Author's note: This year has been absolutely crazy, and we're coming up to the end of it, but we're still not out of the woods yet. Hopefully this chapter will make everybody's day. Here we go!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. The rights of the franchise and all Sonic characters and media belong to Sega, Sonic Team and other connected companies. I only own the OCs.
The Mutagen Saga.
Chapter 11: Under the Sea Palace.
After seeing where Eggman has gone off, which was towards the Ocean Palace itself, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were given a short ride to the main entrance pathway by the Sea Monster that had saved the blue hedgehog's life and helped him to rescue his friends. They were greatly surprised by how gentle the sea creature was towards them yet hostile towards Eggman. None the less, they didn't want to accidentally anger it and instead allowed their new friend to carry them and drop them off. They also surprised that part of the legendary building connected to another part of the mainland which looked rather different than before when they and their friends first arrived back here on Earth.
"Not sure why you were helping us out, but thanks for the rescue, big guy. Really appreciate it." Sonic told the giant sea beast, who made an expression of smiling warmly. "Wish there was something we could do to repay ya'."
The Sea Monster simply shook it's head before leaning forward towards him and his friends, and while the trio felt somewhat nervous, it harmlessly and gently licked the teenage hero on the cheek, causing Sonic to laugh at the tickling sensation.
"H-hey! That tickles!" Sonic laughed, which made the gentle giant to stop and allowing him to carefully rub it's face. "For a sea monster, you're pretty cool."
It's face turning into a slight pink on the snout, the Sea Monster felt embarrassed before gesturing it's head towards the entrance of the Ocean Palace which the blue hedgehog and his friends turned to gaze at it, wondering why it was doing so.
"You want us to go in there?" The teenage hedgehog asked, and their new giant friend nodded. Despite that time was running out for the worlds, he just shrugged. "Okay. We gotta catch up to Eggman and stop his latest evil plan anyway."
"Thank you again for saving us." Tails said.
"You showed up in a nick of time." Knuckles admitted.
"We'll take it from here." Sonic concluded with a wave, as the Sea Monster gave a soft gentle growl before sinking back into the ocean one last time, diving into the depths of the sea as the trio waved it a goodbye. He couldn't help but smile. "Huh. Not everyday you get to make friends with a sea monster that come to save you."
"Maybe it has a connection with the Ocean Palace and it could be it's guardian or something." Tails theorized.
"How can you tell?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow, curiously.
"It's just my theory, but it seemed to be angry with Eggman than with us." The young fox replied.
The red echidna, feeling skeptical, glanced at the blue hedgehog and asked. "What do you think?"
"I'd say he's right. The big guy must've sensed that we're here to help and save the world." Sonic replied, one hand onto his hip with a smirk. "Anyway, we should get going and catch up with Egghead before we find ourselves in more trouble."
Unfortunately, just as Team Sonic was about to make a quick entrance to catch up to the evil doctor, there was a distant sound of repellers and gunshots filling the air, causing the trio to gaze over to where they came from and from another part of Seaside Hill Zone merged with Emerald Coast, were three helicopters flying around, a flash of light shining before disappearing and seemed to be just hovering there.
"What the?" Sonic muttered, his eyes wide.
"What now?" Knuckles grunted.
Tails, sensing that something was wrong, pulled out a pair of binoculars for a better look and gasped when he saw the logo on the side of one of the aircrafts, exclaiming in panic "Ah! It's GUN! They must be firing at something!"
"No way! Why are they were?" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, before softly gasping as a horrifying realization and memory came back to him, the terrible warnings that Commander Tower made.
"Stay out of this, or you will be locked up in this cell where I will keep you as long as I want. If you ever interfere with our mission or attempt to aid this traitor, you are mine. Even then, you may never leave freely ever again. You are not Shadow as he is dead, but even though you're a hero, you're close enough."
Remembering those words, combined with how he noticed the purple glints in the man's eyes, Sonic felt a sense of dread and his heart hammered in panic and fear he struggled to force down to avoid in becoming hysterical. What if Tower ultimately, seeing what happened between the battle against Eggman in Station Square earlier, decided that the cobalt hero belonged to him and better served and forced to obey him, never allowed to leave? What if the fog is making him care less about the worlds merging and decided that Time is best destroyed?
"Tower...He's after me...!" Sonic whispered in horror. "The fog's making him even worse and he wants to keep me trapped here for himself...!"
"What!?" Tails and Knuckles both exclaimed in dismay.
The looked up ahead again and saw the helicopters making a move, making the trio panic.
"They're coming straight of us!" The young fox panicked.
"Let's get outta here, stop Eggman and stop the merge, quick!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, grabbing hold of both his friends' arms and immediately dashed towards the entrance of the Ocean Palace, the trio becoming a blur of blue, yellow and red, hoping to at least lose the military and hide while continuing their quest to save both Earth and their home world.
Chris, Danny and Frances were unable to believe what they were seeing, as the Ocean Palace had emerged from the sea itself, and the former had a bad feeling that the merging was getting worse already, plus they caught of the helicopters and, unknown to them, saw the same thing as Sonic's group did. Wishing for an explanation, the former twenty-one year old requested the bear to explain the story. Which was why the four of them along with the parrot kid and his mother were in the bear's cosy little sea-side home with icy cold fruit juice set up on the coffee table.
"It was once said that the Ocean Palace emerges to the surface once every 1,000 years, along with it's Sea-Guardians who are hostile to those with dark intentions." The bear explained, arms folded to his chest as he explained the story to the human de-aged kids and the parrot family. "However, many believed it to be pure myth as the person who went in there once never returned."
"Because it was either the Sea-Guardians or the person who went into the Palace was evil, right?" Chris theorized.
"It's hard to say, but it could be either one or possibly both. Only those who have been chosen by the late hero who, according to another legend, saved our people from a great calamity." The bear responded.
"Huh?" All of the human kids and the parrot kid blinked, puzzled.
"A great calamity?" The parrot boy asked, raising an eye ridge.
The bear just shrugged, "Hey, kid. I'm just going what my grandpa told me. Most of the information on the other legend is in the Palace itself and nobody's crazy enough to go in there to find out."
"Can you at least tell us what you know about this other legend that isn't the Ocean Palace?" Frances kindly requested.
"Well, okay. Legend has it that there had been a great war between our people along with some other species nobody really knows about but they had been living in harmony, right up until an evil force who threatened to destroy the world if both sides are not divided. However, that force just wanted to destroy both and leave the world into everlasting darkness and void." The bear said.
Chris had a deep thought on what he was hearing, and placed his finger onto his chin, muttering. "Sonic did mention in having weird dreams of seeing a red hedgehog in a silver cloak, and he kept on hearing that guy say something about the merge must be complete, the reunion and union is coming. But he and the rest of us have reason to believe that the red hedgehog is evil and wants to do something really bad."
"Is it related of how part of our home is merging with yours?" The parrot mother asked, a bit skeptically.
