After travelling through the forest and then into the open grassland, taking their time so Marcus could keep up with them, Team Chaotix finally stopped to rest at the base of a small waterfall.

'So' said Vector 'how exactly do we get to Soleanna and where is the way through, I mean you got here so you must know right?'

Marcus nodded 'there is a town not far from here, the way through is just beyond, I just hope I can find the spot again.'

Charmy flew around the river and waterfall 'don't worry, we'll help you find it, we've been to other worlds before so we know how it works…kind of.'

'Then you know more than me' Marcus laughed 'someone created this little portal for the sole purpose of sending me through to find you, we'll be closing it once you're through.'

Vector looked at him 'what! But then how do we get back?'

'When you solve the case, or if you truly and honestly can't, then we'll re-open for you and bid you farewell.'

Espio, who had been sitting on a rock saying nothing and quietly absorbing the information made a small 'humph' like noise.

'Do you have any ideas on what is wrong in Soleanna' Marcus asked curiously.

Vector shook his head 'no, I think we'll need to do some more investigation and talk to your Princess Elise in person.'

'I have a contact in Soleanna who may be able to help' Espio added 'Knuckles the Echidna, short tempered guy but reliable.'

Charmy looked at Espio 'you sure bringing Knuckles into this is a good idea Espio, I mean I know you and him go back but… you know how he can be.'

Suddenly there was a noise off in the distance, the sound of laser blasts, crashes and shouts. Espio stood up 'I'll check it out, you two stay here with our guide.'

Espio leapt through the trees, heading towards the noise. When he finally emerged in a clearing he found a large group of Dr Robotnik's robots surrounding…Mighty.

Espio couldn't help but smile, it had been years since he'd seen his former Chaotix team mate; he'd gotten a bit taller and looked a little older too but then that was too be expected.

Seeing that Mighty looked a little outnumbered he leapt into the air, began a spin attack and knocked one robot so hard it shot through a line of other robots. He then kicked off a nearby stump and hit another robot then flipped in the air and sent two of his daggers into the weak point of two more approaching from behind.

Mighty mean while rolled into his strong ball and rolled through the rest knocking them down. The final robot was bigger and tougher than the others, Espio looked at Mighty and the two nodded, remembering their old trick; Mighty rolled into his ball and Espio back flipped kicking him with awesome speed and power like a football right into the robot, sending it's upper half flying and bottom half stumbling to the floor.

Mighty uncurled himself and looked over at him 'Espio… I haven't seen any of you guys in years, saw Knuckles a couple of times at a distance but never really got close, how you been?'

Espio smiled 'good, still fighting off the doctor as always though.'

Mighty nodded 'yeah, that never changes, but you know I'm not big on fights but I love to explore, been all over.'

Suddenly thinking of it he says 'ever been to a place called Soleanna?'

Mighty shook his head 'no, never heard of it, what's it like?'

'Don't know, myself and the rest of Chaotix are headed there soon, how about you join us.'

Mighty rubs his chin, thinking it over 'hmmm, I don't know, I kind of enjoy the quiet explorer life, but then I always have enjoyed a good adventure too, why are you going there?'

'Chaotix run a Private Investigation business now, we have a client there' Espio replied, he turned and started back through the trees, Mighty followed him.

'So… not just a bunch of misfits anymore huh?'

Espio shook his head 'no, Knuckles left too, he went off to be a treasure hunter.'

Mighty nodded 'that figures, how about Sonic, I hear word of him all over the place.'

'Around, as always' Espio said simply, his view of Sonic was fairly indifferent, like Knuckles.

As the two of them returned to the waterfall where the others were waiting Vector said 'there you are, what happened, I heard all sorts of noises, sounded like a real fight…MIGHTY!'

Charmy got so distracted by the appearance that he crashed right into a tree 'oww, Mighty!'

'Hi guys, Espio helped me out of a tight spot with some of Robotnik's minions' Mighty said 'it's good to see you all again.'

'Whose minions' asked Marcus confused by the name reference.

Mighty looked at Marcus 'whose the human, we don't see many of them here.'

'He's our guide' Charmy voiced before anyone else could speak 'he's showing us the way to Soleanna.'

Vector nodded walking over to pat Mighty on the shoulder 'yeah, because uh…we don't…uh, well we don't know the way.'

Mighty nodded 'so you're the new leader now that Knuckles is gone, huh Vector?'

