A/N: Sorry for the long delay, school is rough. Bleh. Anyways, more cracks in this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it, even though I feel it's pretty fast-paced. I mean, there's a legitimate reason for it though. Too much will happen of the span of one weekend. Gotta go FAST (lol I'll stop). I'm not really experienced with writing stuff like this though so it's all just practice. I'm sure somebody will give me advice.

Chapter 8: A Chaotic Day

It was dark once again. The two brother's immediately stopped their quarrel, Sonic instead opted towards calling for Tails while Knuckles felt the gem in his hands. The green emerald and it's energy felt oddly familiar to him...

"Knuckles!" Sonic called in a panicked voice. "Why are you just sitting there? Tails and Silver could be needing us!"

Knuckles looked up in the direction he heard the other's voice. "The two can fly, I'm sure they made it out safely."

"Well, do something useful and get that flashlight of yours out. We need to get out of here." The blue teen paused. "Unless we can use that gem to get us back?"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Knuckles snapped.

"How am I supposed to know?" Sonic huffed as he crossed his arms. "It's not like I can see you, you know!"

Knuckles took the flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on as he got off the floor. He searched the ground, which was covered by dust and broken structures as though abandoned for a long time. It was strange, since the Ancient Echidna's had been gone for centuries yet they were just in a place that was completely intact. Perhaps their current location had been abandoned by the echidna's themselves?

"Hey, shine up a little." Sonic nodded his head as a small gesture, and Knuckles whipped his flashlight's light from between them to the wall. Another large mural was shown, only this one was the other in Grandfather Robotnik's journal. The Eggman-looking person was reaching for a green gem with a person surrounded by a golden aura on the opposing side. Strange. The younger Mobian noticed a tunnel being revealed by the light. "Let's keep searching for an exit."

The two walked through a tunnel, immediately feeling a rush of adrenaline and power.

"You feel it too, ri-"

"Yeah," Knuckles interrupted Sonic. They continued to advance towards a chamber and there saw a bright green emerald. It much larger than the one Knuckles held in his hand, looking to be about as high as the echidna's waist. It was on the ground awkwardly as if it did not belong there. Knuckles shoved the flashlight and smaller emerald into Sonic's arms before kneeling beside the giant gem with both hands on it in awe.

"Hey, Knuckles?" Sonic said as he shone the light on a red ball on top of a small platform. "Any idea on what this thing is?"

"No," Knuckles said as he stood up and heaved the giant emerald onto his back. He let out a small grunt as he tested his strength and shifted the position so that he would be comfortable carrying it.

"What are you doing?" Sonic asked, shining the flashlight on the gem.

"It doesn't belong here. We need to move it."

"Move it where?" Sonic rolled his eyes while shining the light on all four of the room's walls. There was only one tunnel and that led to the room with the mural. There was no way to go.

"Find out what that red thing does."

Sonic sighed loudly and sent Knuckles an annoyed look though the other couldn't see it. He walked up to the red ball, only to find it start glowing as he got closer to it. Knuckles followed from close behind. He touched it, then felt his whole body move around in circles before appearing in another place.

The new location was bright and sunny, the sky was blue with several white clouds. He remembered that they had entered the temple in Mystic Ruins during the evening...were they really gone all night? Vines covered the marble-like structures that seemed to travel across the sky. He noticed the red light glow once again and Knuckles appeared with the emerald. Sonic quickly turned off the flashlight and placed it in his sweatpants pocket.

"Where are we now?"

Knuckles eyes widened in realization. "Sky Sanctuary." He breathed out in awe, before looking behind him. "Which means...we just left Hidden Palace."

"I don't know where any of those places are."

The red Mobian shook his head. "You're not supposed to know. My father...he said these places were hidden away by the Ancient Echidna. He was the only one allowed to access it, but he told me a lot about it."

Sonic looked around the majestic place. "So why'd you leave him?"

Knuckles frowned. "I don't remember that much, but I recall him telling me that he would show me this place one day. I guess...I never stuck around long enough."

Sonic gave Knuckles an earnest look before looking at the path before them. "Let's get going and put that emerald where it belongs. We shouldn't leave the kids alone for too long."

