Sonic Adventure: Downfall and Redemption

by ThePhantomHedgehog

6 months after Infinite's defeat, a new adventure begins and a new member joins the team. But as he becomes closer friends with everyone, long-forgotten enemies return, and the team begins to question their new friend's history. Secrets will unravel, relationships will be strained, and trust will become betrayal. Things will never be the same. ARCHIVED; REBOOT & PREQUEL IN PROGRESS

4. Chapter 4: A New Friend?

Me: Welcome back to another exciting addition to my first ever fanfiction story: Downfall and Redemption.

Sonic: You know, I've been wondering.

Me: About what Sonic?

Sonic: Why are you always wearing an oversized trench coat and ski mask?

Me: Anonymity.

*Sonic glares*

Sonic: I don't buy it.

Me: Well, sucks for you. And don't try to touch me, I'll kill you off if you do.

Sonic: Oh, really?

Me: No, but I might ruin your relationship with Amy.

Sonic: You wouldn't!

Me: Try me.

Sonic: Uh…

Me: Smart move. Now, on with the story!

Sonic: What about the disclaimer?

Me: Screw it, I wanna get straight to the story. Pretty sure it's self-evident now about what characters are mine.

Sonic: Don't you mean "character"?

Me: Oh, you'll see…

3 Weeks Later…

Me: Okay, so here's the deal, I was about 75% done with this chapter… and then the Great Relentless Cough of 2018 occurred. Long story short, I tried to write through it, made it hard to focus, ended up hating how I ended the chapter. Then, worst part, I accidentally deleted half the story. So, I spent a couple of days rewriting the last 50%. And here we are. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Team Sonic: Way to go…

Me: I could have abandoned this story…

Team Sonic: We love you.

Me: Alright, let's not make this weird. On with the story!

*Sincere A/N*

I'm shocked at the increase in views I got within the first 2 hours of uploading Chapter 3. I'm guessing it's a fluke and means nothing, but I'll take what I can get. I really hope you guys are enjoying my way of writing. To be honest, about 10% of the time I spend on this fanfic is looking for good music to go with the scenes. I wonder if any of you are actually listening to those tracks while reading…

Well, in any case, enjoy!

~ThePhantomHedgehog

*Update 11/30/18* Replaced one of the songs.

*Update 1/9/19* Removed most of A/N in intro.

---

Chapter 4: A New Friend?

Siris' Clinic

[ Sleeping Music, Calming Music, Music for Stress Relief, Relaxation Music, 8 Hour Sleep Music, 3257 ] (Uploaded by YellowBrickCinema – Relaxing Music) (0:00)

The air was filled with soft whistling of the wind. No one dared say anything after what had just transpired.

"Siris the Hedgehog. Former slave and Julian's execution," Siris smirked.

For a moment, no one moved, too stunned by the news.

"What? Never seen someone use color powers before?" Siris joked.

Tails blinked a few times and shook his head.

"'Wisps'… you're him?" he asked.

"Yes, hello, name's Siris, formerly 'Wisps', I believe I just introduced myself for the second time, Tails."

Tails walked up and shook Siris' hand.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you!"

"Likewise."

Siris turned towards Mighty and Ray.

"Why are you two surprised? You've seen me fight before," Siris told them.

"You've never told us you were a slave before," Ray pointed out.

"Eh," Siris shrugged, "fair enough. I just didn't want to be-"

"You were a slave of Julian Robotnik!?" Knuckles asked.

"How did that happen?" asked Amy.

"Did you really kill him?" asked Tails.

Siris sighed as he was bombarded with questions.

"That's why," he told Ray.

"Why didn't-" Mighty began asking.

"Enough!" Siris cried out.

Everyone went silent.

"Thank you. Now, I could spend all day telling you guys my life story since I was 10 years old, but I'm not gonna," he explained.

"Why?" asked Sonic.

"One: we've just met again after over 10 years; two: I have patients coming in soon for an appointment…"

"Well, we can wait until later," Sonic suggested.

"And three: I'm freakin' exhausted after that fight."

Sonic gave Siris a look.

"Really? If I weren't hurt, I would have mopped those guys up in no time without breaking a sweat," he remarked.

"Yeah, well you don't have color power abilities, do you?"

"Well, with the help of Wisps I do," Sonic smirked.

Everyone gave Sonic a confused look.

"He's referring to the aliens, not me," Siris explained, clarifying Sonic's statement to them, "Sonic, I don't need Wisps to harness the color powers."

Sonic was now surprised.

"Really? How?"

"Like I said," Siris sighed, "I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll tell you guys about myself some other time. Right now, I think we should check you, Knuckles, and Mighty out for injuries."

Unbeknownst to Siris, Sylvie had been watching the entire scene; from Siris fighting off the SWAT-bot squad up to now. She couldn't hear the conversation outside, but she saw everything. From the window, she just stared at Siris, both shocked and amazed by his abilities.

"Master is so brave. He moves so fast… and those colors…"

Sylvie's heart began to beat a little harder. She watched as Siris and the others return inside the clinic before she went back to cleaning.

"Master cares very much for others… does he care about me?"

(Music fades)

Back in the clinic, Siris was taking out Sonic's stitches.

"Siris, are you sure Sonic's healed enough to be discharged?" Amy asked.

"Well, to be honest, I only kept him overnight because I was worried he wouldn't wake up. Once he did, he could have left, but it was already late. He's no longer an emergency case," Siris explained.

"Sweet! I can't wait to check out that Eggman base," exclaimed Sonic, earning him a look of disapproval from Siris.

"What did I tell you before?" Siris asked.

"I know, I know, to remain calm and relax. But it's just an abandoned Eggman base, what's the harm in just looking around?" Sonic asked.

Tails and Amy shook their heads while Knuckles gave a chuckle.

"What?" the cobalt blue hedgehog asked with a false smile.

"Sonic," said Tails, "we'll search the base, you'll be staying in our hotel room and resting."

"Aw, come on, Tails," Sonic argued, "I'm the one who found the base."

Tails sighed and whispered something to Amy. She smirked and walked up to Sonic.

"Sonic~…" she said sweetly.

"Uh… what is it, Amy?" Sonic asked, slightly nervous.

"If you stay in the hotel room, I'll make you chilidogs," she smirked.

"Tails, you better tell me what you find in that base," Sonic told him.

Tails smiled and gave his brother figure a thumbs up. Siris rolled his eyes.

"By the way, Sonic, what where you going to tell us before Mighty and Ray showed up?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic turned to Knuckles, slightly confused.

"Huh? Oh, right! Well, I won't go into too much detail, but I'll be brief," said Sonic.

"Uh… I'll remove the last stitch later, Sonic," said Siris, "I don't think I should-"

"No, it's fine, Siris. You can stay and listen," said Sonic.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't really know any of you guys…"

"Hey, you proved yourself over 10 years ago. I'm fine with it," Sonic explained.

"Well, only if everyone else is-"

"I'm fine with it," the others all said at once, surprising themselves.

"Well, alright, then," said Siris, "Begin."

"Alright, so as some of you know, after we beat Egghead and Infinite a few months ago, I went off searching for Eggman. At first, there was no sign of him anywhere. Station Square, Mystic Ruins, the Acorn Kingdom, or even-"

"Wait," Tails interrupted, 'you went back to the Acorn Kingdom?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, "And before you ask, no, I didn't see Sally or anyone of the others, Tails. I wasn't there for a social visit."

Tails sighed.

"Anyways, I searched many locations, all with the same result. No Eggman. After nearly six months of searching, I began to think that maybe he really was forever trapped in Null Space. I was almost ready to give up on my wasted journey. Or so I thought..."

Everyone braced for the twist.

"What happened, Sonic? Did you find Eggman?" Mighty asked.

Sonic sighed.

"Yes and no."

"Huh?" everyone said.

"About two weeks ago, I was passing through Spagonia, and, heh, you'll get a kick out of this," Sonic smirked.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"I was grabbing a bite to eat when Orbot and Cubot came running up to me."

Sonic paused and watched his friends' reactions.

"Yeah, shocking, I know. They were ranting on and on about something involving Eggman. They claimed he was kidnapped."

Everyone remained silent; Sonic was half expecting someone to ask a question.

"Keep going, Sonic," said Siris, "We'll ask questions after you've finished your story."

Sonic nodded.

"So, at first, I didn't believe them, thinking this was some pathetic attempt Eggman had come up with to capture me. But then Orbot gave me a voice recorded message from the one who took Eggman. Here, I have it…"

Sonic reached into his inventory and his eyes went wide.

"Wait, did I drop it…? Wait, where's-"

"Oh," said Siris, "I know what you're referring to Sonic. That was me. Here."

Siris reached into his inventory and pulled out a voice recorder, Sonic's bracelet, and…

"That's a Chaos Emerald!" everyone but the two blue hedgehogs exclaimed.

They stared in awe and disbelief at the yellow gem held in Siris' hand.

"Hey, don't look at me; Sonic had it on him when he came in."

Everyone turned and stared at Sonic with confusion.

"Uh… I'll get to that in a sec. Thanks for holding on to my things, Siris."

"No problem," said Siris as he handed Sonic's possessions over to him.

"So, what's on there?" asked Amy, pointing to the voice recording as Sonic put his bracelet back on.

Sonic pressed the play button.

[ Deadspace soundtrack 1: Dead Space Theme ] (Uploaded by GoldskinOST) (0:00) (Loop it multiple times)

"Hello, Sonic the Hedgehog," said a dark voice, "It's been a long time. If you are hearing this, than that means those two talking jack-in-the-boxes have managed to find you. I understand that you are searching for Ivo Robotnik, or 'Dr. Eggman' as everyone calls him now. Well, I'm afraid you won't find him. I have taken him someplace you will never find, no matter how hard you search the planet. Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to kill him. Not yet, at least. No, I have use of him and his armies. I will warn you, in the coming weeks, I will unleash a force the likes of which have never been seen before. I will raze the cities and salt the Earth. You think what Eggman did months ago was bad? Ha! I will make that appear to be mere child's play. I know you will try and stop me, but you won't succeed. And when you fail, I will find every one of your little friends, and before your eyes torture them in ways you couldn't even imagine possible-"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, SONIC!" cried out the voice of Eggman, "You've beaten him before, you can do it agai- RRRAAAHHH!"

"Well, if you wanted proof of life, you've got it, hedgehog. And it's true, you have beaten me before. But know this, even if you found the seven Chaos Emeralds, you couldn't even come within 100 miles of me. Enjoy the time you have left, 'hero'. Because your world will soon be mine!"

Just as the message finished, the recorder began to beep.

"Huh? What's it doing?" Tails asked.

Suddenly, another message began to play.

"Sonic… it's me."

"That's Eggman's voice," said Knuckles.

"If my calculations are correct, this message should be playing once you have played the first one a second time, when you return to your friends and have them listen. I don't have much time and there's so much to tell you. I don't know who kidnapped me or where I am. Don't bother looking until you have all the Chaos Emeralds. There are others serving him, Sonic. Dangerous enemies. Even my own creations have turned their backs on me. The only ones I have left are Orbot and Cubot. Even Metal Sonic has bowed down to this person. Listen to me, I know you can find the Emeralds. We may all agree that finding them within the planet's core is an impossible task, but know this: even though I despise you, I know you're the only one who can overcome the odds and find a way."

"Touching," Sonic muttered."

"There's more. I overheard this… 'Lord', as they call them, talk about sleeper agents in this world. At first, I thought he was referring to just simple robots strategically planted all over the planet. I was wrong. And it gets worse. I've been going through the blueprint designs for their robot army. Sonic, these plans were made by my uncle, Julian, over 10 years ago! I don't know if you ever knew, but my uncle had a similar plan made during his reign. He never went through with it because it was heavily flawed and was impossible to fool anyone. I'm sure you remember that Sally android? That was a test for the plan. And it failed, miserably. I was never told everything my uncle had ever planned nor did I care after he was killed. However, if he had secret locations where he could have hidden in case he ever needed to go into hiding, he would have also stored old plans there. You must find as many bases as possible and destroy all the data you find. Don't trust anything you find, they could end up doing more harm to you and the Resistance than you might think."

"So much for that plan," Tails said sadly.

"And… *background noises* I'm running out of time. Listen Sonic, trust no one but your family and close friends. Don't trust anyone else, not even G.U.N.; they've been compromised, and they don't even know it. You can trust Team Dark; Shadow, Rouge, and Omega will never betray you. There's one person you must find. I don't remember his name, but he was-"

The message cut out. Everyone just stood in silence, taking in the disturbing news.

(Music fades)

"Whoa…" said Siris.

"Yeah," said Sonic, "That's scary stuff. I mean, sleeper agents? Who knows how much harm even one of those things could do. Shame we don't know who Eggman was gonna tell me to find."

"I guess that's more the reason to check out that base, right Tails?" said Knuckes.

"Right!"

Tails paused and turned to Sonic.

"Sonic, why didn't you tell us about the message days ago?" he asked his friend.

"Like I said before, I didn't know if this was a part of Eggman's plan or not. Now we know."

"But, where does the Chaos Emerald come into the story?" asked Ray.

"Let me finish my story, Ray. That message from Eggman… I don't think this is his plan, I think we have a real threat… we'll focus on that later; back to the story. Just as I finished listening to the first message, I went to ask Orbot and Cubot some questions, but then a SWAT-bot appeared out of nowhere and took off with the two. It flew off into the distance before I could have a chance to run after it."

"That's one fast SWAT-butt," said Siris.

"Yeah, you're telling me," said Sonic, "So for the past two weeks, I've been searching in the general direction the SWAT-bot flew off to. At the time, I still wasn't sure if it was a part of Eggman's plan or not. Then three days I found a base. Called Tails, waited a couple of days, and then I was attacked by Metal Sonic and-"

"WHAT!?" Amy screamed.

"Amy," Siris said as he and everyone else removed their hands from their ears, "could you not make us all go deaf, please?"

"Sorry."

"Anyways, yes, it was Metal Sonic who attacked me. During the time I was waiting, I kept getting this feeling that someone was watching me. So, yesterday, after my nightly run, I called out to the darkness to see who was stalking me. And it turned out to be Metal Sonic. We fought, and it ended with Metal Sonic flying into the distance and me… well, ya know."

"That would explain a lot about the injuries you received," Siris deduced, "but where does the Chaos Emerald come into the story? I doubt you found it here in the clinic."

"No, I actually found it in the middle of the forest a couple of hours before I fought with Metal Sonic. Strange to find it just floating randomly in the forest. Usually I'd have to search in hidden areas like caves."

Tails thought about what Sonic told them.

"That is strange, Sonic. I mean, it's never been easy finding the Chaos Emeralds before. Did anything strange happen before you found the Emerald?"

Sonic thought for a moment.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. The morning before I was attacked, there was a small earthquake. Did anyone else feel it?"

Siris, Mighty, and Ray shook their heads.

"How early did this happen, Sonic?" Siris asked.

"I… don't remember the time, but it was definitely after sunrise."

"Well, I can say this," Siris claimed, "I was up well before sunrise and I didn't feel anything."

"Hm…" Sonic pondered.

His eyes shifted toward his bracelet. Siris noticed his gaze.

"Cool bracelet, Sonic," Siris commented, "Seems special to you."

"Yeah… it is," Sonic replied, smiling, "A friend gave it to me."

Siris stared at Sonic.

"Judging by the way you said that and your expression, I'm guessing that friend is no longer with us?" he asked.

"…In a way, yeah," said Sonic as he rubbed the green gemstone on his bracelet.

Suddenly, the gemstone began to glow, and the ground began to shake.

"Whoa… another earthquake!?" said Sonic.

Like before, it only lasted a few seconds, before everything was still. Everyone looked at Sonic with a questionable look.

"What? All I did was rub the gemstone for luck, like I did… right… before… the first… tremor. Oh."

"Well, now we know," said Knuckles, "so don't do it again."

"Maybe it would be best if you took that bracelet off, Sonic," Amy told Sonic quietly, "I understand how much Light- I mean, Chip meant to you, so if you don't want to take it off, you don't have to."

Sonic stared at the bracelet for a moment.

"Nah, I'll keep it on. I'll be careful not to cause another earthquake."

Everyone was quiet.

"…If that's your decision," said Siris, "then I won't force you otherwise. Just don't make me regret it."

