It had been a few days since the battle against Chaos, and Sonic had been kept busy over the last few days helping the search team look for people who possibly got lost during the flood. Sonic sped off the roof, looking for anyone who needed help. Hearing crying, Sonic sped to a stop and looked around. "Hey!" He cried.

The crying continued. It seemed to be coming from a nearby shop. "In there!" Sonic frowned.

...

At the Thorndyke house, Mrs. Thorndyke sighed as she looked at the ruined furniture. "Oh, dear!" She said. "All my lovely furniture... ruined!"

...

At school, Mr. Stewart yelled over the noise of a helicopter. "Okay, class, are you ready to help move the rest of the rescue supplies to the cafeteria?"

"Yeah!" The students cheered excitedly.

The door to the helicopter opened, and there was Dad, smiling down at them. "Hey, Chris! Penny!" He called.

"Dad!" Chris smiled as he ran up to our dad. Penny followed. "What are you doing here?!" she asked.

"I thought I'd drop in and see how you're doing!"

"I'm fine," Penny said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Kat playfully bumped the girl in the arm, and Penny shot her a glare.

"Yeah," Chris pipped up. "I'm fine, too!"

...

Soon, they had all finished their work, and they all looked around. The cafeteria was full of people who were all battered up from the flood. Kat and Penny huffed as they dropped off a box of rescue supplies. "These boxes are heavy..." Kat moaned. She wiped her forehead in exhaustion.

"I need to take a break!" Francis said in agreement.

"That's okay," Danny said. "Why don't you go play with Penny and Kat and let me and Chris finish the unloading?"

"Us girls can lift as much as you!" Francis glared at Danny, however, this caused Penny and Kat to laugh. Then their attention turned over to a couple who were asking an officer about their lost son. Soon, Sonic sped up to them holding their kid in his arms.

"This your kid?" Sonic asked. The little boy looked up and his eyes widened with excitement. "Mom!" He cried.

"Jim!" His mom cried. "You're safe!" She grasped him in her arms and held her tight.

"Sonic, thanks a lot!" Jim's dad smiled. Jim's mom looked at Sonic. "You're wonderful!"

Sonic chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his head.

...

"When I ran for this job, I thought I'd be tackling the world's problems head-on!" The president complained as he signed some paperwork. "Instead I'm the most powerful paper pusher in the world." He stared at the news, where Sonic and Silver in their super forms were displayed on the screen. "I wish just once I could do something heroic, like Sonic and Silver."

"Here's the bill declaring Station Square to be a disaster area." His attendant said, holding him a piece of paper. The President sighed. "Oh, well. I suppose somebody has to sign this stuff."

"And this is executive orde 7-8." The attendant said, handing the president another piece of paper to sign. He sighed. "To refresh my memory..."

The attendant sighed. "A new series of robots will be built will be specially designed to combat training."

The President thought for a moment, then signed the contract. "Good idea!" He said. He looked at the attendant. "Am I done now?"

"One more." She said, handing him a piece of paper.

"What's this?" He asked.

"A security clearance. We just hired your new driver and he starts today. He's called Sam Speed. Apparently, he lives up to his name."

...

At our house, Chris and Penny were getting ready to stay at another place for a while. They both said goodbye to their friends, Mom, and... Sonic. Sadly, Sonic wasn't there when they said goodbye.

"I'll miss you, darlings." Mom said sadly as she hugged her children.

"Me, too, Mom," Penny said, looking up at her.

"This is it." Cream sobbed, looking at Amy and Tails. Blaze hugged the girl in comfort. "Goodbye!" Poor Cream started crying.

"Hey, hey." Blaze said gently. "I'll be going with you!"

"What's the big deal?" Chuck asked, leaning against the trailer.

Mr. Thorndyke smiled at them. "I promise you'll all see each other again in a month or two. Just as soon as we have everything cleaned up with the house."

"Don't forget to send me a postcard!" Danny smiled at them.

"Me, too!" Francis smiled.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Kat smiled, squeezing Penny in a tight hug. "Kat..." Penny gasped. "I-can't breathe!"

"I wish you could stay, Chris and Penny. Things won't be the same around here without you two or Mr. Stewart around."

Chris looked at Penny and saw that she seemed a bit lonely. Was it Sonic she was missing? He looked up into the sky. "Isn't Sonic going to come to say goodbye?"

