Chapters Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
A pony trotted across the town of Ponyville, and found himself on the border of the forest. He looked down, seeing something glowing on the grass. "Hm? What's this?" he asked, putting a hoof to his chin. He bent down slightly, getting a closer look.
It was a gem. He used his head to scoop it up and place it on his back once he saw that nopony else was around. "Well, looks like nopony would mind if I take it for a bit. Maybe I can see whose this is..."
Then, suddenly, things around him got dark, his eyes going wide and making him look around. "Huh? The sky's clear and there's no storm scheduled! Why did it get so dark all of a sudden?!"
Across from him, bolts of lightning began to spark into existence. They all formed into a sphere as a loud noise forced him to cover his ears. The pony was blown back by the force of the energy was was sliding on his hindlegs, doing his best to keep the strange gem on him while the energy circulated in a set location.
In the center of the sphere of lightning was a figure standing. They crossed their limbs and extended them a second later, as though they were getting a burst of energy. A second later, the noise and lightning faded, bringing the pony to open their eyes. Kneeling on the ground was a strange figure.
Standing across from him was a metal being. Tall, blue, and designed like a porcupine judging by the spikes on the back of its head. It brought its head down and its red optics began to scan for something. A reticle appeared on its screen as it observed the frightened pony, who was shivering in his spot.
There on its optics was what it was looking for, found sitting atop the scared pony's back. It stepped forward slowly, a clanging sound heard with each step. And it spoke in a deep voice, "You! Hand me the Chaos Emerald!"
"C-Chaos Emerald? What's a Chaos Emerald?" the pony gulped back in fright.
Instead of responding, the robot extended a hand and opened his palm, bringing a ball of energy into existence. The pony screamed for his life as the ball lit up and moved out of the robot's palm, silencing him for good and allowing the robot to take the emerald.
Peter Parker and Trixie trotted down the halls of the castle. "Y'know, I'm still getting used to living in this place. It's bigger than the Treebrary that's for sure. Make sure I don't get lost, Trixie."
The blue unicorn rolled her eyes, "Only you would complain about getting a castle. If you were Trixie, you would bask in the moment of such an upgrade."
Rolling his eyes, Peter replied with a soft, "Well, that's because you have ego the size of Galactus. I'm not used to all this. Heck, I have a voice in my head. Things have been a little harder for me to adjust to lately, but it's nothing I can't handle."
"Of course," Trixie teased, "The Amazing Spider-Mane, always able to adjust. Did you forget how cramped the old house was with all the heroes together?"
Shuddering, Peter grumbled, "You have no idea. It's a miracle we managed to fit in so many people. Some did things there, others didn't and were there for only a bit. Honestly, I was losing track with myself." he admitted, "Oh, and the name's not Spider-Mane anymore. We've discussed this before."
'Why the name change?' said a female voice in Peter's head.
'Because Spider-Mane is starting to sound silly, Dream. I'm older and more mature now. It's only fitting I get a new name to reflect that.' revealed Peter in his own mind.
'You have matured?' Dream commented.
'Oh ha ha.'
"Is it Dream agreeing with me?" Trixie asked.
Peter narrowed his eyes, "Two against one. Great." he two opened the doors they were walking to, entering a circular room with a number of crystal chairs in the center of a table. Sitting on the chairs were a purple alicorn and a pegasus filly holding a baby unicorn.
"Hi, Daddy." Mayday called out.
Peter spoke, "Hi, sweetie." he hopped onto one of the tables, "Is your mom busy with more princess paperwork?" he faced the colt, "Hey, Benjy. You're having fun aren't ya?"
Twilight nodded, "Yes. Taking Celestia's place isn't easy, that's for sure. But I'm willing to do this, don't worry. Mayday's here to keep me company at least."
The stallion ruffled the filly's mane, "It's great you're spending time with your mother at least. You're always with me, not that I don't love it of course."
"She's able to keep me from going insane at the very least from handling all this." Twilight admitted, "As much as I like doing this, I can understand why Celestia wanted me to have friends."
"Finally you understand." Trixie mumbled under her breath.
Despite the peaceful conversation, Peter felt a tingling sensation ringing in the back of his head. "Uh oh... Twilight, Trixie. Please tell me Eris and Sonata are about to pull a prank on me. Because I got the feeling in my head."
"Your Spider-Sense?" Twilight asked, "No. They're not here right now. It has to be something else."
'Shall we investigate where it's coming from, Peter?' Dream asked.
'You know it, Dream. At least it's not another bucket of water.'
The stallion closed his eyes, his horn glowing and enveloping black and white energy sparks around his body. The energy formed itself into something on Peter's body. It was a white costume, but fitting for his previous identity, it had a black spider emblem on the chest. He then opened his eyes.
"That's still a strange costume," Trixie commented.
"It reminds me of Uncle Eddie." Mayday added, reminded of an ally from when she was younger.
"Yeah... Kinda does look like that." Peter mumbled. "Huh. Guess my mind was in more flux than I thought when I made this."
"Well, we can focus on that, later. Your Spider-Sense was right. I think I was able to sense a spike of energy nearby the edge of town. That may be why your sense went off." Twilight said.
"Right. Don't wait up for me. If I need help, I'll let ya know." Peter said, adjusting his web-shooters and running out. "And Trixie, I want you to stay here in case something goes wrong. We need Mysterio just in case."
"Alright, Peter." Trixie agreed, "But do come back. Last thing we need is for the princess to worry."
Peter was out of sight and Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Aw. I wanted to come." Mayday said.
"Alright. Let's see what's happening this time." Peter said under his breath. "It better not be a left-over thing from Discord or Tirek. That's the last thing I need right now. Another old foe coming right out of the woodworks."
'We can only hope, Peter.'
A sigh escaped the stallion's lips, "I know. But everytime I think things could calm down, something else happens. With the other Spiders and heroes gone, I'm basicalky back to doing things on my own, especially with Twilight having to step up as princess, she really can't be in the battlefield with me. She has her responsibilities and I have mine. So things changed."
'I see...' Dream muttered.
The former Spider-Man perched himself on a tree after swinging, silently crawling on it to get a closer look at what he was witnessing. It was a robot holding a gem over a pile of ash. "Finally: Another emerald found. I shall return to base immediately."
"Hold it!"
A line of gossamer hit the robot's arm and Peter sling-shotted himself downward and the stallion drove his backlegs onto the robot and bounced off. "Alright, random robot. I don't think Rarity will appreciate taking some nice gems. Who are you anyway?" he asked, getting into a crouching position.
The robot laughed, creeping Peter out. "I am Mecha Sonic. And it will be the last name you hear." his optics scanned the hero, "Ah, Peter Parker: the Spider-Man. My creators have wanted me to find you. How lucky that you came to me." he boasted, curling a metallic hand into a fist with a loud sound.
Peter furrowed a brow, "Creator? Oh no... Not another mastermind seeking revenge on me." he said in disbelief.
"I know of you, Spider-Man. You are fortunate that you are required to live." Mecha Sonic cackled.
Peter's eyes glowed blue, showing that Dream had taken over for his body for a bit. She shot a beam of magic at the robot, but he vanished without a trace. "Where did he go?" Dream asked, her voice a distorted version of Peter's.
The stallion got back control, but his Spider-Sense was unable to react in time to the robot coming from behind, stomping on a hoof, creating a loud cracking noise and making Peter scream. "Ah! C'mon, that's my walking hoof..." he whined.
The former Spider-Mane uppercutted the robot while he was still, launching the robot upward slightly. "Luckily, I still have three working limbs." he boasted.
"That shall be changed." Mecha Sonic bragged.
The robot moved forward in the blink of an eye and kneed the stallion in the chin, causing him to fall on his back painfully. "A-Ah..." he groaned, "My mouth... That's my quipping source!"
"Cease your constant quips!"
"Nah." Parker said, "It's about time I shut you down." he declared, sliding on the grass, tripping the robot for a second. Mecha Sonic got up and sprung a fist directly into Peter's cheek.
'He is too fast for us, Peter.' Dream noticed.
'Yeah. He could give Rainbow Dash and the Flash a run for their money.' Peter admitted, limping.
"Grah!" Peter screamed, trying to punch Mecha Sonic. The robot grabbed his hoof and slammed his body on the ground as hard as he could before doing it again. The stallion coughed painfully, "-And there goes my ribs again."
Mecha Sonic stomped on the stallion's chest, making him wheeze in pain. Peter shot some webbing with the energy he could muster, but it proved futile against the robot. In response, Mecha Sonic grabbed the pony's tail and spun him around, tossing him onto a tree, creating a small dent within it.
Peter tried to keep his eyes open, but a beam of energy hitting him made it harder to stay conscious. The hero staggered to his hooves, his broken hoof shaking, making it difficult to stand up. "Alright, tin can..." he muttered, shooting a web-ball, making the robot slide back. "I've had it with you."
'Peter. Let me take control.' Dream announced.
'No. Magic is useless against him.'
He leaped into the air, but Mecha Sonic used his jet thrusters to hop upward, kicking Peter in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. A whimper escaped his lips and his eyes closed bringing him to unconsciousness.
Mecha Sonic slung Peter's body over his shoulder and spoke up, the emerald in hand, "Mecha Sonic to the base. I have retrieved another Chaos Emerald and Spider-Man. I shall return immediately."
"Open a portal, Starlight Glimmer." Sigma ordered, the Maverick raising a hand. "Mecha Sonic has succeeded in his objective."
"Alright, Sigma." Starlight nodded.
Sigma put his hands behind his back, "It feels great, doesn't it? To see a plan come to fruition as perfectly as this."
The unicorn nodded, "Oh, I agree very much so, much more competent than Discord's group. I only worked with them to take out any competition for my plan."
The Maverick smirked, "Ah, I understand. Such a shame he cannot join us for what is about to happen. With Spider-Man down for the count, we can finally begin phase two of our plan."
The villains were hiding out in a base in an unknown location, big enough to work as a laboratory. Sigma walked forward, looking at six multicolored creatures wearing armor and glowing eyes, "The Deadly Six served their purpose for us no doubt. But it is time to check on the progress of our greatest plan yet."
He looked up, "If only you could see how things have changed, X. How goes the adjustments?"
Eggman, Wily, and Bowser cackled, "All is going well, Sigma." Eggman boasted.
"With Spider-Man here, we can finally finish the process." Wily laughed.
"Bwahaha!" Bowser chuckled, "Then we can send these goody-heroes out to do our work!"
"Perfect. Spider-Man is almost here. We shall send them to our desired locations once the process is complete." Sigma boasted.
Trapped in three of the four clear capsules were the enemies of the villains: Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man. The three of them struggled and were unable to move.
Starlight looked at the capsules, "Pretty soon, Spider-Man. Equestria will fall. And you or your friends will not be able to stop us."
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Sigma smirked, gleeful over the success of his plan. There were four capsules, each containing the heroes of four worlds: Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and now most recently Spider-Man. The four of them struggled in their traps, unable to break free, say or do anything. It was an unescapable prison for them.
"Heh heh. This is quite the show, isn't it?" the Maverick leader asked. "It reminds me of why I assembled this lot in the first place. Because together you prove to be somewhat competent."
Dr. Eggman folded his hands, "That's right, Sigma! You are most fortunate to have chosen us."
Wily chuckled, almost to earnestly, "Yep! Gave you a new body, set of Mechanaloids and the beginning to our greatest scheme yet!" he declared.
Bowser crossed his arms, "My army, the genius of these two docs, Starlight's magic, and your cunning skills actually got us a victory for once!"
"I told you my proposition was one not to be refused. Once you finish the roboticization, the Unity Engines must be placed within the desired worlds. Once they are all set, they must be programmed to activate them and return here."
"Yes, sir!" Eggman, Wily, and Bowser saluted.
Once Sigma exited the lab, the three villains removed a hand from behind their backs, revealing their crossed fingers. They were all cackling from their spots in the darkened room. Once they were done, they looked at the capsules. "This is working entirely in our favor!" Wily stated, "Sigma has no idea!"
Eggman shook his head, "He truly doesn't. His ego is too big to understand what is really going on! The heroes shall become our slaves... And then from there we can overthrow Sigma and claim the engines' power for ourselves."
Bowser clasped his claws together, "Gotta say, despite the big bad Maverick, the three of ya are better allies for conquest. But what are we gonna do about that mare? Think she could lend us a hand, hoof, whatever the heck they call it?"
"Starlight?" Wily scoffed, "Do not bother with her. We have chemistry with each other and have formulated the perfect plan without her. And from the looks of it, she could have her own agenda behind our backs and Sigma's."
Eggman nodded, "You may have a point, Albert. She did betray her last team, the Sinister Six and left them to fight on their own. But why join us though is she seeks to handle matters on her own?" he hummed to himself, thinking of an answer and not able to ponder one that would make sense.
"Forget it, Ivo." Wily told his fellow scientist, "It is about time we finish preparations on the roboticizer. Our moment of triumph is finally upon us." he cheered.
"Aw yeah!" Bowser raised a fist, "Mario as a member of the Koopa Troop, the Mushroom Kingdom won't know what hit 'em!"
"Sigma."
Starlight Glimmer stepped forward, getting the large Maverick's attention. "What shall we do with the Roboticized Masters? You are sending them to place the Unity Engines in their worlds, correct?"
The leader chuckled, "You are correct, Miss Glimmer. But do not think I have forgotten the other world you have brought to me. In fact, there was one other I have wished to use. There is only one hero left standing there and he is old, unable to fight like he used to." he extended a hand, showing the unicorn the world in which he spoke of.
In the rift, acting as a window, the two saw a desert. A wasteland filled with remnants of the past of the lone explorer. He walked on this endless path and wore ragged clothes and a hat to cover his head. Despite this however, they could see his white sideburns and his aged face, showing that he had seen many things in his long lifetime. He scowled, the sun somehow beaming through his hat. In all this, however, what got Starlight's attention were the three claws protruding from his knuckles.
Starlight blinked, "I see. Might I suggest bringing Mecha Sonic to one while the Deadly Six are in the other? He can continue his mission in finding the Chaos Emeralds scattered by that blue hedgehog and the Genesis Portals."
"I was thinking the exact same thing. I did not think organic beings were as competent as you lot have shown me. I may spare you four in my new world order." Sigma declared and complimented, walking away to face the Deadly Six.
The unicorn smirked deviously, 'Oh, naive Sigma. It's not going to be your world order for long.'
Sigma faced the Deadly Six and Mecha Sonic, "You six will do perfectly. Once the Roboticized Masters are online, you are to travel to the two worlds I order you to go. Do I make myself clear?" he asked, earning a unified nod from the Zeti. "Perfect." at that, the six were commanded to walk away, leaving the Maverick to ponder his own memories.
He remembered gaining the power of the Genesis Portals from an unknown artifact carried from his time. At that point he was a mere virus, with no physical body. But once he saw how powerful he became, he decided to travel to other worlds, knowing that he seeked conquest of every world beyond his own.
The first world he got into contact with was Mobius, and encountered Dr. Eggman. He brought to his attention the fact that there are heroes among this world as well. And so, the two assembled a legion of their own. They went back in time on Sigma's Earth and found Dr. Wily and then the Mushroom Kingdom to recruit Bowser: it did not take much convincing for them to join.
He considered Discord's team, but as Starlight said they, minus Electro and Discord, perished. So, now they resided within the Lost Hex on Eggman's world as a secret hideout and Starlight acts as a condiit across their worlds with her powerful magic.
Now here they are. The heroes of four worlds under his control thanks to the Deadly Six and Mecha Sonic.
"Finally. Let's check on the robots."
The heroes felt great pain in their capsules, their screams heard as they felt the process begin, their minds being altered and affected in their own prisons. "Yes! It's turning out to be a brilliant success!" Eggman and Wily gloated. "Their minds are breaking and they will be under our control!" he added.
"Not bad science stuff, docs." Bowser complimented, "Let's see how well this goes."
'No... Can't stop running. Not now.' Sonic thought, losing control of himself.
'Mama mia! What is-a happening to me?' Mario wondered.
'I must save the world. For everlasting peace. But is it worth it?' Mega Man pondered.
'No more... I'm Spider-Man no more...!' Spider-Man screamed in his head.
'Peter? What is happening?' Dream asked, unable to do anything. 'Break free!'
The lightning ceased and the capsules were covered in smoke moments later. Eggman, Wily, and Bowser smirked, glad to see their accomplishments fulfilled at last. "It worked. The Roboticized Masters are finally here! Mecha Mario, Sonic-Man, M'Egga Man, and Mecha-Spider are all here."
"Did ya remember to set the failsafe?" Bowser asked.
Wily pointed a finger at each of the robots, "Yep! Once the Unity Engines are placed, they are programmed to fight one another, their weapons able to reverse the process. And we ensured that they are aware that Sigma is behind this scheme and not us so they know to target their pent-up anger on him. The next time they meet it shall be here, and from there, Sigma will be eliminated."
"Excellent," Eggman raised a brow, "We shall send them to the worlds now."
A Parallel Earth...
'Ugh.'
A woman wearing a white and black hoodie with a mask underneath swung across New York. She shot another strand of webbing from her web-shooters and held onto it. She flipped in the air, landing on a roof and crouching.
'This was some day. Almost late for work again, nearly late for school, and nearly had another run-in with the oh-so friendly Police Captain Frank Castle. I'm just trying to protect this city!' thought Spider-Woman, sitting down on the edge of the building. 'And then someone or another shows up and then just makes me feel like crap. Physically and mentally.'
She removed her mask, revealing her face and blonde hair, and she sighed in discontent, 'How did Peter do it? To face this on a daily basis before he was in Equestria? Every day, it's been the same routine. Work, school, fight crime, get blamed, show up late for band practice, Matt Murdock is still a creep and Castle hates my presence. Being Spider-Woman blows sometimes!'
Gwen looked to the sky, 'But I can't give up. I almost did once after my Peter died and I won't stop now.' she put her mask back on and pushed herself up.
Her Spider-Sense rang in her head, forcing her to raise her guard. "What the hell?" she blurted out. An explosion was heard coming from below her, forcing her to jump down.
Spider-Gwen crouched slightly, getting a closer look at the hole in the wall. "Okay." she muttered, "That wasn't there earlier." she cracked her knuckles.
"Who's there?" she asked, "...Permission to kick your ass?"
'Really, Gwen? Basic threats? You gotta up your game.' she mused, feeling a ringing sensation in her head and she clutched it for a few seconds, 'Yes. I get it. There's danger, I don't need to be--'
The White Widow's thoughts were cut off by the sudden blue metal hand grabbing her by the throat and raising her off the guard. People watched the spectacle in awe, drawing themselves to the battlefield, "R-Run..." she choked out, aiming a hand out and shooting a line of webbing upward, blinding the robot. Gwen kicked herself free of the robot's grasp and flipped back on her feet.
She held her throat, getting her breath back, "Alright, you metal jackass. May I figure out who I'm gonna have to tear apart? Because I'm already having a pretty crappy day and you're just the cherry on top of the sundae."
"Another Spider. This wasn't what I expected in this world." the robot groaned. "Very well. I am Mecha Sonic. The destruction of you and this world."
Spider-Gwen's eyes went wide, "Another Spider? What did you mean by that?" she leaped directing a punch to Mecha Sonic, her fist doing nothing to the robot.
"I am not sure you have met him. Peter Parker, the Spider-Man of Equestria." Mecha Sonic revealed.
"Peter!?" the White Widow growled. "What did you do in Equestria!?"
"Nothing yet. It is up to my allies to finish my job there." Mecha Sonic declared, seeing Spider-Gwen ready to fight. "But you shall perish before you see!'
Equestria...
"Okay, now I'm getting concerned." Trixie hummed. "That idiot should've come back by now."
Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she stacked the last of her work papers for the day, "You're right, Trixie. Should we look for him? Whatever triggered his Spider-Sense could've been more for him and Dream to handle."
"I wanna go!" Mayday offered, "Dad's always getting into danger. I can help him."
"No, Mayday. You need to watch your little brother." Twilight decided. She was about to say something else, but something lightly tapped her shoulder, making her flinch.
"Oops. Pardon me, new princess." the female draconequess playfully apologized. "I do believe I know what happened to your clumsy husband." she revealed. "I apologize for showing up late, but warping from Canterlot to back here can be pretty tiring. Especially with the news I have."
"What is it, Eris?" the alicorn and unicorn asked.
Eris raised a talon, "You see, I felt a disturbance in this world. An unnatural presence. Since I am the Spirit of Disharmony, and Peter is the Spirit of Order, we are to keep track of each other. I do not sense him within this dimension. Whatever disturbance I felt, it took Peter with him, and I feel that it has come back."
"Let me guess. It's not Daddy." Mayday suggested.
"Most likely not. But it would be best to keep an eye out. For even I know not of what it is." Eris declared. "I have alerted Sonata and she said she would be here soon enough. As I did for your friends, they will be here momentarily, possibly before the Siren."
Twilight sighed, "Thank you, Eris. We'll keep an eye out."
However, out of nowhere, the sound of glass shattering made everypony to look up. Twilight used her magic to erect a forcefield around herself and her friends and children, shielding them from the shards. "What was that?" Mayday asked, hearing Ben about to cry.
"Mayday! Get your brother to safety! Find Sonata, anypony! We'll hold whoever this is off!" Twilight ordered.
The filly looked behind her. She wanted to fight, but at the same time she had a little brother to protect this time. "R-Right..." she said, running off with her brother in hoof to safety.
A blue shiny sphere jumped through the broken window and landed on a knee. Clanging was heard as it moved upward, revealing his metallic features. "Move out of the way. This world belongs to Sigma!" the robot ordered, pointing an arm cannon at the Equestrians with no remorse.
"Sigma..." Eris whispered. She swore she heard that name before. From Discord. "Girls... You may want to be careful." she warned.
"Why is that, Eris?" Twilight asked.
The draconequss crossed her arms, "That name. I heard it from Discord when we swapped worlds. He knew that he was a being that seeked to use Equestria for his own plans. I am not sure how and why he came back to this world, especially with my doppelganger gone to serve his sentence. He may be the reason why Peter vanished."
"Sounds like Discord to rat us out like that." Trixie muttered.
"Enough talk!" the robot threatened, shooting an orb of energy at the trio. Eris raised her hands to deflect the shot, absorbing the enrgy in a small forcefield. "You are merely delaying our purpose! You cannot stop the Unity Engine!"
"You're speaking nonsense! Who are you?" Trixie asked, using a spell to block another shot and aiming it directly at the robot, who took the shot with ease.
The robot lowered his arm cannon, "You insist on talking. If you wish to know, I am Sonic-Man. The leader of the Roboticized Masters. The Unity Engines will be this world's destruction and very soon, you won't be able to see the outcome!"
"Enough!" Twilight shouted, "As ruler of this land, I will stop you and your master!"
"You can try." Sonic-Man boasted, "But we'll see how you fare."
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Mega City, Earth 20XX...
"Stand-a down!" Mecha Mario ordered, using his arm cannon to strike down the police force. His pellets luckily missed the civilians, but that did not help the vehicles which were greatly damaged in the crossfire. He stood on a roof, far from anyone able to reach him.
"Our weapons are useless!" an officer shouted, lowering his laser pistol for a moment to pant.
"Then stand down."
The police turned around, seeing someone clad in red and grey. His red helmet contained visors that shielded his eyes, he had an arm cannon like the mysterious robot and a shield strapped to his back. "I don't want to remind you again. I have this covered." he ordered, gesturing for the people to leave.
Once he saw the immediate area was evacuated, the red-clad robot brought his gaze to the attacker. "What do you want? And where is Rock?" he asked.
'It is no coincidence that he appeared as your brother disappeared, Blues. But make sure he doesn't harm anybody.' Doctor Light said through his communicator.
"...Right." Blues sighed. He really didn't like working with his creator. But Roll insisted that he helped find their brother: Mega Man. And he can't say no to her no matter what, much to his own chagrin.
Mecha Mario jumped down from his spot and came to the ground. "You-a must be one of the-a heroes of this world. I am-a Mecha Mario. Your-a brother is a minion to-a Sigma. He's-a out there doing his-a bidding and-a fulfilling our goal."
"Why?" Proto-Man grunted. "Why come here?"
The robot shot at Blues, who slid out of the way of the shot before aiming a charged shot at the roboticized plumber. Mecha Mario jumped out of the way, shooting a red fireball out of his buster, nearly hitting Blues. Luckily, Proto-Man grabbed his shield, placed it in front of him and used it to absorb the heat.
As Mecha Mario came closer to him, Proto-Man uppercutted the roboticized plumber before adding a charged shot with it, launching him through the wall of an empty building. Mecha Mario held onto the wall for a moment before he ran ahead. He began to spin around, giving him the appearance of a miniature tornado. Blues got caught and took a bunch of punches, loud clanging noises heard on each collision of metal upon metal.
Proto-Man deflected a fireball with a charged shot, neutralizing the two energy orbs. "You got some serious weapons. Who designed you? Was it Wily behind this?"
Suddenly, a red beam shot up in the sky. Mecha Mario shook his head, "No. It-a was the wish of-a Sigma." he pointed his arm cannon ahead again. He shot a ball of ice in Proto-Man's direction, prompting him to roll underneath it. "The Unity Engines have-a all been activated. It's-a only a matter of time-a before your-a worlds fall."
Proto-Man whacked Mecha Mario with his shield, smacking him in the head. The roboticized plumber then hopped in the air using another ability and slammed his fist down at Blues, who took the attack after moving in the wrong direction.
"Alright, pal." Proto-Man muttered, raising his arm cannon, "Send Sigma my regards."
Outside Toad Town, Mushroom Kingdom...
Luigi deflected the Spring Shot from M'Egga Man, who was standing next to the Unity Engine he activated. "It's no use, Luigi. It's only a matter of time before your world dies."
"Where's-a Mario?" the green plumber asked. He shivered, never really having to protect the world like this on his own. He usually had his brother by his side. But at least he wasn't alone in this battle.
A grunt got M'Egga Man's attention and the Roboticized Master was unprepared for Yoshi diving in and attacking him with a literal flurry of kicks in the midair. Once the attack ended, M'Egga Man grabbed Yoshi's foot and tossed him aside. "So, you got help after all. It's not gonna do much for you."
"W-What do we do, Yoshi? I-I'm-a scared!" Luigi admitted, holding his hat nervously.
"Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi! (We just have to hold him off until Mario arrives)" Yoshi said.
Luigi gulped, "Y-You're right. The princess w-wanted us to protect the kingdom." he held up his fists, "I-a guess we-a have to."
M'Egga Man laughed, leaping in the air and revealing a giant wrecking ball. Luigi and Yoshi yelped in surprise, diving out of the way. The ball created a crater on the floor.
"Yoshi Yoshi! (That was close!)! The green dinosaur commented, exhaling in relief.
Nodding, Luigi stood up, "Y-You're-a telling me." he dusted off his overalls, "Now-a... we-a have to make-a sure he doesn't-a win and-a find Mario."
"You'll never get to him!" M'Egga Man yelled, "He's another world doing the bidding of our master!" he shouted, throwing an Egg Bomb in their direction. Luigi scowled, kicking the bomb back in the Roboticized Master's direction, making it explode next to him, causing him to trip on his side.
Yoshi used his tongue to swallow another bomb and spat it directly in the former Blue Bomber's face, stunning him. "Yoshi Yoshi! (We want to know where Mario is at)!'
"Ugh. You're lucky my masters programmed me with a translater for you." M'Egga Man admitted, "But I already told you. The chances of finding him are very slim."
Out of nowhere, M'Egga Man was headbutted by Luigi, who performed a missile dive directly into the Roboticized Master's chest. "We-a will save-a him!" he declared, flipping onto his legs, throwing a fireball directly at M'Egga Man.
