Author's Note: I managed to update this more quickly this time! Now, I know that I won't be able to finish this story this year, but I will finish it no matter how long it takes. So, without further ado, here's a new chapter to a new continent! Be warned, this one will be dark like chapter 4.

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter, and even the newest OC Keith, in case you're wondering. There will be another one at the end of this chapter as well.

Chapter 14: A Chun-Nan Night.

Sonic found Keith easily enough as the whimpering hound kept on trying to run away from him, spotting the explorer near the entrance and slowed down enough for his friends to catch up to him. Amy was still annoyed and when the dog saw her again, he whimpered even more.

"He doesn't look too happy to see you, Amy." Chip remarked.

"Yeah well, how could it be my fault?" Amy responded.

"Whatever it is, whatever you need, I don't care! Forget it Amy Rose. Every time I've been asked to help you, I get smacked by that hammer of yours! Last time, I got smacked on the bum!" Keith grunted, shoving rolled up maps from both his previous expeditions, storming off to the side. "I'm in mourning for my bum!"

"Again, why is it my fault? You dropped all of the expensive items I saved up to buy for Sonic's birthday last year!" The pink hedgehog argued, her hands on her hips.

"Expensive items?" Sun asked the aforementioned blue hedgehog, with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

"Hey, it's not like I asked her to go overboard. I was more than happy just to get even the cheap stuff." Sonic defended himself, his hands raised up. "It's the thought that always counts."

"Uh-huh, tell that to that girlfriend of yours, blue-boy." The hound begged to differ, before explaining to the two new comers. "I work in all gift shops all across Station Square, pink girl here asks me for the perfect gift for Mr. Hero and keep it a secret, so I go all around, I mention his fifteenth birthday about his present, I drop it and it got a few cracks, and the next thing you know, I get smacked! I'm lying in the middle of the road with my spleen hanging out, and I see her, waltzing up to a guitar repair shop!"

"Repair Guitar Shop?" The dark-blue hedgehog repeated, with Sonic chuckling nervously, Amy scowling as she folded her arms, and Tails facepalming himself over the memory of the near-birthday disaster almost a year ago, sighing in exasperation and embarrassment.

"Okay, so I mentioned I had a thing for a little bit of rock music, and I do play a guitar once and a while. My old one had seen better days and it's back at my parents' house." The hero of Mobius admitted sheepishly. "Plus, I'm not good of a musician. Heck, I'm only a little bit of a better singer than a friend of ours named Vector."

"Come on, Sonic. You're a great singer." Tails reassured.

"Yeah, no way. In my dreams, maybe." Sonic chuckled, but held a grateful soft smile at his little brother none the less. "But lets face it. Me and Vec' can't sing to save our lives."

"All this music talk is making me relive that day." Keith grumbled.

"Keith, you're such a whiner!" Amy scolded. "This isn't like a shopping trip. This is more of your expertise, and as much as I'm capable of looking after myself, the quicker we find those keys to help Sonic get to the Temple of Gaia, the better! So you can either put up with me until we find them, or I'll Professor Pickle about said disaster!"

All five boys around them flinched, at even Sun couldn't believe the angry tone in the twelve year old little girl.

"As long as I don't get smacked." The Hound complained.

The pink hedgehog's eye gave a glint as she smirked 'evilly' before summoning her hammer, this time bigger than a human man which made not only Keith whimper in fear even more and back away, but also Sonic, Tails, Chip and now Sun, who couldn't believe how Amy managed to do it, to back away nervously with sweat drops.

"Or, if you want to get smacked that badly and won't listen, I'll be more than happy to smack you again." Amy continued. "This time, I'll go for flattening you like a pancake. I've done it with Eggman's robots."

Keith was now quivering like a leaf to the point of almost wetting himself, before turning pleadingly to the teenage hero. "Sonic...Help?"

"No way. I'm staying out of this one. Besides, me, Tails, Sun and Chip gotta head over to another Temple in Chun-Nan to fix up that continent, especially since it'll be easier to get to than here at the moment." Sonic replied, knowing full well what his self-proclaimed girlfriend is capable of.

Knowing that he was on his own and stuck with the threat of Amy squashing him, Keith gulped before bending on his knees and wailed, his hands clasped together. "Okay, okay! I'll help you find those keys, Amy! I won't say anything else about the you-know-what! And I WON'T drop them! I swear! Just don't smack me flat like a pancake! I'm allergic to pancakes!"

'And I'm allergic to your complaining, you big whiner.' Sun thought to himself, irritated with the Hound's cowardice, yet at the same time now more than a little nervous with the pink hedgehog. Sonic was right; she may be a little girl, but while he hasn't seen her in action yet, given her hammer and temper, she is strong.

"Great! Then it's settled!" Amy beamed happily, dismissing her Hammer. She turned to her 'boyfriend' and reassured. "Don't worry, Sonic. By the time you guys get back, we'll have those keys and you'll be able to get to the Temple here to fix up this continent more quickly."

"Right. Thanks, Amy. Just be very careful." Sonic replied, smiling in a bit of relief that his friend would at least be somewhat safe with Keith around, even if he had a feeling she'll be both protecting the explorer and threaten him than the poor guy protecting her.

"Just to let you guys know, it'll be nighttime by the time we get to Chun-Nan." Tails spoke up, apologetically. That almost instantly made Sun groan, Chip worried, and Sonic almost certainly on edge.

While the blue hedgehog began to see a bit more of Sun's soft side, he couldn't help but feel his stomach plummet at the very thought of his new friend turning into a Werehog again. Despite that he tried to hide the fact he was utterly terrified of the monster inside the dark-blue hedgehog, not be afraid since fear was only making the beast stronger, he was scared that Sun could lose control again, and frightened of the thoughts of the Werehog either biting his head off or his right arm off, or any body of his body off.

