Flashback, Nine's Lab
Nine is charging up his Shattercraft. A Portal appears in front of the garage door, surprising him. He jumps off and picks up a tool, then notices on the monitor that two Eggforcers are patrolling an area.
"Ugh, already?" Nine groans annoyed.
A fuse around the security door ignites, signaling that they are getting through. He jumps back on the Shattercraft and puts his hands on the controls. "I haven't had time to test this yet. It better work!" The Shattercraft moves into the portal...into the Void.
"Remarkable! I knew there was the potential for space between worlds, but I never imagined it would be quite like this." Nine said, amaze before he notices falling rocks and is alerted. "Gah!" He tries to dodge the rocks, but the engine starts to shut down and the machine loses control, causing him to scream as it corkscrews downwards. Soon, Nine finally manages to swoop it up to a more moderate angle. It is still seen corkscrewing across the air, but he manages to stabilize it. He sighs with relief and pulls the levers back. He soon spots another portal and pushes the levers forwards. However, Nine notices a flashing Jet Turbine on the monitor.
"Ah, this thing needs some repairs. Let's hope there's some solid land in there." He pushes the levers. The Shattercraft moves into the portal...
The Grim
Nine then ends up in an empty world. He brakes and lands the Shattercraft with a thud. He opens the doors and jumps off, holding his scanner.
"Empty. There's no one here. Pretty Grim. It's perfect." Nine grins before turning on his scanner. A diamond flashes on the scanner's screen. Nine follows the path indicated by the diamond. He then jumps back into his ship, starts the engine and takes off. It stops at a cave. Nine steps out to check out the cave and finds the Shard right in front of him, clear as day.
Soon, the same shard is transported to a generator room he created. Nine reconfigures it by shooting lasers, before doing the same thing with the purple shard. The purple shard converts into a coconut. He takes the newly-configured coconut towards a set of palm trees.
"The guys are gonna love this place." He declared.
But not even a second after he heard that, Nine heard a whoosh sound coming from inside the cave. He turned in urgency and saw nothing. He heard it again to his right but got nothing there. He decided to check his scanner in infrared mode, and saw a heat signature speeding around him. It seemed like it was coming in all directions but he didn't understand it.
But before he could think it over any further, he felt a kick to his left side launching him across the cave. Soon there was a figure with a hood appearing in front of Nine in high speed's catching him by the chest in mid-air and slamming him to the wall. Nine groaned in pain. He aimed all seven of his tails at him, but it was stopped when seven after-images appeared and stopped them with large staples, stopping the tails from moving. "Tell me one thing." The figure lowers his hood and reveals he was Rory. "Just which one are you?" This question confuses Nine.
Present Day
The Eggforcers attack Sonic, Rory and Nine. While Nine retreats, Sonic prepares an attack, but Rory puts his hand in front of him to stop him. "Leave this to me." He then launches a Homing Attack and defeats them easily, with both Doctors evading a sliding heap of robot parts. Nine types on the computer with Sonic behind him.
The doors close while Rory glares at the Doctors. He then turned to his comrades and went to them.
"I've locked the Chaos Council out of the system, but it won't last long." Nine tells them.
"Don't tell me we're trapped in here?" Sonic asks.
"Are you kidding? This is all going according to my plan." Nine smirks.
Suddenly, thudding is heard from outside. It's Dr. Babble and his mech suit. It fires a baby rattle mace at them. They dodge.
"Did your plan include that?" Rory deadpanned at the fox.
"That? No." Nine replied. Dr. Babble babbles and continues firing multiple blasts at Sonic, who dodges, and carries the shard box with Nine riding on it. It exits the room and heads down a stairway.
Rory stays behind and simply vanishes. He reappeared on the wall farthest from Dr. Babble and then appeared again just over the blaster which he kicked off the mech.
Dr. Babble noticed this and after a few seconds he started sobbing. Rory rolled his eyes. "Whiny little baby." He then left to follow the others. He sees them chatting.
"We are taking a different path." Nine drops Sonic's Regulator down the hole between the long staircase.
"Oh, things are finally coming together. We've got the Shards. We can finally fix everything!" Sonic said.
