One small step for fan...

[SonicLover]

...one giant leap for fankind.

*SNAP* *CRACK*
Out of nowhere, a dimensional rip deposited a certain raccoon in the grasses of a dense forest not far from the entrance to Knothole. It was clear that he had not expected to end up here.

He was of teenage years, and his stripes showed clearly. On his feet were a pair of inline roller-skates with red wheels. A wristband on his right wrist depicted the words "SONIC FOREVER" with a small picture of the blue hedgehog attached. This guy was a Sonic fan, that was sure.

Slowly, the raccoon pulled himself to his feet, grabbing a nearby tree for balance. The last thing he remembered was discovering a bizarre rip in the space-time continuum in the middle of Station Square. When he approached it, it sucked him in, and... here he was.


"Ugh... uuugh... where am I?"

Oh yeah. His name was Saul. And his appearance here would most likely attract the attention of the locals... whoever they were.

[Topaz Mutiny]

*is in a complete giggling fit* Mind if Saul has a companion?

"WAAAUGH!" Nearby the raccoon, another such portal ripped open, and spat out a confused and tussled twin-tailed fox. As he sat up from landing on his head, the portal dissappeared, not too unlike someone pulling up a zipper. "owww...."

Tails held his aching head, and then took a look at his surroundings. What the- this wasn't Station Square, let alone Uncle Chuck's Stand! He was surrounded by trees, huge trees. It didn't look like the Mystic Ruins, the air felt more temperate here, and the trees were different and not as green with the vines of the Mystic Ruins. "what in the world..." he groaned, rubbing away the pain in his skull. It was then that he noticed a certain raccoon in the woods.

"Saul?" Tails prodded, suprised that the raccoon was here as well, "Do you have any idea what happened?"

[DB]

And, lounging in his aero-bike not far off, Fang the Sniper sat eating his lunch of jerky and trail mix. Or at least, he was. Until two kids fell out of thin air. Now he was just staring blankly.

"..."

He went back to eating.

[SonicLover]

"..."

Saul looked up. That was Tails, all right. He was in front of him in a second, and huddled close to him.

"Tails... listen, I don't know where this place is, but it's definitely different from anything I've ever seen. I wonder if there's anyone else around here."

...was it so strange that he was treating his idol's sidekick like a close friend?

[Topaz Mutiny]

Tails scooted away from Saul's huddling, uncomfortable with being so close to him, "It's not like anything I've ever seen before either, and there's no doubt that I've gone more places than you have." Tails agreed, giving the 'coon a stern look so he wouldn't get near him again.

Tails looked around, and saw to his astonishment...

"NACK!" the fox yelled. His voice was suprised, and underneath it was a small trace of anger. Of all the people in the world to be sent to this place as well, why NACK? Heck, Rouge would be an improvement- at least she was nice. Tails' namesakes bristled with his suprise and anger.

[DB]

Fang choked momentarily on his jerky at the mutant fox's sudden outburst.

Apparently, the kit had heard of him.

A lot of him, even, if it was enough to simply recognize him at a glimpse. And obviously the kid didn't hear anything flattering, just judging by his reaction.

Coughing a few times to clear his airways, the weasel-wolf waved a hand in the fox's direction.

"Hey, hey! whatever it was you heard about me, it ain't true! No need to jump to all the hostilities, kid!"

[AnT]

Just then, another portal appeared, spitting out a yellow anthro mongoose who had long purple hair.

"Ow...hello, pain...ugh...did not missed you." he muttered, since she fell flat on her face.

Mina the Mongoose slowly rose to her feet as she rubbed her face and brushed dust off her black crop-shirt and brown cargo shorts. She then noticed her new surroundings, which now confused her.

One minute, she's at Station Sqaure, the next, she's at a forest. Okay...maybe I got knocked out, and Barby dragged my sleeping body in this place

The moment she then heard some voices, she looked ahead, finding three figures. One was that raccoon who made her drop her chili dog not too long ago. "Hey, it's you. You t-that..."

But then, her eyes instantly shot towards a VERY familiar face. "Tails?! W-what's going...where are we and...?"

She then noticed the purple weasel, who she didn't find quite confortible around.

"Who's that?"

[SonicLover]

((Goodness, all of Sonic's followers are coming here...))


