Disclaimer: I own Leon, Garion, Rolm, and Drath.

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~~~~~KNUCKLES

"What is going on!?" I yelled as I pushed the button for a fifth time. There was still no response.

"Whatever is the matter, Knuckles?" Rouge asked as she walked over.

"Something's wrong with Sonic! He isn't answering any of my messages!" I shouted as I pushed the 'transmit' button again. "Sonic should respond and send the same signal back."

"Well, maybe he just left his communicator somewhere," Rouge suggested. I shook my head.

"Part of our deal was that if I was going to be so far away from him he would wear his communicator at all times so he could contact me if there is any trouble. I feel something's wrong..."

"You're imagining things. They're fine," Rouge reassured me.

"You may be right, but I'd never forgive myself if they weren't. I have to go and see if they're OK. Will you guard the emerald with Tikal for me?" I asked.

"Well, sure. I was planning on staying here for awhile anyway," she replied.

"Don't get any funny ideas!" I shouted as I started to walk away. "That emerald better be here when I get back."

"You know me. I never break my word. I promised you before that I have no need for the Master Emerald now. I've settled on the smaller and cheaper kind," she said with a smile.

"...I'm taking it with me."

~~~~~TAILS

I got up off the ground and looked around. Sonic and I were in a prison cell.

"Sonic, wake up!" I yelled as I ran over and shook him. I noticed some nasty cuts on his back. He slowly groaned and got up on his knees.

"Where are we Tails?" he asked.

"I don't know, Sonic. It can't be Robotnik's prison, his don't look like this. So, where could we be...?"

"Well, let's get out of here," he said as he cut through the bars with a spin dash.

"Right!" I shouted as I ran after him.

It turned out we were in a police station. A ton of cops now held their guns on us, daring us to move. Sonic looked at me and winked. I returned it. A couple of seconds later we shot forward past all the police and out the doors. Gunfire erupted behind us.

"Let's hurry to the forest!" Sonic yelled as a helicopter started up behind us. "They won't be able to find us in there!"

We ran towards the forest, dodging bullets and missiles fired out of the helicopter behind us. We smashed through the woods just as a deafening explosion rocked the ground where we were at a few seconds earlier.

"That was close!" I yelled as we went through the woods, heading towards our house. "But why were the cops after us?"

"I bet it has to do with that black echidna!" Sonic replied. "He probably framed the theft of the Chaos Emeralds on us!"

I suddenly realized something. "Sonic, my emerald is gone!"

"WHAT!?" he shouted. "Oh man, this is not good. The three from the city, the one from you, and if he got the three from Rolm and Garion, he has all seven!"

"But why would that black echidna want the Chaos Emeralds?" I asked Sonic. He shook his head. "I have no clue, bud. I just have a VERY bad feeling about this." Suddenly a loud beeping noise sounded from Sonic's arm. Sonic looked at his communicator on his wrist, pressed a button, and spoke.

"Sonic here. What's up Knuckles?"

"Oh, thank goodness you're OK! I thought something horrible had happened when you didn't respond to any of my calls. I guess I can head back then," Knuckle's voice said from the communicator.

"Wait, Knuckles! Something bad DID happen to us. Someone's been stealing the Chaos Emeralds. He may have all seven of them now."

"WHAT!? Oh, this is not good... I'll be at your house in a couple of minutes," Knuckles said.

Sonic and I ran even faster and got to our house just before Knuckles did. We walked inside and sat down.

"So, now what..." Sonic started before he saw what was on the table. There, shining innocently on the table was a green Chaos Emerald.

~~~~~ROLM

"I sense it again... We have to bust in, now!" Garion shouted as he smashed through the outer wall of Eggman's base. Whatever it was that Garion sensed, I didn't like it. He wasn't acting at all like his usual self. Normally he is very open-minded and tells me everything that he is thinking about, but ever since he began 'sensing' things, I haven't been able to get a word out of him about what it was that bothered him. It almost scared me that Garion would be frantic about something like this. Something must be really wrong.

I followed him through the hole and we were already in the inner chamber. Sometimes his short-cuts really paid off. A strange robotic fox stood in front of us along with a shocked Eggman.

"Oh... no... I hoped I was wrong, but... THIS CAN'T BE!" Garion shouted as he stared at a strange cylinder-shaped machine in the middle of the floor. "Rolm! This is extremely important! We MUST destroy that machine!"

