Sonic X: Season 3: Shuffle Edition

by KatherineTheMoth

When Sonic had accidently discovered a mysterious board game, he soon asked his friends to play it with him. Little did the gang realize that the board game is cursed and that they are now forced to finish it for the curse to be over. This resulted in a crazy adventure where they have to play the game in order to save their planet, their lives, and the entire universe. Now Game On!

7. The Winter Games

Sonic X: Season 3: Shuffle Edition

The Winter Games

"Well, since we know that we can track the Chaos Emeralds with even just one of them, we can locate where the other six are with the blue Chaos Emerald that we got. Not to mention, if I place the Chaos Emerald into the computer, it can expand its range across a wider range in space. Sonic? Can you give me the emerald please? It would be best to start the search now," Chris explained while typing on his computer in his seat. Sonic and the others were still flying through space in the Blue Typhoon. They hadn't found a new planet yet, but they believe that they will soon. Sonic did what Chris asked and gave him the blue emerald to him. Chris took it and put it into his computer. The screen was shown in front of the gang.

"It's working now. But if we combine its energy with the Master Emerald, it can pinpoint the nearest location of our next Chaos Emerald. Knuckles? Will that be fine with you?" Tails said as he also typed into the computer in his seat. He communicated to Knuckles through the speaker.

"Of coarse, its fine. The faster we find those emeralds the better. It might take a while to find another planet though. So, hang in there, Tails," Knuckles replied while he was in the main engine room with the Master Emerald.

Tails frowned but soon replied, "Fine. We'll do then".

"We can't have that! Surely, we must be closer to another planet soon! I'm not sure if I can take staying on a ship for much longer!" Sonic exclaimed as he was starting to feel impatient.

"There's nothing much that we can do, Sonic. We are very far away in space and distant from any planets right now. It's natural that the search could take a long time. We can't just force the emeralds to find each other faster. So, why don't you just calm down and chill," Tails replied while looking slightly annoyed at Sonic.

Sonic frowned as he then crossed his arms and leaned back near Chris' seat. Chris ignored this and kept looking at the screen in front of him.

Sonic argued back, "Tails, you know me. I'm not the type of person to stay seated in one place! I get stir crazy really easy! You remember what happened to me on that cruise ship trip we all went on together back at Chris' world. I was completely insane! And it's not just because I was surrounded by water either! I barely had any room to run freely on! There were no hills, streets, mountains, beaches, or any DRY LAND to run on! I was restricted on my movements! And now that I fully realize that we might be on this adventure for a very long time since we are traveling on slow spaceship, I am very worried that I might lose my mind again!".

Tails looked sheepish as he understood where Sonic was getting at here. Even he doesn't want Sonic to go through that again because who knows what he will do in that state. Amy is also disapproving of this too as she was frowning deeply. She remembered that incident very well too. How can she not when Sonic lied to her about being beautiful and attractive?! It broke her heart and had angered her to no end that Sonic would lie to her like that! She doesn't want to think about what Sonic will do next if he had gone insane again!

She then replied cheekily with some spite in her tone, "Yeah, that would be for the best if we all don't have to go through with that again!".

Sonic then smiled sheepishly as he replied, "I said that I was sorry, Amy!".

"Saying 'sorry' will still not make me forget about the pain that you had brought upon me, Sonic! You should never ever lie to any girl about how attractive or beautiful they are because girls are sensitive of their looks, mister! I just hope that you had learned your lesson and never do that again!" Amy exclaimed back with some bitterness in her tone.

Sonic flinched as he raised his hands in mock surrender. He then exclaimed, "Alright! Alright! Chill, Amy! I really did learn my lesson! It won't happen again! I promise!".

"Grrr. You better," Amy replied with a growl. Sonic gulped at that. He knows very well that he can be a dead man now if he did lie to Amy like that again. So, he is being really nice to her just to make up for that.

Anyways, he then continued to argue with Tails, "Okay...moving on from that. Tails, seriously. What am I supposed to do for now as we wait for the next Chaos Emerald to show up on screen? There's literally nothing to do around here on this ship!".

"Sonic, again, you can't force the emeralds to find each other faster. Life isn't something that you can easily fast-forward through like you would do with a movie that you are watching on a T.V. It's mostly slow and uneventful, but it will eventually build up to the good stuff later on. You can't even force fate to make this process faster either. So, just try to be patient, Sonic, and wait until something interesting happens," Tails argued back calmly while rolling his eyes a little.

Sonic then pouted as he replied, "Tch. Fine. I will, but still, do you have any suggestions that I could do while I wait?".

Tails rolled his eyes again as he then sarcastically replied, "You could...I don't know...play a board game perhaps?".

"I...Wait! Of coarse! The board game! Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Tails! You're a genius!" Sonic exclaimed excitedly as he then had a huge grin on his face. He stopped leaning on Chris' seat and then ran towards another part of the ship to fetch the board game.

Tails was stuttering as he said, "Wait! I...I...I didn't mean it l-l-like...th-that! I was...just...(Sigh)….Why do I even bother?". He then slapped his hand on his forehead and shook it in disappointment. Chris, Amy, and even Cosmo felt pity for Tails. Cosmo was smiling a little as she thought. I'm not sure what Tails' relationship with Sonic is, but I can tell that it is almost similar to what siblings have for one another. They care for one another, but they can also get on their nerves sometimes. Hehe...it's kind of funny.

Sonic then returned to the group with the board game under his arm. He then carried the game in his hands while grinning at Tails in a teasing way. Tails frowned at Sonic.

Sonic teased as he said, "Aw, come on, buddy! Don't be like that! It was your idea, right?".

"I was being sarcastic, Sonic," Tails replied with an annoyed look on his face.

"But it was a good idea regardless! Also, who had ever told you that we can't force fate to do what we want? We can do it with this board game!" Sonic replied with a grin.

"But it's completely luck-based! We have absolutely no control over it! That board game could do whatever it wants, and we are subject under it! The chances of it actually working for us is quite small, almost non-existent!" Tails argued back with a frown.

Sonic replied with a smile, "You may be right about that, Tails. This board game doesn't take sides apparently. It's a neutral being. So, we might not get what we want from it, no matter how much we beg for it".

Tails smiled a little as he saw that Sonic was being a bit reasonable and agreeing with him on something that he said. He nodded and replied, "That is right, Sonic. I'm glad that you're finally seeing things in my-".

"-But that doesn't mean it will fail to be exciting for us!" Sonic interrupted with a teasing grin as he pointed his finger at Tails.

Tails sighed as he slumped into his seat. He shook his head again. Do I even need to try to reason with him at this point? He is going to be reckless as usual. I should be used to that by now. Tails thought as he rubbed his head a little.

"Just...Just play the dumb game already, Sonic," Tails muttered in defeat as he then looked at the screen again to avoid looking at Sonic. Sonic grinned but he rolled his eyes at that.

"Okay, fine. I'll get on with it already," Sonic replied while opening the game again and pushing the red button. The roulette wheel started to spin and kept on spinning before it stopped at a certain number.

"Sweet! I got a 9! That's the highest number I think we had so far! See, Cosmo? With my good luck, we will get to the end of the game in no time!" Sonic exclaimed brightly as he then looked at Cosmo with an optimistic look on his face. Cosmo smiled brightly too and nodded in agreement. Sonic's spaceship is now on space 22.

"At this point...I don't even care if you won this board game, Sonic. I wish for this to be over," Tails replied with a sad look on his face. Sonic then looked at Tails and frowned in worry for him.

"Tails...there is no reason to be upset. I mean you are a bit ahead of Knuckles here, so, maybe-" Sonic replied gently before Tails interrupted him.

"I wasn't talking about the competition of the game, Sonic! I'm worried about what would happen to us if the poachers had managed to trap us all and kill us!" Tails exclaimed in frustration. At that outburst, everyone soon turned to look at Tails in surprise and in worry. Even Sonic looked shocked by Tails' outburst. It was rather quiet in the bridge after Tails spoke that. Tails soon looked sheepish as he then looked down to the floor in shame.

"S-Sorry about that, guys. I was just...I mean...umm..." Tails muttered quietly as he felt awkward now.

KACHING!

Everyone was slightly startled by the sound of the card popping out of the card slot. Sonic looked down on the game before he looked back up to Tails. Tails then looked at Sonic and said, "Hey, why...why don't we just go back to focusing on that game right now, huh, Sonic?".

Sonic frowned a little as he can see that Tails doesn't look ready to talk about his fears any further than this. So, he decided to give Tails some space and took out the card from the board game to read it out loud.

"'Feeling some pressure and feeling some distress, so, why don't you come to a chilling place to get rid of all of your mess'. Hmm...is this a riddle or some piece advice? I mean...it's not wrong here. You do need to go to a calming place to release all of the pressure you are feeling at some point during the day. It is the only way to calm yourself during troubling times," Sonic read he card before he spoke his musings out loud.

"Hmmm...yeah, I wonder what that card means exactly. What kind of a 'chilling place' is it referring to anyway?" Chis replied while having a thoughtful look on his face.

Before Tails could speak his own thoughts, he can see that the screen is making some blips as it had detected something. He then exclaimed while turned the speaker on, "No way! Already?!".

"Huh?! What's the matter, Tails?!" Knuckles exclaimed in surprise as he turned his head around to hear Tails more closely.

"I think that we had detected another Chaos Emerald! I can see it blipping on screen right now! We must be close to another planet then if this reaction is happening! Get to the engine's control center, Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed while looking at the blipping spot on the screen's top-left corner.

"I'm on it!" Knuckles exclaimed back. He then ran towards control center of the engine room. Meanwhile as Knuckles does this, the gang were still staring at the blip on screen.

Cosmo then replied while having her hands folded, "It was due to the board game that we had found another planet with a Chaos Emerald on it".

"Haha, well, would you look at that! You're right, Cosmo!" Chris replied with a sheepish grin on his face.

"And it was all Tails' idea that I should keep on playing the board game! Good thinking, buddy!" Sonic exclaimed brightly while giving Tails a thumbs up.

Tails also grinned sheepishly as he replied, "Uhhh...are you sure about that, Sonic? I mean it still couldn't have worked for all we know. It was...It was just by pure luck and good timing that we found the Chaos Emerald now. Besides...I was being sarcastic by telling you to play a board game, not the one we're currently playing right now".

Sonic waggled his finger at Tails as he replied, "Ah, ah, ah. Never doubt the board game, Tails! Never doubt it!". Tails then sighed as he frowned at Sonic. He had his ears folded back in defeat.

"...Okay, fine, Sonic. I get it. Never doubt anything that the board game gives us in life. It all happens for a reason. A reason that we can't even begin to comprehend," Tails muttered as he relaxed for bit since he gave up trying to comprehend why the board game did what it did.

"See? Now you're starting to understand, Tails. Just accept the things that the board game gives you in life and go through them with your friends. If you're going to be confused as to why anything is happening right now, then do it with your good friends! We're all in this together! So, why question anything on your own when you can do it with others? We still got your back Tails, so, don't think that you're alone in this! We're all here for you, buddy!" Sonic replied calmly as he closed the board game up and held it under his left arm. Cosmo was amazed on how solemn Sonic looks right now despite having a smile on his face. She can tell that Sonic is wiser than he looks. His little pep-talk to Tails gave her hope that he and his friends will complete board game once and for all just because of how supportive and understanding they are with each other. In her mind, these five players had the best relationships with one another than all of the previous players combined.

If they truly are as compassionate with each other as Sonic had claimed them to be, then surely, they are capable enough to go through the trials and the tribulations that this cursed board game will test them with. They will certainly overcome this game! I'm sure of it! Cosmo thought optimistically with a calm smile on her face.

Tails then smiled a relieved smile as he replied, "Thank you, Sonic. And you're right. I don't have to face this alone. We got this!".

"Now that's more like it!" Sonic exclaimed with a grin.

Tails nodded before he spoke to Amy, "Anyways, back on the main topic here, Amy, what is the planet's name that has the Chaos Emerald in it?".

"Well, that is simple, Tails. The name is Planet Breezie. Hmm, sounds to me that it might be a cold planet," Amy answered while pushing some buttons in her seat.

"If it is cold, then we should brace ourselves for winter because we're heading there now!" Tails exclaimed as he typed some buttons in his seat to prepare the ship for a space-warp.

"Engaging space-warp now!" Amy exclaimed as she pushed the button to send the signal to the Master Emerald. Knuckles was prepared to use the controls in the control room to direct the Master Emerald to give the spaceship power for the space-warp.

As the Master Emerald glows brighter, Tails then spoke through the speaker, "The energy is at max power. We're firing the space-warp now!".

The Blue Typhoon had charged the special warp beam at the tip of the ship. The beam glowed purple and was in a circle like a portal. Once the beam was charged up fully, it was then shot in space and had created a huge warp hole that the spaceship can go through. Tails then exclaimed into the speaker, "We are entering the warp now! Hang on tight, guys! We're heading through it!".

