look like branches.

No, they were like veins.

All of them connected to the alien tree trunk that reached into unseen heavens and touched upon a surface that the hedgehog couldn't even comprehend. It pulsated and grew like a heart. And in its center was a black circle made of nothing but shadow, with purple rings layered around it before the sides stretched to the borders of its body like an obscene eye.

"H-How many…?!"

"Don't look." The girl responded, but even her voice shook as she said it. "We'll be gone in…"

Sonic grit his teeth and stood up, slamming his fist against the surface. "This isn't over, jerk! You hear me?!"

"I'll be back and…!" He felt a fist hit the back of his head and he hissed, turning to see the echidna girl glaring at him.

"This isn't the time or place for that, idiot!" She barked out. "Save that for when you can actually fight against that thing! Unless you want me to drop you now so you can try your luck!?"

Sonic looked down at himself and grimaced. His Super form was now completely gone. All that was left was his ordinary flesh and fur.

He hated to admit it, but the echidna was right.

"Now shut up so I can concentrate." The echidna closed her eyes and muttered, "

"

With each word, a golden portal grew ahead of them. It got bigger and bigger until they were through it.

The portal snapped close behind them.

All Sonic saw… was golden light. It was peaceful in a sense, calming as if he were staring at a field of wheat blowing in the breeze.

He felt… like he was home.

Slowly, the echidna girl dropped the green force field and Sonic let out a yelp… only to find himself floating as well.

"What the…?" Sonic shook his head and glanced at his rescuer. "Mind filling me in where we are?"

"Welcome to the Chaos Force." The echidna swung her sword- free arm out at their surroundings. "Probably the place most hidden from The End."

"Yeah, speaking of which…" Sonic crossed his arms and glared at the girl. "You seem to know a lot about this thing. Mind filling me in? Including who you are?"

The girl turned to him, looked up and down, and seemed thoroughly unimpressed. "He said you were unbelievable when you were younger, but I thought he was exaggerating. Then again you did get yourself captured by him during a half-baked plan like an idiot so I should've expected it…"

"Okay, that right there. 'He'? Going to have to give me more details here."

He was back to his old self. Now that he was in this place, something was calming his nerves. Making him return to the hedgehog he once was.

But it also made him uneasy.

The echidna rolled his eyes. "The name's Jani-Ca." She then motioned to herself. "And you can guess my parents are."

Sonic blinked.

Then his jaw dropped.

"No way. There's no way Knuckles…" He shook his head. "…He can't stand girls! He can barely talk to Rouge!"

What the heck! Was this chick seriously saying Knuckles was her dad?!

It wasn't like he was unfamiliar with time travelers. Silver was testament to that.

But Knuckles' kid?!

"I'm from an alternate future."Jani-Ca said tersely. Then she looked to the side and muttered half to herself. "Mom said something along those lines…"

"Who the heck even is your mom?!" Sonic asked in disbelief. "Rouge?!"

"Seriously?!" Jani-Ca herself seemed to mirror his disbelief and pointed at herself. "Come on, don't you see her in me?! You were friends!"

"Lady, all I see is a female Knuckles in front of me!"

"Don't be too harsh on him, Jani-Ca."

Sonic turned his head and his eyes widened at what he saw.

There were three figures. One was a pink echidna with long dreadlocks, a pair of golden rings around her front most dreads. She wore a simple white robe, one that matched the robe of the brown-furred echidna next to her. His dreadlocks, however, were decorated in beads of red, yellow, and green. He was also visibly older than his female counterpart, wrinkles lining his face and bags under his eyes. The third and final figure, however, stood out with the black robe. But underneath the hood Sonic could see a brown-furred fox with a gray beard… that looked like an older Tails?

All of them had the same solemn look on their faces as they stared down at the two.

The fox was the one who spoke first saying, "He doesn't remember thanks to the doctor's scheme."

"Okay. I can see you're some sort of god or magician or something but…" Sonic pointed down to his feet. "…You mind making a floor? Floating like this doesn't feel right when I'm not Super."

A small smile appeared on the fox's face. "Of course, my boy."

