The reviewer list: Gamer Dude, Mike Prower the Fox, Amyfan111, :), Jacklethekitsune.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for a chapter like this: with some action! I hope I don't disappoint. I'm really terrible at writing action, but I'll give it a shot.

This really should be two chapters but there's no way I'm making you all wait any longer for this.

And a slight warning: this chapter has a bit more violence in it than the others do. It's nothing extreme, but just thought I'd warn you.

...

Chapter 17: Enriched By The Heart

"Nega, you underestimate my genius," Eggman gloated to his new comrade. "As you know, the Chaos Emeralds take thoughts and feelings and turn them into power. I have manipulated the Master Emerald to suppress the emission of positive particles, making them essentially unusable by Sonic, yet very usable by us. Once we gain the Chaos Emeralds and combine them with the Sol Emeralds, we will become unbeatable."

"Enough of your boasting," Nega said harshly. "The Hedgehog still has the Emeralds."

"Ah, but I have a plan for that too. Sonic is not without his weaknesses."

"Indeed," Nega mused and glanced at the surveillance monitors, pushing some buttons until they showed the blue hedgehog, running towards their base, cradling a pink hedgehog in his arms. The doctor raised an eyebrow. "A girl?"

"What else?"

Nega switched the monitor to show Silver and Blaze, his two nemesis's. "It appears they have some sort of connection as well."

"Ah. Great minds think alike, I see."

...

So.

It appeared Sonic had let himself become a victim to falling for Amy. Shadow always knew it would happen; Sonic had a heart of gold and could be soft. The black hedgehog had understood Sonic's previous hesitancy, knew that he had just wanted to protect Amy. Shadow himself knew all too well what could happen to innocent little girls caught in the crossfires of a war. The fact that it was collateral damage made it no less painful. But as for why Sonic had changed his mind, Shadow wouldn't understand. It would only take Amy getting hurt to make Sonic regret giving in.

He paused outside of the base and snuck a glance at his 2 companions. He honestly had no idea who they were, but didn't mind them. They both seemed serious, focused. Sonic was just wasting time with Amy and Knuckles had ran off foolishly, as he must know he was too late for his Emerald. These two had remained focused, not distracted by foolish, pathetic feelings.

"The Sol Emeralds are in there?" Blaze asked him.

Upon Shadow's blank stare, Blaze pulled hers out. Shadow studied it.

"The Sol Emeralds are like the Chaos Emeralds of this world," she explained.

"You two are from Nega's world?"

"Yeah," Silver said. "Unfortunately. We feel getting them back may be the only thing able to get us back home."

"Either way, we need to get them out of the doctors' hands," Shadow said.

Silver and Blaze nodded.

"Let's go," Blaze said and in a burst of flames took off for the base. Silver propelled himself after her, but Shadow decided to enter another way.

It was easy enough for Silver and Blaze to enter. In fact, it was almost too easy. Blaze, though on guard, allowed her thoughts to focus on trying to sense the Sol Emeralds. The two of them continued through the corridors of the base, destroying an odd robot every so often, waiting for Nega to show his face. Blaze enjoyed fighting with Silver; they knew each other well and balanced each other out.

Their path was blocked by a larger (around 80 feet tall) robot, and the two prepared themselves for their typical attack: Silver paralyzing it and Blaze attacking.

Now usually Blaze didn't let herself get distracted, but she couldn't help but admire Silver just then, with his hands raised, those intoxicating golden eyes looking so focused. He was so strong - stronger than most would give him credit for - but it wasn't just brute strength, it was mental toughness, finesse. She continued to admire the hedgehog, with his metallic yet soft fur, perfect quills, when suddenly his golden eyes were on her again.

"Blaze?"

The cat blinked, and she felt heat on her cheeks, but wasn't the all too familiar warmth of her flames. Oh my, she was blushing. What was wrong with her? Blaze never let her emotions get the best of her - but this one she wasn't so sure she could keep at bay.

"Blaze," Silver repeated, this time more urgently, and the cat remembered that he was still hurting from the incident yesterday. Propelling herself in a fireball, Blaze let her flames make quick work of the motionless robot.

"Sorry," she said as she landed next to him. "I-"

There, her tongue was tied again. What was she to say? 'I couldn't help but notice how truly strong and good looking you are'? No, that, no matter how true, would not be appropriate at this moment. But still, he deserved an answer.

"I - was thinking of the Sol Emeralds," she lied and turned away, fully aware that her muzzle was red. Please, Silver, be your naive self and believe me.

"Well, are we getting close?"