"Well, that and Dr. Eggman was up to no good again." The de-aged boy shrugged.
"Eggman? Ugh, I don't like that guy. He always causes trouble!" The parrot kid groaned.
"Tell us about it." Danny sighed in agreement.
The bear frowned in concern, "Well, Sonic is known in performing the miracle whenever he uses the legendary Chaos Emeralds. It's best to warn him to be careful, because if this red hedgehog is evil and the young man is having dreams of this mysterious person, he could be in danger of becoming evil himself."
That horrified the group in the room, but none more so than Chris as he remembered back when he and the others fought against the Metarex. How the evil aliens used Sonic's anger to have him use the false Chaos Emeralds and almost fully transformed into Dark Super Sonic and use him to take over the entire universe. That had been terrifying, even for the blue hedgehog himself. If it hadn't been for Eggman, Sonic would've been lost forever. Chris remembered finding his best friend in his room hours after they all escaped. He had been shaking in horror, disgusted with not just Dark Oak, but also himself.
Sonic and Chris were sitting together on the edge of the former's bed, muttering, his eyes closed as he gazed at the floor in shame and guilt, the latter rubbing his back to comfort him. "That was the worst experience with the Chaos Emeralds in my entire life, even if they were just fake. I never wanna do that ever again. I never want to be Dark Super Sonic as long as I live."
'If Commander Tower finds Sonic, both will be turned evil because of the fog. We can't let that happen!' The de-aged boy thought to himself, now knowing that his friend's life was in grave danger.
"Then we'd better find him and quick! Sonic's with Tails and Knuckles chasing down Eggman and figuring out how to stop the merge from getting worse." Chris declared as he stood up, determined to save the cobalt hero, clear his own name and help to save Earth and Sonic's world and Time itself.
"That's easier said than done, Chris. We have no idea where to look." Danny pointed out.
"Well, we have to at least try. Remember, the weird purple fog has made things more complicated." Frances protested as she stood up as well.
"If you kids are thinking of doing that, it's going to be dangerous." The parrot mother stated.
"Not to worry. If these kiddies want to help the hero, then I know just the thing to help them." The bear spoke up, smirking proudly as an idea formed. This made the two parrots and the three de-aged humans stare at him in confusion.
Around the same time as the other teams who saw this...
The GUN military were relentless, because each helicopter fired rapidly at Shadow and his comrades no matter how much they attempted to avoid in attacking them. Yet from the looks of things, it seemed that the black hedgehog's presence as well as Omega(being Eggman's robot) was enough to tell them that they were not going to listen even to Rouge this time despite what she had done for them during her time here on Earth.
"Hey! Enough firing already! We're not causing trouble here!" The bat thief shouted up to the choppers, getting more and more irritated by the second. She was then forced to fly out of the way again to avoid in getting shot at. But they continued to fire and she would've been hit if Shadow hadn't used Chaos Spear to block the fire-power and grabbed her, landing on the sand and sped away with his ally in his arms.
"They won't listen! Don't waste your time trying to talk sense into them." Shadow grunted, skidding to a stop and gently set Rouge down.
"Comrade Shadow is correct! These soldiers are beyond reasoning!" Omega blared while firing his own shots, but under the Ultimate Lifeform's orders, only blocking the other gunshots which exploded in the middle.
Just then, as Shadow attempted to come up with another plan on how to at least evade the humans, something shone brightly next to him the moment he stomped onto the sand. Glancing downward to his side, a familiar shiny object got his attention; something green in colour and diamond shaped. His ruby eyes widened almost instantly as he recognized and felt the familiar energy of what it was.
It was a Chaos Emerald!
Having an idea, the black hedgehog plucked it out from the sand and skating around to grab hold of Rouge and holding onto Omega, Shadow ordered the latter. "Stop firing! We are wasting time!"
"What are you now!?" Rouge demanded.
"These soldiers will not be reasoned with! They must be annihilated!" Omega protested.
"Will you both just shut up and hold on!? Unless you want to make me a murderer, zip it and hold on!" The Ultimate Lifeform snapped, bringing his two teammates closer and clutched onto the Emerald, which caught the attention of the albino bat.
"Shadow, is that-?" Rouge asked, her eyes gazing at the gem in her friend's hand.
"He's a got a Chaos Emerald!" One of the pilots exclaimed as he saw what was in Shadow's hand as well. "Don't let them get away!"
"Be ready to open fire!" Another one commanded, and the three pilots were about to shoot the trio before they could escape.
Shadow narrowed his eyes as his companions, with no other choice, held onto to him, before holding up the Emerald and chanted, "Chaos Control!"
In a brilliant flash of light which blinded the military who cried out in alarm, Shadow, Rouge and Omega vanished and by the time the light faded, they were nowhere to be seen. The three pilots stared on in shock and soon growing fear as one of them gulped, knowing that they were in huge trouble with Commander Tower now.
"So uh...who wants to report the mission failure?" The third pilot asked, nervously. The response he got were the second pilot whimpering and the first one facepalming himself.
They were doomed.
The young mermaid shivered in fear, trying to crawl away even though she couldn't, because she can't walk on land, and she was cornered by a giant mutant lobster who was snapping it's pincers, waiting to cut her into pieces. Unable to escape, she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed again.
"Hey, you over-grown Lobster!" Amy's voice shouted, getting both the monster's and the young girl's attention, both looking up to see the pink hedgehog jump high into the air, her hammer in hand as she let yelled. "Leave her alone!"
With a big swing, Amy smacked the Lobster's claws away one by one, causing the mutant monster to squeal in pain, and just as she was doing it, two more surprise attacks came from the sky. Or rather three; Cosmo dive-kicked at it's face, followed by Cream doing the same and Cheese bashing at it's eyes. It reared back before Team Rose landed on the ground protectively surrounding the young mermaid who stared at the group in awe.
"You leave her alone, you horrible sea monster!" Cream yelled angrily, a little frightened but doing her best to stay brave.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese added, glaring at the Mutant-Lobster who shook it's face and claws, wincing at the unexpected attack from the three girls and one little Chao.
The Lobster sneered at them, but Amy, furious of how this transformed beast could hurt someone so young and as such, she tossed one Hammer after at it, and while it bashed away her smaller hammers while Cosmo, Cream and Cheese attempted to distract it, the pink hedgehog then decided to take things to the next level as she and her friends, while grabbing the young mermaid who cried out and carried her to the side, were forced to dodge it's attack as it bashed the ground, missing them, set the girl down before Amy yelled out a loud battle cry, summoning a Hammer almost as big as the sea monster itself.
"Try smacking this away!" Amy screamed, her eyes flaring up in anger and determination, which made her friends flinch and back away in fear, and the Lobster, shocked to see her capable of doing this, sweat drop nervously.
"Oh dear..." Cosmo muttered, uneasily. "Shouldn't we stop her before she becomes too angry?"
