The hotel manager was contently humming to the tune of his radio. It was a really nice day, and the visitors just kept coming. There were being reports about dangerous robots in the city, but as long as they didn't scare the guests away, he couldn't even less care. What really concerned him were the rumors that the train conductors were going on strike. Now THAT was a scary thought. When the trains don't run, how would the customers get to the hotel?

When the main door opened, he smiled. Another customer. Just good that this hotel had enough rooms.

"Welc..." He looked around. No person around here.

A small croak made him bend over. On the ground, in front of the counter, a pretty big, green frog was hopping. The manager freaked and jumped back. The frog jumped towards the open doors leading towards the pool and the beach.

The manager shook his head. Strange! How did this frog open the door anyways? He really preferred customers with money over green frogs that were hopping all over the hotel.

The door opened again. The manager turned around and yelped. It was one of the big robots the people were talking about. He came to destroy the hotel. He came to kill him! He came...

"Search for green amphibian initiated! Scanning area for any signs of the frog!" ('Excuse me, sir, but have you seen a green frog with a tail around here?')

The manager wiped his brow. At least this red robot doesn't seem to be hostile. "If... if you're looking for a frog, he went that way!" He pointed to the other door."

"Acknowledged! Now proceeding with search!" ('Thank you, and have a nice day!') The robot stomped out the door leading to the beach.

The manager let out a deep breath. Could this day get any weirder?

"Excuse me sir," a sweet voice asked. "But have you seen a big frog around here?"

"Yeah," a slow voice added. "He's my little buddy!"

It was a cute little rabbit girl and a big, fat cat with purple fur.

"Are you looking for the frog as well?" the manager mumbled. "He went towards the beach, if that's what you want to know..."

"Thank you very much!" The rabbit bowed. "Come on, Cheese!"

"Chao!" The little Chao zipped past the startled manager.

"Froggy! I'm coming!" They all headed out of the door.

"W-wait," the manager shouted. "Are you sure you don't want a room?"

But they had left already.

The poor man collapsed on his counter. His nerves were all on edge.

Suddenly, the main door opened up AGAIN. In came a big crocodile, a purple chameleon and a hyperactive bee.

"Whoohoo!" the bee shouted. "Beach time! Beach time!"

"Excuse me, sir," the crocodile said. "But we..."

"NO! I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOUR BLOODY FROG IS! NOW LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!" The manager turned around and went in his office. With a slam, his door was being shut before the confused faces of the Chaotix.

"Guess that means all rooms are occupied," Espio said with a shrug.

"Dang," Vector said. "And we were just saving our money to spend a weekend at the beach."

"Awww, no beach?" Charmy whined. "That sooooo sucks!"

----

Rei and Knuckles watched as the silver and golden echidna statues clicked into place and caused the secret door to the ruins to open.

Rei grinned at her partner. "Well done!"

Knuckles grinned back. "Well, I only dug them out... you found them!"

"Anyways, we should get inside... my senses are telling me that some shards are in there. Although I wonder how they got there..."

Knuckles bowed. "After you!"

Rei bowed as well. "Oh no, after YOU!"

Knuckles shrugged. "Well, if there are any traps inside, they won't hit you first this way, right?"

Rei nodded. "Exactly! Now, please go!"

----

Knuckles bashed one of the Robotnik robots that have been lurking inside the ruins. "Dammit," he growled. "Looks like Eggman has been searching here as well."

Rei took aim at a couple of spinning, blue robots. "Burning Mandala!"

The fiery rings cut through the air and destroyed the enemies. Rei lowered her hands. "All done! And look, they had another shard with them."

Knuckles picked them up. "Well, I think these are all that are in here. We have collected a considerable amount, right? We should return to the shrine soon to put them back together."

"Yes, you're right... Hey, what's that?"

"Huh? What?"

Rei pointed to the ball of light that was flitting around the chamber's walls.

Knuckles watched it closely. "I think... I've seen that light before."

"Really? Where?"

"I think it was... right before we had that strange dream... You know, about that ancient echidna village. It just rushed at me..."

"You mean, like it does now?" Rei asked.

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, exactly like..." He blinked. "Damn..."

And yet again, they got surrounded by a bright light.

