Notes: So sorry this chapter is a month late, guys! I had a really hard time writing it, and I was busy with school and theater and things and such. I'll try my best to get back to the regular once-a-month update schedule! ALSO in this chapter, when I talk about temperature, keep in mind I'm using Fahrenheit, not Celsius. That could be pretty deadly otherwise!

It was pitch black and quiet. A few more pebbles fell from the ceiling, the sounds of their light impacts echoing throughout the long cave. Zonic pushed himself up to his knees with a groan. He grabbed his thigh, finding that it stung and was covered in blood. He'd slammed it into a sharp stone when the roof of the cave came crashing down, and he had a seriously nasty cut. But he could deal with that. He needed to make sure that the others were alright. He brushed the last couple of stones off of him and sat down, gritting his teeth and clutching the gash in his thigh to try and slow the bleeding.

"Guys? You all okay?" the Zone Cop asked, his young voice reverberating off the cave walls. He shivered when he couldn't immediately hear anything. He couldn't see anything in the dark, so he reached up to his helmet with his one available hand and flipped on his headlights.

There was a rustling to his left, and he was relieved to see a small blue hedgehog lying on the ground, covered in dust. "C'mon, just five more minutes… get that light outta my eyes!"

"Sonic, are you okay?"

The younger Sonic grunted in response. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, I cut my leg."

"Is it bad?"

"Not really," Zonic lied. He didn't know how bad the cut was, but it certainly didn't feel good.

"So what the hell happened?"

"Cave in. Do you see any of the others?" Zonic asked, looking around

Sonic sat up, rubbing his temples and blinking furiously. "I can't see anything with that stupid light in my eyes. Damn, that thing's bright… Oogh, yeah, I don't feel great," he groaned, clutching his head as he struggled to sit up.

"Just lie down for now," the No Zoner said, pushing himself back up to his knees. Blood gushed out of his thigh in response, even though he still had his hand covering his wound. He cursed under his breath, but continued to look around, shining his light over the crumbled rocks. The rocks had completely blocked them off from the path they'd just been on. If anyone was stuck under there… He gulped nervously. It was a lot of rocks. His headlamp eventually passed over someone sticking out of the rubble. It was Tails, top half exposed, with his namesakes and legs buried under a pile of small stones and debris. "Tails!" Zonic exclaimed, beginning to drag himself over to the older fox.

"I'm okay," the two-tail grunted, slowly pulling himself from under the rocks. Thankfully, his legs and tails hadn't been crushed, just buried uncomfortably. He was able to free himself without too much trouble. "What just happened?"

"Not sure, the whole place just came crashing down," Zonic huffed, relieved that the older Tails was okay. That made half of their team present and accounted for. But then, what about the others…?

"Hi Tails," Sonic grunted, still lying down on the ground. He waved lazily. "My head hurts."

"Did you hit it on something?"

"Quite possibly."

"That's probably why it hurts."

"Ah. Thank gods we figured that one out," Sonic joked, his hand dropping back down to his side.

"Yeah," Tails sighed, inspecting the massive wall of rock that had just recently been a ceiling. A feeling of dread rose in his chest as he realized that he, Sonic, and Zonic were the only ones there. "You don't think… the others are under there, do you?" he asked quietly, looking to Zonic. He looked just as worried as Tails felt.

"I hope not, but we should check anyway, just to make sure. Tails, see if you can find anyone else in that mess. I'm… I'm gonna see if Sonic's okay," he said, trying to sound confident.

"R-right," the fox responded shakily, brushing some of the dirt out of his fur. He got to his feet and started moving some of the stones as Zonic pulled himself over closer to the youngest hedgehog, who was still resting on the ground. Sonic's eyes were still closed, and he was rubbing his temples with his fingers.

"How do you feel, Prime? Can you sit up?" the cop asked, trying not to sound worried.

"Yeah yeah, m'fine," Sonic groaned. "I just got a headache, but everything else is fine." He sat up slowly, furrowing his brow and holding his head in his hands.

Zonic frowned. "You sure? C'mere, let me look." He switched the headlamp on his helmet to a dimmer setting before shining it into each of the younger hedgehog's eyes. "Pupil dilation is normal… Here, follow my finger. Just with your eyes." He held up his pointer finger and moved it back and forth, which Sonic followed easily. "You don't feel dizzy or nauseous or anything, do you?"

"Nope."

