Stormeye Saga: The Beckoning

by Bluehawk

Bluehawk is one of many peaceful resident mercenaries of SoaH city, owner of the yellow chaos emerald which grants him lightning speed and laser attacks...but then it gets stolen. Darkness grows stronger, thus ensues a frantic race to figure out who took

((Disclaimer: All events portrayed in this fanfic are property of Bluehawk aka D-Sham except for parts of the suspension brige chase scene and the following battle, all characters in this fanfic are property of their respective owners, excluding actual copyrighted Sonic characters. and SoaH city is based on a message board hosted by dragoneye.ca, Neon Chaos and Dragoon. Characters used with permission.))

Stormeye Saga: The Beckoning By Bluehawk

Chapter 1

"Got up at 9:00 this morning. Normally a Saturday would be a good day to sleep in, but as usual Sama ran straight into the shower screen when trying to improve his personal hygiene (and he NEEDS it). I had to bandage his head again, which is hard because he always struggles. Within a few minutes he was trying to push the pantry door and saying 'open!' and the phone rang. Sama tried to run out of the room and banged into the door...he thought it was the fire alarm. I picked up the phone and then held it out to him. "It's for you!" I said. He stared at it wide-eyed. I had to explain to him what the phone was (again).

I went for a walk to go get the weekly 'supplies' and just when I was on my way home Sama came running up to me. He was holding something. "I can't get it open!" A jam jar. I twisted it and it was pretty stuck, but Sama would be able to handle that easily? I thought. Then I realized he probably tried to pull it straight off. So I opened the empty jar and we walked home. That guy really does need to learn how to use that head of his (without using it physically too much!)"

BlueHawk put down his pen and placed his journal calmly on his desk. It had been an interesting day, as usual, and Hawk couldn't help but chuckle at Sama's stupidity sometimes…he was annoying at times, but he was a good friend, and Hawk was grateful for that. He started to wonder why Phantom had called earlier in the day…and even more so why he wanted to talk to Sama? Was there something he wasn't supposed to know? He had decided not to put the details in his journal, in case someone peeked and knew he suspected something…no, it was better to leave things as they were for now…

*****

Why was Hawk still awake? It was 4:00 a.m. and he hadn't slept a wink. It was the phone call. Something weird was up with that…usually Phantom would tell Sama through Hawk. He knew that Sama was afraid of the phone! …Suddenly Hawk heard a creak. He tried to work out what it was-it wasn't Sama. It was someone opening the front door…Hawk quickly grabbed his Uzi from his bedside table and flicked the safety off…whoever it was in his apartment, if they were sneaking in at night, they couldn't be up to any good…

Good thing I couldn't sleep…thought Hawk. If I was asleep now…he pushed that awful thought to the back of his head as he slowly opened the door into the main room…the door was open. That ruled out the possibility of Phantom having accidentally teleported…he never would have left the door open, and he would have heard a small noise if he accidentally teleported again as he was closing the door…as unlikely as that was anyway…so it was down to 1: a burglar, 2: a murderer/assassin, or 3: Someone who was looking for something in particular...possibly as bait to lure him somewhere. But there was no one to be seen. And as far as he could see, his chao, Skeeter and Paladin, were sound asleep…they hadn't been taken. So what was…Hawk listened in the direction of Sama's room. He looked and saw that the door was closed. Whoever or whatever it was, it wasn't in there. There were no more rooms to check…Then suddenly he heard it. A click. From his right. Someone was there; all right…then suddenly they bolted out the door. "OI!" cried the blue fox! "STOP, THIEF!" He heard a loud bang from Sama's door and it opened suddenly. "Sama! Call the police! NOW!" shouted Hawk as he ran out the door. He raced down the stairs, just seeing the criminal at the bottom as he got to them.

*****

The door of the large building burst open and a dark figure desperately sprinted out, followed by Hawk in hot pursuit. Dang…thought Hawk. I forgot to grab the emerald before I… "POLICE! POLICE!" cried a low-pitched voice from about three floors up. Sama was there calling out the window…BlueHawk would usually chuckle to himself, but now was not the time. He saw the figure sprinting up the empty footpath. Without hesitation Hawk sprinted after him, in the hopes that whatever he stole it wasn't of any sentimental value…he could have taken a chao.

A normal late-teenage fox slowly walked out of a small building, with a happy look on his face. Half a second later a pink hedgehog girl, roughly the same age, followed and put his arm around her shoulder as she lay her tired head on his moroan jacket. This is the way to be, all right! Thought Nambuk. Life couldn't be better…Suddenly he looked to the right and saw a dark figure dashing toward him…now that was a weird mask…but Halloween was waaaaay over…then he saw the blue fox in pursuit. "NAM! STOP HIM!" The pink hedgehog girl looked up in surprise as Nambuk let her go and moved to react…but it was too late. The figure was already past him. Instead he only got in Hawk's path as he followed only metres behind…I guess this is the time to give up…thought Hawk as he half-collapsed, exhausted. "Sorry, Hawk…" Nambuk apologised.

"It's not your fault…you tried to help." Puffed BlueHawk as he began to recover.

Chapter 2

"They stole your CHAOS EMERALD?" The mayor, Neon chaos asked from behind his desk.

"Yep. I only realized it this morning…I didn't think he stole anything." Said Bluehawk.

"That's not good…did you get a look at him?" Neon asked, hopefully.

"Nothing." Sighed Hawk.

"…He was wearing a strange mask, looked like some kind of tiki-god tribute thing or something." Stated Nambuk.

"What-? You never said anything about that!" Hawk exclaimed.

"Well, I assumed you got a better look." Nambuk replied.

"Well, it matters who took it and why, sure…but what matters more is that there's a criminal on the loose with a chaos emerald. I'll get the police on to it now." Said the dark-green echidna-like life form. "Is there anything else?"

"No…" Hawk sighed.

*****

Hawk looked at the ground as he walked back to where Sama and Phantom were waiting for him. "How'd it go?" the black hedgehog-like creature asked.

"He's sending out the police already, but there's not much that can be done." The blue fox answered. Sama looked at Hawk with a questioning expression. "I called the police last night and they didn't-"

Phantom cut him off. "Sama, you seriously need to learn how to use the phone."

"What's a phone?" Sama queried. Hawk sighed. They had to find out who took the emerald FAST. But…how? Suddenly there was a slight 'poof' noise and Phantom was gone. A Phantom Falcon-like scream was heard as a navy and green van drove past along the road.

Chapter 3

Hawk felt like…well. Something bad. Someone had broken in and taken the Chaos Emerald…hey, why is it called an emerald anyway? It's yellow!

Hawk: Erm…mistranslation?

Yeah, sure, whatever you reckon.

Hawk: No, I'm serious. Those things happen all the time. In Golden Sun it says 'You got an herb.'

Shut up and let me get on with the story!

Hawk: You're the one who started going on about how a yellow gem is called an emerald…

SHUT UP!

Hawk: o-okay.

Anyway, as I was saying before I was ever-so rudely interrupted-

Hawk: By me ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION!

It was a rhetorical question. You weren't supposed to answer it.

Hawk: *Dr. Evil voice* Riiiiiiiight.

Okay. I'd like to start this scene again.

Hawk: Too late. You can't just repeat yourself! Get on with it!

*sigh*…okay. Fine. Someone had taken the chaos emerald…which meant that not only was a powerful power-hungry criminal on the loose, but Hawk had no special powers, only his normal abilities. He could run fairly fast and was still an excellent shot with any gun, but…well. It was going to be tough. Hawk walked out onto the balcony of his apartment. What was he going to do? He had to get that emerald back! And not only to re-sharpen his own…a thump was heard from behind him. Sama had done it again-run into a door. …Too bad it was Phantom that could teleport…Suddenly Hawk heard a 'whoof' noise from his right, and sure enough, there was Phantom, reacting to his sudden new surroundings-such as the air almost below. "That-" He uttered as he jumped down from the fence. "…Was close." Suddenly, at those words, Hawk began to realize that the burglar had been carrying a gun…he heard the click…and saw the gun as he was running…why had he not fired?

"He had a gun, but he never fired?" said the Mayor over the phone. "Why do you think that happened?"

"I don't know." Stated the young fox. "Either 1: He was using it to bluff in a bad situation or 2: He was supposed to let me live. I want to find out which one."

"Hmmm…so you only realized this a few minutes ago?"

"Yes. Phantom accidentally reminded me of the click."

"CLICK!? Sounds like he had ammunition!"

"Possibly…he may have been loading an empty clip."

There was a silence.

"Is there anything else?"

"No." said Hawk…but suddenly he had a thought. "Wait, do you know anyone else with chaos emeralds?"

Chapter 4

"Chaos emeralds are like magnets…"BlueHawk recalled someone telling him once. "They have the power to attract each other…we keep this one so that we can track down stolen ones."  Suddenly he was in that dark room, and so much shorter than he normally was. He stared at that yellow gem inquisitively…it was calling him…closer…closer…it seemed to speak to his soul…it was telling him to touch it…examine it…hold it…suddenly there was the sound of an opening door and he snapped out of it. "Yes?" said the large orange wolf now standing in front of him.

"I was told you were the owner of the white chaos emerald…my yellow one was stolen. I need to use yours to find mine." Hawk inquired.

Nanaki seemed to think for a minute, as if summing up the odds of this blue fox in front of him trying to make off with it. "Hmmm…Okay. I'll go get it." He replied, finally. He went inside for a second, leaving Bluehawk outside where it was just starting to rain. "NO! WHERE IS IT!?" cried a voice from inside. Nanaki ran back to the door, panicking. "…It's gone…" he cried. "IT'S GONE!" Bluehawk sighed. He was back where he started…no, worse. Now there was a second missing emerald…probably in the hands of the same fiend that took his.

"Well, ain't that just dandy." Hawk groaned. This is impossible. He thought as he turned to leave. Just great. Whoever it is is going to get the others darn quick if they haven't already…and when that happens…the rain started to get louder and Hawk started to shiver. Suddenly he realized he had stepped in the gutter-which meant a very grotty puddle. "AAAARG!" he cried in frustration.

"Wait…" said Nanaki as Hawk shook off the murky water. He seemed to be remembering something. "It was there a few minutes ago…I checked."

"What, you mean we might still catch him? Call the police NOW! He, she, or it'll be making off with it as we speak!"

*****

A green hedgehog quickly dodged from one building to the next, ignoring the rain. He stopped to take a breath. That dark figure…he thought. He sure doesn't want to be seen…suddenly he saw the figure peek out from the next building, check that the coast was clear, and quietly dash to the next one. Wait just a sec…thought the green hedgie, as he tilted his sunglasses up to see more clearly. It's headed in the rough direction of the…suddenly, just as Minimaniac reached the figure's just left hiding place, there were voices. He quickly ducked into the alley for fear that those voices were…sinister. "Great…" muttered a voice, and Mini looked to see another shadow moving along the street in the rough direction of the figure. Perfect. He began to think. If they're dealing in something, I can listen in to what they're…Suddenly he heard a shout, a splash, and slowly peeked out of his alleyway to see the new figure in hot pursuit of the other, taller, more sinister one…Then he saw the slightly shorter one pass through a light. It was Bluehawk! Minimaniac was dashing after the action within a split second.

