They were all standing on top of the snowy Ice Cap... the high mountain in the middle of Angel Island: Sonic, Usagi and Makoto. After Eggman, Metal Sonic and Chaos had fled from the scene, they decided to go and look for the Chaos Emeralds and the shards of the Master Emerald together. Ami and Tails had stayed behind to finish their work on the Tornado, in case they should need it.

Some hint they got in a bar in town guided them to the mountain. It was being said that someone saw a dark figure carrying some shiny objects on the mountaintop. It was only a vague lead, but the best one they got. So, they rented some snowboards and decided to look around the snowy slopes while going down.

While they climbed up the other side of the Ice Cap, they couldn't find anything but a couple of Master Emerald shards.

Usagi nervously peered over the edge of the long slope. "I'm not too sure about this..."

"Aw, come on," Sonic shouted. "This will be fun!"

Makoto patted her friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it looks more dangerous than it is. And it'll be over soon."

Usagi just sighed and prepared for the worst.

Hovering over their heads, a certain blue, robotic hedgehog was peering down at them. 'Those fools,' he thought. 'They will never find the Chaos Emerald, and I'll make sure they don't.'

Metal Sonic looked at the bombs he set earlier at the mountain's peak and pressed a button on his remote.

The explosions shook the mountain and released a mighty avalanche of snow that came rumbling down the peak.

"Watch out!" Sonic yelled. "Hurry up or we'll end up in the freezer!"

And he mounted his board and whooshed down the slopes, all the while shouting "Whoohoo!"

Usagi screamed as Makoto pushed her forward and tried desperately to maintain her balance. Shortly after Makoto started as well, the avalanche came crashing down.

Sonic skillfully dodged trees, boulders and ice formations while all the way enjoying the wild ride. Makoto wasn't as skilled as Sonic, but she tried her best too, crashed through a thin ice wall and used her long ears to hover for a short while.

Usagi was panicking. She didn't fall over, as that would mean her doom. But she whooshed through bushes and ended up with a mouth full of snowy leaves. She smacked against an ice stalactite and ripped it off, so that she had to carry it for a short while. And she zoomed through a snow hill and, for a short time, looked exactly like a snowman in hedgehog form.

"Look out," Sonic shouted. "There's a very steep slope. Prepare to jump!"

"W-w-what?" Usagi shouted, as she had snow in her ears. "I didn't understand you!"

"WHAAHOOOOH!" Sonic yelled as he jumped into the air with an acrobatic air roll. Makoto desperately flapped her ears to maintain altitude.

And Usagi... just fell down with a loud scream. Her board hit the lower snow path, a small boulder caused her to trip over, and she rolled down the slope while taking more and more snow along that surrounded her, until she looked like a giant snowball.

The danger of the avalanche was already over, since the snow masses had plunged down a very deep canyon, but now Makoto and Sonic had to be careful not to be squashed by the growing Usagi-snowball.

Finally, the slope smoothed out more and more, until they reached the bottom of the mountain.

Sonic and Makoto quickly zipped left and right to avoid being hit by the rolling snow-hedgehog.

Usagi and her snowball rolled down the rest of the slope, bounced off a wooden log, and finally hit the ground with a big 'SPLAT'.

The snowball popped, and Usagi got released.

She shivered and sniffled. "Let's never do this again, okay?" she whined.

Suddenly, something fell off her head. Something white and shiny.

"The Chaos Emerald," Makoto shouted in surprise. "Usagi must have taken it along in her snowball while rolling down the mountain."

"Sweet," Sonic grinned. "Usagi, you rock!"

Usagi sneezed. "I just wonder how the emerald got here?"

----

From behind a tree, a dark shape spied at them. "I hope they appreciate it. After all, I only do this because I don't have the time to look after those gems, and they look like they are trustworthy. Let's hope I'm not wrong..."

And Pluto vanished with a flash.

----

Impatiently, Knuckles waited for the two girls to wake up. "I hope it doesn't take too much time," he grumbled. "I don't want to know what Eggman or other subjects would do if they find the Master Emerald pieces."

