Flip card 2:

Name: Mishoal

Sex: Male

Age; 35

Species: Echidna

Job Description: High priest of the dark god, Krish-Kra-Pal

At least while he had the hood up, Chris could pass for another Echidna. Most people within the massive Cathedral were too busy to notice him walking around, exploring, the towering building anyway. Every room he entered was devoted to the worship of their god, each one with several worshippers kneeling in front of a statue, similar to the one they'd seen inside the old ruin. That god of theirs looked so ugly to Chris, so demonic and menacing. How could they worship it, and precisely where did this fanatical devotion of theirs come from? A lot of time and effort had been put into creating this Cathedral, nearly every wall had some story carved into it in intricate, artist detail. Chris couldn't understand the language they were written in, however he was content to study the pictures.

"With all respect intended your holiness, I only have a few moments. I'm expected to lead my men personally." A deep voice from just behind the corner of a wall said. Chris hesitated, before pressing his back against the wall, listening.

"You'll just have to make time Pachamac." The second voice, the human boy recognised at once, it was the same priest they had been brought before when they first arrived, the one called Mishoal. "I need several of your best warriors, immediately."

"I'm afraid that isn't possible. I need every man I have for the advance, I'm supposed to be on my way to join my men at the front when you summoned me." Chris stuck his head out from behind the corner, making sure that he was still hidden, but had a good look at who else was there. As he guessed, Mishoal was there, talking to a elderly brown Echidna dressed in robes made out of feathers and holding a wooden staff with a pointed spear on the end of it. Like Knuckles, on each hand he had a pair of spark spikes, hidden underneath a pair of gloves.

"That wasn't a request Pachamac." Mishoal replied, his eyes narrowing, the light from down the hallways casting a very unnerving set of shadows over his facial features. "You'll spare those men, unless you want your family excommunicated." The elderly Echidna paused, looking suddenly very worried. "Your daughter is blasphemous enough."

"Very well. Several of my best will be here as soon as possible. But for now, if you excuse me, I am urgently needed else ware." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, The Mishoal nodded.

"Of course, I mustn't keep you." Pachamac bowed respectfully wand walked off in a hurry, disappearing behind one of the other corridors. Chris wasn't sure what was going on, but this seemed very interesting, warranting further investigation. Mishoal remained stationary for a moment, before chuckling lightly to himself and walking off. Making sure that he was still out of sight, Chris followed him through the many corridors. Things were not as straight forward around here as it seemed, that was plainly obvious.

Mishoal rounded a corner, coming upon a large set of wooden doors that parted to let him pass the moment he reached the threshold. Chris had not even any one enter of leave through this door all morning. The boy paused for a moment, before quickly following. The chamber beyond the doors was a large, oval shaped space with a arched ceiling. Many other priests were there doing one thing or another, and Chris found he was able to mingle amongst their number without being noticed before Mishoal could notice that the boy had followed him inside. As expected, in the very centre of this chamber was another statue of their good, looking as menacing as usual. But placed before him on a large alter, as something Chris wound never expect to see. A large stone ring, engraved with runes. It was the second time ring, the one they'd been searching for. So this was the place the Echidna's of the future had left their device, or perhaps the Echidna's of this time had moved it here. Either way, he had to get back to his others and tell them all what he'd found.

"Imbecile!" Mishoal shouted from across the room, striking someone who'd just given him some bad news across the face, knocking him to the ground. "I thought I told you not to let them out of your sight!"

"I beg your forgiveness, your grace." The Echidna who'd pushed the wrong button managed to stutter, dropping down to his knees and hands.

"Get out of my sight and do not return until you find them, and failing that, the black and red hedgehog in their company." He added as every looked in way, before turning back to whatever they were doing to avoid catching the High priest's eye.

"Just what sort of service is this supposed to be anyway?" Chuck asked, who had finally woken up, only to be handed a rather unattractive robe. Rouge simply shrugged, nimbly tossing her robe over the balcony with no intention of every wearing it. "And just where is Chris?" He added, pushing himself off the uncomfortable bed and up onto his feet, reaching for his white jacket. "I hope that boy hasn't wandered too far, gotten himself in trouble. And just where is everybody else?"

"Knuckles is out there sulking, and Sonic and the boys went to see if they could find that second time ring." The bat replied, wondering briefly if she should fly around the city to help them search as she stared out at the city from the balcony.

"And found nothing." Sonic replied as he shot over the top of the balcony with Metal Sonic flying quickly behind him. "Is this yours?" He added, handing Rouge back her robe.

"We searched everywhere we could." Metal Sonic stated, his engines powering down, lowering him gently to the floor. "We found nothing. There isn't a single place around here, apart from this Cathedral, that's large enough to house something like that." Chuck nodded.

"Then it stands to reason then that the time ring is somewhere in this building."

"Hey Shadow." Sonic began as the Ultimate Life-form somersaulted up onto the balcony. "Any luck?" The black hedgehog shook as his head as he entered the room, a strange look on his face.

"Just a brief glimpse into the past." He replied unsteadily, before leaning against the wall. "And now I think we need to find that Time ring and fast." Sonic looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"And why's that?" Before the black and red hedgehog could answer, the door to their room burst open and Chris shot in, quickly slamming the door behind him.

"Hey Chris." Rouge waved over, but suddenly noticed the boy's agitated look. His hands pressed against the back of the door, his breath sharp and shallow, showing he'd been running as fast as he could. "What's wrong?" Chris looked up quickly

"We have to leave, now!" He nearly shouted. Everyone, even Metal Sonic was looking at him strangely.

"Calm down Chris." Chuck began, but the boy managed to butt in quickly to finish what he'd started.

"They know we lied, Mishoal is out looking for us. There's a bounty on our heads." That forced a solemn silence on all of them.

