Chapter 12

Place your heart in familiar faces.

Meanwhile, in some endless void of green grass and blue skies...

Diga stood by a giant tree as she waited, then she saw a human wearing a red dress adorned with gold trimming walk up to her, with a gust of wind shooting from behind her, as her head was covered by a hood, but her long brown hair seemed to dance with the wind.

"You certainly don't make this easy Diga." The woman told her in a sultry tone.

"You keep moving the goal posts."

The Dragon chuckled at that remark.

"Oh Lilith, so do you. We're hard at work, ensuring this little game of yours ends badly for you. You're lucky to even get this far, thanks to Mephiles." She mocked.

Lilith was a mysterious to fault. Her desires warrant investigation, but at the same time she could be so predictable.

"Believe me Ms. Arch-Fire." Lilith noted. "Bringing Mephiles into the picture has been the hardest part. You can try and alter things if you want, it all depends on how damage we can do before this is all over."

Diga smirked.

"Mephiles made it more challenging, I admit, but if this is the best you can do, you haven't seen the best part. Yet."


Time is fickle. It chooses to find paths for certain individuals yet it ignores others.

What is worse? Fate or no fate?

How much control do you have?

As Sonic batted his eyes, he could see a clear blue sky before him. His nose caught a pleasant scent as he sat up. He had his hands in the long green grass as his eyes looked down. Around him were yellow and purple flowers and extraordinarily tall trees that reminded him of the giant mushrooms of Angel Island. Many other flowers dotted the landscape that also donned many cliffs and ledges and other odd trees.

The wind chimed differently here, as Sonic's ears popped to the calm breeze, the temperature quite nice and balmy. He himself had temporarily forgotten his worries as he focused on where he had gone. The Emerald had brought them here, but for what purpose?

Amy was no where to be seen. His mind quickly shuffled past events, which prompted him to worry now that the Magenta Emerald and Yellow Emerald were in their possession, although upon closer inspection, he only had the Yellow Emerald. But this place...he'd definitely been here before.

He raced around to if anyone else was around. He jumped across trees and other platforms, before he stood before a lake of purple water. His mind jumped to orange metal platforms and many robots that worked on, as a construction site came to his vision. Although a little noise squeaked behind him, as he saw a small, white creature float before him.

"Yacker? Woah...if you're here then that means..." Sonic muttered as he looked the wisp, notably by its curly antennae.

"I'm on Planet Wisp!"

Memories flooded back to him of when Eggman had his interstellar amusement park. Those days were at least, amusing at best. He only wished he had Tails translator thingy, so he could still understand Yacker. Though, his gestures seemed to indicate that he wanted Sonic to come with him. Perhaps he knew where Amy was?

He ran in the direction Yacker pointed, as he ran once more, down alongside the cliffs edge. He ascended on many a tree, before he got to the tallest one in the area. He gasped at the sight before him.

Where a humble planet once sat, many light and dark tentacles sprung from its core as Sonic peered on into the open skies. His heart raced with so many emotions. Did...did this just happen? No...it couldn't...this...

Yacker tapped on Sonic's shoulder as he pointed downwards, seeing a hut of some sort down below.

He jumped down. Fire was coming out of the chimney so someone had to be home.

He knocked on the door, unsure of who he was about to expect. The door opened, out came a young...bat? Something that had long, burgundy dreads with white tips on them, as well as tips on his ears. Black and purple wings, as well as white gloves with two spikes on the back of his hand. He also wore a brown scarf, a white jacket with a purple shirt underneath and jeans as well as familiar red and yellow shows that once belonged to a certain Echidna, and a pair of goggles on his head. His eyes gleamed green as he glanced at the Hedgehog with widened eyes.

"Uh. Hi...just..." Sonic started, feeling awkward as he should have realised who he was talking to. Although he saw another white furred creature with some kind of technical mask on his face, as well as wearing black leather clothing that spurred his memory further.

"Sonic the Hedgehog...heh...should have expected you here sooner or later." He said, his voice altered by the mask, with the masks lighting glowing green every time he spoke.

"Come in. Take a seat. I imagine you've been through a lot."

This was beginning to be a bit much. Even for Sonic's standard. Morpheus was here of all places, only to have just seen him moments if not hours or even days before, but as he sat down, he began to feel a bit winded. Inside was a few trinkets and odd unmatched pieces of furniture. What in the world happened here?

"Yeah. Do I have to ask?" Sonic asked, exasperated.

Morpheus nodded to the young boy, who ran off into another room as the white hedgehog paced around the room. Sonic could see his golden, tired eyes and the bags underneath him.

"I escaped with Gerald here, I adopted him after everyone else died. But they did not suffer the fate of Dark Gaia's cracking. With the local hero not here, there was no way to save a world. But it isn't necessary. The world was already dead to begin with. I'm guessing you're from five thousand years ago or so?" Morpheus explained.

Five thousand years? He really was late. How did he even get here?

"All I remember is a huge blast encasing the underground base where Elise was and she was this huge spider monster that was going to...eat us?. And...oh no...Knuckles..."

Damn it he almost forgot. He looked down as he recalled Knuckles being stabbed by Elise, who had turned into that monstrous arachnid form thanks to that abomination of a virus. A wave of anguish flowed through him briefly, forcing him to tighten himself and force that aside for the moment, which turned into a painful feat.

"No...I need to focus...I..." Sonic stuttered, trying to find words beyond his worries. Images of Knuckles corpse kept flashing in his head. He cursed himself that he couldn't save him.

"I found Amy Rose lying around nearby as well. She's in the next room, sleeping." Morpheus revealed.

Amy was here too? He should be relieved that she was still alive but...

So much had happened, he wasn't prepared for this.

"I haven't seen anyone else...so I cannot say. But I would need to jolt my memory as to why you would have been brought here...would be maybe there's another in this time line...would you mind telling me what happened before you came here?"

So much had happened that it made his head spin. Sonic mentioned the incident at Twinkle Park and how that unfolded. Morpheus barely showed any emotion. But Sonic wasn't expecting anything for him to say or do, other than verbal acknowledgements.

"I remember that event." He sighed.

"The Time Stones must have brought you here then..or maybe a combination of the two."

"I have taken the Stones themselves and used them to study the past, while being extremely careful not to alter it. Gerald and I have been extremely busy with information gathering, Including the next chaos Emerald." Morpheus revealed.

It made Sonic think at what point of his life did everything seem to force him to lock up? All these military style attitudes. The need to investigate and pry. To this day, Diga's words still ring in his ears to wake up. How would be nice. For now, he had to force himself not to care and move on to make things better as possible. He would need to press on, no matter how much it pained him. He couldn't fail the others. Not now...not again.

"Anything in the past I can help with or is this just how things are around here?" Sonic inquired. Time travelling was always a cautious action, in accordance to what one would think of know the course of history and the ability to change it. It was incredibly dangerous. Diga's words rang true. He still didn't care.

"There's nothing you can do." Morpheus answered

"But the Emerald needs to be taken back to the original time line. You know what comes of this."

Also true. They needn't be here as long as necessary. They just had to get the Emerald and make their way home. If memory serves, Silver taught him a trick about using two Chaos Emeralds to travel along the time line. Time Stones weren't the only way to travel.

"But you need to rest for now. Your mind must be in shambles and you must be quite hungry. Go tend to Amy if you must. I will need to prepare you both for the next Emerald's collection."


Sonic entered the nearby bedroom. It had light blue walls and wooden floor. The room had a lot of peculiar obtained artifacts, purely for aesthetical reasons. Must have been left overs before the planet went boom.

Amy was deathly still as she laid on her back. He saw the Magenta Chaos Emerald on the drawers next to her. As always, the Emerald itself had already been purged. Amy just had to recuperate from the sudden influx of her mind returning. He had to try and understand all the perplexing events that happened to her especially. In his mind, he could see her just and confused and wracked with the powers that be that always toyed with the pair of them, as if they would forever be tested until the end.

He sat on the edge of the bed and looked down, his eyelids half way down and eyes on her still form. She looked peaceful, although when he touched her cheek, she was almost as cold as death itself. He made sure she was tucked in a little bit more and even grabbed an extra blanket from the nearby cupboard. He ensured that her chest still rose up and fell down as she breathed. Every sign of life; he had to protect.

"...I don't want to lose you." He admitted to her in a sad whisper.

And he truly didn't. After realising the extent of his feelings he found it hard to manage his own emotions. It became part of the worst fears he had when it came to what ever this thing was.

He wasn't totally ignorant. Far from it. It was the consequences of dealing with the dangers that followed such paths. If anything did happen, he would be wrought the agony of the aftermath, drenched in despair and regret and left an eternity to mourn.

"I've lost...Tails...I've lost Knuckles...please..." He choked, barely holding back tears.

"I just want you to wake up...please...wake up..."

His tears dropped on her face as his fingers were wrapped around her blanket, tightly scrunched as he fought against himself.

"I don't care if you don't love me anymore...I don't care if the world is destroyed...I just want you with me...then we can save the world together..."

He felt a hand on his cheek as he opened his eyes, staring at Amy as he pressed his hand against hers.

"Sonic..." She muttered albeit, very weakly. Her eyes struggled to open.

A slight smile adorned his face as a sense of relief washed over him. It took her some time for her eyes to open as she began to sit up as soon as she was awake to a certain degree. She looked at Sonic strangely.

"Have...have you been crying?" She asked, bemused.

His eyes widened as he rapidly wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand, as he forced his signature grin.

"...No..." He responded so stiffly, shaking his head in the same manner.

Her smile warmed him up however, as she stifled a chuckle.

"How are you feeling, most importantly?" He had to ask. No time for his manner at the moment.

She stretched her arms as she yawned and cracked her neck. She certainly looked a lot better than before, that's for sure.

"Tired...but I'll be okay." She replied as she slid off the bed and sat next to Sonic.

Oh...he'd fallen into the trap so quickly. He weak willed he had become. He definitely had to play this by ear from now on. If he understood any of it. He felt the charge run through him as their legs accidentally touched, as all he could see was her legs as they dangled over the bed, with his eyes left unwarranted at her thighs. It took him a moment before he noticed it, then forced himself to stare at the wall.

"What about you?"

She had to ask that didn't she? She also had to grab his hand and squeeze it hard, didn't she?

"I...I'm doing fine." He lied in the least obvious way that made it the most obvious.

"Peachy fine."

Amy rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, you don't want to talk about what happened back in Twinkle Park?" She surmised, annoyed with his fake demeanour. It would normally work, but the pain needed to be acknowledged.

With memories hazy like fog, Sonic could only recall how he felt, although looking in Amy's eyes directly, they glistened, the same as they were underneath the influence of a somewhat incredible and indescribable power.

He got up and crossed his arms, seeing her form once more in his head. Something of a transformation that Sonic would never understand, but his feelings of anguish and confusion persisted, but they were nothing compared to the awe he had for her truly angelic self.

"I'm sorry Ames." He stated.

"Its a side of me even I never wanted to see."

His other fear, to lose control, became more apparent. He had to be in control of the situation and he just had to win it, no matter the cost.

"No one knows...except...maybe...mother..." Amy muttered.

Agent Athena. What part did she have to play in all of this?

"But that doesn't matter. At the end of the day Sonic, is that all I want you to be is you." Amy began as she stood up from the bed and rested her hands on his shoulders. A certain charge then rippled through his body from her touch her alone.

"Even if I become some kind of hideous rage monster?" He inquired. Something about her touch made him warmer than he anticipated.

He almost jumped as her face rubbed against his back as she wrapped her arms around him. He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as she did so. There was something quite nostalgic about it as well.

"I will be able to tell if its you. Always." She assured him. Though that in itself was debatable if history served him correctly.

"You just need to be able to tell as well."

She had a point. Loss of control or loss of identity? The lifestyle he chose is his own and that with all the doubt he had accumulated as of late, made him question so many things. Was he doing enough? Was he doing the right thing? Instinct or logic? Both?

"Well, I can't promise it Amy." He said with a smile.

"But as long as you can work on being who Amy Rose is, I will definitely try."

He felt her giggle behind him. More of him heated up. He tried to suppress a part of him that, once he thought about, was honestly surprising. He wanted to turn around and kiss her. But...


They both exited out of the room, as they were greeted by Morpheus and Gerald who had both made them a fruit platter. Unusual looking fruit, but it was some kind of fruit nonetheless.

The situation was talked amongst themselves, while Gerald remained his resolute mute self. Morpheus had explained to the pair of what been going on and what they needed to do. The next Emerald lied deep with the cracked earth, but there had to be precautions taken before they could even reach it.

The mysterious white Hedgehog listened to their conversation with intent, obviously deciphering the context of Sonic's corruption and Amy's new form.

"Ah so..it worked." Morpheus told them.

Sonic and Amy looked at one another, puzzled by his words.

"The Stones were merely batteries to your truer form. It also confirms your true power and identity. You indeed are the High Prophetess."

So that what it was. It correlated with everything she had become, a great complexity twisted with an enlightened nuance. Amy had yet to confirm her opinion on the matter as she dug into an apple. Or this planets variation.

"Its progress, which is good to know. Means the future is not all but lost. A few bits still don't make sense which I will continue to investigate while I am here. The world may be gone, but I'm certain there is history embedded in it somewhere." Morph continued.

"Which reminds me... I haven't told you the whole truth..." Morpheus mentioned.

"Muriel's book contained a lot of information that was...incorrect. Mainly due to mistranslations."

The infamous book. One that was noted to contain a lot of notes, a lot of them ancient writings.

There had been data regarding historical dark figures such as Black Doom, Mephiles, Dark Gaia and of course Abbadonia.

"The sixty six children was not because of Dark Gaia. Abbadonia is the sole corrupter. Over time, it has been said that the others had indeed been corrupted by her. In total, she had created sixty six demon children, including Dark Gaia itself through means to invade the minds of Gods and twist them for eons, forcing their forms to change entirely. Although Mephiles remains her favourite since he was the most noteworthy and deemed him her equal."

Again, it shouldn't have come to a surprise to Sonic himself. Maybe, that's what she had been doing to him, in his opinion.

"I see where you're going with this." Sonic said.

"Because I've saved the world many times, she thinks I'm worthy of turning dark side."

"Indeed." Morpheus replied, nodding. "She had come very close, especially with the virus. But she is patient. Unless you're dead, she will not stop until she gets what she wants. Which brings me to the next point..."

Morpheus walked Sonic to the book itself, as he flipped a few pages.

"This is a timeline to which an alternate path had been taken. Eggman was no longer useful to her, as she was forced to jump to a new host. But with no Prophet, she was forced to take other measures to ensure she would succeed. Being in the body of a Prophet is due to certain circumstances. One, the curse that was brought on to the Rosoideae in the past, ensured that no other being could be properly possessed besides someone related to them...and two, usage of a Prophet would allow them to plan out their moves perfectly, able to utilise their full strength by being able to figure out her enemies moves in advance."

