Sorry for the delay, folks, but the Sonic Adventure 20th Anniversary Special is finally here!

And what's more, I've made another new Sprite Animation for this episode! Check it out on the official website, SonicChaosProject{dot}wordpress{dot}com!

Several months ago…

Thunder, rain, and lightning storms down over the sprawling Emerald Hills. The faint sound of distant waves can be heard crashing against the shore. By one tall cliffside, a big purple cat takes shelter from the windy and stormy night. He stares out blankly at the downpour, as if waiting for something to happen.

"This storm just isn't letting up, eh?"

Big turns around to see the source of the voice. Sly the Raccoon stands leaning over his staff, waving hello with his free hand. He still has a small scab on his lip, where Rouge must have hit him not long ago.

Big puts on a scowl. "You? Where's the boss?" When he speaks, his voice, though familiar, has a shocking air of intelligence almost irreconcilable with the mouth it comes from.

"I'm sure you know, your boss is a bit busy with his…secret project."

"What project is that?"

"The one that lower-class minions like you and I aren't allowed to know the details of. Just keep your Rebel friends from finding out about it, and I'm sure we'll know soon enough. But that's not important right now. This couldn't wait. The Emperor has a personal request."

"Personal request? You mean I finally get to leave this dump?"

"No, no, nothing like that. He still wants you right where you are. But he needs your shard."

"My what!?"

"Your piece of the Master Emerald. You reported that you received one when you officially joined the Rebellion. Eggman needs it."

"And what am I supposed to do when they all ask for it back?"

"Tell them you lost it. You're supposed to be an oaf, aren't you?"

Big grumbles aloud, and reaches up as if to scratch his head. But instead, he pulls off a big yellow top hat, which had apparently been invisible a moment before. He flips it around and reaches his hand in, deeper than it seems like it should be possible to go, and pulls out a small green gem shard. "Take it, you thief."

Sly snatches it out of his hand. "Hey, I take offense to that. I prefer to think of myself in the business of…repossession."

Big flips the hat back onto his head, and it disappears just as quickly as it came. "Yeah, whatever. What does the old man want this thing for, anyway?"

"I dunno. Some sort of new weapon, I'd wager. Something real sciency."

"How long does he expect me to keep this act up? This last week has been crawling by at a snail's pace!"

"I suggest you start getting used to it. It'll be a while."

"But I hate fishing! It's just staring at water all day!"

"Sounds like an easy performance. Just quit complaining and do your job." A bolt of lightning strikes nearby. "I think that's my cue to be off. Good luck to you. I know you have…Big shoes to fill." He laughs at his own joke as he goes.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 1, Episode 12

Water Rising

Written by ChaosProjectAuthor

Eggman's research log, September 9th.

After months of careful experimentation, I finally have everything I need to initiate the project. Who would've guessed that the final piece was sitting in my dungeon all this time? Energy from the Master Emerald…plus one ordinary Chao…and now, finally, residue from the original extracted from the belly of the frog. Years ago, Metal Sonic used these very same ingredients to replicate the Biodata of Perfect Chaos. Now, I will use the same to induce the Chaos mutation.

—–—

"But sir?" Orbot raises a finger. "Didn't the original Chaos turn on you and destroy your Egg Carrier?"

Cubot adds, "Yeah, and then Sonic beat it up anyways. Everything about this plan sounds like a bad idea."

"I think that Cubot is right, sir. And that's saying something."

Eggman lets out a hearty laugh in response. "It seems that you both fail to recognize my genius. As usual…"

"Please, enlighten us. How will this not go catastrophically wrong?"

"Two words, Orbot. 'Self-interest'."

"Technically, wouldn't that be a single hyphenated word?"

"Shut up. There is one reason that Chaos, Shadow, and every other powerful ally I've ever attempted to sway to my side, has betrayed me in the end. And that reason is self-interest. I thought of Chaos as nothing more than a mindless creature seeking power, which I could offer. I failed to account for the fact that this creature had a life and a desire of its own. A desire for revenge against the world. But this…will be different." Eggman looks on ahead, into a small glass chamber, inside which a small, darkly-colored Chao looks back up at him with curiosity.

"Chao?"

"By mutating a Chao that has already bonded with me, the result will be a soldier, a weapon, that will want nothing more than to please me. It will not only obey me…" He puts on a devious smile. "It will love me." He presses his nose up to the glass. "What do you say, little friend? Do you want to become the strongest, fastest Chao in the entire world?"

The Chao jumps up and down excitedly. "Chao chao! Chao chao!"

Eggman turns to his robots. "You see? Look how excited it is."

Orbot shakes his head with a mechanical sigh. Cubot raises his hand. "Ooh, ooh, I wanna be the strongest fastest Chao in the world! Can you do me next?"

Eggman pulls his goggles down over his eyes, ignoring them. "Time to get started." Slowly, he presses down on a single button in front of him. The bright light that bursts out from the chamber illuminates his smiling face, as a screech of excruciating pain can be heard emanating from inside.

—–—

On the night-lit city streets, a balding, middle-aged man steps out of his car, holding what appears to be a bag of groceries. He grumbles about something with irritation.

A loud mechanical voice suddenly declares, "Citizen: you are in violation of Ordinance 1223." The Police Pawn shines a bright spotlight, and points its weapon directly at him. "Citizens are not permitted to be outside their homes at this hour. You will be taken in for questioning."

The man's demeanor changes in an instant. "P-please, I-I just got stuck in traffic is all. My home is right here, I'm going inside now, see?"

The robot repeats, "Halt. You will be taken in for questioning."

From the rooftop high above, silhouetted by the light of the moon, a voice shouts, "Aw, yeah! This is happenin'!"

The Police Pawn points its light upwards. "You are in violation of Ordinance–"

The figure leaps down from the building, avoiding the spotlight, and landing in a crouch right on the roof of the man's car, immediately triggering its car alarm.

The man shouts angrily, "My car!"

The figure rises back to his feet. "No need to worry, sir." The spotlight finally finds the figure's blue boots. "The Rebellion is here to protect you." The light rises high enough to reveal the smirking face of Sylvester 'Sly' the Raccoon. He brandishes his long wooden staff for a moment, before leaping in a blur of motion at the robot.

The Pawn fires its weapon, missing the target, grazing the top of the car, and blowing a hole through the wall of the building. Over the crunch of breaking metal, the man can be heard shouting, "My house!"

Sly stands triumphantly over the wreck of the robot. "All in a day's work."

