Two cups of water floated from behind the hedgehogs and they each grabbed one.

"So, let's start with this," Doctor Strange began, leaning forward on the table, "Do you know what the Heartless are?"

Just as Sonic finished his sip before the question was posed, Silver was still drinking and he choked upon hearing "Heartless."

"Don't die again." quipped Sonic.

"That's not funny." hacked Silver.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" Strange again.

The hedgehogs nodded.

"And their leader, Ansem?"

"Yeah. He's got something of ours." noted Sonic.

"I know. A Chaos Emerald, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Why do you know that?"

"It's my job to know about all that is mystical and/or astral in regards to this universe."

"But, the Chaos Emeralds are from our universe."

"Well, they're in mine now, so I did my research."

"How do you-"

"Shh, I know more than you and that's all that matters right now."

Silver snorted.

"Now then, from what I know, your other friend, Shadow, is out there right now going after the Chaos Emerald that warped into this dimension."

"That can't be good." said Silver.

"Eh, well, it looks like he's now a target of the Ghost Rider, but once Shadow loses him, I think he'll lose interest. Besides, his main duty is to hunt for demons or those who are guilty- or at least, who he deems guilty."

"Ghost Rider?" the hedgehogs noted simultaneously.

"A Spirit of Vengean- you know what, never mind, your friend will be fine. The Chaos Emerald is currently in Austria. It shouldn't be too long before Shadow finds it, assuming he can move as fast as you two."

"Shouldn't we stop him, Sonic?" mumbled Silver.

"Yeah, but something just occurred to me: why would he try to get the Chaos Emerald? What's he gonna do with it?" said Sonic.

"Well, it was one that got us here in the first place."

"I'll blame that on Nathan this time."

"No fingers should be pointed at any of you," said Strange. "You see, the situation is much more complex than you think; there are multiple causes involved, but all of them lead back to Ansem and the Heartless. By any chance, are you aware of dark matter?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to exist within 80% of the universe." answered Silver.

"Wait, what?" yawned Sonic.

"It's a form of matter that's like invisible in space, and is supposedly the reason for random gravitational forces or other unexplained traces of energy."

"Ah."

"Thank you, Silver," Strange nodded, "As of right now, we have seven different dimensions that are in danger of merging."

"What's the danger of that?" Sonic scratched his ear.

"There are many implications to consider. Besides what's already happening, this phenomenon can worsen as everything we see as normal could change. The laws of physics respective our worlds could drastically change. If our gravitational forces differ, it can send one or more dimensions out of balance, possibly leading to intergalactic self-destruction. But, worst-case scenario- which could be more likely than usual considering there are seven dimensions to consider- we can have the Big Bang all over again, perhaps on a larger scale and/or even more than once."

Strange noticed the rising discomfort in Sonic and Silver's face as they shifted in their seats and gulped down more water. As it was close to empty, the cups refilled on their own after they were placed on the table.

Strange exhaled through his nose. "I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take in, but the more you know, the better. If we're all on the same page, the easier it will be to solve all of this...Are you ready for me to continue?"

Both hedgehogs chugged their water again, took a breath, and gave a "Yep."

"Ansem appears to be more intelligent than he lets off; he seems to have found a way to manipulate dark matter- something not many powered beings can do, he would need to hold the power of the cosmos for that. But, his power level is much closer to mine than that, which is baffling, because given the fact that his powers are solely based on just pure darkness, it begs the question if dark matter is something astronomical or spiritual?"

"Perhaps both." suggested Silver.

Strange chortled, "Possibly, although, if you ask me, I believe that goes for every other scenario science and spirituality clash with. Look at me, I used to be a surgeon; everything I believed in had to be scientifically proven or else I wouldn't believe it. Then, I turned to the mystic and magical arts and now I interact with spirits I would've never believed to exist. The problem is, a majority of people are either 'just science' or 'just religion,' and they will ultimately just stick to one side. However, I believe there is a middle ground that each side is too ignorant to explore and agree with each other on, but it is there where all of our questions may be answered.

"But, I digress. As clever as Ansem's abilities are, he's sloppy. He can manipulate dark matter to access other universes, but for every path he creates, he leaves traces of the previous dimensions' energies. Right now, he's only bouncing back and forth between the seven involved, but even if he knows how to occupy himself in one he's already been to, I can bet that he wants more than that. And, for each world he visits, the average amount of dark energy increases by the second."

"Wait, the scientific definition or mystical definition of dark energy?" asked Silver.

"The more technical you two get, the more you lose me." groaned Sonic.

Doctor Strange snapped his fingers in response.

Sonic's eyes widened, "Oh, I get it now!- whoa, how'd you do that?"

"As for your question Silver: believe it or not, they may be one and the same. Again, 'middle ground,' and I think we're the only ones that can see that right now. Life as we know it, the whole world, the universe- universes- the OMNIVERSE- is surrounded by a silent, cold, darkness. It'll never go away, but it can never get to us if we protect ourselves."

Sonic whistled, "Dude, that was deep...What's an omniverse?"

"The omniverse consists of all universes and multiverses that do and may soon exist."

"What's causing the increase in dark energy?" queried Silver to stay on topic.

"Two factors- and I am certain of them, because I can feel it in our own dimension. One, the Heartless; they're infectious. They're like vampires, except they feed on the little bit of darkness in the hearts of all. For as long as humanity's imperfect, they can thrive and conquer- which is what Ansem ultimately wants, infinite darkness. Which leads me to my second factor- you."

