Sonic DX Adventures

by Tashasaurous

*Slight AU* A prequel series to the "Sonic and the Werehog" Universe: (A Sonic X and Sonic Adventure mix fanfiction)-Itching for a new place to explore, Sonic the Hedgehog decided to go to Station Square, a human populated city where he will meet up with old friends, discover new ones, and deal with the threats of not just Dr. Robotnik, but other dangerous threats as well.

25. Episode 25: Lost and Found

Author's Note: This is it! The calm before the storm...Well, sort of. It's more like a prelude to what is coming up next. Let's just hope I'll be able to finish this arc at least before the end of the year...or early next year, but I'm not so sure at this point.

I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.

---

Episode 25: Lost and Found.

Five days passed since Sonic's crazy adventure in the computer chip controlling his speed, and while things were back to normal, it was still a mystery on where to find the Iron Empire's secret base. As such, the group decided to go somewhere for a little while and Tanaka opted to take the group to a place where he knew they would love so much.

In the beautiful region of Na-Chan, a Japanese-Like Country home to many people, humans and Mobians alike of that kind of culture, Tanaka had decided to bring Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Chris and even Helen, Francies and Danny for a little camping trip and hopefully far away from the Iron Empire's attack in Soumerca. He was to meet with the children at the bus stop as he began praying in front of a statue since this was the place of his birth and where he grew up until he decided to move away, leading to his loyalty to the Thorndyke family ever since.

From another area from where Tanaka was far from, most of the group were checking out the map while waiting for their bus ride to arrive. Chris, Tails, Amy, Cream, Francies and Danny were all carrying backpacks on their shoulders, while Helen held hers close to her chest.

"Let's see. It says here that the town is located deep in the mountains." Chris was reading the map, checking to see if he was right. "I guess we'll have to transfer here. It should take another hour."

"What!? How far do we have to go?" Amy exclaimed, dismayed as unlike most of her friends, she wasn't really looking forward in going camping in the middle of a valley no matter how beautiful this place was. All she cared about was checking out the town's stores.

It didn't help that Sonic was absent, but rather have fun as he should be doing, he decided to explore the Na-Chan's city while hoping to find the Iron Empire's base this time even though it was pretty far away from Soumerca. Then again, being an adventurerer, he loved seeing new places and this was a good oppotunity to do so.

Danny tried to reassure the pink hedgehog optimistically. "It's not that far, Amy. Why not think of this as an adventure?"

"Yeah, it's a place most of us haven't been to before." Helen nodded in agreement with a bright and excited smile. This was her first time in actually being able to come here, and it was thanks to Chris' family that her parents were able to allow her to join this little adventure with the much needed support with the medics and air aid support.

"Camping is not my idea of an adventure." The eleven year old pouted, folding her arms.

"Oh, we're gonna have lotsa fun, I promise!" Francies encouraged, bending down to the pink hedgehog's level, beaming a smile.

Sighing as she knew that she wasn't going to get out of this one even though she still wasn't fully convinced, Amy conceded defeat. "Alright, if you say so."

Tails gazed around at his new surroundings which, while he didn't have fond memories of Westside Island, the trees and the fresh greenery reminded him so much of both that as well as his home of Green Hill Zone where he spent three years living in with his adoptive hedgehog family. Like Sonic, the two-tailed fox cub loved seeing new places, and while he wasn't nature savvy and more into being a young, brilliant but very pure heartened scientist and mechanic for his age, he admired the magic of Mother Nature.

'This place looks beautiful. I bet Sonic would be exploring these mountains and forests when given a chance after he's done seeing the city. Can't wait to see what is really has.' The seven year old cub thought to himself.

That, and if his biological parents were still alive, Tails had a feeling his mother would absolutely love it given her passion for flowers and healthy grass...At least, that's what he thought. Then again, he lost her and his father when he was only two years old, way too young to lose a family, so he wouldn't know.

Mentally shaking his head out of his thoughts, he turned to the young Thorndyke and asked, curiously. "Hey Chris. So, you know a good place to set up camp when we get there?"

"I hear there's a great place right near a river north of here. It's nice and peaceful and it's good for fishing too." Chris nodded, pointing up north ahead, much to the delight of most of his friends.

"Yay!" Cream cheered happily. "That sounds like a perfect spot!" She then gazed at her little Chao friend at the exciting part. "And maybe you and I could go for a swim, Cheese. Sounds fun?"

"Chao!" Cheese chirped, waving his arms as he couldn't wait to have tons of fun camping.

Unbeknownst to the human and Mobian children, nearby was a familiar man who was undercover of being the school teacher: Mr. Stewart, who was joining them as well. At the moment, he was scanning the bus stop schedule, murmuring to himself. "Uh, bus service to Hot Springs Village."

Making sure that no one was listening in or spying on him suspiciously, he softly radioed in to his communicator. "This is Stewart. Do you read me? Listen carefully. The bus to Hot Springs Village leaves every hour on the hour from bus stop number 3. Have you got that?"

"Yeah, we gotcha alright." A familiar sly-sounding female voice spoke.

"YAH!" Stewart yelped in fright and whirled around, only for his eyes to widen in shock and confusion that it was none other than Rouge, who was smirking teasingly at him, and Topaz, who had opted to wear casual clothes: she was wearig a white tank top and trousers while carrying a carrybag full of her(and Rouge's, much to the female human agent's annoyance) supplies.

"For the mission and for the prank." The white bat giggled humorously.

"Rouge! Topaz! What are you two doing here?" Stewart asked in a whisper, bewildered while trying not to get the children's attentions.

"Well, someone has to make sure things don't get out of hand." Topaz whispered this time, explaining. "We were given orders to take some time off but also keep an eye on Sonic since he would be exploring the city."

"That, and who could resist in soaking in the nice, hot spring?" Rouge added, smirking as other than her love for jewelry, the thief's other passion in life is warm bathes and spas. The very thought of a Hot Spring was simply far too hard to resist, so who was she to say no?

"Okay, I get the idea. Just, try not to let anybody see you two, especially Sonic." The male agent signed, slumping a little.

"We won't, as long as you don't go stalking these kiddies, especially the five year old and her Chao." Rouge whispered a sing-song tone, turning her gaze to the group while focusing on Cream and Cheese. "Seriously, they're too cute and innocent to do anything wrong. How could anybody hurt such little sweethearts?"

"Besides you and your obsession in stealing jewels, even a hyper energetic teenager like Sonic is more behaved." Topaz remarked, half sarcastically.

Her Mobian partner just giggled, knowingly while holding her hands up in surrender. "Guilty as charged. Let's get going before these kids get too suspicious."

With Stewart reluctantly agreeing, he secretly departed from the two female agents who walked to the side while pretending to not know him, and he rejoined Chris' group who stared in confusion at how he was waving a white flag while cheering before blowing a whistle.

"Hey Frances, how come Mr. Stewart's coming?" Tails asked, curiously. "Wouldn't this trip be a lot more fun if it was just us kids?"

"Don't know." Francies shrugged, cluelessly. "Maybe he wants to have fun too."

"All I can say is this whole camping thing better be fun. Or else they're gonna hear it from me." Amy grumbled to herself, slightly narrowing her eyes.

Short time later after boarding the bus to the train station, the group were now riding and thanks to the first-aid disability carers, Helen rode with her friends towards their destination. The children unaware that Rouge and Topaz were both secretly watching from a couple of seats back, listening on their conversation just in case.

"Hey, where's Sonic?" Helen asked, confused at the absence of the blue hedgehog.

"Sonic's not much for camping. He says he's gonna explore the city. He's on his way there now." Tails explained, before leaning over and whispered. "And I think he's gonna try and find the you-know-what here even though it seems unlikely, but you never know."

"Oh...I get it." The twelve year old girl nodded, understanding.

---

Racing along the road next to the train-tracks in the region of Na-Chan, Sonic was tempted to join his friends for camping, but he felt that they would be safe once they met with Tanaka, hoping that the Iron Empire wouldn't be around to catch the group off-guard.

'Sure is a beautiful place here. Maybe I'll have better luck in finding the Iron Empire's base this time? I can't let those creeps keep Vanilla or those people and the Master Emerald any much longer! I gotta save them!' Sonic thought to himself as he raced along the dirt road, following the speedy train which he knew his friends were riding in to reach the campsite Tanaka would take them.

"Hang in there, guys. I'll find you, no matter what it takes." Sonic whispered as he gazed up at the clear blue sky, with white fluffy clouds slowy drifting by. He then changed course and turned sharply to his left and continued onward towards another part of the mountains which he knew might lead him to at least one more clue on where the base was.

---

Once the train reached their destination, Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese, Helen, Francies, Danny and Mr. Stewart got off before headed to where they would meet Tanaka, while Rouge and Topaz, giving silent nods to the male secret agent who returned it, took another bus to the city where they knew Sonic would be.

They then rode the bus to the final stretch of their journey, while the kids admired the beauty of the mountains before they finally made it to the lovely valley, getting off where the butler greeted them with a warm and kind smile.

"Mr. Tanaka, we're here!" Chris greeted, carefully walking down the steps with his friends behind him, while Helen was carefully lowered thanks to the bus medical helpers, which she thanked them and joined her friends happily.

"I trust you had a safe trip." Tanaka greeted back, and his young charge nodded to confirm his thoughts.

"Your homeland is very beautiful, Mr. Tanaka." Helen remarked, thoroughly amazed as she glanced around brightly.

The kind butler bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Miss Helen. I hope you, Master Chris and your friends enjoy your stay here. It certainly was a wonderful place for a boy to grow up."

"I can see why." Chris smiled, and the others all nodded in agreement.

"Where do we go from here, Mr. Tanaka?" Amy asked, noticing quite a number of Japanese-like cottages around, and she had to admit they all looked lovey and cosy to be in.

"Well, just follow me and I will take you." The kind man gently gestured, about to lead the children when to their confusion and surprise, Mr. Stewart stepped up, holding out a hand to stop them.