He shot off a wave of flame at the machine, but just before it hit a strange blue shield surrounded the machine, halting the fire right in its path.

"You will not interrupt my master's plans. I will eliminate you myself!" the robotic fox said.

I fired a blast of wind at the robot, but it dodged quickly to the side and fired an energy orb at me. I flew upwards and dodged it, firing another blast as I did so. The robot blocked it with another blue shield and shot into the air also.

"You want to fight in the sky? So be it," he said as he flew towards me. Suddenly a flash of light smashed into the robot from below. Garion had hit him with a powerful fireball.

During the distraction, I flew towards the machine and smashed into it with a flying kick. Much to my surprise, I bounced backwards and the glass didn't even show a crack.

"Garion, this glass is made out of something really strange! I can't bust it!" I shouted.

"Let me try!" he shouted as he prepared to fire another fireball. A blast of purple energy smashed into him from behind and stopped his concentration. The robot stood there, preparing another attack.

"Excellent!" Eggman shouted from the corner. "Destroy them both!"

I fired a blast of wind at Eggman, nailing him backwards. I fired another blast, but this time the robot shot forwards and took the blow with its own body.

"I must defend my master at all costs," it said. "You both must die!"

Eggman suddenly decided that it wasn't such a good idea to be in this room so he slowly headed out the door. As soon as he was gone, Garion spoke up.

"Robot, your master has just left, and more of us are over there, where he went. You should hurry if you want to defend him."

The robot suddenly zoomed down the corridor that Eggman had gone down.

"Hah! That was too easy! Now, Garion, let's destroy..." That's as far as I got with that sentence. An object pressed dangerously close to my throat, and I could barely breathe.

"You thought you could trick me, did you? Well, I am smarter than I look!" I recognized the robot's voice and I looked down to see a long sword just below my chin.

"Garion!" I shouted. He turned and looked at me and at once the fire in his eyes showed through his sunglasses.

"Don't get any ideas!" the robot behind me warned. "Make one move and your friend gets it."

~~~~~GARION

I stared at the robotic fox. I growled with rage and helplessness. What could I do? Suddenly I noticed the robot's red eyes flickering for a second. Suddenly he said,

"I'll let you leave, if you go now and don't destroy any of the equipment here. Hurry! Before Robotnik gets back, leave! I can't let your friend go, but save yourself and get the hell out of here!"

I didn't need to be told twice. "Rolm, as much as I hate to do this, there is nothing else I can do. I'll save you later! That's a promise!" I shouted as I ran out the hole in the wall.

~~~~~ROLM

"Garion!" I shouted as he ran off. He left me here, he abandoned me...

Eggman walked back into the room. "Where is the other one?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, he escaped while I was busy with this one," the robot replied.

"Well, at least you managed to get one of them. He will prove to be a most useful ally. Prepare the robotosizer!" Eggman shouted.

"Yes, master," the robot replied as he walked towards a control panel. I started running towards the opening but before I got there a black force field suddenly surrounded me and I found that I couldn't move.

"You're not going anywhere!" A black echidna shouted from ahead of me.

The robot came back, picked me up, and put me inside the strange cylinder- shaped machine. I still couldn't move! I felt energy moving through me and suddenly I felt...nothing at all.

The cylinder opened and I could suddenly move. I walked out of it and headed towards Eggman. But why was I heading towards him?

'NO! NO!' I screamed in my head. 'Head towards the exit!'

I finally reached Eggman and he stood there with his hands on his hips. "Who is your master?"

'Not you. You fat...'

"You and only you, master Robotnik."

