"So, how did it go?" Tangle smiled sympathetically as Sonic stepped out of the stone den, as though she already expected that Rouge would have dismissed his apologies.

"Eh, could have been better." Sonic admitted, walking out nonchalantly. "Don't think she'll accept my apology until I explain myself though."

Knuckles scoffed. and folded his arms "Not surprised."

"We can't really blame her for being mad though, right?" Tangle pointed out. "In the end we screwed up big time."

"I screwed up big time." Sonic corrected. "But now I know for sure what we need to do." He smiled assuringly.

"Then let's get this meeting on the road! At this point you're just building up unecessary suspense-" Tangle grinned humorously. Before Knuckles could even start walking back inside, her tail suddenly grabbed hold of him and reached out to place him in the room. "Come on, Red Riot!" She exclaimed as she did so, not giving the poor echidna any sort of say in the matter.

Despite Tangle coming off as a little intense sometimes with her friendliness, Sonic really did appreciate the effort she was pouring in to forming a friendship with Knuckles. The lemur bounded on in, and Sonic followed shortly behind.

Rouge wore a very grouchy face from her bed. Tangle and Knuckles sat next to each other on the other, sat up and eagerly awaiting Sonic to address them.

"Soooo to recap," Sonic began, feeling hot sweat beginning to bead down his forehead. He couldn't afford to screw this up, he needed his friends on his side to find those emeralds. "I backed out of our assassination plot, giving no reason as to why - and almost got everyone very hurt-"

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

"Right-" Sonic achknowledged. "So, the reason why is a little hard to explain but basically..."

Hang on...

With all four of them in the same room, now was a better time than any, right?

Before the chosen one story, he'd see how far honesty got him.

"I'm from another timeline."

As expected, his muscles froze and the world was enveloped in purple.

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

Now, time to get creative.

"I'm from... another world..."

As the edges of his eyes saw dark purple flames, he sighed. "Not gonna give me that one? Okay..." Sonic sighed, before he froze once more as the clock wound back.

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

Sonic slowly breathed in, clasping his hands together.

"Guys, you ever seen that one really old Christmas movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'-?"

Purple again. "Oh, come on!" Sonic exclaimed in frustration.

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

Sonic rubbed his temples, not saying a word.

"Yo, you good...?" Tangle spoke up hesitantly.

"Just a- just a tad annoyed-" Sonic forced himself to speak calmly. "Just a little hard to explain how I'm here with all this... wibbly, wobbly... time-wimey... stuff-"

Again. "OH COME ON, WHAT WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO GET FROM THAT-?"

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

You know what, he had nothing to lose - why not test visual metaphors?

"OKAY SO IMAGINE A CLOCK - AND I THROW IT ON THE GROUND-!" Sonic mimicked the gesture aggressively with an imaginary clock.

The same result. "This... ugh-" He groaned in defeat.

Alright, one more experiment.

It wasn't about to be his proudest moment.

With his already angered face, he stood rigid before holding one arm above his head, and the other to the side of ihis body. To the best of his ability, he tried to imitate the hands of a clock ticking every second.

...

"Is he... possessed?" Knuckles finally questioned with worry.

"I think this is charades." Tangle remarked in fascination, before smiling. "I love charades! Oh, oh - I think he's a clock! Or a watch-!"

Sonic wasn't even surprised as the dark shades enveloped him, he sighed - it was though the beast could even read his intentions. Any hope of being able to express the truth had been shattered, and now the hedgehog knew he had no choice.

"Not almost." Rouge pointed out bitterly, he supposed she did have the right to - considering she had ended up injured as a result.

His only option was to go ahead with Silver's lie.

"Fair point Rouge-" Sonic responded to her, sounding impatient after his many failings that the others didn't know about. His attitude caused Rouge to roll her eyes, but Sonic just wanted to move on with it.

