Mystical Ruins Jungle

"Outta the way, jungle! Hedgehogs comin' through!" Sonic said, sliding through the log across the lake with Y/N not too far behind him as she skate through the log with Kirby holding on.

"Yeah! You show those leaves who's boss!" Tails cheered, flying behind them.

"Pooteetah!" Kirby agreed.

Sonic and Y/N jumps over the branch.

"Says the fox with the weed whacker tails. Any luck finding Rotor?"

"I've got a really weak signal narrowed down to a few hundred meters, but that's it. If the king hadn't given us those coordinates, there'd have been no way to know where to look."

"And Rotor's the one Freedom Fighter we've got any lead on. Hopefully, he's got a clue where everyone else is." Y/N said.

"And once we find them, they'll prove or disprove my theory about them being key to restoring Nicole?"

"Speaking of—How are you doing, Nicole?" Y/N asked in concern.

"S-S-Still *KRK!* bug-g-g-gy." Nicole said.

"Hang in there. We'll make this right." Sonic assured. "And we'd be doing it a whole lot faster if Rote' wasn't being so darn secretive!"

"S-S-Secret pro—*SHK* —ject w-w-with Tailzzz. *WRP* H-H-Hiding-ding-ding fffffrom Eggman."

"I see." Y/N said.

"I...I think I remember that. It seems familiar. But it's through two sets of memories." Tails said.

"Don't sweat it, li'l bro. I'm sure Rotor can sort it all out for us...when we find him. Man, I wish we could narrow down that signal or find some kind of..."

They skid to a stop to find a wooden plank just on the other side of the river.

"...guide!"

They jumped over to find Big who's fishing and Froggy.

"Big! What are you doin' here, buddy?"

"Fishin'."

"I can see that." Y/N giggled. "But do you know about the uh... project Rotor and Tails were working on?"

"Yeah. It's big, like me!"

"Haha—I bet! We got lost. Can you show us the way?" Tails asked.

"Sure." Big said, standing up with Froggy hopping onto his shoulder. "This way!"

Soon, they made it to the edge of the cliff where they can see the beautiful view of the land and in the distance, they can see orange with a big yellow star in the middle building.

"Woah!" Y/N awed.

"Dude, I never get tired of this view. Even if the Final Egg's Tower is stickin' out and being an eyesore." Sonic said.

"The what?" Tails and Y/N questioned.

"Y'know, the Final Egg? Base for the Egg Carrier? When the doc was using Chaos and he... and he... huh... I guess that happened on this world. My memories are starting to run together."

"What if... What if our new histories overtake the old ones?"

"I don't know... And I'm worried about that..."

Big suddenly pointed at something ahead.

"Somebody's fighting."

He was right as those purple flying robots are attacking the base with machine guns shooting at them that were activated. Rotor was fighting them off as he grabbed one and threw it towards the other as they crash into each other.

"Is that all you've got?!"

Sonic, Y/N, and Tails slid down the cliff to come and help Rotor with Big coming behind them without hesitation.

"We'll worry about reality, memories, and all that junk later. Right now, it's hero time."

"You got that right, bro!"

"Right! Rotor, do you copy? It's Tails! I've got Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, Nicole, and Big with me, and we're on our way."

"Perfect timing, as usual, guys! I got spotted by this Badnik Patrol just as I was about to implement the auto targeting defenses. So I've had to apply my personal touch!" Rotor replied, shooing off the robots. "I've managed to keep their attention up till now, but we've got to end this fight before one of their horde commanders shows up."

Sonic, Y/N, Tails, and Big spin dashed their way as they smashed through the robots.

"Gotcha covered!"

Tails fight off the flying robots.

"Hurry! Before they transmit our location!"

Sonic spin dashed the robots as he ping pong them.

"Aw, so I've gotta be fast? I dunno, guys..."

Y/N sliced off the robots in half on each of them with her katana as they turn frozen from ice before they fell with a loud crash.

"No time for jokes, Sonic!"

Behind them, Big kept spin dashing as he's coming close.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa."

"Almost done, guys! I think we did it! There's no sign of..."

Rotor stopped to see something up ahead.

"...Oh. My and my big mouth..."

It revealed Silver Sonic as he spin dashed towards them. Sonic smashed the last robot.

"Yeah! Thirty-six homing combo! Did you guys see—? Whoops."

He stopped to hear shooting. Rotor punched the robots way from him.

"I've got a Silver Sonic inbound, and the Badniks are swarming me!"

Tails zoom past the Badniks as they crash into each other.

"Almost done with this Badnik Swarm! I'll be right there!"

Y/N kicked the Badnik away with Kirby helping along as he punched one off.

"Just a second!"

