Chapter 1

It was late in the year, at the near end of fall and the beginning of winter. Life was bustling in the city faster than ever these last few years ever since the notorious Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik planed to conquer the world with an enormous air fleet two years ago. Fortunately the great hero Sonic the hedgehog stopped Dr. Eggman before any real damage could unfold by the newly upgraded Metal Sonic. Then came the horrid Metarex that stole the planet egg two months afterward, whom were aided by Dr. Eggman but were stopped by Sonic, Shadow, and a mysterious plant girl named Cosmo. Ever since that year Dr. Eggman had arrived on this world he's always been trying some new way to take control, but faithful Sonic has always been there to prevent this from happening. So the years have been passing by swiftly and production in the city and new technology has been going on at a normal pace. Angel Island has gotten older but not much has changed that much. Green Hill has never been so peaceful in a long time…but this brings up great suspicion about Dr. Eggman and if he's planning something new. Either way, everyone's living a peaceful life and not too many worry about the fact that no Badniks have been running rampant. The elder, senior, and youth run freely in their vast and amazing world that they have been offered.

Speaking of youth, a young hedgehog was in a hurry that afternoon. He ran as fast as he could but he still could not compare to the speed of Sonic. He ran down the sidewalk, a bag in his hand, a sweatband over his head, and a white tank top and blue shorts covering his body. His green fur swished about in the wind as he ran closer and closer to his destination. His hazel eyes were focused on the little house ahead of him.

"Almost there!" he panted. He began to pick up his pace and ran faster. The buildings around him were large and glittering with the afternoon sky. Then came the street. Gotta be careful when crossing it or else you'll become an oversized road kill… The young hedgehog looked both ways while trotting in place. It seemed okay so he ran across. This time he was lucky. Only five cars had to make an immediate stop instead of ten, how fortunate. He continued to run down the roadway until he made it to the small house.

"Phew, I made it." The hedgehog opened the door and stepped inside. He wiped his shoes on the welcome mat and fully entered the house. "Mom! Dad! Taki! I'm back!" he called.

"Welcome home, did you get the groceries?" a female voice called back.

"Everything you wanted, I even got the last packet of shrimp they had!"

A younger female hedgehog entered the room. This younger hedgehog had purple hair but also had hazel eyes. She was dressed in a black shirt with blue shorts and was wearing an apron at the moment; a small cake on a saucer was in her hands. "Hopefully you remembered to get the cherries today," she said.

"Of course I did," the hedgehog smiled, "they're right…" He scrounged his bag but there was no trace of cherries. He smiled nervously and turned back to the younger hedgehog. "Sorry Taki, looks like I forgot them," he laughed.

A paper fan swiftly ricocheted off his head. "You idiot! I was planning on finishing this cake tonight!" Taki yelled. "I can never rely on you to get anything, Kai!" She rapidly swatted Kai with the paper fan over and over.

"Taki! Knock it off!" Kai began to step back until he was completely out the door.

"Where are you going?" Kai's mother asked. She poked her head out the second floor window. Her purple hair swayed in the gentle breeze and the sun reflected off her lush blue eyes.

"I'm…I'm heading over to Samantha's!" he yelled. He quickly took off before Taki could get another whack at him.

"Get back here! I'm not finished with you!" Taki screamed.

"Be back before nightfall!" their mother called. Kai waved back as he ran into the horizon. He was hoping his friend Samantha and her brother weren't too busy. Samantha and he were supposed to be on a date today. The sky was already showing near signs of pre-twilight and it was either now or never.

Now Samantha lived deep in the suburbs, pretty far away from Kai's house. There was the usual path that led to Samantha's house that took a four-mile run and Kai was in a hurry today. Kai ran down the path and came across an echidna that happened to be running down the path at the moment as well. The echidna was as old as Kai, around 17 years. Like all echidnas, his fur was colored red. He too was dressed in a tank top and had green shorts on at the moment. He was out for a run and came across Kai and decided to join him. Kai turned and saw the echidna.

"Oh, hey Seina!" Kai called.

"Hey Kai," Seina answered. "Nice day for a run?"