"Nothing can really make Amy calm down until she stops by herself. Even Sonic knows that." Cream muttered, clutching Cheese in worry and fear. She loved her pink hedgehog best friend, but sometimes Amy scares her.
The pink hedgehog leaped up high once more and with a mighty swing downward, she didn't give the now terrified Lobster a chance as she smashed her Hammer right on top of it so hard that it let out a loud painful squeal while it became half-buried deep within the sand, it's tail sticking upward and as Amy landed on the ground, panting, the now defeated mutant sea-animal just laid there, completely dazed with it's eyes comically swirling. Cosmo and the young mermaid stared on in utter disbelief while Cream and Cheese held worried looks with nervous sweat drops of their own, before the Lobster soon began to shrink and glow, eventually returning to it's original self of a normal lobster.
Waking up from it's de-transformation, the Lobster blinked before looking up and it's widened when it saw a panting and still angry-looking Amy Rose glare at it even as she dismissed her weapon. Sweat-dropping, the Lobster then scurried away back into the sea, terrified of what she could do to it.
"Hmph!" Amy grumbled, calming down with a sigh and turned her attention and was about to ask the young mermaid if she was alright, when to her, Cream and Cosmo's surprise, the girl they said also glowed which also surprised her. Covered in bright light, her tail then turned into a pair of legs and before anyone knew it, the light faded and revealed the mermaid in a human form.
While her top half remained the same, she now wore a violet t-shirt with a long pink skirt, and white sandals. The now-transformed girl blinked before giggling like mad, and cheered. "Hooray! I'm back to normal!"
"Huh?" Amy's group muttered in confusion.
"Back to...normal?" Cream asked, puzzled.
"Chao?" Cheese chirped, slightly tilting his head to the side.
"It must be that she was always a human and what has happened here was the cause of her turning into a mermaid and defeating that monster was the only way to cure her." Cosmo theorized in realization.
Amy folded her arms in thought, realizing that her alien friend was right. She then turned her attention to the twelve year old restored human girl and asked. "Hey, are you alright?"
"I am now! Thanks to you! I was out swimming while pretending to be a Mermaid like I usually do, since I love mermaids and would've loved to meet one, when all of the sudden that giant Lobster appeared, shot out this weird purple stuff and turned me into a mermaid. I swam for a last five hours until I came to shore, but I forgot that I couldn't walk so I was trapped until you three showed up." The young girl explained.
"That means that awful fog did more to the animals than just turn them into monsters or giants." Cream said, becoming frightened.
"The fog?" The girl asked, before realizing. "Hey, that weird fog turned my grandma nine years younger! Weird, isn't it?"
"That's why we're all trying to figure out what's going in, and trying to find Sonic, Tails and Knuckles." Amy explained.
"Sonic? You mean, the Sonic the Hedgehog? The one everybody's been talking about?" The girl blinked in surprise, before her eyes widened as she stared more closely. "So you're Amy Rose and she's Cream and Cheese!"
The two girls and the little Chao nodded, causing the human child to squeal in excitement. "Oh my gosh! I've heard so much about you! I was only three years old when all of you, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles came here! I've always wanted to meet you guys too! This is so cool!"
"Only three? Wait, you mean the fog didn't affect you too?" The pink hedgehog asked, causing the human girl to pause, before thinking.
"Hmm...Funny enough, no. I guess it only effects grown-ups." She shrugged, just as confused which earned puzzled glances from Amy and her friends.
It seems the mystery was getting more and more strange. Just then before they could ask any further, they heard gunshots and flashes and turned just in time to see from a near distance of three helicopters hovering, making Team Rose and the young girl panic despite the latter not knowing what was going on.
"It's GUN!" Cosmo cried out, worriedly.
"Those mean military guys? What do they want?" The human girl asked, fearfully.
"We're not sure, but you need to get home, quickly!" Amy instructed firmly, believing that the army that chased her and her friends earlier were about to spot them and had been looking for them.
"Uh, o-okay." The girl nodded, not knowing what was going on but once again thanked her saviors and stood up, racing for home after a quick goodbye which was returned by Team Rose.
"C'mon, girls! We'd better hurry! To the Ocean Palace!" Amy declared.
Cream and Cosmo both nodded before they and Cheese quickly hurried to follow their leader towards the Ocean Palace, hoping to catch up to Sonic's team and find the rest of the Chaos Emeralds.
Vector let out a battle cry as he punched Mutant-Turtle on the side of the head, making sure not to get his hand bitten off. The monster roared in agony before using it's tail to swipe at him. The detective crocodile ducked just in time before Espio tossed his shurikens at it. But he was shocked when it simply batted them away like flies.
"That was...unpredicted." The purple Chameleon muttered in disbelief, leaping back to avoid in getting stomped on, as the Mutant-Turtle growled.
"Hey, Shark-head! No cheating!" Charmy shouted from above, and despite his older friends' warnings to be careful, he came charging down with his stinger aimed and he stung it right just below it's left eye, somewhat blinding it before he flew back, giving a raspberry.
That made the monster steaming that you could literally see steam coming out of it's non-existent ears before it made to attack the young Bee who flew and dodged, while Vector and Espio sweat dropped at how their protege was handling this even without much fear. They had known him to be just as reckless as Sonic due to his age, but they also knew, in his own way, he was very brave and a good fighter as well as being a good detective.
Sharing a glance with the teenage ninja shrugging, they both decided to use this as a chance to attack the monster while it was busy as well as save their friend. Espio swiftly tossed more Shurikens, this time getting a direct hit causing the Mutant-Turtle to roar in pain, with Charmy seeing this while laughing, and Vector focusing on his new Fire-Breath ability the way Sonic and Espio taught him, nearly completely engulfing it in flames.
"You're Turtle-Soup, Shell boy!" Vector declared, about to use his own tail to smack at least one of the horse legs when he felt nauseous again, suddenly feeling all funny and weird and, to his and the others' shock and bewilderment, his body glowed in purple aura which alarmed him before his tail grew large in size, forcing Espio and Charmy, who yelped, to move out of the way as the Crocodile swished it and smacked the Turtle by the legs and side.
It flew to the side and hit the ground hard, dazed before the effects of the Mutagen faded and it shrank back to it's original form of a normal Turtle who, confused, made it's way back into the ocean to recover. Vector in the meantime, staring at his tail in shock and no small amount of nervousness, as it then shrank back to it's original size as well and his body stopped glowing, while Charmy and Espio, feeling a flash of deja vu, hurried over towards him.
"Whoa! How'd your tail grow big like that?" Charmy exclaimed, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"I don't have a clue!" Vector exclaimed with a sweat drop. "First I can breathe fire and now this? I'm startin' to think that this ain't a normal cold."
"It's not. There's something much worse than what you're now capable of doing." Espio informed grimly, his arms folded to his chest. "I noticed just before we fought that thing, your body was giving out that same aura and your eyes were glowing a mixture of red and purple. At first I thought I was seeing things, but now I am certain that's not the case."
