Third Person

Hyper and Exe were just two hedgehog's beyond compare -and that they knew. They also knew how that for some weird reason, Sonic liked putting them both together as partners. Whether it be for personal preference or just by random, they would never know. But one thing that they both seem to have in common is that neither would ever want to see Sonic cry; one tear and they would go ballistic. They also have known that they were crazier than everyone else but that was only a myth. In reality, Sonic would be the craziest then followed by everyone else. After all, it was Sonic who created them and it was also Sonic who named them -although they named themselves with Sonic accepting the name- and who could ever forget that it was Sonic that seemed to have the most emotional break-outs? Well... in counting he only had three but who really cares?

Right now, Hyper was flying in all sorts of directions and kept on singing that song over and over again. It really got on Exe's nerves but he learned that if you live with 8 other hedgehogs who also have weird tendencies, then you should know how to shut them out. Or else you might actually go insane. He kept on singing over and over on loop for the entire flight... Exe was silently thinking that by 'keeping him quiet' as Sonic had said that he might want to rip the white hedgehog's head off. Eh, it would shut him up but the orb-eyed hedgehog thought against it.

"-oh happy is me~" no matter how annoying Hyper was. Exe sighed then rubbed his ears. How many loops does it take to want yourself to become deaf? Well, in Exe's case, 1. He had to suppress a growl as Hyper flew a circle around him and then twirled in the air. The orb-eyed hedgehog rolled his eyes then continued to fly with the young-minded hedgehog following him.

"Hyper." he started to say but as always said hedgehog continued to sing. Although he was sort-of grateful that instead of singing, Hyper had resulted into humming. But that was still annoying. "Hyper." Exe floated in mid-air but still, Hyper ignored him. Now was probably the time that Exe shouldn't get angry but alas, when would he ever listen to his own better judgement? He breathed out a sigh then took in a nice big breath. "HYPER!"

"Gah!" the white hedgehog jolted as he heard his name being called a little too loudly in his liking and turned to see a not-so-happy Exe. "Exe, what were you thinking!? I don't like being yelled at!" Hyper glared at the dark blue one which he scoffed at.

"You don't like being yelled at!?" Exe asked a little lower then his normal voice. "Well I don't like listening to you singing about how happy you are!" that made Hyper's glare falter a bit as he looked down.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh is right and-" but before he could finish, Hyper had dived downwards. "Hyper?" he looked down as well and could see that they were over Angel Island and ironically enough -right on top of the altar a little ways away. Exe rolled his eyes then followed Hyper. Once both hedgehogs had landed, the white one smirked proudly to himself.

"Well, at least I led us to Angel Island. Haha." Exe gaped like a fish at what he was hearing.

"You!?" he couldn't believe his ears. "I was the one that got the brilliant idea to yell at you!" Hyper turned to look at him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh hush Exe. I'm the one with all the ideas and you just carry them out."

"WHAT!?" he looked at Hyper with wide eyes then motioned his hands like he wanted to strangle him. "Why you-" but he stopped himself before something could happen and instead, decided to pull on his quills. "GAH!" the white hedgehog had heard the dark blue one's yell and turned to see what the matter was, only, he just ended up gasping at what Exe was doing.

"Exe! Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!" Exe blinked when he heard that then, deciding to play around with Hyper, let go of one of his quills to place his hand on his hips and purposely threw his head to the side still gripping his quill.

"And what if I want to hurt myself?" he pulled on his quill a little too roughly in his liking that he subtly winced. But the look on Hyper's face made the pain all the more worth it. "If it means you'll shut up, then I'll stop but if you don't-" he pulled on his quill harder this time and hissed from the pain.

"Stop!" Hyper yelled out in an attempt to make the dark blue hedgehog stop. He could control a lot of things but his brothers are all on a different level. "Stop being so... so... emo!" He threw his hands to either side of him and then glared at Exe to stop. Not like he ever would. "That's Dark's thing and even I don't like it when he hurts himself on purpose."

"Did somebody say my name?" the two hedgehogs looked up towards the voice to see the navy pupiless hedgehog himself flying down to them with an unconscious rabbit tied to a cross in his hands. Once he was just barely hovering over the ground, he stabbed the cross into the ground then looked between Exe and Hyper and then sighed while crossing his arms over his chest, closing his eyes and landing on the ground. "Seriously Exe?" He opened his eyes to narrow them at the dark blue hedgehog. "Do you really have a fetish with trying to hurt yourself cause if so..." he didn't finish his sentence as his aura stretched out to him, wrapped around his quill and hand and forcefully pulled them apart making Exe grunt. He then coughed as Dark's aura went around his neck but still holding his quill and hand. "Then I won't hesitate to show you what true pain is." he slowly twisted Exe's arm, pulled on his quill and squeezed his neck all at once making the dark blue hedgehog growl.