The spaceship traveled through the warp, and the ship had been covered in bright colors as it was transitioning to another place in space. Soon, the ship was completely bright in light as it had traveled in fast speeds through the warp. And just as quickly as the ship went through the warp, the ship slowly got to the end of the warp and had made it near to Planet Breezie.

-Meanwhile At Planet Breezie-

The planet was completely covered in snow and ice. At the center of the planet, there was a beautiful ice palace, and within the palace, another Metarex poacher resides there. This particular poacher was one who is made of ice as ice crystals have formed the outside of his head and body. The poacher was watching the ice pillar in front of him. Electricity was shocked inside the ice pillar, and in another second, the pillar started to glow since the aforementioned Chaos Emerald was trapped in there. The emerald glowed red after the electricity went through it. The Metarex poacher then spoke to himself.

"Ah, yes! Yes! Brillant! My prey will soon fall for my trap! They will all soon be trapped in the ice along with this Chaos Emerald! Mwahahahahaha!" the ice poacher exclaimed happily. The ice poacher kept on staring at the emerald while he waits for his prey to arrive at the planet.

-Meanwhile With Dr. Eggman-

Dr. Eggman's purple ship was still flying off into space. Dr. Eggman was feeling pretty confident that he will catch up with Sonic and the others with his spaceship.

He then exclaimed, "Ohohohohoho! This whole chasing thing is going to be a breeze for me since I had installed an emerald tracking device into my ship! Sonic and his friends may think they're the only ones with a tracking device of some kind, but if you're a genius like me, you probably could make one yourself! So now, all I could do is just sit back, relax, and follow those fools with ease! Boys! Turn on the emerald tracker and follow that spaceship!".

"We heard you loud and clear, Doctor," Bocue replied as he clicked on the emerald tracker. Once Bokkun saw where the blip was on his screen, he pulled down a lever, and thus, he activated the Egg Drive, a special teleportation trick where the spaceship is covered inside an egg and then broke apart after the ship had teleported to a different location. With this trick, Dr. Eggman's spaceship had teleported to a new location in space.

-Back With Sonic And His Friends-

The Blue Typhoon had finally arrived at Planet Breezie after that space warp Sonic and his friends had done earlier. The spaceship was hovering over the planet once they had arrived there. Everyone except for Cosmo was seated in their seats as they had traveled to the planet. Tails was still watching the holographic screen to see where he and his friends are in regards to the Chaos Emerald. Amy also looked up at the screen with Tails. She can see that they are closer to the emerald now.

She then said, "Yep. This is the place where the Chaos Emerald is at. We've got to be extra careful here. The temperature in this planet is way too low. There is a lot of snow and ice here, so, we need to traverse this planet with extra caution. Understood, everyone?".

Most of the others had nodded in agreement except for Sonic. Amy frowned as she turned her head around to see Sonic yawning in response.

"Sonic...I said do you understand?" Amy asked again with a more serious tone in her voice.

"But Amy...I always love to take new challenges. You and the others can take this slow while I can go out there and have some fun in the snow," Sonic replied with a whine as he had his arms behind his head and with an annoyed look on his face.

"Grrr...Sonic. I swear. If you are going to keep that attitude up, then I'm going to make sure that you won't get out of this spaceship once we land on this planet!" Amy exclaimed as she looked irritated now.

"Pssh! As if you can actually manage to do that! You know how fast I am! I'll just run right past you!" Sonic exclaimed with some cockiness in his tone.

"...Hmph. Yes, you are. But you also know how fast I am with my hammer to your head. Do I need to remind you?" Amy replied sassily.

Sonic gulped as he looked nervous now. He then sheepishly replied, "...A-Alright. I understand, Amy. I'll try not to be too reckless".

Amy smiled smugly as she replied, "Good. That's much better".

Cosmo looked at both Sonic and Amy for a bit before she meekly spoke up, "Ummm...I'm sorry to be interrupting you guys but...umm...".

"Oh! It's okay, Cosmo. We're already done with our little discussion. Anyways, do have something on your mind then?" Amy replied as she looked at Cosmo now.

Cosmo nodded as she answered, "Y-Yes. I do. It's just that...this planet...it's not in its natural state right now".

"Huh? Natural state?" Amy repeated in confusion as she looked at the planet again.

Cosmo turned to look at the planet as she continued, "A planet is only in its natural state if the Planet Egg is still inside the planet. However, by the looks of it, it seems that the Planet Egg was removed recently by the Metarex poachers".

Tails said his thoughts out loud as he put a finger under his chin, "It probably happened after Sonic had made his move on the board game. It's very likely that the Metarex will show up on each planet every time we make a move on the board game. It's rather sad that we have to witness a planet's death before we could see it being alive".

Cosmo frowned further in sadness after she heard Tails' last sentence. Sigh...you don't even know the half of it, Tails. You really don't. Cosmo thought with a frown.

Tails and the others kept on staring at the cold planet with some somber looks on their faces after that depressing comment. They can see the strong, cold winds blowing in the air inside the planet. After staring at the planet for a while, Cosmo then said somberly to herself, "There is no warmth or life in that planet. Nothing but coldness and emptiness. Such is a depressing reality that death truly is".

Chris turned to look at Cosmo. He frowned once he saw the sad look on Cosmo's face. He then thought. She must have suffered so much by seeing planets die due to the Metarex. I bet that she wants to see these planets be brought back to life by retrieving the Planet Eggs to every planet. Unfortunately...I don't think that it can be possible right now. The only thing that we can do now is get all of the Chaos Emeralds in order to stop the Metarex. …...And that includes the one in that dead planet there.

"Sonic, are you ready to go out to the cold to find the emerald? Let's do this one for Cosmo!" Chris said as he turned behind himself to look at Sonic. Cosmo gasped once she heard what Chris had said. She turned to look at him in astonishment.

Sonic then replied with a grin and a thumbs up, "I'm definitely ready! And I agree completely! This one's for Cosmo!".

Cosmo gasped again and turned to look at Sonic in astonishment. She then pondered. These people are too kind to me. I don't deserve any of their kindness. I mean...all I'm doing is being a "guide" to them. I'm not contributing much to this. Even the "ally" is doing much more work than I am. …...I must be a terrible person then if I'm not helping back. What am I going to do to repay their kindness?

The Blue Typhoon soon descended from space and went down to the cold planet below. As the spaceship went down, the ship was bracing through the rough winds as it went lower and lower into the planet. Sonic and the others felt the ship shaking a little due to the rough winds. While they were getting closer and closer to the ground, they hadn't noticed a flying robot in the distance and coming towards them. Cosmo soon noticed it and gasped in shock as she crouched down in fear.

Tails exclaimed, "Cosmo! What's wrong?!".

Before Cosmo could reply, the robot suddenly attacked the spaceship by swinging its tail down at the ship. At the end of the robot's tail, there was a spiked ball on it. The robot had intended to attack the spaceship with that spiked ball on its tail. The spaceship took a hit from the robot's attack. Cosmo yelped in fear as she heard the loud CLANG! from the ship being hit by the attack.

"Whoa! What was that?!" Amy exclaimed in shock as she stared at the large robot.

"It has to be the Metarex! They must have spotted us arriving here and had decided to attack us!" Chris exclaimed in alarm.

The huge Metarex robot attacked the ship again with its tail. The robot had hit another part of the ship. Another loud CLANG! can be heard since the ship took damage to the attack. Sonic and his friends felt worried that the robot might bring the ship down by breaking it. Chris soon shook off the shock and pressed some buttons on his computer.

"We have got to attack back!" Chris exclaimed as he looked serious now. When he said that, missiles were soon shot out from the Blue Typhoon and tried to attack the huge Metarex robot. The robot was basically a wingless dinosaur. The color on that dinosaur robot was dark magenta. The robot attacked back by firing its own missiles from its body. The two kinds of missiles passed each other. The missiles had hit the Metarex robot and destroyed it after a few hits. What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice A-Ack! Chris thought with a grin before he felt the Blue Typhoon rumble since it got hit several times by the Metarex's missiles. The others exclaimed in surprise as they felt the ship shaking a bit after that attack. The inside of the ship soon lit up in red as an emergency buzzer went off to signal the emergency situation.

"Oh, shoot! The ship had taken a lot of damage from that attack! I have no choice but to land this thing right now just to repair the damages! This is going to be a rough landing, guys! Hang on tight!" Tails exclaimed as he did his best soften the hard landing of his ship to the land below. The spaceship soon went down and had plowed through the snow as it landed. The snow went up as the ship plowed through it. The Blue Typhoon then finally stopped its landing. The ship had left a large trail behind it when it had landed. Once Tails saw that the ship had stopped moving, he took a deep breath before he spoke to Knuckles through the speaker.

"Well, Knuckles...how bad are the damages?" Tails asked seriously while the buzzer still went off and the lighting inside the spaceship was still red.

"Sadly, Tails, two of the main engines were hit very hard. It seems that the Metarex robot did manage to get its revenge after it had been destroyed," Knuckles replied as he then clicked on another button to see the layout of the ship. He then added, "It looks like we need to fix the engines fast if we are going to leave this cold planet. Otherwise, the cold weather would freeze this ship so that we can't get it off the ground". He can see engine one and engine three being lit up in yellow to show that they were damaged.

After Tails heard this, he replied with a frown, "Sheesh, talk about a time crunch".

-Meanwhile On A Different Part Of Planet Breezie-

"See? I told you guys that it was a piece of cake chasing after Sonic and his gang. The emerald tracker is very accurate, so, it's obvious that their ship is here in this planet too," Dr. Eggman said while his spaceship was parked carefully without any damages on it. He then continued on by saying, "But regardless, as easy it is to find them, it would be difficult to confront them now since those strange robots might be searching for them too. And if those robots are out to get them, they might come after us once they know that we are with Sonic and his friends too".

Decoe replied as he looked at the doctor, "You mean those Metarex robots, right? Well, I don't blame you if you're concerned, sir. I do believe that they are known as poachers according to Sonic and the others. Those robots are very vicious. I won't be surprised if they are persistent into hunting down Sonic and the others just because it is all according to the rules of the game that they are playing".

Dr. Eggman nodded as he stood up from his seat. He then replied, "I agree with that, Decoe. Even it is all part of a game, I still don't want to get involved in it too! If Sonic and his friends want to battle with some poachers just for fun, then so be it. Let them have another burden on their shoulders to carry! I want to get all of the Chaos Emeralds without having those poachers hunting me down too. I want to take the easy route and sneak under both the Metarex and Sonic's noses undetected just so that I gather all of the seven emeralds for myself!".

Decoe and Bocue got up from their chairs and cheered in relief of Dr. Eggman's choice of action. They both made high fives at each other while exclaiming in a sing-song tone, "Woohoo! We're taking the easy route! We're taking the easy route! We're taking the easy route!".

"Don't start cheering now, boys. You two still got work to do. How else are we going to stay undetected if our ship is visible in plain sight? Now, get shoveling!" Dr. Eggman replied with a frown before he threw two shovels at Decoe and Bocue.

Decoe and Bocue soon caught the shovels as they turned to look at Dr. Eggman. Bocue then replied as he held the shovel in his hands, "But I thought that you said you were going to take the easy route. Why do we have to do the hard work if you are planning to choose the easy route?".

Dr. Eggman face-palmed as he thought. Did he not understand what he just said in his own words? Why is comprehending semantics such a struggle for robots?

Dr. Eggman then said calmly as he took his hand down from his face, "Try saying that sentence again...slowly this time, you nitwit".

"Huh?...But I thought that you said you were going to take the easy...Ohhhhhhh," Bocue replied in confusion as he did what Dr. Eggman commanded him to do before he finally realized what the doctor had meant.

Decoe added, "Ohhhh, so that's what he had meant!".

"Well, it's about time you slowpokes had caught on! Now, get shoveling! I don't want to get my ship attacked all because you two had failed to understand basic semantics!" Dr. Eggman exclaimed in slight irritation.

"We're sorry, sir! We'll get right on that!" Decoe and Bocue exclaimed in response.

Meanwhile, Rouge was listening on the whole conversation with her special earpiece. She had a smirk on her face as she listened to the conversation. She then thought. Well, if Dr. Eggman and his robots aren't going after the emerald now, then I have a chance to get it!

While Rouge was getting off from her hiding spot, Bokkun was flying through the hallway. He then said out loud, "I just hope that Rouge doesn't have any plans for me today".

"Oh, little thief. I need you. Come here," Rouge said in a sing-song tone.

Bokkun cringed as he replied, "Why do I have to jinx myself?".

Rouge flew down in front of him and had her hands to her hips in a sassy way. She then replied, "Don't be depressed. You are just going to have some fun with me. Do you want to know what your new task is, little thief?".

"For the last time, I'm not your little thief!" Bokkun exclaimed as he shook his head "no" in response to Rouge's question.

"Aw, but I thought that you had liked the name I had given you after...our little discussion we had a couple of hours ago," Rouge replied with a mischievous expression on her face.

