Chapter 29

Spell N' Bee

Sonic was still grinning ear to ear as he stepped out of the bathroom despite having a few bruises. "Last night was… wow. Not perfect, but we're learning."

"I didn't even mind falling off the bed," Sally said as she pulled a blue quill from her shoulder. "But seriously watch where those things are going, acupuncture isn't something I'd like with my 'happy ending'."

Just then a screen on a wall lit up and began beeping. "Call from King Acorn. Call from King Acorn."

Sally quickly slipped her jacket on, best to ease her father into the reality that she was not strictly a 'maiden' anymore. Sonic pushed a button as King Max appeared. "Hey pop, good morning!"

Max grumbled. "I know we're in-laws now but it's still a little too early to be this causal, especially given the reason I'm calling."

"What's wrong daddy?" asked Sally.

"We just received a message from the Dragon Empress, in couple of days she will be hosting a ceremony to officially mark the reunification of the western and eastern dragons of Mobius and has requested you both to be in attendance to represent the Acorn Republic personally."

"But Dulcy was at our wedding," said Sonic. "Why didn't she ask us then?"

"I think I know," Sally sighed. "She found out we had to cancel our Honeymoon and she felt so bad for us that she's asking us to come to a do-nothing diplomatic mission that's actually a surprise vacation to have in its place. Her heart's in the right place but now isn't a good time."

"Still, I think you should both go anyway," said Max. "The last time the two dragon clans fought their lands were so devastated they put themselves into exile even as their schism continued. Besides a united race of dragons would be a strong deterrent against the Ascendency from attacking the area, leaving the Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters more able to aid neighboring divisions."

Sonic nodded. "Then I guess we better start packing, besides somebody needs to keep Ken Khan from flying off the handle."

"He's grown past that, mostly," said Sally. "We'll accept the assignment Father and try to return as soon as etiquette allows."

"Thank you and good luck." The screen went blank.

"What about Sonia and Manik?" asked Sonic. "We were supposed to start training them today, not to mention if The Rectifiers show up. Those jerks are still looking for the emeralds."

Sally moved for the closet. "We'll just have to have the rest of the team cover for us until we get back. As for the Rectifiers if they're after the emeralds then sooner or later they'll try to take the yellow Sol Emerald Blaze has back on the Sol Islands. She told me that she wanted us to hold onto it after it's used for some important ceremony in a few days. Between the security here and the fact that it's in public display in Blaze's Palace we'll be able to move the moment the Rectifiers show up."

"Well, if that's the best we can hope for then we better start packing, thankfully since we haven't gotten word from the future freaks or Mr. Perfect today looks to be as uneventful as yesterday."

Mellow got up with a yawn and then flew into the main area of the hideaway. "Morning everyone!"

"Hey Mellow," Soar grumbled.

"Something wrong?"

"It's just we'll have to spend the rest of our summer break doing some sort of training regimen," said Tide. "We were looking forward to having the time after camp to basically just goof off."

"It's not exactly like that," Alan said from the computer. "We didn't go back exactly twenty years; it's late spring right now. We could go home and still have the rest of vacation to…"

"When in late spring!?" Flare said as she came up.

"Hang on I'll look it up, this computer was made in the federation, so it defaults to some old calendar that divides the year to twelve roughly thirty-day months based on the cycles of our natural moon. Let me change it to the mobian common calendar based on ninety-one day long seasonal months and…"

On seeing the date Flare squealed ecstatically. "It's almost here! The Gemfire Ball!"

"Really?!" said Astral. "Another one is coming so soon for us."

"So, some kind of fancy hoity-toity party?" asked Gale.

Flare growled as she looked at Gale. "The Gemfire Ball is only THE biggest event on the Sol Empire's social calendar! In the morning the reigning monarch does the Gemfire Ceremony, a very important spiritual sacrament we observe to give thanks for the previous year's blessings, then for the rest of the day is the Gemfire Festival where the common folk celebrate their good fortune but for nobility the best part is the Gemfire Ball! A night of well-mannered frivolity, the most amazing banquet followed by dancing. Oh, all the stories of true love at first sight, the elegance, the glamour and the finest of fineries!"

"But Mother and Father always just had a governess watch us while they went to the party," Astral grumbled. "Kept saying we weren't mature enough yet and that it wasn't all the storybooks made it out to be."

"Well since they're younger maybe they'll be a bit more permissive, who knows if we can also score Aleena an invite, she can give me a heads up on the latest fashions before anyone else when we get home!"

"That does sound cool." said Mellow. "Hey Alan, can you change it to the noble's calendar? I want to check something myself."

The lynx began changing the settings again. "Just one year with three hundred and sixty-five days, common for Mobian record keeping but most find it…"

Mellow shoved Alan out of the way as he got a closer look at the date. "Wait, it's TODAY!? I GOTTA GO!"

"Wait!" said Soar. "What's today?!"

"No time! I gotta find Mom and Dad! We were supposed to go over flying maneuvers, but this is WAY more important!"

Mellow then zipped out the door.

"YEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Skye crashed out of the air and into a tree, Tails came up and helped him get untangled from the branches. "That was a nice effort, you just tend to overcorrect on your turns."

Skye sighed as he looked down. "At least I'm getting better, used to be when I messed up I'd mix up my signals and I end up spinning my whole body EXCEPT my tails. If Taffy wasn't there to help, I think I still wouldn't get anywhere without making myself dizzy."

"How about we take a break? I need to get back to working on that data capsule anyway."

"Maybe you could ask Miss Kintobor about it?" Skye said as he and Tails began walking down the path. "I mean she should know more about Robotnick stuff than anyone."

Tails shook his head. "We already tried, but while we were dealing with The Rectifiers the United Federation called her on some other assignment. Whatever it is they're very hush-hush about it she's under total radio silence. But that's a pretty good idea, maybe you can help us out with the capsule."

"Yeah," Skye looked away and muttered. "Maybe."

Tails came up to Charmy and Saffron who had a Miles Electric. "Skye was making great time," Saffron said as she tapped the screen. Giant rings floating in the air disappeared. "Setting this up to make a holographic obstacle course was a great idea."

"Well, I made the Miles Electric to very versatile," said Tails. "Sometimes I'm afraid of overusing it but it was one of my better inventions."

"It's ok I guess," said Skye.

Tails turned around looking frustrated. "What you mean OK!? This is cutting edge stuff here!"

"Well, it's no Electric Five…"

"As in Miles Electric version five?" Tails regained his composure. "Well obviously you shouldn't just rest on your laurels, improvements can always be made, and new iterations should always seek to be a better version of what came before. Just be thankful for the roots of a technology, judge it by what it was at the moment, not the present or future in this case."

"Hey!" Mellow flew in.

"Ah you're just in time!" said Charmy. "Ready to give this flying course a whirl?"

"Actually, I can wait until tomorrow," Mellow said rubbing the back of his head. "I know I just came in, but I wouldn't want you to cancel any plans you had for today…"

"It's no problem," Saffron patted Mellow on the head. "We didn't have anything planned after Sonic and Sally's wedding. You're not interrupting anything."

"Nothing?!" Mellow then took a deep breath. "Well then there's nothing stopping you from say…taking a trip to Mercia, maybe have a nice picnic next to Never Lake!"

