Chapter 1- The Fire in the Sky

The towering skyscrapers and refineries of Westopolis glistened from the gentle sunglow. The gold-tinted sky looked particularly radiant this afternoon. But then again, it wasn't every day that the "Fire-in-the-Sky Festival" was taking place. So perhaps nature itself was making final preparations. The celebration was an honored tradition in the industrious city, for it marked the first sighting of the stellar spectacle known as the Black Comet in five decades. Yet it would be the first sighting ever for a certain group of furry friends heading towards the city.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Cream the Rabbit, accompanied by her pet chao Cheese in a cozy orange knapsack, were all riding in the backseat of the transit bus coming from their current hometown of Station Square. The mammalian celebrities continued their lively banter, entertaining the other human passengers with their stories of their past adventures, and viewing the beautiful decorations being set up for the gala as they whizzed by.

Everyone was excited about the big festival and the appearance of world-renowned heroes like Sonic was simply icing on the cake. Yet even the blue hedgehog couldn't help wondering why they were using a bus in the first place:

"I mean Tails has a plane, Cream and Cheese can fly, Amy can scoot pretty quickly, and I'm faster than the speed of sound! C'mon people! Have we forgotten our roots?"

"Aw don't be blue, Sonikku. I can chase you down the road if you want," Amy cooed from behind his seat, a pair of sparkling googly eyes aimed squarely at the hedgehog.

Sonic took one glance behind him and grimaced like a cootie-phobic child.

"Eeesh…y-y'know, on second thought, maybe I'll just sleep till we get there…" He didn't get very far in this declaration before getting wacked on the head from an oversized mallet.

"Fine!" Amy snarled, gripping her Piko-Piko Hammer in malice. "Maybe you should run all the way back and burn off all those chili dogs you'll probably gorge upon!"

"Hmmm…now that sounds like a better idea! Good thinking, Amy."

"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

"Amy, please control your temper," Cream meekly chided, holding back her friend from clobbering Sonic.

As the heroes laughed and joked, they remembered that their old buddy Knuckles the Echidna was off exploring the mysterious Glyphic Canyon.

"Shame that Knux is going to miss the party." Tails remarked.

"Eh…probably more of a blessing than a curse, if you ask me," quipped the wisecracking speed demon, adding that having to constantly instruct Knuckles on the many aspects of city life would have worn down the festivities. "Besides, you know how he is around girls. I think we'd be doing him a favor in this case!"

"I never knew how popular Mr. Knuckles was," squeaked the unassuming Cream.

"Neither did he, I'd imagine," Tails added, "And most of his fans are our age!"

Indeed the lone Guardian of the Master Emerald had spent all of his life isolated on the levitating Angel Island, so it would be natural to be a bit hesitant in going to such an enormous social gathering. Especially considering that his fan base had grown so large over the years amongst the excitable adolescents.

The recent discovery of the canyon might have served as the perfect scapegoat for Knuckles to skip out on the party and check out the ruins, considering that, as Sonic put it, "he was into that kind of stuff." Sonic also vaguely recalled the crimson echidna mentioning a huge surge of energy coming from that area…dark energy at that. But Sonic wasn't going to let Knuckles' paranoia get him down today.

This was their first real day of relaxation since having to deal with the "metal madness" caused by Sonic's robotic doppelganger, Metal Sonic. And with the devious Dr. Robotnik seemingly out of the picture for the time being, the hedgehog planned to enjoy this day thoroughly.

He could see it all now: a day of showing off supersonic stunts to the public, amidst energized cheers, and an evening of stargazing in the sparkling night skies. Not to mention chili dogs by the ton! Sonic was so hyped up, that he couldn't help poking his head out the bus window to wave to some enthusiastic bystanders cheering from the sidewalk. Tails and Cream laughed as the disgruntled bus driver yelled at the hedgehog from his seat.

"Hey, I don't care ifyou did save the world! You still needta follow the rules on mybus!"

"Aw take a chill pill, Bill. I'm just reaching out to my adoring fans!"

"You're gonna join your adoring fans outside in a minute if ya don't SIDDOWN! And my name's Tom, not Bill!"

"Whatever floats your boat, dude…," he replied coolly. With that, he slumped back down in his seat and flicked his foot impatiently. In his defense, Sonic wasn't the type that could easily sit still for a long period of time. Yet his antsy nature made Tails and Cream look like church mice by comparison.

The two-tailed fox was quietly recalibrating his handheld Jewel Reader device, used primarily for finding Chaos Emeralds, so that it could download and play electronic games. He had been itching for a round of Vectorman since the gang left Station Square.

