Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“World-wide scan is complete, boss!” Cubot exclaimed, closely followed by his companion Orbot. Eggman, who was planning  another design for robots he could mass produce, turned around his chair and swiped the tablet from creation. The mad doctor stroked his chin with his hand as he read the data that tablet contained.

“We can confirm that The End has been completely destroyed. We have been unable to detect the strange energy signatures that you sent us during your time on Ouranos Island,” Orbot quickly summarized. Cubot let out a sigh of relief as he wiped his forehead with his yellow glove.

“And thank goodness for that! I kinda like staying alive,” The cube-shaped robot commented. Eggman huffed as he read through Orbot report, letters and lines code reflecting off of his blue glasses.

“What are these readings?” Eggman asked. Orbot perked up as he took the tablet and looked at where Eggman pointed.

“Ah. We have no idea,” Orbot said honestly. Eggman growled lightly as he drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair. “The best theory that we could come up with is that this is information from Cyber Space leaking out into the real world.” Orbot floated to the console in the corner of the room and plugged in the tablet. After booting up, the large screen depicted a map of Sonic’s world. Multiple pins were placed on the map, each one revealing the location of the readings received from the robots’ scans.

“These are the Starfall Islands, and that one in the middle of the ocean seems to be Angel Island,” Eggman grumbled, getting up to his feet and scrutinizing the map closely. “Every other location seems to coincide with where the Gaia Temples once stood before they were all sealed away in the center of the planet.” 

“What do you think this means? Are the ghosts of the Ancients going to come out of those distortions and get us for disturbing their afterlife!?” Cubot said in a panicked voice. Both Orbot and Eggman gave him a deadpanned look.

“Don’t be ridiculous, brother,” A young voice called out to them. Eggman smiled and turned around, watching as Sage and a slightly damaged Metal Sonic walked into the room.

“Ah! Sage, Metal, there you are! How’s my favorite daughter and weapon of mass destruction?” Eggman clapped, walking towards the pair and wrapping them in his arms. The digital girl reciprocated the hug, while Metal had little to no reactions.

Speaking of Sage, Eggman had updated her appearance once they had returned from the Starfall Islands. She still wore a knee-length black dress, but the one she wore now looked more like Eggman’s jacket, which included the white zipper running down the middle and the two rectangular gems on the front and back. In addition, she now had white leggings and black shoes. The glitches and code that had once covered her skin on the Starfall Islands are mostly gone, save for patches that still covered the right side of her face and in the insides of her clothes.

“We are well, father,” Sage responded. Metal let out a metallic sound of agreement before pushing himself away from his creator. Sage floated back and raised her arm. After narrowing her eyes, the girl’s hand transformed, transforming into an armored gauntlet that. “We sparred for a few minutes, as instructed, and predictably, brother had won most of our skirmishes.” Metal Sonic walked to the corner of the room and leaned against the wall.

“I see. But you were to deflect some of his attacks, correct? Like his Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks?” Eggman asked. Sage nodded, looking at her steel-plated brother with mischievous eyes. Metal rolled his eyes and looked away.

“Yes. I’ve even managed to withstand his V. Maximum Overdrive for a brief moment,” Sage said with a nod. She flicked her wrist, and the claws changed back to her normal hands. “The results have already been recorded to your personal computer for you to examine. Though, I have to ask: what is the purpose of those weapons you’ve been giving me? I would much rather want to assist you instead of fighting Sonic and his friends directly.”

“I know, it’s just precaution, Sage. I am aware that you forged a… connection with Sonic and his little band of cheerleaders on the Starfall Islands, but there’s nothing wrong with having a surprise or two to defend yourself with! And besides, Sonic won’t see it coming! It’ll be a wonderful surprise for him!” Eggman explained with a smile. Orbot and Cubot looked at each other, causing the latter to tug on Eggman’s sleeve.

“Does that mean we can get some cool weapons too?” Cubot asked. Eggman scowled and raised his hand to berate and slap around his lackey, but Sage crossed her arms and gave him a disapproving look. Eggman coughed into his fist. 

Being a father figure is hard.

“Maybe. Eventually. If I have some spare part around or something,” Eggman grumbled. “Anyways!”

Eggman turned around and looked back at the screen, trying his best to make sense of the readings and locations. “Sage, could you take these readings and interpret them for me? They seem to be connected to the Starfall Islands and the Chaos Emeralds, but that’s about what I could decipher.” Orbot sighed as Sage nodded and took the tablet from the console.

Sage hummed as she downloaded the data from the tablet and began analyzing the information, cross referencing it with the information she obtained from Cyber Space.

“So, this is the place?” Sonic the Hedgehog muttered as Tails set him down on the floor of Sky Sanctuary. In front of them, Knuckles nodded and reared his fist back. He threw a powerful haymaker, destroying the large boulder and revealing the entrance to an empty room. Knuckles led them inside, arms crossed as the three heroes approached the Cyber Space Throne.