"Hold on a minute, mister!" He began, waving his arms awkwardly. "Uh, just let me get out my flag here. I will be your official guide! Step lively, kids!"

The 'teacher' then began to wave the yellow flag, which made the group sweat drop, dumbfounded before sharing glances. None the less, the young group followed the two men while admiring everything all around them that even Amy began to admit it looked really nice.

"Look at all of the mountains!" Cream remarked, gazing at the towering green formats.

"And all the nature around us!" Amy added.

"Nothing but blue skies, trees, grass." Chris said with a smile, before turning to the youngest of the group. "Sure is pretty, huh Cream?"

The five year old rabbit girl nodded in agreement. "It's the most beautiful place we've ever seen!" She looked at her Chao, brightly. "Isn't it, Cheese?"

"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped in agreement, which made Tanaka and even Stewart smile that the children were enjoying themselves with all the nature.

---

Meanwhile, in the Japanese-like village, Sonic attempted to keep his eyes peeled on locating the Iron Empire base, but so far found no evidence of even a clue of the evil organization's actions and things seem to be pretty calm. He leaped from one roof to another while deciding to admire his surroundings to remain cool, calm and collective.

The blue hedgehog then jumped down and ran across the streets with careful speed, but suddenly skid to a stop when one building caught his eye to his right and he doubled back to see. From he saw it was a bath house made from the Hot Springs. While he wasn't a fan of water, this caught his interest. Yet it was the sign that got his attention.

A picture of a white and blue Chao who was cheering on happily with a cute bright smile and it was shocked to actually see it.

"Wait a sec...This place honors the white Chao? Didn't see that coming." Sonic murmured to himself, shocked and amazed as he took a step closer.

"The White Chao are known as the Hero Chao, the bravest of all Chao." An unfamiliar female voice spoke from his left, startling the fourteen year old as he spun to see a dark-blue manx Mobian Cat wearing a lavender kimonoto, her muzzle pale white with crystal sky blue eyes, and with her was a Mobian female Owl with brown body feathers, yet her wings were white, eyes topaz yellow.

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, surprised to have company.

"You must be Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius." The Manx Cat, who had been the one to speak, remarked warmly with a gentle, soft and beautiful smile. "It's an honor to meet you, young hedgehog."

"Yes, and given you are a blue hedgehog, you must be the one the legend speaks of." The white-winged Owl added, smiling warmly.

"A legend?" The cobalt speedster asked, confused. Then, realizing that this place has a clue on the white Chao, which the people of Na-Chan call the Hero Chao, he then requested respectfully. "Please, if you ladies don't mind, can you tell me about the White-Er, I mean, the Hero Chao?"

"Of course, Mr. Sonic. First, allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Magnolia Manx." The Mobian Cat, Magnolia, curtsied politely.

"And I am White Wing. Welcome to our village, brave young Sonic." White Wing the Owl added.

Sonic couldn't help but blush over just how nice these women were, not used to such manners even from Cream, scratching the side of his face. "P-Pleasure to meetchas, Magnolia and White Wing. But, can you please call me Sonic?"

At least he was finally getting somewhere. Maybe it's related to what he and his friends have learned so far.

---

Unbeknownst to the hero of Mobius and the two Na-Chan Mobians, a small robot shaped like a Mobini Crow was spying on him with two eye cameras...with the Iron Empire now knowing where he is and keeping watch on his every move.

At the Campsite where Tails' group finally arrived and settled in, Amy decided to help Tanaka to make lunch and even politely asked if Stewart would like to help. Even though the double agent was a bit nervous, he decided to help out regardless, and while Helen was wheel-chair bound, she could at least help out at a table at her reasonable height.

As Stewart helped the butler and the two girls, he felt somewhat at ease as it was the long time he got a chance to relax. 'This camping trip won't be so bad after all. I have to keep an eye on Cream and Chris, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun.'

"Here's the bowl to mix in the vegatables, Mr. Tanaka." Helen wheeled herself to the kind butler, holding out the bowl to him.

"Here's mine too." Amy added, approaching.

"Perfect. Thank you, young ladies." Tanaks smiled, appreciative.

The eleven year old girl smiled, while thinking that maybe this won't be so bad. 'I think I'm beginning to like this.'

Nearby, the rest of the group played about. Tails, Chris and Danny were attempting to catch insects that flew with nets, even though the two human boys ended up missing a fly or two, while the seven year old fox cub carefully watched a newly evolved butterfly emerge from it's cocoon in awe. It was a beautiful multi-coloured one and it fluttered it's wings for the first time, landing on his nose which surprised him at first before he giggled.

"Hello, Butterfly. Congratulations on making your first flight." Tails greeted happily, his sapphire blue eyes sparkling. He smiled as the Butterfly, sensing no harm from the two-tailed kit, then flew away to it's new life of freedom.

At the river, Francies, Cream and Cheese were in the shallow waters with the two girls wearing beach sandles.

"Wow! Look at the fish, Cream!" Francies remarked in amazement.

Cream nodded in agreement, while attempting to catch one but to her surprise it slipped out of her grasp and leaped away, startling the young girl. "It jumped!"

Cheese in the meantime was splashing about happily, but as he did, the water's currents suddenly became so strong that the little Chao gave out an alarmed cry while being carried away. His cries for help quickly alerted the two girls and they gasped in shock and horror.

"Cheese, look out!" Francies exclaimed, but by then it was already too late.

"Cheese, no!" Cream screamed out, attempting to try and save her best friend and most cherished companion. But by then Cheese was too far and vanished while Francies quickly pulled her back before she could get swept away as well. Horror mounted horror in the rabbit girl's heart, only able to now stare in fear and growing dread.

Memories of her mother's kidnapping flashed before her eyes, and the many times when Sonic and the others would risk their lives to save hers, and the blue hedgehog nearly losing his continuously made things worse. Now...

Now Cheese was gone...Cream lost her best friend.

"C'mon, Cream! We have to tell the others!" Francies, seeing her youngest friend's distress, urgently told her. She felt her heart break as guilt surged deeply into her chest, especially when she saw tears begin to form in Cream's eyes. 'This is all my fault. I should have paid more attention.'

This camping adventure just had suddenly turned into a camping nightmare.

---

By the time Francies and Cream hurried back to inform the others on what happened, they were all shocked and sympathized over Cheese being carried away by the currents and now many of them began to fear that unless the little Chao was found soon, either the Iron Empire would find him or something else were to happen.

"Cheese must be at the river somewhere." Mr. Stewart suggested, with deep concern.

"Poor Cheese, I hope he'll be okay." Helen murmured, gently holding the upset Cream.

Tanaka sighed, grimly stating. "About a mile from this spot, the river splits off in two different directions. There is no telling which way the current was traveling."

"Oh, Cheese..." Cream sniffled, then began to cry despite the human girl's attempts to give her as much comfort as possible.

"Don't cry, Cream. We'll find Cheese." Amy gently reassured, approaching her sister-like friend. "Plus, from what I saw, he's a very good swimmer."

"She's right." Tails nodded in agreement.

Francies lowered her head, still feeling guilty. "I feel awful. I should've done something."

"Don't feel bad. It's not your fault." Chris reassured, and Danny nodded in agreement.

"Where do you think the currents will take Cheese, Mr. Tanaka?" Tails asked hopefully to the human butler who thought deeply, as though he knew something nobody else did.

"The current may be rapid, but there are many areas where the water is shallow. Cheese may very well be stuck in a patch of sand somewhere."

Knowing what they had to do, Danny declared with determination. "Then we just have to find out. Let's go rescue Cheese!"

"Yeah! Okay, we'll start an official search party!" Tails announced with determination, pumping his fist into the air and his friends all cheered in unison.

---

Meanwhile, in the more dense part of the valley's forest, Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe, who were all wearing explorer outfits and decided to take a vacation in this place, were hiking up a hill...with the two robots carrying ridiculously large and heavy back-packs and the warm weather wasn't helping any of them...nor their evil creator either.

While the human was growing more frustrated, hot, sweaty and tired, his robots were complaining in exhaustion.

"My feet are killing me." Bocoe whined childishly.

Finally unable to handle the heat, the evil scientist growled before taking off his hat and tossed it to the ground where it bounced back up and hit Decoe in the face, causing the yellow robot to yelped before crashing into his smaller companion who cried out in alarm, the two crashing on top of each other.

"I can't take it anymore!" Robotnik shouted angrily, stomping his foot childishly. "It must be a hundred and twenty degrees out here!"

Slightly recovering from their fall, Decoe sat up and held a yellow thermometer, explaining. "Actually, doctor, it is exactly 95 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Mine says 35 degrees Celsius, which is really the same as 95 degrees Fahrenheit." Bocoe added, standing up as he held an identical thermometer only that it was blue. "Either way, we are talking hot stuff."

The mad doctor growled before yelling at them. "Be quiet! I didn't ask you for a weather report! Decoe, my chair! Bocoe, my fan!"

Not wanting to face the wrath of their creator, the two worn-out dumbots quickly did so with Decoe unfolding a chair. Robotnik then slumped onto it with a content sigh while the yellow robot wiped his sweaty head with a fresh, cold damp cloth while Bocoe began to fan him with a paper fan.

"Here you go." Decoe said.

"Nice and cool." Bocoe added.

"Ah...Much better." The mad doctor smiled, finally relaxing.

"Pretty please, doctor, can't we have our vacation back at the Egg Fort where it is nice and cool?" Decoe whined as this heat was going to melt him for certain.

Robotnik grunted while insisting. "No, the theme of this vacation is roughing it, and like it or not, that's what we're going to do! Besides, we need this to fully prepare ourselves for the upcoming conflict against my insane brother Julius and those Ironic Kindergarten."

Seeing that it was a lost cause to convince the evil scientist, Bocoe sagged in sadness. "Oh well. At least mosquitoes don't like robots. I just hope you brought enough calamine lotion."