Hawk had just walked out the back of Nanaki's place to see if he could find the thief…but what good would it do? He considered this as he walked away into the dark and rain. "Great." He muttered. Realizing that the search was basically pointless, he stormed over toward the nearest alleyway which had a roof. Ha…the fox thought as he was reaching his destination. Be funny if I found that thief just in here…WHA!? Suddenly the dark figure leapt out of the darkness, skidded around the corner and raced off down the footpath. "HEY!" cried Hawk. He just caught a glimpse of the figure as it ran underneath a streetlight. Hedgie spines… he noticed as he madly dashed at the one who stole his emerald…and Nanaki's. He grabbed his uzi from his pocket as he shook the cold water from his fringe and thundered around the corner. This is it… he thought. This ends right here…he switched it to single shot mode and pointed it straight ahead at the figure plundering desperately in front of him as he ran. Suddenly Hawk heard a splash from behind him and whizzed around. The green hedgehog shot his arms straight into the air. "DON'T SHOOT!" he cried as his sunglasses moved up slightly from the vibration. Hawk turned back around to check on his intended target…who had vanished. Had he turned into an alleyway? There was only one way to find out…so Hawk ran forward, Minimaniac following soon after. Hawk looked around into the closest alleyway to where the culprit had been last time he checked. There was a blue hedgehog walking in Hawk's direction that looked just like Sonic himself. Huh. Hawk thought. Too bad this is no time for autographs…but then, just as he felt a cold splash on his neck from Minimaniac stopping next to him, he noticed the light-blue glow coming from the blue hedgehog's chest. So this is the clone that people have spoken of…Hawk decided. Then suddenly he saw a movement from behind the blue hedgehog…the dark hedgie figure! Suddenly there was a flash and RealSonic turned around to see what the heck was happening behind him. Then before he could react to this new presence his head tilted back and he desperately gripped his chest. Falling to the ground, he just managed to twist himself around before hitting the rain-soaked concrete… Hawk reeled back, stunned, seeing his pleading eyes...hearing his screams of agony…Help me…they told him…The pain…somebody make it stop… Suddenly Bluehawk saw only a green blur which looked somewhat like an old photo trying to capture motion. There were darker bits…and brown bits…and the twisting started to slow. He was near the ground in a forest, running for dear life… "GO! GO! …AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!" screamed a voice…it was female…and in terror…pain...echoing in his mind… "YEEEEAARGH!" cried a male voice…Hawk heard gunshots as he desperately scuttled into the forest…then, mere seconds later, he heard the thumps of footsteps behind him…suddenly he felt air beneath him, and quickly twisted onto his back before hitting the ground to see a figure standing over him, wielding a sharp, shiny object…stained with blood. Hawk cried out in panic as the figure readied for the kill…then suddenly there was a whooshy-zip noise and the figure reeled back, before falling to the ground dead…and Hawk was unconcious.

Chapter 5

…eep…beep…beep…beep! Beep! Beep!…white. That was what Bluehawk saw when he opened his eyes. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then re-opened them and blinked a few times, and realized why everything seemed so bright. One, it was now day, and two, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses like he normally did…usually only except for when he went to bed, he would keep his sunglasses on. That was the next thing he noticed. He was on a bed. It was a few seconds later that he began to notice the rest of his surroundings…the window pretty much right next to him, the door not too far away to the front-left, the electrical devices behind him going 'beep!' every 1½ second…and his sunglasses on his bedside table.  Time to get out of this place and-suddenly a nurse came in, looked kind of like a wolf. She saw him sitting up and her eyes widened. "DOC! HE'S AWAKE!" she called as she ran out of the room. Bluehawk pondered what was up for a few seconds, but those few seconds were all he got as soon the Doc, followed by the nurse, came back into the room.

"Don't worry, young man. We only want to run some tests, make sure you're alright." Said the doctor, sternly. Hawk grimaced.

"Uh, is it necessary?" Hawk moved back a little into his stack of pillows.

"Well, you did…faint out there. And we have to check you for trauma."

"Trauma-? What?"

"It's perfectly normal in a situation such as what you saw last night, you don't need to be ashamed."

"Ashamed? I don't even know what you're talking about!" Hawk cried out louder than he'd anticipated. Suddenly there was a silence apart from the 'beep! Beep! Beep!'

"Fine." Grumbled the doctor. "But for your own benefit, we'd best run some tests anyway. Now, firstly, do you recognize this fellow?" the doc pulled out a profile shot.

"Well D'UH!" Hawk moaned. "It's Sonic the Hedgehog! Who DOESN'T recognize him!?" suddenly a bump was heard from the floor above. "HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING, PERVERT!?" a female voice cried.

"AAAAAGH! SORRY! ACCIDENT! I CAN'T CONTROL-"

That's Phantom's voice! No doubt! Hawk thought. Sounds like his teleport is getting him in trouble again…

"What do you remember from last night?" the Doc asked.

"Lemme think…" said Hawk as he thought, sitting up on his bed. "I went to see Nanaki and ask if I could use his emerald, it was gone, I went out back to find the thief and…and…"

"You remember nothing else?"

"…No…I don't…"

"Interesting…" the doc thought aloud. "The green hedgehog who was nearby says that you started acting 'funny' after seeing the chest of a resident similar in appearance to Sonic himself rip open, and then you collapsed…are you listening?"

The doc began to notice Bluehawk's neon green eyes widen. "AAAAAGH! IT WAS-"

Suddenly Phantom skidded into the room. "Hawk! You're okay!"

Hawk held his chest for lack of breath. "Nuh-nuh-no…"

Phantom didn't think much of this. "You've seen people's chests burst open before, Hawk. It shouldn't be so-"

"HE WAS COMPLETELY INNOCENT!" Hawk screamed, shaking.

The doc sighed. "Don't worry, young one. He's alive, and he would be fine if he hadn't lost the chaos emerald embedded in his-"

Hawk coughed. "Ah, shoot…that's right…the chaos emerald…now there's THREE missing…all in the hands of one!"

Phantom's eyes widened. "Ah, shoot…I thought there was only two…"

"Eh?" everyone looked at him.

"There was one stolen from the military only a few hours ago. The…purple one I think. I heard it on the radio just up there." He pointed to the room above and looked down slightly.

"Send me home." Hawk suddenly ordered.

The doc looked surprised. "We still need to run some tests…"

"And I'm allowed to refuse treatment!" Hawk snapped. "I'm needed NOW! Four chaos emeralds are not something to be taken lightly, doc! There's no time to spare!"

******

Hawk headed home immediately after he was discharged, after seeing RealSonic in his stasis tube as he waited. Looking for the stolen emeralds is going to do no one any good... Hawk decided as he hurriedly walked. So as soon as he got home, while saying 'I'm back' to Sama, he rang the authorities. "Hello, the authorities."

Suddenly Hawk felt a rather large sweatdrop moving down his face. This was just stupid. "…I need to talk to the mayor." He said. There was a pause as the secretary connected the call.

"Hello?" Neon Chaos answered.

"There are four chaos emeralds missing." Hawk answered.

"You think I wouldn't know!?"  The mayor snapped, annoyed.

"I know." Said Hawk. "But looking for the stolen ones will do no good right now."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I could use one, two or three of the ones of which we know the location."

Chapter 6

It was raining again, much to Bluehawk and his yellow echidna pal's dismay as they neared Cal HQ. The purple emerald was stolen by Cal. Neon had told them earlier. Whoever stole the others does so with stealth. Cal took this one pretty much by force. He was easily seen. That was interesting. Maybe Cal didn't want whoever it was getting the gems either? Well, he may be unable to do much considering they had three...so it was important that if he had the gem, he was on his guard...well. Lucky Neon had a rough plan of the first few floors of the tower. Hawk quickly sneaked up to just beside the door and beckoned Sama to do the same. Suddenly, just as Sama reached the door and started to shake the rain off, there was a scream overhead. Phantom Falcon. He dropped onto his feet, much to his own surprise, straight into a large puddle, and Hawk quickly made an attempt to cover his face. "…Did you ever even find a way in?" Hawk asked, exasperated.

"Yeah, but then I accidentally teleported right out into the open where a henchman was." Phantom puffed.

Sama started to yell, "What's a hench-" and was quickly muffled by Hawk's hand. The rain's slowing…Hawk thought. "Get your guns out." Hawk announced. "We're going in."

Suddenly, the doors burst open, throwing Hawk and Sama aside. "THERE HE IS!" cried a skunk in black uniform as he pointed at Phantom, whose eyes widened to full size quicker than the time between when you notice a raindrop and it hits the ground. There were a few shots fired, but before any could hit, Phantom was gone. "FIND HIM!" cried another henchman, and suddenly there was a small wave of henchmen bursting out the door, ready to search around the building. Now's the time! Hawk thought. He signaled to Sama while the henchmen's backs were still turned and quickly but quietly opened and entered the door. PUNF! PUNF! PUNF! There was a pause. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Hawk could hear Sama's sound-reduced and then suddenly non-sound reduced, shots through the closed door. Dang…he took off the silencer…Okay…where's the lift? Hawk thought, seeing the empty, darkened casino. There were rows upon rows of the normal pokie machines, then, through the gaps, as Hawk saw, were the other things, like the card tables, and the bar on the left. The he looked to the right and, not seeing any lifts on the left, started walking. He reached the end of the pokies and looked across the wall. Shiny! Eureka!

Sama noticed Hawk give him a point-to-the-door signal, then Hawk disappeared into the door. Sama hadn't been seen yet, he noticed. He examined his gun quickly, wondering what the heck that round thingamie on the end was, and then fired three at the skunk, missed, and as he called the other henchmen, wondered why the gun didn't work. So as quickly as his mind would work, (which was way faster than normal in life-threatening situations) he put two and two together, got five, and ripped off the silencer before hurriedly shooting the skunk…then the bulldog behind him, and after that the black cat coming from the left. It was noisier now, and he knew he was supposed to be quiet, but the silencer didn't kill as far as he saw. This was good enough…unfortunately for him, he hadn't realized that noise, especially from gunshots, attracted more guards…

Hawk walked up to where the three lifts were. I'll…just take the closest one. He thought. Suddenly there was a ding from his left as the lift door opened. He quickly threatened anything in there with a jump-into-view-and-point-your-gun, but there was no one in there. Suddenly he saw a movement to his right. A bright movement, namely lift lights. The lift on the right was coming down! The lift in front of him's doors suddenly started to close. He was about to jump in from fear of early visualization, before realizing that where it stopped would be henchmen. The door finished closing as the one on the right opened…and so did the one in the middle. Quickly he jumped trough the middle doors, just in time to avoid being seen by the henchmen coming out of the one on the left. As things quietened, Bluehawk walked up to the controls…lessee now…ground…1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…12…13…there's no 14 there! Bingo! And he reached his finger up to press the '13' button…when suddenly the lift shook. The doors closed…and Hawk was trapped, heading straight to gathering henchmen.

Chapter 7

Phantom stayed perfectly still, standing on a ledge just above the front door where he had just seen Sama dragged off when he ran out of ammunition. Poor guy…he just wasn't smart enough to run when he should have…or use the silencer, for that matter. And now, for all Phantom knew, his friend was probably going to be sold to the dark gem-thief…if ol' weasel wasn't going to kill him or torture him. He tightly held on to his silenced pistol, and wiped the sweat from his face. There was a lot of sweat there…and it was runnier than usual…What the-? He thought. I can't be sweating that much-then he realized it was raining again. He'd been so worried about his friends that he hadn't noticed a little rain! Which reminded him of his own needs of safety…he desperately hoped he would teleport into a good position in a few minutes. Dang, I wish I could control this thing…he grimaced as he looked at the blood all over the concrete, being steadily washed off by the rain, and shook out the water gathering between his spines.

Hawk stood in the corner of the lift, scared out of his wits so that every moment felt like an hour. The lift had been called as he was about to command it. If only he'd been sooner…he'd be oh-so much safer! Suddenly he felt that queasy stomach which signaled the lift's halt. Well, so much for life. He thought as he prepared to face his ironic doom. Caught in an elevator…by half a second. How would you feel? …And then the door opened. Hawk crouched into the corner away from the door's view, ready to shoot anyone who came in. The sweat wetting his fur became irritating, to say the least…then he realized that he was still around to be irritated by the sweat, and that there was still no one else in the lift. He slowly peeped around the corner, then further out the door. Where was everybody!? Then he saw the lift on his right, on the right of it was a red arrow light pointing down…ironic near-death, saved by the other lift. Phew! He thought. To think he hadn't been seen yet, all because of Sama's stupidity…

Phantom stood on the ledge, starting to shiver. The rain was getting heavier, and he was getting cold. How long would this last? For all he knew he could be there for hours…he groaned at the thought, before crouching down into a small one-chimera huddle…suddenly he heard the doors below him open as more black uniform-clad henchmen poured out looking for him…lucky he was way above eye-level….and the dark and rain would make things a lot easier, especially when they knew they had to resort to torches 'round the back. They'd look there for a while.

Hawk looked around the 12th floor corridors. Offices. All offices. The doors were all closed and locked with no windows except for one, which he had found when he first reached the floor. That one had nothing in it but a desk. Maybe it's for a newbie? Hawk thought. Strangely enough, there were no guards around either. Maybe they're ALL down the bottom!? And just as Hawk completed his thought, he heard footsteps…his first thought was to go for the office which was unlocked…but then, when he made sense of the echo, he realized that the footsteps were from that office's location…there were more footsteps coming from the other way…He quickly hid his gun in the underside of his shoe and started to look lost. Both of the henchmen reached him at the same time. Hawk desperately tried to stop shaking. "Hello!" said one of the henchmen while the other, heading toward the newbie's office, kept walking. "You're that new guy, aren't you? Your office is just where that other guy's going. Near the lifts." He said.