"Oh, you can try." the robot smirked, blocking the attack.
Mystic Ruins, Mobius...
"It's no use, guys! I can't shut off the machine!" shouted Tails, who was kneeling next to the Unity Engine. He had been working on turning it off for the past few minutes, but the beam aimed at the sky threatened to make itself bigger by the second.
Knuckles blinked, "What? Now what? Who the heck even placed this thing here?"
"I did."
A ball of gossamer hit the echidna, surprising him for a second. But he was unprepared for the foot that kicked him in the head, knocking him on his back. Knuckles groaned, "Huh? What the heck are you supposed to be? Another bot built by Eggman?"
"The doctor is getting bizarre in his designs." Shadow huffed.
"I am the Metallic Mecha-Spider." the roboticized Spider-Man boasted. "Yeah, I'm keeping the nickname."
"Hmph. Another puppet created by the doctor." Shadow muttered, curling into a ball. The black hedgehog was caught off guard by Mecha-Spider grabbing him and slamming him on the floor.
"I got hit by enough dodge-balls in my lifetime." Mecha-Spider commented, webbing up Shadow's feet.
"Ha!" yelled a pink hedgehog, slamming her cartoony yellow mallet down upon the Roboticized Spider, bringing it upon his head and hitting him like a nail. "What did you do to my darling, Sonic?"
Mecha-Spider grabbed the hammer and tossed it aside, throwing Amy onto the ground, "I did nothing. You only have Sigma to thank for the new world revolution."
"Tails! Keep working on that machine! The three of us can handle this bucket of bolts!" Knuckles insisted.
"Four."
Mecha-Spider was caught off-guard by the shuriken placed on his arm. He yanked it off and looked away, seeing a purple chameleon reveal itself from camoflauge. "Espio? What are you doing here?" the red echidna asked.
Espio scowled at the robot, "The Chaotix are doing their best in evacuating the city with Rouge and Omega. I decided to help in stopping whoever this is."
Mecha-Spider was about to say something, but he was hit by Shadow's Spin-Dash, knocking him in the head. "Alright, pal. That was rude." he commented in disgust. He shot a line of webbng in Knuckles' direction and hitting his leg, pulling him toward him. Knuckles grunted, curling into a ball and uppercutting the Roboticized Master.
Knuckles watched as Amy spun around, whacking Mecha-Spider once again with a powerful tornado spin. She kicked the robot before hopping away, allowing Shadow to attack with a Chaos Spear, and he tossed the electric yellow energy directly at Mecha-Spider, causing him to short-circuit for only a second.
"Yeah. Not bad moves for a bunch of Looney Tunes rejects." Mecha-Spider commented, "And I'm from a world of cartoony ponies."
"You're more insane than I thought!" Knuckles yelled, seeing Espio deliver a powerful kick to Mecha-Spider.
"Nah. I'm just a robot doing his job." Mecha-Spider boasted.
Ponyville, Equestria...
Eris placed her hands on the Unity Engine, attempted to use her magic to stop its power. She screamed loudly as red electric sparks surrounded her body, "Agh! I-I can't stop it! B-But maybe I can stall it!"
"We'll hold him off in the meantime!" Twilight insisted, shooting a beam of magic in Sonic-Man's direction. The blue robot swiftly moved to the side in a blur. Twilight teleported and buckled Sonic-Man in the leg, causing him to buckle in the pain.
Trixie used a duplicate spell to create copies of herself to surround the Roboticized Masters. "Ha! You're not match for the Great and Powerful Mysterio! You must find the real me--" she paused at the sight of Sonic-Man running in a circle, removing each illusion before kneeing Trixie in the jaw.
"Found you." Sonic-Man quipped.
"Hey! Speed is my thing!" a rainbow blur sped past Sonic-Man, smacking him the face. Trixie and Twilight realized it was Rainbow Dash. "Seriously! What are you?"
"Rainbow!" Twilight exhaled, "Where are the others?"
"Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy are keeping an eye on the little ones and Ponyville. AJ and I decided to lend a hoof once Eris gave us a quick warning."
"Darn right." Applejack said, tying Sonic-Man in her rope. She didn't expect for Sonic-Man to curl into a ball and cut it apart, hitting her with a Spiked Homing Boost. The farmpony fell on her back and groaned in pain as a result.
Rainbow growled and tried to attack Sonic-Man again. She underestimated the robot's speed, seeing him swerve to the side and have her tail pulled. She yelped in surprise at the feeling of being thrown down suddenly. She looked at Sonic-Man towering over, "You're. Too. Slow." he mocked.
Trixie helped the pegasus up, "Yeesh. This guy has issues."
"Says the one calling herself great and powerful." Sonic-Man joked back at the unicorn.
"Why you--!"
"Wait..." Twilight paused, "Do you hear that?"
Then, a loud scream got Sonic-Man's attention. The ponies covered their ears at the loud sound. The robot felt himself getting pushed back by the sudden force of air going against him and did his best to keep himself grounded. Walking toward him was a blue pony with pink wings on her sides and fins on her cheeks.
Sonata frowned, "Don't. Hurt. My. Friends!" she screamed again, blasting Sonic-Man backwards. Twilight used her magic to catch the robot and slammed the robot back onto the ground facefirst.
The siren cringed. "Sorry, I'm late." she smiled sheepishly.
Twilight smiled, "It's alright, Sonata. We're just glad you're fine. We have to stop this robot from using this engine for some cause."
"Like I said." Sonic-Man muttered, "You can try to. But it's already too late to stop it."
The Wasteland...
'It feels like an eternity. Years since I found a purpose in my God-forsaken life. I've been wanderin' the world in hopes of redeemin' it from the monsters that ruined it in the first place. I thought I could make a change in the world. I've done things I regret, thought to lay low, but it cost me a friend and lost mt family. I ended the Red Skull's tyranny and now I wanted'ta make sure the world can become better.'
'But today... I may have to put those plans on hold.'
The old man looked to the sky, seeing a red beam aim at the clouds, as though a rift was opening. He removed his hat and revealed his white hair and sideburns. 'Now, my senses may not be what they used to. But I'm guessin' this ain't good.'
He ran forward and saw six bizarre creatures standing around an odd device. They all turned around, the old man surprised to see their pink eyes. They wore armor and they were coming for him. The man didn't know how to react.
"The hell are ya freaks supposed to be?"
"The Deadly Six. And your death, old man."
Once one of them, buff and red, threatened to lower their fist, the man jumped back with a surprising amount of speed for someone his age. He frowned. "Alright, bub. Now yer askin' fer it."
He extended his hands, revealing three claws protruding from his knuckles. "Now, ya wanna dance?" Logan taunted.
Before any of the six could respond, a ball of energy hit the red one, making him stagger backwards. Logan turned his head and saw two figures stepping out of the shadows.
"This is where we detected Sigma's presence last, X." the red stranger announced. "He's been keeping himself hidden for so long. It's a miracle we found him. And it looks like he already found some cronies."
The blue one, X, nodded, "Yeah. I'm not sure why he would come here though, Zero. In the meantime, it looks like we should take down these Mavericks. They are some strange Mavericks though."
"Now who the hell are ya?"
"Oh, my apologies. My name is X and he's Zero. We're chasing after a Maverick named Sigma. You don't mind some assistance do you?" X offered.
Logan shook his head, "Fine. Just don't get in my way."
Zero tilted his head, "Something about you looks familiar . I dunno, it might be the claws."
"Ain't ever met somethin' like you in my life. Now enough talkin' and more fightin'."
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Earth-65...
Spider-Gwen dodged a lunge from Mecha Sonic, leaning her body to the side of the robot's fists and hopping. She stretched a hand, aiming a web-line directly on his foot. The White Widow grunted, pulling back as hard as she could to redirect Mecha's course. She turned her arms and flung him back into the whole he made.
"Got anything to say, you heap of metal?" Gwen taunted, dusting her hands off in a boastful manner. "So, what's your game? Why were you in Equestria?"
Mecha Sonic flew out, "That does not concern you." he said, landing a punch on Spider-Woman's face. Gwen's head reeled back in pain, feeling the force of the jab. She clenched the side of her cranium, which rang in agony for her.
"D-Damn it..." gasped Gwen.
The robot lowered his head, "A pathetic sight. It is a shame I must eliminate you. You have put up a better fight than Spider-Man." he admitted. "But in the end, it doesn't matter for you."
'No!' thought Spider-Woman, staggering to her feet, 'Not after all the crap I've dealt with!' she stepped forward. 'This guy had the balls to hurt Pete, Twi and possibly anyone else in Equestria... I'm gonna make sure he regrets doing that!'
Gwen ran forward, seeing Mecha Sonic shoot missiles at her. The White Widow slid underneath one, used her webbing to catch it in midair and toss it into a second, causing a small explosion from collision. She then webbed the third missile and tossed it back at the robot, who raised his arms to block it.
While Mecha focused on the missile, he wasn't aware of Gwen's presence and she uppercutted the robot, shooting a line of webbing on his foot and using it to throw him on the ground as hard as she could. This created a small crater on the concrete street and she watched as Mecha Sonic got right back up.
"...Can anything keep you down?!" groaned Spider-Gwen, raising her hands as she lunged a fist at the robot, who grabbed it. The Spider-Woman growled, backflip-kicking herself off the robot before shooting a web-ball at the robot and driving an elbow in his direction. She held her limb while the robot slid back.
"No." Mecha Sonic answered bluntly, changing his arm to that of a minigun. Bullets began to pop out of the barrel and Spider-Gwen's Spider-Sense began to tingle. She jumped in the air and ran on the walls of the buildings, dodging the storm of bullets coming for her. The White Widow hopped off the wall and kicked Mecha Sonic in the head, causing him to stop.
Spider-Woman held her knees as she panted, "Did... that... do... anything? Please tell me it did."
She saw Mecha Sonic lunge at her, prompting her to swerve her body backwards. "Never mind..."
The Wasteland...
Logan grunted, holding back Zavok as much as he could. He was surprised by how durable the armor protecting them was. It even refused to budge at X and Zero's attacks. "The hell? Just what are these freaks supposed to be?"
Zero gritted his teeth, "Our scans show that they're organic with enhanced armor. But there's only one person we know that can have such a technological advantage over us."
"Sigma." X realized.
"That's right. He sent these things to distract us and place whatever the device is." Zero swung down his Z-Saber. "I'll go disable it while you and Logan fight off these... things." he dashed to the right using his Z-Buster to hit Zavok with a charged shot, making him stagger backwards in confusion.
X saluted his partner, "Right." he scowled, he aimed his X-Buster at Zeena and Zazz and released his own powerful charged shot, knocking the two on their backs.
Logan growled, driving his claws into Zommom before spinning around slashing Zik in the face. "The hell? Ya got regeneration too?" he asked, uppercutting the blue Zeti, knocking him into the air before giving Zor a right hook as he charged forward. The Deadly Six were silent and continued to charge after the heroes.
Mega Man X turned his head, using Fire Wave to stun Zazz, who was ready to throw a giant sphere at them. "What is that supposed to be?" he asked.
"Don't care! How are ya holdin' over there, Blondie?" Logan asked Zero, who was kneeling next to the machine.
Zero slammed his fists on the device, "Crap! I have no idea how this thing works! It's like it was built in another world! The technology is too different than what we're used too! And we don't have the time to mess with what works, it could be a risk."
"Well, here, takin' risks is how ya survive!" the old mutant hissed, headbutting Zeena and kicking Zavok. Zavok responded by holding hid arms down. "Get off me!" Logan yelled, trying to move and shake his arms free.
X dashed to Zavok and used a Homing Torpedo to distract Zavok as well as Zor. "Are you alright, sir?" the original Reploid asked, offering Logan a hand. The former X-Man swiped it away.
"I'm fine. Name's Logan by the way." he replied, dusting off his jeans and leather jacket, "Any of ya two have any clue as to what these things are or what this is? Or why yer here for that matter."
X nodded, "We were searching for a Maverick known as Sigma and detected his energy in this world. Unfortunately, it looks like whatever these are came instead and planted that strange device. If only we knew where it came from or why we found Sigma's energy signature in this dimension."
Logan sighed, "Well, they messed with the wrong world." he hissed, kneeing Zommom back slightly, his armor absorbing the blow, the yellow Zeti grunted as a result.
Zero grunted, "Damn it! What is this thing!?"
At that moment, the red beam of light got bigger and opened the clouds in a large swirl. Logan and X both watched as the entire planet seemed to shake. "What is going on?" asked Mega Man X, doing his best to remain standing.
Zavok raised a hand and the Deadly Six teleported out of sight thanks to Starlight Glimmer and Sigma, their mission done.
"Looks like the Deadly Six got away..." Logan noticed, unable to see the Zeti anywhere. He sniffed the air to double check, "Yep. It's like they vanished. When I got my hands on 'em..." he paused, "Now what the hell happened?"
The Maverick Hunters and Mutant watched as a rift opened up in front of them. Once it opened, they saw an empty street where a woman in a white hoodie and mask was fighting a blue spiked robot. "Huh... Didn't see that coming." Zero admitted, revealing his Z-Saber once again now ready for a fight.
"Hold on, Zero. We have to see what the situation is." X eased his partner.
Spider-Gwen turned her head, seeing the three in the desert. "Um... Okay... Are you guys gonna help or are you trying to kill me too?!" she questioned aloud, flipping over another one of Mecha Sonic's homing missiles.
Logan didn't have to say anything. He jumped forward, driving his adamantium claws into Mecha Sonic, messing with his wiring. "So, bub. What's yer game? Ya with the Deadly Six?"
"Ha! So you're from the world Sigma was interested in! Pathetic old man, you cannot dare to stand a chance against me, Mecha Sonic!" Mecha Sonic boasted, driving his knee into Logan's face. The mutant hissed in pain, feeling the pain subside for only a moment. X and Zero dashed forward and charged after the robot with Spider-Woman, who helped Logan stand.
"Easy, old timer." Gwen stated, "This guy's no joke." she glared at the upgraded robotic rival of Sonic, who chuckled.
"You mentioned Sigma's involved! What's his game?" X wondered, seeing Zero slash down his Z-Saber, to no effect.
"I cannot say." Mecha stated firmly, "You are both lucky he wants to destroy you both himself. Otherwise I would crush you like the inferior scraps you are!"
"Says the poorly-built porcupine robot!" Zero snarled, aiming his Z-Buster at Mecha Sonic, who suddenly vanished.
"Sunova..." muttered Logan, closing his eyes in annoyance. He faced Spider-Woman. "Alright, dame. Who are ya?"
"Dame?" Gwen repeated, "Nevermind. I'm Spider-Woman... It looks like there's a lot more happening than I thought."
'Spider...Woman?' Logan thought, 'At least it ain't Barton's daughter. But then that means this is a parallel world 'ta mine. I'll worry about that part later.'
"You're right." agreed X, "Oh, I'm X and he's Zero. We're looking for the one behind this: Sigma. We didn't think that he'd bring together more than one world. We're just as clueless on this situation, I'll admit." he rubbed his helmet sheepishly.
At that moment, they felt the ground shake again, seeing another rift open up. This time, they saw a green-clad human and a dinosaur battling a robot that looked like X if he were smaller and evil. "Okay... Now I have no idea what's happening." Gwen sighed.
Equestria...
Sonata screamed again, pushing back Sonic-Man farther and forcing him to keep his arms up. Rainbow Dash and Twilight took turns striking the Roboticized Master and the pegasus flew downward, driving her hooves upward so that the robot could be launched in the air, allowing Twilight to strike him with a bolt of magic.
Sonic-Man shook for a second, sparks seen coming out of his metal body for a moment. The Roboticized Master chuckled darkly, "It doesn't matter now what happens. The Unity Engine has already been activated and the others are a beacon. Pretty soon your worlds will merge and be destroyed."
"What?!" Sonata yelled. "What is he talking about? Y-You can stop it, right Eris?"
Eris growled, "My apologies! I can only delay it. But the rifts are already opening!"
Applejack bucked Sonic-Man in the torso as she panted, "This darn thing is tougher than Sloan's goons."
Sonata nodded, "I wish I knew what you were talking about."
Rainbow Dash growled, jabbing Sonic-Man, who countered with a punch of his own. Luckily, Twilight caut the pegasus with a spell, saving her from being tossed and repayed the robot hedgehog with a beam from her horn. "Trust me... You do not want to know." thr alicorn insisted to the siren.
Trixie groaned, "Wonderful! How are we supposed to stop a crazed robot?"
"Target Aquired."
It was then, a fist struck Sonic-Man. When the blue robot got his bearings, he saw another robot, one with white metal and a black spider emblem on his chest. "P-Peter?" Twilight gasped, unable to believe that was her husband now.
"My programming dictates I must destroy the other Roboticized Masters!" Mecha-Spider yelled.
Sonic-Man nodded, "Funny, me too."
"Wait!"
A yellow two-tailed fox ran through the rift, panting as he held his knees, "Where did Mecha-Spider go?" his eyes went wide at what was happening.
"Um... Hello there." Trixie awkwardly waved.
"He must be an inhabitant of a parallel world!" Eris revealed, doing all she can to close the breaches, to no avail.
Tails cleared his throat, "Um... Where am I?"
A red echidna ran forward next to a black hedgehog. "This is quite the surprise." the hedgehog admitted with a huff. "Ponies... As if Faker wasn't enough to deal with."
"And who the hay are you?" Rainbow grunted.
"Shadow the Hedgehog. The Ultimate Life-Form." introduced Shadow.
"Well, somepony thinks highly of himself." muttered Trixie.
The red figure pointed ahead, "Hey! Isn't that Sonic?!"
"You mean Sonic-Man?" Twilight asked.
"Sonic?!" a pinke hedgehog shoved the echidna and fox out of the way to see Sonic-Man and Mecha-Spider fighting with their weapons, the former with a Spring Shot and the latter a Web-Missile. "Who is he fighting? My Sonic better win!"
"That's my husband. Now, do any of you have any idea what's happening and why you're here? Who are all of you anyway?" Twilight questioned in slight annoyance.
The fox sighed, "I'm Tails."
"Name's Knuckles the Echidna."
"Amy Rose."
"Espio." said a purple chameleon revealing himself from the shadows, surprising the ponies.
"Woah! A ninja!" Sonata gasped in amazement.
Espio nodded, "We fought the Mecha-Spider to stop what he called a Unity Engine. It seems that wasn't the only one placed nor was it just our world. And from the looks of it, our friend Sonic vanished to this dimension and became a robot."
"Has anyone vanished from this world?" Tails asked.
"Uh, yeah." Twilight answered, "My husband, Peter Parker. But it looks like he's there fighting your friend. I'm Twilight Sparkle by the way. I just wish we stopped crossing with other worlds in dire circumstances."
"Sonic." Knuckles grunted. "We only know one person who can turn others into robots."
Shadow agreed, "The Doctor. He must be involved in this somehow."
Tails put a finger on his chin, "I wouldn't put it past Eggman to do this. But the personality is new. He's definitely not alone. Whoever this Sigma is that Mecha-Spider mentioned, he must've done something to catch our friends."
"But it looks like Pete's doin' the work for us." Rainbow chuckled, "He can kick Sonic's butt! That's what he gets for calling me slow!"
"Now's not the time for a show of ego, pegasus." Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Look who's talkin', Ultimate Life Form." Rainbow grumbled.
"Targets aquired." two more robotic voices said out of nowhere.
"Now what is it?" Applejack whispered.
A fireball and pellet shot hit Sonic-Man and Mecha-Spider, making them stop their duel. Standing across from them were M'Egga Man and Mecha Mario.
"Mario?" Tails wondered aloud.
"You know one of them?" Twilight asked.
"What else can go wrong?" Knuckles, Rainbow and Sonata yelled at the same time.
"Oh no." said a tall blue robot that stepped into their world, "It's worse than I thought..."
"Ugh. I need an aspirin..." Trixie groaned,
Meanwhile, the female draconequess extended her hands outward, them glowing. "It seems that is all of the rifts open." Eris whispered to herself in slight relief, "I can only halt the worlds from merging further." she put all her effort into her magic to stop the merging of worlds.
The four Roboticized Masters stared each other down, ready to fulfill their final program and objective: which Eggman, Bowser and Wily added as their failsafe.
Destroy each other.
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Lost Hex...
"Yes!" cackled Sigma, raising his arms, feeling the energy of all the worlds come forth to him, the Maverick leader feeling all the more powerful by the second.
Starlight smirked, "I see you're impressed, Master Sigma?"
Sigma folded his arms, "Very much so, Starlight. This is only the beginning. Once I drain these worlds dry of their energy, no world or reality will be safe."
Hiding behind an Animal Capsule, were Eggman, Wily and Bowser. The former spoke first in a whisper, "They weren't supposed to fight until they return to base!"
"No kiddin'. We just gotta hope Sigma doesn't find out." Bowser said.
Wily wiped some sweat off his brow, "Well, we should make a break for it before Sigma catches wind of what we did to the Roboticized Masters!"
"Agreed, but what about the Deadly Six and Mecha Sonic? The armor will no doubt be impenetrable and I built this new robot to be nigh indestructible." Eggman gulped.
"And my Koopa Troop. Knowin' that bald creep he'd find a way to put them under his control with the armor you built them, docs." Bowser huffed, "Not that I'm blamin' you of course."
Wily peeked over, seeing Sigma still boasting over his new power with Starlight, "Then, it's settled. We'll make a hasty retreat!"
"Okay..." Rainbow muttered, "Can somepony explain what the hay is going on?" she held her head, "Rifts, robots, none of this is making sense right now!"
"Yer tellin' me." replied a gruff voice.
Twilight turned her gaze, feeling as though she recognized that voice, "It can't be." she whispered. Standing next to the figures that just walked into their world was Logan, except he appeared to be aged, and his hair bright white. "Logan? Is that you?"
Logan raised a brow, "The hell are you?"
The alicorn shook her head, "It's me, Twilight Sparkle! Peter's wife! We worked together with the Avengers and the Justice League for a while! You were with us the entire time!"
The old man waved a hand, "Never seen somethin' as ridculous as you before in my life."
"Hey!" fumed the alicorn.
A beam neared the heroes, prompting them to duck. The sound of metal clanging could be heard nearby, the fight with the Roboticized Masters still going.
Sonata faced her friends as she raised her head, "Is he a friend of yours?"
"Yeah. He's always this moody though. He probably doesn't want to admit he knows us now because he's old." Rainbow chuckled.
Logan growled, "And I'm tellin' ya! I ain't seen ya rainbow horses before in my goddamn life."
Popping behind Logan was a woman clad in white, "Oh thank God, I thought he was a stranger or something. I didn't think you recognized him." she admitted with a sheepish chuckle, wandering her way in the grassy field.
"Gwen?"
Spider-Woman extended her hands, "The one and only. And on the battlefield, it's Spider-Woman. Looks like we got ourselves in an even bigger mess than before." she put a hand to her hips, "You know any of these guys here?"
Applejack shook her head, "Ain't too sure, ourselves. It's lookin' mighty crowded out here."
Tails ran to the ponies, "What is causing all of this to happen? We all come from different worlds! It just doesn't add up!"
The blue robot raised a hand, "If I may intervene for a minute. My name is X, that's my friend and partner Zero. We may have a clue as to who's behind this."
"Sigma." Twilight revealed.
X looked at the alicorn, "I'm sorry, you know of him?"
"Thanks to Eris. Apparantly he came to our world years ago and seeked to ally with a foe of ours: Discord, while we dealt with another threat. He's not here anymore, so I have no idea as to who brought him back to this world. Eris learned of Discord's plans and Sigma's involvement. I guess she thought that he forgot about this world."
Zero sighed, "Wonderful. Sounds like Sigma to make ridiculous deals like that. I'm surprised it wasn't a Maverick this time." he put a hand to his face in disgust over what their nemesis has done.
"But it looks like Sigma's one step ahead of us this time." X noted. He shook his head, "Anyway, it appears that all of our worlds have crossed for some unknown reason. And it has to do with those four robots and minions of Sigma."
"Should we do something?" Sonata asked.
"I dunno, guys. It looks like they're taking care of themselves just fine." Knuckles observed. The four robots were currently in a battle against each other, throwing all of their weapons at one another in hopes of victory.
Running into the battlefield behind the newly-forged group were a man clad in green and a green dinosaur, "Mama mia... Is-a this where-a Mario ended up?" he asked.
"Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi! (I think so, Luigi. I think I can see him!)" the dinosaur spotted the roboticized plumber.
Tails raised a brow, "Luigi? Yoshi?"
Luigi gave the fox a smile and asked, "Tails?"
Yoshi raised his hands, "Yoshi Yoshi! (Finally, someone who can help us!)" he cheered, getting a glance at the others, "Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi? (Who are all of you?)"
The fox cleared his throat, "He wants to know who all of you are. Don't worry, Yoshi and Luigi are old friends of ours." he assured the ponies moreso than the Maverick Hunters and humans.
"I'm wondering the same thing."
Rainbow and Knuckles slammed their hands and hooves to their faces, "Another one?" the pegasus asked, spotting the figure with the red visit and a shield strapped to his back, "And who are you supposed to be?" she wondered.
"Blues. The Proto-Man. Now, can I get an answer?"
Applejack rolled her eyes, "Aggressive much?"
Once introductions were in order, Shadow crossed his arms, "So, it appears whoever this threat is, they accidentally brought us all together. Good on them. This incompetence can only be the work of the doctor." he huffed.
Logan gruffed, "And I have no idea who the hell yer talkin' about. All'a this is new to me. I don't even know why this Sigma decided to get my world involved."
Twilight raised a hoof, "I'm wondering the same thing. Clearly, you're not the same Wolverine we know. For one thing, you've aged in such a short amount of time, unless the time differences across worlds began to apply again."
Zero crossed his arms, "Did you just say, Wolverine?" he questioned the alicorn.
"I'm not Wolverine anymore, pony girl. It's just Logan. I don't deserve that name anymore. Not after what happened." sighed the older mutant, "But why the hell is that relevant to you, blondie?"
The red Reploid spoke, "Because our world once crossed with a world known as Marvel. We united against a legion of villains after a couple fights to face off against Galactus. Sigma must have known about it and planned to take over any of your Earths with little heroes."
Spider-Gwen crossed her arms, "That probably would explain why I'm here. It's only me, Cap and S.H.I.E.L.D. there for the most part." she realized.
Luigi hummed, "But-a why-a us? Unless..."
Yoshi scowled, "Yoshi Yoshi! (Bowser!)"
"What did he say?" Sonata asked, "In fact, how could any of you understand him?"
Tails said to the Siren, "We've known him long enough, despite being from different worlds. He said that his enemy, Bowser may have had a hand in all of this too."
Shaking his head, Proto-Man added on, "If we're going by the theory that our old foes are involved somehow, then that means Wily's gotta have a hand. The design and personality of these robots do look like something he'd make."
"As well as Eggman." Amy added.
"Yeah, the Doc's known for crazy robot designs. And for some reason they all have the word Egg in them." Knuckles chimed in.
"Now it's just a question as to why Sigma bothered to come back to Equestria like Eris suggested." Twilight hummed. "There's nopony else here with the capablities of bringing him here. Discord and Tirek are gone as are Electro, Osborn, Venom and Carnage, and there's no way they would allow this."
"Hold on, Sparkle. I seem to remember somepony vanishing before the big battle against Tirek." Trixie reminded the alicorn. "That sleezeball."
"Starlight Glimmer? Of course, it makes sense now! She must've brought Sigma here." she realized.
Shadow closed his eyes, "And who might this Starlight Glimmer be?"
"A unicorn bent on equality across Equestria. She vanished a year ago." Twilight explained.
Proto-Man shook his head and grunted, "So, it sounds like our old foes came together to do us in at the same time."
