(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

Flip card 2:

Name: The Black Arms Sect

Description: This mysterious group of extra terrestrials have arrived and a great war is about to begin. Whether or not their intentions are benevolent or malicious are yet to be revealed, but clearly a darker force is acting a puppeteer behind the scenes.

-

"I can't explain, but this is real important." Shadow began to the others, who stood there in his presence with dumbfounded looks on his faces. "I have to get back to Earth and find this 'legacy' Prof. Gerald left behind." Stranded away from the others and the Blue Typhoon, Shadow was preparing to return them all to Earth with a Chaos Control, having built up enough energy to teleport the five of them that extreme distance. None of them could be more glad to be leaving Metal X territory behind.

"The last thing he left behind nearly destroyed the planet." Hare side whispered to Bean. "Do we really need his legacy?" Shadow silenced any of them from replying by fixing them with a glare like a vice, freezing any words in their throats.

"Just what is this legacy of his?" Bark asked sceptically. "What is it supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Shadow admitted, folding his arms. "But it's important and if we don't find out what it is and how to use it, then we have a serious problem on our hands." The three of them cast each other nervous glances. "And.." he paused, as if reluctant to finish the sentence. "I need your help."

"Our help?" Bean repeated. "What for?"

"You're part of G.U.N." The black and red Hedgehog explained. "You're not top ranking general's, but you can get me past all their stupid red tape. Besides, something tells me they won't be too eager to share information with a being they tried so hard to destroy back on ARK." Suddenly, he turned and shuddered, some wave of invisible energy passing through him; forcing a near ever present feeling of sickness over his body.

"Hey, what's that?" Bark asked, gesturing up towards the sky through the tree tops. Looking up, all of them saw a bright blue light like a second sun erupt across beyond the clouds, blinking several times like an intensely bright star, before disappearing. The others could not know but that light had pulsed intense amounts of Chaos Energy, as if the mass majority of the Chaos Emeralds had been rippled at once. That did not bode well, for as far as Shadow knew, most of the Emeralds were with the Machine Federation.

Still, he had priorities right now. Perhaps this was the thing Gerald had been trying to warn him against, or perhaps not. It wasn't a good idea to risk it.

"Sonic can handle it, whatever it is." He stated. "Right now, this is too important to ignore."

"That looked pretty important too." Hare remarked, rubbing his eyes as he caught the flare head on and it was causing him to see spots.

"Shadow's right, Sonic and the others are more than capable of handling it themselves." Bark announced. "We'd just get in the way right now."

"What about the Major?" Bean asked.

"Glad to see the back of him myself." Hare remarked callously, still upset with Okida for getting him drafted. That earned him two intense glares from Bean and Bark. "Although I wish him luck." The mobian rabbit added quickly.

"So, what's it going to be?" Shadow asked, interrupting the course of the conversation.

"Fine, if it gets me back to Earth, I'll go along with it." Hare said a little too quickly for Shadow's taste.

"Don't like leaving the Major here, but he and the others can work things out themselves easy enough." Bark replied. "Fine, I'm in."

"Ditto." Bean added.

Shadow looked back over his shoulder towards Tikal, who was standing nearby gazing up at the sky, towards the blue glow that was slowly fading away in the sky. He didn't know why he knew, but he knew she could sense Chaos Energy; so it was apparent she was trying to find out what that flash of light was. By the disappointed look on her face, she did not look like she was having much luck.

"You coming?" The black and red hedgehog asked, gaining her attention. Tikal looked back, a plain emotionless expression on her face. Before a short grin spread over her lips.

"Sure."

-

Chaotix, or rather more accurately Vector; had hidden the space ship stolen (or as Vector kept telling them, 'borrowed') from G.U.N just outside down in a run down district. The police, now pressed as hard as ever, didn't have time to go around the beat in this part of the neighbourhood. It wasn't the best launch site in the world, but it would have to do for.

"I can't decide what scares me more." Espio announced as Vector readied the ship for take off. They had concealed it between two condemned buildings, making sure they were vacant so nothing would be burnt to a cinder when they took off. "That you came up with idea in the first place, or that you're getting away with it."