Two new spotlights shine on them. "Halt. You are in violation of Ordinance 01: destruction of Imperial property. You will be imprisoned for 10-20 years. Use of force authorized."

The man drops to his knees. "Now look what you've done!"

A red bolt of energy blasts down one of the two approaching Police Pawns. Its shooter, Fang, tips down his hat. "We aren't going anywhere without a fight."

The remaining robot opens fire, and Fang has to dive out of the way. But the firing is quickly cut off by a single slash of a long red blade. The two severed halves of the pawn fall to the ground in front of Infinite. He turns back to the group, revealing that he wears no mask, and has no Ruby.

Just as soon as the robot is destroyed, three more spotlights shine in from all directions. "Halt. You are completely surrounded." Each of the three battlers prepare to take one on.

One more figure lands next to the man, placing a hand on his shoulder. Rouge encourages, "Come with me, I can get you out of here."

The man shoves her away. "Get away from me! I don't want to get away from here, I just want to go home!"

She has no time to respond, as Sly beckons, "Come on, team! Time to get back to base!" He turns back to look at the man. "And if Eggman's ever bothering you again, don't be afraid to call on the Rebellion for help."

As an organized unit, the four quickly disappear from the scene.

The man is left alone, kneeling in the center of the smoking wreckage of half a dozen robots, a dented car, and a growing house fire. After a moment, a bright spotlight shines onto him. "Halt. You will be taken in for questioning."

The man screams into the sky, "Curse you, Rebellion!"

—–—

While Fang and Sly ride in the Marvelous Queen, Rouge and Infinite fly along either side. From the back seat, Sly lets out a hysterical laugh. "Did you see the look on that guy's face when I jumped on his car? He had no idea what was going on! Ha ha!" After a moment to quell his laughter, he resumes, "But seriously, how'd I do? Did I sound enough like one of Sonic's friends?"

Rouge jabs, "What you sounded like was someone trying way too hard to be a cool teenager on the edge." After a moment, she adds, "From 20 years ago."

"So…is that a yes?"

Infinite pushes his mask up onto his face, and waves a hand over his chest, revealing the concealed Ruby in a glitching haze. "Why must I demean myself for these…missions?"

Fang responds, "What, you think they'd believe that we're the Rebellion if the two-time face of the Empire was running around with us? With the mask, you're a threat. Without it, you're just another somebody, blending in just fine with the rest of the rabble you'd expect to see."

"That's why I hate this."

Rouge comments, "When you said we were going to turn the people against the Rebellion, this…wasn't quite what I imagined."

Fang holds up a finger as he begins to explain, "It's all about pressure, dearie. Pressure within, pressure without. If the people can't stand to be around them, how can they justifiably fight for the people? How can they stand to be around each other? They will crack, and eventually, shatter under the pressure. And then our jobs will be done. No killing necessary. Of course, this was really all Sly's idea."

Sly gives a shrug, not refusing the praise.

Rouge questions, "But what about that guy? What's going to happen to him?"

Sly waves it off. "Oh, don't be so concerned about things like that. He'll be let off with a warning, so he can spread the word that the Rebellion isn't to be trusted. The plan wouldn't work, otherwise."

Fang nods. "And the plan went off without a hitch. The four of us make a pretty good team, don't we?" Sly gives a thumbs-up in agreement, but no response comes from Rouge or Infinite. "Perhaps I stand corrected."

Sly questions, "So why does old Eggy want us back in Genocide City, anyway? I hate that dirty old place."

Fang thinks back. "Oh, something about a newly-completed project. He said we've all contributed something to it. Well, except Infinite. Since someone doesn't want to work with the Doctor directly." Infinite makes no response.

Rouge lets out a loud yawn. The sun appears to be rising in their path. "At least this'll give us a break. Knowing the Doc, he'll keep us waiting for a while."

Sly complains, "Break? That sounds boring. There's gotta be something…fun, you and I can do."

Rouge rolls her eyes.

Sly shrugs. "It'll come to us."

—–—

The four stand lined up in a darkened room, deep inside a mechanical base. Sly taps his foot impatiently. "How long have we been standing here?"

Rouge thinks back. "Oh, about…two minutes. You know, I really thought that your years in prison would make you at least a little bit more mature. Was that so much to ask?"

Sly puts on a surprisingly intense scowl. "Why would you bring that up? Are you trying to make me even more upset?"

Infinite suddenly voices, "I agree with the Raccoon. The Doctor is intentionally wasting our time."

Fang growls, "Shut up, all of you. He wouldn't make us wait like this if it wasn't something good."

Suddenly, a screen on the wall flickers on, showing an image of Eggman himself. "Right you are, Nack."

Fang grumbles under his breath, "It's Fang."

Rouge questions, "What's with the screen, Doc? Couldn't make it downstairs to see us in person?"

"You assume that I'm here at all, Rouge."

Sly complains, "You've kept us in suspense long enough. What's all this about?"

"Very well, very well. I would like you all to meet…" A large mechanical door begins to rise beneath the screen, flooding light into the room. "…the newest member of your team." A pair of translucent legs are revealed on the other side. Rouge lets out a gasp. "This…is Discord." The watery creature slowly steps out into the room. Its appearance is, at first, surprising. It seems quite a bit shorter than the original Chaos creature, with large, deep gold eyes. The shorter fin-like watery protrusions from its head droop downwards, two over the front of its shoulders, one over the back of its head. There is little about it that seems threatening as it cocks its head to the side, staring at them with curiosity.

Sly makes a similar motion. "What…is it?"

Infinite crosses his arms. "This thing again? You seem to have an obsession with past failures, Doctor."

Fang rolls his eyes. "You're one to talk."

Rouge cautiously takes a step towards Discord. "You…it's you, isn't it?" She finishes almost inaudibly, "What did he do to you…?"

Sly questions, "Rouge? You know this…thing?"

Discord's attention becomes fixed on Rouge as she draws closer.

"I do…and so do you. This is the Chao. The one I hatched for Eggman."

Fang puts on a scowl as he looks back up to the screen. "Chao? You want us to take care of your pet?"

Infinite shakes his head. "That is no pet."

Eggman gives a prideful smile on the screen. "Infinite is right. Discord has the capability to be a perfect soldier. Able to blend in anywhere, to slip through any crevice, to destroy without mercy, to withstand any kind of attack."

Sly keeps looking on with curiosity. "I don't know…he is still pretty cute."

