EPISODE IV: Chaos & Reunions


"So this 'Chaos Control,'" Chris started, shifting in his stool. "That ripped a hole in time and space, and that hole sent you all here. I think I understand that, but I still don't know what these Chaos Emeralds are. I mean, yeah, I get they're connected, but…"

"See, each Chaos Emerald is filled with an ancient magic," Amy explained, smiling pleasantly. "On their own, they're pretty powerful— but put all seven together…" She placed her palms together as though to emphasize, and then pulled them apart, making a soft "pew" noise with her mouth.

"The question is," Grandpa spoke up from where he sat on a stool, a computer in his lap, "how do we find them?"

"If they're on this planet— Earth, right?" Tails, swinging his legs while sitting on the worktable, didn't wait for an answer. "Then that's good, but if they're still back on Mobius, then we might never get home."

"Listen," Chris spoke up again. "If the emeralds are somewhere here on Earth, then we can find them all. If so many of you are here on our planet, then the Chaos Emeralds probably are too. We just need to figure out how to find them."

"Kid has a point," Julie-Su finally said. She stood in the corner, leaning her back against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. "We're not gonna know until we start looking. So… what are we waiting for?"

As the conversation began flowing more quickly amongst everyone else, a frown tugged at Chris' face. He propped his chin on his hand, that ache in his chest still loudly making itself known. He hadn't seen Metal Sonic since the military base.

Despite what Tails and the others said, he knew Metal was different. Grandpa knew it too. Maybe at one time he used to be the menace that their inter-planetary visitors described, but that was not who Chris saw for the past week. He saw a soul, a curious soul— Metal didn't talk much, nor did he express what he was feeling, but he was still so much more than what Doctor Eggman made him to be.

He wished he could get their new friends to see what he saw.

Julie-Su and Amy said that Metal Sonic attacked the Missile Wrist mech and destroyed it— so wasn't that a sign? Chris softly sighed. Then again, he'd never gone through what Tails, Cream, and the others have. If he did, maybe he'd feel differently.

Everyone talking so much was making it harder to think. Words from the ongoing conversation rattled his brain, painfully knocking his thoughts out of order. Chris let out a noise of frustration, sliding off his stool and leaving the lab.

He just really needed to be alone right now. After all, today was a school day, so he wasn't going to have that much time to himself very soon.

. . . .

"Aliens on Earth!" Danny said in a hushed voice, eyes wide with awe. "They looked so cool! And they totally whooped that big robot's butt! Like— like—" He squirmed in his seat, clearly excited. "You saw the plane right! And the other robot— it looked like the aliens, so is it an alien too, Ithinkitis!" Danny's words flew faster and faster by the second.

"Careful, Danny," Frances told him with a light laugh. "Don't fall out of your chair now."

"I wooonnnn't." Danny sent a pout her way, then looked over at Chris. "What do you think about all this, Chris?"

"Uhm," was all Chris could get out before the classroom door swung open. All eyes immediately flew to Principal Lassiter, beside whom stood a very unfamiliar face.

"Children, all eyes on me," Lassiter spoke. "Unfortunately, Ms. Westerly will not be teaching you this semester, as she's taken another job across the country. Mr. Stewart will be teaching you instead."

"Hello, class," Stewart greeted, lifting his hand and giving a small wave.

Chris studied him with a frown. He wasn't quite sure why, but something was screaming in him, telling him there was something wrong with this new teacher. Maybe it was just all the stress from the past few days.

. . . .

"An unusual gemstone was discovered today at a department store construction site. Eye-witnesses at the site report that construction machinery seemed to malfunction whenever it came within close contact of the strange stone. Experts on the scene say it does appear to be radiating an invisible, highly-charged energy. Now, some of you watching this may be experiencing some static. This is a direct result of the gem's mysterious power…"

An artist's rendering of the emerald appeared on the screen.

