Part 1: Mystic Beginnings[]
Mackenzie Hartley, a brown-furred Bengal donning a yellow short-sleeve shirt with his name on it walked down the alleys of Trikon City, searching for something special that had sparked his interest. He checked under every garbage can and on each roof, but he never even got any energy signatures. C'mon, you can't disappear on me now!
Following him was an annoyed, red-furred fox with light-brown hair wearing shorts and a yellow tank top. Scarlet groaned as she kept up with Mac, refusing to be left behind. "Y'know, Mac, it might help if you told us exactly what you're looking for." Scarlet added emphasis on the last part of her sentence, nudging Mac.
And still with the duo was a grey Chaos Tiger donning a grey jacket and grey jeans with white gloves for protection. Kennedy sighed and was simply with his team because Mac was so worked up about it. "Scarlet is correct. If we knew what you wanted, we could help."
Mac placed a finger on Kennedy's lips right when he finished, shushing him. "I'll tell you when I'm sure I'll need the extra help. For now, report to me if you see, hear, or sense anything suspicious."
Incredibly high levels of extreme idiocy from Mac, Scarlet quipped mentally while taking notes of Team Mask's leader's orders and glancing around the area.
A grey hedgehog seems to be knocked out cold nearby, The grey hedgehog also has some sort of shard embedded into his Right Glove. Kneeling over the grey hedgehog was another hedgehog with two gold metal gloves and a distinctive scar across his chest.
"Who is this guy?" He wondered allowed before looking up at the rest of the city "And what is this place?"
A large burst of blue energy surged above the hedgehogs, moments later, a teenage fox hybrid fell from it, missing the two hedgehogs but crashing into the alley wall opposite them and falling onto the ground. He picked himself up, a black and blue backpack swings freely on his right arm whilst a silver shoulder pad and a covering of the same colors as his backpack covers his left. He turns to the hedgehog that's visibly awake in slight confusion. "Any clue where we are?" he asks.
Meanwhile, a hedgehog hybrid had flew out of a portal, now soaring above the city. "Report Kei, what's happening down there?" the voice of her teammate called out to her from her communicator. She took a while, soaring and circling the place, after warping from a portal, while also spotting a few interesting chaos scenes down below.
"I believe this is a city that I've never seen before," was all she chose to say, before she turned it off, and glided towards the top of a random skyscraper, landing safely on her two feet. Her violet eyes looked around, having plastered a snarl of annoyance on her scarred muzzle.
'Remind me never again to visit such places like a city,' she eye rolled, making a mental message to herself, as she jumped off the skyscraper, and of course, using her wings to land on the pavement. 'Kei', then folded her wings behind her shirt, pulled her hoodie over her head, and sank into her own shadow. The winged hybrid then traveled as a shadow on the ground, scanning the area. At an alleyway, she canceled the move, deciding to walk with her own two feet.
The hedgehog with the gold gloves stands up and looks at the hybrid.
“I have no idea” He replies “I was in space until a few minutes ago. Then a portal appeared out of nowhere and now I’m somewhere on Earth I’ve never seen before...and I’ve been to most of Earth.” His hand starts to glow blue “Who are you anyway?”
The Grey Hedgehog starts to wake up. 'Nhhhh..." He pauses and Groans in slight pain as he slowly gets up and notices his surroundings "Can I have one day where I'm not thrown into alternate dimensions! That would be great!"
The hybrid held his hands up as if the Gilded Hedgehog were holding a gun to him. "'I'm Lee, umm, Prower." He pointed to the Grey one with his right hand. "Should we see if he's okay?"
“I’m Vendeta. And yes, we should” A blue light appears around the grey hedgehog’s legs, helping him to his feet.
The Grey Hedgehog looked at the two. "Y-yeah, I'm fine... just... was not prepared for dimensional travel this time!" He gets up on his two feet and dusts himself off. "...also, A Prower, huh? Reminds me of a certain fox I knew in my Home Dimension, I am a recent recruit of some rag tag group of dimensional freedom fighters after all so this is our usual kind of shtick!" He added giving him recent events that happened with him.
