Chapter 8

Day 1

Kami's Lookout...

"So basically there's another doctor from this world's afterlife and he's teamed up with Dr. Eggman?" Shadow asked Tails to which he nodded in confirmation. "Mhm, and they completely laid waste to Station Square as well as some of the inhabitants, who knows how many people are dead." Tails said with a somber look on his face, "And what about Rouge and the others did the doctors get them too?" Shadow asked Tails. "No, we were able to confirm that they are okay thanks to Miss Baba, but for how long I can't say since they haven't attacked the Mystic Ruins yet." Tails explained to Shadow after which he grumbled, "Then what are we doing sitting here for? We have the Chaos Emeralds let's go back home and stop them! I doubt those two doctors would be trouble." Shadow said angrily.

Tails however disagreed, "I don't know Shadow, from Dr. Gero and Dr. Eggman's demeanor, they were utmost confident of their victory even 'allowing' us three days to prepare, and I can't say why, but the way he said, 'some of our new friends are so eager to play with you all' makes me think it's not just those two we have to worry about, even Goku could see it and planned all this in the first place so I think we should definitely use this to our advantage." Tails finished explaining which caused Shadow to scoff, "Hmph, how foolish sounds to me like we're just wasting time." Shadow said angrily once more. Vegeta overhearing them began to chuckle, "If anyone is being foolish here clearly it's you." Vegeta said to Shadow which caused him to turn towards Vegeta, "What do you say?" Shadow said as he looked at Vegeta.

Vegeta said it once more as he looked at Shadow and unfolded his arms, "Clearly you don't understand the situation as well as the foxboy and your other friends have, if this is anything like the last time this happened you most definitely do not stand a chance and Kakarot knew that, he may be a clown, but he is not stupid and already anticipated what they were planning to do, which like the foxboy said is probably the reason he wanted to train you guys anyway, to make sure you guys had a fighting chance as the way you are now, you're just begging to die." Vegeta added on as he finished explaining which completely angered Shadow, "Oh is that so, Saiyan scum? Perhaps you'd like to finish what we started back at the sea? Then we'll see who does not stand a chance!" Shadow said smirking at Vegeta. "Of course, I'd though you would never ask." Vegeta responded smirking as both of their auras began to show, but before they could start Tails stepped in between them.

"Okay, you two stop right there! Fighting now won't solve anything." Tails said with his arms out, with Trunks joining in agreement, "Yeah dad save it for the Time Chamber." Trunks said to his father as looked at his son. "Look Shadow I understand your frustration, but trust us on this my dad would not do something for no reason. He wants your world to be safe just like ours, you already have collected the Dragon Balls for us and we have the Chaos Emeralds as well, coupled with the fact that they allowed us three days to train gives us a major advantage. Trust me, once we finish training you'll see this was absolutely necessary even without Chaos Emeralds." Gohan finished explaining to Shadow, which after hearing him out, scoffed and walked off.

Tails then sighed in relief, "Whew, thanks for that Trunks and Gohan, but Mr. Vegeta if you don't mind me asking, what did you mean by 'if this is anything like last time' you mean this has happened before?" Tails asked with a curious look on his face, "During the time Kakarot and I were dead there was an incident similar to this in which because of a mishap in Hell, all the souls of the dead were able to come to the world of the living." Vegeta began to explain as Tails listened.

Hyperbolic Time Chamber…

"Awesome! Great job Sonic, now try to channel that energy inside your body so you can stabilize it." Goku said to Sonic who was in a meditative stance and in deep focus, as an aura began to form around him, Sonic began to concentrate harder as beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, "Come on Sonic! You're almost there! Focus and concentrate!" Goku said to Sonic once more as he began to sweat more and more and his aura intensified, but as it did Sonic's concentration soon broke and he fell back breathing heavily, "Oh…man…that is…pretty tough, my third time and I once again come up short." Sonic said as he was breathing hard. Goku then chuckled, "That's not true actually Sonic, each time you've come close to harnessing your Ki energy, you just need to not strain yourself too hard." Goku said as he looked up and saw Knuckles who was enveloped in a white aura in the air punching and kicking.

