In Due Season

Chapter VI

As Crisis Revisits, There's Duty To Warn

It had been hours since he left and what little hope Alyson had waned awfully thin. The woman assumed Shadow had gone to help the people of Kingsbury, but with each passing moment, she wondered if the dark hedgehog was ever coming back. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in the ultimate life form's abilities just that she knew Shadow wasn't exactly at the top of his game when he departed. The guy had been unconscious mere hours ago. She had tried radioing the hedgehog several times only to get back blank static. All she could do now was stare at the computer screen and wait . . . a minute, did those numbers just change?

Alyson leaned forward, intent on the list of cities and categories on her monitor. She was surprised to find numbers were being added onto the Kingsbury line. She gaped at the figures not knowing what to make of them. This was supposedly a static document; a fixed file downloaded hours ago. How could it be doing anything? She looked down at her hands and around the desk to see if something was possibly pressing on the keyboard. No. She watched the display again.

Target City: Kingsbury . . . . . . . . Departure: 10:00 0131 . . . . Arrival: 11:40 KB

The older woman still couldn't believe it, but the information was indeed updating itself. Somehow, Shadow must have downloaded a program instead of just raw data. Alyson quickly reviewed her system monitor and found there to be activity going on between her internet connection and this strange software. She wondered if she was linked into one of Dr. Robotnik's satellites or maybe a wireless network of some kind. It was as good a time as any to find out because if she could gather additional information from Eggman's intelligence complex then it would be one step closer to stopping the mad man's plans once and for all.

Just as she was about to start hacking away, her lucky discovery switched into an ominous sign. A new slot opened up on the list with new numbers, numbers that troubled her.

City . . . . . . . . . . . Destination . . . E . . . D . . . . A . . . . C . . . . R . . . .Total . . . . . . . . Priorities

Kingsbury . . . . . . . . . EC . . . . . . X . . . . 2 . . . . 5 . . . . 6 . . . . 0 . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . . . Mach

"Mach?" Alyson asked herself as she looked at the priorities category. This was the first time in the entire record that a priority was found. She also noted the total of captured people was drastically smaller than that of the other cities. Category E also had an X in its place instead of the usual 0. The only factor at this point to explain the differences was Shadow being there. She hoped this didn't mean her friend had been caught . . . or worse. She quickly began typing. If there was any report on Shadow's whereabouts within her grasp, she was going to find it.

Within minutes she had all kinds of charts and statistics flashing on her screen, each with even more information than the last, but nothing on Shadow. As her fingers blazed across the keyboard, she failed to notice the very object of her search return to the room in a flash of light. Shadow wavered in his arrival clutching his head and trying to remain standing. In his effort to remain upright he reached out and grabbed the back of Alyson's chair, leaning heavily upon it. This, of course, startled the human out of her wits.

"Ah!" Alyson screamed as she shot up out of her chair, sending Shadow sprawling to the floor. Once the human realized who it was and what she had done, she quickly bent down and tried to help her partner up for the second time that day.

"Shadow, I'm so sorry. You scared me. I didn't even know you were behind me. Is everything okay?" she apologized helping the hedgehog to his feet. Shadow felt an extreme wave of exhaustion wash over him; as if he had just fought fifty robot armies using every chaos attack he had until his resources bled dry. He waved for Alyson to guide him to the couch where he collapsed until the fatigue subsided. The woman continued to fuss over him and it took everything within the hedgehog's power not to roll his eyes. Sometimes his human companion could be such a mother hen. Shadow disregarded the trivial concern and instead focused his attention on the screen ahead.

"What do you have there?" he finally asked pointing to the laptop.

"Oh," Alyson wrinkled her brow, "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded and she finally sat back down in her chair. She moved the computer over so they could both see.

"It looks like you downloaded some kind of tracing program. I've been able to update the information and even get some more statistics on Eggman's next attacks, Shadow. Look I even got the numbers from Kingsbury here."

Shadow leaned in and looked over the figures. He was happy to see the numbers were lower, but the fact the priorities slot had populated with 'mach' bothered him.

"Are you able to figure out the destinations yet?" Shadow asked. Alyson shook her head.

"No, but the destination on Kingsbury is unlike any of the others. I did manage to find out what the letters mean. You were right about the children and adults, C and A. The R stands for a recruit, the D means . . . deceased," Alyson said somberly, looking to Shadow who encouraged her to continue, "And the E is for enemies. The X, however, is a mystery to me."