Tails wasn't paying much attention to the conversation; he was looking at his Miles Electric tablet, scanning the area. Mighty and Ray walked over to him.

"Whatcha doin', Tails?" Ray asked.

Tails didn't answer and stayed focused on his scanner.

"Something wrong?" Mighty asked.

Still no reply.

"Uh, Earth to Tails?" Ray asked.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Mighty asked, giving Tails a "light" knock on the head.

"OW! MIGHTY!" Tails screamed.

"Oops. Sorry, buddy. I forget my own strength at times…" Mighty explained, with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I know a lot about that," Ray muttered, rubbing his left shoulder.

Seriously, SEGA, make more Sonic Mania Adventures episodes. Please? Just shut up AND TAKE MY MONEY!

"I was just trying to get your attention, that's all. You were ignoring our questions," Mighty continued.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was scanning something," Tails explained, rubbing his head.

"Need an icepack? And what are you scanning?" Siris asked.

"No, and I was scanning the area for any Chaos Emeralds."

"Why? The things right here," Sonic smirked, holding up the Chaos Emerald.

[ Chaos Emerald – Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis) Music ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

Everyone looked around with confusion.

"Where did that music come from?" Siris asked.

After looking around for a few seconds, they all shrugged and turned back to Tails.

"Anyways, not that one, Sonic. I was just testing a theory."

"What is it?" Sonic asked as he put the Emerald away.

"Well… I could be just a huge coincidence…"

"Like our big unplanned reunion?" Siris joked.

"Uh… sure. What I meant to say was, maybe that gemstone and the Chaos Emeralds are somehow connected."

"How?" Sonic asked.

"Remember when Eggman unleashed Dark Gaia from the planet's core?"

"How could I not? I turned into a werehog! Took us a couple of weeks to fix the planet."

"Right… but remember what you told me when you and Chip went to each Temple of Gaia?"

Sonic thought for a moment.

"Oh, that's right! Every time Chip landed on the Chaos Emerald pedestals, his necklace would glow. Are you thinking that it can also summon the Chaos Emeralds when they're most needed?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, it could that. But like I said, it's just a theory. Besides, I'm not picking up any readings from the other Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic sighed.

"Well, so much for a cheesy way to find them," he said.

"You wish life was a video game, don't you?" Ray smirked.

"Well, looks like you've got another adventure on your hands, Sonic," Siris remarked.

"Yeah, can't wait to see what this 'lord' has in store for me!" Sonic exclaimed.

Siris raised a brow.

"After I rest for a couple of days, of course," Sonic added.

Siris smiled and nodded.

"Well, I see no reason for you to stay any long-"

"Well, well, well," said a voice from the doorway, "looks like the rumors are true."

Siris' eyes widened for a second before glaring with rage.

"Surprised to see me, 'Wisps'?"

Siris sighed.

"No… just disappointed," he replied as he got up and turned to the visitor, "And don't call me that… James."

[ Empire City Night – Sonic Unleashed Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

Standing at the doorway was Siris' former friend, James the Mouse. The purple mouse was wearing a black suit and a pair of sunglasses.

"Why not? I'm the one who gave you that name, 'Wisps'," he mocked.

"Why are you here?" Siris asked.

"Oh, so you haven't heard? Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are in town! And I was told I could find them here."

"Really? I was not aware of this. Must have just missed them. Guess I lucked out," Siris remarked sarcastically.

James chuckled as he tried to step around Sirs, who was blocking his way.

"You do know that I am now the new owner of the Hemberg Estate, don't you?"

Siris was a little surprised.

"You? Of all people?"

"Yes, well, it turns out I am the closest living relative of the Hemberg family line. Simply put, Charles Hemberg was my uncle from my mother's brother-in-law's second wife's side."

His beady eyes stared into Siris'.

"Did you catch all that?"

"If you mean your breath, then yes. Want a breath mint?"

"Oh, come now, 'Wisps', there's no need for this negativity. I'll admit I made some mistakes a couple of years ago, but-"

"Don't," Siris said sternly.

"Very well. Now, if you don't mind, as the new lord of the estate, I would like to give Sonic a welcome that a world-famous hero deserves."

Siris glared at James.

"Fine but make it quick. I have patients who are spreading the flu like wildfire, and you're causing delays."

Siris allowed James entry.

"Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog," James said, "it's such an honor to meet you. My name is James Hemberg, Lord of the Hemberg Estate, and I welcome you to our small town of Blue Moon Village. I wish circumstances were better."

James held out a hand.

"Seriously? He already changed his last name to 'Hemberg'?" Siris thought to himself.

"Thank you, Mr. Hemberg," said Sonic as he shook his hand, "I must say, Siris is a great doctor! I'm glad he was here to help me."

"Yes, he's quite the doctor. And please, call me James, everyone does."

Sonic nodded.

"Tell me, Sonic… what brings you to our little town in the middle of nowhere?"

Siris' eyes grew wide. Without James looking, he gave everyone the "don't tell him anything" gesture.

"Uh…" Sonic was deciding what he should do.

"If James finds out, there's no telling what he'll do," Siris thought to himself.

"Uh… I was searching for Eggman," Sonic answered.

"Oh. Is that so? Dr. Eggman?"

"Yeah."

"Here? In our town?"

"Well, I was out in the forest following a lead, when…"

James was curious.

"When what?"

"Uh… I had an accident."

"An accident? That's awful. What happened?"

Mighty gave Ray a small nudge and whispered something into his ear.

"Well… it's kinda embarrassing for me to say… but I kinda lost consciousness when I ran into a large tree."

James looked at Sonic suspiciously.

"Really? Someone with abilities like yourself shouldn't have that happen to them."

"I kinda got… distracted."

"Oh? How so?"

"Sorry to interrupt," said Ray, "but we need to get going. We have a flight to catch soon, and we really can't afford to miss it."

"Of course. My apologies, I've overstayed my stay. It was nice to meet you, Sonic. Please, feel free to visit us again."

"I'll think about it."

James then turned to Knuckles.

"You are Knuckles the Echidna, correct?"

"Yeah."

"I have something that might be of interest to you."

James reached into his suit and pulled out a green crystal.

"A Master Emerald shard?!"

"Yes, I found it lying on the path leading to the clinic. It appeared to be a shard of the Master Emerald, and you have proven my suspicions. Since it belongs to you, here."

James handed the shard over to Knuckles.

"Consider it a show of good faith."

Siris rolled his eyes.

"I should beat the crap out of you."

James turned around and headed out. He noticed Siris was wearing his grapple bracelets.

"Hm… been a while since I've seen you wear those. Something happen?"

"Nope. Just makes it easier to reach items on higher shelves."

"Hm… Well, I'll leave you to your work, 'Wisps'. It was nice to meet you all. Goodbye."

He walked off and left the clinic. As soon as the front door closed, Siris sighed.

(Music fades)

"You alright, Siris?" Mighty asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the save, Ray."

"Yeah, we figured you could use some help."

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were confused.

"Uh… can someone explain what's going on here?" Amy asked.

"Here's the short version; James and I were friends once, we worked together, had different ways of reaching our goals, had a falling out, haven't been friends since," Siris explained.

"Uh…" said Tails.

"Don't bother," Mighty warned, "Siris hasn't even told us what his beef is with that mouse. But for some reason, even me and Ray get bad vibes from the guy."

Ray nodded.

"Why didn't you want me to tell him about the-"

"Sonic, shush!" Siris orderd, "He could still be listening from somewhere."

Sonic closed his mouth and Siris sighed.

"Look, this isn't your problem to worry. Don't worry about it. Just don't tell him anything about… THAT."

"Alright. If you say so."

Knuckles cleared his throat, and everyone turned towards him.

[ Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4) – Oscorp Research Station Mission Theme 1 ] (Uploaded by xXSilentAgent47Xx) (0:00) (Loop if necessary)

"What's up, Knuckles?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles walked up to Siris and held up his hand, as though he was expecting to be given something. Siris smirked and reached into his inventory.

"I gotcha. Here."

Siris handed his shard to Knuckles.

"Here's another one, Knuckles," said Tails, handing his over.

"Thank you," said Knuckles as he put them away.

"Let me, guess," said Sonic, "Master Emerald got shattered again?"

Knuckles turned to Sonic.

"Yeah, someone tried to steal the Master Emerald a couple of days ago. I had no choice but to break it myself."

"Sorry to hear that," said Sonic, "Any idea who it was."

Knuckles shook his head.

"All I know is that it was definitely a robot, almost twice my size, and it was wearing a cloak. All I could see were its red eyes."

"Hmm… Well, I can name at least three possible suspects," said Sonic, "but that's not important right now."

"Hey, not to be rude or anything," said Siris, "but I think you guys should probably get going. If that warning is legit, who knows how much time we have."

"He's right, Sonic," agreed Tails, "you and Amy should head for the hotel in town and get some rest while Knuckles and I go searching."

Tails reached into his inventory and pulled out a hotel keycard.

"Here. Our room is 240-A."

"Huh… how odd," said Ray.

"Huh?"

"Our room is 240-B, the room right across from yours."

"Wow… this day is getting more and more strange…" said Tails.

"Tails, just from what I've seen and heard today," said Siris, "Almost nothing could surprise me."

Sonic got up from his bed and stretched out his limbs.

"Come on, guys. Let's get going."

"I'll prepare the Tornado for takeoff. I'll fly you over to the hotel, Sonic," Tails told him.

"Tails…" Siris said sternly.

"I can't even take a short flight to the hotel?" Sonic whined.

"Your legs aren't broken; you can walk the short distance to town."

Amy grabbed Sonic's arm.

"I'll walk with you, Sonic. That way I can keep my eye on you."

"Okay, fine," Sonic sighed.

Siris led the group out outside.

"Know that I think about it," said Siris, "James didn't mention anything about the robot carcass. Where'd it go?"

Everyone looked around for a second before Tails answered.

"I put it in the Tornado. Figured I would take a look at it later and see what information I could find."

"Good thinking, Tails," Sonic commented before turning to Siris, "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Siris."

The two shook hands.

"Yeah, you too… Hey, word of warning?"

Everyone turned to Siris.

"I have my reasons for disliking James. Not to sound biased, but I would stay away from him," Siris warned.

"Why?" Amy asked, "He appears to be a decent person. A bit nosey, but nothing harmful."

Siris shook his head.

"I've known him for a long time. And looks can be deceiving, Amy. Just… don't tell him anything not worth knowing."

"You mean about what we discussed earlier?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah. And if I were you, Knuckles, I wouldn't take that shard as a 'show of good faith'."

Knuckles nodded.

"Anyways, it was nice to see you all again," said Siirs, "Might, Ray? We'll talk tomorrow afternoon. Café sound good?"

The two nodded.

"Perfect. So long, everyone."

Siris waved farewell to everyone as he went back inside his clinic. Sonic and Tails noticed Knuckles was staring were Siris was.

"Something wrong, Knuckles?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles shook his head and sighed.

"Nah. Just thinking about what to do; help you guys out with the base or go off searching for the Master Emerald shards."

Tails began to ponder Knuckles' dilemma.

"We'll handle it, Knuckles!"

Everyone turned to Mighty.

"You go search for the Master Emerald shards. Ray and I can help Sonic and Tails with the base."

"You sure?"

"Yeah!" said Ray, "we're leaving in a couple of days anyways, so we might as well help out while we're here."

Knuckles walked over to Mighty and Ray, giving them both a fist bump.

"Thanks."

He turned to Sonic and Tails and gave them a farewell smirk.

"Mighty?"

"Yeah, Knux?"

"Mind giving me a launch?"

"Heh, just like old times," Mighty smirked, "Just point the way."

Knuckles pointed a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the opposite direction of the base. Mighty nodded. Before anyone could react, Mighty had grabbed Knuckles by the hand and heaved him a couple hundred feet up in air. The momentum gave Knuckles a speed boost as he glided away into the distance. His five friends watched as he disappeared.

"Well, no use in just standing around," said Sonic, "You three should head to the base now. If that robot lord guy thinks he's gonna beat us, he's got another thing coming."

Tails, Mighty, and Ray nodded.

"Come on, we'll use the Tornado to get to the base," Tails told his new friends, "We'll be back at the hotel later, Sonic."

"Alright. You be careful, Tails."

Everyone waved to each other as Tails, Mighty, and Ray walked off toward the Tornado 2.

Sonic and Amy watched as the Tornado began to rise behind the clinic before taking off for the base. As the plane vanished behind a hill, Sonic turned to Amy.

"Come on, let's get to the hotel."

"Right. And don't you think about taking off, mister!"

Sonic laughed as Amy grabbed his arm and began walking together towards town.

(Music fades)

Meanwhile, back at the clinic, Siris was sitting at his desk, pondering over the events of the past few days.

"Not good… how did James know about Sonic? Mighty and Ray brought him in before anyone would even be awake… besides me, of course. First Sylvie, then Sonic, now a new threat to the world? What the hell is going on?"

Siris sighed.

"I hope James isn't trying to pull a fast one on me. If he does, then all my work will be for nothing."

Siris turned towards the clock. It was almost noon. Time sure flies when a lot happens in one day.

"Well, I don't have any appointments scheduled today. I guess now would be a good time to go take Sylvie shopping for some new clothes."

Siris got up, placed the out to lunch sign up, and entered his house.

"Welcome back, Master," Sylvie greeted from the kitchen, where she was dusting some old plates.

"Hey, Sylvie. You feeling alright?"

"Huh?"

"I can tell you seem a bit nervous right now," Siris explained as a gentle smile appeared on his face, "Did my abilities out there scare you?"

Sylvie became so surprised, she accidentally dropped the plate she was cleaning. Siris dashed into the kitchen and caught it before it hit the ground. Seeing Siris immediately appear next to her caused Sylvie to gasp.

"You alright, Sylvie?"

She slowly nodded, amazed to see Siris' speed up close.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting this day to be like this…" Siris continued.

He looked down at his grapples.

"…let alone use these again."

Sylvie gave Siris a curious look.

"So, uh… why don't you put some shoes on and meet me at the front door. We're going shopping."

Sylvie stared in silence for a moment.

"I thought you were working all day today?"

"Yeah… I did. But I changed my mind since I have no appointments scheduled."

"…If that is your wish, Master."

Sylvie went off to her room while Siris put the plate away. Sylvie came backa couple minutes later.

"Ready to go?" Siris asked.

"Yes."

"Alright. Let's go."

---

Blue Moon Hotel

[ Undertale OST – Home Extended ] (Uploaded by Etu Tran) (0:00)

Sonic was lying in bed, staring up at the spinning ceiling fan, bored out of his mind.

"There's nothing to do," he moaned.

"Oh, please, Sonic," Amy remarked, "we haven't even been here for five minutes and you're already complaining."

"But this is so boring. At least let me watch some TV."

Amy sighed and sent a message to Siris. A few seconds later, he replied.

"Well, Siris says that's fine, but if you don't get better, it's your fault."

Amy handed Sonic the remote and laid down next to him.

"Thanks, Amy."

"You're welcome, Sonic," she replied, kissing him on the cheek.

Sonic's communicator went off, indicating he received a message, and he read it.

"Unbelievable," Sonic muttered with a smile.

"What?"

Sonic showed Amy the message.

'You still owe me 100 rings from Doomsday. Your pal, Siris.'

Amy looked at Sonic, confused.

"We made a bet when we were searching for the Deep Power Stone at Robotnik's base during the Doomsday problem," Sonic explained.

"Was that the day you met Siris?"

Sonic nodded.

"That was the only day I've ever met him."

"Ever?"

"Yeah."

They stayed quiet as Sonic flipped through the channels.

"Nope… nope… boring… nope, won't be able to get that song out of my head for weeks…"

Amy didn't care what Sonic decided to watch, she was glad to be with her boyfriend again after not being by his side for months.

(Music fades)

---

Abandoned Base

Tails was busy trying to hack open the doors while Mighty and Ray kept a lookout for any possible threats.

"How much longer, Tails? I thought you were some kind of genius or something?" Ray called out.

"Almost got it, guys! Just give me a few more seconds."

Ray sighed.

"That's what he told us five minutes ago…" he muttered.

"No, it was two minutes, Ray," Tails remarked.

*KA-CHUNG*

Slowly the doors began to open, rust fell down from above and the sound of metal scrapping gave the three Mobians chills down their spines. The doors came to a halt. Mighty walked up to the entrance.

