Sonic United

By N. Harmonik

Authoress' Note: To quote Butler from the sixth Pokémon movie, "I've waited forever for this day!" …Though in my case, unintentionally, I've only waited about two years to post this story ever since the idea for it first came into my mind. Yet the time it has spent within my cranium was not in vain, for though this story has been warped, moulded and twisted beyond recognition, throughout it all, it has been improved. The final result is what you're about to read.

While reading, be on the lookout for references to possible future fics. You'll never know what I'll think up.

And another thing: an overlander is a four-fingered human, okay?

Disclaimer: Sonic, Dr. Robotnik and related characters are copyrighted to SEGA, Sonic Team, Archie Comics, Egmont Fleetway Editions Ltd, DiC, Taki Corporation, ADV Films, TMS Entertainment and 4Kids Entertainment.

SEGA Timeline: Between "Sonic Advance 3" and "Sonic Rush"
Archie Timeline: Between "The Original Freedom Fighters Part 2" Sonic the Hedgehog #143 and "Love and Loss" Sonic the Hedgehog #144
Fleetway Timeline: Between "Return to the Death Egg" "Horror in the Haunted Hill Zone Part 2" Sonic the Comic #231 and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" "Return of the Cybernik!" Sonic the Comic #232
AoStH Timeline: Way after "Sonic Christmas Blast"
SatAM Timeline: Way after "Doomsday"
SU Timeline: Way after "Virtual Danger"
Anime Timeline: Way after "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie"
Sonic X Timeline: Between "Eggman for President" and "A Date to Forget"

Prologue

Evil Sonic lay back on his cold, uncomfortable, metal cot with his hands underneath his head, being careful not to crease his leather jacket, scuff his leather boots or hurt his gloved hands with his own spines.

Looking out of his jail cell past the quadruple-layer laser beams, the only objects between him and freedom, the blue hedgehog saw, through the dark tint of his sunglasses, a disheartening, familiar and slightly disorienting sight: Zonic the Zone Cop, sitting at a table, enjoying a lunch consisting of a dozen chili dogs.

What made the scene slightly disorienting was the fact that it was tilted at a 90 degree angle. Such was the nature of the No Zone, a perpendicular universe that ran through every parallel Zone in existence. Some inhabitants of this world chose to make a living as a Zone Cop, a job requiring them to watch over every other dimension in existence and wear (in Evil Sonic's opinion) ridiculous, brightly coloured, armoured suits. Much to Evil Sonic's disgust and bad luck, the Sonic (or rather Zonic) of this world was a Zone Cop.

Evil Sonic had been arrested by Zonic twice: the first time was because he had tricked every Sonic that had participated in the Great Battle into handing their pieces of Giant Borg over so he himself could hand them over to Robo-Robotnik ("Zone Wars: A Tale of Two Hedgehogs" Sonic Super Special #10). Sometime later, he managed to escape while beating up Zonic in the process, only to be thwarted by (of all people) the Antoine of his good twin's world ("Mistaken Identity Crisis!" Sonic the Hedgehog #112). After that last one, security had been upped quite a bit.

Becoming bored, Evil Sonic propped himself up and turned his attention to the hundreds of monitors that were all over the walls (or from his perspective, the floor and ceiling) of the room outside his cell. Each one showed a different Sonic. He quickly found the monitor that showed the Sonic the Hedgehog who had defeated him on one too many occasions.

On the screen, he saw Sonic lying down in some grass, apparently asleep. There was a smirk on his face which Evil Sonic would have dearly loved to wipe off; it somehow felt like he was taunting him.

Just then, to his surprise and bewilderment, the head of an overlander babe with short, brown hair and sunglasses appeared on the screen. The bewildering part was that the head was opaque: he could see right through it! A moment later, Evil Sonic realized why and stood up in shock: it was actually a reflection. She was inside the room.

He whirled around just in time to see the overlander smash Zonic's head onto the table. Since he didn't have his helmet on, he was knocked unconscious immediately.

Without seemingly any effort, the overlander chick picked up Zonic, lifted him over her head and threw him hard into some computer equipment.

Evil Sonic winced as the sound of smashing metal and tinkling glass reached his ears. He whistled loudly; a girl that didn't have any qualms about getting her hands dirty and was a cutie as well; now that was his idea of the perfect babe! He just hoped he wouldn't be next.

The overlander brunette wore a silver, metallic, long-sleeved shirt and boots over a black bodysuit. A pair of crystal earrings adorned her earlobes. She raised a gloved hand (which, Evil Sonic noted, had five fingers instead of four) up to her sunglasses and took them off. Evil Sonic gasped; her eyes were glowing with a pale blue colour. She was an android.

A second later, they fired, destroying several monitors. She turned her head and fired again, this time annihilating some more computer equipment. This process continued for a minute before everything electronic was eradicated, including the device that activated the laser beams.

She then turned her eyes towards the freed Evil Sonic, who gulped and backed away a bit, heart thumping against his rib cage. It looked like he was going to be next after all.

Instead of firing, however, the overlander put her shades back on. Evil Sonic breathed a sigh of relief and wiped a dozen glistening beads of sweat off his blue forehead.

"Hello. My name is Mecha," she said solemnly, not a hint of emotion in her voice to be found. "Father wanted me to come get you."

Evil Sonic frowned."Your father? Who is he?"

"Someone you know," said a voice.

Both the hedgehog and the overlander turned their gaze to the doorway.

An obese overlander stood there wearing a red coat and black pants and boots. On his face were an orange moustache and a pair of round sunglasses. He looked vaguely like an alternate version of Robotnik. Not to mention, unfamiliar.

"I don't know you!" Evil Sonic retorted. "We've never met before!"

"Perhaps this will ring a bell: if you work for me again," he paused, "your evil will be put to good use, my friend."

Evil Sonic's jaw dropped; he recognized that line. "You!"

"Yes, it is I, Robo-Robotnik. Now we must hurry. We have worlds to conquer and people to enslave."

Evil Sonic folded his arms. "If you think I'm gonna work for you again after you threw me into the clink, you've got another thing coming!"

"It was not I who had you thrown in that dungeon, you blue buffoon, it was another version of me ("Zone Wars: A Tale of Two Hedgehogs" Sonic Super Special #10)."

Evil Sonic was incredulous. "Really."

"It's true," replied Robo-Robotnik. "Or are you saying that you'd rather stay here for quite a long time then be free to run around, cause mayhem and destruction, frame your counterparts and eat as many chili dogs as you desire."

Evil Sonic thought for a moment. He did seem to be telling the truth. And anything was better then being cooped up all the time in a narrow space.

For the first time in weeks, a malignant smile lit up Evil Sonic's face. "Alright… I'm all ears!"