OPERATION: FIRESTORM
by Jason de L'Épée

FOREWARD: This is Phase 2 of my Sonic Heroes adapt, for I had no clue that my old intention of following the story line of the original game would down right suck. I will keep some of the original ideas that I had, but some I'll throw out all together.

Email me at if you have questions about the fic. I'll give you a few pointers:

1.) Metal-Sonic is on a private quest for making his metal shell and chassis more organic-like so he could become superior to his nemesis, Sonic the Hedgehog. He's made some progress and a few years before the events of this fic, acquired a bio-nanite brain which is like an organic brain but made up of cell-sized robots called nanites. He also acquired an ability through devious means to control Chaos energy.

2.) Sonic at about the same time received a way to become Hyper Sonic through a Super-Emerald belt that Knuckles made. It was easier for Sonic to go Hyper then to hunt down all the Chaos Emeralds to go Super. Hyper mode also had its advantages.

3.) The Chaotix personalities are slightly altered in here. Charmy is 14 instead of the 6 (bow to me, SEGA) but still has a little bit of a kid-like personality. Mighty the Armadillo is also in here, for a lot of people missed him in Sonic Heroes.

4.) All of the levels are out of order of the game play, for it was way too restricting as I found out. For instance, the Chaotix will come to Rail Canyon quite a bit earlier then everyone else.

5.) There is a self-insert in here. See if you can guess who it is...

This is a brave attempt to write a loose-adaptation of a game, and I hope I do fine.

Prelude
--

A figure stalked down a dark hallway, footsteps with a tap, tap, tap. She kept to the darkest places, and always looked back and forth, whipping out a gadget from a pocket, and with it she waved it around, a small beeping sound emitting from it.

The figure was a white bat, dressed in a tight, dark-purple suit. She wore a belt that had a heart-shaped buckle and two holsters with two handguns.

"So far, so good," she breathed, and then lifted her wrist to her mouth and pressed a few buttons with her fingers. "This is Rouge reporting. So far I have no information on the new secret weapon that Dr. Robotnik had boasted about. I have infiltrated the secret base deep within the Mystic Ruins. I will give a more detailed report when I find it. Out."

Rouge had been sent on this mission by the agency when the President of the human colonies received a message from Robotnik boasting about a secret weapon that he had developed and will use it on Möbius at the end of the week. They had received the message on Monday. Rouge guessed that Eggman (the nickname that many people gave him) would use the weapon either on Friday or Saturday. She didn't have to study much to find the base for it was fairly-well-known that Eggman had a base in Mystic Ruins that was there for over four years.

Suddenly, she heard metallic footsteps coming down the hall, followed by someone speaking, voice with a robotic overtone. She immediately flew up into the bars and crossbeams of the tunnel ceiling.

Two crimson eyes shone out in the darkness of the hallway, coming closer slowly. Rouge watched the two eyes float by, not making a sound for fear of being detected. For someone who hides from someone dangerous, time seems to crawl, but Rouge was patient, and it paid off. She waited until the footsteps had disappeared completely before she dropped down.

She knew that robot; she had met it on ARK, and it was wise to keep herself undetected from it, for it was Metal-Sonic, a cold killer who did not enjoy being crossed. And if he was, the one who did cross him would be torn apart.

She quickly advanced down the hall, which in the end, came to a vertical shaft with bars to climb either up or down. She thought that going down those bars would cause some racket, so she dove down into the dark chasm, and when she knew that she would be soon hit the bottom, she fanned out her wings to soften her fall and then landed on her feet in front of a large door, illuminated by a bright fluorescent light above.

"Hmm, this door looks tough enough to hide a weapon. I'll check it out."

The door was locked with a digital lock that needed a code that Rouge had no knowledge of, but she was not a government spy for no reason. She placed a small gadget on the door, which then started beeping. It was a digital "lock-pick," which studied the lock's internal matrix for the right code needed to unlock it. When its quick beeps became one long shrill ring, it will have unlocked the door.

It took a good few minutes, but was successful. The doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss, and she peered into the room. It was dark, except for a computer console several paces ahead and a large pod glowing a sick green.

"It looks like some chamber, but is it the chamber?"

She strode forward, waving the sensor about for any security devices. There were none, but there were some readings of something that was on sleep mode. That made Rouge a little uneasy, but she was not deterred. As she stepped towards the console, she was amazed at the technology that was in this computer.

