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liveandlearn-kg · 3 years

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Live and Learn

Prologue - Act 2/3

Read on Archive of Our Own!: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31463474/chapters/79061071#workskin

Previous Act: https://liveandlearn-kg.tumblr.com/post/652459405063995392/live-and-learn

Chapter Content Warnings: N/A

CHAPTER BELOW CUT:

Despite our initial impressions, the two of us thought we would eventually find something of note that would explain where we are or why we’re here. However, the more we explored, the more we realized just how vast the land was. Loop-de-loops to run across, log bridges to cross, beautiful waterfalls that painted over a baby blue sky, and platforms that were both grounded and floating in the sky. The grass that was striped with different shades of green seemed to go on and on, seemingly only stopped by checkerboard dirt walls that held the grass on top of it. To say the place was expansive would have been underestimating it, as the land before us seemed to loop forever.

“I wonder when this’ll end?” Tails wonders aloud, as we roamed the landscape. I couldn’t help but agree with his question silently, not having an answer.

The land felt fake, but real at the same time. We hadn’t known where we were, everything was just too unfamiliar.

It was only seconds later we heard a new, feminine voice come out from above us, “You might not wanna step there fox boy.” it says.

However, the warning was too late, as Tails took one step forward, before stopping where he was to look up towards wherever the voice came from. The ground beneath him began to shake, before giving out and crumbling into dust in seemingly one second. The fox cries out in surprise, scrambling for the edge as the dirt seemed to disappear into nothingness. I run over in panic and grab his hand, pulling him up to safe ground. He panted, holding onto my own hand in a vice grip as he caught his breath, only letting go when he seemingly composed himself again.

“Told ya’ so,” the voice comments, causing Tails and I to look up again. There, on a platform above us was a white bat sitting with her legs both crossed and hanging off it. She had a cat-like smirk on her face, before jumping down from her perch in front of us. “Look down there,” she states, pointing to where the pit was.

The two of us look back to where the platform was, and I couldn’t have been more thankful I had stepped in even more. “Oh.” I state, not finding the right words to say. Tails seemed to be in the same boat, shocked at what was once below him. There was a pit filled with sharp, iron spikes that seemed to be able to puncture anything.

“Yeahhh this place is loaded with death traps like that, you might wanna watch your step.” the bat says as though this was a casual thing. She puts a hand on her hip, “Anyways,” she starts, putting emphasis on the n, “Hi strangers, I’m gonna assume you don’t happen to know where we are?” she asks.

As he hid his second tail around the first one, Tails shook his head, “Sorry.”

She shrugs, “Eh, it was worth a shot. So beside that, I’m just gonna assume you’re Ultimates like everyone else.”

That got an eyebrow raise from me, “So there’s more of us here?”

“Yep” she confirmed, popping the p as she glanced at her surroundings, before turning her head back to us. “What’re your guys’ names?”

I started first, pointing towards myself with a proud thumb, “They call me Sonic the Hedgehog! But Blue Blur, and Fastest Thing Alive are common nicknames for myself if you prefer those. I’m what the news refers to as the Ultimate Trackstar.” I brag.

Tails leads off of me, “And I’m the Ultimate Mechanic. My nickname is Tails.”

The bat nods, “Ah, I see who’s the more modest of you two,” she snarks, “After those two tails of yours right?” Tails looks surprised, before giving a sort of dejected look. She adds on, “Yeah you don’t do a good job of hiding them. But relax, they’re pretty neat. Just don’t try hiding them anymore, it looks silly when you do.”

“Oh… Okay…” Tails simply replies, folding his hears while looking embarrassed.

“Now, with that out of the way,” the bat starts, “You can call me Rouge the Bat. Like you two, I’m an Ultimate, the Ultimate Phantom Thief to be precise,” she states casually with a mischievous smirk.

“A PHANTOM THIEF?!” I cry in surprise.

Tails seemed to be taken aback by her response too, “Rouge the Bat?! As in THE person behind the heist of the Illusion Sapphire?!” Illusion Sapphire?

Rouge merely smirks, “The one and only,” she replies with a wink in our direction. I begin to scold myself internally for not being familiar with all these accomplishments or faces, just a consequence of deciding to not familiarize myself with the daily news.

