AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'd like to apologize for the overly-complicated descriptions for Lilac, Carol, and Milla. I've been basing their designs in the story off of the official redesigns for the main trio that was made by TysonTan from DeviantArt, as Strife had asked him for official supplementary design for the trio. For those that are confused about that last chapter, I recommend you look him up on DeviantArt for the designs if you're still confused.

Sonic and Lilac: Tides of Chaos
Act 1

Chapter 1: The Heroes Meet

The tremors now had stopped from the planetary shift from being pulled out of orbit. The group staggered to get up off of the palace floor after the entire incident, the young Basset still shuddering in fear.

"Is... is it over?" Milla asked, a hint of fear in her voice. "P-please don't tell us B-Brevon's back to come after us..."

"Milla, it'll be okay," Lilac said, hugging her friend, rubbing her back to calm her down. "Brevon's not back. He'll be long gone now..."

"While we may be unharmed, we don't have time for celebration yet," The Royal Magister said, regaining his posture. "Whatever this instigation against our homeworld may be, we must act swiftly and find that last gem before this instigator."

Lilac nodded. "Magister, you can count on us!" She spoke, bowing. "I promise that on the behalf of Avalice we will get that last emerald!"

"Well, are we still going among our plan of going out to find them?" Gong asked.

"Yes, we'll split up into groups." Lilac said. "Carol, Milla, you two go with General Gong and head for Shang Mu. After Mayor Zao's stunt he pulled last year with trying to steal the Kingdom Stone for his re-election, there's a chance he might have the emerald there." Gong nodded, along with Milla and Carol. "Neera, you come with me to the Relic Maze and help me scope out there. There might be a high chance the emerald might have crashed there if it had energy signals similar to the Kingdom Stone."

Neera nodded. "I look forward to our partnership..." She said, readying her Ice Scepter.

"We've all got our own jobs to do here," Lilac said, clenching one of her fists. "Let's make sure we get that emerald before any real damage is done!"

The young kitsune was working on the red biplane in the garage when a loud screeching noise had interrupted the peace and quiet of the Mystic Ruins. He covered his ears in pain until the loud screeching stopped, where he got out from under the plane and looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.

"What in the world..." He muttered to himself. "Something happen outside?" He decided to take a quick look outside, only to see a massive planet right next to the planet of Mobius! "That's... that's not supposed to be there!" He panicked, checking the scanners on his computer for energy readings. "Oh, no no no!" He cried. "Eggman's already made his move for that energy! If he gets it... oh no no no! I've gotta alert Sonic!" He said, running for his phone, dialing in Sonic's watch number. "C'mon, c'mon..." He breathed, waiting for the blue hedgehog to respond. Soon a receiver had picked up on the other end.

"Man, two calls in one day? This must be something real big!" Sonic's voice said from the other side, filled with a hint of excitement. "Let me guess, we got an excuse now to go after Egghead now?"

"You bet we do!" Tails said. "The Tornado is almost ready! Get here fast before Eggman's got the potential to really do damage now!"

"Heh, did you forget who I am Tails?" Sonic said. "I'll be over shortly!"

"Okay, I'll meet you here." Tails said, ending the call. He then walked over and grabbed the green Chaos Emerald he had been scanning out of the console. "We're gonna need this..."

Relic Maze...

Deep within the large snow-covered forest known as the Forest of Shards, a set of stone ruins laid to rest within it, showing craftsmanship of an ancient race from long ago. This was the Relic Maze, the original housing for the Kingdom Stone until the events of last year with Brevon. It wasn't all peaceful, though, as for two females now constantly searching the inner snow-covered sanctum where the Kingdom Stone originally was housed. A certain priestess was starting to get rather annoyed at the lack of finding anything and she soon turned her anger to her draconian partner.

"Lilac, this isn't working!" Neera said, moving aside another patch of snow. "We've been looking for this gem for almost a solid hour now and we haven't found it at all!"

"Well, keep looking." Lilac argued. "We're not leaving until we KNOW it's not here."

"Lilac, I can understand that you're dedicated to this and want to find the gem," Neera sighed. "but with the amount of time we've been spending here could very well mean that it's not here whatsoever."

