[???'s POV]

I felt like my entire body was in pain, but not much, though. I opened my eyes slowly as I stood up to my feet, only to fall back down on my feet.

"Crap... where am I?" I ask myself, not entirely sure where I am or how I got there as I rub my aching head.

I look around to see the sky was pitch black, clouds everywhere with tons of rock formations around me as well as small green stones lodged in the ground here and there.

"What the...? What is this place?" I ask myself as I finally stand to my feet, turning my head around to find any sign of life.

"Ahem. And you are?" a gruff male voice asks me from behind, making me turn to see who spoke.

I saw a smaller red creature, roughly about half my size or so, with dreads, blue eyes, bushy white eyebrows, and a white goatee. He wore a rather tribal-looking outfit, and he seemed rather upset about something.

"U-uh... who're you... s-sir...?" I ask, frightened that this thing could talk.

"I'm the one asking the questions here, kid," the creature said. "Who are you and why're you here? You after the Master Emerald or something?"

"Master... Emerald?" I question. "What's that?"

"You seriously don't know what the Master Emerald is?" the red thing asked me. "Then I guess you're no threat. You look pretty harmless."

"Hey..." I say, upset that this thing was calling me harmless even though I kinda agree with him.

"Anyways, what's your name, kid?" the creature asks me. "I'm Locke."

"Erm... I-I'm [Y/N]," I tell Locke. "Where are we?"

"Angel Island," Locke tells me as he walks away. "C'mon, kid! Gotta find you a way home, right?"

"R-right!" I say, jogging to catch up to him. "Erm... what are you exactly?"

"An Echidna," Locke tells me. "And you're human. Not many of those around Mobius. Especially friendly ones."

"Well, that's unfortunate," I say, sad about hearing about both things he said about humans. "And Mobius? I've never heard of such a place."

"Really?" Locke asked me. "Aw, great! Another random kid who got himself stuck in this dimension. Just great!"

"Another?" I question to myself as a giant green gem appearing in my vision. "Woah..."

"A beauty, ain't she?" Locke asks me. "That there is the Master Emerald. The most powerful object in the universe."

"That's gotta give some serious firepower..." I tell myself as the thing seems to glow by itself.

I then notice two figures near this so-called "Master Emerald". One was a bat-like creature wearing a skintight body suit with white and pink gloves and boots.

The other looked like a blue hedgehog with a leather jacket, white gloves, and black and red shoes with two scars on his stomach.

The two seemed to be talking about something and I decided to talk to Locke.

"Erm... Mr. Locke, do you know those two?" I ask him, pointing at them with my thumb.

"Grrrrrr! Yeah. Rouge the Bat and the Evil Sonic the Hedgehog," Locke tells me as he starts to walk up to them. "Stay here. I'm gonna have a word with them."

And with that, he walked away from me and to the two anthropomorphic animals which seem to be bickering with each other.

"The deal was you distract Locke this time while I get the Master Emerald!" Rouge tells the Evil Sonic.

"I didn't see him, so I thought he gotten to you already!" the blue hedgehog tells the bat.

"Ahem!" Locke clears his throat, getting the attention of the two.

"What the...?" the leather jacketed thief questions.

"In case you two didn't know, I don't take kindly to intruders," Locke tells the two.

"Oh, give me a break, man!" the blue hedgehog says. "It's my birthday!"

"Uh... happy birthday?" I tell the Evil Sonic guy, unsure if I actually should.

I mean, hey. I'm a nice guy.

"Heh. Thanks rando, but I can't take stuff like that right now!" the Evil Sonic says as he glares at Locke. "Right now, I gotta beat up an old geezer!"

At that, the two thieves rush at Locke. Rouge came at him from above, ready to grab him and do something while the Evil Sonic rolled into a ball and spun his way to Locke.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Locke!" Rouge tells the red Echidna.

"Quick! Hit him before he can use his wacky voodoo crap!" the Evil Sonic orders as a spinning ball.

Wait, they've met before? I ask myself as the two near Locke.