Vector nodded 'yep' after a moment of silence he continued 'so Mighty…I know you left Chaotix, but why don't you come back re-join us, just for now at least, help us out with our latest case.'

'Yeah we could always use another pair of hands and another brain' Charmy added 'come on please.'

Mighty rolled his eyes 'ok, I'll come with you guys, I have to admit this Soleanna world has sparked my interest.'

Meanwhile back in Soleanna, Sonic and the others had just finished helping clean up the town.

'Thank you' said one of the men to Sonic 'thank so much for helping us stranger, your name is Sonic yes?'

Sonic nodded 'yeah and don't worry, we'll do all we can to get back what the Babylon Rogues stole from you.'

A woman came beside the man 'thank you so much Mr Sonic, we would be so grateful, things have been hard for us lately, fish have been scarce as it is, the tides are changing, something is scaring them off, we need all the supplies we can get.'

'Not to mention the…problems our people have been suffering' the man added.

Tails stepped forward 'problems?'

The man nodded 'it seems to be happening all over Soleanna, even in the capital, people are suffering from nightmares and visions.'

Amy gasped and stepped forward 'that's so weird, I've been having them too.'

Knuckles nodded 'so have I.'

Sonic and Tails looked at each other then said 'yeah…me and Tails too, it seems like everyone here is effected.'

'Not me' came a small voice and they all turned to look at Cream who was sitting on a small step 'it all sounds very worrying but…for some reason I'm fine.'

'Hmmm' said Tails beginning to pace… 'how strange, I wonder why we're all effected then. I was going to say maybe it's because we're in the Soleanna world but…if Cream is fine…'

'Then maybe it's something else' Knuckles finished.

Meanwhile, high in the snowy mountains of Soleanna, the area called White Acropolis lay Dr Robotnik's base, hidden by the snowstorm and mountains and guarded by hundred of cannons, lights and robots. High atop his tower he stood inside his command centre and looked out over the storm. He had re-considered his attack and kidnapping of the princess during the Soleanna Festival for a number of reasons; the first being that his spy bots had seen Sonic and his pesky friends amongst the crowds, the second was that he had formed a better idea. He would collect the Chaos Emeralds in due course but first he needed a distraction, to keep that pesky hedgehog and his friends busy.

Turning to the four capsules behind him he said to his worker drone 'so, are they ready?'

'Yes master, doctor, designed and prepared to your specifications by your latest company, Robotix Inc.'

'Excellent' he smiled, a gleam in his eye, Sonic may have got the upper hand on him many times in the past but this time…this time he would succeed, his plan was flawless 'open it, let me look upon my new right hand man.'

The capsule hissed as pressure was released and opened slowly, the smoke clearing to reveal a midnight blue Metallic Hedgehog, Robotnik shivered in excitement and his drone looked at him 'something wrong doctor.'

'No, it's just so…familiar, not only does it remind me of my arch nemesis but it is an exact physical copy of the machine that betrayed me and attempted to become the overlord of all that exists, it sends shivers down my spine just to look at it' he reached out to run a hand down the side of it's metal head.

'The Metal Sonic 5000 is absolutely obedient to you master, it has the old ones memories, it's powers even more so in fact, but it lives only to serve you as your right hand and obey your orders' the drone replied, unconcerned.

'Excellent, then he shall live, this is the machine I truly intended to create, the first was a failure, obsolete, this one is the ultimate masterpiece' and with that he pressed the button activating the surge of electricity that brought it to life. Metal Sonic rose it's head and its red eyes lit up.

Robotnik stepped away from the capsule to look at MS, the metallic nightmare stepped forward out of the capsule and lifted it's head to stare directly at Dr Robotnik, not saying anything. It then looked around at everything, clearly analyzing all around it. It finally returned its gaze to Robotnik 'I live to serve you master, what would you have me do.'

Robotnik threw up his arms 'yes, finally, a success, I'll be sure to trust Robotix Inc with my future projects more often. I have a special mission for you MS; you will lead an elite team of robots, Alpha Robotix, and your duty will be to distract Sonic and his friends by any means necessary.'

MS nodded 'gladly, who are my counterparts in this mission.'

Robotnik activated the three other capsules and they slowly began to open 'the first will be the new Metal Knuckles, codenamed Knuckalix.'

MS stepped in front of the capsule to star at the deep red robot with the white stripes on his spikes, like himself, and a low black cape attacked to his back also like himself.