Blaze, still too flustered to look at him, pulled out her one Sol Emerald. Yes, the others did seem to be close by, the way this one was glowing so brightly. She could feel the warmth in her hands, not so different from the warmth in her heart. Blaze glanced back at Silver, and there was that feeling again.

"Blaze," Silver said for the third time. He liked saying her name, though - it rolled smoothly off his tongue. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked and placed a hand on her shoulder, only to recoil upon the burning contact.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I didn't try to burn you." Why was it her flames always got in the way?

"It's alright, don't worry about me," Silver said, though he was shaking his hand. "It's you-"

"I'm fine," she snapped, but seeing his hurt expression made her regret it, and she found herself about to apologize when they were confronted by another robot.

...

"Knuckie? Angel Island's this way, honey," Rouge reminded the focused echidna.

So it was. Yet, he felt strangely beckoned to go this way. East.

"The Master Emerald isn't there," Knuckles told her and remained undeterred from his path.

Rouge gasped. "It's been moved?"

"It seems that way. If that's true, than we have no time to waste."

...

"Well well well, I'm almost impressed," Sonic said as he sized up the base and set Amy back on her feet. She pulled out her hammer.

"We can handle it, Sonic," Amy said, his confidence rubbing off on her.

"No doubt. Let's go."

The hedgehogs were assaulted by robots upon arrival, though hammer and spin dash had plenty of experience in these type of situations. Amy swung her hammer furiously, knocking all the bots into the wall, while Sonic took out a couple dozen himself. They were lining the corridors with scrap metal and nuts and bolts. They made their way, trying to either meet back up with Silver and Blaze or find the stash of Sol Emeralds.

Suddenly Amy was grabbed from right next to Sonic, and was hoisted up into the air, a claw crushing her body. Sonic instantly launched himself in his spin dash, but upon contact his body was ravaged with an electric shock. The hedgehog was propelled back and landed on his feet. Sonic watched helplessly as the robot brought a blade up to Amy's throat.

"One move and she dies," he heard Eggman say.

No.

"Give. Her. Back." Sonic growled as he clenched his fists.

Eggman cackled. "Oh no, couldn't do that, could we? Maybe next time you'll leave the girlfriend behind, hmm? It's pathetic how much you seem to care for her."

He knew it. Knew that it would come to this someday, where Amy would be put in danger because of him. This was why he'd resisted her for so long. He just couldn't stand to see her hurt so much like this. This girl would follow him to the ends of the earth and now she was about to be killed. Because of her connection to him.

"Sonic..." he heard Amy moan, and his heart was torn. Her body was being squeezed tightly by the robot.

Sonic felt his temper flaring as he gripped the Chaos Emeralds in his hands, feeling their sharp edges cutting into his hands, not caring that he was now bleeding from it. He didn't care. Amy was hurt and all he had were these useless Emeralds.

"What do you want from me Eggman?" Sonic demanded. He couldn't give up just yet.

"All 7 Chaos Emeralds," the doctor replied.

A high ransom. But what else would be worth what Amy meant to him?

"So do we have an agreement?"

"All I have are these two," Sonic said, a little deterred. Knuckles had 4 of them and wasn't here, who knew when he'd be back, and there was no way Shadow would surrender his.

"Do you think I care, Sonic? Give me the 2 you do have."

Oh, but he couldn't. Even if they were useless to him, giving Eggman more power wouldn't be wise.

"Sonic!" Amy's pain-laced cry tore his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

"You dare defy me and put your pathetic girlfriend at risk? I see I'll have to use other methods of persuasion, then."

Sonic watched in horror as the robot brought another blade up and started cutting the side of her muzzle. Amy screamed and Sonic had to close his eyes. He couldn't watch, but he was just shaking, shaking, the Emeralds still cutting into his hands, his breaths coming out loudly and rapidly...

"Oh ho, she doesn't look so pretty now, does she?"

You cruel, sadistic old man. You will pay. You will.

The next thing Sonic knew, he was cutting through the hide of the robot like it was butter, the shock that had been there before not fazing him in the least. He just kept attacking, attacking, attacking that robot with a power and fury unlike what he'd ever known before. The Chaos Emeralds no longer felt useless to him; in fact now it was almost like they were fueling him, their dark energies racing through his bloodstream.

"WHAT?" he barely heard Eggman's cry of surprise as a very angry, very dark Sonic carried his injured girlfriend out of the fray.

...

The Sol Emerald that Blaze was clutching suddenly started glowing, and the cat knew the robot in front of her must be powered by the other 6 Emeralds. No, it couldn't be 6 - she would have turned into Burning Blaze if all 7 were together.