"Alright, looks like you don't have a concussion, so that's a good thing," the No Zoner said, relieved. He was glad he wouldn't have to take care of two concussed teammates in one week.

Sonic nodded gently, blinking away the spots he saw from Zonic's light. "Yeah. And you… you called me Prime. I thought you only called older-me that?"

Zonic shrugged. "I mean… you're both Sonic Prime, so… why not? Guess I just haven't talked to you as often, I dunno. Tails, you find anyone else?" he called over to the fox, still searching the pile of rocks.

"No… I don't see anybody," he sighed, discouraged. "I can't believe this, this just keeps getting worse and worse. First we get stuck down here, then we were all arguing, and then this…! I really hope everyone else is okay…"

"At least we know my Tails is okay, right?" Sonic smiled hopefully. "If something bad happened to him, he wouldn't be able to grow up into you. Right?"

"Normally, yeah, but…" the two-tail glanced between Sonic and the imposing wall of stone. "The way the time stream is right now, I don't know if that still applies. Just because I'm alright doesn't mean… I'm sorry, bro." He sighed, sitting down on a large rock. The pile of stones that blocked them off from the others was completely still and impenetrable. There was no way through it that wouldn't just bring more rocks down on top of them.

Worry clearly showed on Sonic's face, but he tried to swallow it down. "Okay… Okay, let's just go over our options. Zonic, can we teleport?"

"Not with my belt, it's out of juice. We could probably Chaos Control, but that seems really risky. We don't know how big the cave in was. We might 'port right into the middle of another rock pile…" The Zone Cop looked nervous as well, wracking his brain to try and come up with a plan.

"Okay, um…" the younger hedgehog grasped for straws, his face falling a bit. "What about our communicators? Tails, you have one, and Z, didn't you say your helmet can pick up the signals? Maybe we can talk to the others!"

Tails scrunched his face and looked down at the watch-like contraption on his wrist. It was still working, but the devices hadn't exactly been reliable lately. In fact, they hadn't been useful at all, mainly because they couldn't receive a signal if there was any sort of time distortion going on. With time not flowing properly anywhere on the planet, it was entirely likely that any and all radio signals would go unheard. Still, the fox tried anyway, holding the communicator up to his mouth and pressing a button on it's side. "Sonic, Scourge, Lil' T, come in. Are you guys okay?" He repeated the message a few more times, but got no response. "Maybe their communicators broke in the cave in?"

Zonic growled, tapping the side of his helmet in aggravation. "I can't get a signal at all… I can't even get a message out to the Zone Cops. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole planet is a dead zone."

"Please don't say the word dead," Sonic shivered, running a shaky hand through his quills. "No, it's… it's okay. It's okay! They're fine, no doubt about it. They're all too tough to be taken out by a stinkin' cave in… Hah hah…" He tried to smile, but he could barely even manage that. He felt sick to his stomach, knowing that his friends, his brother could be hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. He sunk down until he was sitting on top of one of the larger stones, his hands shaking.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, his brow furrowed. The youngest hedgehog didn't immediately respond, simply staring down at the ground wide-eyed. The fox shared a glance and a shrug with Zonic before walking over and gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sonic," he said firmly, standing in front of him now. "Are you okay? I expect you to be worried, but you're acting weird, and you look like you're going to throw up."

Sonic took a deep breath, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. "Y-yeah, I'm just… Just trying something older-me told me. Gotta fake it 'til ya make it... Y'know, maybe if I act optimistic about this whole thing, then…"

Zonic smiled at him. "I don't know how well that's working out, but I can appreciate the sentiment. Chaos knows we could use a little optimism right now."

"Yeah, maybe all we need is some positive thinking!" Tails grinned. "We've gotten by on less than that before. Let me think… We were just at a fork in the road, and there were three paths we could have gone down. Right? It looks like we ended up in one of those new tunnels, since this seems to go on for quite a ways." He pointed his flashlight away from the newly formed wall of rocks, slightly illuminating a long path that seemed to slope down, going deeper into the cave system. "Maybe the others ended up in the other tunnels."

"And what, all of these paths will just converge at some point so we can meet back up with everyone?" Sonic asked, all traces of false optimism gone. "That sounds just a bit too convenient for me."

"Finding this cave in the first place was convenient," Zonic said. "Having a Chaos Emerald radar in your basement was convenient. Hell, the fact that older-you happened to know a guy with a teleportation belt was convenient. At this point, meeting back up with the guys doesn't sound too far fetched."