Silver Sonic cut through the forests while spinning as it was getting close to the base when Big stopped it by grabbing it and holding it back.

"No! Stop! It's not nice to attack my friends!"

Big threw Silver Sonic high in the air.

"Hup!"

Rotor brought down the last blow to Silver Sonic as he shoot it, exploding it in the process.

"SKADOOSH!"

Then, all the Badniks are destroyed as Rotor approached them.

"No more Badniks, and Silver Sonic's been crippled!"

"Yeah... uh... thanks!" Tails said, surprised to see this new form of Rotor who's now skinny and muscular and not fat.

"Rotor? That's you, right?" Sonic asked.

"Like 100% Rotor?" Y/N asked, wanting to be sure.

"Oh, c'mon. You haven't been that long!"

"No, I mean... You look good, man!"

"And healthy!"

"Ha, okay? You too."

Sonic, Y/N, and Rotor fist bumped together with Kirby who joined in.

"So... what is this thing?"

"Tails didn't tell you? Aw, man! I'll give you the tour!"

"Let's get Big in here, too!" Tails suggested.

"Yeah, he did help us fight against Silver Sonic." Y/N added.

They head inside the base and were amazed at this new technology and room they're in. Tails smiled to see T-Pup who's wagging his tail in excitement to see him.

"T-Pup! You're here, too!"

"Welcome to the bridge of the Sky Patrol! I'm your captain, and I'll welcome you to the maiden flight... once Bunnie's and Sally's missions are done."

"So—Wow! 'Sky Patrol?'" Tails awed.

"That's amazing! And this place too!" Y/N awed.

"Poooteeeetaah..." Kirby gasped, looking around the room in awe too.

"What? You don't like the name now? Man, you insisted on it. Anyway, guys, Tails and I designed this beauty to finally have an answer to the Death Egg and Flying Fleets the doctor keeps throwing at us." Rotor said.

Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, and Tails look at each other for a moment before Sonic spoke to Rotor.

"Look, Rote', it's... It'll be easier if you take Nicole. More direct, at least."

Tails handed him the small computer much to Rotor's confusion as he reached it.

"What's gotten into you guys? I mean, sure, I'd love to have Nicole's help in debugging the systems and..."

Once he touched Nicole, he froze like Tails had and he started to remember before he was back to reality and began to collapse, dropping the small computer which was luckily caught by Tails with Sonic and Y/N saving him from falling by holding him steady from the back.

"Easy there, big man! How you takin' it?"

"You okay, Rotor?"

Rotor pinched the bridge of his nose, looking sweaty a little.

"There... was a whole other world... I... how can you take it?"

"Rotor?"

Rotor stood up and turned his back.

"I...I can't! Okay? I can't process this right now! Work! Let's focus on work, and... How's Nicole?"

"Much better, thank *VVT* hmm... Not perfect... *VVT*"

"That proves it to me. We need to find the other Freedom Fighters to get Nicole back to one hundred percent." Tails informed.

"We were hoping you'd help us with that since... Y'know..." Sonic said.

"Right. Um... Hold on... Let me... Let me pull up our mission files..."

"No worries. Take your time." Y/N said.

Rotor nodded and tapped on the keyboard and then the screen showed "MISSION STATUSES" with the pictures of themselves and the other three are shadowed and Amy with a question mark.

"Okay, so... Bunnie and Sally are in deep cover on missions for the Sky Patrol. Antoine's helping Uncle Chuck just outside Knothole. Amy was supposed to be here, helping guard the place, but she just... vanished. I thought maybe she went chasing after you again, but...?"

"Nope, so now we've gotta find her on top of things. Thankfully, I know she can handle herself until we get to her."

"Y-Yeah? Look, I'll... I'll stay here and wrap up the Sky Patrol and... sort things out in my head."

"I'll stay, too. There might be more robots." Big said.

"Good idea, Big. We appreciate it." Y/N smiled at him. "You never know what Eggman will try next. Knowing him, he's always ready for some backup."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside Knothole Village: Wood Zone, Westside Island

Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, and Tails are walking through the forest they had ever seen.

"That... That was nice." Sonic said.

"It sure it." Y/N agreed.

"It was Knothole. Not our Knothole, but..." Tails said.

"Yeah, it's close enough. If Knothole can get a second chance, maybe we can, too."

"Yeah. I wonder what my new treehouse looks like since this world is different than ours."

"If we're going to do anything, we need to find the other half of our team."

"Sooner rather than later, I'd *VVT!*" Nicole said, slightly glitching still.

"Hold that thought..."

They stopped to see Uncle Chuck, who's working on something, sitting next to the cliff.

