Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe it,” were the thoughts going through Commander Abraham Tower’s head. “He’s back. He’d been in hiding for so long. He even left the solar system. What does he want now?”

Tower, along with the large number of soldiers in black and dark blue military uniforms with helmets and visors, stormed their way through the metal corridors of the Space Colony ARK, which was in Earth’s orbit. Their enemy had returned, and it was their duty to locate him.

“Why did he come back to the ARK? What could he possibly want? It’s been under GUN’s control since…”

Even though he still ran alongside the soldiers, his pace slowed when a realisation dawned on him. His narrowed determined eyes changed to appear widened, expressing his shock. He was so shocked that he even drew to a halt altogether.

“He wants Shadow.”

“Commander Tower!”

The older man escaped from the trance he had pulled himself into as soon as he heard the female voice from a soldier, who had stopped to check on him.

“Commander Tower, is everything alright?” she asked him, her own expression appearing concerned.

“All’s fine, Topaz,” he nodded, his mind returning its focus on the mission at hand. “Let’s stop him.”

Tower and Topaz ran on up the lengthy corridor, which possessed a window that stretched alongside it. Beyond the window was space itself, with the Earth being clearly visible.

“What could Robotnik be after?” Topaz asked her superior. “Why did he come to the ARK, of all places?”

Before Tower could even respond, he and Topaz ceased their running when a soldier was thrown out of the room they were seeking. They were shortly followed by another being thrown, almost like a ragdoll. And then another. Once back on their feet, they raised their rifles and were about to open fire, but several yellow-green spears of pure energy were launched towards the trio, destroying the weapons in their grasp. Many of the other soldiers who had come to the trio’s aid looked on into the room, only to appear horrified at what they saw.

“Horrifying, isn’t it?” spoke a voice, belonging to none other than Robotnik himself. He soon emerged from the room, wearing his usual red jacket with long coattails. “You’re not all familiar with what you guys at GUN have been hiding here for the past fifty years, are you?”

The rotund man glanced over at Tower, a sinister smile on his face.

“Abraham, I think it’s time we have a little reunion with an old friend.”

Slowly walking out of the room came an anthropomorphic hedgehog, not unlike the ones that lived on Mobius. This particular hedgehog had black fur and quills, with some of the quills being streaked red, and wore large white shoes with a red rim. Another notable physical characteristic they possessed was their stern demeanour, which eyed up and down Tower and scrutinised every detail about him. This included not just Tower’s grey hair, but the grey military uniform he wore, as well as his mismatched eyes due to heterochromia.

“Abraham?” spoke the hedgehog in a husky male voice. “Abraham Tower?”

The named human did not know how to respond. If anything, he appeared horrified, something which he never often was.

“You’re with them, aren’t you?” The hedgehog began to question him. “You’re working for GUN. Your uniform, as well as the ones worn by these soldiers, say so. You’ve allied yourselves with the people who took Maria from us.”

“I want to right GUN’s wrongs,” Tower sharply spoke, his tone indicating both sadness and anger.

“A poor decision,” spoke the hedgehog. “GUN are just the tip of the iceberg. Humanity is a lost cause. It’s because of humanity that Maria died. It’s because of humanity that Gerald’s work was shut down and he was killed. I will avenge Maria’s death when I acquire more power.”

“Shadow, please,” Tower spoke calmly despite the tenseness of the situation, identifying the hedgehog in passing. “Don’t make us fight you. If you think humanity is bad, why are you working for Ivo?”

He gestured to Robotnik.

“We have an alliance,” the scientist elaborated. “After he helps me get what I want, I’ll give him the power he needs to exact his revenge on this godforsaken planet while I’m elsewhere. Shadow – take me to my ship!”

Shadow was suddenly levitated by the jets that were built into his shoes, his sharp action leading to all of the present soldiers raising their weapons and pointing them at him. He grabbed Robotnik by the back of his jacket and began to fly off, carrying the sinister scientist along the way. Tower, Topaz, and the rest of the soldiers proceeded to chase after the duo, but the speed which Shadow flew, combined with the speed that seemed to emanate from him – creating a red electronic blur behind him – was nigh impossible for the forces of GUN to catch up with. Despite this, the militaristic force pursued their targets.

In a short span of time, Shadow had flown Robotnik to the docking bay, where Robotnik’s craft awaited him. It was immensely large, carrying all of his weapons, robots, and any tools he needed to create more machines, and almost resembled a giant egg on its side due to its shape and the metal being completely white. Shadow placed Robotnik on the floor and no longer flew, with the portly human pulling a remote out of his jacket and pressing the button upon it. The doors to his ship opened, revealing the Robo-pawns within that bared a passing resemblance to him. They walked into the ship, and once they were inside, they turned around to face the approaching GUN forces.

“Ivo!” Tower called. “Shadow.”

Robotnik pressed the button on the remote again, and as the doors closed, he began to walk further into his ship. It was only a few seconds after the doors had shut that the ship began to levitate, its engines humming as the distance between it and the floor grew further and further. The ship flew out of the docking bay, passing through the turquoise energy barrier that protected the occupants of the space station from the cold vacuum of space. The enemy craft turned to its right, and with an abrupt burst of energy, it flew further into space, disappearing from sight in only a few seconds.

Tower, along with the rest of the platoon, looked on at the empty area in front of them.

“He’s done it again.” A male soldier commented. “He’s left the solar system. Giving us the slip like he’s done twice before. He knows how to cheat the system.”

“He won’t,” Tower spoke through gritted teeth. His tone was hushed, holding back his anger. He faced the large number of soldiers before him. “We’re going after him.”

“But, sir.” Topaz faced him. “When he’s out of reach, he’s no longer under our jurisdiction.”

“I know it’s the rules, and I don’t care,” he responded to her. “That hedgehog he has under his control is more important than you could possibly imagine, not to mention that he could be a force for good when in the right hands. Under that man’s control, he’s going to return to us and possibly do more harm than he ever did when he was once here.”

The soldiers all glanced at each other, puzzled by Tower’s determination despite the rules he often enforced.

“Commander Tower…” Topaz was calm. “We don’t even know where they’ve gone. Heck, we don’t even know what they’re after.”

Tower glanced at her, seemingly calming himself. After gazing at her for several seconds, he walked off without even uttering a word. The rest of the soldiers yet again exchanged looks with one another before deciding to follow after their superior. They found themselves being led to the room that Shadow had emerged from with Robotnik, which appeared to be an old laboratory. Within it were various tables and equipment, but what was perhaps the most obvious detail was the red stasis capsule with a glass door that had been opened. There was no doubt as to what had been released from it.

Tower scanned his eyes across the papers on the tables, stopping when one particular mess of the materials caught his attention. He grabbed hold of one of the pieces of paper and presented it to the soldiers, with numbers being inscribed upon it.

“Coordinates?” Topaz guessed.

“They have to be,” Tower nodded. After placing the paper back down, he picked up a large piece of paper and presented it like the other piece of paper. Sketched upon it was a large green diamond, surrounded by seven smaller ones of various different colours.

“Diamonds?” asked a perplexed male soldier. “What would he want with diamonds?”

“I don’t know,” Tower shook his head. “But I’m not waiting to find out. We have the coordinates, and we also have the ability to travel beyond the solar system. Let’s find out what he’s up to.”

Chapter Text

“Welcome back,” Sonic nodded to Sally and Bunnie, who were approaching his family’s palace.

“It’s good tah see ya’ too, Sonic,” Bunnie replied. “Ah hear Silver’s got somethin’ to say to all of us.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I wonder what it could be. He only brought it up earlier this morning.” He then faced Sally. “Did you bring Nicole with you?”

“She’s right here.” Sally removed the grey clamshell-designed device out of her pocket and activated it, the holographic image of a purple lynx soon appearing.

“Greetings, Prince Sonic,” spoke the AI.

“Right,” Sonic nodded. “Follow me. Don’t worry, I won’t run for once.”

He held the door open for his guests, allowing them inside before himself before then walking ahead of them so he could lead the trio to the right room. The hallway itself had white walls with various paintings upon it, while the floor was a lavender carpet. After a quarter of a minute of navigation around the palace, the group entered a giant hall with white and black squared tiles upon the floor, as well as long tall stain glassed windows. At the opposite end of the hall were five chairs – two large, three slightly smaller – that were the thrones of the royal family of Mobotropolis. This hall just so happened to be the throne room, which was very rarely used save for public events.

In the throne room were none other than Aleena, Sonia, Manic, Tails, Amadeus, Rosemary, and Silver. They were all standing, with Silver standing on the same level the thrones were on, as they were on an elevated platform due to a small fleet of stairs that led up to them.

“We’re glad you could make it,” Aleena greeted Sally and Bunnie, shortly shaking their hands. “Unfortunately, we can’t discuss how our lives have been recently, as Silver has something urgent to say.”

“It is of great urgency,” he emphasised. “Are we all ready?”

Everyone who was present nodded or responded verbally.

“Right. Now that the Kingdom of Acorn has been fully rebuilt, I must tell you that we’ll need to prepare for an imminent crisis. As you all know, my place of origin was a now-alternate future where Aleena was corrupted by her magic and turned evil before taking over Mobius. While we were able to prevent that future from fully coming into fruition, there are still going to be consequences.”

“It’s Eggman, isn’t it?” asked Manic. Silver nodded before continuing what he had to say.

“A month after he was sent back to Earth by Aleena, he made his return. However, not just did he have another plan, but he was not alone. He was accompanied by an artificial being designed to be the ultimate lifeform, Shadow, who was created by an ancestor of his.”

“So Egghead’s family were scientists also?” Sonic enquired.

“Just this particular ancestor, who was his grandfather. When Robotnik returned, he sought some ancient relics that possess immense power. They’re called the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. Not just is the power they possess dangerous in the wrong hands, the Master Emerald contains an even more significant threat than Robotnik has ever been. That threat is a being called Chaos. If it’s released from the Master Emerald, it will cause widespread destruction and death on all of Mobius.”

“So, what’s it doing in the Master Emerald in the first place?” Tails asked Silver.

“It was imprisoned there,” Silver simply replied. “In the future I came from, it was unleashed unknowingly by Robotnik, and caused hundreds of deaths and a great amount of damage. It’s up to us to find the Chaos Emeralds and protect the Master Emerald before Robotnik can go anywhere near them.”

“What do you mean ‘find’?” Sonia walked up to the hedgehog with the grey fur. “Do you not know where the emeralds are?”

“I know only of the Master Emerald’s location,” he replied. “Angel Island.”

“Angel Island?” Amadeus reiterated what he spoke. “You mean that floating island?”

“That’s the one,” Silver nodded. “It’s guarded by a warrior. The last of his kind. The last of a noble clan.”

“Well, how are we going tah find tha Chaos Emeralds?” Bunnie questioned him. “Plus, ya’ said emeralds, which means there’s more than one.”

“There’s seven altogether,” Silver noted. “Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of where they are. I am only telling you what I know from my late father. I hadn’t been born when the war for Mobius begun.”

“Sonic, do me a favour.” Aleena approached the named son of hers. “I want you to go to the palace’s library and look for a book called Mobius: A Detailed History.”

“What for?”

“I think we may have the answer.”

Sonic instantly ran off, leaving behind a blue electronic trail behind him that shortly faded away. In less than a quarter of a minute, he returned to the throne room, carrying a large thick book with a blue leather cover.

“Here it is,” said the blue hedgehog, handing the book over to his mother.

“I had heard of the emeralds before,” Aleena noted. “I remember reading about them in my youth.”

She opened the book and skimmed over several pages. In less than the amount of time it took Sonic to make his way to the palace’s library and return, she found the correct page and read the text aloud.

“‘Over three-thousand years ago, seven colourful emeralds fell from the stars onto Mobius itself. The Mobians who retrieved the emeralds discovered they possessed immense power and, by using all seven of them at once, they combined their magic to create a single large emerald. Realising how dangerous these relics were, the seven emeralds were divided up and housed in hidden temples across Mobius. One was inside a volcano, another in an underwater labyrinth, another atop a snowy mountain, one in a forest, one in an underground cave by the ocean, another in a desert, and one in a jungle. Elsewhere, the emerald of combined power was kept on an altar on a floating island’.”

“Well, that narrows things down,” Silver observed. “But surely there are countless volcanoes, deserts, and so on on Mobius?”

“Surprisingly not,” Sonia responded. “Mobius is smaller than Earth, which is known for having many of those. If anything, there’s only one or two.”

“Another more scrutinised trip to the library is required,” Aleena boasted. “There are other books that mention those temples in great detail. Once we’ve found their exact locations, we’ll need to split up and go to where those emeralds are.”

“That’s going to be an issue.” Rosemary spotted a factor that would serve as a hinderance. “Amadeus and I need to prepare the armies of Mobotropolis and the Kingdom of Acorn, so neither we nor the soldiers can help locate the emeralds.”

“There may also be eight emeralds as a whole and more of us,” Amadeus added, “but I don’t think any of you should go alone when finding them.”

“We’ll just find help elsewhere,” Manic told him.

“That’s a good idea,” Sonic nodded. “We can recruit other friends we know. I know someone who could definitely help us.”

“And so do I,” Sonia added. “I can’t see them not wanting to help out.”

Chapter Text

Sonia decreased the speed of her motorbike until she had drawn to a complete stop and had parked her vehicle. Near the curb she rested her motorbike at stood a large estate, surrounded by a hedgerow with a tall metal gate that allowed access onto the site. The estate itself possessed a dome, with the overall location being half the size of the one previously owned by its owners prior to Robotnik’s last stand during his reign over Mobotropolis.

Sonia opened the metal gate and entered the property, shutting the gate behind her before approaching the front door, which was placed above a small fleet of steps. She rang the doorbell, and after several seconds, it was answered by an old friend of hers.

“Mindy.” Sonia identified the orange-haired fox wearing a purple robe.

“Sonia, darling!” Mindy briefly hugged her friend, who hugged back. “It’s been too long since we lost spoke. I am so sorry about what happened to you and your mother last month.”

“Thanks, Mindy. Sadly, there wasn’t any other way, and sometimes a sacrifice is needed. Look, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Of course,” Mindy nodded. “Please, do come in.”

