Enjoy.

Chapter 2

A paperboy stood at a corner waving the daily newspaper. "Extra, Extra," he called out. "Read all about it."

A middle-aged man wearing a grey siut and a black tie approached the young with a dollar in hand. "I'll take one of those young man."

The man opened his newspaper. The headline read "Sonic The Hedgehog Saves Children From Burning Building." The Newspaper was filled with stories about Sonic the Hedgehog doing good deeds all over the world. This was to no surprise to the man as this was how every newspaper was. Just then a harsh wind forced its way down the street, blowing the man's newspaper away. He looked over the paper boy at the corner to see that all his newspapers were scattered all over the street.

"What do we have here?" a voice said looking at its newly acquired newspaper. "Burning Building huh?"

SONIC the HEGDEHOG threw the newspaper into the wind and continued running the streets. Everything seemed to be a blur his wake. Sonic run up the side of a nearby builiding. The sunlight were barely seen over the horizon over the building he could he was approaching the tip so he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around his legs. Within seconds, Sonic shot off the top of the building in his spin mode. He immedialtly broke out of spin mode upon reaching the hieght of his jump. "Sonic!" came a young voice. Without looking behind him, Soinc extended his hand, which met another. MILES 'TAILS' PROWER looked down at his friend from the cockpit of his plane the Tornado.

"You made it," Sonic replied with friendly smile on his face. Tails swung Sonic over the side of the plane and Sonic climbed onto the wing.

&&&

The earth seemed so small from this angle. So small that one could hold it in the palm of his hands. Shadow stood near a window in the Space Colony ARK. This was his home and the only part of his past he knew of. Shadow stared at the planet for what seemed like centuries without blinking. There was something about this planet he had always wondered. Was this the only inhabited planet in this vast sea of stars? Could it be possible for one to sail the stars to find a place of purity? A promise land? Shadow pulled his attention from the window upon feeling a slight squeeze in his head. Shadow brought a hand up to his forehead to try to ease the shallow pain. It seemed to be working, and then the pain seemed to grow worse. Shadow groaned and fell to his knees upon hearing voices inside his head. His eyes began to burn and his body began to fill with an familiar sensation to break loose. It was the power of Chaos. Was it negative or positive energy this time?

"Shadow," the black hedgehog heard a young girl's voice echo in his head.

"Maria!" Shadow said as he unleashed the positive energy of Chaos Control. Shadow vansished and reappeared in the vast depths of space. He could no longer hold in the negative energy and the voices were now growing louder and louder in his head. Memories began rushing by in his head. He couldn't keep up with him them all. Until one final image appeared. Maria stood staring at him with another woman next to her. A woman Shadow had never seen before, or at least he didn't remember her. "Shadow."

With that final image, Shadow yelled at the top of his lungs, unleashing an almighty explosion of Chaos Energy. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Shadow had found himself filling with a lot of Chaos energy as of late.

&&&&&

Yuffie entered the engine room to find Vincent leaning against a wall, his head hung over. He was obviously sleeping. Yuffie quietly crept over to him and slid her back down the side of the wall next to him. She looked at the strange, black haired man; no one was ever able to tell how he felt or what was going on his head. For all she knew, the destruction of Gaia could've meant absolutely nothing, seeing as his everything had died over forty years ago. If only Vincent would express his feelings to others. Letting that thought go, Yuffie leaned against Vincent and shut her eyes.

Cloud walked the halls of the Shera, both fists clenched. The only thing on his mind at the moment was revenge. It would be a small matter of time before 'G' caught up with them. He could feel it in his gut that they were being followed. They had to find a place of refuge. If 'G' didn't find them then starvation would.

"Cloud," came Cid's voice over the intercom system. "Everyone, I think I have something y'all should see."

Cloud turned a corner to find Tifa and Red XIII heading in his direction. The three nodded to eachother and made their way to the bridge. Upon making their arrival, Cloud, Tifa, and Red XIII found themselves to be greeted by Cid, Barret, Reeve, and Shelke. "Where Vincent and Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"I dunno," Cid responded without looking. "But we can fill them in on the details later."

