M'kay, I didn't get any feedback from the last chapter, but I'm gonna continue for as long as possible regardless.

This chapter's very, VERY dialogue heavy and there's also a lengthy Author's Note at the end explaining some stuff, so be prepared for that.

OH! One more thing, remember last chapter I told you in another note Rise of Lyric had absolutely nothing to do with this story? That's only mostly true. The Chaos Crystals are going to be important and there's a possibility I could borrow other elements from it, but for the most part, it's story is irrelevant to this.

That's all. Onto the story!

-Unknown Time - Unknown Location - Amy's POV-

My head ached, it felt like it'd been split open. Gingerly, I reached a hand to the side of my head. I let out a hiss of pain, immediately retracting my hand. There was definitely a "lovely" bump there, and touching it helped nothing. I finally opened my eyes just enough to get a look at my hand. No blood, thankfully. My head was still throbbing, though.

I tried to push myself off the ground, but the pounding in my head made it difficult. It was only then that I really took in my surroundings.

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud.

I couldn't see much, but I could tell at the very least I'd been trapped inside some sort of capsule. Or was it a giant hamster ball? It was round enough to be one. Past that, there was a computer console next to the capsule and I could make out a door on the other side of the room. The blue tint of the capsule glass and this horrible headache of mine made it too difficult to scope out any other details.

"Well, well, it seems you have finally awaken."

That voice! I felt a sickly chill sweep over me as soon as I'd heard it. I whipped my head around to face it. Bad idea. The sudden movement made me want to vomit. The sight of the slimey reptile's face didn't help much either.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were even still alive," Lyric remarked in a mocking tone. He slithered closer to to the pod, "It's a shame. I was hoping you weren't."

"What do you want with me?" I hissed, trying to push aside the pain.

Lyric stared intensely at me, almost like he was searching my face for something. He soon turned away from me, uttering a growl. He started muttering something I couldn't understand. He turned back to face me, staring again. This time he almost looked… sorrowful.

"Tell me, girl, what do you of those ruins? What do you know of the Crystalli?" he practically begged for the information, but his face remained cold.

I cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "C-Crystalli? Who- or what- is that?"

"THE RUINS!" he bellowed, " THOSE RUINS WERE A GREAT CITY LAST I WAS HERE! The capital… the council…"

Lyric was slithering in circles in front of my capsule now. As if trying to figure out the meaning behind his own words.

"You look just like her," Lyric hissed the last word as if the word had made him ill.

"Who?"

"Amata…" he sneered as the name crossed his lips. Whoever this woman was, Lyric clearly held an intense hatred for her. And I, apparently, look just like her.

I'm just full of good luck today, huh?

"What did she do?" I inquired, but I was afraid of the kind of response I'd get.

"That is none of your concern. Besides, I'm the one asking questions here. So tell me: what do you know about those ruins?"

I huffed at his response, but he had a point. I was the one trapped here, and with this awful throbbing pain in my head I couldn't very well fight back. Perhaps I should play along for now…

"My research tells me that it was once a great city. It was said to be the home of 'The Ancients' and the place where The Ancients kept the legendary 'Chaos Crystals.' It's been theorized that the city was destroyed in a war over the crystals. It's been in ruin for centuries, possibly even a millennium."

Lyric tsked at this information, his tail flicking in annoyance. "So… it's been that long, has it?" the snake mused as he assessed the room we were in.

"You keep, using that term, 'Ancients', do you really not know our true name?" I slowly shook my head, my full attention on him in hopes I'd learn more information.

"We are- we WERE known as the Crystalli. We were the most advanced and diverse tribe on the planet at the time. We used energy crystals to power our machines- that's how we got our name."

Lyric's expression grew distant. He had a nostalgic look in his eyes as he recalled those days. I almost felt bad for him, but the sting of pain on my head kept me from feeling TOO sorry.

"So… you're telling me that you're from an ancient tribe that's said to have been slaughtered a thousand years ago?"

The look of nostalgia on lyric's face violently twisted into that of a pure rage, "THOSE FOOLS BETRAYED ME!" he roared. "The Council tasked me with studying the crystals, learning how to harness their power… NOW LOOK AT ME!" Lyric raised a claw in front of my capsule, it was shaking slightly. "Because of THEM, I fell left me to rot as soon as they saw just how terrible my illness was."

I studied his face. It was clear to me that he believed every word he said. I only ever heard good things about The Ancients- or, I suppose they were "The Council", I couldn't believe they'd ever do such a thing on purpose.

