AN: Boy are you guys in for a treat! This will be a magnificent chapter, especially with the magnificent editing of my magnificent editor... you guessed it! dark-phoenix-loves-kai! Thank you so much!

Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything of Sega, Archie Comics, Sonic Team, Sonic X, or related affiliates. The music displayed here is merely suggested and owned by it's denoted artist. Please support the official release.

Claimer: I claim and own this altered plot and all characters not rightfully owned by the above mentioned.

Gemmarex Fortress Epicenter

December-16-3199

16:37 Universal Time

[Now Playing: "Tinfoil" by: Linkin Park]

A screen blipped open suddenly before a white hedgehog—the very one who was commanding the great fortress. The screen displayed a notification of Dark Spinel attempting to contact him. Perhaps he would have answered then, but he wasn't quite ready yet. He had taken off his helmet, the first time he had done so since they glassed Mobius.

He caught a moment to look in the reflection of his polished helmet, seeing the black eyes he had. He used to see yellow eyes every day. Then Sonic introduced them to such a dark power, and those eyes have been lost behind the shroud of that power since then.

He looked at the helmet, sighing. Was that what this armor symbolized? Was it merely the wall of his dark power that he hid behind; the wall that hid Silver and birthed White Zircon? He had little time for such pesky questions however, and he soon put the helmet on and answered the call.

The voice cut through, clear and sharp: "So, the meddlers have begun to invade even Dawnbreaker—our strongest fortress?"

"Yes sir. The fox and one other have infiltrated this battle station and taken our power source, without which we cannot operate," Zircon spoke. "They are launching attacks on the station as we speak with the Vale Tempest."

"You are, of course, taking counter measures? You know it is vital that we protect the other Chaos Emeralds."

"Yes sir; we are taking all measures possible."

"Then take more measures! We cannot allow the emeralds to fall into the kit's hands. He has far more power than we have yet witnessed."

The video feed cut out, and the hedgehog once known as Silver was left to his darkness. He took off the helmet again, polished it briefly, and gazed deeply at his reflection.

"Is this what we have become?"

[Stop Music]

/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/

Syaoron the Fox presents

Fragmented Chaos

Chapter 14

What Once Was Lost

/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/

Deep within the fortress Dawnbreaker, Tails and Espio maneuvered between hallways. With the Planet Egg and purple Chaos Emerald in hand, the two sped along, trying to find the exit. "It's so complicated to find your way through these halls," Espio groaned. They had been meandering the corridors almost aimlessly, he imagined, and it was not at all a good sign. They seemed evidently to be lost, for lack of better explanation of their precarious situation.

"The fortress is so huge that it's hard to tell your sense of direction," Espio imagined aloud, following Tails' lead. The kit refused to say much however, staring instead at his wrist in silence. Even the ninja was unnerved by the fox's intense, silent focus.

When finally the kit looked away from the device on his wrist, he gave a smile and sighed. "There are three other emeralds here. The last three that we've been looking for," he reported, chuckling a bit. "We're going to go get them."

Espio blinked, realizing suddenly what the kit had been analyzing this whole time. "You propose, then, that we go and retrieve the emeralds?" he asked. "Do you even know where to go?"

"Not a clue; but I'm working on that," Tails responded. "I've been configuring a few things and I think I've finally been able to crack into their radio frequencies. By using the radio tower and my radar, I can triangulate the position of the emeralds."

"The radio tower can sense the emeralds?"

"Well, not exactly," Tails said. "I can alter the wavelengths it receives though. Chaos Emeralds emit a radiation along the level of radio waves. I just need to alter the amplitude and frequency modulation to tap into it."

Espio thought for a moment. "Even then, what good is triangulation going to do if you don't know how to get there?" he asked.

"You're right, I suppose," Tails conceded, sighing as he pondered it. "I'll bet though that the soldiers here have maps!" he suddenly stated. "If we could get ourselves a map, we'd have a straight shot for the emeralds."

Coming to this conclusion as well, the chameleon peered around the corner and chuckled. "It's our lucky day then. I'll be right back," he said to the kit. Tails didn't even have time to object before the chameleon's color faded to camouflage.

"I hate it when he does that," Tails mumbled.

Moments later, the chameleon returned with the body of a Gemmarex grunt. The wolf's eyes had rolled back in her head, a kunai knife stabbed through her neck. Espio set the wolf down before them and, to Tails' youthful disgust, stripped her down and searched thoroughly for a map of sorts.