“What’s a thief like yourself doing here?” I ask, trying to push aside the fact that I didn’t know this… accomplishment of hers, raising an eyebrow at her.

Rouge waves me off with a single hand with pursed lips, “Relax kid, it’s not like I steal from anyone. Besides if I had an answer I’d tell you, but like everyone else I can’t tell ya a single thing I know. I was just inspecting my jewel collection and then suddenly I fainted and I woke up here,” she explains, putting a hand on her hip and looking off to the side. “Just like you guys, am I right?”

I slowly nod, “Yes…? How did you know?” I could tell my eyebrow wasn’t going down anytime soon, as her behavior made me question her more and more.

The bat shrugs, “It’s the common trend. You two haven’t met anyone else here besides yourselves, so it makes sense you wouldn’t know. Everyone else has recounted similar experiences. They just have different beginnings, so I’m just assuming its nearly the same for everyone.”

Tails nods, “I see…” he trails off, looking to the side. He appeared to be thinking deeply about something. Both Rouge and I raised an eyebrow, but we didn’t say a thing.

I look towards Rouge, thinking back to her ultimate. “So you really are a great thief, huh?”

She nods, “You’d be surprised at just what kinda security I can weave through to get what I want. Luckily for you, it’s something I could never catch you all with. I’m only after jewels, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Unless you have one…” she explains, giving a mischievous smirk with her eyes sparkling at the mere thought of gems.

I cringe, “Nah, it’s not that I’m worried about being stolen from, it’s just the morality of it.”

She shrugs, “Suit yourself.”

“Anyways, you all should follow me. I’ve been scouting this place for other people before taking them back to this one spot. Everyone else should be there.” Rouge explains, motioning back behind her.

Tails looks in the direction she pointed towards, “So there are more people here besides us?” he asks, making a curious expression.

She nods, “Yeah, including us there’s 18 people in total so far, and given a trend I assume you’re the last of them.”

“What trend?” I ask.

Rouge just jumps in the air, flapping her wings and taking flight, “Follow with me and find out!” she yelled, causing Tails and I to look between us. I just gave him a shrug. She began to fly towards the direction she motioned towards. We took off in a run to follow her closely, being lead to where everyone else was, hopefully.

It took a while, after being suffocated in nothing but an ocean of green and brown. After a while though, we were greeted with a new splash of color, a splash of many colors actually. We met so many different faces of many different shapes.

“I have two more!” Rouge called, waving the group over. Everyone turned towards us, taking a look to see who it was. Rouge flew down and landed next to the group, “If everyone here is an Ultimate in the news then, they should be the last ones.”

“Everyone’s an Ultimate?” I asked, walking up to everyone else.

“Yeah, and if there’s eighteen known Ultimates then we’re probably the only eighteen people here,” explains a pink hedgehog. I nod, making a mental note about the number of ultimates. I admittedly didn’t knowing just how many there were, just that there were a lot. I look over a Tails who was by my side, making a nod that seemed to indicate whatever he was thinking about was confirmed.

Suddenly a little rabbit in an orange dress weaved out of the crowd, pulling a large purple cat in a belt by the hand. They ran up to Tails and me with hope in their eyes, “Um! Excuse me!” she called in a soft voice, “Have you seen a chao with a red bow tie or a frog with a tail?” she asked. “They were with us when we fainted and they never leave our side, but we haven’t seen them here. So we’re really worried…”

Tails frowns and scratches his head, “I’m sorry, but we haven’t seen anything like them since we woke up here. Just Rouge and you guys.”

The rabbit and cat share a dejected look, “Ah… okay…” the rabbit simply stated with a sigh.

“Froggy…” the cat mutters,

The pink hedgehog runs up to the two with a sympathetic look on her face, “Hey it’s okay, if anything it just means they’re probably away from here. When we get out we’ll go looking where you fainted, I’m sure they’re just as worried as you are,” she reassured with a gentle voice. The rabbit and cat merely nod. She then turned to us with a hand outstretched, “Hey, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I am Amy Rose, the Ultimate Fortune Teller. I assume you two are Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower, the Ultimate Track Star and Ultimate Mechanic respectively.”

I look at Tails who was wearing a flustered look on his place, “Your name is Miles Prower?”

He began to knead his second tail and look off to the side, “Y-yeah. It’s embarrassing, I know. Miles Per Hour and all that haha... “ he explained, trying to give his best grin despite his obvious embarrassment.