"So... I didn't really understand at the time the messages I was receiving... but it's become clear to me. I think it might have something to do with the fact I'm like- the 'chosen one' or something because - I've been having dreams. They've been very vague... but ultimately their message is clear. They're trying to tell me that I need to find the Chaos Emeralds... seven powerful gems, like mini versions of the Master Emerald. They're the only way we can take down the Empire... the plan would have gone wrong if I allowed it to go through. That's why I had to stop it."

Sonic could practically hear the gears turning in their heads as they processed this new information. Tangle blinked repeatedly at the hedgehog as if wanting him to provide some sort of further explanation. Rouge meanwhile had some sort of vague expression of bewilderment mixed with disgust, she looked ready to speak but held her tongue. On the other hand, Knuckles was so lost in thought he seemed to be on another planet entirely.

Realising that no one would, the bat broke the silence. "If you were having magical, prophetic dreams all this time before we set off to the festival - why did you suddenly screw us over in the middle of the festival? Why didn't you talk about this before?!" She questioned him, outraged.

Good question. He really should have thought this excuse through...

"I just- everything was vague! Right up until that night... when I got a vision-" He was stumbling over his excuses, and Sonic knew he had to be careful not to trip himself up - but it was a struggle to think clearly. "I was spoken to directly..."

"By who? What?" She further pressed.

"By uh-" Damnit! If they hadn't noticed he was sweating before, they definitely were seeing it now. "By..." Sonic ran through all the divine beings he had encountered before in his lifetime, but none of them felt appropriate - but he couldn't spend too long thinking about the answer!

His eyes settled on Knuckles. "By an echidna..."

Knuckles looked up at him.

"Peach-furred-" Sonic stuttered out. "Green skirt with a pattern- she had jewelry- her name was Tikal, I believe?"

She was the best person he could think of, especially when visions sprung to mind - he remembered being thrusted into a vision of the past - seeing the poor echidna girl, trampled by her clanmates as the bloodthirsty echidna warriors swarmed the Master Emerald in a desperate bid for its power.

Was she here in this timeline too? He supposed there was no way of truly knowing that.

"You're telling the truth..." Knuckles said softly.

Sonic kept his mouth shut, he'd rather not screw this up now.

"She is an ancestor of mine. An ancestor that I definitely knew the name of before you said it here-"

It was easy to tell Knuckles was lying on that last part, deception had never been his strong suit. Sonic, however, didn't care - he allowed himself to release a breath of relief knowing he had support backing him.

"She was the one who told me to find you." Knuckles further added.

Huh. Tikal was actually still in this timeline, and she was aware of him? His crazy gamble wasn't as far-fetched as he initially thought it would be.

"Then this is by design... by the will of my ancestors." Knuckles declared with determination, suddenly standing up from the bed and stepping in front of Sonic. Suddenly, the echidna went down on one knee and hung his head low. "I pledge to you that I will help you obtain the seven chaos emeralds to restore peace to the lands!"

While he was very, very grateful for the support - the bowing was a little weird. "I- thanks, but you don't need to do that-"

"Well, it's not like you two guys communicating with the same echidna ancestor is a coincidence, right?" Tangle said with a little smile. "I was unsure at first but I think that settles it - I have faith in you, Sonic. And your weird chosen one powers..." She laughed awkwardly, but gave a thumbs up - confirming her beliefs.

All was left to Rouge - and her response shocked everyone.

"Sure, whatever." She mumbled, looking off to the side.

That... sounded like an agreement, just barely. The other three rolled with it, knowing it was about as good as they were going to get.

"Our divine ancestors have deemed a treasure hunt as the quest we must undergo to save our world!" Tangle proclaimed, first in the air - like a true dramatic protagonist. "The question is... where do we begin our journey?" She looked between everyone for answers.

All of their eyes screamed uncertainty.

"Knuckles, you can sense chaos energy right?"

"Only when I'm close to the source of it - I can't just stand here and pinpoint their location exactly-" Knuckles explained, sounding a little disappointed at himself for his own limitations as he stood up straight again.