"Stop that." Exe narrowed his eyes but Dark didn't listen.

"It's your own fault Exe, and besides, you didn't keep Hyper quiet." Dark's head tilted a bit when he looked at the white hedgehog who was scared stiff while watching the whole thing happen. It's true that he sort-of forgot to keep his mouth shut after Sonic yelled at him but who could blame him? He, after all, is known for having an open mind. A really open mind that can make him forget the most important things a few seconds after he has been told them. Dark chuckled then used his aura to flick Hyper across his face which caused the white hedgehog to shake his head then take a step back.

"Uh..."

"Are you going to try and do something Hyper?" said hedgehog looked at Dark then glared at him.

"Stop that Dark." he clenched his hands into fists while his glare deepened but all Dark did was let go of Exe's neck and arm. He held Exe's quill tighter and moved him behind him.

"And why would I?" Dark rolled his head to the side. At this point, Exe just stopped struggling since he already knows that Dark's aura can touch you but you can't touch it. It was one thing that made Dark stronger than the rest of them -but still second in command after Super but before Hyper. The rest of them all varied in control. Hyper slightly growled and got in a fighting stance.

"Don't make me fight you Dark cause I will if I have to." Dark raised an eye ridge while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do you need to be reminded of your place Hyper?" all that he got in response was the white hedgehog baring his teeth and eyes narrowing. "Tch." he flung Exe on the ground making him hit his head and go unconscious. Dark got into his own fighting stance. "Fine, I'll fight you, but don't go crying to Sonic when you get beaten into submission."

"I think you're talking about yourself Dark." Hyper taunted which made Dark frown slightly.

"We both know that I'm stronger, and I will make sure you know it." Dark pulled the fist move by zipping in front of Hyper and pulling a punch which the white hedgehog saw -since Dark always did that first- dodged and delivered an uppercut to the navy's face. Hyper then did a roundhouse kick to get some distance between them and flew into the air. Dark stumbled a bit from the attack Hyper did and glared at the white hedgehog.

"I'm warning you Dark, I don't plan to go easy on you!" Hyper yelled out then swooped down to give another kick but Dark disappeared.

"And what makes you think I ever go easy on anyone?" Dark's voice echoed throughout the entire island. Hyper hovered in mid-air while trying to catch even the tiniest of glimpses of where Dark could be. Hyper knew about Dark's ability to appear like he vanished but in reality it was just him running around faster than anyone could see him go. It helped to have his aura always hovering around him like that.

"If you don't want to go easy on me, then stop being a coward and show yourself!" he got his wish as Dark reappeared in front of him but wasn't ready as he got kicked in the stomach, punched in the face then slammed into a tree. Dark then chuckled and powered up an orb before smashing it into his own hand then used it as a beam to cause the white hedgehog to fly backwards and slam his back into the steps of the altar. Hyper grunted as he rolled over and struggled to stand up but didn't get a chance to as Dark slammed his foot into his back forcing him to face-plant into the steps.

"And I ask you again, when have I ever gone easy on anyone?" he pressed his foot more into Hyper's back causing the white hedgehog to yelp in pain. "Let me answer that one..." he kicked his ribs then grabbed his quills and slammed him into the opposite direction of the altar and slid across the ground. Hyper didn't have time to react as he was picked up and tossed into another tree. This repeated until Hyper could barely keep his eyes open. Dark picked him up again and then slammed him into the ground making sure that his back connected fully and forced him to look into his pupiless eyes. "Never." he stood up straight while using his aura to pick Hyper up by his neck and raise him to keep the eye contact. "I've never gone easy on anyone." Hyper glared at him then spit in his face making Dark close his eyes.

"And yet, you still are forced to keep me alive." Dark's hold on him tightened causing Hyper to suffocate and scratch at his neck. The navy hedgehog whipped the spit away then growled at him.

"I may be forced to keep you alive but that doesn't mean that I can make you feel like you're dying." at those words Exe finally came to but when he saw what Dark was going to do, he gasped and raced towards the navy hedgehog beginning to claw at his arms.

