Disclaimer: don't own anything in this story except my OC.
The phoenix telepathically asked the were-hog, "Huh? I'm certain that you were Sonic because I recognize that green gem on your wrist. I've seen it on Sonic's friend." Ozone was taken aback when he heard that, and the phoenix continued, "His friend wore that. I remember it because he was the one who gave me chocolate when I attacked him while under Dark Gaia's control."
Sonic and the gang were staring at the scenario in awe at the sight of the beautiful fire bird. Sonic was the most surprised because the moment he saw it, he remembered fighting it during his quest to put the planet back together again, literally. "Gaia Phoenix!?*" The blue blur asked out loud. "You know this beast, Sonic?" Eggman asked. Sonic gave Eggman an emotionless look and told him the story of the encounter he had with the phoenix.
"I hate to break this to you, but Sonic is over there…" Ozone started, pointing at Sonic and co. on the hill, "I think you should check in with that hedgehog… he's the Sonic you're looking for. By the way, I'm Ozone." The ancient bird 'bowed it's head' as if to respect another and telepathically said, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ozone. You may call me the Gaia Phoenix." "Sorry to be rude, but let's skip the formalities. Why did you come here?"
Sonic finished his story, and Eggman nodded his head with interest. "Funny thing though… Before the Gaia Phoenix flew off, my travelling companion gave him a piece of chocolate." Sonic concluded before spotting Shadow running towards Ozone. "SHADOW, WAIT!" The blue blur yelled to his darker counterpart, but the ebony hedgehog was way out of earshot before Sonic could yell.
"Ozone, is this oversized chicken our enemy?" Shadow asked out loud, preparing chaos energy in his hands. "OVERSIZED CHICKEN!? HOW RUDE!" the Gaia Phoenix telepathically yelled, but Ozone interrupted, "Sorry about him, he's got a major attitude problem. He thinks you're one of the bad guys." The fiery bird calmed down a bit, and took in the last bit of information, then said, "Can you just tell Sonic that Dark Gaia has been released again? I managed to gather this bit of information before looking for Sonic: the one who released Dark Gaia is a black alien with three eyes, and it was accompanied by a black hedgehog that looked like your friend." Once Shadow and Ozone heard what the phoenix told them, their faces turned from serious to pure horror… "Black Doom and Mephiles!" They both shouted simultaneously.
"Just tell Sonic that, and that I also said 'hi'." With that, the Gaia Phoenix took to the skies to head back to it's home. Both anthros quickly ran back to Sonic and the gang to tell them what they learned. Everyone gave the same expression that Shadow and Ozone had. "Apparently, Black Doom has been busy lately, and Mephiles must be looking for the Gaia Temples to destroy them so that we won't be able to fix the planet like last time." Eggman started, then concluded "Seems like the worst has yet to come. I'll have my robots scout Black Doom and Mephiles's movements in the mean time. For now, we need to secure those Gaia Temples and protect them from Mephiles or Black Doom."
"Uh, Eggman, the temples combined to form the Gaia Colossus when I went to battle Dark Gaia. My friend somehow used the power of his bracelet to summon the temples and the chaos emeralds to the location of our battle…" Sonic started, but Ozone interrupted, "Hate to interrupt you, Sonic, but your 'friend' was 'Chip', a little Chihuahua with wings. Remember him now?" Sonic heard Ozone's remark, and suddenly remembered everything that happened during the Dark Gaia incident, including his little friend. "Thanks, Ozone, for helping me remember that friend I had." Ozone simply nodded, then the blue blur continued, "…location of our battle. Right now, the temples are with Chip, so we don't need to worry about them for now." With that, Eggman breathed a sigh of relief.
The moment Sonic finished that sentence, the sun started to come out. When the sunlight hit Ozone, he yelled out loud as if in extreme pain. Everyone stepped back, giving the were-hog some space. The sunlight seemed to affect the dark-colored fur of Ozone and it started to 'evaporate' at a rapid pace, as if giving off a really powerful aura. The next thing that happened made Sonic remember the curse of his were-hog days: Ozone's fangs started to shrink back to normal size, so did his shoes and hands. The dark fur reverted back to it's original yellow color. Ozone then looked at his hands, and was shocked to see that the crimson-red gloves that he used to wear just materialized back on his hands. "Didn't see that coming." Ozone muttered to himself after seeing the gloves back on his hands.
Rouge was a little scared when she saw Ozone's transformation, but forgot about it when she remembered why she came back to see Shadow. "I almost forgot to tell you, Shadow" The hedgehog in question turned to face the jewel-obsessed bat and listened. Before she got started, she reached into her pockets and brought out something that made everyone gasp in shock. "I saw Black Doom in possession of this, and knew it meant trouble" The object she showed everyone was, in fact, the brown chaos emerald. Ozone was the first to ask, "How'd you sneak it from Black Doom!?" Rough chuckled and said, "I trailed him for a while. While he wasn't looking at the emerald, I did some pick-pocketing and got a hold of it. I was more than lucky because he didn't even know I was there." Ozone smiled as if he had a nasty plan when Rouge told them that, and he said, "Rouge, I think I know one particular role you could play in our plan to stop Black Doom and Mephiles."
Dark Gaia has officially been released, and it's fortunate that Rouge stole the chaos emerald from Black Doom without being spotted or noticed. What role does Ozone have in mind for Rouge to do for the team? What is Black Doom going to do next? What is Mephiles up to? The answer is still the same: stay tuned for the next chapter!