They ran the trail, though occasionally Sonic would have to wait for Knuckles to keep up. The echidna was no where near as fast as him, even before he got his new shoes. With the emerald on his back, the pace was even slower than before. It didn't help that some parts of the path kept falling apart.

While they were walking for a bit, Knuckles realized that this was the first time he was alone with his younger brother for a long time. Traveling with the blue teen like this felt nostalgic. "Don't you miss the days when it was just us?" He felt the words fall from his mouth before he could think them through.

Sonic raised a brow as he turned to face his brother. "What do you mean?"

"Like, yeah, they're good kids." Knuckles began. "But wasn't it nice when it was just the two of us, when we only had to watch each other?"

"...What are you trying to say?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Uh, that came out wrong." The redhead paused. "I like them too, don't get me wrong. Not as much as you, but as good friends. Just...don't you hate having to take care of them all the time? By their age, we were on our own."

"I don't want them to be like us. They deserve to be happy."

"We were happy-"

Sonic frowned. "I wasn't happy until Tails became my little brother, you know that."

Knuckles observed the other before nodding in understanding. "I get it."

"Get what?" The blue Mobian raised a brow.

"The kids. They're the family you always wanted, the love you never had."

"Huh?"

"Listen, Sonic. Having a parent and being a parent are two completely different things."

Sonic scowled. "Shut up, it's not like that at all! How would you even know what caring for them is like? I did all the work, so quit complaining. If you don't like it, leave."

Knuckles growled in response. "You have no idea how many times I've wanted to."

"Then what stopped you?"

"You're my best friend, I can't just leave you."

"What about the others? What do you want to do, ditch them?"

"No." Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I care about them too, but I guess you taking in all these kids just stressed me out a lot. Whatever, what's done is done. I just wanted to vent it out, I guess. It's been on my chest for years."

Sonic's expression softened. "Look, I know you miss those days. It was pretty selfish of me to add all these kids without ever consulting you first, but...they need me. They've been through a lot and I know I can protect them."

Knuckles frowned. "Sonic, they're growing up. They won't always need you. There's a difference between having and being a parent. Parents always love you, but you eventually leave your parents."

"That's not true." Sonic glared. "I was abandoned. Twice."

"I mean parents that actually love their children like you love the kids." Knuckles raised a brow. "Don't tell me you never thought of that? The fact that they'll leave you one day."

"They won't. They might have their own lives, but they'll never abandon me. I'm not stupid, Knuckles. I understand life happens."

The echidna sighed. "People leave, that's also a part of life."

"I know, now let it drop. I don't care if the kids leave me, I'll always be there for them. I'll always be there for anyone who needs help. The whole world could turn it's back on me and I would still be here. I know not to be that person."

"...Okay, I didn't mean to get too deep into this, but even that's not a good philosophy to live by. You don't owe anyone anything if they've done nothing for you. No need to be a...what's it called? Altruist? Yeah, that."

"I've learned a long time ago that another's happiness is worth more than mine. If they're happy, I'm happy. As long as I can be someone's hero, I'm good."

Knuckles sighed. "It's so like you to say that. Listen, as much as I don't understand your complete selflessness, I'll just put it out there that you shouldn't think like that. If you're willing to go that far for the world, then you better make sure you find someone who'll be able to do that for you or else you'll never find a stable source of happiness."

A long uncomfortable silence passed between the two while the blue Mobian pursed his lips and averted his gaze in deep thought. It annoyed the echidna that he couldn't decipher the other's thoughts, he only hoped that his 'vent that ended up being more than a vent' at least got through to the hedgehog.

Sonic finally let out a heavy huff and gave the echidna an annoyed look. "I have no clue how your pent up frustration over nothing ended up becoming a critique over the way I view things, but whatever." He pointed towards the emerald. "Putting all of that aside, we have bigger things to do. It'd be best if I didn't have my older brother acting like some therapist and instead we actually get something important done."

"Hey! I'm just trying to pass the time."

oOo

"How much farther do we have to go?" Sonic whined after he helped Knuckles lift the emerald and run as the ground behind them had fallen apart.

"Almost there. You see that altar over there? We put the emerald on that."

When they approached the altar, Sonic helped Knuckles steady the large gem on it.

