A/N: When we last paid attention to Swift, he was in the middle of yet another crisis. I swear that he attracts more trouble than an ice cream truck attracts young kids. Time to see how he gets out of it!

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Chao Card: Amy

Type: Normal, Hedgehog, Working on Speed/Power

Known Powers: Pull a hammer out of nowhere… otherwise all powers classified

Equipment: Warrior Feather, Piko-Piko Hammer

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Station Square High School- 14:02

Chris eagerly closed the door to his locker. He was glad that the school day was over for a few reasons. One, by now, Swift and Miles would be done with their physical, and they could chat over some nachos or something. Two, Miles had proven to be smart enough to understand the rather complicated readings of one William Shakespeare, and Chris definitely needed some help with his English homework. Three, there was going to be a Godzilla movie marathon at eight, and he needed to set his DVR.

So, he was kind of shocked that after he got outside the school, he immediately received a phone call from Tanaka. Wasting no time, Chris grabbed his cell phone, opened it, and asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Tanaka?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Tanaka retorted over the phone.

"We had this policy when my dad first bought me my phone," Chris remembered. "In exchange for letting my friends actually know my phone number, I had to agree that you and I keep in contact with each other whenever there's an emergency. So, whatever's wrong, tell me."

"Well," Tanaka answered, "there have been a couple of accidents at the hospital. Both of which are Swift related."

"Such as…?"

"Well, the first one was the overloading of really complicated technology."

"Oh, for the love of… where's Swift?"

"Get to the point already, Mr. Tanaka!" Miles' voice yelled in the background. "I think that kangaroo's found us." The sound of a wall falling apart could also be heard. "Oh lord Chaos, it did! And it doesn't look happy!"

"He can't talk to you, right now," Tanaka answered. "He's busy dealing with the second accident in the form of a…" there was a crash on the other side of the line. "Oh… crap. That looked like one mean robot kangaroo kick. I'll talk to you, later."

"Mr. Tanaka, wait!" Chris yelled, but his plea fell on deaf ears. And by that, I mean that Tanaka hung up on him. He then noticed that his bus had just left. This was an interesting situation- he had no real way of actually getting to the hospital on time since not only was Chao World General on the other side of town, but his grandfather was busy in his lab, today.

Luckily, somebody answered his problem. And that somebody was Mrs. Prower, who was picking Danny up from school to go to the dentist's office, which conveniently was a block away from Chao World General. "Hey, Mrs. Prower, can I get a ride over to the Chao hospital?"

---

Chao World General- 14:05

"Damn you DCS board!" Swift yelled as he ran through the halls of the hospital, the Egg Hopper… well, hopped after him. Even with super speed, it was ridiculously hard for anybody to outrun a hopping marsupial that looked rather pissed off. During the call between Chris and Tanaka, the Egg Hopper had taken the time to break into the room that Miles was hiding in with Tanaka, and kicked him all of the way across the hall. Now, it was setting its sights on Swift.

Tanaka lightly slapped Miles a few times to wake him up. "But I don't wanna go to Chao kindergarten, mommy…." Miles moaned with a swirl over his head.

"Miles, this is a matter of life and death, not the first day of school," Tanaka berated while placing the vest on Miles. Once Miles' full attention was on him, Tanaka continued, "Now, I did what you asked me to, and Master Chris should arrive, soon enough." Tanaka then looked around to make sure that nobody was around. Only when he was sure that they weren't being watched did he proceed. "But why do you insist that this is a job for that hedgehog creature called 'Sonic?'"

"It's Swift's idea, not mine," Miles answered. "Besides, do you really think that Swift or you can take that thing? You saw how it crushed that scanning machine! And even if it held back with that kick, I think it cracked a pair of my ribs!"

Tanaka hated to admit it, but damn if Miles wasn't smart. Still, he'd rather not endanger Chris as much as Miles and Swift placed him into it. "…Fine, but you two Chao owe me a favor."

While Tanaka was arranging the favor that Miles owed him, Swift was dodging and duking his way out of the Egg Hopper's attacks. "Geez, you don't give up, do you!?" he yelled at the thing. The Egg Hopper only replied by launching a fist straight into Swift's cheek, plowing him through the wall. The Egg Hopper prepared another punch while Swift was still recovering, so there was no way he could dodge the blow.