"Oh, I'm heading over to a friend's house." Seina turned his attention away from what might be in front of him and turned to Kai.

"Really? I was out and I thought I'd drop by to say hello and…"

"Seina! Look out for the—"

But it was too late. Seina had tripped over a stone and fell into the nearby marsh. Kai stopped and turned to Seina, whose legs were sticking out of the marsh and mud, poor Seina was buried in three feet of it. "You okay Seina?" Kai called.

"Emm ohaah!" Seina called back.

"That's good to hear. Need some help?"

Seina's feet squirmed and swung about. "Whaaha yoo hiink?"

Kai slide down to the marsh near Seina's legs and grabbed them. With one mighty heavy, he pulled Seina out of the mud. Seina's upper body was entirely covered in mud. "You look like you need a bath Seina…" Kai said.

Seina then laughed, "Yeah, I think so." Seina picked himself up and turned around. He ran back down the path to his home. "See ya Kai!" Seina called.

"Bye!" Kai called. Kai picked up the pace and ran farther down the path. Eventually Kai had to stop to catch his breath. Next to him at his resting point was an armadillo dressed in her school uniform, a white uniform with a green skirt, and carrying a pink parasol. Like all armadillos in this world, she had a bright red shell. Her eyes were purple and reflected the light from the afternoon sun. She saw Kai and turned to him. "Hey…Rebecca…" Kai panted.

The armadillo smiled. "Hello Sempai Kai," she answered. "In a hurry today aren't we?"

"Yeah…you could…say that…"

Rebecca crouched next to Kai, who was panting heavily. "What's the big rush?" she asked.

"I'm heading…over to…a friend's house…"

Rebecca smiled. "This friend wouldn't happen to be Samantha, would it?"

Kai sharply looked up. "What?" Kai asked in surprise.

Rebecca laughed. "It's written over you face. You'd better hurry."

Kai picked himself up and ran down the path. He turned and waved to Rebecca. "Bye!" he called.

"See you later Sempai!" Rebecca called.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon. Kai had to pick up the pace and reach Samantha's house before 4:30 for their date of Samantha might not even talk to Kai again. Kai continued to run down the path until he came across two paths: one that continued forward and one that led to the left. The first path that continued forward passed through a mountain and the other path to the left of Kai cut through a dense forest. Kai turned to the forest path and sighed. "I'm in a hurry and I need a short cut," Kai said to himself.

He walked down the forest path cautiously for it was very steep; only a fool would run down a steep path. Kai continued down slowly and carefully. "So far so good. If I'm lucky I won't—"

Kai then tripped on a lifted root and began to tumble down the hill. He tried to stop himself but he only made himself curled up into a ball and rolling down the hill faster. He hit many lowered tree branches and some lifted roots. The hill came into a curve that led upwards and like a skier down a slope; Kai was tossed into the air. Since he was curled up, he couldn't tell what was going on but he was able to resume his normal position. When he saw he was falling, he screamed. Kai then slammed against the ground hard and was badly bruised.

"I should have taken the long way…" he moaned. Something then caught his eye, a small but familiar house. "Isn't that Sonic's house?" Kai asked.

Kai started to pick himself up. "That's odd. Normally this place is active…"

Kai began to think and he continued to lift himself. "Something's wrong here and I'm going to—"

Something big and heavy landed on Kai's head and Kai passed out.

Kai slowly opened his eyes and saw two bigger, purple eyes looking into his. Kai sharply awoke and jumped back. It was an echidna but this one was a girl, a little older than him and dressed in the strangest robes. They weren't robes or garments Kai had ever seen before, they were somewhat primitive but lightly pink and blue colored. "Who are you?" he exclaimed.

The echidna got up and sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you're okay Mr. Sonic," she said. Her voice was that of an angel's. Kai stared at this girl with confusion in his eyes and mind.

"What?" he asked.

"When I accidentally landed on you, I thought I might have killed you but I'm glad to see that you are okay. I need your help Mr. Sonic," she said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on!" Kai began. "First off, I'm not Sonic."

The echidna couldn't believe what she heard. "You aren't? But I saw you use the Kaiten attack when coming down the hill."

