My oh my it has been a long time hasn't it? Well for starters, I have graduated from high school and am now a freshman at Talladega College. This school has A LOT of problems but it's kind of growing on me. I will try to continue writing new stories as well as update some previously written ones. As I always say when I write a story; ENJOY!

Chapter 7

Walking through the woods was one of the longest walks he had ever been in. His adventure through Gaia didn't involve this much walking, at least not after he got his hands on a vehicle. Tifa was a half a step beside him looking down. He could feel her depression. As much as he wanted to…comfort her he found himself being blocked by habitual emotional walls. Ever since…she died…expressing himself just wasn't the same. Actually, it was impossible.

A crunching sound interrupted his train of thought and Cloud was snapped back to reality Sonic and Amy were still before him, walking, guiding them through what was known as the Green Hills. Sonic looked over his should toward Cloud.

"Are you guys okay?" Sonic asked. Amy also looked back with concern.

Cloud looked at Tifa. It was obvious that neither one of them were in good mental or emotional shape. "Yes," he immediately responded, his emotional walls speaking for him. Tifa crept up a little bit closer to Cloud.

"Well we are almost there. You'll be safe there. Eggman doesn't know the location of the Knothole village. Once there, we can get properly acquainted and get you two a place to stay. And who know, you may even be able to find your friends."

For some reason, Cloud couldn't help but doubt that his friends would be there. Why would they be? TIfa grabbed Cloud's arm and cuddled against it. He looked at her as they continued walking. To think that out of the people he was going to be stuck on this new world with it was his child hood friend.

"We're here," Sonic stopped in front of a tree stump. Amy stood beside him.

Tifa looked at the blue hedgehog with a blank face. "We're where?"

Sonic reached for a nearby tree pulled one of its branches. The tree stump opened revealing it to be tunnel leading to only Sonic and Amy knew where. Sonic and Amy positioned themselves on either side of the opening, welcoming Cloud and Tifa. "Hop in," Sonic said.

" You want us to…jump…in that…hole?" Tifa bent over trying to look down into the hidden entrance.

"Of course," Amy replied. "Don't you trust us after what we have just gone through? We fought our way out Eggman's city and then we fought against Metal Sonic."

"You guys can trust us," Sonic gave Cloud and Tifa his signature thumbs up.

Cloud and Tifa looked at each other and with that Tifa put one foot into the opening.

&

Eggman ducked as Shelke swung one of her Materia powered sabers around. The sword cut through a pipe that slithered from a nearby wall. The evil scientist tried to crawl away when a leg covered a blue a jump suit stepped before him. Eggman slowly looked to find Shelke's glowing orange eyes looking over him.

"Now, now my dear," Eggman slowly tried to crawl away. "Let's just calm down; I can explain everything."

"Tell me doctor," Shelke slowly crept Eggman, her voice baring no emotion. "What have you to explain? That you used my expertise in technology to assist you in ending the lives of my friends?"

"No, no, no. It's nothing like that."

Eggman immediately fell silent as Shelke's weapon stopped short of his face. He had to think of something quick. Perhaps attempting to exploit this girl was not such a good idea. He needed her though. He didn't want to lose this girl; his plans for her were not yet complete. If she could make improvements on just one Metal Sonic, imagine what an asset she would be for the Eggman Empire.

"You see my dear," Eggman started his life depending bluff. "Do you recall when I first introduced you to Metal Sonic I said I told you it was for my rodent problem? Well my previous intruders were…"

"They were my friend," Shelke calmly interrupted. "You have set me up to attempt to kill my friends."

"Not exactly my dear you see your friends were just tricked by the damn blue beast, Sonic. I never meant to bring harm on your friends."

"Then how do you justify my inability to manually override Metal Sonic's controls during the fight?"

"It's…"Eggman looked about the room until his focus went to her chair. That chair of hers had to have been the most peace of technology on this planet. "My lab…yes, it's my lab does not have the proper tools for such a high class engineer such as yourself. Perhaps there was a glitch in the system that …AH!" Eggman shrieked as the sabre jolted forward a stopped a hair's length away from his nose.

"My ability over software is beyond elite. It is flawless," Shelke looked over to her chair. But what if what Dr. Robotnik was right? Maybe there was a glitch. Using such primitive technology compared to that of Deepground's could possibly lead to a binary mix up in the robot's logic systems. And what of Cloud and Tifa; how could they allow themselves to be manipulated by such small minded creatures? As of now the doctor was the only one on this planet that she knew and she was able to contact Cloud and the others through her phone. Shelke shut off her saber s and went to her chair and sat in it. She put her SND helmet on. "However there is a possibility that you may be correct. So this brings us to our next objective. We must rescue my friends from this Sonic creature. I will begin making modifications on Metal Sonic based on today's battle."

Dr. Eggman slowly rose to his feet and then smiled.

&

"So this beautiful stone is the power source that keeps this island afloat?" Red XIII sat before the Master Emerald in awe.

"Yes," Knuckles proudly responded.

"Astounding," Red XIII looked at one of his legs to see the Materia he had glowing in it. "These Chaos Emeralds that you speak of are not so different from the Materia that comes from my world. Materia comes from our planet baring the memories of those who have passed on and returned to the planet. Materia grants its barer amazing powers from the manipulation of the elements to the summoning of a legendary beast."

"Your world sounds like it was an amazing place Red XIII."

The red beast looked down in sorrow. "Yes," he replied lightly. "It truly was."

There was a silence between the two.

&

Tails stood in awe as he and Cid entered the ruins of what was once the legendary airship, the Shera. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. As Cid made his way into the ship with his newly acquired tools Tail looked at a nearby wall which bore hieroglyphs from some ancient race of people. Who was this strange man?

"Hey kid," called Cid from down the hall. "You comin' or not?"