With a wave of the fox's hand, Sonic felt something underneath his feet and he nodded. "Thanks." He rushed forward and pointed up. "So, you mind explaining some stuff? Like how I'm talking to Knuckles' future daughter and… oh yeah." He pointed to the space he had just come from. "…what the heck that thing was?!"

"Always with the questions! Teenagers never want to wait until they hear what their elders have to say first!" The male echidna let out a shall chuckle before shaking his head. "Honestly, it's like dealing with Knuckles again." His smile then fell until his mouth was a grave thin line. "If he were here…"

The female echidna glanced at her companion and muttered, "Athair… you know why we couldn't…" She looked down as if she were ashamed of something. "Because of me…"

The newly named Athair grimaced. "Aurora…" He let out a sigh before he inclined his head at the cloaked fox and grumbled out. "Get on with it, Merlin."

The male fox floated down in front of Sonic and reached out, pointing at Sonic's forehead. "Remember, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Hey, what…?"

Merlin poked at Sonic's forehead…

…and Sonic remembered.

"Hey little Buddy. I can tell you and I are gonna be fast friends!"

Meeting Tails for the first time.

"Yes it would, Rotor. But not a clubhouse… a secret headquarters."

"Excellent! We'll call ourselves 'The Sonic Squad!'"

"Or 'Fox Populi'?"

"'Ow about 'Zee Fantastic Five'?"

"Nah, I like 'Boomer's Bomber's' or 'Rotor's'…"

"No… We'll be… 'The Freedom Fighters'!"

His friends…

"This mega-muck will stop you in your tracks, Sonic!"

"You gotta hit me with it first, Robotnik!"

His first adventures…

"A girl! Don't you know better than to sneak up on a hedgehog like that?"

"I'm not just any girl! I'm Princess Sally Acorn!"

Sally…

All the memories were flooding him. Of strange and fantastical adventures that he was beginning to recall as if they had happened yesterday. Meeting Knuckles for the first time, fighting against Evil Sonic and the Anti-Freedom Fighters, fighting against Robo-Robotnik will all his alternate selves, rescuing Amy and Tails from Robotnik and Mecha Sonic with the help of the Freedom Fighters, fighting against EVE and convincing her to leave Mobius…

There was just so much.

"'WHEEP' I do not de-'HMM' deserve to live… 'CRACLE'. I betrayed my friends and 'DZZT' loved ones…"

"Gulp! Sonic! You are in there!"

There was also loss.

"EVERYTHING ALL GONE! BECAUSE OF YOU, ROBOTNIK! YOU BETTER RUN, ROBO-BUTT… 'CAUSE THERE WON'T BE MUCH LEFT OF YOU WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!!"

So much loss…

"The quantum wave has dissipated, Sonic!"

"But the dial is still active, Sal! I have to go through with my plan.

"Sweetie! You can't! You heard what Nicole said, you'll DIE!"

"I know. But if I don't… we'll all die, darlin'!"

"Why did we waste so much time before admitting we always knew deep down inside?

"I love you, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"And I love you, Sally Acorn! Always have, always will…"

Situations where his confidence wasn't just going to cut it. Where he had to go in pretty much knowing he would die.

"You gave me a second chance in life. It's time I repaid that debt!"

"Tommy!! NO!!"

"…Tommy?"

He lost friends… and they would never come back.

And yet…

"I love you, Sally! Please come back…"

"W-What did you say, Sonic?"

And yet…!

"Well Don't get too much further ahead."

"No? Why not?"

"Because I want to be at your side."

"Really? Think you can keep up?"

"If you let me."

"Yeah… I guess I can slow down for you."

He also remembered the good times.

"Are you sure you want me to risk this? I don't want to get slapped again."

"Oh shut up and kiss me for luck."

He remembered her.

How could he ever forget her?!

"Sally…" Sonic let out a whisper as Merlin drew back. He stumbled a few feet backwards, clutching his head with his left hand as the memories came rushing in. The memories of his life… his real life! What he had only gotten glimpses of thanks to Shadow! "I-I…!"

"Are you…?" Jani-Ca, Knuckles and Julie-Su's future daughter, asked with a twinge of concern in her voice as she reached out to him.

He could understand why.

She probably could see the tears in his eyes.

"Damn it…!" He choked out while his right hand clenched into a fist. "That… that bastard…!"