"Where does the doctor get his supplies for things like this?"

It was when she actually got to the console when things began to change drastically. One was that the computer suddenly awoke, for Rouge stepped on a pressure pad that activated the console. Another was that two red eyes peered through the darkness towards Rouge; round, solid ones, not like Metal-Sonic's ovalish, crescent-like ones.

The computer spoke in a deep, male voice, "Greetings, what option will you choose for insulation pod number 24 specimen?"

"Specimen? What could be in there?" Rouge gazed at the screen which had several options, such as "release" and "scan" and "stimulate tests." She chose "release," and she noticed that greenish liquid was draining away from inside the pod. The lid slid open, and a rank smell that caused Rouge to recoil spread through the room as if a skunk suddenly strolled through the room.

As soon as the smell was at a level that Rouge could at least tolerate enough to look at the pod, and when she saw the specimen, she nearly shouted in pure surprise!

It was a burly black hedgehog, spines twisted about with red highlights which also ran down both arms and legs and the sides of the eyes. The only other marking was a diamond-shaped marking of fur that sat on his chest. He wore gloves with golden wristlets accompanied by red buckles above. The shoes were bulky, and had large groves on the sole. Just like the wristlets, the same thing sat on his ankles. He bore a glare that could incinerate anyone who was unfortunate to attract it. It was Shadow...the Hedgehog.

Shadow stumbled forwards and onto the floor, vomiting up the greenish liquid, sides contracting with each cough. He slumped onto all fours, spitting out the bad taste with a face of utter revulsion. He looked up and stood up, bracing himself against the pod, for his knees were shaking from the stress of regurgitation.

He spoke, voice raspy and dry as a broken vacuum cleaner, "Where...am I?"

Rouge stepped back in fear, and she had a good reason to; she hadn't seen Shadow since that day in ARK. "Shadow?"

Shadow looked at Rouge. "Rouge?"

Suddenly, the silence amid them exploded with a repeating bang of a machine gun. Shadow nearly jumped, and suddenly dove into Rouge, so as to hide her behind the computer console and out of the gunfire, just in time too for the capsule was hit hard and exploded just seconds after Shadow's feet left it.

"Stay down, and don't move. I'll take care of it." Shadow then was gone in a whoosh and fire of his hover-skates.

Rouge peeked up over the console, and saw that a large, red-and-black robot with huge arms was firing bullets at Shadow, who was darting to and fro among support pillars avoiding the fire. The fire eyes of the robot were alit with such brightness so that they were no longer red.

Rouge figured that this was the "sleeping machine" that she had detected earlier and thought nothing of. She nearly lost her life from it; be more careful next time.

"Must annihilate Dr. Robotnik's robots!" It droned loudly over and over, pausing with different lengths of time between each statement.

Rouge was a little surprised at this statement; one of the doctor's robots wanting to destroy other robots?

She watched Shadow duck behind the charred stump of what used to be the capsule, and she saw the glance that Shadow always had before he thrashed anyone.

Shadow leapt out of hiding and charged at the robot with such a force that could blast a safe door off its hinges. The robot kept shooting at Shadow as he charged.

"STOP!!" Rouge screamed and leapt in between Shadow and the robot, with a gun towards Shadow, and a portable EMP generator at the robot.

Shadow stopped inches away from the muzzle, glaring at Rouge, and the robot stood dead still.

"What are you doing!?" Shadow hissed. "He was designed to destroy us!"

"Didn't you hear what he kept saying!?" Rouge yelled at the black hedgehog. "He thought you were one of the doctor's robots!"

The robot spoke. "Thought!? I know he's a robot from Robotnik! All of his creations must be destroyed!"

"Who are you, and why blast Shadow instead of me?" Rouge glared sharply at the robot.

"I am E-123 Omega, the ultimate and the last of the E-series robots." The robot, or Omega rather, stood up, and Rouge noticed that he was at least eight feet tall. "I'm attempting to destroy him as all robots."

"I'm not a robot! I'm a hedgehog!" Shadow said, teeth bared in distrust at Omega.

"Then why were you in that pod? That is a conditioning pod for repairing robots."

For once in his life since ARK, Shadow seemed a loss for words. "I...I don't know. I don't remember anything." He turned away from Rouge and Omega, back towards them and arms crossed.

