Crisis of Multiple Earths II

Months have past. Zeno had been defeated once again. Excalibur's full potential unlocked. Sonic rose back to the true title of "Knight of the Wind", Zukai gaining the title of "Knight of Honor".

Now the Heroes of the world sit back at peace once more, at least until now.
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A seemingly teen aged male stands in the streets of East City. He wore a long overcoat that reached down to his feet. It had a hood latched at the top. The teen didn't have it over his head though. His hair spiked backwards a bit. He had a familiar face that just can't come to mine, but he wore a dark red bandanna upon his forehead. He showed little to no expression on his face, an aura of "sadness" had developed around him, while everyone who caught site of the teen would sadden dramatically.
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Close by, is another being, much like the other. This one however, was older. His hair spiked up but angled out quickly. It was a gray color, his eyes were the same color as his hair. He also had a familiar face, and everything around him mimicked the teen's.

Bambi's forest seemed...different, to say the least. Since the adventures he'd had with Corey, himself almost dying, watching the battle, and fusing as surrogate brothers, he was ready for anything. He had aged slightly, his stubs as large as Ronno's were during that incident. Faline had lost her spots as well, and Ronno had hit a small growth spurt.

But elsewhere in that forest was another fawn. He wasn't as noticably different as Zukai or Riku was during their inception, but he seemed to be wearing a vest of some sort - one that would inform hunters to not shoot him. His fur was a grayish brown, and his antlers were relatively large for a young creature. He seemed to be angry all the time, and when other animals approached him, they were consumed with rage - one caused by an inferiority complex.
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"...Does anyone else feel strange?" Corey asked, sitting down on the couch after a relatively light day of training. "Back when I was about to be catapulted into reality thanks to Tailsko," he nodded to the fox in question, "I saw...what looked like myself. I can't explain it. But he looked...distant. Sad, even."

Zukai was looking around for a new set of clothing. He wanted to get rid of his attire. He looked around a shop in East City. After browsing the wears of the shop, he grew fond of a leather jacket, similar to Ed's, but shorter, darker, and better looking.

Paying for the jacket, he left the shop only to catch sight of the teen, "Wha--" Zukai started as he watched the teen. "That's a nice hoody."

He stared at it. "He looks so much like..." Zukai trailed off as the teen turned to look at him.

"I....I know you..." The boy said in a muffled voice. Zukai looked the boy in bewilderment, "En...emy?" he finished as a blade started to form in his hand It looked much like Lumina, only a it glowed a dark green energy.

"L..Lumina?!" Zukai said as he watched the boy's actions.

Corey began to rush out the door, sensing Ki rising nearby.

"What's going on, I sense--" he halted abruptly. "...? Two people fighting..."

"Zukai, you mean?" Tailsko asked.

"...Who's 'Zukai'?" the Saiyan questioned in response. "Sorry, Tailsko, I've got to go..."

Tailsko was speechless. Corey had known Zukai almost as long as he'd known his cousins...and he was geniunely questioning his existence as though he never knew him!
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Drew saw Corey flying by.

"...?" Drew began. "He looks familiar...and at the same time...not...who is that kid?"

Corey caught sight of his cousin, and wondered who he was too.
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Zach touched down at this point, next to Drew.

"..." Drew turned to him. "...Who...who are you...?"

"...I'm Zach. Longtime rival, Corey's cousin...?"

"...Corey....never heard of him..."

"Uhh..." Zach started looking at Tailsko. She began to shrug, shaking her head in the process.
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Excalibur took form in Zukai's hand as he defended against a strike from the teen, "Wh...What are you doing?!" He questioned keeping his guard intact.

"Z----" The teen started to say as he backed away. "Zu----Zukai?" The teen finally stated. "W...what am I--"

Zukai backed away. How can he know who I am? Zukai thought as he kept Excalibur at the ready. "What's going on...Z...Zukai?" The teen said with little to no emotion.

"It's strange..." commented Tailsko. "They've known each other their whole lives...and all of a sudden, Corey and Drew's memories have been....fading away."

"Could it have something to do with what happened months ago?" Zach asked, remembering that Corey and Drew had been affected by some sort of dark art. "...That heartless thing?"
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Sonic saw Corey flying overhead, looking as though he was in a hurry.

"Wonder where he's running off to..." mumbled Sonic as he then took off in Corey's direction...

The older looking one had landed closer. "And this one...looks like...." Zukai noted backing up another step.
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At this moment, Ronno passes by Bambi. They bump into each other starting an argument.

"Watch were your going Bam-----Bam---....Uhh...Who are you?" Ronno said as he started to think.

"Bambi...you dislike me because I've bested you?" Bambi replied watching for Ronno's movements.

"Nope...doesn't ring any bells..." Ronno replied, trotting off, "That's....strange..." Bambi thought before he continued on his way.
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At this moment, Corey chanced to look down, seeing Sonic running along.

