Alright! Time for a change in perspective! The last three chapters have been focusing on The Resistance, and now, it's time to focus on someone new. It's pretty obvious who I'm referring to if you've played Sonic Forces, so let's cut to the chase, shall we?

As the Resistance was busy hijacking one of Eggman's shuttles, two experiments were wandering the ruined city. These two were different from the ones that had encountered the Resistance, namely in that they were extremely young-looking. One of them appeared just a little older than the other. This one was primarily red-colored and was carrying around a large teddy bear. The other one, who was light blue, appeared more reptilian, with aqua-colored hair.

"Wow, this place is really torn up. Right, Teddy?" The red one stopped as she addressed the teddy bear. This prompted the second experiment to stop as well and start looking around at her surroundings. Something seemed to catch her attention.

"Fire," The younger one said, pointing at one of the burning buildings.

"Yeah?" The older one asked. The younger one then pointed at her.

"Pyro!" She said, looking at her expectantly.

The red one, now identified as 'Pyro', simply laughed a little.

"Well, yeah, it is kinda my name…" Pyro looked around. "Hey, you got any idea where we are?"

The younger one simply shook her head. Looking around, she started to sniffle a little bit.

"I want my mommy…" The sky above them began to darken, and the wind started to pick up. Unseen to them, the nearby lake began to ripple as waves began to form on its surface.

Before Pyro could say anything to try and cheer her friend up, however, she seemed to perk up, as if she heard something. Pyro heard it as well.

"I think someone's over there," Pyro realized. "C'mon, let's go see!"

Pyro ran over towards the source of the noise, while the younger experiment hobbled after her.

Miles Prower, better known as "Tails" by his friends, was a smart kid. Only nine, and already, he could reprogram a supercomputer with toothpicks and dishwashing detergent, built super-charged planes that could run on Chaos Energy, a multipurpose handheld device, amongst other things.

He didn't feel like that right at this moment, however. Right now, he felt helpless. Defeated.

He'd felt this way for the last six months, ever since that masked monster defeated Sonic…

Tails shook his head. He couldn't think about that right now. He had to focus on now. And now, he was trying to fix unsuccessfully a certain E-series robot that he'd found in the ruins of the city.

"That should've done it…" Tails sighed sadly, stepping away from Omega. "I couldn't figure it out for you, buddy… I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough…"

As he lamented his inability to repair Omega, the two experiments turned the corner and saw him. The younger experiment's eyes sparkled.

"Fluffy tails!" She laughed, hobbling towards him. Tails, for his part, didn't notice the little monster coming towards him until he felt something grab hold of his twin namesakes. He yelped in surprise.

"H-Hey!" He turned his head sharply, only to find the little experiment staring back at him. She gave him a big, adorable smile.

"…Oh," Tails looked a bit sheepish. "S-Sorry, thought you were… Um…"

He looked a little closer at her. She didn't look like any one species he'd ever seen.

"…What ARE you, exactly?" He asked, not really expecting an answer based on her apparent age. He was surprised when he got one, though not from the one holding his tails.

"She's Waterita, but everyone calls her Rita," Pyro responded, walking up to the young fox. "And I'm Pyro."

"Waterita and Pyro, huh?" Tails looked down at the little experiment playing with his tails. "So, water and fire, huh?"

Pyro shrugged before asking, "And who are you?"

"Um…" Tails scratched the back of his head. "Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails."

"I wonder why?" Pyro sarcastically noted, eying the two fluffy tails that Rita was happily playing with. Tails cleared his throat.

"Um, it's nice to meet you two, but you didn't really answer my question. You don't really look like any one species from around here, so if you don't mind me asking, what are you exactly?"

"Oh," Pyro rubbed the back of her head. "Well, it's complicated."

"I can handle complicated," Tails shrugged. Having an IQ of around 300 had its perks, after all.

"Well…" Pyro started. "Long story short, we're genetic experiments from another planet."

"Oh, that's it?" Tails said. "I guess that explains your guys' looks."

"You don't sound very surprised," Pyro noted. Tails shrugged.

"Well, when you…" Tails trailed off. A flicker of movement told him there was something approaching them. Rita and Pyro looked over at what he was looking at, and found a strange, humanoid being, made entirely of water, lumbering towards them.

"W-Woah, Chaos…!" Tails backed up nervously. He then noticed that Chaos looked more muscular than he remembered, with horns, and bone-like structures in his hands. Within Chaos' palms, two Chaos Emeralds were glimmering brightly.