"Now what?" Sonic asked as the gem sat in place.

"Hold on..." Knuckles placed both his palms on the gem and closed his eyes, concentrating deeply. Sonic kept his hand on the gem, even as it glowed. What if it teleported the two of them like the smaller one did?

Turned out that he was correct. He saw the emerald shine bright with a green aura before his vision went black.

oOo

He was at the foot of a different altar with a young echidna-hybrid girl, her face filled with sadness as it was set ablaze. Sonic looked at the ground surrounding him. Many injured chao laid in pain, the sight made the blue teen's breath stiffen. The poor things...

"Why...?" The girl spoke. "Why did this have to happen?" She looked at him, and he was surprised she could see him. "It's terrible! I have to stop it!" She ran up the steps of the altar towards the emerald.

Then he woke up.

oOo

Sonic opened his emerald eyes to the night, starry sky above his head. Where was he? He looked around and found himself at the ruins of an altar- the altar from his vision. The emerald was in place, as it should be. He looked at Knuckles, who was still unconscious. Sonic wondered if the older teen was also having a vision.

Soon enough, the echidna woke up and Sonic sighed in relief. "Did you have a vision too?" He asked.

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah. About some echidna girl. This isn't the first time though..." Knuckles admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"The first night we moved to the Academy, I saw her in my dream. She was talking to her dad about how more hatred didn't lead to peace. Another time, she was at this altar talking to something, asking for it to move. Sorry I never told you, it didn't seem important."

Sonic was about to scold the other for keeping secrets, before remembering that he himself kept secrets. He sighed, "Well, what about your current vision?"

"The altar was on fire. She was begging her father not to enter, but he and his men pushed her down. She and the chao were injured. Yours?"

"Basically what you said." Sonic sat down on the steps before the altar with the green gem in his lap. He was tired, and he had no clue where he was or what time it was. He needed his sleep. Knuckles sat beside him and looked at the sky, the constellations were bright that night, and the abandoned ARK was in view.

Sonic looked up at the sky with him. "The world is so big, kinda makes you want to explore it all. Embark on every adventure you come across."

"Yeah..."

"I'm kind of hoping this becomes something big...but I don't want the kids to get hurt. I'll always protect them though. Nothing will get to them without getting past me first!"

Knuckles smirked. "Hey, me too!" He nudged the other lightly in the rib. His vent from earlier really helped him relieve years of stress.

Sonic chuckled. "We should probably get back to the motel and make sure everyone got there safely."

"Let's just take our time. Enjoy the scenery. Relax. We just climbed an entire sanctuary, unlike you, I'm exhausted."

Sonic smiled. "Hey, I'm tired too! I probably could've ran that place in three minutes if I hadn't been waiting for you too move along!"

Knuckles laid back against the stone floor of the altar using his crossed arms as a pillow, and Sonic joined him. They stared at the sky and gently closed their eyes while listening to the forest around them.

Crack. The two immediately jumped up as they heard the emerald behind them shatter.

"How the hell could this happen? It was fine a second ago!" Knuckles yelled.

Sonic jumped to his feet with the smaller emerald in hand and looked at the large emerald as a small puddle seeped through its cracks, followed by a red ball of light. What? He heard laughter behind him.

Sonic turned around to see his science teacher sitting in a strange machine. "E-Eggman?" He asked the man with a raised brow. He never heard the man laugh, let alone make a cocky grin.

"Sonic, my dear boy! I knew it would be you to return the emerald to its rightful place!"

Sonic looked between Eggman and Knuckles, who looked furious. "I don't understand? What are you doing? Why are you so happy?"

"Because of you, I can use the power of Chaos to rule the world of course! It's been my plan all along. I hated being a teacher. My talents have been wasted! What's better than being a mad scientist?"

"Power?" Sonic asked in shock, remembering when Robotnik had first explained to him about Chaos Emeralds. "That speech you made up about helping people and powering machines...that was for yourself, wasn't it?"

"Robotnik!" Knuckles fumed. "You played us all along!"

"Of course I did." Eggman rolled his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing. "Manipulation is key to getting what you want!"

Sonic glared at his teacher. "So all this time..." From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the puddle moving towards him on its own accord. He backed away with the emerald gripped tightly in his fist.