“Yup. This is how I first got to the Starfall Islands in the first place,” Knuckles explained. The Cyber Space Throne glowed an ominous red, not too dissimilar to the other Thrones scattered around the Islands had. “When we got back, I blocked it off so that none of the Chao could accidentally stumble inside. I know that you already destroyed The End and everything, but I’m not taking any chances. I don’t want another doomsday happening anytime soon.”

“Wow. Way to think ahead, Chuckles,” Sonic joked. Knuckles turned around and growled, and Sonic responded by leaning forwards and giving him a cocky smirk. Before a fight could break out, Tails snapped his fingers, getting the two spiky mammalians’ attentions.

“Knuckles, how long has the portal been glowing for?” Tails asked, taking out his Miles Electric to get a few readings.

“When I first put in the Portal Gear. After that, I was brought to Ares, and then Sage trapped me in one of those prisons,” Knuckles recalled. “It’s the same type of glow it had when Sonic activated the Thrones on Starfall, right?”

“Looks like it,” Sonic confirmed, walking towards the Throne. He placed one hand on the stone armrest before jumping onto the seat. “How come it took you to Ares, though? I couldn’t fast travel between portals until I activated all of them on a single island. Not that I needed it, though.”

“Maybe the Ancients used it as an emergency teleporter? You said that the Master Emerald drew in the Chaos Emeralds, which caused the Ancients to crash landed on our planet. Maybe, when The End came back to finish the job, the Ancients that fled the Islands used the Master Emerald’s energy signal to teleport them here,” Tails theorized. His tablet began beeping, and the yellow fox glanced at the screen with narrowed eyes. “Oh boy…” The other two boys saw his reaction, and Knuckles let out a loud groan.

“I swear, if you didn’t take out The End for good this time…!” Knuckles began.

“No, it’s not that. The End’s gone for good. Something else caught my eye, and it’s something big…” Tails interrupted before Sonic and Knuckles could argue. “Here, take out a look,” Tails walked between the two and showed the screen to his teammates. Sonic and Knuckles both skimmed through the screen, then looked at each, and then glanced back at Tails.

“Tails, I’d like to think we’re pretty smart, but we’re not ‘reprogramming supercomputers with dish soap’ smart. Those graphs just look like funny colors,” Sonic mentioned. Tails blinked and let out a sheepishly laugh.

“Sorry about that! What I wanted to show is that Throne is not just emitting information from Cyber Space; it also seems to be the center of some sort of space-time distortion,” Tails muttered.

“Space-time distortion!? My Island’s not going to implode, is it!?” Knuckles started to panic, but Tails immediately waved off his fears.

“Relax. Most of the distortions are unstable and only last a few seconds, so they probably won’t do a lot of harm to our world,” Tails reassured him. Knuckles huffed and crossed his over her chest, glaring at the Throne. 

“If you say so…” The echidna grumbled, walking away from the Throne and eyeing it careful. Sonic snorted as his actions walked closer to the gear in the center of the throne.

“Sonic, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tails warned him. Sonic just scoffed as he turned around.

“What? I've been in Cyber Space multiples times and came just fine! Chances are I’ll just go through another familiar local and pop back out like nothing ever happened!” Sonic said.

“And what’ll you do if you pop out in a completely separate location? Like another planet, or maybe even an alternate reality entirely, with no Cyber Space Throne to bail you out?” Tails challenged, raising a brow and leaning on his Miles Electric. Sonic raised his hand to argue, but nothing came out of his mouth.

“Alright, fair enough,” Sonic shrugged. “Still, just sitting here and taking readings and other junk won’t help us find out what’s causing these distortions. We’ll be able to figure it out once we actually go in there and see what’s causing Cyber Space to go all out whack.”

“You’re right about that, but we need to find a way to stabilize the distortions so that I can study them more thoroughly…” Tails said before his voice trailed. He turned around and looked at Knuckles with a knowing glance. The echidna at first raised an eyebrow, but after a while, his eyes widened.

“Heck no! You’re getting that Throne anywhere near the Master Emerald! Why don’t you go try and find a Chaos Emerald instead?!” Knuckles immediately shouted.

“Well, first of all, the Master Emerald is already the closest source of powers, and we could spend who knows how many days looking for the Chaos Emeralds,” Tails began.

“Plus, just leaving the Throne here might be more trouble than it's worth. If it starts going haywire, then we’ll probably need the Master Emerald to stop it. The Ancient’s tech was built with the Emeralds in mind, so you can probably use it to turn the Throne on and off whenever you want,” Sonic stated. Knuckles stared at the two. He looked like he wanted to argue, but after a moment he just covered his face with his hand and sighed. 