"Dark, stop! You're hurting him!" Another thing that made Dark one to never back down from a fight was his pain tolerance. Unlike all of them who have very high pain tolerances, Dark has none at all. He can't feel any pain but instead, could feel the slight tingling on the body part that was being abused and/or hurt. His aura had a small part in on it considering that any Chaos-induced attack that comes in contact with his aura just disintegrates into nothing. "Let him go!"

"And why should I?" Dark tilted his head slightly in the orb-eyed hedgehog's direction while raising an eye ridge. "He made you want to hurt yourself, got rebellious with who was in charge of him, got cocky, tried to fight me, insulted me and you, and you're still trying to help him?" after a bit of silence because Exe wouldn't stop clawing at his arm, he sighed and let the white hedgehog go making him gasp for air. Exe noticed that Hyper was free and raced to his side.

"Are you alright Hyper?" After a couple more gasps, Hyper rubbed his sore neck while giving a nasty glare at the navy hedgehog.

"Yeah..."

"Tch!" Dark turned away from the both of them to inspect his already healed arm. "You are both damn children."

"Well its better to be a child then a fucking retarded bastard!" Dark's eyes flashed brightly at what Exe had said and turned to him with absolute anger.

"Oh! I'll show you a retard you son of a bitch!" They immediately felt small under Dark's white eyes that were filled with complete hatred. It was one thing to mock the navy hedgehog but to actually anger him was a whole other world to them. They could see how Dark's fur that wasn't navy flash into a coal colour before turning back to normal. Then something happened that neither was expecting. Dark's anger disappeared and got replaced with what looked like sadistic glee. "Don't you have a job to do?" he asked, making the two of them blink.

"Huh?" Hyper asked but that only made the navy hedgehog shrug.

"If you don't remember then I could always tell Sonic that I awakened Chaos instead not to mention how you both wanted to kill yourself and then Sonic would personally kill you for being idiots." Dark then smirked as both of their eyes went wide and they scrambled to make it towards the altar. The navy hedgehog chuckled while looking towards the unconscious rabbit. "Oh don't give me that look. It's their own fault for getting me angry in the first place." he picked the cross up and flew after the other two hedgehogs. Meanwhile at the altar, Hyper and Exe had just stopped in front of the Master Emerald panting slightly.

"I can't believe we forgot about our job!" Hyper yelled directly into Exe's ear -not on purpose- to cringe then rub his sore ear.

"Tell me about it." he grumbled as he stood up and walked closer to the Master Emerald. "Hey, Chaos! Come out of there and face us like a true god!" Exe banged on the emerald twice before sneering. "Chaos, you coward! Don't you want to face your own son?"

"Technically speaking, he would have to wait until Sonic actually comes to the island before he would meet his real son." Exe rolled his eyes not even bothering at turning around because he could already feel Dark's smirk burning into the back of his head. "Not like you were ever a true god anyway." Exe's eyes flashed dangerously when he heard that. Oh how he hated when he used to say how he was a god before but that was years ago. Now, the dark blue hedgehog had gotten over it entirely but that still doesn't stop a little tease here and there to make it out into the open and strike his nerves.

"Oh would you cut that out!?" he turned to the navy hedgehog who was standing a mere ten feet away with the tied up rabbit right beside him. A smirk was still on his lips while his arms were crossed over his chest. "I get it, I'm not a god, but that doesn't mean that you have to go and say it over and over again!"

"Tch." Dark turned away with his eyes closed this time and his smirk turning into a half-sneer. "Idiot." Exe looked over at Hyper who was just looking back and forth between the two dark blue ones looking completely confused and lost. He couldn't blame him. Dark had never fully gotten along with anyone - the only one being would be Sonic cause he's Sonic and Dark wouldn't dare try to attack him - but with everyone else, the navy hedgehog would always try to put his dominance over any if not all of them. That includes Super if he could do it. Exe was getting bored of all the back and forth so he decided to change the question.

"So, uh, why exactly is there an unconscious Cream beside you?

"First of all, her name is Eve. Everybody should know that." the navy hedgehog rolled his head towards the orb-eyed hedgehog's direction while giving a look of sheer boredom. "And second, I told her a few things that made her pass out."

"Like what?"

"Just how I was going to make sure her death was slow and painful." Dark shrugged. "Nothing big."