"We're not leaving, end of story." Lilac retorted. "As that gem is still out in the open, nothing can be left to chance."

"Lilac..." Neera sighed, pinching her forehead.

"Neera, just trust me.." Lilac said, shoving aside some dead vines on the wall. "We need to keep searching around here. Even if it isn't here, we can't afford to leave here until we're certain."

Neera sighed in frustration. "Sometimes you're just as stubborn as you are courageous..." Neera muttered to herself as she blasted another snow pile aside. The two were just about ready to leave when a soft thumping occured.

"Did you feel that?" Lilac asked, looking over to Neera. The priestess panda turned and nodded.

"It appears we're not alone..." Neera muttered, readying her scepter. "Be on your guard..."

Before she could even continue, a large robot had crashed through the ceiling, landing on the ground and delivering a large shockwave, knocking the two girls off their feet and backwards into a snow mound. Lilac poked her head out to see the instigator of the shockwave; a massive robot, nearly as high as a two-story building, covered in a chromium steel armor, with a small bump of a head, with two cold steel blue eyes, pointy nose and a malicious toothy grin, and wore a crimson metal spartan helmet on its head. But the most terrifying aspect of the new robot was it's weapon it wielded over it's shoulder; a massive hammer almost as big as the body of the robot itself, solid steel and plated with red spikes.

"Wh-what the hell is that thing?!" Lilac cried, getting up out of the snow. There was nothing but dead silence before the giant robot started lumbering towards the dragon girl. "I guess Brevon's chronies weren't all shut down after the Dreadnought crashed. Alright you bucket of bolts, bring it!" She yelled, curling into a ball and Dragon Boosting at the robot...

Dragon Valley...

"Huh, for an alien planet, this sure feels a lot like home..." Sonic said, hoping off the wing of the Tornado onto the snow-covered ground. "Albeit a bit more frosty up here. So, where do we begin looking for any of Egghead's robots?"

"Not sure..." Tails said, checking his scanner. "But I am picking up an odd energy signal to the north of here..." He said, looking up from his scanner. "And it does look like there's some kind of city off in that direction..."

"Tell you what? How about we split up? Divide and conquer and all that jazz." Sonic said, shrugging. "You head north and check out that odd energy signal coming from that city."

"Well, what about you Sonic?"

"Me?" Sonic asked. "I've got a lot of running space here. It shouldn't be too hard to search this place out."

"Well, I guess..." Tails said, hoping back into the seat of the Tornado. "I guess we'll meet back up here later."

"Kay then, though I don't know how you're gonna take off without much room." Sonic shrugged. "Maybe we should've thought twice before landing here."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Tails said, hitting a button on the inside of the plane's cockpit. Soon the Plane had folded in its wings and transformed into an off-road buggy. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeves."

Sonic smirked a bit. "Tails, you never fail to surprise me!" He said. "Just be careful out there!" Tails nodded, before having the buggy take off across the snow towards the large city. "Now... if I were a giant killer robot, where would I be wreaking havoc?" Sonic's question soon would be answered as a giant metal capsule fell out of the sky into the snow-covered forest below. "Well, I guess that answers my question!" He said, dashing off in the direction of the crash...

Lilac collided dead on with the center of the titanic robot, plinking off the robot's armor with a dull thud. The robot immediately retaliated and swung it's hammer, slamming into Lilac's side and flinging her into the stone wall. Lilac gasped in pain as she fell into the snowbank on the floor, the giant robot raising its hammer and preparing to flatten the dragon girl into the ground. Lilac rolled to the side just as the hammer came crashing down, the hammer just barely missing her. Lilac then quickly got to her feet and ran up the side of the hammer before getting on top and leaping at the robot, spinning in a top formation and whipping her tendrils against its metallic armor. The tendrils barely left a scratch as soon the robot grabbed her and threw her across the room, slamming her into the floor before jumping and creating a shockwave, sending her into the air before swinging the hammer and slamming it into her back, sending her careening through a stone wall and collapsing into a heap. Lilac's breathing became erratic as she got back up, hands on her knees and out of breath as the gigantic robot lumbered forward.