But thats begs the question of how Eggman was possessed in the first place. From what he could recall, Amy was in the room with Muriel when the transfer process was in place. Amy herself scratched her head, obviously puzzled as well.

"How can we justify that when Abbadonia went to Eggman anyway? I'd be more insulted if he actually was a Hedgehog." Sonic pried.

Morpheus sighed. It appeared to wrack his brain as well.

"Possibly a few factors at play that we might not know about." Morpheus continued.

"Part of my own investigation involves me reading that book...but nothing crops up or even makes any sense. No mentions of any diversions or loop holes to the whole Prophet process ever happening over the course of history." He said.

Eggman had somehow done it. Eggman had to have known something about it. Pity they couldn't ask.

"Egghead certainly knew how." Amy pointed out.

"But none of the research suggested that it was even possible to do."

"But even then we have no real way of knowing unless he knocks down on our door and is all like 'hey losers, know what I did? I'm going to tell you how!'" Sonic replied, agreeing sarcasm.

Where ever they were, it would forever be a mystery to this day, especially if everyone else was long gone in this place. But then a thought occurred to Sonic...why was Morpheus looking into this anyway? It was no longer relevant here.

"Its suspicious as to why you're bothering with this stuff though. Did everything screw up that badly?" Sonic asked as he pointed fingers.

"Hmmm..." Morpheus muttered.

"In a way it did. We escaped here thanks to Geralds power. We've spent most of our time analysing both the future and the past. Maybe we were brought here to help you save everything."

If it could get them out of this predicament sooner, then sure. But everyone loved being cryptic.

"So, as mentioned the last Emerald is here. The Green one. But it is currently stuck on the remains of the planet below. You will need help getting there though. Head to the Wisps Village in the west. From what I recall, they still seemed fond of the blue blur's salvation of their race."

It was then Gerald stood next to Morpheus, who then handed the older Hedgehog a piece of paper. Reading it, he then nodded.

"Of course. The pair of them need a guide. Gerald says he wants to help you both. If you're going down there, you'll need his help."

The two of them finished their food as they prepped to go out. What they were going find here could be anything. That meant they had to be prepared for everything. And more...


The trio headed west as per Morpheus' instruction; as well as Gerald's guidance as they ran through the plains of the lush green planet. Sonic had missed seeing the proper grass, but he could also see Amy smiling, as her attention was brought to a lot of the plant life. It indeed was gorgeous. So was the plant life itself.

He soaked in the sunlight, something he hadn't properly felt in a long time. If they weren't running, he would be tempted to lie down on a hill nearby and temporarily forget his troubles.

It was a shame that they had work to do. He would want to provide himself with time and space to suss out everything. But everyone was like Morpheus; who preferred to speak in riddles or they just didn't say anything at all.

Yes he had ignored everything because the attitude about not caring anymore didn't seem to last. Or he cared too much that he burnt himself out doing so. He'd like to think Amy was in the same boat, tired of the same bullshit they copped every single day.

Gerald...now he was a new character. Son of Knuckles and Rouge. He hadn't been prepared to see the boy this older. He was mute, reminding him of Neptune. It saddened Sonic to think that he never got to know his real parents and wondered what he thought of all these years. Did Morpheus tell him the truth? And why the hell did Morph raise him anyway? Questions that could be answered, but for now, they were irrelevant. But Sonic would not hesitate of Gerald asked about his father and what he was like. Then the guilt would pour in as Sonic wasn't in the greatest of states when he was killed. It then turned into a slight anger that had to wilfullyu put aside for now.

The Wisps Village consisted of extremely tall trees, not too dissimilar to the Enchanted Forest Zone. But lights dotted everywhere as wisps flew about, minding their own business. Although once Sonic and Amy arrived, they took notice of Sonic straight away and zoomed straight to him, overjoyed.

They still remembered him after all this time.

Sonic groaned, hearing Amy giggle in the background as they ran circles around him, giggling and making noises in their own unique language. Gerald remained stoic, although a yellow wisp seemed to check out the Bachidna at a glance, which prompted him to cross his arms and lazily watch it as it floated around him.

It wasn't until Yacker reappeared and urged Sonic to follow him. The trio then trekked through the village itself. It was a positive atmosphere, filled with good vibes.

The tree tops contained very small, circular houses as well as the trees themselves spiralled upwards, where the deeper they got, the harder it was to see the skies. But the glow about it was incredible.

It reminded Sonic a lot of the days spent wandering the old forests, but the wisps presence made everything feel at ease, a level of comfort not affording at this point.

Gerald lead them to an open area, although still surrounded by giant trees. A huge warp gate, not too dissimilar in design to the original gates used with the Sphere of Abyss, although this looked more technical and modern in design.

They could see someone working a panel nearby. They were geared up in some kind of greyish armor. They had orangish fur but had two grey ponytails, as well as actual two orange tails that faded in grey with white tips. They turned to face the trio, with their face smiling at them. One eye was bionic with a glowing blue eye and the other was like it was blindfolded by more tech. Their form was...feminine at least, going from the slight curve at the waist.

"Hiya!" She said as she waved to them.

"Didn't expect you to bring visitors Gerry..."

Going from the slight eye roll Sonic detected, it seemed Gerald hated that nickname, although he didn't respond as normal. She got up and dusted her hands before she came around and lent out her hand.

"Names Razer Rosewire-Prower, but you can call me Razer!" She announced.

Her voiced seemed so cheery and optimistic.

"Forgive my manners, but aren't you Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose?" She asked with a wink.

Sonic shook her hand, although confused. He almost jumped with the amount of force Razer took in the handshake alone,

"Sure are." He replied.

"Nice to meet you Razer...but I gotta ask. What is all of this?"

She clasped her hands and grinned. Now that Sonic had a proper look at her, she was more robotic than organic. She was very enthusiastic about the fact he even asked her that question.

"Oh I'm just fixing up the portal." Razer exclaimed, as matter of fact.

"When its reaching up to several thousand years old, you've gotta to make sure it runs with near-peak capacity. But I'm thinkin' you're thinkin' whats been going on, why have I been brought here to the future? You know? But suffice to say, it's been a long wait for your guys arrival. Been waitin' for years n' years and you're finally here!"

They had no idea what she was talking about, but if Morph's words meant anything, this was meant to happen. Supposedly. Probably.

"Time loop?" Amy suggested.

Razer nodded eagerly.

"Yup! Preparations were made! You're after the green emerald aren't you? Okay, I need to tell you the go about what's been happening so far..."

They sat down on a series of rocks as Razer prepared her story.

"Many years ago, Dark Gaia's influence prematurely rocked the world. But this was long after you and many others had gone. In preparation for this, a series of individuals cooperated together with what they knew. This had been predicted with the help of a slab that foretold these events.

My mother and father, who you may know as Glitch Rosewire and Milo Prower, did all they could to help leave a message. And that message was me. I have had other brothers and sisters, but as events turned south they consulted the slab and it mentioned an event happening five thousand years from then. They needed someone from back then to be able to observe these events. Shadow the Hedgehog was the first to volunteer, so they had sealed him deep within the Earth until the time came. But...they knew they would need a back up, so in my good nature, I volunteered as well.

I wasn't immortal. I knew that. I was a simple half breed...of Fox and Cyber-Wolf descent. But my mother propositioned my older brother to be a Guardian of the Giga Emerald. But most of the Cyber-Wolves were against it simply because we weren't full blooded. These disputes went on for months.

But...we may not have had months to spare spent arguing for or against.

A lot of the issues arose with tradition and compatibility. It divided everyone and a lot of them left the order and formed their own little group. Hence, the Cyber Wars.

Mother was still the main Guardian at the time and she commanded a lot of respect. My father Milo, brother of the famous Miles Prower, sought help from his fellow Inarians.

The Inarians weren't keen to be part of a war they didn't start, only that one of their own had been involved. But, it was said it was the Fox God, the Kitsune Kami that sided with my family and voiced words of wisdom of his own, for he also knew of this so called prediction that we desperately needed to prepare for.

Glitch and Milo worked hard and eventually, they were forced to migrate and take the Giga Emerald, as well as the Cyber Emeralds to the ARKINTRA Zone to keep the opposing Cyber-Wolves, deeming themselves the Binary Lycans who were dead set on Cyber Wolf purity and reclaiming the Emeralds.

My parents integrated the Maria AI located on the ARK into the Giga Emerald as an Avatar for it and also mainlined a way to help save people from the fated cracking.

Complications came about my freezing. Unlike Shadow, who's genetic composition wouldn't make it too much of an issue, the cyrosleep process would only last for a few hundred years without any side effects. We're talking about several thousand. Father was uneasy but suggesting turning me into a cyborg would be the only way to ensure I would last long enough without too many complications. I consented to it, knowing that it would be the only our world would truly be saved.

Cyber-Wolves have a natural life span of about 250 plus years in their state but as long as my parts are maintained just as well as this portal here, I could survive indefinitely. I have only been awake for the last decade maintaining the networks. And now you're here to collect the Green Emerald, as predicted!"

That was a lot to take in, and questions were indeed in line to ask.

"What ever happened to Shadow?" Amy inquired.

Razer sighed. It wasn't pleasant to think about.

"A lot was lost when the world cracked open, including the location of Shadow's storage. I had to pick up the remainder of the pieces and work alongside Maria herself to help with the system integrations. Even she can't find it. She was having some of the other Cyber-Wolves trying to install Server Pyres so that she could begin scanning. Dark Gaia's being was interrupting a lot of the signals. I've tried to look, but the planet in this state is extremely dangerous to navigate. We might have a few expeditions but we always come back with fewer. The others deem it forbidden to enter now." She explained.

Thousands of years planning...something was bound to go wrong it seemed.

"What about Light Gaia?" Sonic wondered. It was hard to not remember Chip as the last time Dark Gaia got out gave Sonic quite the adventure indeed.

"They...were taken into consideration, judging from the old records." Razer stated as she scratched her chin, contemplating the being.

"Light Gaia was no where to be found, although for all we know it could still be down there, fighting in its own way to make sure Dark doesn't spread out too far."

Sounds like Chip. It wouldn't hurt to check, maybe to see if the little guy remembered him.

"Then Morphy and Gerry show up of all people. Seemed to have plummeted in without warning. Would have preferred that way honestly, but the slow path needed to happen. Planet Wisps' interestingly enough had been tied to the planet in a weird way, probably thanks to Dark Gaia." Razer continued.

"Or..." Amy hummed.

"Or the Wisps knew something was wrong. Maybe they can also tell the future?"

Sonic rose an eyebrow, skeptical.

"I don't think so Ames. These guys are just filled with hyper-go-on energy remember? They could have sensed it maybe and dragged themselves to help? Ugh...where's Tails when you need em?"

"Thats right, you were friends with Uncle Miles..." Razer stated with a smile then realised she went off topic.

"Oh...yes. Hyper-go-on is foreign here. Still a source of raw power if need be. Still never understood why they had come to here even after trying to translate the text. But with your help here, we may not necessarily have to worry too much. I'll take you to see Maria, she could give us more information on the topic."

With that, Razer turned on the portal once again, using several of the Wisps to power it. She ushered Sonic and Amy through.

The ARK. Coming here again brought bad memories. Many bad memories. Although it had been altered slightly.

There was some kind of weird language plastered everywhere. Razer explained it was the Cyber-Wolf language, as most of the wolves that continued to serve the ways of the Rosewire not only had to maintain the software but the hardware as well, that allowed support of the expanded ARKINTRA.

The Cyber Wolves they went past saluted Razer, who nodded in tandem as she lead Sonic, Amy and Gerald through a series of hallways, where there more of them, making repairs to wiring or tapping away on various consoles. It was slightly brighter and a bit warmer as well. It certainly appeared warn, but it looked like they looked after it pretty well, considering the amount of years that had already passed.

They stopped in front of a Pyre, as Razer rose her hands and put them against it. Small blue orbs appeared from the palms of her hand, which then started to glow. A portal then popped out in front of them, as the four jumped in.

The world of the ARKINTRA had changed dramatically.

It was like a never ending city in the clouds that seemed to be vertically based, with some blue skies upon the horizon. Most of the platforms were circular and with hexagonal patterns with sharp metal edges. But otherwise, majority of the designs were chrome like, reflecting the light of a nearby artificial sun and adorning peculiar soft edged geometric shapes, mostly rectangular in nature and with the occasional pulsing blue lines. A lot of the buildings with linked with thin bridges and the occasional green tree, rounded perfectly, dotted against the landscapes.

They could see various species walking around, doing their own thing as they spoke to one another or they were on their way somewhere, their clothing greatly simplified. They seemed happy enough.

Some of them were on the railings and platforms above them, as they stared at the trio as they entered and walked down the paths from the portal. They spoke in hushed tones, but you couldn't hear what they were saying, although the words Maria stood out the most.

Amy stood close to Sonic, feeling slightly uncomfortable with this. Sure it looked like paradise, but something was off about it. She watched Razer go to a nearby platform and gestured them to come over. She smiled as she hand her hand on her hip and glanced upon the impossible city before them.

"ARKINTRA now a haven for the lost. "Grant Eternity to Hope." is its motto." Razer explained.

"Though some have come to calling it the city of lost souls. Once you speak to Maria, you'll know why. You might wanna slap on your adaption tech as well."

Razer went to a nearby console and pressed a few buttons. The small platform they were on projecting a metal fence around it, as it then ascended from where it was, as Razer flew them towards the largest building in the middle of the city.

The two Hedgehogs turned on their adaption tech as Amy's clothes transformed into something more befitting to this realm. Although it was tighter that what she imagined. A sleeveless, dark grey hoodie alongside long gloves that went halfway up the biceps that were adorned with pink lines of light that went down and finished at the back of the hand, then split into two and finished up behind the index and middle fingers.

Upon looking into her reflection from a nearby panel that was more mirror than metal, she could see the heavy black eye shadow, and thick eyeliner and equally thick mascara that accompanied it as well as the black, glossy lipstick Her pants were like latex as wore black boots with too many leather belts for some reason. She never understood this fashion. She then noticed the headset with pink runes and the square pink scanner over the left eye.

Sonic on the other hand wore a black jacket with blue lines down his sleeves and with a white scarf around his neck. He also donned, a similar black head set that adorned blue runes, not too dissimilar to hers but had a blue squarish scanner instead. His shoes were a shiny onyx with blue lines around them as well.

His top spike had two white lines from the tip, down around his face to his chin.

Amy then realised she was staring at him for too long. It seemed he was the same with her, as she quickly bounced back to look at the surroundings again.

They arrived at the large building. It didn't have any distinctive features, rather than the bright entrance way. It had a long bridge that connected it to the remainder of the city that was under heavy guard and it was made of interestingly shaped hard light.

Once they arrived, they underestimated the size of the entrance, as it was massive. But again, there were simple decorations, akin to the style of the place. Amy sort of knew a tiny bit of binary as certain displays were put there for show, styling different ones and zeroes as part of a holographic vertical banner.

