Chapter 5: Investigations
--

"Darn it all!"

The Chaotix had found themselves stuck in a local garbage dump, half-buried and fully reeking. Not only was it confusing, but terribly embarrassing. One minute, they had just stepped on the Angel Island, and the next, half-buried in dross. Vector had just expressed his frustration and took it out on a rotting melon-like fruit, and was expressing more frustration as it exploded all over his scales and shoes. Besides the obvious, he was also frustrated at Charmy's lack of appearance...after sending him to find out where in the world they were (after drawing straws...or more specifically what they found in the dump), but did not return all morning.

"Leave it to Charmy to take such a simple little job to find out where we are and turn it into a complicated venture! Darn it all!" Vector would storm back and forth, shouting out this over and over.

Espio was perched on an old pottery kiln, eyes clothes and arms crossed. Opposing the present stormy nature of the crocodile, his nature was quiet and patient. "Vector, Charmy will be back soon enough. This is a big problem, and the populace might be uncomfortable for people like us just showing up, asking where in the world we are..."

Mighty was studying the mounds of garbage and wondered how stable they really were. "I would like to know where we are too, but blowing up won't help us finding out what had happened or where we are any faster."

Vector didn't seem to cool down either, despite being cold-blooded. He started muttering different things aloud. Espio and Mighty tuned their ears in to see what exactly Vector was mumbling about. "...Emerald went into some energy spike and all of the sudden, we're here! But where is here? Where is it exactly? Is it on another world? Another dimension? Another time!? Ergh, this is frustrating... If we're not on Möbius, how'd we get here exactly and how the heck do we get back!? Anybody's guess is as good as mine. If it's Möbius, where on Möbius is this place? Maybe it's another time, but when! All this crap says we're in the present I guess, but there's something that doesn't makes sense...the moon last night...WHY WASN'T IT BLOWN UP TO BITS!?"

Espio and Mighty side-eyed each other, and Vector suddenly realized that his escalating volume had drawn an audience apparently.

Suddenly, the skies filled with insect's wings buzzing and incoherent shouting. Into the dump flew in Charmy the Bee, carrying a wrinkled-up newspaper and smacked right into Vector's reptilian snout, or more right on top of it. "Vector! Vector! You won't believe what I found! You won't believe it in a million billion years! You just won't believe it!"

"Charmy..." Vector growled, slightly nasal.

"Look at this paper! I didn't think I'd see anything like it!"

"Charmy!"

"C'mon, what are you waiting for!? Take a look!"

"CHARMY!!"

Charmy suddenly realized Vector was trying to get the frenzied bee's attention, and canned it. "Huh?" he said quietly, almost timidly.

"Will...you...get...off...MY...NOSE!?"

Charmy bailed off of Vector's snapping jaws. Espio and Mighty ventured towards the two.

"Charmy, chill out and tell us what you found..." Mighty said plaintively.

"We're on a completely different world!"

"WHAT!?" Vector, Espio and Mighty exclaimed. Despite Vector's suggestion of it in his inane muttering, any of them actually didn't count it as merit.

"I freaked too!" Charmy followed up.

"Well, then," Espio started. "Any idea where?"

"Nadda clue," Charmy said matter-of-factly. This was met by Espio and Mighty slapping their own faces in frustration.

Vector couldn't stand it. "I told you to do one simple thing!"

Charmy crossed his arms, waiting to finally be able to say what he was going to say.

"You were supposed to find out where the heck we are, so why didn't you, you little--!"

Charmy wasn't going to wait any longer; he unfurled the paper and shoved it right at Vector. "Shut up and look at this!" His only answer was gagging from Vector. The smaller looked over the paper and found that he had shoved the paper into Vector's mouth. "Oops, sorry!" he said quickly, as he pulled it out.

Vector spluttered a bit and mumbled unintelligibly and took the paper right out of Charmy's hands. He gazed slightly at the front page, then double-taked. On the front page was a large picture of none other then Sonic the Hedgehog! The picture was under the headlines "Blue Wind Sweeps Princess Away from Assault!" Sure enough, it looked like Sonic had just picked up a human girl and was about to dash away, a split-second after this picture was taken. "Well, lookie here! It's our old pal, Sonic!"

"Sonic?" Espio and Mighty asked in unison. "He's here too?"

