Mina ran across the military base grounds while doing her best to avoid all the hustle and bustle, not sure of what exactly was going on. She'd gotten a text from Kiarra asking if she had felt anything strange recently and now worry gnawed at her gut. When she reached the Vanguard HQ they let her in after their Commander gave the okay. She could tell something had them spooked but they were keeping it under wraps so as not to cause a panic. When she reached the main floor she immediately set out looking for Sonic. She could see his bag in Eric's office but no sign of either of the hedgehogs. One of the other officers pointed her in the direction of the Ops Room and she worked her way there.

Then it hit her. Sonic's presence completely vanished from her senses, causing enough shock that Mina had to stop and steady herself against the wall. She'd been keeping an eye on Sonic ever since he and Sally had left for Dragon's Nest and, even though he'd been halfway across the world, she never felt him disappear like this. It wasn't like he was being hidden, he was just gone. Almost like he'd...

No, don't think like that, girl. After everything he put himself through there's no way he'd die so easily, she thought as she headed down the steps. When she arrived at the Ops Room Eric waved her in before leaning against one of the desks, visibly shaken from what Mina assumed was his son's presence disappearing.

"You felt it too, huh?" she asked and he nodded. "What just happened?"

"I've felt this before. It was after Sonic defeated Kinos," Eric explained. "But I know he's still alive. Otherwise the signal from his tracking implant would've changed." He nodded to the screen where Mina could see a pulsing signal in the Northern Territories.

"At least there's that. So you wanna explain why Sonic is all the way up north?"

Eric shook his head as he moved towards the screens. "One second he was here arguing with me about stopping Arias and the next he was gone. Arias disappeared too just as he was about to get to..." Eric bit his tongue at the last second. He knew that Mina would be furious with him if she found out that he'd tried to stop Sonic from heading to Mercia to try and stop Arias. "It doesn't matter. It's safe to assume that whatever took Arias took Sonic as well. More importantly is this thing." The radar view pulled back to reveal a massive object travelling south across the continent at a slow but steady pace.

"What is that thing?" she asked now realizing what had everyone so worked up.

"We're still working on getting a visual confirmation but we know that it's headed towards New Mobotropolis." He pointed her towards the readings they had taken so far. "At this rate it'll crash into the Great Forest in a few hours. The worst part is that there's nothing we can do that won't do more harm than good."

Mina watched the monitors and noticed that as the mass moved so did Sonic's tracker. "Sonic's moving with this thing," she pointed out and Eric nodded. "Ever occur to you that Sonic might be on that thing?"

"It's the best idea we've come up with so far," the hedgehog replied, "and so far the only thing that makes any sense. Still leaves the question of what took him and Arias. In the meantime we've started getting the Mobians into underground shelters. If this thing blows up on impact then it won't matter but we can at least say we tried something."

Before Mina had a chance to reply one of the screen images was replaced by Antoine's face. "Commander Hedgehog," he said, "I have just received a report from the city that is...concerning." When asked what he meant Antoine continued. "There is some kind of barrier forming in the city several blocks in diameter. If memory serves it is similar to the one Sonic used in fighting Kinos."

Eric swore under his breath. "Is anyone trapped inside?" he asked but Antoine shook his head. "Thank God for small miracles. Still, keep the evacuation going just in case this is some kind of invasion."

"One last thing," Antoine said as he tapped the computer on his side. "One of our agents in the Northern Tundra was able to get a visual confirmation of the object. You should be getting the images right about now. We thought it was a hoax at first but considering the situation we were hoping you could make more sense of them."

The image cut out and was replaced by a block of pictures. Eric sorted through them quickly. "This looks like a ship," he said as he stared at the front of the object.

"Since when do ships have buildings strapped on top?" Mina asked as she pointed to another image. "Any call letters?" Eric swiped through the images until a name popped up on the screen. "You're kidding me."

"But it's just a bedtime story," Eric added as he stared at the name 'ATLANTIS' printed on the side of the ship's hull. "Atlantis isn't real."

"With all due respect, sir, but I think evidence points to the contrary," one of the techs said. "But I thought it sank into the ocean."

"The Mobian version of the story has it disappearing into the sky," one of the other techs replied. "If something that big came down it would wreak havoc on our satellites. Might help explain why we haven't been able to get a definite read on it." When asked why they hadn't seen the ship until recently the tech turned back to his work.

"I want you two to dig up records the city still has on the city ships," Eric told the techs. "See if there's some kind of remote command we can use to stop that thing or at least some way to shut down the engines." They acknowledged the command as they dug into the history archive while Eric closed his eyes, trying to wrap his head around the new information.

"You're thinking that Sonic has something to do with this," Mina said and he nodded. "But why Mobotropolis? Haven't they been through enough?"

"Let's see why," Eric said as a wireframe model of the city appeared on the main screen. "Based on the info Antoine sent us here's the barrier." A large circle appeared around part of the city. Eric tapped the center of circle and a building came into view. It was a small house but other than that it had no other special features. "This is what's at the center of the barrier." He and Mina stared at the house until it slowly began to dawn on them what they were looking at. "Well, crap."

Within the depths of Atlantis a glowing tigress formed a sphere of energy in her hands and handed it to Sonic Hedgehog. Before he could ask what it was it soaked into his body. Sonic dropped to the ground in agony as the energy coursed through his body like fire in his veins. With a shout the energy shot out of him with wisps of gray following it.

"I'm sorry that it had to be that way," the tigress said as Sonic tried to stand. "The pain is typically worse if you are prepared for it."

"What did you...do to me?" Sonic asked between breaths. His legs were trembling but at least he was vertical.

"We brought another one to this city, a human going by the name 'Arias'," the tigress explained, completely ignoring Sonic's question. "However, he is currently under the control of the Zodiac weapon Libra. My master would like for you to defeat him."

"I don't give a damn what you and your master want," Sonic replied angrily. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"Libra was designed to find and kill Guardians so we have taken that advantage away." It only took Sonic a moment to realize what she meant. "Under normal circumstances the process would have killed you but since you are at the source of your power the rules are a bit...different. You don't need to worry. I promise that if you can defeat Libra then your power will be restored."

Sonic muttered a curse under his breath as he turned to stare out the window. "Where are we headed?"

"We are going to where Xiaxos is sealed," she replied and Sonic turned back to her. "The population has already begun evacuating since the barrier was put up." When asked why New Mobotropolis was the battlefield the tigress smiled. "Because we both know that you will fight harder to defeat Libra there."

"You're using me to do your dirty work," Sonic said as he glared at her, "and you're using Mobotropolis to make me do it. Why now? If he's such a threat why didn't you just get involved from the get-go?"

"Libra was just a remnant of a forgotten age until recently," she explained. "Now he must be stopped before it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

A growl filled the room and the tigress looked over her shoulder. "It seems we've arrived," she told Sonic. "Trust in your abilities and your training, Sonic Hedgehog. My master and I have no doubt that you can defeat Libra."

"I could use a better hint than-" Sonic started but was cut off as he was shifted off the city-ship.

A large gray dragon head appeared next to the tigress as they both looked down on New Mobotropolis. She began to lightly pet the dragon's snout and it let out a satisfied growl. "It's almost poetic," she said as she stared at the city beneath them. "Had it not been for a member of the In'ei tribe we would not likely be here. How appropriate it is that their descendant end it." She turned her attention to another part of the globe. "Thankfully we seem to have stopped Libra before the worst of the damage was done. The connection was made but it's not strong enough to allow their return." She closed her eyes and let her hand rest on the dragon's snout. "Now we need to rely on Sonic's power to stop Libra."