The central room was also exceptionally large. Round and mostly constructed with a marble like material. A projected orb floated in the middle, which was a mixture of yellow and blue. Monitors adorned walls evenly, hexagonal in shape. Again, they detailed mostly code.

"Maria, got some guests for ya. Seems like the message was right." Razer said with a quick salute.

"Thank you Razer." A voice echoed. They had heard it before and yet, it sounded more heavenly and peaceful. A voice of wisdom and guidance.

The orb then moved forward as it seemed to absorb energy from the monitors. A tall, humanoid form took place of a beautiful woman with tight blue skinsuit with yellow lines that ran through from both shoulders to the hips and was barefooted. She had white chunky circlets around the wrists and ankles with yellow cores in them that spun around in circles slowly, as long, blonde hair filled the room as they exploded out from behind her, akin to cables, with light blue, shiny thin fabric connected to the circlets and intermingled with their hair.

Her face was more defined, more sharp with red lipstick and eyes a crystal cyan with sky blue eyeshadow. Amy knew who it was, but honestly couldn't believe what she had become. Maria as an adult was unknowable. She was more like a Goddess.

"Sonic...Amy...your arrival. At last." Maria voiced with relief. She certainly did sound older.

"Greetings young Gerald. Forgive the confusion, but I know your goal and I will do the best in my power to help you."

"I told them the short version." Razer explained.

"They need to know the better deets before they go out into the wild again."

"Of course." Maria noted as she slowly nodded. She raised her hand and created a projection of the shattered planet as a hologram.

"The world is just clinging onto the last bastions of hope. But sadly, even with all our tech. We couldn't save everybody."

Amy hadn't foreseen the world in this shape, although she hadn't planned on looking that far ahead.

But it went to show, no matter how advanced things were, death was inevitable in the end.

"The Emerald you seek, is in its depths. From what little I could scan, there is a dwelling upon it that has its own unique energy readings, stuck in the middle of one of the plates."

It was progress at least. A good start to focus on.

"You're not letting people go there at the moment from what we heard." Amy noted. Yes they had an idea but it seemed like it was the not exactly the safest one.

"Indeed." Maria confirmed. "The Binary Lycans have their base camp set up there. Their differences from the Guardians still burns within them to this day."

Grudges died hard as well as ever.

"But with the pair of you...you both have Chaos Emeralds on you, do you not?"

Amy looked at Sonic who pulled out the yellow, while Amy pulled the magenta one out respectively. Maria nodded as she rose her hands and scanned them.

"Yes. The essence is there." Maria continued.

"The Emeralds can call out to the Master Emerald. They confirm the theory that it is indeed within their grasp. I implore you both to trust the Chaos Emeralds instincts as they take you to the Master Emerald. From there, hopefully you'll find the green one you seek."

In a way, it made sense. If the Binary Lycans were after the Giga Emerald, of course they would need to have another energy source. With Knuckles gone, it would be hard to say how it was even protected with the lack of Guardians.

"Shade the Echidna did her best to defend it. Like with the Cyber-Wolves, Echidnas have very long life spans. She was already a fair age, due to type of cosmic energy that resided within, due to exposure of a abstract dimension. However, the Binary Lycans were persistent as they were patient, awaiting until Shade grew of old age and promptly dealt with her at her weakest." Maria explained.

Thats low. Extremely low. Amy was going to let these Lycans know a piece of her mind.

"They had numbers we didn't...and the Emerald was lost. It must now serve as their primary energy source. Some of the other Cyber-Wolves theorised that the Chaos Energies over time could potentially warp them into Chaos-Wolves. Much stronger than one would anticipate."

Like corruption, if not a little worse.

"I can guide you to the planet. I do have one Server Pyre that was able to be hidden from their sight. Razer can take you there. Gerald has excellent treasure hunting skills. He will also be able to help you track the Emerald down. First you must find the Master Emerald, presumably in the crux of the facility. From there, using the Master Emerald and some help from your Chaos Emeralds, you will then be able to find the Green Emerald. Once you have done so, you should be able to get the automatic portal back to your timeline. Or least, you may need to enact the portal yourselves."

They thanked Maria for her help, as Razer lead them to another area of the ARKINTRA Zone It looked like a long, widened corridor with a hexagonal grid pattern made of a white steel-like metal.

It was more akin to an extremely lengthy bridge. Sonic and Amy ran down, as Razer flew in front alongside Gerald.

It wasn't long until they saw enemies ahead. Robots in the shape of Mobian and regular quadruped wolves, black with glowing red eyes. The Binary Lycans must have known they were coming.

Sonic spindashed into several as Amy made several swipes with her hammer. Razer shot blasts from her hands as Gerald kicked and punched several in a row.

"So much for being hidden." Sonic commented with sarcasm.

"Damn it, the Pyres been compromised." Razer exclaimed as she blasted another robot.

"Don't let any of them through!"

The four scanned the area to ensure they weren't missing any that were coming their way. Razer kept mumbling to herself about how they actually found the Pyre to begin with. They would have to check out the security protocols currently in place.

"Gerald and I will have to let Maria know of this. We'll catch up you two later." She announced as she flew back.

Sonic and Amy nodded in sync, as they ran down the remainder of the corridor, meeting up with more robots on the way.

The eventually made it to the end, as a portal formed before them. The pair looked behind first to ensure no one else had followed them. They left the worrying to Razer. As much as security was important, their task was equally important.

They exited the Pyre without much trouble. They were on top of a tall mountain as Amy felt a chill run down her spine. Snow fell from above as Amy caught a flake in the palm of her hand. She clenched it, then looked at Sonic, who had his eyes on her. They didn't say a word, then the pair ran down the side of the mountain together.

Next thing they knew they were running the middle of a rainforest. Still intact with birds and bugs. A slice of life still existed on this ruined world. It was...actually quite nice. It sounded like home.

Even in their own time line, which was barren and the chilling sounds of the wind were more like ghosts and echoes.

It was oddly warm and humid as they stopped before a river stream to get a drink. The sun peered through the cracks in the canopy as Amy watched birds fly about. A lot of thoughts floated through her head about what species had survived and what new species came about and thrived in these fresh environments.

They slapped their morph buttons as Amy transformed her clothes into simple swimwear. A light blue two piece ensemble, with Sonic just going back to normal in his regular wear.

It was getting hotter as Amy tipped a single toe into the water to test it out as she then sat down and let both her feet be soothed by the calming streams.

Sonic just sat down next to her and stared between the river, and a few times she caught his eyes glimpsing at her. Now that she thought about it, he had been acting very weird recently. It didn't bother her too much or else she would have started to ask questions, for now, they allowed themselves to rest for the moment.

It had been very stressful lately and the fact the pair had allowed themselves this semblance of peace...of normalcy even, was a very rare event. Sonic would have had to felt the same, or else he would either ran off or begrudgingly asked Amy to hurry up.

"This is nice." She said, breaking the silence between them.

"Yeah. It is." Sonic replied. His tone was slightly less emotional, but Amy didn't want to comment. Not yet anyway.

She smiled. Sonic being Sonic, was hesitant around water as per usual. He was more...tense that she had ever seen him. Which would explain why he was being weird.

"Come on, I'm not forcing you to swim. I'm forcing you to relax." She joked.

It appeared as if he had contemplated her words. He then eventually took off his shoes, but given his body language, he wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it.

He also did the toe test. Before he allowed himself to loosen up and allow the water to wash his worries away.

But the look in his eyes told Amy he had more worries than she initially believed.

"Anything on your mind?" She questioned.

Sonic slouched as he dangled his legs and tapped his right index finger on his knee. He had trouble keeping eye contact with her, although he was more focused on looking for words to say.

"Do you think I've changed a lot since this whole thing started?" He asked her.

An odd question to state, but it did have lot of answers...some of them true.

"I know you're still Sonic if thats what you're inquiring." She replied.

He sighed and shook his head. Not what he was looking for.

"That's not what I meant." He said.

"I mean, I'm meant to be stronger than this. I often feel like I have zero control over anything anymore."

In the back of her mind, Amy knew the strange and unfamiliar haunting thoughts would crawl their way to the forefront. Especially with all the visions and unexplainable events.

"It's...it's like I want to grasp something but reality has straight up said no, you're going to put up with this bulldust, we're going to put you through so much hell, then we're going to test your mettle to see if you have the will to survive."

He wasn't the only one who felt that way. The stuff she's seen...could it even compare to the stuff he'd possibly seen. But it did bring memories from a certain past incident.

"I know when you came through my door many months back, crying, I knew something definitely wasn't right." She told him.

The tears of his face was tears of pure terror and when Sonic the Hedgehog of all people had fallen to that state, something incredibly horrible had definitely happened that forced him that way. It was something that he couldn't fight with speed or his skills. As his friend, she was glad he sought help, and a bit of her was selfish in thinking that she was glad he sought her of all people.

"I was attacked right in the middle of my noggin. But it still bugs me even now that I wasn't strong enough to fight it. I wasn't strong enough to fight Thorn. In truth Amy...you're the real hero now." Sonic acknowledged, as he turned to her.

That hit Amy deeper than she would have liked. Yes, heroism was a goal she once had but now, her priority was getting everything back to normal. The heroism would come naturally, she assumed, due to the nature of their work requiring everyone to survive...or to save as many as possible.

And to save Sonic himself.

"Don't say that." She scolded.

"You still have a lot ahead of you. You've made a lot of achievements over the years and saved thousands if not millions of people. As long as you can stand on your own two feet and use your own two hands...even if you just exist...simply being somebody can help. So when I say you're still Sonic, at the end of the day, you're the only one who can say who the Sonic the Hedgehog is."

A way to which she had fallen for him, to see his blue form that not only once gave her the power to love, but gave her strength. A beacon...and icon of hope against the rage of despair.

"You give in to doubt, then the naysayers will win."


Rewind.

The world of dreamless dreams ended as Amy found herself on a train to no where.

With nothing outside and no one else on it, only herself and the sounds of the trains clanking against the pouin from the faded windows but nothing could be seen outside. The interior had white chairs and a green floor. How uncreative.

All she could think about was the power she wielded before. Saving Sonic from the darkness. The kiss that brought him back from the brink. It was...extraordinary.

"You know this true power of the Prophets now." Said Shizaru as she appeared beside Amy, sitting down as Amy turned from the window.

"But you cannot defeat Chaoskampf alone..."

Of course. Well, Amy didn't know the exact extent about Chaoskampfs strength. She prefer to know herself to strong to defeat it, but if she needed help then she would have to find it...or accept that which had been given to her to use.

Shizaru disappeared, as Rouge took her place upon another glance.

"Maybe its not the power that you're afraid of. You're capable. But there is more...missing." She said as she smirked her usual smirk.

"I am simply missing the remaining Emerald. That's all. Then I'll be whole again." Amy stated with confidence. Or at least, making face.

Rouge leaned on the arm rest rest and had her hand holding her head as she stared at the Hedgehog, which made Amy quite uncomfortable as she crossed her legs and bounced one. She then could see Cream on the other side of the carriage, sitting down as she hummed a happy tune.

"There is something you know. You cannot see it, you cannot hear it...its that which sits upon the tip of your tongue...that which you can almost grasp. You know this. But it lies in denial. Like it always has." Rouge continued.

If...if this what was what Amy thought it was...

"You're...you're talking about..." Amy muttered as she tried to wrap her head around it.

"It cannot be replaced, or pushed away so easily my dear. We all experience it one way...or another..." The bat stated.

Sounds of boomgates blasted past as Amy looked out the window again. She gazed into the open ended fields of green. Cream then sat opposite her as she laid out the cards on the table. Amy gritted her teeth in frustration. No. She couldn't let the cards decide her fate any longer.

She fled and tried to run up the carriage to another, only... to see Asmos standing there, wearing her red dress and smoking a cigarette.

"Truth is a fickle mistress. It's not finding it but it's understanding its power. Your father knew the amount of it you would have. He had a gift, but it was never as strong as yours." Asmos said.

"Abbadonia doesn't know the truth. The lack of truth makes her powerless."

Explained why she hadn't attacked them in some time. In a weird, mental way.

The train came to a screeching halt, before Amy's world went white.

Next thing she knew, she was at a train station terminal. Tonnes of people everywhere as they walked around. Human and mobian alike. She was stuck in the thick crowd trying to find out where she needed to go. Or if she needed to go anywhere.

She felt something grab her hand eventually, as it pulled her out the crowd. She saw the draconic face of Diga, who then took Amy aside as they sat down on nearby bench as they continued to watch the crowd.

"You can travel forever like this." Diga commented.

"But you'll cling on to the journey as long you can. Because you learn so much along the way."

In the brief moments where the crowd split, Amy could see Sonic staring at the ground, before his head rose up to look at her. Amy herself couldn't bare to stare, as she tilted her head down to focus on the marble floor.

"I must be afraid of the end result then." Amy assumed, as she looked up again to see Cream in the thick crowd of people.

"Fear is truth, but truth is power. Denial is also power. The point is...is it better to live the lie instead?" Diga asked her, in all matters of seriousness.

Shadow could then be seen looking at a piece of paper in the distance.

"No lie exists if its only us that live with the lie. If denying it gave us strength, it would give us guilt too." Amy said, as she scanned Shadow as he scratched his head.

"How long do you think it could last for before it all crumbles?" Diga asked, pointing towards Abbadonia who's scaly hide was also seen in the distance, as she talked to Eggman at a table nearby. It looked like they were playing a game of chess.

"He's the only one who matters." Amy noted as she could see Sonic once again as he sat alongside Tails and Knuckles, allowing them to laugh and chat with one another. A sight she'd never seen again.

"The only one worth saving. But it is cruel and selfish. Why? Why is it that I feel this way?"

She then could see Vanilla, Vector as they met up with Cream, Cheese, Charmy and Espio.

"Because the truth is more blatant that you realise." Diga answered, as she looked up at the large monitor above them.

"We cannot see what we don't understand. It stands to show the lie has its...flaws...

Come with me..."

They had gone to what appeared to be ruins of their old civilisation. The old cities consumed by flora with the fauna left to flourish in their own way. The birds chimed on like nothing was wrong with the world. The crickets played their rhythm, like a warm summers night.

"A world this broken couldn't be saved. But it can be salvaged." Said Diga as they walked down rusted down train tracks, seeing the giant trees that surrounded them.

"If you clung on to purpose, resolve...perhaps the spirit is willing enough to give enough to let it survive."

They had to fight for everyone. For everything.

"Can I ask you a question? Actually, I want to know if I can get your consent on something..."

Here we go, here for a purpose, a reason, a want, a need and justification over everything thus far.

"Shoot." Said Amy as she followed Diga.

The Dragon spun around and crossed her arms. She had a serious look on her face as she stretched her wings.

"It's a proposition meant for the future. In the failure of salvation, that to which your purpose has not yet been made clear, even with everything laid bare, if you take the opportunity of...another life, another purpose." Diga said, although that was still left ambiguous to true meaning.