When suddenly, a bright ball of light came down descending on him.

He only had time to mutter: "Wha...?", then everything went white.

----

When Knuckles could see again, his surroundings had changed. He blinked. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again. The image stayed the same.

He was standing in a big village of stone huts that were surrounded with numerous bonfires. The streets were being paved with stone slabs, and in the middle of the village, an enormous pyramid rose. It somehow looked like an ancient Inca temple.

But Knuckles knew better. He knew the ruins on his home island good enough to realize that this was a village of the ancient echidna civilization.

And he didn't really need that knowledge to find out, as all over the paths and coming out of the huts, purple-furred echidnas wearing ancient tribe garments were walking, working, talking and taking care of their young ones.

"What the..." he muttered. "Where the heck am I? This is very strange..."

"Knuckles!" A red echidna girl ran up to him.

"Rei!" he shouted in surprise. "What happened? Where are we?"

"No idea," she shrugged. "I talked to some of the inhabitants, and they just told me this was the 'Kraal of Echidnas'. They really didn't seem to be surprised with my presence. But just what's going on here? You told me that you, I and my grandfather were the last three echidnas."

"I don't understand it either," Knuckles mumbled. "Perhaps we are in some hidden valley, where the echidnas managed to live their old ways as they did hundreds of years ago."

"That doesn't sound too probable," Rei said. "How would we have gotten here? When I fell asleep, I was still in Station Square."

"Me too," Knuckles replied. "I was just waiting for you and Rouge to wake up, when suddenly some light surrounded me."

"Perhaps..." Rei pondered. "Perhaps this is some kind of vision. I had several ones in my childhood, and they all showed me pictures of the echidna culture."

Knuckles blinked, then pinched Rei's arm.

"OW!" she screamed. "What's the big idea?"

Knuckles smirked. "So much for your idea of a vision. If this were a vision or dream, you wouldn't be able to feel pain, right?"

"I guess so..." Rei sighed and rubbed her arm. "Perhaps we better..."

But then, a young echidna girl was walking past them. She was muttering something: "The servers are... the seven Chaos..."

The two modern echidnas blinked. "Excuse me, but what did you just say?" Rei asked the girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said while turning around. "I was so in thought that I didn't see you two there. I don't think I ever saw you around the village. I'm Tikal. And you are?"

Rei smiled. "I'm Rei, and this is Knuckles. Pleased to meet you, Tikal!" Knuckles just nodded.

The girl had orange fur and was wearing an ancient garb, echidna style. She wore a short dress with green and red stripes, a white top, and blue bracers. Her shoes were just white bandages wrapped around her feet comfortably, and on her head, a golden tiara was resting.

"I was just saying something my grandmother told me," Tikal explained. "She raised me almost completely by herself after my mother died... and my father never had time for me... Well, anyways... It was an old, traditional saying. I'm never to forget it... It goes like this:

'The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the hearts. The Controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.'

But I'm still not too sure what it all means."

"Sure seems mysterious to me," Knuckles agreed. Rei thought about it. Chaos? Seven Chaos? Could it be...

Tikal continued: "But the number seven... is the same number of emeralds there are."

Rei gasped. "Emeralds? Do you mean the Chaos...?"

Then, a bright light surrounded them.

----

"Rei? Rei, can you hear me? Earth to Rei, please answer!"

Rei shook her head and got up. Next to her was her friend Minako the Bat, looking at her with a worried face. Rouge was there, too. She was just helping Knuckles get up.

"You almost got me worried," the white-furred bat said. "After I woke up, both of you were still out cold. It was creepy... it was like you were in some kind of trance."

"Did you have another vision, Rei?" Minako asked.

"Ssshhh," Rei hissed. "Let's talk about that later." Her blonde friend could be so careless sometimes. Her dream about the silence that was threatening the Earth was nothing she wanted to discuss with Knuckles... and less then ever, with Rouge.

"I just had a... dream, that's all," Knuckles mumbled.

