A/N: And now, it's time for the first story arc of Chao Chronicles to end. Heavy emphasis on the words 'story arc,' not saga. This saga will take at least another year to finish off properly, unless you want me to rush. I have a life.

---

Gadget Card: Power Rings

Inventor: Miles

Purpose: To provide an emergency Chaos Energy boost when power is low

Notes: "I know these things could come in handy in case of a pinch, but the three minute time limit per ring plus the physical energy it drains once said limit expires proves that they can only be used in do or die situations."

---

Warehouse 35- 16:13

While Knuckles was clearly confused with current circumstances, Sonic did not like where things were going. He had almost convinced the echidna to not kill him, and could have probably gotten an amazing fighter that proved physically stronger than him at least twofold and could match him blow for blow to help save the friends of the human half of him, only for Station Square's police force to pour in, guns ready. Clearly, things had just gone from bad to worse.

"Alright, Sonic," Hector Drags grinned at the hedgehog. "Today is judgment day for you! You're under arrest for vigilantism, destruction of private and public property, resisting arrest, fleeing the scene of a crime, being an abomination to nature, secondhand kidnapping, and the most unforgivable, pissing me off! Now, both you and your new friend come down here right now, and we might go easy on you!"

"…What?" Knuckles whispered, looking at Sonic. "Are you sure you're not the bad guy, here?"

"I'm a vigilante," Sonic replied in a hushed voice. "I'm a hero who works outside of the law… and technically, you're in trouble too. American police officers don't take too kindly to the supernatural… like two Neo Mobians running around cities doing their job to maintain the peace for them."

"'Neo Mobians?'" Knuckles repeated.

"It's kind of a nickname that Miles, the Chao side of my friend Tails, gave us," Sonic explained. "While we may be really humans and Chao outside of these forms, we're the new Mobians while we're like this."

"So, the authorities tracked you down, here?" Knuckles asked while turning his attention to the police, who looked like they wanted to shoot the two Neo Mobians right there and then.

"Well, more or less," Sonic admitted. "What's really going on is that somebody- most likely the man who pit us against each other in the first place- felt like he needed a way to make sure I wouldn't back down. So, he kidnapped the first person I remember having contact with… a handicapped blonde girl by the name of Helen Rose. Has either side of you seen her?"

'Blonde, handicapped girl?' Ahaw Kin questioned Spike. 'I do not remember seeing any girls like that since our arrival in the United States, Spike. Do you?'

'Not a clue,' Spike replied. 'What's so important about this girl that Sonic would fight us just so he can go after her?'

"…If I may ask," Knuckles verbally questioned. "Is this Helen girl important to you, Sonic?" The blue hedgehog's tan cheeks turned a slight red at the question. With a slightly smug look on his face, Knuckles grinned, "I'll take that as a yes."

'Wow,' Swift chuckled, 'Ahaw Kin and Spike are good!'

The smug grin on Knuckles face faded as a sudden realization dawned on him. "In that case… I've been played!" Getting angrier than Sonic had seen before, Knuckles growled, "Where is that man responsible for getting us here in the first place!?"

Chris mentally sighed, 'Swift, this is kind of embarrassing and random. Can we please just get out of here?'

'Fine,' Swift replied. 'Do you have a plan to get past the police, find Danny, Miles, and Helen, kick this Eggman guy's ass, and get home before dinner? I heard Ella's making spaghetti and fresh lemon meringue pie!'

'I do,' Chris replied. 'It involves cooperating with Ahaw Kin and Spike, but it's doable. Here's what we do…'

Once the two halves of Sonic made a quick strategy to deal with the police, Sonic turned to Knuckles. "I know we've gotten off to a rocky start," Sonic began with the echidna, calming him down. "But I think we can get beyond that and work together."

"What are you talking about, now?" Knuckles asked.