"But that's something." Sonic pointed out. "Which is better than nothing. We'll just... have to explore a lot of places..." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Wow... I mean I love travelling but this is sounding like it could take a really long time... we can't just abandon everybody and go on a quest, we've got people in this camp to look after!" Tangle mentioned.

Rouge huffed through her nose, but didn't offer up a verbal contribution.

"Well... my speed can help us cover a lot of ground hopefully! No reason we can't still have Angel Island as the place we sleep at night - I can run to Chun-nan and explore the entirety of it within a day!" Sonic declared confidently for the lemur. "We'll find a way to get this done, and I'm sure we'll come up with ways to speed up the process as we go!"

Tails made emerald hunting infinitely easier when he first built emerald tracking devices, but this was a luxury that he simply did not have access to here.

"Yeah... I suppose you're right!" Tangle nodded confidently. "And what about like- what do we do once we have all seven?"

"Well, I guess as the chosen one I'll find out." Sonic shrugged, but tried to make sure to smile. In all honesty, as much as Sonic wanted to get the emeralds - how exactly he'd fight the Time Eater and return the timeline to normal was a question that had only gotten more confusing after his talk with Silver - how was Sonic supposed to fight a being that was currently holding time itself together?

Whatever, that could come later. They didn't even have a single emerald yet, let alone seven.

Tangle accepted his vague line, but Knuckles had further things to bring up.

"How can we be sure Eggman hasn't gotten his hands on some Emeralds?"

"Maybe he has..." The thought made Sonic queasy. "And maybe we'll have to fight him for it. But if he had all seven, we'd know about it." Sonic said. "Just because we're going treasure hunting, doesn't mean we'll be avoiding conflict."

"Can't escape fighting no matter how hard we try, aye?" Tangle shrugged lightly. "But this settles it. I'm on your side, Sonic - and I'll make sure you get those emeralds so you can kick Eggman's butt!" She declared, and Knuckles nodded reassuringly alongside her.

Silver's suggestion worked like a charm, Sonic would have to thank the hedgehog later. The blue hedgehog felt as though he could collapse of relief as he managed to finally rally his friends around a goal that would allow him to fix the timeline for good. Sonic smiled, his joy quickly beginning to overtake any other emotion. "Then let's do this!" Sonic exclaimed.

The only one that didn't smile was Rouge.


"My... what has happened to you? Eh, scratch that - I have a pretty good indication." Starline spoke to himself, poking through the metal bars of the cage with a pen onto the monster's forehead.

He growled, but did not attempt to fight against the unwarranted prodding. The frequency box certainly did its job. "I can't tell if they're supposed to be soundwaves... no, they can't be. It's something telepathic- a hive mind if you will."

Starline continued droning on, standing up and away from Shadow and making it to his desk - picking up the black radio box and examining it. "Replicating the alien communication systems... to keep you under control, aye?" Starline looked over to the cage as if expecting a response, and then shrugged carelessly when he didn't get one.

"Fascinating. But a waste... created by Gerald to be first and foremost a perfectly sentient, artificial mobian- spitting on a legacy, I call it. But what else could you expect from Miles?" He groaned.

He then smirked.

"No matter, this isn't something that can't be undone. It will just take time... and patience."

He had been advised by Robotnik first and foremost not to lose the frequency box, the thing that sent commands to Shadow and ensured he'd do your bidding - otherwise you'd find your head torn off. It was sound advise... but in science, sometimes the best endeavours simply involved risk.

The platypus switched the device to 'OFF.'

Starline watched as Shadow panted, crawling around in circles in the cage that was barely big enough to fit him. He eventually turned to Starline and snarled. "Now, now Shadow - I understand my allegiance is a point of contention for you. The first thing you want to do is kill me, of course."

Trying his best to keep his voice firm and hide any sort of fear he actually felt, he stepped back towards the cage. In reality, his body was shaking with the knowledge that in a split second - Shadow could warp out of that cage and tear him to shreds.

"However I know despite your monstrous appearance, there is still a man with intelligent head in there - something that little device has prevented you from fully utilising independently... so, Shadow - let me make it plain to you that my only mission here is to help you."