"Hey there, Sonny-Boy! Y/N-Sweetsop! Tails! Kirby! Feels like I haven't seen you in—"

Sonic and Y/N zoomed in and hugged their uncle tightly.

"—forever?"

They were so happy to see that Uncle Chuck is still around and that maybe this new reality isn't so bad. They pulled away from him who's looking at them in confusion.

"Ha! What's gotten into you two?"

"Nothin', Uncle Chuck. Just happy to see you safe and sound."

"We just miss you that's all." Y/N said, wiping away her tears.

"Well, none of us will be if I can't figure out what's causing these tremors."

"Tremors?" Tails questioned.

"Mm-hmm. Unusual seismic activity for this area. I'll bet you anything it's Eggman. I'm taking some energy seeping out of the Earth. Hopefully, it'll help me figure out just what he's up to. I'd love to have Nicole's help in analyzing the samples if she's free."

"So sorry *VVT!* I'm needed for another *VVT!*"

"Uh-Oh. What's wrong with you, dear?"

"It's... complicated." Tails said.

"Short version: We need to see Antoine. Rotor said he was with you." Sonic stated.

"Sure is. He's been acting as my bodyguard as the Mutt and I do our research."

Their eyes widen to see Antoine who's walking towards them with the Mobian Dog. He looks different without the blue suit as he's only wearing the gloves, shoes, and belt with the new sword attached to his hip.

"Ah! Bonjour, mes amis! I was not expecting you here."

Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, and Tails immediately hugged Antoine.

"...I am missing something, perhaps?"

Uncle Chuck scratched his head, feeling just as confused as Antoine.

"You feelin' okay?"

"Yeah! *sniff* Just... Just missed my buddy here, s'all."

"Erm... I am... touched?" Antoine said unsure.

"Oh, boy! Sonic, Y/N, Kirby, and Tails! It's great to see you guys again!" Mobian Dog said, wagging his tail in excitement.

"Yeah! Um..." Tails said, not recognizing him.

"Haha! You can't have forgotten 'The Mutt!'"

"Wait. Muttski?" Sonic asked.

"That's my name! Don't wear it out!" Ben Muttski introduced.

This confused them as they look at each other, not expecting to see this new face they've never seen in their own world. This didn't go unnoticed by Uncle Chuck and Antoine.

"Why are they acting so— how you say— 'funky'?"

"I dunno. Maybe they had a bad batch of chili dogs on the flight over. Alright! So—Mutt and I have work to do. You guys say you had business with Antoine?"

"Right!"

"Important stuff!"

"Definitely!"

"Pooteetah!"

"Hey! Let's get Uncle Chuck in on this, too!" Sonic whispered to them as soon as Uncle Chuck is out of their sight.

"Not a good idea... We're still testing the memory restoration on our teammates, who we're pretty sure can be restored. Chuck was a Freedom Fighters, but he was also gone for a long time as a roboticized slave. Right now, I don't think we should have too many variables—or folks with scrambled memories."

"I agree. As much as I want Uncle Chuck to know and maybe our parents are still around, we need to focus on getting our friends."

"Hmph. Alright, but he's first on the list after we've found everyone else. Including our parents, of course."

"We don't need you to go anywhere. We just need you to... well... brace yourself."

"Hold on! Maybe 'Twan should sit down first, or..."

"If you are here with ze new mission, I must be declining. Do not be misunderstanding, this body-guarding? Peh! Boring! Not ze single Badnik attack! But Uncle Chuck's work is important, and zo I must remain at his side." Antoine said before turning to them. "What is ze matter with ze three of you? You are acting as if I am ze ghost, here to be haunting you. If you are needing me, say so. If I must be doing something to help, I will do it. Stop being the namby-pambies."

"Alright, 'Twan. There's no easy way to do this, so..."

Tails handed Antoine the small computer.

"Just... take Nicole."

"Trust us."

With that, Antoine took the small computer and he froze as memories comes back to him and then he began to fall, feeling dizzy. Sonic and Y/N quickly come to his aid as Tails catch Nicole again.

"...Mon dieu..."

"Easy, buddy, I've gotcha."

"Calm down. Everything's okay."

Antoine sat down as his body shook.

"I was... I was... in another world..."

"Yeah. Shocking, huh? We never expect ourselves to either to be in this world when we were from our own world until now." Y/N said.

"My thoughts... They are jumbled. Where is Bunnie? How is my wife?"

"We're not sure where she is, but she's on undercover mission and we're willing to find her." Y/N assured him.

"Most of the girls are missing in one way or the other, and we're still playing catch-up. Nicole, do you have any updates on Bunnie's undercover mission?" Sonic said.

"Stand by—I'll check the Sky Patrol's Mission Logs."

