Enjoy this chapter!

-Outbreakgirl

GUN Transport Helicopter

Sonic hasn't said a word since he entered into the copter, looking out the window to the cloudy blue sky. Tails watch his best friend in deep thought, sitting right beside looking worried. They all heard the story that Vidette told them, and that must be the problem that is plaguing the hero's mind.

"Sonic?" Tails said, but Sonic didn't answer or even notice that he said anything. "Sonic?" He called a bit louder, which finally caught his attention.

"Huh? Oh, hey bud," He wasn't very cheerful, as if he is still in thought. "What's up?

"Sonic, what's the matter? You've been rather quiet..." Tail said. Sonic took a few quiet moments, looking back at the window.

"I was just thinking about our situation, to think that I have a version of myself from another world...but took his version of justice too far. "

Tails looks at him, seeing that he has a lot of things on his mind, but he has to say something. "May I ask a question? It might be personal...but back then, did it bother you?"

Sonic paused, looking at his fox friend for a moment, then he sighed. "Of coursed it bothered me." He said, as he looked down at his gloved hands. "Eggman had done terrible things in the past, but that was when I felt that I have failed. So many people died that day...and I blamed myself for not stopping him sooner." He tightly balled his handed, giving an intense, but sad look on his face. "I'm supposed to be the hero, to save everyone...but..."

The young fox puts a hand on his best friend to calm him down. "It wasn't your fault, you did the best you could. Many more lives would've been lost if it wasn't for you." He said, "And there is no reason to bottle it up inside. You know you can tell to me about anything, i'm your best friend right?"

"Of course you're my best friend. Its just... I tend to move forward a lot, not worry about the past."

"I see, but still, just remember that I'm all ears if you need it."

This made Sonic feel better, that is what best friends are for. He still has to wonder about the situation though, as his eyes turns back to the window. Tails focus his attention to the Chaotic sitting across from his sit as they are conversing, Vidette is silent for the most part, and so is Shadow as he has his arms crossed.

The journey has been peaceful for the most part, has the aircraft is leaving the forest and heading towards the canyons. Nothing seems to be out of place among the red and brown cliffs, but the helicopter makes it's way to a rock face, before it starts to open up to reveal a secret entrance. The helicopter flies right on in, and the door closed behind it.

The inside is a hanger for air crafts, which the copter lands with ease, and it's passengers disembark on the platform.

"Welcome, we have been expecting you." A human female greets them as she walks to meet with them. She is a woman who is in her 40s, a brunette with grey streaks fashioned into a neat bun, and wearing a black button blouse and long skirt. Beside her is Rouge, who recommended this place. "I am the director of the Topaz Facility, Mary Weathers. Agent Rouge told me that you need our help, with what I do not know. Would you care to explain?"

Sonic approached her, as he would like to be the one to explain. "Yeah, we have someone that needs your protection. There are some menacing people trying to ." He said, as he carefully brought Vidette forward.

"I would need a bit more information, why is she so important that she needs protection from us?" The Director asked him, and that's when Vidette pipes up.

"I have something that they want, something extremely powerful inside of my body. I am hoping that this place would have something to get it out...and hopefully find a way to destroy it." She said, placing a hand on her chest, a pleading look on her face.

"Something powerful?" Mary seems to be curious about this, as she quickly came to a decision. "I will allow you all entry, but she will have to have a body scan before we could figure out how to deal with this." They agreed to this, as she turns around. "Follow me,"

She takes the lead as her guests are following her out of the hanger bay, and unto an elevator, taking them up to the main bulk of the facility. They have traveled into the interior right to the research deck, and the elevator lift stops at the deck, and the director leads her guests into the labs.

"In here, we will be able to study whatever artifact that your friend has. If you are in need of anything else, we will provide assistance." The Director said, as she enter in one of the labs, equipped what looks to be advanced technology, and the scientists that are running them. "I want a full scan on this girl, she has something inside of her, and we want to know how we can extract it safely and contain it." She gave the command, and the scientists obey.

Vidette is lead into a scanning machine, complying as she is on her back, looking up as she waits for the process. It activates as the bed moves into the machine, and scanned her body with a moving light. Anyone who isn't manning the machine are standing, watching the process. Tails is on his Pad Device, already forming a plan.

"Miss Weather, I have a question; do you have Chaos Emeralds here?" He asked her, as it is important.

"Hm? We do not have one currently in the base." Mary answers him, and everyone looks at the young fox.

"I was just curious, and I have been thinking. I know that our counterparts are looking for the Beryl, but there are still the Chaos Emeralds." Tails said, as the thought of the jewels that are scattered around the world. "We might need them, the emeralds might be the key to all of this." There are seven jewels of power, and when gathered, they can perform miracles. Anyone who knows about them would be after the Emeralds.

Sonic believes his friend has a point, but searching for them would be no cake walk, plus he would leave his friends defenseless. "So we should go looking for them? That won't be easy, but we have a head start at least." He said, and Shadow nods.

"I can help, I can sense them, so they shouldn't be hard to find." Shadow said, as he is in tune with Chaos Energy. "If we are going to do this, then we have to do it quickly."

Director Weather approached as she comes up with a solution. "If I may, I would suggest you leave at least one of the emeralds here. This facility is safe, it blocks chaos energy just in case someone is looking for them." She insist, and they had to think about it.

"Hm, if that is true, then I will leave it to you." Shadow hands over the blue emerald to the director, he only needs one. The others doesn't protest this idea. Shadow is volunteering to head out there to look for the rest of the emeralds before the enemy does. Sonic doesn't want to miss this.

"There is no way you are going out there without me, Shadow. Two hedgehogs are better than one right?" Sonic grins at this, then turns to Shadow. "We will bring the emeralds back here for safe keeping, simple enough, where is the closest emerald?"