Sonic sighed. "Alright, I guess it's worth a try. Yay, optimism," he said, lamely raising a fist into the air. "It's not like there's anything we can do from here, anyway, what with how unstable this area of the tunnel probably is." Just as the words left his mouth, the floor and walls gave a shudder, and a few small rocks broke off from the ceiling and fell down, dragging puffs of dust and dirt in their wake. "Crap, did I just jinx it?"

"We should probably get going," the two-tail said quietly, shrinking closer to Sonic. All of his fur was standing on end, making his namesakes appear huge and puffy. "Grab your backpacks and let's get a move on before this place starts shaking again."

"My thoughts exactly, lil' bro," Sonic gulped, standing up. He gathered up the few items that had slipped out of his backpack earlier. "Z, you sure your leg's alright? You okay to walk on it?" he asked, not looking up from his backpack.

"Uh," the Zone Cop cringed, looking back down at his thigh. It was still bleeding, and probably wouldn't stop anytime soon. But it wasn't like it was going to kill him, it would just hurt like a bitch. "I think I'll be fine, let's go." He stood up, trying to make the motion seem as natural as possible. It took a lot for him not to hiss in pain, his leg stinging from the sudden weight put on it.

"Nope. No, just- just don't. My BS-meter is going off the charts, man," the younger hedgehog said, shaking his head. "You can barely stand up!"

"Curse you and your bullshitometer," Zonic groaned, sounding defeated, as he gently lowered himself back into a sitting position.

"Why, what's wrong with your leg?" Tails asked, shining his flashlight onto the No Zoner's lower half. He and Sonic both cringed when the beam of light landed on a very bloody left leg. Zonic's jeans had a few rips in them, and most of the blue denim had been turned purple. His thigh had a thick, jagged gash in it, and blood leaked steadily out of it onto his calf and onto the ground.

"What the hell, man?!" Sonic gasped upon seeing the extend of the injury. "You said it wasn't that bad, that you could walk no problem! What's the matter with you?!"

"I… I dunno," Zonic said sheepishly. "I didn't want you guys to worry, I guess… Guess it's too late for that."

"Yeah, a bit," the fox said unhappily. "That looks pretty bad… I hope we have enough stuff to bandage you up with." He dropped down to his knees and slung his backpack off of his shoulder, zipping it open and rifling through its contents to find the first aid supplies he packed. "I can't believe you were about to walk on that leg, especially with all the blood you've lost. This isn't like you… ah, there it is." The two-tail pulled out of the backpack a large plastic bag, filled with a few rolls of bandages and some other medical supplies.

Sonic nodded with a frown. "Tails is right, ignoring something like this isn't like you. You're a cop, you work with a team, right? I dunno, can Zone Cops just walk it off when they get hurt like this? 'Cause otherwise, ya gotta let people know-"

"Look, guys," Zonic interrupted, "I know, playing this off like it was nothing was stupid, but we've got enough to worry about as it is! I didn't want to bring the mood down any more. I get it, I should have told you right away, but is this that big of a deal? It's not like I was walking around on it or anything." He pulled off his helmet and handed it to Tails, who needed the brighter hands-free light.

Sonic sighed. "Yeah, I guess it's not that big a deal. But... " he paused and licked his lips. "You sure you're still a grown-up in there, man?"

Zonic froze, feeling his heart sink to his stomach. Was he still himself? He'd occasionally been acting less mature than normal, but was being on Mobius Prime making it worse? He bit his lip nervously. "I think so… damn, I hope so," he said with uncertainty. "Thanks for freaking me out, Sonic."

The younger hedgehog shrugged. "Sorry, but we gotta consider all our options. This is the final stretch, right? We get out of this cave, find the last Chaos Emerald, fight the Time Eater. We can't afford to have stuff catch us off-guard. How's he look, Tails?" He turned his attention towards his brother, who was wearing Zonic's helmet and inspecting the wound.

"Like he needs stitches," the fox clicked his tongue. "The best I can do is clean this up and wrap it up tight, but that's not going to stop all the bleeding."

"Shit," Zonic cringed as Tails moved his leg around. "Can the Emeralds do anything to help?" he asked hopefully. The Emeralds could do pretty much anything, right? Because if they couldn't, he might not be walking for a while.

Sonic's expression soured. "Probably, but I have no idea how to use them to heal. I might've picked up a lot of older-me's skills, but I've never seen him use Chaos Energy to patch someone up like this."