"Looks like it! He hit the news too!" Vector read the article, muttering the words as Charmy, Mighty and Espio crowded around to see. "He apparently rescued a princess from some guy calling himself Dr. Kintobor during some big festival! Leave it to Sonic to make the headlines by making a bang at the party, heh."

"Jealous, Vector?"

"Who asked ya, Charmy!?"

Charmy laughed; he loved teasing Vector.

"The Soleanna Sun..." Mighty said, reading the top of the paper. "I'm assuming we're near Soleanna?"

"That's how I figured out we aren't on Möbius at all! When you guys are gone from the office, I look at different maps to amuse to look at good vacation spots. I've never seen no place on those maps called Soleanna..."

Vector was rubbing his chin. They did seem to jump worlds...but there was still something unanswered. Was it just on another planet in the galaxy or the same universe...or where they in different dimensions?

"Charmy, where did you find this newspaper?"

"In this big city, quite a ways that way." Charmy pointed over some distant hills. "That's why it took me so long to get back; it was quite a fly."

"Gang, let's head to this city! I intend to find out where we are, how we got here and most importantly...how to get back! Chaotix, to the city!"

Espio, Mighty and Espio mock-saluted with an "Aye-aye, sir!"

The Chaotix left the land of a thousand stenches and headed over the hills to obviously a more hospitable area.

- - - - -

Anyone who wasn't at the Festival of the Sun the previous night quickly was clued-up on the events there in the next day. News spread like a prairie fire on a windy day on Dr. Kintobor's rather-theatric entrance after the torch lighting, but instead of his entrance being the front page, the headlines depicted the "Blue Wind Sweeps Away Princess from Invader at Festival!" The appearance of the "blue wind" was the gossip of the town. Anyone who was able to get a photograph of the blue wind was pestered to surrender the photo paper so it would be featured in the newspaper. The face of the nameless blue wind was in every form of media to the public. The question of the day was "who is this daring individual?"

A select few individuals did know the identity of the Princess' rescuer, but were scattered here and abroad, and no one expected that they would relinquish the wind's identification. Some even appeared that they couldn't care less if anyone knew. One in particular, knew who the blue wind was but deemed it unworthy to waste his breath to nosy patrons of the press to expel it. Ironically, his attention to the newspapers was for a different reason altogether.

Shadow was scanning the front pages for Dr. Kintobor. Since confronting him the previous night, he was curious to find out more about him...especially why he bore a strong resemblance to Dr. Robotnik. "Hmph," Shadow sniffed. "I knew it." The hedgehog had found written documentation on a shadow of Kintobor's intentions in Soleanna. Shadow was initially impressed that this reporter was able to catch some of the details of what Dr. Kintobor was truly after.

The only thing is that what Dr. Kintobor wanted made little to no sense in Shadow's mind. The Flames of Solaris? Was it some artifact? A power? It reminded Shadow of Sonic's tale when the Doctor tried to harness Chaos, the water-beast for world domination; this mindset convinced Shadow that this Doctor was after something similar. The parallels were too close to be coincidence. It was enough for Shadow, but he needed to know what this Solaris is. A trip to the archives was necessary. One hour later found Shadow in the historical archives section of the Kingdom Archives building. Unlike libraries Shadow was familiar with, this library did not have a computerized system so one could find a certain book in a flash. Shadow had to pour through book after book to find what Solaris even was. It was pretty much confirmed that Solaris was the god of the sun in this place, although some texts said that he was the spirit of the nation that embodied all those loyal to the nation, like the American Bald Eagle and the United States of America on Earth.

So, Solaris was the sun god at best, but what about the actual Flames? Shadow had found an artist's depiction of Solaris, and it represented him as a ghostly phoenix, flying through the sky streaking flames behind. Were the flames a symbol of his power? If that was the case, was Dr. Kintobor trying to harness the power of Solaris? Even if the Flames of Solaris wasn't as big as Shadow was making it out to be, it didn't make him feel good. On one impulse, he felt he needed to go out and demolish Dr. Kintobor's plans once and for all, but reason advised him to further find out about the Flames of Solaris, and then be ready to take Kintobor out.

So, he once again dove into the sea of books and scrolls, hastening to find the meaning of the Flames of Solaris.

Hours passed, but Shadow was in the inner sanctums of this library and couldn't tell how late in the day it was. All he knew was what needed to be done...the task at hand.