“Alright, fine! You guys are making some good points…” Knuckles relented. The hedgehog and fox looked at each other triumphantly and bumped fists. “I’ll get the Master Emerald from the altar and bring it here.”

“You need some help with that? I doubt getting the Master Emerald from the altar all the way to Sky Sanctuary won’t be that easy,” Sonic asked. Knuckles shrugged.

“Eh, sure, why not?” Knuckles grunted.

“In that case, I’ll go back home and get some extra tools,” Tails mentioned.

“Sounds like a plan!” Sonic said.

Eggman frowned as he looked down at the remains of his theme park, Eggmanland. 

He was so close to winning that time; he even managed to build the park this time! But alas, Sonic and that annoying chinchilla-fairy blasted right through his defense, destroyed his Egg Dragoon, and foiled his plan yet again. As he reminisced about old times, Eggman slouched on his seat and crossed his arms, drumming his fingers along his arm. 

“Father, are you well?” Sage asked. Eggman yelped as the AI girl turned off her cloaking device and suddenly appeared behind him. “Your heart seems to be accelerating drastically. Are you having medical problems right now? I did warn you about your consumption of sweets and other unhealthy foods.”

“It’s nothing, Sage, just a little surprised, is all…” Eggman muttered. “Can you at least warn me when you suddenly pop out of nowhere? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Ah, that’s why you were surprised…” Sage muttered to herself. “If it makes you feel better, I once suddenly appeared next to Miles Prower, which caused a similar reaction to yours.”

“You’re right, that does make me feel better,” Eggman smiled at her. “Are Orbot and Cubot still following us?”

“Yes, however, their transport has been delayed because a flock of birds suddenly landed on their ship to rest, and Cubot doesn’t have the heart to shoo them away,” She said. 

Eggman clicked his tongue in annoyance. “That’s fine. As long as none of the instruments on board aren’t damaged, I don’t care how long it takes for them to arrive.”

Eggman and Sage silently flew through the ruins of his Eggmanland. The forest that he burned down to build it was slowly growing back; vines were slowly climbing the chain link fences, and small shrubs and other plants were starting to cover the remains of any robots that had been stationed here. 

The two reached a hole near the center of the park and descended. Once they reached the end of the gorge, Eggman leapt out of his Egg Mobile and walked towards where the Gaia Temple once stood. He adjusted his glasses and began scanning the area, looking for distortions. “Sage, see you can connect to Cyber Space from here.”

“Understood.” The girl nodded and disappeared from sight, leaving behind a cloud of dark red mist. Soon after, Eggman heard the roar of another ship’s engines from above him. Orbot and Cubot’s transport had landed next to his Egg Mobile. The bay doors opened, and Metal Sonic stepped out, followed by a small group of Egg Pawns carrying heavy machinery.

“Father, I found the source of the distortions in the area,” Sage announced. She reappeared in front of Eggman and pointed towards the large crater on the far end of the room. The mad doctor snapped his fingers, and the Egg Pawns marched towards the crater.

With Sage’s instructions, a small lab of sorts was constructed in the center of the crater; presumably, it was the pedestal in which Sonic had placed the Emerald inside of to restore its power. Orbot and Cubot came out of their ship and began assisting Sage and Eggman with energy readings and data analysis, while Metal Sonic stood off to the side with the rest of the Egg Pawns and acted as a sort of bodyguard.

Hours passed as the Eggman and the rest analyzed and compared data. At some point, Eggman had grown frustrated with the lack of success, and went back to his Egg Mobile to rest. The slept for another few hours, until he heard somebody knocking on the side of his vehicle. Eggman let out a yawn and scratched his head. He turned around and let out a tired “Whaddya want?” to Orbot.

“Boss, unfortunately, we have discovered the cause of the distortions yet,” The spherical lackey said. Eggman growled in annoyance, but before he could say anything, Orbot interrupted. “However, what we did find is something much more extraordinary!” 

“What is it? If it’s another eldritch abomination, I’m scrapping this entire project,” Eggman groused. After the situation with The End, he’d much rather avoid doomsday scenarios.

“We found life on other planets!” Cubot exclaimed as Eggman walked towards their make-shift lab.

“Life on other planets found us. The Ancients, the Babylonians, the Black Arms–” Eggman began saying, however, he was interrupted again by Sage.

“What Brother is trying to say is that this isn’t merely life on other planets, but from other dimensions entirely,” She elaborated. “I know you’ve had experiences with alternate realities already, but these dimensions are entirely different.” She floated back and showed a screen filled with multiple different planets. “From what we’ve been able to analyze, these realities are entirely divorced from the balance of the Sol and Chaos Emeralds. In addition, they seem to be mostly populated by humans, rather than humans and Islanders.”

“Interesting…” Eggman said slowly. He leaned forward and examined the many planets displayed on the screen. According to the readings, none of the planets had any ounce of Chaos Energy within them. “If the are divorced from that balance, how come you’ve been able to connect to them with Cyber Space?”