"QUIET!" The evil man bellowed which caused the grey robot to fall backwards in fright, crashing into the grass as Robotnik was sick and tired of all the complaining. Just then, they and Decoe, who flinched in fright as well, all heard the familiar child-like laughter and looked up to see, much to the scientist's annoyance as he clutched his fists, Bokkun who hovered down and landed in front of him while holding a flower.

"Hi, Dr. Robotnik!" The annoying little bot greeted happily.

"What are you doing here!?" Robotnik demanded angrily, glaring at his smallest creation. "I gave strict orders not to be disturbed!"

Bokkun just laughed, not intimidated as he explained. "I know, but I thought you should know about this." He then pointed to the side where new and strangely familiar voices could be heard in the short distance.

Now suspicious and curious on who would also be in this part of the forest, Robotnik and his two creations, with Bokkun flying away for now to return to the Egg Fort, followed the voices which eventually they all realized belonged to none other than Sonic's friends:

Unaware of the evil trio, Tails, Chris, Francies, Danny, Amy, Cream and Mr. Stewart, who all agreed to go and find Cheese while Helen stayed behind with Tanaka, all called out for the lost Chao as they followed the direction of the river in the mountains. Not realizing that the mad doctor and his two lackies were now spying on them through the tall grass, not realizing that they were looking for Cream's little friend.

"What are those brats doing here!?" Robotnik hissed darkly as he realized that if the group were here, so was Sonic who seemed to be somewhere else. Where that blue hedgehog was, the evil man had no idea.

"This sure is a coincidence." Decoe remarked softly, surprised. "Maybe they are looking for the Iron Empire's secret base."

"Or perhaps even a Chaos Emerald." Bocoe suggested since neither they or even Sonic's group were fully aware that the last emerald was in the Iron Empire's clutches already.

Believing that either one of his robots were right and yet the heroes were really looking for Cheese in reality, Robotnik declared with determination to get to at least the last Chaos Emerald which would leave him to have two once more and this time he wasn't going to make sure Sonic wouldn't steal it from him straight away.

"Well, so am I!" He announced, while making sure that he wouldn't be heard, whispering the order. "Let's follow them to see where they are going."

Still not realizing the dangers of 'Eggman' being around, Tails and the others continued calling out for Cheese as they were getting more and more worried while hoping that they were getting pretty close.

'Oh, Cheese, I hope that you're alright. Please come back...!' Cream thought tearfully, fearing for the worst as she was unable to stop herself from thinking of the worst case scenarios: If the Iron Empire got to him, then she lost everything. Her mother, her dearest friend...and soon they would come for her as well as the Chaos Emeralds.

'Where could he be? You'd think it would be easy to find a little Chao around here since they're pretty much rare all over the world.' Chris thought to himself, glancing from side to side hoping that nothing awful happened to Cheese.

Hiding in more tall grass while secretly following them and...not so cleverly disguising themselves with tree branches strapped around their heads and holding two more, Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe silently peered to take another peek. Sadly for the evil scientist, he was getting pretty swarmed by the mosquitoes who decided that he was so flubber around the waist that he was pretty tasty. In annoyance, he slapped another one on his head and winced in pain.

"Ow! That pesky mosquito just sunk it's stinger into my soggy wet noodle!" Robotnik complained, prompting his two robots to share a knowing glance. Now he began to remember why he hated nature besides the colours. Another reason why he should rule the planet and turn everything into metal.

"It's not like we didn't warn him." Decoe softly remarked, and Bocoe nodded in agreement.

"Alright, you lazy leeches! I want every mosquito here insecticided!" The evil scientist ordered as he turned to his assistants.

"Couldn't we just use bug spray?" Bocoe suggested since it was a far easier solution.

Before anybody could respond to that, Decoe noticing something behind the human scientist and quickly warned the latter to look in alarm. But by the time a confused Robontnik did, he saw a fairly big moth come fly in and landed on his face, spraying some kind of substance which made him scream in agony. When the moth flew away, Robotnik slowly turned around to reveal to his robots that...he was now facially covered in stings and bumps all looking red and angry. He breathed and wheezed heavily as his voice became high-pitched like a girl's.

A few minutes later, his robots gently rubbed in ointment and healing cream while he grunted furiously. "That cursed insect! They bite worse than Sonic's quills prick!"

However, that statement was heard by Amy who paused in her steps and turned to the source of the noise, but didn't see anybody as Robotnik's group were still hiding. "Huh? Did you guys hear that?"

"Did we heard what, Amy?" Tails asked in confusion, after he and the others paused to gaze at the pink hedgehog.

"It sounded like a voice closeby."

"Maybe it was Cheese?" Francies suggested hopefully.

"No, it sounded more like a man's and...somehow really familiar, but it isn't Sonic, so..." Amy shook her head, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. 'Why am I getting the irk feeling that we're being followed? It had better not be Eggman or the Iron Empire. If it's either one, they so gonna regret in ruining our vacation and trying to capture Cream and Cheese...!'

"Maybe someone else is camping." Stewart suggested.

"Maybe. Let's keep looking for Cheese." Chris shrugged, trying to think that his teacher was right.

---

Even though the eleven year old girl thought otherwise, she decided that it would be for the best and maybe the man was right. So she followed her friends to continue looking for the lost Chao, yet her guts kept on telling her that they were in the danger zone.

Eventually after still failing to find Cheese, Tails and his group came across a small river leading into a tunnel crossing paths with the river.

"What if Cheese is inside that tunnel?" Cream asked, worriedly. Her poor Chao must've gotten trapped inside what appeared to be a dark and scary cave, and Cheese could be frightened without a way out. What if there were horrible things inside there?

"It's kinda dark, but we have to at least try." Amy pointed out, then reassured her close friend. "We'll find him. Don't worry."

"I'll take a look." Stewart decided to give it a try, but when he bend down to get in, much to his dismay it was far too small. It seemed to only fit Mobians about sizes of hedgehogs and that children about Chris, Francies and Danny's sizes could still fit if they crouched. He stood up apologetically. "I'm afraid I can't fit."

"I'll bet we can fit in no problem. You wait here while we check it out." Chris suggested confidently.

Despite being concerned for their safety, Stewart decided to trust the young Thorndyke's word and moved out of the way. "Alright. Promise that you'll be careful."

"Okay." The twelve year old boy nodded, before crouching down and began to crawl his way in, with the rest of his friends following, but not before Stewart told them to not get lost, with Francies responding that they won't. Fortunately, Amy, Tails and Cream didn't need to crawl or crouch, so they simply walked in hopes of locating Cheese.

Unaware that the spy-teacher had secretly placed a tracking device in Chris' pockets, and turned it on with his watch with a tiny red dot bleeping. That should keep his charges in his senses.

---

Meanwhile, back in the village, Sonic was given a tour around by Magnolia and White Wing while they told him of the legends related to the situation going on.

"Hey, Magnolia, can I ask you somethin'?" Sonic asked, curiously.

"Of course, Sonic." The Manx Cat nodded kindly.

"Is it really true that the Hero Chao lived in Colonies with the other types?"

"That is an interesting question." Magnolia smiled knowingly. "Long ago, there were different types of Chao, some even related to another, others sharing a very close fond with humans or Mobians. If they share their unique personalities, the Chao they bond could even evolve into either the Hero Chao, or Chao with dark desires that become Dark Chao, though not evil or harmful, or even Chao that may resemble to any type of Mobians with abilities shared by them."

"Whoa, really!?" The blue hedgehog softly exclaimed in awe, caught off-guard by this. Who would have thought that would happen? Suddenly he had an image of bonding a Chao of his own in the Chao Garden he recently found, happily relaxing before his new little friend would surprisingly speed away like he would.

He even imagined said Chao evolving into having ears and maybe quills just like him.

"That's way past cool. If I ever made great friends with a Chao, and the little guy looked like me with my speed, maybe I should call him Chronic." Sonic thought, like that idea. He then realized something and asked with a shrug. "But, what happened to the Hero Chao that ended up becoming extinct?"

The two Na-Chan Mobians sighed as they and Sonic paused, White Wing answering this time with a somber look. "Well, you see, as Chao, Hero Chao to be precise, would have strong connections with the Chaos Emeralds as well as the Master Emerald due to an unexplained event, and a young Mobian girl who would secretly visit Chao as well, peace would not last. First came a terrible tragedy which had all Chaos' protector to mysteriously disappear and the Chaos Emeralds would scatter into hidden places in each colony for safety, and then another when the girl was discovered by an evil man who wished to harness the power of Chao and the eight Emeralds to become a powerful being, nearly unstoppable with the terrifying power of darkness."

"Well, they say that the evil man almost destroyed the world, but he was stopped by the heroic White Chao and it's kind with the power of the Chaos Emeralds as he couldn't harness the Master Emerald at the time. Yet while the man was stopped and never to be seen again, the White Chao all vanished." Magnolia continued.

"What!?" Sonic softly gasped, becoming horrified. Suddenly he couldn't help but think back of his mysterious dreams of Camelia and Clover the, as he realized now much to his shock, the Hero Chao, and the mysterious figure that resembled to Julius. Could it really be all connected?

"According to a prophecy, the brave Hero Chao would be reborn into it's Egg form due to their love for the child who promised to keep all of the events a secret, which is why many would not hear of it and believe it is nothing more than a myth. It is believed that the Chao would be found by the chosen descendent of the child who would inherit her ability to understand their language, and care for the Chao with great love and care." She continued.

"It is also said that a young hero, a chosen one with a pure heart having the ability to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds would arrive to save the world should evil rise up to face the man, who was also foretold to be reborn due to the darkness, yet he would have no memories of his past life nor would he have the power he once held before." White Wing added.

"While we are not certain, given the stories told that you can harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds to triumph over evil, we have reason to believe that you are the one to protect the descendant, the Hero Chao reborn, and save the world from the dark one reborn, Sonic." Magnolia concluded as she and her Owl friend gazed at the stunned hero of Mobius.