"Hey, the way how your tail grew reminds me how that dart-thingy meant for Sonic made you turn into a giant one time." The young bee added, recalling how the Mutagen caused the Crocodile to do exactly that.
A moment of pause, before all three of them shared alarmed glances, the older two quickly realizing what may actually be happening, and the youngest then slowly catching on with horrified expressions.
"You're not thinking what I'm thinking, are ya?" Vector asked, worriedly.
"It could be that the Ancient Remedy is wearing off, the affects of the Mutagen Dr. Narasu created and meant for Sonic is beginning to return, and the possible effects of the fog since returning here to this world is somehow mixing it in, making things worse for you." Espio said nervously.
"So, then...Vector's gonna turn into a giant again?" Charmy asked, getting what the purple chameleon was saying, and the trio blinked in fear.
"Uh-oh..." The Chaotix all murmured in horror. Just when things couldn't get any worse...
"Is something the matter?" The caller on the Walkie-Talkie quried, making the trio nearly jump out of their skin.
"That-that's a private discussion!" Vector stuttered, panting too quickly from the unexpected scare.
Charmy sighed while wiping his forehead, saying. "No offense, Mister, but you almost gave us heart attacks."
"Erm, um..." The mysterious caller muttered. "My apologies. Anyway, excellent work so far. Here's your next mission; Investigate anything suspicious and take down mutant enemies. A clue to this mystery is someone that looks familiar to you all."
"You mean the mystery of this unnatural fog?" Espio questioned, suspiciously.
"Precisely." Their cilent replied, before hanging up which made the Chaotix share another glance.
"Well, seeing how things have gotten more complicated, it's the only lead we've got." The Chaotix Leader decided, putting the Walkie-Talkie away and immediately took off towards the Ocean Palace. "The only clue so far is the Ocean Palace and I got a feelin' there'll be more of those Mutant guys there as well."
"But what about you, boss? Shouldn't we stop for a moment to get some more Aspirin or something?" Charmy asked sincerely.
"We don't have much time." Espio pointed out grudingly. "Both worlds are closer in merging and unless we find a way to find a cure for this fog, not even Aspirin could help with Vector's problem."
Vector thought deeply about this, before suggesting. "The only guy that would be behind my current problem is Narasu, and he hasn't been seen in ages. I wonder if he has something to do with this? Eggman certainly isn't smart enough to make stuff out of liquid. Either way, we've gotta get to the bottom of this. C'mon, guys!"
Despite that Vector's theory only made half sense, both Espio and Charmy, worrying about him as they both felt a dread of history repeating itself, if not worse, knew that he was right. So they just shrugged and moved to follow their best friend and leader towards Ocean Palace, hoping to find more clues in how to solve all of the problems that was going on.
When the bear said he would help out, he hadn't been kidding. Turns out he owned a small but surprisingly good conditioned Submarine big enough to fit Chris and his team. It was armed with underwater missiles in case of emergencies, which would take them to the Ocean Palace and to the mainland in no time. He also gave the three de-aged humans some pretty impressive equipment, such as gripping hooks like in the action spy movies, Nun-chucks and better and stronger clubs, just in case.
Thanking him and seeing how the military were seemingly either looking for Chris that made GUN learn of his escape, looking for Sonic due to Tower ultimately deciding that the blue hedgehog was his to take, or something else entirely such as attempting to stop Eggman, he, Danny and Francies boarded their ride and dove underwater to reach the Ocean Palace in hopes of catching up to Sonic and warn him of the dangers.
"This submarine rocks!" Danny proclaimed excitedly.
"I can't believe we're really doing this!" Francies added, gazing out of the window as they were passing all of the seemingly normal fish who were swimming by or along side them, apparently curious as well.
"It was really nice of that guy to help us out." Chris remarked, as he was the one who was driving. "Now we can go look for Sonic and if my calculations are correct, the Ocean Palace might be where Eggman is too."
"We still have to find the culprit who had you framed in the first place." The de-aged girl reminded.
"And help to stop him and save the world." The other de-aged boy added.
The de-aged Thorndyke boy nodded, turning on the exterior lights to make things easier to see underwater even though the sunlight from the surface did help a little. As their burrowed submarine, which was dark green in colour and shaped like a missile, crossed the currents while passing by normal fish that came from Sonic's world, and weird looking mutant fish with body parts of other life-forms apart from humans, Chris, Danny and Francies kept an eye on anything dangerous or if GUN had sent in the Navy to find either them, Sonic and/or Eggman.
Many thoughts wandered through Chris's mind, and he hoped that Sonic was okay. At the same time, he was becoming increasingly worried that the fog messing with Commander Tower's mind may eventually effect the de-aged boy's own, given what he said to his blue hedgehog best friend earlier. Sure he wasn't looking forward in saying goodbye forever this time once this was all sorted out, but he had to accept the reality of it and try to make the time spending with everyone again once his name was cleared. The young Thorndyke blamed himself for this whole mess despite what Danny and Francies had been telling him.
Suddenly the radar gave a beeping noise which alerted the de-aged trio, with Danny asking, "What's going on?"
"Looks like we're picking up something." Chris said, typing down a few keystrokes to see and saw, to his horror, three little red dots coming up towards them from the right and towards the Ocean Palace. "Uh-oh! We've bot company!"
"AH! And not in a good way either!" Francies yelped, pointing out of the window to see, to their dismay, two Submarines much larger than their own heading straight towards them. Despite that they were underwater, it was clear to see that they belonged to the Military.
Indeed it was the Submarines of the royal Navy, which, unknown to pretty much everyone, three large ships were sailing towards them as well as the Ocean Palace, with Tower, who was furious over the news of Shadow's escape, decided to take the matters into finding Chris, Shadow and Sonic much further as well as finding the rest of the blue hedgehog's friends; Amy's team who have escaped, and the Chaotix who were also absent, making the Commander believe that the teenage hero has sent them out to handle the entire situation without Tower's permission.
"We have picked up the signals of various life forms in the land, ocean and within that ancient looking palace, sir." The Captain of the leading ship reported.
In the GUN HQ, Tower hissed darkly. "Give me a statis report."
The ships radar's and monitors scanned the ocean and buildings and found two teams on land heading towards the Ocean Palace, the Submarine in the ocean, one team just appearing via a flash in another, another just entering the palace and running, and a third being forced flying around and exiting towards where the desert should have been, and a large life form between the submarine and the ancient building.
"Located the targets of Chris Thorndyke long with two other children, Dr. Eggman in the sky but with readings of another man strangely familiar, the Chaotix, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and an alien looking girl, Shadow, Rouge and the robot just appearing inside the building, with Sonic's team there as well." The Captain replied.
"Good. Bring me all of them, and have them except Shadow, Sonic and the little girl to life in Area 51 within the next few days. The child is to be returned to her mother, Shadow is to be executed and the blue hedgehog brought to me. Sonic is mine." Tower ordered.
