Sonic was used to moving between dimensions and thought he would be stuck doing so forever. Sonic found the Shatter Realm strange because he had previously traveled through five different realms, yet hadn't found his way home. Despite the fact that Sonic would deny it if you asked him in person, he has grown fond of these new counterparts since his visit. In fact, he is so fond of them that he isn't opposed to living with them. He's been stuck hopping between various realms for what felt like months, and throughout that time he discovered one in particular realm he cherishes, New Yoke City.
The Present
Sonic and his new gang were having their typical battle with the Chaos Council j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶a̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶l̶l̶s̶ just as they always did since Sonic's return from the Jungle Realm.
"Watch out Sonic!" Rebel yelled. Sonic did a quick turn around and spin dashed one of the larger robots.
"Heh, no sweat! Is that all you got Eggy?" Sonic taunted and stuck his tongue out.
The 5 directors growled under their breath. They were sick of this nuisance, in fact everyone but one particular fox was.
"Sonic knock it off and get your head in the game." Knux sassed. Sonic rolled his eyes, complaining Knuckles took the fun out of everything. Though nonetheless Sonic complied and bashed the heads of more bots.
The heroic group ended up defeating the remaining robots, making a big pill that looked like a junk yard. This caused the Chaos Council to grow furious. Though fortunately for the group of heroes the Council ran out of reinforcements, the directors shouted at the group and scurried away.
"Good work gang!" Sonic smiled, showing his teeth to the world around him.
"Good work? Good work!? You almost got us killed back there!" Knux shouted. Sonic raised a brow, showing his confused expression.
"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked.
"You were toying around with the Chaos Council the whole time not even bothering to help us!" Knux was really angry.
"Kunx-" Sonic got cutoff.
"No I don't wanna hear it, maybe you shouldn't have come back.." Kunx spoke, lowering his voice towards the end, but it was still loud enough for the whole group to hear.
"Knux wait-" Sonic tried to reason with Kunx but he didn't listen and walked away with Rebel.
"Goodbye Sonic." Kunx said and continued walking.
Sonic and Nine were shocked. They stared at each other, neither one spoke.
"What just happened?.." Nine asked, still a bit shocked yet confused.
"I think they just left us.." Sonic spoke softly, still trying to comprehend what just happen.
Little did the fox and hedgehog know, they were being watched the whole time and the people stalking them heard and saw the conflict between the echidna and hedgehog.
The mysterious individuals chuckled in a terrifying way and disappeared from the scene.
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The two friends ended up walking back to Nine's secret lab located underground, where the subway runs.
"Your not going to be like them, right?" Nine asked, never looking Sonic in face.
"What do you mean buddy?" Sonic asked.
Nine took a deep breath. "You won't ever leave me, will you?"
Sonic stopped dead in his tracks. His mind was racing with sudden emotions and thoughts. Is this what his Tails thinks? Did Sonic just betray Tails for a alternative version? No, Sonic would never do that, he'd make it home, with Nine, he knew he would, after-all he couldn't leave Nine behind.
"No, no I would never leave you buddy." Sonic spoke softly and bent down to Nine's level. Sonic cupped Nine's cheek but went in for a big embrace. (I DON'T SHIP THEM, DON'T BE WEIRD)
"I promise when I find a way back home I'll take you with me." Sonic smiled, still kneeling down next to the sad fox.
"But what if-" Nine was cutoff by Sonic.
"No buts, no what ifs, I promise I'll find a way, no matter what."
"Okay.. hey maybe we can go travel dimensions today! I just finished upgrading the ... uhh well I haven't named it yet but you know what I mean." Nine suggested.
Sonic thought it was risky but if it would make his buddy happy, than he was more than willing to go.
"Sure buddy, you'll have to show me around the Shatter Space, don't have many fond memories in that place." Sonic Shivered.
Nine rolled his eyes but chuckled anyways. Nine took Sonic by his arm and dragged him like a rag doll to the location of his spacecraft.
*Ever since Sonic and Nine 'stole' the Paradox Prism, their 'friends' have took it as a sign of betrayal which only lead to them leaving Sonic and Nine. Though Sonic disappearing only made it worse as Knux and Rebel thought he left them on purpose when they needed him most. To add on to Sonic's disappearance, Nine also left with the Prism but with good intentions though his 'friends' didn't and still don't believe him.*
Once the two friends stood before the glorious spacecraft they couldn't help but look in awe.