[ Abandoned Factory [Ambient] ] (Uploaded by Pyrite Industries) (0:00)

"Hello? Early trick-or-treaters are here~!" he called out into the darkness.

His voice echoed throughout the old abandoned base. Mighty turned to his friends and shrugged.

"Guess no one's home."

Tails pulled out a couple of flashlights from his inventory, tossing one to Mighty. The three walked inside and began their investigation.

"Man, this place is huge," said Ray.

"Yeah, *cough cough* dusty, too," Mighty remarked, "We better stay close together for now. We could easily get lost in here."

"Good idea, Mighty," said Tails.

The three walked down the blackened corridors; faint sounds of chains disturbed by wind and metallic bangs traveling throughout the base.

"Sure is scary," Tails noted.

"Yeah," Ray replied, "And not in the fun Halloween way either, ironically."

Tails nodded.

"This makes Mystic Mansion a pale comparison."

Mighty and Ray looked at him.

"Mystic Mansion?"

"Never heard of it? Ah, never mind. Let's just focus on finding a server room or a data vault."

As the three continued their way through the base, none of them were aware that within the darkness, a small camera was trailing them, sending surveillance footage to an unknown location.

(Music fades)

---

Blue Moon Village

[ Accumula Town – Pokémon Black & White Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

"Heh, he'd better pay up later," Siris smirked to himself.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all, Sylvie."

Siris and Sylvie had just finished buying supplies for the clinic. There wasn't much for Siris to get, but he wanted to give Sylvie another opportunity to get familiar with the town. He also bought some ingredients for the dinner he had planned that night and some necessities for Sylvie; toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, among other thngs. As they continued walking, Siris noticed they were near the café. He wasn't feeling that hungry, but he wondered if Sylvie was.

"You hungry, Sylvie?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

"Hm…"

Siris took a look around him. He was hoping to find a decent place to buy clothes for Sylvie, but he didn't want a lot of people to see her. It wasn't that he was embarrassed of her company, it was more that he felt sorry for how people might look upon her. Unfortunately, he only knew of two decent stores and they were both crowded today. Across from the café was a large fountain surrounded by a couple of benches. This area was used as a plaza for the town; many people would come here on lunch breaks or rest her on morning walks. Siris turned to Sylvie.

"Let's take a short break here," he told her.

Sylvie nodded and made her way to the fountain. She sat down on the edge and beckoned Siris to sit next to her, which he obliged. For a few minutes the two sat there silently. Siris looked around, admiring the scenery. If one were to describe the feeling of Blue Moon Village, they would describe it as gothic, but modern and not as dark. Siris turned and noticed Sylvie was becoming somewhat uncomfortable.

"Are you stressed by work?" Sylvie asked shyly.

"Huh?"

"You seem more… tense. Did I do something wrong?"

Siris looked down at Sylvie's face and smiled.

"No, you've done nothing wrong… I just… met with someone I don't really like, that's all," he explained, giving Sylvie a pat on the head.

Sylvie appeared more comfortable. From the corner of his eye, Siris saw a blonde color move by in the distance. He turned his head just in time to watch a woman walk around a corner. For a moment, Siris thought he saw her wink at him.

"Siris?"

Siris jerked his head back to Sylvie in surprise. He said nothing as he stared at her.

"Did you just say my name?"

Sylvie slightly hung her head down.

"I thought you told me to call you by your name…"

Siris' heart rose.

"…whenever there are others around."

And sank just as quickly; Siris sighed.

"I'm glad she's able to say my name. I hope she'll be able to stop calling me her 'master' someday."

"Yes, I did. Thank you, Sylvie. Did you want something?"

She turned her head back to Siris, no longer feeling down.

"I was wondering if something was wrong. You were staring at that woman."

"Ah, you saw that? Sorry, it's just… she looked familiar," Siris explained.

He then got up from his seat.

"Come on, let's explore a little. There's one last stop I'd like to make before we head home."

Sylvie got up and followed Siris. Just out curiosity, Siris went the same direction he saw the blonde human walk. They turned the corner but there was no sign of her. Shrugging it off, Siris took Sylvie through a couple of streets that varied from his usual route back home. A few minutes later, a store with a strange atmosphere caught Siris' eyes. They approached the store and Siris tried to peer inside through a window.

"I can't see anything from out here. What kind of store is this?" he wondered, "Well, only one way to find out."

Siris opened the door and he and Sylvie entered. The moment they stepped inside, they were surrounded by women's clothes, many with strange patterns and eccentric designs. Siris took a look around as Sylvie followed close behind.

"Uh… hello?" he called out.

No response.

"Anyone here?"

Siris stopped and looked around. Sylvie walked to his side and waited patiently. Neither of them were aware of the presence behind them.

"Oh my, welcome," said a female voice.

Siris' eyes widened for a moment.

"That voice."

"I'm surprised it took you so long to find me," the voice continued.

Siris turned around and found himself looking up at a woman; the same woman he saw earlier, smiling at him seductively. She was tall, blonde with bangs that spiral below her chin and down a few inches, and eyes a pumpkin color. She was wearing a black cherry colored off shoulder bustier, attached with both a gothic black blazer and a black voile bustled skirt with side slits, which partially revealed her legs in black thigh-high stockings, and on her head was a two-foot-long black bycoket with a long black feather attached.

Sorry, was that too much? I really need to get more chapters out. I really want you guys to get the right image and it would help if you knew what the other game is.

Siris smirked.

"Well, you're one illusive woman, Aurelia," he replied.

The woman chuckled and walked over to the pair.

"That's coming from the Mobian who can run at high speeds," she retorted.

"Touché."

Sylvie was confused, looking back and forth between Siris and Aurelia. Siris looked down and noticed.

"Sylvie, this is Aurelia. She's an old friend of mine," Siris explained.

Aurelia looked down at Sylvie and gasped.

"My oh my, aren't you just the cutest thing!" she teased.

"Huh?" said Sylvie.

Aurelia turned to Siris.

"Are you looking for clothes for this girl today? Am I right? Please let me be right. No… I must be right!"

"Uh…"

"I mean, I may be out of place for saying so," Aurelia continued, "but as someone who sells clothes, I just can't excuse the way that she's dressed."

"Huh? Wait, no-no-no-no-no, you've got it-" Siris tried to explain.

Aurelia took Sylvie by the hand.

"Could you please wait for a little bit, Siris? I'll choose something that will be just perfect for her."

"Huh?" Siris and Sylvie said.

"Come on, come over here."

"Eh… Ah…" Sylvie said as she was dragged deeper into the store, leaving Siris standing there alone.

He stood there for a minute processing the event.

"What the hell just happened?" he said softly.

A couple of minutes later, Aurelia came back.

"Sorry for the wait," she said.

Siris noticed Sylvie was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's…?"

Aurelia took a step to the side; Sylvie was standing behind her the whole time.

"How is this, my dear friend?"

Siris' eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Sylvie was no longer wearing that dirty pathetic excuse of a dress or the shoes and gloves he gave her yesterday; she was now wearing a graceful looking simple delft blue apron dress with white sleeves and a delft blue skirt that went down to her ankles. The quills that once blocked some of her eyes were now held aside by two small light blue hairpins. On her feet were white cotton socks and a pair of school issue prodigies, which appeared to be adult style. She was no longer wearing the slightly worn gloves Siris gave her before; instead she had new white ones. As a final touch, a blue ribbon was tied behind her head, holding some of Sylvie's quills together to form a ponytail.

"Isn't she completely different from before?" Aurelia smirked.

Siris was so entranced by Sylvie, he couldn't answer. Aurelia pinched his nose to get his attention.

"Huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah, she definitely… wow."

Sylvie didn't look comfortable wearing such wonderful clothes.

"Maybe she isn't used to wearing such things?" Siris mused.

"Having a girl her age only wear a single rag is just… too much. Don't you think these are much more fitting? I strongly recommend buying these clothes," Aurelia told Siris.

Sylvie looked down at the floor.

"Master won't buy clothes like these for me…" she thought sadly.

Siris turned to the blonde.

"How much?" he asked.

Sylvie looked up in surprise as Aurelia teased Siris with a smile.

"Normally, these would go for 200 rings. But for you, I'll take 150."

"Auri, I'm not broke. I can pay the 200."

"Then I'll do it for the young lady," Aurelia countered, "And don't call me 'Auri', only she could call me that."

"Fair enough. Alright, here's the 150 rings."

Siris pulled out his item box and handed it to her. Aurelia walked over to the register and placed the cylindrical box on a small platform connected to the register. Aurelia tapped a few buttons and Siris watched as the number labeled on the box reduced by 150. Aurelia handed the item box back to Siris and he put it away.

"Siris bought me clothes?"

"That was a very wise decision. One's looks can affect one's dignity," Aurelia told them.

"Amen to that," said Siris.

Aurelia strolled over to Siris, her smirk now looking almost devilish.

"And now, this girl looks like a dignified lady worthy of you."

Siris' heart skipped a beat and he began to blush.

"Uh, no. Uh-uh, that's… that's not-"

Aurelia giggled.

"She was right about you, you do care about this girl. A lot."

Siris glared at Aurelia, wondering who she was referring to. No one else knew about Sylvie. No one, except…

"Nephy," Siris growled, "I hope she's not opening that big mouth of hers."

Siris put a hand on his forehead and sighed. This only further amused Aurelia.

"Oh, relax Siris. She only told me because I'm a close friend of yours."

"Really? How'd you convince Nephy that we were friends?"

"Were?" Aurelia teased.

"Are," Siris corrected, rolling his eyes.

"Simple. How many other female humans with orange irises do you know?"

"Good point."

Siris turned to see where Sylvie was; she was standing by the exit.

"Thanks, Aurelia," Siris said to her.

"My pleasure," she teased, "Do you have a moment?"

Siris turned back to her.

"Sure, I have plenty of time. I mean, if you want to catch up, we could meet at the café sometime."

"No, it's not that," Aurelia explained, her tone more serious and her smile gone, "The girl…"

"Sylvie. Her name's Sylvie," said Siris.

"Sylvie. Did she get those scars from Charles?"

Siris stared at the orange eyed employee.

"Yes. Now let's cut to straight to the point, how much do you know?"

"Just a hunch. It seemed strange to see Fang the Sniper dragging a young lady inappropriately like that and just leave her with a respectable doctor like yourself only a few short days after Charles died."

She gave Siris a soft but dark glare.

"I hope you've been treating her well, Siris. The pain you've gone through… it wouldn't be hard to assume you would treat others the same to make it all seem fair."

Aside from only a handful of people, if anyone else had said that to Siris he would have threatened them to not assume such things, as they didn't know what he's gone through. Aurelia does know.

"I don't blame you, Aurelia," Siris said calmly, "If anything, I feel horrible for not buying Sylvie clothes sooner. But I'm glad I didn't until now."

"Why?"

"Because I doubt I would have run into your shop," he smirked, which Aurelia returned, "Don't worry, she'll never be harmed again. See you around."

Siris turned and left the shop, holding open the door for Sylvie.

"I can't wait," Aurelia chuckled to herself.

Siris and Sylvie made their way back home.

"Why did Siris buy me these clothes? I'm just a slave, I don't deserve to wear something so pretty."

"… Um, Siris?"

Siris stopped and looked at Sylvie.

"These clothes are wasted on me… Perhaps it would be better to return them?" she suggested sadly.

Siris smiled and gave her a pat on the head.

"Why? You look really cute in that dress."

"Wait… what did I just say?" he thought, quickly pulling his hand away.

Siris and Sylvie both blushed.

"Eh… Um…" said Sylvie, a bit flustered hearing the compliment, "Thank you… very much."

"Uh, sure. No problem, Sylvie."

They remained silent for a few moments.

"But, I'm… a slave… so… these…"

Siris gave her a comforting smile. Sylvie looked at Siris, reading his expression.

"…Never mind. Thank you very much, Siris."

Siris turned around and continued back home, slowing down a little to let Sylve catch up and walk beside him.

(Music fades)

---

Some plains in the middle of a nowhere

Rouge was taking a break from the long journey she and her partners just took. Unlike Shadow and Omega, running was not her forte. It was late afternoon; the team had been traveling for a few hours. Shadow and Omega impatiently waited a few feet away while Rouge was laying in the grass, resting her eyes.

"Rouge, if you want a real break, do it once we get to Spagonia. It's only another two-hour run," Shadow told her.

Rouge waved him off.

"In case you've forgotten, Shadow, I get tired from traveling for so long. Just be glad I'm not asking for some sleep; I haven't slept in days."

Shadow sighed and turned to Omega. Omega made a slight gesture for Shadow to see.

"Rouge, why don't you stay here for a moment. Omega has picked up some strange readings nearby. We'll go check it out and be back in a few minutes."

"Fine by me. Have fun, boys!"

Shadow and Omega turned away and rushed off over the hills in the distance, leaving Rouge alone. Rouge smiled as she let herself relax and have some peace of mind.

"Hm… I wonder what Sonic and his friends are up to. We've left Eggmanland, but there's still interference."

Rouge took a deep breath and sighed.

"I hope Knuckles is safe. I haven't spoken to him since the two Sonics and that Rookie kid defeated Eggman and Infinite."

Rouge shuddered. Even hearing Infinite's name in her mind was chilling to her.

"Infinite… I don't even want to know what could have happened if Sonic didn't return. Omega was out of commission for so long, worrying both me and Shadow. Hmm… now that I think about it, that look in Shadow's eyes when he found Omega like that… I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen that look before."

Rouge sighed again and decided to drop the thought. She sat up and activated her communicator; giving the Chaotix a call.

"Vector, here. What's up, Rouge?"

"Just checking in with you guys. Any leads?"

"None. We've searched Station Square, the Mystic Ruins, and Angel Island.'

"That's a lot of ground covered in such a short amount of time."

"It helps when we all split up and go to different places. What about you? Anything on your end?"

"None. We're on our way to Spagonia to look for Sonic. Have you heard from him?"

"Really? Funny you should say that, Rouge. Mighty just called me and mentioned Sonic to me."

"Mighty?"

"Yeah, he's a part time Chaotix member, has been for years. He and his buddy Ray, another part timer, were out visiting a friend somewhere and they found Sonic hurt bad."

Rouge was shocked.

"What? What happened? Is he alright?"

"He's fine. They took him to a town doctor who patched him up. He's fine now, just a minor concussion. Mighty said Sonic was attacked by Metal Sonic. Sonic claims it ended in a draw and Metal was sent flying."

"Where was Sonic when this happened?"

"During his search for Eggman, he found an old abandoned base he believes belonged to the Egghead himself. He contacted Tails to come over in a couple of days, which is when he got attacked, and by the time Tails and Knuckles showed up, Mighty and Ray had already found Sonic and brought him to the doctor."

"Knuckles? Why was he there? I thought he had to guard the Master Emerald on Angel Island?"

"Sorry, he didn't say. Mighty told me he'd tell me more later. He, Ray, and Tails are currently searching around the old base as we speak. I'll update you more when I learn more."

"Alright, Vector. Keep searching."

Rouge deactivated her communicator and sighed. She didn't see the robot platoon quietly approaching her, but she could sense their presence. Actually, she knew they were there for a while.

"Don't you know its rude to sneak up on a woman like that? It's a total turn off," she said as she turned to face the large number of SWAT-bots and Egg Pawns beginning to surround her, "This is a bit much to ask a girl out, don't you think?"

One SWAT-bot, distinct from the rest by a green head instead of a blue one, marched up and stopped a few feet from Rouge.

"You are coming with us, prisoner," it ordered in a robotic voice.

"Pfft. Like I'm anyone's prisoner," said Rouge.

"You are needed alive. Our leader has plans for you and your friends."

"Well, I'd hardly call Shadow and Omega my friends, but I suppose I am the closest thing they have to one."

"If you do not come willing, we will have to take you by force."

Rouge chuckled.

"Go ahead and try, tin can. You might not like the results."

"This is your final warning: surrender now, or we will force you to submit."

"Shame we can't come to a compromise. 'fraid I must refuse your offer."

The SWAT-bot leader raised an arm and the entire platoon aimed their right arms at Rouge. She watched as the arms on the SWAT-bots transformed into laser blasters. The leader lowered its arm and the surrounding platoon closed in around Rouge.