"Sir, you can't really believe Christopher Thorndyke is behind this, do you? And if Sonic and his friends remain on Earth, the worlds will merge and time will stop." The Captain pointed out, worriedly.
Unknown to all, the Commander's eyes glowed again as he said darkly, "It is a small price to pay. And do not tell the President. Have him arrested."
"Sir-!"
"THAT'S AN ORDER!" Tower growled, shutting off the communication, as the fog's corruption was taking more control of his emotions and twisting his mind. He clutched his fist tightly, muttering. "Soon the world will know the boy's betrayal, and Sonic will make a perfect soldier for GUN. I just need to put him on a leash without him escaping."
Back with Chris's group, they saw that the Submarines were getting closer and closer, making the three of them scared.
"Uh, guys? I don't think the army's really happy with us...!" Francies said, worriedly.
"We'd better get to Sonic, quick!" Danny exclaimed.
"Right! Hold on, guys!" Chris nodded, and, while hoping to not break the Submarine, put the peddle to the metal. Boosting the vessel's engines, the Submarine sped up, though not as fast as Sonic, still fast enough to at least try to escape the military they now knew had spotted them.
Back on the main ship...
"The target underwater is moving at high-speed!" One of the crew members announced as the little red blinking dot was moving faster.
"Don't let them get away! Sub-crew, prepare to launch capture-nets!" The Captain, still reeling over Commander Tower's harsh orders but couldn't find it in his heart to disobey, commanded.
Back underwater...
Taking orders from the Captain, the two larger Subs began to open up the hatches to fire underwater net missiles to capture Chris's group despite the trio's submarine going as fast as it could to get away and reach the Ocean Palace. When the de-aged children saw this, they really began to panic, before they and the crew in the other two submarines heard an unusual roar which made them all look up and all flinched in fear when they saw, unknowingly to them, the same kind and protective Sea Monster that saved Sonic's life and helped to defeat Eggman.
"A-A-A-A-A Sea Monster!?" Chris exclaimed in fear.
"Where did that come from!?" Danny asked in shock.
"It's huge and heading straight towards us!" Francies screamed fearfully.
All three of them screamed as at the same time as the Sea Monster was heading towards them, yet it had it's gaze on the other two Subs and narrowed it's eyes, the net-missiles were launched. Chris and his friends then gaped in shock and confusion when the giant sea animal moved past them and in front of them to their right before using it's head to knock away the missiles that were launched, causing them to be heading straight back towards the two submarines, as everyone onboard both gave out startled screams before they were caught in their own traps.
"It just...saved us?" Chris muttered, stunned.
"I don't get it." Francies said, just as surprised.
The Sea Monster then glanced at the group within the submarine and then gently nudged the vessel(which made the trio flinch in fright thinking otherwise) towards where the Ocean Palace was while shielding them from the sight of the Military who couldn't believe what they were seeing, and despite orders to shoot at it, the massive beast continued to bat the attacks away like they were nothing, both it and Chris' submarine vanishing into the shadows of the ocean.
"Why is it helping us?" Danny asked, amazed that the massive animal was actually helping them.
That was when both Francies and Chris came to a realization as the former suggested, "Maybe it's the Sea-Guardian of the Ocean Palace."
"You're right, Francies. It must've sensed that we're not causing any problems. Remember what the bear guy told us earlier? The Ocean Palace emerges to the surface once every 1,000 years, along with it's Sea-Guardians who are hostile to those with dark intentions. So it could be the last Sea-Guardian itself." The young Thorndyke nodded in agreement.
"Which means it might've helped out Sonic earlier too." The other de-aged boy realized.
"And now it's leading us to him and the Ocean Palace." The de-aged girl added, beginning to relax a little. "I've never seen anything like it. This is so cool."
Chris began to relax as well, realizing that his two childhood friends were right. With any luck, they might be able to catch up to Sonic in not time, and soon enough they were about to reach an underwater entrance of the Ocean Palace, unaware that they weren't the only ones there already.
Escaping with their skins intact while attempting to chase down Eggman, and avoiding in being captured by GUN, whom Sonic now believes are after him and quite possibly his friends(which made him worried about everybody else at Chris' house), Team Sonic made it through the doorway after Knuckles pushed it open and they slammed the huge doors huge. The trio leaned against it, panting at such a close call. Even Tails was still shaking by the shocking theory the blue hedgehog came up with that made sense.
"I think we've lost them." Sonic said, wiping his forehead, still high on anxiety and admittedly shaken from seeing the helicopters so close and out in the open.
"Just when things couldn't get any worse, now we're fugitives ourselves and all because we're running around trying to stop Eggman." Knuckles grumbled, irritated with the fact that humanity is treating them like monsters all over again.
"I don't get why GUN would be going after us when we didn't do anything wrong. Especially Sonic." Tails muttered, frightened with what was happening. "The fog must've been corrupting a lot of people's minds to act like this."
"If that's the case, then the fog might've brought out the negative thoughts and feelings out of 'em, especially Tower since he had a huge hatred for Shadow for some reason. He somehow also figured what happened between me and Chris and thinks he's behind this whole thing." Sonic stated, one hand against the doorway.
"But why?" The young kit asked.
The blue hedgehog paused, thinking about what Tower had said before answering. "Maybe it's because he doesn't want anybody to prove that Chris is innocent and won't stop until he finds the truth himself. Not to mention he probably wants to keep me as a pet or a perfect super fast soldier."
He thought back on what Chris told him back in the cell, and furrowed his eyes in worry.
"...I'm so sorry, Sonic! I-I feel horrible in-in wanting to-to take away your freedom...but I-I don't want you to go!" Chris sobbed, tears falling freely and dropping onto the concrete floor like raindrops. "M-Maybe it's-it's the fog that's making me so selfish...! I'm really sorry...!"
'Oh, Chris...' Sonic thought, squeezing his eyes shut before snapping them open as he clutched his left fist, then declared. "C'mon, guys. We've got no time to waste! We've gotta chase down Eggman and solve all of these problems before it's too late!"
"But Sonic, the military could chase us down and catch us! And if we're right about the fog then..." Tails trailed off, the thoughts of Cosmo, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Ella, Tanaka, Lindsey and Nelson all being captured and mistaken for criminals formed in his mind. His heart raced with horror of the very thought of losing the Seedrian he loved so much all over again.
Sonic, knowing full well what his little brother was going to say and felt terrible for putting everyone in this kind of danger despite that it was all Eggman's fault, placed a comforting hand onto the very worried cub's shoulder with a soft smile.
"It'll be okay, Tails. If we have to, we'll save everybody as best as can, after we've foiled Egghead's latest scheme, and we'll make sure Cosmo is here to stay this time. I promise." The teenage hero reassured.