“Of that, I am currently unaware,” Sage said. “While multiple of these dimensions have relics are energies capable of altering space-time to a degree, I’m unsure as to why that would allow me to connect to them through Cyber Space.”

“Our running theory is that some great multiversal event, alongside Super Sonic II’s unstable power levels, has somehow made a hole in the gap between dimensions which allowed realities to spill into each other, thus connecting them to Cyber Space and allowing Sage to make connections to those alternate dimensions,” Orbot elaborated. Eggman nodded and smiled at the screen.

“So what you’re saying is that I have a chance to now take over the entire multiverse?” Eggman said excitedly, rubbing his hands together like a kid on Christmas Day. Sage, Orbot and Cubot all glanced at each, and then back at Eggman.

“I mean… technically?” Cubot supposed. “I guess it’s true that not all of these planets have the best defense systems. Some of them have magic, tech, and sorts of things in between to fight stuff. But most of that stuff is only for a few individuals instead of the entire world, for the most part.”

“Which means that they won’t be able to deal with my genius, or my armies!” Eggman chortled. “What’s the weakest planet with the strongest reality warping relic?”

“That would be this planet,” Sage explained. She turned around, and immediately, images began to appear on the screen, depicting a world almost completely covered in ice. Eggman grunted as he approached consoles.

“That’s it? It’s just a dead, frozen world! If there was a reality-warping instrument on it, there should be at least one major civilization for me to conquer and rule over!” Eggman complained.

“Boss, these are only images of the planet's surface. Since this world seems to be in an ice age, it is possible to assume that people have retreated underground for survival,” Orbot noted.

Eggman crossed his arms for a moment. A smile quickly grew on his face as he rubbed his hands together. “Or, perhaps the previous civilization had died out, leaving that reality-warping object ripe for the taking! Bring out the scouts!”

The Egg Pawns all saluted and went back into the transport. They dragged out a large cylindrical object and opened, revealing a multiple of heavily armored Spinners inside. One by one, the Spinners activated and flew out of their recharge stations. Eggman smiled to himself, and turned to Sage. With a snap of her fingers, multiple digital portals appeared in front of the Spinners, each one leading to the snowy planet. Eggman watched with glee as the scouts flew into the portal. 

“Yes! By the time I’m done with that planet, I’ll expand my empire’s reach, and conquer that entire dimension! He he he he he… HA HA HA HA HA!”

The Master Emerald was placed in the center of the room and was slotted inside of a machine with multiple wires that connected it to the Cyber Space Throne. Off to the side, Tails had set up a small station to work out. Knuckles stood in front of the Emerald, ready to disconnect it from the machine at a moment’s notice.

And lastly, Sonic was standing in front of the drone, dressed in a modified hazmat suit with multiple gadgets and knick knacks attached to his sleeves and pants. As he hefted a large backpack onto his shoulders, the hedgehog turned around and crossed his arms.

“Tails, I get that you want to be safe, but isn’t this a bit overkill?” Sonic asked. “I can survive the vacuum of space! I'm pretty sure I can survive whatever’s out there when I go through. Plus, all this heavy equipment is kinda slowing me down.”

“I know that you’ve survived a lot of stuff, but this is all just a precaution. We have no idea where you’ll pop out! For all we know, you’d be in the center of a nuclear wasteland, or in the middle of a volcano,” Tails explained. “And the rest of the tools you have are to help us understand what’s going on. You’ll be taking lots of samples of the ground and atmosphere; really, anything you can get your hands on so that we can get to the bottom of these distortions.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Sonic shrugged. He slid the helmet over his head and adjusted his gas mask so that he could breathe more comfortably.

“Knuckles, you ready?” Tails asked. The echidna grunted and walked towards the Master Emerald, and placed his hand on it. He started chanting under his breath, reciting the prayer that his ancestors had taught him. When he finished, the red glow that covered the circuits of the Throne had turned into a light shade of green.

“Alright… What happened?” Knuckles scratched his head as he pulled away from the Emerald. Tails went back to his console and examined the readings he received.

“The distortions seem to have stabilized, for now,” Tails reported. “Sonic, I’m letting you go in and run around for roughly two hours. Once that time is up, I’ll have Knuckles bring you back with the Master Emerald, and then I’ll analyze the information I got from the suit.” Sonic nodded and jumped onto the Throne.

“Alright, then!” Sonic said excitedly. He adjusted his gas mask one last time before placing his hand on the gear in the center of Throne. A green light enveloped his body, and Sonic felt his body beginning to digitize, his physical form changing and transforming into information.

When he regained consciousness, all Sonic could see was white.