"I am?" Sonic murmured, blinking. "Why do you think the legend is true?"

"As you are the chosen one by the Chaos Emeralds themselves, it could be possible that it is happening again." White Wing whispered.

"Hmm...Guess you got a point. But I can't say much, since I'm actually tryin' to find the secret base of an evil organization who are holding people hostage." The blue hedgehog scratched the top of his head, a little uneasily. He then questioned. "That reminds me, have there been any recent sightings of a suspicious group with robots or anything like that?"

The two women shook their heads apologetically, the Owl responding. "Mostly we have been living in peace in the recent events."

"That's okay, I'll take another look around. Thanks a lot, ladies. I really appreciate it. And thanks for the story and the tour." The hero of Mobius replied gratefully, giving the two women a bow like a gentlemen and hurried off after saying goodbye which they returned.

As he then sped off carefully without crashing into anybody, unbeknownst to the blue hedgehog, Rouge and Topaz, finally having noticed him and listened in the whole conversation despite that Sonic, Magnolia and White Wing were having hushed voices to avoid in drawing a crowd, were having some lunch while thinking of the new development.

"Hero Chao? I think the whole thing is just a bedtime story." Rouge softly remarked, though she was thinking more about the Chaos Emeralds than anything else. While she knew of their power, the white bat didn't believe they were that magical at all.

"But it makes it a bit more sense on what the Iron Empire are really up to." Topaz pointed out in a whisper, thoughtfully with a concerned frown. "If this is true, could the little girl and her pet Chao Julius Robotnik is after...be the descendant and reborn and Sonic is the chosen one?"

"Who knows?" The Mobian Agent shrugged, taking a bite out of her cookie. "Whatever the case is, at least we're on the right track."

Despite being uncertain over this, the human agent decided that her partner was right, and nodded. "We'll need to keep monitoring on the situation and question Sonic."

"I can do that, since I am a bat." Rouge volunteered, smirking. Really, it was part of her own plan to take the Chaos Emerald that Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends may have brought with them. "But first, I could use a soak in the Hot Springs."

"Me too." Topaz smirked in agreement.

Yet none were aware that the robot crow flapped and was now following Sonic towards his next destination with the Iron Empire making their next move to counterattack.

---

Meanwhile, Tails' group were now getting closer and closer as the three human kids were able to stand up after crawling for so long.

"Do you think that's the way out?" Amy asked, hopefully. While she was worried and prayed that Cheese was in there on the other side, she was going tired of walking in the dark and wading in the small river.

"Guess so. I wonder what's out here?" Chris shrugged.

But as the six of them emerged into the opening, they all gasped in shock and utter disbelief. It couldn't be...Could it?

"Is this...real!?" Chris exclaimed, almost breathlessly.

"But...But how?" The pink hedgehog asked, briefly wondering if she was dreaming.

What the children saw was something far beyond their imaginations: A beautiful small clearing forest meadow with fresh green grass, trees filled with fruit, a crystal clear lake and...a lot of Chao and not just the kind that looked just like Cheese, but other kinds! Some were pink with yellow hands and feet with red bobbles and eyes, others were yellow and orange, and shockingly enough, three white chao that matched the description on what Sonic had seen in the form of a ghost weeks earlier as well as his dreams.

Regardless of their colouring, all of the Chao seem to be so happy and living in peace, chirping away until they noticed that they had visitors, human and Mobian visitors that made them curious.

"I can't believe it!" Tails murmured in shock and awe, his eyes widening. "It's a Chao Colony!" He smiled widely and laughed as he went over to greet them.

"And some of them look like Cheese, but there are other kinds too...Pink, yellow...there's even white and blue chao, just like Sonic said! The White Chao didn't go extinct after all!" Amy remarked, amazed while giggling as some of them went up to her and the human kids, while a worried Cream, still concerned for Cheese despite being amazed of seeing the Colony, went over to find her own that had a red bow.

'They're just so adorable!' The pink hedgehog thought to herself, gently patting a pink and white Chao each. "Hi there. Aren't you all so sweet?"

"Chao, chao, chao!" The two Chao chirped happily, instantly liking the eleven year old girl.

"Aw! They're all so cute." Francies remarked as two more approached her, smiling.

Several more approached the rest of the group as Danny remarked to his best friend. "Hey look Chris, they really like us."

"Yeah." Chris chuckled. "I guess they can sense that we're friendly."

"Hey, this one wants to go for a swim." Tails giggled as a normal Chao playfully tugged him by the whiskers.

Cream in the meantime tried to locate her Chao while standing on the edge of the lake. "Cheese!" She then noticed a normal Chao and asked hopefully. "Is that you?...I guess not."

She then noticed another one and exclaimed in relief. "Cheese!" But frowned in sadness that this other Chao didn't have the bow and muttered. "Sorry."

Oh, where could her beloved Chao be? If only she could just spot the one with the red bow...

"Chao, chao!"

Softly gasping upon hearing the cooing that she was familiar with, the five year old girl looked at the water and her heart leaped in pure happiness that Cheese himself, still floating in the water, drifted towards her waving his arms happily upon seeing his Mobian best friend, wearing the very red bow she and her mother had given him years ago.

"There are you! Cheese!" Cream cried out happily, her eyes watering with tears as she jumped in, racing over in the ankle-deep lake, picking up her joyful Chao and shared an emotional embrace. She spun around as the two happily laughed before hugging tightly, silent tears shedding. "Oh, Cheese! You're okay! I was so worried."

"Chao..." Cheese chirped softly, nuzzling his head into her chest before he gently wiped away her tear, as the young rabbit girl smiled as she then gently gave him a kiss on the head.

"I love you, Cheese." Cream whispered, relief and happiness swelling up into her heart. Things were suddenly alright now and she couldn't be any more happier.

"Chao chao chao!" Cheese responded, saying in his language how much he loved her as well.

Seeing the reunion melted the hearts of Tails, Amy, Chris, Francies and Danny, the girls smiling emotionally.

"Oh, thank goodness, Cheese is okay!" Amy beamed, her hands clasped together. It made her so happy that Cream is happy now.

Francies nodded in agreement, feeling the weight of guilt lift from her chest, before gently telling the youngest of the group. "Come on out of the water, Cream. You're getting your feet all soggy."

"I don't mind." Cream replied as she walked up to her friends, with Cheese once again safely in her arms. "All that matters is Cheese is okay."

As the group smiled happily, all relieved that they found the little Chao, the entire Colony cheered on happily with chirps all around as though celebrating the reunion of Cheese and his Mobian close friend. This got the group's attention.

"Looks like Cheese made some friends." Tails remarked as Cheese communicated with the wild Chao who responded happily, then the two-tailed fox realized that perhaps this was the raised Chao's first time in being surrounded by his own kind. "They all look very excited."

"But, what are they saying?" Chris asked, curiously.

Cream, listening in due to having spend years understanding Chao language, blinked in surprise before she translated. "They saying that they're happy that Cheese is here safe and that he found me and my Mom."

"How can they tell?" The twelve year old boy asked, confused.

"I don't know. But...it's almost like, they know something very important." The five year old rabbit girl shrugged.

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough, but it's very beautiful here. I've always dreamed on what would it be like to see a Chao Colony." Amy stated, feeling relaxed and at peace.

"Sure is pretty. Let's look around." Francies suggested.

---

Back with Sonic, he was dashing through the village hoping to find another clue related to the whole situation. The blue hedgehog's thoughts were onto what he learned from the two nice tour guides and couldn't help but wonder if Cheese really is the Hero Chao reborn and Cream could very well be Camellia's descendant.

'If what Magnolia and White Wing said is true, that explains all of these dreams Cream and I've been having. But how much does Julius know about all of this?' Sonic thought to himself, his eyes narrowing as he leaped from one roof to another until he found himself in a more, surprisingly enough, deserted and isolated part of the village.

"Huh?" Blinking in confusion, the hero of Mobius jumped off and despite that it looked to be like a restricted area, curiosity got the better of him as he raced forward.

It looked to be like the ruins of a private mansion that was strictly off-limits, more fitted for the medieval or olden-era times, similar to the Thorndyke Manor in Station Square. Yet the building looked to be a mixture of Japanese and British, and somehow very familiar, covered in years of growth, fern, moss and vines, the wood rotting away and unrepairable. Sonic skid to a stop and took a step closer to see.

"...Hm? What is this place?" Sonic softly questioned, amazed yet feeling a slight chill run down his spine. 'Why does it look so...familiar?'

Before Sonic could think of this further, suddenly there was a loud rumbling which alerted him and he spun around to see, much to his annoyance and dismay, a huge robot with resembled to a black dragon with the unmistakable symbol of the Iron Empire on it's neck, with small wings and it let out a terrifying roar far too close to the village to the hedgehog's comfort.

"Looks like Eggman's not the only one to go for bad theme of robots!" Sonic grunted, clutching his fists tightly.

He was about to go and fight it in order to save the village and prevent it from finding his friends' campsite, when strangely enough, something glowed slightly which earned him a confused 'Huh?' from Sonic. The hedgehog then gasped softly when something then materialized and floated in front of him. It was a rainbow coloured power ring, glowing in multi-coloured aura similar to the Chaos Emeralds. Blinking in surprise, he then quickly decided to worry about that later and nodded to himself, grasping the ring and, seeing that he can actually fit it around his wrist, placed onto his right hand like a bracelet.

It this came to him, he decided to worry about that later

"Not sure what to make of this, but I'll take it!" The teenage hero bravely declared, before speeding off in high-speed to take on the robot which began to make it's rampage to find it's targets.

Little did Sonic know was that on the roof of the building, the little ghost Chao watched on worriedly as it hoped that the blue hedgehog would set things right.

---

Rouge had taken to the skies in her search for Sonic while Topaz stayed behind so that nobody would suspect that they were both GUN agents to the eyes of the villagers when she heard a loud rumbling coming up ahead.

