Chapter 3: Return of a friend

Place: Station Square, Hospital
Time: 5:00pm

Sonic awoke and rubbed his head. He remembered fighting Cheq and then being knocked out by trying to attack Cheq. How stupid could he be? He followed this rhetorical question by sitting up in his bed. He was in a typical hospital ward. he saw no sight of Tails, Knuckles or Amy. Sonic then decided to get up and find them. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and proceeded to stand up. It was a bad idea.

"Sonic!"

Tails ran over to Sonic and stopped him from falling and then placed him back in the bed. Knuckles followed behind Tails.

"What were you trying to do?" said Tails," You need your rest".
"I'm fine" replied Sonic.
"Tails is right Sonic" Knuckles joined in the conversation, "You took a bad hit in that battle"
"You took more" said Sonic.
"But I'm stronger" Sonic cast Knuckles a glare and turned to Tails. "Where's Amy?"
"She stayed at my workshop. She had to ring Cream as she wants to help us more" said Tails.
"She did stop Whips, one of Cheq's minions"
"How did he do that?" said Sonic.
"He used the power of the emerald to create a helper but I think he had used them before" replied Knuckles.
"I'm sure the tablets will tell us more. When I've deciphered them that is." followed Tails.
"Come on. We better get to work on these tablets" said Knuckles. Tails nodded and followed Knuckles leaving Sonic to recover. He lied back and looked at the ceiling.
How could Cheq do all this? thought Sonic We must stop him though. No matter what.

Place: Unknown Temple
Time: 5:05pm

Cheq sat on his throne. The battle with Sonic and friends had taken more energy than he had first realised. He could no longer return to the world until he commanded more chaos. Looking at his hand he saw a deep red cut along his palm. It had begun healing normally due to the way the Echidnas body worked.

"Conis! Whips!" shouted Cheq covering his hand.

The hedgehog and the fox received the order and came to Cheq from coloured doors that showed their emerald colour. Whips bowed in front of Cheq but Conis merely nodded.

"I will need you two to return to the world and speak with Eggman. Tell him he must finalise his plan or face my wr..a.t"

Cheq faltered. His eyes returned to their normal colour before reverting back to teal and blue. He held his head.

"Sir?" questioned Whips.
"Tell Eggman to hurry. Return here afterwards. Do not search for an emerald." said Cheq through his hand.
"Why?" replied Conis, "We could easily take anyone in our way"
"Because... They will receive the Green Emerald soon, Grey is nearby, Purple is in the hands of a young musician who will be easy to kill, I have blue and teal, yellow is in the desert and red is.." Again Cheq tailed off and Conis snorted. "You don't know do you?" said Conis.
"No but I will find it" replied Cheq.
"Please.." said Conis.
"You have all the personality of that spike I copied you from and your friend also has the qualities of that fox"
"But.." said Whips
"You are loyal to me and do as I say"
"Only when you are at full power. Until then we start to break from your control. Cheq"

Cheq threw his hand out in anger and smashed into the side of Conis face.

"I CREATED YOU AND CAN EASILY DESTROY YOU!!!" bellowed Cheq.

Conis stood up and Whips began to walk away towards his door. He motioned towards Conis to follow. Conis followed and watched his master return to his position. They disappeared through the door and vanished in a flash. Cheq returned to his peaceful state and relaxed.
I will create them all if only to give me fair chances. I knew it was a bad idea to copy the blue spikes and the fox data to create them but they will find some fight in them yet. The others will be more controllable. This Echidnas body is awful. As soon as I can return to true form I will throw away this body but return the spirit. it has already clouded my judgement and made me force my minions not to find another emerald. More chaos will silence it for now. Now I must watch as the Green Emerald falls into their hands... Just as I want. Cheq proceeded to fall into a trance and watch night fall around him.

Place: Tails workshop
Time: 5:30pm

Amy sat on the chair and leaned back looking at the stone tablet that was placed in front of her. She didn't like Cheq already as he nearly cost her Sonic and her life. He had the power to create helpers based on anyone. Like her.... She shook her head and ignored it. Amy picked up her crossbow and loaded up a bolt. Knuckles had left a can on the edge of the table. Perfect for target practice. She aimed and pulled the trigger only to watch the bolt bury itself in the side of the house. She took aim again and successfully hit the can and watched it fly off the table. Amy was so happy she threw her arms into the air and lost her balance on the chair she was on. She collided with the floor just as Tails and Knuckles walked in.

"What are you doing Amy?" asked Knuckles.
"Nothing" she snapped back. Tails walked over to the tablet and returned to deciphering it.

Knuckles returned to his chair as Amy picked hers up.

"How's Sonic?" asked Amy.
"He's fine. We told him to leave when he's ready" replied Tails.
"That means he will have left a few minutes after us" said Knuckles.
"Yep. But I hope he stays put for awhile as we all need to be at full strength to fight Cheq again." said Tails.
"Found out anything yet?" said Amy.
"No. We know he wants all the emeralds and can create helpers from each emerald."
"He can also use chaos techniques" said Knuckles.
"We only know Sonic can use Chaos control and that's it."
"Lets just focus on getting as much info as possible and getting the chaos emeralds." Everyone agreed and returned to silence.