Rei nodded. "Yeah, me too! A very strange dream..."

"Well, good to see you're okay," Rouge said. "Oh, by the way... you were looking for this, right? Well, here you are!" And she handed Knuckles several emerald shards.

Even Minako looked at her friend with surprise. "Rouge! But... having that emerald was what you always wanted. Well, I would've done the same thing in your place, of course. But still... why?"

Rouge sighed. "You wanna know? Fine! I could have just taken them, but that would have spoiled all the fun. I don't want to have a broken emerald whose shards just happened to lie on the ground. So you can have it."

Knuckles took the pieces and looked at Rouge. "I still don't know if I should thank you or smack you one..."

The bat thief grinned. "Don't thank me just yet. But you better hurry and put all the pieces back together... and when the emerald is put together again, I will be back. So, until then... ciao!"

She winked at the puzzled echidnas and walked away. "Minako, you coming?"

"Um, maybe later, Rouge... I have something to take care of first, okay?"

Rouge nodded. "Okay, whatever you want. But remember that I won't train you if you start slacking off, you hear?"

Minako sighed. She really didn't like the situation: Being scolded by Rouge and being glared at by Rei and Knuckles. But she said: "Yes, Rouge..."

----

Amy Rose sighed as she carried her shopping bags.

"That was really exciting, when those guys saved me from my own hammer, but now I'm bored again... Everyday's the same old thing... same place, different day... I miss the good old days. Hanging out with my hero, Sonic... chasing bad guys... and blowing them away, haha!"

She sighed again. "And now he's gone and there is nothing left to do but shop til I drop. There's always something fun to do with Sonic around..."

That's when she was run over by a small pink blur.

"Aaaah," Amy shouted. "Watch it, watch it!"

Amy rubbed her head. "Ow! You should look where you're going..." Then she looked at the girl that ran her over. It was a young hedgehog girl, a little older then Cream. She had strange hair buns and... her fur was pink! Just like her own!

"I'm sorry," the girl said. "But I have to get away from that robot!"

"Robot?" Amy asked. "What robot?"

And then she saw it. A massive, green robot with a cylindrical body. It had small, round eyes and big hands that looked like tongs. It was hovering several inches over the ground.

"Oh no," the girl cried. "It found me! Please, let me go!"

"All right," Amy nodded. "This one looks like trouble. Let's get out of here!"

They managed to escape the rampaging robot by hiding in a burger shop.

"That mustached man imprisoned me in his airship," the girl explained. "And somehow I managed to get away. But now, I'm afraid that they will come again for me... How am I going to find my mother and her friends?"

"So, Dr. Eggman caught you, huh?" Amy asked. "Don't worry! I'll protect you! Trust me, we will find your mommy. What is your name, sweetie?"

"I'm Usagi, but everyone at home calls me Chibiusa."

"All right Chibiusa! I'm Amy! Amy Rose! Are you from Station Square?"

Chibiusa giggled. "You know, one of my mother's friends has a similar name. I'm not from Station Square. You see... I'm not really from this time..."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked curiously.

Chibiusa sighed. She was told not to tell anyone, but somehow, she felt she could trust this girl. "I'm from the future. In this time, my mom is still a teenager, but my mommy - my real mommy, from the future - sent me back in time. I cannot tell you all the details, but..."

"It's okay," Amy said. "Time travel can be pretty weird." She just thought about the experience she and Sonic had with the Time Stones. "I'll help you find her. I'll stay with you all the way!"

The younger girl looked up at her with grateful eyes. "Thank you."

Then, Amy thought of something: A hedgehog girl from the future, searching for her parents? Parents, that still were teenagers in this time? A hedgehog girl with PINK fur? That could only mean...

Hearts appeared in Amy's eyes as the realized what this meant. 'Oooooh, Sonic,' she thought. 'After all, we WILL marry in the future! And we will even have a daughter! I'm so happy!'