"Yeah.. that'd probably be some version of my grandfather.." Lee answered, before speaking again." And your name is..?"
"Neo Hedge Towers, Genesis Freedom Fighter and Nuclear Hero, Though I prefer to be called Ion." He replied with a smirk before looking at the other hedgehog. "So umm, who's this guy?"
" This guy is Vendeta the Hedgehog" Vendeta replied "Guardian of the Chronosabre and intergalactic peacekeeper. I'm not from this dimension either."
"Heh, Sick Name! It suits you!" Ion complements, He then looks at Lee and back to Vendeta. "So where should we start? You Guys have any idea where we are at or what this place is? I mean it's obviously a city! Should we ask around?" Ion asked the two.
"Maybe was should look for a sign" Vendeta said "There's usually a sign. Or do any of you have a phone?"
Ion shook his head. "Signs are not always good for use, especially if we don't even know where we even are... and phones... Sorry I don't usually carry a phone but, I have something similar but I can only contact my team which is out of reach from far away distances like... I don't know billions upon billions of light years away. I know I'm not helping the situation out but, still, I wish I had options. We could use the signs here but where would it lead us without a map." Ion said quite concerned.
"I may have an idea on where we are, but I can't tell if I jumped through dimensions or time when tracking Azul." Lee said." Uh.. fair warning, I may talk to myself at random times." He continued.
Still walking around, the winged one growled frustratedly, not knowing where to go. She was lost. Well, she could just use her wings to get outta here, but her teammates sent her to another dimension to explore. And plus, she didn’t want any public attention. So she just took off her hoodie, and started walking casually, although not knowing where in the world she was going.
(Hope nobody minds if I jump in now. - Julia)
Suddenly a portal opened, dropping an unconscious cyborg Echidna near the group.
While all of this chaos is going around, what with portals appearing and hedgehogs waking up, it wasn't too surprising for Mac when a young, green-scaled and brown-shelled turtle ran into the streets, arms flailing. "SAY GOODBYE TO ALL OF YOUR FAMILIES! THE UNIVERSE IS DOOMED!" For a little boy, he had a booming voice, and would loop around the area.
Scarlet and Kennedy, fed up with Mac's behavior, ditched him, running out of the alley. They say the people appearing, and while Scarlet groaned, Kennedy kept on a stoic face. Scarlet didn't understand how he did it. "Wha...?"
"Huh?! You guys heard that Voice?!" Ion said quite startled.
(I'm assuming you meant "hear that voice?!" - Lee)
Lee began looking over the Echidna's cyborg parts, occasionally glancing at the screaming turtle and the scuffle beginning to form.
‘What was that sound?‘ the winged hybrid questioned herself. The booming sound that had entered her twitching ears had interested her, and soon began to sprint towards the voice.
The Echidna began to stir. "Nggg..." He opened his eyes slightly, seeing Lee. "...who are you?" He looked towards the screaming turtle (who to him also looked like a child), shouted, "Shut up, you little brat! I have a bad enough of a headache!" The Echidna was obviously unaware that something strange was going on.
"Another one?" Vendeta said "Who are you, anyway?" He asked the Echidna.
"Who am I?" the Echidna asked, acting as though they should know who he was. "I am Grandmaster Elias of the Dark Legion. Who are you?"
"Vendeta the Hedgehog" The hedgehog replied. "Guardian of the Chronosabre. You wouldn't happen to be a bad guy by any chance?"
Elias shrugged. "That depends on your definition of 'bad guy.' And not to change the subject, but where am I?"
"Honestly?" Vendeta replied "I think we all want to know that."
Elias wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. He just nodded in acknowledgement. He then looked at Lee and asked, "Now for you. Who are you?"
"Lee. But I sometimes go by Dryden." He said, introducing himself.
Elias nodded in reply.
Scarlet looked to Kennedy, her mouth agape and face aghast. "Why do they treat Trikon like some sort of void between space and time? It's just a city." I swear, all of this is complete and utter trash. I get stuck with Mac before meeting a bunch of appearing hobos.
