"Tails?! Keith?!"
Sonic was in an all black space, an endless nothingness stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Hello?! Anybody there?!"
He looked around for any sign of life, finally spotting a familiar ball of orange fur lying on the ground.
"No…"
Sonic instantly ran over to the orange fur, quickly seeing that it was Tails. He rolled Tails over, his friend remaining unmoving. Sonic began to shake him, becoming somewhat frantic.
"No..." he all but whispered. "Tails..."
He backed away slowly, nearly tripping over another figure. He turned around, gasping when he saw it was Keith. The teen was unmoving, his goggles broken and his eyes glassy. Sonic let out a choked sob, dropping to his knees in front of the teen. He covered his mouth as tears began to fall.
"Sonic…" a familiar voice to Sonic echoed.
Sonic looked around in search of the source of the voice, but couldn't find it.
"Sonic!" The voice all but shouted.
Sonic turned around in a frantic search, feeling something grabbing him.
…
"Sonic!" A lifeguard at Station Square beach called out, shaking the unconscious hedgehog. "Sonic, wake up!"
Several swimmers were all gathered around, watching as the lifeguard tried to wake Sonic. Suddenly, Sonic sat up, batting the lifeguard away as he struggled to breathe. Everyone backed up, giving him some space.
"You ok, Sonic?"
Sonic just sat there, panting for a moment before getting his bearings. Once he realized where he was, he was on his feet, taking off for the city so fast he left a deep gouge in the sand.
…
Deep in the Mystic Ruin, Keith and Tails pulled themselves from the wreck of the Tornado II. Both of them were sore, but otherwise unhurt.
"You ok, Tails?" Keith asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tails assured him. "Mobian endurace I guess. What about you?"
"Doing alright. Though I think the Tornado II is toast."
Tails glanced back at the wreck, letting out a sigh.
"Yeah… I guess it is..."
"You think Sonic landed okay?"
"I hope so…" Tails replied, his mind wandering.
…
Many years ago on Mobius, Tails was walking alone in the forest. As he did, he heard the mechanical whirring of a robot, turning around to see one right behind him. In a blind panic, Tails took off running, trying to get away from the bot. Suddenly, blaster fire began to pepper the robot, utterly destroying it. Tails turned around, shocked to see Sonic flying the Tornado. Tails grinned, waving him down.
"Sonic!"
Sonic swooped down, allowing Tails to climb aboard.
"Hey Tails. Mind taking over?"
Tails took the controls as Sonic climbed onto the wing. Five more robots came walking into the clearing, aiming their weapons at the Tornado.
"What are we gonna do?" Tails asked.
"Dive right at 'em."
Tails grinned, gunning the thrusters.
"Ok!"
…
"Tails? Tails!"
"Huh?" Tails let out, snapping out of his trans.
"You ok? You were just staring into space there for a minute."
"Yeah. I'm ok. Just thinking about something."
"Well, I hope it was a plan, because we're in dire need of one."
"Well with the Tornado II down, the only chance we have of finding the Egg Carrier is finishing my prototype. Unfortunately, it needs a Chaos Emerald to work."
"Well then, we better find one," Keith declared, powering on his goggles. "Luckily these babies still work. Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover."
…
Back in Station Square, Amy had finished her grocery shopping, the flickie now resting peacefully on her shoulder.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," Amy told the bird. "I'm sure once you get something to eat, you'll be even more so."
The flickie chirped happily, nuzzling Amy with its head.
"Aw, thanks. I'm more than happy to help." She started thinking for a minute. "You know, if you're going to be sticking around, I think you should have a name."
The flickie cocked its head as Amy thought again, then snapped her fingers.
"I know. How about Lily?"
The flickie chipred happily upon hearing the name, much to Amy's delight.
"Then Lily it is."
As Amy and Lily rounded the corner, Sonic came skidding around the corner. When he locked eyes on Amy, he froze. Amy's eyes went wide, the groceries falling from her hand. They stared at each other for a moment, then Amy began slowly moving towards him.
"Sonic?"
In the blink of an eye, Sonic was holding her, clutching her tight to him like he was afraid she'd disappear. Amy went stiff in his embrace, alarm bells going off in her head. Still, she waited until his grip loosened before pulling herself free, meeting his eyes.
