Chaos: Ok, it's Mass Easter Update time! Which is my excuse for not updating for so long... (cough) Anyway, it seemed appropriate, being the twentieth chapter, to update at Easter. (grin) Wow, I can't believe I made it this far! If only there was an ending... anybody got any ideas, tell me on Messenger! I need help! Though I guess that's a pretty unoriginal way to end the story... (shifty eyes) Well, at least Broken Dreams is finished, so I don't need to worry about that one. Review Responses!

oracle apprentice - The Egg Emporer? Well... Mecha drives it... I think. It's been ages since I played the game. (sweatdrop) Whereas in this story, it's kinda AU... I don't think Heroes even happened, heh heh heh.

Kirbs - I know... I kinda got into a rhythm with Maze of Memories. This story is becoming a real problem, being not finished and all, so I update it more slowly as I try and work out what's gonna happen. (groan)

Shade-the-Hedgehog - He's not dead yet... and I'm saying no more! Though I have mentioned several times that i'm not going to kill him. That would be a very depressing end. (ponders upon the angst) Hmm... then again, maybe not such a bad idea... (grins fiendishly)

SoMe Fan and Dude - No idea how many mroe chapters to go. And Sonic isn't quite dead yet! (nervous laugh)

wouldn't you like to know TT - Long time reader? Waaii! I have long-time readers! (giggles in a hyperactive way) Anyway, thanks for the long... very long... review. I live for long reviews. As for Tails, you're absolutely right... and they begin to notice the effects (in a very large way) quite soon. I say no more!

SD - Yesh, I try and stick to the game's style of boss-fighting. It makes it more... Sonic... get my drift? Hehehe.

Mitsuka - Yay, you're here! I thought you'd given up or something. And it's NOT great work, it's spiralling downwards...(sigh)

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the Tornado's crash site, people began to drift away, but a few remained to stare curiously at the other passenger of the mangled plane.

"Ugh, what is it?"

"It looks like something mauled it!"

"Hey, look, it's still breathing…"

"Well, I'm not touching it!"

"Yeah, it could have some kind of disease!"

Then somebody pushed their way through the crowd to the side of the plane, and observed the animal within intently. Finally she said, "I'm taking him to the hospital, so you can all leave now."

She lifted Sonic - albeit with a slight wince at the blood attacking her dress - and walked smartly away. The remaining crowd muttered suspiciously and drifted back to their usual activities; the traffic jam cleared, the alarm was turned off, and the silence resumed as though nothing had happened. The Tornado 2 was dragged away by some well wishers to Tails' house, to be repaired when the fox returned. And it was as if they had never been.

……………………………………………

Knuckles ducked the ball again, wondering how to hurt the machine. There was something wrong with this…only one weapon? It was barely even trying to hit them. He looked to the others, and saw the same wariness on their faces.

"Knuckles, duck!" two people yelled, one inside his head and one outside. He snapped back to the robot in time to see the ball heading for his face. No time! He froze instinctively, like a rabbit in car headlights, as he waited for the spikes to ram him.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash and someone, who got swiped by the ball instead, knocked him to the floor. His saviour screamed as she was flung away across the room.

Knuckles bounded up and ran after her, ignoring the robot. He knew that voice…! He skidded to a halt on the far side of the room, and knelt beside Tikal.

"Tikal, are you ok? Speak to me!" The female echidna winced and rolled over onto her back to face him.

"Don't worry," she groaned, "I've been dead for a thousand years already." Then she shut her eyes, panting in pain at the long scratches torn across her body. Knuckles lifted her head slightly, and touched her forehead. She had a fever.

Then a terrible scream ripped through his head like a thunderbolt, and he tumbled backwards, clutching his head in pain.

Chaos had realised what had happened.

The water creature was pacing round the Master Emerald, torn between Tikal and his duty. He howled at the sky in frustration, and Knuckles clutched his ears.

"Chaos, stop!" he yelled, and the others looked on in shock, even the robot pausing. But it had stopped for a different reason.

It was Amy who looked back first, and yelled out in fear. The others turned, and followed her gaze. The robot was shaking violently, metal coating starting to glow red with heat.

It's a trap!" Vector howled in realisation, "It's gonna blow!" The room itself was starting to shake…it seemed that Robotnik had triggered a defence mechanism and run. With another clang the group swung around to see the outer doors shut.

Knuckles was still yelling at Chaos, but he could barely be heard over the rumbling coming from the kamikaze robot. On the Floating Island, Chaos looked around for intruders and found none.

Satisfied, he turned to the Chaos Emeralds, hovering serenely on their reconstructed posts.

"CHAOS DON'T YOU DARE!" Knuckles roared in his head, but the beast ignored him, reaching out his watery arms towards the glowing gems.

Knuckles was shaken back to reality by a slap in the face. Rouge hissed, "What's going on?" Knuckles moaned to himself, and said,

"Chaos is coming…with the Chaos Emeralds." Rouge's green eyes widened; she had heard about the time Chaos had destroyed Station Square with the emeralds before. She turned to the others, and said grimly,

"We need of get out of here. Knock down the door, or something!" Vector charged the steel door, and bounced off as though he were a stuffed animal trying to knock over a brick wall.

Charmy shook his head helplessly. Now it was a race…between the countdown of a self-destruct, and a watery monster coming for revenge. And they were caught in the middle. Then he looked up and yelled, pointing.