Kennedy crossed his arms and shook his head, growing extremely annoyed by the screaming turtle. He placed his hand in a state that would allow him to control gravity, and the turtle finally shut up as he was lifted above the ground.
Kennedy faced the large group. "I beg your pardon, the lot of you. I've heard you saying that you are dimensional travelers and such, but the part that I'm intrigued about is the fact that you all feel lost. This is Trikon City, your everyday city (though it is creeping with thugs). There is no need to panic - I, Kennedy McLeod, will guide you if necessary." He dropped the young turtle onto the ground. "Any questions?"
Elias, standing up, watched the scene disinterestedly, and then asked, "Do you have any theories about how we got here, Mr. McLeod?"
Ion smirks. "Dimensional rift obviously!" He said in a snarky tone.
"Kennedy? But he hasn't recognized me, so I must have jumped dimensions, not time." Lee though to himself, remembering he'd met Kennedy and Mac before, then replied to Ion. "I came here of my own free will, but obviously whatever's brought you guys here screwed up my suit's sensors."
"Hmm... while I have a few outrageous ideas, I'd like to hear what you all remember before coming to Trikon. It is strange - one of you was knocked out, but the others were seemingly... thrown here. Obviously, someone has been interfering with our Zone - also known as our dimension."
Scarlet glared at the turtle before continuing Kennedy's thought. "It is likely that a dangerous foe among us is responsible for.... this mess, to put it lightly, but we're not entirely sure who." Scarlet glanced at Kennedy, worrying about the lot's safety.
Kennedy turned to Lee. "So, Lee... I take it you've gotten yourself in yet another mishap? I'm surprised to see you here, to be frank." Kennedy sighed. "Scarlet will interrogate all of you. Lee..." Kennedy pointed his thumb over his shoulder, near an alley's wall. "Is it okay if we speak in private?"
Ion Looked at Scarlet quite puzzled. "You mean some one like the Genesis Lord, whom can control the very fabric of space and time itself, is behind this. Haha, Sounds like my cup of joe! You already got me ready to save the day again! This time without Sonic or Flint to help me out"
(Ion calls Dr. Finitevus Flint because his name is quite hard to pronounce for Him, and me. - dub)
Vendeta looked at Ion.
"Sonic, you say?" He said "I guess our dimensions do share something, then...anyway, if someone did teleport us all here, we need to stay on our guard. They might come at any moment."
"I agree." Elias frowned. "Maybe later we can find some way of locating whoever's doing this. Maybe we can trace the subspace signal back to where our abductor is. Assuming that's what they used to bring us here."
Lee follows Kennedy to the alley wall.
Ion nods. "It may be a stretch but, as long as we try we could find something." Ion said quite seriously.
Kennedy unfolds his arms and sighs. "Lee, you might have a problem with getting into deep trouble, y'know that?" Kennedy sighs deeply before continuing. "So, I know you been in dimensional problems like this before - my question is.... how do you suppose we do It? Usually, I tend to do the dimension-related matters alone."
"Umm.. I don't really know.. I kinda usually ad-lib these sort of things." Lee said.
"I see. Do you have any schema on how to handle this? I, personally, am stumped on why these specific individuals were flinged through Zones into this specific one - the Lamak Zone." Kennedy touches his forehead with his pointer finger and closes his eyes to concentrate. "I'm not sensing anything left from the rift. I have a favor to ask of you... but I'll tell you later."
"Just about anything can mess up zones if you use it wrong, time travel, chaos emeralds... But something appears to be misusing dimensional energy intently." He replied. "It's even weakened Onyx, I can't hear him super clear right now..." He turned back to him. "Sorry, Onyx is sort of a second voice in my head." He stated, not quite sure if Kennedy had heard of him.
Kennedy nods. "I always knew there was something particularly odd about your signatures. This... explains a bit much, to say the least, but I have a question for you specifically - is there anyone you know who could be a possible threat?"
"Azul, maybe, but I've never seen him do something on this scale," he said, motioning to the crowd of lost strangers.