'Hope he doesn't grow into a giant Werehog.' The cobalt teenager thought, unconsciously rubbing his right arm and gripped it, shivering a little.

Suddenly the trip to Chun-Nan was going to be a dreadful one.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Knuckles had received more Master Emerald shards from Station Square, Green Hill Zone, Westside Island(with it's locals still being cruel and ordered both the black hedgehog and the red echidna the leave the moment they'd been spotted), and Rooftop City. Now they were just arriving in Chun-Nan, one step closer in locating the last few pieces to restore the majestic emerald itself.

"It wasn't this awkward to find the Master Emerald shards when Eggman unleashed Chaos." Knuckles sighed, carefully readjusting the sack that held the pieces of the shards he carried with him. He and his current companion had already replaced the other shards back into place on Angel Island.

"Neither was traveling the world. Dr. Eggman has really gone too far this time." Shadow muttered in agreement, only half-paying attention as he gazed around their new surroundings. They were walking in the seemingly empty streets of the Aisan looking village. It was only the early evening, with the paper mache lanterns lighting up the streets, and yet he couldn't shake off the feeling of something quite dark and...evil lurking around.

The black hedgehog narrowed his ruby eyes in suspicion and concern. Not because he could faintly hear voices and felt stares from the windows of people's homes which he mostly ignored due to the fact that he wasn't a fully born Mobian, but because his spines were giving up warning signs that this place was covered by Dark Gaia's influence and evil power, which Eggman's robots didn't help. Plus there was something, someone, that was also here. Someone with the most black heart of all.

Apparently he wasn't the only one noticing this, because Knuckles softened his voice into a whisper, and asked. "Hey, is it just me, or does something feel off about this place?"

"No. Something's wrong. I can feel it." The Ultimate Lifeform whispered in agreement, causing him and the Guardian to pause in their steps, glancing around with caution while trying not to look to suspicious to onlookers that may have noticed them.

Just as the two companions were looking out for any signs of danger, they heard screams coming up from ahead and...a gunshot fired, which prompted more terrified screams. Alarmed, Shadow and Knuckles shared a glance before the former quickly skated towards the scene, with the latter, not being as fast as both the black hedgehog and especially Sonic, following. Shadow wasn't known for being a hero among humans despite his promise to Maria and coming to terms that not all humans are bad or pathetic, he wasn't about to go into the turmoil when the Black Arms attacked again.

Around the corner from where he was as more deadly sounds of gunshots, an animalistic roar, and a whip slashing and cutting into skin loudly could be heard, Shadow skid to a stop and peered around the building. The sight that greeted him actually made him softly gasp in shock and no small amount of horror. There in the middle of the street were a crowd of people in Chunese clothes that resembled to a Japanese background, as well as tourists from other parts of the world, both humans and Mobians, backing away in fear but frozen as five people, two male Chameleons that looked a bit like Espio, but one was red and another was green, a Hawk, an Alligator, and a human man that appeared to be from Spagonia with dark blue hair, though all five of them looked like tourists as well, all laid on the ground with gunshot, claw and whip wounds, looking either dead or dying.

Standing over them was Kaiser who growled like a Mobini Cheetah instead of a Mobian one that he was, his newly replaced rifle and retrieved whip from his fight against Sonic in both hands, blood on one of them which he covered by putting his gloves back on.

"You...you monster! Why did you do this!?" An Elder Villager demanded at the evil Myth Hunter.

"This is my warning." Kaiser hissed, stomping his foot onto the dying Hawk's chest, causing the latter to grunt and yell in agony. "All of this land and those merely visiting this place, shall tell me where the Phoenix is, or else I will tear apart this city and ravage it into flames and blood!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes as he almost instantly recognized the cold-blooded murderer, even as Knuckles caught up to him and when he saw what just happened, the red echidna looked so faintly shocked and horrified he began to turn green in the face, very close in vomiting at the horrific sight. He felt worse when he saw the monstrous Cheetah.

"What...!? Who is that? How could he-!?" Knuckles whispered.

"Kaiser Bakuvu, the Myth Hunter, and most deadly criminal of all of Mobius." Shadow whispered, hissing in fury that a Mobian had done this.

"You know him?" The red echidna asked, surprised at this knowledge.

The black hedgehog nodded grimly. "I never met him, but he has been terrorizing the planet for decades and not once has he been caught. He's been on GUN's most wanted list, but they didn't want anyone in the public to worry. Of course, this dates back to almost 20 years ago. He slaughtered villages while on the hunt for anything that were originally pure myth."

"That explains why he's called the Myth Hunter, but why go as far as killing other people?" Knuckles questioned.

"Because to get what he wants, he is ruthless, relentless and evil." Shadow answered.

That made Knuckles furious as he clutched his fist, gritting his teeth. "And to think that Eggman, Chaos and now Dark Gaia were our biggest problems. I'm surprised Sonic hasn't run into him yet."

"He doesn't waste his time on those like Sonic and I doubt he came across him in the past four years. Then again, he goes to places where Myths are heard of. That's why he's difficult to find." The black hedgehog told him.

"Well, that killing-streak's about to end tonight when I'm through with him...!" The Guardian of the Master Emerald grunted. "He's more of a killer than Tikal's father and even Eggman combined!"

"Agreed. But we must be cautious of those weapons. I'll deal with those, you handle his strength." Shadow whispered with a nod.

"You're speaking my language." Knuckles smirked.