"That's not-" the white hedgehog started talking when he snapped out of his confusion but stopped himself short when he saw the Master Emerald glowing. The three hedgehogs stepped away from the emerald until a figure seemed to have emerged from the emerald. A figure that formed a female orange echidna. The echidna's gave moved from one hedgehog to the next staying on each for roughly ten seconds, glaring as she did so.

"Who are you?" Dark growled out as he got into a fighting stance. This echidna sure had a lot of nerve to glare at him.

"My name is Tikal." The echidna spoke with a firm voice as she stood proud and strong, her posture not wavering the slightest as if she had already faced dangers that no one in their wildest dreams could go up against. "And I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald when Knuckles isn't around to protect it."

"A second guardian? And one that is an echidna?" Exe questioned "I thought Knuckles was the only one left."

"Well you thought wrong." Tikal stated blankly then turned her gaze towards Dark. "Chaos has told me everything about who you are and why you are doing this. Personally, I believe that none of you should be alive." her glare came back and she didn't bother to mask that hatred in her voice. "You are all just puppets working on the thin yet iron-strong strings that your Master controls. You'd be damned if you even had a mind of your own." Dark roared in anger as he charged towards the echidna. How dare she mock them and Sonic? She sure does have some nerve appearing in front of them and say how they shouldn't even be alive. This caused Dark's blood to boil. He always did have a problem that if he was pushed to his limits, he would lash out on the one who was angering him... like now. The navy hedgehog pulled off a barrage of hits directed at the female echidna's face. But he slowed to a stop when he realized that he didn't make any contact. His fists went right through her. Dark took a hesitant step back, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Wh-What!? What is the meaning of this!?" he asked flabbergasted at the turn of events. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the echidna slugged him on the stomach forcing him to his knees, clutching his stomach. Tikal grabbed Dark by his quills forcing him to look into her eyes.

"I'm a spirit Dark, or should I say Navy? Considering that was what Sonic, oh I mean Havoc called you before you got your name." Tikal smirked as she looked over towards Exe and Hyper. The two of them were stuck between a rock and a hard place, should they approach her and stop this, but would they even be able to hurt her? With what they saw, not possible. So, they retorted to having their guard up in case she charged at them. "That goes for you two White and Blue. Since I'm a spirit, you can't touch me but I can touch you plenty." Hyper and Exe looked at each other. Well that goes that idea. On the other hand, Dark growled as he tried to swing at her stomach. Key word try.

"Let... me... go!" his face held only hatred for the echidna as she only stared at him with a blank face. Tikal sighed while rolling her eyes then tossed the navy hedgehog backwards causing him to land on his back right between the dark blue and white hedgehogs. Hyper crouched down to see if Dark was alright and Exe only glared at the echidna while baring his fangs.

"What do you want?" he didn't bother to get rid of the venom in his voice. Tikal blinked then placed a hand over her chest in a mock gesture.

"My, my, why would you think that I would want something?" she gave a half-smile as the dark blue hedgehog placed his arms on his hips. Hyper had also looked up at her with a blank face, same with Dark. "Alright, alright, yes. I do want something." when she got no response, she lightly chuckled to herself. "I want you and your Master to go away and never come back. Ever." the three hedgehogs looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

"What makes you think that we'll ever do that?" Hyper asked once he calmed down from his laughing fit. "We will always be there for Sonic no matter what he asks of us. So you can't say anything because we will never listen to you. In fact..." the white hedgehog smirked at the two darker ones and they both gave a subtle nod. Out of nowhere, Hyper charged towards the echidna before she could blink and smashed her against the Master Emerald with a hand around her neck. Tikal had closed her eyes due to the force of impact but when she opened them, she had her mouth opened in complete shock. Right there in front of her face, was Hyper with his smirk almost looking a bit unhinged. The female echidna just couldn't believe her eyes. How could someone touch her when they couldn't do it before? Hyper must've sensed her inner turmoil because his smile widened the slightest bit.

"You know," he started "If you really want to know how I'm doing this, then you really shouldn't have brought up the whole 'You can't touch me but I can touch you gag' because that just got old real fast."

"How are you-let go of me!" she stopped herself from wondering how the white hedgehog was doing this to try to pry his hand away from her neck. Hyper chuckled at her failed attempts and squeezed her harder making Tikal open her mouth to gasp for air.

"That's what Dark had told you to do but you didn't listen." after hearing his name, the navy hedgehog frowned while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Let her go Hyper. You proved your point." the dark blue hedgehog watched as Dark climbed back onto his feet and Hyper let go of the echidna to standing on either side of him.

