Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait, but I've been very busy with my studies and with my other fanfic that I've been updating. Before I decided to split this chapter into two, but I decided against it since it's been almost two months since my last updated and decided to make it one big chapter instead.

Chapter Twenty

The Valiant Three vs. the Treacherous Trio

"A legend that has been passed down for centuries since before the forging of the Kingdom Emeralds that tells of three heroes who battled a great Evil with their great powers.

The Legend of the Chaos Three

A great Evil had arisen from the bellows of the earth as he escaped from its prison that the Gods had put him there. He wanted revenge on the world for all the pain that he had felt and he took it on the civilizations who still worshipped those Gods who had imprisoned him. He imprisoned many, many resisted, and many were executed for their treachery. However, three heroes had arisen to put a stop to this vile Evil.

A hedgehog whose speed surpasses that of a tsunami, an echidna whose strength can overturn mountains, and an young kitsune whose power surpasses that of his elders in the powers of the elemental forces on the planet. The three battled the Evil's subordinates as they gathered the mystical Chaos Emeralds of the Seven Civilizations since the Evil didn't believe that some puny gems could defeat him. One by one the seven gems came under the control of the heroes willingly and the Evil started to feel threatened and decided to steal the last gem. However, the last gem was held in the young kitsune's tribe and they put one heck of a fight in order to keep their gem safe. The Evil caused the entire kitsune tribe to become extinct and He gathered the gem just as the three heroes came up to the village. The young kitsune felt angered and launched multiple assaults on the Evil of the spells that he knew, but to no effect. He felt weakened as he launched attack after attack. The kitsune had one last attack that could defeat this Evil, but at the same time it could kill him. He cast an attack that caused enormous flaming rocks to rain from the heavens and it devastated the Evil causing him to relinquish the gem.

The three called upon the Seven Gems to give them the powers of the Gods and their wish was granted. Their power was immense and has never been down before until this great battle. Good and Evil battled it out on the earth, in the clouds, and even under the sea. Both sides caused chaos wherever they fought; mountains were overturn and new lakes were established from the fight. The battle progressed as both sides took heavy casualties, but the battle was near an end. The three heroes were able to find a weakness and exploit it to defeat this Evil. However this weakness in the Evil could cause the heroes their lives. They exploited the weakness anyways and sacrificed themselves in order to seal the great Evil in another realm.

This is the legend of the of the Chaos Three; named for the fact that they were the first known beings to use the true powers of the Chaos Emeralds," the elder echidna said as he concluded his tale with a sigh.

"Are you telling me that those three that were in this room are the descendents of the Chaos Three?" the pink hedgehog practically yelled causing others to clamp their ears since the dome prison they were in amplified her voice as she pointed to the room.

The room that they were in looked like if it had been turned upside-down. Furniture had been upturned and large indentations could be seen on the ground and wall as if two super powered beings had caused the damage with a single punch.

"I didn't say that they were descendents of them, but they do fit the criteria and their true powers have been awakened when they used the powers of the seven Kingdom Emeralds," the elder echidna replied.

"But that doesn't explain why the Kingdom Emeralds reacted to them," the green hedgehog with the wild hair said.

"That story has been lost for centuries and it is best that we not learn what was the aftermath of the great battle except that the world recovered with the only lost of one of its living beings," the elder echidna replied as he rubbed both of his eyes before looking up to the heavens.

High above in the clouds a chaotic battle was under way. Three of those beings resembled the three heroes from the story that has been told and an egg-shaped man with a thick mustache dressed in thick armor that looked like if had seen better days. A hedgehog with red eyes whose quills sparkled the colors of the seven Kingdom Emeralds, a bright pink echidna with oversized knuckles and with the eyes of the purest violet, and a young kitsune with deep ocean blue eyes whose golden fur glistened in the sun as four golden Flickies orbited around him all few above the clouds as they faced this man.

"You three are going to pay for that!" the man spatted.

The hedgehog just snorted at the comment, "Can't your defeats get through that thick, skinny head of yours, Eggman!" the insult made the man fume. "You can't win."

"Cut the melodramatics, Sonic! I shall destroy you even if it kills me and the name is DR. IVO ROBOTNIK!"

"That can be arranged," the hedgehog known as Sonic sarcastically remarked. "Ready Knuckles? Tails?" he asked his comrades.

"Ready, Sonic!" they both replied.