"Errr…thanks." Hawk replied, edgiliy. How lucky was THAT!? He'd gotten past a guard in broad…electric-light! He walked in the direction of the office wondering what the heck to do now…so that he wouldn't look suss, he entered the office to find the guard who had ignored him standing there. "You look younger than you were a couple of days ago…? Oh well." He said. "I'm here to give you a tour of the office." Hawk had no idea what he meant. It looked perfectly simple to him. Just…an empty office? "Lift up the top of the desk." Suspicious but not wanting to arouse suspicion, Hawk slowly walked up to the desk and lifted the top…and scanned the revealed area. Just a flat surface…but there were some hatches. "Lemme guess. There's buttons in them."

"Yep." The henchman lifted one of the small hatches to reveal a red button. "This one's for emergencies ONLY." Hawk flinched slightly at his sudden sternness. He lifted another hatch to reveal another large button. "This one's for the emergency exit. You'll find your way down there pretty fast. And that's all the important stuff, you can figure out the rest." Hawk stood there, confused as the large dog left the room. How had he been mistaken for an employee that the guards had seen before? …they said he looked younger than…Hawk sighed and decided that those questions would have to wait for another day as he headed for the lifts...after all, the mission should always come first.

Chapter 8

Bluehawk reached the lifts still with the weirdness in his mind. There was someone who resembled him. That was certain, be it clone, bot or coincedential doppleganger…but then he noticed something at the lifts. There was a fourth. A fourth lift. One that wasn't on other floors. He checked above them, for the floor lights.  The others all had 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13, but this one had 12,14,15. Odd…Hawk thought. He slowly walked into the new lift, ever so cautious in case of a trap-he'd seen the ideas of this place. There were secret passages in the office, after all. Nothing happened when he entered, so he assumed it safe and pressed in the appropriate buttons to go to floor 15…he got that queasy gut feeling he normally did from starting lifts and it moved up…then suddenly it shook. There was a thump from its roof. Still moving? Hawk thought. Yep. I would have felt the stop. Hawk's head suddenly tilted up as he heard the roof hatch click. It was opening! "PHANTOM!" Hawk cried. The black hedgehog-like creature, that the others knew as a chimera, dropped into the lift.

"Yo, Hawk! Thought I'd lost myself, didja?" Phantom grinned as the elevator slowed.

"No, I just thought you wouldn't turn up again for a while." Hawk replied. "Where's Sama? His ruckus saved my life several times!"

Suddenly the doors opened. No-one there.

"Err…that's…the problem…" Phantom responded uneasily. What was the matter?

Hawk didn't wait for the rest. He walked out of the lift into the quiet room in front of him. What they had found was a power generator room…but it was so quiet? Hawk walked up to the large mechanical oven-thing and peered through the window at the golden stash inside…and found a vast chamber of rings. Phantom slowly walked up to it, desperately hoping he wouldn't teleport. Hawk had a quick think, summing up the situation. No way they need THAT much power to light this place! They must be powering some kind of weapon! …or is that what the emerald's for? Quickly he opened the glass door and stuck his hand in. "You grab some too, Phantom." Then, just as he was about to go back to the lift, he noticed a door.

Chapter 9

That door wasn't there before. Bluehawk observed as Phantom stole a few rings. A secret switch activation? He imagined…and suddenly there were voices from the other side. "PHANTOM!" he whispered. "HIDE!" Hawk quickly jumped between the generator pipes and the wall. It wasn't much of a hideout, but what choice did he have? A split second after Hawk was unsafely hidden, just out of view, the purple weasel himself strolled out of the door before pressing a button on his remote control and the door was safely hidden. Knew it…Hawk thought…and just as Cal was about to walk into the elevator, there was a sneeze from Hawk's right. Cal froze, suddenly alert. His ears perked up. He grabbed a long gun from his back and whizzed around. No-one there, as far as he could see…lucky he didn't look to his right, if he wasn't focused on the left side of the generator he would have seen Hawk's shoe. Hawk's eyes darted about wildly. How would he escape this one if he was spotted? Then he saw Cal's eyes fix on one location. Phantom's hiding place. He started to walk over and Hawk couldn't see because of the generator. He heard the clang of Cal resting his gun on the steel, and he just knew that Phantom had been found…until he looked up. Sure enough, there was the chimera right above him, dangling from a pipe on the roof. No doubt another teleport mishap. Hawk signalled and Phantom suddenly grinned, before starting to swing. Surprise delivery to mister Weasel! Hawk thought. Where do I sign? Cal came into view at that moment, slowly, cautiously walking toward the lift. He stopped again. Hawk looked up to see that Phantom was causing constant vibrations in the pipes as he was finally ready to deliver his little surprise. He let go of the pipe and pierced straight through the air with a war cry…right at Cal's widened eyes…then suddenly he was gone as Cal prepared for the shock. He was right behind Cal, figuring out his new surroundings. Cal tentatively looked up, wondering why the heck he wasn't on the ground. Then he knew nothing as he dropped. He was unconcious from a hand-chop to the neck.

"You really shouldn't have done that." Hawk groaned.

"Why? I got him by surprise, geez!"

"Yeah, but we should have threatened him. We do need to find that emerald, after all." Hawk said, holding his temper. There was a pause.

"The door!" Phantom said suddenly. He quickly started going through Cal's pockets, starting from the jacket and moving down. Suddenly he pulled out that all-important remote control. "And with the touch of a button…" Phantom scanned the button labels for the one in the generator room. Finding what he was looking for, he landed his finger on the pad…and was heavily startled at the alarm that sounded.

"SECURITY BREACH IN GENERATOR ROOM! INTRUDER IS ATTEMPTING INFILTRATION INTO SECRET AREA!" droned a recorded male voice.

"…hey presto?" Phantom smiled weakly.

*****

Bluehawk looked down in despair as he and Phantom Falcon were left in the cell to rot. They had been strip-searched, then given back their clothes, and basically they were to be left for dead…at least until Phantom teleported out. Phantom sat there, thinking. "Dang it! This sucks so badly!" he cried suddenly.

Hawk was startled out of his daydream. "What sucks? The fact that the buttons had a fingerprint detector? The fact that they don't even plan on feeding us or watering us? Life in GENERAL!? None would surprise me!" He snapped.

"Actually…" Phantom said weakly. "It's the fact that just when I need to teleport, I can't, and when I can't afford to, it just happens!" He sounded angry on the last bit. Not surprising. Hawk thought.

"So basically, life in general." Hawk grumbled as he stared at the grey wall between them.

"That's not life in general. It's one fact." Phantom said, smartly.

"Oh, shut up!" Hawk cried angrily. "It's a life-in-general thing! It's called Murphy's law and it works for just about every situation. Like when…" Hawk suddenly thought for a second and decided not to speak.

"Like when….what?" Phantom quieried, curiously.

Hawk sighed, sadly. "I…" he started. He seemed to decide against what he had planned to say. Whatever it was, it seemed he'd rather keep it to himself. "…I'll tell you when I think of something."

A few seconds of silence passed and Hawk started to think again. How had he been mistaken for an employee here? The chances were so small it was unthinkable. He remembered how he had expected to trick them, but not that well! …Suddenly he remembered something else. His gun.

Chapter 10

Bluehawk had his uzi hidden in the sole of his shoe. How could he forget that? …if it was still there. They could have already taken it. He lifted up his right foot and opened the hatch in his sole for the gun and checked the magazine. It was just over half-full. All good! "Phantom!" He called. "We're as good as out!" Phantom let out a cry of surprise and was suddenly next to the bars of Hawk's cell…on the other side. "Okay, so I don't need the gun." Hawk muttered.

"Is this what you were talking about before?" Phantom asked as he fiddled with the lock.

"Sorta…but not quite." Hawk responded. "By the way, the keys are behind you."

Phantom turned around. "Ah!" he said, grabbing them from the hook. "Alright, now we just need to find me a weapon."

*****

A grey rabbit and a tall yellow cat stood outside a door with a big red 'RESTRICTED' sign on it…or so they should have. The rabbit was fast asleep, his body laying across the hallway, and he was snoring softly. The cat, on the other hand, sat slouching against the wall, staring at his watch, just waiting for his shift to end…in four hours. He gave a yawn and marked a new day on his calendar. Wednesday. Four days since the first emerald theft. He glanced at the clock, which was ten minutes faster than his watch, according to which a new day had only just begun. It was a full 1½ hours since the first alarm of the shootings outside. Suddenly he heard a creak. The 'RESTRICTED' door was opening. Someone was coming! Whoever it was, he quickly shot up and faced the door with a salute. The rabbit was going for the unemployed position no doubt. When he was seen sleeping…The yellow cat looked down slightly. Who was this coming through the door? He looked unfamiliar…they looked unfamiliar. A blue fox in sunglasses and a black hedgehog with yellow streaks? Something wasn't right here. As he put two and two together, the duo were reacting to the presence in front of them. The fox raised his uzi before the cat could make a sound. "Take us to Cal!" Bluehawk commanded. The yellow cat didn't respond except to put his hands up and drop his rifle.

"Thanks!" Phantom said cheerfully as he grabbed the gun. Hawk glared at him as there was a thump! From the wall.

"NOW!" The cat jumped, then quickly obeyed and walked slowly along the corridor.

*****

The purple weasel slowly walked up to the construction that his minions were creating. The weapon…with the chaos emerald would soon be complete, but-suddenly he was on the ground with a weight digging into his back. There was a click. Dang…he thought. This ain't going to be easy… "Where's the emerald?" a voice at his ear asked sternly. The emerald!?The emerald is-he thought desperately. Then he noticed something. It was a young voice…perhaps he would… "WHERE IS IT!?" the voice shouted, as if commanding. Cal coughed as he tried to speak, while noticing the black hedgehog in front of him.

"It's…not here…" the weasel wheezed. The knee in his back dug in deeper. "I mean it!" he cried, before starting to cough more, and then he sneezed. There was a lot of dust on the floor. Funny that his paid workers had not noticed what was happening.

"You think we'll believe that!? You were seen taking it, and now I'm taking it from you!" yelled the voice behind him. "Show it to us, NOW!"

"That's just it!" Cal said, trying to breathe. "a…dark figure…was seen running off with it…a few hours ago…I only noticed it was missing when I checked in the secret room…that was your friend here who knocked me out, was it not?" He nodded toward Phantom. Phantom did nothing but look into Cal's eyes the whole time…but now he spoke to Hawk.

"I think…he's telling the truth." He said quietly.

Hawk loosened his hold and backed slightly. "A few hours ago…DAMMIT! WE'RE TOO LATE!" he cried. "C'mon, Phantom. Let's go."

"Wait a minute." Cal said. "You're not going so soon, are you?"

Hawk stopped. "What?"

"This is your friend, is it not?" he waved his hand behind him to reveal what should have been a chained-up victim, but all there was were broken chains. "WHAT!? HE'S ESCAPED!?" He suddenly started jumping up and down in panic. "HE'S ESCAPED!! AAARRRRGH! NO! MY PRISONER! GUARDS! GET THOSE-" but Hawk and Phantom were already out the door.

*****

'ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL! ALL PERSONNEL! THERE ARE THREE INTRUDERS ON THE UPPER FLOORS! A BLUE FOX! A PALE YELLOW ECHIDNA AND A BLACK HEDGEHOG!'

"They always call me a hedgehog!" Phantom cried as he fired a few rounds from the rifle at the door they had just come from.

Hawk stopped at a corner, as if thinking. "Phantom! Get to the closest office to the lifts on floor twelve and I'll meet you there!" He shouted among the noise. "I have to find Sama!"

Phantom nodded and ran past him. That was when Hawk saw the vent...and the fact that the grate was off.