"Sonic, are you okay? What happened? Where have you been the last six months? Why are you so pale?"
"... Tails and Keith… we went down… I don't know if…"
He was speaking so quietly she almost didn't hear him. She took his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.
"Come on Sonic," she told him. "We can go look for them together, okay? You and me."
His grip tightened on her hand as a small smile graced his face. Before they could so much as take a step, a large, green robot came rolling around the corner, blocking their path.
"What the-?!" Amy let out. "It's one of Eggman's robots!"
A rush of adrenaline surged through Sonic, his voice returning in full force as he put himself between the robot and Amy.
"Amy, get out of here!" Sonic told her. "I've got this guy!"
"Are you sure, Sonic?" Amy asked.
"Just go!"
Hesitantly, Amy grabbed Lily and bolted down the street, leaving Sonic to face the green robot. He smirked, popping his neck.
"Perfect timing. I was needing something to vent on."
Sonic rushed towards the green robot as it launched one of its fists at Sonic. Sonic quickly dropped and skidded across the ground before reaching the robot and leaping up to it, kicking it in the face. The robot skidded back before firing a laser from its head. Sonic easily evaded it before rushing at him again. This time the robot hoverd in the air over Sonic just before he reached it. As Sonic looked up, the robot shot down one punch after another, prompting Sonic to dodge each blow as it was being dealt. Finally, the robot dropped down and slammed both its fists on the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked Sonic back. As Sonic got back to his feet, the robot shot a fist out past Sonic, grabbing a nearby fire hydrant and yanking it out of the ground, causing it to hit Sonic in the back of the head, knocking him down.
…
Down the street, Amy kept running, keeping a careful hold on Lily.
"That thing came out of nowhere!" she cried. "Was it after Sonic?"
Lily just tweeted frantically in response. Just then, the robot landed right in front of them, much to Amy's horror.
"You! What did you do with Sonic?!"
"Flickie identified," the robot let out. "Preparing for capture."
The robot shot out a fist, ensnaring both of them in its grasp. Amy screamed, struggling as the robot took off.
"No! Let us go! Sonic! SONIC!"
…
Upon hearing her scream, Sonic instantly came to, running towards the source. He got there just in time to see the robot flying off with Amy in tow.
"Amy!" he shouted.
"HELP!" Amy cried out.
Sonic watched them disappear, his breathing becoming ragged. He fell to his knees, punching the sidewalk in anger and despair. After kneeling there for a minute, his gaze hardened and his fists clenched. Rising to his feet, Sonic took off down the sidewalk, a hedgehog on a mission.
…
Meanwhile, on the Red Mountain of Angel Island, Knuckles had just finished digging up the last Master Emerald shard in the area. Kat was sitting on a cliff side, the other two shards they'd located there in her lap. She was focusing on them, trying to get them to float. While they occasionally sparked and trembled slightly, they did not lift off her hand.
"Oh come on, I could do it before. What's changed?"
"I'm not sure," Knuckles admitted. "To be honest, I'm still shocked you were able to do it the first time."
"It's weird. I didn't feel anything at first, then it felt like something inside of me just… clicked." she let out a small laugh, sticking the shards in her satchel. "Maybe the Emerald likes me now."
"It doesn't work like that," Knuckles told her.
"It's called a joke, Knux. Seriously, you still have a lot to learn about people and friends."
He playfully pushed her, then tossed her his final shard. She caught it, putting it with the rest.
"So, where to next?" She asked. "We can't have that many shards left."
"Not sure," Knuckles replied, trying to get a sense for the shards.
As he focused out his senses, the red light from before came flying towards them. This time, it landed on Knuckles' head, filling his mind with visions of a Ziggurat temple. He saw a basic path, a spot where its keys were buried, and the image of three shards embedded into the main altar of the temple. His eyes opened as the light flew off, disappearing without a trace.
"I know where we need to go," Knuckles told her.
Kat nodded and the two headed off once more.
…
Back in the Mystic Ruins, Tails and Keith were continuing their search for the Chaos Emeralds. Keith scanned the area with his goggles, picking up a faint signal.
