Part 1

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Several people in suits and dresses sat on silk couches in a massive Victorian style room. Painting and mounted animal heads hung on the marble walls. Waiters in tuxedos walked around pouring drinks and serving meals. The people eating didn't use tables but instead had a servant holding their plate for them. Their drinks and utensils were also held by servants.

Blue and purple flames roared within a massive obsidian fireplace. Above it a television the size of a car showed the view of a camera flying through the sky. Under the floor an orchestra played classical music, synchronizing the sound to a light display from the solid gold chandeliers on the ceiling.

A man in a white suit took a glass filled with clear liquid from a servant, and flicked it with his free hand. "Attention everyone. I'd like to make a toast." The white suit changed to an image of yellow and red flame that moved around as the man's arms did. The man motioned his glass toward a blue suited Oran sitting near the fireplace. "To the greatest police chief in the last century."

Several people in the room voiced their agreement. Oran raised a glass filled with dark red liquid. "Thank you. You're too kind."

The man in the flaming suite nodded then continued speaking. "Now then. I have an announcement. Project Nexus is finally online." A few murmurs filled the room. "While it still requires further testing and removal of bugs, I can confirm that we have created true unassisted artificial intelligence."

"Is it stable?" Someone said.

"It has a sustainable power usage rate, and has had no issues staying on." The flame suit man said.

Oran looked at the flame suit man. "Tom, this thing really doesn't need an organic brain?"

Tom nodded. "While it would still be helpful to capture it for further study, 343 is no longer essential. In fact, something more important has come up that I want to discuss with you later." He raised his glass again. "To the future of Kalash!"

Several people joined in. "To the future of Kalash!"

-

Part 2

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"You did what!?" Shadow stared at the image of Silver on his wrist.

"Tikal can explain it better. But yeah. We changed the timeline. At least Tikal thinks so."

"Where do I meet you?"

"West 27th First Fungal Dr."

Shadow turned off his watch, running at top speed to Silver's location. The suburban houses turned to a city, then green fields and wheat and a coast line. Shadow tapped his watch to check if his roast cow was ready before stopping at a wooden barn. Above the entry was a red neon sign reading Beef and Buck.

Shadow walked in, said hi to the butcher, got an entire roast cow, and finished the meal in about 15 seconds. He put in another order with the butcher for his trip back, and continued his run. He passed through a zone of green hills and a mountain range, before finally stopping at a 5 meter tall wall.

Shadow thought for a moment, ran back about 2 kilometers, and walked into a cave. He ran in, navigating through the darkness by memory, and popped out into an empty dumpster.

He jumped out into a brick alleyway, covered in all sorts of graffiti. Why the city even had a wall when tunnels like this were so common, Shadow had no idea.

The alley led out onto a 5 lane street with traffic backed up for at least a kilometer. Sidewalks lined the road, packed with people walking through.

No one seemed to notice Shadow, as he was just one of many black and red hedgehogs on the street. A few people mentioned his costume was really good, but otherwise no one seemed to realize his identity.

Soon he came to a rundown apartment complex. Nothing was broken, but the windows had smudges and the carpet inside the main stairway was covered in stains.

The wooden steps creaked as Shadow went up. He stopped at a door with chipped white paint and rusted iron forming the numbers 144. Shadow knocked and the door opened.

Tikal looked at him, concern in her eyes. She let him in. "Shadow. Do you know what the chaos emeralds are?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Those things Chaos uses to gain power?" He sat down at a plastic round table with Silver and Blaze. "What about them?"

"When touching them, have you ever felt any power?"

Shadow looked sideways in thought. "I'm trying to remember any instances. But none come to mind." He faced Tikal. "What is this power?"

Tikal pulled a massive red jewel in the shape of a diamond. "Here." She handed the jewel to Shadow. "Do you feel anything?"

Shadow held the chaos emerald. Nothing unusual happened, it felt like a normal stone to him. "Is something supposed to happen?"

Tikal shrugged. "I don't know."

Shadow waited for a further explanation before speaking. "So…anything else you have to say?"

"Look, I have no idea how these work. Guardians can use them. I don't know if that's a genetic thing or a worthiness thing or what. All I know is when I hold a chaos emerald." Tikal took the chaos emerald back from Shadow. "This happens." The emerald glowed bright red and Tikal shouted. "Chaos! Control!"

But she wasn't in front of Shadow. The voice was coming from behind him. Shadow turned to see Tikal. "How did you move that fast?"