Cid pulled himself away from the ship's steering mechanism and pulled on a nearby rod, activating the autopilot system. He made his way down a few stairs to meet his friends. He looked over to Shelke who at a nearby monitor. "Hit it."

Shelke pushed a button on the computer's monitor and the bridge of the ship was consumed in darkness. A formation of lights hovered into formation about the room. The ship was creating a simulation of what was going on in the nearby space. Once the hologram finally took form, Cid began his explanation. "Look here," he said, pointing to a far away of the hologram. The computerized image Cid was referring to had pulled itself closer to him, giving a more vivid image. Before the team was a cloud of red energy. "Now I have some good news and some bad news. The since I've already pointed out the bad news first, I'll have Shelke explain to you what we found. Shelke?"

The small, 19 year old girl made her into the center of the group. "As I entered space through SND(Synaptic Net Dive) I began recording data of the space around me. As I continued my traveled through space I found this cloud energy. It is far too vast for the ship to go around it."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Barret interrupted. "What's the good news?"

Shelke continued to speak. "While still in SND I traveled through the energy storm and found this." The room hologram began to pull itself through the red cloud of energy to find a lush, green planet. "This planet contains the appropriate element and natural resources for contain organic life. We can settle upon this planet but in order to do that we must go through the storm."

"What's so bad about this storm?" Reeve asked.

"The energy in this cloud is very unstable. I had never seen this type of energy before. In some ways, it resembles the corrupted energy of the Lifestream. This energy also contains the same contains you would find in a supernova."

"I figure that we sail through this storm. If anything goes wrong, I'll have you guys on stand by in the emergency escape pods in the hangar," Cid jumped back into the conversation.

"Well by all means let's do it," Tifa brought her fist up to her face with a look-determined tone in her voice. "What do we have to lose?"

"Only our lives," Cloud said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "I say we go for it."

The others in the room replied with a nod. "Then it's settled!" Yuffie said as she jumped with her fist in the air. Wait a minute….Yuffie?

"Where did you come from," Cid asked. "Where's Vincent?"

Yuffie's cheery mood suddenly vanished upon realizing that her gothic companion wasn't with her. "Yeah, come to think of it when I woke up he was gone."

&&&&

Knuckles stood on the top step of the Master Emerald's shrine, looking out the open forest. The wind blowing in his locks brought a calm tone to the floating island. He looked back at the Master Emerald; its bright shine was only surpassed by that of the sun. Something about the Emerald didn't seem right though. Could this mean the start of a new crisis? Or could it perhaps be him being insecure? If anything, something didn't seem right. Knuckles took his gaze away from the emerald and looked back towards the sea, seeing the faint image of a plane. As the plane drew closer, the image became clearer and clearer revealing it was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog and his two tailed companion, Tails, as the pilot. A smile spread across Knuckles' face as he waved to the incoming plane.

"Knuckles," Sonic shouted as he leaped off the wing of Tails' plain. He calm to a smooth landing in the forest below and instantly dashed in the red echidna's direction, arriving there in mere seconds. "We've go trouble."

"Don't tell me it's Eggman again," Knuckles pleaded with an unsurprised look on his face.

"He's got Amy."

"Damn it, Sonic, why don't put a leash on that girl already?"

"No time for your corny punch lines now Knuckles," Sonic grabbed Knuckles by the arm and dashed off.

&&&&

The Shera drew closer and closer to the cloud of red energy. The influx of power caused a bit of turbulence. Cid held firm grip at the bridge. He looked down at his friends; all were to be accounted for. Except Vincent. "Alright now listen up," Cid began. "I want ya'll to go down to the hangar and sit yourselves down in the Emergency Escape Pods. Shelke and I will stay up here and navigate."

"But Cid," Yuffie asked. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about us. If things get too hectic we'll high tail our asses down to the hangar with ya'. Hopefully, if things do get too bad, we'll be close enough to that there planet to guarantee the pods make it their safely. You guys better find Vincent and tell what's going on before you do anything tho'. Don't want anyone getting left behind."

With that said, the door to the bridge opened, revealing none other than Vincent Valentine. Cloud, leaning against a wall, shut his eyes as Vincent made his way inside. "Where have you been?" he couldn't help but ask in his calm tone. Vincent stopped and turned his head slightly to Cloud.

