Sorry for the slow update. I wanted to get this chapter up yesterday, but I didn't get it done in time. Also, this isn't a crossover with Pokémon anymore. I couldn't figure out a way to add it in, plus the chaos of baby Pokémon mixed with the possibility of Sonica and Shadow having a baby would be too much.

Anyway, please review!

It had been a boring week in Robotropolis. They had taken out ten factories in the past five days and it was starting to lose its charm. Sleet and Dingo had been busy with the reconstruction from the battle between Sonica, Shadow, and Aeron, so they weren't hunting for the hedgehogs. Sonica hadn't called in a few days either. Absolutely nothing was happening.

The two hedgehogs were sitting around their hideout, bored. Sonia was sitting in front of the mirror, messing with her hair. She kept mumbling about different styles she should try and what she thought might or might not work.

Manic was just lying on the couch, beating his drumsticks on the side. He kept changing rhythm every once and a while, from some of the old songs they used to sing, to the new ones he heard from Sonica.

The computer to the side of the room flickered to life, attracting the attention of the two bored hedgehogs. The screen flashed to an image of Cyrus. "Guys? You there?"

"We're here, Cyrus." Sonia left her seat and walked over to the monitor. "Hey, what do you think of me braiding a small section of my hair and then-"

"Um… Sonia," Cyrus interrupted. "Not to sound rude, but you should probably take that to Mindy."

Manic came up behind his sister. "What's up, Cy?"

"Do you guys mind coming down here?"

"Sure. No prob. We were gettin' bored anyway." Manic stretched his arms behind his head, working out the cramps from sitting on the couch for so long. "Why do you need us?"

"You'll see. Just hurry, okay?" Cyrus' face disappeared as he disconnected from the call.

"Wonder what that was about." Sonia said, heading toward the garage, eager to have something to do.

"Don't know." Manic followed her, having to run the first few feet to catch up. "Maybe he found something in that info we swiped from Buttnik's base."

"Maybe. Let's go find out. If it's big enough, we might be able to brag to Sonica."

A few minutes later, they walked into Freedom HQ, going straight to Cyrus.

"Yo, Cy. What's up?" Cyrus looked up at the green hedgehog at the sound of his voice.

"There you guys are. Come over here."

Sonia sat in the chair next to the lion. "Why did you need to call us in?"

"Here, I'll show you." Cyrus started tapping at his keyboard, bringing up a schematic of the planet with a chart next to it.

"What's this?"

"My scanners picked up these weird energy fluctuations at the center of the planet." He pointed at the center of the schematic. "I'm not sure what it is, but some of it seems to be pushing at the planet's crust."

"Hmmm..." Sonia stared intently at the screen for several seconds before speaking. "Think we should call Sonica and tell her?"

"No. Let's wait," Cyrus said, reading over his data again.

"Why?" Manic looked at the lion with one eyebrow arched and his mouth shaped like an o, clearly confused. "Shouldn't she know about this?"

"I want to run some more tests first. We don't know what exactly is happening, so telling her now might just panic her. Once we have enough data, then I think it'll be fine."

"All right." Manic still didn't sound sure, but agreed. He didn't want to get his oldest sister panicked over nothing.

At least what he hoped was nothing.

Sonica walked back into her house, her mind still feeling jumbled from her thoughts earlier. It cleared up though when she saw her best friend and adopted little brother, Tails, dragging a large machine part into the hanger. It was long and black with different colored wires going across it and hanging out. It was right about the height of the young mechanic. Her husband and mate, Shadow, was helping him. She still needed to tell him about her discovery...

"Need any help?"

The fox looked over the machine, smiling at the sight of his older sister. "No, we got it; thanks."

Tails directed Shadow to put it down next to the Tornado II, the blue and yellow bi-plane Tails had made himself during their adventure with Chaos.

When they placed the part on the ground, Sonica leaned against it. "So, what is this thing, anyway?"

"It's an add on for the engine," he explained. "If it works, not only will it run on a Chaos Emerald, but whenever Eggman tries to shoot out the engines, the energy of the shot will be absorbed and will help to power the plane. I'm still working on spreading the range on the shot absorber to the rest of the plane, but this is a good start."

"Wow." There wasn't much else she could say. That was pretty impressive. "Only you could make something as cool as that."

Tails' face turned pink as he smiled up at the hedgehog.

However, his attention was dragged to his communicator as it buzzed at him. He pressed the small green answer button on the keypad and Knuckles' face appeared on the small screen. "Hey, Knuckles. What's up?"