"Hold on, after everything we've done, you think...we're going to outright fail? What is this nonsense?" Amy cried out. All she heard was pure doubt.

Diga always had the air of mystery about her. That was what everyone knew. Her intentions, unknown and her words; always cryptic and unknowable. But this was extremely suspicious and outright random, but not out of her personality to ask such a question.

"Your version of success and my version are separate. Imagine Sonic and yourself, living the lives you never could. I had a feeling you wouldn't understand." Diga noted, as she looked down the tracks.

"You will ride this out, as predicted. But the road will be laid before you and when its there, you will need me to guide you."

This made her angry, as Diga's matter-of-fact attitude only reminded Amy of her mother.

It was debatable if that was a good thing, but it was not a quality trait.

"You say all this and you don't even explain what you mean. I get you're trying to help but if you give us a bit more clarity then maybe we'll go along with this oh so grand plan of yours!" Amy yelled. A little less ambiguity would be nice.

All Diga did was smirk.

"You're almost back..."

Almost back? Amy looked at her hands. Then, looked at a puddle next to the tracks. She saw herself. She checked out her eyes, ears, hair and mouth. Almost back?

"Your heart is nearly back together again. Amy Rose's minds personable retention. The House of Rosoideae...was always resilient. Or was it the Prophets who were?" Diga wondered as she tapped her face in thought.

"Perhaps we may be able to sort through some...old feelings hm?"

Another flash led them to the middle of the carriage again. She first saw Andrew as he sat there, tending to his newborn son and Amy's nephew, Aaron. Her older brother was a bit of rebel in the early days, but mellowed out over time and married Anise, who was a nice overall and seemingly somehow changed Andrew, which was surprising.

"Nothing wrong with a bit of change Amy." Andrew said as he bottle fed Aaron.

"We're all stuck in this for the long haul. I was considered to be a Prophet you know, until they deemed me worthless for the role. No skill, they said. I was kind of glad...I didn't want to be messed up in mystical crap. I for one prefer logic and reasoning so I made my own future...I couldn't be happier."

His happiness was what Amy was jealous of. He was a pain in the ass as he teased her frequently when they were kids. In a way, Amy didn't believe he deserved that happiness. She wondered what Anise saw in him and never got the chance to ask her about it. Not that they didn't get along, Amy refused to speak to her at all.

"The way you treated me...you think this is something I'm going to forgive you for for over night?" Amy chastised.

"What I did when we were kids...it was foolish." Andrew said with a sigh.

Squirting her with the hose when she told him to stop was foolish. Destroying her first set of tarot cards from their parents one Christmas was foolish.

"But I figure, this is what families do you know. Adam and Alex bicker like no tomorrow sometimes. Little Aaron here...when he gets older, I pray he doesn't make those same mistakes. He's like you, in a way. The youngest one...is always the one that gets spoiled the most."

It didn't feel that way.

"But now we're older and wiser. I know you've grown to be a beautiful, smart and strong Hedgehog. I've seen the way Sonic looks at you. It goes to show how much people can change over time, often because of love."

Although Amy had caught Sonic staring at her a few times, it was never long for Amy to analyse what he was actually thinking at the time, as he would turn away as soon as she noticed it. She would then forget about it moments later. She looked down and pondered those many times. She also pondered if Sonic himself had indeed changed. Amy once believed that Sonic did love her, for all her equally foolish daydreams had provided for her when in reality, it was never the case.

"Love isn't always the answer though." Said a more feminine voice.

Amy looked up to see Asher sitting there, as she had her legs crossed together as she smiled at Amy as she adjusted her specs.

"It's not always the solution either."

Asher had once been married and divorced a firebug like Hedgehog. He was rather violent when the split happened.

"But sometimes...it does help. It's an answer to many complicated questions that you may have asked yourself over time. No matter how convoluted they may have become."

"So..." Amy replied.

"Was love your solution to letting go of Adrian?"

Asher shrugged as she recalled the original break game scenario.

"He was far too dangerous to keep near me. Too many incidents where I caught him out on and I said enough is enough. He calls himself a hero and may have spotted me thinking he was just a bad boy I went head over heels for, but...you come to the conclusion that you have to make a stand and say no more, no matter how much it hurts." She answered in sombre.

A dangerous hero. Hmmm...

"But from my own observations, my sister, is that I know Sonic is a good person with a fantastic heart. Unlike Adrian, he intends to fix mistakes he know he has made, rather just say he did something with good intentions. A lot of people do so that and no make attempt to amend themselves."

It left Amy puzzled as to what Asher was getting at, but it did become more obvious.

"I've seen the pair of you. You have sync like nobody else. Your hearts beat as one, not to mention your vitals change every time you're with him. Been like this for years and it's a type of infatuation thats...rare to witness. Nothing I've seen since Andrew and Anise. I...I want to see you happy, little sis. Love won't always be a solution for it, but in this case, take it while you can."

Happiness through love. That's what made Amy...well, Amy in the first place. Seeing the blue blur for the first time did send her heart aflutter.

"You did the right thing in leaving while you could." Said Aceste as she appeared, taking Asher's place.

Aceste was the all around drama queen once Amy had gone. She was the one who could weave words, lines and song all together into a mystical piece of work. In a relationship with a human, Aceste would defy all that would one would expect. She would compare the work of her whole family: Asmos, an artist of combat, Aiden, an artist of architecture, Andrew, an artist of engineering and Asher, an artist of medicine. But Amy? She would consider Amy an artist of heroism, going from all the exploits she joined in with Sonic and Co.

"After dad died, mother...became a bit more relentless." Amy admitted.

"I know." Aceste said. "Mother went nuts after she found out you ran away from home. I don't blame you."

Amy was handed the Piko Piko Hammer as part of her inheritance, but then was given a set of tarot cards and was often whisked away by Muriel.

"She would still blame gran for influencing me. I'd imagine she deemed me a lost cause." Amy assumed.

Diga stopped by dressed as a waitress as she gave Amy and Aceste martinis. Aceste acknowledged this as she took hers, while Amy hesitated for the moment, before she grabbed her glass. Diga then walked off as she winked at them.

"Heh. Wouldn't be the first or last time either." Aceste stated, before she took a sip.

"Our families ten times as fucked up as one could ever imagine. That's even before going into all the prophet bullshit. I hate to admit it though, but Sonic was the best thing to happen to you."

Aceste admitted.

Amy's eyebrow rose up at the hypocrisy.

"Says you who tried to kill him and ended up nearly killing me."

"Hehe...yeah." Aceste chuckled nervously as she smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry bout that. Maybe I was jealous about all the attention you were getting? I dunno. But what I do know is that I want you to follow your heart. It's never steered you wrong."

Again with her heart. Amy rested her hand on her chest. Her feelings had returned with each Emeralds reclamation. She stared into the glass as she took a sip of her own.

"You've become a culmination of goodness knows what."

Looking up once more she could see her mother sitting there as she crossed her legs and now holding the same glass Aceste carried. Her eyes nearly pierced Amy as her expressionless face daunted her and her tone held the hint of disappointment.

"What do you mean?" Amy questioned.

"You know exactly what I mean." Asmos scolded.

"Influenced highly by those closest to you. Never an original thought or manner to be had. You let yourself become parts of everyone else. Your father, your grandmother, your friends...Sonic."

Parts of others?

"Does my youngest have something to give that hasn't already been given? Tell me."

This...made Amy disgruntled at the thought. Does her mother have anything nice to say? At all?

"I would have thought you would have become your own woman. I was wrong." Asmos continued as she took a sip.

Amy broke the glass on the table as she glared as she took out the Smish Smasher. Reality or dream...she was one ounce of patience away from a total destructive tantrum.

"I am who I am mother. I've done what you've asked and I still get no respect?" She roared.

Asmos wore a bemused smirk, unaffected by Amy's fury.

"You're like your father in tenacity, you're like your horrible excuse for a gran, dependant on the forces of the supernatural to guide your way...Rouge also gave you a bit of her training. A shame about her, she was indeed a reliable woman. But that stupid Echidna ruined everything. But she was extremely dependable. You could say she was the daughter I never had. But the Echidna had it coming as well, I suppose. Then we're left with another mouth to feed."

How dare she bring up the deceased like that? A powerful force boiled within her with only her will power preventing her from swinging her hammer at her...wait...

This wasn't real.

Why was Amy holding back against an illusion?

"I have my desire to be somebody..." Amy said, her voice calm but riddled with inflamed passion.

"Maybe to have somebody...somebody who appreciates my efforts..."

Asmos chuckled.

"Oh Sonic? Yes...he's...amusing. A worthwhile ally. His spirit is not yet broken despite all the hardships. You're nothing more than a dead weight to him."

This tipped Amy over the edge as she instantly summoned her pure form,with ribbons flying everywhere as they tore the carriage a part, but they didn't touch Asmos as she sat there with her glass. Amy screamed as she formed herself into the power of her light spirit, but it was more akin to her rage than anything else. There was nothing left until a white void was left in its place, with Asmos still in place on a broken seat.

"Now you want to harm your own mother? Amy dear I asked you a simple question. I just need a simple answer."

In no way shape or form, was a question like hers ever simple. Amy's wrath warranted her to ensure Asmos didn't even get the pleasure of giving a short answer. Her world had turned red as she screamed into the air and swung her hammer everywhere in her efforts to vent. Her screams turned to static as she thrashed about in the messed up realm.

What a mess...

But a water drop entered her ears that instantly stopped the noise and allowed her to hear more clearly. The static turned black as the world softened itself.

"Amy calm down...its alright..."

She felt something touch her shoulders. She turned to see a face she had never expected to see.

"Dad?" Amy said as she choked back on her own tears.

Her reality cracked like glass as the void broke apart.

It was then she woke in her old room, as she stared at the pink walls adorned with posters of Sonic everywhere and drawings dabbled across her old wooden dressing table. Amy walked over and sat on the old purple satin chair. All she saw in the mirror was her younger, smaller self with the spiky fur cut, orange pleated skirt and green shirt with the white collar and sleeves.

"I found you." Aiden said as he sat on the edge of her bed.

His spikes were very similarly styled to hers, as he wore a pink golf shirt and beige paints.

He smiled at Amy through the mirror. She turned around, surprised to see him there.

She got off the chair and slowly walked towards him. He patted the bed next him, as she then jumped up to see if he was real. Of course he wasn't, but...

"Atta girl. I know your mother is aggressive, but that isn't why I married her." He started. His voice, deep but comforting, was something Amy hadn't heard in so many years. He wrapped arm around her and patted her shoulder.

"Dad...it's...been too long...I've missed you..." She cried out. Her voice was higher pitched to resemble her once youthful form.

"And I have missed you, my little Rascal." Aiden said to her as he smiled.

The two embraced. Though it mean little in the scheme of things, Amy would take this moment to cherish and enkindle her frustrations. His eyes glinted, but her mind odd connections she couldn't place.

"Your mothers harsh words are just her disappointed in herself that she couldn't raise you when she could." Aiden assured.

Amy held her doubts, but nonetheless...

"Me running away didn't help matters, it seems..." Amy assumed, her tone sad.

Aiden then placed Amy on his lap, as she rested on his chest as he stroked her head.

"I have myself to blame. I allowed a lapse in judgement to get me killed. Out of all things, my regret was not getting to know you better as you got older. But you should be proud of all the achievements you have made over the years."

A words a proud father would say to a worried daughter. This was exactly how she imagined it.

It made her feel about her current situation a little bit more troublesome due the nature but at the moment she could afford a bit of familial comfort where she had none.

"I need you to know, that the story can change in a moments notice. I realise that now." Aiden admitted.

"Falsehoods become reality, if you let them."

Amy looked up at him, desperate to know what that meant.

"No one is being clear with me dad..." Amy said, as her beady eyes looked up at his.

Aiden sighed as he turned to look out the window, seeing the snowflakes that fell from outside.

"Being a Prophet means knowing when those changes take place and the actions to take to avoid total disaster. Your purification of Sonic proved that." He said wholeheartedly.

Amy blinked. This was...something. But to know is fine, its to feel... is the whole issue.

"Abbadonia needed the power of the Prophets to be one step ahead...to prepare herself and only herself. Her perception of needs and that of the world were born of selfish wants."

But his death...wasn't...wasn't he to be a Prophet too?

"I saw Mephiles kill you...why?" She inquired, hungry for the truth.

Aiden sighed as he stared at her again. She had touched a sore spot for sure.

"Mephiles is a product of time. While Abbadonia is only tied to the Prophets line, she could use alternate methods to continue to perceive any changes to the world around her. When it was clear I didn't want any part of my mothers plan, she used Mephiles to cut her losses. Asmos...your mother and I were so close to finding out more about the lineages of the Prophets themselves, so that we could steer the fates all of those doomed by Abbadonia herself."

How despicable. The stories about Muriel got worse by the moment.

"But it only lead to Muriel eventually setting her sights on you. I think... that by you following the cards to Sonic...saved your life. I am grateful to him because of that."

Unintended side effects that were positive? More benefits than she originally knew? Why couldn't she trust the cards now more than ever?

"Mother was so against the tarot cards...before Andrew tore them up." Amy admitted. Though she debated if it was the cards or Sonic himself. She had heard of him beforehand, after all.

Aiden nodded in agreement, he then frowned.

"Once upon a time, your mother did see potential in you. She still does, whether or not you don't see it yourself."

Amy heaved a huge sigh. As if she would ever believe that crock of nonsense.

"Is that why she got me addicted to drugs? What kind of sick mother would do that?"

Her dad turned his head to the mirror, namely focusing on an old family portrait. The one Christmas that had them all together, happy.

"I don't..I don't know." Aiden admitted.

"Depressants were used on her side of the family. I think. So I've been told."

Wait what?

"But there is still a part of your mother that still exists. That...that is love. Love for family. She hides it away, as she fears it as a weakness." Aiden continued.

"But you...you used to wholeheartedly believe in love. You chased your suitor to the ends of the Earth...hell, even space I hear. You loved him that much..."

Love...belief...trust. It was all she needed to go on.

"Maybe...maybe you still do. Like your mother, you hide your love away. Not for the same reasons...but for the same context."

One common thing a girl would love is if her parents agreed on the one she would choose the marry. After all, they would be in-laws to this person. But Amy knew Asmos wouldn't agree. But Amy couldn't give a stuff if she didn't approve. Knowing at least her dad approved gave Amy nothing but pure warmth.

"Do you still love him?" He asked her.

It was something that stirred in her mind for a while, although jumbled due to her mind being split. She had returned with two Emeralds after all, so that would give her a huge chunk of herself back.

She got up and went back to her dressing table. She then saw herself a little older, wearing her old red dress and the room she was in was her old apartment.

But indeed for everything that happened, past and present...the dance, the fights...together they blended very well. Andrew compared it to good change, Asher presented it as a noble quality and Aceste admitted he was the best thing to happen to her.