"Oh stop complaining." The crocodile retorted, placing a small crate of their supplies down on the floor. "We aren't going to get arrested so put a sock in it." Espio simply sighed, crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back into his seat.

"Oh Vector…" Charmee called up without the trap door into the cockpit. "Guess who's here?" Quickly the bee darted out of the way as a green scaly blur shot past, nearly fell down the stairs before shooting down the corridor beyond. Espio looked out the window in the cockpit to see Vanilla and her daughter approach, accompanied by that Gizoid robot of theirs.

"That's the last of it." Rei remarked, pushing the large crate onto the forklift Beck had hired as the human raised it along with several hours before transporting them back into the ship's hold. Looking around, the fly squirrel saw the rabbits and their robot walking towards them. "Oh hi Van…" He never got the opportunity to finish the sentence as Vector came soured up and pushed him out of the way in order to be the sole object of Vanilla's attention.

"We're ready when you are." The crocodile began. "The ships ready…" he paused, seeing the suitcases Emerl had in each hand. One pink and covered with flowers patterns and the other more plain. "And see, so are you." Vanilla nodded with a short giggle.

"Even though we're only going for a day or two but we ended up packing for a week anyway."

"The ships perfect, checked her myself." The crocodile stated proudly, jabbing his chest with his thumb. Rei crumbled loudly to himself, more like Vector had ordered THEM to check it.

What Vector didn't know however was that his ship had an unwanted stowaway. Hiding inside one of the crates Beck was loading onto the ship was the agencies worst enemy, armed with a way to finish them all; only waiting for his moment to strike.

"Good thing Emerl knows how to fly it." Espio remarked flatly as the Gizoid robot took up a place in the pilots seat. "Or this latest hair-brained scheme would be dead in the water."

Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Vector remarked, sitting into his own seat and putting his feet up on a flat surface in front of him.

"And don't forget to put your trays in their upright and locked positions." Charmee added with a long laugh, buzzing around the chameleon's head until Espio shooed him away.

"Ever been into space before?" Rei asked Beck who was sitting in the seat on his opposite side. Beck gave him a flat look as if to ask: what kind of question is that?' Rei managed a nervous smile.

A lone G.U.N beetle robot had been dispatched to this area of the city as the military was finding it hard to patrol everywhere. They were stretched a little thin as it was, preparing their fleet for the inevitable confrontation with an enemy. At the moment, for law enforcement at least, all they could afford to send out were single robots.

This one got lucky however and if a single loud roar, the G.U.N ship that had been reported missing yesterday came roaring up from between the buildings, souring upwards towards the sky, reaching fantastic heights before it had a chance to sent an emergency report to G.U.N command.

"To boldly go where no-one has gone before!" Charmee yelled out as their stolen, or borrowed, ship soured higher and higher in the space of a few seconds.

"Now is not the time!" Vector called back to him, the roar of the outside speeds browning out his own voice, until suddenly that broke out through the atmosphere and after that, only silence endured. The blue sky outside the window faded away and the black of space appeared, along with the twinkling of many stars.

"Woah, what a ride." Beck commented, holding both hands to the side of his head. "I don't recommend that for people with heart problems."

"You could have mentioned that earlier." Espio said, slouching in his seat, looking drained.

"You have a heart problem?" Rei asked, looking past the seat in front of him.

"Comes from working with Vector for so long."

"See mom, this is what it's like." Cream began, describing to her mother her last trip into space aboard the Icarus, which ended up in the middle of a Maginaryworld civil war.

Vanilla however was not too found of the view from out the window had had to turn away. She was only agreed to her daughters request to go into space so long as soon as Sonic had their Chaos Emerald, they left to go home. Emerl could protect her, but still she would rather not have Cream racing into a war zone.

"Attention, you are piloting a stolen registered G.U.N vehicle. Turn back at once." A loud voice barked over the console communication system, causing Vector to grimace. Emerl simply turned the com system off and continued on.

"Hope your happy." Espio remarked up to their leader. "When we get back, we'll be arrested the moment we step on the ground."