“What the…?” Sonic muttered, taking a step forward, his foot crunching the snow underneath him. Somehow, he found himself in the middle of a snowstorm. “Where the heck did I end up?” Behind him, a digital portal opened up and spat out an armored spinner. However, because of the howling winds and constant barrage of snow, it went unnoticed by the heroic hedgehog. It immediately flew away, searching for any sign of civilization or ancient artifacts.

“So, do any of these instruments do anything right now?” He asked no one, inspecting the instruments on his arm. He paused when he heard a buzzing sound, and reached up to grab his ear. A small antenna popped out of the side of his helmet, and it seemed to be doing… something? He’s not exactly sure. A bunch of stuff appeared on his visor, from graphs and pie charts all the way to a bunch of other smart things that Sonic couldn’t even name or begin to comprehend.

“Okay, so, is there a way to turn all that stuff off?” Sonic asked the suit. Immediately, all of the smart things and graphs turned off, leaving only a small timer at the very top. The hedgehog smiled to himself. He was getting a hang of wearing clothes. “Show me a to-do list from Tails!” On the side of the visor, a list of chores appeared that ranged from collecting samples to interacting with locals.

“I don’t think I’ll be talking to anyone soon, not with this blizzard,” Sonic muttered to himself. “Well, all this busywork isn’t going to finish itself!” He said. With a smirk hidden beneath his mask, Sonic ducked low to the ground and ran. A sonic boom rocked the empty plains he was standing, the force of his speed pushing away the snow in his path, blazing a trail for him to follow.

SONIC
Destruction / Wind

Faction: Team Sonic
Character Introduction: A free-spirited hedgehog that hails from South Island. He travels all over the world to keep his arch-nemesis, the evil Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, from taking it over.
VA: Roger Craig Smith (Sonic’s current voice actor).

HP - 766
ATK - 344
DEF - 423
SPD - ???

BASIC ATK - Sonic Combo [Single Target]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 50% of Sonic’s ATK to a single target.

SKILL - Homing Attack + Air Trick [Quick-Time Event (QTE)]: First deals Wind DMG equal to 75% of Sonic’s ATK to a single enemy, which launches Sonic into the air and allows him to enter Trick Mode. This attack does not consume SP. While Sonic is in Trick Mode, flick the left stick / swipe the screen in any direction. Once the left stick has been flicked / screen has been swiped 3 times, Sonic will perform another attack based on the inputs:

• Up Draft [Up x3]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 75% of Sonic’s ATK to a single enemy.

• Sonic Eagle [Down x3]:  Deals Wind DMG equal to 50% of Sonic’s ATK to target and adjacent enemies.

• Sonic Flare [Down + Up + Down]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 120% of Sonic's ATK to a single enemy and consumes an extra Skill Point.

• Sonic Boom [Up + Right + Left]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 15% of Sonic’s ATK to a single enemy 9-17 times.

• Wild Rush [Left + Right + Left / Right + Left + Right]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 45% of Sonic’s ATK to adjacent enemies, then deals Wing DMG equal to 95% of Sonic’s ATK to target.

• Loop Kick [Up + Down + (Left / Right)]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 75% of Sonic’s ATK to a single enemy. Has a 15% chance of inflicting the enemy of stunning the enemy for one turn. This chance increases the lower the enemies’ Toughness Meter is (stunned enemies cannot perform an action on their next turn.)
• Spin Slash [Any combination not listed]: Deals Wind DMG equal to 80% of Sonic’s ATK to target and adjacent enemies.

If Sonic does not perform any of these actions, his turn will end.

ULTIMATE - Cyclone Kick + Frantic Tricks [QTE]: First deals Wind DMG equal to 160% of Sonic’s ATK to a single enemy, which launches Sonic into the air and allows him to enter Trick Mode. While in the Trick Mode, flick the left stick / swipe the screen up to 15 to allow Sonic to perform up to 5 additional attacks based on inputs. Each of these attacks have their DMG increased by 35%. If Sonic does perform any of these actions, he will deal Wind DMG equal to 120% of his ATK to all enemies. Sonic’s Boost Gauge immediately progresses to the next level.

TALENT - Phantom Rush [Enhance]: When Sonic uses a Basic ATK or Skill, consumes energy from the Boost Gauge. Sonic can refill the Boost Gauge by performing tricks using his Skill, gaining a Speed Buff, or by defeating an enemy. Also, Sonic loses energy from the Boost Gauge if he is inflicted by a Speed Debuff or takes damage. Sonic can perform an action based on how much the Boost Gauge has been filled at the beginning of his turn:

• Empty: Sonic performs an action once every 7 turns. Boost Gauge increases at 14% its normal rate.

• Red: Sonic performs an action once every 5 turns.

• Orange: Sonic performs an action once every 3 turns.

• Blue: Sonic performs an action once every 2 turns. Boost Gauge decreases at 9% its normal rate.

