Not many of you guys posted reviews for the last chapter, so I'm gonna answer the reviews that came in. In this chapter, we get to a few old friends of Alexis!

Void Reader: Nah, Egghead has absolutely no clue who she really is.


[Spagonia- night]

Alexis, back in her 'Phoenixhog' form with Chip hovering beside her, walked through a slightly deserted street on their way back to the university. They had landed a little ways on the outskirts of the city and had been told to meet the ones that would help them.

After a few moments of walking like this, a familiar voice, at least to Alexis, suddenly pipped up on a nearby rooftop. "Yo! Boss-hog!"

Alexis whirled around and looked up, giving a delighted smile. Up on the rooftop was a familiar orange hare with a few brown patches and magenta eyes. The right sleeve of his brown leather jacket was cut off, revealing a robotic arm. He also wore tan pants and a pair of robotic boots. He lept off the rooftop and landed in front of the two. "Nice ta see ya again," said the hare.

"Hopscotch! How did you even recognize me?" asked Alexis. "I'm not exactly recognizable right now." She twitched her wings and held up her taloned hands.

"Sal' sent us a picture," said Hopscotch, shaking hands with his former leader. "Ye gave Gadget and Chromia quite the scare when they saw ye. Kobara wasn't even fased, but she did want ta ask ye somethin'."

"So, where's everyone else?" asked Alexis, looking around as Chip waved hi to Hopscotch.

"Hi Alexis!"

Alexis and Chip looked up to another rooftop and saw a golden-eyed red wolf with glasses, a utility belt with two Burst Wispons hanging off of it, green-gray gloves, gray boots, and an earpiece. He raised his hand and shot a grapple line next to Hopscotch, landing beside him.

"Gadget!" greeted Alexis, "Good to see you again, rookie!"

"You're still calling me that?" asked Gadget in exasperation, although there was a slight smile on his face. "And I'm doing alright. How about you?"

"As well as I'll be with transforming into this every night," Alexis replied, raising her hands and showing off her form to her two friends. "Where's the girls?" she asked, looking around for the final two members of Squad H.

"Went ta take ah look 'round the city," said Hopscotch as they continued on towards the university. "Haven't been able ta contact 'em fer a while."

"Well, I guess we had better get on and get Professor Pickle's gift, right?" asked Gadget.

"Yup," said Alexis, "But Sally didn't say what it was. Do you guys know?"

Gadget and Hopscotch looked at each other, then the hare said, "We do, but... why he wanted ta give you that, I don't know."


"A camera?" asked Chip in confusion as Tails handed it to them.

"He said that he came up with something after reading the manuscripts a bit more," explained the fox as Alexis picked it up and looked at it. "Not too sure what he wants you to use it for, but I bet you'll figure it out."

"Hopefully," said Alexis. "Here Chip. Wanna take it?"

"Sure!" said Chip. He eagerly grabbed the camera and put it around his neck. "Hmm. It's not very heavy," he noticed.

"He said whenever you ran out of flashes to come back and see him," added Tails. "But I don't know what you'll take pictures of."

"I guess we'll find out along the road," said Gadget. "So, should we go find the girls?"

"Yup," said Alexis. As they waved goodbye to Tails, Alexis asked her friends, "I noticed that a few of the guys who have Wispons have little Wisp friends. Do you guys have any?"

"Yeah!" said Gadget. He tapped his two Burst Wispons and out came two Burst Wisps. "This is Pyro and Flare," he said, gesturing to the two Wisps. Thw two little aliens gave little happy burbles and waved their tentacles, with Chip returning the waves with a small grin.

"An' this is Digger," said Hopscotch. He tapped his arm and out came a small, yellow and orange striped Drill Wisp, who's single eye blinked sleepily at him. "Ye'll have ta mind 'im," said Hopscotch, "E's not much of ah night Wisp."

Alexis laughed slightly. "Well to be fair, I don't know what I'm doing up at this hour either. Guess some heroes never sleep."

Suddenly, there came two alarmed squeaks. Everyone looked forward to see an Ivory Wisp and a Violet Wisp coming towards them, squeaking their heads off. "Who are they?" asked Alexis as the two Wisps approached them.

"Tha's Zippy an' Eclipse!" said Hopscotch in worry. "They're Chromia's and Kobara's Wisp buddies! Bu' where's the girls?"

As the two Wisps chirped and burbled, Gadget pulled out a red Miles Electric. "Okay, say that again?" he asked. When the two Wisps started talking again, he gasped and said, "Chromia and Kobara are in trouble! Zippy and Eclipse said that they've been taken by some Posessed!"

"Um... 'Posessed'?" asked Chip, looking at the wolf in confusion.

"We think it's what the Wisps are calling the people that change their attitudes during the night and give off purple smoke," explained Gadget, putting away his Miles Electric as they took off after the two Wisps. "The Wisps stay away from people that are like that. We're still not sure what's up with them though, or what's causing it."