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." Vector replied, assuming all of them that he had everything under control.

With one solid kick, the lid of the crate flew off and Fang the Sniper pushed his way out. Chaotix had certainly gone slightly more professional from the days when he was a member, but they were still bumbling idiots. What kind of amateurs didn't check their baggage first? They were just asking for trouble.

Fang found himself in the holding area at the back of the ship, amidst a large amount of crates, most of which were empty shells that came with the stolen G.U.N property. The ones actually belonging to Chaotix were made of wood and stacked up in a pile nearby.

"Right, now let's get crackin'." The weasel muttered to himself, reaching to his belt and lifting the device the gecko had given him from a hook. "It's show time!"

"Hey, what the!" Vector exclaimed as the ship suddenly lurched forward and sudden the loud humming of the engines at the back of the ship cut out. Emerl tried to reactive them, but found the control unresponsive. The ship wasn't beyond the pull of the planet's gravity yet and without those engines online, they'd burn up as they fell back into the atmosphere.

"You should have gotten a warrantee." Rei remarked as Vector glanced out the window to see the engines on the side. They had stopped alright, but there didn't appear to be wrong with them, at least on the outside.

"Espio, Charmee; go see what the problem is." The crocodile stated, gesturing to the two of them.

"Once again, we end up doing the dirty work." Espio sighed, undoing his seatbelt.

To get to the engine room they had to go through the cargo bay where Vector had stashed their extensive, and utterly unnecessary supplies. A long maze of metal crates that had come with the ship lay before them, the door to the engine room on the far side. A long window ran down the let hand side, showing a great view of the planet below and fait blue glow of the atmosphere surrounding it.

"Charmee, why don't you fly over the top and get there quicker." The bee nodded and flew over the top of one of the crates and out of sight. A single later, a loud bang rang out through the metal room and Charmee came hurtling back, darting behind Espio like a scared child.

"I thought I told you to watch your back." A voice stated. Espio snarled and shot around to face his nemesis standing there on top of a crate, a gun tight in one hand and a sharp dagger in the other. Fang the Sniper, professional assassin and murderer. "You've been slouching in Vector's shadow for too long."

"So what should I have been doing, shooting innocent people like you?" The chameleon asked right back. The weasel chuckled deep in his throat, that sick sadistic sneer over his face. "Charmee, get out the way. I'll take care of him." The bee nodded and darted behind a metal crate in a blur of yellow and black.

"And I thought you of all of the agency would know better. There's no such thing as an innocent person." Fang replied, before he fired a shot at Espio, who darted backwards to avoid it before sending several shuriken flying through the air. Fang slide backs of the crate and they missed him. "Vector's still got you believing that bullshit about right and wrong." The weasel announced as their game of hunter and hunted began. "But I think you know better, you know there's no ultimate good or evil. They chance depending on where you stand."

"Right and wrong aren't deep rooted true, but what you did was evil; no doubt about it." Espio retorted, flipping a shuriken between his fingers between his fingers like a coin trying to catch even the slightly glimpse of the weasel.

"I don't see it that way." Fang replied, slipping between two crates. "What I did was clear away the refuse of my life and start over, the way I wanted to live it. Now, are done talking?"

Espio lunged at the Weasel from the top of a crate, tackling him to the ground with a loud thud. Fang kicked him off, before taking a swing at him with his dagger.

With a flick of his tail, Espio knocked both weapons out of Fang's hands with the weasel forced Espio to drop his own by punching him in the stomach.

Reducing to hand to hand combat, the two of them began exchanging heavy blows. Fang landed several against Espio's side, while the chameleon managed a tremendous kick against the weasel's chest.

"Now there something you don't see everyday." Fang and Espio stopped fighting to follow Chamree's gaze out the window was a think shadow began to cast itself over the ship. Vanilla and Vector in the front stared out at in in a mixture of awe and horror as a ship, tremendously superior in size to their own passed by.

"What in the world?" Beck stammered, staggering back from the window as it consumed the entire line of sight.

"I don't know, whatever it is much cost a lot of insurance." Rei replied, managing a terrible joke despite the bizarre and dangerous situation they were in.