"Ten."

"Huh?"

"It's the Roman numeral ten. The doctor would substitute roman numerals whenever he didn't want the average hacker to know too much too quickly," Shadow smirked. Alyson scolded him a bit but continued scrolling through the charts and graphs. The two studied it for a while until the woman paused on a particular statistic.

"Can you explain this to me?"

Shadow looked at the bars and lines, numbers and equations for a few moments before dread passed through his eyes.

"What is it?" Alyson asked.

"Go back to the cities again," he stressed. She did as he said and brought up the list again. To both their surprises a new line had opened up.

Target City: Kingsbury . . . . . . . Departure:12:30 0115 . . . . . . . . . Arrival: Pending

"They've never done that before. They're going to attack the same city again. Why?" Alyson said, strain evident in her voice. Her town had been assaulted by the Eggman Empire once, years ago, and it was a terrifying experience. She couldn't imagine how terrible it would be if it happened twice in one day. Shadow was just as puzzled by the update. Dr. Robotnik had raided many cities, but never twice in the same day. The hedgehog presumed the destinations were just another inventory of sorts but when he saw the initials K.B. appear twice he wanted to make sure. Now, he wished his suspicion had been wrong.

"I don't know, but I need to go back and warn them," Shadow stated as he reached to retrieve the Chaos Emerald. He would need the extra energy to make a return trip to the town and . . .

"What?" Shadow exclaimed as his hand came up empty. The emerald was gone. He raced through his memories trying to remember where he might have misplaced it. Then he was reminded of his battle beside Cream. He lost it there and never retrieved it. He cursed himself for being so careless.

"What's wrong?"

Shadow looked up at the human who was giving him a worried expression. The hedgehog's brow knitted up in thought. He knew he didn't have enough energy to teleport himself back; he didn't even know how he got back to Alyson without the emerald to begin with. So, how could he warn Sonic, Rouge and the others about the impending attack? He shut his eyes in frustration, bringing a fist down on the sofa he was seated on. Why did he forget to pick up that cursed Chaos Emerald? What was he going to do now?

He opened his eyes and glanced at the computer desk. There rested a clear answer.

"Alyson, let me see your cell phone."

o

Blaze could hear footfalls in the snow behind her as well as the sound of fluttering wings. It had to be Cream and Cheese, being the kind-hearted rabbit wouldn't have let her leave without following her out. Well, at least she remembered Cream being kind-hearted anyway. It had been years since she'd seen the little heroine who wasn't all that little anymore. The girl had to be in her teenage years now and was just as tall as the feline.

"Miss Blaze, please, wait up."

Well, she was still polite. The purple cat stopped and turned to face the approaching bunny with a standoffish expression. It wasn't that she had anything against Cream but the circumstances in which she found herself in were irritating; confusing at best. She was the princess of another dimension trapped here with no news about her own world or an explanation as to why it happened. Even though Sonic's universe was a familiar one, the atmosphere had unquestionably changed. This wasn't the land she left years ago and she didn't know exactly what to expect from it.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to talk properly. We were just so busy at the time," Cream apologized as she came up next to the feline. Blaze's expression softened.

"No, I'm sorry, Cream. I guess I was just a little . . . overwhelmed in there, that's all."

The young rabbit smiled at the warmness in her old friend's voice. Being older now, Cream could better understand the position Blaze was in. Being abruptly taken from ones home and dropped in another world under mysterious conditions had to be troubling.

"Well, we can talk now, if you don't mind, of course?" Cream asked.

"Not at all. In fact, I was just going to see if the others in town needed any help if you'd like to join me."

The two started out down the path in silence. Cream was the first to break it.

"It's been so long since I've seen you. How have you been?"

"I've been well. I even took after your example and made quite a few friends," Blaze said with a small smile.

The two chatted back and forth on things concerning both the insignificant and important as if they had never left each other's company. Cheese followed the pair, putting in his own two cents here and there in the form of chirps. The usually guarded cat found it easy to talk with the young rabbit about nearly anything and listened intently to what Cream had to say. Blaze was taken aback by Cream's accounts of the past three years. The more violent attacks by Eggman's robots, the missing Chaos Emeralds and the state of affairs concerning governments was all quite astounding. Likewise, Cream was deeply intrigued by the princess' recount of events related to her kingdom and the war with Eggman Nega.

