A/N: Surprise! I bet you weren't expecting a new chapter less than a week after the last one came out! I've been super determined to keep writing, and chilling in a VC has been helping me to work on my fanfic more and get a ton of progress done.

As a result, it's not a very long chapter since I wrote the whole thing in just two days, but then again, it's an interlude chapter, so it's not made to be very long. Also, I was originally gonna call it "Rise of the Underground", before I changed the name right before I started writing this chapter.

I don't have a lot to say, except with this chapter, I am officially halfway done my entire Sonic X rewrite! I've been working hard on this story for the past 4 and a half years, and at my current estimate, I think I can finish sometime in late 2025 or early 2026!

Check the author's notes at the end of the chapter as I got some announcements about the rest of Season 2!

I would like to thank joseisaacruizbeltran for favoriting and following since the last chapter!

Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!


10 Reviews (8 get replies)

Blazenight01

If I write a parody of my own story, that could actually be an idea for that XD But seriously, I'm glad I didn't go down that route with Matt for this story.

dbehi1

Those are some good headcanons!

gregorian12

Thank you! And yes, there will be more Chaotix soon!

D.J. Scales

Eggman wouldn't remember Sonic 06, so he can't try to repeat that.

Five-Chosen

That can work, but only if I was rewriting the Shadow Saga as if it was happening for the very first time. if I do rewrite the events of Sonic Adventure 2, I can try to fit something like that in, but the reason I scrapped it is because Eggman was recreating the events to try to give himself a second chance at his old plans, and it unfortunately would mean Director Franklin would become redundant.

Kraken

You can bet Eggman's next plan is going to be big! Even if he can't bring back Dark Gaia or the Black Arms, he can always think of something else just as evil!

I'm not sure if I'll use the multicolored Sonics, but I will see what other kinds of plans S.O.N.I.C.X. will do. They may surprise you!

Jerome would need to get a grasp on using the Phantom Ruby without Eggman busting him, but he could try and do something like that.

That third idea, though... I can definitely use that!

thor94

It may take a little while, but I'll do my best to find a way for Chris to get the spotlight again.

CreativeKitty975

Since Eggman is always super smart, it can often lead to Tails guessing what his next move will be. Other times, it can be easy for him to stay one step ahead of the doctor. So what do you do when you have a feeling Eggman will make you hand over the fake Emerald? Make another!

You will definitely see the Corona Corundum and what it can do in the next few chapters!


Chapter 37
Original Episode
Restore The World! The Secret Underground Team
Status Quo


Cantonville – Sun December 26, ?:? PM – Third-person POV

Don't look this way… Don't look this way… Don't look this way… Jerome thought as he impatiently waited for the light to turn green. He was hoping no one would be able to recognize him through the fake mustache and beard he was wearing.

He had to disguise himself in order to brave the public. He was not about to risk going to jail. Furthermore, he had to use a fake name and ID to get a rental car, which was much more difficult than it seemed on the surface. In fact, he was almost found out. In hindsight, he should have taken the bus.

At last, the light turned green, and he drove through the intersection as he entered Cantonville. He was driving a little faster than he normally would, but still made sure not to go over the speed limit. He glanced at his phone to confirm the directions he entered into the GPS would take him to his destination.

Twenty minutes later, he finally arrived at what he believed to be his destination. He was surprised to see several cars all parked in the driveway.

He looked at the address on the mailbox before glancing down at the address on the memo he had written two days earlier. Satisfied that they matched, he took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. He threw a careful glance at the road behind him before approaching the door.

He knocked on the door in a certain pattern that he had been instructed to do by the Organizer in a second call, to verify that it was him. A moment later, the door was opened by a tall, slender man wearing a suit and dark shades.

"So you're Jerome Wise," Howard said, sizing him up.

"Y-Yeah," Jerome said as he stepped inside. He immediately took off his fake mustache and beard; they had felt itchy on him.

"You have any trouble getting here?" Howard asked as he closed the door.

"Um…" Jerome thought for a moment. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Good," Howard said as he opened a door and walked toward a set of stairs that led down to the basement. "Follow me." He motioned for Jerome to follow him, which he did.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Howard made a left and entered another room that looked like a mancave in the finished basement. As Jerome entered as well, he saw four other men in the room, sitting on couches around a low table, which was covered in maps, laptops, and even donuts. While only one or two of the men looked vaguely familiar to Jerome, the rest were strangers to him.