“That won’t be necessary. All I need to do is ask you something.”

Mindy appeared surprise by what she had been informed of.

“Okay,” she replied plainly. “Well, what did you want to ask me?”

Sonia paused briefly before she spoke again.

“Would you be willing to go on a mission to save Mobius?”

Mindy almost performed a double take upon hearing the question. Of all the questions she expected to hear, she never anticipated on the one her friend had just spoke.

“Save Mobius?” Her tone indicated confusion and intrigue. “Is Robotnik going to come back again?”

“He is,” Sonia nodded. “But not just is he going to bring with him a being considered the ultimate lifeform, there is also the potential danger of a threat even bigger than he has ever been.”

Mindy was still trying to process what she had been told, as indicated by her perplexed expression.

“So… what would we have to do? Fight his army again?”

“That, but first we need to locate some artefacts that possess immense magical powers. It won’t be just you and me, as the others will be going off to find the other emeralds, as there are seven unless you include the largest and most powerful one.”

Mindy placed her finger and thumbs to her lips, locked in concentration as she thought over the new information she had received.

“There’s a lot more to unpack with this, I confess,” Sonia added, “but I can have a new acquaintance explain to you more about it in great detail.”

Mindy still remained quiet.

“There I was thinking Robotnik’s defeat three years ago would be the end of myself and my father having to save not just ourselves and our friends, but those less fortunate than us.” She then looked at Sonia with a smile. “If we’re going to be in peril yet again, I shall do my part and help everyone out.”

As with how he often travelled across Mobius unless the distance was too great, Sonic utilised his speed abilities to reach his destination. It was a small simple brick-built house which was of a circular build and possessed two storeys. He had only visited the location once before in the aftermath of Robotnik’s last stand, but he always knew where it was precisely situated at. It was on the outskirts of Mobotropolis in the country areas.

Sonic walked up to the door and knocked upon it, shortly waiting for a response. A few seconds later, it was answered by a tall rabbit wearing a lavender dress and a burgundy waistcoat.

“Your royalty!” The rabbit spoke in a soft feminine voice. Despite being startled by the royal hedgehog’s presence, she very quickly made sure she bowed to him. “How can I help you?”

“Is Amy about?”

“Yes, she’s home. I’ll just call for her.” She then poked her head back into her home and called for the person. “Amy, Prince Sonic wishes to speak to you!”

“I’ll be down in just a sec,” a voice called back from up the stairs.

“Please, do come in,” the rabbit encouraged Sonic.

“Thanks, Vanilla,” he replied, identifying her. A few seconds after he had entered the house, setting foot in the hallway, a pink hedgehog with short hair who wore a short reddish-pink dress with a matching hairband descended from the staircase that was also in the hallway. She was shortly followed by a young rabbit, who wore a short orange dress.

“Sonic?” The female hedgehog spoke his name as soon as she spotted him. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs with the young rabbit, she stood before the prince. Sonic was surprised at her appearance, as she was notably taller than she was the last time they had spoken – even though he was still taller – and her overall demeanour seemed more mature.

“Hey, Amy. How have things been since you moved in here?”

Amy hesitated, scratching the back of her neck. She seemed rather taken back by his presence.

“It’s been fine,” she simply replied. “I’ve got company. That’s all I needed to be happy.”

“I know it’s not the same as when your mum and dad were around, but you were moving from one resistance base to another back when Eggman took over. You just needed a little consistency.”

“Well, I certainly have it.” Amy gave a small smile. “Vanilla, let alone Cream, have always been there for me, just like you were. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been homeless after you and your family took Eggman down.”

“Well, I couldn’t just let you live like that.”

“Even after… you know…” She seemed hesitant, her face turning a slight shade of red.

“You had a crush on me?”

Amy almost jumped at his words.

“Yes. Had. Had a crush.” She now appeared almost flustered. After giving a nervous giggle, she cleared her throat and maintained her composure. “So, you came by just to check on how I’ve been?”

“Well, there’s that, and… I need your help.”

Amy yet again seemed startled by what she had been told.

“My help?” she asked him. He nodded back to her.

“To keep things as brief as possible, Eggman’s coming back to Mobius.”

“Again?” Vanilla appeared worried. “But he returned only a month ago until you defeated him again.”

“Well, we have an… inside source… who knows he’s coming back, and he’s coming with a dangerous guy named Shadow. The only way to stop him from causing more problems is to find some emeralds that are scattered across Mobius.”

“Emeralds?” Amy was perplexed by the information.

“Magical ones. There’s, like, seven of them. Eight if you include the big one that was created by using their powers combined. But the biggest one contains a dangerous creature called Chaos, who mustn’t be released from it. If it does, it’ll cause more trouble than Eggman ever did.”

Amy was still processing what she had been told. After several seconds, she responded.

“Can’t your family and the Mobotropolis army search for those emeralds?”

“The army needs to prepare itself for Eggman’s armada, the same for the army of the Kingdom of Acorn. Even with my mother, Manic, Sonia, Tails, Princess Sally, her AI Nicole, their friend Bunnie, and the guy who’s the inside source, we can’t risk going alone to find these emeralds, especially if Eggman pops up suddenly.”

“Might I make a suggestion, Prince Sonic?” spoke the young rabbit.

“Uh, sure, Cream.” Sonic was surprised by her sudden involvement in the conversation.

“We have friends who could help out. There were these three guys who helped find me when myself and my father went missing when Robotnik found all those resistance bases.”

“Team Chaotix.” Vanilla identified the people her daughter was referring to. “We’re still in contact with them from time to time, especially with the leader of the group.”

“That and, other than them and myself, we could ask our friend Big to help out.”

“Big?” Sonic asked her. “No offence, Amy, but Big is a little bit… how you say, not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

“He’s a lot better than you think,” Amy replied. “He’s a bit of a slow thinker, but when it comes to strength, he’s your guy. Plus, if you need someone who can fly, Cream is your girl.”

“I can fly by flapping my ears!” the child cheerfully told him.

“Everyone else is fine,” Sonic told her. “But not her. Amy, she’s only, what, five?”

“Six, your royalty,” Vanilla corrected him.

“Six,” Sonic nodded. “And I’m pretty sure Vanilla won’t be keen on her helping us.”

“On the contrary, your royalty,” Vanilla rebutted. “Amy, Cream, and Big go on adventures all the time. I’m fine as long as they return home at the right time and don’t cause other people trouble. I’ll be fine with her finding one of these emeralds, but then, she must return home.”

Sonic rolled his eyes.

“Fine. She can help us, too.”

“Yay!” Cream cheered. She then walked up to Sonic and firmly shook his hand. “Thank you, Prince Sonic. I’m looking forward to this adventure!”

Sonic glanced at Amy, who simply told him “I’ll keep her in check.”

Sonic soon returned to the throne room to be with the others, who were now accompanied by Mindy. She had ridden with Sonia on her bike back to the palace.

“So, were you able to get help?” Tails asked his friend.

“Yep,” the blue hedgehog nodded. “And not just the main person I was looking for. I was able to recruit not just some friends of theirs, but some other people they know.”

“So, who were you looking for, bro?” Manic asked him.

“Amy.”

“Amy?” Silver asked, having not known who the person was.

“An old friend of his,” Manic told the telekinetic hedgehog. “She thinks he’s her boyfriend.”

“She used to,” Sonic quickly corrected him. It was evident he was embarrassed by her past antics. “She’s a lot different now. She seems… mature.”

“Well, we did make sure she was in good hands,” Aleena noted. “In fact, back when I had to abandon you, Manic, and Sonia for the Oracle’s prophecy, Manic was supposed to go into Vanilla’s care.”

“Was I really, Mum?”

She nodded back.

“She wasn’t always the nice person she has since become. I hoped her having to raise Manic would’ve changed who she was, but it took a little while longer for that to occur.”

A short while later, Amy and Cream arrived at the palace, where they were met outside the front of it by Sonic. With the visitors was Big, a large purple cat with floppy ears, who carried a small green frog on his head.

“Hi, Big,” Sonic greeted him. “I see Froggy chose to come along, too.”

“Yup,” spoke the cat in a deep voice. “Froggy always likes to go with me wherever I go.”

“What about the others?” Sonic asked Amy. “The Chaotic Group, or whatever they’re called.”

“Team Chaotix said they’re going to make their own way,” replied the pink hedgehog, who was carrying her large yellow and pink piko hammer. “Oh, and be warned – they’re very money-oriented.”

Sonic led them into the throne room, where the others noticed the arrival of the new members.

“Is that a child?” Amadeus observed an obvious detail. “Are you seriously telling us that a small child is going to be involved in this potentially dangerous mission?”

“She’s under Amy and Big’s supervision,” Sonic plainly responded. “Once they find their emerald, she’s going home. I’ll be outside waiting for the others.”

Sonic made his way back to the front of the palace, choosing to casually walk their opposed to running to his destination with his enhanced speed. No sooner had he shut the door and faced the horizon, a trio of Mobians approached the palace. One was a crocodile who wore a golden chain necklace and black headphones, another was a magenta chameleon with a yellow nose horn and a curly tail, while the last member of the trio was a humanoid bee, who hovered alongside his teammates.

“Your royalty!” spoke the crocodile once he stood before Sonic. He even bowed before him. “Vanilla said you needed some help, so I’d like you to meet our group – Team Chaotix. I’m Vector, this is Espio.”

He pointed to the chameleon, who simply nodded with his serious demeanour.

“And this is Charmy.”

“Hi!” waved the bee cheerfully.

“We’ll be glad to help you and your friends and family, but I’ve got to warn you – we charge by the hour.”

“You might want to discuss that with my mother,” Sonic noted.

“Ah, yes! Queen Aleena Hedgehog herself.” Vector faced his peers. “We’re actually going to be in the presence of royalty, guys! We’re hitting the big time for sure!”

“Calm yourself, Vector,” Espio sternly spoke. “We have a duty to fulfil that concerns the fate of Mobius.” He then faced Sonic. “Your royalty, if you would please give us the details of the mission itself, for we currently only know of the bare minimum of what’s required of us.”

“There’s a lot to unpack,” Sonic confessed. “My mother and the guy who knows that Robotnik’s back have more information, so we’re all going to need to consult them. Come with me into the palace and we’ll take things from there.”

Chapter Text

Floating high above the ocean of Mobius itself was Angel Island, the much-fabled floating island. The surface was one large jungle, with grey mountains on one side while various small waterfalls that descended into the ocean below. In the centre of the island was the altar which the Master Emerald was kept, built up of two large circular stone slabs – the bottom one bigger than the one that rested upon it – with a flight of stairs climbing to the top. It was at the very top where the large green emerald was rested, hovering mere inches off of the stone bricks beneath it.

Standing beside the Master Emerald was its guardian, a red echidna warrior. He walked around the emerald, circling it as he often did, all while staring at the giant jewel before him. It was colossal in size, being larger than he was, but he always had the strength to carry it if the situation called for it.

“Excuse me.”

He sharply turned his head as soon as the soft female voice caught his attention. He immediately noticed Aleena, who had just reached the top of the altar.

“I believe you are the guardian of the Master Emerald.”

“That is indeed the role that has been bestowed upon me,” he replied, speaking in a slow notable baritone. “It is a role that I have succeeded my father and my grandfather in. I believe you are the Queen of Mobotropolis, Queen Aleena Hedgehog?”

“That is who I am,” she nodded, watching as the sentinel bowed before her, even going so far as to bend down on his knees.

“Allow me to introduce myself.” He shortly stood back up. “I am Knuckles.”

“Knuckles?” Aleena was perplexed by what she had been told.

“My name comes from an ancient clan who lived on Angel Island many centuries ago. It was our task to guard this ancient relic from falling into the wrong hands. However, there have been times where its power has been used by others, seemingly for good.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Twice before. Over fifty years ago, an inhabitant of the planet Earth visited here and was able to take some of its chaos energy with them. We never knew of what they later used such immense power for. Later, almost twenty years ago, an older wiser being acquired magical abilities that allowed them the ability to see the events of what was yet to come. As with the inhabitant of Earth, there has been no news on what happened to them.”

“Earth.” Aleena was processing what she had been told. “Could this person have been the ancestor of Robotnik who created Shadow? No other humans have come to Mobius. Plus, this older wiser being… could this warrior be referring to the Oracle of Delphius? Were his abilities a form of magic from the Master Emerald all this time? If this is the case, then that means the powers he granted myself and my children are an offshoot of the true potential that that giant emerald contains.”

She stared on at the Master Emerald, in awe at its immense size, how perfectly polished and clean it was, along with how it seemed to glow. Aleena could not tell if the glow was from the power within it, or just the sunlight shining upon it.

“Your majesty?”

The queen was brought back to reality, her focus having fixated on the emerald for a long period of time in an almost hypnotic way.

“Sorry.” She rubbed her eyes. “I must ask – was this older wiser being reptilian in nature and wore a cloak?

Knuckles cocked his head to a side.

“That describes the person perfectly if what my father said is accurate. Did you know of them?”

“Yes,” Aleena nodded after briefly hesitating. “They were the one who made me separate from my children to fulfil the prophecy that would overthrow Robotnik.”

“The one from Earth,” Knuckles noted. “The second other one to visit our homeworld. My condolences for the havoc he has caused. I would have helped save you and the Kingdom of Acorn, but my duty is to protect this emerald.”

“You do not need to apologise. However, it is regarding your position as the sentinel of the Master Emerald that I must speak to you about. Not just is Mobius in danger, it concerns the protection of the Master Emerald.”

“I am perfectly capable of protecting it, your majesty.” Knuckles seemed prideful. “I have enough strength and power to fend off any thieves. In fact, I am often finding myself in conflict with a jewel thief who regularly comes here.”

“You won’t be able to protect it alone. Robotnik is going to return to Mobius with an army, and not just does he seek the Master Emerald, he is after seven smaller emeralds connected to it.”

“The Chaos Emeralds?” Knuckles raised an eyebrow. “Does he know of their locations?”

“He does,” Aleena nodded. “And so do myself and a team consisting of friends and family of mine know where they are. He wishes to use them for his own malicious intentions, and we are striving to stop him. However, that’s not the biggest problem afoot. Surely you are aware of the creature within the Master Emerald?”