"It's going to be perfect!" Nine said excitedly, but Rory stood behind them wondering if they wanted the same thing.
They then hide in the vents and wait until the Eggforcers travel down the middle of the long staircase.
"Why aren't they powering down? We have the Shards." Sonic asked.
"There's still residual prism energy stored in the Mothership. It won't last, but it'll last a while." Rory replies.
They move out of the vent, noticing one of his vehicles and an Eggforcer. Nine crawls closer to the vehicle, and looks both ways carefully. He hops onto the charger and overcharges the Eggforcers with his tails, knocking them down. Sonic brings the box in.
"Nine, you are full of surprises." Sonic compliments.
"If you like surprises, wait 'til you see what I've got going on in the Grim." He opens one of the lids and picks up the shard inside. He points to his vehicle.
"Grim? Cool, can't wait to hear more! But right now we gotta find Ryder and get to Ghost Hill." Sonic said.
"Ghost Hill?" Nine asks.
"Yeah! It's just like the real deal, plus it's got a fourth Shard and this blueprint thingy."
Rory's eyes widened. "A blueprint? That could be how we put the prism back together!"
"Exactly!" Sonic agreed.
"How do we get to this Ghost Hill?"
They hear metal thudding on the door. Two trios of Eggforcers emerge and attack.
"We'll clear the path, you get the Shards out of here!" Nine nods in agreement to Sonic's statement.
Sonic and Rory spin, dodging weapon fire and defeating all the Eggforcers. Nine prepares his machine.
As the entrance door opens - at the same time Dr. Deep war cries and his mech suit swoops in to block the way, preparing to slice at the hedgehogs.
"Oh great, the blabbermouth with the swords." Rory groaned.
"I'll blabber after my victory." Dr. Deep said before charging at them. Rory just dodged the attacks simply and stoically until he grabbed the sword from Deep's grasp and used it to whip him around until Deep finally let go and was set flying until he reached the ground. He groaned in pain until the sword landed next to his head, scaring him.
Sonic and Nine stared at him, impressed and shocked. "Wow, that was fast."
"Is that new for us?" Rory asked with a smirk as he ran to them and jumped on top of the Shattercraft in case of another attack.
"Next stop, Prism Blueprint." Nine said. The vehicle is heading towards the portal. "The portal shouldn't have been left open this long. They're decaying."
"Do you think we can go through them?" Sonic asked.
"I wouldn't risk it. It looks pretty dangerous. The event horizon could destroy the entire ship." Rory theorized.
"Rory's right. And I don't trust them, they look unstable." Nine said and went full speed, under threat from three chasing Eggforcers. Nine steers the vehicle both ways to dodge enemy bullets. It corkscrews to dodge more bullets, impressing Sonic.
"Ha-ha! Mess with my best bud, and you get blasted!" Sonic said and Nine smiled nervously. The ship then swerves away from the Yoke and flies away.
"Whoo-hoo! That was epic!" Sonic yelled excitedly.
Nine snickers. "Yes, it was."
Cannon-fire from the large tank misses the vehicle as it heads towards the Portal.
"Ha, ha, ha! Nothing's gonna stop us now!"
Rory relaxed for a bit, lying down on the seat, but then was surprised to see the airborne tank fire again. "Watch out!" He was too late. It scores a direct hit, corkscrewing the vehicle out of control as Nine stabilizes the vehicle.
"Will you stop saying stuff like that?" Nine and Rory speak at the same time.
The Yolkomotive shoots and breaks off the enemy's wing, sending the Shattercraft out of control.
"Ugh. We're going down!" Nine tells them. During their descent, the Prism Shard box comes off. "The Shards." The Shattercraft crash lands onto the road and powers down.
"You two okay?"
Rory dangles on the wing but puts his thumb up without looking at them. "I'm good."
"The Shatterdrive is down. Go get the Shards!"