Kaiser chuckled evilly, "So, what shall it be? The Phoenix, or your lives? I am an impatient man, so you have ten seconds."

"HEY!"

"Hm? What now?" The Myth Hunter groaned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, as he and everyone turned to see Knuckles emerge along with Shadow, the red echidna being the one to get his attention.

"I don't know what you're after, but what you're doing is the most cruelest of Mobius in history! Leave those people alone or else!" Knuckles growled, standing in a fighting stance to pummel the Cheetah into next week.

The Myth Hunter glared at the two Mobians at first, before grinning so coldly that it sent chills down even the Guardian and the Ultimate Lifeforms backs. "Ah, you must be Knuckles, the last Echidna, and you are Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform. I wasn't expecting to see two of Sonic's other so-called friends."

"So you heard of us, and heard of Sonic." Shadow muttered darkly, while Knuckles looked shocked, before recollecting himself and glared at Kaiser once more.

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh...Who hasn't? You two are just as ignorant as that blue hedgehog child. Perhaps I shall use the two of you as a bargaining chip shall I come across him and his two new friends; Sun the Werewolf, and that little pixie." Kaiser chuckled evilly.

"What? You met Sonic? And why did you call Sun a Werewolf? He looks nothing like it, and I don't believe in Werewolves." Knuckles demanded.

"I ambushed him, and say what you all will, that Werewolf is mine. Yet he and that brat have defeated me twice. Well, at least Sonic has, in Spagonia two nights ago, the second time in saving his little girlfriend's life. Once I get the feathers of the Phoenix as well as it's body, and the coat of the Werewolf and the dead body of the pixie, I will be the richest Mobian of the planet itself." Kaiser explained.

"You threatened Amy!? And you want to sell the dead bodies of a Phoenix as well as Sun and Chip!? That's disgusting!" The red echidna shouted furiously. Even the crowd all looked just as horrified and disgusted when Kaiser admitted his crimes and plans.

The Myth Hunter frowned darkly. "Hmph. I warned Sonic, and now he has become my enemy, because I will kill him the moment I see him. If you wish to avoid the hedgehog's fate, boy, stay out of my way!"

"No way! You're not gonna be killing anybody else, you spotless Cheetah!" Knuckles growled.

"Kaiser Bakuvu, as under authority of United Federation and GUN, the orders in either capture you alive or end your life are my priority. It is you who won't be getting in the way. You have caused terror all across Mobius long enough." Shadow declared, taking a step forward.

"Very well, then. I will kill you both. But first, I will give you a slow, painful torture, and when Sonic sees me again, I will take the pleasure to end your lives in front of him." The evil Cheetah declared, "But if you wish to avoid conflict with me..."

Kaiser by then put away his rifle and whip, and pulled out a dagger with the blade looking cut and edged like it was shaped of that of a predator, like a shark. He then roughly picked up the unfortunate green chameleon and placed the knife close to the hostage's throat, making the Elder and everyone else stare on in horror.

"These fools will be first on my list. One false move, and they will be served as my cooked meals." He warned evilly, horrifying and disgusting everyone else even further.

"Wait! Don't kill them!" The Elder, unable to watch this anymore, pleaded as he took several steps forward. As guilty as he felt, he knew that in order to spare the lives of everyone, he had no other choice. "I will take you to where the Phoenix is located. Please, let them go."

"Hmph...I thought you would say it my way. But first..." Kaiser tossed the Chameleon to the floor, smacking the Elder on the back of the head where the old man grunted before falling unconscious, and the evil Cheetah grabbed him around the arm.

He then turned to Knuckles and Shadow who prepared to make his move with his speed, yet cursed himself for not having an active Chaos Emerald in hand or else he could temporary freeze time to attack Kaiser. The evil Cheetah then leaped into the air and while putting his knife away, he made to punch the two Mobians who moved out of the way as he punched the ground, creating a small crater. Just as Knuckles looked up, the Myth Hunter whipped out his whip and in a speed that almost matches Sonic and Shadow's, lashed at him and the whip tied around the red echidna, trapping him with his arms pinned.

Knuckles grunted in pain as the whip was tight and he struggled to break free. Shadow then charged quickly, making to jump and then use a Homing Attack to hit Kaiser on the back and break the whip to free the sixteen year old. But to his shock, the Myth Hunter chuckled before flinging the echidna high and knocked him into the black hedgehog, breaking his Homing Attack and causing both to begin falling to the ground. Kaiser leaped high and gave several punches into both of them, sending the two crashing into the ground. Knuckles was knocked out, while Shadow, unable to believe he had been easily defeated, was about to stand up when he was shoved to the ground as the Cheetah stood on his head.

"Get...off!" Shadow grunted, hissing in pain.

"Hmph. This is the power of the Ultimate Lifeform? Pathetic. No wonder Sonic could defeat you. It seems only you could defeat the Black Arms because of your supposed relation to them. As for the Guardian, just as weak. It explains why echidnas were drawn to near extinction." Kaiser scoffed, disappointed. "I'll deal with both of you later, after I get my Phoenix."

Before the defeated and admittedly crushed Ultimate Lifeform could say anything, the Cheetah punched him on the face, quickly knocking him out as well. Kaiser then gazed up at the horrified people and declared, "You may heal the five I have killed, though I wouldn't count on their survival. But leave these two where I will come back for them. I will use them to force Sonic the Hedgehog to hand me my Werewolf, and my Pixie. If I find that you have tended to their wounds, I will destroy your home and all of you will never see the light of another day."

Without another word, Kaiser slumped the unconscious Elder over his shoulder, and then ran off, purposely hurting more people who screamed in terror as they couldn't get out of the way in time before making his way to another place where he would wait for his captive to awaken and lead him to where the Phoenix was.

