Hours went by as Rudolph sat on the cliff with his arms folded, guarding his friends keeping them safe from harm. But then Rudolph heard a very small screech, but enough to throw him into alert. He quickly opened his eyes, stood up, and peered at the desert and could see something very, very small, but could tell it was moving. Rudolph turned back to his sleeping friends, and then jumped down the cliff and ran to face the intruder. "If he gets any closer, he'll wake them; I gotta try to stop… whatever it is." Rudolph said to himself. As he got closer, he could see a large metallic tyrannosaurus making its way to the direction of the sleeping team. But as the machine made its way to Sonic and his friends; it came across Rudolph who was standing in its path. "I will only say this once so listen up!" Rudolph shouted. "Turn around, and go back to your master." The mechanical t-rex just roared at his order, "Wrong answer." Then Rudolph jumped into the air and punched its knee causing the robot to fall sideways, and once its head was close enough, he punched its face causing it to fly back several feet before hitting the ground creating a crater on impact. Once Rudolph landed, the large t-rex stood up and roared. "That thing is way too close as it is. I hate to draw out fights anyway so I'll make this quick." Rudolph said as he leapt into the air. The metallic tyrannosaurus saw Rudolph leap in to the air and opened its mouth to swallow Rudolph. He just grinned as he slipped right into the machine's mouth and was swallowed whole. After Rudolph was completely engulfed, the t-rex began its original mission and headed to Sonic and his friends. But before it could get far, a green light began piercing its armor randomly, and then the metallic tyrannosaurus blew up in a green explosion that shook everything in its wake. Soon Rudolph landed on the ground unscathed in the least and walked back to the campsite, but once he reached the site, he saw that everyone was stirring and waking up to see Rudolph.

"Hey Rudy." Tails said with a yawn. "What happened?"

"Just another attack, but I took care of it." Rudolph said as he looked at Tails, "You can go back to sleep."

"No need, look." Shadow said as he walked over to the group and pointed to the sunrise. "The sun's coming up, we should get going anyway."

"Guess so." Rouge said as her and the others stood up and packed their belongings.

But then everyone heard, "Hmm… zzz… yeah… another… please… zzz…" when they turned to its direction, they saw a sound asleep drooling Sonic.

Shadow walked over to Sonic and kicked his side, "Wake up dumbass!" but Sonic didn't flinch.

Tails sighed "It would take food to wake him up."

"I got this." Blaze said as she crouched down next to Sonic and crested his cheek. "Sonic… honey, I've made your favorite… chilidogs."

"WHERE!!!!?" Sonic asked as he quickly jumped to his feet and running in place. "Where!? Where!? Where!? Wherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewhere!!!!?"

Blaze stood up and grabbed Sonic by his cheeks, "Sonic, there are none."

Sonic quickly stopped and frowned, "That's a dirty trick."

"Come on Sonic." Tails called as everyone was packing their things. "We're leaving early so we can take down Robotnik!"

"Aww can't we have breakfast first? I'm starving!"

"But what about Rudy's Chaoskey?" Knuckles asked. "We gotta get it back for him."

"It's ok," Rudolph said quietly. "We should eat first anyway. Need to keep our strength up right?"

Hearing this, Sonic was already sitting down, ready to eat, "Yeah!!! Let's get our grub on!"

Before long, the team was all on their way to Robotnik's base in the sky. "We'll be there shortly." Rouge said over her transmitter.

"How long Rouge?" Tails asked.

"Umm about 30 minutes at this speed.

"Hear that Rudolph!?" Sonic asked, "We're almost there!"

"Good." Rudolph replied as he stared out at the scenery. But then Rudolph saw a flying vulture in the distant. "Tails, stop the plane." Rudolph saw calmly without turning away.

"Why?" Tails asked.

"NOW!!!" Rudolph shouted scaring everyone.

"What!? What's wrong!?" Sonic asked. But Rudolph didn't answer, instead he forced the cockpit opened, leapt from the jet, and ran towards the vulture.
As he got closer, the vulture suddenly fell from the sky with Rudolph catching him before he could hit the ground. When Rudolph caught him, he stared at the bleeding vulture in his hands. "What happened!?" He asked.

The vulture barely opened his eyes, "S-someone… a… a human… he…" Rudolph grip tightened as he stared at the vulture in his hands as he left this world. Rudolph stood up and ran forcing Tails and the others to follow in the X-Tornado. Once they were close enough, Sonic quickly jumped off the jet and ran next to Rudolph.

"Rudy! What's wrong!? What happened!?"

"I have to go, they're in danger!" Rudolph yelled as his speed began to increase.

'Whoa!' Sonic thought. 'He's doing 420, he's really bookin! Whatever happened must be important.'