The door opens. Sonic and Rory jump off and speeds towards it, while Council shoots bullets at Sonic. They dodge weapon fire and Sonic brings the Shard box in. Before Rory follows, he sees the unconscious Ryder and Rex lying on the floor. "Ryder." He runs to them and he grabs him and holds him over his shoulder along with his satchel. He then sees the unpowered cyborg. "He won't last long. Without the Emerald his cybernetics can't save him. His organs will fail."
Rory drops down to Rex and starts infusing some Prism power into his chest. "Nine seems to care for you. So I'm gonna help you. Let's hope this energy will buy you enough time to get a more permanent solution." He then gets up and leaves the slowly recovering Rex to his own devices.
Nine grabs the Shard he used as a power unit. "Nine, get down!" He hears Sonic's warning and realizes he is also under threat of cannon fire. He almost drops his shard. "Whoa!" He hides inside the Shattercraft as it nearly misses him.
Meanwhile, a running Rory hears the Yolkomotive getting hit by cannon fire. He then returns the Shard Box to the fallen Shattercraft and sees the Yolkomotive burning in smoke, along with another familiar aircraft still intact. "What the heck?"
"All right, Rusty and Black Rose!" Sonic cheers.
"Hm. Lucky." Rory turns to Rex and then back to Sonic. "Here you can borrow this for a sec." He places Ryder on the box and runs back to grab Rex. He then zips up the walls and jumps onto the Kraken. "This guy needs help. Where's your fox friend?"
Black Rose reaches them. "Ryder? Why are you helping the enemy?"
"I'm not Ryder. Not exactly at least. And I need you to take him. He's dying and he needs help."
Rusty turns to face Rory. "Wrecker Rex is a traitor and he serves the Chaos Council."
"Maybe, but he was your friend once. And I don't think you're willing to let him go down just yet. And I bet you don't think he would for you either."
Rusty hesitates for a moment before finally nodding and taking Rex in her arms. "Very well. I will care for him."
"Thank you. I'll be back soon." He then zips back to the ship and sees no one is there. He then checks his wrist watch and sees them running nearby. He then starts running to their location. After eventually catching up to them, he sees them being chased by three Eggforcers and quickly eliminates them for them. "What's the plan?"
"Long story short, run fast, portal opens." Sonic explains.
"Neat. Let's go." Rory then flares up some Prism energy in a similar fashion to when Ryder does it. This new ability caught Sonic off-guard for a second.
"How are you-? But, I'll never get up to speed with all these Eggforcers on us! Sorry pal, but I think we're going to have to use one of those portals to escape."
"It's not a good idea. It portals directly into another Shatterspace. They can't be stable." Nine said.
"I would have agreed five minutes ago, but we just saw the pirates show up. I think it's fine to go through for now." Rory said.
"All right, fine."
"Through the portals it is!" Sonic said.
Nine grabs the front of the shard box and flies up, taking Sonic with him as Rory follows through the walls of the buildings. Nine finds a safe spot at the bottom of a ramp. They set off up the ramp and enter the portal with the Shard box.
No Place
Nine screams while holding on to the flying Ryder as they fall down, crashing onto the water with a hard thud, and bouncing in the air one more time. He then lands on what is revealed to be the Shard box carried by Sonic and Rory.
"Gotcha!" Rory said.
"Thanks." Nine thanked as he secured Ryder on the box.
"Hey, don't mention it, that's what friends are for." Sonic assured before looking ahead and seeing buildings nearby. "Buildings? Here?"
The Yolkomotive arrives and fires at Sonic's team while Sonic takes them inside the city, during which two Eggforcers chase them and continue shooting.
"Two on your six. Can't you go any faster?" Nine asked.
"Normally I'd be more than fast enough, but the water is really limiting my traction." Rory said.
Nine uses his tails to stick to the corner of a building and steer the box to the right, leaving the Eggforcers crashing into the wall. The team comes across the Angel's Voyage.
"There be no wind in me sails! Curse these buildings!" They heard Batten complain.
"Ahoy, guys!" Sonic calls out as they arrive.
"Sonic. Ryder's twin. Ryder. You be back. Ye got yer own boat!"
"This isn't a boat." Nine corrected.
"Technically, anything that floats be a boat." Sails said, not seeing Nine until afterwards and they both looked at each other surprised.
