Sorry it took so long to get the last chapter and this one up, I have all these dumb school assignments to worry about. How I hate school. Anyway, despite the oppression placed upon me by my obligations to the tenth grade, here is the next part of our ongoing saga. Read on! Disclaimer: Do I have to do this every chapter? Fine. I, Pi2, solemnly swear that I do not own any and all characters owned and created by Sonic Team and Sega, that I only own Scales, Stripes, the Demonic Four, and the mystery villain.

Day 3, 9:00 PM

Scales yawned and walked out of her room, Stripes flying lazily after her. Big was still at work in the living room, trying to find a way to cure the four sleepers and having no success. As yet another attempt at deactivating the nanites blew up in his face, Big started cursing vehemently, until he noticed Scales and Stripes. "Er, sorry for that, I'm just more than a little frustrated that I'm getting nowhere." He said quickly. Scales sighed. "I know how you feel, Professor. I'm probably even more frustrated that I couldn't finish this yesterday. We have got to find that secret base and stop whatever this guy's up to!" "Haven't we already? I mean, you already have all seven Chaos Emeralds." Said Big. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean he has no backup plan. Snively came up with a backup in case he was defeated on the ARK, so the planet would go down with him. This guy may have a contingency plan that will probably involve the destruction of Station Square or something equally bad. If we can't find his base, I can't shut him down." Said Scales angrily. "Well, it looks like now's your chance." Said Robotnik, walking in from his room. "Scales, I've picked up a massive Chaos energy reading in the Mystic Ruins area. Since we have all seven Chaos Emeralds, there's only one thing that could be causing that signature." Scales immediately understood. "The Master Emerald!" Robotnik hesitated. "Well, yes, but the readings are stronger than that of the Master Emerald. In fact, all the energy seems to match the Super Emeralds as well." Scales blinked. "The Super-" She screamed, startling Big and Stripes. "Of course! He never needed the Chaos Emeralds at all, it was just a diversion for him to get the Super Emeralds from our unprotected vault back in San Francisco!" "I'm afraid so," said Robotnik sadly. "Our mystery villain most assuredly has something nefarious in mind for the Emeralds. You'd better hurry and put a stop to his plans before it's too late!" "Where are the readings coming from exactly?" Scales asked. "I've triangulated the readings with help from some satellites and have pinpointed the energy to be coming from a remote area in the Ruins. It looks like some sort of ziggurat, but made of iron or something." Robotnik informed her. Scales nodded. "I'll keep an eye open. Stripes and I will find that jerk and rip him to pieces for his sins! Ready boy?" Stripes chirped affirmatively. "Chaos Control!" They warped away in a flash of green light. "Do you think she can do it?" asked Big from the workbench next to the four unconscious anthropomorphs. "She has to. She's our last hope." Said Robotnik. "No...there is yet another." Said Big. Robotnik blinked. "Really, who?" Big looked sheepish. "Oh, nobody. Sorry, it just seemed like a perfect Star Wars moment, I couldn't resist!"

After several minutes of hacking through the jungle, Scales and Stripes reached their destination. A huge clearing was cut out, a giant metal pyramid made in the style of the ancient echidnas occupying it. Smoke rose from the top. "Whoa, how long has this thing been here?" Scales asked. "I'd say about a year." Said Tikal as she flew up, surprising Scales. "It's only a rough estimate. Anyway, I have a little warning." "What is it?" Scales asked. "We can sense an immense reading of Chaos energy. It's coming from deep underground, meaning the base is larger than this pyramid alone. There are a few levels of defenses you have to go through before you can infiltrate the main stronghold and find whatever's going on. Chaos also says he can detect a great sleeping evil within the base, something of incredible power that has not yet truly been born. Be careful Scales, and good luck. We're all counting on you." Tikal said. Scales nodded. "Thanks for the tip, friend." Tikal bobbed and flew away. Scales looked to Stripes, now safe in his bubble. "What do you say, Stripes? Shall we enter and avenge your family?" Stripes nodded fiercely. "Then let's go!" Scales burst out of the edge of the clearing and ran for the door at the base of the pyramid, expecting to be shot at, or for some alarm to go off. But as they entered the metal ziggurat, nothing happened, not a peep or a siren. In a way, that was kind of worrisome.