"It seems Knuckles is enjoying his self quite a bit since he awakened his energy, I'm impressed he managed to do it in such a short amount of time." Goku said smiling as Sonic chuckled. "Don't be too surprised Goku, considering the guy lives for punching rocks and picking fights, I'm sure all that energy was just pent up aggression coming to the surface." Sonic said as he sat up laughing. "I heard that Sonic!" Knuckles yelled as he soon floated to the ground. "Man! This is almost like when we use the Chaos Emeralds, it's like I've always had my super form on speed dial." Knuckles said rubbing his nose. "I mean it took us awhile to get used to this place with the way the air and gravity feels, but once you get the hang of it boy does it feel great!" Knuckles said once more looking at Goku.

Sonic shrugged, "Well that makes one of us, I'm still totally not used to this, I'm not the training type, but I'm not going to let Eggman have his way either so first time for everything." Sonic said as he stood up. Goku then smiled widely, "That's the spirit and I have much to teach you two so we have plenty of time, though Sonic I'm curious just how often do you use your super form?" Goku asked Sonic with a puzzled look to which Sonic put his finger to his chin in thought. "Um, good question to be honest not that often, I only use the Chaos Emeralds every time a major crisis comes up, sometimes depending on said crisis my super form is hardly ever needed especially in more recent times." Sonic explained to Goku who then shook his head.

"Mhm, just as I thought that explains everything." Goku said excitedly which confused Sonic and Knuckled. "What does that mean? Did you figure something out?" Sonic asked in a confused tone. "Yeah I did, you see that explains why you keep coming up short when awakening your Ki, for starters your body isn't used to intense training which explains why Knuckles awoke his so quickly and your haven't yet. However, your body IS use to harnessing energy thanks to the Chaos Emeralds which like Tails explained when you guys first got here has helped you stabilize that energy, but since the emeralds are out of the picture your body and mind is having trouble locking that energy in place." Goku began to explain as Sonic listened in awe. "And the main reason I think it's having trouble locking that energy in place is simply because you don't stay in your super form for a long period and haven't trained with or without them, so I think the solution is simple train with the Chaos Emeralds for a while to get your body and mind use to the energy as well as fighting, then you should be able to do it on your own just like when Eggman first showed up." Goku finished explaining as Sonic smiled, "Well that makes perfect sense, which reminds me Sonic just how DID you transformed like that Sonic? The emeralds were with me the entire time during the incident." Knuckles asked with a curious look on his face which caused Sonic to look down. "I can't really say Knuckles, all I know is that when Eggman said Amy and the others were dead, I felt a swarm of strong emotions I never had towards him for a long time. One of them I haven't felt in a while was hatred." Sonic said as he looked towards Knuckles

Then Sonic looked upwards, "Like I know Eggman has always had it out for us, so overtime I just always thought of it as a fun game, and I guess I felt invincible like he could never beat me even when he was always close to killing me, but when I saw what he did and Gero did to Station Square and the people he killed, I just lost it, it was probably one of the few times I feel like I loss." Sonic finished as he looked down, Goku then placed his hand on Sonic's shoulder who then looked up at Goku's smiling face, "Trust me, I've had my fair share of those as well Sonic, but that's why I try my hardest to protect my family and friends and train with them so if I fail someone else can try in my place. There are always setbacks when trying to protect something precious to you, but as long as you have the strength to keep going forward even after you fall, you will never lose." Goku said to Sonic who then smiled, he then turned away and closed his eyes. As he concentrated, the seven Chaos Emeralds began to swirl around picking up speed with each rotation, then a flash overtook Knuckles and Goku's eyes and as the light faded, Sonic stood in his super form opened his eyes and smiled.

"Alright, let's get 'em!" Super Sonic said as he started to fly, Goku smile widely as he then turned into his super form and started to fly as well. Knuckles then powered up and did the same, "Okay, you two I want you to come at me with all you have!" Goku said to Super Sonic and Knuckles who shook their heads in agreement, then the three disappeared.