"Whoa. Freaky. And here I thought seeing three me's was the weirdest thing I've seen." Rory remarks but then sees Metal-Bone walk up to the railing and sees Rory. "Nope. I take it back. This is still weird."
"Actually, we're just passing through. Any chance you could help us out?" Sonic asked.
"Helping you out only brings more trouble, but if you could sweeten the deal?" Batten proposed as the Yolkomotive flew toward them from behind.
"How about I start by telling you to look behind you?" Rory pointed behind her and she saw it.
"Wouldn't you like another crack at these guys?" Sonic asked.
"Argh! They really put the bog in me boots and I've been itching to use the cannons." Catfish sets up a cannon for Batten Rouge.
"Thanks, Batten!" Sonic thanked them before they left.
As they run, Sails Tails waves at his counterpart.
Nine takes the shard box up in the air with the Hedgehogs towards the portal.
New Yoke City
They land safely down.
"Having friends in all the Shatterspaces comes in handy." Sonic winks and points at Nine and Rory. Meanwhile, Captain Dread watches over them from far away, and grunts in anger as he jumps down. "Just wait 'til you meet Tails. You're gonna love him!" Suddenly, Captain Dread meets up with them. "Dread?!"
"Is that pirate Knuckles?" Rory asked.
"Uh yeah basi- wait how do you know about Knuckles?"
"I want me beauty. I know ye have it." Dread said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, sure is great having friends." Nine sarcastically remarked.
"Come on, dude, I thought you and I were cool now." Sonic said.
"Ye thought wrong."
Dread glides down to attack them, but Rebel Rouge throws Renegade Knucks down to unleash a Ground Pound, sending him back. He grunts and hangs on to the edge of the platform, grabbing onto his pirate hat in the process to prevent it from falling.
"Get outta here, Sonic. I'll handle this." Knucks tells them.
Dread jumps back on the platform and faces his counterpart.
"I get why you don't like me, but you guys should be friends!" Sonic said.
"Not gonna happen. I already have enough friends."
"The only friend I need is me beauty." The two Knuckles' charge at each other and unleash a flying fist simultaneously, sending them both back.
"Yeah, as much as I would love to see this fight, and trust me I do, we have bigger things to do." Rory reminded them.
"He's right Sonic. The Council's forces are converging on you. You brought the trouble. Now take it with you." Rebel told them.
Nine points overhead. "We've got bigger problems." A swarm of Eggforcers swoop down to attack them. "We need to go."
"I'll buy you some time." She said.
Rory nodded and they all ran away with the Shard box, while Rebel Rouge confronted and defeated the enemy robots.
They take the box up to the bottom of the ramp, and continue onward, followed by Eggforcers. They get to the portal, along with the robots.
Boscage Maze
Nine screams as they fall through the branches, while the Eggforcers hit them and break. Nine continues screaming by the time they crash land on a root.
"That was..." Nine began.
"Fun, right?" Sonic guessed. "Get used to it. Once we put the prism back together, things will be nonstop awesome all the time in Green Hill." Sonic starts pushing the Shard box again.
Rory watches from a distance as they run. "Green Hill?" He then follows with a worried look.
The Chaos Council's aircraft arrive through the portal and deploy another swarm of Eggforcers.
"Chaos Council's not playing around." Sonic comments.
"They won't stop coming until they have the Shards. We need to get to the Void. Now." Nine told him.
"Agreed. We just need a runway."
"What runway? Everything in front of us is just trees and buildings." Rory said.
The Eggforcers fire weapons at Sonic's team. Soon, the team encounters the Boscage Maze group. In slow motion, Mangey and Nine, see each other in surprise. Rory sees buildings being planted around the area.
"This deforestation and commercial construction is really starting to tick me off." Rory joked.
"You're not the only one... and your friend looks a lot like Mangey." Thorn Rose said before launching Ricky from her hammer and he Spin attacks the Eggforcers.
"You have some explaining to do Sonic." Ricky said after he lands.
"Who's that?" Nine asks.
Sonic stops the shard box as she meets up with Nine.
