"This isn't the main Master Emerald, of course." Said Knuckles, a red echidna, his dreadlocks swaying in the cool breeze that ran through the cavern. "I'd have to know you for longer before I let you near the real thing. Nobody gets near it unless I trust them."

"What about when Eggman stole it while you were fighting Sonic six years ago?" Final chipped in.

"Apart from that time," said Knuckles, sheepishly.

"Or when Rouge strolled right up to it, before Eggman stole it again, a year or so ago?"

"Well-"

"Or, come to think of it, when Eggman took a picture of it with his future camera thing last month?"

"ENOUGH!" Yelled the echidna irritably.

"Hey, recognise your mistakes. That's the first step to stopping your gullibility, Knux." Said Final, in a soothing voice. "That's why I'm here. To help." The echidna sighed.

"Anyway, this is one of the raw emeralds I took from the spirit of the herd a while back. I've infused it with the energy of the Island's Chaos Emeralds, so it should be the most convenient thing to go super with."

"Awesomeness."

"So, I'll be back in about 10 minutes. Have fun."

As Knuckles walked over to one of the red-orbed transporters and disappeared in a beam of light, Final stepped closer to the battered, but visibly powerful emerald. He pulled himself up on top of it, and pressed a hand against its surface. The gemstone should have, by all laws of physics, been cold. And yet, it seemed warm, like a laptop after hours of use. Final rationalised to himself that the physics of old Earth were outdated. This thing was filled with Chaotic energy, and thus, must have some heat energy as well. He stood atop the emerald, gazing around the chamber, and thought 'Super. Super. Super.'

A beam of light exploded from the edges of the emerald, surrounding him. The light crashed onto the jagged rocks of the cavern above him like water. He slowly rose, gravity no longer applying. He could feel power coursing through his veins! As more power flowed into him, the light slowly faded. As all traces of the light disappeared, he slowly floated back down to the scored surface of the emerald. He sat there for a moment or two, wondering what had happened. He didn't feel super. Could this be it? Was this all? Confusion filled his eyes. Then, as an eyebrow raised in curiosity...

He exploded.

Final walked into a control room, that looked like it was almost thrown in as an afterthought in the chambers of the Hidden Palace Zone. The echidna turned from a large console, that would have looked high tech, had it not been hewn from the rock of the chamber, and his eyes widened as he saw an exuberant Final standing there, blackened and burnt.

"The Emerald made me explode!"

"You what?" Gaped Knuckles, visibly shocked. "No idea why it would do that. Some sort of problem with the internal resonance of the gem? Give me a minute, and I'll rig up a new one. I've just got a call coming through."

"Right, see you down there." Final walked out of the small room, as a image began to fizzle onto a large screen above the console. He wanted to respect the echidna's privacy as much as possible. He had been generous, to say the least, in allowing Final onto the island in the first place. As he strolled back to the emerald's site, he thought back at how he had come to this place.

It had only really been about eight months since Final had arrived on the planet. But it was not just space he had traveled through. It was time.

Final shuddered as he thought of the events that had begun the saga. He focused his mind on the important stuff. When he had returned to his home after... those events... He had found a vortex in his room, swirling and hazy. He had considered the implications of approaching it, but deciding that at this point, he had nothing to lose, he had jumped through, shortly followed by a friend of his.

They had discovered themselves not in the year 2005, but in the year 2455, not that they knew this. Earth was not the center of humanity it once was. Rather, it was a hellhole. A desolate wasteland, the sky a dingy yellow, sandstorms sweeping through the empty tracts of land. They had searched through the remaining buildings of England's once-capital, London, but found no signs of life, other than horrible, zombie like creatures, that they did their best to avoid. Finally, they found a ship, and traveled to a preset destination, that the previous owner had presumably not lived long enough to reach. The ship's computer was set for Earth 2, the new home of humanity.

When they arrived, he and his friends had different intentions of what to do. His friend had wished to have adventures in the wilderness of the planet, but Final... Final was happy to just stay in the city and live a normal life, if only for a short while.

But of course, on the new world, adventure was never far away. Only a short while after moving in with new flatmates in the capital city, Station Square, the portly scientist known as Dr Eggman had invaded. He claimed to have made the perfect plan, sending Sonic the Hedgehog, the foremost hero of this world, on a wild goose chase. Quite literally. He had sent a battle robot of his, Commander Brutus, to attack a colony of Mobian geese in the Northlands.

While the hedgehog was distracted, he had flew to Station Square, and he claimed that this was where the Eggman Empire would begin. Perhaps it would have, but together with his flatmates, Final managed to hack into the battle machine of the scientist, causing it to crash.