Rouge never saw Shadow like this at all, but she turned to Omega, thinking about Shadow. "Omega, why are you trying to destroy Robotnik's robots?"

Omega began from the beginning. He was made the last of the E-series of twenty-two, but was never commissioned. He lay in storage for five years, and was activated by Metal-Sonic a few weeks ago, but not as an attack robot, but as a common sentry playing guard. Anger festered deep inside the metal flesh of Omega, and he blew when Shadow was released, mistaking him for a robot.

"Now I get it:" Rouge said, deducing the entire situation. "You're angry at Dr. Robotnik, because he neglected you for five years."

"Affirmative. Revenge is the natural response...and the appropriate."

"And Shadow, you can't remember ARK, or any of what happened, do you?"

Shadow did not move; Rouge peered around, and saw that his eyes were distant, thinking deeply. She took that as "yes."

Rouge took in the whole situation: a robot with a personal vendetta against Robotnik, Shadow dealing with amnesia and she on a mission to find the super-weapon. Then she had an idea: Shadow was dangerous when he was brooding in thought like now, and having a robot that large would make a great asset for protection.

"Well, I say that settles it." Rouge holstered her gun, and pocketed her EMP.

"Clarification is desired," Omega said, looking a hair confused. "Please explain."

"My name is Rouge the Bat, and I am looking for a secret super-weapon that Robotnik had boasted to us about. You are looking for revenge, so you can come with me. It is likely that we'll run into some robots on the way."

Omega's eyes lit up in delight. "Affirmative. I will accompany you...on one condition: when we find Dr. Robotnik, I will take him out. No questions."

Rouge thought about it. She needed the protection likely, considering that Metal-Sonic was prowling the base and would likely be around a lot as she got closer to the hidden location of the weapon, and besides, it would be easier on all Möbius if Robotnik was gone.

"It's a deal." Rouge then turned to Shadow, who had not moved at all. "Shadow, will you come with us?"

Shadow said nothing, for he was deep in thought. If he went with Rouge and Omega, he could probably find something that would remind him of his past. He had regained his past before; why must he lose it again?

"Shadow?"

Shadow then turned to Rouge, eyes blank and drawn.

"Will you come with us?"

Shadow sighed despairingly, and nodded.

"It's settled. Now there's only one thing more: how to get out without running into any sentries?"

"You haven't thought of that?" Shadow said, a hair angry. "You should've thought before you came here." He crossed his arms.

"I could blast our way out of here. I contain rocket launchers within my fore-arms."

"I'm hoping for something more subtle, Omega," Rouge said, but then she remembered something. She reached into a bag that she kept tucked between her wings for spare tools. This spare tool in particular was a large purple gem that gave the room a slight royal violet light. She then shoved it into Shadow's hand.

"Here, take this."

Shadow stared at it. "What do you expect me to do with it?"

"Have you really forgotten everything? Remember how you rescued me from the underground safe on Prison Island? Or ARK after killing the Biolizard?"

Shadow's eyes grew afire, and then grabbed Rouge's arms fiercely. "Don't breathe that name again! That thing was never to be made, for Professor Gerald was insane to create such a beast."

"So you do remember ARK...and...well...her too, do you?"

Shadow let go of Rouge's arms, and his own slumped against his side. "I remember. I swore I'd never forget her, Rouge. The doctor will pay for trying..." His hands clenched into fists, except the one with the Emerald.

Rouge held Shadow's hand then took Omega's metal hand. She nodded to Shadow.

Shadow held the Emerald high, and concentrated deeply. "Chaos Control!"

The three vanished with a flash of purplish light.

Chapter 1: The Message
--

"Score!"

Sonic the Hedgehog was having the time of his life within a theme park themed after casinos called Casino Park. He was at the slot machines and seemed to be engrossed by them. He had pulled the lever, and a stream of silver coins came out, causing the shout.

"Woo! I'll make millions yet! Hand me another quarter, Dash!"

Dash, a blue, Sonic-chao, handed up another coin, and groaned. "Can we do something else now?"

"Yeah...in a minute."

"You said that last time!"

"What's with the shouting, Sonic?" a voice came from behind.

The speaker was a thirteen-year-old, two-tailed fox, who was walking towards Sonic with a cup full of soda pop in one hand. A pearly-white chao and horns that looked like Nights', and had purplish wings and knot above its head, and its name was Frosty.