"Okay, this isn't working..."Lilac thought to herself. "Nearly every single attack I've thrown at this thing as merely bounced off or not even made this thing flinch.. He's gotta have a weak spot somewhere..." Before the giant robot got any closer, an icy blast hit the robot's feet, locking it in place. Lilac shot a look over to see a snow-covered Neera-Li, a blue glow surrounding the tip of her scepter. "About time you joined in Neera!"

"Save your remarks for when you're not fighting for your life, draconian!" Neera said, firing another blast of ice at one of the robot's hands, pinning it to the wall. "Right now our survival is important to the situation at hand!"

"Its armor's too strong!" Lilac yelled back, the ice shattering around the robot's hand as it broke free of the frozen cuff that its hand was encased in. "There's gotta be a weak spot on it somewhere!"

"Well, keep looking!" Neera said, firing off another ice blast at the giant robot.

"I just hope Carol and Milla are having an easier time than we are..." Lilac thought, before launching off into another Dragon Boost at the giant robot...

Shang Mu...

The crimson buildings and roadways towered over the Avalician citizens as the late night drove on. The trio of Avalicians that had arrived from Shang Tu were already were discussing where to check for the gemstone first.

"So, you guys think Mayor Egotist has the gemstone?" Carol asked. "It'd seem likely to me that he'd get his little hands around that thing, especially if it has the same power output as the Kingdom Stone did."

General Gong nodded. "The royal palace for Shang Mu shouldn't be too far from here. We should be able to get there relatively fast."

"But what if the emerald thingie isn't there?" Milla asked innocently. "What do we do then?"

"I was thinking I could check the Scarves old hideout here." Carol said, rolling her wrist a bit. "I should know the place inside and out before Lilac and I abandoned them. It should be a piece 'a cake."

"And if they would be there right now?" Gong asked.

"Hey, just leave it to me!" Carol said, winking. "In fact, how about I head to the Scarves hideout and scope out there, and Milla and you head over to Zao's and see if he's got the gem?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself Carol?" Milla asked, her expression filled with concern. "I-it may be too dangerous for you alone!"

"Hey, Milla, don't worry!" Carol said, smirking and giving her a thumbs up. "I've already got loads of stealth training from when Lilac and I were part of the Scarves. I can be in and out of there before they even know what hit 'em!"

"Well..." Gong started. "You be careful there. Last thing we want to do is tell Lilac that we lost you to the Scarves."

Carol nodded. "I'll meet up with you guys later after you talk with Mayor Egotist!" She said, before kicking her bike into high gear and taking off towards the eastern part of the city.

Milla turned back to General Gong. "I'm really worried about her..." Milla spoke.

Gong nodded. "We just need to let her do what she needs to do. C'mon now," He said, setting the young hound onto his back. "We've got a visit with Zao."

"Let's see..." The young kitsune said, checking the radar inside the buggy, currently on one of the highways that went over Shang Mu. "Okay, east side of the city... lower levels... ah, there it is!" He said, the blip on his radar glowing brightly. "Okay, just need to make the turnoff here... but there's no exit.." He said, looking over the edge to see a large dropoff into the city streets. "Well then, time to improvise!" He said, flipping a switch on the dashboard and soon a hydraulic spring mechanism activated, bouncing the car up and off the highway, toward the city streets below. Tails then quickly activated boosters and had the car come in for a gliding landing right into an open part of the street, startling a good number of Avalicians that were not expecting the buggy to come out of nowhere and land on the street. Tails pulled over to the side of the street and got out of the buggy, taking the radar with him.

"Let's see..." He said, turning the corner into an alley. "The signal's getting stronger here.." The young kitsune turned a corner in the alley and came to a dead end, a manhole on the ground and some cans of trash and a dumpster nearby.

"What the..." Tails said, checking his radar. "This doesn't seem right..." He then heard footsteps coming his way. Panicking, he hid behind the dumpster in the alley, slightly peering out to see what was going on. A lone figure, female, green fur, had entered into the back alley, not knowing that the kitsune was here. She looked around, checking to make sure that no one else was here, then opened up the manhole and lept down it. Tails got out from his hiding spot and looked at the hole in the ground, double-checking his radar and seeing the signal was coming from down the hole.