Knuckles instantly appeared confused.

“Creature? What creature?”

“You’ve never heard of it?” Aleena questioned him, genuinely surprised by his response. “It’s known as Chaos.”

A deep, pulsating humming could suddenly be heard. Knuckles noticed how Aleena was looking at the Master Emerald again, so he slowly faced it, only to see that it was glowing off and on in a pulsating manner. The glowing and the humming appeared slow at first, but gradually picked up in pace until the interval where no glow or hum were seemingly present. A green beam of energy shot out of the emerald, pointing at the floor as it projected a green holographic image of an echidna. This echidna was female, wearing a tribal skirt and midriff-baring top, and like Knuckles, appeared to be a teenager.

“The words she speaks are true,” spoke the projection.

Both Knuckles and Aleena glanced at each other with wide eyes.

“Is this Chaos?” he asked her.

“My name is Tikal,” spoke the echidna. “I was a member of the Knuckles Clan many centuries ago. My father, the chieftain Pachacamac, had enraged the guardian of the Chao, Chaos. Chaos killed my father and attempted to wipe out the Knuckles Clan. To prevent them from causing more damage, I had to seal them away within the Master Emerald. To do so, that meant I had to be with them.”

“I did not know of these events,” Knuckles noted. “Perhaps the Knuckles Clan erased parts of history from our knowledge to ensure the safety of Mobius.”

“That would be the case,” Aleena nodded. She then faced Tikal again. “You said Chaos was the guardian of the Chao. What’s that?”

“Small creatures native to Angel Island,” Tikal told her.

A high-pitched babbling, almost childlike in nature, could suddenly be heard from the bottom of the altar. Aleena and Knuckle’s focus switched to the small turquoise creatures with stumpy limbs that flew using the small pink wings on their backs.

“That’s them,” Knuckles informed Aleena. “Although they can live in other locations, so I’ve heard.”

“Chaos is a mutated Chao,” Tikal informed the duo. “They bear no resemblance to Chao anymore, being made entirely of water-like energy. They are immortal and cannot be killed, which is why I had to seal them away.”

“You’ve been inside the emerald some time,” Knuckles stated the obvious. “How are you still alive?”

“I’ve used the energy of the Master Emerald. I have seen so many changes to the world since the day I sealed myself away with Chaos. Many warriors have guarded this emerald, and you have done exceptionally well.”

“Thank you,” Knuckles nodded.

“There is a potential threat to the safety of the emerald,” Aleena informed Tikal.

“I know,” Tikal replied. “I heard what you said. As long as your friends and family do what they can, Chaos will remain sealed away with me.”

“Come on, Abraham. I can’t wait for you to meet him!”

“Greetings. I hear that you’re this ‘Abraham’ Maria was referring to.”

“What is he? He looks different.”

“He’s a hedgehog. Grandad made Shadow all by himself and says he’s going to help cure me. I won’t be sick anymore.”

“How did he make him?”

“In his lab here on the ARK. He created me to be the ultimate lifeform.”

“He even has special powers. Do you think I’ll get powers like you do, Shadow?”

“Commander Tower?”

Tower snapped out of his thoughts, Topaz’s voice returning him to reality. He was so focused on his memories that he had almost forgotten he was aboard a large space vehicle, Letter of Gabriel, that was owned by GUN. At that moment in time, it was travelling through space at lightspeed. He was standing on the bridge, facing the large thick-glassed window that was at the front of the ship.

“We estimate half an hour before we arrive at the destination the coordinates point us to.”

“Very good, Topaz,” he quietly responded, the woman nodding before walking away.

Tower continued gazing out the window, his hands clasped behind his back as he returned to his thoughts.

“I need to save him. For Maria’s sake.”

Chapter Text

Tails piloted his red biplane, the Tornado, while Sonic was seated in the backseat of the flying vehicle. The Tornado flew over many fields and rocky landscapes until it reached a row of volcanoes. They all stood tall, being built up of a mixture of grey rock and brown soil, with various plants and shrubbery growing upon them.

“This is it,” Tails announced. “The temple that houses one of the emeralds is in one of those volcanoes. It’s only a case of figuring out which one and how we’re going to get in there.”

“Perhaps it’s the one with the path that leads into a tunnel.”

“What?”

Sonic pointed to what he was referring to, making his young friend look at what he had noticed. There was indeed a winding path on one of the volcanoes, leading right from the very bottom right up to a tunnel in the side of the potentially-explosive mountain.

“Well, that certainly narrows things down,” the fox remarked, shortly landing the Tornado at the base of the volcano. Once the duo had stepped out of the biplane, they looked up at the volcano – the second from their left – and thought over what they were about to do.

“I wonder what it’s going to look like in there.” Sonic was curious. “Obviously, I expect a lot of lava, but the question is will it prevent us from finding the emerald.”

“Depending on the environment, I could fly the Tornado in. Let’s have a look first.”

The two began their walk up the path on the volcano which, while steep, was by no means a challenging climb. Once they were almost halfway up, Sonic turned to Tails and spoke to him as they walked.

“Say, Tails… what do you think of the princess?”

“Princess?” Tails was puzzled by the question. “Do you mean Princess Sally?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Just curious, that’s all.”

Tails paused for a bit as he focused on his thoughts.

“She’s a nice person. It’s a shame what happened to the Kingdom of Acorn, let alone her family, but you’d know what that’s like.”

“Yeah,” Sonic nodded. “But I only lost my father, who I never knew. She knew her parents long before Robotnik came along and killed them.”

The fox once again focused on his thoughts, but gazed up at his friend. While Sonic did seem internally focused on something, Tails did not decipher a sadness to him. If anything, he had an idea as to why Sonic had prompted him with the random question.

“Sonic… by chance, do you have a crush on Princess Sally?”

The blue hedgehog suddenly drew to a halt, appearing shocked as he tried to sputter out a response.

“What, me? Have a crush? On her? Don’t be ridiculous!”

Tails folded his arms and gave a smug smile, cocking one of his eyebrows in the process. Sonic gave a frustrated sigh.

“Fine. I do. We’ve already been friends since I helped her when Robotnik came back a month ago, but… I just feel different about her.”

“Well, you are that age when hormones are rampant.”

“And so are you!”

“But I’m younger.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have a possible crush on anyone.”

“At the moment, I don’t. I’ve been focusing on all my inventions that I haven’t finished yet, so I haven’t really had a crush on anyone.”

“Not even on the TV or in a movie?”

Tails shook his head.

“Come on. Surely there’s been some celebrity or even a character who you’ve crushed on. Not even the princess who you need to save in that video game?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on! I’ve crushed on her before. Everybody does!”

“Why don’t we focus on looking for this emerald before Robotnik and Shadow come along.”

Sonic sighed once again.

“Yeah, you’re right. There are bigger things at stake than this.”

The duo continued their journey, very shortly entering the tunnel on the side of the volcano. To their surprise, the tunnel itself was surprisingly bright, the light source being none other than the magma within the mountain itself. The tunnel led into the centre of the volcano, where there were stone platforms suspended above the large pool of bubbling magma that would prove fatal with one wrong step. In the dead centre of the platforms, which all connected, stood a small temple, where a large round grey rock stood. It was twice Sonic’s height, and within it was a red emerald, which glimmered whenever the light was able to shine upon it.

“There it is,” Tails quietly commented. “The emerald.”

“It’s stuck inside that rock,” Sonic noted the obvious. “How did it get in there?”

“I can think of two ways. Either the person who put it here used its power to manipulate the rock to cover it like that, or perhaps, since we’re in a volcano, the magma got on it and cooled.”

“But it didn’t break the emerald if it’s the latter.”

“They’re not from Mobius,” Tails reminded him. “Maybe they work differently. Either way, we need to get it out before Eggman comes along.”

“Not unless I get a hold of it first, boys.”

The almost-purring female voice both shocked the fox and the hedgehog, who had both assumed they were alone up until that point. They both turned around to see who was behind them, only to learn it was another Mobian. A bat, to be precise, who wore a long black unitard with a pink heart-shaped chest plate with long white heeled boots. Her fur was a light grey and she wore pink lipstick.

“Oh, my.” She pretended to act surprised. “I had no idea I was in the presence of royalty. Prince Sonic of Mobotropolis, if I recall correctly? Now, what would a person like you with all the riches in the world need a little gem like this for?”

“Ma’am, do you have any idea what that thing is?” Sonic questioned her.

“A shiny rock that would look good in a display case or be exchanged for a considerable amount of money?”

“You clearly knew that it existed here,” Tails noted.

“I know of all the places on Mobius where the most valuable things are. I know that there’s a big one of these in green on Angel Island. Believe me, I’ve crossed paths with its guardian several times.”

“Do you know anything about it?” Sonic then asked her.

“It’s an ancient emerald that looks pretty,” the bat replied. “That’s all I care about. Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rouge. I think you’ll find I like to hunt for a lot of shiny, valuable things, so this beauty will be a fine addition at home.”

“It’s magical,” Sonic bluntly informed her. “It’s more than just a shiny object you can pawn. It’s dangerous and we need to get it before someone else does.”

“Oh, don’t treat me like I don’t know those old legends.” Rouge clearly liked toying with the duo. “It’s just an emerald. Only you and your family have magic – or rather, only you and your brother have powers. I heard about what happened to your sister and mother. That truly was terrible.”

“Let’s just get the emerald out,” Sonic plainly told Tails, tiring of their conversation with the jewel thief.

“How do you think you’re going to do it?” Tails asked him.

“Easy.”

Sonic leapt into the air, instantly spinning himself into a blue spiky ball of quills and homed in on the rock with tremendous force, shattering it. Sonic landed back on the stone platform the temple was on and faced the emerald, which was still slightly embedded in the rock.

“All we need to do is simply lift it out.”

He reached both of his arms out and placed his hands under the emerald, and just as his gloved hands made contact with the crimson relic, a red static spark quickly made his hands retreat. Other than himself, Tails and Rouge jumped at the occurrence out of shock.

“What was that about?” Rouge enquired.

“No idea,” Sonic shrugged. “Perhaps it’s just static from my homing attack.”

He repeated his actions again, this time touching the emerald with no spark occurring. He was easily able to remove it from the rock and passed it to Tails, who removed his yellow backpack from his back and was about to open it when Rouge quickly snatched the emerald from his grasp.

“Hey!” yelled the fox, the bat attempting to fly up out of the volcano. Sonic once again performed a homing attack, hitting Rouge – albeit with not as much force – making her drop the emerald, which Tails grabbed hold of again and promptly tucked the item away in his backpack.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hit girls?” Rouge questioned him.

“Well, criminals and the fate of Mobius means that rule can be bent a bit.” Sonic folded his arms at her. “Let’s get out of here, Tails. Let’s hope the others are doing just as fine.”

Chapter Text

Tasked with locating the emerald in an underwater labyrinth in the ocean, Sonia and Silver used a small submarine to travel there. It possessed a thick spherical glass dome that covered its cockpit, where the two hedgehogs were seated, with Sonia piloting the underwater vehicle.

“Honestly, this is like something out of an adventure movie,” the pink-haired female remarked. “Us, going underwater to find a temple and the emerald within it, all just to save Mobius.”

“Life is an adventure,” Silver noted. “It has its ups and downs. If anything, everything you, Manic, and Da—I mean, Sonic went through was an adventure in and of itself.”

No sooner had he performed his slip of the tongue, Sonia slowly faced him. He was clearly embarrassed.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? Meeting the guy who’s your father when he was younger.”

“It was weird meeting all of you. You’re nothing like the people that I grew up knowing. Granted, Manic still was that mad uncle in moments of reprieve, but you and Dad were so different. He was so serious in the future, but here, he’s very mellow. And you… well, while you are still serious quite serious, you’re not as serious as you were where I came from. You were very worried about your mother and how she turned evil, and were worried that it could happen to you too. You weren’t open to anyone after all those years of war. You kept your distance from everyone.”

Sonia was clearly bothered by what she had been told, as evident by her concerned face.

“Thank goodness we altered the future,” she quietly spoke. “But what about my mother… what did you think of her coming back here?”

“At first, I had nothing but hatred for her. I grew up knowing she was evil, but you, Dad, and pretty much everyone kept telling me there was good in her. I refused to believe it, so I decided to alter the mission to assassinate Robotnik and assassinate her instead. If anything, doing so allowed me to disown my family knowing how my own father was a descendent of a powerful and corrupt dictator.”

“That explains why you didn’t acknowledge your relation to us at first,” Sonia observed. Silver nodded to this.

“I’ve since learned that she really did have good in her. She’s warm, friendly, willing to help others, even going so far as to put herself in harm’s way not just for her family, but for the sake of Mobotropolis. You know, all this talk about our family reminds me…” He leaned closer to her. “I want to tell him and Sally. I want to tell everyone. I just don’t know how or when.”

Sonia processed what she had been told before providing a response. There was a long silence before she spoke.

“Let’s stop Robotnik first, and then you can tell everyone who’s related to you. Sonic, Manic, our mum, Sally – those have priority.”

He nodded to this.

“The labyrinth!”

He pointed at the structure in front of them. It was built entirely of concrete, even possessing a roof that covered it. There was an entrance, being nothing more than a large open doorway that showcased the darkness within.

“Let’s do this.” Silver was determined. “For Mobius.”

Sonia gently piloted the submarine into the ominous labyrinth, the lights attached to the submarine illuminating the originally-dark maze. The walls were weathered from the salt of the ocean, with various fish and crustaceans being present in the ancient site; crabs scuttled across the ground, while fish of different sizes passed the submarine as if it was not there.

“If I remember correctly, you have photographic memory.”

“Indeed, I do,” Sonia smiled. “And that’s how I know I’m going to know our way out of here.”

After several more minutes of navigating the structure, they found themselves in its centre. It was there where the temple that housed the emerald stood, with the emerald itself being dark blue in colour. Like the one in the volcano, it was rested upon a pedestal, but unlike that one, it was not trapped in rock.

“There it is,” Silver commented. “So, how are we going to get it? Use my powers, or use the mechanicals arms of the sub?”

