Chapter 3: An Alliance Forged

Within eight, transparent, diamond-shaped pods inside a small, rectangular, metallic room in the basement of a large building somewhere in a certain colourless zone of the Cosmic Interstate, the eight Sonic Primes reappeared. SEGA Sonic fell flat on his face, Archie Sonic yelped, Fleetway Sonic stepped to one side, AoStH Sonic bit his tongue, SatAM Sonic stumbled, SU Sonic gasped, Anime Sonic said, "…is!" and Sonic X stood up.

Then they noticed their surroundings.

A sharp cry of surprise escaped the confines of their throats at the shock of seeing multiple versions of themselves…even though the experience was not new to any of them.

"No need to panic, guys," said a voice from the shadows.

With that, eight doors simultaneously slid upwards. The Sonics hesitated.

"It's safe to step outside," declared the voice.

They all recognized the voice. "Zonic the Zone Cop? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Where are we, Zonic?" queried AoStH Sonic.

"And why is everything, including us, black and white?" questioned SU Sonic.

"To answer your first question, you're in the SFHQ of the Neutral Zone of the Cosmic Interstate. As for your second question, it's kind of hard to explain in a way that you'd be able to understand so I won't. But that's not important; you're all here because a great danger threatens all dimensions."

SEGA Sonic whistled. "It must be really great for you to summon me and seven more!"

"Well, yes, but…" he paused. "I should have told all of you this before but…you see, the other seven Sonics standing next to you are also Sonic Primes."

"What?" All of them looked at each other in disbelief. And no wonder; each of them had been told by Zonic that he was Sonic Prime, the one true Sonic of all the dimensions and that it was his destiny to become the most pivotal hero of all time and space. A great burden that suddenly seemed a lot lighter.

"All those times you called upon me to help a universe and you never told me!" screamed Archie Sonic angrily. "Or any of us? Why?" The other Sonic Primes voiced similar opinions.

"I didn't have permission," explained Zonic. "I'm sorry."

"Uh, Zonic, time is of the essence," a childlike, synthesized voice rang out, concern obvious in its tone.

"I know, Omochao."

"Omochao?" said SEGA Sonic confusedly. "You were brought here too?"

There was the sound of light laughter. "I'm not the Omochao of your world but rather Zonic's!"

A cute, robotic Chao emerged from the gloom. Fingerless arms and toeless feet were, along with a teardrop-shaped head, attached to a round body. Attached to its cranium was a revolving pair of helicopter blades.

"Hey, I know you!" stated Fleetway Sonic. "You're just like that Badnik that helped me save Tails' life on the Death Carrier! ("The Syndicate Part 2" Sonic the Comic #229)"

"I know, you're welcome!" Then its tone became serious once again. "We don't have time for this though. Zonic, can't you explain while we get ourselves to the Universal Room?"

"Right, Omochao. Come here and push me." As the Sonics pondered this quizzical order, Omochao withdrew into the shadows and, a moment later, pushed something out.

The eight Sonic Primes' eyes widened in shock. Zonic was seated in a wheelchair with casts on his head, left arm and right leg and several bandages here and there. Instead of his uniform, he wore a hospital patient's gown. Not to mention, he was, for once, on the floor instead of the wall.

"What happened to you?"

"And how come you're on the floor?"

"I'll explain in a moment," he spoke as Omochao flew over to a wall and a pushed a button, causing part of it to open. "Now follow me."

As Omochao wheeled Zonic out by pushing his wheelchair, the eight Sonic Primes followed. They found themselves in a long, wide, metallic hallway with several other corridors branching off and the overhead lighting somewhat dim.

"To answer your second question, I have on my person and wheelchair several devices that change my centre of gravity so I'm on the floor of this Zone. As for your first question, Mecha, Robo-Robotnik's mechanical daughter, was what happened," he replied grimly. "After getting the drop on me and several other Zone Cops, she and her 'father' freed Evil Sonic who was being held in a cell I was guarding."

A pause.

Then SatAM Sonic said, "…Eh heh heh, for a moment there, I could have sworn you said, 'Robo-Robotnik.'"

"So did I," answered Fleetway Sonic uneasily.

"I'm afraid none of you were hearing things, I did say 'Robo-Robotnik,'" Zonic responded gloomily. "And to top it off, he plans to try and conquer all universes again – starting with yours!"

"What? But that's impossible!" yelled SEGA Sonic. "Robo-Robotnik was destroyed!"

"Whoa, whoa, time out!" cried SU Sonic. "Who the heck is this Robo-Robotnik?"

"Ditto," uttered Anime Sonic.

"What they said," stated Sonic X.

"You mean you didn't fight him in the Great Battle?" AoStH Sonic asked.

"No."

"Nope."

"Uh-uh."

"Then allow us to explain," insisted SEGA Sonic.

One long explanation later, SU Sonic, Anime Sonic and Sonic X were fully aware of the immense danger their worlds were in. However, there was still one loose end that needed to be tied up.

"If Robo-Robotnik was destroyed, how come he's, right now, a threat to our universes?"

