Well, I finaly got off my lazy backside and finished Chapter 5, not that anyone except Razorwind cares, but hey that's life. Really would appreciate it if you reviewed though, pretty please. This is most likely the longest chapter I've ever written (because I've been wtriting a long time before I first found Anyway, here it is...

Disclaimer
I don't own Sonic, I thought you would have got that by now.

Calling

Kai was unable to sleep, he tossed and turned all night and what sleep he did get was plagued by nightmares, visions of his monstrous brethren and of what they may look like, or worse, what they might act like. More and more he was forced to spend the night awake, sitting in Tails' kitchen and drinking coffee all night long, fearing slipping into another horrifying nightmare. Meanwhile the Emerald lay almost dead in Tails' safe, a mere shell of its former brilliance. After many sleepless nights he decided, "Tails, I want you to do me a favour, I don't ask you to come with me, but I need to borrow the Tornado."
"What for?" Tails asked.
"I need to find the GUN base of operations."
"You're not going to do anything stupid are you?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Tails, I don't know anything right now, I don't know what's happening to the Emerald, but I think it has something to do with GUN."
"I owe you one Kai, I'll back you up all the way on this one, I'll even come with you, make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"Like I would." The two walked into the workshop, only to find the Tornado, sabotaged.
"What!" Tails yelled, "What the hell happened!"
"Damn it." Kai snarled, punching the wall, "Must be GUN, apparently they want me to come alone."
"I guess so."
"Well you wont be." A familiar voice said from behind them, it was none other than Sonic The Hedgehog, "Knuckles said something's wrong with the Master Emerald, whatever's about to happen is something big and I want to be along for the ride."
"Sonic, I'm still kind of, well, I really don't want to work with you so soon after, well you know." Kai sighed, trying not to hurt his new found friends feelings, "Besides I would much rather do this alone."
"I understand, but I can't let you run alone headfirst into a heap of trouble."
"Fine, just don't get in my way."

Down in the bowels of GUN's new base of operations, five glass tubes lay shattered and empty. Creatures hid in the darkness as the guards approached, and then, they were gone.

It was a dreary, dark morning in Station Square when Sonic and Kai finally got there, it was a hive of gossip so they were sure to discover something if they dug deep enough, in his hand Kai held a small radio which Tails had given to him, so all three of them could keep in contact. He wasn't entirely comfortable working with Sonic, but he would have had to face the hedgehog sooner or later.

Sonic wasn't nearly as bothered about working alongside a former enemy. After all he had done it a few times before, well to be honest a lot before. But he did wonder what about sometimes, one odd ball that's for sure.
"So, where the heck we goin'?" Sonic asked.
"It's Station Square," Kai began, "We're bound to find something."
"Okay, you want to, I dunno, split up?"
"Might as well, cover a lot more ground, meet back here at sundown." Kai went off North, toward the City Centre and Sonic went East, toward one of Station Squares many Shopping Mall's.

Kai reached the City Centre in a matter of minutes, he was met there by fleeing citizens, screaming about a monster, Kai leaped up and clung onto a lamppost to see what the problem was. Ahead he saw what looked like a chameleon, it was a bright red, its eyes were deep pools of the same colour, at the tip of its tail was a large spike, which looked razor sharp, its horn was considerably longer than most and long claws stretched from its hands. There was no mistake, this was one of Kai's brethren.
"Well." Kai snarled as a sadistic smile spread across his face, "Time to start the party." Leaping from the lamppost Kai aimed his body at the creature, but it suddenly vanished and Kai struck the pavement. From behind him a quiet voice, almost a whisper echoed, "You'd better be careful, or you'll end up dead." Kai whirled around and lunged again at the chameleon. Of course he did miss again, getting aggravated already he switched on his radio, "Tails." He said down the radio, "I've got a slight problem.
"Shoot." Tails replied.
"I've run into one of my siblings, I can't hit him."
"Her." The chameleon rasped from behind Kai. Only then did he notice the chameleon was a female, the 'claws' were in fact more like nails.
"Tails an idea would help right now, this is one tough chameleon."
"You moron," Tails began.
"What?"
"She's a chameleon, she's using her natural camouflage to confuse your animal instincts, try and spot her quickly when she vanishes."
"And how do I spot her?"
"Look for things that betray her location, rustling grass in a lawn or something."
"Tails!"
"What?"
"I'm in the middle of Station Square!"
"Well there should be something you can think of." The place looked completely empty, nothing to expose her with, then he felt his eyes being drawn upward as he saw something in the corner of his eye. He smiled to himself. Running into a narrow alley between two apartment blocks he formed a plan in his head. He jumped as high as he could to one wall, then ricocheted off it on to the other, he continued this process until he managed to haul himself onto one of the roofs, thank God it was the right one. A water tower stood not far off, Kai quickly jumped atop of it, looking down to where he had fought the chameleon he used his claws to rip into the tower and water spilled downward in a raging torrent. The street was soon soaked, a thin layer water on everything, everything not nailed down had been swept away, Kai leaped down, dragging his claws on the brickwork to slow his descent. He sprang from the wall onto the concrete, landing gracefully. He looked around, still smiling to himself, he saw a trail of ripples in the water heading toward him, he skilfully span out of the way and stuck his foot out, something slammed into his shin and the red chameleon appeared, flying head over heels through the air, a look of pure surprise plastered across her face. She landed hard on the concrete floor, bloodying her nose in the process. She sat up and stared as Kai approached her, "What's your name?" He asked.
"Vanish." The chameleon answered.
"Well, Vanish, you want to know how you lost that one? I'll tell you. You're camouflage is an effective tool , but you rely too heavily on it, besides that you created all that havoc just to draw me here, where as you could hunted me down and easily got the drop on me, besides that….."
"What?"
"You're pretty good." Kai then punched Vanish as hard as he could, knocking her out.