Bokkun flinched as he replied in a panic, "Ack! A-Actually, I do like the name! I-I-I just need some time t-to get u-used to it is all!".

Rouge grinned as she replied after she got close to Bokkun, "Well, that's good then. Because I need you to listen very closely to what your new task is". Once she got very close to Bokkun, she then pulled the locket out her chest and held it towards him as she added seductively, "...Very closely".

Bokkun frowned as he watched his locket dangle from Rouge's hand. He felt helpless as he saw his literal secret dangle right in front of him...and there was nothing he could do to get it back. He sighed before he replied with, "...Alright, I'm listening".

-Meanwhile With Sonic And His Friends-

The cold wind was still going on in the planet. Sonic and the others had decided to at least try to find the emerald despite the cold weather. They know that it will be tough, but they all believe that they can handle it. Sonic still held onto the board game under his left arm. He knows that it was Knuckles' turn now, but he wanted to carry it with him just for a little while longer. He believes that he can manipulate the lucky events in the board game by holding out on other people's turns for a bit. Knuckles was a little annoyed at Sonic for not giving him the board game now.

"Sonic, are you ever going to give me the board game? How much longer are you going to keep it?" Knuckles asked as he glared at Sonic.

Sonic grinned as he looked back at Knuckles. He then teased, "Longer than your temper, buddy!".

"Grrr! Sonic! Stop screwing around with me! I need that board game to take my turn! Why aren't you giving it to me?!" Knuckles yelled in irritation.

"Because we need to wait it out a little! Maybe we'll get some good luck for a change if we just wait it out for a little bit! We can't be too hasty with our turns, Knuckles! Otherwise, we'll just get more bad luck than good luck!" Sonic exclaimed back enthusiastically.

Knuckles frowned as he replied, "'Wait it out a little'? Says the guy who likes to go fast! Come on, Sonic! You know that if we keep delaying on this game even further, we'll never be able to finish it!".

Sonic then replied casually, "Relax. We'll finish this game no time. However, we need to be strategic here if we are going to beat the Metarex at their own game, and I believe that manipulating the time in when we take our turns is the key to beating the Metarex".

Knuckles was about to yell again before he stopped to think about it. Is that even possible? Could taking our time to finish the board game really be the key into defeating the Metarex? Would the board game really change the luck events if we do that? Hmmmmmm...Oh, what am I doing thinking like this?! That is the most stupidest reasoning one could ever come up with!

Knuckles growled before he yelled in anger, "Sonic! You have got to be joking here! A board game can't just change its luck whenever we don't play it at our own time! Do you honestly believe that we will win by insane luck due to when we take our turns?!".

Sonic winked as he replied happily, "You bet!".

"SONIC! I AM GOING TO-AAAAAAGH!" Knuckles shouted before he and Sonic were blasted at the strong, cold wind. While Sonic and Knuckles were arguing for a little bit, Chris soon got over to the control panel and pushed the button that opens the huge door to the Blue Typhoon. Chris thought with a grin on his face. Sheesh, those two need to cool it for a bit. Knuckles especially.

Cosmo was with Chris as she said, "Thank you for stopping them from fighting, Chris. I still get uncomfortable whenever they do that".

"Don't mention, Cosmo. I'm happy to help. But anyways, I have to get something first," Chris replied with a smile. Cosmo smiled back before she then walked over to Sonic and Knuckles. Chris soon walked towards the door and walked to his room quickly in order to get changed into his warmer clothes.

Sonic and Knuckles immediately covered themselves with their arms in order to warm themselves from the cold. Sonic then said through chattering teeth, "G-G-Good grief! A-A-Are we at I-I-Ice Cap Zone or s-s-something?!".

"E-Even if we are...th-this place is...much colder than th-that," Knuckles replied while trying to control his chattering teeth. He wanted to appear more stronger than Sonic by being able to embrace the cold weather better than him. He rubbed his arms for a bit more before he stood more firmly with his arms out.

Sonic looked at Knuckles and saw what Knuckles was doing. He smirked a bit as he thought. Heh. Trying to be tough guy of the group, huh? Well, two can play at that game!

Sonic also rubbed his arms a bit more before he took a similar stance as Knuckles while still holding the board game under his left arm. Meanwhile, Cosmo was trying to get a clear view in front of her as she had her hand up over her head. She was doing her best blocking the snow from coming to her eyes. She can see Sonic and Knuckles doing their best not warm themselves up by putting their arms over themselves. She then thought. Such strange creatures. I'll never understand why they do what they do.

Chris then got back after changing into his blue, winter clothes. He was carrying a blue bag with him. I'm glad that I came extra prepared for my trip to space! I'll give Ms. Vanilla this. She always knows what is best for others even when they don't understand it at the time. I'm going to thank her once this trip is over. Chris thought with a smile.

Sonic then boldly said, "This snowglobe of a planet is nothing!". He turned to wink and to give a thumbs up to Cosmo as he exclaimed, "Let's have some fun in the snow while we still can, Cosmo!".

"O-Oh, um, well, I'm not sure if..." Cosmo replied meekly as she looked nervous at Sonic.

Knuckles looked at Sonic and replied to him calmly, "Sonic, we need to stay focused here. The emerald should be our only priority that we need to focus on".

"Heh! Says you!" Sonic exclaimed cheekily before he jumped off from the ship.

"Sonic! You shouldn't have done that! The snow is-!" Chris exclaimed in surprise as he walked up in between Knuckles and Cosmo.

FLOMP!

Sonic chuckled awkwardly while he felt his body completely covered in goosebumps from the cold of the snow. He then muttered while chuckling to himself, "Heheheheheh...F-F-Fun...Heheheheh".

Knuckles then said to Sonic, "This is why you need to stay focused, Sonic. Otherwise, you'd risk into losing yourself to the harsh, cold reality of life".

"Heheheheh...S-S-shut up...Heheheheh...I'm having a ball...heheheheh," Sonic replied as he chuckled.

Knuckles rolled his eyes and shook his head. Cosmo asked awkwardly, "Umm...is he going to be okay?".

"Just give him a moment. He'll be fine," Knuckles replied as he stared at Sonic with a disapproving look on his face. Knuckles then thought. His attention span goes by fast as his feet. I may be short in temper, but he is short in his attention span. So, what's his excuse?

Chris then awkwardly replied, "Errr...Anyways...I, uh, brought some new snow gear with us. Do you want some snowshoes, Sonic?". Knuckles and Cosmo looked at Chris as he opened his bag up to take out some newly invented snowshoes.

Sonic slowly wobbled a bit in the snow just to get his head out. He then replied with some sass, "At this point, I would rather have a snow coat".

"I'm sorry, Sonic, but I'm wearing the only snow coat here. So, you, Knuckles, and Cosmo are going to wear snowshoes for the time being," Chris replied with a sheepish smile on his face.

Sonic whined as he replied, "Really? You couldn't at least give us some more warm clothing besides snowshoes?".

"Well...I..." Chris replied awkwardly.

Knuckles replied with a smirk, "Oh, what's this? Is someone being a pansy right now? Only the most toughest of people could endure such freezing conditions such as these. Doesn't look like you're one of those people if you're complaining about not having more warmer clothing on you".

"Grrr. Don't rub it in, Knuckles," Sonic replied with a frown.

Cosmo then replied a little more bravely, "Sonic, you should not behave in such an ungrateful way! I, for one, am honored that I would be taken care of by someone! It may be just a little thing like snowshoes, but I'm grateful that I'm receiving it regardless! Having someone show care and thoughtfulness to me is something that I wish I could receive daily! So, be more grateful to your friends, Sonic! They have done more useful and kind things than you realize!".

…...

Nothing but cold wind was the only sound that went by after that surprising declaration. Knuckles and Chris were both surprised and amazed that Cosmo had spoken up in that way. Even Sonic was stunned by this action. That's the second time that I've been corrected by her! Man, what I have been doing wrong to get on her bad side recently? Sonic thought in confusion.

Cosmo then looked at Chris and Knuckles after she saw that no one had spoken up lately. "Ummm...guys? Is something wrong?" Cosmo asked in confusion.

"Cosmo...you..." Chris replied in astonishment.

When Cosmo finally registered what she just did, she gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands. She then exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I...I...I didn't mean to be so forward with my thoughts! I made this whole thing awkward for everyone! What have I done?! I'm...I'm very sorry everyone!".

Chris and Knuckles still looked at her in surprise. Chris then looked sympathetic once he saw how embarrassed and guilty Cosmo looks right now. He comforted her by placing his hand onto her shoulder.

"Cosmo...it's okay. Don't be embarrassed. You just wanted to make your point clear to Sonic on how to treat others. It sounded like you were holding in your true feelings for quite a while and wanted to let it out in some way. Sometimes you do need to let out your feelings just to let others know what's going on with you. So, in other words, you did nothing wrong, Cosmo. Understand?" Chris replied gently as he tried to console her.

Cosmo soon looked at Chris with wide eyes as she replied softly, "Are...Are you sure that it's okay?".

Chris smiled and nodded as he answered, "Of coarse, it's okay, Cosmo. Also, thank you for feeling grateful for what I had done, Cosmo. It's really no big deal. Honestly. I just made these shoes because thought that we might stumble into a cold planet or something. You've got to become prepared for the worst, Cosmo. That is what my grandpa had always said to me when I was little".

Cosmo was surprised that Chris didn't mind her speaking up like that. She can hear how appreciative he was in his tone of voice. She then looked at Knuckles for his response to this.

"Are you okay with too, Knuckles?" Cosmo asked quietly.

Knuckles flinched in response to that question as he replied awkwardly, "O-Oh...uhhh...y-yeah, I'm fine with that. You can speak whatever it is on your mind, and we'll listen to you. Really. We will".

Cosmo smiled as she felt relieved that Chris and Knuckles were okay with her speaking out like that. Oh, thank goodness that they are okay with that too! I thought that I had spoken out of line there. Cosmo thought in relief.

"Thank you, Knuckles! I'm glad that you're okay with me speaking my thoughts out loud!" Cosmo exclaimed happily.

Knuckles quickly looked away in embarrassment as he replied awkwardly, "Ummm...r-right".

Cosmo then replied to Chris, "And thank you for cheering me up, Chris! You are very kind to me!".

"Again, it's no problem, Cosmo. I'm glad to cheer you up," Chris replied calmly as he lets go of Cosmo's shoulder. Cosmo nodded in agreement.

"Ummm...could either one of you help me get out of the snow already? I fear that I'm starting to develop frostbite on my ears," Sonic replied weakly.

-Few Minutes Later-

After Chris helped Sonic to get out of the snow, he gave him the special snowshoes just so that he can stand on top of the snow instead of sinking into it. Sonic, Knuckles, Cosmo, and Chris himself were all wearing the special snowshoes as they walked across the cold wasteland of the planet. They were looking around to where the Chaos Emerald was at or whether there were more Metarex robots or not. They were all very cautious this time...Except that it only lasted for about five minutes because only one of them started to feel bored. To no one's surprise, it was...

"Man, this place is completely empty! Could we not get any excitement around here?! It's looks as if something had di-OOF!" Sonic exclaimed in annoyance before Knuckles had elbowed him in the side. Sonic turned to glare at Knuckles while Knuckles glared back.

Knuckles replied while frowning at Sonic, "You should really learn to watch that BIG mouth of yours because one of these days my fists won't be the only ones to hurt you".

"Grr. What are you talking about, Knuckles?" Sonic replied while rubbing his side in annoyance.

Knuckles simply moved his head to the right to signal to Sonic to look at that direction too. Knuckles replied with some annoyance in his tone, "Let's just say that the word 'death' is a very, very sensitive subject nowadays".

Sonic felt confused as he frowned at Knuckles. But he did what Knuckles had done and looked at his right too. He then immediately felt sad as he finally understood what Knuckles was talking about. He saw Cosmo placing her hand onto the trunk of a dead, barren tree and held it there. She was by herself at the tree. It seems that Cosmo had walked away from the group for a bit to go see the tree herself. She was frowning in sadness. Sonic frowned too as he hated that someone is feeling sad right now.

He then looked back at Knuckles and said, "Maybe we should go to her. She might need some support from us".

Knuckles turned to look at Sonic and nodded to him. They both soon started to walk towards the same barren tree where Cosmo was standing at. Chris heard some walking footsteps behind him and turned around to see Sonic and Knuckles walking towards the tree with Cosmo. He was confused as to why they were going towards that tree until he remembered the significance of what happens when a planet loses its Planet Egg. Everything dies...Oh no... Chris thought somberly as he frowned in sadness. He then quickly followed Sonic and Knuckles towards the barren tree to meet up with Cosmo.

Meanwhile, Cosmo was looking sadly at the tree while she felt the coldness of it. She brooded in despair. This tree was once alive...but now it's dead. It used to be full of life, but it is now nothing. I had heard stories from my people that when our kind dies...we reborn as regular plants. But what happens to regular plants when they die? Do they just stop...existing in the world? Will they just shrivel up and disappear from the world? ...I don't want that to happen...to me too.