Tails ended up blushing at the mention of Cosmo, before realizing that Sonic had no intentions of having their very dear friend lost again, not when they had just got her back. She was special to all of them, alien or not. Gentle, brave, very kind and caring. It was clear that Sonic was very happy for both Tails and Cosmo, plus he treated her like a sister to him, just as he treated the two-tailed fox himself, Cream, Chris and Amy(perhaps not more considering Sonic has gotten closer to her lately) as siblings he loved so much.
Plus it wasn't the first time Sonic had been mistakenly on the run from the government, or the military.
"We'll get through this, even if it means being stuck as unwanted fugitives for a couple of days." Sonic continued, his determined and optimistic smirk in place with a wink. This made his best friend nod with a soft smile.
"Well, now that we're stuck being unwanted criminals because of the fog and a crazy commander, may ask I suggest we get going before they break down the door or something?" Knuckles asked impatiently, despite that knew that Sonic was just trying to cheer Tails up due to being worried about Cosmo.
"He's right." Tails nodded in agreement.
"Alrighty then, let's go!" Sonic declared, racing off with his two best friends trying their best to catch up to the heroic hedgehog.
At the same time, in another part of the Ocean Palace in a large pool, Chris's submarine emerged near a stone platform walk-path that lead up to a doorway with stairs, and as the de-aged boy and his companions gazed up through the windows in awe, the Sea Monster that guided them here then dove back into the water with a final moan, making the trio, still amazed that it saved them from getting caught, to thank it before opening the hatch and climbed out one by one.
"Whoa...!" Chris, Danny and Francies all murmured in awe. The inside was just as amazing as the outside. The walls were a combination of white and cyan in colour, the water's reflections made it look like the inside was glowing with the afternoon sun shining through the window above, and ancient carvings of foreign language and pictures along the walls.
"This looks like Atlantis in the movies to a new level!" Danny remarked.
"It's beautiful!" Francies said happily, looking around with a wide smile on her face.
"And to think that it appears in Sonic's world once every 1,000 years, and we get the chance to be inside it." Chris added, eyes wide in amazement. "This is awesome!"
"I bet Sonic's somewhere in here too." The de-aged girl said, causing her two friends to nod in agreement.
"Let's go take a look." The de-aged Thorndyke said, and with that, the trio quickly grabbed their things including their new grapping hooks and, making sure the submarine(which was also automatic) would be sent back to it's owner without GUN knowing or causing it to sink should the Ocean Palace return to the sea, the trio hurried upstairs to find the blue hedgehog.
Locating a secret entrance on the side of the palace, Amy, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese were descending the stairs and soon found themselves in a beautiful hallway with large stepping stones across a self-made lake which sparkled by the reflection of the sunlight, making the room seem to glow in various colours of red, pink, orange, yellow and gold along with hints of blue, white and grey, almost like a rainbow. The group's eyes all sparkled at such a sight.
"Look at that!" Amy squealed in awe, her hands clasped together.
"So pretty!" Cosmo added, stunned beyond belief.
"It's beautiful!" Cream said happily.
"Chao, chao chao!" Cheese echoed.
The pink hedgehog soon quickly found herself daydreaming about her and Sonic gazing at the sight, arms linked and her 'boyfriend' gently holding her in an embrace, before she realized what was going on and quickly snapped out of her trance.
"Oh, but we don't have time for sight-seeing. We've gotta find Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds." She said, gesturing her team to move forward. Her friends said their agreements and hurried onward, hopping along the stones except for Cheese who simply flew.
"Wow! This place is neat!" Charmy exclaimed in awe as soon as he, Vector and Espio entered the Ocean Palace via another entrance, and needless to say it was quite impressive with large pillars holding the ceiling up, only for the young Bee's mouth to be covered by the Chameleon's hand as the ninja shushed him.
"Quiet! This place can be dangerous." Espio whispered, annoyed.
"Espio's right. Even with those Guardian guys he told us about, I ain't takin' my chances on them mistaking us for bad guys." The crocodile detective added, still on edge on what happened back on Seaside Hill Zone. "Now then, let's investigate this place and find our mystery guy."
"We also need to take down any mutant monsters that stand in our way." Espio reminded.
Charmy, managing to pull out from Espio's grasp, pointed downward towards a lake in a whisper this time. "What about that big long-neck dinosaur?"
"Say what?" Vector asked, dumbfounded. He and the Chameleon then gazed to where the youngest detective was pointing at and surely enough, a dark-grey Sea Monster much like the one, unknown to the Chaotix, that had rescued Sonic's group and helped out Chris' team emerged, towering over them with a roar.
The trio stared up in shock for a moment before screaming in fright before Vector shouted out. "RUN!"
"N-nice dinosaur!" Charmy exclaimed as he flew with his friends who ran down the hallway as fast as they could, unaware that the Sea-Monster touched the side of the wall with it's flipper underwater, the door in front of them opening and actually allowing them to pass while they ran away for dear life. Not giving chase, the sea creature then retreated back underwater.
In a dark chamber with a staircase deep within the Ocean Palace, Shadow, Rouge and Omega reappeared after narrowly escaping from the GUN helicopters, the bat thief sighing in relief as she and the robot let go of the black hedgehog that saved their skin(or in Omega's case, metal parts).
"Ugh. Good thinking on using Chaos Control, Shadow. I forgot how relentless those guys can be sometimes." Rouge sighed, placing her hand onto her chest to catch her breath.
"It was merely luck that Comrade Shadow has found a Chaos Emerald at chance." Omega pointed out, not fazed by what has happened given that he's, well, a robot. "And has transported us to what I can analyze as the ancient Ocean Palace."
"Ocean Palace?" Shadow questioned, admittedly a little curious.
"I've heard of this place." Rouge said, glancing around the dark room that seemed to be empty. "Legend says that in our world it only appears once every 1,000 years, with it's Sea Guardians kicking out intruders that are like Eggman or worse or just thieves that aren't like me."
"An ancient civilization built on the sea that appears once every ten centuries?" The Ultimate Lifeform murmured, glancing around the room he managed to teleport them in, and luckily with a way out. "Interesting."
"Primary target is Eggman! Do not forget, or else it will cause delay!" The E-123 robot reminded in a tone that held impatience.
"Even for a robot, you're such a party pooper, Omega." Rouge grumbled, folding her arms.
Shadow shook his head and said before Omega could argue the point as he made his way towards the staircase. "Never mind that. Let's get going."
"Lead the way, Mr. Way of Sunshine." The albino bat sighed, but followed none the less with Omega behind her.
The trio made their way up the stairs in a steady fast pace, before finding themselves in a large chamber, the walls filled with carvings of pictures and ancient hieroglyphics in a language none of them could understand. From wall to wall and even up the ceiling where the sky could be seen, occasional droplets dripping onto the floor with an echo like in a cave, the pictures were of people, those of Rouge's world and humans, seemingly living together in harmony, but as the group, admittedly stunned by this that even Shadow was in awe, were passing way to reach one of the doorways on the other side of the room, more disturbing pictures were shown; a great big battle of two armies, many fallen and dead, the battlefield becoming a wasteland, a huge monster that looked like an evil giant hedgehog with an upside down triangle in the middle of it's chest and it's quills oddly looking like Knuckles' dread-lock quills, and confronting the beast was a normal sized hedgehog in surrounding light with seven gems surrounding him.