Sonic walked into the shopping mall, only to be met by screaming, at the top of a nearby escalator he saw a familiar shape, at first he thought it was Shadow, but then he realised otherwise. Running up the escalator, almost tripping along the way he saw that it was the grey hedgehog from the GUN battleship, Dodge.
"Stop right there, Dodge!" Sonic yelled.
"The master said you would come." Dodge hissed, "Said you would be here."
"Who?"
"The collective master, new master."
"Who is it? Who's pulling your strings now?"
"I wouldn't want to spoil your fun, but since you're here, maybe you could entertain me for a while."
"Fine, fine, I'll get my answers after I beat you down!" Sonic hurtled toward Dodge, who simply stepped aside at the last second, sending Sonic skidding across the floor and through a shop window.
"You don't learn, do you? You don't realise you don't have a chance." Dodge jeered.
"Okay, just for that I'll smash that smile right off your face." Sonic snarled.
Springing to his feet, Sonic used the momentum to start a spin dash and sped toward Dodge, who kicked the speeding Sonic as hard as he could, sending the blue blur flying through the air, at least this time Sonic didn't feel the impact because he was rolled up. Uncurling, he looked around for Dodge, who was nowhere around, or so Sonic thought. In fact Dodge was hidden high up, near the roof, clinging onto the rafters, waiting to pounce. Sonic edged ever closer and then the moment came, Dodge leaped down and grabbed Sonic, the startled hedgehog fell backward as Dodges hands clamped 'round his neck. Sonic brought his feet up and pushed against Dodges grip with all his might, sending Dodge onto his back, Sonic quickly took full advantage of this by grabbing Dodge before he had a chance to move.
"Well if I can keep hold of you I can hit you, or do this." Sonic said, a smirk spreading across his face.
Sonic ran flat out toward a store window, smashed through it and slammed Dodges head through a TV screen., pulling his head out revealed his fur was charred from the circuitry within, too caught up in an adrenaline rush to care, Sonic pushed Dodge forward into the sparking circuits, he then threw Dodge backward, unfortunately for Dodge he landed on his head and blacked out.
"Ha. Too easy." Sonic laughed, wondering if Kai had found anything Sonic decided it best to let the authorities handle it from here.

Back at the meeting point, Kai was waiting for Sonic when the blue blur turned up.
"You'll never guess what happened." They said in unison.
"Sonic, I found this, this chameleon, one of my brethren, said her name was Vanish."
"I found Dodge!" Sonic exclaimed, "In the local mall."
"He still there?"
"Should be, I knocked him out, it's just down the street, I'll show you." The two heroes sped off down the street, into the mall and up the escalator to find, nothing. Just a trail of blood leading away from the spot where Dodge had been.
"Wait a minute." Sonic said kneeling down, "What's this." An envelope was clutched in Sonic's hand, he handed it over to Kai.

Kai,

Your presence is required at the request of Miles 'Tails' Prower.
Proceed, alone, to Prison Island, we will find you, do not try to bring anyone with you or Mr Prower's life will be forfeit.

Yours hatefully,
The collective.

Kai turned to leave.
"Hey. Where are going?" Sonic asked.
"Prison Island, that's where." Kai replied bitterly.
"But it could be a trap."
"It is a trap, I'm going to walked headlong into it."
"You're crazy, you can't just walk into their hands."
"Like you wouldn't!" A long awkward silence followed before Kai left.

