Open Your Heart

Sometime later; Knuckles, Bunny, and Shade headed out in the Tornado to face against the army of Imperator Ix. It was a rather hot day. They found an abandoned oil platform out in the middle of the ocean. As Shade landed the Tornado behind some of the buildings on the dock, they saw that many echidnas are outside on the platform with Imperator Ix at the head of the group.

"Now is the time my loyal followers, today is the day we shall bring our great civilization to all the world." Imperator Ix stated. "We will smite all those who defy my divine will." All of the soldiers prostrated themselves towards the echidna warlord as they cheered.

"Hail to Imperator Ix, he will lead us to out foes and they shall fall before us." The echidnas shouted. Then, the echidna warlord held up the last chaos emerald.

"Oh no, we need to get that chaos emerald out of his hands." Knuckles stated to the other two.

"What do we do?" Bunny asked. Stacey tapped on her shoulder.

"At least we brought these along." She said holding up to sets of Nocturnus Clan armor pieces.

"That'll work." Bunny replied as they put of the disguise.

"I shall allow you one last hour's rest before we attack." The Imperator proclaimed to them. "You are now dismissed." Then, the Nocturnus clan members started to leave the area.

"Now's our chance." Knuckles answered; the three of them snuck into the crowd and blended into the area. Ix went to his personal area of the platform, it was at the edge of a pool where Chaos was residing in.

"It'll soon be time, my pet." The Imperator said. Chaos' tail tried to reach for the emerald. "You're being impatient, but soon you'll have what you want."

"It's over Ix." Knuckles stated, still in his Nocturnus armor. The warlord turned around.

"Oh, so you three have come to join us for the celebration?" Imperator Ix asked.

"The only celebration is when we take you down." Bunny answered.

"I would love to see you try." Ix answered.

"How dare you lead the Nocturnus clan to believe that you are a deity!?" Shade stated. "You think you are such but you're not."

"You blasphemer!" The emperor snapped. "I AM A GOD! You can't tell me that there is something I don't know. I know what is best for the Nocturnus. I know what is best for the world." He paused. "But I will spare you, shall you bow down to me as your divine ruler."

"Forget it, Imperator Ix." Knuckles stated.

"If that is how you want to put it." Ix answered. "Then, I will take you down myself. Prepare to be eliminated, you worthless infidels." Using his magic, he blew the helmets off of the three intruders.

Knuckles went up and punched towards him. Ix put up a shield blocking his attacks and countered with an energy blast from the two packs he had. Bunny got Knuckles out of the way. Shade pulled out her wrist blades and slashed down on the shield of Imperator Ix. It made a big hole in the shield. Bunny lunged forwards and did a swift kick onto the echidna, smashing one of the packs.

"Is that all you got?" The warlord asked.

"Nope, we're just getting warmed up." Knuckles replied with a grin on his face. Ix did an energy beam towards the three of them and the three ended up getting knocked back from the blast. They were able to get back up from their injury. Shade headed forward with her wrist blades. Imperator Ix blocked it.

"Hahaha. You still defy me like your sister, now you will die like your sister." Ix commented as she continued to slash towards him.

"I won't let that happen." Knuckles said as he attacked Ix's flank. The Imperator looked and saw Knuckles heading towards him. The red echidna did an uppercut to smash the other energy pack, followed by another jab throwing him back. He ended up dropping the emerald and it landed on the ground near the pool.

"SHADE! GET THE EMERALD!" Bunny shouted. Stacey Shade ran as quickly as she could towards the emerald, but Chaos' tail lashed out of the water. It grabbed the emerald before Shade could reach it and pulled it into the pool.

"Houston, we have a problem." Knuckles said. Then, all of them heard thunder from outside. Then, it started to get darker. The others looked out and saw that the sky was covered completely with dark clouds and the winds began to howl.

"He has finally reached ultimate power." Imperator Ix answered. "He has become Perfect Chaos." Then, the chao smashed through the steel walls, leaving the chaos emerald behind, and entered into the ocean. It rose out of the water to face the platform. "At last, I have the ultimate power." He turned to him. "Perfect Chaos, destroy these fools."

But the chao started to attack the Nocturnus Clan's army. "NOT MY ARMY, YOU IDIOT!" Ix yelled out in anger. "AS YOUR LORD AND MASTER, I COMMAND YOU TO -." Perfect Chaos blasted his energy mouth beam at him. "AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" Then, the emperor was vaporized from the attack. Chaos turned to the other echidnas following him and destroying him.

"Grab the chaos emeralds and let's get out of here." Bunny said. Then, Tikal appeared before them.

"Tikal, what are you doing here?" Knuckles asked.

"We need to stop him now." Tikal said in worry. "He'll destroy many cities if he isn't stopped; he has to be sealed away in the Master Emerald."

"What'll that do?" Knuckles asked in return. "Another one will come along, foolishly break it, and the cycle will repeat itself all over again. We need an alternate plan." Shade checked the chaos emeralds.