Unaware that his plan is already about to fail.

Five minutes later...

By the time Sonic and his friends arrived in Chun-Nan, which looked like a mixture of a couple of Asian places including Japan, it was in the middle of the night, and Sun was once more a Werehog, though he found that it wasn't as painful as it had been when this journey began. Despite not wanting to leave the Tornado 1 on it's own, Tails agreed with Sonic's offer to join him, Chip and Sun, mainly due to the blue hedgehog's fear that the two-tailed fox could end up attacked by either Dark Gaia monsters or Eggman's robots.

As the four entered through the village's gates which looked really cool considering it's appearance, Sonic and his friends couldn't help but sense that something was wrong. It wasn't until Sun picked up a scent and sniffed the air, before feeling his stomach churn, yet to his horror, his mouth began to water and he realized that the latter instinct was the Werehog instinct.

Blood. It was the scent of blood.

"Sun? What's wrong?" Chip asked, noticing the paled-well, more pale than the Werehog already face in the muzzle-expression on his face. This caught the attention of Sonic and Tails who both paused in their steps as they saw what was going on.

"Up ahead...there's blood...and it's close." Sun murmured, breathing as he began to panic a little.

"What? Blood? Are you sure?" Sonic asked, gapping in shock and horror, as fear began to creep up. If Sun could smell blood close by as a Werehog, oh Chaos, if the blue hedgehog ended up getting a single cut or a deep wound, the cursed hedgehog could easily get to him and follow him even with his speed. It made the fifteen year old feel very nauseous all of the sudden.

"Yeah, I'm positive." The Werehog nodded, and mentally winced as he felt the beast begin to try and take control again, but he fought against it, fighting the urge to simply grab and eat Sonic. He would not give into that animalistic desire, not when he and the blue hedgehog, still having odds, had become friends.

"If that's the case...do you think somebody bad hurt people? Or was it those monsters?" Tails asked shakily, terrified now himself.

It could be a possibility, which made Sonic feel even more sick and horrified. What if they were already too late? What if the people of Chun-Nan had died? The unbearable guilt of innocent people dead because of his own reckless actions for being tricked by Eggman, that the world was still in pieces despite two was already back into place, the blue hedgehog began to panic badly and blamed himself even more now.

"No...No, no, no, no, no, no!" Sonic feverishly shook his head, and without waiting for his friends, he immediately dashed off to investigate, hoping that it wasn't as bad as he feared despite Tails and Chip telling him to wait and Sun now looking even more worried.

Though while the eight year old kit and the amnesiac pixie hurried as fast as they could, the youngest being faster due to his twin tails, the Werehog was about to follow when he felt the same painful jolt he felt back in Mazuri just seconds after he and Sonic made up which began their friendship. Sun hissed in agony, placing a hand to his chest and panted heavily, his eyes shut as he tried to dull the pain, his ears ringing as the hauntingly dark, familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"...Lone...We...are...nic...feast...on...hedgehog..." The dark voice spoke.

"Who...are you?" Sun grunted, his other hand placed onto his head as he tried to ignore the beast, realizing that he was hearing the Werehog side of him now talk which didn't make any sense at all. How the heck was the monster now speaking English and suddenly becoming stronger even when Sonic was trusting him? Was there still some distrust, or was it something else? He then thought of how he was absorbing the darkness from the monsters he defeated, which in a weird way, made more sense.

Was absorbing that a huge side effect?

"Feast on...the hedgehog...we...crave...for...is blood..." The beast inside him gave a dark chuckle, making Sun's blood run cold.

'NO! I won't eat him! Sonic's my friend! I told you that! Get. Out. Of. ME!' Sun mentally shouted, as a tear formed despite his eyes being closed, and as soon as it did, the voice faded away with evil laughter that frightened him. Thankfully, the pain also eased, making him pant and he felt dizzy from the mental battle against the monster inside him.

His stomach turned as he realized, to his horror, that it was starting to get worse. The beast was getting stronger, which meant that Sonic's fear and guilt were getting worse as well due to what was happening. Sun had to warn him, fast. Then, realizing that he was left behind due to his episode and that Sonic Tails and Chip were already investigating, he shook his head to ignore what happened and, wanting to help, he ran as fast as he could, though given that he was a Werehog at the moment, it was slow going.

"Ugh. I need to lose some weight in this stupid form." Sun complained.

Even though Sonic felt an unexplained jolt of fear and more guilt rise inside him and felt that something was wrong with Sun, feeling terrible for not checking up on his rival-turned-friend, he knew he had to do get to whoever was in trouble first. Following his instincts, the blue hedgehog dashed around the corner only to come to a complete stop as a haunting sight greeted him. It only took him a few seconds to get here, but even those seconds were too slow.

A crowd of terrified and mourning people had gathered around five people lying on the ground, three covered in heavy bandages, two being gently lifted and carried away, and...two more people, familiar ones lying on the ground near by, all seven out cold...or dead. Blood was on the ground, mainly from the five heavily injured unfamiliar faces, and it was still fresh and strong that it filled Sonic's noise and made him even more sick. Yet while there had been claw attacks on most of them, there were also gunshot wounds and whip lashes that still bled.

Sonic gasped, covering his mouth with one hand, his eyes wide in devastation, his emerald pupils shaking and shrinking slightly at the deathly sight. It was just like how Tikal's father and his men had purposely charged, brutally injuring her and killing some of the innocent Chao just to get to the Chaos Emeralds 4,000 years ago. Except there was no fire. Only injured or dead people...two that were Knuckles, who was still tied up in the whip, and Shadow who was lying on the ground.