In one dusty scroll, Shadow laid eyes on something that looked interesting. A long time ago, when this world was created, it was said that Solaris came down from the heavens and breathed life into the barren rock that was the world of Lou Brenna, which was what Shadow assumed to be the name of this planet today. After Solaris was finished, he left back to the realm of the heavens, leaving behind Eight Essences of Solaris, and the space that was created when Solaris came down was named the Realm of Glory.

Shadow read on and found that each of these Essences were in a physical form, each unique in their own power. They had the power to grant the wishes of the beholder by turning the thoughts of he who touches the essences into power, and when all eight would come together, Solaris himself would come down, ablaze in his glory! Some of those words had a very familiar ring to the moody hedgehog. Thoughts into power. All come together...

He kept reading, hoping to find another parallel to whatever he was thinking. He soon found details on the Essences themselves; this may be the key...

"The Eight Essences of Solaris are the physical manifestations of Solaris' power, granted to the faithful of Lou Brenna. Not much is known of Solaris' true power, but from what we have seen with the Essences, there is no doubt the magnitude of his power is incomprehensible. Solaris must be truly omnipotent. Each of the Essences is bound into a Talisman of Silver, beautifully decorated with the wings of Solaris.

"The Essence of Fire is the manifestation of his flames, hot fires of his wrath on those who should disobey his wishes or fall out of his favor.

"The Essence of Water brings life to those who bathe in its blue, cool light.

"The Essence of Wind, shining like the sun itself, sweeps the winds of Lou Brenna for eternal blessings.

"The Essence of Lightning strikes down the unworthy and evildoers with its violet bolts.

"The Essence of the Earth brings fertile years for the people, shining green like the fertile fields.

"The Essence of Light guides those trapped in darkness with its radiating white light.

"The Essence of Ice locks the cold, cruel hearts of evil away in its sky blue light to never touch the faithful.

"The Essence of Darkness is the shroud of Solaris as he guards us through the night from evil."

Shadow found a beautiful hand-drawing of a Talisman of Essence. An orb wrapped in wings of silver, laced with silk threads around the handle. It truly was a work of art.

The hedgehog looked over the passage of the Essences again, and began contemplating about them. Once all eight Essences would unite, Solaris would come down ablaze in his glory. Ablaze? Flames of Solaris? Could it be that Dr. Kintobor is after ALL the Talismans of Essence, to call down Solaris? But what for? The Essences grant wishes. Could Solaris grant the wishes of whoever called him down? This train of thought disturbed Shadow, even more then the idea that the Chaos Emeralds went out of equilibrium. Shadow hoped he was just making mountains out of molehills, but caution taught him to not take chances.

Shadow knew what he had to do: find the Talismans of Essence before Dr. Kintobor and keep him from calling down Solaris.

Not even bothering to clean up after himself, he rocketed out of the sanctum and out of the library, hoping to find someone to aid him as he had no idea where to start. There was the Soleanna police, but ever since the ARK incident, he carried a grudge, or general disliking of uniformed police, but he figured that didn't seem to have a choice in the matter. Plus, the police can tell him more about Dr. Kintobor and Solaris...

...especially Solaris; just what did his power truly encompass?

- - - - -

Blaze the Cat was a little concerned. The violet feline was standing on the rocky outcrops of a seashore. She had stayed there the night as when she had come through the portal, the night was gathering quickly and Blaze wasn't too keen on wondering a strange world at night...even if it was a past reflection of the incinerated one she had left. The first thing that struck her was the cool, clean air. The air of the present, or future now, was always mixed with ash and sulfuric gasses, but this air was clean and refreshing.

"So, this is our past?" Blaze breathed aloud. It was still hard to imagine. She couldn't recognize a thing, although she was sure Mephiles had dropped them near the place where they fought Iblis all the time; she couldn't remember the name of the ruined city...or even if it had a name. She stared into the gathering darkness, breathing the refreshing air. The relaxing air would put anyone unfamiliar to it in a stupor, to be sure.

Blaze immediately thought of Silver. She was initially shocked that when she jumped through, Silver didn't seem to come with her. They had must've gotten separated through the jump in time...how long was it? Two hundred years?

"I hope Silver is okay..." Blaze breathed. Silver was still a kid after all, just barely 16. "He gets pretty insecure if he stays alone..."