Then again, I wasn't there…

But should I really trust the guy that clobbered me with a metal claw?

Yes, I am still very bitter about that.

No, I will not be letting that go anytime soon.

"Maybe they didn't know the crystals would be that -"

"DIDN'T KNOW?!" his bellowing voice cut me off, "Only a complete FOOL would think such a thing!" Lyric suddenly turned, tapping one of his claws against his glass dome in thought. "Thinking on it now, I bet Condil came up with that idea. He never thought things through…"

I wanted to ask more about the subject of the Chaos Crystals and the Crystalli, but Lyric turned his attention away from me completely ignoring me. He was pushing buttons on the console, mumbling to himself some more. I bet he's making bitter comments about that "Condil" guy.

"You never answered my question, you know," I noted. He didn't respond. He didn't even acknowledge I'd spoken.

"What do you want with me?"

Lyric sighed heavily, he sounded irritated. "I had hoped, at first, it'd only been a couple years. I had hoped you really were Amata, but now I see that is impossible."

"And if I was Amata? What then?"

Lyric turned to me, deadpan expression on his face, "I'd make you and the rest of those wretched Council members succumb to the same fate as me- exposure to the Chaos Crystals. Only I wouldn't let Iseric give you all the luxury of having a robot suit like me." Lyric's sickly sneer returned, "Just you five, stuck in a room with the crystal's radiation slowly and painfully killing you."

The snake faced the console once more, "That's one possibility, anyway. I've thought of other ways for you to suffer. If you were Amata, that is."

"And what will you do with me now? I'm not Amata, so punishing me wouldn't do anything for you."

"Oh, no, I'm sure I'd still feel some form of closure from making you suffer. You and her look very similar, you see. But don't worry, I've got something different in mind for you."

Lyric sent one last evil smirk before pressing one of the buttons on his console. Suddenly, my capsule lit up and a machine beneath it roared to life. The floor began to glow, and I found myself levitating inside the sphere.

My heart pounded in my chest and my breathing quickened. What was he going to do to me?! I let out a whimper as I tried to get myself grounded again. My struggling was fruitless, however. It wasn't long until I was floating vertically in the pod. My head was tilted upwards, forcing me to look into a blinding white light. I tried to crane my neck down to face Lyric so I could yell at him properly, but my voice got caught in my throat. I was frozen in this position- my arms hung uselessly at my sides. It felt like they were made of lead.

I could hear Lyric cackling down by his console. I wanted to scream at him, but my voice continued to betray me. I heard the sound of another button being pushed. The already bright light somehow got brighter and completely enveloped me in it's light.

A white Light.

Then a flash of Pink.

And finally, a blackout.

-Evening - Crystalli Catacombs - Lyric's POV-

Pride swelled in my chest as I watched the brat get drowned in the light from my machine. It almost distracted me from my illness burning a hole in through my skin.

Almost.

I'd need the others to achieve complete catharsis. If only there were other look-alikes in this time.

Wait…

That blue hedgehog "Amata" was speaking to…

He looked likehim.

"Perhaps this wouldn't be as difficult as I thought it would be," I mused as the machine powered down and the light dimmed.

I slithered in front of the sphere, admiring my work. Suspended inside the sphere was a large, pink-colored crystal that was once known as "Amata."

Or… whatever the brat's name was. Annie? Bah, I don't care. It matters not to me now.

I opened the pod and took the crystal from inside. She emitted a low, harmonic hum and was surrounded in a gentle glow. She- despite being a crystal now- somehow reminded me so much of the real Amata's personality.

It made me sick.

I laid her in a compartment in another console on the other side of the chamber. I began to analyse her power levels as I had with countless crystals back when I was a council member.

I grimaced as the burning sensation intensified at this thought. I shouldn't have trusted them. I should've known better. I knew the Chaos Crystals had great power, I knew deep down something like this would happen.

"It will be okay, Lyric."

I fliched at the memory echoing in my head. That stupid indigo urchin's face suddenly came to mind.

"I trust your abilities. If anyone can handle these crystals, it's you."

"Liar," I growled, "you knew just as well as I did these crystals were dangerous. And yet you talked me into this."

"Curse your silver tongue, Nitus."

The analysis on Annie was soon completed. She seems to have power levels akin to the crystals my people used to power airships and large mechs. Although, the form was unstable. Her levels were constantly fluctuating and the crystal itself was very fragile. Perhaps the machine needed more work before I could turn living organisms into fully-functioning energy crystals. Still, this was a successful test. I just needed to make some adjustments is all. Then I'd need another test subject...