"Because he wasn't," explained Archie Sonic. "Robo-Robotnik's memory got transported to an incomplete space station in his world. He was trapped there for a while until my Robotnik got teleported there. Robo-Robotnik sent him back but, at the same time, scanned his memory to find out what happened to Giant Borg. Somehow, he used the piece of Giant Borg in his world to create a new body and destroy Mobotropolis, the royal family and Cyber Sonic."

"Say what?" exclaimed SatAM Sonic.

"Cyber Sonic's…dead?" cried AoStH Sonic.

"No way!" yelled SEGA Sonic.

"I don't believe it!" snarled Fleetway Sonic.

Even though SU Sonic, Anime Sonic and Sonic X had never met him before, they were pretty shocked as well.

"A Robotnik actually killed a Sonic?" stated SU Sonic.

"He must have been pretty powerful!" asserted Anime Sonic.

"Either that or really lucky," added Sonic X.

They continued on in silence for a while, thinking over the fact that a Sonic had actually been defeated and hoping, deep down inside, that the only reason he had been beaten was that his guard had been let down substantially.

"Does anyone get the feeling that we're being watched?" asked Anime Sonic after a number of minutes.

"I thought I saw a teenage human peeking around the corner of a doorway," Sonic X casually answered.

Upon hearing that, SatAM Sonic and SU Sonic jumped and looked wildly around, more out of hate than fear. "A human? Where?"

"Don't worry," assured Zonic. "They won't harm you."

SU Sonic shouted, "Won't harm us?" and SatAM Sonic looked at Zonic as if he was crazy.

"You shouldn't judge an entire species based on the actions of one," replied Zonic. "Or, to put it bluntly, not all humans are like Robotnik."

"You say that like it's not the most obvious thing in the universe." declared Anime Sonic.

"It's obvious in your universe," corrected Omochao, "but not in theirs." He pointed to SatAM Sonic and SU Sonic. "You see, these two have very few humans living in their worlds so it's natural for them to think that all humans are cruel and wicked."

"Oh."

"And don't worry," continued Omochao, "the humans of this Zone wouldn't dream of harming you!"

"And why is that?"

"Sorry, classified information."

"We're here," Zonic interrupted. They were now standing in front of a large metallic door. Omochao flew up to an electronic lock and pressed several buttons. The doorway opened and they all entered in a single-file line.

They were now in a room similar to the one the eight Sonic Primes had appeared in except it was the size of an indoor stadium and the teleportation pods were bigger too; they were large enough to hold ten people.

"This is the Universal Room," explained Zonic. "Each teleportation pod is set to one of the eight universes you guys live in. We'll use this place to transport you guys to your worlds. We don't know which universe he plans to attack first yet but Omochao will know thanks to its associates in each Zone so you'll be there the moment they're aware something's up."

"Why can't we use the machines in that other room?" asked Archie Sonic. "Or the No Zone?"

"Because after they're used, it takes an hour for them to charge up again. And besides, only one person at a time can use them. Oh and I forgot to mention: Mecha didn't just trash me and the other Zone Cops, she also trashed all our teleportation machinery."

"So you have to use this backup base instead," concluded Fleetway Sonic.

"Basically, yes. Now all we can do is to wait for Omochao to receive the signal from its fellow robots."

All eight Sonic Primes moaned at the mention of having to do their least favourite activity for who knows how long.

"We have to wait?" questioned SatAM Sonic, "That's not our best event!"

For the first time in a long while, Zonic chuckled. "Don't worry. Knowing Robo-Robotnik, the signal will come very soon."

The moment Robo-Robotnik reviewed the information of that universe, he decided he'd conquer that one first. The robots that the Robotnik of that world had created were mostly useless as they were either rebellious, unintelligent or both but his inventions were an entirely different story. The machines he had built before could do things beyond Robo-Robotnik's wildest imaginings.

"This is just too good to be true!"

"Good is a matter of definition, father," replied ADAM.

Robo-Robotnik ignored his 'son,' a computer virus that had been accidentally created about nine months prior. Despite his nature, he had been quite beneficial most of the time. The Autonomous Digital Assault Microbe controlled every machine of the Eggman Empire so if someone were to hack a computer or even a robot, ADAM would know about, infect and take control of the infiltrating device immediately.

He turned to his 'daughter' and to his old cohort. "M, Evil Sonic, is everything ready?"

"Yes, father."

"You bet!"

"Good, good."

The overall plan was this: he would leave some robots behind to defend New Megaopolis in case the Freedom Fighters noticed and took advantage of his absence and set his factories to keep mass-producing more robots to replace the ones lost in battle. However, even if New Megaopolis was lost, he would come back to this world after conquering the other seven with more military might than even King Maximilian and Station Square's armies combined.

"ADAM, set the coordinates to this location in this universe and teleport us there," Robo-Robotnik commanded, indicating a specific spot on the screen.

"Yes, father."

Earlier, teleportation devices had been manufactured and planted on himself, Evil Sonic, Mecha and quite a few robots. He planned to have himself and his forces materialize not too far from that universe's Robotnik's place, take him by surprise and occupy his stronghold.

As they vanished in a flash of light, Robo-Robotnik couldn't help but declare, "The inhabitants of that world are gonna wish their parents never met by the time I'm through with them! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!"