"I REALLY didn't want to have to go into the sewers today..." Tails sighed. "I guess I have no choice though..." He said, holding his breath and jumping down the hole. As soon as he landed, he felt a swift kick into the small of his back, launching him forward into the wall and knocking his head against the wall before he fell back, stars circling around his head before the force picked him up with one hand on his right shoulder and pinned him against the wall. Tails' vision soon cleared to see his instigator: the same green-furred feline from earlier! Her eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip on his shoulder, her other fist raised and aimed straight at the kitsune's face.

"Alright fuz-face," The feline growled. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't believe you're a Red Scarf and whoop your ass right now."

"A-a red what?" Tails sputtered. "I-I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"Then why are you down here?" The feline growled.

"I-I followed you down here!" Tails said. "B-besides, I'm looking for something down here!"

The feline seemed to loosen up a bit. "So, you're looking for something? What exactly is it?"

"Something resembling a diamond!" Tails said, sweating bullets. "I-I have a tracker saying that it's down here!"

The feline seemed to calm down a bit more. "Oh. So the Magister sent you too, huh?"

"Wait, Magister?" Tails asked.

"Heh, no need for words, I understand." Carol said. "I get you're looking for the gem. How about ya help me get it?"

"Well, I was coming down here regardless, but.."

"And you have a radar saying that the gem was down here?" Carol asked. "Interesting. I can see we're gonna make good partners." She said, sticking her hand out. "Carol the Wildcat. Your name?"

"Miles Prower," Tails said, extending his hand a small smile appearing on his face. "Though everyone calls me by my nickname Tails."

"Well Tails," Carol said, a large grin appearing on her face. "It'll be a pleasure working with you. Now let's go." And so the two took off, Carol leading the way, toward the hideout of the Red Scarves...

Crackling resounded throughout the cavern as the giant robot wrenched its feet free of the ice. Lilac boosted forward into the robot again and leaped over the robot, slamming her feet into the side of the robot's head. The robot didn't even so much as flinch before grabbing Lilac and slamming her into the wall, constantly beating her until it slammed her through the wall, leaving her in a collapsed rubble heap, irregular breath as she struggled to get up. Neera fired off several ice blasts at the robot, but every shot barely managed to shut it down or even slow it. Neera was starting to get erratic in her ice blasts, some outright missing the robot and hitting the walls. Before the robot could grab her, Neera performed an axle flip over the robot's head and struck the metallic helmet in the side. The only thing it did was make a light dining sound as the robot turned and swung its hammer rapidly, pivoting on it's body in a circle so fast, it was a surprise it didn't take off. The hammer collided with Neera and slammed her into another wall, leaving her dazed and confused on the ground.

But the robot forgot one key design flaw it had: spinning with the hammer made it lose its balance. The robot teetered on one of its feet, nearly ready to fall over. And Lilac was the one to instigate it; having partially recovered from her wall crashing, the draconian girl performed a Dragon Boost and slammed into the backside of the mech, knocking it forward and throwing its helmet on the ground. Lilac backed off as the robot got up, a bright glowing bump on the top of its head.

"So that's why it was resisting everything..." Lilac thought to herself, breathing heavily. "Well, At least I now know where to hit that thing... Now, let's get this thing down befo-"

"YAHOO!" A voice resounded from above the draconian. This threw her off guard until a blue figure came out of the hole into the ceiling, smashing through the top of the robot, caving in its head and smashing through the underside of it. The robot sputtered and sparked before time caught up and it split in half right down the center, causing the two halves to fall to either side of the blue figure. Lilac looked between the blue figure and the smashed halves of the robot, confused as to what just happened. "Aw hell yeah! I've still got it in me!"

"Uh... hi?" Lilac said hesitantly, drawing the attention of the blue figure. She gave a small nervous smile as he turned to her.

"Oh," The figure said, scratching his head. "Didn't realize someone else was down here. Wish I would've gotten here sooner, you look worse for wear."

"Yeah..." Lilac said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. True, her appearance had her outfit torn in several places and a bit bloody from her damage she had been hit by from the robot, but she was still conscious, so that was a plus. "Sorry about the look."