"You know, there's one thing I should mention," Rouge told the leader.

"And what's that, bat?"

"Never assume a target to be alone. Especially a member of Team Dark," she smirked.

"Is that so? Well, jewel thief, your 'team' has abandoned you. You're all alone. What makes you think you'll get out of this alive?"

The robots were now within a five-foot radius around her.

"What makes you think I'm alone?"

Before the leader could respond, a light flashed next to Rouge one second, and the next, Shadow and Omega were standing by her side.

"Well, now. I must thank you. This will make capturing all three of you much easier," the leader remarked.

"It appears our little plan may have backfired," Rouge said nonchalantly.

"Hmph. Let's get this over with," Shadow replied.

In his hand was the green Chaos Emerald. He raised it above his head.

"Chaos…"

A red aura surrounded his entire body as the robots continued to approach.

"BLAST!"

A burst of Chaos energy exploded from Shadow, sending the surrounding platoon flying a couple hundred yards away in every direction. Rouge and Omega remained unharmed, thanks to the rigorous training Shadow went through to further improve his control over the Chaos powers. Although the blast pushed back the SWAT-bots, it did little to harm them.

[ Robot Carnival – Sonic Heroes Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

"Get them!" the robot leader commanded.

The platoon charged toward Team Dark as they dashed in different directions, on the attack as well.

Time to experiment. The follow scenes all begin at the same time. Instead of jumping from one to another, I'm gonna focus on one character at a time. Kinda curious to see how it works. If you guys like it, maybe I'll do it again in the future.

{ Shadow }

Shadow skated towards the closest Egg Pawn near him.

"Chaos Spear!"

Shadow launched the spear at the robot, stunning it in place. He leapt into the air and homing attacked into it. A nearby SWAT-bot aimed its weapon at Shadow but was kicked to the ground when Shadow teleported behind it. He then teleported to another SWAT-bot. spin kicking its legs and smashing both fists into its body. Around him, two Egg Pawns and four additional SWAT-bots rushed Shadow.

"Chaos Control!"

Time practically stopped around the black hedgehog; everything appeared frozen in space. Shadow leapt toward one of the SWAT-bots and began pummeling it with punches and kicks before dashing towards another to do the same. After he finished doing the same to the forth SWAT-bot, Shadow backflipped off its body and landed between the two Egg Pawns just as the effects of the Chaos Control diminished. The second Shadow landed on the ground, all four SWAT-bots exploded. The Egg Pawns stopped dead in their tracks and looked around at the four destroyed robots that were just fine a second ago, literally. They turned to each other and then at Shadow.

"Useless pieces of junk."

Before the Pawns could turn and run, Shadow spin dashed into them, causing them to both explode. Shadow then caught sight of the SWAT-bot leader and made a dash for it.

{ Rouge }

A SWAT-bot took aim and fired at Rouge. She jumped in the air, dodging the laser, and glided down towards the robot, giving it a swift kick under the head. As its noodle flew into the air, Rouge spin kicked a nearby Egg Pawn as another SWAT-bot took aim at her. Rouge swiftly stepped behind another SWAT-bot, which took a laser for her, albeit involuntarily. She kicked the powered down metal body into her attacker, crushing it between the ground and the heavy body. An Egg Pawn discretely snuck up behind her and attempted to grab her. Just as its cold robotic fingers were inches away from her neck, its head suddenly blew up.

"Thanks, Omega," she smirked as she kicked an approaching SWAT-bot in the sensitive regions. Don't ask, even I'm confused. As the fell to its knees, grabbing the metal plating that failed to protect its nads, Rouge's heel came crashing down from above and forcing the robots head into its body. Two more SWAT-bots rushed her from the sides. Rouge launched into the air just as the two robots closed in on her, causing them to collide with each other. She glided above another SWAT-bot and drill drove right through its body. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the robot leader and made a run for it.

{ Omega }

Omega charged at two Egg Pawns. The sight of the most powerful E-series robot terrified them; they could do nothing as Omega came up and batted them aside like they were nothing.

"Worthless consumer models."

A SWAT-bot fired at Omega, hitting him directly in the chest. He looked down and noted the effectiveness of his armor; there wasn't even a mark where he was shot. Omega turned his attention to the attacker and raised his right arm, deploying his missile launcher and firing one at the SWAT-bot. As the robot exploded, Omega deployed both Gatling guns from his hands and began wiping out the engaging platoon. An Egg Pawn jumped on top of Omega and held on to his head. Omega ignored the nuisance and continued his rampage against the SWAT-bots and Egg Pawns. From his peripheral, Omega saw an Egg Pawn sneaking up behind Rouge. He put away the Gatling guns and deployed his Omega Shot artillery, taking aim at the Egg Pawn. Unfortunately, the one that was still on his head was blocking his sights, causing lock-on to be impossible. He grabbed the joyrider's head with his left hand, crushed it, and promptly tossed the body away as he shot Rouge's sneaky attacker in the head with a Lock-On Shot. Suddenly, a SWAT-bot that ironically managed to sneak up behind Omega grabbed him by the arms and attempted to snap him in half by pulling his arms behind his back. But Omega's arms wouldn't budge. The SWAT-bot would never realize its mistake, because in the time it would have taken it to, Omega managed to spin his upper body with such a force that it tore the SWAT=bot's left arm off and a huge metal left fist destroyed its midsection circuitry, resulting in a small explosion. As the dust cleared, Omega targeted the SWAT-bot leader and charged at it using his jet boosters.

"Fools," the SWAT-bot muttered as its eyes began to glow blue.

As the three members of Team Dark closed in to their target, the SWAT-bot unleashed a powerful wave of electricity in the surrounding vicinity, shocking everything in its path, be it friend or foe. The shock caused Shadow and Rouge to scream in pain while causing all the non-organics to malfunction and either explode or deactivate. Omega fought through the painful attack, but even he began to fade.

"You just couldn't come willingly, could you?" the SWAT-bot leader asked, "It's such a pity for me to sacrifice my remaining troops to bring you in."

As it spoke, Shadow and Rouge lost consciousness and fell to the ground, while Omega went into emergency standby mode, sitting down on the ground. Satisfied, the leader halted the attack and walked calmly to Shadow, who dropped his Emerald when he hit the ground.

(Music fades)

"So much for "The Ultimate Lifeform" and his friends putting up a fight," it muttered as it reached for the Chaos Emerald.

The leader picked up the jewel and stood up, admiring the power radiating from it.

"This will please my lord very much, thanks to the three of you. And as a bonus, I've managed to capture all three of you at once. How uneventful."

The SWAT-bot reached for Shadow's unconscious body, unaware that Omega had gone out of standby mode and was standing right behind him. Feeling like he was being watched, the leader turned around and found itself face to face with a very angry E-123 Omega. Glowing in its hand, the SWAT-bot attempted to harness the power of the Chaos Emerald.

"Let's see how you like-" the leader began to taunt.

Omega grabbed the arm the SWAT-bot held the Emerald in and ripped it from its body. Turning back to face the leader, Omega swung his arm out and backhanded the enemy away from his fallen comrade. The SWAT-bot looked up from the ground, staring into Omega's eyes with fear.

"Wha… How is this possible? You just had enough current course through your body to kill over 10,000 birds at once!"

Omega slowly approached the heavily damaged leader.

"You should be destroyed… or-or-or at least stuck in standby mode. What are you?" the leader asked with shock.

Omega grabbed the leader by the throat and pulled it close, so they could see face to face by an inch.

"I am E-123 Omega! The ultimate E-series robot!"

Omega slowly tightened his grip.

"Tell me where your leader is."

The SWAT-bot, though terrified, laughed at Omega's order.

"You think you can scare me into giving you information? Do your worst. Whatever you do to me, my lord will do worse, a hundred-fold! So, go ahead, 'ultimate E-series robot' prove your self-proclaimed title!"

Omega stopped tightening his grip and stared into the SWAT-bot's eyes.

"Oh, showing mercy? How disappointing. Even E-101 Beta would have pulled the trigger."

Omega glared at his taunting enemy.

"You couldn't beat even beat Beta in your prime! No, worse…"

Omega loosened his grip a little.

"… you couldn't even beat E-102 Gamma!"

*SCRUNTCH*

"Using my late brothers to insult me was unwise."

Omega watched as the SWAT-bot's eyes dimmed to darkness and dropped the decapitated head next to its collapsed body. He then turned around and checked on his unconscious teammates.

"Assessing agents' injuries… scans complete. No critical damage sustained. Recommended treatment: four hours rest."

Omega picked up Shadow and Rouge and gently laid them in a more comfortable position for them to rest. He then walked over to where the Chaos Emerald was dropped. He picked it up and placed it in the compartment within his chest for safe keeping until Shadow had regained consciousness.

"Combat mode, disengaged. Defense mode, active. Perimeter scans engaged."

Fully prepared, Omega stood next to his comrades and waited, protecting them as they laid in the afternoon sunlight.

Secret Base at Unknown Location

"Interesting… it seems Omega lives up to his title. Hm… I'm disappointed in the platoon's failure, especially their insubordination for ignoring my orders to wait for him to return… but, this new data will be perfect for my plans."

The 'lord' turned its attention back to the live video feed from the abandoned base Tails, Mighty, and Ray were searching. They watched the Mobians look through old files and explore dark rooms in hopes to find something.

"Those meddlesome fools think they can find anything of use in that joke of a base Julian created years ago? Ha! Such amusement. But… that two-tailed freak has proven to be a resourceful one over the years. Hmm…"

The 'lord' went through their memory, trying to remember something.

"If I recall correctly… Ivo did create some kind of robot to fool Sonic in a race years ago. I wonder if I still have it lying around somewhere."

"My lord."

"Ah, you've returned! I presume the mission was a success?" the 'lord' asked, turning to see the green-eyed dark figure in the darkness.

"Oh, yes. I wasn't able to get them all, but I have four here at your disposal."

The figure tossed a bag over to his leader. The leader slowly untied the bag and looked inside.

"Well done. I must be honest, I expected you to return with only one; two at the very most. But four? You should be proud of yourself."

"Anything for you, as long as you help me finally be rid of that hedgehog once and for all. Ahhh…. I see the platoon became impatient and got themselves eliminated. What a waste."

"You let me worry about that. For now, continue shadowing Team Dark as before. I will attach a small squad of robot fodder to accompany you. Use them as you see fit. If Omega picks you up again, fall back and throw the squad in your place. I have plenty of spare metal soldiers that I don't mind losing."

"Thank you, my lord. I will leave now."

The green eyes faded into the darkness and the lord looked back at his monitors.

"You may all have found some reprieve for now… but this is no where close to even beginning, fools."

The 'lord' then turned to the monitor showing the only image sent by Dagger before they were all wiped out. It was a picture of Sonic being held up by Amy inside what appeared to be a doctor's office or clinic. The 'lord' recognized them, Tails, and Knuckles, but not the squirrel and armadillo, the same ones who were at the bases mentioned before. There appeared to be two other Mobians in the picture: an unseen person whose black glove is seen through the building entrance, and a silver colored hedgehog peaking from a window.

"I need to research everyone in this photo. Sonic and his two pals have already been studied for years, and those two currently with Tails seem interesting… that ugly silver one…"

(F*** you)

"… doesn't seem important, but that other one… the one I can't see. I get an uneasy feeling about that one."

The 'lord' leaned back in their seat and stared at the picture.

"Who are you?"

(Music fades)

---

Blue Moon Hotel

[ Relaxing Music for Stress Relief, Soothing Music for Meditation, Healing, Therapy, Sleep, Spa ] (Uploaded by Meditation Relax Music) (0:00)

Amy quietly watched the TV along side her boyfriend. It had been a couple of hours since Tails, Mighty, and Ray went off to explore the abandoned base and neither she or Sonic have heard from them since.

"I hope they're okay," she thought to herself, "After hearing everything that has happened in the last few days…"

Amy sighed.

"It's just like last year; some scary guy shows up and threatens to destroy everything just to rule the world. What if this guy is worse than Dark Gaia? Or Infinite? I… we almost lost Sonic last time. What if it happens again? What if he… he…"

"Amy?"

She turned to Sonic and saw a concerned look on his face.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

Sonic pointed toward his eyes. Amy didn't understand what he was meant until she realized that she had been crying.

"Oh. It's… it's nothing, don't worry."

"Amy…"

"Alright," she sighed, "I'm just worried."

Sonic turned off the TV and listened.

"I'm worried about what that… thing said on the message. About how not even the Chaos Emeralds will save us in the coming weeks."

Sonic pulled Amy closer to him.

"Ames, don't worry. We always win, right? And we've faced worse things than that creepy voiced loser who sent me that message."

"I'm not so sure this time…"

Sonic looked down at her.

"What do you mean? I always come back, don't I? Chaos, the ARK, Dark Gaia-"

"But what if you don't this time?!"

Sonic paused and thought about it.

"Sonic, Infinite was the first person to ever defeat you! What if this guy is even worse than that!?"

He looked down again and smirked.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to be faster and stronger than ever before! Besides…"

Amy looked up at Sonic, tears slowly forming in her eyes again.

"Huh?"

"We didn't need the Chaos Emeralds to defeat Infinite and Eggman before, did we?"

"No…"

"We didn't need them when the Deadly Six tried to destroy the world."

"Okay, but-"

"And we didn't need them when Eggman made that huge amusement park in space. So what makes you think this would be any different?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. You've managed to always find a way to win without relying on the Chaos Emeralds."

"See? So, stop worrying. I promise, nothing bad will happen to any of you guys."

"Promise?"

"Scout's honor."

"Ha! Like you'd be a good scout!"

Amy paused.

"Sonic… what if we do need the Emeralds this time?"

Sonic pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald and stared at it.

"Well… one down, six to go then," he replied, turning to Amy, "guess we'd better find the rest before that 'lord' decides to launch a full-scale attack."

"Hmm… if you say so."

Amy remained on the bed for a few moments before getting up and heading for the door. Sonic sat up and turned towards her.

"Where you going,Amy?"

"I'm gonna explore this town for a little bit. I saw a few shops I wanted to check out before I arrived at Siris' clinic."

Sonic laid back down.

"Alright. Have fun, Amy."

"Don't think about leaving this room, mister," she warned sternly, "I mean it, if you run off, I will call Siris and have him hunt you down."

"Ooh, I'm so scared. And it's almost Halloween, too," Sonic joked.

"Wonder what other color abilities he's got up his sleeves," Amy teased, "Maybe he could summon a fire tornado… or shoot lasers out of his hands… or maybe even-"

"Alright, alright, I get it! Sheesh, cut me some slack, will ya? I wasn't planning to leave anyways. My head still kinda hurts, so I was gonna take a nap."

Amy playfully glared at Sonic.

"If you say so, Sonic. I'll see if I can find a place that sells chilidogs and bring one back for you!"

Sonic's eyes were already closed, so he just gave Amy the thumbs up to let her know he heard. Amy closed the door behind her and made her way to the elevator down the hall. As she waited for the elevator to arrive, Amy thought of which stores to check out first. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone exiting the elevator until she bumped into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean…"

Amy stopped talking when she saw who it was she ran into.

"Oh, no worries. It was an accident after all."

The person Amy ran into was James Hemberg.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Hemberg! Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," he replied as he dusted himself off, "And please, call me James."

"Uh… what brings you here, Mr. Hem- I mean, James?"

"My residence is currently being decorated before I move in. For the moment, I'm living in the luxury suite on the top floor."

James studied Amy's expression.

"I thought you all had a plane to catch."

"Uh… yeah, well, Sonic was really tired, so we decided to stay here for the night."

"I see. And was that Tails I saw flying away in a blue plane a few hours ago."

"Uh… yes! Yes, it was. He wanted to fly around for a bit before it got dark."

"Is that so? Is Sonic here now?"

"Uh, yes, but he's sleeping. Siris said it was the best way for him to recover from his concussion."

James was confused.

"A concussion?"

"Uh…"

"Hm. Well, that's a surprise. I suppose I'll leave him alone for now. Where are you off to, I you don't mind me asking?"

"Uh… I was just leaving to go shopping."

"Is that so? Could I speak with you privately for a few minutes?"

"Huh? Uh… sure, I suppose I have time."

"Ok. Let's talk in the lobby. It's much more comfortable sitting in those soft chairs than just staning."