"Hey!" Sonic cried out, lowering his hand to get the people's attentions, and his heart sank when they saw him, some looking distraught and heartbroken, others looking angry and terrified. Ignoring some of their glares, he hurried over and, while wanting to check up on two of his friends, he wanted to see how badly injured the five other people were; one human, two Chameleons, an alligator and a hawk, all having severe injuries.

Seeing their wounds and while they were still being bandaged up, and he heard Tails and Chip gasp in horror as they, and eventually Sun arrived, the Werehog looking just as shocked, before they hurried over to help while Tails and Sun went over to Knuckles and Shadow, Sonic looked up worriedly at the villagers and tourists.

"What happened? Who did this?" The blue hedgehog asked frantically, gently lifting the red chameleon and cradling him in his arms.

"It-It was...an in-insane Cheetah!" A young woman with blonde hair sobbed, already on her knees, cradling the man in her arms. "He-he threatened to-to kill us...!"

Unable to hold it back, she cried louder, but the teenage hedgehog didn't need her to continue explaining. What she said was more than enough for him and his friends to figure out who it was and his blood ran cold.

"Kaiser..." Sonic whispered, horrified. If the Myth Hunter was here, oh Chaos, Sun and Chip and even Tails were in grave danger. It was a miracle that the village wasn't destroyed, but he felt history already repeating itself; whatever it was that was mythical here, it was going to be the case of Holoska all over again, only five lives were already on the brink of being lost...or rather seven, if Knuckles and Shadow were heavily injured as well.

"The horrible Cheetah did this!? That monster!" Chip cried out hysterically, horrified by this as well.

Sun felt disgusted, and despite the fearful looks on the people's faces, the Werehog carefully wrapped the blanket around the unfortunate alligator's body, shreding another piece to wrap around the victim's chest and stomach as a make-shift bandage, which surprised the two men who were tending to him.

"It's not much, but it should slow the bleeding." The Werehog whispered, as gently as he could sound, while wanting to get away from all of the blood that was starting to fill his senses, but he focused on tending the wounded first.

Sonic immediately did the same after discovering, to his relief, that all five people that were heavily attacked by the evil Cheetah were still alive, clinging on and fighting to survive. He hoped that Knuckles and Shadow didn't have as much injuries, and Tails would let him know. He could hear his best friend's voice trying to wake them up, and worried that maybe they were already dead despite trying to reassure himself that nothing would kill the red echidna that easily, and the black hedgehog was practically immortal, so he couldn't die.

'Mnyambo's right. Kaiser is dangerous, ruthless, cold and evil, and definitely delusional.' The fifteen year old thought to himself, agreeing with what Chip described the Myth Hunter.

He's a monster.

"Sonic! Knuckles and Shadow are waking up!" Tails' voice snapped the blue hedgehog out of his thoughts, causing Sonic to look over his shoulder and found the aforementioned duo regaining consciousness and he sighed in relief.

Gently placing the red chameleon back onto the ground to be cared for by two other volunteers, Sonic stood up and hurried over to his other friends, with Chip and Sun, relieved that the most wounded were being taken care of for the time being, following. The hero of Mobius bend on one knee as the two-tailed fox carefully cut the whip to free Knuckles who groaned.

"Knux, Shads! You okay?" Sonic asked, worriedly.

"Ow, my head..." Knuckles groaned, placing a gloved hand onto his head. "That Myth Hunting creep's a dirty fighter."

"To be defeated by that foul criminal...This is humiliating!" Shadow hissed, pushing himself up, then glanced up at Sonic and grumbled. "What brings you here?"

"Still looking for the Temples of Gaia. Good news is, we already restored the one back in Mazuri and the one in Holoska. Professor Pickle sent us here to find another one while he, Ames and an old friend are looking for two keys to get to the one back in Spagonia." Sonic explained, glad that the black hedgehog and the red echidna are okay, only having minor injuries and obviously been knocked out.

"And the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Back to their full power. Only got five more to restore and five more continents to put back." He reported, before saying. "I'm gonna guess that you and Knuckles tried to fight Kaiser, right?"

The black hedgehog looked away in annoyance. "That, and he got away with a hostage, an elder man."

"WHAT!?" Sonic, Chip and Tails exclaimed in horror.

"Let me guess; he's using that old guy to find whatever's Myth around here." Sun groaned, shaking his head.

"He said something wanting to find a Phoenix, take it's feather and body and sell it to get rich." Knuckles explained, surprised that the others had arrived already and guessed that there was a Temple of Gaia here as well. "He's also delusional and crazy, and thinks that you're a Werewolf."

The Werehog facepalmed himself. "Delusional is an understatement for that Myth Hunting idiot. He's blind and sadistic, and plain stupid."

Despite still having distrust in Sun, Knuckles did agree with him. "Yeah, there's no other way to describe him besides the fact that he's a monster. Plus, I heard that Amy's been attacked too." He then turned to Sonic and asked. "That reminds me, is she okay?"

"Ames is fine. I managed to save her. But yeah, that guy's no push over. Mnyambo warned me about him before that creep ambushed us in Spagonia." The blue hedgehog replied.

"Mnyambo?" The red echidna asked, confused.

"He's the Elder of the Village in Mazuri who helped Sonic, Chip and Sun to find the Gaia Temple after they saved him and the other villagers from Eggman and his robots." Tails explained.

"We'll explain more on that later. Right now, I've gotta save the Elder of this place before that monster kills him." Sonic said firmly, standing up as he knew he had to rescue the kidnapped man and stop Kaiser before it was too late. The blue hedgehog may not have been able to stop the horrors of what happened in Holoska, but he wasn't about to let the same thing or something similar happen to Chun-Nan, or anywhere else.