As Cosmo kept on contemplating, she hadn't realized that Sonic, Knuckles, and Chris had showed up to the tree with her. She then said sadly, "If only these trees were alive a little longer, we could've saved them from their demise".

"Do you really think that it is possible to save the tree even in this condition?" Knuckles asked out loud.

Cosmo flinched a bit as she turned around to look at Knuckles. She then answered him, "Why yes. If we had made it here faster, I could've given these trees some of my life energy".

"Your...'life energy'?" Sonic repeated in confusion.

Cosmo turned back around towards the tree as she explained to Sonic, "Yes, my life energy, Sonic. My people have a special kind of energy that we give to plants when they are weakening. If this tree for instance has some life left, then I could've gave some of my energy to it to make it last through the rough weather. However...". She paused as she placed her head at the side of the tree bark. She frowned in sadness again as she heard and felt nothing from the barren tree. She closed her eyes as she finished with, "...we were too slow to make it here in time".

Sonic, Knuckles, and Chris all frowned after hearing her say that. They know that they can't reassure her that everything will be okay in the end. They may try to find the Planet Egg just to bring this planet's life back, but if the Metarex had already took it away from the planet and left, then there really is no point into giving her any false hope. But there is one thing they can reassure Cosmo, and that is defeating the Metarex once and for all so that the curse can be lifted from the board game.

"Cosmo...it may be a loss for now but trust us when we say that we will avenge you for what those poachers had done to this planet," Chris replied confidently.

Cosmo shook her head as she replied, "But what can revenge really accomplish though? It may have satisfied your hateful desire, but it won't bring these trees back to life!".

Chris cringed a bit once he realized that Cosmo had a point. Ugh. She's right. What will really save these trees is the Planet Egg. Without it, this planet won't come back to life. Chris pondered with a frown. He then put his head down as he replied, "I'm sorry, Cosmo".

Cosmo nodded and replied, "It's okay, Chris. I understand".

Sonic then spoke up as he then carried the board game in his hands now, "You know, Cosmo. I think that you shouldn't despair just yet. You remember the rules that this board game has. The Planet Eggs aren't the only targets that the Metarex are after. It is us that they are after too since we are the players in this game. Remember what had happened back at our planet and Planet Seaco. We had fought over for the Planet Eggs in both scenarios. True, we hadn't realized that our planet had a Planet Egg at the time, but we had fought those poachers as if it was at stake. And with Planet Seaco, we had fought off those poachers just to get it back, and we did get it back successfully!".

"So...uhh...what are you trying to say, Sonic?" Chris asked awkwardly as he felt slightly confused.

Sonic turned to look at Chris as he explained more clearly, "All I'm saying here is that those Metarex poachers hadn't left this planet with the Planet Egg yet because we hadn't had our chance to fight them yet. They won't leave the planet unless they were successful into beating us or were able to stall us for time by escaping from us. If those poachers can accomplish either one of those tasks, then they win".

Cosmo then replied with surprised eyes, "So, are you saying that those Metarex poachers are still here with the Planet Egg?".

Sonic turned to her and smiled a little, "Yep. That is what I had deduced, Cosmo. Something tells me that those Metarex poachers follow the rules of the board game pretty well, and if we use the knowledge of the rules carefully, then we can take advantage of the rules and use them against the Metarex!".

Cosmo gasped in surprise. She hadn't realized that Sonic can be quite clever at times such as these. She was rather impressed that he had managed to figure out the Metarex's M.O. very quickly. Maybe we do have a chance into bringing these trees back to life after all! Cosmo thought with a hopeful smile on her face.

She then looked serious as she replied, "Then let's get that egg back".

Knuckles interjected back saying, "But it could be a trap".

Cosmo looked back at Knuckles and replied, "But we must try! We can't let this planet die and never try to bring it back to life! You need to value every living thing, including planets! I'm sorry, but I can't just leave this planet with a clear conscience that we had left everything in this planet to die".

Knuckles frowned and crossed his arms as he muttered a little before spoke more loudly, "Well, maybe I could. Okay, fine. We'll try to find it, but I'm still thinking that this is all a trap set by the Metarex".

"Even it is a trap Knuckles, we can still try to outsmart them. But first, we need to work fast by finding their base quickly," Chris replied with a smile.

"But how are we going to get there quickly? The Blue Typhoon is still in bad shape and is in need of repairs," Sonic interjected as he looked at Chris.

"Yes, but not the X-Tornado. It is fast enough to get us to where the Metarex are. So, we can use that," Chris replied with a calm expression on his face.

"Now that's what I call quick thinking! Heheheh!" Sonic replied with a grin. Chris just shrugged in response to that.

"Being cheesy as always, aren't you, Sonic?" Knuckles replied while rolling his eyes a bit.

Sonic just grinned at Knuckles as he replied, "You're just jealous that you hadn't come up with the solution first, Knuckles!".

"Hmph!" Knuckles grunted as he still had his arms crossed.

Cosmo ignored that as she replied with a smile, "I'm grateful that you guys are giving it a shot into saving this world from death. You guys truly understand what it means to value life as a whole".

Sonic grinned as he replied, "Well, everyone except Knuckles apparently".

"Wait! What?!" Knuckles exclaimed in surprise as his eyes went.

"Oh, don't act like I didn't hear you! Apparently, you really don't care about this world at all. You would rather get the Chaos Emerald and leave this place, right?" Sonic replied with a teasing grin.

"What?! Is...Is that true, Knuckles? You don't...care at all?" Cosmo asked in shock as she looked back at Knuckles with a sad look on her face.

"Ack!" Knuckles yelped in shock as he had uncrossed his arms and had wide eyes as he felt guilty now.

"Yeah, like what's up with that?" Sonic added with a mischievous grin. Chris wondered why Sonic had brought this up, but Sonic instead shoved the board game into his hands.

"Huh? Why are you-" Chris asked in confusion before Sonic hushed him.

"Shhh!" Sonic hushed as he put a finger over his own mouth. Chris was about to ask why until he saw Sonic bending down to gather some snow from the ground with his hands. Chris raised his eyebrows at that, but he smiled as he understood now what Sonic was going to do next. Something tells me that Sonic is going to mess with Knuckles again just to help him to be more on board into saving the planet along with us. I'll admit that...it's not a bad idea. Chris thought with a grin.

Meanwhile, Cosmo was busy confronting Knuckles.

"Why? I thought that you do care about saving others. I had figured that you would care about planets too," Cosmo replied with a disappointed look on her face.

Knuckles blanched as he tried to reply back with an explanation," L-Look! I get that planets are important too! But-But we need to get all of the Chaos Emeralds before the Metarex do! They are, uh, more important than the planets right now!".

"How can you say that?! Planets are like you and me! They are alive just like us! Leaving them to die is like you abandoning your friends to the poachers! Just like a person's life, a planet's life is very important! They are much more important than any power source in the universe!" Cosmo exclaimed in distress.

"...! I...I...I'm not saying that a person's life is less important than the emeralds! I'm saying that getting the emeralds is more of a pressing need right now! I...I...uhhh...Look! I don't want the universe to get taken over by the Metarex either, but if we don't get all the emeralds fast enough, then the Metarex will use them to take even more lives! I'm...I'm just trying to convince everyone to work faster is all!" Knuckles exclaimed quickly yet awkwardly as he had a sweat drop form on his head.

"And your solution to get people to work harder is to abandon these planets?!" Cosmo exclaimed in horror as her eyes went wide with shock.

"Ummm...Yes?" Knuckles answered nervously as he had wide eyes and a small frown on his face.

"How...How can you be so cruel?! I...I...I hate you, Knuckles!" Cosmo exclaimed as she felt upset. She then covered her eyes with her hands as she sobbed.

Knuckles cringed as he felt really guilty now after seeing Cosmo cry. Why do say the worst things to girls sometimes? Knuckles pondered as he frowned and looked down to the ground in shame. He rubbed the back of his head as he said awkwardly, "Listen...I didn't mean...ummm...".

"Don't you say another word, Knuckles! I know now how you truly feel! You don't need to apologize to me if feel that way! But that doesn't mean that I'm going to think very highly of you for now on!" Cosmo exclaimed as she stopped crying for a bit to yell at him. She had never felt so offended or disgusted in her life. And to think that he was a good player I had ever seen out of all the players that had come before him! Cosmo thought in sadness.

Knuckles flinched as he felt even more ashamed after hearing Cosmo say that. Knuckles brooded with a frown on his face. Oh, great. I made her upset. Just what am I going to do to cheer her-

FLOMP!

Cosmo stopped crying once she heard that sound. She looked again and was surprised at what she saw. She saw Knuckles with some snow on his face. She felt confused as to why Knuckles had snow on his face. Knuckles had wiped the snow off his face with his hand and turned to look at Sonic and Chris. Cosmo also looked back at Sonic and Chris. Knuckles frowned even deeper once he saw Sonic holding a bunch of snowballs in his arms. Knuckles could see that Sonic isn't carrying the board game anymore and had allowed Chris to hold it instead.

Knuckles growled as he said slowly, "Sonic...".

"Oh, don't you go 'Sonic' at me! You know why I did what I did! You made Cosmo cry!" Sonic teased with a grin while holding another snowball in his hand.

"S-Sonic?" Cosmo replied softly yet confusedly. She wiped away some of her tears from her eyes as she watched both Knuckles and Sonic argue with each other.

"Sonic! This isn't the time for your shenanigans!" Knuckles exclaimed in annoyance.

Sonic rolled his eyes as replied, "Well, maybe it is now since you're doing a 'splendid' job in consoling Cosmo here!".

Knuckles cringed before he growled at Sonic. He then exclaimed loudly, "I was getting to that! Will you just wait for one second so that I could make up to-".

FLOMP!

Knuckles got hit with another snowball. Cosmo actually saw that with her own two eyes. She was surprised, but she did feel her mouth twitching a little upwards. Knuckles used both of his hands to wipe the snow off of his face again. He then growled again as he clenched his fists at Sonic.

He then said slowly, "Will you stop that?".

Sonic pretended to think about it before he smirked as he replied quickly, "Nope!".

FLOMP!

Knuckles got hit by another snowball. Knuckles just shook his head to get the snow off of him. He growled even louder as yelled, "Quit it!".

Cosmo can't help but put her hands over her mouth to muffle her snickers. She knows that it isn't nice to laugh at someone's misfortune, but there are times when it's just too funny that you can't help but laugh. This moment is just one of those times.

Sonic then replied teasingly, "Hey, I'm not going to let you hurt Cosmo's feelings again! So, I'm going to do you a favor and prevent you from running that BIG mouth of yours again!".

Knuckles growled in response to that. Sonic then looked smug as he added, "As an idiotic echidna once told me before, 'Because one of these days my fists won't be the only ones to hurt you'!".

Knuckles then raised his fists as she shouted in anger, "OH, YEAH?! WELL, IT SEEMS LIKE THIS ISN'T ONE OF THOSE DAYS BECAUSE I'M SO GONNA COME OVER THERE AND PUNCH YOUR-".

FLOMP!

Cosmo ended up giggling after she saw Knuckles got hit by another snowball again. Sonic smirked as he saw Cosmo smiling again since she was giggling. Sonic then thought. That's right, Cosmo. There is no need to think too deeply into what this knucklehead here is saying. Just smile and laugh. Things will get better soon. You'll see.

Knuckles wiped the snow quickly again. He had a vein on his forehead as he is beyond frustrated now. He glared at Sonic with the coldest glare possible. Even colder than the weather in this planet. Sonic then ignored him briefly as he spoke to Cosmo, "See what I mean about having fun in the snow, Cosmo?! Throwing snowballs at someone is always a fun activity to do in the winter!".

Cosmo didn't reply back but kept on giggling. Knuckles then looked over at Cosmo and saw how much she's enjoying herself in this little spat he and Sonic were in the middle of. He then smiled a little as he could see that Cosmo is feeling better and not as upset as before. He then had an idea. He smirked evilly as he turned to look at Sonic again as he replied teasingly, "Yeah? And do you know what's even better than throwing snowballs at someone, Cosmo?".

"Hehehehehe! No...what? Hehehehehe!" Cosmo asked as she giggled.

Knuckles quickly got down and scooped up some snow as he made his own snowballs. He then continued by exclaiming, "A snowball fight! TAKE THIS!".

FLOMP!

Sonic and Cosmo were surprised at what happened. Apparently, Knuckles had his aim a little off and ended up hitting Chris with a snowball instead...except he hit him so hard that he made him fall down on his back.

"Chris! Are you okay?!" Sonic exclaimed in shock as he dropped his snowballs to look at Chris. He can see that Chris was in the snow with the board game on his chest.

Chris smiled weakly as he wiped the snow off of his face. He then said, "I never thought that a snowball could hurt as much as a baseball can, but here we are. That snowball had hit me in the nose too. …...Owwww".