"Are you trying to get out of training?" said Tails. "With The Rectifiers out there Lara and the others need you to be in top shape. Aren't you worried about them?"

"I-I…" Mellow then smiled. "You're right we should get to training; hey I just had a great idea! Why don't we train at Never Lake, it should be beautiful this time of year!"

"Why do you want us to go to Never Lake so badly?" said Charmy. "Little Planet won't show up there for months and there isn't any real reason it would be any better than right here."

Mellow kicked the ground. "I…I can't tell you."

"Mellow, whatever is going on we need to know, now."

Suddenly there the sounds of people screaming came from nearby followed by a massive bestial roar.

"Ok, maybe not right this second."

They all moved in the direction of the roar. Towering above them was a massive creature with red tentacles coming from its head. It turned around and roared.

"Wait, Knuckles?!" said Charmy on seeing the giant beast that seemed to share the Echidna's face. "What happened to him?!"

"We'll figure that out later!" said Tails. "Now we have to keep him from hurting anybody!" Tails flew up to the creature's face. "Hey! Knux can you recognize me?!"

"Grrragh!" the creature raised an enormous, spiked fist.

Suddenly the monster's fist was covered in a sticky, silk-like thread. Tails looked up to see another giant creature, it looked like a giant moth that even now was spinning a second strand of silk around the Knuckles monster's other fist, the only part that didn't look moth-like was its head which made Tails gasp.

"No Cream! Not you too!"

"Reeeeeeeaaaaa!" The Cream moth gave a strange screech as the Knuckles-beast pulled back.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this!" Just then Sonic wearing green and yellow armor came up by Charmy, Saffron, Skye and Mellow.

The quartet moved back. "What in the…?!"

"Maurice!" Sonic said as he took a strange device from his pocket and began fiddling with a knob on it. "Get ready to lead them to the portal!"

A second sonic wearing green pants, a green shirt, a red bow tie and a pair of nez pince glasses. "Simple now they're distracted by each other Zonic." He pulled out a ball covered in lights. "This holographic emitter should do the trick!"

An orb of light flew in front of the Cream-moth's eyes It then began to look like a tiny version of Vanilla. The Cream-moth was enraptured by the sight while the Knuckles-giant began pulling back.

Zonic tapped his gauntlet and a giant portal opened. "NOW!"

Maurice pushed a button on a remote and the hologram flew into the portal; the Cream-moth flew to follow taking the Knuckles beast along towing it by its silk covered fists. Zonic then pushed a button on his device closing the portal."There," said Zonic. "That's that."

"What do you mean that's that?!" yelled Tails. "I get now that those weren't our Cream and Knuckles but what was going on here Zonic?!"

"Calm down Tails," Zonic said waving him down. "Those creatures are inhabitants of a Zone where Mobians, having been confined to a single island, were mutated into giant creatures by the energies of the Chaos Emeralds. We were chasing down a criminal that fled there trying to give us the slip and she brought them with her here as a diversion."

"It's my fault," said Maurice. "She played the wounded gazelle and I fell for it despite my intellect."

A look of realization came across Charmy's face. "So, you're another sonic from a different zone?"

The glasses wearing hedgehog nodded. "You can call me Maurice, I from Zone 9,318,054 according to the Zone Cop databanks but we prefer to call it Knowbius. We have dedicated ourselves to the collection and archiving of knowledge from all zones."

"So, everyone where you're from is a super smart genius?" asked Skye.

"Not everyone," said Maurice. "Otherwise, who would run the cafes for much needed tea breaks?"

"Not to be rude but we have more to do here than chase down a criminal," said Zonic. "We're also on an important mission, one Despair Kintobor is actively interfering with."

"Let me guess," said Charmy. "She's the Hope Kintobor from Moebius."

"Got it in one," said Maurice. "I actually feel sorry for the poor girl, her people tricked into a harsh life underground by Jules Hedgehog under the guise of a peace treaty. Growing up in such a state made her especially bitter towards Moebians, bitter enough to try to prevent her uncle Ivo's plan to restore them completely."

"But I thought they were devolved for too long after Specter made Mammoth use a gene bomb on them!" Tails exclaimed. "How can Doctor Kintobor get their minds back?!"

Zonic gave a stern look. "We'll explain soon, but first we must speak with Merlin Prower, if anyone can help us find what we're looking for in this zone, what Despair intends to destroy, it's him."

In a basement room of the Council Rotunda Aleena looked around amazed. "Wow, Dad never took me to where he worked back home! This is Turbo Speed!"

"Well, that's probably for good reason," Merlin said as he started coming down a ladder next to a tall shelf after putting up a book. "There are things in here better left undisturbed or could be dangerous to the unprepared."

Lucian came from another doorway with a crystal set into a gold pedestal. "I still can't believe you were so willing to make me your assistant. I mean I apprenticed with Ixis Magic after all."

"You may have lost those powers but the knowledge you gained in your apprenticeship can still be put to good use, I learned from my own mentor in much the same way you are doing now, and I realized it was past time I trained an apprentice of my own. You are a good man, and such talent shouldn't go to waste and since it looks like you become the court wizard in that time tells me it wasn't."

Lucian frowned. "Still, I get the sense that I wasn't your first choice."

Merlin sighed. "It's nothing against you, but years ago after Tails lost his parents in Robotnick's coup I wanted to take him in, raise him and apprentice him myself. But the Ancient Walkers had something different in mind for us both, there were dark magicians after me and being constantly on the run was no way to raise a boy. More importantly they shown me that for him to realize his destiny as the Chosen One he had to stay with Rosie in Knothole, the Freedom Fighters are his truest family and that led him to the path he was meant to walk, even if that meant he had to apply his talents in things other than magic."

"But that's why we're here," said Amy as she put her hand on Aleena's shoulder. "To measure how much talent, you have with magic and if that's where we should focus your training."

Aleena kicked the floor. "Well, I can make a staff like you can a hammer and I can use fortune telling like you…but it only works once in a while, and I was never able to see anything useful."

"That might be the beginning," said Merlin as he took the crystal from Lucian. "But this relic should be able to tell how much potential you actually have."

"You sure seem to be chill about me being from the future," Aleena said. "How did you know before we even said anything?"

"Well, I have seen your friends before," the wizard chuckled. "I get visions of potential futures myself, but I can't pick and choose to see the outcomes of particular actions. That's the thing about any form of divination, the further you go the more uncertain things get and the more power you need to direct your vision. I could probably see what information you're looking for from that capsule if only I had the right spell to direct my visions, but that knowledge had been lost for quite some time now."

Tails and the rest of his group came in, Skye looked around in wonder. "Uncle Merlin. We have some visitors who can really use your help."

Merlin waved a hand and a number of chairs moved into the center of the room. "Of course, please have a seat."

As they sat down Maurice took out a strange contraption from one of the pockets on his shirt. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just taking the opportunity to study what you call magic in depth, I just want to get some readings here."

"I do not mind but you will only make yourself frustrated, trying to explain the unempirical nature of the craft." Merlin turned to Zonic. "Now why is it you have come?"