Sonic and Silver did a double-take, "Us?"

"And those other two who came with you Mobians, but you hold higher significance."

"How?"

"If I had to hypothesize where this all began- or rather, escalated, it was your dimension. It recently had one of the highest concentrations of dark energy and that concentration was only second to Ansem's home dimension."

"I don't want to imagine what that one's like." Silver disdained.

"How do you know all this?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I believe you, we did just stop a potential apocalypse of darkness recently against the Heartless and an old foe. Plus, another one of our enemies shot something into space a while before that and that's what kinda provoked that whole situation. But, you sure know a lot about our dimension for only having to be responsible for yours, and I'm just curious as to how?"

Strange rose from his wooden chair, inviting his guests to join him. When they followed suit, Strange shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He crossed his arms over his chest with his fingers spread open. He lowered his ring and middle fingers and uncrossed his arms to set them out parallel, summoning circular golden symbols of light under the party of three. He then jerked his arms out to his left which resounded a warble throughout the library. Strange motioned his fixed arms slowly around himself, and while so, the room started to fade around them. As Strange's arms drew closer to his right side, the room was transforming into a navy blue room, bedazzled with tiny gray spots all around them.

As the new environment faded into existence, it was beginning to look a lot like space to Sonic and Silver as the spots were now multiple colors and were twinkling like stars upon what they initially thought were just floor, ceiling, and walls. This environment had finally completed setting its much darker contrast compared to Strange's library, and with that, the symbols at everyone's feet dissipated. The Mobians were mesmerized with what they were seeing. They looked below at the speckled abyss beneath them, but were surprised to find themselves still standing as if there was a floor beneath them.

"Back here."

They rotated to see Doctor Strange behind them.

"Where are we?" said Silver, his voice echoing.

Him and Sonic treaded warily to Strange, untrusting of this invisible ground.

"We're still in my library," Strange smiled at their amazement, "This is just an illusion of what I can see going on with our dimensions."

Ahead of them were six shiny black spheres floating in the void. Each were glowing with a different colored aura. They were loosely piled together, some closer to each other than others. There were also dark gray clumps between each of the spheres; they resembled tears or gashes- or even scars, but on the body of space. The Mobians noticed a significant amount of them surrounding one area, assumingly their own.

"These are the dimensions surrounding our own." said Strange.

"Where's Ansem's?" Sonic again.

"You see that red one?" Strange pointed accordingly, "Ansem's should look like a black cloud. The last time I checked, it was inside of that red one; which is where I believe it should be now. The energies from Ansem's dimension are strikingly similar to that red one- which could only mean that Ansem's dimension is really just a sub-dimension of the red one. With that said, given his new abilities to control dark matter and energy, it seems like he is also able to manifest his little sub-dimension into other worlds, and may do so easily for as long as the ones he selects are corrupt enough."

Just then, a black fog blossomed from within the red-lit sphere. The fog seemed to have its own aura- a violet one. As it floated off the sphere, the red aura was absorbed by the fog, then vanished, leaving behind another gray tear in space.

"Hm," Strange sucked his teeth, "However, that's one thing that perplexes me: I don't understand these colors on the sphere. You see, this whole, 'map,' I guess you can call it- came to me in a vision while I was meditating. These colors weren't there before, but when I reconstructed my vision for me to access like this, the colors appeared on their own. I don't quite understand why..."

Doctor Strange turned around to see Sonic and Silver intently analyzing the dimensions. "So?"

"Say, Doc, which of these dimensions is ours, do you know?" asked Sonic.

"The white one."

"And what color was the Chaos Emerald Ansem stole from us?" Silver to Sonic.

"Purple." Sonic replied.

Strange frowned and turned back to the dimensions. "The white Emerald is in this dimension."

"The colors must represent where the Chaos Emeralds are; one Emerald per dimension." concluded Silver.

"Which means Ansem just took another one...With those Chaos Emeralds, he can rip the omniverse apart." added Strange.

The sparkled void around them started to fade again, transforming back into Strange's study within seconds.

"We need to tell Shadow this." claimed Sonic.

"Not yet," said Strange, "I have a hunch he'll be the first to get that Chaos Emerald. Once he has it, I can teleport him here with the Emerald. That way, under our watch, he can't use its powers. He'll be outnumbered."

"So then...?"

"We wait."

"So wait, Silver chimed in, "That means Knuckles was right, Sonic. It's not the Chaos Emeralds' fault that this is all happening."

"Your friend is right," confirmed Strange, "The Chaos Emeralds cannot be to blame. They seem to only be the next best thing to point fingers at, given their abilities."

"Knuckles said the Chaos Emeralds are the physical embodiments of time and space."

"If that's true, then we certainly can't blame the Chaos Emeralds, it's impossible; they literally cannot destroy what they represent."

"Which means those two hunters hell-bent on taking them are also wrong," Sonic added. "But wait, why would Ansem need them?"

"Well, if it's true that he wants to try to conquer the omniverse..." Strange hesitated, "then, I'm not exactly sure what his intentions are, it's very paradoxical..."

*Sorry, I know this was information-heavy, but I think you readers kind of need that right now. The next chapter will be so too, but hopefully with some more hype- we'll see!

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