It did return Amy the tinge of guilt in the way she had treated him in the past. Forcing him to marry or date her. Yes there were times where she was legitimately angry with him. But...recently he had more care for her than any other occasion. Was it because they were friends? Or did he love her too? Did her own influences affect him in such a way that caused him to act so strangely?

Did she hurt him more than she helped? She did know she wanted to treat him with more respect, but her younger, more naïve self hindered it more so.

Even as her emotionless self she treated him like crap. Testing him at every turn. But she had no control over that. She couldn't have done it any other way. So now she was hungry to be whole again, so she could finally understand the full scope of her feelings.

But...if she had been truly honest with herself, even without the medication affecting her mental state, she had to dive deep enough to herself to rediscover...love.

Love like he loved to run

Love like she loved his smile

Love like she loved to help others

Love like she loved to...be with him

Love like he loved to do his own thing and be his own personalities

Love that which she had once admired.

All these justifications? She should she need them to confirm it? Or should she just know if it was? If it is and forever will be? She had been so sure and unwavering of it once for which that had been ironclad in her heart of hearts. Now doubt was her main obstacle.

"I need to complete myself first before I can admit that. It doesn't feel right. What if which remains contains something that changes that?" Amy wondered, frightened by the prospect.

Aiden chuckled and rubbed her back.

"My girl, I'm positive you would have known that by now." He assured her.

"If that's how Amy Rose is, then so be it. I can't force you to make a decision like that...now wake up dear, your beloved is waiting...and don't give into that doubt. Love is powerful enough to destroy it."


Current..

Sonic smiled warmly at her. A part of her own spirit charged with a powerful energy as he did so.

"No...you're right. I've been such an idiot..." He scolded himself.

Amy rolled her eyes but she smiled nonetheless as Sonic softly slapped his head. She could have told him that.

"I can't let it win, I know I can do this." He said proudly as he stood up and put his fist to his chest. It was a tone she missed, but she was very proud of him. The way he looked at sparked something deep within her. Perhaps, it was the fire in his eyes that were once set ablaze, returning to their natural state. A long forgotten feeling that had come back to life.

He took her hand, much to her surprise as their gear turned back to the prior cyberfied gear as they continued their trek through the forests. Even the way he ran was different. Perhaps it allowed for the winds to caress their cheeks, like a kiss from the air.

It wasn't long until they came across a large building, trapezoid in shape, with unusual geometric markings. There was no sign, only the chrome finish and the black wooden frame for the sliding doors. This had to be where they needed to be.

They hid behind one of the bushes, seeing two Cyber-Wolves, wearing bright red garb and a rifle of sorts, guarding the entrance. Rustling was heard, as the pair saw Razer and Gerald arrive next to them.

"How did it go?" Sonic asked.

"Maria's gonna work on the encryption." The Cyborg answered.

"She's investigating how they found out the entrance code. Security is extremely tight. So her advice is while we're in there, find any piece of tech or find evidence of their methods. We can't risk losing her."

Amy was curious as to the type of dependency they had on her. They had plenty of time to develop the software, she imagined, as Glitch had taught Amy a few bits and pieces of digital correspondence.

"The Binary Lycans are a tricky bunch. I'm surprised they have survived this long. So we need a plan to bypass their security and get what we need."

First thing they needed was a map to the facility. If Amy's experience taught her anything, is that they always needed to know where things were. However, getting any blueprints for this place would require them to get the data from inside first and foremost. Being Cyber-Wolves, as Razer would explain, knew all the tricks to ensure they themselves wouldn't be screwed over. They had all the skills and techniques and plans to ensure their own safety as well as they protection of their secrets.

"No doubt they'll have a camera watching over the entrance." Razer said.

"Of course." Amy reiterated. First common rule of security. Always have cams.

"Luckily I know a flaw in those cams. They can't detect anything at high speed. The FPS in them is extraordinarily low and is actually only meant to see heat signatures." The Cyborg continued.

A grin crept up on Sonic's face. He knew exactly what to do as he nodded to Razer in response. He liked this part a lot.

"Once the cams are gone, I need you to give a tap these guys, knock em out."

Non-lethal would be preferred, but Amy trusted Sonic to do the right thing.

"No problemo." Sonic replied as he saluted to her.

The rest of the first part was simple enough. Razer gave Sonic four usb sticks to insert into the cameras themselves as they were dotted around the building itself. She gave him to the go ahead as he jumped up to the roof, and promptly and quickly inserted each stick into the slots of the cams themselves. After doing so, he then stood behind the pair of Cyber-Wolves as they looked despondently away from the door as they droned on about food and lunch. Sonic shrugged as he kicked the back of their heads, knocking them both out quite easily.

"And now you can bite the dust...in a matter of metaphorical and literal speaking obviously." Sonic joked.

The other three approached the door as Razer thumbed her lips as she examined it. She went to the side as she could see a panel. She used an index finger, which then opened up into smaller cables that inserted themselves in the tiniest of spaces behind her. Her eye flickered briefly, before the doors themselves slid open.

"They try and be anti-wireless as much as possible." Razer explained.

"That will be their downfall."

The quartet entered the building without anymore opposition. Inside was barren and light filtered through from above several fans. There was a single elevator on the other side, while Razer herself went to a monitor on the right hand side of the room.

"I'll download the map first. This place has to be underground." She said.

Amy went around to watch Razer hack away at the computer. She brought up the map itself as Amy kept an eye on anything that could they could take advantage of, as well as the location of the emerald itself.

"What else do we know about these guys? Besides their hatred for the remainder of the species and their supposed 'knack' for trickery?" Sonic asked with air quotes.

"They're currently lead by a Cyber-Wolf called Qubit." Razer answered.

"Descendant of the original rebel, he's quite xenophobic, and not because I'm a daughter of two species. He hates everything that's not a Cyber-Wolf."

A racist. Who would of thought?

"Do we know how many Lycans are situated here?" Amy wondered.

"Hmmmm...hard to say." Razer said as she typed away.

"There must have been a fair few hundred back when the rebellions started. All on the same boat as their illustrious leader Hexa. Been some time since then. Some had a change of heart, but later they were exiled. Not even our people were quick to trust them. So some of them I imagine would have wandered and died alone."

Must have been hard to forgive. Harsh, but in a way they would consider fair. Amy would have given them a chance to redeem themselves. She could see Razer scanning one area in particular.

"Interesting." Razer muttered.

"They have separate vaults scattered everywhere, each with different codes and security clearances. They don't actually say whats in them...trouble is that there is a hundred different ones down there, spanning multiple levels and differing in scale."

"Anyway to nail down the room or rooms we're looking for?" Sonic questioned. He wouldn't want to spend all his time down here, barging into each room. Security would be all over their butts otherwise.

"Unless we question one of their own, we'd have to figure out if a list exists or not of what they contain. One requires violence, the other...requires sneaking. Either way, it's not gonna be a quick search thats for sure. Even downloading the map took me time to tinker with. Its not letting bypass any other networks. If we're going to get information, we're going to have to do an old fashion search."

As Sonic and Razer discussed a route they could go through in order to do this the most efficient way, Amy moved away as she herself went into deep thought. The Cyber Wolves must have had dozens of options in regards to breaches. But they only had Razer as their guide and even she was in the dark, only with her skills could they get very far.

The room got dark quickly as the lights in the room blinked. Black smoke filled the room, as Amy looked behind her to see everyone had disappeared.

But then...

Amy...

That voice..

Amy...is that you?

It was faint and distinctive, despite it being nothing more than whispered echoes.

She'd been down this road before. It wasn't new. But the voice wasn't either.


She looked to her left as the elevator had transformed into a door of light. She wasn't dead, not yet at least. She walked towards the light itself. Once she was there, her own eyes had to adjust to the scenario before her as the light faded.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared like she had just arrived back in the ARK.

She had to be seeing things. The power of the Prophets had invaded her mind once again.

She wandered around, seeing humans and mobians alike, some of them were pink hedgehogs, either working or walking down hallways. She saw a young pink Hedgehog that wore glasses, short quills on the sides but with a bun on the back of her head. She wore a white doctors coat as she walked alongside a skinny blue hedgehog, whilst carrying a clipboard. Though the blue hedgehog concerned her, she looked more gaunt. She had Sonic-like spikes. Her black floral dress looked worn though.

"May I call you Tessa?" The pink hedgehog asked.

"Sure Doctor Edenguard." The blue hedgehog replied, her voice a tad husky.

The Doctor smiled.

"We're going to get to know each other over the coming months, you can call me Muriel."

Amy almost gasped. Although they didn't seem to notice Amy there in the hallway them as they walked right past her. It indeed was another vision. She followed the pair as they walked around the ARK. Amy could see the planet, normal as ever and still together, through the windows.

"May I say thank you for participating in this procedure! I know its not something you do every day, nor is it a decision anyone should take lightly. After all, we're talking about creating the unknown here!" Muriel continued. For some reason, her voice had a slight sinister tone to it.

There was a bout of confusion as to what Muriel was referring to, but what ever it was, it gave Amy bad vibes. This Tessa didn't seem too keen either.

"Leonard wasn't so sure. I mean, It would be nice to have someone for Jules to play with..."

A flash of white transported Amy to another area. It had Tessa on a hospital bed in a dark room, as Muriel monitored her. Amy had seen the device Muriel was using, as she ran something over Tessas now exposed and bulging stomach.

"You ever think to have kids of your own Muriel?" Tessa asked as she laid back on the bed.

Muriel paused for moment as she took notes. She was clearly hesitant to answer.

"My husband and I...well, we've had to argue when and where was appropriate to start having kids. Preferably after we're done with Project Shadow." She replied, finally.

Project Shadow. The one of pure infamy. One that brought a certain black and red Hedgehog into the world.

Another flash transported Amy into another room, this time, it was a heavily pregnant Tessa with a male blue Hedgehog as they stood in one of the rooms of the ARK. It appeared to have them arguing.

"I have a bad feeling about this Tess." He told her. He wore a black jacket and a leather belt with black shoes. He...looked so similar to Sonic but his voice was low and gruffy. His spikes looked all messed up too.

"Come on Leonard dear." Tessa said with affection as she squeezed his hand.

"I'm only doing this for the money for our people. We need it."

Our people.

Leonard sigh as he shook his head as he leaned against the table behind him.

"I dunno why Gerald is so intent on this. I heard from the Fox that he found a ruin with a strange mural. Maybe his true intent is to create the perfect Hedgehog, I hardly understand it." He confirmed.

Another flash took her through to a dark lab room with a large tube in the middle that contained Shadow the Hedgehog himself, connected to various wires, as the younger Muriel and Gerald stood before it. Amy had instantly felt the chill in the room, as her senses gave an indicator on how the mood simply worked its downward spiral.

"I still feel bad about Tessa." Gerald told her.

The look on Muriel's face...Amy had never really seen it before. It was...off...

"Tessa agreed to everything. She signed up for this with her own free will." She chastised.

Gerald simply sighed. Amy knew Gerald deep down was really was a good person before he went insane. A major contrast to his megalomaniac grandson...and Muriel didn't deserve to work with him at all.

In fact, for all of Muriel's actions, Amy had a wave of regret wash over her. She never understood why she was blind to everything she did. All for what?

Another flash. What was showing Amy all of this...and why?

These moments...Shadow was Tessa's son, but...

The final room was a prison cell. Not just any prison cell.

Amy turned to see familiar drawings as she ran her fingers against the rough concrete. No...this wasn't...

"The past is a lot more complicated that it seems, Amy Rose." Said a familiar voice.

She turned around once more, seeing Shadow before her. She noted the fact he wasn't wearing any gloves or shoes and his face was completely gaunt and his eyes bloodshot red.

"What...whats going on?" Amy inquired as Shadow got closer to her.

"I know my true purpose now." said, his voice low and almost monotone.

You're here...and you're perfect."

Amy pulled out her hammer in defence. This wasn't right at all. Was this even Shadow? She'd chalk that up on the list of things that never made sense lately.

"Abbadonia has no control. No one has control. We need to put Order to Chaos." Shadow balked.

Those words again. Words she hadn't heard for a while.

"You do not know your even after the Cracking of the world, this is my purpose. To bring back the stars to form life once again!"

Amy shook her head. From what she understood, Shadow was created from the DNA of Black Doom to get him Earth for his own children to feed on. What else was there from that?

But she did recall her dads words. About how the story changed and she should have the power to counter-act. Best she could do is get as much information about this so she could better prepare for the worst.

"When you say that...'To bring back the stars to form life?' What does it mean?" She asked him.

He laughed. His smile creeped her out as he staggered towards her, making her grip onto her hammer all the tighter. Before she could even react, her leapt at her and crushed his lips against hers.

She felt conflicted as he did so, as her world seemed to shatter before her, feeling incredible pain in her head as Shadow moaned into her mouth.

She tried to push him away, even whack him as she dropped her hammer to better get him loose.

He ended up punching her to knock her to the ground. He then crawled over her and put a hand on her stomach.

"There's this incredible feeling of knowing purpose. Knowing where you came from and knowing there was more to life than being used." He muttered.

Amy was literally too stunned to move as her breathing got heavier with fear, but she kept attention on his words as they littered from his lustful mouth. While she was terrified out of her mind, she had to cling on to information. This wasn't real at all. She knew that. This was just a terrible, terrible nightmare.

"Then...what is your purpose?" Amy dared to ask.

Honestly, she didn't want to know but she had to, for their missions sake. He put his head to her ear.

"To creat-"

"HEY GET OFF HER YOU CREEP!" Yelled a voice nearby.

Shadow looked to his side as he was met by a powerful blast of energy which forced him off Amy as he hit the nearby wall with a mighty thump. Amy herself was surprised by these events as a gloved hand with two spikes on the back reached out to her as her eyes met with a pair of purple ones, surrounded by a sea of red.

"Knuckles?" She said in disbelief.

She took his hand and stood beside him as Shadow got back on his two feet.

"This isn't your place Echidna. We were in the middle of doing something incredible!" Shadow balked.

Knuckles growled at him as he stomped the ground, creating a large crack beneath them as he stomped with great force.

"Yeah with your insane logic. Go back to your ditch!" He ordered as the crack grew larger, which swallowed Shadow whole as he disappeared.

The black smoke faded as the room semi returned back to normal, as Amy still couldn't see the others.

Upon closer inspect, Knuckles seemed to be wearing an unusual type of garb. It was like a black shitagi with white trimming. He crossed his arms as he looked at Amy.

"You alright?" He asked her.

She blinked twice before she nodded. What was going on? Wasn't he...no not this again!

"I...should be fine. Any idea whats going on here? Why was Shadow like that? How are you here?" She questioned, hungry for answers.

Knuckles sighed as he walked over to the door.

"Shadow was frozen for longer than he should have been." He explained.

"I don't understand much of it myself, but what ever happened, it turned him insane. I sense a dark influence on him. A corruption maybe. His aura is twisted and may need purification. I'm close to finding out the truth though."

Insane is an understatement. But why and how Knuckles came here needed to be clarified too.

"Did...didn't you..." Amy stuttered as struggled to say the words she wanted.