"Well, that was a big mistake on their part." Gwen pointed out, "By doing this, they were dumb enough to bring us all together. I mean, once those four turn back to normal, we head right for Sigma!"
"I agree!" Rainbow said.
Tails pointed a finger upward, "Now hold on. We can't just go to wherever Sigma is. We don't even know where he's at first of all, and on top of that, we don't even know what's waiting for us. By the look of things, he could already have things prepared for our arrival if he was working with Eggman, Wily, Starlight and Bowser."
Nodding, Espio spoke, "I agree with Tails. We must plan this accordingly."
"Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi? (But what about Mario and Sonic?)" the dinosaur asked. "Yoshi Yoshi? (And whoever else is there?)"
Knuckles rubbed his head, "I dunno, Yoshi. We just gotta wait things out. Once they shut themselves down, then we can figure that part out."
Trixie tilted her head, "Okay, is there a book or something I'm missing that can translate him? All I hear is Yoshi coming from his mouth." the dinosaur gave the blue unicorn a blank stare.
"I ain't too sure, but that's the last thing I wanna worry about." Applejack commented.
Luigi sighed, "He was-a asking who-a else was there."
"Rock. You may know him as Mega Man." Proto-Man answered, "What they did to him is despicable. To become the very thing you fight against."
"You said his name was Mega Man? Who created him?" X asked.
"Doctor Light. Same as me. Why?" Blues replied.
X held up his X-Buster, "I-I was created by Doctor Light as well, my full name is Mega Man X. Apparantly, I was the last creation of his." he revealed. "So, we're displaced in time as well."
"Mega Man? That's him? Sonic told me about him after he got back from the Smash tournament." Tails said.
Logan raised a brow, "Than who's the other bucket of scraps?"
Twilight faced the old mutant, "You should know him, Logan. Peter Parker. You know, Spider-Man."
"Parker?" Logan asked, "That's a name I haven't heard in years. Thought he was dead."
"You know what happened, Logan." Trixie said, "He stayed in this world after you helped Twilight and him fight the Green Goblin."
"Now I don't remember that." grunted the old Wolverine.
Pointing her thumb at Logan, Gwen said, "I don't think this is the same Wolverine you know, girls. We'll see what happens when he sees--" she cut herself off, seeing something fly towards them. "Incoming!" she extended both of her hands and shot a line of webbing at the isolated missile, throwing into the air.
"Now I really wish this fight was over!" Sonata whined, referring to the Roboticized Masters' battle.
With the Roboticized Masters, they continued their duel, not caring about anything else but their programming. They hopped and dashed all over the forest, dodging and hitting each other's attacks. "You know, this has to end at some point." Sonic-Man quipped, skidding on his metal feet.
"Yeah, I agree." Mecha-Spider responded.
Mecha Mario looked to his adversaries, "Let's-a end this."
M'Egga Man snarled, "Then bring it on!"
All at once, the four robots charged their arm cannons and yelled the name of an attack as the projectiles collided.
"SONIC WIND!"
"FIRE MISSILE!"
"EGG-SPRING SHOT!"
"WEB TORPEDO!"
Once their weapons and attacks collided, it created a major spark that enveloped the four roboticized heroes. They remained still, their screams echoing across the forest. Within their minds, they could feel whatever was controlling them slipping away and four familiar voices calling out to them.
"Wake up, pesky heroes! You can't give up!" Bowser said.
"I can't believe we're asking for your help! But nothing else matters now!" Eggman snarled.
"It's Sigma! He made us do this to you! Stop him!" Wily shouted.
"Peter! Wake up! What happened to you?" Dream called out.
The spark of light got the attention of all the heroes. They all ran ahead into the forest, seeing Mario, Sonic, Mega Man and Spider-Man lying down on the floor, their chests heaving up and down, clearly exhausted from the ordeal they just went through. The four of them sat up and looked to one another, "Mario? That you?" Sonic asked, holding his head.
"It's-a me, Sonic." Mario wheezed.
"Mario and Sonic? It's been a while." Mega Man shook his head, "Wow. My memory servers are on the fritz."
Spider-Man looked to his left, "Mega Man? Oh man, is this another Capcom thing? Jeez, just when I thought I could retire."
'Peter? Are you all right?' asked Dream.
'Yeah, I think so.'
"Now, this is a surprise. Yo, Rock. Isn't this that Spider-Man guy you were talking about?" Sonic called out.
"Huh?" Mega Man blurted out, "Oh, yeah! At least we know each other."
Peter gave the Blue Bomber a grin, "Hey, Rock. Been a while, huh? Who are these guys?"
"Mario and Sonic. I talked about them before, Peter." Rock introduced.
The four heroes stood up and greeted one another, "Wow, really? Gotta say, it's pretty cool to meet you all. I just wish it was under better circumstances."
Sonic extended a hand, prompting Peter to return the gesture, "Same here, Spidey. I heard you're no pushover, what with saving reality from the Green Goblin."
"Heard the same about you two." Peter complimented.
"Ahem."
Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and Spider-Man turned their heads, seeing all of their friends giving a relieved expression. "Oh, thank goodness." sighed Tails.
"Sonic!" a pink blur groped Sonic's chest and wrapped him in a hug, surprising him.
"Help." mouthed the blue hedgehog silently to his allies.
"Aw..." cooed Sonata, earning a blank stare from Sonic.
"Uh, Peter?" Twilight muttered.
"Yes, honey?" Peter replied.
Twilight tilted her head, "You're still human."
Confused, the man looked down. He was standing on two feet, he had no fur and was still wearing his new costume. "Huh. I wonder why that is."
Knuckles raised a brow, helping Sonic peel Amy off of him, "Why is that a problem? Is he supposed to be one?"
"Well, when I first showed up to this world, I became one, much to my annoyance." Gwen groaned.
Spider-Man held his head, "G-Gwen? That you?"
"Who else would dress up like this, you dork?" teased the Spider-Woman, giving Peter a quick hug, "I didn't think I'd see you again after that war we were in."
Luigi and Mario high-fived one another, "I'm-a so glad you're-a okay, big bro!"
"Thank-a you for handling-a things, Luigi. I'm-a so proud." Mario complimented.
"R-Really?"
Yoshi smiled, geting petted by the red-clad plumber, "Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi! (Princess Peach was worried! Maybe we should explain this at some point!)"
Clearing her throat, Twilight decided to explain, "Well, the magic in this world transforms any outsiders into a species native to Equestria. I'm not sure why that's not the case here."
"If I may speak!" Eris yelled, raising her hands to use her magic, "The method of these worlds merging could be nullifying the dormant magic! Our worlds are unifying, making the transformation null and void!"
The old mutant huffed, "One last headache I have to take care of."
"And who are you supposed to be?" asked Peter.
Logan didn't say anything and chose to clench his palm, revealing three metal claws from his knuckles, "No way, Logan?! Wow, has it really been that long? Now you're all old and have grey hair? And what's with the cowboy getup like you're in the wild west? How long has it been?"
"...Yep, you're definitely Parker. Only you could have a motor mouth like that." Logan gave Spider-Man a thin smile and tipped his cowboy hat down.
"Says he doesn't know us." Applejack commented.
"Well, we'll worry about that part, later." Zero decided, "For now, it looks like we share a common enemy."
Sonic folded his arms, "We got all the details. Some nutcase called Sigma did this. We gotta stop him no matter what."
Trixie sighed, "We know that much, but does anypony, er, anybody have any idea as to what to do now?" she pointed upward, seeing an empty building collide with a checkerboard platform before exploding. "Because it looks like we have that to look forward to."
"My God..." muttered Peter.
"Yeah..." muttered Rainbow, "Looks like we're runnin' out of time."
Nodding, Spider-Man stepped forward, with newfound determination, "Alright guys. I'm not one for heartfelt speeches, but I think we got something here. All of us are from different worlds, yet we fight for the greater good nontheless! This Sigma guy made a grave mistake in doing all of this because in the end, it only brought all of us together against him and whatever he wishes to throw at us!"
"It may be tough, but we have faced impossible odds before alone. Now that we stand as one, Sigma and our enemies will pay for what they did!"
"With us united, we can stop any threat to our worlds!"
"Yeah!" chanted the heroes, sans Logan, Shadow, Zero and Blues. But Logan had a thin smirk on his features.
'Did you plan all that Peter?' Dream teased.
Peter chuckled in his head, 'Kinda. It was a heat of the moment thing. Hopefully I made Cap proud with this speech.'
Sigma looked at his monitors at what was happening in the merged world, "Hm? What's this? That wasn't supposed to happen. Unless..." he scowled turning around, seeing nobody except Starlight behind him.
The Maverick leader pointed backwards, where the Deadly Six charged off, "Zeti! Find the doctors and koopa! Alive, but not necessarily intact!" the Zeti all ran into the shadows after their targets. Sigma looked down at the unicorn, "Did you have a hoof in this act of betrayal, Miss Glimmer?"
"Of course not, Master Sigma. I am ever loyal to you after all." Starlight muttered out.
Sigma smirked, "Excellent. Because you will know what happens should you go against me." he opened his palm and closed it, an energy spark showing on his hand.
Once Sigma faced the monitors again, the unicorn narrowed her eyes, 'Laugh it up, Sigma. This is actually beneficial for me. Once the heroes weaken you, that's when I will take control of things!' she mused, her plan still going as intended.
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Looking out at the balcony, Sonic and Spider-Man got a closer look at what was becoming of their worlds. Various landscapes and buildings were clashing together and floating from the planet in an eternal void, and in some cases exploding. The hedgehog whistled, "Woah. This is some chaos, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I never imagined dealing with anything of this scale." Peter admitted to the blue hedgehog. "I can still see Eris struggling over there," he pointed to the female draconequss, "We gotta act quickly before there's nothing left to save."
Sonic nodded, "Luckily, I think we got ourselves the perfect team for the job. Nice job on gettin' everybody here and organized."
Turning their heads from the balcony, the duo saw the other heroes grouped together, named out for the sake of simplicity. Twilight held a checklist with magic, checking off names that she heard. Sonic and Peter walked in the room with the others, listening out.
"Okay..." sighed Twilight, "It seems we were grouped off into teams and worlds for the sake of simplicity by Tails' suggestion." she said, earning a nod from the group.
Twilight looked at the paper and called the first group, "Okay, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi: Heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom." Mario, Luigi and Yoshi raises their hands and hummed.
"From Mobius, the Freedom Fighters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Espio." the Mobians all responded, showing that they were all present and accounted for.
The purple alicorn checked off the names and continued, "Earth 20XX: Mega Man, Proto-Man, Doctor Light and Roll." once she saw they were there she moved on, "Earth 21XX: Mega Man X and Zero, the Maverick Hunters." X and Zero nodded.
Moving on, Twilight faced her friends, "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Trixie, Spike, Sonata, Mayday, Ben and myself. It seems we're all here." she let out a silent sigh of relief.
"And now... Peter, Logan, and Gwen. From three different universes apparentally." Twilight finished, seeing the three superheroes standing around. "Okay, once Luna gets here, we'll decide how we'ee going to do this."
Gwen removed her mask, "Y'know, we look like the crew for some bizarre fanfic."
"Stuck with a bunch'a kids and animals. Literally." Logan gruffed.
Peter put an arm around the doppelganger of his old comrade, "Come on Wolvie. It's not too bad." he felt the mutant lower his arm.
"So... Is there anyone else we're missing?" Rainbow asked.
Sonic shrugged, "Eh. Kinda. We don't know where Silver, Blaze and the rest of the Chaotix are at for one."
Dr. Light folded his hands, "It's pretty much us. And the two Maverick Hunters." he could see X giving him a concerned look but he wasn't quite sure why that was.
Roll nudged Rock's shoulder, "Hey, Rock. Who is the tall guy that looks like you."
"X." Mega Man revealed. "He's from the future. Him and Zero. That's all I know so far."
Peter looked at the older scientist, "When did you and Roll get here anyhow?"
Dr. Light gestured to his two fighting sons, "Rock and Blues managed to retrieve the two of us from Light Labs. Things are looking quite awful out there." he smiled, "But enough of that, this is the world you found yourself in? I must say it's quite surprising, but I am happy you found yourself with a good life."
Peter smiled, "Hey, thanks doc. I just wish our worlds didn't meet like this constantly. Considering the Marvel vs. Capcom battles we've had plenty of times before, I'd rather us in a goofy sitcom than another world-saving adventure."
Zero walked by, patting Peter on the shoulder, "Welcome to the life of a Maverick Hunter, Spider-Man. Hope you survive the experience."
"...Right." groaned Peter.
'Quite the ensemble, huh?' Dream said.
'No kidding. It's getting a little crowded in here again.' Peter replied to the voice.
"Yo, Pete."
Snapping out of his trance, Peter looked down and saw Sonic and Tails trying to get his attention. The hedgehog smirked, "You looked like you zoned out there. You alright?"
"Huh? Oh, don't worry. Just thinking is all. What's up?" the man asked.
Tails raised a finger, "Do you have a lab anywhere? I was hoping to finish something before we decide how we're going to handle all this." he wondered.
Peter nodded, "Uh, sure. Do you want some help?"
"Okay." Tails replied.
"Mayday, come over here, sweetie!" Peter called out for his daughter.
A beige pegasus filly ran by the group at the sound of her father's voice, "Yes, Daddy? Hey! Why are you human and I'm not?" she huffed, having not seen Peter in his current state yet.
"Not sure why to be honest. Magic and science mumbo jumbo. But are you up for a little experimenting? Tails here could use some help with finding the lab and something else." Peter offered. "...What are you doing exactly?"
"I'm trying to modify my Chaos Emerald tracker to account for all the interdimensional mayhem. Once we're done with it, then we can worry about finding them."
Mayday put a hoof to her chin, "What's a Chaos Emerald?"
Tails turned around, "I'll explain on our way to the lab."
Sonic nudged Peter's elbow, "Your daughter's a horse?"
"What? I was a stallion once before this whole mess came about. You'd be one too if it weren't for this whole Sigma war we've got to deal with anyhow." Peter shrugged off.
Shadow, Logan, Zero, and Proto-Man isolated themselves from the rest of the crowd, finding themselves in a small room where they could just keep to themselves. "Hmph. Any particular reason why you're here?" Shadow asked, referring to Logan. "You sounded awfully confused over what was happening."
"Not sure. I ain't here to make friends, though, that's fer sure." Logan answered.
Zero looked to the older X-Man, "What happened to you, though? Last I saw you, you looked perfectly fine."
"You don't wanna know." Logan grunted.
"I do!"
The sudden appearance of a pink pony caused the four to take a step back in surprise, even catching the usually stoic Shadow off guard for a moment. "The hell do you want?" asked the older Wolverine.
"I saw you looking really sad and I want to turn those frowns upside down!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Proto-Man folded his arms, "We do not need this, Pinkie."
"I say you do!" said Sonata, appearing behind Blues seemingly out of nowhere like the pink mare before. "It's a shame to see everypony else conversing and all of you isolating yourselves like this." she said with a small frown.
"I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to get the job done." Zero pointed out, looking at his unactivated Z-Saber. "Same could be said for these guys."
"I'm with Zero. Only to get the job done." Proto-Man agreed.
Logan closed his eyes when Pinkie moved to his face, "But Logan, you actually liked spending time with Peter and us!"
"I never met you before. That was some other version'a me." Logan dismissed in an angered tone. "I'm still tryin' to wrap my damn head over the fact that I'm lookin' at a ghost!"
"Ghost?" Sonata repeated, "Where?"
Logan pinched his temple, "Parker. He shouldn't be here." a sigh escaped him, "If ya want, I'll explain all this bullcrap later. But it ain't fer the weak of heart."
"Okie dokie then!" Pinkie said.
Shadow huffed, "Can you leave now?"
"B-But..." Pinkie studdered.
"Just. Leave." Logan demanded. "We'll talk to ya when we feel like it, alright?"
"Okay..." sighed Pinkie and Sonata in sadness, walking out the door.
"Woah! So these Chaos Emeralds have unlimited power? I'm sure glad Discord and Tirek never thought to use them." Mayday exclaimed upon hearing Tails explain what the emeralds were.
"Yep. It's surprising, I know. But that's why we have to find the emeralds before the bad guys do. I take it you know how to work this technology?" the fox asked.
Mayday smiled, "Uh huh! I've been watching my dad for as long as I can remember when building something. Maybe he should upgrade the Spider-Mobile at some point to fit everypony here."
"He built a car? Maybe I should've brought the Tornado with me." Tails muttered.
"The Tornado?" the pegasus filly repeated.
Tails raised a finger, "The Tornado-2 to be exact, it's Sonic's, but at this point I've used it more. After the last one got destroyed, I had to rebuild it and modify it for battle purposes." he elaborated.
"You built a plane?! Can I see it?" Mayday wondered.
Tails rubbed the back of his head, "I dunno. I can show you, but you're gonna have to ask your father about that. Maybe once we get this whole organization thing sorted out."
The filly waved a hoof, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Do you know any of those other heroes? Like that robot, Mega Man?"
"Kinda. We met before when our worlds collided. He and his brother helped us fight Eggman and Wily once before." Tails explained. "For robots, they sure act human."
Mayday beamed, "Awesome!" she decided to change the subject, having found the lab, "So, what do we need to do to change this radar of yours to good use."
"Just recalibrate the energy signatures to not account for all this world merging." Tails replied, sitting down next to the enthusiastic filly, who glanced at the round radar.
Mayday added, "What about Eris? She's probably exerting a lot of chaotic energy. If the Chaos Emeralds share that kind of energy like her, perhaps we should find a way to trace the energy from the emeralds only."
"Hm... Yeah. She is a Spirit of Disharmony like you said, right?" when Mayday answered, the fox continued, "Then what we have to do, is account for a weaker source of energy output. I'm sure Eris could potentially be stronger than the emeralds separate, but I should also account for the Master Emerald just in case. That has unlimited chaos energy. Maybe I should ask Shadow how he senses chaos energy like he does."
Mayday raised a brow, "Are you sure? Shadow doesn't look to be the... friendly type."
"I know him personally. Once you get to know him, Shadow can be a valuable friend. He just doesn't show emotions a lot and say the same. Heck, Sonic still gets on his nerves." the fox laughed.
"Don't let Pinkie or Sonata near him then." the filly laughed back.
"So... Let me get this straight... You come from a world of talking mushrooms and turtles?" Rainbow asked.
Mario nodded, "Mm-hmm!"
Gwen chuckled, "And that's weirder than a world dominated by talking ponies, griffons, bug creatures, and dragons? I sense some slight hypocrisy."
"Don't-a forget the Bean Bean-a Kingdom." Luigi added.
"...So, talking beans?" Applejack corrected. When the Mario Bros responded, the farmpony groaned, "Now, I'll admit that's a tad bit strange."
Yoshi spoke up, "Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi (I don't know why you're so surprised)!"
"I wish I can understand you." muttered Fluttershy. "How do you two do it?"
Espio huffed, "Sorry to intrude on the conversation, but I am an ally of their world."
"Oh yeah! It has-a been a while-a, Espio." Mario realized, "Our world and-a Sonic's went to the Olympic Games a few times."
"What are the Olympic Games?" Rarity wondered.
"Basically, we-a all compete in-a athletic events to win. From-a track to gymnastics, swimming. It's-a all in good-a fun." Luigi explained to the ponies.
Rainbow folded her hooves, "Huh. Sounds like the Equestria Games. So, you were saying, Espio?"
The chameleon cleared his throat, "Right. I've known them for a while. If you wish to communicate with Yoshi, we had to learn slight translations based on tone, situation and emotion. Isn't that right, Yoshi?"
"Yoshi Yoshi (Yeah, Espio)." the dinosaur explained.
Trixie rolled her eyes, "Can you hand me a guidebook?"
The White Widow grinned, "I just got advice on how to speak to a green dinosaur from a ninja chameleon. I'll admit, that's pretty cool. So, Espio, what's your world like... When it's not merging like a comic book splash page?"
Espio nodded, "Quite peaceful whenever Eggman doesn't commit any heinous acts."
Rainbow leaned in midair, "How threatening can a guy called Eggman be anyway? He sounds like someone who'd try to ruin your breakfast or something."
"I was thinking the same thing." Gwen added.
The chameleon responded, "He is a man that will capture woodland animals, force them to become his robot slaves like you saw to our friends, blew up half our moon, split apart the planet into chunks on his own, released a few demonic entities, and even built a space station of destruction a few times over."
Gwen paused, "Huh. That actually does sound threatening."
"Those poor animals." Fluttershy gasped, putting her hooves to her mouth in surprise.
Rainbow smirked, "So, how does Bowser compare to Eggman, Mario and Luigi?"
Mario sighed, "He is a Koopa that-a doesn't know when to-a give up. He-a constantly kidnaps Princess Peach, used ancient-a artifacts to boost-a his powers, turns-a giant, nearly destroyed-a the universe-a twice and fell into a Sun. And-a there were-a few instances where he-a fought as a skeleton after being burnt-a in lava. He's-a been after-a me since we were-a babies."
"Yoshi Yoshi (I helped him when he was a baby too)!" Yoshi chimed in. Espio translated for the dinosaur.
"Oh, dear." Rarity muttered.
Gwen replied, "Fighting you as a skeleton after swimming in hot lava? That's pretty metal. You two got some enemies there. The worst I have is a creep called Matt Murdock and a secret organization called S.I.L.K. trying to use me for some criminal business. Still trying to figure that out."
"Hey, wait. We've met Matt Murdock when the Legion invaded. He was a vigilante like Peter called Daredevil." Trixie realized. "He's not on your world?"
Scoffing, the White Widow said, "I wish."
While they continued to converse, Twilight spoke with X, Dr. Light and Roll. "So, you're a robot with free will? That's... interesting. I never knew such a thing was possible." Twilight admitted.
"Well, Dr. Li--" X corrected himself, "My creator found a legendary feature in our programming. We are no longer bound by the Three Laws of Robotics, and can act of our own accord. But I was in a capsule for a few decades to ensure that the world was ready for such a technological evolution until Dr. Cain found me. Luckily, I was designed just in case of battle with my X-Buster. And I knew that I wanted to protect my world from any threat that hoped to harm it."
Roll put a finger to her chin, "That's pretty cool... For some reason you look like my brother."
X gave Mega Man a quick glance, not wanting the future to be spoiled to Light and Roll. The original Reploid replied, "Well, I am from the future, maybe whoever designed me was inspired by him." he suggested.
Dr. Light hummed, "To think Rock could leave such a legacy in the future. It's astounding."
Twilight smiled, "You should be proud, Dr. Light. To know you've made such an impact in the field of technology. I sort of wish our world was advanced as yours."
The older scientist frowned, "Thank you, Princess Twilight. But I just wish I can get Albert to see the error of his ways. He's stuck up in his method of advancement through domination."
"Albert... You mean Wily?" Twilight corrected. "How does he tie in all this?"
Dr. Light nodded, "He and I used to be partners, and we even built Proto-Man. But his building of powerful weapons got his license revoked, meaning we couldn't work together. He grew bitter and sought to use my own creations, the original Robot Masters against the world. You see... Rock was just a helper robot, not designed for combat in mind. But he saw the terror and wished to fight back, after all he claimed his programming was to help others and he took it to the next level. I couldn't be any prouder of my boys and girl for all the good they've done. We're like a small family only looking out for each other. He and Roll were the reason Blues came back to my life in the first place."
X smiled, "I'm glad to see that even the past had such good heroes. Y'know, I've heard of the original Mega Man before now and what he stood for. Everlasting peace. Although I knew very little, I knew that he was righteous in his actions."
Twilight and Light faced Mega Man X, "At least the future has someone like you and Zero to defend it, X." the latter said.
"Yeah. Zero, Axl, and I do our best. Speaking of, I may just see if I can bring Axl here. I'm sure he'd love this." X admitted.
the alicorn agreed and said bashfully, "You should. It'd be nice to know more of the Maverick Hunters. I'm sorry, it's just... all this is new. To see how technology can advance. Peter has shown me a lot that I wish to know more."
"It's quite alright, Twilight. Maybe we can take you to our lab?" Roll offered.
"I'd like that."
With the remaining heroes, Peter, Sonic and Mega Man all spoke to one another. "So, you and Mega Man met in some big epic teamup too?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah. Marvel vs. Capcom we called it. Our universes were in conflict and sought to end it with fisticuffs until some big threat revealed themselves like three times. Honestly, you'd think by the time our worlds crossed beyond the X-Men and Street Fighter guys we'd realize that we were on the same side." said Peter.
"Some of us were rivals to one another. But Spider-Man and I were partners during the whole ordeal." Rock added. "I don't know why, but we worked quite well as a team."
Peter put a hand to his head, "You should've been there when Wesker and Doom summoned Galactus. At least I had Zero and Logan by my side. Speaking of, where were you?"
Rock pointed to Sonic, "In the Smash Tournament with him, Mario and a bunch of other heroes from a world called Nintendo. We were all brought by two giant hands to fight one another like we were a bunch of toys. Even Ryu showed up for a bit. He was a little late, but honestly, it was kind of fun."
Sonic put an arm around the blue robot's shoulder, "Yeah. And there was the time Eggman and Wily tried to use the Chaos Emeralds to reset the world with something called a Genesis Wave in their image. We chased them in the Skull Egg, turned super and then saved our worlds once and for all."
'It seems our new friends are more connected than we thought.' Dream said to Peter.
'Yeah. At least we can work together.' Peter said. 'So far, besides old man Logan showing up, there's been no mistrust.'
Eggman, Wily and Bowser all hid behind a capsule, intending to hide from the Deadly Six and Mecha Sonic. "So, how are we gonna get out of this one, docs?" asked the Koopa leader. "I kinda wish I didn't give my Koopa Troop that Sigma armor. I'd have them be a distraction otherwise."
"If we're quiet enough, we can find an escape pod and fly to safety." Eggman whispered.
"That won't be necessary." said a female voice.
The three villains' eyes went wide, seeing Starlight trot next to them. "Oh no. Don't snitch to Sigma please. We like our lives thank you." Wily pleaded.
The unicorn smirked, "Why would I? Honestly, it's like you don't know me."
Bowser sighed in relief, "So why are ya here then, huh? To taunt us?"
Starlight shook her head, "I have to thank you three... You actually made it easier for me to usurp Sigma when the time comes. With the heroes against him, it's only a matter of time... But I will allow you three to escape should you help me."
"With what?" Eggman asked.
"I only wish to have what you want. To destroy Sigma once and for all for treating us like his slaves. But I want to play the long game. Should you help, I'll spare you in what I have planned." Starlight offered.
Footsteps were heard clanging on metal, surprising the three, "Yes, please, whatever. Just get us out!" they said.
Starlight lit up her horn, "Very well. Do bid the others a greeting from me."
"Huh?"
Suddenly the three vanished in a purple light. When they reappeared, they realized they were in a lighter room and piled atop once another from a brief tumble. "Ow..." muttered Bowser, pushing his allies from the top of his stomach. The doctors both landed on the floor painfully.
"Where are we? It's a lot brighter than I anticipated." Eggman wondered.
"And a lot bluer." Wily added.
They faced their right, and were annoyed by what they saw. Standing around them were the heroes, all their enemies grouped together into a single building. Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Peter, X and Twilight all stood in front, ready to attack should the villains try anything funny.
"H-Hey, Sonic... Old buddy old pal." Eggman chuckled nervously.
Bowser extended his arms, "M-Mario, G-Green Stache! Great to see you!"
Wily got to his knees, "Mega Man, D-Dr. Light, please forgive us!"
Sonic grinned deviously, "I dunno guys. What should we do?"
"Is it ready, Twilight?" Peter asked his wife.