"Besides, I saw the last two shards of the master emerald with him. So, it can't be done anyway." Bunny replied.

"Wait a minute," Shade said. "There is still some energy in the chaos emeralds. It might be a long shot, but I think if we go super we could take down Perfect Chaos."

"That sounds like a plan." Knuckles stated.

"I'll go with you." Bunny answered.

"Very well, then. I wish you luck." Tikal continued.

"Where'd Chaos go?" Stacey Shade asked as she was looking around.

"The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Station Square until 3:00 PM. At 2:30 PM, the National Weather Service has picked up a… Wait, WHAT!? Attention! Station Square is now under a hurricane warning. This cyclone is expected to be a category five hurricane with record breaking winds up to 250 miles per hour. It's uncertain whether this should be considered a hypercane. Regardless of what it is, evacuation orders have been issued for this area and the storm is expected to arrive in 10-15 minutes."

Hurricane Chaos had hit the city straight on around that time. The water surge caused the storm sewers to back up and it shot the manhole covers off the road from the pressure. The streets got flooded with at least 10 feet of water. Occasionally, water spouts could be since in some places. Everything got pelted with rain and hail. Thunder and lightning struck across the sky. The winds shattered the glass windows on the skyscrapers and totaled all non-steel or concrete structures.

The plane with Bunny Rabbot and Kunckles had arrived on the scene as it was navigating the stormy skies. They had the seven chaos emeralds in hand.

"Well, this is it Bunny." The echidna answered. "It's now or never."

"We need to be careful, you hear?" Bunny asked.

"I hear ya." Knuckles replied as he turned to the pilot. "Shade, take us down."

"Roger." Stacey said as she got the Tornado close to the water's surface. The chaos emeralds whirled around the red echidna and the rabbit. Faster and faster they went until the two became Hyper Knuckles and Hyper Bunny. She noticed that in this state, her robotisized limbs were completely flesh again.

"Wow, that's incredible." She commented.

"We can deal with that later." Knuckles stated. "Right now, let's take on that overgrown watering can."

"Right behind y'all." Bunny replied as the two jumped off the plane and onto a broken bridge. Perfect Chaos faced them and roared. He launched a lightning bolt towards them and the two mobians dodged the projectile as they rushed towards the angry chao. Knuckles was able to land a blow onto the target. He roared as he sunk into the waters, reemerging farther way with a more clear shot towards the two characters.

"He's positioned himself upwind." Bunny replied. "We need to be careful." He continued to shoot lightning towards the duo, but using more power than he did before. Knuckles and Bunny were barely able to dodge the lightning. "That was a close one, any closer and I would have been barbeque hare." Bunny was able to get a kick on the chao. It rose above them and used its tentacles to create water spouts to attack the two. The small tornadoes hit the duo and tossed them about before throwing them into a building.

"Ow."

"Oof."

The two flew out of the building and held hands as the water spout picked them up again. The two used the spinning whirlwinds to launch Bunny into Chaos and she landed a powerful kick at the beast. Perfect Chaos landed into the water again and reappeared nearby.

"Where are those master emerald shards?" Bunny asked. Knuckles looked around the areas on chaos and then pointed.

"There they are." The echidna pointed out. "They are in the head of the chao. We just need a good shot." Then, Chaos sent out the powerful beam from its mouth towards the two mobians. They were able to get out of the way. The two mobians skied over the surface of the water as he continued to blast towards them. Knuckles shot himself upwards but was too low. He went right through the chest, Chaos roared with pain and anger, melting into the water.

He repositioned himself in a skyscraper with his head sticking out high above the ground. Knuckles and Bunny surfed on the surface as Chaos pelted rain, hail, lightning, tornados, and his deadly mouth beam towards them.

"KNUCKIE, KEEP GOING!" Bunny shouted as she guided Knuckles from the strikes of lightning that was coming down upon them. "DON'T LOOK BACK!"

"I CAN SAY THE SAME THING, BUNNY!" Knuckles replied as he shielded Bunny by punching through the large hailstones. The two had reached the base of the building and started to fly upwards.

Chaos flung his tentacles towards them to block their attempt at a strike. They had a very difficult time dodging the appendages, but they reached the head. They struck through each of the two grabbing a master emerald shard. Perfect Chaos screamed as he burst into many droplets of water. When this happened, the hurricane gradually came to a stop. The heavy winds calmed down, the waves stopped crashing, and the rain and thunder had receded.

Knuckles and Bunny returned to their normal selves as they landed on a broken piece of a highway bridge. Bunny was disappointed that some of her limbs became robotisized again.

"Wow, being super takes a lot out of you." Bunny stated.

"At least, we don't have to do it that often." Knuckles answered. "Hmm?" They saw the Tornado land behind them and Shade got out of the pilot's seat.

"Knuckles, Bunny, I'm glad you're safe." Stacey Shade said to them.

"Same here." Knuckles answered.