The two entered the elevator and headed for the lobby.

"I wonder why he wants to talk to me. And why does Siris hate this guy? He seems to be a nice guy. I mean, looks can be deceiving, sure, but what's the harm in at least hearing him out?"

The elevator arrived at the lobby and the two found a place to sit and talk.

"So," James began, "how do you like Blue Moon Village?"

"It's a very lovely town. Very different from the city life I'm used to."

"Good, good."

James sighed.

"Look, Amy… I have something to say that I think you and the others should know."

"What is it?"

"It's about Siris."

Amy began to feel nervous.

"What about Siris?"

"I've known him for years. And I'm sure he told you not to talk me, or even to stay away from me completely."

Amy was surprised.

"How did you know?"

"Hmph. Like I said, I've known Siris for years."

James sighed again.

(Music fades)

"Listen, I probably shouldn't be the one telling you this, but I feel that I should; for your safety and the safety of your friends. Be careful around Siris."

Amy gave James a look.

"I can't say much, but here's what you should know; about two years ago, a terrible accident happened. People died. A lot. Siris was there and…"

"He blames himself?"

"Well… yes, but that's because it was his fault the accident occurred."

Amy was shocked.

"What? What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that Siris… lost it that day and his actions resulted in many deaths. He ran away and set up shop here. Heh. I guess him using that medical degree of his is his way of coping with the pain he's caused."

"I don't understand. What exactly did Siris do?"

"I wish I could tell you, Amy. I truly do. Rumor has it that he had a girlfriend that he loved very much. She had an affair, he found out, and he didn't take it well."

"How bad was the accident?"

"Very. If it wasn't for G.U.N., it might have escalated to mass destruction all across Station Square. The people were lucky that the incident was enclosed in just one building."

"That seems pretty extreme over an affair. He must have loved her very much."

"He did. He did indeed."

They sat there quietly for a minute.

"Uh… listen, Amy, I hope I didn't worry you. I just hate for you and your friends to get hurt. I've been keeping an eye on Siris for a while now. Since the accident, he's been busy doing things late at night, trying to find answers, as he once told me."

"But why does he hate you?"

"It's not that he hates me, it's more like he's just taking it out on me. He may blame himself, but he'd rather have someone else burden the pain than himself."

"I… see."

"Just keep you guard up. Lately, he seems to be getting worse. If something were to set him off again… I don't even want to think about it."

"Why are you watching him instead of G.U.N.?"

"They are. The fact is, I'm a G.U.N. agent."

Amy's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Well… technically a former agent. When I received the estate, I had to resign. However, I promised them I would continue to watch over Siris and report to them with weekly updates."

Amy stared down to her hands; twiddling her thumbs.

"Is he dangerous?"

"Very. But don't worry. I'll keep a close eye on him. If it makes you feel better, I could call you guys whenever I think it's not a good time to see Siris."

"That's a generous offer, but we don't plan on staying for long."

"Well, in that case," James replied as he handed Amy a business card, "here's my card. You might not need it, but I'm sure there are others who might need it amongst your group."

"I'll think about it."

"Please do. Well, I must be going. I have many business meetings to deal with, now that my uncle is no longer here to deal with them. A pleasure talking with you."

James offered his hand, which Amy hesitantly shook.

"Same."

James nodded and left the hotel, leaving a conflicted Amy wondering what she should do with this information.

---

Siris House

[ Sit Fer a Spell ] (Uploaded by Ryan Ike) (0:00) (Play it at 1.25x speed and loop until noted)

Siris decided to stay home for the rest of the day once he and Sylvie got back. The clinic was still open, so if there was a patient, they could just knock on either the front door or the door to the clinic. It was now late in the afternoon, around 4:30 PM. He spent a couple of hours working on his device, struggling to get the correct voltage across a component, which he finally managed to correct. After the climatic battle with the device… That sounded weird… Siris took a break. With not much else to do and not in the mood to deal with the paperwork next door, he pulled out a dusty guitar from his closet. After giving it a quick dusting, he played a couple of songs he taught himself (including this one). Since his days as Julian's slave, a lot has happened to Siris… So much that it would take a whole 'nother chapter to write *cough cough*... But one of the things he did was learn how to play the guitar and the piano. But, over time, he became too busy with his job and life, so he practically no time to play for fun. But for some reason, he had the urge to play today. So there he was, sitting on his couch, playing a tune from one of his favorite games. For his own amusement, he played it at a faster tempo than it was meant to be played. Nearby, standing a couple of feet away and just outside his peripheral, Sylvie watched with amazement as Siris strummed the strings with such speed and precision.

"Siris is such a good guitar player. The song he's playing… it sounds both calming and sad at the same time."

Sylvie kept watching Siris' hands as they seem to just glide over the strings. Although he couldn't see her, Siris knew she was there.

"Like the song?" he smirked without looking at her or even stopping.

Sylvie walked over and stood next to Siris.

"That's a very nice song."

Siris stopped playing for a moment.

(Stop music for now)

"I think so too. Learned it by myself from listening to it from a video game over and over. Took me a couple of weeks, but I think I got it down. Still remember all the chords too."

Siris turned to face Sylvie.

"Would you like to hear what it normally sounds like?"

Sylvie nodded her head and Siris began playing again.

(Start from beginning. Play at normal speed and loop until further notice)

Sylvie closed her eyes and listened to the music. A few seconds in, Siris looked up and noticed Sylvie had her eyes closed and was still standing.

"You can sit down, Sylvie. There's no need to just stand there and tire your legs," Siris explained, causing her to open her eyes, "Just sit down, relax, and enjoy the music."

Sylvie nodded and sat down on the carpet rug that laid in between the TV and the couch. Siris smiled and turned back to his guitar.

"Glad I found something she seems to enjoy."

As he continued playing, Siris wasn't aware at the time, but he was looking back at Sylvie; looking at how adorable she looked in her new clothes.

"She sure looks amazing with those new clothes."

Silence.

"Master?"

Siris snapped out of his trance, glad Sylvie hadn't noticed.

"Yes, Sylvie?"

"Could you play it like you did before?"

Siris smiled and nodded.

(Change the speed to 1.25 again… listen, you don't have to do this, but this is my story, so get over it!)

As Siris picked up the tempo, he noticed Sylvie had a faint, but visible smile on her face. The sight made him feel warm and comfortable, something he hadn't felt for a long time. Not wanting to risk getting caught staring at her, Siris looked back at his guitar, even though Sylvie's eyes had closed again. For a while, the two just sat there, listening to the music.

(Listen for as long as you like. When you're ready, continue reading.)

"Master is… kind, probably?"

Siris stopped strumming and looked at Sylvie.

(Stop music)

"Hm? What was that, Sylvie?" asked Siris.

Sylvie looked up at Siris.

"Master is a doctor, right? A kind person?"

Siris was a little caught off guard with that question.

"Uh… well, yes, I am a kind person. But I'm just a humble town doctor," he replied.

"…'Just a humble town doctor'? Is there a difference?"

Siris pondered Sylvie's question for a moment.

"I suppose there isn't much difference. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious… I was wondering though…"

Sylvie paused.

"Go ahead, Sylvie, you can ask me anything."

"…Could I help you around the clinic?"

Siris bit his lower lip.

"As a slave, I'm sure I could be of use to you in the clinic. I could do something that doesn't involve treating patients."

Siris took a deep breath and sighed.

"Sylvie…"

Sylvie looked down at the ground.

"No, I understand. Master would prefer if no one saw me," she said before looking up again, "Someone as respectable as yourself shouldn't be seen with someone as pathetic as me."

That comment hurt Siris.

"No, not at all, Sylvie. It's not that I don't want you around. It's just that… Hmm… how do I explain?"

Siris drummed his fingers on his guitar while trying to find the right words.

"It's not the fact that I don't want you to help me out more, on your own accord. It's just that… you're a child and it wouldn't be appropriate for someone to have a child working around a clinic."

Sylvie took in Siris words. She opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind at the last second.

"However," Siris continued, "if something comes up and requires assistance, you will be the first person I will ask for help. How's that sound?"

Sylvie nodded.

"Okay then," said Siris.

He took a look at his communicator for the time.

"Wow, it's evening already? Time flies when you're having fun. I'll get dinner ready in a bit."

He got up and placed his guitar down on his work table before heading to the fridge to see what he could make. Sylvie intended to follow, but the glow from the blue orb caught her eye again. Siris looked over and saw. He closed the fridge and walked up to Sylvie, also entranced by the orb's glow.

"Why does Master have this?"

Siris turned his head and found himself face to face with Sylvie.

"It's… a long story. And one I'd rather not tell."

Sylvie turned away in shame.

"Oh. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

Siris patted her on the head.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just some bad memories that's all. And like I said before, I'll tell you about it someday. Just… not today."

"If that is your wish, Master."

Siris put his hand back down.

"Why don't you go rest for a little bit while I get dinner prepared. It'll only be a few minutes, Sylvie."

Sylvie nodded and went to her room. As soon as he was sure Sylvie was out of sight, Siris sighed and leaned against the small bookcase that displayed the orb to keep his balance. I small but annoying headache just shot through his head. Siris rubbed his forehead to relieve some of the pain. A moment later, the headache subsided. Siris shook his head and stared back at the orb.

"Rgggh," Siris quietly muttered to himself, "I hope it's not happening again…"

---

Some plains in the middle of a nowhere

Rouge slowly opened her eyes. Her whole body ached as she sat up on the grass.

"Uugghh…" she moaned, "What happened?"

"We were knocked out by that robot leader."

Rouge turned to her right and looked up to see Shadow standing next to her, looking in the opposite direction she was sitting.

"He used a powerful electrical attack in an attempt to disable the three of us for capture and steal the Chaos Emerald, at the cost of his remaining soldiers," he explained.

Rouge's eyes widened and she shot up to her feet.

"Don't tell me they-"

"Negative."

Rouge turned around and saw Omega approaching.

"So, what happened?" Rouge asked.

Omega explained that after she and Shadow lost consciousness, he was briefly put on standby mode. He was able to recover fast enough and take action before the SWAT-bot had taken both the Chaos Emerald and Team Dark prisoner. After dealing with it, Omega moved Rouge and Shadow to a safe place to recover where he watched over both them and the Chaos Emerald. Some time later, Shadow woke up and Omega gave him the same explanation as he was doing now to Rouge.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"Approximately three hours," Omega replied.

"Well, thank you for saving us, Omega."

"Enough talk," said Shadow, "We still have a mission to do. Standing here doing nothing won't get us anywhere. We need to keep moving and find Sonic."

Rouge and Omega nodded in agreement just as Rouge's communicator beeped.

"Yes, this is Rouge."

"Agent Rouge, this is the Commander. We've been trying to reach you and your team for a last two hours. Where have you been?"

"We were busy, dealing with some robots."

"Robots? Was it Eggman? What happened?"

"We're not sure. Shadow and I were knocked out and Omega had to save us. We're fine now."

"Did you lose the Chaos Emerald?"

"No."

"Good. I presume Agent Shadow and Omega are with you as well."

"Correct."

"Good. I have a new mission for the three of you."

"Another mission?"

"That is correct, Agent Rouge. I'm sending you intel now."

Rouge pressed a couple of buttons on her communicator and a hologram appeared above her wrist.

"What are we looking at?" Shadow asked.

"This is live footage from the beach of Emerald Coast in Station Square."

The three watched the video closely. In the middle of the screen was a blackish-purple vortex that was floating a couple of feet above the sands of Emerald Coast. Rouge recognized the immediate building nearby the portal as the Station Square Hotel, which was one of the few areas that housed a Chao Garden.

"What is that?" Rouge asked.

"That's what I want the three of you to find out. We've never seen anything like this before. That's why I'm sending in the best: you."

"Mission objectives?" Omega asked.

"Your mission is to get to that vortex and find out what its purpose is. If possible, eliminate it quickly. We don't want this to get out of hand and having innocent civilians harmed or killed. This mission is top priority, even over the search for the Chaos Emeralds. Once you have dealt with the vortex, return to HQ. Shadow, I'm giving you permission to use the Chaos Emerald as you see fit. Just don't go destroying buildings."

"Understood."

"Then begin your… what the hell?"

Shadow, Rouge, and Omega saw what the Commander was referring to. On the monitor, they saw two figures emerge from the portal. They couldn't determine who or what they were, but on looked to be Mobian and the other looked like a large egg…

"Eggman?" they all gasped.

---

Sunset Heights

At the same time that Team Dark was seeing the vortex, so was the rest of the world. Well, at least anyone who was watching the news. Silver, Cream, Vanilla, and a few "former" Resistance members stopped working and saw the news on the large screen within the Resistance HQ. Silver's eyes widened when he saw the large figure stand up on screen.

"Eggman?" he gasped.

[ Boss – Dark Gaia (Running) – Sonic Unleashed Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

Everyone else stared and muttered to one another, wondering if Eggman had returned. Suddenly, the large figure lurched over to the smaller figure and appeared to smash their face into the sand repeatedly. The picture wasn't clear enough to see who the figures were, but Silver had a strange feeling he knew. The smaller figure then tripped the larger figure over and kicked them away while trying to flee. The larger figure managed to grab the smaller figure by the ankle and pull them back. But just before the smaller figure was dragged away, they managed to get far enough away from the vortex so everyone could see them better. When Silver saw their face, he immediately lifted off the ground and flew out of the building.

---

A few miles away from Station Square

Silver flew faster than he ever did before. His brain was straining from the amount of concentration necessary to keep him levitated and to fly quickly. It had been nearly twenty minutes and he had already flow nearly 500 miles, a speed that would even amaze Sonic. His body cried in pain, begging him to slow down and relax. He didn't care. He knew they needed help. His help. And he'd be damned if this wasn't a sign. He only needed a couple more minutes to get there…

Meanwhile, the two figures continued their struggle on the beach. The smaller one was unable to see because of the sand in their eyes, leaving their options to either run away or swing wildly, both while blind. They chose both. Another swing and another miss.

"Aw, what's wrong?" tauned 'Eggman', "Can't find your prey? I'm surprised you've managed to last this long!"

The small figure tried once more to attack where she heard the voice from. Another miss. 'Eggman' snickered and kicked the figure in the stomach, causing them to get the wind knocked out of them and collapse on the ground. Tears started forming in their eyes.

"So, this is it… I'm going to die here… how appropriate. I've failed my duties… and now he's going to win."

'Eggman' walked up and pressed a foot against the figure's throat.

"Say your prayers, Princess," he sneered.

The figure braced for the inevitable end. But it never came. As soon as 'Eggman' started to increase the pressure on his victim's throat, a beach chair was sent flying into his face, sending him back a few feet.

"Don't you dare touch her!" she heard a voice cry out.

She slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. There was still debris in them, so she still couldn't see. But that voice…

"Argh… of all the dimensions and worlds, we just had to end up here…" 'Eggman' mumbled, "How nice to see you again, Silver."

"What are you doing here, Nega?" Silver asked.

"Silver?"

Eggman Nega looked up and gave Silver an evil grin as he repositioned his glasses.

"Why should I tell you my secret plans? If I tell you, then they won't be a secret anymore!" he laughed, "Ah, but no matter. I guess I'll just have to finish her, and now you, quickly."

Behind his back, Eggman Nega pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the psychokinetic hedgehog.

"Say farewell to your boyfriend, Princess Blaze," he sneered as he pulled the trigger multiple times.

Shockingly, Silver didn't even flinch. Unless you call activating your psychokinesis as flinching, of course. Once he fired 10 shots at Silver, Eggman Nega lowered his weapon and stared with confusion at the hedgehog, lost for words.

"It's been only a couple of years, and you've already forgotten?" Silver smirked as he held the bullets midair with his abilities, "Bullets don't work on me."

Silver then released the bullets and Eggman Nega watched as they embedded themselves into the sand. Swearing under his breath for forgetting that little fact, he turned his attention to Blaze and smiled.

"You maybe. But how about her?" Eggman Nega smrkied as he raised his gun.

Silver glared and psychokinetically froze Eggman Nega in place.

"What?"

Silver sighed.

"You've really lost it, haven't you, Nega?" Silver asked a struggling Eggman Nega, "You're as bad as Eggman, stooping so low just to get what you want."