Knuckles closed his eyes as he teleported them both to an open field. She recognised the ruins here.

The Master Emerald Shrine. The skies were blue and the Shrine looked like it had renovations as well, sporting a gazebo like design over the Master Emerald itself.

"I did...but the Master Emerald brought me back as its Avatar, like Tikal before me."

He explained.

"But the Binary Lycans have me contained in their core as their power source. I can only reach you with the Chaos Emerald in your possession."

Explains how they had their source of power. Amy felt horrible for letting him die in the first place. He walked up to her and wiped a tear off her face with his hand.

"Hey, don't feel bad." He told her as he smiled.

"If its any clarification, it was your idea to bring my body back to the Master Emerald...or...have you yet to do that?"

Her idea? She didn't have time to think of that, nor would she have known to do so.

"No, Sonic and I were forcibly brought here straight after...what ever we just went through."

This hurt her head. Although, it would make sense. Her Prophet side said so.

"Anyway, so you're here for the Green Emerald I presume?" Knuckles asked. Although he appeared just as stumped as she.

"Yeah we are." Amy answered.

"Just didn't expect you to pop out of nowhere."

He laughed at the notion.

"After all the time Sonic's done stuff like that, it's good for me to surprise people sometimes. I'm a spooky ghost all all! Take that Pumpkin Hill!" He joked.

Amy rolled her eyes. Yes...he was in good...spirits. Why that pun was good and bad was beyond her reasoning however. She then told him they were struggling to sort through the vaults and where certain elements were.

"I see. Well the Green Emerald...hmm...I know Qubit has that locked up in the level E vaults from what I could sense. Shadow's got chaos composition so he's been sealed up in one of the G vaults. That's mostly for the dangerous items in their possession. I'm directly in the middle of the C vaults. But you're gonna have problems with Qubit, he's always in there. He's a bit obsessive. Bit like someone else I know."

Was that a jab at...her?

"Oh thanks Knuckles, I specifically came in here so you could pick on me." She said sarcastically.

He smiled once again. His...demeanour was odd. Cheerful Knux was a rarity on its own, if he wasn't so frustrated. Last thing Amy knew was that he was quiet and desired nothing more than to no one to speak to him. Now, he was extremely relaxed and jovial. She envied him.

But she couldn't be angry with him, especially with him being this helpful. It was good to get through the guess work and make beeline for the core goal.

"No worries Amy...just...wait, whats the aura you have with you, Sonic and Razer? Its...oddly strange yet...its got boundless Chaos energy as well!" He asked.

Oh...she didn't realise. He didn't know? How could she put this to him.

"Knuckles...that's Gerald." She said, slowly. "Your son."

His expression turned from confused to utterly dumbfounded...to a massive smile on his face.

"My...son? Here's here? He's alive after all this time? Oh but..." He said as he trailed off.

Amy explained everything that had happened until that point, including Morpheus' involvement.

"I see." Knuckles said, understanding.

"He's a little less weird than Shadow is right now, but seeing my son again should bring me nothing but joy. But I never got to raise him or know him. Frankly, I don't even know what I should be feeling. But...it gives me an idea. If you can, I need you to get the Master Emerald out of this facility somehow. I know its connected as the main power source at the moment, so I don't know how you'll bring it out without cutting off everything in here. But I'm a hundred percent certain you'll figure something out."

They would consider it. After all, they're prefer the Emerald out of nefarious hands. She'd have to ask Razer if there was anyway to save it.

"I'll send you back now Amy...tell the others. Good luck."


"Amy?"

Amy opened her eyes as Sonic looked over her. It appeared she'd fallen on the ground as Sonic helped her get back on her feet. She felt drowsy all of a sudden.

"Knuckles...wait..." She muttered.

Sonic looked deeply concerned as they got her to sit down on a nearby chair. She felt his piercing stare, his eyes all over her form, born out of worry.

"You okay Ames?" He asked as he kneeled down on one knee beside her.

She then paid more attention as her mind matched up with her bodies version of reality.

"What did you see? Knuckles? Where?"

A vision of utmost importance of course as Amy explained everything to them, especially what Knuckles had become. Sonic was, of course, a trifle uncomfortable with the whole Shadow scenario as well as being shocked about Knuckles strange survival. Then again, Tails did it, so did Knuckles.

He severely underestimated them. The only thing Amy didn't mention was the whole ARK part. She had no idea how to approach that. It wasn't that important. Not yet, anyway.

"Well I'll be." Razer commented. She then turned to Gerald and placed a hand on his head.

"Thats your daddy Gerald. Isn't that exciting?"

The young hybrid didn't know what to think. Then again, he never spoke, making it harder to understand how he took the information. Was he happy? Angry? Sad? His stoic notion didn't tell them anything.

With Knuckles info and Razer's access to the maps, it was now easier them to centre on where they needed to be and where they needed to go. She brought up a series of vents that went through the facility and connected them to the rooms they needed to go to. The E vault was where they needed to be, but then they would have to get the Master Emerald somehow.

"Sounds like there'd have to be a temporary power source that would give us enough time to go from C to the top level." Razer stated.

"We can go get the Emerald first on E. Then make our way to C. But do you think any of the vaults would contain anything valuable stuff like say, this supposed source?" Sonic wondered.

If they were lucky, yes. Knuckles did say he couldn't say much, rather than where Chaos Energies were namely being detected from.

"I could go straight to C myself. Perhaps I may be able to get an idea of how the generators work." Razer said.

"But Knuckles said Qubit was there all the time." Amy told her, worried especially about Qubits...personality.

Razer smirked and crossed her arms.

"Bah...I can handle that piece of junk data." She boasted.

"I've been meaning to speak with him anyway. I'd rather get info from a live body than a useless corpse."

Their arrangement had Razer doing exactly that. While Gerald was small enough to go through the ventilation shafts in search for anything else that could help them in any of the vaults. While yes, the Lycans were clever enough to ensure they weren't completely hacked, it seemed like their physical security lacked as a result. Their real downside.

Qubit must have been paranoid to the extent of cyber thievery being their main concern. From what little Amy knew about them, they were generally in between physical and data based forms, but digital warfare was their speciality.

Sonic and Amy took the conventional route down the Elevator, while Razer found an entry point for her to invade on a software level. She decided to find an entrance for her to exploit, in case there were more flaws in their systems. She did find, however while yes, wireless entry was not available, by going old school, it actually ensured everything was connected on a much more stable level. The only difficulty she would have would be firewalls.

This also allowed her to give Sonic and Amy clearance to go down to E level without much hassle. Razer didn't explain why, only that their systems were extremely outdated.

It became apparent that this lift was also outdated technology as it rumbled as it went down very slowly, much to Sonic's dislike. But Amy still caught his stare as they leaned against opposite walls.

"You've gotta tell me when you lapse into these visions of yours." Sonic told her.

It was nothing she could help anyway.

"These things happen." Amy responded.

"I'm sorry..."

"No...I'm sorry." Sonic said as he sighed.

"It's just...its great you have this amazing ability that can help us, but I...well, I worry about you sometimes."

Amy felt a shot in her heart as he said that. Of course he cared, they were friends!

"I'm fine Sonic." She told him. It did make her uncomfortable to talk about it, as it brought it in painful memories and the illusions of the more welcoming ones that weren't real.

"Maybe I worry about you too much..."

Sonic chuckled.

"Goes to show how much we care huh?" He pointed out to her.

While Amy did tell Sonic about Shadows appearance in her vision, she also didn't mention how he forcibly put himself onto her. He didn't need to know that. She didn't want him to pull out all stops to...well, hurt Shadow because of it. She'd have to deal with it when the time comes.

But the visions of Tessa and Muriel were equally disturbing. Perhaps...she could make some mention.

"I also saw Muriel." She told him.

Sonic blinked. It'd been a while since they'd seen her grandmother as she met her demise during the transfer process from host to host.

"I have a feeling she was never with the good guys."

Sonic pondered those words for the moment, trying to think of something to say. He clicked his fingers as he had a revelation.

"Say, that backs up the story Aceste told us about your father. You know, how Muriel was trying to transfer Abbadonia to him? Maybe she'd planned this for a long time." Sonic noted.

He had a point. It did fit together. But how much of Muriel was Muriel and how much of it was Abbadonia's influence? She may never find out. But Abbadonia was an immortal demon. She'd have years of experience on how to manipulate people, as well as the patience to wait things out, for like, hundreds if not thousands of years. Her cunning would be one for the ages.

"It's nothing but a game to her. It's a shame no one else realised this until it was too late." Amy commented.


Gerald shuffled about in the vents. He did sense multiple sources of energy using his treasure tracking skills but they were mostly old pieces of preserved tech that didn't look like they were strong enough to maintain power levels of a great magnitude.

But his father was here. The one he'd never think he'd meet. Morpheus would show him old pictures of his parents. But he did feel a whole slew of emotions upon the reveal. He should be glad but he was filled with anger and discourse.

Why didn't he bother and try and contact him throughout his life? He didn't understand. If he was still here then why didn't he try to?

All Morpheus mentioned was that Knuckles was the Guardian of the Master Emerald and his mother Rouge worked for a military organisation and that he'd picked up both of their talents as a treasure hunter. Not just any treasure hunter, but one with extraordinary senses.

Though Morpheus had used him for his...other, lesser known purpose. The ability to 'delete' or at least, shut down others. To eject people from this...reality. Morpheus had insisted that he was not killing people, although that is how Gerald really saw it. He was terrified of this power and never liked to use it.

For now, he'd work for Morpheus, Maria and Razer until something else better came along.

He was told about Sonic and Amy, both powerful individuals. Sonic, an ancient hero of ages who used to save the world quite often, and Amy, a beautiful hedgehog with the power of a Prophet, a being who could see things that occurred in various spots of time. She herself contained a lesser known power, according to what Morpheus told him.

He could resonate with her at least. Confused at the world around them and wondering what their real purposes were. Sonic was nice enough, considering he was a friend of his father. If his mutism didn't exist, he would pry Sonic to know what his parents were like, since Morpheus would only give small amounts of detail, but Sonic would be the one to ask.

Or even Amy. After all, she outright confirmed he was alive...in a way. A desire rose to get answers.

He must of shuffled around for some time, going up and down vents and in his thought trail he almost forgot where he was. He did detect an interesting source of power and he decided to go investigate it.

He found a grate as he kicked it down with his might. He jumped down and looked around the room.

A tube with green fluid held a dark figure inside. Morpheus had shown Gerald images of important people in his life time and he knew this one to be Commander Shadow. He went to a nearby screen to pick up any information about him. Orange and red text popped up, as the red text warned him of danger as the orange text described the subject as well as notes about advising never to open the chassis until further notice.

He was an ally back in the day, but from Amy's words, this version of Shadow was...slightly insane? It was hard to say, since it couldn't be outright confirmed.

A laser sight peered over the glass as Gerald turned around, seeing a giant black and red robot aiming its arms at him.

"Unidentified subject located. Proceed to annihilate!" It roared in its robotic tone.

Gerald flew upwards as the robot fired at him. There was too little room to manoeuvre nor was there was much cover to use. The robot continued to fire as Gerald struggled to keep his speed and agility up. The Bachidna then dropped behind him and kicked him from behind, sending it flying towards the chassis and shattering the glass. Green liquid spilled everywhere as a siren sounded briefly until the liquid was gone.

Shadow woke up shortly after, as he saw Gerald as he stood there. He could immediately tell something was wrong in the Hedgehogs eyes...bloodshot as he grinned deviously. Black gas then filled the room as Shadow vanished into it. Gerald kept his eyes and ears out as he still sensed the immense power that filtered in the room so suddenly.

"You are...Gerald I presume? Such a prestigious name..." Shadow said, as his voice echoed throughout the room.

"You've grown. If only your parents were here to see you in the flesh...if they were nothing but recycled air..."

Gerald cared not for his taunts, but for that it was clear that he indeed was corrupted.

He used his scanner that was attached to his ear and out popped a tiny screen in front of his left eye as he analysed the data in front of him.

The corruption levels were through the roof, alongside Chaos energy levels.

"Make friends with Omega why don't you? I have other matters take care of..." Shadow noted as the robot turned itself back on again. The black gas dissipated as Gerald stared Omega down.


As Sonic and Amy arrived to level c, the Pink Hedgehog shivered as she rubbed her arms.

"Brr...why is it so cold here?" She wondered.

Sonic agreed as he rubbed his hands together. Must have had some important frozen stuff here they don't want wandering about too much. Turns people off from the area altogether.

"No idea." He answered.

"Lets keep moving."

There were so many ironclad doors with numbers and letters engraved into them, that it was hard to know where to go first. They didn't have the time to go into each and every room. But if they had to...

There were Binary Lycan soldiers on the patrol as Sonic and Amy hid behind a wall. He counted about two that he could see walking back and forth. He could also see the cameras on the roof as well, making it all the harder to go about undetected. Sonic had few ideas to go with, as Razer would have had to have dozens of those sticks to jam the cams themselves. He then turned to Amy.

"Any ideas?" He whispered.

"We wipe them out but the cameras remain." Amy replied.

"Try and contact Gerald in the shafts. I remember the map saying there was a security room...but..."

Sonic tried to understand why that was a bad thing, going from Amy's saddened tone.

Then..

"Oh...Ames, I'm sure Gerald can handle himself." He assured her.

"I don't think anything can be worse than Elise..."

Their attention was turned to the lights flickering, leaving the Cyber-Wolves confused. The lights then cracked and sparked as they went out. The whole hallway went dark as screams and yells echoed onward, as Amy jumped and made several attempts to grab Sonic's hand out of fright.

"That's not good..." He said with a severe understatement.

Amy got closer as Sonic felt her grip on his hand tighten as she shivered.

"Something dark is in here, I can feel it..." She muttered.

Sonic knew what was up next. He wondered if they could take advantage of it.

"Anything your overseeing eyes...well, see?" He asked her.

She was silent...you couldn't even hear her breathing.

"Ames?"

He looked at her, as her eyes were glowing as her expression remained still. She started to walk forward slowly, but she still had Sonics hand in hers as she took him down the hallway. Sonic himself had a hard time seeing, but he trusted Amy implicitly in this situation. It got colder as they went on, as Amy's other hand was busy tracing itself over the left wall, running it over the doors as if trying to sense something behind each of them.

They stopped over in C-08. Sonic examined it himself and wondered if she found something. Though Sonic noticed an odd smell that became unpleasant very quickly. Amy turned and brought the magenta chaos emerald and used it against the lock against it. It wasn't long until the door opened. Sonic took no delay as he took himself and Amy inside and closed the door behind them.

The lights flickered on themselves as they came into a room with many cargo boxes but had a pedestal with an odd ring on top. It was silver but with a big round stone next to it. Amy shook her head as she came to, not realising she had the emerald in her hand.

"Being a Prophets weird." Amy commented as she put the Emerald away, then scratched her head in the confusion.

Sonic smirked. She took this in greater stride than he expected her too. Perhaps he should as well.