Without verbally responding, Sonia activated the mechanical arms of the submarine, which were nothing more than long metal poles with joints and a three-finger end to grab objects, no different in design than the ones used in arcade machines. Using only one arm, she grabbed hold of the emerald, a smug grin on her face.

“You could have said so.”

“Actions speak louder than words, nephew!”

Instead of reversing, Sonia steered the vehicle until it turned around completely before traversing the labyrinth once more. After several minutes of twists and turns, the submarine had left the labyrinth and headed to the surface. A few minutes of travelling later, the submarine arrived at the small wooden pier where Sonia and Silver had acquired the vehicle to begin with. Once it was parked, the duo climbed out of the underwater vehicle and stood upon the planks of the pier, with Silver using his powers to claim the emerald from the grasp of the mechanical hand.

“Now, let’s take a closer look.” Sonia was intrigued.

She watched as the emerald floated to Silver, and just before he could touch it, a static spark emerged from between the blue emerald and his fingertips. It made him flinch and turn his hand away, making him stop using his powers and drop the item onto the deck. He quickly picked it up with his other hand, inspecting it in the sunlight and allowing the sun’s rays to shine through it.

“It’s beautiful,” Sonia noted. “No one would’ve thought these things were doomsday weapons in the wrong hands.”

“And that’s why we have to use them against Robotnik. After that, you should keep them. Your family… I mean, our family should be their guardians.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Sonia nodded. She paused before speaking again. “You know, when I looked into your memories a month ago… I saw the emeralds. All of them. Not just the Chaos Emeralds, but the Master Emerald, too. I saw all the destruction they caused.”

“And that was years after the war began. Come on – let’s meet up with the others.”

Chapter Text

“We have reached our destination,” spoke Nicole, the holographic image of the purple lynx being projected out of her device. “This is the mountain where one of the Chaos Emeralds is located.”

“Good work, Nicole,” Sally nodded. “Would it be possible to detect the safest route to climb to wherever the emerald is located on it?”

“Of course, your royalty. Allow me to calculate and determine the best course of action.”

After several beeps from the device and the flickering of the hologram, Nicole faced her creator once more.

“If the geography of the mountain remains the same as the old data I have been provided with, a path should be not too far up ahead that will not just lead you up the mountain, but right to the location of where the emerald is stored.”

“Ah can see it!” Bunnie pointed. Indeed, there was a path straight ahead of them, which had been eroded into the snowy mountain itself. The path was smoothed out entirely, but the smoothness was also caused by the snow and ice that laid upon it.

“This is one tall mountain,” Sally remarked, with Nicole replying “it is approximately thirteen-thousand feet.”

“You can say that again.”

“It is approximately thirteen-thousand feet.”

“It was a figure o’ speech, Nicole,” Bunnie told her. Sally faced her, a look of determination on her face.

“Let’s get going.”

The duo and their holographic companion began their journey up the mountain, which was fortunately not too steep to climb. However, as expected of a mountain that contained snow and ice, the temperature and weather were what made the journey appear strenuous. Snow fell down in large numbers, while strong icy winds hailed upon the climbers, but they refused to back down.

“Say, Sal.”

Sally, who had taken the lead, looked back at her friend as they continued their climb up the winding path, which even went completely around the mountain itself.

“There’s one thing that ah still don’t get.”

“What’s that?”

“Why are y’all so nice to me?”

Sally stopped dead in her tracks and looked straight at Bunnie.

“Well, why not?”

“Why? Wha’ do you mean ‘why’? ‘ave ya seen what ah look like?” Bunnie flexed her cybernetic fingers. “Ah’m a freak. Ah mean, am ah a rabbit or a robot? Ah’m both because of Eggman.”

“You are what is referred to as a cyborg, Bunnie,” Nicole corrected her. “A cybernetic organism. A being that consists of both organic and inorganic matter, with the latter often being machinery.”

“But ah’m not who I was.” Bunnie seemed very upset. “Ah’m not the rabbit who I’ve always been. Ah’m a freak. Ah don’t get why you and everyone else still like me. Ah’m no worse than the machines that Eggman made.”

“No, you are not.” Sally was firm with her. “Bunnie, you are the same person. I was so happy to see that Queen Aleena’s magic had brought you back to life. Just because you’re not one-hundred percent a rabbit anymore doesn’t mean you’re not my friend anymore. Plus, who cares about all of this.”

She gestured to her robotic arm and legs.

“All that matters is what’s in here.”

She pointed straight at Bunnie’s chest.

“Well, ah still do have mah heart,” Bunnie noted. “That’s one thing the magic fixed.”

“I don’t mean it literally,” Sally laughed. “I meant it figuratively. Bunnie, the only time you weren’t yourself was when Robotnik had brainwashed you after your roboticization, and even then, all it needed was a small alteration and you were back to your regular self. You’re always going to be my friend, plus no one looks at what happened to you and thinks you’re a freak because of it. If anything, it serves as a reminder of what we’re fighting for; to stop that from happening ever again.”

Bunnie gave a small smile.

“Thanks, Sal. Let’s find this emerald.”

The perilous trek continued up the cold mountain, and after almost twenty minutes more of traversing the icy path beneath them, the trio had discovered something new. It was the opening to a tunnel, which seemingly led into the mountain itself.

“This looks promising,” Bunnie observed, prompting Nicole to specify “the emerald should be within the mountain itself.”

They entered the tunnel, with the light from Nicole’s holographic body illuminating the inside of the tunnel itself. It was not already overly dark to begin with, but the light provided them with an advantage. The passageway seemed to twist and turn within the mountain, with the occasional elevation and depth occurring every few turns.

“There it is.”

Sally instantly caught eye of the emerald within the new area she and her friends had only just entered. It was a large spacious room carved within the mountain itself, and while it was built up of rock, it was covered in a very thin layer of ice. In the centre of the room was a gigantic boulder, and resting upon that was the small temple that housed not just the pedestal for the Chaos Emerald, but the emerald itself. This one, fittingly, was white like the ice that covered it, unintentionally sealing it onto the pedestal which held it.

“Ya’d ‘ave thought it was just a shiny rock,” Bunnie remarked. “It looks nah differen’ than any other diamonds ah’ve seen before.”

“It looks as though it’s stuck because of the ice,” Sally observed.

“Leave that tah me.”

With no further words, Bunnie extended her cybernetic legs, elevating her off of the ground, providing the impression she was on metallic stilts. She approached the temple so she could have a closer look at the emerald, to which she then extended her cybernetic arm slightly. Grabbing hold of the emerald with her hand and gripping it tightly, the immense strength she could unleash with it shattered the ice, and yet the emerald was unscathed. She pulled her arm back, the emerald in her hand as she lowered herself back down to the same level as Sally and Nicole.

“See?” Sally faced her. “You’re still useful to us. If anything, you being the way you are is an advantage for us, just like with Sonic and Manic having their powers.”

“Ya’ right,” Bunnie nodded. “It’s a good thing ah’ve learned how to master all these robot parts in the last month.”

“Our mission is complete,” Nicole declared. “We must now seek the others and see if they have acquired their emeralds.”

The emerald which Manic and Mindy had been tasked with locating was the one fabled to be situated within a forest. The forest in particular was between Mobotropolis and the Kingdom of Acorn, thus it was not too far for the hedgehog and the fox to venture off to.

“It’s a good thing I changed before we came here,” Mindy commented. “We’re almost up to our ankles in mud and leaves.”

She had since changed her attire to that of a grey tracksuit with brown mountain boots that stretched up to her knees. Indeed, both she and Manic were both finding themselves treading upon mud and leaves within the forest itself, which stretched for miles. There was nothing but tall thick trees with an immense amount of bright green leaves upon their branches, while old leaves that were either red, orange, or yellow had long since fallen onto the ground and merged with the mud.

“Well, what you’re wearing is quite practical,” Manic noted. “Especially those boots. If Sonic was with us, he’d just whizz across the mud like it was no big deal.”

“And probably pelt us in it too. I’d rather have the type of mud that’s good for the skin on me and not this, but hey – we’ve got a planet to save.”

Manic looked up at Mindy, who was actually taking the lead with their trek through the forest. He slowly followed after her, almost in awe at her presence as he watched her determine a route through the mud until she would eventually find herself on dry dirt once more.

“Man, she’s really come a long way.” He thought to himself as he continued following her. “To think she used to be super fussy like Sonia once was, but after that whole ordeal with those robots disguised as watches, she’s put herself before others and understands what it’s like for those less fortunate than her. And yet… she still looks so proper and beautiful. We’re both rich, with me even being royalty, but I’m as scruffy as they come. There’s no way she’d want to go out with someone like me. She’d be better off with someone like Sonia if she was a boy. Heck, Sonic would probably do a better job than me at getting a girl. He just doesn’t look into it. He’s always had the better powers, ditto for Sonia and Mum until they lost their magic abilities. I mean, vibrations? I wish I had Sonic’s speed also.”

“Is something wrong?”

Mindy’s voice caught his attention. She was now on a bank of soil, while Manic was several feet away, his ankles immersed in the mud and leaves beneath him. He had become so focused on his thoughts that he had stopped walking altogether.

“Uh, no.” His reply was fast. “Just… just thinking about stuff, that’s all. Just thinking about all these emeralds we’re looking for.”

He ran up to where Mindy was and they proceeded with their journey. For a few minutes more, they walked in a straight line through the forest, only to stop in a large arena-like space, filled with stone pillars that had long since fallen or had been eroded by rain.

“This feels like the right place,” said the green hedgehog. “The only question is where that emerald is.”

“Look over there.”

Mindy pointed to the tall hill of dirt ahead of them, where there appeared to be a stone pillar that was partially merged with it. The duo approached the structure, with Mindy eying up the pillar. Atop the hill itself was a large tree, with some of the roots even sticking out the dirt near the pillar.

“I get the feeling what we want is within this wall of dirt. Manic, do you think your powers could uncover what’s in here?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he smiled. “Leave this to me.”

He placed his hands on the wall of dirt, which was surprisingly solid despite its overall appearance. He made small compressions against the wall, with an interval of a second between each press, but as time went on, his movement became quicker and the interval grew smaller and smaller. It was almost to the point that it looked as though he was tapping the soil on a microscopic level, with the rapid movement causing the soil to begin to crumble. It initially broke apart in small chunks, but they began to increase in size when the power unleashed upon them increased over time.

With the wall now destroyed in a small landslide, a small temple structure had been uncovered, revealing a bright green emerald rested on a pedestal.

“There it is,” Mindy spoke in a hushed tone, a smile on her face. “The emerald.”

“It looks like any other piece of jewellery,” Manic shrugged. “Yet Robotnik wants these and a bigger one because of how powerful they are.” He then faced Mindy. “Shall I take it?”

Mindy nodded back, so he reached out to grab hold of the emerald that, despite being immersed in dirt, was virtually spotless. Just as his fingertips made contact with it, a static spark forced him to sharply retract his hand. This did not go unnoticed by Mindy.

“What’s wrong?”

“It felt like static or something. Let me try again.”

This time, he was able to grab hold of the emerald without any interference. He closely inspected it, even holding it up to whatever sunlight was shining through the trees.

“Do your powers create static?” Mindy asked him.

“I don’t think so. I know Sonic’s speed has done it in the past.” He juggled the emerald into his other hand. “Right, well we got the emerald. Let’s find the others.”

Chapter Text

Not far from where Silver and Sonia had acquired their submarine from was the underground cave which Amy and Cream had been tasked with investigating. In fact, it was only a mile away from the pier itself, and could easily be reached on foot.

“Well, this is it.”

Amy looked up at the cave entrance, which was colossal in size. It must have easily been twenty foot in height and width, being carved out of the rocky cliffside that it was within.

“If what those books Queen Aleena read are accurate, we should find one of those emeralds in there.”

“It looks like it’s going to be dark in there,” Cream noted. “It’s a good thing I brought my torch!”

She held up the object and waved it about. Not just was it a torch, but it was not even a children’s toy and was instead a proper one. It possessed a long yellow body and a black end that contained the bulb within it.

“Right. You’ve got your torch. I’ve got my hammer.” Amy was indeed carrying her Piko Piko hammer, which she held over her shoulder. “Let’s head in.”

The two walked side-by-side, with the sand that had previously swamped their feet becoming less and less until they could tell they were walking on solid rock. The tunnel was initially fairly well-lit until they had walked a considerable distance away from the entrance. It was by no means pitch black, but it was still difficult to see their surroundings, so Cream activated her torch, illuminating their surroundings with a bright white light.

“Cream, look!”

Amy’s hushed voice caught the rabbit’s attention, with the hedgehog pointing at the nearby cave wall. There were drawings on it, created using primitive paint, which depicted stick figures surrounding what appeared to be a pink emerald. Next to the crowd was a large arrow, pointing in the direction that Amy and Cream were walking in.

“It’s going to be somewhere down here,” the pink hedgehog noted. “Luckily, this tunnel seems to be linear.”

“Linear?” Cream was confused.

“Straightforward. Easy. Simple. In other words, there’s only one path and not several to confuse us.”

They proceeded to walk down the tunnel, Cream’s torch providing the necessary light for them to navigate the path ahead of them. Even if there was only one path, this did not mean it had no occasional twists and turns on their route, with many of these occurring during their walk.

“Hey, Amy.” Cream looked up at Amy.

“Hm?”

“Are you in love with Prince Sonic?”

Amy abruptly stopped walking, forcing Cream to stop with her. The pink hedgehog suddenly seemed very flustered.

“No I do not!” Other than flustered, she appeared exasperated and embarrassed, her face now redder than before. “Didn’t you hear what we were talking about back home? I had a crush on him. Had. I don’t anymore. I was young and foolish. I’m more mature now.”

“But you were playing Fuzzy Puppies with Big the other day.”

“That…” Amy folded her arms, her rage still apparent as she trembled. “That’s something else entirely.”

A high-pitched cry abruptly caused them to stop their discussion altogether.

“What’s that noise?” Cream asked with surprise.

“No idea,” Amy replied. “But it’s straight ahead of us.”

The cry was literally that; a cry. It seemed sad.