"This is our newest addition, and I'm sure you're acquainted with him to a degree," Howard spoke up. "Jerome Wise, former Chief of Staff."

You didn't have to rub in the 'former' bit… Jerome thought as he took a seat on the couch.

"So who's who?" he asked.

"I'll go first," Howard said. "You all know who I am. Howard Watcher, head warden of Superior. Or rather, I used to be, until two days ago. Then I was one who got to do time, because GUN's been doing an investigation on me recently, and… they came to a conclusion and said my treatment of Sonic was 'unethical' and went against protocol. I say he deserved it. He's a menace to society. It doesn't matter that the President cleared his name. He's still ruining humanity as we know it."

"So-"

"So we put an end to him and get things back to the way they were before all this stuff started happening," Howard cut Jerome off. "We were all brought here together to maintain the status quo."

What on Earth did I get myself involved in…? Jerome asked.

"Now it's your guys' turn," Howard said.

"Dr. Kai Narasu," the man in the white labcoat introduced himself. "Former PhD at the University of California Station Square. When that hedgehog came along, he changed everything I believed about technology, and I made this detailed hypothesis, all right? If you know me, you know that I study all the trends when it comes to my field of work. Robot technology infused with AI is where I believed the future was at. I still do to this day. So I wholeheartedly believed he was a new kind of government machine being publicly test run on the streets. But then more and more proof came out that he was in fact a living being, made of flesh and bone! And when that came out, everyone else thought it was so preposterous that I was practically laughed out of the university! And on top of that, they refused to fund me anymore and called me insane! Thanks to Sonic, I don't have a name for myself anymore!"

Jerome shrugged. "So what, you got your info wrong."

"It's not just that!" Dr. Narasu snapped. "Listen to everyone else's stories!"

The man in a suit and tie next to Dr. Narasu spoke next.

"My name is Ray Browning, and I used to be the head of the research and development wing of Area 99. Everything we did there was absolutely top secret. Until the day the aliens came, and we got two of them delivered to us overnight – the ones we now know as Cream and Cheese. Anyway, you won't believe how excited I was that night. I ended up doing a bit of research on their anatomy. And then Sonic came and broke them out, and he and his fox friend destroyed four million dollars' worth of cameras. We took a heavy financial hit, and while we did end up getting the cameras up and running, we're still recovering from what he did."

"I heard about that," Jerome said. "It's a shame, we could have learned so much."

"I know enough about them," Howard said as Jerome looked at the next man.

"I don't think I know you," Jerome said.

"Of course not," the man said. "I operate from China."

"Oh, gotcha," Jerome nodded.

"My name is Li Yan," the man introduced himself. "I'm the head of the Julebu mafia branch in Hong Kong. We operate all across China, and we have pockets of it here in America too. I am not familiar with Sonic the way everyone else is, but I want revenge on the one who calls himself Knuckles. He infiltrated my headquarters and took the Chaos Emerald from us. We could have made a fortune on that! But no, he took it with him and made sport of us in the process."

"Sounds like Knuckles," Jerome said.

"If Sonic is anything like Knuckles, then I understand your hatred of him," Li Yan said.

"Yeah, I hate Knuckles too," Jerome said as he reached for a Boston creme donut. "Because Eggman has the Master Emerald right now, and from what he told me, Knuckles will stop at nothing to get it back. He's pretty much a killing machine if you cross his path. But on the bright side, Eggman told me he's surprisingly gullible."

"Interesting…" Li Yan said.

"And then there's me, Hector Dragg," the last man said.

Jerome let out a small gasp.

"The Hector Dragg?!" Jerome said around a mouthful of donut.

"The one and only," Hector said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "It's not just Sonic I'm done with. It's my old boss Sam Speed, and not because he's being childish and changing his name so fast he's giving us all whiplash. Well, that too, but it's also because his ego went through the roof. It was all about him, he had to be the fastest guy in the state. And I pulled out all the stops to be faster than him on the job, but I always kept being the second-fastest. And ever since that blue cockroach infested this planet, I got bumped down to third. And, well… I took it out on my job. Not even on purpose. I got a bit reckless and endangered people. And then I got fired. I was mad. I wanted back in so bad. But they wouldn't let me. And then I started falling into depression after that. And just when things couldn't get any worse, the police thought Sonic was so good at being fast and saving people and stopping speeders even better than Sam, that they just decided to up and disband the whole S-Team!"