What also showed them was the beast fallen and seemingly killed, faded away into mist and sealed underground, the hedgehog that saved the world but was almost fully split into two, holding his hands up and revealed the world being fully split, becoming two and reforming into newly reconstructed worlds; one that had humanity which Team Dark realized, to their shock, became Earth, and another, also to Rouge's shock, being her world and sent away across Space and Time with a new Sun and Moon being formed. The final picture showed the hedgehog falling to the ground and collapsed, having apparently sacrificed himself to make it possible.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say this explains how both worlds ended up splitting up into what most of us know of today and that the Chaos Emeralds have something to do with it." Rouge remarked, and while she wasn't an full expert like Tails and Knuckles on things like this, she recognized the shape of the gems.
"You mean what you explained earlier that forced you and everybody else to return to your world, to stop the destruction of Time?" Shadow questioned, an eyebrow raised as he had missed out on quite a lot since his first sacrifice.
"Got it in one, hon." The female bat shrugged. "And it looks like the hedgehog that did it ended up being left behind and died. Don't know who he-"
She cut herself off as she got a better look at the hedgehog, her eyes widening in shock as she exclaimed. "AH! It can't be!"
"What is it?" The black hedgehog asked.
"What is causing your distraction now, Comrade Rouge?" Omega asked, sounding as though he as exasperated.
Rouge didn't say anything, but she did point at the picture of the hedgehog which made both of her teammates to look up for a closer look. When they did, shock filled into Shadow's body as well as his eyes widened; that hedgehog...he looked just like the Ultimate Lifeform, but in a cloak and no stripes, his quills sticking up a bit. His heart pounding in his chest in disbelief at this.
"How...is this...is this how...I was shaped the day that I was created?" Shadow whispered, becoming somewhat shaky. For a long time ever since awakening by Eggman and meeting Sonic, the black hedgehog questioned on why he was created here on Earth when the blue hedgehog had no relations to him and had only been on this planet for almost a year, yet the Ultimate Lifeform looked like he had come from the teenager's world.
But this...to see that this hedgehog he resembled to more than the cobalt hero, it began to make sense. Somehow at some point, Professor Gerald Robotnik found this hedgehog's skeleton buried deep somewhere in this world and used it to create Shadow's body shape and build and possibly some of the dead ancient hedgehog's DNA in being capable of having Chaos Energy and being able to use the Chaos Emeralds.
'A have a body of a hedgehog who is the one responsible for the splitting of two worlds, and yet...my blood is that of possibly a human. Could this mean, I am a hybrid of both Sonic's people and humanity?' Shadow thought to himself, finding himself shaking a little.
The idea of being a clone of this hedgehog...Shadow lowered his gaze and squeezed his eyes shut, before grunting in pain as his head suddenly ached, only faintly hearing Rouge's alarmed cries as she called out his name, before a flash filled his vision...
When his vision cleared, Shadow found himself standing in the middle of the wasteland, unknowingly to him the same place that Sonic had been seeing within his dreams. The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes before spotting someone in front of him and gritted his teeth. It was a hedgehog, the one that he was unknowingly reshaped from, or cloned from, whichever way Maria's grandfather had brought him to life. Except now that he got a better look at him, the hedgehog, was Rasca, a red hedgehog in the cape and everything that Sonic saw.
"You...!" Shadow hissed at his 'ancestor', who had his back turned to him.
Rather than turn around to face him, Rusca instead keep his gaze upward as he muttered. "When the merge is being forced by outside force of two portals created by man, only the power of the Chaos Emeralds can fix it. The being of negative energy will return. Beware."
"Who are you?" Shadow demanded, but before he could get his answer, the entire area was filled with light which forced him to shield his eyes as everything brightened...
"SHADOW!"
Opening his eyes as the headache subsided, Shadow glanced around before turning to Rouge who asked, looking quite worried. "Are you okay?"
"Hmm...I'm...admittedly not sure." Shadow responded.
"Shadow's blood pressure levels seemed to have risen about 45%." Omega analyzed.
"Forget that. Let's get going. There's more to this mystery that needs to be solved." The black hedgehog said, and ignored his companions' questions as he sped off into another room to find a way, leaving them with no choice but to follow.
As he skated his way through, Shadow couldn't help but think to himself. 'A merge being forced by outside force of two portals created by man, only the Chaos Emeralds can fix it? What does it mean? And...who is that red hedgehog that looks like me? What is going on?'
Left with more questions and fewer answers, Shadow knew he had to get to the bottom of this.
Racing through the very spectacular insides of the Ocean Palace, hoping to find a way out before it sank beneath the ocean again for the next 1,000 years and not drown them in the process, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles took out the mutant-fish that accidentally got caught in the building as it rose from the sea and turning them to normal, placing some of the normal fish into the water in order to survive and heal, seeing many carvings of the ancient past like how this place was built, and from the looks of it, telling other pasts including how their world was shaped and formed, and disturbing images of deadly fights and monsters.
Eventually Sonic and his friends found themselves slowing down and enter the same temple that Team Dark had been in not so long ago and were in complete shock and awe as they scanned and read what the pictures said. The blue hedgehog, two-tailed fox and red echidna felt horror and shock when they saw and understood them.
"Oh, no way!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Is this...how both our worlds were split up into today?" Tails asked in disbelief, carefully getting a closer look at the paintings.
"Now I see. This explains some of it at least. But, why keep it hidden all this time?" Knuckles thought, placing a hand onto the wall.
Sonic scanned the pictures, and each one held disturbing images that made his stomach turn, gulping nervously as he placed his arms around his sides, finally admitting. "I don't like the looks of this, guys. These paintings of how people died in a war scares me."
"Yeah, it's too gruesome." The red echidna agreed.
"Sonic! Check this out! There's a picture of a hedgehog that looks like Shadow!" The young fox suddenly called out, and when his two best friends turned to look, he was pointing at the largest panting on the wall near the doorway next to the one they came in from.
When Sonic and Knuckles quickly hurried to Tails' side, they saw a giant monster-like hedgehog and the normal-sized hedgehog facing it and the aftermath, the same one that Shadow's group saw. To the blue hedgehog's shock the most, not only the hedgehog in the wall did strongly resemble to the Ultimate Lifeform, but he recognized the cape and the pictures of the Chaos Emeralds.
"...Rusca...!" Sonic half-whispered in shock. "He's real!? What's going on!?"
"This is Rusca?" Knuckles asked, shocked.