Mighty laughed in derisive disbelief. "An emergency exit? You're kidding me! I mean, I know the good doctor is stupid, but..."

Shadow gazed up at the doorway in the second story, folded his arms and picked out an immediate problem. "How do we get up there?"

Cream smiled; she could finally be useful! She flapped her ears strongly, taking off in a small gust. The air was heavy with heat from the robot, which was now a bright angry red and showering sparks in every direction.

She dropped back down, and called out, "I can only lift one person! It's too hot…" Charmy nodded in agreement. The animals looked at each other.

Now it was a race to get out.

…………………………………………….

Perfect Chaos surged over the countryside for the second time, uprooting trees and leaving a wasteland in his wake. His green eyes glowed with anger, determined to destroy whoever had hurt his friend.

A mountain rose before him, a small grey smudge of metal marking the base. He flooded forward with another roar, jaws agape and spewing water in an endless tide.

……………………………………………

Charmy dropped Tikal lightly on a balcony outside the base, and she muttered thanks, concentrating on healing herself before she passed out. No sooner had the bee swooped inside, then Rouge and Cream flew out.

They were carrying Amy and Mighty to join those already airlifted to safety; Knuckles - who had climbed out with Espio - and Vector, who had been lifted between two fliers. (He was grumbling about being big-boned.)

This left only Shadow inside, Charmy concluded as he plunged back into the furnace.

The robot was radiating heat in waves from its overloading core, red light reflecting off the walls, and the room was becoming more and more similar to an oven. Charmy dove in, sweat breaking out on his forehead immediately, looking through the shimmering air for Shadow.

The hedgehog's fur stood out easily against the red light, and Charmy darted down, intending to get out and away as quickly as possible. The floor was glowing red by itself, and the moment Charmy touched down, he sprang up with a cry of pain.

Shadow had activated his hover shoes to keep from touching the burning metal, but the heat was making him dizzy. He saw Charmy and skated towards him, jets making a faint spluttering at the heat that threatened to melt them.

At that moment a roar sounded from outside, reminding Shadow of the Biolizard - it couldn't be? - and the main door quivered. Shadow and Charmy paused, as though hypnotised, to watch as a trickle of water spread from beneath, immediately evaporating into steam.

Knuckles crouched and put an arm around Tikal, supporting her into a sitting position. Perfect Chaos rose up before them like a massive wall of water. It was a strange location; the metal behind them was slightly warm from the heat inside, and at the same time they were being drenched in a cold spray.

They had all frozen at the sight of the beast, nervous about moving in case he became maddened. Tikal gazed straight into Chaos' eyes, radiating pictures of happiness and serenity, attempting to calm him down.

Vector's eyes darted around nervously; Charmy had not yet emerged from within. It was just at that second that Charmy and Shadow came flying out of the door…and straight into Tikal.

Tikal squealed in pain at her half-healed cuts, and Perfect Chaos roared in anger. Then everything happened at once.

The watery monster surged forward with a roar, this time of rushing water, Tikal threw apart her hands and shouted, "NO!", and the base detonated in a fireball.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Amy screamed as water crashed into her from the front, and fire burned her from behind. Then it suddenly stopped, leaving a slight ringing in her ears. She slowly uncovered her head to see the world shimmering white.

She looked around in confusion and saw the others nearby, staring in equal confusion at the shield bubble around them. In the centre Tikal was shuddering painfully, Knuckles keeping a safe grip on her shoulders as they both concentrated the power of the Master Emerald around themselves and the others.

The explosion threw the bubble high into the air, along with all its occupants, and for a second they were at eye-level with Perfect Chaos. Then they were soaring away into darkness, fire raging war with water below.

Perfect Chaos roared and slashed out at the explosion, tentacle evaporating as soon as it hit. He shot a beam from his mouth, and it ripped through the centre of the fireball that hissed against his tentacles. One had to give; the fire was slowly extinguishing, and Chaos was slowly evaporating.

Then the fire crashed forward once more and Chaos fell back, defeated. The fireball rose out and away into the sky to fizzle away in a massive firework. On the ground the base was torn away by the destruction of all its internal machinery, and the cliff groaned suddenly.

With an earth-shattering roar the cliff came crashing down, burying Chaos, the remains of the base, and much of the surrounding countryside. The bubble drifted down to the edge of the wreckage, and disappeared with a tiny pop.

Tikal looked up at Knuckles weakly, and muttered, "Sorry...can't help you...anymore." Then she vanished into an orb of light and bobbed away slowly towards Angel Island. Knuckles coughed in the thick cloud of dust thrown up by the landslide, and began searching for the others.

Miraculously they were all ok, or at least not badly injured, despite all that had happened. Slowly an exhausted Chaos 0 dug himself out of the rocks and sloped towards them through the twilight, head hanging.

Knuckles growled under his breath, but remained quiet; he could yell at Chaos later. For now he wanted to get back to his island; his legs were aching where Mecha had clawed at them, and he hadn't slept for what seemed like ages.

He didn't need to say anything; they all knew.

They were going home.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Chaos: Well, I guess I could just end it here, and write an epilogue of sorts... who thinks I should? 'Cause the next plot twist is currently unresolved, though the idea is good...(sigh) I wish writing this were as easy as reading and replying to the reviews! (grin)