"Eh, it's no problem." The blue figure said, shrugging. "I was just trying to track down a certain egghead's toys and stop them from finding something that he REALLY doesn't need."

"Well, that's a coincidence." Lilac said, walking closer to the blue figure. "I'm looking for something too. Maybe you can help?"

"I was already planning on looking for it, guess it wouldn't hurt to team up a bit." The figure said. "Don't think we've met before. You are?"

Lilac smiled a bit. "Sash Lilac, dragon. And you are?"

The figure smiled, flashing her a thumbs-up. "Name's Sonic, Sonic the HedgehAA-" Sonic was interrupted as a look of shock appeared on his face as he was soon encased in a gigantic block of ice. Lilac jumped back in shock, only to look over and see Neera-Li, standing in the hole in the wall that was created by her a moment ago, battered and bruised, her Ice Scepter cracking from the recently fired blast. Needless to say, Lilac was furious.

"What the hell Neera?!" Lilac growled. "He was going to help us!"

"I apologize for the rather uncouth action against the newcomer, Lilac." Neera said, steeling a cold glance over to the draconian. "But at this point, compromises have to be made, and I'm not one to find out that's he's working for the enemy."

"What's your deal?!" Lilac growled. "He did nothing to us!"

"Nothing more than taking precautions to guarantee Avalice's survival and keeping the Kingdom Stone's energy safe." Neera said, picking up the frozen Sonic. " I'll thaw him out when we get back to the Magister. Now grab your cloak and let's go." She said, walking towards the exit with the frozen Sonic. Lilac growled and grabbed her discarded cloak, following Neera out of the Relic Maze...

Scarves Hideout...

"So, what's that radar you yours say where that gem is?" Carol asked, ducking behind a corner that led to a long hallway.

"It shouldn't be much farther." Tails said, getting up and about to go around the corner, before Carol grabbed him and pulled him away.

"You do that in here, it can get you killed." Carol said, looking around the corner. "Leave this to the ninja." She said, before dive-rolling behind a stack of crates in the hallway. She slowly peered her eyes around the corner to see what looked like a sentry gun, manned, at the end of the next hallway. "Now how are we gonna get past that..." She thought, before noticing the vent overhead. She smirked to herself before leaping up, grabbing the vent cover and pulling it off and pulled herself into the vent. She felt a bump behind her as she looked over her shoulder to see Tails, a bit embarrassed that he had bumped into the wildcat.

"Keep your space kid!" Carol growled, crawling through the vent. "How close are we to the gem?"

"Just a second.." Tails said, checking the radar. "We're close, it's just nearby."

Carol nodded. "Ok, let's just mo-" was all that came out of her mouth before the floor of the vent opened up under the two, causing the two to fall into the room. Tails regained consciousness to find that the wildcat and him were staring face to face. A small blush crept up onto his face, as well as Carol's. The two stared at eachother awkwardly before Carol shoved Tails off of her. "Hey, hands off!" Carol said, getting up and dusting herself off, but not before noticing the cyan-colored gem sitting on the large desk in the room.

"Well, looks like that radar did work!" Carol said. "Nice job dude!"

"Heheh, thanks..." Tails said, nervously smiling. "Just grab the Chaos Emerald an-"

"Chaos Emerald?" Carol asked. "Is that what these things are called?"

"Uh..." Tails started to explain, before alarms started going off. "Wh-what?!"

"Ah, shoot!" Carol said, seizing the kitsune's wrist. "You can explain later! We gotta go before we become pelts!" She said, leaping up into the vent, mere seconds before the door opened. In the doorway with a horde of black-clothed figures was a white panda, dressed in a similar attire and with black shades. This was Spade, a high-ranking member of the Red Scarves, and needless to say, he wasn't too pleased with Carol and Tails taking off with the gemstone.

"Find them," Spade said. "And make sure you get that gem back."

"C'mon, what the heck are ya doing?!" Carol said, Tails shooting out of the hole with the gem in his hand. "Let's go already!"

"Relax, I'm moving!" Tails said, the two running out of the back alley. "I'll draw them away! You get out of here and I'll meet up with you later!"