Twilight nodded, knowing what her husband was talking about, "Yes, Peter. I say a good restraining is in order for these three."
"Take them to the dungeon! Heh, I always wanted to say that." chuckled Spider-Man.
Then, a loud noise and a burst of energy hit the villains. And everything went black for them, the heroes' plan for them unknown.
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Bowser, Eggman and Wily were all tied up and trapped within a cell down in Twilight's dungeon. Leaning on a wall across from the three villains were Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, X, Peter and Twilight. The wall-crawler broke the silence, "Y'know, I questioned why we even had a dungeon, but I'm glad to see it used." he blinked fast, "Well, for... uh, less kinky purposes." he felt a slap to the back of his head and he rubbed the sore spot, "Ow. Even when we're different species? How did you even reach me?" he asked his wife, who whistled innocently.
"Wasn't expecting that punchline." muttered Sonic with a light chuckle.
"Laugh it up, Spider-Man." Eggman growled.
Sonic faced his nemesis and leaned on a wall, "So, doc. Why did you decide it was a good idea to show yourselves? For a man with a 300 IQ, you kinda lack in the common sense department."
"You don't understand. We helped you," Wily hissed.
Mega Man raised a brow, "Helped us? Like I believe that. You helped Sigma do all this. The damage is on you three as much as it is on him. You should pay for what you've done."
"Oh, we hated working with him." Bowser admitted, "He practically forced us. Heck, we'll tell you everything about his plan if you open these bars." he said.
The group all huddled together after hearing his words. Mario spoke first, "I don't-a know. Bowser has-a helped me and-a Luigi before. He-a hates getting showed up-a by a bigger villain. Like-a Fawful or-a Smithy." he revealed.
Sonic sneered, "Yeah, but Eggman's a liar ninty-nine percent of the time. In the end, whatever is happening that'd he come to me, it's usually to benefit him. The times he didn't do anything was when the Space Colony ARK was crashing down and when Metal Sonic betrayed him. But even then, it was so he could make a comeback."
Mega Man agreed, "Same with Wily. He'll get on his knees and beg, but the next he'll betray you. He did it to me and Dr. Light a few times before and I'm playing it safe. We only worked together to defeat Ra Moon. That's it."
"But what if this is that one other time?" Twilight wondered.
X added, "As in they could be genuine? Hm... That's certainly a risk we'll be taking."
"Are you seriously thinking of letting them go, you two?" Mega Man asked.
Twilight glanced at the Super Fighting Robot, "What other choice do we have, Rock? It sounds like these three have a history in aiding you in extreme situations. This could be the chance to gain a tactical advantage over Sigma."
X lowered his arms, "If anything goes wrong, remember that there are more allies. The three of them appear to be defenseless anyhow and there's no way they'd fight back should they try anything."
'Are you going to say anything on the matter, Peter?' Dream asked.
'Not sure what to think or say. This isn't my forte.'
Peter faced the others, "I'm leaving it up to you guys. These are your enemies. Last thing you want is unnecessary input. But I have put my trust in former crooks, and sometimes it works. Sometimes a compromise is necessary."
Mario, Sonic and Rock scowled, turning their eyes back to the cell holding their enemies. The hedgehog gritted his teeth and let out a relunctant sigh. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I'm will be the first to say I told you so." he walked to the cell and pointed at Eggman, "So don't go tryin' anything funny, doc."
Eggman raised his hands, "Oh no. Not this time, Sonic. Sigma needs to be put down."
X and Twilight opened the cell and freed the villains, "Looks like we can agree on something. Come on, you're going to spill everything you know about Sigma's plan."
"So, you just let them out?" Rainbow asked.
Peter slowly nodded, watching as the three villains got a glare from all of their enemies, "Uh, sort of yeah. You know what to do if they try anything funny, right?" he whispered.
The cyan pegasus nodded, "You know it, Pete."
Shadow growled, "This better be worth the effort."
Eggman adjusted his glasses, "Oh, I'm sure it will, Shadow. We have plenty of information to give."
"Yeah. Sigma's a jerk." Bowser revealed in a disgusted tone, straight to the point.
"Anything else ya wanna share, Bowser?" Applejack asked.
Logan raised his claws, "Yeah, bubs. Start spillin', before I make ya spill somethin' else. We're runnin' outta time."
"Okay, don't go provoking them, Logan." Gwen scolded. "We need them for information and for once, not use them punching bags."
"Why thank you, Spider-Woman." Wily thanked, acknowledging the White Widow. "Yes, I do believe we should tell them. I honestly don't care dor this unity plan anymore."
"Let us begin then," Eggman declared, raising a finger, "The first you should know is Sigma's purpose in doing this. He wishes to use the energy gained from the Unity Engine when merging with the worlds to power him up like a super battery. It all has to do with those strange Genesis Portals he gained control of sometime ago. That power alone allowed him to breach time and space, which is how he orchestrated this plan in the first place."
Espio closed his eyes, "If he was this powerful, why recruit you three to do his bidding?"
Wily continued, "He was a virus without a body. He went to Eggman and had him do so. Once that was done, he used his power to summon myself and Bowser to create an army. At first we thought it was a team effort, but we noticed he was using us to fuel his plan. We were doing most of the exhausting work and there was no way out of it unless, we chose to die by his hand."
Bowser folded his large arms, "He used my army, Eggman's robots, and Wily's Robot Masters to create his own mega army, using a special armor that allows him to control the brain functions and programming of them or whatever. I don't speak science-nese."
"You mean an armor designed for him to control neural functions?" Twilight asked, "Now that's highly advanced. No wonder you three were so ill-prepared when coming here."
Gwen spoke up next, "Anyone else with you? I fought some robot called Mecha Sonic, while Logan and the Maverick Hunters were dealing with these neon-colored one-note Monstar rejects staright out of Space Jam." she wondered.
The egg-shaped scientist nodded, "Yes. Our armies were forged, whether with the armor or not. There is Mecha Sonic, Bass..." Mega Man and Proto-Man growled at the name, "...Petey Piranha, the Wario Brothers were even paid a huge sum to guard a Chaos Emerald. Who knows who else is after the emeralds..." he trailed off, "There is also the Deadly Six as well."
The blue hedgehog said, "The Deadly Six? Didn't think they were the effort. Gotta be useless without their special abilities like that moon or dragon thing."
"And a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer."
The Equestrians' eyes went wide upon hearing that name, "Starlight ?" Twilight gasped.
"So that's where she ended up. I didn't think she'd work with Sigma consdiering her behavior with Discord and the Sinister Six last we saw her." Peter hummed.
"Oh, she revealed to us that she plans to backstab Sigma first chance she gets." Bowser revealed, "She's just keeping a close eye on him until you get the job done."
Sonic nodded, "Alright. Then we'll just kick her butt should she try anything that stupid. No biggie."
Trixie sighed, "Aren't you overconfident? Starlight is a magical prodigy like myself and Twilight."
"She has been using the portals like Sigma. And was even the one who sent us here once Sigma found out we planted the failsafe in the Robotcized Masters. We did that so once the Unity Engines were planted, you can reverse it." Wily elaborated for the others. "In fact, she is also the reason you were dragged into this, Spider-Woman."
Gwen raised her arms, "Of course, seems Equestria just can't leave me well alone. At least I'm not a horse."
"Is there any way you can reverse this? I'm not sure how much longer Eris can divert the merge." Twilight spoke up, looking out a window and seeing the draconequss struggle in using her magic.
Wily put his hands behind his back, "Actually there is. We can build a Master Engine, one that can control the Unity Engines and in turn the Genesis Portals on its own. We have the schematics hidden with us and we can do that."
"But..." Eggman continued.
"Of course there's a but..." groaned Peter.
"We cannot harness that much energy to do so like this. And Eris is in no condition to fuel the machine. Even if we were to build it, we wouldn't have the energy to reverse all this." Eggman added, putting his hands on his hips.
Sonic cleared his throat, "Let me guess... You need the Chaos Emeralds to get it done?" he suggested.
"Correct. We have the materials needed as well. But the emeralds are the only things that can power the machine to do as we wish. Luckily..." he dug into his pocket, holding one in his hand. "You has this when you were roboticized. Mecha Sonic has one as well. So that leaves five remaining to find in this merged world."
The blue blur whistled and complimented, "Not a bad steal, doc. So we got one in our possession, another in the hands of that blue chrome dome and five in this comic book wasteland."
"No pressure." Peter joked.
Wily smirked, "Well, I would say prepare yourselves then. The emeralds are not going to find themselves, and Mecha Sonic is no doubt still on the hunt."
Tails and Mayday heard footsteps, slight metal clanging to be exact. They saw Rock walk in, his blue armor still on. "Oh, hey, Mega Man." the fox greeted.
"Hey. Looks like you two are busy. Is this a bad time?" Rock asked.
"Nope. We're just about done the radar." Mayday explained. "Should be usable in minutes."
Rock grinned, "Cool. Peter said that we were planning something soon since the bad guys spilled the beans on everything. Took little convincing actually."
"That's good. Less work for us." Tails laughed. "You wanna stay and help finish?"
Rock shrugged, "Sure." he walked a bit and sat down next to the filly and fox. "What's left for this anyhow?"
"Calibration. Just a few minor adjustments should fix this up." Tails discussed.
Nodding, Red looked at his gauntlet, "I think I still have the Chaos Emerald data in my memory from when we last teamed up. Plus, Eggman has a Chaos Emerald."
"You can do that?" Mayday asked. She raised a hoof and looked at Mega Man's Mega Buster in awe, "What else can you do?"
Rock rubbed the back of his head nervously, unsure of how to respond. "Well, I was a helper robot, but used this new armor to fight bad robots. The Mega Buster is my primary weapon but I can also copy some other abilities from other robots, mainly Robot Masters."
Tails nodded, "Do you still have the Spin-Dash Blast I programmed when we infiltrated the Skull Egg Zone?"
"I should. That was something I stored just in case something like that happened again. Honestly, I don't feel comfortable having so many weapons in my possession so I keep them in a flashdrive or something unless I need them again, like for the Smash Tournament." Mega Man admitted.
Mayday huffed to herself, "It's kind of not fair. You know all this stuff and have cool robot defenders and stuff, meanwhile we're just now getting technology in this world. I kinda want to learn more about all this. Can you teach me how to use some of this stuff? Maybe one day, I'll get myself armor like you or my father's."
Tails chuckled as he place the screwdriver down, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Mayday. Your father would kill us if he saw us building you armor or something to fight crime in."
"It's just him being overprotective." Mayday assured, "Maybe I can get some practice?" she suggested. "Plus, you're both kids fighting evil worse than my father ever would. Why do I get benched?"
"Because we we've been doing this for years and have no choice. Your parents fight tooth and nail to make sure you don't have to. My world has no one besides me and Blues. Tails was raised and trained by Sonic since he was a kid." Rock said. "The last thing your parents need right now is to worry about their daughter getting hurt, especially when the stakes are this high."
"I have spider powers, and landed a good hit on Morlun." the filly admitted.
"But how well can you use your powers in times of battle?" Tails asked, when the filly responded with silence, the fox continued, "Exactly. Sonic didn't let me fight until he knew I could keep up with him. He kept me away from Little Planet for instance."
Mayday folded her hooves and pouted, "But..."
"Maybe when you're older, it's not up to us to decide." Tails eased the filly, "In the meantime... I'll teach you about the tech we use on my world, and maybe have Dr. Light teach you as well. Maybe when the time comes, you can construct something for you when your father feels more comfortable with having you in battle. Whether it be on the side or on the frontlines."
With a quiet groaned, Mayday relented, "Fine. But only because I'd rather not upset Mom or Dad right now."
Mega Man smiled, "Alright then. Maybe I'll even show you how some of my armor works for inspiration."
"Psst."
The kids saw Sonata leaning on the doorway, "I think Peter and the others want us for some super important meeting." the Siren turned pony gestured behind her.
"Coming. The radar's done anyhow." Tails said.
"So..." Peter began awkwardly, getting Logan's attention.
Logan sneered, "So, what?"
"Why do you keep looking at me? Is it the suit? I kinda like it. Reminds me of Anti-Venom before... Well, I guess I was just feeling inspired." Peter rambled.
Sniffing, Logan said, "Smell like 'em. Sound like him. There's no way it could be you."
Peter rubbed his chin, "Why do you just think I stopped existing ? I stayed in Equestria. You were there when we said our goodbyes! Did old age affect your memory too? Is this another Weapon X situation?"
"That's just it, kid. I never heard of Equestria. Yer supposed to be dead like everyone else." the older Wolverine said.
Twilight overheard, rocking Ben in her arms, "What are you talking about? He's not, your world should be fine too. You saw him perfectly fine last time."
"I ain't seen you ponies before in my life. Tryin' to tell ya that for a while now. No..." Logan paused, "Parker's dead. Just like Cap, Pym, Stark, Clint... The X-Men..." he muttered the last team in an almost inaudible tone. "All gone in my world. The villains rule. I've stepped up to bring it back from the Hell-like wasteland it became."
Twilight blinked and quietly asked, "What happened?"
Logan closed his eyes, "The day they came. Red Skull led a well-coordinated attack. Magneto, Kingpin, Ultron, Goliath, Omega Red, Sabretooth, Venom... They came. None of us were ready, many fell in the ensuing battle. Including you."
"But you lived." Peter whispered, "How?"
"I've had many regrets since then. X-Men are dead... My wife and children... Banner's stupid ass ruined things." Logan muttered. "Damn Mysterio..."
Peter creased a brow, putting a hand on his friend's shoulders, "Hold on. You said Mysterio as though he was a threat. What did he do? What happened to you?"
Frowning, Wolverine faced his old friend, "He's the reason I refused to show my claws for decades, kid. Played with my damn mind, killed the only family I had before that day. For all I know, this is a damn trick in my mind."
Peter and Twilight knew exactly what he was saying and implying, 'M-Mysterio made him kill the X-Men...'
'Peter. I sense dread in you,' Dream commented, 'Are you thinking of Celestia?'
'I am...'
Dream continued, 'Don't. That was the fault of me and my counterpart. You had no control over yourself when that happened.'
'I-I know. But it's hard to get rid of. I've forgiven you for it though, you've proven better.' Peter admitted to the voice in his head.
"Logan." Twilight began, "It's really him though. This is Peter Parker. None of that happened."
Peter gave his friend an assuring grin, "Yep. I'm the real deal, Logan. I've never doubted it was you, evem though you're like fifty years older than since we last met. I'm sure we can figure this out together, with an old fashioned Spider-Man and Wolverine team-up." he extended his palm, "What do you say?"
Looking down at the younger man's hand, Logan looked Peter in the eye, the doubt leaving him. He smirked and shook his hand, "Hmph. Only you could be so annoyingly optimistic. Gotta say, surprised by how far you've come."
"Thanks. I love it here." Peter replied. "But it's your home too. The younger you thought it was alright."
Twilight smiled, not only from hearing Ben giggle, but seeing the air clear up between two old friends like this.
The sound of someone clearing their throat got the attention of the three. There they saw a blue alicorn, "Princess Twilight. Peter..." she paused, "Logan? It seems I've missed a lot. But I got your message. It seems thou made yet another large crowd." she smirked, "If it makes you feel better, Sunset, Ember and Chrysalis are keeping an eye on the rest of what's left of Equestria."
The white-clad man chuckled, "Yeah. That seems to be happening a lot lately. So, Luna, you planning to join us in the battle against that nutcase Sigma?"
"Partially. I saw Eris try to hold together what was left of our worlds. Thy wish to use my magic to aid her. For she cannot do this alone forever." Luna admitted.
Twilight looked up, "Then I'm coming too. Two alicorns could no doubt slow the process with Eris."
Luna shook her head, "No, Twilight. We need you down here. Equestria needs a leader active in battle." she unfurled her wings and flew out the window.
"B-But... I'm not cut out for ruling yet." Twilight stammered. "There's n-no way I can lead in something as crazy as this."
Peter frowned, "Twilight. Celestia chose you as her successor for times like this. You're the most organized pony I know. We're gonna need a leader on the homefront."
Twilight's eyes darted around the room, "Oh, fine. If you think so..."
"I know so." Peter corrected, kneeling down and hugging his wife, wrapping his arms around her barrel. "Now it's time to discuss how we'll handle this."
"Without me, bro?" Peter and Twilighty recognized the voice.
Standing near them was a purple dragon with green scales. He looked a little taller than last remembered, but to the couple, he was the same baby dragon. He wrapped his arms around Peter, crushing him slightly. "Hey, Pete. It's been a while! Why are you here?"
"S-Spike!" choked Peter, gasping for air, prompting the dragon to release him. He fell on his back. "Hey, dude. How's knight training with Ember going?"
Spike pointed a thumb at himself. "Pretty well. Thought to head here as soon as I saw things get out of control. So many strangers here, and is that Logan?"
"Long story. We were just about to discuss what to do next. We'll fill you in." Twilight said, a proud grin on her face.
Peter and Twilight stood in front of the group. "Okay, guys. I think we figured something out. When the Legion of Doom attacked, we were all over the place, heroes constantly popping in and out and there was little coordination in who was joining for what and what purposed they served in combat. This time we're doing this a little more organized." the man called out.
"After some thought, we thought it'd be best to divide into two teams, especially since Eggman, Bowser and Wily need to be watched in building the Unity Engine." Twilight heard Bowser correct her about being the brawn and not brains, but ignored it. "One team will stay here and watch the castle, the other will go and search for the Chaos Emeralds still in the merged world with the radar."
Amy leaned her head on her hammer, "So, who's going where?"
Peter faced the pink hedgehog, "Good question, Amy. Going for the emeralds will be myself, Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Shadow, Yoshi, Mega Man, X, Zero, Trixie, Spike, Spider-Woman and Logan. The reason why so many of you are staying behind is for patrol."
"Patrol?" Rainbow repeated.
"You got it, Skittles." Peter answered, "You'll be leading the sky patrol as I call it. You, Fluttershy, Tails, Knuckles. Anyone who can fly will keep an eye on Eris and Luna and make sure nothing harms them."
Twilight pointed a hoof to herself, "The rest of us will keep an eye on the doctors as they build the Master Engine. For all we know, Sigma is aware of where we're at and will no doubt try to attack. We have to be cautious in that regard."
Gwen raised a hand, "Good enough for me. So, should we get going? Like now? Before Mecha Sonic or whoever gets to them first?"
The Emerald Team all gathered around, radar in Peter's hand. The man smiled at Twilight and Mayday, who was holding Ben. The filly frowned, "I wish I can go with you."
"Sorry, sweetie. But listen to your Mom, alright? Plus you got Tails, Amy and Roll to keep you company. Maybe Tails and Dr. Light can even teach a thing or two I can't with their tech." the father hinted, easing his daughter.
"Just be careful, honey." Twilight warned.
Peter smirked, "Am I not?"
Trixie trotted by, "Do you want me to answer that?"
"Well I got Spike and Trixie watching me. They'll be like damage control if that'll make you feel any better."
Twilight giggled, "Alright. I know. And the others look to be powerful."
"I have Mega Man's word for Mario and Sonic. Gwen and Logan we can trust."
Sonic and Tails fistbumped as he did with Knuckles and refused a hug from Amy. Roll hugged her brother, warning him to be careful. The Elements of Harmony saw their friends off, all of them leaving the castle into the merged wasteland. Spider-Man held the radar in his hand.
"Alright, everyone. To adventure!"
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
All the Toads ran in a panic across the once peaceful town. Their mushroom shaped houses were on fire, pieces of the ground were flying into the air, exploding once making contact and merging with debris that hailed from another world.
Walking among the debris was a blue robot. His metal feet clanging along the dirt path. His optics scanned the residue energy within the town and sought out what he needed. He activated his back thrusters and pushed himself in front of a poor unsuspecting Toad, making him skid to a halt in fright. The robot held the mushroom person's spotted fungi head and slammed him onto the ground.
"Where is the Chaos Emerald?" he demanded, "I can detect one in this vicinity."
The Toad cried out, "I don't know what that is!"
Mecha Sonic raised his arm cannon, "Than you will pay for your imcompetence."
The Emerald Hunters walked across the green plains. "So, uh... We just stepped through a rift. That's normal, right?" asked Spider-Gwen, pointing back to where they crossed worlds. The area they were in had hills and clouds with eyes, question blocks in midair and coins randomly lying about. The White Widow blinked, "...Are those supposed to be there?" she wondered.
"It-a looks like we're-a in the Mushroom Kingdom-a now." Mario pointed out.
Logan sneered, "Mushroom Kingdom... Kinda name is that?"
Spike looked up, "So far, it looks like there's not a lot of damage here yet." he observed and saw the clouds. "...But those clouds with eyes are giving me the creeps."
"I know they say the hills have eyes, but this world takes it to a whole new level." Peter quipped.
X changed the subject and pointed to the radar in Peter's hand, "What does the radar say about the emeralds's location, Spider-Man?" he asked the wall-crawler.
"Oh, uh. It says straight ahead." Spider-Man pointed ahead. "Do any of you three know where that's at?"
Luigi nodded, "It should-a be where Toad Town is-a at."
"Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi (We should talk to the princess while we're there and make sure she's safe)!" said Yoshi to the plumbers, who agreed.
Trixie raised a brow, "What did he say?"
"To-a visit Princess Peach, the ruler of-a the Mushroom Kingdom." Mario explained.
"Another princess?" Trixie asked, "So more diplomatic retreats. Joy." she muttered sarcastically.
Sonic laughed, "It shouldn't take too long, Trixie. We head into the castle, say hi, then leave. By then, we should have the emerald. If that is where it's being tracked. Any update, Shadow?"
The black hedgehog shook his head, "Not so much. I can sense the energy, but we're still too far away for me to pinpoint it's exact location." he explained.
"So, why do we have a radar when we have Shadow?" Gwen asked, "You just said he can track Chaos energy."
Shadow answered, "Because I can't pinpoint it's exact location. I was created with the intent to harness Chaos energy, but even I cannot sense it from afar."
"Created? Are you a robot?" Spike asked.
The blue blur chuckled, "Heh. Remember that phase, Shadow?" he asked his friend, who scowled and clenched his fist in annoyance upon the memory.
"We swore to never talk about that again." he growled.
"Oh, right. My bad." Sonic said.
Mega Man rubbed his helmet, "What was that outburst about?"
"Past mistake?" Peter whispered to the blue robot. "I think we shouldn't talk about it. Him and Logan are the most easily upset people we'll ever meet. Besides Frank Castle, and Batman. Trust me, I met them." the robot nodded.
"Hey look! The castle!" Luigi yelled, "We're-a almost there!"
Spider-Man was about to halt his steps, 'Peter. Am I alone in sensing danger?' Dream asked.
'No, Dream. I can feel my Spider-Sense going off the closer we get to Toad Town. Something's happening.' Peter replied to the Nightmare entity.
Reaching into his pocket, Peter pulled out some handhelds "Take these, guys." he said. "I got the feeling something is about to happen. My Spider-Sense is going nuts."
"What's a Spider-Sense?" Sonic asked.
"Ability to detect danger." Gwen explained, "Like a sixth sense sort of thing."
"Comes with the spider-powers, huh?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah. Doesn't make sense, I know." Gwen commented.
Peter nodded, "But it's not exactly consistent nor am I able to find a direct source. It's vague like that." he chuckled, the group of heroes grabbing a handheld, except for the Maverick Hunters and Rock, who wished to gain the frequency in order to gain contact. "So, just in case something happens, we can use this to speak to each other."
"Not bad thinkin', kid." Logan complimented, "Didn't think ya had these at all."
"Had them built when we fought the Sinister Six when I came back to Equestria last year." Peter elaborated.
The older Wolverine nodded, then sniffed the air, "Hold on..." a pause, "Fire ... Something's happenin' in that Toad Town it seems." he realized, turning his head.
"Then let's go!" Sonic shouted, revving his feet so that they curled into a figure eight.
"Uh, Sonic. Not all of us have super speed." Spider-Man reminded the impatient hedgehog.
The hedgehog nodded, "Alright. I'll run at your pace. But I'm not gonna like it."
"Holy crap." muttered Peter.
Gwen looked around, "For a town full of mushroom people, I hoped it looked better than this. Who could hurt these... actually adorable looking people?" she asked, helping a Toad to stand up, a nod of gratitude being returned to the Spider-Woman.
"M-Mario, Luigi, Yoshi?" the Toad asked, "Thank the stars, you're here! There's this bad looking person and h-he tried to kill us!" he practically screamed. "He said... he wanted a-a Chaos Emerald. W-We tried to fight, but it was too strong."
Mario nodded in understanding, "You-a did your-a best, Toad. Where-a did-a he go?"
"To the castle! I tried to chase him, but he beat me up too bad! I-I can barely move." the Toad muttered and gazed at the ground in sorrow, "I'm sorry."
Luigi frowned, "It's-a, alright, Toad. We will-a handle it from here. Find-a place to hide until-a this is-a all over."
"Trust us." Peter assured. "We'll find who did this and make sure they don't lay a hand on the princess."
"O-Okay, stranger." the Toad said, "I-If you're all with Mario and Luigi... then I know you can do it."
Trixie smirked, "Wow. Made quite the name for yourselves here, huh?"
"No time to bicker. We gotta get to the castle." Zero ordered, running ahead of the others. The group all looked at one another before following suit.
"You will not lay a finger on the princess!" declared Toadsworth, the elder Toad standing in front of the princess, the two of them were backed to a corner by Mecha Sonic. The older Toad was frightened, but he chose to stand his guard.
"T-Toadsworth, please. D-Don't risk yourself for me." Peach pleaded.
Mecha Sonic took a step forward, "It is all for naught. You will both die, unless you hand me the Chaos Emerald in your possession!" declared the robot.
In Peach's hands was a yellow glowing emerald, which Mecha Sonic was looking for. The robot pointed to it, "You will give me that emerald right now. Or I will pry it from--"
Mecha Sonic did not finish his threat, because he was hit a giant metal hammer and was launched across the throne room. "You gotta learn your manners, Mecha." Sonic quipped, seeing the robot fly through a wall in the blink of an eye.
The robot got up, seemingly unfazed by the heroes' arrival, "It is surprising to see you again, my old foe. And it looks like you've brought help. But it won't do anything to stop me. I've grown more powerful than ever before."
Peter yawned, and shot a webline to Mecha Sonic's hand, pulling him forward. "Do all bad guys monologue this bad? Honestly, can't you see the numbers here? It's like... eleven against one."
"Yeah. You don't stand a chance you blue tin can." Spider-Gwen boasted aloud.
"Mario? Luigi? Yoshi?" Peach asked, seeing her protectors once again. "What's happening?"
"I dare say, that robot was quite a troublemaker." Toadsworth growled.
Mario frowned and lowered his hammer, "We will-a explain later. Are you-a okay?"
When Peach nodded, the Mario Bros smiled. Luigi gulped, "A-Are you sure we-a can take him, Mario? He-a stopped Spider-Man before." he wondered nervously.
Gwen perched herself and shot a web-ball at Mecha Sonic, who swiped it away with one arm easily, the gossamer turning to shreds. "Yeah, and I have a bone to pick with him."
X pointer his X-Buster at Mecha, "We'll concern ourselves with grudges later, Spider-Woman. For now, let's just focus on stopping Mecha before he gets the Chaos Emerald."
"Finally. Now you're speakin' my language!" Logan snarled, charging after Mecha Sonic, claws unsheathed. The older mutant, drove both of them up the robots, but they did nothing. "The hell?" he asked with a quiet mutter, his claws unable to dig into the robot's armor.
The blue robot cackled and lefted Logan's hands and threw him aside like a ragdoll. "Pathetic effort, old man." he dismissed the X-Man, "My metal is the strongest in the world. More powerful than those adamantium claws you wield."