Chapter 11

Good thing Hawk had found the open and very large ventilation shaft. Sama must have had a brainwave and climbed in…but now which way? There was a way to the left and a way to the right. Even weirder than their size was the fact that the shaft was lit! Quite poorly, for the fact that repairs in here were rarely made, but everything was visible. As he looked to the left Hawk suddenly realized there were mirrors on the corners, too. He hadn't noticed it on the right, but he did now…and that to the right was a drop…Hawk was about to go left, but then decided to go right. He had heard a thump earlier from the wall. Sama may have dropped here! Hawk slowly moved through the passage to the right and towards the drop. How would he get down? There was no ladder! He pressed his hands against the opposite wall and moved them down the cold steel before shifting his legs forward and slamming his feet against the wall. When he had done that, he slowly started shifting himself down using the walls. How long will it take to reach the bottom!? Hawk thought worriedly. His back was hurting slightly from the hunched position and his arms couldn't press so hard forever. Before he realized it, his arms gave way and he was plummeting toward the bottom…which happened to be about three metres…but that still hurts when you land on your head. Hawk started to get up, holding his head. Man, that thump smarted. Suddenly he heard a voice…it was too echo-y to figure out what it had said, but Bluehawk knew one thing for certain: That was Sama's voice! Sounded like he was happy! Hawk started crawling forward. Time to find him and get to the office! He thought. He looked forward into the mirror at the next corner. There was the ol' yellow 'chidna alright. Crawling in the other direction. "Sama!" Hawk called at the mirror.

"Huh!? Hawk!" He cried out and started looking left and right at the walls. "Where is you?" he looked up at the roof suddenly and banged his nose.

"I'm behind you!" Hawk whispered as he quietly moved around the corner, suddenly concious of the noise they were making. Sama looked under his armpit.

"HAWWK!" He shouted happily. Bluehawk quickly zipped a finger to his lips. Sama was going to reveal their location! Sama looked at him with a confused expression, then suddenly realized what he was on about.

"Keep moving!" Bluehawk whispered. Sama started crawling forward and gunshots were heard from the right as they neared a grate going into an office. Sama kept moving forward at Hawk's command, and Hawk turned right for a look. The gunshots were still going…and then there was a yell, followed by some rapid fire. Looks like we found the right office…Hawk thought. But how was he supposed to get the grate off? For all he knew the one he entered by had been off for weeks! Then the shooting stopped. Phantom stood there puffing, before closing the door. This was Hawk's chance. "Phantom!"

The young chimera looked around. Hawk called again.

"PHANTOM!" This time he whirled around and looked down.

"Hawk!?" He said.

"How do you get this grate off!?"

"I dunno. There's no screws or anything."

Hawk shook it. "…great. It doesn't open…wait." He began to realize that it was jutting into the wall, not out. "Lift up the top of the desk."

*****

Hawk lifted up the hatch he had been shown with the second big button. "This…is the first office from the lift on floor 12, is it not?" He asked, nervously.

"I don't think I teleported since I came in, so it must be!" Phantom replied.

"It's da one you can get to from da vent!" Sama exclaimed. What the heck was he on about? Hawk and Phantom looked at him.

"Ignore him for now." Hawk said. He placed his hand on the button and pushed it. Suddenly the wall behind them moved and opened to reveal a downward passageway, leaving the mercenary trio to wonder what the hell happened to the ventilation shaft.

*****

"We're almost home free!" The chimera shouted to the blue fox and the yellow echidna behind him as they slid down toward the window, all standing up except for Sama. The window looked black. It was still night. Amazing. Hawk thought sarcastically. The window was fast approaching. Phantom braced for the impact…and was suddenly gone. Hawk was too slow to react. He braced himself too late to stop his face slamming straight into the window. The window didn't smash. Instead Hawk slammed straight into it with a thump and stuck to the window due to the laws of physics keeping him trying to move forward. Suddenly the window broke from the impact of a yellow echidna who flew straight out into the air and let out a curdling yell. Hawk looked down…and one, he almost fell, then straight after he got his balance he almost threw up. In front of him was a three-story drop.

Chapter 12

Sama had landed in the gutter. That was just great. He'd be injured and Bluehawk was left standing with walls on his left and right, a slope specially designed to be slippery and so long that he had no chance of getting back up, and the three story drop in front of him. Brilliant. He thought. Just perfect. Now what? Hawk examined the drop. Mere centimetres from the wall below was grass. Then there was a footpath. If he jumped to the right to the same area as the grass, he'd hit the path between a door and the footpath. If he jumped a little further, he'd hit the gutter, and further still, the road. Sama had hit the gutter on the other side. Hawk braced himself. This would probably be one of the worst moments of his life so far, but he had to do it. He braced himself. He crouched for the leap…Dang it…he thought. His fear of heights sure was annoying. Why did he have to do this? Basically because he didn't want to get shot. If he was shot, he would die. If he jumped, he would go through pain big big, but still live. But…aagh…it was too hard…Hawk finally decided that this was it. He was going to jump and that was that. He had to do it NOW! But suddenly he had a thought. Where was Phantom?

******

The black chimera quickly dashed down the corridor of the 4th floor. Looking out the window as he ran he spotted street lights…and the road…and…was that Sama!? He had to find another unlocked office, anyway. Quietly, he tried the handle on each door. Locked. Cha-clunk. Locked. Cha-cluck. Locked. Cha-click! Unlocked! The door creeeaked open. There was no light on, so Phantom felt at the wall to his right and moved down before finding plastic. The light switch! He clicked it down and waited a few seconds. There was a soft buzz and the light flickered twice before remaining active. Phantom ever-so-slowly made his way in and stepped toward the desk, lifted it, and checked all the hatches. Finally he found a big red button. "Same size and shape." He thought aloud, and pressed it.

*****

Still unable to build up the courage to jump, Hawk stood at the edge of the window, getting chilly. Suddenly he was almost thrown off his perch by a loudspeaker. 'EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! ARMED INTRUDER IN OFFICE ONE-THIRTY FIVE! ARMED INTRUDER IN OFFICE ONE-THIRTY FIVE!' Droned the recorded voice. At least Hawk knew where Phantom was now. Alright. He thought. I do it NOW! He stopped to do a quick check to the left and right out the window…and was shcoked at what he saw this time. It was well hidden, but he'd been standing out in the cold all this time for nothing. He had just found an easy, painless out.

*****

Trust me to do something so stupid…Phantom thought, desperately checking the hatches for a big blue button…a way out before more guards turned up. He needed a passage out. NOW! Suddenly the door burst open and a single guard appeared there and fired a few shots at where Phantom was…and they went straight through where he had been and broke the window open. There was a cry of surprise from out the window…but it wasn't the same guy the guard had fired at…Phantom had teleported, that much was certain. But this was a new voice. He'd got there…some unknown way. The yellow-streaked hedgehog probably teleported waaaay away from here…The guard thought and peeped out the window. He looked right. No-one there. He looked left and saw an early-teenage blue fox standing precariously on the external drainpipes camouflaged into the wall…too bad for him he didn't have eyes on the back of his head as a hand-chop connected with his neck, knocking him unconcious and out the window. Hawk heard a humming as a secret passage was opened inside. "Phantom!" Hawk cried. He had found an easier out.

Chapter 13

A yellow echidna slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt. His back hurt. His arms hurt. His legs hurt. His brain hurt. That was all he could think…until he realized his head was in a gutter. He lifted his head to realize his neck hurt too. Where was he and what the heck happened? He lifted himself up, brushed off his jeans, fixed the position of his orange headband and looked around. He looked straight across the road to the giant casino and began to wonder: why the heck you would need so many floors for gambling? Maybe it's so that everyone in the city can gamble at a time! He thunk. Then he began to thunk somemore. He didn't know what a gamble was. He looked up slightly to see how vast the tower was and noticed there was a black square where a window should have been…he looked to the left and up. There was a blue thing and a black thing. The gamblingerthingamieplace had a bruise!

******

Phantom the Chimera slowly felt his way up the drainpipe, looking for the next handhold. Finding none, he gripped the pipe tight with the rest of his limbs and shinnied up the rest of the way, before reaching a corner and grabbing a hold on a windowsill to pull himself up. He looked down to where his blue fox friend was reaching the place where Phantom had started shinnying. Hawk felt around for a hold, not having noticed that Phantom had to climb it with no holds. Hawk started to look sideways. Is it as far down as I think it is…? He began to think as he trembled from the chill of the wind. He started to check. "DON'T LOOK DOWN!" he heard Phantom shout out. Hawk closed his eyes for a second. Don't look down…don't…look…down…he slowly looked up to where Phantom was making his way across the pipe to the fire exit. He had to catch up. He wasn't gonna get left behind because of a fear of heights! It was time to move up! Suddenly Phantom felt a vibration in the pipe. He slowly looked back to see Bluehawk standing on the pipe, triumphantly.

"You did it!" Phantom exclaimed as he reached a window and went to climb onto the sill.

"Yeah…but I'm not doing it again!" Hawk puffed, moving along the pipe.

Phantom chuckled. "Hope Sama's okay." 

Hawk looked back towards the road…which unfortunately meant looking down. He saw Sama alright. But he also saw four stories down…and extreme insecurity. SHOOT! AAGH! LONG WAY DOWN! MAYDAY! MAAAYDAY! Phantom was on the fire exit stairs. He was free! He looked back to where Hawk was…he was overbalancing! "NOOO!!" Hawk looked up suddenly, was given just enough backwards monentum to catch his balance again and leaned back against the wall. He gave Phantom one of those 'you idiot' looks from behind his sunglasses.

"You right?"

Phantom nodded, then quickly went off down the stairs to go and see to Sama, who was standing up, but walking very clumsily. Meanwhile, Hawk had to reach the fire-exit stairs. He had to turn around to keep his balance…and suddenly found that that was going to be difficult as he needed more balance to turn around, and balance he didn't have…so he kept going. He concentrated on just moving on and not looking down…suddenly he bumped his head on rusty steel. The fire exit stairs! But how had Phantom got himself on top? Great. Hawk thought. Not only do I have to contend with heights, I have to do some upside-down climbing! He whimpered as he noticed the rungs on the bottom of the ramp. Slowly, and ever-so carefully, he placed his hands and feet on the rungs and getting a grip, started climbing up. Slowly…ever so slowly…This wasn't so bad. At least the end was in sight…and he didn't have to jump three stories! Lucky he always wore those gloves, too…his hands sure were sweaty. Finally, he reached the end and felt with one hand to get to a rung on the vertical wall. He slowly moved up and gripped tightly to swing his legs up. Finding a foothold, he grabbed the fence of the platform and swung over. Easy! He thought as he dashed down the stairs, while realizing that since they did the whole slide thing, they hadn't been attacked…but he had bigger worries now. Like Sama. He ran to his left towards Phantom and Sama, who had blood dripping like a river out of his mouth and black marks around his wrists. "I didn't drink cordial!" he was crying. "And a bug lit my hands on invisible fire!" Hawk was thoughtless…trying only to keep from looking at it…not that he hadn't seen blood before…but…this was different…"We're outta there." Phantom sighed with relief. Hawk looked at Sama, then at Phantom.

"I guess so."

Chapter 14

Hawk and Phantom slowly walked out of the hospital after their checkup. It had been a heck of a long night. Sama had to be in there for a bit longer due to the injuries he sustained from the fall, he'd be a couple of days…then he'd be in plaster. That'd be the real trial, Hawk thought. Sama was so stupid that he'd probably try to use his broken limbs. Phantom seemed to know what he was thinking about, though. "Don't worry about Sama, Hawk. We've got bigger problems. Like the emeralds." Hawk was taken aback. How did he-?

"How did you know that I was thinking about that!?" Exclaimed Hawk as they reached a streetlight. Phantom seemed to be surprised. "Did I-…?" He suddenly silenced and went into thought.

"Also, you knew that Cal was telling the truth. What's up with that?"

"I have no idea. Some kind of instinctive thing." Phantom replied. Hawk hrrrmed and then silenced.

*****

Hawk got home to an empty house except for the bubblegoogle noises of his two chao. His white one, Skeeter, walked right up to him happily and made a "ooooohrmmmm!" noise, but Paladin the green just sat on his blanket. Hawk sat down for some rest, like the doc told him to. But he couldn't help but feel uneasy…four chaos emeralds in the hands of one sneak-thief was nothing to take lightly. For one thing, he was probably working for someone. But it was also not something good to have a supersneakthief, because just about all thieves wanted either material wealth or control. Or both…Suddenly Bluehawk realized he knew of one mad scientist who definitely wanted control…quickly he moved to the phone while weaving around his chao who were playing some kind of clapping game on the floor. He quickly dialled the mayor's number. There were a few breeps, but then the phone was picked up, the secretary answered, and he was put through.

"Anything to report?" The mayor asked. Cutting right to the chase.

"I know of someone who may have taken them!"