The Evil Sonic goes to attack Locke first, only for him to be redirected and he hits the ground behind him, nearly hitting his partner.

"First rule of a Guardian: deal with the biggest threat first!" Locke says as he gets in a fighting stance.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Old Man!" Rouge tells Locke as the two rush each other.

The two start to fight, Locke going with hand-to-hand combat with his so-called "voodoo" while Rouge did more aerial-based attacks.

I turned to see the blue hedgehog getting up and nearing the Master Emerald. I approach him, trying to get him to stop since my favor-for-a-favor instincts kicked in since Locke didn't attack me. The least I could do was stop this hedgehog from getting his hands on the gem he was trying to protect.

"Hey! Get away from that!" I order the would-be thief, making him turn to me.

"Oh! Your the kid that told me "happy birthday"!" he told me with an evil smile. "How about I repay the favor?!"

He swipes my legs and I fall to the ground, giving the Evil Sonic time to reach the Master Emerald.

"Locke! He's got the Master Emerald!" I tell the Echidna, making him stop with his fight and turn to the blue hedgehog.

"Get away from it! You have no idea what it could do to you!" Locke tells the hedgehog who only smirks.

"Sorry, but this birthday boy finally has his hands on the goods!" the thief declares, a green light surrounding him as his color scheme changes.

His quills turn a vibrant green as his eyes turn blue, his quills rising in the air a bit as he declares...

"NO!!!" Locke shouts, worried about the future outcome of this fight now.

"Looks like your priorities just shifted," Rouge tells Locke and speaks to the Evil Sonic. "Serves your right, traitor."

Locke covers his fist in a yellow energy, throwing it at the now green hedgehog as he shouts...

"GET OFF THE MASTER EMERALD!"

The Evil Sonic only dodges with great speed, making my eyes widen as I barely saw him move.

"You both had your chance," Locke tells the two intruders.

"L-Locke! I'm sorry!" I tell the red creature as he makes it down to the ground. "I tried to stop him, but--"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, [Y/N]," Locke tells me, his fist still glowing. "Stay back. I'll handle this."

"You like to play it rough, huh?" Rouge asks the Echidna. "Well then, let's go!"

And with that, the two rushed again at each other to fight, but they stopped when a familiar voice called out.

"Uh-uh! Remember, birthday boy gets first dibs!"

We all turn to see the newly green hedgehog, his leather jacket and quills swaying in the wind as he smirks evilly.

"Evil... Sonic...?" Rouge questions as she looks at her partner in confusion.

"Not quite, babe," the Evil Sonic says as he pulls out a pair of red sunglasses from his jacket and places them over his eyes. "But a real scourge all the same."

"A scourge...?" I question as I feel some crazy aura coming from the green baddie.

"You've changed!" Rouge states, taking in the Evil Sonic's new look.

"For the better, babe!" the Evil Sonic (or maybe I should call him Scourge?) declares. "No more "evil twin shtick" for me!"

"You'll be thrown out all the same!" Locke declares, leaping at Scourge with his fists ready.

Scourge widens his eyes for a moment before smirking and decking Locke in the face, following up with a swift kick to his stomach, and finally an elbow to his head. He falls to the ground, unconscious as he groans.

"Try that again, Old Man," Scourge taunts the downed Echidna after a good laugh.

"Locke!" I cry out in fear as Scourge goes to finish the job.

But before he could lay another hand on Locke, Rouge intervenes and pulls him back.

"Hold on! We do whatever it takes, but we don't kill!" she tells her green partner in crime.

"Oh, come on, Rouge!" Scourge says in disappointment.

"You wanna run with me? Then no body count!" the bat declares.

"Ugh. Spoil-sport... fine! I got a wuss to crush anyways," Scourge said, backing away from Locke.

"Sonic? How're we gonna get to him?" Rouge asks. "And what about that kid?"

"Who cares? He ain't gonna cause us any problems. He's too weak!" Scourge declares, deflating my ego some. "And I'm just following my instincts, baby! Let's see how intuition pays out..."