Rouge finally stands face-to-face with Discord. "Do you…remember me?" She cautiously offers out a hand.

Slowly, Discord begins to lift its own hand, reaching out to meet hers. But as it tries to take her hand, the water simply slips through. It takes its hand back, staring at it with confusion, and a hint of some other emotion.

Eggman declares from above, "Well, now that you're all acquainted, it's time to get to work."

Infinite questions, "What exactly do you want us to do with it?"

"You are the test for this experiment. You are to make sure that Discord follows orders like a good little soldier. For now, you can start by showing him around your new base."

Sly complains, "New base!? You mean you want us to stay here this time!?"

"Is that a problem? Last I checked, you all worked for me, and you have to do as I say."

Fang crosses his arms. "The plan won't get very far if we have to stay in such a sparsely-populated area. But if you want to keep paying us for waiting around here…I won't complain…for now."

"Call it a precautionary measure. You'll be back to your little plan, soon enough." Without another word, the screen shuts off.

Sly sarcastically waves, "Bye Doctor, nice to see you too, have a nice day. Anyone? No?" He doesn't get a response. "So…what're we doing with this…thing?"

Rouge rolls her eyes. "Ugh. Since none of you care, I guess I'll take care of him." She looks back to Discord. "Please, come with me. I'll show you around."

Discord gives her a curious look.

—–—

Rouge continues to explain as Discord follows her down the mechanical hall, "They…aren't exactly the nicest guys out there. But we're sort of stuck with them. You'll get used to dealing with them eventually." She thinks for a moment. "You know…maybe we could…" She shakes her head. "What am I thinking? I don't even know if you can understand me. Can you?"

Discord gives no response.

"Did Eggman hurt you? Is he forcing you to do something? What does he want you for?"

Discord gives no response.

"Well…if you ever…want my help…" She trails off, as they reach a large metal door. "This is the entrance to Eggman's vault. He keeps rare and valuable machines and trinkets in there. It's a complete mess, from what I've heard. But I've never actually been in there myself. Probably better not to risk…touching anything."

Discord steps up to the door, and places its hand flat up against it. It continues to push harder, but the water of its hand only spreads out flatter.

"You really want to go in, don't you? Well…Eggman did tell me to show you around. Just following orders, right?" Rouge moves over to a control panel on the wall, entering a few commands that cause the large door to shudder and rise.

Discord squishes the shape of its body down to fit underneath the door before it's fully risen. Rouge ducks down to follow.

The inside of the vault is a dim, cluttered mess, filled with piles and shelves of machinery of varying size and condition. Almost immediately, Discord becomes transfixed by the rusting husk of an old, familiar robot. Little remains of it but the damaged and singed body and head module, as if it had been through some sort of explosion. Its red and yellow paint job has peeled off almost completely. But the white painted numbers '102' can still be read on its front. Discord stares deeply into Gamma's cracked green eye modules.

Rouge comments, "Most of the stuff in here is just old junk, destroyed robots and all that. But…" As if on cue, machines begin to whir high above their heads. An odd claw-like machine reaches down from the ceiling, closing around an odd-looking machine part in a nearby pile. The claw pulls the part up to the ceiling, and then off and away through a shaft to another room. "…the parts get recycled into some of the elite robots produced in the facility nextdoor. It's pretty efficient."

Discord has already become distracted, moving off to another part of the room.

Rouge takes notice of a dull grey gem on a shelf in the back of the room. "That doesn't look like it belongs here. Not a very pretty-looking thing." She seems to consider that for a moment, but then she shrugs and moves on.

Discord has arrived a flat wall. It stares into the wall with just as much interest as its shown in the rest of the room.

Rouge comments, "That's…just a wall. Nothing to see there."

Discord doesn't seem to listen to her. It presses a hand up against the wall, as if feeling for something. The water begins to seep into a seam. Suddenly, the wall begins to rumble as it parts open at the seam, pushed apart by Discord's expanding hand. A deep, dark corridor waits on the other side.

Rouge seems even more confused. "A secret room? Did you know this was here?"

Without giving any answer, Discord walks right in.

Rouge starts to reach after Discord, but then closes her eyes and sighs. "This feels like a bad idea." Regardless, she follows Discord in through the secret door.

Behind them, the mechanisms in the ceiling activate again as another claw reaches down into the main room. Slowly, it clenches down on the head module of Gamma. With some resistance, it pulls back up, severing the head from the rest of the machine, trailing a long wire as it's lifted away from the vault.

The farther Rouge and Discord move down the metallic corridor, the darker it seems to get. "Why are you so intent on seeing what's in here? What do you know?"

Discord's eyes remain locked ahead as it continues to walk along.

A distant voice calls with a hint of fear, "Hello…? Is somebody there…?"

Rouge looks to Discord with shock. "You didn't say that, did you?" She looks out to the corridor ahead. "Someone is locked inside a secret room within a top security vault. Now this…is getting interesting."

Discord's response is to stop. It holds out a hand, as if to indicate for her to continue.

Rouge gives a nod, and picks up the pace to continue the rest of the way.

Quickly, a row of steel bars comes into view in place of the metallic wall. And on the other side, a large, imposing figure sits in the shadows. His familiar, simple voice questions hesitantly, "Who…who are you…?"

Rouge strains her eyes to see through the darkness. "…Big?"

The figure stands, moving closer to the bars, revealing his figure in more detail. Though his identity is unmistakable, his gaunt, hollow expression is slightly shocking. He almost complains, "No, I'm Big." As he gets a closer look, he realizes, "I know you… Are you here to help me, Miss Rouge?"

Rouge takes a step back. "This doesn't make sense, I thought you were–…" She trails off as a thought comes to her. "Big…how long has Eggman been keeping you here?"

Big cocks his head to the side. "Eggman? A man in a funny hat brought me here."

Rouge answers immediately, "Fang."

"Yeah, he had one of those, too. At first, he kept asking me where some sort of base was. But I don't know about any bases. So he stopped asking. Sometimes, he would put a weird machine on my head. Then he took Froggy away…"

"They've known where the camp is for…months. They've been keeping you here all year. And the Big that's there now…is a fake?"

"Do you know where Froggy is? I haven't seen him in a really long time…" He looks down sorrowfully.

Rouge looks him over once again, and closes her eyes with a sigh. "This…this isn't right. But I can't… I shouldn't…"

Suddenly, a loud siren begins to blare. Rouge looks back behind her with surprise. Discord looks all around in frightened confusion.