Glancing to the opposite side of the console, I saw the tablet Annie was using to communicate earlier. I thought back to the blue hedgehog I saw her speak to on it earlier. He looked just like Nitus. Annie looked a lot like Amata- acted similar to her too. So if that hedgehog friend of hers and Nitus look the same…

Then he'd likely act the same if she was in danger.

I gazed deep into the crystal again. If "Nitus" was anything like I knew the real Nitus to be, he'd do anything for his "friends." ESPECIALLY if it was Amata. So with that being the case…

My grip on the crystal became tighter and tighter, causing her to crack. Large pieces of the crystal broke apart, hitting the floor and then shattering into smaller crystal shards. I gathered them up and placed them inside a container I found near the console. I removed a memory chip from the crystallization machine, I wouldn't want to lose all my hard work after all.

Of course, this means I'll have to rebuild the thing- I need more time to work on this, but there's no way I can finish before that blasted urchin found me. I'll have to relocate and rebuild.

"It will be worth it in the end," I told myself.

"Soon, I'll be able to get energy crystals without having to mine for them. Not only that, I'll be able to power my robots while eliminating all the selfish scum that walks the earth! But first…"

I placed one of Annie's shards on top of her tablet, "I'll have to get rid of that repulsive rodent."

I took one last glance at the crystallization machine, sizing it up and questioning if I could possibly take it with me. I dismissed the idea soon after, however, I was wasting too much time here. Without another thought, I charged up a blast from my tail-claw and shot the machine. Once I saw it was a pile of smoking scrap, I turned and swiftly slithered out of the chamber I sealed in so many years ago.

This was it. I was finally free from this prison.

As I passed the various tombs lining the halls, all I could think was one thing: soon- after a thousand years- there'd be a new body to bury.

Ew, first person narratives. I don't really like doing them to be honest. You gotta know a lot about a character and how they talk/think to pull it off well. Thus I don't like to do them, but thought I'd give it a try. Practice makes perfect right? ...Right?

Also, if you're wondering how Amy's head wasn't bleeding from the impact of that hit from Lyric, cartoon and anime characters can take a lot of abuse. Don't think about it too hard.

Also, for those who aren't familiar with the term, catacombs are basically underground graveyards, so it stands to reason that there'd be other beings buried under there with Lyric. The Crystalli Council (or Ancients as canon media calls them) didn't think he'd ever awaken, so they just sealed him with the dead. Not very nice of them. Lyric also seems to be indecisive in whether he wants to turn Sonic into a crystal, or just kill him. (Okay, in truth the "new body to bury" thing was just for dramatic effect. Don't read too deep into it.)

Oh, yeah, "Crystalli." I kinda hate myself for that name, but I wasn't creative enough to come up with something else. The names of the Council members aren't that creative either, mind you. I just went to google translate, took words that related to the Boom Crew's names and translated them to Latin. I then took certain parts of the words and made them into names.

Sonic relates to "sound." When you translate "noise" you get "sonitus." Thus, Sonic's Council member counterpart's name is "Nitus."

Amy means "beloved." Put "beloved" into google, you get "amatus" as a result (but not the first one). Therefore, Amata.

"Condil" is the result of running "knuckle" through google and getting "condilus" as a result (but, again, not the first one).

Tails' counterpart is "Iseric." His name comes from "mercy" because the name "Miles" means "merciful." This one's a little difficult to see, because the first result you get is really long. You get "misericordia," so you gotta look in the middle of the word for this one.

Sticks' counterpart name is different from the others. Rather than looking up "stick" to follow the trend of the other character's naming process, I named her after her ability to somehow always know what will happen- even if it sounds ridiculous. Her name stems from "seer" or "soothsayer" which ends up being "videns." Knock off the "s" and you've got Sticks' counterpart name.

If you want to know how I pronounce their names, here's my pronunciations:

Nitus [nee-TOOS], Iseric [ee-SER-ick], Condil [con-DEEL], Amata [ah-MAH-tah], and Viden [vee-DEN].

You can say them however you want, but this is the technically correct way to say it.

And at this point, I've forgotten if I had anything else to say. So, I'll see ya next chapter! If I forgot to say anything, I'll mention it there. If something plot-wise doesn't make sense, it'll likely be cleared up in the future. Just be patient, please.