Saul glanced somewhat uneasily at Tails, having not expected him to shove him away like that. Then, his attention turned to Nack just as Tails's did.

"Say, who do you think you are, anyway?"

[DB]

Fang furrowed his brow, before looking upwards, apparently searching for something.

Just undisturbed leafy canopy, the occasional fish flicking through the leaves. Okay, so, they didn't fall from the sky... then again, if they had, they'd probably be more or less big messy blobs then people at this point if they did.

So what else could be the explanation?

"Where the heck did you kids come from?"

[AnT]

"Um...the deep darkest part of the heart of the Underworld?"

[SonicLover]

((Fish? Flicking through the trees? Sounds loco.))


After a brief hesitation, Saul leaned over and slapped Mina on the cheek.

"What do you think you're saying! That's not where we came from! (He turned back to face Fang.) I asked you a question. Who do you think you are?"

[AnT]

Suddenly, as she lifted her head, her eyes turned red.

Marching up to the raccoon, she hammered him so hard on head, he might been sent to the floor.

Her eyes then returned to her original color as she rubbed her cheek. "Ow...I was only kidding you...chili-dog dropper. Jerk...ow..."

[Topaz Mutiny]

Confusion set into Tails' features. Didn't Nack remember him? Or the wild goose chase he led about with Knuckles and Eggman and Sonic? He decided to humor the weasal, if only to get more answers out of him, "I have no idea. One second, I was at a chili dog stand, and the next I find myself in this forest. And how come you don't remember me? Don't you remember Sonic?"

He then looked to the comic relief that was Saul and Mina. "Didn't your mother tell you it's a bad idea to hit a girl?" he asked Saul.

[DB]

The weasel went back to chewing his jerky and he thought over what the fox kit had said. Chili dog stands? There weren't any around here that he knew of... so the kid had come a long way. And, apparently, the kid thought he should know him... and Sonic. Sonic he knew of, but through rumor more then anything else. Famous Freedom Fighter and all that jazz.

"I don't remember you, kid, because I've never met you from what I can reck-o-leck. Never met Sonic either, but I've heard of 'im."

He grinned.

"But who hasn't heard of 'im, eh? So, where the heck did you find a Chili dog Stand? There aren't any around here for miles from what I know... unless you count the vending machines, but I don't trust them."

Then again, there was little he -did- trust.

[SonicLover]

Saul rubbed his sore head. Man, that mongoose packed a punch. He turned to face Nack again, having heard the entire exchange so far. He leaned over to whisper in Tails' ear.

"Either he's crazy, or we're crazy, or there's something we don't know."

He then spoke to Nack. "Do the names Sunset Park, Meta Junglira and Tidal Plant mean anything to you?"

[AnT]

She rolled her eyes at the raccoon, but kept quiet. She doesn't know who this weasel is, but she might as well stand back and let Tails get the answers she needs.

Sides, she's not one for arguements, and that weasel gives her the creeps.

[Topaz Mutiny]

More confusion set in at Nack's reply. He only heard of Sonic? He's never met him? And he still didn't remember Tails!

Then again.... since when had Nack ever helped him? The weasal was probably yanking his chain.

"... How can I be sure that I can trust what you're saying is true? I know you love yanking people's chains... especially if they're valuable." the kit said in a calm voice. He needed to appeal to Nack so that he -might- say something that was undoubtably the truth.

[DB]

The weasel shrugged at the racoon's questions, giving a flippant "Why would they?" before turning his attention to the fox kit. "Yanking valuable chains, ya say? And where have you been getting your info? You seem to think you know me a lot better then I think you do."

[SonicLover]

Huh? Why wouldn't they? After all, they were all key locations in a certain incident in which Nack was crucially involved. Something wasn't right here, but Saul wasn't sure what.

Hm... Either he's lost his mind, or we've got the wrong guy.

But before he could think about it any more, a wrench literally flew out of nowhere and clocked him upside the head, knocking him over for the second time in five minutes.

!?

[AnT]

Why do I have a feeling that wrench is gonna be a running gag in this crossover thread?

Sighing, because Mina already took a disliking to Saul, she helped the raccoon up

One of these days, conscience, I'll kill you for good.