"Yikes…" Jerome said. He was starting to get the picture of why everyone was gathered together. They all hated Sonic and his friends with a burning passion, and they wanted to get rid of him. He too hated Sonic, which meant they all had something in common.

He could probably get used to this.

"Okay, you all know who I am," Jerome said. "Jerome Wise, I used to be the Chief of Staff to President Remerson. Way back when Eggman's base got destroyed, he saw something in me that he liked and decided to recruit me. Well, the government found out and I got fired, so basically Eggman's the only thing keeping me from justice. And furthermore, I came to a realization that Sonic is overrunning society as we know it, and, well… You're right, Watcher. Life was better before all this happened. I mean, yeah, Eggman's ruining life too, but it's better for me to pick the lesser of two evils to keep me from going to prison."

Howard nodded. "However, we're gonna have to eventually get rid of Eggman too."

"Okay…" Jerome said, not entirely feeling comfortable with that thought. Without Eggman, he would wind up behind bars, and eventually grilled on Capitol Hill on national television.

"We'll do out best to try and protect you while you're with us," Browning said.

Jerome nodded. He wasn't sure how anyone in this group would succeed. It was such a ragtag organization. Perhaps he was overestimating them.

"I don't think this group has a name," Dr. Narasu brought up.

"Do we need one?" Browning asked.

"For convenience's sake, yes," Dr. Narasu said.

"Well, the Organizer said it's about monitoring and neutralizing the aliens," Jerome thought carefully. "I think those were his exact words…?"

"What if it could be an acronym?" Dr. Narasu asked.

"Good idea," Watcher said.

"So this is a secret society… monitoring… neutralizing… Um… That's S.S.M.N. so far," Jerome thought aloud.

"Maybe drop the 'Secret' part," Water suggested.

"Okay, so now it's Society for Monitoring and Neutralizing… uh, Aliens…? Creatures?"

"Is it really worth our time doing something silly like this?" Li Yan asked in annoyance.

"Not necessarily," Watcher said. "It may be beneficial becanse they our little group will have a name, plus we can pitch it to the Organizer the next time he calls."

"Perhaps it should spell something," Dr. Narasu suggested.

"So it's either S.S.N.A, or S.S.N.C…" Jerome mused. "The second one, it almost spells Sonic. We got the S for Society and the N for Neutralizing, and the C can be for Creatures… but that still leaves the O and I."

"What else do we got?" Hector Dragg asked. "We mentioned Monitoring."

"Umm…" Jerome paused for a moment. "Maybe there's another word for that… Yes. Observing. That's the O. So putting it all together, we got 'Society for Observing and Neutralizing… uh, Interdimensional… Creatures… uh… and Xenomorphs."

Laughter echoed across the room.

"Why xenomorphs?" Water asked in confusion.

"'Cuz I like the Alien franchise, okay?" Jerome said in annoyance, rolling his eyes. "Plus it sounds cool."

"So now it's S.O.N.I.C.X.?" Dr. Narasu repeated. "That… That sounds like the name of an anime."

"Maybe we should drop the last part," Howard said.

"No don't, it's cool!" Jerome protested. "Plus S.O.N.I.C.X. is better than S.O.N.I.X."

"I meant the Xenomorphs part, not the Creatures part," Water said in annoyance. "But whatever. We're just waiting for-"

A notification appeared on the laptop closest to where Watcher was sitting.

"There it is, the Organizer's calling us," he said. He leaned over and pressed a button, and a shadowy figure in a suit appeared on the screen. Howard turned it to face the rest of the room.

"My apologies for the belated call," the Organizer said. "I was experiencing technical difficulties, but I see I made it through in time. Did Jerome make it?"

"Yes, he's here with us," Watcher said.

"Good. I couldn't risk contacting you all directly because those calls can be traced. In fact, I was taking a huge risk just using the phone to contact Jerome. I arranged Mr. Watcher's escape from prison, and as for the rest of you… I had other associates bring you all together. But this network is encrypted. I created it myself, so no one can track us.

"Okay, that's good," Jerome said.

"I have arranged your first mission as a group," the Organizer said. "For now, you are to continue to monitor the actions of both Sonic and Dr. Eggman Robotnik, and all individuals affiliated with both parties. Jerome will cover Eggman for us, while the rest of us will watch Sonic."

"So just lay low?" Hector asked.