"Oh that, I tripped and somehow I curled up into a ball," Kai laughed.

"Are you related to Mr. Sonic?"

"Hmm? No, I'm not."

The echidna then smiled brightly. "You must be a pupil of Mr. Sonic!" she happily said.

"But I'm not-"

"Look at all these bruises on you, Mr. Sonic must be training you hard."

"Look, I said-"

"Or maybe you like to play it rough, we could use you on our army."

"What!"

The echidna handed Kai a small brochure to Kai. "Just sign it and you'll be the hero your mentor is today," she smiled.

Two words were on the cover of the brochure: "Revolution Army". Kai looked at this in confusion and looked up at the echidna. "The Revolution army?" Kai asked. "What's that?"

"You'll find out when you read it. We really could use you on our teams. With your skills Mr. Sonic taught you, we could win this war," the echidna said. "Just sign the brochure and you'll be one of the many heroes in our galaxy."

Kai turned back to the brochure. "Oh, one more thing," the echidna said.

She reached into her small bag that she was carrying. She pulled out an orange gem that seemed to shine brighter than anything in the world. "Wow! That's beautiful!" Kai said, looking at the bright gem.

"Could you give this to Mr. Sonic when he comes back?" the echidna asked. The echidna got up and started toward Kai. Kai started to back up. "By the way, what's you name?" she asked.

"K-Kai! My name is Kai Hibiki!" he said.

The echidna smiled. "Nice to meet you Kai."

She then kissed Kai; his whole face turned red. The echidna smiled and started to walk away. "Wait!" Kai called; the echidna turned back. "What's your name?"

The echidna smiled and said, "Kristine Hoshi."

Kristine then vanished in the blink of an eye. Kai stared in disbelief and shock. "W-w-what was that?" he asked himself with fear.

Kai became aware that it was near twilight. Kai was going to be late if he didn't hurry! Kai picked himself up and ran down the path. "Oh man! Wait for me Samantha!"

Kai managed to reach the suburbs and with five minutes to spare. On the hillside, Kai looked down upon the houses below him. "I made it! Here I come Samanth—"

Sadly, Kai tripped on another lifted root and stumbled down the hill. He landed on the pavement in front of Samantha's house. "You okay Kai?" a female voice asked.

Kai lifted his head and saw a female fox (she was a normal fox and had only one tail) dressed in an apron and dark colored clothes (her eyes were light blue). She was sweeping the entrance of the house before Kai landed. Kai lifted his head and saw the fox. He smiled and said, "Hey Samantha."

Samantha smiled and lifted Kai off of the ground. She saw all of the bruises on Kai and led him into the house. "What were you doing? You're body's completely battered all over," she said.

Kai chuckled. "I took the short cut on my way here," Kai said. "The only problem is that there's traps from nature everywhere you turn."

Samantha laughed and picked Kai up. "Let's go inside and clean you up." Samantha took Kai by the hand and led him into the house.

Samantha took a wet washcloth and cleaned up Kai. "Does this sting?" Samantha asked.

"No, not badly," Kai responded.

Samantha smiled. She pressed the cloth against Kai's forehead. "Even though we were supposed to go out tonight, you're too bruised to be seen in public," Samantha said.

She washed off a bruise on Kai's forehead. Kai laughed afterward. "This sort of thing always happens to me whenever I'm in a hurry…"

"When are you ever not in a hurry?" Samantha asked.

Kai thought a while and laughed again. "Never really," he laughed.

"About time you arrived," a younger voice responded. Kai turned to Samantha's room and there was her brother, Daniel. Daniel was also a fox and also had only one tail. He was only one year younger than Samantha (making him 16 years old). Daniel entered the room and patted Kai on the back.

"We thought you totally forgot about tonight," he said.

"Why would I ever forget about Samantha?" Kai asked. Daniel sat down next to Kai and Samantha.

"You know," he began, "looking at how close you two are, it almost reminds me of Sonic and Tails." Samantha blushed and Kai laughed.

"Except Sonic and Tails really couldn't ever be as close as we are," Samantha said.