"Azul... hmm.." Kennedy reminded himself to remember that name before continuing to question Lee. "Well, then, I suppose this might be a touchy subject, but.. do you have any allies that have the power necessary to scramble a few lives?"
"I.. In what way? Cuz there's, Chaos knows how many villains can come from my world." He asked back.
"I mean... to put it bluntly, do you have anyone in your possession who either does not know how to control their power? Or is it possible you have a traitor in your midst that's been under your nose the whole time?" Kennedy grunted, thinking about White and Tina.
"I don't particularly know anyone else capable of warping reality. And everyone I know is okay," Lee stated. "But one of the most dangerous villains from my home is Savage the Tiger, fought my parents and vanished years ago."
"Savage and Azul. I see." Kennedy stood up straight, smiling at Lee. "I assume your armor isn't broken this time?" He joked, remembering how Lee had been severely unlucky in their previous exploit.
"I'm not quite sure.. I think it's working," he answered.
(Still worried about it being OPed - Lee)
Scarlet, meanwhile, was trying to get what she can from the main group. "Okay, people, theories are great, but what I need are memories. The faster and sooner I get those, the closer we are to getting you guys home (wherever that may be)." She points to Ion. "Ion, what do you remember?"
"I was on a mission with the Genesis Freedom Fighters trying to uncover Eggman's latest scheme, I split with the others to gain information and when I got done I told the others I will meet with them back at headquarters. However, When I was half way there a sudden figure appeared and hit me. I woke up and here I am. I knew I was knocked out and sent through a wormhole but i didn't know what it was." Ion explained what he remembered.
Scarlet shook her head and sighed. "Thanks for the info. What about...." She looked at Elias. "Elias, what about you?"
"I remember talking to my girlfriend Manchester about increasing the defenses around the base of the Dark Legion. We were outside at the time, gathering supplies while discussing the matter. Then suddenly we we're under attack," Elias told Scarlet. "We contacted the others in the base with our coms, told them what was happening, and then the last thing I remember was a stun grenade landing at our feet. And that's pretty much all there is to it."
He paused and continued, "Come to think of it, Blizzard had a preference for gernades..."
Scarlet lowered her eyelids. "Great, just what we needed, another potential suspect." She sighed and face-palmed before looking to Vendeta. "What about you? What were you doing before appearing here?"
"I was in the Andromida Galaxy" Vendeta replied "I was leaving Kryte after activating the shielding to defend the Chronosabre. I was just out of the planet's orbit and this portal opened up and I ended up here. I managed to land not far from where I found Ion."
(I have an explanation as to why Vendeta's means of appearing here are different from everyone else's, but I'll explain it later-Skyblade)
"The Andromeda Galaxy?!" Elias exclaimed.
"Yes" Vendeta replied "I live on a planet that isn't Earth and travel around the universe helping people in need."
Elias stared. "Really? How? Interplanetary wormholes?"
"No." Vendeta says "I have a suit that allows me to fly through space at around 5 quintillion miles per hour." Vendeta says all of this with a completely straight face, like he was talking about something completely normal.
Elias just stared at Vendeta like he was completely insane.
Ion Looks at Elias. "My Fusion Shard can do that too actually, This is what Me and my team rely on for dimensional travel most of the time." Ion Said. "I don't do speed in space but, I simply use this to warp across Time and Space in order to keep Dimensions safe." Ion added.
"Woah, guys. I think I underestimated y'all. If you can do stuff like that, chances are well find whodunit faster and with tons more simplicity." Scarlet scratched her chin, sensing another presence.... she looked around and saw Keira dashing over towards them. "Hey, wait up!!"
-Skye)
-Max)
Hearing a female voice calling out to her, she skidded to a halt, turning her head. She saw an unfamiliar figure running towards her. "What do you want?" Keira coolly asked her.