Place: Mystic Ruins, Station
Time: 6:00pm

Sonic got off the train and winked at the group of fans who he had just given his autograph to. The group of girls nearly fainted as the train doors closed. Sonic began to walk towards Tails' workshop.

I wonder if Tails has found anything out yet? thought Sonic as the clouds began to open and rain fell.

Sonic began to pick up the pace as he really didn't want to get wet and he reached Tails' workshop a few minutes later. Just before he walked in he looked up at the top of the ridge and saw a figure who was there one minute and gone the next.
Sonic ignored this and walked in to meet his friends.

Meanwhile...

The figure watched Sonic walk into the house and smirked. Again he drew out the chaos emerald.

"Time to reveal myself" said the figure.

The figure disappeared in a flash of green light only to reappear at the bottom of the ridge. He began to walk towards the house in the rain.

Sonic entered the workshop and Amy was the first one to see him.

"SONIC!!" shouted Amy as she ran up to Sonic.

Amy hugged him tight and Sonic was about to push her off when he changed his mind. He was going to let have this one.

"Hi Amy. Hi guys" said Sonic calmly.
"Are you sure you're ok Sonic? You still seem tired." asked Knuckles.
"I'm fine" snapped Sonic, "Any new info Tails?"
"Not yet but I'm sure I'll get some eventually" said the fox, sounding a bit disheartened.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Sonic turned and opened the door to see nothing in front of him. The rain had begun to get very heavy now and it was thundering quietly in the distance. Sonic turned left and saw the figure from atop the ridge facing him standing in the rain.

"You ok out there?" shouted Sonic not expecting an answer.
"Who is it Sonic?" asked Amy.

Sonic threw his hand out to tell Amy not to come any closer. She immediately took this hint and backed away.

"I'll be back in a minute guys" said Sonic winking.

Knuckles and Tails got up and ran to the window to see the figure but because of the angle all they could see was Sonic. Sonic advanced towards the figure in the rain which was heavy with the lighting that followed down into the sea. Thunder followed echoing from each step Sonic took. Finally, quite wet, Sonic stood opposite and close to the figure. The face of the hooded creature obscured by his hood and the dark.

"Can I help you?" asked Sonic

The figure merely reached out with his hand to reveal he had a green chaos emerald. Sonic stood in a fighting stance ready for battle.

"If that's you Cheq show your face"

Lighting struck close illuminating the figures face for a second and Sonic saw a calm but slightly evil smile.

"Fight me" said the figure, "Fight me for the emerald"

Sonic nodded and the figure also entered a fighting stance. Lighting struck between them beginning the battle at hand.

The figure leapt forward and threw out his leg at Sonics face. Sonic blocked and back flipped away aiming his legs at the persons face. The figure caught the blow to the face and flew backwards landing on his feet. Sonic spun and faced his opponent. Charging forward, Sonic released a barrage of punches which the figure easily blocked one by one. Sonic then proceeded to dropping to the ground and swinging his legs into the figures. Seeing this, the figure leapt into the air and came down with kick to Sonics head. Sonic took the blow and fell backwards. The figure regained his stance and again pulled out his emerald.

"Chaos Strike!"

Just like Cheq had done before, green swords appeared and lashed out at Sonic. Having now worked out this attack Sonic rolled left before jumping backwards to dodge the second sword. Then, something clicked in Sonics brain and he began to see the swords leave the chaos emerald and float towards him in slow motion. With this new found power Sonic dodged the next sword by leaning back and letting the horizontal slash go over him. Sonic then leapt into the air. To any other person this would look strange as there was no point but Sonic saw a chaos sword ready to strike. Sonic put his feet out just as the sword appeared and leapt off it and spun downwards into the figure knocking the emerald out of his hand. Sonic scrambled for the emerald as the figure reeled from the attack. Sonic grabbed the emerald and leapt up into the air. Sonic then realised he could now use that technique.

"Taste your own medicine! Chaos Strike!"

Again the swords leapt from the emerald towards the figure who had again returned to his fighting stance. The figure caught the first sword with his face but the second was caught by him and using this makeshift weapon he knocked away the other swords. Sonic landed and grabbed the final sword he had created and charged towards the figure who swung his sword. Using his speed, Sonic ducked the blow and lashed out at the hooded man who had begun to pant from tiredness. Sonics blade connected with the figures blade with such force that the figures blade shattered into energy that dissolved. The figure , now on the floor, tried to crawl away but Sonic placed his sword at the figures face.

"Who are you!?" yelled Sonic, rain dripping from him as the lighting struck again followed by thunder.
"You are good... faker"

Sonic lowered the sword as the figure threw back his hood revealing his black and red spikes. Sonic nearly fell over with shock.

"You're dead?" said Sonic.
"Dead is a strong word" said Shadow.

End of Chapter 3