Tetra shook Frizz, who was still unconscious, but he didn't stir. "What'll we do now?"

Tails coughed. "Normally, this would be the part where Sonic would take out the Chaos Emeralds, but that's obviously not happening."

Tetra looked about, spotting Sonic's satchel across the room from them. He picked it up and looked through it, pulling out the six colored vials in it.

"That mad genius!" Tails gasped. "He took the essences of them so that, if he didn't have the Emeralds, he'd still be able to use the city!"

"Can we use them to retaliate?"

"Let me see." Tails took the six vials and attempted to harness their powers, but couldn't. "Their power is incomplete. We'll need the seventh one."

Tetra looked through the bag. "It's not in here."

"Looking for this?"

Tetra and Tails looked at the door, where Skathe stood, holding the light blue vial in his hand.

"Dr. Skathe?" Tails recognized him. "What're you doing?"

"I was against Razor's plan from the beginning, and I was wrong not to act on my instincts. I'm a porpoise of healing, not hurting." He handed Tetra the seventh vial. "Now go, and save the rest of the world."

Tetra nodded, then began to harness their powers.

Suddenly, Tails grabbed his leg. "Wait!" he began, fearing what the Light Blue Emerald's power might do to Tetra.

Then Tails looked into his eyes, at the confidence and intent of his soul.

"Good luck."

Tetra nodded, then continued. The vials started to glow and float, making him do the same. Pure power rippled through his muscles as his fur turned yellow.

He rocketed upwards, blasting through the ornate dome of City Hall. He located the command center - where Sonic was turning the ship to head towards Angel Island - and began ro rocket towards it.

'The worst thing about huge ships is that it takes them forever to turn,' Sonic thought to himself, then jumped when Tetra broke through the wall to his left. He got up and looked at the now Super wolf.

"Well, I see you learned how to —" Sonic began, but was promptly punched in the face by Tetra, sending him flying. He hit a wall and slid to the floor, spitting out three of his teeth.

Tetra turned to the control wall and pried the Emeralds out of it. Immediately, the ship began returning to its original position, regaining its air bubble, and it started to change back into a city.

Sonic got up and leapt towards Tetra, knocking them both through the wall. Sonic clinged on as Tetra tried to shake him off.

Tetra dove outside of the air bubble, submerging them both in the ocean as the city settled. They fought for a bit, then Sonic punched him in the gut, making him lose composure and, as a result, his Super form. The Emeralds, as well as the vials, sunk down into the depths of the ocean.

Sonic and Tetra struggled a bit, then Tetra knocked him over the head, subduing him.

Suddenly, Sonic started to struggle as he began running out of oxygen. Tetra was torn on whether he should save him.

Then their eyes met, and Tetra saw the fear in Sonic's eyes.

Tetra's mind was made up.

He grabbed Sonic by the chest, and used his tails to propel them along. They made it into the air bubble, but then they were faced with a new problem: they had entered near the top of the dome, and were now falling towards the streets below.

Tetra held onto Sonic as they plummeted. Using what he'd learned earlier, he twirled his tails to slow their fall enough so that they didn't die when they hit the pavement below.

The citizens crowded around them and started chanting.

"I…" Sonic could barely think of what to say. "You saved me?"

Tetra nodded.

"Well, you're lucky," Sonic groaned, "and I wasn't."

"I don't know what happened, but from what I heard from Tails, it was an accident. It's okay to accept your mistakes, as long as you don't let them control your life."

Sonic looked at him. "Are you really trying to squeeze a moral out of this?"

Tetra blushed.

Three weeks later…

Things had changed for the surviving citizens of South Island. There was a large voluntary effort to rebuild Gigalopolis, lead by Tetra and Frizz. Sonic had been arrested for partially successful genocide. Razor, now content, had fled with his cohorts — except for Skathe, who stuck around to help clean up the mess they'd caused — to continue their search for the Megalodons. Tails, his house having been destroyed, moved to the Mystic Ruins, and every day, he received a bouquet of flowers as thanks for teaching Tetra. The Emeralds, thanks to Tails, had been scattered across the island, buried where nobody would ever find them. Janet the dolphin, thankfully, survived the attack, and went on to have a baby girl, giving Tetra the honor of being her godfather.

And Tetra, now hailed as hero, returned to his lifeguard duties in Turquoise Hill.

"Well, Tetra," Frizz began as they worked in his garage, "are you happy now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember? You wanted some excitement and to be hailed as a hero. Are you now satisfied?"

"Yeah, I think that was enough action for a while."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the garage door. Frizz flicked the switch, and the door slid up, revealing a familiar red echidna standing behind it.

"Knuckles!?" Frizz nearly fainted again. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that there was a hero here, so I came to ask for help."

Tetra couldn't help but start smiling. "What is it?"

"The Master Emerald's reactivating Badniks, and I can't figure out why!"

Tetra looked at Frizz, who adjusted his goggles. "We're in," they both said in unison.

Knuckles motioned for them to follow him. They went out and saw Tails in the Tornado, then jumped in.

As the engine started up, Frizz asked Tetra, "What happened to 'That's enough action to last me a while'?"

"Well, I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity to help innocents!"

"You do realize that Angel Island's only real inhabitant is Knuckles, right?"

"Yep."

Frizz rolled his eyes, then smiled as the plane got up to speed and took off, sending them off on another adventure.

THE END...

Don't miss Tetra's next adventure, "Tetra and the Master Emerald's Mission"!