Prologue: Beyond Infinite
Sonic's World: During the Last Stand against the Eggman Empire
"Impossible," Infinite said, having been defeated by the hands of the blue hedgehog and the young rookie that he encountered long ago, as he started feeling off as he seemed to… glitch, "I cannot be defeated!"
"Wrong, loser!" Sonic said, as he walked up to the rookie, "The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul and the bonds of friendship. Three things you and your counterfeit cronies lack!"
Infinite angrily tried to get up, but something was happening to him, great pain within him and the Phantom Ruby prototype that was bonded with him, as the glitching got worse and he was starting to fade.
"No! Wait!" he struggled, "I can… still… fight!"
It was the last thing he said, before he was instantly vanished and blasted to the top of Eggman's reactor, via an energy wave.
He wasn't sure what happened next, but he felt like something… or someone else was controlling him, he looked around where he was now, and seemed to realize that, somehow, he was inside the Phantom Ruby!
Through the visions that past, he saw that Eggman, the very person that he was working with, was controlling it… him… them, from outside where he was. Following that, he witnessed Sonic, a small version of him and the rookie coming at Eggman for one last blow, until suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and pain struck Infinite as he screamed in agony, as if he truly was defeated.
And then… it all went black…
Unknown Location
Darkness.
That's all there was.
No space or time existed or past within there.
And then came a light, so small yet so bright.
When the flash of light cleared, it revealed a figure, a anthropomorphic jackal, floating unconsciously across the black void of nothingness.
He then slowly stirred, regaining conscious, before looking around in confusion.
"Wha-what happened?" Infinite thought aloud, "Where am I?!"
Soon, Infinite remembered what happened, and his confusion turned to anger.
"Sonic… Shadow… and those foolish friends of theirs…" he growled, as he clenched his fist, "I was so close…"
He then let out a scream of frustration and anger, as it echoed in the blackness of the unknown realm.
After screaming out his frustration, Infinite wasn't sure on what to do next, until a strange cracking sound was heard behind him.
The jackal turned to see what caught him off guard, there, appearing behind him looked like a large crack, in the form of a crooked smile, and as he looked closely, the crack began to grow open, letting out a bright light, causing Infinite to shield his eyes (despite having his mask on).
As the light dimmed down, Infinite looked to see a being made of light floating out towards him.
The being soon took form of a man, dressed in white leather jumper, jeans and boots, his eyes completely white as snow with no pupils, and his hair brownish black with a same colored beard to boot.
Infinite looked to the being for a few seconds before regaining his posture and spoke.
"W-who are you?" he asked.
"I am from beyond…" the being spoke, "A Dreamer. A Destroyer. All of reality is at my whim, and all that there is, is mine to control."
"I get what you describe yourself and where you're from, but who exactly are you?" Infinite asked.
"I told you, I'm from beyond." The being repeated.
Infite looked a little annoyed, but then said, "Okay, so you're the Beyonder, I get it."
The being soon grinned with interest as he said, "Beyonder, I like that name! Should use that more often."
The being, the Beyonder, then looked to Infinite as he asked, "And who, may I ask, are you. I don't quite get a lot of visitors around these parts."
"You may call me… Infinite. The most powerful being there is in existence." Infinite said proudly.
Only his smile within his mask frowned, when he heard the Beyonder chuckle.
"Really, Infinite?" the Beyonder said with a smirk, "You named yourself after a power that is nothing compared to that is Beyond Infinite."
"You dare mock me, fool?" Infinite snarled with a sneer.
"I'm just saying that, while you claim yourself to be infinite," the Beyonder said, "I'm quite curious on how someone so powerful as you claim to be end up here?"
Infinite huffed before looking to the Beyonder and spoke, "I was the most powerful being in my universe. A simple wave of my hand and I could trap many foes in labyrinths of their fears and my creations, thanks to the power of the Phantom Ruby!"
Infinite looked to see if the Beyonder was impressed, though while there seemed to be a smug grin, the Beyonder then spoke.
"Okay, I see what the problem here is…" he said.
"Problem?" Infinite frowned.
"Yeah," Beyonder nodded, "you see, you've been having to use a trinket like that Phantom Ruby jewel thing you had on ya. And the power you did, they're just virtual illusions that aren't real."
Infinite scrunched his fists as the Beyonder continued.
"Now with me, the powers I've been born with, the stuff I make, are 100% real as you and I, no smoke and mirrors, no projections, actual real matter." The Beyonder spoke proudly.
One wave of the Beyonder's hand, and Infinite's mask began to glow, shocking the jackal, seconds later, as he was covering his face, he could hear the being from beyond say, "Like helping you take this mask off to sort out that face."