-

Alarms began screaming on every military base on earth; whatever satellites they had left were telling them a fleet had arrived from space and was approaching the planet. According to estimations, within the next few hours this fleet of unidentified flying objects would enter their astrosphere.

Already on high alert as it was, G.U.N was nearly sent in Chaos. They could not rule out the possibility that this was an invasion force by the Eggman Empire, or the Machine Federation; or both.

"Just what is going on?" The President demanded as condition 'red' was declared at the White House.

"It's an invasion sir." Christina replied as nearly every top level government official gathered in the oval office. "Long range telescopes and satellites have picked up a large fleet approaching the Earth."

"Where's it coming from?" The President asked, sitting down at in chair as reads and information were instantly broadcast onto the screen in front of him.

"Based on the intruder's trajectory, we estimate it left from the planet Mars." The secretary of defence told him, putting a fold full of papers down on the office table. "What are your orders sir?" The room grew silent as every fixed the President with a stare. The middle aged man stopped to take a deep breath, before flying into his command persona.

"This is it." He announced suddenly. "We've been preparing for this ever since Eggman first turned up. Whether it's him, Metal X or someone else, we have to assume the worse." He looked up towards the screen, seeing the sea of red dots that displayed possible hostiles slowly moving towards the circle that represented Earth's atmosphere. "Mobilise the G.U.N fleet, put them in an intercept position as far away from the atmosphere as they can and tell them to hold their fire until enemies can be confirmed."

"Yes sir." The general stated, saluting him.

"Is Giant Wing ready for use?"

"Yes sir."

"Then I'll be coming along." The announcement forced the room into silence.

"Sir…I'm not sure that's a very good idea." Christina began slowly.

"Modern day politicians stay behind the front line whenever countries went to war, cowardly expecting men to die for them while they remained safe in wealth." The President explained. "Where Kings and Emperors of the past were expected, no, demanded of; to fight alongside the men and they did so without question." He paused to swallow hard. This was his last term in office and he intended to go out with a bang. "I'll not be remembered as a Modern Politician should things go wrong."

-

This place was unlike anything Sonic had seen before. It was like the walls were a welding of metal and flesh and somewhere above the small chamber that served as his cell was a thudding sound, as regular as a heartbeat, in fact; Sonic wasn't too sure it wasn't a heart beat. His arms and legs were bound by some strange liquid like substance that seemed to stand up on his own, forcing his hands into a fist above him and his legs to the wall below. This chamber was full of another type of liquid, a strange orange water that to his utter surprise, he found he could breath. In front of him was a glass window, at least it looked like glass and through this he could see another room. This was a long corridor made completely of metal it seemed, scribed with rune like symbols on the walls and with glowing green lines running down the engraved lines. Watching him back were two creature, humanoid in appearance, but twice his size and a good deal head and shoulders taller than the average human. They were dark grey in colour, yet the ends of their arms, legs and the front of their heads were blood red, their skin covered in thin scales. They had long, reptilian tails sweeping back down behind them. Their eyes were large and oval, coloured flaxen yellow. Whenever they blinked, the eyelids came in from either side to meet vertically in the middle. Their heads angled backwards over their shoulder blades, probably housing an enlarged brain.

"Kral-Pal-ki-ki at." One of them began to the other, speaking in that strange language he had heard them use, but was totally incapable of understanding what they were saying. The other nodded, before reaching down to some console beyond Sonic's line of sight and pressing a button. There was aloud humming sound as the blue hedgehog looked up to see a strange arm reach down from the top of the chamber. Like the rest of this place, it looked like something with metal bones but organic parts like muscles and skin. It descended down in front of the hedgehog and hovered there, three fat fingers expending outwards over Sonic's face.

The brief memory of what people claim to have undergone with being abducted by aliens passed briefly through his mind and he panicked, trying desperately to get away from the device as it slowly slid closer. With a sudden thrust, it clamped itself onto his face and now Sonic was reminded of what happened to those guys in that movie who had something alien attach itself to their faces.

And despite everything he'd already been through, Sonic was not quite ready to have something burst out of his stomach.

