To hear those words at last was a great weight off my chest. To finally be told and have accepted that I was right, and I wasn't losing my mind caused immense relief to me. While there were still many things that needed explaining, I finally had a source of answers, and could finally get help in setting reality right. More importantly though, I had the help and support of my friends to see me through, and prevent this from being an entirely solo effort. With the six of us, and each of our talents, we had a very good chance of stopping the Monsters of Chaos, and getting things right.
"So what about the other six? Can't the rest of the servers help?" Tails asked, trying to establish a plan.
"The seven servers are split. Myself and Sonic are here now, but I can only help in this limited capacity." Tikal replied.
"And we know Shadow's one of the servers," Sonic continued, "and we also know he won't help. Whatever he's gaining from this, it's obviously too good for him to give up."
"As for the others," Tikal answered, "They won't be of much use to anyone now. In the future, the servers will be key to saving the world, but this is not their world to save, and hence it is the duty of the Prime Server to fulfill his duty, to get the Chaos back in the correct order. This was the duty of the Prime Server alone."
Throughout all the discussions Dawn had said nothing. She had remained focused in one spot, all her power going in to keeping the connection with Tikal open. Rouge had kept one eye on watching Dawn, making sure she didn't collapse from exhaustion. Now Dawn was beginning to struggle, something Rouge was quick to point out.
"One last question," Sonic pleaded, knowing full well he was now putting Dawn at risk, "How do I stop it?"
"I can't tell you. I do not know," Tikal answered, "But the Monsters of Chaos were trapped in the Chaos Emeralds, if the Sol Emeralds being destroyed is making things worse, then you need to make some new emeralds to contain the released Chaos. Use the Master Emerald Sonic, use it to create a new set of emeralds. But remember," Tikal said, her voice getting really faint, as she began to disappear, "You need to create seven, or it won't be enough to..."
Tikal disappeared as Dawn collapsed to the ground. The torches returned to a blue flame, tinting the walls orange. One by one the group left the chamber, Sonic carrying Dawn, and Rouge exiting last, extinguishing the flames as she left.
"I can't believe the worlds all a lie," Amy said, trying to make sense of it all. She hadn't wanted to say too much while Dawn was summoning, and Tikal was explaining things to Sonic, but now she felt the need to see what everyone else was thinking.
"Believe it," Sonic replied.
"But really," Silver continued, "Destroying the Master Emerald will fix everything, so it's not a problem. We just need to find it, and then break it into seven pieces. Bish bash bosh, every thing's hunky dory, and we can all go back to how things are meant to be."
"Slight problem," Sonic hesitated. He was pretty sure he could guess how people would take the news, "The Master Emerald currently isn't just a giant gem. It's actually the planet Earth."
The blue hedgehog looked at the shock on everyone's face. It was one thing to go destroy a priceless artifact of an ancient empire, another thing entirely to go destroy a planet.
"You can't do it Sonic!" Amy wailed, "You can't destroy the world!"
"What choice do I have?" Sonic answered, "You all said I was right, and the world is messed up. Which mean we have to fix it."
"No, we don't," replied Tails, "Listen Sonic, I accept that some really weird stuff has happened to you lately, I even accept that this isn't how reality is meant to be, and I was all for you trying something which might fix it. But I don't think I can back you in this. You're talking about destroying the world because you think it'd bring back your reality. But what if this is reality Sonic?"
"Tails' right," Silver echoed, "What if it doesn't work? What if all you accomplish is destroying everything?"
"What if it kills you, or us for that matter?" Amy continued, "I'm with these two, I can't let you set about destroying everything."
"I still don't see why you can't just accept this reality the way it is. If Shadow can do it, and can remember everything how he once knew it to be as well, I don't see why you can't," Rouge finished.
"Okay," Sonic relented, "But answer me one question."
"What?"
"Am I still known as the fastest thing alive?"
Amy began to answer, "Yes, but I don't -"
With that Sonic was gone. Amy didn't even finish her sentence, as the hedgehog had already became a blur on the horizon. It was only a few seconds later that the group registered that Sonic was still carrying Dawn.
Sonic dashed through the overgrowth of Angel Islands forests. He headed all around, convinced he knew where to find the eclipse canon. Luck was on his side this time, as he found it on only his second lap of the island. He knew he didn't have long before he was found, but nevertheless he was prepared for this. What he wasn't prepared for, however was that the person who found him would actually be non other than Doctor Eggman.
"Well well," Eggman grinned, "It looks like we've both reached a similar conclusion. Tell me, what finally made you snap? Was it the messed up physics? Perhaps it was the fact that your friends abandoned you? Maybe you just thought things were taking too long? Answer me hedeghog, and maybe I'll help you destroy all of reality..."