"Thorn Rose, Ricky Hedge meet Tails Nine." Sonic introduces.
"It's just Nine."
"Good to know. Also, not that I'm not into the extra light, but what did you and Ryder do? And why is there a sleeping clone of him unconscious?" Ricky asks and Rory raises his hand.
"Actually, I'm Rory from another dimension. Ryder has come down with a serious case of unconsciousness." Rory said.
"Right. Multiverse. I'm starting to hate that right now." Ricky said.
"Enough of this. What have you done now?" Thorn asked forcefully.
"Not us. Them!" Sonic points behind himself to the Chaos Council's aircraft.
"I won't let them do more damage to my jungle." Thorn said.
"You can say that again." Ricky agreed, but then the jungle started rumbling.
"An earthquake! Now? Can't Mother Nature see I'm trying to save reality?" Sonic complained.
The rumbling stops suddenly.
"That was no earthquake. Look!" Rory pointed at the Shard case that had been broken into. Sonic flinches in horror.
"That's not good."
Nine tries fixing the case with lasers. "Their powers are intensifying because of the close proximity. The case won't hold them much longer."
Sonic sighs before turning to Thorn and Ricky. "Can you two clear a runway?"
"For Boscage Maze!" They both call out before riding on Birdie and swoop up to the sky approaching the Eggforcers as Thorn Rose shouts out a warrior-scream.
"Hm, you were right, Sonic. Having friends in all the ShatterSpaces is convenient." Rory said.
"Thanks. Now let's get to that blueprint."
"Right behind ya."
The two then dash the unstable Shard Box along the jungle.
"Gotta go fa-a-a-ast!!!" They speed up into a Super Peel Out and they make it to the portal, vanishing.
Void
A panting Sonic, Nine and the Shard box enter the Void, but Sonic lets go.
"Sonic!" Nine calls out. Suddenly, Ryder starts to slip from the Shard box and falls into the void. "Ryder!"
"I'll save him!" Rory jumps down and dives for Ryder. Soon he catches him and spins fast enough to launch him up to the Shard Box where he would be caught by Nine. He then saw Shadow grab hold of the Shard Box. "Great. Now I just need to save myself." He pulls out the purple Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" He teleports, but only goes a short distance and is still descending towards the black void. "Dang it. There isn't enough range here." He is in thought for a second before getting an idea. "Here goes nothing." He pulls out the silver Chaos Emerald as well, takes a breath and puts them together. "Chaos Control!" He disappears from view.
"Where'd he go?" Nine said while holding Ryder.
"Try looking up!"
The group looked up, surprised to hear the sudden sound. They see Rory standing on a crystal with his arms crossed, smirking at them. He then jumps down to meet them.
"Rory!" Nine smiles at Rory's apparent survival.
"It's about time." Shadow said.
"Wow. Rude." Rory remarked.
A happy Sonic comes over to meet them. "Nine, Rory, meet Shadow, Shadow, meet Nine and Rory."
"Oh we've met. Don't worry." Rory smirks at Shadow, who scowls at him.
"You're not another version of Sonic. But you could be twins! Actually triplets if we include Ryder" Nine said.
"Really? I don't see it."
"Hardly, I am the Ultimate Life Form." Shadow said.
"Wow. Cocky and broody. I hate you already." Rory remarked, annoying Shadow further.
"Don't listen to him. Come on!" Sonic told them as they all travel to the next portal.
Ghost Hill
After all their troubles, they finally land at Ghost Hill. They all explore the place. They see the ghosts of Sonic and Ryder's friends standing before them, doing nothing but the same thing over and over.
Shadow growls. "Sycophantic wish fulfillment."
"Don't be a hater Shadow." Rory said.
Nine observes this world. "This world, it's like an embryonic Shatterspace, like it got stuck in the blueprint phase while forming. Hmm. Perhaps it would be useful in finishing the Grim..." Nine studies his Ghost Hill counterpart. "This is the friend Sonic thought was like me?" Nine scoffs. "We're nothing alike."
Rory steps next to him and kneels. "Maybe not at first glance, but if you met, the more you get to know each other, the more you might see that you have more in common than you think." Rory looks between them and squints at Tails. "Okay, if I'm being honest I like the hair down better." Nine looks up at his hair weighing his options.
