Chapter 2: First Signs Of Trouble:

"Alright, kids! We're home!" Amy yelled as she and rest of the adults reentered the house.

"I still don't get why you wouldn't let us come with you guys!" A being groaned in reply, his voice sounding strikingly similar to Sonic's.

The being behind the voice sped into the entryway faster the speed of sound, revealing himself to be a hedgehog who looked nearly identical to Sonic, though with a streak of pink along each quill, and a different pair of shoes (these ones being deep orange and lime-green in a hounds-tooth pattern). He was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog Jr., having aged and matured greatly since the previous story, to the point that he had a similar personality to his father, and was only a head shorter.

"Maybe when you're a little older!" Sonic replied, locking the door once everyone had stepped in, "But more importantly, did you guys behave yourselves?"

"Really, Dad. I'm 15 years old." Junior groaned again.

"I said, did you guys behave yourselves?" Sonic asked again.

"Yeah. We just ordered pizza, hung out, and played some 'Sonic Free Riders'... or at least tried to." Junior replied, following a sigh.

Meanwhile, standing in the living room in front of the sofa (and trying their best to play the horrendously bad racing game), were the other two offspring of the household. One was a bat-hedgehog hybrid, who looked mostly like Rouge, though she stood a head shorter, had red eyes, and had a vertical row of three quills going from the top of her head down the back, each one lined with a red stripe (much like Shadow). She was wearing crimson red eye-shadow, a pair of tight, black, leather mini-shorts, and a sleeveless crop-top with a silver zipper down the front that matched her eye-shadow, alongside some hot-pink go-go boots.

"Jade? You doing alright?" Rouge asked as she peeked into the living room.

"Yeah, I'm good." Jade replied, "How was the ceremony?"

"Quite frankly, the only reason I enjoyed it was because the guy who got elected was my own husband." Rouge replied bitterly, "And the hors d'oeuvres weren't worth the trouble either. Just the same old shit that gets dished out in the G.U.N. cafeteria seven days a week."

The other being in the room went by the name of "Tyco". He was a hedgehog-cat hybrid with very pale lavender fur, who had arguably the most balance in terms of resemblance to both parents. He stood a head shorter than Silver, and had the same two quills on the back of his head, as well as the same mane around his neck and the same black accents around his golden eyes. However, he had plenty of loose locks of fur on top of his head, which were done up like those on Blaze. He was clad in gloves and gauntlets similar to those that his father wore (though the ones on his right hand were glowing orange instead of blue), as well as a pair of cranberry-colored boots with butter-yellow accents and anklets similar to the ones that Silver wore.

"Well I guess now I don't feel upset about not going to the event anymore." Tyco replied in a neutral tone.

Just outside the door to his right, Silver and Blaze were sneaking up from behind, hoping to jump into the living room and take their son by surprise.

"Mom, I know you're coming." Tyco said, "You too, Dad."

A couple of groans could be heard from the hallway.

"Alright, I think we'd better start shutting things down." Silver said after stepping into the room, "It's getting pretty late."

With that, everyone residing in the mansion proceeded to clean up any messes they had made, and get ready for bed. However, before Sonic could retire to his own bedroom, Knuckles came up behind him, a look on concern on his face.

"Uh, Sonic? Do ya' mind coming to my room for a bit? It's... kinda' important." He said.

"No problem, Knux." Sonic replied, following him.

The two friends walked past the bedroom where all three offspring were bunking together (formerly a guest room), and failed to notice Junior peeking out through the cracked door. Once they entered Tails' and Knuckles' room, they shut the door behind them. Knuckles didn't hesitate to pull out the Master Emerald and set it on the floor.

"Alright, I'm here. Is there a problem?" Sonic asked.

"Indeed." Tails replied, "You by any chance remember the last time you fought Eggman?"

"How the hell could I forget?" Sonic asked in reply.

"Yeah, well it turns out that after their power was stoled form him, the Chaos Emeralds were sent flying all the way back down to our planet." Knuckles said.

As his friend spoke, Sonic's mind briefly replayed a flashback of his fight against Hyper Eggman up in space, just barely remembering the sight of the emeralds getting forcefully knocked out of the doctor, before hurtling down towards Mobius at blinding speeds.

"... And as you already know, the Master Emerald can detect the locations of all seven Chaos Emeralds. Thankfully, they all managed to land back on Mobius, but they're scattered all over the world, and not one of them is here in the United Federation... which as we all know includes Station Square, Mystic Ruins, and Central City." Knuckles continued, before he placed both hands on the emerald, causing it to glow more brightly, "Here, I managed to pinpoint their locations."

Without a word, Sonic and Tails both stepped over to the Master Emerald to watch the footage that Knuckles had pulled up. A digital map of the entire planet was on the screen, with all the shapes and text shown in neon-red against a scarlet background, and seven glowing, pink markers scattered all over it to signify the individual Chaos Emeralds. One of the markers was selected, causing photographs that took place in the urban and natural regions of Spagonia to pop up.

"The first Chaos Emerald landed somewhere in Spagonia - home of good food, friendly locals, great architecture and scenery, pretty women, the works, really!" Knuckles said, "It's currently identifying as a monarchy, but it was a democracy not too long ago."

"Weird." Tails noted.

"Next up, there's Chun-Nan - once again, known for its cuisine, but also for its many sets of ruins and a rather unique history. There also a legend of a majestic bird that shows up on a certain night every year." Knuckles continued, after clicking on a different area of the map, "It was an empire not too long ago, but it's suddenly become an oligarchy."

"Well, three heads are better than one, as they say." Sonic replied.

"... Right. Now here, we have Holoska - they say it's like a meat locker down there. Still pretty, though." Knuckles said, "Now Holoska never truly established itself under any form of government, aside from having a chief for every village, but it seems that someone's recently converted it to an anarchy."