Sonic took off like a shot and kicked Robotnik in the face with enough force that it could cleave off his head. Knuckles, the echidna, followed with a two-punch combo to the abdomen and an uppercut to the face. Tails, the kitsune, used his arsenal of Flickies to attack Robotnik as his friends continued their assault. Robotnik sent out a shockwave that allowed him to have some distance from his foes as they regrouped. However three robots appeared beside Robotnik and they looked extremely like his foes.

"Now, the real fun begins!" Robotnik sneered as three tentacles came out and connected to the robots.

Energy started to course through their circuits and they started to flicker a golden color as Robotnik let out a vile laugh. His foes kept back not liking the situation.

"This is not good," Knuckles said.

"Yeah," Sonic replied before he tried to crack a joke, "how much you wanna that they're going to pull a Benedict Arnold on him?"

"Cut the wisecracks, Sonic! We each take on our counterparts since they may want a rematch for all of the pain that we bestowed on them," Tails said in a scolding tone towards Sonic as they both nodded in agreement.

"Now," Robotnik stated just as the process was finished and getting the trio's attention, "that the process is almost complete. We shall see who," however his speech was cut off by a sudden jolt of electricity that caused him to go into convulsions. The surge of energy coming from Robotnik started to surge at an incredible speed that it was causing him have a heart attack. The process was complete as his body went limp although he was still conscious as the mechanical hedgehog caught him as the tentacles retracted from their hosts. "Why you!" was all he could manage with his weak voice.

"You thought that I would remain loyal to you?" the hedgehog spoke in a monotonic voice. "I was only biding my time until I could betray you and corroborate with my other cohorts to overthrow you when the time is right. So this is the end, Doctor!" his voice became more menacing as he raised one of his blasters and fired once in the Doctor's face burning off his mustache before releasing his grasp. Robotnik's body fell towards the earth and it transformed into a jet and took off towards the horizon.

"Typical," the metallic hedgehog muttered under his breath as he watched his creator flee towards the horizon.

"He must have installed a fail-safe program incase he was defeated," Tails whispered to his allies and they nodded to acknowledge his statement.

"Now Sonic," the robotic hedgehog stated as he turned towards his organic counterpart cracking his knuckles and moving his head to get the kinks out of his neck, "let's finish what we started since we first met on Little Planet."

"I didn't think that we would be going at each other again like this, Mecha, and so soon?" Sonic replied as he stretched his arms, neck, and legs.

"Let's," Mecha Sonic stated as they both took off like a bullet towards the heavens leaving a simultaneous sonic boom in their wake.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time!" the mechanical echidna snarled as he cracked his oversized knuckles.

"Whenever you're ready, Robo," he added the last part under his breath but this didn't go unnoticed by the robot.

"The name is now Mecha Knuckles and I'm looking forward to breaking those oversized knuckles of yours."

"Whatever," Knuckles breathed as he shook his head with his hands in the air before he charged at the robot causing a devastating crash as they both pummeled back towards the earth fighting on the way down.

"Now it's just you and me," the robotic Tails spoke with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I can't believe that Eggman would upgrade you from looking like a 'doll' to looking like you are today," Tails replied trying to hold back his laughter.

"You are going to pay for defeating more times than your life is worth."

Mecha Tails charged at his double only to be blocked by a pair of Flickies and receiving a punch to the gut and an elbow to the base of his neck by his organic counterpart. Tails followed his doppelganger back towards the ground as they continued to fight each other. Blow by blow, block by block they fought continuously as they fell parallel to a waterfall and they continued to fall into the abyss that awaited them.

Meanwhile in another area inside a volcano that is known as Lava Reef. Named for the fact that the volcano has reefs of lava that is fairly active but no eruptions have happened for centuries. The ancient echidnas of old had once used the area for mining but it was limited due to the sulfuric gases that were being emitted by the lava that inhabited the area for centuries. Today the area is closed off to everyone except for researchers, but now Lava Reef is the site of a battle between two echidnas of opposite origins.

Knuckles took a stalagmite sticking out of the lava and launched it at his robotic counterpart. Mecha Knuckles just punched it shattering it into pieces before punching the lava causing a large surge of lava to be launched at his organic counterpart. However, Knuckles just flew over the wave and charged towards Mecha Knuckles. They both made contact with each other causing a shockwave that knocked down stalactites off of their foundations and the trembling in the cavern started to trigger an eruption in the making. Knuckles punched his double in the face and flew off towards the ceiling of the cavern. He then started to spin like corkscrew as he drilled through the ceiling towards the surface. Knuckles made it towards the top of the cavern and landed in a forested area before being joined by his robotic double not long after. Their fight continued after a rare pause in the battle.