Meanwhile, Cream was busy playing patty-cake with Amy, who was still trying to quell her volatile temper. This diversion gave Cheese the opportunity to escape from his knapsack every once in a while to pester a portly woman in the front wearing a ridiculous feathered bonnet. It also gave Sonic the opportunity to slip Amy's tarot cards out of her purse so he could play solitaire, for which he was whacked with her obscenely large mallet upon discovering this.

It was just another normal day seemingly without incident. Looking out again at the beautiful twilight, the hedgehog began to doze off to sleep again, trying his best to contain his energy a little longer. But just as he closed his eyes, the sunset orange sky began to swirl into an unnatural hue of livid red and choking black. The colorful Flicky birds dotting the skies earlier were soon engulfed in the darkness. Thunder shook the skies strong enough to make the ground below quake violently.

This caught the attention of all the bus riders, whose jaws hung open after peering outside of their windows. The heroes then followed suit, with Sonic stirring from his short-lived nap and Cream clutching Cheese in fear from the crackling lightning. Tails dove under the seat, holding his quivering head down from even greater fear of it. As they looked up ahead, they saw a gaping black vortex taking shape high in the sky. Yet before they could all physically react, what happened next seemingly unfolded in slow motion.

The entire bus began to flip upside down, with the passengers tumbling and sliding out of their seats. Sonic could feel the bus losing its center of gravity, almost knocking his head against the floor. But before anyone could blink, he busted out of the emergency window. He then dashed to the now fully airborne front of the bus and leaped in the air in a futile attempt to grab and pull it down again.

Yet just as he managed to grab the edge of the window, the bus stopped short of completely flipping upside down. It was then brought down slowly with a slight thump on impact, Sonic along with it. Darting his eyes about impulsively, he peeked around the corner of the vehicle to see the familiar sight of a scarlet echidna with dreadlocked quills.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called out with relief, "Man, am I glad to see…"

"LOOK OUT!" Knuckles yelled, pointing past Sonic. He spun around to see an immense black and red monster thrust its crustaceous claw at him. He ducked out of the way in just enough time for the behemoth to miss and stab the bus instead. It was obviously stuck, since the bus violently rattled when it tried to pull it out.

Knuckles rushed over to his cobalt comrade's side. "Now's our chance!" he growled, "Quick, spin-dash into me!"

"You got it!"

And with that, Sonic curled into a ball and began revving in place at speeds high enough to churn smoke behind him. He then launched himself at Knuckles, who caught the whirling blue orb in his clutches. The beast finally wretched its claw free from the bus just as Knuckles began winding his arm up like he was about to throw a baseball pitch. As the monster lumbered closer, with its golden eyes glowing and musk burning stronger than before, Knuckles threw the spinning Sonic full force at its head. It gave a painful hiss upon impact and went down without a hitch.

"What….was that?" Sonic asked after coming to his feet, still startled by the fallen beast.

"That was the reason why I went to Glyphic Canyon," Knuckles answered. "I came back to warn you guys about what I found…but it looks like I'm too late."

"What do you mean?"

Knuckles outstretched a spiked mitt to the rest of the town. Sonic turned around to see the definitive image of total and complete hell on Earth. Explosions blasted, fires roared, a menagerie of alarms sounded, and cars were stacked upon cars. Buildings were utterly ravaged, with panic-stricken civilians running and screaming every which way. The pandemonium was simply too hard to absorb upon first glance.

And then they saw more of the creatures, many larger and more imposing than the one they faced. Some had jagged crystalline spines growing out of their backs. Others were armed with glowing violet swords, slicing through oncoming vehicles as easily as butter. A sudden rush of blistering wind through Sonic's quills prompted him to look up and see winged creatures flying through the air, blasting up more buildings with energy bursts coming from their piercing shrieks. All of them had scaly charred skin and glowing golden eyes. Sonic look awestruck as the once welcoming city was apart before them in a fiery blaze.

"So…" he finally said, still frozen in place and fixated on the disaster, "This was the dark energy you sensed?"

"My instincts never lie, Sonic," Knuckles responded confidently, trying to repress a smirk that was creeping up from the fact that he actually showed Sonic up for once.

"No need to brag, Knucklehead," Sonic snapped back, catching the echidna's smugness. "If you told us some of this before you ran off like a nut…"

"Well if you took my suspicions more seriously…"

"Oh c'mon, what did you expect me to do? Drop everything and blindly follow you? It's not like you haven't steered us in the wrong direction before!"