He turns to the Master Emerald, grabbing Rouge and pulling her close to him as he slapped his hand on the gem, shouting...

And with a bright flash of green light, the two dissappear and leaving me with Locke. I stay in my place for a mere moment before rushing to Locke's side to see if he okay.

"Locke!" I shout, kneeling down at his side and shaking him a bit to see if he could wake up. "Please be okay!"

After a few more moments of shakes, he finally stirs and opens his eyes, looking at me.

"Uuugghh... what happened?" Locke asks me.

"Rouge and Scourge escaped! They used the Master Emerald to teleport or something," I tell the Echidna.

"Just great. I failed to stop some Sonic poser from abusing the power of the Master Emerald," Locke said in shame.

"H-hey! It wasn't your fault!" I tell the old man. "If I was stronger, I could've stopped that Scourge."

"Haaaa... it's not your fault either, kid," Locke tells me as he stands. "Mobians are naturally stronger than humans. Don't get so down about it."

I nod with a bit if guilt still in my eyes and Locke grunts.

"Now, to see what I can do now," the Echidna says and walks up the stairs and up to the giant green gem he protects. "I know I should go after that punk, but I'm supposed to stay here and protect you. What should I do, Master Emerald?"

Locke places his hand and forehead on the stone, seemingly trying to talk to the Master Emerald. Not before too long, his head suddenly snaps up and looks at me.

"I see..." he says and smiles at the Master Emerald. "Thanks."

He then walks down the stairs and walks up to me, making me look down at him as he looks up at me.

"The Master Emerald wants you to go after Scourge," Locke tells me, shocking me.

"W-what?! I can't do that! Didn't you see what he did to me before his apparent power up? He'll fold me like a lawn chair!" I tell Locke. "And even if I could fight him, how would I get to him? I don't know where he went."

"I know that," Locke tells me and goes to one of the smal green crystals in the ground. "Which is why you're gonna use one of these."

He plucks a nearby one out of the ground and walks back to me, taking a string from seemingly nowhere.

"What're you doing? And what is that?" I ask Locke as he ties the string around the crystal, making it into a necklace of sorts and looking at me.

"I'm giving you this gem. Each of the smaller crystals here aren't even on par with the Master Emerald, but they are connected to it in power," Locke tells me and hands me the crystal. "Wear this around your neck and use the power from it. Since it's connected to the Master Emerald, it'll be connected to you and vice-versa."

"Wait! You're trusting me with power like that?!" I ask Locke. "How do you know that I won't use it like Scourge?"

"Cause you went to protect the Master Emerald from Scourge even when I told you to stay back," Locke tells me. "The Master Emerald trusts you, so that's good enough for me."

It thinks? I ask myself as I grab the necklace from Locke and place it around my neck.

When I do that, faint green lines of energy flow from the gem around my neck and spin around me before dispersing.

"Okay.... now what?"

"You go fight Scourge," Locke tells me as he crosses his arms. "Simple as that."

"But. I. Can't. Fight!" I tell the Echidna. "How can I go up against Scourge?!"

"Just follow your instincts, kid, and you'll be fine," Locke tells me.

"My instincts are terrible," I say.

"Stop stalling and go after him!" Locke tells me. "We ain't got all day, y'know?!"

"Okay! Okay!" I say as I step back. "I'm going, I'm going."

I start to think.

How do I do this? Do I just imagine myself in two places at once? Or do I just say "Hey! Bring me to Scourge!" and "POOF!" I'm there? Wait, he said Chaos Control when he vanished, so maybe I'll try that?

I sigh and hesitantly grab the green gem around my neck, breathing out as I focus on going to where Scourge is.

"Uh... Chaos Control?" I say, nothing happening at first until I'm surrounded by a bright green light and it covers my vision.

It soon clears, though, and I see a nice green field all around me. There were some more anthropomorphic animals on a nearby hill while a fallen heap of robot is on the grass near... three hedgehogs? One was Scourge, of course, while the second one looked like the older Scourge without the jacket and glasses.