"Not now, Chaos. We'll get all the emeralds soon enough. For now, we must retreat."

The puddle was absorbed into the earth and vanished, and not a second later did the island vibrate as if an earthquake had struck. Both Sonic and Knuckles lost their footing and fell.

"Good luck, boys! It's only a matter of time before this island hits the sea!" With that said, Eggman and his flying machine took off, leaving the two teen boys in horror.

"Does that mean...this whole island is falling?" Sonic asked in sudden realization.

Knuckles nodded as the red light hovered over his shoulder. "With the emerald broken, the island can't stay up on its own. We'll have to repair it..."

"We have to do that quickly! If this falls into a sea, that would cause a massive wave!"

"Listen up, Sonic." Knuckles looked at Sonic. "We'll have to split up for a while."

Sonic looked at him with confusion. "But wouldn't it be easier if we looked together?"

Knuckles shook his head. "This red light told me that only I am able to look for the missing pieces. Apparently they're scattered all across the area. Besides, you need to watch out for the kids and keep them out of trouble. Eggm-Robotnik's out there with that strange thing loose. Try doing everything you can to stop them."

The blue Mobian nodded. "Should I try looking for these emeralds then?"

Knuckles looked at the small gem. "Yeah, Eggman said that they'd get all the emeralds. Get them before he does and protect them." He paused. "Looks like you'll get you wish. This is going to get really big."

Sonic smirked. "Yup! I suppose I'll see you soon, Knucklehead." He winked at his older brother.

"Yeah, see you soon."

oOo

After running around the island, Sonic eventually found an exit. At the ledge of one end of the floating island, he was able to see a stable cliff, which he leaped towards only to find that he was back at the Mystic Ruins. It was late, very late. He explored the outskirts of the temple and the Chao Garden for his family, only to find them missing. He avoided the train and ran to the motel on the tracks, finding it faster and more convenient, and knocked loudly on his door when he arrived. Silver opened the door with shock, letting Sonic in quickly.

"Sonic! What happened? You just disappeared!" Tails said as he lunged himself into his older brother's arms. It was 2 a.m., Sonic noticed while glancing at the digital clock beside the bed.

"Did you just come from a fight?" Silver observed Sonic and saw the dirt and filth all over his clothes.

"Where's Knuckles?" Tails asked, looking around.

"Listen up, you guys." Sonic said seriously. "Knuckles and I just got out of something big. This is no longer a simple field trip." He rubbed his temple as he organized his thoughts. "When we vanished, we ended up finding a giant emerald, a bigger version of this one." He showed them the shining emerald in his hand. "We took it to an altar, where it belongs, but our teacher, Eggman, is actually evil. He shattered it and let this water creature come out. He wants to rule the world by using that thing and these gems, but we have to stop him. Also, the altar was located on a floating island, which is now in the process of falling. Knuckles is looking for the pieces of the emerald so that he can stop the island from causing a huge tsunami."

Tails and Silver looked at him in surprise, taking everything in slowly. The albino hybrid sucked in a breath. "You're joking?"

"No, I'm not." Sonic said as he flopped onto his bed. "I'm exhausted now, but as soon as I wake up we need to start looking for the rest of the emeralds."

"We can't just ditch school and the trip," Silver said with a frown as Tails took the emerald from Sonic and inspected it. "The teachers will be at our throats. GUN could get involved!"

"Silver, I think I'd rather get yelled at and kicked out of school rather than knowing my crazy science teacher fooled me, won, and now we're all under his rule." Sonic sighed and relaxed in bed before giving in to total exhaustion.

Silver looked at Tails. "What are you going to do?"

The fox hybrid licked his lips as he stared at the emerald in awe. "I'm going learn more about this emerald and its properties. Perhaps we can use it to pinpoint the location of the others..."

"What should I do?"

"Go tell the girls what's happened. I'm sure Amy is still awake fussing over that Flicky she found."

Silver sighed. "Alright."

oOo

Sonic awoke at eleven the next morning with a rush of his memories from the previous night in mind. He couldn't help it, but love that feel of adrenaline run through him. The night before, he was bit too serious, but he was tired then. Now that he got all his rest, he was ready to bring down that crazy old man!