Eggman… Robo-Robotnik… he had actually managed to outdo the old Robotnik.

The mad scientist had managed to truly destroy everything in his insanity, his desire to beat him at all costs. He made Sonic forget about his home, his friends, his family, and the woman he loved!

Then, even in the end, he tried to spitefully destroy anything Sonic did to repair the damage!

What… what would've happened if his Chaos Control had worked in that uncontrolled state?

What would've happened even if it was perfect?!

"Please, Sonic. I understand your pain…" Merlin said in a soothing voice, reaching out and putting a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "But I need you to try and pull yourself together. Too much is at stake."

Sonic grimaced and shook his head. "I… I'm trying! Just…" He took a deep breath and wiped away his tears. "…give me a minute, okay?"

Damn it… he needed to pull himself together! Tails' uncle was right. He can go back to sulking and hating Eggman later.

He needed to focus on the thing that Eggman actually released in his last spiteful act.

"Tell me…" Athair began, floating down to be with them. "…What is the last thing you remember, Sonic? Before your adventure with the other hero began. This is important."

"I…"

It came to him in an instant.

"I… I did it! She was about to…"

"Nice work. Don't let it get to your head, Silverfish."

"What the… a time shift?"

"Oh, no… This is…!!"

"I… I was with Silver, Amy, Tails, and the Arctic Freedom Fighters. We were… fighting Sally in the Death Egg and… then there was white." His eyes widened and he looked up. "Sally. New Mobotropolis. They're…!"

"Safe. For now." Merlin assured him before waving into the golden void. A portal appeared, and in that white void was the Death Egg… and New Mobotropolis along with some islands that Sonic did not recognize. "The doctor's actions placed his craft within ground zero of the Genesis Wave. Anything inorganic was shunted into this void outside of time and space. As for New Mobotropolis…" He frowned. "…its survival, alongside the Starfall Islands, you have Mammoth Mogul and Naugus to thank."

"We would have made sure that they would survive the shift in reality from your Chaos Control." Athair added, nodding at the white void. "It would've taken some doing, but we would ensure the mad doctor's plan to sabotage your actions would've been fruitless. Everything would have returned as close to what it was before the Genesis Wave."

The hedgehog let out a sigh of relief.

"Sally's… safe. New Mobotropolis is safe. Mom, Dad, Uncle Chuck, Mina… Oh. Oh man…" Still… a sense of unease filled him. "Why? Why would Mogul and Naugus…?"

Then, it hit him.

"You guys have been watching the entire time?!" He looked up and stared in disbelief at the older fox and two echidnas. "Then why… why didn't you do anything?!"

"We had to ensure that reality could survive the shift caused by the Genesis Wave." Merlin responded, though he did not meet Sonic's gaze. "Our duties could not allow us to intervene as the Ancient Walkers of old had done."

"What about Tails?!" Sonic shot back. "You're his uncle, and you just let him get kidnapped by Eggman and Wily to be turned into Tails Man!"

Yeah, he kinda expected Aurora or Athair to have that whole 'we need to be above mortal affairs' schtick, especially since his brother supposedly fulfilled his duty and wasn't of use to them anymore.

But Merlin was different. He was Tails' uncle! The little guy loved him, and he did nothing with his cosmic powers when Tails needed him the most!

Merlin turned his head, but his gaze was downcast with shame and regret. "It… pained me knowing the pain my nephew went through. But… I had to do what needed to be done."

"Unbelievable." Sonic shook his head and focused on the two echidnas. "And you two! You have to know what happened to Julie-Su, Saffron, and the echidnas right?!"

Even when he was focusing on chasing down Eggman and getting back Sally, the loss of the residents of Albion never left his mind. He remembered the crushing sense of defeat, of how he utterly failed Knuckles and couldn't do a thing about it. How he had to assure Amy that they would get them back, even when deep in his heart he hadn't had a clue on how to reverse what Thrash had done.

And how, in the back of his mind, he knew how this destroyed Knuckles.

How, somewhere, Julie-Su and Saffron were with the other echidnas. Just waiting for Sonic and the others to rescue them!

Athair's eyelids drooped and he muttered, "We do."

"Then why?!" Sonic looked up at Aurora. "Why haven't you brought them back home?!"