"Sonic had to run." Amy smiled, looking a bit too relieved. "But he did tell me to say, "see you later, Penny and Chris!"

Penny looked down in disappointment, and Blaze patted the girl's back and shot Amy a warning glare. Tails walked up to the girls. "Don't you worry, Penny! When you or Chris are feeling lonely, just call us and we'll all hop in the X Tornado and fly over to see ya! And Sonic can run there for a visit in no time at all!"

"Penny and I'll still miss you guys," Chris said, looking down at Tails.

"Don't worry." Amy smiled. "Two months isn't all that long, and time passes a lot quicker when you first move to a new place."

"I guess so..." Penny wondered. She also wondered why Amy was acting so nice to her all of a sudden.

Soon, they all got in and drove off to their new home for a month or two.

"Bye, Penny! Bye, Chris!" Everyone called.

"Bye, guys!" Chris and Penny called out the window. "See ya!"

...

Over at Area 99...

"With these robots, we can defeat Dr. Eggman once and for all!" A scientist proudly told his companion. His companion nodded. "Yes, our designs are technically superior to his in every way." He said proudly.

What they didn't know, was that Eggman was watching the whole thing through a camera. "That's an impossibility!" He grumbled. "If their robots were better, then that would make them smarter than me!"

"It does look like they made progress, doctor!" Decoe said, his eyes wide.

"If it is true, we will be in big trouble!" Bocoe said in agreement.

"Then I'll find out," Eggman told his robots. "All I have to do is hack into their main computer. And I'll have instant access to all their robot design!" He pressed a few buttons and smirked. "Now I log in." The computer beeped, indicating that he was in. "Great!" The doctor smiled. "We're in." He looked over at the pictures in surprise. "How did they get all these designs so quickly?" He asked curiously. He flipped through the pictures for a while until he came across a familiar picture of a man... a man who looked just like Dr. Eggman himself.

"IT CAN'T BE!" Eggman cried in shock. He pressed a button and uncovered some sort of diary.

Both robots looked at each other in surprise. "Doctor Eggman?" They asked him. "Something wrong?"

"Unbelievable!" Eggman said. "This could only mean..." He turned around to his bots. "This world... was the world I was born in!"

"WHAT?!" Both robots looked seriously shocked at this.

"This is Professor Gerald Robotnik. Who was the greatest scientific genius of his time. He's my grandfather."

"Does that mean there is a connection between this world and the one we came from?!" Decoe cried.

"But how could that be?!" Bocoe asked.

"The two worlds are in parallel universes and share the exact same position and time and space. Each is unaware of the other's existence. But thanks to Chaos Control, we traveled between them! Let's see if there's any data about my grandfather that can clear up any of this mystery. Let's see.." Eggman began typing in another password. "Let's try Eggman!"

But when he pressed enter, it beeped error.

"Error?!" Eggman asked. He typed in another word. "Robotnik?"

Eggman growled in annoyance when all the suggested passwords were wrong. "NO!" He growled, clutching his head. Suddenly, a memory of his grandfather's grandchild appeared in his head. "Maria?!" He thought. He smirked. "Yes. YES!" He moved towards the keyboard and spelled out, "M, A, R, I, A. Maria."

"WE DID IT!" Decoe and Bocoe cheered. However, this caused the alarms to go off.

...

"What?!" A commander yelled as he ran over to the computers at the sound of the alarm.

"It's a hacker!" A worker told him. "He used an unknown password to get into our databases! It's a top-secret file that nobody has looked at for years!"

"What?!" The commander yelled. "Call off his access!"

...

"They detected us!" Eggman growled.

"Downloading proceeding!" Decoe announced, fiercely typing on a keyboard.

"Affirmative!" Bocoe said. "Deleting original file from both computers!"

"File deletion proceeding!" Decoe said.

...

"Shut down the entire system immediately!"

"I'll try!" The worker said and began typing fiercely.

...

"Download complete in three seconds... DONE! Original files deleted now!"

Eggman sighed in relief. "Hacking sure is hard work!" He wheezed, wiping his head with his gloved hand. "Now." He said and began typing. "Let's look at that file." His eyes widened when he realized what the file was. "This was my grandfather's diary!" He cried.

"I've done it! My greatest design is now complete! The ultimate creature, Shadow. My enemies think they have defeated me, but Shadow will carry out my orders without question! Now it sleeps, but one day it will be awakened. Shadow... will bring total destruction!" Eggman read from the diary. Eggman smirked. "I'll awaken Shadow for you, Grandfather!"