Prison Island

Kai stepped out off the fishing boat, throwing a $20 note for the guy who had given him a ride, he stopped and starred for a while, wondering which path to take. A low hum and a mechanical rumble was heard as a large portion of the ground opened up, to reveal an underground bunker. It looked like he'd been shown the way. As he stepped down into the darkness he peered down the narrow hallway, down into the stillness and the blackness. He descended the small staircase in front of him, the door behind him slid shut, he ignored it knowing that it was automated. He walked to the end of the corridor and saw that the door in front of him was an elevator. Stepping onto it he sighed,
"Why do villains never invade a nice sandy beach or an Italian restaurant, just base after base after base." The elevator took him around three floors down, as the doors creaked open, a feeling of being watched crept over Kai, as he stepped out he was met with a massive light. Squinting, he managed to make out a silhouette walking toward him, it resembled Sonic and for a moment Kai thought it was him. The light cut out to reveal the hedgehog's true identity.
"Dodge." Kai growled.
"You looked surprised to see me, brother."
"Well I can assure you, it's not a pleasant one."
"I didn't think so."
"Wow, so you think now?"
"Enough! It's time to--" Dodge was cut off when the blinding light flicked back on and dazzled the pair. As Kai's vision cleared he saw another hedgehog silhouette, as the light dimmed The strangers features became clear, his left eye and pretty much all the left of his face was metal and circuitry, his right arm was metallic and clawed on the hand, his legs were both metal.
"Thought you would have all the fun, eh Dodge? Thought to disobey my command?" "N… no!" Dodge stuttered, "I.. I was going to knock him out and bring him to you, honest."
"Lying to me is futile Dodge, the chip in your brain tells me when you lie and lets me do this." The strangers organic eye narrowed and Dodge fell screaming and clutching his head, "Let that be a lesson to you. Kai, how nice to see you again, you look none the worse from your battle with Vanish, she must have been like a bug on the windshield to you."
"Actually I thought that if she could get some proper training she could be a lot better, can't say I'd think much of her boss." Kai jeered.
"You realize that I could shred your brain with just a thought, but honour prevents me from doing so, do not make me reconsider."
"So there's one of those things in here?" Kai asked tapping his forehead.
"Yes, don't make me use it. I'm sure your wondering why you're here?"
"I'm hear because of threats and blackmail, I want to know WHY I'm here."
"Why? Destiny!"
"Oh great a raving loony, as if my family couldn't get worse."
"Destiny brought you here so you could help create the greatest empire of all time. Together you and I will lay the foundation stones for paradise on earth."
"Yeah and when did I start caring about the world and universe and other junk like that, leave that stuff to Sonic, I just want to relax and kick back while I can and occasionally smack one of you guys around."
"Kai, brother, it isn't like you have a choice in this." The stranger's eye narrowed and Kai fell clutching his head, "That is the feeling of a high powered electric shock coursing through your brain."
"That hurt, ow."
"Don't resist as the probe takes control of your mind."
"Oh yeah, sure why not, NOT!"
"Your endless supply of sarcasm continues to try my patience. I am Bionic! I am collective master! And I will not be denied!"
"Hate to break it to you…." Kai began, he than sprang up and caught Bionic with a strong uppercut, "But Tails popped that thing out of my skull just last week!" Bionic rolled backward, trying desperately to get his footing, he succeeded just to be knocked flat by a cyan beam of chaos energy.
"Not to seem rude or anything but what's with Bionic, I mean what are you some bizarre clone of Sonic or something?"
"That's enough of that." Bionic said, he lifted his Metal arm which morphed into a laser cannon, he fired straight at Kai's head, the tiger tried to swerve away but felt searing hot chaos energy scorch his eyeball, now blind in one eye Kai rushed forward in a rage.
"That frigging hurt bolt for brains!" He yelled as he tackled Bionic into a wall, the sheer force of the impact sent concrete and steel flying everywhere as the two toppled through the opening.
"I'm going to rip out your tongue for that you sleaze ball!" Kai yelled, not noticing Tails lying trust up across the room.
"You have no idea of the horrors which will befall the world if you don't help me. Without you I cannot control our brethren for much longer."
"What so I'm supposed to enslave the world out of sheer frigging nobility, I think not." "You're dooming the entire world, all those people out there. Aren't you a big hero since that little skirmish in Station Square? Don't you want to save those people, don't you care?" All the while the two had been trading punches and Kai then knocked Bionic off his feet into a computer console.
"The problem is I do care, about them, I care about their hopes, their dreams, their free will, if humans want to muck things up then we can't change that, heroes don't stop it from happening, they make sure they stop it and it doesn't happen again, we aren't the mechanics, we're just the poor saps that have to clean up the mess when the boiler blows up. Stick that in your hard drive and smoke it!"
"I guess I knew it would come to this, knew you wouldn't understand, being the champion of free will that you are." Bionic said as his legs morphed into jets and he hovered just above ground. He sped past Kai and grabbed Tails then smashed through the ceiling, "Adios!" His voice yelled back down.
"Kai." A weak voice coughed from the corner. The tiger spun round and beheld the battered form of his creator, he was a middle aged, fairly good looking man with brown hair and deep brown eyes, he wore a ripped and stained suit that he had obviously been in for a day or two. Kai ran over and knelt down beside him.
"You!" Kai exclaimed finally realizing who he was.
"Yes, me."
"What are you doing here? What have you been up to?"
"It's not my fault, Bionic broke out and kidnapped me, it's not my fault."
"Not your fault? Why should I believe you? Hell, why should I even let you live?"
"The real question is, why haven't you killed me already? I'll tell you, because you have standards, let me tell you how it all happened, GUN were sick of Sonic taking all the glory, the President had considered pulling their funding, but had given them one last chance, The Director demanded a weapon which could match Sonic step for step and also a support team for this new weapon, much like Sonic's friends, thus I had the idea of The Collective, a grouping of the finest abilities in the world, speed, strength and so on and a few that combined multiple traits, like you. You were originally designed to be Collective master, with a free will you could govern the rest of the team, but GUN disagreed, they wanted something they could control and that's--"
"When you created Bionic."
"Yes, he was to be the Sonic of the team while you would act like Shadow, as his slightly less than equal partner. We awoke you first to test the free will theory, then of course you went rouge, The Director demanded we awaken the others to contain you, we did but, something--"
"Went wrong, they went rouge."
"More or less, yes, they were designed to protect humanityyou see, Bionic thought that the only way to protect humans was to contain them and the others, him being Collective master, shortly followed suit, we dreamed of creating the worlds most powerful weapon, we succeeded."
"How can I beat him?"
"You can't."
"Even if it's just a chance."
"Hm, that's it."
"What?"
"Reach down into your Emerald, into yourself, find that calm that only you have. That he doesn't." With that he passed out, Kai checked his pulse, still alive.
"Don't die on me, I'd rather do you in myself you old buzzard." Kai stepped below the opening in the roof, he looked at his Emerald, "Calm within the Chaos." He said to himself, he reached deep down into the Emerald, to it's core and found the calm, the eye of the storm, now for the hard part, he looked within his mind for a calm memory, lying on Emerald Beach sunbathing with Rouge and Shadow, Playing poker with Knuckles and Sonic, so much had happened to him but when had he been truly at peace, of course, he and Tails had gone on vacation with Sonic, up high in the repaired Tornado he and Sonic went wing surfing, one on each wing, he remembered the wind rushing around him, remembered the balance and how calm he stayed so not to fall off. Then he felt it, the feeling spreading through his body, there was a flash of light and he soared upward.