Eggman's voice blares through Rouge's communicator, "The Rebellion has been spotted in the city! We're under attack! Get out there and defend the base! And bring Discord!"

Rouge nods to Discord. "Sounds like it's time to get out of here."

Big cries, "Wait!" Rouge looks back to him. "Are you going to help me…?"

Rouge bites her lip for a moment. But finally, she answers. "…Just sit tight. I'm going to get you out of here."

—–—

"You sure they're here, Knuckles?" Sonic and Knuckles tread cautiously towards the great tower at the center of the mechanized city.

Knuckles gives a nod. "Both of them. Getting closer."

"We won't get them without a fight."

"That's what we're prepared for." As he says, behind them follows a full team. Tails, Amy, Omega, and even a smirking Big all look prepared to fight.

"Looking for someone?" The Marvelous Queen floats into their path, and Fang and Sly hop out.

Knuckles pounds a fist into an open hand. "As a matter of fact, yeah."

Rouge flies in next to her new comrades. "Then you should look somewhere else." Infinite flies in wordlessly to join them.

Sonic puts on a scowl. "Word on the street is that someone's been running around pretending to be us. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, Rouge?"

Rouge nods her head slowly. "What I've heard about is citizens complaining that they're being harassed by rebels like me."

"You got anything else to say?"

"You shouldn't have come here. I mean it."

Knuckles crosses his arms. "In case you haven't noticed, we have your little group outnumbered. Just hand over the shards of the Master Emerald you stole, and we'll spare you the beating you all deserve." He looks to Rouge as he says this.

Fang lets out a loud laugh. "You should check those calculations. We have your little group outmatched. Even without the army of robots we can summon with one word."

"You think that we aren't prepared to deal with a couple of robots?"

"Enough of this foolishness. Rouge, would you care to introduce them to your new friend?"

Rouge closes her eyes. "Discord…it's time to fight."

At her command, a stream of water begins to bubble up from a sewer pipe between the groups.

Sonic immediately takes a step back. "What?" The pile of water rises and takes form.

Knuckles growls, "It can't be…"

Discord cocks its head to the side curiously as it stares at Big. Big makes a similar motion, commenting back, "That's a funny-looking fish."

Knuckles whispers to Sonic, "That's not Chaos. It's something else. And whatever it is…it has it. The other shard."

Fang barks, "This is how you prove your worth to us, Discord! Teach those fools a lesson."

Discord instantly lashes out with an energy-coated arm, forcing the rebels to scatter as the battle begins.

Knuckles runs straight for Fang. Fang laughs as he fires off several shots for cover. Knuckles leaps high into the air, gliding over the thin energy blasts, attempting to dive down onto Fang. Fang leaps back, landing and balancing on his large tail. He tips down his hat as he lands. "You'll have to do better than that."

"Why you little–" Knuckles runs in for another punch as Fang fires off another shot.

Nearby, Amy swings her hammer down hard. But Sly catches it in place with an upraised staff. "Ooh, feisty. I like that in a woman. You're a bit young, though." With a growl, Amy tries to take her hammer back. But Sly rapidly twirls his staff, dislodging the trapped hammer from her hands. With one fluid motion, he brings the staff around into a solid strike at her side, knocking her away.

Sonic leaps back to avoid an orb of energy thrown by Infinite, then rushes back in towards him. He leaps into the air for an attack, but Infinite warps to the side, turns and slashes a wave of energy into Sonic's back as he passes, knocking him to the ground. As Sonic gets up, Infinite taunts, "All of this hassle is worth it, just to watch you squirm, Hedgehog."

Omega launches a missile directly at Rouge. Rouge leaps into the air and hovers there for a moment, allowing the projectile to explode beneath her feet. "Whoa, whoa, we're friends, Omega! You wouldn't actually hurt me, would you?"

Omega switches his missile launcher for a high-tech-looking laser blaster. "You are an ally of Eggman! You will be eradicated!"

"Geez, sorry I asked." She drops down to the ground to avoid the first blast, and moves nimbly along the ground towards the shooter to avoid each and every one of the next. When she makes it to Omega, she grabs his shoulder and flips around to his back, where she opens a small access panel and starts to work inside.

"Unauthorized system intru–…" Omega's eyes go dim as he slumps over.

Rouge hops back to the ground. "Sorry, buddy. Guess I know you a little too well."

Tails and Big are left to deal with Discord. Tails commands, "That thing has one of the shards we're looking for. I'll try to keep it busy while you fish for it. Got it?"

Big nods. "Okie dokie."

Tails leaps up and flies into the air, just in time to avoid another swipe of the arm from Discord. He flies over the arm and comes down in a spin attack, knocking Discord into a puddle on the ground. Big's fishing hook comes in just after him, dropping into the puddle with a splash. But before it can grab anything, Sonic comes running by, engaged in his own battle, and trips over the fishing line, falling flat on his face. He glances over at Big with a scowl from the ground.

"Oopsie…"

Sonic quickly has to leap to his feet to avoid another attack from Infinite.

None of the battles seem to be going well for the Rebellion.

Knuckles finally lands a solid punch on Fang, knocking him a fair distance away onto the ground. His hat still left on the ground, Fang gets back to his feet, wiping off the side of his face. He looks up to Discord, who now fights from atop the destroyed remnants of what used to be a tall defense turret. He shouts with a growl, "What are you waiting for!? If you really are some sort of ultimate soldier, then destroy them all now!"

Obeying immediately, Discord's hand shoots out into five, instantly wrapping around the heads of each of the standing members of the Rebellion, lifting each of them from the ground, putting a stop to every battle. They hold their breaths as they struggle to free themselves, but they have only water to grab. Sonic flails with a particular urgency.

Discord stares at them with intensity, following its orders without hesitation. Fang gives a devious smirk as he fits his hat back onto his head. Rouge looks from Discord to the suffocating group with increasing concern. But Discord shows no sign of intention to stop. The collective struggling of the group decreases as they grow weaker.

Rouge suddenly shouts, "Stop! Put them down!"

In an instant, Discord obeys, and the Rebellion is dropped to the ground, a puddle of inert water dropped along with them. As they cough and gasp for breath, Rouge begins to walk towards them. Fang growls through gritted teeth, "What do you think you're doing?"

Rouge waves him off. "Don't worry, I have a plan." She reaches Knuckles as he starts to climb back to his feet. Just as he looks up enough to notice her, she draws her arm back, and delivers a hard punch straight into his gut, forcing him to double over without breath once again. She leans over him, and speaks quietly yet firmly into his ear, "Don't ever come after me again." She takes a few steps back. "Now get out of here."