----

This time, they weren't in the echidna village like before, but instead in some lush valley, on top of a steep cliff. Right underneath them, they could see a shrine that bore a striking resemblance to their own shrine, back on Angel Island...

"The Master Emerald?" Knuckles gasped. "And the Chaos Emeralds?"

"That proves it," Rei sighed. "This is some kind of vision of the past... Although, it all seems pretty real to me."

Knuckles peered down. "Hey, look! There's that echidna girl we met in the village last time."

"You mean Tikal? Where?"

He pointed down.

Tikal nervously was approaching the water basin surrounding the Master Emerald's pedestal. "Wow..." she said. "Is it okay for me to be here?"

No one replied, but Knuckles and Rei could have sworn that they heard some strange sound, like dripping water.

Tikal entered the shrine and looked around in amazement. Then, her gaze fell on the giant green emerald in front of her. "Could it be?" she said. Her gaze wandered over the pillars carrying the Chaos Emeralds. "The seven servers..." She looked back at the Master Emerald. "The controller itself..."

Rei and Knuckles looked at each other. "She's speaking of that verse she told us about last time," Knuckles guessed.

Rei nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Just then, they were being transported back to their own time.

----

After appearing outside of the ruins, Rei shook her head. "I'll never get used to that feeling..."

Knuckles sighed and sat down on the ground. "Now, let's see... 'The servers are the seven Chaos... Chaos is Power...' and how does it continue?"

Rei pondered. "'Power is enriched by the hearts. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos...' Well, I'd say the seven servers are the Chaos Emeralds."

Knuckles nodded. "Then the controller itself... must be the Master Emerald! I got it! But... what does it all mean?"

Rei shrugged. "I guess we have to wait for the next blast to the past until we find out."

Suddenly, they heard loud voices approaching them.

"No, please, wait a minute!"

"Give me my friend back! I'm begging ya, please!"

The two echidnas looked at each other and ran towards the jungle path.

They almost got trampled by a bulky, red robot that was carrying some kind of green animal. Following him were a purple cat and a cream-colored rabbit with a blue Chao.

"Cream?" Rei asked. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous in the jungle."

"I know," Cream said. "But please, there's no time! We have been following this robot since he kidnapped Mr. Big's friend at the beach in Station Square!"

"Your friend?" Knuckles asked the big cat.

Big nodded. "Yup! My pal froggy! He's my best friend, and that mean robot just grabbed him without saying anything."

Rei grinned. "Well, we can't let him get away with it, can we?" she asked.

"W-wait a minute," Knuckles stuttered. "We have no time for this! We have to find the shards of the emerald..."

"Aw, come on! What's so bad about helping people in need now and then?"

Cream looked up at the red echidna with sparkling eyes. "Please, Mr. Knuckles?"

Knuckles sighed. Damn that kid and her puppy-dog-eyes. "Fine! But make it quick!"

They followed the footsteps of the robot to a very strange-looking bridge that lead to a tower jutting out of a canyon.

Big looked down into the canyon. "Wow," he said. "There are many pretty lights."

"Looks like a base to me," Rei said. "Do you suppose..."

She and Knuckles exchanged a glance and nodded. "Eggman," Knuckles said. "Definitely!"

"I wonder what he plans to do to Froggy..." Cream wondered.

"Chao chao!" Cheese gestured towards the bridge, where the Eggpawn guards just let the other robot enter.

"How do we get past these guards?" Cream wondered.

Knuckles smacked his fists together. "The old-fashioned way!"

----

Slowly, the Egg Carrier was once again rising into the air above the Mystic Ruins. It's mighty engines came to life, and the deafening roar scared all of the animals in the jungle.

On the ship's bridge, Eggman was looking at the various frogs his robots brought him. "Ahhrrg," he shouted in desperation. "Dummies, dummies, dummies, dummies! No one of you got the right one!"

At that moment, Metal Sonic and Alpha came in. "Good news, doctor," the roboticised prince of the Earth said. "We got the Chaos Emerald."

"Very well, at least you know how to do the job," the scientist grumbled. "Now, where is it?"

Eggman looked at Metal Sonic, and Metal Sonic looked at Alpha. She sweat-dropped. "Uh, I think I forgot it back in the cell where we locked in the girl and her cat."