"Exactly. Watch them for now, but eventually your first field mission will be to orchestrate the escape of CLIP Colonel Passer, another comrade who will join us soon."

"Isn't he in a federal prison?" Jerome asked. "Also, why do we need him?"

"Because he knows GUN better than the rest of you do, except for me. Additionally, a little digging into his past showed me he was a tech whiz, so his knowledge of technology will prove useful to us as well. And I have arranged for you the technology you need to carry out your mission. And one he is with us, then our group will be complete."

"I mean, I already have Eggman's technology," Jerome said. "But I can only use it sparingly, and… frankly, I'm afraid to find out what happens if I act outside of Eggman's plan."

"If this works out, then you won't need Eggman any longer," the Organizer said knowingly.

"You're sure?" Jerome asked, sounding a bit uncertain.

"I'm positive," the Organizer said. "Passer's escape will give us access to more GUN technology."

"But don't you already have access to GUN tech?" Hector asked.

"Yes, but not in the way you think," the Organizer said.

"If we get our hands on the blueprints for anything GUN-related… we could actually make our own GUN tech," Hector said.

"Why recreate GUN tech when I can arrange for you to have the originals?" the Organizer said.

"Oh… good point," Hector said, leaning back in his seat.

"So, uh… When do we go through with the breakout?" Jerome asked.

"I will let you know," the Organizer said. "In the meantime, I will monitor the situation across Station Square and wait for precisely the right moment."

"Oh, by the way, tell him your group name idea, Mr. Wise," Dr. Narasu said.

"Yes," Jerome said, repeating his proposed name of the group.

"Hm…" the Organizer said. "I suppose it could work… But it's a bit wordy, and I'm not too keen on the Xenomorphs part… Perhaps we can be called just the Society for short."

"Okay, that can work," Jerome said.

"In the meantime," the Organizer said, "The six of you are to lay low, monitor the actions of both Sonic and Dr. Eggman and their parties, and wait for further orders."

This was sort of exciting for Jerome. As much as he still underestimated the group, he could probably get used to something like this. If the Society worked out, then Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik would have a new mutual enemy.


A/N: And that concludes this original episode of Chaos on Earth! Some of you may recognize this group as the S.O.N.I.C.X. organization from the Archie Sonic X comics! I had been thinking long and hard about them recently, and I figured they with a little tweaking, they would make a perfect fit into the story! I also added Ray Browning from chapter 2 into the organization, because I realized he too has a story where Sonic ruined his life.

Anyway, now that we're officially halfway done Season 2 and closing in on the finale of Chaos on Earth, here are some things you can expect in the coming chapters:

- Episodes 40, 41, and 43 will be rewritten like normal.
- Episodes 42 and 44 will not be rewritten because they're filler.
- Episodes 45 and 46 will be greatly expanded on, since it's a Dragon Ball-style tournament, and those tend to go on for several episodes in Dragon Ball, so I started coming up with ways to make the arc longer. It felt so incredibly forced cramming the whole tournament into just two episodes.
- Episodes 47 and 48 will not be rewritten. The Murasia arc was completely filler, except for Decoe and Bocoe briefly turning good, and that didn't really add anything to the plot.
- The entire Homebound Saga will be completely rewritten from scratch and replaced with an original finale arc. It's still very much in the planning stages, but I'm hoping it will be anywhere from 4 to 6 chapters long.

And just because I'm almost done with Chaos on Earth doesn't mean I won't be rewriting the Metarex Saga! I know it may be a bit early to announce this, but the Metarex Saga will be its own separate fanfiction from Chaos on Earth, not just because it doesn't take place on Earth, but because the Metarex Saga is considered Series 2, and the rest of Sonic X is considered Series 1. Please make sure to follow and favorite the new Metarex Saga story when it comes out so you won't miss any updates!

Also, before I wrap up the chapter, I have a question for everyone. In the tournament arc, how can I improve the Topaz vs. Tanaka fight and the Mr. Stewart vs. E-77 Lucky fight? I can't have the first fight's outcome because I don't really ship Tanaka and Topaz; it really came out of left field and it progressed way too fast, plus I didn't have them together in the Shadow Saga. I can't have the second fight's outcome either because the Director Franklin and Scarlet Garcia subplot didn't happen in this story.

Next time: "Sunblock Solution", where Station Square is plunged into an indefinite solar eclipse! Don't miss it!