"Get away from him!" a voice yelled. The Egg Hopper turned its head in time to receive a lead pipe straight into its face. Karin Naka was rather pissed off, right now- nobody destroyed the hospital, attacked the patients, and got away with it all on her watch. "If you want to hurt my patient, you have to go thru me, damn it!" The Egg Hopper took this as a hint, and simply swatted her away with her tail, slamming her into the weight scale. The Egg Hopper turned its attention back towards its original target, only to feel a hand on its left ankle. Karin, despite her chest and back injuries, was holding onto the robot's leg. "You're not… going to lay a finger on Swift!"

"Karin…" Swift dizzily explained with a swirl over his head, "I hate to break it to you… but that thing has a rough hay maker. What make you think that you can take it head on?"

"…I don't," Karin answered. Swift had an exclamation point over his head. "Swift, I don't think that I can truly go head-to-head with this robot."

"Then why are you doing it!?" he questioned. "You're just going to get yourself killed!"

"…Because Chao are my life," she answered. Swift's eyes grew wide at that answer. "When you first saw me, you probably noticed how bored I looked. I was originally expecting you and Miles to be ordinary Chao. However, you two proved that you're beyond ordinary. In fact, you're just like a group of Chao I met years before."

---

Flashback- Twenty Years Prior

A young Karin Naka was with her family on a picnic in the field near the mountains. She had wandered a bit too far away from them, and was now wondering where they were. "Mommy!" the little girl cried out. "Daddy! Mommy! Where are you?"

"There you are, sweetie!" Karin's dad called her. Karin looked to see her parents standing near the cliff of the mountainside. Karin instantly ran towards them. That's when disaster struck… in the form of the side of the cliff collapsing. All three members of the family were subjected to a great fall- at the height that they were falling; none of them would have survived.

Well, if it weren't for the group of wild Chao living in the forest below, of course. You can't just ignore free-falling people who didn't have parachutes or anything to stop their fall. That would be rude hosting.

So, that being said, a group of ten Flying Chao went airborne, and grabbed hold of the falling family- four Chao went to the dad, four went to the mom, and the last two went to Karin. All the Chao, despite their quick flapping of their little wings, could only slow the decent speed that they were going. It wasn't really enough.

Lucky for the family, though, a group of Speed and Power Chao quickly put together a makeshift net to catch them all, with. The group of Chao climbed the trees as high as they could, and extended the net. The humans softly landed in the net, and the flight Chao calmly helped them reach the ground.

"…Cool!" Karin cheered, both relieved and surprised by the fact that she was saved by the Chao. The Chao looked at the family, who seemed impressed with their handiwork.

"Karin," her mother asked, "are you okay?"

"Of course, mommy," Karin answered. "These Chao saved us, right?"

---

Back to the Present

"From that moment, Swift," Karin stated, "I knew I wanted to spend my life studying Chao. However… years ago, I was shown disappointment. Not all Chao could truly be like those in the forest. In fact, most Chao these days are just plain normal Chao." The Egg Hopper had enough of the struggle between it and the woman holding onto its leg. So, it raised the leg that she was holding onto, and slammed it into her wall. Despite the amount of blood she spat out and the cracked ribs she just received, Karin refused to let go. So, the Egg Hopper lifted the leg up again, and this time slammed a fist straight into her chest. Blood, saliva, and air were ejected out of Karin's throat at that punch. Still, she refused to do the smart thing and let the damn leg go. "But Swift… you and Miles relit the fuse in my soul! Even if… I die, today… I'm not letting this robot kill you!"

Swift was awed by Karin's speech, and had to witness Karin's rather brutal beating as the Egg Hopper kept punching her. Soon, it made the Chaos Emerald fall out of her pocket. The Egg Hopper noticed this, and placed its leg down, distracted by the sight. Swift, for the first time in memory, wasn't distracted at all by an Emerald that was in plain sight. He, instead, was amazed as to how far humans would be willing to go to see their goals reached, even if it meant getting mauled by a robot kangaroo. That's when he knew that he had to save her.

"In that case, Dr. Naka," the Chao replied while getting up and massaging his cheek, "you may wanna let go." Karin was about to question why, only to see Swift jump up, and curl into a ball. He then slammed straight into the Egg Hopper just as Karin let go, and knocked it on its back. While it didn't show any signs of damage due to the armor being stronger than the Egg Pawns, the Egg Hopper wasn't as heavily enforced as the Egg Crower, so Swift could actually stun the thing on his own without using the Battle Scanner.