Meanwhile, Bionic was speeding away from the island at a phenomenal pace, the island had already become just a dot on the horizon.
"He'll find a way to follow y'know?" Bionic sighed, "He's resourceful by nature, I should know, I'm his brother, he's too stubborn to just give up anyway. But I'll have a surprise waiting for him." Bionic produced a small device from his pocket, it was about the size of a potato chip, but obviously looked nothing like one, it was a flat circle of metal with a green button at one end and a red at the other. "This is called the Chaos Nullifier, it reduces the potency of chaos energy to zero and renders all beings, such as super forms unusable, he'll be no match for me." A white streak whizzed past them and Tails was dragged along with it, there floating in front of Bionic was a white tiger with cyan stripes, he wore Kai's black uniform and had Tails slung over his shoulder.
"You're…" Bionic began.
Kai just nodded.
"But how? With only one Emerald?"
"That's simple, this isn't a super form." Kai replied casually.
"Then you're no match for me." Bionic flew flat out at Kai who Chaos controlled out of the way.

Kai and Tails reappeared back on the Prison Island beach, dropping Tails of his shoulder and breaking the ropes around the fox's wrists and ankles he spoke, "Stay here, I've got to get my own back on this guy." He then pointed to his ruined eye and smiled, "If I'm not back, or if another of The Collective shows up, get away, fast.." A spiked fist came out of nowhere and sent Kai flying off straight into a tree. Standing above Tails was an emerald green echidna with dreadlocks almost to the floor, his arms were huge and muscular and his eyes were a deep dark blue.
"About time I got a crack at someone, didn't expect it to be you though, Bionic wanted you all to himself." The echidna snarled menacingly, "Sure you got the better of us once or twice, but all alone me, Dodge and Bionic are more than a match for you."
"An who says he's alone?"

WOOT! And the reinforcements come marching in, well not quite marching...