Zonic nodded. "Ever since the detonation of the gene bomb on Moebius Dr. Ivo Kintobor had been working to restore the Moebians to normal, but when he learned he couldn't restore their minds with science he turned to his niece in-law, Lady Regina, thinking a combination of magic and technology could succeed where science alone failed. She tried to help him at first but then had to admit defeat, that it was not possible without exceptionally powerful good magic, but on learning about the nature of the prime zone one last hope opened. That hope is the Nocimonorcen (Nah-Cee-Ma-Nor-Sen)."

"Uh Gesundheit?" said Aleena.

"Let me explain," Maruice created a hologram in the air of a book bound in white leather with golden clasps in the shape of angelic wings. "According to Lady Regina, the Nocimonorcen is a powerful book of spells that was created by an order of good mages on her world thousands of years ago inspired by the legends of a darker tome that was destroyed in the first Day of Fury."

"I think I heard of that original book," said Merlin. "A very old, very evil grimoire rumored to have been created by humans long, long before this world was Mobius, the Necronomicon."

Maurice made some notes before continuing. "As the Nocimonorcen was passed on each successive owner had added their own discoveries to the book and made copies to spread to other mages imbuing the original with a latent magic that evil mages couldn't touch, it was considered the ultimate tome of good magic. But all that changed when the Acorn Royal family discovered a tainted pool connected to the Source of All, it influenced them to seek out and destroy all copies of the Nocimonorcen, however the holder of the original was able to keep it safe by using a spell to send it to what records only call 'the first world'. Lady Regina thinks the Prime Zone is the first world mentioned and that the book would have a spell that can restore the Moebians minds while Dr. Kintobor would use a small supply of his own gene bombs based on the wreckage of the original to evolve their bodies back to normal. I calculated that the strongest practitioner of good magic on this zone, you Merlin, would either have it or know where it can be found."

"When Despair found out about this plan, she stole a portable warp device her brother was working on and tried to get to the book first to destroy it," said Zonic. "Lady Regina followed her to the No- Zone where Despair gave her sister-in-law the slip and we arrested Lady Regina. After hearing her story Commander Zally allowed her to her to return to Moebius promising her that for the sake of dimensional balance, we'd get her the book; Maurice was in the No Zone at the time and volunteered to assist me in my mission."

Merlin stood up and went to his bookshelf. "I think I saw an image of that book in one of my own. Let's see…" Merlin took out a book and opened it. "…ah-ha! Right in 'Mages, Monarchs and Maniacs'. Looks like it was one of the many secreted treasures of Ludwig the Black Rose."

"Black Rose?" asked Aleena.

"Every family tree has gnarled branches," said Amy. "The Black Rose, also known as Mad Duke Ludwig, was the biggest thorn on our Rose bush."

Merlin read from the book. "According to this Ludwig Van Rose became quite popular with the Mercian nobility but this popularity inspired envy from rival nobles. Fearing for himself and his fortune Ludwig became obsessed with making the family home of Sylvania Castle absolutely secure. This fear was twisted into paranoia as he added more intricate and deadly traps to his home, sometimes inviting peasants and suspected enemies to secretly test his defenses while keeping up a jovial face to the world. But the Black Rose's cruelty did get out and it led to an uprising against him by the populace and the king who lost many knights trying to take the castle, but when they finally pushed through, they only found his young children cowering under a bed. It turned out Ludwig was dead for most of the siege, accidentally killed by the very traps meant to keep him safe."

"In any event we know where the book is," said Maurice. "It shouldn't take long for Zonic and I to go there and pick it up."

"Not to mention apprehending Despair Kintobor," said Zonic.

Merlin shook his head. "That may be easier said than done. The treasures amassed there are still in the recesses untouched, Ludwig made sure that his traps were so well constructed that many of them still work to this day. A shame because that book might just have the techniques I need. I would like to see what sort of magic was recorded in there, if only there wasn't only one copy..." Merlin then snapped his fingers and began looking through his books. "Of course! Now where did I put that Dugger's Tome!?"

"Dugger's Tome?" asked Skye.

"One the sneakier things I made when I was known as The Charlatan, ah-ha!" He took out a leather-bound book with blank pages. "Set this on any book and it will forever transform into a near exact copy of it. It won't have the original's innate magic, but any adjustments made to either book will be reflected in the other. I can use my Nocimonorcen to help us divine whatever our allies in the distant future were trying to warn us of and you can bring the original back to Moebius to set right all those wrongs as well. Tails would you mind accompanying them and securing the tome?"

Tails took the Dugger's tome. "You can count on me Uncle Merlin."

Zonic stood up. "Thanks for the info, knowing Despair she's already zeroing in on the book. Once we get to the castle and get the book first, we can set a trap of our own for her."

"But the Rose family moved out of the castle because it was too dangerous," said Amy. "That's it, Lucian and I are coming with you."

"And I got the warp ring we used to get here," said Charmy. "There's no way faster than instant."

Tails took the ring. "Thanks Charmy, hopefully this won't take too long. Now where should I take us?"

"Sylvania Castle is right next to Never Lake," said Amy. "With five of us working together we should get the book, catch that girl and be back before the day's out."

Tails tossed the ring causing the portal to appear.

Mellow sighed. "I'm sorry Mom and Dad."

The before anyone could react Mellow zipped through the ring.

"Mellow!"

Charmy, Saffron, Skye and Aleena jumped in after the young bee.

"Shoot!" yelled Zonic. "Get them and send 'em back! Move it!"

Everyone other than Merlin leapt through the ring leaving Merlin alone in his study.

"Well," said the wizard fox. "And here I thought today was going to be dull." Merlin then turned back to his books.

Over in Mercia the warp ring appeared as Mellow and the rest of the mobians who entered it in Freedom City popped out ending with Tails who took the warp ring back in hand as Charmy gritted his teeth at Mellow. "Just what were you thinking?!"

"I'm sorry!" cried Mellow. "I had to do this! You and Mom both needed to be here, today!"

"What are you talking about?" said Saffron. "Why was it so important we'd come on this mission?"

Mellow looked to the ground. "I can't say, not until you're on the other side of it."

"Whatever," said Zonic. "Just open the ring again and send these kids back, I'm not asking questions since I know time travel when I see it and to a Zone Cop it just means more paperwork at the end of the day."

Tails raised the warp ring ready to throw it again when suddenly Lucian tackled Tails, his eyes glowing aqua. "GET DOWN!"

Suddenly a bolt of cyan light hit the ring knocking it into some nearby bushes as it crossed the spot Tails' head was at seconds ago.

"Whoa!"

Just then a bunch of pink spikes started shooting out of the forest and towards the feet of the team. Everyone leapt into the thicket and huddled down while looking for the warp ring.

"We just got here, and people are already shooting at us?!" grumbled Aleena.

"Not for long!" said Zonic. He popped out and fired a couple of shots then ducked again. "Whoever you are if any harm comes to these kids you'll have to answer to the fullest extent of the law!"

"You're the ones putting your hostages in danger!" a male voice said accompanied by another laser shot. "Let them go and surrender you armored creep!"

"Wait," said Amy. "They think WE'RE the bad guys?"

"That voice," muttered Lucian. "Sounds familiar."

"Point is this is just a misunderstanding," said Maurice. The erudite hedgehog rose from the bush. "Sir I think…!"