'I sense a different type of CPU in this one, it is not like my own' MS said after examining Knuckalix for a moment.

Dr Robotnik laughed 'very perceptive of you, yes we decided to keep Knuckalix on a short leash, giving that he is a prototype design, he does not have as much…free will, as you or the other robots will have but he follows commands and is far more powerful than the true Knuckles could ever hope to be.'

MS didn't respond, he merely looked to the next capsule 'and this one?'

'Why don't you tell me' smiled Robotnik, standing tall.

Running an analysis MS finally says 'model type Gemerl, updated model Gemerl-X; a multi purpose combat robot, neither supremely strong nor fast but highly aerodynamic and capable of merging with many machines to strengthen them and it's own armour and weaponry.'

'Exactly, Gemerl-X will be acting as your…messenger' Robotnik said as he activated the two, surging Knuckalix and Gemerl-X to life with a massive jolt of electricity from the cables plugged into their backs. Knuckalix tugged forward, cables coming loose automatically and the Muscular Machine stepped from its capsule.

Gemerl-X followed right after, the two stood before Robotnik 'what do you command, master' the two said together.

MS folded its arms and turned to face the window 'hah, mere puppets to your will, I am your partner doctor but I am no puppet.'

Robotnik laughed 'but of course, you are my new right hand MS, together we shall conquer the world, with you as my supreme commander.'

MS turned to the last capsule 'so who is the last member of this Alpha Robotix team I am to lead' however when he saw the form of E-123 Omega in the capsule, he leapt back, aiming his arm gun at it.

'No MS, lower your weapon' Robotnik shouted.

'I will not, this machine is rogue, it fought alongside my nemesis.'

Robotnik stood between them 'it has been reprogrammed, to serve me.'

MS didn't change its stance but lowered its arm 'the E-Series was one of my most successful robot designs' Robotnik continued 'Omega has proven this by being a rogue thorn in my side for far too long, but not anymore, I had him captured and now he will work with you to stop Sonic.'

MS clenched its fist 'it cannot be trusted, it could turn on us.'

Gemerl-X stepped forward 'I agree, with all due respect master, Metal Sonic is right.'

Robotnik growled and slammed his fist on the table 'silence! I know what I'm doing, if he attempts to turn against his orders he will shut down, he will fight with us or fall silent, those are his only options.'

As Omega came to life and stood beside the other three, Robotnik pressed a bunch of buttons on his computer and a map of Soleanna came up; several areas zoomed up closer in and the computer echoed out 'Chaos Emeralds located.'

'My, they're far apart, this is going to take sometime, well then I guess its time you got to work isn't it MS' Robotnik said spinning his chair to look at the four of them.

MS nodded 'what are your orders?'

'Knuckalix I want you to hunt down Knuckles' old friends, the Private Investigators called Team Chaotix and then take down Knuckles, separate him from Sonic.'

Knuckalix nodded 'as you command' then sped off through a door.

'Gemerl-X, I have a special mission for you, as well as acting as a messenger for your comrades you are to find and capture these two and bring them to me alive' Robotnik brought up two pictures on the computer, one of a pink hedgehog and the other of a green one.

Gemerl-X left without a word, continuing Robotnik said 'with those two in my hands I am convinced Sonic will finally be forced to do anything I tell him to.'

Suddenly an alarm rang out and Robotnik turned to the computer 'what!'

The computers voice rang out 'warning, intruder alert, intruder alert.'

'Hmmm, I wonder who this could be' Robotnik said bringing up the camera feed on the monitor 'ah, it's the batgirl, that sneaky little spy, I wonder what she's after, well she won't get far; Omega begin your mission parameters.'

Omega shifted to life 'new mission confirmed apprehend Rouge and Shadow, beginning mission' and he too vanished out the door, leaving MS alone with Robotnik.

'I will go and monitor Sonic and his allies, leave it to me doctor, I will turn them against him, against each other, soon he will be alone and then you can make your move but if you intend to kill him, I request you give me that pleasure.'

Robotnik laughed 'you truly are a masterpiece, agreed, now go, contact me when you have made progress.'

Meanwhile outside in the raging storm Rouge desperately leapt from cliff to cliff, avoiding the searchlights and robots wherever possible but even she couldn't keep this up for ever, she'd messed up and now the entire robot army was coming down on her head. She landed on top of one of the searchlights and smashed it out with her boot then leapt onto a rock outcropping and took out the robots with a couple of her bombs.