"I think I'm getting something," Keith informed.
"Where is it?" Tails asked.
"Up ahead, in the bushes."
The two went off towards the bush, parting the leaves to see a mobini squirrel clutching the red Chaos Emerald.
"Hey, shoo!" Keith let out. "Get away!"
The squirrel looked up, chittering at Keith as if to tell him to shoo. Keith shooed it again and it actually chucked the Emerald at him before doing so. Keith caught it, looking at the gem.
"Think this will work for your new plane?" he asked.
"Absolutely," Tails replied.
At Keith held up the Emerald, the red light came out of nowhere. It began circling around the two of them, much to their surprise.
"What is that?" Keith asked.
"I don't-"
Just then, a bright flash engulfed the two of them.
…
When the light finally died to a manageable level, they found they weren't in the Mystic Ruins anymore. Insteady, they found themselves in what looked like a tranquil meadow. Ahead of them appeared to be some kind of altar, surrounded by several pillars and complimented by a tranquil stream that wrapped around it. What caught the two of them off guard was on each of the pillars were the seven Chaos Emeralds.
"The Emeralds..." Keith let out. "What are they doing here?"
"I'm not sure…" Tails admitted. "Wait, there's someone down there."
The two moved in closer as they saw Tikal standing before a group of Chao.
"You're the… Chao…" Tikal realized, taking a small step forward.
The Chao all seemed to back away from her, acting shy and nervous. Tikal bent down, giving a gentle smile as she held out her hand.
"It's alright," she assured them. "I won't hurt you."
The Chao cautiously came out of their hiding place, floating towards her. She remained perfectly still as they circled her, chirping happily as they did. Tikal smiled in turn, gently petting one. Keith and Tails watched her in confusion.
"That's… an Echidna," Tails realized. "But, there aren't any more echidna."
"If that's true, then who's she?" Keith wondered.
The two moved towards her, hoping to ask her some questions.
"Excuse me," Tails called out, reaching for her. "Who are-?"
His hand ended up phasing right through her.
"What the…" Tails let out.
"Maybe what we're seeing… isn't really happening," Keith reasoned.
At that moment, Tikal looked up at the altar, seeing something that made her go wide eyed.
"It… can't be…"
She slowly walked towards the steps of the altar, seeing the Emeralds circled around her.
"I hope… I'm not intruding…"
Just then, some light trickling rang out from the stream.
"You mean you… trust me?"
The trickling happened again, as if the stream itself was talking to her.
"A-alright…"
Tikal walked up the steps, reaching the top and seeing the Master Emerald. She looked all around her in amazement.
"The seven Chaos… Wait a minute… could it be?"
The Chao around her began to circle her again, as if urging her to continue.
"My grandmother taught me a prayer. I never thought much of it but..."
There was another trickling noise from the stream, causing Tikal to perk up.
"What was it? Well, it goes like this." She closed her eyes, folding her hands before herself. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power… power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the Chaos."
All of the Chao begin chirping excitedly, pushing Tikal up the steps. As she reached the top, she gasped.
"Is this… the controller of the seven Chaos Emeralds?"
Keith and Tails looked at each other in confusion, before deciding to climb the steps themselves. Just as they got to the top though, they were met with another bright light.
…
The very next moment, they were standing in the Mystic Ruins jungle once more, as though they had never left. Both of them blinked, completely disoriented.
"What just… happened?" Keith questioned.
"I'm not sure…" Tails admitted. "But we can't worry about it now. Right now, we need to get that Chaos Emerald to my prototype."
"Right," Keith agreed. "Then let's go!"
…
Meanwhile, on board the Egg Carrier, the E-100 Series robots were all standing in front of a podium where Robotnik was preparing to make an announcement.
"Attention, elite crew of the grand Egg Carrier, I have an announcement to make!
Just then, a picture of Froggy appeared on the screen.
"If you will turn your attention to the screen, you will see a rather unusual frog. This frog is unique because it is sporting a tail. Believe it or not, this frog is essential to my plans, so you will find this tailed frog, and bring it to me. Now go!"
"Yes, Dr. Robotnik!" they all said at once before marching off.
