The fall had only lasted a few minutes, maybe even less than that, and the body of the being that once was Sonic had only lain there for about two hours and yet in Sonic's mind the ordeal felt like it had lasted a decade.

He was dead, he must be, no-one, not even he could survive a fall like that. But then how could he be dead if he was thinking? Unless of course he was in purgatory, or worse; Milton Keynes. He then realised that he could still feel, but his mind felt far removed from his muscles and even the simple act of opening his eyelids felt like a herculean effort, eventually however he managed to lift his eyelids to take in his surroundings. Grass, he tried turning his head around, as he did he felt the residue of the agony he went through those few hours ago, although not as sharp. He could discern in the early dawn darkness the silhouette of a windmill and the sounds of lapping waves. Phew, he must have only just avoided the sea.

He tried to rise, as he did so he found his strength returning to him, he felt heavier somehow, he didn't quite know why though, probably the fall. As he looked around he could now see he was on a cliff edge between the sea and a white windmill, he had been fortunate, a little to the right and he would have been fish food. Then he looked down at his body.

"Whoa!" he cried, or rather, barked.

His voice was husky like a dog's and as he looked at his hands which thanks to his elongated fingers were now fingerless gloves he recoiled in horror. Was this what had happened up on the ship? He stroked his arms now shaggy with thick dark-blue hair and he felt the thick muscles that he now possessed beneath his fur. With a groan he stood upright; he was a little bit taller than before and as he looked at his feet he could not only see that he ruined his shoes but that he was also very top-heavy. He growled.

"What happened to me?"

"I don't know but I do know you fell on me!" came a shill voice from out of nowhere.

"Who's that?" said Sonic looking around for the source of the voice.

He didn't know how it was possible but Sonic saw yet another sight that evening that completely perplexed him. Flying just above the ground near him was a small, dog-like creature with maroon fur with white patches on its torso, limbs and mouth, a white puffy tail like a rabbit's and a necklace with a round green ball similar to a marble around its neck. On its back was a dainty set of translucent turquoise wings that fluttered noiselessly and on its head was a tuft of white hair. The creature was looking at Sonic with a curious expression.

"What are you?" said Sonic (what else could he say to such a thing?)

"I could ask the same thing, Mr Monster Guy!" retorted the little creature.

"Actually, I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" said Sonic pointing his thumb at his chest.

"Who?"

"You haven't heard of me?" said Sonic, surprised (everyone knew who he was).

"Why should I?" said the creature simply, "but hey! A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet, right?" he said cheerfully shaking Sonic by the hand (or rather his finger giver the size discrepancy) "nice to make your acquaintance Mr Mon-I mean Sonic!"

"So what's your name?" said Sonic who was getting tired of the whole shenanigan.

"Why, I'm, I'm…" the creature's eyes widened and he suddenly landed on the ground and began running around in circles, "I don't know! I can't remember!" he yelled in panic.

"OK, OK! Calm down!" said Sonic, "don't you remember anything?"

"Well, I remember falling from the sky, (he imitated the action) and then a really big thunk! Then after that, nothing!" said the little creature.

"Well that doesn't give us much, maybe someone in town might know who you are!" said Sonic hopefully.

"Really? You'd help me?"

"Yeah sure, as you said a stranger is a friend you never met before." Said Sonic, "besides, I need to find out what's happened to me…"

As he said it the sun began to rise and as the beams of light hit his body he felt a sensation of energy going through his body again, what now? He glowed brightly for a brief second and before he knew it he had returned to his old self.

"Wow, that's some neat trick!" said the little creature.

"Yeah" said Sonic looking at his body and then at his ruined gloves, "although I need to get some new threads…"

"Hey, what are these things?" said the creature who was examining the blackened Chaos Emeralds.

"Those are the Chaos Emeralds, they…" Sonic tried to think of an explanation for the gems but finding none ended lamely "…do stuff".

"Oh" said Chip a bit disappointed, "well I'm hungry, let's get something to eat!"

"OK then, I'm sure there's a chili dog stand around here somewhere" said Sonic smacking his lips as he picked up the Emeralds.

"Right, I hope you can fly as fast as Tails cause I'm up, over, and gone!" with the last three words Sonic leapt up into the air and hit the ground running at his usual blazing speed. To his pleasant surprise he could see the creature could keep a fair pace behind him.

As the pair ran towards Apotos Sonic hastened to explain who he was and what had just happened to him that last evening. The creature seemed highly interested and by the time they reached the town Sonic had already taken a liking to the little guy.

"So, what's with all the hair you had earlier, and the big teeth?" asked the creature.

"I have no idea but I think it has to do with Dark Gaia, and the only person I know who knows anything about Dark Gaia is Robotnik" said Sonic with a frown.

"Maybe it's temporary" said the creature shrugging.

"Yeah I hope, but I don't want to take any chances…" said Sonic looking at his fingerless gloves.