'God, where did all these robots come from, one minute nothing and the next…well never mind that now, I gotta get out of here.'

She'd been sent here by the human Special Forces, she was doing them a favour, looking into the doctors affairs for them, making sure he wasn't planning anything too…Apocalyptic. She somehow doubted that, all the doctor ever seemed to care about was conquest, not destruction; it was just his methods that were problematic.

She pulled herself up the last cliff and over into the next valley, breathing a sigh, finally she was away from the searchlights and robots, she could take a moment to breath. Well at least she hadn't gotten out of there empty handed; she'd managed to steal some disk from the doctor's base before leaving, hopefully it wasn't going to be a waste of her time.

Shadow sped through the blizzard, blasting aside the robots in his way like they were nothing, well they were really, he could see the searchlights in the distance, he must be getting close to the base's perimeter.

'Agent Shadow, come in Agent Shadow, do you copy' came the voice from his comlink.

'Yes, I'm approaching the base' Shadow replied.

'We've lost contact with Agent Rouge, she infiltrated the base about an hour ago but we recently lost contact with her, either she's been compromised and captured or something's gone wrong with her comlink, either way we want you to find her, get her and the data she's carrying out of there, understood?'

'Understood, beginning mission' and with that he sped off again into the storm, he wasn't a fan of working with the humans…or with anyone really but he felt it was the least he could do after the misunderstanding Black Doom incident. Plus it was Rouge, the only person he would ever consider calling a real friend.

He sped down the valley knocking aside all the robots that got in his way, dodging rocks and trees and winding along narrow icy paths over deep chasms.

As he reached the bottom of the valley he came to a sudden stop as a large robot with a hammer came out of some sort of trap door in the floor, from a speaker somewhere Robotnik's voice echoed 'thought I didn't see you coming aye Shadow, oh you made more than enough noise, I heard you coming a mile off, first my Juggernaut will deal with you then your friend Rouge.'

'It doesn't matter what you send to stop me doctor, you know you can't defeat me' Shadow yelled back.

The Juggernaut looked strong but Shadow had a feeling it was all talk, it ran at him and swung it's hammer, almost toppling over due to the weight, Shadow hit it with a Chaos Lance attack knocking it onto its back and its outer armour falling off. He then dove down straight into the centre of its body smashing it in two.

'Ha' Shadow grumbled 'not even a challenge.'

'Don't think this is over Shadow, you have more surprises in store for you' came the doctors voice as Shadow sped off to continue his search.

Shadow ran through the storm for what felt like hours and eventually heard what sounded like a fight, he ran towards the noise; out of the fog appeared Rouge and Omega, they were fighting each other.

To Shadow this made no sense, last he'd seen Omega had been on their side but no time to figure out why now, first he had to save Rouge, he leapt past Rouge and whacked Omega back.

'Shadow' Rouge said sounding both surprised and relieved.

'Omega, what are you doing' he asked the robot but Omega didn't seem capable of reason.

The robot stepped forward and raised his weapons 'Rouge and Shadow, primary targets have been acquired, I will defeat you.'

Shadow launched at Omega again and kicked him back 'use reason Omega, you cannot beat me, you know my power, don't make me destroy you.'

Omega didn't reply merely switched it's arms to machine guns and begun firing, Rouge flew high and Shadow sped to the side dashing away.

Rouge, desperate to help tossed a bomb down onto Omega but hardly seemed to phase him.

Omega rocketed up into the air and hit Rouge hard, knocking her out of the sky and into the snow.

'Target down' Omega said 'Shadow…' but before he could say anymore Shadow rocketed up and unleashed a volley of kicks and punches into Omega.

'Aaaarrrgghhhh' Shadow bellowed, he then spun and hit Omega hard with both his legs sending him crashing into the far cliff and a pile of rocks crashed down on top of him.

Shadow ran over to Rouge and offered his hand 'you ok?'

'Yeah, I'm fine' she replied standing up and brushing away the snow.

The sound of shifting rock signalled Omegas return and Shadow turned back to the pile of rock 'repairs…requi…red' Omega said awkwardly 'this is...n't o…ver' and he flew off into the storm.

The two of them took shelter in one of the small caves while they rested, Rouge sat down but Shadow stayed standing, staring out at the storm.

'What's wrong with him' Shadow asked at last, turning to Rouge.

Rouge shrugged 'I don't know, I was walking through here, looking for the way out of this place and he attacked me, I thought he was on our side, but I guess he's back with the doctor now.'