The third was a black hedgehog with some red in his color scheme.

"What the?! You again?! How the hell did you get here?!" Scourge asks me with anger in his voice.

"Wait, so a human can use Chaos Control now?" the black hedgehog asks himself. "Now I've seen everything."

"Uh, who're you, buddy?" the blue Scourge, who I'm assuming is the good Sonic, asks me.

"Name's [Y/N]," I say with a smile. "I was sent by Locke to take Scourge down."

"Oh! So you know Knuckles' dad? Wanna join me in stomping on this green faker on his behalf?" Sonic asks me.

"I mean, that's why I came here, but I'm not all that good at fighting, yet," I say in honesty. "So I may not be much of help."

Saying it like that makes it seem like I just got pushed into this situation! Which I kinda was... I tell myself. Oh God, what mess did I get myself into this time?

"Hey, no prob! I'll teach ya on the fly!" Sonic tells me with a closed eye grin.

"Thanks!" I say with a smile myself.

"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME, DAMMIT!" a robotic voice barks at us as metal tentacles warp around me, Sonic, Scourge, and the black hedgehog and bring us up to look at a large robot with its upper half being a crocodile while the bottom half was a large mouth. "I'M STILL FUNCTIONING!"

"I don't like where this is going," I say, not at all liking being wrapped up by a tentacle.

"YOUR DOING NOTHING TO HELP, SHADOW!" Croctobot tells the so-called "Shadow". "I SHALL REPORT YOU AS A TRAITOR TO DR. ROBOTNIK!"

"No, you won't," Shadow tells the robot.

"Quick truce to finish this up?" Sonic asks me and Scourge.

"Works for me," Scourge says.

"Just get me outta this thing's hold," I tell Sonic.

We all then break out of Croctobot's hold and the three hedgehogs all spin into balls and tear through the robot with ease. I fall to the ground and land on my feet, watching the hedgehogs tear through Croctobot as I look for an opening. Then I find one near his head and, concentrating my new power through my legs and [D/A] (dominant arm), jump into the air and near Croctobot's head. I rear my fist back as a green color surrounds it and then deck the robot in its face.

"NOOOOOO!!!" the robot shouts as it starts to short-circuit, falling down on to the ground and breaks down. It doesn't get back up.

"Alright! Record time! Nice work faker!" Sonic tells Shadow and looks at me. "And you too, [Y/N]. Nice job for your first fight!"

"Thanks, Sonic!" I tell the blue hedgehog, his words making me smile.

"Now then... THE REASON WE'RE ALL HERE!" Scourge shouts as he decks Sonic in the face, knocking his blue counterpart back.

"Sonic!" I call out to the hedgehog in concern.

"URGH! CHEAP SHOT!" Sonic says and lands on his feet.

The two start to fight, both Sonic and Scourge Spin Attacking each other as I try to keep up with them. Scourge manages to get a lucky hit in and knocks Sonic down, making him literally eat the dirt beneath him.

"HAH! At last! Eat turf, Blue!" Scourge says in triumph.

"Not again!" I shout, leaping at Scourge who I take by surprise.

I tackle him to the ground but he manages to kick me off, making me land on my back with an "Oof!".

"Die, brat!" Scourge tells me, going to Spin Attack me.

But Shadow blocks his attack, knocking the green menace away from me.

"You've made a grave mistake ignoring me, bastard!" Shadow tells him as Scourge gets up.

He scowls and the two start to clash as the Spin Attack each other, going around everyone else with us and I manage to dodge one of these clashes.

Then Sonic, Shadow, and Scourge go in for a three-way clash which Scourge easily knocks them back.

"Hah! Told'ja I'd--" Scourge starts to say, only for my fist to connect with his cheek and shut him up.

"Forgot about me, didn't ya?!" I ask him. "You're gonna pay for what you did at Angel Island!"

"Hey! We're here to help!" a red fox-like creature tells me as she runs up to me as I pin Scourge down. "We've stood by long enough!"

