Ch 4: Get Started

Sonic groaned as he slowly lifted him self up from the ground. He swore as he held his hand to his forehead. He looked around and found himself in some kind of transparent bubble cell. He glanced to his right and found his wife unconscious. "Amy!" he gasped as he got to her side and held her close. "Amy, you alright?"

Amy slowly awakened and looked at him, "What… happened…?"

"Those were Ibils' Minions that captured us," Shadow's voice rang through the area, "But how could that be? They shouldn't be here."

"Shadow! Tikal!" Sonic gasped as he and Amy glanced to the bubble cell on their right. "You too?"

"So those were the Ibils Monsters that Shadow once spoke of," Tikal gasped. "I hope Omega escaped."

"I'd recognize those flaming freaks anywhere," Amy frowned.

"Sonic? Shadow? Is that you?" another voice asked.

"Tails?" Knuckle's voice called. "So they got you and Cosmo too?"

"Don't forget about us," Silver's voice rang out, "We're here too!"

Tails and Cosmo had grown up over the years. His fur was in a darker yellow and he now wore red and white Soaps with goggles over his head. He also wore a vest with his insignia on the back. Cosmo had longer emerald hair with the flowers in her hair fully bloomed. She wore an updated version of her flower dress (you know the one). Silver had a pair of new grey and green boots and still wore his gloves. Blaze was a practically a queen now but she did not like to flaunt her royalty. Instead of royal robes that she wore when she was fourteen, she now had on an opened purple jacket with a tie-dye shirt and jeans and still wore her pink heels. She also had her hair down full time. Knuckles had on a new pair of fighting gloves and had on his version of the Soaps. There was also a scar that ran across his face, from the side of his forehead to the side of his jaw. Rouge had on a white long sleeved shirt with the buttons slightly opened, show her chest slightly, and black pants with boots. Around her neck, a gold chain held a tiny heart shaped shard of the Master Emerald. Shadow and Tikal seemed to be the only ones that didn't change too much, mainly because they were immortal. Although Shadow's anti-gravity boots seem to be a bit worn from all the years of working for G.U.N., and he now sported red goggles on his head. They all found their cells some feet over the floor with some kind of tube connecting them. There was also a strange black and gold mechanism that they could not decipher. Not that it mattered, anyway.

"Well, I'm glad that everyone is unharmed," Blaze said.

"You think those monsters got the kids too?" Rouge asked.

"I surely hope not," Cosmo responded fearfully.

"Now for the million dollar question…" Sonic began, "Where the hell are we?"

"Gee, I was wondering when you would say that," a dark voice said sarcastically.

"What? That voice…!" Shadow gasped as he gritted his fangs.

"That's right Shadow," the voice continued as a dark flare appeared below them. "Like the fleas in our fur, I just come back!" As the dark flare vanished, a hedgehog that they knew all too well appeared before them. He looked like Shadow, but with crystal fur. His eyes were demonic red with green irises.

"MEPHILES!" They all shouted.

"But how! We killed you! More importantly, Elise blew out Ibils' flame! You shouldn't be here!" Silver shouted.

"And even after all of that, you still can't dispose of me," Mephiles scratched his chin as he looked at his rather older adversaries. "Although, it looks like all of you are passed your prime. More than ten years must have passed. No wonder capturing you was too easy."

"Enough of this! This time I'll kill you myself!" Shadow shouted as he gently got Tikal behind him and made his hands glowed, "Chaos Spear!" he shouted as he sent his attack to break the bubble. Unfortunately, the bubble absorbed the Chaos Attack and erupted a painful vibration that forced them to scream and cover their ears as they crouched down.

"What… what is this?" Shadow demanded as the ringing slowly dispersed.

Mephiles could only laugh, "Have you forgotten, Shadow? I may be Solaris in a way, but I am also your dark side. I know everything about you; that includes what you are capable of."

"What is this stuff?" Sonic asked as he banged on the strange cell.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Mephiles said gleefully, "It is called: Anti-Chaos Energy."

"Anti-Chaos Energy?" Tikal questioned.

"It was a gift from someone who analyzed Positive and Negative Chaos Energy to see what truly makes it tick. This energy was created to posses a unique power that no Chaos Emerald had. In another words, Anti-Chaos Energy can virtually repel Chaos Energy. The amount is finite, but this is very useful if I do say so myself."