"That doesn't sound good." Sonic and Tails replied in unison.

"I know. Without rules, comes chaos." Knuckles replied, "Next, we've got Empire City - the biggest source of worldwide pollution, and by far the highest population of all the countries. It's known for its wide variety of cultural influences, and... oh, this is odd! Unlike the others we've seen so far, the government is still a democracy, but reports are saying that most of the population isn't too fond of the new president."

"Kinda' reminds me of the president we had to put up with for a while." Sonic replied, "Y'know, during the time when everyone was still unsure what side Shadow was on?"

"Yeah, don't remind me." Tails replied.

"Moving on, another emerald fell into the sunbaked sands of Shamar. Though it gets a lot of rain, the water is still so scarce that the population instead chooses to filter it directly from the ocean. Oh, and the society there is mostly Islamic, so be sure to hide your quills." Knuckles continued, "It identified as a republic for decades, but currently, it's an empire."

"Really? I didn't have to hide 'em the last time I was there!" Sonic said, obviously baffled as he stroked his hair briefly.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how much can change in a few years!" Tails replied.

"Now here's a country I don't recognize - Soleanna." Knuckles said, "Apparently we all went there some years ago, but nobody seems to remember it."

"Wait! What the fuck?! Soleanna?! As in the setting of 'Sonic 06'?" Sonic asked, bewildered, "B-But that game never happened! ...Aside from the ending cutscene, that is!"

"Well no, not in terms of the things we did in that game. But as a game, it still technically exists, seeing how we have a physical copy of it on our shelf!" Knuckles replied, "Look, just because we never went to Soleanna doesn't mean it's nonexistent! Anyways, it used to be constitutional monarchy, but became an aristocracy in 2006. And very recently, it switched to a republic."

Neither Sonic nor Tails said a word as Knuckles tapped on another icon.

"Alright, finally, that leaves us with the small country of Genesis - or 'The Genesis Isles' if you prefer. Consists of South Island, West Side Island, Angel Island, Flicky Island, and Christmas Island." Knuckles explained, "The signal on this emerald isn't as strong, so it may be a bit harder to find. As far as the islands themselves go, they've always been under the same government, but recently, it went from a democracy to a tyrannical dictatorship, and the economy has gone completely communist."

"Christmas... Island?" Sonic asked hesitantly, though he spoke quietly enough that nobody heard him.

"So, yeah. With all that being said, I personally believe that the Chaos Emeralds all arriving in different countries, and the governments around the world suddenly changing are somehow related." Tails commented.

"So what you're saying is..." Sonic started, "You want us to travel the world and collect all the emeralds before they fall into the wrong hands?"

"Well, I'm afraid it's too late for the latter." Knuckles replied, "See, the Master Emerald can also tell whenever each Chaos Emerald is in someone's possession, as well as what it's being used for. It can't identify who exactly is using them, but the fact that the emeralds were all seized right before the countries changed their system of government is enough to make me worried."

"Hmmm..." Tails pondered as he fiddled around with his Miles Electric, "So I've just looked up the sources of these odd changes, and the Chaos Emeralds have indeed been captured. However, something's a little off - the politicians who have changed the governments of the various countries are all identifying themselves as 'Eggman'."

"You're not serious, Tails." Sonic replied in shock.

"Sadly, I am." Tails replied, "My guess is that all these guys rose to power and decided to take up his mantle."

"Good guess, but maybe these guys really are Eggman!" Knuckles replied, "I remember I was out on a walk in nature over a decade ago. I passed by some 50s diner, and countless waitresses walked out the back, talking about how they had all fucked some bald guy with a round body, and a mustache that looked and smelled like overgrown pubes. I know it may seem a bit far-fetched, but maybe one of those waitresses got pregnant, resulting in a reincarnated Eggman, who rose to power and took over all the countries at once."

Meanwhile, Sonic Jr., Jade, and Tyco were crouched just outside the door to Tails' and Knuckles' bedroom, beaming with anxiety as they listed in on the discussion.

"Gee, this seems pretty serious." Tyco whispered.

"Yeah. But still interesting at the same time." Jade added.

"Exactly! You know what this means, right guys?!" Junior asked.

"What?" The other two replied in unison.

"This could be our chance to go out on our first adventure and carry on the legacy of our parents!" Junior whispered excitedly, "Just think: I could finally prove myself and become a new hero just like Dad!"

"Wow, that is a good idea!" Jade added, "Plus, it would also be a good opportunity to travel the... !"

The trio's discussion was cut off as the bedroom door flew open, sending all three offspring flying into the wall.

"Guys! What are you doing up?!" Sonic whispered harshly.

"We overheard your discussion, and we... we thought we could pitch in." Junior replied, "See, for the past few years, the three of us have been wanting to go out on our first adventure and try to prove to the world that we're true heroes like you."

"Awww, I'm flattered, son. But, uh, I'm not sure if you three are quite ready yet. It's your first time, and I don't want to see any of you get killed out there." Sonic replied, "... Tell ya' what? After this adventure is over, I'll consider letting you three try to stop some minor criminals... with my supervision of course."

All three youngsters adopted expressions of disappointment.

"Awww, really Dad? We kinda' wanted you to let us do this job! We're sure we can handle it! I mean, look at who we were born to!" Junior replied.

"Hmmm... you make a valid point." Sonic said, "... Alright. So how about this? First thing tomorrow morning, we'll take you all outside to test your powers, and then we'll decide if you can come."

"And by 'come', you mean 'do this ourselves'?" Jade asked.

"We'll see." Sonic replied, "But right now, you three need to go to bed, you hear me?"

"Okay." Junior, Jade, and Tyco replied in unison.