"I can't believe it," Rei shouted. "We managed to stumble upon the emerald shards even before we found your friend."

Big nodded. "Hmmmm, I'm happy for you, but... I miss my Froggy and fishing..."

Suddenly, Cream pointed ahead of them. "Look, there's a door."

They opened it. Behind it, there was a circular room with a cylindrical pedestal in its middle. All around the walls, fish tanks could be seen.

Big climbed up the pedestal using a ladder and looked around. Finally, he pointed to one of the fish tanks, where a big, green frog with a strange tail was swimming around. "Ah! There's Froggy! Looks like he needs my help!"

"This place... is somewhat strange," Rei exclaimed. "Why would Eggman have an aquarium on his airship?"

Cream looked around the room, until she found something. It was a big, round, red switch. "Ooooooh..."

"Hey Rei," Knuckles shouted. "Look at this!" He pointed to a sign hanging at the wall. He read aloud: "Hot Shelter! Aquariums to keep rare aquatic species used for creating underwater robots. Water also keeps the ship's reactor cool. Please do not drain the tanks!"

Rei sweat-dropped. "Who on earth would use fish tanks to cool a reactor?"

"Hey guys," Creams excited voice called out. "Look what I found!" She pointed to the red switch.

Rei and Knuckles turned around... and gulped. "DON'T PRESS THE SWITCH! DON'T PRESS THE SWITCH!"

"Huh?" Cream said. Her finger went down on the button.

Rei groaned. "You pressed it..."

And suddenly, they were being showered by the aquarium water that poured out of the fish tanks, after the glass panels had slid up.

Cream and Cheese managed to fly up in time and Big was already standing on the pedestal in the middle, but Rei and Knuckles got completely drenched.

Big sat down and threw out his fishing rod. "Now be a good froggy and bite down on the fishing line, yes?" he happily said.

Rei surfaced and spit out some water. "Cream... don't press any buttons without knowing what they will do."

Cream giggled. "Sorry..."

Knuckles looked around. "Oh no, where is my bag with the Master Emerald shards?" Then he saw it lying on the ground of the basin. "There it is!" And he dove down.

He didn't realize that a dark shape was approaching him. Rei gasped. That crazy Eggman had sharks in his aquariums? "Knuckles, watch out!" But of course, he couldn't hear her.

Rei jumped out of the water and raised her transformation pen. "Mars Star Power, Make Up!"

And she turned into Sailor Mars.

Cream looked at her with sparkling eyes. "Wow! That was cool!"

Big just continued fishing.

Mars looked at the shark. It almost had reached the unsuspecting echidna. She took aim...

"Fire Soul!" The fire attack shot through the water and managed to hit the shark before it was being extinguished by the water. The shark jerked around in pain and quickly swum away.

Grasping the bag with the emerald shards, Knuckles came shooting out of the boiling water. "YEEEOOOOOOWCH! HOT! HOT! HOT!"

Mars giggled nervously. "Oops..."

After cooling down, the male echidna panted heavily and glared at Mars. "Dammit, Rei... what were you planning to do? Boil me alive?"

"Sorry, but you see, there was this big shark and..." Suddenly, she thought of something and gasped. "Oh no! I may have boiled Froggy!"

But then, a croak made them turn around. Big was happily holding his friend. "I managed to pull him out of the water in time," he said. "Froggy! Huhuhuhuh! Now we're finally back together again, huh?"

The frog didn't seem too happy and struggled against Big's powerful grasp. But Big didn't seem to realize it.

Just then, a ball of light appeared out of nowhere and flew towards them. Knuckles groaned. "Oh, not that again..."

----

Big looked around in confusion. "Where are we, Froggy?"

"This place looks nice," Cream said. "Oh, look over there, Cheese: Chao!"

"Chao chao!" Cheese said excitedly and floated over to them.

Knuckles and Rei heard a familiar voice speaking inside the shrine.

"I beg of you, please hear me out! My father will come here shortly, and I'm afraid what he will do... Please, you must take everyone away from here."

Once again, no one responded, only that strange dripping sound could be heard.

"So you say you can't leave this place?" Tikal sighed. "Never mind. I'll try talking to my father again. I must do something... quickly!" She turned back around to her Chao friends... and gasped as she saw the giant cat. "No, don't hurt them!"