Night was the best time, so Hawk had to wait for a while. A lot had happened. Four emeralds. All stolen by one guy. That guard in the casino tower said something about another fox who he bore a resemblance to. Hawk was younger, apparantly. He walked slowly out of the doors of his apartment building and headed for the place where all little kiddies like to go…the park. Sitting on a park bench Hawk just sat and thunk…about the previous half-week. The four stolen emeralds were all from SoaH city. He had noticed tht much…it wasn't that hard to notice. Some guard had told him he looked like someone else. A dead ringer. What, a clone? A coincedential doppleganger? He had seen hedgie spines on the back of the culprit under that streetlight…before he…Hawk stopped thinking about that…that was an awful night… "You ok?" a voice behind him asked. Hawk looked around. "Yo, Mini." He sighed.

"Mind telling me what's up?" Minimaniac asked as he sat on the bench next to Hawk. Hawk just kept looking forward.

"…I think you already know half the answer." Hawk replied, glumly.

"What happened to RealSonic. I know. He's still alive, though…and then there's the chaos emerald thefts. You sure it's all by the same person or people?"

"Positive. What's bothering me is that I may not be alive right now if there wasn't a dead ringer of myself working at Cal HQ."

Mini looked dumbfounded. "You're kidding. Sure it's not another Robo?"

"I doubt it. I couldn't possibly have been mistaken for a bot. Who and what ever it is is a live look-a-like. Apparantly I looked younger…it's possible that Phantom's bretheren have…"

"Cloned you." Mini finished his sentence. "How would they get the DNA?"

Hawk chuckled and pulled at his fringe, indicating to Mini. "Gee, I wonder!" He cried out, sarcastically. "It's not like HAIR has DNA in it! …and it makes sense that they may have misguessed my age. They don't know our language entirely, and seriously, even I don't know when my birthday is! I don't even know my real name!"

*****

Phantom wasn't coming on this mission. Neither was Sama. Hawk knew that going in alone was unwise. But it was neccesary. He didn't know why. It just was. He was entering the Chaos HQ, as he knew it. And not many people knew of it. For all he knew it wasn't even there any more. Standing at the entrance to the toilet block, Hawk ducked down to check the concrete. This wasn't the main entrance, but he knew one of the entrances was around in the ground somewhere. Multiple entrances tend to help a supervillan when he's running from the authorities. Finally, underneath some longer-than-normal grass to the left of the concrete path into the men's 'restroom', he found the edge of the trapdoor. He slowly moved his hand across to find the whole rim. No good trying to lift things when you're standing on them. Sure enough, he found that he was standing on top of the trapdoor, so he moved off and looked for a deep section to grip by. Finding it, Hawk dug three fingers into the gap and pressed them into the wall before lifting them, and with them up came the trapdoor. Looking around to make sure no-one was watching, which he wouldn't be able to tell anyway seeing he was under a streetlight and it was dark, he dropped into the revealed hole and landed in a large dirt room. The walls were dirt. The floor was dirt. The roof was dirt with grass roots sticking through it. Hawk pressed his sunglasses back to his face. He was nowhere near deep enough. No wonder it was all dirt, the Doc couldn't afford to have a random citizen with a metal detector sweeping through and discovering the base. Looking for the door that Hawk remembered being in the opposite wall somewhere, Hawk began to think about that bot…the Metal-Hawk. What was up with that? Why had he created a metal-Hawk to destroy the real version? It was insane that he even wanted to. Why had he wanted to? Suddenly Hawk hit the jackpot and opened the well hidden door before walking down the rather primitive underground passageway. Dirt, dirt, dirt. The altitude was dropping and with it the temperature…a few twists and turns and finally a spiral later, Bluehawk reached the metal wall and mechanical door. 'bout time. He thought to himself. I was getting' worried he had packed up and left! Hawk slowly examined the steel door. Looked like it had been redone since his last visit. There was a password thing on the left. The ol' doc was even bigger on security than he used to be…which wasn't saying much, but Hawk had expected an easier entrance. He thought of getting out the ol' uzi and shooting the password typerer thingamiejig, but decided against it. That would just prevent entry altogether…but one thing he realized as he climbed out of the trapdoor, was that if Dr. Chaos was in possesion of the emeralds, he would have been cocky enough to leave the door wide open.

Chapter 15

BlueHawk opened his eyes, which would barely hold their position. They wouldn't open very well, and hardly surprising! He'd been up all night the previous night…and the night before. It was…Thursday now. So Hawk slumped back onto his bed, exhausted and thoughtless, for a few minutes, and left his eyes closed…before he knew it he was waking up to the sound of a ringing phone. Slowly getting up and lumbering over to it, Hawk decided then and there that he was going to go straight over to Phantom's and ask if he could divert his calls as soon as he'd finished talking…as it happened it was Phantom on the phone.

"Hi, Hawk. You have to come here soon…I've got a friend here who wants to talk to you." He hung up pretty much straight after that. What was that about?

*****

Hawk knocked on the door of Phantom's apartment, slightly puffed from the dash down after breakfast and wondering what the heck he was doing there. He heard voices inside and Phantom answered the door. "Come in!" He said happily. "You and Eagle are good friends, are you not?" Hawk looked forth into the room. Sitting there at the table was an armadillo with a dark blue shell.

"Buh-Black Eagle!?" Hawk stammered…so many memories came flooding back! Ol' BE had lived near the orphanage when Hawk was little…his name was something else…but everyone knew him as Eagle. Black Eagle…what was the name of that city? Hawk couldn't remember…but last time he saw him was when Hawk was accepted to be trained in the secret service…

"Hawk! Looong time no see! What's shakin'?" asked the now much older armadillo.

"Waaay too much to explain in one go." Bluehawk replied. Black + Blue. That's what they were called when Hawk was at the orphanage. They had been the best of mates…suddenly Hawk remembered his manners. "What about you? How'd you find me?"

"Word gets around…" He replied.

So Hawk and Eagle spent a few hours catching up on the last ten years. Yes, it had been ten years. So going from playing in a cubbyhouse to ten years later discussing going for a mercenary team and the natural male craving for girls as well as telling of memories from the years gone by. Eagle, as it turned out, had also been trained…but not in speed like Hawk. Eagle was now a master of stealth…A concept that Hawk was competent at, but Eagle was apparantly THE stealth master short of chameleons…and everyone knew why chameleons were natural stealth experts. Suddenly, just as Hawk finished telling one of his newer jokes, Phantom teleported and a black blur fell past the window. A few seconds later there was a crash.

*****

The ambulance arrived sooner than Hawk had expected, and it was extremely welcome at that. The medics, who all seemed to be furries (no scales or anything), quickly got out, put him on the stretcher and got him into the ambulance to drive off to the hospital. Phantom just sat there groaning. Perfect. So two of his best friends were hospitalized…and they also proved to be powerful allies in a fight. Now, Hawk had no Chaos emeralds and there was a thief on the loose with four, maybe five or six now… "I have to stay home for a few hours…" He told Eagle.

*****

Hawk sat on his chair and sat there, unthinking, unblinking. He had gone through hell the last few days. The RealSonic splat, Cal HQ…the missing emeralds…it was all too much for a 14 year old fox to worry about…especially when he had a doppleganger to think about as well…Suddenly Hawk looked down. His chao, Skeeter…it was starting to go a light blue-cyan and growing a fringe on its head…Hawk started looking around frantically…the bunnies…they were everywhere…the chao…they were bunnies! They were coming for his soul! He had to get out. The window was closing over…Hawk quickly ran to it and desperately grabbed at the moving unlocker. It...wouldn't stop! He just couldn't get to it before all there was in its place was wall. He turned around. The bunnies…they were at his feet…and he dropped to the ground.

*****

"He's out cold."

"How?"

"I don't know. The armadillo just found him on the floor of his apartment."

"Surely it wouldn't be just the last few days. In the past he's been able to go through these situations no sweat! He was TRAINED to!"

"True…he may have memories from a long way back which have…contributed."

Chapter 16

Hawk woke up in the hospital again. His sunglasses on the bedside table and the white all around. Again, right on cue, the doc came in. "I told you that you needed to stick around." He said solemnly as he walked in.

Hawk looked at him. He didn't even know what had happened. He had a blank memory and the window was black. "How'd I get here this time?"

"The test results show that you've been 'seeing the bunnies'."

What the heck was he on? "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means that the trauma and stress of the last few days has somewhat affected your mind."

Hawk looked up at the roof, dazed, as he slumped back onto his pillows. Suddenly his eyes widened. There was a-bunny on the roof? No, it didn't exist. Like the doc said, he'd been worrying too much lately. He NEEDED a holiday…

"I'm prescribing you a holiday once you've been checked up on some more. I would send your friends with you, but they've both got recently broken limbs, so they'll be here a while."

"Hey! They aren't my ONLY friends!" Hawk blurted out suddenly. "And someone will need to continue the investigation on that jewel thief."

The doc nodded acknoweledgingly.

*****

Saturday morning. Almost a week from the first jewel theft, Hawk grabbed his bags on his way out of the airport and walked outside to get his first glimpse…of Station Square. A yellow and rather expensive-looking car drove past along the road in front of him blowing a slight bit of wind aside, and a little mouse girl playfully grabbed at her big brother's balloons to Hawk's right. The trees on the other side of the road waved slowly in the wind, occasionly dropping their lush leaves to hit the ground five metres away. Bluehawk stood on the dazzlingly clean and shiny white stairway, taking it all in. The air. The sight. The sound. This was definitely something to write home about.

"Sure is a cool place!" Minimaniac said calmly from his left.

"What took you so long?" Hawk's gaze shied away from sunlight reflecting directly into his eyes. Even through his sunglasses it was too bright to hold his gaze.

"Couldn't find my bag." The green hedgie shrugged.

Hawk grinned. "There's our taxi!" Quickly he moved forward raising his hand to the sign 'Hawk'.

*****

Two days quickly passed and Hawk just went for a vedge out in front of the TV. The hotel room was pretty cool, there were three bedrooms, and the 'living room' was huge with a nice big widescreen TV…it was all a green colour in the lounge room, with an emerald colour for the walls, a lighter, jade colour for the carpet, emerald coloured furniture and again jade on the ceiling. The bedrooms were basically the same but with different colour schemes. Basically it was only one step down from the executive suite. The news was on, it came up with the corny theme music and the 3d images and the footage from the night flashing around and the 3d images became the logo. "First up we have a special report-" Hrrrm. Hawk thought. Russian accent. Unusual these days. Minimaniac entered the room from his bedroom fairly loudly with his footsteps and looked wide-eyed at the screen. "There has been a break in at the FRB today…but instead of taking money, the thief targeted the bank's chaos emeralds." Footage flashed onto the screen from amatuer filmisterthingamies, and the woman with the accent kept talking. Hawk was fixed on the images though. They had been taken at dusk…in the city he and Mini were holidaying in…and dusk had only been an hour ago. If the culprit was headed in their direction…"Mini! Where's the federal reserve bank!?"

"The suspect was seen heading north." Droned the voice as more images flashed onto the screen. Mini didn't need to answer. The theif was grinding down the side of a suspension bridge on the showing footage…and it was dark. He was heading in their direction, alright. What was on the screen was what appeared to be a black hedgehog with coloured strips on its spines…

Chapter 17

The chimera stood triumphantly atop one of the high-points on the red suspension bridge, watching scornfully as police cars skidded into position in front of him. "How pathetic…" he said. The perfect crime. He thought to himself in his own language. Imitating a criminal…in the same place. Especially when they've been famed worldwide! Looking up to the right at a bright flashy light, he knew that he was close to success. The ship was in position, he just had to get closer. Slowly, he made his way further to the side to grind down the huge pole and up to the next platform. Slowly stepping down to the pole and letting go of the higher platform, he braced himself for the rush of wind and crouched. Soon he was at the next platform, doing it again while the police finally started shooting. They knew they wouldn't get him any other way…but they didn't know they wouldn't get him anyway.