Meanwhile, yet another battle is underway but it is not on this planet. It takes place in the emptiness of space and it is said to be the 'next frontier.' Two hedgehogs are in a bout that is as old as history. Sonic and Mecha Sonic have been at each others' throats since their first meeting on Little Planet. Mecha had kidnapped a young hedgehog child named Amy Rose and took her hostage as he played on Sonic's heroic nature. They did meet again but in a race in which the winner gets Amy Rose and the looser is destroyed. Sonic did win even though Robotnik had cheated during the race. The only other times that the two met was when they were on Angel Island, but that is where Knuckles was the one who defeated Mecha Sonic after Sonic had severely damaged Mecha in a previous battle. Mecha Sonic felt defeat against his enemy and his allies when he tried to take over the world while he impersonated his master. The two did meet a few times prior but only to have Sonic prevail over Mecha.

Their battle now was in the emptiness of space and in a belt of asteroids that increased the risks of the battle. Mecha had been launching asteroids at his organic counterpart but he just countered with his signature move, the Sonic Spin. Sonic was able to get close enough to Mecha through the asteroids being thrown at him, the ones floating aimlessly through space, and through Mecha's constant blaster barrage. Sonic made contact with Mecha with both of his feet and their battle continued in close proximity to each other as their battle pushed them farther away from home and into treacherous waters.

Meanwhile back home and in the depths of the earth, a battle between two opposite foxes continues. Their fight had taken them into Hydrocity, the plumbing system for the city of Echidnaopolis, and during their fight they had destroyed several pipes that fed the city above. Hydrocity got its name for the fact that the maze of plumbing looked like a miniature city. Mecha Tails had thrown several pipes at Tails but he was able to evade the attacks and get close enough to Mecha to lay on a few hits of his own. They broke off their fight and Mecha launched several waves of blaster fire on his opponent that caused Tails to continuously evade the waves of blasters. Tails became cornered against a wall while he was evading the wave of attacks. He knew that he would be a sitting fox (or is it sitting duck) if he went underwater, but he could use the refraction of the water to his advantage. However, Mecha most likely knew how to compensate for the refracting image of his opponent and be able to hit Tails successfully.

"Use the water," a voice spoke in Tails' head taking him by surprise.

"Who said that?" Tails thought.

"Use the water. We'll protect you until then."

His Flicky guardians produced a shield that covered him and the only thing Tails could do was to obey the voice. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the water. He privately thought that he was doing something completely stupid. As he concentrated what the voice had told him, Mecha had taken the opportunity to bash on his shield in an attempt to breach his only defense. He started to heard a bubbling sound coming from the surface of the water before he heard a huge torrent that knocked Mecha into the air. Tails opened his eyes in shock as he saw the torrent take Mecha into the air before smashing him onto the surface of the water.

Mecha came out of the water enraged as he let out a snarl that could make anyone tremble with fear. Mecha then charged at Tails, and Tails, without thinking, moved his hands in a complex motion causing water to rise up out of the water. He then started to hurl orbs of water at Mecha that halted his approach. Tails then fired a column of water at Mecha and tried something complex; he tried to freeze Mecha in a prison of ice. It worked but Mecha freed himself and he was even more enraged than before.

Mecha charged at Tails and Tails produced another shield to protect him. He was knocked into the wall as Mecha tackled him and they when through several walls knocking out several more pipes in the process. More pipes started to break during their battle and the chamber they were in started to fill with water. Tails again called on his power to summon the water and created another torrent that sent them both sky-high and out of Hydrocity to another location.

Meanwhile as our two foxes are battling it out in Hydrocity, our two echidnas are currently battling it out in a forest of mushrooms called Mushroom Hill. Mushroom Hill got its name for the hill of mushrooms that inhabit the area, but these aren't normal mushrooms. These mushrooms grow to a gargantuan size. No one should ever travel there if they suffer from hay fever because these types of mushrooms don't produce spores, like normal mushrooms, but they produce pollen like all flowers do.

The peaceful environment of Mushroom Hill has been shattered to what looked liked a battlefield. Mecha Knuckles had been using the mushrooms as weapons while Knuckles chose not to since he cares more for the environment of his home than Mecha does. Knuckles had led Mecha towards the outskirts of Mushroom Hill so they were away from the mushrooms. Knuckles then charged at Mecha and started a close quarter combat. Knuckles had been a highly skilled in martial arts since he had a lot of time on his hands when he had been guarding the Master Emerald, a larger emerald that once held up his home but now it lost its power to do so. The sound of crushing metal and the smacking of flesh could be hear for miles around as their fight intensified. They continued to fight in close quarters until Mecha found an opening and he punched Knuckles in the face. That gave him enough time to attack Knuckles with his blaster that sent him sky-high and towards another section of the land. Mecha soon followed after Knuckles as he searched for his prey preparing to deliver the fatal blow.