"We won't know until we go outside, I will be able to find them once I get a lock on." He explains. Sonic nods, as he is ready to to out there and look for the emeralds with Shadow. There might be a high chance the he would meet up with their otherworldly counterparts, and a high chance that they would fight.

"Sonic, I'm coming with you," Tails insisted. "You might an need extra pair of hands. Besides, my plane is out in the Meridian Woods, I can give you some air support just in case." He told Sonic and Shadow.

"If you want to help, fine. We can just get the plane and start with the search." Shadow said, as he is patient for a few more moments. The members of the Chaotix have been talking as well, and they have decided on something.

"We are going to stay here to keep an eye on Vidette, we still have a job to do." Vector said, as their job isn't over yet.

"Okay, then we are out of here!" Sonic declared, as he starts to run with Tails and Shadow beside him, venturing from the lab all the way back to the hanger. The door opens for them, and they have no flying air craft to take them outside. That isn't a problem, since the door is all they need as they run towards the light of the outside world.

"Get ready, as soon as we jump, we will be back in the forest." Shadow warns them, as he ready his emerald in his hand. He cannot use it on the inside, so they would have to jump. That is what they did, the trio made it through the opening, and they fall down. it was a few seconds before the black hedgehog could feel that they have fallen far enough from the nullifying field. "Chaos Control!" With that command, the emerald flashed a bright light that engulfed them until they disappeared.

xXx

Cherry Gardens

It is indeed a nice day to have outdoor picnic, especially in a backyard garden behind a cottage. A round table is sitting on a small patio, accompanied by a parasol above to give shade to a pink hedgehog staring into space. Amy Rose sighs as she is in thought, her arms cradling her head. She has been like this for a while, gazing at nothing in particular. On the table is a portable radio playing music on a low level, which isn't enough to break from her train of thought. What finally did that is a young girl's voice beside her.

"Amy, are you alright?" The hedgehog turns her attention to Cream, a little rabbit girl staring at her as she placed a bowl of fruit salad on the table. Floating next to the girl is her Chao, Cheese.

"O-Oh, nothing is wrong, Cream. I was just thinking." Amy said, as she gives a friendly smile to the girl, the turn to the bowl. "This looks great, did you make this by yourself?"

"Yep! I made sure to put in extra strawberries!" Cream is delighted that Amy is pleased at what she has done. Coming from the cottage is Vanilla, carrying a plate of vegetable sandwiches, enough for the three of them. "Mommy, Amy said that I did great on the fruit salad!"

"She did? Thank you Amy, that was very kind of you." Vanilia smiles, as she is thankful that Amy is kind to her daughter an a good friend. "I apologize to have kept you waiting, but it will surely be worth it." She placed the plate on the table, sitting on one of the chairs. A glass pitcher of lemonade and three cups on a tray is placed on the center, and this is done by G-Merl. It is a robot that stands 3'4, is black, yellow, and grey for its color, its blue eyes scanning the gardens. "Thank you, G-Merl." She said, pouring lemonade in the cups.

Amy's smile faded a bit, her green eyes moving up to view the sky for a few moments. "I have a question, have any of you heard from Sonic?" She asked them, and both mother and daughter shook their heads.

"No, dear, why do you ask?" Vanilla inquired, and the girl sighs.

"I haven't seen him in a month, I admit that it bothers me...but what can I do? He is always somewhere far away." Amy takes a sip of her cold drink,and it made her feel better. She loves the blue hero, but wish that he wasn't on the move every single day. She wants to see him, but right now it is impossible since she has no way of contacting him, only Tails and a few select others. The pink hedgehog wonders where he is and what he is doing, it would be nice if she could spend some time with him.

"Maybe you can catch him at Tails' place, he would usually be there." Cream suggested, but the hedgehog shook her head.

"I tried that a few times, but I always miss him. He doesn't even have the Pad Tails made for communication, ugh it makes me so frustrated." She admit that this situation with Sonic is getting to her, where on Earth could he be?

"Do no worry, Amy. I am sure that Sonic will come around, you just have to be patient and do not dwell on it so much." Vanilla advises, trying to make her feel better, and it seem to have worked.

"Okay, thank you Vanilla, you always know what to say." She is thankful for that, she has to focus on the present for now, and have lunch with the rabbits. Amy takes two sandwiches, but before she could enjoy either of them, her attention turns to the radio. The station is no longer playing music, but instead a woman is speaking, broadcasting the news. Curious, the hedgehog turns up the volume to hear what she has to say. Cream and Vanilla also listens in, since they have no choice.

"This is Karen Oki, reporting live from Station Square. Our segment has just been interrupted by a strange phenomenon has appeared over the ocean near the Emerald Coast Resort. It appears to be a vortex in the sky that just came from nowhere, and we have no answers on why or how this is happening. People are gathered on the beach to witness the vortex, and the city's police force have arrived to block the area just in case...wait, something is happening. There are objects falling from the mouth, it is too far to see what that are, but it looks to be three objects falling in the ocean. Vortex is starting to disappear, which leaves the objects that has just landed and everyone seem to be anxious...wait, what's that? Something is heading straight for the beach at high speed, it looks as if it is running on water. People are scattering to safety, whatever it is it's almost here! Ah!

That is when the report is cut off, static follows after that. This left the females confused and concerned, they have never heard of vortexes appearing in the sky. Amy is the first to act, as she pulls her PAD to get into contact with Tails.

"This isn't normal, I better let Tails know, just in case this is a problem." She said, as the fox might know something about this, or at least give a warning that there might be trouble heading their way.

Okay, chapter is done. Sorry that I took so long, but things are getting back on track. Catch you later in the next chapter! xoxoxo