"If we're going to get your Emerald back from the man that took it," the blue hedgehog explained, "We have to ditch the cops, who are in front of the only exit we have. Help me escape, and I'll forgive you so we can use our Chaos sense to locate my ally Tails, where by now he's found the person who set us up. The human side of Tails is more of about brains than the two of us, so he may be having trouble."

Knuckles had to think about it. While Sonic's deal and motives sound good, they also sounded shady for his tastes. Both halves that made up the echidna had already been outsmarted into this whole mess by one person already. Now, the person who he just was fighting five minutes ago asked to join forces to escape the authorities just to get back at said man who outsmarted him before? It was all too convenient.

"How do I know you're not just going to leave me for them?" Knuckles scowled. Sonic sighed at the skeptical behavior, but couldn't put it past the echidna. He had been duped before, and a lifetime guardian one of the greatest treasures in the world where greedy treasure hunters and overly curious archeologists pursued it every day must have provided a lack of trust with Ahaw Kin and Spike.

"…This was a big misunderstanding on both of us," Sonic smiled. Becoming serious, he warned, "And if we don't pool our skills together, now, we're not even going to get out of here for our human halves to taste my human side's maid's cooking." Knuckles was about to retort, only for his stomach to grumble. Sonic had to fight off a chuckle as the echidna blushed in embarrassment.

"Okay, fine," Knuckles agreed. "Let's get going." The echidna turned away from the police, and jumped off the crate, a fist drawn back as he neared a wall.

WHAM!

In order to properly abridge this, there was now a big, gaping hole with a five-foot radius, give or take a few inches, where a bunch of metal used to be, courtesy of Knuckles punching straight through it.

"Well, I was thinking we'd fight through the crowd," the hedgehog stated, "but the less people hurt, the better." Sonic, while the police were awed by this feat, took advantage of the new escape route, jumping through it, grabbing the recovering Knuckles' arm, and started to run as fast as he could without ripping the echidna's arm clean off.

'…Can we recruit this guy once we're done?' Swift pleaded to Chris.

'Is now the time for this!?' Chris yelled at his hedgehog Chao. 'Who knows what's going on with Danny, Miles, and Helen right now!?'

---

Warehouse 25- 16:09

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Tails yelled as he dodged attack after attack from the large metal spider. Okay, so let me give you a brief overview of what's been going on with Tails after the Egg Tarantula started attacking, just to catch people up to speed.

After the first failed charge, Tails immediately placed Helen in the conveniently located rafters above the battle ground, and came down to ground level just as soon as the robotic spider recovered. From there, Tails then decided to keep to the lower area. The reason was that Chris would most likely give Danny and Miles hell should Helen so much as have a scratch on her. That's just putting it lightly, though.

Anyways, Tails recovered his Dummy Ring rifle and opened fire on it, zapping two of the monster's legs. However, the power of the rings did nothing to slow down the Egg Tarantula; in fact, it looked a little more pissed, if possible. It turned around, and shot a large web at the fox boy, and he barely dodged in time.

So now, here he was, running for his life as the creature's webs tried to find their way on him. Robotnik, on the other hand, watched this display with a mixed expression. This did not go unnoticed by his henchmen robots.

"Doctor," Bocoe questioned as he witnessed Tails slide under yet another web shot, "is there a problem?"

"Yes, there is," Robotnik replied. "Egg Tarantula is just wasting web ammunition on this fox boy. Also, the fact that the fox isn't putting up much of a fight makes this a little boring…" He then called out to the Egg Tarantula, "Quit playing with Tails already, and actually fight!" The Egg Tarantula stopped shooting webbing, and skittered over to the wall. From there, the robot scaled the walls with ease, heading up towards Helen's rafter.

'Danny,' Miles announced as Tails skidded to a halt to see the Egg Tarantula getting closer to Helen, 'Helen's going to be the fly in that spider's web unless we go on the offensive right now!'

'Uh, problem,' Danny replied. 'I am not a fist fighter, and you don't look exactly Swift's caliber for fighting. We can't even short this thing out!'

