Chapter 11: The Seventh Emerald Found

Amy and Tails hid in the alley to ensure the police couldn't find them. It was a miracle they were allowed to be so close by, Sonic handled the police with ease, but Amy and Tails were the victims of the law. Amy slid down on the wall, letting out of sigh of exhaustion.

"Oh, I think we lost them," Amy said. "I hope Sonic's okay. That cop really didn't have any reason to arrest him." She leaned her head against the wall as she tried to steady her breath.

Tails started working on his radar pad to get an idea of where the Choas Emeralds were. "You know Sonic. He'll be fine. We just need to find the seventh Chaos Emerald that's already been found. Maybe Eggman took the Emeralds into outer space."

"Outer space? But how do we get to the outer space?" Amy asked, her face contorted into a slight frown.

Tails' walkie-talkie buzzed in his hand. "Tails, any news yet?" It was Sonic's voice on the other side.

"Nothing yet, Sonic. They could've run off anywhere," Tails replied. "For some reason, I'm not getting a signal from the six remaining Chaos Emeralds."

"That sucks. I guess this is gonna be one heckuva long search," said Sonic.

There was a loud bang and Amy jumped. "What was that?!" she exclaimed.

The manhole cover busted open, and a red echidna came out of the manhole and reunited his friends.

"Knuckles!" Amy surprised.

"Oh, hey, guys. Long time no see." Knuckles chuckled.

"Where the hell have you been?" asked Amy.

"Uh, it's a long story. I managed to collect the shards of Master Emerald when Eggman tried to steal it from the temple," Knuckles explained. "So what the hell's going here?"

"It's a long story. But right now we have to stop Eggman before he destroys everything again," said Amy.

"Wait, what? What happened to the sixth Chaos Emerald? And where's Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"Eggman took them all," Tails said. "He has to find the last Emerald."

Knuckles looked horrified. "Oh, crap. Did you find the seventh Chaos Emerald?"

"I didn't find it yet, but we're trying," said Tails. "We don't exactly have much time left, though. And there is one new threat named Shadow."

"Wait, who's Shadow?" Knuckles asked, confused.

"That black hedgehog who looks like Sonic, he called himself Ultimate Lifeform," said Amy.

Knuckles sighed. "Man, if only there was another way to defeat Eggman. I know this is a hard mission, but I can't believe we had to come up with such a crazy plan in the first place." He scratched his head.

Amy furrowed her eyebrows and ran to Knuckles to pull him out of the manhole.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Knuckles protested.

"Move aside, Knuckles!" Amy ordered. She dragged him out of the manhole and stood back while Knuckles stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

Tails' radar beeped and Amy and Knuckles caught their attention. "I managed to find the transcript of the conversation between Eggman and the President on the government's computer. As soon as I get that information, I'm going to follow the President's limo!"

Tails took out a capsule from his utility belt and threw it on the ground. A blue monoplane landed on the pavement, startling Knuckles and Amy. Tails mounted his vehicle and pressed the button to turn into the car mode.

"If we get to the limo, we can trace the call to find Eggman," said Tails, over to the walkie-talkie on Sonic.

"Okay, let's meet up there," said Sonic.

Tails began to drive away, heading towards the limo in hopes of following it.

"Hey, wait for me, Tails!" cried Amy. She followed after Tails, leaving Knuckles on the sidewalk in the alley.

*Meanwhile*

A limo was driving downtown the city, the president and his secretary seated inside. The driver stopped at a light and turned around to face his passengers.

"Mr. President, reports show that since the incident 3 hours ago, the country is in turmoil." the female secretary said. "Our financial communities are impacted and our satellite communities are down. An emergency meeting has been called. Mr. President, this is a national crisis."

The president sat calmly in the seat. His brow was furrowed and he held his chin. "Spare me the details. Exactly what is it you want, Dr. Eggman?" he asked.

Dr. Eggman was on the screen and smirked evilly. "Hahaha. Well, then, Mr. President, let's get down to business, shall we? I won't bore you with all the details since I know you are a very busy man," he said. "Mr. President, my demands are quite simple. Surrender to the Eggman Empire and make no resistance until I tell you otherwise."

"Otherwise...?" the president inquired curiously.

"Otherwise your precious planet will burn to cinders, Mr. President. You have 24 hours to comply, or I will destroy your entire world and take over," said Dr. Eggman.

The president was shocked and speechless. "You can't be serious..."

"I am perfectly serious. The destruction of the earth will be as easy as lifting your thumb. There will be no survivors," said Eggman.

"No way!" a teen voice is heard from the window as the president turned around to see who it was.

"What the-?" His jaw dropped in surprise as he saw that Sonic and Tails were standing outside the limo.

Sonic jumped over the sunroof and landed inside the limo, Tails joining him after.

"You!" Eggman growled.

"Heh, Eggman Empire? Yeah, right!" scoffed Sonic.

"What the hell is going on here?!" demanded the president.

"Don't worry, Mr. Presidnet. We got under control of the situation. Just leave it to us," Sonic said. He turned to his fox friend.

"Got it, Tails?" asked Sonic.

"I got it," Tails replied and held up a disk. "Eggman is transmitting from the Space Colony ARK."

"Good. Let's move it!" said Sonic. He jumped up to the sunroof.

"Right behind you!" shouted Tails. He followed him through the sunroof.

"Hey, wait!" the president called out, but the heroes were gone.

*Space Colony ARK*

Eggman slammed his fist on the desk with anger. "Dammit! That blue pesky got free from the prison cell! And we can't even find the last Emerald!"

"Why are you so upset? You should be glad that you finally managed to create complete havoc on a whole planet! Does this mean we can control the world as we choose?" Rouge asked.

"Of course not! Everything will fall back into chaos if that happens," Eggman replied. "What about the seventh Emerald?

Have you found anything on that?"

Rouge shook her head. "No. But I found this," She took out the newspaper and showed it to Eggman.

"What is this?" asked Eggman.

"That fox boy has it. Don't you recognize those pictures?" Rouge asked, pointing at the picture of Tails on it.

"Let me see that," Eggman snatched the paper from her hands and read it.

"So that fox boy has it, eh? He must've saved Station Square from that life-threatening missile attack. I knew I couldn't trust that

little runt. Now we just need to track him down. He can't be allowed to escape," Eggman said.

"Are you sure you can track him?" Rouge asked. "If you want that Emerald badly, we might as well go after them ourselves."

"Of course, we can do that. After all, they wouldn't dare risk being seen in public. That'll make it easier to capture them!" Eggman said eagerly. "Orbot! Cubot!" he called out.

"You called, sir?" asked Orbot.

"Get Shadow. He'll know what to do," Eggman ordered.

"Yes, sir, right away," Orbot saluted and left the room with Cubot. And Eggman left the control room while Rouge stood there. She took out the walkie-talkie and spoke to it.

"This is Rouge reporting on the progress made toward confirming Shadow's status as the Ultimate Lifeform. I will continue my research on 'Project Shadow' and have a follow-up report very shortly. As a reminder, don't forget about my jewels," said Rouge with a smile.