"Hey look, Soni--" Suddenly, his memory lapsed again. "...Son...Sss.....who is that blue hedgehog? He's pretty fast if he's keeping up with me..."

"I'm getting close..." Corey noted. "There's a third energy close to the first two..."

Zukai's end was getting weirder. "You.....look like....Drew...." The teen said as he eyed the older one. "And you look like.....Corey...." He replied.

"What's going on here?" Zukai asked as he took a deep breath, "Who are you and what is your purpose here?!" He finally shouted as he held grip of Excalibur.

"I...Don't know..." The two replied in sync.
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Someplace else

"But how?" A cloaked man asked, facing another cloaked man.

"It was the silver haired one who--" The second man said but was interrupted by a third.

"Well...it serves as our losses..." The third said. The three sat on throne like pedestals. The third's was higher then the others. He took his hood off, revealing dark silver hair, Orange red eyes, and a maniacal smile.
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Sonic arrived on the scene at last, seeing the two newcomers.

"S-Sonic...? Is that you?" said the Corey lookalike.

"H-how do you know my name...We haven't even met!" Sonic called out. AT this moment, Corey landed, and the Corey and Drew lookalikes both stopped.

"C-Corey...?!" said the Drew lookalike with uncertainty.

"...I don't...remember you..." Corey said. He then looked from Zukai to Sonic. "Any of you here...what's going on...?"

Back in the "Throne room"
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The seemingly "leader" of the three looked at the throne second highest from his. The cloaked man nodded. A large mass of black energy encircled him, small light hit under the hood, showing a smile before the man faded into the darkness of the energy. It dispersed, leaving only the throne.

"And you, retrieve the newcomers from the other world..." The silver haired man's voice boomed through the room.

The other man's throne was the lowest of the three. The man nodded and did the same as the other before him.
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The second highest 'chair' of the thrones was in the forest in which Bambi lived. The fawn stated earlier came into view. It wasn't happy in the least, in fact, it was raging. It charged at the cloaked man, who in response snapped his finger. With that, a dark energy spawned, it made formation into a mist.
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The other man's portal opened near Zukai, the Corey/Drew look-a-likes, Corey, and Sonic. He walked up to the Corey look alike.

Zukai raised up Excalibur. "And who is this?!" He shouted as he started to run at the man. The man flicked his wrist, a projectile expelling Excalibur out of Zukai's hand. "A....A card?!" he shouted in disbelief.

The man extended his arms. The Corey look alike looked puzzled.

Weird letters that seemed to spell C, O, R, E, and Y formed in front of the man. The letters started to scramble and mix around. An X suddenly formed, adding to the equation. The letters spelled out "C.Y.R.E.O.X"

Corey looked closely, "Those...umm----I've seen those before.....un----..." He stuttered but couldn't quite put his finger on his thoughts.

"...Those shapes...I've seen them before...but...where...?" Corey mused. "There was...someone else with me...he died. I think... Or was he dying...?"

"...Have you lost your memory...?!" Sonic asked.

"Or...this...'Cyreox'...has his memory..." Zukai observed. "Why else would Corey have forgotten us, but this guy know us...?"
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"...?" Bambi detected the intrusion into the universe. "...Corey, is that you?"

The figure turned to look at Bambi. A small dark ball of energy shot at Bambi. Bambi managed to get out of the way.

The fawn fell unconscious as the mist took effect. The process as before with the letters, however, still took place.

R, O, N, N, and O were spelled, in the same weird shapes as before. The letters mixed like before, and again, an X added to the group.

"X.O.N.N.O.R" was spelled now, the dark portal opened up again. The man grabbed "Xonnor" and went through the darkness.
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The process underwent again with the Drew look-a-like.

D, R, E, and W in the weird shapes. Mixing around, the addition of an X.

"Drew...." Corey said. "That name.....those shapes...." He rubbed his head as he tried to remember.

"X.R.E.W.D" was now spelled.

"My brethren, come home with me..." The cloaked figure commanded as a dark portal opened once more.

"......Damn it...!" Corey began. "What's going on...!? I feel like I should know you two, but nothing makes any sense...!" He glared at the portal. "...All I know is...something's telling me if we follow them, we might find out whatever's going on here..."

The three went through the portal. Corey thought for a moment.

"Now or never!" He said leaping in the portal

"Dammit Corey...!" Zukai said as he and Sonic had no choice but to follow.
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"Heh, ignorant morsels..." The silver haired man said as he raised both hands as if to preach.
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Bambi had the courage to follow the two on his end.
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The two groups swirled through darkness. It as nothing as before. As they passed, they felt nothing, nothing but the darkness in their hearts as the traveled.
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In a world of vibrant and vivid color..


Outside the window of a 'library', a portal could be seen off in the distance. Four specs fell from it, and continued decent.