"That's because I don't think he has," Tails shook his head. "He knows how to use the Emeralds to accelerate healing, but for anything this bad, it still takes a number of days, weeks even. According to Knuckles, healing with the Emeralds is hard. There have been people who have been able to do it, but it's not a skill most Chaos-users have. I mean, you could always try it, but…" he trailed off, unsure of what could possibly happen.

"It's worth a shot, at least," the youngest one said, reaching around to his backpack and pulling an Emerald from inside of it. He procured the Emeralds from Tails's and Zonic's packs as well, balancing all three in his hands. He kneeled down next to Zonic, getting a good look at his gash before closing his eyes. The Emeralds began to float out of his hands and glow with a steady pulsing light. Sonic scrunched his face in concentration, clearly trying his best. After about a minute of this, he opened his eyes to see that nothing had happened, that Zonic's leg was still bleeding just as much as before. "Jeez," he sighed, letting the Emeralds drop back into his hands. "That is pretty tough. It kind of felt like… Like I was almost there, but at the same time, I was miles away from getting it to happen. Did you feel anything at all?"

"Not even a tingle," Zonic grunted, his leg really starting to sting and burn. "Thanks for trying, though."

Sonic huffed in frustration. "So what do we do now?" he asked, looking to Tails for an answer.

"Patch him up as best as we can, I guess," the fox shrugged. He wiped some of the blood away with the back of his hand and started bandaging up the Zone Cop's leg. "It's not like we can just sit here forever, after all. We'll just have to take it slow is all."

Sonic drooped upon hearing the word 'slow', but he didn't complain. Zonic cringed as the bandages got wrapped tightly around his leg, causing it to flare up in pain. He clenched his teeth and dealt with it, not saying a word until Tails was done. Because he was still heavily bleeding, his thigh needed multiple layers of bandages before the blood stopped completely soaking through. When the deed was done, Tails was all out of bandages and Zonic's leg was wrapped more thoroughly than a mummy's. Not wanting to waste any more time in the unstable tunnel, the two able-bodied Mobians helped Zonic get to his feet. The No Zoner leaned heavily on Tails as they slowly started to make their way away from the rubble of the cave in, and hopefully headed towards the three remaining members of their group.

After walking for a while (no one knew exactly how long, since time didn't exactly quite exist anymore), the tunnel they were in started to slope steeply downwards. They didn't have a choice but to go down with it, as there hadn't been any passages branching off of the main one that they could have gone back and used. The further down they went, the hotter the tunnel grew. Not just from the lack of fresh air from the surface, though. It almost felt like they were traveling to the center of the planet. The temperature soon reached 100 degrees, and even surpassed it.

"Why the heck is it so hot?" Zonic asked. It was definitely too hot to be wearing a jacket and jeans, no matter how many holes they had in them by this point. He was feeling pretty jealous of Sonic and Tails, who had grown up in a culture where male Mobians wearing clothes was practically unheard of.

"I have no idea!" Mini-Sonic shouted. "It feels like the walls are about to burst into flames, for cryin' out loud. If it gets much hotter, my shoes are going to melt!"

Tails couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. He knew for a fact that Sonic's shoes could withstand a lot more than the hedgehog could ever throw at them, even eight years ago. Still, it was getting pretty hot. "Mobius is a giant mish-mosh of time periods right now, right? We must be walking into a different point in the world's history."

"What point?" Sonic asked. "The 'unforgiving eternal fiery flames of hell' era? Or the 'hotter than a hot pocket right out of the microwave' period?" Almost all at once, the floor underneath their feet turned from stone and gravel to steel plates. The corridor they had been steadily descending had opened up into an enormous cavern, seemingly miles across. Small factories, webs of metal scaffolding, and thousands of heavy rails and cables were sinking into a churning pool of lava below them. And to make matters worse, the place was infested with massive time monsters, each at least twenty feet tall, gorging themselves on the energy released by the crumbling time stream. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Sonic groaned, taking in the view.

"Don't tell me we have to go through there," Zonic huffed, wiping sweat off of his forehead. He could barely handle walking downhill with Tails's help. How on Mobius would any of them be able to get through this gauntlet?

"This is Hot Crater…" Tails said, mostly to himself, recognizing the landscape. It was hotter than he remembered it, and the giant time beasts were certainly new. "How are we gonna get through…? Because there's no way I can fly Zonic all the way to the other side."

