On a deserted piece of land a bright flash lit the area. If anyone had been there they would have been amazed at the sight as several figures appeared.
"So that's done with." said Juanita.
"It could have been cleaner but we can't have perfection everytime." replied Arthur.
Arthur took the still unconscious Lavender off his shoulder and put her down on the ground. They both looked at her.
"She's even more of a freak than our son!" said Juanita.
"Yes. THREE tails and what is up with her hair?" replied Arthur.
"She had hedgehog genes in her from that girl our son married. Her hair has quill like properties."
"I just hope the ancient records were correct. I hope she is the one."
"She is. Our son and the girl. It's the same pairing that brought about the first guardian. Our son might be a freak but he has given us the key we need."
"That is true."
They both looked at Lavender again and smiled.
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Tails and Amy were hugging tightly as every alarm in the palace went off. They were both alert and ready in an instant, their troubles forgotten. Amy's wrist communicator suddenly buzzed. She answered it quickly.
"Hello? What's going on?" she said.
"Amy. We need you down in the kids room right away!" cried Sonic's voice.
"What's happened? Is Lavender ok?" asked Amy urgently.
"I don't know?" said Sonic.
"You don't know!" cried Amy.
"Just get down here quick."
The communicator went off and Amy and Tails looked at each other. A split second later they were both racing down the corridor towards the eastern wing of the palace.
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Sally tore into the children's room at a full sprint. She had received Sonic's call a few minutes ago and was close to start with. She entered and almost choked. Alicia was sitting in a chair looking very distressed and tired. She was weeping slightly. Petya was lying on a large couch. T2 was fussing over her. Miles was lying on another couch with Sonic leaning over him. Sally rushed towards him.
"Sonic! SONIC!" she cried as she ran.
Sonic spun and stood up. He caught Sally as she came to a stop and embraced her with a large hug. Sally suddenly burst into tears.
"What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" she wailed.
"I….I don't know Sal." Sonic said.
It was then that Amy and Tails flew into the room followed closely by Manic and Sonia. Sonic let go of Sally and turned to Amy. She was looking from one scene to the others and then back again. She looked directly at Sonic.
"Wha….wha….wha….what happened here?!" Amy siad.
"Later Aimes. We have bigger problems." said Sonic indicating towards Miles.
"Oh god!" cried Amy.
She rushed to the boy's side and looked him over. Sally knelt down beside her.
"Amy? Is he….." she said not wanting to say the rest of what she was thinking.
"No he's not. Not yet anyway." replied Amy.
Sally seemed to relax by a fraction. Amy extended her hand above Miles and it glowed. A few seconds later a small orb of light fell from Amy hand. It was just about to touch Miles' body when a bolt of red energy shot from him. It hit the orb and it too turned red. Amy was about to pull her hand away when the bolt shot from the orb and hit her hand. She let out a high piercing scream. Tails ran to her side as her whole body turned red. He tried to grab her and pull her away but when he got within a few inches of her he was thrown back. Amy's scream became muted and she went totally rigid. Everyone could see the pain she was in from her facial expression. Her expression slowly changed to a gritted concentration. Slowly the red glow turned white again. Soon afterwards the orb turned white again and sunk into Miles. A fine red mist slowly seeped out of his body. Amy collapsed forwards onto the bed. Tails rushed back to her side and helped her back up. Amy was shaking and breathing heavily.
"What was that?!" asked Tails.
"Magical energy. I've never felt anything like it before." gasped Amy.
"Magical energy?" said Sally.
"What ever did this to Miles was done by a magical force. A terrible force. It almost had me too. I'm sorry but this is…." Amy couldn't believe what she had to say, "……beyond my skills to heal."
Everyone gasped. They couldn't believe it either.
"You mean that……" began Sally tears starting to form in her eyes.
"No. He will not die. I did manage to force enough of the energy out of him to stop that. But he will stay like this until we find the people who caused this."