[Topaz Mutiny]

... Yeah. Getting a little too weird for his tastes. Getting annoyed now, Tails threw caution out the window and began to rant,

"I know you because I MET you, Sonic, Knuckles, and Eggman as well. You're some kind of a bounty or treasure hunter, and you don't hesitate to backstab anyone in your way. Me'n Sonic had a heck of a time chasing you down and getting back the Chaos Emeralds from your greedy hands, so don't play games about how I don't know you and you don't know me because I DO know you, unless I'm in some sort of whacked out alternate dimension!"

Tails was panting and fluffed up at the end of his rant, and he failed to realize he just said the answer to their little misunderstanding.

[DB]

The weasel stared blankly at Tails during his outburst, but once the kit finished, he grinned widely, followed by a bout of harsh laughter. "Well, kid, I guess this means you're in some 'whacked out alternate dimension', cuz all I'm hearing from 'ya is crazy moon speak! 'Chaos' Emeralds? Egg-men? You're pretty damn creative, kid, I'll give you that. Even better you got me out as some kinda jewel heister."

He cackled again before adding, "Like a few shiny rocks are worth anything."

[SonicLover]

It took THIS long for the ultra-genius Tails to figure that out?

Saul just stood there with his arms folded. He was clearly unimpressed by this going-on. It was getting boring, too. He turned to face Mina.

"I don't know what Tails thinks, but I say we're wasting our time... uh, I don't think I got your name."

[AnT]

"Mina, and I don't think it's a good idea going out in our own in 'who knows where we are', I mean...Tails is experienced in... bad stuff. Let's just let Tails do his thing. Maybe this weasel guy has amnesia or something."



But to be quite honest, this was getting no where. Besides, if anyone doesn't even KNOW about the Chaos Emerads, then they're beyond help.



Approaching Tails, Mina placed a hand on the young kit's shoulder. "I-I'm sorry Tails...but I think it's no use snapping this guy out of his... a-amnesia or whatever. Let's just go."

[SonicLover]

"Well, I don't care what you say, I'm outta here!"

With that, Saul began to leave... but he immediately let out a yelp and disappeared from view.

Dumb place to put another one of those dimensional rips. (EXIT SAUL)

[Topaz Mutiny]

Nack's reply once again infuriated the kit, but Mina was probably right. They would be better off if they left. His limbs drooped as the stress left his system, and he felt vaguely pleased that the snotty raccoon disappeared somehow.

"You're probably right. Maybe I'm just having one serious case of narcolepsy and I'm dreaming this all up."

Then he paused, a thought coming to him. He was in the middle of a forest, and had no idea where he was. He absent-mindedly motioned Mina to stay there as he spun his tails and flew above the canopy. Before he grew tired, he grabbed the branch of a tree, and scanned the area. It seemed that there was forest all around him, but in one direction the forest stopped and was replaced with a field. It was about a mile away from their current position. But other than that, he saw nothing. No signs of civilization.

"There's a field about a mile from here, but other than that all I see are trees!" he called back down, "No cities or towns or anything!"

[AnT]

"Narcol-what? Is that a medicine or something?"

She caught Tails' signal, knowing that he wants her to stay. Watching him fly up to a tree, she then heard his report.

"Uh...field. Great and all but....are you sure? C-cause....I think I have a bad feeling about that." Lowering her head, she was trying to figure why she had such a bad feeling about this field. Something about this place just doesn't feel right.



She then turned to Nack, after her eyes change back. "Hey, do you know w-what's over that...um... field?"

[DB]

Fang was picking at his teeth now. At this rate, he was never going to finish his lunch in peace, so why bother? He'll wait until the kids leave.

"Beyond the field, eh? You'll find wasteland. Beyond that, you'll find a city. Don't suggest you go there." He smirked again, still picking at his teeth, "But I can't stop ya if ya wanted to. I mean, if ya don't mind the idea of get'n turned into bots."

He paused, then stated in a rather matter-o-factly way, "Your friend just disappeared in thin air."

[AnT]

"Who, Saul? Oh...but turned into bots? Erm...you mean as in get trapped in a robot?" Mina remembered from the websites that Eggman traps people in his Badniks and use them as batteries. "No...I heard he uses non-evolved animals. What do you...?"

Snapping up to the tree the fox was on, she inhaled before shouting,

"TAILS!!!"

[Topaz Mutiny]

"WHAT!?" Tails yelled back, before dropping to the forest ground. "Is Nack giving you trouble?"