She ran towards Big who looked at her in confusion. "Um, hello," he said. "The name's Big... I'm a cat!"

"Say, these Chao are very friendly," Cream said with a smile. "Are they your friends?"

Tikal breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry. Guess you're not one of them, huh?" She turned around to face Rei and Knuckles. "Oh, it's you again..."

"Hello Tikal," Rei said. "Um, who were you talking to just now?"

Tikal smiled. "Oh, he's the guardian of this holy place. Under his protection, these little Chao can continue singing in peace. I was scared when I first met him, but he's actually a very gentle creature." Her face grew sad. "But now my father wants to take away their holy grounds, and I'm afraid of what will happen."

The Chao looked at her in concern. Tikal knelt down to them. "Don't worry, my friends! I won't let you down... I promise!"

Just then, the image of Tikal, the Chao and the shrine vanished in front of their eyes.

----

They appeared back in the Egg Carrier. "That's strange," Big murmured. Cream nodded. "Yes, but that girl was really nice."

Suddenly, the Egg Carrier shook around. "Hey, what's happening here?" Knuckles shouted.

"Oh my god," Rei yelled. "I believe that's our fault. We drained the water that cooled down the ship's reactor... and now it's going down."

"Oh no," Cream said frightened and clutched Cheese to her chest.

"If something happens to us, I don't know who will bother to save us all," Big mumbled.

Knuckles looked into his bag. "Well, we got all of the emerald shards... so that means there's no reason for us to stay here. So I say we should find a way of getting out of here." He looked around. "We should head for the deck. How do we get there?"

Rei pointed over to a monorail that was used to get from this room to the deck. "How about using that?"

----

Gamma/Luna looked up at the floating form of her friend, who was still imprisoned within that white robot.

"Artemis," she said. "I will free you from that thing."

Beta responded by releasing 5 missiles at once that came raining down on the heroes. Usagi braced herself for the explosion, but Gamma quickly shot down all of the missiles at once.

"We have no time for this," Sonic shouted. "We have to catch Eggman!"

"Go ahead and follow him," Gamma/Luna said. "I'll take care of Artemis."

"I'll stay and help you," Sailor Moon said in a determined voice.

"Me too," Chibiusa nodded after turning into Chibimoon.

"All right, I think we can take care of Eggman by ourselves," Amy said. "Right, Tails?"

"Um... whatever you say."

Usagi turned around to face Ami. "Mercury... go with your brother! Protect him! We'll see you later, okay?"

Ami nodded. "Okay, good luck!" And she followed Sonic, Amy and Tails.

"Look out," Diana shouted suddenly, as the floating robot came charging at them with outstretched claws.

"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" That stopped Beta in his tracks.

Gamma/Luna raised her weapon. "Artemis... this is for your own good." And she fired.

The shot hit their opponent, but it still wasn't down. Beta flew high up into the air and charged up his hidden plasma cannons underneath his hands.

"Watch out," Usagi shouted. "Quick, everyone, scatter!"

Beta didn't aim for Sailor Moon or Chibimoon... He aimed at a certain, red robot.

But at the same time, Gamma/Luna fired another shot at him.

Both shots hit their target at the same time. Both robots went down in enormous blasts. E-101 fell down on the Egg Carrier's deck, while Gamma collapsed.

"Luna," Usagi shouted. "Artemis! Oh no!"

"It's... okay," Luna told her friend. "I'm fine... trust me, this is for the better..." And then her voice died.

Diana walked over to the unmoving form of Beta. He, too, didn't move. "Mom? Dad?" She sniffed. "No... that can't be true..."

But then, she heard something... A scratching sound coming from Beta's torso. And then, a muffled voice: "Hey, can anyone get me out of this thing?"

Diana shouted in surprise: "Usagi! Chibiusa! Come, quick!"

Sailor Moon ran over to her and searched for a way to open the metal chest. When she found the closed entrance to the robot's power chamber, she opened it with a powerful yank.

Dazed and confused, but not harmed in any way, Artemis came stumbling out of the robot's torso. "Ooooooh..." he groaned. "Where am I? And what hit me?" He looked up. "Oh, hey guys! What's up?"