"Oh," Tails jumped a bit and then ran down the hall to catch up to Cid. Tails reached a large room which appeared to be the bridge of the ship. Cid stood at the steering mechanism with the tools he took from Tails' workshop. "So who are you exactly and what is this…marvelous ship?"

Cid stopped for moment, looking at the floor. Who was he? He was alone…alone and stranded in a strange new world. Cid looked at the two tailed and pointed to himself, "I am Cid Highwind, expert pilot and captain of the airship, the Shera as well as many others. My friends call me Cid."

"So where do you come from Cid?" Tails smiled with interest.

The sudden gleam on Cid's face faded and returned to depression. He was from…nowhere…at least nowhere that mattered. Gaia was gone. Wiped from the face of the universe and for him to tell his new friend where he came from was…pointless. "Why don't we worry about that later? For now, Tails, why don't you give me a hand tryna' get this ol' girl back on her feet uh?"

&

This Knothole village that Sonic and Amy lived in was seemed so peaceful. It was hard to believe that there were people on this planet who would want to destroy something so beautiful. As primitive as this place was everything to work on proper curriculum. Not like in Midgar. This seemed…perfect. He and Tifa seemed so…out of place. No physically but, emotionally. Everyone in Knothole Village was happy without a world in the world. Sonic took it upon himself to guarantee the happiness of all of its inhabitants. If only Cloud and Tifa could share this joy they all had.

"You guys are all safe here," Sonic said as he guided the group down the road. "I'm taking you to meet the royal family of Knotehole. After that we can get you settled in a hut somewhere."

"Royal family?" TIfa had only heard words like that on story books. "What for?"

"Well since you are…not Mobians it is required that you get the royal family's approval first in order for you to stay in Knothole. "

"What if we don't get their approval?" Cloud asked.

Sonic looked over his should smiling "Trust me, you will"

"Please calm down," came a little girl's screaming voice. "You have to wait until your wounds heal."

"That sounds like Cream," Amy looked around in search of her young friend. Amy pulled out of the group and walked over to a group of huts. Just then, a big man came from out of one of the huts. His hair was braided and one of his arms appeared to be mechanical.

"Barret," TIfa called to her friend. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Barret stumbled a few steps away from the doorway holding his side. A little rabbit girl with a small fairy like companion came to his side. Amy grabbed the little rabbit girl and held her close. "Cream are you okay?"

"It's okay Amy," Cream responded in a sweet tone. "This is my friend. I found him and brought him here."

"You brought a stranger into Knothole and you didn't tell anyone?"Amy was surprised. "Cream you gotta be careful next time."

"Barret," Tifa stood at his side and put her around him, helping him up. "What happened to you? Where's Red XIII?"

"I don't know. I just woke and here I am. I've been unable to get contact with anyone. 'Cept you guys. What about you?"

"Let's get you back in bed first," Tifa guided Barret back into the hut.

"I see there's a friend of yours," Sonic looked to Cloud. Cloud responded with a nod and the two followed Tifa into the hut. The inside of the hut was more than they had expected. It looked like the inside of a regular house; it was like more than inhabitable. It took judging a book by its cover to a new level. Sonic guided Cloud through the living room which led to a bedroom where Tifa, Amy, Cream were sitting around Barret who was lying in a bed that he was too large to lay in.

"Barret, what happened to you?" Tifa asked as she placed a hand on the black man's forehead.

Barret grunted in slight pain and then spoke, "I don't really remember," he said. "The last thing I remembered was entering the atmosphere and then something hit us…something fast. The next thing I knew I was here laying in this bed and I tried everyone. I was only able to reach Cloud's phone."

"Something fast? Sonic looked at Cloud.

"It must have been Metal Sonic," Amy scowled to herself at the thought of Eggman's new weapon.

&

"So you think there might be some link between the two of you?" Rouge said, sitting on a desk.

Vincent replied with a nod. The monitor displayed images of Dr. Gerald Robotnik and Lucrecia Crescent followed by experiment notes as well as the audio and video recordings. Reeve approached the monitor with a hand on his chin. "According to this study," he started. "That the same science that was used to create Shadow was used t revive you forty years ago. Dr. Crescent brought you back using the negative energy of the Lifestream; therefore birthing Chaos. She was lucky though."

Rouge hopped down from the desk and approached the monitor alongside Reeve. "What do you mean lucky?"

"You see Shadow was created from scratch. Dr. Gerald Robotnik knew what he was aiming for from the start. Vincent's revival was the result of an unexpected death. It was more difficult for her to bond Vincent's body with the Lifestream because his body was decaying."

"I see," Rouge put her hand on her chin and thought for a moment to gather her thoughts. "Now here is what I don't understand; if Vincent's body was bonded with this...Lifestream from your home world, what was used to bring Shadow into existence?"

Rouge looked back at the black hedgehog. That was a question that he himself did not know; another mystery from this past.

"The Chaos Stream," Reeve intervened. "According to these records, the Ultimate Life Form, known as Shadow the Hedgehog, was created using the energy of the planet's Chaos Stream. This Chaos Stream is kept into a balance with Life Streams of other worlds with the assistance of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Balance?" Vincent asked.

&

Dr. Robotnik sat in his chair as he stood before his latest model of Metal Sonic being modified by his new assistant, Shelke. His smile grew wider and wider as he watched as his weapon of mass destruction have its limbs pulled from its body by automated robot arms and have them rebuilt and reshaped. He hadn't felt this excited in his life. There was no doubt in his mind that this new Metal Sonic was to be the end of Sonic the Hedgehog as well as all of Mobius. He looked at a nearby monitor to see how much of his secret program had been downloaded into Metal Sonic's battle data. It was almost complete.

End of Chapter

So what do you think? Do I still got it as a writer or what? Seriously…