I shake my head, “Yeah I can see why you would prefer a nickname over that,” I simply state, “Would you prefer me to still call you Tails?” I ask. Tails just nods as a sign of affirmation, not saying a word. I then turn to Amy, who had a questioning look on her face, “Anyways, yeah that’s us. But Miles prefers Tails over his actual name.”

Amy nods, giving Tails a thumbs up, “Tails, gotcha. I’m sure everyone else is willing to call you that, I don’t see why people wouldn’t be willing to,” she says. She looks back over at the crowd, who don’t voice any objections. She then turns back to the rabbit and the cat, “Why don’t we all introduce ourselves to them individually, to familiarize ourselves with each other, before we discuss the situation at hand. Let’s start with you two.”

The rabbit nodded with an “Mhm!” She slapped her cheeks with both her hands gently twice, before introducing herself, “Hello Mr. Sonic, Mr. Tails, my name is Cream the Rabbit, I’m the Ultimate Pet Sitter,” she said with a gentle voice, bowing her head. “It’s nice to meet you!”

The cat then continued off of her, “And I am Big the Cat. I am the Ultimate Fisherman.” He looked at us with an almost dead look in his eyes, but that didn’t really bother me. He seemed nice enough for the most part.

After Big was a silver hedgehog with sparkling, excited eyes. He waved excitedly, “Me next! My name is Silver the Hedgehog! They call me the Ultimate Psychic! It’s nice to meet you two.”

Another purple cat in a purple dress with a ponytail then followed up on him, noticeably more aloof than him, “My name is Blaze the Cat. Despite the inaccuracy of the title I’ve been assigned, I am what the public calls the Ultimate Pyrotechnician.”

We looked over towards Rouge, who was now next to a black and red hedgehog who had his arms crossed, and the big robot who seemed to constantly be glaring at us. She noticed the two of us were looking in her direction, as she then elbowed the hedgehog gently, “C’mon Shadow, introduce yourself,” she nudged slightly.

The hedgehog, who I assumed to be named Shadow, grunted. He looked up at the two of us, “The names’ Shadow the Hedgehog, and I am the Ultimate Life Form.” My eyes widened a bit, given how I was within the vicinity of THE Ultimate Life Form. I had only heard about him through word of mouth, and he seemed more like an idea than an actual person. But… here he is! It’s surprising to even here an Ultimate Life Form even exists.

The robot then went after Shadow, stating his name and title.. well, robotically. “I AM E-123 OMEGA, THE ULTIMATE MACHINE, AND THE ULTIMATE E-SERIES ROBOT.” I look over at Tails, who seemed to be a bit nervous at the sight of Omega, but I figured I’d ask him later when we weren’t in the middle of something else. Like now.

A red wolf then waved in our direction shyly with a hand behind his back. He had a large pair of red glasses resting on his muzzle and a utility belt of sorts placed across his chest. “Hi, I’m Gadget the Wolf. You can call me Gadget though. I’m the Ultimate Gunman, but I don’t actually shoot people so don’t worry. I just do sports, think of the shooting events from the Olympics,” he explained almost frantically.

A red armadillo then raised his hand above the crowd, making himself known to us. “We’ll go next!” He announced. He had a friendly and warm smile, obviously attempting to maintain a non-threatening appearance. Close by his side was a yellow flying squirrel wearing a baby blue scarf and a pair of goggles in the same shade. He was noticeably more excitable just by a quick look, wearing a big, unapologetic grin. “The name’s Mighty the Armadillo, and the news calls me the Ultimate Wayfarer. Hope we can be friends!”

The squirrel next to him nodded, “Yeah, what he said!” he continued, before before going off on his own introduction. “Ray the Flying Squirrel, you can call me Ray. I’m the Ultimate Navigator AND Mighty’s partner.”

Tails nodded, giving a slight chuckle, “Well, you do seem to be very close from what the news would say about you two.” The squirrel nodded eagerly, with Mighty giving a light chuckle at his friend.

A green hawk grunted, letting out an “ahem”, making himself known and drawing all eyes onto him. He had a prideful look on his face that was near sly. If I had to say anything from first glance, it was that he probably thought he was the most important thing in the world. “The name’s Jet the Hawk. I’m the Ultimate Racer, a title which I officially won at the World Grand Prix.” He announced with a smug grin as he cracked his knuckles, “And if I had to guess, I’m the only one here with an official title.”