Hearing this, Infinite suddenly felt his face, realizing that something had changed, before he was scarred and bruised following his fight with Shadow (resulting in him wearing the mask in the first place), but suddenly felt something different… yet familiar.
The Beyonder conjured up a mirror, and the jackal was surprised to see his face had been restored.
At first, Infinite thought it was like his powers, but after some time of feeling his face, it was definitely real.
"Guess that something better than your magic illusions." The Beyonder smugly said.
"Don't you dare mock the power I had!" Infinite huffed, trying to be annoyed while hiding his amazement of the repair done to his face, "I once used these powers of the Phantom Ruby to aid my partner, Dr. Eggman, in control of my world, before I was beaten by the world's protector, Sonic the Hedgehog!"
Hearing this, the Beyonder had an interesting thought, then spoke to Infinite.
"I see," he said, "from what you say, these two beings that you speak seem to be shown as, what can most could be described, a hero and villain."
"Yes. Why?" Infinite asked.
"You see," the Beyonder explained, "as a being from beyond, I have seen many curiosities of many realities, and I've been intrigued of each one's concepts of good and evil. This Sonic fellow, the one you say is your world's protector, is no doubt an agent for good, while the one called Dr. Eggman reprecents the concept of evil."
"And your point being?" Infinite asked, curiously.
"Therefore, I've been keen on creating the ultimate test." The Beyonder said proudly, "An experimental project on which is superior: Good or Evil?"
Infinite eyed curiously on what the Beyonder said, "A test? On which side is the strongest?"
"Exactly," the Beyonder grinned, "you see, there must be a ying with a yang, and light with darkness, order with chaos. So, it would be interesting on this experiment to see who prevails."
The Beyonder looked to Infinite and cunningly smiled as he said, "And here's my little proposal. Aside from your world, help me search other realities that share the same concept of good vs. evil, and maybe these worlds that haven't been introduced to this said concept, and perhaps, during this test, I could teach ways beyond your own powers, all the things you can think, all the stuff you can imagine, true power of that from beyond, in the palm of your hands."
Infinite had a small thought of this, feeling the face that was onced scarred and thinking of if what the Beyonder said was true, that maybe this power from beyond would be what he would truly need.
Maybe being infinite wasn't enough; maybe he could be beyond infinite.
"So, do we have a deal?" the Beyonder asked, holding out his hand, as a sign for Infinite to join him.
After some deep thoughts, Infinite turned to the Beyonder, a dark smile grew on his reborn face as said just one thing: "Where do we start?"
Sometime later…
Unknown Location. Unknown Time
Darkness.
That was all she could sense and see.
Until she slowly opened her eyes, her mind fuzzy from what happened.
Suddenly she rose up in alarm, as she cried out the first thing that came into her mind: "Lance!"
Startled, she slowly realized that not only the one she knew wasn't around, but also she looked to herself (still in her paladin suit and her hair down) and noticed that it was a sign that she seemed to be still… alive.
Standing up, Allura began to retrace what happened.
She remembered that she joined along with Honerva to help restore all realities, even at the cost of their lives, she said tearful goodbyes to her friends, especially Lance, the one who she truly loved, before making the ultimate sacrifice, joining the original Paladins of Voltron and Lotor in the afterlife.
But she was confused of what happened sometime afterwards, as in the afterlife, she and the others discovered a bright light, her own father crying out to her to run as it grew nearer, before she believed to have been pushed out to somewhere, and ended up somewhere else.
As all that happened, one word seemed to nag through her mind…
Galeem.
"Where exactly am I?" she said to herself aloud.
Allura looked as she stood up, and saw what stood in front of her.
There in front of her, stood a very bizarre landscape, while it looked like the usual landscape of any planet, such as Earth as she spent time on, she oddly sensed something… off with it.
It seemed like the were parts that were misplaced, such as one city combined with another so different, and even a forest nearby that seemed to have a bit of ice on most of a corner of it.
"What is this place?" she thought aloud, "And why am I here?"
She then began think, 'There has to be some reason why I'm here, why all this is happening… and what does this have to do with this Galeem…?'
She shook her head a little to pull herself together, as she looked back at the landscape in front of her.
"I'm not sure what is happening or what's going on," she then said with determination as she looked on, knowing that she would have to explore this new and mysterious world, "but I'm going to find out what, whatever it takes!"
Author's Note
So, how's that for a start of a story, of course that's just part 1 of the prolouge, so prepare for what comes next, as well as see who else has come to this new world!
Until next time, True Believers, Excelsior!