"Why, thank you, Silver. It's such an honor to hear that from-"

*WHAM* (Record scratch, stop the music)

Not wanting to hear another word from the Eggman doppelganger, Silver threw him against the wall and knocked him out. After Nega landed on the ground, Silver walked over to his body. Although he was showing a calm demeanor, inside was another story; Silver was fueled with rage. After seeing what he was doing to Blaze and aimed a gun at her, especially when she was defenseless, Silver was contemplating doing the unspeakable. After so much time and against all odds, Silver was able to see Blaze again. And Nega almost took her life. He probably would have gone through with it, had Shadow not appeared in front of him in a blink of an eye.

"Shadow?!"

The black hedgehog had his back to Silver. He looked over his shoulder, giving Silver a look.

"Leave him to us, Silver," he said calmly, "You should take care of your friend."

Silver has half tempted to push Shadow out of the way and finish off Nega, but the way Shadow was looking at Silver snapped him out of his rage. Silver released his fists and slowly turned toward Blaze, who was still on the ground. Between her and Silver were Rouge and Omega. They approached Shadow as he contacted G.U.N. HQ to report the situation. Silver walked over to Blaze. She was still trying to get the sand out of her eyes, but she was having some trouble with a few grains embedded in her eyelids.

"Here, let me help."

Blaze stopped wiping her eyes and froze.

"Try and hold your eyes open while I get the sand out."

Blaze slowly nodded and forced open her eyes. Due to the tears and debris in them, everything looked blurry and hazy. Suddenly, a shade of fluorescent blue covered her eyes for a moment, just before vanishing completely.

"Better?"

Blaze blinked and rubbed her eyes for a couple of seconds, trying to recover her vision, before she could see clearly again.

"Yes, thank you," said Blaze.

She then turned and saw Silver beaming down on her.

[ Dreams of an Absolution – (No Vocals) (Unreleased) – Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

"Silver?"

Blaze's eyes widened, uncertain if her ears and eyes were playing tricks on her for the past couple of minutes. Silver smiled shyly at her.

"Hey, Blaze."

Silver offered her a hand and helped her up to her feet. As he did, a crowd of people nearby cheered and clapped for Silver's heroic deed. He didn't pay them any heed; his best friend (and person he had feelings for) was standing in front of him for the first time in almost two years.

"Um, Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"You can let go of my hand now."

Silver looked down and noticed he was still holding Blaze's hand, which he then immediately released.

"Sorry… I, uhhh…"

Silver tried to come up with an excuse while hiding his blush.

"No, no… it's, uh… it's fine, Silver…"

Rouge was watching them from the distance.

"Aw, how sweet. Those two are in love," she thought to herself.

"So… are you okay?" Silver asked.

Blaze, who was also blushing, shook her head and turned towards Eggman Nega.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thank you, Silver."

"Anytime, Blaze. But what are you doing here in Sonic's world? I thought you had to protect the Sol Emeralds back on your world."

Blaze's face changed in a heartbeat from a calm demeanor to a furious one. If you couldn't tell by her face, then look at her hands; they're starting to smoke. She stormed over the Nega, who had just regained consciousness and was sitting against the wall, handcuffed. An aura of fire began to swirl around Blaze as she approached him, making Eggman Nega a very scared villain.

"Where are they?!" she bellowed.

"Wha? What are you talking about Blaze?" Nega asked nervously.

"Don't play your games with me, Nega," she warned, "I know you stole them, now where are the others?"

Blaze's flames grew stronger and harsher with each passing second.

"I-I-I don't know! Honest!"

Blaze tried to grab him, but Silver and Shadow held her back.

"We'll handle it," said Shadow.

"Blaze, what's going on?" asked Silver.

She continued to struggle against their grips, dearly trying to get to Nega.

"He stole the Sol Emeralds from me after he cowardly ambushed me with a rocket explosion! It knocked me out for only a moment, but that was all the time he needed to steal them! Now I must get the rest of them back!"

Silver was confused.

"What do you mean- OW! Stop struggling, Blaze!" Silver told her after she accidentally hit him in the mouth.

Blaze began to calm down and her flames died out.

"Still the same old Blaze," Silver thought to himself as he wiped a small amount of blood from his mouth.

Blaze noticed the blood and felt guilty.

"Sorry about that, Silver. I was just…"

"It's alright."

The five heroes then turned their attention back to Nega. Shadow walked up and gave him a threatening glare.

"Tell the girl what she wants to know."

"Or what?" Nega chuckled, "Are you going to torture me? Make me beg?"

Nega's history with Shadow is a short one, to say the least (Sonic Rivals 2), so tempting Shadow with the idea probably wasn't the best choice of words on his part.

"Nega," Shadow said darkly, "let me give you one word of advice…"

The others watched as Shadow whispered something into Nega's ear.

Sorry, been watching Justice League again… the animated series, obviously. *Silence* Yeah… So… how are you guys? Me? Oh, I'm just… waiting for Shadow to finish his advice. Nice weather? Yes? No? Maybe? Halloween was a few weeks ago. Yeah… Halloween is coming up soon in the story though. Got some cool ideas I think you guys might like. Here's a little sneak peek I- *Shadow taps my shoulder* Hm? Oh, you're done? Okay, then…

"Alright, alright, I'll tell her!" Nega cried out.

Rouge turned to Omega, wondering if he heard what Shadow said. His shrug answered her question.

Shadow pulled Nega up and pushed him towards Blaze.

"Here's the honest truth, Princess. I didn't attack you nor did I steal any of the Sol Emeralds."

Shadow rolled his eyes and said, "Blaze, set his ass on fire."

"WAIT! WAIT! HEAR ME OUT, WILL YOU!?"

Shadow sighed.

"Then tell her what she wants to know, Nega. I'm losing my patience," he said.

"Hmph. Still a ray of sunshine," Nega muttered before looking back at Blaze, "It's true, I didn't steal the Emeralds. However, I was planning to and I was about to attack you as well. But…! Before I could begin, some shadow figure appeared and ruined all my creations; my plans were ruined. I watched as he took off toward the palace. I saw him enter undetected and seconds later, a huge explosion occurred. That must have been what knocked you out. A moment later, I saw him take off towards the distance, with the Sol Emeralds in hand. I followed close behind to see where he was going. That's when I saw where he was going; a portal. The same one that sits right there. I couldn't allow someone else to get away with my Emeralds, so I attacked him. He dropped the Emeralds, but he fought back. He was incredible. Power I had never seen before. And such hatred in those green eyes. I offered him a partnership, but he refused. I tried to capture him, but he just vanished. Before I knew it, he had recovered four of the Sol Emeralds and jumped through the portal. That's when you arrived, Princess."

Everyone turned to Blaze.

"Green eyes…" she muttered to herself.

"Blaze, do you know what he's talking about?" Rouge asked.

Blaze tried to remember what happened.

"I do recall seeing a pair of dull green eyes a second before I was knocked out," she said before turning to Nega, "I suppose he could be telling the truth. Do what you want with him. I have a task to complete."

The members of Team Dark escorted Nega away, awaiting extraction at the request of G.U.N. HQ. Blaze turned away and began walking along the beach. Silver ran up next to her.

"Hold on, Blaze!"

"Hm?"

Blaze stopped and turned around; waiting for Silver to catch up.

"What did you mean by 'the rest of them'?" he asked.

"Oh."

Blaze reached into her inventory and revealed three Sol Emeralds; blue, red, and violet.

"I managed to recover these before me and Nega fought through the portal."

She sighed.

"Looks like I now have a longer search than I had hoped."

"Well… I could help you, Blaze."

Blaze looked at Silver.

"Really? I mean… I'd hate to burden you with this task, I can do it by myself."

"It's no trouble at all, Blaze. Besides, it's been a long time since we hung out. I don't mind taking a break from rebuilding to help you find the Sol Emeralds."

Blaze slightly blushed, turning away so Silver wouldn't see.

"That's… very nice of you, Silver. Thank you."

Silver put a hand on her shoulder.

"So, where should we look first?" he asked.

"Well…" she replied, "might as well start wandering for now. The Sol Emeralds have the ability to attract and repel each other. So guess is as good as mine."

Silver looked down along Emerald Coast.

"Guess we'll start here, then."

"Lead the way, Silver."

Silver levitated above the ground and the two took off along the beach.

"By the way, Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean by 'taking a break from rebuilding'? Did something happen?"

"Blaze…" Silver chuckled, "boy, do I have a story to tell you."

As Silver began telling Blaze about Infinite and how Eggman conquered most of the world, the two took off into the sunset.

(Music fades)

Shadow went to check the portal but found nothing.

"Hmm…"

Rouge walked up to him from behind.

"Something wrong, Shadow?"

"The portal is gone."

"Well, that's one problem solved."

Shadow remained silent.

"Something on your mind?" Rouge asked.

"…I feel like I've seen that portal before..."

Rouge gave Shadow and uncertain look.

"Never mind. Let's get back to HQ. They'll want to hear our report as soon as possible," said Shadow.

He then turned to Rouge.

"Call the Chaotix. Tell them to keep searching for the Chaos Emeralds."

"You think this might be related to why we need the Chaos Emeralds?"

Shadow closed his eyes.

"I'm not sure. But I wouldn't disregard the possibility."

The two left the area to join Omega at the extraction point.

---

Blue Moon Hotel

It had been a few hours since James told Amy about Siris. Before she left to go shopping, Amy stayed and pondered over what she was told. She didn't know what to believe or if she could believe either of them. She's only known Siris and James for a couple of hours… well, Siris at least, and James' only credibility was his social status. After an hour of thinking, Amy decided it wasn't worth worrying over since she doesn't know Siris and gave him the benefit of the doubt. To help get her mind off things, she went out and explored Blue Moon Village for the time being. Now she was coming back to the hotel with a couple of new dresses she found to be adorable. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any place that served chilidogs. (Don't tell Sonic. He won't be happy with me.) As she entered the hotel, she ran into Tails, Mighty, and Ray.

[ Hub – White World – Sonic Generations Music Extended ] (Uploaded by BrawlBRSTMs3 X) (0:00)

"Guys!" she called out, waving, "Over here!"

The three turned and saw her.

"Hey, Amy," greeted Tails.

"What are you guys doing down here?" asked Amy.

Ray gave her a childish smile.

"I lost the keycard for our room," he explained.

Mighty glared at him.

"No, you didn't! You flippin' dropped it into a puddle of oil and now it's unusable!"

"I did?"

Mighty showed Ray the black card.

"Huh. So that's what happened to it," Ray nervously laughed, "Sorry."

"We'll meet up with you and Sonic in a little bit, Amy," said Tails.

"Okay, Tails. See you boys in a few!"

And with that, Amy hurried over to the elevator, making it inside just in time before the doors closed. A minute later, she reached her hotel room and walked inside. It took her only a microsecond to notice the empty beds and no blue hedgehog resting. Her eye twitched a couple of times as she took a huge breath and…

"Oh, hey, Amy."

Amy turned to her right and watched Sonic exit out of the bathroom. She sighed in relief and placed her shopping bags on one of the beds.

"You feeling alright? You're looking really red," said Sonic.

"I'm fine, Sonic. For a moment, I thought you left the hotel behind my back."

Sonic smirked and let out a soft chuckle.

"Not gonna lie, Amy; the thought did cross my mind."

"But you didn't."

Sonic shrugged and hopped back into bed.

"Sonic, be careful! You're still healing," Amy exclaimed.

"Nah, I think I'm fine now. The headaches are all gone, my wounds have all healed, I feel great!"

Amy sighed and sent Siris a message.

"Your telling Siris, aren't you?"

"Yup."

"Alright, fine. Whatever."

Amy gave Sonic a look just as she sent the message.

"What?"

"Do you have to make everything sound so unimportant?"

"Amy, I told you; I'm fine now. The headaches-"

"Sonic, do you ever worry?!"

That gave Sonic a pause.

"I always worry, Amy. About you, Tails, everyone."

"No, I mean do you ever worry about yourself?"

"Eh, not really," he shrugged.

Amy was getting really irritated.

"So, you don't care about what could happen if you don't fully recover?!"

"Well, yesterday, yeah. Siris told me about what could happen if I pushed myself too hard before my head was done healing."

"And what did he say?"

Sonic was now looking nervous as he bit his lower lip.

"Uuuhhhh…"

Amy put her hands on her hips and glared.

"I'm waiting, Sonic."

"Well… nothing too serious… just some temporary side effects."

"Bullshit, Sonic!" shouted a voice from the doorway.

Sonic and Amy turned towards the source of the voice and saw Siris standing there.

"I got your message, Amy. I thought it'd be easier to explain in person and in private," Siris explained as he, Tails, Mighty, and Ray entered the room.

"Did you go with them?" Sonic asked Siris.

"To the base? No. I ran over here and met them in the hallway."

Sonic looked puzzled.

"In case you've forgotten about earlier, I can run fast too, hedgehog."

"Fair enough."

"What did you mean earlier, Siris?" Amy asked.

"He was lying, Amy. The complications are not something to joke around with. They could lead to crippling, if not fatal, results," Siris explained.

Amy glared angrily at Sonic, who nervously smiled and shrugged.

"What kind of complications?" she growled through gritted teeth.

"Amy-"

"Shut up, Sonic!" she screamed, "I want to know!"

Siris sighed.

"Amy, I understand that you're worried about Sonic's wellbeing, but don't you think Sonic is just trying to not make you worried?"

Amy turned and glared at Siris.

"You're taking his side?!"

Siris held up his hands.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't know, but like I said, the consequences are really bad. In his defense, I think he'd prefer if you didn't know for fear if you did, you would just baby him for a whole week."

Siris turned to Sonic.

"Even if he had full healed much sooner," he finished.

"It's just… I don't want to see him hurt himself," Amy said sadly, "After he was captured by Eggman and Infinite a year ago… I don't know what I would have done if Sonic was killed. I just don't want to lose him…"

Sonic got up and hugged Amy.

"Amy…" said Sonic, "I'm not gonna hurt myself. I know when to limit myself."

Amy looked up into Sonic's eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll prove to you right now that I'm ready for adventuring again."

"R-really?"

"Really!"

He turned to Siris.

"If that's fine with you, doc."

Siris deadpanned.

"Don't call me that. I hate it."

He then softened his expression.

"But, sure. You can prove it…" he answered, "And I have the perfect test."

Tails walked up next to Siris.

"Are you sure? I thought you said he would need a few days of rest," the kitsune reminded them.

Siris leaned over and whispered into Tails' ear.

"Don't worry. I had this planned just in case something like this would happen."

Siris turned back to Sonic.

"Before we begin, I need a drink. Is there a glass anywhere?"

Everyone else in the room gave Siris a look.

"What?"

"Uh… how old are you?" Ray asked.

Siris looked at Ray and smiled with disbelief.

"You and Mighty have known me for how long and you've never asked?"

"Uh…"

"I'm 21."

The room fell into strange and confused silence that lasted for a few seconds.

"HUH!?" they all cried out.

"What?"

"You're 21?!" Sonic cried out.

"Yeeeaah… and?"

"And you're a doctor?!" Sonic continued.

"Yes. Do I need to give everyone another gold star or something?"

You know, stickers. What, did you think this was a Mario reference? Pffft. Last thing I need is Nintendo to kick me in the ass.

"How did you manage to get a medical license in just 11 years!?"

Siris rolled his eyes.

"You'd be amazed of what I have learned as a slave, Sonic. The only good thing Julian ever did for me was force up to two years' worth of college education down my throat in one month," he explained, "But that's not important right now. Can I have that glass, please? It's not for booze, I promise."

Amy blinked a couple of times before she walked over to the minibar and grabbed one of the glasses placed next to it. She then handed it to Siris.

"Thank you. Gimme a sec."

Siris walked into the bathroom and came back out a few seconds later, glass filled with water.

"Alright, Sonic," Siris said as he took a sip, "you claim to be the fastest thing alive, correct?"

Sonic looked confused.

"Uh, yeah."

"So, that means you run at insane speeds, right?"

"Yeeeaaah."

"Does that mean you also have fast reflexes?"

Sonic stared at Siris.

"Yeah. Why?"

Siris walked up to Sonic and stopped when he was a couple of feet away.

"Heads up," Siris smirked as he tossed the water at Sonic.

*Splash*

"HEY!" Sonic shouted, "What was that for!?"

Everyone stared at Siris as he laughed.