"Ah, Silver and Blaze," Nega said with eery politeness from inside the robot. "So nice of you to follow me on this little excursion. It really is a shame you will not be joining me in my conquest of this world. Once Eggman and I obtain all 14 Emeralds, we will become unbeatable."

"But you haven't yet, and you won't," Silver shot back.

"Oh Silver have you not grown up yet? Don't you know it's just a matter of time?"

"What makes you so sure?"

"This," Nega said, and his robot let out a blast of pure Sol energy, knocking the hedgehog and the cat into painfully into the wall.

...

"Shadow?"

What? No, Amy was just confused. And hurt. He had to get her some help. Sonic held the girl closer to his body, not caring that her blood was now staining his chest.

"Shadow, please put me down," Amy said and wiggled a little.

"I'm not Shadow," Sonic said more roughly than he meant. Calm down, Sonic, Amy's safe now.

Amy studied the figure that was holding her. No, he wasn't Shadow - his fur was more navy than black, and he had this eery glow about him.

"Then who are you?" she asked, very frightened.

Sonic glanced down at the poor little girl. Was she more hurt than just a cut on her face?

"Don't worry Amy," he said and set the girl back on her feet. The whole side of her face was now covered in blood. The sight of her pretty face so disfigured tore at his heart. Sonic gently wiped at her cut, letting his gloves absorb the blood.

Amy watched in shock as his fur started fading into a very familiar shade of cobalt.

"Sonic?!" she asked incredulously. What had happened to him?

"Who else? Are you hurt that badly?" Sonic asked and brought his hand back from her face.

Amy gasped upon seeing how much she was bleeding and almost reached for the cut herself but Sonic stopped her with his clean hand.

"No, use mine," he said and slipped his gloves off. "Hold these against it and it will stop the bleeding. What?"

Amy was staring at him. "Sonic..." Amy still couldn't believe that this was Sonic standing right in front of her. Just a second ago...

Sonic knew he needed to re-enter the fray, but there was no way he was leaving Amy alone out here. He would have to get her to Tails' house. Without a warning, Sonic scooped up Amy an took off, leaving a sonic boom in his wake. He busted into Tails' workshop within a second. When Amy was in trouble, he knew how to haul.

"Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Amy?" Cream asked.

"I don't have time to talk, Amy needs stitches so take good care of her. I'll be back later." And then he left before the other 3 could protest.

The fox and rabbit blinked and glanced at Amy. "What happened?" Tails asked her.

Amy removed the glove from her muzzle, revealing a deep cut and causing Tails and Cream to gasp.

"I...I'm not sure," Amy said as she studied the blood-stained gloves in her hand, still not quite sure if they were Sonic's or not.

...

Silver and Blaze worked in their perfect tandem trying to find weak spots on Nega's ultimate weapon, Shadow soon joining them, but because the robot was powered by the Sol Emeralds, it had the upper hand. It had so much power, so many appendages, that the three of them felt like they were fighting 2 dozen of these robots. The three of them were thrown into a wall and slid down it, and lied on the ground for a second, trying to catch their breath.

"You are fools to defy us," Nega said. "We will soon become all powerful. And we will not let a pack of rodents stop us."

"Rodents?" an unfamiliar yet very familiar voice called out. Silver, Blaze, and Shadow turned, relieved to see the reinforcement.

"Who ya callin' a rodent?" a cocky blue hedgehog said.

"Ah, you must be Sonic. I've heard a lot about you, hedgehog."

"Well, let's get better acquainted!" Sonic yelled and launched his spin dash. However, upon being hit by a blast of the Sol Energy, he realized that this would be tougher than he had thought. He worked in tandem with Shadow, while Silver and Blaze attacked on the other front, but none of them seemed to be making any headway and only seemed to be tiring themselves. Sonic saw Silver suddenly being hurled into a wall, and Shadow crumpled from another blast hitting him.

"We're losing," Sonic heard Blaze mutter next to him.

"No, I'm not giving up yet," Sonic said, although when he was propelled into the wall, the contact bruising his body again, he knew she was right.

And just as it had happened to everyone when they thought they were going to die, thoughts of loved ones flooded the heroes' minds.

At least I got Amy out. Take good care of her, Tails.

And I will never get to tell Silver how I feel.

This is the end, Blaze, at least we'll face it together.

Maria...

...

"It's in there?" Rouge asked, referring to the base in front of them.

"It won't be for long," Knuckles replied evenly.

Knuckles took off for the base, but Rouge flew up ahead of him. "Up here, Knuckie," she said. "They won't expect us to enter through the roof."

He punched one of the walls and used his claws to climb up, following Rouge. Once they dropped inside, Knuckles could feel his innate sense telling him the Master Emerald couldn't be far. Knuckles and Rouge rushed through the corridors, hearing evidence of a ferocious battle get louder and louder.