"I guess we'll just have to… take it slow and steady," Sonic said with a visible shudder.

"I cannot believe those words just came out of your mouth," the fox shook his head.

"With any luck, they'll never have to come out of my mouth again," the twelve-year-old chuckled. "We're gonna have to sneak through here without getting spotted. I don't particularly want to fight these big guys again."

Zonic frowned, looking out to see just how many of the huge black-and-purple monsters there were. There were too many to easily count, there must have been hundreds. "You say that like it'll be easy," the Zone Cop said, leaning on Tails and keeping weight off of his bad leg. "I can barely walk, let alone navigate a fiery monster-infested hellscape. We have three Emeralds with us, so those things will be drawn to us like magnets. Plus-" He flipped his visor down over his eyes and consulted the heads-up display. "Temperatures in there are approaching 120 degrees. So if we don't get killed by the monsters, we'll be cooked alive. This is a death wish."

"Yeah, with that attitude, maybe," Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips. "I mean, we knew when we came back to Mobius that we could very well die here. But if anyone can get through this, it's us. We've got a flying genius, a high-ranking interdimensional police officer, and a guy that can run at the speed of sound. We'll figure this out, no problem!"

Tails smiled, noting how much mini-Sonic sounded like his older self. "You're already getting better with the whole 'positive thinking' thing."

"What can I say? I got some big shoes to fill," Sonic shrugged. "Come on, let's get going. If we wait here any longer, I'm gonna start to melt. You holding up okay, Z?"

"My leg hurts like hell," the Zone Cop cringed, "but I can keep going. If I need to stop, I'll let you know."

The young hedgehog nodded. "Alright. Let's juice!" he said, leading the others slowly into the crater. The temperature increased dramatically as they formally entered the cavern, and the air wobbled and distorted from the heat. It wasn't long before Zonic's jacket was tied around his waist, and it wasn't long after that that he'd taken off his t-shirt as well and stuffed it in his backpack. The heat was miserable. It was a miracle their shoes weren't melting to the metal platforms they walked across. There were gaps in the platforms that Tails was able to carry Zonic across, but it was still slow going. No one talked as they went; it was hot enough without spending extra energy to try and have a conversation. Zonic could feel the sweat rolling in beads down the sides of his face. He had to flip up his visor, mainly because he couldn't see through the fogged-up plexiglas, but also because he didn't want to see the increasing temperature readings that kept appearing in his peripheral vision. Knowing exactly how hot it was wasn't going to make it any easier to get through Hot Crater. They were taking what looked like a direct route to the other side of the crater, where they could see an exit to the rest of the caves. There were tons of monsters around, but luckily, none crossed their path.

But of course, nothing lasts forever.

The trio were ducked behind a large hunk of metal, potentially an old motor, as one of the two-story time monsters lurked about. It was attempting to sniff out their Emeralds, and it was getting uncomfortably close.

Sonic cursed under his breath. "What do we do now?" he whispered, sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

"We need something to lure it away," Zonic hissed. His leg burned from the strain of crouching down. "Preferably, that 'something' is not you, carrying all the Emeralds to distract him. Is there anything else we can work with?"

"You have your gun?" Tails suggested.

"Yeah, but the sound'll just lure it towards us. That thing is big, I don't know if energy bullets will do anything to it. What's in your backpack, anything?" the cop whispered harshly, instinctively moving his hand towards the holster around his waist. The monster wandered ever closer, and if worse came to worse, it wouldn't hurt to try shooting it.

Tails quickly ripped his backpack off and zipped it open. There wasn't much inside; the remaining first aid supplies, some food and water, and a red cylinder roughly the size of a flashlight. "Oh! Flare!" he said, removing it from the pack.

"Dude, nice!" Zonic nodded.

"Right on, lil' bro! Light 'em up!" Sonic said excitedly. Tails nodded and took aim with the flare. He aimed near the monster, not directly at it, intending to distract rather than harm. He lit the flare, and the charge shot straight out of the barrel and flew towards the beast. It erupted in a burst of red, grazing the side of the time monster's face as it soared past.

"Crap," Tails said under his breath as the towering creature turned around, looking for the source of the flare. "I didn't mean to hit it, I just wanted to divert it away from us!" the fox hissed, fear and guilt building in his stomach.