"Now that's what I like to see," Robotnik remarked. "Ample bodied robots completely loyal to me."
"Aren't we loyal, boss?" Orbot asked.
"I said ample bodied robots. You two would have to get body work to be considered scrap."
"He always knows just what to say," Cubot responded.
…
Deep within the jungle of the Mystic Ruins, Knuckles and Kat came across the ancient Ziggurat Temple from Knuckles' vision. A massive tree was resting on top of it, a testament to its age. Kat fished into her bag, pulling out the key they had dug up not too long ago.
"How did you know where to find the key?" she asked. "I mean, temple sure, but its key?"
"I don't know… it was like… a vision."
"This entire thing seems to be particularly fraught with mystery. Me being able to interact with the Emerald shards like that, the weird creature, our second shared vision since this began..." She chuckled a bit. "Who'd have thunk a scavenger hunt would be so exciting."
"Well if these visions are anything to go on, this scavenger hunt has much higher stakes at play then we first thought."
"Well then," Kat used her key to unlock the temple. "Shall we?"
Knuckles nodded as they moved inside. As they walked, Knuckles carefully checked the ground and the wall, much to Kat's confusion.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking for pressure plates," he explained. "I've been in enough old ruins and ancient temples to know that there are always bobby traps."
"Huh, I thought that kinda stuff was only in movies."
"Nope. remember, a wall crushing trap is how I met Hawk."
"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that."
Knuckles finished up his search, satisfied that he hadn't found anything. He then took a step forward, and felt the brick under his foot sink. He froze, Kat froze, and they heard loud groaning coming from above them.
"Did… Did you just-"
"Yep..."
The two looked up and saw a massive boulder rolling towards them.
"Run!" Knuckles let out.
He grabbed her arm and they both began running, the boulder closing in on them. Up ahead, they could see a large section of the floor giving out, revealing a massive spike pit. Luckily for the pair, part of the tree had broken through the roof, allowing several vines to snake into the temple. They both leapt towards one of the vines and swung across the floor, landing just on the other side. Kat nearly lost her footing, but Knuckles managed to grab her by the strap of her satchel, yanking her to safety. The boulder rolled right into the pit, crushing the spikes and coming to a dead stop. The two let out sighs of relief as they leaned against the opposing wall.
"Indiana Jones, eat your heart out," Kat declared.
"Come on, we're not done yet."
The two continue deeper into the temple, where they eventually reach a large altar. There, three more Emerald shards could be seen embedded into the stone. The two quickly rushed up the stairs to the temple, sharing grins.
"This is great," Kat cheered. "We're getting so close."
"These shards are a bit bigger than the others," Knuckles noted. "We may need to find another way of getting them out of the temple."
"Let's worry about getting them out of the stone first."
"Leave that to me."
Knuckles held out his hands, focusing once more. All three shards began floating out of the altar, gently swirling around the Echidna. Kat sighed, shaking her head.
"Still so cool, and I'm still so jealous."
She reached out to grasp the largest shard, which immediately began glowing brightly. Knuckles' eyes flew open as light overtook them once more.
…
As the light died out, the two found themselves in a tranquil meadow, the two of them blinking spots from their eyes.
"Vision number three," Kat remarked. "Wonder where we ended up this time."
"I'm not sure. I-"
Knuckles went silent, slowly walking towards something nearby. Kat noticed his movement and quickly moved to catch up.
"Knux? What is it?"
"It's… it's the altar of the Master Emerald…"
Kat looked up, and sure enough, it was the Master Emerald Shrine, surrounded by the seven Chaos Emeralds positioned on stone pillars.
"It's just like the vision we had in Orient City…" Kat recognized.
"Up there," Knuckles pointed out. "It's her…"
Kat looked up and saw Tikal standing before the Master Emerald. There was an entire colony of Chao around her, all of them clinging to her in some way.
"I know you can hear me," Tikal said nervously. "My father seeks to take the Emeralds and use their power for his own gain. I have tried to reason with him, but my pleas fall on deaf ears. For the sake of your people, you must flee."
The water trickled in response, as if it was talking to her.
"You mean you can't leave this place?" Another trickle answered her. "I- I see… Then I will try again. One way or another, I must find a way to prevent this."