"Well, well, what do you know?!" Eggman kicked away from the table, spinning his chair around as it quickly came to a stop in front of another console. "A Chaos Emerald, right under my nose!"

"Doctor," Decoe started.

"Yes, Decoe?"

"Your cards."

"Oh!" Eggman snatched the deck off the tray Decoe was holding and shuffled through them, grunting as he studied the deadly weapon drawn on each one. "I just can't choose." Eggman smashed the pack of cards into the Selection Machine's slot and pulled hard on the lever. The fruit machine's three reels spun, and slowly stopped one by one, until the machine's choice was revealed. "Beacon! Of course! Perfect! Ah-hahaha… HAHAHAHA!"

. . . .

The abandoned building that was some time ago converted into a "home away from home" lab was completely silent— and then sound exploded as the blue biplane inside rumbled to life. Birds shrieked and squirrels chattered, fluttering and scrabbling away respectively.

"Be careful, you guys," Cream said gently, looking up at Tails, Amy, and Julie (who had herself situated on the wing), eyes wide with worry. Grandpa stood beside her, arms crossed, a soft frown on his face. "Please don't get hurt."

Tails gave her a smile and a thumbs up. "We'll be okay!"

"Good luck," Grandpa told them. He was secretly glad that he was not in that plane this time around— in fact, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be getting on any planes again for a looong time. "Get back here safe."

"We will," Amy told him, cheerily waving as Tails steered the plane out the wide, motorized door, and into the outside world.

. . . .

Metal Sonic watched the crowd surrounding the barricaded area, noting that the only reason most of them were holding back was because of the armed individuals in body armor blocking access. Humans seemed to have a… near non-existent sense of self-preservation.

It knew that underneath the giant tarp, there was something dangerous. What, it did not know— but the energy levels being emitted…

Metal Sonic knew it could easily swipe whatever it was right under the human fleshling's noses and be gone before they could even realize what had happened. But it did not know what coming into contact with the unknown object would do to its systems. So the unit simply remained content to observe the scene from the roof of the shortest building in the vicinity.

"Pretty freaky, huh?"

Metal Sonic strained its audio receptors to catch a whiff of the conversation. It came from the truck parked just a little ways from the construction site. Three people stood at the back, leaning against the vehicle.

"You said it!" the other man replied with a laugh, a huge camera resting on his shoulder. "Aliens, killer robots, this Doctor Eggman guy, and now this weird gem thing— it's enough to make my head spin." The two shared a laugh before the camera-wielding man turned his head slightly. "Huh?"

"Oh no, not again," the woman next to him groaned. "He literally just tried to destroy the city yesterday!"

Metal Sonic turned its head to see none other than Doctor Eggman in his hovercraft, and a massive purple and orange avian-inspired mech soaring beside him.

"Beacon, take care of Metal Sonic— BUT DON'T DESTROY HIM!" Eggman screeched, his voice ringing in Metal Sonic's audio receptors even with the great distance between them, which Metal Sonic had started to shrink as it zipped from building to building towards them. "Limbs and turbine are game, keep everything else intact," the Doctor snarled.

Beacon opened its mechanical beak and released a hawk-like screech, turning and zooming in on Metal Sonic. It opened its beak again, and Metal Sonic had just barely enough time to leap out of the way before it could vaporize it with its beam of purple energy.

"WHAT PART OF INTACT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" Eggman shrieked.

. . . .

As the battle up in the sky continued to escalate, the authorities started shooing away citizens, yelling into megaphones and telling them to go home right now. The area erupted into chaos as people started shoving each other in their haste to move.

While Beacon changed its tactics to be somewhat less destructive where Metal Sonic was concerned, Eggman turned his attention back onto the Chaos Emerald. He steered his hovercraft down towards the now vacant construction sight, a gleeful grin spread across his lips.

The tarp had been blown away by a gust of wind at some point, and so there, in the tiny crater, he could see a faint green glow.

"Chaos Emerald, here I come!"