'It's Chaos' second form!' He realised with a start. Where Eggman had found the emeralds, he wasn't sure, but the implications were disturbing, to say the least.

"Is he a bad guy?" Pyro asked. She seemed to tense up a little, with her grip on Teddy becoming a little tighter and the temperature around her rising a little bit.

"H-He's not supposed to be…" Tails said. "But…"

'I'm not scared…' Tails' eyes widened. Memories began to flash in his mind. 'I'm not scared…!'

He remembered his battle against Eggman in Station Square. He remembered defusing the missile the rotund scientist had fired at the city in a last-ditch effort to destroy it. And even before that, he remembered battling against Chaos 4 along with Sonic and Knuckles.

'I can't rely on Sonic forever…'

It's a lesson he had taught himself so long ago. However, in the time following then, he had grown complacent.

He clenched his fists.

'I can do this!'

…He needed to change that.

Sonic wasn't here. He knew that. He also knew that Sonic would have wanted him to fight for himself; to be the hero the world needed in his stead.

With that in mind, Tails stepped forward defiantly, causing Pyro to look at him and Rita to let go of his tails in mild surprise.

"I'm not afraid of you!" He declared. He lowered into a stance, his tails swishing around in anticipation.

In response, the watery monster stepped forward as well, accentuated with a hellish screech that made all who were present cringe. Tails held his arm out, blocking off both Pyro and Rita.

"Stand back, you two," He said. "I'll handle him!"

Pyro blinked. The young fox's temperament seemed to have done a 180, having gone from timid and shaking, to defiantly standing between them and the watery monster before them.

If he were to be honest, Tails wasn't sure how much he believed his own words. However, it was too late for him to reconsider. Sonic would have wanted him to fight and stand up for himself, and that's exactly what he was gonna do!

Tails jumped forward, curling into a concussive ball and went to slam Chaos in his exposed brain. The mutated Chao realized this, however, smacking the young kitsune away. Shortly into his impromptu flight, Tails recovered and summoned his Energy Ball arm cannon.

Taking aim, he fired a large blast at Chaos. As expected, the monster raised its arms to defend against it, leaving it vulnerable to Tails' Magic Upper, which burst from the ground beneath Chaos' feet, decking it square in where his jaw should be.

"Boing!" Rita said, raising her tiny fist the same way the spring-loaded weapon did.

This did no damage, of course, as Chaos' watery body could absorb the damage. It did, however, momentarily send Chaos reeling slightly, which is all Tails needed to rev up again and strike Chaos' brain.

The effect was immediate; Chaos' body melted into a large sphere of water, with the two Chaos Emeralds becoming enveloped in bright light. The large sphere came bounding after Tails, prompting the young fox to leap into the air and begin spinning his tails.

"Uh…" Pyro blinked. "He's flying with his tails? Wait, why am I surprised by this?"

"Gotcha!" Tails shouted as soon as Chaos' body returned to normal. He launched himself feet first at Chaos' head. Chaos, however, responded to the oncoming attack by swiping upwards, catching Tails by surprise and sending him into the air.

Tails yelped in surprise and pain, before retaliating with his Energy Ball cannon. Chaos was struck in the stomach, but simply shrugged off the attack. He then threw his claws at Tails, extending his arm to do so. Tails avoided the strike before landing on Chaos' arm. Curling into a ball again, he blasted down Chaos' arm faster than the God of Destruction could retaliate, allowing him to strike Chaos' brain a second time.

Once again, Chaos' body melted down, only this time, it became a puddle on the ground, with the two emeralds floating above it. Then, the puddle expanded rapidly, forcing Tails into the air to evade. Pyro noticed the attack and, although certain it wouldn't reach them, stepped backwards to avoid it, though Rita didn't respond to it at all.

As soon as the small deluge disappeared, Tails moved in to land, only for the reformed Chaos to rush him. Tails quickly leaped out of the way, allowing his Big Hand to emerge from the ground and flick Chaos' skull.

As if by clockwork, Chaos' body split apart, this time remaining as a large puddle with the two emeralds floating around it. Tails stared at it suspiciously, trying to tell if Chaos was planning something, or had simply been knocked unconscious. Deciding it was the latter, Tails allowed himself to land. He was breathing slightly harder, but otherwise seemed perfectly fine.

"I… I did it…" He said, sounding slightly shocked. He turned back to the two experiments. Rita was clapping happily, clearly entertained by the display. Pyro seemed impressed as well, walking up to him. She regarded him quietly for a few seconds, before laughing happily.