"What are you trying to do this time?" Blaze glared.

"I'm not at liberty to tell you that," Mephiles yawned, "Just know that I no longer have you to worry about."

"If you're planning on using Ibils' Minions, you'll run out of luck soon!" Amy shouted. "Those things are made of mostly fire, and everyone knows what happens to fire when it hits water!"

"I suppose you are right," he nodded as he stretched out his arm and made a scroll appear in a dark mist. "But I always come prepared. If Ibils' Minions fail the job, then I'll just call on the Army of Darkness."

"Army of Darkness?" Rouge blinked.

"Oops. Looks like I said too much. Please excuse me," Mephiles chuckled as he walked away.

"Any ideas?" Knuckles asked.

"I hate to say it, but this Anti-Chaos Energy has us trapped," Shadow growled as he folded his arms, "I can't even feel it."

"I wonder if Breezy and the others have wind of this," Sonic wondered miserably. "Sure they can virtually do the same things we can, but I they don't have enough experience for it!"

"Relax Sonic. They're the same age we were when we had to fight Eggman on a dally basis. I'm sure this will be no different," Amy said as she pushed her husband down gently and began stroking his fur as she leaned in against him, sending soft shivers down his spine. Slowly, he calmed down. "For now, the best thing we can do is wait…"

Gadget awoke in a warm embrace, one that he didn't really want to wake up from. As he slowly opened his eyes, and found himself facing the female hedgehog. His face turned bright red as she woke up and smiled beautifully at him. "Morning, Gadget. You sleep well?"

"Uh, yeah," He nodded as they got up.

"Ah, so you're both up now?" Violet said as she walked in with her usual outfit. "Well, hurry up and get dressed. After breakfast we're headed to our workshop to test what you can do."

"Sure, sure. Be right there," Breezy nodded.

Breezy and Gadget got freshened up, dressed, and ate the breakfast that Maria prepared. After that, they hopped on the train station and headed to Mystic Ruins. As they reached their destination, Maria gasped, "Oh my!"

"What?" Athena asked.

"I just realized, I always go to the Chao Gardens at this time of day."

"Well, just hurry back," Violet shrugged.

"Excuse me!" she bowed before her dreadlocks glowed in blue light. "Chaos Control!" As she said this, she vanished in a flash.

"Why are we here?" Breezy asked.

"We need to test our powers and skills," Violet noted as she place her hands on her hips. "Our parents have been on the job for a long time. We have no experience whatsoever."

"We can handle it," Athena said confidently.

"Good to hear that," Violet smiled.

A sharp noise erupted behind them. They turned around and saw the echidna girl with her back turned. "Hey! This isn't the Gardens!"

"Looks like you messed up again, Maria," Breezy snickered.

Maria turned around and blushed beet red. She still had limited control with Chaos Control, and could only use it right with a Chaos Emerald in hand, "I'm so sorry!" she bowed before vanishing in another flash.

They walked to the workshop and got to the training room. There, Breezy was at the danger grid, warming up and stretching her legs. The others were in the watching room. Daisy was hooking Omega up to the computer to look into his memory banks for an action stage for Breezy to try.

"Here's one!" Daisy smiled as she brought up a beach stage on the screen. "It's Seaside Hill! I love that place so much! I always go there when I get the chance."

"Hey, nice choice," Breezy grinned as she waved. "OK, let it rip, desu!"

"You ready for this, Breeze?" Athena asked over the intercom.

"Yep," she said as she brought out a dark yellow Emerald. "I got my pops' old Copy Emerald to show off my powers. I'm surprised it still works though…"

"Alright, good. Let's see what you got," Violet smiled. "Gadget, start the program."

Gadget nodded as he went to the computer and began to start it up. There was a dial that that determined the difficulty level. The levels were labeled from 1 to 7. The higher levels were labeled as 'Extreme Danger', 'Eternal Engine', 'ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING!' and 'WTF? o_O'. (The last one was Sonic's, obviously.) He typed in the commands, twisted the knobs and placed his hand on the switch. "Training program in 5…4…3…2…1…Launch!" And he pulled down.

The world around Breezy began to shimmer and twist around her. She almost felt like she was traveling into another world. After a few moments, she found herself at the starting point of the holographic version of Seaside Hill.

"Way past cool!" she smiled. "It almost looks just like it! You guys outdid yourselves!"