"Hang on there, buddy! I'll get you out-" Sonic exclaimed as he stretched his hand out to Chris.

FLOMP!

This time, Knuckles was able to get a direct hit onto Sonic as he threw a snowball at Sonic's face. Sonic ended up falling into the snow too. Knuckles smirked victoriously as he got back at Sonic for throwing snowballs at him.

As he dropped the snowballs, he exclaimed gleefully, "Ahahahaha! And that is why you don't let your guard down in a snowball fight!".

Cosmo ended up laughing after seeing both Chris and Sonic got hit hard by Knuckles' snowball attacks Knuckles turned around and smiled as he saw that Cosmo was happy again. Cosmo looked back at Knuckles and smiled at him.

Knuckles then looked sheepish as he placed a hand behind his head and rubbed it. He replied with, "Umm...heheheh...Okay, maybe I am a little cruel. Umm...S-Sorry, Cosmo...a-about when I...uhh...".

Cosmo shook her head as she replied with a smile, "It's okay, Knuckles. I forgive you. Thank you for cheering me up".

Knuckles felt relieved that she had forgiven him. He smiled a bit wider as he replied, "Thank you for forgiving me, Cosmo. I'm glad that you feel better now".

Cosmo nodded and smiled even wider at him. Knuckles then looked determined as he exclaimed, "Alright! Now, let's go get that Planet Egg!".

-Ten Minutes Later-

After helping both Sonic and Chris up from the snow, the four of them went back to the Blue Typhoon to get into the X-Tornado. Chris was in the pilot's seat while Cosmo was at the back. Sonic and Knuckles were at the plane's wings. Sonic still had the board game with him as he carried it under his left arm. Knuckles was still annoyed that Sonic won't give the board game to him. But Sonic had said again that the time wasn't right. So, for now, he was waiting for Sonic to give it to him. The four of them were all riding through the cold sky in the X-Tornado. They were making their way to the Metarex's base. However, in the distance behind the plane, they were being watched.

Back at the ice palace, the ice Metarex poacher was watching through the computer screens that show the X-Tornado flying through the air. The ice poacher then said calmly, "It seems that our prey is coming towards our trap. It's much easier to catch prey when they are...frozen in place".

Behind the ice poacher, there were little brown poachers with purple eyes. They were the same poachers that Dark Oak had. The small poachers were also staring at the computer monitors with the ice poacher.

The ice poacher then laughed evilly as he said, "Mwahahahahahaha! The players will have a hard escaping from me once they are frozen like ice cubes! Hahahahahaha!". The other Metarex robots laughed in agreement.

-Meanwhile With Dr. Eggman-

Dr. Eggman, Decoe, Bocue, and Bokkun were all hiding inside of an igloo. However, the shape of the igloo was made after Dr. Eggman's face. Clearly, Dr. Eggman can't resist showing his ego even when trying to go undercover. Everyone except Bokkun were sleeping inside the igloo. Bokkun was frowning as he said to himself, "Man, for trying to stay undetected, this is clearly the worst way to do it. On another note, I can't believe that it was that easy to get Dr. Eggman to drink that hot coco with sleeping powder in it, and he hates hot cocoa to begin with! I suppose Rouge will have an easier time getting the emerald now with Dr. Eggman out of the way".

As he said that, Rouge was flying over the igloo and through the cold sky. Rouge then said with a smile, "Boy, Dr. Eggman is terrible in hiding undercover. And he wonders why Blue Boy had always manages to know what he's up to. But enough about that, now that they are 'taking the easy route' it gives me enough time to find that Chaos Emerald in this Arctic world".

As she flew a bit farther, she was then blown back a little by the cold wind. She cringed a bit before she flew forward steadier than before. She had an arm over her right eye as she added, "Ugh. I'm going to warm myself up after this little mission is over".

-Meanwhile With Sonic And The Others-

Sonic, Knuckles, Chris, and Cosmo were getting closer to the ice palace before them. They were a little bit away from it, but it should be no problem for Sonic and Knuckles to get in. …...Well, at least they think it won't.

"The base is straight up ahead. Keep your eyes peeled for any traps, Sonic. This might be tough," Knuckles said as he prepared himself for any oncoming threats.

"You may be right about that, but I'll just slip right by those traps easily!" Sonic exclaimed with confidence. The X-Tornado got even closer to the ice palace. They both saw that there were many little brown Metarex robots up ahead.

Chris gasped as he exclaimed, "Guys! The Metarex is up ahead! Quick! Fight now!".

"With pleasure!" Sonic exclaimed as he jumped forward as he saw the power ring being shot out from the X-Tornado. He quickly grabbed the power ring and went into his Super Spinball move. He carried the board game with him while still in his spinball form. He destroyed three Metarex robots the moment he went into his spinball form. He went forward ahead of the X-Tornado to take out even more robots. As Sonic did this, Knuckles started attacking the brown robots too as he jumped up and punched straight through them. As he punched and kicked through each one of these robots, he then pondered. Heh. About time that I get to do some heavy damage to these robots! These robots had got to be the weaker ones if I can break through them. …...Hmmm...But still, why is that though? Shouldn't these things be stronger? What is up with that?

As Sonic and Knuckles kept on fighting, Chris decided to fight back too by firing some bullets from the X-Tornado. He shot several Metarex robots in the process. He even fired some missiles at them and had destroyed them. Once the small Metarex robots were destroyed, Sonic and Knuckles got back onto the plane. Sonic smirked as held up the board game for a moment.

"Heh! Not a scratch!" Sonic exclaimed proudly as he held up the board game with one hand.

Knuckles just narrowed his eyes at Sonic and shook his head. Show off. Knuckles thought with a frown. Sonic then focused back at the view in front of him. He saw more small Metarex robots retreating from the plane. Sonic then exclaimed, "Chase after them, Chris! We need to let those Metarex poachers know that we are serious into playing this game!".

"Got it! Here we go!" Chris exclaimed in agreement. He then flew the plane even faster than before as he chased after the remaining Metarex robots. Chris flew the plane through the ice canyon to chase after the flying Metarex robots. Eventually, the robots stopped flying away and had turned around. Chris was surprised by this action but was even more surprised that the mountain behind the robots had multiple explosions coming from it.

"Ah! What the-!" Chris exclaimed in shock.

Suddenly, there was a huge avalanche coming towards the plane. Knuckles then exclaimed, "I knew that there was going to be a trap!".

"For once, your tendency to be suspicious came through to us, Knuckles! Congratulations! What do we do now?!" Sonic exclaimed while being sassy at the end.

"Dodge!" Knuckles exclaimed as he held onto the wing of the plane more tightly.

Sonic smirked as he casually quipped, "And the winner of the 'Captain Obvious' award goes to-".

"Shut up, Sonic!" Knuckles yelled back with some irritation in his voice.

Sonic shrugged as he then exclaimed to Chris, "You heard the man, Chris! Dodge!".

"It's too late!" Chris exclaimed as he saw the avalanche got very closer to them now.

"Or was it?!" Tails exclaimed through the speaker. The four of them smiled as they looked up to see the Blue Typhoon flying down towards the avalanche. The spaceship then headed down towards the avalanche in order to block it from hitting the X-Tornado. The spaceship was successful into blocking it from the plane. Chris smiled as he was able to fly the plane upwards without the fear of being swept away due to the strong avalanche.

Chris then exclaimed, "We made it!". Sonic smiled in agreement with that.

He and the three of them had heard Tails say over the speaker, "We got the repairs done! But...the ship still needs more adjustments thanks to that stunt I just did. So, take your time guys! We'll be ready to leave once you find the Chaos Emerald and the Planet Egg!".

"We'll do!" Chris replied over the communicator. He then flew the plane even faster than before. Meanwhile, Tails, Amy, and Cream looked at the snow covering the Blue Typhoon for a bit.

Amy then smiled as she turned back to look at Tails. She then said, "Well, back to the drawing board then! I'm not going fix that!".

"Yep! You're on your own, Tails! (Chao chao!)" Cream exclaimed happily and so did Cheese.

"(Sigh) Thanks guys..." Tails replied weakly. This is what I get for trying to be cool for a change. Take notes, Tails. Never try to pull any stunts that you aren't prepared for. Tails thought with a sweat drop on his head as he stared at the snow on top of the spaceship.

Amy and Cream both looked up and saw the ice palace in front of them. They had to admit that they were impressed by how sparkly and shiny the ice is and how it was intricately designed. Amy commented by saying, "What a wonderful palace!".

"I know! It looks like something out of a fairy tale! (Chao chao!)" Cream exclaimed with a smile as well as Cheese.

Meanwhile, Chris had gotten the plane closer towards the ice palace. They were now only a few miles away. Chris then exclaimed, "We're almost there, guys! Just hang on a little while longer, and we'll make it towards the palace!".

"Do we have to?" Sonic complained with slight impatience in his tone.

"But it's only a few miles away! We'll make it there in like three minutes!" Chris replied back.

"Yeah? Well, I can get there in like three seconds! I'm getting off!" Sonic exclaimed as he then jumped off the plane again while carrying the board game under his left arm.

"Sonic! Wait!" Chris exclaimed in surprise.

"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I agree with Sonic here. I can make it there by running the rest of the way there! See ya, Chris!" Knuckles exclaimed before he jumped off the plane too.

"Wait! Guys! The ground is too slippery! You're going to slip and fall if you try to run on the ice!" Chris exclaimed towards the two going down to the ground. However, it was a little too late for them. Once they had landed onto the ice, they began to slip onto the ice as they had tried to steady their stance on the ground. Knuckles grunted a bit as he slipped forward on his feet before he fell and slid towards Sonic. Sonic was slipping in place before he fell down and had let go of the board game once he had fallen. Sonic fell onto his stomach. The board game was now in front of Sonic as he laid there. Knuckles soon caught up to Sonic as he slid through the ice on his stomach. He was right next to Sonic onto the icy ground.

Knuckles then cheekily commented, "About time that you had let go of the board game already, Sonic. I was worried that you had become obsessed with that game since you keep on hogging it to yourself".

Sonic grunted as he replied, "As I had said before, it's only for the right moment!".

Knuckles frowned as he replied back, "Well...wouldn't this be the right time to use it? Because look ahead of you, Sonic. We got trouble".

Sonic did as Knuckles had said and had looked ahead of himself. He and Knuckles could see more brown Metarex robots heading towards them. Knuckles then replied sternly, "And as I had said before, I knew that there was going to be a trap. Hmph. Called it".

"I've heard you the first time, buddy. No need to rub it in," Sonic replied in slight annoyance.

Knuckles then looked smug as he turned to face Sonic. He then replied smugly, "Yeah, but I can't help it since I'm right". Sonic looked at Knuckles and groaned in irritation.

Before Knuckles could say another word in, he and Sonic had heard Chris say, "Here, Sonic! This could help!". Chris had shot his newly invented hoverboard towards Sonic with the X-Tornado. The hoverboard was orange and had a red stripe in the middle of it. Sonic and Knuckles looked back to see the orange hoverboard coming towards Sonic. Sonic quickly got up and jumped on top of the hoverboard.

He then smirked as he looked at Knuckles. He replied with, "Well, buddy, the board game is all yours!".

"What the-! Now?! Knuckles exclaimed in shock and in disbelief. He really did think that Sonic was going hog the board game to himself the entire trip on this planet as a way to troll him. But it seems like Sonic was being serious when he believed that this might be the right moment to use the board game.

"Yeah! Now! It's time to turn the odds into our favor! Give us a good card, Knuckles! I'm counting on you!" Sonic exclaimed enthusiastically. Before Knuckles could reply back, Sonic then steered the hoverboard to go forward. Sonic was pleasantly surprised that the hoverboard was very fast. Heh. It may be no match for my speed, but it is pretty sweet going this fast! Sonic thought with a smirk as punched through the Metarex robots while riding on his hoverboard.

Knuckles was annoyed as he laid down sassily while glaring at the X-Tornado. "You know, I would really appreciate it if I had one of those things right about now," Knuckles said with some sarcasm in his tone. I'm starting to think that this kid favors Sonic more than the rest of us. Knuckles thought with a frown.

"Ummm...about that Knuckles...I didn't think that you wanted one too," Chris replied awkwardly.

Knuckles quickly got up in irritation as he exclaimed, "Oh, what makes you think-ACK!".

But he slipped on the ice again and fell down onto his bottom. This is humiliating. Knuckles thought with a grimace. He then looked at the board game beside him and sighed. A good card, huh? Boy, do I really need one right about now. Knuckles pondered as he grabbed the board game and held it under his arm now. He then carefully stood back up and looked at Sonic beating up the Metarex robots. Sonic had easily bashed through a row of Metarex robots with his hoverboard. Knuckles growled in frustration as he watched how easy Sonic has it since he's fighting very well now.

Chris landed the X-Tornado next to Knuckles and had offered him a lift. Knuckles shook his head before he hopped up towards one of the plane's wings again. He then muttered to himself, "First, he's hogging the game all to himself, and now he's hogging all the spotlight too. Does his ego show no bounds?". After he finally stood up firmly onto the plane's wing, Chris then flew the X-Tornado up into the air again.