Diana tackled him to the ground. "Stupid Dad! We thought you were dead."

While Artemis tried to figure out what was going on, Sailor Moon hurried over to the other robot. She opened the power chamber, and... Luna was falling down into her lap.

The black mooncat looked up at her princess and smiled. "Usagi... good job."

Usagi clutched her best friend to her chest. "Oh, Luna... I'm so happy to have you back..."

At that moment, the ship was shaking around wildly.

----

The monorail came to a stop. Quickly, its four occupants jumped outside.

"So, we made it," Knuckles said. "Now, where should we go? We cannot exactly fly down there, can we?"

"I can," Cream said. Cheese nodded. "Chao!"

Rei smiled. "Well, Cream can get away safely, and you can use your gliding ability, Knuckles... but what about me and Big?"

Knuckles pondered. "I think I would be able to carry you... but Big? No way!"

Suddenly, a dark shape loomed over them.

It was Chaos, still in his form of an oversized shark.

Rei suddenly got reminded of the scene in the Hot Shelter.

"You," Knuckles shouted. "You still don't have enough? Come and get some!"

Then, the Eggmobile appeared next to them. "Ahahahaha," Eggman laughed. "I think I arrived just in time. You weren't planning on escaping, were you?"

"Eggman," Knuckles snarled. "Come down here and I'll kick your butt!"

Cream bowed. "Please, Mr. Eggman, wouldn't you please let us go?"

"Not a chance," the doctor huffed. "You still have something I need. But first..." He threw the blue and green emeralds to Chaos.

The water creature once again transformed in a flash. This time, he looked like an enormous monster with a round body, four small legs and a broad mouth. The Chaos Emeralds could be seen floating around his body.

"All right," Eggman shouted in excitement. "And now, for the frog!"

Froggy slipped out of Big's grasp. The tail controlling him made him hop up in front of Chaos.

"The frog is possessed by Chaos' tail," Eggman explained. "Once he gets it back, he will be ultra-strong... even though he's not perfected yet."

And as Froggy got absorbed into Chaos' body, the tail on his backside got shorter and shorter until it disappeared.

Instead, a long, scorpion-like tail appeared at Chaos' backside.

"Hahaha, way to go, Chaos," the scientist laughed.

Just then, Sonic and the others arrived. "Oh no," Sonic shouted. "Chaos has transformed again."

"He must have snagged the Chaos Emerald from the Tornado II," Tails suspected.

Big looked at his buddy, floating around the water monster's body, with big eyes. "I must save Froggy!"

"If he's your friend, I'll help you," Sonic said. Ami nodded. "Me too."

"Me three," Amy added. "This ugly beast won't be able to stop us all."

"Enough of that," Eggman shouted. "Chaos, destroy them all! Now!"

Chaos growled at his enemies. His hatred towards all living beings was unsurpassed. Only his determination of getting his powers back had convinced him to work with Eggman. He launched his bulky body high up into the air and came crashing down again.

The massive shockwave knocked almost everyone down on the ground. Only Sonic and Knuckles were able to jump over it in time.

"Ow... that hurt," Amy moaned.

"He's... really strong," gasped Rei.

"Aw, come on," Sonic yelled. "Is that the best you can do?"

Chaos seemed to ponder. Then, glowing red points appeared all over his body. And all of a sudden, he shot out spiky tentacles out of these points, into all directions. They had a very hard time to dodge them all. Big grabbed Cream and carried her away from the battle. Knuckles and Tails got hit and cried out.

"That's enough," Rei yelled. "Mercury, everyone... attack him NOW!"

"Sonic Wind!" "Thunder Arrow!" "Burning Mandala!" "Storming Heart!" "Shine Aqua Illusion!"

After being shocked, burned, blasted by wind and bombarded by hearts, Ami's attack made the monster's body freeze solid.

Knuckles smirked. "There's our chance! Sonic, Tails... if you would!"

"Anytime, buddy!" Sonic shouted and rolled up into a ball. Tails did the same.

Knuckles picked them up, concentrated his powers and surrounded the two with an aura of magical fire. He jumped high into the air. "Fire Dunk!" And the Sonic- and Tails-balls were being smacked hardly against the frozen form of Chaos.

The ice cracked into billions of pieces that fell over the edge of the Egg Carrier's deck - while the Chaos Emeralds clattered down on the ground.