Meanwhile, and yet, another battle is in progress. Deep in the outer rims of the system a battle between two hedgehogs was still in progress. They both came in close proximity to giant gas planets. One had a gargantuan gravitation field, another had rings of frozen rocks orbiting it, and even one that had an inverted axis. They were currently on the edge of the system and getting closer to the origin of comets that came by their home planet. Mecha had been launching waves of laser blast while Sonic had been evading this attacks and continued to put on the pressure on his double. Mecha spotted something coming towards them and let out an evil cackle before he landed a right hook at Sonic's temple when he go too close. Sonic recovered and saw Mecha going towards a comet on a course to orbit their sun.

"What is he--" Sonic thought before he caught on what Mecha was about to do. "No!"

Sonic knew what Mecha was going do. He was going to use Chaos Control, a process that needed a Chaos Emerald in order to work that allows the user to travel through time and space, to send the comet on a collision course to destroy his home. The only way Sonic could do was to use Chaos Control and send both him and Mecha back home to finish their fight.

"You have lost Sonic the Hedgehog!" Mecha triumphantly shouted as he got into position but he was hit from behind by Sonic. "What the?"

"CHOAS CONTROL!" Sonic shouted as Mecha cried 'NO!' and they were warped to a location picked by Sonic and away from Mecha's plan to destroy the world with a comet.

Back home in the high peaks of the Ice Cap Mountains, the fight between two foxes continues. The Ice Cap Mountains got its name since its peaks are capped with ice year-round and a favorite spot for skiing by tourists to the area. Their fight had led them into avalanche infested slopes and to add to their troubles; a massive blizzard had blanketed the area. The blinding snow storm dropped visibility to near zero and Tails could only rely on his enhanced senses to find out where his doppelganger was hiding. However that proved impossible. His ears couldn't pick up any sound except for the howling wind and his enhanced visibility wasn't as good as it should be given the correct conditions. It was pretty much hit and run on Mecha's part however this didn't go unnoticed by Tails. He used his new found abilities to freeze Mecha on one of his attacks. Mecha broke free but was met by enormous daggers of ice that attacked him and he produced a small shield to protect him. However, he was soon met by a cyclone that engulfed him and was able to take out his jets packs in the process. Mecha became enraged and used a flamethrower to incinerate Tails, but this only caused an avalanche that sent them down the slopes and to a location unknown as they became buried under layers of snow.

Meanwhile deep underground another battle is still underway. Our two echidnas had stumbled upon the former home of the Master Emerald, the Hidden Palace. It is still unknown why this sanctuary was called Hidden Palace and it's only the guardians of the Master Emerald that know why it is called that. Mecha now was starting to show his battle scars since a quarter of his body had pieces of exposed circuitry. He took a piece of a pillar and threw it at Knuckles, but that only enraged Knuckles when he saw where it had landed. It had landed on the pedestals where the Master Emerald and the fabled Super Emeralds once stood destroying parts of the pedestals in the process.

"You come to my home for evil intentions, you destroyed several parts of my home, and you DAMAGED A SACRED RELIC!" an enraged Knuckles shouted as he let out a battle cry as he charged towards Mecha.

Knuckles let loose his anger on Mecha as he landed punch after punch and kick after kick on his opponent as he increased the damage on him. Knuckles let out a powerful right cross that disabled Mecha before he started to make weird sounds. His gears started to struggle to move, various frequencies of sounds were heard, and he started to make unintelligible speeches as his AI started to crash. Knuckles held his pose after the punch for several seconds as he breathed heavily. He turned back to his original color of red fur and violet eyes before he collapsed succumbing to fatigue and unconsciousness.