He walked outside and saw his friends and family on the lawn, talking animatedly. He advanced towards them, only to see Amy with a Flicky by her and Big nearby. Why was he at their motel?

"It's okay, Big. We'll find Froggy!" Cream assured the big, purple, cat-hybrid.

"So, what's the news as of late?" Sonic asked the gang.

"I found this Flicky being chased by a weird robot after we left the Chao Garden! Blaze helped me take it down, but it left before we could get rid of it for good!" Amy said as Sonic watched the bird flying around with a purple gem tied around its neck. This was good! They had two emeralds, then Shadow had one...

"Take good care of that Flicky, Amy."

"Don't worry! I will!"

"Oh, and Big lost Froggy!" Cream spoke for her depressed friend as Cosmo counseled the poor Mobian.

"Oh," Sonic stated simply, recalling the frog he met while hanging out at Big's house in the forest the other day. "If I see him, I'll-"

"But something weird happened to him before he left!" Big interrupted suddenly. Sonic gestured for him to continue. "He swallowed some of this weird water and grew a tail! Then he ate my lucky charm!"

"W-wait! Strange water?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah!" Big looked at the green emerald in Tails's grasp. "And my charm! It's like that, but yellow!"

Sonic gawked as he looked between Big and the emerald. "Big, I think your friend may be in a lot of trouble. We need to find him as soon as possible. Getting the emeralds is our top priority."

"Let's split up into groups!" Tails suggested.

"Alright. Who's doing what?"

"Cosmo, Blaze, and I can help Big." Cream volunteered.

"I'll go with them." Silver suggested.

"And Birdie and I will hang around Tails! After all, we can help him learn about the emeralds properties since we have one ourselves!" Amy chirped.

"Sweet! I'll try locating that Egghead and that Chaos-thing. Keep your heads up for anything weird."

Everyone nodded, but stopped in their tracks as a large shadow covered the land they walked upon. They all looked into the sky and saw a large airship head over the motel. The Egg Carrier, Sonic remembered from one of Eggman's sketches. Where the hell did his ex-teacher keep all this stuff?

"It looks like it's headed towards Station Square." Blaze mused before glancing at the blue teen. "We'd best start going."

Sonic nodded with a smirk planted on his face. The gang separated into their groups and left in opposing directions, while Sonic ran on the train tracks towards the city.

oOo

Knuckles had only found 3 three shards of the large emerald- the Master Emerald. He was currently excavating Red Mountain on the falling island.

Rouge flew in the sky until she noticed the red echidna. She made her way down and landed on the side of a cliff with him.

"W-what are you doing here?"

Rouge glared at him. "What's going on? I get a call at two in the morning telling me that a floating island is suddenly falling? Now a huge airship is headed towards Station Square? Traces of large, emerald shards containing massive amounts of Chaos Energy are all over the place and I'm forbidden from looking for them?"

"Listen, I'll tell you what you want to hear. Just don't distract me from my mission."

Rouge sighed, but nodded. "I need all the information I can get. My boss isn't too pleased with all the chaos going on right now."

"Who's your boss?"

Rouge paused for a moment before realizing it wasn't worth keeping a secret any longer. "You can't tell anybody this, but I work for GUN." Rouge glanced at Knuckles, who nodded. "I'm a spy for them and need to fill them in on any information I come across."

Knuckles nodded as he dug into the ground and pulled out another emerald shard. "I'll tell you anything you want to know then."

The bat-hybrid smiled before hearing her transceiver go off.

Ch-GUN forces needed ASAP in the main plaza by the Central Station. A strange, water-like creature has appeared with a substantial amount of concentrated chaos energy. Need backup. Ch- Blue Mobian just appeared. Fighting the creature. Ch-

Rouge sighed as she turned off her transceiver and gazed at the red echidna. "While Blue takes care of that thing, you can fill me with the deets. I'll help you look for some shards before I have to report back."

oOo

Sonic arrived at the scene only to find the Chaos creature from before wreaking havoc on the innocent civilians and police. Finally being able to see its form, he ran towards the creature and punched it with all his force, only to find his arm go through it. Oh right. Water, duh.