'You're not letting me utilize my powers,' Miles berated. 'Or the tool kit on your belt. I've been working on a few things.' Curious, Tails looked down at the belt, and opened a pouch to reveal a batch of freshly made Power Rings. 'Finished those last night for something like this.'

'How do you prepare for a giant metal spider?' Danny honestly questioned.

'I was saving them for Swift and Chris,' Miles admitted, 'but I think we're going to need a Chaos Energy enhanced adrenaline rush right now more than them. Place a Ring to the Rhythm Badge, and we'll be charged for three minutes. But only one… I have yet to find out the negative strain of more than that, and I don't feel like calculating it now!'

Tails pulled out one of the three rings, and pressed it onto the badge. The ring started to glow for a few seconds before dispersing into his body, charging him with plenty of energy. The fox boy crouched down before springing up like a rocket, flying up after his robotic opponent.

This sequence of events did not go unnoticed by the onlookers. "Dear god almighty!" Decoe exclaimed as Tails jumped up with such impressive speed. "Did that fox boy take steroids in the past thirty seconds!?"

"I'm pretty sure performance enhancing drugs do not take effect that quickly!" Bocoe replied as Tails hovered over the Egg Tarantula. Robotnik, on the other hand, flashed a devious grin.

"Things just got interesting, boys," the scientist announced. "Let's see what happens next."

What happened next was nothing short of amazing. Tails stopped flying as the large metal spider finished getting itself onto the building. He then dropped down, spinning with the grace and speed of an Olympic figure skater before slamming both of his tails into the Egg Tarantula's metal head, doing some serious damage. There was some slight recoil on his end of the hammer-like blow, but the fox got up pretty quickly.

"That was impressive," Helen said, releasing a breath she didn't know she was even holding. "Were you holding back before?"

"Adrenaline boosts my strength a bit," Tails answered while looking at the cracks made in the rafter due to the impact.

'Let me guess,' Miles deviously grinned, 'you plan to take out the bridge in hopes that the thing falls to its demise.'

'Yeah,' Danny admitted, 'but unless you have explosives of some sort, I don't know how.'

'Odd thing about Power Rings and Dummy Rings,' Miles smiled. 'One time when Swift accidentally set a few Rings on fire, the compounds reacted negatively… by which, I mean they blew up. It took us three weeks to get another truck for spare Chaos Morpher parts, and me until we came here to finish a batch of Power Rings.'

'I'm going to ignore that little rant,' Danny announced, 'and ask if you have anything that I can light the Rings with.'

'After that incident,' Miles scowled, 'hell no! At risk of another explosion like that, I keep the Rings at temperatures no hotter than twenty-four degrees Celsius. Look around, and hurry up. That attack should have knocked out its circuits for at least the rest of the Ring power.'

Tails turned to Helen, and said, "I'll be right back. Don't move anywhere." He then ran over to the side of the rafter, and hopped over the railing, spinning his tails halfway through the drop. Helen, despite her current situation, still maintained a sense of humor.

"Wouldn't dream of it," the blond girl yelled down at Tails, rolling her eyes. The fox didn't catch the sarcasm in her tone, but was mentally kicking himself for temporarily forgetting that his charge couldn't walk when one half of him clearly known that. So, he opted to drop the subject, and focus on finding a heat source. Now, from Tails' position in the air, a quick aerial scan showed not even a heater in the warehouse, or any explosives or actual firearms- his gun didn't count, because it only shot Dummy Rings. Looking around again, Tails noticed Robotnik and his two robotic minions still watching the show.

'If we can't blow it up,' Danny suggested, 'why don't we take out its creator?' Tails then started to fly a little lower, mentally keeping track of his Power Ring time.

"Doctor,' Decoe pointed out, "I think the Egg Tarantula just went offline."

"That spider's not squashed, yet," Robotnik replied, looking up at Tails. "It's just out for a little bit. In the meantime, you two… when was the last time you two ever fought?"