Knuckles gasps, "Wh-what!?" Behind Rouge, Fang and Sly look just as surprised.

"You heard me. Leave. Before we change our minds."

"Uh…I…" The Rebellion all start to back away slowly, Knuckles keeping one fist firmly clenched.

Rouge crosses her arms. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" She points a thumb back at the deactivated form of Omega.

Awkwardly and with caution, Knuckles motions for Big to help him, and they both move over to pick up the robot, and carry it with them as the group retreats from sight.

With a sigh, Rouge slowly turns to face her team. Instead, she is faced with something else entirely. Two tall, oddly shaped devices that spark with an electrical energy are pointed directly at her, protruding from the arms of a tall robot. Its shape and design are somewhat familiar, though its glossy green coat of paint with orange and white highlights identify it as something new. A pinkish-hued targeting light is mounted on either side of a head module that is otherwise even more recognizable. Plastered in white on the robot's chest is the greek letter η, 'Eta'.

Eggman's voice growls from within the robot, "You'd better have a very good explanation for this, Bat."

Rouge shakes off the surprise at seeing the new machine, and quickly answers with a renewed air of confidence, "Last I checked, Doc, you wanted Sonic alive. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that drowning him would be a very big help with that." She puts a hand on one of the robot's arms, and slowly pushes it down so that she can look it in the eye. "Right?"

Fang interjects, "So you let all of them run free, just for that?'

Rouge turns her attention to him. "This is your game I'm playing, Nack. Psychological warfare. What does killing any of them do? It gives them martyrs. Even if we captured them, freeing their allies would just be a cause for the rest to rally behind. So we beat them. Hard. And then we let them go. We prove that we have all the power over them, so much power, that it doesn't even make a difference to us whether or not they go free. That's the kind of stress that will break them. Isn't that what you want?"

Fang seems unsure of how to answer, processing it for several moments.

Sly gives a resounding, "Hm. Not bad."

Even Infinite muses, "Assertion of total dominance to break the spirit. My kind of tactic."

Eggman's voice states, "Your plan, Weasel. Do you believe her?"

Fang lets out a low growl. "…I don't trust her. But…that is the plan, I can't argue with that."

Rouge continues, "More importantly, Doctor, it seems like Discord's first test was a big success. He obeys every order from an ally without hesitation, no matter how strange it might seem."

All eyes turn to Discord, who stares quite intently at the heart of Eta.

After a moment, the strange devices that Eta has instead of hands begin to morph, mechanisms folding, parting, and reforming until they've transformed completely into claw-like hands more reminiscent of Omega than Gamma. Eggman's voice grumbles, "Very well. But more testing will be necessary, of course."

"So…what's with the robot?"

"Of course, how could I have forgotten? This is E-106 Eta. Hardly my most advanced robot ever, but it was…an efficient use of resources. It isn't quite finished yet, but I deployed it when I saw that the Rebels seemed to be getting away."

Rouge scratches the back of her head awkwardly.

"I suppose I'll have to send it back to the shop now."

Fang questions, "Does that mean we're done here?"

"No, no, I still want you at the fortress until the tests with Discord are finished."

Rouge responds, "In that case, I think we have a…tour to get back to." She beckons with a hand as she turns to leave. "Come along, Discord." The creature almost excitedly runs to catch up with her.

Sly complains as he watches them leave, "I'm beginning to think that she enjoys that thing's company more than mine."

Fang sighs. "Sly, she'd enjoy the company of a pile of dirt more than you. When will you realize that?"

Sly shrugs. "Probably never."

—–—

Rouge types away furiously at a computer console in a dark room. "Come on, come on, give me something… Some override, some bypass… How can I get him out without setting off every alarm?"

Discord leans over her shoulder, staring at the data as it flies by the screen.

"Who was that imposter…? What's his game…? Just what is Eggman up to?" She glances back at Discord for a moment. "You…of course, you can help! You want him to go free, that's why you led me to him, right?"

Discord cocks his head to the side.

"You… I mean…" She closes her eyes. "How could I possibly trust you enough to even think this?" She takes another moment. "I can only open his cell from here. And the moment I do, security will be all over the place. If I try to get down there, I'm done. But if you're there, ready to lead him out…"

Slowly, Discord starts to nod his head down, and back up again.

"You mean…you'll do it? You…you could be risking your life. If Eggman finds out you're involved, he could…"

Discord gently reaches out with a hand, placing it onto hers, with a bit more success than the last time.

A door opens, flooding light into the room. "I had a feeling I'd find you here." Sly steps the rest of the way in, letting the door close behind him.

"Sly! Uh– Th-this isn't what it looks like." She looks around for a moment, realizing that Discord has disappeared.

"Oh really?" Sly takes a few more steps in, looking past her to the console screen. "Because it looks…like you're trying to hack into the Doctor's security system."

Rouge lets out a gasp.

"Hey, hey, calm down, no need to make this complicated." He steps past her, leaning down to get a closer look at the screen. "Just look at this, what do you think you're doing? This can be traced right back to you. Here, move over." Without giving her much a choice, he takes her place and starts to work at the console. After a few moments, he presses down on one final key. "There. Nice and secure."

"Wh–…Why did you…?"

"Come on, we both know I was always the better hacker between us."

"But…"

"You can't hide it anymore, Rouge. I know you. Better than you know yourself. I know when you're hiding something." He pauses for a moment, then enunciates very clearly, "I know your secret."

"I don't–"

"I know what you're doing here. I know why you were so eager to end that fight. I know about the hidden room in the vault."

"You've been spying on me?"

"That's…not the point. The point is…" He leans in close to her ear, finally whispering the answer. "You found Eggman's secret treasure."

"You–…wait…what?"

"Now don't go trying to deny it, sweetie. There's just no other way to explain all this. So what's the old Doctor been hoarding? Gold? Jewels? It has to be jewels for you to risk this much for it." He waits for an answer. "Well?"

"Uhh…it was…uh…sealed. I didn't see it. I was working on…opening it…when you came in."

"Ooh…a mystery wrapped within an enigma. Tantalizing. But I wonder…what would Nack think if he learned about this disloyalty?"

Rouge gasps. "No, you can't!"

"Whoa, whoa, what did I just tell you about staying calm? I can be reasonable. I'm sure there's some way you can…" He raises his eyebrows for a moment. "…convince me…to forget what I saw here."