"Take that, ya watery bastard!" She cheered. Tails stared at her for a moment.

"Um… You do know that's a bad word, right…?"

"Bah!" Pyro said, playfully sticking her tongue out. "I can say whatever I want! Mommy isn't here to tell me not to."

"Well…" Tails rubbed the back of his head. "Can I just ask you to keep it to a minimum? I mean, your friend there is only learning to talk, right?"

Pyro shrugged.

"Experiments' brains develop differently from E-arthlings," Pyro explained. Tails raised an eyebrow.

'E-arth? Oh, I get it. She's just mispronouncing 'Earth'. And given her grasp on the language, I'm gonna assume that she's not the only one to do that,' Tails thought, before shrugging.

"Well," He said. "I guess that makes sense…"

"Yeah, so – hey is that thing still moving?" Pyro pointed. Tails turned around in alarm. Sure enough, Chaos was attempting to reform himself from the puddle.

"A-Are you kidding me!?" Tails took a step back before resummoning his cannon. "How much more can this guy take!?"

Unbeknownst to Tails, as Chaos was reforming, a dark mass materialized just behind a wall, within Chaos field of vision but entirely cut off from Tails' and the two experiments.

To their surprise, Chaos turned his head as his body was reforming to face whatever this dark mass was.

Then, to Chaos' surprise this time, a blue blur emerged from the dark mass and slammed into his head, causing him to break into multiple large puddles once more.

Tails' eyes widened as the blue figure landed directly in front of them.

"S-Sonic…? You're… You're alive!" He gawked, sounding both overjoyed and surprised. Then, he noticed something. This Sonic looked younger, his fur a lighter shade of blue, and his eyes were charcoal black. "Wait…"

Sonic(?) looked at him, seeming to be slightly confused.

"Oh!" Tails realized. "You're that Sonic from another dimension, aren't you?"

Sonic, now identified as Classic Sonic, nodded in confirmation.

Rita and Pyro simply looked at the two in confusion. The words "another dimension" seemed to strike a chord with Pyro, however.

'Another dimension, huh…?' Pyro thought, looking around. Now that she was thinking about it, where, exactly were they? Not in Kokauwa Town, that was for sure.

"Right, right, right, that makes sense," Tails mused. "…I think. Do you know how you got here?"

Classic Sonic simply shrugged. It didn't seem that he had a clue, either. Tails, however thought he might have an idea. He didn't have a complete picture, but the strange readings he had gotten from the masked figure six months ago, plus the events that had just transpired, were enough to build some theories.

"Maybe whatever power Eggman's using is affecting other dimensions," Tails guessed. Pyro would have laughed at the name 'Eggman' if Tails hadn't effectively voiced her thoughts for her.

"…Which might work to our advantage!" Tails smacked his fist into his open palm. "I mean, everything happens for a reason, right? That might be why you're here! That might also be why you two are here!" He turned to look at Pyro and Waterita. Classic Sonic finally seemed to notice them as well and gave them a friendly wave. Rita waved back enthusiastically.

"Well, either way, it's good to have you here, Sonic. Heck, it's good to have any Sonic!" Tails said, positively beaming. Pyro and Classic Sonic shared the same confused expression.

While the group was talking, Chaos struggled to pull himself back together. The young mechanic had done a surprising number on him, and the blow to his head that Classic Sonic had delivered hadn't exactly made his condition any better.

Still, Chaos managed to reform his head and torso with effort, though his arms were currently limited to useless stubs. He had two emeralds, and despite the energy that they held being nothing compared to the might that all seven would grant him, it was enough to supercharge all of his abilities, including his passive healing. He managed to reform his limbs and stood up, ready to challenge them once more.

Just as they wrapped up their conversation, the quartet noticed that Chaos was once again standing at his full height, seemingly intent on to continuing the battle. Tails groaned.

"Again!?" He shouted, with a note of exasperation etched into his voice. "Yeesh! I guess that's the power of two Chaos Emeralds, huh?"

"Chaos Emeralds…?" Pyro repeated, now noticing the glowing jewels in Chaos' palms. Rita did as well and began staring at them earnestly.

Tails and Classic Sonic both lowered into combat-ready stances, rearing to charge at their opponent.

"His weakness is his brain," Tails instructed. "If we can hit it enough times, it'll disrupt his ability to maintain his body!"