"Yeah you're tellin' me." He said.

The pair took a look at the ring. To Sonic, he could have sworn he'd seen it before. Amy took it from the pedestal and ran her fingers over what appeared to be ancient mobikian text.

"Possibilities are never ending." She muttered.

"It does radiate...positive energies at least."

Fascinating...if it really meant anything. Sonic then detected that the yellow emerald was glowing. He brought it out to check on, only for the Emerald to rapidly grow brighter, then spurt out energies into a familiar face.

"It's a Gaia Pearl!" Tails announced as he looked at it.

Sonic almost forgot the Godlike Tails...or the God Tails who lived in the yellow Emerald. After their last encounter, it became hard for Sonic to wrap his head around the whole concept of Tails being a literal God for his people. If anything else, he wouldn't choose anyone else for the role. Plus being friends with one did help...sometimes.

"Yeah you appear at the most appropriate moments." Sonic said with sarcasm.

"Uhh..yeah..." Tails chuckled, albeit nervously.

"I'm not allowed to interfere too much. God Rules n' all."

At least he wasn't boasting superior authority and making everyone worship him.

"But this place has so many ancient energies...actually too many in one place. I wonder how long it took for the Binary Lycans to get them all!"

It made Amy ponder and hum at the thought.

"Ancient Energies? Doesn't sound like it'd be an easy task to get them all."

It didn't take long for Razer to get access to the main chamber, where the Master Emerald was located. Security was not as tight as she expected, or they simply had grown lax over the years.

She'd survived years of onslaughts, generation after generation where Maria had needed her help. In times of peace, she was allowed to slumber and preserve her strength.

To become this...who she had become, it was not an easy decision to make. A sacrifice of epic proportions but she knew it had to be done. To protect eras worth of data and memories. All for a pair of Hedgehogs who were riddled with tension and mystery.

The Master Emerald was placed in a mock shrine as Razer stood in the shadows, in awe of such an object. Once guarded by Knuckles the Echidna, now powers the premise they now stood in.

She only knew of the Giga Emerald, a cyber version of equal power. Why would they still need the Giga Emerald if they had this? Pride?

She wasn't affected by the slurs all that often by their ancestors, but in her current state she could understand if they thought nothing more of her than a freak. She resembled a monster more than a combination of two mobian races.

She saw Qubit walking around with a glass of scotch. He liked to drink a lot and scotch was scarce. While Cyber-Wolves mostly catered themselves with artificial foods, they never really ate too much. In this day and age they rationed constantly. But Qubit had the luxury of leadership and a cellars full of old foods and drink, frozen in time. She wondered if it tasted good.

His appearance was scruff. The usual blackish gray fur as he had a scar on his right cheek and eyes as navy as most Cyber-Wolves. But he wasn't anything spectacular

Old doubts riddled her mind, to see if the past was much better. The occasional dip in thought inside nostalgia made her miss her old life. But she was determined to see this through.

"I hope you're happy..." Qubit said to the Emerald with a slur.

"We're trying to change the world and you're not doing a damn thing!"

She wondered what he was talking about.

"I mean, we've been hoarding ancient artifacts and all you do is sit there and refuse to work with us. Providing power is nice but come on...you...you want sacrifices?"

Razer rolled her eyes. He was obviously off his nutter. She had to intervene. She got up from the shadows and walked behind Qubit, pitying him even more so and placed a hand on his shoulder. He immediately jumped with fright and almost dropped his drink. He pulled out a laser weapon and aimed it at her.

"Geez how in the Recycling Bin's name did you get in here?" He balked.

She didn't have to be honest.

"Pathetic security." She answered.

"I'm not here to hurt you...at least, not yet. I'm willing to negotiate with you in regards to some of the specimens you hold here."

He was tempted to through his glass at her, but instead drank the rest of it and placed the empty cup on a nearby table as he wandered around the room.

"Hah...good one half-breed." He mocked.

"You think we're that stupid?"

Obviously.

"I'm certain you have your orders. But the world is gone to Dark Gaia. Literally and your little rebellion here is nothing more than an unnecessary millennia old grudge simply because of a few decisions made by your ancestors. If anything else, the rest of the Cyber-Wolves would prefer peace and would more than likely accept you back into the fold to serve us." She offered. It was worth a shot.

He grumbled in response.

"I shouldn't be disappointing the oath my ancestors made." He told her.

"To uphold the Giga Emerald in the name of the User, and the Cyber Emeralds to contain the processors. Instead you have that abomination of a human AI thinking itself as a God in place of the true User."

Cyber-Wolf mythology would dictate that the User was a powerful God who created Cyberspace as well as the Cyber races that dwelled within it. The User was able to mold Cyberspace to their liking as a gift on the grounds it would never fall to corruption. The first Cyber-Wolf became its Guardian and would be granted all the abilities that would be passed onto its descendants. Half-Organic and Half-Program flawlessly integrating into any kind of tech with an electrical current and granted knowledge of code and hardware.

Placing the Maria into the Giga Emerald was seen as heresy to the select group of Cyber-Wolves, while others believed it was time to let others ascend to their level. Maria had brought many of them together in near perfect harmony.

"Maria's been nothing but a blessing to our people." Razer commented.

"She's saved countless others and gave them an eternal paradise in the Digital Realms."

Qubit spat as he stood on the steps before the Master Emerald.

"Such ascension should never have been granted. Other species risk corrupting our precious gems." He chastised.

"They would have been better off dead and praying to their own damn gods for mercy."

It was true a few objected to the idea, especially with those with other religious hierarchies in mind. But people were not forced to ascend. That was one thing Maria insisted on. That they were given a choice to join.

"We would lose who we are. For their souls to be nothing more than something as simple as rewriting their code. They're no longer living. Just...soulless AI's that think they are real."

Razer didn't care. They existed. They had their own thoughts and feelings. Does that not warrant a soul?

"Even you. You won't accept death in the long term and you've become a relic of the old times. Yet, you are both of flesh and steel and of sound mind and body." Qubit continued.

"I still serve the will of our ancestors." Razer pointed out with pride.

"My mother was a previous Guardian and told me that the User would allow us to maintain ourselves. That all Cyber-Wolves who die in service would give everything back...all of our data, back to the Giga Emerald so that the knowledge can be shared with later generations."

Qubit sighed. He walked over to a neaby terminal and ushered Razer to follow.

"I will acknowledge that you will continue to be civil. I want you to see something interesting I've found."

That was a switch.

"As long as it's not a trap, I'll do anything to convince you."

The pair then warped into the Binary Lycans local intranet. Code made up walls and floors and many a door as Cyber-Wolves pottered about. Qubit walked her down a hallway, with many eyes upon her and many a gasp to be had upon her appearance.

He lead her to digital vault as he opened the door, revealing a room that was filled with floating monitors that had donned text and imagery.

"Each leader of the Binary Lycans left behind information that had been found in the forbidden depths of Cyber space." He revealed.

"Stuff that your people never wanted people to see...stuff that been left behind in ages past by civilisations before us. Old conspiracies, research...some of it is useless but over the generations we've been compiling crucial data that lead us to believe there was much more here than we thought."

Razer would have imagined it as such. Nothing was ever just...simple. Time never dulled that notion.

"A being that kept cropping up was a Dragon known as Diga." He told her. Images of the woman popped up on some of the monitors.

"A Dragon Monk that has worked alongside many over time. She holds the power of time and space without using an external source. We've been trying to reach her for assistance but much like the Master Emerald, we've ever only been met with failure."

Razer knew Diga from back in the day, but not personally. Diga had helped Razer with the whole process, alongside other personnel involved with the cyborg transformation deal.

"She had been working alongside Shadow the Hedgehog, an immortal being you may know from your time." He said.

Yes. Of course. They were part of the original Rozen Resistance after all.

"He's down here, I know." Razer revealed to him.

"Maria seeks his release, although, according to some sources, he's gone a bit mad."

Qubit nodded.

"I researched Shadow and his enigmatic history. Born from the DNA of Black Doom, but access to the crux of history was locked away in the ARK. We became...fascinated with a lot of the assumed data in place. A lot that was tucked away in an old robot friend of his."

If Razer recalled correctly, that had to have been Omega. Omega was given a portion of instructions to remain in standby to protect Shadow's chassis until they were due to awaken. As well as Shadow's original creation story still stayed in her mind.

"My mother told me that Shadow was created in order for Black Doom to have a helping hand in taking over the planet. But Gerald Robotnik then rewired him to save it from Doom instead."

She stated. Shadow did eventually defeat Doom as well.

Qubit chuckled.

"The truer version is a lot more complicated. We found files written by Diga herself, that indicate that Doom was preparing the planet, for the Demoness Abbadonia instead and he himself was in fact created by her. But they had come across two unfortunate problems."

Abbadonia. She was never able to properly conquer the planet due to a object of her needs having disappeared and was never able to be found again. As a result, the host Eggman died and her energies were dispersed and never to be seen again.

"Black Doom was a much more humbler alien previously known as Bright Peace. Abbadonia first invaded their planet and succeeded in corrupting the species in its entirety. The race was known for its apt control over Chaos Energies. But the energies were lost in the war between the new Black Arms race against the old race whose name is now lost in time."

Abbadonia had done this before. She sure was cunning enough to warp entire races to do her bidding.

"Next on her list was the planet Kronos which contained the ancient Rosoideae race of Hedgehogs who once lived there. It was eventually known as Little Planet. She had instructed the Rosoideae via Black Doom to invade Mobius and obliterate the Stupilities and gave them Abbadonia Roses to use as a control method for them, at behest of the Sister of the King, who had no desire to wipe an entire race and granted them sanction as servants of the Rosoideae. The sister then became known as the first Prophet, although she was in fact the original Guardian of the Time Stones, which was what Abbadonia needed in her conquest as well."

Convoluted much?

"Kronos, or Little Planet, was an odd moon that was tethered to Mobius at the time. It's debated as to of the Rosoideae originated on there or if the Time Stones brought them to it. Nonetheless, they eventually took over the old Stupilite kingdom after their defeat and made the Garden of Rosales. But then..the most heinous crime had been committed. A Stupilite had consummated a relationship with a Rosoideae Elder and gave birth to a child of two worlds. They responded by killing off the child and mother, as well as Abbadonia corrupting the Elder as punishment and turned him into a servant. He became known as Mephiles."

Mephiles...the Dark?

"Mephiles became loyal only to Abbadonia as he told him the secrets of both the Rosoideae and the Stupilites. It was then apparent, to Diga as she wrote this down to study Black Doom of what their intentions were..."

This became infinitely more interesting by the moment.

"Black Doom was a servant of Chaos and Mephiles became a Servant of Kronon. Abbadonia's goal was to attain the Purest Power...an incredible energy that is a combination of multiple energies to surge her goal into godhood. With Black Doom as Chaos and Mephiles as Time, she then needed more energies to accumulate and their respective Guardians in order for her to achieve this. Seven in total."

Chaos, Kronon...Cyber...

"So you're accumulating the seven powers to...achieve Godhood like her?" Razer inquired.

Qubit chuckled.

"Diga's texts mentioned others such as Dream Energy, Hyper-go-on, Gaian and Sol Energies. Rounding them gives us an idea of what energies to search for."

How come they never knew this before? She had to get this information to Sonic and Amy asap.

"Chaos and Gaian were easy enough. Hyper-go-on is easily obtained by the Wisps from their planet. Sol Energies have proven elusive. Dream...is difficult which is obtained from a more obscure source...as for Kronon..."

Sol energies sounded familiar. Razer understood that there was a Cat Princess from another dimension that held similar powers. Goodness knows what happened to her.

"So what have you been doing then? Drinking till your throw up?" She criticised.

Qubit just sighed.

"I'm just another in the long line of losers waging a stupid ass war when we should be aiming for ways to get the planet back together. The Giga Emerald should be able to let us cultivate enough energies to do so. But your teams...its as if Maria doesn't even care! She's too machine to even understand whats at stake. She prefers ignorance over reality. You yourself, you may seem...immortal but you are flesh and blood in some respects. Like the child of the Rosoideae and the Stupilite..you are truly a child of two worlds that must being able to see the truth...the whole truth even."

He had a point. Data is data but being born conventionally is also important. She had forgotten what it was like, to be mortal.

"The world will continue to turn even in this state, so must we turn to create a better future for our own children..." Qubit pleaded.

A buzzer beep on his persons. He clicked the device attached to ear.

"Yes this is Qubit...what is it Mac? What? He's escaped? By the User...alright be right there!"

Razer blinked several times as Qubit began to panic and breath heavily.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

The male Cyber-Wolf ran his hand through his fur.

"Shadow's escaped his confines. Damn it!" He answered.

This couldn't be good.

"Follow me!"

Amy froze in place as Sonic examined the Ring with Tails. She sensed the darkness pervading the area as she walked towards the door. The chill had gotten worse as she sneezed.

"Gesundheit!" Sonic said in response.

"Whats up Ames?"

Ignoring the fact Sonic spoke a bit of German, she ran her hands over the door like she did before. She had dark feelings over what was beyond it. She dared not open it, not until they figure out what it was. Although, it was like the vision of Shadow and the black mist that surrounded him and his arrival.

Tails also donned a concern expression.

"Its not good." He commented.

"There's an evil in here. We can't let it get the Ring. Sonic, take it. Go up into the vents above us. Hurry!"

Tails went back into the Yellow Emerald as Sonic put the ring on his wrist, then dragged Amy away from the door. He moved a few crates around the room. He climbed up and removed the grate from the vent itself and dropped it on the floor. He turned to see Amy still staring at the door from where he left her.

"Come on Ames, we need to go. Now..." Sonic called out.

"There's no time for visions!"

"Shadow..." Amy whispered. But Sonic was right. She shook herself out of it and took Sonic's hands as they both went into the vents.

What ever the Chaos was going on, they needed to contact Razer for more info. Sonic tapped onto his ear to reach her.

"Sonic to Razer, you hear me?" He asked.

"I hear you." Razer replied.

"Shadow's on the loose. I need you and Amy to come to the Master Emerald Chamber. I've got Qubit with me. Have you seen Gerald at all?"

Poor Gerald, unable to communicate verbally. Amy couldn't bare to see anything happen to him.

"No we haven't." Amy replied, sadly.

"What's going on?"

Generally, they were all terrified. Amy just wanted to know how Shadow had even got to this point. Going from the visions, while they were confusing, she had a desire to pry into the inner depths of his mind, perhaps bringing on the same powers as before, like she did with Sonic and perhaps purify him somehow.

"Just get here, we'll tell you everything."

The pair shuffled through the vents for about ten minutes, navigating the complex constructs. Amy was hesitant to leave the vents, but she heard whispers constantly ringing in her head. She tried her hardest to ignore them, as they constantly called out her name as she shut her eyes to focus.

"Amy?"

She opened her eyes, expecting to see something, only, she saw Sonic looking behind him as he checked to make sure she was still there.