Rouge turns away immediately. "Ugh. You're disgusting."

"I'm flattered, but that's not what I had in mind. I want a cut."

"A cut?"

"Of the treasure. Once you get it. I want sixty percent."

"You– Wait, that's outrageous!"

"You would've been caught by now without me. Then you'd have nothing. Consider that part of my premium. Of course…we could always…run off with it together. Share it even."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm very serious."

"What about Fang? Aren't you loyal to him?"

Sly sighs. "Look, I owe him a lot, that's true. But I've risked my neck for him more than a couple of times since he broke me out of prison. The way I see it, my debt's paid. I'm only sticking around here to get paid. And it looks like there's a much bigger payoff here for the taking. It'll be just like old times, eh? What do you say?"

Rouge looks him over for a moment. "Old times. The more things change, the more they stay the same."

"Does that mean you accept?"

Rouge looks back to the screen. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Sylvester. Don't you think we should see what the treasure is before we go risking everything to steal it?"

He steps out of the way, and indicates towards the screen. "Be my guest."

Rouge sits back down, preparing to work. But she glances at Sly behind her, apparently anxious about having someone watching over her shoulder.

Sly takes another step back. "Don't mind me, just pretend I'm not here." Rouge looks back to the screen and resumes her work. Hardly a moment later, Sly declares, "You're doing it wrong." She looks back, wearing a more profound scowl this time. "Kidding, sorry, kidding." She goes back to work again. "Say…whatever happened to the little blue guy? Weren't you supposed to be watching him?"

Rouge doesn't stop this time as she answers simply, "Guess he ran off."

Sly shrugs. "Sounds like somebody else's problem."

"Yeah."

Sly starts to look at her a little more closely. "But you don't actually think that, do you? You're trying not to think about it. You've been just a bit uneasy since the moment this thing showed up. Why is that? What is it about this thing that's got you so…confused?"

This time, Rouge stops, but doesn't look at him. "Sly…do you remember why I joined GUN?"

"Because…they offered you everything you ever wanted at the small price of my freedom?"

"They showed me something, Sly. Something…terrifying. An entire city in ruins…brought to that point in a matter of minutes. By one creature. That's what this thing is, Sly. If it gets the Chaos Emeralds…the Emeralds Eggman already has almost all of…that could start all over again. Discord could destroy the entire world."

"But…it's a Chao."

"Not anymore, it's not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Rouge finally gets back to work. "I wish I knew."

A short chime comes out of the computer. Sly points at it. "It dinged. Why did it ding, what does that mean?"

Rouge thinks to herself, "Discord's in position. I guess he really does want to help." She answers out loud, "Everything's ready. Time to open this thing up."

Sly rubs his hands together as he leans in closer. "Ooh, exciting."

Rouge hesitates over the final key. But then she presses down on it. Nothing seems to happen immediately, save for some more data appearing on the screen. Rouge leans in close, pretending to read it while covering it from Sly's sight with her head. "Well, would you look at that, this says the room's completely empty! No treasure after all, what a shame!" She quickly starts to close out of everything on the screen. "Better get out of here before anyone gets suspicious."

Sly raises a hand to object. "Wait a minute, that's it? We're just–"

"Hey, all the doors are open, if you want to go down and check for yourself, be my guest. You won't find anything when you get there." She finishes the thought in her mind, "If they make it out safely, that is. If not…"

"But…if there's no treasure…"

Rouge stands from the deactivated console. "Guess we're both stuck here a bit longer. And I suppose…" She takes a few steps closer to him. "…I'll have to think of some other way to…" She leans close and whispers into his ear, "…convince you…to forget what you saw here."

Sly can hardly contain his breath of excitement, all other thoughts expelled from his mind.

Rouge continues to walk past him. "I don't know. I'll keep thinking."

Sly doesn't manage to shake himself back to his senses until long after she's gone. Still, he mutters to himself, "Right, right, and I'll…uhh…I'll…do…something. While you're gone."

—–—

In the cover of night, by the base of the massive central tower, Rouge ducks into a shadowed alleyway. Waiting there are two figures, one large and one small. Rouge breathes an immense sigh of relief. "You made it."

The real Big turns to Rouge with a smile. "Hello. Mr. Discord helped me out."

"I know, Big. I know. Now, we need to talk about how to get you out of the city. The Rebellion isn't too far from here, they should be able to help you once you–"

"I can't leave now. I haven't found Froggy yet."

"Fr-…wh-… No, that's not important right now. This is your life we're talking about, Big. If you stay here any longer, if you get caught–"

"He's my friend and I'm not leaving him."

"We don't even know where he is, we can't–"

Big starts to stomp his feet angrily. "I'm not leaving without Froggy!"

He is suddenly calmed as a watery hand is pressed against his chest. Discord stares up at him with wide eyes.

"Will you help me, Mr. Discord?"

Discord slowly nods his head down, and back up again.

Rouge objects, "But how do you know where…?"

Rouge and Big both follow Discord's eyes as he looks up to the building next to them. The robot factory, connected to the central tower, billows smoke into the air from a long line of smokestacks atop its roof. Faint metal clanking can be heard from inside.

—–—

The claw device moves slowly into the room from the shaft connecting to the vault, carrying an old, rusty mechanical part with it. It shudders to a stop as it reaches its destination, then starts to lower down. It drops the part onto a moving conveyor belt, where it's carried onward into a much larger machine. The room is filled with a dozen of these such conveyor belts, carrying parts and machines in varying stages of development to the places where they are assembled into working robots. Many robots patrol the room, keeping guard and adjusting the automated components of the assembly line.

From the claw shaft, a puddle of water begins to spill over, dripping down the wall into the room. Once the entirety of the substance has collected together on the floor, it begins to rise up, taking the form of Discord as he opens his big gold eyes, scanning the room for his target. He begins to step through the room, leaving wet footprints in his wake.

The nearest robot quickly notices his approach, turning its weapon towards him. "Halt. This is a restricted area."

Discord lashes out with an arm, crushing the robot against the side of the wall, never slowing the pace of his walk, keeping his eyes locked ahead.

This catches the attention of the rest of the robots in the room, and they all immediately open fire. Though most of the laser bolts miss their mark, Discord morphs holes into his body around the ones that come near, allowing them to pass through harmlessly. A loud alarm begins to wail. Discord stabs out with a hand, impaling a straight line of three robots at once. Still carrying the robots with him, he swings the arm off to one side, smashing them into another group. He swings the arm the other way, knocking down even more. Finally, he retracts the arm, letting the impaled robots drop to the ground. All of this is done without missing a step.