Just then Sally felt something pull at her dress. She looked down to see Alicia standing there. In all the fuss over Miles, everyone had forgotten about Alicia. She looked completely lost but also like she had something to say.
"Alicia?" asked Sally.
"I know who did it." she said quietly.
Everyone turned and looked at the young squirrel. They had forgotten that she had been there when it had happened. They waited for Alicia to go on. Nobody pushed her.
"It happened when I was outside. Miles came in to see if Lavender wanted to play out." said Alicia.
Tails suddenly remembered Lavender.
"Lavender! Where is she?!" he yelled looking around the room in a panic.
"They took her!" cried Alicia bursting into tears, "They did this and took Lavender!"
Tails was about ready to shake the information out of Alicia but Amy put a hand on his arm and he stopped.
"Who are they?" asked Amy.
"Two foxes. I don't know who." replied Alicia.
Tails suddenly let out an air-cracking howl. Everyone in the room jumped as he did. Tails collapsed into a chair and began to cry. Amy made her way slowly to his side and comforted him.
"Two foxes?" said Sonia, "I told you those two were troubles didn't I!"
Sonic could only nod.
"You did Sonia." he said.
"You're too trusting Sonic Hedgehog! If you had dealt with this more cautiously them maybe…."
"I KNOW!" cried Sonic.
Sonia faltered and took a step backwards. She didn't say anything else. Amy came back to the group looking very upset and troubled. She tried to keep it in but everyone knew she was worried sick.
"Is Tails ok?" asked Sally softly.
"No Sally. He isn't. If anything he's mentally destroyed." replied Amy.
"Why?" asked Sonia.
"I'm not saying. That is between him and me. Now Alicia. Tell us everything that happened."
Alicia told them what happened from her perspective. After she was done Sally took her away to one side. Sonic, Sonia, Manic and Amy were left to talk.
"Well that is certainly bad." said Manic.
"Wait a go for stating the obvious Manic." said Sonia.
"Quiet you two." said Amy.
The three of them looked at her. She was deep in thought. They waited for her to speak.
"This mark." she said finally, "It seems to be the source of their power or something."
"That sounds about right." said Sonic, "When they made my float earlier that mark flashed. And again when this happened."
"I wish I knew what it looked like." said Amy.
"I can help you there." said Sonia, "I have a photographic memory."
Sonia walked over to the table Lavender had been drawing at. She took a piece of paper and started to draw. Amy went over with her. It was then that she noticed Lavender's drawing. She picked it up quickly and stared at it.
"Oh my!" she said, "This is the place Lavender described in her dream."
"It is?" said Sonic.
"Yes I'm sure of it. Blue dome, green sphere. Yep it's the place alright."
"Doesn't look like any place on Mobius." said Manic.
"There you go." said Sonia.
She held up a drawing. Amy's jaw dropped.
"I know that mark!" she said.
Sonic looked at the drawing. The mark in question was a circle with a line coming directly downwards from it making a kinda of lollypop shape. The line then had a semi circle on it that encased the bottom half of the circle.
"I know that mark." said Amy again, "I have to check the library!"
Amy suddenly fled the room leaving everyone to stare after her.
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Lavender slowly became aware of blackness. It soon cleared and she found herself staring at the sky. She sat up quickly. Arthur and Juanita stood on either side of her. For some reason she didn't feel scared now. All she felt was a deep feeling of dread. Lavender's hair had been pulled back so that the four spikes on her head and the three frontal spikes all lay down her back. She wasn't used to this and it hurt. A larger pain was more present though. She reached her hand up and touched her forehead. When she removed it she found her hand covered in blood. She yelped.
"Does that hurt?" asked Juanita.
Lavender just looked at her as the pain started to flow in.
"I'm sorry but it was necessary. We can't perform the procedure if you don't have on of these."
Juanita tapped the mark on her head. Lavender yelped again. She tried to get up but found she couldn't.
"Don't try to struggle." said Arthur.
At this Lavender began to struggles heavily.
"Excellent." said Arthur.
"Ready?" said Juanita.
"Ready." replied Arthur.