Even with the challenge, the blue teen continued to give the creature everything he had. He heard the familiar sound of a machine approaching with the booming sound of Eggman's laugh. Sonic glared at the teacher he once trusted.

"Oh, look!" Sonic sneered. "A giant talking egg!"

Eggman snarled but pulled out a small red emerald- Shadow's emerald. Sonic looked at it in surprise. How did he-? "Chaos!" Eggman sang. "I've got dinner for you!" He threw the red gem at the creature, who absorbed it and it began to morph. It had grown bones in its right arm with the gem visible in its palm. Sonic cringed as Eggman resumed his loud, boisterous laugh and watched as the blue teen struggled to fight the liquid monster, especially with its new strength. Sonic bit his lip, but became surprised when he saw Cream with Cosmo and Big arrive at the scene. The young rabbit girl held a small box in her hands, and instantly, Sonic knew what it was.

They found another emerald.

The trio stayed close to the officers who kept their distance yet remained armed within their blockade of police cars. Cheese, who accompanied Cream everywhere, became frantic when he saw the water creature. The Chao immediately flew towards the dangerous enemy and Cream ran after him, worried for his sake. She would do anything to keep her longest companion safe. With the box in her hand, she pushed through the blockade to the open space Sonic fought Chaos. She grabbed Cheese, an action Chaos saw and took to offense. The creature raised his bony arm into the air and aimed to attack her. Sonic quickly calculated the attack and ran after Cream, picking her up and taking her and the Chao in her hands back to the blockade.

"Sonic! The box! It fell out of my hands!" Cream cried as she pointed behind him.

He turned and the white gem laid on the concrete, glowing brightly before being picked up by Chaos and absorbed into his left arm. Like before, the arm morphed until it grew bones with the white emerald in its left palm, as well as changing its head to resemble that of a hammerhead's and becoming taller and more muscular. Sonic cursed under his breath, but then let out a sigh in relief, knowing full well that Cream's safety was at the top of his priorities.

"I'm your only opponent here. Leave the others out of this!" Sonic yelled at the creature before running straight through its center. His hand planted on the ground as he landed, and he quickly swung his legs to turn. Chaos turned with the current hole in its chest rapidly filling with water. Sonic struggled to think up a strategy.

"Sonic!" He raised his head to see Knuckles jumping on the creature with a fist aimed towards its visible brain. The creature let out a cry of pain before staring at the redhead with its giant, but dull emerald eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic asked as he got into a fighting stance and dodged an incoming attack.

"Rouge was helping me find some pieces of the gems at Red Mountain. Then I heard that you were dealing with this thing. Figured I might as well join the fight since some shards are here too."

"How many do you have?" Sonic said before attacking the brain once again, now knowing that it was the creature's weakness.

"Six. I found three inside the temple and three on the mountain." Knuckles lunged at the brain for a third time and Chaos screeched before once again returning to it's puddle-like state and seeping through a manhole into the sewers.

Sonic and Knuckles high-fived each other as the officers and remaining crowd applauded them. The blue teen walked up to Cream and Cosmo with concern. "I want you two to find Blaze and get back to the school. If anybody asks questions, say that your family is attending important matters, alright?" The two girls nodded and looked at Big sadly.

"Sorry we can't help you anymore, but when we reunite with Silver and Blaze, Silver can help you!"

Big scratched his head and smiled. "It's okay! Cute bunny girl and plant girl have to be safe, right?" The girls covered their mouths as they giggled sweetly before each taking a hand and dragging Big towards the station.

Sonic shifted towards Knuckles. "I'm going back to Mystic Ruins to check up on Tails and Amy. Any idea where they are exactly?"

Knuckles nodded. "There should be a landing area near a workshop by the caves. Last I heard, they went over there for tools."

"Thanks, Knuckles!" He said right before speeding off towards Mystic Ruins.

oOo

"Sonic, it's horrible!" Tails cried as he clasped his hands against his face. "A robot called ZERO took Amy and Birdie away!"

"W-what?" Sonic asked with widened eyes.