"It's complicated."

"'Bout time you got here," Barret shouted. "We've been searching for your ass all over the place."

"Sorry. I heard everything outside. So when do we start the operation?"

Just then, the entire ship quaked, Shelke began typing away at her computer. "The pressure of the energy has increased."

"What," Cid shouted as he positioned himself at Shelke's side. "What does that all mean?"

Shelke, in her smooth yet dull voice replied, "It means that somehow the amount of energy has increased and the danger level has risen. We must act now before things possibly get worse."

"DAMN!" Cid slammed the side of his fist on the control panel. "You heard the lady, get into position."

Cloud threw his eyes open and nearly kicked off the wall, Tifa followed him out the door with Red XIII, Barret and Reeve on their tails. Vincent and Yuffie were left in the room with Shelke and Cid.

"You ready?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie's eyes carried mixed emotion. At a time like this why wouldn't she? If she didn't lose her life to the cruel depths of space she would probably lose one of her friends. But she had to stay positive, "Yeah."

"I'll meet you there."

With that said, Yuffie made her way to the hangar. Vincent looked the mechanical door for a few seconds and then at Shelke and Cid. Vincent walked over to Shelke and reached into his cloak, pulling out a phone. He placed it down next to Shelke, who hadn't noticed him until doing so. She looked at the phone and then up at Vincent. His blood red eyes sent a mental message she would never forget. "I'm there if you need."

Without any exchange of words, Vincent spun around, his cape dancing in his wake, and headed toward the door. The halls of the ship were so empty. As he passed a window, Vincent couldn't help but peer through it to see the energy storm. Sparks of electricity shot across the window, cracking it. Vincent's eyes widened upon seeing the crack spread throughout the window. Without any hesitation, Vincent took off running. But it was too late. The window burst open forming a gaping hole in the ship's side. The air in the ship began to pour out along with Vincent. The black haired hero was lifted off his feet. He caught himself by stabbing his claw into the floor. He knew it would only be time before he would be flung into space, yet his mind insisted that he didn't let go.

"Hurry everyone inside," Cloud said as jumped inside the two seated escape pod. Tifa joined him, Red XIII and Barret shared an escape, leaving Yuffie waiting for her partner, Vincent, who hadn't showed up yet. "Where's Vincent?"

"I don't know," Yuffie replied. "He was right behind me."

Just then, the wall of the ship burst open, the air began to spew out of the puncture in the ship's armor. Yuffie gasped as her heart began to race. But she was not scared for her own life, she feared for Vincent's.

"Ya'll gotta get outta here!" Cid's voice came in over the intercom.

"But Vincent hasn't come yet," Yuffie cried back.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. Now go."

The large door to the hangar slowly slid open as the escaped pods began to seal themselves shut. Yuffie's eyes began to swell up in tears as she pounded against the reinforced glass. She couldn't leave without Vincent. The room around her began to move downwards, showing that the zero gravity of space had taken a hold of her. She pounded even harder, thinking it would somehow made things better. One of the other pods drifted by. Yuffie wanted to call out to them, but she knew that it would do know no good.

Vincent held his breath in the void of space. He could see the Shera as it entered the energy storm. He also noticed that he too was drifting into the cloud of red energy. He could feel his end approaching. Just when all seemed lost, one of the escape pods from the Shera came drifting towards him. Vincent attempted to swim towards it, but found that he was going nowhere fast.

Yuffie looked out her window once more. To find none other that Vincent Valentine. Tears came streaming down her face as she watched Vincent reach out to her. Yuffie turned the control panel of the pod. She couldn't tell which button did what. She looked back to Vincent to see if he was still there and he was. She had to act quickly if she wanted to save his life. Just then, a streak of lightning blazed by. Yuffie jumped as a result of being startled. She had already entered the storm. She looked toward Vincent again who was slowly moving to the side of her window's view. She noticed one more thing, a vast, green planet which she was approaching fast.

I apologize for not updating any of my other stories. I don't think I will be continuing any of my old. I apologize. Please, no flames.