Froggy came falling down on Big's head, shivering.

Big smiled. "Froggy!"

"No!" Eggman screamed. "That can't be happening! Chaos is unbeatable! How can this be? Alpha, where are you?" No response. "Alpha?"

Amy smirked. "Looks like your little helper has abandoned you, egg-head."

Suddenly, the ship began falling down faster then before.

"Hey, the ship is losing altitude," Tails realized.

"Oh no," Eggman yelled. "The reactor must have lost its powers. I'm outta here..." And he turned around his Eggmobile and flew away.

"Eggman! Get back here!" And with a Homing Attack, Sonic grabbed onto the underside of the Eggmobile as it flew away.

"Sonic," Tails shouted. Knuckles held him back. "I'm sure he'll do fine," he said. "But we should worry about ourselves. How are we gonna escape from here?"

Suddenly, Usagi, Chibiusa, Diana, Luna and Artemis came running.

Rei and Ami were excited. "Luna! Artemis! Sailor Moon, you saved them!"

"Aw, it was nothing," Usagi said.

Tails looked around. "Well, we have two planes, but everyone can only carry three persons... two, if you count Big. And we also have several guys here that can glide or fly."

Ami shook her head. "You forgot something, bro... Eggman stole your emerald. So the Tornado II won't be able to fly."

"Oh no," groaned her brother. "What now?"

Rei thought about it. "You say it's being powered by a Chaos Emerald?"

Tails nodded. Rei took Knuckles' bag and spilled its contents on the ground.

"H-hey," Knuckles stuttered. "What are you planning to do?"

"Don't worry," Rei said. "It's okay!" She put the emerald pieces together, and magically, they joined and became a bigger pieces. One by one, she put together the puzzle, until the whole Master Emerald was shimmering before them.

"Knuckles, you are able to shrink it, are you?" she asked. Knuckles nodded. Rei gestured towards the Master Emerald. "Then do it!"

Still not understanding, Knuckles did what Rei told him. "I still don't get your point... hey!"

Rei snatched the emerald out of his hand. "Well, the plane is being powered by emerald energy, and normally, one Chaos Emerald would be enough, right? But the energy of the Master Emerald is far more powerful, so it should easily make the plane fly as well, right?"

Tails bopped himself on the head. "Of course! Why didn't I think of this earlier?"

Rei gave the emerald to him, and the fox attached it to the blue plane.

"But be sure to give it back afterwards," Knuckles shouted. Tails smiled. "Perhaps."

Knuckles snarled angrily. Amy laughed. "Relax, Knuckles! I think he just wanted to tease you."

Ami looked around. "Well... Usagi, Chibiusa and Rei can ride in the Moon jet. Big and Tails should sit in the Tornado II... remember, Tails is the only one that knows how to fly it. Cream and Cheese can fly by themselves, so can I. Knuckles can glide and... the cats can ride along in the Moon Jet."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Rei said. "All right, you heard her: Let's do it!"

And while the Egg Carrier continued his crashing course towards the sea, they all managed to fly or glide away in time.

----

Minako sighed as she was standing at the window of Makoto's apartment. Her tall rabbit friend walked up behind her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Artemis," the blonde bat murmured. "I hope he and the others are all right..."

"Hey, cheer up," Makoto smiled. "They'll be fine. Remember, they are Sailor Senshi! And Sonic is with them as well. They'll be back shortly, trust me."

Minako nodded. "Yeah, you're right... And I hope they found a way to save Artemis. I miss him..."

----

Sonic wasn't quite able to hang on to Eggman's vessel for too long and soon, plummeted down into the jungle. Sonic curled his body up and therefore was able to land safely.

"Ah, I hate Eggman," he grumbled.

He looked around. He was in a clearing, surrounded by the high trees. In front of him, some old ruins towered over his head. The kinda looked like some sort of pyramid... like an ancient Inca temple, or something like that.

Suddenly, he could see a dancing light appearing in front of him. It was dancing back and forth, then towards the entrance of the ruins, then back to him.

"That light..." he murmured. "I think it wants to show me something."

He decided to follow the ball of light. After losing Eggman, he really didn't have anything better to do, anyways.