...

At the Capitol...

"I'll need your help, Rouge." The President told her as they drove down a highway. "Now, I don't know much about Project Shadow other than the name. There was a file, but it was impossible to read the data."

"And why's that?" Rouge asked.

"It was password-protected. Unfortunately, the file was created by the same scientist who developed Project Shadow and never told anyone the password. That was fifty years ago." The President told her.

"But," Rouge said. "Somebody did figure out the password and stole the file from the laboratory."

"Not only did they download the file from our system," The female attendant told Rouge. "But when that was finished, they went ahead and deleted the original file from our computer."

"That sounds just like something Eggman would do," Rouge told her.

"It was him." The President closed his eyes.

Rouge nodded triumphantly.

"So then, what's our mission, sir?" Topaz asked him. "Do you want us to check out Project Shadow for you?"

"No." One of the President's agents said. "We already have an agent assigned to that duty."

The President looked at the two girls. "I want you to find out why Dr. Eggman is so interested in Project Shadow and what he's planning to do with it!"

"Okay!" Rouge smiled, raising her hand.

Cristina smiled at Sam. "Our passengers are leaving." She told him through the radio. "You can stop the car here."

Sam turned to her and gave her a wink. "I know the President wouldn't want me to break the law, miss, so I'll wait till I can pull safely to the curb."

...

"All right, Rouge, where do we start?" Topaz asked the female bat as they watched the President leave. Rouge looked at her. "First, we have to get Eggman to meet with us."

"Fat chance," Topaz said, crossing her arms. "He isn't exactly fans of ours." She pointed out.

"You're right," Rouge said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "So we'll have to find some bait to lure him in. Which means we'll need a Chaos Emerald."

Topaz looked at her in surprise.

...

Penny looked out the window of the home she, Chris, Blaze, Cream, Ella, Tanaka, and Chuck were staying in. She looked down and saw a bunch of people she didn't recognize. She sighed, still a bit down that neither Sonic nor Silver didn't say goodbye to her before they left. She was feeling rather lonely without them. The girl sighed as she walked downstairs to sit next to Blaze, who was helping Ella make a salad. Chris was seated next to Cream and Cheese.

"How are you, Penny?" Cream asked her friend. "Would you like to have some tea?"

"Chao, Chao!" Cheese chaoed at her.

Penny sighed as she sat down next to Blaze. "No, thank you," she muttered. Blaze looked at her with worry. "What's the matter?" Blaze asked, putting a hand on her young friend's shoulder.

"Nothing, I guess." Penny looked at Blaze.

"You'll get used to it here." Ella smiled lovingly at her young mistress.

"Maybe," Penny whispered. She sighed, looking down. Chris looked at her with worry.

Chuck smiled as he put together a satellite. Noticing his granddaughter sitting on the edge of the stairs of the rooftop looking glum, he looked at her. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Homesick? Chris just talked to me about the same thing."

"Mm-hm," Penny muttered. "Sorta."

Chuck took her down to his room. Surprisingly, it looked so much like Chuck's old house back at home.

"It always takes some getting used to when you move to a new place." He told the girl. "But I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends here."

Penny still looked glum.

Chuck frowned. "Now you know how Sonic and the others felt. Think about it, Penny. When Chaos Control sent them to this world, they found themselves far from home. And they didn't know anybody around here. But did they sit around moping?"

Penny realized that Grandpa was right. Not once did Sonic or the others mope about missing home. They easily fit in with other people. Finally, Penny smiled. "You're right!" She said. "They didn't give up, and I won't either! I'll make sure Chris does the same!"

"Atta girl." Chuck smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

...

Sonic darted around, looking for anyone who got lost during the flood. Hearing crying, Sonic skidded to a stop. "What now?!" He asked as the crying got louder. He looked around until he thought he found where the crying sound was coming from. "From there!" Sonic pointed to some boulders. "Don't worry, I'll save ya!"

The kid yelped as Sonic burst through the rocks.

"Kid, are you okay?!" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. I'm not hurt..."

However, it wasn't any kid. It was... Bokkun?!

The two gasped in shock. "YOU?!"