Sonic curled into a ball and charged a Spin-Dash, hitting Mecha Sonic directly in the head, bouncing off of him. "You got some nerve thinking you could just throw someone like a doll!" he yelled, uncurling and then divekicking the robot before landing on his feet.
Mecha Sonic remained still and was charging a beam from his chest. It was then, Shadow and Zero came leaping. The former had a yellow energy spear in his palms while the latter wielded his trusty Z-Saber. While he was distracted with his hated nemesis, who was unprepared for the two weapons, which causes him to spark electricity upon feeling the collision.
"That should do it." muttered Shadow.
"What was that?" asked Spike.
The black hedgehog raised a hand, "Chaos Spear. I told you I was able to harness Chaos energy and am also able to weaponize it in certain ways. I have temporarily short-circuited his body long enough to get a good hit in. But be quick."
Yoshi nodded and ran forward and headbutted the robot through the hole Mario made earlier. "Hmm!" he grunted as he ran, hitting the stunned robot as hard as he could. The headbutt made him dizzy for only a moment, but he shook the cobwebs out and focused once more on his target.
"Yoshi (Give us the emerald)!" Yoshi demanded, stomping his shoe on the ground.
"No." Metal replied bluntly, intending to target the dinosaur. But he felt something hold onto his legs. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman merged their webbing together to create a web-rope that was strong enough to hold the blue robot back. "What are you doing?" he asked loudly, turning his head.
"Holding you back." Peter commented.
Gwen faced the other Spider, "Yeah, what does it look like? If I were you, I would stay there."
Mecha didn't talk, instead he tried to claw upon the gossamer stuck to his leg. Mega Man shot a charged shot at him, causing him to fumble for a moment. "I'd listen to them." he warned, his Mega Buster still held in front of him.
"You dare?" the robot asked.
Spike stood next to Yoshi and cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, we do." he inhaled and let out a burst of fire. Once the green flames subsided, it was revealed Mecha Sonic was still perfectly intact. He laughed, with Spike looking shocked.
"I am not like any robot you fought before, dragon." boasted the evil robot Sonic.
Logan came back, driving his fist upwards, "Yer about as annoyin' as Ultron , that's fer sure." he snarled, seeing the robot's head snap upwards for a moment.
Mecha Sonic refused to acknowledge the heroes and instead ripped apart the webbing with a single flick of his metal claws, allowing him to continue flight. He tackled Spike and pinned him on the ground. The teen dragon struggled in Mecha's grip and headbutted the robot, making him stop for a moment.
Before Mecha could do anything, he felt something dig into his back, forcing him to let go. Spike noticed a green beam protrude from the blue robot's torso. "Just. Stop." muttered Zero, retracting his Z-Saber for the moment. Spike took the time to slash the robot and backflip, kicking the robot as he moved backwards.
"Thanks, Zero." the dragon said.
Mecha Sonic walked forward and opened his palm, charging a powerful shot. Zero blocked the projectile with his saber and swiped upwards, causing them to cease. "Don't mention it." he remarked, holding his sword in front of him.
Trixie put on her mask and lit up her horn, shooting a beam directly from it towards Mecha. The robot was tossed sideways, and Sonic roundhouse kicked his counterpart. "This robot is a little too stubborn for my liking." the unicorn muttered.
Sonic landed on a knee, "Welcome to my world." he muttered, giving Trixie a smirk.
As Mecha Sonic recovered, Peter and Mario stood side to side. "Yep. Still new to the hero business eh, Trixie?" the former asked, the unicorn rolling her eyes at his comment.
"Don't bring that up!" Trixie yelled, shooting more magic at the robot, teleporting as he lunged toward her. "I'm out here, aren't I?"
Sonic muttered, "Guess so." he faced the green-clad plumber, "You ready, Luigi?" with a quiet gulp, Luigi relunctantly nodded, holding out his hammer. "Let's do this!" the hedgehog curled into a ball and revved a Spin-Dash. Once he was charged, Luigi swung his hammer upwards and tossed Sonic directly into the direction of Mecha Sonic, who was caught off guard by the hedgehog's sudden appearance and intervention.
Mecha Sonic landed on one knee, a metal clang heard as he grunted, "Imputent whelps. I will skin you alive for this."
Spider-Man webbed Mecha's fists, "Calm down, Edgy the Robo-Hedgy!" he quipped as he threw down his arms, causing him to hit the floor with his chin.
Spike jumped and kicked Mecha, "Seems a little violent." he growled.
"Mama mia. This is-a one gruesome-a robot." Mario murmured, stomping on the stunned robot's head. The blue robot got back up and yanked the gossamer off his metal fists.
Logan slashed the robot's arms. "Grah!"
Mecha Sonic's metal was too tough for Logan to cut through, "It is a futile effort, Wolverine. This metal is stronger than your claws. Juat give up!"
"Not until yer gone." the older Wolverine snarled. He leaped back, seeing Shadow throw down another Chaos Spear, "Some tricks ya got there, furball."
"Don't call me furball." Shadow threatened slowly. He glared at Logan as the two exchanged a distasteful growl.
"Uh, guys. Enough infighting, more fighting the killer robot!" Gwen ordered, jumping down, driving her feet directly towards Mecha Sonic, the robot taking the blow. "Oh my God. Hand us the emerald, please. I'm actually getting tired. You can't tell because of this mask, but it's true."
Mecha Sonic laughed, feeling something on his back. "Never." he flew around and decked Mega Man in the face, tossing him in the air slightly.
"Hey! Lay off the robot!" Spike ordered, driving his knee forward.
Mecha Sonic growled a beep and clenched his fists, "Why you little--!"
'Mecha Sonic, stand down. It appears my calvary have arrived at the scene. Continue the search for the Chaos Emeralds, they will halt these goody heroes.' Sigma ordered through his communications device.
The robot ceased his movements, confusing the other heroes, 'Fine. But I will destroy them the next chance I get.' he replied through his comms, so that the heroes wouldn't hear. He used the Chaos Emerald stored in his containment cell and began to glow, vanishing within a second.
"Hey, wait!" Sonic ordered, skidding to a halt once Mecha vanished. "Darn it!"
Gwen folded her arms, "Really? This robot gets away and all you have to say is darn it?"
"Faker's not one for coarse language." Shadow huffed
Peter raised his arms, "Enough. It seems the princess still has the emerald."
X nodded, "Sounds like Sigma forced him to retreat. If anything, he might continue to find the rest of the emeralds using the one he has currently."
"My word." Toadsworth gasped, adjusting his bifocals, "This is quite a conundrum now isn't it?"
Spider-Man looked down, "Indeed it is, old mushroom person."
Peach faced the plumbers and dinosaur, "What's happening? Why are Sonic and Shadow here?"
"It's-a kind of-a long story." Mario muttered, "But we-a need you to-a stay in the castle. Mecha Sonic has-a no reason to come-a back here anymore."
Sonic gestured to the gem, "But we need that emerald."
"Of course." Peach handed it to the blue hedgehog, "The least I can do for all of you. I know of some of you, but those six I'm a little unsure of."
Once Peter, Gwen, Logan, Trixie, Spike and Zero introduced themselves, the princess nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you all. But I wish not to keep you. Go, the world needs you all."
"Sure thing, princess." Pete raised the Chaos Emerald over his head, "Especially since we got this!"
As the wall-crawler did this, the lights blacked out. A moment later, they came back. But Peter lowered his hand, his confident grin turning to a frown upon noticing that the Chaos Emerald was gone. 'Way to go, Peter.' Dream chided.
"Wow, Peter. That definitely worked out." Trixie muttered sarcastically.
Peter huffed, "God damn it. So much for that moment."
Mega Man, X and Zero used their optics to scan for anything strange. A room over they saw three different colored blurs running as fast as they could. "They're the thieves!" Rock announced, "After them!"
"Another chase? Oh brother." Spike growled.
"Sorry for-a this Princess! But we-a must go!" Mario waved, Luigi and Yoshi doing the same. Peached sighed, praying that they solve this new conflict.
X led the chase with Sonic, using his Dash boots to speed himself up, "Strange. I'm noticing a form of gas being spread as the thieves move. They're not running. My infrared sensors can detect that they're standing still in midair as something propulses them forward." he discovered.
Shadow growled, "Hm..."
Logan charged ahead of the slowing black hedgehog, "What's in that noggin of yers?"
"He's probably thinking the same thing we are. They're not floating." Sonic discussed.
Gwen faced the blue hedgehog, "What do you mean? Like they're riding something?"
Spike unfurled his dragon wings and hovered over the group, having Trixie take a ride on her back. "Are you saying it is not an illusion or something?"
Sonic shoke his head, "Nope. Sounds like an old band of crooks I faced sometime ago. Sounds like they're riding Extreme Gear, hoverboards basically. They're known as the Babylon Rogues, a trio of thieves that use said Extreme Gear to compete with us in a few tournaments. And to find their origins, like a few times over."
"Hoverboards? Didn't know we were in Back to the Future ." Peter quipped. "But they're moving pretty fast in this case. Some future tech all right. Faster than my Spider-Glider for sure."
"And you wonder why Mayday's grown weary of your Spider-themed gadgets." Trixie muttered.
"Enough banter!" Shadow ordered, "We have to focus on catching the rogues."
"I'm with Shadow, this is a priority. Save the jokes for later." Zero suggested.
Spider-Man narrowed his eyes and spoke in a serious tone, the others silent in the chase, "Zero's right. They can't get away with that Chaos Emerald. Let's speed this up!"
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Green Hill: The Koopa Bros
The Emerald Hunters continued to chase the thieves that stole the emerald from under their noses, bringing them to another location. They were in a grassy region with checkerboard hills nearby a body of water, but it appeared to have suffered the effects of the dimensional merge moreso than Toad Town, having random city buildings and question mark blocks flying above them.
"How far did these guys go?" Peter asked.
Sonic shook his head, "No clue. I remember Extreme Gear not lasting this long. The Babylon Rogues are no doubt sendin' us on a goosechase, what does the radar say?"
"They're still ahead, but I'm noticing another emerald within the region. Any clue where we're at?" X responded, taking a glance at the emerald radar in Spider-Man's hand.
The blue hedgehog looked around and saw the familiar landscape, "Huh. Looks like we're in Green Hill . The very first place where I met Eggman and proceeded to stop his plan to turn animals into robots to power his Scrap Brain Factory all those years ago. Feels like I come back here every five years or something, like a milestone or something."
"Fluttershy's not going to be happy to hear that." Spike muttered, "But there's another emerald here?"
"I'm not letting one emerald slip for another." Shadow grunted, skating ahead of the others. "I'll handle the Rogues on my own!" He sped ahead of the group, intending to chase the Rogues on his own. He didn't say a word as he left the others behind in his dust.
"Oh come on!" Spider-Man yelled.
"Shadow wait!" Sonic called out, the black hedgehog not responding to him. The blue blur skidded to a halt, "So much for a team effort." he mumbled.
Trixie panted, worn out from running so long, "Isn't he a friendly one?" she muttered sarcastically.
Logan faced the direction Shadow went, "None of us are able to catch up at this point. Let 'em be a douche anyway."
"Shadow's really not known for working in a team, minus Team Dark." Sonic explained, "He'd rather handle things on his own usually. Hey, Zero, Yoshi. Think you two can follow his trail?" he asked. "We'll find the emerald hidden here. Use your communicator to tell us where you wound up." he suggested.
The Maverick Hunter and dinosaur agreed, "Yoshi Yoshi (Good luck, you guys)!"
"Alright. He shouldn't have gotten far anyhow." Zero added, using his dash boots to move at the same pace as Yoshi while they followed the skid marks left by Shadow's hover boots.
Peter nodded, "Yeah, who knows what's gonna happen here anyway." he sighed. The wall-crawler looked at the radar, "I can see the emerald, and it looks like it's... closing in on us?"
"What are ya talkin about, kid?" Logan growled.
X observed the radar as well, "Yeah, the energy readings are slowly closing on us. Can the Chaos Emeralds do that?"
"Nope." Sonic answered.
Mario and Luigi revealed their hammers and raised them over their shoulders, "Then that-a means something is-a coming." Mario realized at last, "Be-a ready for anything."
Spider-Woman grunted, "What else could possibly be after us?"
Spider-Man's Spider-Sense tingled. The wall-crawler silently moved his body and shot a web-line at whatever planned to attack him, throwing them down on the grassy floor. "Okay, I think that may have answered our question."
The older Wolverine saw what it was. It looked like a red turtle wearing a red bandana over its eyes. "What the hell is that thing?" he asked in confusion.
"It... Looks like an off-brand Ninja Turtle." Peter noticed, putting a finger on his chin. "Doesn't look like it has the emerald though. That means he's not alone."
Mario's eyes widened, "I-a know who that is! It's a Koopa Brother." he added.
"Koopa Brother?" Spike repeated, "Maybe he knows where the emerald is."
The Koopa Brother turned his body around and looked at the group in shock, "Woah, dudes. Didn't see that coming." he held his sore head. "Koopa Bros, come here!"
Suddenly, three more colored shells appeared around the red koopa. Each colored green, black and yellow. "Woah. More bootleg Ninja Turtles. I didn't see that coming." Peter quipped, seeing them step out of their shells, noticing their bandanas were the same color as their shells while helping the red one.
Mario gritted his teeth, "What are you-a doing here?"
Red Koopa smirked, "Hey, it's our old foe, Mario. Been a while hasn't it? Do your friends like our gnarly looks?"
"...Is it me or do these guys look like they're made of paper ?" Peter wondered. "Paper ninjas. Sounds like a phone app."
Gwen shrugged casually, "Seen it on a Saturday morning cartoon. You're not original."
Green growled, pointing a fist at the Spider-Woman, "What?!"
"Found Raphael." Peter pointed out casually.
Mega Man said, "These guys have the emerald?"
Yellow held out a red gem in front of him, "Are you talking about the Awesome Gem of Power?"
"Yellow! You weren't supposed to say anything about it!" Black muttered in annoyance. "Now they know!"
Logan revealed his claws ans warned the Koopa Bros, "Listen ya freaks. Give us that emerald if ya like havin' a shell over yer body. Otherwise, I may just cut it outta ya. Piece by piece." Luigi's eyes widened by how violent the threat was.
Green Koopa took a step back in surprise, "Woah, chill out dudes. We only have beef with Mario."
Peter rolled his arms, "Well, if you wanna get to Mario, you'll have to get through us first." he declared.
'This wasn't what I expected.' Dream commented.
'Same.' agreed Peter.
Red Koopa laughed, "Alright, dudes. I think it's time these freaks get a proper introduction before we kick their butts." he faced his brothers, "Play the theme tune, Yellow!"
"What?" asked Sonic and Gwen in confusion.
Yellow pressed a button on the radio , with music playing in the background as they did a pose. The four of them lined up and gave a thumbs up.
"Red!"
"Black!"
"Green!"
"Yellow!"
The four Koopas pointed at the heroes as they declared their names aloud to the heroes. "And together we are..." Red began, prompting his brothers to give a thumbs up at the same time as him, as though they practiced.
"The Koopa Bros!"
Gwen whispered to Trixie, "And I thought you had an ego." the unicorn fumed at her words, narrowing her eyes at the White Widow, who chuckled.
Logan hunched down, claws ready, "I've had it with these sideshow freaks!" he dashed off to attack the Koopa Bros, his arms reared behind his head.
"Logan! Wait!" Sonic called out.
As Wolverine charged forward, Red ordered his brothers to attack the hostile mutants, "Okay, bros! Just like we practiced!" at that order, the four brothers jumped at once and reached out to attack Logan together, curling into their shells.
Logan used his claws to block Green, scratching his shell slightly while he was in midair. Wolverine then ducked underneath Black, but he wasn't paying attention and so he stumbled on Yellow, who was gliding on the ground in his shell. Wolverine stumbled and even leaped a foot into the air. While he was distracted, Red kicked Wolverine with both of his feet, launching him across the field.
The rest of the heroes ducked underneath the tossed mutant, with Peter muttering, "At least they know how to work as a team." he crouched down in his trademark fashion, glaring at the Koopa Brothers.
"They're-a more prepared than-a last time." Mario realized.
A yell got the heroes attention, a familiar growl Spider-Man's heard before. The wall-crawler took a step back, seeing Wolverine dash forward, his eyes cartoony red. "Logan! Wait!" he yelled, seeing the bloodlust in his eyes. Spider-Man shot a line to Logan's back and held him back. "We're not turning anyone into swiss cheese!" he shouted, grunting as he helled the strand in his arms.
Old Man Logan screamed, the bruises on his face getting better, "Let go, kid! They think they're so damn funny! I'll show 'em funny!"
Even the Koopa Bros were taken aback by Logan's violent outburst, gulping. Spider-Gwen also shot some webbing onto Wolverine, holding him back. "No cutting apart the dumb Ninja Turtle rip-offs, Logan!" she growled, pulling back, causing him to slide backwards. "Get a hold of yourself! They're just being idiots!"
The older Wolverine panted slowly, calming down. He gritted his teeth, turning his head to face his old friend, "Fine."
Sonic raised a brow in concern, "You alright, Logan?"
Mega Man rubbed his helmet, "Yeah, I've never seen you this upset before."
Logan exhaled, "I'll be fine. But I'm still givin' 'em a taste of my claws." he assured.
Trixie nodded, "Oh, I very much agree. They have something of ours." she decided.
The blue hedgehog cracked his knuckles, "Alright, Koopas. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either give us the emerald, or we'll take it from ya. From what's been brought up, it sounds like you and Mario have some unfriendly history, and I think this would be the perfect time for a reunion."
Red shook his head, "No way! We got this Awesome Gem of Power on our own fair and square, and there's nothing you can do about it!" he snapped.
X readied his X-Buster, seeing Green go into his shell. "Stand down." he commanded. In response, Green jumped forward, intneding to hit X, but Mega Man leaped ahead in front of his taller successor, who had his arm cannon primed and ready, using his Super Arm ability to lift the green shell it threw it like a frisbee. The future robot gave his predecessor a thumbs up, "I had it covered, you know?"
"Might as well protect my little brother." quipped Mega Man with a small shrug. X smiled.
Mario and Luigi growled, the former speaking, "You will-a not hurt anyone-a here."
Spike looked to the plumber, "I don't think they're here for negotiations, Mario." he stated, curling his hands into fists.
The red plumber nodded to the dragon, "I-a think you're-a right. So-a much for the easy way." he stood in front of the team, ready for whenever the Koopa Bros attacked. Luigi remained next to his older brother, choosing to fight with him. The two nodded to one another, their fists glowing red and green, showing sparks of fire and electricity which they contained.
"Woah." Peter gasped, unaware of their powers. Even Sonic looked at the brothers in surprise.
Red pointed forward, "Attack, bros! Time for revenge !"
Trixie blinked, "Wait, what?"
"Alright, Mario! Your baddies, your rules!" Peter stated firmly. "This is beyond my usual dose of insanity."
Mario nodded, "Let's-a go!"
Black, Green and Yellow hopped in front of their leader. X and Spike took on Black, the dark turtle using his shell form to land a blow upon them. Mega Man X used his dash and then jumped, using his X-Buster to blast him in midair. While he was still in his shell form, Spike used his fire breath to burn the koopa. Once he inhaled, the turtle's shell was covered in ash, but was not harmed.
X gritted his teeth, "I don't want to hurt you!"
"Doesn't look that way!" Black responded, trying to kick Mega Man X. But Spike hovered and tackled the koopa. "Yikes! Giant dragon attacking me!" he panicked.
"Well, you kinda deserved it." the dragon announced, seeing X dash towards him, using his X-Buster to blast Black.
Gwen kicked Yellow, who was coming for him. Trixie gritted her teeth, using her magic to hold the yellow masked Koopa down, "Huh? What kinda trick is this?"
"Magic." Trixie stated bluntly, slamming his body on the ground. "Now, hand us the emerald. Or I may have to repeat this." she demanded.
"Nah."
Trixie smirked, the blue unicorn tilting her wizard hat and lowering her metal mask. "Very well. Face the wrath of Trixie!" she declared, using her magic to throw Yellow aside. The koopa yelled as he flew hiding in his shell for cover.
Suddenly, a thin white line reached him and he started to spin. "Sorry, you're on the wrong flight! Let me fix you up!" yelled Spider-Man, holding a web-line in both of his hands. The wallcrawler threw his arms up and dropped Yellow back down on the ground. The koopa grunted, rolling on his back. He backflipped back onto his feet, narrowly dodging a divekick delivered by Spider-Gwen.
"Alright, Michaelangelo." Gwen commented, reaching a web-ball and aimed it at Yellow's face, knocking him back slightly, "How did you get that Chaos Emerald?"
Yellow snarled, using his shell to spin the webbing apart easily. "Sigma, dudette. Payed us to keep the Awesome Gem of Power!" he hopped forward and drove both of his fists out, but Spider-Woman leaned back and kneed the turtle in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of him and he wheezed.
Green lunged himself towards Luigi, the green-clad plumber spun his body while he jumped giving himself a slight boost in midair. He drove his foot directly into the green koopa's shell, causing him to fall directly back down. Green moaned, holding his back, "Come on, man! Us green guys gotta stick together!"
Sonic wagged a finger, running around the koopa, "Can't speak for him, ninja dude. But you're kinda in our way." he declared, ending up behind the confused turtle. He tapped Green's shoulder, prompting him to turn around. When he did, he was greeted with Sonic's fist to his face, and he held his aching nose. "Gotta be fast on the uptake dude." he joked, rubbing his knuckles. "Yeesh. No wonder I leave the punching to Knuckles."
Luigi threw down his hammer on the turtle's stomach, "Wa-ha!" he yelled, deciding to truly join the fight. The turtle was planted firmly into the ground, but he popped out.
Green rubbed his head and flipped, kicking Luigi. The plumber was thrown back slightly, but he focused and flipped back on the ground, crouching down slightly. Within a moment, he directed his head tp Green's stomach and performed his Green Missile ability, launching the Koopa hard across Green Hill. Sonic whistled, "Heh. Haven't seen you use that since the Smash tournament. Maybe you should use that next time we're at the Olympics."
Luigi rubbed his hat bashfully, grateful for the small praise and he chuckled awkwardly. He was always one to help after all. Turning his head, he pointed, "Let's-a go!"
Spider-Man was still fighting Yellow, who tried to punch Peter, but he dodged in time, 'Got any ideas, Peter?' asked Dream in his head, observing the turtle's moves.
'Not yet, Dream.' Peter replied. Raising his gaze, he saw a bunch of floating platforms with the same appearance as the rest of Green Hill. He pursed his lips, 'Was that always there or is this world already suffering the effects of merging even more?' he asked himself. Deciding to do something, he jumped atop the platform, seeing a whole series of them go higher up. 'Huh. Looks like I'm in a video game level or something.' he mused.
Green managed to follow Peter up, prompting Spider-Man to jump to the next platform. And the next. But while Green was still in midair, Peter shot some web fluid from his wrists again, creating a ball that would blindside the koopa, prompting him to fall. "Strike!" quipped Peter, crouching down hoping his aim was correct.
And Peter was correct, for holding Green up was Mega Man, once again using his Super Arm. When he threw the stunned Green aside, however, he was knocked back by Red in his shell, who was being chased by Mario and Logan. The old man charged ahead of the plumber as Mega Man stumbled on the ground. He was assisted by Spike, who reached an arm to help the Blue Bomber. "Thanks, Spike." he muttered, wiping the dirt off his blue armor.
"No problem, Rock." said Spike. The dragon and Super Fighting Robot watched as X dashed away from Black, who was readying to toss himself directly at the Maverick Hunter. Mega Man X stood still and readied one of his weapons. His suit flashed a set of different colors fot a second before turning back to its usual blue, signaling the weapon change on his X-Buster.
"Homing Torpedo!" he called out, shooting a missile from his arm cannon, directly to the black-clad ninja koopa. Once the Homing Torpedo caught Black, he was launched forwards, directly into Spike's fists with an uppercut.
Mega Man did the same to Black, his fist lighting on fire too. The black koopa was launched in the air. He was stunned, allowing Spike to fly up slightly to catch him and throw him down, creating a small crater where Black landed and he descended next to it. "One down." he muttered to himself.
X looked at Mega Man curiously, giving Spike a gratifying nod, "How did you learn the Shoryuken? I thought Dr. Light kept them in secret capsules? Did he already program you with it?"
"No. A friend of mine taught me it and I was able to copy the tactic with my system." Mega Man elaborated, "You don't know Ryu and Ken?" he wondered.
"Zero does. I was busy with something else at the time." Mega Man X stated.
Spike smirked, "Maybe you should teach me that."
Rock shrugged, "I'll ask Ryu if we ever meet up again."
Back with the rest of the heroee, Mario spun, his hands glowing as he did, matching Red's movements beat by beat. The plumber turned his body and kneed the koopa directly in the shin. While he was still floating, Trixie caught him with a spell and held him down, using a smoke bomb to vanish from Red's sight before he could counter. When she reappeared behind the dazed koopa, she kicked him with her hindlegs, making him stagger onto his stomach. "Trixie should advise you on where to look, but then it wouldn't be fair." she stated with a confident smirk.
"That wasn't fair at all." Red coughed, "Some ninja you are."
"Grah!" Logan yelled, punching Red hard in the face. "Smart-ass turtle. Same could be said of ya!" he drove his fist downwards and slammed the turtle headfirst onto the grass.
Mario was hopping on some of the platforms floating above them. Once he reached his desired spot, he jumped as high as he could, "Wahoo!" he cheered, positioning himself so that his rear would would land first. He slammed Red Koopa so hard that he fell right through the dirt. Trixie was taken aback by how sudden Mario's attack was. "Mario? What the hay did you do?" she wondered, seeing the hole in the floor.
"I-a do that all-a time. They-a get better." Mario assured.
On cue, Red's head popped out of the hole, his eyes spinning in circles. With a shake of his head he jumped out and hopped. "Bros! Group formations!" at the sound of those words, the other Koopa Brothers got up, ceased their fights and group together on the other side of Green Hill, where they grunted in frustration.
"Aw man... We're gettin' our shells handed to us." Yellow moaned.
Sonic smirked, watching the others group as well, "Heh. So you guys already callin' it quits?"
"I mean come on, we barely got the fight started. You guys really aren't true ninjas like Splinter said." Peter quipped, folding his arms.
Red Koopa smiled, "Not yet, dudes! We still have some tricks in our sleeves!" he faced his brothers, "C'mon, Bros! Let's show these freaky losers our super special technique."
In that moment, the four jumped and all formed a tower. Yellow on bottom, Green, Black, with Red on top. Gwen facepalmed, "What are those sideshow idiots doing now?" she wondered.
"Their-a special attack." Mario stated. "I-a managed to dodge-a it no problem."
"Special attack, huh?" Logan repeated, "Bring it on ya punks! Just try yer damn luck!"
The four Koopas began spinning in their shells, charging their special attack. But something happened. The Chaos Emerald they had began to glow with power, causing all their shells to glow a yellow aura with sparks of electricity flying out of them. "Woah! What's happening to us!?" yelled Red.
Suddenly, they charged forward, aimed directly at the heroes. A trail of fire was behind them as they moved faster than Sonic and Peter's Spider-Sense. They were all launched in the air, grunting in pain as they hit the side of a checkerboard land formation. Peter was the first to get his bearings first, "That... was more brutal than what I expected." he admitted, leaning down slightly with a pant.
'Peter... That wasn't normal. I sensed magic within them.' Dream revealed. 'It was an unintentional surge.'
The team saw the Koopa Brothers coming back for round two. "Guys... I think they're using the Chaos Emerald to boost their power!"
"How can you tell?" asked Gwen.