"Hm? Now what?" The albino bat muttered, gazing up ahead only to softly gasp when she saw a giant robot resembling to a dragon, landing too uncomfortably close to the village. Her eyes widened in shock and slight concern. "Uh oh. Either that's Dr. Eggman's robot or the Iron Empire's. If I'm to guess, I'd say it's..."

Before the bat thief could finish her thought as many citizens of humans and Mobians saw this and, fearing their lives, ran in panic hoping to escape from it as the giant robot began it's rampage. It shot out flames everywhere, torching nearby trees and the grass too close to the homes.

"You know what? Nevermind. I'll just have to inform the Commander and-Oh?"

Once again, she cut herself off when a blue blur suddenly appeared from nowhere and Spin Dashed right into it's chest, bashing it so hard that the giant robot stumbled back a little while forced to cancel out it's attack. Curious and flying to get a closer look, her surprised expression turned into a curious and impressed smirk as the blue ball blue formed into that of Sonic himself, before he landed on the ground bravely glaring at the machine.

"Hey, Lizard-Head!" Sonic called out to get it's attention, smirking. "You hungry? How 'bout I give a something pretty tasty: A Hedgehog Ball with a headache on top!"

The giant dragon-bot, known as the Beast-Flame-3, roared before shooting out it's flamethrower from it's mouth at the teenage hedgehog who leaped and dodged it straight away. He laughed and teasingly waved at it. "Come on, ya' big dinosaur! I'm over here!"

Sonic then dashed off from the village while prompting the robot to follow after him, while the villagers, peeking out nervously from many hiding places, saw the infamous hero of Mobius lure the Iron Empire's creation away to protect them and some began to cheer him on while others began to worry if he could possibly get hurt or killed by it. Rouge smirked at this performance.

"Taunting a robot and lure it away from causing damage and injury...Gotta admit I'm impressed." Deciding that maybe she should help out a little this time, the female bat flew over to give Sonic the Hedgehog a helping hand.

Racing along the dirt path as he lead the giant robot away while knowing now that the Iron Empire are involved in finding more clues and, worried that Julius could find more answers here, Sonic leaped and dodged the flamethrower attacks, flipping and jumping out of the way and even over a river which the fires had no effect over. He was actually shocked at how fast it was even without flying.

"Man, I hate to admit it but Juli-loser makes his robots faster and stronger than Robotnik's!" The blue hedgehog thought to himself, sweat dropping a little, only to gasp in horror when he looked up ahead and found himself cornered a sudden canyon part of one of the mountains which forced him to skid to a stop. "It's a dead end!"

Cornered as the giant robot came to a stop, Sonic turned around to find the robot towering over him, being a good 50 feet tall. His heart pounding in his chest as a twinge of fear began to overtake him, the fourteen year old attempted to leap and escape, but he was forced to double back when the Beast-Flame-3 shot out more fire while stopping him, trapping him back to the canyon wall.

"I can't get away!" He exclaimed in dismay, leaning back against the rock. His opponent's eyes gleamed while Sonic attempted to get as far back as possible, only managing to mask his fear with an angry glare, hoping for some sort of miracle.

---

Back at the Chao Garden and fully unaware that Sonic was in grave danger, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Francies and Danny by then became friends with the wild Chao who happily accepted them into their little community.

"C'mon, Danny. Throw the ball!" Chris encouraged.

His friend nodded and tossed the ball at the three Chao who waved their cute little arms hoping to catch it, two of them missed but the third one caught it easily and cheered.

"Hey, nice catch!" Cream commented in awe, with Cheese cheering on.

Amy and Francies in the meantime noticed the delicious fruit before the two girls plucked them out of the tree, the pink hedgehog remarking. "Wow, these look really good."

They then handed them over to a White Chao and a Yellow Chao, the eleven year old girl kindly offering. "Here you go."

"Here." Francies added, and the two gratefully accepted and ate the whole berries in one sitting, making her giggle. "Look how they gobble them up!"

"Guess they were really hungry." Amy stated, as Tails joined them before she asked the latter. "They do usually live in secret places like this, don't they?"

The two-tailed fox cub nodded. "Yeah, it's still hard to believe that we actually found one. The legend was right that there must be lots of them all over the planet, and since the water has to be kept clean, most of the Chao colonies are kept a secret."

"I guess that makes a whole lot of sense, 'cause I've never seen anything like it." The twelve year old girl realized, amazed. "It's like we've travelled to a whole different world."

"Yeah. A secret world." Tails agreed.

"I'm still confused about one thing, though." Amy realized, making her friends gaze at her as she continued. "What did these Chao mean by being relieved Cheese found Cream and her mother?"

"Hmmm...That's a real good question." The seven year old kit frowned thoughtfully, gazing at the aforementioned duo who were still chatting away. "Maybe...These Chao know something we don't."

'That and...does Mr. Tanaka know about anything about this?' He thought to himself as another theory came into mind.

Whatever it was, he certainly hoped that the Iron Empire wouldn't find this place considering how Julius was looking for Chao Colonies.

---

Back with Robotnik's group, they were still hiking through the forest only to end up losing track of Tails' group while still thinking that the children were after the Chaos Emerald, believing that they found it by now...and were just as exhausted as before.

"How much longer do we have to keep this up?" Decoe complained, on the urge of breaking down and malfunctioning.

"Please, can we go home, Dr. Robotnik? My bearings are killing me." Bocoe whined, which didn't help Robotnik's sour mood as while his face finally recovered from the Moth's attack, his health certainly didn't.

"Grrr...Quit with your whining, will you!? I refuse to spend my week's vacation listening to your incessant belly aching!" The evil scientist yelled with a growl, then panted in exhaustion since the heat was really getting to him. 'Then again...maybe the beach would've been a much better option because at least there's water to cool off in.'

"I think he has heat stroke." The yellow robot tiredly remarked.

"Nevermind him." His shorter companion grumbled. "If we don't stop roughing it soon, I'm going to overheat."

Somewhat recovering and deciding that this plan has failed, Robotnik pointed at his taller robot, commanding. "Decoe! I order you to empty that knapsack!"

'Finally.' Decoe thought while responding obediently. "Right away, doctor."

He slipped it off of his back before unzipping it...only for him and Bocoe to both recoil in shock and bewilderment when they saw that it was...a portable slot machine!? No wonder the yellow robot's backpack was heavy! Talk about a plot twist.

"While I know this camping trip is all about getting back to nature, there are certain amenities one cannot do without, and this is one of them." Robotnik explained, ignoring his dimwitted minions' bewildered expressions. He then placed a stack of cards into it and with an evil chuckle, pulled the lever.

Once that was done, it slotted until it revealed three images of a giant robot with two huge mace-like hands. This was the E-66 Da-Dai-Oh.

"A perfect choice. Time to awaken our friend E-66." The mad doctor chuckled as he pulled out a robote and pushed a button, sending out a red laser signal which shot right into the ocean where the newly restored Egg Fort was hidden underneath. This in turn summoned the robot to emerge and collect it's creator and the two smaller robots to attack Tails and the others.

Not aware that his brother was making an attack with a robot of his own.

---

"What!? Are you sure it's actually a robot?" Topaz, who had called Rouge to demand her what was going on through the communicator watches, only to be told of what was happening.

"Hon, there are no such things as dragons and I really wouldn't put it past the Robotnik brothers that either one would pull this off." Rouge replied impatiently as she continued searching for Sonic so she could help him out in fighting the Beast-Flame-3. "How about you help keep the people safe while I go help Blue out?"

"Are you still going to question him?"

"What, and spoil our vacation even more? We still have a few more days. I'll call you back." The Mobian Agent half-teased as she felt, given what was going on, that Sonic deserved a bit of a break and didn't need anymore stress to worry about.

"Rouge, wait-!" Topaz began, unable to believe what she was hearing and wondered what her partner was thinking.

Before her human partner to continue her protest, Rouge just hung up with a sigh, flying closer until she spotted what she was looking for. She widened her eyes when she saw the giant robot towering over a canyon and, to her slight concern, having Sonic trapped and at the risk of being burnt to a crisp.

Sonic in the meantime began to sweat nervously, not wanting to accept that he was about to get killed by a giant robot that had him where Julius wanted him. The Beast-Flame-1 then was about to unleash it's flames again and he screamed while attempting to shield himself with one arm, his eyes squeezed closed at the closeness of the fire.

'This is really bad! I gotta get outta here before I'm cooked! HELP!' The blue hedgehog thought pleadingly to himself despite that he was alone, leaning down a little as he knew in that instant is about to become a roasted hog. Or so he thought.

All of the sudden Rouge, seeing the teenage hero in danger, used the giant robot's distraction to her advantage and surprisingly drill-kicked with narrowed eyes in impressive speed, hitting the dragon's head full on and causing it to painfully force it's face upward safely away from Sonic before she quickly swooped in and wrapped her arms around his waist, lifting him up into the sky.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped in surprise when he felt a pair of arms catch him, before he blinked in confusion to see who had rescued him. It didn't feel like Tails since his best friend/little brother was with the others. But who was it that saved him?

When he looked to see who it was, his emerald green eyes widened in shock as he let out a soft gasp to see that it was Rouge and almost instantly recognized her: It was...the bat thief from Station Square and...from what Knuckles had told him after Robotnik's base was destroyed, also worked for the government of the United Federation. He had been shocked at first, but then wondered if the President had been monitoring him despite they were all against Robotnik and the Iron Empire.

"Thought you could use a lift." Rouge smirked, slyly.

"Hey...I know you. You're that jewel thief who works for GUN!" The hero of Mobius realized, surprised and a little suspicious that this thief/agent had actually come here to Na-Chan and saved his life. What were the odds of the government being here in Tanaka's homeland? "Rouge, right?"

Giggling, the white bat winked. "Nice to see you again, Big Blue."