As much as I wanted to challenge that, the rest of us just kinda ignored him, as a strange group of three just moved on from Jet’s bragging. The hawk let out a sound of surprise at the rest of us just kinda said ‘cool.’ A crocodile pointed at himself with pride beaming from him, “I’m Vector the Crocodile, the Ultimate Detective-“

A purple chameleon led off of him, posing by raising two fingers to his face and looking down. “I am Espio the Chameleon, Ultimate Ninja-“

A bee then flew up behind the three, pumping an excited fist up, “AND I’M CHARMY BEE! ULTIMATE ASSISTANT!”

The three then posed in unison, with the three of them quickly lining up uniformly. Vector raised an “ok” sign of sorts with a wink, with Charmy jumping onto his shoulder with a thumbs up, and Espio leaned up onto the crocodile, crossing his arms. “The three of us make up the Chaotix! We leave no case unsolved, so long as you pay the right price,” Vector stated.

I couldn’t help but hold a giggle back. There was an air of chaotic silliness to them, not helped by the wacky personalities emanating from them after just a mere introduction. I could tell I wasn’t the only one who wanted to laugh, given the hawk’s wide eyes and shut beak. Tails nudged me in the shoulder, telling me everything he wanted to say. I immediately attempted to compose myself, and it worked for the most part, but I still couldn’t help but let out a small huff of laughter.

There was one last person among the crowd who I had yet to pin a name too. Tails and I looked over at a red echidna with purple eyes, who had an aloof look to him. He noticed the two of us were looking at him with an expectant look, before nodding. “Knuckles the Echidna, Ultimate Treasure Hunter.” He stated simply, giving everything we really needed to know.

I made a mental note of all names and talents, figuring they’d be useful for later down the line. If not to talk with them, at least for conversation starters to look like I made an active choice to keep up with whatever the public was raving about nowadays. It wasn’t as though I had a dislike for it, far from it, I just wasn’t interested in it for the most part. I just wanted to do my thing, ya know?

Amy nodded, before turning back to us. “Well, that’s all of us. Eighteen Ultimates, eighteen people. Now…” she said, tapping her chin as she lowered her glance into a thinking look, “Do you two have any chance of knowing where we are? Why we’re here?” She asked, looking back with a somewhat hopeful look in her eyes.

Tails shook his head, “Sorry, but no. In fact we were hoping you all would have some form knowledge of something like that.”

Amy gave Tails a regretful look, shaking her head. “Sorry, not even Vector knows a thing.”

Vector nodded, “She’s right. The only clue we have is our identities and what’s on us, but that’s about it. Everyone else gave their own testimonies, but they’re all similar. We all were doing our own thing before being knocked out, suddenly waking up in this weird field.”

“‘What’s on you’…?” Tails repeated with an inquiring voice.

“Those of us who had them on us at the time, such as Amy and Espio, woke up with weapons on them.” Knuckles answered as though it was a matter of a fact, “You wouldn’t happen to have any on you two, would you?” the echidna asked.

The orange fox then waved his hands frantically, “No no not at all!” He answered, before then looking to the side, “That is concerning though… why would we wake up with weapons on us…?” He whispered to himself.

Jet snorted, “You’re telling me. We all black out n’ then wake up in this new place with death traps littered all over, some of us having weapons too! It’s as though this place was made to kill us.” A couple let out noises of agreement, and I couldn’t help but follow them.

I tsked, muttering a ‘damn’. To myself. But then a lightbulb went off in my head, “But this is an open field, right?” I asked.

Mighty confirmed my question, “As far as we know, yeah.”

“Well couldn’t I just run to find the nearest town to figure out where we are? I could probably find info and get us outta here quickly!” I explained. Wow Sonic, why hadn’t you thought about this sooner! I made my mark, raising one leg, ready to take off-

“That’s not gonna work.” A raspy voice interrupted, I look up to who made themself known, seeing it come from a certain black and red hedgehog. “I already tried that, but the place loops.” He stated as a matter of fact.

I shrug, I didn’t believe him for a second. “How could it loop? The place has to end at some point.”

Silver then interjected, “Yeah, it shouldn't be possible. I think Sonic should try it out, it wouldn’t take very long.”