He tilted the hovercraft so he wouldn't have to get out of his seat and leaned forward, extending his hand to nab that little sucker—

And then a much smaller hand scooped it up instead.

"Hurr?!"

Eggman stared in bewilderment at the child who'd just snatched away his Chaos Emerald. The kid glared at him, cupping the Emerald and holding it close to his chest. "You're not getting this Emerald, Eggman!"

Eggman glared back wordlessly, and then spun his hovercraft around like a spinning top toy— the wing slammed into the child's chest, knocking him down and the Emerald flew from his hands. With a swift movement, Eggman caught it. He smirked at the downed brat as he held up the Chaos Emerald for him to see, clearly mocking. The patronizing tone in his voice only served to rub salt in the wound.

"My dear child," Eggman drawled, "you wouldn't even know what to do with this! The immense power of the Chaos Emeralds is not something— nyahh!"

The brat lunged, latching onto the hovercraft and struggling against the Doctor to take the Chaos Emerald back. "No! You're going to hurt people with it, and I can't let that happen! Give it back!"

"You really think you're in a position to make demands!?" Eggman shrieked, trying to push the boy off. "Buzz off, brat! I don't have the time or patience for this!" In their struggle, the kid pushed Eggman a little too hard, and his back hit a lever. The hovercraft sputtered, then started to soar up into the sky. "Oh no! Look what you've done, you little worm!"

. . . .

Okay, so this was probably one of the… worst decisions Chris had ever made.

Because now he found himself literally dangling from the wing of Doctor Eggman's hovercraft, unable to reach the Emerald and hundreds of feet above the ground. One wrong move, one slip, and he— Chris shut that part out of his mind, not really wanting to think about what would happen after that.

Yeah, this was definitely one of the dumbest decisions he'd ever made.

But he couldn't help it after having overheard some of the other students in the hallway. He knew where the Chaos Emerald was, so of course he was going to go after it. He wanted to make himself useful, and he didn't exactly call learning long division being useful. At least when it came to getting the Chaos Emerald before Eggman.

Too late to change the past, anyway.

He was stuck up here, so he might as well try to do something. Chris slowly reached over the top of the wing, getting ready to haul himself up. Eggman thought he was just some helpless, bratty kid worth nothing, and he intended to use that.

. . . .

Metal Sonic found this "Beacon" as Doctor Eggman called it to be more of a threat than the last mech that he decided to try levelling the city with. It was airborne, armed with a sharp beak it knew could pierce its armour if it managed to snag the unit, and the avian's own armor was a deal thicker than the last machine.

Metal Sonic had managed to rip off parts of its wings, but the larger unit still had plenty of fight left in it.

"Metal Sonic?!"

To whom the voice belonged to, Metal Sonic had no the faintest, nor did it care— destroying Beacon before it destroyed it was its priority.

The unit leapt from the roof and soared through the air, claws extended. It latched onto Beacon's neck. The robotic avian screeched, twirling through the air in an attempt to fling the target off. Metal Sonic managed to rip some more wiring and mechanical parts out of Beacon's throat before losing its grip and plummeting. Its descent was cut short as it collided with something else made of metal. Metal Sonic's claws pierced the aluminum as it hung onto the wing, and it whipped its head around to see… a two-tailed fox, a pink hedgehog, and an echidna (who was poised on the other wing).

The echidna took aim at Beacon with the single pistol in her hand and pulled the trigger. A yellow beam of fire burst from the barrel and struck the mech. Not even a scratch.

"Can our weapons please stop being useless?!" she grumbled.

The fox stared at Metal Sonic a second, eyes wide. He swallowed and at the pink hedgehog's yelling turned his blue eyes back onto Beacon. "YIPE!" He yanked on the steering, swerving away just before they could collide with the giant mechanical bird.

"Nyaaaahh!"

It was a faint wail of pain, but Metal Sonic's audio receptors were strong enough to catch it. The unit quickly turned its head to see Chris clinging to Eggman's hovercraft, yanking hard on the Doctor's mustache.