Stage 9: Secret Base. Mission: Get to the entrance to the inner stronghold.

Scales walked up a few steps, coming to a small square room. There was a square pool of oil in the middle of the room. She saw a door on her right and went through, going down a couple of stairs and coming to the entrance to a ramp. A Leon suddenly appeared and hit her with its tongue, immediately vanishing. Scales quickly picked the robot up on her sensors and smashed it with her tail before it could hit her again. She went through the door and started running down the ramp. She ran over dash panels and onto a jump plate, hurtling through the air and landing on another ramp. She ran down, going down in a tight spiral, then headed straight and down for a good while. Scales was unnerved by this place, the walls were blank and featureless, all the same. Back on the ARK, the walls looked very nice with cool glowing lights and neat patterns, none of it was dull, monotone steel. Whoever made this place obviously had no taste for interior design. She came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp. Before her was a long round tunnel with several flamethrowers and spiked blocks that popped out of the sides of the tunnel periodically. Hitting a dash panel, Scales started down the tunnel, running up the sides of the tunnel to dodge the flamethrowers and blocks. After a few minutes of dodging fire and blocks, Scales reached the end of the tunnel, dropping to normal ground. She killed a Leon and proceeded through a door. She was now in a really tall and big circular room with several platforms at multiple levels. In the middle of the room was a great pool of oil. A robot snake swam about through the oil. Scales looked around the edge of the pool and saw only one platform at her level. She jumped to the platform and saw a blue, round switch. She stepped on it, and the pool of oil overflowed, the liquid reaching the level of her platform. The snake kept swimming, as if nothing had happened. Scales saw some other platforms she could now reach, but saw no way to get to them. She couldn't swim, and even if she did she was not getting in a pool of oil. When the snake started to pass by her platform, Scales got an idea. She jumped onto the snake's body, using it as a transport across the pool. When she got near a platform after riding the snake almost all the way around the room, she jumped off and saw a square blue switch. She stepped on it. Nothing seemed to happen. She looked around and saw a nearby platform, higher than her current one. She used a jump and Homing Kick to get on the platform, seeing another round blue switch. She stepped on it, and the oil rose again, to her current level. She jumped on the snake when it passed and stayed on as it swam by several platforms, most of which had nasty spikes on them. She jumped off when she saw one with a green square switch. She jumped off at the platform and hit the switch. Like the blue one, nothing seemed to happen. Shrugging, Scales tried to figure out where to go now. She saw another platform somewhat nearby. A rotating spiked bar floated around the end of the platform. Scales walked to the end of the platform and jumped carefully away from the bar, using a Homing Kick to reach the next platform. She jumped from the platform to an adjacent higher one, and hit a blue round switch, raising the oil once more. She jumped on the snake as it passed by and rode it to a large walkway leading to a door. She was disappointed to find the door was locked She looked around and saw another platform to her right. She jumped over to it and almost ran into a row of spikes jutting from the ground. She jumped over the spikes and was suddenly attacked by a Gola. She killed the Gola quickly and jumped over another row of spikes, finding a red square switch. She stepped on it, and the door on the other platform opened. Pleased, she jumped back across the spikes and over the oil, then went through the door. She was at the top of a long, curving ramp. She started running down it, hitting dash panels to increase her speed. After following the ramp all the way down and making a big leap from a jump plate, she landed in a hallway. She followed the hall and turned left, killing a Leon and entering a very dark chamber. There was only one light, and it was over her head, near the door. With the light, Scales could see the room was large and filled with oil. There was a bridge going ahead from her current platform, into the darkness. Only a little ahead of her, in the light, was a mirror. Scales grabbed the mirror and started turning it, shining the light into the darkness, stopping when she saw a glint in the not-too- distant distance, indicating another mirror. With the reflected light, Scales could see more of what was ahead of her. She walked along the bridge before her, killing a Gola when she reached its end. To her right, across a large gap of oil, was the next platform. She was about to step forward when she heard several muffled bangs. Her sharp eyes caught bullets whizzing over the gap. This meant she'd have to time her jump to get across the gap. Scales waited for the gunfire to subside, then jumped over. On the other side, she saw the mirror from before on her right. She grabbed it and turned it around until the reflected light hit another mirror. Thanks to the beam of light, the room was now a little brighter, allowing Scales to see how to get to the next mirror. She walked to the right and jumped to her left, landing on another platform. She went straight ahead and jumped to the next one, which had the mirror on it. She moved it around until it hit another mirror, then started looking for a way to get over there. That's when a Gola attacked! Its spinning flames burned Scales and almost knocked her into the oil. She