Shadow didn’t argue with that, placing a hand on his hip, “You’re asking the wrong guy, I don’t know how it’s possible, but that’s how it is. You can try running in a straight line if you want, but it’ll give you the same results as it did me.”

I took him up on his offer, “You don’t have to ask me twice!” I started, before taking off with a streak of blue and the wind following close by.

I felt the wind blow through my quills as I ran as fast as I felt, knowing the world around me would be a blur no matter how fast I ran. However, the more I ran, the brown and green would continue. And despite the blurred look around me, I could swear some locations felt as though I had seen them earlier before. All before I was met with a familiar crowd of colors and faces. I pressed my foot roughly on the ground, coming to a screeching halt.

“Holy shit he’s right.” I simply state with wide eyes. “I ran straight, I swear I made no turns, and yet I ended back here.” The crowd gasped.

Shadow just gave me a look that simply just told me, ‘told ya so’, with as much of a gloomy look you could have with that expression.

Cream let out a cry of terror, “D-does this mean we’re trapped?” She asked with a shaky voice. A twinge of fear ran down my spine, as it suddenly hit me what Jet pointed out earlier. What he said couldn’t have been true, absolutely not.

Amy quickly came to the rabbit’s side, getting on her knees, “No, we’ll be out of here eventually,” she comforted, to the best of her abilities anyways.

“Well how would we?” called out Jet with a hint of annoyance paired with panic in his voice, “cuz as far as I’m aware, we’re stuck here with a bunch of death traps and weapons!”

Mighty inched closer to Ray, with a protective look on his face, and Tails’ tails stiffened. Amy furrowed her expression, and was about to disprove him, but the squirrel interjected before the pink hedgehog could say a thing. “But that can't be true! What kind of person would do such a thing?”

Rouge, on the other hand, sides with the green hawk. “Hate to agree with Jet, but he’s right. It’s almost as if the only way to escape from this place is through death.”

“Well there has to be some other way out!” yelled Gadget. “We’re stuck in a looping plane but SOMEONE has to know where we are!”

“But you guys said we are the only Ultimates, so we have to be the only people here!” pointed out Knuckles, who was now wearing a more worked up look on his voice.

“THE ECHIDNA WOULD BE CORRECT. ALL SEVENTEEN ORGANIC LIFE FORMS DETECTED WITHIN THE VICINITY ARE PRESENT.” confirmed Omega.

“Well then why are we here?” asked Espio, “Someone obviously brought us to this place so someone has to know.”

“Well I have a lot to say to the person who brought us here…” announced Knuckles, who was now riled up.

“But-“ Charmy started, before he was interrupted suddenly by a new voice that rang out from seemingly nowhere.

“And we are here to answer that!” it said, causing me to go into a sort of defensive position as I wildly looked for a source by moving only my head. My gloves were clenched and my knees were bent. And I could tell others were alert too, as this voice only added to the widespread fear between us all.

A stage seemed to grow from the ground, manifesting from seemingly nowhere and nothing. It was made of wood, and had a set of beams standing up from the sides, carrying yet another beam on top that carried a red curtain. Our entire group let out gasps of surprise rang out, with cries of “How?” and “How is that possible?” echoing among the crowd.

We weren’t able to revel in our disbelief though, as from the stage a little robot popped out with confetti and streamers surrounding it. Right as it was about to land, the robot began to float, refusing to make contact with the ground. I let out a hiss though, as I got an eyeful of what this robot was.

The thing was a stubby one, that’s for sure. It was painted black and white, one side lighter, the other darker. The way I’m describing it doesn’t seem so bad at first. But what if I told you it had two heads. One side an orb, and one side a cube. The orb was painted all black, and had glowing red eyes, whereas the cube was white, and had cyan eyes that would glow just like the orb’s. Sure it isn’t horrifying, but it’s the least bit creepy.

I could tell others agreed with me too, as Cream let out a yell of surprise and looked away, as Mighty simply noted under his breath, “Well isn’t that creepy.” Tails’ ears seemed to stretch slightly as they stood up high, and even Shadow had wide eyes.

The orb started first, “Welcome to Green Hill Zone!”

“I am Orbot-“

“-and I’m Cubot!”

“And together we make Monobot! We’ll be your host for the game!”

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