"I didn't." Tikal laughed, biting the last bit of an apple that hadn't been in her hand before. "I walked to the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and came back."

Shadow gawked. "But, that's impossible." He looked at Silver and Blaze who didn't even seem to be phased. "Uh…is this normal for you guys?"

Blaze and Silver both nodded. Tikal handed the chaos emerald back to Shadow. "I don't know if you're a guardian. And I'm not strong enough to handle energy from all the chaos emeralds at once. Neither are Blaze or Silver. But if what I read in Silver's journal is correct."

"Your journal." Silver said. "Sorry."

Tikal rolled her eyes. " I believe an echidna named Knuckles can."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Knuckles. The eco-terrorist?"

Tikal looked at Silver and Blaze who both shrugged. "I don't care what you call him. If he's a guardian, the chaos emeralds have deemed him worthy. I suspect you're strong enough, but if the chaos emeralds don't seem to work for you. Meaning Knuckles is our best bet of stopping Armageddon."

Shadow snickered. "Working with a monster to save the world. Sonic owes me a pineapple pizza and fake mustache." Shadow headed out of the apartment.

"And you owe me a tub of lard!" Silver called after him.

Blaze looked at Silver. "Ok seriously. Why did you ask for that? Who needs a tub of lard?"

Silver smiled at her winking. "Oh, I'll never tell."

-

Part 3

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Sonic and Amy sat by a lake side skipping stones to see who hit Knuckles first. The clear water made Sonic wish he could swim. Knuckles had been popping out of every now and then with a fish, insisting throwing rocks would be good practice for dodging bullets.

Sonic wasn't sure if the echidna was serious, or just making fun of him for letting a soldier keep his bullets after bragging. It was Knuckles, so probably the former. Otherwise it meant he actually had a sense of humor, and that just made Sonic's head hurt to think about.

He turned to look at Amy throwing a rock. She was throwing with her left arm. Amy's throws hadn't been that good, but it hadn't occurred to him why. "Hey, why are you using your off hand?"

Amy's arm fidgeted, sending a rock to the ground. Then she lifted her right arm. "This is my off arm."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, but didn't question further. He knew Amy was right handed, but it didn't matter that much. She'd say something when she was ready. He was just glad Amy accepted him at all.

Knuckles and Tails had taken a while to trust him. In fact he got the feeling they still didn't. Amy on the other hand, seemed to immediately. For someone who'd been so suspicious in the past, why trust him so easily? Was she playing games with him, or something else?

"Hey, do you know anything about chaos emeralds?" Sonic and Amy both jumped at the sight of Shadow. Shadow laughed to himself. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you like that."

Amy grabbed her hammer, slamming into Shadow's stomach. It bounced off him in a blinding light. A ringing pierced Sonic's ears, which hurt even when he covered them.

Amy glared at Shadow. "You will never get that power!"

Sonic looked between Shadow and Amy in utter confusion.

Shadow sighed. "Look. I just want to stop Chaos. And also find out if I can use them like Tikal and the other guardians."

Amy's eyes went wide. "You're not leaving here alive."

Sonic stepped back. His ears had to be damaged to hear Amy threaten to kill someone.

Shadow raised his hands. "Look, I don't want to fight you." Knuckle's wet fist crashed through where Shadow's head had been.

Knuckles turned to Shadow. "How do you know about those?"

"Tikal said I should ask you about it."

"Tikal?" Knuckles lowered his fists slightly. "Explain."

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. "Have you ever heard of a monster called Chaos?" Knuckles nodded, but Sonic and Amy just looked confused. "We're looking for a way to destroy it permanently. Tikal seems to think the emeralds could do that."

Knuckles glared at Shadow. "How exactly did Chaos get unleashed?" A red aura formed around Knuckles. Heat surrounded him so intensely the grass beneath started steaming and turning black. It wasn't burning, but it still made Sonic uneasy.

Shadow turned to his side pulling out a chaos emerald, glowing with red hot energy, identical to Knuckles. "Don't get me wrong. When this is over, I plan to arrest you. But Tikal thinks, you're the world's best hope for survival."

-

A/N:

Apparently one of the characters has somehow escaped the story and is posting on my review threads.

Comment responses

@momojifan: Thanks. Hope you had a good Christmas too.

@goforit4eva: Thanks.

@Chaos: Thanks for the muffins, they were delicious. But how do you know my address?