----

The light lead him down deeply into the lowest chamber of the ancient temple. It was a big, square room with some water basins in the corners. It was a little gloomy, so Sonic couldn't see too much. But then, the light rose up at the wall and showed him something. It was an old mural...

It showed some kind of giant creature, as it attacked an ancient village. It's enormous, serpent-like head towered over the helpless people. It certainly looked like some demon or god of destruction.

"God... of destruction..." Sonic murmured. "Wait a minute... could that mean..."

But before he could think any more about it, the ball of light flew directly in his face and blinded him.

----

When Sonic was able to see again, he was standing in a deep valley that normally, would have been beautiful... if it weren't for the burning forest up ahead! The flames flickered high above the trees and painted the whole scenery with an eery red.

"What is this place?" Sonic wondered. "It somehow... looks familiar."

He walked up to the building that was surrounded by the fire.

Several motionless bodies were lying around. Several Chao, and also some echidnas in ancient garments. One of them, a young girl, just began stirring.

Sonic ran up to her. "Hey, what happened here?"

"I couldn't... stop them..." the girl moaned. "They came, and... and my father..." She looked around the shrine surrounded by fire. "I had no idea how bad this would turn out... I'm shocked!"

Sonic took a look around. Wherever he was, this was a picture he would never forget. What kind of evil force would massacre all of these living beings, or set the forest aflame?

And after wondering, he once again got surrounded by light...

----

Sonic shook his head. He was back in the jungle, in front of the entrance to the ruins. "What was that all about?" he said to himself. "I don't think I'm dreaming here."

But then, he remembered something. Just before the light surrounded him again, he could hear a voice, coming out of the burning forest.

An angry roar, filled with pain and hate.

----

Metal Sonic zoomed through the sky as he carried Hotaru back to the main base. "Don't worry, girl," he said. "The doctor told me not to harm you. I'll just take you away from those bad, bad Senshi."

"They're NOT bad," Hotaru yells while struggling. "They're my friends! And you, put me down! Now!"

Metal Sonic shakes his head. "Sorry, no can do! You know that I have to do what the doctor says." Hotaru is surprised to hear a tone of regret invading his voice.

Suddenly, her eyes gleamed purple again, and in an eery voice, she yelled: "Let go of me NOW!"

And with a purple blast of energy, Metal Sonic is being thrown down into the forest.

Hotaru is floating down in front of him. On her head, a black star has appeared. "I'm... finally... free!"

And when she spread her arms, her hair turned a deep black and flowed down her back. She also grew into an adult, and her clothes turned into a purple dress. Mistress 9 was now under full control.

Metal Sonic just stared at the woman floating in front of him. "This power... what ARE you?"

She smirked. "Fool! I am Mistress 9... the leader of the death-busters! And I will bring our master to the Earth so he can destroy the human race!"

"I see..." the blue robot said. "And why did you possess Hotaru's body?"

"Does it matter?" Mistress 9 asked. "You will be dead soon. So don't ask me questions if they are of no use for you."

She raised her arms. "Prepare to be ripped apart!"

But then, another voice shouted: "Chaos Scream!"

Mistress 9 yelped as the purple energy ball hit her. "Who dares?" she shouted.

From the top of a tree, a dark green hedgehog jumped down. "I am Pluto the Hedgehog... the Ultimate Life Form, First Version! I thought you were Sailor Saturn first, so I came here... But now I see you're just an evil entity that I have to destroy."

"Stay out of that," Metal Sonic snapped. "This is my fight!"

Pluto looked at him and smirked. "You really believe you can take her on by yourself? Don't be a fool! Can't you feel her power? But, as you're a robot, perhaps you can't feel it... Hell, you don't even have a soul."

Metal Sonic growled at that. "I do have a soul. The soul of the Earth prince, Endymion! I just don't plan on letting him control my future anymore, so I chose this body!"

"Enough of this," Mistress 9 shouted. Her long hair grew even more and lashed at the two. Pluto jumped over it, while Metal Sonic just curled up and spun his body around. Like a buzzsaw, he cut through the hair of the death-buster.

Mistress 9 screamed in outrage. "My... my beautiful hair... YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

"I don't think so," Pluto said. "Chaos Control!"