"Doctor," Bocoe answered, "we're your servant robots, not your elite guard. You said we didn't need them."

"And I'm still right," Robotnik stated while Tails landed on the ground in front of him. "So, enjoying your little breather from the Egg Tarantula?"

"Yeah," Tails replied, a bit more confident than he was with his previous opponent. "Now, I'm going to give you two choices. Either call off your spider once it wakes up and turn yourself into the police for getting the girl into our little war, or I can make you." Robotnik just grinned at this.

"If you think that just because I'm a scientist by occupation that I have no physical skill compared to you," he warned with a chuckle, "then this isn't even going to be a workout for me." Tails raised an eyebrow at the statement. If the clear difference in strength between Chris when he's human and Chris when he's Sonic didn't tell him that Mobians outclassed humans in that department, then why was Robotnik gloating that he could beat Tails in a fistfight?

"What the hell are you talking about?" the fox questioned. The next thing Tails knew, Robotnik rushed over, grabbed Tails in a crushing hug, and flipped him over with a powerful belly-to-belly supplex.

Now, Robotnik hated comments about his weight, but damn if it doesn't help in the one sport that he knows he's good at- professional masked wrestling. Not only can't guys pick you up half the time, but you can use that weight for devastating moves. Also, the fact that the floor Tails was slammed on was made of solid steel did not help the fox's back.

"Just because I have a weight problem doesn't mean I let it hold me back, smirked the scientist as he got up. "It really helped me through wrestling back in high school, and I've done it ever since."

"How long has that been?" Tails asked while getting up, cracking his back so he could move properly.

"I'll be forty-eight this coming May."

"…Happy early birthday." Tails then charged at Robotnik, swiping at him with his namesakes, only for the man to jump back at the last second, barely getting the front of his coat sliced by the tails. The fox then leapt over Robotnik's head, landed right behind him before sweep kicking the man to the ground. However, Robotnik grabbed Tails' leg, and tripped the fox before getting back on his own feet. He then grabbed the downed fox, holding him under the arms, and turned to Decoe and Bocoe.

"What is he doing?" Bocoe questioned as Robotnik brought a struggling Tails over to the two robots. Robotnik held Tails firmly in front of them, silent as he looked at their confusion. After about twenty precious seconds of what limited Power Ring time that Tails had left passed, Robotnik sighed.

"I believe you've heard of 'tag-team wrestling?'" the scientist questioned. Decoe, realizing what the doctor wanted him to do, rammed a metal fist into the fox's stomach, making Tails exhale a sharp breath. Robotnik smiled, "Thank you," before turning and throwing Tails as hard as he could.

Tails coughed as he struggled to get up off the cold, metal floor. '…Maybe I should've taken Tanaka's martial arts lessons,' Danny groaned in pain to Miles. 'That way, I wouldn't be getting my ass kicked as hard.'

'Hey,' Miles retorted, 'I'm getting my butt handed to me, too. I shouldn't have thought that professional wrestling was entirely fake; otherwise, I'd watch it, more. Also, the fact that he has at least 30 years of experience with the sport doesn't help. We only have about 1 minute left for Ring power, by the way.'

'Is that… why I'm feeling exhausted?' Danny questioned.

'…Yep.'

"It seems you're running out of steam, Tails," Robotnik announced, shaking the fox out of his trance. "This is rather disappointing, considering what you did to my Egg Tarantula. Perhaps, you're not one for hand-to-hand?"

"I admit to that," Tails breathed, wiping what sweat was on him off of his brow. The next thing he knew, Robotnik swiftly kicked him across the face, knocking him down.

"It's too bad," Robotnik sighed as he walked over. "It seems those reports back in Maya about all types of Mobians being stronger than humans proved false a bit. Still, the Chaos Morpher that I built for my new guardian friends must have been activated by now."

"So you… did build a Morpher?" Tails asked. "How do you… even know… they exist?" Robotnik then pinned a dirt covered boot to his face. It seemed that Robotnik was walking in the wilderness somewhere prior to this battle and forgot to clean his boots.