"The objective of this stage is the reach the Goal Ring as fast as you can," Gadget said over the intercom. "Are you up to it?"

"Do you realize who you're talking too?" Breezy said as she grinned sassily, "I'm the daughter of the World's Greatest Athlete! The Legendary Azure Wind! The name's Breezy with a Y! Breezy the Hedgehog, the Amethyst Cyclone: the fastest girl in the universe!"

"Well, aren't you the confident one!" Daisy laughed.

"Let's just hope this doesn't go to her head," Violet quipped.

"Alright then!" Gadget said as a counter appeared before Breezy. The hedgehog got into a running start position. "Ready?… Action!"

Breezy dashed off as soon as the counter hit zero. To the naked eye, she was a speeding purple blur. After she went through the turns and loops, she encountered the first set of enemies. "Egg Pawns?" she wondered as she saw them turning around. "Too easy." She moved her hand up and twitched her finger in a "come here" gesture. The Egg Pawns charged with their weapons drawn, but none of them were any match for her speed. Each of the Egg Pawns fell and exploded to her Homing Spin attack. Jumping up to a cliff, she ran into more Egg Pawns, this time armed with pistols.

"Alright, let's see what I can do!" Breezy smirked as she tapped into the Copy Emerald's power, "Boomer Breeze!" She sent out a purple, spinning wind blade to slice each of the robots that came here way. She soon noticed another pack of robots coming up behind her, so she snapped her fingers and yelled out, "Tornado Hold!" A purple cyclone appeared around the robots and blew them away into the sea.

Continuing on, she raced off deeper into the beach, making short work to any robot that came in her way. When she jumped to a cliff, she accidentally slipped and was about to fall. "Tornado Jump!" she called as a small tornado appeared over to give her an air boost. With that over with, she continued on.

As she raced closer to the end, she went into a sonic boom, blasting away all the rocks that she was met with. As she got to the last area, she found herself facing a large number of robots.

"Desu," she smiled as she twisted her arms around, "Aerosmith!" She summoned many huge tornados all over the area. None of the robots stood a chance as they were either blown away or destroyed. Laughing, Breezy made her way to the goal ring, ending the level.

"Not bad," Violet said as the room went back to the way it was. "That gives you Rank A."

"Rank A?" she said as she came out and rubbed her nose, "I was hoping for Rank S. Oh well."

"Alright, Athena. Your turn," Daisy said.

"Sure," she nodded as she went to the danger grid.

"Alright, for you its White Jungle," Daisy said as she brought it up on screen.

"Roger!" Athena said she gave the thumbs up.

"Gadget, do it," Violet commanded.

"Got it!"

Same as before, the room twisted around until Athena was in the virtual, snowy grounds of White Jungle. "Wow, Breezy wasn't joking! Everything here is almost real!"

"The objective is the same as before. You have to reach the Goal Ring as fast as you can. Ready?" Gadget told her.

"All set," Athena nodded.

The counter appeared before her as she got into a running start position. "Ready?… Action!"

The silver cat raced off as soon the counter hit zero. She wasn't as fast as Breezy, but boy was she fast. She raced into the snow forest with her boots sinking in the muddy snow. After going through the loops for some time, she reached some G.U.N. robots.

"Those robots are hostel! Watch out!" Daisy warned.

"I got this," Athena nodded as a ring of fire appeared around her. Unlike her mother, she could summon flames mentally. The fire morphed into balls and flew at robots, destroying them one by one.

"Didn't even break a sweat!" she smiled as she continued on.

As she raced up some branches, she noticed some flying robots over a gap. She could have easily hovered over to the other side with either pyrokinesis or psychokinesis, but they were in her way. So she had too use Homing Spin to destroy the robots while getting there. As she pressed on, she saw a huge robot coming down on her. She jumped from the fist and began to produce psychic energy in her hands.

"Psycho Ball!" she yelled as she shot out a red ball at the robot. It did a bit of damage, but with two more Psycho Balls, it was trashed.

Getting deeper into the jungle, she fought off some more robots that came her way. She either crushed them with her psychokinesis or burned them with her pyrokinesis. As she reached the last area, she found herself outnumbered with many robots. Athena grinned as balls of fire and psycho energy formed around her.

"Fire Psycho Crash!" she yelled as she unleashed everything she had all over the area. None of the robots stood a chance against the attack of fire and psychic energy. After that was done with, she raced to the Goal Ring, ending the level.