"But what happened to Chaos?" She asked. "Hmm? What's that?" She pointed to another piece of bridge below them. The three noticed that Chaos was there. He was now mobian sized once again as Chaos 0; as the chao got up, there were other chao going to him. They helped him back up onto his feet and he patted their heads.

"Chaos changed again." Knuckles said. "This time for the better."

"We all must have neutralized it, so it's docile again." Bunny added.

"These were the chao whom you seeked to protect." A voice said to him. Then, Tikal appeared before him. "Even though you were saddened by tragedy, we will be there to comfort you when you need it." She paused. "The war is finally over and peace has returned to us." Then, she looked up to the three of the heroes. "I thank you so much. Now, I can finally rest peacefully."

Then, she started to float into the air and she closed her eyes. They noticed that she turned into a ball of light and disappeared into an opening in the clouds; they also noticed in the distance many balls of light rising in the distance from the Mystic Ruins all of whom followed Tikal.

"I'm not sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure that those echidnas can rest too." Bunny stated. Then, she turned to Knuckles. "Knuckie, you did it."

"No Bunny, we did it. This is our victory." He answered.

"But what is the fate of the Nocturnus Clan?" Stacey asked.

"Those whom are followers of Ix will be cast back into the Special Zone." Knuckles said. "Those whom were rejected can stay on Mobius. From these echidnas, they can reside on Angel Island with Nestor the Wise leading them."

"Why not have you be the leader?" She asked him in confusion.

"Because I have a duty of my own. I am to be the future guardian of the Master Emerald." The champion of echidnas said. "And with Bunny at my side, we will never let a tragedy like that from decades ago happen again."

"Ah shucks, Knux." Bunny answered, she kissed the red echidna on the cheek. And he became even redder.

"I… uh… I… uh… Der." Thus Knuckles' request was carried out and the Master Emerald was once again fully restored. Nestor the Wise went back into the special zone and called the Nocturnus Clan to abandon the cult of Ix. About a hundred Nocturnus echidnas followed him out of the special zone before the gate to the Void was closed. Doctor Warpnik was enraged as he saw this happen.

"NO FAIR! NO FAIR! NO FAIR! NO FAIR!" Warpnik screamed. "THERE'S NO WAY I GET A GAME OVER! AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" His super-extreme temper tantrum spilled over into the section where the rest of the echidnas whom didn't follow Nestor remained.

Meanwhile, back on Angel Island, relic yawned as she was getting out of her cot in the tent she was in. Then, she heard quite some noise coming from outside.

"What's all the racket?" The blue pika asked herself. She got dressed and went outside of the tent. She gasped as she saw a number of echidnas attempting to rebuild. "What in the…?" She wandered through the group and spotted the red echidna. "Knuckles, what's going on here? There are so many echidnas."

"Well, this small clan is now going to reside on Angel Island." Knuckles replied to her.

"Am I dreaming or something?" She asked.

"You're wide awake, Relic." The red echidna remarked to her.

"I can't believe this is actually happening." Relic said holding her head and crossing her eyes for a moment.

"Speaking of which, there is someone who I would like you to meet." Knuckles added, holding her hand to guide her. Then, they had come to the older echidna. "Relic, I would like you to meet Nestor the Wise."

"N-N-Nestor the Wise?" She asked, her glasses starting to fall out of place. Then, she cleaned her lenses and put them back in place.

"So, you are correct." Nestor replied to her. "You must be Relic the Pika. I have heard about you from Knuckles. You are a lot more eager than I expected. Would you like to become my apprentice?" Relic was unable to speak, but she let out an ecstatic fangirl squee. Then, the blue pika fainted with a smile on her face. "I… guess I'll take that as a 'yes'?

"Agreed." Knuckles added.

Meanwhile, back at the village that the Egg Viper had attacked. The survivors were picking up the pieces while a few stared down into the abyss.

"Sonic the Hedgehog was a brave warrior. He and his friends saved our lives." The village elder declared, taking his hat off in respect. "It is only a pity that in saving our lives, he and his friends lost their own."

"Hey guys, what's all the mopping about?" Sonic asked as he came climbing up over the edge of the cliff with Tails and Amy on his back. "We've got a town to rebuild here and a chili dog celebration after that. Would someone mind giving me a hand up here?" Cheering, four of the villagers ran to help their hero back up to solid ground.

An obsidian-colored comet was flying through the empty vastness of space. At that moment, a dark figure was huddled around an orb, inside was Mobius.

"For many years, I had let this planet go." The figure stated aloud. "Many of my enemies had fought me, and many of those enemies I have conquered." He paused for a moment. "Now, I can strike at this planet and claim it and its chaos crystal as my own." Then, he turned away and telepathically echoed throughout the comet. "Black Arms, set a course for Mobius. Prepare the armies of our two great generals. Our invasion of that planet will be our greatest campaign yet." He toned down. "Once completed, we will be unstoppable."