"I know, because my grandfather made the original blueprints for the Chaos Morpher. Not that it matters, now, that I have the Master Emerald and one Chaos Emerald. So, even if you and your ally Sonic somehow capture the other Emeralds before me, I'll just nullify their power." Tails then grabbed Robotnik's foot, and threw him off towards his minions before turning his attention back to the previous mission- protecting Helen so Chris doesn't kill him for it.

'Only twenty-nine seconds left,' Miles remarked.

'Understood,' Danny replied as Tails took flight, heading towards the rafter that the Egg Tarantula was on with Helen. 'Since I'm apparently not trained enough to take on Robotnik in a fair fight-'

'Which would be kind of pathetic if it wasn't for the fact that Swift is at least twice as strong as I am,' Miles added.

'I may as well just destroy the rafter manually, and grab Helen before she falls.' Tails' namesakes soon started to spin fast enough to start sending off electricity as he landed on the rafter, facing Helen.

"Wow," Helen yelled over the wind caused by the tails' rotation while looking at the battered fox. "What happened down there?"

"It turns out… I underestimated your captor in a fist fight," Tails admitted while taking his rifle off. "Now, you may wanna cover your ears… this could get loud." He then backed up enough of a distance to right in front of the Egg Tarantula before dropping the rifle, letting the sparks hit it. Sure enough, that provided quite a bit of heat, both exterior and interior. The molecules inside of the Power Rings started to react, making the rifle heat up a bit more. Tails then jumped away from the large, metal spider scooped up Helen, and flew off as the Dummy Ring Rifle exploded, taking a huge chunk of the rafter- Egg Tarantula and all- with it.

Tails landed on top of another metal box. He collapsed with Helen in his arms bridal style, exhausted from the Ring's power. The two opted to watch the Egg Tarantula start to plummet to the ground… only for it to shoot a web towards the ceiling, stopping its imminent death. The spider safely lowered itself towards the ground, while Robotnik laughed, "That was very clever, Tails- trying to use the moment of my robot's inactivity to destroy it. However, the Egg Tarantula just got back online! And you're not looking so hot… it's a shame, really. Perhaps you could've lived long enough to control those powers of yours."

"You're not… making me feel better," Tails sighed as the Egg Tarantula slowly stalked its way over to their crate. Suddenly, two blurs- one dark red and the other dark blue- slammed straight through the Egg Tarantula's head, spraying oil everywhere. Sonic and Knuckles soon were on the crate as well.

"Are we even?" Sonic asked while taking Helen off of Tails' hands, remembering the incident when Tails rescued him from falling to his death.

"We're even," Tails sighed, adjusting his jaw. "Though I'm going to need to sleep this fight off." Helen was a bit confused about their conversation, but decided not to ask about it. Instead, her eyes were on the newcomer echidna, as were Tails. "Is that…?"

"Yeah, it's him," Sonic whispered. "But he's pissed at the guy who set him up, not us." Looking down, he spied Robotnik, and voiced, "I take it you're 'The Eggman?'"

"More or less," Robotnik answered. "But call me Robotnik. And is that my echidna friend with you?"

"I can't believe you lied to me, wrecked Angel Island, stole the Master Emerald who's protection is my purpose in life, and got me into a senseless and relatively pointless fight," Knuckles growled, his claws gleaming. "Did I mention that you got an innocent person involved in this?"

"I'm sorry I betrayed your trust," Robotnik stated while pulling out a remote, and pushing the button. "But it was the only way I could succeed in ensuring the rise of the Robotnik Empire. I assure you it will be amazing." Just then, a floating, egg shaped chair appeared out of nowhere, allowing the scientist to board it. "Goodbye, Team Sonic… May we meet again!" Decoe and Bocoe quickly grabbed onto the sides of the floating chair, and the three flew out the large window in the back. Knuckles jumped into the air, attempting to grab his chair, but ultimately fell to the ground. Sonic- still holding Helen- and Tails landed near the somewhat sulking echidna.