"Oh, you're going to love this." Jani-Ca said with a scoff and a glare. "They were too busy."

"Busy?" Sonic looked at Merlin, who couldn't even meet his gaze. "Busy doing what?!"

Tails' uncle sighed and said, "Preparing… for The End."

Sonic said nothing and crossed his arms. "Explain. Now."

He was really tired of all these mystical godlike people trying to be all cryptic and junk.

"Thousands of years ago…" Athair waved his arms and a new portal appeared. In it, Sonic watched as hundreds of Green Chaos Emeralds raced towards Mobius. "The Chaos Emeralds came to Mobius. Many Mobians know this tale. The Coming of the Chaos Emeralds. But what they don't know…" The image shifted again, but this time displayed an alien world. One that was falling apart as it was being sucked into a black and purple hole. From it, racing out in the opposite direction, were the green Chaos Emeralds… and alien spaceships. "…Is that they came from the death of another world. And some of their inhabitants followed."

"That thing…" Sonic pointed at the purple and black hole. "It… it looks different."

"Indeed." Merlin nodded. "The End takes many forms. All of them a reflection of what the beholder sees as death. What you see is but one of its masks. One that it wore while it slowly consumed a universe."

"But what is it?" Sonic tapped his foot, glaring at the older fox. "You still haven't explained that."

"Basically it's an insane god." Jani-Ca spoke up, causing the hedgehog to look at her. The future daughter of his friends was glaring at the image of the world being destroyed and said, "They told me about it when they got me. Apparently at the beginning of time, there was a god of life and death. And the death god didn't like how intelligent life popped up and could eventually make more life. It went crazy and made its life mission killing everything."

The wizard winced, and a grimace was shared between the echidnas. "That's… a rather simplified…"

"Nah, it's good. I like it." Sonic nodded with approval. Short, wet, and to the point. He looked at Athair and asked, "What happened to those aliens that escaped?"

"These refugees… the Ancients… came to Mobius." Athair responded, the picture shifting to show the ships landing and the creatures that looked like Chaos stepping out. "They found us, the Mobians, and brought us to the Starfall Islands to teach. To learn. To become more than we once were."

And Sonic watched as the scenes shifted to show ancient Mobians, wearing tribal paint and loincloths, being given clothes by the Ancients. Sitting around one as it red from a holographic tablet while a lynx that looked so much like Nicole sat beside it, staring at the taller being in awe.

"And… those aren't just echidnas." Sonic realized. "There are hedgehogs there too! And I can see dragons! But… wasn't this the time when the echidnas were supposed to be super advanced?"

"But… it would not last. For The End followed them."

Sonic saw a purple moon looming over Mobius and four giant robotic machines flew up… followed by the Ancient Walkers.

Then he saw the scene shift to display the machines dodging red and white blasts of energy, firing lasers while the Ancient Walkers returned volleys of golden or green Chaos Energy. The End's limbs were torn to shreds as it continued to try and fight them.

"The heroes of the Ancients, piloting their greatest weapons, fought alongside the Ancient Walkers. Driving the mad god back and defeating it until they could enact their greatest plan…"

Sonic saw the omega symbol in chains being dragged into a golden portal.

"…trapping it within their artificial reality, Cyber Space. Alas…"

The Ancient Walkers were now staring silently, an air of defeat and sadness apparent even in an image as the destroyed remains of the machines floated in the vacuum.

"…the heroes would not be able to celebrate. For they made the ultimate sacrifice to imprison the mad god."

The scene then shifted to show a single Ancient observing an echidna floating in a tank, a smaller one right by his side.

"The Ancients knew that, in the future, The End would be freed. And in their desperation to create a weapon that could combat against a god they decided to make their own. One was a being that could control and manipulate the Chaos Force itself, a being that could use its energies to shape the fabric of reality. He…" The older echidna's mouth formed a thin line. "…was named Enerjak."

Aurora turned her head away, as if she could not bear witness to what they were seeing.

Sonic's eyes widened as he did a double take at the screen. This… was Enerjak? The original?!

The hedgehog knew there could be more than one. After all, Knuckles became Enerjak thanks to that crazy Dr. Finitevus.

"And he's not even the only one."