Both of their marks suddenly glowed. Lavender found herself inside a large sphere. She continued to struggle. Suddenly a crippling pain shot through her head. She tried to scream but couldn't. The newly cut mark on her head began to bleed. The blood ran across her face and dripped onto the bottom of the sphere. As the first drips hit the sphere a bolt of energy shot from the sphere and hit the mark on her head. This time the pain was so intense even the powers holding her couldn't stop her from screaming. Lavender screamed and went tense. Her eyes closed tight.
When she opened them a few minutes later the pain had subsided and she felt different. She became aware of a blue glow all around her. She looked up and gasped.
"No." she whimpered.
She was in a blue dome. The walls sparkled with tiny yellow lights. At the top was a green and blue sphere. Arthur and Juanita were looking around in awe.
"We did it." said Arthur.
"The records were correct. The Vault of Forever truly does exist." replied Juanita.
"Now we will finally own this planet and everything on it."
"Now we will finish what our order started all those years ago."
They both laughed. Lavender suddenly felt very weak and passed out again.
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"I knew I'd seen that mark!" cried Amy triumphantly.
"What is it?" cried Tails rushing to her side.
Tails had recently come out of his sorrow with such ferocity it had shocked her. His eyes burned brightly and he had such a glow of commitment about him that it had rubbed off on everyone else.
"Here look." said Amy moving the book so Tails could see.
On the page was a lot of text and in the middle a picture of the mark Sonia had drawn.
"So what's it say?" asked Tails.
"Not much. Not much at all. Just the picture and a name."
"What name?"
"The Order of Pholon."
"Order of what?"
"Pholon. It's strange. That name seems familiar to me but I've never heard of it before. The resources of Little Planet might help. I need to get back there. I will be able to use the Time Stones to look at the Acolyte records. They might contain something on this."
"Good thinking Aimes. I'll stay here in case something comes up."
Tails looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes.
"Hold on Lavender. We're coming." he said.
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"Knuckles is getting worse!" said Espio.
"I know!" replied Knuckles almost falling over.
The Chaos Emeralds had become so powerful in the last few hours that they were beginning to tear the island apart. Knuckles couldn't understand it. The Chaos Emeralds had never done this before. It was almost as if they were drawing energy from somewhere in a desperate bid to stay active. The island gave another shake as Bunnie sprang into the room.
"Knuckles. What in the world is going on?!" she cried.
"You got me Bunnie." yelled Knuckles over the rumbling.
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"So where to start?" said Juanita looking at the wall.
"Well here looks about right." said Arthur pointing to seven bright dots.
Juanita looked at them and nodded.
"The Chaos Emeralds? Don't you want to start smaller?"
"I think the bigger the better."
"Well if you're sure dear."
They nodded at each other and then looked at the eight dots on the wall. They both looked at the dots and their mark glowed. A few seconds later seven dots on the wall lit up brightly.
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"Yaaaaa!" cried Knuckles as he hit the floor.
Bunnie and Espio followed suit as a huge energy fields flew from all seven of the Chaos Emeralds at the same time. Knuckles looked up to see the Emeralds glowing brightly. As he continued to watch something strange happened. One by one the emeralds blinked out, went grey and fell to the floor with a tinkle. After the seventh one had dropped to the floor Knuckles pulled himself up and looked round.
"What?!" he cried all of a sudden.
"What was that?!" said Espio picking up one of the dead emeralds.
He looked at it and rolled it over in his hand.
"Whatever it was, it drained the emeralds of all their power." said Bunnie.
"That's not possible." said Knuckles spinning round, "That's just not possible. The emeralds don't suddenly spark out like that!"
"But it happened." said Espio.
The Island gave another lurch.
"This isn't good." said Knuckles.
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Arthur and Juanita collapsed to the ground in a heap. They gasped heavily and then looked at each other. Slowly they got up and leaned against each other.
"That was incredible." said Juanita.
"All that power! I can feel it moving around inside me." replied Arthur.
"Me too."