Tails reached into the pocket of her vest and grabbed a small, metal disk. "I think this is it," he said before looking down at the wolf. She was left with only her undergarments. "Did you really have to do that, Espio? First you kill her, and then you disgrace her?"

The chameleon shrugged. "A thorough search is necessary sometimes."

"You disgust me sometimes, you know that?"

"If doing what is necessary is disgusting to you, then I suppose that's okay," Espio said, shrugging. "For all we know, that map could have been hiding in her—"

"Just stop right there!" Tails demanded, sighing. To further silence the chameleon, he pressed a button on the disk, opening a holographic display of the entire space station. "See? This is our map."

Espio coughed a bit and sighed. "Right; how are you going to plug in the information from your triangulation into the map?"

"It's rather simple, really," Tails responded, twisting a few knobs. "All I have to do is let it emit and receive radio signals. Since triangulation can't tell exact location on a three-dimensional plane, a third point of reference will help us. The map will do just that." As soon as information was received and recorded, the three points of reference—Tails' radar, the map itself, and the radio station—appeared on the map in yellow, with yellow dotted lines converging on a red dot. "That red dot is where the Chaos Emeralds are."

Espio gave a nod and sighed. "It looks like we got some walking to do."

"Yeah, seems that way, doesn't it?"

/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/

Vale Tempest

December-16-3199

16:58 Universal Time

They had been battering the fortress for quite some time and, even though it was taking a lot of damage, it showed no signs of being destroyed any time soon. Even against the powerful blasts that the Vale Tempest sent, it was taking little damage except to the hull. Vector, currently holding the position of Admiral, banged his fist on the wall. "This thing just won't give!" he growled.

"It must be some pretty tough stuff, huh?"

Vector blinked and looked to his side. There, with a leisurely white dress and long, red skirt, was Vanilla Rabbit—one whom he had held deep, well-known feelings for. It was no secret that Vector had long since fallen head over heels for the rabbit. The crocodile gave a sigh, conceding to simple conversation. "Yeah, it's difficult for us to break through it."

The rabbit nodded, sighing. "Well, as long as we can keep them at bay, I'm sure Tails and Espio can figure something out," she said confidently. Suddenly the lights flickered, the ship rumbled dangerously, and then everything returned to normal. "The ship can take all this attacking, right?" she asked.

Vector nodded and chuckled. "You don't have to worry. We're picking off the fighters, and the shield can take their attacks," he assured her.

There was silence between them for a few minutes, simply staring as they battered the Dawnbreaker with artillery and lasers. They gazed on hopefully, even though the hull of the massive fortress refused to even budge or dent. Vector glanced over to Vanilla, expecting her to say something else, only to see that her eyes were glazed over, the irises a ghostly white. "Vanilla, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"He really is the only one who can save us. Can't you feel it?" she muttered, ignoring his question. Her state of a trance made her bob back and forth unsteadily. "Such a benevolent energy full of clarity… truly it is Pure Chaos." Her hypnotic trance faded and she soon collapsed, only for Vector to catch her.

"Pure Chaos?" a voice behind the crocodile asked. Vector turned to see Lucas gazing at the fortress. White lights were shining through the pores of the Dawnbreaker; soft lights that cast a strange glow. "What do you think she meant by that?"

After getting a good look at the fortress, Vector nodded. "That white glow—that is Pure Chaos," he said. "It is Light Chaos at its most powerful form, formed from very powerful emotions like loss, pain, and clarity. If you put Chaos Energy on a grey spectrum, Pure Chaos is the whitest—the most good."

Lucas hummed as a black energy suddenly began to crackle from within. He narrowed his gaze and returned to Vector. "And what's at the black of the spectrum?"

Vector clenched his jaw and scoffed at the mere thought of his answer: "Corrupt Chaos."

/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/

Tails and Espio ran along the hallways, encroaching upon the area where the Chaos Emeralds lay. They could feel a dark energy coming unto them; a power of such great magnitude, it caused Espio to fall to his knees. Tails, however, was unaffected. The kit turned to see his comrade down for the count. "Espio, c'mon! We have to get going. We're almost there."