"Oh hell no!" Carol growled. "We're sticking together!"

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing!" Tails said, getting into his buggy. "Just hop in! We'll lose 'em this way!"

"Let me get my bike!" Carol said, rushing around the corner, before coming back around the corner on her red motorcycle. "Well what the hell are ya waiting for?! Let's get going!"

Tails nodded and hit the gas pedal. The back tires spun out before traction kicked in and he took off, Carol right behind him. "So where are we going?" Tails yelled to Carol.

"Get the right turn up here!" Carol yelled, pointing towards the upcoming intersection. "We'll lose 'em at the city hall!"

Tails nodded before spinning hard right on the wheel, tires screeching as they tried to resist flipping the buggy itself as he powered around the corner. Carol made the hard right easier since her bike was much more maneuverable, but Tails risked flipping the buggy and it was a miracle that he didn't. The buggy regained its posture and soon was taking off down the road at high speed, Carol right next to him.

"Jeez, can you even control that thing?!" Carol said. "You nearly flipped back there!"

"I normally don't do high speeds in buggy mode!" Tails said.

"Well, get it together!" Carol yelled, looking forward at the road ahead. "Cause we got company!" Ahead of the two were some of the Red Scarves, already getting sentry guns set up in order to stop the two dead. "What do we do?! They're blocking off the only road to city hall on this side of Shang Mu!"

"Get behind me!" Tails said, maxing out the gas pedal. Carol stayed right behind Tails buggy as Tails soon crashed through the sentry setup, scrap metal flying across all sides before Carol moved out from behind him, driving back up next to him.

"Dude, that was pretty ballsy of ya!" Carol said, a small twinkle in her eye. "Didn't know you had it in ya to do that!"

"Oh, heheh," Tails said, bushing a bit. "Thanks." He said, looking over his shoulder to his right. "Doesn't look like we're done yet though!" At that point, another truck had pulled up and slammed into the side, forcing the buggy to nearly tilt over and be run off the road. Carol went wide-eyed as the buggy shifted towards her, kicking the gear in her bike up and pulling forward before she could be run into the sidewalk. One of the Red Scarf ninjas jumped off the back of the truck and landed on top of the buggy, pulling out a bomb and preparing to blow Tails sky high. Tails saw the attempt on his life and veered hard right into the other truck, knocking the Red Scarf off the truck and having the bomb detonate in the middle of the street.

Tails looked over to Carol before he yelled, "Hope you can keep up!" He then hit a button on his console, the plane's original jet booster activating and blasting the buggy forward at high speed. Carol hit a button on her bike handlebars and soon the bike picked up speed, taking off after Tails. The Red Scarf took notice and hit a button on the dash, with five smaller rocket jets popping out of the back of the truck and taking off after the two.

"Shoot!" Carol yelled, looking over her shoulder at the approaching truck with the Scarves. "They're gaining on us!"

"Hold on!" Tails said, noticing the train tracks up ahead. "We can lose them this way!" He said, pulling forward toward the tracks as the crossing gates were being lowered. Carol spotted a pile of construction rubble forming a ramp near the track, and her ideas got the better of her. She pulled off the road and drove straight for the ramp, maxing out her speed before she hit the ramp. Tails burst through the gate and across the track, with Carol flying overhead, a split second before the train came. The Scarves were not so lucky, the train colliding head on with the side of the truck, creating a massive explosion. Tails and Carol continued to drive away, not looking back at what happened.

"Oh... my... god..." Carol breathed. "That... was the COOLEST THING EVER!" She squealed, looking over to Tails with bright eyes. "Dude, that was hella awesome! How'd you know how to do that?!"

"Eh, well," Tails chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I guess I got a little carried away. Anyways, where's the palace?"

"Hey, just follow me!" Carol said, flashing him a thumbs up. She then pulled ahead in front of Tails, leading the young kitsune to the royal city hall of Shang Mu...

"So, Zao hasn't seen the gem either.." Gong grumbled to himself, walking down the stairs in front of city hall. "Well, this ain't good. That might mean that Carol's having better luck than we are."