"Pretty good, you got Rank A, too," Violet said as the room went back to normal.

"That's good enough for me," Athena smiled as she made her way back.

"Now the only one left is Maria. She isn't back yet, though," Daisy said.

"Well, let's go get her," Breezy responded.

Maria must have lost some time during her stay at Chao Gardens. But she could help herself, she just loved Chao. It must be because of the fact that she was her mother's daughter. Every time she came here, she would always sit near the lake and the Chao would come to greet and play with her. It always put a smile on her face and brought a squeal from her throat whenever she saw something cute.

"Maria! Hey!" a voice called behind her.

Maria turned around and saw her best friend Molly walking up to her. "Molly, hi! Good to see you again!"

Molly was a human girl around the same age as Maria. She had blue eyes and red hair that went up in a short ponytail. She had on a blue shit with a blue vest and wore blue jeans with red sneakers. She was like Maria in more ways than one.

"I saw the news and heard about our parents' disappearance," Molly said as she sat down next to her, allowing the Chao to crawl up to her legs. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Maria reassured, "We'll find them."

"Still, I wonder if that has anything to do with the queen's disappearance," Molly wondered.

"What was that?" Maria blinked.

"Didn't you hear? Just hours before the Soleanna Festival and moments after your parents were kidnapped, the queen vanished too. Everyone there is searching hard for her but they had no luck so far. You think who ever took your parents also took the queen too?"

"Now that you mention it…" Maria said as she tapped her chin, "The perpetrator did have ties with her once. Well, maybe if we find our parents, we'll find the Queen of Soleanna too."

"Well, I'll be rooting for you guys," Molly smiled.

"Thanks, Molly," Maria smiled back, "You're such a great friend."

Suddenly, the fire erupted far from their area, causing them to look up and the Chao to scatter in fear. As soon as the fire erupted, they morphed into the frightening forms of Ibils' Minions.

"Wh… what is…?" Molly gasped with eyes widened.

"Molly, get the Chao and go as far as you can!" Maria told her. She nodded as she picked up the Chao that was with her and ran off.

In the center of the chaos, someone dropped down near the monsters. She was a purple bat in gothic clothing. She wore a deathly black dress with green gems on her shoulders, a red bow on the back of her waist and black boots that went up to her thighs. She also wore gothic makeup and had strange eyes. They were green irises with blue pupils. She turned to the monsters and gave out her orders. "You know what to do! Go!" And they all went into separate directions. She turned around and narrowed her eyes at Maria, who stood some feet away from her.

"Who are you?" the New Ultimate Lifeform asked.

"So you are the daughter of the legendary Shadow the Hedgehog," the bat mused. "How interesting…"

"Why have you brought the Ibils Monsters here?" she glared. "This is a sacred ground. More importantly, these Chao here are peacefully creatures. I cannot allow you to be here!"

"…"

"Who are you?" she asked again, only a bit louder. "Are you working for Mephiles? That must be the case since he is the only one who can command the Ibils Monsters!"

"…Maybe. Maybe not. That's for you to find out. If you wish to know, then you and I will fight!"

"W-what?" Maria stammered as she stepped back. "Wait a minute!"

The bat didn't listen as she spread her black wings and flew at the black echidna. Maria quickly jumped over her in a high front flip. The bat didn't stop there as she jumped at her with a fist, forcing Maria to retreat farther. The bat continued to lash out with flurries of punches and kicks, making Maria dodge every attack. Soon, the bat made a swift maneuver as she stepped in front of the shocked echidna. She pressed her palm on Maria's chest and unleashed a point blank blast that sent her crashing into and through the ageing walls of rocks. She came to crashing halt amidst the rubble.

"This is the daughter of the Ultimate Lifeform?" the bat laughed as she levitated toward her pray. "What a joke. If she was that easy to defeat than maybe her dear old daddy must be a pushover as well. If that's true then I'm surprised that he was the one who killed Black Doom years ago!"

"Chaos Bloom!"

Her rant was cut short when a pink bolt of Chaos Energy slammed into her, throwing her a few feet away.

Maria stood from the rubble with her right hand stretched out, which dimmed in a pink glow from her attack. "Don't you dare speak of my father that way, you wrench," she thundered slowly.