"I'll leave you two alone," Daniel said. "Just don't do anything wrong this time!" Kai and Samantha stared coldly at Daniel.

"What do you mean this time?" Kai exclaimed.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" Samantha snapped.

Daniel took two steps back and nervously laughed. "Hey, I'm just playing around."

With that said, Daniel walked off into town. "I'm gonna go get some more parts, I'll be back in a while."

"Be safe!" Samantha called. "I can't find another younger brother more annoying than you!"

"Back at you!" Daniel's voice faded.

Kai and Samantha were alone at last. Kai still had a few bruises left on him. Samantha pulled out some special medicine for Kai's head. It was in a little spray bottle that was no bigger than a small glass. She directed it toward a bruise on Kai's head. "This will sting a little," Samantha warned Kai.

She sprayed it on his head and he twitched. The strange gem that Kai was holding onto fell out of his shirt. The gem bounced once and rolled toward Samantha's knees. She immediately turned to it and put her hands to her mouth in surprise. Kai reached for it and picked it up. Samantha stared at the gem in awe and amazement. Kai scratched his head in confusion. "Is something the matter?" he asked.

She reached out for the gem and Kai handed it over to her. She held it in her two hands and examined it thoroughly. She sharply turned back to Kai. "Where did you find this?" she asked.

Kai sat up and began to tell Samantha what happened. He told her about how he took a short cut to her house and tripped. Afterward he ran into Sonic's house, which seemed void of any residents. A strange echidna appeared out of nowhere and landed on his head and gave him the strange jewel. Samantha's eyes widened in amazement. "Do you even know what this is?" she asked.

Kai shook his head. "This is a chaos emerald!" Samantha exclaimed.

Kai stared at the gem. He turned back to Samantha with disbelief. "There's no way this is a Chaos Emerald. No Chaos Emerald is orange and there are only seven in existence."

"You've never paid attention in history class, did you?" Samantha sighed. "There are only seven known Chaos Emeralds but there have always been legends of an eighth Chaos emerald."

"This is news to me…"

"The legends state that there was a Chaos Emerald conjured from the depths of the 'Gods resting place', a valley that lies far beyond Angel Island."

"Go on," Kai said.

"This Chaos Emerald had the power to alter the other emeralds' powers and change them completely. That is where the legend of the Super Emeralds come in."

Kai took the Chaos Emerald and stared at it. "So then if this is a Chaos Emerald," Kai began, "I can become extremely powerful with this!"

He raised it to the sky and smiled. "Go Chaos Emerald!"

There was absolute silence. "Huh? Power up, Chaos Emerald!"

Samantha laughed. Kai lowered his hands and his body in defeat. "I don't get it. Sonic becomes all golden and super when he's got a Chaos Emerald…"

Samantha laughed. "You need all seven, or in this case, eight Chaos Emeralds to become super; and not just anyone can become super."

"Oh?"

"One who is pure of heart and can summon the power from their soul can become super."

"Then how could that mysterious Shadow that Sonic told everyone about become super? He intended on destroying a whole planet."

"In the end, all he wanted to do was fulfill the human Maria's wish."

Kai was defeated. Samantha laughed and patted Kai on the shoulder. Daniel came back with a few machine pieces and laid them out in front of Samantha. "Which do you think will work best?" he asked.

She grabbed one piece in front of her and said, "This one will do nicely."

Kai looked back at the Chaos Emerald and turned to the Revolution brochure that the echidna had given him.

"Revolution Army, huh?" he thought.

"Oh Kai, I think you should be getting home now," Daniel said.

Kai returned from deep thought and jolted toward the door. "See you at school tomorrow!" he called.

Samantha and Daniel followed Kai all the way to the front gate. Kai stretched his legs and prepared to take off. "Don't worry," Daniel said to Kai. "You can have as much fun with Samantha at school tomorrow as you like."

Samantha would have slapped Daniel then and there but she didn't want to look bad in front of Kai. Kai turned to Daniel and gave a bummed out look. "I wouldn't because of two reasons: one, we aren't married yet and two, I really don't think Samantha would want to," Kai said.