Sonic is just casually breaking more Metarex robots left and right in his hoverboard. He then thought. Man, if beating these Metarex poachers was this easy, then we would've won the game already! Come on! Step it up, you hunting freaks! Give me a real challenge!

Chris, Knuckles, and Cosmo could see the piles of broken Metarex robots ahead of them. Chris then commented, "Wow, Sonic is really on fire today! I knew that making a hoverboard for him would be very useful for him in combat!".

"I know. Sonic really does have a lot of tricks under his sleeve, doesn't he?" Cosmo added with a smile.

Knuckles just pouted as he had propped his head up with his hands. He had his elbows over the board game while watches Sonic continue to fight off the Metarex robots. Knuckles brooded for a bit. Of coarse Sonic would get all the praise whether he's the one fighting the robots. Not much praise comes from me whenever I fight them. Ugh. The day that I'll actually get praise for something I do is when I'll meet my soulmate, which is very slim to no chance of ever having that happen to me. He then sat up and looked at the board game in front of him. He then said to himself, "Let's just get this over with".

He opened the board game and pushed the red button. Thus, the roulette wheel started to spin. As he does this, Tails was talking to Chris.

"My emerald tracker is picking up high chaos energy inside the ice palace. By the looks of it, the emerald is encased inside an ice pillar. You might need to find a way to break the ice and remove the emerald from it," Tails said as he spoke though the communicator.

"We'll find a way, Tails! We can do this, but first, we're going to have to get past the security in this palace!" Chris replied enthusiastically through his communicator.

"All right! Good luck!" Tails exclaimed with a smile.

Soon, the roulette wheel had stopped spinning and had landed on a number. "A six, huh? Eh, could've been better," Knuckles commented casually as he watched his red spaceship move to space 15. His spaceship was next to Cream's now.

KACHING!

Another white card had popped out of the card slot. Knuckles grabbed it as he thought. Please let it be something good this time.

He began to read the card. "'The real treasure is gone, and there is nothing left to take. So, would you rather leave with nothing or grab the fake?' Hmmm...I wonder this riddle could mean," Knuckles read before he spoke to himself.

Tails then noticed something changing in the emerald tracker. "Huh? What the-?! I somehow lost the signal to the emerald!" Tails said in confusion and in alarm.

"What?! You lost it?! How can you even lose it?! You said that the emerald is inside that palace!" Amy exclaimed in shock as she looked at Tails.

"I don't know how I lost it! For some reason, the radar had stopped blipping! I'm sensing no chaos energy now!" Tails exclaimed in worry.

"Maybe the radar broke. (Chao chao)," Cream replied with a frown and so did Cheese.

"It can't just break! It was working fine a few seconds ago! I'm sure that it's a...a...Wait. What?" Tails exclaimed in surprise before he stopped and looked at the radar again. He was very confused as to why the radar had started blipping again.

"Huh? I don't get it. One moment the radar had stopped working and now it had started to blip again. Just what is going on here?" Tails said in confusion as he stared at the radar more closely.

"Hmmm...maybe you do need to fix the emerald radar after all if it had started to act all funny," Amy replied with a shrug.

"Either that or maybe you should take a nap since you've been working so hard," Cream suggested innocently.

Tails sighed as he replied, "Yeah...a nap sounds nice right about now".

Meanwhile, Chris continued to fly the X-Tornado closer towards the ice palace. Knuckles had asked Cosmo if she could hold onto the board game for a while, and she had agreed to that. So, she held onto the game while Knuckles got ready to fight the Metarex robots.

"We're going right in! Brace yourself, Knuckles! We going to get the emerald!" Chris exclaimed as he looked determined. He flew the plane into the middle of two walls of the palace. Cosmo held onto the board game tightly in her arms.

While Chris was flying the plane inside the palace, Sonic was getting further inside the palace with his hoverboard. He went down a slope with his hoverboard. He can see some Metarex robots on another slope. The Metarex robots had attacked Sonic by firing missiles at him. Sonic had gone up to the end of the slope and went to the air again. He then quickly jumped off of his hoverboard for a bit to dodge the missiles. He attacked back as he went into his Super Spinball form again. He destroyed more of the small Metarex robots with his spinball move. He then landed back onto his hoverboard again after he destroyed the robots. Heh! These guys are too easy! Sonic thought cockily as he flew faster in his hoverboard.

Meanwhile, Chris and Knuckles can see some Metarex robots blocking their path. Knuckles nodded to Chris, and Chris nodded back as he was ready to fight back at them.

"Ready?" Chris asked seriously.

"Ready!" Knuckles exclaimed as he quickly grabbed one of the robots and swung it around. He broke some more Metarex robots by doing that move. After he destroyed the robots, Knuckles then threw the robot towards the wall behind him to get rid of it. The robot exploded as it had crashed into the ice wall.

"Piece of cake," Knuckles said with a smirk as he felt proud into beating the Metarex robots by himself.

"Oh, my! I never thought that Knuckles could be so ruthless like that!" Cosmo exclaimed in surprise as she looked back.

"Yeah, but we're are going to need that kind raw power if we're ever going take on the Metarex. So, this is what we need right now, Cosmo," Chris replied calmly as he looked back too.

"Umm...okay," Cosmo replied quietly.

Meanwhile, as Sonic and Chris were intruding the ice palace, Rouge was flying above the palace. She was admiring the beauty of the ice palace. "Well now, isn't this a beautiful palace! I wouldn't mind living in a palace such as this back in my home world. Except that it would be made out of diamonds and crystals instead of ice. Still, the shininess of the place looks very close to diamonds if you squint hard enough," Rouge said calmly.

She was then suddenly squeezed a bit by a lone Metarex robot. She quickly shook the robot off and flew away from it before looking back at it.

"I said 'squint' hard enough not 'squeeze' hard enough, you moron!" Rouge exclaimed before she used her Drill Attack at the robot. She was able to destroy it with that attack.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Chris had both caught up to each other and got even closer to the core of the palace. The ice poacher was watching through the computer monitors. He can see Sonic, the X-Tornado, and Rouge on different computer monitors. He then thought. This isn't working. I'm not making any progress into taking down my prey. Those rookie poachers had what's coming to them since they had failed to kill them. But I'm still not done yet. It will soon be my turn to hunt them. Yes, my turn indeed.

The ice poacher soon walked over to the ice pillar behind him. The pillar had lit up after he had arrived to it. He glared at the emerald in the pillar of ice as he pondered. Hmm...is it just me or had the energy of this emerald been...weakening? Hmmm...it's probably just my imagination.

Meanwhile, Sonic was going through the loop-de-loops that the ice palace has with his hoverboard. He smiled as he thought. Woo! This is kind of fun!

He then noticed more Metarex robots coming at his direction. He smirked as he thought. Maybe it's time kick this up a notch! He then spun his hoverboard around as a way to attack them. He was able to destroy the robots that way. He kept on spinning his hoverboard to destroy the rest of the robots. Chris was following behind Sonic as he flew through the spiraling loop-de-loops. He attacked the rest of the Metarex robots by firing bullets at them. He was able to destroy them just fine. As Chris and Sonic were heading towards the palace building now, Chris had fired some missiles onto the wall of the palace as an entryway for the two of them. The wall exploded after it was shot by the missiles. Once a hole was made, Chris flew the plane upwards so that he could avoid smashing the plane into the building. Sonic was able to get into the hole just fine with his hoverboard. Once he got in, he descended into the palace with his hoverboard. Sonic could see that he is in some kind of a lab. He hopped off of the hoverboard to look around the place a bit more. He spotted the Chaos Emerald inside the ice pillar. He walked towards the ice pillar and had placed his hands on it.

"Hmmm...this can't be too easy. I wonder if this is also a trap. Hmmm..." Sonic said to himself as he stared at the Chaos Emerald more closely. He pondered as his eyes had widened a little. Hey, wait a second, am I crazy or is this Chaos Emerald less stronger than-

CRASH!

Before Sonic could finish that thought, he could hear ice breaking behind him. He turned around and saw Knuckles punch through the ice doors and broke them. Chris and Cosmo were behind Knuckles. Cosmo was carrying the board game in her arms. She believed that she should protect it from the Metarex poachers, so, that was why she's still carrying it with her.

Chris then said, "Sonic, please get that emerald out of that pillar before the Metarex comes back! Please be quick!".

Sonic looked back as he replied calmly, "I can accomplish at least one of those requests".

Rouge was flying above the hole in the wall and saw Sonic and his friends in the lab with the Chaos Emerald. She stayed to the side of the hole to watch them try to break the ice pillar. She then thought. Okay, after those knuckleheads had finished doing the hard work for me, I'll come right down there and snatch the emerald out of their hands. It'll be a piece of cake.

Knuckles then exclaimed, "Oh no! You are not going to be the one to get all the credit here! It's my time to shine!".

Sonic looked confused as he scratched his head. He smiled sheepishly as he replied, "Well, uh, okay. If you wanted to be the first to take a crack it, then sure! Fire away!".

Knuckles then looked determined as he got his Shovel Claws out. He then said, "Thank you. And now I'll show you how one breaks the ice around here. All you need is a little punch in the right direction! ARGH!".

He then jumped to punch the ice pillar, but once he had punched it, he bounced back to the floor since the ice was too hard to break. Sonic, Chris, and Cosmo were surprised that the ice too hard even for Knuckles to break. Knuckles looked at the ice pillar with surprise on his face. "Just what is that ice made out of?! Diamonds?!" Knuckles exclaimed in shock.

"A good effort, my prey. But you will fail into breaking that ice pillar. The longer you try to take our prize, the easier it will be for me to hunt you down and kill you," the ice poacher said overhead.

Knuckles quickly got up and exclaimed, "Oh yeah?! Well, why don't you just show up now and fight us instead?!".

"If you want to play it that way, then sure. Why not? Now watch and be amazed on how quickly the emerald reveals what its truly worth," the ice poacher said calmly.

The gang soon watched the red emerald shine brightly. They gasped as they saw the ice poacher appear inside the ice pillar while laughing ominously. Knuckles was prepared to punch him once the ice poacher had appeared. He then cried out, "Now watch and be amazed on how much of a punch through your body is truly worth!".

He jumped and punched the ice pillar again, but just like last time, he simply bounced off of it and fell back down to the ground. The ice poacher replied casually, "Well, it seems like your punches aren't worth anything at all".

Knuckles growled in frustration as he laid onto the ground on his stomach. Sonic decided to try to attack the poacher with his Super Spinball attack. But he couldn't break the ice pillar either. He was bounced back to Knuckles' side after that attempt. The ice poacher then said, "Well, players, since you had tried and failed to take the emerald from me, it's game over for you two".

The ice poacher proceeded to take the emerald and put on his chest to power himself up with chaos energy. With the Chaos Emerald powering the Metarex robot up, the ice began to melt due to the warmth of the emerald glowing brightly. As the ice was melting, he then said, "So, this is why you wanted these emeralds so badly. You wanted to have all the warmth and power to yourselves. Isn't it?".

"Heck no! We wanted to get those emeralds to protect others from the likes of you!" Chris exclaimed boldly.

"Hahahahaha! Foolish child, you and your friends are the last type of people to say that," the ice poacher said menacingly.

What does he mean by that? Chris thought in confusion. As the ice poacher kept on powering up, he soon disappeared into a swirling snow tornado. The snow tornado soon reached up to the ice ceiling of the lab and had broken it into pieces.

"Ah! We must leave now!" Chris exclaimed as he and the others turned around to run away. Cosmo did her best try run as fast as she could while carrying the board game with her. Sonic and Knuckles ran ahead of Chris and Cosmo. Rouge can see that the palace was crumbling, so, she flew away from the crumbling ceiling.

"And just when I thought that was going to be easy, this happens. Sheesh, why do I always get the worst luck?" Rouge said with annoyance in her voice. She then proceeded to fly away from the ice palace.

The gang had finally escaped from the crumbling ice palace. As they were running away, the ice poacher had reappeared again behind them. He laughed evilly as he said, "You can run as fast as you can, prey, but even prey such as you can die to hyperthermia. So, allow me to help you die in that way!".

Chris and Cosmo looked back and were shocked at what the Metarex poacher did next. The ice poacher then punched his claw hand into the frozen ground below. The punch was strong enough to create an aftershock. This had caused Cosmo to trip and fall.

"Aaah!" Cosmo yelped in shock as she fell. She had unintentionally let go of the board game as she fell to the ground. The board game slid a bit away from Cosmo and had stopped.

"Cosmo!" Chris exclaimed as he looked back to see Cosmo on the ground. He can see her crawling towards the board game. Chris also saw that the punch that Metarex robot had made had also made the ice to crack and break ahead of him. The opening crack was coming towards Cosmo's direction. Chris immediately ran back to try to save her and the board game. That poacher is trying to prevent us from finishing the board game by making it fall into the ground! Chris thought in a panic.