He looked towards Jani-Ca and studied her robes. They did look a lot like Enerjak's, albeit with white, purple, and gold rather than blue and gold. And that headdress…

…She was now glaring at the screen, her hands clenched angrily into fists. They even began to shake with rage…

"The other…"

Sonic looked back at the screen and his eyes widened at the lynx that was on a table, a headset practically fused on it while an Ancient sobbed and several others restrained another that seemed to be laughing in delight.

"…Was your friend, Nicole."

"What?!" The Hero of Mobius asked incredulously. "What does Nicole have to do with this?! How?! She…!"

He stopped himself.

He wanted to say 'She couldn't have come from the past!'.

But… they never did find out where her orb came from.

They never found out who brought the supercomputer into their lives or why she was sent to them in the first place.

"She was… created. Through the sacrifice of a Mobian. A soul turned into a program for the Ancients to slowly but surely create their own deity. One that could control reality as if it were merely lines of code. A God of Cyber Space." Athair grimaced as he changed the scene once more. "But… all of these horrible acts born out of desperation to stop The End… only lead to more horror."

The image was now of the Starfall Islands burning. Echidnas standing over bodies of Ancients and firing at fleeing mobians.

Sonic… felt sick.

He could now understand perfectly.

"The echidnas were never more advanced than any other Mobian." The hedgehog whispered before he turned to Athair and Aurora. "Your… your people just killed anyone else who knew how to use the tech!"

"I was… unaware of this truth until after I ascended into the Chaos Force." But the shame did not disappear from Athair's face. "I believed throughout my mortal life in the teachings of my fathers about my people. When I learned about this truth… I was disgusted and ashamed, just as you are."

"I knew for thousands of years." Aurora whispered. "The Ancient Walkers… they revealed the truth to me after my own husband became another link in the cursed chain that is Enerjak. The hatred and anger of the… the hero my husband was named after lived on. Cursing the very line throughout time and space. I knew… and kept it hidden."

Jani-Ca let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah. Thank you so much for that."

Sonic decided to ask the million dollar question. "Why?"

A tear fell from Aurora's eye.

"Because… because I wanted to believe all of it could've been worth it. That what my ancestors did… that it would lead to the echidnas building a better Mobius for all." Her head lowered. "But… they never did. They just retreated into themselves and repeated lies to wash the blood from their hands until it became the truth. And truth became myth. I… I knew I had to do something. Something to make it all worth it. So I…"

The female echidna pointed and a new image appeared. One of Knuckles' fur turning green.

"…I chose a savior."

Sonic's hands clenched into fists. He felt the anger bubbling up within him.

He didn't know much about what Knuckles went through, but he knew enough that it made him ticked off at Locke. Even after the man died. The guy wanted Knuckles to be not just Angel Island's protector, but the echidnas' savior. He never bothered to ask what Knuckles wanted, and when his son didn't do what his father told him to do? He'd just berate and turn his back on his own kid, calling him selfish.

It led to Knuckles dying once, and then getting manipulated into becoming Enerjak which would eventually lead to Locke's death.

And it all started… because of Aurora?!

"Do you have any idea how much you destroyed Knuckles' life because of this?!" Sonic shouted, pointing at Aurora and asking, "Did you know he was going to die too?! Do you have any idea how much what he did and almost did when he became Enerjak screwed him up inside because of you?! I know some echidnas are arrogant but this…!!"

"Trust me, kid! You aren't nearly as pissed as me about this!" Sonic turned to Jani-Ca, who was pointing her sword at the godlike echidna. "I had to live in a world where this witch's sick games turned my father into a monster! When he became Enerjak, he nearly wiped everyone out! He destroyed everything! And why?!" She grit her teeth. "Because some god decided to screw with my grandfather's dreams and convince him that he needed to make his son into the savior of the echidnas!!"

He couldn't believe his ears. Jani-Ca's future… it was from a world where Knuckles stayed Enerjak?

"What she said about me…" Sonic felt sick. "Did… did Knuckles…?"

"Why?!" Jani-Ca asked, tears now welling up in her eyes. "Tell me why! Or Aurora he-no, screw that! Tell me why before I ram this sword down your throat you b-!"

Aurora turned to them, and they both saw a sight that cooled the anger in them.