*****

The street was dark and calm. The trees on the sides of the sloped road swayed gently in the wind being slightly channelled by the buildings on either side. Suddenly two sets of footsteps broke the silence. Both were going at fast paces, one was heavier than the other, and the steps were much closer together. The other set was lighter and there was more time between each step, but they seemed to have a greater distance per step as well. Suddenly the lighter pair of footsteps, going down the hill, went past a lit window, and revealed the silhouette of a fox with a large fringe. The heavier footsteps were those of a green hedgehog, who was slightly taller, and heavier as a result, than the fox known as Bluehawk. Hawk quickly puffed down the road, the wind in his ears and his sunglasses getting more and more loose, thoughts racing through his head. He had been sent to Station Square in particular. Was this so that he could be there when the emeralds were stolen? Or was it mere coincedence? Station Square was an awesome holiday location, so it could easily have been the latter. He was reaching the bottom of the hill. He had to head off the chimera-mistaken-for-hedgehog's escape route NOW. He could see a roadblock with the flashy lights and further back he was beginning to hear gunshots. The chimera was reaching the end of the bridge. Then Hawk looked up as he stopped running. There he was, standing atop the suspension bridge tower to the left, holding out a green glow in his right hand and a red one in his left…he was concentrating on dodging the heavy gunfire from the police on the other side of the suspended platform. Heavy footsteps from behind Hawk gave way to Minimaniac's puffing breath. Bluehawk's time to act was now, while he had the chance. Slowly, he raised his uzi on the higher-accuracy single shot mode. He didn't have many shots in the magazine, so he had to use them wisely. The chimera stopped momentarily as he readied to grind down the final pole. Hawk realized his chance and quickly fired, and stood there, frozen on the spot, not knowing how to react when he saw the red glow fly out of the chimera's hand, the chimera desperately grab at it as it fell in Hawk's direction, and suddenly the bright focused streams of light flying about everywhere like lasers as the chimera activated some kind of laser vision. Suddenly the gem hit the ground at Hawk's feet and quickly, he picked it up as the chimera was reacting…by grinding to the end of the pole and making a break for it. Suddenly Hawk remembered that Minimaniac was standing next to him, and realized that the chimera was moving dang fast. Without an emerald of his own, Mini would never be able to keep up, and Hawk was more attuned to its power…Quickly he started after the hedgehog-like creature…and dang did it feel good to be this fast! Hawk raced up the sloped road like Sonic the Hedgehog holding the red emerald tightly in his hand, and in hot pursuit of the green glow he had visualized in front of him. This punk was going down hard and fast! And at the hands of he who he first stole from! The chimera was gaining ground as they finally reached the top of the slope. So he would get a little ground as he was running on flat. Big deal. The speedy blue fox would get on top of him with sheer…wit? The chimera was gone. That was the first thing Hawk noticed when he reached the top of the hill and got to the dead end. Okay, so he'd gotten a lot faster. Hawk had underestimated him. Quickly Hawk dashed forward to the stairway in front of him with the rail in the middle and jumped onto the rail for a ride. He couldn't be too far ahead, Hawk imagined as he leaned left for the turn in the darkness and braced for the landing onto the ground at the bottom to keep running and went straight up the ramp and up the wall to get to the higher platform. Landing, Hawk prepared to run to his right, which was the only way his enemy could have gone…when he heard a whoosh from above, looked up and saw the chimera's shadow descending on him at great velocity. In half the time of his normal reaction he was not in the middle of the platform but the edge, and the chimera was on his gut in the middle, recovering from the fall quickly and easily. The alien lifeform looked up to the sound of a click. "Any last words?" Hawk exclaimed, pointing his uzi straight at his enemy's head.

"Not yet!" Growled the gruff voice of the hedgehog thing. Suddenly there was a whoosh and he was gone, and suddenly there was a shoe-on-concrete slap-thump noise. He was on the next platform, which was at least twenty metres away! So he could jump high…but Hawk could jump far with the power of the emerald. Suddenly, within the time it would take for the sound of a shout to reach the platform, he was there, followed by multiple images of himself created by his speed. The chimera was already on the next platform. So that was how it was gonna be. The hedgehog like creature looked back at him. "Impressive." It said as it stood up to face him. "But not impressive enough!" Suddenly it was gone and Hawk used the same technique to get to the platform it left. Quickly, not seeing the creature on the next platform, he turned around. Not there, either. Shoot…he thought. He's probably further ahead…besides, he needs what I've got! Suddenly Hawk heard something behind him. A clang. Well, he wasn't going to be outsmarted. The dark guy had thrown something from up ahead on the ground. Hawk peeked over the edge of his small tower platform and couldn't see anything at all. It was time to move forward. Suddenly a flashy light caught his eye. It was floating in the air above the city…soon he started to make out the rest…and that was definitely no ship of the planet Hawk liked to stand on and gravitate towards. Bluehawk quickly put two and two together.

Chapter 18

The blue fox quickly zipped down the park path in the direction of the flashy light and the weird airship. If it contained the answers to all his questions as well as the ones who stole all the other emeralds, he was gonna blow it and blow it goood! Now was the time! He reached the end of the path and turned left along the street, weaving left around a rather expensive looking car and around a rather old bomb to turn right down another road, towards the ship, while appreaciating his speed that he had missed for what felt like months. Suddenly he heard the quick footsteps behind him. The chimera thief! Gripping the emerald tight in his right hand, Hawk kept on running, turned right then left, weaved around a few cars and all the while the chimera in hot pursuit, wanting the emerald that Hawk clung to…and looking angry of it! Hawk had to get to the ship and find the answers to the recent questions raised, like why the heck the guard had mistaken him for an employee! The aliens had cloned him. That had to be it. Running down a hill on a footpath and watching the chimera just ahead on the road, the teenage fox dodged around a few pedestrain humans while patiently waiting for the chimera to hit a car. The race was on. Hawk looked straight forward and noticed the hill coming to an end, and in a second was running straight forward. The ship was pretty much right above them…and the chimera was gone.

****

The parking area was silent, and surrounded by buildings except for one entrance, which was about the width of a one-way road plus a footpath on one side. The ship was just above it. It looked like a giant galley with a complete dome roof and no sails or oars…and a slight dark teal tinge to the cold steel. Looked like something from Star Wars, Bluehawk thought as he entered. Completely silent. It was eerie, too…he was alone with the streetlights and the ship above. Hawk looked around warily as he walked into the centre of the small lot. Reminded him of the arena where he fought the giant walker bot in SA2B…in fact, it seemed to be the same place except for the road entrance and the terrain. Suddenly, just as Hawk reached the centre of the arena… "Hm. I suppose you think you're going to stop us."

Hawk whizzed around to see the chimera juggling the emerald on a roof. "Even if I don't succeed," Hawk said, puffing slightly. "I'm dang well gonna put up a fight!"

The chimera gave Hawk a smug look. "Foolish sentiment, young one…you are certainly confident in your abilities…pity I can't say the same for your friend."

"What!?"

"Ah…you don't know about the other chimera…the one in the hospital…"

"Phantom…"

"Is that what you call him? Ha! The fool renounced us…and is unable to control his own ability…so we do it for him when we're around to help out!"

He sent Phantom out the window. HE was the one who hospitalized him! Hawk quickly grabbed his gun and fired his last rounds at what was now a blur. Dang! Fast! Quickly he stepped to the right to avoid the quickest blow he had ever seen from behind.

"Is that your fastest?" Hawk taunted.

"Is that yours?"

Suddenly the chimera was thrown back as a light blue blur blasted a punch into his gut. So his anatomy was similar to that of the people of THIS planet…Hawk quickly flipped back to avoid retaliation and allowed his foot to connect with the chimera's gut before he could recover from his last blow. Hawk stepped back a few metres for a few seconds break.

"Ha…is this your best? I could have beaten you without the emerald!" Hawk taunted.

"Sure, sure."

Before Hawk could react he was being attacked with the same moves he himself had just used, but before his sparring partner could get him with the backflip he executed his own forward flip jump, sending himself straight upwards to land on the alien and send him at the ground.

"You got the speed, pal. But you really need the reflexes."

Quickly, as he lay on the ground, the chimera raised his emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" There were green light flashes moving straight for the emerald as Hawk quickly got out of the way. Soon the lot was filled with the green light…and when it cleared the chimera was gone. Hawk looked up at the ship…and it was getting the same flashy effects. It was teleporting or something!

*****

"That's it?" Minimaniac asked, lowering his binoculars.

Bluehawk didn't need to check a second time. "That's the one alright. They've probably got five emeralds in there, so be careful!" He replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Dang, when he thought of deserts he never thought of heat like this, even after he flew through one and found Sama. Looking over the cliff down to the sand and then beyond, Hawk was certain that that was the ship, banked on the horizon. Quickly they headed left and down the sandy track that led to the bottom of the cliff. It was time to finish this once and for all. Blow up the ship…errm, simple. Riiight. Soon Hawk and Mini had reached the ship, but there was no apparant entrance. Hawk walked up to its side. It was cold hard steel alright…cold steel. In a desert. Now THAT was a good one. He checked again. Cold alright. Steel was usually a heat conductor! He didn't need to go to school or training with the secret service to know THAT one. He stood, gripping the red emerald…concentrating…concentrating…soon a blue glow emitted from his other hand with a cool radiance as it took the shape of a sword…like a lightsaber, somewhat. Within seconds Hawk was using it to pierce through the wall of cold steel. Slowly, the steel began to open up like a black hole…and nothing could be seen inside.

Chapter 19

Suddenly the ship shook slightly. Hawk jumped back, startled, and Minimaniac rushed over. "What'd you-" Suddenly the ship began to rise.

"Get in! Quick!" Minimaniac quickly jumped into the hole as it rose above Hawk's head…Hawk made a jump for it, missed, and quickly gripped a horizontal pole as the ship rose free of the desert sand, ready to go..somewhere. Slowly it turned back towards Station Square as Hawk held on for dear life. Why hadn't he got in first? Minimaniac couldn't be as scared of heights as he was…there was a flat surface not far above. Hawk swung his legs to the wall in front of him and pushed off, throwing himself right around to let go and ascend to the platform. Too bad the hole was on a wall that was unreachable in the air. There was a kind of curved ramp going up to the wall, Hawk noticed. And his night-vision wouldn't need checking for a while-the ship was teal. Utilizing the emerald for a burst of speed that he liked to call his 'Hawk Dash', he ran up the ramp and up the wall and ended up on top of the ship. Why did I want to get up here!? He wondered to himself. Standing on the top of the ship was better than hanging from a pole at the bottom, though…he figured. Suddenly he noticed something to the rear of the ship as it travelled though. A sort of black dot across the sky near the horizon. A sudden gust of wind caught Hawk on the back. Quickly he turned around. There was no wind earlier…and he was right. Standing behind him ws the chimera he had fought last night. "Back for more?" Hawk taunted.

"It is you who will take the punishment this time if you do not hand over the gem!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I never knew you wanted it!" Hawk said sarcastically.

"You didn't know? Okay, fine. Hand it over." The chimera obviously didn't know what sarcasm was, so Hawk slowly walked over and stepped up to the platform he was on. "Here, you can have it!" he said as he slowly walked up…Quickly he used the Hawk Dash to give meestr hedgie a good blow to the gut with his fists. The chimera was down, but not out. Quickly he got up and pulled out the other emerald he had stolen the night before. Hawk stared at it angrily for a second before stepping back.

 "It's all about this!" The chimera indicated. "Jewels containing ultimate power…our clan WILL take this planet…co-operate if you want to live!"

"Pah! I beat you once…I'll do it-WHOOF!"