Maurice was met with an orange rocket that he was only able to duck due to his speed before it exploded a short way behind.

"Last chance!" came a gruffer voice.

"CEASEFIRE!" came a voice so loud it caused everyone to cover their ears. "LUCIAN'S IN THERE, THEY AREN'T THE ENEMY!"

The spikes stopped as a small green howler monkey in a black poncho floated down on a hover wispon. Then a cyan ocelot carrying a cyan colored revolver and a large brown bearded lion carrying a huge pink minigun and an orange rocket launcher strung on his back, both in the same attire stepped into the clearing, their wisps floated out of the four wispons.

Lucian bolted out of the bushes. "Slinger, Smithy, Clare?! Ha, ha! Boy, am I glad to see you!"

The lion gave Lucian a big hug. "You sure have grown since the last time we saw you, of course we heard the stories but still it's a surprise seeing you this way in the flesh."

"Everybody, come out!" Lucian shouted to the bushes. "The Diamond Cutters are the good guys, mercenaries who left Malada Island to fight Robotnick!" The Freedom Fighters came out while Maurice kept the children in the bushes while Zonic kept a steady aim on the Diamond Cutters. "Amy, Tails, Charmy, Saffron, I like you to meet Slinger the Ocelot, expert marksman and scout; Claire Voyance, a psychic able to sense other minds and owner of a wicked set of pipes; and Smithy the Lion, weapon designer, tactician and leader of the team."

Zonic emerged his wrist laser still trained on the Diamond Cutters. "That still doesn't explain why they attacked us."

"Well, we were on patrol looking for Ascendancy bots snooping around when this overlander girl came running with tears in her eyes," said Slinger. "She said that a dangerous hedgehog in green and yellow armor was trying to kidnap her, and we told her to head to the castle for safety while we took care of it."

Zonic lowered his weapon. "She wouldn't happen to have been blonde with black tattoos on her face, would she?"

"Exactly!" said Claire. "I could sense she was panicked so I thought it had to be the truth."

"Despair," said Zonic. "She's already here and used you to slow us down."

"Little dirty little sneak!" Smithy growled. "She must be after Master Moss' Chaos Emerald!"

Skye, Aleena and Mellow came out of the bushes with Maurice right behind holding onto the warp ring. "You have a Chaos Emerald?! Then that means we can all go home!"

Claire looked at the children wide eyed. "Who in…?"

"Long story," said Amy. "But now we have two things to bring back to Freedom City." Amy turned to Slinger. "That is if you're willing to let us take them from the castle."

Slinger nodded. "Master Moss isn't big on worldly attachments, if you have a good reason, he'll give you whatever you need."

"Not if that girl Despair gets to them first," said Zonic. "Her destroying the book we're after is bad enough, who knows what that criminal will do if she gets a hold of that emerald."

"Then we better move fast," said Claire. "Master Moss probably won't fall for her tricks, but we've been harboring refugees in the castle too, they'll be in even more danger if the Ascendancy chooses now to attack us."

Maurice took out the warp ring. "Just give me a moment to send these children back…"

"Actually, we might need them to help evacuate the castle," said Slinger. "We got intel that Robotnick sent a tactical expert bot along with some pretty big guns. Whatever that girl is planning it'll only be made worse once the shooting starts."

The group made their way through the forest. "So, who is this Master Moss?" asked Lucian.

"Our current client," said Smithy. "Moss the Sloth is a travelling guru who's currently taken up residence in Sylvania castle."

"But the traps in there!" said Amy. "How can he live somewhere so dangerous?"

"The guy doesn't seem that speedy, but he can anticipate the movements of people and the environment so well he seems to just glide around everything. He avoided and disarmed the traps so we could then use them as defenses, heck he challenged Fiest for that emerald just to teach us a lesson in what is possible when instead of trying to control things you accept their nature."

"What about these refugees?" asked Saffron.

"A bunch of folks Eggman made homeless a while back," said Claire. "They were wandering about for a while until they found the castle, but thanks to Viktor they have to pick up stakes and move again, Master Moss found hired us to protect them while they evacuate."

Tails gave a thumbs up. "Hey, I'm sure between me and Skye back there we can think up of a way to shut down whatever war machines Robotnick throws at us."

Skye sighed and Aleena put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We both know you're not as handy at machines as your dad," she whispered why don't you just tell him that you aren't interested in being an inventor?"

"You kidding?" Skye whispered. "I could barely let Dad know I kept getting Bs in science class back home. Now closer to when he flat out turned down following Great Uncle Merlin's footsteps? He wouldn't understand."

"Or maybe he'd understand better. Either now or when we get home you should talk to him."

"Maybe, but in the middle of a mission? Not a good time." Skye turned to Mellow. "Why was it so important that your folks be here anyway?"

Mellow took a deep breath. "You'll see soon enough; it won't be much longer."

They came up to the grey stone castle as a sloth with jungle green fur and a long white beard leapt down from the wall. "I see you have returned, good. I turned away a young woman I sensed was malicious, but I have a feeling she will be back."

"Fortunately, we got some reinforcements from the Freedom Fighters," said Smithy. "Even with the Krazy Kritters forced to deal with sorties from the Albion base we should now be able to keep this Commander Brutus occupied long enough to begin evacuating the refugees."

"Not to sound selfish but we came here to look for something," said Tails. "A book in the castle and your Chaos Emerald can really help out quite a few people."

The sloth gave a gentle smile. "Once the people are safe take whatever you need, but I think for some of you there's a third thing here even more precious than a shiny bauble or a dusty old tome."

"Master Moss," a small feminine voice said from behind a castle wall. "We've almost packed up the supplies but still need to…" A bee girl a little smaller than Saffron with brown hair and a purple dress came out from around the corner of the gate and stopped in midair. "…C-Charmy?! Saffron?!"

Charmy and Saffron began tearing up. "C-Cumin?!" the three then zipped together laughing and crying at the same time. "CUMIN! We thought we lost you forever little sis!"

"Big Brother," said Cumin. "I heard that you lost your memories in the egg grapes, but you're ok!"

"I did, for a long time but I've gotten better."

"So, everyone's fine?!" said Saffron. "The king, queen, Jeepers the butler…"

Cumin looked away sadly. "I'm sorry, they stayed back to stall for what few of us they could. They're…they're gone."

Charmy clenched a fist for a moment. "It's…it is what it is, but right now I'm just happy the two of us aren't the last, the old Golden Hive is too toxic for us to go back to but the Echidna on Angel Island should let you come to Strawberry Fields, you can all make a new home there, with us."

"Charmy…you're everything Mother and Father hoped you'd become; everyone will be happy to follow their rightful king."

Zonic came forward and nodded. "We're supposed to stay out of the affairs of other zones unless it effects the stability of the multiverse. Maurice and I can't help you fight unless Despair acts on her own, but we'll handle the evacuation before taking the Nocimonorcen.

Amy turned to Mellow. "You knew, the whole reason you flew into the warp ring…"

"Was to make sure this event happened," said Maurice. "Are we right, Prince Mellow?"

Mellow blushed. "Just Mellow to my friends and yes. For as long as I can remember we always celebrated this day, the day the Golden Hive Colony was reborn."

In a forward camp Brutus looked over a map of the area on a display table.