"It just took off with them. I tried to fight it, but it was really strong..." Tails frowned with disappointment in himself. "But since then, I've been working on a plane!" He pointed to a red plane on the landing area. "It looked like it hadn't been used in ages. I figured no one would mind if I repaired it and made it my own. Oh-" The kit, who Sonic just realized was now wearing a satchel, reached inside and pulled out two emeralds. The green one and now a blue one. "Apparently, you can use one emerald to find the others. It started glowing brightly as I walked closer towards the workshop, and soon enough, I found the blue one."

Sonic ruffled the other's blond hair with a smile. "Don't be too hard on yourself, you've done a lot!"

"R-really?" Tails asked in surprise.

Sonic hummed happily in response. "You repaired a plane to make the trip faster and found another emerald! With this baby, we can save Amy!"

He heard a laugh that was quickly becoming way too familiar and jumped down to the lower ground, only to bite his lip in frustration. Chaos and Eggman were near the waterfall. How could they catch up so fast?

"The emeralds are here somewhere, Chaos!" Eggman encouraged the creature before locking sights on Sonic and the fox-hybrid behind him. Oh yeah, the little boy from his old robotics class. He groaned before noticing the two gems in the boy's hands. "Chaos!" He ordered. "Get those gems now!"

Sonic hissed as he realized the creature was headed towards his younger brother. He ran head-on towards the creature, only to be sent backwards as a blue energy field appeared.

As Chaos charged towards him, Tails used his tails to hover off the ground and quickly speed towards Sonic. He slipped the gems into his satchel and pulled out a golden ring. "Sonic! Take this!" He threw the ring towards his older brother, who caught it, feeling a boost of energy run through him. He charged towards Chaos and looked for its brain that was now unfortunately deeper within his body. He attacked a few times, only occasionally hitting the brain, but not enough.

Tails clenched his fists as he watched the fight with anticipation. There was no way Sonic could lose! He was too focused on the fight between his older brother and the monster that he failed to see a mechanical claw reach out and tear his satchel away from him.

"H-hey!" He yelled as he reached for the bag, but was swatted away by another claw. The claw holding the satchel brought the bag to the Doctor and he cockily held it in his hands.

"Chaos!" He threw the gems at the creature who once again absorbed them. He morphed into a shark-like creature with fins and increased in size. Sonic remembered the drawing of this form in grandfather Robotnik's journal.

"C'mon, Chaos!" Eggman laughed triumphantly. "We're done here!" He flew away as Chaos became liquified and was absorbed into the Earth. Sonic walked over to Tails who covered his mouth in horror with teary eyes.

"S-Sonic, I'm so sorry!" He said with a quiver as his tears threatened to spill.

"Tails, don't worry about it!" Sonic said with a smile. "As long as you're not hurt, I'm fine. Besides, you have that plane and we still need to rescue Amy!"

Tails nodded and bit his lip as he composed himself. He still felt horrible for messing up, but as long as Sonic wasn't disappointed… "Alright!"

The two raced towards the plane and Tails hopped into the pilot seat while Sonic sat on the wing. The young boy started the engine as he put on his goggles. The propellers spun faster and he started to accelerate the plane. "Ready? Go Tornado!"

The plane took off and they flew towards the Egg Carrier.

A/N: So much is happening too fast! Can't really have much of a break though when an island is falling and is about to cause a massive wave that'll kill thousands. Sonic really needed that rest though, apparently not getting eight hours of sleep messes with him.

Poor Knuckles, he missed it a lot when it was just him and Sonic. Really their moment in the temple was the only time that actually had time alone in years, which is why they such a deep conversation. It's not like he hates the kids or anything, but he's nowhere near as close to them as Sonic is. Sonic sees them as family, Knuckles sees them as friends, but he doesn't mind if they look up to him as an older brother. Sonic was always the one that took care of them unless he had to do a quick errand or get food. Our hero was the one mostly responsible for making the extra coin to keep them fed and cared for. I notice that usually when I have vents with friends, it ends up being more than just a vent. Basically that's what happened here with Knuckles trying to figure Sonic out...Foreshadow! Well, enough about that, that's a story for another day. For now we continue the adventure!

….the Sonic Adventure…lol, I'll just stop now. I'm such a loser. All in all, next chapter is the last in the SA arc. Wooo, and then the Sonadow can start as we move on to the next game in the franchise hehe.