----

"And how much did you say would this jewel cost?" Motoki, the proprietor of Casinopolis, the biggest casino and game arcade in town, was looking down at the light blue gem resting on his counter.

The dark green hedgehog in front of him smiled. "It's for free... under one condition!"

"And that would be?" Motoki wasn't too convinced. It was too easy. There had to be a catch.

"Nothing much," Pluto smirked. "You just have to offer it as a prize to those who manage to win your games."

----

Rei and Knuckles met the others at the train station. "Hey, klutz!" Rei grinned at her favorite meatball-headed hedgehog. Usagi growled. "REI!"

The female echidna grinned. "Hey, just joking! So, how was it? You find any Chaos Emeralds or M.E. shards?"

"We sure have," Makoto grinned and stretched out her hands. In her left hand, there were numerous shards, and in her right hand, the white Chaos Emerald.

"And all it took was a little Usagi-avalanche," Sonic grinned.

Usagi turned red. "Soniiic..."

Just then, the door to the entrance hall opened and Minako and Knuckles came in. "Hey everyone," Minako said cheerfully. "We heard that a priceless jewel is the first prize in Casinopolis."

Usagi grinned maliciously. "Hey Makoto, how about you ask Motoki nicely if he just gives it to you? You once told me he looked like your old... hey! Makoto, are you listening?"

Makoto just stared at the male echidna in front of her. Her face was getting flushed. "He looks just like my old sempai..." she murmured.

Her friends all face-faulted. "Makoto, just think about it," Rei grumbled. "Knuckles is the last male echidna... so I bet your old sempai wouldn't look even closely like him."

"But look at his eyes..." the rabbit of Jupiter smiled. "So proud and fierce... just like my old sempai..."

Knuckles didn't hear the conversation between the girls. He just faced Sonic. The blue hedgehog grinned at him. "Yo, Knuckles! What's up?"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "So, you're going to collect the Chaos Emeralds, again?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

The guardian of the Master Emerald shrugged. "Oh, nothing... It's just that you seem to stumble over them amazingly often, just by 'accident'. I just wondered..."

Sonic blinked. "What?"

Knuckle shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing... forget about it!"

Together, they all went over to the casino district. In front of them, they could see the main entrance of Casinopolis.

Usagi got excited. "So, what are we waiting for?" she said. "Let's go in and play!"

"We have to wait for Ami," Rei explained. "She wanted to come and bring some money with her. We can exchange it into rings, and using those rings, we can play the games."

Just then, the blue-furred fox of Mercury appeared. She waved at them. "Looks like you all found something," she shouted. "I have the money, so let's get inside!"

----

Motoki looked over the huge group of furries that was standing before his counter. "All of you want to play at the game machines?" he asked in a puzzled voice.

Usagi nodded while smiling. "Yeah! And at the crane games, the pinball machines, the slot machines..."

Ami put the big amount of money they all had thrown together on the counter. "Here, this should be sufficient!"

Motoki looked at all the money, grinned, took it and filled them a huge bag with rings. "Here you go, and have fun!"

Usagi smiled at him while accepting the rings. "Thanks!"

----

"We have to win 400 rings to exchange them for the main prize," Ami realized. "We don't have any more money, so do your best, okay?"

"No worries," Sonic smirked as he entered the door to the live-pinball.

"What is that?" Knuckles asked in a curious voice as Sonic vanished in a blue flash of light.

Ami explained: "In there, your body gets curled up into a ball, and you can let the pinball machine throw you around as if you were the ball yourself! Wanna try it?"

Knuckles sweat-dropped. "I think I pass. I get the feeling that some emerald shards are hidden somewhere around here... I'll just go looking for them."

Minako giggled in joy as she blasted the Space Invaders at her game machine.

Usagi angrily gripped the joystick of the fighting game and tried desperately to beat her opponent. But just as before, she just hammered on the buttons without any signs of success.

She cried out in desperation as the big, flashing words 'Game Over' appeared on the screen.

"Should I try it for you?" Ami asked as she stepped besides her friend.