"That must be the others," Rouge said.

Two huge fists made a hole in the wall, and the pair climbed through, only to be greeted by sights instead of just sounds of the battle. Rouge gasped, but Knuckles merely scanned for a flash of green. The Emerald couldn't be far - there, on the top of that pedestal.

The guardian made a beeline for his Emerald, chanting, "The 7 Chaos Emeralds are the servers...Chaos is the power, enriched by the heart..."

"NEGA, STOP THE ECHIDNA!"

But Knuckles would not be deterred. Nobody messed with his Emeralds and his friends.

"The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos...our hearts are your servers...." he continued to chant, feeling the Master Emerald start charging back to it's normal state, the Chaos Emeralds in his possession now also flowing with energy. The power flooded his own body, and it became easier to down all the robots the Eggmans threw at him. The echidna now stood in front of a charging Master Emerald, his powerful hands raised.

"Chaos is the power, enriched by the heart!"

Silver.

Blaze.

"Chaos, take our pure thoughts and turn them into power!"

Amy.

Maria.

"MASTER EMERALD GIVE...US...ALL...YOUR...POWER!" Knuckles bellowed.

The floodgates opened, and the heroes' passion-filled thoughts fueled the Master Emerald and the 7 now-Super Emeralds, turning the air into electricity. Breathing was like inhaling pure and unbridled energy.

The Chaos Powers flooded Sonic's body, and he felt himself floating. He had never felt so light yet so powerful before. He clenched his fists, ready to do battle. Sonic looked down at himself, but he was shocked to see his fur was not golden, but instead flashing all the colors of the rainbow, as if his very molecules were moving near the speed of light. Sonic couldn't help but let out a breath of awe.

"Amazing."

He turned as Shadow glided up next to him, also sporting his Hyper form.

"Let's finish this, Shadow," Sonic said, but his counterpart was staring past him at a most unexpected sight. Sonic turned.

"Silver?"

But no, it couldn't be. Or if it was, the hedgehog was no longer his namesake, but flashing colors along with Sonic and Shadow. How could he power up using the Emeralds?

"Wow, what a rush," Silver said giddily. He felt like he could move the whole planet, the whole universe now if he wanted.

"Do you really want to fight us?" Sonic taunted the two Eggmans. Even they had to know the Sol Emeralds were no match for the Super Emeralds wielded by 3 very capable hedgehogs.

"I'm giving you both 1 minute to get as far away from here as possible before I blow this place up," Sonic said. "I'm no murderer."

The Eggmans wasted no time in scrambling for their escape-back up machines, not willing to test Hyper Sonic's patience. Silver destroyed the robot with an extra powerful psychic wave, and Blaze gathered the Sol Emeralds from the power source of the robot. Once 5 more of her precious Emeralds were in her possession, Blaze suddenly found herself cradled in Hyper Silver's arms. Silver smiled down at Blaze's shocked expression and held her close. In this form Silver felt like he could do anything.

"You're coming with me, princess," Silver told her, and chaos controlled both of them out of the base.

"I'm not leaving without the Master Emerald," Knuckles insisted.

"I'll need it to stay in this form, Knux," Sonic said. "Look, I'll bring it out with me," he continued and grabbed the gigantic Emerald in one hand like it weighed less than a feather.

"Alright," Knuckles agreed, and grabbed hold of Shadow along with Rouge as the hedgehog teleported them out.

Now Sonic was alone, and he didn't waste any time. Chaos Control. The base around him exploded in a burst of pure energy, and Sonic zoomed out of there.

...

On a nearby hill, Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge watched the base be consumed with a huge explosion, and a few seconds later, a blue hedgehog come running up, offering a single shard of the Master Emerald to Knuckles. The echidna took it wordlessly.

"I'm sorry, man," Sonic said. "I was holding it, but when I used Chaos Control the thing shattered. Looks like we gotta find all the shards in the ruins of the base."

Knuckles closed his eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have entrusted it to you," he muttered.

"C'mon, Knuckie," Rouge soothed him. "With my eye for jewels and your innate sense we can pick up the pieces."

...

I'm not going to apologize for how cliche it is for Sonic to turn Dark when Amy is hurt. I'm not, because I've always wanted to explore that, and it makes sense in the context of the story (with the Chaos Emeralds only having their negative energies). So before you tell me how cliche it is... Don't. I already know.

But I did bring back the Hyper forms so I get points there, hmmmmm? :)

Either way, I'm very proud of this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed. If you're confused about what happened, it'll become clearer next chapter.