“It sounds like a baby,” Cream noted.

“That’s what I thought.”

They slowly walked on further down the tunnel, the crying growing louder and louder as they drew closer to it.

“Hello?” Cream called. “Who’s there?”

No response came, so they continued walking on further until they found the source of the cry amongst the darkness: a Chao. It was completely identical to the ones Aleena had seen on Angel Island. It was sitting on the ground, appearing downright miserable as it continued crying.

“It’s a Chao.” Amy identified it. “They’re normally from Angel Island. That’s not far from here, so it must’ve got lost and ended up down here.”

“The poor thing!” Cream gently knelt beside it. “Hey. We’ll help take you home.”

It looked up at Cream, it’s sad demeanour instantly vanishing and it smiled cheerful. If anything, it was a smile that would cheer anyone up if they saw it. It leapt at her and she embraced it, hugging it as if it was a baby.

“They’ve taken a liken to you,” Amy remarked. “But first, we’ll find this emerald before we head on out.”

Now accompanied by the small flying being, Amy and Cream continued their walk down the tunnel. The Chao sat on Cream’s head, intrigued as to what was further ahead now that it could see where it was.

“You came a long way, little guy,” Amy told it. “It’s a good thing we were here.”

They soon stopped when they reached what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. However, the cave wall ahead of them was perfectly flat and smooth.

“I don’t think this wall is supposed to be here,” Amy noted, holding her hammer out. “Let’s remedy that.”

With a sharp, powerful swing, the stone wall shattered into many pieces, revealing a small hidden chamber of spacious size. Within this dark area in the centre was a small temple, and within it the pedestal that held a pink emerald.

“It’s the emerald.” Cream was cheerful.

“It’s beautiful.” Amy was in awe at the mere sight of it. “And yet, it’s dangerous. Cream, stay there while I fetch it.”

Once again carrying her hammer over her shoulder, Amy very shortly claimed the item and returned to the makeshift doorway she had created.

“Objective complete,” the pink hedgehog stated in a satisfied manner.

A small and silver rectangular aircraft flew across a vast desert, which contained nothing but sand and dunes for miles. The aircraft, belonging to the Mobotropolis Army, was piloted by a male otter for Vector and Big. Many pilots of the army volunteered to help transport the Mobians who volunteered to locate the Chaos Emeralds; the only ones who had a vehicle of their own were Tails and Sonic.

“Alright,” spoke the otter. “We’ve travelled a few miles now, and I can see a pyramid of some sort. Do you think the emerald could be there?”

“I can’t see it being anywhere else,” Vector told him, standing by the pilot in their chair. “Unless it’s buried underneath all that sand. It’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“I’ll set the craft down just outside and leave you to do your thing.”

Keeping to his word, the otter lowered the aircraft down not far from where the pyramid was, the jets of the vehicle creating a miniature whirlwind of sand as he landed. A door slid open on its side, allowing Vector and Big to step out. Big had brought Froggy with him, the amphibian sitting upon his head, and he petted the small animal as they approached the building.

“We’re finally here, Froggy. We’re going to find the emerald!”

“Would you look at this!”

Vector looked up at the pyramid, which was built up of tan stone blocks. Surprisingly, the structure was considerably small. If anything, it was no larger than a two-storey house.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit small for a pyramid?”

“I don’t know,” Big replied. “I’ve never seen one before.”

“You’ve never seen a pyramid before?!” Vector shouted with shock, surprising Big.

“I know what they look like,” the cat replied. “They’re a bunch of triangles stuck together. I’ve seen pictures of ’em before, but I’ve never been right in front of one.”

“Well, it’s certainly a bit smaller than they normally are.”

The crocodile scanned his eyes over the side of the pyramid they were facing.

“Now, all we need to do is find the way in.”

Big followed Vector as he slowly walked around the pyramid, eying up the monument from top to bottom. Other than the rough large blocks built up of stone and sand, along with the cracks between them, there appeared to be no entrance at all. All four sides appeared the same.

“Hey, Vector.” Big suddenly spoke up. There had been a long silence due to Vector analysing the situation. “Is it true you’re dating Cream’s Mum?”

Vector paused for a few seconds before slowly turning to face the large purple cat with the frog on their head. He was surprised by the question and appeared unimpressed.

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Vector enquired plainly.

“I just remembered Amy saying something the other day about you two seeing each other.”

“Yeah, I’ve been seeing Vanilla since Robotnik’s last stand when he had control over Mobotropolis. Cream and her father went missing, and it was up to Team Chaotix to find them.”

“Is Mr. Rabbit still missing since you found only Cream?”

Vector’s eyes widened at the question. The implication was obvious, yet Big had not grasped the truth at all.

“Look, uh…” Vector was awkward, clasping his hands together and rubbing them. “Mr. Rabbit isn’t missing. We did find him. Well… what was left of him, at least. Vanilla was so distraught, and Cream’s too young to support her, so Team Chaotix – but especially myself – decided to keep tabs with her.”

Big appeared confused, even going so far as to scratch a part of his head where Froggy was not occupied. Vector could tell he still had not processed the information properly, but moved on with the issue at hand.

“Okay, focusing on this pyramid again. How strong are you?”

“I’m very strong,” Big nodded.

“How good are you at punching?”

“Amy says I have a powerful punch.”

“Good!” Vector seemed cheerful. “Right, what I want you to do is punch the pyramid.”

“Punch the pyramid?” Big was puzzled.

“I can’t see a way in, so we—I mean, you can make one for us. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, show that pyramid who’s boss!”

“Yeah!”

Big faced the nearest pyramid wall, and with one huge swing, he punched the stone block that was straight ahead of where his face’s level was. It was a tremendous punch with a considerable amount of power put into it, making even Vector feel the vibrations.

And yet, nothing happened. Even Big looked surprised.

“Oh,” spoke the large cat in a surprised tone.

“Oh indeed.” Vector, like earlier, was wide-eyed. “Maybe give it another punch?”

Big pulled back his arm, ready to create another hit, when the pyramid suddenly began to rumble. And not just that; it crumbled. The wall that Big had attacked began to fall apart, creating a domino effect with the other walls. After several seconds, the entire structure was no more, leaving nothing but a pile of fallen bricks behind. There did not even appear to be anything inside the pyramid itself.

“Well, that was something. Maybe the emerald is somewhere in all these bricks?”

The duo began to rummage through the bricks, and after only a few seconds of searching, Big declared “I found it!” as he held up the item they had been looking for. This emerald was bright yellow, and shone brightly in the desert sun.

“It’s a thing of beauty.”

Vector was in awe at the relic, which Big passed over to him. The crocodile continued eying it up and observing its pristine nature. Despite what it had been through, there was not a scratch on it.

“Mission complete. Let’s meet with everyone else.”

Charmy hovered beside Espio as they traversed the jungle they had been tasked with visiting. The environment was almost like the forest that Manic and Mindy had visited, possessing countless tall trees filled with green leaves, but the trees were skinnier in comparison and ferns were in abundance. There was also a considerable amount of mud combined with fallen leaves and sticks, but these were easy to avoid due to Charmy’s ability to fly and Espio’s ninja skills, the purple chameleon leaping from tree branch to tree branch nimbly and silently.

“So, how exactly will we know where the emerald is?” the young bee asked his teammate. “I can only see nothing but trees.”

“There’ll be a sign of some sort,” Espio replied plainly. “We’ll know it when we see it.”

“A sign?” Charmy was curious. “You mean like the one outside the jungle?”

“No, not like a road sign. Just… something. Something where you’ll be thinking ‘I’m heading in the right direction and I’m not lost’.”

“Like what?”

“Charmy, there’s no definitive answer until we find it ourselves. It’s just a matter of making our way through this jungle and finding something that stands out.”

“Like this really big tree?”

“I wouldn’t say—”

Espio froze, stopping dead in his tracks when he spotted what Charmy was referring to. There was indeed a big tree in front of them; in fact, it was not just big in terms of height, but width. It was as wide as a house, with a large doorway being carved out, revealing the inside had also been hollowed out. The duo approached the tree, with Espio peering inside through the doorway. He glanced upwards, revealing that stairs had been carved into the sides of the interior, allowing them to climb to the top.

“I would definitely say that this stands out, and that we’re heading in the right direction.”

They walked into the tree and stood in its centre, with Espio once again glancing upwards at the interior. Charmy could tell he was pondering something.

“Should we climb to the top to see what’s there?” he asked him.

“We won’t climb,” replied the chameleon. “I want you to fly up and carry me along the way. It’ll save us time.”

Charmy held onto Espio and proceeded to fly up the tree’s interior. To their surprise, it was fairly well-lit; this was due to windows also being hollowed out of the tree’s sides, although they were small and rather far apart.

“I can’t believe I’m being useful.” Charmy seemed surprised.

“What do you mean by that?” Espio enquired, the chameleon astonished at the bee’s words.

“I always thought I wasn’t doing enough in Team Chaotix,” Charmy confessed. “You and Vector always tend to do a lot, and when I do try helping out, I don’t normally get things right and you have to take over.”

“We all have our purpose in this world,” Espio plainly told him. “There are no small parts. You’re of a lot more use than you think.”

“Really? I always thought you and Vector didn’t like having me around.”

“Charmy, there may be moments of frustration, but that’s life for you. If anything, I’m probably the most competent out of our team. I sometimes need to rein Vector in, ditto for yourself, but there’s a contrast between the two of you that’s completely justified. You’re still a child. You’re learning and growing. Vector is an adult and should know more. However, what we all have in common is that our hearts are in the right place.”

“Our chests?”

“Well, that, and we’re always willing to help others, even if it means helping ourselves. That’s why Vector and I took you in following Robotnik’s last stand. It’s no different than how Amy lost her parents.”

“Because I lost mine too?”

“Precisely.”

By the time their conversation had concluded, they had reached the top of the tree. They were still within the hollowed-out structure, but there was a small room straight ahead of them. Charmy placed Espio on the wooden floor, the duo shortly entering the room itself. Within it was the small temple that contained a pedestal, and on that pedestal was the emerald they had been searching for. This one was turquoise.

“That’s it?” Charmy was underwhelmed. “Just a small shiny emerald?”

“True power comes from within,” Espio reminded him. “Now, wait here while I approach it. There could be traps about that will prevent us from taking it.”

Espio slowly and cautiously approached the temple, tiptoeing along the way in case a trap was triggered. After almost a minute of very slow and small movements, he was within the temple itself.

“Hm.” He observed the room around him. “I’m surprised. Not a single trap yet. I will now try taking this emerald from the stand it is rested upon.”

He faced the pedestal, his hand hovering over the magical relic. Charmy watched on with wide eyes, anticipating on something happening as soon as the emerald was snatched from its place of rest. Espio remained frozen, not moving even a single muscle for almost another minute, when he swiftly grabbed it with his other hand.

Like before, nothing happened.

“Hm. I guess there are no traps after all. Maybe the emerald is a trap in and of itself to those who do not know of the power it truly contains.”

“What now?” Charmy asked him.

“We head to Angel Island and rendezvous with the others. The fate of our planet is relying on us.”

Chapter Text

“Here it is.” Tails looked on at the immense floating island in the distance as he piloted the Tornado. “Angel Island.”

“The floating island.” Sonic also looked on, noticing the waterfall that cascaded from one side of the island into the ocean below. “Well, it certainly lives up to its nickname.”

“Once we land, we’ll wait at the Tornado until the others show up. Then we’ll look for your mum and the keeper of the Master Emerald.”

“As Planned.”

The Tornado shortly landed on the edge of Angel Island, the red biplane being fully visible to any other crafts that would later journey there as well. Despite having landed at their destination, Sonic and Tails remained in their seats. After a few minutes passed, Tails spoke.

“Do you think the others found their emeralds?”

“I bet,” Sonic replied. “I can’t see them coming here with nothing.” He then held up the red emerald, closing one of his eyes as he drew the crimson relic closer to his other eye to inspect it. “We’re ahead of the game thanks to Silver.”

Two of the Mobian aircrafts appeared beside the cliffside, the sound of their engines catching Sonic’s Tails’ attention. They briefly landed near the Tornado, allowing Sonia and Silver to emerge from one, while Amy, Cream, and the Chao emerged from the other. The aircrafts soon left, their visitors approaching the Tornado as Sonic and Tails climbed out of their seats to meet them.

“I see you found your emerald,” Sonia told her brother, who noted “so did you.”

Silver was carrying the blue emerald.

“We found ours too!” Cream was cheerful. Amy carried the pink emerald.

“I see you brought someone else along.” Tails had spotted the Chao.

“We found him in the cave the emerald was in,” Amy explained. “He’d come a long way.”

“You can say that again,” Sonic nodded.

“We’re taking him home!” Cream added in a cheerful tone.

No sooner had they finished their exchanges, another aircraft shortly appeared and dropped off Manic and Mindy, with the green hedgehog carrying the green emerald.

“It’s good to see everyone else has their emeralds,” Mindy observed.

“Thank Mobius for that,” Manic added. “We’ve got an advantage over Eggman. We have the Chaos Emeralds and he doesn’t.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Silver told him in an almost firm tone. “The others are yet to arrive. We don’t even know if they’ve recovered their emeralds yet.”

No sooner had Silver cautioned Manic, another shuttle arrived on Angel Island, dropping off its relic hunters, and flying off. The relic hunters in question were Sally, Bunnie, and Nicole.

“It’s all comin’ together,” Bunnie said as she approached the group that was increasing in size. “I see ya’ got ya’ emeralds.”

“Indeed we have,” Sonic replied. “I see you’re the one carrying it, Sal.”

Sally held up the white emerald, her other hand carrying Nicole’s device, which projected the holo-lynx.

“Five of the seven Chaos Emeralds are present,” Nicole deduced. “Two more are required.”

After a minute of waiting, a shuttle briefly landed before the group. This one had transported Espio and Charmy, and left as soon as the passengers had reached the point of rendezvous.

“Did you find your emerald?” Cream eagerly asked them.

“Got it right here.” Espio presented the turquoise emerald, holding it between his fingertips. “It was a surprisingly straightforward task. I anticipated on a trap mechanism of some sort, but this was not the case.”