Scarlet skidded to a stop when the winged hedgehog finally said something. "Oh, good, you can talk. Anyway..." Scarlet placed a hand on her brown belt armed with a gun. "Your readings... your signatures... Yeah, they ain't low. Sorry, but I can't have someone that powerful walking away with the situation at hand though I doubt you even know what I'm talking about." Scarlet shook her head and sighed. "Sorry to force this on you, hon, but I won't let you get away with... that in your powerset."
Her electricity cackled out of her skin for a moment, as she snarled quietly. "Yeah? And what kind of situation do you guys have to face?" she asked her, walking with Scarlet towards the group.
Ion Looked at Scarlet in the distance, He heard the voice too. "NOW HOLD UP A SEC, We shouldn't assume she is the villain here Scarlet! She doesn't seem to have a evil Aura, My Fusion Shard Can tell if she is Evil or not! I believe she is as confused as we are...!" Ion Yelled Quite Sternly.
"This isn't about the fact that she is either good or evil - it is because she seems neutral. My point is - we're going to get to you before our enemies, whoever they might be, do... whether you like it or not." Scarlet smirked and chuckled. "Hoo boy, once I find our antagonist, we're gonna have lots of fu-"
"Ey, Scarlet, who are these guys?" Mac chimed in, coming out of the alley with a blue crystal glowing through his jacket's pocket. "I only heard small bits... but I have this odd feeling that something is up, for some reason." Mac shrugged. "Maybe because their signatures are off the charts."
"Gee, ya think?" Scarlet said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and putting her gun back onto her belt. "Most of these guys seem heroic... at least, they look like good guys." Her grip on the gun on her belt firmed when she looked Keira in the eye. "Most of them."
Elias crossed his arms, lazily watching the scene. The only reason he was still with these people was because they seemed to be his best chance at getting home. For right now anyway. Circumstances might change. "But in the meantime... I'll stick around," murmured to himself.
When Ion mentions the Fusion Shard's power, Vendeta raises an eyebrow.
"Are you kidding?" Vendeta said, looking at Ion "Evil aura detection? What a load of crap." He then looks at Keira "How did you get here, anyway?"
She glanced at Ion, before turning to look at Vendeta, but her voice wary, ”Fusion Shard Warp, or portals."
Ion looks at Vendeta with a nasty glare. "Don't judge a Book By it's Cover Vendeta, It may not seem much but, It's power rivals that of the Master Emerald. Let alone All Seven Chaos Emeralds. It takes ones pure heart and shear will to control such power especially if it can merge two with a similar object!" Ion then Looked at Keira. "She must have been around someone with a Fusion Shard Too, Reminds me of a Certain Wolf..." Ion said sternly. "...as for how she got here, it must be just like how we got here, I can tell that there is a connection. Plus it's pretty obvious at this point." Ion added.
Keira, with her hoodie still over her head, pulled down her hoodie, revealing a triangular shaped scar that trailed from her right side of her forehead, till her muzzle. She then glared at Scarlet, and summoned her reaper axe in her right hand. She then showed a Fusion Shard, embedded on both sides of her axe. "Proof," she snorted.
Ion eyes widened. "KEIRA!!!! It's starting to come back to me! I remember that shard!" Ion recognized that shard, he knew who owned the shard but, it's been so long sense he has seen her to remember her face!
At this point, Scarlet's face was flushed, and she took her gun out and aimed it at everything. "Can you all calm down for a blasted millisecond and listen to my god-danged Self! IF YOU PEOPLE DON'T SHUT UP, I'MA SHOOT A GUY!" Scarlet was obviously upset.
Mac shook his head at her outburst. "Tsk, tsk, take, Scarlet, always losing your cool. Aqua would be disappointed if she was to witness this injustice, y'know." Mac grinned while Scarlet lowered her gun. Mac faced the group. "So, guys, we all know that y'all are involved in something huge, right? Well, don't worry - you got the loved Mackenzie Hartley on your side." Mac then bowed in a haughty manner.
"Might not always be a good thing," Kennedy quipped, walking over to his teammates and motioning for Lee to follow. "He's a reckless and impulsive five-year-old, so it may be advisable for you to look for me if you ever need guidance."