They finally reached a ramp and raced up to the top of it. When they rounded the corner, they stopped in confusion. "Um, isn't that the Professor's assistant?" asked Chip, pointing to one of them.

"Yeah, and I can see Chromia and Kobara," said Alexis, seeing the two Mobians stuck in the crowd.

The people were cheering and dancing in place, with the last two members of Squad H stuck in the middle. A huskie was being twirled around by the Professor's assistant, who was saying, "C'mon babe! Let's dance the night away!" A dark blue hawk was being bounced around by several women.

"Hey! Let me go!" cried out the hawk, only to get bounced into the huskie.

"Is there some kind of party going on?" asked Chip, lifting up his camera.

Alexis examined the scene and said, "No, they're 'posesed' all right. Don't know why the Wisps would call them that though." She noticed that the Wisps had gone back into their respective Wispons, except for Zippy and Eclipse, who were hiding behind Chip. Chip lifted up his camera and took a picture, a bright flash going off.

The result was instataneous. The people immediately colapsed with the two Mobians spinning away. Out of the people's bodies appeared several of the dark creatures that Alexis and Chip had been seeing on their adventures. "Well, now we know why the Wisps don't like hanging around these people during the nighttime!" said Gadget, lifting up his twin Wispons as the creatures advanced.

"It's a carnival of creeps out there!" said Chip, taking more pictures as Alexis and the two boys burst forward.

The two Wisps rushed over to their friends as they collapsed on the ground. They looked them over and chirped in relief. They were okay.

Alexis reached forward with her purple flames, catching two of the creatures. She slashed at them and finally stabbed her claws into their heads, causing them to go up in purple smoke.

Hopscotch was darting around another one, firing a blaster from his robotic arm. Finally, he stopped and the arm switched out to his Drill Wispon. "Digger, ya ready?" he asked. When the Wisp chirped, he spun forward, his Wispon glowing. He slammed into the creature and drilled straight through it, causing it to vanish.

Gadget was handling the last one, firing small fireballs from his Wispons. When the creature charged at him, he aimed at the ground and fired, launching himself up into the air. "Pyro! Flare! Now!" he yelled. The Wispons glowed and turned into large firey clubs. He spun downwards and slammed his weapons into the creature, finally sending it to dust.

When the last creature was defeated, the people started waking up. "Wh-what was I just doing?" asked the Professor's assistant, looking around in confusion.

Alexis sighed in relief and walked over to the two girls, who appeared to be starting to come around. "Come on, Sleeping Beauties," she joked "Rise and shine. We've got a lot of work to get done."

The blue and gray huskie woke up first. She gave a small sheepish grin and stood up, dusting off her gray vest and black pants and combat boots. She straightened her purple beanie and hugged Zippy as he came over to her, putting his tentacles around her neck. "I'm glad you're alright, Zippy," she said happily.

The hawk gave a small groan as Eclipse nudged her with his own tentacles. "Alright, Eclipse. I'm up." She stood and rubbed her friend on the top of his galaxy-like head. She then checked herself over, straightening her black shirt and white skirt and checked her communicator watch. Finally done, her strom-gray eyes checked over Alexis's new form. "You look more fearsome that my brother's friend," she commented.

"Uh, yeah," chuckled Alexis, scratching the back of her head. "Glad you two are alright, Chromia, Kobara."

"Takes a lot to take us Babylon Rouges out," said Kobara, touching the sphere that was the compacted form of her Extreme Gear.

"So that's what the camera does!"

Everyone turned to see Gadget inspecting the camera with Chip close by. "It helps us take care of the creatures that have been posessing people! Huh... 'Posessed'. At least we now know why the Wisps call them that," he mused.

"So tha's why they don' like 'anging around those people," said Hopscotch. "They don' like two things in one body."

"Well, Sonic did tell me that they didn't like being captured by Eggman," said Alexis. "Guess they know what it feels like for that to happen."

"Well then, now that that's over with," said Chromia, "What are we gonna do now?"

"Well, Sally said that Professor Pickle managed to find that there was another temple in Chun-nan," said Alexis as they walked away. "So we're heading over there. Gadget, think you can pilot the X-Tornado over to Chun-nan?"

"Sure thing, Alexis!" said Gadget excitedly. "I've always wanted to fly the X-Tornado!"

"Aren't we supposed to find a Gaia Key?" asked Chromia, thinking about what Sally had told them about the temples.

"According to Sally," said Kobara, "And my brother, the ancient people of Chun-nan turned their Gaia Keys into this mystical artifact. We should just be able to get it from them if they know we're trying to put the world back together. But speaking of my brother." Kobara turned to Alexis and said, "Jet said that you had a run-in with him, although it was kinda brief."

Alexis looked confused for a few second, then suddenly remembered during her fight with Neo almost a year previously. "Uh, would he be green and friends with a purple swallow and a gray albatross?" she asked.

"Yup. Wave and Storm."