"Swift…" Karin gasped, impressed by his strength. She had trouble standing while Swift grabbed the green Chaos Emerald- he might need the power boost to heal quickly.

"If I get the stuffing beaten out of me," Swift told Karin, "that's one thing. But if I let other people fight my battles for me and watch them get killed, that's where I draw the line. Now, let me go over the plan again… you go find Tanaka and get my gear back. I'll keep this thing's attention on me."

"Or, we could do plan B," Chris' voice interrupted. The Egg Hopper was about to get up, when its head was stepped on by Chris' shoe. "Swift, go get your things, and let's get this over with! Doctor, you may wanna get yourself patched up."

Karin blinked at this sight. "You're… Chris Thorndyke, right?"

"That's me," Chris answered, completely serious. "Now, hurry up!"

"On it!" Swift answered. He quickly grabbed Karin's hand, and dragged her down the hall. The Egg Hopper pushed up, forcing Chris to jump off of its head. If the thing was annoyed by the lead pipe and steamed by the pinball move that the Chao pulled off, the Egg Hopper was sure enraged by the boot to the head. It wanted nothing more than to pound this kid into toothpaste, and then brush its teeth with said paste! A few well placed fists would have done the trick… if Chris wasn't so well trained to avoid getting hit.

This is not to say that Chris, while fully capable of dodging the assault, could actually take the Egg Hopper by himself. That would be suicide. Those fists were equipped with brass knuckles and hidden underneath solid steel boxing gloves- a punch from that would leave a sore taste in your mouth, as well as knock some of your teeth out. And as of now, Chris' adult teeth had finally set in, and he didn't need to get any wisdom teeth removed.

Chris barely ducked under one mean haymaker that lodged itself into the wall. Chris just whistled at the damage, and how the fact the punch that just trapped the struggling Egg Hopper was meant for his face. A good thing it missed, too- bone was proven to be made of weaker stuff than concrete and metal. And human brains were said to be made of weaker stuff. That hay maker would have killed somebody.

"Chris, if you're done distracting that thing," Swift, now fully geared up, said while running up to the human, holding the Chaos Morpher, "Miles has upgraded the Morpher, so the battery lasts a little longer, and we won't drain too much. Let's stop playing around."

"Finally," Chris stated, taking the Morpher from Swift, and placing it on his wrist. "Mr. Tanaka's probably going to be ticked that we're doing this… but right now, I'm not seeing any other options." Activating the watch, he screamed, "Chaos Soul, Activate!"

The Egg Hopper finally dislodged its hand to see that a new challenger stepped forward. "Hey, kangaroo," Sonic shot as the transformation completed, "I hate to tell you this, but this is a Chao hospital, not a robot repair factory. Perhaps I should send you there." The Egg Hopper took this in as an insult, and pounced. Sonic sidestepped the next blow, and was about to swing his own punch, but the two beings that made up his mind forgot something. The Egg Hopper, although weaker than the Crower, was a lot faster. So, Sonic didn't expect that spin kick to the face that launched him down the hall, making him spit up some blood.

Sonic rubbed his now sore cheek, and looked up in time to see the Egg Hopper getting ready to use him as a pillow. The hedgehog rolled out of the way, and got up quickly. He launched himself at the metal kangaroo, only to get a powerful uppercut. Now, Sonic's muzzle was dripping with blood. 'Damn it,' Chris thought as Sonic dodged another punch. 'This thing has fancy footwork. Every time we go in for an attack, it counterattacks before we can even wind up! How are we going to hit it?'

'Know how you feel, Chris,' Swift sympathized. 'You, Karin, and I have only hit this guy when we caught it off guard. We need something to distract it!'

So, after dodging the next punch, Sonic looked around, looking for anything that he could use to draw the Egg Hopper's attention away from him. I would say something like, 'easier said than done,' but that's too cliché. Also, it's kind of a bad idea to take your eye off of your opponent in an enclosed area for too long. That's because if they're a deadly kick boxer, they'll take advantage of your wandering eyes for a mean body blow followed by a quick head jab, and a roundhouse kick to the cheek only paling in comparison to Chuck Norris, sending you straight through some lab doors. And that's exactly what happened to Sonic.