• MAX: Sonic performs 2 actions every other turn. Boost Gauge decreases at 27% it’s normal rate (Sonic will not gain another action if the Boost Gauge enters MAX in the middle of his turn).

TECHNIQUE - Spin Dash [Enhance]: Hold the Technique button to allow Sonic to curl up into a Spin Ball and begin charging. Sonic can be with the control stick. Release the Technique button to launch Sonic in that direction, increasing Sonic’s movement SPD by 95%. Immediately enters battle when Sonic makes contact with an enemy, and immediately places him in Trick Mode. Spin Dash can be canceled by pressing the left stick / tapping the screen twice.

Chapter Text

The quickster arrives…

Cocolia stilled as the Stellaron spoke to her, words dying in her throat. Bronya stopped talking when she noticed, her eyes filled with concern as the Supreme Guardian stared into space.

“...Mother?” The young woman asked worriedly. “Is everything alright?”

Cocolia stood still for a few moments, before realizing how she must have looked. She coughed into her fist and recollected herself. “Yes… I-I’m fine. I just remembered something that requires my attention.” Bronya blinked, unsure of how to respond. Yet still she remained inside the Supreme Guardian’s office. “Immediately."

“...I understand,” Bronya said. She bowed quickly and walked to the exit, the wooden doors creaking as she pushed them aside. Just as she was about to close them, Bronya paused and looked back, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Will you be home in time for dinner?” She asked.

Cocolia’s throat turned dry. She nodded and gave Bronya a plastic smile. “I’ll try,” She fibbed. Again. Bronya returned the smile and closed the door, leaving the Supreme Guardian alone with her thoughts, and the voice of the Stellaron.

“What quickster?” Cocolia muttered, leaning forward as she placed a hand on her forehead. Instead of answering, the Stellaron gave her vision of another world. She witnesses a golden light flying towards an aquatic beast, a God of Destruction. A small, glittering gnat flying next to a massive stone colossus, the two fighting to dispel a dark god of pure evil and malice. A hedgehog bathed in the powers of chaos and the memories of a forgotten people as he fought against the the personification of Death itself. And won.

A quickster, that if left alive, could foil her plans with ease.

“I’ll notify the guards,” Cocolia spoke, but Stellaron hushed her.

The quickster is a being of pure Chaos. The Stellaron informed her. But even Chaos can be corrupted. Manipulated. Another vision appeared in Cocolia’s mind. This time, the golden hedgehog was a pale, sickly shade of blue, with black, digital splotches covering its body. It stood still, unmoving, trapped between realities.

“I see…” Cocolia muttered. “I will show this… quickster… our vision. And should he resist…” Cocolia’s grip tightened on her pen, until it snapped.

Sonic tapped his foot against the snowy floor, overlooking a large cliffside that he managed to find about a half-hour into his run. Below, he could see a large ocean almost completely covered by snow, with large warships trapped inside the thick sheet of ice the water had become. Some of the ships had been tilted, looking as though they had been in the middle of sinking before they were frozen in place.

Sonic paced around the cliff side, looking for a good place to land. As he did, a few trees in the corner of his vision caught his attention, and the hedgehog smiled. A few broken trees and second later, Sonic jumped off the cliff with a haphazardly put-together board made of frozen bark, letting out a yell of excitement as he slid down the cliff.

“Woohoo!” Sonic yelled. He kicked the ground to speed, using enough force to break the sound barrier three times over as she shot forward. The sound waves rocked the cliff sides and reverberated against the snow, causing the already unstable snow collapse. Sonic’s ear twitched as he heard the snow rushing towards, but when he looked back, he smiled.

Sonic dragged his foot against the ground, slowing himself down so that the incoming mass of snow was only a few feet away from him. “Is there any way to take selfies?” Sonic asked the suit. The antenna thing on the side extended a few extra meters, and the end started flickering. Sonic put up a peace sign as the antenna let out one large flash. A picture showed up in the corner of his visor, the one he just took. Sonic smiled and kicked the ground again, shooting forward.

Eventually, the board gave out and shattered, causing Sonic to tumble on the ground. He instinctively rolled up to protect his head, causing snow to bundle up and surround him. The giant snowball flew off a ramp-like curve and plummeted down, crashing into the frozen sea with enough force to crack the ice. Sonic burst from the snowball with his limbs outstretched and cleats appearing on the soles of his shoes.

Sonic rolled against the ground and uncurled, snow flying everywhere as he quickly corrected his balance as began to run across the frozen ocean. While the cleats were able to maintain some level of traction, he still had to slow down to keep himself from sliding uncontrollably.

The blue hedgehog approached the first warship, a half-sunken vessel that was an ugly shade of purple. There was a large one on the side of the ship, almost like a massive laser had barreled through. Sonic raised an eyelid as he came close, and noticed that the vessel looked more like a spaceship.

“I wonder if the defense systems are still on?” Sonic asked. He jumped up and buzz sawed through the reinforced iron walls, sparks flying out as he cut through like butter. 