"Graaaarrr," Eggman yelled. "Even though you seem to have gained some brains, you still are the stupid old pile of junk I created."

Alpha fumed at that remark, but stayed silent.

At that moment, E-102-Gamma entered the room, carrying a green frog. "Dr. Eggman..."

"What?" the scientist said impatiently while turning around. Then he gasped. "Ah! The frog! There it is! Right there! I'm proud of you, Gamma! You did your job pretty well... unlike certain other robots..."

He took the frog and gave it to Metal Sonic. "You take the frog down into the aquarium, and make sure he doesn't escape!"

"Yes, doctor," Metal Sonic grumbled, but he didn't dare to object. He took Froggy from the doctor and left.

"Now, I have a new job for you, Gamma," Eggman said. He pointed towards the jail door. "Go through that door! In there, you'll find a hedgehog girl and a cat. They have a blue jewel. Bring it to me!"

"Um, and what about me?" Alpha wanted to know.

Eggman turned around. "Well, well, well... You sure are different from the last time I have seen you. And you seem to have gained a new personality as well. So, tell me: Who are you and what are you planning to do?"

Alpha knew that this question was pretty important for the scientist. "I am Alpha! I am a daimon created by fusing a daimon egg from the death-busters with your robot. I decided to serve you, because you seem to know what you're doing... unlike those blasted witches."

Eggman seemed to accept that, as he nodded. "Good. Now, come with me... I have something I wanna show you..."

And while the doctor and the daimon left the room, E-102-Gamma stared indecisively at the door.

At the TWO doors that were there. Which was the right one again?

The robot just decided to try them both and entered the left door first.

It was a small room with a strange machine. On the ground, various machine and robot parts lay strewn. And inside the machine... a robot was attached to various clamps and hooks.

Well, at least parts of a robot.

And while two mechanical arms automatically demounted and attached various parts, Gamma stared up to the motionless 'face' of the white robot.

"Beta?" ('Artemis...?')

Gamma left the room.

"This is the wrong room!" ('Sigh...')

The robot turned around and entered the other door.

----

Knuckles peered carefully over the pile of boxes. "Looks like no one detected us."

Cream smiled. "Lucky!"

Rei concentrated. "Knuckles, do you feel that, too? This energy?"

Knuckles closed his eyes, then nodded. "Yes, there have to be several pieces of the Master Emerald on board. What do we do?"

Rei looked at the pleading faces of Cream, Cheese and Big. She smiled. "I guess we try to find the frog first."

Knuckles sighed. "Just my luck..."

----

"Small Lady, I'm scared! What are they going to do to us? What if they kill us? Or worse, what if they do to us what they did to King Endymion?"

"Now, now, calm down," Chibiusa told her advisor. "Everything will turn out just fine. Usagi's gonna get us out of here, I'm sure."

But she wasn't too sure of that herself...

A red robot entered and stepped up to the closed cage.

Angrily, Chibiusa looked up to it. "What do you want?"

"Hand me the blue jewel," Gamma said.

Chibiusa clutched the emerald to her body. "Nope!"

"Resistance is futile! Just hand over the jewel!"

Chibiusa shook her head. "No, never!"

That the robot didn't understand. "Why not?"

"I don't need to tell you anything," the pink-furred girl shouted. "You're not getting it and that's that!"

"Chibiusa, you shouldn't upset it," Diana said nervously. She stood up and padded over to the locked door. "Hello there, my name is Diana! What's your name?"

"This unit's serial number is 'E-102', code name: Gamma!"

Diana smiled. "Gamma, nice to meet you! Would you please let us out of the cell? I'm sure we can be friends if we try."

"Does not compute," the robot responded. "You have feelings for something you know nothing about. Illogical!"

"I know," the grey kitten replied. "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?"

Chibiusa groaned. Diana's naivety sometimes made her head spin.

But what baffled her even more was the fact that suddenly, the robot began tilting back and forth wildly, and afterwards, walked over to the control panel of the cell door and opened it.

"Go, escape!" it said.

W-w-what?" Chibiusa stuttered. Did she hear correctly?

Diana smiled at her. "You heard the nice robot. Let's go!"