The hedgehog, after snapping his jaw back in place, and fixing his thin, broken nose, got up and looked around. 'This is just great,' a dizzy Swift complained. 'We're getting our butts handed to us by a kangaroo, and there's nothing we can do about it!'

'Swift, calm down,' Chris replied. 'We just need to find something that can be useful in this case scenario.'

Swift questioned, 'Chris, did you forget that we're in a hospital for Chao? What can we use?' Sonic started to look around for something, anything that could turn the tide in this battle, because he thought that the body blow cracked a couple ribs, and the roundhouse nearly dislocated his jaw. Sonic's eyes landed on an eye exam. No, that wouldn't last long. His eyes then went to some blood samples. No, this robot actually seemed to enjoy the scent of blood. Maybe Sonic could use the… oh good lord, no, he had standards, and that just seemed nasty!

That's when his eyes fell on the perfect tool for this battle. There it was, just lying there in its case, rarely ever put to use. "Crude," Sonic commented, "but very effective."

He didn't have much time to act, though, as the Egg Hopper bounced into the room, searching for its quarry. When its eyes fell on Sonic, the kangaroo saw that the hedgehog was holding to its face the hose of a fire extinguisher. Sonic jammed down on the trigger, spraying heavy foam and gas straight into its optical sensors. In common English, Sonic used one of the oldest tricks in the book.

'Holy crap, that actually worked,' Swift commented as the Egg Hopper attempted to scrape the gunk out of its eyes. 'Now, use the Battle Scanner, and find a weak spot on this guy, and let's scrap him.'

'With pleasure,' Chris grinned. Sonic lowered his sunglasses, and activated the Battle Scanner. The sunglasses began scanning the robot for any signs of a weak point… and they found one. You know how the female marsupials have that pouch that they carry their babies in until they grow up? Well, if that pouch were on the Egg Hopper, then the area that it would cover would make a great place to start bashing it to a pulp!

Sonic made his move, and gave the Egg Hopper a powerful uppercut, knocking it on its back. Sensing trouble, the Egg Hopper hurried the attempt of cleaning its eyes. However, when it succeeded, the kangaroo saw Sonic falling from above, his feet crunching straight into its lower body. This powerful kick hurt the machine like crazy. Before it could retaliate, though, Sonic jumped up off of it.

The Egg Hopper was really mad, now, as it hopped straight towards him. Sonic laid himself flat on his back. This wasn't just being submissive, no… Sonic was too brave for that. Instead, he launched both feet straight back into the lower section, making it hurt. Sonic didn't stop there. He used his incredible lower body strength to launch the Egg Hopper straight through the roof.

Tanaka, Karin, and Miles rushed into the room as Sonic stood up. "Are you okay?" Tanaka sincerely asked, noticing the blood all over Sonic's shirt. Sonic nodded, and pulled another calling card out, tossing it to Karin with her green Chaos Emerald.

"I'll be fine, sir," Sonic answered. "But first…" he then flipped backwards as the Egg Hopper landed on the ground. "So, how was the flight?"

"You know," Tanaka whispered to Miles as the Egg Hopper and Sonic resumed their battle, "his personality doesn't fully seem like Master Chris'… in fact, I'd say Swift's coy personality has also taken root."

"I'm developing a theory on Neo Mobians," Miles answered, "but I need more of them to confirm it. So, we're going to need to find a few more people to agree to help us."

"What are you guys talking about?" Karin asked. "And shouldn't somebody call the police? The blue vigilante is here!"

"Sonic's going to help a lot better than the police," Miles assured Karin. 'I hope, anyways.'

Speaking of Sonic, he just had to duck out of yet another powerful blow. Once again, it was another hay maker, and it lodged the robot into the wall. Sonic then ran to the other side of the room, and curled into a ball. The Egg Hopper was defenseless to the power of a spin dash practically slicing it in half, spraying oil everywhere. Sonic calmly turned to the three, a grin on his face.

"Well, that takes care of the robot," the hedgehog announced. "My work here is all done."

"You're… Sonic, right?" Karin questioned, looking at the hedgehog. She then remembered something important. "Where are Chris and Swift? They both said they'd deal with the robot!" That's when the four heard police sirens. Sonic casually jumped up through the hole that he made in the ceiling, and saw what seemed to be a hundred police cars circling the hospital.

Jumping back down, Sonic explained, "The place is surrounded… I don't think we're going to be able to just up and ditch the cops."