"How did you stop him?" Cream asked. Blaze closed her eyes, deep in thought.

"To be honest, I didn't. After I got the Sol Emeralds back safely from our last encounter, he disappeared without a trace. No one's heard a peep from him in two years now."

"I wish Dr. Eggman would disappear like that too. Maybe then we could . . ." Cream paused dejectedly. Blaze frowned. She felt sorry for the teenager and the struggles that seemed to plague this world, but before she could say anything the rabbit's features lightened up.

"Oh, well. You have to go through it but at least you get to choose if it's with a smile or a frown."

"That's an interesting way of seeing it. I like that."

"I liked it too. Sonic said it to me once," Cream informed, remembering the hot summer's day the hero had inspired her to keep the faith. He was very good at that and she knew there was truth in his words.

"Yes, the ever-optimistic Sonic the Hedgehog," Blaze sighed with a half smile. There was an emotion in her voice Cream could not readily identify, but it sounded disappointed.

"Are you upset with Sonic?" the rabbit asked bluntly.

"Well, I . . . I mean it's not . . ." Blaze said with a stammer. The expression of surprise followed by the slight reddening of the cat's cheeks only did more to concern Cream. Finally, the princess pulled her words together.

"What makes you think I'm upset with him?"

"You sounded upset when I mentioned him just now. Plus, you did leave when he was trying to talk to you; not that I'm trying to pry, but it just seems that you're mad at him or . . . something," Cream explained.

Blaze sighed at her own transparency. Was she really that easy to read?

She wasn't angry with Sonic per se, but a part of her wanted to be. As illogical as it seemed, even to herself, she had discovered the feeling she was having after seeing the blue and pink hedgehogs together. It was jealousy. It was closely followed by shame. Somewhere along the way she had fallen for the energetic blue hero and now felt a mix of emotions in the face of learning about his marriage to Amy. In love with Sonic she might be, but a home wrecker she most certainly was not.

"I didn't mean to appear offended . . ." she paused, not wanting to share any more information. Cream seemed to sense the tension and held up a hand.

"You don't have to tell me, Blaze, if you don't want to, but maybe you would feel better if you talked to someone about it," Cream offered. The cat seemed to weigh this in her mind.

"Well, I want you to know that I am not angry with him just . . ."

"Disappointed," Cream finished. Blaze turned to face the rabbit with surprise. It appeared the young lady had more insight then she was letting on.

"Maybe. So, uh, what about that other hedgehog that looks like Sonic? I don't think I know him," the cat inquired, hoping to change the subject. The rabbit knew what she was doing but decided to leave it alone.

"Oh, that was Mr. Shadow. We really didn't get time to introduce you to everyone, did we?" Cream said with all the distress of a hostess whose party was going poorly.

"That's alright; I did leave before we could speak. Was he the one you said had the Chaos Emerald?"

"Yes. I saw him use it when he saved my mother and me from Eggman's robots."

"Mm. The Chaos Emeralds might be my only way home. Will he be back?" Blaze questioned. The look on the teenager's face did nothing to reassure her.

"Well . . . Shadow tends to stay to himself. The others say he's a loner but I think he's just reserved; sometimes moody. He might not come back for a while," Cream informed.

"A loner, huh?" the cat mused. Her first impression of the dark hedgehog was right. She was very familiar with the whole recluse thing as she entertained it for quite some time herself. Therefore, she knew how hard it was to get assistance from one. It also appeared she had upset him earlier; slimming down her chances even more. Then again, she had learned the value of teamwork and cooperation; that it was not only necessary but good. Maybe this universe's outsider could learn the same lessons.

"Don't get him wrong though. I believe he means well. He helps us a lot, just at a distance is all," Cream stated, trying not to paint their more secluded comrade in a bad light. She truly liked Shadow.

"I believe you. Maybe he'll be kind enough to help me too," Blaze smiled. Cream grinned back until they spotted something heading their way quickly.

"It's that bat," Blaze stated as her keen eyesight focused on the flying figure. Cream peered ahead as well.

"It's Miss Rouge."