Of course, then, Sonic had turned up, jumped at the machine, and hogged the media attention. Final still held a small grudge against the hedgehog for that. But anyway, that had made Final long for further adventure. And after reading a thesis on the gems of the world, by a Miss Azurion Asteracea, he had decided to try and experience the power of these gems for himself. And so he had arrived, and struck a deal with Knuckles. He would help the echidna with his extreme gullibility problem, and in return, Knux would let him go super. And so he stood in the chamber, all in all feeling decidedly intimidated by his surroundings...

Well, that seemed to cover it all. Final felt curiously satisfied at how events had brought him here. The trip to the future had seemed to go his way. Well, the exploding wasn't the best, but now Knuckles would sort that out, and all would be well!

True to form, he saw the echidna storm into the cavern, a large emerald in his arms. Final rushed over, and helped the red animal set the large stone down. Knuckles gave a grunt of thanks, and wandered over to the Raw Emerald that he had previously infused with the Chaos Energy. He levered it up, and removed it from the tube that held it in place. Final went to help, but Knuckles shooed him away.

"What's under here is for my eyes only."

Final was surprised at the fury Knuckles spoke with. Obviously a touchy subject. Did he have his own traumas, reminders hidden below the emerald?

"Pass me the new Emerald." Knuckles said, slightly more calmly.

"Sure." Replied Final, pushing the surprisingly heavy gem towards the echidna. At that moment, Final gained new respect for the strength of Knuckles. He could barely lift it, but Knuckles had carried it to the chamber with one arm.

Knuckles took the emerald when Final was close enough, and slotted it into the tube. He let out a sigh.

"Right, there you go, Final. Should work now."

"Thanks, Knux."

"No problem. I've got some more stuff to sort out, so can you do this on your own?"

"Of course. Ta for everything you've done already."

Knuckles gave a grunt of thanks, and ran back into his control room. Final, meanwhile, was clambering on top of this slightly larger emerald. Once again, a column of energy erupted, surrounding Final, lifting him up. As he floated in the center of this strange energy field, a pulse of light blossomed from his chest and engulfed his entire form.

When it faded, Final looked different. The white and blue shirt he wore was now black and red. His skin was a pale yellow, and his hair, a luminous green. His glasses had become a dark green colour, and the eyes beneath them glowed a powerful orange.

"Yes!" Shouted Final, in an unearthly voice. "It worked! Now to cause some chaos! Heh, chaos is funny because I'm super."

He leaped from the emerald to a nearby platform, and he dashed across the area, hopping over the bridges, smashing some ring boxes to maintain the power of the form.

Knuckles stood in the control room, speaking to the figure that had called him before he had installed the emerald.

"Thank you for telling me of his treachery. Don't worry, I have taken measures to stop him."

"Well done, my echidna friend. Curing your gullibility. Indeed. With what he has done, this claim is horrible. What, might I ask, did you do to stop him?"

"Installed a faulty emerald. It doesn't give him any real power, just changes his colours and voice."

"A bad recolour... The perfect revenge!" Soon, Final was running through the Sandopolis Zone, unaware of Knuckles' duplicity. He found a red-orbed teleporter. Leaping into it, he found himself on South Island. Obviously a link Knuckles had set up for easy access to the world below.

He knew the area he was in as the Spring Yard Zone. In one direction, the residential blocks of the city. In the other, the walls of a GUN complex. And then, in the distance ahead of him, Final saw a solitary figure. One of the Metallix series, it appeared. It appeared to be Metal Sonic himself.

"Hey!" Shouted Final. "Metal Sonic! You suck! All metal duplicates of established characters suck!"

The robot turned to see who it was that was insulting him. A human, it seemed. But not a regular human. He was unnaturally coloured. A super form, perhaps? Or just the victim of all those dyes and colours humans insisted on covering themselves with?

"Is that so?" Asked the mecha, the small sheets of metal that made his eyelids narrowing. "I shall return."

Metal Sonic blazed off down the path, and Final jumped about, collecting the rings that surrounded this more dangerous part of the zone. When he was well stocked, he returned to where he had stood before. Metal Sonic was already back, with multiple Metal creations behind him. There was the Knuckles Metallix that had menaced the heroes of Earth 2 in the racing tournament, a huge spiky duplicate of Amy, a yellow striped Shadow android, a metal tails (not the doll, thankfully) and the larger Mecha versions of Sonic, an antiquated Silver Sonic model... A small army, almost.

"You may wish to reconsider your decision," chuckled Metal Sonic, with some small satisfaction in his metallic voice.

"Ha!" Shouted Final. "Apologise to you metal freaks? You think I am afraid of you? I am Super Final! I am invincible!"

The mechas began to form a circle around Final. He looked warily at them, but he knew he could not be hurt with the super form. Then, the Silver Sonic charged at him, and knocked him backwards. Final felt the impact every bit as much as he would have normally, and as the Shadow android behind him hit him with an uppercut that sent him flying into the air, he realised he was not super. Not even close. Then, as he landed, his head smashing against the ground, he lapsed into unconsciousness.