"It's not your fault," Zonic grunted, taking aim at the monster with his pistol. "Not like emergency flares are the most precise things in the world. Get ready!" He held the gun in both hands, trying to get his aim as dead-on as possible. As soon as the beast started lumbering in their direction, the young cop fired. The energy blasts landed scattered across its body as Zonic's arms shook from the recoil. The three heroes waited with baited breath to see if anything would happen. Several shots had connected, but would that do anything to stop a monster that was almost seven times their size?

When the creature let out a distorted roar and started to bolt towards them, they realized, no, it wouldn't.

"Now can I take the Emeralds?!" Sonic shouted, their cover thoroughly blown.

"And do what exactly?!" Zonic asked, but the youngest of their trio had already grabbed two Chaos emeralds and bolted out from behind their motor. The monster immediately turned to look at him as he zoomed past. It stretched a grotesque hand toward him, and a bubble of air visibly distorted around Sonic. He slowed immensely, moving in slow motion. Zonic and Tails watched, afraid as the huge monster lumbered towards Sonic, ready to strike. Zonic cursed, trying to move but his leg not letting him. Tails had the third Emerald in his hand, and started to rush to his brother's side, frantically thinking about what to do. It almost felt like everything was moving in slow motion. Sonic was turning at a snail's pace to try and face the monster, holding up his Emeralds. Tails flew closer. The monster's hand was crashing down towards the hedgehog. Zonic raised his pistol, wanting to do something.

The beast's hand lunged closer. Tails flew faster, holding out his own Emerald. Zonic fired a shot. Sonic was facing the monster, holding up both Chaos Emeralds as if they were a shield. The time monster's outstretched hand grabbed for Sonic, hit the Emeralds, and all of a sudden, the bubble of distortion around the hedgehog disappeared. The beast roared in pain as its arm exploded into smoke. Everyone stumbled backwards, Tails tumbling to the ground, as the massive creature burst into the thick, time-distorting mist.

"Jeez, man," Zonic gasped, breathing hard as his heart thumped heavily in his chest. "You guys alright?"

"Fine," Tails called back, panting where he sat.

"I am so glad that worked," Sonic breathed, a slight smile forming on his face. "These things can't touch the Chaos Emeralds, remember?" He picked himself up off the ground, eyes lingering on the spot where the monster used to be.

The fox nodded, holding up the Emerald that was in his hand. "Yeah, just like in Metal Harbor. Looks like we both had the same idea."

"Mmhmm," the Zone Cop said, sounding annoyed. "And neither of you thought to fill me in, huh? Whatever happened to sharing things with your teammates?" He leaned heavily on the old motor as he walked around it, coming out from behind the shelter.

Sonic shrugged, reaching to help Tails up. "Sorry man, can't help that me an' Tails think on the same wavelength. 'Sidesat least I knew what I was doing and had a plan, right?"

"I guess," the No-Zoner said somewhat bitterly. "The important thing is, you took that thing out, and you can do it again."

"C'mon, it wasn't all me," mini-Sonic smiled, crossing his hands behind his head and walking over to the cop. "You kept cool and took charge! Trust me, I totally forgot that these things can't touch the Emeralds until the last freaking second. If you hadn't been brainstorming and buying us time, I might not've thought of it at all," he said, giving Zonic a gentle punch on the shoulder. "And Tails, you were on the same page with both of us! You had that flare, and you totally had my back with that last Emerald. We all did our best, don't go giving me all the credit."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, Mr. Modesty," Tails rolled his eyes with a grin. "What do you say we get moving again? That thing died pretty loudly, I'd hate to be around if its friends come to investigate."

The youngest hedgehog nodded. "Good idea. We might be able to lay the smackdown on 'em, but I hate getting slowed down like that. Feels… wrong." He shuddered, a chill running down his spine. "Zonic, you ready to… Oh jeez," he said grimly, looking at the Zone Cop's leg. Crouching down behind cover had only agitated his wound, and blood was seeping through even the thickest layers of bandages. Zonic followed his gaze, grabbing his thigh with one hand to try and put pressure on the gushing cut. It flared with pain in response, and the cop cringed. He gingerly sat down, trying his best not to move his leg.

"Damn, I didn't even realize…" he said through gritted teeth. His thigh burned, the pain getting even more intense.

"Aw jeez, that looks really bad…" Tails worried, kneeling down next to him. The blood was soaking through the layers of bandages, and Zonic didn't look too good. It was too hot, and he'd lost too much blood. "I-I don't know what to do…"

"You said the Emeralds could accelerate healing, right?" the Zone Cop groaned. "Even if it's just a little bit, if it can help…"

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Sonic said, handing over one of the Emeralds he held. "Here, I'll keep the other one, just in case another one of those monsters shows up."