"You seem to be back to normal." Tails said.

"Basic system seem to be fine, but I can't access my holo-matrix yet. Oh, well—baby steps. I'm more concerned that I seem to be running low on the dimensional energies left from the Genesis Wave. I may only be able to restore the memories of two or three more people—tops." Nicole explained.

"What is this talk of energies and memories? I am so very confused..." Antoine said.

"Short version? I kinda fell through a hole in reality, and my bond with you guys is making for some special effects. Nicole's database reacts to those bonds, we think, restoring memories. The next step is to find Bunnie for the next bond-zap-thingie."

"For me, I still remember what was happening thanks to this gem called Nephrite, along with my friend Kirby. Don't know what this is capable of, but I'll figure this out later." Y/N said, showing them the green gem before putting it back in her new backpack that she started to like.

"That may be a problem. The Bunnie of this world went undercover to infiltrate the Egg Army and missed her last check-in with us by a week. Her last report did say she was going into deeper cover, but..."

"I'm going..." Antoine declared.

"Whoa, 'Twan, don't—"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to rumble. They heard a scream to see Ben Muttski and Uncle Chuck falling into a pit as the crack from the ground began to grow even wider. Kirby stayed put as Y/N told him to and then they rushed in and jumped down to save them as Sonic and Y/N caught Uncle Chuck while Tails caught Ben Muttski.

"Sonic! Y/N! My research—!"

"Priorities, Unc'!"

Antoine sliced the log in half with his sword as Sonic tossed Uncle Chuck to him while Y/N dived down to get that machine.

"Get 'em topside! We're right behind ya!"

While the others head up to the surface, Y/N caught the machine as Sonic grabbed her hand.

"Gotcha! You better be worth it!"

With that, Sonic ran her up to the surface while they block the falling rocks when one hit one of the pink glass tube, causing smoke to come out. They coughed from that as they kept on going until they made it up as Antoine caught Sonic's hand while gripping onto the sword that was plunged to the ground.

"I am gotting you!"

Tails caught Sonic and Y/N before they could fall as Antoine checked on the machine that was smoking and broken.

"Hang on guys!"

He then brought them to the ground safely as Kirby ran over to check on them as they kept coughing.

"Sonic! Y/N! Speak to me! Are you alright?"

Sonic and Y/N's body began to shake as they started to growl a little like something just turn them into something as their teeth sharpen a little until they managed to calm down and coughed out instead.

"Yeah. *KOFF!* Yeah. We'll be *KOFF!* fine."

"We're good. *KOFF!* I hope. *KOFF!*"

"Sonic! Y/N! What happened?!" Uncle Chuck asked worriedly for his nieces.

"Ground shook. You fell. Sis and I saved your research. Lost a bit of it, though. Sorry."

"We did our best to keep it safe."

"You were awesome! That spin blade ball attack was all whoosh!" Ben praised.

"Were you not screaming in terror ze moment ago?" Antoine asked in amusement.

"Yeah, but now we're fine! And you're still awesome!"

"Oui, oui, merci."

"How much of the sample did you two inhale? You should see a doctor immediately. We'll get you to Knothole and..."

"Why? To tell the doc that stuff smells nasty? We're fine, Unc'."

"I always said you had are skill than sense."

"It's gotten me this far, hadn't it?"

"We'll be fine. We'll get through with it." Y/N said.

"True enough. Thank you, guys, for everything."

"Looks likes we lost an entire sample." Ben said, looking at the broken tube.

"Hmph. All that time and effort lost in a matter of seconds. We'll just have to hope what's left will be enough to analyze. C'mon, Mutt. We've got to make sure the villagers are safe, and then it's straight to Spagonia to study the samples. Good luck on your mission, guys! And Sonic, Y/N? See a doctor! That was super concentrated 'mystery gas!'"

"I did! You're a doctor!" Sonic joked.

"A medical doctor!"

"Don't worry. We will!" Y/N said.

"Bye!" Ben waved.

Antoine sheathed his sword.

"Tails—Be making sure Sonic sees ze doctors. I know Y/N will. I will go with them."

"You sure? You said it was boring."

"Oui. But today is proving danger may strike at anytime, non? If Chuck's research can help stop ze tremors, then he must deliver his research safely. Only after that will I rejoin you. And I know I can trust in ze three of you. For everything."

Sonic and Antoine held each other's hand.

"Thanks, 'Twan. Anything you want us to tell Bunnie when we find her?"

Antoine had a thought for a moment before turning to him.

"Oui. Tell her... I am fine, but will not be whole until I am with her again."

"We will, Antoine." Y/N smiled.

"Pooteetah." Kirby saluted.

They then took off in the Tornado.