Hawk suddenly was thrown back at a surprise distraction blow to the head, followed by a strongknuckle uppercut to the chin. A few drops of blood flew out of Hawk's mouth, hitting the ground's steel with a slight splat. Hawk quickly retaliated with a high jump grabbing the chimera by the chin before driving him straight to the metal head-first. After htting the steel the chimera quickly flipped back up with a spin kick to the chest, sending Hawk sideways. As he hit the ground he suddenly noticed he was slipping slightly. Scrambling back onto his stomach and desperately trying to press his fingers into the steel to create friction enough to climb back up, Hawk couldn't see the chimera. The ship was reaching the outskirts of Station Square. Hawk began to look down and see the houses. Lotsa red rooves. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left hand. The chimera was standing on it. Hawk cried out in fear and pain. "So, you'll beat me again, will you?" Taunted the chimera. He shifted his foot forward and flicked the hand down. Hawk felt the air hitting his back…then cold steel, throwing his feet up and his head down to bang on more steel, the fact that he was upside down, the lower platform hitting his back and then nothing as his head impacted. The chimera stood triumphantly, then slid down on his feet to examine the body and make sure it was dead. Slowly he bent over it, standing at the feet end, to check if it was breathing. Suddenly he sensed movement and agonizing pain as a fast-moving foot hit him square between his legs. So their anatomy is that much the same as ours, eh? Hawk thought as he got up, the chimera crouched forward, reeling from the pain. Hawk put both his feet flat on the ground and stood to let his sparring partner know that he had only been unconcious for a few seconds before waking up to play possum. Well, the chimera wouldn't know that by his stance, but…Hawk gave the chimera a quick kick to the head, knocking him backwards, before finishing with a forward-flip kick, knocking him down, and then a backflip kick to follow, knocking him over backwards. The chimera was unconcious. Cautious of his own trick, Hawk carefully grabbed the chimera's shoulders and dragged hm over to the edge of the platform to drop him down. Suddenly, just as he was about to push him off the edge, he woke with a start and within seconds executed a jump flip, landed on Hawk's bent back and jumped to behind him. Hawk fell forward to the ground with a "WHOOF!" and suddenly realized his head was over the edge. He was being pushed-quickly he turned over, which threw the chimera over as well because he was holding on so tight…and Hawk started to slip farther off. Strangely the chimera didn't let go and slipped off with him…maybe the shock of the sudden flip…but that didn't matter. They were falling and the ground was a LONG way away…not to mention either skyscraper or concrete…Hawk twisted around to look down, the chimera still gripping his foot. Looked like skyscraper. Quickly he tried to flip himself around so that he would land on his feet with the hedgehog creature underneath him. The skyscraper was coming up fast…suddenly the chimera was splat on the concrete and Hawk landed on top of him. Hawk took a second to recover, and suddenly realized that he wasn't hurt. The answers would have to wait until later…the chimera was badly injured, but he picked up his emerald and was alright within seconds. Well, there was the answer to THAT question. The chimera quickly went for Hawk's throat, but Hawk dodged out of the way before retaliating with a good shove off the building. The chimera screamed, before crying out "CHAOS CONTROL!!" Hawk looked over the edge to see him drop into a ball of green light…and dissapear with it.

Chapter 20

The black object in the distance was closing in. Hawk stood there on top of the building, thinking as he watched the huge teal ship float along. The black object, taking shape now as a small plane, was heading in his directon…it wasn't the Squall, surely…but it sure looked like it. But Sama and Phantom were in hospital back in SoaH city, and even if they were out, neither could fly it. Sama wasn't smart enough, and Phantom would have teleported out of it by now…but it sure looked like the Squall…then he saw the two figures on the wings. One was black and looked like a chimera, and the one on the left was a pale yellow. That was Phantom and Sama all right, but who was driving? How did they get out of the hospital? Before long they had reached him and the answer to the first question was clear. Black Eagle! The plane slowed down and Hawk jumped up to the right wing, where Phantom was, and climbed up into the cockpit where Eagle was getting out. Flicking a few switches the plane went forward as Eagle sat behind him.

"How did you make it float when it wasn't going!?" Hawk called to Eagle.

"Haha…secret!"

Hawk had it going and went straight for the giant teal ship ahead, getting the wind out of his hair for once due to the windshield. No idea how to get into the ship, though. His idea was just to land on the ship and find a way in. Slowly, he made the plane ascend as it followed the huge ship. The ship loomed below, taking out about half of their visual range…slowly Hawk turned the plane's nose and propellor down towards the ship and slowly pulled up to get level with it…lower…lower…suddenly the plane bumped violently and pointed up again. Sama overbalanced and rammed straight into the main body of the plane, Phantom quickly crouched and Eagle bent forward. Argh! Too steep! Hawk scolded himself, and began to bring it back for a slower landing this time. He brought in in slower and got a slight jolt, but this time it stayed on the platform, and a good thing too, Hawk noticed as he got out. He'd almost hit the end wall. Slowly he lifted himself out of the pilot's seat as he heard the slaps and thumps of the others getting off the wings and tail. Dropping to the ground, he examined the surroundings. The ship was teal and the platform was the side edge, with an ellipse dome in the centre. How would they get into the ship, though? Hawk pondered this as he remembered to reach back into the pilot's seat to grab the emerald. Eagle looked back to him as Phantom was showing Sama that they were high up. "Wouldn't want to leave it behind, eh Hawk?"

"No, I wouldn't!" He replied as he jumped back down, the red glow in his hand. "Now what?"

Phantom slowly walked back to them. "This is one of those ships where you're supposed to teleport to get in and out." He stated informatively.

"All of them can teleport?"

"Most. The ones that can't 'aren't fit' to join the force…which is like your army."

Hawk rolled his eyes. "Buh-RILL-yant!" He gripped the emerald tighter and concentrated to unleash his Lazuli Blade. Focusing his every thought into channeling the energy, he slowly walked up to the dome and knelt down, before jutting the blade straight into the floor and letting go, and on its own the blade was slowly drawing a circle at the command of Hawk's mind. Before he was finished there was a whoof. Phantom was still there. It came from above. Phantom looked up slowly. "So how did you guys get out of the hospital anyway?" Hawk asked as the circle dropped into the ship, creating an entrance as well as a huge racket. Suddenly, just as it was done, Eagle fell back with a whumf and straight after a black blur. Sama quickly went for the attacker and one punch sent him a few metres. Slowly the attacker looked back at them, saw Phantom and his eyes widened dramatically. Then he recognized Hawk. The chimera who had plagued them all this time. Who was he, anyway?

"My name is Lirash, and I am of a senior 'rank' as you would call it…on my command, you WILL be enswarmed with my species and taken to…him." Suddenly he was gone.

"Down the hole!" Phantom cried suddenly.

*****

Hawk ever-so-cautiously poked his empty gun through the door, hoping to bluff through any bad situations about to occur. No chimeras around. Quietly he walked out into the corridor before being followed by Sama. Sama for once actually understood what quiet meant, and tiptoed slowly toward Hawk as he slowly walked down the corridor. Interesting that they had such similar designs to the ships on his own planet. Sama went ahead to the door, and Hawk quickly caught up, patting Sama's backpack. Full of packets full of powder and round objects he guessed were grenades. Hawk peeked around Sama into the next big room…there was a pair of chimeras coming! "Whaddawe do!?" Sama said. Hawk's eyes widened. The chimeras had heard and immediately teleported. Hawk whizzed around. They weren't behind him. Sama had messed up again. Suddenly he realized there were large pipes above. They didn't seem to be up there…but he couldn't see much anyway. Suddenly there was a cry from up on one of the further pipes…That sounded like Minimaniac! Hawk thought. Quickly he ran over to the sound just to have Minimaniac, brawling with the first chimera, drop down to the ground on top of it, gripping its neck. Hawk quickly reacted with a swift slide-kick to the chimera's head, knocking him out. Sama was already through with the other one as he threw it into a pile of large keg-like objects with a huge clang. Hawk and Mini cringed with the clanging. "Not wise, Sama!" Hawk said quietly. Sama stared back blankly.

"Why?"

Suddenly there were chimeras appearing on all sides. Most of them the rough size of Hawk's height to Phantom's height, some bigger, some smaller, and one little titch about up to Minimanac's knees. A big one moved up to them with a rifle-like gun object ready. "abnixo je?"

Hawk and Mini exchanged glances. To think this was supposed to be a holiday. Bluehawk indicated to himself. "BlueHawk!" The chimeras looked puzzled, so he tried again. "Bluehawk!" he pointed to himself. Minimaniac caught on quickly.

"Mih-nih-may-nih-ack!" he said from behind Bluehawk. Sama just stood there puzzled…suddenly his eyes lit up slightly and he started rummaging through his backpack, going unnoticed by the chimeras who were busy trying to figure out whether Hawk and Mini were telling them their names or trying to state their business or ranks. Slowly, Sama pulled out a small, round, dark green object and bit the top, ripping something out before throwing it at the chimeras. "EAT FLAMES!" He cried before diving behind a wall. Hawk quickly made himself scarce and Minimaniac followed suit…suddenly there was a loud fizzle noise and the chimeras were standing there wondering what the heck had just happened. Hawk peeked around the corner as the knee-high one started barking out to the others. He looked at Sama. "That was one of those IMplosive grenades, wasn't it?" He said slowly.

Sama looked at the ground, shamefully. "…yep." And they were captured quicker than you can say hot potato.

****

The chair facing the window vibrated slightly as its owner flinched. "You've got three of them? Where are the others?" he said, a hint of anger on his voice. The purple-striped chimera looked around at the pale colour of the walls and roof, which merged as one in the semi-dome shaped room. "We're looking for them now." He said nervously. Just at that moment Hawk was brought in, held by three chimeras without stripes and struggling like crazy while wondering why the heck they hadn't taken his emerald or gun yet, he clenched them both tightly.

"I've been waiting for this moment almost all my life, Mykol."

Hawk was confused. "What, the moment you meet me or the moment you bring me to a slow and painful death?"

There was a pause as all of the chimeras in the room left except for the purple-striped one. "Both."

Hawk thought for a second. "I better warn you, then." Hawk said slowly and cautiously, not sounding at all as scared as he felt, and wondering why the heck he had been called Mykol. Was he being mistken for the other guy again? "I don't go down easily!"

"That's why this is going to be oh-so much fun!" the chair slowly turned around, and Hawk gaped at what was in front of him.

Chapter 21

"Yeeees. You see it now, don't you? The one who has had everything that has happened, happen. The one you've been searching for all this time…the one who's behind the emerald thefts…is me!"

Hawk was speechless. "You're the doppleganger!" He looked almost just like Hawk. He wore the same clothes, except gold shoes instead of orange and a red shirt instead of black…and a subtle red in his sunglasses, as well as a slightly darker blue fur colour. He looked a bit older, too.

"No. Not a doppleganger…we're only slightly less related than clone."

He was lying. He had to be. "You only have five emeralds!" Hawk cried out, holding up his own.

"Ah, almost! I only stole six, and you retrieved the red one." Slowly he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a shiny object, gloating. "It just so happens that I already had one."

Shoot. He was lying a lot. He was a clone who the chimeras had aged. He had to be. He was claiming to be his brother to melt him down and destroy his confidence.

"I'm going to give you one last chance." The figure in front of him said, leaning forward. "Join us and give us the emerald or die."

Hawk looked at his emerald, clenched in his hand. They were going to get it anyway…but he would rather die than join their dark forces.

"Why not? Do you dislike life?" The fox…no, clone…said. "It was at this point that I joined the ranks of my friends here…look at me now! Power. Wealth. Technology. What more could you want? Why do you not join? ...and you always wondered what happened at the beach house."

"The beach house! YOU-!" Suddenly he was somewhere else…a wooden room. He could hear that distinct sound of waves, at the beach…and there were bodies on the floor, both of them foxes. One looked like it was female…but it was hard to tell, it was so mutilated…it'd been hacked dozens of times with something sharp…and another, on the other side of the room, had a sword near it…looked like he'd dropped it…he had a stab mark at his heart and dried blood which had oozed out of his mouth. Suddenly he was back on the ship. Hawk dashed straight at his look-a-like hand outstretched with a war cry to grab him by the neck. This vermin had killed his parents! His OWN parents…and left Hawk to be an orphan! Suddenly there was a dark blue flash of light and Hawk was hurled back to where he was before he dashed. How had the fiend reacted fast enough?

"Fine." The one in front of him said, irritated. He pulled out the dark blue emerald again, then pulled out all of the others except for the green one, which the chimera behind Hawk now gave him, and the red one, which Hawk was holding. Suddenly the red one shot out of his hand and joined with the others. Hawk stepped back in anticipation. This was going to suck. The dark fox slowly lifted the emerald cluster and they separated, started spinning around him with flashes of colour and each shot a ray into the centre of their ring as they reached the point closest to Hawk. Soon the being who claimed to be Hawk's brother was engulfed in white light and Hawk was forced to quickly shield his eyes. The light faded and in its place was the once dark blue fox, now a jade green. He floated to the ground and slowly cracked his neck. Hawk stepped back in anticipation of death…the chimera next to him seemed to be chuckling, but he suddenly went serious as soon as the light green thing glared at him. Suddenly the bright green superfox fired a huge bright green beam straight at the chimera, knocking him through the wall and into the great beyond…beyond the mortal plane. The beam slowly died down, and the green fox looked to Bluehawk. "One last chance. I say again, look where my joining got me!"

"Well I ain't cut from the same mold!" Hawk said, slowly and angrily.

"Fine!"