"Sonic, you said that he seemed evil, didn't you?" Tails asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, I did. With him trying to make me have the worlds merging again and stuff and I don't trust him. But, if he's responsible with how our worlds split up in the first place, and fighting against that evil looking giant hedgehog...who is he?" The blue hedgehog responded and questioned.
Suddenly, all three of them heard a monotone voice echo all around them, surprising the trio. "When the merge is being forced by outside force of two portals created by man, only the power of the Chaos Emeralds can fix it. The being of negative energy will return."
"Is anyone there? Who are you?" Sonic called out as he and his friends looked around for the source of the voice, the blue hedgehog feeling a case of deja vu.
"Come on out, whoever you are!" Knuckles demanded, already preparing himself to fight off any potential threats.
"Hello?" Tails called out, nervously.
Team Sonic tried to find the source of the voice, which the blue hedgehog thought sounded familiar which made him weary and nervous. All of the sudden, there was the sound of repellers coming from outside and as the three friends looked up of the window with the day almost turning into night which meant that it was almost over, sharing a glance, Tails flew up to see what was going on and nearly screamed before coming back down to them.
"Tails, what is it?" Sonic asked, worriedly.
"It's-it's-it's GUN! They've got more helicopters and even the Navy approaching the Ocean Palace!" The two-tailed fox exclaimed.
A short moment of pause.
"WHAT!?" Sonic and Knuckles both screamed, horrified as they shared a glance.
From all over the other places of the Palace, the other teams who had been investigating or trying to reach their goals all noticed the same thing. Amy's team were half way into the ancient building when Cheese heard what was going on and Cream carefully peered out of the window and gasped, causing her two older friends to pause.
"Oh no! They've found us!" The little rabbit girl cried out, worriedly.
"Chao!" Cheese exclaimed, terrified.
"They must be really angry about us escaping and breaking the rules." Cosmo muttered, becoming frightened.
Amy let out a gasp, covering her mouth with her hands. She was terrified of the very thought of the military capturing them just when they only got one Chaos Emerald and still didn't find Sonic. If they were captured now, all was completely lost.
'Sonic...!' The pink hedgehog thought, becoming teary-eyed as she was afraid she would never see the blue hedgehog she deeply loved ever again.
With the Chaotix, who had managed to easily escape the Sea-Monster, fought off against the mutant-animals and discovered murals that told them a bit of their world's history and found a suspicious looking small capsule that was dropping through the hole in the ceiling, which Vector picked up and raised an eyebrow as he held it close to his face.
"Well, this is suspicious. Why does this thing look familiar?" The crocodile wondered aloud.
Espio looked more closely to at what his friend was holding while Charmy was examining the paintings on the walls in wonder, the former noticing purple liquid, even just a tiny drop of it left. "Hmm...It looks just like the mutagen that was used on you when Narasu attempted to turn Sonic into a monster, or rather a giant."
Realizing what his friend meant, Vector came to one conclusion. "With everything's that's going on, this proves one thing! Narasu is behind all of this! The mutation of all the animals. Question is, where is he and how did this get here?"
"AH!" Charmy yelped, along with the sounds of helicopters sounded outside as he gazed outside of another window to their right, causing his two older friends to turn to gaze at him.
"Charmy?" Vector asked, concerned.
"What's wrong?" Espio asked.
"We've got company...!" The young Bee exclaimed nervously.
When Vector and Espio saw what Charmy was talking about, both of them gasped in shock with nervous sweat drops, meaning that they were in much bigger trouble.
With Chris, Danny and Francies, who found themselves in the same room as, unknowingly to them, Team Rose were in a while ago when they gazed out of the nearby window and gasped in horror when they saw more helicopters and Navy ships heading straight towards them.
"They must be really mad now!" Danny cried out, nervously.
"If the military get here, they'll destroy the Ocean Palace just to get us!" Francies exclaimed in horror.
"And Sonic...!" Chris added, worriedly and in fear.
When Shadow's group were attempting to find the exit, not only did Omega's readings alerted Shadow and Rouge of GUN's return, but they heard the dreaded sound of the helicopters and peered around the corner of an outside hallway with pillars viewing the ocean, with at least ten helicopters and five Navy Ships heading towards them.
"Oh boy...!" Rouge muttered, worriedly.
"This is just perfect...when will these people just give up?" Shadow grunted angrily, tired of being constantly hunted down for no real reason.
Above it all and in a safe distance away, Eggman, who was still fuming over his loss against Sonic, grinned gleefully as he realized that the blue hedgehog was still in there.
"AH HA HA HA HA HA! Looks like it's the end of the road for you, Sonic! Hope you enjoy your time in jail along with your little annoying friends!" The evil scientist laughed manically. "Now they won't get in the way of my evil scheme!"
He then flew away towards the desert...which has vanished and in it's place was a Casino-like City which now connected itself to Station Square; a city that was also from Sonic's world.
In GUN HQ, Tower was being informed that many people were inside the temple as the heat detectors scanned as many as possible; five groups in total of Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark, Team Chaotix, and Team Chris, all separated but in the same place. It made him come to a believe that the Ocean Palace was their new possible hiding place which wouldn't do them good at all, believing that Sonic has informed his friends and had been the one doing all the rescuing, yet he knew another, more realistic answer.
"So, they all went inside that ancient temple that rose from the sea." Tower muttered, grinning evilly. "They can run, but they can't hide."
Suddenly another soldier came in, saluting nervously. "Sir, we have placed the pilots who failed the mission within the cells and escorted the President to your living quarters. Is it to protect him from the threats that is happening?"
"Yes, and it's also to tell him the truth, and inform him that there is nothing to be done to fix up this mess. Christopher Thorndyke must be sentenced, and Sonic to be my Super General Soldier. I'm afraid we will have to live a life of no time." Tower replied darkly, his mind utterly corrupted. "And Shadow...he will be disemboweled, along with the other traitors."
"Y-yes, sir." The soldier said, terrified but knew he had no choice but to obey.
The Commander chuckled, thinking to himself. 'Very soon, Sonic the Hedgehog...you will be all mine.'
Back in the Ocean Palace, Sonic's group stood while attempting to figure out how to get out of this mess without getting caught, as they believed that the fog had corrupted Tower's mind so much that possibly even the current President was out to get them, meaning that something was happening and both worlds could be on a brink of a massive dark take over.
Then a thought came into Sonic's mind as he narrowed his eyes with a horrifying belief. 'Eggman must've found the guy responsible for all of this and is how teamed up with him to brainwash everybody to go against us. This must be what the Ultimate Weapon is and wants to get rid of me and my friends first before three days are up.'
Either way, the blue hedgehog knew one terrifying situation, as did the other team leaders of each five groups.
They were trapped.
A/N: I was originally going to end the Ocean Palace visit in this chapter, before realizing it would take too long. Hopefully at least halfway in the next chapter, we can see each five teams enter the next part of their quests for a battle I really want to write, but that will have to wait. And it looks like Vector's condition is about to get worse, which it will before it gets better.
See you later!