"What's with this 'we' business!?" Karin questioned. "You're the vigilante, here! If anything, I'm just a victim or a witness!"

"True," Miles argued, "but when the police bust in here and start pointing guns, do you really think that they'll believe that story?" Karin opened her mouth to argue, but the thought came in. There was a blood covered and oily metal kangaroo in here, and some of the oil had gotten onto her good doctor coat, as well as she spat up a bit of blood already. With the way crime acted these days, the police were willing to believe that she was an accomplice to Sonic, just like the others, here.

"…I'm so going to lose my job, after all," Karin moaned, dropping to her knees. Miles and Sonic looked surprised.

'Just when I get her off for the machine, now this!' Swift groaned to Chris. 'We… we have to do something!'

'Tell me something I don't know,' Chris answered. '…I've got an idea, but you might not like the results of this.'

The next thing anybody knew, Sonic walked over to Karin, scooped her up bridal style (thanking God that Swift's enhancements give him super strength), told her a quick "I'm sorry," and then pressed a pressure point on her neck, making her pass out.

'Thank you, Mr. Tanaka, for pressure point lessons!'

"Master Chris, what are you doing?" Tanaka asked.

"First of all," Sonic explained while holding her, "for the sack of a secret identity, we can't use 'Chris' or 'Swift' around me when I'm like this, even if it's just us. It's either 'Sonic', or we don't talk. As for your question, I just let Karin lose her job over us, so I'm making it look like she was just a victim here by knocking her out. Now, we need to borrow a couple hospital uniforms…."

---

Outside, Five Minutes Later

The police had only come to Chao World General for only one thing. And that was to see if this Sonic was here. They had heard reports of a blue hedgehog fighting off a metal kangaroo around the hospital, and they planned to take him into custody. But what convinced them was the large crater that the Egg Hopper created when it landed after Sonic kicked the thing through the ceiling of the building.

"Alright, Sonic," one of the police called into the building with a megaphone. "We have the hospital surrounded. Come out with your hands up, and we'll go easy on you. Failure to comply, and I personally will sure you don't see sunrise for at least a year. We've been authorized to use lethal force if necessary. In case you don't know what that means, I'll be frank- we're allowed to kill you if you try to get away."

As if on cue, a cobalt blur rushed out of the building, dropping one of Sonic's famous calling cards as it passed the police and the cars. The police stared at this for a few minutes. They were about to jump into their cars and rush after him when they heard a moaning sound. They turned to see two doctors emerging from the hospital, the taller one carrying a young woman in her mid twenties while the smaller one was holding a fox Chao. Oddly, these two doctors were fully dressed in uniform, and even had sanitation masks on to cover the bottom of their faces.

"Get this woman to a different hospital," the taller doctor ordered in a muffled voice while handing her over to the police. "We'll handle the Chao, ourselves." The two doctors then walked away without another word. The cops could only look down at the girl one of them was given, and then at the two doctors just walking from the scene. While they would have liked to ask what exactly happened in this building and where Sonic was heading, they had a duty.

"…Call an ambulance or something," the head officer ordered. "Sonic has probably gotten away by now, anyways. Whatever he's up to, it can wait."

What the officer didn't know, though, was that wasn't exactly Sonic fleeing from the crime scene. In fact, the blur was moving so fast, that the naked human eye couldn't tell that the creature was Chao sized. And it is kind of surprising that none of the police noticed that the taller doctor had the build of a certain Asian bodyguard, the other was only a teenager, and the fox Chao had a second tail. Christopher Thorndyke, Edward Tanaka, and Miles had all left the scene without being noticed.

---

Mt. Everest Summit- 05:28 (Local Time)… 4 Days Later

"Well," Robotnik grinned, "that wasn't as hard as many people claim it to be."

"S-s-speak for y-y-y-yourself!" Bocoe yelled at Robotnik. The scientist, himself, only had a few traces of cold obvious on his body. The robots, however, weren't as lucky. Decoe, not having any real insulation other than his thick winter clothing, was covered head to toe with even thicker ice. In fact, the only real reason Bocoe was doing the complaining for both of them was that Decoe had carelessly let his voice box and optical sensors get frozen over. Speaking of Bocoe, he had ice and snow covering his clothing, Robotnik had hogged most of the fire during the evenings, and there were two mountain goat horn shaped dents in his front armor that had occurred two nights ago.