"Well, there you guys have it. Sonic, get back into bed and rest."

"Huh? What about my test?"

"You failed. Miserably."

"Huh?"

"You said you had fast reflexes. If that was the case, I'm sure you wouldn't be wet right now."

Sonic was starting to catch on.

"So… I can't run yet?"

Siris shook his head.

"Nope."

Sonic sighed and sadly laid in bed.

"You might feel better right now, Sonic, but that doesn't mean you've healed yet. Concussions take a bit longer. I'm sorry, but for the time being, you need to rest."

Sonic nodded and sighed.

"Amy, did you manage to bring me any chilidogs?"

Amy's eyes widened.

"Oh, no… he's gonna lose it…" she thought.

"Sonic…" she began.

"They serve chilidogs down in the hotel kitchen," said Tails, "Want me to order you one?"

"Phew… Thank you, Tails."

"Make it three," Sonic told him.

"Let me guess… high metabolism?" Siris asked.

"Yup," Sonic, Tails, and Amy said simultaneously.

"Not surprised."

Siris took a look around and noticed someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Knuckles?"

"He left town," Tails explained, "He chose to continue his search for the Master Emerald shards and glided off a couple minutes after we left the clinic this morning."

Siris nodded.

"I see… Well, no need for me to stick around. I'm heading home. See ya around," said Siris and he made his way out of the room.

Sonic looked over.

"Hm… If I'm gonna be stuck doing nothing for a next couple of days, maybe he could tell us what he's been up to these past few years."

"Hey, Siris?"

Siris stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Why don't you come over again tomorrow and hang out?" Sonic asked.

Siris was a bit surprised.

"Uh… I'll be busy, Sonic. And I don't think-"

"Aw, come on, Siris. You said you'd meet with me and Ray tomorrow at lunch," Mighty pointed out, "Why not have them join us as well?"

"Well, that would be a great idea, Mighty. The thing is, there's a lot of things I would have to talk about. And it would be rude to just talk about me."

"You don't have to tell us everything, Siris," said Amy, "It's not like we're therapists or anything."

Siris sighed.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have lunch with you guys."

"Sweet!" Sonic cheered, "So tomorrow around noon?"

"Noon it is then," said Siris.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well, have a good night," said Siris as he waved behind and left the room.

"Night, Siris," they replied.

Everyone stood silently.

"Hold on a second!" they heard Siris exclaim.

They watched as he came back into the room and walked to Sonic. He stopped next to the bed and held his palm out.

"Come on, pay up," Siris smirked.

Sonic moaned.

"Seriously?!" he exclaimed.

"Yup. Now gimme the 100 rings."

Sonic muttered something that would probably have resulted in this story being rated M as he begrudgingly reached into his inventory and pulled out an item box filled with 100 rings and tossed it to Siris.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Siris smirked as he left the room.

The room was once again silent. Tails, Mighty, and Ray looked at Sonic with puzzled looks. Sonic shook his head, indicating he wasn't gonna say anything.

(Music fades)

"It's getting kinda late. I think we should call it a night," said Mighty.

Ray nodded.

"Shouldn't we discuss what you guys found at the base?" Sonic suggested, "Besides, I'm starving. Those chilidogs sure would be nice right now."

"We didn't find much, Sonic," Tails explained.

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a floppy disk.

"That's it? A floppy?" Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head.

"Sorry, Sonic. But there was nothing at all in the base. We were lucky just to find this floppy under an old computer monitor," said Tails.

He flipped the floppy over and inspected it.

"I haven't checked to see if there's any data on it yet. There's a title written on it, called 'NV-001'," Tails explained before looking at Sonic, "Have any idea what it could mean? You and the Freedom Fighters have infiltrated his base many times in the past, does this mean anything to you?"

Sonic closed his eyes and thought long and hard.

"Mmmm… nothing comes to mind. If anything, why would Julian have used a floppy?"

Tails shrugged.

"Well, let's get some sleep. We can look at it in the morning," said Ray.

Everyone agreed. Mighty and Ray headed to their room across from Sonic's and went off to bed. Tails went down and (miraculously at this hour) managed to grab a couple of chilidogs for Sonic and some sandwiches for himself and Amy. After dinner, Tails let Amy sleep in his bed, since there were only two beds in the room and Sonic should have uninterrupted sleep to recover faster.

No, it wasn't because Tails thought Sonic and Amy would do THAT. The story is still young, my (lewd thinking) readers.

As Sonic and Amy drifted to sleep, Tails was sitting at the table, curiously studying the floppy disk.

"Hmm… it looks like the writing says 'NV-1001'… but it looks so… strange. The title has faded a bit over the years, but the 'V' and the second '1' just seem… off."

Tails tried to think of any other possible name that could be written on the floppy. After an hour, he gave up and fell asleep in the chair.

Meanwhile, back at his house, Siris was lying in bed, thinking about the discussion he and the others had back at the hotel. Siris was excited to have new and reacquainted friends, or friends again in general, but something bugged Siris about what Amy said.

"You don't have to tell us everything, Siris. It's not like we're therapists or anything."

"Why'd she say it like that?" Siris muttered to himself.

He decided to let it go and try to get some sleep.

Three hours later…

Sonic, Tails, and Amy were peacefully sleeping in their hotel room. It was quiet and dark. Perfect for the dark intruder to sneak in undetected.

"Hmhmhm," he chuckled softly as he made his way over to Sonic.

The intruder pulled out a knife, intending to be rid of the hedgehog once and for all from this world. As he raised his weapon above Sonic's chest, his earpiece rang.

"Yes?" he answered in a quiet voice, "I'm already here… I can end him now… What…? Is that wise…? No, no, I wasn't questioning you… Understood."

He glared at Sonic.

"You're lucky the lord wants to keep you alive," he muttered.

The intruder walked over to Tails. He had fallen asleep with the floppy covered with his hand on the table. With care, the intruder slid the floppy away from Tails' hand and put it away in his inventory. He then placed a different floppy disk, which looked identical to the other one, right next to Tails' hand. Checking his surroundings to make sure no one noticed him, he quickly made his escape before he was compromised.

---

*** October 14, 2020 ***

Siris' Home

The sun had barely even begun rising when Siris' communicator went off. The hedgehog slowly opened his eyes. He stretched out his arms and yawned before answering.

"Hello?" he mumbled, still half-asleep.

"Siris, its Tails. I need to speak with you immediately."

Siris sighed.

"Please tell me Sonic didn't do something idiotic," he moaned.

"I heard that!" Sonic shouted in the background.

"No, that's not it. I was going through the data that was on the floppy and I think you should see this," Tails explained.

Siris looked at the time on his alarm clock, since he could check it on his communicator and talk to Tails at the same time.

"Tails, it's not even six. Can this wait until noon?"

"I think you'd prefer to see it now."

"Why?"

"Just meet us at the café in half an hour."

"Alright," Siris sighed, "See ya soon."

---

Blue Moon Village Café

"'Just meet me at the café in half an hour'," Siris mimicked, "Where is he? It's been nearly 45 minutes."

"Is something wrong, Siris?"

Siris looked up from his breakfast and turned to his right; at Sylvie's face. They were sitting at one of the booths in the café, waiting for Tails and the others. They already finished their breakfast 15 minutes ago.

"I'm fine. It's just a friend of mine really wants to show me something urgent this morning. Said it couldn't wait until noon."

"Why did you bring me along?"

Siris shrugged.

"I dunno. Figured you'd like to go out some more now that you have better clothes."

The café doors opened, and Tails and Amy walked in. Siris waved them over.

"Why is Amy here? I thought Tails was coming alone."

"Morning, Tails. Amy."

"Morning."

"Morning, Siris. Who's your friend?" asked Amy.

Sylvie nervously turned to Siris. He smiled and nodded. Sylvie turned to the others.

"My name is… Sylvie. Nice to meet you."

Amy gasped.

"Oh, my God, that is the cutest name ever~!"

Amy reached over and shook Sylvie's hands.

"I'm Amy Rose."

"Uh, Amy?"

"I love that dress of yours. Where did you get it?"

"Amy?"

"That blue goes so well with your color and quills! I wonder if-"

"Amy!"

She turned to Tails.

"You're making her nervous," Tails explained.

"Huh?"

Amy turned back to Sylvie and saw that she was looking uncomfortable.

"Oh, sorry," said Amy as she released Sylvie's hands.

"Uh… I'm fine," said Sylvie.

Siris looked over to his left and saw Nephy approaching them.

"Hello. New friends of Sris?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," Tails answered.

Nephy smirked at Siris, who just rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, nice to meet ya. I'm Nephy, waitress of this fine establishment. You guys want anything to eat?"

Tails and Amy shook their heads.

"Nah, we're good. We ate earlier at the hotel," Amy explained, "Thanks anyways."

"That so? Well, if you need anything just holler," said Nephy as she walked away to serve other customers.

Siris cleared his throat to get Tails and Amy's attention.

"So, what's up? Why couldn't this wait until noon?"

Tails nervously took out two floppy disks and a electronic device.

"Yesterday, I found an old floppy disk while searching through that old base Sonic told us about," he explained, "I was going through the data earlier this morning and found something rather… disturbing."

Siris gave him a look.

"Knowing Julian's insanity, I wouldn't be surprised. Why are you telling me this? I'm not a part of the team and we hardly know each other. So why bring tell me this?"

[ Free Mood Music | Soundscape Background Music – 'Into Uncertainty' ] (Uploaded by OurMusicBox) (0:00) (Loop)

Tails bit his lower lip as he inserted one of the floppies into device.

"I tweaked one of my old Miles Electric devices to read floppy disks last night."

He handed the device to Siris.

"What's on it?" asked Siris.

"See for yourself."

Siris looked down at the device and took a look. The image on the screen sent a chill down his spine and quills. He swiped a finger across the screen and saw another photo. Then another, and another. His finger went faster as he scrolled through the photos. Once Siris saw the last photo, he yanked the floppy disk our of the device and shoved it into his inventory as he handed back the device to Tails.

"How much did you see?"

Tails sighed.

"Only four."

Siris' eyes shifted to Amy.

"Why are you here, Amy?"

Amy licked her lips nervously.

"I, uh… saw one of the photos…" she muttered.

Siris raised a brow.

"Okay… but why are you here?" he asked again.

Amy hung her head.

"I heard… things about you," she admitted with guilt.

Siris was beginning to worry.

"What kind of things?"

There was a long moment of silence before Amy replied.

"I was told that… you caused an accident a couple of years ago…"

Siris interlaced his fingers and put his hands on the table.

"And that you went crazy and got people killed."

Sylvie nervously turned to Siris.

"Siris… hurt people…? Is he as bad as my previous master?"

Siris glanced over to Tails. Judging from his reaction, Siris could tell Amy already told Tails what she heard. Siris closed his eyes and sighed.

"Does Sonic know about any of this?" he asked.

Tails and Amy shook their heads.

"… I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Tails and Amy had mixed feelings towards Siris.

"So… you're not denying it?" Tails asked.

"I never said that."

Siris turned to Sylvie and saw the look she was giving him; it tore at his heart with guilt. He sighed and turned back to Tails and Amy.

"Look, I could explain what happened in those photos… but I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Amy asked, sounding a bit harsher than she meant.

"I… it's… rrrgghh… it's not that I want to keep secrets from any of you, but… I'm not ready."

Tails and Amy looked at one another and back at Siris.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

Siris twiddled his thumbs in silence for a couple of seconds before replying.

"I have done bad things in the past. To be honest, not everything bad I have done is even in these photos," he admitted.

The three stared at Siris with shock.

"I have many regrets and have made my mistakes. But I swear to you, I am not the bad guy."

Siris' voice was beginning to sound as though he was about to cry.

"There are things that have happened that I don't want to discuss. It's not because I want to hide something from anyone, it's just… the memories are too painful for me to handle. And right now, we've only just met yesterday. You guys don't know me, I don't know you. I wouldn't blame you guys if you told Sonic everything that you know, or think you know. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just a guy from Sonic's past who he just so happened to come across again."

Tails and Amy began to pity Siris, but felt that they couldn't trust him.

"However…" Siris continued.

Tails and Amy looked back up.

"However, if you guys would give me time and a chance… I'd be willing to open up and explain everything to you guys. Someday."

Tails thought about it for a moment, while Amy debated whether or not it was worth the trouble.

"Of course… heh… that won't happen either way," Siris said softly.

"Hm? Why's that, Siris?" Tails asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Siris remarked, "You guys have a world to save. It's not like you guys are going to be staying here for a while or come back after your adventure."

Amy lowered her ears. She was so content on staying away from Siris and keeping the others away. But Siris raised a good point. It wasn't like Blue Moon Village was going to be their next vacation spot after another adventure. By Siris' logic, there was no way for him to explain himself without being forced to. And Amy wouldn't do that to anyone without hearing them defend themselves… unless it was Sonic and he forgot about their date.

"How… how much time would you need?" she asked politely.

"… Honestly, I don't know."

Tails sighed.

"Well… there's one other thing, Siris."

Siris turned to the kitsune.

"And that is…?"

"There's another file on that floppy you have; an audio file."

Siris reluctantly pulled out the floppy and handed it to Tails.

"I hope you don't intend to use this in a court. I really don't want to be forced to go through…"

Siris sighed.

"Just don't make a copy… or destroy any you already have and tell anyone else. Please?"

Tails looked into Siris' eyes. He wasn't sure if he could trust him, but something in Siris' eyes was telling him to give him a chance. Tails nodded and reinserted the disk into the Miles Electric. He pressed a couple of buttons and an audio file played.

"*zzz* -ss, are you sure this will work?"

"Of course, it will work, you square-headed idiot! You think I went through all the trouble of having you get me this recorder just to waste your time!?"

"Uuuuhhh… is this a trick question?"

" *CLANG* "

" Uh, boss? You do realize that we are both needed to deliver that voice message to Sonic, right?"

"Oh, relax, Orbot! Cubot will be up in no time. Nnnggghh! *SLAM* This is unacceptable! No one should control the world but me!"

"Boss, if I may ask, why is this guy so important?"

"Wha?"

"The one you are asking Sonic to seek out."

"Oh, him… I've researched him over the years. He's fast, strong, powerful… dangerous."

"Then why have-"

"Because Sonic will need all the help he can get! Combined, Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Siris will be able to overcome the power this so called 'Lord' claims it will have when it has all the Emeralds."

"But… what if you're wrong?"

"Then the world is doomed… Someone's coming! Quick, take that unconscious idiot and the recorder and get to work! Find *zzz*"

The audio file ended, and Tails handed Siris the floppy. Siris was so shocked by this revelation that it took him a couple of seconds to grab the floppy and put it in his inventory. An awkward silence filled the booth. Amy turned to Tails.

"You didn't tell me about the audio file, Tails."

"I thought it would be best if we all heard it together, but given the circumstances, I think it would be best if just the three of us heard it… uh, plus Sylvie."

Siris had his eyes closed and his head down.

"Siris?"

He didn't respond to Amy.

"Siris?" she asked again.

Siris looked up and opened his eyes.

"No," he said sternly.

Everyone was confused.

"Uh… no what?" asked Tails.

"No, I won't join you on your adventure."

"We didn't-"

"But you were going to, right?" Siris asked Tails.

"I think the audio clip says it all," he remarked.

"… I'm sorry, but I must refuse."

"Why?" asked Amy.

Siris glanced up at Amy.

"Why? Because I have secrets. Dangerous secrets. And a dark past. Mix that together with just some of the abilities you've seen me possess and a lack of trust and… Look, it's just a bad idea. You guys already have a good team. I would just… mess things up. And after what James told you, I don't want to have people doubting me."

Amy's eyes widened.

"How did you know it was James?"

"Pfft. Who else? No one else knows."

Tails sighed, and Amy hung her head.

"Even still," Siris continued, "I can't just leave the clinic closed for a few weeks at a time, my patients need me. I'm the only known doctor in this town. A couple of days, maybe three or four at the very most, but not for extended periods of time."

"Even if the world was at stake?" Tails pointed out.

Siris sighed.

"Alright. Fine, let's make a deal. You guys prove that this isn't some Eggman scheme, then, and only then, will I consider joining. But, you will not tell any of this to anyone. Not Sonic, not Mighty, Ray, Knuckles, no one. You can tell them about the audio file, but tell them that it self-destructed after you both heard it."