Alexis burst out laughing. "You brother had this- AHAHAHAHA- huge startled look on HIHIHIHI-his face! And the AHAHAHAHA-albaross- HAHAHA- screamed like a little girl! Oh my- AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Soon enough, everyone was laughing as they made their way to the X-Tornado. Squad H was back together again.


[Chun-nan- daytime]

"We've been looking around ever since we got here," said Kobara as the team met up in front of the entrance. "And we still can't find the leader of these guys! Where is he?"

"Ya know," said Hopscotch, thinking for a bit, "Ah came across a few people tha' said tha' 'e went after the village relic. It prob'ly rolled away during the bi' quake tha' shook the planet. Bu' they said tha' 'e left yesterday."

"Probably got held up by something," said Alexis, "I found where the road to the temple is, but there's a guy in front of it. He says that in order for us to head to the temple, we need to get permission from a lady named Lin. Has anyone seen her?"

"I think I did," said Gadget. Chip was floating beside him eating some eggrolls that Alexis had bought. "There was an old lady close to the stairs that led to the entrance to the temple road. She seemed really worried about the village elder and about the city's treasure."

"Well lead the way, Gadget," said Alexis. "And let's hope we don't get eaten by a panda."

"Please no!" said Chip, "I can eat stuff, but I can't stand being eaten!"

Everyone laughed as they moved back through the city. Alexis was looking around with a little bit of wonder in her eyes. "It reminds me of a country back on Earth," she said to the team. "China. It certainly gives off that chinese feel."

"Makes you a bit homesick, Alexis?" asked Chromia, looking at the hedgehog.

"Slightly," she said, "But there's enough of home for me not to. I was kinda surprised that there were humans living here too! But I guess I should've figured that out with Eggman and all. If he was here on Mobius and he was a human, then there had to be more humans living here besides him. Or well, Overlanders is the Mobian word I guess."

"A lo' of th' Overlandah's are really nice," said Hopscotch. "We got eggrolls fer cryin' out loud!" He munched into one as he said that.

"Yeah they did," said Kobara, "But I am a huge fan of dumplings and meat rolls. Think after we get done with the Gaia Temple here, we can get some to eat?"

"I wanna try some dumplings!" said Chip.

"All right, all right," said Alexis. "Once we're done here, we'll grab some dumplings and more chinese food to take home. You know, I wouldn't mind trying some dumplings. Back home, Mr. Tanaka wasn't very much of a cook, but he made some awesome dumplings. Everyone always agreed on that whenever he made some."

"I would really like to go to Earth," said Chromia, "It sounds just as exciting as Mobius!"

"Well, before Sonic and Dr. Eggman came along, it was actually kinda boring," said Alexis. "I was sort of glad when all that started happening. After Sonic left, the only exciting thing that happened to me was learning how to fly a plane and getting a job! Let me tell you, it was kinda dull."

"Yeah, but there are a lot of movies that I've wanted to watch that you've mentioned," said Kobara. "Like Marvel. Or Transformers. Probably Transformers to see how well Wave geeks out at giant robots."

"Hey, there's Lin!" said Gadget.

The group rushed up to the old lady. "Welcome to Chun-nan," she greeted them. "Someone told me we had a few visitors in the village. I only wish we could give you a proper welcome."

"What for?" asked Chip.

"Our precious treasure is missing," explained Lin, "And the village elder went in search of it and has not yet returned. We would go search for him, but monsters lurk outside the village."

"We could help you," said Alexis, "We were actually on our way to the Gaia Temple to see if we could use it to restore the planet. I bet that's where you Elder went, or at least in the general direction."

"And plus!" said Kobara, flourishing her Void Wispon, "We're exterminators!"

"Oh, fortune has indeed smiled upon us!" said Lin happily, the old lady swaying slightly in happiness. "You must head over to the temple road at once! Tell Wang that I sent you and he'll let you through. He's guarding the road to make sure no one goes out of the village unless with my permission."

"Yeah, we noticed," said Alexis. "Let's go guys!" With a respectful bow to Lin, they headed up the stairs. They were halted by the man named Wang, but when they explained that Lin had given them permission to go through, he immediately let them through.

"It might take a while to get there," said Kobara, looking down the road, "Even with our Extreme Gears. By the time we get there, it'll be night-time."

"Th' Elder prob'ly used a bike," observed Hopscotch, looking at a bycicle stand on the other side of the village wall.

"Then let's ride," said Alexis. Everyone pulled out their Extreme Gear and hopped on, taking off down the road as the sun continued to set.


Yup! I'm involving our old buddies from Squad H! You should all know them if you've read "Rise of the Phoenix". If you don't then go back and read it before moving on with this one.

I've been toying with the idea that people with Wispons could get their own Wisp friends. You already met Sally's Wisp, Gust, from a few chapters back, and Yacker is hanging around Tails.

And I also like the idea of Gadget having two Burst Wispons. The Wispons have been modified so that sometimes when the Wisps power them up, they turn into weapons, but only for the long-range ones. And when that happens, they mostly turn into clubs or something similar.

R&R