A laser bolt sails past Discord's head from behind. Without looking back at the shooter, without even making use of his limbs, Discord creates a thin, tentacle-like protrusion from his back, which reaches a fair distance across the room, before suddenly whipping out at the robot, beheading it in one blow.

Discord finally stops as he approaches the corner of the room, where a lone robot remains, inactive, with spare parts lying around it as if it had just been worked on. As Discord stops in front of it, Eta's eyes light up. It rises to look at the intruder as its mechanisms come to life.

Discord stares at Eta. Eta stares at Discord. The only sound present is that of the incessant alarm.

Eta moves first. It thrusts out its arms, rapidly transforming them into the same strange devices seen before. Energy sparks between them as an orb of electricity begins to form. Discord reacts only an instant later, diving into the form of a puddle on the ground. As Eta fires the massive orb, Discord slides flat underneath it. The moment the orb has passed overhead, Discord leaps off of the ground, reforming in the air, lunging straight for the robot's heart.

Eta transforms its arms into a new pair of strange devices, these ones more circular in shape. Each of them sparks as a barrier of energy is erected in front of Eta, which Discord splats flat against. Eta spreads its arms wide, causing the barrier to burst outwards and dissipate, splattering Discord all over the room.

Water pools on the floor, drips from the walls and even the ceiling. But there is no longer any sign of life. Eta reverts its devices back into hands, and begins to march across the wet ground towards the exit.

But as Eta gets farther and farther away, the water begins to pool together once again. Discord silently rises out of the ground, now staring down Eta from behind. He stabs out with both of his hands at once. Eta turns its torso sharply around to see behind it. But it is much too late to stop the hands from plunging into its chest. From afar with outstretched hands, Discord forcefully tears open the robot's heart. Sparks and metal pieces fly as Eta's eyes flicker on and off. Finally, Discord tears the robot completely in two.

Discord walks slowly towards the remains of Eta. He cocks his head to the side with curiosity as he watches the metal wreck, waiting for something to happen.

Out of a small cavity of the robot's exposed interior, a small green animal sticks out its head. "Ribbit."

—–—

Discord holds out his hand to Big. The frog swims up through his arm, surfacing its head through his upraised palm. "Ribbit!"

"Froggy!" Big takes the frog, joyously raising the creature up above his head and waving it around. "You did it! You found Froggy!"

Rouge breathes a sigh of relief. "That's great, Big. Now it's time for you to get out of here."

"But…aren't you coming with me?"

Rouge closes her eyes for a moment. "I can't go anywhere. I'm right where I belong. But you belong with your friends. So go. Forget about me."

"I don't want to forget about you…"

"You have to. Pretend you never saw me here. It's for the best."

Big looks down to the ground with sorrow. "Thank you for everything, Miss Rouge. And you too, Mr. Discord."

Discord's face contorts in a way that might be interpreted as a smile.

—–—

Emerald Canyon – The Rebellion Base

Knuckles slowly turns over his hand above Sonic's desk, revealing the object he holds in his closed fist. A shard of the Master Emerald.

Sonic looks at the piece with a scowl. "How did you manage to get that?"

"I didn't." Knuckles stares down at his open hand, thinking back. "After she hit me…she put it in my hand. On purpose. No one else would've known but the two of us. Sonic…I think she's trying to tell us something. I think she's still on our side."

Sonic goes silent for quite a while. Finally, he answers slowly, "Knuckles…I know you want to believe that. I think we all do. But…this isn't something you should put your faith in. It could mean anything."

"Do you have any idea how many times Rouge has tried to steal the Master Emerald from me!? She wouldn't hand this back willingly unless she had a good reason! What if she's trying to tell us that she needs our help!?"

"If she needed our help, she had a pretty good chance to ask for it. It looks to me…like Rouge is exactly where she wants to be."

Suddenly, Tails' voice can be heard shouting from outside, "Sonic, Knuckles, you'd better come see this!"

Sonic and Knuckles look to each other for a moment, before they both rush outside.

A crowd of the entire Rebellion has gathered, partially circled around a sight they aren't sure what to make of. Big the Cat stands silently, staring across at himself.

The other Big, marked by the frog that stands on his head, finally shouts, "It's not nice to lie to my friends!"

The first Big doesn't seem quite so distressed. "Look. You found Froggy. Come here, Froggy. Wait…who are you again?" He holds out his arms. One of his eyes twitches slightly.

Froggy lets out a deep croak. Big seems to agree, "I'm the real Big! You're just a big fake meanie!"

Sonic looks to Tails. "What's going on here?"

"I don't know! This other guy just showed up out of nowhere."

Knuckles questions, "But which one of them is real?"

Among the crowd, Cream looks quite frightened by the sight. Amy takes a protective stance in front of her. Shadow, meanwhile, looks downright amused.

The frogless Big starts to reach up as if to scratch his head. "Uhh… I'm confused…"

The other Big reacts with shocking speed, drawing and casting out a fishing rod. He responds simply, "I'm not."

In a panic, the frogless Big grabs for the top of his head, clutching down on a yellow top hat that appears out of nowhere. But the real Big seems to have anticipated this, as his fishing hook latches right into the hat, yanking it out of the faker's hand. The fake Big instinctively puts both hands over his head, shouting with a female voice that clearly doesn't belong to him, "Ahh, don't look at me, I'm bald! Uh- I mean-" The corrected voice finishes, "Where…did that come from?"

All angry eyes in the Rebellion turn on the impostor. 'He' appears to be sweating under the pressure.

The real Big seems much more interested in the hat he's swiped, as he stares inside. "This looks interesting."

"Ribbit!" Froggy suddenly leaps off of Big's head, diving head-first into the hat.

"Froggy, no!" Big sticks his nose right into the hat, trying to search for any sign of the frog that seems to have disappeared inside. "Froggy? Where'd you go?"

The imposter rolls his eyes. "Ah, well, guess the jig's up." He holds his hand out to the side, and in a puff of sparkling black smoke, a simple magician's wand appears in his grip. With a flick of the wand, the same brilliantly sparkling clouds of smoke burst out of his entire body. When the smoke clears, the tall yellow figure of Heavy Magician floats just off the ground in his place, still holding her wand. She continues, "I'd love to say it was fun, but this has been the dullest experience of my artificial life. I won't be missing any of you. Oh, and I'll be taking that back." With another flick of the wand, her hat is yanked back out of Big's hands by an unseen force, drawn back to its owner.