"'Kay," Zonic said, accepting the gem quietly, taking the one from Tails as well. He took a shuddery breath and closed his eyes, and the Emeralds he held began to glow.

Sonic stepped away to keep lookout while Zonic tried to heal himself. The youngest hedgehog's hopes weren't particularly high to be honest. The officer was still incredibly inexperienced with Chaos Emeralds, unable to do much more than sense them from across the room. 'But I can't heal him myself. And even if he can heal himself a little bit, will that really help at this point? His leg is a wreck… And we still have to get out of here, find the others, find the last Emerald, fight the Time Eater… Man, this doesn't look good. I hope the guy is alright… I hope everyone is alright.' He wiped the sweat from his brow. He knew he said before that they might not all survive this, but… he'd never fully wrapped his head around what that meant. That one of them might not make it out… He took a deep breath in and out. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

He needed something to drink. It was hot as blazes, and he was starting to feel pretty stressed out about the whole situation. He pulled his backpack off one shoulder and placed his Chaos Emerald inside of it before feeling around for the bottle of water that was inside. He found it easily, and the plastic felt uncomfortably warm. It was a miracle the water inside hadn't evaporated. He pulled out the bottle and zipped up the pack, slinging it back over his shoulder. He looked around at the surrounding landscape as he unscrewed the bottle and took a swig of water. The rising heat made it hard to see clearly for very far. They were in the gutted remains of a factory, only the floor and bits of walls remaining. They'd just past the halfway point through Hot Crater, but there was still quite a ways left to go. More huge monsters could be seen lumbering in the distance, though it didn't look like they would cross paths with another one immediately. That was good, since the bigger time monsters were powerful and not afraid to show it. The hedgehog had a feeling that his own personal time stream hadn't been messed around with for the last time.

"Hey, Sonic!" Tails called, and the speedster turned around to face him and Zonic. "You're gonna wanna see this!" the fox beckoned. His voice didn't sound urgent or particularly worried, so did that mean he had good news? Sonic capped his water bottle and looked around once more to make sure they were still alone before he made his way back over to his friends.

"What's going on?" he asked, and Tails pointed at Zonic's leg. The Zone Cop's eyes were still closed, as he seemed to be focusing pretty hard, so he didn't acknowledge either of them. But his leg, surprisingly, was healing, and at a rate faster than anything Sonic had seen before. "What the hell…?" he gasped, watching in awe as the skin on Zonic's leg slowly, but noticeably came together and fused, closing his gash.

"I-I was expecting some pain relief, maybe that the Chaos Emeralds would help slow his bleeding. But this… he's actually healing," the two-tail said in disbelief.

Hearing that, Zonic's eyes shot wide open, like he'd just suddenly woken up. "Wait, what?!" he exclaimed, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that he was healing himself significantly. His hands, each holding a Chaos Emerald, trembled slightly when he saw that the cut on his leg was somewhat smaller, and bleeding less. "Wh-what's going on? How did I do that?"

Sonic looked at the young Zone Cop as if he were a different person entirely. "Dude, are you… are you a healer? Like, for real?!"

"But that wouldn't make any sense!" Zonic insisted. "I'm you, how can I have a power that you don't?!"

"I don't know- don't stop, keep going!" the Prime hedgehog urged, noticing that Zonic had stopped healing. The potential healer realized this as well, and quickly went back to channelling energy into his injured leg. "I don't know if you can have different abilities like this or not. I'm not the one who knows how alternate dimensions are supposed to work."

"Prime, my world doesn't even have Chaos Emeralds," the No Zoner stressed. "I barely know how these things work! How any of this works! How can I have super Chaos healing powers if I've never even held a Chaos Emerald before this whole damn adventure?!"

"Oh my gods who cares right now," Tails deadpanned, interrupting their confused shouting match. "Who cares about the why and the how? I mean, yeah, it's interesting, but it's literally the least of our worries right now. Or did you two forget that we have to get out of here?" he asked, hands on his hips.