“Same here,” Sonic replied. “I guess finding them was enough.”

“They were all rather out of reach,” Sonia pointed out.

“And no one was there to guard them,” Mindy added. “You’d have thought that, with how powerful they are, someone would be keeping an eye on them.”

“I guess one emerald alone isn’t too much to handle,” Tails pondered. “On the other hand, the Master Emerald was.”

“Hence why it’s been protected for generations by warriors,” Silver nodded. “We must use these emeralds against Robotnik.”

“And Project Shadow,” Manic reminded him.

“Not quite.” Nicole suddenly spoke up. “There is only six Chaos Emeralds in our possession. One more is required.”

“She’s right.” Charmy looked at the other members of the group. “We still need Vector and Big to show up.”

“Let’s hope they show up shortly.” Espio almost seemed stern. “Mobius depends on us.”

“Who’s more reliable?” Sonic asked, facing Amy. “Vector or Big?”

“Their hearts are in the right place,” Amy frowned at him, her arms folded. “Give them a chance. We’ve only just got here.”

“Big.”

Everyone looked at Espio, who appeared unimpressed.

“Believe me, Vector may be reliable, but he’s not that reliable. Expect him to diverge from the mission after he’s completed it. He’s probably doing something else before he gets here.”

Several minutes passed, with the final shuttle finally arriving on Angel Island after what felt like a long wait. Not just did Vector and Big step out of the aircraft, but Vector was carrying what appeared to be a paper bag filled with small muffins.

“Hey guys!” He appeared cheerful, stuffing his face as the shuttle flew off.

“Took a pit stop on the way here?” Espio questioned him.

“Yup. Got some muffins.”

“We can see that,” Sonic dryly commented. “Did you get the emerald?”

“Yep,” Big nodded. “Show them, Vector.”

Vector pulled the emerald out of the paper bag, the yellow artefact covered in crumbs. He quickly blew on it and brushed any others crumbs off with the back of his wrist.

“Good to see it’s been taken care of.” Like before, Sonic was dry with his remark.

“That’s not saying much,” Tails told him. “They appear indestructible.”

“All seven Chaos Emeralds are present,” Nicole declared. “Mission complete.”

“Not quite,” Sally reminded her. “We need to figure out how to use them, let alone wait for Eggman to show up.”

“Sonic? Tails?”

The radio inside the Tornado suddenly spoke, the voice of Amadeus being transmitted. Sonic and Tails glanced at each other, but the fox was the one who decided to approach his biplane and use the wired microphone in the cockpit to communicate.

“I’m here, Dad. What’ve you got to say?”

“A large spacecraft has entered Mobius’ skies. The Mobotropolis and Kingdom of Acorn armies are heading straight to Angel Island.”

“Eggman.” Sonia’s words were almost heated.

“It’s him. He’s back. Wait…”

There was a long pause, concerning the group.

“Dad? Dad, what is it?”

“There’s another spacecraft. It doesn’t look like one of Robotnik’s.”

“The humans.” Silver knew who Amadeus was referring to. “The ones in pursuit of Robotnik. Back when Queen Aleena conquered Mobius in the future I came from, the humans fought beside the Mobians who wanted to not just stop her, but Robotnik from once again taking control. There was one human who knew more about Robotnik and Project Shadow than the others.”

“We need to find them,” Manic said.

“Or perhaps they find us,” Bunnie counteracted him.

“Son, I’ll speak to you later. I must get going with your mother to Angel Island. We’ll meet you there.”

Chapter Text

Aleena remained atop the altar with Knuckles and Tikal’s projection of herself. Their wait for the others, let alone for Robotnik’s presence, was an anxious one, contrasted by the serenity of the picturesque location they were situated in.

“Are these your allies?” Knuckles asked Aleena, catching her attention. Both she and Tikal glanced down from the top of the altar at what Knuckles had noticed; the group who had been tasked with locating the emeralds were making their way to the altar itself.

“That’s them,” the queen nodded. “I hope they retrieved the emeralds.”

While the group was already running to begin with, Sonic quickened his pace to his usual superspeed, standing before his mother and the two echidnas in a matter of seconds.

“Hedgehog.” Knuckles faced him. “Were you and your associates able to locate the emeralds?”

“We have indeed,” Sonic nodded. “All seven of them.”

“Thank goodness,” Aleena sighed. “We will possess an advantage over Robotnik.”

“That ability you possess.” Knuckles seemed fixated on Sonic. “Your incredible speed – that’s not a natural occurrence.”

“I was given superspeed by an old oracle who prophesised how me, my mother, and my brother and sister would reclaim Mobotropolis from Robotnik.”

“And I think I know where the Oracle gained his powers from.” Aleena seemed positive with her deduction. “I believe it to be this emerald.”

She gestured to the Master Emerald. Sonic looked on at it with awe, shortly looking at his hands and arms as he processed the information.

“So, that’s why I had that spark when I touched the emerald.” He was shocked. “If I have that type of energy in me, so does Manic and Shadow. Mum and Sonia also had it until they lost their powers.”

“Knuckles, the warrior who protects the emerald, claims the Oracle gained his powers from it,” Aleena added “He also claimed a human came here many years ago to also sample some of its energy.”

“A human? Could he be the one who created Project Shadow?”

“It would explain how Robotnik learned of our homeworld.”

“We’ve got the emeralds!”

Manic’s voice gained their attention. He, along with the rest of the group, had reached the top of the altar.

“Hey, who’s the green one?”

“I’m Tikal,” she introduced herself. “I am sealed within the Master Emerald. I sealed myself away to stop Chaos. This is just a projection of myself made of chaos energy.”

“Cool,” Vector commented.

“My dad says Robotnik’s on his way,” Tails alerted Aleena. “And so are the humans that are in pursuit of him. Our armies are headed straight here.”

“So, you’re ready to take him on?” Knuckles enquired.

“Easily,” Sonia replied. “We prepared for it, no thanks to Silver.” She faced him.

“If it wasn’t for my arrival a month ago, things would’ve turned out different.”

“Good warriors should prepare,” Knuckles noted. “And that is something you have all done. It is just a matter of time before the battle commences.”

“And in that time, we need to figure out how to use these emeralds against Robotnik.” Amy carried the emerald she had found with Cream and the Chao.

“That task is easier said than done,” Knuckles noted.

“What do you mean by that?” Aleena asked him.

“You will need to find a way to channel its energy. You can’t just simply pick up a Chaos Emerald and use it. Those who possessed them years ago found a way to channel their abilities, which led to them combining their powers to create the Master Emerald.”

“So, how did they channel it?” Sally asked him.

“Such information has been lost to time itself,” the echidna sadly noted. “When it was known how dangerous these emeralds are, records on how to use them were wiped from existence to avoid calamity.”

“Well, that’s just perfect.” Espio folded his arms. “We have these emeralds and don’t know how to use them.”

“I think I know how,” Sonic spoke up, making the others face him. “Mum, you said that the Oracle got his powers from the Master Emerald. When he gave us powers later on, he gave us chaos energy. Back when I retrieved the emerald with Tails, as soon as I touched it, there was a spark.”

“That’s right,” Tails nodded, briefly looking at the emerald he carried. “It was like static.”

“The same happened to me,” Manic added.

“And me,” Silver whispered to himself. Only Sonia, who was standing next to him, noticed he had spoken.

“Perhaps we’re the ones who can use the emeralds. If Mum and Sonia still had their powers, they’d have been able to use them too.”

“Okay, so you can use the emeralds.” Mindy tried piecing the information together. “But how?”

“We’ll find a way.” Sonic was determined.

“Actually, I have the answer to that.” Silver spoke up.

“Well, how?” Manic asked.

Silver was about to respond when he completely froze. He was looking up at the sky, which he very shortly pointed up to. The others faced the direction he pointed, noticing what it was that had seemed to alarm him: Robotnik’s spacecraft.

“He’s here.” Sonia’s voice was hushed.

“We may have prepared, but we’re still not ready,” Espio noted.

Suddenly, a large swarm of robots emerged from the back of Robotnik’s craft. They were all fairly small, resembling blue and black wasps, which flew closer towards Angel Island. These new machines were followed by Robo-pawns, who were also airborne due to their in-built jets within their foot sections.

“That’s new.” Sonic was also quiet from shock. “He certainly prepared himself.”

A blue laser projectile abruptly fired towards the swarm, creating an explosion which destroyed one of the Robo-pawns and took down the other robots near it. The laser originated from a silver jet plane, belonging to the army of Mobotropolis, with several more accompanying it along with countless shuttles that transported Mobian soldiers. The shuttles shortly landed upon Angel Island, the troops within marching out with laser rifles in hand, being led by Amadeus and Rosemary.

“The cavalry has arrived!” declared Amadeus, who soon fired his weapon at a Robo-pawn that landed in front of him and his wife.

As the battle ensued between the Mobians and the machines, Robotnik landed his large spacecraft near the altar. He emerged from it within a flying vehicle that was almost spherical if it was not missing the top, where he was seated within. Following after him was Shadow, who relied on his shoes’ jets to fly.

“It’s a hedgehog.” Mindy expressed surprise at what the others thought. “Just like Sonia and her family.”

“Shadow,” Silver identified them. “The one created by Robotnik’s ancestor.”

“How did you know I was going to show up here?” Robotnik questioned the large group, Shadow hovering beside him as the human reached the top of the altar.

“I’m from the future,” Silver told him. “It’s because of me we prevented a lot worse from happening to Mobius a month ago.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Robotnik faced Aleena. “Queen Aleena Hedgehog. If I recall correctly, before you forcibly returned me home, you said that you would execute me ‘personally’ should I return. At the moment, I feel the opposite of intimidated.”

“Circumstances have changed,” she plainly replied. “I no longer have the power within me to wish harm upon others.”

“In other words, you don’t have your powers?”

She nodded, making him cackle with amusement.

“All that build up for nothing! You’re just as pathetic as you were when I took the throne from you all those years ago. Now, allow me to introduce to you—”

“Shadow.”

The word, spoken in unison by the large group, caught Robotnik off-guard.

“Oh, that’s right. One of you knew about what would happen next. Actually, mentioning that…”

He scanned his eyes across the Mobians, noticing how some of them carried the Chaos Emeralds.

“Not just am I at the location of the most powerful relic on this entire planet, you’ve brought to me its smaller counterparts, ready for the taking. You really did prepare for me!”

“Again, I’m from the future,” Silver rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t care if you’re the king of Switzerland. All I know is that the emeralds are here. Shadow, retrieve them for me.”

No sooner had the instruction been ordered, Shadow shot through the large group with incredible speed. The speed itself was not from his shoes; it was the hedgehog himself. He left a red trail of light, no different to the blue one that Sonic normally created. He snatched up all the emeralds from the grips of their carriers, now holding them in a large bundle in his arms.

“Easy,” Shadow scoffed. “Now all we need is the Master Emerald.”

Sonic dashed towards where Shadow stood on the top of the altar, but Shadow was able to move away via teleportation. He disappeared in a red flash, reappearing no sooner had he disappeared a few metres away in a similar colour of energy. Sonic then leapt up in the air and tried a homing spin attack, but Shadow dodged the attack the way he did previously.

“Don’t bother, Sonic.” Robotnik had an almost smug expression. “You’re no match for him. If anything, Shadow is your equal.”

“I am not equal to him!” Shadow was stern. “I am more. So much more.”

“Another ship has arrived!”

Vector pointed to the large craft in the sky. Unknowingly to him and his allies, it was the Letter of Gabriel. It remained in the sky above Angel Island and hovered there.

“Is that yours?” Cream asked the human, who replied in a low agitated grumble “GUN.”

“GUN?” Aleena was puzzled.

“Humanity.” Silver’s words were hushed. “The humans in pursuit of Robotnik.”

“What are they doing here?” Shadow seemed even more annoyed than Robotnik was. “Ivo, you said that they wouldn’t pursue us when we had left the solar system we came from.”

“It’s probably your old buddy who decided to go against that.” He faced the black hedgehog with red markings. “He’s trying to convince you to stop what you want to do.”

“What does he want to do?” Knuckles asked. “Even if you are working together, are your motives different?”

“It’s because of humanity that I lost a close friend of mine,” Shadow told him. “To make things worse, another friend joined forces with those who took them from me.”

Before Shadow could explain anything any further, a blue and silver jet plane, nowhere near as advanced as the ones the Mobians possessed, flew out of the Letter of Gabriel. It seemed to focus on the altar, even circling it, indicating the occupant within had noticed Shadow and Robotnik. It soon landed at the base of the altar, where many Mobian soldiers still fought Robotnik’s forces. The pilot was none other than Tower, who carried a large rifle and raced up the steps.

“Shadow!” he called as soon as he reached the top. “Whatever it is you’re doing, stop!”

He then froze when he realised who else was present. He was so focused on Shadow and Robotnik he had not noticed the other Mobians.

“You’re animals.” His quiet tone, almost a whisper, expressed his surprise. “You’re all animals, but… you’re like people. You’re like what he is.”

“That’s because they live here,” Robotnik told him. “This is where my grandfather found the resources to create him, both ‘magic’ and otherwise.”

“Otherwise?” Amy faced him. “So, what did he do, abduct somebody?”

“Allow me to explain.” Robotnik seemed boastful. “Many years ago – fifty, to be precise – I used to have a cousin. Her name was Maria, and she was ill. She had an incurable illness called Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or NIDS. Our grandfather, the late Gerald Robotnik, wished to find a cure for it. He was a scientist, and had studied many different sciences, with one of them being space travel. He believed he could find a cure, or perhaps the ingredients for one, away from Earth, and on his travels, he found this pitiful planet.”

“So that’s how you found our planet,” Sonia observed. “Because of him.”

“He learned of the emeralds, let alone the inhabitants of Mobius, which he studied greatly. He closely studied the stronger Mobians, the majority of which were the royal family of Mobotropolis.”

“Hedgehogs.” Sally was surprised.