"You made this?!" Sonic gasped. He ran around the craft, taking in all the wonderful details, such as the paint job, the logos, and so much more and to think that was just the exterior!
"No I had an army of aliens from space fly down and build it." Nine replied with a straight face. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned his head towards Nine. He nervously chuckled and hoped his ears were playing tricks on him.
"I'm joking Sonic." Nine groaned.
"Oh thank goodness!" Sonic said, letting out a distressed breath. Nine only gave an eye-roll in response.
"Lets get going you big baby." Nine said as he hopped into the spacecraft, flicking all the necessary controls on to start the craft.
"Excuse me?" Sonic scoffed, fully offended.
"You heard me, now lets go before we run out of fuel waiting on you slowpoke." Nine joked. Sonic said nothing but mumbles under his breath. Nine smirked at his childish behavior, finding it very hilarious.
Nine finished making last preparations, such as making sure the craft had enough fuel for the trip there and back, checking the Paradox Prism making sure it was up and ready to portal them out their dimension, and lastly making sure the Spacecraft itself had zero damage.
"Okay Sonic, everything seems to be fully operational, ready to go?" Nine asked, making sure his best friend was all set. Sonic gave a toothy smile and thumbs up, signaling he was all clear.
Nine let out a breath, hes done this before without Sonic but added a few new features since then and was a bit stressed out due to it. Nonetheless Nine pushed the steering stick forward and increased the speed. Soon enough the spacecraft lifted of the ground, Nine took it as the perfect opportunity and opened a portal to the Shatter Realm.
Sonic had to close his eyes due to the bright light that emerged from the Realm. He was told by Nine he could open his eyes and Sonic did just that only to hang his mouth open in awe.
The Shatter Realm was amazing when you had the chance to take in the scenery. Purple crystal-like fragments floated throughout the entire Realm, in fact everything was purple it seemed.
"Woah.." Sonic mumbled, completely lost for words. Nine only smiled at the hedgehog and continued moving fourth through the shatter realm.
"Nine look over there." Sonic pointed.
Nine turned his head to where Sonic was looking and felt mesmerized by what he saw.
It was a planet. It was one of the few things that wasn't purple, it seemed like a mix of blue and grey. Nine didn't know why but he felt a connection to it.
"Let's go check it out!" Sonic said. Nine didn't speak, but cooperated and turned the aircraft towards the planet.
"I wonder what it'll look like. Maybe it'll have other counterparts." Sonic wondered aloud.
"Guess we'll see.." Nine spoke quietly. Sonic barely heard his nine tailed buddy.
The two friends safely landed on their newly discovered planet. It was completely empty, the two highly doubted any signs of life were on the planet, seeing how vacant it was.
"I could run for miles!" Sonic stated. He began to run long and short, going around in circles then zigzags, all while laughing the whole time.
Nine was amazed by the speed Sonic possessed. He noticed Sonic ran way faster when in a larger area, rather than in a small city.
"This is amazing, imagine how much technology I could set up here!" Nine said. Nine felt ecstatic, he wanted to spend the rest of his life here.
"Imagine this much space for running Sonic." Nine spoke once more. Sonic had already stopped running and stood beside his pal. He took in the thought of being able to run for as long as he wished, and immediately grew fond of the ideas.
"That'd be a dream, being able to be free, and having no Eggman to deal with." Sonic dreamed of the thought, but snapped back into reality, knowing he had to help others.
"You could be! What if... what if we spend the rest of our lives here, being able to live free! We can make this our home! One you lost and one I've never had." Nine was desperate for Sonic to say yes, and hoped he would.
Sonic however kept quiet. He was lost for words, he has to get back to his friends, what if they need him? He couldn't leave them all alone with Eggman. Though Sonic knew if they were in danger he'd be far too late. He had been gone for months and with the time difference he could've be gone for years.
Sonic was snapped out his thoughts from Nine speaking.
"Sonic will you.. um stay with me? We can live without fear of worrying about tomorrow, we won't have to fight for the rest of our lives!" Nine asked. He needed Sonic, and Sonic needed him.
Sonic froze in place. He was lost for words. He had no idea what to say. Sonic was honored his buddy asked him to stay, but didn't know what to do.
Should he take the offer, after all he already lost his home.
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A/N
Hope you guys enjoy this new book! I know it's different than what I usually upload and it doesn't mean I'm giving up on TMNT, it just means I'm trying something new!
Date: 12/21/22
Word count: 1787