"He's extremely dangerous, Sonic. You have to be careful." Shadow cautioned.

"I know. I've seen what that guy could do, but I'm not giving up." Sonic replied, determined to stop the evil Myth Hunter and save the Elder.

The blue hedgehog stood up after closing his eyes briefly, and turned to the people who, some of them looking uncomfortably angry and glaring at him and his friends, he ignored the angry looks and instead asked loudly. "Can any of you tell me where Kaiser the Myth Hunter went with your elder?"

"Why should we tell you, hero?" One of the tourists asked, furiously. This shocked the teenager and his five friends, even though Shadow didn't look too surprised. Suddenly the fifteen year old and his two amnesic friends felt deja vu flash before them.

"So I can save the Elder." Sonic informed, and sensing that he was in for a group of unfriendly faces demanding for answers, his guilt rising for not being able to stop Kaiser all over again, quickly said. "Look, I never heard about the Myth Hunter until a little while ago, and I'm sorry for not realizing it for the past four years ever since I first became a hero, but please, all I ask is where Kaiser is so I can stop him before he takes away anymore lives!"

"You were too busy focusing on Dr. Eggman, and you couldn't stop to actually look for other evil people in the world!?" Another tourist, another young woman, asked angrily, soon followed by the other angry people while those who were tending the wounded and knew that Sonic and his friends were not at fault soon argued at the protesters.

But the words from the woman stung, and Sonic lowered his head in guilt. They were right. He'd been mostly busy on stopping Eggman and going on adventures, hanging out with his friends, not once did he consider in actually checking other evil people in the world. Sure he stopped criminals during the doctor's absence ever since the ARK incident, and he stopped Erazor Jin in the Arabian Knights, but was it enough? Or had he been goofing off to much? He did help to stop the Black Arms, but Shadow had been the one to defeat Devil Doom.

Joseph's words echoed once more before the cruel man's banishment.

"HE COULD'VE AT LEAST PREVENTED IT!"

'...I'm not a hero, after all. I'm a magnet of disaster...!' Sonic thought to himself, heartbroken by this discovery. The lady was right; he'd been too busy focusing on stopping Eggman, and despite the other heroic deeds he did, not once did Kaiser's evil activity get his attention. He buried his face into his hands, trying to stop himself from breaking down, utterly and completely ashamed.

Now the world was in pieces, and Kaiser was worse than ever. How could Sonic the Hedgheog call himself the Hero of Mobius if he caused the planet's current situation and never once heard of the Myth Hunter? He was a failure.

"I'm so sorry...! I'm so ashamed of myself...I really am!" The blue hedgehog muffled. "It's all my fault!"

"Sonic...!" Tails whispered, shocked and heartbroken to see his best friend like this, with Knuckles' eyes widened just how badly and mentally damaged the younger teen was, Chip trying to cheer him up, Shadow sighed, shaking his head over the people's reactions yet worried it was effecting Sonic so much, and Sun just wanted to smack those people for hurting his friend, but forced himself back as he didn't want to go on a rampage.

"Hey! You can't blame Sonic for not knowing!" Knuckles shouted at the angry people. "It's not his fault!"

"He's right. Even GUN had difficulty in locating Kaiser Bakuvu for seven years, and the Hunter has been in hiding while continuing to slaughter many lives. Sonic could not have known." Shadow added, before adding. "But what am I saying? You're all being judgemental, blaming someone who couldn't have known. He may be a hero, but he's not a psychic."

"Yeah, it's not fair to be angry with Sonic when he's only trying to help!" Tails added, more tearfully. "It's not fair to hate him just because none of us knew about Kaiser!"

"He already had the blame-game on him by an old cranky guy who wasn't liked in his village which had it's own problems because of that Myth Hunter." Sun added.

"Yeah, you should all be ashamed of yourselves! Sonic's one of the most kinded people on Mobius!" Chip added, glaring at those who had been angry with the blue hedgehog. Those who didn't get angry with Sonic voiced their agreements, and those who were, which were only six but still enough, still didn't look too convinced.

Sonic himself wasn't fully convinced anymore either. He gratefully appreciated his friends' supports and the support of those who weren't angry with him, but even as he lowered his hands, the pained look of guilt was still there. He rubbed his arms as though the night's cold chill was getting to him. He just wanted to live his life freely, and now that freedom may have caused all this to happen.

Maybe he should just quit and let Shadow take over. He had a job, he was tough, he was more stern, and as much as Sonic didn't agree with his rival's violent ways, maybe it was better if the black hedgehog finished his work, do a better job in saving Mobius, helping Chip and Sun to get their memories back, and...and kill both Eggman and Kaiser. The blue hedgehog in the meantime would just disappear. He didn't know where he would go, but he knew that the world would be better off without him. His friends and family would be much better off without him...

"WAKE UP, SONIC!"

"Huh!?" Sonic blinked, gasping as though he was suddenly waking up from a nightmare. To his surprise, not only his friends were staring at him worriedly, but the people...those that looked angry didn't look angry at all. While the wounded people were still there, it was as though what transfered hadn't been real at all. To make things more confusing, a familiar people Chameleon who had his mini shurikens out that flashed brightly which made his eyes hurt a little, stood there along with a familiar crocodile and a six year old Mobian Bee, and an unfamiliar old grey Chameleon with a long beard.

The trio were Espio, Vector and Charmy.

"Are you alright?" Espio, who had told him to wake up, asked as he and his friends and the elderly Chameleon turned to the hero's group.

"Espio? Vector? Charmy?" Sonic muttered in confusion. Suddenly feeling dizzy, the blue hedgehog groaned and rubbed his head yet found that he was still standing. "W-what happened?"