"Are you sure?" Chuck asked. Chris nodded several times very quickly.

"Yes, and they want you most of all Shadow." The black hedgehog blinked in confusion.

"What? Why me?" He asked. Chris paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"Don't know. I didn't hang around long enough to find out." He hesitated again, remembering something important. "Oh yeah, and I found the second time ring." Everyone was instantly by his side, looking up at him with anticipation in their eyes, all of them blurting out questions like where, when and how to get to it. Chris managed to get enough information from their questions to answer. That he'd found it beneath one of those ugly statues. The Echidna's of this time had mistaken it for an alter and had offerings were often being placed upon it.

"And you're sure it's a Time ring?" Shadow asked. Chris nodded.

"It was exactly the same as the one we found in the Ruins on Angel Island." Sonic smacked a fist into his palm.

"Alright, we're back in the game. Rouge, see if you find Knuckles while Shadow and I borrow their little toy." The bat nodded, before unfolding her wings and disappering out of the window. "Metal, keep Chuck and Chris safe until we get back." The machine just gave a breif nod before the blue Hedgehog and the ultimate lifeform almost flew out of the door, becoming faint black and blue blurs.

Loathed as he was to admit it, Rouge had raised a good point. Literally telling them what would happen if they didn't change would never work for two very good reasons. One, they were all too fanatical and two, they'd never believe him anyway. But that wouldn't deter him, even if he hadn't come up with an effective plan yet.

He'd though that walking amongst the people of the city, inside one of these hideous robes would help him come up with something, all it did however was make him more and more confused. These were his own people, and yet still he felt distanced from them, which wasn't too surprising.

He'd never actually been amongst other Echidna's before in his life, so he supposed it was natural to feel a little strange. All his life all he'd known as solitude, living alone on Angel Island with only the Master Emerald as his life.

There was a sudden clap of thunder and it began to rain heavy without any warning at all. Knuckles simply sighed to himself and kept on walking, his dreadlocks quickly becoming matted.

He stopped and stared, only to be reminded what he had sworn to do as a small group of Echidna soldiers carrying spear like weapons walked past from the street opposite. If they carried on like this, there was no telling exactly how long their civilisation had left.

"Wonderful sight isn't it?" Asked a voice. Knuckles blinked and looked to his side to see and elderly Echidna woman staring after the soldiers. Some of her dreadlocks were missing, showing her advanced age. Knuckles grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms.

"Sure it is." He muttered sarcastically. The old Echidna however was hard of hearing and didn't managed to pick it up.

"My husbands part of the army you know, even in his advanced years." Knuckles wasn't listening. He was too busy still trying to think up a plan. "Of course I don't suppose they'll need his services for very long. He might even come home tomorrow for retirement after one last campaign for the Emeralds."

The last statement caught Knuckles' attention, he stopped and stared, mouth hung open.

"What…" He began, his eyes widening his horror. The Echidna woman stared at him with a questioning look on her face.

"My husband's part of the forces that's requisitioning the Emeralds from the Shrine." He suddenly looked very proud again. "He and his other patriots are probably there now," She never even finished, Knuckles had turned about on one heal and started running. "What, where are you going?! She called after him.

"To stop your husband from making the biggest mistake of his life."

"Move aside Tikal." Pachamac shouted across the gap to his daughter, who stood before the invasion force, the only thing stopping them from advancing to the shrine. The Chao were cowering behind her, come crying. Tikal remained steadfast, shaking her head. The small army of Echidna's had broken through the traps their enemies had placed amongst the jungle and were now a stones throw away from the shrine.

"I shall not." Pachamac tightened the grip on his staff. "Do this, and you condemn our race to travel the lonely road of misery and self annihilation." Thick ,black clouds were beginning to gather overhead, the low rumbling of a coming thunder storm beginning to vibrate in the distance.

"As your father and war chief, I order you to step aside!" Pachamac called over. Some of his warriors were wondering why they did not simply charge now and get it over with. The girl was clearly a heretic.

"No!" Tikal snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"We need those seven emeralds for the survival of our religion." Her father was rapidly loosing his patience with his child, his fanatical devotion to their religion nearly overriding any parental morals.

"Our religion is based on greed and self-superiority. It is flawed, evil! Greed itself is our true enemy, once it starts in your heart you will always want more. The seven emeralds will never be enough for our religion, it will keep consuming all before it. This is holy ground father, I will not let you pass!" Pachmac snarled, clasping his war staff high into the air.

"I'll not listen to the words of a child!" He stated, finally snapping. Bolts of lightning were beginning to cross the sky, rolling thunder beating down from the clouds. "Ready men, CHARGE!" Tikal had just enough time to scream as the army, fanatical and obeying their commander's orders charged with the loudest battle cry they could muster.

"FATHER NO!!!!!!!"

Knuckles blinked and looked off toward the horizon. Something had drawn his attention. There was a sudden clap of thunder and amongst the screams of countless Echidna soldiers came a blaring white light that erupted from some point beyond the city walls and the storm seemed to intensify ten fold. All was silent for a moment, and then it started raining, hard and fast, coming down like there was no tomorrow. Breaking the silence came a roar that stretched over the jungle and seemed to shake the very ground beneath his feet. He knew that roar, after all he had heard it before. Suddenly, the ground began shaking like there was an earthquake. The Echidna's all around him began panicking, some pushing past each other in a vain attempt to get away from something.

"Perfect Chaos." Knuckles breathed. "I'm too late!"

(In Chris' Voice)

Here we go again, Perfect Chaos is on a rampage! Can Sonic and the others stop it's destructive path and change history, or is time set to repeat itself? Find out, next time on Sonic X, The Arch of History. Don't miss it!