"…sorry," Sonic honestly said to Knuckles. The echidna held a hand up.

"No, don't be," Knuckles replied. "This is my fault, Sonic. By gut instinct, I shouldn't have believed him. However, I fell for his kindness… as you can see, I don't have too many actual people I can trust."

"Aw," Helen spoke up, "that's so sad. I'm sorry for your loss, um…"

"Call me Knuckles, friend of Sonic," the echidna smiled at the girl. "But don't feel bad for me. I'm the one that should apologize- I got you all wrapped up into this- especially you as that man kidnapped you to get to Sonic."

"Speaking of you," Sonic spoke up to Helen as he gave her a calling card, "I've got to get you to Sam Speed before all hell breaks loose. He said that your friends are worried sick about you." The three Neo Mobians walked towards the exit, all silent. Though one was thinking about something said.

'Team Sonic, huh?' Swift smiled. 'Chris, you think it will stick?'

'Swift, is now a good time for this?' Chris scowled.

'But will it?'

Sure enough, once they got outside, the four were greeted by several armed police officers. Hector Drags was twirling a set of handcuffs around his fingers. "Alright you three," Hector ordered. "Put the girl down and surrender yourselves, and only you will get hurt."

"Shouldn't that be 'and nobody will get hurt?'" Tails asked, nursing his sore ribs from his botched fight with Robotnik.

"I know what I said," Hector growled. "Now, hand her over."

"Hey," Sonic questioned, "we helped save her life, and this is the 'thanks' we get? Can we talk with your superior?"

"The commissioner is on vacation this week," Hector replied, getting annoyed with their defiant behavior.

"Who said we were talking about him?" Tails coyly smiled. "We meant Samuel Speed. Where's he?"

"Right over here," Sam announced, walking onto the scene. "Man, there are a lot of warehouses on this pier. Even if I'm the Speed King, it takes forever to check every single one. Now, you wanted to see me?" Sonic calmly walked over, and handed Helen over.

"If you ever want a rematch," Sonic told Sam as he gave Helen to him, "make sure not to bring your whole damn team. They make it kind of hard to survive getting to you. A good one-on-one would suffice." He then ran over to his fellow Neo Mobians, grabbing them by the wrists, and ran off, leaving the police stunned. Hector was about to go after them, only to be stopped by Sam raising his hand.

"Hector, enough," Sam announced. "We only came to deal with the hostage situation- capturing Sonic would've only been a plus. Besides, I want to arrest him on my terms, not with the help of some random source." Sam looked at his nephew's closest friend, and asked, "Wanna go see Chris before I get you home?" Helen slightly nodded.

---

Thorndyke Manor- 17:01

Chris opened the door to find Helen, being carried by Sam, staring back at him. Chris sighed, "Thank god, Uncle Sam!" He then hugged his best friend as tightly as he could.

"It's good to see you too, Chris," Helen smiled at him, returning the hug.

"Do I get a hug, soon enough?" Sam laughed at this little moment. Chris humorously pulled him into the hug while Swift walked to the front door.

"Hey, Chris," the hedgehog Chao asked with a question mark over his head, "is everything alright?" Sam looked at the dark blue hedgehog Chao over his nephew's shoulder, as did Helen. Swift, surprised enough to see that that had company, gasped, "Oh, hey Helen! I heard about you getting kidnapped… is everything alright?"

"Oh, Swift," Helen smiled as the Chao walked over to the scene. "I'm fine, now. Sonic had a part in saving me, along with his new friends in Team Sonic."

'Sweet, it sticks!' the hedgehog Chao mentally grinned as the others broke their hug and they all headed for Sam's car. Out loud as Helen was gently placed in the car, Swift stated, "So, Sonic the Hedgehog has his own team now? Sounds like the beginnings of a league of extraordinary creatures."