"But didn't she say she'd meet us back here if she succeeded or not?" Milla asked innocently. "What if the Scarves find her in there? Those meanies could really hurt her!"

"Have a little faith in her Milla," Gong said. "I'm sure she'll be just fine.."

At that point, a red buggy and Carol's motorbike came to a screeching halt, the wildcat looking up to the other two on the steps. "Hey, c'mon guys!" Carol called. "We've got the gem, let's get back to Shang Tu!"

Milla, nodded, hopping off of General Gong and onto the back of Carol's motorbike. "Hey, Tails, mind giving Gong a lift back?"

Tails shook his head. "I mean, if they're friends of yours, sure. I can give them a lift! Where's Shang Tu?"

"Just follow my lead. It'll just be past Jade Creek and then it's a straight shot to Shang Tu!" Carol said, revving up her bike. Soon she took off, Tails following right behind in the buggy with Gong...

"So, you were ambushed by a robot while investigating the ruins.." The Magister spoke. "Rather unusual..."

"Whatever this may be, it's more than likely linked with the giant tremor and the large metallic claw attaching itself to the planet." Neera said, raising one of her fists. "We can't afford to waste any more time with anything trivial."

"Neera, we've only had one robot attack us. ONE." Lilac retorted. "Just because we have one robot attack us, you want to go on the offensive like this is the Second War?"

"I did not specifically say that, now did I draconian?" Neera said. "Even with my premature assumption about our hedgehog friend, chances have to be taken."

"Neera..." Lilac said, before clutching her side in pain. "You should have given him a chance before you just decide to turn him into a popsicle."

"Neera, I advise you to unfreeze this person right now." The Magister spoke. "Let him speak his word as to why he's here on our world in the first place."

"Your majesty.." Neera started, before Lilac shot her a cold glare. Neera sighed. "Very well." She said, striking the side of the giant ice cube, creating cracks and eventually cracking, all the ice crumbling around the blue figure. He remained still for a second before he blinked and time caught up, the cool air of the night causing him to shiver.

"Brrrr!" Sonic said, shuddering from being frozen. "This ain't exactly the treatment I was expecting when I got here!"

"My apologies for the rather unwarm welcome, my hedgehog friend." Neera said, the scepter at her side for standby in case the hedgehog couldn't be trusted. "The Magister expects an explanation as to why you're here, so I suggest you speak directly to him with respect. We need to figure out exactly why our homeworld has a gigantic metal claw attached to it right now."

"Neera!" Lilac said. Neera rolled her eyes at Lilac's retort, starting to get annoyed at the draconian's interuptions. "You know, sometimes I really have to question your process of how you go about stuff like this.."

"I'm sorry, am I the only one that has rather questionable methods?" Neera objected, staring deathly at Lilac. "I admit I'm not perfect, but at least I'm trying to get the information we need to understand this situation."

"That's still no way to treat him!" Lilac said, glaring at Neera. "You can't just treat everyone like they're the biggest criminal on Avalice!"

"Avalice, huh?" Sonic said. "So that's the name of this place. Gotta say, reminds me a LOT of Mobius..."

"Mobius?" Lilac asked, confused. "I...don't think I've ever heard of there before. I-Is it far away?"

"Well, it's an entirely other planet, if that's a surprise." Sonic said, scratching his ear. "I know the idea of a visitor from another world may sound like crazy talk, but it's not entirely ridiculous from where I come from."

"Well, we DID have a visitor from space over a year ago." Lilac said. "Let's just say that he wasn't on friendly terms when he came here."

"Heh, I know how that can be." Sonic said, before the doors to the room opened, and in had walked Tails, Carol, and Gong with Milla on his back. Carol had a wide grin on her face as she clutched the cyan gem in her hand.

"Well, score one for us!" Carol said, tossing the gem up in her hand. "The Scarves didn't even have a chance!"

"So, the Scarves had the gem?" Neera said, her eyes narrowing. "Well, it only makes getting the emerald back a greater win for us. At least we know for sure that we have the gemstones in our possesion."

"I knew I could trust you guys!" Lilac said, a smile appearing on her face, before she noticed the two-tailed fox. "Hm? Who's your new friend there Carol?"