"Oh, hi Tails, Frosty." He waved to the two. "I just made big bucks here!"

Tails looked at the modest pile of silver coins at Sonic's feet. "Ten bucks hardly means big bucks, Sonic."

"It's a start!" Sonic scooped up the coins with his gloved hands. "Where were you two now?"

"We went on the Bingo Highway Circuit!" Frosty said. "It was fun!"

"I wrecked my cart into a giant bumper which sent me flying. I nearly got sick."

"That's why it was fun!"

Sonic chuckled. "That's my kind of chao."

"Hey! I thought I was you chao!" Dash protested.

"You are, but Frosty showing potential." Sonic laughed.

"And she was supposed to be mine," Tails mumbled.

Sonic's cell-phone suddenly chirped attached to his belt (which if you remember is invisible so that it appeared at the cell-phone seemed to be floating just off his side) and he picked it up.

Gazing at the caller ID, he said while flipping the lid open, "Hey, it's Sal, back in Knothole! Wonder what she wants?" He put the phone to his face. "Yeah, Sal? What's the matter? Antoine's cooking finally getting to you?"

There was a half-refrained chuckle on the other side, but it soon sobered to seriousness. "Sonic? I got a rather surprising email from our mutual friend, Dr. Robotnik."

"Eggman sending us an email...?"

Tails now seemed curious, so Frosty and Dash were as well.

"Imagine my surprise."

"...He didn't send us a virus or anything, did he?"

"No; N.I.C.O.L.E. scanned the whole email over and over again for worms, viruses and the like. Nothing, so I opened it." Sally fell silent.

Sonic began to prod. "Yes?"

"I think you should see it for yourself. I'll send it to the Cyclone computer. Call me if you find anything."

Sally hung up, leaving Sonic rather puzzled.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Tails asked, his curiosity nibbling at his mind.

"We got to get to the Cyclone. Let's go, kiddo!"

- - - - -

On the Floating Island, where an ancient city of the Guardians once stood now lay a vast city of modern architecture, with a population of over fifty thousand. In the business district stood a rental building, where small businesses could start and take root. The landlord was rather strict about having the rent ready when demanded each month. On the second floor was a business which was formed earlier in the year. It was christened "Chaotix Detectives Inc." and a motto below that read "Where we snoop, we help you!"

Despite the shoddy condition of the place (and the motto for that matter), here the Chaotix had set up business and having a business did not change their attitudes, wanting rather to have fun.

As you may know, the Chaotix was the collective name invented which represented the four members: Vector the Crocodile, Mighty the Armadillo, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy the Bee.

They had only one major case, and that was the events dealing with the foul creature in the Mystic Ruin Jungles, but that was three months ago; the Chaotix had used the payment from that case to update the equipment, pay the rent, and kept some for emergency funds.

On this day in September, Vector was leaning back against the wall in his chair, feet on the desk (which really was an old altar from an old parish in the human colonies. The drawers, where they kept the files, was in a small file cabinet beside the "desk."), head-beating to music that was playing in his ever-present walkman. The inflow of cash was very slow due to complete lack of real cases, and the only way that they could make money was to help the police part time, and have rather small cases like finding a missing pet or something like that. Due to this economic atmosphere, things were very slow.

Mighty was passing the time weightlifting in an adjacent room in their four-room business, being very strong, but very bored.

Espio was meditating on a cushion in the corner of another room, out of earshot of the constantly beating of the bass in Vector's headphones. His tail was wrapped about his torso and his hands were folded in front of him. He was stock still and silent, save for the steady breathing he gave. His eyes were closed and his legs were crossed. He was in fact, a martial artist, or if you are into cheesy cartoons, a ninja.

The missing one, Charmy, was gone from the office. It was his turn to get the mail you see, which was at the front desk where the "tyrant of a landlord" (which many residents there called him behind his back), if you will, had his throne.

The atmosphere that I had described just a moment ago was going on without any interruption, when suddenly the doors burst open and Charmy flew in with an armful of mail.

"Mail time!"

Vector's chair slid out from underneath him and he fell backwards with a cry. "Whoa!" This was followed by lots of crashing when he toppled onto the trashcan and file cabinet.

Mighty ran into the other room, naturally having heard the noise and checking on what's up. Espio was the last, not really enjoying being interrupted from his meditation. "What's all the racket in here about?"