In little time, the group was within the fog that surrounded the village where they left Tikal but Rudolph didn't bother putting up and energy barrier. He and Rudolph dashed through the fog with their friends following close behind. Once they reached the ending cliff, both Rudolph and Sonic simply hopped from pillar to pillar making their way to the Land of the Vultures. Once, landed, they found the parts of the village somewhat destroyed with many hurt warriors scattered about. Rudolph franticly checked everyone for survivors.

"They're alive… good." Rudolph whispered to himself as Tails and the others got out of the jet. "Sonic!" Rudolph called. "Help he get everyone to the inside of that temple in the middle of the village!"

"Got it!" Sonic called with a grin. "Hey guys! Come'ere and help me!" Sonic called and in no time, every vulture was within the entrance to the temple.

"Ok, I'm sorry but only I can go any further." Rudolph said calmly as he picked up Mathias and carried him into the temple. But then Rudolph heard footsteps behind him and when he turned, he saw Sonic and Knuckles carrying other vultures. "What are you doing? I told you you're not allowed in here."

Sonic just grinned at Rudolph, "Yeah well, there's no way you could get these guys to wherever you're taking them all by yourself."

"But-"

"No buts. And besides, that's what friends are for."

Hearing this, a smile slowly grew on Rudolph's face. "Fine, pick up the pace then."

Sonic turned to Knuckles, "Knuckles… did he just tell ME to speed up?"

"Yeah why?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh, "Fine then!" Sonic shouted, then suddenly, and blue haze blew pass both Knuckles and Rudolph too many times to count. By the time the two enter the room, each and every vulture was all on the ground side by side with Sonic looking at the ancient hieroglyphs on the golden walls. Then Sonic turned back to Rudolph and Knuckles with a grin,

"Hey guys, what took you so long?"

Rudolph and Knuckles just stared at Sonic until Rudolph turned to Sonic, "How did he do that?"

"No one knows."

Then Rudolph and Knuckles quickly placed the last two on the ground and slowly, the group and the carvings on the walls begun to glow a bright gold color that alit the room in a blinding light. As the light dimmed, all the vultures begun to stir with Mathias being the only one to awake.

"Rudolph… you're back. That's good."

"Lord Mathias, can you please tell me what happened, and where's Tikal?" Rudolph asked as he knelt down next to Mathias.

"A human took her, we tired our best to protect her but we were no match for his machines." Mathias said quietly. "Once we were all unable to defend ourselves, he began to torture us, starting with me." Hearing this, Rudolph clenched his fist. "He kept asking about the secrets to the Chaoskey…" Rudolph slowly turned away and Mathias noticed this. "You don't have it, do you?"

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"Rudolph… if he succeeds, you know what will happen to the world."

"Yes."

"Then you must stop him at all cost, understood?" Rudolph nodded in response. "Leave us here, are wounds have healed but the pain still resides, we will be of no help. If the human has discovered the true power to the Chaoskey, then…"

"Don't worry, I'll handle it." Rudolph said as he stood up leaving Mathias to rest.

"Hey Rudy," Sonic called. "What did he mean by the true power of the Chaoskey?"

Rudolph sighed then turned to Sonic and Knuckles. "It's on the walls."

Both Sonic and Knuckles turned to the walls, "What? This chicken-scratch?" Sonic asked until he saw Knuckles take a few steps back in terror. "What!? What does it say!?"
Knuckles fell back as he read, "Los titulares de la llave, tomar la mano y la liberación de sólo un alma pura que ha sido libre de dejar el mal forma física. Instar ¡para formar lo que es la luz y la oscuridad, la liberación y obligado romper los límites de todo lo que el control de tu mundo y que lo libre."

"Ok… what does that mean?" Sonic asked confused.

"Holders of the key, take hand and release for only a pure soul which that has been untainted by evil leave physical form. Urge thyself to form that which is light and darkness, release the bound and break the limits of all that control thy world and set it free."

"What does THAT mean?" Sonic asked again.

Rudolph turned to Sonic. "It's a ritual."

"What kind of ritual?"

"If anyone of god-descent such as a guardian or… of royal blood… sacrifices themselves to the Chaoskey, their body and soul will become a gateway that will open the realm to the Chaos Force allowing the initiator of the ritual will gain complete access to the Chaos Force receiving powers of a god."

"WHAT!!?"

"Rudolph…" Knuckles whispered as stared blankly to the floor, "Why didn't you tell us before?"

Rudolph turned away, "I thought Robotnik wouldn't find out and I could get the Chaoskey back… but now… I'm not sure."

Sonic stood there completely silent until he turned to Knuckles, "Hey Knux come on, get up." Then he turned to Rudolph "We have to save her." Then Sonic walked out with Knuckles and Rudolph following. Once the three reach the entrance, everyone could tell there was something wrong.

"Sonic, what wrong?" Blaze asked.

Sonic looked at his friends, "Tikal's in danger, and we have to everything and anything to stop Robotnik, got it!?" Sonic yelled with everyone nodding. "Good, now this time, we gotta stop Robotnik no matter what!" Sonic said as he and the others ran to the X-Tornado.