Tails and Amy looked uncomfortable.

"We don't like lying to Sonic," Amy explained.

"Then don't lie. Tell him I have the audio file. I'll do the rest."

Amy turned to Tails.

"Think we can trust him?" she asked.

"I don't know, Amy," he replied, "But I think we can give him a chance."

He then turned to Siris.

"Alright, you've got a deal," said Tails.

"Good."

Siris paused.

"And… if I join… then I'll try my best to open up."

"It's okay, Siris," said Amy, "And I'm sorry for being suspicious."

"Don't be," Siris replied, "Because there are things that even I haven't forgiven myself for… And I don't think-"

"What's going on here, fellas?"

Siris, Tails, Amy, and Sylvie all turned to the table nearby and saw Sonic sitting there with a smirk on his face.

"When did you get here?" Tails asked.

"About ten seconds ago."

Amy's eyes widened.

"Sonic… don't tell me that you…"

"Yup. Ran all the way here," he replied, before having an intrigued look on his face and tapped his chin, "Well, technically I ran from the hotel, made a few laps around the town, another couple laps in the forest, dove off a cliff, and managed to find you guys in just 15 minutes."

Tails and Amy dropped their heads into their hands, expecting Siris to argue. To their surprise, they heard him chuckling.

"Well, well, well. I see that you've fully recovered. Guess I was wrong. And I'm rarely wrong about one's health," said Siris.

"Hey, what can I say?" Sonic shrugged, "I die hard."

Siris gave Sonic a look.

"Isn't that what you told Shadow during the ARK incident?" he asked.

Sonic, Tails, and Amy were surprised. No one else knew about that but the team.

"Surprised? Don't be. I used to be a G.U.N. agent," Siris explained.

The three were even more surprised.

"You were an agent for G.U.N.?" Sonic asked.

"Yup. Until a couple of years ago," Siris replied, "But, there's no time for that now. Tails!"

The fox jumped a bit.

"Uh, yeah?"

"We were just discussing an audio clip that Tails found on the floppy. Tell Sonic what it said."

Tails and Amy were, you guessed it, surprised once more. I wonder how many surprises one can take in such a short period of time.

"Uh… you sure?"

"Of course, I'm sure!"

Siris leaned over so he could whisper to Tails and Amy.

"Look, if I want you guys to trust me, I might as well learn to trust you as well," Siris quickly explained, "I won't discuss my time with G.U.N. now, but some time in the near future, I will. Promise."

"What about the floppy?" Tails asked, "You have it."

At that instant time slowed down around Siris. Within milliseconds, he slipped the floppy into Tails' hand under the table. Once it was out of his hand, time went back to normal.

"Do I?"

"Uh…"

"Audio only. I'll show him the photos when the time is right. And now isn't the time."

Siris sat back down.

"Something up?" asked Sonic as he approached the table.

"Uh, nothing, Sonic," Amy said nonchalantly, which shockingly convinced her boyfriend.

"Yeah, we were just discussing what Siris should do after we listened to the audio on this floppy," Tails explained.

Sonic shrugged.

"Well, what did it say?" he asked.

"Tails," Siris ordered, "play it."

Sonic listened to the recording. He just stood there and listened silently until the recording ended.

"So… it was you that Eggman wanted me to find," he said.

Siris shrugged.

"What a world," Sonic sighed, "So, you'll be joining us then?"

Siris smiled sadly.

"Uhhh… not yet. I need some time to get my patients taken care of before I join on this little world-saving mission," Siris explained.

"What? Really? With the world at stake?" the blue hedgehog asked with a raised brow.

Siris sighed.

"Look, I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I'm going through some rough patches in my life right now and I need just a bit of time to… prepare."

Sonic stared at Siris.

"Well… if you say so," he said, "So… I'm good to go?"

Siris sighed.

"Yeah, Sonic. You're good to run to your heart's content."

"Sweet! I'll grab Mighty and Ray and we'll be waiting by the Tornado, Tails!"

"Uh… sure, Sonic."

"Great!"

Sonic was just about to sprint outside when he realized something.

"Uh… Tails? Where did you land the plane?" Sonic asked with a guilty smile.

"I landed it next to Siris' clinic again. There's really not many options to choose from around town, ya know."

Sonic waved his finger, giving his best friend the "now I know" gesture. He then noticed the shorter hedgehog that he didn't recognize. Siris caught on fast.

"Ah, right. You two haven't been introduced. Sonic, this is Sylvie; Sylvie, this is Sonic the Hedgehog," he said.

"Hey," Sonic waved.

"H-hello," Sylvie said nervously.

"Well, I guess we should get-"

"Hold on, Sonic," Tails called out, "There's still one more thing I want to discuss and you should be here for this."

Sonic turned to Tails.

"Alright."

He sat down next to Tails.

"What's up?"

Tails handed Siris the floppy disk and inserted the second one he had that no one looked at yet.

"I had a quick peak at the data on this one before me and Amy came here. There's some useful stuff on here that I'll comb through later, but there's one thing I wanted to ask you and Siris before we prepare to search for the other Chaos Emeralds."

"Wait a minute, Tails."

"What is it, Sonic?"

"I thought you said you found only one floppy disk. How did you end up with two?"

Siris looked suspiciously at the Miles Electric.

"I'll explain in a second. You guys need to see this first."

Tails laid the device on the table and opened a couple of files.

"Wow…" said Amy.

"Didn't see that coming," Sonic added.

"Not… good," Siris finished.

Sylvie was confused.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

The files were blueprints of robots that Eggman had designed years ago, specifically the ones that looked like robotic replicas of Sonic: Silver Sonic, Metal Sonic, and Mecha Sonic. There also appeared to be a dark looking Mobian, but the picture quality was so poor, no one could tell.

"And that's not all," said Tails as he opened a couple of more files.

"Oh, boy…" Sonic sighed.

It was information on different power sources: Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, Sol Emeralds, Chaos drives, Wisps, even sources that generate power using souls.

"Souls?" Siris pondered.

Tails saw what made Siris curious.

"Yeah, that one is a strange one. At first, I thought it was referring to when Eggman used to power his creations by using animals, like Flickies. But reading the file… it just doesn't make much sense. It just seems to be ramblings about how a person's soul could power machines."

Sylvie looked confused.

"A soul… powering a machine?" she asked.

Siris turned to her and shrugged.

"I see why we should worry, Tails. But that still doesn't answer my question before," said Sonic.

"Well, two things. First, look at the date when this file was last updated."

Silence.

"Two years ago?" Amy asked.

"Yeah."

"That's impossible," Sonic argued, "How can that be when the base has been abandoned for over 10 years?"

Tails shook his head.

"I have no idea. But here's the scary part. Before we got back from the base, I made a copy of the floppy disk. This one is the original, since you can clearly see the name written on it," he explained, "For safety, I put the original away and fell asleep with the copy in my hand. This morning, I woke up and found out that someone had stolen the copy and left the one Siris has."

Siris took a moment to process this.

"Wait, you mean you didn't find it at the base?" he asked.

"No. Someone must have snuck in last night and swapped the drives."

"Can I see the floppy for a second?" Siris asked.

Tails nodded and ejected the floppy into Siris' hands. Siris examined the disk.

"The name on it is 'NV-001'. Does that mean anything to you?" Tails asked.

"Hmm… nothing really comes to mind. Back when I was…"

Siris quickly stopped talking. He didn't want Sylvie to know about his past as a slave.

"… fighting against Julien, I had read through many plans that Julian had made. I faintly recall similar… No, I'm getting mixed up with the E-100 series. Sorry, I don't know anything."

Sonic sighed.

"Well, if it were that easy, there'd be no need for an adventure," he joked.

"GUYS!"

Everyone turned to see Mighty and Ray rushing over.

"You've gotta hear this!" Mighty exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, guys!" Sonic told them.

"How ironic," Siris teased, making Tails and Amy laugh.

From his right, Siris heard a soft giggle. He turned and saw Sylvie trying to keep an emotionless face.

"Did I just make her laugh?"

Might shook his head and raised his communicator.

"Tell them, Silver."

"Silver?!" Sonic, Tails, and Amy exclaimed.

"Hey, guys. Listen, I have something really important to ask you."

Sonic's communicator started to ring.

"Uh, one second, Silver," Sonic told him as he answered his communicator, "Hello?"

"Sonic, it's Rouge."

"Rouge!?" everyone but Sylvie exclaimed.

Immediately, everyone turned to Siris.

"Wait, you know Rouge?!" Sonic shouted.

Awkward silence...

"Aaahhh, we'll talk about another time. Let's figure out what's going on."

Sonic put his hands up and took a step back.

"Okay, hold on. One thing at a time. Silver, you first."

"Blaze is back and she needs help looking for the four Sol Emeralds that were stolen from her."

Siris recognized that name.

"Blaze…" he said, "Isn't that the princess from another dimension who has pyrokinesis and the short, hot-headed temper?"

"Excuse me, WHAT!?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," said Siris as Silver tried to calm Blaze down.

Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Silver? Blaze? Can you explain what happened?" he asked.

One explanation later…

"So, now we're wondering if you could help us," Silver asked.

Everyone was rubbing their heads.

"Silver… you're gonna want to hear this," said Tails.

Another explanation later…

"So… could you help us find the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked.

"… heh. Heh heh, are you serious?" Silver asked.

"… So, is that a 'yes'?" Sonic asked.

"Might as well, Blaze. Since we're searching for the Sol Emeralds, we might as well keep an eye on the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald shards."

"… *Sigh* Alright, Sonic. We'll help. But you've got to help us, too."

"Fair enough. Sure," said Sonic.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, except for Sylvie, who was just completely lost about what was going on.

"Hey, guys," said Rouge, "I've got a favor to ask as well."

"This is the day that never ends…" Siris began singing, "It just goes on and on my friends."

"What do you need, Rouge?" Sonic asked.

"Long story short, the President wants G.U.N. to acquire all the Chaos Emeralds for the safety of the planet. Since you boys are already on the case, you should know that Shadow had already had one for a while and I already called the Chaotix to search for the Chaos Emeralds. Should make your job a bit easier."

"Well, that's a shocker. And I take it G.U.N. won't take 'no' for an answer?" Sonic asked.

"They will, at least until this little adventure of yours is finished."

"Alright, Rouge. You've got a deal," said Sonic.

"Wonderful. Be sure to tell Knuckles as well; I can't seem to get in touch with him."

Tails' face went pale.

"Uh oh…" he muttered.

Everyone turned to the fox.

"Something wrong, Tails?"

"Knuckles left his communicator back at the hotel. I was gonna give it to him yesterday back at the clinic, but I completely forgot. There's no way to reach him."

Rouge sighed.

"No worries, Rouge. If anyone sees Knuckles, they'll tell them everything," Sonic pointed out.

"Oh, God and Chaos, please don't let it be me," Siris moaned.

"Same," everyone said simultaneously.

Sonic turned to Mighty and Ray.

"How Silver get your number?"

"Vector," they replied.

"Right… well, I guess we're off for another adventure. Silver, Blaze, Rouge. Keep in touch."

Sonic and Mighty hung up their calls.

"So… what's next?" Siris asked, "Is Chaos going to return? Are the Black Arms gonna return and invade once again? Or, maybe the Time Eater-"

"Shut up, Siris," Sonic smirked, "You sure you don't wanna join us?"

Siris shook his head.

"Not yet. But I get the feeling this is going to be a long adventure. From what I remember, it took you nearly two months just to repair the planet when Dark Gaia was awakened. Who's to say this won't be as long, if not longer?"

Let's be serious, when you're playing Sonic Unleashed on the Xbox 360/PS3, the number of times you have to change the time of day just to finish every stage and mission would basically be roughly a month in game… or two.

"Fair enough."

"So, you will join us later?" Amy asked.

Siris nodded.

"Just give me a couple of weeks. After that, I think I'll be ready. If not… well, good luck to you guys then."

Sonic got up and held out his hand.

"Cool meeting you again after all these years," he smirked.

"Likewise, Sonic," Siris replied, shaking his hand.

Sonic nodded and they stopped shaking hands.

"Come on, guys. Let's get going."

"Wait… we're leaving? Now?" Amy asked.

"Yup. The sooner we find those Emeralds the better," said Sonic.

"And the less powerful the Lord will become," said Siris.

Everyone turned to him.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

"We have to assume the worst. If what Blaze says is correct, then the Lord already has four Sol Emeralds and who knows how many Master Emerald shards. And mind you, Knuckles and Mighty had their butts handed to them, each by a robot with just a single Master Emerald shard."

Realization dawned on everyone.

"I don't even want to know what a robot could do with just four Sol Emeralds," Siris added.

"Well, then we better get started! And I have an idea on where to start," Sonic announced.

"You do?" said Mighty, "Where?"

Sonic looked down at his bracelet.

"The first place we restored the planet."

Ray and Mighty looked at each other.

"Huh?"

Sonic shook his head.

"I'll explain later. Come on guys, let's get to the Tornado!"

He turned to Siris.

"Later, Siris. Sylvie."

"See ya," said Siris as Sylvie waved.

The gang said their goodbyes to Siris and Sylvie, who was also introduced to Mighty and Ray, and left to begin a new adventure.

"Well… I guess we should head back home, right, Sylvie?"

"Yes. Uh… Siris?"

"Yeah? I'm… confused. What's going on? Is the world in danger again?"

Siris sighed and patted her on the head.

"Well, at least it's not Knuckles…"

"I'll explain everything later. Right now, we need to get home, it's already…" Siris said as he checked the time, "Wow, it's already 8:30?!"

"Don't you have to open up at nine?"

"Yeah, I do."

Siris paused.

"Sylvie, could you hold on for a second? I need to use the restroom real quick."

Sylvie nodded and Siris left for the bathroom.

(Music fades)

---

The Lord's Secret Base

[ Deadspace soundtrack 1: Dead Space Theme ] (Uploaded by GoldskinOST) (0:00) (Loop it multiple times)

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

*BEEP BEEP*

"Go ahead, sleeper. Your voice modifier is active."

"The blue hedgehog and his friends just left the café. Apparently, your so-called 'infiltrator' grabbed a copy; they still have the original."

"This is not a major concern. The copy is just a bump in the road. And now that everyone is working together, it will make if much easier for you to get closer to them."

"I suppose it does. But what should we do about the echidna? He doesn't know anything and he's now closing in on a possible Emerald location."

"Hmm… how long before he reaches the location?"

"Three days, maximum."

"Plenty of time… I think I have the perfect creation to deal with him. Once he's disposed of, his disappearance will distract the others and give us extra time. Not that we would need it."

"What about the others?"

"Continue as planned. Let them figure out who the traitor is."

"And the girl?"

"What of her?"

"She's just a slave. I don't think I can-"

"Sleeper, what you do with the girl is not my concern. Do as you wish with her."

"Understood."

"Good. And prepare for Halloween."

"Sir?"

"I have a special… treat for Blue Moon Village."

"Why would you waste resources here?"

"Why are you contacting me from a bathroom?"

"… Your sense of humor never ceases to amaze me. But why waste resources that could be used to bring down Sonic instead?"

"Theatrics. A massacre in a small town is a great way to lower a hero's morale."

"Ah… and Halloween is making it over-the-top. Perhaps so much so that it would get the attention of the world?"

"If all goes to plan, yes."

"I see. And this treat wouldn't happen to be the…"

"Yes. Yes, it is, indeed. Now, keep a close eye on those heroes. We wouldn't want them to think they have the upper hand now, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't. I've already a plan in motion. Don't you worry, my Lord."

"Excellent. I look forward to your next report."

*BEEP*

The Lord sighed.

"Enjoy yourself while you can, Sonic. Because before you know it... your spirit will be broken and you will watch as I change the world as I see fit."

The room began to fill with maniacal laughter. The only thing that could be seen in the darkness where the Lord sat were two red robot eyes.

(Music fades)

---

A/N:

Wasn't expecting the chapter to end like this. I wanted to keep going, but this is already getting long. Presentation-wise, the first part of the next chapter would have been perfect to end here. Oh, well. Hopefully it won't take me as long to write the next chapter. Yeah, as of posting, I haven't even started it yet. But, don't worry. My cough is practically gone… okay, it's not. But, it's much better than before. So. don't worry, I'll make sure the quality is much better next time!

~ThePhantomHedgehog