Chapter 2: The Plan Begins

Nega chuckled to himself.

"I had a feeling someone was following me but I wasn't expecting someone like you. It seems you've done your homework, Mister…?"

"Glaron, just Glaron is fine."

"So Glaron, I take it you want to make a deal?"

Glaron smirked behind his hood.

"You're pretty straightforward; my kind of attitude. I know you're interested in Eggman's last invention and so am I. Let's work together on this and we can recreate the genius of your friend. In return for your help, I'll show you who is responsible for the death of Eggman and you can plan your revenge."

Nega laughed and turned to face the stranger, noticing the green fur around his face.

"All deals come with a price, what's the rub?"

"No rub my friend, just pure vengeance. There's someone I want revenge on as well. You'd be doing me a favor as much as I would to you."

Nega was silent for a moment, turning over his thoughts behind his silver moustache.

"Very well; I accept your assistance."

The two shook hands on the silent hillside, leaving the world ignorant to the evil that was festering in their hearts.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What kind of trouble are we talkin' here?" asked Sonic.

"Well" started Blaze "It began when I noticed the Sol Emeralds had gone missing. The second I turn my back they disappear without a trace."

"I know the feeling" pouted Knuckles.

"Anyway, I was able to trace the trail of the energy from the emeralds to a rift in the dimensions. I followed their lead and it brought me to your dimension and there's only one person I can imagine who would want to come here: Eggman Nega."

Sonic snuffed "He's just as persistent as a guy I know…used to know…"

Sonic drifted back into his thoughts and before Blaze could ask, Amy shook her head at the notion. She knew something was bothering Sonic and was quick to defend his emotions.

"If being a genius makes you want to be evil then I want no part of it."

"Wow Sonic that was really deep" Tails added.

Sonic smirked at his friend as a large shadow eclipsed the picnic. A large red robot pulled itself up from the ocean to stand before them. It had two large pincers for hands and a glass dome over the cockpit. Its chest was brazen with an emblem that had a silver N over a lightning bolt.

It pulled back its claw and launched it into the center of the group! Sonic grabbed Amy and Blaze grabbed Cream and leapt out of the way while the others fended for themselves. A large craterous hole was left where their reunion once was. Sonic scowled at the robot and leapt into the air. He landed a diving kick to its chest only to feel its toughness shake up his leg as he landed back on the ground.

"This thing is a lot stronger than what I'm used to" he thought.

He looked over at Blaze who nodded back at him. The two of them jumped at the robot and used a spin dash on his chest to force the robot to stumble backwards. It brought down one of its pincers and grabbed Blaze out of the air while Sonic landed back on the ground. Blaze squirmed within the claw as it tightened its grip. She released all the fire from her body and melted through the claw to free herself.

The robot swung his injured arm at her and missed, crashing into the ground at Sonic. The blue blur leapt out of the way and back into the air, gaining a foothold on Blaze's ready hands. She propelled him higher into the air and he shattered through the glass and into the cockpit.

"It's over!" he cried, left only to ponder the words himself.

He expected to see Nega piloting the machine but found a lonely seat in his stead. The levers and buttons were moving themselves and the screen lit up with a red light after Sonic landed near it. A bomb detonated right in Sonic's face and launched him out of the cockpit and back into the air. The robot fell onto the ground with smoke blowing from its head.

"Sonic!" screamed Blaze as she jumped after him.

Before she could get to him, a red liquid arched through the air and over the robot to engulf the hedgehog! As it hit the ground, it moved away with him inside and hurried towards the direction of the desert. Blaze hit the ground and pursued the mysterious force with Knuckles following in close behind. Amy looked at Tails and Rouge with spite.

"Aren't you going to help them you two?"

"The two of them will be enough" spat Rouge "They don't need my help, and someone needs to stay here in case something else shows up."

Amy looked at Tails.

"I'm not cut out for physical combat" noted Tails "Besides, I'm going to investigate that robot and see if I can find out anything."

Amy walked off in a huff at their words. She didn't mean to be short with them but she was feeling a lot of stress from seeing Sonic being taken away like that. She grabbed a pebble and threw it into the ocean as hard as she could.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Blaze and Knuckles chased after the strange substance that contained an injured Sonic. It was surprisingly fast and forced the heroes to keep running their hardest. They pursued it a ways into Sandopolis before it stopped dead in its tracks. The heroes panted as they watched the sphere to see what it would do. The liquid melted onto the ground around Sonic before forming into a monster that resembled Chaos.

"Is that Chaos?" wailed Knuckles.

"Is he a friend of yours?" asked Blaze.

"He should be but his body isn't normally red; there must be something wrong."

A black portal opened up behind the figure and he grabbed Sonic and jumped inside. Knuckles rushed forward to try and grab him but the portal closed before he had the chance.

"Dammit!" he cried "He's got Sonic in there!"

"There's nothing we can do for the time being. Let's head back."

Knuckles nodded and the two started their way back.

"Things sure have gotten weird" he noted.

Blaze nodded.

"That creature was moving really quickly; he must've really wanted to capture Sonic and that black portal was especially strange."

"How so?" asked Knuckles.

"It's the same kind of portal that I use to travel between my dimension and yours. That kind of rift can only be made using the Sol emeralds."

"That must mean that Eggman Nega is controlling Chaos somehow!"

"It definitely sounds possible."

The conversation was cut short when two giant worms burst forth from the sand below. They had small antennas and hundreds of teeth as they growled at the two heroes. Like the robot before them, they had the symbol with the silver N and lightning bolt.