At first, Mistress 9's body jerked... but then, she smiled. "Oh, nice trick! Too bad I exist out of time and space, so this attack has no effect on me."

"Who are you anyway?" Pluto asked as she dodged another whip of hair.

"I am the harbinger of the silence... and the servant of my almighty master that descends from outer space!"

"Silence...?" Pluto muttered. "Outer Space...?" Then she gasped. "Your master... now I know who it is!"

Her opponent smirked. "Oh, do you now? Well, too bad... because it's not going to help you!" And she attacked Pluto with a burst of evil energy.

But Metal Sonic activated his back jets and pulled Pluto out of the way just in time, as he sped past her.

"I don't know you, and I'm pretty sure we aren't allies," the robot grumbled. "But I think for this fight, we have to work together."

Pluto nodded. "Yes, you're right... What are your connections to her anyway?"

"She is actually the daughter of my master... and that being has possessed her. Somehow, I have to get her out of that body."

"Well, I'll help you. Any ideas?"

"I think so. Just keep her busy!"

"Got it!" And they jumped away as Mistress 9 shot another burst of energy at them. "Stand still!" she shouted.

Pluto smirked. "Chaos Spear!" And the yellow energy bolt hit the death-buster's chest. She screamed.

Meanwhile, Metal Sonic had rolled his body up into a ball and bounced over her head. Behind her back, he uncurled and quickly grabbed her arms. Mistress 9 flailed around angrily.

"Hotaru," Metal Sonic said in her ear. "Listen to me! Fight against that demon's control! Your father would turn me into scrap metal if he finds out that I let something happen to you, so don't disappoint me! Be strong!"

Mistress 9 yelled and blasted the robot away from her. "How dare you..." she snarled.

But in her mind, another battle was being fought...

----

Hotaru screamed as the silence surrounded her like a prison. "No! Papa! Help me! Let me out of here!"

"Be strong," a voice suddenly told her. She knew that voice... it was strong and proud. Hotaru relaxed. A strange symbol shone on her forehead. Suddenly, a translucent figure appeared before her. The girl looked just like her, but wore a Sailor fuku and carried a long polearm.

"Who... who are you?" Hotaru asked.

The girl smiled. "I am Sailor Saturn... your other self!"

Hotaru blinked. "You're... me?"

Saturn nodded. "Yes. Don't be afraid! The silence is not your enemy! Mistress 9 just uses its powers for evil deeds. But you can also use it to defend Earth. Become one with me, and we can get rid of her."

Hotaru thought about it, then nodded. She held out her hand and touched the one of Saturn...

...and she appeared in a dark room, in front of Mistress 9. She looked down at herself... she now was wearing Saturn's clothes and carried her weapon.

"Who are you?" Mistress 9 shouted. "How dare you come here?"

Hotaru smiled. "I am Sailor Saturn... and you are not welcome here!"

Mistress 9 just shot out a blast of energy. Saturn closed her eyes. "Silence Wall!" A shimmering shield surrounded her body and protected her.

"Impossible," her enemy gasped. "What are you? No one should be able to deflect my powers like this..."

Saturn raised her weapon... the Silence Glaive. "I am the Senshi of Silence... and your days are over!" She cut down the weapon forcefully.

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

Mistress 9 screamed as Saturn's powers flowed through her body. She let out a final gasp... and then, she was gone.

----

When Pluto was just ready to attack her opponent once more, Mistress 9 let out a gasp. The black star on her forehead shattered, and underneath, the symbol of Saturn appeared. With a scream of pain, the death-buster's form turned into a dissolving black cloud, revealing the form of Sailor Saturn underneath.

Saturn smiled at Pluto and Metal Sonic. "Thank you for your help."

Pluto gasped as she saw the girl's fuku. "You're... Sailor Saturn!"

Saturn smiled and nodded. Looking at Metal Sonic, she said. "If you excuse me, I'd like to go to my friends now."

Metal Sonic backed off nervously. "Um... sure. Be my guest!"

"Thank you!" And Saturn began walking. Turning back to Pluto, she asked: "You're coming, too?"

Pluto gulped. "Um... sure, why not?"

And together, they left the confused form of Metal Sonic behind. Finally, he dropped on his knees and punched the ground in frustration. "Damn! The doctor won't be happy to hear this..."