"Oh, I'll have the repair bay fix you boys up," Robotnik assured Bocoe. "For now…" he turned back to the peak of the mountain. There it was. The faint light blue light that had been reported to be seen on Mt. Everest. He carefully walked over to the snow that threatened to snuff it out, and brushed the white fluff away. From there, Robotnik could tell that there was a light blue gemstone roughly the same size and mass as the other two Emeralds seen so far shielded by a wall of rather thin ice. Nothing that couldn't be punched through. "My grandfather was right," Robotnik deviously grinned, drawing back a fist.

Smashing through the ice with an impressive right jab, Robotnik pulled out his prize, and held it triumphantly in the air. "Behold, boys- score one Chaos Emerald for the Robotnik Empire! Now, we only have four more left to find and two left to steal!"

"Y-yeah, that's great…" Bocoe sarcastically acknowledged. He then realized what the doctor said, that actually snapped away the cold chill. "Wait, only four to find, and two to steal!? I thought there were only two located so far! The one Sonic has and the one here in China!"

"That was changed three days ago," Robotnik answered, pulling out a remote. "I regret to inform you, Bocoe, that the Egg Hopper is DIA. But not before it located the green Emerald… the leading Chaos Emerald, and controller of Life. It was with a female Chao doctor last time I checked. That leaves us with three targets other than that hedgehog."

"So, now what?" Bocoe asked.

"Now, I'm going to hate myself for this," Robotnik stated while his thumb edged over the button, "but I don't know how much longer you and Decoe will be able to survive these temperatures. So, the Egg Balloon is going to have to take one for the team, and test China's anti-air defenses so we can get you two patched up." He pressed the button, and a large, red blimp flew down from above the clouds, higher than any normal airplane or military jet on the planet could reach naturally. Bocoe had only one thing to say to this.

"You mean you could've done this at ANY TIME!?"

"Hey, I've always wanted an excuse to climb Mt. Everest," Robotnik honestly replied. "But I wanted you and Decoe to be with me. Not only did I complete a goal I've had since I was a kid, but you guys can at least die saying you've been to the top of this mountain."

"…If I wasn't freezing my circuits, I'd strangle you to death, doctor."

"I love you too."

"Then I'll squeeze you all the harder." The three quickly boarded the blimp, and it soon went back above the clouds, avoiding human attention.

---

Chuck's Garage- 15:39

Chris, Swift, and Miles were casually walking over, all three of them confused. Well, one was more confused than the others, because they were admiring their citizen cards they just received in the mail. "What could grandpa want to talk to us about?" Chris questioned, looking at the two Chao. While Miles had a question mark over his head, Swift had a swirl.

"Anything that thief has to tell me better be good," Swift announced. "Otherwise, he's in for a world of hurt for wasting my Thursday afternoon."

Chris sighed, "For the last time Swift, I'm pretty sure my grandpa didn't know that the Emerald was owned. How was he supposed to know? The place looked abandoned in his description!"

"Both of you, shut-up," Miles ordered. "Let's find out what Chuck wants." Chris casually opened the door, and was surprised to see a certain Karin Naka, wearing a baby blue t-shirt and a pair of brown pants typing away at a laptop computer, with Chuck looking over her shoulder. "…Dr. Naka?" Miles asked, looking at the doctor. She looked up from the laptop, and smiled in delight.

"Well, if it isn't my former patients!" she greeted in a much cheerier tone then they left here with. "How have you boys been!?" As Swift and Miles eagerly rushed over to talk with her, Chris personally pulled his grandfather aside.

"Grandpa," the teen began, "not to be rude, but… what is Dr. Naka doing here? I don't think doctors make house calls anymore."

"Oh, she's not here for you, Miles, or Swift," Chuck answered. "Karin is my new personal assistant… as well as Miles and Swift's personal medic."

"But doesn't she already work at the hospital?" Chris asked.

"Not anymore," Karin interjected. "I was getting too bored with that place, Sonic." Chris and Swift stared at her, an exclamation over Swift's head. "It's alright… I had a guess when you two disappeared and Sonic saved the day, but what confirmed it was Professor Thorndyke's detailed adventure in former Maya, and the gem he found in his story was similar to the one Swift had. Anyways, boys, I quit to get a real job with Chao, and working with you all is the best job I can ask for!"