Big tries to grab it back, but he's too slow. "Froggy!"

"And this is curtains. Y'all have been a wonderful audience." Hat in hand, she prepares to flick her wand one last time. But Froggy leaps out of the hat, grabbing the wand in its mouth, and hopping off with it. "Wha– Get back here you little–"

Heavy Magician tries to chase after the frog, but she is cut off by a missile that explodes in her path, fired by Omega. He is closely followed by Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, who all come in to attack one by one, driving back and damaging the robot. The last attack knocks her to the ground, flat on her stomach.

She starts to lift herself back up with one hand. "I'm not–" She is cut off as she's suddenly forced back to the ground. Big has sat down on her back, keeping her firmly pressed to the floor as he curiously examines the wand that Froggy has brought him. As she struggles to get out, she complains, "Hey! Get off of me!" Without much success, she tries to reach behind her back to grab the wand out of his hand. "And give that back!"

"No, I don't think so."

Sonic kneels down to look the Magician in the eye. He taunts with a smirk, "Looks the show's just starting. Consider yourself our prisoner."

Magician mutters, "I hate it when a trick backfires…"

—–—

Heavy Magician has been tied up to a large rock deep within one of the canyon's caves. Sonic stands staring down at her, the two of them completely alone. After a long silence, he finally asks, "So it was you the whole time? And all those things I thought Big said to me…that was all you? Trying to gain my trust?"

"Yeah, you were pretty messed up, weren't ya? But don't think so hard about it. I didn't say nothin' he wouldn't have said in that situation. I had to download his whole brain to make this trick work, ya know. Normally that'd be pretty hard, but…there weren't a whole lot of data there."

Sonic thinks on that for a moment. "Why? What was your goal?"

"I ain't tellin'"

"Well, if you aren't going to be helpful to us, I suppose I can just have Big sit on you again."

"Uhh…on second thought…I was sent here to get in with your ranks, and collect information to get back to the Emperor. Oh, and I had to give him that Emerald shard when he asked for it. That's it, I swear!"

"Eggman already had a spy. What did he need you for?"

"That spy ain't here no more, is she? I had to be here to make sure she could leave without losing the inside source."

"That can't be it."

"That's it. You wanna check my sleeves? I don't have any tricks left."

Sonic turns to the cave entrance and calls, "Hey Big! Gonna need you in here!"

Magician fearfully objects, "Wait, wait, I'll talk, I'll talk! I already have his rear end dented into my back, please don't make it worse!"

Sonic crosses his arms. "I'm waiting."

"Okay, okay." She takes a deep mechanical breath. "I was supposed to keep you off the trail…of something."

"Of what?"

"Some sort of project. Something the Emperor's working on together with my Boss. I don't know what it is, they didn't tell me because they thought somethin' exactly like this would happen. That's all I know, I swear."

Sonic continues to stare down at her with a scowl. But finally, he gives up with a sigh. "Alright."

"Does that mean you're lettin' me go?"

This prompts an outburst of laughter from Sonic. "Keep dreaming." With that, he turns to leave.

As she watches him go, she mutters something unintelligible.

Sonic steps into the outside, where most of the Rebellion is still waiting for him. Knuckles immediately questions, "Well? Did you get anything?"

Sonic shakes his head. "Nothing we can work with. I don't think she even really knows why she was sent here."

Tails suggests, "At least we have the prisoner. That's something, right?"

Sonic nods. "It's something." He finally looks up to Big. "Big…if you hadn't come along…we never would've known what we were working with. Eggman was playing us the whole time. If you hadn't helped figure that out…who knows? And…they really had you locked up that whole time?"

"Uh huh. But I'm okay now."

"Well…I don't know how we can make up for everything…but we'll try. We'll find you somewhere as far away from this war as you can get, somewhere you can live in peace again. You deserve that."

"That's okay, Mr. Sonic. We can stay right here."

"This is a warzone, not a paradise. You don't have to fight this war, Big. You've done enough."

"My friends helped me today, even though they didn't have to. I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't do the same thing. Besides…you can find paradise wherever you are. All you have to do is look around." He looks up to the frog on his head. "Right, Froggy?"

"Ribbit!"

Sonic can't help but smile. "You really are the real thing, aren't you?" He seems to well up with emotion. "Oh, come here, you big fur ball!" Sonic gives him a big hug. Much of the Rebellion follows his lead, forming a big group hug around Big.

Big smiles wide. "I love my friends."

Once everyone has separated, Knuckles offers something out to Big. "If you're going to be one of us, you'll need one of these. Keep it safe." It's the shard of the Master Emerald.

As Big reaches out to take it, Sonic gives a satisfied nod. "Welcome to the Rebellion, Big."

Big stares at the shard in his hand for a moment. Then Froggy leaps off of his head, swallows the shard whole, and starts to run off with it. Big quickly chases after. "Froggy, no! Come back!"

The rest of the Rebellion shares in a laugh as Big chases Froggy around in a circle.

Sonic gives a shrug. "That's as safe a place as any, I suppose."

—–—

"I am very disappointed in you!"

Discord literally shrinks away from Eggman's furious shout.

"I can't even begin to imagine what put the thought in your tiny little head that it would be a good idea to break into my elite production facility, and destroy everything that I'm working so hard to build, but I won't have any more of it!" Eggman takes a breath to calm himself. Then, he reaches back to pull out something. The purple Chaos Emerald. He holds it out for Discord to see. "Do you see this? Do you know what it is?"

Instantly forgetting his fear, Discord longingly reaches out for the gem.

Eggman swipes it out of his reach. "Oh, no you don't! This one Chaos Emerald will multiply your powers tenfold, but you will not get it until you can prove to me that you've earned it. Do you understand me?"

Discord makes several rapid nods.

"Good. Now, you'll be going back to the Anti-Rebellion. I think you'll find that most of them aren't as forgiving as I am. Fail us again, and I don't think I'll need to bother teaching you any more lessons."

Discord's eyes remain locked on the Emerald. He seems able to think of nothing else. He seems to imagine it joined by six other points of colorful light, circling slowly around it. Everything else in sight fades away to black, save for Discord, the Emerald, and the six points of light. As the vision of the Emeralds flashes blindingly, a great beast roars within him.

To be continued…