'Big Blue, huh? Not a bad nickname from a thief and GUN agent.' Sonic admitted in his mind, and while he was still a bit on edge that he had been rescued by somebody he stopped earlier and was with an organization that while were for the law and protecting others, they left him uneasy, he couldn't deny that he was relieved that she came in his time of need.

So he smiled in gratitude and said. "Don't know why you're here, but, thanks for savin' me."

"Not very often I get thanks from boys who are appreciative and luckily for you, you're pretty light compared."

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle, before he and Rouge looked down to see the giant robot recover and glared up at the duo who returned it. The blue hedgehog then noticed a waterfall close by before he realized that it could potentially work.

"I've got an idea! Whaddya say we team up this once and give that thing a shower?" The blue hedgehog suggested, willing to put their earlier fight behind them for a truce.

Realizing what Sonic had in mind and, noticing the same thing while surpriesd that he was willing to join forces, the albino bat nodded as she decided they might as well. Plus she may be a thief, she certainly didn't want innocent people to get burnt to crisp or their homes destroyed, especially by robots.

"Works for me." She agreed readily. 'At least he's more of a gentlemen than Knuckles.'

The two then flew towards the waterfall with the Beast-Flame-1 following them, unaware that it was being lured to another trap and when Rouge carried Sonic close, at the latter's signal, she tossed him straight towards the water fall where he used his Spin Jump to splash into the thankfully shallow waters and right up to the wall, while she followed his lead and distracted the giant robot into firing at her before she screw-kicked it again at it's arms. The combination of the two Mobians' attacks and Sonic using his speed to splash as much water as possible despite his distaste for it, it created a self-made cyclone, straight at the huge machine, engulfing it a lot where not only it was soaked and damaged that it's flamethrower was now rendered useless, but it also put out the nearby fires it created.

What they didn't realize was that the bracelet Clover gave Sonic glowed which increased his abilities and the blue hedgehog, now seeing his chance and, upon noticing it and gaped in awe, narrowed his eyes before he began absorbing it's power the way he did with the Chaos Emeralds and the Power Rings. Leaping up into the air from the ground, the hero of Mobius glared hard at it before he Homing Attacked straight into it's chest, bashing it from inside out until he destroyed the Power Core and came flying out of it's back while it, having a huge hole in it's body, roared in agony before it exploded.

"YES!" Sonic cheered after he and Rouge landed, just as the bracelet disappeared from existence. While the hedgehog was confused by it, he decided to worry about that later and gave his new ally a thumbs up and a smirk. "That was way past cool! Thanks, Rouge."

Who would've thought he'd team up with a thief? But the way how he'd seen and briefly heard of her, he began to think that she wasn't very heartless at all. Just greedy when it came to gems even though he knew he had to be very careful with her cunning and manipulation skills. The blue hedgehog knew he shouldn't trust her until he knew what her motives were, but at the same time he shouldn't be ungrateful since she went out of her way to save him.

"Hm, I just helped out a little. You did most of the work." While Rouge was impressed by the blue hero's gratitude and willing to forgive her, she didn't think she did that much.

"But if you hadn't saved me, I woulda been toast. Literally. Gotta say, I can see why you're with GUN, and I heard that you saved Knuckles once." Sonic pointed out, smiling warmly which earned him a surprised glance. "Stealing jewels aside, and I know this is our actual first meeting, I don't think you're that bad at all. You've got a good heart, and I see it already. So...Thank you."

That really caught Rouge off-guard as for most of her life, and having so wanting to claim the Chaos Emeralds for their warmth and be part of her collection like all of her precious gems she'd taken while being a treasure hunter as well as a thief, her days in the GUN organization did make her also do some good things, but besides Topaz despite their on and off arguments, no one has ever seen another part of her. That part where she wouldn't hurt others on purpose, and be a good girl when she wanted to be, having a good heart enough to save people...but Sonic did, just like her partner, yet he could see it as though reading her mind and heart.

"Just doing my job, Big Blue." Rouge shrugged in other to hide how she really felt. She did have a reputation, after all and was pretty good in hiding her feelings. She then smirked. "I was serious about the Hot Spring, though. What kind girl wouldn't want to go for that, huh?"

"I'm not fan of water, but you got a point there. Everybody has different tastes." He admitted, rubbing his nose.

The conversation was then cut off when both Sonic and Rouge heard more rumbling and glanced up in shock with gasps and saw, to their dismay and annoyance, Robotnik's E-66 fly over them towards the mountains to, unbeknownst to them, where the former's friends are.

"Not another robot!" The two Mobians exclaimed in unison.

Sonic then narrowed his eyes as he recognized this lousy design in construct to the Iron Empire's. "It's Eggman!" He then turned to Rouge and asked. "You wanna check this out, or leave this to me?"

"Hmm..." Rouge thought for a moment, then silently admitted that she kind of liked teaming up with the hero of Mobius and it would be funny to see Robotnik get defeated in embarrassment again. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Don't let me stop ya'." Sonic smirked, and while he sensed that it was probably to monitor him, he decided to put his trust into her for the time being. Sharing a nod with his newest ally inspite of her love for jewels and, as he realized with his heart sinking a little, the Chaos Emeralds, the two then raced off with the hero of Mobius allowing the bat to keep up with him.

'He sure is something else. Pity he won't join GUN, but I guess that's his decision. He definitely has what it takes to take down the Iron Empire and Robotnik.' Rouge thought to himself as she followed Sonic, ultimately deciding that he was the perfect guardian for Cream and Cheese.

Maybe being an ally with the teenage hero wouldn't be so bad after all, and suddenly she felt a bit guilty for tailing him. Once this was over though, she wouldn't mind...getting casual with him once in a while.

---

Back at the campsite, Helen was once again helping out Tanaka to make lunch as they waited for Tails' group to return with Cheese safe and sound. The young girl in the wheel chair looked up to the mountains with a worried expression.

'They sure are taking a long time. I hope nothing bad happened to them.' The twelve year old thought to herself, before asking the kindly butler half-softly, her heart aching with concerned thoughts running through her mind. Especially about her good friends Amy, Cream and Cheese. "Do you think they're okay, Mr. Tanaka?"

"I'm sure they are just fine, Miss Helen." Tanaka attempted to reassure, turning his gaze to the mountains with a fond expression, memories of his childhood returning to him. "When I was a boy, I would play in those mountains from sunrise to sunset. They will be back soon."

"Wow, really? You must have really loved playing there, Mr. Tanaka." Helen remarked, amazed.

"Of course. The world is a big place, after all. Even very pure heartened people like you deserve to see it all, regardless of the kind of lifestyle you live in." The kind butler responded.

"...Yeah. That is true. I wish I could see more of it." She agreed, realizing that he is right.

"Children!" Mr. Stewart's frantic voice called out, startling the duo as they looked up to see the teacher race back up, but to Helen's concern, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Danny and Francies weren't with him that even the man noticed their absence and asked in disbelief. "You mean they haven't come back here yet?"

"I thought they were with you, Mr. Stewart." Helen muttered, worriedly.

"We were looking for Cheese and we found a small tunnel. The children went in to look and I haven't seen them since." The man answered, gazing back at the mountains. It didn't help that he lost the signal on his tracker as the tunnel blocked it out and, fearing for the worst, thought they found another way out and searched all over. "Where could they be?"

Even Tanaka frowned in slight concern. "They must have gotten lost."

"I hope they're okay. I'm really worried." The young girl muttered as she once again gazed at the mountains. 'I hope it's not anything horrible like the Iron Empire or...'

Before she could finish her thoughts, suddenly their was a huge loud sound of engines high above them which made Helen cover her ears at the terrible nosie while screaming with a huge shadow looming over the campsite. Mr. Stewart gasped in alarm as he, Tanaka and then Helen looked up to see E-66 fly towards the mountains and their hearts skipped a beat, horror mounting horror on their expressions.

"That's not what I think it is...Is it?" The blonde-haired girl asked, fearfully, not certain if it was Robotnik's or the Iron Empire.

---

After another half an hour of playing, Tails' group decided that it was getting late and they should head back to their campsite before Mr. Stewart, Helen and Tanaka got too worried, and even Sonic who had promised to join them once he's done exploring the vilage. With that, the three Mobians, the three human kids, and Cheese bid goodbye to the Chao Colony who wished them well.

"Bye, you guys." Chris waved at the wild Chao.

"We'll miss you." Amy added, smiling warmly.

"See you later." Tails and Cream both said, and Cheese and his new friends said their goodbyes as well.

Once leaving the Chao Colony behind, the group of friends began to return their trek back towards Camp after noting that Mr. Stewart must've gotten worried and hoped they were back soon since they didn't see him anywhere at all. But as they did, Cream noticed her little Chao squeak mournfully, with a sad expression. That, and as he had been the Colony being surrounded by a lot of his own kind for the first time in his life since hatching, Cheese couldn't help but feel that he felt right at home. Almost as though...he had been there before, with lingering daydream images in his mind, and a young girl, that was just like the ghost who had him follow her to the field of flowers, was there.

Why did it look and feel so...familiar?

"Chao chao..." Cheese murmured.

"You look lonesome, don't you Cheese?" Cream muttered worriedly. She could sense this as, like her precious Chao friend, she knew it was his first time being around other Chao and she felt awful. If only there was some way to make him feel better.

"Well, after growing up not seeing more of your own kind, wouldn't you?" Amy gently responded knowingly. "But I'm sure we'll see them again soon."

"Maybe we can come back next year or something." Chris suggested as he and his friends paused.

"Sure, we can pack some sandwiches and maybe play some games, and Cheese can play with his new friends again." Danny agreed readily, making everybody else like that idea.

"Yeah!" The five year old rabbit girl agreed, turning to her best friend happily. "Cheese, that sound good?"