"Oh, him?" Carol asked, motioning a thumb to the kitsune. "Probably the COOLEST kid I've ever met! This is Tails!" She said, shoving the kitsune forward to Lilac.

"Uh, heheh, hi." Tails said nervously, before noticing the blue hedgehog near her. "Oh, Sonic! Any luck on your part?"

"Eh, not really," Sonic said. "Aside from making a new friend."

"Darn straight." Lilac said, before she clutched her side in pain, letting out a small gasp. "Ahh..." She groaned, clenching her eyes shut in pain. "That really hurts..."

"I should suggest that you two go and heal yourselves in the healing spas." The Magister spoke. "While we may have all three gems that crashed on our planet now in our possession, this does not mean we can relax yet. There's still an important matter on our hands as to why all this phenomena has been happening."

Sonic and Lilac both nodded, Lilac leading Sonic to the spas, her flinching the entire way there. "Now then," He said, turning back to the group. "Young kitsune, there is something we need to discuss..."

"I never truly thought we'd get visitors from another world so soon..." Lilac said, taking a step into the spa. "It's only been a year..."

"I'm curious, who was this 'visitor'?" Sonic said, relaxing within the heated spa as Lilac sat down near him.

"His name was Brevon," Lilac spoke, a small hint of fear in her voice. "An intergalactic warlord more focused on trying to keep his homeworld alive by stealing energy sources from other planets than anything else. He had crash-landed on our world over a year ago, and in only three days he nearly started a war between the three kingdoms so that he would make off with the Kingdom Stone.."

"Kingdom Stone?" Sonic asked, intrigued by the discussion.

"Avalice's life source." Lilac said. "Long ago, dragons came to Avalice and mixed with our ancestors, with the greatest gift being the Kingdom Stone. The Kingdom Stone was created to supply unlimited energy to the three kingdoms, but last year, everything had changed after Brevon had crashed on the planet. He killed the original king of Shuigang, manipulated his son, Prince Dail, into his underling, and tried to kill off the entire planet with stealing the Kingdom Stone. But the worst came when Carol, Milla, and I interfered to stop him. I had went off alone to confront him in one of his bases in the giant lake near the outlet of Jade Creek..." She said, her eyes starting to fill with tears.

"What happened?" Sonic asked, starting to show concern.

"He was too powerful for me at our first encounter.." She said, moving her tendrils for Sonic to see. "See these? I use these for most of my attacking. He knew this... After he stopped me and knocked me unconscious, I was strapped to a metal slab, my tendrils were hacked off, he was making sure I was helpless... and then there were the electrocutions... it felt like my entire body was about to explode, my face was burning... if it weren't for Carol and the others arriving and finding me, I would've been dead..."

"...sounds like you've been through more in the span of a few days than I've been for a year..." Sonic said, noticing the tears in the draconian's eyes.

"I'm normally rather cheerful, but... it pains me to bring up the events of what happened last year. I-I'm sorry, I get a little too emotional when it comes to the invasion of Brevon..." Lilac said, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Sonic, a concerned look on his face.

"Lilac," He said. "If there's one thing you need to do, it's that you need to be strong. I mean, look at me. I've basically been through hell and back, and I don't dwell on it. So look on the bright side; everyone's still here and alive. It's best to look forward."

Lilac sat there and stared at him. Here he was, what would have been a complete stranger to her normally, yet here he was, giving her a talk for support as if he was a close friend! A small smile started to grow on her face as she wrapped her arms around Sonic and hugged him, catching the blue hedgehog off guard.

"Thanks Sonic.." Lilac said, looking into the hedgehog's emerald-jade green eyes. "I think I needed that.."

Sonic nodded. "Hey, it's no problem. After all, life's no fun if your outlook on it sucks."

Lilac giggled a bit. "Yeah, I guess so.."

"Hey, Sonic? Lilac?" Tails' voice said from the other side of the room, near the door. "I hope you're able to finish up shortly. The Magister would like to speak with us about the emeralds!"

"Almost done Tails!" Sonic called back. "Just give us a few more minutes!" With that, the sound of a door shutting was heard from across the room. Sonic turned his attention to Lilac.

"Well, we should get moving..."