The echidna deity was crying.

"I'm sorry…" Aurora whispered, her own voice choking at each word. "I… I thought I… That I could make a savior. Prevent all of this from happening. I looked throughout time and the multiverse and saw a calamity approaching. I… I once thought I found the cause…"

A new image appeared. It was a human that Sonic recognized. That crazy human supervillain from that Zone who claimed he met Sonic and Knuckles in the future.

"That this madman, Ian Droid, would be the one who would awaken The End. But…"

Now the supervillain was being carted away by the police, his face bruised and neck in a brace while Savage Dragon shook hands with a superhero that Sonic didn't recognize. A teenager that wore yellow, blue, and black. But in a way where the yellow parts of the costume seemed to form a distinctive 'i' with the human's head…

"It was for nothing. He… he had been beaten by the champions of his own world without any intervention from us." Aurora put her hand on her head and let out a sob. "I… I didn't know what to do! Everything I had done… everything I wanted to do to save us all… it had been for nothing! Knuckles' suffering… your father's suffering… your world's suffering…! Please… Please forgive me…!!"

Sonic never expected this.

He never expected to see Aurora cry.

Before he just saw her as an otherworldly force. Something the echidnas and on occasion Elias prayed to or gave thanks to when it wasn't the Ancient Walkers. And gods came to do… whatever for their big ineffable plan.

He would've expected some pushback. Some deity trying to throw their weight around. Heck, he expected Aurora to threaten some smiting when Sonic and Jani-Ca began to grill her about Knuckles!

He never expected… this.

And neither did Jani-Ca for that matter. She lowered her sword and seemed to debate within herself before turning around. "I'll never be able to forgive you. It's because of you that my father became Enerjak and destroyed any chance of me having a normal life." She lifted her hand and looked at it. "I became this… and because of that, I got to live while my world…"

"We had to, child." Athair said softly. "You were the only active Enerjak within the Multiverse. We need you to save everything in existence."

Knuckles' daughter said nothing to that.

Sonic let out a sigh before looking at Merlin. "So I guess you guys were scrambling to find out what to do, and that's why Julie-Su and the others are still trapped in a different Zone."

They had to be.

He… he didn't want to think that they were…

"We have ensured that they will be safe… for now." Merlin said in a hushed tone. "But time is growing short, and we were only just able to do what needed to be done."

"And that is…?"

Merlin waved his arm, and then they materialized.

Millions… no… billions of Chaos Emeralds flew through the air. Gems of red, purple, blue, turquoise, green, yellow, and white twinkled in the light as they began to converge into seperate locations. Drawing closer and closer to gems of similar colors.

And then came the Master Emeralds, each spinning as they went into the center of the swirling masses.

Sonic could swear he heard Chao singing… and… Tikal singing with them?

"Before their universe's destruction, we reached out through the Chaos Force… and brought their Chaos Emeralds and Master Emeralds here." The gems seemed to merge as Merlin spoke, turning from individual emeralds until they melted into one another. In the blink of an eye, seven giant Chaos Emeralds were formed. Each the size of the Master Emerald itself. But Sonic could tell they weren't the same. They seemed to vibrate with power, as if they were ready to explode. And in the center of them was a giant Master Emerald that dwarfed the other massive gems. "All so that a miracle can occur."

"What kind of miracle?"

The older fox looked at him, and Sonic could see the weariness in his eyes before he said, "You, my boy."

Sonic blinked. "What?"

"Once, the Ancients peeked through time and space… and bore witness to a battle." Athair explained as he floated beside Merlin. "One where you fought against an enemy at the end of time…"

It hit Sonic. The mural. The mural in Angel Island, the one even Lien-Da knew nothing about!

"Our vision of the future… it has been clouded." Merlin put his hand on his head. "The End's release rippled backwards in time. Obscuring details from us. We cannot guarantee what the mural depicted, but the Ancients saw something."

"So… you guys are gambling on me." Sonic pointed at the giant Master Emerald. "You want me to go Super and fight this thing."

"Something… more than Super." Athair replied gravely. "The power of a god. A god of Chaos…"

The hedgehog looked down. "Will this save everyone?"

"I…" Merlin hesitated. "I cannot guarantee it. But it will give us a chance."

