//------------------------------// // Entering Worlds // Story: Sonic's Freedom Fighters // by Amereep //------------------------------// Within the Everfree Forest, a quick blur can be seen as a trail of dust leaves a path behind it. The image that was leading the trail was that of a blue hedgehog, giving off a determined look on his face. "How much farther is this place, Nichole?" he asked a compact computer he was carrying. [We are almost there, Sonic] the device replied back. Two months have past since Robotnik's Doomsday project failed, taking along Robotnik to who knows where. With the evil ruler gone, his second in command, Snively, took over running Robotropolis. Snively does have a lot of power, but unlike his predecessor, he has trouble at expanding his empire. He usually just kicks back and enjoys having so much power. As such, the Freedom Fighters have little to no problem at taking back their once beautiful land from Snively. One day, Sally uncovered information about an ancient civilization within Nicole's files. It said that the culture was highly advanced in the field of magic, but the society vanished a long time ago. She asked Sonic to investigate the lost empire for any clues at using magic to un-roboticizing their friends and family. He was given Nichole to help him find the location of the empire and to give him some knowledge; Sonic may be fast, but it doesn't mean he gives things much thought. The blue speed demon also took with him three power rings, these rings were a trump card made only for him to use during moments where he may need some extra speed or strength. Sonic has now been on search for five days now, and Nichole finally states [We have reached the destination.] The hedgehog slides to a halt to see an open field of grass with nothing but small bugs and some flowers blowing in the wind. Sonic was scratching his head "Yo Nichole, what gives? There's nothing here that looks anything remotely civilian. Are you sure this is the place?" [I am positive that this is the place] the computer replied. Sonic just gave a sigh and begins running through the meadow for any ancient architect he could find. Within the city of Robotropolis, Snively is working an observation post and glances down to the testing chamber. Ancient stone walls with hieroglyphics etched into them. Snively pushes a button and a wall in the testing chamber rises to reveal a swirling vortex known as 'The Void'. Within mere seconds, a figure can be seen flying out of the Void and landing on the floor. Snively lowers the wall over the Void and prepares for his guest. A door open inside the observation post and a misshaped creature approaches Snively. The creature had ears like a bat, a horn of a rhino, a claw like a lobster, and was dragging a long tail like a snake's behind him. He was wearing a purple outfit with gray gloves and a black cape. He starred at Snively while he stroked his long beard "I take it that you have prepared finishing your end of the bargain" he said in a raspy voice. "Yes Naugus" Snively said, handing over a pill "This should help protect you from the Void's effect. Its temporary and one of a kind, but it's the best I could do." Naugus takes the pill and swallows it. "I assume you enjoyed your time with the big round guy I sent you." "The last time I left him, I turned him into an anteater" Snively snickered at the remark. "He should be fine for a while, I left him with plenty of fire ants" Naugus started wheezing laughter from his own actions. Ixis Naugus is a powerful wizard that has the power to transform himself or other's shape and appearance to a curtain limit. Naugus also has control over the four elements as well; fire, earth, wind, and water. His element controlling was the result of an incident caused by his greed for power. Speaking about greed, his desire for power has never faded from his mind and will stop at nothing to increase his magic, even at the cost of his own life. Naugus' greed eventually lead him to the Void, which made him a slave inside the vortex. Spending years in the Void has given him a side effect where leaving would cause him to turn to crystal. Now thanks to Snevily's medicine, the effect has been pushed back for the time being. "Now with you here, we can take down those pesky Freedom Fighters once and for all. With them out of the way, nothing can stop us from taking over the entire world" Snively proclaimed triumphantly. Naugus didn't show much enthusiasm in conquering the world, because their was something stopping him. He pat his belly, feeling the pill dissolving in his stomach, and gazed at Snively with a sly grin "Tell me Snively, are you a gambling man?" "What do you have in mind?" Snively asked. "What if I told you that I could extend my visit permanently? While I was in the Void, all I had was the knowledge I've learned from the books I've read long ago and after much pondering, I believe I've found out what happened to a magical race that could be quite helpful at keeping the Void's effect in check." Naugus grit his teeth, giving the most wicked of smiles "So tell me; do you want me to help you now or later?" *Woosh Woosh Woosh* Sonic was laying on the grass with one hand holding his head up and the other hand spinning a power ring on his finger. "I've been searching for hours and I still haven't found anything. Did you pick up anything unusual, Nichole?" [Afraid not] Nichole replied. *Woosh Woosh Woosh* "What in the world is that thing?" "It looks like a giant ring." "I can see that, but why is it spinning in the air?" *Woosh Woosh Woosh* "What am I going to tell Sal when I get back? She's counting on me at finding something" Sonic said to Nichole in hopes for an answer. [The civilization did vanish so suddenly, they must have taken any connection that would lead to them as well. That is the only thing we can tell her] Nichole responded. *Woosh Woosh Woosh* "Should we do something?" "Maybe we should leave it alone?" "Forget that! I know just the pony that could figure out what it is." *Snatch* Without notice, the ring Sonic was spinning suddenly started dashing away through the air. "WAH?!?!?! HEY, GET BACK HERE!" Sonic yelled at the ring and quickly ran after it. The ring was flying ahead of him at a constant speed to his. The ring practically mocks in front of him by shimmering. *Shing* "Hey Twilight, I found this strange ring outside" "Would it ever kill you to use the front door like everypony else? *sigh* What's so strange about it?" "Well, you see this ring was spi- WOAH!" *grip* The ring made a sudden stop and Sonic wasted no time at grabbing it. As he snatch it, he felt like it was caught on something. His suspicions were correct as the ring pulled back from Sonic. "Oh no you don't" the hedgehog pulled the ring back. *grip* "Your not going anywhere!" "Rainbow Dash, what's wrong?" "It... it feels like someponies pulling it on the other end?" *grip* "It... it feels like somebodies pulling it on the other end?" Sonic wondered at what was giving his ring such a fuss. "I didn't really wanna use this... but..." he tightened his grip and began to activate the ring's power. It began to glow and a whirling sound could be heard emanating from it. *WHIRL* And in a quick flash, a pair of hands appeared on the ring across from Sonic. He traced up the hands to find it belonging to a cyan pony, at least, it looked like a pony. He could identify that it was feminine but what took him back was that she had wings; all the ponies he knew never had this feature. She was hovering in the air, giving a shocking expression that Sonic quickly imitated as well. He scanned slowly around himself and found that he was inside of a hollow tree. The room was decorated like a library, judging by all of the books on the selves, and had another pony there with purple fur and a horn on her head. She too was also giving the same expression as the ring holder's were. The cyan colored pony lightened her grip on the ring until it fell back towards Sonic. The blue hedgehog looks at the two "Who are you guys?"