"I don't know whoever or whatever Sonic is and what he's forming this team for," Sam voiced, "but he seems like a good enough guy if he's willing to stick his neck out for people. If it wasn't for the fact that he's a vigilante who isn't even human, I'd probably be able to convince the Commissioner to let Sonic be. Unfortunately, I do have a job to keep, and what the boss says, goes. I have to bring Sonic in next time we meet."

Chris mentally sighed at the statement. Of all of the people Chris would hate to face, especially under his given circumstances, his uncle had to be in the top ten. Sam did joke around a lot, but there were three things that Sam Speed took seriously- family, his title as "Fastest Thing Alive," and his job as a police officer. And Sonic- who unbeknownst to him was his own nephew- had secretly fallen into all three categories.

'If my uncle starts playing serious hardball and if we can't get a commissioner who likes Sonic,' Chris mentally voiced, 'I am so screwed.'

"Hey, Chris," Helen announced, making the boy snap out of his thoughts. "Speaking of Sonic, about a couple weeks ago when he saved me and you didn't get to… don't worry about it, okay? Sonic's involvement in saving my life twice now- with or without his friends- has no impact on our friendship, alright?" Chris raised an eyebrow at that. Helen twirled her hair on her finger, her cheeks bright red, as she explained, "Well, you seem a bit stressed ever since it happened, is all."

"Oh," Chris realized, nervously blushing at the statement. Helen had mistook all of the stress of working as Sonic as guilt for being unable to save her that first time as his normal self. "Um, thanks, Helen. I needed that pep talk."

"So, I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yep." Sam had to chuckle at the two teenagers' awkward conversation.

"Alright lovebirds," Sam laughed as he climbed in the car, making the two blush even redder than before, "I hate to break this up, but I have to return Miss Rose to her family before her mother has a cow with me… again." Both Helen and Sam waved goodbye to Chris before they sped off.

"Tell Amy I said 'hi!'" Swift called after the car. The Chao then had a question mark over his head as he turned to Chris. "What did your uncle do to Helen's mom?" the Chao questioned. Chris turned to Swift, and waved his hands at it.

"It's a long story involving 1980s' music, high amounts of sedatives, Mr. Tanaka, and a piñata. You don't want to know." Turning to the house, he said, "Okay guys, they're gone." Ahaw Kin and Spike poked their heads out from behind the door, curious looks on their faces.

"You mean that man was your uncle?" Ahaw Kin asked as he and Spike walked out to talk to them. "Sonic, you have an odd life."

"Yeah, I know," Chris smiled. "Uncle Sam may be a little weird, but my life wasn't normal before I became Sonic. He's nice when you get to know him." The boy then extended his hand to Ahaw Kin. "So, let's try this again- I'm Chris. Not 'Sonic' when I'm a human." Ahaw Kin then smiled, and shook Chris' hand.

"You may call me Ahaw Kin… and my Chao is Itzamna." Spike had a swirl over his head at that statement.

"I thought we agreed that we'd called me 'Spike!' I hate my birth name!" the red echidna Chao ranted. Ahaw Kin had to laugh at that statement.

Chris then asked, "I know this sounds sudden, Ahaw Kin and Spike… but do you know about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"I was practically raised in their knowledge," the guardian admitted. Swift produced his dark blue Chaos Emerald for the two to see. "The Chaos Emerald of Wind… how long have you had it, Sonic?"

"Chris. And Swift said he's had it for as long as he can remember."

"It's the last thing I have of my mother, and I'll be damned if I let it go without a fight," Swift simply explained.

"Anyways," Chris announced, changing the subject, "it turns out that we're part of a mock hero business trying to find all seven of these things before they fall into the wrong hands. We have this one and Dr. Naka, the woman that was with us yesterday has the green Chaos Emerald. Just yesterday, Swift and Miles, the fox Chao from earlier, were seeking new recruits to the business."