Vector had climbed up into a seating position, and seemed a little irked. "What's wrong with you, Charmy? Trying to kill someone?"

"I just got the mail," Charmy protested.

"...and nearly frightened me half to death! Where's that dang mail?"

Charmy handed Vector a pile of mail and Vector ran through it, handing out random ones to the other Chaotix members.

He kept muttering what each envelope bore robotically as if disinterested. "Bill...bill...magazine subscription for Mighty...bill...junk mail...bill...we sure are getting lots of bills...bill...newspaper...what's this?"

The last mail item was a manila package that was the size of a radio. As a matter of fact, that was nearly what was inside of it. When Vector tore open the package, a communicator, which looked like a colorful walkie-talkie, slid out. It seemed to have only one frequency, even if it had more, it was stuck to one. Nothing looked really special about this communicator, despite its odd coloring: dominantly red with yellow dial and speaker.

"Who the heck sent us this?" Espio asked, a little bewildered about this odd mail item.

Charmy snatched up the manila shreds of the package and skimmed over it quickly. "It doesn't have a return address, and the stamp doesn't seem to show any significance."

"Well, we can just open the frequency and see who's on the other end," Mighty suggested.

Vector shrugged and pressed the call-in button. A voice, which was obviously was distorted by some synthesizer, spoke through the speaker. "Who is this?"

Vector hesitated for half a second. "Vector the Crocodile."

"Are you one of the Chaotix?"

"Yes."

"Good; I'm in need of your services, and require your detective skills. I've heard of your case in the Mystic Ruins and am interested in your incorporation. I can pay very handsomely."

Now every ear was attentive. Vector said in a low voice, "How much did you have in mind."

"Fifty thousand total."

"FIFTY THOUS--!!" Charmy blurted out in complete surprise and shock, but was quickly hushed into silence by the three others.

"Yes, impressive isn't it?"

"What do we have to do?"

"I need you to collect materials that I need."

"You're a private collector?"

"In a way, yes. When you get me five needed materials by the end of the week, I will reward you. It is adamant that you get those materials to me before the end of the week."

"What is your name?"

"Uh...I prefer a certain amount of anonymity."

Vector found that odd, but there was fifty grand on the line. He looked at the rest of the Chaotix, and they seemed to get the question in Vector's eyes. They nodded and Vector spoke again. "We accept."

"Excellent. First, you must go to Santiago City and Casino Park, the amusement park. There you must talk to the head person there, Mr. Kodiak. But before that, you must find ten black poker chips around the park. These are rare and collectable, so don't try winning them at poker tables, and don't even attempt to fake them too; he checks them personally closely. I'll contact him so he knows you're coming. Be quick, for time will travel fast."

"Yes, sir!"

The communicator made a click so it sounded like that the Client on the other side had clicked his communicator off.

Espio voiced his concern. "I may have agreed to this, but why do I still have a bad feeling about this?"

"Espio, don't be ridiculous. Remember our policy: we never turn down any work that pays."

Mighty had dug out an atlas and looked up Santiago City, for he had heard of it but never been there. "Here it is!" Mighty pointed to a large yellow section, crisscrossed with roads, located off the edge of Sapphire Bay. "Santiago City. It's the larger of the two cities there."

"Whoa, that's kind of far from here," Charmy said.

"We may have to get one of the portable teleporters that Knuckles has. I'm sure he'll let us borrow one," Vector stated.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Espio said.

"All right, all right. Hold your horses." Vector said. "We need to talk to Knuckles about a teleporter, that's for sure. First, let's get some money and some food to take with us. Don't forget our licenses either."

After a few minutes, they gathered some personal funds, food and their licenses. Then, they left from their office, after Vector put up an "out of town" sign in the window, and headed towards Knuckles' place out in the Marble Gardens.

- - - - -

Back in Knothole, some time after Sally had sent a previously-mentioned message, a little rabbit was playing near a brook with her blue chao. The rabbit was Cream, and the chao, Cheese. Cream was still a little girl who was ten, but already had an adventure already, but I won't go into detail about.

The only thing that ever happened that day so far was the email from "Dr. Eggman" (which Cream got into a habit of calling Robotnik) and nothing else. She never gave it much thought, for she never really understood why Dr. Eggman was so bad.