"C'mon, y'all! Let's help out!" a rabbit-like creature says in a country accent, wearing a cowboy hat, a jacket, and having robotic legs and left arm.

Scourge pushes me off him and punches me in the face as Rouge goes in to kick at the red fox lady.

"Okay, you've had your fun, Scourge!" Rouge tells the green hedgehog. "We're outta here!"

"Grrrr! Fine!" Scourge growls at me, kicking me away and speeding away with Rouge with him.

"Hey! Get back here!" Shadow orders the two as he speeds after them.

I get to my feet since Scourge's kick sent me to the ground. I watch as Shadow chased after Scourge and Rouge and sigh in disappointment.

"Hey!" I hear Sonic call to me, making me turn to him as he nears me. "Thanks for the help, buddy. Couldn't have done it without ya!"

"Yeah, maybe. But I wasn't all that much help with taking down Scourge," I say, rubbing the back of my head as I look down in shame.

"Hey! No problem, man!" Sonic tells me. "Did your best. All that matters."

"... thanks, Sonic," I tell the hedgehog.

"No prob!" Sonic tells me with a thumbs up as a large purple walrus walks up to us along with a... chipmunk with red hair?

"So much for your new base of operations," the chipmunk says to Sonic.

"I promise Sonic, we'll have a better defense system online soon!" the walrus tells Sonic.

"So much for your birthday," the fox tells tells Sonic in sadness.

"It's your birthday too?" I ask Sonic.

"Yeah, why?" he asks me.

"Scourge also said it was his birthday," I stated.

"Makes sense. He is another me," Sonic tells me and turns to the fox. "And are you guys kidding? Everything worked like a charm! The base drew all of Robotnik's fire from Knothole--and our families. We're all okay after three attacks. Okay, maybe I got roughed up a bit, but I live for this stuff! We've recovered from worse and we can do it again! We're the Freedom Fighters!"

He then turned to me, giving me a happy grin.

"Plus, we made a new ally! [Y/N]!" Sonic says. "With his apparent power, we can now handle just about anything!"

"About that... I need to find a way to my home and it's not this world," I tell these animal creatures. "I'm from another world apparently and I don't know how to get back home."

"Well, maybe we can help with that," the walrus tells me. "If I can have a look at that gem around your neck, I can maybe make a machine that can send you back to your world."

"Really? Thanks!" I tell the walrus. "Means a lot to me."

"For now, I guess you can stay here at Knothole," another chipmunk, female, tells me.

She had brown fur, red hair, blue eyes, and wore a blue jacket and blue boots.

"Knothole? Sounds like a nice place," I say with a smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," the chipmunk tells me.

"And while we're at it, let's get you some better clothes that better suits this place," Sonic tells me.

I take a close look at my outfit. I wore a white t-shirt underneath my favorite [F/C] leather jacket with jeans and sneakers. I also had that gem that Locke gave me.

"Wait, why do I need to change my outfit," I ask Sonic.

"If you're gonna be here, you're gonna be a Freedom Fighter. And for that, you need a cooler getup," Sonic tells me.

"And why does this guy need to be a Freedom Fighter?" the chipmunk asks Sonic.

"With his super cool powers, he can be a valuable ally with us on our side!" Sonic tells the chipmunk. "Plus, what if Egghead gets [Y/N], Sally? He can use him for his evil plans! He could get robotorized and that gem could be some serious bad news for us!"

"He's got a point," a smaller orange-ish yellow fox with two tails says.

"Fine, I guess he'll be a Freedom Fighter then," Sally says.

"Wait-wait. What's a Freedom Fighter?" I ask the anthropomorphic animals.

"We'll explain everything later," Sally tells me. "For now, let's get you situated. Follow us."

And with that, Sally and everyone else lead me to the small hill which was actually a base of sorts. There, they told me everything I needed to know about where I am, how this world is, and what the "Freedom Fighters" are trying to do.

I guess I'm in one heck of a mess now.