Usagi nodded while looking at Ami with puppy-dog eyes. "Yes, please!"

Ami sat down and gripped the joystick.

Minako grinned as she beat her own high score again. "That really is easy," she said. "Now, are there any Sailor V games in here?"

Sonic exited the live-pinball chamber with a big grin on his face. "Now that was fun! Now to try the other version... it has a built-in slot machine as well."

Makoto just stared up to the ceiling of the main room, where Knuckles was climbing in his search for Master Emerald shards. She sighed.

A cry of "I can't believe it!" broke her out of her mental blackout.

She looked over to the fighting game, where Ami was rapidly tilting the joystick in all directions, while Usagi peered over her shoulder with wide-open eyes and mouth.

Rei came over to look. Then she stared. "Ami, your score is twice as high as the previous high score! How do you do that?"

With a big crash, Ami's opponent went down again. 'You win!' flashed over the screen.

Ami grinned. "I guess I just got lucky!"

----

Motoki sweat-dropped as they put the massive pile of rings in front of his face. "So... so many rings..."

"I already counted them," Ami said. "We won a total of 527 rings. That should be enough for the Chaos Emerald and a small bonus prize."

Motoki gulped as he took the light blue Chaos Emerald from its display case and handed it over. Meanwhile, Makoto took a look at the rack of smaller prizes. She smiled and pointed to one of them. "I'd like to have this one!"

Knuckles climbed down the big statue in the middle of the room and jumped to the ground. "So, you got lucky?" he asked his friends. "I managed to find three more emerald shards."

Makoto smiled and handed him a big plush animal, a blue, smiling bird called 'Flicky'. "This is for you," she said while looking at the echidna with yearning eyes.

Knuckles looked at the stuffed animal that was nearly as big as the Master Emerald itself. "Uuuh... thanks, I guess..."

----

"World Shaking!"

With that final attack, the daimon turned back into its previous shape, a toy racing car. Neptune picked it up and, with a smile, handed it back to the small boy. "Here you are! You're not hurt, are you?"

While the boy sniffed and took back his favorite toy, Neptune put her hand on his chest. She sighed. No talisman here either.

When the boy was gone, Uranus angrily cursed. "How are we gonna find the talismans at this rate?" she muttered. "Just how many people live here in this town?"

"I believe we should start checking the more famous persons... they may have a bigger chance of carrying a talisman."

"You mean the mayor or something?" Uranus asked.

The dolphin of Neptune shook her sleek head. "No, I mean someone with a sense of justice... like this local hero, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"The blue hedgehog I fought on Speed Highway?" the cheetah asked. "Well, I don't think he would actually trust me after what happened the last time."

"We have to try it," Neptune insisted. "We have to check everyone's heart, even his. And if it isn't him, it could be also one of those echidnas living on the floating island, or one of the other Senshi. Maybe Espio is right... we should talk to them."

"And what should we say?" Uranus snorted. "Sorry we fought you all these times, but can't we be friends? By the way, please let us have a look at your pure hearts... Somehow, this doesn't seem to be the right way..."

"Not exactly," someone said. "But you're on the right path."

They looked up. Over them, on a street lamp, a female hedgehog was standing... Pluto!

"You're that hedgehog girl GUN is after," Uranus realized. "They said it on TV... didn't you steal some jewels?"

Pluto smiled. "I didn't steal them... I just took them away from their base. They didn't belong to them in the first place. But enough about me... let's talk about you! I admire your resolve for a good thing, and you even managed to change your ways of achieving your goals... But still, you have to learn the way of thinking on different levels. In my opinion, protecting the citizens is admirable... but your search for the talismans should be centered around other persons!"

"How do you know of our plans?" Neptune shouted. "Are you an agent of Kaolinite?"

Pluto huffed. "Please... Besides, that woman is already dead, I believe. Let's just say I have my ways of informing myself... I know you're Sailors Uranus and Neptune, for instance. In your civil identities, you're known as Michiru and Haruka, live in the apartment of the Chaotix detective agency, and you have a special... interest for each other."