Cheese jumped into the brook and splashed about, sometimes splashing Cream accidentally.

"Hey, Cheese! Stop that!"

"Sorry, Creamy."

The sound of the word Creamy coming from a chao sound silly and Cream couldn't help giggling to that sound.

Suddenly, she heard someone shouting around back in the village.

"Is anyone here?"

Cream decided to get up and find out who it was; she was quickly followed by Cheese. When they had gotten there, they found a pink hedgehog who was older then Cream and wore a red dress, hair-ribbon and boots.

"Hello," said Cream. "Oh, hi Amy! How have you been! I haven't seen you since those bad robot-like things that came from space."

Amy was good friends with Cream ever since the ARK incident. "Hi, Cream!" They hugged. "How've you been."

"Bored."

Amy giggled a little bit, petting Cheese the Chao. "Hey, is Sonic here?"

"No. Mr. Sonic isn't here. He went on vacation, I think."

Amy looked a hair crestfallen, but shook it off. "Oh, well. I guess I can find him some other time. I just wanted to visit before I go back to school."

"School? You go to school? Cool!" Cream asked.

"I guess; nothing exciting though."

"Oh..."

"Who's out there?" someone called out from inside the central hut.

"It's Amy, Aunt Sally!"

Out stepped the feminine figure of Sally. She had known Amy when they met after the Little Planet escapade and the even more recent ARK incident. "Hello, Amy."

"Hello, Princess Sally!" Amy said.

Sally felt a little embarrassed for she never had anyone call her Princess. "Please, Amy, call me Sally."

Amy turned red, or redder considering her pinkish color. "Sorry."

"It's okay really." Sally then changed the subject. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, school starts for us this Friday, so I asked my mother if I could come here to see Sonic before I have to start my classes again. I'll be heading back tomorrow."

"I'm sorry if Sonic wasn't here." Sally smiled inside. "He's in Santiago City with Tails."

"Cream told me that." Amy sighed. "Well, I guess I'll make sure my things are ready to go again."

"Oh, now?" Cream asked. "Why not stay here for a while?"

Amy smiled. "I have to go back home to get ready for school."

"No!" Then Cream got an idea, a simplistic idea if you know young kids enough. "Hey, why can't I come with you?"

"Come with me?" Amy was a little startled about this sudden idea from Cream's head. "But...but...what about your mother or father?"

"Oh, I'm an orphan, or at least, I don't know where they are." Cream seemed to get down in spirit briefly.

"Then who takes care of you? I swear that you're not a teen yet."

"Aunt Sally does. Aunt Sally, can I go, please?" Cream bore a look like an adorable puppy.

"Hmm, well..."

Cheese now got into Cream's antics, and gave a mirrored look. The chipmunk couldn't resist. "Oh, I suppose. I guess you need to get out of the woods for a while. I'll have Sonic come by Sapphire City and pick you up when his furlough is up. Just be careful."

Cream squealed in delight. Amy wondered if she'd enjoy Cream's company, but she decided that if Sonic put up with her enough, she could with her.

- - - - -

Sonic and Tails had gotten back out to the Cyclone which was in car mode and ready to roll. Frosty was playing with the White Chaos Emerald (it was her favorite) that Tails owned in the back seat, while Sonic and Tails was looking on a computer screen in the front. Sonic and Tails had opened the message and were reading it over.

It read so:

"Hello, Sonic, my noble adversary...

I have finally got a plan to overthrow the entire world! I will commence it at the end of this week. Think you can stop me?

Ha ha, Dr. Eggman."

Tails showed slight shock and confusion, and Sonic showed slight amusement.

"It looks a bit like an invitation to party," Sonic said, chuckling slightly. "Noble adversary?"

"Why would Eggman send us a letter like that?"

"Come to think of it, why would he even use his nickname, the one he hates all the time?"

"'The end of the week...' What's today?"

Sonic paused for a moment. "Tuesday."

"That gives us three to four days!" Tails said, alarmed.

"Calm down, kid. We only had twenty-four hours to destroy the Eclipse Cannon three years ago. We'll get Eggman yet."

"But where do we even start?"

"Ow!" Frosty had been tossing the Emerald up into the air and it landed on her head. She cried out, more in surprise then pain. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sonic and Tails couldn't help laughing a bit.