Blaze had stayed the night watching the stars and the moon pass over ahead, occasionally catching a shooting star. She had heard seeing one was a sign of good luck, and judging by the task at hand, she would need it. The stars and the moon had a luring beauty to them. Blaze in her entire lifetime could only look up to dark clouds of despair. She knew there were stars and a moon out beyond the clouds, but never could see them for herself. This world truly was beautiful.

Whence the day had broken that morning, she got to her feet and new that the time had come to find the Iblis Trigger, and hopefully all she had to do was persuade him to steer away form what he was destined to do...the release of Iblis from his timeless seal. The question was...where to start looking? She knew next to nothing of the Iblis Trigger himself except two things: he runs as fast as sound itself, and he's a blue hedgehog. She had no clue where to find him, where he liked to "hang out," or anything. This would be like searching for a single needle in a really big haystack. Still, she didn't have a choice, and it would be faster looking for the Trigger on the go then staying on this rock.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a rumbling in the skies. Looking around, she quickly found the source of the roar, and she nearly jumped. In the sky was the biggest ship she ever laid eyes on. How can something that big fly!? She watched it roar overhead, completely filling up her vision of the skies. This thing could take out a big city without even trying; she even wondered if it could blast Iblis away for good with all the firepower that thing inevitably carried; it couldn't be a tour airship.

She then recalled someone Mephiles mentioned, a "Dr. Kantibro" or something. He was a genius in robot-craft and nearly took over the world. Looking up at the ship again, it looked like a steady vessel that definitely would withstand anyone's air force. It could be used to take over the world, no problem. Blaze knew it was a gamble, but it seemed fairly possible that this ship was the Doctor's, and the Iblis Trigger was the one that stopped him by released Iblis.

The violet cat did not need further convincing. She was quick on her feet, and since that big ship could not slip quickly out of view very quickly, she could probably run after it long enough to see the Iblis Trigger, then follow him...hopefully.

- - - - -

"Wow, that really does look like the Egg Carrier!"

Sonic and Tails had been spending time in the town asking various questions about Dr. Kintobor, especially his name. Sometime that morning, the "Egg Carrier" had flown over Soleanna again, and at once Sonic and Tails gave chase...on foot. Tails had just expressed his thoughts as he got a better look at the airship.

"What I wouldn't give for the X-Tornado, right now..." Sonic would say once in a while.

"Sonic! They're getting away!" Tails said, watched as the gargantuan aircraft began to slip further away from his perch on Sonic's back.

"Hold on to your tails, Tails! I'm gonna start jammin'!"

Before Tails could reply, Sonic was fleet-footing it at nearly 300 mph. He could've gone faster, but the beach was a mess of curves and rocks that both he and Tails would've been either thrown into the ocean or ground up into hamburger had he gone faster. Sonic couldn't tell how fast the airship was flying, but it couldn't be too much faster then his speed.

Sonic and Tails soon came on what appeared to be a dock converted to a marina, a large amount of docks still stood along the bay's rims, connecting the islets in the bay. Sonic, eager to get some miles cut from the run took off over the docks.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. "There's barely enough room to run on these! You might mow down someone!"

"It looks clear up ahead!" Sonic yelled back over the rush of the wind caused by his sonic-speed running. "I can jump ship if it gets too crowded!"

"But you hate the water! The water out her HAS to be over 20 feet deep!"

"I'm counting on you to airlift me out if we have to jump ship!"

"Thanks a lot, Sonic!"

"I aim to please! WHOA!" Sonic nearly miss a turn and nearly had to depend on Tails' airlifting abilities. "We nearly took a splash!" Despite the potential faux pas, Sonic didn't slow his pace; the Egg Carrier was getting away and Sonic did not want to lose it now. Elise was most likely was on there and he was determined to get her out as soon as possible.

Sonic eyed the Egg Carrier again, flying past two cliffs that guarded the entrance to the bay, but was suddenly distracted by a noise. Tails let out an eep and Sonic felt him huddle closer; the latter by sheer instinct glanced over this shoulder to see what got Tails worked up. Several yards behind the racing duo was the biggest dorsal fin that Sonic had ever seen snake through the water. The theme for "Jaws" quickly popped up in Sonic's minds, and just as quickly the twinge of terror of facing such a shark.

This twinge grew into a full-fledged terror as the great white itself smashed the dock from underneath. Sonic could see the 50 teeth and the 100+ teeth behind!