"Hurry! Follow me back to the workshop. Shadow says the robots are coming back to attack again!" the government agent shouted as she passed the pair on her way to said destination. Blaze looked to Cream who looked back in mild shock. They both took off after Rouge.

o

Knuckles hoisted up another broken beam on a badly burnt building, looking for anyone who might still be trapped inside. He and Espio had taken the east side of town while Vector and Charmy took up the west end. Their assignment was to help people to safety and guide rescue crews to where they were needed most. The echidna tasked Omega with searching the town's outskirts for any more stray robots and making sure they could not do any more damage.

"It's all clear here, Espio. Let's move on to the next building," he stated to his companion coming up behind him. As they walked further up the path in silence, Knuckles considered the chameleon walking beside him. It'd been a while since he'd last seen the reptile or any of the Chaotix for that matter. It was just by chance he'd gotten a hold of them in the next town over.

Nowadays, the detective agency tended to disband more often than not. In fact, the group had only recently gotten back together after another lengthy split-up. Grant it, their dispersal was how the guardian stayed in contact with the ninja in the first place. Espio usually came and visited him on the island whenever the Chaotix Detective Agency wasn't kicking about; though, he never could figure out how the chameleon got up on the island. Anyway, they had similar personalities and, thus, got along quite well.

"What do you think Eggman was after this time," Espio asked, pulling the echidna out of his thoughts.

"Your guess is as good as mine. That creep just doesn't make sense anymore. I wish it was a knuckle sandwich though because I'd be more than happy to help him out," Knuckles replied with malice as he cracked his namesakes. The ninja bit back a chuckle but was soon distracted by the amount of destruction around them again. No matter how many times he saw these images, it never took away the horror of it all. Heck, it's what made it so hard to stay focused on anything anymore. He quickly stopped himself; he couldn't afford to think like that. But it didn't mean he couldn't join in on the dark humor.

"Yes, I wouldn't mind having a moment alone with that madman either."

"Yeah. That reminds me; were you guys able to find any new bases lately?" Knuckles asked. The chameleon shrugged and shook his head. Knuckles frowned and nodded in acknowledgment. He hadn't been able to locate any either as of late. It was a bad sign, considering they knew Eggman had to have several out there. It only meant the doctor had gotten better at covering them up.

"How about the Chaos Emeralds? Have you and Rouge found any leads?" Espio inquired, looking to the guardian. Knuckles frowned at the thought of the bat.

"Nah, we didn't find anything. Besides me and her aren't exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. You know how we are," the echidna waved off the condolence. They both fell into silence once more.

"Help! Help me!"

They heard a weak cry come from the house up ahead. The pair raced to the structure in record time and with well-practiced tracking skills, located the resident trapped under a pile of wreckage. Knuckles used his strength and lifted the heavy debris up while Espio reached under and pulled out the shivering squirrel.

"My arm hurts really bad," the young rodent said in a raspy voice.

"It's gonna be okay," Espio said as he moved out of the way so Knuckles could set the rubble back down, "We need to take her to the campsite."

"Yeah. Why don't you take her back and I'll look for any others. Just use the two-way to get back in touch with me when you're done."

"Roger that," the ninja replied taking off in the direction of the medical site. Knuckles returned to the ruins, calling out for anybody else who might need assistance. They had already done an extraordinarily good job of evacuating the town and prevented the mass loss of life that could have occurred. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the buildings themselves. Most of Kingsbury was either burnt to the ground, smoldering or going to be on fire. The snow was melted in some areas leaving muddy puddles while other patches had refrozen giving the landscape a dreary, icy appearance. It was at this sight the guardian allowed a hollow sigh to escape. Even though he knew this city had really dodged a bullet in terms of death it still made him uneasy. In fact, he was still half expecting to walk upon a graveyard just like he'd done so many times before with other townships.

"One day Eggman. One day," he whispered angrily as he passed a demolished schoolhouse. Nothing would persuade the guardian from his quest of bringing down the mad doctor once and for all. Not more robots, not more attacks and not any more empty pledges. Oddly enough, it was the last of these that had given the powerful echidna so much trouble in the past. By nature, he was a trusting soul and generally believed there was good in everyone. Years ago he had held Dr. Robotnik could change. It was a slim chance, he knew, but deep down he believed it could happen. Now, he cursed himself for ever entertaining such a thought; how could he be so stupid?

"Ah, what am I doing?" he asked himself before adding with a wry smile, "Heck, Sonic's right. Dwelling on the past really doesn't help and I hate when that guy's right."