Bokkun yelped in panic, waving his little arms around. Then, he glared at Sonic. "YOU RESCUED ME?!" He yelled angrily. He started rambling around in anger, and Sonic smirked at him. "I apologize." The blue hedgehog smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm gone!"

"WAIT, DON'T GO!" Bokkun cried.

"Why not?" Sonic asked, turning to look at the messenger robot.

"Because before you go, Sonic, I wanna tell you that I'm not going to say thank ya for saving me!"

Sonic scratched his head in confusion.

"From now on, if you hear me crying for help, turn around and run the other way. Because any other rescue you do for me, you're gonna be sorry!"

"I know what you're trying to say..." Sonic said nervously. "You're welcome."

Then the hedgehog sped off.

"BUT YOU CAN'T SAY I'M WELCOME BECAUSE I DIDN'T THANK YOU!" Bokkun yelled after Sonic.

...

On Angel Island...

"I still don't see how getting a Chaos Emerald is going to help us accomplish our mission," Topaz told Rouge as they walked (and flew) through Angel Islands' forest. Rouge smirked at her as she flew. "It's simple." She said. "If we wanna trick Eggman into talking, all we have to do is bring him something he wants more than anything!"

Topaz just looked at Rouge.

"I guarantee you this idea's gonna work like a charm," Rouge promised. Topaz pulled out her tracker. "It's that way!" Topaz said, and from the distance, they could see the ruins of the Master Emerald's temple.

...

"Hello. I'm Scarlet Garcia. I'm a reporter with the affiliate in Station Square." Scarlet introduced herself to a group of workers.

"We know who you are!" One of the men said. "Your report on Chaos was an outstanding piece of journalism! Can I have your autograph?!" He asked in excitement.

Scarlet smiled. "Thank you!"

...

"Everyone here is so friendly," Scarlet said as one of the workers opened a door for her. The man who escorted her laughed. "Your reports are terrific." He said. "Which is why our news director here wanted to..." His eyes widened when he saw a man staring out the window.

"There you are, Franklin. Scarlet Garcia is here to see you!"

"Hello." Franklin (though we all know it's Mr. Stewart) said in greeting.

"He just joined the channel as a news director." He smiled, introducing Mr. Stewart to Scarlet. Scarlet smiled as she shook his hand. "That's great!" Scarlet smiled. "Very nice to meet you, Franklin."

Mr. Stewart smiled. "We have a lot to talk about, Mrs. Garcia."

...

"There's an important history here, Scarlet." Mr. Stewart said as he handed her a file. The file's title was titled: "Project: Shadow."

"Project Shadow?" Scarlet asked him in confusion.

"Yes." Mr. Stewart smiled. "You're familiar with the story?"

"I..." Scarlet began. "I...am."

"I know that your late father is also a journalist and he investigated Project Shadow years ago." Mr. Stewart said.

Scarlet glared at him. "I'd appreciate it if you'd get to the point!"

"It's simple." Mr. Stewart said. "Somebody's kept the real story about Project Shadow a secret for years. And I need a reporter with guts to find out who and why."

"No way!" Scarlet said fiercely.

Mr. Stewart got a bit close to her face. "I want to know!" He shot back. "And wouldn't your father be?!"

Scarlet looked down glumly.

"I'll watch your back and risk my life to make sure you're safe." Mr. Stewart vowed. "I promise you, Scarlet. Trust me. We can do this together!"

Scarlet just sat there, looking thoughtful.

...

After quite a haul, Rouge and Topaz managed to take the Master Emerald from its resting spot. And to Rouge's surprise, it was easier, because Knuckles didn't seem to be there. Rouge huffed as she hauled the Emerald, pulling it in ropes with her own two hands. "This is much easier than the measly Chaos Emeralds!" She grunted. "But it sure is heavy!"

"HEY!"

Rouge turned around to see Knuckles running at them at full speed. "COME BRING THE MASTER EMERALD BACK HERE!" He yelled.

Rouge ignored him and continued to fly. This, however, was kind of a big mistake, if anyone knew Knuckles's seriousness on guarding the Master Emerald with his life. Knuckles showed that to be true by smashing a big rock, sending the pieces flying. One of the pieces hit Rouge on the cheek, and she groaned in pain. The Emerald crashed to the ground, and Rouge fell in the bushes.

"Rouge!" Topaz called from behind her hiding place. Topaz took off but nearly tripped over a blue Chaos Emerald. Topaz's eyes widened and an idea appeared in her head.