That almost instantly made Cheese squeak happily, loving that idea. Now he couldn't wait for that time to come. However, the moment he agreed, something caught his attention up ahead and chirped in alarm, making Cream and everybody else, who suddenly heard unusual sounds of giant engines rumbling, look up to see a giant robot, the E-66 fly towards them. Shocked and horrified on where it came from, the group ducked while screaming though thankfully it flew past them.

Then Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Francies and Danny looked up again, the giant robot turned around facing them from high above...and on top if it riding was the unmistakable familiar faces of the ugly mustached man and his two robot lackies all wearing...explorer outfits?

"Heh heh heh! Good day, my little explorers." Robotnik greeted with an evil chuckle, speaking through a megaphone.

"It's Robotnik!" Amy exclaimed with a small sweat drop, though more annoyed than anything else, while her friends looked on with mixed expressions. Of all the times for that guy to turn up...why did he have to repeatedly follow them?

By then the E-66 robot landed on top of the smaller hill in the distance, crushing a few tress before the evil scientist demanded. "Okay kiddies, let's have it. Pass over that Chaos emerald or else!"

That only made the group confused.

"Say what?" The pink hedgehog blinked.

"What Chaos Emerald?" Chris asked.

"What are you talking about?" Francies added.

"Don't play coy with me! Why else would you scavengers be snooping around here for?" Robotnik growled, before lowering his megaphone and shouted impatiently. "Now hand it over!"

Most of them were perplexed, until Amy's eyes widened in realization as she remembered the noise she heard earlier and then narrowed them, hissing. "So it was him who I heard earlier! I knew it was familiar, that creep was spying on us!"

"And he must've thought we were looking for a Chaos Emerald when we were looking for Cheese." Chris added, coming to the same idea.

"That explains everything." Tails remarked, feeling a little awkward. 'For an evil scientist, he sure is pretty dumb to make incorrect assumptions.'

"Hey, you Mustached Monkey! There are no Chaos Emeralds around here! We were looking for Cheese!" Amy shouted angrily, her hands cupped around her mouth to get the message loud and clear.

That only made Robotnik growl angrily as he clenched his fists to accidentally knock over Decoe and Bocoe who cried out, while shouting at the pink hedgehog feeling insulted. ""Mustached Monkey"!? You little...! You are definitely the perfect annoying match for that blue pincushion boyfriend of yours! What is it with you kids calling me names!?"

"Don't get overexcited, doctor." Decoe cautioned as he and Bocoe stood up, the latter wiping their creator's forehead.

"You are beginning to perspire." The shorter robot added, only for the mad doctor to snatch the cloth away in fury.

"Well then if you emerald snatchers won't cooperate with me, perhaps my friend E-66 will convince you!" Robotnik declared.

With his silent command, the E-66 began to make a tremor-like step which made Tails' group nearly lose their balance while they screamed in fright, fearing that a landslide could happen or they would end up getting squashed flat. But as Robotnik laughed in evil enjoyment, suddenly he and his two robots felt the Da-Dai-Oh tilt to their left and as confusion formed on their faces, to their horror and shock, since the soil was far too soft for something as big as the giant robot, it ended up sliding down the muddy mountain, creating a small mudslide. The trio screamed while holding on fir dear life before landing in the mud.

But despite the messy exit, that only made things worse as the crystal clear river suddenly became contaminated with mud...flowing right into the Chao Colony's water.

"How did that happen?" Danny asked, confused.

"The soil here was way too soft since it can't handle heavy machinery." Tails realized, making the correct guess. "That's why that thing tipped over."

"It serves him right for sicing his robot on us." Francies stated in relief. 'Thank goodness he's gone now.'

"That man just doesn't know when to quit!" Amy pouted, her hands on her hips in annoyance.

However, Cream noticed something and softly exclaimed in dismay. "Oh no!" This got her friends' attentions as they looked with their eyes widening in horror. "The water! It's all muddy!"

"Chao chao!" Cheese exclaimed in dismay.

"Hey, you guys, that river leads to the Chao Colony." Chris realized in worry.

"That means the poor little Chao's lake is going to be ruined and they won't have anywhere else to go!" Amy exclaimed in dismay, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Come on, let's go!" Danny declared, knowing that if they didn't do something now, the Chao Colony was going to be destroyed. His friends nodded in agreement instantly and they all hurried back to try and save it before it was too late.

Back with the downed and dirty E-66, Robotnik emerged from the mud, covered in the wet, soggy dirt as he growled in frustration. "Who ever heard of a mushy mountain!?"

Decoe then came out next, fixing up his hat while grimly responding. "I have a feeling E-66 and rugged terrain do not go hand in hand."

"He might be more effective on hard-flat surfaces." Bocoe remarked once he emerged, only for their super annoyed and impatient creator to push them back into the mud as he wasn't in the mood for their commentary.

"Quiet!" Robotnik commanded. "Now help me dig out this cast iron klutz! We've got some emeralds to snag!"

---

Around short time later, E-66 was on the more solid ground from the mountain and all cleaned up with Decoe and Bocoe holding out mops and Robotnik having gotten as much mud off of himself as possible.

"The cleaning is completed, doctor." Bocoe reported with a salute along with his companion.

"Good. Let's get going." Robotnik commanded. "The sooner we get that emerald from those brats, the better."

But before they could make a movement to even head back up to attack again, Decoe noticed something on the ground below and gaped in shock and deep worry. He yelped in fright with a sweat drop, making a gulping sound. "Uh oh..."

"What is it?" The evil scientist demanded in annoyance.

"Dr. Robotnik...look! It's Sonic...and he's with that government bat girl!" The yellow robot pointed at the path.

True to his word and much to Robotnik's dismay as he felt the sense of dread fill his senses, the aforementioned blue hedgehog along with Rouge stood there gazing up at the trio with calm frowns, Sonic having his left hand on his hip, and his ally folding her arms to her chest.

"Fancy meeting you here, Eggman." Sonic greeted dryly.

"S-Sonic! And erm...Miss...Whatever your name is." The mad doctor began, nervously.

"Whatever my name is? That was pretty rude, doctor. If you want to know, I'll make it short. The name's Rouge and I don't like you." Rouge responded coldly, narrowing her eyes.

"Ah, yes, a pleasure, miss Rouge."

"So what are you doin' here this time?" The hero of Mobius questioned suspiciously.

"Well, I-I mean we, we were just doing a lovely bit of sightseeing..." Robotnik stuttered too innocently, turning to his robots hopefully.

"Yes." Bocoe immediately added.

"For our vacation." Decoe continued.

The two Mobians were not convinced since this robot looked as dangerous as the Beast-Flame-1, before Sonic and Rouge followed the rather muddy footprint trail and noticed a large mud slide coming from the mountain in the small distance. Plus with how close the evil man was to the village and about to attack, they knew he was up to no good again.

"Ah...You're on vacation." Sonic sarcastically remarked, he and the bat thief holding faux smirks.

"Yes, vacation." His arch-nemesis lied pathetically. "See, I've been such an old gloomy Gus of late that I thought perhaps some pleasure time out in the fresh air might do me a bit of good."

"He so needs it." Decoe commented truthfully with a happy look, even though he was aware that his creator was lying.

"That so?" The blue hedgehog questioned, not buying it one bit.

"If you're being such an old gloomy Gus, you should consider going to gyms and then fresh air. Maybe soak in a nice hot spa to go with it, grandpa." Rouge teasingly suggested.

"GRANDPA!? I may have said an old gloomy Gus, but I'm not THAT old!" Robotnik shouted, once again insulted before he commanded his E-66 to attack. "Let it fly! Get them!"

The giant robot thrust it's arm out at the two young Mobians who quickly and easily dodged and while Rouge took to the skies, Sonic jumped and ran up along the arm in a blue blur so fast that his enemies didn't see where he went.

"He's gone!" The evil scientist exclaimed, shocked.

"Not for long." The white bat corrected in a sing-song tone, just as Sonic then landed right next to the trio on the robot's head.

"Hi there." Sonic greeted casually, making Robotnik and his minions glance at him in shock, all wondering how he managed to do that while the teenage hedgehog folded his arms camly. "Haven't you clowns learned yet you'll never be fast enough to catch me?" He then gave them a wave. "Catch you later, Egghead."

With that, the cobalt hero then raced down the robot's arm before turning around and with super high speed with the power of his boost, he Spin Dash straight through it's body with no problem and in a few seconds the E-66 exploded and sent Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe flying as they screamed before vanishing in a twinkle.

"Now that was very impressive." Rouge smirked, as she landed next to Sonic who smirked, only for them to hear someone call out her name and looked behind them to see Topaz run up to them.

"Rouge! There you are! Have you...Oh." The female human agent trailed off upon seeing the puzzled blue hedgehog. "I guess you already met him."

"...Vacation and secret mission?" Sonic half-teasingly questioned the white bat who smirked slyly.

"Guilty as charged. But I really do want to go to that Hot Spring." Rouge innocently held her hands up.

"Like I'm gonna stop you from going?"

"Sonic!" Came Helen's voice, causing the blue hedgehog and the two young women to turn to their right to see the young girl being carefully pushed by Tanaka who along with the frantic Mr. Stewart run up to them.

"Sonic, you've got to do something!" The spy-teacher exclaimed, only to notice that the giant robot was already destroyed and, trying to hide that he knew Rouge and Topaz, he muttered in surprise. "Oh...I see you've already done something."

Sonic nodded, knowing that they came just a little too late to warn him about Robotnik. He then noticed the lack of his best friend/little brother, self-proclaimed girlfriend, little sister-like figure, human best friend and other two young human friends, asking. "Where are Tails and the others?"

"They went looking for Cheese when he was floating down the river. We haven't seen them since." Helen explained, worriedly.

'What!? Oh no...' The blue hedgehog thought worriedly, before determination filled his senses while dread formed into his heart. What if the Iron Empire had caught them and that giant dragon-robot was a distraction? If it was then...Oh, Chaos, they were all in danger of being caught and held prisoners. He had to save them, quick!