Chibiusa and her cat walked past the robot. "You know, you're really weird for a robot," she mumbled. "Perhaps Diana was right... you DO have a soft spot inside your metal frame." She smiled. "If you like, we can be friends, okay? See ya!" And they ran outside.

Gamma stayed back. Both Small Lady and her royal advisor didn't know that, after looking at Diana, deep inside E-102's memory storage, a strange image caused the robot to do what he just did.

A group image of three cats... A black one, a white one, and a small grey kitten...

----

Rouge carefully looked around the corner. She made it... she came close to the dark green hedgehog without her noticing it. Now, the only thing she had to do was to grab the Chaos Emeralds from her and...

Rouge blinked. The hedgehog girl was talking to someone. No, make that someTHING: A floating ball of light.

Rouge rubbed her eyes. Did she drink a glass to much yesterday evening?

"Those two have the talismans! The others have the emeralds! What else do you want me to do?"

The ball of light tilted from left to right. "Well, I'm very impressed with you up to now... but there is one thing you have to do until you are ready to know the truth."

"Great," Pluto groaned. "And that would be?"

"You have to find the location of the Senshi of Silence: Sailor Saturn!"

"Oh! Is that all? I mean, it's not that I have any clues, but..."

"She is one the most powerful Senshi that exists. You'll recognize her by her powerful aura... And make haste! I feel that something evil is trying to take over her mind."

"You mean you can feel her mind, but don't know who she is?"

"Yes, exactly!"

Pluto put a hand on her face. "Okay, okay, I'll do it! But that better be the last task you make me do, you hear?"

The unknown voice giggled. "Clearly! Now, I have to go. And good luck!"

The ball of light encircled Pluto once, then flew away.

Pluto sighed. For a few moments, she did nothing. Then, she said: "You can come out now!"

Rouge was so surprised that she didn't even think about staying hidden. "You spotted me?" she asked. "I was trained to be a thief by my mother and to be a spy by the government. How did you know I was there?"

"Simple," Pluto smiled. "I could feel your life force."

"Oh, not more of that mystical mumbo-jumbo," groaned the bat. "Is everyone in this town superstitious?"

"Not exactly," Pluto said. "But I guess it takes more then an explanation to convince you. Now, why were you going after me?"

"Well, if you know I'm here, I might tell you as well... I was being hired to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds you stole! So where are they?"

"I already told those two Senshi, I didn't steal them. Or, if you have to call it stealing, I was just stealing from the thieves. GUN had no right of having those emeralds!"

"Oh, please! GUN is one of the most powerful defense forces of this planet. It's influence is even bigger then that of the president himself. Do you really think they require using such methods as stealing?"

Pluto shook her head. "When it is about power or money, people did things that were even worse. To answer your question: I don't have the emeralds any more."

"You gotta be kidding me," Rouge groaned. "And where are they?"

"Who knows? I made sure the Senshi and that blue hedgehog would get them, but perhaps that scientist took them away already. Or these strange witches have some... I just don't know."

"That means I have to start my whole search over," grumbled the secret agent. "Well, at least I'll have an easier time spying on Sonic than on you."

Pluto raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to turn me over to GUN?"

"Nah, why should I? They just told me to return the three Chaos Emeralds you took from their base. You don't have them, I have no more business with you. Now if you excuse me, I have a job to do."

And by ramming the iron tips of her boots into the house wall next to them, she climbed up on the roof and was gone.

Pluto shrugged. She also had a job to do. Now where would she find that Sailor Saturn girl?

----

Hotaru gasped and sat up in bed. She was sweating, and her breath came out in short gasps.

"Is something wrong, Hotaru?" murmured Ami who was sharing a room with the violet-haired girl.

"No... No, everything is fine, Ami. It was just a bad dream."

"Oh, that's all... Okay then, good night!" She turned back around.

"Good night, Ami..."

But in reality, little Hotaru was far from fine. She now was sure that the scary-looking woman from her dream was somehow real. And even scarier was how she resembled herself...

Hotaru sighed and lay down again. Soon, she was sleeping, without any bad dreams.

On her forehead, a strange symbol was glowing shortly, then disappearing.

The symbol of Saturn...