Shadow stared where Omega had left for a long moment 'hmmm, I wonder.'

'It's unfortunate, he was a powerful ally' Rouge said, after a long silence she decided to change the subject 'so what are you doing here, last place I thought I'd find you.'

'I'm doing the humans a favour' Shadow said, not sounding proud of it.

Rouge laughed 'I'm not sure what's more shocking, that they asked you or that you accepted.'

'After what happened in that Black Doom incident I felt I owed them, besides it was you who had gone missing' Shadow muttered.

Rouge stood up 'aw, I'm flattered Shadow, I suppose from you that is almost a compliment.'

'What are you doing here anyway' Shadow snaps, changing the subject.

Rouge pulled out a CD 'I was getting this, its some data files of the doctors that the government want.'

Shadow gave a small laugh 'still their lapdog Rouge? Don't you think you can do better than that?'

'Hey I'm my own boss, like you it's just a favour, I'm a treasure hunter first and spy second' Rouge replied angrily.

'So you didn't even ask what it is that you're getting for them; your too trusting, I trust the humans as much as I do the doctor, they all have their own little schemes' Shadow said quietly.

Rouge stepped towards him 'it doesn't have to be that way Shadow, give people a chance.'

Their conversation was broken by Shadow's comlink 'Agent Shadow, come in Agent Shadow, are you still there?'

Shadow sighed and activated the speaker 'this is Shadow, I have Rouge, we are returning to the city now.'

'Excellent news, well done, we'll meet you at the HQ by the harbour, command out.'

Shadow looked at Rouge, she looked like she wanted to talk more about their conflict but he just turned his back on her 'come on, let's go.'

The two arrived in the small harbour and warehouse city and headed for the docks. As they passed through the town square, with the shadow of the large clock tower looming over them, a group of robots appeared, surrounding them.

Hearing scream and cries they looked around to see robots coming into the city from all over, the water, the sewers, from the mountain pass 'the doctor must have discovered this was missing' Rouge said gesturing to the CD in her hand.

Shadow nodded 'get to HQ and hand it over to them, go now, I'll deal with this.'

'You sure, there seem like a lot for…' but Shadow cut her off.

'I said go' and with that Rogue quickly flew off into the sky, some of the robots tried to follow but Shadow leapt into front of them and kicked them to the floor, smashing them apart.

'Sorry but you're going to have to deal with me first.'

Rouge flew over the buildings and to the docks, seeing the HQ facing the ocean as she swooped around to fly down and land along the shoreline group of buildings. The agent outside the building ran up to her 'Agent Rouge, your back, where's Shadow?'

Rouge handed him the CD 'get this to command and get it out of here, the doctor has brought a large platoon of robots to try and get it back, Shadow is holding them off, what matters right now is that you get it out of here.'

The agent nodded and ran inside the building, Rouge looked back into the distance 'Shadow, I hope you're alright.'

Shadow dashed around the city streets, knocking aside the robots as he went, dodging lasers, bombs and bullets. As he passed civilians he yelled to them to get to cover but they were well ahead of him and many of them were running to the outskirts of the city.

He leapt onto a robot's head then sped through a string of ten airborne robots, then shot a volley of chaos lances into ones on the grounds to stun them, then landed in the middle of them and smashed them apart with a spinning breakdance like move with his legs.

He dashed forward and straight through a weak shield of a laser firing robot and shattered it into pieces 'none of you can stop me' he shouted.

Rouge flew up onto the roof of the clock tower, looked out into the distance and gasped 'my god, Shadow!'

She flew down to find him destroying the last of the robots 'Shadow we have to go, the CD has been delivered, we can't stay here.'

'There…is no we Rouge, I work alone' Shadow said 'and if I can defeat Omega what makes you think these robots stand a chance?'

'The old saying, quantity over quality' she replied pointing to the sky where the sun was practically blacked out by approaching robots.

'That can't stop me' Shadow said almost laughing.

'Maybe not, but think of the harm you could cause to everyone here and this city, we should leave and wait to here word of what was on that CD' Rouge said.

'I don't work for the humans, I don't care what's on it' Shadow said, absently blasting a struggling robot with a chaos lance.

'But what if it's something really dangerous that the doctor planned to use against us all?'

Shadow sighed, closing his eyes, 'alright, we'll go, the doctor wins this round' and the two sped off and out the gates of the city towards the central plains.