Sonic nodded, "Makes sense, seen it before. Eggman does it with his machines sometimes. Those sideshow ripoffs possibly did by accident."
Logan gritted his teeth, "Looks like we'll have'ta rip it right outta them then."
Luigi raised a finger, "O-Or we c-could-a do something less-a violent ?" he suggested. Wolverine sneered.
Mega Man tried shooting a charged shot at the Koopa Bros, but the projectole deflected from them. "Woah. I forgot how powerful Chaos Energy actually was."
"Anyone got any ideas?" Peter asked. "Cause they're coming and I got nothing."
Mario and Luigi looked around. Suddenly, they saw something familiar in this merged land. A question mark block. "Luigi!" the red-clad plumber pointed to the floating object.
Luigi smirked, "Oh yeah!"
"What is it?" Trixie asked.
"Now's not the time for riddles." Peter stated, clenching his fists.
"A lootcrate ?" Spider-Woman wondered.
Sonic raised a brow, "Hold on, Spiders. I see where Mario's comin' from with this. We gotta make sure they get to it. Whatever's in there may help us."
"Oh no you don't dudes!" Red could be heard yelling, coming right near them.
Trixie used another smoke bomb and a teleportation spell to warp them to safety. By the time they reappeared, the blue unicorn nearly fell to her stomach, having warped too many people at once, "Ow... Trixie should've thought ahead on that." she held her head.
"Easy, Trixie." warned X, helpling his comrade up. "But thanks."
Mario jumped with his fist held high, punching the question mark block. Hopping out of it was a star. "Alright!" he and Sonic cheered at the same time.
"A star with a face?" Spider-Man asked aloud.
"It's a Power Star." Mario revealed. "Here. Hold it!"
"You should." Rock suggested, "Used it in the Smash tournament when items were allowed to be summoned."
Peter shrugged, "Alright." he placed his hand on the cartoony star. Suddenly, he felt a surge of power overtake his body. "Holy crap! This is awesome!"
Mario nodded, "Let's-a go, Spidey!"
"What happened?" Trixie wondered.
"A Power Star grants-a the user invincibility." Luigi revealed. "They-a should be-a able to stop the Koopa Bros now."
"Sweet!" cheered Spike.
Mario and Spider-Man ran to the charged Koopa Bros. red laughed, "Ha! Look at those glowing dweebs trying to run at us! We've become so much more powerful-- wah!"
His sentence couldn't be finished as once the two heroes charged at them, their formation broke and they collapsed on the ground. Mario used a spin attack to stun Red while Spider-Man created. Web-line, throwing Yellow into Green then Black. Mario then threw the leader aside like a ball.
The four Koopa collided headfirst, getting knocked unconscious as they fell, the emerald landing next to Mario's feet. At that moment, the power of the star faded. "Wow. Guess we gotta find more of those blocks, I guess?" Peter wondered. Mario nodded, holding the Chaos Emerald.
The two returned to the team, where Mario handed Sonic the Chaos Emerald. "Nice use of of the star. These blocks may just come in handy in this merged world."
"Seems rather contrived." Trixie said.
Spike shrugged, "Whatever works, works."
Mega Man held the radar, "Well, it looks like we have to find where Shadow and the rest followed the Babylon Rogues."
Logan put his hands on his sides, "About damn time. Those turtles were a pain in the ass."
"You're telling me." Gwen sighed.
X nodded, "At least we got an emerald out of it. That puts us at two now. Hopefully Shadow, Zero and Yoshi found the other one just fine." he wondered.
"Then let's go!" Sonic yelled, readying to speed ahead of the group.
"Not again." Spider-Man groaned. The rest of the team followed, to whatever came next for them.
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Metal City/Mario Circuit: A Special Race
The team crossed yet another rift, bringing them past Green Hill and into a new location. Mega Man looked up, seeing skyscrapers and flying cars hovering past, trying to avoid the mass chaos of the merging worlds around them. "Woah. Is this your timeline, X?" he asked his successor, who shook his head.
"No, Rock. I've never seen a city like this before." X answered. "Or at least, not this clean."
Sonic put a finger on his chin as he lured his gaze around the futuristic city, "Hold on. We're in Metal City. This is where I first met the Babylon Rogues." he put his arms behind his head, "Heh. Guess they wanted a race like old times."
"So, your world has tropical islands and futuristic cities too? Seems this dimension has no sense of chronology at all." 'Trixie said in slight amusement.
Gwen shrugged, "Reminds me of Cybertron ."
The hedgehog smirked, "Heh. My world's crazy, that's for sure. Now let's see if we can find Shadow, Zero and Yoshi."
The Emerald Hunters walked through Metal City as Sonic told of his history of the place, "...So those three came by while Tails, Knuckles and I were strolling. Then I decided I wanna beat them at their own game with the gear. Honestly, it's a pretty fun little side-sport. Y'know, when I'm not fighting or hosting that other racing tournament."
"Another racing tournament?" asked Spike, "With who?"
Mario and Luigi looked at one another, "You-a never brought this-a up to us before, Sonic. You could have-a joined us."
The hedgehog shrugged, "Eh. See, I come from my own universe and separate dimensions. Mario called it Sega, kinda like Capcom and the Marvel worlds with their names. Basically, we invited a bunch of guys like NiGHTS, AiAi, and Ulala. It was pretty nice. Heck, we even invited a guy called Ralph and a friend and we were tempted to invite another friend of his..." he paused, "I think his name was Zangief or somethin'. I kinda forgot. It's been years."
Peter nodded, "I know Zangief. He's from the same world as Ryu apparently."
"Yeah. He's from our universe," Mega Man said.
Spike looked at X, "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"
The Maverick Hunter rubbed his helmet, "Kind of. Zero usually fills me in on these cross-dimensional details. I've never gotten involved with Marvel, at least not until now."
"Good to know." sighed Gwen. "Okay, where the freak are these guys at?" she wondered aloud.
Logan pointed ahead, "There. Seems they're just wanderin' about. A waste of time fer that hedgehog."
"Shadow and I are known for doin' that." chuckled the blue blur.
At last, the met up with the three, whom they crossed paths with, "Yo-Yoshi Yoshi (Did you get the emerald)?"
Mario held up the gem, "Mm-hmm!"
"Good. But the Rogues got away." Zero added.
Shadow nodded, "Those idiots suddenly vanished as I chased them. And these two decided to follow me. Why did you send them? You know they're nothing but a bunch of thieves and nothing more." he hissed at the team.
"To make sure you didn't do anything reckless. But it seems that they're better off." Peter elaborated.
Shadow huffed, "And why would I need babysitting? I can handle myself better than the lot of you." he scolded. "If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have known they'd come back here."
Zero growled, "You may want to rethink that, Shadow. It'd be best if we stuck together during all this. Be glad it was a peaceful city and not some dangerous jungle."
The black hedgehog growled, "Whatever."
"Yoshi Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (He was searching for them by the time we got here)!" explained Yoshi, with Mario, Luigi, Sonic and Shadow understanding him to translate to the others.
Spike put his claws to his chin, "So much for that. Do you have a reading on that radar, Pete?"
Spider-Man glanced at the emerald radar, "It's faint and moving, but I can still track it. That probably means the Babylon Rogues are just scouring about."
Zero put his hands on his hips, "That makes things easier for us at least. That Extreme Gear may be a challenge for us to catch up with, with the exception of Sonic and Shadow of course. We need to gain a tactical advantage upon." the red Maverick Hunter faced the Mario Brothers, "What do you two think?"
The plumbers were both looking at a head-shaped house. It did not match the theme of the city, meaning that it must have been displaced in the dimensional merge. "Is-a that Professor E. Gadd's lab-a, Luigi?" Mario questioned the younger brother.
Luigi rubbed his cap, "It-a looks to be. We-a should check to-a see if he is okay."
Mega Man raised a brow, "Is he a friend of yours?"
The brothers nodded, "Yep! He-a helped us when King Boo-a captured me. Luigi saved the-a world twice on his own." Mario said, in a proud tone, causing Luigi to chuckle sheepishly. "But the-a professor guided him throughout with his-a vacuum, the Poltergeist 3000." he complimented, patting his younger bro on the back.
Peter chuckled, "Sounds like you'd make a good Ghostbuster."
"I-a... Don't-a know what that is." Luigi replied in a confused tone.
Trixie rolled her eyes at Spider-Man's reference, "So, what do we do now, fearless leader?"
"Um... Meet E. Gadd? It sounds like Mario and Luigi trust him enough. Plus it'd be nice to warn him before any more damage is made in whatever we're calling this merged world." suggested Peter, scratching the back of his neck.
'You sound unsure of yourself, Peter.' Dream noticed, 'Perhaps it'd be wise to step up as leader. After all, you have mentioned Project Zero to Twilight.'
'I'm more of a follower, Dream.' Peter replied in his head, 'I'm kinda used to Captain America or Batman taking charge and I just follow. Plus, this whole mess is more the others' thing. I feel like I'm just along for the ride honestly.'
"Hello!" Gwen called out, snapping Spider-Man and Dream out of their internal conversation, "Earth to Parker!"
"Huh? What's up, Gwen?" asked Spider-Man.
Spider-Woman put her hands on her hips, "Should we or should we not go? The Babylon Rogues are still out somewhere. We could use some old-fashioned input."
"Oh... Right. First, let's see what's up with this professor, then we'll head after them." said Peter. The team agreed and all headed to the lab, but as Peter walked, Logan put a hand on his shoulder, prompting the wall-crawler to stop.
"Kid." began the mutant in a slow tone, "You ain't actin' like yerself. And that's not just the old age talkin'."
"I'm fine , Logan." shrugged off Peter with a wave of a hand, but Wolverine wasn't budging.
The old man shook his head, "Something's definitely up. I can sense it, ya know? Seems every now and then you'd blank out. The Peter I knew did that a lot when he had a lot on his mind. Now, I may not be the nicest fellow to have around, but I made plenty of mistakes, which I hope to resolve. Helpin' ya become a better hero is one of 'em." he assured in a surprisingly calm tone.
Peter blinked silently, "Woah, Logan... I didn't know you were this... heartfelt ."
Logan growled, "Don't get used to it, kid. But if we're gonna save our worlds from Sigma, then we need to be at our best. And we can't have ya doubtin' yerself now. If ya know me, then I'm sure the past me would hate ya actin' like this."
Spider-Man shook his head, "I dunno, Logan. It's just... lately, Equestria's been having a plague of problems. Sloan, the Legion of Doom, the Sinister Six and now Sigma... And each time it's almost as though the stakes get higher. Now all of reality could be destroyed because some evil unicorn I couldn't find last year brought Sigma here to begin whatever scheme he hatched."
Wolverine frowned, "Let me guess... You feel useless. Sounds like the Parker I knew before the takeover. You ain't. Somethin' tells me yer gonna have'ta step up at some point."
"Gee, thanks." muttered Peter sarcastically.
"I ain't puttin' pressure on ya. But we ain't gonna be here forever. Equestria needs you. Hell, the multiverse needs us, as unfortunate as that sounds. Now, c'mon, we gotta prep ourselves to find that damn emerald." Logan insisted, with Peter following him into the oddly-shaped and designed building.
'Alright then. I'll keep that in mind.' Peter mused. 'Getting motivational support from Wolverine is kinda odd.'
The Astonishing duo stepped inside, taken aback by its size. "Woah. It's like a Tardis in here."
Spike saw the two heroes walk in, "Everything alright, you two?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah, just thinking is all." Peter explained. "So, what's going in here? Is the professor safe?"
The dragon replied, "Yeah, in fact. It sounds like he's greatly interested in what's happening. Sonic and X are going over the whole thing with him right now to catch him up."
Professor E. Gadd laughed in a good mood, and having just hears the tale, "That explains what happened then. I must say, it's quite a predicament you found yourselves in, isn't it?" he asked, glancing over to the Mario Brothers, who nodded. "Now, all of you are from different worlds? What are you all up to?"
"Yeah we are. Mega Man responded, "We're about to chase after the Babylon Rogues, who have the next emerald."
"Babylon Rogues?" E. Gadd repeated.
Sonic decided to speak up, "A trio of treasure hunters that ride hoverboards called Extreme Gear. Truthfully, I'm not sure why they'd be doing something at a time like this considering our circumstances." he hummed in thought. "They'd never let the world get this bad and even joined us a few times."
"Sigma. He must've given them a bounty." X realized.
Spike asked, "How did you all meet?"
E. Gadd smiled, "Quite a story. See, I was investigating the paranormal happenings of a mansion. Mario was taken by the leader of the ghosts, King Boo. Luckily, Luigi showed up. I gave him my research vacuum and he rid the mansion of all the evil Boos while redeeming the good ghosts. We live in harmony now, minus the Boos of course."
"...A haunted mansion?" Trixie repeated, "This reminds me of a story involving Twilight and her friends."
As Peter looked around, he felt his Spider-Sense. Craning his head, he saw the metal door get kicked upon. Standing in the hallway was a green hawk, a purple swallow, and a grey albatross. They all wore sunglasses and held a board in their arms. The hawk laughed, "Ha! Thought we saw ya comin' in here!"
Sonic grunted, "Really, Jet? We're doing this now? Can you just hand us the emerald and call it a day? We're not in the mood if you can't tell." he suggested in a deadpan manner.
"Heh. Nope." Storm gloated.
Wave smirked, "Hey, hedgehog. Where's your little friend at? The fox that thinks he's a genius? Some pixel-brain if he couldn't match our current Extreme Gear."
"Don't you go insulting Tails, now." Sonic growled.
Peter stood up, "Alright, I heard enough." he said sternly. "I don't know if you know this, but two of us here have the proportional strength of a spider, have magic, superspeed, superpowers, robotic abilities and we have a Wolverine. So, unless you wanna take a major beating from the guys you pissed off, then stand down and hand us the emerald and we'll let you go."
Jet smirked, "Ha. As if we're takin' orders from you! You're that pony prince Sigma told us of! Guess you're not one after all. We're getting paid a lot by taking that gem."
'They are... Seriously asking for it.' Dream commented.
Out of nowhere, a beam suddenly shot past the trio. Zero lowered his Z-Buster, "Word of advice. Listen to Spider-Man. Cause I'm getting tired of this."
Turning around, the Babylon Rogues began to run, "Heh. If you want the emerald..." Storm began.
"Then catch us!" Jet declared. The three jumped on their hoverboards to make a getaway.
Trixie blinked. "Wow. What a bunch of petty bullies." she used her magic to lift a can. She tossed it and it landed on Storm's head, earning an "ow" while they continued on.
The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes, "I say we beat them at their own game." he calmed down and smirked, taking a quick sprint. When he came back, he changed his look. He wore green sun-visors on his head, changed his shoes and wore thicker gloves.
"What's with the new look?" asked Spike.
Sonic faced the dragon, "Gotta get into the style, Spike. Now, I wish I had my board or something."
E. Gadd perked up, "You wish to race?" he chuckled, "Luckily, you lot have come to the right place then."
"You-a have some of-a our carts, Professor?" Mario wondered.
"Of course, Mario. I could not let these go to waste after all, but I only had space for a few anyhow. Plus, I have been around this strange city before. The technology fascinated me, so I gathered what you called Extreme Gear for research." he pointed out, taking them to a work garage.
Sonic whistled, "Not a bad collection, Gadd."
Peter looked at the various vehicles lying about, "No kidding. What do you got here?"
Gwen saw boards and a red car. "So, you collect cars? Not a hobby I'd expect. A pretty cool one though."
"Why thank you, Spider-Woman. It appears there's not enough for all of you to use. And I am unsure of most of you even know how to operate such vehicles."
Spike shrugged, "I can try." he hopped on what looked to be a bike, gripping his claws on the handles. "Okay... This may take some getting used to."
"If only we had Scootaloo." chuckled Peter.
Sonic's jaw was agape at what he saw hanging on a shelf, seeing a blue board that he appeared to recognize, "No way. I didn't think you'd find the Blue Star. Heh, this is the one I use mainly. Seems to be fully charged as well. And it looks like Spike's got his hands on the Fortress bike. Pretty cool pick."
"They sound like stage names." quipped Spider-Gwen. She walked over to Trixie and found what looked to be a green car with a spot that could be stood upon in the back. "What kinda car is this supposed to be anyway?" she wondered.
Luigi spoke up, "That is-a the Green Fire. Mario and I-a switched between his and mine during the-a Double Dash Grand-a Prix. You could-a use it if you-a wish." at that, Trixie hopped onto the back while Gwen sat on the driver's seat.
"You can drive. Trixie cannot handle the Spider-Mobile." the blue unicorn decided.
Yoshi cheered, spotting a standard kart with an egg symbol on it, "Yoshi Yoshi (I want this one)." he sat down instantly. "Yosh-Yoshi (Ah still comfortable)."
Mario and Luigi saw their original tag-team kart, the Red Fire and propped themselves properly so that Mario was in front while Luigi was in the back, "Oh yeah!"
Mega Man held another board in his hands, yellow and thicker than Sonic's. "Are you sure you can handle that, Rock?" Spider-Man asked his robot friend.
"Yeah. Rush can transform into a hoverboard as well. I probably should've brought him anyway." Rock assured, stepping onto the Road Star with ease. "Oh, yeah I can get used to this."
"Pretty nice of you to snag all this, E. Gadd." Peter complimented, holding up a board of his own.
E. Gadd laughed, "I didn't think they would be used at all, personally. But it seems you need it, so I am not one to deter you. Perhaps this would be a nice experiment to conduct."
"Sounds like something Twilight or Mayday would say." a sigh escaped Spider-Man, "I hope they're alright."
Sonic adjusted his visors, "They got our friends keepin' an eye on them, Pete. They'll be fine."
"Plus it seems as though Sigma's focusing his attention on us." X assured, "They won't be targets should we keep moving." he and Zero each grabbed a bike and held the handles, ready to ride like back on their Earth.
"Feels like the hoverbikes back on our world." Zero commented.
Shadow huffed, putting on the Wanted skates. "If we must... Then we'll stoop to their level. Rather petty, but as the Ultimate Life-Form, I shall humiliate them for earlier."
Logan growled, sitting on a bike as well. "Let's just get this over with... Those birds are lucky we're playin' by their rules. Would rather turn 'em into pieces for that scene earlier. My temper's been rather irritable lately in my age."
"Well, put those thoughts aside, Logan. Cause it seems like we're about to race."
E. Gadd laughed. "It appears that is the case. Do return the Extreme Gear and karts once you're done as I wish to commit to further study." he raised a finger, "And for the karts... There's a certain button that may help you in the long run. I've tested it myself."
Luigi mumbled something, watching Mario press a red button. Gwen and Yoshi mirrored the plumber. Suddenly, the tires began to turn sideways and the karts began to hover, "Mama mia! You-a put anti-gravity into-a these as well?!" Mario exclaimed in slight glee, impressed that his old vehicle got a major upgrade.
"Yes I did! Ever since your last race tournament I took the time to upgrade your other vehicles should you feel the need to bring them back for another race one day!" revealed E. Gadd, adjusting his glasses. He pressed a button, opening the garage.
"Thank-a you!" said Luigi.
Sonic smiled, "With that tech, you're able to catch up with us now."
Spider-Man smiled under his mask, "Anti-gravity? I should put that on the Spider-Mobile one day."
"Great. Now you're giving him ideas." muttered Trixie under her breath, hoping he didn't hear her.
Spike tightened his grip on the bike handles, ready to move. "Okay... I think I got this thing working." he pressed a pedal, feeling the vehicle hover in its spot.
Sonic gestured for Peter and Rock to walk backwards with him, "Alright, these things work with air and momentum. You just gotta jump on once we get enough speed. Just keep your balance and let the boards handle the rest." he explained. "Once the others make their exit, we'll ride with them."
Mega Man replied, "Sure thing."
"Heh heh, perhaps we should do this old fashioned." chuckled Gadd. "On your marks..."
Logan gritted his teeth, slightly annoyed he was dragged into a race now somehow.
"...Get set..."
Spider-Gwen and Mario revved their karts, intending to get a boost of speed. Shadow adjusted his skates while X and Zero narrowed their eyes, getting a feel of their hoverbikes.
"Go!"
Everyone minus the board riders got out of large garage into the streets of Metal City. Trixie had to hold onto the handle on the back of the Green Fire, taken aback by how swift the acceleration was. She held her mask and cape with her magic, "Trixie regrets doing this!" she yelled out as loud as possible.
Shadow used his hover skates next to them. "Hmph. Be wary, this course is about to get trickier."
Spike's bike began to stagger, "Woah! We're riding on air!" he noticed, feeling the turbulence from X's vehicle, riding the half-pipe of wind trailing behind the Maverick Hunter.
"Yoshi (It's great, isn't it)?!" Yoshi asked the dragon in excitement.
Back at the garage, Sonic looked to Mega Man and Spider-Man. "You two ready?"
Mega Man and Spider-Man nodded, "I guess..."
The hedgehog charged forward, "Then follow my lead!" once he was outside, it took him about a second to throw the board down and hop upon it, getting a boost and flying past the others. The other two looked at one another, before mirroring the blue blur's actions, although they weren't nearly as fast as him.
Gwen planted her palms firmly on the steering wheel, "Hold on, Trixie!" she warned, making a direct ninty-degree turn at a curve. Trixie once again held on, screaming as they moved at sudden speeds. The unicorn closed her eyes, feeling a burst of wind pass the Green Fire.
Sonic smirked, "Sup?"
"Wait for us!" called out Peter, boarding next to him. "Woo! Man, I gotta admit, this feels awesome! Feels like I'm in the wind!"
Mega Man found himself next to the wall-crawler, "Okay, now we gotta find the Babylon Rogues!"
Holding out the radar, Peter saw a signal, "We're getting closer to them. We just gotta keep going."
"Finally!" Logan yelled, "'Bout time we got our hands on that emerald." he hissed.
Sonic held the end of his board, tilting it slightly so that it was easier to turn at the next curve and performed a drift. Mario turned the wheel and pressed his foot firmly on the brake pedal, Luigi held the handle as tight as he could, his legs flying in the air. "Mama mia!"
Spike spun around, hoping to keep steady. Shadow merely leaned his body sideways, keeping his speed going while turning. "Oh man! This is so cool!"
"It's about to get better, dragon dude!" Sonic called out. For in front of them was a ramp. "Now, we gotta do some sweet tricks to get ourselves a boost!"
"Oh sweet Celestia!" Trixie screamed.
"What?" Logan blurted out.
Mario pressed his foot on the gas pedal, "Let's-a go! Hold on-a tight, Luigi!"
"Oh-a no!" Luigi screamed.
Sonic was the first to launch from the ramp, he spun his body in midair, holding the board in one hand while performing a flip before landing perfectly. Spider-Man performed a handstand on his board before rolling back on his feet. Yoshi's kart spun horizontally in a three-hundred sixty degree angle before landing perfectly on its hovering wheels and getting a quick boost of speed.
Mario spun the kart around vertically with Luigi holding on. Shadow merely performed a midair Spin-Dash. Logan didn't do anything while Spike attempted a flip, somehow landing it much to his relief. X and Zero mirrored the dragon while the latter commented under his breath, "This world works in strange ways."
"You're telling me." gagged Spike, wiping the sweat from his scales. He watched as Mega Man spun his board on his feet.
Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs, using her magic to hod her still as Gwen somehow flipped the car perfectly. "It's over, Trixie." the White Widow told the unicorn, who let out a sigh of relief.
Sonic gave his friends a thumbs-up, "Not bad for some of your first attempts. I'll give ya an 'S' rank on the tricks."
"Uh, thanks." Peter muttered. He then noticed a change of scenery, "Hey, so is Metal City supposed to have grassy fields as well as towering skyscrapers that looked to be fading from existence?" he asked, looking at the ripples in time and space taking effect again.
Mario took notice of the course and how it was patterned. They were on a road leading into a field, "We're in-a my circuit!"
"You have a circuit ?" Logan asked, "That's pretty goddamn ridiculous, and that's sayin' a lot..."
"We all-a have a circuit." Luigi elaborated, "For all the-a racing tournaments we-a have."
"Huh." was all Spike said, "We should do that one day. Besides the Running of the Leaves."
Sonic squinted and saw three figures in the distance, "Heh heh. Looks like I found 'em!" he kicked his foot down, getting a burst of speed to catch up to them. "About time we showed 'em who the real pros are!" he kicked again, getting further ahead.
"Oh come on!" grunted Spider-Man, kicking the air also, following Sonic, and now Shadow, who was skating faster than usual.
"Some use of teamwork. Not that I needed it." growled Logan. His eyes widened, seeing a floating rainbow box. He thought he was gonna crash into it, but it exploded upon him passing it. "Huh?" he noticed an item in his hand, a banana peel. "...The hell is this?"
"Yoshi Yoshi (An item box)!" Yoshi exclaimed, pointing at the banana peel.
Mario decided to translate, "We-a have item boxes in our-a races. The banana peel can-a cause someone to-a peel out."
Wolverine threw the peel forward, thinking it wasn't gonna work. "This is freaking stupid."
Gwen nodded, "Feels like I'm in a racing game now." she threw a shell backwards, watching it spin across the field. "Cool." was all she said, focusing on the road ahead.
Mega Man scowled, kicking the air to catch the other board riders. "Maybe we can use this to our advantage."
Jet laughed, "Kinda a strange thing going on."
"Yeah. It's like we're in a double world." Storm commented.
Wave put a hand to her head, "What does that even mean, you idiot?" she wondered.
"It means we're gettin' paid to keep this emerald away from the so-called fastest thing alive and his friends." Jet explained.
"That's not what I mean." Storm added.
A whistle got the attention of the Babylon Rogues, turning their heads, they saw Sonic, in usual racing wear and riding the Blue Star past them, "Who's beaten you like three times already? It's a shame Tails and Knuckles couldn't be around to witness me riding circles around you again." he quipped.
Spider-Man shot a line of webbing outward, missing the Rogues, "But he has us ." he added.
X pushed his pedal, catching up at last, "Just give us the emerald and we'll leave you alone."
Jet looked to the oncoming opponents, "Like I said. You gotta catch us fair and square!"
Sonic watched as the Babylon Rogues sped ahead again, jumping over another ramp that appeared to take them back to Metal City. Thr hedgehog and spider hopped off, wondering if their friends did the same and are all right. Suddenly, Logan appeared next to the two, his bike slightly bouncing, "Kid. Furball. Don't go thinkin' of pullin' another stunt like that, yer the ones talkin' about teamwork. Live up to what you say." he scolded.
"Sorry, Logan. But before you lecture us, we need to find a way to slow those three down." Peter said.
The Red Fire bounced as they reached a literal loop. Sonic, Spider-Man and Mega Man all sped up their Extreme Gear. "But first, let's get past this roller-coaster!" the blue hedgehog said.
Spike yelled, feeling the blood rush to his head. "Woah!" he pushed his foot down further to reach the other side before the others. Sonic cheered as he reached the highest point, having done this plenty of times before on foot.
Spider-Woman shook her head, the team having made it. "Jeez. I should'a brought a barf bag."
Trixie gulped, holding her lunch back, "You should have." she leaned on the handle, holding her stomach.
"You alright, Trixie?" Gwen asked with some concern.
Again, the blue unicorn gagged, "Y-Yeah, Trixie just needs a moment."
Yoshi raised a brow, "Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (Don't get too sick now, Trixie)." he warned with some worry heard in his voice.
Out of nowhere, as Sonic watched the scene, he and X crashed into another rainbow box, something materializing in their hands. "Huh? What's this?" asked X, holding a red shell.
Sonic's eyes widened, looking at a cloud hover into the sky, "Hold on, I had a few of these before in my last All-Stars Racing tournament."
"You-a had items too?" asked Mario.