"Don't worry, Cosmo! I'll save you!" Chris yelled as he ran faster. Sonic and Knuckles looked back after that yell. They were surprised at what was happening.

"Chris! Cosmo!" Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed in shock before they ran back to them.

Chris was able to reach Cosmo in time to lift her up from the ground. Cosmo then exclaimed, "Quick, Chris! Get the board game!".

"Got it!" Chris exclaimed as he quickly turned around and picked up the board game. "Alright! Now let's ru-AAAH!" Chris exclaimed before he slipped on the crack below him and fell.

"Chris! Aaaaah!" Cosmo exclaimed as she also slipped onto the crack below her and fell.

Luckily! Sonic and Knuckles had saved them by grabbing each of their hands to prevent them from falling into the huge crevice below. Sonic had grabbed Chris' hand while Knuckles had grabbed Cosmo's hand. Chris was holding the board game with his other hand and refused to let it go.

"Hang on, Chris! I'll get you out of there!" Sonic exclaimed as he held onto Chris' hand as tightly as he can.

"Sonic! Should I throw the board game up to you?!" Chris exclaimed back.

"No! Don't! We can't risk losing the game over a terrible throw! Just keep on hanging on to it!" Sonic exclaimed back as he tried to pull Chris up to the ground.

"Okay!" Chris exclaimed back as he nodded.

"Cosmo! I got you! I won't let go of you!" Knuckles exclaimed while trying to stay calm. He too started to pull Cosmo up to the ground.

"O-Okay!" Cosmo exclaimed in slight nervousness.

"Man, if only Tails were here to give us a hand!" Sonic exclaimed as he looked determined.

"You were saying, Sonic?" Tails said through the speaker. Tails had finally fixed the repairs in his ship just in time to help the others out. Sonic and Knuckles looked up and smiled as they saw the Blue Typhoon heading towards their way.

"Heh! The cavalry had just arrived!" Sonic exclaimed with a grin. He had finally finished lifting Chris up from the crevice after he had said that. Knuckles had also got Cosmo back up to the ground. Chris was panting while holding the board game to his chest. He was relieved that he had held onto the board game the entire time and had never let go of it. I'm not sure if Sonic or the others will notice, but I had just saved them from getting a premature game over by protecting the board game. I guess I am useful to them sometimes even if they don't notice it. Chris pondered with a relieved smile on his face.

The ice poacher had noticed the Blue Typhoon and said, "Ah, it seems that there are more players for me to freeze". He then attacked the spaceship by firing ice breath from his mouth. He was able to hit the spaceship and had frozen it completely in ice.

Amy then said, "So much for fighting back. Our weapons had been frozen over due to that attack".

"Ugh! This is clearly not my day!" Tails exclaimed in frustration as he slapped himself on the forehead.

Despite not being able to attack the ice poacher back, Tails and the others had distracted him long enough for Sonic, Knuckles, Chris, and Cosmo to make their escape by flying on the X-Tornado again. Cosmo was carrying the board game with her this time after Chris had handed it to her.

Sonic then exclaimed, "Thanks for the distraction, Tails!".

"(Sigh)…...You're welcome, Sonic," Tails replied in annoyance as he rolled his eyes.

Chris flew the plane towards the Metarex robot and started to attack him. He fired missiles from the X-Tornado and had hit the robot multiple times. However, the ice poacher took no damage from it.

"Oh, man! Not even a single scratch! That Chaos Emerald must have made him stronger!" Chris exclaimed with a frown.

Sonic then exclaimed, "Let me try taking a shot at him!". He brought the hoverboard with him and jumped onto it to fly towards the ice poacher. He went up onto the huge ice poacher to set up his attack.

"Hey! Ice poacher! Ready to take on player one?!" Sonic exclaimed cockily. He then went away from him once he got near to his face.

"Nice try, prey. But it's obvious that you are player four in the game. You are not player one," the ice poacher said calmly.

Sonic smirked as he looked back at the poacher as he cockily replied, "Oh, we'll see about that!".

"Take this, Sonic! These power rings will help!" Chris exclaimed as he shot two power rings from the X-Tornado. Sonic immediately caught the two power rings and had allowed the hoverboard go on without him on it. He then went into his Super Spinball form and turned around to attack the huge ice poacher.

The ice poacher then said, "Know your place, prey. The board game knows that you had moved the fourth game piece after the first three players had moved theirs. You can't change that fact no matter how much you wanted to be number one". He then shot out a huge ice crystal from his clawed hand at Sonic.

"Oh, yeah?! Well, I'm always player one in my heart!" Sonic exclaimed back. He grunted once he had hit the ice crystal. He was able to break through the ice crystal with ease. The ice did hurt, but he was able to plow through it at least. Once he got to the end of the crystal, he then held onto the Metarex's crystals on his body. The ice poacher soon retaliated by trying to grab Sonic with his hand. Sonic looked back and saw the clawed hand coming towards him. If I don't act fast now, then I'm sure that I'm going to be on thin ice later! Sonic thought in a panic.

"Chris! You've got to save him! Without a player, the game will—Ah!" Cosmo exclaimed in worry before she had accidently hit a red button on the right side of her seat. This action had fired a yellow laser from the X-Tornado.

Chris was alarmed as he looked back at Cosmo at in surprise. "Did you just-" Chris said in confusion before Cosmo cut him off.

"S-Sorry! It was an accident! I swear!" Cosmo exclaimed in a panic.

Luckily for Sonic, the laser beam had hit one of the Metarex's crystals and had melted it off. The ice poacher hissed in pain and had retracted his hand from Sonic to hold his injured shoulder. Sonic took this chance to jump back to the X-Tornado. Chris then flew the X-Tornado back and away from the huge Metarex robot.

Sonic then exclaimed, "Good thinking, Chris!".

"Actually, Sonic, that one wasn't me. Cosmo was the one who had saved you this time. Right, Cosmo?" Chris replied humbly.

"Oh? Is it true, Cosmo?" Sonic replied with a smile as he was pleasantly surprised.

"Umm...yes, it was me. But it was only by complete accident though," Cosmo answered shyly.

Sonic smiled wider as he replied calmly, "But it was a happy accident now, wasn't it?".

"Huh? 'A happy accident'? I've never heard of accidents being described as happy, Sonic," Cosmo replied with some confusion in her tone.

"Well, you do now. They exist, you know. Not all accidents have to be bad, Cosmo. There are some that are good. It just comes at the most unexpected places," Sonic replied cheerfully.

"Hmm..." Cosmo mused for bit. "At the most unexpected places"? Those good accidents must be rare then if they are unexpected. Perhaps even more so than regular accidents. Cosmo pondered for a moment.

Chris broke Cosmo's thoughts by saying, "Anyways, thanks for saving Sonic, Cosmo. You were quite helpful to us!".

Cosmo gasped in happiness as she was complimented by Chris. She smiled as she thought. Me? Helpful? I think that I can get used to being called that. "Guides" are supposed to be useful, aren't they? If I'm being helpful to these players, then I am fulfilling my duty as a "guide"!

Meanwhile, Chris looked back in front him as he said, "Hmm...so that laser beam was hot enough to melt that poacher's icy armor, huh? Well, that just gives me an idea! To the Blue Typhoon!".

Once everyone had made it back to the Blue Typhoon, Chris had told Knuckles to go to the main engine room to command the Master Emerald. Knuckles did what he was instructed and went to the engine room. Sonic, Chris, and Cosmo went to the bridge to meet up with Tails, Amy, and Cream. Cosmo decided to place the board game down to the ground since it was now in a safe place such as the Blue Typhoon for instance. She also knew that it was now Tails' turn on the board game, so, she put the game in a convenient place for Tails to reach. Of coarse, Tails was too busy to focus on the board game now since he was talking to Chris at the time.

"That's a great idea, Chris! If Knuckles can charge up the Laser Cannon by using the Master Emerald as a power source, it will be strong enough to melt the Metarex's armor off! Knuckles, are you ready to power up the cannon?" Tails said to Chris before he spoke to Knuckles through the speaker.

"I'm always prepared!" Knuckles replied back. The Laser Cannon soon moved up from the spaceship as was ready to be charged up. It was aimed at the ice poacher. Knuckles was up in the control room area of the main engine room. He then started to pray to the Master Emerald.

"Like master to the servers, there is one who is above all. Chaos is only a server while You are the one who is the master. Heed to our prayers, O Great Master Emerald! We need Your power. You govern all of the chaos inside our hearts! Please grant us Your power and help us!" Knuckles said is prayer to the Master Emerald. The emerald soon glowed brightly as it was powering up.

"Charging up now...closer...closer..." Chris said as he watched the meter reach to max power. The cannons are light up and were ready to fire at the ice poacher.

"Yes! It's all charged up! Ready to fire!" Chris exclaimed once he saw that the cannons are fully ready.

Tails exclaimed as he pointed, "Shoot!".

Chris immediately pushed the button, and the cannons had fired powerful laser beams at the Metarex robot. The ice poacher said, "Nice move, players, but I don't think you had won yet!". He attacked again by firing another huge ice crystal at the laser beam. However, as the laser beam had hit the ice crystal, it not only melted the crystal, but it also had melted through the Metarex's arm! The laser had also hit at the Metarex's body too!

"Aaargh! What are you doing?! Nooooooo!" the ice poacher yelled as he felt his skin melting by the heat of the laser beam. Eventually, the laser beam had went through the Metarex's body and had destroyed him completely. As the remains of the robot's body had crumbled everywhere, the red Chaos Emerald and the hidden Planet Egg were thrown out of the body at long last. The Planet Egg had landed onto the snow and had sunk into the cold ground below.

Cosmo saw that both the Chaos Emerald and the Planet Egg were found. She smiled happily as she said, "It's a miracle. We found the Planet Egg at the exact same time as we found the Chaos Emerald. Hmm...maybe Sonic was right about how happy accidents do exist after all".

-Few Minutes Later-

The snow on the planet hadn't melted down completely, but it wasn't at knee deep this time. It was at a level where Sonic and his friends could walk at the solid ground of the planet this time. Sonic and his friends were walking through the planet to see where the Chaos Emerald had landed. Everyone except for Cosmo were happy that the planet is back to normal.

"Isn't this great, Cosmo? We've saved another Planet Egg from the Metarex! I'm sure that you're happy we had saved another planet, right? …...Huh? Cosmo?" Tails said brightly before he noticed that Cosmo wasn't listening or with his friends at the moment.

"Eh? What's wrong, Tails? Where's Cosmo?" Chris asked as he looked back at Tails. Sonic, Amy, and Cream stopped walking and looked back too.

"I don't know. She was behind us a while ago. Where could she had gone to?" Tails replied as he had shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

Chris and the others looked around the area to see where Cosmo was at. Cream eventually spotted her near a tree and had said to the others, "Guys! I found her! Come on! Let's go see what she's up to!".

The others nodded and ran towards where Cosmo was at. Once they had made it to where she's at, they were silent as they stood next to her. Chris then said quietly, "Cosmo...is everything alright?".

Cosmo looked back and frowned at Sonic and the others before she looked back at the tree. She placed her hands on the tree and leant on it to sense if the tree is still alive. She frowned in sadness as she still felt nothing. She pushed back from the tree and said quietly, "Even if with the Planet Egg back...it is still too late to save the trees. They're...They're gone from this world. Life will never continue on in this world even with the Planet Egg back".

Once Sonic and the others had heard this, they felt sad since they know how much life means to Cosmo. They frowned and had their heads down. Sonic then said softly, "I'm sorry, Cosmo. I thought that if we had retrieved both the Chaos Emerald and the Planet Egg from the Metarex then we would've killed two birds with one stone. But I guess that I was wrong".

Cosmo looked back at Sonic and replied to him, "No. Don't apologize, Sonic. What you and Chris had thought was a good idea. However...there are just some things that you cannot control no matter how much of your best efforts were put forth. You did your best, Sonic. You and everyone else had done the best that you could".

Sonic and the others then looked even sadder after Cosmo had said that. Was it true? Were all of their best efforts all for naught? Couldn't there be any hope for this planet to live? Sonic then put his head down in sadness. But when he did that, he was surprised at what he found. Hey...isn't that-Sonic thought before his thoughts were interrupted with Knuckles exclaiming, "Finally! I found the emerald!".

Sonic's head snapped back up to see Knuckles crouching beside the red Chaos Emerald. Sonic's friends also looked to where Knuckles was. Knuckles was about to take the emerald before he was startled by three cards being thrown near the emerald and surrounding it. Knuckles immediately stood up to find his attacker by looking up at the sky. But it was too late since Rouge had swooped down and snatched the red emerald in front of Knuckles. Knuckles gritted his teeth in irritation once he saw Rouge flying away with the emerald in her hand.

"Better luck next time, sweetie! Because this little baby is mine!" Rouge said tauntingly as she flew farther away from Knuckles and the others.