Meanwhile as Knuckles' battle concluded, the battle of two hedgehogs continues. Their battle had led them to Marble Garden, an area that has steep hills, spike traps, spiked ball-and-chain traps, and some statues that fired arrows at any mobile object that gets too close to them. The marble structures in the area had became part of the battlefield between the two and several of them collapsed when the support structures collapsed. Both parties showed their battle scars and neither side showed any letting up. Their fight had now became much more vicious as Mecha Sonic started to use pillars from the area as battering rams and weapons against Sonic. After Sonic relieved Mecha of his weapon, he started a close quarter attack as they punched and blocked one another until they both landed on punch on one another on the side of the face sending them back about a mile. They both then charged at each other and they collided with such force that the shockwave from the attack could be heard from miles around. They then were sent in opposite directions. Sonic had landed in Sandopolis, a desert area with quicksand and pyramids, as he left a rift in the sand before he came to rest at an oasis before he succumbed to unconsciousness.

Meanwhile as the battle between Sonic and Mecha Sonic concludes, the battle between Tails and Mecha Tails continues. Their fight had taken them towards Sky Sanctuary, the crumbling aerial ruins of old, where their fight now became much more vicious. Mecha Tails showed severe battle scars from Tails' repeated attacks with the elements. Tails found out he could control the elements in this form. He used water, ice, wind at first before he added fire, lightning, and earth to his list before their fight had taken them into Sky Sanctuary. Tails gave Mecha a beating with the elements and with his fists but Mecha just laughed.

"What's so funny?" Tails asked after hitting Mecha in the temple.

"I was only biding my time so my programming can find a way to neutralize your attacks. In other words," Mecha continued when he took Tails' silence that he didn't understand, "your feeble element attacks wrong effect me any longer. Even though you gave me a hard time."

Tails didn't answer as he charged at Mecha, but Mecha just punched Tails in the gut before taking him by the collar. He started to punch Tails senseless as he added his own attacks of electricity and laser blast. Tails' Flicky guardians tried to help him but that proved futile since Mecha had produced a powerful shield around him. He closed his eyes as he began to concentrate on a way to defeat him and his mind blanked out as his actions became automatic. He opened his eyes and they showed that he had fire in his eyes. This seemed to have taken Mecha by surprised as Tails grabbed onto his arm ripping it out of his robotic socket before he shoved it back into Mecha's free hand. Tails backed off and orbed flaming rocks appeared and started to attack Mecha from all sides. They repeatedly attacked him until they were no smaller than an atom before Tails hammer fisted Mecha towards the ground and into a volcano below them. Tails floated in place before he lost consciousness and plummeted back towards the ground. His Flicky guardians saw this and caught him. They all carried him safely back towards the ground setting him under a tree in a lush forest not too far from a lake. With their job done, they then flew towards the sun and vanished without a trace.

"How do you think they could have survived such an attack when our sources told us that anyone could have died from those attacks," a monarch asked after they had found Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles from their resting places and placed them in the hospital.

"The powers of the Emeralds enhance the abilities of the user and there are two sides to everything. The three used the positive side of the Emeralds while their opposites used the negative side," an elder echidna spoke as the nurses checked their patients vital signs.

"That doesn't answer the question."

The elder gave a sigh before answering, "The powers of the Emeralds enable the user to become, in a sense, invincible to physical blows, but fatigue is still an issue and they can still feel pain. They can survive attacks that can kill any mortal. The only ways to turn back to normal is willingly or by other means."

"Such as two of them charging at each other at astronomical speeds?" another monarch asked.

"Precisely," the elder replied as he rubbed his eyes.

"How long do you think they will be out?" an uniformed fox with a patch over his left eye asked.

"A few hours to a day or two, but don't worry since they will all be fine. The Kingdom Emeralds have all been recovered and it is best that we don't let this news, how you say, leak out to the public," everyone in the room nodded as they left the room so the three could rest in peace.

A massive attempt at world domination has been adverted again by Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. What happened to Robotnik after Mecha made another attempt to betray him? Will Robotnik deactivate Mecha and his cohorts permanently or will he leave them where they lay? Our heroes just had a long fight and they could do well with a rest from these current events. Knuckles has his home and his job as guardian of the Master Emerald, as tradition dictates, Sonic has his family and his title, and Tails has his family and friends back home and let's just hope that they will have a long peace. Also let's hope that Robotnik doesn't do anything until he can get his head on straight and his wounds healed before he tries putting his ambitious plans into action.

Preview:

This is Tails! It has been a month since our little skirmish with our doppelgangers and the annual Fall Ball is held at the palace. The Fall Ball is held every year to celebrate the coming of the harvest and the start of school, in which I'm looking forward to this year. However, Amy decides to get Sonic all to herself and I must stop her from making a scene. To make things worse, Nack decides to crash the party and I meet a rival when school starts. I just hope this life will be normal without an evil genius or a hardened criminal to ruin the atmosphere.