He looked up… and grinned.

"That's all I need to hear." He looked back and sped towards Jani-Ca. She blinked when he put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry what happened to your home. About what Knuckles did…"

"Then why?" Jani-Ca asked, motioning at the three deities. "Why are you just doing what they're telling you to do? You and I have both saw what happens when they decide to screw with us for what they think is a good idea!"

It was a fair question. Even Sonic had to admit that.

In their own way, Aurora and the Ancient Walkers got them into this mess.

But…

"They said this'll give us a chance." He grinned at her. "And any chance is good enough for me."

"You gambled on a chance to defeat my father in my world. It didn't work out for you."

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, well… sometimes it doesn't pan out. If I keep agonizing over how it won't work out then nothing will be done." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "And if it means saving Sal… saving my friends… saving your dad and mom… saving everyone… then I'm ready to risk it all for this chance. So tell me, kiddo… are you ready to risk it with me?"

The female Enerjak didn't reply for a few seconds.

Then, she chuckled slightly.

"Mom really wasn't exaggerating when she said you were like this when you were all kids…" Jani-Ca let out a sigh. "What the hell. I gambled on Silver and that worked out. Let's see what you've got."

"Well then… I'll go make sure I don't disappoint you." The hedgehog winked cheekily before running back to the three otherworldly figures. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot before asking, "Alright. So how do we do this?"

"You need to stand atop the Super Master Emerald." Aurora pointed to the center gem. "We shall help to direct their energies to you."

"Got it." With that, Sonic ran forward before leaping onto the massive red emerald. He could feel his quills stand up straight as the energy coursed through it and onto Sonic. He felt he could go Super with just that emerald's energy if he wanted to. Instead, he ran to the edge and then leapt out onto the surface of the Master Emerald. "Alright… let's do this!!"

The mystic trio nodded to each other before they began to float in the air. They flew to three different points around the emeralds, each performing a different action.

Aurora was the first to speak, her eyes closed as she held her hands in front of her in prayer.

"

The Super Emeralds, perhaps sensing something was occurring, slowly began to rotate around the giant Master Emerald. Sparks of energy began to crackle within the air as they gained speed.

"Okay…" Sonic's hands clenched into fists. "This is different."

Athair held his staff in front of him, clutching it with both hands while looking forward in determination. "

The emeralds gained in speed as they spun around Sonic, and his eyes widened when he felt the energy begin to course through him.

It was… different.

Different from when he absorbed the energy of all those Power Rings to become Ultra-Sonic. With that, he had felt the familiar rush whenever he grabbed the Power Ring multiplied by a thousand. It was like a fire had been lit inside him, a high unlike any other which was directed all at Naugus in that cold cavern that was once Nate Morgan and Eddy the Yeti's home…

The fire was here, but it was as if it was being lit again and again with each beat of his heart.

It was far stranger than when he transformed again and again while running to prevent the Time-Beam from destroying Mobius. The power sparkled and washed over him like water as he ran. Transforming from Super to Ultra to Solar Sonic and beyond… each marked with a change of color.

And yet… none of them felt like this.

They all felt like variations of the same thing, even with an additional power. Nothing that truly marked a change in power. Not to this extent.

Now he could feel his quills shift as sparks of energy crackled between them. He could hear the blood rushing through his ears… no, he could feel the blood flowing through his veins! Going faster and faster within each passing nanosecond. His mind was racing, neurons he never even thought about were making themselves known, crackling within his brain. The hedgehog's vision began to double… no, triple as he stared at Merlin.

He grunted, stepping back and clutching his head. He could see his quills changing color… going from Super's golden aura to Eco-Sonic's green and then shifting into Solar-Sonic's fiery orange…

"This… this is…!!"

"GAH!!"

"Sonic!" Jani-Ca floated up. "Hold on, I'll get yo-!"

"Don't!!" Sonic screamed, holding up his hand to stop her. "It's… almost… DONE…!!"

Merlin nodded, his arms outstretched and his palms open as he looked up to the nonexistent heavens of the Chaos Force.

And he spoke his final prayer.

Sonic let out a gasp…

…as his body burned.

The green flame erupted from the Super Master Emerald, bathing the hedgehog in green fire. The Super Emeralds themselves shot beams of energy into the center gem, causing different colors of flames to join the inferno.