Espio sighed, panting and heaving. He felt a crushing force impede his movement; a dark force that enclosed him and threatened to suffocate him. "G-go on without me, Tails," he muttered, straining to even lift his head and look at Tails. "This energy… it's too strong for me to overcome."

"So, what exactly is Corrupt Chaos?" Lucas asked.

Vector gave a sigh. "It's a very powerful, very tempting form of Chaos. The darkest there is. It invades others and tries to submit them to its dark power; almost got me on Mobius."

Espio gazed harder at Tails, blinking. "You… don't feel it at all?" he asked, pacing his breaths.

Tails shook his head. "No. Not at all," he replied.

"Is there any method of avoiding the corruption?"

"Yes. Though there is sheer willpower, possessing Pure Chaos will immediately purify the effects of Corrupt Chaos. That's the power that Tails possesses."

Espio chuckled and smiled, lying back on the ground. "Go on, Tails. I'll be fine here," he heaved these words with great difficulty.

Tails sighed, realizing the gravity of the situation. They were already approaching a possessor of such dark power; more than likely, it was one of Dark Spinel's inner circle. "Go back the other way," he instructed Espio, handing him the map. "Go find the hangar and get out of here." The kit walked the other way after leaving his sentiment.

"What would happen if two possessors of such power fought? I mean, between Corrupt and Pure Chaos?"

"It's difficult to say. Pure Chaos normally purifies any Dark Chaos energy, but if the energy is corrupted enough… there's no telling."

[Now Playing: "Angels" by: Within Temptation]

It was so destined to be, the kit knew. He felt the sensation of foreboding the instant he stepped in through the door, the weight of darkness he knew that only one of the commanders could have; undoubtedly a friend of his that he had known once before they were taken by the corrupting power.

A shroud of black power was pooling around the figure that stood in the center of the chamber. In three clear tubes floated the Chaos Emeralds he was searching for. Tails gazed up at the figure, a glare denting his features as the darkness faded and revealed a silver-armored hedgehog. "It's been a long time, Tails," Zircon spoke up.

"Don't call me that," Tails replied, growling. "Only my friends call me Tails."

"… We aren't friends, Tails?"

It hurt for him to hear those words; they sounded so sincere. "Not anymore, Silver. Not since you contracted that hideous power," Tails spat. "Why did you have to turn into this… this thing?"

The hedgehog tilted his head to the side, as if he were confused. Then, giving a sigh, Zircon gathered his power and began to float. "I'm not Silver anymore, Tails," he said, blaring with his power. "I've been ordered by Dark Spinel to take you in. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. "

Tails gave a sigh and clenched his metal fist. He kept himself calm though; he always tried to keep himself calm since the incident where his power went out of control and dark. He looked deep into himself and clung to a string of power he remembered from the emeralds. It wasn't long before the purple emerald in his grasp began to float around him. The three emeralds were torn from their glass confines, and even the emeralds from the Vale Tempest fazed into existence.

The emeralds spun circles around Tails, blurring into a ring of light before crashing into Tails with all their benevolent power. He so clearly felt the power of the emeralds as he had before. However, when their pure power cascaded down on him in a white light, his fur turned pearly white while his eyes became blood red.

"Then I guess we're doing this the hard way!" Zircon spoke, firing off a beam of malevolent energy. The beam hit Tails and dissipated before his pure power. Zircon recoiled in shock when his attack was so easily dissipated.

Tails smirked. Perhaps he would have a leg up in this. He thrust his arms forward after gathering energy, shouting, "Chaos Superblast!" The beam of white energy that he let loose held power that he had never witnessed before. He could hardly believe that he was the one firing such power.

Zircon groaned and strafed to the side swiftly. "You seem to be forgetting who I am," the white commander spoke, his hands glowing with a deep black. "Psywave!" he announced, waving his hand. From his hand was fired a cutting wave of black energy.

Tails shot up and hovered. He almost forgot Zircon's specialty for psychokinesis. The kit rushed forward to throw a punch, only to feel shocks of pain rush through his body as he bounced off. A shield of black energy surrounded Zircon before fading to become invisible again. "You'll never get through this shield, kit!" Zircon shouted.

If only to toy with the kit, Zircon then dropped his shield and rushed the kit unexpectedly. Tails hardly had time to put up a block for the incoming kick. He felt the crush of the kick push him back a bit and he countered by flipping back, kicking Zircon upward.