After buying a new pair of gloves and shoes the two idled up to an ice cream stand where a cheerful moustached man was adding the finishing touches to a magnificent ice cream. It was three scoops in a waffle cone and laden with sprinkles and chocolate chips and cream and chocolate sauce and even had little biscuits and chocolate flakes sticking out of it. The creature's eyes were the size of dinner plates and a trickle of drool came out of his mouth.

"Can I have this?" he said to the man in a distance voice.

"Sure my little doggy friend!" said the ice cream seller jovially.

Without any hesitation the creature picked up the mountainous delicacy and ate the whole thing in one bite.

"More! MORE!" he said imperiously and the ice cream seller alarmed by his unexpected voraciousness quickly began to dispense ice creams to him until his soft-serve machine ran dry.

Sonic was simply agog, and he thought he was a big eater; this guy was no bigger than his head!

"That will be one-hundred and twelve Mobiums four cents!" said the ice cream seller cooly.

"Oh I don't have any money" said the creature as he patted his belly.

Sonic threw him a very dirty look as he passed his Sonic Express card to the man who ran it through his card reader and handed a receipt to Sonic.

"Right, next time I pay for the food before we eat it!" said Sonic sternly as they walked away from the stand.

"I'm sorry Sonic, but I just love chocolate chip" said the creature who was still in a state of ecstasy. "Mmmhmm I could just live off nothing but chocolate chips, chips, that's a funny word, chips, ships, blips, dips, snips…"

"OK, OK! Chip! That's enough" said Sonic who was beginning to reconsider his decision to let this guy tag along with him.

"Chip?" said the creature curiously.

"Yeah that's what I said" Sonic replied

"But you called me Chip"

"Did I? I just said it but…" Sonic considered, the guy needed a name and Chip was no worse than say Chocolate or Whip or Captain Chihuahua. "Yeah, you know what, let's call you Chip, wouldn't be the first time I've given someone a name"

As he said it his mind suddenly turned to his twin-tailed companion and a look of concern came over his face, where was he?

"We need to find Tails Chip" said Sonic.

"Where will he be though? I mean there's so much stuff to do and so little time! We gotta figure out my name, find out what's happened to you and now find Tails!" said Chip despondently.

"What d'ya mean 'so little time?' I'm running on Sonic speed here! Let's ask around" said Sonic with pep.

They asked around, replies varied from those who really wanted to help but really couldn't do anything to people who couldn't get over the fact that they had met Sonic the Hedgehog but again couldn't do much for them to people who told them in many ways to shove off.

"How do you expect me to care about some fox when the whole planet's split apart?" said an irascible old sailor who was busy mooring his boat to the dock.

"Well that's politeness for you" said Chip haughtily as they walked away.

"He has a point though" said Sonic with a sigh, he could not help but feel entirely responsible for everything that had happened, even Chip losing his memory (poor guy must have broken his fall, somehow).

They continued to walk through the cobbled streets of Apotos, it was amazing that despite the planet splitting apart so many people were going about their day just like it were any other. Yet there was still a veil of unease about the place and many windows were closed, certainly it was a very different atmosphere to the one Sonic and Tails experienced yesterday. When they had finally exhausted all sources of information Sonic came to the decision that they should return to the Apotos temple to look for Tails.

When they arrived at the temple however they found all traces of Robotnik had vanished, and Tails was nowhere in sight. Sonic was now worried, had Robotnik captured Tails? He'd never forgive himself if he'd let that happen to his best friend in the world. He sighed heavily as he finished searching the lower floor of the temple.

"It's no use Chip, he's not here" said Sonic a look of bitter disappointment on his face as he began to walk towards the stairs at the other end of the room.

Chip however was not listening to him; he was looking at the elegant stone carvings on the wall behind the dais where the Chaos Emerald used to be, although the pedestal it was on had receded into the floor.

"Hey! Sonic!" Chip cried.

"What is it?" said Sonic with a gleam of hope in his eyes "Tails?"

"No, look!"

Sonic could see that the turquoise stone around Chip's neck was glowing.

"Wow" said Chip as he stared at the stone.

"What does it mean though?" said Sonic in bewilderment.

The answer seemed to come in the form of the pedestal rising up out of the dais.

"Well, what does that mean?" said Chip his turn to be confused.

Sonic didn't quite know why he did it, but maybe it was because he had the naïve thought that if one returned something you took back to its original place everything would go back to normal. Anything to get rid of the Emerald that had caused this whole mess would ease his inner troubles. His reasoning however was far from foolish.

He placed the once green Chaos Emerald back on its pedestal. As soon as it made contact with the stone it began to glow, and before their eyes they saw it regain its lost glory. Suddenly there was a low trembling sound that reverberated around the chamber.

Neither of them knew it, but the section of Mobius that the Apotos temple was connected with was slowly drifting back towards the planet's core to reconnect. They had unwittingly taken the first step to restoring the planet.

Authors Note: Welp I've been rattling through this a machine-gun pace! I'm afraid I might have to slow down a little bit but don't worry I'll be sure to keep this updated. I'm aware this chapter is less action packed than the previous one but don't worry the next should be quite exciting (I hope).