As if to make a statement, Mac crossed his arms and blew a raspberry at Kennedy in response. However, before he could snark at his Chaos counterpart, the young turtle flailed his arms around. "C'mon, you guys, this us what I wanted to tell you about!!! These guys aren't from this dimension!"
"Didn't we make that clear already?" Lee asked, stepping into the light and revealing more details about him; he was wearing a bandanna and had the tips of his ears wrapped in sports tape. "Right?'
Turles grunted and shook his head furiously as if he was having a fit. "I mean, just know why these guys are here and who sent them here!" Mac snored. Kennedy grunted. Scarlet gasped. Mac was handling it normally, but Kennedy and Scarlet's faces were aghast.
"You know me?" the winged hedgehog muttered under her breath, directed at 'Ion'. Keira rolled her eyes, and made her axe disappear, playing with her black electrokinesis.
Vendeta looks at the Fusion Shard in Keira's axe. Evil aura detection? he thinks too himself. I know they would identify people like her as a hero;naive teenagers without any experience or understanding of the world. But if I held the axe...with what i've done...what would it think I was?A hero...or a villain?
Elias looked at Turles and asked, "Well?? Spill the beans, kid. I'd love to get my hands on the throat of whoever sent us here- to teach them to stun my girlfriend and I in the middle of the forest!"
Turles glanced around the area before shaking his head. "Not here! Trikon is a very busy place, y'know! We need to go somewhere more private..." Turles pointed to the area northwest of the group, smiling. "Like my treehouse!"
"I have to point out, You didn't say how big this situation is Scarlet!" Ion seemed Skeptical. "How do you know how bad this Whole "Dimensional Chaos" Thing and how exactly do you plan on finding this supposed "Threat" Ion added to his sentience.
"Use your eyes, Ion" Vendeta said, completely calmly "There's people from at least 5 dimensions here. It must be widespread if it managed to affect this many people from different worlds"
“And we still do not know who caused it,” Keira added, before her communicator beeped. But the winged hybird turned it off, growling.
"That just gives us more suspects, though" Vendeta points out. "I mean, we've narrowed it down slightly, but not by much."
”Ya'll dunno much about me, is probably why you guys think I’m a bad guy,” Keira asked them all, shrugging as she did.
"No one really has said that much about ourselves." Lee stated. "Not that I'm complaining, but Ion would probably be the one to ask if you don't tell us anything."
“Fair enough,” Keira sighed. “The name’s Keira. I’m a freedom fighter/heroine from another dimension.“
"Since you probably didn't hear this, I'm Lee: former resistance fighter and zone-jumper as of a few days ago. " His voice dipped lower while finishing the sentence. He turned to Turles, speaking. "Is your treehouse within walking distance?"
Turles nodded. "Once we're at my treehouse by my house, we'll be able to talk about serious stuff! Let's go!" Turles bolted forward, dashing at low speeds on the sidewalk, while Team Mask followed, Scarlet and Kennedy flabbergasted at how they were going to take knowledge from a child.
The winged female sighed, before flapping her wings, taking off after them. ‘Hopefully this will end well,’ she mentally groaned.
Vendeta flies after Keira with his psychokinesis, airlifting anyone who can’t fly or keep up with the others with his powers(which is probably almost no one, but hey, it's the thought that counts).
Black electricity crackled around Keira, powering up her wings as she followed Turles. Her electric blue eyes focused on Turles, making sure she was on the right track.
"Vendeta, I'd prefer to walk, Telekinesis throws me off."Lee asked, not wanting to gear up yet.
"Sure" Vendeta said, letting Lee go. "It's not for everyone...hell, even I had trouble with it at first.”
Lee fell to the ground, rolling in an oddly gymnastic manner, before running to catch up to Turles. "How far away is your treehouse?" He asked again.
Elias let out an inaudible growl at the fact the Vendeta lifted him up in the air with his psychokinesis. He didn't really like the unexpected. "I guess I'll have to deal with it," he thought.
As far as anyone was probably concerned, a lot of things in the near future would be the unexpected. But for now... they'd just have to deal with it.