"I do not see the tactical advantage we'd gain by joining forces, you have no advance knowledge of the enemy fortifications or weaknesses in their abilities we can exploit."

A blonde girl with black markings on her face resembling cracks crossed her arms. "I just told you a zone cop is looking for something in the same castle you're trying to get into. Isn't that worth SOMETHING?!"

"If it is a zone cop then he will not interfere in the internal matters to this dimension."

Despair snarled. "He is trying to bring the Moebians back, he's trying to bring SCOURGE back even after he tried to destroy this dimension once before! Don't you think your boss would want that PREVENTED from possibly happening again you rustbucket?!"

"Again, the enemy has no technological abilities you can exploit. We will launch an assault to distract the defenders from our actual plan of attack. Once the Giga Tank is fully powered, we can demolish the structure and this book along with it while the emerald will survive, your presence is not necessary."

"The Nocimonorcen is magical, there's no guarantee that it'll go with the castle. I get it, that tank you got is impressive, but give me a little time and the right materials and I can make it invincible if you'd just let me do a little book burning."

Brutus turned to Despair for the first time. "And the Chaos Emerald?"

"Viktor can have it; I don't care what happens to this world as long you all stay out of mine."

Brutus pressed a few buttons on the display, and it changed to an image of giant tank covered in weapons including a massive cannon. "Thanks to its Metallix nanosystem you can make the upgrades and apply the changes from here in minutes. Once that is done, we launch the attack."

Despair made a cruel smile as her fingertips glided over the screen. "This is for everything you MONSTERS ever did to me, my father and our people! I'll make sure none of you EVER come back!"

Back at Sylvania Castle Aleena was turning a crank that was pulling the strings back on several wall mounted crossbows. "No wonder my ancestor ended up getting done in by his own security system. There are so many of these traps that I doubt anybody could keep track of them all."

Amy picked up a loose bolt from a floor that had an inch of water covering it and placed it in a nearby crossbow. "The flooding this place has seen over the last century hasn't helped. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time you're born this whole castle would be half underwater. No wonder the family abandoned it."

Aleena sighed. "To think it all started just from Ludwig becoming popular."

"What do you mean?"

"Trying to stay in spotlight while keeping himself safe turned him into a monster. He was just under a king in nobility, but at the end there was nothing noble about him. I got into being an influencer after…Mom and Dad, got me a smart phone. It was so I could contact them if there was an emergency but after I played around with the apps, I found I had a knack for figuring out what would be the next big thing. So many other kids were coming to my profile to know how the trends were going to fall, I felt like a princess. But over the last month I was afraid of losing that influence, I just had to find a way to get back on top so people would still like me. But what if I go too far, what if I become another black rose…"

Amy knelt down and cupped Aleena's cheek. "Hey, you're nothing like Ludwig. I can tell you appreciate the people who follow you, just be careful what you put out there. Not everyone who 'likes' you on that thing is necessarily your friend, it would break your mom's heart if the very thing they got to keep you safe ended up hurting you."

Aleena looked up slightly teary eyed. "Maybe spending time on stuff other than trend hunting when I get home would be good for me."

"And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a princess," said Amy. "As long as before anything else, you try to be a good person."

"We can't take any of that Coriander!" they heard Charmy yell. "It isn't ours and besides, we don't have the time to carry the supplies that DO belong to us!"

"Better check it out," Amy said.

The two went a short distance and found Charmy was hovering alongside a mustached bee that was being weighed down by a sack of gold coins. "I'm not doing this to get rich, if we are rebuilding the hive, we're going to need money to get the materials to do it. No sense in letting all this treasure lie around when we can put it to use."

"Even if it has been lying around for a hundred and fifty years it belongs to the Rose family," said Charmy. "We…"

"It's ok," said Amy. "My parents gave away all the money they inherited to help the poor and less fortunate, letting the Golden Hive have the Black Rose's treasure to build a new home is what they would have wanted."

"That's very generous," said Charmy. "But we can't take it right now, we just don't have the time. This Brutus creep could attack at any minute, best thing to do is warp everyone up to Angel Island to keep them away from the fighting. Once we clobber his bots, we can bring over any supplies that are left along with the treasure and the stuff we came for."

Coriander dropped the sack. "Why not at least take that Emerald with us? If that's what he's after he'll leave when he realizes it's not here anymore."

"That would put the colony in Robotnick's crosshairs, we can delay them for longer by inflicting heavy damage, moving the emerald while they rebuild for another attack only for them find an empty castle when they return."

"I see, Master Moss said he was moving on once this is over. By doing it this way, they won't know which way the emerald was taken and attacking Angel Island to find us wouldn't be worth it if there wasn't a guarantee we had it. Prince…I mean King…"

"Prince if you have to be formal," Charmy said with a blush. "I hadn't been coronated yet."

"Well, preparing that and you and Lady Saffon's wedding will be one of our first priorities once we get settled in," Coriander flew down the hall a short way then turned. "I'm going with the others but let me just say after all I lost, our home, the colony, my…my son, well I bet Mello is looking down on all of us along with your mother, father and the rest of our loved ones and that's why things are starting to look up for us again."

As Coriander turned a corner Aleena looked to the ceiling. "Well, he was definitely right about one of them, right Mellow?"

Charmy and Amy looked up and saw Mellow hiding in the rafters.

"I think we should get back to Lucian," said Amy. "He has to be almost done prepping the Diamond Cutters."

Once Amy and Aleena left Mellow flew down. "I'm sorry, you and mom would have probably been here if we didn't derail things by showing up."

"There's no way to tell one way or another," said Charmy. "And even if you did it wasn't your fault, The Rectifiers brought you here against your will. I'm just glad some of our people are alive, the new hive was a bit of a spur of the moment thing but after everything they deserve someplace safe to call home."

"Well, everybody thought Mom and Dad did a good job back home. I do have a question though, how did that guy know my name?"

Charmy teared up. "Coriander's son; his name was Mello, just one letter removed from your name, and he was my best friend until he died."

Mellow shook. "You mean he was in the Egg Grapes…"

"No!" Charmy shouted as he clenched his fist. "It was nothing like that, it was so pointless! He came to me after I ran away and joined the Chaotix, not to bring me back he was just looking to have a good time. But he overdosed on drugs a crook was slipping into his theme park concessions, I tried to find out what happened only to have the same thing nearly happen to me! Julie-Su and Remington managed to figure it out and the rest of the Chaotix recovered in time to help, but when I came out of it the case was all over, and I couldn't do a thing. That's why left the team for a bit, but they needed me after Eggman helped the Dingo Regime take over Angel Island so I left the hive again and brought Saffron with me. But during that time Eggman destroyed my home and family! I tried to fight back only to lose most of my memories in the same things that killed my family and people! I was practically a child again; my fiancée was more like a caretaker to me until she was taken away too, and it was only after THAT happened, I began to get my memories back! Whenever the hive really needed me, I always ended up being useless!"

Mellow looked away. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Your parents, must have just been trying to keep you away from all the tragedy they had to endure."