Well, he hadn't tried to kill him yet.

"This... whatever you want to call what was done to you... is not something I want Miles recieving praise for. I am a firm believer this damage should be reversed... and you should return to your true self. I endeavour to simply find the best way to do that, do you understand me?"

The half hedgehog/half beast stood still, glaring through at the platypus before nodding.

Oh, it heard him alright - he understood just fine.

"Then play along with me, yes? I might have to utlise you further in this state but hopefully not for long... and I will return you to the man you once were."

Starline could see it now, Robotnik finding out that Miles' endeavour to turn Shadow into a controllable killing machine through an alien serum had failed due to the effects wearing off. Oh yes, he could see it now - the doctor's rage, the absolute fury he would release upon that fox-

He'd love nothing more than to see that fantasy become reality.


"That's damn outrageous!" Fang slammed his fist down on the table. "We busted our asses trying to locate those rebels within your stupid deadline and now you don't need us?"

"The circumstances have changed." Amy sighed. "I no longer have my deadline, no more pressure - I'm still paying you half of our deal."

"Love, when I accepted this job I had the full price in mind." He growled as he leaned towards Amy's face, before Vector elbowed him gently aside.

"What Fang meant to say is thank you." The crocodile said impatiently.

"There's gotta be a high bounty for those guys, surely?" Fang continued to ramble, mostly going back to his own team - leaving just Vector, Espio, and Amy together.

"Enjoy that vacation, Ames. You were under a lot of stress." Vector pointed out, with Espio nodding in agreement.

"And while I'm gone, Starline is operating Station Square. Whatever you do, don't get caught. " Amy warned them. "Starline is the biggest Empire ass kisser in the world and when he finds you mercenaries, it is over."

"We've been at this gig for years now, silly." Vector brushed off her concerns. "We know how to hide from authorities."

"Remember it's not just your lives at stake. You have a kid with you."

"One that we've vowed to always come home to." Vector narrowed his eyes. "No need to worry yourself about that."

Amy slung her scarlet handbag over her shoulder and sighed. "I still don't understand why you chose the life you did."

"With all due respect, could say the same for you."

The hedgehog stared at him with widened eyes, before they became downcast with shame. "I-" Realising she had those emotions slip, she set her mouth in a firm line. "It's all too late now."

"Perhaps it is." Vector achknowledged with a regretful nod.

"Try not lose this Mystic Ruins base, will you? It's spacious... hidden underground-"

"You kidding? No way we're letting this go! Those rebels had the jackpot as far as bases go..." He admitted with joy, knowing that everything they once had that had been left behind was now theirs - as they had taken claim to the base used by the rebels. According to Bean and Bark, they were now on Angel Island - and as far as he was concerned, they could keep that place. Vector was content with the ruins, and he could tell Espio was too - it was also roomy and secure for Charmy.

"Then I'll leave you to it, as I said - I must get going-" Amy said, turning around.

"Ames?" Vector called after her.

"Yes?" She replied, but didn't turn around.

"Wish you the best."

"... You too."


For some inexplicable reason, Knuckles wasn't at the altar. The day had passed on by and Sonic had made the time to speak with the civilians in camp - getting to know them, their reasons for being here, and how they felt about things as they currently were. They spoke of how since Sonic and Knuckles had entered the ranks, a new spark of hope had been ignited among everyone as people finally saw a chance - a possibility of actually causing damage to totalitarian Empire the doctor had created.

After all was said and done he wanted to check on his old friend, suspecting there could be no other possible he would be - yet the space in front of the emerald was empty - not an echidna in sight.

Thus, Sonic had been left to debate the other possible areas he could be. Sonic made his way over to Knuckles' thatched hut, the place Knuckles stayed on those rainy nights rather than sleeping on the stone of the altar underneath the open sky. Knuckles didn't exactly own many possessions in there but it functioned as a minimalist house.