"Let's rest a while before we try for another source."
"That would probably be wise."
They sank back to the floor and slowly nodded off.
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Petya slowly opened her eyes. All she could see was an orange blur. After a moment the blur cleared up to reveal the face of T2. She smiled and reached out with her mind.
T2.
Petya! I'm so glad you're awake. I was so worried. What happened?
Petya explained what had happened from her point of view. T2 nodded occasionally. When she was done he sat in thought for a moment.
"What do you think happened to my stone?" asked Petya.
"I'm not sure Petya. It's almost like it was drained of its energy." replied T2.
"Is that even possible?"
"I'm not sure. We have to find out though."
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Lavender woke up, whimpering softly. The freshly cut mark on her forehead still burned with pain. She looked around her. She was still encapsulated in a blue sphere and hovered a few feet above the floor. Arthur and Juanita were away to one side discussing things. Lavender was too scared to even cry. All she wanted was to be back with her mother. She did feel slightly odd though. A feeling had been growing in her mind since she had arrived here. It was a feeling of belonging. She knew she belonged here in this place. She shook her head heavily. No it wasn't true. She didn't belong here. Here was horrible and full of pain. It wasn't true, it just wasn't true!
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"You have to be kidding me!" cried Sonic unto the comm.
"Not in the slightest." replied Knuckles.
"But how can the Chaos Emeralds suddenly blink out?!"
"I don't know. I would have told you if I did!"
"Ok sorry. This is very bad news."
"Not as bad as yours. I'm sorry about Miles and Lavender."
"You worry about what's happening on that island and let us worry about them. I'll call a meeting and let you know what's going on."
"Righto."
Knuckles cut the comm off and Sonic shook his head. What was going on?!
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Sally held Alicia in a hug. The young squirrel was quite heavily hit by recent events. Ever since she had almost lost Miles in the alternate reality she and her brother had become very close. There past troubles had been forgotten and any misgivings buried.
"Mother?" she asked quietly.
"Yes Alicia." replied Sally.
"Will Miles be ok?"
Sally blinked her eyes slowly.
"I don't know dear. I hope so."
"So do I."
Alicia reached out and pulled a rose flower of a nearby plant. She held it in her hands and sniffed. As she continued to look at it the flower seemed to shrivel up and loose its colour. A split second later the flower turned into a fine dust and a small gust of wind blew it from her hands. She yelped unsure what was happening. She reached over and took a firm grip of Sally arm.
"Mother! Mother what's happening?" she asked shakily as she looked out over the garden.
All the plants in the garden were slowly turning brown and falling to the ground as dust. Within minutes the entire garden had turned to dust. Just then there was a creaking noise. Sally looked over her shoulder to see the palace had dulled. The bright stone walls had gone grey and large cracks had started to creep across them. The sky started to cloud over, blotting out the sun. Sally looked down on Mobotropolis below. The green city had turned grey. Not a single plant of tree could be seen and the town itself had begun to crumble and decay. Sally hugged Alicia closer to her.
"I don't know Alicia." said Sally nervously, "I don't know."
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Arthur and Juanita lowered their arms. There was now a soft glow about them.
"That was fun." said Arthur.
"Saturating too." said Juanita.
They both looked up. The green and blue sphere at the top of the dome no longer glowed those colours. It was grey and dark as if it had had the life drained out of it.
"That is Mobius itself dealt with." said Arthur.
"Yes. The life force of this planet is now ours. And it is all thanks to our little key here." said Juanita turning towards Lavender.
Lavender just wailed and struggles against the force holding her.
"It's so sweet. Even though you disgust me even more than my son I will….regret having to kill you when we are done."
Juanita gave a small laugh and turned away. Lavender gave another loud wail.
"Now for the Master Emerald." said Arthur.
"Yes. This will take a bit of doing. The Master Emerald is a strong force. Stronger than the seven Chaos Emeralds or even the life force of Mobius." replied Juanita.
"Still we can do it."
Juanita nodded and a small smile spread across her face.