Sonic burst into a wide hallway. He skid across the floor and immediately dashed through the left hallway, looking around excitedly as Sonic sped up and looked around the room. The hallways were wide, but the corners were a bit too tight for him to turn without slowing down.

As he was running, an alert popped up on the side of his visor. Turns out the air outside is perfectly breathable. “Nice! That means I can take off this stuffy mess!” He exclaimed, reaching for the helmet. But just as the air from in rushed through the small gap, Sonic immediately sealed it shut. “Maybe when I get back home,” He grumbled, teeth shattering from the brief yet intense cold he endured.

Sonic made another sharp-turn, but his eyes went wide when saw that a large chunk of the floor had been taken out. He jumped up, curling up as he bounced off the holes and through the giant hole in the ceiling. Sonic uncurled at the apex of his height and spread out his arms to slow down his descent. 

The frozen ocean stretched out for miles. It was practically a graveyard for multiple ships like the one he just ran through, in addition to multiple other spaceships just like it and multiple other warships. These ones had the emblem of two circles connected by a U-shape. “Looks like a big battle took place here. I wonder who won,” Sonic muttered. He looked down at the ship he came from, looking for a ramp to roll off of.

He maneuvered himself to the right and curled, sliding against a particularly ragged piece of bent metal. It wasn’t as smooth as he would’ve preferred it to be, but it got the job done. Sonic was flung into the air again, flying towards the nearest warship.

Sonic bounced on the front deck of the ship, and onto a large defunct rail cannon. Sonic kicked the chase as heard he could to make it swivel to the other side. Sonic jumped and homing attacked the controls of the weapon. The weapon fired, shooting a thin, electrical laser that caused the surrounding snow to steam and evaporate instantly. Sonic, seeing no problem with doing what he was about to do, jumped on the laser and started rail grinding on top of it. He’s grinded on electricity before. Granted, it was magic lightning from a cave filled with magic crystals inside a book of Arthurian legends, but he still did it before.

The makeshift grind rail traveled over the ice-covered ocean. Sonic looked down as he balanced himself on top of the laser, seeing all of the capsized and defunct ships that littered the ocean. The concentration of broken down ships only got larger the farther the laser traveled. A large majority of the ships were concentrated around a large tower like structure. As with the purple warships, this seemed to be made for space travel before it was shot down.

The electric laser struck the hull of the tower, sparks and steam from the point of impact. Also, the structure began to glow.

Sonic’s eyes widened as the tower was seemingly brought back to life. Small ports opened on the side of the tower, turrets primed and ready to fire. The hedgehog smiled as he bent his knees and jumped when the turrets began to fire rapidly. Sonic touched the side of the tower, his cleats digging smooth purple metal just enough for him to get some traction. He ran to the top of the tower with ease, dodging incoming lasers as they were fired from their guns.

Once Sonic reached the top, he jumped as high as he could and looked down, watching as the top of the tower fizzled away. Multiple gray and silver orbs flew out from the new opening. Sonic smirked as he dropped like a rock, bouncing off each of them, and shattering them like rocks as he entered the tower.

Sonic slid down a spiraling staircase, uncurling briefly to examine his surroundings. Around him, lights flickered on, and hard-light bridges formed before his very eyes. And most exciting of all, robotic-humanoid creatures were reactivated. Thin layers of frost melted as the machines came back to life, bodies twitching from centuries of disuse. A pair of red eyes lit up at the very bottom of the tower, followed by the sound of hiss.

Green eyes brightened as Sonic ducked underneath the glowing blade of purple. He quickly grabbed the robot by the neck and tossed to the closest enemy he could find, another humanoid wielding a giant cannon. Other’s of its kind fired their weapons, but Sonic easily jumped over the attacks and landed their heads, caving in and sawing through bodies as easily as cutting through butter.

As Sonic shattered through another wave of enemies, a loud roar came from the bottom of the tower. He looked down, and jumped away as a massive snake-like robot gobbled up a piece of the floor he was just standing on. Sonic whistled at the size of the snake machine, though it was a tad bit smaller than the biggest machine’s Eggman had built.

The snake lunged again, and Sonic turned to the side to evade. He reached out and grabbed onto one of the purple snake’s segments, holding on tight as broke free from the tower and started coiling around it. Multiple hatches opened up on the sides of the segments, revealing turrets that were beginning to power up. Sonic smirked as they fired, dodging and twirling with ease as bullets and energy blasts whizzed past him. Sonic homing attacked the turrets and ran across the length of the snake robot, smiling to himself as they went higher and higher.

As the snake slithered past the highest point of the tower, it shook its body, sending Sonic flying into the air. “Uh-oh,” he muttered, as the snake lunged from behind and swallowed him whole. It’s victory was short lived, however, as it started to convulse and writhe as something struck from inside. That something was, of course, Sonic, bouncing around rapidly inside the machine’s artificial stomach. The snake jerked around erratically as dents formed inside its armor. 