Classic Sonic nodded. Crouching down, the blue hedgehog began to rev up a Spin Dash before launching himself at Chaos' head at high speed. Realizing this, Chaos threw up its arms to defend itself, causing Classic Sonic to bounce off a blue, glowing barrier of energy that materialized before him.

The moment Chaos' arms went down, Tails came in with his own Spin Dash, striking Chaos in the head.

Enraged and in pain, the beast split its body into several blobs of water than began to launch themselves at the duo. Tails and Classic Sonic took off in opposite directions to avoid them, with Tails using his tails to propel himself forward.

"Keep moving!" Tails shouted, weaving in and out of the way of the blasts of water. Classic Sonic nodded in the affirmative, mirroring Tails' movements. The globs of water then began to coalesce, beginning to form Chaos' image once again. Tails and Classic Sonic both noticed, before sharply turning and racing towards Chaos.

Tails resummoned his Energy Ball and began firing a volley of shots at the monster as Classic Sonic leaped into the air and blasted towards him. Chaos responded by throwing its claws at the fox, causing Tails to jump back to avoid it. This left Chaos open, however, and Classic Sonic took the opportunity to leap on his head.

Chaos roared in pain as his body dissolved into a blob of water. The blob then fired off several offshoots of itself in all directions. Classic Sonic easily evaded the attack. Tails, however, was grabbed by one of the watery tendrils.

"Hey! I'm stuck!" He shouted as Chaos began reeling him in. Classic Sonic reacted immediately, revving up before Spin Dashing right through the liquid appendage, causing it to drop its mark.

Chaos reformed and, in a fit of rage, charged the duo.

Which, by the way, was a big mistake.

Why? Because it left his very exposed brain open to a sudden strike from Tails' Magic Hook, which slammed into Chaos' brain so hard that the monster was sent flying back a short distance before he impacted the ground, causing him to split apart into several motionless globs of water.

"Is it over?" Tails panted slightly harder now, looking over his and Classic Sonic's handiwork. Classic Sonic stared at the downed monster before responded with a thumbs up and a confident smile.

"Yeah… Guess we did…" Tails said, turning to face him. "He couldn't just shrug off that many hits to his brain…"

Pyro facepalmed.

'Why'd you say that?' She groaned mentally. 'You jinxed it. Now he's gonna get right back up again.'

Classic Sonic turned to Tails, before motioning towards Pyro and Rita, who seemed to be staring at something.

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce you guys…" Tails smiled sheepishly. "Sonic, these two are Rita and Pyro. Apparently, they're aliens of some sort."

Classic Sonic barely seemed phased by that reveal at all. Instead, he gave another friendly wave.

"And you two," Tails turned to Pyro and Rita. "This is my friend Sonic. Well, he's a younger Sonic from another dimension, anyway."

"Hi," Pyro waved, before looking at her teddy bear. "What was that, Teddy? You think we're from another dimension too?"

"Huh?" Tails regarded her with confusion. "You think you're from another dimension as well?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, I was just at home, with Catty and Kuro, when, outta nowhere, everything just went all white, and there was this weird noise…"

As the young red experiment began to explain what had happened, Chaos' body began to rebuild itself as Pyro anticipated, albeit much more slowly than before. As his head and torso slowly began to reform, Chaos began to slowly drag his half-formed body towards Tails and Classic Sonic, hoping to attack them from behind.

If only Waterita hadn't noticed him.

The little experiment hobbled up to the weakened mutant, her green-blue eyes focused on his hands. She was staring directly at the Chaos Emeralds. To her, in Chaos' hands were two shiny rocks, and like all babies would be, she was captivated by them. If only there wasn't a haze of Chaos Energy-infused water and bone separating her from them.

For a Water Demon like her, that was no problem whatsoever.

Rita proceeded to push her tiny hands against Chaos' body. Chaos, at first, felt no need for concern. He was made of liquid Chaos Energy, and she was a baby. What could she possibly-?

Chaos reeled with alarm when Rita's eyes began to glow and her hands suddenly began to merge with Chaos' body. Chaos attempted to back away, only for Rita to take a few tiny steps forward. Chaos began to shrink, like gelatine being slurped off of a spoon. Rita moved forward again, causing more of Chaos' body to be siphoned off of him and into the little experiment, whose eyes began to glow even brighter.

Classic Sonic was the first to notice. The blue hedgehog had noticed that the young demon had disappeared from his view and had started to look around to see where she was. When he saw her seemingly absorbing Chaos into her body, he tapped Tails' shoulder.

"Huh?" Tails asked, looking at Classic Sonic. "What is it, Sonic?"