"Tails! Take off!" Sonic cried out. "I'll distract Jaws!"

Tails jumped off Sonic's back, two tails spinning furiously lifting himself quickly into the sky. Sonic remained on foot and the great white shark found the hedgehog to be the easiest to catch then the flying fox. The fin one again snaked through the water, after Sonic. The hedgehog soon found out how fast the shark could swim, and it could turn on a dime without breaking stride! This fish was definitely not as fast as Sonic, but it was just as limber! Not even the killer whale that Sonic faced over six years before had that kind of grace.

As Sonic raced on, the great white kept leaping through the docks, only to come crashing down behind Sonic back into the water. This only aggravated the shark into chasing faster, and inspired the hedgehog to keep on runnin'.

"Why's this shark after my meat so much? Did all the fish die or something?" Sonic was thinking ferociously, watching as the fin streaked back and forth as if it was a creature of its own. Sonic glanced forwards again and hissed an expletive. He was running out of dock! There was nothing to jump to except into open water, and that summed up to a hot lunch for his fish-friend close behind.

Tails had observed Sonic's getaway antics at a safe height, but noticed Sonic was running out of dock, and did not wait to act. He swooped down, calling Sonic's cane in the process. Sonic looked up, saw Tails with his arms outstretched, and knew what needed to be done. Tails activated his jet anklets for an additional speed boost so not to be too late; while the shark behind sped up, eager to sink its teeth into some lean meat.

Sonic sped to the end of dock and jumped, arms flailing towards Tails...! Tails dove for Sonic, reaching for Sonic's, arms stretching as far as he could...! The great white shark leapt up from the water, his maw lined with shining razor-sharp teeth, waiting to sink into flesh...! Sonic's and Tails' hands clasped and Tails yanked upwards towards the blue sky, and just about a foot beneath, the great white's jaws snapped at nothing; Tails had lifted Sonic out of the reach of the shark and airlifted him away, leaving the shark empty-stomached.

"Jerk!" Tails called down as the shark disappeared into the water.

"Whoo!" Sonic breathed. "I almost was a chili dog!"

"What's a shark THAT big doing so close to shore!?" Tails exclaimed. "The only time I've ever heard of sharks THAT big being so close to shore is in movies!"

"Nadda clue, little bro..."

Tails parachuted with his spinning tails down to a beach line, although both looked nervously at the water, they reassured themselves that a great white beaching itself would be easy to see and outrun; plus it would die in about 5 minutes. After the incident with the shark, Sonic and Tails refocused on chasing the gargantuan Egg Carrier, and noticed that it had gained some good distance. The two stared after it for a while, disappointed and frustrated that they had to run into trouble at the docks.

Something caught Sonic's eye; it was white and fluttering in the sky like a snowflake, falling from the sky. Sonic's eyes tracked it for a while, subconsciously thinking why the heck was he distracted by this. It landed softly on the sand, leaving no impression. Sonic stalked up to it and picked it up; it was a fine, white feather. Sonic looked twice at it when he realized what it was, and his eyes widened.

Tails noticed Sonic's reaction. "What is it?"

"This feather...," started Sonic. "...I think it's one of the feathers off Elise's crown..."

Sonic's promise came back in a flash. Don't worry, Elise! I'll rescue you, no matter what! I promise! He was determined to get Elise back, whatever it took...

"This fell from the sky. I'll be a monkey's uncle if Elise wasn't on that ship..."

"And we're going on after her!"

"Right!" Sonic said, punctuating with a thumbs-up.

Tails replied with a thumbs-up of his own.

"C'mon, Tails! Hop on! We're going to save a Princess!"

Tails leapt onto Sonic's back and the supersonic hedgehog took off, heading towards where the Egg Carrier was seconds before. A princess was in distress, but not for long...

- - - - -

Metal-Sonic was struggling through the deep snow. His internal sensors had detected temperatures 20 degrees below zero Centigrade, and that was without considering the wind chill, which must've been astounding since the winds were blowing at over 50 miles per hour now in these forbidding mountains. How life could survive in this harsh environment Mecha would wonder from time to time. Reasoning dictated that nothing could, however, on the planet Earth there were many animals that simply thrived in those harsh conditions, by adaptation or creation, Mecha could not know. There were many theories, and the one involving intelligent design right from the start seemed more logical to Mecha, as the odds were far more favorable.