A purple energy massed around books as they were sent off-screen.

"Spike, make a note please..." A female voice commanded as the sound of pages turning sailed passed.

Zach tensed up.

"...Corey, Zukai and Sonic, along with the three mysterious energies, vanished...!" he yelled.

"Z...Zukai...? S-Sonic...? I don't know either of those people..." Drew responded. "But it sounds bad, if you're mad about it..."

Tailsko seemed perplexed by something entirely different.

"I know of the heartless...but what happens to the rest of the body when that person is turned into a heartless...?" she questioned to no-one in particular, her psychic abilities having been able to allow her to see things through Corey's eyes.
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"...That was reckless, Corey!" yelled the hedgehog in observation. "...Wait...something's not right here..."

"...Corey...?" said a childish voice close by.

Corey didn't respond. He was looking around at the fixtures of color. "My eyes are starting to hurt from all these bright colors..." He said closing his eyes.

"Bambi?" Zukai question turning around. "How'd you get here?" Zukai asked rubbing his eyes.

"I...I don't know. There was Man, he took this fawn through a dark energy. " Bambi replied. "What's wrong with Corey?"
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The two cloaked men appeared in front of the silver haired man. "The task is complete, Xemnest." one said.

Xemnest, smiled and looked at the two non-hooded characters, and the knocked out fawn, "Nice work you two..." Xemnest. The two got in their respective chairs. The second highest took his hood down. What was revealed, was long hair. In the fashion of an "Emo" person.

Xemnest looked at him, "Leoxra, I want you to maintain balance between the animal...." and 'Leoxra' nodded.

Xemnest then looked at the other man. "Lexon, i want you to show these two the ropes. Make them....feel....at home..." Xemnest said in a low toned voice.

Corey tried to look at Zukai's hair, but was blinded by the light purple there.

"Ugh...!" He then looked to Sonic, and the same thing happened. Then he looked at his own clothes, and winced again. "...Bright...!"

"...He does have a point," Bambi observed, looking around. "This isn't the forest...Hey! Is this your world?" he asked, looking back to Zukai and Sonic.

"No...we're neither here nor there," the hedgehog said. "As for Corey, well, he's just not been himself lately..."

Bambi and Corey finally looked towards each other. Corey inhaled sharply.

"Bamb--!" Then, his memory cut out once again. "...Urgh...! What...!? No...I can't remember you either...!"

"...Wha--?" Bambi began. "You too...?! First Ronno, now you...?"

"You mean the same thing has happened to Ronno?" Sonic asked

Bambi nodded, "Yes, we bumped into each other earlier. He started to say 'Watch where your going...', but he couldn't even remember my name..." Bambi replied

For the first time since they entered this world, they eyed each other. "Whoa... Did your eyes dilate?" Sonic questioned staring at Zukai,

"And...yours?" Zukai replied. "I think yours changed as well..."

"What do you two mean?" Bambi asked as he moved closer.
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"Is she doing as I asked?" The female voice from before said again in the 'library'.

A more childish voice spoke, "Yes, she should be watching them from the skies..."

Corey wasn't paying attention. His eyes were transfixed on the sky above.

"Hey, guys?" he asked. "Am I losing my mind, or is that a moving rainbow in the sky?"

Dropping the whole change thing for the time being, the deer, hedgehog, and purple-haired Saiyan all looked, and saw the same thing Corey saw: sure enough, it's a moving rainbow.

"It looks so pretty..." Bambi said "But why is it moving?"

Corey hinged
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Flashes run through Corey's mind
Rainbow......

.......race

taste.....
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Zukai watched the movements of the rainbow. It moved from cloud to cloud. "That is...weird...?"

Just then, the four of the heroes saw the rainbow appear to make one of the clouds vanish.

"Wha--?" Bambi started, stumbling back a little in shock.

"I saw it too...Bambi, was it...?" Corey responded. "...Where did we go...?"

"Well, not the Funky Weather Universe..." Sonic snarkily added.

Zukai looked around, to see if he could identify any friendly creatures where they were. Maybe they could tell them...

"I'm about to go grab that rainbow...." Zukai announced as the four walked around, "Have you noticed it's been following us?

Sonic looked upwards to see Zukai's statement was correct, the rainbow had in fact, been following them, "Well....what's the worst it can be?"
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"I wonder where we were sent...can anyone else sense those guys we chased here? I can't." Corey confirmed, looking around. "For some reason, this dimension makes me think I can't tell someone about what's here...I wonder why. That rainbow...follows us...but...I can't sense any hostile intent..."

"I agree. I can't sense anything myself." Zukai agreed as the four continued, "This is all so very strange."

"Wait," Bambi interrupted. He came to a halt. Looking at Corey and Zukai. "Is this sort of like when we first met? You weren't able to use any of your abilities?" Bambi questioned.