The bat slowly stood up, slightly recovered from the attack. "So NOW you put up a fight," she grinned, showing her intimidating fangs, "Good, now shall we continue?"

"We shall," she answered as she flashed her equally terrifying fangs.

She activated her anti-gravity boots and glided towards opponent, who stood still. She was wise to this as she jumped into the air and came down with a heavy kick. The bat sidestepped out of the way and countered with a snap kick, making Maria escape with some back flips. "Now… try this!" the bat yelled as she shot out beams of green energy from her finger. They were small but dangerous. Maria ran and rolled out of the way as each attack exploded when it hit the ground.

"Dug Halt!" Maria shouted as she punched the ground and forced stones spears to come out. The bat waved her hand to create dark energy to block the assault. Maria pushed her boots to max speed as she dashed at the bat with her fist drawn. As she went for the kill, the bat made a small dark barrier, blocking the attack, but made her fly backwards. Both girls stared at each other as they caught their breaths.

"You are… quite good…" Maria heaved.

"… Too bad I cannot say the same for you…" the bat replied.

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"I expected more from you, you the next Ultimate Lifeform. That is what I am saying. Too bad…" the bat smiled darkly as her eyes suddenly began to change. Her pupils turned red with black lines shaped like a whirlwind between two rings.

"What is…?" Maria's vision blurred quickly as she found herself tied firmly to a cross. Everything everywhere seemed to be red, black and white. And multiply forms of that bat stood around her. "What are you doing?" Maria demanded as she tried to wiggle free. "Let me down!"

One of the bats shook her head. "It's no use. You will not be able to move from that spot for the next seventy-two hours. During that time, my sisters and I will be cutting every single inch of flesh and break every bone in your body."

"N-no!" she shrieked.

Another bat pulled out a knife and hammer, "Now, let the crucifixion begin."

The bat watched as Maria held her head and screamed at the top of her lungs. Even if it only lasted a few seconds, it was more then enough time to do what she was doing to her as she let go her head and she crumpled to the ground like a doll. She summoned a blood red blade to finish her, but was interrupted by a blast of solar energy. She rolled out of the way and looked up to see her aggressor.

Violet held her hands up like a gun as her two index fingers steamed from the attack. Breezy, Gadget, Athena, Daisy and Omega went past her as they went to check on the black echidna.

"Maria! Maria! Are you alright! Answer me!" Athena shouted franticly as she shook her.

Omega quickly scanned her body. "She is still alive. Merely traumatized."

"What a relief," Daisy sighed. Breezy slowly stood up and turn to face the bat with her piercing emerald eyes.

"You hurt one of my friends," she glared angrily, "That is unacceptable, desu!"

"Desu?" the bat laughed. "You do realize that you just sounded like a bratty child just now, don't you?"

Breezy gave no answer as she ducked into a Spin Dash and slammed into the bat without warning. The bat snarled as she skidded to a halt. Breezy didn't stop as she soon began blazing around in different directions, confusing the bat.

"Damn, so this is the daughter of the Legendary Azure Wind," the bat whispered as her eyes darted back and forth.

Suddenly, Breezy sent a fast and powerful kick at her back that sent her flying forward. As she landed, she twisted around and sent a dark burst at the hedgehog, making her crash into a rock pillar.

"Breezy!" Gadget gasped.

"Now you die!" the bat hissed as she flew at the recovering hedgehog. Before she could barely get to a foot, something landed in front of her, causing an energy barrier to send her back.

"Damn it!" she swore as she got back, "What was that?" a winged minion flew up to her and she allowed it to perch on her arm. She seemed to understand what it was saying, though it didn't make any sound aside from the flutter of the flames. "…So the Chaos Emerald is not here. I see. You are dismissed." The monster vanished as she turned to Breezy, who stuck her head up.

"It seems you are all very lucky today. We'll have to continue this some other time," she flew up to the sky before turning her head back. "Oh, and the name's Darcy. Darcy the Bat. Remember it." And she vanished in a flash of light.

"So Mephiles has an ally…" Violet frowned as she looked up to where Darcy disappeared. "Omega, can you carry Maria to safety?"

"Roger," Omega nodded as he carefully picked up Maria's stiff body and made his way to the Chao Gardens' exit.

"But what was it that stopped Darcy?" Athena wondered. Breezy got up and walked to where the projectile landed. Slowly, she picked it up and examined it.

"A blue rose?"