Thankfully, the device had clamped itself above his mouth and around his eyes and he watched as a strange light scanned them, passing down over the pupils before letting go.

They were studying him, that became clear. He was some kind of new animal to them and they were examining his body to see what he was.

"Karlik pal!" Another of their number entered through another door somewhere out of sight and the other two stepped away from the window. This new one was different to the others. It was slightly taller, a longer tail and had protective armour over it's arms and torso. Around it's neck was a strange metal device that a with single red button in the centre.

Sonic watched it approach and stand before him, staring directly into the hedgehog's eye with his own. Then he reached up with a cloven hand and pressed the button.

A sudden flat green circle passed through the chamber from the ceiling to the floor and Sonic felt as if someone had reached into his mind and yanked something out, leaving him swaying there a little disoriented. The creature remained silent for a second, before opening it's mouth and asking in perfect English; "Can you understand me?"

"You…you speak English?" Sonic asked, suddenly finding for the first time that despite the water flowing in and out of his mouth, not only could he breath but he could also speak in this environment.

"I do now." The alien replied. "Interesting language, and according to our information it diverts according to region. Fortunately it's nothing our mind trace cannot accommodate."

"Just who are you?" The hedgehog asked.

"You misunderstand your situation here." The creature replied callously. "During interrogation, I ask the questions. Now, what is you affiliation?" Sonic remained silent. "Who do you work for?" The alien asked again.

"He is self employed." A voice replied, but this one was very familiar. Looking up, the blue hedgehog saw another enter the room, a figure just as familiar as the voice it belonged to. Metal Sonic, leader of the Metal X Machine Federation. The red disc like eyes staring out towards his organic contour part, lightly reflected of the metal armour around the face. A long purple cape was flowing out from the metallic shoulder pads. "He is the self proclaimed barbarian cultures' champion."

"Barbarian culture?" Sonic repeated. "You call us barbarians?"

"What else could you be called?" The alien asked. "You are a vicious and savage civilisation, you pollute your world and fight amongst each other like primitives." It gestured back towards Metal Sonic. "The Machine Federation has already provided us with all the information we require about your world and your savage practices." Sonic watched Metal Sonic's face gleam in a sadistic delight. "If we decide you a threat, you will be forcibly removed."

"That's a lie!" The hedgehog protested. "It's the Machine Federation who are the savage one. Metal Sonic's lying to you!"

"Save your breath." The alien replied flatly. "We of the Black Arms Sect already know of your lying, deceitful ways. All those concerned with the detention of you and your compatriots have been instructed to ignore your pleas." Sonic's suddenly felt a tingle of fear pass down through his spine.

"What have you done with my friends."

"All of them are contained." The alien said, crossing his arms in a very human way. "Your ship is currently being held in our custody and the Chaos energy sources you stole have been returned to their proper owners, the Metal X Machine Federation." Sonic looked up in panic to see Metal Sonic produce the Red Chaos Emerald from behind his back, nimbly tossing it up into the air before catching it again with one hand. It was the Emerald they took from the Metal X general Equinox and if he had that, then he must have the other five they managed to gather. Now all Metal Sonic needed to win was one more.

"No!" Sonic declared, desperately trying to break the bounds that kept him in place. His strength wasn't enough. The technology used to construct all of this was simply far too advanced. "You don't know what your doing!"

"Now, let us start where we left off." The alien commander butted in. "Remember this is still interrogation and we have questions for you."

"I advise you to be honest with them." Metal Sonic added in with a gleam to his black and red eyes. "Commander Rikoye here will be supervising it personally and he will be most upset if you do not answer."

"You're not gonna get away with this!" Sonic hissed.

"Now let's begin with questions about you military defences." The Alien commander began.

-

(In Chris voice)

Disaster! Metal Sonic has six Chaos Emeralds, the Blue Typhoon is captured, and Earth is the brink of an Alien invasion! Just who are these 'Black Arms' and what do they want? What is their connection to Metal Sonic and will Espio and Fang put aside their differences to fight a common enemy? A big battle is about to go down, next time on Sonic X; The War begins! Don't miss it!