While he was recovering, Tails lunged for another punch. Zircon reeled from the hit, landing and skidding on the ground in the chamber. As he was stumbling to recover, Tails boosted down, hoping to drop a fierce kick. Zircon recovered much faster than he expected though and easily snatched Tails' foot from the air and slung him into the ground nearby. The commander hedgehog then proceeded to stomp his foot into the kit's gut and kick him, rolling him till he hit the wall.

The blows had hurt, but Tails could feel the energy already healing him. Even though pain wracked his body, he recuperated quickly enough to plant his hand on the ground and sweep Zircon's feet when he was running toward the downed kit. The sweep lifted Zircon into the air for a short time, just long enough for Tails to launch a kick into his back, forcing him into the air. The kit jumped high into the air with lightning speed, already there when Zircon's body arrived there from the kick. Tails then swept an arcing kick down unto Zircon, shooting him down to the ground with a resounding thud.

Not long after, the hedgehog bolted back up, enraged from having been caught off guard. His newfound power shook the station even more than their intense fighting already had. "Insolent kit! How dare you!" Zircon shouted, blaring with rage. He launched a barrage of Psywave attacks at the kit, forcing him to dodge and go on the run.

Tails groaned. The attacks were coming at him from so many different directions; it was hard to focus on all of them at once. One of the waves followed in his blind spot and crashed into him with crackling energy and an explosion. The chain reaction that incurred from this was devastating as blow after blow crashed into the kit. The energy crackled over him and burned him, painting his vision with swirls of color as he cried out in pain.

It took all his will for him to stand up again. And even when he did, he took a punch to the gut that caused him to gag and cough of blood. Weak and a bit tired, though the energy was healing him, Zircon forced Tails' face up to look at him. "You're weak, kit. I will crush you here and now for all your treason."

"My treason?" Tails forced out, weak as he was. "I wasn't the one who destroyed his entire planet and murdered his own people. I wasn't the one who took a hold of such dark power and let it pervert him into some megalomaniacal villain."

"Shut up!" Zircon shouted; enraged at Tails' words and the stinging truth they held. He launched the kit towards the nearby wall, putting an indent in the wall from the impact. It was to be his ruin that he didn't notice the sudden rise in Tails' power level.

Zircon lunged at Tails, his sharp gauntlets bared and ready to tear out the fox's throat. It was then that he was rebounded by a shield of white. He looked at the shield in question and tried to break through it again, groaning when he couldn't. "What… what is this power all of a sudden?" he questioned, confused.

Tails stood back up slowly, the tips of his namesakes alight with yellow fire. He snapped his eyes open, their coloration a fiery gold to match his tails' tips. The kit looked at his hands and suddenly smirked. "This is the full power of Pure Chaos, huh?" he mused.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me, Miles Prower!" Zircon barked, launching streaking missiles of his own dark energy. "I want to see the light leave your eyes when I defeat you!" At this annunciation, the missiles collided with Tails' shield, creating great explosions.

The smoke from the explosion soon dissipated, leaving Tails completely unharmed, much to Zircon's chagrin. The kit had a small ball of white light prepared in his palm. "End game, Silver," he declared decisively, firing an intense beam of white energy that shredded through Zircon's shield and armor, burning him with the pure energy.

[Stop Music]

[Now Playing: "Powerless" by: Linkin Park]

Zircon laid flat on his back when the blinding beam had finally died down. Tails, still powered by the emeralds, floated down to the hedgehog. His armor had been stripped, lying shredded across the room. The hedgehog himself, bloodied and battered, lay on the floor. A black essence floated up from him and began to funnel into Tails, causing him to gasp in sudden pain. As soon as it came, the pain was gone, and Silver opened his eyes.

Tails could tell almost instantly that something was different. Silver's eyes weren't black; rather they were the soft gold like he had remembered them to be. The light had come back into his eyes. "Look at what we've done, Tails," Silver muttered, coughing a bit of blood up.

Even though he was an enemy, Tails knew in that moment that Silver had finally come back to his sense. "Tails… I'm so sorry everything had to come to this," he muttered.

"Don't talk like that, Silver," Tails said to him, tears already coming to his eyes. "It's gonna be okay. I-I'll make everything right somehow."

Silver heaved a breath, wincing from pain. "Listen to me, Tails," Silver muttered. "I don't know how you did it, but you took away all my darkness. You cured me. You can save us all, Tails."