"I'll find them. Head back to camp where it's safe. Be back soon!" Sonic declared, and immediately dashed off without waiting for a response, leaving the humans and the Mobian bat behind.

Left alone and while Rouge decided to distract the young human girl whom she felt sorry for due to being in a wheelchair for life, and the butler by greeting them, after Topaz gave a quick allow, when the three others were talking, she sternly turned to Stewart who shrugged sheepishly.

---

Sonic in the meantime decided to follow the clue by going up the mountain while careful not to slid down the mud himself. All the while he silently hoped that the Iron Empire didn't catch his friends, especially Cream and Cheese. How was it that the evil organization knew where to find them? Were they...spying on them somehow now to follow their tracks?

'Julius must be getting desperate if he came here. Maybe there really is a Chaos Emerald, but why couldn't I sense it?' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, until he noticed that the small shallow river was polluted with mud, most likely due to Robotnik's earlier attack.

Curious, he decided to follow it until he noticed a small tunnel and...his eyes widened in shock. Sonic let out a gasp as he almost instantly and somehow recognized this tunnel...He'd seen it in his dream where he first saw Camelia venturing into the Chao Colony before Jonathan attacked...then it became clear to him as he also remembered the mansion, though more up close now than in his other dreams, but it soon connected.

"No way...Na-Chan is Camelia and Clover's hometown!? Then that means..." Horror mounted onto horror as Sonic realized that this was leading into the other Chao Colony...and now the lake was being contaminated due to Robotnik's actions.

Narrowing his eyes and sensing that maybe his friends were in there, he immediately went in to investigate.

---

As soon as Tails' group went back to the Chao Colony, they quickly made shovels and make-shift storage out of sticks and leaves, trying to dig out as much mud as possible to clean the lake.

"Ugh. This is all Eggman's fault!" Amy grunted angrily, but did her best to remain calm to avoid in scaring the Chao.

"I don't think we can get it all, you guys." Chris muttered worriedly with how much mud there was.

Francies though stated in concern. "We have to at least try, Chris, or else all these little Chao will get sick."

"You're right, and if we all work together, this will be a cinch." Tails agreed, determined to keep trying while unknowingly mimicking his older brother's words.

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Sonic's voice praised with a smirk in it.

Surprised and startled, the young group all turned to see the hero of Mobius, feeling relieved yet hiding it with his cool calm and cocky demeanor and his arms folded with a few wild Chao hovering around him as they sensed that he too is a very friendly visitor, stand there and that he had managed to find them.

"So all we gotta do is get rid of that mud." He continued, while mentally shocked that the Hero Chao really still do exist alongside the normal Chao and a couple other coloured Chao he didn't think were even real.

"It's Sonic!" Chris exclaimed happily.

"Sonic! Thank goodness!" Amy cheered excitedly.

"Might wanna let me take care of this." The blue hedgehog advised. He was proud of his friends for making an effort but he knew that it was taking too long, especially with all of the Chao.

While wondering what he had in mind, they all agreed and moved up the small hill while the hero of Mobius stood on the edge to use his speed to purify the water.

"Here goes!" Sonic then dashed around and around the lake to filter the mud right out of the water, causing the wet dirt to come flying everywhere much to his friends and family's awe, and the more he did and went faster, the more the water became crystal clear until finally there was no trace of it left.

Soon he came to slow to a stop and declared. "Okay, gang. It's all cleaned up!"

Everybody cheered celebrating that the Chao Colony was saved before the wild cute little creatures happily dove back into their lake that was nice and clean again.

"Way to go, Sonic!" Tails congratulated and thanked.

"You were fantastic!" Amy was head over hills, her heart leaping with her hands clasped together.

"Sonic, you did it!" Chris said happily.

"Thanks, but...you're all muddy." Sonic realized, pointing at the mess he accidentally made on his friends who all looked down at themselves, seeing that the blue hedgehog was right.

"We really are dirty." Cream muttered, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah, I'll say." Danny said.

"I guess I need a bath." Francies remarked.

Upon seeing that she was covered in mud, Amy grumbled, glaring at her 'boyfriend' which made him flinch in fright. "Oh, Sonic!"

"Uh...S-Sorry, Amy..." The hero of Mobius meekly said, holding his hands up in defense. "It was an accident."

Despite being very annoyed with him, the pink hedgehog sighed upon realizing that she didn't want to frighten Cream or any of the Chao, forcing herself to calm down and gently tugged at her dress. "Well...I suppose I shouldn't be mad. It's a good thing this will wash out, and the Chao Colony is safe now."

'Phew...Barely managed to dodge that mullet.' Sonic thought to himself, mentally breathing a sigh of relief and visibily relaxing. He had been so scared in facing his self-proclaimed girlfriend's wrath again.

"Thanks for saving the Colony, Sonic." Chris spoke up.

"My pleasure. I'm really glad you guys are okay too." The hero of Mobius replied, before remembering he has learned and glanced around the whole beautiful place, unable to believe that this was the second Chao Colony he has seen in less than one year. "Still...this place...Could it really be...?"

His trailed remark only confused the rest of the group, with Cheese squeaking in concern.

---

Later that night after returning to camp and bidding farewell to the Chao Colony, Sonic and his friends reunited with Helen, Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Stewart, though Rouge and Topaz had both already left after secretly deciding to question the hero of Mobius later, while the group recounted their adventures, each telling them of what they learned today.

What shocked everyone was what Sonic told them, and he made the connections with the dreams he had lately.

"Bet you knew about the Chao Colony, didn't you, Mr. Tanaka?" Chris guessed to his family's butler who nodded.

"Of course I knew, Master Chris. I stumbled upon that colony when I was a boy." The kind man responded, and it didn't take a brilliant scientist to guess that he kept it a secret for a long time to protect the sacred area.

Knowing that the secret must be kept, the twelve year old boy smiled softly. "Don't worry, we'll keep it a secret. I promise."

"I have no doubt that you will, Master Chris."

"So the White Chao are actually called the Hero Chao." Tails guessed correctly.

"And they're connected to what's going on?" Amy added, shocked beyond belief.

"Yeah, and to make things more awkward, I think this whole place was where Camelia, her whole family, and even that Jonathan guy used to live." Sonic confirmed, gazing up at the night sky with the stars sparkling, a concerned frown on his muzzle. "If the legend is really true, then...Cheese could be connected to all of this. I'm not sure. But what I don't get his the whole rebirth thing. You can't be born twice, right?"

"But if Camelia really is part of my family, how come Mama and I never knew?" Cream asked, worriedly as she had been shocked herself over the whole story, Cheese once again in her arms while he chirped sadly.

"I dunno, Cream. Maybe she wanted to keep the whole thing a secret, and if she did, I can't really blame her. Whatever Jonathan did was pretty awful. That's why I'm gonna make sure Julius doesn't do the same thing and get your Mom back." The blue hedgehog shrugged, and narrowed his eyes with determination. "I'm not gonna let history repeat itself."

What no one even knew of was that Mr. Stewart, deciding that it was best to keep that location a secret as well, lowered his gaze as he thought about what would happen if the Iron Empire discovered it. It would lead to a catastrophic event. At the same time near between two trees listening in, Rouge and Topaz, after silently listening in while having taken the much needed dip in the Hot Springs, secretly arrived to learn more about what was learned and like their male colleuge, they too decided to keep it a secret.

"Guess the legend is true after all, and that cute little Chao's kind do have connections to the Chaos Emeralds." Topaz whispered. "But we have to make sure nobody hears of the Colony's location...Not even..." She felt a bit uneasy with keeping this a secret, but for the sake of public safety, it has to be done. "Our superiors."

"That I agree with." Rouge nodded to herself, while thinking silently. 'Sonic and his friends have four Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles and Dr. Robotnik both have one each, and who knows where the last one is. If the Iron Empire gets to them and Cream and Cheese, then it's bye-bye Mobius. But not if I get to the Emeralds first. When the last one is found and all seven are put together, it'll be a real blast, and keep the kiddies well and truly safe if they're far away from them. I'll get those emeralds no matter what!'

As she thought of this while plotting to keep the Chaos Emeralds as part of her jewel collection since she didn't really take their powers very seriously, the bat thief imagined what would happen if all seven combined and transformed into what she thought would be a beautiful giant Rainbow Emerald.

---

Unfortunately, the secret was no longer safe, because little did everybody know, the same crow robot that followed Sonic all day monitored and recorded the whole thing, sent back to Julius Robotnik who grinned evilly in his office.

"Finally. Those gullible brats have lead me to one of my Cha Colonies, and with the Hero Chao still existing along with the little girl's. She and her pet have fufilled the first phase of their purpose." The evil Iron Empire Leader grinned wickedly, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Shall I give the order to capture the Colony, sir?" One of the assistants questioned from the side.

Julius shook his head. "Negative. Since now we know one of the Colony's location, the time has come for the real plan." He then gave his real order. "Rise up Angel Island and power the Master Emerald, and bring me that girl's mother. In one week, we will take flight and lure the Chaos Emeralds and all Chao from across the Planet with the Hero Chao reborn!"

"Yes, sir." The assistants nodded, bowing before taking their leave and their leader continuing to monitor Sonic and his friends.

"You think you have gained advantage, Sonic the Hedgehog." Julius's eyes darkened with his purple pupils glowing in evil aura. "But you have fallen right into my trap...Soon the world will be mine! HA HA HA HA HA HA! AAAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!" He bellowed in laughter.

This was just the beginning of the final phase of his goal, to rule Mobius and destroy Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Ivo Robotnik.

---

A/N: Uh-oh! Now Julius is secretly aware of the Chao Colony just as Sonic and his friends learned more of the secrets, and is about to make his move! The next chapter will begin the final parts of the Cream and Cheese arc. It may be either two or three parts and then it finally ends the first half of the story, and hopefully I'll be able to begin the second and final arc that you may be able to guess where it would lead to.

I'm not certain when I'll post again, but I'll do my best as soon as possible...If I can.

See you later!