The echidna's face was serious as he looked back through the monitor. "I need you guys to come up here. Now."

"What's wrong?" Shadow and Sonica looked over Tails' shoulders to talk to the distressed guardian. "Why do you need us?"

"I'm not exactly sure what's happening, but the Master Emerald is acting really weird. I would handle it myself, but I have no clue what to do. I don't even know what's going on." Knuckles looked behind him, checking the sacred relic.

"All right, Knux. We're on our way." Sonica ran up to the Tornado II and turned back to Tails and Shadow, tapping her foot.

The fox and hedgehog rolled their eyes. "Be right there." He hung up the call and jumped into the pilot's seat.

"Good thing you didn't start those modifications yet, 'cause we need to move."

Darkness ended as his eyes fluttered open, revealing a place he hadn't seen for quite some time. But not quite enough time.

"A thousand years already?"

The Tornado II smoothly landed next to the ancient shrine as Knuckles ran down the stairs to greet the three.

"That was fast."

Sonica stood with her hands on her hips and a broad smile on her face as she gazed at the echidna. "What else did you expect?"

The guardian gave a small chuckle then motioned to the shrine. "Same as always, I see. Come on. I'll show you what's going on."

He started up the stairs with the hedgehogs and twin-tailed fox behind him. As they got closer, they could see Knuckles start to tense up.

'The two are connected,' Sonica and Shadow both thought as they worriedly watched the back of his head. 'If he's feeling like this, then I understand why he called us up.'

They didn't even know the half of it. When they reached the top, the three stopped in their tracks at the sight of the Emerald. Light was flashing from it, and not just its normal green. The light kept switching colors. One moment, it was a white that could blind if looked at for too long, the next it was a deep black, tinted with a dark shade of purple, and it was back to green again.

"It just started to do this randomly," Knuckles burst, staring at the relic. "I have no clue what to do."

Tails put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him while Sonica and Shadow cautiously approached the Emerald. It had turned black again and had stayed that way for a few seconds.

Shadow put his hand on Sonica's shoulder as she slowly reached out and touched the Emerald. At once, her head started to swim. She felt as if she was getting bigger, her gloves ripping apart, her arms growing to more than half their usual size, and she felt her fangs getting bigger and longer inside her mouth. A dark essence flowing through her. She was feeling the sensation of becoming a werehog.

She quickly stumbled back from the Emerald, holding her head.

"Sonica?" Shadow asked worriedly.

As she got her bearings, she looked down at her body, afraid of what she might see. Luckily for her, she still had her cobalt blue fur, her gloves were intact, and she was her normal size.

"Sonica?"

The hedgehog looked over to her friends and husband at the sound of her name. They were all gazing at her with very worried expressions. She must have looked pretty bad when she touched it.

"I'm fine, guys." Her attention turned back to the Emerald as it changed color once again. This time to white. 'I wonder.'

She walked back up to the Emerald, despite the small sound of protest coming from Tails. Shadow grabbed her arm, trying to stop her. She looked at her mate, a silent conversation passing between them and he let her go. She once again placed her hand onto the Master Emerald. This time, however, nothing bad came to mind. Different images and feelings rushed through her. And they all involved Chip. She saw the two of them fighting over a dumpling, them relaxing on the beach drinking from coconuts, her getting bonked on the head by those coconuts, the first time the two met. Different memories flooded into her. All good. The opposite of when it had been black.

She calmly stepped away from the Emerald, stopping the torrent of memories, and looked over to Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles. "Guys, we need to go to Spagonia."

"Huh?" the all looked surprised at the sudden statement.

"Why?" Shadow asked, worry still mixed with the surprise.

"I think whatever is happening with the Master Emerald might have something to do with Gaia."

This not only surprised them, but it also confused them. "Gaia?" Knuckles scratched the top of his head, something he always did when he tried to figure something out. "What does he have to do with this?"

"I'm not really sure," Sonica confessed, "Listen, I'll explain more when we get there all right?"

The three nodded, even though they obviously wanted to know more.

"What about the Master Emerald?" Knuckles asked, pointing to the relic. "I can't just leave it like this."

Sonica thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers, showing she had an idea. "Tails, you gave all of our friends communicators right?"

The fox nodded. "Yeah."

As Sonica reached down to her communicator, she heard Knuckles in a very annoyed tone. "You better not be calling that bat girl."

"I'm not, I'm not," Sonica assured him as she clicked at her watch. When she found what she was looking for, she pressed the call button and started talking into it. "Heeeelllooooo. Anybody home?"