"I understand, things sometime weren't good for me, but I always felt safe around Mom and Dad. When dealing with hive stuff they always seemed to have it together, all calm and dignified, but when it was just us after school and royal duties things were just warm, usually sweet and caring but other times we just goofed around like they were a couple of big kids themselves. Other kids often called me a momma's boy, that's why I wanted to use this trip to show I could take care of myself, at the time I thought Mom and Dad were smothering me but now..."

Charmy lifted Mellow's face and smiled. "Like father, like son as they say. But this isn't going to end up like before, whatever Robotnick is going to throw at us they're going to get a nasty surprise."

"Hey Skye," Tails said as he was flying near a suspended pillar hanging by chains from the ceiling. "I need to make sure the release on this trap can open easy. Can you fly up to the mechanism and take out the big gear so we can replace it with one not as rusty?"

Skye flew up and opened a box only to find two gears of similar size to the one he had. After a moment he pulled one out and the hanging pillar began to fall towards a few bees.

Tails quickly grabbed the chain and gritted as he pulled up, the hapless bees began flying away. "I said the gear, not the sprocket!"

Skye quickly fixed his mistake as the bees flew away. "There's a difference!?"

"A gear meshes with other gears; sprockets hook up to belts and chains. If you didn't know you should have asked!" Tails pulled the pillar back into place.

Skye sighed. "I…I'm sorry, if only I was as good at…"

Tails locked the pillar back into place. "You don't have to be that hard on yourself. Sure, somebody could have been seriously hurt but that gear, sprocket thing isn't a hard and fast rule so I shouldn't have treated it like you would have known it. Like I shouldn't have assumed you want to be an inventor like me."

Skye closed the gearbox. "It's not that I hate machines, it's just nothing about them really clicks with me. My dad is one of the smartest people on the planet and that brings a lot of expectations on me, but my science grades are just middling, I don't think I have in me to get to his or Mr. Rotor's level. You…aren't disappointed, are you?"

Tails flew over to Skye. "No, I understand. My dad is a great soldier, my uncle's an incredible wizard but the person I wanted to be like was Sonic. Thing was, I could never be as fast or strong as him. Uncle Merlin made a big deal about my ability as an adapt but I could never match the likes of Sonic, Knuckles or Shadow for sheer power.

"So, I decided to find something I was good to help my friends the best I could. Tinkering in a workshop wasn't what I had in mind but as I worked, I eventually found myself doing it not just for the Freedom Fighters but because I started to enjoy tinkering. If I just stubbornly kept trying to emulate Sonic exactly it would have blinded me to so many opportunities out there. Don't think about other people's expectations, see what opportunities are in front of you and you might find something you never expected to like."

"But that's it, I don't think I'm particularly good or bad at anything and I have no idea what I want to be."

"That can be a strength as well, often a jack of all trades and a master of none is better than a master of one. Look, this training thing we're doing while you're here isn't to prepare you for the rest of your life, just to get you to be able to defend yourselves if one of us can't. You won't figure it out in a day, there are people who grow up and become respected who only answer that question one day at a time. For right now let's focus on helping these people, hopefully we'll have enough time before the attack to use this Dugger's Tome on the Nocimonorcen."

Tails started to move off until Skye tugged on one of his two namesakes. "Wait Great Uncle Merlin made that book. If he's willing to wait to get that noci-whatever book than I think I have an idea on how help Zonic arrest Despair."

A short while later Lucian was up on the battlements Smithy's rocket wispon slung over his own shoulder as the orange wisp floated nearby while Maurice stood behind him with a pair of binoculars. "Amy and the team should be done setting up by now, kids and the refugees should be safe on Angel Island, all that's left is for the Diamond Cutters to do their part."

"Attack the advance force then retreat back here," said Maurice. "Your team will meet them in time to fight the initial force then after a convincing show fall back into the keep where the traps should take care of most of the army. Hopefully Despair will be drawn out in the chaos so we can bring her in for detainment and rehabilitation."

"Then we clean up whoever's left, take the book and emerald back to Freedom City," Lucian looked through the wispon's aiming sight and saw an explosion. "Looks like the gang's kicked the hornet's nest as planned. I'll cover them coming in, you and Zonic get ready to make your arrest."

Maurice nodded and quickly ran off. Lucian turned the sights to a group of Neoswats pursuing his friends and fired the wispon sending a rocket shaped energy blast into a cluster up front. Clare shouted into her wispon which combined her voice with an air blast tearing the next squad apart.

"That should do it!" yelled Smithy. "Fall back into the keep and turn get the 'gift basket' ready!"

Lucian joined with the others as they ran inside. Dozens of Neoswats ran into the keep as Tails threw a lever in the old throne room. The Neoswats were met with crossbow bolts, falling pillars, swinging blades, spike pits and crushing walls.

"Bam! That got 'em!" shouted Amy. "Now let's pull the reset switch for the next…"

Just then the building shook at the sound of a large explosion."

"That came from outside the keep!" said Slinger.

"We need Recon!" roared Smithy. "Diamond Cutters, move out!"

The team came outside to see one of the castle walls was almost entirely destroyed and a gigantic tank was rolling over what was left, its massive cannon gleamed in the sunlight along with four turrets to either side of it, two had a battery of rockets and the other two were armed with rapid fire guns. The turrets each were manned by a Neoswat but sitting above the main cannon was Brutus and Despair.

"Whatever defenses you have prepared within the castle are no match for our Giga Tank!" said the Combot. "Surrender the Chaos Emerald and the Nocimonorcen or we will level this ruin along with all of you!"

"They can't move or turn all those weapons around quickly in such a confined space!" said Tails. "Split up and take out the little guns first, then we circle around the big gun and knock it out from behind!"

"Switching to standing mode."

The Giga Tank's treads shifted and changed into four legs with a wheel on each of the "feet" of the tank. The main cannon was then lifted higher on a crane like neck. The canon swiveled as the Freedom Fighters dove behind a pile of rubble.

"Something tells me Ludwig's traps aren't going to useful against that thing," said Saffron.

Lucian popped up long enough to shoot a rocket at one of the blaster turrets blowing it and the neoswat inside apart. The next moment the turret began to rebuild itself.

"Taking control of turret 4," said Brutus.

"See, the repair protocol I installed is already pulling its weight," Despair chuckled.

"That makes things tricky," growled Smithy as they moved to new cover. "Usually when the Diamond Cutters go up against a larger enemy bot our usual tactic was to whittle them down over time, kill'em with bug bites. But that plan's shot already if it can just repair itself instantly."

"Then accept that you have to do things differently." Moss had slipped down from one of the towers. "I take it this tank is preventing the plan you had in mind?"

Tails nodded. "We were going to hold out until the kids came back with both books so we could trick Despair with the fake, but I doubt that bot is going to let us try."

The group ducked into another tower and began going up the staircase while shots from the outside began making holes in the wall. "Then we should divert his attention while you make your attempt."

"I think I know how to do that," said Smithy. "He took over the operation of the turret of the swat we scrapped. If we do that with the others, we might be able to split his focus in more directions than he can handle."

"Sounds like a good plan," said Charmy. "Just stay fast and loose and we should be able to pull it off as long nothing else goes wrong."

As they popped out of the tower and onto on the walls two figured suddenly materialized in front of them; A two tailed fox and a female hedgehog with a particularly curvy figure.

"Me and my big mouth," groaned Charmy.