"Hey Rouge!"

Hearing Topaz call her name, Rouge looked up to see Topaz smiling at her, holding a Chaos Emerald in her hand. "Look! I found a Chaos Emerald!"

"Fine!" Rouge spat. She got up and hurried over to the bigger Emerald. "I'll take this one." She grabbed the ropes that were wrapped around the Emerald and started pulling.

"Not so fast!" Knuckles roared, charging at her.

Rouge gasped and turned around. Knuckles was right in front of her, glaring daggers at her. If looks can kill, then this one certainly could if she wasn't so greedy. But Rouge wouldn't let down so easily.

Topaz sighed and smacked her forehead. "Why does everything have to be a problem?!"

"Don't you know what that is?!" Knuckles growled at Rouge. (though he doesn't know it's her) "You're trying to take away the Master Emerald! You're putting us all in danger! The Master Emerald keeps the power of the Seven Chaos Emeralds from going out of control! And you're going to help me take it back!"

"First you're going to have to catch me!" Rouge smirked. She took off.

"COME BACK HERE!" Knuckles growled. With a mighty kick, he kicked Rouge into a tree. Rouge grunted in pain, and her mask fell off her head. "Gotcha!" Knuckles growled.

Rouge growled back.

Knuckles gasped. "You're that bat!"

Rouge quickly took action and flew straight to the Master Emerald, and flew off.

"Just great!" Knuckles growled.

Over at Prison Island, an explosion was heard.

The guards began panicking. The alarm began blaring, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Hostile forces and penetrated Prison Island defenses at gate number 3. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill. Secure all entryways. Emergency lockdown procedures are effective immediately! The intruder is headed for the research area! Security units in the area stand by for an assault! All other units prepare for a counter-attack! This is not a drill! Repeat! This is not a drill!"

Eggman shot at the door and laughed evilly. "This is more fun than hacking!" He laughed. He looked around. "Let's see... according to that computer file I stole... Project Shadow is this way! If it is destructive as my grandfather claimed, then I can use it to rule this world and no one can stop me!"

"Wait up for us, Doctor!" Decoe cried. He and Bocoe ran up. "We are going to attack the lab with you!" Bocoe said. They looked at Eggman with their ready-for-battle expressions on.

Eggman flew off. "No thanks, I'd rather go it alone." He said, leaving his robots shocked.

"But I am lean!" Decoe cried. "And mean!"

"I can take any robot hard drive!" Bocoe added.

"Give us a chance to prove ourselves!" Decoe cried.

That's when a robot crashed down in front of them. Decoe and Bocoe were in each other's arms, shaking in fear. Eggman chuckled when he recognized his robot design. "So it's Laser Hunter." He said. Luckily, he put his shield up so they wouldn't get burnt by the laser.

"My turn now," Eggman smirked and destroyed the robot with one blow. Eggman laughed. "I think its hunting days are expired!" He whooped.

...

"He's where?!" Cristina's eyes widened as she tried to make out the conversation she was having with one of the spies. She turned to the President and his third assistant. "Dr. Eggman is attacking the secret lab on Prison Island."

The two men said nothing.

...

"I wonder why no robots are attacking!" Decoe said as they walked down the hall.

"We must have defeated them all!" Bocoe said.

Clearly not. Eggman could see that. "Not quite yet. There's one hiding up ahead." Eggman waited for the right moment and crushed the robot with his Egg Mobile. He hooted. "Another crushing victory!" He proclaimed.

...

Soon, they made it to the room where Project Shadow slept. Decoe looked around. "This room could use some dusting!" He said, surprised at how dirty it was.

"The machinery has not been used in a very long time," Bocoe said. He turned to Eggman. "Are you sure this is the right place, doctor?"

"According to the records, the Shadow creature is sleeping in that machine!" Eggman hopped out of his mobile and walked to the capsule. "Time to wake it up! First I type in the user ID, then I enter the password... M...A...R...I...A." He placed a Chaos Emerald in a box. "Now I give it some juice with a Chaos Emerald and we're all set!"

The machine whirred.

Since the tech was so old, the pipes hissed out steam, clouding the whole room. Eggman watched as the machine lid opened, and a dark hedgehog stepped out.

Thinking it was Sonic, Eggman shrieked in fury. "YOU! IT CAN'T BE!"

In the steam, there stood a dark hedgehog.