'NOOOO!'

~~~~~SONIC

I held the Chaos Emerald in my hands, looking it over.

"It's real, no doubt about that. But how did it get here? Unless..."

Suddenly the door burst open and in came an exhausted Garion.

"Garion!" I shouted as I ran over to him. "You're alive!"

"Yeah, but I'm afraid Rolm isn't doing as well... Hell, we're all doomed unless we can come up with something."

"WHAT!? What's wrong with Rolm?" Tails shouted. He had always been a close friend with Rolm.

"Eggman's... created a new robotosizer."

I was shocked by this information. A robotosizer!? How!?

"Please explain, Garion," I said once I regained control of myself.

"A few days ago I felt a strange force... a powerful force arrive in our area. I have been a little bit of a phychic lately and messages kept popping in my head with no warning. A few of them said that if I wanted to save the world, I would have to keep myself isolated from you," Garion said as he pointed at me. "Well, anyway, Rolm and I faked our deaths with that explosion at our house, so we could jump in at a moment's notice and take it to Eggman without him knowing that we are even alive."

I nodded and gestured for him to go on.

"It backfired. When we arrived at Eggman's base he had a powerful robot there to stop us. I have never seen anything like it. It seemed to have it's own personality and powerful moves that rivaled Rolm's and my own. I believe he is someone that Eggman robotosized. But, anyway..."

"Hold up!" I shouted. "Did this 'someone' use phychic powers on you and resemble a fox?"

"Why, yes. How did you know?" Garion asked.

"LEON!" I shouted. Tails had figured it out too. He hung his head. He had lost two friends in just one day. It was not going to be easy for him.

"Well, this is just getting better and better. So, what happened with Rolm?" I asked Garion. He took off his sunglasses and closed his eyes.

"We thought we had managed to trick the robot, Leon, whatever, into leaving. However, he was the one who tricked us. He somehow teleported back in without me noticing and he took Rolm hostage."

"Wait a second! How did you escape?" Tails asked.

"That's what's really strange. The robot...told me to escape, but he said that he had to take Rolm. I felt...so helpless. There was nothing I could do but leave. I am surprised that he even allowed me to do that... But he is going to regret not finishing me off! I swear I'll get back at Eggman for this!"

"The robot...let you escape?" Knuckles asked. Garion nodded.

"That's... something I've never heard of before. I'm sure it means something, though I'm not sure what," Knuckles stated.

"So, let's recap all the bad things that have happened so far so that everyone knows what's been going on," I said. "First, Chaos Emeralds are being stolen from the city, so Tails and I go to protect the last one while Leon goes to Eggman's base to sabotage it while he isn't there. Somehow Leon gets captured and now robotosized, while a strange black echidna whoops us and takes the Chaos Emeralds. Tails and I have to bust out of a police station, only to be met with the news that Rolm has been captured? God, things aren't looking good," I said.

"A black echidna?" Knuckles asked. I nodded.

"With claws as long as rulers," I said as I showed him the cuts on my back. He winced.

"Sonic, I've been meaning to say something," Tails said as he looked at me.

"What's up, Tails?"

"Well, did you notice during our fight with the black echidna that he seemed to have... really powerful attacks?"

"Of course I did! What's so special about that?" I asked.

"Well, who else do we know that has really powerful phychic attacks?" Tails questioned.

Suddenly it clicked. "Leon!" I yelled. "But how could they be connected?"

"I'm betting that this new enemy of ours may be from Mystic Island, like Leon. However, he is teaming up WITH Eggman instead of against him. I bet that's the only reason that Leon got captured! That echidna must have told Eggman some sort of weakness that Leon has!"

"Great. And I thought Leon was tough," I said. "Now we don't even have him to help us out."

"But this may work to our advantage," Tails said. "If we can find out Leon's weakness, we might be able to use the same thing against the echidna!"

"Tails, that is a good plan and all, but how do you propose we do this?" Garion asked from the corner. "They have Eggman, the mysterious echidna, Rolm, and Leon, and we have you, me, Sonic, and Knuckles. Not to be mean or anything to you guys, but I think they have the advantage when you count in the robotosizer."

"Well, I've been thinking about this since we started talking," Tails replied as he took out a sheet of paper. On it he drew a rectangle symbolizing Eggman's base. "I think we should split up into three groups. Group A, which is Garion and Sonic, will go in through the front and distract their attention. Meanwhile, group B, which is Knuckles, will climb the base's wall and smash through the roof when I need his assistance. I, Group C, will sneak in though the back and tap into Eggman's computer. I will get as much data as I can before I have to leave, and hopefully I'll get enough information to help us end this battle. We will talk through these communicators," he said as he pulled out a bunch of communicators from a drawer. "Any questions?"

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" I asked Tails. He nodded.

"I'll have Knuckles to help me out if things get rough," he reassured me.

"Well, the sooner we do this, the better," Knuckles said as he looked outside. "It'll be dark soon."

"Right," I agreed. "Let's go!"

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Will this plan of Tails actually work? Do they even stand a chance against Drath, Rolm, and Leon? Find out in the next chapter!