The water rippled one more time and the Chao surrounding Tikal began to harmonize around her. They circled her in a small dance, as if trying to lift her spirits. Tikal smiled in response, kneeling down to them.
"Don't worry little ones. I won't let anything happen to you."
Knuckles and Kat just watched, both of them surprised by this interaction, while also incredibly confused. Before either of them could see anything more, light engulfed them as the scene faded away.
…
Back with the fishing crew, Helen, Cream and Cheese had fallen asleep at this point, getting tired of waiting. Big let them sleep, commenting on how he often fell asleep playing as well. Unbeknownst to him, not far from the fishing spot, all of the E-100 robots were hard at work, trying to find Froggy as well.
"Must find Frog," Delta let out.
"Location must be nearby," Epsilon reasoned.
"Must keep looking," Zeta insisted.
"For Dr. Robotnik," Beta declared.
Gamma kept searching further away from the group, hoping to find the mystery frog as well.
Back with Big, he just kept bobbing the lure up and down. Suddenly, something managed to snag it, prompting him to sit up.
"I got something!" he cheered.
Both girls instantly woke up, watching as Big pulled and tugged on the line. Finally, he managed to pull Froggy out, much to their delight.
"We got him!" Big declared. "We got Froggy!"
"Way to go, Big!" Helen cheered.
All of a sudden, Gamma yanked Froggy off of the lure, running off with him. The trio all gasped, watching as the robot ran off.
"Hey!" Cream called out. "That frog isn't yours!"
Gamma either didn't hear her or just ignored her, patching himself into Robotnik's communication network.
"Frog capture is complete," Gamma reported. "Returning to base."
"Let's go after him!" Helen declared.
"Ok," Big agreed, scooping both Helen and Cream up in his arms. "Hold on!"
Big then took off after Gamma, accidentally leaving Helen's chair behind. They followed Gamma as he met up with the other E-100 series robots, each of them holding a frog they believed to be the right one. They gathered on the shore as the Egg Carrier began rising out of the ocean, the sight of it making the group stop short. Once the bots all boarded, Helen's gaze hardened.
"Let's follow them!" she declared.
"Yeah!" Cream agreed. "We need to get Froggy back!"
"Okay, but hold on tight!" Big insisted.
With both girls clutching his fur, Big ran up the ramp just as it began closing, the Egg Carrier taking off.
…
Unlike the last two times Kat and Knuckles had received visions, they did not wake up back where they started. Much to their shock, they were standing right at the base of the Master Emerald Shrine, the large shards resting in a perfect circle around them.
"We're… back on Angel Island," Knuckles realized.
"How did we get here?" Kat wondered. "This is starting to get really, really weird."
"It's starting to fit though," Knuckles pointed out. "She was here, at the Shrine of the Master Emerald."
"Tikal… Who do you think she was talking to?"
"I don't know… but she's been present in every vision we've had, even when it was just her voice. She's clearly trying to tell us something."
"Well, clearly it involves the Master Emerald somehow." Kat bent down, grabbing one on the larger shards from off the ground. "Since we're here, let's get these shards up with the others."
Knuckles nodded, grabbing the other two before they both ran up the steps of the shrine. Kat took the shards out of her bag as Knuckles held out his hands towards the base. Slowly, the shards began to glow and float, circling around the base. The Emerald then began assembling itself like a puzzle, the shards clicking into place and fusing into one solid mass. In less than a minute, the pieces were whole once more, save for a fair-sized chunk in the side.
"We're so close..." Knuckles let out. "Just need to find that last piece."
As he said this, the red light from before came flying over the temple. It circled the Master Emerald before resting right on top. Much to the duo's surprise, an image began to form on the Emerald's reflective facets. They gasped, seeing an image of the Egg Carrier in the center.
"That… that looks like one of Eggman's bases," Knuckles recognized.
"Makes sense honestly," Kat pointed out. "His creature shattered it in the first place. Of course he snagged a few pieces for himself."
"Then we need to find that flying fortress and get those pieces back!" Knuckles declared.
…
Elsewhere in the Mystic Ruins, the robot who captured Amy was carrying her through the jungle, with Sonic still on his tail.