Classic Sonic pointed at the spectacle behind them. When Tails turned to look, Chaos' body had been reduced to about half of its former size. Tails' jaw dropped.

"W-Woah…!" He gasped. "Is she… absorbing Chaos!? H-How…!?"

Pyro noticed and looked at her fellow experiment.

"Well, she IS a Water Demon, after all, and that guy's made of water, right?" She said, matter-of-factly. Tails and Classic Sonic simply stared at her, as if she'd grown a second head. "…What? It's true, ya know."

"A Water Demon…?" Tails said, looking back at the little girl. Chaos' body was now almost as small as Rita herself and was still struggling to get away from her, to no avail. "…You know, somehow, I'm not as surprised by that as I really should be."

Classic Sonic shrugged. He started to move towards Rita, just as Chaos disappeared altogether, having been absorbed by the little girl's body. In his place, two Chaos Emeralds, one light blue and one red, were lying on the ground, glimmering in the setting sun. Rita clapped with delight, before hobbling towards the light blue one.

"Shiny!" She laughed, picking it up and holding it up for all to see. Classic Sonic picked up the red one, and looked back at Tails and Pyro, shrugging as he did so.

"She probably saw them in Chaos' hands and wanted to take a closer look," Tails guessed, looking at Rita. "Babies do like shiny things, right?"

Pyro stepped forward

"You called those things 'Chaos Emeralds', right?" Pyro asked, inspecting the red stone in Classic Sonic's hand. "Aren't emeralds supposed to be green?"

"Well, yeah…" Tails scratched his head. "Truth be told, no one really knows who named them. Given how ancient they are, it's not a stretch to assume that they didn't know that at the time."

Pyro just shrugged. "Also, why did that water thing have two of them?"

"Well, if I had to guess, Eggman-" Tails was abruptly cut off when Pyro finally burst out laughing at how ridiculous that name was.

"Okay, c'mon… Eggman? Really?" She asked, trying her hardest not to fall over. Classic Sonic laughed silently in agreement. Tails chuckled a little as well.

"Yeah, we came up with that nickname a while ago," He admitted. "Anyway, I bet that in the wake of his takeover, Eggman was able to find all of them and gave two of them to Chaos."

Glancing over at Rita, they found that she was still happily playing with the light blue stone, giggling to herself.

"How many are there?" Pyro asked, curious.

"There's seven," Tails explained. "They've helped us out in the past, and I'll bet we're gonna need all seven of them to take down Eggman and whoever his new partner is."

Classic Sonic nodded, before turning his head and looking around.

"Hm?" Tails turned to him. "Oh, you're wondering where Eggman is, right?"

Classic Sonic nodded. Tails pulled out his Miles Electric.

"If Chaos had two of them, my best guess is that Eggman might be using the other five. And because we have two, we can track the others!" Tails held his hand out to Classic Sonic, who handed him the Chaos Emerald. The young mechanic then inserted the emerald into the top of the device, which began to beep rhythmically. Pyro tilted her head quizzically.

"How does that let you track them?" She asked, honestly curious.

"The Chaos Emeralds act almost like a set of magnets in respect to each other," Tails explained. "They attract each other, and they can repel each other as well. If you have one, you can use that attraction to locate the others."

Pyro nodded, understanding. So, they were like magnets. Interesting.

"Okay, I'm detecting one emerald right next to us. That's the one Rita's playing with. And there seems to be another just ahead," Tails pointed out towards the city. Classic Sonic and Pyro followed his finger. "I'm also detecting Eggman's signature in that direction as well, which confirms that he at least has one on his person."

Putting the Miles Electric away, Tails turned to Classic Sonic.

"Sonic, can you clear the path for us? Rita might've been able to finish Chaos, but it doesn't look like she can run all that well. I don't want to have her or Pyro wander into a bunch of robots on the way."

Classic Sonic nodded. Pyro just scoffed.

"Oh, c'mon. I've got fire powers. I can handle a couple of robots, no problem," She said, before what Tails said clicked. "Wait, you're taking us with you?"

"Why shouldn't we?" Tails shot back. "It's not like we can just leave you two alone in a warzone like this."

"Like I said, I can take care of myself," Pyro crossed her little arms. Classic Sonic and Tails both lowered their eyelids.

"…You'd rather stay here with those?" Tails asked, pointing. Pyro followed his finger, and saw, bar none, the single biggest robot she had ever seen, tearing a destructive swath through the city. The robot's single eye began to glow brightly, before firing a laser that cut through several apartment buildings. She stared at it blankly for a few seconds, then back at her teddy bear.