quickly smashed the robot and went forward, finding a pair of blocks in the oil ahead that slowly rotated. She jumped to the first one and waited for it to rotate to face the second. She jumped to it and used the same method of waiting to jump to the next platform, which had the mirror. She moved it until it hit what could only be the exit, then moved forward along the path. She heard muffled bangs again, and jumped back as bullets whizzed in front of her. She jumped over the area where the guns were firing and was suddenly at the edge of the platform. In front of her was a long chain of Bladed Spinners floating above the oil. Bullets whizzed beneath them. Scales sighed and started Homing Kicking across the robots, staying above the oil and the bullets. She blew up the last robot and landed on the ledge before the door. She entered the door. She took a few steps forward and everything was nice and lit up again. "Ah, good to have proper lighting, isn't it Stripes?" The Chao nodded. Scales continued down the corridor and found a long room with a shallow stream of oil going down it. Wrinkling her nose, Scales looked around for any doors. There were none. Resigned, she jumped into the oil and let it carry her forwards. She started regretting this decision when the stream suddenly went into a cascading fall, dropping her into a large pool of oil at the bottom. She shot to the surface, gasping, oil covering her body. She waded to the edge of the pool and got out, disgusted. She was covered head to toe in oil. Stripes was completely clean. The Chao giggled, and Scales glared at him, grumbling under her breath. There seemed to be no way to clean herself off. Angry, Scales took a step forward and immediately slipped, falling on her back hard. Stripes started laughing. Scales struggled to her feet and tried to figure out how to get rid of the oil. She suddenly got an idea. She curled into a ball and started spinning rapidly, flinging the oil off of her and splattering the walls. When she was finally clean of all oil, she got up and checked herself over. The oil was gone, but its smell remained. She grimaced and headed for the exit to the room, followed by Stripes, who still snickered a little. Scales came into a small, tall room with a high wall blocking her way. She saw a spring at the base of the wall and bounced on it, reaching the top of the wall, which turned out to be a ramp. She started to run down when she heard a rumbling noise. Chancing a look behind her, she saw a hole open in the ceiling, a giant mace dropping into the room and rolling after her. Scales moaned and started running faster, trying to get away from the spiked ball. As Stripes yelled frantically, Scales ran over several dash panels in a row, slowly outdistancing the mace. After a little bit, she saw a jump coming up. She hit the jump plate at the end of the ramp and launched over a chasm, landing on the other side. The mace couldn't jump and rolled over the edge of the ramp, falling into the pit. Wiping away some sweat, Scales continued down the remainder of the ramp, heading through a door at the end. She was now in a large, tall room with several platforms and ledges. There were lots of weird tiles placed on the walls at random spots. Right in front of Scales was a round blue button. Curious, she steeped on it. Several wall tiles moved, lining up to form a straight row. They lit up. Scales went over and touched a tile, wondering what they did. She was suddenly flipped in midair and planted feet-first on the tile!" Whoa, this must be a gravity generator like the drums back on the ARK!" she said. Stripes' halo turned into a question mark. "Never mind, it's not important. Let's head on up." She started walking up the wall, following the tiles. As she did so, bullets shot at her, but she ran to dodge the guns. She reached the top of the row and saw another path of tiles to her left. She turned and followed them, stopping at the end. Beneath her was a ledge with another blue circle button. Scales jumped, falling from the tiles and landing on the ledge. She hit the switch and a horizontal row of tiles came together, leading away and then up from the ledge. She touched the first tile then walked on the wall, moving away from the ledge. When she reached the end of the horizontal row, she moved up, turning left and walking until she went over a corner and then went up again, stopping at a ledge. She jumped to the ledge and saw a blue button at the far end. However, there was a series of spikes on the wall. Due to the protruding platform they were attached to, Scales guessed that they could move. She started running for the switch. As she had predicted, the spiked portion of wall quickly started moving towards her. She reached the end before she could get impaled and stepped on the switch. A row of tiles rushed over, forming a vertical row away from the ledge. She touched the bottom tile and started walking up, turning right at the top and walking forward until she saw a ledge beneath her. She jumped down and killed a Unidus, revealing a hole in the ledge. Scales looked down and saw a large platform beneath her. She jumped down the hole. When she hit the ground, she felt something shift beneath her. She jumped to her right, barely avoiding falling through a trapdoor. She walked to her right, down the platform, past rows of spikes until she saw a raised platform in the middle and near the edge of the ledge, facing a closed door all the way across the room. There was a switch on the platform. Scales jumped up and hit it. Not only did the door open, but also a string of Bladed Spinners flew down from the ceiling. Scales jumped off the edge of the platform and started Homing Kicking across the Spinners, moving over the large space and going through the door, ending the level.