The black hedgehog nodded for Sonic, "We did. We could use these boxes to divert the Rogues. They want fair, we'll play by our rules." Shadow gave a confident smirk.
Zero turned his bike so that he found an item, a Blooper. It flew out of his hand into squirted ink into Storm's face, "Gah! I can't see!" he warned, flailing about on his board. Zero let out a small chuckle.
"What was that about?" Wave wondered, helping Storm wipe the ink off his face.
Spider-Woman drove the Green Fire around a curve, the tires lightly hovering over the metal streets. Her little shortcut took her into a corkscrew where another item box appeared, having jumped from a small ledge. She held something golden in her hand, "A coin? Like I'll need this."
Trixie levitated the coin towards her, "Maybe I can use this as a bit when we're done."
Sonic pointed to a rail and got Peter's attention. Spider-Man said, "Well, it can't be weirder than skating with Tony Hawk." he jumped up, holding his board while landing on the rail. He began to grind on it, reaching another item box.
Mega Man aimed his Mega Buster, watching Spider-Man land. The Super Fighting Robot shot a charged shot at the Babylon Rogues, who swerved out of the way in time. "That was just a warning. We need to stop them somehow."
"Yoshi (Items)! Yoshi Yoshi (We need to find some good offensive items)!" Yoshi suggested.
Mario pondered, "That-a is a good idea. We-a need shells and mushrooms."
X nodded, moving his bike up to do a wheelie. Logan sliced apart another banana peel he grabbed with one set of claws. "Grah! Stupid items... Not gonna need 'em if I catch up."
Spider-Man and Yoshi each had a green shell. "Okay, looks like we have one. Any idea on how to use them?" asked Peter.
Trixie used her magic, throwing them at the Rogues ahead, but once again, they dodged in time. "Come on!" she snarled.
"Ha ha! You gotta do better than that!" Jet cackled, "This emerald is ours for the taking!"
Shadow hissed loudly, prompting him, Zero and Logan to reach somewhere else. The three turned and jumped off another ramp, performing more tricks to land and gain some speed on a grassy field, catching some more items in midair, each a shell and a mushroom. "Let's get moving!" the black hedgehog declared, skating faster than before, a trail of fire behind his shoes.
"Take this!" yelled Zero, throwing his shell like a frisbee, it hitting Storm so that he flipped, but he got his bearings and continued on. "Damn it!" snarled the Maverick Hunter.
"Alright, that's enough!" Wave scolded.
Spider-Man boosted ahead, webbing up the swallow's eyes before slowing himself down, "Nope!"
Spike passed through another item, this one being a cloud. While Wave was yanking the webbing from her eyes, the lightning cloud appeared over her head and she was struck, "Ah!" she exclaimed, spinning out for a moment.
"Aw..." moaned the dragon.
Sonic gritted his teeth, "This isn't enough! We need something big!" he yelled. He and X turned through the parts of Mario Circuit that merged into Metal City, riding through the corkscrew. "Alright, X. Do you see any items floating about?"
X nodded, he and Sonic holding a blooper. The squid creatures blinded Jet and Wave, nearly crashing into Storm as they tried to wipe the black ink from their eyes. "They're pretty quick in recovering." the blue Maverick Hunter said.
Then, Spider-Woman drove the Green Fire into one more box. This time, she had a blue shell with wings. "Uh... What the heck is this?" she asked, letting Trixie observe it.
"Use it!" Mario ordered loudly.
"What?" Trixie asked. "But it's a shell!"
Mario began to brake, "Use it and slow down!"
Spider-Gwen slowly nodded and threw the Blue Shell forward, it flying ahead of the other racers. "Yoshi Yoshi (Look out, Blue Shell)!" the dinosaur exclaimed. Sonic heeded his friends words and slowed down, then Shadow. Then the others did the same, hoping that whatever it was worked.
"You think that's gonna stop us?!" Jet boasted. Then, the Blue Shell lowered itself. An explosion of blue occurred and the three Babylon Rogues were launched before falling on their faces, their boards lightly hovering next to them. The explosiong dazed them long enough for Sonic to swoop in and take the emerald while it was still in midair. "H-How did you...?"
Sonic smirked, "I told ya, we're gonna play by rules of racing. Unfortunately, those rules were Mario's. This wasn't ordinary Extreme Gear racing, Jet." he kicked their boards away at last.
The others halted and got out of their vehicles. "Alright, birdbrains." Peter began, "We got the emerald. Now, care to explain why you thought working for Sigma was a good idea?"
"He had a lot of money." Storm explained.
Shadow grunted, "Y'know for a bunch of supposed genius, I didn't think you three were this dense."
"Take that back!" Wave growled.
"Dumbasses... Sigma's gonna destroy all worlds. That bounty he's given ya is pointless." Logan explained.
Trixie nodded, "That's why we needed the emerald to stop him. It's the only way we can stop this. See how the world's merging? You won't survive."
Jet slammed his fist on the metal ground, "So... Sigma thinks he can trick us like that, huh? C'mon, Rogues." he ordered, watching his allies stand up.
"Don't do anything stupid." warned Spider-Gwen. "We're all together now, so the butt-whooping will be extra large."
Jet shook his head, he and the Rogues holding their Extreme Gear, "Nope. Seems we have a common enemy now. We'll be bringing the chase to Sigma for duping us like that. Heh, gotta admit, I thought you lost your touch, Sonic."
"I'm full of surprises, Jet. Who knows, maybe we'll race again." euggested the blue hedgehog, "And I'm bringing Tails and Knuckles."
Jet smirked, "Hmph. Maybe. But we got a robot overlord to stop now. Till we race again, Sonic the Hedgehog. And new friends. Maybe you're not as talentless as I thought."
"Uh... Thanks?" Peter said.
The Babylon Rogues all flew away on their boards. Mario and Luigi removed their caps, wiping the sweat from their foreheads. "Mama mia. That was a good-a race." the red-clad plumber said. "So, should-a we return these to-a E. Gadd?"
Before Spider-Man could answer, Spike tapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah, Spike?" he pointed behind him, X and Zero scowling at what they were looking at. Shadow folded his arms as did Logan. Everyone was confused by the sight.
Standing on the other end of a rift tear, was a burning city, flooded with lava, destroyed buildings and what looked to be lizards made of magma. A sense of dread filled the Emerald Hunters while Peter put his hand to his head, "Holy crap. What is this place?"
"That doesn't-a look safe at all." Luigi gulped.
"But we need to see what this is about." Logan declared, revealing his claws, "Somethin' ain't right."
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Castle of Friendship: Waiting
Twilight bit her lip nervously, looking over the balcony at Eris and Luna, who were still trying to use their magic to delay the full merging of the dimensions, and noticed the tired expressions on both of them. The alicorn unfurled her wings as she was ready to head out, but a voice stopped her.
"And what do you think you're doing?" asked Espio, who looked over with Rainbow Dash.
The purple alicorn grunted, "I can't just stand around. I need to help those two! They're starting to wear down! They cant keep this up!" she stomped a hoof down. "They need me more than ever! What kind of ruler am I if I can't even help my world when needed?"
"Woah, easy, Twi. Nopony's doubtin' you. Luna said to stay, remember? After all, you and Peter are sorta the glue that keeps us all together, though it's mostly you, heh. And with Eggman, Bowser and Wily, we need all the protection we can get. That includes you." Rainbow assured her friend calmly, trying to ease her to the best of her ability, which seemed to work somewhat.
Espio shook his head, "You are not failing this world, Twilight. Do not fret over them for now. If they need assistance, we will aid them as soon as possible. Again, you are needed here." he folded his hands and leaned on the doorway.
Twilight nervously looked back then to Espio and Rainbow, "I-I... I'm not sure..."
It was then a small noise from a few rooms down got their attention. Concerned, the three found Eggman, Wily, and Dr. Light covered in smoke. Loud coughs heard all around. Bowser flailed an arm around over his nose, "C'mon, Docs! Couldn't ya have warned us before doin' something like that?!"
"Is everything alright?" asked the alicorn.
Dr. Light exhaled, "Our apologies, Princess Twilight. We just had a little snafu with the Master Engine. We should be cleared up in no time at all." he assured.
Knuckles muttered to Applejack, "Just like Eggman to screw up something so simple."
"I can hear you, echidna!" spat Eggman. "If you must know, a gear just sprang loose and set the whole thing aflame in the process. Can anyone pick it up?"
"Here we go!" said Pinkie Pie, a gear in hoof.
Eggman raised a brow, "How did you... Nevermind that." he snatched the gear out of her hoof.
Knuckles faced Twilight, "While you were out, I managed to snag one of the communicators. Espio and my old team, the Chaotix should be on their way soon. Hopefully this whole merged world thing doesn't get too out of hand."
Eggman growled, "Crud. I still owe them money..."
Pinkie laughed, "You what?"
Espio shook his head, "I'll be sure Vector and Charmy don't beat you to a pulp... Again."
"It shouldn't be too bad, Knuckles. At least Peter and all yer friends are able to wander about." Applejack assured.
Proto-Man spoke up as well, "And I managed to get into contact with X's Headquarters, some girl named Alia said a Reploid by the name of Axl is making his way here as well."
Twilight nodded, "Alright... That's good to hear." she looked around with a confused look on her face, "Um... Where's Mayday at?" she knew Ben was with Fluttershy and Roll at least.
Knuckles pointed a thumb back, "With Tails. Said something about a lab room or something. You should really get a map for this place. People could get lost here. Something tells me those two are going to geek out over science over something."
Tails rubbed his head nervously as he and the filly wandered Peter's laboratory, "Um, are you sure we're allowed in here, Mayday?" he wondered.
Mayday smiled, "My dad always lets me in. Except this time, he's not here. There's a reason why I wanted to come in here this time." she explained. She began to scurry around the equipment, digging into a cardboard box in the process.
"What are you looking for?" asked the two-tailed fox.
"Come on!" she groaned, ignoring his question. Some more digging around later and she propped her head back up, "Aha!" in her hoof was a piece of paper with a crude drawing on it with some words on it, "...Man, Dad has poor hoofwriting."
Handing Tails the paper, the fox glanced over it, "It looks to be a design for a hypothetical suit, Project: Unlimited. Able to harness unlimited energy with enhanced strength similar to original Spider-Armor and upgraded form. Proved untested... Worrisome consequences. Need better energy source. This is... amazing."
Mayday scratched her head, "Actually, I helped design the specs. My dad merely made the suit's design itself."
"Wow, really?!" Tails exclaimed. "That's pretty cool."
The filly pegasus blushed at the praise, "Thanks... I wanted to show you to see if you wanted to help make it for when Dad and the others get back from finding the Chaos Emeralds. From the look of things, he could use a small upgrade from the black and white suit he already has. Just in case things go wrong."
Tails cracked his knuckles, "Yeah, I think I could get some stuff to make the energy source. Just a few Chaos Drives and Power Rings should be enough to start with. I'll see if Roll or Blues can help us with this." he suggested.
Twilight again peeked out the window. She saw Eris and Luna hover about, using their magic to close the rifts as much as possible. "I hate feeling like this..." she groaned.
"Twilight?" asked Sonata, concern heard in her voice, "I got a message through to Canterlot, Sunset Shimmer is coming soon. Seems like we're going to need to space things out, huh?"
The alicorn offered her siren friend a thin smile, "I guess so... What about Shining Armor and Cadance?"
Sonata shrugged, "I'm not sure yet. I could ask Rainbow or Blues about it, though. Are you sure you're feeling all right?"
"It-It's nothing, Sonata." Twilight tried to assure, "Just having second thoughts is all."
The former Siren tilted her head, "Second thoughts about what?"
"Celestia picking me to follow her legacy. I'm sitting here while Eris and Luna do most of the work! I'm supposed to be one of the rulers! Nd Peter's out wandering these different dimensions to find the Chaos Emeralds. It feels like I'm being useless..." she sighed. "I was told to lead and I feel like I disappointed everypony."
Wrapping an arm around her friend, Sonata replied, "I have those moments too, especially when I was around Adagio and Aria... Trust me, Twilight, you're far from useless." she comforted, embracing her friend in a hug. She giggled, "And if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure Peter's having these same thoughts and thinking about how you'd handle such a position better than he would."
Twilight paused, "I-I'll keep that in mind, Sonata. You, Rainbow and Espio have been telling me that... Maybe it's about time I did something." she exhaled.
The alicorn then looked out the window again, "Luna, Eris, Celestia... I promise I won't let you down..." she sighed to herself.
BOOM!
The two cringed upon hearing that sound. "We're all right!" shouted Bowser a few rooms over.
"Why did you plug in the capacitor when I specifically said not too!?" Wily questioned.
"Cause I wanted to be helpful!" Pinkie shouted.
Knuckles said, "I don't mind. Eggman's running around with a flaming mustache so that's a win for me."
"Help me--!" Eggman could be heard begging. Whatever else was said was drowned out by Rainbow's laugher echoing through the halls.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "I'll get the bucket of water." Sonata giggled at the chaos happening.
Perhaps taking charge wasn't the smartest idea.
The Lost Hex...
Sigma gazed upon the monitors and put a finger on his chin, "Hm... It seems as though those three have eluded me." he commented, referring to Eggman, Bowser, and Wily. "No doubt they have retreated to ally with their nemesis against us."
"Oh, yes. We can make sure they don't survive the merging process if you wish." Starlight suggested.
The Maverick leader hummed, "Of course. In fact, with the power of the Genesis Portals, I can command quite the army. Bowser's minions have been implanted with my armor tech, Eggman and Wily's robots are still here, and I have all of time and space bent down to my very will." he boasted, raising his arms. Crackles of purple electricity sparked from his metal fingers.
A rift opened up at last and the first to step out of the purple rift was an army of animal-looking robots, each with a unique design. "I know of those traitors' hiding spot. And I feel it isn't worth the effort of making an appearance quite yet." Sigma admitted, "So, I have called upon my old minions..."
"Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, Wire Sponge, Wheel Gator, Boomer Kwanger, Rainy Turtleoid... So many Mavericks..." Sigma purred. "But perhaps I should talk advantage of our crisis." with a snap, another rift opened up. This time, two mechs hovered out. both with large mechanical legs and weapons massed on the cockpit.
Starlight raised a brow, "What are those supposed to be?"
"Military mechs from the organization G.U.N. in Mobius. Unlike the originals, these are unmanned, giving me complete control over their actions."
Sigma smirked, "Now Starlight... Open the portal..."
Nearby the merging fields of Mushroom Plains and Emerald Hill was a blue blur. He sped through the canyons as fast as he could, avoiding any obstacle that stood in his path. He moved so fast that when he ran over the puddles in his path, they left rainbow particles in his wake before fading off.
There were a bunch of curved trees. The blur jumped and ran off them twirling perfectly through the terrain. Once he was in the clear, he ran up a rock formation shaped like a half-pipe and jumped off, curling into a ball as he bumped off small rocky protrusions coming from the ground in the blink of an eye.
He made his way through a small cavern and felt the ground beneath him crumble as he got back to the field, his feet curling into a red figure 8 motion. He hopped off some small rock formations and even soun off one before placing both of his palms on top of the tallest one, his legs stretched out once he got his bearings.
The figure put a hand over his eyes as he got a closer look at what was ahead and blinked, a determined look on his face. Suddenly, he jumped off, continuing his run. He made his way to a small body of water and began to swim, his feet moving fast enough to carry his body over in a red exagerrated blur and his legs flailing about, jumping off some more rocks in his way before running up the cylinder wall, a proud smirk seen on his features.
He jumped off some more boulders before reaching the grass and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
The blue figure finally stopped once he looked up, seeing some boulders coming his way. Without hesitation, he jumped off the falling rock debris coming towards him easily. As the largest one got closer, he halted himself in midair and curled back into a ball, making his way through the rock.
He landed on top of the boulder and jumped off it as it shattered, making a quick run up the formation nearby, circling around the entire thing before reaching the top and standing still with a scowl as he inhaled, ready to see what was next.
The blue figure looked like Sonic, but with some differences. He looked younger, chubbier, his spikes were shorter, and he had black eyes instead of green. The younger Sonic saw the Castle of Friendship not too far away from where he was standing. Not only that, but he could see the effects of the merging dimensions nearby, seeing question mark blocks, buildings, and terrain all coming together in a horrible mashup that causes destruction.
Realizing what was at stake, the younger Sonic hopped off from his spot and rolled into a ball, where the formation ended in a ramp.
With his momentum, Sonic flew off, uncurling and arms at his sides. His destination: the crystal castle in his line of sight.
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Crisis City, Part I: Iblis Triggered
Spider-Man, Trixie, Spike, Spider-Woman, Logan, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Shadow, Mega Man, Mega Man X, and Zero all looked at the strange location in front of them, all of them with a curious and yet disturbed look on their faces.
Spider-Gwen removed her hood for a moment, "Okay. Does the burning post-apocalyptic wasteland belong to anyone? Raise your hand." she demanded. No one did and glanced at each other and she groaned loudly, "Sunova. So I guess there's just this city here. How the heck did this end up here anyway?"
Shaking his head, Sonic replied, "No clue, Gwen. But something about it does look familiar. Kinda looks like the city where I fought the Ifrit, a giant fire demon that destroyed the future on my world. But there wasn't this much lava last time."
"So, you just fight demons that threaten time itself?" Peter asked.
The blue hedgehog nodded, "Yeah. Maybe the whole dimensonal merge thing is affecting time as well, just like how Mega Man and X can be here at the same time."
X put a finger on his chin, "That is a plausible theory. Now we just have to worry about finding a Chaos Emerald in this area. Who knows how we'll be able to traverse this."
A roar got the team's attention. Glancing over the small tear in space, they saw an animal looking being made of lava. Trixie yelped, "What in Celestia's name is that thing?!"
Sonic clenched his fists, "Hold up. I've seen this before. When my younger self and I travelled through time we found ourselves in a city filled with fire demons like that. We must be here in that case, funny thing is I didn't remember it the first time."
Gwen shot some webbing at the creature, but it melted before it reached the fire creature. "Crud. Fire bad." she hopped back as the monster drew out its fire breath. The White Widow backflipped then grunted, "Guess we're using fisticuffs." she drove both of her feet on it and watched it crumble down and explode in a mass of smoke, "Uh... Was that supposed to happen?"
Shadow nodded, "Sonic mentioned that these creatures are weaker than they look. Well-timed attacks and strategies are key if we are to survive in this wasteland."
Logan walked forward, "Survivin' is what I do best, as much as I hate to admit it."
Mario hopped in the air upon seeing another one jump from the woodworks. He stomped his feet on its back, watching as it crumbled to ash beneath him. "Mama mia! Shadow is-a right!"
Shadow nodded, "I agree with Faker, though. This city does feel familiar, despite us having never encountered it in our past, as far as we are aware anyway."
"Yoshi Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (Do you think we have to pass through or is there another way out)?"
Sonic hummed and pointed to the city, "Don't know, Yoshi. I guess we gotta find out for ourselves in this case."
Trixie raised a hoof, "We gotta go in there?! Where there are fire beings that look to be straight from Tartarus?! Have you all finally gone mad?!" she exclaimed.
"Trixie, I feel as though I reached the peak of insanity when I met Deadpool and Discord. Trust me, things can only get better from here." quipped Peter. Through the rift he noticed thick black clouds covering the orange skies of the city. "Woah. Looks like we're in some kind of Mad Max parody."
Zero unsheathed his Z-Saber, "Well, it looks like we have no choice. Let's head in there."
X revealed his X-Buster, "Right."
Luigi gulped, "A-Are you-a sure about this? It-a looks really dangerous in there."
Spider-Man looked back, "What choice do we have, Luigi?"
"Uh... Go-a somewhere else-a?" suggested the green-clad plumber nervously with a sheepish smile.
Spike patted the plumber's back and tried to ease the somewhat cowardly brother, "Don't worry, dude. You got all of us by your side. It shouldn't be too bad, especially since those fire demon things look seriously weak. With a swing of your hammer and they should be gone in the blink of an eye."
Mario nodded, "We-a have each other's backs, bro."
Peter glanced back to the city, "We made it this far, Luigi. There's no way I'm leaving any of you behind."
'That was rather wholesome.' Dream commented, 'Have you tried out for diplomatic speaker yet?'
'Ha ha. No, I'll leave the politics to Twilight.' said Peter in his head. He looked down at the original Blue Bomber, "You got any weapons in that arsenal of yours, Rock? It's been a while since I've seen any now that I think about it. You run out of energy?"
Mega Man nodded, "Not yet, thanks to Dr. Light and Tails before we left. I should have some spare E-Tanks though."
X put a hand on his hip, "If you run out, we got some Sub-Tanks that might do the same thing."
Sonic stretched his legs and smirked, "You guys ready to go? I have a feeling things may start to heat up."
"Your puns are as bad as Parker's." Trixie muttered.
"Yeah they-- hey!" fumed Spider-Man in annoyance, much to the blue unicorn's amusement.
Zero chuckled, "Never change, kid."
And so, the team stepped forward, finding themselves on a rocky cliff, able to get a better view of the destroyed city ahead. Sonic rubbed his head, "Since I was here last time, I had no idea what to call it, so Tails and I kinda decided on Crisis City. It just sorta had a nice, familiar ring to it."
Shadow glared forward, "This does feel familiar... Like as though we were standing on this exact location before."
"Yeah, I don't like this deja vu thing we got goin' here too. But now's not the time for that, Shadow." Sonic shrugged off, "Now we just have to find a way to get through here."
Yoshi pointed down, noticing some rectangle-shaped debris loose on the ground. "Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (Hey, look at those things)!" he called out to those who could understand him.
Gwen held one in her hands, "Huh. These kind of look like boards. What kind of sport is this supposed to be?"
"Yoshi (Exactly)." the dinosaur added.
The blue hedgehog grabbed one of his own, "Huh. I just had like another memory lapse." he faced Yoshi, "Oh, well it's about time we put our Olympic skills to the test, huh?"
"You guys were also in the Olympics?" Spider-Man groaned in a deadpan manner, "Is there anything else you have done?"
Sonic pointed to the side, "Mario and Luigi are part time doctors."
Mega Man rubbed his helmet, "Huh."
Wolverine pinched his temple, "Are we just gonna stand around and boast like idiots or are we finally gonna get somethin' done?! What does the dinosaur want to do with these things?!"
"Jeez, temper much, Logan?" muttered Sonic. "We should really do somethin' about that."
Suddenly, Wolverine revealed his claws and pointed them to the blue hedgehog, "Wanna mock me again, furball?! Enough of the constant references! No one gives a crap so just get to the point!" Peter and Gwen held his shoulders back while Shadow merely stood in between the mutant and blue hedgehog with a glare.
"We are not going to fight." Shadow said sternly, "Faker tends to annoy others, but now is not the time to do that. All of us are on the same mission, so I'd advise calming down."
Spike put an arm between the two now, "Come on, I thought we were done the fighting!" he whined.
Logan finally relented, his claws back in his hands. "Holy hell, Logan. Even the you I met wasn't this easy to annoy."
"Well, clearly he hasn't put up with the shit I have." replied the future X-Man in disgust, "Fine, ya know what? I'll put up with ya still, only because everything's at freakin' stake." he announced, "Should'a worked on my temper while wanderin'."
"I-It's fine, Logan." X assured, "All the stress is catching up. I've had moment like that too." Zero remained silent on the matter.
"...Anyway," Sonic continued, "As Yoshi was saying, we could use these as makeshift snowboards to go down the ruined roads. Hopefully, we don't run into anymore of those fire demon things on the way down." he explained.
The older Wolverine replied, "I'll find my own way down, thanks. You were pushin' it with the high-tech hoverboard crap."
Spider-Gwen chuckled, "It can't be that bad, Logan. Minus the fact they we are literally snowboarding in a fire demon filled city that is above boiling lava."
"...Is it wrong that I don't consider this as weird as the time I skateboarded with Tony Hawk?" Spider-Man wondered. "I'm still not sure why he invited me."
Sonic chuckled, "At least you have some boarding experience." he faced the broken street, able to get down from the slope made by the cliff they were standing on. "Here we go!" he, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi were the first to slide down, using their experience to their advantage.
"You sure you're not coming, Logan?" Peter asked. "It could be a fun experience."
The older hero raised a hand, "No thanks, kid. I can make it around on my own anyway."
"How about I help?" Trixie offered, "No way I'm able to do that."
"Alright then." Logan agreed.
Gwen knelt down and began to board with the others, "Holy crap! This is a new level of extreme!"
Spike laughed, "We do this in the Dragon Kingdom. Sometimes."
Mega Man, X, and Zero trailed behind the others as Shadow remained skating, "Be wary of your surroundings here. Faker mentioned that there are demons like the one we faced scattered throughout the city." he reminded the team. "When the time comes, do not hold back." he warned loudly.
Mega Man nodded, "Alright."
"Hold on, Logan. This may feel weird." Trixie warned.
Logan shook his head, "I can deal with it."
The mutant found himself in a blue bubble as Trixie slowly placed herself a levitation spell to catch up with the others in short time. "Alright. Watch your claws."
Sonic weaved next to Mario as the two crossed, leaving a small burst of dust in their wake. Spidey swerved his board around intending to reach the end of the street, but something else caught his attention, "Oh, uh, why the heck is that street a halfpipe?"
"No clue." admitted Sonic.
Suddenly, a giant fire worm burst out of the street, surprising Spider-Man, Zero, Shadow and Yoshi, prompting them to hop off their boards instantly in slight shock. "Yoshi (What the--)?!" the others ahead were blocked off as debris from a broken building collapsed and blocked the rest of the roadway.
Zero raised his Z-Buster, "Another one? A worm now?" he dashed forward and shot a clean charged shot on it, causing it to stir and roar in pain as its body wiggled. It moved back down onto the ground, "Okay. Where did it go...?"
Peter's Spider-Sense blared in his head, "Yoshi, underneath you!"
Instantly, the dinosaur hopped up and back as the worm revealed itself once more. Yoshi growled and performed a series of flurry kicks upon it, his feet moving faster than Spider-Man expected, "Hmmm!" he growled with his mouth closed.
Spider-Man flipped forward, noticing another one coming out with a flaming boulder aimed directly for him, a column of fire revealing itself as a result, "More of these things? Think we can handle them you three?" he asked.
Yoshi pumped a fist, "Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (You bet)!"
"We can." Zero declared, the Red Maverick Hunter nodding with a thin smirk.
Shadow folded his arms, "Let's just get this over with."
And so, the three jumped forward, seeing the monsters grow in numbers against them.
"Crud. The others got separated!" Sonic shouted.
Mario shouted back, "We-a have to-a go help them. Those-a monster things look tough to handle-a at once."
Mega Man was ready to turn around, but something pushed him off his board instead, metal clanging heard on the street, "Ow." he groaned, holding his helmet. "What was that?"
Out of nowhere, various light green objects flew down with a wrath. This forced the team to dodge as best they could, everything coming down towards them like meteors. "Woah!" screamed Luigi, losing his balance. Luckily, Sonic swooped in and grabbed his arm and dropped him on the ground.
"Mama mia..." muttered Luigi, now dizzy. He shook his head and got his bearings, seeing more debris in the sky.
X shot a boulder coming towards them, "What's causing all this to happen?" he wondered.
Gwen pointed upward once she webbed up a construction pipe, "Okay, I think I know."
"What?"
The team gazed to the sky, noticing a silver object floating, his hands extended outward. "No..." Sonic whispered.
The silver figure lowered himself on top of a nearby building, the green aura covering his body fading as were the objects, which dropped as a result. It was a silver hedgehog with green circles on his hands and black boots. He pointed at Sonic, "I finally found you... Iblis Trigger ." he declared loudly.
"Silver?" Sonic gasped.
Spike tilted his head, "Iblis what?"