Eventually, Sonic burst out of the snake’s back, metal shrieking and sparks flying as he flew out and soared into the sky. The hedgehog took a deep breath and admired the view of the frozen wasteland. 

“Oh yeah,” Sonic muttered to himself. 

He curled up into a tight ball and dropped like a rock. The snake looked up, but all it could see for the last few seconds of its life was a blue rodent smirking at it. The machine folded in on itself as Sonic barrelled through the machinery, his sheer speed causing enough friction to ignite the wires inside. But Sonic didn’t stop there; he continued to make his way through the snake, and eventually started to break through the armor of the tower.

Before he even reached the bottom, the tower completely crumpled under the force of his stomp, triggering a large-scale explosion the likes that this frozen world hadn’t seen in centuries. The massive fireballs engulfed the surrounding ships, causing them to ignite and explode as well.

Sonic flew out of the cloud smoke, laughing loudly to himself as fell to the ground. “That was tight!” he exclaimed as he slid on his head. “I gotta do that again sometime!”

Sonic stiffened when she heard the sound of ice cracking. He moved into a sitting position, and watched as the cracks began to appear on the floor.

“Oh, right. Frozen Ocean…” Sonic muttered as the ice began to collapse into the freezing water. He tried to scramble to his feet, his green eyes going wide with fear as more ice began to break and shatter. “No, no, no, no!” Sonic hissed, his hands and slipping against the floor as he tried to push himself up. By the time he got to his feet, the ice around him broke apart, and water splashed on his back. Even through his suit, Sonic freezed, both from the intense cold and his fear of water. 

Just as half of Sonic’s body was submerged in ice cold water, his form began to digitize and his memory turned into code and information. Sonic disappeared in a green glow just the entire ocean broke free from its icy prison and the ships sunk into the bottom of the sea.

“Woah…” The blonde girl muttered. She was hiding from the elements inside her tent, a defunct heater and thick wall of snow being the only things that kept her warm. “This must be a new species of bacteria…” She continued, scribbling down on her research papers as she looked through her microscope.

The girl suddenly yelped and something got her attention. She looked unsteady, but quickly regained her balance. After putting on her hood, she walked outside and looked east, her eyes widening from what she saw; a massive fireball in the distance. “What is that? Volcanic activity…?” The girl muttered questioningly. She retreated back into her tent, and soon came out with a backpack filled with hiking gear.

Once the girl had disappeared into the snowy fog, Orbot turned around and tapped Eggman on the shoulder. “Boss? The girl left her tent.”

“Good. Move inside and see what sort of papers she has,” Eggman ordered, turning away from the monitor he was and looking at Orbot’s. The spherical model nodded and began maneuvering the Spinner scout inside the explorer girl’s tent, carefully to not let its blades tear through the fabric.

Once inside, the bottom of the machine opened up, and multiple arms popped out and began to rummage through the papers, making a mess of the place. The Spinner’s eyes flashed, taking multiple pictures of the important files and reports. As this happened, Sage placed her hand on the console, analyzing every single photo that was taken in mere seconds. Not even a minute passed when Sage’s eyes flashed bright blue.

“Father, I have the coordinates of the only civilization still inhabiting this planet,” Sage revealed. Eggman smiled at her, letting a few chuckles as he typed in a few commands. 

“Good girl, Sage. Input the numbers into the Egg Mobile. You’re coming with me.” The AI girl nodded, and disappeared in a cloud of red mist. “Metal, you’re coming as well,” The doctor ordered. The metallic doppelganger beeped in response, and floated next to Eggman's floating vehicle. Metal Sonic snapped his fingers, and a small group of Badniks formed around the Mobile, ranging from Egg Pawns with spears and guns, some Egg Flappers, and two large Egg Hammers.

As the bots prepared themselves, Orbot and Cubot typed on the console, numbers and equations appearing on the screen as the video footage from the spinner cut off.

As Eggman hopped into his Egg Mobile, Sage reappeared next to him. “Father, I’ve inputted the coordinates a few miles away from the city, which is named Belobog.” Eggman grunted in affirmation as he placed his hands on the controls. The mad doctor pushed a button on his console, opening a portal to the other world. 

“Metal, you and the other Badniks set up a perimeter around the city. I want you to let me know the moment Sonic shows his face in this dimension!” Eggman ordered. Metal Sonic nodded, and he and the other robots marched inside the portal. 

“What will we do, doctor?” Sage asked as she floated next to him. Eggman only smiled as the glass dome slid in place.

“You will search for the power source that’s keeping the portal open,” He explained. After pausing, a gleeful smile appeared on his face. 

“I’ll handle the Supreme Guardian.”