"Hand over the emerald," the hedgehog rectifier said. "Or prepare to be rectified."

The tank shot a barrage of rockets that caused both groups to dive out of the way.

"Get in line losers!" said Despair. "We were here first!"

"This is an inconvenient development Beta One," said the Fox Rectifier.

"I'll attempt to claim the emerald, Alpha Four disable the tank."

"Compliance."

Slinger was propelled upward with a gust of Clair's wispon only to shoot his right at a neo swat. "Bullseye!"

Smithy concentrated fire on another neo swat after popping out behind a collapsing wall. "One left!"

"Amy to your left!" Lucian shouted.

Amy narrowly avoided the blast from the main cannon and began running up collapsed pillar like it was a ramp and jumped off it just in time for her Piko Piko Hammer to come down right on top of the last neo swat. "Now this is more like it!"

Beta One rushed toward Moss only for Tails to tackle her. "We're not letting you get anymore emeralds!"

The female hedgehog vanished only to suddenly appear behind Tails and hit him of a barrage of punches and kicks.

"Hitting someone from behind is very rude young lady," Moss said calmy. "It's a shame they just don't teach children manners anymore."

Beta One lunged with a speed that Moss was only able to sidestep thanks to perfect timing. "You won't be able to defeat me just by defending."

Another Chaos Snap but Moss ducked even before the rectifier began to vanish. "But I'm not defending I'm anticipating and moving with the flow of the universe."

The rectifier leapt up and as yellow energy appeared in her hand. "Chaos Spear!"

"Ring Bomb!"

Tails threw his own blast causing the spear to veer off course and take a leg off the Giga Tank that immediately reconstructed it.

Up above the two tailed rectifier observed the battle. "Alpha Four to base, situation analyzed, proposed attack strategy sent for authorization.

"Authorization granted," he heard from his helmet. "Lowering limbic regulator to forty percent output to enable required emotional input."

The fox then slowly began to growl as black clouds began gathering from nowhere. "The torrent I call from the skies are the tears of my enemies! The lightning that strikes the land, my rage! STORM OF RUINATION!"

"You got to be kidding me!" shouted Lucian. "That rectifier is a full-blown wizard?! What's next a guy who can command mobini by whistling?!"

Despair began looking nervous as heavy lightning bolts began to crash around them. "What are you waiting for?! Blast him!"

Brutus' seemed flicker in and out. "Be tactical option is…is…error: too much information coming from multiple vantages! Cache overflow building too fast! Compensating…compensating…!"

"The compensation you're looking for is called an ejector seat and I'm using ours now!"

Despair hit a button that caused the two to be launched from the tank just as a massive lightning bolt crashed into the giga tank vaporizing the war machine in a single strike.

"If your friend keeps this up none of us are going to survive this!" Tails shouted at his opponent.

"Then just hand over the chaos emerald," Beta Two said. "Don't make us take even more extreme measures."

"Hey bucket head!" everyone turned to see Skye was flying straight at the rectifier in the eye of the storm while the other kids tried to keep pace. "Time to turn the page on this battle!"

Skye threw a white book bound in gold that the rectifier caught easily.

"Tell me, just what did you think that weak attack would accomplish?"

The book emitted a blue light.

"Something like that," Skye answered with a smirk.

The light shot up Alpha Four's arm causing him to fall out of the sky, the storm clouds dissipating.

"Of course!" shouted Tails. "Evil mages can't touch the Nocimonorcen! Great Job Skye!"

"Well, I can still torch it!" Despair began running toward the fallen rectifier, the glove on her right hand starting to produce a flame from its index finger.

Zonic and Maurice slid into the area and were almost on top of the Underlander. "Despair Kintobor!" shouted Zonic. "You're hereby under…!"

"Chaos Spear!"

Despair grunted as Beta One threw a bolt of chaos energy right into her chest. The Rectifier then caught the Underlander as she began coughing up blood while Zonic raised his wrist laser.

"Why?! She was as good as caught!"

"Her actions threatened the timeline as we know it," Beta One said coldly. "Handling it this way grants us leverage. The wound is serious but not fatal, provided she gets medical attention immediately. Give us the emerald or instead of prison you'll be bringing her to the morgue."

"This wasn't what we wanted!" said Maurice. "The Zone Cops goal is to rehabilitate dimensional criminals, not kill them!"

Despair gave a weak chuckle. "Rehabilitate, me? Don't you know where I'm from? My world exists to be the opposite of this one, so the only way I can 'reform' is if the 'real' Hope in this world becomes a criminal. You can't change the stripes of those monsters; I'd rather die than see them run loose again."

"You're wrong!" Aleena said. "Just because you're opposite doesn't mean you have to be bad, even if you have to be opposite you can choose to express that in so many ways!"

"Neither of you have any say in matter," Alpha Four said as he got back up letting the book rest at his feet. "Our demands still stand, the price for the girl's survival remains your chaos emerald."

Moss then came forward taking the green chaos emerald from out of his beard. "Very well, I will do as you say…" He then had a mischievous smile. "…But only if you say 'please' first."

Slinger looked nervous. "Master Moss, I don't think now is the time to provoke them!"

Beta one then sighed. "PLEASE, hand over the emerald."

Moss tossed the gem over to the rectifier who let Despair fall to the ground.

"Perhaps if you were more polite you wouldn't need to resort to such shameful tactics."

"Maurice, we're taking her straight to the No Zone clinic," said Zonic. "We'll be back for the book as soon as the docs have her."

"Understood." The three other dimensional visitors vanished.

Beta One took a closer look at the emerald. "It's genuine, you know what this means Alpha Four."

Brutus stood up from where he fell. "Reboot complete assessing tactical situation."

"Hey Tin Man, catch." The hedgehog tossed the emerald over to Brutus. "Our timeline needs The Ascendancy to have the green emerald for now. Had we been aware that was the one at play here we would have let you take it. Just remember that emerald is on loan, we will be back for it."

"Not if we get him first!" roared Smithy.

"Initiating trans-mat recall," Brutus said just before he teleported away.

"Transmatting back to base," said Alpha Four before both rectifiers disappeared.

Moss sighed. "Giving the emerald to the Ascendancy was not expected. I am sorry, I had to save the girl while getting them to reconsider their ways."

"It's not a big problem," said Mellow. "At least The Rectifiers don't have it for now and I bet there are still plenty of emeralds to find for me and my friends to get home."

"Thank you, guys," Lucian said to the Diamond Cutters. "The rest of the Freedom Fighters on Malada Island could use your help, if you're interested."

"Well, I have been feeling a bit homesick," said Claire.

"What do you say fearless leader?" asked Slinger. "Ready to hang up our mercenary hats and go into full time freedom fighting?"

Smithy nodded. "Sounds great; old friends and a steady paycheck sounds like a good way to cap off the victory we did win today."

Up on Space Colony Ark, Brutus handed both the emerald and his mission report over to Viktor. "Despite the ultimate success of the mission we suffered heavy casualties. I am ashamed to say it was the unexpected boon of The Rectifiers rather than my battle tactics that ultimately won the day."

"You don't have to feel that bad," Viktor said as he admired the emerald. "The increased casualties actually benefit us; the temporary evacuation of Albion Base can go more smoothly with fewer forces to evacuate."