Silver lowered his arm, "You're the one behind this destruction. I'll make sure this future never comes to pass!"
Gwen stepped forward, "Hold it! Who do you think you are anyway?" she growled.
"My name is Silver the Hedgehog. My duty is to protect the future from the demon known as Iblis, and it's thanks to this hedgehog that this world's come to pass."
Mario flailed his arms, "Silver! It's-a us, your friends! Sonic would-a never do this!"
"If you're willing to defend him, then you're all my enemies!" Silver yelled loudly.
Anothe boulder was thrown by the silver hedgehog. Spike jumped forward and burned it to ash with his fire breath, "Can this guy be any more annoying?"
"He's not like this! The future he's talking about was saved when we destroyed the Ifrit!" Sonic explained.
"Lies!" snarled Silver. He hovered down and intended to tackle Sonic, but Luigi swung his hammer upwards, uppercutting the rogue hedgehog's muzzle.
Mega Man noticed Silver get his bearings and tried to restrain him as best he could. As Silver swerved down, he jumped up and used his Hard Knuckle to punch him in the back of his head, "Sorry about this, Silver. But you're in our way! We need to find the Chaos Emeralds as fast as we can!"
"Enough!" Silver declared, holding Mega Man down with his abilities, trapping him in a green aura.
"Does he have magic too?" Spike asked.
Sonic shook his head, "No. He somehow has telekinetic abilities. Not sure how that happened, honestly." he revealed, divekicking Silver as hard as he could, making him lose focus. "Easy, Silv. It's me, Sonic. You know, your friend?"
Silver growled and pushed Sonic back, pinning him to a wall, "As if I'll be friends with a monster like you!"
A line of webbing suddenly got caught on Silver's arm, and he was yanked backwards, "Okay, Silver. Enough being an asshole. What the hell are you talking about?" Gwen wondered, with X standing next to her, X-Buster primed and aimed.
Without answering, Silver pushed the two back with a burst of energy, catching them off guard. "Look around. Sonic is the one behind this destruction! See that Tornado?" he gestured to the cyclone of flames in the middle of the city. "That is Iblis, the fire demon that destroyed the world I never knew!"
"I think that tornado's carrying a car. A few actually." quipped the White Widow nonchalantly.
Silver pushed her down again, "Shut up."
A blue blur pushed Silver backwards and made him fall facefirst on the floor, "Okay then. Looks like we're doing this the hard away again, Silver. You ready for another butt-kicking?" Sonic asked, uncurling from a Homing Attack.
Mario and Luigi stepped next to Sonic, "How can-a we stop him?"
"Yeah..." groaned Spider-Gwen, "This guy can lift stuff with his mind. That's kinda beyond my payroll."
"Allow me to show you!" he zipped forward and circled Silver, but he was pushed down again, "Agh!"
Luckily, Gwen webbed his hand and freed the blue hero, "Wow. You sure showed us." she said sarcastically, "Any other way we can take him down?"
Mario and Luigi held out their hammers, "We can-a truly. We never have-a fought him before though."
The hedgehog groaned and dusted himself off, "I've done it before. But even when we were on opposing sides he was never this bloodthirsty. It's kinda weird."
Spike clenched his fists as Silver began to glow green again, "Well, we can't dwell on that now. This guy looks like he's about to attack again!"
Spider-Man drove both of his feet into the Iblis worm, flipping around and watching as Shadow hovered and proceeded to kick the worm as it grumbled and roared in pain. "Woah, Shadow. Where did you learn how to do that?" he saw the black hedgehog teleport and appear behind the Iblis Worm, throwing a Chaos Spear on its back, stunning it for a moment again.
"I was created with the intent for fighting as well." Shadow revealed in a stern tone.
While the Iblis Worm was stunned, Yoshi headbutted the creature as hard as he could, a loud yell heard from him as he did so. He landed on his stomach before picking himself back up, "Yoshi Yoshi (Where are the others at)?"
"No idea, Yoshi." Shadow answered, ducking underneath a fireball that was spat at him. He slid and watched as the Iblis Worm vanished in a burst of fire.
"You can understand him, too?" Peter asked, a brow raised under his white mask. He landed on a knee, zipping himself onto the wall of a nearby building, intending to attack the second Iblis Worm when an opening presented itself.
Shadow nodded, flipping back on his feet, "Correct. Sonic and I have learned to translate him."
Zero drew his Z-Saber downward, slicing the body of the worm in half, destroying it there. "Okay, then. Something tells me that's not the end of these things." the light sword was swung horizontally next as another burst of fire came out. "I spoke too soon. That one looks to be a giant golem now."
"Great. Just what we need." groaned Peter. His Spider-Sense tingled again and he shot a web-ball behind him, noticing a burst of smoke. Looking up, he saw a flaming bird, "Okay, I think I found Jean Grey's mascot. Or Celestia's pet gone rogue. Whichever works." he pointed out to himself.
Shadow hissed and spun, curling into a ball and attacking the Iblis bird with a Homing Attack, "There needs to be a better way to end these. We cannot afford anymore distractions."
Zero jumped and flipped, his sword still revealed, slicing apart another Iblis bird in an instant, "Shadow's right. We need to find a way to dwindle their numbers easier."
"Unfotunately, as of now, there's only four of us. Unless Logan and Trixie show up, we're on our own." Spider-Man recalled.
"Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (Look up there)!" the green dinosaur said. The others, minus Shadow, did so and spotted a being on the rooftops, still, with a staff, or scepter in hand.
"Who is that?" Zero questioned.
Something hopped down from their perch on the rooftops and drove their staff down onto the golem's head, vaporizing it instantly. They landed and Peter immedately recognized their yellow armor and blue scales, "Ember? What the heck are you doing here?"
Ember looked at the team, "Peter? This is a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"I can ask the same about you. Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the Dragon Kingdom?" the wall-crawler asked.
"Those fire creatures attacked my kingdom when this mayhem started. I managed to track them to this city. So, is this that team you mentioned to me before?"
"No. These are some new friends of mine: Shadow, Zero, and Yoshi. Our worlds are being merged together by some robot called Sigma and we have to find these gems called Chaos Emeralds to stop him." Spider-Man explained. "Spike's here as well, but I have no idea where he and the others are at right now."
The Dragon Lord turned her head, "That would explain those creatures I saw on the way here."
"What crea--?" Spidey started to ask.
More Iblis creatures suddenly warped into existence as Ember was about to explain what she meant. There were Iblis worms, golems, and birds surrounding them on all corners, "Forget I asked..." groaned the wall-crawler to himself.
Shadow adjusted his cuffs, "Are you capable of fighting?"
"Why does everyone doubt me?" moaned Ember in disbelief.
Zero held out his sword, "Don't take it personally. We just don't want anyone getting hurt too bad."
Ember replied, "Well, I can handle myself."
"Yoshi Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (I'm sure you can)!" cheered the chipper green dinosaur.
Ember tilted her head, "What?"
"Yoshi (Nevermind)." sighed Yoshi.
The Dragon Lord spun her staff in front of her, deflecting a ball of fire aimed at her easily. She jumped up and kicked back a golem with Peter, their feet driven into the monster's torso. They watched it stumble back as Shadow threw a Chaos Spear on it, hopping off its rocky body to attack its exposed head. "Chaos Spear!" he shouted again, seeing electric sparks on the lava.
Turning around, he hit a bird with a Homing Attack, seeing it get tossed back in his ball form. He uncurled, "These demons are pathetic." he insisted.
"For a bunch of fire demons, they are pretty weak." admitted Spider-Man casually, uppercutting a lizard as it leaped towards him. Jumping off its body, Yoshi leaped and stuck out his tongue, devouring an Iblis bird, much to Peter's surprise and disgust, "Holy crap, Yoshi! Spit that out!" he practically screamed.
Yoshi ignored him, swallowed and pushed with loud grunts as he bent down, "Hrr...."
"Is he... Oh no." Peter mumbled, keeping an eye on his dinosaur. He knelt down to check on him. "Now's not the time to drop a log, Yoshi! We're in public!"
Shadow huffed and kicked back a lizard, "Let him. I know what he's doing."
Zero dashed and shot his Z-Buster forward, "These things are about as stubborn as Vile!"
Ember stabbed her scepter forward, stabbing an Iblis lizard, "Whatever these things are, we have to stop them before they reach the rest of Equestria and these other worlds." she turned her head, ready to destroy another golem.
A green dotted egg appeared behind Yoshi, relieved he threw it at an Iblis lizard, stunning it. Peter's jaw was agape once he processed what he witnessed, "Discovery Channel lied to me. Nature is weirder than I thought."
Yoshi laughed and stomped once he was high enough, smashing a lizard with his rear. "Yoshi!"
"Okay, how many of these things are there?!" groaned the Dragon Lord.
Much to their surprise, Ember spotted a waterlike shuriken in midair reach the giant's head, causing it to cease and disintergrate. "A water blast? From where?" Zero asked, "How can anyone get any liquid in this terrain?"
"It wasn't me." Ember added. "Maybe it was that creature I mentioned earlier."
In the shadows was a creature hanging upside down on a loose pipe, webbed arms folded. It flipped upwards and revealed itself standing. A pink thing covering its neck. It threw another water projectile downward and destroyed an Iblis bird. The creature hopped down and landed in the battlefield. "You again?" Ember asked. The creature didn't say anything and instead slid on water, crashing through another fire lizard with ease as it vanished.
Spider-Man dug his hands onto a bird and threw it on the ground, "This a friend of yours, Ember? He looks like a giant frog... Is that its tongue used as a scarf?"
"Reminds me of Strider Hiryu." Zero chuckled, "He looks to be a ninja as well."
Shadow raised a brow, "It does look familiar though."
"Yoshi Yoshi (I know him)!" Yoshi announced.
Peter landed, "Okay, it sounds like Yoshi knows you. Who or what are you, cause it looks like you're on our side judging by what Ember is saying."
The froglike being shot more water at the last Iblis golem, allowing to disappear. It folded its webbed hands and stood on one leg, closing its eyes as an aura appeared around it, like it was meditating. Finally, it opened its eyes as it said one word.
"Greninja!"
Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite
Crisis City, Part II: It's No Use
Peter extended a hand and introduced himself and the others, "Nice to meet you, Greninja. I'm Spider-Man, that's Shadow, Yoshi, and Zero." he noticed the frog ninja and Yoshi giving each other a nod of acknowledgment. "Seems the two of you already have met." he added in a calm tone.
"Yoshi Yoshi (We met during the Smash Tournament)." the dinosaur explained.
Shadow closed his eyes, "They met during the Smash Tournament, he said. I was barely there to remember the fighters."
"Greninja Gre-Greninja." Greninja said.
Zero looked at the others, "Is Greninja all he can say?"
"Greninja." the ninja said with an affirming nod.
Peter groaned, "Crap. I get stuck with the silent types. So, Greninja, where are you from?"
"He's from a world with creatures called Pokémon." Shadow elaborated for the team, "There are other creatures like Pikachu and Lucario and most speak with their names, but I do not wish to learn more nor do I care. You should speak to Faker or Mario."
"Pokémon..." Zero repeated. "How did one such as yourself end up in our situation?"
Greninja bowed his head, "Greninja, Gre-Greninja, Greninja."
"...I have no idea what he's saying." Peter commented, "Does anyone speak Greninja or Pokémon or whatever language he speaks?" he wondered. 'How about it, Dream? Are you able to translate him at all or something?'
Dream shook her head within the astral realm, 'No. Their language, like Yoshi, is foreign to my knowledge.'
Spider-Man sighed inwardly, 'Great. Twilight and Mayday are not gonna believe half the crap I've seen in the past... hour or so. How long has it been anyway?' he cleared his throat and decided to change the subject to figure something out, "So, Ember? How did you run into him?" he finally asked.
Ember looked around, hoping that there were no more fire monsters for the time being, "Well..."
The Dragon Lord exhaled, driving her scepter through the body of an Iblis Iizard as hard as she could, destroying it. She raised her gaze and saw more birds coming for her. Swiftly, she ducked under one of the fireballs and jumped, using her fire breath to deflect another, before she swiped her claws across the two flying creatures that threatened her. The dragon lowered her scepter as she fell, forcing it onto a golem's head, causing it to collapse.
Raising her weapon, Ember saw more appear. "Damn it." she cursed under her breath, irritated. Ember leaped once again, kicking the head of an Iblis giant and watching its rocky body fall backwards onto the stone rooftop she battled on. The dragon then turned her body, her armor and scales absorbing the heat of a small fireball spat out by one of the lizard offsprings.
"Just stay down!" Ember shouted.
With a grunt, she lowered herself to a knee, standing upon the charred ground the fire creature left. Hearing another roar, she raised her body and held up her staff. "Okay..." she hissed under her breath.
One more golem. The Dragon Lord crouched down and was ready to attack, but a sudden burst of water did the job for her. When she looked up, she saw Greninja standing on the next rooftop, his arms stretched out. Before Ember could say anything, he vanished seemingly without a single trace.
Suddenly, Greninja reappeared, having kicked back an Iblis bird as hard as he could before tailing off again. "What the--?" Ember asked aloud, curious about the identity of the creature.
As Ember finished explaining her meeting Greninja to the others, a gruff voice was heard, "Really? Yer out here makin' conversation?" questioned Logan, finally having been released from Trixie's bubble. Said unicorn landed perfectly on the ground. Wolverine paused upon seeing Ember and Greninja, "Who the hell are they?" he asked, pointing a thumb at the two newcomers.
"Well, the blue girl is the Dragon Lord, Ember. This frog person is Greninja. From the sound of it, our worlds aren't the only ones affected by Sigma's merging. Greninja comes from a world of Pokémon, which sounds like an anime and some kind of game." Spider-Man introduced at last.
"Greninja." said the frog Pokémon.
The old man blinked, "...Right."
"This is all new to me as well, Logan." Zero added.
Yoshi raised his hands, "Yoshi Yoshi (If only Lucario or Mewtwo were here. They'd be able to help translate)."
Ember asked, "What did he say?"
Shadow glared at Yoshi, then to the rest of the team, "He mentioned a few more Pokémon: Lucario and Mewtwo. Unlike Greninja, they can talk like us and would translate them."
"Pokémon... This is getting more confusing each second." groaned Trixie in slight disappointment.
"Greninja." said Greninja.
"I don't know what you're saying!" yelled Trixie.
Logan shook his head as Ember looked at him and asked, "Aren't you that Wolverine hero that showed up a few years ago?"
"That's what everyone's been tellin' me." Logan answered.
A quick rumble was felt among the small team, and Peter felt that familiar tingling sensation. "My Spider-Sense is telling me that something is about to go wrong..." he muttered. More rumbling. He crouched down, his white costume reflecting the sunlight somehow.
"What else is new?" groaned Zero.
Shadow readied a Chaos Spear, "As if today wasn't disappointing enough."
Yoshi glared ahead, "Yoshi (It's been crazy)!"
Ember held out her staff, "This is some team you have, Parker."
"Can't be worse than what I have planned." quipped Spider-Man with a knowing smirk. He turned and saw Trixie, Wolverine, and Greninja, all equally ready to fight as him.
Then, a green blur flew by past the team, as Peter managed to process what happened, "Luigi?" he finally called out.
Various objects began to get covered in a teal aura and levitate. Zero revealed his sword, "That's not supposed to happen, I'm sure. This must be the work of a rogue force."
Yoshi hummed a thought, "Yo-Yoshi (That aura looks familiar)."
Shadow growled, "Damn it."
"You can swear?" quipped Spider-Man, "I always thought you were PG-rated heroes."
A blue blur zipped next to Peter as he said, "About time you decided to show up. We kinda got a problem on our hands." said Sonic, noticing Ember, "...A friend of yours?"
"Long story." replied Spidey, zipping himself away from an oncoming boulder.
Greninja flipped to the nearest rooftop, getting a closer look at the source of the threat, Silver. "Greninja?" asked Sonic, seeing the frog ninja move about.
The Pokémon didn't say anything and instead threw a water shuriken at Silver, who deflected it with ease. "Silver?" Shadow realized, "This is an unexpected distraction."
X dashed backwards with Spider-Woman, taking down as much debris as possible. Trixie held up a billboard with her magic, crouching slightly to focus her energy, "You know him?" she asked, "Because he's already starting on the wrong hoof."
Spike slashed a metal pipe apart with Logan, the pieces landing on the street. The dragon noticed Ember and spoke, "Ember? W-What are you doing here?"
"Same as you all it seems." said the Dragon Lord, swiping away a few loose pebbles tossed by Silver, "Now, can anyone explain who this foe is?"
"Silver the Hedgehog, a friend of ours... Well, at least he was anyway." said Sonic, "Telekinetic abilities and perhaps psychic. I'm not sure why he's fighting us. He keeps mentioning the Iblis Trigger, which apparently is me."
Silver flew down and intended to tackle Sonic, but Logan saw the attack coming and drove his fist downwards, claws sheathed in his wrists as to not rough him up too badly. "Alright, pal. Either calm it, or I'm gonna have'ta bring out the claws."
The silver hedgehog growled and exerted a forcefield strong enough to push the team back. "Never!"
Peter, Shadow, Gwen, and Trixie stood their ground, the unicorn creating a forcefield around everyone she could possibly reach. Logan flipped on his stomach and could be heard breathing heavily, rage building up in his veins. "Oh crap."
The others got their bearing, and watched as Logan veered forward. Sonic ran forward, "Logan!" he shouted again, seeing Mario and Mega Man run with him.
Silver pushed the older Wolverine back onto a wall and pinned him there with the help of some bent steel pipes. Logan screamed as the metal tightened around his limbs. Mega Man flicked an arm, activating his Leaf Shield as Silver tried to push them back, to no avail. "Stay close to me." he told the others. Mario and Sonic nodded and remained next to the Blue Bomber as they ran still.
"Rock's using another ability." Peter noticed. Seeing as Silver was focused on those three, he and Gwen made their way upwards as they wished to attack Silver from a different angle. They noticed some objects held in his psychic grip. "Okay, while Mega Man's attacking Silver, we have to divert him. Make sure that he's not going to bombard them with objects up the wazoo."
Gwen saluted, "Aye aye." she swung down above Silver and tapped the quills over his eyes, "Hey, Pothead the Porcupine! You know, this burning world will do wonders with that drug plant you call a face!" she insulted, seeing the hedgehog's eye twitch. He extended an arm, ready to push Spider-Woman back, but a white foot caused him to do otherwise, making him flinch.
"Nah ah ah." scolded Peter, "Didn't anyone speak to you about fine manners? Seriously, you show up and try to destroy your friend after getting triggered?"
"Shut... Up!" Silver screamed. "I will destroy the Iblis Trigger!"
Spider-Man flipped next to the White Widow, "Yeah, I heard the whole destroy thing before." he webbed up the silver hedgehog's mouth. "It kinda gets played out."
Then, Mega Man threw his Leaf Shield at the stunned Silver, knocking him back slightly. As he was in midair, Mario swung his hammer down and Sonic hit him with a Homing Attack. The small group watched as the psychic hedgehog fell on his stomach before stumbling onto his back painfully. "Please stay down..." pleaded Peter.
Silver got back up and pushed a giant ball towards them. Peter groaned loudly, "Of course..."
He noticed Trixie and Zero stepping forward. The unicorn used a smoke bomb to take the heroes to safety, while Zero tended to the giant sphere. He raised his Z-Saber and thrusted it downwards, tearing it in half easily in a satisfying manner. He smirked, "Now's the time to give up, Silver." he warned.
X hopped off the wall of a building and jumped on it, gaining momentum to hop off it repeatedly. "Silver seems to be done holding back." he aimed his X-Buster downward and jumped down, shouting "Fire Wave!" as he descended.
Seeing the oncoming attack, Silver swiftly placed a billboard over his body, blocking the column of fire. X gritted his teeth as he performed a jumpdash away from the telekinetic hedgehog. As Silver was distracted on what was above him, Ember took the opportunity to slide underneath and trip Silver, making him lose focus again. "This friend of yours isn't so friendly..." groaned Ember, using her scepter to make the hedgehog trip again as he stood.
Spike gulped, "Uh, I think he's going green again!" he warned, dashing by to push Luigi away. He noticed Shadow standing thete, "Hey, uh, Shadow... Aren't you gonna do something?"
Shadow huffed, "I'm waiting for the right time."
Standing on a rooftop were Yoshi and Greninja, looking at where Trixie warped the others away temporarily, "Yoshi Yo-Yoshi (Do you want to help us, Greninja)?" he asked. The frog ninja nodded, and the dinosaur cheered. "Yoshi (Then let's go)!"
Yoshi hovered over and saw Logan, "Yoshi Yoshi (I'll save Logan, you make sure Silver doesn't stop us)!"
Spike raised his head, "Where's he going?"
"It looks like he's aiding Logan. You could make yourself and Luigi useful by helping him." Shadow deduced.
The dragon gave him a deadpan look, "Alright. Come on, Luigi."
"Alright." nodded the green plumber.
Back on the ground were Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man and they moticed Trixie got the others to safety, Peter dropping down behind them to figure out a quick strategy as Greninja, Ember and Gwen distracted Silver. "This isn't turning out as well as I hoped." Peter grunted, noticing Yoshi trying to release Wolverine. "It looks like we go something going here. Alright, here's the plan: Mario, Sonic, Trixie and I will take the offense to that hedgehog. Mega Man, find a weapon that can stall him. I'll see if X refilled his Sub-Tanks at some point."
"Sure thing, Spidey." Sonic replied.
Mario, Sonic and Mega Man charged forward while Peter debriefed Trixie on his plan, landing on the rooftop she was, "Give it all you got... I'm sure someone like Silver has to wear down at some point."
Trixie looked down, watching Greninja. He used his Hydro Pump ability to leap over the silver hedgehog's projectiles. The frog Pokémon then stomped down directly onto Silver's head, making him bounce and allowed him to repeatedly kick the psychic, stunning him even more as he was dropped right next to Ember.
The Dragon Lord saw Silver turn green again and she smacked him with her scepter. "Greninja." the frog ninja said.
Before Ember could react, she felt her entire body stiffen thanks to Silver's powers. "No more distractions. The Iblis Trigger will be destroyed for the greater good."
"Hm. Nah!" Sonic quipped, kicking Silver back as hard as he could. Mario uppercutted him, then Mega Man threw him with his Guts Arm. "Alright... Anybody got anything else to add?"
Silver cringed in pain. "Enough!"
Everyone within Silver's vicinity was held in his telekinetic grip. "Each of you pissed me off." his eyes flashed red again, "It's about time I succeeded in my mission! It's no use !"
X struggled, "Crap. I can't access any if my weapons or Sub-Tanks!"
"Me too!" Mega Man replied.
However, a loud roar distracted Silver, suddenly getting tackled by an older man. Logan flipped and resisted the urge to drive hus claws directly into the silver hedgehog. "About time I payed ya back fer nearly crushin' me." he said.
Silver panted, trying to focus, but nothing major was happening other than a short fuse of green. "Grah!" he screamed.
Then, appearing next to Wolverine was Shadow, who held up a Chaos Emerald, it glowing in its grip. "Chaos Control!"
Time slowed down, everyone around Shadow began to slow and eventually freeze in their place, including Silver. Shadow skated forward and leaped, spinning his body so that he could roundhouse kick Silver in the back of his head as hard as he could. The warp ended, and time flowed normally around the black hedgehog.
Silver hit the ground and he groaned. Spider-Man realized they were free from his grip and looked to Shadow, "What the heck happened?" he wondered.
"Chaos Control. I temporarily controlled the flow of time. The kick should be enough to bring Silver back to his senses." Shadow explained.
Gwen raised a brow, "Now you're all time lords?"
Sonic shrugged, "It's a temporary effect. The better the user can harness Chaos Energy the better they can manipulate its powers."
'Fascinating power.' Dream commented, 'Perhaps if I were to use it, I can tap into its power like him.'
Peter nodded, "That makes it less broken I guess. So, what do we do with him?"
"Are you kidding? Lock him up!" Trixie insisted.
Sonic raised a hand, "Now hold on." he knelt down and shook his rival's body, "Yo, Silv."
"H-Huh?" slurred Silver. "Sonic...?"
Peter folded his arms, "You're not calling him the Iblis Trigger now? What the heck happened to you?"
Silver slowly stumbled to his feet, "I-I'm not sure. A guy named Sigma, he messed with a rift... Tampered my memories when I attempted to close it on my own. His powers are unbelievable."
Spike shook his head, "Of course..."
X folded his arms, "I should've figured out Sigma was behind your manipulation."
The silver hedgehog nodded, "Yeah... I don't even know what memories these are."
"My theory was that with this merging, time and space are splintering together alternate timelines and even more dimensions than I thought, which is why Greninja, Gwen, and Logan are here." Peter commented as fast as he could. "The memories of an alternate timeline must've leaked into your mind because of Sigma."
"Did I miss something? Who the heck is Sigma?" asked Ember.
Spike answered, "The one behind this supposedly. He brought all our worlds together for some destruction scheme."
"And knowing Sigma, it means destruction." Zero added. "He's a Maverick from our world."
Silver slowly nodded, "So, all of you are from different dimensions? No wonder I didn't recognize most of you."
"You-a remember us, right?" Mario asked.
"Yeah." the hedgehog answered.
Luigi sighed, "Thank-a goodness."
Peter said, "I gotta admit, you have some nice powers. Last time I was held down like that was when I ticked Twilight off. Last week." he joked with a chuckle, "Anyway, think you could do us a favor when you recharge or whatever?"
Silver shrugged, "Sure."
"We have some friends back in a castle. You can't miss it. It's tall, shiny and kind of obvious to point out. There are a few beings trying to slow down the process of these merging worlds. Think you can help them while we find the Chaos Emeralds?"
Silver raised a fist, "Got it. This isn't the first time I've tampered with the Genesis Portals."
"Peter, what are you doing? He could help us." Trixie whispered.
"Eris and Luna are going to need all the help they can get, and I'm sure Twilight's worrying about going out there and helping them herself despite going against Luna's orders. Silver's strong enough to cover for the both of them, I'm sure." Parker explained. "Plus we got Ember and Greninja, and I don't even know who he is, but besides being a ninja, he seems trustworthy."
The frog ninja folded his hands, "Greninja."
Logan growled, "This team of yers just keeps gettin' more bizarre, kid."
Ember lowered her scepter, "Do you wish for me to aid you as well?" she wondered.
"It's up to you." replied Spider-Man.
The Dragon Lord nodded, "I can join you for the time then. It'd be an exercise especially with what you have planned when the time comes." she added.
"And what do you have planned?" Trixie budged.
"Consider this Prototype Project: Zero, Trixie." Spider-Man quipped, an idea ringing in his head, "We're the Defenders."
"A team name, really?" Gwen sighed.
"Everyone's a Defender, though." moaned Peter.
Sonic smiled, "Eh, it'll do."
Greninja crouched and nodded silently. Yoshi did the same. "Okay... So, uh, what do we do about Greninja being here?" Peter finally asked, unsure of how to process the newcomer's appearance now.
"There are-a other Pokémon. Maybe some-a are here-a as well." Mario suggested.
Spider-Gwen replied, "Well can we leave this place first? I can feel the lava and flames melting into my costume."
"Sure thing. Then we'll think of a plan." Spider-Man agreed.
"I sense the aura of another Pokémon nearby."
"Pikachu!"
The blue wolf responded, his black paw glowing blue as well, "I also sense another aura. Not of a Pokémon, but a force, between light and darkness... Almost balanced." he turned and noticed the heroes walking out of the rift away from the flaming city, "It is coming from the man in white. And he has Greninja with him."
"Pika Pika!" chimed in the yellow mouse.
"You're right, Pikachu. Perhaps they can help us with whatever is happening to our worlds."