Sonic opened his mouth, and yet he could not scream. The pain was excruciating. The flames were pure power given a form. Everything hurt! Every inch of his skin! His muscles! His nerves cried out in utter agony…!!

"Keep it together!!"

His mind flashed to all of his friends. The Freedom Fighters, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Dulcy, Monkey Khan, Mina Mongoose…

So many… he had met so many people throughout the years…

"You need to… you need to do this! For them! For all of them!!"

For his parents.

For his uncle.

For the people of New Mobotropolis.

For Mobius!

For the Multiverse!

Sally flashed through his mind, her dark auburn hair flowing in the wind as she giggled at something. She held out her hand to him, beckoning her to take it like old times…

"FOR HER!!!"

Sonic grit his teeth… and then relaxed.

He needed to let this happen.

He needed to stop resisting…

…and let the Chaos flow.

The pain was still there, but he needed to stop fighting against it.

Slowly, the horrible pain transformed into a cooling stream passing through him. Was it from his nerves burning out? He could not tell.

But he could feel the power.

Slowly, Sonic opened his eyes and saw…

Himself, approaching Nicole in New Mobotropolis and saying she needed to come with him…

No, that wasn't right! That… that wasn't happening yet…!!

Himself, turning around in horror after hearing the three gunshots that ended Sally's life in another time and place before the first Genesis Wave hit…

"The… the past…?!"

"Sonic, you need to focus on the here and now!" Merlin urgently shouted as Jani-Ca flew to him. "The present, Sonic! You must remain in the present!"

"What's going on?!" Jani-Ca shouted as she held him, looking around wildly. "What did you three do to him?!"

"He… he has truly become a god." Aurora whispered, her hand covering her mouth as she continued. "He is now in the past, the present, and the future…

"I…!" Sonic grimaced. They were right! He needed to focus…

The White Void of the Ultimate Annihilator enveloped him and Robotnik as they gripped one another in the throes of their final battle…

Ignore the god stuff.

He wasn't a god.

Sonic grinned as he, Jani-Ca, and Nicole in a strange new form flew up into the swirling mass of insect-like legs and branches of The End that breached the walls of the Chaos Force…

He was Sonic!

Sonic the Hedgehog!!!

And he lived… in the present!

The rest… what happened in the past or what will happen in the future… it doesn't matter.

What matters is right here… right now!!

The visions ceased and Sonic blinked. He looked up at his friend's future daughter and stuttered out, "J-Jani-Ca. It's… it's alright."

She looked down at him and her eyes widened. "What… on Mobius…?"

Sonic stumbled out of her grasp and looked down at himself.

His aura was different. It wasn't bursting with energy like it usually did in his Super form. It was calmer, in a way. And yet tiny stars came to life and ended in near seconds around him.

His fur was also different. It was rapidly shifting and flashing. Turning green, blue, yellow, white, purple, cyan, and red as if his fur and quills were the waves of an ocean. Nothing remained the same, and the colors seemed to shift as he turned his arm over to observe the phenomenon more.

Sonic looked around him and saw that the Super Emeralds were now drained of their power. All of them were gray, the Chaos Emeralds of the Multiverse were now dormant…

…and all their power was now his.

"Hyper Sonic…" The hedgehog muttered to himself. "Yeah… that sounds about right for this one…"

"You sure you're doing alright?" Jani-Ca reached out to him. "You don't look right."

Sonic shook his head. He could feel his past self looking unsure, grimacing as he did so, while his future self grinned confidently. Jani-Ca could probably see all three of them, as if they were after images.

"I'll be fine. Right now…" He looked up Athair. "…I have to get Nicole."

"You must only focus on collecting her." The male echidna sighed. "While it may hurt… you must only focus on Nicole. You must trust us with your home's safety. We will ensure that, no matter what, they will be safe in the face of what's to come."

Sonic grimaced. He didn't want to… but a part of him now knew that Athair was right.

For them to have this chance, he needed to focus only on Nicole.

"Everything will be alright."

That is what he'll say to Rotor before he leaves with the AI… and now he believed it.

Sonic closed his eyes…

…and went home one final time.

To Be Continued… ​