"Hey, bolt brain!" Sonic called out, leaping through the trees to get ahead of him. "You better let Amy go right now, or I'll scrap ya!"
The robot suddenly came to a stop, confusing the two hedgehogs as a massive shadow overtook them. Sonic looked up and saw the Egg Carrier coming overhead, shooting down a tractor beam that seemed to carry the robot, and by extension Amy, away.
"Sonic! Help!" Amy called out.
"Hang on Amy!" Sonic called back.
He began looking around, trying to find a way to get up to the Egg Carrier but seeing none. Looking around more and more frantically, he saw the downed Angel Island, an idea forming. He took off so fast he left a Sonic Boom in his wake, carving a trench in the water as he ran across the surface for Angel Island. The second he touched down on solid land, he took off in a flash, racing across the island. He leapt through the trees without missing a single beat. As he came towards a small canyon, he tried leaping across it. He missed the other side, but just ran down the wall of the canyon so he could loop back up and make it.
Sonic continued his stride, coming across a collection of massive rocks and leaping upwards between them, using his hands to land on one to survey the mountain and seeing the Egg Carrier wasn't there yet. Sonic took this chance to leap down and run as fast as he could towards the mountain, hoping to make it in time.
…
Meanwhile, Knuckles and Kat began walking from the Shrine, trying to come up with a plan.
"That ship will be easy to spot," Kat remarked. "It'll be getting up there that'll be difficult."
"Right…" Knuckles agreed. "Maybe we can ask Tails for a lift."
Just then, a blue blur streaked by so fast, it created a powerful burst of wind. Both of them were instantly knocked back, needing a moment to recover.
"Was that… Sonic?" Kat questioned, looking in the direction the blur had gone. "I knew he was fast, but that was insane."
"There's only one reason Sonic would go that fast…" Knuckles reasoned. "If lives were on the line. Come on!"
They got up, running in the direction Sonic was going. By now, he was so far ahead he was just a blue line in the distance, but his destination was clear: Red Mountain.
"Why's he headed for the mountain?" Kat wondered. "We were there not too long ago. There's nothing there."
"I think I know why," Knuckles replied, seeing the Egg Carrier fly overhead.
…
With Sonic, he continued running as fast as he could up the side of the mountain. As the Egg Carrier flew overhead, several rocks were shaken loose, falling towards Sonic. Sonic simply leapt from rock to rock before leaping at the last one, spin dashing right through it and shattering it. Once Sonic landed on the ground, his feet kicked into overdrive, turning into an infinity symbol as he got closer and closer to the summit.
Once he got to the peak of the mountain, he leapt up towards the Egg Carrier, reaching out a hand to try and catch it. Sadly, his hand was just out of reach, causing him to fall back towards the mountain. He hit the ground hard, propping himself up as he saw the Egg Carrier fly away.
"No!" he shouted, getting back to his feet and stretching out his hand.
He dropped to his knees in defeat as Knuckles and Kat came running up. The second Knuckles saw Sonic's face, he grew concerned.
"Sonic, what happened?"
"Eggman… he took Amy… I tried to save her…"
"Wait… Keith and Tails," Kat recalled. "They were with you, weren't they? Where are they?"
"We were fighting the Egg Carrier…" Sonic replied, his voice lowering to a whisper. "We got hit… and they… they…"
He was suddenly cut off by the sound of an incredibly powerful plane engine. The trio all looked to the sky, watching as a massive white jet came streaking towards them. As Sonic turned towards it, he saw someone in the cockpit that made him go wide eyed.
"Tails!" He let out smiling widely. "Keith! They're okay!"
"Sonic!" Tails replied, pulling up next to them. "Say hello to the X-Tornado. The ultimate in air assault craft!"
"Give me the guided tour later," Sonic insisted, jumping onto the back of the plane. "Amy's on the Egg Carrier and we need to save her."
"Mind if we hitch a ride as well?" Knuckles asked. "Eggman's got something we want."
"By all means," Keith replied. "Hop on!"
Kat got into one of the passenger seats as Knuckles climbed onto the side with Sonic. Once everyone was secure, the X-Tornado took off in pursuit of the Egg Carrier.