"Hey there, Sonica. What'ch ya need?"

"You guys mind coming up here and watching the Master Emerald for Knux? I need to drag him down to the surface for a bit."

"What's the pay?"

"How 'bout the hundred rings you owe me?"

There was silence on the line for a few seconds before the voice spoke again. "You got yourself a deal. Let's move!"

"Roger."

"Whooooo!"

The line cut dead and Sonica looked up to the guardian. "They're old friends of yours, right?"

"Yeah…." Knuckles didn't look too sure about sending that team up to guard his Emerald.

"Chill. I'm sure Espio will make sure they don't screw up. Now, come on!" Sonica flashed down the stairs, stopping on top of the Tornado II's wings. "Let's get movin'!"

(On the Way to Spagonia/Apotos)

Knuckles sat in the passenger seat behind Tails in the Tornado II while Sonica and Shadow stood on the wings. Sonica snuggled into Shadow's side as she got a small cramp in her belly.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked softly as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "You're trembling…" Sonica's ear twitched anxiously.

"I'm fine," she mumbled quietly.

"What is it then?" He stared at her worriedly. What could be so bad that she couldn't tell him? "Something's wrong; I can tell…"

Sonica swallowed and took a deep breath before whispering into his ear, "I'm pregnant."

'Pregnant? On our first try?' Shock numbed him. "From me?" He couldn't think straight.

"Of course from you!" Sonica hissed. She punched him in the chest, his fluffy, white fur softening the blow. He barely even felt it; he was too shocked by the fact that she got pregnant after only one try.

He took a deep breath to gather himself. "That was a dumb thing to say. I'm sorry." The tingling of joy he'd been feeling started to fade. "So what's the problem?"

Worry and fear shone in her emerald irises. "If I'm right about Dark Gaia coming back, then this is the worst possible time to be pregnant!"

Shadow understood now. He comfortingly pulled her into a hug, stroking her quills as she burrowed her face into his chest fur.

"What are we going to do?" he murmured, his voice muffled by her fur and shirt.

Sonica sighed. "We're just gonna have to hope for the best and I'll have to be careful to not do anything that might hurt the baby."

This place was definitely weird. There was light surrounding him that went a few yards in front of him and behind that it looked like there was an entire galaxy.

He had been trying to find a way out for a while, but just couldn't. This place was endless!

"At least I have my memory this time."

Last time he woke up, it wasn't even supposed to happen. He had lost his memory and Dark Gaia had been broken apart.

Lucky for him, he had met Sonic the Hedgehog when he woke up. Not only had the hedgehog helped him get his memory back, but 'he' had also shown him the world that he had protected for thousands of years.

It had been so fun running around with 'him'. Fighting off Eggman, meeting all of the people in the world. And the food was amazing!

Speaking of which, he was getting kind of hungry now…

"Where did I put that chocolate?"

Sonica gazed out at the top of the town. She remembered her first visit here. Chip had been instantly attracted to the ice cream in Apotos. She didn't blame him though. It had been pretty good.

Originally, Apotos had been part of the next continent over, but a huge earthquake caused it to break away and be right next to Spagonia.

They landed near a windmill Sonica immediately recognized.

"Ouch." Knuckles looked at a deep hole in the ground. It didn't look like someone had dug it up though. It looked more like someone had gone splat from a very long way up. "That had to hurt."

"It did."

Knuckles whirled around to look at Sonica. "You did that?"

The sow shrugged, jumping off of the wings, Shadow right behind her. "Didn't mean to. It happened twice."

The echidna shook his head; he really shouldn't be surprised.

"So who's this Professor Pickle again?" Shadow asked.

"He's a lead researcher on the Gaia Manuscripts," Tails informed him as he jumped out of his seat. "He helped us out when Eggman broke the planet apart waking Dark Gaia."

"Okay, so where do we fin-"

His question was cut short as the earth beneath them started shaking, causing all four to fall on the ground. Sonica yelped as she landed in the hole she made during her first visit.

"Sonica!" Shadow managed to make his way over his mate and helped her out of the hole.

When it finally stopped, the four slowly rose up from the ground, ready in case another quake. When none came they finally relaxed.

'So he is back,' Sonica thought, staring into the sky.

"Wait a sec." Shadow squinted his eyes then opened them again, very wide, pointing up. "What is that?"

The three followed his finger to see multiple black lights streaking across the sky, if you could call them lights. It was more like they were sucking the very light around them, turning them to darkness.

As they watched, one arched away from the rest of the group. Right toward them.