"…Teddy says that we should go with you," She said, simply.

"Teddy's pretty smart, then," Tails concurred, before turning to Classic Sonic, who gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright, Sonic! Let's go!" Tails declared. Classic Sonic nodded, before taking off at breakneck speed into the city.

The race to find Eggman and gather the seven Chaos Emeralds had begun.

"He's up there!"

"Fight back!"

The sound of energy weapons and standard firearms permeated the air, mixed with the shouts of a large number of combatants.

A group of animal and human soldiers were firing upon a masked figure, hovering a short distance above them. The figure scoffed. All of shots fired at him were either missing outright or failed to have any effect on his body.

"Your savior is no more, and still you resist…?" He questioned, holding up his hand. A beam of red energy shot from his hand as he moved it to the side, dragging the beam across the soldiers fired at them. All of them shouted in confusion and pain as they were overtaken by the explosions that followed.

Behind them, two experiments were hiding from the masked figure. A sandy yellow experiment and a green one that had more than a passing resemblance to Angel. A particular humanoid alien, a very large one with four eyes, stood behind them. He was staring at what appeared to be a scanner of a sort.

The yellow experiment looked out.

"G-Geez… That guy took all of 'em out just like that…" He gulped as a white Wispon landed right next to him. The green one picked up the weapon and regarded it with curiosity.

"Jumba cannot get read on floating masked creature," the alien, identifying himself as Jumba noticed as he shook the scanner.

"Huh?" The yellow experiment turned to face him. "Whaddya mean by that, doc?"

"Jumba means exactly what Jumba says, 625. Am unable to make sense of data," He showed the two experiments the screen. There was what appeared to be random garbage being displayed, with each reading immediately being contradicted by another.

In short, nothing about what Jumba was reading made any sense whatsoever, even to an experiment who could outthink a supercomputer.

"Woah," 625 said. "The heck's up with this guy?"

"Not a clue. But you know what? Who cares?" The green experiment started, before shoving the weapon into 625's hands.

"H-Hey, Clo! What're you-?" The yellow one began to ask before she raced out of their hiding spot.

"Taking that guy on! What else?" She shouted, running in front of the masked figure's field of vision.

"Oh? It seems that there are more weaklings that wish to die," He said, his distorted and echoing voice sounding almost bored. The green experiment, who was named Clover, simply gave him a rather audacious grin.

"Weaklings, huh? We'll see about that!" Still grinning, she turned to where the yellow experiment was.

"C'mon, Zacky!" She shouted. "Let's teach this masked clown a lesson!"

"Am unsure if this is wise decision, 623," Jumba said, staring at his scanner. "Jumba has no idea what capabilities this creature is having."

"Let's just wing it!" Clover responded, running back over, grabbing Zack's hand, and then dragged him over to where she had been.

"Oh?" The masked figure said in mock intrigue. "You wish for your pathetic friends to die alongside you? I've underestimated the foolishness of the weak."

'Ego, much?' Zack thought to himself. Clover looked at him expectantly.

"Well? C'mon! Zap 'em!" She said. Zack stared at her for a few seconds, as if trying to determine if she was serious. Before he could speak, however, an explosion at their feet sent both of them stumbling back onto their asses. The masked figure was holding out his palm, which was glowing slightly brighter than the rest of him.

"I am in a generous mood," He said. "If you give in to your fear and flee screaming, I'll let you live."

'That's soundin' pretty good right about now,' Zack turned to Clover. Then again, if I do, she'll probably never let me hear the end of it.'

"Well? Fight and die, or flee with your lives. The choice is yours," the masked figure said, sounding impatient.

Making up his mind, Zack shakily raised the Wispon in his hands, aimed at the masked figure, and pulled the trigger.

Yes, I am evil. We end this chapter on a cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

For anyone who's confused, and I imagine some of you are, in Mystical Raven's AU, 625 is named Zack, though he does respond to Reuben, as it's still part of his name. Confused? Well, you wouldn't be if you read her stories. So, if you haven't seen the note I left on the first chapter, do go and read it.

This chapter went on a bit (read: about a thousand words) longer than I expected. I was originally intending on expanding the Chaos "fight" (read: cutscene) and then having an action segment afterwards, but about midway through it, yeah, not happening. Technically, if I wasn't restricting my word limit as much as I am now, I could, but even narratively, I think it'd work better as the next chapter, so expect to see some Classic Sonic 2D action next time!