"Yeah…well…at least it was the right direction this time!"

Just then Tails flew out of the bus door, his two spinning tails propelling him. "Everyone on board is alright…so what's…..happening…?"

He stopped short of his query when he looked at the sight Sonic still had his mouth open from. Tails almost got caught in the same state until a mammoth beam of energy came crashing down not too far from the bus, triggering a shockwave that shook everyone back to their senses. It was the opposite effect for Amy, as she got knocked off her feet and tumbled out of the bus entrance trying to get out. Cheese fell squarely on her head.

"What are we going to do, Sonic?" she overheard the panicky Tails asking.

"I dunno, Big Guy…but this looks like a full day's job ahead of us," he said, shaking his head and looking on at the destruction with arms akimbo, a concentrated stare emanating from his brow and his signature smirk fading from his jaw.

"Yeah," added Knuckles, crossing his arms sternly at the sight. "Maybe even our greatest threat yet…"

At that point, Amy's emerald eyes lit up with vigor. Finally a chance to prove to Sonic what she's capable of, she thought. With a mission of this magnitude, there was no way Sonic could refuse her help this time. And who knows? Maybe after this ruckus is settled, there could be wedding bells in the air in place of screams and explosions (Amy was far past the dating stage now; she wanted Sonic now!).

It was merely wishful thinking, but in the hopeful—though slightly twisted—mind of Amy Rose, anything was possible.

"Anything I can do to help?" she asked without hesitation after excitedly picking herself up from the ground and dashing over to Sonic, accidentally flinging Cheese in the process.

"Um…..yeah, you can watch Cream and Cheese. Get them to a safe location. Knux, go tell the bus driver to get her passengers as far away from town as possible. Now, if we…"

"BABYSITTING? Is that all I'm good for, Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Well, umm…it's j-just that you have that maternal quality about you and…I feel that you can best…"

"It's not that! I mean, why can't I go with you guys?"

Knuckles, fed up and knowing what this argument would lead to, decided to interject. "It's because you have a really bad habit of getting kidnapped, that's why." Amy glared fiercely into his violet eyes, but he wouldn't yield. Knux never did mince words, nor take them back.

She then rounded back to Sonic, having better luck as he put up a timid grin and nodded in agreement.

"What? How dare you, I do not! I am fully capable of handling myself!"

"Oh yeah?" the hedgehog said, getting fired up by this statement. "Then what about the time on Little Planet, when you got snatched up by Metal Sonic?"

"Well I…"

"Or the time you got chased by that hunkajunk robot and held captive on the Egg Carrier?"

"Well he…"

Then Tails decided to chime in. "Or the time you got lost on the Space Colony ARK and Eggman held you hostage?"

"OK! I get it! I'll watch Cream then, alright?"

"EEEEEEEEKKK! SOMEBODY HEEEELP!"

The horrified heroes looked up to find Cream being carried away by one of the bird creatures. A closer look revealed that she was actually trying to free Cheese from the monster's clutches. Without a moment's hesitation, Amy dashed after the captured rabbit and Chao, wielding her trusty hammer as she pursued the captives. Sonic and Tails looked dumbstruck at each other over the events that took place.

"Well…I…guess we should get started then…" Sonic muttered, not quite sure what to say after all that.

"Sorry guys," Knuckles said after seeing the bus off, "but I'm gonna have to join you later. I got to get back to Glyphic Canyon."

"But dude! We need your help here!"

"I know, but there must be a reason those creatures are skulking around out there. I think they have bad intentions in mind with those ruins, and I can't let them succeed."

"Jeez, another one of your dumb theor…?"

Knuckles simply gave his comrade a stony look, daring him to challenge his hunch again. Sonic begrudgingly swallowed his words.

"I'll help you guys out as soon as I can." And with that he rushed off, leaping into the air and gliding fists-forward after getting a running start. Sonic kicked the ground in frustration.

"That…stupid…Knucklehead…always running off! Gaah!"

Tails tried to alleviate Sonic's temper. "Well…guess it's you and me now. Just like old times, right…Sonic…? Heh, heh…" Sonic merely shot him a green-eyed glare and Tails shrunk back. Then after clutching his forehead as if he was tuning his brain to the right frequency, he looked up again at what was once Westopolis. While Tails worriedly looked to his idol for a slight glimmer of hope in his eyes, a small grin began to cross Sonic's face. This was a sure sign that he was ready.

"Showtime, Big Guy…" Sonic muttered to Tails. And the two took off into the ruinous city.