He could still see lights of what appeared to be some kind of research facility, despite the blowing snow. Mecha's scans revealed no life however, as no heat signatures warm enough for human or creature activity were detectable; only heat from what appeared to be furnaces were detectable. Strange. If there was no one residing there, why was it still in operation? Viper's transmission came once again to mind. He had a suspicion that someone of a devious nature lived here. Could it possibly be...Dr. Robotnik was transported here as well?

Mecha banished that thought immediately as being too illogical. Robotnik would not have been able to convert this into a base so quickly, and judging by its size on the scanners, it was huge. Even if it wasn't Robotnik, it still seemed to be a base now. Could it be some military leader gone bad? Investigation was needed, and Mecha was determined to do just that. Trudging further through the drifts, Mecha with his keen vision espied flanks of robot guards guarding what appeared to be the main gate. A quick count showed over 20 robots guarding. Twenty! That was more robots then Robotnik would've ever used! And to go to that much extent to guard a main gate? That proved it; something big was beyond those gates and Mecha was going to find out.

He analyzed the possible amount threat of the robots in case he would have to encounter a squadron, and was a little amused that their threat level was lower then he realized. Compiled with weak sensors and body armor, not to mention the unstable structure of the lower extremities, the only thing that really was a threat was that these robots were equipped with missiles as well as machine guns. These were not tracer missiles however and were easily avoided. They were equipped with a jetpack, but these were not meant for extensive flying, much like the jetpacks designed for the E-100 series under Robotnik.

The AK-10 drones they were dubbed. Mecha knew lots about robot-model numerology, and the lower the number, the weaker they tended to be, albeit there were a few exceptions (like himself), but those were not mass-produced, unlike these worthless consumer models. Even Robotnik wouldn't have commissioned these...things (Mecha found calling them "robots" distasteful).

Mecha expected that bigger, stronger robots were inevitably to be found inside, but taking advantage of the weaklings out front, he flung himself over the gate, avoiding their scanners.

Security was suddenly much stronger beyond the gate. Complete with moving searchlights and floods of security robots, Mecha hugged the inside of the gate as it was constantly out of the sights of the search lights. Quickly, he scanned the robots and saw that each ranged from having weapons like seeker missiles and laser pulse launchers to bombs. Also, the size differences were great. Some were barely bigger then a human, while some were 4 times as big, either humanoid in appearance, or looked as if it was just a head with legs. There were even things that were as big as Metal-Sonic himself, little robots with three legs, and if those were tucked in, they'd be a complete globe. Robotnik would love to meet the people who designed these robots, for sure.

Impressive as they were, Mecha did determine one potential weakness: if this truly was another world, then undoubtedly these robots were designed to take on a large-scale assault. If someone was fast enough and quiet enough, they could streak right through the security. It wouldn't be easy, however, as the place was literally crawling with robots of all shapes and sizes. Mecha had to admire the strategic atmosphere of this base. Deceive the enemy with a weak force outside and when the gates were infiltrated, get slammed by this force. Strategy analysis aside, he observed the motion behaviors of the robots to determine his own strategy to infiltrate the base. He could cross this yard in a heartbeat, but he also had to take into consideration the timing, when to stop and the volume his torso-engine could make (which was minimal; stealth was his specialty, for he wasn't an assassin robot for nothing). He determined the best path to take was angular towards the right-side wall, which was rocky at best, offering more hiding places. The robots also avoided that area as too rocky to walk through. Mecha put his plan into action, and succeeded to clear the next gate without detection.

As it turned out, there were three more gate-yards with similar security measures, and in each one, Mecha determined the best method on clearing each without detection. There was a close call in Gate-Yard 3 however as there was minimal cover, but fortune was with Metal-Sonic today. After clearing the yards, he came upon the main courtyard...and found it empty. That alone made Mecha the most nervous he ever was since he arrived. No single security robot was within scan range, and Mecha knew that his scanners could scan beyond the walls of this courtyard. Another thing that struck Mecha was the way the way the courtyard was constructed: Semicircular, a single steel tower in the center, four gates (including the one he just came over) each place at 90⁰ intervals around the circumference; this was built as an arena, minus the spectator seating. Was it meant for training grounds? The two gates to his left and right seemed to reinforce that thought as they were massive and heavily built. What came out of those? Gargantuan robots perhaps? The thought alone didn't comfort Mecha, obviously, and he felt that he should leave before anything came out whatsoever.