The hedgehog knocked and there was no answer, but testing the handle of the wooden door would show that it wasn't locked.

Admittedly, it had slipped the hedgehog's mind that he wasn't as close to this version of Knuckles than the other one - Sonic was always allowed inside, without knocking or formalities. It didn't occur to him that would have changed.

"Knuckles?" Sonic called out as he stepped inside, and immediately stood stunned when he realised there was a perfectly cut square hole opened up in the middle of the makeshift living room floor.

A basement?

Knuckles had a basement?

Curiosity got the better of him, entering down into the ground on a rope ladder. Knuckles never told him he had a basement! What was he even keeping down there?

When Sonic finally had a look around, it wasn't something the hedgehog had expected to see at all.

Shelves of books, most of them fraying at the seams with brown covers - it was a mini library, all in Knuckles' secret little underground basement. In the middle of it sat the echidna himself, flipping through the pages of a book with a messy stack of them beside him. It was clear Knuckles wasn't reading, but rather looking for something.

"Ayo, Knux!" Sonic called out to him.

"Agh-!" Knuckles almost dropped his book in shock. "Sonic?! What are you doing in here?!"

"I was worried about you, bud! Didn't see you at the altar." He explained simply.

"Well, I'm here-" Knuckles explained awkwardly. "You can leave now."

"You look like you're searching for something." Sonic brought up. "Maybe I could help you?"

"No. You couldn't read this if you tried."

Ah, so they were ancient echidna scriptures - should have been a given, Sonic supposed.

"I'm just... trying to find out who Tikal was." Knuckles admitted finally.

"You don't know?" Sonic tilted his head.

"No... do you?" Knuckles furrowed his brows.

Sonic's eyes darted around. "Hm? Oh me? Nope, don't know a thing." Sonic had seen her story with his own eyes, but it's not like he'd seen it in this timeline - Knuckles hadn't likely seen Tikal's visions either.

"Hm. It's just a bit weird - there are no records of her in any of this books."

"That's... kinda strange." Sonic agreed. Unfortunately, Sonic didn't exactly know the reason why Tikal wasn't mentioned in any of these books - perhaps all echidna literature refrained from talking about her, even in the old timeline - how would he know?

"I suppose it's not a big deal but... I was just curious." Knuckles finally sighed.

"You like learning about your ancestors, huh?" Sonic said, walking in closer and smiling softly at his friend.

"Yes, I don't exactly have living clanmates so... I learn about the ones whose memories are kept alive in these books." The echidna explained to him.

Sonic knew Knuckles always lamented the fact he was the last of his species, and he made it his life's mission to not only protect the emerald, but to carry on their legacies - and be a guardian they could be proud of. Sonic remembered the first time Knuckles had really delved into those feelings, the two had sat on the steps of the altar, talking all the way until the sun went down and the moon shone bright.

"It's bizarre, I find myself missing people I've never met." Knuckles achknowledged with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"I don't think there's anything weird about it, Knux. You're the last of your kind, you've been alone for a long time with just their mantras to guide you - it's only natural that you'd long to be with them, you know?" Sonic said, sitting down by Knuckles, and the echidna didn't seem to mind.

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, that makes sense..." Sonic noticed the echidna staring into his eyes and Sonic met that eye contact, Knuckles' amethyst eyes were captivating - they had always been. Sonic could never quite explain why, but they felt strong and filled with depth.

"Sonic, what was the world like before Eggman took over?" Knuckles finally asked, breaking eye contact with the hedgehog and turning his head - hiding his pink cheeks.

"Hmmm..." Sonic tapped his chin. "It was lively, joyful - people were all over the place, having a good time. Things were much brighter of course, nature was still alive - there was always so much fun stuff to do!"

"It's admittedly hard to imagine that." Knuckles said honestly. "After everything I saw... do you believe that world, that time before Eggman, can be restored?"

"I have complete faith." Sonic smiled. "And you know what we're gonna do, Knux? When the world's back to normal, I'm taking you on a day trip. Just you and me."