“Precisely,” Robotnik nodded. “He took samples of their DNA, let alone a fraction of the Master Emerald’s power. He did not need to locate the Chaos Emeralds due to how the Master Emerald was basically their power all in one place. Using what he gathered, he was able to create Shadow. The ultimate lifeform. He is immortal and heals quickly, something my grandfather wished to use when trying to save Maria. Things were going fine until the Guardian Units of Nations, or GUN, took over.”

Shadow scowled at Tower.

“They feared I would be too dangerous.” Shadow continued the story. “So GUN shut everything down. Everything Gerald owned was seized by them. And that included me.”

“Maria was killed by GUN just for trying to protect him,” Robotnik added. “Gunned down by soldiers, she was. And how old was she? Twelve. A minor. My grandfather was so mad that he set the Space Colony ARK, the space station where his lab was situated, on a collision course with Earth. It would have been a repeat of the K-Pg extinction event, with GUN’s headquarters taken the blunt of the impact first. Yet again, GUN wiped out another life before they could complete their plans.”

“And what do I learn when Ivo awakened me?” Shadow continued staring at Tower. “My old friend, Abraham Tower, is now the commander of the same people who took both Maria and Gerald from us.”

“I want to right GUN’s wrongs,” Tower asserted. “Everything was poorly handled. I want to stop you from doing what you’re going to do. For Maria.”

“Don’t you dare say her name!” Shadow spat. “You don’t have the right after betraying us.”

“No offence, man,” Manic faced tower, “but what your guys did was what caused Eggman here to be evil.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Robotnik sharply responded. “Sure, what they did was terrible, but that’s not what motivated me into what I’m doing nowadays.”

“It’s true,” Tower nodded. “He always liked the idea of ruling the world instead of saving it. He was a terrorist back on Earth. Even when he went underground, it was easy to find him. I mean, he went by his middle name at one point.”

“What, Julian?” Shadow enquired, cocking his head to a side.

“For god’s sake!” Robotnik’s temper exploded. He was evidently embarrassed. “You didn’t have to bring that up!”

“Well, at least we fully know who you are now,” Sonic shrugged. “After the last sixteen years where we knew nothing, thirteen of which were pure chaos.”

“Well, if you think that was chaos.” Robotnik suddenly seemed determined. “Shadow, give me the Chaos Emeralds and retrieve the Master Emerald.”

Shadow quickly teleported onto the small craft Robotnik piloted, dropping the emeralds into his cockpit before teleporting back to where the Master Emerald stood.

“I’m warning you.” Knuckles positioned himself into a battle stance, his fists clenched. “I won’t hold back.”

“Don’t bother.”

Shadow leapt into the air and performed a homing spin attack, knocking Knuckles off of his feet. He inched closer to the Master Emerald and was about to grab hold of it.

“Shadow, no!”

Tower raised his rifle, unleashing a red laser projectile upon the giant relic. The blast was enough to shatter it into countless pieces. As soon as the emerald no longer existed as a large, intact object, Tikal’s projection disappeared.

“Human.” Knuckles looked up at Tower. “What have you done?”

Chapter Text

Standing where the Master Emerald once was, other than the shards that remained of it, were two beings. One was Tikal; she was an orange echidna who wore sandals, a green skirt, and what resembled a white tank top. The other was Chaos itself; it was humanoid in appearance, possessing long lanky limbs, but its tall body appeared to be composed of water-like energy. Its head was almost the shape of a starfish, possessing yellow eyes that glowed and a visible brain within the head itself.

“Dear god.” Tower was astounded at the sight of the creature. “What the hell is that thing?”

“Chaos.” Knuckles identified the creature. “You’ve doomed us all.”

Chaos scanned its eyes across the Mobians and humans who were present. It was evidently processing its surroundings.

“Chaos, please.” Tikal begged to it, even clasping her hands together. “You don’t need to be angry. It’s okay now.”

It was then that Chaos spotted Robotnik in his small flying craft and approached him.

“What are you doing?!” Robotnik slowly piloted his craft backwards. “Keep away from me!”

“Please, don’t panic!” Tikal sharply faced him.

Chaos leapt onto the craft itself, the immense weight of the being forcing the aircraft to land atop the altar.

“Get off me, you freak!” Robotnik tried to punch Chaos, but his attacks were ignored. It had noticed the Chaos Emeralds, which were all resting on his lap.

“He wants the emeralds!” Silver made the connection. “We need to stop it!”

“Hey!” Shadow shouted at Chaos, catching their attention. “Back off!”

He teleported in front of Chaos, only to be grabbed by the ankles and tossed into the battle zone at the bottom of the altar. Amy then ran forward with her Piko Piko hammer, but Chaos grabbed her by the hammer as she still held it and tossed her into Big and Vector’s way. Sonic tried a homing spinning attack, but Chaos grabbed him in the palm of its three-fingered hand and threw him like a ball to the bottom of the altar.

“Leave him!” Tikal begged once more. “You’re just provoking him!”

“So, you want us to let him take those emeralds?” Mindy questioned her. “Does he know what they do?”

“Yes. To prevent any casualties or deaths, leave him for now!”

Chaos swooped up all the emeralds from Robotnik, the relics held within its arms shortly beginning to glow. They appeared to be slowly drawing themselves into its body, their colours slowly changing black as Chaos grew in size.

“What’s happening?” Robotnik asked as he climbed out of his damaged craft. “What’s happening to the emeralds?”

“Chaos is absorbing the negative energy from the emeralds,” Tikal explained. “They are going to become more and more powerful from it.”

“So, more powerful equals bigger?” Manic enquired. Tikal nodded to this.

“They will change as well. Leave him be for now.”

“What the hell is that thing?” a fox soldier yelled, catching the attention of his squad in the warzone.

“It doesn’t look friendly,” replied a wolf soldier. “Fire!”

Their weapons launched attack after attack at Chaos, who made their way to the bottom of the altar and started attacking everything in sight. Mobians, Robotnik’s machines – none were spared Chaos’ wrath. All the while, Chaos was unharmed by the attacks launched against it.

“Commander Tower.” Topaz’s voice was transmitted through a mobile phone-like radio device that was in Tower’s pocket. He removed the rectangular device and spoke into it.

“Yes, Topaz?”

“That… thing… should we attack it?”

“Negative. Leave it alone.”

“But, sir—”

“That’s an order!” Tower barked. “I’m sure our weapons wouldn’t do anything but make it madder.”

“Only the Chaos Emeralds can tame Chaos,” Tikal nodded.

“Which I’ll leave you guys to.” Robotnik climbed out of his damaged mobile craft. “Come, Shadow – fortunately, I have a plan B.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Tower raised his rifle and pointed it at the scientist, who only raised their eyebrows. He removed a smaller rifle-like weapon from his downed craft and pointed it at Tower.

“Two can play at that game.”

A blue blur of energy shot past Robotnik, with Sonic now holding the weapon he once carried.

“Not a chance, Eggman,” the blue hedgehog told him. “Not. A. Chance.”

“You’ll be coming back to Earth to stand trial,” Tower informed Robotnik. “There will be justice at last for your previous crimes.”

“I can’t let you do that, Abraham.” Shadow clenched his fists. “I have a promise to fulfil.”

“What, to serve him? To help him take over this world?” Tower was stern with his old friend. “And then for you to exact revenge on the same species who you believe are to blame for Maria’s death?”

“They are to blame!” Shadow snapped. “Maria would still be alive if it wasn’t for GUN’s betrayal. GUN trusted Gerald, let alone myself, but their own poor decisions led to their deaths. Gerald had every right to try and wipe out humanity. It’s a shame he met his end too soon. What’s worse is you’ve sided with the people who took them from us. You traitor.”

“I’m as mad as you are,” Tower responded in a fierce tone. “I joined GUN with the intent of righting their wrongs, even if it meant going against protocols and regulations to do so. GUN wasn’t supposed to pursue Robotnik here, yet I ordered it. And I didn’t just do it to stop Ivo. I did it to stop you. For Maria.”

“Don’t use her name like that! You’re just making excuses.”

“Shadow, look – if you don’t like humanity anymore, then why do you still think highly of Maria?”

“She was a good person,” the black hedgehog noted. “If anything, she was the only good human I’ve met, next to Gerald.”

“And you believe the rest of humanity deserves to die just because they’re not like her?”

“Precisely.”

“Shadow, there are plenty of Marias out there on Earth. There are still good humans.”

“People make mistakes,” Aleena suddenly spoke, catching Shadow’s attention. He remained calm as he listened to her. “Human or not. I made a mistake a month ago that could have caused more harm if it wasn’t nipped in the bud so early on. Since then, I’ve been atoning for what harm I did create. Tower is atoning for GUN’s prior mistake of killing Maria by stopping you from causing something worse from happening. Look – will wiping out humanity bring her back? No. You’ll be worse than the people who took her from you, especially since it’s not two people getting killed, but millions.”

Shadow seemed lost in thought, processing the information he had been provided with. He glanced at the people who were present atop the altar, soon facing Tower once more.

“Bring hope to humanity.” Shadow’s grizzled voice surprised the commander.

“Her last words,” Tower noted. Shadow nodded back.

“So, now you’re not with me?” Robotnik asked Shadow, who responded by shaking his head. “Damn it.”

“That creature needs to be stopped,” Shadow pointed out. “Chaos. You said it can only be stopped with the Chaos Emeralds.” He faced Tikal. “But that thing has them in its possession. Does it have any other weakness so we can get the emeralds back?”

“Yes,” Tikal gently replied. “Chaos’ brain. An attack that is powerful enough will weaken it.”

“And could potentially make it drop the Chaos Emeralds,” Sonic deduced. Tikal nodded back in confirmation.

“Leave this to me.” Shadow was determined. “Once I get the emeralds back, I’ll use them to weaken it.”

“You can’t do it alone,” Tikal warned him.

“I’m immortal,” Shadow noted. “Nothing can harm me.”

“Even if you are, one person using all seven emeralds wouldn’t be enough.”

“We can do it,” Manic realised. “Me, Sonic, and Silver. Maybe we could share their power. Would that be possible?”

“Yes,” Tikal nodded. “Once the users of the emeralds unleash their power, they take on a super form. You’ll have more than enough power to save not just Mobius, but Chaos.”

“What do you say?” Sonic stood before the black hedgehog with red markings. “This may not be your home, but it’s always important to help others.”

Shadow glanced at Tower, who nodded to him, before he faced Sonic again.

“Let’s do it. Allow me to get the emeralds back, and then we’ll work together.”

“You better be fast,” Knuckles warned them. He pointed into the distance. “Chaos is close to reaching the edge of Angel Island.”

The large group all looked at where Chaos was, but by then, the creature was greatly different. They had lost their humanoid form, now taking on an almost serpentine appearance, but their body was still made of water-like energy. In fact, some of the energy around its head had seemingly hardened, almost like armour, with Chaos’ eyes being beadier and green. Its body also sprouted numerous spikes, while a small fin was atop its head, with several tentacles sprouting from Chaos’ base.

“It’s changed so much,” Cream stated the obvious.

“It’s become Perfect Chaos,” Tikal explained. “It is at its most powerful. It mustn’t get off the island.”

“Leave this to us.”

Shadow leapt up into the air, the jets in his shoes activating and he flew towards where Perfect Chaos was. The beast roared, swinging its tentacles to attempt attacking Shadow, who was able to quickly teleport out of Chaos’ reach. He could see the seven Chaos Emeralds within the watery body, and it was only just a case of retrieving them.

“I can see it.” Shadow flew closer to Chaos’ head. “The brain.” It was within the small fin on its head; it resembled any other brain with its stem, but simply floated about within the fin. “I’m getting those emeralds back!”

Shadow launched a Chaos Spear attack at the brain, making Chaos flinch briefly. Realising the one attack was not enough, he unleashed another attack. And then another. And another. Each attack was initially several seconds apart, but the attacks became more and more frequent to the point there were barely a second of interval between them. Chaos continuously flinched as each spear was unleashed upon it.

“GIVE ME THOSE EMERALDS!”

Chaos roared once more, the emeralds popping out of its body and towards the thick forest below. Before they could hit the ground, Sonic shot to where they were and caught all of them, one by one. He was shortly followed by Silver and Manic, who were slower in comparison due to obvious reasons.

“You did it, man,” Manic told Shadow as he flew down to where they were. “We got ‘em. Now all we need to do is try to figure out how to channel them to use their power.”

“Let me try first,” Shadow told him.

Sonic placed the emeralds on the ground, with Shadow crouching down so he could inspect them closely. He hovered his hands over the relics, gentle electrical sparks emerging from the emeralds and making contact with his gloved hands. They began to levitate off of the ground and above him, circling the black hedgehog with red markings and slowly lifting him upwards in an almost divine manner. The emeralds regained their colours, spinning quicker and quicker, this time circling his body and almost hiding him from sight. There was then a bright flash of golden energy that was so powerful and bright, it forced Sonic, Silver, and Manic to turn away and wince. They had to avert their eyes because of how bright it was – almost like the sun – but when they were able to look back once the glow had dialled itself down, the sight before them was astounding.

Shadow’s black fur, barring its red markings, had turned golden, and his entire body glowed with energy. He was levitating without the need of the jets within his shoes, and the emeralds gently hung in the air around him. It truly was a magical sight.

“You’ve gone super,” Manic observed. “Super Shadow.”

“Now it’s our turn,” Sonic reminded him. “We need to stop that thing.”

Shadow allowed the emeralds to spin around Sonic, Manic, and Silver in the exact way they had done for himself. In the same amount of time it took for Shadow to enter his super form, the trio soon entered their version of it, and also levitated in the air with the emeralds surrounding all four of them.

“Man, this is awesome!” Manic was ecstatic. “We’re like gods!”

“We mustn’t distract ourselves with its power,” Silver reminded him. “Chaos has to be stopped.”

“But how?” Manic asked him.

“We have the power of the emeralds. We can do anything.”

“You said it yourself.” Sonic faced his brother. “We’re like gods. Case in point…”

He pointed a finger at a nearby fern, a golden beam emerging from his fingertips and incinerating the plant in less than a second.

“If we combine that power, we can tame Chaos.” Shadow detailed the plan he concepted on the spot. “Now, come on – this is your planet, after all.”