Once he cleared his head of self-doubt, he sensed something else; something he hadn't felt in a long time. It was the unmistakable energy of a Chaos Emerald. He tried to remain focused as he cautiously walked ahead; searching. Still, it was hard for him to contain his excitement at the prospect of holding one of those gems again. The energy was getting stronger. He was getting closer. The more intense the feeling, the closer he knew he was. His face lit up the instant he spotted the precious stone laying a few yards away in a puddle of water. He raced forward and just as his hand wrapped around the Emerald he heard . . .

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link."

The guardian jumped at the sound, bringing the Chaos Emerald to the safety of both hands.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

"In physical strength, you're no dummy," the recognizable voice continued. Knuckles paused as he could now pick out the familiar message. He glanced to his left and saw one of the beaten robot's communication systems must have still worked.

"But when it comes to critical judgment . . . well, let's just say the mighty Knuckles has some trouble rolling with the punches."

"Shut up, you piece of junk," the echidna said with a sneer as he gave the machine a good smack sending it into silence.

"Ah, still as volatile as ever I see."

The guardian whirled around to see another fallen bot relaying Eggman's personalized memo to him, but it had never said that before.

"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't behind all this?" it continued. He growled in annoyance and decided to just head out of the area. The robots were essentially harmless. For a moment, Knuckles wondered how the bots could still squawk being they were scrap at this point. It didn't take long for him to find the answer to the mystery, however, as he passed more robots. Each time he got close to one it would crackle its speakers to life. It had to be the Chaos Emerald. That was the only logical explanation as he had gone by plenty of downed mechs without any reaction before he had the gemstone. Still, this didn't fix the problem of getting away from that irritating voice.

"No. Too bad. It would have been great fun. I could have fooled you into believing it was some other crazed lunatic after revenge and they were using my good name as a ruse to pull it off. Oh well, remember our first encounter, Knuckles. It was so easy to manipulate you then. Even after that, it appeared I could tell any old sob story to the echidna and he would bite."

"Arg!" Knuckles shouted angrily as he punched the hunk of metal beside him. Undesirably, another just replaced it.

"Oh, and stealing those emeralds from you was a walk in the park. How many times did you turn your back on allies to 'do the right thing' only to find out you were completely wrong?"

Knuckles quickened his pace. He hated these stupid messages and the sooner he got away from these robots the better.

"But, seriously now, it seems you are a bit wise to my tricks."

"Yeah, wise and tired of it," the guardian mumbled as he kicked that robot over as well.

"Are you still running around with your pal, Sonic and his gang, by chance?"

Knuckles stopped. He had never heard this part before either, usually because he would have destroyed the communication device in a rage by now. He slowed down and decided to at least hear out the transmission considering he was not in any life-threatening danger at the moment.

"If I were you I'd quit goofing off and keep a close eye on those gems, especially the Master Emerald. The devastation it can wrought and restoration it can wield. We wouldn't want that to fall into the wrong hands, now would we?" the communication ended leaving only the sound of dead static on the speaker. Knuckles was not only angered by the evil doctor's words but alarmed. In all the commotion, he had unintentionally allowed his lifelong duty to hit the back burner. Was that madman after the Master Emerald? Did he already have the rest of the Chaos Emeralds?

The echidna's gaze was sent through the smoke, towards the hazy image of Angel Island hovering off in the distance, just above the shoreline of Lake Whisper. He had brought the floating island in low so he could help in the fight, but in doing so did he inadvertently open it up for attack? Being the guardian of the Master Emerald naturally gave him a link to the mystical gem. Nothing felt out of place, but that gave him all the more reason to correct his oversight. He needed to get back to the workshop and ask Tails to give him a lift back to the island. He could radio Espio later and let him know where he went. With that, he ran towards the path that would take him back to home base.

o

"This is taking way too long. I'm waiting," Sonic griped as he impatiently tapped a foot, arms crossed. He was positioned by Tails, who was struggling to get supplies out of his workshop closet. The fox scowled at the hedgehog's 'eagerness' to get back into the action. The blue hero had convinced his wife and best friend that he should be out there helping the others clean up instead of twiddling his thumbs. Albeit reluctantly, Tails was setting him up with some rescue supplies to take on the mission. To be honest, the mechanic wanted the hedgehog to stay and rest, but there was no stopping the speedster once he got like this. He was just about to reply back when he was beaten to the punch.