"... What would we do?" Knuckles asked, hesitant but intrigued.

"We would... hang out a restruant, eat whatever you fancy - get you to try foods you've never had before like ramen and ice cream-! We could also hang out at a concert! Figure out what music you like and we'll see it performed live! We could hang out at the beach, we could do sports - man, there's so much stuff I could show you!"

The words had run out of his mouth before he could truly contemplate them. When Eggman was going to be defeated, the timeline would be restored and this Knuckles wouldn't even exist - it would be his Knuckles again.

Either way, Sonic knew that if that wasn't the case - Sonic would have absolutely offered Knuckles a day trip, several day trips in fact! So they could explore the world below. There were so may wonders down there that Knuckles had been deprived of, something that Sonic had always seen as incredibly unfair.

Knuckles' smile was precious. "Well, you speak of all those things excitedly so I'm going to assume they're good things. Can't believe you'd go out of your way like that to show me what things are like..."

"Of course I would, Knux."

"It's a lovely idea, but I have a duty, once everything is restored - I must remain at the altar." Knuckles said firmly.

"Hm..." Sonic hummed, knowing that no matter the timeline, as long as Knuckles had friends that cared about him, Knuckles would be able to go to the surface, entrusting the emerald to trustworthy friends for safekeeping. "We'll just have to see what the future has in store."

"I have a clear vision of what my future holds." Knuckles spoke plainly. "My work will always be a priority. Speaking of work... Tangle was talking about plans for a supply run earlier? She said she wanted to speak with you on that."

Sonic took the hint, figuring out quickly that Knuckles didn't dwell on his personal issues too much with Sonic, who was still a relatively new friend - despite how naturally they were getting along.

This Knuckles did significantly less arguing, less of a tough guy - Sonic wondered if when Knuckles' confidence began to grow again, he'd see those traits return.

"Then I guess i shall have a word with Tangle. Good talk, Knux." Sonic grinned.

"Yeah... good talk." Knuckles smiled.


The in-between continued to make less and less sense. Silver trudged through thick layers of pale white snow yet barely felt cold. He didn't even need a coat, which was quite a blessing really since the hedgehog did not have one at hand.

How long had he been here now? His perception of time had been utterly warped. Had he been here for a day or a year at this point?

Silver had been somewhat convinced that whatever realm he had been shoved in was just a snowy one - just an area where snow covered everything, but that changed today when he came across a small, humble train station.

The hedgehog floated himself onto the platform, being the first thing he had seen in this area aside from snow - he was carefully scrutinising it - wondering how a whole train station platform could be here - especially with no tracks around.

Why was it here? He supposed there was no hurry to figure it out...

Sitting himself on the single available bench, he closed his eyes - perhaps he could get some sleep... it was comfier than the ground, anyway...

Suddenly, something made him uneasy and caused the fur on his body to stand on end. It felt like... something was nearby. Something close. Silver's eyes snapped open.

"AH-!" Silver screamed, jumping off the bench as he laid his eyes upon a peach-furred echidna, sitting right next to him.


GOD, I have such a bad cold right now and I'm so tired LMAO. I have been sneezing so much uuuugh.

TO RECAP: Sonic finally gets the squad on board to finding the chaos emeralds (Rouge is still being grumpy though), Starline says he wants to reverse what's happened to Shadow? Wha? We'll have to keep an eye on that sneaky platypus. Amy says goodbye to the Chaotix as she heads out for her vacation time, Sonic and Knuckles have some time together, and a glimpse of Silver in a mysterious snowy realm... and a myserious echidna visitor.

Just wanted to put this out there as this is chapter 15 - not including the prologue - thank ya'll so, so much for everyone that has shown support. Reviews especially mean so much but seeing all of ya'll who have favorated and followed - it means so much 3 Oh and a special bless yall to those who have commented on numerous chapters, I am so grateful for ya'll and your continued support has helped so much - love you guyzzz.

Next time - our heroes are back out in the field as things finally start to reach a tipping point within the group...