Sonic sat down to think, after he laughed his share at Frosty's little play. "Well..." Sonic snapped his fingers. "Hey, we got that by email, did we?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's call back Sally and have N.I.C.O.L.E. trace the email back and find out where!"

"Hey, that should work!"

"I'll call her up!" Sonic picked up his cell-phone and started punching in numbers.

As Sonic was talking to Sally, explaining the plan, Frosty was pressing the sore on her head into numbness. Dash was stroking the Blue Emerald that was kept in the Cyclone for safekeeping. He was learning different frequencies in this Emerald, and it was getting a little frustrating. He learned the Chaos Control, at least, the teleportation half, but the time control part was hard. He saw that Sonic was able to use the yellow one to freeze time very well, but why not the blue one?

"She's tracing..." Sonic announced.

Tails was drumming his fingers impatiently, Frosty gripped the White Emerald, waiting. Dash wasn't paying attention; he was studying the Emerald deeply. Sonic did some strange stuff with this Emerald, like the little incident before Perfect Chaos with his zoning out, sometime before his own transformation-evolution.

"Got it!" Sonic exclaimed. "Thanks a bunch, Sal! Could you email it to the Cyclone? Thanks! Bye!" Sonic made a little kiss sound before the phone hang up, and both Frosty and Dash looked disgusted.

"Here it is!" Tails said. "Server EG-4312...somewhere in Central Möbius." Tails was trying to get coordinates. "It's in the Eastern Part of the Dagro Desert."

"Going to the desert again, eh?" Sonic remarked. "I never thought Eggman to be the sidewinder..."

"What's a sidewinder?" Frosty asked, inquisitive.

"It's some kind of snake, a rattler. They crawl to their sides instead of forwards like most snakes."

Frosty looked utterly confused. "Eggman's a snake? I thought snakes didn't have arms!"

Sonic and Tails stifled a titter of laughter, but couldn't hide their smiles from reacting to Frosty's ignorance. Dash was too preoccupied to notice Frosty's ignorance.

"When should we go?"

"Let's go now; that way, we can beat down Eggman and still run back here and gamble away our life savings!" Sonic said confidently.

"Oh, I hope not..." Dash mumbled, who had been half-listening to Sonic.

"Frosty, Dash and I will take the Cyclone," Tails said. "Here, you'll need the Chaos Emerald." Tails handed Sonic the Blue Emerald.

"Thanks, I'll keep up on the ground. We'll crack Eggman wide open. C'mon, let's party!"

Sonic took off down the street, nearly mowing down two pedestrians. Tails put the Cyclone into a run, and when he thought he was fast enough, he made the Cyclone transform into the Tornado, and took off after Sonic.

Nearby, in an alley full of dumpsters; two hedgehogs, one black and one blue, stepped out into the sunlight.

The blue one was actually a robot, with red eyes, blue spines with silver highlights, large forearms and legs, striped with silver patterns which seemed to line muscles, and wore a belt from where a black cape flew out to the back. It was Metal-Sonic, wearing battle gear.

The black one was half-organic and half-robot. He looked just as imposing as Metal-Sonic standing beside him. His jet-black fur seemed to suck in the light around him. He had part of his right eye robotized and most of his left arm. He carried a pretty sour expression, which could suck out joy from anyone's face. He wore a red vest with sharp shoulders and had a belt with a buckle that had the skull of a bull on it. He wore sharp red boots that had metal tips and claws on the heels. He was Echelon.

"They took the bait..." Metal-Sonic droned.

"Excellent. Time to test out your new ability, Mecha. You've been trained well, my apprentice. You have what you need to destroy that hedgehog and anyone in your way, better than that human you served, Robotnik."

Metal-Sonic face wrinkled up in disgust. He now bore a flesh that had biological properties, such as flexibility. It also came with facial expressions, which was so much more exhilarating to him for he knew that one of the best ways to threaten a victim was through the proper facial expressions.

"If we lived in the age of the Trials, you would be ready, but unfortunately, we do not. You'll have to learn from experience, Mecha. I'll watch you, but you'll receive no more counsel from me...unless you're in dire need."

"Yes, master..."

"Farewell, Mecha..." Echelon smiled grimly, and then he vanished in a twinkle of light.

"I intend to succeed, and first, I will be rid of that cursed hedgehog..." Metal-Sonic crossed his arms, and he also vanished in a twinkle of light.