"Sonic the Hedgehog! Maybe if you'd quit complaining and start helping him out, you wouldn't be waiting as long," Amy scolded from her spot on the makeshift bed. Tails couldn't help but chuckle a bit. The great hero being reprimanded like a small child was too funny. Sonic mumbled something unintelligible but had the ability to look apologetic even in rolling his eyes. He knew they didn't want him to go and he did appreciate their concern, but all he wanted to do was help, not to mention, alleviate some boredom. As the hero reached over to take up a box, the doors to the workshop burst open allowing a blast of cold air inside. It was followed by Rouge, Blaze and Cream.

"What's going on . . ." Amy said with a start.

"Shadow's on the phone. He thinks there's going to be another attack, and it's coming back here!" Rouge blurted out quickly as she landed in the middle of the room.

"Oh, no," Solana breathed as she hopped down from her helicopter.

"Tails, he wants to talk with you," the bat stated holding the phone out for the already rapidly approaching fox.

"Me?"

Everyone came around as Tails put the device to his ear. All they could hear was murmuring as they waited anxiously for the report. Finally, Amy couldn't handle it anymore.

"What's he saying? What's happening?"

The fox only motioned for her to remain quiet as he listened intently.

"It's dot cam," Tails said into the mouthpiece. A few seconds later the young hero twirled his namesakes, giving him lift, and flew over to his computer. He gestured for the others to come over as he sat down at the workstation.

"Rouge, do you have speaker on this phone?"

"Who doesn't?" the bat said as she reached over and pressed the button on the side of her cell.

"Shadow, can you still hear me?" Tails asked as he logged into his laptop.

"Yes. We sent it. Have you received it yet?" the unmistakable voice of the ultimate life form came in loud and clear.

"Yeah, I got the file," Tails answered as he typed away at his keyboard, "If you don't mind, Shadow, I would like to speak with . . . uh?"

"Her name is Alyson. Here," the group heard Shadow say before a new voice came over the speaker.

"Hi, this is Alyson."

"Hello, Alyson, my name's Tails. Can you give me a little bit of background on the information you sent me? I'm seeing a lot of charts and maps but what is it you need me to see?"

"Well, you see Shadow and I came across this program and it seems to be keeping track of all the attacks Dr. Eggman has made in the past on cities and towns. We just found out Kingsbury was listed twice, but we also found what looks to be like grids or charts of some kind . . ."

"Flight paths. It seems the attacks come from different places each time. Sonic, we could track each of these patterns to a different base, they're all here," Tails said turning in excitement to look to his friend, who came in for a closer look. Sonic whistled in amazement at the critical bits of information, even though he couldn't understand a lick of it. Nonetheless, his mind was reined in by the mention of Kingsbury.

"What about the attack Shadow was talking about?" Sonic asked urgently. Everyone chattered in concern.

"Right," Tails focused as he went back to reviewing information.

"Wow, flight patterns. I don't think I would have ever thought of that," Alyson said over the phone.

"Focus," Shadow could be heard in the background. Tails studied the graphs and figures in front of him, the fox's eyes suddenly grew wide.

"Alyson, check your lists again. According to the data, you sent me, the place this new attack is coming from is a lot closer to Kingsbury than the last."

"Sure thing."

There was a pause as Tails put on a thoughtful expression.

"Why would Eggman come back and attack the same place twice. Everything is already destroyed and the people are evacuated. He's never done that before unless he plans to build something here," the fox said with concern in his voice.

"Well, at least this time he won't catch us by surprise. Let's get an old game plan going," Sonic winked. Tails smiled.

"Solana, can you finish tuning the Tornado up."

"Yes, by all means," the dhole obliged heading over to the jet.

"Sonic we need to warn . . ."

"Tails! It says arrived at 13:45; they're already there!" Alyson shouted. Everyone froze.

"Hey, everybody. Look what I found! A Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed happily as he came into the open doorway. The others looked to him in dismay. The echidna frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Suddenly, an enormous blast from outside rocked the entire workshop, throwing everyone to the floor.

Author's Note: Nothing to really say except here it is, Chapter six. Thank you all for the reviews. I know this one has a nice cliffhanger at the end as well, but at least they got a little bit of downtime.