"I can?" Tails managed through his tears.

Silver nodded weakly. "You can." His eyes slimmed, his power to hold them open falling away. "Tails, look what you did to me. You took away all that dark power… even when I was too far gone."

"Does that mean… can I bring the others back?" Tails asked, hopeful.

"I don't think so," Silver said, shaking his head. Thought Tails' face dropped, Silver nodded. "But you truly are the only one that can take away all of our power. You can purify the Corrupt Chaos."

Tails held Silver's head up to support him. "I-I can get you back to the Vale Tempest! We can patch you up!" Tails said, fighting to hold back tears as he tried to cling to his old friend.

Silver gave a deep sigh and shook his head. "It's too late for me, Tails. Just like the others, I was too far gone," he explained. "By stripping me of the energy, I can no longer support myself. I'll die."

"Don't say that!" Tails shouted, denying these thoughts. "I'll get you better! I can save you, I know I can! I—"

"Tails, that's enough. You know I'm finished," Silver said to him, sighing. It was so obvious that the kit was in denial, unable to accept the fact that his time had come. "Listen to me, Tails. You have to kill them; all of them. You have to stop this darkness. It's a plague, a parasite; it gets inside and it's so hard to push it out."

Silver sighed, reflecting in his moment of reprieve. "All those people we killed, all the things we've destroyed… we need to be stopped," he restated. "Tails… I'm so sorry for all that I've done."

Tails shook his head, the tears falling down his cheeks. "Don't be sorry, Silver," he assured the white hedgehog. Wiping blood off his friend's cheek, Tails managed a small smile. "You didn't do all those things. Zircon did it."

Silver gave a soft chuckle. "What a horrible joke," he mumbled, sighing as he laid back. He winced again from the pain, his vision beginning to fade. "Tails… before I go, I have to tell you some important things."

The kit nodded, biting down his tears. Blood spilled from his lip from the biting. "Go ahead, Silver. Say it."

"The Master Emerald… it's behind all this," Silver explained. "You have to defeat it, Tails. Take that stupid emerald and smash it. Let all the darkness escape… and put it back together. You can fix all this. Defeat Sonic, defeat the Master Emerald, purify all our chaos… and you'll fix it all.

"There's a planet not far from here entitled Yewel-9. There, you will find a compound of soldiers. Use your purifying skills; they aren't so far gone as I am. You'll need your Pure Chaos skills to fight the others."

Tails nodded solemnly, sniffling. It was getting harder and harder to hold back his tears as Silver slowly faded. It was a slight shock to him when Silver suddenly gripped his hand and nodded. "Tails… please know this," he whispered suddenly. "Even though I have been against you for so long, even though we didn't know each other that long before all this… to me, you are and always will be… my friend."

No longer able to hold back his tears, Tails cried out and hugged Silver close. "You're my friend too, Silver," he whispered in a choked voice. "Of course you're my friend."

Silver smiled and hummed. "That's good to know," he mumbled before closing his eyes and letting his head fall back, dead.

The kit's wails could be heard throughout the station as his power suddenly spiked.

/\/\/\/\|\/\/\/\/

Watching from the bridge of the Vale Tempest, Lucas and Vector suddenly gasped as power began to spike to unheard-of levels. "What's going on in there?" Lucas asked, concerned about Tails' battle within.

"I'm not sure," Vector said, gazing intently.

As they watched, chaos energy began to gather before expanding exponentially into a giant black hole. "Chaos Rift?" Vector wondered, amazed that such a power could be performed. The void ripped open the fortress, tearing it apart from the inside and causing it to implode. Before long, another booming sound signaled the departing of the void. It was gone as quick as it came, and with it the Dawnbreaker.

They were shocked to say the least. Only after the void vanished did they pause to worry about Tails. "There's no way he made it out of that," Lucas muttered.

He was however proved wrong. A blink of light behind them gave way to Tails. The Chaos Emeralds that granted him power dropped to the ground around him. In his arms was a bloodied white hedgehog, dead by the looks of it.

Tails took a quick glance at Vector and nodded, his eyes cold and dead it seemed. "Get us out of here," he simply stated, his voice hollow. In their amazement however, they could only stare at the kitsune as he walked away slowly. They could see black veins crawling up the kit's spine.

[Stop Music]