Mobius Destiny (A Sonic Boom Fanfic)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

When she first heard the commotion outside a couple of hours later, Kay's first thought was: Aurora. She's finally come for the Emerald. She scrambled to make sure she still had the precious gem, then got to her feet behind Nikōru, who was already hurrying toward the tent entrance. The girls stepped out underneath the sunset sky, but to Kay's surprise they saw that the various clan warriors didn't seem to be hurrying to defend the camp. In fact, when one of them saw her, he motioned for her to follow him. So she did.

The Gossamer warrior led her through the gathering crowd, which seemed to grow thicker the closer they got to the main tent. Nikōru stayed close behind her. At last Kay saw Espio standing just ahead, and she offered a quick word of thanks to her guide before pushing her way past the others to meet him.

"Espio," she started to say, "What's going—"

But then she stopped. She looked again, convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her. Standing nearby, with their hands in the air in a show of surrender, were five faces she never thought she'd see again this soon.

"Sonic?" Kay was incredulous.

His emerald green eyes found her, and his expression both cleared and became more confused at once, if that was even possible. "You? This is where you ran off to?"

She ignored the question, firing off her own instead. "What on Mobius are you guys doing all the way out here? What about your island?"

With a familiar face in sight now, Sonic dropped his hands and the others followed suit. "We haven't heard from Eggman in days. We checked his base but no one was around. Then yesterday Shadow showed up out of nowhere and told us he was here, trying to destroy our universe or something like that. I find it ironic that he was so keen to help when not even a week ago he was trying to do the same thing, but that's Shadow for you."

Kay opened her mouth again, but quickly shut it before the words could escape. She'd been about to ask how they got here so fast. What a stupid question to ask Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Kay," Espio said, drawing her attention back to him. "You know these foreigners?"

"Oh! Yes. Sorry." Kay hastened to make introductions. "Espio, this is Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Knuckles, Tails, and Sticks. They're from Bygone Island. Guys, this is Crown Prince Shinobi of the Dragon Kingdom."

If they were impressed by his title, they didn't show it. Sonic stepped forward, offering not a bow but his hand. "Nice to meet you, your highness." At least he showed the proper respect. "We're just here to stop whatever it is Eggman is doing. We don't want any trouble."

"If you are here to join us in our war against Aurora, you will certainly find no trouble with us." Espio shook Sonic's hand, nodding once. For a moment Kay thought how odd it was to be witness to their very first meeting in this dimension when these two had known each other for years on Prime.

"I don't know about this Aurora character, but we'll definitely help any way we can," Sonic replied.

"Aurora is the reason Eggman is here," Kay explained. "It's a really long story that I don't have time to tell right now, but basically she offered him power he couldn't refuse, and now he's going to try and help her destroy this dimension."

"But we have a plan set in motion to counter-attack and put a stop to their efforts," Espio continued. "You've arrived just in time, chijin."

Sonic nodded. "Cool. Want to fill us in?"

"I will," Kay replied, turning to the prince. "I believe you have an army to assemble, your highness."

"That I do, senshi." Espio looked to Sonic. "We will be on the move soon. Kay will be able to fill you in on our intentions, but nothing beyond that. I hope you are able to set aside the why and simply do what must be done."

"Depends on what exactly we're doing." Sonic frowned slightly, eyes locking on Kay.

Kay kept her eyes on the prince. "Go. I'll handle things here."

Espio nodded at her, then at Sonic, and took his leave. Before Kay could open her mouth to say anything more, Amy was rushing up to her.

"It's so good to see you again!" The pink hedgehog grabbed onto Kay's hand. "I knew you were from the east. Didn't I tell you?"

Kay gently pulled away from Amy and took a step back. Normally she wouldn't mind the enthusiasm, but at the moment she didn't have the time to deal with the utter cluelessness of this group of Mobians. Much as she loved them, they were very behind the times, and if they were going to help they needed to catch up fast.

"It's nice to see you all again, too, Amy," she said, "but we're going to have to skip the pleasantries for now. First, let me clear some things up. Tails." The fox looked surprised to be addressed specifically, but his blue eyes clearly showed his attentiveness. "You were right. That anomaly you discovered on Bygone Island was me. Your finding me in conjunction with it was no coincidence. I never had amnesia." She addressed the group as a whole at this point. "I've known all along how I got here, but I wasn't sure which dimension I was in, which is why I pretended not to know. I'm sorry for lying to you."

It was the first time she'd ever said those words to Sonic and his friends. Despite their being different versions of the friends she'd started out with, it still felt good to say it.

"Sticks, you were right, too," Kay continued. The badger narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I'm not from your world. Your dimension, anyway. I come from the Prime Dimension, upon which all other versions of Mobius are based. I knew Sonic and Tails' names right away because I'd met them before on Mobius Prime. For that matter, I knew Knuckles and Amy already as well. You're actually the only one I'd never even heard of before, Sticks. So far as I know, you're unique to this dimension."

Sticks blinked, seeming more confused than suspicious now.

"And Amy...you were right, too. I've been professionally trained to handle a bo staff. Ninja staff, as you call it." Thank you, Donnie, she thought briefly, recalling her times training with the purple-clad turtle.

Kay took a deep breath. "Finally, Knuckles." She turned to the echidna, knowing full well that he probably wouldn't understand half of what she was about to say. But she had shifted into briefing mode, and there was no stopping her now. "On Mobius Prime, you are the sole guardian of a powerful gem called the Master Emerald, which controls the seven Chaos Emeralds, which control how life on Mobius unfolds. On Prime, the Master Emerald is the most powerful entity in the world, and when I was there it chose me to be its host. I left that power behind when I came here, but Aurora thinks I still have it. She's trying to get me to use it to introduce Chaos to your dimension."

"Our dimension has chaos," Amy protested.

Kay shook her head. "Not this Chaos. And if Chaos is brought into your world, your very existence could be at stake, as well as that of countless other dimensions. That's not a chance I'm willing to take."

"So what does the prince have against this Aurora lady?" Tails asked.

"In an effort to make this Mobius more like Mobius Prime, she started a civil war in his kingdom and forced him from the throne."

"So she's the queen now?"

"No, only an imposter."

Knuckles hummed thoughtfully. "So she's a fake queen."

"All right, so we know who the bad guy is," Sonic said, crossing his arms. "And for Shadow to ask for our help it must really be serious. What's the plan to take her down?"

"Aurora is expecting us to make a trade at the palace tonight. We will be leaving to meet her soon, as the prince said..." Kay trailed off. Explaining this next bit was not going to be easy. "...but that's where things go a little...off-book."