He found the doors were locked to actually get into the buildings of the base, but he wasn't the former chief-assassin robot under Dr. Robotnik for nothing. Using a wireless-uplink password seeking device, cutting through the doors was a cinch. Security was fairly weak compared to outside, thanks to the narrow hallways, so the robots were smaller. To compensate for this, as Mecha observed, the robots came in groups. What was possibly so important to whoever who owned this base? Was it one person, or a party? Could it perhaps be the military of this area?

Mecha grew further more curious as time grew on and as he ventured further down the base, looking for anything that could lead to clues to this mystery...

"Why, hello..."

Mecha immediately looked behind him and up and found the source of the voice: a white bat wearing a tight dark violet leather suit, with a pink heart-shaped breastplate with matching pink-and-white boots, tips reinforced with razor-sharp steel-reinforcements, ironically in the shape of pink hearts.

"Now what's a naughty boy like you doing here?"

Mecha relaxed his stance. He never really liked this bat, but Shadow trusted her nowadays after all they have been through, even through the Black Arms Invasion. The main thing he didn't like about her was that she was a flirter, and seemed to enjoy flirting with every male she encountered, regardless of species. The fruit bat was perched up among the pipe-lined ceiling.

"I can say a similar statement about you, Rouge. Similar for obvious reasons."

Rouge the Bat fluttered from her perch above and to the floor. "Who, me? I got a lift from the Doctor's supply freights. Things in town were really hopping when I came, too. Some guy named Dr. Kintobor attacked a festival with these robots of his and...let's say I'm helping the investigation forces here for a price..."

Mecha couldn't help but smile inside. Rouge was always after jewels and usually had them as her form of payment for services, especially when she worked as an agent.

"Dr. Kintobor?"

"Oh, now I feel like I'm say too much, but since you're being such a good boy, I'll let you in on a few things: This Dr. Kintobor, who looks like our mutual friend Eggman by the way, seems heavily interested in some project called The Solaris Project. He asked about little bits and pieces while he worked for the government."

"The Solaris Project."

"Right. The details are vague from my info, but it involved a lot of scientists researching into time travel. It was shut down 10 years ago due to an accident. Sound familiar?"

Mecha had to agree. Besides the reason and time ago, it was parallel to the ARK Incident, 50 years before.

"The accident was so bad that it killed the King of Soleanna, who was a Duke of the Province before he was elected as King. His daughter rules now."

"Why would this Dr. Kintobor show so much interest in time travel, to the point where he would attack their Festival?"

"You got me, but there is one juicy tip. The doctor has one of the artifacts used during the project, the Talisman of Darkness. It was supposedly locked away in the royal vaults, but get this: some time ago, there was a break-in in the Royal Palace and the only thing stolen was that talisman. Not even the crown jewels were touched. I'm just saying that's better then I ever could've done.

Anyway, now that we know that the Doctor has the Talisman, and add his questions when he worked for the government some time ago before leaving, the only solution is that he wants to restart the Project, and the government doesn't want that. Before they could act, however, the Doctor attacked the Festival of the Sun and tried to kidnap the Princess Elise, the ruler." Suddenly Rouge smiled. "But someone came swooping to the rescue." Rouge leaned in close to Mecha. "Do you know who? Who could it be?" Rouge was playing a game of taunts, Mecha could tell. Just by that, he knew very well who it was...

Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Ah, you do know," Rouge purred. "Oh, well, it's not like we should be surprised. He's always being the hero, swooping in to save the damsel in distress, acting the knight in shining armor..."

"Enough, Rouge, you've made your point."

Rouge side-eyed Metal-Sonic. "Well, if you'll be good, I'll let you come along. You can be my knight in shining armor; I can see you have a head start already."

Mecha seethed at the jokes. There was a time when he used to shred anyone who would even refer to his robotic appearance, and sometimes he wished that act didn't condense to annoyance in the last years.

"Affirmative. However, we must find a communications uplink. I must establish contact with Viper and Shadow."

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Rouge clasped her hands. "There's one a short way back around the corner. Let's go check on those boys...I'm sure Viper must be lonely with that attitude of his..."

Mecha sighed. There was no end to this as he could see.