(STAGE CLEAR.)

Scales saw she was in a small room. An elevator was in front of her. She turned to Stripes. "Well buddy, ready to meet our destiny?" He nodded. The lizard and the Chao entered the elevator, descending to the area deep beneath the metal ziggurat.

Wow, I finished this sooner than I had expected. Cool! Anyway, here's our heroine, Scales! Scales: Hey, how are you all doing? Me: Fine, fine. How about you? Scales: I hated the oil. You realized that level was supposed to be Lost World, right? Me: Yes, but why would you need to go to the real temple in this story? Anyway, we have a few questions from fans. Ready? Scales: Always. Me: First, Ultrafan X. Where are Devil and Angel right now? Scales: They wanted to come to the wedding, really they did, but Nightshade got sick from the Chao version of chickenpox. They had to stay behind to take care of the poor thing. In a way, that's good. Don't want them mixed up in all this craziness. Me: Do you think Stripes and Nightshade would get along? Scales: Let me see. (Looks at Stripes.) Stripes, how old are you? Stripes: (Thinks a minute, then taps his foot ten times.) Scales: Ten years old? Stripes: (Shakes his head.) Scales: Ten months? Stripes: (Nods.) Scales: (turns back to me.) He and Nightshade are the same age. I'm sure they'll get along fine. Me: I think you're right. Oh Maverick, did you mean Magnadramon or MagnaAngemon? I don't recall the first one ever appearing on Digimon. Oh well. I made the Demonic Four robots because I thought it would be a little weird if they were really devils, and since I'm sure everyone expected them to be genetically engineered, it would be a good plot twist if they were robots. And Anonymous Author, I could not possibly have Amy/Tails in this universe. First of all, Amy's now married. Second, Tails already has a girlfriend. Finally, although Amy was only created nine years ago, she's physically and emotionally twenty just like Shadow. So she's way too old for Tails. Sorry if that was a little rude. Anyway, Amy will be fine, you'll see! Just another couple of chapters and it'll be over. Scales: And the reason 75% of reviews are from the same authors is because they really like the story. Me: Anyway, that's pretty much all the time we have. Before we close, I wish to inform you that next chapter, the mystery villain's identity will finally be revealed! Also, I have a few gifts for Scales from you fans. (Tosses a bag of weasels and Beelzebub dolls to Scales) These are from Ultrafan X. The weasels are for you to eat, the dolls are for you and Stripes to rip apart. Scales: Neat! Stripes: (Halo turns to exclamation mark, showing he's excited.) Me: Also, Maverick couldn't get any weasels so he cloned up a pair of raptors and a triceratops for you to eat! (Two confused raptors and a triceratops walk in.) Scales: (Gasps.) But Pi2, I can't eat these guys! Don't you remember the Predator's Code you created that won't appear until my sequel but is still in effect nonetheless? Me: Oh yeah. Sorry, I completely forgot. I'll just put these three in a park and make millions of dollars from public viewing of these prehistoric beasts. Take em' to the Cretaceous habitat with my vegetarian T-rex, boys! (Some burly men lead the confused dinosaurs away.) Okay, that's it. You guys can play with your toys now. Tune in next time!

Scales: (In the process of ripping a Beelzebub doll to shreds.) Don't forget to review!