Samantha blushed and waved to Kai. Kai took off and went the long way home.

As Kai continued home, he looked back at the brochure. The words "Revolution Army" reflected the twilight sky and glistened brightly. Kai opened it and saw it consisted of only two pages. The first page consisted of rules and regulations and info on the Revolution Army and the next page consisted of a fill-out sheet and at the very bottom was a signature page and a small box to sign your fingerprint. "I wonder what this is all about…" Kai thought.

He looked up and saw another hedgehog in the middle of the road. It was a male, he could tell because of the complete lack of clothes except for shoes and strange bracelets on his hands. The quills on this hedgehog draped downward but were sharply lifted upward near the end of the quills. The twilight shadowed this hedgehog so Kai couldn't get a good look at the color of this hedgehog's fur. "Hey!" Kai called to the hedgehog; the hedgehog turned its head toward Kai but its look wasn't very friendly.

It gave a menacing glare that made one worry about angering this guy. "Are you lost?" Kai asked.

The hedgehog noticed Kai had the Chaos Emerald and completely turned to Kai. Slowly the hedgehog approached him. "I-is something the m-matter?" Kai asked as he began to back away.

"Who gave you that Chaos Emerald?" it asked.

Kai turned to the Chaos Emerald and noticed it was glowing brighter. He turned back to the other hedgehog and noticed that something on him was glowing as well. "Do you have a Chaos Emerald too!" Kai asked.

The hedgehog pulled out a gun and pointed it at Kai. Kai was startled and back away more. "Answer me. Who gave you that Chaos Emerald?"

"K-Kr-Kri—". The hedgehog began to pull the trigger.

"I'm growing impatient," it said.

"Kristine! An echidna named Kristine gave it to me!" Kai blurted out.

The hedgehog slightly lowered his gun. "Do you know where she went?" he asked.

"No, she teleported after she gave this Chaos Emerald," Kai said.

The hedgehog turned around and pulled out the red Chaos Emerald. "What's your name?" Kai asked.

The hedgehog turned to Kai as he raised the Chaos Emerald toward the sky. "You shouldn't dig into forces beyond your understanding, child; it'll only cost you your life. As for my name, it's Shadow…"

Kai's eyes widened with fear. He was in the midst of the fearful and dangerous Shadow the hedgehog. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

With those words, Shadow disappeared into thin air. Kai picked up his pace and ran faster towards his home.

At his house, everyone had begun eating. "And afterwards, Kristine gave me the Chaos Emerald and this brochure!" Kai said.

"This still doesn't make up for the fact that you still forgot the cherries!" Taki yelled; she whacked Kai with the paper fan again.

"Taki, knock it off!" Kai yelled.

Kai didn't feel the need to tell them about his encounter with Shadow and continued eating with everyone else. Kai's father stopped eating and turned to him. Kai's father had green colored hair like Kai but had blue eyes like his wife: Kai and Taki's mother. "You know Kai, joining the army will mean putting your life on the line for the sake of others," he said.

"Yeah, I know…"

"But you do get paid a lot for fighting in the army," Kai's mother smiled.

Taki ceased from hitting Kai and pointed to the Chaos Emerald. "There's your entry check, imagine what you'll get from this army!" she said.

Kai looked at the brochure and turned toward his father. "I've never even heard of this Revolution Army, sound anything familiar to you, dad?"

Kai's father laughed. "Nope, never heard of it. In fact, this is the first time an army that isn't controlled by Eggman has ever been mentioned."

Taki decided to bribe Kai some more. "You'll certainly win Samantha over if you sign up," she said.

Kai thought about it for a moment and then picked up a pen. "Okay! I'll do it!" he said.

He signed everything on the second page and grabbed a small packet of red ink. He dipped his thumb into it and pressed it onto the small box. His whole family cheered and Kai closed the brochure. "I'll mail it tomorrow, right now I need to get some shut eye…"

Kai walked toward his room and closed the door behind him. As he slept, strange noises arose from outside his window. Kai's parents walked outside to see what the cause of it was and there stood a dark figure with a large space shuttle behind it…