"A linger of darkness gave you a haunting vision mixed with your emotions, dear boy. Did you happen to blink the moment you stood up?" The Chameleon asked.

The blue hedgehog, despite not knowing who this old guy was, did remember blinking just before asking where he could find the Kaiser and the Elder when the all accusation happened, and as much as he attempted to make the angry people understand, and his friends supporting him, yet he felt unworthy to even be the hero. His heart pounded as though waking up from a nightmare.

"Uh, yeah?" He replied, before looking back and forth and asked in realization. "Wait, you mean I was sleep-standing?"

"Apparently we all did. I saw people die right in front of me." Shadow admitted.

"I saw myself being killed in front of me." Knuckles added.

"I saw monsters forming from these people and we fought them, but we couldn't win." Tails shuddered tearfully.

"I saw Kaiser coming back and killing everybody before coming for me...It was a nightmare!" Chip shuddered.

Sun looked the most uncomfortable, muttering. "I saw myself...losing control and attacking these people. It wasn't pleasent."

Even the people in the crowd gave out their nightmares while standing, like how their loved ones died, or Sonic's group simply leaving which scared the blue hedgehog, or like with Chip, Kaiser returning and destroying Chun-Nan.

"How did that happen?" Sonic asked. He had been convinced that it had all been real. Yet his heart ached as the haunting words echoed in his mind, and found himself asking why he hadn't paid more attention.

"The Phoenix has been corrupted by the darkness that has returned at the wrong time." The Chameleon explained. "And as such, it has formed a power that those who blink in the night after a terrible incident happened would cause those to go into a trance and see a vision out of their worst fears despite some comfort from the heart."

"Dark Gaia...the giant monster Eggman woke up." The blue hedgehog whispered in realization. He had no idea how the Phoenix caused to give even him and everybody else such a realistic vision he hadn't even noticed. Then a horrified realization formed; if the Phoenix was corrupted, then the Elder was in more grave danger than with Kaiser.

If he didn't go rescue him now, then the Elder was as good as dead, from either the Myth Hunter or the corrupted Phoenix who would no doubt have anger to make things worse. Again guilt formed in his chest, the blue hedgehog blaming himself for not stopping Eggman or even learning of Kaiser's existence a lot sooner.

"Sonic? Hey, Sonic!" Vector spoke up.

"You okay? You don't normally look so spooked." Charmy added, not sure how this reunion was turning out.

"I'll explain later." Sonic quickly said and, once again asking the question for real this time, and hoped that he would get a straight answer, spoke to the crowd. "Can any of you tell me where Kaiser the Myth Hunter went with your elder?"

"He went up the mountain where a Shrine is, there rests a Sacred Temple near the Chamber of the Phoenix. The only way to get to the Temple is to enter the Chamber itself." One of the villagers, another old man, explained.

Despite having to go through another shrine again, the teenage hedgehog didn't want to waste anymore time. Plus it saved the trouble in asking where the Temple of Gaia was.

"Okay, thanks!" He then turned to his friends and instructed quickly, determined to set things right and not let his emotional turmoil stop him. "Sun, Chip, you're with me! Tails, you, Knucklehead, Shadow and the Chaotix help with the injured and get everybody here to safety!"

His friends, even the Chaotix who were confused about what was going on, nodded and then Sonic turned to the elder Chameleon and said, "Thanks for advice and wake up call, Mister."

"Don't thank me for the wake up call, young man. You should thank Teeny Espio for it." The old man chuckled, which, at the mention of the new nick-name, the aforementioned ninja looked away in embarrassment which made Sonic and some of the others trying hard not to laugh.

"Master Koga, I'm not a child anymore. Must you keep calling me that?" Espio sighed, exasperated.

"Thanks a bunch, Espio...Heh heh heh...Teeny Espio!" Sonic thanked, while laughing teasingly, before taking hold of Sun's hand while Chip rested on top of the former's head and then sped off on the desperate rescue mission with the Werehog screaming away as he was being dragged by the speedster.

"C'mon! Let's get to work!" Tails declared, already hurrying to help with the injured along with Knuckles and Shadow and the other people.

While Espio made to help, he heard both Vector and Charmy laugh, causing the sixteen year old Chameleon to growl in irritation as he knew exactly what they were finding so amusing. He turned to them and grunted, "Don't you two dare call me Teeny Espio!"

"Sure, Espio. You really must've been smaller than me when you were a kid, though." Charmy giggled.

"Yeah, I never pegged ya' to be called Teeny by anybody, buddy." Vector grinned, which irritated the ninja, before the detective said seriously. "But enough jokes for the night. We've got some people to help. Let's go, guys."

"Affirmative." Espio nodded, annoyed by the teasing but forced himself to ignore it and focused on the task Sonic had given them.

"Right away, boss!" The youngest detective saluted.

The elder Chameleon, Master Koga, sighed as while he helped with the wounded, he turned his gaze to where Sonic, Chip and Sun had gone off, thinking to himself. 'I sense darkness within the two young hedgehogs. Sonic, not so much because of the light within his heart, but his friend...there is a beast that could soon take over...or be unleashed and set free.'

Sonic, Chip and Sun made it to the bottom of the mountain in no time, though they saw that it was going to be a heck of a climb considering how steep it was. Only slightly, but it was going to take a while even with him running all the way to the top without causing a landslide, which could happen and he didn't want to take the risks.