Michiru blushed, while Haruka went red with rage. "Shut up! If you know that much and aren't our enemy, why are you here?"

Pluto smirked and jumped down. "I'm here... to challenge one of you to a fight! Don't worry, I only want a friendly competition match to test your and my powers. What do you say?"

The dolphin-girl whispered to her spotted partner: "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Ah, what's the worst that could happen?" Uranus replied. "Besides, she isn't even a Senshi. She has no chance against me."

"Maybe, but remember the blue hedgehog! He also had powers we knew nothing about. So take care, okay?"

"Don't worry," Uranus replied with a smirk. "I'll show her who's boss." To Pluto, she shouted: "I accept your challenge! Where should we fight?"

Pluto smiled. "I already chose a nice place near town. Just follow me!"

The dark green hedgehog lead them to a small park at the edge of town. In there, they arrived on a nice clearing, next to the flowing river. "Here we have enough space and won't be bothered. Fine with you?"

Uranus shrugged. "Sure, let's begin already."

"Before we begin, let me introduce myself to you... you should know who you're fighting, right?" She made a small bow. "I am Pluto the Hedgehog... the Ultimate Life Form, First Version! It's a pleasure!"

"Ultimate Life Form?" Uranus huffed. "Big talk for a hedgehog, but let's see what you got." She went into a battle stance. "Ready?"

"Pluto?" Neptune whispered. "Can it be?"

"3, 2, 1... fight!" Pluto shouted, and rushed at the cheetah. Uranus defended herself with claw swipes and kicks, but Pluto seemed to be faster than even Sonic.

Uranus smacked the hedgehog girl away with a punch and yelled: "Let's end this: World Shaking!"

Pluto smiled. "Chaos Scream!" And she threw a purple ball of energy at the Senshi, which cancelled her own attack.

"That power..." Neptune murmured. "It's just like that of a Senshi!"

Pluto felt pretty sure of herself. She already absorbed enough power of the emeralds to do the Chaos attacks without the need of carrying one of them with her. "Now for something special," she said. "Chaos... Control!"

Time seemed to slow down considerably as Pluto called on the powers of chaos flowing through her veins. Uranus had no chance of defending herself as Pluto ran at her and gave her a massive pounding.

When time snapped back to normal, the Senshi of Uranus was lying on the ground. Pluto stood next to her, a cocky grin on her face. "I believe I won."

"I hate to... say it, but she's right," Uranus moaned while standing up. "When she used that strange power to slow down time, I had really no chance of blocking or dodging her attacks. Even without Senshi powers, she is formidable."

"Why, thank you!" Pluto felt flattered. "And that was quite a refreshing fight. I think I learned something from our little contest. So I think I will give you a little hint on how to find the talismans..."

"Really?" Neptune asked hopefully.

"Of course! But, don't expect anything extraordinary. It's only just a small advise..."

"What advise?" Uranus asked curiously.

Pluto smiled. "Put your hands... on each other's heart!"

And in a flash, she disappeared.

The two Outer Senshi gasped. "Could she mean...?"

Haruka looked at Michiru. Michiru looked at Haruka.

Slowly, they approached each other. They looked into each other's faces and raised their right hands. Then, they put them on their partner's chest.

And felt something warm flowing through their bodies.

"The talismans..." Uranus whispered.

"...are in our own hearts?" Michiru murmured.

----

Pluto appeared in a back alley. "There, satisfied? I really think they should understand now."

"You did well," a gentle voice told her. "Finding the last one shouldn't be too hard for them now."

"Oh, on the contrary," Puto grinned. "They might come to the conclusion who is carrying the final talisman pretty quickly, but... I bet the talisman bearer wouldn't let them catch her that easily!"

"Anyway, you did a good job. Well done!"

"Does that mean you tell me more about your little 'story'?"

"No, not yet. But if you keep it up, I may tell you the background of all this... the real truth about your origins. Until then, goodbye, Pluto the Hedgehog!"

And the floating ball of light flew away.