The ground rumbles, causing Sonic, Shadow, Rory and Nine to brace themselves while Ryder falls to the ground. The Ghost Hill characters also start flashing.
"What just happened?" Shadow asks.
"Another reality quake. We don't have much time." Nine tells him.
"We need to hurry. Follow me." Shadow prepares to lead them to the Shard.
Rory, Shadow and Sonic set off, along with Nine carrying the Shard Box. After a moment, they all open a lid each. All three shards of different colors glow inside.
"It's finally over. Now we just have to rebuild the Prism!" Sonic starts going towards it, but...
"Stop! It's not that simple. The alignment must be perfect. The slightest variation could have massive repercussions. People, places, and things can be ripped from existence. One small mistake, and poof, reality is changed forever." Sonic, frustrated by Nine's decision, admits defeat and scratches his head.
"Tiny details are not my thing." Sonic said.
"I can do it. I just have to make some calculations."
"How can we help?"
"I need to be left alone to work. No distractions. Too many in a tight space. I don't want anything to go wrong." Nine tells him.
"I'll take Sonic outside. Best to keep him away." Shadow said.
"I'll stay to make sure it all goes according to- wait what's that?" Rory points to the distance where there are a few rocks and a yellow glow.
"Huh. I never noticed that." Sonic said.
Rory walks towards it and places his hand on the rocks. He closes his eyes to try to understand the feeling in his hands and then gasps. He then starts digging aggressively. When he starts to get impatient he spin-dashes it and then he stops to take a look. He smiles before reaching in and grabbing...
"Behold, another Chaos Emerald." He holds up the yellow Chaos Emerald.
"Huh. To think it was here all along and I never noticed." Shadow said.
"With this I have three."
"Ryder has three in his bag too."
"Hmm, so that leaves one last Emerald to be discovered."
Shadow knows what happened to the last Emerald. It was lost in the void. But before telling him that he needs to know something. "How do you know so much about these Emeralds?"
"I've learned a lot about them over the years. Very interesting stuff."
"Your Shatterspace is empty. There's no way you could have learned about it."
"I can explain. But first, I need to show you something." He turns to the Ghost Ryder and then walks over to him.
"Uh, I wouldn't-" Before Sonic could finish, Rory reached in to touch the ghost and nothing happened. Weird. When Ryder did it before though, he started glitching. "What the heck? How come you can touch him? When Ryder tried, he started fritzing out."
"Hm, thanks for that piece of information. Now a theory of mine has finally been proven."
"And what theory is that?" Shadow asks, suspicious.
"I think it's best you hear it when Ryder wakes up. He shouldn't be long."
Sonic just nods. "Okay. Thanks for putting it together, buddy. This is why we're a great team."
Nine nods and high-fives Sonic. They leave Nine and Rory alone, waving goodbye to each other except Shadow. Nine pushes the shard box closer to the Prism.
"First things first, I've got to stabilize the Shard energy." Nine said.
Shadow and Sonic are outside.
"How do you know you can trust them?" Shadow asks.
"Trust is an issue for you, Shadow. That's why you don't have any friends." Sonic said.
"I don't think your friends want the same thing we do. Plus, Rory seems highly secretive."
"Hey, cheer up! We're so close to this all being over! Once Nine rebuilds the Paradox Prism, and Green Hill reforms, everything will finally be back to normal and Rory said he'll tell us about his secret. Then you can stop being a grouch to him. We did it!" Sonic gets jumpscared by a loud crackling sound and looks towards the portal. The Chaos Council's vehicle arrives at Ghost Hill and spots Sonic; defeated. "I may have spoken too soon."
The rocky cave with the Paradox Prism, appears on Mr. Dr. Eggman's monitor. "A new world, with yet another Shard! Wonderful."
Okay, thanks for being so patient. After all of your waiting, I have finally finished the chapter. And I hope that I can finish the next one soon. I hope you enjoyed this and that this has been kind of fun. I'll see you next time, friends.
Drift out!