"Good to see you're up for it," Chuck solemnly replied. "Because with what I have to say, we may need your services soon, Karin." He turned to the boys, and began, "Swift, you still have your blue Emerald, right?" Swift reached into his tiny vest pocket, and pulled out the gemstone.

"I sleep with thing under my pillow," Swift explained. "The thing doesn't leave my sight unless I know it's in the right hands."

"Too much information," Chuck declared. Turning to Karin, he asked, "Please tell me you don't sleep with your Emerald, Karin?"

"Now," Karin said while pulling her green Chaos Emerald out of her pocket, "I'm not that protective of the thing." The next thing that happened shocked everybody in the room- the two Chaos Emeralds started to float in the air, and then proceeded to dance around each other, creating an effect akin to Ying and Yang. "You don't see that everyday."

"I've been meaning to ask," Chris interrupted, "but where did you get that gem, Dr. Naka? And how do you know about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Well," Karin answered, "to be honest, the hospital found the Chaos Emerald in the forest outside of town. As for how I know this, if you're going to go into a Chao related field, Chris, it's best for you to know a few things about Chao folklore and culture. The Chaos Emeralds were thought to have been myths, but you've found evidence that proves otherwise- hence the physical and perhaps mental mutations of Swift and Miles."

"And this folklore is what my old teacher focused his life's work on," Chuck added, drawing all attention to him.

"Your old teacher?" Chris asked. "Grandpa, you always told you that you were taught by one of the leading scientists of all time, but you never mentioned him."

"That's because his name is now society's taboo," Chuck explained. "In fact, just discussing what he did could get us all killed. So, for the sake of our lives, I'll cut to the chase. We're all aware that there are more Chaos Emeralds where these two came from, right?"

"Yeah," Swift grinned, growing up on the stories. "My mom told me that there are seven total in the world, plus an Emerald capable of controlling those." Everyone in the room, knowing Swift was perhaps the only member of the group who had an IQ that was around average, stared at him. "What? My mom taught me some things."

"Anyways," Chuck continued, "Swift… have you ever considered finding the rest of them?"

"Hey," Swift smiled, "I'm perfectly content with the one I have."

"Well, you may want to start," Chuck scowled. "Because if all seven Chaos Emeralds fall into the hands of the likes of GUN and Robotnik, then it could mean the end of the world."

---

Miles: You're Danny, right?

Danny: Yeah. You're Chris' other Chao, Miles.

Miles: I've heard you were a great pilot. Just the guy we need for this job.

Danny: Um… could you explain, Miles?

Miles: Well, long story short is that GUN and Robotnik's troops are trying to track down Sonic, and are using aerial machines to do so. If you don't help us, well… your friends Chris and Swift will most likely die.

Danny: Wait a minute, what!? Chris and Swift are involved? What's going on, here!?

Miles: You want to know who Sonic truly is? Well, I'll tell you further, next episode.

Danny: Next time on Sonic Chao Chronicles: I Wanna Fly High! Tails Takes to the Skies!

Miles: Gotta fly!

---

Kingdom Rider92's Notes: Okay, so Sonic wins again. Not to mention that the Emerald Score is:

Sonic: 2

Robotnik: 1

GUN: Hasn't caught onto all of this, yet!

SPark681: Yeah... I guess I'm joining the club of "people whose school lives clash too much with their story writing time." I hope we have jackets!

Salamander Hanzo: Out of curiousity, what's it going to take for me to get more than three words out of you in a review? Do I have to do a musical number?

Zohaku: ...I guess you didn't notice the eye exam in the last chapter. I worked hard on that! As for the Halloween fic... well... keep reading.

Ah, well, hopefully GUN will catch up. Also, know that Karin, for most of the first book, will not be working in the field! She'll provide technical support, and take care of the Chao, acting like a mother to them.

Now, I know I said I'd do a Halloween fic. However, at the rate I'm updating and with the amount of heroes introduced into the story so far, nothing would make sense to anybody here, not even me. I would need further time to set it up. At least three more months at the rate I'm going. So, I'm afraid my Halloween story, Sonic Chao Chronicles: A Scourged Night, will be placed on ice until 2010. Any holiday fic doesn't look good, either.

I'm sorry people. But I was hoping I'd be further along than I am. In order for the fic to make sense, I'd say I'd have to at least introduce Knuckles. I promise it will be here by Halloween 2010. If not, then may I be hit by a giant log!

Kingdom Rider92, out!