"I'll be honest," Swift continued, "I was kind of looking forward to recruiting Chris' other friend Frances, but until I can read her Chaos Energy levels, I have to hold that decision. You guys, however, already have a Morpher, and you've proven to be capable fighters, evenly matching us at the docks. Not to mention with your knowledge about the Emeralds, we can skip several steps into getting you on board- including the wordy dialogue, filling you in on what may happen with the Emeralds, and building an actual Chaos Morpher!"

"So, the huge question is this, Ahaw Kin," Chris finished. "Can I ask you and Spike to join- I can't believe I'm saying this because of how egotistical it sounds- 'Team Sonic?'" Ahaw Kin and Spike turned to each other, raising their eyebrows.

"…Um, not to sound rude or anything," Ahaw Kin replied, "but… can we truly trust you guys not to trick us?" Swift had a question mark over his head yet again.

"We did get our Master Emerald stolen by the same guy that duped us into attacking you," Spike explained. "What's to say that you wouldn't do the same to some other organization that are after the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Tell you what!" Swift smiled with an exclamation point over his head now. "We'll make you our first hero clients! We'll steal back your Master Emerald for you in exchange for your guys' help in our quest." Ahaw Kin and Spike looked at each other again.

"We'll… think about it…" Ahaw Kin answered.

"Master Chris! Master Kin!" Tanaka called from inside the house. "Dinner's ready."

"This veggie chili Ella made is delicious!" Miles yelled. "No, seriously, I didn't even know you could make this!" The two teens, and their defining Chao, chuckled as they walked inside.

"We'll talk about this after school tomorrow, okay?" Chris told Ahaw Kin.

"What is school?" the guardian questioned. Chris had to remind himself that this was Ahaw Kin's first interaction with normal culture. This was the start of an interesting friendship.

---

Danny: So, let me get this all straight. You agreed that our trip to Guatemala would feature us helping a guy that wanted to kill you over a large Emerald to find said Emerald?

Chris: I know it sounds stupid, but at least get to see my parents again, as we arrive on my mom's birthday.

Swift: Besides, not only do we get our third team member should we succeed, but Miles and I can finally show you our house!

Miles: It is about time we showed you guys. Besides, if Robotnik found the plans to the Morphers, I wanna be the first to know. Our mission to find the Chaos Emeralds could be in jeopardy because of it.

Chris: Next time, on Sonic Chao Chronicles: "Surprise! A Birthday Treasure Hunt!"

Swift: Just try to keep up with me!

---

Kingdom Rider92's Notes: Okay guys… this took FOREVER! God dang! I'll be honest with you; this was a pain to write. Now, a bit of changes: Panama never was a part of the Maya Empire, so I edited Angel Island to be off the coast of Guatemala. Also, when I was planning for Knuckles to join, I didn't honestly plan for it to be connected to Chris' family life. Well, I've bored you enough, here's your radio host.

Edge's Corner: Alright, and with my guest, Sam Speed.

Sam: 'Sup? So, what's the first review say?

Salamander Hanzo by Edge: Yeah, it is! I mean, I've had real tea, and I'll be honest… I never felt so freaking alive in my life.

SuperSpeed by Sam: Like the penname, bud. And, although it's not my place to say, I think the kid's name is "Ahaw Kin." And what are Dummy Rings?

Edge: You're best off not knowing. Next!

Sozic by Edge: Okay, I don't have a degree in "leet," buddy. But I at least can tell the author you liked Sonic vs. Knuckles.

Zohaku by Sam: You know, I found no evidence of a struggle with Sonic or the police. I did see that Tails kind of looked like crap, though. But now that the author knows you're not a Jedi… he wants to know if you can read minds.

Yumi no Anime by Edge: You're welcome. It's nice to have a new reviewer, even if they are anonymous.

White Hunter by Sam: I think they all got out very well. Now, if these are all the comments, I gotta go.

Kingdom Rider92: And that takes care of that. I will see you later! Kingdom Rider92 out!