Kami's Lookout…

"Wow, Gohan so you mean almost every bad guy you guys killed just started popping up in the living world thanks to this Janemba monster?" Tails asked Gohan who nodded. "Yeah, you could basically say 'all hell broke loose' but, I agree with Vegeta's assertion that if Gero is back then that means that your world has connected with our world thanks to Chaos Control, Knuckles, and the Chaos Emeralds." Gohan said to Tails who then began to be deep in thought, "Well thanks to what Vegeta told me, this explains the 'other world' they were talking about earlier. But if this world's afterlife REALLY is linked to our world as well, how can we beat people that are already dead? And what exactly does Dr. Gero and Dr. Eggman has planned for the Master Emerald, the Chaos Emeralds, and the Dragon Balls?" Tails said to himself as he thought harder and harder.

Gohan then smiled, "Hey, Tails I wouldn't stress on it so hard. I'm sure while we're training we'll be able to come up with a solution to unlink our worlds that would be the first priority to help us win the fight since basically they do have an advantage of teaming with the dead souls of our world so that makes things a little trickier, but once we take that away the battle is ours I guarantee it." Gohan said smiling with a confident thumb up which relaxed Tails a bit. "Yeah you're right, guess I should stop worrying." Tails said as he smiled back. Krillin then appeared with cards in his hand, "Yo guys! Is anyone up for a game of cards to pass the time?" Krillin said raising them up which Tails and the others except Vegeta smiled. "Sure I'm in! Let's go!" Gohan said as the others agreed and followed him.

Mystic Ruins…

As the late night went on and the sun started to slightly raise, Amy; who was lying with Cream and Vanilla opened her eyes and began looking to the sky. "Well look who's awake." A voice said which made her turn her head, it belonged to Rouge. "Oh hey Rouge, you finally fully recovered!" Amy said happily with tears in her eyes to which Rouge scoffed, "Don't get too emotional on me, like I'd allow myself to miss out on the world's treasure by dying." Rouge said confidently as Amy wiped her tears. "Of course what was I thinking?" Amy responded as she laughed and smiled. "Well, well, well, I should have known you all were still alive." A voice said in the distance shocking Rouge and Amy.

As the figure began to appear from the darkness, the two were shocked at who they saw, "Eggman! How did you find us?" Amy asked fearfully. "Ho-ho! It wasn't that hard, following your distinct voice alone was enough." Eggman said as he laughed. "Wait, where's the other doctor?" Rouge asked as Espio, Charmy, Vector, and the other survivors soon arrived. "Oh my, a whole treasure trove of you all actually survived? I am impressed! I bet this was all your doing, Espio. Needless to say, you have my respect for your cunning ninjutsu. But if you're looking for Gero he's busy preparing for the arrival of Sonic and the others, as for me, I saw your little camp on radar and wanted to check it out. Who would have thought I'd find you all?" Eggman explained shocking everyone present.

"Wait Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow are alive?!" Rouge asked Eggman who then nodded. "Why yes, very alive and as Espio surmised they DO have new allies that are preparing to meet us back here in three days to have a little fun." Eggman explained once more as everyone listened. "If that's the case then taking you down shouldn't be a problem! Once we get you out of the way, we can flee and wait for them to come back!" Amy said as she charged towards Eggman with her hammer in hand. "Amy wait! Stop! "Espio yelled towards Amy as she swung her hammer at Eggman who smirked as an arm grabbed her hammer stopping her. The arm belong to a metallic silver Sonic looking android who was taller than the Sonic robots Eggman built previously with the Red Ribbon insignia on the left chest plate and Eggman's insignia on the right.

"My Amy, I would think as a scientist you would give me much more credit than that. This is a special model created by Gero and I using data from Metal Sonic's files and Gero's android files, say hello to S.O.N.I.K. or the Sonic Android NK-I" Eggman said as Sonik then snapped Amy's hammer in two and backhanded her as she was caught by Rouge. Espio and Vector then made an assault towards Sonik with a flurry of punches and kicks, but the android manage to dodge every single one, grabbed the two by the neck and slammed them to the ground. As they lay gasping for breath, Espio look towards Rouge and the others, "Rouge! Take Amy and the survivors and go! It won't do us any good if we all try and fight this monster!" Espio said struggling, but Rouge was hesitant on abandoning them, however as she reluctantly turned she said a swarm humanoid androids blocking their path. "Ah, ah, ah, and do you think I'd actually let you slip away again? Don't worry I won't kill you. I think I have something much more fitting for you all until Sonic and his friends return." Eggman said with a malicious smile followed by a maniacal laughter that filled the skies as the sun rose over the forest.