Chapter 22

The bright yellow lights were finally dying…Hawk felt high up…there was a sort of purple mist, and suddenly he realized he was on a road…and of course, there was a bright green fox floating in front of him. "Ha…behold the power of-what? It wasn't supposed to bring us here! Time to-" Suddenly, just as Hawk dived out of the way, the green fox was hit by a vehicle moving at a speed that Hawk would probably be unable to attain with three emeralds! Quickly, without looking back to see the result or any more vehicles, Hawk desperately dived for the side to hang from the edge. Gripping it, he gathered courage enough to look down…and realized what a big mistake that was. He might as well have been dangling from a skyscraper…of three times the size! A vast city stretched out below him, looking like it covered the entire planet. Slowly Hawk lifted himself back up onto what he realized, looking around, was a racetrack…a very floatatious one at that. Suddenly he noticed glowing objects on the ground. The dark fox had dropped the chaos emeralds! Quickly Hawk went to pick one up, the yellow one. But just as he managed to touch it he was pulled aside by an object moving incredibly fast. Another racer. This must have been what happened to the other…Quickly, before his shirt could rip, he pulled himself in to get onto the vehicle. It was grey, triangular shaped looking down and had yellow stripes horizontally painted on the nose. It had a few fin-like things on the back for steering, which is what Hawk's shirt had caught. Finally he managed to place himself on the top and lie flat. Gripping it hard in mid-air and around a loop, he realized they were nearing where the emeralds were and hung over the side. BloodHawk…that was what he'd call his apparent brother for now. Suddenly he saw him, on top of another vehicle not far in front. He was holding up a chaos emerald…the dark blue one. Quickly Hawk reached down and snatched the yellow one as he passed it and climbed back onto the top of the vehicle. If he got the chaos emeralds faster…suddenly he realized he was blocking the driver's view as it headed straight off the side of the road. He only had one chance and quickly jumped back up towards the track…he wasn't going to make it. That was his first thought. He was moving too slow…wait, no. The track looked farther than it was…he grabbed the edge and hoisted himself up, running back towards the emeralds...but none of them were there. They had obviously been knocked about by the vehicles. Hawk gathered up his lightning fast run along the track to try to find them. Suddenly he saw Nanaki's emerald, the white one. Quickly he ran towards it, holding out his own to pick it up…just as it reacted, he was again caught by one of those vehicles, this time a blue one with a similar shape. A bit wider and rounder at the top. Soon he was on top of it, preparing for the loops and jumps, then getting around to the emerald patch. There were only two there now, one purple and the other RealSonic's, the light blue one. Quickly he leaned left to grab RealSonic's emerald and lifted it using the yellow and white ones to attract it. He had three. Suddenly another vehicle pulled in from the left and whacked the Blue one Hawk was sitting on way off to the side, Hawk jumping off only just before it went off the edge. BloodHawk behind him picked up the purple one as he went past, before jumping off his vehicle and walking slowly towards Hawk. "So you have four? Impressive…but I will still prevail!" He cried, and suddenly from both hands appeared red blades of energy, similar to Hawk's Lazuli Blade. Hawk, needing minimal concentration due to the three emeralds he had, brought out his Lazuli Blade and quickly blocked Blood's double downward slash with his own blade before getting up. "I only have three. You have the fourth?" Hawk started hacking away frantically in Blood's direction. He had two blades. Hawk only had one. Blood blocked all of his attacks before retaliating with a feint slash and a brutal low kick. Hawk moved backwards to avoid attack, while holding his blade forward, when he realized something. At his will, the Lazuli blade darted out of Hawk's hand and spun wildly at BloodHawk in an almost perfect circle. Blocking it, BloodHawk realized that his younger brother had something he didn't-which was the better of what he himself had. Slowly he backed away, noticing the vehicles getting close and started making a run for it, away from them. Hawk looked to see what the heck was going on, and then he saw it. There was an unmistakable green glow coming from the back of one of the leading hovercraft vehicles. Following his enemy, Hawk quickly ran in the opposite direction in the hopes that he would be able to grab the gem before Blood did. Whoever got it had his enemy in the bag. Suddenly Hawk realized he was already passing the fourth jump and they still hadn't caught up. He was going at almost their speed! They seemed to be going in a sort of slow motion as the power of the emeralds kicked in as he ran, heightening everything. His speed. His reflexes. His strength. His will to fight. Finally, just as he caught up with his enemy the vehicles started to come past and Hawk grabbed one not far behind the green glow. Gaining his balance, he threw himself forward as soon as they had finished the one jump that prevented Hawk and Blood going by themselves, without the hovercrafts. Quickly dashing after the prize that his enemy, right next to him, sought-power enough to destroy one's rival. Side by side, at only a titch faster than the vehicle itself, both of them ran at the same pace…for the same goal…when suddenly Hawk realized that Blood had caught the inside of a turn. Quickly, seizing his chance, his enemy went further to the inside than his chase, managing to catch it on the tail and pluck out the emerald, and just as he was about to suck up Hawk's emeralds, he made a possible last leap for life, a possible final chance to survive, and as he moved through the air the emeralds moved out of him, and formed a ring around Blood again…"NOOOOOOOOO!" Hawk cried out, seemingly reaching the ring just in time…both of them were temporarily frozen in the ring mid-dive as hovercrafts raced under it, admiring the fireworks.

Chapter 23

 The emeralds faded into the dazzling bright light and the light finally subsided as the hovercrafts came through a second time. BlueHawk and BloodHawk floated to the ground, suddenly cognizant of their surroundings…they were back in the ship's throne room and each now in their super form. BloodHawk, like before, was a jade-green. Somewhere between neon green and white. BlueHawk, however, was now a shining cyan colour. Hawk took a second to admire his new self, and for a few seconds they stared each other down, not moving at all. Hawk made the first move, with a good flurry of punches and kicks as Minimaniac and SamaDaMana raced into the room, followed by Black Eagle and Phantom Falcon, who was shooting behind the others at a few hostile chimeras. Finally Phantom turned around to see what was going on and saw only a pair of bright blurs zipping around wildly. What was going on, apart from Hawk fighting someone else who was in their super form? They couldn't make out anything apart from blinding speed. Suddenly they saw Hawk slow down, twirling through the air with Lazuli Blade drawn in a slight blur, then as he hit the ground he was just a trail again, before there was a sudden rumbling of the ship. Phantom frowned as he stepped back slightly. "It's going into space!" He told the others. Minimaniac grimaced, watching the green blur slow just enough for them to realize it was a fox. "Hey! That green guy…"

"He looks just like Hawk only a different colour!" Eagle finished.

Sama stood there, blinking as both blurs seemed to collide and bounce again and again. "Which one's Hawk?" He asked vacantly.

Phantom thought about this one just as the window outside was getting black at the top. "I think Sama's just said something smart for once. Do we know that the first one was Hawk?"

"Hawk's the only one with the lazuli blade." Minimaniac answered as through the window they could clearly see that they were in space. Suddenly the green one bounced into the air, backflipping insanely, then suddenly zipped forward as he hit the ground, with red trails jutting out from the side. "The blue one's Hawk."

*****

Completely unaware of the conversation nearby due to everything moving in such slow motion, Hawk Dashed straight over Blood, who was coming straight at him with energy blades outstretched, and hit the wall, bounced off and connected into Blood's back with a brutal flying kick. Suddenly he realized they were in space. Typical climax scene…geez. Suddenly Blood fired a green laser from his palm at the front window. Hawk looked at his friends, waving their hands around like they were talking at an extremely slow pace, as if to tell them to get out. The laser was almost hitting the thick glass, and suddenly it had punctured it, making a clean hole straight through and his friends were slowly swept off their feet, being pulled straight for the hole. Hawk quickly flew to it, trying to use his super form powers to keep himself there and block it up, but before he knew it he was outside looking in. He could see chimeras being sucked out of the holes he himself had created, one of them seemed to be expanding and in pain…suddenly he burst in an explosion of blood…but before Hawk could watch anymore he was thrown back by Blood's super fast punch to the gut. Able to breathe in space, Hawk quickly reacted and threw out his limbs, charging for the attack. Blood in front of him was doing the same, and it was ready. Hawk was blown backwards, further into space, by the recoil, and the two beams collided at the exact centre. He had fired at just the right time, and where they were colliding a huge chaos explosion was ensuing, glowing an aqua colour, slightly more blue on Hawk's side, slightly more green on Blood's side. It was getting bigger…but it was getting less green, Hawk noticed…and farther back. Suddenly he knew why as he was thrown upwards by a blasting kick from below, and grabbed by the leg to be thrown down back to the ol' blue planet. Suddenly, as he was let go, he realized that Blood was dragging the ship down to Earth. If it had run out of fuel…there was the imitation of a known criminal thing happening again…he was going to make it impact hard! Quickly Hawk flew in to intercept, and knocked him right off the giant steel lump with another flying kick, pinning him down slightly before unleashing a wave of chaos energy stored up inside him. Blood was blown away. He's so much more powerful! How!? He thought desperately as he recovered and started flying back. Blue stood his ground and gazed down at his foe, before slowly tucking his arm under his still-intact shirt and pulling out exactly twenty gold rings. Something which Blood didn't have. Suddenly Hawk felt a bump to his head as the ship started moving faster toward what looked like it would land in the ocean. Moving down, and realizing that he was reaching the atmosphere of the planet he loved, Hawk looked up at the ship. It didn't look like any of his friends had been sucked out the window, but the ship was going to burn up. Quickly he moved up to intercept it, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop it before it reached the atmosphere. Suddenly he was attacked from behind by his newest enemy and pushed away from the ship, but not before he launched back a small beam attack and got Blood right in between the eyes. They were within the atmosphere now, and still under the ship. Hawk knew that his power was weakening, but it was obvious that the same was happening to Blood as he sneered away back at Hawk, drawing his red blades. Hawk knew what to do. Before Blood could react, he let fly with a swift flying kick as Blood seemed to be slowing down. It was working! Blood was losing power much quicker! Before Blood could so much as react to the kick, Hawk let fly with his Lazuli Blade flying in from behind Blood, hitting him straight through the gut…his fur was darkening. He was reverting to normal! With another strong punch, Blood was falling straight for the ocean. Hawk quickly flew down, noticing that the world around him was speeding up, grabbed BloodHawk and dived into the water with the screaming fox in tow. Skimming off, he raced along almost level with the water, dragging BloodHawk along in it before slamming him into a rock jutting out of the water and leaving him there. The ship, which he could only just see, was burning its way into the atmosphere with his friends on it. Quickly he flew straight back up again, leaving the glubbing BloodHawk be, to directly collide with the ship, grab it and slow it down, while climbing towards the hole in the window to safety while the ship wasn't burning. It fell no further as Black Eagle managed to get it running.

Epilogue

Hawk dumped the seven emeralds on the table and allowed the mayor to stare at them for a few seconds. He had done it. He had recovered them, and now three would be given back to their rightful owners, while the rest…would go back into high-security. "One belongs to you, does it not?" Neon asked. Hawk nodded in response. Neon looked back down at the emeralds as Hawk slowly lifted out the yellow one. "It'll be kept especially safe from now. I know just the thing." Neon nodded in agreement.

"The white one goes to Nanaki and the light blue one to RealSonic…as for the rest, only those who own them will know that they aren't in high security."

Hawk seemed stunned. "E-Excuse me?"

"They'll be destributed to SoaH residents who have proved themselves capable, but not overly-well known in the interest of security. You may take the blue one to its rightful owner, I'll take care of the rest." Hawk nodded and turned to leave as he carried the two emeralds outside.

*****

The human nurse took the blue emerald off Hawk with a smile, but no words, and carried it off for the doctor to operate later.  Understandable that he wouldn't see RealSonic be revived, but Hawk hoped that with the emerald's energy healing would be quick, like when Hawk had dropped so far onto the building. He would clutch his own emerald ever so tightly from now…Neon would probably soon call a meeting and distribure the remaining emeralds then…and only those with emeralds would have the knoweledge. Hawk thought to himself as he stood in the elevator. It had been one crazy week…He had a brother who had come to lead the chimeras. Hawk had a name now…his name was Mykol. He wasn't going to tell anyone though…He had always known himself as BlueHawk and that way he would stay. He wanted others to know him as such, too. He would continue life as normal with a little extra caution…no doubt the chimeras were already hatching another scheme to conquer earth already, the ship they had taken out couldn't possibly have been the only one around…and BloodHawk would have been found by now…but so many questions still were left unanswered…and those answers were going to have to wait.