The two hedgehogs quickly shut up, and Zonic turned his full attention back to his leg. "Sorry, guess I got carried away with the details," he said softly. 'And once again, even though I should be the oldest, I'm the least level-headed and mature one here. Dammit!' he thought, feeling bitter about himself. Tails was right, they didn't have time to waste bickering. He needed to heal up his leg, at least enough so that he wouldn't have to worry about bleeding out and so that he could put some weight on it. It didn't have to be perfect; he doubted he could get it perfect even if he tried. He didn't seem to have a ton of control over how his leg healed. The Emeralds themselves were taking the reins, but the fact that they were healing him at all had to mean something special, especially when Sonic couldn't get them to do it. His leg would definitely be scarred after this whole ordeal, and it likely wouldn't be pretty, but as long as his condition improved, Zonic supposed he didn't really care too much.

"Oof! What the?!" Sonic stammered as something shoved him forward. Everyone turned to see a time monster, a smaller one, make off with Sonic's backpack, chittering excitedly. A number of others melted out of the shadows, and the area was suddenly filled with the black and purple creatures. About half of them ran off to follow the thief while the others stayed behind, ready to stop the hedgehogs and fox from making chase. Sonic clenched his fists angrily. "Oh no you don't! That's our Emerald, you jerks!" he shouted before quickly revving up into a spindash. Before Tails or Zonic could say anything to stop him, he launched himself at the nearest monster, plowing through it easily because of its small size. His momentum carried him through a couple more before he uncurled, leapt up, and started stomping on their heads.

"Zonic, I'll cover you," Tails said, taking a fighting stance as monsters started to approach.

"Thanks," the Zone Cop replied, opting to focus on healing his leg for now. He'd be more help if he could actually walk, and these monsters were small enough that they were more of a nuisance than a huge threat.

Tails spun quickly in place, using his namesakes like sharp blades to slice through the attacking monsters. Sonic was going to town on them, releasing all his pent up frustrations and stress. The creatures tried using their time powers, but since they were small and disorganized, they could do nothing more than speed up and slow down small pockets of space. The supersonic hedgehog felt a bit strange as he traveled through the bubbles, but he continued kicking butt nonetheless.

The fox ducked under a monster's punch, kicking its legs out from under it, before he got back up and kicked another one square in the head. It had been ages since he fought hand to hand like this. Luckily, compared to hoards of Eggman's robots, the few monsters he was handling at a time didn't pose too much of a threat. At the very least, they weren't firing missiles at him. He sliced another monster clean in half, and mist came pouring out of it as it collapsed. The rest of the creatures were closer to Sonic, so Tails quickly turned to check in on Zonic. "How you doing?" he asked, taking deep breaths after his little workout.

"Almost there, I just need a little more time," the No Zoner said, his face scrunched up in concentration. A large portion of his cut had been healed over, the new skin scarred and raw. His bleeding had slowed significantly, and while his leg still hurt like there was no tomorrow, he was at least confident that he wasn't going to bleed out anytime soon. It was far from a perfect patch job, but it was better than anything he could have hoped for.

"Nice!" Tails said, giving him a smile and a thumbs up. "You're doing great, keep it up. Sonic!" he called out to the other hedgehog, who was still in the middle of the fray. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm! Donig! Great!" Sonic yelled back, punctuating each word with a kick to a monster's head. He curled up into another spindash and quickly knocked down the remaining monsters that surrounded him. He finished them off with well-placed jumps, each of them bursting into smoke as they died. "Is that it?" the hedgehog asked, unable to see any more monsters that were moving. He wiped his forehead with his hand, dispelling some of the sweat. Cardio was not helping him cool down.

"Yeah, I think we're all clear!" Tails breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad he could still hold his own in a fight like that, at the very least. "Zonic's almost done with his leg. You wanna go after those other guys, and we'll catch up with you?"

"Just as long as you're right behind me!" the twelve-year-old nodded. "I don't wanna get separated from you guys, too!"

"Don't worry," Zonic said, feeling exhausted. "We'll be there. Go and get that Emerald back!"

The youngest hedgehog gave them a thumbs up before he sped off, feet blurred into a red figure eight as he chased after the dirty thief of a monster and its friends. He felt relieved to run again, and much the landscape passed by in a near instant. 'I'm trusting you guys,' he thought. The surprisingly speedy monsters were in his sights after only a minute or so, as was the cave leading out of Hot Crater. 'You'd better be right behind me, safe and sound!' He felt oddly confident, though, and he smiled as he blasted towards the escaping time monsters. Time for a little more stress relief.

Notes: Hope you all liked that one! I don't have a ton of time to talk, so I'll just say thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review if you liked it, and I'll see you all next month!