"I'm...okay. Let's keep going!" She said with determination.

Sonic nodded in acknowledgement as the pair continued onwards. It took them a good ten minutes parading around, until they found the vent above the Master Emeralds chamber. Sonic kicked the grate off, surprising what must have been Qubit. The pair jumped out and landed in front of him and Razer.

"Qubit, meet Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose." Razer introduced.

The Cyber-Wolf looked a little worse for wear, with his tired, angry eyes looking at the pair.

"What's the SITREP?" Amy inquired.

Razer and Qubit told the pair about how Shadow had become over-corrupted with time. One of Qubits ancestors had found his chassis being protected by Omega, but he tinkered with Omega's files to get him to stand down as they took Shadow down into the depths of base and tried to figure out more about him, only to see that the corruption took hold of some of them and forced them to fight each other. Precautions were made, but it appeared that wasn't enough.

Then they heard banging noises from one of the closed doors. The four prepared to fight, but Qubit wandered over to a nearby terminal, seeing two individuals banging on it outside. One a small kid and the other a large robot.

"I'm hesitant to let em in..." Qubit droned.

Razer rolled her eyes.

"Do it or I will."

The Cyber-Wolf begrudgingly opened the doors as Gerald and Omega ran inside. He then quickly shut the door again, as Gerald quickly ran towards Razer, who took him in her arms. Amy then checked out Omega, who then looked down at her.

"The little one reminded me of Rouge. We came to an understanding." Omega noted.

Sonic approached him as well and smiled.

"Good to know. Don't want bullets flinging around."

Despite Omega being a robot, Amy could automatically sense something within him. Whether it was because of his hunched over stance or what, but there was a slight emotional charge, if she could call it that, emanating from him.

"Something you want to say?" She stated, as she kept her eye on him. He instead, kept his eyes to the ground. Was...this guilt?

"This was accidentally my doing." Omega replied.

Qubit pulled his gun against him and gritted his teeth in anger.

"See what I mean half-breed? You cannot trust those who have no souls! They cannot think for themselves!" He roared.

Amy knew little of Omega, rather than he was created by Eggman and that he was an associate of Shadow and Rouge, helping them as they worked at GUN. Dangerous, but she was glad he was on their side. Sometimes. He could be worse than Shadow in terms of violence and battle savagery.

She took the robots hand and placed it into hers, hoping to read him. Unlike Qubits rant, she was determined to ensure Omega would give the time explain himself.

"Cram it Qubit...nobody cares!" Razer told him.

Amy could certainly feel it as Omega remained silent, as he examined Amy himself as she ran her fingers over his metal appendage.

Imagery crossed her mind of Mephiles and Shadow as they fought from Omega's view. Rain, lightning and blood everywhere.

"Born to serve." Amy muttered, echoing a voice that entered her mind.

This was unlike Shadow. Very unlike him. Shadow refused to serve anyone but himself. And as Commander, it was him who dished out the orders in the first place. As part of their relationship, Shadow would always remind Amy that he was never used to being controlled but she would assure him that he would only ever have to do what he actually wanted. She didn't want to treat him like she would have for Sonic. If anything she had to go by, she had to treat him with exact respect.

The first few weeks of dating was difficult but there were signs Shadow enjoyed himself. Amy could see through the charade as he made his own emotes in a very Shadow-like way, but only ever showed affection to her in private. Rouge even noted that she did have an affect on him. Less grumpy even.

But this...this was beyond his true personality. Amy desired to understand what forced him this way.

Did she still have feelings for him? That too was muddled in a variety of ways Amy never returned to.


Rewind.

Birds chirped in the distance as Shadow laid on the bed next to Amy. It was very rare of him to stay the night so Amy took all the opportunities she could while he was there at her place.

She would stare at him while he slept and wondered what he dreamed about. Amy had to refrain from giggling as he often mumbled in his sleep, so she just put on a smile.

Amy had originally felt friendly feelings for him, until the numerous he begrudgingly went on allowed him to open up to her a little, which in turn churned Amy's feeling into something she once felt for Sonic. She had feared about losing her attraction because it made it seem like what she had been striving for was a waste of time.

Rouge told her she was young and that such infatuation would pass as she got older. It was less a waste of time but of a learning curve on how to approach relationships in general. She was wiser and upon her elevated age she understood love on a more complex scale. She had to put all of her previous transgressions on the table and really examine them from the bigger picture.

She already told Sonic that yes, she was an idiot for how she acted. She'd almost blurted that she was ashamed, but she wasn't. It was her own personal growth on what not to do. She never blamed Sonic for not truly reciprocating, at least, not the way she had hoped.

Things escalated after one of their dates. It was a nice dinner which Shadow was obviously not keen on, but they talked about work. It was Amy who did most of the talking. In fact, she talked the most on all of their dates.

It took him a while to get used to the handholding eventually but he warmed up to the idea at some stage. They didn't do it that often, only if it was the two of them alone in the streets that he would declare that it was only to protect her.

The two of them stood outside Amy's apartment, as she felt his ambiguous stare as she unlocked her door. It was then he grabbed her hand and slammed her against the wall, pushing his lips against hers as they locked themselves into passionate embrace.

It surprised him more than it surprised her and it made her insides nearly explode.

"What...what was that all about?" She asked, almost with bated breath and a warm face.

She could feel his hand around her back, as his widened eyes traced her own. He then slid it down further, although his grip did loosen slightly.

"Isn't that what couples do?" He told. There was a weakness in his voice there that Amy almost found...cute.

Amy smirked, although she had to calm her heart down after that one, as it fluttered heavily.

"I don't want you doing anything that makes you...well, more uncomfortable than necessary. You can't force this things to happen. Unless it wasn't...then, well thank you." She said, very awkwardly.

He shook his head

"I wasn't uncomfortable. As annoying as it may be, I may be starting to believe what Rouge said."

Ah Rouge the matchmaker. Figures she would always want to be involved with a 101 on how to woo women. As well as for Amy to woo the ultimate life form. That bat was a blessing and a curse.

"That is?" Amy questioned, curious.

His smile was warm and inviting. The type of expression he would only share with those closest to him. It was endearing to see and may have played a part of her own growing sentiments towards him.

"Being open can be rewarding. I never understood what she meant until now. This...kind of happiness. I haven't felt it in years." He replied. It was genuine too.

Amy stepped forward as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held a flirtations expression.

She could have sworn that he blushed right then and there, although he did look away in embarrassment.

"Good to see someone to crack up the cold, dead shell of a heart in this Hedgehog." She joked.

Shadow grumbled.

"I am not cold nor dead nor a shell." He said, annoyed.

"You must understand I'm not used to this sort of thing."

The Ultimate Lifeform is not so ultimate in the love department. It didn't matter. Amy could take care of that. He had been patient with her so she would remain patient with him. It went hand in hand with the amount of respect they shared. She kissed him the cheek.

"It's fine Shadow." She told him as she stroked his face.

"Spending time together helps us be educated and find out what we truly want in life."

She looked away nervously.

"Did you want to come inside?"


Current...

Shadow was never...interested in other trivial pursuits. Perhaps in the end, she couldn't help but make people uncomfortable.

Perhaps she was always meant to be alone.

"Sensing something way off the mark there Ames?" Sonic asked her as she broke out of her trance. She nodded in response.

"Yeah." She said.

"Its an overwhelming power, thats for sure."

Shen sensed another power behind them, seeing the Master Emerald glow as young Gerald stood by it. A flash covered the room, only see a familiar red Echidna stand before them. Sonic was surprised, but he was happy to see his friend standing there.

"Its Mephiles." Knuckles announced.

Amy watched as Gerald looked at Knuckles in awe, unable to...well, unable to emote other than his widened expression. Knuckles turned to him and tilted his head.

"Oh...hey...uhh, good to see you..umm...anyway, I uhh came here to explain Shadow's condition. I've been watching him for some time, trying to reach out to corrupt the poor souls here."

Amy almost jumped as Qubit blasted his gun everywhere, evident that he was extremely pissed off.

"What the? I've been talking to you for months and you haven't shown yourself until now?" He yelled. It looked like he was about to pop a vein. He then just received a metallic slap from Razer.

"Give it a rest moron." The Cyborg said. Qubit growled.

"Give it a rest? Seriously after all this time you could have spoken to me!" He roared.

Knuckles just sighed.

"Uh well..."

Amy decided to get her two cents in as she wandered towards Qubit, who had fallen to the ground by this point.

"Hey, you're just straight up unworthy. Now shut up before we make you shut up. Understanding?" She said without any delay.

"Go on Knuckles..."

He nodded in response. but Qubit did get on her nerves. Although Sonic himself decided to part himself into it.

"Heh...nothing keeps you down for too long eh Knucklehead?" Sonic said in his playful tone.

Knux just grumbled in response, then shook his head.

"As I was saying, a lots happened over the past millennia. Seeing your face though makes it seem like no time has passed at all."

Even Amy had to admit it did make her feel the happier type of warmth in the terms of their jovial banter.

"So what's this about Mephiles I hear?" Sonic wondered as he rubbed his chin.

A few footsteps as well as cough indicated Qubit wanted to contribute.

"Its hard to pinpoint, but my ancestors did find the Staff of Darkness locked away in some Soleanna Castle. We tried to treat it with caution after we got incredible powerful readings but over time it somehow must have escaped from the Staff and ended up fusing with Shadow. They managed to seal Shadow back into the chassis with the help of a Chaos Emerald and an old robot being its key." He said as he looked at Omega.

They all stared at Omega, who, despite not being able to expression, looked uncomfortable.

"One of the Cyber-Wolves had fused with me, becoming that Omega-Snake robot and helped get Shadow into the device. The Chaos Emerald was originally placed into my casing, but for unknown reasons it was then removed. Date cannot be identified." Omega stated.

They had seen this once before. Glitch had once fused with Omega in a similar fashion. But they didn't have time to wonder to figure out the idiot that made it a little bit harder to get their job done.

They had to figure out how to reseal Shadow, reclaim the Green Emerald and get the Master Emerald out of this place. They had to figure something out...fast.

It wasn't long until Tails popped out of the Emerald as well. Another figure to the fold as the trio exchanged thumbs up, as Amy was left stunned, realising that the old gang had gotten back together ...obvious not the most usual of circumstances but nonetheless...

"Shadows a powerful being. But I reckon the bunch of us could seal him. But we're gonna need your help Amy." Tails told her.

Her...help?

"Hah...yes. This is gonna be good!" Sonic said as he rubbed his hands together.


Tails was smart when it came to planning, although this one was one of his most bizarre yet. Qubit didn't want to comprehend, but at the behest of Razer's enforced method of getting him to cooperate, he eventually relented and handed over the facility data to the group to help them out.

By doing so, it allowed the group to access proper map data, as Qubit would use it to examine heated life forms. Shadow didn't trigger heat, but he did trigger dark patches of cold.

"The hybrid contains mainly corrupted energies and chaos energies...and a bit of Kronon energy I may add." Tails confirmed.

"As you know, Amy, the Pure energies can purify corruption but what the Hybrid contains is some of the most dangerous energies. Chaos may be able to travel time wise but it doesn't necessarily have the great time alteration like Kronon does. Chaos Energies merely warp spacetime for travel or divert spacetime energies, often at random or at controlled strengths, depending on the strength of the user. The power of the Time Stones merely can send someone to the future or the past but even at a distance, able to change fate for good with all seven and cause all issues for time in general. So they actually use Chaos for spacial manipulation with the illusion of time alteration and Kronon for time manipulation with the illusion of space manipulation. The lines are often blurred. Combined with the right user, it can give one God like abilities. But it requires knowing what triggers the powers over all. With thought and command prompts for example."

A lot of that went past Amy's head...and perhaps Sonic's going from the subtle dumb expression on his face.

"But we need to mainly trap Shadow in spacial distortions. A pocket dimension that allows us to capture him, then get Amy to use her ability to sort things out."

Trust Tails to try and put complicated matters into near tangible theories.

"He's spread throughout and really can't be detected or captured conventionally however." Qubit voiced with concern.

"What makes you think he's just going to beam himself in this dimension?"

Amy knew one way to do it.

"I can use myself as bait to draw him out." She suggested.

Instantly, she could see Sonic already objecting to this idea.

"No way Ames, we're not risking you to that thing." Sonic stated, proving her right.

She just sighed. There wasn't any other way.

"Sonic we have no choice. It's me he wants. He said it himself." Amy told him, as Sonic came to her side.

"She's right though." Knuckles clarified, although he himself didn't sound happy with the idea either.

"Tails and I can get to work on creating the pocket dimension."

Sonic still wasn't going to have it. He pulled Amy aside to speak with her in private.

He was peeved, she could tell. Part of her regretted telling him the story, but if they could pry more info out of him, the better they could understand it all. As a Prophet, she needed to know how to deal with dilemmas as they came across. Just as her father said.

"Sonic I can handle myself." She told him.

The look in his eyes looked like he was pleading with her not to go ahead with it. They stood awfully close as she heard his stressed breath.

"Don't you remember the last time you did this?" He asked her.

Last time? Not that she could recall.

"What do you mean?" She wondered.

Sonic closed his eyes and grabbed her hands. They then opened instantly, looking at her sternly.

"As Olly..." He whispered as his voice got lower.

"You wanted Abbadonia to possess you. What makes you think this isn't going to happen again?"

Oh...

That incident.

Yes she did...because she would then used her willpower to try and hold Abbadonia back to allow them to kill her more easily. It would have been the only way and if Amy had the choice, she'd make the same sacrifice all over again.

Shadow didn't seem like he wanted to posses her though. His intentions were far more...sinister. He had prepared to...explore the outer and inner body.

A part of her subconscious wanted her to do it.

"Look...Sonic..." She said, exasperated.

"I hear your concerns."

He simply grumbled. She knew he did care, but he had to understand, to see from her perspective. But he was indeed just as stubborn as her. But then she realised. It was about what had mentioned before. About not having control. She had to assure him. Assure him that it would be okay.

"Sonic, I..." She muttered.

He then shook his head.

"I'm not going to convince you otherwise am I?" He said, uncharacteristically defeated but with a small smile.

No. She couldn't let him think in the negative. Not when he could be strong.

"Sonic, I trust you implicitly. You need to trust me. But I promise I'll let you be my dashing hero if anything goes wrong." She said with a wink. It was...almost flirtatious as well.

He got a chuckle out of that.

"Just like old times." He said, his tone a bit more confidence.

"Alright Ames. I don't understand what you guys have in store but you know, I'll go with the flow like I always have. I'll definitely find a way!"


I'll go with the flow like I always have...

That was him. It had been him for so long, that Sonic simply had forgotten how to be, well, Sonic. It justified what he was concerned about as well. About how it was to be a hero. To be a hero he just needed to be himself. It made it seem like her earlier words were finally getting through his thick skull. He would go back to normal at this rate.

"Don't forget we'll still need your help too Sonic." Tails noted.

It was then they had to plan everything...

It better work...for their sake and their sanity...