"Don't call me 'sweetie', you thief!" Knuckles yelled in anger as he raised his fist at her.

"And don't call me 'thief', you knucklehead!" Rouge replied back with a teasing smirk.

"Grrrrrrr!" Knuckles growled as he glared at Rouge.

Amy walked up next Knuckles and exclaimed, "Seriously?! She just stole that Chaos Emerald right under your nose!".

"Tell me something that I don't know!" Knuckles yelled with annoyance as he turned to look at Amy.

Sonic just smiled in slight amusement of this. Oh, Knuckles. You always see the negative aspects of life. I think that it's about time to show you the positive aspects of it. Sonic thought with a grin as he stared at Knuckles and Amy. Cosmo was frowning as she stared at Knuckles.

"He seems to be so upset that he lost the Chaos Emerald just when he had found it," Cosmo said with a frown.

Sonic turned to look at Cosmo as he replied, "Well, you know what they, 'you win some, you lose some'. Knuckles is just being petty that he lost the emerald already. We could get it back some other time".

Cosmo then looked to Sonic and asked, "Are you sure, Sonic?".

Sonic smiled as he answered, "Definitely! Besides, I think that there are more positive things to be happy about!". Sonic then proceeded to point his finger down at the ground for emphasis. Cosmo was confused as to why Sonic was pointing at the ground, but she did look down and was pleasantly surprised at what she found. She smiled happily at what she had found.

Sonic grinned as he saw how happy Cosmo is right now. He then turned to look at Knuckles and Amy again. He called out to Knuckles, "Yo, Knuckles! Over here!".

Knuckles turned around and frowned at Sonic. Amy turned around to look at Sonic too. Knuckles then said with annoyance, "What is it, Sonic?".

"We found life, Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed brightly while pointing at the ground.

"...Life?" Knuckles repeated in confusion.

"Yeah! Life!" Sonic exclaimed with a grin before he looked down at the ground. Knuckles was a bit confused. He walked closer to where Sonic and the others are. Amy followed Knuckles as he walked to the group to stare at the ground. Amy and Knuckles soon saw grass growing in the ground. It was small, but the grass was still there.

"It's another miracle! Life did find a way to survive through the harsh conditions of winter!" Cosmo exclaimed happily.

Sonic agreed as he added, "It's amazing how life continues to persist despite going through the tough challenges of the seasons! No matter how harsh the environment or how improbable the conditions may seem, life does know how to keep on going. I mean look at the grass! They must've persisted throughout the cold environment when the Planet Egg was removed! I think that these little fellas are the toughest out of all of us here!".

"What do you by 'the toughest out of all of us'?!" Knuckles exclaimed in irritation. He growled as he silently glared at the grass. He felt humiliated that the grass was stronger than him. He didn't think that he would be lower than a plant, but here he is now.

Chris ignored Knuckles as he bent down to look at the grass. He then said wisely, "You know what I've been thinking? We can easily find life all around us just like the grass here, but we can never find the meaning of life. It's rather ironic, isn't it? Look around you. The grass, the trees, the flowers, and the bushes are all full of life, and yet, they don't have to ponder what the meaning of life is. I guess that what makes us different from other life forms such as plants and animals. We want to find the meaning of life because we want to know what's valuable in this universe that we are living in. Maybe...Maybe once we find out what life means to each of us respectively then maybe we can truly appreciate being alive in this universe. We can enjoy life as what it is and never have to think negatively ever again. That is what I believe at least".

Sonic smiled as he did a wink and thumbs up. He then said, "I couldn't say it even better myself!".

"I agree completely, Chris! Let's all do our best to find the meaning of life! We'll certainly be happier people if we did try to find the answer than to give up on life! We can do it!" Cosmo exclaimed brightly as she had her hands together.

"Will you guys cut it out with all the sappy talk about the meaning of life?! Open your eyes, guys! WE JUST LOST A CHAOS EMERALD HERE!" Knuckles yelled in fury as he felt a vein popping in his forehead.

Sonic, Chris, and Cosmo all looked back at Knuckles. Sonic smirked a little as he playfully quipped, "Cool it, Hot-Head! We're just thinking deeply here!".

"You can have your deep discussions about life some other time! But we have an important issue here! What are we going to do to get that red Chaos Emerald back?!" Knuckles yelled as he raised his fists at Sonic.

Sonic grinned as he turned to look at Chris. Chris looked at Sonic and smiled at him. Sonic then turned to Cosmo and said to her, "Hey, Cosmo! Do you want to play in the snow? There is still enough snow around for a snowball fight!".

"Hmm...I've never had a snowball fight with anyone before. But I'll play as long as you guys don't kill anyone," Cosmo replied with a smile.

"It's okay, Cosmo! You can't kill someone by throwing a snowball at them! It'll be fine!" Chris exclaimed with a smile.

"Guys! Can't you guys focus for one second?! This isn't the time for a snowball fight! We need to go back to space and come up with a plan to get that red Chaos Emerald back!" Knuckles yelled in frustration as he glared at the three of them.

Sonic and Chris both had smug looks on their faces as they looked at Knuckles. Sonic then raised his hand as he exclaimed, "All in for a six-to-one snowball fight?! Say 'aye'!".

"Aye! (Chao!)" everyone except Knuckles exclaimed as they raised their hands in the air.

Knuckles' eyes went wide, and he stepped back a little. "Hey! Guys! This isn't the time for this!" Knuckles exclaimed as he put his hands out in front of him. He can see that the gang all had playful smiles as they stared at him. He stepped back a bit more as he said, "Come on! We should be serious here! We shouldn't be playing around!".

"Oh, I think that this is the perfect time to be playing! I want to have some fun in the snow, and I think that you should too!" Sonic exclaimed cheerfully. He already scooped up some snow from the ground and rolled it into snowballs. Knuckles could see that the others did the same thing too.

Knuckles then replied nervously, "Ummm...guys? Can't we just reconsider th-".

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" everyone shouted loudly before they threw snowballs at Knuckles.

"Ack! Hey! Cut it out! Quit it!" Knuckles yelped as he was being pelted repeatedly by snowballs. He immediately turned around and ran away from the group.

"GET HIM!" everyone shouted as they chased after Knuckles and threw more snowballs at him. Despite Knuckles being against it at first, he soon gave in and had enjoyed a good snowball fight with Sonic and the others.

-Meanwhile With Dr. Eggman-

"I still can't believe that you guys lost sight of them! You were supposed to keep an eye out for Sonic and the others to see what they were up to! But noooo! You guys had to sleep on the job! Didn't I tell you already that I was the one who's going to take the easy route?! Not you fools!" Dr. Eggman yelled in frustration as he was upset that his crew had lost track to where Sonic and the others went to after they had left Planet Breezie.

"Hey! We can't help it that we felt tired! Besides, Bocue and I had saw you fall asleep first! So, it's not just us who had slept on the job!" Decoe exclaimed back as he pointed at Dr. Eggman.

"Yeah! What he said! You can't just blame all of your problems on us! You're just guilty as us too!" Bocue exclaimed in protest too. "Not to mention, we seemed to have fallen asleep about the time Bokkun brought hot coco! Isn't that right, Bokkun?! Just what was in that stuff anyhow?!" Bocue added as he turned to look at Bokkun.

"It was...umm...sleepy...umm...marshmallows? Uhhh...Yeah! I used the special kind of marshmallows that are too soft that it makes you feel sleepy!" Bokkun replied nervously.

"Huh?! 'Sleepy marshmallows'?! The heck are those?!" Dr Eggman, Decoe, and Bocue exclaimed in disbelief and in confusion.

"It's umm! Uhh...ummm...(Boy, lying is tough)," Bokkun replied awkwardly before he whispered to himself.

"HMMMM?!" Dr. Eggman, Decoe, and Bocue mused loudly in utter confusion. Dr. Eggman then thought. Bokkun is getting awfully suspicious lately. Hmm...I wonder what he's hiding. I'll find out what it is soon enough.

Meanwhile, Rouge was relaxing in a warm bathtub that is filled with pink bubbles. She was happy that she was warmed up in the bathtub after feeling cold for the entire day. "Ahh...this is much better. I honestly thought that I would freeze to death in that winter wonderland. I don't care how pretty that ice palace was. It was still not worth staying there for all of the gems in the world! But anyways, I feel good as new now that my skin is warmed up. And the best part is that I got my first Chaos Emerald. Hellllooo, beautiful!" Rouge said to herself before she took out the red emerald from the water.

"The water may sure keep me warm, but this emerald will keep warm as long as I need to. Oh, just look at how radiant it is! This warmth and beauty...ahhh...it's completely worth it going through that awful, cold planet just to get it!" Rouge exclaimed happily as she held up the red, glowing gem.

Suddenly! The emerald had stopped glowing as it dulled out in color. Rouge gasped in shock once she saw that the emerald had stopped shining brightly. Rouge exclaimed in shock, "What the-! I can't believe it! Do you mean to tell me that all I had snatched was a-".

-Meanwhile With Sonic And His Friends-

"A fake! Now that makes sense why the emerald radar had changed halfway through! It wasn't because it was broken! It was because the real emerald had disappeared and was replaced with a fake one! Maybe the real emerald must have gone to another planet then if it was switched with a fake version of it!" Tails exclaimed as he had figured out what had to the real emerald.

"That's possible. A real Chaos Emerald has higher energy levels than the fake one! Since I had adjusted the radar, it will show two different sets of power levels just so that we can make sure which emerald is the real one for now on! However, I don't know why it was switched in the first place. I mean. Didn't the Metarex poacher wanted to lure us in with the real emerald? Why would he switch it? Did he do that just to try to make off with the real emerald?" Chris replied with a smile.

Tails replied with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Well, I don't know. I mean. There weren't any more emeralds on that planet. Not to mention that we had destroyed all of the Metarex robots on that planet. So, there would be no way for any them to take the real emerald and leave the planet with it. But if it's not that, then...what does that leave us?".

After thinking about it for a moment, they all had arrived to the same conclusion. They all turned their heads to the board game lying the ground of the bridge. They then exclaimed in unison, "The board game! That's it! It was the board game that had switched the emeralds!".

Sonic smirked as he exclaimed, "See?! Told ya, Knuckles! I told you that it was the perfect time to give you the board game at the right moment! And you said that it will be a waste of time!".

Knuckles looked up at Sonic for a moment. To Sonic's surprise, Knuckles just smiled in amusement. It seems that this is the one time that he was happy that the board game did something good for a change. And boy, was it a good one in his opinion.

"For once Sonic, I'll admit that you were right," Knuckles said calmly as his mood had turned a complete 180 now that he knows that Rouge has the fake emerald rather than the real one.

Sonic simply winked at him and gave him a thumbs up. Knuckles then looked away and smirked as he said with amusement in his tone, "Heh! Talk about a lucky move. That'll teach that no-good bat not to swindle from me again! Because I had already just swindled her, and she'll never know that it was I who did it! Heheheheh!".

Meanwhile, Rouge was absolutely livid that her emerald was a fake. "You can't be serious! After surviving through that tundra of a world, all I get was a fat, phony emerald! ARRRRGH!" Rouge exclaimed in frustration. She then crushed the now brown, dark gem with her hand in fury.

She then ranted in anger, "CAN'T I EVER JUST FULFILL MY DREAM OF BEING THE WORLD'S GREATEST TREAURE HUNTER?! I DESEVE THAT TITLE! I DESERVE TO HAVE ALL GEMS! BUT WHY DOES FATE HAVE TO BE SO CRUEL TO ME?! OOOOH, ONCE I FIND OUT THE ONE WHO HAD TRICKED ME, I'LL MAKE SURE THEY'LL REGRET SWINDLING ME FROM THAT TITLE! THEN THEY'LL KNOW WHY NO ONE MESSES WITH ROUGE THE BAT! THEY HAVE GOT TO BE CRAZY TRYING TO TRICK ME BECAUSE WHY WOULD THEY EVER WANT TO MESS WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS WOMAN SUCH AS MYSELF?! AN IDIOT! THAT'S WHO! THAT IDIOT IS GOING TO BE SO SCREWED WHEN I FIND THEM! SO, SO, SOOO SCREWED!".

"Did you hear something, Bokkun?" Dr. Eggman asked as he and his robots flew the spaceship farther into space.

"Uhh! Nope! Nothing at all!" Bokkun exclaimed nervously.

"Huh...I guess that it must be my imagination again," Dr. Eggman replied with a shrug.

Even though both Sonic's crew and Dr. Eggman's crew had not found another Chaos Emerald, it was certainly a memorable experience. Both for good and...for bad reasons. With that said, the adventure and the game continues on.

*Gasp* I'm free! I'm free from being frozen for two weeks! Man, being stuck in a block of ice is no fun! But now I'm back, and I had posted another chapter for you! But in all seriousness, I just procrastinated on this story for a bit. Sorry for the hiatus. Hopefully, I'll make the next chapter faster than this! But at least we got through episode 57 of Sonic X! Now onto the next chapter!