"We're abandoning Mercia?"

"And all other terrestrial operations, temporarily and stealthily of course. Now that we have a chaos emerald for the Eclipse Cannon once construction on Project Blackout is completed, we will have to evacuate all our ground, sea and air forces, we don't want any loyal machines on the planet when it goes off. A few mindless drones will have to stay behind to maintain the illusion, but their sacrifice will be remembered in upcoming age of the machine."

"Is one emerald sufficient for the task?"

"We just need to power the Eclipse Cannon once and not fully; Project Blackout will do most of the work. Those cretins down below will be rendered powerless, both figuratively and literally when we convert the blast of the cannon into a planet sized electromagnetic pulse that will put Mobius into a new dark age at best or back to the stone age at worst. Then our forces swoop back in and steamroll armies reduced to using hand-based firearms, swords, bows or even rocks against the most advanced military force ever seen."

"What of Sonic and other Chaos Adapts?"

"That's why we still need one more emerald, to power the follow up weapon for this invasion, Project Overlord. In the meantime I had finished final version of Project 29, now that I found the use for it that Eggman never could, and we should well protected by…"

Phage appeared on a nearby computer screen. "Doctor, we are receiving a directed transmission from deep space."

Viktor nearly dropped the precious gem. "What kind of transmission!?"

"It is an offer of an alliance, readable both as digitized flash message and an audio/visual recording."

"Send the flash message to my neural implants first for efficiency, I'll observe the video to formulate a response later."

Viktor's eyes became red and black as green digital symbols scrolled over them for about second and a half.

"Incredible, the universe itself is recognizing my ascension! Send the attached file to the biolab for replication and tell our new friends they have an alliance, but there might not be much for them to do once they get here other than claim what they want from Mobius. Brutus, an opportunity is presenting itself to take the Sol Emerald held by that pernicious cat, contact the Super Sonic Search and Smash Squad and have them accompany you to the cannon control to be briefed for your next mission. I'll be there after I send our new 'friends' a thank you message."

Sonic and Sally met with the Sylvania castle team outside Merlin's study as the sun was setting outside.

"Everybody is starting to settle in," said Charmy. The Krazy Kritter Freedom Fighters have already recovered all the treasure and are sending the money they get off it to start the New Golden Hive building fund."

"What about Anti-hope?" asked Sonic. "Did she pull through?"

"According to Maurice Despair fell into a catatonic state," said Tails. "But the doctors improved her condition to critical but stable and they expect her to make a full recovery, at which point she'll be transferred to the No Zone prison."

"What about Doctor Kintobor?" asked Sally. "With the Nocimonorcen in Lady Regina's hands were they able to get the Moebians back to normal?"

"Well, yes and no," said Saffron. "Remember how me and the Echidna in the Twilight Cage had reduced intelligence for a few weeks because we were devolved for nearly a month by our perspective?"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"Well even with the mind restoration spell the same thing happened to them, but not only is it going to take longer but the effects went beyond limiting their vocabulary."

Dr. Kintobor entered the classroom that held the Suppression Squad and watched as the ruthless villains acted like unruly kindergarteners by drawing on the walls with crayons and paint on everything and making lots of noise.

"Alright, not exactly how I wanted to begin your rehabilitation but since it could be half a year until your brains can get back to where they were before this could be a chance to "raise you right" this time.

"Nuh-uh!" Scourge said standing on a chair. "I'm gonna be bad! I'm gonna dwop my pants and you can't stop me!"

"Scourge, you can't drop your pants if you don't wear any," Ivo sighed thankful that none of the Moebians had to go back through potty training again.

The rest of the squad pointed and laughed at the green hedgehog.

"Now, now, we're all going to be nice to each other and we'll learn the reason why in a song."

The doctor played a tape recorder that played childish music while he hid behind his desk while sticking his arm up while it had a dinosaur puppet on it.

"Good is better than bad! Happy is better than sad! My advice, just be nice! Good is better than bad!"

Alicia looked at the puppet intently. "Ad-ad-va-ice?" Then the tyrannical princess clutched her head and cried. "Big word is givin' me an owie!"

Doctor Kintobor sighed as the rest of the squad responded in the same way. "Babysteps Ivo, babysteps." The irony sunk in as he got up to kiss their boo-boos.

"I'm actually surprised," said Sally.

"About what happened to our evil doubles?" said Amy.

"No, that Scourge got even dumber than he already was. He was usually the leader but never the brains of the operation."

"Hey even if they just end up going back to their bad selves at least we don't have to worry about them for six months at least. But hey you guys got a major win today! Now that Merlin has his own copy of that book, we might not even need that capsule!"

"Yeah," said Skye. "And I think I really want to try this whole magic thing out. I mean it wasn't really meant for my dad but maybe it is for me."

"I can already say he'd proud of you if it is," said Tails. "Once Uncle Merlin takes a break from his new book we'll ask if..."

Suddenly there was a large crash from the study. Everyone burst into the room.

"Uncle Merlin!"

The bearded fox sat up from the floor, the Nocimonorcen copy next to him. "Merlin? Who's Merlin?" Took a long look at Tails. "Come to think of it who are you? Who am I? Where am I?"

"You don't remember…?"

"I got it!" Lucian said as he grabbed a clear spherical ball and pressed it against Merlin's forehead.

The ball glowed with a pink light for a couple of seconds as the wizard's eyes wided. "Tails! Lucian, you remembered the mind orb! You'll be a fine apprentice."

"What happened in here?" asked Sally.

"I was using a divination spell from the Nocimonorcen to look into the future trying to what the capsule was trying to tell us firsthand. I saw an advanced world, mostly at peace, then a blinding light and the vision ended while I lost all my memories."

"I thought this book only had good magic!" growled Sonic.

"It wasn't the spell, but what I saw through it. I think I understand what caused the Imperium to form, not why it happened but the first major attack that turned our world into the heart of an empire of fear."

"That was something I could never get my head around," said Sally. "After everything we went through, things we would have taught our children and grandchildren, how could we had lost freedom again so soon?"

"I saw a light and lost my memories seeing the future as it happened. I lost my memory along with everyone else in the future who saw that light. A whole world with no history would be a fertile ground for tyrants to get people to side with them, even make them think what they were doing was right."

"But we have the infonet, books, monuments," Tails stammered. "Even if everyone forgot who they were all those records would have let them remember something too!"

"It's just a theory, but a very strong one. But it is still only one piece of a very sinister puzzle, Tails you and the others must recover whatever record that capsule has. It might not only tell us what caused the world to lose their memories but how to prevent it from ever happening. I cannot risk looking further with magic, I sensed an incredible darkness hiding in the shadow of that light and I think it might have seen me. Even if I protect my mind, I dare not draw more attention than I already have."

Sally looked out the window to Freedom City and the people in it enjoying their lives. "So hard to believe, but it makes sense. The struggles and sacrifices, the suffering and the jubilation afterward, all of it was wiped out in an instant. Everyone would have been afraid, looked for answers, something to blame and in doing so unknowingly gave their hard-won freedom up willingly for security."

Sonic clenched his fist. "There's one thing that's already different, I'm still alive so I just have to find who caused that light then it's going to be light's out for them!"