"You're more alike then you let on..." Exe muttered under his breath with his eyes looking at the ground but froze when he felt two piercing gazes. He immediately looked up and regretted that movement because he was now looking at two angry faces that were the other hedgehogs. Exe gave a wry smile while backing away. "Ah haha..."

"Ahem..." the three hedgehogs looked back towards the echidna as she cleared her throat and looked at them peeved. "Well, besides that... complication," her eyes flicked towards Hyper when she said that and looked at him with as much hate as she could muster. "I'm not going to let you three mess around with the Master Emerald."

"How about nine?" Hyper, Dark, Exe and Tikal all followed the voice to see who it was but only the echidna tensed and held her breath. Coming towards them was the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog and his other remaining brothers, but one was missing. "Well, actually, I can't really say that because Excalibur is doing his own little mission but still, it's the eight of us." he came to a stop in front of the four and looked from each of their faces and ending on the two-tailed fox that was placed beside the rabbit. "Not to mention how my little ducks are all in a line while yours is scattered." he smirked then looked at the echidna with an evil glint in his eyes. "Isn't that right, Tikal?" she gulped and tried to back away only to bump into Darkspine when he snuck up behind her. She couldn't understand how the violet hedgehog could touch her as she stared into his white eyes.

"You aren't going to get away little echidna." she turned around to face him but froze as a shiver went down her spine.

"Call him." Sonic's voice whispered into her ears giving her a sense of dread. "Call Chaos and you will get away a free echidna."

"No... no, I can't. I won't!" she turned around to face Sonic while glaring at him.

"Call him." his voice rose with each syllable.

"No!"

"CALL HIM!"

"NEVER!" Sonic leaned back slightly as Tikal was breathing heavily and looked at him with so much hate that it was a miracle he didn't burn to a crisp.

"Is that so?" he hissed then smirked. The female echidna didn't know why those actions freaked her out so much or why that smirk seemed almost possessed... almost. "Then you are useless." he snapped his fingers and before Tikal could blink, she was forced onto her knees as both Darkspine and Fleetway held her arms, Hyper holding her head straight and everyone else besides Sonic backed away.

"Wha..." she couldn't form any words properly as she was struck speechless. How could they touch her when she knew they would be unable to!?... Right? Sonic chuckled at her expression that was full of disbelief.

"You want to know why and how everyone can touch you right?" she could only nod. "Well, I have to say, Dark may have a huge issue when it comes to his temper but that does come in handy every once in a while. Like now for example, Hyper was able to watch to see why you said no one could touch you so through that understanding, he and my other brothers were able to chalk it up to do just that." he chuckled again then frowned. "But seriously, they only recently got their bodies back, so how big of an idiot do you think any of us are when they can go into a - as some would say - 'ghostly appearance'?" her eyes went as wide as dinner plates when she put two and two together. Ghostly appearance and gained bodies means they were already partially dead... so they could touch her... ...but, what about Sonic? Surely he would have this 'ability' as well. But, then again, he wasn't technically 'dead' like his brothers so that might rule things out. "But, now here we are, maybe since you are already dead, death won't be so painful." he gave a friendly smile but even that just screamed ten different types of crazy.

"Her death is the least of your worries, Havoc." Sonic turned to find out who was talking, only to end up flying into the ground a few feet away. All of Sonic's brothers growled and those who weren't holding the echidna got in a fighting stance facing the one who attacked their Master. Super immediately went to Sonic's side making sure that he was alright. "Besides, why would you ever think that you could just get away with whatever you please like a spoiled brat when you know that someone is just going to come and punish you for bad behavior?"

"Mephiles." the cobalt hedgehog hissed as his emerald eyes met with snake ones. The God Of Darkness himself didn't waste a second as he summoned five tentacles sending them to target the echidna's captures, freeing her and pulling her towards him.

"Go." he commanded as he pushed her behind him. "Go tell them what is happening and the truth. The full truth."

"Al-Alright." she stuttered and raced away before anything could happen. Mephiles looked towards the Master Emerald completely ignoring the eight now furious hedgehogs.

"Don't worry Chaos. Just focus on bringing the others here." he then turned towards the group of hedgehogs now charging towards him. "I'll keep Havoc and his lackeys busy for now." He glared and summoned a bunch of tentacles while also getting into a fighting stance to prepare himself for one hell of a fight.