Fear rippled through the unit's circuits and it promptly pushed aside all thoughts of Beacon for the moment— instead, it hurled itself off the wing, turbine thrumming to life and propelling Metal Sonic forward. It bounced from wall to wall of the city buildings, only one thing on its mind: Chris.

. . . .

"Where is he going—" Amy started, only to cut herself short. "Ohmygosh, CHRIS!"

Tails dipped the steering, allowing the plane to dive and narrowly avoid the snapping of giant robo-bird's beak. "What?!"

"Chris is fighting Eggman!" Amy shouted, before unbuckling and leaning forward to try to take the controls. "We've got to go save him, he'll get hurt— or worse!"

"Amy, let me fly!" Tails yelled back at her, trying to push her hands away and fly the Tornado at the same time.

"Stop it, both of you!" Julie-Su fondled a black and silver sphere with a little red, blinking light on it. "Tails, I'm gonna need you to go for the mouth!"

"You want Tails to what?! Did you hit your head!?"

Tails quickly looked over, spying the blinking ball in Julie's hand. "No, we have to! Buckle back up and hang on!"

The Tornado spun through the air, nose quickly pointing up, and the biplane shot up high into the sky, glinting in the sun. The robo-bird followed, opening its mouth to swallow the plane and crush it and its occupants. The Tornado tilted, upside down, and Julie hurled the sphere right into the avian mech's waiting mouth.

"Hit it!" Julie shouted.

Tails pushed the lever for the boost, and the Tornado zipped away in a reverberating whoosh. The mech's beak closed on empty air.

Two seconds later, the sky was enveloped in a brilliant orange and yellow light, fire and shards of smoldering metal tangled with wires raining from the sky.

"Teamwork!" Amy yelled over the din, grinning and whooping.

Their cheering was cut short as they saw Chris fall from Eggman's hovercraft. Eggman screamed, "MY CHAOS EMERALD!" and reached his hand out to catch the kid, but he was far too late.

"NO!"

. . . .

Metal Sonic changed its trajectory when Chris fell, extending its arms forward in the hopes of catching the child before he hit the ground. The screaming twelve year-old plummeted into the unit's arms, nearly sending it spiraling too. But Metal Sonic managed to secure its grip on the human fleshling and redirect more power to its turbine to slow their swift descent towards the ground.

Chris' eyes were screwed shut, but then, after a moment, he opened them, meeting Metal Sonic's scarlet optics.

"Metal?"

Metal Sonic beeped, feet touching down on the ground. It set Chris down on his own two feet, but as soon as it let go the child's legs gave out and it caught him again in its arms.

"Think I need to sit down," Chris mumbled, his body trembling. Sensors indicated that he was suffering from an adrenaline rush and unhealthily high stress levels.

Metal Sonic lowered the both of them, allowing Chris to sit, leaning his back against the building wall. Metal Sonic remained kneeling, holding onto Chris' empty hand, as the other one held the green gem that was apparently the very cause of this mess. It lifted its head to see Eggman shrieking in rage and pulling out hair from his moustache before zig-zagging away in his hovercraft.

Metal Sonic met Chris' searching blue eyes again, and dropped his hand, standing back up. As it started to turn away, the unit felt Chris grabbing its wrist, fleshy fingers curling around it tightly.

"No! Don't go!"

Metal Sonic turned its head, regarding the child with an unreadable gaze.

"Please don't leave again," Chris said, softer this time as he loosened his grip a little. Metal Sonic remained still. Then, slowly and hesitantly, it moved to sit down next to him. Before it could do anything else, Chris had wrapped his arms around its shoulders, pulling it close.

Metal Sonic let out a startled beep, but the child did not seem to notice. Chris buried his face into the unit's shoulder pad, quiet shudders running through his body.

Metal Sonic did not move, gradually allowing itself to relax. It placed a comforting hand on Chris' arm, watching the sky.