I own nobody, except for the guy at the very end of this chap! Not much elseto say here, except…Chapter 4! Enjoy!

An awkward silence fell over the throne room of Castle Acorn. After hearing Rotor's explanation of the possible destruction of Mobius Z, everyone present was thinking carefully on deciding whether they'd take part on the mission to stop it. A couple of volunteers decided right away:

"I'm goin'!" "Me too!" "Count me in!" said Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles.

After a few seconds, more volunteers began to speak up:

"Where Sonic goes, I go!" Tails said.

"I shall go, for the kingdom!" claimed Geoffrey. It had been a while since he underwent a big mission, and he wanted to further show his never ending loyalty.

"It would be wise for me to agree. I'm going." said Espio. Everyone knew his skills could really come in handy if they ran into trouble.

Both Rouge and Shadow stepped forward. "It's the least I can do to repay you guys from saving me from being possessed one year ago." Shadow answered. Rouge didn't say anything. Everyone knew why she volunteered anyway…

"You'll need some extra muscle. I'm in." Mighty said standing up.

All the volunteers stood before Rotor. "Last chance for anyone else to speak up. Anyone?"

"I'll go, too!" said a voice coming form behind everyone.

The group turned their attention to the throne room entrance. Slowly walking inside was someone everyone hadn't seen for a long time. Lupe, of the wolfpack.

"Sorry I'm late. But I heard enough to decide to join you."

Rotor was surprised. "Are you sure about that?"

Lupe just smiled. "Don't forget, uncharted territory exploration is my specialty!"

With that, the team of ten volunteers stood ready for the adventure that awaited them. Rotor gave a slight smile of satisfaction.

"Well everyone, it's time to save our worlds, again…"

Three hours later:

In a large steel-plated room (which gave off the vibe of it being a missile launch base), the venturing team of Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Geoffrey, Espio, Shadow, Rouge, Mighty, and Lupe, stood upon a large steel circle, with the seven Chaos Emeralds encircling Sonic and Shadow. They were ready at anytime to begin. In the base's control room, Rotor, the royal family, and the rest of the gang who decided to stay took places in front of multiple computers and monitors. Rotor began to speak in the intercom.

"Alright, everybody! Final preparations are underway! You guys got the unknown Zone tracker down there?"

Amy lifted it up high. "Check, Rote!"

"Got the suitcase of equipment?"

Espio held up the case. "Roger!"

"Alright, then. Sonic, Shadow. It's up to you guys now……Good luck, everyone……"

Everyone formed a circle around Sonic and Shadow. The two grinned at each other as they focused their energy on the emeralds rotating around them. First slowly, then faster and faster as the energy increased. Everyone shut their eyes so not to be blinded by the light around them. Finally, the opportune moment came, and the two hedgehogs shouted in unison:

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A great, blinding flash of light consumed the room, engulfing one and all inside. And seconds later as it faded, they all had vanished and the room fell silent.

"…………………………"

Sonic slowly opened his heavy eyes. He felt pretty dizzy from his short trip.

"Oh, my head. You'd think I'd be used to doing that trick by now. But no…I still get dizzy…"

He got up and took a look around. Everyone was looking a bit exhausted from the warp as well. It's hard to do it as a group, after all. Checking out the scenery, their landing point looked very familiar. Large temples of Egyptian style surrounded by pyramids, the hot sun shining down, a few palm trees scattered across the area, and endless miles of sand dunes in every direction. Definitely the Sandopolis Zone.

Sonic turned around to see Amy giving him a very cold stare.

"Good going, Sonic." She said annoyingly. "You couldn't pick a spot more enjoyable to land, like Emerald Hill? Sunset Park? CASINO NIGHT?"

"Hey! Gimme a break! I can't do everything in your favor." he tried to explain.

"He's right," Shadow spoke up. "Take all of you during the warp took a lot more energy than you think. Picking our exact destination was practically impossible."

"Well, whoop-di-doo…" Amy said sarcastically.

"Either way, it looks like we all made it here in one piece. That's all that matters, right?" Mighty said trying to calm her down.

A few minutes after everyone gathered themselves, Amy got out the unknown Zone tracker device.

"Now then. We should probably try to figure out how to turn this on and see if the Zone is within range of our location (even though odds are it isn't)." She carefully looked at the device. "Hmm……now what complication did Rotor put in it to activate?"

"What complication?" Geoffrey pointed to it. "Don't you just push the green 'ON' button on the right?"

Amy looked again. "Uh… I-I knew that! I was just checking to see of you all were paying attention!" (sweatdrop)

At the push of the button, a screen and radar appeared, but with nothing on it.

"You were right, Amy." Espio noticed. "It's out of range here."

"…And we're in the middle of the desert." Knuckles reminded everybody.

Rouge didn't look very happy being reminded. "Great! Now what do we do?"

Everyone turned to Sonic, apparently waiting for him to answer.

"Aw, c'mon guys! Do I always have to be the guy in charge?"

"Why not?" Tails asked back. "You're the hero, remember?"

"Point taken." He answered. "Alright. You guys are lucky I just so happen to have an idea."

The gang grinned in satisfaction. They knew he would have one in mind.

"Ok, listen up. I say from here we split into two groups. One will go with me to see if we can pick up the new Zone on this tracker doohickey. While the rest of you stay behind until we get back with news."

Geoffrey didn't seem very impressed. "That's a plan?"

Sonic grinned. "Genius, no?"

"Genius NO!" he said back. "Sounds pretty cliché if you ask me."

"Well it's all I could think of off the spot. Cut me some slack."

Since no one else could think of anything better (don't ask why), it was decided. Sonic, Amy, Mighty, and Lupe became the exploration team, and Tails, Rouge, Shadow, Geoffrey, and Espio stayed behind with Knuckles in charge. They decided to take refuge in one of the temples out of the burning sunlight. Sonic's team prepared for departure.

"Take care while were gone, guys! We'll be back whenever!"

"That's comforting…" Rouge muttered softly.

Amy, Mighty, and Lupe grabbed tightly onto Sonic.

"So, you too." Amy asked them. "You guys ever travel at Sonic's speed before?"

Mighty began to speak. "Well as a matter of fact, I- YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

……And Sonic took off before he could finish!

The rest of the gang waved back as they watched them disappear over the endless dunes.

How unfortunate for them that they were all unaware of the red eyes watching them from a high vantage point...

Meanwhile, somewhere deep within the far reaches of the cosmos, a very familiar cloaked figure sat meditating, harnessing his mystical powers and supernatural abilities. Suddenly, a forceful wave of kinetic energy flew his direction. His light blue eyes within his darkened hood flew open.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?" He scanned his surroundings, seeing nothing.

"That was SOME disturbance. But what was it about?" He closed his eyes and aimed his focus on finding the source of the force's origin. After ten seconds, he gasped in fear.

"Oh, no! It can't be!" The figure flew toward a small asteroid, and reached into one of its small crater holes. He pulled out what he hoped he wouldn't have to look at for a LONG time. A gem that shined in an aurora of seven colors: The Cataclysmic Emerald. After close examination, his eyes shot wide open, and his blood ran cold!

"Oh my God! NO! It's impossible! ONE OF THE SHARDS ARE MISSING!"

Shocking, isn't it? Hopefully the next few chaps won't be as short as these last few. Until next time folks! TTFN! (you know what that means…) R&R please!