Shadow took the lead and flew towards Chaos as Sonic, Manic, and Silver followed after him. They all flew near the beast’s head, its giant tentacles swinging in an attempt to hit its targets.

“Aim for its brain!” Shadow pointed at the fin. “Perhaps we can not just tame it, but weaken it back into its original state.”

He launched continuous beams of golden energy out of both of his hands, hitting the fin and the brain within. The attack seemed to have stunned Chaos, allowing Sonic to repeat Shadow’s actions with his own energy. Chaos roared, but Silver unleashed his own attack upon the being, with Manic being the last one to add his power to the mix. Chaos continuously roared and snarled, but whether it was from anger or pain was unclear.

“How much longer do we have to do this?” Manic yelled, straining from the power he was unrelentingly unleashing,

“Keep attacking.” Despite the struggle, Shadow maintained his composure. “Look – it’s getting smaller.”

He was right – Chaos was indeed beginning to shrink in size. In fact, the large form it took as Perfect Chaos changed to that of a blobby being with six legs. It began to shrink even more, now resembling its usual humanoid form, but appeared more hulking and with visible bones within one of its arms. Shortly after this, it resembled its usual self, albeit larger in size, before shrinking down to its original height. It was then that the four hedgehogs ceased with their attacks.

Chapter Text

There was nothing but silence across Angel Island. Ever since Chaos rampaged and transformed into Perfect Chaos, both the Mobian armies and machines ceased with their conflict due to the greater threat.

Still in their super forms, the four hedgehogs hovered towards Chaos.

“Chaos?” Sonic looked up at it, the creature seemingly placid. “Feeling alright?”

It glanced at the others before performing a small nod.

“Back to normal.” Silver gave a small smile.

“Peace at last,” Manic added, prompting Shadow to correct him “not quite. Let’s return to the others.”

The hedgehogs flew off back to the altar, with Chaos running shortly after with great speed. It reached the top of the altar several seconds after the quartet, with Tikal being excited to see her friend again.

“Chaos.” She looked up at it and held its giant hands. “You’re back. You can relax now.” She then faced the hedgehogs. “Thank you.”

“All in a day’s work,” Sonic told her with a smile.

“So, now what?” Knuckles was puzzled. “You both now live in an unfamiliar time. All the Chaos Emeralds have been located, and the Master Emerald is no more. My duty is over.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Manic seemed to light up with enthusiasm. He then quietly spoke to Sonic, Shadow, and Silver, who soon nodded in agreement.

“What are you going to do?” Sally asked them, but their response would be with actions instead of words.

Sonic, Shadow, Manic, and Silver all stretched their arms out, their palms glowing with the energy from the Chaos Emeralds that still circled them. The shards of the Master Emerald began to lift off of the ground and the stone floor of the altar, levitating in the air and slowly drawing closer to each other. Once all the pieces were together, the Master Emerald had been reassembled, but there were cracks that would prevent it from being one whole piece. After a brief flash of golden light, the cracks were no more, and the Master Emerald stood in the centre of the altar like it had originally for many centuries. After this, the hedgehogs rescinded their super states and returned to their normal ones, the Chaos Emeralds dropping to the floor.

“Huh.” Knuckles was impressed. “How kind of you.”

“You can still protect it,” Silver told him. “You can have Tikal and Chaos by your side helping you.”

“Yeah,” Tikal nodded. “We can do that, can’t we, Chaos?”

Chaos nodded in agreement with her words.

“Why don’t we keep an eye on the Chaos Emeralds?” Manic suggested. “I mean, the royal family of Mobotropolis. Only me, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver can use them. It’s not like anyone else can.”

“That’s true,” Robotnik nodded. “But I guess that, if I want to, I’ll need the power of the Master Emerald first!”

It took almost a second for the others to realise what he meant. By the time they had figured it out, he was standing before the Master Emerald and held the large green relic in his hands.

“Robotnik!” Aleena was shocked by his sudden movement. “Stop!”

“Yes!” Robotnik cackled, green electrical sparks beginning to emerge from the giant emerald. “Yes! I can feel its power!”

As he laughed manically, more and more sparks emerged, creating blinding flashes that almost forced the others to look away.

“With the power of the Master Emerald, I will become Supreme High Robotnik! I will become a god and use the power of the Chaos Emeralds as well to enslave this planet and then Earth!”

The red jacket he wore, along with his white gloves, turned black while his eyes glowed green. All the while, green bolts of electricity could be seen flickering all around his body, with smaller ones running along his moustache from his face right to their tips.

“We’ve got to stop him!” Mindy yelled. “He’s gone mad with power!”

“I can’t be stopped! I’m too powerful now! All of Mobius and Earth will – wait… no!”

He suddenly began to tremble, the Master Emerald still within his grasp.

“It’s too much power! I can’t… I can’t handle—”

He recoiled at the bright green pulse of chaos energy that emerged from the Master Emerald, the brightness obscuring the vision of those near it, forcing them to turn away. Once the brightness was no more and they could all face him again, they found that Robotnik was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was nothing but a large black scorch mark on the altar where he once stood, while the Master Emerald remained unscathed.

“What just happened?” Sonic asked, inspecting the scorch marks with the others.

“It was too much for him,” Knuckles guessed. “The true power of the Master Emerald overwhelmed him.”

“So, he’s dead?” Sonia asked, but Tikal responded “it’s difficult to tell.”

“Let’s hope so.” Amy seemed cynical. “That’ll be one less problem for us.”

“The paperwork won’t be so easy,” Tower commented. “I mean… this whole thing has been quite surreal.”

“Oh, ya’ll get over it,” Bunnie told him. “What ain’t normal becomes normal after a while.”

“I guess I better head back to Earth.” Tower pondered on what to do next. “I mean, this is all sorted, after all.”

“Not quite,” Shadow corrected him. “I’m assuming the ARK is still in GUN’s possession, right?”

Tower nodded back.

“Do you still have Gerald’s research?”

“Yeah, we’ve still got it.”

“Everything?”

“As far as I’m aware, it’s all there from the day his work got shut down.”

“Good,” Shadow nodded. “There’s unfinished business of Gerald’s that I wish to look at.”

“I thought you were one of the good guys now,” Charmy asked him.

“I am,” Shadow replied. “But what I want to look at was something Gerald was working on before GUN shut everything down. A backup, if you will.”

“A backup?” Tower was surprised by the notion. “Wait, do you mean—”

“Let’s head back to the ARK,” Shadow cut him off. “I’ll explain more there.”

Tower hesitated, soon nodding in agreement before starting to walk off with Shadow following him.

“Wait.”

Aleena’s voice caught their attention.

“Thank you, Shadow. Without your help, peace would not have been restored to Mobius.”

“It’s the least I could do. However, I couldn’t have done it alone.”

“You should pay us a visit again sometime,” Manic told him.

“That’s an idea,” Tower noted. “You’ll certainly fit right in.”

“True. Now, come on – I must check over Gerald’s research.”

The two left the altar, climbing down the steps until they reached Tower’s jet plane. Shadow sat in the back seat as Tower piloted it back to the Letter of Gabriel where, a minute later, the large ship turned around and left Mobius entirely. The silence that had begun since Chaos returned to its calm state remained.

“Hey, uh, Mindy.” Manic approached the fox. He seemed awkward and downright nervous, if not embarrassed. “Look, uh… would you like to go out some time with me?”

Instantly, she appeared shocked by the question, a small recoil occurring with her head lifting itself and moving further back.

“Aw, man,” Manic worriedly thought to himself. “I guess I should’ve spruced myself up a bit first.”

“Manic.” Mindy almost covered her mouth with her hand. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

The green hedgehog’s eyes widened. Did she just say what he thought she said?

“You… you don’t mind?”

“Not at all!” she beamed at him. “After all, you did just save Mobius. Who wouldn’t want to go out with a person who did that? You were very brave. How about the early afternoon two days from now?”

“Sounds good to me. Where shall we meet?”

“How about you meet me at my place?”

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

“Wow!” Sonic was impressed. “My own brother has a date before I do.”

“Yeah, and it’s with my friend.” Sonia rolled her eyes.

“Well, we’re all done here.” Aleena overlooked the entire island. “I think it’s best we go our separate ways. Knuckles, as Manic said, it’ll be my family’s duty to protect the Chaos Emeralds.”

“And it is a promise I know you’ll keep,” noted the echidna. “You’ve all done well today.”

“Mentioning going our own ways.” Cream looked at the Chao, who had been flying beside her the entire time. “I’m afraid this is where we’ll have to say goodbye.”

The Chao looked shocked at her statement, and soon after burst into tears.

“Oh!” Cream was taken back by its emotional response. “Don’t worry. You must have plenty of friends here. Surely they missed you?”

“Cream, I’m getting the impression they didn’t have any,” Amy gently told her. “I also don’t think he wants to leave you.”

“He did make friends,” Tails pointed out. “You and Cream.”

“Us?” Cream was surprised.

“Of course.” Amy made the connection. “We found him and rescued him in the first place.”

“So, can he live with us?” Cream asked her.

“We’ll have to check with your mother first. If she says yes, remember – he’ll need looking after. He’s not a toy you can tuck away before you play with it again.”

“I promise I’ll look after him!” Cream jumped for joy. “I promise I’ll feed him and love him like my mum does for me!”

With that, the Chao stopped crying instantly and made a small cheer.

“Does he have a name?” Big enquired.

“We hadn’t named him,” Amy replied.

“I know!” Cream’s smile was large on her face. “Cheese! I’ll call him Cheese!”

Once again, the Chao made a small cheer.

“There you have it,” Amy noted. “Cheese the Chao.”

Sally entered the throne room belonging to Sonic and his family, where the aforementioned hedgehogs and Silver were waiting. She was by herself, as specified by Sonia when she told her to visit, although Nicole was tucked away in her jacket’s pocket.

“You wished to see me?” the chipmunk asked the hedgehogs.

“To be more specific,” Sonia faced her, “it’s Silver who wishes to speak to all of us.”

“What about the others?” Manic enquired. “I mean, all the people who helped us save Mobius?”

“It needs to be you specifically,” Silver explained. “Although you can pass this information on to others later on. I have already informed Sonia of what I wish to say, so I feel now is the appropriate time to reiterate it to you all.”

“Does it concern the future?” Aleena queried.

“To an extent. However, after Sonia was able to prevent the future where you tried to conquer Mobius, what will happen next is yet to be determined. What I do have to say concerns the future I had come from.”

“So, why’s Sally here?” Sonic questioned him. “Is it because she’s the princess of the Kingdom of Acorn and we now work closely with her?”

“I think it’s best we allow him to explain,” Sonia gently told him. She then faced Silver and nodded, signifying he could continue.

“There was a certain detail that I never told you all of when I arrived here a month ago. Sonia found out when she read my mind. To get straight to the point… we’re all family.”

A confused silence swept over the room. The hedgehogs and the chipmunk glanced at one another as they tried to understand what they had been informed of.

“Family?” Sally’s tone showed how puzzled she was. “You mean we’re related to you?”

“Queen Aleena Hedgehog is my grandmother.”

Aleena appeared shocked, a hand slowly covering her mouth.

“Sonia is my aunt. Manic is my uncle. Sonic is—”

“Your father?!” Sonic cut him off. “Wait… so that means…” He looked at Sally. “You’re his mother?”

“It’s true,” Sonia nodded. “I saw it when I read his mind during the interrogation, just like how I saw the arrival of Shadow, GUN, and all of the emeralds.”

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” Sonic questioned him.

“You already thought I was mad because of the whole time travel and dark future thing,” Silver responded. “If I told you we were related, it wouldn’t have done any more favours.”

“But you tried to kill our mum.” Manic was still confused. “Your own grandmother.”

“She wasn’t the same person in the future I came from. She was so twisted that I effectively disowned her. I was never even supposed to assassinate her in the first place. It was supposed to be Robotnik.”

“Now, that would’ve been better!” Sonic was evidently angry.

“You died,” Silver firmly told him. “She did it.”

He pointed straight at Aleena, who appeared mortified.

“I couldn’t let that happen. It wasn’t until after Sonia saved her that I learned what a nice person Queen Aleena really was.”

“If anything, it’s still good that you showed up,” Sonia noted, trying to ease the tension. “If he didn’t, that dark future would’ve still happened.”

“There’s one thing I still don’t get.” Sally decided to speak up. “So… does that mean he’ll cease to exist now that the future he came from no longer happened?”

“That’s where things are difficult to tell.” Silver faced her. “Maybe you might conceive me one day, maybe you won’t.”

“Gross,” Manic grimaced. “Wait… does that mean Sonic and Sally have a crush on each other?”

“What?!” Sonic almost leapt out of his skin. He then realised Manic’s comprehension had exposed his own private thoughts. “Yeah, uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “About that… Sally, I do kinda have a crush on you.”

“It was the conflict from a month ago that brought you two together,” Silver explained. “Things were enforced a bit by the civil war for Mobius since you worked together to try and stop Aleena, let alone Robotnik.”

“Gosh.” Sally rubbed her forehead. “This is too much. So, do we have to get together still? You know, for the future?”

“Yeah, man.” Manic looked at Silver. “What happened next? I mean, we had our mum going nuts, and then Chaos, so what happens next?”

“Chaos was defeated in a similar way to what happened today. After that, there were various battles across Mobius. As Aleena is not evil and Robotnik is probably dead, those events will never happen.”

“So, we’re at peace?” Sonic enquired.

“Pretty much.”

“Thank goodness,” Aleena sighed.

“Hey, Sonic.” Manic nudged his brother with his elbow. “You could still ask Sally out. There’s no harm.”

“Mind your own business!” Sonic sternly told him. “Just because you’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind that,” Sally noted. Her words surprised the blue hedgehog, who instantly appeared shocked. “After all, Mobius is, as said, now at peace.”

Sonic gave a small smile at Sally, who smiled back.

“So, who’s meeting who where?”

“Meet me in my kingdom. Tomorrow. Midday. Don’t be late.”

“Not a problem,” he nodded. “And believe me, I’m never late. Oh, and another thing.”

He looked at Silver.

“No calling us mum, dad, uncle, or aunt now that you’ve told us the truth.”

“I think I can live with that,” Silver shrugged.