I'd like to give my thanks to sonicx man for the first review.
Disclaimer: I know you're sick of reading the disclaimer, but it's for my own safety against lawyers and business corporations from suing me. I said it before and I'll say it again: I OWN NOTHING IN THIS FANFIC! THE ONLY THING I OWN IS MY OC!
Knuckles was busy listening to Tikal explain the basic concepts of the other master emeralds, until she came to a subject that made him interrupt her the moment she said it: The ultimate emerald. Tikal explained, "It doesn't exist in physical form, but the only way it can be used is when all 56 emeralds are brought together." Knuckles heard stories about the ultimate emerald as bedtime stories and how it was used to stop an evil more devastating than anything anyone has seen combined. "So, it appears when all the emeralds are brought together? Sounds fair enough considering the powers it might have. Can you tell me where the other master emeralds are?" Tikal simply nodded 'no' and said "That is the only thing I don't know about them. I do know, however, that five of them are on different planets. Their respective chaos emeralds are also with them. That's everything I know" Once Knuckles heard the last bit of information, he mentally told the emerald to shrink to portable size, and it did so. The echidna hid the jewel in his left shoe and left for Tails' workshop.
Dr. Eggman overheard what Tikal said and something in his mind clicked. He now knows that if he got his hands on the ultimate emerald, he can make the death egg totally indestructible, unstoppable, and would get his revenge on Sonic the Hedgehog without any errors. He gave an evil laugh at the thought, and pulled out his walkie-talkie. He apparently contacted Shadow and told him what he heard. "Now that sounds promising." The ebony hedgehog remarked, then continued, "With that 'ultimate emerald' at my disposal, I will be the ultimate life form." With that, he gave an evil, sinister laugh at the thought of defeating Sonic and proving his inferiority.
Shadow didn't realize that there was something behind him and it heard everything the anthro heard. It looked like Sonic the Hedgehog, but was metallic. It was Metal Sonic, the robotic creation of Dr. Eggman that merely wanted to defeat Sonic and prove it's superiority over it's organic doppelganger. Once it processed the information, it started up the rockets in it's feet and flew off towards Angel Island.
Sonic was racing around in Centropolis for no apparent reason, when Knuckles crossed paths with the blue blur and came to a halt. "Hey, Knucles, what's up this time, buddy?" Knuckles ushered Sonic into an alley, and whispered everything he learned about the other master emeralds and the 'ultimate emerald'. Sonic's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he heard about an entity stronger than the master emerald. "Thanks for the heads up, Knuckles. I know just the group to help us find the Chaos emeralds for the master emerald that Amy found." With that, he darted towards the Chaotix base.
When he got there, he knocked on the door, hoping to break the news quickly. After what seemed like 5 minutes of waiting, he figured they were busy with a job, and mentally slapped himself for forgetting the payment. This came as a lucky break for him when he learned they were not there at the time. He then remembered that the Chaotix team accept payments in rings, but their policy with rings is that the price is scaled to the difficulty of the task. With that in mind, the blue blur ran across the world grabbing every ring (the ones from the Sonic games, mind you, not the ones people wear) he found lying around. He gathered about ten thousand rings thinking that many would be sufficient for payment (don't ask where he holds or stashes them during his travels, every ring he collects disappears somewhere for him to use at any time; think of the situation like the Sonic games when you collect rings. That's the thing when Sonic collects them). With all those rings, he headed towards Tails' workshop to store those rings.
At Tails' place, Team Chaotix was busy talking about Espio's problem while the young fox was playing with the space ship. One of the first things he did when he started up the vessel was get a copy of it's blueprints and all data needed to make copies of the space pod. Vector suddenly had an idea of how to find whatever was troubling Espio. He literally grabbed the chameleon and used him like a tracking device to find the source of the ninja's problem. The crocodile held out the chameleon to just about every object in the mini-house, and there wasn't any luck. The moment Vector passed Ozone, Espio suddenly freaked out and yelled, "H…h…he's the source of this disturbing feeling I've been getting!" Tails and Ozone turned to look at Espio like he had gone mad. Vector and Charmy, on the other hand, were surprised to hear that, and the croc put the chameleon down on a sofa. Vector and Charmy apologized for Espio's unusual behavior and went to talk to Ozone about whatever it could be that might be troubling their comrade.
Amy went to go to Tails' workshop to see if Sonic was there so she can ask him out on another date. Unknown to her was a pair of crimson eyes hiding behind some bushes. The mysterious creature darted out of it's hiding spot and headed straight for Amy. The pink hedgehog suddenly heard a whirring sound and turned to look at the source of the noise. Just as she saw the strange creature, she felt a blow to her gut and was about to black out. Before she fell unconscious, she heard her attacker say, "Part one of my plan completed." Apparently, the voice sounded rather monotonous and robotic-like, but that was the last thing he heard before passing out completely.
Seems like there are more reasons for another major conflict to strike the peaceful world with a new, more powerful entity than the master emeralds. What kind of untold powers could the ultimate emerald have that the master emeralds do not? Why is Espio freaking out whenever he's near Ozone? What could Metal Sonic be up to? The only way to find out is to stay tuned for the next chapter of The Rise of Ozone the Hedgehog: Defender of Peace.