Still, his mind was onto that dream that just appeared like it really happened. No one even noticed, and it was sheer luck that the Chaotix and Espio's old mentor, Koga, who the blue hedgehog never heard of before. It still didn't make it any easier for the fifteen year old. What those people said in the hallucination caused by the darkness of the Phoenix haunted him. It gave out his fears of being coldly told off for something that he didn't do on purpose, and even with the mental images of his friends supporting him, he almost fully gave into that overwhelming guilt.

It was so real, that he thought it was true. He was just lucky that it didn't come to him admitting that he failed to stop Eggman from shattering the world. Sonic thought about how he considered on just quitting his life as a hero and leaving everybody he loved behind, to hide and disappear...and he fully realized how horrible that thought was.

'No. I can't leave. Not when I came this far. How can I leave everybody and everything behind when this situation is still going? I made a promise to Chip and Sun and I never break my promises. I have to stop Eggman and Kaiser. I've gotta save Mobius and return it to normal! I'm not giving up!' Sonic thought to himself, clutching his fist as his determination once again returned, scolding his dream-self for thinking such a thing. He was a hero, not a quitter.

"How are you guys gonna get up there?" Chip asked, worriedly as he already figured he could easily fly up.

"We'll just have to climb our way up. I can run while Sun could use his arms. He's got the muscle." Sonic, calming down, shrugged.

Sun, a bit annoyed for being told he could use his arms to climb up while Sonic can run and Chip could fly, stared at the slightly steep mountain leading up to the Shrine above before an idea formed in his mind. Using his arms...he can stretch them and can swing amoung trees.

"Hmmm..." The Werehog muttered and, realizing that Sonic could slip, gazed at the blue hedgehog and before the teenager could say anything, Sun clasped him around the waist with both hands, this time not pinning his arms to his sides.

"Whoa, hey-WHOA!" Sonic screamed in alarm as he was being lifted off the ground, and, panic settling in, quickly tried to pull himself free as he thought that Sun was losing control again and was about to eat him. "Sun, whaddya doin'? Put me down!"

"Will you calm down? I promise I won't eat you." Sun rolled his eyes, though he couldn't blame the blue hedgehog for panicking, before he stretched over and carefully placed Sonic onto his back, mindful of the really long quills, much to Sonic and Chip's surprise. The two stared at the Werehog in confusion at first, before realization dawned onto the teenager, especially when Sun then grabbed the pixie who yelped and placed him next to the hero of Mobius.

"I get it. You're giving us a ride up the mountain." Sonic said, smiling in surprise and excitement which formed and grew quickly.

"Whoa, really? You sure you wanna carry us?" Chip asked, a bit more nervous.

Sun smirked, "Well, I can't have Sonic slip and you'll probably pass out from flight since it's pretty high up. Might as well make myself more useful in this form. But don't expect this to happen again anytime soon."

"Hey, once in a lifetime's more than a enough in cases like this. How many guys can say they hitched a ride on a Werehog?" The blue hedgehog smiled even wider, carefully holding onto his friend's quills which were, while pointy as expected, along with the Werehog's fur was actually really soft.

While Chip gulped and clinged onto both Sun and Sonic, the Werehog told them to hold on which they did, and then stretched out his arms to the more stable parts of the cliff, and flung himself and his two companions upward, then jumped and climbed and flung onward and up the mountain in the darkness of night, with the stars and the moon being the only known sources of light, but it didn't matter to the three of them. Sun was focused while Chip was crying out in alarm. The only one fully enjoying this moment was the heroic hedgehog.

"WOOOOOO! YEAH!" Sonic cheered happily, laughing away as he was having a lot of fun, feeling the wind against his face and quills. "This is way past cool!"

It took a bit of a while, but eventually the trio made it to the top with Sun landing swiftly on the safe firm ledge of the cliff in front of the Shrine which looked more like a doorway to the Palace built for an Emperor. While Sonic was a bit disappointed that the fun ride was over, he almost immediately and carefully climbed off of his friend's back, while Chip shakily fell off dramatically, almost passing out.

"That was fun! I wish we could do it again." Sonic remarked, still feeling the excitement throughout his entire body, having had such a blast for the first time since this journey began.

"Yeah, well, I'm not a Themepark attraction." Sun shook his head.

"Thought you'd say something like that." The blue hedgehog chuckled with a shrug. "Thanks a bunch, Sun."

The Werehog smiled, this time a bit more warmly as Sonic gave him a thumbs up and wink, while Chip moaned which caught the two's attention, then sighed as the pixie-dog shakily pushed himself up.

"I...never...want to...do that...again..." Chip whined.

The Werehog rolled his eyes, "Quit being a baby, squirt."

"At least we made it to the top, buddy." Sonic pointed out, feeling a bit sorry for Chip as he remembered how he was the only one who enjoyed thrills.

"Sonic...how could you say that was fun?" The pixie-dog asked, slowly floating up as he recovered.

The blue hedgehog shrugged again, "Maybe it's because my idea of fun is kinda way different to everybody else's. But then again, I've never been afraid of heights. I enjoy myself no matter where I go. Anyway, all that side, we should get going. We've gotta save the Elder and stop Kaiser, and then get to the Gaia Temple and restore the Chaos Emerald while putting this place back to where it should be."

His friends nodded in agreement as they all turned to the Shrine doors that seemed to be built into the mountain. Sonic and Sun pushed the doors open and stepped inside with Chip following them, and as the doors closed behind them, the trio quickly began their search to save the Elder and Chun-Nan.

A/N: I hope this chapter was okay, but I wanted to at least get this chapter out of the way before I go Christmas Shopping in a day or two. I may be able to update my other stories during the time-period, but I'm not so sure at this point. None the less, the quest in Chun-Nan as just began, and I think this visit will be shorter than in Mazuri and Holoska.

See you later!